k.moore blog

Chi-Town Hot Dogs (Travel)

kmoore — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 20:29:39 +0000

Admittedly, my visit to Chicago in the middle of March was not the most strategic weather—wise. Wind whips in off Lake Michigan, making downtown an inescapable, eye stinging, clothes ruffleing, wind tunnel.

Regardless, I had a blast in Chi-town, having celebrated the most Irish of holidays, St. Patricks Day, the day when a pipe-fitters union dumps a fluorescent dye into the river to make it glow green. I took away several interesing pieces of information about Chicago, and perhaps sad on my part, the most interesting to me was the Chicago Hot dog.

Previously unaware of marvelous “dog” innovations the city boasts, I was taken aback by both the quantity and quality of hot dog stands, which in reality, would be considered “dives” to most patrons. When UAlbany students drunkenly stumble to their 2 a.m. noshing destinations, pizza reigns number one, and unless there is a designated driver crazy enough to cart a crew of sloppy drunks to Denny’s or a 24-hour-McDonalds, pizza is pretty much the only option.

Not in the Windy City, my friends. Many hot dog shops in Chicago are open 24—hours—a—day, seven—days—a—week. Seriously. I drove by a hot dog stand at 9 a.m. on a Sunday, coffee in hand, aghast that people could eat hot dogs at that hour. Anyway here’s the deal: A traditional Chicago hot dog has amongst other things, a whole kosher dill pickle spear and juicy tomato slices on top, and no ketchup allowed. Yup, you heard it, so if you’re a slave to that pasty, salty, tomato sludge, don’t even bother; requesting ketchup in a Chi-Town hot dog stand is an offense likely to get you laughed away.

Another key component of a great tasting Chicago Hot Dog is the order in which ingredients are layered, true, it may sound minor, but it is specifically designed to titilate taste buds, and if assembled properly, each and every bite should have a consistent flavor.

It is important to know the Chicagoan lingo to purchase a dog. Equally important is knowing what you want when you get to the head of the line. A hot dog stand is a busy atmosphere, loaded with all kinds of characters. The counter person expects you to know what you want and doesn’t want to answer your whiny questions or handle request like, “ummm…could I have extra tomatoes and onions, but no pickle.” If you don’t want something on your dog, man-up and pull it off with your fingers. Think of the Soup-Nazi episode of Seinfeld when placing your order.

Back to terminology, order a “Chicago Dog with the works,” if you want it all. “Chicago Dog” refers to an all beef one, in a streamed sesame seed bun. Preparation is key too; never boiled or grilled, but simmered in steam to 170 degrees. ”The Works” refers to everything; mustard, celery seed, tomato slices, a pickle spear, onions, and green relish. If you want to be a sissy, “naked” will get you a plain dog. To re-iterate, most stands don’t even carry ketchup, so don’t ask.

Once called “Depression Sandwiches,” Hot dog tradition in chicago began in 1929, by Abe Drexler, who created Fluky’s, which maintains two Chicago locations. The irony in all this is how excited I am. I spent three years as a vegetarian. With the exception of maybe once a year, when I’m camping and we cook hot dogs over an open fire, I liken hot dogs to cat food—disgusting. In the face of the great Chicago dog, I mowed down with great enthusiam, after a day of drinking green beer, or course. As Ron Burgundy would say, ”When in Rome.” Cheers!

Photo Galleries

kmoore — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 17:01:42 +0000

The first website I found is not typical photo gallery, and to be honest, I’m not sure if it would be considered a gallery at all. It showcases the work of a professional digital retoucher named Greg Apodaca. I thought it was really interesting how much the untouched pictures differed from the retouched pictures. Greg is not responsible for the photography, just the retouching, but I thought it was a really interesting profession.

This next one is hilarious. It is a take off on Yahoo! and is called Yooha! The homepage actually looks identical to the Yahoo! homepage. The photos in this section all make fun of our commander in chief, Dub-ya. The pictures compliment a hilarious set of captions.

This photo gallery link is from The National Geographic Online. It is a series of 10 news making pictures from 2005, and is very interesting. The most reamarkble photo for me was the 13 foot python that had essentially exploded after eating a 6 foot alligator.

Lastly, this photo gallery, by David Mailetti, contains pictures from Mardi Gras 2006. The pictures are just amazing. New Orleans is far from baing back to normal, its still pretty ravaged, actually. The spirit to rise and celebrate in a traditional way, even in the midst of despair is captivating.

In a Nation of Excess, Ideas for Conservation (business)

kmoore — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 23:36:54 +0000

I’m no environmental freak, I keep the water running when I brush my teeth and have no qualms about leaving a couple of lamps turned on when I’m not home. One more thing: I cannot sleep without the television on, I guess it is a guilty pleasure.

However, I do know, that coal is going to run out eventually, and oil too, is going to run out eventually. But before that even, the world we know may fall into a pollution induced freeze, oh yeah, an ice age. Now, I like to think that I will never have to witness these atrocities in my lifetime. Nonetheless, in researching for this entry, I did learn some valuable energy conserving tips that are good for the earth and good for my pocket. I, for once, will take some of my own advice. I hope you do the same.

