Skateboard Update

Adrik got his skateboard and it seems to be a hit!

But there seems to be an unforseen sideffect.

Sofie the cat seems to have appropriated the skatebaord and has started to shred around the house.








Now the cat is starting to shred with her friends!!




They better wear a helmet!

Weather Page Link

There is a new link is the sidebar that has our weather page. It has the current readings and if you go to the graphs and gauges you will get the readings off the weather station.

Also, I updated the link to out home page. Visit it. It's fun!

New Weather Button

I made some changes to the blog. There is now a weather button. It has the current conditions from the new weather station. Also if you click it you will go to a weather page the has live data from the new weather station.

Also, I made the blog template wider to give me more room.

Weather Station

For Christmas Marilyn got me an Oregon Scientific Weather Station. I'll be able to post current weather on the blog. I just have to set up the outside sensor on the shed in the yard.

Merry Christmas!!!

We had Christmas here with Mom. We pick her up and had dinner and opened presents. While making dinner we got a phone call from the Marilyn's Mom and Dad, Jay and Stacy and the kids. They sounded like the really were having a great time. We were having a good time too. Marilyn was giving a small concert on her new piano. We ended the day by taking Mom home.

Christmas Carol

We listened to a Christmas Carol that was recorded in 1938 by the Mecury Theater. It's available for download for free as is a large assortment of other performances.

Sold Out

On Christmas Eve we went to see the Good Shepherd and we found it was sold out. There was no other movies I thought was worth seeing. So we just went home.

New Jack Jazz

The new CD's are here! The Michael Powers cd's came in the mail. Frosty's Funky Holiday and New Jack Jazz. I ripped them and droped them into ITunes. The holiday cd is pretty good! Funky and instrumental a nice listen. New Jack Jazz will have to wait till tomorrow.

Thanks Mike!

Yanni's Diner

Just opened this week. Yanni's Diner in Glenside. A little diner that used to be the Kenyon. That has been closed for a little while for renovations and reopened as Yanni's. I went in for lunch this week and it a nice little warm diner not a silver or prefab diner. Some people would argue the authenticity of a diner that was not a prefab but this has all the right vibes. A menu that has all the basics. Some greek dishes and breakfast all the time. It's run by a greek couple and open 24/7. Which is the textbook definition of a diner. I had the chicken cheesesteak and soup. The soup is really great! I highly recommend it.

Yanni's Diner
43 Limekiln Pike
Glenside,Pa

Operation Success!

Mom's cartact surgery was a success again. Tomorrow the Dr will check things out but looks like number two is Ok.


Took the last of the packages to UPS tonight. They will arrive friday! Could we have cut it any closer!

Cataract part II

Tomorrow we have to take Mom to have surgery on the left eye. Marilyn is coming along to help keep Mom in her place post op and not running up and down the stars!

Out and about part III and IV

Wolf and Veronica had a very nice open house yesterday. The house was decorated beautifuly and the food was delicious.

This afternoon Omicron sprung for lunch at the Continental Mid- Town. Lunch there was great but a tad on the expensive side. We have to go there before a show some time and have the lobster mac and cheese and a martini!

Also, Santa's helpers that drive the big brown trucks now have most of the presents. We made a major drop off at the UPS place tonight and delivery is set for this week.

Bread disaster!

Ok I've been trying to make that NY Times bread recipe in a bread machine. It's not going to work. With the wet dough it comes out a sticky, gluey mess. We woke up this morning to the smell of fresh bread but the result was just not edible! The bread machine is excellent as a envionment to let the dough rise for the 18 to 24 hours but I'm not going to bake it in the machine.

Out and about part II

We joined Meg, Agnes and Joe at Shundeez a Persian resturant in Chestnut Hill. The resteraunt is in the space of the old Rollers. The place was full of people in tuxedos. We were feeling a bit under dressed. It was musicans who were eating before giving a concert. The food there was great. Many kabob based dishes which were marinated and grilled to perfection. Getting together with those guys was great. Lots of good coversation and sharing good food.

There is No Independent Flanders

State TV in Belguim broke into regular programing to announce that the King and Queen have high tailed it out of the country and the Dutch speaking half of the country has declared independence. But in move worthy of the Orson Wells Mercury Theater it was a joke. Some people were not let in on this little secret and were pretty miffed. "This is not something you play around with!" said the prime minister of Luxembourg. The station flashed a message " This is fiction" after about a half hour.

Glad they got that cleared up!

This morning Flanders is just the way he always is!

Dangerous Political Satire!

