My “month long leave from blogging” goal is complete. I’m back. A few things before the weekend starts:

I have a new goal. Talk to one stranger a day. Not the simple “Hello, weird weather, huh?”. I want to spend at least a minute or two meeting someone new every single day. I think I’m a friendly enough person that this shouldn’t be difficult, but it will be cool to say that I at least met 365 people over a years period of time. Isn’t leap year coming up though?

I went to Cleveland last Sunday for the Steelers vs. Browns game. This was the third year in a row, and now I have a full answer about the fans there. They are the worst people I’ve been around at a sporting event, even worse than Steelers’ fans.

In Baltimore, the Hunger Strike that I wrote about was avoided and workers will be receiving a living wage. The only problem now is that there will be more competition for these jobs.

There will be an Anti-War Rally and March at 2:00 in Oakland on Saturday. Check out the info!

A few friends and I have been working on covering some Dillinger Four songs. We’re playing a show tomorrow as part of Cover Show benefit for Roboto.

A look at the Steelers’ Hotel Rider shows a lack of the Pittsburgh staple Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. I’ve always found that Tobasco sauce just doesn’t do it.

In other news, I visited yesterday for my lunch. Mike Mularky visited Peppi’s when he was a player and it seems Mike had problems with grammar.

Mike Mularky was demoted to Tight End’s Coach for the Miami Dolphins this season. I guess Cam Cameron didn’t think highly of the potent offense the Dolphins ran last year. I can’t blame Mularky though. Quarterbacks that he has had to work with have included: Kordell Stewart, Tommy Maddox, JP Losman, and Joey Harrington.

As much as like to play devil’s advocate, much of my feelings about sports really are objective anymore. I really don’t have many favorites or players I dislike. I truly consider myself a fan of sports in general, with a few favorite teams, but someone who can objectively watch any game. Pretending to have strong feelings for or against a player or team, is just as fun for me as someone who bleeds ______ & ______.

So, I hopped into bed last Wednesday, and for my usual nightcap I turned on the TV. ESPN2 was the station, Nationals at Giants was game. The next batter that was up: Barry Bonds. I had a feeling watching his at bat, that this would be the record breaking home run. I love this feeling in sports. Whether its a critical win or lose play, or just a magical moment like a home run where time slows down, it makes you feel like anything is possible(if you take performance enhancing drugs).

For as magical as sports make you feel, there is a lot of work behind the scenes that people don’t know of, or neglect to care about. When you leave your empty nacho container upside down, or your lbs. of peanut shells on the stadium floor, someone has to clean them up. In Baltimore, those people aren’t paid a living wage.

Camden Yards, a publicly owned stadium, employs temporary workers who work all night cleaning up garbage in the stands and the rest of the stadium. Workers arrive at a temp agency hours before their job starts, in order to get there early enough to get a place in line before the vans fill up. They get bar coded wrist bands and are driven(and charged to be driven) to the stadium where they clean all night, and are lucky to sometimes make minimum wage when travel charges and wait times are factored in. Workers are often treated miserably on the job, and even made to eat their lunches in the restrooms. This has to change.

What we learn in sports from the home run, the winning half court shot, or the unbelievable hook and lateral play, is that anything is possible. This is what makes sports such a great metaphor for life. We should support those people that are a significant piece in keeping our stadiums and our lives clean. A win in their struggle for fair wages would be a ground rule double in the battle for undocumented workers across this country.

Read more about this and the September 3rd Hunger Strike at: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/13/101320/662

Jay Bell, shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1989-1996, was taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 1998 Expansion draft, after spending 1997 with the Kansas City Royals. Bell scored the winning run in the 2001 World Series off of Luis Gonzalez’s single. A few years later he would retire from playing and become the bench coach for the Diamondbacks. He retired from coaching in 2006 to spend more time with his family.

There is some speculation of Jay Bell’s potential ties to performance enhancing drugs. In 1999, Bell hit 38 Home Runs. His yearly average, not including 1999, was 9.23 home runs a year. In 1999, Jay Bell hit a homer every 15.5 at bats, as opposed to his career average of a homer every 43.4 at bats.

Although 38 home runs is common among power hitters, Bell wasn’t one. His jump from an average of 9.23 HR, to 38 HR may be more drastic then any player being chased in the performance enhancing witch hunt.

