Drew's Photo-A-Day
Allison's Photos
Friday, September 30, 2005
There's More About Serenity?
Of course! Maybe we'll stop blogging about it someday - but I wouldn't count on it being anytime soon.
The other day Drew posted about a special on SciFi about the movie. Well, I just found a
link to the show and thought I'd share it. Click on "Resurrecting Firefly" to see the show. It's got some great insight into the movie and Joss' style.
Watch it - fall in love - come see the Movie Tuesday night in Bellingham.
Photo-A-Day #175 09/30/05
The sky was beautiful this morning. However, rather than taking pictures I probably should have helped Allison take out the laundry. Otherwise Duncan and Oliver wouldn't have been able to gang up on her and knock her cell phone into the abyss that is our front hall. Sunday is going to be fun moving everything in the front hall to find the battery pack of the cell phone, which discharged itself and is now in hiding somewhere under the piles of stuff out there.
I got this article from Wired News. Serenity is everywhere. You have to go and see it. It came out today. See Serenity. See it again.
Wired News: Serenity's a Smarter Space Opera
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Photo-A-Day #174 09/29/05
From the Reagan National Airport I could see the Washington Monument. And on takeoff I saw the pentagon, tried to get a picture of that but it came out terrible.
I can't say enough good about
Serenity. I, along with thousands of other browncoats (that would be independents who fought in the war on the losing side and, in this case, fans of the cancelled TV show Firefly), are going to see this movie repeatedly. I already saw the movie back in May at a
sneak preview in Boston. And when I saw it then it was fantastic and it wasn't even finished. I can't stress enough that seeing this movie will be a great investment of your time and money. This is how a movie should be, it should have action, suspense, humor and tragedy; you should feel for the characters and what is happening to them. This movie is about so much more than a movie, it is about the underdog, the little guy and his moment to shine in the face of adversity. See the movie tomorrow, and Saturday and Sunday. I'll be seeing it on Tuesday because after the fans and everyone they have told have seen it we still need folks to keep seeing this movie and also Regal Cinema Club has free popcorn on Tuesday. Friends be on the lookout for a
Serenity Evite from me for next Tuesday night in Bellingham.
Also I apologize for the impending influx of
Serenity related posts, I really believe in this show and want this movie to succeed.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Photo-A-Day #173 09/28/05
Strolling around Crystal City in Alexandria VA, This was in the window at Chipotle. I love Chipotle, it is a great restaurant. We ended up going for Thai food. Maybe it was the Long Island Ice Teas, but the food there was also very good.
Driving around DC..
I hate it. No wonder it takes so long to get something done politically around here, everyone is stuck in crazy traffic on poorly signed roads.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
You all know that I can't wait to see the movie Serenity. Actually I already saw it in a rough cut, but never the less I can't wait to see the theatrical debut of the film. Tonight on Sci Fi channel at 10:00 there is a behind the scenes special about the upcoming movie and you can catch up on episodes of Firefly. They have been playing episodes in order from 12:00 noon today till 10pm tonight. For more information go to.
SCIFI.COM | Serenity
The little college that can...
So I flew down to Washington Reagan airport today on U.S. Airways. Today U.S. Airways and America West merged, the airport (well just U.S. Airways) had a whole wedding theme going on to celebrate. There was cake, a punch fountain and decorations all over. I guess each U.S. Airways ticket counter or somesuch throughout the country had a contest today for the most spirit and their ticket area would get a makeover or something.
Anyway I got on the plane and picked up the magazine in the seat pocket, I think U.S. Airways' magazine is called Attache or something. There was an article about beards and I wanted to read that and as I was flipping through the magazine I came upon a series of articles about New Hampshire and how that was an up an coming place, specifically Manchester, New Hampshire, my home for about 8 years. So, I am reading about the mills and how they now have a number of high tech companies in them. I remember working back in the mills with a hi tech company, that was a fun time. And then I read further and there is an article about all the colleges in Manchester, lo and behold
Saint Anselm College is listed in the article first and the article talks about the Institute of Politics that is on campus. I glance at the ad on the next page and it is a full page ad for
Saint Anselm College. Looks like the little college on the hill is doing well for itself.
Photo-A-Day #172 09/27/05
I am in Alington, VA for a demonstration at a hospital in Southern Maryland and then another demo here in Arlington. I took a walk to get some lunch after I landed and they have these handy tunnels under the busy streets so you can get to the other side without playing chicken.
I've been seeing these commercials on tv and have checked out the web site. I agree that I should not be paying the same as a bad driver. I'd like to see bad drivers pay more, and get off the road. You know that my commute in the morning and afternoon is a long one and my opinion has been reshaped over the past 4 years of commuting. I've seen tons of bad drivers each and every day and it makes me mad that I pay the same amount as they do for car insurance.
More than once I have driven to work and wished more than one driver into a cornfield. Hasn't happened yet, but maybe someday.
Check out the
Fairness for Good Drivers website.
You can send an e-mail to your representative through this site as well.
Updated - 4:05pm - I sent in an e-mail to my state representative Elizabeth A. Poirier and already got an e-mail response.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Bossburner
Check out this
site, and check out these
sounds. My cousin Matt, who is a phenomenonal drummer and artist is working on a new band called
Bossburner. They have a great sound. You'll have to check them out. Also check out
Matt's pictures on Buzznet. He's got a fantastic eye and creative mind. Please give his band a listen. I think they will begin performing their 9 original songs in November.
Bossburner websiteisound files for BossburnerMatt's (spychild is his handle on buzznet) Photos
Photo-A-Day #171 09/26/05
My Dad built this bench in the backyard today. He used cobblestones for the legs and a large stone for the seat. It is going to look really nice once we complete the landscaping.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Photo-A-Day #170 09/25/05
Buzznet is down right now so I'm posting here first.
