BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #571 10/31/06 Tonight Allison and I went to visit Amy and Ryan and Mason for Halloween. Mason is the coolest kid. He’s so full of energy (could have been the sugar last night) and he was so excited for Halloween. He would run to the door every time someone came trick or treating and shout “Halloween” or “Happy Halloween” or some version there of. We brought over some cookies that you could color on for Mason. He and I colored at the table in between knocks at the door. The color cookies were pretty neat, they came with markers that had food coloring in them and you could color in the black and white image. I had as much fun as Mason did. Then it was time for Amy, Ryan and Mason to go trick or treating. Mason was a Doctor and even had a custom made lab coat (courtesy of Amy’s Mom) that had his nametag and everything. He had the Fisher Price doctor’s kit and he was on his way. Ryan came home from work and was in his suit so it looked like he was the young doctor’s lawyer. All...

Happy Halloween everyone. Here are a few fun things for Halloween that I have found for you to play with. First is a trivia quiz through AOl. It is about what TV characters wore in Halloween Episodes. The next is a list of the worst costumes. I can’t believe that some of these were actually made. And If you have yet to actually carve your Halloween Pumpkin… well first, what are you waiting for. And second if you don’t have an idea you can take a look at Extreme Pumpkins.com.

Photo-A-Day #570 10/30/06 Today Allison and I were at the Cape. We slept late and had a wonderful night of sleep. It is so great to sleep down there. Despite the wind I, as usual, heard nothing and slept so well. Two pages of my book Tyrannosaur Canyon and I was out like a light. This morning I eased into the day by reading six or seven chapters. It is great to have a night og good sleep and where you actually wake up refreshed the next morning. Allison took a walk on the beach and picked up a few shells that had gotten blow onto the beach by the big winds of last night. She even found a good piece of sea glass. We had lunch at the British Beer Company with Dad and then made our way home. Later in the afternoon we headed over to the hospital to visit Derek and Michelle and baby Nicholas. The baby is adorable. He slept like a little angel a little while after we had arrived. So we got a chance to talk with the new parents. They are so excited and we are so excited for them. We’ll go ove...

I am in the market to purchase one of these ones. I know a friend who has the Sanyo Xacti C6 and he really likes it. It is about time to replace my Sanyo Xacti C4 with a better upgraded model. I’m pretty excited about finding one and getting it. Now that I know how to make videos with it and Adobe Premiere I’m all set.

Photo-A-Day #569 10/29/06 Today Allison and I drove down to the Cape to catch the end of the Cape Cod Marathon. I got a chance to use my new telephoto lens and camera. The spot is definitely on the senor of the camera. So it looks like I have to send it in to get fixed. Luckily it is under warranty. A couple of years ago I ran the first leg of the Cape Cod Marathon as part of a relay team. This year I just came up for a visit to cheer on Tara’s boss Jack. Jack ran his best time ever 3 hours and 30 minutes. That was with probably the windiest day ever for this race. We were getting blown all over the road during our ride up to the Cape. I now have about 100 photos of random runners because I had to keep testing out the camera and see what it could do. So I got some great shots of runners, and I have no idea who they are. But I was pretty sure Tara knew some folks so we’ll sit down and go through the pictures and see whom she knows. I love how the camera performed (despite the spot)....

Our friends Derek and Michelle are now parents of a beautiful baby boy. Nicholas was born last evening at 11:09pm. He is 8lbs 15oz and 18 inches long. Mom and Baby are doing well. We look forward to visiting them and meeting baby Nicholas. And we know they are going to be great parents. But I have to say…. This guy is a Dad now. Just kidding you Derek, congrats to both you and Michelle. Can’t wait to see you guys.

I can’t decide against the iPod or the Zune. I think I may give in eventually and get an iPod. I really want the Zune because the radio is built in but the iPod has been around for much longer and there are so many more cool accessories for the iPod. There is an alarm clock/docking station/charger thing that would be cool to have for the iPod. But the Zune has a larger screen and would be better for videos. However the iPod videos are so sharp and clear. I haven’t seen much video on the Zune however. Well I guess I won’t decided at this time but eventually I will save enough to make this decision a reality.

