Well, now, this is something!
I began "The Charbor Chronicles" on the advice of a former girlfriend. At the time, I kind of had this idea - mistaken, as it turns out - that having a blog was some elitist, almost sophisitcated thing strictly for computer nerds who kept up with everything that had to do with computers, electronics, and the internet. It seemed to me that you had t be very tech savvy, in order to be able to do some things, like the graphic designs, which I assumed - again mistakenly - were all a part of it.
Not so, she said. And many of them, perhaps even most of them, are free. It would be a good way for me to practice writing, a good outlet for my creativity, if you will.
She was right. And so it began.
At the time, the options seemed a bit more limited. The main thing for me seemed to be to get the thing off the ground. The sooner I could get it active, the sooner that it could pick up speed and, eventually, lift off the runway, and become more of what I would like it to be.
Yet, the beginning was slow going. Sometimes, I have gone back to look at the first three blog entries in particular. That was my total output for the entire year of 2010, although it should be noted that I started it in December of that month.
In time, however, it would become much more active. But it would take a while. There were a lot more than three blog entries in 2011, but the output was still quite pitiful, with only 24 entries for the entire year. I was only beginning to have some ideas about what I might want to do, but again, my options felt restricted. First of all, what does one write about on such a site? Also, I did not yet have a cell phone that could take pictures or access the internet, although I would shortly (late in 2012) get a notebook that not only stored books, but also gave me internet access, and allowed me to take pictures, which I could then upload onto the site. Suddenly, once I had the ability to add pictures, it felt like a whole new ballgame.
It was in 2012 that I finally began to use this as an outlet to write about, and react to, what was happening in the world. In 2010 and 2011, I had mostly stuck to some things that I thought might be interesting, and wrote tentatively about them, at best. Some book reviews, for example, and one about one of my favorite authors, Kahlil Gibran. A movie review or two, I think. That was the first year that I began to makes predictions, and then review, NFL playoff games. And one, the very first blog entry of that year (which meant that it was the fourth blog entry that I ever posted on this site), which I had taken pride in writing because it was one of the few writings that I had actually shared with some people back then, about my son's first day at school, just a few years before. I wanted to republish this writing now, because it seemed to move the people who read it, and it is something that is historical, if you will, both for me and my son, as well as for "The Charbor Chronicles." So, here is my writings on his first ever day in school, a preschool that was conveniently located at my job, and which was his first taste of life without either mom or dad, or perhaps his grandparents for a few hours, here and there: At the time, it was just a little something - a few paragraphs, really - that I wrote as a reaction to that first experience, which both made me feel glad and proud of my boy, but which also kind of broke my heart a bit, as a parent of a growing child:
Thursday, December 11, 2008
My son's first day at school today.
Well, I didn't cry, but felt emotional. Just seeing him there, alone, a tiny little person, almost defenseless and, up until this point, almost entirely reliant upon his parents and grandparents for his world knowledge and experience, and the enormity and reality that it largely began to end today. Each little step, he's more on his own.
Otherwise, he did cry quite a bit. Not initially, because he was so distracted with the incredible toys that were all over the place. Plus, mommy came and stayed with him for that first hour and change, wanting to make sure that he was okay. But about an hour and change later, during lunch time, he was apparently refusing to eat. Since I worked in the same building, I was called down. When I entered, he grew quiet and shrunk in a corner. I sat next to him and put my arm around him. Slowly but surely, the tears came down, until he was really bawling. And it was heartbreaking, even if I’m a guy. I held him, wanting to let it out of him, but he just did not stop. I had to go back to work, break time over, and there he was, trying to hold onto me, trying to hold his grasp of the reality that he had known up until that point, which was now being ripped away from him, at least in part. It’s only natural to resist the beginning to the end of pampering and unending, unquestioned comfort. I think that they sense this, but are young and naïve enough to resist
And the parents also have to begin to learn to let go. Neither side really wants to let it go, but both realize on some level that it is not a decision that is in their hands. You can’t stop the hands of a clock and pretend that you’ve succeeded in making time stand still. It’s time for letting go.
I enjoyed going back to that past, and remembering those times. I had written it well before "The Charbor Chronicles" was even a thought in my mind, but it seemed to fit as something worth sharing here. But the blog entries remained few and far between throughout 2011, as the site just was not on my radar in an everyday sort of way that it would, in time, become.
