Made it home!

Easy flight from St Louis and home..... Christmas was great! Now back to work! tomorrow......

Dodged the weather bullet

Looks like we missed the big snow in the east. They are talking about 26 inches in DC. Yikes! That will put a crimp in Christmas travel. Glad we got out today.

Woo Hoo!! On vacation!

Marilyn and I are sitting in a coffe house in the city market in Kansas City. We got off to a good but early start this morning. The flight went off without a hitch. The airport is always a major pain and can mess up a good vaction right off the bat. No crowds and on time... Yes! I'm glomming on to some free WiFi to get some mail and blog....

This is the week that is

Marilyn, Meg and I went out to the 1812 Productions "This is the week that is" a parody of the new of the moment. It was great, any production where Obama, Kim Jong Il and Iran's Ahmadinejad are in a song and dance number is going to be a scream. Go see it, It runs until Jan 3.

Happy Holidays Philly!

Wow it really happend in Philly!!!!

From MSNBC.com....

PHILADELPHIA - It played like a scene from a holiday movie — a mystery couple, who didn’t leave their names or numbers, walked into a restaurant, finished their meal and then set off a chain reaction of generosity that lasted for hours.That’s just what employees at the Aramingo Diner in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia said a man and a woman did during their breakfast shift Saturday morning.“It was magical. I had tears in my eyes because it never happened before. I’ve been here for 10 years, and I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Lynn Willard, a waitress.Willard and other waitresses told NBC Philadelphia that the couple started the chain reaction by paying double: for their own meal and for the tab of another table of diners at the restaurant. There's no evidence that one group of diners knew the others.“I could not believe it. And it continued and continued — it was very nice,” said Willard. “They asked us not to say anything until they left, say, ‘Merry Christmas, that person picked up your check.’”For the next five hours, dozens of patrons got into that same holiday spirit and paid the favor forward.The diner’s manager said not one person was concerned about price of the check — which ran between $12 and $30.“It was a surprise to all of us; the girls were even taken aback,” said the diner's manager. “Those who took the check also tipped the waitress. So nobody had to do anything other than pass it on, and that’s what they did. They just passed it forward.”It’s a true holiday story that proves how a small gesture of kindness can create some magic.

Dim Sum... Yum!

Marilyn and I went to Center City to have Dim Sum with Roy, Marj, Terri, and MaryBeth. Driving in a driving rain to Chinatown we park across the street. The other guys ended at the wrong Ocean.... Ocean City... Ocean Harbor... Peacful Ocean... Ocean waves..... a few phone calls and a walk in the rain we got it all straightend out and sat down in Ocean City. The resturant staff started throwing all kinds of small plates at us. It was a blizzard of food. The sticky rice was the hit of the meal.

Weeks Doings....

This week has been a whirlwind. Early gym sessions were hampered by a back "twinge" Nothing serious and it has not stopped me from going to the gym. Just enough to complain about not enough to stop me.

Had to bring Marilyn's car to the dealer AGAIN for the transmission solenoid. It not too bad but it's like the stinking keystone cops trying to get the car to the dealer, us to the train, and to everything else we have to do.

Pass the carrots....

Went to a nice vegetarian resturaunt in Southamton... Blue Sage with friends Saturday night, They have very good cusine, vegan dishes are available. If you have friends that are vegetarian, want to try something different, or want to take your bunny to dinner go there.

Christmas shopping

Got most of my Christmas shopping done. Now I just have to was for things to arrive home and at the hobbyshop. Then the cross shipping starts! Look out Mom you are going to get lots of visits from your friendly neighborhood guy that drives the big brown truck!

Weekend Ahead

Looking forward to the weekend. Week 7 of the workout sched ended and I'm looking forward to the days off.

M has an event at work. She has been working late and is working late tonight. Going to record her show tonight so she can watch it later this weekend.

I'm going to get all my heli stuff set up and batteries charged this weekend as next weekend is an indoor flying event at a local gym. Also, I would like to store a bunch of stuff for the winter and get everything organized.

Long week.

Why does a week seem longer when you had days off the week before?

Since M was traveling this week we went to the gym both Saturday and Sunday. This may have been my undoing this week. I'm completely exhausted. You really need those days off to recoupe. 5:30am gym sessions are getting to be no fun! Well two more this week then rest. ( Yahoo! )

I put Windows 7 on one of the computers. That was a pain in the fanny! It took Soooo long, and I messed up the activation numbers. Also, I went flying this Sunday. Luckily no crashes and I and fly my plane again maybe next year.

M got back last night. Delayed planes and all.. Well no gym for her this morning. Then she had to work from home....her building had no water. Didn't find that little nugget out till she got down there.

I did some more Xmas shopping last night. Going to Costco for the last of the stuff for the kids. The Hess trucks have been secured!

Lazy Friday....

Went to the gym early today and the wind and cold kept me in today. Goofing off with the little helicopters inside today. Because the gym was closed Thursday we're going to the gym first thing tomorrow too.

High Tech Thursday....

Jay and I got the video chat working on the computers and we did a family video conference on Thanksgiving. Now I just have to remember not to be wearing my Snoopy PJs at the computer!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving all! Suprisingly a lot of supermarkets were open today. That was lucky for us as we had nothing in the fridge. I bought stuff to make our menu:

Lunch:
Mixed antipasto
Homemade turkey salad.
Organic cranberry sauce

Dinner:
Turkey Chili
Mashed Sweet Potates
Cranberry Salsa
Tapioca pudding

Not quite the turkey and stuffing but we like it!

Happy Hour

We got out of work early on Wednesday. The trains were crowded as all of Center City was let go around 3pm. Marilyn and I met Mike and Gail at Alison's for Happy hour. When we got home I ended up struggling with lamps in out bedroom and breaking everything I touched! I decided to go to sleep before I did any real damage!

Seven days make one weak......

The reunion was great but now I just have to find out who put a Monday in the middle of my weekend ?!?!

So I was thinking that if .....

