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I finally got the Kilkenny cable shawl outside for it's photography session. It has been so hot that I didn't want to touch wool while in the heat.
Pattern: The pattern is from Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberly. It's a great pattern -- the name is Kilkenny Cable Shawl. It is, as you can see in the image, a rectangular shawl, and it is knit across its length -- from one long edge to the other. In other words, there are many stitches on the long circular needle at once. There are published errors.
Yarn: The shawl is knit in Knitpicks Wool of the Andes, in colorway Blue Ink (which they don't carry anymore). I used 15 skeins of the yarn. I disappointed that Knitpicks no longer carries Blue Ink. It's a great, deep navy, and I'll miss it. The images in this post don't show how dark the blue is -- the sun was too bright to get a good color rendering of the blue. This picture is probably closer to it's deep blue color.
Needles: I knit this using Knitpicks Harmony circular needles, US size 7.
Finished project: After I blocked the shawl, the size was 31 inches by 74 inches. I started the project at the beginning of February and finished it at the end of July, but that's probably not indicative of the amount of time it takes to knit it -- I didn't knit on the shawl continuously; there were periods of non-knitting.
Kilkenny Cable Shawl
Posted by Kim at Wednesday, September 08, 2010 comments (1)
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Village Voice nails Constantine Maroulis.
He fluffs his chest hair with a blowdryer, he sprays AXE all over his body, he apparently like to ride microphone stands like a witch on a broom and he picks up chicks from myspace.
He was upset on TRL when they were going to ask him to imitate 80s dance moves because he was petrified he would fall on his ass. Again.
He tries to censor the photos fans post because he is sensitive about his double chin.
The writer is pretty vicious. The fun thing is that she (Angela Ashman) nails the essence of Constantine Maroulis.
Although Constantine calling Scott Savol's family "Scott Savol's poor overweight kind of white-trash family on there stirring the spaghetti and some ketchup" is rather charming.
|This Is Constantine Maroulis. He Wishes You Knew That.
In which an American Idol runner-up tops it all by blow-drying his chest
by Angela Ashman
October 3rd, 2006 12:06 PM
Constantine Maroulis alongside the one man in America who spends more time with a blow-dryer than he does, Ryan Seacrest
photo: David Yellen
After the 31-year-old rocker finished fixing his hair, even fluffing the hairs on his chest a bit with the blow-dryer, he sprayed a coat of Axe deodorant all over his torso, put on a purplish T-shirt with an indescribable graphic design, yanked on a pair of ornately embroidered beige cowboy boots, and put his arms through the sleeves of a slick black leather jacket. As he prepared to leave, he looked one more time at the only photo that decorated his otherwise nondescript dressing room—of Maroulis standing with his arm around a pudgy middle-aged woman, the fan who sent the photo to him. He smiled a little as he looked at it, as though it reminded him of those who found pleasure in standing next to a real live star.
Tonight a woman Maroulis had met recently—at one of the rock performances at bars and clubs that now fill his schedule—and who had been writing to him on his MySpace page was going to meet him backstage. He seemed interested to get to know her because they shared New Jersey roots. "She's, like, a very sexy Jersey girl," he said to a visitor as he prepared to reacquaint himself with her in a few minutes.
Maroulis is always the last cast member to leave the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on West 45th Street to sign autographs for fans. But he at last finished with his post-show primping and was ready to face his adoring public. At the bottom of the stairs he paused, took a deep breath, and said, "All right, let's go for it." He then stepped out onto the sidewalk and stopped for a moment as about 100 women and girls screamed his name and pushed to get closer to the metal barricade. Women held their playbills out to be signed and snapped his photo. Patiently Maroulis looked into every camera with either a straightforward grin or his famous American Idol pout, a sort of puppy-dog look that involves tilting his head down, gazing up with his brown bedroom eyes, and sticking out his bottom lip.
A woman standing at the stage door called to Maroulis, who at first seemed confused. Then he remembered: It was the very sexy Jersey girl, a skinny brunette, wearing a low-cut black top and pants, standing with her two blonde friends.
"Oh, hey!" Maroulis said.
"You walked right by us," she said.
"I did?" he replied, quizzically.
After talking with them for a few minutes Maroulis returned to signing autographs, giving hugs, and having his long hair stroked by dozens of strange, reaching hands. It took nearly 30 minutes before he wrestled himself free of the throng and jumped into a Chrysler 300 luxury sedan and sped away, alone in the backseat, leaving the very sexy Jersey girl behind.
"I think she's married," he said.
Since it burst into the American pop culture consciousness in the summer of 2002 as an immediate Top 10 sensation, American Idol has become as enduring a part of the culture as The Ed Sullivan Show was to a previous generation, attracting 35 million viewers to its finale last season. When Maroulis was voted off the show in April 2005, just before entering the final five, it represented a huge upset for the many fans who had fallen in love with his rocker persona and his lanky, casual sex appeal. As one of the first self-proclaimed "rockers" to earn a finalist spot, he achieved front-runner status when Paula Abdul, one of the show's three judges, who was highly susceptible to masculine charms, had proclaimed him the "one to beat." She cried on air when he left the competition. But Maroulis assured Abdul and his fans that there was nothing to worry about.
"I'm gonna keep rockin' " were his parting words.
After American Idol, many in Hollywood expected big things for Maroulis. He was quickly approached by Ralph Lauren, among others, about modeling. He was represented by the top talent agency in show business, the all-powerful Creative Artists Agency, which also handles the careers of Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Steven Spielberg. He was named the sexiest 30-year-old in America by People magazine. He struck a deal to develop a network sitcom at ABC to be executive-produced by Kelsey Grammer. He performed that summer on an American Idol tour to sold-out crowds. He took his pre- Idol rock band, Pray for the Soul of Betty, out on the road in a decked-out tour bus. He went on a solo tour of the Philippines. His popular rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" earned inclusion on a Queen tribute CD titled Killer Queen, and he even got to chat with Jay Leno when he performed it on The Tonight Show.
Maroulis's life changed forever—or at least for a while.
