Yesterday, as I was heading back to work from an off-site visit, I stopped into Shoppers to pick up some shredded cheese, tortillas, and sour cream to make my world famous turkey taco burritos.

As I was walking in, an elderly lady was coming out of the store with her cart.  She said hello, and being me, I said hello back.  Since she was dressed up in a cream outfit with pink sandals and matching earrings, I asked why she was dressed to the nines, and if she had a destination other than the Shoppers in such a pretty outfit.  She laughed, and told me no, but life was too short to not wear what you wanted, even if it was just to run errands.  I laughed with her, and wished her a good day…and then she paused, reached into her bag, and pressed three butterscotch candies into my hand, called me a sweetheart, and then went on her way.

Random acts of kindness aren’t always paid right away, or even in ways you can see–but the rewards are always sweet.

I almost questioned whether it was safe to take candy from strangers (even at my age), but I’m taking my chances and savoring the sweet and salty goodness of a butterscotch.

The Charm City Circulator is a free, eco-friendly bus system that was introduced by the city of Baltimore earlier this year. Right now, there are only two routes running, with a third to be added shortly. 

It was basically conceptulized to move people from one side of town to the other, so that they can take advantage of restaurants without worrying about parking. Alot of visitors use it. Alot of homeless use it. And apparently, it’s the newest way to flee the scene of a crime.

Over the weekend, there was a shooting at the Inner Harbor.  Don’t be suprised–lots of people get shot in Baltimore on an (almost) daily basis. Okay, it averages to a daily rate once you take the multiple shootings that occur on weekends and divide by 7. Anyways, someone got shot, and the miscreants made their get away on the Charm City Circulator.

So, if you’re too poor to have a get away car lined up, or you don’t have time to dig for that $1.60 in change to take the regular bus–hop on the Charm City Circulator. We take you where you need to go (but I don’t think that the Baltimore City jail is one of the stops).

So, the temps have been hovering in the low to mid and even upper 90′s this past week.  The humidity is actually even more crazy. I’ve taken to the couch today to hide from the heat, and catch up on some guilty-pleasure TV dvr’ing that the Brain did for me last week while I was ensconced in studying mode.

I love air conditioning. It makes life much more bearable.

Last night as I was walking down Penn Street looking for a parking spot, a ginormous rat ran from an alley across my path and scared the bejesus out of me. At least, I think it was a rat.  I know it was fast and huge–but it was very dark in that part of the sidewalk, so it might not have been–but I’m pretty sure it was.

And I also wanted to note to the general reading public of Ridgely’s Delight that, just in case you didn’t know it, there is NO MORE BULK PICKUP! So you know those large appliances, carpeting, mattresses, tables, etc that you put out on the street and wait for the big city truck to come around and get? Well, it doesn’t happen any more.  There’s been a mattress in Dover for almost three weeks now–and the regular garbage won’t pick it up.So before you go and throw your sh!t out on the street, remember, it will sit there and sit there and sit there and Never.Go.Away.

Did you hear? Jenna Bush Hager had someone break into her garage and steal $3,500 worth of mountain bikes. Yeah, $3,500 worth of bikes.  What? How many bikes is that equal to? At least 10, right? I mean, $3,500 divided by 10 bikes is about $350 per bike–a perfectly reasonable price to pay for a good quality bike.

WRONG.  That $3,500 price tag is for TWO bikes. Two. One for her, one for hubby. It’s not so much that the price of the bikes is the issue.  I mean, yes, two bikes for the Bush-Hager family could be the GDP for a small 3rd world county.  It’s more money than most people can afford to spend on a car. The issue at hand is the response of the city to a theft from a sub-par personality, who, as I recall, had quite a reputation for being a little drinky-drinky.

According to Peter Hermann at the  BaltSun, not only did a police officer show up to file a report, but crime scene people showed up to dust for prints, a whole heck of alot of high ranking police were involved, the Secret Service was called, and *audible gasp here* the Regional Auto Theft Taskforce was notified. For two overpriced mountain bikes.  Really? THIS is what our city resources are being used for?

Hey Baltimore Police..Did you happen to hear about the 10 shootings that happened over the weekend? Ten people were shot, and yet, the theft of two bikes makes headlines and ties up valuable police resources. Whats up with that?

Of course, the Bush-Hagers had better be glad that the city-wide bottle tax passed. After all, if not for that extra $0.02 cents, there wouldn’t be any police around to be called the next time.

