The BenSpark - Drew and Allison's Blog

Photo-A-Day #540 09/30/06

Today Allison and I went out to the Wrentham Arts show and then to Adam's farm. Adam's farm was a nice little place and we got some farmstand apples and walked around and got a few pictures. Here is the gallery.

Photo-A-Day #539 09/29/06

Tonight Allison and I went to dinner at Andy and Rondi's place. They are back from their honeymoon and have broken out many of the great wedding gifts that they received (you got a jump on us by about a year on that one). The photo above is Andy's new toy. A Butane torch for Creme Brulée. But I am getting ahead of myself.

On my way home from work I stopped by the Big Apple (because I was avoiding the giant cluster that is 495 between exits 17 and 14) and picked up some fresh baked donuts for Andy. He was excited to get some of the tasty treats. I was excited because Andy not only made Burritos for dinner but scallops wrapped in bacon for an appetizer. My favorite appetizer ever.

Dinner was delicious. We had a "Burritotastic!!" meal. Yep, Andy made a fine spread of Burrito fixings and we made our own Burritos while at the table. It was a fun and relaxed meal. After dinner and before Creme Brulée we played some trivia games on DVD that I got from Target for $2.48 each on clearance. Gotta love Target's clearances they are insane. One game was called Gender Wars - Girls vs. Guys and the other was . Both games were set up exactly the same except in the Girls vs. Guys one the two teams were Girls and Guys instead of Team 1 and Team 2. The game was entertaining and deemed worth the $2.48 but not $3.00.

Then it was time for Creme Brulée. Andy has been practicing making Creme Brulée since he and Rondi have been home from their honeymoon (we got to see some nice Pop Culture Triviaunderwater pictures from their scuba adventures too). And that practice paid off. I think it was a fantastic and creamy Creme Brulée that I have not tasted the equal of yet. Derek will have to stop saying that I make a fantastic Creme Brulée and give that honor to Andy. I got Creme Brulée Butane Torch envy too (And I know I had a whole set and returned it for some work shirt, it is my own fault, but I do have cool gadget envy.). After the awesome Creme Brulée (And the sugar on top made that perfect 'snap' or 'crack' when you put the spoon through it, Alton would be proud. Anyway after that we played Catch Phrase and were stunned at each other's descriptions of their given words. We played three rounds. Rondi and I vs. Andy and Allison, Andy and I vs. Rondi and Allison, and Allison and I vs. Rondi and Andy. Good time and a fun game.

We had a great time and so much fun. Once we can get out wedding stuff out of the front hall and have some room we will have to do up a fun meal and game night. Bring the Butane Torch.

Photo-A-Day #538 09/28/06

Today I got a little distracted with this cup.

I also learned how to do some cool stuff with Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0. I'm working on a video for work, should be fun to see how it turns out.

Tonight Neil and Andrea came over for dinner and to watch My Name is Earl and The Office. It was alot of fun to watch with those guys. And nevermind that the shows are so funny too. They also got sucked into watching CSI with us. This season the original CSI is the show to watch, last season it was CSI Miami and well, CSI New York, not so much.

BenSpark Marketplace

I am proud to announce that I have set up a Kodak Marketplace and it has a few images that I am selling via that site. If it does any business at all I'm going to upgradde to another type of MArketplace account through Kodak. In the coming weeks I will be uploading many more of my best photos. Buy a print or two they make for great wall hangings. BenSpark Marketplace

Why so much talk recently about Kodak and the Kodak website. Well, my company does a Staff Art Show each year and on my first year I entered 5 pieces. They were five of my favorite pictures, and they now hang in our room at the Cape. It is now my fifth year at work and I have been doing the Photo-a-Day thing for over a year.

I came up with the idea of entering something to do with Photo-A-Day as my exhibit piece this year. What I decided was to take the first 500 photos and make five collages of 100 photos each. I am calling it "500 days...500 photos" and I am pretty excited about how the collages have come out.

Here is what they look like. I am submitting them today to the show. The show isn't until the 24th of October.

Free Cold Stone Ice Cream Today

Go to Cold Stone between 5:00pm and 8:00pm for a free sample of ice cream. Cold Stone Creamery Hosts the Fifth Annual World's Largest Ice Cream Social

Photo-A-Day #537 09/27/06

The Phantom Gourmet was in my town today. That is a good thing. There was a murder up the road from our place. That is a very scary thing. The murderer was caught. So that is a good thing.

So I've been able to catch up on local and national news lately because I have been going to a gym since Monday. I've only been doing the bike and the treadmill so far but will be getting into a program on the nautilus machines.

I was in the supermarket today. I love coupons and try to use them as often as possible. I thought I did pretty good today because I got two packages of rice for free because I had a coupon. However, the guy in front of me had an entire basket full of stuff and then he pulled out the coupons and his bill came to $3.47 and I think he got some other coupons worth $5.00 so he actually got money back from shopping. I was standing there and I said to the guy, "That is amazing" It is the most amazing thing I've ever seen at the supermarket.

The Coreys: Return of the Lost Boys

Remember a while back when I said that there was going to be a sitcom starring the Corey's, Haim and Feldman. Well it turns out that it will actually be a reality show instead. Read for more info. 'Lost Boys' Found: A&E Reunites The Coreys

PvPonline.com

Today's PVP pretty much sums up the plight of the TV addicted. We know who we are. PvPonline.com

Photo-A-Day #536 09/26/06

Things just keep popping up around the house. The compost from the dump pumpkins also had squash seeds. So the pumpkins began to grow one way and the squash went the opposite. There were two squash however one got a bit nasty so it was off to Tara's composter. Maybe more will grow when we use that compost. As far as the pumpkins, we now have 4, they should be nice and orange but the time Halloween rolls around.

