I Biked the Strike

I biked the SEPTA strike last week. It was­n’t the romance Philly Bicy­cle Coali­tion might have you believe. In fact, it was down­right dan­ger­ous for any­one who tried to nav­i­gate the traf­fic-choked streets.

How about a recap? There is no safe, reli­able route from any­where north of Spring Gar­den to Cen­ter City. The exist­ing bike lanes are insuf­fi­cient dur­ing nor­mal traf­fic and were com­plete­ly over­whelmed by the strike. The num­ber of cars and cyclists was staggering!

My tra­di­tion­al route to work became a war­zone. I usu­al­ly find my way down 17th from Spring Gar­den. This was nuts. 17th was a park­ing lot filled with uncer­tain angry dri­vers, but I had no choice. Philadel­phia needs ded­i­cat­ed bike lanes that pro­tect rid­ers des­tined for Cen­ter City. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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Music’s Demand Problem

I start­ed read­ing Michae­lan­ge­lo Matos’s Slow Lis­ten­ing Move­ment blog. I’ve seen vari­a­tions of the argu­ment for slow­ing down, like the slow food move­ment, as a means of chang­ing con­sump­tion habits, which in turn con­tribute to a dif­fer­ent way of liv­ing one’s life. It’s an inter­est­ing idea, but I think the notion of “slow lis­ten­ing” should some­how address the music indus­try’s instis­tence on treat­ing a prob­lem with demand as if it were a sup­ply-side prob­lem. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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Thanks Phillies!



Helen and Char­lie NLCS Game 5, orig­i­nal­ly uploaded by J T. Ram­say.

I’d like to say a belat­ed thank you to the Phillies for mak­ing my son’s first sea­son as a Phillies fan an amaz­ing one. Here he is with his mom and my beau­ti­ful wife Helen at Game 5 of our tri­umphant series against the L.A. Dodgers.

It’s sad that they could­n’t go all the way and ensure that they’d be named among the best teams in base­ball his­to­ry, but the 2009 cam­paign gave us some great moments that we won’t forget.

I can’t wait for April 5th to get here. Bring on woe­ful Washington!

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Our Fall Apple Picking Trip

Founders Maple Moun­tain Brown, orig­i­nal­ly uploaded by J T. Ram­say.

This year I invit­ed our friends out to my old stomp­ing grounds for our annu­al fall apple and pump­kin pick­ing trip. We’ve been to Bucks Coun­ty sev­er­al times, where we’ve often found the orchards picked over. When I recent­ly learned that Fre­con Farms offered pick your own I knew that had to be our des­ti­na­tion. I grew up right down the street from their orchard!

It was a great trip. The apples were plen­ti­ful. So plen­ti­ful, in fact, that we bought 15 pounds! I can’t wait for all the autumn deliciousness.

The real sur­prise of the trip, how­ev­er, was a jaunt down mem­o­ry lane. My friend and old TLA com­rade Matt rec­om­mend­ed we try Union Jack­’s for lunch. When I searched it, I thought the Tiki Bar had been renamed. Not so, it turns out.

Union Jacks at the Inn at Man­atawny is a love­ly spot that once was a nasty bik­er bar across from the Pheas­ant­land Roller Rink. This place was a gem. The beer list was gar­gan­tu­an and our friends love to drink inter­est­ing beers. Every­thing on tap was aged in bar­rels or casks, going with a wood­en theme I can def­i­nite­ly appre­ci­ate on a love­ly fall afternoon.

I tried four beers, rang­ing from Left Hand Oak Aged Impe­r­i­al stout (deli­cious!) to the Founders Maple Moun­tain Brown (inter­est­ing!) As we enjoyed our lunch, I could­n’t believe that such a won­der­ful lit­tle restau­rant could suc­ceed amid the ram­pant sub­ur­ban­iza­tion Boy­er­town’s under­gone since my child­hood. I mean, these are beers you’d strug­gle to find in bars in Philly!

I’d say that the Left Hand brew was my favorite of the day, although the Pen­nichuck Pozharnik was a delight as well. I drank two tasters of the Founders Maple (very pro­nounced maple fla­vor; a bit too much for me, actually.)

More inter­est­ing was the St. Some­where Lec­tio du Chene. That one through a real curve at me. It’s like noth­ing I’ve ever tast­ed. It’s blend­ed wine bar­rel aged & young Lec­tio Div­ina, which is one of St. Some­where’s well-regard­ed Bel­gian Pale Ales. Be care­ful — it packs a wallop!

The food and ser­vice at Union Jack­’s were great and I’d def­i­nite­ly stop in there again. Some­times it’s great to redis­cov­er the place you grew up, huh?

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Bøgedal No. 146

Bøgedal 146, orig­i­nal­ly uploaded by J T. Ram­say.

My friend Tom­my told me that Bøgedal and Mikkeller were the two must-have Dan­ish beers. I man­aged to tuck a bot­tle of the for­mer into my lug­gage on the trip home and I can assure you that this dark Christ­mas beer did­n’t disappoint.

I need to find a way to get more of this stuff!

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