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Showing posts from April, 2005

At the BBC ...

Photo-A-Day #22 Today we went to the Cape. And while we were there we visited my grandparents and caught up with my sister Shelby and my parents and then Allison,Mom,Dad and Shelby and I went to the British Beer Company for lunch. It’s a great place, there are many saying written all over the walls about drinks. A good time and great food.

Photo-A-Day Problems ...

Okay there is no picture on the blog for the Photo-A-Day. The blog this function for buzznet doesn’t seem to be working, but once it is I will post up the photo here. In the meantime you can see today’s Photo-A-Day by going to this link. Buzznet Photo-A-Day. So I haven’t posted a lot lately. I did make mention of the fact that Allison and I are heading to Boston on Thursday night to see the Serenity preview. I can’t wait. I’ll have a good photo from that hopefully. When I went to the see the Serenity trailer I noticed a lot of other trailers out there from some funny and interesting movies that are coming soon. First off is Batman Begins. Some exciting news about this movie is that it is being pushed up on its release date. And there is a newer trailer for Fantastic Four too. And it isn’t as bad as the first one that came out, in fact I may even be a little excited to see this one. I figure it will be sorta like the hulk movie, which, while it was visually interesting wasn’t much of a ...

Dad's New Tree ...

This is Dad’s new tree at the Cape. We’re hoping that eventually it will grow pretty tall and we will get our privacy back. You see the house behind it, well for the past 20+ years you couldn’t see the house behind the fence at this angle, or you could only see the roof. The old house was torn down and this one went up in its place. So therefore… the tree. It is a Maple something, I know it has red in the name, Like Maple -blank- Red or something like that.

Oliver Like a Baby ...

Photo-A-Day #21 I really need to go on another trip soon. I’ve taken way too many pictures of the cats already, but tonight I got another. This is Oliver and he likes to be held in my arms like a baby on his back. He’s very very cute when he does this. I went for a bike ride today and passed some beautiful new foals in a field, but didn’t take my camera with me. Maybe next time.

Wasting Away ...

Photo-A-Day #20 Gotta love Margaritaville Tequila. The weather is here and I wish you were beautiful. It is getting to be warm enough to have some Margaritas out on the porch. Can’t wait to get down to the Cape and start living on Key West time.

Is He Comfortable ...

Duncan hardly ever sleeps in this position, that I’ve seen. Anyway the three boys had a lazy day today. It was raining out and a perfect day for napping.

Technical Oliver ...

Photo-A-Day #19 Oliver has been all over me this afternoon, he finally settled down and sat at the computer. But I think he wants to use the mouse.

Oh, I Shall Be Misbehavin' ...

So yesterday the Serenity Trailer goes up on the web. And this morning I get an e-mail from the Browncoats, well actually from Joss Whedon through the Browncoats. The gist of the e-mail was that there is going to be an advanced screening next Thursday, a full 5 months prior to the actual movie release. And guess who got me tickets!!! Yes Allison was able to snag two tickets for us to see the show at the Boston Lowe’s Boston Common Theater. I’m home today out sick because of a Dentist appointment and this morning I was trying to get tickets all morning and Fandango was not working correctly so I couldn’t get through so I asked Allison to keep an eye on the site and low and behold I get a message from Allison telling me that she scored tickets. And I’m glad I asked her because it is now sold out. Shiny!!! (If you don’t get that reference then you need to go and get you some Firefly DVD’s)

I Aim To Misbehave ...

With those words, Captain Malcolm Reynolds gets the excitement up for Serenity, the new movie from the mind of Joss Whedon. Ever since Firefly was canceled from TV I’ve been waiting for this movie to come out. I still have to wait some time longer (Serenity opens September 30, 2005). The trailer came out today at 4:00pm. And it was awesome. There is humor, action and some big damn heroes. If you are not up on the mythos behind Firefly, do yourself a favor and buy the DVD’s and watch them all. Over and over. The episodes are fantastic. If I recommend any movie this year, besides my major write ups about Sahara, then this would be the one you must see. You need to see Serenity. It would be so incredible if the movie did well enough to get the show back on TV. That would be amazing and an unheard of accomplishment. If the movie does well then Joss Whedon will have done another amazing accomplishment. And that is being the man who took a failed movie and made a hit TV show and then taking ...