Tonight Neil and Andrea came over and they brought some Wrentham House pizza with them. Wrentham House is like Paul’s Pizza but much bigger. It is some tasty stuff. We lost power today so when they arrived we had quite a few candles burning and they were greeted by flashlight. About 15 minutes after they arrived the power turned back on. Andrea was excited to check out my new Nikon D80 Digital SLR camera and she discovered something that I now have to get fixed. It seems that there is something on the Digital sensor that puts a ghost object into my pictures. I didn’t see it until she pointed it out and now I see it in every picture. Observe. Do you see the spot? Well there is a spot right in the middle of the top of the picture above the picture that is in the picture, got it. That is something on the senor. I can try and clean it but I have a year warranty so I can send it back to get cleaned. I will have to learn more about switching lenses to prevent dust and dirt from landing on ...

Photo-A-Day #568 10/28/06 Today I finally got to play with a few things. I’ve been on the road for two weeks and during that time I had my new Nikon D80 Digital SLR camera arrive, and I also had 2 new Transformers delivered and I picked up two other Transformers two weeks ago in New Hampshire. And I hadn’t had the chance to transform them and play with them a little. So I caught two birds with the same net. I used my Nikon D80 Digital SLR camera to take some pictures of the house including the Transformers after I got to transform each one of them. I think my favorite out of the bunch is Bumblebee. I never had the original Bumblebee toy, but this one captures the spirit of Bumblebee. You can just see from the smirk that he’s a fun loving guy. In the Transformers TV show (the original) Bumblebee was the Transformer who was closest to the human characters. He was also a spy. Since he was small and he was often overlooked because of that size, he made for a great spy. Transformers are Rob...

Allison and I watched Disney’s Chicken Little this afternoon. It was certainly a cute little movie and we were very entertained. I loved all the little details int he movie like the house of chicken little and his rug looking like a fried egg, the house looked like a house but a chicken coop with chicken wire and metal roofing. Then there were other little touches like a bull being an owner of a china shop. So many plays on words. I also loved the voice actors. You know already that I have nothing but admiration for Zach Braff’s work. He was fantastic as the voice of chicken little. Joan Cusack was also fantastic as the ugly duckling and Steve Zahn as Runt of the Litter. Kids will love the action and the great animation and colors and characters, adults will be entertained by the dialogue and the movies message. I loved it.

Photo-A-Day #567 10/27/06 Today Allison and I spent a much needed day off together. We caught up on all of the shows that I had taped this past week and enjoyed each other’s company. We watched heroes from the past 2 weeks. That show is really starting to get better. We watched LOST, another stellar episode. And we watched The Nine. That show is also getting better and better. Tonight Andy and Rondi came over for some sushi and Chinese food. I made a little ice cream dessert and we enjoyed a game of The 80’s game. I won but narrowly beat Rondi.

If you are not reading the comments you really should. This is a great one from my friend Andy. “PAIL a pail is a water tight cylindrical vessel, open at the top and fitted with a handle. Bucket a deep, cylindrical vessel, usually of metal, plastic, or wood, with a flat bottom and a semicircular bail, for collecting, carrying, or holding water, sand, fruit. Is would seem that both terms are interchangable. However in common usage pails tend to be smaller and the definition includes a handle. The bucket does nto require a handle. It also seems that the term pail is used more in the North East while the rest of the country tends to jsut use the term bucket Since people seem to interchange I am going to clarify with my own definitions which all should follow Pail: a small cylindrical container with a flat bottom that has or once had a handle. A pail must be able to be filled with water and carried in one hand by an 8 year old boy without too much stuggle Bucket: A cylindrical contain...

I downloaded and listened to the TechCrunch podcast titled PayPerPost Raises 3 Million: with Ted Murphy from PayPerPost. First off I had not heard of TechCrunch before learning about PayPerPost. The blogger associated with it was pretty uppity. Mike Arrington, who are you and why should I care? That is the thing I can't stand about 'A' List bloggers, who put them there and why should they be 'A' list? The guys were slamming Ted and PayPerPost because they found it unethical to have people write about something and get paid and not disclose that information. If you are getting paid to write a review then yes you should disclose it. Should PayPerPost regulate that you need to disclose that information, I’m not sure about that. I write about things for PayPerPost and I don't think anyone who reads my PayPerPost blog updates is under some illusion that I do not get paid to write about these things. I make my PayPerPost posts a different color so that my readers can ...