But then, almost as quickly as they'd been mentioned, the modeling offers were withdrawn. His sitcom never got past the script stage before ABC passed on the project. He's no longer represented by Creative Artists Agency and says he's had offers from other agencies. Even Pray for the Soul of Betty broke up. A gossip website, tmz.com, which once reported on Maroulis as a rising star, was now noting with sarcasm the fact that he was soon scheduled to perform at a Greek-food festival in Dallas.
Maroulis was upset most recently by the headline "Even Losers Can End Up on Broadway," which apparently ran atop an Associated Press story about him in a Pennsylvania newspaper. The article reported on the trend of bringing American Idol runners-up to Broadway to boost ticket sales and included as a prime example Maroulis, who joined the cast of The Wedding Singer, a 1980s-set musical based on the Adam Sandler film about an unlucky-in-love wedding singer, at the beginning of September.
Maroulis alongside the one man in America who spends more time with a blow-dryer than he does, Ryan Seacrest
photo: Freemantle Media
His first call was to Alex Krug, a close friend who works as a consultant for the clothing line Stryker, which specializes in T-shirts with hip graphic designs and ironic sayings that Maroulis described as "urban chic." He put Alex on speakerphone.
"You sold a bunch of tables? Where? At Stereo?" Maroulis asked.
"I think so," Alex said.
"To who?"
"I have no idea, bro. I just woke up from a nap. People are like, 'Wake up, let's go get motivated. I'm coming to see [your show] tomorrow at two o'clock.'"
"Cool. Well, I'll see you in a little bit."
Maroulis was going to meet Alex at Stereo, a club in Chelsea where he always gets the A-list-celebrity treatment on arrival. He never has to wait in line, his entourage gets a regular table, and a cheerful server brings free bottles of Grey Goose vodka and Bud Light all night long, in return for Maroulis's regular presence.
When he pulled up at his apartment, his best friend, Michael Hamboussi, was waiting for him. Hamboussi was the drummer of his former band. Back when Maroulis was on American Idol, Hamboussi had told an Associated Press reporter, "The reason why he's doing American Idol is for the band, not for anything else." Hamboussi now serves as the webmaster for constantinemaroulis.com. He wore a brown beanie cap, a white collared shirt, and a blazer. His most distinctive feature is his goatee, which is combed into a small braid on the end of his chin.
Maroulis rents a tiny one-bedroom on the ground floor of a 10-story building on East 26th Street. It has a tiny kitchen, a bathroom, a living room with a navy-blue futon and an entertainment center, and French doors that lead into the bedroom, which only has room enough for his queen-sized bed with a puffy white comforter thrown on top. The walls were blank white except for a poster that said "Yankees vs. Cubs, Wrigley Field, World Series, 1932" in the kitchen. His hardwood floors were bare. On top of his entertainment center sat a pile of collectibles arranged as a display. They included a toy car featuring the band Queen (still in its box), an R2-D2 doll, a Yankees talking bottle opener (still in its package), a snow globe of Broadway from the year 2000, numerous buttons each with a different American Idol finalist on them (including one of himself), a Constantine Maroulis Street Team button, and a Prince and the Revolution seven-inch record. The only framed photo was one of him; Bo Bice, the first runner-up of American Idol Season Four; and Scott Ian of Anthrax doing devil horns with their hands. He also had about 20 books, including 14,000 Things to Be Happy About, The Yankees Fan's Little Book of Wisdom, a book about the musical Rent, and two biographies of Jim Morrison.
While Maroulis sat on a stool at his kitchen counter and checked his MySpace page for new e-mails on his laptop, Hamboussi was playing around with the new Chocolate cell phone and MP3 player Maroulis received in the mail as a gift. Maroulis was looking at photos of himself online and complained that unauthorized shots of him taken by a Broadway photographer were being circulated. This was driving him nuts because they accentuated what he considers to be his double chin.
"It's so annoying to see it again and again and know you could have controlled it," he complained to Hamboussi. "How does someone like Angelina Jolie deal?"
Suddenly Hamboussi noticed that Maroulis had another brand-new cell phone sitting unopened in a box, which he also got for free.
"You should give me this phone," Hamboussi said.
"No," Maroulis said, quickly and definitively.
"You're not going to do anything with it. What are you going to do with it? You know in like two years it's going to be obsolete, so you might as well give it to me."
"Oh totally. There is potential for me to give that to you. There's potential."
"Show me your brand-new phone."
Maroulis held his up.
"Look! A BlackBerry. You don't need this piece of crap," Hamboussi said, referring to the free phone he wanted.
Maroulis seemed to be feeling embarrassed now and said in a quieter voice, "I like to have everything."
"What?" Hamboussi laughed.
"I'm OCD. I just like to have all my shit."
"I have a cheap Nokia phone. Look!" he said, placing the sad-looking phone on the counter. "I should have a nice, dope phone if I'm going to be the webmaster. Wait till you see the new design."
Finally the subject was dropped and Hamboussi took out a joint for them to share.
"I mean, whatever," Maroulis said as he took a drag off the joint, "if people think that's so terrible that I like, ooo . . . took a puff off a little joint. You know, I'm a fucking artist."
"Bill Clinton did it," Hamboussi said and simultaneously laughed hysterically and coughed. At around midnight, the two left the apartment after Maroulis sprayed it heavily with Lysol air freshener. Maroulis's driver was waiting for them and they sped off to Stereo.
"I've paid my dues." That is a phrase Maroulis employs often to explain that he is not a loser like the other American Idol losers. He believes the show merely helped him achieve the kind of success he deserved and would have perhaps reached on his own—if it were not so impossible to break into the entertainment industry as an unknown. His dues-paying includes a bachelor of fine arts degree in musical theater from the Boston Conservatory of Music, an apprenticeship at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and a lead role in the international touring cast of Rent. He has also worked as a bartender and, right before joining American Idol, he rented apartments to "cute I-just-got-out-of-college girls" as a real estate broker. "And I was good at it too," he said. Another indicator for Maroulis that he is not a loser is that he was recently invited to appear on MTV's TRL, the day before the night out at Stereo.