You Too Slow ...

Photo-A-Day #18 This is my sister Tara’s dog Taylor. As you can see she was way too fast for me to focus on and catch as she was playing catch with her tennis ball. I did manage to get a couple of good photos of the dogs right after this one, but since this is the Photo-A-Day section, meaning one photo only I choose this one because I found it funny. I’ll post the other two photos in another gallery.

Daisy Sitting Pretty ...

This is Daisy. She has a lot of energy. Tara got her to sit for a minute. This photo reminds me on one of those “Dog” photos that are all over cards and whatnot.

Taylor Sitting Pretty ...

This is Taylor. She also has a lot of energy. She took a break during her tennis ball fetch game to sit and pose for a photo.

200 Days till our Wedding ...

Photo-A-Day #17 This is the church where we are going to be married in 200 days! At night the alcove where Jesus is standing is lit up. Last night the full moon was out and a little behind the where the steeple used to be and it looked so amazing. We can see the church from our living room window. So I better not be late on the wedding day.

Weekend in New Hampshire ...

This weekend Allison and I went to New Hampshire. It rained and we spent a lot of time at the house. Allison and Marcia spent a lot of time at the mall and Dan and I hung around the house. Today Allison and I put a few things on our Macy’s registry, flatware and wine glasses and the sort. We’d both like to that Dan and Marcia for their very generous gift too! That is going to help us out alot as we prepare for the wedding. Tomorrow is 200 days till the wedding!

Freezer Overflow ...

Photo-A-Day #16 Sunday is shopping day. Our now fully stocked freezer is ready for the week ahead. Actually we’re more than ready. Since we got the vacusealer, or suckatizer as Allison calls it we’re able to get plenty of meats and freeze them in airtight sealed packages. So on Sunday we usually do all the shopping, not really the best day to do it but the one we have chosen.

Rain Bucket ...

Photo-A-Day #15 Today it rained, almost all day. We are in New Hampshire visiting Marcia and Dan. Allison and Marcia went to the Mall to poke around. Dan and I hung out and watched Super Volcano. Okay we are ready to duck and cover now. And they were gone for a couple of hours and that is a good thing because it took about that long to upload today’s photo through the Infrared connection between the iPAQ and laptop. So I guess I’ll be taking a card reader with me next time I am away from the house so photo uploads won’t make me long for teeth being pulled. Sorry today’s photo is kinda lame, I didn’t feel like getting off the porch.

Windshield Fixed ...

Well the windshield is all fixed. JN Phillips Auto Glass fixed the windshield in the parking lot of work. They were very helpful and showed up early and I didn’t even lose my inspection sticker and have to go get another. So that was a bonus, because I was expecting that I would have to do that after work. So today I am looking at the list of the people who have recently been hired at work and low and behold I actually know someone. So I sent her a message and she had just started on Monday. We had lunch today and I introduced her to a few people in the group. The thing that is the most coincidental is that she is now working for the group I just left and has my old supervisor as her supervisor. Small world.

Me Grimlock, Me King ...

Photo-A-Day #14 Grimlock is one of my favorite characters from the Transformers. His most recent incarnation is that of a Ford Mustang GT. He was a dinobot, (a Tyrannosaurus Rex even.) when Transformers came out 20 years ago. I can’t believe I still like a toy line that has been going strong for 20 years. Anyway, this line of Transformers are called Alternators. They were made as a line for collectors and the line is awesome, the detail and the complexity of the transformation is fantastic. I saw Grimlock on my desk and put him up on my computer to give a different perspective for the shot. Notice too Optimus Prime off in the background. He may become a future Photo-A-Day subject. Also check out the computer screen it is a picture of Grimlock and Slingshot of the Arielbots playing football, slingshot is about to get smashed. That image is from the Stupid Lamborghini Tricks website.

