BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #326 02/28/06 No pictures of the cool churches of downtown Corning. Didn’t get out after the “walk thu” demo today. You can see how it went on my face. And I’m doing this again tomorrow.

So I was in E.B. Games today in the Arnot mall and saw The Comic Book Creator software. A cool thing about this is that you can put your own pictures together to make comics from them. So I whipped one up. I am obviously not a comic book artist and can no way replace the great entertainment that is available out there. Just check out my webtainment links. From time to time I may make a comic with The Comic Book Creator, we will see. Also I started reading Fluke: I Know why the Winged Whale Sings today on the plane. It is pretty funny.

Here is a bulletin from Wes Molebash. Don’t forget, Wes is coming out this way on July 8th for a Book signing. Get your copy ahead of time and be ready for the signing. Myspace.com: “You’ll Have That Vol. 1 is in this month’s Previews, and that means it’s time to pre-order, people! To make sure you get a copy, just give the Diamond order code – MAR06 3473 – to the guy/gal at your local comic shop and they’ll know what to do. The book is scheduled to hit store shelves on May 10, so make sure to get your orders in to insure that you’ll get your copy on the day it arrives. Here’s the blurb printed in Previews: ‘In the first volume of the webcomic strip You’ll Have That, Andy and Katie battle noisy neighbors, have an unpleasant restaurant visit, and cope with the everyday struggles of married life. Foreword by Jef Mallett, creator of the syndicated comic strip, Frazz.’ The book collects the first half of 2005’s comic strip in 64 pages and will cost $4.95! We both know that is super rad! So...

Photo-A-Day #325 02/27/06 Downtown Corning, New York. This is the facade of the Rockwell Museum of Western Art. As I was driving to the hotel I saw this and since it was still light I ran back over after stopping at the Harding Harley Davidson Shop I found a public parking area and walked over to the museum, but it was closed, however I got this shot of the buffalo making an escape. I saw Eight Below today. I really enjoyed the movie, it is hard to watch at times for dog lovers but it is also a triumphant movie of epic survival. I’m not the biggest Paul Walker fan but I liked him very much in this movie. This movie was inspired by the true story of Taro and Jiro, two Japanese sled dogs who survived in the arctic. The original movie about Taro and Jiro was called Nankyoku Monogatari. Taro and Jiro are national heroes in Japan. There is a monument to them and a stamp as well. Bonus Picture from Today

Photo-A-Day #324 02/26/06 Another day at the house. Oliver and Duncan are enjoying having us around.

Photo-A-Day #323 02/25/06 Back to Aruba. Today Allison and I worked on and completed our scrapbook from the Honeymoon in Aruba. While we did that we watched A Guy Thing with Jason Lee, (it certainly wasn’t an Earl fix but man that guy knows how to deliver lines. He just has a great way of speaking.) We also took a nice walk this morning before the snow and got more time to break in the new boots. The scrapbook we got from Target and it had premade pages. They are on clearance right now at Target but I couldn’t find any online to link to for you. We’ll have to see if they have any more tomorrow. All of the things that we saved from the honeymoon were able to be incorporated into the book. As you can tell we are very proud of what we made. It was a great time together working on this project..

Our Friend Maureen – Mo – of We’re In a Fight has set up her own fantasy Apprentice game through Yahoo Games. Here are the details from her. If you enjoy the apprentice and want to play the details on how to sign up are below. “I’ve created a fantasy league for The Apprentice and would love for y’all to join in the fun. I got into the fantasy game for Martha’s Apprentice a little late in the game last year-but still chose the winner as my final pick…so that was something. Basically every week questions are asked about the content of the show, pertaining to the contestants. It’s a guessing game, but I’m sure I’m not going to be working for the Psychic Friends Hotline anytime soon. So if you want to join, just hit the main page at the link “up top.” You may have to create a yahoo id…but that’s pretty painless. If you already have an account with yahoo, then you are ready to proceed. The following info is also necessary to join the group…   Group ID#: 345 Password: reesie If you have ...

Photo-A-Day #322 02/24/06 Allison and Oliver spending some quality time together. Aren’t they looking cute.