Then came 2012. I began by talking about the predictions that 2012 would be the year when we would see the end of the world as we know it, at least according to what many suggested was a misreading of the ancient Mayan calendar. By the end of January, I had published 31 entries in the 31 days of January. Not sure if I literally published one each day or not, although it clearly, on average, reached that level. "The Charbor Chronicles" was finally beginning to be on my radar as something to be done on an everyday level. Again, I made predictions and then reviewed NFL playoff games, but I also expanded to politics, since that was a presidential election year. At the time, some of the nonsense surrounding the election seemed ridiculous, almost comical, but that was well before the complete absurdity that we would encounter, and would be forced to endure, in 2016. But that is a discussion for another time. The blog page was finally beginning to feel like something a bit more real, and a bit more substantive. By the end of the year, I had added some pictures, and perhaps by some time in 2013 and beyond, pictures would become more of the norm, rather than the exception.
My very first blog entry was a review of a concert. A very brief review, which lacked any real detail, because this was more of a test run at actually posting a blog, than at reviewing a show. It was for Prince's appearance at the IZod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and it was with my then girlfriend, the same one who got me started on the idea of blogging. Frankly, it was not a very good review, nor was it a very interesting entry. But it ultimately was the first of what clearly would become many blog entries.
Now, many years later, I have reached 5,000 blog entries on this site. Not all of them are masterpieces, and some of them felt embarrassing, frankly, after I would stumble upon them. But generally, I have tried to write at least a little something about the world around me, and my own reactions to it. It could be concert reviews - and I feel that these have gotten a little better over the years - or it could be reviews of books or movies. It could be sports predictions, previews and reviews, although it no longer is restricted to the NFL. It could be politics, as there is always enough absurdity there to write about. It could be more personal things, like that one about my son's first day in school, which I had actually written a couple of years before I even began "The Charbor Chronicles."
But I made a point of writing and publishing something almost everyday. There have been certainly been days, even whole stretches of time, really, when I have not published anything here. When I am on vacation, or otherwise have limited, or perhaps no, internet access. But by and large, you will usually find something new on a daily basis here. It might not be especially interesting to you, or to your liking. Still, there is usually something here, one way or another. After all, 5,000 blog entries is starting to resemble a body of work, no?
It has changed over the course of years. The graphics were changed eventually, I think probably around 2012 at some point. Pictures began to be added more regularly, and my own confidence in writing grew, especially as the realization dawned that this was not merely something that computer nerds could or should do, but that I was actually already doing it with some measure of success. My writing, as well as my entire approach towards this blog page, probably changed the most - and likely for the better - once I became a published writer for The Guardian Liberty-Voice. I was glad to have become an official writer there, and some of the things that I learned there have generally been applied here since.
In any case, we have reached this landmark of 5,000 blog entries. Admittedly, some of them were repeats, such as the "This Day in History" thing that I was doing, literally every day, for a couple of years or so. And sometimes, I repost things for certain occasions, like holidays and anniversaries. But generally, it feels safe to say that most of the blog entries are fresh, newly written. And even if there have not precisely been 5,000 such blog entries yet, it is close enough. If I can be so bold as to give myself some credit, it feels like an accomplishment to have published 5,000 blog entries.
Here's to 5,000 more!
It seemed fitting to share some memories again here for this occasion. And what better way to do that than to share pictures?
So, here are some of my favorite memories and/or photos for blog entries that I have published over the course of these years:
I published this before I could get all of the pictures down, although there are a decent selection of pictures now as I am about to publish:
The Who in Philadelphia, just this past Memorial Day weekend:
Chris Cornell Acoustic Show, November 22, 2013:
Pearl Jam in Philadelphia, October 22, 2013:
Canada Day 2017: 150th Anniversary of Confederation
Buzz Aldrin Booksigning, 2015
Western Trips
August 2018:
Old Faithful
2016 Western Trip
San Francisco
The California Redwoods:
Grand Canyon Northern Rim
Okay, so, I took a bit of time to focus on other kinds of blog entries over the last three days. After all, it was the 15th anniversary of September 11th several days ago, and this past weekend proved to be a very busy weekend in sports, as well as for my son and I, who enjoyed a trip to the beach when we went to Sandy Hook on the Jersey Shore for one final swim of the warm weather season. Besides, it is still officially summer anyway, right?
