I don't want to be right...

Dear Trader Joe’s,

I shouldn’t like you. Really, I shouldn’t. After all, you’re just another chain with a gimmick – an appealing and quirky gimmick, but a gimmick nonetheless – and we have more than enough gimmicky chains around here.

But then you had to go and leave flowers by the door to welcome me with fragrance and color as I cautiously crossed your threshold.

And then, just past the symphony of colors and scents, the produce. Oh, how glorious it was to see my sugar snap peas looking healthier and tastier than anything I’ve ever seen at Giant or Food Lion. Surely they must cost a fortune.

No.

They’re cheaper.

But that’s not all. The other produce met or exceeded the peas standard: fresh, inexpensive and a wide assortment of organics. I’ll give you this: You know how to make an entrance (area).

As I wound my way through the wide aisles, each bearing its own surprises (a 10-pound chocolate bar, pistachio cookies, bags of assorted frozen peppers – perfect for taco night!), my will-power waned, but it wasn’t until I found the Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew for nearly $2 less than anywhere else that I finally broke down and confessed my love for you.

Sure, you’re just an odd grocery store in a glitzy big box park along the highway and you don’t sell Gatorade, an essential at my house. But you’re fun. And cheap. And kind of tailored to my diet. And your employees are nice, helpful and very efficient.

But you’re so small: 11,000 square feet, according to those who know. How do you do it? How do you offer so much in such a little space? Actually, don’t answer that. I’d rather not know. I’d rather my affection exist without the cold realty of business tainting it.

Will I visit every week? Perhaps. I can’t say. I’m sure there will be times when I’d rather not drive the 10 minutes it takes to get to your door. Plus, I noticed you don’t have many of the non-food essentials: paper products, toiletries, etc. Which is fine. I know another place close by that has those; it's the only real hang up in all this: Food Lion.

I’ve stood by “The FL” for over a year, extolling its virtues to all who will listen. And here you are, in your shiny new building, disrupting a solid relationship. Home-wrecker.

Oh, that’s not fair. It’s not your fault that I like natural, healthy foods at reasonable prices. You didn’t force me to happily fill my cart with your wares.

Maybe this is just an infatuation with something new and novel that will fade with time. Who knows? But for now, let’s just keep this between you, me and the poor souls who still point their browsers to this moribund blog. (They’re cool; we can trust them to keep the secret.)

Yours,

Hayduke

Oh what a relief it is...

Bit of an anxious day here at chez Hayduke...

The Husky went under the knife to repair, among other things, a torn ACL. Although the vet assures us he's fine, we need visual confirmation before relaxing. Thankfully, he'll be ready to come home in about a half hour.

His surgery comes after a week of hobbling around on three legs, a pretty sad sight. Also unfortunate was the timing of the injury, which happened just before our annual excursion to Green Ridge State Forest. As always, the trip was fun, but the Husky has been a fixture for the past eight years and it just wasn't complete without him getting covered in dirt and taking up too much space in the tent. See?


Anyway, I'm leaving for the vet now and after that there's the County Council hearing and the Ravens game -- quite a TV night! Before I go, here's western Maryland showing its somewhat-muted fall colors.



UPDATE: He's home and, aside from a foot-long gash, a shaved leg and a heavily drugged demeanor, appears no worse for wear.

While waiting our turn at the vet, they stuck an orange Post-It note with the letters "DND" on one of the exam room doors. A woman left that room just as we left the other. She seemed more composed than I was at the time, and my dog is still alive.

I'm still a long way off from accepting my dog's mortality.

Here come old flattop...

Just a couple quick notes on the first fall-like day of 2007…

I know others have already posted about this story, but I can't help myself. How's this for coming together to work for the common good?

After a chance encounter followed by a friendly chat and a later lunch date, County Executive Ken Ulman has submitted former rival Christopher J. Merdon's name to the County Council for appointment to the county's new revenue authority. The nomination will be formally introduced Nov. 5.

With his title, Freemarket paints a hilarious picture, while Wordbones gives it some additional context:

This speaks well for both men. It is not that often that we see this type of post election collaboration after what can be conservatively described as a nasty campaign. Nicely done!

