BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #53 05/31/05 Tonight Allison and I went to Mr. Tux so I could try on the different tuxes for the wedding. I didn’t bring the camera. Should have but didn’t. Anyway after we had some dinner a Box Seats we watched Without a Paddle. Had a $5.00 coupon for Blockbuster so didn’t violate my no rentals for a year rule. Reading Patricia Cornwell’s Trace now, going quickly. Good read and quick, but not that big a fan of the characters. Give me the clear cut direction of Dirk Pitt anyday. So tonight’s picture is of my feet on the table watching the extra scenes of Without a Paddle.

Photo-A-Day #52 05/30/05 This morning Allison and I took our bikes out for a ride and we saw my Aunt Corrine and Uncle Jeff and the kids. I told Jeff that I am going to sell the motorcycle and he wanted to know if he could take it for a ride. So we traded for the day. Allison and I took a little Jeep adventure. We borrowed my Uncle Jeff’s Jeep while he borrowed my motorcycle. We toured around Cumberland, Woonsocket, Wrentham, and eventually Franklin. We had lunch at Franklin Flatbreads and got some ice cream from Spruce Pond Creamery. We had a great time flying around the backroads with the wind in our hair and John Mellencamp’s Greatest Hits blasting from the CD.

Photo-A-Day #51 05/29/05 On our way home from New Hampshire Allison and I stopped at Kimball Farm for lunch. Kimball Farm is a nice place with Golf, Miniature Golf, and a country store and ice cream. We had a nice couple of sandwiches and continued on our way home.

Photo-A-Day #50 05/28/05 Today Allison and I went to Nate and Sarah’s wedding reception/BBQ. This was taken right before Matt gave his speech for the two of them. It was very funny and touching. Nate and Sarah were already laughing before Matt even got going.

I just completed Clive Cussler's Trojan Odyssey . What a fantastic book. This book really brings the Dirk Pitt adventures full circle. I’ve been with these characters now for 17 straight books and they are like old friends. The next book is a passing of the torch with Clive Cussler and his Son Dirk co-authoring the book, Black Wind . I’m glad that Dirk Cussler will be taking up the duties of continuing the saga of Dirk Pitt and friends. I may wait a bit to read Black Wind because it will feel like a whole new origin of the story. I think I found a continuity error but can’t figure out what book I need to read to confirm it. Oh well. As with each Dirk Pitt novel Clive Cussler makes an appearance and this is the first book that really felt like the end for me and with Cussler’s appearance it got me a bit choked up. I’m excited about the new direction the series is heading and will soon dive into more of Cussler’s works. But before that I’ll tackle some other books, like Patricia Cor...

Photo-A-Day #49 05/27/05 Bubbles galore. Rick blows bubbles to create a festive mood during a surprise bridal shower. Congratulations on the upcoming nuptials Christine and Marc!

Photo-A-Day #48 5/26/05 Tara’s puppies were playing in the backyard and when I came to the gate Taylor came to say hello.

When is LOST returning to TV. That is the main question I had after last night’s 2 hour season finale. It was awesome. It had the humor, the drama and the tension that I have come to know and love about the show. Were questions answered? Yes. Was more revealed? Yes. Do we really know anything about the island? NO! I was really good about not reading spoilers ahead of time with this show and it really helped me enjoy it all the more. I look forward to the DVD set being released and all the extras. What annoys me is that now, with the success of LOST, sci-fi and supernatural shows are crawling out of the woodwork, all the while a pretty fantastic show was passed over a few years back and given the boot. You know the show, Firefly. That was a great Sci-Fi show with a great concept. A Space Western that focused on a group of characters and their relationships. I saw about 3 previews for supernatural shows coming out next season, they all look like crap. Bring Firefly Back.