A Real Post ...

I know I haven’t put up a ‘real’ post in a while. I’ve been busy putting up brief recaps and the Photo-A-Day and have neglected putting up ‘real’ posts about the fun and interesting things I’ve found on the internet. Well I listen to WERS 88.9FM in the mornings because they play folk music and I really like how it is commercial free. I kept meaning to give them a donation last week during live music week. Anyway, there is a song out now by Antje Duvekot called Judas and it is such a good song. It is from her new album called Boys, Flowers, Miles, this is her newest album, she has many more. WERS 88.9FM plays Judas almost every morning and it doesn’t feel right not hearing it in the morning. Antje has a beautiful soulful voice and her songs are so great to listen to. I just saw that she is playing with one of our favorite singers, Ellis Paul, in North Andover MA. I’d love to go see the show. Let’s see today I was introduced to the Bovine Blog. It is a blog written from a cows perspectiv...

Wisteria Overgrowth ...

Photo-A-Day #13 This is the Wisteria that has taken over the side porch. It has been slowly taking over year after year. I have to cut a lot back each year. (Obviously I haven’t done it yet.) But it smells nice and Allison thinks it is pretty. The porch may beg to differ.

Cracked ...

Photo-A-Day #12 So tomorrow I will finally get the windshield fixed on my car. The crack extends the entire way across the entire windshield. Luckily the crack was low and didn’t impair my view of the road. Allison is being a funny guy and getting her hands in the photo.

Mister Meister Jazz ...

Photo-A-Day #11 This is the front end of Meister, the Japanese name for Jazz, a member of the Autobots. It is one of the Transformers Alternators that is sitting on my desk. I was messing around with the macro lens on my camera while photographing for my new gallery, Harley Davidson Pins, and I decided to take a shot of the wheels on Meister.

Guys Night April 2005 ...

Last night I went to the Funway Cafe with Neil, Derek and Mike. We did our usual thing of hanging at the bar till everyone showed up having a beer and some popcorn. I think I refilled the popcorn bowls about 8 times. I love popcorn.  If I could I would register for this for the future finished basement theater (My pipedream house in the future.) Of course any 8oz. Popcorn machine would work too and I’ll just have to custom paint it with Harley designs. But anyway, Derek and Mike showed up and we moved to the couches and ordered, yep you guessed it Boneless Buffalo wings and fries. It’s the traditional guys night fare.  The bartender ended up as our waiter and forgot about us most of the night, he gave us our sodas free. I thought Neil was going to have to bus the table. It was good to see the guys and hang out for a while.

Cobra Garden ...

Photo-A-Day #10 This ceramic Cobra used to live in Tara’s garden, now it graces the soon to be garden next to the garage apartments.

Marathon Monday ...

Today my sister, Tara, is running in the Boston Marathon with the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team. She’s been training like crazy and has put over 4 hours of music on her iPod Shuffle. So she is ready. I’ll be getting frequent updates as she makes her way along the course throughout the day. Good Luck Tara! There is still time to donate to Dana-Farber. The Boston Marathon website. Track Tara’s Progress. Enter Bib Number 17446

Signs of Spring ...

Photo-A-Day #9 Today was a beautiful day. Allison and I took the Q Grill out to the side yard by the garage and sat out in Tara’s chairs. We grilled half a kielbasa and enjoyed the sun. Then we went out and took a walk and visited Corrine and Jeff. When we got back I saw this flower that was a good sign of spring being here. I don’t know what kind it is but I really liked it.

Dinner with Derek and Michelle ...

