St. John the Baptist Catholic Cathedral Finally Gets A Steeple!

Yes folks the skyline of the Holy City (Charleston, SC) has a new steeple to add to its' beauty at sunset; "the Cathedral" (St. John the Baptist Catholic Cathedral) after years of being one of the few majestic houses of God sans steeple finally raised the funds to raise a steeple!

Friday Funnies: South Carolina Thru The Eyes of a Charlestonian!

Seriously? Dead stopped on I-26

I am @ a dead stop and I-26 has only one lane open near mile-marker 190. Come on SCDOT. And there are those who say that "I-26" shouldn't be widened to three lanes.
Sent via JET's BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Either Spoleto Is In Full Gear...

Or there is about to be a jousting tournament in Marion Square.

In all seriousness go to Marion Square and check out the amazing art displayed by participating artists.
Sent via JET's BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Sunday Samurai: I Can't Wait...The New Harris Teeter, Pigs In A Blanket & Big Box (Home Depot & Lowes) Staying Open An Hour Later

For the new Harris Teeter store to open in the West Ashley section of Charleston, South Carolina. For those of you who live West of the Ashley River in Charleston and have suffered for years without a 24-hour grocery store to quash that desire for a midnight snack I present you the new Harris Teeter store. Be patient my friends, the end is near and she should be open here soon.

I was in the Pig the other night about 10 minutes before closing time (like 9 pm) and I asked the manager if the Pig was going to start staying open later to compete with the new Teeter. He replied, "Oh gosh no, in fact, I wish we could go back to closing at 7 pm." Seriously?

Leave it to Beaver or just leave Beaver
I can understand the gentleman's desire to hearken back to the old days when we all ate dinner together at 6:30 pm and the grocery closed early because most folks only made a trip to the "sto" once a week. But let's get with the times people, we work late, jam our schedules full of errands and appointments ad nauseum. And let's face it, convenience stores these days just are not that convenient.

Just recently, Home Depot decided to open an hour earlier and stay open an hour later. How friggin awesome is that? Countless times, I have broken something (whilst trying to repair something else) or been mid-way into a project when I realized I needed something-that I could only find-from HD or Lowes (not the 24-hour Super Wal-Mart) and then looked at the clock only to realize I had fifteen minutes before they closed. Not anymore baby! (FYI: Lowes decided to match their cross-street competition and match Home Depot's hours). I even filled out my first receipt-questionairre exclaiming how I loved the later hours @ Home Depot and wished they would advertise this new change so more people would take advantage of their new closing time.

For those great deciders who changed the hours @ Lowes & Home Depot-Bravo! To the Big Whigs @ the Teeter who decided to provide the folks here this side of the Ashley a new store-Bravo indeed Sirs.

Another Cooper River Bridge Run, err...Bridge Walk Behind Down!

Alas the finish line of this year's Cooper River Bridge Run. I didn't run it this year as I have in years past and I didn't "bridge-jump" (make a fake ticket and run/walk without paying the $35 to join in the fun) because the folks were in town to do the walk and Sweets said it would be dishonest to the charities to fake a ticket-blast! 

Now in years past, I have eschewed training and preparing for the bridge run, I just went out and ran it-just as I did every other 10k or 5k. But after a quick run at the end of the bridge to the Meeting Street Piggly Wiggly for a badly needed pit-stop, I realized that I am way out of shape. So despite my hesitation to walk the race, I am glad that I did. 

There's A New Sheriff In Town!

For all of those people, who said Barack Obama preaches about "change" because it is an acronym for "Come Help A Negro Get Elected", I thought I would give you something to enjoy today as this election didn't really turn out the way you wanted.

And I leave you with this to think about: when McCain gave his concession speech and mentioned Obama the crowd responded with "boos", but if you watched Obama's speech which if you didn't check back here later tonight and I will have (what will probably be the most important speech of this decade) it posted: I digress; when Barack announced Senator McCain and the sacrifices he has made, the crowd in Chicago cheered. Think about it. And then think about change, we can change friends. And I realize that the political divisions in this country didn't begin overnight and they won't be healed overnight, but we do need to begin the process. "Yes, We Can"

"Yeah, he probably reads the Bushido"
I can't take full credit but when Obama said, this [movement] began on the porches of Charleston. And in the conclusion of his speech, he mentioned that "while I breath, I hope" (aka: Dum Spiro Spero) a Charleston, SC and South Carolina motto, but I guess Obama reads the Bushido!

Come On T.S. Hanna, We Don't Have Time For This...

And here is her guess-timated path as of this afternoon!

BSR SEWE: Rusty Wallace and fans at the D.U.- O.R.

What is Rusty doing at the DU Oyster Roast? Doesn't he have a race this Sunday?

BSR SEWE: Duck's Unlimited Oyster Roast

Sixty bucks might sound steep for a ticket to this event, but you are getting free food, free booze and membership with Ducks Unlimited which makes it a pretty good deal. I was so close to winning a shotgun that JFT bought me two tickets-it came down to the last number which was 9 and I was holding a 5 and a 6-blast!









But of course there's a camo truck at this thing; why wouldn't there be? Thanks to the last minute model for stepping in with the Bushido for this picture. CofC alums always stick together.

Waiting For Jack Hanna!

