Attention: Save your AZ State Parks or Kiss them BYE BYE Forever!

Sorry to interrupt your day with this but its really important and you should understand why. Currently Arizona is facing a huge budget shortfall because of the slow economy. One idea that the legislator has is to close down the state parks to save about $20 million dollars against the $4 Billion deficit that the state currently faces. Thats less that 1/10 of 1% yet the parks generate around $250 Million in local business revenue each year, and guess what? That revenue is taxed and helps out the State… Huh?

The problem with this is not just that we are shutting down everyday peoples access to affordable outdoor recreation but that we are eliminating a significant portion of revenue for local business and in turn State revenue:

AZ Family Channel 3 report:

“State parks take nothing from the general fund and actually give back to the state budget a big fat $22.7 million in state and local taxes. The state legislature has swept millions from state parks to help balance the budget, leaving them too short to operate the 30 parks in the system.

Three have already closed.

Does this make sense since state parks bring in more than $225 million dollars to the state’s economy through the 2.5 million visitors each year.”

AZ Republic Report on AZ State Park Closures

“Bahl noted that last year parks contributed $25 million to the General Fund, even though parks themselves receive no General Fund dollars. A Northern Arizona University study found that the parks generated $266 million annually in economic activity for rural communities.

“We’re important to the economy,” Bahl said. “We’re important to the people right now. Folks can’t afford to do much these days, and parks are one affordable luxury that we want to keep open.”"

The AZ State Parks foundation points out that if this is allowed to happen we may be looking at a huge land grab of pristine public land handed back over to private owners. Maybe they will put a chairlift on the Superstitions and install a KFC on the Flatiron…

AZ State Parks Foundation

“The cuts will force major reductions in Parks staff and closure of more than half of the State’s 30 parks this fiscal year.  The resulting loss of Park revenue is projected to leave the Parks System with no money to start the next fiscal year, July 1, 2010.  The next step will be to shut down the entire system and dispose of Parks properties, returning most of them to their original owners.”

According to the AZ State Parks Foundation there are a number of ways you can take action:

#1 – Call Governor Brewer and Email this sample letter (Word Doc):

Phone:  602-542-4331 or 800-253-0883

Email via Governor’s Contact page at:

www.governor.state.az.us/Contact.asp

Mail:  The Honorable Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona,

1700 West Washington, Phoenix, Arizona 85007

#2 – Attend the AZ State Park Board Meeting on Jan 15th at the Phoenix Zoo and let them know how you feel about this.

#3 – Email this sample letter (Word doc) to your legistators (find yours here: AZ senate – AZ house – Find your District)

#4 – Let the AZ State Parks Board know where you stand.

Take 30 minutes out of your day today and address this issue. Please.

Edited: January 13th, 2010

New Painting from Melissa Sherowski – Dinnerplate Dahlia

My best friend, Melissa Sherowski, just sent me an image of her latest painting – Dinnerplate Dahlia. Its an oil on canvas painting and its pretty badass! Here is her Etsy page, I am buying me some soon!

Interview coming soon!

Edited: January 12th, 2010

My First Capoeira Class

In preparation for Project Runaway I am focusing on expanding my cultural influences. One possible destination is Brazil because of its party culture and surfing spots. I figure that exposing myself to some Brazilian culture will only help with things like speaking Portugese and even finding work. Then on two seperate occasions the term Capoeira resurfaces and its a sign that I have to follow.

I put it out to the Twitterverse that I was looking for a Capoeira spot in the AZ area and got a response from Philippos Savvides (@savvides) to come and check out their Grupo Capoeira Brasil in Tempe, AZ. Its always cool to see more and more people using Twitter to connect and make things happen! Naturally I had to take him up on his offer and check out their next available class.

Capoeira is an “Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, games, music, and dance.” (Wikipedia) It was developed by slaves as a way of practicing their martial arts while disquising them as a dance, fooling their owners into thinking they were just partying. It was outlawed in Brazil for much of the 19th century, but was later recognized as having cultural value and has now become a popular sport with expansion all over the globe.