Look at what just posted at Jimmy Buffett’s MARGARITAVILLE.com — Online State of Mind! Okay so those who know us and who are not parrotheads but would like to help us get tickets please go online on Saturday March 11, 2006 and buy as many tickets as you can (we’d prefer the Saturday show if possible.) I will buy those tickets from you at the price you pay for them and you have to know me personally, sorry not leaving Buffett tickets to chance. No making money off of Jimmy Buffett. It is not in the parrothead spirit. If you are a parrothead and we don’t know it or maybe we do know it but you want to remind us, let us know. Or if you would like to help wait in line up in NH on the 11th so we can try and buy tickets at Filenes in Manchester let us know. Buffett Back in Mansfield. AUG 10 TWEETER CENTER Boston, MA On sale Saturday, March 11 @ 10AM8:00PM AUG 12 TWEETER CENTER Boston, MA On sale Saturday, March 11 @ 10AM8:00PM”

Photo-A-Day #321 02/23/06 Had a 9 hour demonstration today and then a ride home from Rochester, NH in the rain, had no time to get a decent photo. Here is Duncan curious for the camera.

Photo-A-Day #320 02/22/06 Tonight I am in Portsmouth, NH. I have a demonstration tomorrow in Rochester, NH. It is an all day thing. I had dinner at the Muddy River Smokehouse in Downtown. I took a picture of this church before I went to eat and then tried again when I came back out. I liked the dark picture better. There are always protestors in front of that church too. Every single time I’ve been to Portsmouth, NH.

Photo-A-Day #319 02/21/06 This is Taylor, she is posing for the camera. I’ve been checking on Taylor at night to take her out. She is such a beautiful dog.

Photo-A-Day #318 02/20/06 Oliver does this thing where he rolls back and forth on his back and stretches. He is very cute.

Photo-A-Day #317 02/19/06 Today Allison and I went for a two mile walk. I had to start breaking in my new boots and new Superfeet for hiking. Allison broke in her new cute hat and thermal underwear. We made another trip to EMS today and this time I got a pair of boots from North Face, they are very warm and comfortable and waterproof.  Allison got some thermal underwear top and bottoms and a new hat. We are looking forward to our snowshoe hike with Aunt Cindy and Uncle Wayne in March. Let’s hope that some snow falls up in NH before that. So this is Allison’s cute new hat, and she looks adorable in her cute new hat and the long hair hanging outside the hat. Here is a bonus picture. While we were on our walk we saw this X-Box controller hanging from a branch in a tree. Someone either lost pretty bad and got angry or some parent had enough of their kid playing too much X-Box.

This weekend has been packed with events and get together and lots of people time. On Friday night Allison had her book club over for the monthly gathering, this past month they read A Million Little Pieces. (The book was chosen before all the controversy surrounding the book came to light.) Allison really disliked the writing style. The guy uses no structured punctuation. So on Friday night I was going to go out and watch Eight Below but decided that I was going to see it on a matinee instead, no full price movies for me unless it is X-Men or Transformers or something huge like that. I ended up at the mall where I stopped into Eastern Mountain Sports. I’d been checking EMS for the past few weeks because the price of snowshoes had been falling. Well, it fell to well over 1/2 off and I was able to pick up some Tubbs Altitude 30’s for less than $100.00. I was very excited. I then debated about getting Allison a pair, but there is one thing I have learned about outdoor sports and my wife,...

Photo-A-Day #316 02/18/06 Tonight Allison and I hosted a game night with Neil and Andrea and Derek and Michelle. We got Chinese food from Fortune House. Thanks for picking that up Derek and Michelle. Andrea and Neil brought a great cake that we had for dessert. We played two games of Scene It Sequel Pack and one game of Trivial Pursuit – Pop Culture DVD edition. Random comments: Your joystick has no pie around it. Schmuckles! Sweet Valley High You have a 50/50 chance you make get it right or not. Kill two stones with one bird. Pointing, Stone One, Stone Two. At exit 1…..

Just wanted to let everyone know that my letter to the editor appeared in today’s paper (Friday). I’ve already gotten some feedback about it. Also one of my sister’s friend’s saw the original article and told my sister about it right away. She got a weird vibe from the article too. Well, I’ve done what I can do.