And speaking of Halloween, my friend Derek sent me this Halloween Game. Halloween bowling.

I created a Kodak Marketplace. I may try this out and sell some prints of some of my pictures. Who knows. http://marketplace.kodakgallery.com/benspark

Photo-A-Day #535 09/25/06

Today was the first time I used a Kodak Digital Photo Kiosk. It was pretty neat, very easy to do. I was using for an upcoming project that I participating in. More about that at a later date as the event approaches.

I joined a gym today, trying to get back into shape. The place is called Answer is Fitness. It is a new gym in our town and it has all new equipment. One really cool thing they have is a device that you can plug your headphones into and watch any of the dozens of TV's that are hanging from the ceiling. I look forward to getting back into a routine.

Watched the new show Heroes tonight. It was decent, looks like one you gotta follow, lots of twists and turns. Hiro is my favorite character at this time. You can view the whole premiere episode online at the NBC site. Check it out.

TV Show DeathWatch - Fall '06

Sign up to win by picking the next show to get cnacelled for this season. Brilliant But Cancelled - TV Show DeathWatch - Fall '06

Photo-A-Day #534 09/24/06

Today Allison and I were supposed to get together with Amy and Ryan if the weather was good, but it wasn't. So instead we ended up taking a drive over to the Big Apple in Wrentham after 8:00am mass. The Big Apple is a great family farm where people can go on wagon rides, pick apples and get fresh cooked donuts (well, unless you are Andy, sorry Andy.) We picked up some plums and an onion and some apple cider. Outside of the barn they had sunflowers for sale. They made a nice photo for today.

We then went to the supermarket to get our week's food. We planned this time. We took a look at a couple of our cookbooks this morning and decided on a couple of recipes to make this week. When we went to the supermarket I went to the deli to get some Boar's Head White American Cheese but ended up being given Land O Lakes. Oh well it was just a 1/4lb. While at the deli line this guy started up a conversation with me. I am a magnet for that, but I sensed that this guy needed to talk to someone. He told me that his wife has a very bad form of cancer. He just threw it out there. What do you say to that. So I listened. I guess that the other day he was supposed to pick up some hard salami for her and that was the one thing he forgot so he was getting it today. I placed my order and we continued to talk. They are working hard to beat the Cancer too. His wife is in a very aggressive new trial and he was optimistic. Then I got my order and it was his turn to order. He continued to tell me the story and finished as he placed his order. I waited till he placed his order and wished him good luck. Sometimes I can be human to another person, I know it surprised even me. We ran into Andy's parent's at the supermarket and told them that the DVD of the pictures was ready for Andy and Rondi. Andy and Rondi were going to visit Andy's parents today so I called and told him to swing by here first to pick up the DVD.

This afternoon Allison and I worked on a long overdue project and caught a few more episodes of Smallville. Andy and Rondi came by to pick up the DVD and we heard a few stories from their honeymoon. We are looking forward to seeing their pictures.

Well it is time to have dinner, A turkey/turkey sausage meatloaf from the Everything One Pot Cookbook.

Photo-A-Day #533 09/23/06

I posted a picture of this 18 days ago. This is a Sugar Pumpkin, or what we are calling a Dump Pumpkin because the compost that produced this pumpkin came from the compost pile over at the dump. So it is not going to be an edible pumpkin, at least we aren't going to eat any of them. Yes, there are more than one. We now have about six of them growing. And they are starting to turn orange.

I spent today with Ryan and his son Mason. We had a very nice day together. Allison and I drove over to Amy and Ryan's. Allison and Amy went to a Zeta meeting and then to an event at Curves for Breast Cancer Awareness. Ryan and I had lunch with Mason and then watched some Blue's Clues and put Mason down for a nap. Then Ryan and I went to the living room and each worked on our laptops on their wireless network. First I listened to the WesCast #3 and Wes answered some of my questions from a recent e-mail. I did some more searching for a new digital camera. I found some good deals online through E-Bay and a not sure if I want to act on them yet. May be waiting till after Bonus time to do that.

When Mason woke up from his nap the three of us went over to Wild Time Comics to pick up my comics and then to Comp Usa and PetSmart. Then we met up with Amy and Allison at Bugaboo Creek. Mason got a tiny bit cranky and to distract him I took out the camera and took a picture. That made him stop for a moment. I then took another picture and it made him cry. The light was too bright. I redeemed myself a bit later by showing Mason a video of a new VW bug transforming into a robot by Michael Smith (Click for More Transformer's videos). I think we made a Transformers fan today. After that first showing he wanted to see it again and again, so we got him to eat his dinner by showing the video ever few minutes after he had eaten some more. It isn't Dr. Spock but it ended up working.

Also today and last night Allison and I caught up on some of our taped shows. We had two episodes of Bones and two of Eureka. We discovered a new musician named Susan Enan and her wonderful song Bring On The Wonder.

Photo-A-Day #532 09/22/06

Duncan is not like other cats. Instead of chasing toys he chases the shadows of the toy until I put it right on top of Duncan. He's really funny when he chases shadows on the walls.

Okay, I am so frustrated with Gold Rush. Oh, I will still be playing it but it is frustrating. I got to the Gold Challenege and figured it out quickly but as I translated the riddle to Scrabble I was signed out and so when I put in the answer (the correct answer I was told it was incorrect. so I re-did the math and then even did it on an excel file. When I finally realized that I was signed out I was livid. After I tried all numbers between 200 and 250 I checked one of the answer centers and saw that there was a scrabble translator. I'm getting one of those gold bars man. It is gonna happen. If you are not playing Gold Rush you should be.

Pholph's Scrabble Generator

My Scrabble© Score is: 13.
What is your score? Get it here.

