Favorite Color or is that Colour?

This is going to be a simple mindless post. Sometimes you need days like that.

First off, isn't it interesting how small of a world it is at times and then other times we are so different. One of those differences is Color. That is the US way version of the word. It seems like just about everyone else, including Canada, UK, somewhat the France, etc, uses Colour. Just something interesting I noticed.

As long ago as I can remember my favorite color has always been RED. If you were ever to look at my clothes you would know it right away. Probably a quarter of my clothes are red. My favorite Hockey teams' primary color is red.

Long about late high school I started to add a new favorite color, PURPLE. There is something about the deepness of the color. It also does not hurt that it is a royal color either.

Several years later I added my third and final favorite color. I am not really even sure what to call it, possibly TEAL or TURQUOISE. Basically a greenish blue or probably more accurately a blueish green since I think there is more green in it then blue. I don't know what it is about that color but I simply love it. I have a few items in that color including a swimsuit that I bought while on my trip to Los Angels. I wanted to by something that was in that color but I could not find anything but this.

Now that suit is something that even in my skinny days I would never consider wearing it. Now, even if I could fit into it, yea right, I would never subject other people to such torture. Rather than get rid of it however I hang on to my precious suit from LA.

The funny thing is I probably look best in brown or possible something light like a light pink top but do you think I would listen to what my body is saying, no sir.

So what is your favorite color or colors?


Brown's the color of poo. AHHAHAHAHAHA. –Family Guy

Lemon Pineapple Cake

Around the office I work at it is custom that the person with a birthday brings in treats. Although this is a little early I thought I would give the cake a try that Manny left the recipe for. First here is her recipe.

The cake was interesting, a little different than I expected however. When I mixed the cake part of the batter almost did not fill the pan. I think it was just because the batter was pretty thick and I needed to encourage the batter to spread to all corners. This was my first sign of things to come.

I got the cake into the oven after preheating to a higher temperature than I was suppose to because my oven cooks on the cool side. Unfortunately it was a little to warm.

Next I went about making sure I was going to do the glaze properly and, truthfully, I was not in a big hurry with the cake being in the oven for an hour.

Per the recipe I put all the ingredients into a sauce pan but, it was a small sauce pan. The ingredients barely fit. How was I going to reduce the glaze? I did my best and made a real mess of the stove. I have my work cut out for me to clean that burner after work today. (I finished so late that I just needed to go straight to bed skipping most of the cleanup) Part way through reducing the glaze (and stirring continuously) the timer went off, the cake was done.

Of course while all this was going on the cake should have been checked and it never was. I pulled it shortly after the timer went off but the damage was already done. The cake was not burnt or anything but it was over done.

Anyway I finally finished reducing the glaze by about a 1/3 after a half hour or more of stirring and put it in the fridge to cool. After a little time passed I added the glaze on the cake and put coconut on most of the cake. I left a portion open since I know at least one or two people do not like coconut at work. I then covered the cake and stuck it in the fridge for the night. I just thought this kind of cake may benefit from that.

Here is a picture of the cake from this morning.

When I went to cut the cake at work I knew right away something was wrong. I had a sharp knife and yet the cake was way to stiff as it was being cut through. Trying it you could tell it was over cooked. Normally at work food items go pretty fast. Well this one is only about half gone. I predict I will either take a third of the cake home or leave it in the office fridge. I am sure it will go tomorrow.

Now I think this is a great cake if I had not overcooked it. I personally love lemon and the coconut goes great with lemon. The pineapple almost disapeared in the flavor. I just know this is a great right cake that everyone would love if only...

So what did I learn? First there is a slight typo. The lines that read

6 eggs1
1/2 c. sugar

should read

6 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar

No problem, I caught that before starting.

I also learned that I need to use a medium sauce pan and I need to get right on making the claze cause it takes some time to reduce the glaze.

Keep an eye out on the cake to make sure it is not over cooked.

I need to figure out how much off my stove is. If I would have lowered it 5 degrees it may have been just right.

So this is the first cake I made that did not turn out real well but it was all my fault. I will be revisiting this cake again sometime soon and then everyone will love it, I can just tell.