This is the margarita bucket. Very tasty, albeit my weekend nemesis. I had this bucket prepared and in the freezer for 8 hours, not one ice crystal. Then we drink half of it, leave it in the freezer over night and it freezes solid. So we leave it on the counter and finally it gets to the slushy consistency we know and love from a frozen margarita.
Weekend Recap
This weekend Allison and I did lots of shopping, some relaxation and spent some time with good friends.
On Friday night we went to see
Must Love Dogs at the
Route One Cinema Pub. As always the food was good and we both enjoyed the movie very much. I am a sucker for any John Cusack movie and well, Diane Lane was reason enough to go in the first place. But it was Cusack's neurotic rambling that made him a favorite of mine since
Say Anything,
Better Off Dead and
One Crazy Summer. Cusack's explanation of what he wants to do with his life at Diane Court's house for the family dinner is priceless. And in Must Love Dogs he gives another stellar performance as the sensitive guy with a heart of gold. Good movie.
Saturday Allison and I went to the Wrentham Outlets. We had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, where we picked up a game to add to out game night collection, (Spoons, good little card game). Then we headed up to the outlets, we were an hour early of the stores opening so we walked around a bit and decided where we would shop. I needed new sneakers, (so my old sneakers were 3 years old, big deal). I don't like getting new sneakers, I always say that when I find a pair I like I'm gonna buy 10 of them so I don't have to go shopping for them again. I am also not a shoe guy, I have two pairs of dress shoes (one brown, one black) that are the exact same style. They are comfortable so I bought two pairs. I then have a pair of motorcycle boots, which I only wear when riding. I have a pair of hiking boots, with I use to hike as well as outdoor work, and they usually rip up my heels on long hikes.) And I have a pair of sneakers. Now I have three pairs because I bought two pairs yesterday. And they are in the superwhite phase. I'll probably add my old sneakers to the pile that is in the storage box on the porch full of old shoes that I use when I mow the lawn.
After buying my shoes, Allison and I went to get her some sneakers at the Nike outlet, Nikes just don't fit me right. We then went to Famous Brand shoes so I could find some shoes for work that were more appropriate. Apparently mine are not, but I'm not discussing that.
Our last stop was Van Heusen so I could get some shirts for work. I a not a clothes guy, I don't like clothes shopping, so I buy one shirt that I like but in many colors. I finally took the time to look through the shirts in my closet and decide which neck size was best as well as which arm length. And I also figured out what style of shirt I most like. That would be oxford, it is the roughest of the styles, which include pinpoint, poplin and something else. But those are all too soft and flimsy, I want to know I am wearing a shirt. So I bought 5 shirts including two white ones, (I don't have any white shirts, not sure why). Great sale going on there, 30% off each item.
Then Allison went to my cousin Jen's baby shower (a little early) and I did some cleaning for our Game Night. I shopped for ingredients for chili and bongo bongo dip. And some tequila for margaritas. We used a margarita bucket that you fill and freeze, the instructions said that 8 hours would do it but after 8 hours I pulled out the bucket and it was like I hadn't even put it in the freezer. Weird.
We had Andy and Rondi, Neil and Andrea, and my Cousin Bill and his wife Jen over for Game night. It was a drinks and appetizers theme, so Allison made Bongo Bongo which is Knoors soup mix plus mayonaise, spinach, water chestnuts, sour cream and cheddar cheese baked and then italian garlic bread for dipping. Andy and Rondi brought crackers and dip, a cucumber dill dip plus they also brought some Mountain Dew Pitch Black version 2.0 which is sour. It wasn't too bad. And Andy also picked up pop rocks to bring over. We had those at the end of the night. Bill and Jen brought shrimp cocktail and a nice bottle of wine. Neil and Andrea brought homemade hummus (three kinds, olive, regular, and sun dried tomato) and homemade pita chips.
We had plenty of food and everyone dug in and shared stories. The stories went on for so long that we actually never played a game. I hope no one was disappointed about that, but it was a nice relaxing and funny night none the less. There was even a showing of "Un Mal Dia en la Vida de Enrique" a Spanish oral report that Andy and I made with another class mate, Scott, back in High school. There was much debate over whether or not I had a mullet back then, I did not, I just had the sides of my head shaved a little too closely, but the top was not short even though the back was a little long, but it was not a mullet. We shared some great and funny stories last night and it was alot of fun to have everyone over. Next time we will play a game.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Photo-A-Day #169 09/24/05
The back yard is certainly shaping up. Dad put up the rest of the fence today so the puppies have more room to run around. He also started work on creating a bench in the bacyard on the other side of the shed (not pictured) but he needs to get some new mortar to complete it. Should be looking really nice by the wedding.
Friday, September 23, 2005
The New TV Season
So far the new TV season is shaping up to have some really good shows. Of course the old favorites are back and better than ever.
Here's a recap of what we're watching at our house
Monday night -
King of Queens (CBS) - It is time to put an end to this show. Sorry but I can't take the dumb, dumpy oblivious guy/hot wife thing anymore. For one thing Carrie isn't that hot and she is really very unpleasant. Put this show to rest.
How I met Your Mother (CBS) - Alyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Harris, how awesome is that. This show has some real potential and the voice over of Bob Saget is good too. I love the show and want more of it.
Two and a Half Men (CBS) - I love it, don't change a thing, the kid is going to be trouble this season, with the tween attitude. Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer are magic together, fantastic chemistry.
Out of Practice (CBS) - Take this off the air.
CSI Miami (CBS) - Squinty eyed, soft talking Lt. Kane is still the man. I see the introduction of new characters and I am glad that the rest of the cast is back and that they didn't kill anyone off on the first episode like last year. That was harsh.
Tuesday night
Bones (FOX) - Great chemistry between David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel are great together. Keep the tension between the two up. It makes for good tv. It is weird seeing David Boreanaz in the daylight, I keep expecting him to get mad and vamp out. Don't reveal too much of the characters personal lives yet, let that come out naturally, I think it is working so far.
