BenSpark Family Adventures

Well Day 2 of the 3-Day walk is finished. Allison is out there giving it her all. I am so proud of all the work that she has done thus far. Sherrie is walking hard too, her parents came up from New Jersey and surprised her today. I was cheering with Dan (Al's dad) and Harry (Sherrie's husband) and Steven (Sherrie's Son) and Otis (Sherrie's dad) and Elaine (Sherrie's mom). Allison's friend T.R. is also walking and sticking with Allison each day. Today's cheering section was better than yesterdays. More people. I picked up a wipe off board for inspiring messages and I had gotten some Bang Sticks from the Wolves game last night, but left them in Alicia's car. Hopefully I can get them for tomorrow. Great job walkers!!

This is a trailer for the movie called Cellular. It looks awesome! But then again so did Speed when it first came out. Not every day you see a flying bus.

I'm sick of Reality TV. However, the show I can't miss is the Last Comic Standing. And it isn't even the "reality" TV part that I enjoy anyway. I've always loved watching comedians. When I was younger and HBO was just invented (man I feel old) and for some reason we had it for free for about 4 years in the 80's there were many comedy specials. My two favorite ones were Robin Williams Live at the Met and Bill Cosby Himself, I didn't get to see Eddie Murphy Raw or Delirious till I was well into High School. These are classic comedy specials that were so funny to watch over and over because the material was truly funny. I think we need more funny shows today. And Today, Thursday July 29th premieres a brand new show called Blue Collar TV (on the WB at 8:00pm 1/2 hour show) and tonight we find who made it though the wildcard set on Last Comic Standing (If it is Ant I'm going to scream!) I think we need more comedy in our lives. The news is so depressing...

As you probably know by now Allison has been preparing to walk 60 miles over the course of 3-Days for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. The culmination of all of her training is this Weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.) Listed Below are the Day,Places and Times that have been set up for "Cheering Stations". If anyone is interested in meeting up to Cheer I am planning on getting to the afternoon cheering stations on Friday and Saturday and I'll be at Closing ceremonies on Sunday night. If anyone would like to meet up for dinner on Saturday night in Salem after the 11:00am-4:00pm Cheering station at Derby Wharf please let me know. Also it is not too late to support Allison with a donation. She has raised $3200 already (surpassing the goal of $2,000) Donations can be made at the Breast Cancer 3-Day See Cheering Stations Below. DAY ONE (Friday, July 30) Endicott Park Route 62 to Forest Street, proceed 1/4 mile then turn right into the Park's main entrance. 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Bri...

Erin and Bart came over to go to the Ice Cream Machine with Allison and I last night. Erin has a new job in Portland, Maine. While we are certainly happy for Erin's new job. We are sad to see Erin and Bart moving. Especially after Allison volunteered our moving services :-). But seriously we will miss Erin and Bart and we'll be spending more time up north in the future. Yesterday Tara and Erik got a new puppy. She came with the name Phantom but I think the name that they are going to go with will be Daisy, because she is a southern bell. Lazy Daisy, is black and white and all legs. She's gonna be big. Such a cute puppy. Daisy is so relaxed and she lets anyone pick her right up and carry her around like a baby. Welcome to the family Daisy.

I finally got a chance to take the motorcycle out for a ride yesterday. It felt really good to get back out there. What a nice afternoon for riding. Gotta do more of that.

So today I contemplated the length of time that it is going to be before I am in my new position with the Marketing Support Reps here at work. After all I am very excited about it and this has been in the works since back in March. I have my transfer date of October 1, 2004. And I wanted to know how much longer I had to wait. Well I found a countdown app to put on the site and after that all the other countdowns I could think of went up. It's kinda weird that 100 days after I start my new position I'll be running my first 1/2 marathon.

And who better to be attached to this project than Steven Spielberg!! The man who brought dinosaurs to life on the big screen is now going to tackle giant transforming car/robots. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, who cares, I'm going to be first in line to see TRANSFORMERS. I would love to see the classic Generation 1 characters represented as vehicles, but I tell you the tie ins from car companies would be huge if the movie used present day vehicles like Hasbro is using now with their Alternators Line of products. That would be incredible to see Dodge Vipers and Jeep Wranglers and Corvettes transforming into characters that many of us know and love. And here is something that is so awesome and transformers themed that I had to share it with you. Soundwave Breakdancing.

Here is a new blogger feature, posting blog posts from an e-mail system. How it works is that I type an e-mail and send it to a specific address and the message posts automatically. I can't add photos but this is a quick way to send text messages. And I can even use my phone to send a text message to this address. Oh the new possibilities or my ramblings. So speaking of ramblings, I have been spending some time checking out other Blogs. I have put up a number of new links this past week. There are links for running sites, links for Blogs of Note and a new set of links for the Serenity Movie. The Serenity movie will be coming to theaters next year. I cannot wait. Serenity was created by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel). The story is set 500 years in the future where space travel is as common as car travel is today. There are multiple planets that can support human life and settlers are dropped on planets with basic supplies to terraform the planet. The concept is that o...