KarateParty.org - Chairman Prime

KarateParty.org - Chairman Prime Story about a 40 foot Optimus Prime in China.

Beer Cannon Montage

Crazy Rednecks with too much time on their hands. The high speed camera and music makes this video.

Photo-A-Day #531 09/21/06

The flowers are all starting to die off. There are a few stragglers.

Photo-A-Day #530 09/20/06

It was as good as it looked. From the Chowder Pot III on exit 56 on 95 in CT. I reccomend getting there for the early bird specials and getting the stuffed lobster. It was fantastic. The hot sauce was good on the frys.

Photo-A-Day #529 09/19/06

Arr, today me mornin’ started with a jaunty cruise to de’ tech. Today be me 5th year of swabbing the decks and keelhauling lubbers. Me captain give me no black mark ‘twas not in me cards for today. Today ‘twas bestowed upon me the north star of service. A mark to be proud of, me gait has a bit of an extra swagger on this day.

Arr methinks that the trek to the tech was in vain this morn. Twas not no reason for me ta be in the wild iffin me bunk was fair and true. Arr, so me scuttled me heathen arse out the door and sailed for home port. From me bunk I launched me attack across thar intee’net. Twas a good shot too, right on the target.

After the scuttlebutt I made haste to me ship and set sail for the Island that is long. Twas a grueling trip with nary a stop for nary sustenance nor privy. Avast, at thirty leagues from the island me wind died, twas right bad luck. I carried on and made landfall at 10 past the hour of 7 in the dark and stormy of night. Aye twas a terrible landfall, the natives were scoundrels the likes I’ve nary laid eyes upon. No room for a pirate the likes of me to pillage and plunder. Natives ‘twere ‘spectin’ me captain hisself and his ship, not me and my rusty scow. I invoked the right of parlay and the natives availed thee selves of their luxury and finery for meself, a poor miscreant.

I dined upon sweets of the sea the likes I nary laid me eyes upon. Yarr, me belly be full of fine orange mollusks. I be stuffed to the gills like a flounder's gullet on Christmas Day.

I pillaged and plundered the local storehouse for supplies that in me haste to set sail left me lacking me rusty knife for the shaving of me beard. Me eyes found a treasure chest in the storehouse and stole a fancy image with me soul stealer. I had me nary a doubloon to me name to buy me that fancy treasure chest. Looting were no option neither since here royal majesty’s guards were keepin’ a watchful eye upon the treasure.

Arr thee blade me pillaged from the storehouse cut like a rusty knife covered in barnacles that be left in yonder chumbucket fo' nary a month.

Talk Like A Pirate Day

It is once again upon us mateys! International Talk Like A Pirate day. I think Jimmy Buffett should get in on this somehow. Talk Like A Pirate Day - September 19

Today also marks my 5 year anniversary at work. I started here just five years ago. Today I got my star for 5+ years of service. Yar!

Here are some pirate videos from the Pirate Guys.

Here is a Pirate's Life web shorts.

Photo-A-Day #528 09/18/06

Something a little different today. I used some of the fun features of photoshop with a picture of our screen saver. Also sad news, one of Allison's fish died. Maybe that was my inspiration today. Poor guy.

tonight is the begining of the TV season. The first up was The Class. It wasn't half bad. Next was How I Met Your Mother. Good, I like the direction. Barney is still the best. He cracks me up. Two and 1/2 Men. Poor Alanm hopefully things will turn around for him. The show is getting a bit tired however. I don't get the belly laughs that I used to when it was fresh and new. It may fall out of my rotation.

I'll probably say more about The New Adventures of the Old Christine and CSI Miami when I watch them. Now It is time to get off the computer.

'Eragon' Trailer

Here is the full trailer for Eragon. coming December 15th. I can't wait!!

'Eragon' Trailer Premiere -- Extra-Large QuickTime - Moviefone

Complete Lost experience

Here is the complete video for the Lost Experience. Lost starts on October 4th. Can't wait!!!

Photo-A-Day #527 09/17/06

A bit of a lazy day today. Allison went to the Outlets with Amy over in Wrentham. We also went to a craft fair at the middle school. Later in the afternoon we visited my Uncle Richard's house for a BBQ and second birthday party for Grandma and Grandpa and Richard's girlfriend Sally. Nice place. On the way back we saw this guy riding around with his monkey.

Photo-A-Day #526 09/16/06

Buttons. Allison loves buttons, she has a button purse and a bunch of vintage buttons that she got from her grandmother. I always feel lie I have too many buttons. Shirts for work come with some extra buttons, pants too. By the time I wear out a shirt enough for a button to be lost it is past the point of no return. Apparently saving buttons was a huge thing long ago. And so we have tons of buttons. I'm not saying it is a bad thing, I collect transformers and don't open the boxes. They take up alot of space and do nothing. I understand that. I have always been a collector of things. When is it time to give something up, however? When is it time to thin things out? How much is too much? Do you always need the newest thing? Stuff to ponder.

Today I helped my Dad at the Attleboro house. He's been doing tons of work there. New floors, new paint, new bathrooms. He's put in alot of time and hard work. And it looks really nice over there. But there is still so much stuff. It gets overwhelming. It is so hard to part with stuff and we continue to accumulate more of it. How much is enough? I don't know. Eventually you're going to have all this stuff that is going to end up in a mason jar like the one above and it won't be useful for anything really except to look at. How can I break this attachment to stuff? I have no answers, just questions.

Photo-A-Day #525 09/15/06

Today I got home from Michigan and then headed up to Natick to a Buffettless Buffett party. The second of its kind. I was to bring and retire the Tiki of Death. That was retired early on in the night with a 750ml of Jose Cuervo margarita. The Tiki is still at Betsy's. I had a heck of a time getting up to Framingham to catch a ride over to the party. Allison came from work and we decided to leave my car at my office and I would get it tomorrow when Allison was on her way to book club.