My Name is Earl (NBC) - Laugh out Loud funny. Jason Lee is a great comedic actor, the way he delivers lines is fantastic. Ethan Suplee is equally as funny playing Earl's layabout brother. The "It Takes Two" scenes were priceless.
The Office (NBC) - Watch the BBC version, it is better, this is just too painful to watch.
Law and Order SVU (NBC) - Is this the year Elliot finally loses it. He keeps getting darker and darker. Still a gripping hour of TV
Wednesday -
LOST (CBS) - Is there anything else on Wednesday.
Law and Order (NBC) - Fell out of favor with it last season for an earlier bedtime, watched the season premiere, good, not great.
Thursday -
Joey (NBC) - What can I say I liked friends and I like this formulaic drivel. It is a guilty pleasure.
CSI (CBS) -
Glad to see that the team is back, interesting to see the openings of CSI Miami and CSI, one team came from all over and the other team all together. I wonder how the season will end.
Friday - Go out and do something
Saturday - Ditto
Sunday -
The Simpsons (FOX) - I will never get tired of this
The War at Home (FOX) - Michael Rappaport is very funny, I think I need to give this one more observation.
Family Guy (FOX) - Who can we offend this week. Another oblivious doofus with a hot wife, albeit she is a cartoon hot wife. I just watch to hear Stewie say something in that accent.
American Dad (FOX) - Family Guy part Deux. Nothing new here.
Crossing Jordan (NBC) -
Another leading woman with some major issues. Allison likes this show. I like Jerry O'Connell, have since My Secret Identity and Sliders. So I watch.
Photo-A-Day #168 09/23/05
Bees. I actualy have no problem with bees, never have. I like them. And they leave me alone. I understand that some people are allergic and could have very bad things happen to them, it is the no allergic folks who spaz out around bees that drive me nuts. Calm down and they won't sense the spaz in you.
Friday Foul-up
Taking a Page from
Wes' book and naming my posts for the days of the week. Don't worry this will only happen once.
So this morning after I go downstairs and put a load of laundry in the washer I am walking through my living room and turning on my computer when I hear my sister Tara shout up to me. "Did you put stickers on the trash bags?" (In our town you can put $1.75 stickers on your trash bags to the garbage men pick them up.) "Yeah" I respond kinda annoyed, "Of course I put stickers on the bags." I always put stickers on the bags after I have sealed them up with electrical tape (much easier and dependable than twist ties) Then I put them on the curb on Thursday night. Well, the bags were still there on Friday morning after the garbage men took all the trash from the rest of the street. However, there were no stickers on our bags. Someone removed our stickers (bag tags can also be substituted here) from our trash during the night. That is just annoying and sad. I swear I am beginning to get more and more annoyed with this street. What with the loud mouthed neighbors across the way sitting on their porch all day shouting at each other, the skateboarders tearing up the church steps and our granite walls, and the latest are the jerks on bmx bikes (do they still call them that) with trick pegs (not sure if that is what they are called, I am so old and out of touch with these damn kids) sliding along our granite wall, the noise goes right through me and it damages the wall. I can't stand those kids and am tempted to install
skate stoppers so I can see them smash their heads on the concrete (well, if they had been wearing helmets they would have been okay, can't save the stupid.).
Speaking of those damn kids, I have found an new web comic called
You Damn Kid! It is being optioned as a TV show. The premise of the comic is that there are these two kids who are growing up in the 50's or 60's and they are naive about what is going on around them but they made some interesting observations, it is like a twisted wonder years. However it is not safe for work. Some of the panels are a bit risque. However get past that and begin reading because some of the strips are snarf coke out of your nose funny.
Oh and I am home today for a dentists appointment, "fun, fun".
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Photo-A-Day #167 09/22/05
Oliver likes to make you think that he is the cute and innocent one. He is most often the instigator of little brawls that the boys have. I caught him in the act of swatting Duncan.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Photo-A-Day #166 09/21/05
Saint Marys Sacred Heart School is where I went to grade school. Allison and I went for a walk tonight, this is a nice new sign on the school.
Target discipline...
I was at Target yesterday picking up a few things, Like a DVD cleaner, (Didn't work the DVD burner still doesn't work, evil machine) and some clearance Premium HP photo paper (suckers) and an ink cartridge for the photo printer (which should take the HP 58 ink cartridge but I digress, oh the one I bought when I bought the computer back in February fits my Dad's printer, so free ink cartridge for him.)
But what I saw while standing in line was a woman with two kids behind me actually follow through on a threat to leave the store. The woman's screaming little girl would not behave so the woman took her pocketbook and her two kids and left the store. She left the entire cart with her purchases and left the store completely. I wanted to applaud.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Photo-A-Day #165 09/20/05
Guess what is in here. Can't show you till November 12, 2005.
Free daily su-doku game, the home of su-doku on the Internet: "Su-doku puzzles (also spelt Sudoku) are 9x9 grids of numbers, subdivided into 3x3 blocks. When you begin a puzzle, some of the numbers are already filled in, and you have to fill in the blank squares using logic. You must fill the grid so that all the numbers 1-9 appear in each row, column and 3x3 box. However, no row, column or 3x3 box may have two of the same number. "
This game is wicked hard. And addictive. It is definetely harder than the set game. I found this by visiting
Katie's Page. Katie went to Saint A's and is now in Law school in New York. Her blog is fairly new, she even mentions this blog in one of the posts but didn't give a link to the site. For Shame.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Photo-A-Day #164 09/19/05
I collect wolf items, for a while I was getting wolf beer steins delivered to me each month. I displayed them everywhere at my apartment when I was a Residence Hall Director, now they adorn the tops of the shelves in the kitchen and on top of a bookshelf in the bedroom. I think I have enough wolf stuff. Someday when I get the basement I will eventually have there will be the guys room with my wolf steins and transformers.