I am reading the latest Clive Cussler Novel about Dirk Pitt called the Trojan Odyssey. In the course of the book they make mention of another book called “Where Troy Once Stood” hypothesizes that the legendary battle of Troy did not take place in Greece among Greeks but rather in England among Celts. Iman Jacob Wilkens author of “Where Troy Once Stood” dissects the Iliad and the Odyssey based upon the descriptions of places and finds that the descriptions do not match that of Greece. He also hypothesizes that Homer took the oral traditions and tales from the Celts and wrote them down but used Greeks instead of Celts as the stories characters. It is a very fascinating concept. I really love the Cussler Novels because half the time you wonder, is this real, or is this made up. I remember reading the Iliad in High School as well as college. In college I studied the Iliad in my Humanities Class and there was never a doubt about the story being about Greeks. I really want to read “Where Tro...

Photo-A-Day #47 05/25/05 This is the image I should have put up yesterday but I did not have my camera with me, so today after the demonstration I went back over to the restaurant that we ate at last night and took the picture of this. This is the Putnam Version of Cows on Parade. They are called the Calves of Putnam and there are various ones about town. In fact there are 34 different calves spread throughout the downtown. I saw three of them but did not explore further. Each one has a name, I of course find the one named “untitled”. To learn more about the Calves of Putnam and view the rest you can go to http://www.putnamct.us/

A great thing happened int he world of web comics. 6 creators struck out on a new collaboration to mutually benefit each other. I’ve already talked in the past about Wapsi Square and Shortpacked!. Those are comics by just two of the six creators. Check out Blank Label Comics.

Photo-A-Day #46 05/24/05 I am in Putnam Connecticut tonight. I went out to dinner at a place called the Courthouse. The town is very pretty with interesting things to see. Man, would have been great to have my camera with me. I won’t forget it again. So today’s picture is really lame.

Do you ever throw your business cards in those fishbowls at restaurants? I do and today I got a call that I won lunch for myself and 14 others at Vinny T’s in Dedham sometime during the month of June. Pretty sweet winnings. And today I got a $3.00 off my next purchase at D’angelo. I should go buy a lottery ticket for tonight’s drawing.

Photo-A-Day #45 05/23/05 This is a T-shirt Quilt that my sister Tara made for me. It was made from a bunch of T-shirts from College. Tara has made a number of T-shirt Quilts.

Photo-A-Day #44 05/22/05 Saw Star Wars Episode III today. Obi-Wan Kenobi is the best character ever. I really loved Ewan McGregor’s portrayal. This is one of my LEGO sets, Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter. I hope to one day open and share with my children. Ollie was just hanging out so I decided to put him in the picture too.

Today Allison and I went to see the 1:45 showing of Star Wars Episode III. Overall it was a good movie. It was visually amazing, but there was just so much to see that it was just not possible to see it all. It was awesome to see Wookies. The Wookie planet was very cool. I think that Lucas tied things up very nicely overall. However, I found Anakin to be so easily led that it was silly. I also found him to be a hypocrite. The downward spiral unraveled so quickly. It certainly was a tragedy of epic proportions and capped the trilogy and made a perfect segue for Episode IV. I liked the movie alot. I look forward to seeing all the movies when they are re-re-re-released on IMAX 3-D. I think that will be starting around 2007. Should be a good thing to see.

Today Allison and I took Allison’s friend Jenn to Michelle’s graduation party at Derek and Michelle’s house. Both Michelle and Derek did very well this year in their studies. Derek, an absolute knuckle dragging troglodyte, barely squeaked by on his doctoral classes with all A’s. Way to go Derek. And Michelle also did a fantastic job on her final grades. The BBQ kicked off with Derek’s signature handiwork at the grill including homemade bratwurst marinated in beer and onions and sauerkraut. Also on the menu were hot dogs, burgers and kielbasa. Michelle made a delicious pot of baked beans. Favorite quote from the Day. “I took in the Bratwurst and there is no other food outside.” Which was followed by Derek and I taking in the rest of the food, that wasn’t out there, and bringing it inside, where it already was. Derek slaving away at the grill. Grilling on a cold May day. However the rain held off. Here’s the crowd enjoying the delectable spread. Derek and Coco. Mike and Derek and the cre...

