I like to move it

According to some social science report I'm not going to bother researching for this post, moving is one of the most stressful events in an adult's life. And it is!

A lot of the stress revolves around how much petty crap you have to remember to do. Address changes and tying up loose ends at the old place and still walking the dog at the end of the day.

I imagine that if some disaster hit, a fire or earthquake or war—from which we all made it out safely—and we had to flee our old home and start up in another location... that would have been almost preferable. Just drop the mic and walk away.

Instead there are literally dozens of hanging tendrils from the change that remain unaddressed. Nothing terrible, but all need to be done.

No one's bothered to make a list of what remains undone, so one floats by occasionally (Did we get the car registered yet?) and free-floating stress just drifts in, interrupting and complicating whatever else you were doing. (No! And it's overdue! Hope no one notices!)

My wife has commented before that I only get irritable over small things. She has been surprised by my calm during large, intense events. When our beloved (and sometimes behated) dog almost died, she was, I think, almost angry at how casually I behaved.

But then, I knew what I could do and what I couldn't. I knew what my responsibility and capability was. I wanted Autumn to live, but if she didn't, it was out of my control. If she died, we would grieve and keep living. If she lived, we would play-fight with her and take her down to the river for swimming again and things would be well.

Contrast that to a bat-swarm of responsibilities that come after a move, with no clear boundaries or action plans, or even a scope of what must be done. And we're not even done! We're just in the starter apartment! Buying and occupying a permanent home is still on the horizon!

But I still like moving. I like new places. Circle of Hope in Philadelphia taught me the joy and value in staying. But that pied piper plays a mean flute, and now I'm stressed in Austin.

SEPTA does something right

I know, I'm excited too!

People give the Nutter administration crap, but sensible, lawful things are happening on his watch. That's not saying this SEPTA thing is something he can take credit for, but it is under his administration.

What is it? As revealed in this Technology Review article, SEPTA's installing batteries at a subway substation to cash in on regenerative braking:

A massive battery installed at one of the authority's substations will store electricity generated by the braking systems on trains (as the trains slow down the wheels drive generators). The battery will help trains accelerate, cutting power consumption, and will also provide extra power that can be sold back to the regional power grid. The pilot project, which involves one of 38 substations in the transit system, is expected to bring in $500,000 a year. This figure would multiply if the batteries are installed at other substations.

Philadelphia, there's hope for us yet.

A Love Letter for You was an Internet blip last year, but you might have missed it, and it's pretty great, so look again.



The whole thing is a project of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program masterminded by a dude named Stephen Powers, who I'd really like to meet. He grew up a West Philly graffiti artist, went legit as a sign painter, and has become, like, a dude in the fine art world on New York.

But he remembers his roots like a potato, knowhu'msaying?


If you live in Philly and ride the regional rail, you know how adventurous taggers are. They get some amazing places to put up their names for you to see riding the train. These murals are all along Market street in West Philly, best viewed from the Market-Frankford El (i.e., the train). Seeing these is worth a ride.


In case you don't live in Philly, lookit the Web site. Consider buying the book for your sweetie this Valentine's.

Phil 'er up

I am willfully a Johnny-come-lately Phillies fan.

I care when a Philly team is doing well, and nod politely the rest of the time. This strikes me as just good citizenship.

This World Series makes it frustrating to be any kind of Phillies fan. Most of the Yankees' runs seem to be the Phillies' faults. Meanwhile, the Phillies are knocking balls out of the park, just not when any runners are on base. That's happened twice tonight (bottom of the eighth now.)

Adventures in junking: Watch the birdie

My new favorite hobby is walking the dog on trash day. I always find something interesting in other people's garbage. Occasionally, it's interesting enough to bring home.

About a month ago someone left an Apple IIcPlus and a Macintosh SE on the sidewalk. I know! I sold them on Craigslist for $10 a piece, and found out later that I way undercharged for the IIcPlus.

A couple days ago, I was almost done with a walk and had found nothing worth bringing home. I was feeling a little sad about it when I wandered by a TV and a blender box. I wish I knew what to do with old TVs, because people junk them regularly in my neighborhood.

While Autumn nosed over that, I looked in the blender box, wondering if there was actually a blender in it. There wasn't.

It was incongruously full of mid-20th century cameras!



Here's a Brownie Hawkeye:



Here's an Argoflex Seventy-Five:


Here's a Kodak Duaflex III. (It has its original flash and instruction manual.):



Here's a bunch of plastic shoe inserts that were also in the box:



According to Internet, there's a community of photographers who use these to do Through the Viewfinder (TtV) photography, hooking up their digital cameras to take pictures through the viewfinders of these old cameras. I've clicked through a few galleries in Flickr, and I love that people are doing this! Hooray for people!

These cameras are not super-duper rare or expensive. But they might bring a few bucks. Plus, they're neat. If you know someone who might like to have one of these for a reasonable price, email me, k?

Monopoly City

I give Monopoly a lot of crap, but that's only because it deserves it. Hasbro is a game company that, on a corporate level, decided to make quality in games a second-tier consideration. To use an analogy, they built hotels on St. James Place and Tennessee Avenue -- not the "best" properties in the game, but the ones you land on most often.

Hasbro has milked Monopoly like the prize cow it is. Everybody with an IP has licensed the game (which is really just lawyer insurance because you can't copyright or patent a game mechanic). And every few years, they produce a new clutch of games with the word "Monopoly" on the front, and I assume those sell well enough to make it worth doing.

