I Used To Do That

Last Friday, I met Dave and '97 NHS alumna Jamie visiting from Tucson at the Brooklyn Bridge Park to watch the rubber ducks. Every year, the New York chapter of Special Olympics conducts a Million Dollar Duck Race to raise money. People purchase ducks ($5 each) in the weeks preceding the race. Then they dump thousands of ducks into the East River and the person whose duck crosses the finish line first wins a million dollars. I like the idea of a million dollar duck race, but doesn't a one hundred grand duck race sound good too? Then NY Special Olympics would be 900 grand richer. I guess it works itself out in the end.
So we waited and waited and the ducks did not arrive. "The ducks! The ducks! Where are the ducks!?" we asked ourselves. I even called 311, a telephone number here in NYC that sometimes provides its callers with any bit of information. No...we were in the right place. But? Where were the %#@!?& DUCKS?
Dismayed, we headed for the subway station, only to hear what sounded like a band concert in the distance. I think when one lives in New York, one expects everything to be so urban. So hearing a marching band when you're in uber-industrial swank Dumbo, Brooklyn, you ask yourself, "Whaaa!?" We rounded the corner and in this parking lot was a marching band practicing. Instead of playing "God Bless America," they were playing Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff." And while they're playing, they're also dancing. It was straight out of the movie, Drumline. These kids were great. When they had a break, they'd grab their ankles and start hopping around. The sousaphone players would swerve their hips up and down as they played. They had us entertained plenty. We had been in marching band ourselves back in the day, but I think the most complicated move we made was executing a 90-degree turn while still playing. Anyway, it was nice to be diverted from the usual urban sounds (cars honking, sirens blaring, gunshots) and to see talented kids using music to do good things.

P.S. Kidding about the gunshots.

Also: Ticket was purchased for Thanksgiving weekend. I fly in Thanksgiving morning and leave that following Monday; Saw Lewis Black yesterday at Carnegie Hall. Now that's a big hall; Wisconsin beat Michigan yesterday! First time since 1994. What I would've done to be at Camp Randall last night; Sighted: Elijah Wood at Pearl River in Soho.

Vermin!

Growing up in a cookie cutter 1970's era ranch house, bugs and mice never really decided to call Delbert Road home. I do remember one occasion though, when I was much younger, finding a construction paper art project shredded to bits in a drawer. I showed my mom the art project and it was then the Kents discovered they had mice. No big deal. A couple of mousetraps later and witnessing my dad smash a mouse with a shovel, the mice moved out. About that picture of my dad striking a mouse with a big metal shovel...I'm not sure if that actually happened, but for whatever reason, I have that image in my head. Did it actually happen or was it all a dream?
Now I live in ye olde City of New York where cockroaches crawl, mice scurry, and rats race about. New York doesn't have alleys so there's no room for dumpsters and trash cans. Trash bags are piled on the edge of the street the night before pickup and that supplies vermin with something similar to a $6.99 Ponderosa all you can eat buffet.
I remember the first cockroach I saw here. I flicked on the kitchen light and I saw movement across the sink. It wasn't too big...just under an inch. That's nothing compared to the two inchers that will speed out from a pile of garbage as you're walking down the street. So I grabbed some Raid from the cupboard and showered the pest with an awesome spray of Imiprothin and Cypermethrin. Tim: One. The cockroaches: Zero. Well, since that initial battle, I've seen a few more roaches (less than ten to date) and those suckers are fast! One just can't catch them all.
Then it happened in May. We found a mouse and despite our best efforts to corner him, he was just too fast. We boobytrapped the house with glue traps hoping to trap the rodent. Mickey never returned and we assumed he headed to the Hamptons for the summer. Last month, I went to Fire Island and the night I returned, I sat on my bed exhausted. Out of the corner of my eye, a mouse zipped out of my room into the hallway. Normally I would freak out, but this time, I just thought to myself, "Oh. There's a mouse." Eyeing rats in the subway changes one's rodentia mindset I guess. I put out more glue traps believing more sticky snares would equal more caught mice. A couple days went by, then weeks. Nothing caught. I even replaced peanut butter for the bread crumbs I had left in the center of each trap. Still no mouse.
Then last weekend, I went to bed. Moments later, I heard some rustling coming from my closet. I thought, "What's the point? I can't catch him myself and he's smart enough not to go near the glue trap." Ten seconds later, I heard a high pitched squeal. I went to check on the trap, but it was not where I had placed it. There he was, this little (and cute) mouse who managed to just get his hind legs caught in the trap. With the incredible determination to free himself, he used his front legs to pull himself out of the closet toward my dresser. There was no way I was going to move that big dresser just to retrieve a dinky puny mouse. I picked up the glue trap, mouse attached, put it in a plastic bag and walked the bag down to the corner trash can. Farewell mouse. You won't be missed.