In other news, here's an excellent piece about my old employer, Enterprise Community Partners. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of news in the story, but it does provide a good overview of what Enterprise does (hint: not renting cars) and what it has accomplished.

Unfortunately, two of the most interesting tidbits didn't make the story, but reporter Jamie Smith Hopkins nonetheless makes them public through a couple blog posts.

The first one reveals Jim Rouse's preferred name for Enterprise (The Robin Hood Trust), while the second discusses Enterprise Chairman Bart Harvey's idea to eliminate or reduce the mortgage interest tax deduction and use the money to pay for affordable housing, something I wrote about when he first floated the idea almost a year ago at a speech at Harvard. Now, I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is on affordable housing and therefore, would support such a move (not like it will ever happen), assuming it wouldn't totally tank my finances. My house, dog, appliances, and cars, to name but some, are doing a good job of that already.

Finally, it's almost here! The new Trader Joe's opens on Friday! Too bad for me. I'll be in beautiful western Maryland, soaking up the cold air and what's left of the fall foliage.

Someone saved my life tonight...

You know what's fun?

Giving blood.

You get free cookies and juice and the satisfaction of knowing that you probably helped someone who really needed it. And really, what more can you ask for?

If you'd rather not let innocent people die because they didn't have access to blood when they needed it most (shameless), why don't sign up to give blood this Friday at the Columbia Mall.

The Columbia Foundation's twentyfivefortyfive initiative and the Chamber of Commerce's Young Professionals network are teaming up (actually, kind of competing) to take your blood. Between 10 am and 3 pm next Friday, the Bloodmobile will be parked at the mall, awaiting donors. If you're interested in participating, you can schedule an appointment here (use sponsor code 14839). Not only will your blood buy you cookies and juice, but you'll also get a t-shirt and a chance to win a $500 gift card and two tickets to a Ravens game, which, if you're a Redskins fan, you can probably sell on eBay.

Who is he and what is he to you...

One of the most vexing issues facing us in HoCo Blogdom is that of anonymous commenters and whether contributions from the nameless are more or less constructive, informed, civil, etc.

Obviously, I allow anonymous comments on this blog and for the most part, always have. Also for the most part, discussions on this blog have generally been fruitful and productive, especially if you exclude the period from September to November of last year, when politics was too central to really discuss anything intelligently.

That said, I've never fully been sold on completely anonymous comments, for both pragmatic and philosophical reasons. Pragmatically, trying to maintain a discussion with several people named "Anonymous" is like herding cats. Philosophically, I tend to lean towards Jessie in the sense that a name -- even a made up one -- creates an identity and reputation that need to be protected and therefore an incentive to "think twice" about saying something foolish, inappropriate or out of character. Using Tom Berkhouse as the counter argument to this isn't appropriate because, for good or bad, he has a reputation that needs to be maintained, too.

That's a long way of shrugging my shoulders and saying "I don't know." Much of my (and others) thoughts on anonymity stem from experiences and observations, both of which are susceptible to personal biases. Not to say that it's perfect in anyway, but here's an external data point we can add to our assessment on the anonymous situation.

The beauty of open-source applications is that they are continually improved and updated by those who use them and care about them. Dartmouth researchers looked at the online encyclopedia Wikipedia to determine if the anonymous, infrequent contributors, the Good Samaritans, are as reliable as the people who update constantly and have a reputation to maintain.

The answer is, surprisingly, yes. The researchers discovered that Good Samaritans contribute high-quality content, as do the active, registered users. They examined Wikipedia authors and the quality of Wikipedia content as measured by how long and how much of it persisted before being changed or corrected.

“This finding was both novel and unexpected,” says Denise Anthony, associate professor of sociology...

...By subdividing their analysis by registered versus anonymous contributors, the researchers found that among those who contribute often, registered users are more reliable. And they discovered that among those who contribute only a little, the anonymous users are more reliable. The researchers were most surprised to find that the reliability of Good Samaritans’ contributions were at least as high as that of the more reputable registered users’ contributions...

...According to Anthony, Wikipedia now requires that anonymous contributors who make numerous edits must register.

