Musings from the basement...

Videos from Hurricane Sandy

November 25, 2012 0 Comments

In the days to come I’ll be blogging on another site about this, but for now enjoy these visuals of what I enjoyed when waking up the morning after Hurricane Sandy struck. “Waking up” is a simple explanation, of course, but I’ll tell the full story later. For now, here is what I saw when I opened my bedroom window in the morning: Looks worrisome, but by this time the water had come down by between a foot to two feet, so we were pretty calm by this point. Really! Still, this is how the backyard looked (you may recognize the railing if you read my beer blog): To give you some perspective, the previous night the fire hydrant you see here was completely invisible,…
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Uncategorized, Videos

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I LOVE THIS GRUMPY ASS CAT!

November 24, 2012 0 Comments

By now, Tard the Grumpy cat is Internet famous. When I first posted her to a friend’s Facebook page a few weeks back, knowing this friend would ADORE the amazingly expressive face on this feline, she was still just an out-of-the-blue cat picture I saw that reminded me of my cat loving friend. Now, though, Tard — and that is her name — is a full-blown Internet meme with scores and scores of pictures gracing her grumpy face. Don’t just take my word for it. Google her. She’s HUGE. Liking her is liking Rebecca Black’s “Friday” now. Hell, even referencing “Friday” dates me to the Internet’s dark ages now, given how fast trends come and go here. It’s okay, though, Tard. I won’t turn my…
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Random Musings, Uncategorized

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Why would you write about your lousy little town?

October 26, 2012 0 Comments

I never saw my hometown ’till I stayed away too long. –“San Diego Serenade,” Tom Waits This sort of sums up Lakehurst: Barrens, Blimps & Barons, a book I wrote and self-published about the tiny Pine Barrens town I spent years trying to leave. That’s right. For most of my teen years, I wanted to get the hell out of that place. So if I spent years trying to leave the town — and I jumped ship as soon as I could, fleeing at the age of 19 — why would I spend the time to write and publish a book about it? Tom Waits nailed it in the above lyric from “San Diego Serenade,” featured on 1974’s The Heart of Saturday Night. There is…
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Random Musings, Works by Eric, Writing

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Re-Watching the Sopranos – Season 4

October 18, 2012 0 Comments

Sorry for the long gap between this post and my post on season 3. I had planned on doing these weekly, but other things have taken priority. Anyway, onto the post…and as always, SPOILERS abound. One of my favorite episodes of the entire series comes up halfway through season 4, specifically “The Weight,” an episode dealing with Johnny Sack’s obese wife. This poignant and funny episode stands out because it’s one of the rare times we feel bad for a cast member. The Sopranos generally gave the audience few characters we could truly sympathize with. You can name only a handful before running out of options. Dr. Melfi is the major one, naturally. She is in many ways the show’s conscience. Artie is another (though…
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Television

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TODAY IN HISTORY: Graf Zeppelin completes first Transatlantic flight, lands in Lakehurst

October 15, 2012 1 Comment

Yep, the little town that could made history in more ways than you realize. On this day in 1928, the legendary Graf Zeppelin completed its first ever Transatlantic flight, flying from Friedrichshafen, Germany to Lakehurst, New Jersey in about 111 hours. Capt. Ernst Lehmann was in command of this historic flight. Eight years later he’d be on an even more famous flight: the crash of Hindenburg. Sadly, he would not live to tell his story; Lehmann was one of the causalities of the disaster. The famed Graf Zeppelin landed in Lakehurst at around 5:28 p.m., making Lakehurst the destination for the world’s first ever Transatlantic flight by a passenger airship. The Germans had some company on the fight. U.S. Navy LCDR Charles E. Rosendahl was…
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Random Musings, Uncategorized

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