Wednesday is like Friday because of the holiday.Then Tuesday is hump day 'cause its in the middle. Monday is like Sunday because who the hell know what happened to Sunday cause we were so busy.... Wednesday is Sundae at Carvel... Also it's Prince spaghetti day....but cause of the holiday it should be moved to Tuesday.So Monday is really Wednesday therefore causing two humps in the week.and Thursday is like Saturday cause we're off...


Damn I'm glad that I'm off on Friday, I need a week to rest!

Great reunion!!

Wow was that trip great! Went up to North Jersey. Saw my old neighborhood. Yes the rumors were true my old Catholic elementry school where I went from K thru 8 was a Muslim school. Sister Rapparata must be rolling in her grave. Also, St Micheal's school which was Christofer Columbus school in its life as a public school was gone, leveled, as well as the convent and the whole rest of the block. Wow what changes! Drove to my old high school. Man, looks like the place was neglected for years. It was too bad.

Had lunch at Rutt's Hut. A great little roadside place in Clifton that sells... well deep fried hot dogs. Not like a corn dog, no batter just a big wiener dropped into the fryolater. It comes out wrinkly and crunchy just right. I had two with their mustard relish.

We found the elks club and then the hotel. We had to have a nap before the big night! Ha!
Got dressed and went to the lobby and stared meeting old classmates. We took the shuttle to the elks club as if we wanted to have a few we would not have to drive. Well there were a couple of events at the hotel that night. A bunch of the alums go into the shuttle and it took off running thru the backstreets. When we arrived the was a problem though. The driver took us to a wedding! Arugh! Well, I'm sure the bride was surprised that we hijacked her shuttle! The driver finally realised what he did and took us to the elks. He the drove off to get an earful from a new bride!

There were about 100 out of 220 alums there! Wow it was great! Everyone was talking and dancing and drinking. There was food there but everyone hardly ate as the were talking, greeting and catching up. The event lasted to 1am then we headed back to the hotel in the shuttle. ( I guess he was set straight! ) and Marilyn went to bed. I stayed up with about 30 other people and talked and laughed to the wee hours of the morning.

Marilyn and I had breakfast in the morning at a diner with Karen and tried to have coffee and tea to shake off the lack of sleep!

Class of '78 Reunion

Hey I'm going to the class of '78 reunion... 31 years! How the hell did that happen! Marilyn is happy she is coming. Anyting that gets me into a suit and has dancing she is up for.
It will be good to see all those people who I haven't seen quite a while.

Dentist today

Working from home...got a bunch done. Love it when I don't have a ton of distractions and a nice window to look out of. Going to the dentist this afternoon for a cleaning. Guess I should lay off the tuna and onion sandwich!

A month of mornings

It's been a month now of getting up a 5:15 and heading to the Y for a workout.


Now if only there were some results to show for it......

Costco trip...

Mike went with me out to Costco for a little shopping trip. I'm going to my 31st high school reunion this weekend and they wanted people to take some food for donation. I bought two dozen packages of spaghetti and sauce. I thought I had a good meal if I had a spaghetti dinner. I'm pretty sure that somebody will really appreciate it.

Misses queues

Marilyn's car needed a change of transmission fluid. That was meaning of that blinking light. The car still has a 5 year warranty on the engine and transmisson. Marilyn was late getting out of work and could not catch the train to the car dealer. She called me and caught me leaving the train station. I waited for her for 40 minutes. Which would not have been bad had I "gone" at work. I was in the parking lot thinking of the ocean, rainy days, flowing creeks, Niagra Falls! Driving quicky we got to the dealer before it closed and I burst.
We had dinner at Hong Kong Jack's. I'm glad I recorded The Prisoner....

The Prisoner

Marilyn and I got involved watching the Prisoner on A&E last night. The show is a remake of the old British series. It's a great psycological thriller and we are hooked on it. I'm glad we are recording it.

Stormy Monday

Running like crazy this morning... We had to drop Marilyn's car off this weekend as there was the engine light flashing along with the D light on the transmission. The Honda dealer let us know that we are just out of warranty. Great! Anyway I had to drop Marilyn off at the train station before I went to the Y. After my workout got to the train station on time for my train. The train was late and crowded.... Not the best start to the week.

What an excellent day!

70 degrees today with bright sunshine. Just got back from doing the last chores on the boat. I'm glad that's put to bed for the winter.

Last Canvas..

Going to the boat on Sunday to remove the last canvas. It was soaked the last time we were down. I just have to run down and run back.

Indoor fly Friday...

Went with the Radio Control club up to a local high school gym to fly our models. I took my Helis and other guys took micro foam planes. We had about 10 guys having a ball. We were flying, dogfighting, crashing and just having a blast. We do this once a month in the winter and there is talk about doing it twice a month. I'm just glad I got out oth there and not crashing anything!

Keb' Mo' tonight

Going to the Keswick tonight to catch Keb'Mo'. He touring in support of his new album and it will be a great show. Keswick shoudl be a good place to see him, a nice little 1000 seat theater with no bad seats.

No Joy in Phil ville

Well the Yanks are the champs this year. That's Ok they played well, better pitching, batting and all. So they won fair and square and they will hold the trophy for this year.

I was just hoping the Phils could have won so that we could have a parade again this year as I missed the one last year because I was in California. Here's hoping for next year!

Now we just have to do something about this strike and the commuter rail trains burning!

Vote for Pedro!!!

It's win or go home tonight for the Phillies.

With all the crap that is happening in Philly this week a Phillies win would just what's needed.

Here is a link to the Phillies 2009 fight song You need sound on your computer and allow it to download the song.

Restored faith in Philly......

Today while I was walking to pick up a pair of glasses, I saw that an elderly woman had been in the blind spot of a FedEx truck was bumped and knocked to the pavement. Many people stopped and a van driver blocked traffic to prevent traffic from hitting anyone else. But one guy got down on the street and held the woman. Reassuring her that things were going to be alright. Making sure that she did not feel alone. Staying with her down on the street until the paramedics picked her up and took her to the hospital. I have to acknowledge this guy. I don't know who he was, but he did a good thing, a human thing.

Septa Shuffle

Transit Strike this morning. Busses and trains not running. Commuter rail running and trying to pick up the slack. All in all one big pain in the a$$ getting around Philly today.

Train late this morning.....