A first and easy idea has to do with showering. Now, I’m not suggesting anyone eliminate bathing altogether, but, instead of sitting in a pool of your own filth in a water consuming bath, opt for a shower, which generally requires 5-15 fewer gallons of water. Better still, use low flow shower heads, just be careful about proper rinsing of hair. Seinfeld fans will know what I’m talking about.

Items like VCR’s, DVD players, televisions and gaming systems draw electricity even when they’re not being used. By unplugging these items, or better still, plugging them all into one power bar which can convieniently be switched off, both your money and electricity will be saved.

It could be presumptious, but I would venture that everyone has lived in or seen someone else who lived in an apartment/house with drafty, old windows. I live in one right now. An easy way to save some energy is to professionally weather strip the windows, or if you’re a poor college kid, just put some plastic over them for the cold months. Another good idea is to only heat the rooms being used. If you only use your bedroom to sleep in, don’t heat it all day long. Likewise in the summer; if you use air conditioning, only cool the rooms being used.

sweet discman, dude!

While technology has avanced to a point where we use batteries less in general (does anyone still have a DiscMan) its still nice to replace the throw aways with rechargable ones.

This years high costs for natural gas, propane and home heating oil have been some of, if not the higest of all time. Last October, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman announced a national campaign called “Easy Ways to Save Energy.” This campaign is brought home with a mascot called the “Energy Hog.”

My last point will transportation. Utilize your local bus system.Here in Albany, we have the CDTA, with its schedule posted online. Try to car pool with friends occasionally. Most public busses don’t cost more than a couple bucks, which, in the longer run is a huge savings on gasoline.

For more ideas on energy conservation, check any one of these hundreds of webistes.

Showboating much, Lindsey? (entertainment)

kmoore — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 03:08:34 +0000

Lindsey Jacobellis stands behind as Switzerland’s Tanja Frieden celebrates her Gold Medal Victory.

There are two sides to every story, and this one is no different. Perhaps, two opinions to every story would be a better statement. The background:

Twenty-year-old Lindsey Jacobellis is a snowboardcross champ. To name a few accomplishments, she got to ride in her first X Games at age 15, she is one of very few snowboarders who is well-rounded and skilled enough to compete in slopestyle, half-pipe and boardercross. Also, Lindsey has won gold at the X-Games three years in a row and was twice named World Champion.

Oh yeah, and she’s cute. She was called “The blonde-haired beauty with the girl-next-door personality ” by Chiff.com and is a VISA spokeswoman. Also, Jacobellis comes from a gene pool of snoboard talent as her brother, Ben Jacobellis has had a successful snowboarding career of his own. Enough said, she’s sittin’ pretty.

On February 17, Jacobellis competed in the Snowboardcross event at the XX Winter Olympics. Snowboardcross is basically a speed event in snowboarding, unlike half-pipe, it has little to do with technical tricks. It is an aggressive speed event and while intentional pushing is forbidden, it is common for competitiors to “rub” against one another and cut one another off.

Jacobellis had the gold medal going into the second to last jump of the track, she was leads against Switzerland’s Tanja Frieden, who was following her in second. Jacobellis decided to do a “backside method grab” off the second to last jump. She landed wrong, fell, and placed second in an event that she should have easily taken Gold.

So why the controversey? Jacobellis claims her grab and consequent fall was a standard move to “create stability” . Some experts claim it was an incident of blatant showboating, boasting her lead, which should have led to an easy victory.

This is frustrating. Snowboarding is a sport that is already misundersstood, a sport that cries out to the youth, a sport only lin its third Winter Olympics ever. There is no doubt a huge element of style and attitude associated with the sport. Without this style, wouldn’t be so cutting edge, riders woudn’t force themselves to learn extreme tricks. During half-pipe competitions, riders get to choose the music that they ride to and riders are encouraged, when sponsored, to create their own unique line of clothing.

However, SBX is an even not about tricks, its about speed, accuracy and direct competition. Riders are supposed to complete the 1000 meter curvy trail, scattered with huge ramps, as quickly as possible.

Jacobellis screwed up. She got caught up in the moment and busted her butt, literally. Some die-hard snowboarders would argue with me. Some would say to understand that she got caught up in an amazing moment is the whole point of snowboarding, and if you don’t understand that, then you don;t understand the sport.

I liked how Canadian SBX Bronze Medalist Dominique Maltais said it:

“You’re not supposed to grab your board…It’s not a half-pipe race, it’s just boardercross.”

Snowboarding Phenom Shaun White Wins Gold Medal (Sports)

kmoore — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 01:12:59 +0000

High atop a mountain of success this year marked by a stellar gold medal run at the Winter X-Games in January and up and coming mainstream popularity from television commericals to cameo appearances to a movie, Shaun White recieved the icing on his cake Sunday, securing a gold medal for half pipe at the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

Family and friends held their breath early on, as White placed 7th in his first qualifiying run, it looked like the pressure had gotten him. But White powered an impressive second run, landing first in qualifiers. He won the gold with a 46.8 at finals. American Danny Kass won silver with a 44.0 and Markku Koski of Finland rounded out the podium with a 41.5.

