The Ridgely’s Rag came the other day, as per usual, and among all the other useless information, was a paragraph pushing the sale of calendars featuring the ‘dogs of Ridgely’s Delight’.

For the super low affordable price of $20, you can be the proud owner of this sure to be classic calendar.

Are they serious?

Dear Jay Pendell Jones,

Thank you so much on your comments lately regarding my “poetic license” post of September 27, 2011.

In answer to your primary questions posed, please see below:

1. Why call out the editor/author of the RDA newsletter (MVitolo) as a drag? Well, because I CAN. Do I need another reason? The things that are written are not WELL written, are often rife with typo’s, and aren’t formatted well. She’s lucky that I only called her a drag–when what I wanted to say was that her work on the newsletter sucks donkey balls–but I digress.

2. Why rag on the community meetings? I rag on the community meetings because the people who are voted in to represent the citizen of Ridgelys Delight do not actively represent the entire neighborhood and the issues that plague all of us. Rather, it seems, that they pick and choose issues that benefit the few rather than the many. I think that the election process is antiquated, that it is stupid to require residents to attend two meetings before being allowed to vote on an issue, and that this restriction KEEPS the same people in office, allowing them to shuffle the ranks of command between them. While this process remains in place, Ridgely’s will never be able to grow and change. And stop buying stupid signs for the neighborhood.

3. What power does the RDA authority have in this city? Your answer was ‘f*cking zero’. See my answer to #2 above. BTW, do you use that kind of language around your precious little daughter? Really? Dropping an F-bomb–not once, but TWICE in your comments?

4. Why do I live in the city and bitch about it so much? Again, because it’s my RIGHT to bitch about anything I want to. I can bitch about you, your wife Allison, your entitled off-street parking south of Washington Blvd, the fact that people abuse parking priveliges by selling their visitor permits, or selling residential permits by using the “notarized” letter giving use of a vehicle to someone to get that lovely decale for their window. I can bitch about the dog owners who don’t clean up after themselves, the meth addicts who stand on the corner of Penn/Pratt and harass residents on their way to work, the UMB and UMMC employees who treat our neighborhood and stoops like their own personal property, and the RDA if I damn well please.

5. Although not in the form of a question, you also told me, “The Grand Prix was f*cking awesome, so eat that too.” No thank you, I don’t think I want to eat that bit of SRB propoganda. The Grand Prix is a joke. It disrupts lives, shuts down the city, will cause Pratt Street to be under constant construction for the next nine months, and generally was a horrible thing to do to the city. Although I would never wish for anyone to die or be hurt, when Wheldon crashed his car at the Indy race, I kind of wished it would have happened here–then maybe we could get our lives back instead of planning to take labor day vacations for the next four years. So eat this, Jay Pendell Jones–Your an ass.

Much love,

Pinky

We just had an earthquake. I’m sure if you’re anywhere on the East Coast or mid-west, you probably felt it, too.

I’m no stranger to earthquakes.  In fact, this little shaker today is probably the fifth one that I’ve been through in my life.  But I can honestly tell you that this was the STRONGEST one that I have ever felt. We actually evacuated the building.

The epicenter is in Mineral, VA (shoutout to the cows!), a little rural farming community that I’ve had the opportunity to visit on numerous occasions. They also host a huge bluegrass festival there–and sell really good corndogs at the gas station.  

The Brain and I both called our ‘rents–as we always do in crazy earth and/or weather related situations–and everyone is fine. Tried to text the bestie–but Verizon is wonky and I’m not able to get through to brag about our monster quake.

So J–Guess what! We had an earthquake! 

Along with Chewpons, I also religiously check Groupon and Living Social for awesome deals.We have discovered so many new restaurants and events, and gotten deals at places we go to anyways, that it’s totally worth taking the time every day to review the latest posted deals. And we just don’t get deals for Baltimore–we check most of the cities that we visit on the regs: Philly, Wilmington/Newark, Harrisburg, DC, Richmond…and even cities that we are planning on visiting in the near future.

Today, the Brain and I headed to Jersey to catch a Camden Riversharks game (2 level 100 tickets for $12 via LS). Front-row, bullpen seats.  Score! Oh, and there was a bench clearing (almost) brawl. We were kind of disappointed that the fight was averted–but it was fun while we waited to see a what would happen.

On the way to the ball park, we took a slight detour to hit Planet Hoagie in Wilmington, Delaware, to redeem another LS deal of $10 for $20 worth of food. BTW–awesome place, delicious food. The sandwiches are HUGE.  A medium is about 12 inches–and a full is 24.  And they are loaded with meat. They have met the Pinky and the Brain (TM) standards of quality–and we will be back.

I’ll leave you with a beautiful view of the Ben Franklin Bridge at night. We love the Philly/Camden skyline at night. It’s so beautiful.

Yesterday, I found my most recent DODA award–it’s a two parter.

