bunch o' steamin' piles o' hipster scenesters

number one, i didn't know we USED to be able to have open containers in west hartford
number two, i don't give a flying fuck yoo hoo if we can have an open container in black and blue square or west hartford center or not. i will NEVER GO TO BLACK AND BLUE. i just won't. and as far as the center goes, i can't remember the last time i was there. there are some good restaurants there which i'd go to (and several restaurants which simply cater to posers and the like). as i've said MANY times before and will say again, I HATE WHAT MY TOWN HAS BECOME

pic: creative commons from moblog NOT wh but it sure as shite COULD be. effin' hipster scenester posers

this ain't gonna be pretty

Fox CT Weather: Sunny And Hot; Temps In The 90s

we have offices in both des moines and minneapolis. i have been talking to my collegues there. it's NASTY. really NASTY. with the heat index it's well into the 110s. coming here now.........

and please please please remember to care for your pets in this weather. they suffer as much as we do.

this by NO means is funny

yet when you read the courant headline, you cannot help but laugh

Lil Wayne Dancers Beat Up Waitress At Westfarms Restaurant, Cops Say

Disagreement With Waitress Over Splitting A Check Escalated

a long long time ago in a galaxy far far far away.........

i got a dog, baby roo! at the magic pet shop. i distinctly remember going in there and buying her (i told my parents someone gave her to me and we couldn't abandon her). it was SO long ago, it was before the current owners were there


to this day, i still do an impression of the man sitting there talking to his bird (who most likely WAS NOT the bird in the photo) and saying GIVE ME A LITTLE KISS JOE JOE


i miss you baby roo


(i'd NEVER go to a pet store these days. i'd of course rescue a dog or a cat from a center)

Magic Pet Shop Closing After 50 Years, Ziggy The Parrot Jobless

 

By JANICE PODSADA, jpodsada@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

Ziggy, a raucous tenor who's been serenading customers at the Magic Pet Shop for 20 years, is about to be out of a job.

The shop's owners Edward and Ellie Kinsella are closing the 50-year-old pet store at the end of the month, which means that Ziggy, a yellow-fronted Amazon parrot, will have to practice his wolf whistles and pop tunes including "Rolling in the Deep" elsewhere.
"Everything is for sale," said Edward Kinsella, 66, who put up a dozen handmade signs in Newington and Wethersfield to announce the store's closing.

A combination of the economic downturn and competition from big-box pet stores made the Kinsellas and their daughter Jen Lowy, 30, who works at the shop, decide to close the business.

"If it had only been one of the two, we could have survived," said Lowy. A year ago, in an effort to diversify, Lowy added fresh flower arrangements to the pet store's offerings. But it wasn't enough...........

my personal feeling?

well i think  you know it but i'll articulate it any damn way. it's just this: IF you join this church or follow this EX CON (yes, i believe SOME - NOT ALL people can and do change) you deserve EVERYTHING you get (taken away from you)

Conservative Sect's Leader, Who Served 12 Years In Prison For Larceny, Opens Church In Enfield

By KIM VELSEY, kvelsey@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

ENFIELD ——

Archbishop John P. Walzer's biography, posted on the website of the Catholic Charismatic Church, begins with his consecration in 1990 and ends with his succession to church patriarch in 2009.

Walzer, who operated churches in Branford, West Haven and East Hartford prior to his conviction, and in New Haven afterward, said that the church — which is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church — decided to move to the red clapboard house at 195 N. Maple St. because of the "opportunity to buy an ideal property for a missionary district."...........

The biography omits the 12 years that Walzer — who has just opened a new church in Enfield — served in prison for first-degree larceny. But church officials say that what is in the past is in the past. ...............

because i'm SO with it...........

i didn't know about this stupid new sales tax until yesterday when a co worker mentioned it.


i don't mind paying taxes, i don't BUT this is getting ridiculous 

good luck!

As Friday's Sales Tax Changes Loom, Confusion And Scrambling Continue

By KORKY VANN and JANICE PODSADA, kvann@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

Whoever said there was nothing certain but death and taxes didn't have to figure out the new Connecticut sales tax package that takes effect Friday.