Thank you Manny.

Egg whites are good for a lot of things - lemon meringue pie, angel food cake, and clogging up radiators. --MacGyver

Stroke

I received this as an email today. Of course it said forward it on to everyone. Well I, as a general rule, do not forward on emails like that. Most often they are hoaxes anyway. Well this one, however, did seem to have a certain amount of truth to it so I thought I would share. Sorry if you have seen this elsewhere.

Bryan

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters... S.T.R.

(picture blogger is not allowing me to upload should be here)

My friend sent this to me and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree. If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously.. Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm, Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
T * Ask the person to TALK to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. . . It is sunny out today) Or if living in the Syracuse area ( It is rainy out today)
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately !! and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

Wasp Hunter

Yesterday was so much fun. I think you all would have been proud of me. So what did I do? I was hunting wasps! That's right, I was out to put an end to some of those terrible little beasties.
A few days ago I had my sliding glass door open with the screen shut. Unfortunetly there should be a channel that the screen slides into but it is no where to be found. This means there is a gap that "things" can find their way in. Well this is the second time that it happened. The wasps built a nest attached to the top right of the screen. First thing I did when I discovered this was slam that darn door shut. I had the door open for at least 20 minutes and I am sure the nest was not built over night either.

Well today was the day that I was going to deal with it. I missed not having my door open. Now normally this would not be to bad but I have this problem. You see when I was young I managed to walk into a spot on the lawn and was swarmed by a bunch a bees. My Dad used the hose to get rid of them before we got out of there. Another time I was minding my own business drinking a can of pop and guess what was inside? I got stung on the inside of my lip by a slightly pissed off bee. I have also had wasps flying around in a past apartment I had. I guess what I am saying is I am kind of a wuss when it comes to bees and wasps.

Well I watched them for a long time. Get to know the enemy. There was a nest that was a little smaller then the size of a golf ball. There was at least 6 wasps hanging around. There was almost always at least 1 wasp at the nest. The others flew around between the screen and the glass. Usually there were at least a couple of wasps that hung near the nest.

Over a period of a half hour or so I opened the glass door just a pimch and closed it again many, many times. At one point I had the vaccum cleaner ready to try and suck them up. Of course I was not sure this would work and if it didn't I would be in a world of hurt. Well I finally managed to get the screen open a little and then I decided to call it quits until a little later. I seemed to remember the time to deal with wasps was at dusk.

Well dusk came around and I looked at them for a while and opened the door a couple of times and closed them quick. The wasps moved a little but never left the nest. Finally I opened the door and squirted them and the nest with hornet and wasp killer and quickly closed the door.

A few of the wasps came off the mest and really looked a little messed up. All together there were 4 wasps flying. Eventually they fell to the ground. Next I opened the door and worked the nest loose and closed the door again. PLOP ... SPLAT ... nothing.

I let a minute or so go by and finally opened the door and the screen and sweeped the wasps and the nest outside. Yea, now I can have my door open once again.

OK, so maybe you are not proud of me but I thought you would find it entertaining.


Beekeeping. You know when you're a kid and a bee comes round, your dad's like, "stand still," that's so the bee can come up and really get you. I think running around's better 'cause then they have a difficult job, but no apparently 'stand there' and wasps are just crap, they have a wasp's nest, they go in there, I don't know what they do, they just don't do anything, they're just like, "let's go out and sting someone," it seems. --We Know Where You Live

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I have always had this thing for technical stuff. Since I was young I remember getting into lots of trouble. Once I disassembled my grandmothers kitchen table. My first stereo was a turntable, a small mono amp a small reel to reel tape recorder that could also amplify, and a pair of non matching speakers. I was so proud going up to Korvettes and purchasing my first albums. Some of them were 3 for a dollar so you can imagine the quality of those albums. One album that I seem to remember for some reason was by the Fat Mattress. I can’t remember any songs on that album but back then it was all about how many albums I had, not necessarily what they were. Then there was Chicago Transit Authority which became Chicago but that is a different obsession of mine.

