Hey where is the pictures?

Umm. Right here. ( Waving chip in his left hand as he types ) I'll be putting the pictures on the photo album the second I get home.   Couple of picture points . I had to get a sensor loupe and dust swabs to clean my camera. I really had to do this as I took a picture of Marilyn's Mom and there was a big speck of dust on her nose! Visible Dust makes a great sensor loupe.  Marilyn got a digital for Christmas so her pictures will be up on the album when we get back.

Christmas!

Christmas here in the Midwest is great. We had Christmas morning at Jay and Stacy's. She made a great brunch and a lot of super finger food. The house was packed with wrapped gifts and Evan the littlest was shaking with excitement.  We all sat around and unwrapped presents one at a time. This lasted a long time which kept the excitement of Christmas going till way into the afternoon.  The family got a Wii and the kids are playing games thru the day. Adrik is rocking to guitar hero. Emily who got all things High School Musical is singing duets with Marilyn to the High School Musical game. And Evan wants to do any Wii game but by himself! There was lots of gifts but the best gift was being here with everyone! 

Boy are arms tired!

Just got in for the holidays. We got the last spot at the airport parking. The TSA line was mercifuly short. The flight out of Philly was not too bad. It left almost on time and got in at a resonable time. So the getting there is done.

Now we are rushing around trying to get everything set for Christmas. It will be here if we are ready or not!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Is that you Santa Claus?

I was out an about last night catching up on my Christmas shopping along with many other would be Santas. I spent about 45 minutes in the local Target locating gifts that will end up in stockings. After choosing some pens in the stationary section I turned to find some Grinch made off with my shopping cart! After an other 45 minutes of trying to find the culprit that made off with my goodies ( and some extra large socks! ) I gave up.

To the cart napper, I hope you know there is a seasick crocodile waiting for you somewhere!

Doh!

I went on the website http://simpsonizeme.com/ It allow you to enter in you picture and creates a Simpsons character that is mostly like you. Here is what we look like if we were on the Simpsons.

Tin Man

We are watching the Sci Fi channel series Tin Man. I recorded it on the DVR that came with our new FIOS TV set up. It records onto a hard drive that is inside the cable box. Anyway I recorded all three part of the series and we watched the first part tonight. It is nothing like the classic movie but if the The Wizard were made today with all the computer effects available it would look a lot like this series. The story is gripping and the wicked witch and flying monkeys are scary. So part one is great. We are looking forward to part two tomorrow.

In the dark!

We went out to the Red Lion Diner. Just as our food came out the power went out. The owner did a nice recovery as he put candles on all the tables. It was quite nice. But this is the second time we were there and the power went out. ( Same table too! ) And the pwer has gone out on us twice across the street in the movie theater.

Lights are on at home for now. Windy and cold tonight.

Fresh Bread

Yesterday we made some fresh bread. One loaf was a whole wheat and the other was pumpernickel. Mmmm fresh bread right out of the oven! It is just the best for breakfast with a butter and honey on it.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Mike called me. His WiFi stopped working. Turned out the wireless radio died and we had to set up a new unit. Got it a Staples on Germantown ave. Put it in place and set up the system again and all was good as new.

Mike came over to our house for lunch as I just baked bread this morning. Fresh bread cheese tomato and cold cuts were on the menu.

Got Junk?

Used 1-800-Got-Junk to clean out Mom's house. A bunch of hard working guys worked to clear the house out. Jack Brady, the owner, did a excellent job coordinating. It took about 8 truck load of stuff to donate and to the dump. It was a real dirty job!

The house is FINALLY cleared out. Now I can work on selling it.

Milk and Bread Alert!

Yesterday was a full on milk and bread alert brought to us by the local media. There was to be a "Winter Storm Warning" Stay at home! Sleet, Freezing rain like in the midwest! Be Prepared! Salt trucks on the road now!

Well we got some light rain. ( And we bought a bunch of milk and bread from the store. Bread pudding anyone! )

All we are saying is give cheese some pants.....

