Joan's randomness: July 2008 Archives

Our quest for letterboxing stamps with daughter Sarah led us all around southeastern York County last week. We did good, finding stamps at the Hopewell Rec complex, Red Lion's Fairmount Park, Lower Windsor Township's Rexroth Park, and Samuel S. Lewis State Park overlooking the river, also in Lower Windsor Township.

But we couldn't find the stamp at Apollo County Park in Chanceford Township! It was rainy, the roads were gravel, and it was basically not a good day to go thrashing about the underbrush! But, we did find one cool thing...

A turtle! Hubby saved him from the middle of the road (though if another car would have come along that road that day, I'd have been shocked...) But we took him into the car first to see if he'd stick his head out and say hi to Sarah. He didn't, so we put him down on the side of the road and went on our way.

Cute, though!

Remember my recent rant on Internet spammers who couldn't even get my name right?

Well, a totally unsolicited news release in the ol' inbox this week (is THAT irony or what?) from MessageLabs, which bills itself as "the leading provider of messaging and web security services to businesses worldwide," claimed to have the year-to-date spam rates for individual states.

Guess what??? Pennsylvania's number 9! So I bet I'm not the only Yorker getting more than my share of spam, huh? (The full top ten is, as follows, Illinois, South Dakota, Oregon, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Indiana, Texas, Pennsylvania and Alabama.)

Thanks to all who've stuck with me during my attempt at "Joan's Local Favorites Week."

Today, to wrap up the week, I thought I'd hit a topic of reader request - soft pretzels!

Phil says there's nothing like a Smittie's soft pretzel. (He's also a fan of Mack's chocolate ice cream, which I can't fault him for.)

Now, for those of you who are true Yorkers, you know a Smittie's soft pretzel means this:

But, guess what? That might be changing soon. Why, you ask?

As part of "local favorites week," and since I was so keen on promoting our summer photo contest, I'd be remiss if I didn't devote one day to my favorite local photographers.

By Flickr user Napalm filled tires, this is the Ritz Camera Shop on Eastern Boulevard.

Other favorite local Flickr shooters:
countrycowboy026
Anthony Topper (Tony is our former web developer, but even if I didn't know him I'd love his photos.)
juliannL

Other favorite photographers:
Bil Bowden, YDR photographer extraordinaire, as well as Paul Kuehnel, Jason Plotkin and Chris Glass, who comprise the rest of our photo staff.
Edit: AND KATE PENN... I'm soooo sorry, Kate!!! Those of you who read the YDR online will especially want to check us out this Sunday, when Kate will have a photo story that takes you behind the scenes with the York Revolution.

And, last but certainly not least, loyal reader Jo, who shares my love of fireworks, Pinchot Park and all things York County.

Today's post is an ode to my favorite sweet snack...

ICE CREAM!

I couldn't even begin to pick one local favorite. If I had to, it would extend slightly beyond York County's borders to Mechanicsburg, the home of Rakestraw's. Ohhhh, is that good.

Let's see... where else for ice cream?

Local favorites week rolls on, and today I'm looking at my favorite local junk food.

Yep, that's them at right. Utz ripple-cut sour cream and onion chips.

The irony? For those of you who don't know, my part-time job is as a Weight Watchers leader, and I'm getting ready to lead a lunchtime meeting today.

That's just a special kind of irony.

Yes, yet more local things I love for "local favorites week."

You should have been able to guess this one if you read my Blues Traveler concert post... my second-favorite local group is the Mark DeRose band, which opened for BT at Sovereign Bank Stadium.

Here's their guitarist... I don't have a shot of Mark himself, for some reason.

My favorite songs of theirs are "Satisfied" and "4 and 5".

(Oh, and since I didn't remember to list favorites from yesterday's Jellybricks post, my favorite songs of theirs are "Wash Away" and "Growing Girl."

Yes, more promotion of local things I like. Hey, it's my blog!