Last night Allison and I went to Box Seats for dinner with Derek and Michelle. We had a great time and as always the food was great too. It was nice to catch back up with them. After dinner we walked over to the Route One Cinema Pub to see the Bruce Willis movie Hostage. Talk about a tension filled movie. This is most definitely not a children’s movie. Or even a young teenagers’. The movie was very violent and realistic. Bruce Willis gave a stellar performance as hostage negotiator turned small town police chief, Jeff Talley. I think this is one of his best performances I have ever seen. Another shining performance was by Ben Foster, a Boston native who starred in such Disney sitcoms as Flash Forward. He also plays Russell Corwin on the show Six Feet Under. I have never seen Ben Foster as a villain, ever. This guy has mousketeer written all over him, or at least he did. Ben Foster gave the most convincing and disturbing performance as Mars Krupcheck, a young man with a very troubled pa...

Oliver Napping ...

Photo-A-Day #8 Oh what a lazy day. Oliver napping in the sunny spot. Just a relaxing day for us here.

Dinner with Andy and Rondi ...

Last night Allison and I went to visit our friends Andy and Rondi at their new house. It’s a great ranch and they’ve already done so much work to it. Andy took us on the tour of the house which includes a great huge basement. I have basement envy at the moment. It’s much worse than the table envy that Andy has. Speaking of the table that is where I am writing this post from, the new lift top table, (see yesterday’s Photo-A-Day.) because for some reason I cannot get onto Verizon this morning. I am going to check that soon because I have a feeling that because I called the other day to see if I could cancel my DSL service (so I could get on my family’s wireless network) they canceled the service even though I went back and forth with the guy about the $99.00 cancellation fee (I got into a year long contract before my dad got ComCast and we set up the wireless network. I was into the contract for 34 days, 4 days more than when I could have canceled for free.). So I don’t know what is wron...

I Fell For It ...

Yeah, I fell for the whole Save Toby thing. Check out this link to snopes.com. Well if there really was a guy doing that then I would still be as mad as my previous post. Now I just feel dumb because well I fell for it. I hardly ever get sucked into these things and go public about it. Man! That really burns me up. Snopes.

Oh the Parodies ...

So after I ranted about Savetoby.com I thought, man, what if I made a site called Shavetoby.com. You know if I don’t get $50,000.00 by June 30, 2005 my cat Toby is gonna DIE (of embarrassment).” Someone beat me to it. I present ShaveToby.com. And that site has raised $2000.00 so far.

Save Toby.com ...

If you haven’t heard this yet there is a website out there called SaveToby.com. You might think that it is a site to raise money for a sick animal or person. No it is not, it is a site to keep one bunny alive by NOT EATING HIM! The owner or owners of the site and of Toby are asking for $50,000.00 or they will eat Toby on June 30, 2005. Okay, this one is from the mind of some sick bastards. I normally do not use foul language on this blog because much of my family reads this but this one makes me mad, and for a few good reasons. (so I apologize for the use of some blue language.) 1.) This is obviously a way to get money by playing on the sympathies of good people who love animals. And there are people who will donate a lot of money to see that Toby is not eaten. These guys are emotional terrorists. They are playing on the fears of animal lovers and attempting to coerce money from those people to prevent the death of Toby. This is the definition of terrorism “The unlawful use or threaten...

Magic Table ...

Photo-A-Day #7 It arrived today. The guys just left after they set up our new Lift Top table. No more sitting on the floor for dinner. We can sit at the couch and magically have our food lifted to a comfortable position. Very exciting. Thank you Marcia! Marcia bought the table as Allison’s shower gift.

Ride to Ice Cream Machine ...

Photo-A-Day #6 Today I went to the Ice Cream Machine in Cumberland, RI. I took my motorcycle for a ride and ended up there. I also passed 1000km with my bike, kinda sad seeing as I’ve had it for three seasons and have only put that many miles on it. But this season will be much better, I plan to fill the bike up for its third, fourth and probably fifth time this season. (It gets 70+ miles to the gallon and holds 3 gallons in the tank. or some version of that same scenarios but with metric. Either way it goes a long way between fill ups.). I took a picture at 1000 km too.

