Hoarse Speak

Mika just ate her first Boston mouse and in a similar fashion to this post:
http://www.meekmok.com/mr_ed/2004/07/01/a-house-cats-hunting-song/

This past week, Ms. A and I dug out the little red honda and headed up to the Berkshires. We stayed at a cute inn (the Race Brook Lodge) near Sheffield and went hiking in the snow on and around Bartholomew's Cobble
and the remains of Jug End resort.

Jug End was apparently named for a German youth camp (Jugen) back when the Germans helped out in the reconstruction of New York after the Martian invasion of the late teens. Jug End was converted from a German youth camp into a ski resort later, here's some other photos.

The hiking was great, weather perfect - sunny and in the high 30s/low 40s - and the snow just deep enough to be fun but still easily hikeable. We're looking forward to trying some snowshoeing or cross country skiing later in the season.

It is snowing again and the little red Honda is getting buried again. Last year, Boston got only 17" of snow the entire winter, as of this morning we had 19.5" and we're getting another 5-6" right now. There is a mountain of snow in front of our house courtesy of Boston Public Works, who decided that our house was a perfect place to dump some of the white stuff. So, well, we just keep digging and throwing it in the bushes. Maybe we'll bury the house that way.

So what brought me back to blogging? I'm done for the semester. Took my last exam yesterday morning and commenced drinking within 15 minutes of completion. What did I learn all semester?

Torts: are not a tasty little sweet, they are nasty ugly lawsuits and what passes for social insurance in this country. The way to accomplish loss-spreading and wealth redistribution is not to enact socialist or communist programs like universal health care or decent unemployment insurance. Let them hire a lawyer and sue! Innovative efficiency is the american way!

Property: isn't about that house or that car or that ipod, well it is, but it isn't, I mean its about the relationship you have to that ipod in relationship with someone else. Sound convoluted? That's what happens when you hand a very simple concept to a lawyer.

Civil Procedure: is Panzer Leader! The Feds make Avalon Hill proud. At least they did better than Divine right, but I bet some states have procedures as convoluted as that game.

Anyways, I'm done. It feels good, I think I'm going to play MTW or something else until I go blind. Then get up in 14 days and start all over again. Happy Solstice everyone!

Not very normal for me to quote a David Bowie tune, but then again I haven't posted in almost 6 months not for a lack of things to say, lots has happened. Ms. A has been better at keeping up with our changes recently, so I'll pick up from here. We're in Jamaica Plain now and it is really great being here so far. The cat, Mika, still hasn't gotten used to the big city nor the new house. We were awoken the first night by raccoons fighting in the backyard which made me wonder if we were really in the city. Seriously though, our house is pretty quiet for being in the city of Boston and we're right near a huge park, the zoo, some large ponds and the arboretum. Today I rode my bike up to Northeastern and it will be about 15 minutes door to door all along a bike path that runs on top of the train line. Here's some links to pictures of Jamaica Pond which is a 10 minute walk from our house

(Ms. A is off in Sandy Eggo at a family wedding and took the camera which has the photos we took - I'll post those instead when she gets back).

On Friday as part of a required field trip for the class I am taking, we went to Central Prison in Raleigh. Central Prison is a maximum security prison which includes the only Death Row and execution chamber in the state. We got to see all of it.

Our tour guides were Lieutenant W. and Sergeant B., both of whom had worked at the prison for a significant amount of time: Lt. W. had been at Central for 12 years, while Sgt. B. had been there for 20 years. Lt. W. was a woman in her late 30s - early 40s but just gave off that aura of don't mess with me. Sgt. B. was also probably in his early 40s very large man, at least 6'8", and looked like he worked out regularly - he also had a bit of a sadistic/control streak that might come out in my descriptions. The tour began first with disallowing one of the students because she had forgotten her wallet (and ID), and making another student swap shoes with the disqualified student because she was wearing sandals as opposed to close-toed shoes. The guards made us stand single file with most of the women at the front near Lt. W. who led, with the men and our professor at the back with Sgt. B..

They took us into the prison lobby first and displayed the collection of "contraband" that had been taken off of or out of prisoners - knives, razors, drugs, bullets, guns, etc.; all of which were hidden in books, cigarette packages or persons. There were also X-ray films of a couple of prisoner's stomachs with some metallic objects inside - I don't want to know what passing that might have been like. Some of the stuff seemed particularly dated, such as a 2 barrel derringer cut into a Bible, but some of the stuff seemed modern like a bunch of pills hidden in a cigarette pack.

The first real stop was the execution chamber. Central prison is the only execution location for the State of North Carolina. Four people have been executed this year the last execution occurred on August 18th. We only entered the observation room which was a triangular room about 10' on a side with 10 - 12 numbered chairs which face a large window. The window looks into what looks like a grubby doctor's examination room, something like I'd seen in the third world, in which the most prominent feature is a gurney. The condemned prisoner is allowed from 1pm to 11pm to be with his family in a very small room (a "sallyport") off the main visitation area - the only physical contact he is and has been allowed with anyone outside the Department of Corrections since his incarceration. After 11pm they are taken away and at midnight wheeled into the execution chamber strapped to the gurney. The observers are packed together in this small room, 1 member of the press is included with the victim's and prisoner's families. Apparently the window is not sound proof, so the condemned says his ritual last words while strapped to the gurney. The entire thing was profoundly creepy and clinical.

Next stop was the visitation room which was a large room with lots of doors to very small rooms - literally 6' X 6' with two stools (which were the only new thing in the place) which faced a 1" thick plexiglass window with a 2" X 12" steel grate in it through which you could speak to the prisoner you might be visiting. Prisoners are allowed 30 minutes to 1 hour per visitation depending on their behavior. Next we went into Block I which I'll write about later.

Just got hit (well I guess I T-boned it, but it was the officer's fault) by a UNC police officer. He was driving one of the Chevy Police Impalas and I was riding my 30's Colson (I'll post a photo soon). He was looking down at his laptop and turning left (isn't there something about using a computer while driving?) - I was going straight through the intersection. I had thought I'd made eye contact with him, but with tinted windows and sunglasses I guess he couldn't see me wearing a white t-shirt

I'm fine. I got thrown onto the hood of the car and dented it with my chin - also got a charlie horse and probably bruised my foot a little bit. There was a good scrape and dent on the fender of the car from the bike and a nice little ding on the hood from my chin. The bike seems ok, I hope the forks aren't bent, but I can't tell without straightening the wheel and handlebars. It took about an hour to do the paperwork, get the EMT and the cop's supervisor on scene. They took a bunch of photos and I'll try to get a copy of the report. The liuetenant mentioned that the officer will probably get a citation for the illegal left turn.