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Helter Skelter in the Summer Swelter
Tuesday, September 2, 2008 11:34AM
A good weekend should be relaxing. A great weekend should be a little bit tiring—the kind of weekend that leaves you wondering how you are ever going to get up for work on Monday morning. Yes, there is something to be said for a quiet night on the couch to recharge after a rough week. Labor Day weekend isn’t about that, though. Labor Day weekend is about grabbing summer and wringing out every last drop of sun-tanned, sandals-wearing, party-going, family-uniting, outside-enjoying fun possible.
I tried my best. In four days, I hit one of my favorite restaurants in Carlisle, went to the Penn State game, watched the fireworks in Negley Park, went to a pig roast, hung out on the deck at Dockside Willies and went to Kipona. I slept well last night. Full Article » -
A Rainy Day Afternoon
Friday, August 29, 2008 1:28PM
Well, it finally rained. Other than the slight drizzle that seemed to back up traffic for no reason yesterday afternoon, I can't remember the last time we had a legitimately rainy day. That's probably not much consolation for the people who were setting up for Kipona today. To be honest, everyone I saw on Front Street this afternoon looked abjectly miserable. That's understandable — wearing a trash bag isn't the best way to start the weekend. Full Article » -
Chilly Willy on Life Support
Monday, August 11, 2008 2:57PM
In a turn of events that will make it mercifully more difficult for me to gain weight, Chilly Willy’s ice cream on 2nd St. is apparently dunzo. Employee Katie told me that within a few weeks, Willy's, which serves hand-dipped Hershey’s Ice Cream among other frozen confections, will be pushing coffee and donuts. I asked her what the place would be called, and she said she had, “no idea.” I also got a dish of ice cream. Of course.
Ron Kamionka was listed as the owner of Chilly Willy's on the City of Harrisburg press release that announced its opening on June 6, 2007. If he still owns it, the new venture will be his second in Harrisburg this month after he opened Sam Bucca’s Pizza Pub two weeks ago. The yet-to-be-named coffee shop may not be long for this world anyway if the proposed 210 North Second project moves forward. Full Article » -
Down Goes the Patriot! Down Goes the Patriot!
Friday, August 8, 2008 2:26PM
In an upset that will surely go down as one of the greatest of our time, Commerce Bank ended years of Patriot-News dominance with a stirring victory in the 2008 United Way Trike Drags. Hyperbole? Me? Never.
The members of Team Patriot, which apparently wins every year, should have known they were in trouble as soon as they saw their t-shirts. Commerce Bank’s shirts were bright, angry red. Standing next to them in the starting gate had to be like pulling up next to a cherry-colored corvette at a stoplight and hearing it gun the engine. The Patriot? Daisy yellow. Think a teenage girl driving a Jetta with zebra-print seat covers. Full Article » -
My Harrisburg Open Journey Begins & Ends
Friday, August 1, 2008 2:34PM
So four weeks of training ended with me down $10 and a can of tennis balls, but without any regrets. Plus I got a t-shirt. All in all, that’s not too bad.
I have to admit, for one fleeting moment, I thought I could win. I went down 0-2 in the first set, but eventually got it back to 2-3 on serve with a 40-15 lead. And then I let it slip away. Yes, as expected, I did lose in the first round of the Harrisburg Open, but it was in no way an epic embarrassment. I actually had a blast.
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Golfers’ Glee
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:34AM
Hi, Dori here with a golf anecdote for you avid links lovers out there. I hardly qualify as a golfer, but I have tried my hand at the game. When I was growing up here, my parents belonged to Blue Mountain Golf Club, so that's where I used to make my feeble attempts at playing. If I were not so competitive about it and, in the words of my husband, could just enjoy playing badly, I might still be taking my swings. But this course is not really a learner's course. It's on the side of a mountain, with narrow, unforgiving fairways, and should you miss the fairway, roughs that are really, really rough. Like copperhead snake rough.
