I heard just before heading to work last night that the Shamrock had once again closed its doors with no indication prior that it would. This is the second time in a year and third in two that the doors closed and the buzz that I'm hearing hopefully is just rumors.

Many of the bartenders stopped in to WOOF's last night to spend some time together and patronize the freshman gay bar in town.

I have a lot of respect for the owner of the Shamrock, Glenn Jahns and know that he has gone through a lot with his ownership of the Shamrock. I am greatful to him for everything he has done for the LGBT community and the community at large as he is truly a selfless man of the community at large. Best to everyone at the Shamrock.

February 19th marks the day where voters in Wisconsin head to the polls to cast their ballot for one of the nominees. The kicker of this primary is that all of the candidates who have been in the race are listed not just the two Democrats and two Republicans still in the running. The other difference between previous elections is the change of address from. I never remember having to fill out such an extensive, full sheet paper to change my address.

Not like it was a big deal or anything as it took me no more than 5 minutes to fill the sheet out and cast my ballot. However, this could cause some back-ups for those who are coming to the polls later, so my suggestion, as has been the suggestion for all events this cold, snowy winter, get it done early and you won't have to worry about that added time nor about waiting outside in sub-zero temperatures. If you must come later, for Heaven's sake, dress warm, make sure you have a valid form of ID or piece of mail if you're changing your address and keep your spirits up; for, you are doing your civic duty.

Good luck out there and I'll be excited to watch the results tonight, from the warmth of my apartment (okay, that was a low blow).

After 2 days of snow and a predicted several more days of flurries turning to a few more inches of accumulation, the question must be asked, was this a blizzard? Last year at the end of February, at a week out, professional and amateur weatherpersons were having their storm watching palettes whetted as they anticipated what was predicted to be the storm of the century, only to see if fizzle down to a depressing showing.

This most recent storm didn't really get any play at all except for the last minute, "We should be getting a good amount of snow. Don't go anywhere if you don't have to." Well, after 12, 13, 14 hour traffic standstills on 90/39 and authorities saying don't go that way, many people driving sliding into snow banks, getting stuck only to have to be pushed out by the goodness of local folks or shoveling themselves out, I again ask, was this a blizzard?

From the looks of today's picture, the only logical answer is yes. Snow piled 20-30 feet high outside of the parking ramp on Francis and West Johnson with more to be added, side streets still looking pretty iffy (though, the city did do an amazing job of cleaning the main arteries of at least East Johnson and Gorham East and West), cars stranded in parking lots all seem to indicate that the city is pretty slowed by this most recent dumping.

If you're not out of the door yet today, make sure you get out the door with plenty of time to spare as you'll have to dig out your car, your driveway, and then navigate sometimes questionable paths as your comfort level wavers the entire time. Breath...breath, take your time, don't drive to closely, call in if you don't have much to do today. It's not worth it to get stressed out. Strap on those cross country skis and have some fun because this snow isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Holy snow! We got a mighty dumping yesterday, adding to the large amounts of snow we've gotten this season already. Good thing we had that spat of warmer weather to get rid of a bit of it before we got this most recent storm.

The city did a pretty good job with keeping the roads clean, mostly likely due to the snow being light and the accumulation taking nearly 24 hours in total to complete. Landlords and those responsible for shoveling the sidewalk, though only did so-so as well more than half of the sidewalks this morning had yet to be shoveled even once. Thank goodness for snow boots!

I noticed this as I was gazing out the window at work and talking with a coworker. I've looked out that window hundreds of times, but never in any of those times, have I noticed this newest addition to my work in progress album, Shadows of the Past. Along the side of the building housing The Karaoke Kid and Caspian Cafe is a remnant of the past in the form of an advertisement. All that can be made out are the words "Royal Crown", which, according to the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation, can only be guessed as an advertisement for Royal Crown Cola, all my life known better as RC Cola.

Okay, that title sounds bad, but really, how long had that store just off of State Street on Johnson with various imports and other knickknacks advertised it was closing? One year? Two? The games store around the corner on State was forced to advertise that they were not the store to be closing.

So, we bid adieu to another store on (or just slightly off of) State State closing. The new question now is what will fill it's space? Another high end jewelry or women's clothing store? Another ice cream, popcorn or kitschy fast food restaurant? The question mark in the window might imply that the puzzle store is taking over this space (though, honestly, I haven't been on State to see if that closed as well). In time, we shall see.