Practitioners of Capoeira form a circle with some playing instruments, some singing, and pairs sparring in the middle with fluid/acrobatic movements. In the class that I attended the focus was on the musical instruments and singing. Apparently this is very different from ‘normal’ Capoeira class where the sparring aspect is the focus. However in order to progress in the sport one must learn to play all instruments and sing solo during others sparring time so this may have been the best way to introduce myself to the sport.

As we started I was welcomed warmly by everyone in the class on an individual level. I was not called out at any point to explain who I was or anything like that, which I appreciated cause I was nervous as a diabetic on too much caffine. One very large guy named Reggie was super cool and helped me get accustomed to the tambourine(pandeiros) and the method of playing it in the circle. I am certain that this was the first time I handled a tambourine since elementary school and pretty sure I butchered it, but I had a blast and thats all the matters right?

After a bit of the tambourine I was handed the most intimidating musical device I have ever seen: the berimbaus. This thing looks like a bow with a bowl attached to the bottom. You play it by holding the bow(Verga) with one hand; which with your pinky finger you are keeping the bowl(Cabaça) from falling off, then using the two middle fingers you hold the bow, and the thumb and index hold a rock or coin(Pedra or Dobrão) which is applied to the wire string(Arame) for certain notes. The other hand holds a basket with beads(Caxixí) in the palm while the thumb and forefinger hold a small stick(Baqueta) used to hit the Arame and make notes.

With all of that in hand you then have a few ways to create music, or in my case noise. The Cabaça is open at one end, so holding it against your chest makes a difference to holding it away. Applying the Pedra or Dobrão to the Arame also makes a difference. Take these combinations and then throw in a modulating rythmn and I was pretty well lost with this one. Just holding the Verga and keeping the Cabaça up with my pinky was causing smoke to come out of my ears. Thankfully everyone was cool about my noobness and we jammed on.

Then the singing started and it was really awesome. I tried to join in a bit but found it difficult to keep pace with the instrument at the same time so I kept my mouth shut for a rare occasion. I have no idea what was being sung but it was beautiful and I forgot about everything else: where, when, who, how, why, and what for… At one point it struck me that I was still in AZ but it didn’t feel that way at all.

After a bit of playing the instruments we broke off into smaller groups to learn some of the songs. Keep in mind everything is in Portugese and I have enough trouble with English. Nonetheless I managed to learn a few lines and was able to contribute in my own little way. We formed a circle up with the entire group again and each smaller group went around teaching each other their song. Good stuff.

The next phase of class was sparring and for my first live experience of a Capoeira spar I definitely stayed in the circle and watched. There were some serious moves getting thrown around and on a few occasions some contact was about to make it a bloody afternoon. My cautious self won out and kept me sidelined as this went on. I really wanted to jump in but knew it would probably end with at least one black eye.

My concept of time completely disappeared during this class so I cannot say how much time was spent on each section, what I can tell you is that 2 hours were over and gone before I knew what happened. Professor Trovão runs a great studio and I recommend that everyone go and give it a try. I will be back for the Thursday beginner class for sure.

Edited: October 11th, 2009

Hacking Yoga: @gangplank Presentation Sept 16th 2009

So the first Hacking Yoga Presentation went down @gangplank on Setp 16th 2009 and if you weren’t there then you missed out on the group transmutation into trancendent beings, bummer. =)

I had a total blast talking to the group about two passions of mine: Hacking and Yoga. While I am pretty much a n00b at both I still have fun thinking and talking about them and thought that the presentation was a good intro to how the two work together. The questions afterward were the best part and I want to thank everyone for asking them. Please feel free to reach out to me here if you have more of them.

Edited: September 18th, 2009

Review: e2 – paris: vélo liberté – where is the archive?

E2 is a great PBS series on where things are headed for humans and how we are trying to live in better harmony with the planet Earth. Brad Pitt narrates it so its cool factor is up there. Add to this that all the shots are at least half out of focus and you have modern hipster all tied up.