Last weekend, my sister was bringing her new beau home to meet the family. It was decided that the boys could bond over golf, so my dad started calling around for a tee time. (The parents now play more than ever and have long since decided they would rather play many courses than belong to one.) Anyway, the old standby Dauphin Highlands was booked for an event on Saturday, so Dad called Felicita (formerly Blue Mountain) and found that rates were discounted the later you started so he could get the foursome on for $39 each at 1:00pm. This, he decided, was an acceptable price to play this course, considering new boy might not be (a) good at golf or (b) worth the investment. What can I say? This is my dad. Full Article » -
From Central PA to NoVa, SoFla, NYC, CT and back: Why It Pays To Live Here
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 1:18PM
I recently spotted an article listing the Harrisburg-Carlisle area as the third "most liveable" area among cities with "affordable housing" in America. Now, some people who live here might raise an eyebrow at this, not realizing just how great we have it here. I, for one, would not be among the naysayers. I grew up in the 'burbs of Harrisburg, went to Central Dauphin East H.S., left for college, and — admittedly — never thought I'd move back here in, oh I don't know, one million years (said in Austin Powerseque manner). So, how did I end up here again and why did it take me 20 years to figure it out? Full Article » -
A Saturday Full of Spotoballs
Monday, July 14, 2008 4:00PM
Now that the dust has settled from Spotobe’s first contest (contests, actually!), I’d like to take the time to thank everyone that visited us at the Harrisburg Street Festival and painted, guessed and had fun. In all honesty, Spotobe is all about getting out and enjoying Central Pennsylvania, and I hope everyone that stopped by on Saturday had a good time chilling with us. I know we enjoyed meeting all of you. Full Article » -
Simply Turkey on Sabbatical
Monday, July 7, 2008 4:30PM
The Spotobe office is downtown, so we are fortunate to have a wide variety of lunch spots within a short jaunt. When we get a group together, we often go to Strawberry Square, where there is something to accommodate everyone, even my "I feel like a milkshake and Auntie Anne's pretzel bites" days. Many people here are fond of Taco Factory, plus you have the fast food options. Our other favorite has been Simply Turkey & More (bad name, but yummy soups, salads & sandwiches), which is on the lower level near the Market Street entrance. Full Article » -
Friday at American MusicFest
Friday, July 4, 2008 8:01PM
Checked out American MusicFest this afternoon with Meg, her brother and his girlfriend. The weather looked threatening the entire time, but it really didn’t do much other than drizzle. To be honest, I was a bit surprised by the crowd. I thought it would be a bit larger and a bit more enthusiastic. Maybe in the evening when the bar crowd started filtering over things picked up a little bit. I’m sure the weather didn’t help. Full Article » -
Q&A: Café Fresco Owner Nick Laus
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 1:00PM
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that Café Fresco is probably my favorite restaurant in Harrisburg. I haven’t managed to hit every place in the area since I moved back (I’m working on it, I’m working on it), but of those I have, Fresco stands out. I’m always impressed by the attention to detail shown in both its food and atmosphere. Not surprisingly, when I heard owner Nick Laus was opening Level 2, a new nightspot above Fresco’s downtown location, I was anxious to check it out.
I still haven’t been able to go at night when the place is in full swing, but Nick graciously allowed me to poke around inside one recent afternoon. The interior of the place is absolutely gorgeous, and the attention to detail I always appreciated at Fresco stands out in even greater relief inside Level 2. I sat down with Nick at Fresco during happy hour that evening to ask him about his new business and about his thoughts on the restaurant and nightlife biz downtown: Full Article » -
From Thailand to Japan in 22.5 Miles and $16 (I Feel Like Rachel Ray)
Thursday, June 19, 2008 10:09AM
As I’m sure you all know, getting anyone in a group of hungry people to actually come right out and pick a restaurant is nigh impossible. After the inevitable hemming and hawing at around 11:30 yesterday, we decided to skip the usual suspects (Keyser Soze!) and head to Bangkok 56 on Paxton Street. I’d never been there before, and I’m glad we went.
From the outside, the place looks underwhelming, but the super-tiny dining room is very pleasant. The tank of cichlids, which went far above and beyond your cliché Asian-restaurant fish tank, was a nice touch.