The R5 was runing late today. Got in over an hour late. They are working as well as the Phillies!

Lots of long faces in the usual Philly Phan places this weekend like Ralph's and Shop and Bag Deli. Phils better deliver something soon!

Now winterized...

The weather threw us it's last curveball. It wasn't supposed to be raining this morning. Anyway doing the last clean up on Imagination we got drenched. The water systems are now full of pink RV antifreeze. When we ready to go home when the tasks were done, the sun came out and it started getting warm. Grrrrrrr! On Tuesday Imagination will be on the hard for the winter and we won't be in untill the first of May.

Hair cut this afternoon.

Going to skip out early today to get a hair cut at Ralph's in Glenside.

My hair.... at least what's left of it.

Anyway, I'm sure there will be Phillies Phever at Ralph's. That place is just baseball crazy normaly. The Series will make that place just that much more.


Now I just gotta find out how I can get someone from Idaho to pay for my cut......

...Hey you!! Ralph's is Cash only!!!!!

One week down....

Find time for the gym is always a problem after work, there is always an excuse or something to do. Going in the morning and moving my schedule up a half to an hour seems to be working. I put together 5 straight mornings going to the gym. ( yeah for me! ) Now if do it again next week ... I'll have a habit.

But getting up a 5:15am to for the gym is kicking my @ss!!!!

Hair cut in Idaho???

Yesterday I bought a couple of funny Tee shirts from SnorgTees.com. A couple of hours later some one was having their hair cut in Idaho with my credit card number. Luckily my bank pick up the fraud and stopped the card.

I sent snorgtees.com an e-mail and no response. I may be guessing but someone there is getting a little on the side selling credit card numbers........

So let me make this as simple as possible......

DON'T BUY FROM SNORGTEES.COM!!!!!!

unless you want to pay for hair cuts in Idaho,

Morning workout

Changing my routine. I'm going to try and hit the gym in the morning before I go to work. The YMCA is on the way to the train station. Seemed to workout OK this morning. I felt pretty good and it did not get me too far off schedule.

Let's see how it progresses through out the week.

Home bound weekend

Stay at home weekend. We slept late and did stuff around the house. The Davis Vantage Pro was less than it's staid precision self on Saturday and said that it was "raining cats and dogs" .... really that's what it said! Cleared up a bunch of stuff that I was getting a round to. Also I fixed a few model airplanes and helicopters for use during the clubs indoor fly later this month. Next week we'll finish taking the boat out of the water. Has to be out by Nov 1.

Road Trip by the Numbers....

9 hours driving each way
580 miles each way
2 tanks of fuel
51 MPG on the way home ( WOW! )
4 nights away from home
2 meetings
1 training class
1 boat trip on Watauga Lake
1 sunset on the lake
1 Five Guys Hamburger for lunch
3 packages waiting for me on the porch
1 one more day of work this week!
1 good nights sleep before I begin that work day.

On the Road Again....

Drove down to Johnson City Tenn. today. I'm glad I did not fly. The drive was gorgeous! I drove down 81, along the Blue Ridge Mts. With the rain the colors of the trees were just outstanding! luscious greens, fiery reds, oranges, yellows. The fall colors are not peaked yet but today was just incredible. So after this week of meetings I'm hoping the colors will be as vivid.

The new VW diesel worked great! I popped in the Boss and Keb' Mo', sat back and drove. It's about 550 miles and I did it on one tank! 43 mpg for the ride down. I only stopped for Starbuck's Espressos and the required bathroom breaks. This car is great for long trips.

Theater Night!

Meg, Marilyn and I went up to the Black Sheep to have dinner and drinks. The food there is great and Black and Tans there super. The highlight of dinner was hard pear cider from California Cider Co.

After dinner we went to Plays and Players theater to see the 1812 Production's "The First Day of School,A Soccermom Sex Farce". It a comedy about a couple who drops off their kids for the first day at school and realising that they have the rest of the day off and they ask themselves the question "What are we going to to do today? Movies.. Home Repair.. Sex with other people.. Biking... Sex with other people!!!!! It's just a scream as they bring in other Soccer Moms and Dads and the questions and consequences of it all.

So don't be just standing under the basket yelling " I'm Open I'm Open " just go before October 25th

Downrigging.....

We took Monday off, Columbus day. So we stretched our weekend in Rock Hall for a day. Spent the day doing a walk around the town. Fall colors are creeping in, boats are starting to get lifted out for the season. Back to the boat and we downrigged, took off our sails for the season. Next time we come we'll winterize the water systems and it'll be ready for the long winter sleep.

We do have one more weekend though!

Cocktails at sunset......

The Bay has a palette of colors that it brings out at the end of the day. It just splashes them in the evening sky, reds, pinks, purples. It just takes your breath away as the one that you are seeing is more magnificent than yesterdays.

We were having cocktail on the desk watching the evening show with friends. We swapped stories of great anchorages on the Bay. Next year we are going have a few more raftups with friends.

Last weekend at the boat....

This is the last fun weekend at the boat before we have to put it up for the winter. It's drizzly down here but it's nice to curl up on the couch with a book down here. The Annapolis Boat show is running this weekend. We may end up there and look around. A better idea is to get away from the dock and anchor out in Swan Creek for the weekend. Just as soon as the rain stops.....

Crossing the street...

On my way to Starbucks this morning for my Monday eyeopener. I was crossing 18th street and my foot got caught in a hole! Struggled for a second and TIMBER! over I went. Next thing I know I'm staring at a car bumper. Jumped up brushed my self off, and back on my way for my coffee none the worse for wear. That bumper scared the crap out of me.

Major Computer Crash

The computer that we have downstairs blew a motherboard. This is the one that I do all my normal e-mail and banking and household stuff on. I thought that it was the power supply but it's finally dead. Now I just have to get the data off the disk......and buy a new machine.... and build it again! I need a freaking IT dept just for the house! So now I'm down to just four working computers........

Home Repair

Had a friend to the house who does cabinet work. We are thinking about having him redo our kitchen. We can't change the size of the kitchen so we are just going to get new cabinets and countertops and more things around.

Anyway I'm thinking that it's really going to be expensive and take a lot of time and work on our part.

