BenSpark Family Adventures

This weekend Allison and I went to the Cape for Uncle Paul D's 50th Birthday party. It was a surprise party and he was totally surprised. Then Allison and I headed over to see Kim and Greg for a Halloween party. It was a great party and Kim and Greg made some great Halloween themed edibles. Then We went back to the house for the carbo load for the Marathon on Sunday. Tara put together two teams of marathon relayers and she set us up with some candy bags for after the race. Today I got up and ran the first leg of the marathon relay. Let's just say that I am not exactly in tip top form for the Disney Half Marathon. But I finished my leg of the race. Now Allison and I are preparing for the onslaught of little monsters in search of chocolatey goodness. Have a Happy Halloween!

With the election soon approaching, cast your vote for Pedro. Why Pedro? Because if you vote for him your wildest dreams will come true. By now you are scratching your head because you must be wondering who Pedro is. Obviously you haven't seen Napoleon Dynamite. And why would you? It is a Fox Searchlight production which means low budget and very little action. However, this movie is one that you will enjoy, if only for Detrich Bader of the Drew Carey Show and his Rex Quan Do Dojo scenes. You have to vote for Pedro. It is a given. Wanna know what I am talking about, see Napoleon Dynamite at a second run theater near you. I saw it tonight at the Route 1 Cinema Pub. And unlike The Big Lebowski, it was pretty good, including the ending.

So I have two days to come up with my storyline for my novel for NaNoWriMo. I was checking out the site today and there was a great link for people who may be interested in creating their own fantasy world. The setting is a very important part of the story and building a world can be daunting. Luckily this site has some great exercises on worldbuilding. There was also a link titled What's in a Name? The Guide to Harry Potter Name Etymology.

If you are going in to Boston tomorrow to watch the Parade here is the parade route. For additional parade information see Boston.com.

The Red Sox have ended their World Series drought of 86 years. In the 100th World Series our beloved Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals for a long overdue victory. The question now is "What are Boston fans going to complain about now?". I mean our Baseball team won the World Series, our football team won the Superbowl. I personally can't get behind a bunch of overpaid hot doggers in Basketball so rooting for the Celtics went out with Larry Bird (for me at least). So what about the Bruins... um yeah, the Bruins. Lets just stick with Baseball and Football. It was great to see that the Sox won and it is great to have been able to be home to see it happen. I believe that the celebration parade will most likely be Saturday. For details check out Boston.com.

I'm all done with my last implementation. The last LIVE that I am going to do. This one went so very smoothly. I can't believe how few issues there were. And it was great to hang out with the folks on the Implementation team. Here are some random pictures I took while In Vancouver. The view from my hotel window Someone enjoys toys waaaay more than me. For those interested in my gastrointestinal adventures in dining, this was a great place in White Rock called Charlie Don't Surf. Great Fish and Chips and Dry Ribs. The sea walk at White Rock, wish it wasn't raining.

The Red Sox did it again last night. They pulled out another win. Here in Vancouver I have been surprised by the amount of people here cheering for the Red Sox. Last night the group went out to The Keg (Actually a pretty high end steakhouse and bar) for dinner and the Red Sox Game. What a good time. Steak and Lobster and a Red Sox win. Awesome. In honor of the Red Sox in The World Series I made trivia today all about Baseball with a heavy emphasis on the Red Sox and the Cardinals. Enjoy. (Mo you were too early playing the trivia, but you will be happy to know that I also got a crappy score today.) It is my last night in Vancouver and all the rest of the specialists are leaving on Red Eye flights. I just realized that I am an idiot. Had I also taken the Red Eye I would have had tomorrow off and Wednesday off instead of just taking Wednesday off. Oh well, I've been home too long that I'm out of practice with the whole travel thing. Not that being home has been a bad thing, not in...

So the Red Sox won last night. Boston.com has become redesigned to reflect the Red Sox in The World Series. That night I did not go see Heffron. I ended up at The Moose to watch the game. Good time.