So I get into Monroe Louisiana late in the evening, the only thing I want to do is go to my hotel. It is raining, I’m driving a ford Taurus, thanks National (sarc). I have gotten to my hotel by way of a lake in the middle of a shoney’s parking lot. The Fairfield Inn that I am staying at is one of those where the front desk is in an entirely separate building. And the doors open right to the outside. I’m not that thrilled with that. My hotel room smelled of smoke despite being a non smoking room and my toilet has yellow/brown water. Or it still has the pee from the last guy who stayed here. Actually it is the water because I flushed it and the water stayed the same color. Oh Happy Day, I am glad I ordered 4 bottles of water from Domino’s. I’m tired, I had a long day of flights and I am ready for bed. But I haven’t eaten anything of substance yet today. And the trend continues. I didn’t feel up to going to a restaurant so I ordered Domino’s...

Photo-A-Day #566 10/26/06 Well, I am sitting in the Monroe Airport waiting for the security gate to go up. I should have known that I would have had plenty of time to get to the airport and to catch my flight. The place only has 3 gates. And there is no wi-fi access in the airport, surprise. Airports, you really should think about putting wireless networks in at your terminals. Since everything else about air travel is a hassle shouldn't the waiting at least let people be productive. There isn't even a gift shop or bookstore here. I should have stopped at a Borders or something before I got to the airport. I wasted my time trying to find the Harley Davidson shop and taking many wrong turns in the rain just to get there and find that they did not have a pin, but rather they had the standard circular oil dot. But they gave me one free so that was nice of them. So, I've been to Louisiana, and yes that is about the extent of my excitement. It was wet and rainy, the demo wasn...

Last night I stayed at a Fairfield Inn. I like Fairfield Inn, Courtyards and Residence Inns because they offer free wi-fi access. What really burns me up is that full service Marriotts do not offer this free service, rather they charge up to $15.00 a day to use the Internet. Now airlines may be getting into the wi-fi business and that is fantastic, as long as it is free. The problem I have with a pay service is that every airport or carrier is going to have a different service and for someone who travels all over the country on every different airline it is totally impractical to sign up with multiple services for wi-fi. I am sure that there has to be a way to get that money for the service from the consumer without charging $15.00 a day. If airline companies are going to start offering wi-fi that should be free and added to the price of the ticket. With free wi-fi I could be very productive while I sit in the airport waiting for my next flight. I have to be at the airport anyway so wh...

Photo-A-Day #565 10/25/06 I’m in the Palm Springs Airport, Sonny Bono Terminal, and it is an interesting building. This is the only airport I’ve ever been to where you can sit outside in the open air and where there is an atrium area with a fountain that you can sit around and enjoy the sunshine. And it is protected so if you end up having a rainy day then you will be dry. Speaking of dry, it is dry and dusty all over this place. It is of course a desert so it will most likely be dry but there is dust blowing all over the place. I got engulfed in a cloud of it on my way to the airport. Staying out in San Bernardino wasn’t that bad but I would have rather have stayed in Palm Springs proper. I really wanted to find something to do there but instead I spent extra time at the hotel and then drove to the airport. Big excitement for my day. Now I have about 5 hours of flights ahead of me. First stop Houston. From there I head to Monroe Louisiana. This will be my first trip to Louisiana. Of c...

CBS cares because they offer some of their signature TV shows as full episodes online. The service is offered through InnerTube. I was able to watch last week’s CSI episode that I had forgotten to tape. And this morning I was able to watch last Monday’s CSI Miami episode that I didn’t tape. I did want to catch last week’s episodes of How I met Your Mother and The Class. I really like how some of the stations are setting up the episodes online. I think they should at least leave them up for 2-3 weeks in case you really need to catch up. CBS and ABC have full episodes online. You can catch up on Lost very quickly. However NBC doesn’t keep their episodes online as long. You can catch Monday’s episode of Heroes but not last Monday’s episode. I am two episodes behind but I did tape them. I think it is pretty sweet that you are able to catch up with these shows easily and online.