“This will probably limit the number of low-quality contributions we find among high-use anonymous contributors, because in exposing their identity, they will have their reputation to consider,” says Anthony. “I don’t foresee this new policy affecting the quality of those Good Samaritans, though. Their presence should continue to be valuable.”

(Emphasis mine.)

I have concerns about reading too much into the study because I think there is a key difference between high frequency anonymous commenters on this and other local blogs versus high frequency anonymous Wikipedia editors. I suspect that on Wikipedia these folks are focused on poisoning the well, so to speak. For ideological, political or other reasons, they are compelled to purposely spread misinformation on certain controversial topics (evolution, global warming, the Laffer curve, etc) or to continue beating a single drum. For these people, a name is a signal to all others that the content they've added should be ignored.

Although there is likely some of that going on on the local blogs (for instance, the person who continues to comment on posts on another blog that are over a year old), I think the vast majority of anonymous commenters of all frequencies make positive contributions to the discussions by addressing the issue at hand and maintaining a respectable level of civility.

Clearly, this study doesn't hold the answers to the questions we face -- indeed, it might even raise a few more -- but it does provide an interesting perspective on the idea of anonymity in general, even if its conclusions are pretty much aligned with intuition.

Hypnotized, mesmerized by what my eyes have found...

This might not be the most cogent post I've ever written, but whatever. For the sake of my good name I think I need to say something.

You see, it all started when I had the gall, the nerve, to write a pretty straightforward post with a pretty straightforward message. Here's the post I'm talking about. Most people with decent reading comprehension skills could probably figure out what I was trying to say, but just in case, here are two bullet points that sum it up.

• Big box stores are a fact of life that I have grudgingly come to accept as, on the whole, pretty good, and;
• There are ideas and examples of better ways of dealing with them that mitigate some of their bad stuff and that we as a community could consider implementing
  

Clearly, it's not rocket science or, I would think, particularly controversial, but judging from some of the responses, I am a very poor drawer of conclusions.

Not only did the post raise the ire of at least one anti-Big Box person, but my dear old friend Tom Berkhouse took it as a proof of something nefarious. Because I rarely read closely what Berkhouse has to say (I gotta look out for what's best for my psyche, after all), I'm not sure entirely what he was trying to prove. However, I believe he used my conclusion that Big Boxes aren't all bad to prove yet again that I am a hypocrite of the highest order.

A few years ago when I was trying to save Merriweather from an owner that apparently never intended to close it down (right, Tom?), I opposed potential Big Box development in Town Center. Which clearly means that, at the time, I hated all Big Boxes, regardless of location, while the post from the other day means that, today, I love them, regardless of location. Silly me, I thought I could have it both ways -- that is, Big Boxes in appropriate areas (car-friendly Snowden/Dobbin) and no Big Boxes in inappropriate areas (people-friendly downtown Columbia).

There is only love and hate in this world, after all. Take your wishy-washy BS somewhere else, chief.

Sorry. Lesson learned.

If only it would have ended with the incessant need of Mr. Berkhouse to make it All About Town Center (and by extenison the evilness of me and Ken Ulman), but it didn't. Some crafty anonymous commenter decided to call Mr. Berkhouse by another name in an attempt to "out" him, or expose his true identity. By failing to respond in due course to this bit of pettiness, I tacitly endorsed such actions and, again, demonstrated absolute proof of my hypocrisy, at least according to David Keelan.

Mr. Keelan took it upon himself to admonish me for failing to admonish someone whose identity I still have yet to ascertain and who may or may not have ascertained the identity of Mr. Berkhouse. Normally, this would just be a failure to enforce the Choose Civility edict in effect for The Howard County Blogs, but since I had the nerve to question Mr. Keelan's decision to entrap a previous anonymous commenter over a year ago, I just demonstrated a "double standard."

Mr. Keelan drags up this comment of mine from Back in the Day:

I do want to say that I strongly disagree with David Keelan’s decision to expose the true identity of a commenter he doesn’t like, and one with whom I disagree (and am frustrated by) regularly. Regardless of how you feel about her, David’s decision sets an ugly precedent. Commenter’s [sic] can be held to different standards depending on their views and the threat of tracing identities through IP address (which are available for all to see by looking at the Site Meter reports — see bottom of the page) looms over all. Such things help stifle diverse debate and might prevent many worthy commenter’s [sic] from participating.