Uncertainty and last-minute scrambling over which goods and services will or won't be taxed is widespread as state agencies are still researching some of the finer points, and merchants are still learning the new law.

"There have been a lot of changes, so there has been some confusion," said Sarah Kaufman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue Services. "We want to be sure that businesses and consumers have the correct information, so we're continuing to update."

Kaufman said the agency has been contacting businesses, retailers and trade organizations to clarify the new tax rules. But some groups, such as yoga instructors, are harder to reach than, say, the owners of package stores.

And speaking of yoga, we know that classes at yoga studios are now taxable — they've long been taxed at fitness centers — but what about training and workshops for instructors?

Paula Scopino, owner of Sacred River Yoga Studio in Glastonbury, says she received a letter from the Department of Revenue Services, but she said the communiqué left her with unanswered questions..................

i didn't forget solstice

i just didn't get a chance to post my rose

asses

elizabeth park
is such a wonderful place. i grew up right next to it. i walked there almost every day. in the winter we skated and skated and skated. that's where i learned how to play ice hockey (on figure skates mind you). the boyz let ME, a rose is a rose, the ONLY grrrl play! hmmmmmm is THAT where i got it from???????


hands off of the park you vandals. it's an escape. don't damage it. love it. it's there for YOU just as much as it's there for me

Damaged Tree Expected To Survive, But Some Limbs Could Be Trimmed

By VANESSA DE LA TORRE, vdelatorre@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

HARTFORD —— 

The vandalized tree at Elizabeth Park is expected to survive, but will be "somewhat disfigured" after a few of its long, sleepy limbs were severely damaged over the weekend, the park's foreman said Monday.

One thick branch that curves skyward will likely die, Rocco Cianfarani said. It was stripped smooth of its bark sometime during the annual Rose Weekend Festival and carved haphazardly with names, initials, hearts and other signs of juvenile love or boredom.If the limb starts to brown, Cianfarani said, the park will saw it off. Another branch might also die.

"It will be standing, it just won't look as nice as it does," Cianfarani said of the red cedar, believed to be at least a century old and original to Elizabeth Park. "It's a shame."

Police were investigating the vandalism on Monday after the park filed a formal police report in the morning............

pic: Damaged tree limbs at Elizabeth Park in Hartford. (Vanessa de la Torre / Hartford Courant / June 19, 2011)

don't forget this thursday is the faith middleton

food schmooze martini contest in hartford

come on out and vote for your favorite

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011 

6PM to 9:30 PM 

At The Marquee 

960 Main Street 

Hartford 

(pssssssstt we know who i'll be voting for. ok, i'm NOT going, but if i was going to go, that's who i'd vote for)

he was 20............20

he never got a chance to live his life. to the family and friends of eric soufrine, i am so very sorry for your loss.

Woodbridge Native, 20, Dies In Afghanistan

 

A picture of Eric Soufrine hangs in Amity High School. He graduated from the high school in 2009. (RYAN BERNAT, FOX CT)

By HILLARY FEDERICO, hfederico@courant.comThe Hartford Courant
Woodbridge native Eric D. Soufrine has died while on a tour in Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense. He was 20.

Word of Pvt. Soufrine's death spread quickly through his hometown Wednesday night, according to First Selectman Edward Maum Sheehy. He said Soufrine was a 2009 graduate of Amity High School and enlisted in the Army after graduation.

"We are very saddened by his death," Sheehy said. "Something like this points out that freedom isn't free.".................

pretty cool!

my friend amy is a birder and did a bunch of bird stuff for Audubon last summer. they'd have to go out and count birds and band birds and watch birds. literally FIELD WORK


we have some blue herons at work. they're beautiful to watch fly

pic: An American Anhinga in full plumage is seen at Shark Valley in Everglades National Park, Florida. (Tim Chapman/Miami Herald/MCT)

'Devil Bird' Spotted In Hamden, Believed To Be First Time Photographed In Connecticut

By MATTHEW STURDEVANT, msturdevant@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

HAMDEN—

— Florence McBride of Hamden was scanning Lake Whitney with a telescope early Saturday morning, looking for birds, when she spotted a long-necked specimen similar to a cormorant.