I've never been to a LIVE visit where I have been more unneeded. This site has their stuff together and have had very little need for me. Only one major obstacle this weekend so far. Still waiting to hear about that. It looks like I may go downtown tonight to see the Last Comic Standing Tour with John Heffron and Corey Holcomb and Tammy Pescateli. They are playing at Vancouver's Vogue Theater. Karl and I are going to go down and see about getting tickets. Should be a good time. Hopefully we can get in.

Well not exactly, It is now 1:21AM PST and the waiting to go LIVE is over, now I'm waiting for something to happen. If nothing happens before 2:00AM PST I am going to the hotel to sleep. Too bad it isn't November, I could have been working on my NaNoWriMo submission. Writing early is against the rules.

What is the ideal Chat up line for you. Chat up line. Just put your name in and it will tell you your ideal pick up line. As I am sitting here waiting, and the lab team is finding interesting web sites and we are laughing at the lines for each person who we are putting in to the routine. My pick up line if I put in Andrew is: "I miss my teddy bear. Would you sleep with me?", and if I use Drew: "Do you know karate? 'Cause your body is really kickin'" What was yours. Add to comments below. Also Check out Job Predictor. My ideal job is a Pirate! That is funny on so many levels. ARRRGH!

I'm waiting for the time to turn to midnight here in Vancouver. It is already past midnight back home. I've already played the trivia game. Maybe I'll finally get more than a point score of 4. We're listening to an 80's station on the computer, awesome. And I'm surfing the web while we wait. This site has done so much to prepare that I'm here to see what happens. I came across this article on www.engadget.com. Kick Ass! Article Official Website I also went to the Boston.com website to take a look at what is going on at home and came across some unique pumpkins. The 24 Chainsaw Bike Johnny Damon Pumpkin. Go Sox!!

Things that puzzle me on a plane. Why do the flight attendants show you how to put on your seat belt well after you are expected to have your seat belt on. I mean, you have to be really dim not to figure out how to put on a seat belt, but who are these people that actually need instruction on this? Gotta love the FAA and their bureaucratic, well thought out, rules. What they should really show people on a plane is how to put their carry on bags in the overhead bins. I know that the flight attendants and pilots make announcements that the roll on bags need to go in wheels first but 80% of the geniuses that I see getting on the plane always put the roll away bags in the bins incorrectly. I know that some people are special and common sense does not apply to them, but really! It makes more sense to put the bag in the correct way, so that you can take the bag off correctly when the plane comes to a complete stop and the captain has turned off the seat belt sign. That way you won't be t...

Originally posted by Allison Way to Go Red Sox!!! What a game last night!! We actually watched most of the game last night downstairs with Andy & Denise and Aunt Cathy & Roger. Thank you, Drew, for the yummy popcorn! Drew is off to Vancouver - he left at 3:00 am VERY quietly!! (Thank you) And now we wait anxiously to see who the Sox will face in the World Series!!

During the month of November an event takes place for writers all over the world. It is called NaNoWriMo. What the heck is NaNoWriMo. It means National Novel Writing Month and this organization encourages people to write their own novels in a months time. Blogger is participating in the endeavors under the blog your novel banner. To find out more about how you can participate got to Blogger.com or read this article. I am participating in this challenge. My novel blog is http://flat-water.blogspot.com. I need to work on the concept a bit before it is written but I have till November 1, 2004 to get the ideas together.

Thanks to everyone who is playing the trivia game. The pool of players has grown from 6 or 7 to over 25. Remember the more people who play the higher the scores are possible. I will try to start making a conscious effort to update the topic each week. Hopefully on Mondays I'll remember to change the topic. Please leave comments and let me know what topics you want as trivia. Let me know who you are too.

My buddy Neil has tried his hand at blogging. He's got his own blog called neilsview.blogspot.com. The site is dedicated to his views on the upcoming election. The views represented there are Neil's views, not that I agree or disagree, I just don't talk politics. I personally like his other blog about his boat, check him out. It looks like I will be getting Dragon Naturally Speaking to use at work. Dragon is voice recognition software that you can use to transcribe information. I can use it to dictate my blog posts. Oh, and use it for work too.

