(A follow up to (e:heidi,50116) and (e:heidi,50510) )

I'm sorry I can't do some nifty (e:video) trick, but here's some interesting news coverage of my town and our successful effort to save our high school (and you get to see Jill):
Such a cute little town! I'm tickled by the video images.

NYS has a moratorium of sorts on drilling in the Marcellus Shale natural gas formation, but PA doesn't. I find it really interesting that the headline for the Syracuse-based News Ten Now Time Warner Cable channel is about how great the gas drilling is for our area, but this article in the Elmira (NY) Star Gazette doesn't mention gas at all: Since I don't watch local news and only follow the loudest NYS news, I don't know what the current media landscape looks like wrt to the Marcellus Shale gas play in NY but this looks like a political point about how it could be benefiting small NY towns if only the gas companies were allowed to drill.

This article in the Williamsport (PA) Sun Gazette has a more balanced approach that mentions the impact gas well drilling is having/going to have on school enrollment yet also shows some of the work the community put into saving the school.

The best article is from our weekly county newspaper but they don't web publish all their content, just article teasers:

I've been working on this project since mid-October and it's been eating gobs of time & energy. I wasn't expecting a vote until Feb. 8 - when I wouldn't have been able to attend the meeting - so I'm happy that I got to be there and that my campaign plan was so successful, but it feels weird to have had a plan that doesn't need to be followed through on because we won! early!

Two well-publicized homophobic attacks occurred on New Years. Others go unreported or under-reported far too often.

Enough is enough. We are encouraging as many as possible to rally at Days Park on Friday, January 15 at 7 PM to take back our city from bigots.



We will then march down the sidewalk of Allen Street to Main Street at about 7:15 to 7:30.

If you are able, please bring candles, and if you are also willing, please wear rainbow and/or hot pink items. We want to be as noticeable as possible.

Flyer, feel free to print off and post:

More details will come soon.



If anyone is interested in joining a neighborhood watch for Allentown, please join this group:

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I woke up this morning sandwiched between a fat black cat and a little grey
poodle. Cuddling luxury! She's cold from our adventures this afternoon, so I
left her coat on.

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I woke up this morning sandwiched between a fat black cat and a little grey poodle. Cuddling luxury! She's cold from our adventures this afternoon, so I left her coat on.

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Thank you, (e:tinypliny), for making cookies and biscuits with me! And thank you for the beautiful vest.

We made the lace cookies from (e:jenks,50610) as well as these biscotti-like speculoos that I didn't like but many others did - the plate was almost empty. And we made my and (e:jim)'s fav molasses crinkle cookies (e:heidi,48165).

Thank you, (e:pmt), for hosting yet another awesome party! It was so cool to finally meet (e:leetee), (e:uncutsaniflush) & (e:himay). Alisha teaching (e:tinypliny) to salsa and meringue was so cute.

I hope everyone has a fun-filled, goal-achieving 2010!


(e:tinypliny)'s new userpic:

I had a wonderful time in Maryland visiting my bff M*'s family. M* lives in Raleigh (and attends law school there) and her mom's house is halfway. I drove down Tuesday and spent a little time in Columbia, a planned community built by James Rouse in the '60s. It's a shining example of corporatism (gov't of/by/for corporations), suburbanist car culture, and consumerism. I would love to see a comparison/critique of Rouse and Robert Moses (the I-190 & Robert Moses Parkway guy) and how their planning philosophies relate to current localist, independent, green, higher density, transit-oriented planning (yea Buffalo First!). (Must take at least one urban planning course before leaving school!)