The first day of summer, and mother nature has decided to celebrate in appropriate fashion. It’s slated to be hot today. Hot tomorrow…heck, the rest of the week is turning out to be a cluster f on the weather scale. Yay.

It’s also time for the annual residential parking pass renewal.  If you live in Ridgely’s (I mean, really, you have to LIVE here) don’t forget to get your parking pass. It’s due by June 30.  And by living here, you should have an actual drivers license that says you do. Or at least a binding lease agreement if you rent.

Oh, and I really hope that the BPA cracks down on the whole “1 visitors pass per residence” rule.  Visitors passes are where the majority of the Residential parking abuse comes in.   Personally, I think visitors passes should be abolished and pay-to-park meeters implemented for the entire neighborhood.  That would reduce the abuse of visitor passes, but would keep decal vehicles legal.  And if you have a guest that will be staying with you, you can get temporary parking permits from the BPA office.

Oh, and if you sell your visitor parking passes to medical students or professionals who are too cheap to park in the provided garages–you should be shot.  Okay, barring death and physical violence, you should be strung up by your toes and slapped with a wet towel until serious chaffing ensues. Seriously. 

Parking is horrible enough with just the people who actually belong here, much less adding in the people who use us for their own nefarious gains.  It’s not fair to those of us who abide by the parking laws, and it’s ILLEGAL. Just keep that in mind.

Take heart, B'more!

The other day, the Brain and I walked to the ESPN (crap) Zone to take advantage of their misfortune, and raid the 1/2 off sale in their giftshop. Yeah, we’re vultures. It’s all good.

Anyways, as we walked through the Inner Harbor, it was CRAZY PACKED with people. Like, literally, people on people on people. WTF! There was a LINE for the Water Taxi. I’ve never seen a line for the Water Taxi before! And they were possessive line standers, too. The kind that give you the, “don’t you dare think about cutting the line, or I might be forced to cut you” looks. Not bad for a bunch of patsy’s from Iowa!  I mean!

There were so many people with kids–and not just teenagers, but parents that decide to let their toddlers be independent and walk on their own–right into the paths of people trying to get from one place to another. Do they not realize how easy it would be for an evil person to just swoop in, grab a kid, and keep walking? With the vast number of people crowding the Inner Harbor, it would be a cinch to get lost with a child that doesn’t belong to you. Maybe I just found a way to pay off my student loans?!?

So, to those of you who are visiting Baltimore this summer, here are some general rules to surviving a vacation here.

1. If you’re child is still small enough to carry, do NOT let them out of your sight! Carry them, put them on a leash, hold their hand–do SOMETHING to ensure that they go home with you at the end of the day!

2. If you are a sight seer, please be considerate of others around you who have destinations to get to. Please don’t stop the flow of traffic to gawk at the Cheesecake Factory. Don’t try to take pictures of your party posing on a park bench on the other side of the walkway. People will NOT stop so you can get the perfect shot of your husband holding a carry-out bag of food from the Cheesecake Factory (no joke, we witnessed this. Where are these people from? Iowa?)

3.  Do NOT eat at the Cheesecake Factory! Really, it’s a CHAIN. Just like Uno. Be adventerous. Go off the beaten path. Try something new and unique to Baltimore. Eat crabs and Berger cookies.

4.  Rita’s is the most awesome thing in the world, however, you guys are getting SCREWED on prices. Little secret–tourists pay double to eat Rita’s at the Inner Harbor. No joke.  A regular size ice should run you around $2.50 (or less) at any other location. At the Inner Harbor–it’s $4.59.

5.  Don’t line cut. If you see a bunch of people standing around in a line, and then you see a window with no line, don’t assume that it’s the express lane for your entitled ass to use. Don’t you think that if that was a line, we would be IN it already? And don’t try to weasle the clerk into serving you because you were, ‘confused’. If I’m gonna suck it up and pay the atrocious prices at Rita’s to get my ice fix, by golly, you had better not cut in line after I’ve been in the sweltering sun for 15 minutes. There will be a throwdown–and I will win.

6.  If you’re walking down the street, and all of a sudden, you realize, ‘hey, this looks familiar’, and you’ve never been here before but own every season of “The Wire” on DVD–by all means, turn around slowly and walk back the way you came. Do not run. Do not incite panic. You do not want to draw anymore attention to yourself than you already have–and believe me, people noticed you the minute you crossed the invisible ‘white people’ line. Our murder rates are high enough without adding your stupidity to the list.