As always, Ohio's favorite zoo-keeper put on a good show, but the wait was a bit boring for Izzy. Interesting enough, there aren't many kids here, mostly adults for a show geared towards children. Oh well, time for the show and to get Mr. Hanna's autograph.


Izzy says he has a cheetah this year. Hopefully the cheetah won't smell the left-over steak sandwich I have in my pocket.
Posted by The Bushido

BSR SEWE: Vendors at the Gaillard

FYI: I am not quite sure about the half-french bread-steak sandwich from California Dreaming, seems a bit rough for 5 bucks. Then again, it's just lunch. But still the caveat remains folks, this grub will hit you the same way it does at the carnival: tums, pepto or a close commode should be in your near future if you dare partake.
Posted by The Bushido

Jack Simmon's Op-ed Piece in the Post & Courier

Wrong standards for preservation plan

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Regarding the proposed new preservation plan for Charleston:

The Committee to Save the City would like to be on record as being very concerned about the proposal to alter the whole focus of our historic preservation ordinance by adding to it the Department of Interior Standards.

As architectural journalist David Brussat wrote in The Providence, R.I., Journal, "Citizens who want to preserve their cities must challenge those who still treat the standards as a jobs program for modern architects, beauty and history be damned."

We who cherish the beauty and historic uniqueness of Charleston want to see new construction look to the finest precedents of the past in the design of new buildings.

It is a Charleston tradition: St. Michaels was clearly inspired by St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London; Randolph Hall by Palladio's Villa Malcontenta; and the Miles Brewton House by Palladio's Villa Cornaro.

Palladian influences can be seen throughout the Historic District in the porticos, raised basements, colonnades, chiaroscuro, modillioned cornices, Palladian windows, the symmetry and the very sophisticated and creative use of the classical language.

The Department of Interior standards were written in the 1960s and express the ideology of that time, when most architects were only trained to be Modernists. That was then.

Today, many architects have moved on and have taken a much more refined and sophisticated approach in their designs.

New buildings in Charleston need to be of our place, not of the 1960s.

The best contemporary architects have moved beyond the minimalism and abstraction of the 1960s and are again capable of producing the chiaroscuro, which enriches Charleston's historic streetscapes. This much more literate approach is certainly more reflective of our place.

Charleston was the first community in the world to recognize the importance of protecting the harmony and context of a whole neighborhood of buildings by the "continued construction of buildings in the historic styles". (sec. 54-230 of the Zoning Ordinance)

Our ordinance does not need to be amended to reflect the more limited and very dated vision of the Standards. We urge that this proposal be removed from the Preservation Plan.

JACK W. SIMMON Jr.

Chairman

The Committee to Save the City

Church Street
Copyright © 1997 - 2007 the Evening Post Publishing Co.

Cash is getting ready for SEWE!

The South Eastern Wildlife Expo (SEWE) starts tomorrow and my Labrador puppy, "Cash" is getting ready. Here's my boy bringing back his (duck) training dummy. His gate is still a bit awkward, but he's learning.
Posted by The Bushido

Cash gets his last puppy shots and meets his new doctor!

Mel might be onto something, if you are going to Dr. Patrick's, you might want to drop off your dog and come back to pick them up. We waited for two and a half hours, but it was worth the wait and Cash likes Dr. Patrick's new hire-Dr. Elizabeth Parker. She was real gentle with his shots and seemed to have a serious interest in his welfare answering all of my "its been a long time since I had a puppy, what about when he makes this sound, etc." Sadly, Cash refused to give his daddy's number to the good doctor-what a blocker! And to add insult to injury, Cash was buddy-buddy with a Davidson grad's dog named Coach! Cash WTF? Tomorrow is the big basketball game!
(Thanks to Jenny Tumey for the picture)
Posted by The Bushido

It's A Very Surreal Moment When You Are Just Chillin' And All Of The Sudden A Bikini Contest Begins

I swear it was the wildest thing, we're just chillin' in the back-bar at Lights (On East Bay) meeting B-Rad's new "interest" when all of the sudden they cleared the dance-floor for a Miss September contest and around the corner came some babes in bikinis. So, I said, WTF? I'll throw it on my phone and Brick's new "interest" wanted me to cheer for No. 3-which I was all about supporting. So here you go!

(Btw, I am trying out this new Blogger video here, instead of posting to You-Tube.)

Posted by The Bushido

Miss September Contest: Take 2

And here is where things got interesting...The DJ asked everyone off the dance floor (1-tyme-Fugee style) and here comes all three of the contestants for one more pass in their bikinis before the judges made their decisions. They walked off stage and the DJ played "Rump-Shaker" and we still didn't really know what was going on (i.e. who it was for, who sponsored it, etc) with this contest.

Miss September Contest in Charleston: Take 1

This is how it all began...

Mega Movers Move The Spirit of South Carolina

Here is the video from Thursday night’s Mega-Movers episode, where they moved the ship, The Spirit of South Carolina. The sound was a bit off from the recording, so I took the liberty of editing the sound with a local favorite from the Bushido’s collegiate years: SKWZBXX “The Healing” from their Secret 68 album.

LowCountry Look-A-Likes

I am thinking this is Rebecca Romain, that chick from Party of Five and Tom Hanks. What do you think? (Picture from the Spoleto Blog)