so when i watched the acceptance speech by Obama in Chicago and saw the million or so people in the park, i thought to myself "there are going to be some great parties after that" and kicked myself a little, since Chicago's an easy drive, i got peeps there to crash, and why the hell am i not there to play with my fellow Americans when they are all in such a good mood?!? made a mental note, a deal with myself, and, when he won, got a ride through Craigslist (which is an amazing story all unto itself) and went forth. transportation the day of was a mess, so we headed from Baltimore with a stocked backpacks the day before and miraculously caught the calm before the storm. no lines, no security craziness, normal crowds, easy walking. right up to the steps of the White house. and bonus- surprisingly enough, the outdoor ice scating rink in the square (where in a few hours there would be millions of folks) was open for the last night before closing for the next few days due to the inauguration masses. so of course we skated.

howling dogs at the first catholic Church in the New World. in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. the moon, or dogs for that matter, are not the first images necessarily associated with Catholicism, but whatever. the little room-for-let above the cafe had a patio which looked out onto the square facing this church. these are not places you find online. sometimes a pocket few of very few pesos reaps you rewards for taking the course less followed... and those rewards yeild you a balcony, a bottle of 8peso rum, fresh squeezed juices from downstairs.......

tornado

so there's a tornado coming to town. this, of course, is a great time to hop on the mountainbikes (and dont forget the backpacks packed with cold beer.) and ride many miles to a bar. and a street festival. and then another bar. at this point the wind is so strong that the metal chairs on the patio are blowing over. then head to another bar for food (important to find one that still has power at this point) and on the way, pause and marvel at a group of people attempting to walk down the street without losing sundresses to the winds. unsuccessfully. then toward home, pausing in the pic above to play with downed electrical lines sparking in the street - with CAUTION tape uselessly flapping about. collect a mounted largemouth bass from the office building which the glass and aluminum modern framwork has blown out into the street - the paperwork from the desk blowing out into the city, the largemouth bass you were so proud of now strapped to the backpack of a drunken wanderer... only to ride through another section of power-outed (which incidentally lasted for many days) hood, to randomly join a porch-tornado-watching fest (and with no electricity to keep those beers cold, better to put them into our backpacks where they'll go to good use) and back then, into the storm, riding at a 33degree angle against the gale winds...

oh. do i have this much typing in me? ugh. this is at a swapmeet in Ohio, where, they have extraordinary dog races. to the right of the figure above is a pack of hound dogs. the real thing. they are swimming across this pond chasing... please recall the bugs bunny episode where the dogs are chasing the mechanical bunny around the track... chasing the home-made-with-pvc-pipe contraption in the fellow's hands... mounted atop is a small wire cage holding the most phenominally freightened stiff live young wet raccoon. as the dogs come ashore, this dude guides the pvc sled-boat up the telephone pole, whereupon the dogs leap up the pole at said raccoon, baying and barking (in exactly the manner that turns your heart cold if you happen to have recently escaped from a maximum security prison) at the now 10' tall vertical racoon cage. the owners collect their dogs, the winner collects their cash (naturally we were betting cash money on this spectacle) and the 'coonbait' is motored bach across the pond to await the next exciting race. and there were many races. if there is Karma, and you end up as this raccoon, you have so fucked up in such an amazing way that you are experiencing hell in your own particular spectacular way just for you.

really bad tattoo

im not really sure where this guy came from, but it was outside the tattoo convention in Sao Paulo Brazil. we had stopped on the Street for some amazing adfood which was everywhere in Brazil. I think this time it was grilled chicken hearts and caiparena coctails made from the back of a minivan. anyways, there are numerous conspicuously tattooed folks around, and this guy, who had had a few, volunteered up what he even told us would be a bad tattoo... the grilled chicken hearts were amazing. this, i believe, was the beginning of a long and amazing night on the town in Brazil.

craigslist

i use Craigslist. there has never been a time when a tenant has moved out of a place and not left something behind. from the small and odd things like four random jack daniels coolers in the fridge, to a house full of furniture - with the sheets and pillowcases still on the bed. so, since storage of unwanted crap is ridiculous, craigslist becomes a sales and donation site to deal with the excess. recently somew tenants moved to seattle and left behind everything. cups, plates, the aforementioned sheets, the above chair, pots, pans, brita filter, frozen pizza.... still nothing compared to the evicted church, or the arrested substance dealer with dogblood residue from the swat team entry. but those are stories for other pictures.