(Note: The [sic]s are mine, added to what Keelan posted, as I used proper grammar in my original comment. See here.)

My thoughts on involuntary outing remain the same. I still think it's wrong and wish the anonymous commeter didn't do it. But I have no idea what I was supposed to do in this case. Immediately delete the comment? Right, then I'd get in trouble for patrolling my blog on government time. Oh, and I'd probably be in trouble for failing to allow free speech, as has happened in the past when I deleted totally unsubstantiated rumors (coincidentally, written by Mr. Berkhouse). I also caused quite a fervor when I tried to get everyone to use a pseudonym because I was limiting speech.

Damned either way, I suppose.

It's also pretty funny that this was not the first time somebody tried to guess the real identity Tom Berkhouse. Indeed, the first such instance was on Mr. Keelan's blog and his response to the commenter was just as lame, if not more so, than my non-response:

Thanks for posting. Your inaugural post is telling. I am sure we can rely on you for more interesting and insightful commentary. Keep up the fine work anonymous Slim.

Look, I don't really care if Mr. Keelan wants to call me out on his blog; I just wish he would be more direct about it. If he thinks my failure to act was shady, come out and say it. Instead, we get this:

The people trying to out Berkhouse are treating Tom as if he did something terrible like threatened a county employee for trying to shut off his water for non-payment or something when in fact all Tom does is forcefully and at times very forcefully expresses a strong difference of opinion with Ian. At times Tom will criticise [sic] Ian for what Tom perceives to be a twisting of the facts in order to reach a desired conclusion. Tom is often (not always) rather enjoyable to read and makes good points but often (if not always) fails to elicit a reaction from Ian. So in fairness to Ian perhaps Ian is just simply ignoring all commenter’s [sic]. Perhaps Ian is too busy with his new job which is perfectly understandable. I have a full time job too, a family, and I just started an MBA program (which is going great so far) so I understand finding time to stay up on the local scene and one’s blog isn’t easy.

Yes, I'm busy. But, frankly, I don't have the time or the inclination to get involved in these silly bloggy squabbles (says the guy writing over 1000 words about one -- I know), rehashing the same arguments, fighting the same fight. If anonymous and semi-anonymous commenters can't discuss things without feeling offended or offending others, perhaps they should spend more time with puppies or flowers. I'm nobody's mother.

It's also kind of sad that Mr. Keelan finds the need to again apologize for completely inappropriate behavior from Mr. Berkhouse (lies, character attacks, etc.). I know a lot of people like to disagree with me about a lot of stuff and some of my more vocal critics likely revel in the treatment I receive from the resident jerk. But in a community like ours, the fact that Mr. Berkhouse still has a group of people that accept and condone his vile words is pretty lame. Disagree all you want, that's fine. But is it too much to ask that you do it with some class?

Finally, there's a lot of stuff going on locally right now that hasn't been talked about at all, yet time gets spent on this? Please, discuss and argue about the big stuff and leave the drama to the high schoolers. Continuing to worry about which anonymous person said what about some other anonymous only dooms our little blogging enterprise to irrelevance.

Speaking of irrelevance, the icing on the cake of this whole thing is that -- as I told someone recently -- my blog is about two steps away from reading like a little girl's diary. Over my "two weeks" of silence I've only had two ideas for posts -- one about the rather large amount of acorns falling on my house and the other about my awesome dog. I'm being totally serious. There's a ton of acorns coming off our big oak and my dog is freaking awesome (for instance, he recently started "talking" in his sleep, which is probably the cutest thing I've ever seen).

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to write either post and my silence on the subjects is probably proof of my true disdain for oak trees and huskies.

Little boxes made of ticky tacky

As much as it may hurt my anti-establishment cred (as if there's really any of that left), I think I'm coming around on big box stores. Sure, they're soulless, harmful to local businesses and the idea of buying jeans, lawn furniture and iPods in the same store is kind of silly, but they do offer convenience and great prices. And, really, who doesn't like easy shopping and low prices?