Maroulis was going on the show to plug The Wedding Singer. He was wearing tight blue jeans with ripped black leather pockets, cowboy boots, and a white T-shirt that said "Decidedly Underdressed."
Maroulis had been excited to be there until he was told that the segment he would be doing would involve his mimicking the dance moves of three '80s music videos: Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark," the Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian," and David Lee Roth's high kick in "Jump." This seemed to Maroulis to be an insensitive move on MTV's part, as millions may recall that he fell on national television when trying to make one of his famous rocker kicks at the camera during a Fox news segment about
Maroulis sat on a red velvet couch and watched TRL VJs Vanessa Minello and Susie Castillo on the large-screen TV. "Oh my gosh," Maroulis said. "Did they say me? They're like, 'We know he can sing, but can he move to some '80s music?' I'm like, Great, I'm going to fall on my ass again on national television." Maroulis had three guests in his entourage that day: a publicist from New Line Cinema, which did The Wedding Singer, and The Wedding Singer's composer Matthew Sklar and co-writer Chad Beguelin. They all laughed at his remark.
"I think I can say safely that these are the two hottest VJs ever on MTV," he went on, studying them on the monitor. He nervously fluffed his hair, cracked his knuckles, and began warming up his voice with some singing. After TRL he was going around the corner to the Hard Rock Cafe to sing for a live radio broadcast with members of The Wedding Singer. Maroulis then left the greenroom to dance in front of the two hottest VJs, a very enthusiastic studio audience of teenagers, and millions of viewers. When he returned to the greenroom everyone assured him he looked cool, even though this was obviously a lie, because no one on earth could walk like an Egyptian and look cool at the same time.
As Maroulis left MTV wearing Gucci aviator sunglasses, he briefly pouted for two paparazzi, who snapped several photos. He then climbed into a sedan to drive to the Hard Rock Cafe, even though it was only a couple of doors down. During the 90-second drive, Maroulis checked his BlackBerry, which was beginning to quickly fill up with messages from friends who had just seen him on TV.
He continued obsessively reading e-mails as he entered the Hard Rock Cafe's greenroom and took a seat on one of the black leather couches. Maroulis changed into his light-blue Wedding Singer T-shirt to match the six other cast members, who were there to help him perform his only big musical number in the show, "Single," a song about living the good life as a bachelor. Maroulis continued checking his BlackBerry and talked to a friend. He began to grow agitated as the consensus from family and friends was that his hair was in his face on TRL. But Maroulis had tried to put his hair in his face on purpose, he said, to hide the side view of his double chin.
"My sister can make me feel more like shit than anyone," he said, apropos of nothing.
A tanned Donny Osmond, wearing a black leather jacket less biker-friendly than the one Maroulis wears, appeared at the door. Osmond, who is currently appearing in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, was to perform after the Wedding Singer cast, and Maroulis stood up to give him a hug.
Osmond hung out and joined in the discussion among the cast members.
"Carrie Underwood never warms up in her life," Maroulis said of the fourth-season Idol winner. "She's got like a really powerful instrument—a really supported sound. Never a voice lesson. She's just like drinking a soda before she goes on and then she goes out there and wails like 'Independence Day.' "
Maroulis's assessment intrigued Osmond. "Well, how old is Carrie?" Osmond asked.
"She's like 23 or 24 now," Maroulis said.
"That's why she can do it."
"Exactly. In a little while it will change."
"I'd hurt my voice if I did that," Osmond said.
"Bon Jovi now warms up hours before and after the show every night, you know?" Maroulis said.
Osmond had nothing to say about that.
Across the room, one of The Wedding Singer's female producers winked at Maroulis. "Are you excited?" she asked.
"For what?" he said, confused. "For this?"
She walked over and sat next to Maroulis on the couch.
"Yeah," she said.
"I'm always excited to rock," he said
After the performance Maroulis was picked up by a black Cadillac Escalade. As it drove down 42nd Street, Maroulis thought he saw someone he knew and rolled down the tinted window for a better look.
"Hey! Yo! Yo, man!" he shouted and waved at the guy on the sidewalk, who didn't look up.
"What the fuck is his name? He went to the Boston Conservatory. I forget his name." Maroulis waved a little more, to no avail. "He'd freak out if he saw me right now." But the man never looked Maroulis's way, and the Escalade continued down Broadway, its passenger left unnoticed and alone.
Maroulis won a rabid fan base during American Idol and keeps almost every letter, trinket, teddy bear, drawing, and photo he was ever given in his parents' basement in New Jersey, which he calls his own "little Graceland." One of his favorite possessions is a homemade booklet with his face on the cover that has poetry written by his fans. On one page, accompanying an onstage photo of his boot was a poem titled "Ode to Your Favorite Boots." It began like this:
He's put many miles on those soles
almost worn out the heals and toes
although he's now a lot more rich
don't think he's ready to give 'em the pitch
"One day when I'm unemployed and miserable," Maroulis said as he showed the poem to a visitor, "I can always look at that stuff and hopefully feel a little better about myself and what I once did and my contributions to society." But for now, he is staying busy with his career. After The Wedding Singer, Maroulis will continue working on recording his solo album, which he plans to release on his own label next year. He can be seen at the moment on five episodes of MTV's Little Talent Show as a singing judge. He hopes to soon join the cast of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, which is currently running Off-Broadway. He says he is also working on a documentary about his life that he claims will feature some "pretty substantial" celebrity appearances, though he won't identify them. "You'd be surprised at who watches Idol," he said.
Maroulis still struggles to understand why he was voted off American Idol so early, seemingly at the peak of his popularity. He said he believed he was going to the top and had friends close to the show who told him he was getting so many votes he had nothing to worry about. Not one for conspiracy theories, however, Maroulis mostly blames himself and wonders what he could have done differently. Throughout the show he had tried to show a progression and said he even held his talent back a bit in order to appear as though he were improving.
"I showed different layers," he said one day, as he was walking down 45th Street. "I showed I could do any style. I had different looks and took risks. I would go with eyeliner one week and my hair different and a great outfit. And everything matched. I coordinated everything—not just the clothes but the style with what I was doing. If I was crooning one week I had on a great suit. If I was rocking, something else."