I wasn’t feeling all that adventurous. I have a decidedly sketchy stomach and I wasn’t even half way through the workday, so even though I love spicy food and was tempted by the curries, I went with a simple Kow Pad — fried rice with pork, chicken, tomatoes, onions and scallions. Nothing fancy, but it was really, really good and even with two meats it only coast $8.99. My co-workers/co-diners had a variety of dishes ranging from green curry to pineapple fried rice, and each was similarly impressed. Full Article » -
Hit and Miss at Carmella’s
Wednesday, June 11, 2008 4:29PMBig boss Dori checks in again after lunch at Carmella’s Trattoria. She also gives her second bathroom review in as many posts. I’m beginning to feel as though becoming a parent makes you view restaurants as changing tables that happen to serve food. Frightening. Anyway, here’s what she had to say: Full Article »
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Passed Out…
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 2:29PM
I could write for days and not capture the current mood of Central Pennsylvania better than this poor squirrel has. I’m not one that is usually bothered by the heat, but I completely sympathize with this little guy. When I opened the window to try to take the picture, he looked at me with a mixture of annoyance and disdain (who knew squirrels could muster up disdain?). While you look at the picture, just imagine him letting out a little squirrel-sized sigh. Full Article » -
Spotobe Heat Index: 15:34
Monday, June 9, 2008 3:06PM
Spotobe Headquarters is air-conditioned. Kind of. It's still hot, and my co-workers are cranky. I decided to see how long it would take to melt two official Spotobe ice cubes on 2nd Street.
The results of this extremely scientific study inside...
Full Article » -
Foundry Day Photos
Saturday, June 7, 2008 1:26PMHot, hot, hot… That’s about all my sun-addled brain has to say. Full Article »
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Q&A: Shakespeare in the Park Director J. Clark Nicholson
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 4:20PM
When I saw that the Gamut Theatre Group had chosen to put on Love’s Labour’s Lost as their annual Shakespeare in the Park show, I was, um… surprised. First of all, let’s get this out on the table, yes, I was an English major and I have read plenty of Shakespeare. Snicker, snicker. Let’s move on. Anyway, I was surprised by the selection because it’s not a show that most companies will put on, largely because it’s nearly incomprehensible.
That’s not to say that the story isn’t a good one and that the show isn’t funny — it is and it is. It’s just that almost any Shakespeare scholar will tell you that while Love’s Labour’s Lost is Shakespeare’s first work of true genius, it is also one of his most difficult reads. The play is about the King of Navarre and companions Berowne, Dumaine and Longaville who swear off women for three years in order to concentrate on study. At least they say they are going to until the Princess of France and some of her ladies pay a visit. Sexy right? Decidedly less sexy are the pages upon pages of highly-intellectual Latin puns. Even wikipedia calls the play “pedantic.”
But after reading in the Patriot-News that director J. Clark Nicholson had edited the play heavily and taken inspiration from the John Hughes comedies of the 80’s I was intrigued. I gave Nicholson a call and he assured me that he has nixed the archaic wordplay and left behind a pretty good story. He's got me convinced and I'd like to go see the show, which opens its two-week run tonight. Here’s what he had to say: Full Article » -
Did We Mention The Restroom…
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 9:41AMSpotobe big boss (well, bigger than me boss) Dori P. hit El Sol recently and filed this rather interesting report with the Spotoblog (if my title is “editor” I’m going to talk like one damn it).
I can assure you, this is not a subject with which I have any experience. In fact, just thinking about changing diapers period makes me break out into cold sweats, let alone thinking about doing it in public. Nevertheless, without further ado: Full Article » -
Sunday at Artsfest
Sunday, May 25, 2008 2:48PM
Yesterday I went to Artsfest to give stuff away, today I went and enjoyed myself. Once again, the weather was gorgeous and once again the food was pretty good. Given time to look more closely, I really enjoyed a lot of the art. Full Article »
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Saturday at Artsfest
Saturday, May 24, 2008 3:57PM
Just back after spending Saturday at Artsfest. My girlfriend Megan and I handed out 500 Spotoballs and hopefully made some new friends for the site. The weather could not have been better and the food was super. We got barbeque from Bob’s Big Beef (highly recommended), and a blooming onion. I also polished off a Cookies & Cream waffle cone that was bigger than my head. Full Article »
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This Weekend: Come Visit Spotobe at Artsfest
Friday, May 23, 2008 10:59AMMost Fridays in this space, I’ll be giving you a quick rundown of what’s going on over the upcoming weekend. I know, original right? This week that seems a little silly. Most everyone in Central Pennsylvania knows this weekend is Patriot-News Artsfest, one of the most-anticipated community events in the area. That’s not to say that there isn’t plenty of other interesting stuff happening though. Full Article »
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