The latest one covered Paris’ bicycling revolution with the “public-private Vélib’ bike initiative”. Its a pretty cool system where you are encouraged to make short, 30 minute or less, trips with public bikes. Read more here to get the details.

I really enjoyed this episode and wanted to share it with many people. The problem is that the only way to see it is to either have a TV or buy the episodes from iTunes or on DVD. I think this is very lame because the show is publicly and privately funded and is great public service information, which is to say that no one is going to buy it.
Maybe they need to cut their budget a bit: I am pretty sure you can get someone for less than Mr. Pitt goes for, and all the artsy editing and photography could be cut out.

I wrote PBS a message, you should too.

Oh and please RT this and please leave a comment below. This is your tax dollars, you should get to see what you already paid for.

Edited: August 2nd, 2009

Scam Alert! Towing Scam in Tempe, AZ

Last night was Ignite Phoenix #4 which we held at the Tempe Center for the Arts and it as awesome. We had at least 500 people there and everyone was super cool. The after party was at La Bocca wine bar near 7th and Mill Ave and it was that intersection when the evening took a turn for the dreadful.

I pulled into a semi empty lot at about 10pm and parked to go to La Bocca. There were 6 other cars and a few taxis in the lot and I assumed things would be cool. Well in Tempe this is the wrong assumption. When I came out of La Bocca at 11:30 my car was gone and so were most of the other cars that were there.

A nice group of folks from Ignite Phoenix were there as well because their cars were gone as well. Jay Thompson (@phxreguy) has a good write up here.

When I got home I called the Tempe police and talked with Katie to discuss the Tempe Towing law and in particular Sec. 32-2. Maximum charges and fees; release of vehicles:

(a) No private towing carrier shall hold or attempt to hold any vehicle towed from any location within the city without the consent of the owner or operator thereof as security for accrued towing and storage charges. Any such vehicle shall be immediately released, regardless of impound location, to the owner or operator thereof upon the production of proof of ownership or agency, as hereinafter defined.

My issue was that the towing company dispatcher was telling me that I would have to wait till 9am to pick up my car but the law says the “vehicle shall be immediately released, regardless of impound location, to the owner or operator thereof upon the production of proof of ownership”. To me this means that when I can show that the car is mine I can get my car. Katie explained that the law does not require that the lot be open 24 hours a day to which I replied that it also does not not say that either so there is room for interpretation either way.

That is issue #1.

I sensed that this was going no where so moved onto Sec. 32-6. Notice to public of right to tow. Part b:

(b) Signs will be a minimum of twelve (12) inches by eighteen (18) inches in size and will be mounted at a minimum height of five (5) feet and a maximum height of ten (10) feet above the ground.

Here is the sign in question.

Unless Jay is a giant I am pretty sure it is under 12′ by 18′ and is lower than 5 feet off the ground. Monster is the Irony here, ha!

Katie explained that I could file a complaint but that someone would have to call me back first.

30 minutes later Karen Scheffler called me back. Ms. or possible Officer Scheffler was pointedly unhappy about having to speak with me and explained that officer Tony Miller had already been to the scene and saw that the signs were all in order. I asked to speak with Officer Miller and was sent to his voice mail.

30 minutes later (1am) I was called by Officer Miller who was very nice and happy to talk to me about this situation. I asked about the size of the signs and he felt confident that they were up to code as they have to regularly check these types of lots around the city. He explained that this is a weekly issue for his beat and that it is a regular topic and Town Council meetings. He recommended that I contact the Mill Ave. Disctrict which is a coalition of Mill Ave business owners who are trying to fight this type of behavior as it is hurting their business. i thanked him for his time and went to bed.

That is issue #2.

I woke up this morning and got the car out of the lot a bit after 9am for $135. While I was there I noticed at least 10 other invoices on the desk. At $135 each that is about $1300 a night. Keep in mind this was a tuesday night in the summer in Phoenix/Tempe which means things are slow. That means conservitavely these guys are bringing in $300k a year from this one lot!