I went to the Elephant Bar for dinner tonight. There is an eclectic mix of Pacific Rim dishes and African decor. It is an interesting place. I wasn’t very hungry and wanted to leave room for Cold Stone Creamery for dessert so I got a coconut shrimp skewer appetizer and a lettuce wedge salad for dinner. Some good stuff. The presentation of the shrimp was beautiful. So I snapped a shot of it to share with you. And it did taste as good as it looked. The service was a bit slow but good overall. The lettuce wedge salad was not anything special. After dinner I walked over to the Cold Stone Creamery. Oh my word that place is awesome. I made a sweet concoction of exactly what I wanted in my ice cream. I said to the person behind the counter that I was going to make it up as I went along. She smiled at that and said, “Show me what you got.” I started with a base of Strawberry ice cream. I decided on the “”I love it” size (medium) and picked heath bar as my first Mix-in. Oreo was my next choice ...

Photo-A-Day #564 10/24/06 I’m out in California right now and I took a ride out through the desert to Joshua Tree (The town not the national park) It was an interesting ride and again the scenery looked better from the road. There was this smoggy haze all over so what I was able to see while out there on the road was pretty obscured overall. I caught a couple of Harley shops too and was very excited because one had a diner, however it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. So lunch as a run for the border. Not so good. Today the staff art show opened and my photos went up. So there may be some folks visiting this blog who went to the art show. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you thought of the exhibit. I can’t wait to hear how Allison, my parent’s, Tara, Neil and Andrea liked the show. (I’m sorry if I left anyone out who went I wasn’t sure on who exactly was going.) I was unfortunately not able to attend and I’m a bit bummed out about that. I would have liked to h...

Andy sent me some pictures from the wakeboarding that we did back on September 8th. As you can see I was pretty terrible doing that. I never quite made it to an upright position. Once I got practically standing the board would dip down and I would get sucked down into the water. Wakeboarding was pretty fun overall but I liked it very much once we got out there. I liked taking pictures and videos much better than actually trying to wakeboard. Anyway here are those images up close and personal.

This morning we received a call at 4:10am. The call did not wake me because I was in the shower getting ready for my drive to Canton for a 5:00am pick up for my 7:00am flight to Palm Springs. I was in the shower so poor Allison had to take the call. But by the time she got to the phone no one was there, and a message had not been left. So when I got out of the shower I called back the caller ID number. After shouting at the voice recognizing menu of options (which made me repeat everything TWICE!) I got through to a person. The call was to let me know that my 11:33am flight from Salt Lake City, Utah to Palm Springs was delayed till 1:45pm. Don’t get me wrong I like to know when a flight may be a potential problem, but it was 4:10a-freakin-m. How about this for a solution DELTA, since you have about SEVEN HOURS to correct this delay. How about you correct the problem. How about you let me leave for my flight from Boston (which was not delayed). And how about as I take the 5 hour flight ...

Photo-A-Day #563 10/23/06 Had dinner tonight at BJ’s Restaurant Brewery. For the East Coasters: no, the giant warehouse club does not have a restaurant. This is a pretty good little brewhouse that has an pizzeria Uno feel to it. I wasn’t up for a beer because I still have a lot of work to do tonight but I did order one of their Chicago Style Pizzas. The restaurant is right outside the door of my hotel so the walk was very quick. There are some beautiful views but again the best ones are from the car. I’ll try and get some shots of the area tomorrow when I’m, hopefully not as stressed out. Today’s travel did me in a bit. I hope to run through the demo a couple of times tonight and refresh my memory before tomorrow. While I was on the plane and in the airports I had lots of time to write up some posts and I posted them up along with three PayPerPost entries. That got me a little relaxed.

PayPerPost.com has a new marketing campaign out. It is called the Blue Monster and is a gigantic blue truck with a PayPerPost paintjob. It took hours to scour the web, trade with people and refresh, refresh, refresh. But here is the almost complete puzzle of all 192 (except for 9) pieces. I found (all but 9) of the pieces today and put them together in a 600 x 800 image and the 192 (minus 9) image fit perfectly. Needless to say I did not stay up late enough to win the $500.00. I wanted to spend some time with Allison before I left at 4:00am. Oh well I’ll get to $500.00 soon at the rate I am going with these posts. It was a fun hunt but no need to wait till 11:59 to put up the remaining pieces. Thanks to tom who helped me and shared pieces of the puzzle. Update: It is Monday 7:16pm EST and 4:16pm PST. I signed on at the hotel and immediately foudn the rest of the pieces. And so did everyone else, about 12 hours ago. The finished product.