An avid birder, McBride knew it was an anhinga, a large aquatic bird whose name is taken from a Brazilian tribal phrase for "devil bird." Anhingas had never been photographed in Connecticut until last weekend. McBride and fellow birder Nancy Specht were on the Waite Street bridge in Hamden taking part in an annual two-day summer inventory to document the area's bird population when they saw it...........

this my dears is NOT good

it's not good for consumers AND even worse it's NOT GOOD FOR CONNECTICUT BUSINESS OWNERS. first overstock.com then amazon.com what's next?

Amazon Cancels Connecticut Website Sales Agreements, Citing New State Tax

By DAN HAAR, dhaar@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

Amazon.com sent notices Friday to the owners of Connecticut websites saying the online retailer was ending cooperative sales agreements, effective immediately, because the newly enacted state budget would require the online retailer to collect sales taxes.

Amazon's move follows a similar action by overstock.com. Both online retailers, along with others, have called the tax rule unconstitutional and said they will fight it in court.

The change means hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Connecticut residents who own websites will no longer be eligible to receive sales commissions under the "Amazon Associates Program" if customers make purchases after clicking through to Amazon from ads on the host websites....

wooooooooooooooooooo hooooooooooooooooooo!!!

it's about time! believe it or not i don't even smoke (pot that is, unfortunately i DO smoke heaters)


i think pot, any amout of pot SHOULD be legal. period. my view

Connecticut To Lessen Penalty For Half-Ounce Or Less Of Pot

By DANIELA ALTIMARI, altimari@courant.comThe Hartford Courant

HARTFORD —— 

First-timers caught with a small amount of pot in Connecticut will soon be treated like traffic scofflaws instead of criminals.

The House of Representatives voted 90-57 Tuesday to decriminalize possession of a half-ounce or less of marijuana, the equivalent of about 30 joints. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy hailed the measure as a fairer — and more fiscally sound — public policy, and intends to sign it once it reaches his desk. The new law will take effect July 1.

Activists pushing for a change in the state's marijuana laws savored their victory. They had argued for years that the state's current drug laws unfairly stigmatize young people, especially minorities, by burdening them with criminal records for relatively minor offenses..............

the.......reformed....... pirate: a-effing-mazing!

the.......reformed....... pirate: a-effing-mazing!

to the friends and family of army specialist richard charlton emmons iii

i am so very sorry for your loss. my thoughts are with you. 

Army Specialist From Granby Dies In Afghanistan

By HILLARY FEDERICO, hfederico@courant.com
  

HARTFORD ——

An army specialist from Granby was killed in action in Afghanistan after his vehicle was hit by a rocket propelled grenade, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Wednesday.

Richard Charlton Emmons III, 22, was the driver on a mounted patrol in Logar Province when his vehicle was hit Tuesday.

The Department of Defense said Emmons died of shrapnel injuries in the attack. He was pronounced dead at a military hospital..............
 Connecticut's War Dead

Profiles: Connecticut's War Dead 

wow, some horrible news

and i guess those weather updates i signed up for (on my phone) at foxct weather were real this time. man, i'm so very sorry for those that were hit 

Four fatalities confirmed as tornadoes rip through Mass.

Posted by Martin Finucane

At least four people were killed and a number of others were injured in the violent storms that swept across Massachusetts today, which included at least two tornadoes, state officials said today.
Two people were killed in West Springfield, one in Springfield, and one in Brimfield, state officials said.
Governor Deval Patrick said damage had been reported in at least 19 communities, mostly in Central and Western Massachusetts..............


By Martin Finucane, Travis Andersen, Donovan Slack, and Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, and Jenna Duncan, and L. Finch, Globe Correspondents

Four Killed As Storms Carve Path Of Destruction In Massachusetts

'It's Devastation Up Here,' Rescuers Say Of Tornado Damage

By HILLARY FEDERICO, hfederico@courant.com

At least four people died as a series of storms — including at least one confirmed tornado — tore through several Massachusetts communities Wednesday, carving a path of destruction from Westfield to Sturbridge.

