As you know I am busy with a little one person show so I have been neglecting my blog - I asked my friend Lee to write something for us about his last business trip. I still am not sure what it is he actually does - but I am sparing you a couple of the pics he sent that might have been offensive and just weren't very pretty. Above are the pics he sent that didn't turn my stomach. I think they even might make my Sissy a bit homesick. (Not the first pic but the ones of Philly!)
Tales from the Road 7/26/08
Philadelphia Freedom
Shalom, Y'all! (And Good Reasoning to you, Ken!)
After multiple trips to & from New York, I finally got to come back to the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia! Unlike most of my trips out of town, I was traveling as a passenger in the truck for the AAFP Maternity meeting at The Loews Philadelphia Hotel. The last time I was here, the sole detached from my right steel-toed shoe. This time, it was my LEFT sole that detached. Even though I looked like a schmuck as the sole slapped against my foot, it had the rather unintended benefit of keeping the homeless guys from hitting me up for spare change! As I was walking down to South Street from the hotel, the question was posed to me as to why someone would be homeless in a city with such brutal winters as Philadelphia. I'll let others answer the questions about the underlying causes of homelessness...because quite frankly it's not all that funny! I just don't think it's fair for the home-grown homeless in places like Orlando (ha!), Tampa, or Miami to compete with ringers from places like New York, Detroit, or Philly! Let's face it: the folks in Fla. wouldn't stand a chance against the stronger aggressive species! It'd be like introducing a predatory species in a pond that would overwhelm the native species! One thing I would have liked to capture on video (or audio) were some of the loud rants that the homeless were having with themselves. WAY more entertaining than the Bumfight videos that were being sold a few years ago! Just the audio alone would be worth it to sell as ringtones! (Not that I would EVER exploit the homeless...)
The drive up here was...interesting. I had the "blessing" to ride up here with a new driver. An individual who apparently is utterly clueless in reading body language! Now if someone put their earbuds for their iPod in their ears, crossed their arms, and bowed their head...would you try to engage that person in idle mindless chit chat? I know I wouldn't! I'm not going to give his name to protect his identity, but a couple of you know who he is! He will not stop talking! If he had something to say that was interesting, or even used different inflections to his voice! SOMETHING! Dear God, the drive up here was painful! In addition to the drone-like quality of his voice, he also drove like an old woman...and I don't mean like The Little Old Lady from Pasadena, either! Cars & trucks were passing us from the left & right. I told him to get in the right lane, but he wouldn't, for whatever reason. It was just a matter of time before he was in the left-hand lane with the turn signal on, and he didn't fail to disappoint! Just the Philly skyline came into view, there he was in the left lane! We actually drove into downtown so that he would know how to get there, as well as how to get to the truck parking lot, which was quite a few blocks away from the hotel. As we were driving to the loading dock, he commented that he thought that Philadelphia was one of the cleanest cities he'd ever seen! When he made the long walk from the truck parking lot and got back from the hotel, I asked him if he still felt the same way! Naturally, he did not. Not that there's anything wrong with Philly, but anytime you get a bunch of human beings all together in one spot, things tend to get a bit messy!
One of the places I've always wanted to visit every time I've come to Philly was the Italian Market. This time, I was able to achieve that goal! I even made it to Ralph's Restaurant (http://www.ralphsrestaurant.com/), the oldest Italian Restaurant in the country owned by the same family. The ravioli & meat sauce was quite tasty, & my Project Manager enjoyed the Lasagna as well! We also made it back to South Street, where I was able to purchase my "I Love Being Black" t-shirt! Most of you all know that shirts like that are cat nip for clones to me! I just can't resist! After getting back from South Street, I turned on the Boob Tube (in honor of the breast-feeding session I sat in on) & saw that CBS was doing the MMA (mixed martial arts...like UFC) show again. The large amounts of dried blood on the mat was a nice touch after eating Italian for dinner! Almost as nice as seeing a C-section on video immediately after scarfing my lunch down earlier in the week! (Thank goodness for the Catholic training, or I'd never be able to block that image out of my head!) ABC's idea of counter-programing? The animated classic "Peter Pan"! Ah...the wisdom of network programming!
I can't get back to Richmond soon enough! As long as I don't kill the kid on the way back...Lord give me strength...enjoy the images!--
For your daily dose of Sarcastic Sanctification...or whenever I feel like it! No, I'm NOT looking for Underage dates, nor do I want to be featured on Dateline's "To Catch a Predator"!
4 comments:
Who is Lee and what was he doing in that disgusting hell hole they call a city? I lived there for 8 LOONNG years and never went to the Italian Market. They don't like black people there.
Lee is a friend of Steve O and me - I thought you LOVED Philly? What happened?
I loved South Street - where was it we got those cheesesteaks that were sooo good?
Who is they?
To me, any place other than DC or Florida is an improvement. A shame they don't like black people in the Italian Market. It's odd, because I always thought of Philly as a Chocolate City myself. I love my melanin-gifted brothers & sisters.
Work had me in Philly...I rarely ever go to these places on my own dime.
I love cheesesteaks and chickie's and pete's. Philly as a whole has some serious problems. Voters changed parties rather than vote for a black mayor (John Street). If a black friend came over to my house, neighbors would sit on their porches and wonder why they were coming over. It has its racial problems like any old city but being there in the thick of it makes you sick.
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