Stepped on a pop top?
Never fear you can buy new footwear here.
Margaritaville Footwearsome really nice flip flops and boat shoes.
International Talk Like a Pirate Day
It just crept up on me mateys. Today is my 4 year anniversary at work as well as
International Talk Like a Pirate Day The guys who came up witht he holiday have their own book now:
Pirattitude!.
Here is my yearly list of piratical links.
Books
Movies
Pirate Links
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Being Productive...
This weekend Allison and I have been very productive with regards to the wedding preparations. We've ordered the cake. Made another deposit to the Holiday Inn (big one too, ouch). We've taken care of some of the things on the registry. Allison is hard at work on her thank you notes from the shower. I'm working away at the computer trying to make our DVD-R/CD-R drive work correctly, it stopped working and made me incredibly annoyed. I borrowed Tara's CD burner to get going on the wedding favors. My top secret project, is no ordinary CD so don't even think you've guessed what it is. I completed the covers for the CD cases and stuffed the cover into each case. Then I completed an experiment that will work for the rest of the process once we get that one last piece of the puzzle. I will be so glad when this is complete.
Today I did a few things that have been in the back of my mind to get done on the computer. Print some pictures, organize others and whatnot. I finally went through my ink on my
HP Photosmart 245 (Portable Photo Printer). So then I open my HP Ink Cartridge #58 to put in a photo cartridge. It is the exact same size as the #57 that was already in it. Its the same size it should work right? Wrong. This photo printer cannot use the photo ink cartridge. I was more than a little annoyed to find this out. And I opened the box and everything. I bought it months ago and was planning to use it when this cartridge ran out. So I am stuck with it. I'll try and sell it on my company website. But now I have to go and get a new ink cartridge for this printer and Friday I went to Comp USA and made a big purchase to get the 6 months same as cash option. Oh well. I don't know why I even thought that this would work with the printer. Maybe because they are the same size and sold right next to each other. My mistake, just annoyed with myself for making it.
I do have to say that I really like HP printers, the inks last forever and they run and run.
Photo-A-Day #163 09/18/05
Yesterday I bought Allison a webcam so that when I am on the road we can talk face to face as long as I have a high speed connection. This past trip we started up a conversation via msn messenger so we could play games together (tic-tac-toe and checkers.) I already had a web cam and had every intention of buying Allison one a while ago, guess I forgot each time I went into Comp USA. Well I got Allison a
Logitech QuickCam Communicate STX and I have a
Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Pro.
While testing them out together to make sure that everything works properly I came up with the idea for today's photo. I set up my digital videcameraer on the mantel, set up both webcams and sat down and played around for a little while then watched the tape and chose a frame I liked.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Photo-A-Day #162 09/17/05
Oliver has just been so cute today. We've been working on the wedding all day too. Got the cake ordered, another deposit of money to the reception site, and the wedding favors. Spent alot of time with the cats today. Got them a couple new toys, they are excited about them.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Photo-A-Day #161 09/16/05
Today's photo is of the yellow man. He is not the original yellow man but is a yellow man none the less. And he is squishy.
People in airport security lines...
are both rude and annoying this morning. I am at the Tallahassee airport (free wi-fi, cool I can vent for free.) this morning. I just came through security. When I say that this is a small airport I mean haircare and tire store municipal airport small (okay maybe not that small but it only has about 10 gates.) So I am in the security line and genius #1 is trying to stuff his bag into those grey boxes. PEOPLE the grey boxes are for laptops, not your oversized bag that should have been checked in the first place. Then the genius #2 in front of me can't get her stuff together in a timely manner so I politely wait for her to compose her pile of junk. As I am stepping up to the table to perform my ritual of efficiency and amazing security line skill and another woman cuts right in front of me. WHAT! Excuse me! Hell no you did not just cut me you snitty witch. We're the only four people in line was there a need for you to get through security half a second faster? Honestly the first plane doesn't leave here for another 30 minutes. I am so annoyed.
So here are some airline tips for you.
1.) Get to the airport early, your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part. That goes for anything in life plan or get left behind.
2.) use some decorum people, don't be rude snotty or complain about the security line. This is a fact of life, deal with it. Besides I don't want to hear you.
3.) Read the signs. The security line is not difficult, there are big signs with pictures everywhere, look at them.
4.) Get ready to go through the metal detector. Take everything, EVERYTHING! Out of your pockets. I'm gonna lose my mind the next time I wait behind someone who sets the metal detector off like a Vegas slot machine for five minutes before they finally realize that the set of keys in their pocket set off the detector. If this is you then you should get a full cavity search and maybe the TSA official might find your brain in one of your cavities, you know the one.
5.) Don't cut, not even Chinese cuts from back in grade school, it was rude then, it is rude now.
6.) If you have a complaint about something and are going to write a letter to the airport, do that. Don't tell me about it I do not care. Shut up and write the dang letter. Actually don't complain at all, your complaintss aren't original and your whiny voice isn't pleasant to listen to.
So if you follow these simple rules you most likely won't piss me off, too much. And our flights will be a positive experience.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Speed Reading with New Technology
The technique of speed reading is exploding online. With the technology of Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) you can speed read up to 700 words per minute and comprehend it all. With RSVP text is brought you your eyes unlike traditional reading where your eyes move towards the text. With practice RSVP may help you to read more quickly and with greater comprehension on your PC. The cool thing is that the words just keep coming at you and your mind can absorb them without running into two problems with regular reading which are regression and sub-vocalization. Sub-vocalization is the process of speaking each word inside your mind. The phonetics method of reading, the way we are taught in school, teaches you to pronounce each letter in a word to form a complete word. Regression is when the reader re-reads either consciously or sub-consciously.
I read an article about RSVP in
Mobile magazine. They have an RSVP simulator on their website.