Photo-A-Day #315 02/17/06 This is the makings of a jambalaya that Allison is putting together for her book club meeting. Or rather her eat and have wine meeting, and maybe mention a book or two. It smells really good and will of course taste fantastic once she has completed the meal preparation. So Book club is at our place tonight. We have spent most of the week making the place presentable. The new slipcovers and all this cleaning makes the place look really good. Those items that we bought at the home show are also very useful. We’re pretty satisfied with our purchases. And that is steam because it is pipin’ hot!

Photo-A-Day #314 02/16/06 Took a walk with my sister Tara today. As we passed the old jewelry factory I snapped this shot of the old water tower. I liked how the sky was looking. Speaking of walking. I am trying to get my wind up for the Disney In-Line 1/2 Marathon. Check my progress on the turtle ticker above.

If you notice the message I posted on the 13th then you know that there was an article in my hometown newspaper, The Sun Chronicle, about MySpace. My profile was shown in the article, however it had nothing to do with the article. I ranted and raved on the 13th and then decided to exercise my right to free speech in a more constructive way. So I sent an e-mail to the editor. Dear Editor, In Sunday’s Edition of The Sun Chronicle there was an article about MySpace and the potential dangers that it poses to teenagers. The overall tone of the article describing how teens can say safe on the Internet was good. The tips for teens was also very good. However there was a screenshot of a MySpace search using Attleboro as the keyword. This brought up a list of users who had Attleboro as their location in their MySpace profile. My profile was one of those that was pictured. In the overall context of the article this screenshot seemed very out of place. Had the journalist contacted the people who ...

This week’s flavor Orange & Mango. Okay so I’m not strict about when the ‘week’ actually begins or ends. I figured it was time for a flavor change. Allison really likes Orange & Mango. I’m not the biggest fan of the two fruit mixes. I like Orange and I like Grape but not really either of them mixed with another flavor. That is my personal preference. Orange & Mango is featured in many recipes for The Soda Club. Like these: Cranberry Orange Holiday Fizz Submitted by Denise G. of Chicago 1 liter Soda-Club Cranberry-Raspberry soda 1 liter Soda-Club Orange-Mango soda 2 cups cranberry juice 2 cups gin or orange vodka (optional) 2 cups frozen whole cranberries 2 oranges, sliced Add all ingredients to a large punch bowl To keep punch cold throughout the evening, replenish frozen cranberries (they act as miniature ice cubes) or make an ice ring by freezing water, cranberries and oranges in a gelatin mold and let it float in the punch. Red Sangria 1 liter of Soda-Club Orange-Mango s...

Photo-A-Day #313 02/15/06 Allison made a nice purchase for the apartment today. Some new slipcovers for the couches and some new pillows. The living room looks great. Good job Allison.

Photo-A-Day #312 02/14/06 Happy Valentine’s Day. Allison and I had a great meal at Rancho Chico on Route One. It was a very nice meal. Much better than the last time we went there. For dessert we had a sampling of SparX Spicy Cookies (now defunct). We tried one of each flavor. I’ve got to say, SparX Spicy Cookies (now defunct) are such a great concept and they were a nice little treat.

Today is Valentine’s Day. Last night Allison and I exchanged out Valentine’s Day gifts. Allison got me seven Kathy Reichs Books and something else that is en route. For Allison I got her The Notebook on DVD. So that means that at some point I am going to have to watch it. Oh well, I am a fan of Ryan Gosling. But that was not all, in addition to that were some nice chocolates and all five flavors of SparX Spicy Cookies. What are SparX Spicy Cookies? They are gourmet cookies with spices like cayenne, jalapeno, chipotle, and ancho. The five flavors are Chipotle Chocolate Chip, Ancho Oatmeal Raisin, Cayenne Toffee Pecan, Chipotle Double Fudge, and Jalapeno Peanut Butter. We tried the Chipotle Double Fudge and the Cayenne Toffee Pecan last night. The Cayenne Toffee Pecan was awesome. I just wasn’t feeling the love for Chipotle Double Fudge, I’ll have to try a few more with a fresh palate to make a final decision on those ones. I can’t wait to try the rest of the flavors. I ordered the SparX...

