First Spring Day in Philly, Time for Rita’s

 March, 20, 2012. That first day of Spring, which means one thing…

…FREE  Rita’s Water Ice!

 Two things, when I moved here: First,  I had never heard of water ice and secondly, I was  pleasantly surprised at the dedication of Philadelphia to Rita’s once I  learned about this amazing treat.

 In the South, there’s snow cones, shaved ice with layers of flavored  syrup, served in a cone cup, which eventually melts and has to be drunk.

 Also know as Italian Ice, Rita’s Water (or “Wooder” as the locals say) Ice is a  popular Summer treat that’s cheap and quick. A place with no chairs, no tables, just  standard walk up window service to get you flavor and enjoy it while walking the  city.

 To my surprise, there are two ways to eat Water Ice….the tourist way and the  Philly way.

 

The Tourist Way

The Philly Way

 No spoon and pinky up to guide the motion of the cup.

 Either way is fine with me, as long as I have my red, green, and white cup of Rita’s.

Rita's Cup Looking Down South St., Absolute Philly.

 Find Rita’s Here

Lost in Staycation: Bringing SOPA to my Masses

Great, isn’t it? If SOPA  (Stop Online Piracy Act) Bill passes, creative and educational videos like this will no longer be available to the masses.

SOPA aka Protect IP Act were the buzz words earlier this week and SOPA was brought up in the House for debate on Wednesday.

Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market, including the resultant revenue and jobs, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws especially against foreign websites.  Opponents say it is censorship,  that it will “break the internet”, cost jobs, and that it will threaten whistleblowers and other free speech.

The bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who requests the court orders, the actions could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as PayPal  from doing business with the infringing website; barring search engines from linking to such sites and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyprotected content a felony. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement.

Credit

A visual demonstration of what would happen if  SOPA passes the House:

I do love my interwebs, since I had the time and awareness to do something, I did.

I wrote my reps via Electronic Frontier Foundation and got this response from Pat Toomey (R-PA):

November 17, 2011

Dear Anna,

Thank you for contacting me about intellectual property protection and copyright infringement. I appreciate hearing from you.

I understand your concerns about expanding intellectual property protection and value your input on S. 968, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PROTECT IP) Act. As you may know, Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) introduced this bill on May 12, 2011. Among its provisions, this measure would allow the U.S. Attorney General or qualifying plaintiffs to pursue legal action against registrants, owners, or operators of nondomestic Internet sites that infringe upon intellectual property rights.

It may also interest you to know that Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced legislation (S. 978) concerning copyright infringement on May 12, 2011. Among its provisions, this measure would increase the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright.

I understand your concerns regarding these issues and value your input. S. 968 and S. 978 currently await consideration by the full Senate. Please be assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind as work continues on these important issues.

Thank you again for your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Pat Toomey
U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania

He basically assures me nothing, other than “I’ve heard what you have to say”. At least he knows how I feel. Which is what I wanted.

It’s vital to keep the internet “broken” as they say, to allow an area for the free flow of ideas and expression.

Contact your reps or you can link to HERE as well.

Lost in Staycation: Rainy Day Philly

Menu

Rainy Day Philly, means food truck time!

Lucky Old Souls Burger Truck. LOVE Park.

LOVE Park for Some Burgers

Overall , good. My first burger came out very rare, but they quickly fixed it up with a medium well for me and offered a comp Soda. I had the standard burger with special mayo sauce, it was a little light on the spices, though the mayo specialty was tasty.

FRIES!!!!

Fries were served cold, but I’ll give that to the 30-40 degree weather, and I wasn’t a big fan of their ketchup sauce. I will say this, they were fried to my liking nice and dark and crunchy. I would definitely order them again, without the ketchup sauce.

I do admire them for keeping it local and keeping fresh.

 

Lost in Staycation: NYC Day

NYC Day!

First Stop: Brooklyn Bridge/Brooklyn Heights Tour via Big Onion Tours

Meeting at the City Hall Park we headed through the park, walking between the back of City Hall (where OWS took over later) and Tweed Court House.

Part of the Tweed Courthouse, now home to the Department of Education

Manhattan Municipal Building

The Manhattan Municipal Building, built because the original City Hall could not house all the government agencies needed to run the city. The building itself displays intense iconic symbolic features, including five cupolas atop the building representing the five boroughs.

Brooklyn Bridge: Manhattan Entrance

Fun Facts of the Brooklyn Bridge

Fact No. 1: The Brooklyn Bridge officially opened to the public on May 24, 1883. Emily Roebling  (wife of Washington Roebling) carried a rooster across the bridge as a symbol of victory.

Fact No. 2: The bridge was originally called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge. It was officially given the name “Brooklyn Bridge” by the city in 1915.

Fact No. 3: Con man William McCloundy was sentenced to 2 1/2 years at Sing Sing Prison for “selling” the Brooklyn Bridge to a tourist in 1901.

Fact No. 4: When it opened, the Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world, the first steel-wire suspension bridge, and the first bridge to connect to Long Island.

Fact No. 5: On its first day open to the public, 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed the span.

Fact No. 6: On May 30, 1883, a rumor that the bridge was collapsing spread through the crowds on it, causing a stampede. At least 12 people were killed in the ensuing panic.

Fact No. 7: On May 17, 1884, showman P. T. Barnum led 21 elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge to prove that it was stable.

Fact No. 8: For several years after its construction, the Brooklyn Bridge was the tallest structure in the Western hemisphere.

Fact No. 9: Each of the bridge’s four supporting cables is 3,578 feet, 6 inches long and 15 1/2 inches thick, and contains 21,000 wires that, combined, would have a total length of 14,060 miles.