Anyway as I grew older I messed around with electrical stuff, with lighting, with sound, a lot of little things. I was fascinated with this sort of thing. I loved seeing all this stuff in action too which is a good thing because my sister was always performing somewhere.

Growing up the neighborhood girls all took classes at the recreation center. They took Jazz, Tap, Ballet ... a little bit of everything. As time went on they eventually became instructors at the same place they took all their lessons.

Well back in those days (late 60s, early 70s) we were always doing things as a neighborhood. When the Olympics came around we would form our own mini Olympics. It involved ping pong, pool, bicycle riding and running. As a matter of fact that is how I managed to chip my tooth. I was riding my bike along side the participants in a race and was paying more attention to the race then where I was going and kapow, right into the back of a parked car. I felt so stupid. Anyway one of the things we did for many years was put together a performance for the neighborhood.

One of our neighbors was always kind enough to volunteer their backyard so we could put on the recital of sorts. We would print up fliers and go around the neighborhood soliciting people to come see the performance. We would also put together sound and lights and even a curtain. Seats and refreshments and popcorn. We had a regular production going there. I will never forget some songs as they were just drilled into my head during that time. Two of those songs were One and Joy to the World by Three Dog Night.

Well the opening would come and we would play to a lot of people. We did not charge a lot and generally we found something interesting to donate the money to so that probably helped too. We would have multiple performances and always did pretty good. There were always these little problems that would occur but we would get through it. The girls did wonderful, the guys managed to keep everything going straight and run the concessions, etc. We had a fun time.

One year was most interesting. We actually got the news out there and they did a feature on us, you one of those feel good stories to offset how depressing the news is. That year we did pretty good and we chose this one organization that taught kids with learning disabilities to donate our proceeds to. They were very appreciative and they asked something of us. They wanted us to put on a performance for their kids in the schools auditorium. Wow, how special was that.

Well we had access to the lights, curtains, sound ... I was in heaven. We put together a nice little show and they loved it. In the end I think we all came away with one super memory and a warm feeling inside.

Well this pointless drivel has went on long enough. I hope everyone is either having or had a great weekend depending when you read this.


Jeremiah was a bullfrog... Was a good friend of mine... Never understood a single word he said... But I helped him drink his wine... --The X-Files

Take Your Dog to Work Day

It's Take Your Dog to Work Day. This is a new one on me. I heard it mentioned and I one person asked if it was OK to bring their dog into work. I thought they were crazy or their co-worker was pulling their leg. Nut no.

When I woke up this morning the radio station I listen to was promoting they say as the DJ had brought his dog to work. So what is this all about.

It turns out this is the brain child of a group called Pet Sitters International, a group that promotes professional pet sitting. They started Take Your Dog To Work Day back in June 1999. It appears it happens on the 4th Friday in June every year since. One of the things they are hoping it will promote is people who could use the love of of a dog get encouraged to adopt a dog. Also they say it allows you to bring your pride and joy into work to show them off.

Now it is not for everyone. Around these neck of the woods it is illegal to bring a pet into a restaurant. A leader dog/guide dog is allowed but not a pet. I am sure there are a lot of other places like that. One site provided some tips:

Stay Out of the Doghouse with This Advice

• Make sure the boss and your coworkers are comfortable with the idea.
• Bring only socialized, quiet, friendly and well-house-trained dogs to work. Leave aggressive, nervous or sick dogs at home.
• Use a leash and/or baby gates to keep your dog inside your cube or other open workplace. "Office hallways cannot become an off-leash dog run," says Kain.
• Dogs must be well-groomed and flea-free.
• Puppy-proof your office. "Make sure wires, poisonous plants, pens, rubber bands, and any choking or chewing hazards are all out of reach," Long advises.
• Create a space for your dog with his own pad, toys and bowls.
• Ask someone to watch and walk your dog if you're away from your desk.

"Pets are wonderful companions," Long says. "But we need to exercise common sense when bringing them to the workplace."

Now I am not sure what I think of this. On the one side I am an animal lover. Ever since I have been a small kid I have had a big thing for dogs and have since learned to love just about all animals. But taking a pet to work? I guess I just work in a professional environment and it seems kind of out of place there. Of course maybe it would be OK. Also I can not help but think about the people that are afraid of dogs.