0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K. That was the box score for a game in which Doc Ellis hit Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and Dan Driessen. He walked Tony Perez, who avoided his attempts to hit him. He was pulled from the game, which explains one of the strangest box scores you’ll ever see.

Earlier in his career, he pitched the famous “No-Hitter on Acid”. Supposedly Ellis was tripping on acid when he pitched the June 12, 1970 No-Hitter against the San Diego Padres.

Dock is now a drug counselor in California.

José “Chico” Lind won the gold glove when he committed only 6 errors in the regular season. His error in the seventh game of the NLCS is what gave him his pink slip out of Pittsburgh.

After leaving Pittsburgh, he played a few seasons for the Royals, and later the Angels. In 1996 he was arrested for possession of cocaine. The following year, he was pulled over for leaving the scene of an accident. When the police approached the car, they discovered Lind was naked from the waste down and intoxicated. A search of his vehicle found seven empty cans of beer and a gram of cocaine. For this, Chico spent a year in jail.

Once he was released from jail, a cleaned-up Chico spent 3 years managing the Bridgeport Bluefish, who are now coached by Tommy John.

“Nobody told me I was in competition. If there is competition, somebody better let me know. If there is competition, they better eliminate me out of the race and go ahead and do what they’re going to do with me. I ain’t never hit in spring training and I never will. If it ain’t settled with me out there, then they can trade me. I ain’t going out there to hurt myself in spring training battling for a job. If it is [a competition], then I’m going into ‘Operation Shutdown.’ Tell them exactly what I said. I haven’t competed for a job since 1991.”

Derek Bell got paid 9 million dollars for a .173 batting average and 5 home runs.

In April of 2006, Bell was arrested after police found a warm crack pipe in the back seat of his car during a traffic stop.

Lastly, we’ll visit Al Martin. Martin was brought up to the Majors for good in 1993, as the next great Pirate. Pirates’ propaganda wanted us to believe that he would follow in the same footsteps as recently departed Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla. Martin was a capable ball player, but he was not the star that the Pirates wanted us to believe he was groomed to be.

Al lasted 7 seasons with the Pirates, and later on went to play with the Padres, Mariners, and Devil Rays. During his stint in San Diego, stories surfaced that Martin had two wives in separate parts of the country. He told police that he was under the assumption that his second marriage, performed in Las Vegas, wasn’t law binding.

Martin also lied on a radio show about playing safety for the USC Trojans in 1986. He compared an incidental collision with Carlos Guillen to a tackle he attempted on Leroy Hoard. The truth was, that Martin was never even enrolled in USC, and was in the Atlanta Braves farm system at that time.

Al Martin was later involved in a domestic abuse case with one of his wives.

Last Friday, after 25 years of almost-long-enough hair, I found a rubber band at the bar and pulled my lovely mane into my first ponytail. After having my hair pulled back for a short time, I spotted a gentleman with gumband holding back his hair. I approached the 6’5″ish mountain-of-a-man for tips on growing and maintaining this dream hair-style. I was mildly embarrassed, mainly because of the small size of my “tail”,but nonetheless engaged him in a drunken conversation about haircare, style, and poper accessories. We both agreed that I should wait a few months until it actually looks worthwhile to pull it back.

This fall, I hope to sport the ponytail non-stop. It has been my dream for almost as long as I can remember. I’ve just never been able to make it through the summer of sweat and hair in my eyes. I’ll keep you abreast of the situation. If you have had a ponytail, feel free to give me some haircare tips. I’m new to this thing.

This is a total recap of my weekend:

I headed to Mercer County last Friday, my home for the first 18 years of my life. Before I made my way up interstate 79, I stopped in at Kraynick’s Bike Shop to get a new tire and tube for my bike. Outside the shop, I passed a dude wearing a #7 Altlanta Falcons Jersey. I don’t think he got the memo.

It was probably the most jam packed weekend that I’ve had in Mercer in recent memory. When I got to Mercer on Friday afternoon, I stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Thompson’s house, and engaged my Grandfather in a game of chess that ended in a stale mate. He hadn’t played in about 60 years, last as a Chaplain’s assistant in the Army, so that may be a sign I need to polish up my game.

Later that night, I went with my Mom and Grandma Cresswell to The World’s Largest Shoe Store. I was in dire need of new shoes, as it seems after 10 years of size 13, my feet have shrunken to size 12. I got my shoes and we went on our way.