The next issue is still with Sec 32-6 but not on part e:

(e) The private towing carrier shall post a sign with a minimum one inch lettering with the maximum charges and fees as established by council resolution (see Appendix A) at the main business entry of the impound location.

Once again looking at this great picture of Jay you will notice that the only part of the sign with one inch lettering is the part that says Restricted Parking. The law states taht the charges and fees must also be this size when in fact they are about 1/8″.

That is issue #3.

While I was getting my car another customer was waiting and asked if I had seen him get pepper sprayed, see Jay’s post. I said I had missed that part but was very interested when he mentioned that the one car not towed was entered and driven away by a Tow Truck employee. This tells me that no one representing the property owner was actually at the scene which is in violation of Sec. 32-5. Authority to tow.

It shall be unlawful for a private towing carrier to tow or transport a motor vehicle from private property without the permission of the owner or operator of the vehicle unless such private towing carrier receives a request from a law enforcement agency or the express written permission from the owner of the property or the agent of the owner, who has complied with requirements of this section. The owner or the owner’s agent shall either sign each towing order or authorize the tow by a written contract which is valid for a specific length of time. The private towing carrier may not act as the agent of the owner. A copy of the written contract shall be made readily available to the law enforcement agency upon request and include the owner’s or owner’s agent name and current telephone numbers.

(Code 1967, § 33A-5; Ord. No. 2006.77, 1-4-07)

I am posting this for three reasons:
1) I need to release these thoughts in order to move on from them, as the Dhammapada states:
“He abused me, mistreated me, defeated me, robbed me.”
Harboring such thoughts keeps hatred alive.
“He abused me, mistreated me, defeated me, robbed me.”
Releasing such thoughts banishes hatred for all time.
2) I want to let others know about this scam and hope that it helps them avoid it. Start by not going to Tempe until they change their laws.
3) I want to see if any lawyers think that my Issues are valid and what steps may be taken.

With love from PHOENIX, peace out!

Edited: June 17th, 2009

iPhone Game Review: Frackin awesomerness – Fieldrunners – Tower Defense goes badass

Get it if: You like giggling while little guys get blown up
Don’t get it if: You have important things to do, like fly a plane.

I am a procrastinator, a darn good procrastinator at that. In fact if I dont procrastinate I get ill and fear that I may perish. The American Heart Association agrees based on a study I just made up.

One way to help alleviate the pain of getting too much productive things done is my iPhone and more specifically games on my iPhone. Recently my cohort in Ignite Phoenix collusion, JM, told me about Fieldrunners. I brushed it off as I always do when someone tells me about something I dont already know about to maintain the false comfort that I know everything.

I also brushed it off cause its not free and I had this thing about not paying for Apps. Once I finally caved in and bought the game I was immediately gratified with my purchase and proceeded to spend the next 2 hours curing myself of mucho productivity.

If you have played any tower defense games in the past then the concept is familiar to you. (If you have not then please go away, educate yourself, or continue reading along blindly.) The difference here is the quality of production. The graphics and music are really good stuff. Subatomic Studios has really gone into great detail to create unique characters that are reminicent of Team Fortress with some Ikari Warriors.

There are three maps (Grasslands, Crossroads, and Drylands) each with three game types (Classic, Extended, and Endless) and can all be played on Easy, Medium, or Hard. I have made my way to Drylands but am having some trouble getting through the Classic game. Its the frackin airplanes, just relentless I tell you.

Strategy is similar to other Tower Defense games, build mazes of killing machines and hit Play. There is a pretty active forum attached with the game and some of the dedication is borderline psychopath but to each their own. That said I would suggest taking a look there on occasion for some ideas of how to play as the openness of the playing field allows for limitless combinations and methods for you to totally fail bigtime.

Only negativeness would be the sense that its slightly repetitive, but thats pretty standard to this genre.