I would imagine at least someone will bring their dog in and we will see. I hope no one gets in trouble as I have not heard anything official saying we can participate.

Anyway I thought I would share what is going on in this neck of the woods. Have a great weekend.



[catching scent of Wendell in a crowded restaurant] I smell dog! --The 10th Kingdom

Weather Central here...

By the way, if I duck out of here quick... sorry.

Oh my things are a happening here. They have had a Tornado Warning on several times today. It comes off, it goes back on, it gets extended, yadda, yadda, yadda. I never really was all that worried. We had several moderate thunder storms move through including one about 5:00 am and that was not bad. But what got me worried is the sky.

Now I do not know if you have ever seen a tornado or that time when conditions are favorable for tornadoes? To me the sky seems to turn this sickly pea green/yellowish color. To me when you see that you either run or you at least keep your eyes pealed. Well right now the sky is that very color and we do have a Tornado Watch in affect. My darn weather radio has been going off so much that I hear it going off even now when it is not sounding. That shrilling plectron sound followed by NOAA radio coming on and informing of the latest news. This may be a very interesting night.

Speaking of twister ...


Right Foot BLUE...

I have played this game a little when growing up and it was fun but now ... well the game has a whole new fascination with me. Of course I don't think I could play it now if I wanted to. Now I could probably get both feet firmly planted on that mat. I might even get one hand down but that is it, it would be all over. Why did I bring this up... um, I don't know. I guess it just needed to escape.

This one time, at band camp...

When I was in high school I took band. marching band during football season, symphonic the rest of the time. Now we were under a great director, James Skura. He had us doing a lot of things including parades, competitions, performance, and more performances. Probably my most favorite thing we did was Band-A-Rama but I will save that for another post. My next most favorite thing was Band Camp.

We would spend just short of a week in a Christian camp. We would start the day fairly early out at the flag pole as the flag was hoisted into place. By the way it was not uncommon to see various items of clothing hiked up on the flag pole to but that is a different story.

Next we would head off to breakfast in the large hall. First we would start by singing a hymn before breakfast.

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow
Praise Him All Creatures Here Below
Praise God Above Yea Heavenly Hosts
Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost

Left Foot YELLOW...

Then off to breakfast we went. It was not fantastic but it was always decent.

Throughout the week we split up serving, cleanup and dish duties. Since we had over 100 people at band camp there were plenty of hands to get things done.

Throught the day we had various practices, some inside, some outside. It was during one of the outside practices that I met HER! I instantly fell in love.

We were doing a particularly long and grooling practice on the football field. It was lots of high stepping, twists and turns on a dime, march four steps and a 270 turns, march 6 more steps and a 90. All this while playing MUSIC. It was a big challange and we needed to repeat it many, many times.

I was so beat. I was a sweaty mess and was about ready to die. They let us go and I went up to the lodge and that, that is where I met HER! She was tall, thin, green, and sweating every bit as much as I was. GREEN? Yes I said green. She was my first bottle of Mountain Dew.

Oh my gosh it was unbelievable how good that tasted. Later when I got a job at a party store I learned of a whole new way to enjoy my Mountain Dew. Toss it in the freezer for just the right amount of time. Not to long or it will freeze, to short and nothing happens but if you do it just right ... when you open the bottle everything turns to sluch. A dew slushy. Yumm.

Anyway now you know my deep dark secret crush.

There was lots of other things that happened at camp including challanges as teams with vollyball, basball and the likes, swimming in the pond, skit night, tug of war in the main lodge, sneaking out of the cabins at night (something the Senior boys were kicked out for when we were Senoirs Gurrr!) and much more. Initiating the Freshman into the group by the Seniors which usually formed a special bond.

In general Band Camp was something to be looked forward to. It was a lot of work and it was then that we worked up our marching rountines for the football games and also the parades that we would march in. We also learned most of the songs that we would do during the marching season. But we had a lot of good times too.

