Jul 18th, 2008 • Response
Categories • Life, Travels
Tags • Bill O'Reilly, cat, Destroyer, family, Jacky‚ Bobby & Little, Megatron, Naples, pet, road trip, song lyrics, Telly, web design, WVFS-FM
Dueling cyclones jackknife.
They got eyes for your wife and the blood that lives in her heart.
Cast myself towards infinity.
Trust me, I had my reasons.
Had a dress for every season, it was worth it.
Pulled into town relatively free of hassle.
Secured a room at the castle, it paid for itself.
Checked out my surroundings, headed down to Thornton Park.
Find your way.
Discover that things are dark.
Shadowy figures babbling on about typical rural shit.
I wave bye to them in a modern way and increase my stay
At the dock of the bay.
Today begins my journey southward to visit family for three weeks. It's been a long time and I do miss them, but not enough to leave the computer at home. In fact, I will be bringing two. Plans include a stint at the beach; an afternoon with my father and Bill O'Reilly; and the usual disorienting nausea that accompanies these visits, as the city continues to grow uncontrollably beyond its means, recycling land space, erasing its history and discernible landmarks.
I also intend to put a good-sized dent in some of the planned projects for the official radio station website, as the recent creation of our first Web Department has allowed for such progress to take place. As this is something I have spent the last four years helping to fight for, I am both astounded and overjoyed at these recent developments. Additionally, my sister has broken ground on starting up a small business that she has been ruminating on for the past few years and I have offered to assist her in whatever way I can. This will likely include putting together a simple web presence for her, which also serves to ensure that much of my vacation will be spent in front of a computer screen, doing the same thing I do while I'm at home. To be honest, I have no objections.
More than anything, it will simply be good to be around family again. Mine is short in membership, simple and endearing. I have yet to meet our two newest additions (my mother and sister have each taken a new dog into their homes) and this reminds me that I am also excited to visit the animal shelter to meet all the new regulars and get a good fill of kitten therapy to start the fall semester off in the right frame of mind. As for my little guys, they will be greatly missed but well cared for by my grand army of loving friends (most notably, Telly and Megatron).
…To the roads!
Jun 20th, 2007 • Response
Categories • Travels
Tags • Danville, photography, road trip, WDNL
"I never liked Douglas Park! And no one likes it now!!"
Sign at the entrance to Douglas Park, Danville, IL.
If you know the source from where the opening line was taken, then you deserve a pat on the back! First commenter to answer correctly gets bragging rights! No cheating!
It has now been four+ days since returning home from my road trip, and I figured it was only sporting of me to spend a little time covering the events of the last few days spent in Illinois and Indiana. I must confess that I felt bored-sick on a number of occasions, but only while I was in Danville. In hindsight, I would have liked to spend more time in Indianapolis, or make good on that inclination I had to spend a day up in Chicago. Thursday and Friday were spent driving lazily around Danville, trying to think of places that were worth visiting and photographing. I did manage to visit the last two schools St. Paul's Catholic School and North Ridge Middle School. I attended while still living there, and came away with a good set of photos to show for it.
Another stop I made along the way was the building 
Radio station WDAN-WDNL, Danville, IL. where WDNL D-102 broadcasts from. I had visited the station about three times prior, but not since moving away in 1992. This is the radio station where I made my As mentioned in a previous post, I do solemnly swear to share the details of my "tween radio years" in an article sometime in the near future. broadcasting debut, though I use this term quite loosely. I did not, however, enter the building this time around — I attribute this to (either) the fact that I was enjoying the cool air inside my rental car too much
TO BE CONTINUED…
Jun 15th, 2007 • Response
Categories • Life, Travels
Tags • college, Danville, Edison Elementary, photography, road trip
The school that I attended during the 1st and 2nd grades while still living in Danville, Illinois.
| VIEW PHOTOS: |
 |
 |
Jun 14th, 2007 • Response
Categories • Travels
Tags • college, Danville, East Park Elementary, Law & Order, photography, road trip, Royal Donut
This is the infamous "nut roll" from Royal Donut. 
So far I have consumed three of these. They're big. This is me watching a Law & Order mini-marathon on TNT. 
Once 6pm rolls around, there's not much to do around here unless you have friends or something.
Much of Tuesday and Wednesday were spent getting reacquainted with the city, trying to find my way around. All in all, I did fairly well and did manage to navigate to most of the locations on my list of PLACES TO SEE.
On Wednesday I visited East Park, the elementary school I attended from grades 3 through 5. In third grade I won a school-wide art contest to design the school's new mascot Before the start of the contest, the principal had decided that the new mascot would bear the name "Eddie." My design — a two-dimensional representation of the front of the building, with a half-circle shaped head protruding from the top, one arm protruding from each side, and two legs coming out of the bottom — was selected as the winner by a committee of judges made up of teachers and administrators. A Google Image search for 'eddie east park' yields no resulting images of my design, though I do have copies of my drawing and will likely post it here when I return home from my trip. as it had recently made the switch from middle school to elementary school. I was eager to see if the mascot I designed was still being used — sadly it is not, the nickname having since been changed to the Rockets, with a new mascot resembling a Clip Art image of a rocket. I must admit, however, that I can understand why the switch was made. First of all, it only makes sense for your mascot to resemble the nickname of your school's sports teams, and being called the "East Park Eddies" is rather gimpy. I suppose they could have decided to go the route of some schools, whose mascot is not a clear indicator of the teams' nickname The University of Miami, for example, are known as the Hurricanes, but their mascot is Sebastian the Ibis. but this leads me straight into my second point: there is hardly anything fierce about a personified building smiling and waving at you.