The song he had planned to do the week he ended up being voted off was U2's "Beautiful Day." But the day before he was to perform he was told the song wasn't cleared, and he had to go with a song he didn't know, "How You Remind Me" by the rock band Nickelback. "My mistake was trying to go back to that rock thing and people didn't respond too well," he said.
Some observers have speculated that the main trouble for Maroulis was that he came from Brooklyn, and not the South. Out of the 15 contestants who've made it into the top three, 12 have come from Southern states. He believes the fact that his family was from an affluent New Jersey suburb and appeared on the week he was voted off could have been a factor.
"It's fucked-up," Maroulis went on. "You put Scott Savol's poor overweight kind of white-trash family on there stirring the spaghetti and some ketchup and all of a sudden you get, like, half the country's votes. That's just the way it is." Savol beat out Maroulis and entered the top five before being eliminated.
"My father is sick, so we didn't put him on camera," Maroulis explained. His father suffers from Parkinson's disease. "The funny thing is, if we had put him on camera, I would have gotten big votes," he said.
But Maroulis managed quite well by using his own savvy for most of the competition. In the finals he obsessively checked fan pages to read what they were thinking about his performances and did what he thought they wanted on the show. "Fans would send me red roses all the time," he said. "And then finally I wore a red rose on the show and I pointed at it and all the fans went crazy because they knew they had given that to me. And it could have been any one of the dozens of roses, but to them it was like I was connecting to them." Connecting to his fans continues to be a top priority for Maroulis.
At about 20 minutes after midnight, Maroulis and Hamboussi picked up two friends who work for Stryker and headed to Stereo. A crowd of stylishly dressed young women and men lined up outside, hoping to get beyond the velvet rope. Maroulis and his friends stepped up to the front and were immediately ushered to a long couch and two tables in a corner at the back of the club. A DJ was spinning hip-hop, and the volume was at a level where everyone had to shout into one another's ears to hear.
Maroulis is more than six feet tall and skinny, and if you didn't know who he was you might have confused him for one of the many models hanging out that night. Maroulis likes models and said his model friend Anna was going to meet them there later. His friend Alex, whom he had spoken to earlier on the phone, was there with someone identified as the son of a famous photographer, along with two club promoters named Bernie and Brady (also known as B2), a pretty blonde named Andrea, and several other people from Stryker. All of them were new friends Maroulis had met over the summer. Andrea worked as his assistant for about three days, until she lost a CD he gave her of 300 images of himself and he had to fire her, but they're still friends.
Trays with bottles of vodka, carafes of orange and cranberry juice, and buckets of ice with blue bottles of Bud Light were brought to their tables. After about 20 minutes, one of the tables they were at was sold, and the whole group had to cram into one small area of the couch, sandwiched between two other parties. Maroulis stood on the floor and Andrea stood on the couch behind him and began to play with his hair. She said Maroulis uses her as protection. If a girl comes up to him whom he doesn't like, Andrea is his girlfriend. But if he does like the girl, he tells Andrea to go away.
Throughout the night Maroulis checked his BlackBerry about every six to seven minutes, sometimes just pulling it out to look at it and then putting it back in his leather jacket. In fact, almost everyone in his group had a BlackBerry or some kind of BlackBerry-esque device. At various intervals the table fell silent because everyone was checking their messages.
At around 12:45 a.m. Anna appeared with her friend. Both women had long, straight blond hair. Anna, who was pretty but did not seem tall enough to be a model, was wearing a multicolored, sleeveless, low-cut dress and carrying a little gold clutch purse. Maroulis sat on top of the back of the couch with a vodka-cranberry, and surveyed the packed dancefloor as Anna took a spot next to him.
Anna explained to someone else at the table that she is taking time off from Dartmouth. "I guess you could call me a model," she said, "but I'm not, not really."
Anna pawed at Maroulis and was soon standing on the couch in front of him dancing and singing the words to the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)." Maroulis loosely touched her waist and didn't seem too into the whole idea of dancing with her on the couch, that is, until "Faith" by George Michael came on. Then he stood up and pulled her close, and they sang the song together.
Maroulis and Anna danced and talked until 2 a.m., when she left. "For the record," Maroulis explained after her departure, "she wanted me to leave with her and I didn't. I'll probably call her, though."
Almost immediately a brunette in tight jeans and a low-cut white top approached. He said he had met her at an MTV Video Music Awards party. She seemed especially excited to see him, and as he sat on the back of the couch talking to friends at his right, the woman straddled his left thigh and began grinding it with her arms flailing wildly in the air.
"Don't you want me, baby," she sang along to the '80s song. Maroulis checked his BlackBerry again.
The woman, who identified herself as an anthropologist, was soon holding on to his neck so tightly she appeared to be strangling him. Maroulis does many faces besides his sexy pout, and right now as he looked at his friends he made his scared-goofball face, which is raising one eyebrow and opening his eyes wide in shock. They all laughed, but the woman seemed too drunk and oblivious to care. Eventually Maroulis gave in and slow danced next to the table with her for a while. After talking to several more women throughout the night, Maroulis and Hamboussi left at 4 a.m. Maroulis knocked on the window of the Chrysler to wake up his driver, who was sound asleep.
In the car, Maroulis checked his BlackBerry and said, "That was a mellow night." Hamboussi agreed. Maroulis, whose voice was hoarse from shouting, briefly discussed his troubles with women and said, "What I want is a girl who can party and be brilliant as well." Maroulis saw a black Maserati parked on the street and thought out loud about how great that would be to drive to Hollywood for pilot season in that car.
"Get a fucking Hyundai, man," Hamboussi advised. "Ten-year fucking warranty."

subset: commoncrawl


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You are here
Small Business Owner Receives 504 Loan, Moves into Larger Facility
Wolfden Products began about five years ago when Alex Wolford decided he wanted to have control of his own destiny. Wolfden Products makes lightweight replacement carbon fiber composite parts to replace heavier steel parts.
Among other items, Wolfden Products makes replacement parts for leading race car teams throughout the United States and Canada. The company also creates and helps design custom molds and patterns to meet customers' needs.
