BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #145 08/31/05 This was a granite sculpture that was in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota airport. I wanted a photo when I landed on Monday, but ended up not having the camera ready, so I got it today. It is titled Monarch of the Plains.

Photo-A-Day #144 08/30/05 I ran down from Brookings to Sioux City Iowa to Rooster’s Harley-Davidson to pick up a pin. Parked outside was this very elaborate trike. It was named the Joker. Pretty sweet.

Tonight I went to see the movie The Brothers Grimm. A very good movie. There was humor, heart and some amazing sets. The fantasy world of the Grimm Fairy Tales came alive in stunning detail. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger were great as Will and Jacob Grimm respectively. They were very convincing as brothers and very fun to watch. If you haven’t seen it yet get out there and see The Brothers Grimm. Also does anyone have any idea why you would possibly need GPS on a golf cart on a golf course. As I was driving to Brookings I heard an advertisement for a golf course that touted their golf carts with GPS. Huh? That makes no sense to me, anyone have a theory as to why that might be needed?

Photo-A-Day #143 08/29/05 Tonight I ate here with Dan, John and Jessica. We agreed that we should have one of these back home. I think it would do well alongside a Chinese Buffet. It even had wireless access so you could have meetings there as well.

I am in South Dakota today. I started out from Boston this morning at 7:50am EST. I got to Sioux Falls, SD at 2:00pm CST. I got to the airport early enough where I got on a standby flight to Chicago. It is a good thing too because if I ended up on the flight I was scheduled for I would have been too late for my connecting flight. While I was waiting for the flight to Chicago I noticed a young woman in a FEMA jumpsuit with a Beautiful Black German Shepard named Taboo. I didn’t get a chance to talk to her and I should have tried but it didn’t work out. I wanted to chat with her and meet Taboo because rescue dogs fascinate me since I read the Iris Johansen Books (Specifically The Search and The Killing Game) and Virginia Lanier Books. It was fascinating to see Taboo interact with the people in the airport. He was too, especially with two twin Japanese boys.  I was so interested in finding out more about the team that I googled FEMA and Taboo and lo and behold I found the INDIANA TASK ...

Photo-A-Day #142 08/28/05 Happy Birthday Shelby! My baby sister is now 27!

Photo-A-Day #141 08/27/05 Spent the day on the beach, lots of boats on the water. Read a lot more of A Salty Piece of Land. I’m really enjoying that book. Great beach reading material.

Yesterday my division of the company, Marketing, had a softball game over at Houghton Pond (Part of the Blue Hills Reservation.). There were two baseball diamonds there. We were playing on field #2. So we gathered up all the coolers, bats, balls and gloves and trekked out to the field to play. There were two teams, the blue and the white. I was on the blue team. We didn't start that strong but we pulled together as the innings went on. Oh we didn't win but it really wasn't about winning anyway it was about having a good time. I started out in right field. Joanne played right center, Bob played left center, and Rick played left field. The infield had Sue as catcher, Hirsch as pitcher, David at first, Stephanie at second, Mike at shortstop and Steve at third, Verena and Lynne were on my team too and they switched off into the infield. The white team had some power hitters with Scott, Ken, John, Mike, Micah, Jeff and Damien, Pam, Pam, Siobhan & junior cheerleader Caroline,...

Allison and I have been working very hard on getting some materials together for the wedding. We've been listening to music for the reception, and for a special surprise to our guests. I've been combing through pictures and music for that surprise as well. And before yesterday I would have told you there was no way I would have gotten things together for that surprise. I really want to talk about it, but cannot. And it is killing me that I can't talk too much about it. Because it is really fun. But we have 77 days to wait, so be patient. The invitations are coming along. We've got most of the addressing done, many parts of the invitation printed. We just have to print one more section and then put everything together and get them out the door. So there hasn't been much to report on recently. The wedding plans have been keeping us very, very busy. This weekend and next we will be at the Cape. Looking forward to some good weather and relaxation. Hopefully we will get ...

Photo-A-Day #140 08/26/05 Practical jokes in the office. One of my co-workers came in to find their desk covered in stuffed animals. He was not that amused.

Photo-A-Day #139 08/25/05 My Dad has been doing some work on the house recently. He power washed and then repainted the garage overhead doors and the middle door. He took down the old light fixtures and replaced them with ones like you see above. Nice look, he’s really dressing up the place.

Photo-A-Day #138 08/24/05 Oliver is playing Hide and Seek.