Check it out here. So I checked it out and found a real speed reading program called
Speed Reader Plus. I installed it on my Pocket PC and gave it a try. I read two short stories this morning. They were An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and one called If You Lived Here. Both together took me about 20 minutes total. I was up to 400 words a minute.
What I really want is the ability to speed read my
Microsoft Reader books. I was unsuccessful in finding software that would do that. If anyone can find a speed reading software program for
Microsoft Reader that would be great.
So I ended up finding
Project Guttenberg.
Project Guttenberg's mission statement is "To encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
Project Guttenberg is the first and largest single collection of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of
Project Guttenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.
I wasn't sure what to start looking for so I picked through the top 100. Books are public domain books, lots of classics. I picked up.
I wonder if I can read any one of those books by the time I get home tomorrow? I wonder if my battery will last long enough.
Photo-A-Day #160 09/15/05
A flower from outside of the hotel. Not much else that I thought of to get pictures of today. But this was a very pretty flower.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Trailer
The Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Trailer is up.
It looks awesome!
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Trailer.Allison and I will have to see the movie upon our return from the honeymoon. The Movie comes out November 18th.
The Bonefish Grill
I've been reading alot about
bonefish recently. The Jimmy Buffett books,
Where is Joe Merchant and
A Salty Piece of Land both mention
bonefish. And I was wondering what one was. Last night I ate at
The Bonefish Grill and asked the waitress what one was, however she didn't really know. So I turned to the internet and found the information.
Bonefish are found primarily in the shallows of the Florida Keys. Makes sense as that is where alot of the Buffett books take place. Well now I can put a picture of what a
bonefish is in my head as I finish
Where is Joe Merchant.
The Bonefish Grill however was a fantastic place for dinner. I had swordfish topped with sauteed spinach, bacon, and a creamy gorgonzola sauce. Very tasty.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Kayaking last Saturday...
I finally got a chance to get the pictures up from this past Saturday.
Kayaking on the Pocassett River
Photo-A-Day #159 09/14/05
There are tons of these little lizards around the patio at the Residence Inn here in Tallahassee, FL. They are very hard to get close to and these guys are super fast. They made me jump because I wasn't expecting to see 15 little lizards tearing across the walkway as I walked up to the door to the hotel. Cute little buggers though.
Fawn Lebowitz Memorial Golf Tournament
The radio station in Fort Wayne was sponsoring the Fawn Lebowitz Memorial Golf Tournament to honor Fort Wayne's most famous dead fictional character. Beth e-mailed me with the correct answer as to who Fawn was. She was an unfortunate woman who died in a tragic kiln explosion. JR sums it up better than I do.
"The only Fawn Lebowitz I remember is from Animal House at Dickinson College for Girls. She died in a Kiln Explosion. Otter uses this information to acquire dates for he and his fraternity brothers. Which leads to my favorite quote while the group is listening to Otis and his band.""You gentlemen mind if we dance with yo dates?"
Yep that Fawn Lebowitz.
So this morning I got up at 4:00am in Fort Wayne, made my way to the airport. The roads around Fort Wayne are a tragic mess. I decided not to use my directions which had turn right onto unnamed road more than once. I looked at the map and figured it was a couple of turns, well it was I just didn't count on how many turns it was. I got to the airport in plenty of time but that is because I am neurotic about missing flights. When my plane landed in Atlanta to transfer to the flight to Tallahassee The ground crew was not ready so we sat on the plane for 15 minutes and I had 20 minutes to get from one end of the airport to the other, luckily they have trains. But when I got to the plane I was the absolute last person to board the plane. It was pretty near empty and yet someone was sitting in my seat. How difficult is it to read the first 6 or 8 letters of the alphabet and watch them to the little pictures. Honestly how hard is it. Sometimes I wish the stupid virus would just kick off those infected. But I grabbed a row to myself and slept for the short 36 minute flight.
I stopped at the
Capital City Harley Davidson in Tallahassee, FL. Thom the owner was very nice and gave me a pin and an oil cover sticker free. Sweet. The pin is just a generic round dealer pin but hey it was nice to get one free.
I then made my way to the hotel. I was there way to early and got a nasty reception from a very large and in charge woman at the front desk. I got there at 12:00 and could not check in till 3:00. So I drove around for an hour looking for a place to eat and a movie theatre. I also wanted to get a bathing suit. I needed to jump in a pool.
I finally found an AMC theater and because I am an
AMC Movie Watcher I used my
AMC Movie Watcher card and got a free small popcorn. Sweet. I saw the
Transporter 2.
Let me tell you Jason Statham kicks ass seven ways from Saturday. He is so cool. There were times during the movie where everyone in the theatre gasped or cheered or clapped at his moves. This movie had some much action in it. Granted it was way over the top and far out of the realm of possibility but it was so fun to watch. If you haven't seen
The Transporter then check it out, then go and see
Transporter 2.
So after I saw
Transporter 2. I went and picked up two bathing suits, one from Pacific Sun (for a simple $10.00 for a $45.00 overpriced pair of water friendly shorts) and a pair for $4.98 at Burlington coat factory. One thing I noticed is that there are not alot of bathing suits for sale. I stopped at a Wal-mart, a TJ Maxx and these stores and there were very few to choose from. The thing is I am in FLORIDA. It is sunny and warm and time to go swimming almost year round, I would think that bathing suits would always be in stock. I was wrong.
So now I am going on a photo safari to hopefully capture one of the little lizards that are running all over the place. I want one for Photo-A-Day.
Also my good friend and a dang funny woman Mo now has her own blog. It is called
http://wereinafight.blogspot.com/. Visit her and throw her a hello.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Photo-A-Day #158 09/13/05
This is the menu from the Cork and Cleaver. Pretty interesting menu. The restaurant was also a very interesting place. They had caviar at the salad bar as well as jelly belly jelly beans.