Well that is long enough and confusing enough so I best end right now. Oh and by the way, it is dark now and I think the weather thingy has settled down. Maybe I can thinl about going to sleep soon.

Left Hand RED...

Oh and by the way, the tag line below. I knew there was a running joke about "This one time at band camp" in American Pie but I did not realize they actually said THAT. Oh my, I guess I should pay closer attention to the movies.


Michelle: And this one time, at band camp, I stuck a flute in my pussy.
Jim: [Choking on his beer.] Excuse me?
Michelle: What, you don't think I know how to get myself off? Hell, that's what half of band camp is... sex-ed! So, are we gonna screw soon? 'Cause I'm getting kinda antsy.. --American Pie

MySpace, Shhhh!

OK, I thought I found something special today. I found a simple movie stars MySpace account. Looking at it, it sure looked real. She played the part of Punk Brewster. I thought to myself I have to hang onto this but not tell anyone about it not that I would really ever use it.

Well I thought about it. I found that site by accident and it was way to easy so I thought I would purposely look for someone I was familare with, Christie Carlson Romano (I have been brain washed into watching the Disney Channel by my niece). I found her MySpace page right away.

It was then I decided this must be nothing more than yet another fan WEB site actually run by that persons people. I say run by them because they linked to Official FAN sites.

Anyway I really have no idea about MySpace, what it is about, how it works. I suppose people spoof in it all the time like a blog. It probably is somewhat the same as a blog but different at the same time. My but it is a big world out there. One of these days maybe I will even know how to use it.


I'm putting that on Myspace! --Scary Movie 4

I Got to find me a Good Woman

Short but sweet ... well maybe just short.

On my trip to the folks over the weekend a little bit came on the radio. It said that on average men live 7 to 9 years linger if they are in a good marriage. Of course a bad relationship takes years off and I believe a divorce was even worse.

They also went on to say that if you were fairly active sexually that men cut their risk of cardiovascular disease by 50 percent.

The interesting thing is the relationship thing was pretty much a one way street. There was very little difference for the women. They did not mention of there were any cardiovascular bennies for the ladies.

The talk I heard basically attributed the longer life in men to the ladies getting the men to actually visit a doctor and follow the advice. If this were the case they also said that women, for the most part, seek other women when it comes to the care giver/support role rather then their own mate and that was probably the reason they did not benefit much from a mate.

I think I better get my but in gear... So any of you ladies that are not married or seeing anyone you may want to start running now.


I'm looking for something more than just good sex. --Scary Movie 3

Happy Fathers Day

The following comes from www.holidays.net/father/story.htm


The Story of Father's Day

Father's Day, contrary to popular misconception, was not established as a holiday in order to help greeting card manufacturers sell more cards. In fact when a "father's day" was first proposed there were no Father's Day cards!

Mrs. John B. Dodd, of Washington, first proposed the idea of a "father's day" in 1909. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. William Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife (Mrs. Dodd's mother) died in childbirth with their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state. It was after Mrs. Dodd became an adult that she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent.

The first Father's Day was observed on June 19, 1910 in Spokane Washington. At about the same time in various towns and cities across American other people were beginning to celebrate a "father's day." In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Finally in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day.

Father's Day has become a day to not only honor your father, but all men who act as a father figure. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends are all honored on Father's Day.


My Dad was always there for me. In times when I got out of line he set me straight. When I needed to see the doctor (and I was a sickly kid) he made sure we could go to the doctor. We had plenty to eat, had a roof over our heads, a nice stable environment to live in. He provided us with a set of encylopedias which I adored. When they were concerned about the neighborhood we were growing up in he moved us to a much better area with better schools. In general my Dad provided for us and even though I may not have got every toy I wanted, I still had plenty. The only thing I wish that could have been different would have been to spend more time doing things together like baseball but he had it tough providing for us and I understand. He sold insurance hoping to get ahead and pushing insurance on people is not his thing. He became a formen to make a little extra money despite the fact that it made things much tougher on him. He took on second jobs when needed. When he was out of work for a short period of time he found a way to get us through until he found the next job. Of course there was always deer hunting in the fall. I have a lot of fond of my Dad and growing up and I continue to add to these memories today.

