Hip Young Things

When I made the choice to move to vancouver island , it was a decision I based on two people who had influence my life. The first person, was my father. He was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. I had been there once, or so I was told as I was too young to remember it. But the way that he spoke about the Pacific Northwest…in the middle of a summer in Phoenix, just made me wish that I was there.

There are many beautiful cities in Canada to consider moving to toronto , Montreal, Ottawa…but I wanted Vancouver. The second person, who played a role, in seconding my opinion, was an artist who owned a house on the island. I had seen her photographs of ship yards, of the long white masts pointing to the blue and grays of the sky, all the while back-dropped by the mountains and water…both of which were equally blue and gray. I listened to her stories of nights spent having a bit of wine and talking with the locals. I thought about this and knew that I was kind of over, for the time being, the reds and oranges and the white hot heat of the Arizona desert. I needed something completely different.

I needed a new apartment , I needed new air to breath, and I needed new things to see. See, I’m a painter too, and what we see every day, for some reason, affects how we feel every day. Like picasso in his blue period , I was needing some blue. And I wanted to be in a town, where the locals actually talked with one another. A place where sending a text about having coffee, seemed a ridiculous alternative to just having coffee. It is a very good thing, to take oneself out of the day to day, familiar environment from time to time. To see not only what you discover, but what in turn…just happens to discover you.

There have been many things transformed by the information age, but none of them so much so as the map. Having gone from a handmade drawing of what could be seen in the surrounding area to a digital representation of the world, the map has changed completely. It used to be that if you wanted a map of the world, you had to resort to an inaccurate map created by human drawing skills and the people who came before them. This lead to many different types of maps even after we figured out the general shape and size of most bodies of land and sea. These different types of maps range in many ways and not all are equally accurate. The map we see used most often is the Mercator projection map . This map makes the poles look larger, stretching them out, and makes the equator look smaller, shrinking it. This means that countries such as Greenland look as large as countries like China, although China is four times as large as Greenland . For many people this is a problem that must be fixed. The map was never made to be accurate in size, it was only meant to make longitude and latitude straight so as to make it easier to plan trips by sea. In the end this is one of the many things that has become obsolete with the invention of the internet and the tools we put on it. One of these tools is map service sites, the best known of which is Google maps. You no longer need to worry about trying to make it more or less accurate on a scale when you can now digitally just spin the world globe and look at the world as a whole. This is a different way of being able to interact with the map too as several people can all be looking at the same map and have different markers in the map without interrupting anyone else. People can also turn the map in ways they couldn’t before without distorting the essential nature of the map. This includes adding and subtracting things from the map as necessary. You can also look either at a state map or a usa map without having to change out what you are looking at. Overall I would say this has changed not just because of technology change but because of a shift in our perceptions and our needs. Like the Mercator projection map is no longer viable because people don’t need maps for that purpose anymore, the paper map in general is running in that direction as well.

Centuries ago, in marshland territory, Dutch and free African settlers in the 1700s, cleared the area and created a pasture, naming it Noortwyck.  The English arrived and conquered the settlement, now known as New Netherland in 1664, and after that became a hamlet distinct from New York City to the South.  It officially became a village in 1712, and then referred to the following year as Grin’wich, and so the famous site of Greenwich Village in New York became a reality  two hundred and ninety-seven years ago.  It grew in size, in 1822, when an epidemic of yellow fever hit New York and citizens fled to the better air of Greenwich Village.  Today, the Village serves as a landmark of Bohemian culture, and a central area for new ideas and movements of all kinds, including politics, art, and culture.  Once the 20th Century began, it was the home of experimental theater and art galleries and small presses.  Today, you’ll find one of the largest legacies in this small area, the Whitney Museum of American Art.

You’ll also find the Cherry Lane Theatre, begun in 1924.  This is the Big Apple’s oldest and continuously operating off-Broadway theater.  It was originally a farm silo in 1817, then a tobacco warehouse, and a box factory.  Then Edna St. Vincent Millay and members of the Provincetown Players transformed the structure in to the Cherry Lane with the play The Man Who Ate the Popomack.   This was a vital company in the 1950s, developing the Theatre of the Absurd and The Living Theater.  It became known as a place where aspiring playwrights could perform their work.

Currently, until March 14th of this year, you can see Extinction by Gabe McKinley, starring two TV stars, James Roday of Psych, and Michael Weston of House and Six Feet Under.  The play is a dark comedy about friendships and what happens when they’re about to become extinct. You may want to stay near these places, so look for these  small hotels in Greenwich Village and New York.  You’ll find these accommodations offer a great deal of charm and character and even architecture.  Stay close to the places you want to see, and do it with the comfort and service that fits you best.