So this morning I got up and lazed around the hotel room for a bit, headed down to get breakfast at 7:00am and then caught the shuttle over to LAX. Man what a busy place. As we were riding in I could see long, long, long lines at the US Air terminal, then we got the the American Airlines terminal and I got in went to the self service counter, checked my bag and headed over to the security line, Again a wicked long one. The next thing I know the woman checking the tickets shuffles me off to a bus that then proceeds to the Tom Bradley international terminal so that we can go through the security line there because it will be faster. Sure no problem faster is better especially in line at the airport. So we get to the Thomas Bradley International terminal, walk in like a string of ducklings and get through security and then onto another bus that brings us to the terminal. It was actually very smart and efficient, can’t believe that I found something like that at an airport. Who da thunk it...

Photo-A-Day #42 05/20/05 Spend an entire day in the airport, on planes and off and you get pictures of planes.

I’m heading home from LA today. I was just here for a couple of hours last night and on my way to the planes that will take me back via DFW and then onto PVD. Last night I went with the rest of the group to a place called Cafe Boogaloo on hermosa beach. (Sorry I didn’t call Uncle Jim, I thought I’d be taking the later flight from Fresno and not going anywhere last night. Next time I come to town.). I had a great flat iron steak with a ragout of mushrooms, beans and fried onions. It was much better than I just described. There was a performer there called Christopher Cotton. When I get back on high speed I’ll see about finding his website and posting the pictures I took. Please keep the prayers coming for Great-Uncle Richard, he’s still in the ICU but his kidney function is beginning to improve. And if he knew I was soliciting prayers for him he wouldn’t be too happy. He’s one of the most generous people I know as well as the most self-sacrificing and independent. The day before the sur...

For this trip out in Fresno I had a 2005 Mustang Convertible. And one cannot waste a convertible when one has the opportunity to use one. So this morning when I headed out to the site for the demo I put the top down and drove out through the farm country. I got to see where alot of our strawberries and almonds are grown and picked. It was a 40 mile straight shot across a valley, as far as I could see were farms and then beyond that were whitecapped mountains. Cruising with the top down is just so much fun. The mustang cruises along so well. It is a sweet machine. I now have a sunburn on the left side of my head, but man the ride was worth it. I finished the Dirk Pitt novel today Valhalla Rising and I just reserved Trojan Odyssey from the library online. I love the library online. They are now doing e-books via the library so I am in heaven about that one. And the e-book is like a regular book except you don’t bring it back, after 14 days it automatically stops working and the book is o...

Photo-A-Day #41 05/19/05 Today’s Photo-A-Day is the take-off from the Fresno airport. As soon as the overhead ding went off I grabbed my camera and took this shot. It is really hazy and smoggy so I had to enhance it a bit to get better detail. And I got stuck at the wing so unless we are banking I get no clear shots. Oh well maybe on the flight home tomorrow.

Photo-A-Day #40 05/18/05 I got a mustang convertible for this trip. Too bad I won’t get to drive it too much.

3+ years ago when I started this job I had my first account in Fresno, CA. I am now back here for a demonstration tomorrow. Last time I was here the airport was undergoing renovations. They are now complete and the Fresno airport is looking top notch. I ended up with a convertible Mustang too. One of the new ones. Sweet! On the flight across the country I tore through my latest Dirk Pitt novel. Clive Cussler has once again woven a story of intrigue, wit and adventure. I’ve completed 400 pages so far and will finish the book on the return flight. The book is called Valhalla Rising and it is awesome. There is a teaser trailer up for the Da Vinci Code. Nothing special about it but it is supposed to come out one year from tomorrow. A little early for a nothing trailer if you ask me. But if you want to see it for yourself, here it is.

Photo-A-Day #39 05/17/05 These are Liberty Dollars. My Great-Uncle Richard gives these to his nieces and nephews each Easter. I have them as far back as 1986. Great-Uncle Richard is in the ICU tonight. He had some complications during an operation this morning and he’s in critical condition. Mom and Dad and Tara and Erik and Allison and I went to Sturdy to go and visit him. Please keep Great-Uncle Richard in your prayers. Thank you.