This year Hasbro produced Monopoly City. On boardgamegeek.com the reviews boil down to "It's not that different. If you didn't like Monopoly already, you won't like this one either."

BUT! There's a free Web game to promote it, Monopolycitystreets.com. Great idea Hasbro! It's got a good gimmick, in that you're buying real-world city streets courtesy of Google Maps. It's fun to look at your neighborhood and buy your street and build tall buildings on it.

It's still a crappy game though. There's a little strategy, but not a ton. Like board-game Monopoly, it's a game about wheeling and dealing, because the cheap stuff you start with won't get you to the top. You'll need to save up money and buy other players' more profitable streets, because the best stuff is already taken. Except why would a player sell their best stuff?

The only reason I can think of is that the player got bored or distracted and dropped out. Player interaction is extremely limited, so you can't negotiate well. The nominal endgame (Be the richest real estate magnate in the world!) is sort of boring. Only the highly motivated will work on it. Find a half dozen of those people (who I'm pretty sure they're already playing) and the top of the game will stagnate.

The good thing though, is that you can see on the blog that the people running the game are taking this seriously. There's room for improvement too. Right now, it's a really nice skeleton of a game, and they could make it more. If tended properly, this could become the Hasbro's own social networking platform. That's worth keeping an eye on.

Regardless of my callous criticisms, it's fun for a while. In case you want to get into it, you can read tips and FAQs at the fan site: monopolycitystreetshq.org.

Also, if you're related to me in Philadelphia, I already own your street. OH IT'S ON.

A Philadelphia overture

Seattle is experiencing 100+ degree heat (That's 38 to you metric weirdos). Meanwhile, Philly's having a cool-ish, wet summer.

We were seriously looking at moving to Seattle for a couple of months this year, but things (as they do) changed, and barring freak circumstance, Philly has become our point of medium-range residency.

I've been here almost 5 years. That was never in the plan. Yet, as I review my reasons for moving to Philadelphia, I realize nothing was in the plan. I never had a plan.

Vaguer than a plan, my expectation was to be somewhere else by now. California. Seattle. New York City. Dallas. Austin.

However, not only am I not somewhere else, I am more here than ever. I guess it's time to start liking Philadelphia.

My ambivalence re Philadelphia is on record. The place has good points, but oh so many bad ones.

But since it seems I'll be here a while longer, it's time to start liking the burg. I've already spent too long on the fence; I won't compound the mistake. Philly, I've kept you at arm's length, and that's only hurt us both. You're shockingly violent, too ethnic for my immediate comfort, your roads frankly suck, and you're nearer New Jersey than I'd ever hoped to be. But you have kick-ass museums, and a decent film festival. The gaming here is robust, and the cry for Jesus is almost too loud for my weak ears. You're not perfect, but Lord knows neither am I. There's plenty for us to do and become. Let's love like brothers.

New bike lanes downtown

I have a high opinion of riding bikes, but a low opinion of Philadelphia bike riders because they are lawless ruffians. I see bumper stickers and activists bleat about how drivers should be more careful around bikes and I think, "You first."

I understand how this happens. You get on a bike, and you have all this visibility and mobility and you can get away with more than you can in a car. I know. My hypocritical opinion remains unchanged.

Nonetheless, I am pleased to see the city of Philadelphia trying something by installing wide bike lanes on Pine and Spruce. Read the Inquirer story here. Partly because I want to see bike riding in town encouraged, and partly because it's likely to keep bikes farther away from cars. Win. Win.

An enjoyable excerpt from the story:

And, officials note, this is just a pilot program. The paint won't cost anything extra.

"We're not deciding between million-dollar projects," said Hacker, of the regional planning commission. "We're just trying stuff out."

That's the style of civic innovation I want to see from my city officials in these Tough Economic Times(tm).

Map appropriated from Philadelphia Inquirer site.

Springtime is redemptive in Philadelphia.

I'm not a big Philadelphia booster. The city has potential, but it's unlovely in many places. The people here, while rarely hostile, are not generally welcoming. And winter gets old, especially when it drags as it did this year.

But walking around this weekend, driving with the windows down, seeing the newly enlarged skyline through the newly-engreened trees, looking at the throngs stroll by the river, seeing young women in short skirts again... Philly can clean up all right come April.

Quitting My Job Again

Sometimes I wonder if there's something horribly broken in me that keeps me from settling into a job. I'm in good company for pinballing through the first half of my adult life -- lots of interesting people go down this road. But nobody, I think, does it because it seems like a good idea. You just do it when you don't know a better way.

A friend offered me a job at a game company in San Diego last month, and for the first time as an adult, when I had an opportunity to jump off into a new, weird life, I didn't. Because I'd have to move.

I'm not in love with this town. I give Philly a 6. But it's an okay place to stop for a while. Maybe... maybe some things can catch up with me.

A Story: I was driving across country a few years ago and stopped to hike in the Grand Canyon. I didn't bring sunscreen, but at a rest point, a young married couple let me use theirs. We swapped Cliff's Notes life stories. When I said I was just driving around, doing whatever seemed like a good idea, the husband said, "You are so lucky. Man, I envy you."

I didn't have a good response. Later, on the road, I thought:

"I am lucky. But so are you. If I had a pretty young wife to go on vacation with into the Grand Canyon, and if I was talking seriously about a baby on the way... I don't think I'd envy me. I'm only here because I can't figure out where else to be. If I had a clear mission, I'd be doing that."

Five years on, I still don't know what my mission is. But lemme tellya Houston, as of next week, it won't involve Vanguard no more.