Lost Laurel

Check out this website called Lost Laurel.  The writer says he is, "a graphic designer currently obsessed with documenting the history of the modest neighborhood where I lived from 1978 to 1987, Steward Manor Apartments. As an ancillary project, I’ve started Lost Laurel as a way of also documenting and sharing the numerous stores, restaurants, and other businesses of Laurel past.

Hat Tip to Andy Hoglund.

First You Need To Row A Little Boat

So I'm looking for a new hobby to fill my days after I retire next year.  I built a couple of beautiful wooden kayaks 25 years ago.  They were made from 3mm marine grade plywood, mono-filament fishing line, fiberglass tape and two-part epoxy.  A joy to build and to paddle.

So I'm thinking that another small boat project might be just what I need to keep me busy and out from under "She-who-must-be-obeyed's" large, flat feet during the day.  


CLC's Northeast Dory Under Sail


I've always had a soft spot in my heart for small wooden craft that can be rowed or sailed easily by a single person.  The boat needs to be reasonable to build, easy to handle, lightweight and able to carry a good load of people and gear on calm days on the bay.

[He has a soft spot all right but it's in his damn head! - She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed]

[Please ignore her.  - rick]

Chesapeake Light Craft over in Annapolis sells the Northeastern Dory kit.  A dory is the perfect working boat for the bay and it looks like a boat project that I just might be able to finish before Laurel DPW's special pick-up boys need to come to get me.  The boat is 17 feet long, weighs about 100 lbs and will carry 800 lbs.  It's estimated to be about a 500 hour building project for a semi-skilled boatwright.


But this has led to another problem with "she-who-must-be-obeyed" who stated unconditionally that I was not going to make her basement laundry room all dirty and smelly with my boat "cr@p"!  Her retort also caused me to measure the basement door and realize that while I might be able to build a 17 foot boat in the there, I would need to wait for a flood to float it.  It seems that the basement door and windows are all too small to get the finished boat out of the bottle.

So I'm now building a boat shed in the back yard.  A 20' x 12' man cave and workshop 150' away from you-know-who. [Watch it buster - SWMBO]  A nice warm place where a little dory can be born admired and stored.  A quiet place to sit on a nice day and just appreciate the small things in your life, like working with sandpaper, cutting with finely sharpened saws and the joy of watching a boat come to life under your own two hands.

Richard Bode wrote a perfect little book in 1995 entitled, First You Need To Row A Little Boat,
that explains his love for sailing as a boy and how learning to sail was like learning to live and to love.

Watch this blog to keep track of the boat shop being built and the little Northeast Dory coming to life on Laurel Ave.  Stop in anytime, I will have plenty of sandpaper, strong hot coffee and a comfortable place to sit and think about boats and life.

rick

And Now For Something Completely Different

It was a nice day to do a little research. I wondered what was going on in Laurel in January 1912? One hundred years ago. But I fell asleep after reading a few Laurel Leaders from 1912. That led to a dream, a time warp and then hearing a Laurel radio station from the past, long before there were commercial radio stations. How strange. Perhaps I should stop eating at Red Hot and Blue before napping ...

January 1912 News from Laurel MD

A Independence Declaration for 2012

As I look back over 2011, I have found that like most years, there was plenty of good and a bit of bad news.  I am hopeful that 2012 will be better for Laurel, Maryland, and for America.

As I reflect on 2011's national and regional challenges, I can't help but put some of the blame on our current lawmakers at the national and state levels.  Individually, they seem to be for the most part, good, upstanding citizens.  But collectively, they live in a corrosive system designed to turn even the strongest among them from the practice of statesmanship to the depths of partisanship.  A few examples:

-- Redistricting debacles, where the good of the region is sacrificed to partisan gerrymandering.  See PA and MD for examples from both parties.
-- Budget impasses brought on by partisan posturing.  See U.S. Congress.
-- Ever hardening partisan demands to not compromise with the other side while chronic and acute state and national problems continue to plague us.
-- Party-line voting is now the norm and expected.

It's become clear to me that my only recourse is to send a shock to the political system.  An action that shakes up the system and demonstrates for all observers that priorities must change.   This action must be seen as, not a turn away from any current party in power, but rather a condemnation of the practice of partisanship itself.

So I have decided to declare my independence and, regardless of affiliation, I will vote strictly anti-incumbent.  If a candidate now holds any partisan office, I declare my vote for their challenger without exception. 

If we are successful in this strategy and incumbents lose their seats in large numbers, I'm convinced that our anti-party message will be loudly received.   I am also convinced that if we stick together, we can break free from the evils of partisanship and therefore, I offer the following Declaration.

A Declaration of Independence From Partisan Candidates

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for People to dissolve the political bands which have connected them for far too long to their wayward Lawmakers, and to re-commit to those priorities that put the welfare of the People over the welfare of any political party.
 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments and their elected Lawmakers are instituted to serve the People, not political parties.  That whenever any Form of Government becomes so destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish their services, and to select new Lawmakers who demonstrate the following:
 

-- To hold the rights, safety and good of the People over the needs of any political party, or even their own elected or appointed offices.

-- To work together in good faith, in a spirit of compromise and collaboration that encourages the broadest, most innovative and most lasting solutions to the myriad difficult problems of the People.
 

-- To spend substantially more time working for the good of the People than working for their own reelection or any other partisan priority.

-- To draw representative district boundaries for the good of the People living within them and without regard to party priorities, or their own reelections.

-- To ensure that they put their legislative duties and imperatives ahead of any other work and that they vow to complete their official tasks before they adjourn for any reason.

-- To promise to be fully transparent and immediately disclose fully and publicly; any and all meetings with, formal or informal requests from, and any form of resources provided by any person, organization or other group with direct or potential legislative matters before them.

We, therefore, the People of these United States of America, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People, solemnly publish and declare ourselves free from the corrosive power of partisan politics and we pledge to remove all Lawmakers who have not demonstrated that they hold the needs and dreams of the People over the prerogatives of party.

To join the cause, just acknowledge your independence in the comments section.  

Twitter: News or Not?

I apologize for only sending a tweet last night during the police search activity in OldTown Laurel.  My smartphone lets me forward tweets to the email lists but the formatting gets corrupted.  This caused a lot of confusion for people on the email lists. 

Kudos to Joshua Garner at laurel.patch.com for getting some information out to the community last night 30 minutes after the helicopters were in the air. 

I've come to really like Twitter for breaking news stories.  I wish more people, reporters and even PIOs would use it instead of email, or waiting for a reporter to ask them questions.   Twitter using the hashtag #laurelmd for breaking local stories would help get information moving quickly. 

Remember it's lector caveo! It's breaking news and we all need to be a savvy internet news consumers.  I call it "online literacy".  This means you gotta know your tweeter.  I'll listen to any random guy in a bar spout off investment advice, but I go to a pro when I want to invest for she-who-must-be-obeyed's retirement survivor's benefits. 

Breaking news also means that a story will surely evolve.  If we want verified news of record, we will need to let the professional news organizations have the time to do their thing, i.e.,  report, edit, check and then publish.

Like I always tell my boss.  "Good, fast, cheap, pick any two. It's impossible to do all three."   If you want your news fast and cheap and maybe wrong but evolving, read Twitter.  If you are willing to wait for verified facts, then avoid Twitter and wait for a reputable news organization.

Unfortunately, as local news organizations struggle to survive, Twitter may soon be all we have when the sirens wail and the chopper's spotlight circles overhead.

I find Twitter fascinating.  It's almost like being there, but without the need to get in the way.

rick