It feels very strange to have to qualify my Grandma by saying “Grandma Cresswell”. Until last year, she was the only Grandma that I knew. I grew up not knowing my father, or his family until last year. So at 24, I started calling two new people Grandma and Grandpa. I also gained 4 uncles with 4 wives, and 6 cousins(4 of which are married) with 5 kids of their own(1 more on the way).It’s just something that doesn’t quite come naturally to me yet.

I spent Friday night at Grandma Cresswell’s and we scoured the classifieds to find the yard sales going on the next day. When I awoke we devoured homemade pancakes, eggs, and sausage and headed to town for some sales. In two hours however, I only found a Queen Record and a tackle box. $1.50 for both.

I dropped off my prize finds at my Grandma’s place, outside of town, and rode back into Mercer for lunch with my newly acquired Grandparents, the Thompson’s. After lunch, I went to a tour of a Mercer graveyard(established in 1805), one which has a unique pyramid shaped Cenotaph in the center of it. The tour was good, with a lot of information on specific people that were buried there, and their relations to the origins of the town. An interesting fact that I learned: Since the Lenape and Iroquois tribes were matriarchal, the white women shared a bond with them, did most of the communication, and were mainly the ones taught farming and information about the area.

After the graveyard tour, I took an Underground Railroad tour, that took us on a walk all around town. Here are a few things that I learned:

* Rattlesnake swap(a swamp outside of town where I used to go fishing) actually used to have a lot of rattlesnakes. Lore tells of hundreds of snakes. In my time spent there, I’ve never seen one. It was recently purchased and may be cultivated for its peat.
* During and before the Civil War, Mercer had a General Store called “Zahniser & Company”. This store sold only goods that were not made by slaves. An easy indication of who was Anti-Slavery, was to watch who went in and out of the store.
* Native Americans were not allowed to join the Union Army in New York State, so many would come to PA to enlist.

After the tour I biked back to my mom’s for stuffed peppers; the first peppers of the year from my Grandma’s garden. FYI regarding peppers, if you pinch the top off of the plant, it will become more bushy and produce more peppers.

After dinner, I rode back into town and met up with my Uncle Denny, proprietor of TLC(Thompson Lawn Care). We loaded up the trailer behind his truck with a canoe and we headed to the Shenango River Lake, which feeds the Shenango Reservoir, for a dusk canoe trip, also referred to as a “night float”. If you’ve never canoed at night, I suggest it. In the country you can see 100 times as many stars as you can in the city, because you don’t have any artificial lights shielding your perception of the sky. We canoed for about an hour and a half, and when it got totally dark on a such clear night, there was enough illumination from the starts and half moon that we navigated the river perfectly. There were an insane amount of fish jumping, and a fireworks show a few miles past the reservoir.

I spent the night at the Thompson homestead for the first time that night, though the bed was short and my feet were hanging off of the edge. I woke up to French Toast Casserole, Bacon and Sausage, and Fresh Fruit.

After breakfast, my Uncle Steve and I headed out on a bike ride to do some cave exploring outside of town. The cave lies on the property of a relative that I have yet to meet. We parked our bikes, crossed an electric fence, and walked across fields and into the woods where we came to the cave along a hillside in the woods.

I would guess that the cave is about 70-80 meters deep. It is home to a bunch of random corn cobs that a raccoon or some other animal has brought from the cornfield, some Miller High Life cans from the 70′s, and chiseled graffiti that dates back to 1857. Premature research through the Mercer Historical Society, shows that some of the graffiti shares common last names to some abolitionists mentioned during that same year, 1857. Could this cave have used for more than a kids hangout like it seemed to be in 1973. My uncle actually knows LUMP.

After the trip to the cave, I parted ways with my uncle, and biked 20 miles to a family reunion in Sheakleyville. My Mother’s father is where I get the last name Cresswell. My Grandma however, was once a Partridge, and her mother was a Sheakley. James Sheakley was once the Governor of Alaska. I’m not sure how he was related to my Great-Grandmother, but he was. Although the reunion happened in Sheakleyville, it had nothing to do with the Sheakleys or that side of the family. It was the Cresswell reunion, a family that seems to own most of the businesses in the town during its current era(or at least has sold most of the properties there).