Getting a jump on next weekend

My head was spinning after I landed and got home on Saturday. A good night's rest and I was ready to get working on the boat again. Marilyn and I went to Rock Hall and we fueled up the boat and cleaned it up from the last weekend we took it out. We left so fast the the flag was still flying off the stearn. I then calibrated the new battery meter and set up a new long range wifi adapter for the boat's computer. It should pull in signals while we are at anchor.

Rico's Rules of flight

If you can't carry it. It can't be considered a carry-on!

This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

On the way home

Training course complete. Now I'm heading home. Scored a first class seat for the trip. Got books, gotta get some coffee for the trip.

This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

Out in the Bay

Instead of walking around San Fransisco. I went to the ferry building and got onto a commuter ferry and went to Larkspur. It was a 50 min ride and great views of the Bay Bridge, Golden Gate, Alcatraz and the city sky line. It was just an out and back and didn't cost much but was so worth it. I highly recommend it!

Stuffy nose.....

... stayed in my hotel room yesterday. Had a stuffy nose/ beginning of a cold thing going on. Strange thing on the flight yesterday. Some lady had a surgical mask on with surgical gloves and she set up a small shrine to the virgin mary and was constantly praying to it during the flight. Glad she was not my seat mate! I was on the other side of the plane.... wonder how she took the turbulance over the Serria Nevada.

Welcome...

.. to the Hotel California. Seems I can never leave! Back in San Francisco at my favorite hotel. I'm pretty tired from the flight. Tomorrow I'll be in better shape to go looking around. I got to find a what's happening in the area type publication.

Heading to San Francisco

I'm leaving tomorrow to take a class at the home office. I spending this weekend in San Francisco. I'm heading there early to make sure that I get there for Monday morning and to get over the jet lag. I hoping there will be a few fun things to do this weekend. I'll be back in my "home" in the financial district which is pretty bleak during the weekend. Now I know to head up to North Beach to find some life.

New Battery...Weekend Cruise

Roy and Marj cam down to the boat this weekend. We had a lot of fun but Saturday started with work. We got the batteries changed and we rewired the system to have a battery gauge. It took us more than 4 hours and we created a huge mess. But the batteries are in, we can see them geeting charged and we cleaned up the mess.
Sunday we went across the bay to Broad Creek on the Magothy river. It was nice and breezy great sleeping weather. Monday we went back across the bay. We had to get Roy back as he was going to Korea on Tues morning.

Getting ready for the weekend.

Going down to RockHall this weekend. Marj and Roy are coming down to stay for the weekend. I'm hoping there is going to be enough wind to do some sailing. First Roy and I are going to swap out the batteries. They are 110 lbs apiece! The goal is not to break anything, us or the boat getting these monsters on.

Still on front line support this week. Just two more days....two more days.....

Yearbook

Marilyn and I spent last night tearing the house apart looking for my high school yearbook. There is going to be a 31 year reunion this year for a few reasons. The school is now closed and it seems like there is a critical mass of people who got in contact on facebook. I wanted to show Marilyn what some of these people looked like waaaay back in the 70's. Can you say Welcome Back Kotter. It seems like my yearbook is a victim of time. Too bad, I could have scanned it and made a PDF of it to put it on line.

Weekend Update...

No boat trip this weekend due to weather. Did home stuff cleaning laundry etc. Got most of the parts for the big battery swap on the boat. Power meters, new cables and terminal strips came in. I have to pick up the batteries on Tuesday. It'll be a couple of weeks until I can put them in the boat. Next weekend, Marj and Roy part deux. They'll come down next Saturday and we'll figure where we'll go then. This week at work front line support...... Arrrrugh!

Five Oh... take two

We went to Maria's on Summit last night to celebrate Meg Otte turning the big 50. It was very nice with lots of friends to wish her well. Drinks were flowing and dinner was great, the tiramisu birthday cake was super. Before too long it was over. Two 50 year birthdays wow I'm getting tired.... someone pass me the Geritol!

BTW, Meg....ask Marilyn about the shark!

Here to the big FIVE OH

This week is rich with people with people turning the big 50. Last night we roasted Brian Bannach. There was a big party at the Phoenix Sport Club for him. A bunch of his old friends related embarassing stories and had many laughs. Tonight we celebrate Meg Otte's big step over the line of the 40's.

Hey guys, remember to ask for the senior discounts!

Yuck!!! Broken Kitchen Disposal

Well vacation's officially over. Our disposal ground up it's last onion skin and puked under the sink. I made the obligatory trips to Lowe's and picked out a new one. It fought me tooth and nail but I put it in it's place under the sink.

Now for the thing that frosts me.... we have a kitchen guy coming over in a week or two. The thing just could not hold on for a few more weeks.

pictures from vacation....

Here is the link to the photo album

Back in Rock Hall

After a stormy night. We woke up in the creek. It was very peaceful. We watched the birds. Ospery, herons, egrets all were showing us their morning routine. We broke anchor and headed for home. We made it to our dock a few hours before the rain hit again. Enough time to hit the pool.

We'll finish cleaning the boat tomorrow.


This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

Tilghman creek

We made the trip across the bay. Small craft advisory out 20mph wind and 2 foot seas. The crossing was rough but we did it safely. In tilghman creek below st micheals,md. We are anchored in the creek for the night. There should be a line of t storms passing. That may block out the sunset. Sunsets in this creek are spectacular. We may set up the bbq for dinner. Just resting now waiting for the storms to pass.

This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

We went to Deale....

... and all I got was.... Not much. Herrington Marina North is one of the nicest marina you'll ever go to. It is a resort class facility. Spotless restrooms give Disney a run for their money, a great pool, spa, fitness center with new equipment, nice staff. But all the other places that we went to had a little village in walking distance. This place .... bupkiss, nada,nothing. Deale has a post office, harware store, coffee place, and pizza joint..... all closed at 5 pm. Nothin' to see folks here.... move on..... What make me steamed is that we walked there in 95 degree heat and could not get as much as a cold drink anywhere. I looked like someone dumped a bucket of water on me, Marilyn was getting a little funny with the heat and the walking. We came back cooled off and then went out to dinner.