And sometimes it is a convenient thing (like in movies and other works of fiction.) Today on my flight to Palm Springs coincidence caught up with me. Yesterday, Allison and I went to 8:00am Mass (a little late because we still thought it was 8:15am Mass). At Mass, Deacon Joe’s homily mentioned an ossuary inscribed with ‘James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.’ Now I am not totally sure exactly what an ossuary is physically (as I write this, but I’ll be looking it up) and yesterday was the first time I had heard the word. On page four of Cross Bones, my latest Kathy Reichs novel, I was presented with those same words. In fact this novel is very much a fictional shot at telling this story. Just a weird little coincidence for my plane rides. An ossuary is a stone coffin that the bones are placed in after the body has decomposed in a tomb after a year. The book is getting really good. Different than her other works and I like it a lot.

So there is a huge contest with PayPerPost to find 192 puzzle pieces for an 800 X 600 image promoting the next PayPerPost marketing campaign. It looks like they have got themselves a sweet truck to take from place to place to promote PayPerPost. Getting out on the road to search for the Posties who can promote PayPerPost and the opportunities within. I have been trying to put together this puzzle all day practically and have 20 pieces left to find. I can’t seem to find pieces 41, 42, 46, 54, 60, 61, 73, 76, 77, 78, 92, 100, 107, 128, 131, 145, 162, 168, 182, and 190. And it is driving me nuts.  Here is what I have so far.

Photo-A-Day #562 10/22/06 Today I spent most of the day searching the internet for payperpostbluemonster pieces and I still have 12 more pieces to go. I’m looking for pieces 41, 42, 46, 61, 54, 92, 100, 132, 145, 163, 168, and 171. Just 12 away from $500.00, not that I will win, but I have put in a bunch of time on this and am very close. This is Taylor. She is a very photogenic dog. We had pizza and a farewell party to Erik because he is heading to India. I’m happy we had pizza instead of Indian food as the theme.

Last night was Chili and S’mores night at Amy and Ryan’s. However Ryan was out fulfilling his movie dreams and acting in an independent film in New Hampshire. So, it was Allison and I and Amy, T.R., Jenn, and Beth. You can read that it was just me and the five ladies. Once Mason went to bed I was truly outnumbered. I did get to read alot of my user manual for the new camera. And I got to play some Thomas The Tank engine with Mason. I am learning who is who in the Thomas world. We had a very good time and some great food. Allison made a top notch chili, there was salad, and Corn Bread! I love corn bread. I can’t get enough of it. I even had some for breakfast today. Then later on in the evening after Mason was tucked in bed sleeping we made a fire in the portable fire pit and roasted some marshmallows and made some s’mores. A good time and I held my own while treading water in the Estrogen Ocean. Here is a picture of what I saw as I ate dinner. I was truly outnumbered. And, of course, a...

Photo-A-Day #561 10/21/06 Today I have the batteries charged and I took out the new camera for a test drive in the living room. It was fairly early so I had this cool light coming in from the side window. Duncan made a great little subject for me to Photograph. I am very excited about this camera. I can simultaneously capture RAW images and JPEG images on each shot. There is an insane amount of control to the focus of the lenses. I have about 11 points that I can make the focus of any shot. The RAW images are about 8.0MB each and the fine images are 3.5MB each. This shot is at 300dpi instead of the usual 96. Here is the 96dpi image.