Trade Show Stupor ...

Photo-A-Day #5 Today I spent the day at a Trade Show. This photo is about as exciting as it was all day long. Maybe I’ll get a better photo tomorrow. Don’t fall asleep viewing this.

Shocking Behavior on Broadway ...

I’ll get to that later. Today I was at a trade show as you can tell from the Photo-A-Day photo that I took there. It was an interesting experience but there was no-one there. We had maybe 5 people come and talk to us. But I got a free pen and a couple of beanie babies that some of the other vendors were giving out. Could of random things. I’m currently reading a new comic strip called Real Life Comics, and finally you can go through the whole archive and get caught up on the past strips. Another strip that I have had a lot of fun reading is called Lost and Found. It is about a Private Investigator and his talking dog Max. It is a pretty good strip too. Okay, Broadway is the street that intersects with Church street. After I got home from the trade show I took a walk with my sister Tara and when we were walking on Broadway, just a block away from Church Street, there were three little girls riding bikes on the opposite side of the street. The first little girl had to be about 6 or 7 and...

Oliver & Duncan Get Political ...

Photo-A-Day #4 This photo is fitting after today’s post about the Wisconsin vote on question #62 regarding making feral cats an unprotected species. I was given a great link to a group called WisconsinCAT, or the Wisconsin Cat-Action Team, a non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of Wisconsin’s domestic cats. Their website is called Don’t Shoot The Cat.com. And so today’s picture is of Oliver and Duncan. My furry representatives who are not in favor of their feral brethren becoming target practice for gun toting-cheese heads. (That is what they called ’em). Capture Spay and Neuter these feral cats. They can be domesticated, ours were and we love them.

Wisconsin, not Just for Cheese ...

Apparently there is a large population of feral cats in Wisconsin. And there was a meeting last night by the Wisconsin Conservation Congress to decide if Feral cats would fall into the category of an unprotected species. I read about this first on Jay Dyke’s site called The Mows, a cartoon about his cats. And he has his statement on the subject. One very good point that he makes is regarding his utter frustration with feral cats coming into his home and his chasing them away by use of a broom and hissing, water and finally throwing rocks at them (a last resort) and mistaking is very own cat Indy for a feral cat. I guess the point is, if a person who is the owner of a cat can mistake it for a feral cat, how easy would it be for a hunter to make the same mistake, not much you can do after the cat is already dead. Feral cats are a big problem all over the place. My sister traps feral cats to make sure that they are spayed and neutered through a volunteer program with a local animal shelte...

Marriage Preparation Class ...

Yesterday Allison and I went to the Marriage Preparation class or rather Pre-Cana (no water into wine, apparently that was a one time thing.) Anyway it was a nice afternoon, all in all. I for one was never against the idea of going and spending a day talking about the issues that will come up in marriage. I think it is important to do that and sometimes you need a day like that to get the ball rolling on discussions that you should be having. I could tell that many of the guys there (33 couples in all) really felt that it was a waste of their time, however it was a quality day and it does really matter what you put into these sort of things. The volunteer couples were all very nice. I would have liked having a more intimate setting with less engaged couples, 33 was a lot and we didn’t really get much chance to socialize with other people, and then there were the folks that we were glad we weren’t socializing with specifically that one young woman who constantly was talking about how gr...

Snoopy Latch-Hook ...

Photo-A-Day #3 This is one of my favorite things hanging in my house. My Aunt made this for me when I was very young. It is latch-hook. I recently found this same scene as a I-PAQ theme. I’ll be changing my I-PAQ to this theme eventually. You gotta love Snoopy and Woodstock.

Marriage Prep at Saint John's ...

Photo-A-Day #2 This is the front of the church were Allison and I spent the day in our Marriage Preparation class. I think it was called Saint John’s.