Photo-A-Day #311 02/13/06 We got walloped with snow on Sunday, but doesn’t it make everything look nice.

Okay so this morning I checked out to see if I had any messages on MySpace and there was a comment from my friend Carolinegray. It said “so the sun chronicle had a 3 page report about MySpace and how it gives pedifilers easier access to their victims... they showed Attleboro profiles and right on the bottom’s is YOU!..i kid not!!” WHAT!!! My first thought was “great I am lumped into an article about slimy sexual predators and other worthless garbage of that same ilk”. Fantastic, what a great way to start the day. I missed the article yesterday because I didn’t snag my parent’s paper. (Why buy two since it gets read by everyone?) So all day I didn’t know exactly what the context of the article was or why my profile or picture appeared there. The Sun Chronicle did not contact me about my views of MySpace or anything like that. I am annoyed. The article was about how sexual predators, weak useless wastes of space, are now using sites like MySpace to contact teenagers and lure them. The ar...

Photo-A-Day #310 02/12/06 Allison and Oliver sleep peacefully during the weekend Nor'Easter. The local news loves it when we have major snow. They stay up for hours telling you that it is snowing out. Today Allison and I were quite domestic. We roasted a chicken that we prepared yesterday. The recipe comes from the Everything One Pot Cookbook. It was called Sticky Fingers Chicken and man was it good. The recipe calls for roasting it for 5 hours at 250 degrees. Basting every 1/2 hour. When the bird was done at 1:30 I cut it apart for our lunch and then we began phase two. We are now making chicken stock for a chicken soup. We took the rest of the bird and divided it into two pots because we do not have a stock pot. So we are using two 5 quart pots on the stove. Using a modified version of Alton Brown’s Chicken Stock Recipe we also cooked up a bunch of wing tips that we have had on ice for the past year, they were vacuum sealed in our food saver from when I last made chicken wings. T...

Photo-A-Day #309 02/11/2006 Today we had a surprise 70th birthday for my Great-Uncle Fred. Fred is on my Dad’s side of the family. So the whole Bennett clan got together to party the afternoon away at The Moose Cabin in Attleboro. Again Al and his family took great care of us. If you are around the Attleboro area stop by The Moose Cabin. Try the Portuguese Pork and Potato dish, it is fantastic. My cousin Scott made custom candy bar wrappers and some great metal placards with a recipe for Fred’s 70th Birthday Party, with the history of Fred’s life on the back. Great-Uncle Fred spent many years as a chef. He can make the best pastries. He even had his own bakery for a time and spent many years at the Pomfret School in CT. Grandpa Bennett opened with some great words about Fred and the celebration of Fred today. Fred is also Tara’s dance partner because she is the only one who can really keep up to him. Fred is a fantastic dancer also and he and Tara do some fancy swing dancing at the fam...

Photo-A-Day #308 02/10/06 Oliver likes Bode Miller. Or at least he likes it when Bode skis. Oliver is fascinated by the flags on the downhill course and he tries to catch the racers. He has not done this before. Allison and I are catching the Olympics tonight. Quiet evening in. Gotta pay attention so that we do well tomorrow with RewardTV. So far we have been doing pretty well with it. Even remembering the commercials.

Photo-A-Day #307 02/09/06 The weather today was so crisp and clear that I was able to see the moon out. It is resting on the edge of our church. This week ground was broken for the addition on our church. We are looking forward to the renovations. This beautiful building is getting an elevator and some meeting rooms and some more space for the ever expanding congregation.

What was #1 on the Charts on the Day you were born. Mine was Benny and the Jets – Elton John. Scary that sometimes Derek calls me Bennett and the Jets. What was #1 when you were born?

Photo-A-Day #306 02/08/06 Got myself a haircut today. Wanted to take a picture of the haircut because I can never get it to look like it did the day it gets cut.

Photo-A-Day #305 02/07/06 The Gillette Fusion is out. I bought the powered one to tackle my unruly facial hair. Now it looks so futuristic that I think we need to redo the bathroom. However Oliver and Duncan have taken to redecorating the bathroom by tearing up new rolls of toilet paper. The little troublemakers.

Photo-A-Day #304 02/06/06 Duncan and Oliver love to have some of the tuna water after I have drained the tuna fish when I make it for lunches. So tonight I prepped some tuna for lunches tomorrow and as soon as the can opener popped the can they came running. And they share very well together. Such nice brothers.

Sign up for RewardTV. This is a cool site where you can answer questions about TV shows that you may watch throughout the week. Quizzes come up the day after a show airs. You can play about 6 games a day and earn points that can be used to redeem for Gift Cards and you are entered into sweepstakes through the site. I signed up today after learning about it from my friend Autumn. It looks like the site has the purpose of gathering information about TV watching and advertisements because some questions about each TV show have questions about ads interspersed throughout the quiz. Each correct question gets you 100 points. There are also other surveys that you can take for extra points. So far it seems pretty fun.

Photo-A-Day #303 02/05/06 Superbowl Sunday. Spent the Superbowl with Mom and Dad and Allison and Jen and Tara and Taylor. Had a great meal of Chili, Stromboli, Chicken Wings and Sausage. Some great commercials this year and the game was exciting.

Last night Allison and I and Marcia and Dan and Erin and Bart and Dick and Vivian went to see Don White and The Loomers play at Tupelo Music Hall. The Loomers were the best I had ever seen them. I think that getting their CD at the last show and listening to it a few times made this show even more enjoyable. It was fun to hear Dead End Street. The Loomers played about 4 or 5 songs and then Don White came on stage (after a five minute intermission). Don started with Rascal, that always gets the crowd going. And I could tell that he had been honing his stories even more since the last concert. Yes they were the same stories but he had added certain embellishments to each that made each story new and refreshing. After Rascal Don told the story of the accordion door and played the song Brown Eyes Shine. Then he told the story of the cantankerous old man society and played Be 16 With Me. You would think that 3 songs would have been over in about 15 minutes. Nope not with Don. With Don you g...

Photo-A-Day #302 02/04/06 We are up in NH today to see Don White with Marcia and Dan and Erin and Bart and Dick and Vivian. But before the show, when we arrived we played with Bonnie and Clyde. Clyde doesn’t know when to stop playing and will play till he drops. If he gets to tired and excited he pants like a dog. I captured him at rest.

Photo-A-Day #301 02/03/06 This is a window at the Richard’s Memorial Library in North Attleboro. I dropped off Firestorm by Nevada Barr. The library was closed and I dropped it in the slot. I guess you can drop donations there too. Too bad the moon wasn’t bigger.

Transformers Infiltration is the new comic series by IDW. This series is doing a very good job of slowing introducing a new Cannon to the Transformers universe. They have even set up a website from within the comic called. Mechatopia which is supposedly written by one of the comic book characters. I look forward to more issues, at least something to tide me over while waiting for the movie in 2007.

Photo-A-Day #300 02/02/06 Back home in Rhode Island. My home airport of T.F. Green. Not in the most creative mood today. Finished Blind Descent. Another solid outing with Anna Pigeon. Good read. Glad I am home. Kinda sad that this is the 300th picture. Well they can’t all be winners.

Have you seen any videos around the web about putting Mentos, the freshmaker, into bottles of Coke. Here is a website that sets this up like an experiment. ghost. Here is a video of what happens when you add mentos to coke. And another one from some college kids. Out behind the Gas and Sip.

Photo-A-Day #299 02/01/06 I demonstrated in Paris today. When demos were done I headed back to Nashville to rest up to head out downtown. So why is today’s photo of Ruby Tuesday curbside pickup? Well, today’s word is precision people. I say it again, precision. I was going to go and meet another demonstrator in the lobby of our hotel and go to dinner downtown. We are both staying at a Courtyard by Marriott. However, we both assumed it was the same hotel. Nope. Hers was downtown and mine was by the airport. So I’m picking up some take out and going to hang at the hotel. This is fine, because I have been fighting a cold and need to get some rest. If I has asked and made sure of the hotel I would have tried to get over to the Opryland hotel earlier to see if I could see the hoopla around the President’s speech today. I’m certainly not into politics as Neil and Derek can attest to. However I’m in the same state as our President is visiting and I can try to see what’s happening. That and ch...