Photo-A-Day #560 10/20/06 Tonight Andy and Rondi came over for dinner. Allison made some very tasty chili. And after dinner we had our own version of Mexican dessert since I could not find it in the supermarket. I tried I really did to find the actual Mexican dessert box but it was nowhere to be found. So I got some waffle bowls, some nestle ice cream toppers or cookie crumbs and mini peanut butter chips and then I got some Reese's shell to pour over the creation. I also picked up a box of pirouettes to put into the ice cream. It was well received. It was very nice to have Andy and Rondi come to visit at our place. We haven't had them over in a while. We showed them the wedding album that we made for my parents. And while Allison and Rondi talked, Andy and I talked about and opened my new camera. I've got to wait till tomorrow to get a picture from the camera. But here is a picture of the camera. At the end of the night Andy was getting nose to nose with Duncan and I went t...

This morning I woke up at 4:30am. I could not go back to sleep so I turned on HBO Family and watched the movie Far From Home The Adventures of Yellow Dog. It is a movie about a Labrador retriever or a golden retriever that is adopted by a young boy (Angus). Angus names the dog Yellow Dog. Not exactly original but it is a movie about a boy and his dog and the struggle for survival. I was hooked right in. You see, I have a soft spot for animal movies and especially movies about a boy and his dog. Old Yeller, White Fang and Iron Will are some great ones. The Journey of Natty Gann is also one I liked, although that was about a girl and her dog. And the movie Eight Below had me bawling at the commercials, never mind the movie itself. I thought that I would get the heartstrings tugged at while watching Yellow Dog but I was wrong. The movie is fair overall and it is set in a beautiful location so it was worth watching for some of the picturesque shots. What bothered me about the movie was how...

Photo-A-Day #559 10/19/06 Today I gave another demonstration, this one went pretty well. The people this week have been awesome and really fun to travel with. We have had great meals and alot of laughs. I even got most of the folks into one of my Photo-A-Day shots. This week has been a food themed week of pictures. Tonight was no exception. Bill and I had dinner with Mike, Tom and Greg at Kona Jack’s. While we were having dinner we were discussing my Photo-A-Day website and the Staff art show that opens this Tuesday. While discussing this the guys said,”We should be part of today’s Photo-A-Day!” So I asked the waitress to snap a picture of the group. I was going to go with this neon sign of the restaurant. But I think the one of the group is much better. All with us flashing out white boy gang signs. This group made me nearly pee myself with laughter. PayPerPost: You may have noticed that I have been going a bit nuts with PayPerPost lately. And frankly I am getting a bit addicted, but ...

Okay so this afternoon I was watching Summer Rental on HBO Family channel, because it was on, that’s why. I really like summer Rental. It was one of my favorite movies growing up and is one that my Dad and I enjoy watching. I didn’t realize it till today that during the giant boat fixing scene there is a Jimmy Buffett song playing. The song is called “Turning Around” God bless IMDB. Soundtracks for Summer Rental (1985)

Photo-A-Day #558 10/18/06 So today I rode with Bill from Chicago to Indianapolis. The ride was pretty straight south on highway 65. We made a stop halfway along the route at a Bob Evans for lunch. I love Bob Evans, it is such good tasting down home, make your belly full, food. I had a Pot Roast sandwich. So good. This morning I got to catch some of the local news in Chicago. There was a guy talking about the movie The Departed. And he was talking about Martin Scorsese directing the movie and they rolled a clip of Goodfellas and someone was asleep at the censor button. When they came back from the clip the guy who was reviewing the movie was white as a ghost. I was like, “Did I just hear what I think I heard?” I got a laugh out of it but this guy is most likely in a bit of trouble right now. We had dinner at OutBack, which seems appropriate for a night of a new LOST episode. Tonight’s episode was a Locke-centric one but it did bring us up to date with what was happening with Charlie, Cl...

That is where I am and have been for the past three days. I am at a “full Service” Marriott and have no Internet access. Why? Because it costs $12.95 plus tax for 24 hours of internet access. Ridiculous! Why is it that I can go to a Courtyard, Fairfield Inn and Residence Inn and get free Internet but when I stay at a “full service” Marriott I have to pay for Internet access? I have basically been using a dial up connection of huddling in the corner of the downstairs Starbucks searching for wireless service that is no better than dial-up. So no chance to upload pictures and no major blogging efforts for the past few days. I’ve got to find me an IHOP.

Since Drew is off on the road with no internet access, I thought I’d share my view as I left the house on Tuesday morning. Drew is having fun on his trip and will have lots of photos and posts when he gets back.