Oliver is Ready for Episode III ...

“Look at me! I’m playing Star Wars. I am Darth-Oliver, I’ve come to scratch up your furniture and distract you with my cuteness. Check out my sweet Sith-like hood, yeah I know it is a fleece blanket, work with me here people, it is called imagination. So anyway I am all big and bad till those rebel scum take out their secret weapon, the suction starfighter (vacuum cleaner), it just turns my dark side powers yellow, gotta run!”

Birthday Day ...

Today after my ride, Allison and I headed to Framingham to the Premium Cinemas to go and see Sahara. First impressions: The movie was a great action movie, so much good about it. Characters: Admiral Sandecker, William H. Macy did a good job as Sandecker however Sandecker dyes his beard to keep any grey out of it. Macy’s beard was grey. He did have the trademark cigars however and that is important. I don’t think the movie Sandecker was tenacious enough, but he did still get the job done. Rudi Gunn: Okay you got the glasses right but Rainn Wilson is a bit too pudgy to be playing Gunn who is a skinny little pencil pusher on the outside but a tough former Navy guy when pushed. Gunn seemed confused when with Pitt and Giordino but then again most everyone is. They are a tight pair. However his scientific knowledge was shown very well. Giordino, Okay I had my doubts about Steve Zahn as Al Giordino, he was awesome, but he wasn’t the Giordino that I have come to know in the Dirk Pitt Series. B...

I'm 31 ...

So, today is my 31st birthday. Last night we had pizza and ice cream cake with my parents and Tara and Erik. Dad got me a great Harley shirt and pin. The shirt was from a shop in Orlando the pin was from Ocean State Harley in Rhode Island. Today Allison is taking me to see Sahara. This morning my Dad took me for breakfast at JD’s downtown. After that I took the motorcycle out for a ride around the farms. The weather was awesome. I was so excited to get back out on the bike that I almost forgot that my registration and new stickers were still in the house. It would have been my luck to have gotten stopped. I started the Photo-A-Day project today with a photo of the motorcycle.

Photo-A-Day #1 ...

Photo-A-Day #1 Today was my first ride on the motorcycle of the season. There is still a lot of sand out there but only on the intersections. It was great to get out and ride around. I’ve decided that I would take a photo a day for an entire year. I was inspired by folk Singer Christopher Williams who did a project like this in 2002.

Couple of Changes ...

Take a look at the sidebar. I have removed the Lost poll, since Boone has already died this past Wednesday, (still can’t believe I called that wrong.). Instead of the Lovefest MoBlog I have made the link to a new MoBlog for the year in pictures, or rather Photo-A-Day. I will try to take and post an image each day for an entire year. And that will start tomorrow. So look for the daily images.

Iris Johansen Books ...

Eve Duncan, a forensic sculptor, is featured in: In Chronological Order The Face of Deception (1998) The Killing Game (1999) Body of Lies (2002) Blind Alley (2004) Sarah Patrick, search-and-rescue worker and partner Monty, her K-9 golden retriever, introduced in The Killing Game, are featured in: The Search (2000) Non-series books: The Ugly Duckling (1997) Long After Midnight (1997) And Then You Die (1998) Reap the Wind (1991) Final Target (2001) No One to Trust (2002) Dead Aim (2003) Fatal Tide (2003) Firestorm (2004)

Who Did It ...

Posted by Allison Who gave Drew too much sugar this morning? It wasn’t me. I was still half asleep when he left the house… I Swear it!

Sahara Opens TODAY ...