Wolfden Products currently has eight employees and as a result of an SBA 504 loan they were able to move to a larger facility.
When asked how his business affected his life and what advice he would give someone starting a business Wolford said, "Your business becomes a major portion of your life, and you need to learn to balance your business life with your personal life. Be prepared for the long haul, it doesn't happen overnight. Make sure you're an authority on both your business idea and the industry in which you hope to make your mark. The key to really gaining respect is doing what you say you'll do and providing the absolute best product or service you can."
He added, "When something seems impossible to accomplish, I try to think of ways to get it done. I also try to reinvest profits back to the business rather than taking them for myself. In this way, I think the overall business will benefit. You also must have the discipline to spend the time needed to get all the work done."


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Hey, what great timing for another Bill Ladson inbox (posted 2/5/13). Baseball news is light, pitchers and catchers report in a week or so, and I'm not quite ready to continue my Stats series.
As always, I write my answer before reading his, and sometimes edit questions for clarity:
Q: Do you think general manager Mike Rizzo will add starting pitching depth before Opening Day? Does the lingering possibility of a Gio Gonzalez suspension change whom the Nationals would consider acquiring?
A: In Ladson's 1/22/13 mailbag, some one asked what could prevent the Nats as constructed from winning the World Series in 2013. I answered Rotation Injuries and Luck. Well, in the wake of the Miami PED scandal, I guess the third answer may be "PED scandal."
This is a tough question to answer; Gio Gonzalez has denied the rumors, but the newspaper in question (the Miami New Times) clearly only named Gonzalez because they felt like the evidence they had in hand was irrefutable. Many other players have not been named. So as a GM; how do you go about preparing for 2013 at this point? If Mike Rizzo knows that Gonzalez is getting suspended, you have to think he's on the horn to his buddy Scott Boras about possibly buying Kyle Lohse, which is clearly the best remaining FA starter. But Lohse isn't coming cheap, and likely isn't coming on a one year deal, and would cost another draft pick (I believe). The Nats are already topping $120M in payroll; would they go to $135M?
If we think Gio at least gets a pass and the suspension is put off, maybe Rizzo's recent activities of signing random starters to minor league contracts is going to be sufficient.
Ladson mentions Javier Vazquez and the ever-present rumors of Christian Garcia going to the rotation as possible Gonzalez replacements if he gets suspended quickly. Probably fair; Vazquez may be a great, cheap alternative.
Q: Everyone is saying that it's going to be a two-team race in the National League East between the Nationals and Braves. Do you think the Phillies have a shot to contend with both these teams, or is their time done?
A: Boy, its hard to look at the aging, expensive Phillies lineup they had in place in 2012, which suffered injuries and setbacks and creaked their way to a .500 record, and then look at the highly questionable slew of acquisitions and signings this off season (Ben Revere, John Lannan, Michael Young, Delmon Young and everyone's favorite anti-gay advocate Yuniesky Betancourt) and not, well, giggle at where this team is going. My favorite baseball joke from the off-season goes like this: "The Phillies wanted to get Younger this off-season, so they signed Michael Young and Delmon Young."
The two Youngs were both negative WAR players last year, Lannan is a 5th starter, Revere was a backup centerfielder who the Phillies traded some decent assets for, and Betancourt is who he is (though admittedly he's on a minor league deal and seems at best set to be a utility infielder behind starters Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley). I see the Phillies being a very bad defensive team with the two Youngs in the starting lineup, I see some serious questions in the back side of the rotation, and I see continued regression and louder complaints about Ryan Howard's contract. Fun times a-coming in Philadelphia. Ladson actually says that the Phillies will "be improved with Michael Young." Bill! Have you seen Young's WAR figures from 2012?? He was a NEGATIVE WAR player at both major War sites. That means he makes your team worse! Now, he was completely servicable in 2011 … so if you want to make the argument to me that 2012 was an aberration for an aging hitter playing in a hitter's park, well I guess that's a stance you can take. But pretty much every other pundit in the blogosphere has loudly criticized the Philadelphia moves this off-season.
Q: What is the status of Lucas Giolito? When do you see him pitching in D.C.?
A: Tommy John surgery in Late August (I can't remember the exact date; it was 8/24/12 when I posted this highly-critical article about Lucas Giolito and the situation), so figuring a typical 12-month rehab session before he's actively throwing again in pro-games basically puts him at the end of the 2013 minor league season. Which means he'll be 20 before he really is ready to start his pro career in the spring of 2014. Figure 4-5 years average case for typical high schoolers to work their way up the systems (perhaps fewer years given his talents and pedigree, as we've seen with someone like Dylan Bundy in 2012, who made his way from low-A to AA in his first pro season out of HS and got a late Sept callup to the majors) and we're probably looking at 2016-2017 before seeing him in the majors. If, of course, he recovers from surgery, hasn't destroyed his mechanics, is effective, matures, doesn't get re-injured, or any of the million other pitfalls that typically befall high school arms drafted in the upper rounds. Ladson thinks he's pitching pro games "after the all-star break" and is in the majors in 3 years. Wow. That is optimistic.
Q: How do you think Henry Rodriguez will do? And what do you think his role in the bullpen will be?
A: I am, and always have been, pessimistic on Henry Rodriguez. I hated the Willingham trade that got him here. He's forced the team to invent injuries to stash him on the DL coming out of spring training b/c he has no options. He led the league in wild pitches in 2011 in just 65 innings. He had a 69 ERA+ in 2012. At some point when does the team say, "OK, its nice that he throws 100mph. But enough is enough; we need a reliable pitcher who can deliver when called upon." Perhaps Spring Training 2013 is that time.
What do I think his role will be? I'm sure he'll look great in Spring Training again, will break camp with the team, and very well may look halfway decent for a while. But just like every other season, he's going to have those 3-walk outings where he pitches a 1/3 of an inning and gives up 4 runs, and then the manager will be afraid to use him unless the team has a 5-run lead. And eventually we'll call up Garcia to replace him and move on. That's my prediction for Rodriguez. Ladson says the team should "attempt to trade him if he is not impressive this spring." Wow, that's sage advice; if only every team could trade its under-performing players and actually get value back whenever it wanted.
