Goodnight, you prince of 5 Point Road. You king of the black top.

As many of you know, I like to associate myself with fawns; one of my many identities.

I would like to share my grief and seek solace that the readers of this story will not make the same mistake the Google Mobile made. (It was broad daylight!)

During the process of capturing images of 5 Point Rd. in NY, Google Street View captured and snuffed out a life.

From Google's Blog: "The driver was understandably upset, and promptly stopped to alert the local police and the Street View team at Google. The deer was able to move and had left the area by the time the police arrived. The police explained to our driver that, sadly, this was not an uncommon occurrence in the region — the New York State Department of Transportation estimates that 60,000-70,000 deer collisions happen per year in New York alone — and no police report needed to be filed."

I will not go into specific details, but for more information (and last images of the fawn alive) please visit Switched. RIP

Super Simple Chicken & Portobello Pot Pie

If you're in the mood for some no fuss comfort food, search no more. I encourage you to try out this easy recipe, from ingredients to mouth in less than 60 minutes.

Chicken and Portobello Pot Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

2 grilled chicken breasts (sliced into chunks)

2 large portobello mushrooms (sliced)

12 oz/one bag frozen mixed California style vegetables

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 cup baking mix (Bisquick works)

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F

2. In a large bowl combine chicken, mushrooms, frozen vegetable and can of soup. Add salt and pepper. Mix.

3. In another medium bowl add baking mix, milk and egg. Whisk until blended smoothly, slightly thick.

4. Pour 1/3 of baking mix into base of 9" nonstick pie dish.

5. Add chicken and mushroom combo.

6. Pour remaining baking mix over chicken/mushroom combo covering as much as possible.

7. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes until baking mix is golden brown.

8. Pair with a generous glass of pinot noir (winter) or pinot grigio (summer).

9. Enjoy!

Note: Vegetarian - Substitute tofu (or add extra vegs), and cream of mushroom soup.

'The unexamined life is not worth living'

Know Thyself!

This - command, phrase, plead - may ring a bell in the dusty hollows of your mind brain. Spoken by the great Socrates and recorded by his pal Plato. Two ordinary words when combined posses much weight (if followed correctly, lightness?).

Around the same time, many miles away, Lao Tzu, a nobody, wrote Tao Te Ching. Because of the language barrier, there are more translations (and interpretations) of the Tao than of Socrates' The Apology.

The James Legge translation implores a similar philosophy to obtaining the "truth".
Chapter 33: (a particular favorite of mine)
"He who knows other men is discerning; he who knows himself is intelligent. He who overcomes others is strong; he who overcomes himself is mighty . . . "

We are told to feel empowered when we walk away from a fight or leave an unhealthy relationship. We overcame life's obstacles! good job.

It shouldn't end there.

Have we tried to overcome ourselves? Petty objects we think we need, how we feel we should look, tricks we play on our own mind brains.

I leave you how I started, with a quote, and the wish that we all see things "how they really are" -

" . . . we must behold things as they are. And having thus got rid of the foolishness of the body, we shall be pure and hold converse with the pure, and shall in our own selves have complete knowledge of the Incorruptible which is, I take it, no other than the very truth." - Socrates

Skinny Ties

My new favorite article of clothing sure to trend up a button down look is a skinny tie. In fact, I just received a surprise package in the mail today from my mom and step dad today containing 4 true vintage skinny ties! Following in fashion's own circle of life, what was once an 80s staple and then faded away has made its way back into mainstream hipster wardrobes. The most frequented look of current is a crisp white shirt, wide collar and black skinny tie. I tend to prefer the softer cotton or wool styles, but there are some nice silk ones out there too. To properly wear a skinny tie there are five rules I suggest following:

1. Width: Between 1" and 3" wide. The most common being 2.5" wide.

2. Patterns: Given the lack of real estate, patterns are not very common. Although plaid and striped can add a little extra flare.

3. Pair with: Solid colored fitted shirt for a trendy look.

4. Fit: Bottom of tie should sit about 1.5 inches above the waist. Never below the belt buckle (unless you are sitting, of course).

5. Leave top button unbuttoned for a casual, chic finish.

Britney Comeback Trail Continues...

So it seems like the Britney machine is still churning out some comeback spark. Not only did she win 3 VMAs this past year, have the #1 album in the country and two top 5 singles (Womanizer and Circus), but now her latest single is now raising controversy, “If You Seek Amy” (say it slowly…). Just another testament of this young pop star's relevance.