7. Do not give money to the homeless. I know it seems cruel, and it’s hard for me to walk away from someone who needs help.  There are programs to help the unfortunate, and you can donate money to the ‘homeless meters’ around town. If you show one of these crackhead meth addicts that you have money, they will follow you, harass you, and possibly knock you over the head, steal your money, and then run away. It’s like inviting a vampire into your house–don’t do it! Maintain a steady walking pace, keep your eyes ahead (or rock dark sunglasses like I do so that people can’t see where you’re looking), and if they do start following you (which sometimes they will do), duck into the closest business until they lose interest and start following someone else.

8.  Don’t be a cheapskate.  Pay to park in the public parking garages that are provided for you. Don’t think you can save money by ducking into a residential neighborhood.  You might get away with saving that $10–or you might get hit with a $42 non-resident parking ticket–or even better–a $72 ticket for parking there during a stadium event. Or, there’s a possibility that you will be towed, and you’ll be hit with $240 tow fees, in addition to the parking ticket. Think of all the cheesecake you can’t eat if you have to pay for tickets or towing. It’s all a matter of perspective.

9.  Be smart. Be safe. Have fun. And go home safe. After all, if you die, you can’t come back next summer to make our lives a living hell!

10. And remember–there is such a thing as ‘white on white’ crime in this city–and I don’t want to be the one to ‘bring it’.

*I will never eat at the Cheesecake Factory…ever. And neither should you.* 

Isn’t this the cutest thing EVER?

Have a great weekend, yo!

Oh yeah--I brought my A game to this one!

The first time that the Brain and I ventured there, we were in Baltimore for a conference which had us staying in the posh Baltimore Waterfront Marriott on the 28th floor with a fantastic view of the Harbor. This was  a year before we made the move to Baltimore.

We did the whole tourist thing–dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, ESPN Zone, Top of the World Observation level in the World Trade Center, etc.

The ESPN Zone was fun (I totally rock at shooting hockey pucks–probably all that experience playing floor hockey in high school gym class). Is the ESPN zone as fun as Dave and Busters? Meh…It’s alot smaller, all the games are sport themed, theres no ticket rewards for prizes, and the food sucks. Oh, and it’s really expensive. But the one advantage? Fewer kids because the place was not really ‘kid friendly’. Props for that.

So, Baltimore got word that the ESPN Zone in the Inner Habor will be closing on Tuesday.  In fact, all the ESPN Zones that are not directly attached to a Disney property are being closed.  Boo-hoo. Am I disapointed? Not really.

My and Brain’s last experience there was sub-par, and resulted in us leaving without actually playing any games. The one time we ate a meal there, we suffered for two days with heart-burn. Crappy food, crappy customer service..Good riddance!

I’m more excited for what will replace them in the space. Another touristy trap restaurant? A micro-Dave and Busters? Or maybe the Barnes and Nobles will expand out? Who knows–but it has to be better than ESPN Zone.

From www.toothpastefordinner.com

And no, I’m not referring to the bottle of relatively expensive EVOO that took a dastardly leap from my cabinet and crashed to its death on the cold white tile of my kitchen, although that one was a pain in the @ss to clean up.  I’m referring to the bigger one–even bigger than the Valdez spill of my youth–and the impending implications that will plague us for what I am sure, will be at least the rest of my life.

I read this very awesome article in the Baltimore Sun yesterday about how the National Aquarium here in Baltimore is preparing to help the turtles.

I’m excited to learn that somewhere so close is going to be helping a cause so far away. I wonder if they are taking volunteers to help when/if the day comes. However, as an eastern seaboard state, it’s possible that the whole oil disaster will impact us as oil catches currents and flows north. Word to the wise–make sure you know where your seafood is coming from before eating it.

Oh yeah–just an aside–I don’t buy Exxon gas, and now I won’t buy BP gas. If you want to silently protest the (failed) efforts of BP, stop supporting them.  This includes BP and Amoco brands.

Everyone knows that death comes in three’s–whether it be in the form of family members, friends, or celebrities. Last season on 30 Rock, they made fun of this phenomenom with Betty White. I posted recently, following on the heels of the death’s of both Gary Coleman and Dennis Hopper, that another celebrity death would be immenint. I hoped it wouldn’t be Betty White, but it did end up being a Golden Girl.

Rue McClanahan, you will be missed.