So many amazing things are simultaneously transpiring that the last newsletter could scarcely contain the burgeoning cornucopia of occurrences! Well, that’s not really true. The only reason I’m sending this addendum now is because an item or two are time sensitive. But come on, you gotta love hyperbole.
Desiree’ Weaver needs to find lodging in Metro West Boston, and quickly. She has a small dog, would like to live within a half-hour drive of Framingham, and would prefer to be near a T or commuter rail line. She’s looking for a year lease if possible. If you have any leads in this area, please contact her ASAP at: dactylicbinkie@gmail.com. (Note to enthusiastic realtors: No, she can’t afford the $3.5 million McMansion that your sellers are desperately trying to dump for $2.9 million.)
Heather Gillis also needs lodging, only she requires it in September and in Seattle. She’ll be attending the University of Washington and would like to live in the U District or Ravenna, but anywhere convenient to UW would work. Actually, I could probably house her in my tenement if it wasn’t already filled with drug dealers renters. Contact Heather at: heather_gillis@hotmail.com.
Many of you have asked to see pictures of recent Fitpacking trips (where much like in Hottentot society, many = 3). Here are some links to the April Great Smoky Mountains Trip and two links to the May Shenandoah National Park Trip:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=16gnqgjx.5qm1qjxx&Uy=t5fpad&Ux=0&UV=969057418617_430318255605
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=16gnqgjx.2aw1pfqt&Uy=-sftdsq&Ux=0&UV=176296355406_740318255605
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=bbnvfqwl.5uc4k77p&Uy=-pp718&Ux=1&UV=674962905976_450318255605
If you have friends you think might benefit from Fitpacking (“Say, it looks like you could stand to lose some weight!”) please refer them here: http://www.fitpacking.com).
On another note, for those who are impressed by minor culinary successes, I am now a Certified Food Handler / Food Safety Manager by the American Food Safety Institute and the National Registry of Food Safety Professionals. This is the type of utter non-event that your average loser-guy would use to his advantage to try to impress, and ultimately pick up women – often with great success I might add. If only I were that smooth…
If you are feeling altruistic and don’t mind some passive advertising, your click below will provide 1/45,000 of a free mammogram to an underprivileged woman. http://www.thebreastcancersite.com. You can click once per day.
Hey hippies! If you want to throw away your unlimited career potential and receive meager pay to work on some wild haired backpacking venture, the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail needs you. They are hiring a New Mexico Regional Coordinator whose responsibilities include, well, just about everything. Detailed information can be found here: http://www.cdtrail.org/page.php?pname=cdta/jobs/permanent
And big news for Tina Aitala Engblom. She is due to deliver a baby in 3 weeks. Hopefully, the new addition will not materially affect her work on http://www.pathwaystofamilywellness.org.
Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to deconstruct and try to understand a phrase whose appeal completely escapes me. “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”.
I just don’t get who finds this phrase alluring. If I understand its nuances correctly, the primary appeal of the slogan is the secrecy of your actions. This means that Vegas recognizes and is trying to tap into some unquenchable obsession you have of doing shameful things that you would like to keep secret from your business associates, friends and family. While we’ve all done things we’re not all that proud of at one time or another, the premeditated nature of planning an entire vacation around your unsavory acts seems bizarre to me.
As one who is not really all that keyed in to the world of vice (translation: dull nerd) , I’m not sure exactly what types of things “happen” in Vegas that need to stay there, but I immediately dismiss illegal acts like murder and drugs, which I cannot imagine they condone. I speculate that the happenings mainly involve either infidelity, getting highly inebriated, anonymous intimacy with complete strangers, or some combination of the above. I am not so naïve as to overlook the fact that these popular actions are cherished institutions and sacred American freedoms.
But this is where cognitive dissonance kicks in. Why would you go all the way to Las Vegas to find a stranger for companionship (who I guess also came to Vegas for the exact same reason)? Why the secrecy? If you’re predisposed to doing certain things, then just do them. If you enjoy becoming intimate with complete strangers that you’ve only known for an hour or two (no one can accuse YOU of being xenophobic!) why must it stay in Vegas?
Walk with your head high! Be proud that someone found you amazing enough to share themselves with you at the drop of a hat! It shows just how special you are to the other person and illustrates how truly special it must be to be with you. So I wonder, why should something so incredible stay in Vegas?
And now you finally understand why whenever I feel like cross-dressing, I make sure to do it in public, perhaps around town or at your house party.
Remember that this message is mirrored on the blog: http://stevesmildlyinformativestuff.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
June Ramblings
Of all possible Mildly Informative news items I have, the mildest by far is that Steve’s Mildly Informative Stuff is now a blog. That doesn’t mean I’m going to abandon the current crude method of disseminating obtuse drivel and forcibly subjecting your inbox to it, oh no, no, no! It just means that those of you who have been clamoring to comment upon the minutiae I proffer herein can now submit your own Mildly Informative Comments to the blog. Details here: http://stevesmildlyinformativestuff.blogspot.com/.
