Philly Today

Even for high rollers, it looks like casinos have their limits. A gambler at the Borgata was asked to leave on Tuesday because of his body odor. He is now filing a complaint with the hotel. There are a lot of things that struck me as unusual about this story. First, the guy was 440 pounds. Second, he had been playing poker for 17 hours when they kicked him out. Also, though the guy was a frequent gambler at the Borgata, the manager would not give him a free room so he could “freshen up”. However, he did offer him a free buffet meal. So did they really want the guy to leave or not? I wasn’t there to smell the guy, but I am still surprised that the casino would show the door to one of their best customers. I guess they were thinking of the customers they would lose if this smelly guy continued to hang around.

According to Philadelphia’s Mayor Nutter, by the end of this year Philadelphia will have a non-emergency call center for residents to call. The number will be 3-1-1. It will be used to handle calls for situations that are not life threatening.

I know that the idea behind the new number is to take the unnecessary load off of the current 9-1-1 system and ensure that it remains dedicated to the most serious emergencies. Such a system has been implemented in other major cities. However, I wonder if this is the best solution. If I think that an issue is serious enough that I need to pick up the phone and call someone to help, to me that’s serious. I would probably call 9-1-1 because through the eyes of the person that’s calling, it is an emergency. Giving people another number to choose from may only make things more confusing. I can’t think of good examples of reasons you would call this new number, and where to draw the line. What if you call 3-1-1 and after a few minutes they escalate it and transfer you to 9-1-1? You would lose those few minutes that might make a difference in an emergency.

I am not saying that the 9-1-1 system is not abused right now, or that people don’t call for situations that aren’t critical. In fact, I feel that communicating the proper way to use the emergency phone system is important for everyone to understand. I may be wrong, we will see, but I don’t see how providing people with a number for stuff that’s “sorta serious” is going to help people learn the difference between a legit need to respond and just a waste of people’s time.

The Philadelphia Eagles 2008 training camp at Lehigh University has gotten off to somewhat of a rocky start. I didn’t think I would write about the Eagles until the season really got rolling, but after reading that their new defensive end Chris Clemons was taken to the hospital due to dehydration, I had to mention it.

First there are questions about Donovan McNabb’s health before camp even starts.  Shawn Andrews is a no-show. Brian Westbrook is in camp but unhappy. Don’t forget our newest top cornerback Asante Samuel, who injured his hamstring during the first practice. I know this is normal stuff that happens in every training camp, but it would be nice to start the season with the entire team intact.

At 11:20 AM on Monday, New Jersey was hit with an earthquake. It registered a 2.1 on the Richter scale. What does that all mean? I am not sure. Usually the effects of an earthquake are not really heard and felt until it reaches about 4.0. It happened just north of Milford, Hunterdon County, close to the Delaware River.

This Mid-Atlantic region only has minor earthquakes that can be felt about once every three years. I often think that this is a good area of the U.S. to be in when it comes to natural disasters, especially Pennsylvania. Rarely does a major earthquake, hurricane, flood, tornado, drought, or wildfire affect us as it does in many other parts of the country. That is why here such a small earthquake is notable, whereas in other areas such events are quite common.

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Soul capped their best-ever season with a 59-56 victory over the San Jose Sabercats in the Arena Football League’s ArenaBowl. But in Philadelphia, you won’t hear much about it. There will be no big parade or fanfare. During the Phillies game, they showed a few minutes of the ArenaBowl during a rain delay, but then did not announce the game result after the Soul had won it all. The local news mentioned the victory as a 10-second sports story, only after reporting the Phillies, Eagles, and other NFL news of the day.

It is true that none of the four major sports teams have won a championship in 25 years. But in that time Philly has won an AFL title, three Major League Lacrosse (outdoor) championships, six National Lacrosse League (indoor) championships, two Major Indoor Soccer League titles, two American Hockey League champs, and two World Team Tennis titles. Most area residents forget that these teams exist, let alone have had success. But until the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers or Flyers end their drought, you will not be seeing any other real celebrations, not even for Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, or any Philly-area horses.