Photo-A-Day #137 08/23/05 I was watching my father paint the garage doors and while I was grilling tonight’s dinner. I looked up and liked the view of the angles of the house against the blue of the sky.

Well, someone has found an interesting use for Google Earth and Google Maps. It is called.Google Sightseeing. Check it out, very interesting.

Have you ever played DDR? I know it is like the hottest game in arcades right now and has been featured in TV shows like King of the Hill, but I have never played before. That was until last evening. DDR stands for Dance Dance Revolution and I guess that there are home edition mats that you can buy. Throw out the gazelles, bowflexes, and treadmills because this thing will kick your butt into shape. Or it will just kick your butt. Anyway I am limping a bit today because those things were not meant for people who land with the grace of a 4 left footed elephant. I had the camera with me but no one got a video of me playing this game, that would have been funny. I’ll have to get a video sometime. Guy’s Night at the Funway Cafe was a the typical good time, boneless buffalo wings, fries, beers, popcorn and good conversation. Derek, Neil and I were joined by my friend Peter, you may remember Peter from my trip to the Reagan Library, Neil and Derek recognized him from that. So after confirmati...

Photo-A-Day #136 08/22/05 I uploaded a photo too early yesterday because as I was driving to “Guy’s Night” I see this guy in a powered parachute buzzing over the highway. So I took out my camera and snapped this shot as I was about to pass under him. You can still see the original image I posted with my Harley Davidson pins.

Through the eyes of Google? Google Earth is a downloadable program that offers a 3D view of the entire earth via satellite images. You can even get down to the building level and see buildings in 3D (not in all locations) It is a pretty sweet program (free) that James told me about. Really interesting stuff.

Photo-A-Day #135 08/21/05 Today Allison and I were in NH visiting Dan and Marcia. We did some shopping for the wedding and honeymoon at the mall and then came home to celebrate Nate’s 25th birthday. We had steak tips on the grill and then spent some time in the pool. After lunch we had a Carvel M&M Ice Cream cake. I like it even more than the original Carvel Cakes. Good Stuff.

Photo-A-Day #134 08/20/05 Today Allison and I spent the afternoon with James and Danielle and Ken on Lake Massasecum in Bradford, NH. While we were eating lunch there was this big glass vase in the middle of the table which distorted Ken. I thought it would make a good Photo-A-Day, despite the fact that Ken boycotts the blog.

Photo-A-Day #133 08/19/05 I imagine that Megatron would probably like a convertible. Got a little creative today. Haven’t spliced together images in a while. I did take the photo of Megatron in the Ravage Corvette today and the background I took out in Texas.

Last night Allison and I had our friends Neil and Andrea over for dinner. Neil is going to be the Best Man at my wedding. Only 84 days away. Yikes. We ate out on the pseudo-patio, otherwise known as the driveway. Steak tips with Montreal Steak Seasoning and ginger soy tuna steaks. Andrea brought fresh baked bread, and strawberry/blueberry shortcake for dessert. We also had some vegetables from Tara and the co-op. Grilled eggplant, gotta work on that one, and grilled summer squash. Grilled zucchini and summer squash from Mr. O’s is quickly becoming my favorite summertime treat. Do you remember stickers? Back in grade school at SMSH I used to collect stickers. No really Drew you collected stuff, you like to have collections, never would have guessed that. Yeah I collected stickers. Not really what you’d call a ‘masculine’ activity but you see, the girls collected stickers. So to my way of thinking, if I collected stickers then I could spend time with the girls. Ah, the flawed logic of yo...

Photo-A-Day #132 08/18/05 This is a cabinet that my father got from a funeral home that he remodeled. Eventually he’s going to clean it up and repaint it, it is a really nice metal cabinet with an interesting door lock. And all that glass. I store my motorcycle helmet here. Lot of good it does with no more motorcycle, but oh well, I have a helmet and my jacket still so I can go for a ride on my father’s bike anytime.

Thunder…. THUNDERCATS HO!!!! The first volume of season one of the Thundercats is on DVD. I loved this show. It had everything, strong characters, a fantasy world, swords, Cheetara and the Thundertank. Panthro was the McGuyver of Third Earth. Also on DVD is the complete series of the WildC.A.T.S. – this was my favorite comic book in college. I have every issue of that book, then I even have all of volume 2’s issues and I started collecting volume 3, but it became to gritty and no longer fun. I liked the heyday of Image comic books when the teams were still fairly innocent in terms of the things they dealt with, not thrilled with the turn to a more mature (think FX original series like The Shield and Rescue Me are today’s WildC.A.T.S. and The A-Team and Airwolf was the WildC.A.T.S. teams of yesterday.) I liked the whole storyline of the WildC.A.T.S. A Covert Action Team in a secret war against aliens that were demon-like in appearance. I even did a presentation in my Etymology class in ...