Last night Marilyn, Meg and I went out to dinner and a show. We stopped at Nodding Head Brewery for dinner. I had the 60 shilling, a malty Scottish ale and Marilyn had the Sled Wrecker a spicy holiday brew. Both beers were great. The food there was super I had the Monk's mussels in Fra Diavolo sauce. Good beer and good food.

Anyway we then went to the 1812 production of This is the Week that Is. It's great political satire and it's a hoot when local polititicans get into the act. They had a long mocking medley of old protest songs that was a scream. So if you are on the left or right or if you don't know your left from your right it's still a good show.

Testing.....1... 2... 3...

I am testing software for a release. I really hate this portion of the software development cycle. One day I think I'll program again... I'm not sure.

Home Improvement Edition

Well the sawdust is just beginning to clear this morning. We had new windows installed, gutters capped, and wood replaced. It was a messy dirty job and I was running around tyring to clean up after the contractors.

Then this weekend, I fixed the ceiling in the family room. That job has been hanging around for a few years because I thought that it would be a dirty rotten job, and I was right. We knocked holes in the ceiling to put n the insulation and there was dust everywhere.

But it's just about done but the painting so we are just sitting here enjoying the snow which is falling outside. ( not inside ! )

Where Can I go Skiing?

Got my first annual where can I get XC lessons locally e-mail. ( Drive North till you see snow on the side of the road. Then drive another hour or two! If it starts getting warm again you went WAY too far!)

Gave them the typical stuff and invited them to go on the Stowe trip. This is early for the XC questions to come up must be that cool snap in the air.

One Shot

Just finished reading One Shot. It took me a while I started this summer and finished up on our trip to Vegas.

This is a Jack Reacher novel. A sniper shoots 5 people. The police get their man. An open an shut case. But the accused asks for Jack Reacher to investigate the crime. Well there are tiny threads of evidence, romantic entanglements, and Russian mobsters, finally Jack cracks the case.

Not great literature but a great ride.

Don't miss it.

New Photo Album

The photo album for our Bar Harbor trip is now on line. I redid the album for the web let me know how you like it. The link for the album is here. The trip starts on album dp-2007-007.

Thanksgiving Epilog

Well our first Thanksgiving dinner is done!

Turkey ( precooked breast from Shop & Bag Deli )

Stuffing ( bread from Wawa )

Mashed potatoes

Gravy

Corn

Asparagus

Cranberry

Mmmm ... We made stuffing from scratch. Toasted some bread in the oven with herbs and spices tossed in some sauteed root veggies. Home made mashed potatoes. Also, we made bunch of other stuff bought from the store. It was a good dinner.

Now just have to loosen my belt and take a snooze......

It's Turkey Day!

Well I'd be running scared too!

Turkey and trimmings are set for later today. This will be our first Thanksgiving home. First things first we are going to take a walk this morning as it is just fantastic today. Then we are going to see Frances and then make a little turkey dinner home.

So even though we are not there we're thinking about you!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Leaving Las Vegas

Hey We're Back!

And we didn't break the bank.

Our only gamble was flying. The trip started with the luggage truck smashing into the plane. The result a big hole in the side of the plane and 2 hour delay waiting for a replacement.

After getting there theing went smoother.

Here is a quick summary. We went to Red Rocks outside of Las Vegas and spend half a day hiking. It was interesting walking around the desert. Most asked question. Why was Red Rocks red? Answer Iron Oxide, rust.

The services were at Beth Sholom in Summerlin. Very nice temple, very nice services. Harrison, the bar mitzvah did very well. ( I think, my Hebrew is non existant! )

The party was a kid extravaganza at Red Rock Lanes. This was the only bowling lanes that I have seen inside a casino. It was next to the Regal Cinema also inside the casino. Pizza, soda, loud rock music, bumper bowling, funny hats and glow sticks made a very festive atmosphere.

We spent the rest of the time visting Gillian, Larry, Harrison, Hanna, and Haily.

Best of all we made it home without getting stuck in the vacation travel crush.

Hitting the Slots....

A co working asked if we were going to hit the slots when we get to Las Vegas.

I guess so. I just have to bring my hammer!

Countdown to Vegas

We're getting packed for our trip to Las Vegas for the weekend.

We hope to head to Red Rocks on Friday and then the bar mitzvah on Saturday.

