Dr. Greenthumbs

Caution: as with any of the poorly crafted structures that you will find posing as blogs here.This is another example of time travel, mish mashing verb tenses and me hopping from state to state apparently by the use of Tardis. So if you're wondering, is it me that is not able to follow ol' Groovy? chances are it’s not you, it's my stinky writing.

DR. GREENTHUMBS … So we started this grow box in the new apartment. Started with some seeds and some soil. Though, I guess we can leave to the experts to decide as to whether or not the stuff is good or a big over priced bag of shit [not literally, otherwise they'd say that stuff was swell]. We also bought a $13 grow lamp. Slowly we started to turn our dungeon into a rather nice place for things other than chia crafts to grow.

Now we have to backpedal, almost a whole year to be exact. Melissa and I are at some community college vegan awareness convention in Boston. Neither she nor I are vegan but being made aware of how to incorporate more vegan food and veggies into our lives sounded nice, so we attended.

The place is packed, which you would have to expect since it is a city and the convention (if that's what you want to call it) was free. There were also a whole shit load of free samples. In fact there was more product for you to get for free than there was information. Not much talk of community supported agriculture or booths with info on how to turn your 700 sq foot apt. into a sweet urban garden. Nope, nada, nut tin, not a ting man. Which I guess is more of a sad reflection on the state of affairs these days. People want to bitch about Whole Foods buying up Wild Oats and then continue to shop at the over priced entity that they demonize, and do nothing else.

You don't have to sell your soul to the armys of the living dead man. No, you can ralign your self with the diy underground, and do it quite literally. You can make yerself a 100% bonified do it yourselfer grow box and sow your hipster 100% organic roots in no time at all. Grow your own veggies.

Let’s stop this bullshit replace one consuming passion with another. This was ultimately the formula that I'd say snuffed out so many of my "gen-x" contemporaries in the 90s. So if you really want to rage against the machine this time man, then there's a way to do it. Take some of that rebellion and turn it into plowshares. (OR… PLEASE INSERT YOUR OWN PRO HOME GROWN PINKO COMMIE INSPIRATIONAL PHRASE HERE)

After metamorphosing into a cattle and being herded through the vendor room, I'm left feeling a bit down that I didn't get the phone numbers from some ol' HGP taggin' friends of mine and that well… I hadn't received any suggestions as to how to become the urban green acres mofo that I would like to be. (thank you Eddie Arnold).

So fast forward through the rest of our Providence habitation and all of my Patchogue reoccupation to now. Melissa and I start the aforementioned grow box. In fact here's a picture of the thing:

Since we use sitemeter for our online postings we realize that we've become popular. Not because anyone gave a shit about my column in Under The Volcano or miss the Model Citizen in any shape or form. Most people are hiting this site because they think I have some hydroponics hints, or other useful information on homegrowing their chronic, and other suggestions on how to spend their next 4-20 in the high life. Which was funny since our intentions were to get our salad and salsa ingredients from fresh and sound sources.

We were looking to save some dough, get some nice produce and welp.. throw a monkey wrench into the gears of the agri-terrorists inc. who are orchestrating this global food crisis.

Since there is an interest in our grow box, we're going to pen some useful how to-s. including how to repurpose some of those junk racks that you buy from target and S-Mart into something f'n sweet. The result is nice especially when you compare them to what the catalog growers are charging for them.

ARGH!

insert bullwinkle theme here.

I've got nothing. The writers block is creepin'…AGAIN! Beware of the blob

BE BUSY

this is my horoscope for today. It's somewhat appropriate, starting yesterday and following up til next week. things ARE going to be busy. (details later)...I've got to run.

Why be so modest when the whole world is singing your praises? Okay, maybe not the whole world -- but a significant enough group of people for you to feel like it's the world that's responding. This is a wonderful time for you, when people are finally paying attention to all the good stuff you're doing and recognizing what a good person you are. So accept their applause and take another bow -- you deserve it. Things are going to start happening now. Get ready to make some tough decisions and be busy!

Steve and Barrys Lake Grove

So I finally had the opportunity to check out Steve And Barry's Lake Grove, NY location. A few months back I dissed some of the S&B locations for their chaos presentation, poor customer service and staff who welp.. didn't lift a finger to straighten things up, fold clothes, re-sort shoes and sneakers. Etc.

THIS WAS NOT THE CASE AT STEVE AND BARRY'S LAKE GROVE. Lake Grove , was organized. The staff didn't appear as if they were being enslaved and tortured to work there. As I approached the Starbury sneakers, an employee was organizing all the shoes and reporting back to a manager and accounting for his work. Overall appearance of the store was sharp and clean. I wasn't left with the impression that a bomb had gone off. I'll be back for the super cheap gear. It was a real nice surprise.