Today's topic? One of my two favorite local bands - The Jellybricks.

I can't believe it's been more than 10 years since I first heard them, when they opened for Live in Hershey during my sophomore year of high school.

Somehow, I managed to get a signed drumstick from them after that concert. And I've been a fan ever since.

I don't know exactly how to describe their style - pop, I guess, but a little more into the rock side of things. It's actually some of the more laid-back music in my collection; I'm normally a hard-rock kinda girl.

Anyway, if you get a chance, check out their site, where you can hear some of their music.

Tomorrow, more on my second-favorite local band.

Just because I can, I wanted to make a special post showing off the work of my friend Tiffypop, an East Berlin native who's roaming the country selling her way-cool, handmade clothes at shows and festivals.

(And, a little birdie tells me she's getting MARRIED this month, too!)

I was thinking of Tiffy today because I'm wearing one of her "swirly skirts," patterned after some hippie classics. The picture is Tiffy on the beach, wearing one of the swirlies.

Shameless promotion: Check out her Etsy store if you want to order any of her homemade goodies yourself.

No, she's not paying me to do this. I'm just soooo comfy in this swirly today that I wanted to share the love.

Dear spammers,

I really don't mind that I get more messages from you than I do from the entire YDR staff. Really. And I don't mind that half of your messages are in Cyrillic - because I never read them anyway, so it doesn't matter.

But please, please, may I make one simple request? Can you at least get my name right? It was cute at first that all my spam started coming addressed to Granville Mcclain. It made me think of my hero, Bruce Willis, in Die Hard - John McClane.

But, really, I'm starting to get an identity complex. And I wish the real Granville Mcclain would come take his spam back - including the ads for certain "enhancement" products that would be of MUCH more use to him than to me.

So, in closing, I humbly ask that if you're going to call me names, at least make them - and your messages - appropriate for someone of the female persuasion. Is that too much to ask?

Yours truly,
Joan (NOT Granville) Concilio (NOT Mcclain)

I love office supplies. In a way that most people (::coughHubbycough::) might consider unhealthy.

This weekend, I bought new Sharpie pens, a new set of thick black Sharpies, AND new scissors. Here they are, hanging in my neat cubicle utensil-holder.

(Wondering about those fish on the side? Read more here. Those remind me to keep my attitude where it needs to be while I'm working!)

Lest you think I'm a little too York County-focused, I should probably mention that one of my main hobbies is reading manga and studying Japanese culture.

You also know that I loooooove food, right?

So imagine how stoked I was last week when Jo sent me some pictures of some amazing Japanese-style bento lunches.

(More photos if you read on!)

Just found out that yesterday's post was my 200th. Somewhat appropriate, as our country marked its 232nd year... Shame I couldn't make an extra 30-some posts yesterday, huh?

We're doing another of our Eight for Eight hikes today, weather permitting, in Rocky Ridge... I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I've also got an update coming on my daughter's search for letterboxes around the county... this time, we took The Dog on our adventure. I've got pictures, too, but they'll have to wait till tomorrow!

Check out the last news item on
this page of July 1979 news clips from Mother Earth News.

Wish I had been born then... not for the TMI near-meltdown, but for the Bigfoot sighting!

Do you believe in Bigfoot? One of the Exchangers wants to know.

One thing you will learn about me, if you stick with this blog long enough, is that I have an almost frightening attraction to hot dogs - or, "stick meat," as my friend LeAnne calls it.

So you can imagine my immense joy when the PR gentlemen from Hatfield e-mailed me to tell me that July is National Hot Dog Month!

Like I needed more of a reason to eat a ketchup-and-mustard-laden, rotisserie-grilled piece of heaven on a bun?!

Matt from Hatfield also tells me that, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (yes, there is such a thing!), last year, in the Harrisburg, Lancaster, York and Scranton region, residents purchased more than $27 million worth of hot dogs - the ninth-highest of any region in the nation.

Now that's a lot of meat.