Q: Can you predict Washington's Opening Day lineup if all available players are healthy?
A: Easy. I'll even predict the batting order. Span-Werth-Harper-Zimmerman-LaRoche-Desmond-Espinosa-Suzuki-Strasburg. Ladson predicts the same names but in a lineup order that makes no sense from a lefty-righty balance perspective.
Q: After announcing his retirement, do you think Brian Schneider is a possible candidate to replace Johnson as manager of the Nationals?
A: Wow, yet another speculative question about the future Nationals Manager. He took a question about the manager on 1/28/13, and on 1/22/13. And on 1/14/13. I guess people like speculating on the Nats next manager. Not repeating what i've said on the topic before, is Brian Schneider a candidate? Why would he possibly be a candidate to manage the major league team of a system he left 5 years ago? Why would the Nats pick a manager who's never managed a day in his life? Ladson breathes some common sense on this one.
Q: I think Garcia has to be on the Opening Day roster, so is he in the bullpen or someplace else? Can the 25-man roster accommodate him and all the other pitchers?
A: "Someplace else?" Like where? In the outfield? I like Garcia too, but the team has a numbers problem in the bullpen. Storen, Clippard, Mattheus, and Stammen have all more than earned their spots. Soriano is being paid a ton of money. Duke is guaranteed a spot (he's the only lefty and he's got enough service time to refuse a demotion). Oh, and Rodriguez has no options. So there's your 7-man bullpen. Notice there's only one left-hander out there; if you believe that you need left-handers to get left-handed batters out, then the bullpen needs to sacrifice one of the righties in order to have a second lefty (Bill Bray?) in there.
The only way I see Garcia making this bullpen is if the team runs out of patience with Rodriguez and DFAs/DLs him, or if the team trades away one of their closer-quality surplus guys, or if maybe someone like Mattheus/Stammen (both of whom do have options) struggles or gets hurt. Otherwise look for Garcia to get stretched out and get looks as a starter in AAA. Ladson says he's confident Garcia is on the 25-man roster …. ok explain it to me then based on the above paragraph. Who is he replacing?


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Danish Architect Jan Gehl on Good Cities for Bicycling
Originally posted on Streetsblog. The article are a excerpt from Jan Gehl's book, "Cities for People" published by Island Press.
Bicyclists represent a different and somewhat rapid form of foot traffic, but in terms of sensory experiences, life and movement, they are part of the rest of city life. Naturally, bicyclists are welcome in support of the goal to promote lively, safe, sustainable and healthy cities. The following is about planning good cities for bicyclists, and is handled relatively narrowly and in direct relation to a discussion on the human dimension in city planning.
Around the world there are numerous cities where bicycles and bicycle traffic would be unrealistic. It is too cold and icy for bicycles in some areas, too hot in others. In some places the topography is too mountainous and steep for bicycles. Bicycle traffic is simply not a realistic option in those situations. Then there are surprises like San Francisco, where you might think bicycling would be impractical due to all the hills. However, the city has a strong and dedicated bicycle culture. Bicycling is also popular in many of the coldest and warmest cities, because, all things considered, even they have a great number of good bicycling days throughout the year.
The fact remains that a considerable number of cities worldwide have a structure, terrain and climate well suited for bicycle traffic. Over the years, many of these cities have thrown their lot in with traffic policies that prioritized car traffic and made bicycle traffic dangerous or completely impossible. In some places extensive car traffic has kept bicycle traffic from even getting started.
In many cities, bicycle traffic continues to be not much more than political sweet talk, and bicycle infrastructure typically consists of unconnected stretches of paths here and there rather than the object of a genuine, wholehearted and useful approach. The invitation to bicycle is far from convincing. Typically in these cities only one or two percent of daily trips to the city are by bicycle, and bicycle traffic is dominated by young, athletic men on racing bikes. There is a yawning gap from that situation to a dedicated bicycle city like Copenhagen, where 37 percent of traffic to and from work or school is by bicycle. Here bicycle traffic is more sedate, bicycles are more comfortable, the majority of cyclists are women, and bicycle traffic includes all age groups from school children to senior citizens.
At a time when fossil fuel, pollution and problems with climate and health are increasingly becoming a global challenge, giving higher priority to bicycle traffic would seem like an obvious step to take. We need good cities to bike in and there are a great many cities where it would be simple and cheap to upgrade bicycle traffic.
Bicycle traffic should be automatically integrated into an overall transport strategy. (Copenhagen).
If it is possible to take bicycles on the train, subway and by taxi, then travel can be combined over great distances. (Copenhagen)
A Whole Hearted Bicycle Policy
The cities that have successfully promoted bicycle traffic in recent decades can be tapped for good ideas and requirements for becoming a good bicycle city. Copenhagen is a compelling example of a city whose longstanding bicycle tradition came under threat from car traffic in the 1950s and 1960s. However, the oil crises in the 1970s were the catalyst for a targeted approach to inviting people to ride their bicycles more. And the message was received: today bicycles make up a considerable part of city traffic, and have helped keep vehicular traffic at an unusually low level compared to other large cities in Western Europe. The experiences from Copenhagen are used in the following to provide a platform for discussion about the good bicycle city.
In Copenhagen, a cohesive network for bicycles comprising all parts of the city has gradually been established. Traffic is so quiet on small side streets and residential streets in 15 and 30 km per hour/9 and 19 mph zones that a special cycle network is not necessary, but all major streets have one. On most streets, the network consists of bicycle paths along the sidewalks, typically using the curbstones as dividers toward the sidewalk, as well as parking and driving lanes. In some places bike lanes are not delimited by curbstones, but rather marked with painted stripes inside a row of parked cars, so that the cars protect the bicycles from motorized traffic. In fact, this system is known as "Copenhagen-style bicycle lanes."
Another link in the city's bicycle system is green bicycle routes, which are dedicated bike routes through city parks and along discontinued railway tracks. These paths are intended for bicycles in transit and are viewed as a supplementary opportunity, a sightseeing possibility and a green option for bicycles. However, the main principle of bicycle policy is for bicycles to have room on ordinary streets, where just like the others in traffic, their owners have errands in shops, residences and offices. The principle is for bicycle traffic to be safe from door to door throughout the city.
