Sunday, October 17, 2004
Escape from Exile
I headed outside the Commonwealth of VA for the weekend. We went to Savannahah, Georiga - an unexploited paradise of hedonisim. It was like New Orleaneans without the Frat Boys. We stayed at the Westin acorss the water and enjoyed the free water taxi servce to cater to our drunken asses (of course they gave out much earlier than we did). Savannah was beautiful, historic, and charming. Spanish Moss hangs from the trees and their open container laws are relaxed. Food is good and various Tapas bars serve alligaor or frog legs for 6-8$ US per sampling.
Back in VA, all is groovy. Even an 280 billion 'RICO' lawsuit can't break my stride.
Smoke up, buttercup.
xxoo
I headed outside the Commonwealth of VA for the weekend. We went to Savannahah, Georiga - an unexploited paradise of hedonisim. It was like New Orleaneans without the Frat Boys. We stayed at the Westin acorss the water and enjoyed the free water taxi servce to cater to our drunken asses (of course they gave out much earlier than we did). Savannah was beautiful, historic, and charming. Spanish Moss hangs from the trees and their open container laws are relaxed. Food is good and various Tapas bars serve alligaor or frog legs for 6-8$ US per sampling.
Back in VA, all is groovy. Even an 280 billion 'RICO' lawsuit can't break my stride.
Smoke up, buttercup.
xxoo
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Homeowner
I bought a modest row house in Richmond, Virginia (the capitol of the Confederacy, Y'all...) I live in Carytown - on the WRONG side of the tracks as all my non city dwelling colleagues enjoy pointing out.
'The Mayor', Laurence, lives next door in the attached brick structure that is the mirror image of my place. There are four homes in our little strip of rowhouses. All the houses on my block are very close together - no sprawling suburban spaciousness on our street. Laurence has lived here since 1968 and is the best neighbor possible. He watches out for everyone, works on our alley and mows the slacker's parking strips so the whole block doesn't look shitty.
On the other side is a duplex with bad grey vinyl siding. Downstairs resides 'Hambone', a good ole boy with a penchant for cheap beer. We met Hambone at around10PM one evening when we returned to the house to find him out in his front yard taking care of business with a broken push mower and what seemed to be a pretty good buzz on.
Hambone works with a construction crew and spends weeks at a time out of town, but he has a room mate called Kevin who seems to be around the neighborhood more often. I saw Kevin at the local diner not so long ago; he seemed to know everyone there. I was too busy enjoying the fried pickles to think too much about it.
The 'river boys' live upstairs from Hambone. Aaron and I forget his room mates name... Aaron's family owns the place and he is in the process of fixing up his upstairs digs while spending his summer as a river rafting guide. He is a student at VCU. These are good kids who know how to throw a party ... I missed one they invited me to but saw them out grilling and drinking beer on our sidewalk at 4AM - so they win points for stamina at the very least.
A few other musicians, including the harp player in our local symphony as well as a rock'n'roll guitarist artist live on the block too. There is another young couple - the wife (Jena
Plus, I got a great mortgage rate and Uncle Phil picked up all the closing cos
I bought a modest row house in Richmond, Virginia (the capitol of the Confederacy, Y'all...) I live in Carytown - on the WRONG side of the tracks as all my non city dwelling colleagues enjoy pointing out.
'The Mayor', Laurence, lives next door in the attached brick structure that is the mirror image of my place. There are four homes in our little strip of rowhouses. All the houses on my block are very close together - no sprawling suburban spaciousness on our street. Laurence has lived here since 1968 and is the best neighbor possible. He watches out for everyone, works on our alley and mows the slacker's parking strips so the whole block doesn't look shitty.
On the other side is a duplex with bad grey vinyl siding. Downstairs resides 'Hambone', a good ole boy with a penchant for cheap beer. We met Hambone at around
Hambone works with a construction crew and spends weeks at a time out of town, but he has a room mate called Kevin who seems to be around the neighborhood more often. I saw Kevin at the local diner not so long ago; he seemed to know everyone there. I was too busy enjoying the fried pickles to think too much about it.
The 'river boys' live upstairs from Hambone. Aaron and I forget his room mates name... Aaron's family owns the place and he is in the process of fixing up his upstairs digs while spending his summer as a river rafting guide. He is a student at VCU. These are good kids who know how to throw a party ... I missed one they invited me to but saw them out grilling and drinking beer on our sidewalk at 4AM - so they win points for stamina at the very least.
A few other musicians, including the harp player in our local symphony as well as a rock'n'roll guitarist artist live on the block too. There is another young couple - the wife (
Plus, I got a great mortgage rate and Uncle Phil picked up all the closing cos