The first part of the award goes to Old Man Landlord.  He’s the guy that owns the row house attached to ours.  He blatantly abuses the landlord/tenant privelige, and we’ve witnessed him ‘borrow’ his tenants vistors pass in order to attend Raven’s and Orioles games. REPEATEDLY.  Apparently, he’s a season ticket holder, and does this with all of his tenants, since he did it with the previous tenant, and the new tenants.

The second part of the award goes to the people that live in the rowhouse next to us, and play a nefarious part in this landlords scheme to have free neighborhood parking, even though he can afford season tickets to stadium events. Until yesterday, we had the barest iota of respect for them, as we had thought they were standing up to the landlord and saying,” no old man landlord, we can’t loan you our parking permit. That’s illegal”. However, my dreams were quashed when we witnessed this occur in front of our door.

Just a reminder, Landlords are NOT ELIGIBLE to use visitor permits when visiting neighborhoods. And you shouldn’t loan out your visitor pass to anyone who is just going to a stadium event. In fact, the only people you should be loaning your visitor permit to is someone who is coming to visit you at your home–and not just dropping by to say hey, I need your guest permit because me and 5 of my closest geriatric friends are going to hobble and shuffle our way down to M&T Stadium (even though we’re pushing 80 and can’t even stand upright, and our pants are belted around our nipples and we’re wearing corduroy bedroom slippers because we can’t reach our feet–but we’re too cheap to pay for parking closer to the stadium).

Yeah, so to our neighbors–guess what? Every time I slam the door when I come home or go out…or when I pound the wall going up and down the stairs…or when we yell loudly about how much you suck–we really and truly mean it. We don’t like you. We don’t know you–true–but we have no respect for you. I hope that when I wake up at 5:30 in the morning to get ready for work that I disturb your sleep. I hope that when I cook onions or bacon, that your house smells. I hope that you actually move your car one day and come home and can’t find a parking spot–because  guess what–you don’t OWN THE SPOT IN FRONT OF YOUR HOUSE–but you seem to be able to park there for months at a time. If you never move your car, why own one? It’s been three weeks. Don’t you need groceries? WTF.

But I didn’t even get a nomination.

How, pray tell, does one get enough readers to generate the kind of following the other Baltimore Blogs have? What am I not doing right (or wrong, for that matter)? How do I get people to find my little slice of the interwebs, much less nominate me for an award.

I think that I say alot. Sure, I don’t post every single day. I mean, my life isn’t THAT interesting. I work. I come home. I complain about parking. I complain about rats. I complain about garbage. I go to bed. I start over again. Puh-Leez. I wouldn’t innundate you guys with that kind of crap every single day. Hell, I wouldn’t read my own writing if that’s all that I talked about.

I started this project with the intent of having somewhere to vent (and/or rave) about living in the big bad city of B’more (it’s Bodymore, Murderland, B!tches). Sure, the Brain and I DON’T live in the trendier neighborhoods of Fells Point, or Canton, or Mount Vernon. We picked Ridgelys because it was there, and it was convenient to things we needed to be convenient to, and we could afford it. And besides, they put a Pot Belly right down the street. That makes living here worth it.

Maybe it’s because I keep calling you B1tches. Personally, I think it sounds bad ass and kewl. If you’re offended by that, well, that’s your own problem. But being called a B1tch isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes, it can be good.

Maybe you don’t agree with me about the problems that plague Ridgelys. Maybe you don’t see the rats, or the garbage, or the flagrant disregard of parking rules by UMB employees. Okay, maybe your blind and clueless about the world around you. You might just live in a hole. That’s also your problem. By writing about things I observe in the ‘hood, I’m trying to bring enlightenment to situations that plague us daily. Knowledge is power. Maybe if more of us paid attention, we could make real changes.

As far as I know, I’m the only blog about Ridgely’s on the web. When I Google “Ridgely’s Delight Blogs”, I am the only return.  I might be wrong–but if I am the only one writing about our ‘hood….then why aren’t more of you reading me, or commenting, or letting me know you’re out there supporting what I say. I feel that when I write about the neighborhood, I’m speaking for all of us.

You can call me the self-appointed voice of the neighborhood. I’ll take the title and run with it. Someone needs to talk for us, and we all know it’s not the so-called ‘elected’ board of representatives that use their positions on the board for their own nefarious purposes. You all know who I’m referring to, and you should be ashamed that you abuse the power entrusted to you for personal gain–and you disregard the majority of residents (yes, the MAJORITY of the neighborhood) by not representing our interests, as well as your own.

I guess that’s all I have to say today. If you like, it fine. If you don’t, well, you can bite my shiny metal ass.

courtesy of IMBD.com

So, the Brain and I have one of the most awesome inventions ever created–DVR. 

We. Love.This.