Until I read the wikipedia entry about James Rouse I didn't realize he was the planner of Boston's Faneuil Hall Marketplace. I knew he designed Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Both these places are used as "good models" for promoting the current plan for the Erie Canal Harbor/waterfront development in Buffalo that uses Bass Pro as an anchor store for an "urban theme park." Benderson, the proposed developer for the waterfront, creates suburban strip malls. I have been questioning the wisdom of the waterfront plan, but being in Columbia again gave it a whole 'nother layer of questioning. (For one critique of the waterfront plan: )

I stopped in Columbia because it has Daedalus Books, my fav bookstore ever Lots of academic press books for $5 or less. Yum yum! I picked up a hardback of Octavia Butler's Fledgling for M*. I also love Akbar a pretty standard Indian restaurant just a half mile (and 20 minutes of driving thanks to INSANE traffic) away. I find it interesting that Indian restaurants are rather homogenized. Akbar's food is very similar to that of India Gate on Elmwood, Passage to India in Harrisburg, Pangea in the Poconos, and a couple other Indian restaurants that I've been to and can't remember the names of. Is there an Indian-restaurant supply company? Anyway, the manager recognized me, even though I haven't lived there since 2003! I have stopped in during most of my MD/DC trips since then, so I'm not -that- surprised, but I was definitely pleased.

My phone is broken - I also stopped at a Verizon kiosk at a BJs, another half-mile, 20-minute drive up Snowden River Parkway in Columbia to try to get it fixed. The kiosk guy made me call a service line, CSR1 transferred me to CSR2 who decided it was the battery. Although my magic-pixie-dust electronics sense says it's the phone, I allowed him to send me a new battery, "We'll FedEx overnight it! You'll have it tomorrow!" Ha ha. I gave them M*'s mom's address and of course it didn't show up Wednesday, nor Thursday, nor Saturday. So here I am in Pennsylvania with a phone that only works when plugged in, and not even continuously when plugged in, but the battery is probably going to show up at M*'s mom's tomorrow and I'll need to get my hands on it before I'm able to continue the troubleshooting process. *sigh* travel is difficult.

M* loved the gourd (see last post for pix) and book; her mom loved the three gourd ornaments (who knew you could find brown Santas in Tioga County?!?); we played lots of Wii (I'm getting *good* at the table tennis and archery of the new Resort Sports); we drank a lot of Ketel One Citroen, mango rum, lemonade & grenadine; I had wonderful conversations with M's family & fun bunch friends. I'm so glad I went, although I'm sad about missing xmas with A's family. I spent some very pleasant/bittersweet time there tonight, though.

M*'s mom gave me a quesadilla making machine! How neat. I make quesadillas all the time - hopefully this will make it even easier. Jill & Kelly got me one of those nifty Keurig single-serve coffee machines with a whole box of hot chocolate cups. Appliances!

(2nd post)

To follow up on (e:tinypliny,50598) here are some of the gifts I'm giving this year...

An amazing gourd by Valorie West, Gourds Galore, Mansfield, Pa.


A pine tree in a chimney


More of Valorie's gourds


Some handmade soap by Splat Cat Crafts, Blossburg, Pa. (lard! yum!)


A balsam 'n cedar candle by Frosty Hollow Candles, Blossburg, Pa. (no photo)

Some Carhartt gear, a fishing license gift certificate, a couple pizza shop gift certificates, and doggie treats.

(Luckily no one who will be receiving these gifts reads this!)

Here are the winners of the 2009 Light Up the Holidays contest in the five rather random categories. Sorry, only properties within the borough are eligible :-)

Most Christmas Spirit


Modern


(detail)


Whimsical


Best Business Display


Best overall/Victorian


And my favorite that didn't win - I just couldn't persuade Jill & Kelly on this, but I love it.

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Yummy cookies!

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Yummy cookies!

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Yea!!! I'm done!!! I am school-free for 6.5 weeks! Yippeee!

(e:mrmike,50589) reminded me of another failblog xmas lights photo that I think is hysterical and not at all a fail. Why is it a fail? I judge the xmas lights contest in Bloss ( appropriate for an atheist anti-xmas curmudgeon, don't ya think?) and if this was an entry it would totally win a prize. And it's much funnier than the santa peeing off the roof.




Happy birthday, (e:hodown)!