Helicopter Fixed

I fixed one of the helicopters that was damaged in my last attempt to fly. I replaced some plastic parts that were prone to break on a hard landing with aluminum and replaced the radio with the one compatable with the Spektrum radio. I also adjusted it so that it should be easier to fly. Note I said easier not easy. I just hope that I get a little more flight time for all the fixing time. I still have to get busy fixing the TREX.

Valentines Day

I came home on Thursday with a dozen long stem red roses from Carl Allen. They never seem to have it together when I pick up down there but the flowers look great. Also, I picked up a Stephanie Plum book for Marilyn. She bought me a new pair of ski boots, which I hope won’t rub me the wrong way and a great card. We went out to dinner a ShushiKazu. The ShushiKazu spicy tuna roll is really special down there and Marilyn now has a new favorite the hang on salmon roll with cooked salmon and crab.

Garlic Adventure!

This weekend we took our annual cross country ski outing at Garnet Hill. All the important things were there, good friends, lots of food and wine, and mounds of snow. The garlic was ritually sacrificed to the snow gods. I think that they were more than happy with the offering. Some of the lesser dieties were ticked with us. The great god of electricity saw fit to deny us power for several hours. Along with the power went heat, water, light, a way to cook food and flush toilets!

Also, minor diety, the god of reserservations looked down her nose at us and found us greatly unworthy. She saw fit to take my reservation for Feb 6 thru Feb 13 ( eeek Friday the 13th !) but my offering of $500 and a contract was meet with great displeasure. I almost told the goddess to kiss my @$$. But thunder would fly from her fingers and Bazil house and the garlic ritual would be no more. So I made the deposit offering, signed the godessess contract which she still found a less than perfect offering!

Wow!!!

I took an old lottery ticket to be cashed in this morning. Walked up to the clerk and I thought that the ticket was a $7 winner. She told that I won $100 twice before it sunk in. Wow!

Now I can see if money will spoil me!

Flight Rating ... Penguin.

...or similar flightless bird. Sunday was a perfect day to fly the new model helicopters. The copters were ready. The weather cooperated. The pilot however wasn't up to to the task. Splash two birds. Hard landing took both out. While they are not totaly wrecked I have to order some parts and repair them. Which gives me more time to work in the computer simulation.

Butterfly

Tuesday night Marilyn and I went out the see the Philadephia Theater Company performance of M Butterfly. First we has dinner at Nodding Head. The food there was good, too good. After having dinner both of us just wanted to go too sleep. I think it is just a lack of sleep not carbo loading. Not a great start for seeing a play. And the last time I went to this theater it was a musical review which I find is not my favorite. But we settled into our seats which were more comfortable than last time. There was no iron railing sticking me in the leg. The sets for the play were interesting, very elborate staging. This is a departure from when the company was in the smaller playhouse. The play was good it is your typical boy meets girl, girl is boy play. It was well acted but it was a little long. 2 hours and 45 minutes. We left during the intermission good thing too if we staryed we would have been home after midnight. We could have turned into pumpkins!

An Almost Meeting.....

So there I was. Doing my regular Friday routine of driving to work. Running out of the house late and not having enough sleep. I knew there was going to be trouble, I could hardly keep my eyes open and I was repeating... " Gotta drive to Jenkintown.... Gotta drive to Jenkintown..." just so that I would not end up in the Ambler train station. I knew my inattention would catch up with me. But racing thru the neighborhood short cuts I found trouble. Or he found me. There he was. Black and white, two foot tall and all attytood! We'll call him Pepe la Pew, I caught him making like Joey Chestnut at the Wing Bowl, just jamming down some good eats right there in the middle of the road. After all this was his road, his garbage, just a lonely neighborhood street where the trashman comes late. Why should he be concerned, he is king of his world. That is, until some half awake nut, late for the train, commits gluttonus interruptus. I came upon him fast, he looked just like the preverbal wide eyed wilderness animal in the headlights. He ran right..... I swerved left.... He fired at me like an Iraqi with an RPG. The shot went wide! He missed! I got off lucky no collateral damage. The last I saw him was in the rearview mirror. He was standing next to a flattened street feast shaking his paw at me. I swore I heard him say... " I'll get you next time! Monsieur!"