This just In!! My wonderful, soon to be wife, is going to take me to the Premium (leather seats and beer and all the popcorn you want) Cinemas in Framingham tomorrow to see Sahara for my birthday!!! Okay, most of you know from talking to me that I tend to get excited about things and really obsess over them, and that is pretty much my feeling on the new movie Sahara. I have been preparing for my enjoyment of this movie by reading every Dirk Pitt novel from the first to the last over the past several months. I am up to Flood Tide, the second book I ever read of Cussler’s back when I started at traveling for work and before I found out that my future father-in-law was also a fan of Clive Cussler. So I was lucky to have been able to raid his stash of Cussler Novels and read them too. Sahara the book was very good but I think that my real connection with the characters happened with Shock Wave, the book right before Flood Tide. Because as I reread and finished that book on this past Tuesda...

Lost Update ...

Okay I was wrong, they do kill off the person that they hint will die in the promo from the past week. WHAT! I mean, I thought he was gonna live and the death would happen in a later episode. I was wrong. But the island gives life and the island takes it away. Mystery baby has been born. A healthy baby boy. And the previews for upcoming episodes looks pretty cool too.

1st Solo Demo ...

Okay, so today I did my first demonstration on my own, without a net. It went well. The sales guys seemed pretty happy with my performance. I personally, think that I did okay but will do better next time because I know where mistakes were made. Now I am observing another demonstration and this guy is really polished, I’m going to be that polished someday too. But I’m sitting here behind all the doctors and one guy has something on the back of his shirt. It may be dirt, a dead bug or a booger, I don’t know! But all I want to do is reach over and flick it off. I probably shouldn’t do so though. I can’t concentrate, my eyes keep getting drawn to this mysterious speck. My only hope is that he has a violent coughing fit and it falls off. Not that I want him in discomfort but I can’t stop staring at the spot. It’s like talking to someone with a bat in the cave or something in their teeth. It’s distracting. And being subtle doesn’t always work. So I try not to be rude and wait till they stop...

I'm in Iowa ...

Well, I just landed in Iowa, got to the hotel. They gave me a Toyota Matrix, not a bad little car. I finished Shockwave by Clive Cussler and will probably start Flood Tide on the flights back on Thursday. Nothing much to report on today. At least this hotel has free high speed Internet. I just realized that I do have a few things to talk about. 1.) The guy who was badly burned on my street is in ICU at Brigham and Women’s. He was airlifted from Sturdy. Our neighbor who helped the guy who was burned, was also burned on his hands. 2.) While on the plane I found a couple of interesting websites on the American Way magazine pages. The first on is called Wannado, it is an amusement park for kids who want to try different types of jobs. This place lets them be surgeons for a day and things like that. They have dummies with realistic skin and the kids scrub in and work on the dummies. They can also be bankers and grocery store owners, pizza makers, and firefighters and things like that. There...

My iPAQ and Its New Look ...

Today I gave my iPAQ a little TLC tune-up. I have been neglecting this little device for a while because we had a falling out over the way it was handling my Microsoft Money files. Well I got MS Money 2005 and the interface with the Pocket PC platform is so much better that I am going to give it another try. Allison got me this Pocket PC for my birthday in 2003. I’ve taken it on every trip since then and used the MS Money Pocket PC version to keep track of my spending on the road so that when I return I just need to synchronize my iPAQ with the computer and all my transactions will be in the system. No duplication of work. It all worked great until I lost my data and then the program stopped syncing correctly. Well I then used my Flash/Pen drive to keep the MS Money file and was able to just put information into MS Money on either the work computer or the home computer. And that works great. But I missed my little iPAQ and today I gave it a little upgrade. I got the latest version of P...

Fire: Part 2 ...

This morning I drove by the house that had the fire. The whole garage was scorched and the fire ran up the side of the house. Our local newspaper has an article about what happened. Sun Chronicle.

Fire on Church Street ...