Room for this comprehensive bicycle network has been largely gained by downsizing car traffic. Parking space and driving lanes have been gradually reduced, as traffic patterns have moved from car to bicycle traffic, and therefore bicycles needed more room. Most of the city's major four-lane streets have been converted to two-lane streets with two bicycle paths, two sidewalks and a broad median strip intended to make it safer for pedestrians to cross the street. Roadside trees have been planted and traffic is two-way as before.
Bicycle paths are placed along sidewalks in the same direction as vehicular traffic, and are always on the right and thus "slow" side of vehicular traffic. That way all traffic groups know — more or less — where they have the bicycles, which is the safest system for all parties.
Bicycles as Part of Integrated Transport Thinking
The invitation to bike must mean that bicycle traffic is integrated into the overall transport strategy. It has to be possible to bring bikes on trains and the metro lines, and preferably in city buses so that it is possible to travel by combining bike trips with public transport. Taxis too must be able to transport bicycles when needed.
Another important link in an integrated transport policy is the possibility to park bicycles securely at stations and traffic hubs. Good bicycle parking options are also needed along streets in general, at schools, offices and dwellings. New offices and industrial buildings should include bicycle parking, changing rooms and showers for bicyclists as a natural part of their planning.
Traffic safety is a crucial element in overall bicycle strategies. A cohesive bicycle network protected by curbstones and parked cars is an important first step. Another key concern is the experienced and real safety of the city's intersections. Copenhagen is working on several strategies. Large intersections have special bicycle lanes of blue asphalt and bicycle icons to remind drivers to watch out for bicycles. Intersections also have special light signals for bicycles, which typically give a green light to bicycle traffic six seconds before cars are allowed to move. Trucks and buses are required to have special bicycle mirrors and frequent media campaigns admonish drivers to watch out for bicycles, particularly at intersections.
Good bicycle cities know that good visibility at intersections is vital. In Denmark vehicles are not allowed to park closer than 10 meters/33 feet from an intersection for this very reason. The widespread American practice of allowing cars to "turn right on red" at intersections is unthinkable in cities that want to invite people to walk and bicycle.
The volume of bicycle traffic is one of the most significant safety factors for making bicycle systems safe. The more bicycles there are, the more it forces drivers to watch out for bicyclists and be constantly on guard. There is a considerable positive effect when bicycle traffic reaches a reasonable "critical mass."
A Comfortable Network
It is also relevant to mention comfort and amenity value in terms of bicycle networks. Bicycle trips can be pleasant, interesting and free of unnecessary irritations, or they can be boring and difficult. Many of the criteria for good places to walk can be transferred to bicycle routes. It is important for bicycles to have enough room so that they won't be pushed or crowded. Bicycle paths in Copenhagen vary in width from 1.7 to 4 meters/5.5 to 13 feet, with 2.5 meters/8.2 feet as the recommended minimum.
As bicycle traffic is gradually developed into a versatile, popular transport system, many new and wider bicycles appear on the street scene. These include three-wheeled transport bicycles for children and goods, handicap bicycles and bicycle taxis. All of these transport options require room, and senior bikers as well as the many parents who transport their children by bicycle need increased reassurance that they won't be pushed and crowded. As bicycle traffic successfully develops as an alternative transport system, more room is needed. Despite the new demands for more room, the bicycle continues to be the superior means of wheeled transport, which requires the smallest amount of room per person in the streets of the city.
A study conducted in Copenhagen in 2005 concluded that one of the city's most pressing problems was heavy congestion on bicycle paths. The city council has since adopted an expansion of the width of bicycle paths in the most popular streets and is currently carrying out this policy.
Frequent interruptions are irritating and destroy the rhythm of the bicycle trip. Over the years Copenhagen has introduced several solutions to reduce the problem. Bicycle paths are often carried across minor side streets without interruption, which results in bicycle trips with fewer interruptions and lets drivers know they must wait. Introducing green waves for bicycles on selected street helps correspondingly to reduce irritating stops. In order to create these green bicycle waves, stoplights are set so that when bicycles bike at about 20 km/h (12.4 mph) they need not stop when they bike to and from the city during rush hour. That service used to be provided for cars. Another form of comfort and safety for bicyclists in Copenhagen is the city practice of snow removal. The bicycle lanes are always cleared before driving lanes to emphasize bicycle priority and the invitation to bike — despite the season.
Bicycle Cities and City Bicycles
In recent years, many cities have introduced various types of city bicycles that can be borrowed or rented from stands or depots. The idea is to reinforce bicycle traffic by making it easier for people to use bicycles for short trips in the city, while providing a collective bicycle system so that individuals do not need to buy, store and repair their own bicycles. Amsterdam's white bicycle bike-share system came and disappeared quickly from the street scene in the 1970s. More stable and well organized systems were established in the 1990s, in Copenhagen, for example. Today Copenhagen has 2,000 city bicycles available at 110 bicycle stations in the city center. The bicycles are free, financed by advertisements. Users pay a coin deposit, which is returned when the borrowed bicycle is returned to one of the official bicycle racks. Copenhagen's city bikes are used primarily by tourists, who can bicycle around town easily and safely, thanks to the well developed bicycle network. Copenhageners rarely borrow city bicycles, because they prefer their own bikes. In brief, the principle underlying city bikes in Copenhagen is to enable inexperienced city bicyclists to ride around in a relatively safe bicycling environment.
City bike programs have by now been introduced in numerous European cities. In Paris, the pattern of use is different from that in Copenhagen. Under the Vélib program, city bicycles are used primarily by Parisians themselves. By renting a Vélib by the hour, week or year, they are able to ride a bike without the trouble of storing and maintaining it. The bicycle rental companies handle the bother in return for the rental fees they charge the bicyclists.