Photo-A-Day #130 08/16/05 Oliver loves his new Cat condo. Apparently he has claimed this high perch for himself. Duncan claimed a stack of rubbermaid buckets in the bedroom as his perch.

I've been a little behind on my updates recently. I've had some busy days at work and haven't really felt like updating when I've gotten home. The wedding plans are moving forward, we are working on the invitations now, planning on getting them out by the end of the month. Last night we ordered our guest book, it is a custom one and took a little while to get it just right. We've ordered our wedding party gifts and I am itching to talk about them (Well, at least the gift for the guys), but I have to be patient and wait till after the wedding to say anything.  We ordered a cake topper and need to contact the cake company soon to get our cake ordered. Still working on the gift for our guests, that is a project that we need to dive into soon. We did decide on most of the ceremony the other night, I think we only need to decide on the Prayer of the Faithful, and I think we are writing those ourselves. And today Allison is contacting the Bakery Arts International Bakery ...

Photo-A-Day #129 08/15/05 Mickey Mouse. Just a random shot today.

Andy gave me this, It is the best picture ever. “What you talkin’ ’bout KITT!”

Photo-A-Day #128 08/14/05 Today was the Falmouth Road Race. One of the perennial favorites are the Hoyts. What an inspiring Father and Son.

Today was the Annual Company picnic. Allison and I got there at 10:00am and went right to the Fried Dough. Once a year we have Fried Dough for breakfast, it is a tradition. The horse track at Maresfield Farm gets converted into a carnival and giant food tent for two days each August. It is a great picnic and so much fun for the children of the employees as well as fun for the employees themselves. After breakfast and touring all around the grounds we showed up for our stint as photographers for the children’s photo door hangers. I would take the photos and Allison would greet the children and their parents and try and get the kids to smile. We did this for about 2 hours and then it was Lobsta time! Each year I put in for two lobsters, I crack em open and take out all the goodness and drop the meat in the butter, Allison has never shelled her own lobster, ever. Its a dirty job and my duty. So after the lobster was shelled I went and got some clam chowder and some wings and a hot dog plu...

Photo-A-Day #127 08/13/05 The company pirate ship. Today was the company picnic and this is our very own pirate ship. Yarrghh!

Photo-A-Day #126 08/12/05 Tonight Allison and I went to Andy and Rondi’s for some homemade pizza, grape soda and some really funny stories about fat squirrels, spray painted squirrels, and the patience of a man who is out of patience with the squirrels. We also learned how to take down a 70 foot tree with trigonometry and an SUV. We got to meet some new people who were very nice and very funny. Lots of laughter and, of course, fun with Stephen (their Golden Doodle) I liked the look of the candy dish and made that the subject of Photo-A-Day, I liked how the glass distorted what was in the dish.

When I went to the movies the other night I joined the Regal Cinemas Crown Club. With the Regal Cinemas Crown Club you can accumulate points for every visit that you make to a Regal Cinemas for tickets and concessions. Also Tuesday is free small popcorn day. So guess who is going to start seeing movies on Tuesdays now. You can also gain points to get free popcorn and free soda and free tickets. It isn’t the best point program but if you are going to the theater anyway might as well get a little something out of it.

Photo-a-Day #125 08/11/05 Just looking for A Salty Piece of Land. Had a great relaxing day at the beach and read 16 chapters of this book, a very fun work of fiction. And the song that came with it was also good. I wish I could have this view all the time, (after I move the book I mean).

I’m at the Cape and using a dial up connection. How slow. I put up today’s Photo-A-Day and see that comments are coming it for many of the pictures. Glad to see that. Today I came home from Kansas City, MO. I decided to use my upgrades to get some first class seats. Since I can;t use the upgrades with the airline miles I figured I might as well try when I can. And I got upgraded for both legs of the flight. It was nice. Not the greatest landing in PVD, but at least we didn’t skid off the runway into a ditch. I then drove to the Cape, headed to the beach and spent some time with Mom and Dad. I read some more of Bearing an Hourglass. I’m trying to finish it so I can start A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffett. And that has to be read at the beach. It’s a rule. I went and saw the Dukes of Hazzard tonight. It was the case of the trailer being way cooler than the movie itself. However, I did really like the racing scenes and the nods to the original series.