We're giving Southwest airlines a try which is going to be our biggest gamble this weekend.

Three Cheers!

It's Marilyn's Dad's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Now blow out the candles!

Another thing packed away for the winter

My motorcycle is now packed away for the winter. It's locked in the storage shed waiting for a nice warm spring day.

I'll still have a bracing ride to look forward to this year as Marilyn's bike is in the shop.

I'll deal with that when we get back from Las Vegas.

Clutch Player

Mike gave me a hand taking Marilyn's motorcycle down to Fast by Ferracci last night. The balky, cantakerous motorcycle would not get going and it complained all the way to the dealer. We got there with mere seconds to spare as they were turning out the lights when we stepped in.

Philadelphia Theater Co.

On Tuesday we wen down to see out first play of the year at the Philadelphia Theater Co. It was at the new Susan Roberts Theater. The theater was nice even though the balcony seats have less leg room than the Academy of Music. But once I folded my legs into my pocket I was Ok.

The play was Begin Alive. A musical review of Stephen Sondheim. To be honest I really don't like musicals. A musicals review is all of the music with out any plot or character development. So sitting thru this for me was like waterboarding at Guantanamo . Not quite torture but the senators were asking questions. This was not my cup of tea so two thumbs down.

New bed is great!

Now that we have the new mattress I can report to you that it is great! Sleeping has never been better.

Now if we can only wake up on time!

Been a little bit busy....

We been a little busy.....

Monday

I had Verizon install FIOS TV. They installed the cable and a box but they had to install something on the Internet. I did not want to have them mess up my Internet settings. So it was a few days till the TV, DVR and the internet was right.

Tuesday

We went to the Philadelphia Theater Co for the first play of our season. More on that later.

Wednesday is our day to see Mom and she is doing well.

More on all of these things later... I need to get to the litter box and get some cat nip......

New mattress

We went out today and bought a new mattress. It'll be delivered tomorrow.( wow Sunday! ) So we'll have a good night sleep tomorrow night.

Down to the boat

Went down to the boat just to see how thing are progressing. Looks good they have the new engine in the boat. But its looking like they have put work aside to pull boats for the winter. So it on the back burner for a couple of weeks.

Cable Out

Last night Comcast cable was out last night. Called up customer service and they said that there was nothing that they could do and that I should make an appointment.

Well if I have to make an appointment I'll make it with the Fios fiber optic cable guys to hook up their cable.

Busted Zipper

Drove my motorcycle to the train station this morning. It was a balmy 55 degrees. The ride was just super and it's supposed to be in the 70's on the homebound trip. When getting off the cycle the I unzipped my leather jacket. Stuck! I gave it a little tug and a bunch of zipper teeth came off and I ended up with a zip handle in my hand. Ugh! Nice way to start the day. I'm glad it won't be too cold on the way home.

Java Jitter

Turn out there is the guy DaVido that came up with a great song for Starbucks but well they didn't want it. DaVido was not a guy that takes no for an answer. He then makes a video called the Starbucks Rejection Tour. This is a real riot. You have to see it.

It's probably a instance of viral marketing. ( No it's not a computer virus! ) but whatever it is it's pretty good!

Correction...

From Mike......

There were EIGHT beers, not Seven.If you know which one you missed, I will save it for you.


Mike

Well, after 7 beers who can count to eight!

Great Party Mike!

Instant Kindergarden just add Kool Aid

Well at the dentist I had the same experience I had at the barbershop.

I was there reading a magazine minding my own buisness when three women walk in with two kids each and one woman with five kids. 11 kids under the age of 11 in the dentist waiting room waiting for check ups. Not one using their inside voices! I was lectured on the finer points of the transformers by one kid. Luckily my appointment came up mecifuly quickly.

To the Dentist

Gotta leave work early to get to the dentist for a cleaning today.

Out for a ride on Sunday

Marilyn and I went out for a ride on the motorcycle on Sunday. I tried to start the bike and the battery was dead. Ugh! After fiddling with the battery and adding the Bluetooth phone adapter ( The bike's audio system now can answer the phone like in the car. ) we got on and rode. It was a bit chilly and very clear, we went into Bucks County and around Nockamixon state park. The leaves were changing and it was a great ride.