I was coming up from the PVD airport and figured I would shoot up 146 to the pike and save myself some time. Nope that did not happen. No time was saved in fact time as wasted. I ended up going about 25 miles out of my way to end up one exit past the one I got off. I was coming up on 146 and noticed that there was a huge back up so I veered off onto 122 and ended up making a wide u-turn essentially.

The party was as always a very fun time. Betsy and Peter are fantastic hosts and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. I have some photos from the night that Allison too but won't be posting them anytime soon so as to protect the innocent. You know how you are and you'll be getting copies of these pictures. The photo of the day is safe though. Those are cheeseburger in paradise cookies. And they are mighty tasty.

I have a bonus picture for my friend Wes. This is me in the Saginaw airport listening to the WesCast. It is Wes' 'podcast' thing that he's been doing on his website. Wes is the creator of You'll Have That. Read it and listen to the WesCast.

Photo-A-Day #524 09/14/06

Okay so iGo is having a contest. It is called "Where Have You Taken Your iGo?". They are looking for the most unique location that the iGo has gone. You are supposed to take a picture of you and your iGo. The contest runs between September 12, 2006 to December 31, 2006. What I don't understand is who is taking their iGo and taking pictures of themselves with it. (Granted I just did for this contest and my photo is lame, even for a last minute photo-a-day picture.) What sort of place am I going to go with my iGo and get a picture before December 31, 2006? The reason I should really win this contest is that I've been using my iGo JUICE for four years and I have taken it across the country and into Canada. It accompanies me on every trip (except for the one where I forgot it and all hell broke loose, well at least in my world.) I've used it with three laptops, three cell phones and a PDA. This thing has been my lifeline on the road. I remember overlooking the city of Vancouver and charging my cell phone in my rental mini van so I could call my Dad. I use the iGo on the airplane all the time to write blogs and play video games and watch movies. I love this thing. So I need to get a great picture of me and my iGo so I can win the contest. The video for the picture was that I live out of my suitcase. I used the 10 second timer on the camera, I'm going to need some help with the 'unique' one.

You may have noticed some changes to the blog. First of all the buzznet photo strips are at the top now, one for me and one for ALLISON! Yep, Allison is catching the photo taking bug and will be posting from time to time. I couldn't be more excited to share this hobby with her. I also added some transformers news to the sidebar and I put the links to trivia under the Addicting Web Games drop down menu. Alot of the clutter is at the bottom of the screen, sort of like sweeping things under the bed. I may need them still but I want them out of sight. I figure that the important stuff should be at the top, newest things, photos, things that change often. I hope you enjoy.

Any suggestions?

Gold Rush - Online Game

Thank you Pop Candy. Try your hand at Gold Rush. Should be interesting to see how far I can go on this game.

Photo-A-Day #523 09/13/06

This fountain is in the Detroit airport. It is fun to watch, the jets of water go at different intervals and jump from one place to another. Then they eventually all begin to stream in a constant arc. I watched for a little bit, it sucks you in to watch.

While at the PVD airport this morning I ran into our friends Autumn and Kenny. Autumn just recently won the Ms. Wheelchair America Pagent in Little Rock Arkansas. They are heading to Florida for a personal appearance, not sure where exactly because my flight was boarding and they were off to their flight. We'll have to catch up with them soon.

I had my sneakers get some extra special screening and then at the gate had my bag get extra special screening. I'm feeling extra special today.

I began reading Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs, this is the 6th book in the series. I pretty much flew through the last two books and didn't even mention them. Fatal Voyage and Grave Secrets were very good books in the series, good character development, and Grave Secrets even ends leaving you guessing about something important in Temperance's Life.

I helped Tara move a few things out of her old room last night. We are slowly making progress on the condo. I think that cleaning out the closet is going to be a huge walk down memory lane for the family. Last night we saw fashions that weren't in fashion since the Nixon administration. Erik moved his stuff out of the closet with one hand. He's all done. His mantra of the evening was, "Get rid of it." In theory that should work but in practice not so much.

Allison's First photo post

Andy & Rondi's wedding reception
Posted by: alsparky on Buzznet

Andy & Rondi at the West Dennis Yacht Club at Sunset is my very first photo post! I did this all by myself!

Photo-A-Day #522 09/12/06

Ollie playing with the cat toys. Amazing. I hardly ever see him do this.

Carissa's and Chris's Cross Country Movie

Carissa's and Chris's Cross Country Movie. My cousin Carissa and her boyfriend Chris just moved to San Diego. They took a cross country road trip to get there. Then they sent us a link to their video of the trip. It was really well done. So if you want to check out a great road trip movie with a good soundtrack click the link.

Photo-A-Day #521 09/11/06

This is the September 11, 2001 memorial that was erected last year in my town. The project came about from an eagle scout for his arrow of light project. It is a very simple memorial with four sides, the front is pictured above. On one side it is in remembrance of those who died in New York, the next side is for those who died at the Pentagon, and the last side is for those who died in Pennsylvania. All around the base embedded in the rocks are the shields and logos for the branches of the armed forces along with the fire department and police department. The kid who set this up and coordinated the donations for this memorial was 14 years old at the time. Gives me a little hope for kids out there.

We will remember...

One of the Web Comic Artisits reflected on what he was doing 5 years ago. Here is my reflection.