I just returned from a 2-week Fitpacking Trip to Shenandoah National Park in VA. It was incredible not only because of the surfeit of sweeping views and excessive panoply of wildflowers, but because our crew was comprised of decent human beings with great spirits. If you’ve never been, the hiking is excellent and so are the blackberry milkshakes at the waysides. Photos forthcoming.
And if you’ve spend the last few months jonesing for pictures of the April Great Smoky Mountains Trip, you can view a slideshow of Desiree’s pictures here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=16gnqgjx.5qm1qjxx&Uy=t5fpad&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=141197289411_816383435605&localeid=en_US. Unfortunately, Ann’s camera went swimming.
Last year, Backpacker Magazine spearheaded a Herculean effort to map the entire 2800+ mile Continental Divide Trail. As part of that effort, then-Associate Editor Jason Stevenson and I (Team 43) mapped a section of trail just South of Chief Joseph Pass on the Montana/Idaho border. Jason has produced, organized, edited and uploaded several videos detailing the efforts of hundreds of volunteers. You can peruse them here: http://www.backpacker.com/cdt. Note: We were the team that spotted the enormous charismatic megafauna at the end of the ‘Animals of the CDT’ clip.
Many of you have come to feel a gaping void in your soul when the Mildly Informative newsletter omits any mention of barf bags. However, take heart, this is not one of those times.
In May, the Air Sickness Bag Museum was listed as one of the 25 weirdest collections on the web, http://www.sahio.com/25-weirdest-collections/. (It’s #2 after the navel fluff collection).
Ergo, the National Review is weird: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDg1NTkwNzM0M2ViZDIxZjQwNjhhMjRjZTljMTdkZDg=
Some sources even consider barf bag collecting a trend: http://www.transporttrends.com/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=1761
To all you corporate people who are reading this at work, thinking about how great it would be to spend your afternoon writing a dumb newsletter like this (but preferring to be able to afford essentials like food, gas, and lacrosse lessons for your not-so-athletic teenager), I need your help. Actually, Amy Lemkin does. She recently left her last position and is available for hire. If your company is looking for a Business Manager (HR, Accounting, Mgt Operations etc.) Amy is someone who can expedite and get things done. amylemkin@comcast.net.
Sera Genovese will be walking 60 miles over 3 days in an event called the Breast Cancer 3 Day. She needs to raise $2000 and her team is called “Pretty in Pink & Billy”. In order to donate or just check things out: http://www.the3day.org/.
For those of you who are languishing in obscurity and want a legacy that extends beyond a footnote in the Mormon Church’s database of every person who ever lived, consider a publicist. Darlan Erlandson does public relations work, copywriting, editing, proofreading and a host of other services to get you noticed. Contact her at fame@acd.net.
If you enjoy pointless confrontation then, well you’re most likely someone I’ve dated. Either that, or you’re in real estate. Anyway, if you want to feel good about not currently being involved in a real estate transaction, here’s a blog from one of this list’s members: http://framinghamguy.blogspot.com/
Amber Bloom has asked me to direct you to her website: http://www.code-creations.com/
This newsletter’s jeremiad is intended to underscore the difficulties of being an activist. To illustrate, please recall the old adage about Ginger Rogers having to dance as well as Fred Astaire, except backwards and in high heels. Yeah, I know, I only have a vague notion of who Ginger Rogers is myself, but I have even a less vague notion of who might currently be appearing on Dancing With the Stars (with the notable exception of Master P [not to be confused with Master Po from Kung Fu, who I’d actually tune it to watch on D with the S]).
Anyway, while my set of values compels me to support most any environmental cause, my actual activism is limited to possibly the tiniest amount of effort achievable. You may know for instance that I am the webmaster of Sustainable South Shore (http://www.sustainablesouthshore.org/). Yet even this most nominal of involvement takes far more time than I had ever imagined.
What this means is that being socially conscious costs an activist their time, time that they might otherwise devote to a far more profitable job, career, or business. Meanwhile, espousing the status quo is often lucrative. There’s big money in exploiting natural resources, supporting sweatshops, or polluting indiscriminately. Those who ignore say, environmental or social costs do so because it is good for generating wealth and then get to feel good about their choices by listening to Conservative talk radio. The socially conscious individual is therefore left with far fewer opportunities to generate enough largesse to influence legislation the way, say, oil executives do.
I don’t have any startling revelations about this phenomenon, other than my current assertion that pure Capitalism and economic theory don’t take social good into account until some lowest common threshold of decency (such as Lake Erie burning) has been exceeded.