Beer Party

Mike and Gail had their beer party this weekend. Seven brews were sniffed, sipped, swished, and guzzled! The sorbets that Jim made were a hit. The cheese table, wings, sushi and wee wieners were just indescribable. Just a great time and it was great to see everyone.

Home Lead Test Kits Unreliable

Looks like those home test kits that parents have been using to test their kids toys for lead paint are useless. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has a report saying that the test kits are unreliable.

Let's see, could those test kit be.....

MADE IN CHINA!

Jib Jab....

If you look way down at the bottom of the blog you'll find the latest in Jib Jab Movies. You might know the actors!

Good deed for the day.

Walking thru the train station parking lot I heard some car going "click click click ..... " Looked to my left and saw a dejected fellow commuter. I drove the car over and offered a jump. Two minutes and his car was humming. Tip of the day. With winter on the horizon check your battery connections for corrosion. It'll take you 5 minutes and save you time in a dark parking lot.

Broken toys dept.

I have Marilyn's Motorcycle mostly fixed. It failed inspection with a leaky fork seal which is now on order. The service manager said that it looked like a good solid bike not bad for a bike that's 25 years old. It's now in the storage locker.

My motorcycle is ready to go but waiting for the weather. I'll see if I can ride on Thursday.

The new sailboat motor is installed. They still have to hook up hoses and wires. We'll have to go down to see it and fire it up.

On Friday Marilyn is going to see the ballet Dracula with Meg.

And we are going to Mike's Beer Bash.... I mean tasting! on Saturday.

Missed connections

Well today I tought I had to go to the dentist. Good thing I looked at the calendar I have to go next week.

Marilyn forgot her Blackberry on the counter and I forgot my lunch.

I took Marilyn her Blackberry later in the afternoon I guess between her sessions.

Sunday Roundup.

Made a bunch of basil pesto. Harvested the last of the basil. The batch was just great and is now sitting in the freezer. We'll have some as soon as we figure out how to run the gnocchi machine.

Mike and I went to Mom's house and packaged up the hazardous chemicals. It be a quick up next weekend for the waste collection.

Marilyn went to the PRSA convention which is downtown Philly.

Weekend stuff....

Was working on Marilyn's motorcycle today. Changed the ignition coils and put on the new fender we had painted. It seems to be working OK. Going to have it inspected on Monday.

Tomorrow we are going to pick the last crop of basil and make pesto to put into the freezer. A gym workout is in order for the morning. I'm also going to Mom's house to pack up the hazardous chemicals for next weekend's waste drop off.

The weekend.

The weekend is finally here! I have to do some chores and I have to put a motorcycle away for the winter. So I let you know what we been up to.

Bachelor Night!

Marilyn is in Washington tonight. So I did some exciting stuff. I went to Ralph's in Glenside for a haircut. Also, I stopped at Yanni's diner for dinner. Not that exciting you say..... Hmmm Guess your right.

New Blog Look.

I was getting tired of the old blog look. This one has some new features. Like a map of where I am or where I wish I were! Click on it it may have current pictures. Also, I may have a poll question from time to time. So look around and see how you like it.

Clean out

For the past two day I've been cleaning out Mom's house. It's been a real nasty business as a lot of stuff has to given, donated or thrown away. Mom and Dad kept EVERYTHING! I found stuff that was brand new just 60 years old. Mom was on the Catholic religious soft touch list. She had all the junk mail sent to her for all those fund raisers. A lot of those envelopes has cheap medals that were just all over the floor. Also, I'm trying not to bring everything I see home. We have no room as it is. I don't need a museum of Mom and Dad to sit in the basement for another 60 years. Well it's coming to an end just one more truckload and it'll be done. I'm glad as it is hard work and an emotionally draining experience.

Busy Week Sort of....

Well been busy all week but I don't know where all the time has gone.

One thing is that I'm FINALY going to the gym. I'm haunting the Y after work on Tues and Thurs. I'll Park down at Ft Washington to take the train so I have to pass the Y to go home. That's a pretty good reminder.