However, I do want to return back to documenting the recent trip out west again. So, here goes with the day where we got to visit the other side of the Grand Canyon then what we did last year, when we went to the . This year, we instead went to the more remote and generally less visited North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Here is how that day went:
Saturday, August 20 - Our stay in St. George was great. We enjoyed it immensely. Everyone at the hotel, guests and management alike, seemed incredibly friendly. Trust me, coming from New Jersey, which by comparisons, feels like the rudeness capital of the world, it was hard not to notice. Not for the first or second or fifth or tenth time, I wondered what we were still doing living in New Jersey. We got a nice continental breakfast, which refreshed us. We got a decent swim in, and then showered and went on our way. Then, we drove out of town and through southwestern Utah, climbing in elevation before long. Gone were the palm trees and cactus and, at some point, there were green pine forests and cowboy ranches. Again, not what we expected from Utah. We drove for a while, and suddenly, we entered Arizona again. Before long, we took our turn to reach the Grand Canyon North Ridge. First, we had to reach a little place called Jacob's Lake, which from what I could gather from what was online about it, was not even a real town. Indeed, when we finally arrived there, it seemed like little more than an all-purpose souvenir shop, restaurant and inn, where you could also obtain some gas. Not surprisingly, the gas was quite a bit more expensive than anywhere else, although having anticipated this, I had made a point of filling up on gas beforehand. We arrived at the Grand Canyon's North Ridge was not much later on, although the gates (where you have to pay the entrance fee, which was $30 in both 2015 and 2016) were there well before you could actually see the canyon. In fact, on the North Ridge, it was quite a bit before you could really see much of anything, whereas on the South Ridge the year before, it seemed like just a few minutes later that we got to see the Grand Canyon for the first time. Of course, the North Ridge Grand Canyon was amazing as well, offering some spectacular views. The one thing that surprised me, however, was that the North Ridge seemed so much smaller, at least in terms of the areas that you could access by car, where there were paved roads and parking lots. So, this is why it was considered far more remote! Now, it was a lot more obvious. The visit was still nice, although last summer, we had driving maybe forty-five minutes to an hour into the South Rim part, and there were still many, many miles to go, and there had been numerous spots to view the Grand Canyon from. The North Rim felt a lot smaller, and with significantly less spots from which to view the Grand Canyon, although it was nonetheless quite spectacular. The fact that there were notably fewer cars and people served as actually an advantage of many levels. We took some pictures, naturally, and we soaked it all in. However, after it got to be fairly late in the afternoon, and knowing that there was a full drive ahead of us (we were going to try to reach Durango, Colorado by that evening), it was time to go, and I was happy to reach the final point. Some of the points were very spectacular, although personally, my favorite was Cape Royal, which was really just spectacular! That was pretty much right at the end of the road for the Grand Canyon North Ridge, although it was a great way to end it! We then drove back towards the entrance to the park and then to Jacob's Lake, although we took a different way out. Along the way, we saw the Vermilion Cliffs, and drove through a region known as Marble Canyon, where we traversed over the Colorado River on the Navajo Bridge, which to my understanding, is viewed as really the beginning of the Grand Canyon, and which some recognize as the East Rim. Just for anyone's personal information, there is also Grand Canyon West, which we did not visit either last year or this year, and this offers a glass horseshoe, if you will, that must offer some incredible views, although it has also received criticism for being an unnatural and not entirely welcome addition to the Grand Canyon, which of course needs nothing in terms of improvement. In any case, the drive around the cliffs was longer than it might seem. We could see, only a few miles distant, where we had passed not long before, although you have to drive the lengths of the cliffs on both sides, before you make a turn and finally begin to climb in order to go in the direction of Page. As the bird flies, it is not particularly long, and perhaps twenty miles out, I thought I could still make out the area not far outside of Grand Canyon North Ridge where we had stopped, and I had gotten my son an arrow, and my girlfriend some jewelry for when we returned home. Once we reached the top of the cliffs, however, all of that basically disappeared, and you might never know we were anywhere near cliffs or mountains. But then, as we were fast approaching Page, I noticed off to the side a parking lot jam packed with cars, and people - a lot of people! - going up and down an adjacent hill. Initially, I passed it, but turned around and went, suspecting that this would be the famous Horseshoe Bend that I had wanted to see for a long time! Indeed, that was exactly what it was, and it was spectacular! We had come at the right time, too, as the day was growing short. We had daylight, but also happened to be there while it was getting dark, allowing us some nice desert sunset shots. However, having taken more time than expected at the Grand Canyon, and