I don't know how much I will be around over this weekend as I will be out golfing (poorly) with my Dad and Sister and celebrating Father's Day with my Dad and the fmaily. I just wanted to take a moment to recognize Dad's everywhere. I think it is very appropriate to have a day in recognition. A special shout out to a few of you fellow bloggers I know are fathers. BTExpress, Croaker, Denny, GoGo, Jon, Top Cat, Happy Father's Day to you and to those that I forgot. May you have a very pleasant weekend filled with family and friends.


You fathers will understand. You have a little girl. She looks up to you. You're her oracle. You're her hero. And then the day comes when she gets her first permanent wave and goes to her first real party, and from that day on, you're in a constant state of panic. --Father of the Bride

Unwelcome House Guests

Well it happened. The ants moved in for the year about a week ago. I have always got a few ants but nothing like last year. They were horrible. Nothing I did seemed to get rid of them.

I think part of it is my property is very sandy. It proves very desirable for some plants and for those darn ants.

Anyway this year I decided to give the ants and eviction notice before they even finished moving in especially since they seemed ever worse than normal on the outside of the house.

I scrubbed the kitchen floor to almost ceiling and it really did not seem to help. I have tried those trap thinggies last year and the ants ignored them. I was not playing that game again.

Well this year I sprayed some stuff down that was suppose to form a shield to keep them away. I think it smells something like ode da ant eater to them or something. I went on the outside of the house and hit all around the sliding glass door. I also went around all other entrances spraying liberally.

Now I noticed the ants cut down a bunch but they were still there. After many days of sending a bunch of them to the great ant hill in the sky I finally found a spot in the corner of the kitchen near the sliding glass door that those beasties were coming in so I gave that a little sprits and yesterday I was ant free and the same for this morning. Yes, I think I have won at least for now.

I hope the only place you experience ants are on a picnic, if that.


You're not going to push him onto a red anthill, are you? --Home Improvement

Flag Day

Today, June 14, is Flag day in the United States of America. It is kind of a unique litle situation. Others such as our neighbor to the north have a love for their country but yet they choose not to show this off in celebrations and other flashy ways the we do here. Well let me share a couple of pictures and two links.

This link is to a wounderful WEB site that talks of the history of Flag Day.

This link is to a WEB site that has hosted the famous Red Skelton words he once spoke on his telivision show. It was wounderful the first time I heard it and I still love it to this day. If you have the time you may wish to have a listen. NOTE: That site went away. I guess all the tons and tons of visitors I sent their way was to much for them *grin*. The link above has been changed to a shriners clown WEB site. Look part way down the page for a waving flag and click it to hear the Red Skelton flag performance.

GOD BLESS AMERICA


I figured I would add one more picture. I do not know what the camera decided to focus on but I am not puting that back on just to take another picture. This is what I wore to work today. It seemed appropriate.

How Much Have You Traveled?

It is interesting, some people travel all the time like someone I went to High School with. Both her parents were teachers and they were always off seeing something wonderful like the one summer they went to see Alaska. Others may never leave the general area they were born in. Me, I fall somewhere in between.

Having been born, raised and living in Michigan I decided to tally where I have been. All together I have seen 19 states I believe although a few I have barely seen. I have also been to Canada many times living on the border while growing up. I have been to Europe a little seeing part of Switzerland, Germany, France, and Amsterdam back when I was in High School in the school band. Between studying music and performances while we were there I hardly saw any of these countries however.

My favorite place so far would have to be Banff in Calgary, Alberta, Canada although I bet a trip to Europe now or Alaska or Australia could change that.

So are you a world traveler or do you just play in the sandbox in your own back yard? What is the best place or places you have been?


And he calls himself a world traveler? –The Muppet Show

Happy Birthday Wenchy

Veels geluk met jou verjaarsdag!

I hope you have a wonderful Birthday Wenchy. Please forgive me if the translation above is not appropriate. I am afraid I do not speek or write Africaans.

Please feel free to stop by Wenchy's blog and wish her a Happy Birthday. She turns 33 this year and has decided to do her birthday up right. She is a super person and I am sure would love it if you were to say hello. If you are not using the same blog system you do not need to register just to leave a message.