Photo-A-Day #38 05/16/05 Back at home. Missed the cats. Here’s Duncan.

I just found out that I got my status back on American Airlines. I’m platinum baby! Other Random information. Scrubs has been benched for return to the NBC lineup later in the season. A new sitcom called My Name is Earl starring Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee (Staples in Kevin Smith Movies) is going to be on NBC. I think Jason Lee is an absolute riot and hope this show does well. It is about a small time crook who wins the lottery and decides to right the wrongs of his past. Should be interesting. Check out a parody movie for Star Wars, called Star Wars: A Lost Hope.

Yesterday Allison and I went to New Hampshire in the morning. I got 3 hours of sleep and then we were off. Went went up to see Dan and Marcia and then went over to see Ken and Alicia for Alicia’s MBA celebration party. Ken went to the Bull Run and got some great steak tips and fired up the Webber and got the bbqing going. Here’s Kenny at the BBQ. Kenny the BBQ King. After we left Ken and Alicia we went back to the house and Erin and Bart came down to have dinner with us and to head down to North Andover to see Antje Duvekot and Ellis Paul at the Crossroad’s Coffeehouse. Antje opened the show and she was fantastic, she has such a wonderful voice and her songwriting is amazing. We were actually seated directly behind her. After the show she signed my copy of her newest CD Boys, Flowers, Miles. And I asked if I could get a photo with her as well. She was very gracious and nice to meet. I look forward to seeing her again in the future. Drew and Antje. Ellis took the stage and he played ano...

Photo-A-Day #37 05/15/05 Today we had lunch from Chen Yang Li in Bedford NH. Erin and Bart stayed for lunch and we went back to the house to have lunch with Marcia and Dan. I used to go to Chen Yang Li back when I was working at Saint Anselm College’s PR department.

Photo-A-Day #36 05/14/05 Yep, it was 3:05 am when I arrived at PVD!

So I am flying home from my week long trip for work. I started my journey home around 11:00am on Friday the 13th. It is now 2:08am on Saturday the 14th. 15 hours of travel so far. My morning started with a call from the airport telling me that my flight scheduled for 10:48am had been cancelled but not to worry I was rebooked back to Providence on a flight leaving at 1:19pm. Great I now had some time to find the Wichita Harley Davidson shop called Mid Continent Harley Davidson. It’s fairly small as shops go but they had a good custom pin and I picked up one for myself and for my father. I then headed to the airport and got my picture of the day, a Big Dog motorcycle that was on display in the lobby of the airport. As I awaited my plane I set up shop at the workstation and updated the blog, checked my e-mail and was able to play a little Runescape. I got a message from Linda at the Smoky Hill Bison Co.. I found out that Ida’s calf had died in the birthing process. I then went to check ou...

Sadly Ida the Buffalo did not have a healthy baby bull calf. The calf died in the birthing process and Linda and her husband Verne needed to extract the calf from Ida or else Ida would have died too. The calf had a broken leg and twisted shoulder. I could sense that things weren’t right when I was there watching Ida struggling with the birth. Linda and Verne needed to separate Ida from the herd on foot, with a pickup and a tractor during a horrible thunderstorm, but they managed to save Ida. I was also told that Tonka (the herd bull) who is very protective of Ida, was not too happy to be away from Ida. This morning I read the children’s book I got at the Smoky Hill Bison Co. It is called The True Story of Nickel, The Baby Buffalo Who Thought He was a Dog. It is a very cute story, and a little sad too. Nickel lives in Colorado and I think that I have actually seen his herd when I was in Colorado a few years back with Tara and Erik. We could see the herd from the highway and on the Nicke...

Photo-A-Day #35 05/13/05 It’s friday the 13th and I’m at the Wichita Airport. My flight was cancelled and I was booked on another flight at 1:30pm. So I won’t be home till real late. Wichita is the home of Big Dog Motorcycles. They have one on display in the lobby of the airport. I would have liked to go to the manufacturing plant but didn’t find out where it was till it was too late.