Monday, September 12, 2005
There's a Porcupine in My Outhouse
I just finished
There's a Porcupine in My Outhouse by Michael Tougias. It was a very good read. Quick and easy and entertaining. So I finished the book and read the last page listing all of his other books. Here is what the last page says.
"Tougias give narrative slide presentations for each of his books, including There's a Porcupine in My Outhouse. If you or your local library are interested in his slide presentations or would like a brochure of his books, please write to him at P.O. Box 72, Norfolk, Massachusetts 02056" Norfolk, the guy live about 25 miles from me, I thought, (Then I read further, he actually lives in Franklin, MA, but it is still very close to me.) Then I read more, he has articles published in the Sun Chronicle, our local newspaper. Now I feel I must write to him and find out when he is doing a slide presentation next. Hopefully it is at a library near me.
It makes me a little sad however that my Great-Uncle Richard had this book and it was signed by Michael Tougias, I didn't know that Great-Uncle Richard enjoyed books like this. I wonder if he met Michael or it was a gift or if he even read the book, and I never will. That made me sad at the end of this book. I'd have like to have talked to Great-Uncle Richard about what he thought of the book. Talk to your family members about the books they read, you may find that you have alot in common with them, do it before it is too late.
Here is a list of the other books that Michael Tougias has written
And he has some others...
I had the Jones Soda too. It is pretty tasty stuff.
Went to this restaurant tonight called the cork and cleaver. The menu was on an actual meat cleaver. One of the heaviest menus ever.
Photo-A-Day #157 09/12/05
I picked up these mini cans of soda at Target in Fort Wayne along with the Reeses Peanut Butter Cookies. The cookies were really good, I'm cooling off the soda now. They should be tasty. Got a dial up connection here, not feeling real inspired. But I really liked how this can looked, that's why I bought it.
In Fort Wayne...
Flew from Providence to Fort Wayne today. Stopped briefly in Cincinnati. Flew on Delta this trip. Haven't flew on this airline for 3 years. I think I took one flight on Delta back in 2001 or 2002. I am about 200 miles away from having 4 tickets on Delta however. That is because I found a great deal through goldpoints.com (The point program through Radisson hotels as well as T.G.I. Friday's. In 2001 I bought $100.00 worth of magazines and that translated into over 40,000 airline miles. It was a pretty sweet deal. I'll probably use these tickets when we next head to Disney.
Speaking of Airline miles, the honeymoon has now been completely paid for. The total cost out of pocket to us ended up being less than 1/3 of the total price. When I made the final payment I was able to use the miles I had acquired during the time between the last payment made, that translated into 32,000 miles. I was glad to part with them and put some ease on our wallet. Can't wait for Aruba!
Actually I have to say that I can't wait for the wedding, today marks 2 months till the wedding. Allison and I have been working ferociously on the planning lately and I've been working on that super secret project for the wedding favors. We went to dinner last night at the place where we are having the rehearsal dinner. It was another good meal. They have an all you can eat family style chicken dinner for $9.99 on Saturdays till 4 and Sunday till 8. We got a few more questions answered from the folks at the Moose Cabin and are really excited for the Rehearsal dinner.
The Moose Cabin has monday night football and $0.25 wings on Mondays and a Texas Hold Em tournament each Tuesday. And they want to start doing country line dancing there. Allison and I said that we were very excited about doing some line dancing. They haven't started it yet but were happy to hear that people were interested.
I am reading one of the books that came from Great Uncle Richard's house. It is called
There's a Porcupine in My Outhouse subtitled 'Misadventures of a Mountain Man Wannabe' by Michael J. Tougias. I like his writing style and reading about his misadventures in a Vermont cabin on a lake has been fun. The book is autographed too. I would compare the book to Bill Bryson's
A Walk in the Woods but the dust jacket already beat me to it. It is a short book and I should be done with it later today I am halfway through already.
Well I had a few minutes to charge up my pocket PC and add a few new songs to the MP3 player, ready for the next leg of my flight to Fort Wayne.
So the flight from Cincinnati to Fort Wayne arrived before I left. The flight was only about 45 minutes and I crossed from Eastern to Central Time. This was one of the only flights that this has occurred in this way in my four years of flying. I only had time to listen to three songs with the plane going up and then down super quick.
I'm in Fort Wayne and listening to the radio today I heard an ad for the Fawn Lebowitz Invitational. Can anyone tell me who Fawn Lebowitz was? The first to guess correctly gets bragging rights. Don't cheat and look it up on the Internet.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Photo-A-Day #156 09/11/05
Allison had her bridal shower yesterday. I came home to see the font hall filled with her gifts. Thank you everyone! We have such nice and generous friends and family. Thank you!
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Photo-A-Day #155 09/10/05
Today Dad and I went kayaking with my Uncle Wayne. We went out of the Pocassett River around Toby's Island and across to the Mashnee Island Beach Club for lunch. It was nice to pull up with our kayaks and head up to the outdoor porch and have some fantastic food by the ocean. Then we headed back over to the Car and came home and spent a couple of hours on the beach. It was a very productive day for relaxing.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Photo-A-Day #154 09/09/05
Tomorrow is Allison's shower, (she knows so I'm not spilling the beans here) and her Maid of Honor Elise drove up from PA with a mystery guest, Allison's friend Emily. Emily and Elise just arrived and I already had the camera out. So they are photo-a-day for today. Don't the ladies look good for spending 8 hours straight driving?
Happy Birthday Erik!
It is Erik's birthday today. Erik is my brother-in-law. This is a picture from Tara and Erik's wedding back on October 4, 2003.
Brady Kung Fu
I read in Mobile Compputing about a Brady Bunch Themed Kung Fu game. The game allows you to fight brady against brady. Guess building a house of cards wasn't enough action, disputes are now being settled kung fu style. This game is coming soon for your mobile phone.