I was listening to a commercial on the radio this morning… I guess the ad didn’t work because I totally forget what it was for. But I remember it was funny. The announcer was describing people who are cheap. He said something like, “Cheap people are smart. When life gives them lemons, they make lemonade with free lemon slices and sugar packets.”

That got me thinking about how I like to make lemonade in the same way (sad but true). For me it is not about being cheap, it is about seeing it as a challenge to see if I can make lemonade using the ingredients made available to me at a restaurant in, let’s say, Philly. I usually get a water with my meal and Christine will get one too, and sometimes a diet soda with lemon. She gives me all of her lemons, and I will squeeze them all into the water. I am drinking it throughout the meal and maybe get a refill and sometimes it is in the same glass with another slice of lemon. So the lemon water gets to a certain dilution. The adding sugar part I don’t usually do, but if the dilution is such that I now have a high lemon to water ratio, a few times, yes, I have actually added sugar. I guess it’s weird and maybe childish but if I get into the right mood and/or get bored while waiting for the food or the check, I will make lemonade. But it’s usually not good enough to actually drink.

I was at a gas station yesterday and I had to use the men’s room. I went over to the urinal and looked down, and on the little screen at the bottom of the urinal, there was a message written. I was not too surprised because I’ve heard that companies now use those screens to advertise. Then I realized that there was no company name or logo anywhere to be found. There were only the following words: “Why go anywhere else?”

I thought it was pretty funny, and I guess sayings like that are more common than I realize. That was really the first one I have encountered, and it happened to be at the gas station with the frustrating gas pumps . But to answer their question, I would “go anywhere else” for lots of reasons. In fact, anytime I really have to go. If I really need to go I don’t really care where I am, just about anywhere will do. Any guys seen any other funny ones? Or for ladies, do you have any funny ideas?

The Phillies came into Shea Stadium struggling a little but with a big opportunity to distance themselves from the Mets and prove to themselves and everybody else that they can play well against their rivals. In this afternoon’s 3-1 loss, all they did was allow the Mets to take over first place and take yet another series from them. The Phils only won one of the three games, and they would have won zero if it weren’t for a late rally on Tuesday. This is not the turn the Phillies would like to have seen their season take. Yes, there are still a lot of games left but the offense has been struggling for so long I don’t think you can call it a slump anymore. And all of them have had some kind of problem at the plate. Today, Howard and Utley had six strikeouts between them. Jimmy Rollins was late getting to the ballpark and was not in the lineup today. I am not sure what is going on but they need to get it together before it’s too late.

For years I’ve joked that Pennsylvania is “such a great state, you have to pay to get into it.” That is referring to the fact that almost all bridges that cross the Delaware River are toll bridges going into PA, but there is no toll going the other way into New Jersey. Sure, the tolls at Route 1 and I-78 are less than a dollar. But the bridge tolls in Philadelphia are higher, and are about to be raised again.

I first heard of a possible proposal of toll hikes by the Delaware River Port Authority a couple of months ago. The DRPA wants to raise tolls on all four of its bridges from its current $3. It plans to add $1 this September, another dollar in 2010, with more increases expected after that. The second of two public hearings on the increases took place this evening and as you can imagine, most residents are not happy. They argue that the DRPA has spent millions on past projects that are not related to bridge repair or even transportation. Another drawback is it’s now going to get a little harder to justify driving into Jersey just to get cheap gas or liquor.

There is a lot of wildlife to see in Bucks County. Normally, I wouldn’t think that includes alligators, but it turns out they are running rampant in my hometown of Warminster. According to this story , an alligator from Northampton was caught by personnel in Warminster’s Public Works department, in what the headline refers to as the “Wilds of Warminster”. Being from there, I am here to point out that Warminster does not have any wilds that I am aware of. It has been pretty well established since WWII and the opening of the Navy base, and features little except for strip malls and houses. Same with Horsham, Montgomery County, where another alligator was spotted a few days ago (and is still on the loose). Soon they will need street signs like this:

Whoever “released” these reptiles did not pick the best location for them to be wild and free. I hope that the gators will be placed into a better habitat, and the next time I am in the area I will keep my eye out for them.