Baltimore and Beyond.

I like spicy food. It’s fun. Even my Mom who’s palate is delicate can enjoy horseradish, the zing of ginger, the bite of some black pepper, or a good sweet and sour dish.

I have delved into the spice rich world of Indian, Taiwanese and Vietnamese foods. I have not conquered the hottest dishes, but I can still enjoy the moderately hot ones.

When it comes to sushi I really like the wasabi. I don’t need to put it on the spicy tuna rolls, but I do anyway.

It is about enjoying all that food has to offer from the subtle to the spicy. Which brings me to the behavior  I see every once in a while when dining.

I am currently invited to the Federal Hill Chili Cook Off. It came in an email. Here is a quote from the heading;

‘”It can only truly be Texas red if it walks the thin line just this side of indigestibility: Damning the mouth that eats it and defying the stomach to digest it, the ingredients are hardly willing to lie in the same pot together.” – John Thorne, Simple Cooking”.

That is fun? That is dining? Is it me or is this waste off good ingredients only a challenge to people, (mostly men), who think they can tolerate more spicy chili than others? I hear the talk, “What, you can’t eat that chili pepper, boy?” I now have a reply instead of a shameful bowing of my head. “Why yes, I can eat it, but then I would deprive you of ruining your taste buds for the rest of the day”.

How is it that eating food so hot you sweat and disrupt you bowels is cool? I can’t get macho about food. I held my own with mountain biking, but eating as a sign of manliness is just stupid. I eat to enjoy and by golly-gosh, I will continue to protest that eating food has anything to do with manliness.

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First: There was never a fart jar, (see last posting). This is creative writing…I take artistic license.
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Jury Duty.

I left the house at 7:10AM and caught the Hopkins Shuttle at 33rd and St. Paul. I took my work I.D. in case they check for that now, but they didn’t. The schedule and route are PDF’s anyone can get online and get a free ride downtown and back.

At the next stop a lady got on that likely was not a student. I glanced up as she chose to sit next to me. The bus rocked and rolled down St. Paul. When it came time to get off at Center Street, where it turns to go the main hospital, I said to her, “This is my stop”. She replied, “This is my stop, too”. and I took a double take…”Barbara”?

“Oh, she said, “I wondered if that was you when I sat down, but decided it wasn’t”.

I almost always have a hat or helmet on when she sees me, but I wasn’t wearing anything on my head. I have never seen her with a hat on before today, as she was bundled up from the cold We walked the 4 blocks to the courthouse talking about our neighborhood and how fun it was to have run into each other.

Jury duty breaks up the daily routine of; wake, get to work, do the work, go home. It is a chance to have a low-grade adventure, meet people you would never have the opportunity to meet, (run into a neighbor), eat lunch at a place you never have eaten before.

To top-off the trip, you get to “tour” one of Baltimore’s most grand and lovely buildings, the Clarence M. Mitchell Courthouse! I can not tell you how wonderful it is to be in this grand old “house”. Built in 1900 for the purpose it is still used for 108 years later. (There is a law museum inside. Stop by and see the grandeur for yourself).

What’s not to like?

Everyone seems to like people watching, right? You get that in spades!

It’s not all roses, however…I did smell some bad breath from the seat behind me in the court room. Also had to move from my seat in the jury room, because “Baby Huey,” with the think glasses and ragged sweat-shirt was smelling of pee…pee yew! I felt bad for the guy, but not any affection. He was comfortable around people with only half a clue what was going on. Not a full bag of marbles.

At the start of the day in the jury room they give you an orientation. Two years ago I walked all over the grand old building taking photos, while waiting to be a chose juror. This year they said, “No wandering the halls and photos are prohibited”. Well, it’s good I arrived to the courthouse 25 minutes early and took care of that.

At lunch time I walked 7 blocks to Mt. Vernon to a Thai/sushi place. I got a Bento Box served at the sushi bar. Best I can describe it as the lunch special. It came with a nice little salad. The sushi was very good. The bowl of chicken “something” was so damn spicy it made my eyes water and I was choking and coughing. I drew unwanted attention…the waitress asked if I was ok and I coughed my reply. Glad i did, i got a really nice bowl of chicken in a creamy yogurt curry.

Can’t remember the name of the place. It was under Donna’s at Madison and Charles.

Got picked for a jury with about 90 or 100 others and went to a beautiful marble court room. We all were spoken to by the judge with questions like; if we had anyone in our family on the police force; anyone in our family mugged; or if we had been arrested, among other questions.