Dick said... "It like a live action Inconvenient Truth! , .....It's a story about two gay pundits! They were stuffing their agenda down the audience's throat!!!! "

Well it doesn't matter I was laughing so hard that I easily coughed up that leather bound Dayrunner that the nice cast member placed down my throat. This show "The Is Week that Was" was really funny. From the Q and A session to tell us to silence our cell phones to the parody of the local news had us giggling and laughing so hard that we almost forgot the nice young man from Homeland Security taking names.

The story is topical politial humor and a look into political humor in the past. They had a skit of Bill Cosby interviewing today's pundits which brought to mind the famous Cosby jello commercials. Patsy, direct from 9th and Shunk was on her stoop dispensing South Philly political wisdom. Also, there was the obligitory news segment which had some clever local news segments and hilarous remote spots.

The show is at the Adrienne Theater until Jan 7 so get tickets soon.

And Dan is the Man for 2008!!!!

Out and about

Marilyn, Meg, Angela and I went out for dinner and a show last night. It was a bit like being in on girls night out. It was a great time. Marilyn and I met Meg at the Marathon Grill. The one on 16 and Sansom has been redone and does not look and feel like a bad diner. It's has warm wood tones and a bar. Dinner was good, and fast as we were going to the theater and not lingering. After we had dinner we met up with Angela on the way to the theater.

Politicians and diapers

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Must be changed, for the same reasons.

Hang in there kid....

...Thats enough to make me cry too!

Tis the Season.

Ok! Tonight we start with Christmas season get togethers. We are going to a dinner and a play with Meg. Saturday we are going out to dinner, Sunday an open house. The season is moving into high gear.

On the flip side. It's about 60 and dosen't feel like Christmas. House decorations are still in the basement. Also, We may do one more motorcycle lesson on Saturday because of the good weather

Mom for tests

Yesterday had to take Mom for tests. She is having cataract surgery again on Tuesday and we had to get the pre op tests finished. So now she is all set.

Universe getting real tiny.

We have been listening to Michael Powers "Frosty the BluesMan" CD during the holidays and I've been hearing Michael on XM 74 lately so I went to his site to order a CD. First surprise is that he has a new holiday CD. I had to order this and get his latest "New Jack Jazz". The I check the web site and no on-line ordering. Hmmmmm send in a check to here....... Wait I see a phone number.... Ok let me try this......."Hello Michael here." Get out! No way! Wow! It's great to talk to someone that you have been listening to. We ordered up some CD's and chatted for a while. I think he excited to talk to a fan as I was to speak to him. PS. Look for a new CD next year sometime!

Yo!!! Rad board dude!

Did a little shopping for my nephew this weekend. I'm pretty sure that he is not one of my readers so I feel safe sharing with you what we got him. It's a custom made Plan B skateboard all in camo. He the kind of kid that is wearing some camo clothes all the time. So I was thinking that a camo themed board will get the kid excited. I got an education in skateboard anatomy. They have decks, grip tape, trucks, bearings, wheels and put together in a special way. So shred radical dude!!!!

Mmmmm....... The smell of bread.

Here is an update of the NY Times bread recipe. It has weight mesurements and a few other things. I made it again this morning and I made it by weight not volume and it came out better. The bread was less sticky and shaped easier. It made an excellent loaf!

Phone number......

Ok, quick what's your phone number? Wife's cell? Work number? Best pal's wifes work cell number? If you can answer all of the above you are better that I am. I got a call last night from Meg asking for Marilyn' cell number. I was stalling for time as I was waiting for the computer to boot. What don't you know?!? Ummmm. It's on my speed dial. In the computer you know. I haven't dialed it in years!!!!

Well, when I leave the house I have my head attached but it's useless unless I have my Treo stuck to my hip.

Camera questions?

Well looks like Santa is going to have his sleigh loaded up with digital cameras if the number of questions I've been getting is any indication. Now what's available for digital cameras has changed while I've been writing this so it's pretty hard to keep up. Some of the questions were What's a good camera for kids? Hmmmm Kodak I guess they market easy to use and don't cost much. Which is a better camera for pictures and short videos Casio or Sony? That's harder don't know could be both are just as good? And tonight while hanging out with all of the boys at the YMCA...Do you need a faster lens for digital. Generally yes as digital is like shooting slide film.

So send me any more of your camera questions so I can get you an answer before Christmas!

Young man, are you listening to me?

Ok, Ok, enough bread, enough paella, enough epicurian adventures. I gotta go to the Y. No not for the disco! Besides none of those guys carry a PDA. I figure that if I put it on my schedule and park down at Ft Washington I'll actually go.

Epicurean adventures continue.