Anyone who's lived or walked by the VFW on North Hamilton would know that this building is a hotspot for taggers, terrible ones at that. What an honor to our veterans to constantly vandalize the VFW.

I guess I've never understood the mentality of people who tag letters and words, as though they somehow feel they are so important because their name is crudely written everywhere. It doesn't work for Britney with the tabloids, and it's not working on my in Madison.

I apologize to all my adoring fans (ha!) who have been incessantly checking for updates to my phlog. Rest assured, I'm back now with a few good shots to start the year off with, and what better to start with than a rant!

There sure are some big icicles out there, huh? Sure, I guess there's some sort of beauty in frozen water spears draping those hundred or so year old buildings, but spears...spears, some nearly 20 feet in length hanging at the mercy of mother nature, at any moment capable of at the very least, giving passersby a good smarting if not a permanent vacation.

As you can tell by today's picture (true, it was taken a few weeks ago), dangerous icicles don't just hang out (get it?) along the sides of houses where landlords don't shovel, they sometimes line the sidewalk, in this case, the busy walking area of East Johnson Street. Keep your eyes to the sky as you walk, or maybe bring your handy telescoping pole and do the city a service yourself as it doesn't seem like too many property owners are concerned with alleviating this danger.

I am making an open call to anyone to find the biggest icicle in the city. The only caveat is that it has to be free forming, not running along a drain pipe or adhered to a building (though, those are pretty cool to see). I know I've seen ones that near 20 feet. Find it before I do. Feel free to comment on my page with a link to the pic or just the location if you don't have a camera/place to post it).

Today's picture comes from last Saturday, and it paints a brighter picture on the messiness that most of the city is still slipping and sliding through. I was invited on a tree hunting excursion. A friend invited me to one of his friend's parent's farm in order to do a little quid pro quo.

The family had planted some 2000 fir trees in order to facilitate oak tree growth, but now that the tress have become established, they no longer have any use for the firs. What a novel idea to allow groups to go up and harvest their own tree, and in turn, their oaks could grow unobstructed. All they asked was for a food donation to a local food pantry.

Despite its causing a much longer car ride than expected both into and out of Barneveld, the snow added a very pleasant aura to the experience, well, until it started to freeze and pelt us. It was a bit of a trek to get to the trees, but once there, there were countless beauties to pick from. That made the decision easy as I quickly found a beaut and started hacking away. A minute later, I hate myself a tree!

I'll post a picture of the tree once I get it decorated, but alas, it's hard to judge height when the sky's the limit. I was about right, the tree is almost exactly 10ft tall, the height of my ceilings, but I need to trim a bit from it to put the star on the top and to allow a smaller trunk to fit better into the stand so it doesn't fall over. Anyone got a handsaw?

Today's picture is of a very snowy Johnson Street after a harsh weekend of snow, minor thawing leading to icy freezing as the temperature dropped well below the freezing point to hold at its current 19 degrees.

The city declared its first official snow emergency this past weekend, which again raises the question, what the heck does the mean? Even after reading the details, the answer isn't so clear.

First, it's great that the city has an email listserv that residents can sign up for to be informed when an emergency goes into effect. It's not so great, though, when the email is not received until nearly 24 hours after the emergency has gone into effect.

Second, alternate side parking - do you park on the even side on even days and the odd side on odd days or do the plows plow the even side on even days and vice versa? This is probably the most confusing of all, and the devil is in the details. Technically, it's counterintuitive, well, sort of.

The snow emergency goes into effect between 1am-7am, so you shouldn't have to park your car on the even side on even days until 1am, but if you look at this chart, you see that you should be parking on the odd side on even days and vice versa. Confused yet? I'm sure all those residents along East Johnson who got tickets at 5pm on Saturday, December 1st for being parked on the odd side are sure confused. Bottom line, unless you're a late arriver home, park on the opposite side (odd on even days, even on odd) as you would think to avoid that nasty $20 ticket outside the Snow Emergency Zone and $30 within.

Finally, what good does it do fining folks $20 or $30 for not abiding by these rules? Anyone who has ventured out can see all of the problems that a lack stiffer penalties has caused. There are huge mounds of snow where cars were plowed in and worse, cars buried under the snow. Who knows when this snow will melt, which then leads to a severe reduction in parking spaces available on the streets. From what I hear, Madison should look to other cities for their strategies to find a better plan, which should include towing of cars to ensure that streets get adequately plowed (let's leave the argument about the quality of Madison's street plowing for another day).

In all, it's safe to say street parking in Madison (snow) blows.