P.S. If I offended anyone by using a glue trap, I'm sorry. Well...not really.

We're Number 12!

I found this "Top 30 National Universities" survey from Washington Monthly magazine (click on picture to increase its size). Instead of ranking "what colleges can do for you," it ranks "what colleges are doing for the country." Basically, which colleges are making the United States a better place. The criteria for the rankings included these three core beliefs of what a university is designed to do:

1) Universities should be engines of social mobility.
2) Universities should produce the academic minds and scientific research that advance knowledge and drive economic growth.
3) Universities should inculcate and encourage an ethic of service.

Wisconsin came in 12th which ain't too shabby. Fellow Badgers, let us rejoice in knowing we're doing a better job than Yale to keep the USA #1! (Note: I'm full of patriotism because I just got back from the Freedom March...) The rankings also show that public universities outform the ivy leagues. The Washington Monthly likes to point out that Iowa State beat out Princeton. This is just the first year this list has been produced, so the magazine hopes to improve it in the future. If you'd like to read more about it, click here.

In other Wisconsin news, The Badgers destroyed Temple 65-0 on Saturday. I think it's too soon to predict a Badger BCS Bowl Championship, but I can tell you three teams that probably will not be there. Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio State, all ranked in the top ten, lost their games this weekend! Ohio State? That was a tough one. But Iowa losing to Iowa State? Yikes! Man...Iowa State's kicking everyone's ass. I'm sure WI will have a stinker or two this season. I just hope it isn't against Michigan who will be playing at Camp Randall for the conference opener.

I Get Political

I haven't really wanted to post anything about what been going on with me in New York because it seems so trivial compared to what's going on in New Orleans. Last week I began school. Should be a challenging semester! Also last week, a couple thousand people died because a bad hurricane hit the coast and the government did a crappy job in helping the survivors.
I read the Post on Monday on my way to school and I couldn't believe some of the stories I was reading. I teared up on the train after I read the story about the husband who lost his wife after he could no longer hold her from the waters that took her life. When I was home in Wisconsin the week before, my dad watched Katrina coverage on the Weather Channel. He told me, "There's a bad hurricane near Florida right now." I didn't really take note of the storm because it always seemed to me the media just exaggerated the severity of every hurricane by showing a weatherman reporting in a strong, but tolerable, storm. I thought, "It's just another hurricane." When I got home from school late Monday night, I went online to find even more depressing stories. The Superdome had become a Deathdome. What? Lakes of urine and shit? Gunshots firing? Young girls raped? Are you sure we're still in the United States? My disbelief resembled the shock I felt when I saw on live television the first twin tower crumble to the ground four years ago. As the days went by, nothing seemed to improve. The horror stories only worsened. I was waiting for help and hope to arrive for the victims.

I've never wanted to make this blog overtly political, but I will for this entry. I don't want to explicitly place blame on anyone because it seems everyone in the government screwed up except for the people who were warning the screw-ups that they better not screw up. But I will say I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed that Condi was too busy buying shoes and watching Spamalot to lend a hand. I'm disappointed that Tom Delay asked a bunch of kids in the Astrodome, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" I'm disappointed that Barbara Bush said, "This is working very well for them" referring to the thousands who currently own nothing. I'm disappointed that Dennis Hastert thinks New Orleans isn't worth rebuilding. I'm disappointed that a horse guy who was suggested by a college buddy to be the new FEMA director was appointed by Bush. However, I'm most disappointed with Bush. I've never thought he possessed the talent to be a modern day President. He's killer finding the best photo ops though. Despite my criticism, I'll admit that in the days following 9/11, he demonstrated the leadership people needed to see. A tragedy had not only damaged New York City, but the nation as well. Where's that leadership now? Anyone? When Hurricane Hugo hit, Bush Sr. was there 10 hours after the storm hit. His son? Four days. Even worse, it took Bush two days to prematurely end his 5 week vacation (How French!) after the levees broke and began submerging a major American city. Bush had his chance to step up and take action. Hurricane Katrina's damage necessitated the calling of a federal emergency. But it's too late. So many of the people ravaged and displaced by the hurricane have been let down. The American people in general too. It's evident in the latest Newsweek poll. If the people are looking for hope, they're not going to look for it from the President. I think about if I was in class and a terrorist bombed my school, trapping me inside the building. Could I count on Bush to do everything in his power as the President to help me? Pre-Katrina, I would have said yes. After Katrina? Not really. I don't have much hope for Bush and company, but I still have hope that things will be better someday.