Road Trip- Trenton, NJ, to Seattle

Like Bela Lugosi, our Road Trip series has returned from the dead!

Today, we ask you the faithful blog-reader, and if you are one of the 13 people reading this blog you are quite faithful!, to guess how far it is from Trenton, NJ, to Seattle, Wash. (well, there is only one Seattle, right?).

To do this, we Mapquested the mileage between two Turkish restaurants in each zip code. Our choices were the Trenton Kebab House in Trenton and the Bistro Turkuaz in Seattle.

Here are the choices:

A) 48 hours, 40 minutes

B) 46 hours, 30 minutes

C) 45 hours, 10 minutes

D) 43 hours, 20 minutes

SIDEBAR: It seems like Burlington, Vermont, where it is 70 degrees as we speak would be a nice place to me especially since it is scorching in my part of the world. Today, it was 98 degrees in Norfolk, Va., 97 degrees in Baltimore and 93 degreees in Philadelphia!

SIDEBAR TWO: Though we haven't listened to the music of Los Straitjackets as much as we should, we want to wish the band's guitar player Danny Amis success in his battle with cancer. The Nashville-based band plays Spanish-language versions of rock and roll favorites and they are known for sporting Lucha Libre (Mexican wrestling) masks on stage. A benefit concert for Amis will be taking place soon according to the NPR show "Fresh Air."

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Gymnastics Teacher

We conclude both our series witin series on summer jobs and our series Silly Photo to Fill Space with this image of very flexible young lady whom we don't know personally!

We have had a lot of fun with this series in the year or two or so since its inception and we never got around to showing the image of a samurai ski-jumping, but there is always a chance that this series will resurrect itself like Freddy Krueger some time in the neat future.

Our feature city of the month for this series is Trenton, NJ, where one can find the Discover Gymnastics Academy, which is offering a free trial class according to their web site. Though we don't have any idea if they have openings for gymnastics instructors or not, we can't imagine a more fun summer job than trying to make some young gymnast the next Nellie Kim (or at least the next Courtney Kupets, who was a legandary gymnast at The University of Georgia).

Of course since more and more folks were born either during end of or after the Cold War, we should remind our readers that Kim, a former Soviet gymnast who turned 53 on July 29, made Olympic Gymnastics history. She won three gold and two silver medals at the 1976 Montreal Olympics where another gymnast (a Romanian named Nadia whose name we can't spell, or perhaps we can, but we're too lazy!) became a household name.

Kim also won two gold medals at the 1980 Moscow Olympics where Misha the Bear was the mascot. I ate a great place called Misha's Cafe in Baku, Azerbaijan- of all places in 2008, but that's really getting off the topic.

Even though many Americans used the word Soviet and Russian arbitrarily in the days when "Welcome Back Kotter" initially aired, Kim is actually from Kazakhstan which Borat made famous/infamous.

As of 2002, Kim lives in or around St. Paul, Minn. Nadia lives in or around Norman, Oklahoma. No one knows what happened to Misha the Bear.

SIDEBAR: Alas, The Ragsdale High School Tigers, one of our past 'high schools of the week' (there are many of them!), lost to their rival, the Dudley High School Panthers of Greensboro, NC, by a 12-0 score. The Tigers played on the road Friday night, but their next game against Western Guilford High School will be at home in the Greensboro/High Point 'burb of Jamestown, NC. We hear the Tigers' band kicks butt, by the way!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Working at the Arcade

Alas, the Ms. Pac-Man machine at The Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC, apparently does not work, but the venue is hosting the '80s New Wave band The English Beat ("Mirror in the Bathrrom") and I sure as heck would love to be there. (Insert screams of frustration and choice profanity words here). I must profess that The Cat's Cradle is a great concert venue irregardless if their Ms. Pac-Man is working or not (I wonder if they can give us a discount on Blonde Redhead tickets for saying this!)

But, high school and college students can possibly find part-time work at Swingtime in Howell, NJ, which we hope is somewhat near Trenton, NJ, our choice city of the week for this series within a series on summer jobs (yeah, we know, it's getting a bit late for that topic!).

Swingtime also offers mini-golf (in New Jersey?!) and batting cages for the young and the young-at-heart.

This brings us to our High School of the Week (yes, lots of schools across America share this honor which is sort of our joke here on this blog) which is Capital High School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Melanie Romero is the principal.

The school with an enrollment of circa 1,240 students has the nickname of The Jaguars. They have turgoise and black school colors. And, according to Wikipedia (we are wondering if this is a joke), the school was built to resemble the state pen!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Pilates

Today, we continue our summer jobs series with a look at the field of yoga/pilates instructors (well, I suppose one would be quite talented to be able to do both!).

Our feature city is Trenton, NJ, and as it happens the suburb of Medford, NJ, which we hope is a Trenton 'burb, offers both yoga and pilates classes at The Yoga Center of Medford, including a pilates mat class from 8-9:00 a.m. on Saturday.

Those of you residing in that area can call the center at 609-654-9400 for more info than what we can provide here.