Some Times You Just Have to be Free

What an awesome day again today at lunch time. My boss asked that I meet him and his son across town so they can drop their cars off to get the stereo's exchanged between the vehicles. Well I started out and headed for the expressway the goes through town. I could head out of town fast on that sucker.

Well the sun was shining, the temperature was nice and it all felt so nice. I hit the buttons to lower the driver and passanger side rindows at least some. The air through my freshly cut hair ... well maybe it was just the air wipping around and everything else put together I made a wrong turn. I was in the left lane, not the right lane. I was heading South bound and down. As soon as I hit the curve I knew I was in trouble.

I followed the curve around and joined the other expressway. Now I am not one to ever use the emergency turn arounds so I had some driving to do. My first exit would have taken me to Lara's neck of the woods. Of course that would of been over 2 hours of driving but still. Also it would have been forever before I could turn around.

So I continued up the expresway. Now I think I was heading to Ohio. Oh I could have some fun there. Oh Crabby, Manny.... I ended up taking the next exit, pulled a quick as possible turn around at the truck stop and headed back north. This little detour cost me 8 miles and it todays gas prices probably like $75 but I will survive.

I pulled into the audio place and they were not ready to be picked up yet so no probs.

Well the rest of the lunch went uneventful. I was treated to a chinese buffet (I really should not go to those kind of places) and then back to work.

Now after work was much less uneventful. To avoid the 15 minutes of rush hour where I live I stayed off the expressway and instead took some semi-major surface streets. Eventually I was driving through the country to somewhat before getting back to that store. But I have to tell you something. I had that urge all over again. I could have kept going and maybe, just maybe went to visit ... Chicago. I guess I just was ina traveling kind of mood today. Why did I waste a day like that on work?

You know, Cohen... your two hands on the wheel, and the wind blowing through your hair... you actually looked kinda hot. --The O.C.

The Mall

I had something interesting happen at work today that started me thinking. I remember it like it just happened [flash back]

Three of us went to the mall at lunch today. The boss had to go to one store and then we would have lunch. Well the one store turned into to and then we had lunch. Bourbon Chicken, yum!

And then it was lets run over to this other store and then we are out of here. Well, not to be lazy but I had a bad experience at the store before. The three of us went into the sporting goods store. We kind of split up and then after a while tried to find the boss. He was no where to be found. So where was he? He was in his car. Now I ask you WTF. The store is not all that big. Anyway when it came time to go there again today I said no thanks, I already learned my lesson.

Instead I sat down on a bench near a wishing fountain. Kind of a relaxing thing plus I got to do one of my favorite things, people watch. After a while I started to pay attention to this one lady and her three daughters. The youngest was in a stroller and was just pushed up by the fountain. The child seemed to really like the fountain and was she ever behaved.

The middle child was probably only a year older the younger sister, maybe around 2 at the oldest and her big Sis was either 4 or just a little younger than that. The two of them were standing at the fountain throwing in the coins one at a time.

The fountain was several tears tall and had water running pouring down. The top tear was probably only about 2 feet wide and square. The next tear was 3 and a half to four feet wide and caught the water from the above layer and spilled the water down below to a pedestal and then a holding pool. There were a few lights in it but not much. There were a lot of coins in the fountain. I sure hope someone was getting their wishes granted.

The middle child kept throwing her coins. I think she was trying to get it in the top tear but she seemed to always go wide right of the fountain time and time again. She did manage to hit the middle tear a few times. Personally I think she was trying to hard but she was having a fun time.

Now big Sis was doing much better. She got many on the top tear and some in the tear below. After a while she just started to drop the coins into the holding pool and watch the coins settle to the bottom and then back to trying for the top tear.

Of course fairly quickly the daughters would run out of coins and go back to Mom for a quick refill before heading back to the fountain once again. It was amazing; no matter how much they came back she was able to dig up some more coins for her daughters.