Seeing as though all the schools in this town are closed for summer break, I was lucky enough to visit the school at a time of the day when custodial staff were present, thus allowing me access to the inside of the building. I snapped a few pictures, both inside and out, which you may see here.
Jun 12th, 2007 • Response
Categories • Life, Travels
Tags • college, Danville, East Park Elementary, photography, road trip
The school that I attended during the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades while still living in Danville, Illinois.
| VIEW PHOTOS: |
 |
 |
Jun 12th, 2007 • Response
Categories • Travels
Tags • Danville, FOUND.COM, Indianapolis, Jackie A, Kentucky, McDonald's, photography, road trip, trance
DANVILLE, ILL — The drive to get here was a long seventeen hours.
Fifteen hours after departing Tallahassee at 4:00 a.m. we arrived in Indianapolis. Along the way, I invariably consumed huge amounts of coffee, smoked an entire pack of cigarettes, and didn't surrender the 
driver's seat for a single mile. I enjoy driving for long distances, and sometimes wonder if I don't have a future in big rigs. Memorable highlights from the drive itself include this McDonald's in Kentucky that is situated next to a cemetery, and a very informative and elaborate conversation with Jackie on the subject of Techno that resulted in a revelation that: I'VE BEEN A HUGE FAN OF TRANCE FOR YEARS… BUT JUST DIDN'T KNOW IT. Once we got to Indianapolis, Jackie and I met up with her friend Josh Orbitz At several points during our trip, Jackie made phone calls to her friend Josh (who she's staying with in Indianapolis) to advise him of our driving progress. Josh, who was apparently at his computer, was most-helpful in providing directions and travel-time estimations; consequently I affectionately bestowed upon him the "street" name Josh Orbitz. :) at his building. From there, the three of us drove to the Indianapolis Airport to pick up my rental car. We then parted ways, and I finished out the final leg of my trip, alone and behind the wheel of an 
uber-posh 2007 Chrysler Sebring The rental place was running a special when I made my reservation, and for whatever reason, this luxury sedan was the cheapest option!. A couple of hours later I check-in to my room at the Candle Lite Motel, which is where I am now writing from.
The Candle Lite Motel is incredibly charming. Make no mistake, however, in assuming that the facilities are anything more than the bare essentials. The rooms here are not lavishly apportioned. I have a private bathroom with a shower tub, a bed, a mini-fridge, A/C unit, pair of end tables, and cable TV. Oh, and the free wireless, too. It's perfect, though, as I really don't require anything else. I do wish Barrett were here to see the decor, as I'm certain that we would both share the amusement (mismatched furniture, wood paneling on one wall only, burgundy carpeting, and gaudy bedspread). I spent about thirty minutes last night inspecting the room thoroughly, not because I'm a fussy traveler looking for something to gripe about (because I'm not like that), but rather I found the place fascinating and was curious to see if there were any 
hidden secrets. Apart from this priceless artifact found on the last page of the telephone book, I also found evidence from the past, in the way of prior phone and electrical installations. The gold Honeywell thermostat on the wall, for example, doesn't do anything — nor do three out of the four phone jacks I found. The heating units along the baseboards also appear to be inoperative, having been replaced decades ago by the wall unit, which handles both heating and cooling duties. Surprisingly every power outlet is functional; and the lone electrical peculiarity I've observed thus far is that one of the tungsten light fixtures in the ceiling unpredictably wills itself off and on every few minutes or so.
Sleep came around 2am after a delightful shower that I had been craving all day. In the morning I awoke . . .
Jun 10th, 2007 • Response
Categories • Mixes, Travels
Tags • mixtape, nostalgia, road trip
T-MINUS — 2 hours 10 minutes until departure.
Although I made this one a long time ago SEPTEMBER 29 2001 I still think it stands the test of time as a damn good mix tape. Needless to say, I will be bringing it along for the ride.
TRACK LIST: Side A
New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle
Madness - Baggy Trousers
Cyndi Lauper - When You Were Mine
The Smiths - William, It Was Really Nothing
Talking Heads - Stay Up Late
ABBA - Does Your Mother Know?
R.E.M. - Gardening At Night
Pet Shop Boys - Always On My Mind
Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
The Cure - The Exploding Boy
The Toasters - Shocker!
David Bowie - Let's Dance
TRACK LIST: Side B
The Kinks - Come Dancing
Wall Of Voodoo - Mexican Radio
Kenny Loggins - Playing With the Boys
Big Country - In a Big Country
They Might Be Giants - We Want A Rock
Squirrel Nut Zippers - Prince Nez
Belle and Sebastian - My Wandering Days Are Over
Pat Benatar - We Belong
10,000 Maniacs - These Are Days
Pogues - Sally MacLennane
The Mountain Goats - Going To Georgia
The Psychedelic Furs - Heartbreak Beat
The Pixies - Head On
Jun 5th, 2007 • Response
Categories • Travels
Tags • Jackie A, road trip
| Top-secret map of Midwestern mayhem: |
 |
Jun 4th, 2007 • Response
Categories • Travels
Tags • cat, Danville, Indianapolis, Jackie A, Jacky‚ Bobby & Little, road trip
On June 11th I will be departing Tallahassee — before the ass-crack of dawn — with the lovely and incomparable radio.heart.breaker, Jackie A. Together we will embark on a long and frightful journey, deep into the soft, jolly midsection of America known as The Indiana and The Illinois.
While the details of our motives must remain strictly hush-hush, I will try my best to keep my partisans updated as to my well-being during the entire course of my travels. If, however, luck would have it that a hideous fate befalls me, resulting in an abrupt end to all communication or my failure to return to Tallahassee by Sunday, June 17th, it would be good of someone to tend to the little ones.
More to come.