A nice surprise.. especially after being tortured by the bossa nova casio 80s keyboard sounds that were pumping out over the sound system next door at DSW. Ugh. I don't know, I have to read if there's a study somewhere that suggestions that certain sounds can cause a violently ill reaction. I felt like I was going to puke the entire time i was in there.

New rants and raves

To differentiate the media aspects of what I tend to write about from my own personal on goings I started a hip new locale. It's located at:
LEWD PUNK RIOT!!!

EARTH HOUR 2008

EARTH HOUR 2008 -- I get bombarded everyday with all sorts of e bowel movements and virtual socio-political causes. Bands beg me to cast a vote so they can be the latest corporate peanut butter sponsored "best band" in some forgettable in 72 hours contest. My mail box is cluttered with spam from new aggro you tube producers looking to market their mundane and unfunny CKY / Jackass rip off as some brand new concept. Basically it all boils down to bullshit on the left of me, bullshit on the right of me.
Then today on the news I received word about an internet marketing campaign, who hadn't sent me a friend request. what, what's this? I did not see any bulletins posted on facebook or myspace. So I did some probing to see what all the fuss was.
It's called EARTH HOUR 2008. What's at stake here? Where's the get rich quick scheme? Essentially, I'm being encouraged to dedicate a whole hour to nothing. I don't have to buy anything, order a new compilation cd of artists that I hadn't paid any attention to since they urged me not to play Sun City. No nifty rubber bracelets? I'm baffled.
The concept is simple. You turn off the electric during some shitty sitcom that was probably penned by some douche bags who are upset that they didn't have the DIY insight as the aforementioned CKY jackasses. So now, they are stuck basking in the shadows of sitcommie Norman Lear. Nothing they write is as edgy, challenging, funny or remotely interesting.
First let me express my position that I was not bawling with tears during the writer's strike. I was more infuriated by the scab patriots who crossed picket lines in order to get a little more dough. Whatever happened to suffering to maintain some sort of integrity for your craft?
I know, I know a lot of the Malibu homes that didn't burn in wild fires or fall into the ocean were under the threat of foreclosure. So, sometimes you have to suck it up (n down over and over) in order to get by.
Never mind the fact that this action deals another blow to labor unions and furthers the nation's downward spiral. Everyone who took the dirty route used this opportunity to yuck it up and sweeten the taste of the immediate tragedy. We're a third word labor force of back stabbing, line crossing, pseudo patriotic dirty fucks. (INSERT CANNED LAUGHTER HERE. ) It really is all so adorably cute.
In other work movements, this would have been the basis for a beat down, but you can't expect much from an industry where the toughest guy punch for punch on the studio lot is Geraldo (good boxing skills).
What should I expect? These are also the same yapping traps that champion the latest Billy Blanks clone, they depict this brand of butchered boxing as poetry in motion. Following in the next segment is a nice broad stroke on MMA that often uses the term "barbaric" when summarizing the sport.
Whewf, before I get completely off topic; lets get back to Earth Hour 2008. What is nice to see is that I don't have to buy anything to participate. I don't have to acquire a Red Credit Card or go shopping at some stores. I don't have to spend to encourage corporate structures to do the right thing and contribute to quell some of the problems that one would argue they in part created.
I do have some suspicions that the word got out on EARTH HOUR 2008 because a soft drink company is participating and they're trying to tidy up their image, especially since the landscape seems to be littered with their little tins that didn't quite make it to the trash bin. All the flag waving, ribbon magnets on your SUV may portray the image of a great patriot. Good for you, you champion a cause. So why shit where you eat?
Like most evenings, I won't be watching the latest tv crap during earth hour. I'll be out walking through the town admiring the latest shitty graffiti sprayed up onto the walls by some lousy taggers who don't seem all that enthusiastic about their craft. Three of 4 letters with no style. Unoriginal names biting from the far more prolific 80s and 90s crews/writers . The young locals demonstrate their "style" that possesses no concept of history and strife. Oh well.. that's the basis for another rant.

At the beach

We took a stroll on the beach when the place is considered by the bronzers and hipsters as "out of season". It was a beautiful day and I'm with my soul mate enjoying the sounds of the waves crashing, short bursts of wind against my face and the sun warming our skin. her hand in mine we walk, getting passed up by some of the locals who brave the elements and take their 4x4 to the dirt. They sped past us at 50 miles an hour, "take in" all the view has to offer, make a u-ie then speed off in the opposite direction. They vanish past the horizon and then we again have the sands to ourselves.

It's moments like these that I cherish. Whether it's biking along the Platte "river", crossing the tundra in the Rockies, driving in the white mountains, playing footsie in a ice-y creek along the Appalachian trail, the fact is that I'm doing these things with my MiSo, the most special person in my life. My better half..and as I said already, she's my soul mate. Where would I be without her? Incomplete.