Last night Marilyn and Meg had a girls night out and went to dinner and the Ballet. I visted Mom and went to a diner for dinner.

Tomorrow is the day from hell. I have the junk guy and the plumber at Mom's first thing in the morning and I have a contractor coming to our house at 5pm.

Now if I can just get thru today......

New engine on the way.

Ordered the new engine this morning. It will be in the boatyard on Wednesday. The cost ... Well let just say it in the OUCH range. It be worth it.

Gym this morning

Going to head out to the gym this morning. See if I can get back into the habit. Well I've been paying for it mind as well go! Today I think it will be better to workout inside in the air conditioning that outside in the humidity.

Sailboat out of the water

I went to Rock Hall to see the boat. It's now out of the water in the Swan Creek boat yard.

The boat was parked next to a bone yard boat that was due to be crushed up soon. I was hoping that it was not an omen for our boat. BTW, if you know someone who may want a Ericson 34t as a project boat let me know, maybe we can save it from the crusher.

I talked to the yard owner and the engine will be out of the boat this week. I'll order a engine from Moyer and I think that this engine business will be finished in short order.

I bet I'll be talking about this engine swap all winter and it may just be finished by spring!

Is anybody out there?

Last night Marilyn, Meg and I went to see the 1812 production of "In Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" First we had dinner at the Caribou Cafe it's a nice bistro type of restaurant. Good food great service a good pre-theater stop. The play was in a small third floor theater in the Walnut. Its a one woman play that Lilly Tomlin won a Tony award for in the 80's. The actress, Jennifer Childs, does a great job with all of the characters. The play revolves around a bag lady who can "look in" other peoples lives. Mostly those lives are completely dysfunctional and somewhat interconnected. It has some laughs but some sections were just too long. But on the whole a pretty good night out.

Robert Ballard

Last night we saw Dr Robert Ballard at the Kimmel Center. They have a lecture series of interesting people. Dr Ballard was fun! I could listen to him all night long. I was just captivated by his adventures at the bottom of the sea. Dr Ballard is best known for locating the Titanic but he has changed thinking in the field of biology, astrobiology, geology, and cartography with his discoveries in the Mid Atlantic trench. Today he is creating remotely piloted deep submersibles that can be commanded from control centers in any location in the world. He is beaming that information and experience not only into universities but into middle schools around the country to help foster and develop the next generation of researchers, scientist, engineers and dreamers.

Titanic Night Ahead

Tonight we are going to the Kimmel Center. They are having a lecture series and tonight's speaker is Dr. Robert Ballard. He is the oceanographer who directed the team that located the RMS Titanic, battleship Bismark, and the carrier USS Yorktown. This should be an interesting evening.

FallFest!

Fall Fest at Rock Hall is always a super time. Just to give you a taste how good this was we spent 5 hours doing different things in just a two block festival. We saw the Catonsville High School Steel Drum Band. Ate crab cake sandwiches. Looked at craft vendors. Cheered on a crab picking contest. Toured Skipjacks. Boogie Woogied to dueling pianos. Smelled soap. And listened to a Jazz band.
We were worn out. But we had to get back for the Spring Cove picnic. We talked with a bunch of dock neighbors while fill ourselves with picnic noshes.

Roy, Marj, Marilyn and I went back to the boat to play a rousing game of Whad' Ya Know. There was a few time play was suspended as we laughed ourselves silly.

This morning we took all the canvas off the boat and made it ready to be taken out of the water. To be ready to fix the engine. I'll miss going to the boat.

Fun and Games

We ordered games from a company called Out of the Box Games. We got a game called Shipwrecked and the game from the show "Whad Ya Know". The games are compact and they look like fun. We'll let you know as we are bringing them down to the boat this weekend.

Moyer Marine

Found a place that will overhaul the engine for the sailboat.

Moyer Marine is expert with these engines. So next season we'll have a reliable engine.

Next Weekend Already.

Well not yet but some notes. Called Swan Creek to pull the boat so I have to go down next weekend to take the sails off. When it's out of the water Lee from Swan Creek will look at it.

Fall Fest is next weekend and looks like Marj and Roy are going to come down and have fun at Fall Fest and the Spring Cove Picnic. We'll end the season with a bang.