You can pause live TV while you run to get a snack, or to the bathroom, or just to talk–and you never have to worry about losing any of the jokes–because you can watch it over and over again. You can record programs that you might not want to watch right away, or while you watch another totally unrelated program. Or you can tape an entire season of a show and watch at your leisure.

It.Is.Awesome.

So, the TVGuide channel was showing Ugly Betty in syndication ove the summer, and having missed seasons 3 and 4 (due to other obligations like books clubs, softball practices, conflicts with other TV shows that took precedence at the time in my life before DVR, and date nights with my man) I missed them during the original airings. So the Brain taped them for me. Yay, Brain!

This weekend, I sat and watch 24 episodes of Ugly Betty. I still have the entire season 4 to go, but OMG, was season 3 good! I know I’m like two years behind the rest of the world, but jiminy, I didn’t want it to end. It makes me sad that the series was cancelled. I know, I know–it’s totally over the top and doesn’t mirror real life in any capacity at all–but I love it.

Come back, Betty la fea. I miss you. The world needs more Betty!

Yeah, I ranted, and I got posted in the B. I’m the large highlighted post over the picture of residential parking on page3. I even mention Ridgelys.  

Eat that you non-resident @ssholes.

Happy Friday, B!tches–and have a good weekend.

We can actually leave the ‘hood on Sunday–Ravens are bye-bye-bye this week!

So, it’s Friday. We finally have a bit of a cool(er) front in store for the weekend. Should be GORGEOUS if this morning is any indication of what’s to come.

Craziness in all forms will be descending on downtown this weekend.

First up–we have OTAKON at the Baltimore Convention Center.  Essentially, from what I gather, Otakon is a huge anime festival. And it’s not for poor people either. $75 just to walk through the doors! Craziness.  I mean, Brain and I have gone to some geekfests–but we tend to gravitate to the ones that are *cheap* and/or *free*. However, the bestest part of having Otakon in town? Seeing the freaks out walking around in their costumes. I think it’s almost as cool as being at Comic-con…sorta.

The Brain and I will not be going to Otakon.  We have this thing against Plushies. Ick. They freak us the hell out (It involves an experience we had at another con we attended once, and a guy with a blue tail).

On Saturday, there’s an International Friendly Soccer Match at M&T Bank Stadium. The game will feature Manchester City and Inter Milan in what will surely be a fun day. Of course, last summer, the International match sold over 70k tickets.  So far, this year, it’s not even half that amount. Either way, once I park my car tonight after work, I am not moving it again until I leave for work on Monday.

I’m torn, though, on what this means.  Baltimore is making a valiant bid to play host to the World Cup in like 2018.  Attendance at international friendlys is a good indicator of whether we, as a city, have the interest and support to play host to an event of this caliber.  I would love for Baltimore to get the fame and notoriety of hosting this on a world stage (especially since it’s so far in the future that the Brain and I will probably no longer BE living in Baltimore by the time it rolls around).  I wish I could say the same about the Baltimore Gran Prix.

Have a good weekend, b1tches!

I was speaking to a neighbor the other morning, and it came to light that crime in the neighborhood has been crazy in the past few months. Robberies (at supossed gun-point), house break-ins, car break-ins, car jackings…and I’m sure the list continues.

And yet–noone is informing us, the residents, of crimes that occur only doors away from our own. Personally, I think that we should all be told when there has been a major crime, such as a robbery. I’d like to know that. I’d especially like to know this information if I were considering moving to Ridgely’s as a new resident. This would be important to me.

The Baltimore Guide was a great delivery tool for this, as it would post the police blotters for the previous week–which, if you took the time to read, would let you know when and where crimes were occuring.  Sadly, the B’more Guide has not made an appearance in our neighborhood in quite some time.

The Brain and I also made the decision to cancel the subscription to the Balt Sun because it was being repeatedly stolen from our doorstep–and we aren’t paying for someone else to be reading our news.  Needless to say, we are out of the news crime loop.

The Ridgely’s Record rarely reports any crimes–besides, it’s a one piece of white copy paper monthly rag–printed in size 12 or larger Times New Roman–with alot of formatting and a few advertisements to fill the empty spaces. The only purpose of the Record is to announce the monthly neighborhood association meeting (drunk-fest 1) and the monthly bar night (drunk-fest 2). Ironically enough, the paper usually isn’t delivered until the week after the meeting have already occured. Great job there, guys.

There is a crime update that you can subscribe to online via SpotCrime–and you will get daily updates. It’s a start, I guess.

What I think that we, the residents, would really like to see is a weekly crime bulletin outlining the crimes that occur and impact the neighborhood, our neighbors, our selves.

C’mon Ridgelys Delight Neighborhood Association. I know that if you can find people to volunteer to serve on all the assorted other committees that serve no purpose, then you can surely find a few dedicated individuals who will commit the time to keeping us informed of crime in our backyard.

If you do, you might actually gain an iota of respect from yours truely.