I was working with my father that day. We were digging posts for a rather large deck on a friend of the family's home. The ground in Massachusetts is mostly clay and we were using an auger to do the digging. It took days to dig these holes and we were exhausted and frustrated. I took a break and drove out to Chase Lumber to pick up some brackets for the support beams. While I was in the store I heard someone say that a plane had hit the world trade center and in my mind I pictured a Cessna sitting on one of the top floors with the windows blown out around it but in my mind I pictured that no one was there and the pilot was okay. It wasn't until I got back in the Van and headed back to the job site that I noticed the radio Dj was crying and talking about how horrible things were with the plane crash. It still had not hit me. I got back and said to my Dad, "A plane hit the World Trade Center." Still thinking it was a small Cessna or something. We continued to work. It wasn't until the woman who's home we were working on came out and said, "You'd better come see this." And we went inside to see the reports. We packed up our materials and headed home. We turned on the TV just as tower 1 fell. We sat there unable to comprehend what was happening and then Tower 2 fell. It was all so surreal. I called my then fiance (now wife) Allison and asked if her boss or any co-workers had flown today. They frequently fly out of Boston all over the country. And they also had many meetings and clients at the World Trade Center. She said that no one was traveling and they were all safe. I was relieved. I can't remember if we went back to work that day or anything much after the towers fell. I was so heartbroken. That evening when Allison came home we just held each other can cried about it. We wandered in a daze downtown to a restaurant and bar and had dinner, the place was nearly silent except for the TV showing the events of the day.

Back from the weekend...

Allison and I are back from our long weekend. I have tons of pictures from the wedding and it will take a long time to go through, crop and edit out random passerbys but I will get some galleries of images up as soon as possible. Let me put it this way, I took 1 GB worth of images on the day of the wedding alone. Read the recaps below.

Photo-A-Day #520 09/10/06

Today Allison and I went to a Sunday Brunch at Rondi’s parent’s house in West Dennis. They had a wonderful spread of food and a beautiful home. Their home has such nice landscaping. We got there as one of the first people to arrive, surprise. The party started and many of their family and friends arrived. We spent some time talking about websites, photography and listened to Andy talk about kiteboarding. We had a great time at the Sunday Brunch and then we went to my grandparent’s house (Mom’s parent’s, we stayed with Dad’s parents this past weekend) for my grandparent’s 80th birthday. Mom made some finger sandwiches and we had 4 cakes, one for grandma and grandpa, one for Shelby, one for Erik and Tara made a gluten free one for grandma. We were joined by Tara, Erik, Mom, Dad, Shelby and then later my Aunt Luann and her daughter Lindsey came over, then Luann ran out to pick up her son Nick. So we had a full house. It was very nice to spend time and celebrate a milestone in my grandparent’s lives.

Taylor wishes Grandpa a Happy 80th.

Also a happy birthday goes out to my father-in-law Dan. Happy birthday Dano!

Photo-A-Day #519 09/09/06

Today Allison and I went to Andy and Rondi’s wedding. That was at 5:00pm. Before the wedding we spent the morning and the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a very nice breakfast and lunch with them. Breakfast with Grandma on the sun porch that my Dad built. Lunch was out on the patio outside. We had a very nice weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. It was very nice of them to put us up for the weekend. It was nice to spend a good amount of time with them talking and enjoying each other’s company. We also had a lazy afternoon and got in a few naps after our recent late nights.

At 3:30 we headed over to West Dennis beach to give Heidi a hand with the beach set up. We brought down the chairs, the bottles of cider, the Frisbees, the shells and the sand. There was quite a bit to set up but the three of us worked very well as a little team. We set up the aisle first. It was lined with seashells that Rondi had spent many days collecting. Then we set up the chairs on either side for the immediate family. There were bottles of cider for everyone to have a toast after Andy and Rondi were married. The Frisbees were Andy’s idea. You see at every wedding he has ever been to he’s made the program into some sort of paper airplane or something so instead of a program they got 60 blue Frisbees and on the front was the explanation of the Frisbee and on the inside were the Thank You’s. So with everything set up people were beginning to arrive we began welcoming folks. I set up my mini video camera on the tiny tripod to tape the ceremony. Despite the wind the camera picked up all the words from the participants and the camera was in a good position to record the entire ceremony. (I reviewed the video and it came out excellent.)

Now West Dennis Beach is a public beach and it is a very long beach. Andy and Rondi choose one of the furthest points, which is Chair 11. Past Chair 11 kiteboarders and windsurfers can launch their crafts. This made for a wonderful and colorful backdrop during he ceremony. Because it is a public beach there are people who were already on the beach while we were setting up. Luckily there were none who were directly in the area where we were setting up but off to the left there was a couple with a dog that barked a good deal. I was hoping they would clear off once the ceremony started. To the right was a man who had his paper, his beer and a cigar. I was certainly hoping he would clear off. And also to the left there was a young skinny couple who was playing in the surf who might have been a bit distracting. But once the ceremony got under way we didn’t notice them at all. Also there were a few kiteboarders who weren’t quite in total control of heir kites. One guy slammed his kite into the ground mere feet from the couple with the barking dog. And other kiteboarders slammed her kite into the water and her boyfriend helped her out, but mostly they stayed further out and gave a very fitting backdrop to the proceedings. Andy kiteboards and he does it often at West Dennis Beach.

The ceremony began and Andy and his brother Zach walked in behind Reverend Bill. Bill was Rondi’s pastor and Youth Group Advisor while she was growing up. Next came Rondi’s mom who was the Matron of Honor and then Rondi and her Dad. Rondi had the perfect dress for a beach wedding. Simple and elegant with some ties that blew in the wind. I was rapid firing photos throughout the whole ceremony, playing with the focus point to get the kiteboarders in the background and then the couple in the foreground. Rondi’s sister Tammi did the first reading, Allison the second and Andy’s friend Matt did the third. The video picked up each very well. The readings were very special to both Andy and Rondi. They exchanged vows and the families did a Sand Ceremony. This was a wonderful idea. Rather than a unity candle they used sand. Each member of Rondi’s family had a little vial of black sand. Each member of Andy’s family had one of white sand. The Rondi’s family poured their sand into a glass container that Rondi had. Andy’s family poured their sand into the container that Andy had. Then Andy and Rondi each poured their containers into a thin round container. The symbolism was excellent. That new families come from existing families and all that each family has brought together is now so intermixed that it cannot possibly be separated. This was such a special symbol within the ceremony. I loved it.