Crossing the bay will be a little tricky tomorrow. We have to get a 6am start to beat a storm from coming thru.

Day Five.

We stayed on the boat last night for dinner because of the thunderstorms. They gave us a great sky show. A pink sunset capped off the night. Early start this morning before 8am. Saw the US Coast Guard buoy tender James Rankin at the mouth of the Back Creek. On the Pax river we saw pelicans floating on the water. The James Rankin passed us heading north as we got out to the bay. We passed the El Paso LNG terminal with the voice of the all powerful OZ warning us not to get close or suffer the consequences. The Calvert Cliffs were spectacular. The only other boat we saw was a large car transporter. The weather was pretty smooth even though they were calling for storms. It's about 95 now and we have docked near Deale,Md. Going to the pool in as soon as I finish this.

Where's Rico ....

.... and what the heck is he doing? Marie Kenney, a friend from high school and on facebook, asked where I am. Marilyn and I are on vacation sailing on the Middle Cheasapeake Bay on our 36 foot Catalina sailboat the "Imagination" ( yes its a real boat! ) . We are currently in the Solomons, Maryland, it is on the western shore of the Cheasapeake and it is a center for all kinds of recreational boating. There are hundredes of boats here both sail and motor. If you go to the blog ricopaolino.blogspot.com in the left corner you will find a spot on google maps where I update where we are. A little more info on the places we have been. Oxford is a historic town on the Eastern shore of the Cheasapeake. Very sleepy town, no shopping or many other things, but get a night at a B&B there and rent a bike and just relax and have dinner it's kind of a place. Knapps Narrows ( Tilghman Island ) is a small village that is still a working fishing village. Most of the crabs you get on the Cheasapeake are caught there. You can hire out on a crab boat for a day or charter a boat for day of stripped bass fishing. But it one of the places that you can still see how they worked the bay as in days of old.

P.S. Marie sorry I could not answer on facebook. I am improvising an internet connection on my phone on the boat today.

Solomons

Today we stayed in the Solomons. We walked downtown which has a promenade over the Patuxent river. We sighted groups of dinner plate sized sting rays swimming close to the shore. The town was as sleepy as last September. The Calvert maritime museum was good as always. They had info on the rays. They are native to the bay. I didn't know that!

We then did some boat stuff. Fueling up as fuel here is 2.39 a gallon. The boat a/c froze up I cleaned the sea strainer for the a/c and found a jellyfish clogging it. It's working OK now. Pool time soon! Tomorrow sail to Herring bay.

This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

Day three

Last night I made boat pizza for dinner. This capped off a great day of sight seeing and sailing and soaking in pools in the Chesapeake. We left Oxford early this morning . The slip we were in was a tight fit. We could not back the boat out and turn. We bounced off some pilings and managed not to hit any other boats. A local crabber almost hit us as he was not watching what he was doing, neither were we! We started 5 the hour run to the Solomons. Man it is a very big bay! We were almost alone on the water. At some point I could not see the other side and the side we came from was hazy. We saw the Calvert cliffs near cove point which are Marilyn's favorites. The Cove point light is picturesque. We finally docked at Spring Cove in the Solomons....and had a well deserved soak in the pool.

Day Two

Yesterday we walked around Knapps Narrows. We saw the Skipjack Catherine being refitted. She was built in 1901. Two guys were repairing and painting. They were going to have an expert from the St Micheals Maritime Museum to caulk the bottom. ( Caulking is cotton the is forced between the boards at the bottom to seal it from the sea ) They were getting the boat ready to put it back into service for oystering. In the channel there were a few Buy boats in disrepair and many working crabbers and small fishing boats. After leaving Knapps we saw an other skipjack in full sail. There was no wind in the Choptank river. We kept the motor on low and crept into Oxford. We passed the Oxford ferry as it was making it to the other side of Tred Avon. We docked in Mears Marina. Thier pool was very welcoming as it was getting very humid and hot. Today across the Cheasapeake to the Solomons.

Day one

We shoved off around 10 am from rock hall. Headed south toward kent narrows. Heavy current in the channel. Took on fuel in the narrows. Headed south again with motor. No wind for sail. Very hot. Almost ran aground rounding parsons island. Docked in kapps narrows, tilghman marina. Nice pool! Had dinner and cocktails watching sunset. Oxford,md tomorrow.

This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

Vacation day 1

Day one got off to a late start. Marilyn is still fretting about work stuff. They have to deal with by them selves. We arrived at the boat and Al our next door neighbor was having trouble getting his engine started. We unloaded the car and stuffed things in the boat and I tried to help him out. We needed to bleed the diesel line for the engine and I could not find the hand pump for the fuel. Dave finally found it and we got Al running. We then had lunch on our boat in the air conditioning. We still need to fill the fresh water tanks and it's too hot now. We are going to get a start tomorrow morning.

Chesapeake cruise

Next week we are on vacation and are taking the good vessel Imagination to points on the mid Chesapeake. Looks like or destinations are working out to be the following:

Day1 ) Tilghman Creek
Day2) Oxford
Day3) Hudson Creek
Day4 and 5 ) Solomons
Day6) Dun Cove
Day7) Rhode River

Now this may change due to weather and how we feel. But this is looking doable.

Yikes it's hot!

Broad creek was nice last night. A gentle breeze was blowing about 7 this morning. But the sun was hot. We got a nice sail out on the Magothy river. The diesel started just fine thanks to the solar panels. We drained the battery last night with the fans. Tying up was a sweaty experience. I'm hoping that next week the sun is not this strong.

After cleaning up the boat and showering the ride back was nice. I was exhausted. I had Marilyn drive so I could sleep. We fueled up at home and Marilyn got 32 mpg. To be fair she drove around all week before we left. ( but I still beat her! Not a competition..... Just saying! )

At anchor in the Magothy

We are at anchor in the magothy. We are trying broad creek instead of staying near gibson island.

It a little smaller but there are less people. It's starting to feel hot it's 91. Hoping for a cool breeze but we have the genset for a/c if we need it.