But, we can tell you that pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates of Germany around World War I. 11 million Americans practice pilates, which is usually done barefoot or with special pilates shoes (we can not make this stuff up!).

The aim of the exercise is to strengthen and develop torso muscles and breathing techniques. It is said to be a great exercise for pregnant women.

UPDATE: Ay Karumba! We forgot to mention our High School of the Week when we posted this a few hours ago. The school is Belgrade High School in Belgrade, Mont. We choose Belgrade because we chose a Serbian beer (Belgrade is the Serbian capital) for our 50 Beers Around the World entry on Sunday.

Of course, high school students shouldn't drink beer, but they probably couldn't find that brew anywhere in Montana any how!

The nickname for Belgrade High School is the Panthers. It was 74 degrees in Belgrade, Mont., yesterday. We have no idea what the weather is like there today.

We would like to blame the oversight on Joe Murphy, the intern for "Yes Weekly" in Greensboro, NC, but he not only does nothing for us, but he also has no idea who we are!

SIDEBAR: My good friend Jason Garnett is showing several cool movies at The Shadowbox Cinema, his micro-cinema in downtown Roanoke, Va., this month. They include the vintage French New Wave musical "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1966) with a very young and very hot Catherine Denevue. She once said that women who kill have issues with their fathers. Hmmmmm.......?! That screening takes place on Aug. 25, and admission is five dollars.

Additionally, The Shadowbox will screen the 1931 Charlie Chaplin classic "City Light" on Aug. 27. "Caddyshack," a movie celebrating its 30th anniversary, on Aug. 28 and the ever demented Japanese shock horror film "Audition" on Aug. 30. Bring your kimonos!

Prices and showtimes vary. Check the cinema's web site theshadowboxcinema.com for more info.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Let's Go to the Movies!

Today, we focus with a Silly Photo to Fill Space aimed at summer jobs and what could be better than working at a movie theatre and fixing popcorn?! (I actually did that job and lemme tell ya, popcorn burns hurt like h-e-double 'l').

Our feature city of the month is Trenton, NJ, where one can see the Zac Efron film "Charlie St. Cloud," which my friend Moviezzz has cited as an early Oscar contender on his blog http://www.talkingmoviezzz.blogspot.com (that is a joke and a big one at that!) at the Destina Theatre at Independence Plaza on South Broad Street.

As for historical cinemas in "Clerks" director Kevin Smith's home state, there is The Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ, which will host Foreigner (uh-oh, I think "I Wanna Know What Love Is" is going to go off in my skull...yep, it just did!) on Aug. 26.

The web site Cinema Treasures, which is dedicated to movie theatres around the globe, is featuring the Capitol Theatre in Olympia, Wash., as its Cinema of the Week. The cinema in the Washington state capital will be showing the documentary "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work" from Aug. 14-20. Call (360) 754-6670 for more info.

Lastly, we were delighted to see Cinema Tresures mention the Atlas Cinema in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul, Turkey. It may well be the hippest sinema (that's how cinema is spelled in Turkish) in the vast metropolis and they are (alas!) probably
showing "Charlie St. Cloud" too!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Trenton Thunder Mascot

We may strongly differ with a reader to "The Roanoke Times" in Roanoke, Va., who said that New Jersey's newly elected Republican Governator (of that's the one in California) Chris Christie is a 'national hero' because he ridded the state 'of socialism' (these Tea Partiers are zanier than H.R. Puf-N-Stuf aren't they?), but we are nevertheless dedciating today's entry to The Trenton Thunder from the state captial of Trenton, NJ.

(Yes, I know that opening sentence was way, way too long!)

The name of the mascot for The Thunder is Boomer (pictured here).

The team lost a home game to The New Hampshire Fisher Cats (yes, that is their real nickname!) on Sunday by a 10-4 margin. Tonight, The Thunder hits the proverbial road to play the Reading Philies in Reading, Pa., at 6:05 p.m.

Upcoming promotions for The Thunder include an All-You-Can-Eat Hot Dogs and Hamburgers Day on Aug. 15 and a Farmer Appreciation Day (they have farmers in New Jersey?!) on Aug. 24.

SIDEBAR: Of course, as a Turkish-American, I have to remind folks that there are many great Turkish restaurants in New Jersey. In Trenton, one can dine at Trenton Kebab House which offers Adana Yogurt Kebab (named for the southern Turkish city of Adana) for $13.95

SIDEBAR TWO: Just down the proverbial road in Philadelphia, one can stop by The Divan Turkish Kitchen, which offers $9.95 lunch specials. They also offer Chicken Adana Kebab for $10.75.

SIDEBAR THREE: Here in the Tarheel State, one can visit Talulla's in Tarheel Town (Chapel Hill, NC) which offers an excellent manti (Turkish yogurt noodles dish) plate. During the weekend of Aug. 20-22, the restaurant on Franklin Street will be one of three Chapel Hill eatieries that will offer live music as part of a downtown music festival.