Scott MacLeod, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, confirmed the deaths Wednesday night but said there were no details about the circumstances. He said two people died in Westfield, one in West Springfield and one in Brimfield.

Gov. Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency Wednesday night and said the state had enlisted the help of 1,000 National Guard troops to help residents clean up the rubble left behind after strong winds, hail and thunderstorms hit along the Massachusetts-Connecticut border..............

 

 

 

hey town of west hartford

OVERNIGHT PARKING SHOULD BE FREE. no, there shouldn't be permits and we sure as shite shouldn't be given PARKING TICKETS. it's ridiculous.

from 2am to 5am? THREE HOURS and one gets a ticket? NO, it's not right, never has been right. just DO THE RIGHT THING and toss the entire NO PARKING 'OVERNIGHT' crap. we'll be happy and believe me, it will save the police a whole lot of work

oh and how would a fee/permit system work anyway? a lot of overnight parking is SPONTANEOUS.

West Hartford Looks To Change Overnight Parking Rules

 

West Hartford Officials Consider Going To Fee System With Permits

By AMANDA FALCONE, afalcone@courant.com The Hartford Courant

WEST HARTFORD ——

The number of requests for overnight parking privileges has nearly tripled over the last decade, prompting town officials to consider whether they should switch to a fee system requiring parking permits.

Since 1957, the town has prohibited on-street parking from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Exceptions are granted only if residents ask the police department for permission to park overnight.

This process causes problems, especially for tenants of apartments on Farmington Avenue, said Town Manager Ronald Van Winkle. Some apartments don't have off-street parking, which is inconvenient for residents and their visitors, he said.............

uh oh uh oh uh oh naked man in bridgeport

naked BLACK man in bridgeport. don't these two (photographer and model) know there is NO art in bridgeport??????

Nude photo shoot on Bridgeport parking garage roof doesn't appeal to cops, residents

Daniel Tepfer, Staff Writer

BRIDGEPORT -- Residents expect to see a lot of unusual things living downtown, but a Saturday incident may have topped the list.

A white man with a camera was chasing a naked black man across the roof of a parking garage, witnesses said.

"Apparently, you have to expect to see a lot of strange things when you live downtown, but after this I don't know what could possibly shock me," said a resident of the City Trust building, who asked not to be identified.

Turns out it was a photo shoot, but that didn't make it right for police...................

 

 

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Nude-photo-shoot-on-Bridgeport-parking-garage-1392241.php#ixzz1NFD711JY<

lego lego lego!

well, this time it's about the north american headquarters (which happen to be in connecticut) adding jobs!

LEGO's Headquarters Adding Jobs After Expanding Space

Company Topped $1Billion In Sales For The First Time Last Year

By KIM VELSEY, kvelsey@courant.com

ENFIELD ——

After converting one of its former manufacturing buildings into offices, LEGO Systems Inc. is now hiring new employees to fill the 125,000 square-foot space as sales of the iconic toys continue to soar.
LEGO has hired about 75 new employees at its North American headquarters in the past year, bringing the total to 545 and is continuing to hire, brand relations director Michael McNally said.
Since restructuring in 2003-04, the Danish toy company has experienced U.S. sales gains for six straight years, with dramatic gains during the recession. In 2010, LEGO exceeded $1 billion in U.S. consumer sales for the first time, and saw a 28 percent increase in consumer sales...............

and while we're at it.................

how to make a lego necklace

pic from the tutorial at thelongthread linked above

 

even the (alleged) crooks in west hartford

drive mercedes

West Hartford Woman Arrives Home, Finds Burglar Inside House

 

by HILLARY FEDERICO, hfederico@courant.com The Hartford Courant

WEST HARTFORD ——

Police arrested a 21-year-old man on burglary charges Wednesday after the homeowner allegedly caught the man inside her Overbrook Road house.
Raymond Richardson Jr. was charged with second-degree burglary, third-degree criminal mischief, breach of peace and two counts of risk of injury to a minor................

...............After the homeowner arrived, a witness in the street in front of the victim's home told police a man had come out from behind the home and gotten into a white Mercedes.............