Today we went shopping for Christmas and set out sights on the local Target. With a list and steely resolve we finished in 20 minutes. Since we were in the area we stopped at Wegmans to hunt down and gather ingredients for our Sunday vittles. I had an idea of making paella. It's a rice dish that origniated in Valencia, Spain. I got the recipe here. I made some changes we only used shrimp and scallops. It's was easier than it looked. I had to add some more of the boiling chicken stock as my rice was not done. When it's done you have a tasty dish that looks like a million dollars. This is one to make for your family for something that tastes great and for company as it can really impress.

Bread is made!

The bread is done. It's pretty good. Kind of a ciabatta loaf, shiny crust and lots of holes to gather olive oil! The dough was a little too wet compared to the video on the NY Times article but I'll try again next week.

Hello to all the new Readers!

I've been noticing all the new readers that the site has been attacting. I just wanted to throw out the welcome mat for all of you!

Baking Bread

I'm working on a bread recipe that Mike gave me a few weeks ago. It was in the NY Times and it's pretty simple. The key to this recipe is that you make a wet dough and let it rise for 12 to 18 hours. I mixed the dough so now it's rising. We'll see how it turns out tomorrow.

New E-mail Address.....

I have a new e-mail address which is active now Rico@PaolinoNet.Net So Update your address books. The old one will be around for a while yet.

Happy Feet

While we were in Branson lst week we took the kids to see Happy Feet. It's a fun little movie about dancing penguins. The kids liked it, actually they liked it more than the March of the Penguins ( Just too much walking! No Action! ). It was just a fun movie. I was suprised to hear that some people were making political shots at the movie. Too green. Too far left. Hidden adgenda. Too gay. ( too gay?.... I missed that one ). In the voice of the Ramone penguin... Lemme tell joo something....It's a movie.... joo know..... a little movie for kids!

To the WSJ and Fox's Neil Cavuto...... Get a life!

No snow here yet.......

After having a great weather on vaction in the midwest it is almost unreal to hear of snow days and crummy weather where we just were. Still in the 70's here but a change is coming.

One thing is constant I always get the phone call from some prospective cross country ski person asking where to get XC ski rentals and lessons in the Vally Forge area for this weekend. Hmmm..... if people are walking around on the trails with shorts you may need to rethink the XC ski thing this weekend or go North wayyyyyyy North.

Remember always check trail conditions before proceding!

Garnet Hill

Bazil House is confirmed for Feb 2007.
So give me a call to confirm your place on the trip!

New Home Page.....

Ok got rid of the cave man page..... We now have a new and improved home page. www.PaolinoNet.net

USAir Stinks

Well yes. At least their planes do. After being stuck in St Louis for two hours our seats were next to the WC. Ugh! In addition to having a everyone on the plane visit and ask if someone was in there. Sorry not my turn to keep track! The smell could gag a maggot.

New Vacation Pictures

New Vacation Pictures. www.paolinonet.net folow the link to the photo album and to the latest digital pictures......

Silver Dollar City

The day before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving day we took the kids, Adrik, Emily and Evan to Silver Dollar City. This is a old west themed amusement park with rides, craftsman demonstrations and other theatrical presentations. Adrik the oldest could not ride the roller coaster enough. He got Marilyn on the Thunderation ride three times. Marilyn was also hiodwinked onto the flying swings. Which gave her a stomach churning ride. The park was decked out for Christmas. They had a tree lighting after dark and Evan the youngest one was completely captivated by the brilliant and flashing tree. There is even a small gauge live steam train ride which we all cramed onto for a ride around the park. There is something about this park it's been around for a good number of years and a lot of the rides and stuff has remained thru the years. I was talking to a guy that was about 50ish about the great weather we were having and he was saying that he could not wait till noon when Silver Dollar City opened. ... He said sort of wistfully ...

PaolinoNet

Well I set us up our own domian. WWW.PaolinoNet.Net has a page that will link to the blog and the photo album. It's not very exciting now. I'm doing what I can under primative conditions.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Big Cedar Lodge in Branson. Marilyn, her Mom, Dad, Jay, Stacey and the kids had dinner at the Big Cedar Lodge. It was a beautiful day with temps in the 70's We had Thanksgiving dinner on the patio of the Devil's Pool resturant. Hand carved turkey, cornbread stuffing and all the trimmings. The buffet even had cranberry parfaits for dessert.

We had an excellent time down here in Branson more later.

New pictures are on the pictue album.

