Deals on Wheels

Recently, I visited some of the food trucks at Long Wharf in New Haven, CT. The trucks within the viscinity provide a variety of services (food or otherwise) whith quite a lengthy range. These trucks consist of a flag salesmen and several different food vendors (Mexican and Puerto Rican). Although I cannot recall the name of the vendor that I visited, I can attest to the fact that regardless of which truck you walk up to, you will not be disappointed. The "Long Wharf Trucks" as we know them, have been a staple in fast food in New Haven for many years. The wharf itself, which was, in fact, a wharf, had been torn down in the 40's in order to house the (at that time) new interstate highways (I95 and I91).

Some types of cuisine that these trucks that these trucks offer are traditional foods such as Tongue Tacos (Tacos de Lengua), Acapurria, Churros, etc. Other foods they carry include, the obvious; Quesodillas,  Tacos, and Burritos.

When I went, at least in my recent trip, I had Quesodillas de Pollo (Chicken Quesodillas) and some Churros for a snack. This food stop has always been one of my favorites due to the quality, taste, and authenticity backing the food. Some of the names of these trucks are; Mexican Food, Ixtapa (there are two), Santa Apolonia, and Tacos El Carril.

Looking for good food at a low cost? Come Down to the all access  road at Long Wharf in New Haven, CT. Here is a picture of some of the food (Chicken Quesodillas) that got on my recent trip to the Long Wharf trucks.

Spring Break (Jamming, Hanging out, etc.)

I'm curious to know what everyone's breaks were like whether or not I get any comments or replies back. Particularly, mine was quite fun and interesting. Probably the coolest thing I did over the week was when I was playing guitar at one of Billy Baloneys' "Mansion" parties in Danbury CT on Saturday, April 14th. Earlier that day I got a call from my dad (keep in mind that I had no idea that I was going to be doing anything that day) saying "You're on tonight!", which caught me off guard so I asked him what he meant and he explained to me how one of his friends at work knew Billy and told him that he was having a party and wanted to meet me and see me play. So I started practicing, rounded up my gear, and waited for him to show up. Eventually, I got picked up and we showed up at the mansion at around 11:00 P.M. or so and we went inside and didn't find Billy. After a while of hanging out we went to Subway to get something to eat and then we came back ... still with no sign of the guy. Several minutes later he finally shows up and the first band goes on (a 2 piece Indie-ish Rock group), they played pretty well and then Billy asked us to bring in the equipment. I had my Randall RH150 G3 Plus half stack, my Zoom G2 pedal (just for a noise suppressor to get rid of some of the feedback from the amp, and my trusty Dean ML 79 which you can see as my blogger profile picture. At the end of their set right before I went on, whether it was intended to be a sarcastic comment or not, (being that the guy had never seen me play before) the singer said "We've got a serious guitarist coming up". So I get up and adjust my amp settings and this guy comes up to me and says "You better shred it kid!" so of course, I did and played what I play. Everyone in the building started cheering me on, asked for requests, and even started singing along. Then that guy got on the ground and rolled around in a circle like something out of Spinal Tap and got up and started bowing to me like I was some kind of "guitar god" or something. Later on in my set, he even started playing drums for me which was quite fun for the both of us. After I was done everyone came up to me, shook my hand, and talked to me saying things like I'm going to go far, they've never seen anyone play like me before, and my personal favorite, "He's the next Dimebag Darrell". One person (this biker-type lady) even filmed me and took pictures of me with her phone when I was playing. All in all I got home at about 2:00 A.M. or so, had a great time, and woke up especially tired the next day. So Sunday, I went to a benefit concert with my dad and my uncle to see my uncle's friend Jimmi Bell play. My favorite part was when they had the drawing for the various raffles that were held, I ended up winning Jimmi's old guitar, a modified Yamaha with Sperzel tuners and had him sign it too. I also got my picture with him which was cool. The next week I spent at my uncle's house hanging out with my cousins which was also very fun. Then my dad dropped by  a couple of days later and we all jammed at their house together (my dad also plays guitar and my uncle plays bass). For the last weekend my brother, my father, and I went on a fishing trip in Rhode Island. Right before that however, I went to my dad's work and played for one of his friends who after that, offered some Van Halen tickets for July. By the way, what did you do for the break?

-
Christian A. Opalinski

My Dean Ml 79 in Trans Braziliaburst

Death Penalty?

Personally I do not support the death penalty. Some of my reasons are first, it is possible for an innocent person to get the death penalty. In many cases it has happened before, not neccessarily innocent people that have been issued the death penalty but innocent people wrongly put in jail. Also, I think the death penalty is morraly wrong. Killing someone for committing a crime isn't neccessary. Referring to what I said previously, I think that getting life in prison is more acceptable because if by the chance that the person was innocent they would have time to sort out the mistake rather than just killing the person. However I think some do deserve the death penalty although I don't support it. But I think it's a matter of what crime was committed and how much evidence is there in place proving that person did it.

Extreme Kayaking

On October 12 ,2011 in the East Rock area, a local photographer and his wife, Ian and Carolyn Christmann happened to be looking out their window when they noticed cops on the far bank of the river where a woman was panicing and trying to stay afloat. Carolyn told Ian that the cops might need a boat and to see if they could use his kayak. Some information from the New Haven Independent states "As he paddled out, he caught sight of something in the water, 40 or 50 feet from the far shore. “I saw just a head. A woman’s head.”A lesson from a water rescue class during his time as a boy scout years ago came back to Christmann. People panic when they’re caught in the water. It was important that he stay calm and that he calm the woman down.He pulled up alongside her. “I said, ‘Grab the boat and relax,’” Christmann recalled. “She was saying, ‘I’m cold. I’m tired.’ She was exhausted.” The water must have been as cold as 50 degrees, Christmann said. He paddled to the wall at the far bank, where firefighters and cops were waiting to pull the woman out. They thanked him and he paddled back home." The woman ended up fine and Christmann said that the other people in his neghorhood would've reacted the same way to the situation if they had known what was happening. to read more about this story, be sure to check it out at New Haven Independent's website.

Statement of Pupose

Hello fellow colleagues/blogger.com members. Although I'm new to Blogger, I'm starting to get the hang of it and hope all of you are having a positive experience as well. As far as a general purpose for my blog, I do not have any one specific theme that I plan to stick to, however most topics that I will be writing these blogs about will probably pertain to either school-related assignments or free-write type posts. To see some of my current work please click on this link.

Free Time

What do you like to do in your free time? Some people draw, some play sports, some might even say they watch TV. In my free time however, I like to play guitar. I've been playing for over 9 years and practice for at least an hour a day (usually more). I like to play, listen to, and make music. Also I'll sometimes modify, set up, and every now and then paint guitars. I can also play drums and bass. Click this link to see some of my other posts.

Strengths & Weaknesses

In class today, we lookedt our blogs and scoredhem on a rubric. This was to find out  what was wrong was wrong with our blogs, and what our strengths and weaknesses were with blogging. What I learned today was that I need more posts, original images, hyperlinks on every post, and a feature profile interview with another blogger. My strengths however, were giving the blog an appealing visual, making it in an easy-to-read format, having a clear statement of purpose in my posts, and keeping my blogs free of grammatical, mechanical, and spelling errors. Click here to view my blog.