One can't help but recall when crazy Britney was driving around aimlessly, befriending paparazzi, shaving her head and attacking cars with an umbrella. And who could forget the gurney and subsequent 5150 hold. All of this was merely a year past, it really hasn't been that long. With an upcoming world tour ahead, a resurged fan base and grueling schedule it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Let's hope she can stay strong, be true to herself and make it through the tour and back into a more active role in her family life toward happiness.

This is Serious - Recession

Its one thing to read all the headlines regarding our difficult economic times, but it hits close to you heart when it is you, someone in your family or circle of friends who becomes impacted. In the last several months three of my good friends have all become victim to our strict economic crisis. These are real people, you and I, landscape architects, civil engineers, drafters, retail associates. It's scary. It's sad.

I consulted the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and discovered some very alarming figures. Unemployment rates in the US for December 2008 have risen to 7.2%, up from 6.8% the month prior. Even more dramatic compared to a year ago where the unemployment rate peaked at 4.8%. What's more staggering are the actual numbers of real people, you and I, who have been turned away from our jobs due to our dismal economy and weak dollar. Currently there are 11.1 million individuals unemployed in the U.S. This does not include the hidden unemployed (those who are now working part-time because that cannot find full-time employment. These people make up 8 million of our U.S. population.

As if the above data was not alarming enough, today alone the following was announced:

• The A.C.L.U. (American Civil Liberties Union) is laying off 10% of its workforce
• Williams-Sonoma is laying off 1,400 people.
• Starbucks is laying off about another 1,000 workers.
• Home Depot is closing 41 stores and laying off 7,000 workers.
• Caterpillar (the bulldozer folks) has announced that they are laying off a whopping 20,000 workers.
• Pfizer announced the purchase of Wyeth and plans to cut 8,000 jobs immediately.
• Phillips Electronics will be laying off 6,000 employees.
• Sprint will be letting go of 8,000 jobs.

That's over 52,400 people who will be losing there jobs, in just one day alone!

It really doesn't look too good out there. Nor does it appear that we are going to get any better before getting worse. We can only hope our new president will have the strength and foresight to lead us into repair.

Shoot an Iraqi

I recently finished reading Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun by Wafaa Bilal and recommend it be added to everyone's 'to read list'.

It is a quick read at 240 pages but very informative about Wafaa's creative process and childhood under Saddam's rule. He also goes into personal family stories that are socially complex and completely foreign to western readers. I also learned a lot about the Iran-Iraq War, Muslim culture, and refugee camps. Wafaa's life story alone is worth reading. After the sudden death of his brother (by US military forces) and father, Wafaa undertook a 30 art project to cope with the loss.

While camping inside an art gallery in front of an internet-controlled paintball gun, Bilal logged onto his blog everyday to interact with his audience and attempt to reach new audiences that typically wouldn't enter a gallery. His website had 'hits' from all over the world. At the end of the 30 days he had been shot at over 60,000 times.

For a better review please visit:
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2008/12/book-review-shoot-an-iraqi-art.php

Facebook is King?

Being an active user of both Facebook (more) and MySpace (less), I wondered which social networking platform truly is "king". Personally, I started out as MySpace'er hestitant to jump ship to Facebook, but within the last few months my use of Facebook has literally doubled, perhaps tripled. It has become my go-to for status updates on my own behalf, checking in on my friends around the country and photo sharing. On the contrary, I find my use of MySpace has dwindled significantly to the point of a check-in every few days (vs. my multiple logins per day in my Facebook account). In addition, and not be overlooked, Twitter is rapidly climbing the social networking ladder with considerable growth. I have yet to formulate an opinion of Twitter, one way or another. With all these channels, its difficult to keep up, let alone understand who is using what.

I consulted a few sites in online research and have found the following data:

Facebook

• 150 million people around the world (36 million in the US) are now actively using Facebook and almost half of them are using Facebook every day. Source: Mark Zuckerberg, Jan 7, 2009
• Facebook has 54.5 million monthly unique visitors, says Comscore, with a growth rate in the U.S. averaged 3.8% per month over the last year. Source, Comscore via Techncrunch, Jan 13, 2009

MySpace

• 76 million members in MySpace US alone, with a U.S. growth rate of 0.8% per month Comscore via Techncrunch, Jan 13, 2009

Twitter

• According to Compete, the growth rate for Twitter was 752%, for a total of 4.43 million unique visitors in December 2008, in the start of 2008, Twitter had only around 500,000 unique monthly visitors. Source: Mashable/Compete, Jan 9, 2009

To truly compared apples to apples, MySpace still dominated the US landscape with users but Facebook overshadows MySpace's clout with it's international audience which combined with its US market outshines the MySpace crown. At its current rate of growth, Facebook should catch up to MySpace in around four years within the US market. However, both sites report similar (worldwide) unique visitors each month at approximately 115 million.

