Best Quote I Heard All Day
The mosquito is the state bird of New Jersey--Andy Warhol

It's the first day of summer, so the birds will be rising from the swamps of Jersey, to paraphrase the Boss.

A list of things I love about my state:

• The aforementioned Bruce, plus Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes
• Going down the shore, as we say here
  
• Stokes State Forest
• Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Bruce Willis, and just a few other folks from hereabouts
  
• The back roads of Sussex and Warren counties, where the Garden State still exists
• NJ Transit trains, when they run on time and don't break down
  
• The view of New York City and the harbor from Jersey City
• Tricky trays

It's too bad that it's so fucking expensive to live here, I will at some point have to move out of state. To where, I don't know. But it's getting to the point where the cost of living is ridiculous.

And I know there are plenty of Jersey folks who read this blog and are nodding in agreement. I see those towns in my stats: Randolph, Parsippany, Linden, the Oranges, Montclair, Bayonne, Jersey City, Whitehouse Station, Mt. Laurel, Princeton, Mendham. And plenty of other towns I know well.

Open Mic Thursday
Well, despite one commenter's rather uninformed thought that all the Michaels in the world need to abandon the nickname "Mike" for "Mic", I will repeat: "Mic" is short for microphone.

Got it yet?

Having had my hand somewhat slapped this week did not prompt this week's topic. I've got my right hand back in its brace, due to my apparently progressing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. And having had surgery on my left arm, which rendered my left hand partially numb and weak in perpetuity, I was thinking to myself, what would I do if I can no longer knit? The CTS will get worse, this I know from the doctor. I can't crochet any more, will knitting be far behind?

So I pose to you this:

If you could not knit ever again, with what activity/craft would you replace it?

I know how I would handle it because I've thought about it. Have you?

Vacation
Coming soon and I need it, bad. I'm tired of writing about complex technology and its doings. Web 2.0, mashups, roll-ups (please, don't ask about the hyphenizations--I've already been through that at work), XML, XSL, CAML, and all the rest of that crap. Nobody, neither family nor friends, has the vaguest idea of what I write about for the paycheck.

At this point, I don't know myself. All I can say is, the vacation will be taken in the backyard pool, with perhaps a day trip to see Carol and Kathy down in Philly, and maybe some other fun social doings.

Liz has one more final exam and then she's done with her first year of high school. So she'll be hanging with her Gangsta Gram and the rest of her little hoodlum girlfriends.

Summer. Rare and handy, whether you're 15 or 57.