This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

Napoleon exhibit

The Napoleon exhibit was great . Many artifacts and letters and the waterloo long johns. It's a good time and worth going to. They have after 5 specials for $5. Much better than the normal $17.50 admission. Down at the National Constitution Center.

Afterwords we had dinner at Charles Plaza. Another great healthy meal, and he is always glad to see us.


Tomorrow down to the boat.... if I can get thru the day!

That Corsican!

This afternoon we are going to see the Napoleon exhibit at the National Constitution Center. Risa and Jeff are joining us at the museum. I think Marilyn wants to see Josephine's hair. The exhibits are swords, letters, hats and a pair of Waterloo underwear.

We'll have dinner and may go to Naked Chocolate ... to eat some cake!

More Car stuff.

I got the new GPS for my new car. I have ordered a special tool to loosen the passenger seat to install the mount for it. It is a lot better than the one in the Acura but the Acura's gps was built in and bigger. Marilyn seem to be able to input address into this one. It's not hard to use like the first gps that we got.

I fixed Marilyn's IPod mount in her car. Now that the satellite radio subscription is done, she would like to have some other music in the car.

Marilyn's car is also in for inspection. Bad news, she need four new tires. Yikes!

We are going to take the Civic down to the boat this weekend to see what the gas mileage is using Fuelly. ( look in the right hand column for out mpg standings! )

We have a plan for our vacation. We are going to the Solomons again. We'll post up our full itinerary later. No hurricanes this year I hope!

Back in Rock Hall

We came down to Rock Hall this morning. The new car was working great. Looks like we got 41mpg according to the computer. In the right hand columm of the blog has a Fuelly badge. It will keep our mpg up to date as we fill up. We're staying at the dock this weekend. I'm not feeling myself this weekend. Must be stress as I just did a week of customer support!

I got the SeaClear chart plotter working well now. This will keep track of our position and keep our track on the computer. I maybe able to make maps and show you where we are from time to time.

Picked up the VW last night

I got off the train and my car had a low front tire. Stopped at the mechanics to get it fixed. He could not find a screw or nail and filled it. Stop in tomorrow and he'll drop the tire in the tank to find the leak. I told him that I was going to buy a VW tonight so don't bother putting me on the schedule. A VW??? Why would want to buy one of those? Get rid of the Acura that only need oil and filters ever!! Well this tire's on the house. I'll be seeing you soon!

That's some bad mechanic juju man.....

Anyway We picked up the car last night. Beyond the expectations of my mechanic the wheels held on till we got home. The small run from the dealer, to home, and to the train station was 30mpg. No parts left behind yet!

Wha'd a Dope!!!

I'm a real dope sometimes!

I ran out of work at 4pm.

Got onto the express train.

Got to my car.

Realized that I left my keys on my desk, downtown!!!!

Insert well earned Dope Slap!

More TDI Jetta stuff

Here is NY Times TDI Jetta article. Yet another TDI touting, Prius bashing piece.

Dat's Cool!

We the sales guy called up yesterday and he told us that he found a silver 2009 TDI Jetta wagon with automatic transmission. Now I figured that there would be no more 2009's this guy pulled one out like a rabbit out of a hat. We were going to wait for the 2010 but we took the 2009 as it had the $1300 on it. So Thursday or Friday we'll pick it up.




Ok here is a video of the Motorweek review of the Jetta Sportwagon.

I'll fix your wagon.....

Tomorrow we are going to look at a new car. A VW Diesel sportwagon. We've been hauling junk in my car and taking trips down to the boat. So this is a bigger car and the diesel gets 40+ mpg.
More space, less fuel, $1300 tax credit. What could be bad?

Looking at the sunset in Swan Creek.

After several missteps on Saturday we finally got out and anchored. We just dropped the anchor and took a deep breath and relaxed.

More pictures are in this album.

Updated travel plans

Looks like we have to wash out one night. Tonight we may anchor out in Swan Creek or just stay in the slip. Venturing out in the bay in this weather is dangerous. We will just go to broad creek tomorrow and throw out Galesville. We'll back to Big Mary's bar again someother time.

Weather Hold

We are in a weather hold we are expecting strong thunder storms shortly. Radar has a big blob of red heading our way.

Fun Friday Friede Cruise

Down at Rock Hall this morning waiting on the Friede's to come on down. Carl is a long time friend from back in NJ. We are going to Broad Creek in the Magothy and Galesville the next day. It's going to be stormy tonight so I hope he comes soon. The battery is toast. It will make it this weekend and some more but I need to replace the house battery bank. Marilyn is swabbing the decks to get the boat into shape for those guys.

At the Riversharks game

It's guys night out and we are at the Camden Riversharks. They are playing the Bristol Bluefish. Also, it's Michael Jackon appreciation night :-O


This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

Dead Laptop this morning

I guess dropping my laptop this weekend finally put it out of it's misery. It booted to the blue screen of death. It's now at IT trying to get resuscitated. My stuff is now on my desktop computer.

Batteries still a problem

The batteries still seem like they do not have the capacity to run the fridge, lights and pumps over the weekend. I'm going to to have to check how much I'm drawing from the batteries when we are at anchor. New batteries look like they are in the near future.

Slipping away....

The high winds have calmed down from last night. We had dinner with Glenn and Carol. They told us about there week long cruise on the bay. We were picking up tips on where to stay on the bay. I'm still not sure where we are going next weekend maybe the Magothy and Galesville.

Loading up the boat again.

We are down on Imagination this weekend. Carl and Nancy are coming down next weekend and we are doing maintenance, cleaning up, and filling tanks. It's windy and storms are expected this evening, small craft advisories are up now. I'm checking the batteries which gave us some trouble last weekend. I charged them up and checked them with a hydrometer. I'm not sure if one may need to be replaced.

Credit for Cash

Marilyn and I went to the Keswick in Glenside to see Rosanne Cash we had front row seats WOW! What a great show. She played a lot of old favorites from Black Cadillac and Interiors. Then she turned her sets to her new album, The List. Even though she was not doing the duets with Springsteen and Jeff Tweedy like she does on the album, the sound was just great. It's super to see such a seasoned performer in such an intimate setting as the 1300 seat Keswick. The new album will be out in the fall.

ARGUH!!!!

