I love this idea! Here are my top 5 Philly resolutions for the new year:

Visit the Art Museum. I’ve been promising myself that I’ll get lost in there for about 3 years now and still haven’t gotten around to it. I’m so ashamed…

Visit a park in Philadelphia. This used to mean Pennypack Park in the northeast, since I used to run there, but I’m thinking now it’ll be Fairmount Park or someplace near Boathouse Row.

Go see the Eagles in training camp.

See at least two minor league baseball games.

Not embarrass my girlfriend at a black tie event. I’ve never been to one before, and, well, I’m not well-behaved.

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday, and the long-standing plan was a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo. Unfortunately, the rain took care of that idea so I opted for the semi-new Adventure Aquarium in Camden instead.

It was fairly easy to find with the directions from their web site, but the layout is somewhat confusing. I realize they want the nice looking side to face the river so people in Philadelphia think “Hey, let’s go there!” but it’s very difficult to see where the entrance is from the (overpriced) parking lot. There are a few non-descript buildings, a very large Spongebob banner and something about ticketing. They really need a few signs for the entrance, and to make the back more appealing. That is what customers see first, and it’s disappointing.
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Contrary to popular belief, Philadelphia isn’t all concrete. There is actually grenery besides the carefully planted trees that dot Center City and some of the neighborhoods.

Want proof? Take a hike - literally.
From 7:30 to 9:00 pm tonight at the Schuyllkill Center for Environmental Education, there’s a Night Hike for kids. If you’re a member of the Center, the hike is $7. If you’re not a member, it’s $5. Click for the event details.a nifty list of trails near them that are in the city. Visually oriented? There’s even a map.

Steve’s Bug-Off Exterminating and Insectarium
8046 Frankford Ave, 19136
215-335-9500
www.insectarium.com

This is the first part of what I hope to be a long-lasting series of things to do in Northeast Philadelphia that’s not Franklin Mills or Neshaminy Mall. Most people seem to think that the Northeast section of Philly is nothing but rowhomes and malls. I would beg to differ, however. There are many, MANY things to do in the Northeast (I hope) and I’m going to try to spotlight them all.

Steve’s Bug-Off isn’t your ordinary exterminator. If your house has ants/spiders/cockroaches, then yeah, you should see Steve and his exterminators. But, if you’d like to go and check out a bunch of cool and exotic bugs, then you should check out the Insectarium. There’s a model kitchen complete with cockroaches crawling about, watch bugs eat other bugs, and even crawl through a spider web! I’m pretty sure your squeamish girlfriend will go crazy over all this. Then again, so will your little brother.

Refreshments include Cajun- or cheese-coated mealworms, or lollypops with caterpillars in the middle of them. All edible.

True, this is mainly set for kids. But, if you really like bugs, you’ll really like the Insectarium.

If you have more cool things to do in NE Philly that’s not the Mills or Neshaminy, please shoot me an e-mail at pacdude@gmail.com!

Not that I have any personal reason for this, mind you….

Having returned this evening from parts southward (Savannah to Charlotte to Philly), I felt somehow mysteriously compelled to seek out this story from USA Today earlier this month:

Efforts to reduce excessive delays at Philadelphia International Airport are developing on two fronts.

Signs of the most immediate solution will begin this summer as the airport begins to reconfigure Route 291, also known as Industrial Highway, in front of the airport to make way for the construction of a 1,040-foot extension of runway 17-35. The $60 million expansion is expected to take a year. [...]

However, it won’t be enough to accommodate projected growth at the airport and to alter Philadelphia’s ranking near the bottom of the nation’s top 33 airfields for on-time departures. It ranked 28th for on-time arrivals.

I’m almost surprised we weren’t dead last on every list available.

Image source: UCal Irvine.

Yesterday afternoon I attended a preview/walk-through of The Franklin Institute’s new Animation exhibit. The exhibit has lots of hands-on stations to practice activities that make up the process of animation, including stop motion photography, storyboarding, and sound effects.

My favorite site was likely the “soundbooth” where I failed miserably in applying foley to a brief clip. Perhaps even funnier than the out-of-sync sounds was the way the microphones captured me talking to my co-previewers as I tried to move quickly from station to station.
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Well, despite my predictions to the contrary, it turns out I lucked into one of those Camden Blogger’s Weekend Passes after all! This officially completes my shift from “lonely-weekend-alone” (Matt’s going to be travelling) to a weekend almost over-full with social options.

As I look ahead, I’m most concerned about my chances to make it to a Riversharks game. That’s a shame, ‘cos I’ve enjoyed the games I attended in past seasons, and I’d already been talking to Matt and my friend Laurie about going some time during this summer. So wouldn’t it have been great, I ask you, to follow through on that idea for free? Alas, my Phillies-RedSox tix and my intense interest in the Kimmel organ Pay-to-Play event create time conflicts with all three Riversharks games held this weekend. I guess it’s back to my original plan of picking a game and buying a ticket.

But both the Adventure Aquarium and the Battleship New Jersey open bright and early, making it possible to visit them before my other engagements. I am happy to report as well that the Battleship New Jersey has a news item on their site about this event. A tip of the hat to them for being the first of the Camden orgs to do this.

Image source: Battleship New Jersey.

Well, here’s some information to throw in the mix if you’re still deciding whether or not to toss your hat in for one of those 200 free passes to Bloggers’ Day in Camden.

I got an email from one of the organizers:

Dear CAMDEN WATERFRONT ATTRACTION BLOGGING PROJECT entrant,

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The final attendance count for Body Worlds: 602,450.

The most recent estimate I’ve heard is that somewhere between 35,000 and 40,000 of those attendees came through in the marathon weekend. As one co-worker put it: “It was like Black Friday all weekend long.”
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A friend called me late last week, saying “Since Body Worlds is almost done, my family and I are finally making the arrangements to see it on Monday. Do you have any suggestions about when to come that won’t be too crowded?”

Once I picked myself up off the floor and recovered from my fit of uncontrollable laughter, our conversation continued along to other topics.
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