On an other note the LED lights that I've been working on for the boat have been wildly successful. The lights use about one tenth the power and are much more bright. They are also rechargeable, plug into solar panels and the battery pack is able to run fans on hot days. This will allow us to get rid of the Coleman battery lanterns. They used batteries quickly and did not give much light.

Rock Hall Weekend.

We went down to Rock Hall this weekend. We wanted to finish up the electrical fix and take the boat out for a trial run. The electrical problems are finished. The accessories are running --the lights, light and the motor purrs. I rigged a line to allow us to drops the main sail quickly and trying it today it worked perfectly. We took the boat out Sunday for a test sail. The motor worked well. And we had lots of wind for sailing. The new rigging is working well and the method we learned for reducing weather helm is working just right. We sailed along for about an hour and Marilyn went below for something to drink. Then she asked the question I never want to hear. What's this water on the deck? Whaaaa? Oh boy. Run below. Bildge pump not working. Oh Shoot!.... Get Aux bildge pump handle. Ok only a couple of gallons of water..... Well, we turned around and got back to the slip OK. Turns out that the side plate of the engine rusted thru. It was dumping a couple of gallons an hour of cooling water into the engine compartment while it was running. Looks like out season is done. The engine has to come out to fix this and I'm going to leave this one to the professionals. I will have the engine overhauled while it's out of the boat.
So we'll go to Rock Hall Fall Fest next weekend, take the sails off, and put the boat up for the season.

Stowe XC Ski Trip

I've been talking to Linda Repsher, JoAnne and Mike and looks like we are going to run a Stowe bus trip this year. It's going to be Feb 22 thru 25 and it will be $395 per person double. If you are interested in going let me know I'll tell you where to send the $150 deposit.

Post Vacation Blues....

Well you haven't heard from me for a few days, I've been busy. The downstairs toilet flush handle broke.

No problem, Run to Lowes for parts. Fixed the toilet handle.

That's great.....Hey what's this leak??? The bolts that hold the tank are now leaking.

No problem. Run to Lowes for parts. Hmmm these don't fit!

No problem. Run to Lowes for more parts.

Hmmm, they don't have smaller bolts.

No problem. Run to Home Depot for parts.

Hmmmm, they don't have smaller bolts either. They don't make the tank bolts smaller.

Hmmm. Ok run back home. One bolts fits one dosen't. Ok now the moment of truth make the hole bigger.

Get the drill and try to drill the ceramic tank. ( Drilling....Sweating...Drilling... Sweating..... )

Great! The hole is bigger and the tank did not break!

Fix it up, put it together, fill it up.....DARN IT LEAKS!!!

Take it apart....Tighten bolts.....

and..

and...

and IT"S FIXED !!! ( Exhale ! )

No problem .... It just took all day!

We went on vacation and saved the planet.

Well we're back home.

Ok here is the vacation by the numbers.....


Total Miles Driven 1496.8 miles

Average gas mileage 40 mpg

Lobster dinners 4

Carriage Road Miles walked 26

Baskets of fried clams 3

Wild Blueberry pie slices ???

Popovers at Jordan Pond House 0

Trips thru customs in one day 2

Trips to the bathroom to upchuck on wildly rocking ship 2

Lighthouses walked to 2

Lighthouses seen by boat 2

Trips on the Acadia shuttle 6

Trips by car to the top of Cadillac Mt 1

Hikes to top of Cadillac Mt Ummmm None!

Deer seen 2

Pictures taken..... We'll have them posted later.

Do Lobstermen always park their boats in the same direction?

Sure, and every few hours they park them in the other direction!

Here is a shot of Bubble Pond. We walked from Bubble Pond to Day Mountain along the carriage roads today. Not many stone bridges today be great vistas. Nice views of Seal Harbor and the rest of the park. Nice and sunny when we were at the top of Day Mountain. Fog rolled in as we strode into Seal Harbor. Weather can change very fast here.

Jordan Pond

Went to Jordan Pond area to walk the carriage roads. We saw numerous stone bridges and some great vistas.














Then we drove to the top of Caddlilac Mt. We just took in the sights

Postcard from Nova Scotia