Have you seen the TV show Scrubs. Well it is a funny show and the main reason that it is so funny is the brilliance of Zach Braff. Zach Braff plays Dr. John Dorian, or rather J.D. He is the character that constantly has funny daydreams and we can see his thoughts play out on the screen. Zach Braff plays this character with such brilliance that I am laughing my butt off each and every episode. Well Zach Braff has written and directed a film called Garden State. And I suggest that you go see it. It will be coming to theaters August 6th. It is basically a collection of stories and real life experiences that Zach has compiled throughout his life. And they are bizarre and hilarious and touching. Zach is also keeping a Blog that is in conjunction with the movie. And it is funny as well. Check out Zach's Blog. And then go see Garden State. Oh yeah and there is a Scrubs-A-Thon tonight on NBC. Zach Braff will be introducing the trailer during a commercial. Check it out.

I have added some new links. These are for running websites. Why running websites? Well I am training for the Disney Half Marathon. And I say that I am training because yesterday I went for my first training run with Tara. We went about 2 miles. I ran at least 1 mile of it before I had to walk. Let the training begin!

Allison during training at the Cape Cod Canal This weekend Allison and I went to the Cape. On Saturday we walked the length of the Cape Cod Canal on the Bourne Side. We did 10.5 miles overall. Just 2 more weeks till Allison's walk for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. Gotta get the training in. The pictures below are from the walk on the Canal. That is the Bourne Bridge and the train bridge in the background. Also there are pictures of the boats on the canal and A picture of our Road Id's. If you are a runner or outdoor enthusiast you should have one of these. This weekend we were also able to take care of setting up our bedroom at the house. The other pictures are some of the decorating touches we added to the room.   Me by The Bourne Bridge. Police Boat on the Canal Our Road IDs Our Bedroom at the Cape House Flip Flops for a window treatment Our Dresser

The guys who brought you the Blue Collar Comedy Tour are now bringing you a show on the WB called Blue Collar TV. Here is what the WB says about it. Git-R-Done!! This summer, the guys who had you laughing your butts off on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour - Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy - will bring their particular rand of hilarity to The WB. Expect a hometown buffet of TV parodies, sketches, and stand-up, celebrating everything from spouses to spoilers, Winnebagos to Waffle Houses, cheap beer to even cheaper lingerie. You are about to get a 64-oz. Big Gulp of red, white, and blue collar comedy. Are you ready? If you want to check out some clips take a look at the Official WB site. The show premieres on Thursday July 29th. "Oh, Lord Jesus and the shepherds I am truly sorry and please bless the starving pygmies down there in New Guinea."

This week (Well Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) I was in NY. I was working with a hospital in Sleepy Hollow. Yes, that Sleepy Hollow. I was there as a "favor" to my management staff. You see, a specialist in my group up and quit with very little notice and left us in a lurch to cover his accounts. So Chris is now the new specialist but he cannot be there for the site's reports training so I am covering that in August. But the site wanted to meet me first hand so I had to go down and visit. Well they literally took everything I could give them including my Blood. I gave my first unit of donated Blood. That was pretty cool. I did that today at lunch. Lunch has consisted of fairly decent sandwiches and some odd salads, like chick pea salad and kidney bean and string bean salad. No chips in site. But I was able to snag a half pint Shasta ginger ale. I didn't even know that they sold Shasta anymore. Go figure. Well I just drove back from NY and I'm going to hit the shee...

Well, I have some good news to let everyone know. I have been attempting to transfer out of my group in Implementation to Marketing. I was offered the job last Thursday by the supervisor of the Marketing Support Group for LAB. So this means that I can use my knowledge of LAB to demonstrate the modules to potential customers. This will mean more travel. Well the same number of weeks but just to more places within the week. Which means quicker status on airlines. I am excited about that. And more status at hotels. So one day I may actually use the miles that I have been hoarding for the past three years. So that is my good news. Some of you may know about a challenge I am undertaking. Fueled by the pride I have in Allison's endeavor to walk 60 miles in three days I signed up for the Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon. Yes, to RUN it. The Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon will be on January 9th, 2005. There is a large contingent of Bennetts making their way to Florida. Tara and Erik were the...

Last night Allison and I had dinner with Marybeth at Fridays. It was good to see Marybeth. I haven't seen her in a while, but Allison is part of the her book club so she sees her more often. Not much else to report. This weekend we are going to the Joelympics. I'd have to have Allison explain that one.

Okay so I am two days late with this. The 4th of July was a great time at the Bennett Residence in Falmouth. On Saturday Allison and I went to the Bourne Bridge to do some walking/roller blading. Allison walked with a couple of women who were also walking for the Breast Cancer 3 Day. I took my roller blades and did the 10 mile loop up and back. We had a very nice day. We also got some silver colored Adirondack chair drawer pulls for our bureau in our room at the cape. I got a chance to put together 1 of the nightstands (the other one gave me two "right" sides so that couldn't go together.) The decorations are slowly coming together for the room. After a nice day on the beach, we took Allison's parent's to dinner at the Parrot Bar and Grille in Cataumet. The meal was very nice, followed by ice cream at the Somerset Creamery. On Sunday we slept in (If you can call 6:00am sleeping in) and after the neighborhood parade festivities we went to the beach for the day. I s...

The Angry Guy speaks on being stuck on the plane in Baltimore yet again. And related to the audio portion or this rant would be what finally happened. I was supposed to fly out at 3:00pm we didn't leave till 5:45 and didn't land till 7:30. I ended up at the Cape at 11:30pm. But hey I missed the tourist traffic!