Mobliss - Brady Kung Fu Disco
Have you seen this, Wooo Wooo!
In California there are some modifications being made to mufflers so that they whistle and the sound can be heard for up to a mile. But as Bubb Rubb and Lil Sis say, "dats just fo- dec-o-ration". Now I've never heard of a decoration that you cannot see but can only hear. But that is just me. Also keep you eyes open for the car tearing off through a stop sign and almost causing an accident on camera. Makes you scratch your head and say, Woo Woo!
Check out this latest craze and the whacked out folks who explain why "s'all good."
The VideoThe Song
New CD by The Kieran Ridge Band
I got this e-mail the other day from
The Kieran Ridge Band. Not sure if we will be able to make the show but if you are in the area, go and check this band out. If you haven't heard of them before you soon will. They are going to be big.
The Kieran Ridge Band is also on
Myspace. Check them out at
http://www.myspace.com/thekieranridgeband. Heck I'm on
Myspace as well. Check me out at
http://www.myspace.com/benspark. Allison is also on
Myspace and she is much more active on it than I am. Check her out by going to my myspace and then clicking on friends.
Anyway back to the reason for this post.
The Kieran Ridge Band is having a CD release party I encourage you to go, or if you can't go, order one of the CD's from the band's website.
Our new CD "Nothing Left To Lose" is ready.
On Saturday, September 17th
The Kieran Ridge Band will be having our CD release party at
Great Scott in Allston.
This is by far the most important show we've played so far and we'd like to invite all of you to join us for what should be a great night.
We're joined by our friends
Reverend Bob and the Darkness. They're one of our very favorite Boston bands and they're celebrating the release of their new CD "Endsville." You can visit Rev. Bob at
www.gosaveyourself.com.
Also on the bill is another excellent Boston band called
Aloud, .
www.allthingsaloud.comGreat Scott is one of Boston's best music clubs. We'd like as many of you to come on out to enjoy the show as possible...and bring your friends. If you haven't seen us yet or for a while, this is the night.
We'll also be playing two shows this week. Thursday at the
Court Tavern in New Brunswick New Jersey with a local band called The Natural Breakdown.
http://www.courttavern.netSaturday we'll be at the
C-Note in New York City,
http://www.thecnote.com
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Webcomic Hurricane Relief Telethon
See the banner at the top of the page. That will be up till the webcomic telethon is over.
Blank Label Comics is hosting a webcomic telethon to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. It will be held the week of Sept. 12 at
www.webcomictelethon.com. Actual dates are to be announced later.
As you probably know I really like web comics (See the Webtainment dropdown menu on the right) and am looking forward to what the participants are going to do for the telethon. Not sure why it is called a telethon because most donations will probably go through paypal or something like that. Oh well it is a good thing that the artists are doing. So check it out and help them raise some money for Hurricane Katrina Relief.
If you like what they are doing and want to support the red cross at www.redcross.org directly go ahead and do that.
Photo-A-Day #153 09/08/05
This is the task ahead of me this evening. Clean out the bookcase in the living room. Time to get those VHS and DVD's organized and attack the cat sized hairballs that must be lurking in that corner.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Photo-A-Day #152 09/07/05
"Its yum yum fun and its cool and clean and its name is the Snoopy snow cone machine. You drop an ice cube in and get a snow cone out yum yum fun is what its all about."
Do you remember having one of these. I didn't have one but a friend of mine did back when we were kids. Allison bought this one for me as a housewarming gift when I moved into the apartment. It now is a decoration in the kitchen.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Photo-A-Day #151 09/06/05
My sister Tara found the pig and the cow at a yard sale. My Dad raised a pig and some cows when he was a kid. These are a suprise for when my parents came back from their vacation.
New Month, New Photo-A-Day
Photo-A-Day is spreading, I've picked up a few more subscribers and am very happy about it. This month has already started to have some exciting and diverse images. Getting down to the Cape has helped me with the subject matter immensely. If you would like to add
Photo-A-Day to your website please use the highlight routine on the right to copy the code you will need to add
Photo-A-Day to your site.
Monday, September 05, 2005
Happy Birthday Grandma and Grandpa
On Wednesday my Grandpa turns 79 and then on Saturday my Grandma turns 79. Mom, Dad, Allison and I went over and visited them. We brought over lobster and tuna fish sandwiches and a nice chocolate cake. Grandma and Grandpa have a birthday celebration planned at the local Indian Casinos. Good Luck and Happy Birthday!
Photo-A-Day #150 09/05/05
Had some lobster for lunch today. We celebrated my Grandparent's 79th birthdays. We've got grandma's on the 7th and grandpa's on the 10th. Mom and Dad and Allison and I went over for lunch and had lobster and a birthday cake.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
Photo-A-Day #149 09/04/05
This is a view down the beach from where we usually sit each day at the Cape. The stuff in the foreground is a private beach, there is this doctor from California that owns the house that would be off to the left. He loses it every time someone walks along that beach, he never uses it himself but is always up for a tangle with anyone who crosses his fence.
An evening on the American Dream...
Yesterday Allison and I got a few things accomplished. We did some shopping at the Christmas Tree Shop for the wedding. We also got in some very important beach time and reading done. I have one more story to read from
Tales from Margaritaville. It is a good book and that is where the character of Tully Mars came from. That initial short story is the best one out of the whole book. Tully Mars is the main character of
A Salty Piece of Land. I started reading
Tales from Margaritaville back about a year of so ago when I was still working with a hospital in Baltimore. I remember reading the story of Tully Mars as the Southwest cattle car was taking off from Providence and touching down at BWI (my second least favorite airport, Logan you know you hold the honor of being my most despised airport ever. Good for you!) I'll finish Tales from Margaritaville today and start
Where is Joe Merchant? A Novel Tale, also by Jimmy Buffett.