After the Sand Ceremony and they were pronounced husband and wife the cider was passed around and we had a toast to the newly married couple. We also followed them out to the exit and had a group picture taken. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect and the care and thought that was put into the planning of the wedding couldn’t have been more perfect. We had an excellent time at the ceremony.

After the ceremony I stuck around ad cleaned up and took pictures of the couple and their families and basically shadowed the photographer while trying to stay out of the way. I hope I succeeded in not being a pest. I also walked down to the water and some of the kiteboarders came in and did some tricks. I got a few pictures but missed one guy because he came out of no where when my back was turned, I turned around to just miss catching him doing some crazy trick. I will have to go back down to the beach sometime with Andy and get some pictures.

The reception was held at the West Dennis Yacht Club. This was a very nice setting for the rest of the pictures as well as for celebrating Andy and Rondi’s wedding reception. There were some great hors devours and even clam chowder and steamers and mussels. We sat with friends of Rondi’s named Amanda and Justin and showed Amanda the proper way to eat steamers. I tried t get a couple more pictures of Andy and Rondi but I knew I would have been in the Photographer’s way. He must have gotten some fantastic shots though and I cant wait to see them.

For dinner we were seated with a few of Rondi’s friends, Justin and Amanda, Brian and Katy, and David and Anna. We had a great time talking about weddings how we proposed, what we liked at other weddings we had attended. We had a good time, a nice table for us to be at. On the table there were mini 1/16 scale replica lifeguard chairs. These were the exact to scale replicas of the lifeguard chairs that are on West Dennis Beach. Rondi made them herself. We got to keep one to add to our beach theme room at the Cape. There were also painted seashells with a wedding tradition written and explained on the inside of the shell. This was another of Rondi’s touches and it was a nice icebreaker at the table.

I got some more pictures when Andy and Rondi performed their first dance. They went to the same Dance studio that Allison and I did and they did a great job together for their first dance. I had the camera on the wrong setting when they first started and luckily I noticed it because the first 4 pictures were totally black. I corrected that and did get some nice shots. The wedding cake looked spectacular. There were two tiny chairs on top and all around the bottom was brown sugar to simulate sand, there were beach fences along each tier and candy seashells all over it. It looked awesome. And it tasted pretty good too.

The rest of the night was great with a good DJ and some fun tunes. Andy’s brother Nate who is the most sedate guy most of the time almost knocked me out. On the dance floor he is a machine, a machine with some flailing arms that end in fists. I had to pull my face away more than once. The crowd enjoyed dancing to many 80’s tunes. The DJ had our number all right and he kept them coming. We stayed on till the end and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Today is Erik's birthday. Happy Birthday Erik!

Photo-A-Day #518 09/08/06

Today I went with Andy and his three brothers and his father out on a ski boat on Bass River in Dennis, MA. Andy brought along his two wakeboards and a towrope. We motored out through the channel and into the speed zone. We were basically the only boat out on the water today. There were a few kayaks and a couple other powerboats but essentially the whole speed zone was ours to do with what we wanted. Once we figured out the proper trim settings and went down to four people in the boat (Andy’s dad and brother Zach stayed on shore.) we got some speed out of the boat. I had Tara’s camera and was perfectly fine trying to take pictures. Andy went first and he got right up on the wake board and was switching lead feet and everything. Then his brother Nate tried and I think he might have gotten up, then his brother Ethan tried and he got up too. We went back to the beach and Ethan and Zach switched. Zach got right up on his first try and got the hang of it very quickly.

After Zach was done I gave it a try and did pretty good leaning back and having the boat tow me but I would lean too far forward each time and the board would get sucked under the water and me along with it. We tried this a couple of times and I just couldn’t wrap my head around what I needed to do. So I got back on the boat. Apparently I was the only one who needed the swim ladder and I left it down. When Nate got back in the water to go for another turn on the wakeboard the rooster tail that the swim ladder kicked up was impressive. Oops. I took a ton of still images (we need to get a better zoom lens) and then I used my other camera to take some video. Got some great wipe out shots and some great action video of the guys. We dropped back over to the beach and I switched places with Ethan so the four brothers could have some time together on the water. Andy’s Dad and I talked about kayaking while we watched the fiddler crabs on the beach. There were tons of them, I’ve never seen that many before in one place. The four brothers came and picked up Gordon and me. We did a few high-speed turns around the speed zone and then headed back to the dock. At the dock Andy told me where the beach was for the ceremony and the rehearsal so I drove out there to make sure I knew where I would be going later in the afternoon. I found the beach and where we were to go and then turned around and picked up some lunch at Pizza Paradise. They made some really good pizza there and they had a Jimmy Buffett/Island/Red Sox theme int eh place. It was a fun atmosphere, very New England, very beachy.

I went back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and reviewed the pictures and video from the morning. I transferred everything to my laptop and recharged the camera batteries. Then Allison and Grandma came home. They had been out shopping and running errands while I was being dragged behind the boat. Allison got two pairs of very nice shoes for the rehearsal and the wedding ceremony. We began to get ready for the rehearsal because we were going to be going to a very fine restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. It is a good thing that I knew where I was going and had scouted ahead because we were running late. Not too late just late by my definition of late.