Cape May holds a special place in many different hearts, and when you come here to visit, it will enter your heart, too.  There is so many wonderful things about Cape May that it’s sometimes dizzying to think how so much beauty can exist in one place.  There are plenty of things that would recommend a Cape May hotel and not all of them are based simply on the place.  There is a hospitality that comes naturally to a place like this.  Life close to water simply does something wonderful to a person, where the rhythms of nature start to take over everything.

It’s no surprise, then, that Cape May has so many local authors writing nature guides to the Cape.  After just a few moments here, you’ll see how the presence of nature is splendidly overwhelming.  It certainly helps to have so much shoreline to daydream on, and the constant sound of the surf reminding us of what’s really important.  The rhythms of the sea are our own rhythms, after all, and the mysteries of the ocean are always right here.  A look at the watercolor work of Patricia Rainey can help to give just a sample of the natural views that await you.

Paul Kerlinger is another local who’s been enraptured by the wonders of nature here, and he’s been keeping a watchful eye on the incredible birds that can be seen here.  They change with the months, although some of them are always nearby.  Seabirds, egrets, and owls are just a few of the critters that you might catch a glimpse of while you’re visiting.  There’s so much more in store, and every visit will provide new glimpses into the wonders of the world, making this a very enviable spot to spend some time getting in touch with nature.

The Ogunquit Museum of American Art is a small gallery space that is also the only museum in the state of Maine that is devoted soley to American art. The museum was founded in 1953 by Henry Strater who designated Charles S. Worley Jr. as the primary architect for the building in which the museum is housed. Since its original establishment the building has gone through many renovations and adjustments though the intention of the museum remains strong and the permanent collection continues to grow. At present, the permanent collection includes over 1600 pieces. The museum is open in the summer months, which coincides with the main tourist season and this is great news for the guests in the Ogunquit hotels who enjoy great art with their great vacation.

Among the artists that are included in the permanent collection is the New York born Steve Hawley. He was born in Brooklyn in 1950 and studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where he received his diploma and also his graduate diploma. After graduating he began instructing at the school as well as at Tufts University in Medford, MA. Hawley has received a great deal of critical recognition and positive viewer response. He has been featured in articles that have appeared in American Art Now, Weekend Art World and the New York Times among many other magazines and news papers. Some of the galleries that are currently featuring his work include the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, The Arkansas Art Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Portland Museum of Art and of course the Ogunquit Museum. Since the museum is located on three acres of land right on the coastline of Maine, it stands to reason that an afternoon there would be the perfect compliment to any summer afternoon.

I am always behind on entertainment and after more than ten years, I am finally watching the West Wing. I had never really thought I would like the show much and only started watching it when I friend I trust told me I should. I particularly like the writing for many of the characters.

In the episode I just watched it was season two and once again it was what they refer to as “Big Block of Cheese Day.” A day on which people who would normally never get to meet with high level White House staffers are allowed to discuss their issues with the people who have the President’s ear. This always leads to situations like what happened when the Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality talks to C.J. They are there to tell her that the president should support legislation that makes every school use a specific map that will promote Social Equality better and show the true size of each country. This wouldn’t have been as funny to me if it wasn’t for the part where they flip the map of the world upside down. She tries to protest that you can’t just do that, and when asked why not, this usually composed staff member tells them that it’s freaking her out.

It is writing like this that makes me want to just grab a United States map and travel to Hollywood. I would love to be able to see some of these scripts as they are being put together. For me it is not the actors who become my heroes in shows like this, it is the great team of people behind the scenes that give the actors something to bring to life. I would love to be able to meet with some of them and find out where they get their ideas from and how they manage to find all the right words. That is something that really gives a show like this an extra spark.

Starting with a big McDonald’s attack, we continued our tour of Singapore. We rode the MTR subway and found our way to the Raffles City Mall. We were hoping that this place has something to do with the Raffles hotel, but apparently, there are many places with the Raffle name that have nothing to do with the hotel establishment. We read about the restaurant located at the Raffles hotel at this page: www.singaporerestaurant.com on the Internet, the restaurant is supposed to be top notch called the Long Bar.

A nice man sorted it out for us and suggested we hop back on the train. I’ve been to Singapore once before, and as we approached the MRT, things started coming back to me, started looking familiar, so we decided to take a leisure walk. We saw the remnants of the Singapore Grand Prix, that apparently ended last night. We came to the Raffles City Mall and found another restaurant that was also recommend from the webpage called Din Tai Fung, it’s a dumplings restaurant. I remember eating here and I remember just how heavenly the dumplings are, especially the steamed pork soup dumplings.

After our dumpling feast, we hit another of the recommendation from that restaurant site, the Donut Factory. This is where my glutenous side come out, they had a special on a dozen donuts because of the Grand Prix, so we bought a dozen, after we ate two donuts each, to take back to our hotel room. We had an early morning flight the next day, so we new we had to stuff all the donuts down by tonight. The woman at the counter told us that we should first eat the 4Cs donuts, because of the ingredients: coconut, chocolate, cream and corn. She told us the rest of the donuts would be fine to eat the next day. I’m glad she told us this, because when we got back to our hotel room, we ate the 4Cs, which was a good majority of the donuts. We were completely decadent. We love Singapore.