Bond, James Bond

The name is Bond...... Ok you know the rest. Marilyn and I went to the New Fulton 8. The theater is nice new modern theater. It has eight screens and stadium seating. It is not the little homey theater in the center of town. But time progresses and even little theaters have to pass the baton. So seeing James Bond was a great segue into the new theater. This is the new James Bond the so called blond Bond. He is new and different and so much the same. Casino Royale is the first mission of Ian Flemming Bond character. It not the smooth martini sipping Bond that you know. Much more rough and unrefined. He definitely makes makes some of the older Bond movies worn out. The action in this film is not to be missed. The plot has a few unexpected twists in it. It's not Oscar material but a great evening out. So raise a glass to the new James Bond, and remember it a Vodka Martini shaken not stirred.

Arrival

Well we made it. Airport security was more of a hassle. They were saying you could take on three ounces of liquids in a plastic bag. I decided against taking liquids of any kind. That's the way to go. The alternative is having the TSA people decide. You know if you give them any lip it's a quick trip to Guantanamo for you buster! Most of the hassle was taking off your shoes and coats and any metal and .... and....

BTW I saw an young woman of Indian decent who felt the need to carry a passport on her trip. No, no not an Indian passport a US passport. ...... for a domestic flight. Think about it.

Irons in the fire edition.

Not much is happening currently. Here is the status of bunches of little things that have been going on.

My car back is back from the body shop.
Marilyn's fender from her motorcycle is still there getting painted.
Lost the auction for the crash bar on ebay. It was not worth what was paid.
Indoor herb garden is now up by the back door.
Packing for the Thanksgiving trip. Have yet to check the weather there.
Getting Mom her new "Atomic" clock, a clock that sets it self.

XC Ski Trips

On the way top Rock Hall Mike and I talked about ski trips this year. Looks like we are going to have two anchored ski trips. One to Lapland Lakes and one to Garnet Hill. We are also going to take some ad-hoc trips on the weekends. Now we are going to find what is available and then set some dates. The TrailHead lodge and a house at Garnet Hill are the places we might stay. More information will be available as soon as we can get it.

The boat is ready for winter.

Mike and went to Rock Hall to take care of the last items to get the sailboat ready for the winter. Got the batteries, opened the drain in the bottom, oiled the engine, and filled the gas tank. Took what was left in the boat and bid it goodbye until April. We have a launch date of May 1 so only 151 day to launch!

Take your hog for a ride!

Election Day

Election Day. Time to
do our civic duty. Go out and vote! Make that lesser of two evils choice!

Out of First Gear!

Took Marilyn out for another lesson on Sunday. She got out of first gear! So now she is going around the parking lot in circles shifting from first to second and back to first. Now it going to be just practice, practice, paractice. More starts, more circles, more manuvers, until it becomes automatic and she can do all the driving without thinking.

Tried to send a picture from the parking lot to live blog the event but the phone could not send the picture. So an old picture will have to do.

Beer Party!

Marilyn and I went to Mike and Gail's beer tasting party. There was seven great beers, a Guinness sorbet, lots of cheese, famous wings and great friends. I didn't get a chance to sample all the beers but what I had was great. The cherry lambic was especially good. It was just a fun time.


Hey Mike Jake says " ....Today it's 32!"

Two Bucks?

I came across an envelope of old money. All crisp new bills. I was going to deposit them but I looked carefully at them and I found 7 new 1953 red seal two dollar bills. They were worth about 8 bucks on the retail market. I sold them to a coin dealer for 5. $35 exchange for $14. Maybe I should have held out for $8? Hmmm.

Caliber miss the mark

My car is in the body shop getting the rash rubbed out. I got a rental for the duration from Enterprise. It's a Dodge Caliber. What you never heard of a Caliber. Well neither did I. With luck neither will you. It looks like a cross between a Neon and a SUV. It has the worst of both worlds. On the outside the paint is dull and looks like it will not last. It's small, the doors are narrow so the front and back doors are hard to get into. Once inside you have a vista of cheap ill fitting interior. The doors close with a tinny sound. The engine buzzes while the transmission hunts to find a gear. On the plus side it has lighted cupholders! It's the kinda of car that will last as long as the payments. Tip: stay away from the long term loan! It's not a cheap shot to say that this is the kind of car that made the big three what they are today. Together the off target styling, cheap materials and slipshod manufacture this Caliber is just firing blanks.

Motorcycle lessons

Marilyn took the newly fixed Shadow to a local parking lot and I taught a few of the basics of mototcycle riding. She learned how to stop the motocycle without stalling the engine. How to start to move using the clutch and throttle. And how to drive around and around the parking lot. The real basic skills. If cold weather holds off for a few weekends I'm sure that she'll have all the basic skills to take the Motocycle Safety Course in the spring.