BenSpark Family Adventures

Tonight I went to a Pawsox game with my Dad at McCoy Stadium. They lost but it was a great time. Many co-workers were there, the night was organized by Kevin. Thanks Kevin! Allison had a nice dinner tonight with her friend Joe. They went to Legal Seafood, and eventually they ended up at the same Legals. Allison says it was really nice to see Joe. Too bad I wasn't able to be there. I signed up for Fictionwise.com today. Fictionwise.com is a place to go for e-books. If anyone wants to sign up for Fictionwise.com please let me know and I can send you coupons. I put some more work into Tara's new business site called ForPAWS. The site is www.forpawstreats.com. A portion of the profits go to the North Attleboro Animal Shelter. I heard a song by Don White this morning that was so powerful and funny and sad all at once. He certainly has an amazing talent for evoking emotion from his listeners. The Song is called the MTV Love Song and it is on the BROWN EYES SHINE - 1999 CD. Don White...

I got a nice message from the Dessert Club's organizer Steve today. The season has ended but next season is right around the corner. I do hope to go to many more shows next season. I hope that we can convert other dessert clubbers as well. So look out we'll be looking for you to come with us for a night of folky fun and fantastic food.

This Sunday was James and Danielle's wedding. What a nice day. The wedding was a lot of fun and the reception was a great time. The weather held off so the wedding could be held inside. The DJ was very good with the crowd and the photographer was also very good. James and Danielle are now on their honeymoon. Thanks for making us part of your special day. Good luck to you and to your life together.

Last night Allison and I went to the Verizon Center in Manchester to see the Manchester Wolves. The Manchester Wolves are an A2 Arena Football Team. What a fun night! There were give aways, Harley's and the Manchester Wolves Dance Team. Good times. We went with Ken and Alicia, James and his brother Griff and nephew James. We were right behind the end zone. Lots of action in that area. I think we will go back. Today we gave Dan his birthday present, a Stainless Steel Kenmore Grill. This thing is sweet. And it was so easy to put together, (Only took me 2 hours) The problem that I ran into was the weather. Just as I opened the box, so did the skies above, and a torrent of rain came on down. So I assembled the grill in Sandy's basement and Nate helped me bring it up when it was 95% complete. I just added the side panels in the driveway and we wheeled it down to the house. The element of Surprise went right out the window as the sound of a gas grill rolling down the street sounds li...

The WB closed its doors on the TV show Angel on Wednesday night. But the show left the door open for possible TV movies and or spin off series. Joss Whedon will be back on TV at some point but first it's off to the stars to direct a Movie on his short lived show Firefly. The movie will be called Serenity (name of the firefly class ship on the TV show Firefly named for the battle of Serenity, a pivotal battle in the lives of the main characters.) But what of our brooding tormented vampire with a soul? The series finale wrapped up very nicely. My favorite moment was when the gang was given the day off to do whatever they wanted because it probably would be their last day alive. Spike goes to a roughneck bar and gets his liquor on, the viewer (at least this viewer is thinking he is here to start some trouble, William the Bloody likes his trouble.) But it turns out that this is a bar where they are having a poetry slam. If you know your Buffyverse history you know that William the Blo...

Tomorrow night Angel is ending. It has been a good 5 year run but now the show is over. I hope the episode lives up to what we've come to expect from the mind of Joss Whedon.

This weekend Allison and I went to the Cape. We walked 14 miles on Saturday and 6 on Sunday. Her training is progressing really well. She has met and surpassed the goal to raise money for the walk, but her personal goal is to raise more than the minimum so donations would still be awesome. Thanks to everyone who has supported her so far. This weekend we also rented Big Fish. That was a great movie. Very interesting characters and stories in the movie. Go rent it.

So I am just outside Baltimore in a town called Towson. I am staying at the Sheraton Towson that has a walkway above the road that connects the hotel to the mall. That is pretty sweet. Anyway I wasn't too hungry tonight so I cruised the Food Court on the 3rd floor of the mall. Did you know that if you go around the food court enough times you can practically have an entire meal for free. This food court had 5 Chinese/Japanese restaurants and each one had some sample on a toothpick. And they didn't care about giving seconds either. Cruising the food court pays off. Anyway, I am looking forward to getting home. But this week was nice because there was another specialist here for most of the week so I had someone to hang out with. Looking forward to 4 weeks at home before the next trip. Gotta start training for January. Check this Blog for further updates about what January will be all about.

Last night Allison and I took Tara and Erik out to see Don White at the Dessert Club. Mom and Dad also went with us. The night was a great one. The Dessert Club is a great place to see a show. Don White was absolutely hilarious. If you ever get a chance to see him you should go. We were laughing so hard all night and his songs were great. His son Lawren also played with him on a couple of songs. The only way I can describe it would be imagine a fifty year old Corey Feldman (with talent) playing guitar with Jesus.

We got some Buffett tickets today for Sunday Sept 12, 2004 at Fenway. 24 of them!! Can you even believe it? Dan was once again the first one in line at Filenes. He was able to get 8 tickets and Marcia got 8 and Jim got 8. Tickets for Friday's Fenway show sold out in less than 5 minutes. Once again I got nowhere on Ticket-ass-Master.com. That is the biggest scam going. Yesterday's interview and demo went very very well. I think I may be moving on to something new and exciting, I'll keep you posted. It isn't going to happen to soon but should be happening, hopefully. James' Bachelor party last evening was a great time. It was good to get out with James and Ken and Pat and Griff. Dinner at Hanna Jacks was awesome. It was a really nice evening. Allison walked 12.5 miles today! She is really working hard on her goals for the 3-day walk. And the donations are doing well also.

Last night Allison and I hosted Erin and Bart for dinner. Allison made a great swordfish with a strawberry/pineapple/cashew salsa and roasted zucchini and summer squash. Dinner was awesome and so was the company. We had a great time. Looking ahead we have a big weekend coming up, Bachelor parties, Mother's day, and Don White. Then its back to see the Doc on Monday for me. No nothing is wrong and I am not sick, I'm just headed back to Baltimore. Also big day tomorrow, big presentation. If you can spare any please vibe some good thoughts my way. Oh yeah and sometime in between gotta get Buffett tickets, walk a large number of miles and pack for Baltimore. Keep reading, I'll try and update more often.

Sophie, our beautiful, gentle and lovable mutt of 12 years has left us. Sophie was a great dog. She was very affectionate and loved people. She would be your friend for life if you gave her any attention or a good scratch on the belly or behind the ears. I remember her coming into our lives one Christmas. She was all paws and tummy. Her rib cage was so much bigger than the rest of her and she had huge paws. She eventually grew into both. She loved riding in the car and would sit up on the seat and stare straight ahead like a person and when other cars came up alongside she would turn her head to look. She made more than one motorist smile at her quirkiness. This photo Tara found, makes me remember how gentle Sophie was, I could put my whole fist in her mouth and she never bit down hard, she loved to play. Sophie had been in failing health for some time and until recently has kept her puppyish charm and energy. But more recently the advancing arthritis in her hind legs has made getting ...