White has accomplished what most pro-boarders could only dream of accomplishing over a career—and hes only 19! White turned pro and was professionally sponsored by Burton at age 13. He now has a Burton snowboard and clothing line named “The White Collection,” and designed and named a versatile jacket called The Most Unholy Jacket Ever. He has won 6 medals at Winter X Games, 4 of them gold. In 2003 he was the youngest ever to win the US Open Slopestyle competition.

Recently, Shaun has begun to conquer the skateboarding world as well. A talented vert skater, he turned pro in 2003 and became the first athlete ever to compete in both the Summer and Winter X-Games. He took away the silver medal on vert in the competition last summer.

Jake Burton summed it up quite well:

“Shaun White is what every kid can only dream of becoming – one of the best pro snowboarders in the world and one of the talented vert skaters in recent memory. Despite his super human powers, Shaun is just an average teenager who loves to ride, skate, surf and hang out.” (Burton.com)

Alternative Press VS. Mainstream Press (US News)

kmoore — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 01:05:14 +0000

‘PEACE MOM’ CINDY BUSTED FOR CAPITOL OFFENSE

From: Post Wire Services

VERSUS

The War on T-Shirts

By John Nichols

Cindy Sheehan has openly opposed the war in Iraq since the 2003 death of her son, who was killed serving the US Army.

Sheehan attended President George W. Bush’s State of the Union Address last Tuesday, a guest of Democratic Representative Lynn Woolsey. Sheehan wore a t-shirt that read “2245 dead. How many more?” and was arrested for unlawful conduct as a result.

The two above headlines are from The New York Post and The Nation, respectively, and sharply contrast one another. Nation is notoriously Liberal and takes humorous jabs at politicians, politics, and, in yesterdays on-line issue featured headlines: “Lies about Blow Jobs, Bad. Wars? Not so Much.” and “I Dreamt That George W. Bush adopted James Frey’s 3-step Program—Denial, Larry King and Oprah—To Get The Truth About the War In Iraq.” Close your eyes and you can almost hear Jon Stewart.

The Post is more conservative and Republican as far as politics are concerned, but generally aims its main focus on sensationally sexy stories and entertainment news.In the past week front pages of the Post have included hotel heiress Paris Hilton and the mishandling of her personal items, and rapper busta rhymes and his slain bodyguard.

This is no different from other comparisons between Republican/Democrat, Conservative/Liberal, and Mainstream/Alternative print news. The Post mocks Sheehan in its very headline with “Peace Mom,” where as Nation mocks her getting kicked out over a t-shirt, or her freedom of speech, in its headline.

When searching the Nation website for the Sheehan story, I found it easily, tucked into the first page, next to reactions on the Address, in which Bush was called by his most affectionate pet-name, the one that always gets a laugh, oh yeah, “Bushy.” In Post, a Sheehan article was two links away, and did take a bit of searching.

In explaining Sheehan’s exit, Nation said “the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq was dragged from a gallery overlooking the House chamber where Bush would speak, handcuffed and arrested for the “crime” of wearing a T-shirt,” which clearly villianizes the incident, simply with the use of the words “dragged,” and “mother of a dead soldier.” In describing the same scene, the Post wrote, “(Sheehan) was taken away in handcuffs and charged with unlawful conduct,” a comparitivly peaceful ejection.

Interestingly, Beverly Young, the wife of an 18 term Republican Representative, also attending the President’s address, wore a t-shirt which read “Support Our Troops,” and while she was forced to leave the Address, she was not arrested, which was given press in the Nation version but not the Post.

Post referred to Sheehan’s shirt as an “anti-war slogan,” and failed to include the flip side about Beverly Young’s shirt and her brash exit, in which she called one of the officers’ an “idiot.”

The mother of a dead soldier spoke out against the war was arrested. Is this not America? What happened to freedom of speech? Would I be arrested if I wore a shirt that said “God sucks.” And if you were going to compare Sheehan to Young, they were both displaying opinions, which is completely legal. Cindy Sheehan’s charges of unlawful conduct were dropped the next day.

Drinking for Two? (health)

kmoore — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 22:33:39 +0000

Like thousands (maybe millions) of college students, I make my meek living in the restaraunt/bar business. With the sale of booze comes some amount of personal responsibility; cutting people off when they’re too intoxicated, calling a person a cab when necessary, suggesting water in addition to a fifth scotch on the rocks.

Last weekend, with a packed bar, I served a lovely couple. She a mixed drink, he a beer. Half an hour later, a co-worker served the lovely couple a second round. Around this time, I left the bar and on my stroll back noticed that the lovely woman was had a lovely bulge, or rather, basketball sized stomach. She was pregnant.

While it once was, and still is a commonly held beleif that drinking moderately during pregnancy is ok (one glass of wine won’t hurt); research has proven this a fallacy. The CDC released a report that stated alcohol consumption during pregnancy really isn’t okay, period. The ever health conscious discovery channel says that even one drink a day can cause a child to have developmental problems.

In the end, we hoped she’d stop ordering cocktails, she didn’t, so we cut her off. Jack and coke…why not just bring your own jug of moonshine next time?