Last night Allison and I went to the Bull Run in Shirley MA to see Don White and The Loomers perform. We were joined by Allison's parent's Marcia and Dan. We were also joined by my high school buddy Neil and his wife Andrea, whom you may recall were the folks who introduced me to French Do... Er, I mean, Onion Soup. And we were also joined by my former High School Spanish class presentation partner and football teammate Andy and his girlfriend Rhondi. The Bull Run in Shirley, MA is a nice restaurant and function hall where they have weddings and other events and they have this concert series. We got there around 6:00 for our 8:00 show. I think it was a great time to get there because it gave everyone a chance to talk and relax and eat dinner before the show. And since I hear so many people would rather hear what I had to eat than look at the bullet points, here goes. I had clam chowder and buffalo wings, neither were spectacular but they weren't bad either. I also had chees...

Being that I used to live in NH and work in the building where they tested the Seqway I like to keep an eye on that crafty Dean Kamen. The latest item from the Segway folks is the Segway Centaur. It is only in concept at the moment but they have a working prototype and it looks pretty awesome. Well at least you aren't standing straight up with a bike helmet on.

The other night Allison and I tried taking photos of her ring with my camera. The camera has a macro lens and I have taken photos or jewelry before for my uncle's website. Those all came out great.  However, these are the worst photos ever.... Also last night Tara and Erik came over for dinner. Tara suggested that I not go into so much detail on the blog and recommended that I start using bullet points to summarize my posts. Dinner: Swordfish w/Salsa, roasted veggies and Garlic Mashed Potatoes Big accident on highway Erik stuck in 2 1/2 hrs of traffic

Have you seen the new ABC TV show called Lost. It is from the creator of Alias, J.J. Abrams, and it is awesome. Basically this plane crashes on an island in the middle of no where and the survivors adapt to the island and the strange things that are occurring there. Each survivor has their own story and we learn more about them during flashbacks. Last night's episode blew us away and the twist was so unexpected. That's what has been missing since Buffy and Angel went off the air, good storytelling and plenty of plot twists. Watch Lost you will not regret it.

Here are pictures of the ring that Allison found on the Internet. The ring was dulled down so that a photo could be taken. Last night we tried to use my camera to take photos of the ring. I will post them once I can get to my own computer. The scene was very funny, Allison and I trying to get a good photo and basically coming up with a big bright blur. So here is a photo of the ring, but keep in mind that this ring has been dulled to enhance photo quality. It is much shinier in person.

This weekend Allison and I went to Maine to Moosehead Lake. We stayed at the Evergreen Lodge in Greenville, Maine. Population: 250, Moose Population: 2000. How many moose did we see? 0. Despite the lack of moose viewing we had a great time. We drove up to Maine via Freeport on Friday morning. Stopping in Freeport we checked out L.L.Bean and a couple of shops. Had some lunch and got back on the road. We arrived at the Evergreen Lodge around 3:00pm Friday afternoon. Once we got settled in and met our hosts, Janice and Hank, we headed out to drive around the lake and see if we could see some moose. No moose but we found the Black Frog restaurant. We had a great dinner and saw the Red Sox win their series. Then we went back to the Evergreen Lodge and chatted with some of the other guests, Terry and Jim from Florida and Mike and Patti from Washington State. On Saturday we had the first of three mornings of great breakfasts prepared by Janice. We had a cherry cobbler and French toast and bac...

Last night Allison and I met up with Ken, Alicia and Patrick at La Caretta. It was great to catch up with those guys. I miss being up here. We were gonna see Mo too but she got the ick and couldn't make it. Mo, we still gotta do the pub sometime. The first two days in Marketing went well, I am looking forward to this new position. Can't wait till I am up to speed with the rest of the group. Already I have learned about some cool features of the software that I never learned through Implementation. Allison and I are about to get on the road to go to Moosehead Lake.