then taking this unexpected (but very welcome) excursion, we were now far behind schedule! However, it was already getting dark, and we had not prepared enough for things, which meant that we had not really eaten prior to our visit to the Grand Canyon. Page was the biggest town anywhere nearby, so we basically had to choose that as the place to eat dinner, and it felt necessary to couple that with a stop to fill up on gas, just in case we needed it. I had filled up just outside of the Vermilion Cliffs, but knowing how far we still needed to travel, and the late hour and lack of any really notable places on the map, I did not want to chance anything. The rest of the drive was indeed long and very, very dark. There were hardly any lights of any sorts, except by highway intersections and the few communities that we reached. Still, the miles needed to get done, and we got them done. We drove and drove, until we reached closer to Colorado. As we reached close to the border, something very strange and most unexpected happened - we almost hit two wild horses! It was dark, and there were two small buttes on the side of the road, but I saw some vague, dark shapes moving, and recognized them as two huge bodies. At first, I thought that they were buffalo, although as we got closer, it was clear that they were horses. What they were doing there, right in the middle of a road, is anyone's guess. We had not seen much traffic on the road, but suddenly, there seemed to be a lot of cars going in the other direction shortly after this incident, so I flashed my lights to warn them ahead of time. The first guy was close, and he slammed on his brakes, as the horses probably were still on the road. That was a big scare, and it slowed me down pretty much for the rest of the evening. This was just around midnight. We arrived outside of Durango as it was approaching two in the morning, and I found a quiet spot on the side of the road (it is not hard to do in that area), and tried to catch some shut eye for a few hours, before the dawn of a new day. All I can say from that long drive is just how thankful I was, and still am, that we did not actually hit those horses. That likely would have ended the trip prematurely, and on a sour note. Thank God I did not hit those horses!
Vermillion Cliffs, Marble Canyon and the Grand Canyon East
The Colorado River
The Horshoe Bend, Page, Arizona
The Rockies
Engineer Mountain:
Mesa Verde:
Monday, August 22 - We drove out of Colorado the night before, and again, it was later than I had really wanted or expected it to be. Still, we had really made the most out of a long day (especially for me!) in the Rockies and visiting Mesa Verde. It was beautiful, and felt satisfying to have finally at least gotten a taste of the famous Rockies - the spine of North America! We drove mostly in the dark to Gallup, New Mexico, only stopping for a bite to eat along the way, although we stopped once or twice for gas. The first stop had been an urgent one for gas, as the gas light went on while we were still high up on Ute Mountain as we were leaving Mesa Verde. We reached Cortes, which had the cheapest gas I had yet seen on the trip. After a blessedly uneventful and relatively stress-free drive to Gallup, we reached our hotel, which was on the old historic Route 66. The room was magnificent, and the hotel staff was very friendly! There was a computer, and so I got to actually write a bit more than the normal notebook thing, which was refreshing! We had a decent night's sleep, and the next day, we had a very decent and filling breakfast at the hotel, after which I did a bit more writing. The weather outside had been intermittently rainy since the prior evening, although the sun was out now, and there was an amazing rainbow! Took some pictures, and after finishing my writing for the day, we were all set to begin another long day of driving, although I assured my son that this was the last monster day of driving. In fact, he had been excellent in terms of his patience and behavior throughout this trip! We reached the end of New Mexico surprisingly quickly, and I had not realized how close to the border of Arizona we were. After that, we drove and drove through some beautiful scenery. We reached Holbrook, which we had visited the prior year, and is famous for being the entrance to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Park. We parked in one area and looked for some small pieces of petrified wood, and both found some relatively easily and with little effort or strain. We continued driving (I stopped just as we were leaving Holbrook to take a sign showing that this was the old route of the famed Pony Express. But then, it was a long drive through some strange sounding towns (who knew there was a Snowflake, Arizona?), before we got to a very green area dominated by pines. Before long, the altitude started to get serious, and we were in what seemed almost like a miniature of the Grand Canyon, as my son put it. It was really spectacular and, for us, also pretty much unexpected! Once again, we were driving up extremely curvy mountain roads, although once we climbed back down, we were back in the southwest desert, complete with cactus on the side of the road. Maybe half an hours after this, we saw our first Saguaro cactus tree, and knew then that we were fully back in the same famous southwestern desert that we had been in the year before! Of course, we were trying to make it to the Mexican border while there was still daylight, so we just kept driving and driving, until we finally reached it. There was Route 19, which is done up in Kilometers, the only American highway that I know of which is measured in the metric system, which I love! We arrived at Nogales