This afternoon I spent helping my dad get his new office and storage unit set up. Office for him, storage unit for everyone else, he’s getting that look like living out in the woods all alone is sounding better and better. Dad got Comcast Cable Internet, or broadband or whatever. I set it up on my mother’s computer. While I was setting it up. I heard these panicked cries, they sounded like the cats, so I ran into my apartment and the cats were fine. I went back to the computer, then I heard some sirens and they were coming up the street. Dad and I ran through the house, through the apartment and out the front stairs to see our neighbors all over their yards and fire trucks, police and ambulances all over the street. Big billowing smoke came was flowing out of a house up the street. Apparently a guy at the house was working on his car. Hey was taking bolts off of a gas tank. The tank had been drained and the gas put into a bucket. A spark from the grinder on the bolts ignited the gas in...

Pope John Paul II Dies at 84 ...

Pope John Paul II died today at 9:37pm (2:37pm EST). We’ve been watching the news most of the day about the Pope’s deteriorating health. There are many things that this Pope did that were revolutionary and his time as Pope has changed the Catholic church in many positive ways. There are still some changes that I feel need to take place but now is not the time to talk of them. Now is the time to remember a man who was in many senses of the word, great. He was great in his humility and his service to his people. He was great in bringing together the world’s youth as evidenced by his support of young people and the overwhelming crowds of youth who were in the square today. Yes the world will mourn his passing but will celebrate the great things that he accomplished as Pope. We watched mostly NECN throughout the day and one of the members of our church Ernie Colamatti was on as an expert. I did a double take when I heard his name, I was like, hey he sits up front at church, I know his son ...

Mitch Hedberg, Frank Perdue ...

Actor/Comedian Mitch Hedberg passed away of a heart attack today. Allison and I are watching his comedy central special. He was a funny guy. Also here is another link with some of Mitch’s quotes. Mitch’s website has been taken down. No memorial page there yet. His site is mitchhedberg.net but I’m not sure if anything will be posted there. After the special there was an in memorial photo and final quote by Mitch which he ended his special with, “I love you guys” and under his picture and the dates of his life and death it said we loved you too. I won't lie it kinda got me a bit choked up. Frank Perdue also passed away today. I really miss the Perdue chicken ads that he used to do. His son is funny also but I really liked Frank’s commercials. The Perdue website has photo of Frank on the first page of the website. Goodbye Mitch and Frank. Also as we know Pope John Paul II’s health is rapidly deteriorating. Let us pray that he does not suffer too long. MSNBC had some great information ...

Oregon Trail ...

I found this through Rob’s website. Do you remember the Oregon Trail back in grade school. Well this is the version for the Apple IIC or something like that. We used to have an Apple IIC but didn’t have this game. I had The Bard’s Tale which I really really liked. And of course Print shop which I used all the time to make posters and cards and flyers. Anyway back at SMSH we would play Oregon trail once every other month for about 1/2 an hour with 3 kids to a computer. Can you imagine playing Oregon Trail with two other people when all you had to do is make yes and no choices. Man we were disadvantaged growing up with computers. It’s surprising that I even know how to turn one on. Anyway this is how I fared on my trip along the Oregon Trail. I was almost there and ran out of food and everyone in the party died. But doesn’t that always happen? But I think my problem was buying too much ammunition and not enough food. Then I tried to hunt and oh well that was pitiful. But I almost made it...

Bottle of Dom ...

Yesterday Tara and Erik closed on their house. They are all moved into the apartment and they are giving away stuff like crazy. Come on over and you might pick up something nice for you and the kids. Last night they shared with us the most expensive bottle of champagne I’ll probably ever drink. A bottle of Dom 1995, that would have made a car payment for me. It was a gift to Erik from Bob Kraft. Yeah, that Bob Kraft. Anyway we all had a little bit of the bottle last night and it was really good, and for that price it better be. The bubbles just kept coming. It was a very good bottle. Saved for a special occasion. It just kept bubbling. Yesterday I also went for a ride to check out a condo in Whitinsville. It is about the same amount of time to get from work to the condo as it is to get from work to home. Maybe 5 minutes less. We haven’t gotten pre-approval yet so we haven’t actually gone into places to see them, I think we’ll get through the wedding and all the planning before we reall...