During 2008 the Vélib system in Paris was expanded to comprise 20,000 rental bikes parked in about 1,500 bicycle racks. In a very short time the Vélib bicycles have become a well-used service, primarily for short trips: 18 minutes on average. Here the idea is to enable many more or less experienced bicyclists acquainted with the locality to bicycle in a network that is neither very safe nor well developed. Although there have been a number of accidents, the program has had the valuable result that more people now bicycle in Paris — on rental bikes and personal bikes. In only one year the number of trips on personal bicycles has doubled, an increase that has doubtless been inspired and reinforced by the bicycle traffic on the new Vélib bicycles. The Vélib bicycles accounted for one-third of all bicycle trips in Paris in 2008, and bicycles in total accounted for between 2 percent and 3 percent of all traffic in Paris.
Inspired by the development in Paris, among other cities, many new city bicycle systems are underway at this time, also in cities that have essentially no bicycle infrastructure or bicycle culture. The idea seems to be that easily accessible city bikes can kick-start development of more bicycle cities on the principle that first you send people out on city bicycles and then you gradually develop comfortable, safe bicycle networks. There are good reasons to be cautious about sending inexperienced bicyclists out on two wheels in cities where bicycle traffic and networks do not have the critical mass to allow city bikes to reinforce ongoing development. Bicycle traffic and traffic safety must be taken seriously, and experiences from good bicycle cities incorporated, before experimenting with cheap bicycle campaigns. City bikes must be a link in efforts to build and reinforce bicycle culture — not the spearhead.
On the Way to a New Bicycle Culture
A number of cities, particularly in Scandinavia, Germany and Holland have witnessed a considerable development in bicycle use in recent years. The number of bicyclists and bicycle trips grows gradually as it becomes more practical and safe to bicycle. Biking simply becomes the way to get around town. Bicycle traffic changes gradually from being a small group of death-defying bicycle enthusiasts to being a wide popular movement comprising all age groups and layers of society from members of Parliament and mayors to pensioners and school children.
Bicycle traffic changes character dramatically in the process. When there are many bicycles and many children and seniors among them, the tempo is more stately and safe for all parties. Racing bicycles and Tour de France gear is replaced by more comfortable family bicycles and ordinary clothing. Cycling moves from being a sport and test of survival to being a practical way to get around town — for everyone.
This shift in culture from fast slalom bicycle trips between cars and many infringements of traffic regulations to a law-abiding stream of children, young people and seniors bicycling in a well-defined bicycle network has a big impact on society's perception of bicycle traffic as a genuine alternative and reasonable supplement to other forms of transport. The shift in culture also brings bicycles more in line with pedestrians and city life in general, and is one more reason that bicycles have a natural place in this book about city life.
Cities are wonderfully innovative in their efforts to strengthen a broader bicycle culture and demonstrate that bicycles are an obvious choice for almost everyone. Schools offer intensive bicycle training, companies and institutions compete to have the highest percentage of bicyclists among their employees, and information campaigns, bicycle weeks and car-free days are held. Many cities now open bicycle streets on Sunday in campaigns to develop bicycle culture. Sunday is a particularly good day for two reasons: car traffic is usually limited and people usually have more time for exercise and experiences. The idea of closing city streets to car traffic, turning them into temporary bicycle streets instead, has been popular in Central and South America for years. The extensive "Ciclovia" program in Bogotà, Columbia is one of the best known and best developed initiatives of this kind. In the post-millennium years, the idea of reinforcing bicycle traffic has spread to more and more of those cities where cars have dominated planning for decades.
Ambitious strategies have been developed to establish extensive bicycle networks in the large Australian cities Melbourne and Sydney. Planners in both cities are hard at work laying out new bicycle lanes and moving existing lanes away from traffic and into safer "Copenhagen-style bicycle lanes" where bicycles move inside the rows of parked cars. New York City planners are working on a new traffic plan that will make NYC one of the world's most sustainable metropolises.
New York City's building density, flat terrain and wide streets provide good opportunities for converting car traffic to bicycle traffic, and a new bicycle network of 3,000 km/1,800 miles of bike lanes is planned for the city's five boroughs: Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. Work on the new bicycle lanes started in 2007 and already in the course of 2007 – 2008 about one-quarter of the planned bicycle lanes have been established and significant growth in bicycle traffic is evident. In New York the idea of closing streets to car traffic on Sundays, which NYC calls "summer streets," was introduced in 2008 as a popular link to the efforts to develop a new bicycle culture.
In the future, concern about sustainability, climate change and health will most certainly mean that increasingly more cities, like New York City, will double their efforts to develop a new culture for city life and movement. Increased bicycle traffic is an obvious answer to many of the problems cities struggle with worldwide.
Bicycling in Economically Developing Countries
Bicycle traffic already plays a key role in the overall traffic picture in many cities in economically developing countries. However, bicycle traffic is typically given poor and dangerous conditions. People bicycle by necessity, and individual mobility is often a prerequisite for being able to get to work and earn a living. In many cities bicycles or bicycle rickshaws handle the lion's share of goods and people transport. Dhaka in Bangladesh has 12 million inhabitants, and the city's 400,000 bicycle rickshaws ensure cheap sustainable transport as well as providing a modest but vital income to upwards of one million people.
Many of the cities that actually have extensive bicycle traffic today unfortunately also have forces at work to reduce bicycle traffic in favor of more room for vehicular traffic. In Dhaka, for example, bicycle taxis are considered a problem for the ongoing development of the city. Small motorcycles have replaced bicycles in many cities in Indonesia and Vietnam. Only a few decades ago, large Chinese cities were world famous for their volume of bicyclists, today bicycle traffic has in many cities almost disappeared from the street scene due to traffic reprioritization or even direct bans on bicycles.
In this category of cities, giving bicycle traffic a higher priority needs to be a key ingredient in a policy aimed to effectively utilize street space, reduce energy consumption and pollution, and provide mobility for the great majority of people who cannot afford cars. In addition, investing in bicycle infrastructure is affordable in comparison with other types of traffic investment.
New direction and reprioritizing of city policy is underway throughout the world. Fortunately, this includes prioritizing bicycle traffic in many cities in economically developing countries such as Mexico City and Bogota, Columbia.
Category: Danish Cycling Know How, Infrastructure