I’m guessing some business wonk has written extensively about this phenomenon and profited handsomely from their research/revelations without having furthered any actual social cause. But that’s just a guess.
Send me your news!
I just returned from a 2-week Fitpacking Trip to Shenandoah National Park in VA. It was incredible not only because of the surfeit of sweeping views and excessive panoply of wildflowers, but because our crew was comprised of decent human beings with great spirits. If you’ve never been, the hiking is excellent and so are the blackberry milkshakes at the waysides. Photos forthcoming.
And if you’ve spend the last few months jonesing for pictures of the April Great Smoky Mountains Trip, you can view a slideshow of Desiree’s pictures here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=16gnqgjx.5qm1qjxx&Uy=t5fpad&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=141197289411_816383435605&localeid=en_US. Unfortunately, Ann’s camera went swimming.
Last year, Backpacker Magazine spearheaded a Herculean effort to map the entire 2800+ mile Continental Divide Trail. As part of that effort, then-Associate Editor Jason Stevenson and I (Team 43) mapped a section of trail just South of Chief Joseph Pass on the Montana/Idaho border. Jason has produced, organized, edited and uploaded several videos detailing the efforts of hundreds of volunteers. You can peruse them here: http://www.backpacker.com/cdt. Note: We were the team that spotted the enormous charismatic megafauna at the end of the ‘Animals of the CDT’ clip.
Many of you have come to feel a gaping void in your soul when the Mildly Informative newsletter omits any mention of barf bags. However, take heart, this is not one of those times.
In May, the Air Sickness Bag Museum was listed as one of the 25 weirdest collections on the web, http://www.sahio.com/25-weirdest-collections/. (It’s #2 after the navel fluff collection).
Ergo, the National Review is weird: http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDg1NTkwNzM0M2ViZDIxZjQwNjhhMjRjZTljMTdkZDg=
Some sources even consider barf bag collecting a trend: http://www.transporttrends.com/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=1761
To all you corporate people who are reading this at work, thinking about how great it would be to spend your afternoon writing a dumb newsletter like this (but preferring to be able to afford essentials like food, gas, and lacrosse lessons for your not-so-athletic teenager), I need your help. Actually, Amy Lemkin does. She recently left her last position and is available for hire. If your company is looking for a Business Manager (HR, Accounting, Mgt Operations etc.) Amy is someone who can expedite and get things done. amylemkin@comcast.net.
Sera Genovese will be walking 60 miles over 3 days in an event called the Breast Cancer 3 Day. She needs to raise $2000 and her team is called “Pretty in Pink & Billy”. In order to donate or just check things out: http://www.the3day.org/.
For those of you who are languishing in obscurity and want a legacy that extends beyond a footnote in the Mormon Church’s database of every person who ever lived, consider a publicist. Darlan Erlandson does public relations work, copywriting, editing, proofreading and a host of other services to get you noticed. Contact her at fame@acd.net.
If you enjoy pointless confrontation then, well you’re most likely someone I’ve dated. Either that, or you’re in real estate. Anyway, if you want to feel good about not currently being involved in a real estate transaction, here’s a blog from one of this list’s members: http://framinghamguy.blogspot.com/
Amber Bloom has asked me to direct you to her website: http://www.code-creations.com/
This newsletter’s jeremiad is intended to underscore the difficulties of being an activist. To illustrate, please recall the old adage about Ginger Rogers having to dance as well as Fred Astaire, except backwards and in high heels. Yeah, I know, I only have a vague notion of who Ginger Rogers is myself, but I have even a less vague notion of who might currently be appearing on Dancing With the Stars (with the notable exception of Master P [not to be confused with Master Po from Kung Fu, who I’d actually tune it to watch on D with the S]).
Anyway, while my set of values compels me to support most any environmental cause, my actual activism is limited to possibly the tiniest amount of effort achievable. You may know for instance that I am the webmaster of Sustainable South Shore (http://www.sustainablesouthshore.org/). Yet even this most nominal of involvement takes far more time than I had ever imagined.
What this means is that being socially conscious costs an activist their time, time that they might otherwise devote to a far more profitable job, career, or business. Meanwhile, espousing the status quo is often lucrative. There’s big money in exploiting natural resources, supporting sweatshops, or polluting indiscriminately. Those who ignore say, environmental or social costs do so because it is good for generating wealth and then get to feel good about their choices by listening to Conservative talk radio. The socially conscious individual is therefore left with far fewer opportunities to generate enough largesse to influence legislation the way, say, oil executives do.
I don’t have any startling revelations about this phenomenon, other than my current assertion that pure Capitalism and economic theory don’t take social good into account until some lowest common threshold of decency (such as Lake Erie burning) has been exceeded.
I’m guessing some business wonk has written extensively about this phenomenon and profited handsomely from their research/revelations without having furthered any actual social cause. But that’s just a guess.
Send me your news!
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