I'm heading out tomorrow to take some pics of Cobbs Creek and was spending some time on YouTube looking for vids of Cobbs Creek. Instead of finding fishing or watershed management-related videos, I came upon a rapper who lurks around basketball courts in Cobbs Creek Park. Introducing: Cooly Cool.

When the wife and I were over in the Fairmount section of town I had a small weather station setup in the backyard. With the free time I've had on my hands during the holidays, I finally got around to setting up the weather station in the new apartment. We live on the 4th floor and this would seem to make things difficult with a temp/wind gauge/barometer, but as it turns out, I have this rather large window box right beneath the windows of the Man Room where I can situate everything (pics later).

I expected to have about 6-8 hrs of good sunlight today to explore the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge (aka “the Marsh” from now on). Unfortunately, our apartment building was struck by lightening again (lol wut) and the day was more or less ruined by a fire alarm no one knew how to turn off and the threat of another torrential storm.

Last night was one of my nights where I stay in a hotel in Reading, as I wrap up a big project. I awoke this morning, listening to Philadelphia stations, and heard there was a pretty epic thunderstorm that just had just passed through the city. I sent Kate a text message before I got on the road asking, “Did you enjoy the storm?” Her reply: “call me.”

ISO 200 speed film in cloudy late spring weather.

Due to the way projects at work went I had a bunch of used up time before my one-year anniversary that I had to use up. I had intended spend the time fishing but it mostly rained or temps remained under local fish feeding preferences. So, one particular day I found this odd grove of trees near the Mann Music center that was either a remnant of some previous landscaping, or perhaps something that wasn’t finishing or was just simply poorly executed. It just didn’t fit in the rest of the layout as one end terminiated at t raffic circle.

West Philadelphia is a section of the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Though there is no official definition of its boundaries, West Philly is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Line Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the southwest, and the SEPTA R3 Media-Elwyn line to the south.

An alternate definition includes all city land west of the Schuylkill; this would also include Southwest Philadelphia and its neighborhoods.

Content generated by ThePhillyGuy.

This was taken from the 19th floor of a building near City Hall. Its a bummer, but the youtube censors took out my Greatful Dead background song.

"Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart... don't tell me this town ain't got no heart..."

Some guy in Kensington found a really cool Stickman and Toynbee combo The top third portion seems to be an older Tonybee, the large one underneath seems to be a copycat, and the final third at the bottom appears to be a primitive early one, most likely pre-dating the top white one by a presidential term or two. The red stickman on the left is probably less than a year old.

We spent the evening at Andrea and Kieran's last night, with Ingrid and Bob, and a few neighbors. After the victory we all gathered ourselves into a mob/rabble and marched down to the Rocky Statue in front of the Art Museum. Car horns were honking and people were everywhere, running and yelling and soaking up beers. We headed back to the house and got caught up with events at 25th and Fairmount Ave.

I met Adam Lang on PhillyBlog a few years back and have since become supporter of his US House of Representatives candidicy. He's running as a Republican in a heavily Democratic district. He has an uphill battle being a Republican in his area.

Obama hit 4 locations in Philly in 6 hours this morning, including the obligatory trip to the Mayfair Diner. The first event had the doors opening at 6:15 at a Broad Street location. We got up at 7:00 this morning and got to Mayfair around 7:45, stood in a very long line and got to see Obama speak for about 20 minutes at 9:30. We were about 75 feet away from his podium. The full photo set from both Anny and I can be found here.

The company I work for advocates we perform one day of community service per yer. I chose to go on a jaunt that would have I and some co-workers working on a mural project. I got to spend most of the day doing mosaic tile work. It was the tile heart you'll see below.

Pennsylvania's 2nd Congressional Candidate Adam Lang performing at Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky's Candidates Comedy Night in Philadelphia on Aug. 19, 2008.

Hello everyone,

The previous week there was some rather big news for me. In the 2nd
Congressional race, the Republican challenger withdrew from the
election. Because of how active I am in my community and throughout
Philadelphia, I was approached by several people about the possibility
of filling the ballot vacancy for the November election. I thought it
over and I told the Republican City Committee that I was interested.

My wife went to the Septa token seller at 30th Street Station for the purpose of buying 208 tokens. They could only sell her 100 at a time. And if she needed another 108, she'd have to go to their kiosk on 15th Street.

Hey, SEPTA, you want a permanent funding source for your operations? I have an idea -- they are called customers. Look into what that means. I know you are always on the prowl looking for money for nothing, particularly from residents upstate. So, in the future, when people do want to give you money to do something -- take it. And just do what they ask.

Regarding the recent gun legislation, even though I'm a libertarian, I voted for you because I thought you were better than this.

I thought you were better than a race baiter and I thought you were better than the corrupt Street Administration.

I'm deeply disappointed so far in much of what you have been doing.

Fraud Alert from Philadelphia Sheriff John D. Green
Don’t Summon Trouble: PA’s SHERIFFS WARN PUBLIC OF FRAUD INVOLVING JURY DUTY

Pennsylvania’s sheriffs are issuing alerts urging constituents to beware of a popular identification theft scheme involving jury service.

Recently I had a debate in another forum with a person that was offended by seeing plastic toy guys in a neighborhood drug store in Philadelphia. The person was quite upset by the message this sent and was set to write a letter. Of all the ways to address gun crime in Philadelphia, this apparently was going to be their big move to reduce violence. A few words went back and forth between us and eventually I posted the following.

I spliced together some more video and came up with two more videos. There's a bit of commentary from Kate and I, as well as a lot more footage from the street.

The new mayor in Philly was finally sworn in this week. The skies cleared, birds sang, and children smiled.

This is a video my wife and I recorded over the summer.

Team owner Jeffery Lurie had put together the perfect team for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The only thing missing was a good quarterback. He had scouted all the colleges and even the Canadian and European Leagues, but he couldn't find a ringer who could ensure a Super Bowl victory.

Liz Spikol is an "editorialist" for Philadelphia Weekly. Due to the nature and quality of her writing I stopped reading her pieces about two years ago. And every once in a while I'll actually read one of her articles just to see if I still have the same degree of disdain. You know... sometimes one may acquire a taste for something if given enough time. That has yet to happen. Recently, I find she has stooped to a new low.

After doing a little sort of video documentary about the neighborhood (Brewerytown) north of where I live, I set out to learn about the history of the neighborhood. One of the first things I found out about it were details relating to the 1964 race riot that occurred in the neighborhood.