Photo-A-Day #43 05/21/05 Mike and Coco doing a U2 picture. What is a U2 picture. Well have you ever noticed that when U2 is photographed no one is looking at the camera. I credit Steve with introducing the concept of the U2 picture to me.

Today I gave a presentation in Salina Kansas. It is about 80 miles North of Wichita. The demonstration went very well. After the demo I headed back to Wichita but first I had to make a couple of stops. The first place I stopped was the Smoky Hill Bison Co. I saw a sign on the road yesterday on my way to Salina (pronounced Sah-Line-Ah not Seh-lean-ah). I knew I wanted to check this place out. It is a working family farm that raises Bison for meat and other products, like leather and bison skulls. The family makes use of all parts of the Bison that they raise. When I arrived I was greeted by Linda Hubalek the proprietor. Linda was a very nice and inviting woman who was very friendly and knowledgeable about all things related to Bison. She is also an accomplished writer and quilter. She has written two series historical fiction books about her family and their travels from Kentucky to Kansas. From the back cover, “In this first book of the Trail of Thread series, in the form of letters sh...

Photo-A-Day #34 05/12/05 As I was making my way back from the Smoky Hill Bison Co. I saw this device in a field, it looked pretty interesting. I think it is either for irrigation or maybe for fertilizing or spreading seeds. I honestly do not know what this does but it looked interesting and I can only speculate at the use. Updated 01/02/06: E-mailed to me by a Kansas native. “Its an irrigator. The other end of it is hooked to a high pressure well. When the pressure is turned on, it causes the whole device to move one way or another. Some are allowed to go in circiles, some have a set area. There is a post at either end of its range. It will hit the post, stay for a few minutes, then reverse direction. They normally don’t move very fast…rarely over 1mph.”

Photo-A-Day #33 05/11/05 While in Chicago I only had enough time to stop by McDonalds, So I grabbed a Happy Meal, the toy inside was a The Cat stuffed animal. And today I was running late again so I stopped at McDonalds in Salina, Kansas so I grabbed another Happy Meal and got a The Dog stuffed toy. Did you know that you can get chocolate milk at McDonalds now? That is awesome!

I guess I titled this post that way so that on Friday I could post, I’m not in Kansas anymore, but that would be a very lame joke. Okay so I haven’t posted a real post in a while. I’ve been keeping up with the Photo-A-Day project and yesterday I posted a number of photos of downtown Fort Worth, mostly of buildings that I saw there because we only had about 1 hour to walk around so we really didn’t see much. This morning I got up at 5:00am and headed to the airport for my flight to Kansas. I got to Wichita and headed to the hotel, it was very early so I could only get into a smoking room at that time of the morning, but I talked to the front desk person and she said I could come back and get a non-smoking room later. So I got upstairs and showered and shaved real quick and got on the road for a 2 hour drive to Salina, Kansas. And luckily for me I took everything with me, under the impression that I would return to a non-smoking room, you know one that didn’t stink like ass. Anyway when ...

Photo-A-Day #32 05/10/05 This photo was taken in Forth Worth, Texas, downtown. After the demo today I went to the downtown for lunch. There are some fantastic buildings all over the downtown area. This one was really nice. I can’t tell you what these buildings are because we didn’t have enough time to really explore so I just snapped away and will post. If you know what the building is let me know. Update 1/2/06: This is the Bass Hall

Photo-A-Day #31 05/09/05 I’m in Fort Worth, Texas for a couple of days to do a demonstration tomorrow. Then I’m off to Wichita for a couple of days. This is the restaurant that I ate dinner at this evening. They had great fried mushrooms. I may go back tonight to get fried pickles.

Photo-A-Day #30 05/08/05 On our way home from Plymouth, NH we stopped at Hebert’s Candies in Boxboro, MA. We split a sundae. When I was a kid our family would stop there on the way back from NH for a treat. I remember the place as much more exciting and fun. Oh well the ice cream was a nice treat.

