When In Philly…

I’m psyched to be working out of my company’s office in Philly this week after having been gone from this city where I resided for 12 years since I moved back to Maine in July of last year. Since moving back, I’ve been telecommuting and loving it.

I arrived yesterday and immediately went to Sedgley Woods disc golf course and hung out with some of the grooviest people on the planet for about 5 hours, playing disc golf while chugging beeahs…I mean, beers (I have to remember I’m back in civilization again and my reacquired Maine dialect could prove indecipherable to the locals, so it’s back to pronouncing my ahs….er, r’s). After that I checked in at the hotel, and then met up with other friends at Fergie’s Pub, which is only two blocks away in another direction. Awesome grub. Oh, and more beers.

I’m staying in the Lowe’s Hotel right in Center City. And, conveniently, two blocks from the office. My hotel room faces west, providing me with a great view of city hall and its clock tower. Behind it is the new Comcast Tower building, which was under construction when I left but has since been completed. It towers, literally, above every other building in the city now. It’s pretty ginormous.

I really have nothing else to say. Sometimes that happens. Besides, I have to get ready to grab a coffee and head into the office. With all of the friends I’ll be seeing while I’m here (including The Codes) for this week, I keep forgetting that I actually have to go into the office and work all week.

**rolls eyes**

In this Case, Size Does Matter

Check this out:

Philadelphia, PA covers 135 square miles. In 2006, the population of Philadelphia was 1.52 million people. That’s quite a few bodies crammed into not a whole lot of space.

The great State of Maine covers 83,215 square miles. The 2006 population of the entire Pine Tree State in 2006 was 1.32 million.


I’m not too good at math, but looking at these numbers shows that there are…let’s see…. **doing math…carry the one….subtract the square root of the multiplier…add pi…and comes up with** ….there are over 200,000 more people living in the 135 square miles of Philadelphia than live in the 83,000+ square miles of Maine. Or something like that. Damn! That’s a huge difference!!

So, do I miss Philadelphia? Of course I do. But Philadelphia was too small. Maine is much bigger and spacious.

And bigger is better.

Trippin’ To Philly

I’m getting ready for my drive to Philly tomorrow. Well, leaving tomorrow with Philadelphia as my final destination.

I’ll be working out of my company’s Philadelphia office next week…the office I left to move back to Maine and work as a telecommuter. The opportunity has come up for me to head down to Philly and my company is covering my travel costs including hotel. I have a new manager, so I’m going down to meet her and will work out of the office for the week. I can’t wait!!!! While I’ll be working each day, the lunches and nights will be spent with many of the friends I made during the 12+ years I lived in the city.

My stopping point tomorrow (Friday) will be in Barrington, RI to visit bestest friends that I originally met in Philly some years ago. They moved to New England four months before I did last year. That stop should (hopefully) include a round of disc golf at Borderlands State Park in Massachusetts on Saturday, weather permitting. It’ll also give me a chance to say to their neighbor…the Sci-Fi Fanatic.

My arrival in Philly on Sunday will find me going straight to Sedgley Woods. Some of my best moments in Philly occurred here...because it was spent with my disc golf family. **aw shucks* Can’t wait to see them!!

Anyway, I’m coming back to the US’s North-Eastern-most state on Sunday, April 6.

See you soon RI’ers and Philly Phriends and Sedgley-ites.

Here’s an interesting note: according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the murder rate has dropped 28% since this point last year, a decline that began in the fall of last year. Hmmm….I moved out of Philadelpia last summer. And the murder rate has dropped since that time. Coincidence?? mwahahahahahahahaha! **creepy music playing**

Differences

Since my return to Orono, Maine, my hometown, from Philadelphia, where I lived for the past 12 years, I've noticed some things that are so different between the big city and the small town.

In Philadelphia, and many parts of the country, ATM/MAC machines first ask you to select your language, English or Spanish. However,up here in Maine, at least in Central Maine where I'm located, the ATMs ask you to select English or French. Why French, you ask? Well, Maine gets a lot of its tourism from Canada where many residents speak French.

In Orono, people actually STOP to let people cross in the marked crosswalks. In Philly, you put your life on the line with each street crossing.

One of the sore spots of living in Philly was the enormous amount of trash that littered the streets. It was a bummer to see because I always heard how the people in Philadelphia loved their neighborhoods. It didn't show by the amount of garbage that was in the streets. Up here in the great Northeast corner of the good ole US of A, I see hardly any trash at all. A soda can here, a plastic grocery bag there, but it's a sight that is rare. And I'd like to point out that I have yet to see a used condom laid out on the sidewalk. Those were sighted a couple of times a week in Philly.

People actually smile and say "hello" back to you when you give them the same. It's awesome.

But, do I miss Philly? Even with all of these little pluses I've experienced living back in a small town, you bet your ass I miss Philly. I hope to be back there for a week at the end of Oct/early Nov. I can't wait! And with any luck, I'll be leaving a used condom on one of the streets. Maybe two.....

Here is the Apples and the Oranges and Plums….

The Italian Market in Philadelphia is my favorite place to go shopping. Even though it is completely outdoors, the deals are fantastic, and it’s just a fun place to go. Once a week I make the 20 minute walk from my house to 9th and Washington Streets to shop for my fruits, vegetables, fish and meats . Most of the produce comes from local farms, so it’s fresh and ready to use, so there’s no waiting period for the bananas to ripen, for example. The street itself runs for several blocks, from around 9th and Wharton Streets up to 9th and Fitzwater. The brightly colored awnings and street-side produce bins highlight the appearance of this market.

There are several fruit and vegetable stands in the Market, several butchers, a couple of fresh fish stops, and some restaurants. There are a couple of cheese places (DiBruno’s being the best), a pastry shop, and a bakery. The bakery, Sarcone’s, also has a deli that makes the best hoagies in the city. You can also find an herb store, a flower shop, and a coffee shop or two.

The Italian Market is great because you can find pretty much any kind of fruit or vegetable you are looking for. The diverse cultures in Philadelphia make it a necessity for the produce dealers to have wide and varied selection of the planet’s finest fruits and vegetables.

People fill the Italian Market six days a week (Monday is the day off most of the shops observe), and when the weather is nice, it is full of people, both residents of the city, and non-residents who make it a point to stop by if they’re in the city.

Those of you who have seen the original Rocky movie will remember the montage of him in training, and he runs through the Italian Market, waving hello to the different sellers, and having an apple tossed to him by one of them. It’s a scene most people remember. As a matter of fact, as Sly Stallone gets ready to drop the latest Rocky movie on an indifferent public, he made sure to include another Italian Market visit (and run up the Art Museum steps, of course) within the movie. Yeah, can you believe it? ANOTHER Rocky movie….Rocky VI. I think he fights tooth decay in this new one.

But, the Italian Market is a bustling, and very important part of Philadelphia’s history, having opened some time in the late 18th Century. If you ever come to Philly, you’ll just want to check this place out, to say “I’ve been there”, especially if you ever watch Rocky with your friends, you can point out that “I’ve stood right there on that corner!”

What’s better than that?

Note: I had some pics of the Italian Market I took this past weekend to share with you via this post, but blogger would not upload the pics, despite giving the me the "successfully loaded pictures" message when I was trying to do it. Is this a normal problem for blogger....not uploading pictures?