After putting 26 miles in, I scarfed down the food that everyone else brought, and socialized with the 3 non-immediate family members that I actually know. This being my second family reunion, I have concluded that besides the food, they are a bust. It’s an awkward situation with related strangers, and you end up sitting with and talking to the family members that you already know.

I left and rode back to my Grandma’s. 12 miles in 45 mins. On my way there, something almost happened that I had actually been thinking about on the ride to the reunion. An 8 point buck deer walked out in front of me, while I was going about 20 MPH on my bike. Luckily it took notice at the same time I did, and ran across the road when we were about 10 feet apart. This finished my day at roughly 38 miles, the most I’ve done in one day.

I’m starting to realize that I am related to 1 out of every 10 people in that county. Good thing I don’t live there anymore, as it may take months to realize I may be involved in an incestuous relationship.

The field we walked through to get to the cave. It has remnants of an old barn, or building of some sort.

The Thompsons are decedents of Hosacks, meaning this is probably a relative of mine.

Mail Pouch Barn on Route 19, which I passed on the way to and from the reunion.

I finished my first radio piece, which will air tonight on Rustbelt Radio. It was an interview with representatives from some local organizations that promote Single-Payer Health Care, and their takes on the film SiCKO. In honor of my first work as a journalist, today’s entry will be dedicated to health.

It seems like you can count on some fear mongering from Fox News’ “Fair and Balanced” reporting. Hmmm… I guess if we were to expand Medicare to all, helping us become healthier as a nation, the terrorists would win?

In other news, there will be a Tag Team Match in Pittsburgh. The match is TBA.

I thought one of the best points made in Michael Moore’s new film, was the fact that we already have a National Health Care Plan. Although the system is flawed, is there really an argument that “Socialized Health Care is bad for the people”?

Some will argue that they “don’t want to pay anymore taxes”. Who does? I would personally rather pay an small increased tax, than a deduction out of every paycheck I get. Even when I pay for health care, I have more bills on top of that. Copays, deductibles, and prescription drugs, OH MY!!!(they all add up) There is absolutely no need for profits in the Health Care Industry. Does a CEO need to make a half of a Billion Dollars per year, while children are refused treatment for being at an emergency room “out of network”. No Child Left Behind…. …unless they are dead from lack of medical care.

“Well if Canada’s health care system is so great, why do they come down here for treatment?” This is simply spin, Sir or Madam. I don’t know what percentage of American’s know how close Canada is, but I’ll fill you in. You can sometimes take a short bridge to get there! People travel, and sometimes it’s across a bridge to go to the doctor. Most times though, a majority of Canadians are treated in America while they are visiting, on a vacation perhaps. In fact, 80% of admissions of Canadians in United States’ Hospitals(lying in states that border Canada), were due to emergencies or were pregnancy related. Check out this study.

Enough serious stuff…

Casualties of the weekend:

1 Pulled Quadriceps
1 Pulled Hamstring
Missing skin on arm from some lady almost hitting me in the bike lane
4 Splinters in various spots on my hands
My ERA
1 Bike tube and 1 Dry-rotted tire
5 Pounds of Salmon(i think I ate 2.5 myself)

It was probably the most productive weekend I’ve had in a long time. I got to hangout with some out-of-town friends, BBQ, and play a really fun game of baseball. I also got a lot of things done that had been lingering. Lets hope this week is full of similar motivation.

So if you get a chance, check out my radio story tonight at 6 PM on 88.3 FM WRCT. It will be repeated tomorrow morning at 9 AM, and will be available for download sometime tomorrow.

After performing in a Beastie Boys cover band, a U2 cover band(at a wedding), playing Weird Al covers at ADD Fest, I will be forming a Dillinger Four cover band with Eli, Gentle, and TFP for an upcoming show this fall.

I had lunch with MikeyC the other day at Sunseri’s Belle Note(where Giuliani ate last week), and we discussed wanting to create ambition in ourselves, after little of it has been ingrained in us. One thing that he mentioned he does, is to stay away from home as much as possible to get work done. It seems easier to sit down and work on something when you don’t have the lazy distractions of your home. I plan on trying this and getting my laptop working(hopefully with ubuntu), so that I can do work at a coffee shop, etc., without having to turn on the tv, cook food, play music, or listen to records. My problem is staying on task.

Boyd, Gillis, and I are making our 3rd Annual Trip to Cleveland to see the Steelers vs. Browns. This year its the home opener and we will be joined by Hedges.

Dave, Cindy, and I met three Columbian dudes at the Harmarville Denny’s last Saturday. They’re living at the Comfort Inn in Harmarville this summer, and working at various American Institutions like Quiznos and Starbucks. They spend their nights drinking at Joey D’s, the bar attached to Hotel they’re staying. Jobs are supposedly scarce in the summer, when school is not in session, so they travel out of the country to work all summer long.

Besides asking us “Punk Rockers” about every band we are into, they had some amazing one-liners. They talked about their trip to the South, and how people down there aren’t very friendly. Here’s how Emilio described it: “Yeah, they yell at you, ‘Go back to your own country’. Everyone there is like, ‘my truck is bigger than your truck; GET IT DONE.’” I think he was referring to this guy. We plan on meeting up with these guys soon, as they spend every night at the Hotel Bar.

Someone got in trouble for swearing in the deep end of the Bloomfield pool the other day. It is my theory that if you are swimming in the deep end, you should be able to handle a few moderate curse words. For as chaotic as the Bloomfield pool is, they sure are sticklers. The Highland Park pool is calm and huge, and it seems like you could get away with mainlining heroin in it.

To whom it may concern,

I want to personally thank you for stealing the front wheel of my bike, and/or Mary Mack’s Pannier from the Bike Pittsburgh Party on Friday. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Besides being able to work on my “wheelies”, there are a lot of advantages to not having a front wheel.

1. My bike fits in a car a lot easier.
2. I can spend more time on the overcrowded 77 D,F, or G.
3. Less people will honk at me during my daily travels.

The best part about you stealing my bike, was the inconvenience that it put my friends in. My roommate had to drop his plans to come pick me up, because I had no ride. Awesome! Erok, a sweet dude who spends so much of his time for bicycle advocacy in this city, spent 20 minutes trying to help me find a temporary wheel, at a party he was supposed to be enjoying. Awesome!

You know what else kicks butt? My bike was built as a birthday present from a good friend, and Mary’s panniers were presents too. I wonder if you created a super bike out of things that meant something to other people. I really hope you get absolute joy out of your new ride.

I applaud your David Lloyd-esque thievery. May good karma surround you forever.

Happy to be without a wheel,

Phill

it is technically a week into summer, and here are the things that are/have been going on in my life:

i got a free propane grill from alyssa the other night. i have a feeling that grilling will be more frequent due to the laziness involved of just hitting the ignite button.

i’ve started an almost respectable garden. we’ll see how things are going in a few weeks, but so far i have the following: garlic, various types of peppers, roma tomatoes, big boy tomatoes(lemme know if you want these when they ripen, my grandma gave me them only because she had so many), broccoli, and brussels sprout. i may do some zucchini, cabbage, lettuce, and a few other things.

i’ve been playing music with people again. although its somewhat sporadic, hopefully it will become a weekly thing. i was recently on tour with a band, and i did a lot of driving. it really sparked this urge to tour with a band that i’m actually playing in.

i’m finally getting my pool pass today. when its too hot, like today, it will be nice to have a halfway point to swim at on my ride home from work. i can’t wait to be reunited with the bloomfield beach, and acquainted for the first time with the highland park water park. i really need to kill this farmer’s tan with some full, upper body sun.

you know how you get excited when you find money in the pockets of clothes that you haven’t worn in a while? i found two dollars in the little “whatever this is” pocket in lining of my swimming trunks.

i’ve been helping produce rustbelt radio the past few weeks, and in the upcoming weeks i’ll be taking tests to become a wrct station member, producer, and a dj.

i now own a blackberry, and can read blogs from the middle of the woods or the bathroom.

trips planned so far:

Weston Show in New York on July 6th
Pitchfork Festival in Chicago on the weekend of the 13th
Camping trip to Hocking Hills, Ohio on the weekend of the 20th

i’ve been riding my new bike(thanks andalusia!) a lot. i bought a bike at the superflea 4 years ago, but my riding was pretty infrequent because it didn’t fit me that well. with a bike that actually fits me, i feel like i’m 14 again, riding pretty much everywhere i need to go in the city. i took it home last weekend, and did a nice country ride. hopefully i can pick up a bike rack at the bike swap on saturday.