On balance (and in economist-speak), I'd say Target, Best Buy, Borders et al have produced net gains in our collective welfare. Which is a good thing, I think. What's more, they're so entrenched in today's consumer culture that fighting them doesn't really seem like the "good fight."

All that said, I still have a special place in my heart for local businesses and do what I can to support them. While big boxes may be great for getting mass produced items on the cheap, customer service is borderline nonexistent and the quality of the goods is questionable, both of which are fine for some things (jeans, lawn furniture, iPods, etc) but not so much for others (bicycles, suits, dinner, etc.).

Of course, over the last several years, we've seen the imbalance between big box, chain retailers and smaller, locally-owned shops grow. This is an unfortunate, but not intractable, situation. See, for instance, Washington DC:

The shells for what will be some of the biggest big-box retailers Columbia Heights has ever known are rising along 14th and Irving streets and Park Road NW. They include Target, Best Buy, and Bed Bath & Beyond .

Yet below these retail giants, space has been reserved for the little guys.

A Peruvian restaurant has signed a lease, as has a local African American franchiser of the Quizno's sandwich chain. A Vietnamese grocer is negotiating to bring a Pho restaurant to the development. A locally owned spa may also come.

The $149.5 million DC USA project is being developed by Grid Properties of New York. President Drew Greenwald said the firm will reserve 15,000 square feet, or about 11 percent, of ground-floor retail space for local and minority-owned businesses, under an agreement with the District to buy and develop the land. He will reduce rents by 30 percent to encourage smaller tenants.

"With all the projects, it is going to be a nice mix," Greenwald said. "It kind of has a little bit of everything."

Throughout the District, developers are carving out space for locally owned or small businesses. While small businesses tend to be riskier bets than their better-financed corporate counterparts are, mixing local and national retailers is a goal of city officials when selling or leasing public land.

So, the circumstances aren't perfectly analogous, but the idea is good, right?

Thanks to Jamie for the link. Also, for more on local restaurants, Jessie's got the scoop.

Consider this...

I haven't posted recently because it's been an absolutely crazy week at work, but at least I have something to show for it.

Downtown Columbia: A Community Vision is available for review. The description from the County website:

County Executive Ken Ulman announces the next step in the evolution of Downtown Columbia. DPZ is asking for your input and comments on the draft document that is to guide this next step. During the month of October, the County will hold a series of meetings and workshops to provide additional information and to ask for public input.

Please review the framework document available below, attend one or more of the public meetings, and provide the community with your comments. Please feel free to telephone, send an email or fill out a For Your Input form with your questions and comments.

Also on the website is a list of tour dates for the traveling roadshow and a copy of the Town Center traffic study. Feel free to leave comments on the draft here, but if you want your comments added to the official record, you're going to have to go through the official channels -- for instance, this online feedback form.

Get involved. Give it a read.

Nothing from nothing leaves nothing...

Duh.

Suburban sprawl is the missing link in climate change, a group of urban planning researchers said today, warning in a new report that global warming can only be slowed by changing development patterns to reduce the need for driving.

Living in more compact, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods actually would do more to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide -- the chief climate-changing gas -- than driving a hybrid car while staying in a typically spread-out suburb, the report asserts.

"The research shows that one of the best ways to reduce vehicle travel is to build places where people can accomplish more with less driving," Reid Ewing, the report's lead author and a research professor at the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education at the University of Maryland, said in a statement released with the report.

What else should I be...

I know, I know.

Yes, I know.

I'm a big time slacker.

I need to post more.

If only I could create a computer program to read all the local news stories and blogs and then write posts for me. That would be sweet, huh?

Anyway, I got kickball tonight against a team that's been talking trash for months. We need to win these games to save some dignity.

But, before I run off to Centennial, I wanted to share to Oakland Mills-related items.