Anyway while we were improving our tans we got a call from Neil, (my best man) and he and his wife Andrea were up on the Cape and wanted to go for a sail on his 26 foot sailboat, The American Dream. Great we decided to meet at 3:30 after we finished up our sun worshipping and made a couple stops to pick up provisions. We got going earlier than expected but ate up that extra time at Wal-Mart because everyone and their second cousin was in Wal-Mart during a beautiful day. We were there to pick up some more sunscreen, dessert, hot dog buns, ketchup and soda. We got to Neil's parent's house on Monument Beach and packed up the rest of the provisions. I brought Allison and Andrea out to the dock. Neil was already rowing out to the sailboat. I then picked up a couple more bags of ice and made my way over to the dock on foot, you need a sticker to park at the beach. I got there right as Neil was pulling up. We motored out of the harbor and made our way to a big pile of rocks with a flashing green light on it, there we put up the sails and tried to coax some wind into them but we ended up losing ground. We wound our way around Wing's Neck and then over to Bassett's Island to anchor for a while and have dinner. There was a big party going on with a band playing on a floating platform. They were playing all the party songs. One of the 50 boats that was tied up around the island had a great pirate flag on it, we heard some Buffett and life was good. We anchored away from those boats so we could hear the band but not be overpowered by the sound.
Neil then set up the charcoal marine grill. We ate at a leisurely pace, and that is all I am going to say about that, except for one thing. Match Light.....doesn't. We had a good laugh and a fun time with Neil and Andrea, they are great hosts and good sailors. We stayed out there and saw a fantastic sunset, shared a good meal, had the best corn of the entire season and had a visit form Neil's friend Darren. Darren motored out on his Boston Whaler while we flashed out flashlight out at him so he could find us. We got under way to head back to Monument Beach around 10:50pm or so. We landed back at the dock around 12:15am. I sat up at the bow for most of the ride back, which was under motor because there was no more wind. But it was a nice and calm ride back to the dock. The gentle sway of the ocean almost put me to sleep, but my fear of falling asleep and off the boat was too strong to let me sleep. I got alot of great photos while we were sailing and will post them once I get on a high speed connection. So look for a sailing album on my
Buzznet blog.
Sailing Gallery is now up. - posted 09/05/05
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Photo-A-Day #148 09/03/05
Beautiful sunset off of Bassett's Island on the Cape. A view from Neil's boat. Allison and I went with Neil and Andrea on their boat for an evening sail. We started at 3:30 and returned to the dock at 12:30am. We had a great time.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Photo-A-Day #147 09/02/05
I'm not a fan of baskets, we have them everywhere, however this one I like. It is metal and has a really nice scene. Tonight Allison and I are down the Cape with my mom. We had some Paul's pizza and some Papa Gino's pizza (don't ask!).
From a Simpler, Better era. the 80's. It has the Encyclopedia Britanica guy!
X-Entertainment's Download Center - Watch Hundreds of 80s Commercials, FREE!
Stunned... Hurricane Katrina
Yesterday I sat and watched the news for hours on end, stunned at what I was seeing. I felt numb after watching all the reports as if all the tears in the world were not enough. People dying in the streets of our own country because of dehydration and starvation. And what is worse there are the opportunistic scumbags around looting for gain, looting alcohol, and weapons. Looting for survival and food I can understand. But the reports of such degeneration into unbridled lawlessness is heart breaking. With gangs out looting for weapons and then shooting at relief workers, or raping and killing people, it is just sick. Why would someone go and risk their lives to help when that is happening. But people do and there are people who genuinely need help who have nothing not even hope.
I saw reports about rescue workers volunteering with the Red Cross and being trained up here to go down there. I pray for their safety.
I saw a report about some kids in Walpole who have raised $1,000.00 so far by selling lemonade and cookies on the side of the road. The children make me cry. Seeing how they are affected by this, how families are being torn apart and how children from around the country are responding to help.
I also pray for the safety of the FEMA worker Jenn that was on my flight on Monday and her dog Taboo. The weeks ahead are going to be so emotionally crushing for her and her dog. Did you know that occasionally live people have to hide so that the dogs do not get so depressed about only finding dead bodies. Let's also not forget that many animals were also displaced along with people. I can't even imagine that the term refugees is being used to describe people in this country.
Donations. Do not get scammed about donating. Again the opportunistic dirtbag are out and about. The American Red Cross is the best place for you to send your money to help. Make sure you go directly to their website at http://www.redcross.org. Don't go through links on websites or through links from e-mails as they can easily redirect you to bogus sites. It is sad that that is the case but for your own piece of mind go directly to the Red Cross site on your own. I am a scrupulous person and I'm not even going to put a link directly to the site so you know I am serious.
I was supposed to be in New Orleans on the 14th of September. That would have been my first time ever in that city and the sate of Louisiana. Now I will most likely never go and see that city. Never like it was. And this week my trip got cut short because of Hurricane Katrina and I didn't end up going to Alabama as I expected. I pray that the clean-up and aid and recovery gets more organized and the recovery workers can do their jobs safely and that the people who were affected by this disaster get the help that they need.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Photo-A-Day #146 09/01/05
Looks like we've got a little project to work on this evening. All the pieces of the wedding invitation have been printed and now we need to put them together and mail them out. Hopefully we can see them sent by the end of next week.
August Trivia winners
August was another strong month of play. We got some new faces on the winners board too. Keep playing folks.
69 players played during the month.
1. abennett48 (404 points, 4 wins)2. johngalt (339 points, 0 wins)
3. dbarryzzz (333 points, 4 wins)
4. Gamblor (332 points, 4 wins)
5. Mo (312 points, 3 wins)
6. ekstaron (271 points, 0 wins)
7. alsparky (259 points, 1 wins)
8. tvossen (257 points, 0 wins)
9. super stud (229 points, 3 wins)
10. Gilly71 (207 points, 0 wins)