Orlando is a fascinating city, and it’s truly a box of surprises.  There are times when it seems as though culture has decided to take a long nap, and things come to a grinding halt.  In moments, however, something new starts up, and it’s livelier, wilder, and hotter than anything that had ever come before.  It moves at a snail’s pace until you’re sure that it’s moving backwards, and then it turns into the mad hare, and darts ahead to prove to everyone who’s paying attention that the world is shifting in sudden, frantic directions.  It’s always a pleasure fest, though, for tourists, where Florida’s famous for its fantastic luxury hotels that offer a constant source of gorgeous distractions.

If your tastes are for simply getting away from it all and holing up for awhile with the one you love, you may not even notice the cultural waves crashing around you, but if you are interested in the speed of culture, and the velocity of a dream, then you might want to look into timing your trip to coincide with the Fiesta Medina.

This event has been going on for over two decades.  It’s a Latin-themed musical fest, that lasts for 8-10 hours or more.  The admission is traditionally very reasonable, so people can bring the whole family, and this is a very exciting way to get involved in the local community, and also see what’s interesting and innovative musically.  Hiphop and salsa are always big, and reggaeton is going to be well-represented this year for sure.  If your trip doesn’t coincide here, check out this site, because they have a good eye and ear for local Latino culture.  They sponsor many different events throughout the year, and they have broad commercial appeal, but also might be a bit off some of the tourist maps.

Whether or not you maintain your vehicles tires, there will come a time when they simply need to be replaced. One thing that many people may not be aware of, is that tires that are not even being used, will need to be replaced if they have been stored for too long. Just because the vintage wheels of your Grandfather’s Model “T” may not have hit the road for a number of years, does not mean that the tires may not need to be changed. If a tire is stored for a long time, the rubber and the other components just begin to break down.

Environmental conditions play a huge role, as tires stored in dry, hot climates will break down at an even faster rate. Nitto tires are some of the highest rated tires in the industry as far as quality is concerned, but if they are not used within ten years of the date of manufacture–if any tire is not used within that time period, they will most likely not be safe to use. Now, for tires that are used on a regular basis, it is a great idea to inspect them regularly.

Even if you have them regularly rotated and balanced, be sure to take the time to look over the tread and to check for miscellaneous damage. The tread should not get below 1/16th of an inch. You can either measure this with a ruler or use the simple “penny test” to get a good idea if your tread is still in fine shape. Once the tread is worn, they must be replaced. Some tires have “wear indicators” built into. These are great as you simply look at them, they will be the smoother strips of rubber running perpendicular to the tire face. When they are gone…time to buy new tires.

Tire tread will wear based on how much you drive your vehicle, the kind of terrain you are driving on regularly and the environmental conditions in which you live. Obviously, you will not get as many miles out of the tires if you are constantly driving on rough or rocky terrain. And tires that are exposed to extreme temperature differences will wear and need to be replaced more often as well. When it is time to buy new tires, find a discount tire company or check online for deals, because this is one car “fix it” that should never be put off until later.

I’ve landed in New York City exactly once, and flown over the city twice.  The landing was to change planes at JFK, the fly-over was during a trip to Connecticut.  So I can say I’ve seen New York, but I can’t say I’ve ever been there, and I believe most people would heartily agree with that statement.  It’s a place I’d like to go, to have a chance to walk in Central Park, or to see theatre on Broadway (and Off-Broadway), and to visit some of the planet’s great museums.  Somehow, I’ve managed to make it to some surprising cities (including Leningrad, when it was Leningrad and not St. Petersburg).  When I do, I’m going to find a little place to stay for about ten days and see the city right.  Sure, I’ll go to the Empire State Building or to the Top of the Rock at 30 Rockefeller Center, and I’m sure I’ll take one of those five hour ferry rides around the Statue of Liberty, and even go inside the Statue of Liberty, but what I’ll really be looking for are those small museums that most out-of-towners aren’t familiar with, such as the Frick Collection.

This collection, kept inside the Frick mansion, houses decorative arts and European paintings.  This museum is a museum that doesn’t feel like one, it’s more of a private home, and the building itself is an art work.  Its courtyard and stone building takes up a city block; the rooms inside are painted like a Renaissance fresco, and nearly every bit of furniture you’ll see inside comes from the 1500s, over four hundred years ago.  The most recent art work you’ll find comes from the 1880s; that is, French Impressionism.  The rest is from the century before that, and one particular piece is about seven hundred years old.

For now, I can only take a tour of the collection virtually, but at some point, I’m going to land in New York and actually stay for a few days.