Today Allison’s brother Nate and his fiance Sarah were married at the Common Man in Plymouth, New Hampshire. It was a very nice intimate ceremony that was attended by Nate & Allison’s parents, Marcia and Dan, Sarah’s parents, Frank and Barbara, Allison and me and Sarah’s sister, Megan, and her boyfriend, Matt. More photos to come.

Photo-A-Day #29 05/07/05 This is the wine cellar in the alcove where we ate dinner tonight at the Common Man in Plymouth, New Hampshire. We were there to celebrate Nate and Sarah’s wedding. Photos from the wedding are forthcoming.

The Dukes of Hazzard Movie Trailer is out! Any trailer that uses the song Black Betty in the opening establishing sequence is just a good time. Gets you pumped up.

Last night was the Serenity Preview Screening and man it was so awesome. A sold out crowd of Firefly fans, Browncoats, were in the building. Two cast members came to see the movie and sign autographs at the end of the show. The cast members who came to our viewing in Boston were Sean Maher (Dr. Simon Tam) and Morena Baccarin (Inara). The ovation was so loud for them. Watching a movie with a fan base as rabid as Firefly’s was an experience. People were singing the songs from the show like the Ballad of Jayne Cobb and the theme song. There was a film crew on site making movies for the DVD and as promotional material. Also before the screening began there was a message from Joss. The man is so witty and dry, he made us all laugh. So many times during the movie the crowd laughed or cheered. It was something to be a part of. The story is great and Joss does what Joss does which is steers you one direction and makes you end up in an entirely different place. Buy the DVD’s support this movie ...

Photo-A-Day #28 05/06/05 Last night Allison and I went to see the preview screening of Serenity. It was awesome. I took this first thing when I got back tot he hotel room at 1:00am. At the show we were all handed these keychains.

Photo-A-Day #27 05/05/05 Happy Cinco de Mayo. Today’s photo was sitting on my desk when I got to work today. Yes that is Optimus Prime eating his plasma blaster. The work of some creative folks at work who got utterly frustrated with a little project at the end of the day. I think this was to symbolize that frustration with the project. I went to put my computer on the platform and there is Prime sitting there. I talked him down and he’s standing tall again.

Photo-A-Day #26 05/04/05 Mowed the lawn today. Didn’t I do a good job?

Photo-A-Day #25 05/03/05 I got some new tires for the Civic. My other tires were at 65,000 miles, or rather 64,780 miles but who’s counting. They were the original tires that were on the car when I bought them, and they were pretty bald. So I got some new Goodyear Assurance Tires with ComforTred Technology from Sullivan Tire. I’m happy with them so far. And they have a 80,000 Mile Tread Life Limited Warranty.

So last month Allison and I went to see Christopher Williams at the Lyons Den. After the show we both e-mailed him. Here’s what transpired. I wrote: Hi Christopher, Last night my fiance, Allison, and I, and her friend attended your show at the Lyon’s Den at Wheaton. We were the three folks on the couch who were certainly not college students. We had a great time and enjoyed your show. It was nice to see you back up this way since we haven’t seen you since an outdoor concert in Arlington or the a New years show with Ellis at Club Passim. Anyway we missed you not being up and around here to go see your shows. Allison has been playing the new CD all day today I can guarantee it. Thanks for signing it. Anyway we had a great time and wanted to thank you. We keep a blog and you’re invited to visit it. It is http://benspark.blogspot.com Thanks for the great night. Congratulations on recently getting married, too. DREW Christopher wrote: hey drew…thanks for your email and for grounding out th...

Photo-A-Day #24 05/02/05 This used to be a train track and bridge in my town. Now there is still the path where the trains ran but no more track. It runs behind a number of houses up and down the street up the street from us. Took a walk after work with Tara and Mom. Checked out many of the houses in the area that are for sale. Someday we’ll buy a house. Not soon but someday.

Allison sent me this. The New Yorker Cartoon of the Week. I ask you, does that even begin to describe me and my desk? I mean, honestly …..