After and two hours of waiting for each person to have a three-on-one with the judge and counsels to discuss the issues above, it was time to pick the 12 jurors plus 2 alternates. At this time there were about 50 jurors left in the court room.

They picked the jury they wanted before they got to me so I got to leave. A nice lady seated near me overheard me talking about where I lived and offered me ride home…sweet!

What’s not to like?

I have this Fart Jar I’ve been storing farts in since I got out of college in 1980. I was thinking of selling it on eBay and I can’t figure out what to price it. There is someone out there that would pay big money…I think. I was leaning toward asking for one hundred per year…$2800.

It was about a month after I got out of college and I’d moved out of my parents house. I was unpacking a box in my apartment and came across this empty jar. So, it really won’t be 28 years old until September, but a 27.5 year old fart jar is a big deal…that’s a lot of farts!

Now days so many jars are plastic and would be less fragile and thus have a longer life. Back then there weren’t great plastic carry-out containers, either. I’m scared I might drop this thing and then there is the issue of packing it right for shipping if I do sell it. Hell, It might sell before it gets to eBay if this post draws enough attention.

I imagine some farts leak out when you open the jar to put new ones in. I lifted the lid a few years ago just to see what kind of bouquet would escape and it mostly smelled like pickles…it was an old pickle jar. Pickle smell is all that my friends noticed, too. Man, it was a tough sell getting some help from them!

EBay has nice method of keeping track of your negative feedback so new buyers can see at a glance your trading record. There are issues I will need to come clean about, so I don’t lose my high standing. Honestly, this jar was with me during some of my many moves and stayed packed for years without use. That has to knock off some value. I’m starting to think I may not have a jar worth much.

Does a thousand per year sound right, or should I cut a deal right off and let it go for half that?

Bikebreath

Some odd things to note from yesterday’s commute. At 42° it’s a little cold. At 92% humidity it’s very damp. Thus, dressing for the ride in was impossible to get right. I had light socks with shoes, no covers over my toes. Shorts with tights. A long sleeve cotton T-shirt and a bike jacket. Under my helmet was a bandanna. My face, ears and toes were quite cold, but my head and body were hot and sweaty! It was weird.

Not as weird, maybe as coming around a corner at E. Lanvale and heading south on N. Montford just as some guy was throwing his kitty litter into the air and street. It didn’t create much dust, but I did ride though something. I made sure to hold my breath. I knew the guy didn’t see me and he was so apologetic. You could really hear in his tone his disappointment. It was just bad timing and my willingness to keep moving.

It is a rare thing for me to ride when it’s dark on the ride home. I do not like that part. With record temperatures forecast yesterday I figure the slow ride needed to navigate the night won’t be so objectionable.  I did fairly well and got home in 55 minutes instead of the regular 40 it takes to get to work in daylight. It was great!

Bikebreath

Got myself on that mountain bike on Saturday. It’s so great being out in the woods. The smell. The clean air. Even the chill of lower 40’s slips away when you are working the pedals.

Hanging out with my buds is at least half of the “great” with the time spent.

Ole’ Dave went skiing in the morning, then rode with us in the afternoon. I still had my ass handed to me for 7 miles in the dirt. Dave didn’t even seem like he had a long day.

I have been on the political fence for 40 years by being an Independent. In order to vote for Ron Paul I needed to be a Republican, so I changed parties. I’m all grown up now. I even went so far as to make a donation to a candidate for the first time in my life today…I sent Dr. Paul $50. C’mon, Dr. Paul, give me back my country!

Ron Paul has really caught my ear. He’s the one that Fox didn’t allow on their debate show just this past Saturday. He was 6 percentage points above Giuliani in Iowa! Why is Fox scared of someone who speaks truth to power? Sissy’s!

If your candidate isn’t talking about taxes, gold, war, welfare, foreign policy, federal reserve, states rights AND running things according to the Constitution, then I think you might want to give Paul a look-see. No, he likely won’t be able to do all the things he said, like abolishing the IRS and the Federal Reserve, but he will make inroads into returning America to where it belongs. It would be great to see him kill the IRS, Federal Reserve and Dept. of Education, but even so it will keep the Congress busy and prevent them from making more new laws that are pointless.

…and wasn’t the Democratically controlled Congress suppose to put a crimp into Bush’s war instead of fund it with $506 billion? Hmmm, glad I didn ‘t vote for those liars.

Bikebreath