Called the electric co and ask this nice lady WHY did the PECO representative not make it to my house at the appointed day and between the magic hours of 8 and 5? Oh, it said here he did not need to...... Sooooo..... after driving me crazy telling me I need to take a day off for this guy to come down, someone dropped the ball and did not tell me the guy did not need to check the system. Another milestone in customer service.

Working from home today

Doing work from home. A guy from the electric co. is supposed to come by to check the heat pump so that we get the lower electric rate in the winter. It's 4:30 and he's not shown up.

I got a call from my boss and I have to make a trip to San Francisco soon .... for an orientation class.... WHAT!? So I've been at the company for 10years and spent most of last year in San Leandro. Oh well..... I like San Francisco ... now I just gotta find those unused BART tickets.

Getting over the back to work BLAH's

Getting over a Monday from a looooong weekend. Work can't compare to a weekend on the Bay even if you love your job. On the job front, JZ is working on having me exempt from front line support. YEAH! I can't tell you how fustrating front line support is. What is a nice way to tell a customer to RTFM. Also, the big guy was talking about the state of the company and we are doing good and he was talking bonus. YEAH BABY! I hope bonus is a bonus bonus not a bogus bonus.

Marilyn's car is in the shop for a recall. I was hoping the wheels didn't fall off before we got there! My car needed a software update... No, it didn't run faster...." Please pull off to the side of the road and close all windows.....( dashboard has blue screen of death ) " Just the GPS .... "WhereTheHeckAreWe" ... and the radio... and the phone....."..Can you hear me now!!!!!" Soooo.. we'll see how the update works out.

Back Home Again.....

Back home and very tired. Dropped on the bed and fell asleep as soon as I got home. I guess that is the sign of a very fun vacation weekend. We drained the batteries and the engine would not start but the spare battery was topped off and ready to go. The sail home from Thilman Creek was nice but no wind. One of the things we saw was rays in the water in the bay off St Micheal's. We got through Kent Narrows draw bridge quickly as it opened as soon as we arrived.

I'll get some pictures ready this week and post them on the blog.

Near st michaels

We are in a creek near st michaels. We crossed the bay with 20 knot winds. Lots of fun moving smartly. The creek has good swimming, lots of bird watching, and a nice breeze. Fireworks going off in the distance. Heading to rock hall via kent narrows in the morning.

This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

In galeville

Hi
We made it to pirates cove. No internet access. Having much fun. Sailing great, strong winds but not too bad. All crew tired and ready for sleep.

This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

At the boat

We got off work and ran down to the shore to the boat but first we has to get provisions. We stopped at the Acme and fill the locker to the brim. Sandwiches, drinks, dinners, snacks all done. Have to get gas for the generator and batteries for the backup GPS yet. I hear a little fresh water leak.... just another thing!

--Rico

Late Addition

Got a new piece of equipment that should make navigation easier. It will tie the GPS to the autopilot and other instruments on the boat. It SHOULD take 5 minutes to install... We'll see tomorrow morning.

 

--Rico

One more day for prep.....

One more day to prepare for the big trip.

Marilyn is so excited and is asking and reasking about details of the trip. Here's how it will break down.

• Weds Evening - Marilyn and I will arrive and open the boat
• Thurs Morning - I'll prep the boat ( check the oil etc ) and have some coffee and relax
• Thurs Late Morning - Marj and Roy will arrive and we'll load up and leave
• Thurs Night - Anchor at Gibson Island - across from the horse farm
• Friday - Lift anchor. Do the three light house cruise.
• Friday night - In a slip at Pirates Cove Galesville, Md
• Sat - Across the Bay to TIlghman Creek.
• Sunday - Sail Crab alley and thru the Kent Narrows.
• Sunday afternoon - Dock at home slip. unload the boat and head home.

I'll have some internet connectivity so look here and check the map for weekend updates......


--Rico

Getting ready for the Big 4th Cruise

We are down at the boat this weekend. The fridge is now fixed and is a load off my mind. We spent the day getting Imagination ready for the big Fourth of July adventure with Marj and Roy. We filled water and fuel and offloaded the holding tank. We then bought a bunch of drinks and snacks and put that all away for the trip. It will be nice and cold in the fridge for the weekend.

 

Tomorrrow a nice walk around Rock Hall in the morning. 

 

 

--Rico

Happy Anniversary

Seven years ago Marilyn and I got married.... sort of....let's not get into those details!

Here's to Marilyn a great woman who puts up with all my shenanigan's with out so much as a complaint!

It's been the best years and I think a few more years are in order!

Outlook .... foggy

Not foggy weather wise. Yesterday and today I've had an allergy attack or a cold or something. I'm thinking it's a cold with body aches and all. My brain feels foggy like it need fresh air. So it's good that we did not venture to Rock Hall this weekend.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well it's that time again. We were going to go to Rock Hall and sail for the weekend ( and extra day ) but the weather is not cooperating with us. Rain and storms and small craft advisories are the story of the weekend. So we are going to be home this weekend maybe taking in some movies or something.

Happy Bloomsday

Happy Bloomsday everyone! This is a reminder to take the long way to the post office and at lunch today have gorgonzola cheese sandwich and a glass of red wine. Enjoy readings of Ulysses today and go down to the Rosenbach Musem and Libary in Philadelphia where they have the manuscript of the James Joyce classic.

Gibson Island

We got a late start on Saturday Morning, by the time we were ready to go it was 11 am and the sky were already gathering. We provisioned the boat and left the slip. Much to my chagrin the fridge was still broken. We sailed out to the middle of the bay and the winds let us down. We motored for a while. We watched the Liberty Ship SS Brown did a living history cruise. They had WWII fighters doing fly overs and a Martin B-26 Marauder doing really low passes at the ship.

We dropped anchor just as the some rains came down. It did not last. I jumped into the water and checked bottom of the boat. It was coated with barnacles and slime. At dinner we revved up the new generator and popped some dinner in the microwave. Which was really slick trick at anchor.

Sunday morning had Marilyn at the helm. She motored us out of the creek, and when we were passed the shipping lanes we lofted the sails and she was at the controls while the wind kept up.