First, next Thursday – the 27th, for those of you who don't read daily (but who can blame you?) -- is the second Community Connections Gathering at Fire Rock Grill. The party starts at 6 pm and if it's anything like last time, you're sure to have a blast. Non-OMers are welcome to, but I can't promise we won't force you to take part in some potentially painful hazing activities. I'm kidding… sorta.

Since you'll already be at Fire Rock, might as well stick around for Taglines Comedy night, too. Don't pay full price, though. Ask around for half-off cards.

Secondly and finally, there is now a website for the Meridian Square project, the new office building set to go in on the old, abandoned Exxon site in the Oakland Mills Village Center. Although the finished building will not be as architecturally adventurous as it was in earlier drawings, I'm still impressed with it overall and am looking forward to the positive impact it'll have on our village, especially if they can land a nice café in one of the first floor retail spaces.

Your love is like a rollercoaster...

Something weird always happens at Six Flags in Largo.

Something, that is, beyond the normal weird stuff you expect to see in the amusement park milieu. You know, horrible fashion choices, unhappy families bordering on total meltdowns, vomit, exorbitant beverage prices and the like.

Last year, I got stuck on the final hill of the Skull Island log pflume/water coaster (it's exact classification is a source of disagreement between my brother and I). We were up there for about 45 minutes, before they had us disembark and walk down the gangplank. All things considered, it wasn't a particularly bad (read: scary) place to get stuck, and we got a bunch of free jump-the-line passes out of it. So, it worked out in the end.

Then, this past Saturday, we took a spur of the moment trip down to Largo for some roller coasters. We started the day on what is by far the park's best -- The Superman. After a very steep 200-foot drop, it hits speeds of 75 miles per hour and doesn't let up for the entire trip, shooting over additional hills and through tight, banked turns. It's very smooth, to boot. I could ride it all day, which is basically what I did.

But I did manage to do most of the others at least once, including Two Face, a hanging (i.e. feet-dangling) roller coaster that pulls you up a hill to start, drops you back through the station, throws you through some loops and then up another hill, before doing the whole thing backwards.

I love roller coasters. Which is another way of saying I don't really get scared and they don't make me sick. But about midway through the Two Face, my vision started to get dark and I felt like I was going to pass out. I got off feeling dizzy and disoriented, as did my brother and his girlfriend. We decided, appropriately (I think), not to ride it again.

Good thing, too. Later in the day, it got stuck 100 feet up in the air. Yikes. Getting down from a hanging coaster is, I would imagine, significantly harder than getting down from a log pflume.

I wonder if the stranded riders got free passes. Actually, for that "inconvenience" I'd be demanding something of real value -- like a bottle of water.

How will this all play out...

I’m not sure what to make of the news (via Jessie) that the Columbia Bike Guy, Athar - he of the red mohawk - has a Facebook fan club.

(Disclaimer: I’m on Facebook but am horrible about checking it. My bad. I’ll get around to the pile of messages one day.)

While I think it’s kind of cute that he’s reached this level of notoriety, I’m not sure how sincere it is. Sure there’s probably a mix of motivations in the group, but I get the feeling that most see him simply as a freak who makes a good backdrop for a silly photo. After all, pronouncements to the contrary notwithstanding, The Internet is still largely a place where people go to laugh at others.

I mean, if random but visible people deserve fan clubs, why isn’t there one for the Columbia Ninja (the woman who dresses in all black and rides her bike along Rt. 175)? Or, what about the Poodle Lady who’s always walking a gray, standard Poodle around Town Center? Are there others I’m not thinking of?

Jessie thinks this fan club is a way of reaching out and including him in our community, something that may be true in either a positive, welcome-to-the-club way or in a negative, ask-him-over-for-cookies-and-then-ambush-him-with-water-balloons way. (Yes, if you're wondering, I know of the latter "way" through experience -- it basically describes my first date with Abbzug.)

Maybe I’m just being overprotective. I’ve run into Athar a bunch of times on the paths, and as someone who enjoys riding a bike all over Columbia, I have long felt a special affinity for him. The fact that he’s (apparently) as well known as he is comes as a bit of a shock. It’s almost as though I want the Facebookers to prove their intentions before joining the club. But as we all know, that’s impossible.