Photo-A-Day #124 08/10/05 Flying high in First Class over Chicago.

I hate full service Marriotts. Why? I’ll tell you why, it makes absolutely no sense to go into a cheaper Marriott owned facility and get free high speed wireless or wired Internet, but then have to pay $9.95 a day for the Internet at a Full Service Marriott. What is the sense in that. Oh because we charge more for you to stay we’ll give you LESS in amenities. It sucks! And at this Marriott that I am in Kansas City, MO they are even charging you to use the modem in your room to make a toll free call.  So that is why I am writing this post on the laptop but can’t post it until tomorrow (which is now today.) But I actually got it to work (through the high speed, I’ll probably be charged for it.) I even shot a photo for Photo-A-Day that I could not post. I was tempted to drive over to another hotel and use the wireless in the lobby of the other hotel but that would just be too much of a hassle. So again through no fault of my own the Photo-A-Day was almost late, and that annoys me. I k...

Photo-A-Day #123 08/09/05 The KC Royals Stadium. At 70 mph.

I am in Sedalia, Missouri and staying at the Hotel Bothwell in historic downtown Sedalia, Missouri. This is one town that rolls up the sidewalks at 5:00pm sharp. I walked around and nothing was open except for two comic book stores (directly across the street from each other.)  I ran over to Yeager’s Harley Davidson to pick up a pin. They were sold out of them, (It was the generic round pin anyways, oh well, I added their card to the shops I need to call and have the pins shipped to me.) They did give me a free generic black keychain for free, that was nice of them. This is also home of the Missouri State Fair which starts in 3 days. I’m always either to early or too late for these things.  Oh and I finished Serpent, the first book in the Kurt Austin series by Clive Cussler. A good start to a new and exciting series. Can’t wait to read the next books. After that was finished I started reading Bearing an Hourglass by Piers Anthony, the second book in the Incarnations of Immorta...

Photo-A-Day #131 08/17/05 So when I can’t figure out what you want to take for Photo-A-Day I take the camera outside and attempt to take many pictures and see what I get. This is a close up of a sea urchin that is on the steps of our sunporch. Here are the pictures that didn’t make the cut. What I tried first. I liked how the moon looked by the steeples of the church but couldn’t get the angle right. Next I tried the sea urchins and sand dollars but didn’t like this one. I didn’t like how the flash looked on this one. Too washed out. The sky looked ominous. I took this one out the window in our living room. Then I dropped the camera onto the roof. While I was out there I took this picture of the driveway at night. Daisy was growling at me while I was on the roof. So I took her picture too, it looks a little like I took this with night vision.

Welcome to McCoy Stadium! Today we had a great surprise 75th Birthday Party for Grandpa at McCoy Stadium. We saw the Pawsox take on the Buffalo Bison. We had a bit of tailgating prior to the game and we had a big rowdy section during the game. After the game we celebrated with some tasty birthday cakes in the parking lot. What a great day.

Photo-A-Day #121 08/07/05 Today when we went to the Pawsox game, I saw this reflection in Allison’s glasses and had her move her head till I got the same view again. Keeping with the reflection theme from yesterday’s Photo-A-Day.

The Alpha has been sold. I sold the Alpha to Kelly this morning at 9:15. She used to have a 2003 and it had an untimely demise, but now she has my old Alpha and is back on the road. I’ll miss the bike but I know that I’ll get another one someday down the road. But not soon.

Today was an extremely busy Saturday. We started out with the burial ceremony for Great-Uncle Richard. The family came out at 10:00am this morning to gather at St. Steven’s cemetery to have a memorial service to bury Great-Uncle Richard. Fr. Dave performed the ceremony. Great-Uncle Richard was cremated and was buried in a beautiful urn that was decorated with a nice scene of the sport he loved to play, gold. On the way to the ceremony we saw many riders from the Pan-Mass Challenge go by. The route was right by the cemetery. I took a shot of one of the riders as they passed. After the ceremony Allison and I headed over to The Moose Cabin for the post ceremony meal. We sat with Carissa and Chris and Roberta and her sister and Erik. We had a very nice meal. We are looking forward to having our rehearsal dinner there. After the Moose Cabin we headed over to see Uncle Richard about the wedding rings. Mine is all picked out and ordered, we had to look at a couple more for Allison. The decisi...