Unfortunately the winds died down and turned and we were back on the motor.

Back at the slip I had to make arrangements to get the bottom washed and the fridge fixed.

Hysteria

Marilyn and I had dinner at the Sansom Kababob house last night. Afgan food and chai tea for a closer. Their hummus is the best, nice texture and nicely presented.

We went to the Wilma to see Hysteria. A play about Sigmund Freud and Salvador Dali. It was preachy in parts and a scream in other places. The guy who play Dali was great when he starts referring to himself in the third person.

All in a all a great date night.

Smooth flight part deux....

With heavy weather at both airports Marilyn made it home safely. Her luggage actually made it home too.... this time!!!

Smooth flight.....

Since Marilyn was in Fulton I spent the weekend flying the model planes and helis up at the Bucks County RC field in Plumbstead. I did well beyond my expectations. I Did not crash .... much. More importantly when I did crash I did no damage.

50 Years!

Marilyn made it out to Fulton this weekend to see Mom and Dad.

Mom and Dad have been married for 50 years! Congratulations! Wow, it leaves me speachless!

Boat A/C fixed!

Mystery solved why the A/C would not turn on..... I forgot to hit the "ON" button on the thermosthat.   What a DOPE!

 

It's running no problems now.   Oh, and the fridge is now fixed too. At least that was really broke.

 

Now we have a solar fridge. The more sunny it is the better it works!

--Rico

A/C guy

Got ahold of the A/C guy and told him about our broken boat A/C system. He said " Broken A/C too, gee you're hard on your toys!!!!" Yeah.... I try not to sink the boat while I'm waiting for you..... smart a$$.......

Holy Smokes!!

Just got the water bill. It's twice the usual rate! I started looking for the culprits. Found two leaky toilets. Gave them both a tune up last night. And I have some new hose sections for our leaky garden hose.

Maybe I need to start using the bathroom at work and taking showers at the "Y"!!!

Back Home...

Back at work.... It's lunch time and I still can't wake up! The trip to the boat this weekend was great. Except now both the fridge and the air conditioner is not working. The air conditioner expert will not call back....He maybe on vacation. Hopefuly it can all be fixed by next month when we'll really need it!

On the boat

After a slow start we took the boat out for a day sail. Anchored in swan creek. Had dinner saw a beautiful sunset and we are just relaxing for the night.

This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

Hey Allergies are here again....

I was working from home today. It was real nice had windows open and a fan going to get a very cool soft breeze while I was banging on the keyboard. Then I started... the wheeze......Wheeeeeeeze.......Wheeeeeze.... Oh well things have been going so good.   Claritin and rest....

 

--Rico

Let's Pretend

Last night went out with Marilyn and Meg to see the play Let's Pretend We're Married. We went out to the Nodding Head for dinner and then to the Prince theater Black Box to see Let's Pretend. It's put on by the 1812 productions. A comical look at marriage on the stage and beyond. Jennifer Childs and Tony Braithwaite are just a howl especially when they are belting out 70's love lounge standards. The spoof on the Newlywed Game was great. I'm so glad we were not picked! It's a good show.... go see it.

Working from home today.

Needed to get some work done today without interruption. So I'm working from home. Making good progress and I'll be done early. Maybe I'll go get a haircut.

Well the boat is now ready!

The boat is now ready for the 2009 season. All mantainence and setup issues are now done. Except for the fridge. The fridge quit and I have someone going to take a look at it. That won't stop us from going across the bay next weekend. If the weather holds up we'll get off the dock and head to the Magothy River.

Happy Birthday Mary Beth!

At the blog we are shouting out a big happy birthday to Marilyn's Mom!

Hope the grandkids are there to help you blow out the candles!

Happy Memorial Day

Were down at the boat. Finally got the solar charging system installed. Changed the fuel filters. Oil change will have to wait untill tomorrow. Next weekend we'll be ready to head out on a cruise. Saw Howie and Bill and Pat Rock in Rock Hall this morning. But they took off before we could invite them to the boat after they finished their ride. Oh well.

Almost the Holiday

It's Friday before the holiday.

There is a 25% chance you coworker has blown off the day.

There is a 25% chance that you will blow off the rest of the day before 2pm.

There is a 75% chance that your boss or a customer will come looking for you and not your coworker after 2pm

This is the Great Recession the biggest downturn since 1929 and screwing up will blow your whole career clean off!

You got to ask yourself .... Do I feel Lucky!

Well.... Do you feel lucky Punk!

Made it to work OK today

Glasses on, shirt right side out, no shaving cream in the ear, pants on, shoes on the right feet.

Morning are hell.... especially before coffee!

Get the white cane!

Forgot my glasses today on the car seat. I was wearing my sunglasses and thought I had my glasses in the case. But they are spending the day on the car seat. Luckily my sunglasses are two piece Rx inserts and sunglass overlays. It works but it's dorky.

Snuck out early today

And went up to the flying field. Joe Baker was mowing it much to my chagrin. The wind was blowing and I put the little Piper SuperCub model in the air. It flew nicely and handled the wind pretty good. The wind was too much for it. I got at lest one good landing on the field. One I plunked down in a hay field. The TREX Helicopter flew well. I just did one flight of it. Then the sneezing took over. I'm still sneezing tonight. To the showers to wash off the pollen!

Flying this afternoon

Going up the the Buck County Radio Control field in Plumstead this afternoon to do some flying. I think that the wind is low enough to fly the small plane I have and one of the helicopters. I'm wondering if I should bring up a bushel basket for all the pieces!!

Boat in the water

Yes, the boat is in the water. The rain has not helped fitting out Imagination for the summer. It's either been raining or threating to rain for the last three weeks. The sail are up, not the canvas and the solar panel project is not completed. A final push this Memorial day weekend will get it done! Hopefully we'll be updating the blog from the boat this weekend.

Time to shake off the dust.

Hey I woke up and it's 2009!!! Well No. I was just feeling like shaking the dust off the blog. I made some changes. I added a place where you can post that you are following the blog ( How very Twitterish of me ) a quick comment where you can mark the post as interesting or funny or completly irrelavant and a newer Where's Rico section. So I hope you enjoy keeping up with what is going on.