Or, maybe he enjoys the celebrity (he seems happy in the photo Jessie posted). And perhaps this is just a way for other Columbians to celebrate something (rather, someone) unique to our community. He could be our very own Wild Bill Hagy.

Whatever the case, I just hope Athar doesn’t let fame go to his head.

It's a simple assumption that nobody knows...

A grammatical request: Please, everyone, stop using “ask” as a noun. And while you’re at it, eliminate the phrase “touch base” from your vocabulary, except when referring specifically to baseball or kickball.

Thanks.

While I think of something clever to say...

Between kickball, meetings, fantasy football drafts, an impromptu trip to Six Flags, Labor Day car races and myriad other things, it's been a busy week for me.

And today, football begins for real.

All of which is to say, sorry for not posting anything recently. I promise at least something fun or substantive this week, but until then, a quick anecdote.

I went to the 15th anniversary celebration of the Rouse Scholars program at Howard Community College on Thursday night. While there, I stumbled upon my class (Rouse III) "yearbook" from 1997. It was full of funny (embarassing) pictures and quotes from the class, including a section on where we each thought we'd be in 10 years.

My response -- written from the perspective of a wannabe rock star -- was: "I'll be married, with three kids, two cars, a house in suburbia and working a 9 to 5 job. And I'll also be a strong supporter of the Republican Party."

I'm still not sure what to make of the fact that I've become the target of my 90s-era irony, even if it's not entirely right. I don't, after all, have a 9 to 5 job.

It's such a crying shame...

Stupid Comcast.

I'm posting from my cell phone because my internet service doesn't seem to be functioning. At least I'm getting about half of my regular cable channels. It's Craptastic!

Normally, I wouldn't bother posting anything under such circumstances, but since I need to follow my "once a week" rule (and because I promised a friend I'd write about an event), I'm giving my thumbs a workout.

Tomorrow night (Friday) is your last chance to catch a free movie at The Other Barn in Oakland Mills. The feature presentation is one best viewed on a big screen with a bunch of people: Star Wars! (The first one).

The show starts at 7 pm and is free and open to everyone (we're really nice on the East Side). Hit up Jessie's spot for more details.

Look at me... I can be... centerfield...

Instead of talking about 27-run losses, how about some happy sports news?

Kickball season is underway!

Yes, Team Hayduke had our first (and only) practice last night, and judging by what I saw, I think it's time to put the other teams on notice: We're ready to ball.

But I'm not really here to share all the details of my kickball team (yet). Rather, I'm writing because David Wissing made me do it.

He has perfected the art of throwaway digs -- using an offhand word or two to take a swipe at things like global warming, Democrats, or the Redskins.

So, the other day when he called my blog "dormant," I took umbrage: "Hey, I'm posting at least once a week," I said to myself.

Which is a pretty lame response.

My trouble accepting the obvious -- that my blog is what's really lame -- was probably a result of the fact that for the first time since I took my new job, I missed blogging. This isn't to say I'd trade my job for the blog -- let's not get crazy -- it's just that I missed being part of all fun everyone's been having these past couple weeks. A few examples:

Our own local Carmen Sandiego, Jessie, has popped up in various places with play-at-home questions and tangible examples of community planning principles. Her most recent visit was to a couple impromptu paths in Oakland Mills, which reminded me of a story I heard in one of my first urban studies classes.

During the early days of Disney Land, people were eschewing the carefully laid out walkways in favor of shortcuts across grassy areas. Park management approach Walt Disney about the problem and recommended installing fences around the grass. Disney, apparently, rebuffed them, saying that's where new sidewalks should go.

There's more to that than just sidewalks, I think.

Bill Santos has also been sharing a bunch of Columbia and general planning insights, including this post linking to the "Neighbor Manifesto," a great, thoughtful read on where.

Meanwhile, with tons of pictures and frequent updates, David Wissing's coverage of that thing that I don't really want to mention has been great; he even created a separate category for it.

Of course, there's politics, too. See David Keelan and Freemarket.

Even Wordbones, after taking a slew vacations this summer, is rested up and back in the saddle.