Social networking data compiled by "Web Strategies by Jeremiah" (2009)

they can't all be winners

I spent an hour and a half making tomato roasted garlic soup and i do not like it. I got the recipie from the local City Paper who got it from a Cafe I really like.

I did not have 4 oz of cream sherry so i substituted it with 3oz water 1 oz balsamic vinegar (i love balsamic vinegar). The recipie also calls for 1 tablespoon of honey, 3 cups plum tomatos, one large spanish onion, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1 roasted garlic bulb, and 1 pint of cream.

I also reduced the cream to half a pint to make a healthier soup.

If you have not figured out what the problem is with the soup by now i will tell you. It is too sweet. Roasted garlic is sweet, honey is sweet, and reduced balsamic vinegar is sweet. I feel that if i had used sherry it would still be too sweet. The next time i make this soup (if ever) i will be halving the honey, reducing the roasted garlic and adding more sauted garlic. The cream is still up for debate.

Robyn - Handle Me

One of my favs from 2008, less mainstream than most, but worth listening to if you haven't already. If you like the original check out the Soul Seekerz Remix to really get your dance on.

Early Morning Hours

Yeah, I know... who wants to get up early, voluntarily? I can honestly say some of my most lucid moments of life have taken place between 5 and 7 AM. It's those preliminary hours where the world is silent, still and barely visible before morning light. These hours are calming and humbling yet intriguing as they set the tone for a day of unknown. I suggest setting your alarm a few numbers earlier one day soon, drag your lifeless body out of bed and absorb the tranquil surroundings before the hustle of the world consumes you. You might be surprised with the outcome.

20 - something Wasteland

I came to Pittsburgh to study Non profit management and ended up learning a lot more.
After 2 years making crepes at a small crepery in a wealthy neighborhood, I became curatorial Assistant at Wood street Galleries (woodstreetgalleries.org).

I have always loved the arts - music, theater, film, dance. Pittsburgh hosts a surprisingly large and vibrant arts community for its size and population. Im sure you all heard, Pittsburgh is one of the worst cities to meet singles, but we evaded the real estate bubble bursting!
Tonight my employer, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is hosting the downtown Gallery Crawl. All the galleries stay open until 9pm and are accompanied by festivities, alcohol and music.
In my neighborhood of East Liberty we have a smaller gallery crawl called Unblurred. I started going to Unblurred when i came to pittsburgh 4 1/2 years ago and it has been inspiring to watch the public (usually young 20 and 30 somethings - some dragging babies with them!) supporthing the growth of new art spaces. These are not all well lit, maintained galleries but an amalgam of DIY art spaces and entrepreneurs.

Pittsburgh's claim to fame is none other than, the Steelers. In 'yinzer' dialect the "STILLERS".
The cities' pride in their football team has never wavered. They continue to drink in heinz field's parking under extreme weather conditions and lost games. Pittsburgh pride is mobile. My roommate Jake watched the AFC game in Santiago Chile and was approached by other Steeler's fans! Steelers followers take their responsibility to their team seriously. Jetblue added a non stop flight from pittsburgh to tampa just for the superbowel. Tampas stadium will be flooded with a sea of black and gold. Good luck Cardinals, you're going to need it!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview08/columns/story?id=3530077

Moving West

Being the first post, I wanted to provide a little background. I moved to California in the summer of 2006 from Pennsylvania (with a brief stint in MD and FL in between). I landed in the beach community known as OB in San Diego and haven’t left since. Being in a city and beach at the same time time seemed too perfect to let slip away so I made it work and life just seemed to fall into place: great friends; descent job; beautiful weather; lots of opportunities; and self-discovery.

Well, it’s now the middle of January 2009 and I am excited to begin new adventures and have interesting stories to share on this blog - blogblastoff.blogspot.com. Since this is a co-ownership the voice and topics are likely to differ, but the end goal remains - sharing our learnings and interests.

Glad you could stop by ;)