Fact No. 10: The bridge turned out to be a tragedy for the Roebling family. The designer, John Roebling, died from tetanus after a ferry crushed his foot as he was scouting locations for the bridge. His son, Washington Roebling, of Trenton, N.J., fell prey to the bends from his time in caissons laying the foundations for the towers, and became an invalid. Washington’s wife, Emily, became the de facto head of construction in his stead.

Brooklyn Heights

Truman Capote's Home: For Sale, 14M

Renovated historical home

Two Types of Brooklyn Brownstone

Arthur Miller's Home

The Brooklyn Heights Promenade: Where the Tour Ends. PHOTO CREDIT

The Promenade

Second Stop: Pommes Frites Inc. 

I had heard about this fry shop from G-Love, and I could use the inspiration to get my fry truck in motion.

Yea! Delish!

Fries for My Eyes

Standard fries with five sauces, oh lawdy.

1. Smoked Eggplant

2. Curry Ketchup

3. Mayo/Ketchup with onions

4. Barbeque

*5. Specialty made dip (because I was talking to them about my truck!*

I love you New York.

Ohio, Now What?

Happy Birthday Kizzbot!

Off to Ohio with Justintime, Wait, Wait I Need to Pose, and Kizzbot for a full weekend of Birthday celebrations.

Does anyone know what to expect from Ohio?

No?

Correct.

…..but there is are great sights to see in this “San Francisco of the East”

North Market

Indoor Market of Columbus

Balcony View of North Market

The Book Loft

37 rooms of books. Each room has it's own music.

Short North

Welcome to Short North

HipstaMatic on a Sunday Morning

Ohio State University

Justintime promoting safety awareness at the library

The original OSU building.

Wait, Wait... Waiting in the rocker.

Justintime

Dan Savage...we thought about waiting around..but we had beer to get to.

Muggle Quidditch

Karaoke at Club 20

Dive Bar Extrodinairre

Food Trucks

Friday Night Food Trucks

Pizza Food Truck

Birthday Time for Kizzbot!

Sup! Happy Day!

Ohio's first pickle shots at Betty's Fine Food & Spirits

Kizzbot and Wait, Wait

Betty's bathroom

Shenanigans

BattleShip, Justintime, The Captian, Rolled Rick, Kizzbot, and Wait, Wait

Kizzbot

betsyvonawesome and Wait, Wait

Wait, Wait and Justintime

and it ends all with a lil’ Snus.

Snus

Happy BDay Kizzbot!

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

I came across this while walking to the gym tonight. Philly’s Apple Store wall.

People were gathering around the window. Most of the people who walked by the window appeared a little surprised as I and like myself, they stopped and looked. Two Post-It pads were on the ground, green and blue. One by one people read notes and eventually a few added their own messages.

Each note had it’s own personality, some very serious… “I’ve used Apple for four years….”

Others were more eclectic and those were my favorite.

Philly Oktoberfest……Yo! Prost!

Beer Hall Seating

Philly’s own Brauhaus Schmitz had an Oktoberfest this weekend. I met up with ATeam, G-Love, Kizzbot, and Wait, Wait, I Need to Pose  for beer, dancing, and overall hot mess times.

Brauhaus Beer Hall

The set up of the fest was doable overall. Good traffic patterns,  bathrooms and beer vendors spaced apart, and plenty of room to stand or sit.

I became a fan of Kristina tonight. Meet Kristina…..the porker.

Kristina

Photo Credit

Dancing

Ski Shot

Wait, Wait, I Need to Pose and Kizzbot

The fun thing about day festivals…is the chance to take a house party break and watch some TiVo!

House Party Break with Kizzbot, Wait, Wait, and ATeam

House Party Break with ATeam, G-Love, and Kizzbot

Prost!

I’m Kind-a Connected to an Almost Celebrity. I Love This Town

Philly, big city….small town.

Shooting Break

Over a year ago, I started production of a film series with Flat World Media Production  for a local hospital, A Day in the Life,  featuring my favorite South Philly guy, Frankie. We completed the series several months ago. The films have done really, really great, which you can’t ask for more. But something more did come along.

Frankie got sexy.

Sexy Single, that is. He is featured in the yearly reveal of Philly Sexy Singles. See his Philly.com spread HERE.

See him in action, below.

Crushing Cans and Taking Names

Panda and Big Owl

Crushing cans can be a lot of fun. I’m all for interactive games at the bar and Milkboy did not disappoint. Panda, Big Owl, and I headed out for happy hour. After ordering the Slyfox IPA, we headed over the much anticipated, “The  Crusher” hanging off the wall by the bar.

and THAT sir, made my night.

 

Philadelphia Live Arts and Fringe Fest Volunteer Extravaganza: Les Ballets de-ci de-la

Boxer Dancing

Photo Credit

Show: Les Ballets de-ci de-la

Location: The Prince Theater

Job: Usher

Primary Responsibility: Guard the elevator and pass out programs.

Outcome: I was almost taken out, run over actually, by two VERY eager attendees…..but maintained ultimate control with simple hand gestures of reassurance.

Reward: Voucher credit for a Live Arts Show and the chance to watch the movie.  I realized I still do not appreciate dance as I should. Throughout the movie, I was thinking, “What the hell….????”

Tidbits of the Night:

1. Though the film was free and it was general admission, tickets were still sold

2. Another moment of “Philly: Big City, Small Town”. I saw a few familiar faces from previous shows

Next Up: Cashing out my vouchers to go see Pig Iron’s : Twelfth Night, Or What You Will