We got to chair 11 on the West Dennis Beach and ran through the rehearsal. Andy and Rondi have some great ideas for their wedding I am looking forward to it tomorrow. After the rehearsal we rode over to a reception for guests who were arriving from out of town. Andy’s four younger brothers were all dressed up and had coordinating colors with their ties and shirts. I asked them if that was an accident or if they planned it and why had they not included Andy on that memo. The reception was very nice and I took a few pictures while we were there.

Then we were to the rehearsal dinner. It was at the 902 Main Restaurant. The food was excellent. I had the most amazing filet ever. And as we know I love my Filet. This was fork tender melt in your mouth like butter Filet. And I am not just saying that, I have heard people say that and thought, “What are they talking about? Like butter, that makes no sense.” It was not until I had this Filet for dinner that I actually understood and experienced that. I told the chef that, I told everybody that. The restaurant also has some very interesting bathrooms. The men’s room has a James Bond/martini theme. I was told that the women’s room had a Tiffany’s theme to it.

Andy and Rondi were such gracious and generous hosts. We even got to sit with them for the meal. The meal also had a wonderful fresh salad with a slice of Blue Cheese on top. I got two of them because Allison does not like Blue Cheese. I set it aside to have with my Filet. This restaurant had very good servers, if you got up to use the bathroom when you returned your napkin was folded again on the table for you. So as we were waiting for the main course they began to clear the bread plates. That is where I stashed my second piece of Blue Cheese. I was talking and didn’t realize that they had taken the plate till the server was halfway down the table. I made a noise like, “Ah” or “Um”, you know the noise you make when you want to say something but realize that it might not be appropriate to shout out, “Hey where are you going with my Blue Cheese.” The server heard me, (and the meaning of what I was going to say) and she returned the Blue Cheese. I stated, “I was going to save that piece for my Filet.” She was very happy that I was going to eat that Blue Cheese and even checked on it as I ate the meal. The first bite of the Filet was the most perfect bite of Filet I had ever had. I was so happy while eating this meal. I was probably helped by the fact that each time my wineglass was empty the servers were right on top of things and topped me off. Such good wine too. It was a very tasty Pinot Grigio. I had a far amount of it, not enough for Tiki Drew to come out but enough for his milder cousin to make an appearance. I probably got Andy in trouble with one or two comments about wedding traditions.

For dessert we had a crème brulee. I t was okay not spectacular. The presentation was spectacular but the crème brulee tasted a bit too eggy for me, not that creamy. Andy and Rondi did put a Crème Brulee set and recipe book on their registry and I told Andy that maybe he and I can make some fantastic Crème Brulee sometime. Then the statement that Derek makes about my Crème Brulee making prowess would be true.

We had a very nice day today. We are so looking forward to tomorrow as well.

Photo-A-Day #517 09/07/06

Allison and I went up to the Cape a day early. We got in very late. I got new glasses. These are the glasses.

Wild Time Band

Randy, the proprieter of my local comic book shop has a band and they have a myspace page. I think seeing these guys may be a rockin time. I'll have to catch a show. www.myspace.com/wildtimeband

Allison and I are gone for the weekend to Andy and Rondi's wedding. Mucho pictures when we return. Also today is my Grandfather's birthday. Happy Birthday Karaoke Rick!

Photo-A-Day #516 09/06/06

That squash plant in the front yard seems to have a new addition. Allison saw this little squash on her way into the house today.

The new season of television shows has begun. Last night Allison and I watched the new Fox show called Standoff. This show stars Ron Livingston from Office Space and I thought it was a pretty decent premiere. Tom Wopat was a guest star. I will probably watch this again.

Bones is back, we watched last week's premiere episode last night and tonight we watched the second episode. For some reason this season they are emphasizing the way that Bones is so different than everyone else in that she has terrible social skills. This frustrates me because last season she was coming along and becoming more social. Nevermind the fact that Tempe (Bones) is some much more social in the books. I need to get to some of the later books to see what happens but the character backstories are so different and that has made this season harder to watch. The best part of the show now is David Boreanaz. His character Seeley Booth is fantastic.

Photo-A-Day #515 09/05/06

Back home. Back to the routine of daily life. These guys have been missing us an awful lot lately. And I haven't taken a shot of them in a while either.

Wide Lawns and Narrow Minds

The rich are insane. And reading about that insanity is funny. Check out. Wide Lawns and Narrow Minds

Photo-A-Day #514 09/04/06

Today Allison and I had a very spontaneous day. We started with breakfast on the back porch with Mom and Dad and then took a drive over to the Nobska Light House to do some photo shooting. We ran from there to Grandma and Grandpa's to share our pictures with Grandma. We also took Grandma for a walk around the block and we went out to the backyard for a little while.

We had intended to go home or to catch up with Neil and Andrea on the boat. While we were in the backyard the weather was beautiful and it had been a crappy weather weekend. So we changed plans and picked up some sandwiches to have on the beach. We went back to the house changed and headed over to the beach. That was just in time for a giant cloud to cover the sun. It was windy too, but we stuck it out until the cloud moved and the blue skies came back. As we were on the beach we got a call from Neil. They were at Bassett's island and were going to head back to the house for burgers and dogs and strawberry shortcake. So we stayed at the beach for a while longer and went back and changed and headed over to their place. About an hour and a half later they were home. I mistakenly mixed up Toby's island and Bassett's island and it turns out that they were at the further island.

So, when Neil and Andrea arrived we headed out to pick up dinner while they showered. I was asked to pick up Jordan's Old Tyme Franks. They were in fact Jordan's red skins. But I asked for old tyme and that is what I got. We verified it and they were very good hot dogs. Dinner was a good time we also got some nice sunset photos across from the house. I have a few bonus shots from today.