In about an hour I'm headed over to pick up Allison for a trip up to NH to visit with Mo and Ken and stay with Dan and Marcia. Then tomorrow morning Allison and I will head up to Moosehead Lake in picturesque Maine. The past two days have been great in the new position. It's given me a whole new outlook on work. I'm very excited to learn more and start getting back out on the road.

Originally Posted by Allison Well, it looks like he beat me to it, but I wanted to wish Drew good luck at his new job! How exciting! I knew it was a big day when he decided to wear his contact instead of his glasses. (Yeah, that's not a typo - he only wears one.) This must be a big deal! I'm excited about our trip this weekend, it will be nice to get away, to see the leaves, to do some outdoors-y type stuff. So enjoy Columbus Day weekend everybody!

Today is the first day of my new position in the Marketing Support Group for Laboratory Products. I am happy and relieved to finally be here. Here's to things going well.

John Woo has been tapped to direct the He-Man live action movie. Those of you who are also children of the 80's know that there has already been a He-Man movie back in 1987. Starring Ivan Drago himself, Dolph Lundgren. And there is also a Transformers Movie in the works. Are GI-Joe and Thundercats movies far behind?

Sitting in the Baltimore airport, for the LAST time!!! Well that is until I have to go to Baltimore for Marketing, but for this hospital this is the last time that I have to be at this airport. So what will be in store for me this trip? Will my flight leave on time? Doubtful. Will my flight be delayed? Very likely. Will my flight be canceled? Probably. We shall see. I have two hours before I am to leave, anything can happen. I hoped that I could get an earlier flight, but that was not happening. So, how did this visit go? Overall it went well. There are some outstanding issues but there usually are. With so many factors and many people working on a project unless you have a perfect group there will be many issues. But, I got so many last minute issues today from one of the modules it was frightening. So many big things that should have been thought about well before this day let alone this month. I will miss some people and I did learn a great deal during the visit and throughout this ...

Tomorrow is my last day at the hospital. I hope it goes well but it looks like things are gearing up for some drama. We have some things that have not been worked out yet and I am worried that they may not get worked out before I leave. It's probably just nerves, things have been going pretty well so far. It will be nice to get home soon though.

The Entrance to the Ballpark Tonight (Last night) I went to Camden Yards to see the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Oriole's. I went with 5 other co-workers Lorie, Colleen, Karl, Teddy and Jackie, another co-worker, Chris, came to Inner Harbor too but not to the game. We met up with Chris after the game. I can't say enough about how awesome a park Camden Yards is. There is no bad seat in the house even when you don't even have a seat. We were in the standing room only balcony overlooking the field and it was great. There was a very over zealous Orioles fan who had to be escorted out by 4 cops and some ballpark security. He kept breaking away and shouting at the Red Sox fans, and since we were in the vast majority there were plenty of us to razz this guy. It was funny. After the game The eight of us went to the Capitol City Brewing Company in Inner Harbor. There were two German naval ships docked at the harbor and on the deck of one there was a party going on. Very interes...

My hospital is up and running. There are mixed emotions from the users. I've noticed in my few years as a specialist the differences in how people approach change. Some embrace it and find it a great way to break out of their ruts and do something exciting. Others find any change in how they have done things a direct attack on their way of life and are prepared to march on Washington to keep the status quo. I have been very fortunate in that the users who I have worked with this past year have, for the most part, been the ones who embrace changes and challenges. I had a couple of hairy moments today but nothing that didn't get worked out. It is also great to have a strong support system of help back home. That made a huge difference. Tomorrow the group of specialists will go to Inner Harbor and the Red Sox game. I think I'll be among the fortunate to go. And hopefully will have some photos to share tomorrow night.

Well, it is 4:45am. I guess I was optimistic thinking I would be back in the hotel room by 2:30am. For the most part things are going smoothly. There are a lot of user errors and many things that were not set up efficiently. These are issues that the site needs to work out. Nothing major that I had to fix. I did have to spend quite some time with a couple of people, explaining things to one and having things explained to me by the other. Not sure what was worse. But all in all I cannot complain, yeah I'm tired but I feel good about this implementation. Hopefully I can get into the city in the next day or two. Good night... er, morning.