in the late afternoon/early evening, quite a bit later than we had last summer. Still, we were here, and it was time for a visit! I exchanged some dollars for pesos (not much), and then realized after crossing that, as far as Mexican sellers were concerned, this was not a good move. They preferred American dollars! We did not have all that much time, and so we walked around, going perhaps a bit deeper into Nogales than we had last summer. We got to see the inside of the church this time, as the bell rang our for services. We walked around, much like we had last summer. At one point, I looked at a souvenir shop, and eyed a wooden carved statue of a Saguaro cactus plant, which seemed like a nice gift to get for my parents. We haggled a bit, and eventually found a price agreeable to both sides. Of course, I snapped a bunch of pictures while there, and my son told me that he really loved these trips to Mexico that we had taken (only the two of them, and just across the border, although still, they felt like something special). Before long, however, it was getting late, and so it was time to get back stateside and drive over to our hotel in Sierra Vista. There had been an incredibly long line to get into the States when we had crossed into Mexico (again, with no checks this time), and so I was worried. But I need not have been, because the line was almost totally gone, and we walked right up to the American border, and waited maybe a minute or two, tops, before the border guard took us. She joked a bit with my son, who showed off the small souvenir that he had purchased in Nogales, Mexico, and then we were on our way, another pleasant trip to a border town south of the border behind us. After that, I drove to Sierra Vista while my son slept in the back, just like last year. We checked into the hotel, and shortly thereafter, our night was over, and we slept.
The Southwestern Desert
Las Vegas
DALLAS
Parkland Hospital Display:
Yes, one of the most valuable and noble programs of the federal government is celebrating it's 100th anniversary, although I missed it by a couple of days.
This marks 100 years since it was established, which means, of course, that it will be celebrating it's centennial one year from today.
Last year at this time, I had just taken my son to the Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert.
This year, we just got back from another western trip just yesterday. This time, we revisited the Grand Canyon (although we did the North Rim this time around), as well as Yosemite National Park and Mesa Verde. Just some incredibly beautiful parks, and I for one am appreciative of these lands at least having been preserved by past generations for us to enjoy. It is our duty to preserve these lands for future generations to enjoy, as well.
I have to admit that I thought about Theodore Roosevelt while at the Grand Canyon last year, and reflected a little bit on his words and his actions. He was such a strange president, albeit a unique one. There are things that I strongly admire about the man, such as his foresight with regards to conservation and protecting open spaces from development and destruction. Also, his populist, anti-corporate message resounds with me.
This year, it was hard not to think about him. There was a whole plaque at the North Rim a the Grand Canyon dedicated to him, and the book of John Muir's works that I was reading while at Yosemite had a prominent picture of Muir meeting with Roosevelt. That meeting helped to establish Yosemite as a national park, as well. And at Mesa Verde, I even asked the guide if Theodore Roosevelt had ever visited this site. Indeed, he had.
Yet, I also remember his tendency towards empiricism, and how he was all for starting wars to expand the American empire, and this is a huge turn off. Frankly, this spirit is a large part of the reason, if not the main reason, why the world is in such dire straits today.
Still, as I understand it, he did come to regret this aggressive, militaristic attitude late in life, after the outbreak of World War I, when it had a huge and very personal impact on his life.
Be that as it may, one great thing that he did do was help to establish the National Parks Service. It protects millions of acres of land, protecting it from potential development and the destructiveness of human activity, even though it seems that these are still constant threats today.
So, with that in mind, today I recognize the greatness of this landmark achievement, and the significant foresight of those who helped to bring this vision to a reality, and perhaps particularly embodied in the person of Theodore Roosevelt. The National Parks Services is, to me, undeniably one of the better and more noble aspects of the often discredited federal government, and it celebrates a birthday today.
I celebrated this anniversary the best way that I know how last year: by taking my son to visit one of the many beautiful national parks that this country is blessed with, and to try and both learn the lessons that these offer, and to try and impart those same lessons of respect and reverence for the land to my son.
This year, we had to take a flight out to Dallas, and this occupied to much of the day to realistically hope to visit one of the national parks. Hell, I did not even get to post this on time.
However, we did visit three national parks this year (four, if you include Morristown's Washington headquarters). Each one has opened our eyes and our sense of wonder, and I, for one, am very appreciative and grateful for these parks, and our chance to visit them.
Here is a toast to honor America's National Parks system!
2015 Western Trip:
Vieux Québec
Other Parts of Québec
My girlfriend and I pictured on the
.jpg)