Nobska Light

Sunset on Monument Beach

Sunset through the trees

Another Sunset Shot.

Stingray kills 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin - Yahoo! News

Goodbye Crocodile Hunter. Stingray kills 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin - Yahoo! News

Watching this guy you wondered how he kept alive this long but today Steve Irwin was killed by a Stingray off the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Love him or hate him he did alot for conservation and education. He was entertaining to watch and he left a lovely wife and two small kids. He will be missed.

Photo-A-Day #513 09/03/06

Today Allison and I rode up to Harwich with Mom and Dad to celebrate Grandpa's 76th birthday. Aunt Cathy and Roger were there, so were Corrine, Jeff, Maddie and Haley. Aunt Connie and Aunt Candy and Jen, Chris and Autumn were there too. Grandma and Grandpa made us lunch (a family recipe meatball and spaghetti) We also had a cake for Grandpa.

Grandma had some old items from Grandpa's life including a couple of issues of a Taxicab magazine. One had an article about Grandpa and his taxi business and the other had an editorial written by my grandpa. Hmmm, wonder where I get my desire to write about things. The issue that had an article about grandpa has an artist's drawing of grandpa on the cover. I caught a picture of that.

Actually my writing everything down comes probably from my grandmother because she had a three ring binder with stories and items and life moments of my grandparent's life together. I didn't get to read all of it today but maybe next weekend when we stay there for Andy and Rondi's wedding.

My Cousin Jen was there with her baby girl Autumn. Autumn was born right before our wedding last year and she is walking all over the place, when my other cousins let her. Autumn was flanked by Maddie and Haley for most of the day. I did get a good shot of my Dad holding Autumn.

Looks like somebody is ready to be a grandpa himself some day. (And no that was not an announcement at all people.)

Tonight we had Paul's pizza for probably the last time this year and we hit Somerset Ice Cream with Neil and Andrea, again for the last time this year.

Photo-A-Day #512 09/02/06

Allison and I were on the Cape today. I got to sleep in and when I woke up I worked with Dad on a project for the garage. We have talked about putting up some shelves on the side of the garage for his ladders. For a long time the ladders were on these old pieces of staging that Dad used to use for cutting the hedges, until one of the rungs broke and he nearly sliced off his nose. So those were retired and given the job of holding the aluminum ladders. Today they were retired for good. Some of the pieces went to the dump and some are going to be burned this winter.

I their place Dad and I constructed three posts with 4 16 inch platforms spaced at 22 inches apart so there are essentially four "shelves" for the ladders. The posts can hold 8 ladders easily. The side of the garage looks nice and neat now. The next project is construction of a kayak rack on the back of the garage for easy access in the summer. Although from the looks of the weather this weekend I don't think we will actually make it on the water at all. Very disappointing.

Later on in the afternoon Allison and I played the Pirates Constructible Strategy Game. Back when Wes came to sign copies of his book I picked up two sets of cards from Double Midnight Comics One was Pirates of the Barbary Coast and the Other was Pirates of The South China Seas. A couple of weeks ago when I was in Saginaw, MI I picked up a package of Pirates of Davy Jones' Curse. We started by learning the basic game with one ship each. Then we moved on to one ship each but we would use the shoot option and see how that went. Then we went with three ships each and the shoot option and Allison swabbed the deck with me. This is a fun game that we enjoyed playing. Be careful constructing your ships. We both snapped a mast in half. The game looks to be very fun with multiple ways to play, we haven't even gotten into using parts of the crew yet. I think we will play again.

After that we took our camera's to the beach because the waves were crazy and Allison wanted to try out a photo shoot with the camera she is borrowing from Andrea. Today's photo was from that shoot. Here are the rest that I took. Allison is going to have to post her own.

Allison takes aim.

One bird per post please

Seagull and sea shells.

Seagulls in a row.

Allison and the waves.

Self Portraits.

Tonight we went to see Mark Erreli at the 3rd Fret Coffeehouse in Marshtons Mills. The 3rd Fret was located in the liberty Hall in Marshtons Mills. It was a nice little venue. Opening for Mark was Tom Dibono. Tom had some very nice New England songs. I especially liked Bad Penny, a song for and about his father Mike. I bought Tom's CD, Bad Penny mostly for that song. Mark played for quite a while and he was excellent. We had heard his songs on WERS before but had never seen him live. We had also heard his song "The Only Way" many times as sung by Ellis Paul. It was great to see the originator of this song play it live. We also bought 3 of Mark's CD's because if we bought two we would get one free. And speaking of Ellis he is going to be at the 3rd Fret on September 17th at 2:00pm with Antje Duvekot opening. We won't be on the Cape that weekend or else we would have bought tickets tonight. Got see a Show at the 3rd Fret Coffeehouse and support local music and live performers. I snapped two shots of Mark and tried to capture the shadow. From where I was sitting the shadow looked like a marshall because one fo the stars in the background was in the right spot. I tried to capture this without using the flash.

Black and White

Sepia

Photo-A-Day #511 09/01/06

Got home from Evansville today. Grabbed some lunch from Fortune house on the way back from the airport and when Allison came home we headed up to the Cape. On the ride up we saw a pretty crazy accident. There is a point on 495 where the road goes from 3 lanes to 2 lanes. The right lane drops off and many people who come off the highway from RT. 24 try and speed in and merge with traffic in a very aggressive manner. Apparently one of these drivers was going too fast and no one would let her in because we saw her minivan crashed through a chain link fence of the closed weight station. She was stuck there pretty good. People were stopping to help so we aren't callous folks who just left her there.

When we got to the Cape we had a very nice dinner with Mom and Dad. We're going to take a walk as soon as I finish this post.





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