Mom was watching her daughters the whole time and I have to believe smiling inside as her daughters was having a good time. I could not help but think not all that long ago, probably 15 years tops and maybe a lot less she was the one tossing the coins into the fountain. Now maybe not that same fountain as they had done a lot of reconstruction at the mall and I think the fountain was fairly new. Still, rather than joining in and tossing in a few coins or even hogging all the coins for herself, here was this Mom providing for her daughter. Giving them some of the simple memories that they will have many, many years from now of the fun times growing up. Here was this Mom sacrificing for her daughters.

It was at that moment that I really started to understand what being a parent must be all about.

Happy belated Mothers Day to all the Moms out there and early Fathers Day to the Dads.


Want to know a secret? / Promise not to tell? / We are standing by a wishing well / Make a wish into the well / that's all you have to do / And if you hear it echoing / Your wish will soon come true. –Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

How I Spent my Evening - Well Part of It

Most people probably visit their barbor or beatician or stylist or just do it themselves probably monthly, some even less. Do what? Why get your hair cut or trimed or permed or colored or something. So do I do that? Take a look at the picture below and you tell me.


That picture is probably at 2 months. Sometimes I think I have it cut twice a year if I need it or not. In reality I think I have went as long as four months before going insane and getting it chopped off. Usually I probably have it cut just before 3 months are up, once again it is becuase I can not stand it that long.

So tonight I went to the local Fantastic Sams and had them perform their magic. Of course there is not much they can do with what they have to work with? The picrure below is after I got back. Now to be fair I did not wash or comb or anything my hair after getting back. Iam sure it could look better but still, what a big improvement.



It is nice to feel human again. Maybe for my up coming birthday (still a ways off) I should get it cut again and not look so terrible.

Editors Note: Since I had to delete the duplicate post I figured I owed you a little more material. Now don't you think the first picture looks a lot like Dr Drakken below. He was sporting a mullet.




I've let this whole new look thing slide the last few months, but now that your colleagues are beginning to complain I'm going to give you the same advice I give my son every morning. Lose the makeup! Get a haircut! And stop using my razor to shave your fun zone! --Scrubs

Remembering Gilligan's Island

Do you remember the 1964 television series call Gilligan's Island? Well in the third season I believe there was a bamboo car the castaways created. I believe it was used as a taxi for the Howell's. Of course good old Gilligan was the driver. It was propelled by what else, peddle power. I wish I could find a picture to post. Anyway, why do I bring it up?

Have you ever noticed the Element, a car by Honda?



Now the above picture is not as boxy as what I have been seeing the last few weeks. Those cars so remind me of the car that Gilligan drove. So what do you think, am I nuts or what? I just had to share.

Editors note: John, thank you so much. You are right. The car I have been seeing is indeed the Scion XB (see below). That makes much more sense. Thank you.


Do you ever watch "Gilligan's Island" reruns and really, really think they're going to get off the island this time? --House, M.D.

Cottonwood

I had no idea what cottonwood was until I moved to this area. I think it was around in the Detroit area but just not so prevelent. I have been living in this area for going on 18 years and I have seen some cottonwood but not like where I live now. There is this one corner in particular right by the High School. I have seen times when you would swear we were having a freak blizzard in spring. It gets very hard to see, almost to the point of a white out and I am being serious here.

I noticed something new this year. I am sure it has been there before but I just noticed. The seeds so built up on the lawn at the corner that it looked like we had received a half inch to possibly a full inch of snow.

This is rediculous. I think we need to outlaw cottonwood now. It's terrible. OK, so maybe I am over reacting. I mean it does get into everything including filters for air conditioners and probably in the radiator for cars, etc but it only lasts for about 2 weeks. I guess I can live with it but this is rediculous. I believe these seeds are the result of the female tree if I read properly. Honey, have some dignity and save yourself at least a little. No one is going to respect you.

I guess we best not get rid of the cottonwood trees. We just went throught a terrible bout with the Emerald Ash Borer and lost a lot of ash trees in Michigan. Now is the time to conserve trees but boy, does the cottonwood have to be so darn messy?


Just got through putting up that new cottonwood door. Used the old one for my son John. He got into a shooting with Olin Carroll. He's buried out yonder there. --Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid