will it float?

Happy birthday David...

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 06:11:58 GMT

FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS

osopaginador !!! that would be you, "pagerbear"
...for your birthday I arranged to have Renee Fleming come to Charm City and
perform tonight with the Baltimore Opera Company at the Lyric Opera House,
too bad you won't be here -oh well!

Hope you have a great one!!!

Huggleszzz ...oh, and puppies, lots n'lots o'puppies :>

bearchitect

1927-2007

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 17:47:42 GMT

Goodbye Slava...

a little bird made me do it...

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 04:06:36 GMT

Sat, 10 Feb 2007 13:52:55 GMT

NYC, here I come!!

~~pagerbear, did you wash up?~~

:>

NEON

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 07:21:45 GMT

POZ + / NEG -

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 07:15:13 GMT

COCO CHANEL

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 05:35:42 GMT

mmmm, waffles!!.....

Tue, 11 Apr 2006 05:08:41 GMT

my Ta ho version...

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 23:12:41 GMT

http://www.chevyapprentice.com/view.php?country=us&uniqueid=4aa28f56-1a35-1029-98eb-0013724ff5a7

PENIS? / VAGINA?

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 06:00:02 GMT

La Niege...

Sun, 12 Feb 2006 19:26:30 GMT

An update...

it's now daytime in Charm City:

...quivering about!

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 16:21:07 GMT


	Dear Cupid, This year, I've had my ups and downs in the love department.
Tbone1961 left a huge flaming vagina on my yard American Beauty style. Campn and I got caught hooking up at the movies and now we are banned from the theatre. Hotelbearsf and I used breath mints as an aphrodisiac.
So as you can see it's been a hectic year. Can you please make Foodpoisoningsf hook up with me this Valentine's day? Sincerely, bearchitect

Take this Quiz at QuizUniverse.com
( or, take the 'clean' version at QuizGalaxy.com )

Meme me this...

Wed, 08 Feb 2006 18:07:19 GMT

Ok, so I blew my cover! (among other things, hee hee)

Tough guy
You scored 60% masculine, 76% athletic, 18% exotic, and 25% refined!

You love men, you love testosterone and you know it. You like a bad-ass man who knows what he wants. He isn't what you might bring home to mom but I don't think it really matters - he's hot! Someone like.....Vin Diesel. But let's face it, the whole point of this was to look at a bunch of hot guys. If you liked what you saw, please rate my test!

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 50% on masculine

You scored higher than 99% on athletic

You scored higher than 10% on exotic

You scored higher than 10% on refined

Link: The What type of MAN turns you on Test written by thinkandcome on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

...it's that time, again!...

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 06:58:08 GMT

Happy 2nd Anniversary to ME!!!

two years since I joined the El Jays

Wow! It seems like it was yesterday, yet sooo much has changed, and at the same time everything remains the same...

life goes on...

I'm moving on...

Re-posted to comply with FNOLJ...

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:26:16 GMT

in no particular order, pattern or structural alignment, AND behind 'the' cut: THE MOVIE MEME MANIA

Create your own Movie List @ HotFreeLayouts!

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 09:19:19 GMT

H a p p y 250th B i r t h d a y !!!

WOLFIE !!!

"Of Portals, Porches and Porticos..."

Fri, 20 Jan 2006 11:20:03 GMT

...o r C h a r m C i t y E n t r y w a y s : a pictogram

Entry portal to private park at N. Charles Street and St. Paul Street, Guilford

Entrance to B & O tunnel under Bolton Hill at Mt. Royal Avenue

Pedestrian exit at one of the most handsome parking garages ever -now demolished!- on St. Paul Street at 33rd Street

Portico of First English Lutheran Church on 4200 block of N. Charles Street

Portico of The Hamlyn apartments at Tuscany-Canterbury

Entry light fixture detail

Entry to 526 E. University Parkway apartments

Entry light fixture detail

Access courtyard to Marlboro condominium at Eutaw Street, Bolton Hill -once home to the Cone sisters, Eta and Claribel

Terra-cotta detail at entry to The Maryland State Medical Society on Cathedral Avenue, Mt. Vernon

Portico of 702 Cathedral Avenue, Mt. Vernon

Entrance to Agora, Inc. publishers, 14 West Mt. Vernon Place

Porch at apartment building on East University Parkway, north of the Homewood campus of JHU

Portico at The Hopkins Inn, 3400 block of St. Paul Street, Guilford -notice schizoid light fixtures!

Entry canopy to Guilford Manor apartments at corner of University Parkway and N. Charles Street

Entry portico and canopy at apartment building on N. Charles Street., Guilford

Portico and canopy at The Warrington condominium, 3908 N. Charles Street, Guilford

Portico at The Geneva condominium, 3405 Greenway, Guilford

"outside looking inside looking outside"

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 09:23:45 GMT

for years now I've travelled to the airport via light rail along this route. The recent demolition of an old glass factory sited along the shores of one of the feeding branches of the Inner Harbor afforded me this view.

I had mentioned before what a great location this would be for a nascent urban development: great views of downtown's skyline, close proximity to downtown, direct water access to the Bay, instant transportation infrastructure, an existing marina and boat house (with rowing club and all) just around the cove, etc.

Guess what! It's been announced that immediately following the completion of demolition a new development is going up in that very spot!

In my excitement I took the picture a few seconds too early before the train came to a full rest (shot too early, hee hee, never a problem for me before, tho!) I hoped on my return trip (two days later) to be allowed a second chance to get a shot of the indoor/outdoor window in focus. Alas, it was not to happen, it was gone when the train brought me back to that spot. :-(

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 00:26:32 GMT

Swedish opera great Birgit Nilsson dies at 87

must find Flava Flav's number to tell'em the sad news...

other than Brunhilda and Isolde, the Ice Princess Turandot was one of her best roles... in the cartoon above she's depicted with Franco Corelli (the late tenor, not the COLT model).

"One of opera's many legendary moments came after one of her frequent battle-of-the-high-note contests with Corelli during the second act duet from ''Turandot.'' Enraged that no matter how hard he tried she could hold onto the climactic high C longer than he could, Corelli apparently got his revenge during their third-act love scene by biting her on the neck instead of kissing her. Nilsson is said to have telephoned Bing (Rudolph Bing, the Met's general manager at the time) to cancel her next performance with the explanation, ''I have rabies.'' "

Truly one of the least diva-ish Divas ever.

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 11:00:55 GMT

Happy Birthday MARIA!!...

Maria Callas

Let's hear it for the girl!!

Sat, 16 Jul 2005 10:01:29 GMT

Near a Breakthrough at the Baltimore Symphony

By JEREMY EICHLER

</nyt_byline>

Published: July 16, 2005

The conducting podiums of large American orchestras have historically been an all-male province, but the Baltimore Symphony may finally be changing that. On Wednesday, a 21-member search committee voted to make the American conductor Marin Alsop the orchestra's next music director. If her appointment is ratified by the orchestra's board on Tuesday, she will become the first woman to lead a major American orchestra.

"It's an opportunity to take intelligent risks," Marin Alsop said.

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times

Ms. Alsop, 48, is currently principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England, but insiders have long speculated that a major American post was on its way. Her three-year contract with Baltimore, which has not been finalized, states that she would serve as music director designate starting in the 2006-7 season and begin her official tenure in the fall of 2007, said James Glicker, president and chief executive of the Baltimore Symphony. She would succeed Yuri Temirkanov, now in his sixth season with the orchestra.

"I'm absolutely thrilled," Ms. Alsop said yesterday from a cruise off the coast of New England. "I'm very honored to be able to be the first woman to have this position, and I'm hoping it will soon become a nonissue for the women who follow me."

Deborah Borda, president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, said that if the appointment goes through, "it would be a great leap forward and a significant moment in American musical history."

It would be highly unusual for an orchestra's board to reject the recommendation of the search committee, which was headed by the board chairman and included six other board members, as well as orchestral staff, musicians and an outside consultant. Ms. Alsop's probable appointment was first reported yesterday in The Baltimore Sun.

Women have led smaller American orchestras, but never one of the 24 largest in the country when ranked by annual operating budgets, according to Julia Kirchhausen of the American Symphony Orchestra League. The Baltimore Symphony falls easily within that group, with an annual budget of $30 million.

Ms. Alsop's appointment would bring to a close a search that began in December and included an unusually high degree of consultation with audiences and the larger community. Opinion-canvassing efforts included three town-hall-style meetings where audience members discussed what they were looking for in a music director. The orchestra even hired a research firm to conduct a telephone poll of residents in the Baltimore area. "People wanted somebody who would be actively involved in the community, and who could bridge the gap between audience and performer," said Mr. Glicker, the orchestra's president and chief executive. "Marin fit those requirements and was an audience favorite from a survey point of view, and in ticket sales."

For her part, Ms. Alsop seems eager to build a substantial presence in Baltimore. Her contract stipulates a 14-week season each year with the orchestra, longer than Mr. Temirkanov's typical season of 11 to 12 weeks. She spoke of countering the trend of jet-setting maestros, and embracing an older model of a music director building a major presence in a city. A native New Yorker, Ms. Alsop cited Leonard Bernstein as an inspiration for how a conductor can connect with local audiences. In her own concerts, with the Bournemouth Symphony and with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, which she led for 12 years, she has been known to speak casually with audiences directly from the podium.

Her willingness to be involved with the community would no doubt be important; Mr. Glicker confirmed that in addition to her artistic work she would be expected to take a leadership role in fund-raising. The Baltimore Symphony has been dogged in recent years by fiscal problems, and after recently opening a second home in North Bethesda, Md., a suburb of Washington, the orchestra has an accumulated deficit of $12 million projected for 2006.

But Ms. Alsop seemed undaunted by the financial situation. "I look at it as a moment of opportunity rather than a moment of fear," she said. "Many orchestras these days are having fiscal problems. To me, that's the moment not to be conservative and hunker down. It's an opportunity to take intelligent risks. And make a statement, to really step out and differentiate yourself from every other orchestra with similar fiscal problems."

Her plans for the orchestra include taking on more recording projects, possibly by expanding a relationship she has built with the Naxos label, which in the fall will release the next installment of her critically acclaimed Brahms cycle with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Glicker said the orchestra also hopes to increase its online presence.

"I think it's a moment to assess what's possible, and to take a few chances, a few calculated risks," Ms. Alsop said. "In every orchestra I've been music director of, it's all been about calculated risk."

</nyt_text>

Houston, we have two problems......

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 17:25:26 GMT

Today, twice this morning the westbound lanes of the Katy Freeway (I-10) were closed to traffic due to accidents. This is the stretch of highway that's being widened to 12 lanes on either direction to "facilitate" traffic and ameliorate congestion. My question is "Why?". When all it takes is one imbecile to fuck up things by most likely being in the wrong lane going at the wrong speed while on the phone, why do we need 12 lanes? So we can have twelve troglodites doing the same thing? So when the highway must be closed because of a problenm not a pile of 2,000 cars backed up for 5 miles, but 5,000 cars backed up for ten miles will ensue? Yeah, everything is bigger in Texas, even the mistakes...

Katy Freeway Reopens After Fatal Accident

HOUSTON - The westbound lanes of the Katy Freeway reopened Thursday after a fatal accident forced authorities to shut it down for nearly three hours, Local 2 reported. Emergency crews responded to that fatal accident shortly at about 6 a.m. on the Katy Freeway west of Beltway 8.

Authorities said two vehicles were involved in the accident and that one person died in the collision.

All westbound lanes of the freeway were shut down by 6:15 a.m. and westbound traffic was still backed up to the 610 West Loop at 9 a.m.

No other injuries were reported. The cause of the accident remains under investigation.

Truck's Bed Strikes Katy Overpass, Forces Freeway Closure

HOUSTON - An 18-wheeler accident Thursday morning shut down an overpass in Katy and the westbound lanes of the Katy Freeway. Accident investigators with the Katy Police Department said the big rig was traveling west on Interstate 10 when the bed of the truck somehow rose and struck the Pin Oak Road overpass shortly after 6 a.m.

Authorities said the accident created a big hole in the bridge's wall.

The overpass and all westbound lanes of the Katy Freeway near the Pin Oak Road Bridge have been shut down.

Road officials are waiting for engineers with the Texas Department of Transportation to arrive and conduct their investigation since the bridge might have suffered structural damage.

Once TxDOT engineers arrive, the eastbound lanes of the freeway will be shut down.

Officials with Time Warner Cable said customers in the area have reported problems with their cable. Engineers have been called to the scene to repair cables damaged in the accident.

Authorities have not said if any other vehicles were involved in the accident or if anyone was injured.

Dig this...

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 23:57:06 GMT

<"lo q sigue no lo van a creer...">

Mon, 04 Jul 2005 07:09:49 GMT

Felíz 4 de julio!

l' été c'est ici

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 09:17:39 GMT

"ahhh, the sweet smell of magnolia blooms in front of my condo..."

previous shot to first photo, but w/ flash, can you tell the difference?