The Flood of 2011

On September 7th, my hometown along with many other areas from Maryland to New York were hit hard by Hurricane Lee. Below are videos from some of those places. My family was lucky and did not get hit by the flooding (although some, like my mom, came awfully close).





This video is just a slideshow of a bunch of different parts of PA that were flooded. It's pretty interesting if you don't mind the noise (aka the music...you might want to mute this one) or the length.

This video is about Hersheypark, ZooAmerica and the damages they had to deal with.

I don't know why, but it's always sort of...surreal? when I see events like this happening to my hometown. I guess it's a little weird to be viewing things on TV and online rather than actually being there. Especially when I know the locations pictured.

M-I-C-K-(E)Y M-O-U-S-E

The original Micky

Most people only know about Walt Disney and his famous mouse. What they don't know is that Mickey (or Micky as the original toy was called) originated in my hometown of Middletown, PA. According to the Middletown Borough, around 1931: 

The Disney Corporation sued the Performo-Toy Company claiming they took Micky from Disney. The small toy company was no match for the large production company and the courts ordered the Performo-Toy Company to stop all production of the Micky toys and destroy any existing stock. Even catalogs containing Micky had to be destroyed. This tragedy, along with the Great Depression, was enough to put the Performo-Toy Company out of business.

But the Performo toy was patented in 1926; while Disney did not receive a trademark until 1928 and oddly enough, both used the same distribution company once Disney started distributing their toy dolls.

Taken from the Middletown Borough

As the story goes (or rumor depending on who you listen to), the Performo toy Micky was being sold across the Northeast when Walt Disney took a trip to New York City. The Middletown historians believe that Disney borrowed the idea from this toy and the rest, they say, is history. Feel free to read more about Micky and my town here.