Actually, it seems to me that, like my kickball team, our local blogs have covered all the bases, and also like kickball, I should just stay out in centerfield and catch the occasional lazy fly ball, such as:

I'm reading a new book about the development of a subdivision in rural Pennsylvania called Last Harvest: How a Cornfield Became New Daleville: Real Estate Development in America from George Washington to the Builders of the Twenty-first Century, and Why We Live In Houses Anyway (kind of a mouthful). At times reminiscent of our own situation in Howard County, it offers a comprehensive look residential development, from theories and planning to public hearings and approvals, some of which is, naturally, common knowledge to people like us. Nonetheless, there are many insights within the book that, I think, provide valuable to our local dialogue (which is a way of saying I think you should read the book).

Here are a couple quotes worth sharing:

The modest single-family house is the glory of the suburban tradition. It offers its inhabitants a comprehensible image of independence and privacy while also accepting the responsibilities of community.

If you've been to my house (or neighborhood) you'll probably know why that one resonates with me.

Then, there's this, from a town meeting:

We've been doing conventional development and we hate it. Why don't we try something new, and if we don't like it we won't do it anymore.

OK, that's enough for now. Back to dormancy, at least until somebody pokes me again.

And the cat's in the cradle...

Goodbye, Bijou, and rest in peace.

Between me, my brother and the dog, you had some tough times, but you lived to a ripe old age, even catching your first mouse in the twilight of your life.

My deepest apologies for "Super Kitty." Just don't forget who snuck you into the house in the first place.

With a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole...

I'm not going anywhere near some of the recent local stories on this blog (for obvious reasons). If you want to talk to me about them, however, a cold beer might loosen me up.

Short of that, I wanted to share a meeting announcement about something that was (is?) a bit controversial.

The Green Neighborhoods checklist developed as part of the package of recently approved green building legislation is still awaiting a final decision. In an effort to inform more folks about the checklist and what it is designed to accomplish, there will be a public meeting on Wednesday, August 22 at 4 pm at the Gateway building to discuss the details. If you're interested in attending, shoot me an email (hocohayduke - at - gmail.com) and we'll make sure we've got space for you.

For those of you who don't know, this checklist will be used to certify residential projects wishing to take advantage of the pool of green neighborhood housing allocations. Projects must earn a predetermined number of points for each green feature included in the development. If you're interested in seeing the checklist before the meeting, let me know and I can get you a copy (I know people who know people who know how to get it).

I'd like to teach the world to sing...

I tend to look at things from a very selfish perspective – everything's always about me – which is completely fine. Just ask any economist.

Anyway, keeping that in mind, a brief statement about immigration/multiculturalism as it relates to me: Mexican Coke is now available from at least two local merchants, Sam's Mart in Oakland Mills and Exxon in Long Reach.

Given that Sam's is basically a Latino grocer, it's not surprising to see imported sodas there. That the best version of Coke is available at an Exxon station, on the other hand, is certainly a sign of mainstreaming.

I say, bring it on! Let's erase the artificial borders (and sweeteners) that keep us from total soda enjoyment!

I've been walking the streets at night...

When I took the new job, I made a promise to myself that I'd post something on the blog at least once a week; my last post was exactly a week ago.

There's a lesson about human nature somewhere in that statement.

On a somewhat related note, I've always thought that I have a finite amount of words in me each day and that attempts to cross that threshold will always end in disappointment. I now know that to be true.

Since I'm nearing today's word limit, I'll keep this brief.

In case you haven't heard, there was some big news on the Turf Valley front. Freemarket's got the details.

Meanwhile, Wordbones started a new blog to chronicle the development of an office building in Emerson that he's overseeing. I think this will be a fascinating look into a world some of us like to think we already understand (really, we don't).

Finally, I'm still thinking about ways to spice up this blog while I'm busy, in Jessie's words, "calibrating himself and his blog to his new job." One idea that has popped up in my mind (and others') is to turn this blog into a family affair. Since Little Duke (my brother) is now a resident of this fair city -- and one of the original readers of this blog -- maybe we can convince him to weigh in on the news of the day. It's not like he's got anything else to do, after all (sitting around in his underwear learning old Dream Theater songs doesn't count).