News Article #3

Thanks to Cully's eyes:

From the New York Times 10-28-05

Good Smell Perplexes New Yorkers

An unseen, sweet-smelling cloud drifted through parts of Manhattan last night. Arturo Padilla walked through it and declared that it was awesome. "it's like maple syrup. With Eggos. Or pankcakes," he said, "it's pleasant." The odor had followed Mr. Padilla and his friend along their walk in Lower Manhattan, from a dormitory on Fulton Street, to Pace University on Spruce Street, and back down again, to where they stood now, near a Dunkin' Donuts. Maybe it was from there, he said. But it wasn't. Mr. Padilla was not alone. Reports of the syrupy cloud poured in from across Manhattan after 9 p.m. Some feared that it was something sinister. There were so many calls that the city's Office of Emergency Management coordinated efforts with the Police and Fire Departments, the Coast Guard and the City Department of Environmental Protection to look into it. By 11 p.m the search had turned up nothing harmful, according to tests of the air. Reports continues to come in from as far north as 112th Street shortly before midnight. In Lower Manhattan, where the smell had begun to fade, it was back, stronger than before, by 1 a.m. "We are continuing to sample the air throughout the affected area to make sure there's nothing hazardous," said Jarrod Bernstein, an emergancy management spokesman, "What the actual cause of the smell is, we really don't know." There were conflicting accounts as to its nature. A police officer who had thrown out her French vanilla coffee earlier compared it to that. Two diplomats from the Natherlands disagreed, politely. Rieneke Buisman said it smelled like roasted peanuts. Her friend Joris Geeven said it reminded him of a Dutch cake called perkoek, though he could not describe that smell.

My Old Home

I am currently on a business trip that allows me to come to my old alma mader. UCSB or The University of California at Santa Barbara. As soon as we pulled into the city (we drove from Los Angelos) I felt immediatly at home. The people are so nice, laid back, and the town is really charming. I have a great little balcony in my hotel room watching a waterfall in the middle of a lagoon with fish swimming around that are about 2 feet in length. True, beyond the calming lagoon is the 101 freeway but there are no horns honking, no sirens, and no car alarms. So even the constant hum of cars speeding by at 65 mph is calming. Yesterday I spent the day here reconnecting to old professors of mine who after 5 years still remember me and my work here. It is nice to be remembered. It makes me feel worthwhile. I hate to have other people validate me but it does anyway. Tonight is the performance of the show and we have a few hours of work left to do before we start but other than that...I am going to the beach! Man, i miss it here. Sometimes I wonder why i have chosen the noise and speed of NYC over the wonders of Southern California.

Racist Father

After opening night of the show that I am working on we all went out to dinner. The playwright had a few friends from out of town that came out with us. I was "lucky" enough to sit next to one couple. I don't remember their names but I was sitting closer to the husband than to the wife. He and I were having pleasant small talk. he was talking about him being in NYC after a long absence and seeing the sights...those sorts of things. I was only really half listening to him until he said, "We brought our Chinese daughter with us because she has never been to NY before." that had my full attention. I asked him if he had another child as well as to differentiate between two of them. He told me that they had "their daughter" and then "their Chinese daughter". i couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth! Was he trying to impress me letting me know that he has adopted? Is going to introduce her like that all her life? At her wedding at the toast? "We are so glad that we could adopt this Chinese daughter, and we love her almost as much as our birth child" All i can say is I hope he grows out of this phase because if doesn't accept her as his own, that child is going to have a lot of issues!

another cool billboard quote

"Money can't buy love, but it can buy Marshmellos which is pretty much the same thing."

News Article #2

Metro Friday 14th, 2005

Looking for plates, but got sex line

Newark, NJ

New Jersey motorists callng a toll-free number seeking handicapped or animal-friendly license plates are getting a little more action than they expected. Instead of getting the state Motor Vehicle Commission, callers reached a phone sex operation. The mix-up happened because the MVC has the newer 888 toll-free area code, but its number was mistakenly listed with the traditional 800 code on the Web site and printed material distributed by the state Division of Disability Services. The Web Site has been corrected, but thousands have received the printed material, the Star Ledger of Newark reported yesterday.

News Article #1

From AMNY Wed 12

Squirrels on crack

Squirrels in England are getting bolder hooked on crack cocaine, hidden by addicts in gardens, reports the Sun Newspaper. Squirrels are digging up the stashes hidden by drug addicts and are eating the drug. "I'd seen a squirrel digging in the flower-beds," one Brixton resident told the Sun. "It was ill-looking and its eyes looked bloodshot, but it kept on desperately digging. It seems a strage thing to say, but it seemed to know what it was looking for."