So please stop what you are doing and get Fieldrunners.

Edited: March 26th, 2009

Awesome videos from the Phoenix Zoo!

Went to the Zoo last weekend with Kathryn’s Dad and Step Mom and it was awesome!

Edited: November 15th, 2008

I am a superstar!

Holy shit I am a superstar. I kid you not. My voice and some mediocre thoughts have been trapped into an audio bubble and flushed into the intertubes.

Its here on Gangplank Podcasts.

Hells yeah! Hollywood here I come! YEEEEHAW!

Edited: September 28th, 2008

Getting Focused with Krav Maga – R.E.A.C.T. Defense Systems Review – Chandler, AZ

Krav maga

Got a coworker who has been doing the Krav Maga at R.E.A.C.T. Defense Systems for a few months and he is always talking about it so I had to try it out. There are 4 locations inthe PHX valley and two are pretty close to home. I have read about Krav Maga a few times and of course heard about how it the method of choice for the Israeli Defense Forces because its about brute force used to defeat opponent quickly and allow for escape.

The gym is pretty straight forward, mirror at one end and a firm but padded floor. The class before mine was a ‘Bag’ class meaning they were not doing Krav Maga but were instead doing physical exercises with hitting bags. It was an intense mess of running around punching, lying down, getting up, and all sorts of craziness.

The health sogn off form and waiver were pretty extensive and pretty much cut me off from suing them if I got injured in the gym at all. Hey I am going there to learn to defend myself I better keep my head up. Manni was the guy running the counter and I found out later is one of the top instructors there. The nice thing was that I didnt even think he was a trainer at all till they said something. Super nice guy and laid back which is a nice change from the majority of trainers that I know at other gyms.

Class started off and Lisa was leading it. She took care to address me as the new guy to make sure I understood what was going on at all times. This was done in a very respectable way so that I felt priveledged to get the attention and not talked down upon which I feel at a lot of places, even yoga studios. This was all about respect and no nonsense.

We went straight into warm up with jumping jacks, then high knees, then heel kicks, and quick feet (all of which I am pretty sure I hadnt done in over 12 years). Got the heart racing big time. Then it was into sholder taps with random partners throughout the gym. This was a great method of snapping your head into hitting and being hit though it was light and on the shoulders. Then is was partnered situps and pushups. Having a partner made you push yourself and then push them to go faster and harder. We finished off with some Bear Runs and more pushups and then back to some steps.

A short break and we were right into hand heel strikes with a partner and hitting pad. I have never been a fighter and never really trained on how to hit. After a quick demonstration from Lisa it was straight into going at it and I have to tell you I got right into it. I put all the bad calls and frustrations from the day into that pad and took it out on it. The cool thing is that you get just as much a workout when you are holding the pad. I learned quickly to breath out when they are hitting the pad to help absorb the blow.

Next up was low kicks and then Knees with a hold. Once again the instruction was precise, quick, and easy to pick up. They contextualized it with real world situations so that you could vizualize why and how you would use the technique. Once the threat is realized you become aggresive and you put everything you can into it until the threat is over. I particularly enjoyed the Knee with Hold technique. I hope my partner’s neck is okay today cause I was throwing him around a bit.

Then we started working on arm grabs and how to react to that. Basically if a stranger grabs you then you immediately punch them in the face until they let go. Obviously you want to use some level of common sense and not punch a cop or someone trying to help you. You stand still with eyes closed and whatever way they pull you use the opposite hand to go at them and hard. The partner brings their other hand up in front of their face to act as a target, if they forget to you need to remember to pull the punch. No hitting in the face in class – a fair rule.

The next drill involved a group of three where the third person is holding one of your arms back while you remain focused on hitting the other who is holding a pad. This is the most exhasting drill and almost lead to me spitting up my lunch a few times.

By the end I was a sweaty mess and more relaxed than I have been in a while. All aggression and frustration was gone. So I signed up for a year.

Technorati Tags: krav maga, training, defense

Edited: August 29th, 2008