Takeoff ... well almost!

Well last night I tested out the new helicopter. I put it down in the living room and spun up the main rotor. Not so much that it would take off but enough that it would be light on the skids. I rocked it back and forth using the controls and it took off. It only left the ground about a inch before I shut it down. Egad! The thing sounds like a jet starting up. I was starting to get a little scared of this thing taking off and bouncing off the walls and ceiling! Well, that was all for the battery I'm not getting the charger till the end of the week so test flight are done. Tonight Marilyn and I are going out to see a play, M Butterfly at the Susan Robberts Theater. A review of the play will be in the blog tomorrow. Also, Tomorrow I have to see Mom so I busy for a few days.

Snow tires

Got the snow tires on both cars this weekend. This will ensure that we will get no more snow this winter. The ski trip to Garnet will be in two weeks so we'll get some use out of them then.

Yesterday I ripped all the cd's that we got for Christmas onto out hard disk. We now can enjoy our new music on iTunes and out IPods.

Today I have to fix the lamp in the living room it has been defying my attempt to rebuilt it and put in a compact florescent bulb. So far it's taken 3 trips to Home Depot to get the right parts for it. I will win this battle!

I've pretty much mastered the little indoor helicopter that I've been fooling around with. Saturday I bought a new ( actually used ) model helicopter. This one is big enough to fly outside. Crashville awaits. I have to check on Adrik today I bought him a model helicopter for his birthday.

Longwood Gardens

Marilyn and I went out to Longwood gardens and took some pictures. There are more in our photo album here . It was nice inside the conservatory very warm and humid. There was a place to hang jackets again so we could look around without carring a heavy jacket it was about 20 degs outside today and at least 85 and humid inside the greenhouses. The pictures in the orchid room came out great so look for them.

It's the Weekend!

I went over to Fast by Ferracci to get Marilyn's cycle. I had them truck the bike over to the storage unit. Too bad it was a nice day and they tuned the cycle up real good. My sore throat and cough is still hanging around so I wasn't going to risk it. Marilyn has been making me hot tea to try to sooth my burning throat.

A ton of stuff went off to the post office this morning. Birthday presents, returns to LL Bean and cards are all on their way. Marilyn then worked on stories for the annual report. Later, she took the ornaments off the tree. Tomorrow we'll roll up the lights and pack away the tree.

I've been flying a model helicopter around the house. Crashing a helicopter is more accurate. I went to the a hobby shop to see if the flight failure is me or the helicopter an it turn out to be a little of both. The guy adjusted it for free and flew it around the shop. I took it home and now I can keep it level at least for a little while.

Motorcyle Stuff.

Before I put away the motorcycles for the winter I went to get Marilyn's cycle state inspection. It needed a few items. It's been in the shop so long I had forgot about it.

I got a call from the cycle repair shop. It's done now an I can pick it up anytime. Well not today as it's snowing! Have to check the weather to see when I can pick this thing up.

Down for the count!

Yesterday I had to call in sick. Sore throat kept me up all night and I was beat. Spent most of the day in bed.

Sunday Matinee

We went to the Ambler to see the movie Atonement. It's a good movie just don't go if you are feeling down! The story is about an injustice committed in youth that end up ruining three lives. The story is well told and the cinematography was just outstanding. The beach scene in Dunkirk is something to see.

Go see it at the Ambler theater it a great old small movie house that makes the film even better.

Nice day for Jannuary.

It was nice out here on Saturday. It was 50 deg and we got in a walk to the library. I still have a cold that is killing me but a walk was good even though I was hacking up the occasional hair ball. What I would give for a good nights sleep!

Book club night

Marilyn had the ladies book club over last night. I made a bruschetta pizza and Marilyn made a salad and brownies. They brought wine and munchies. They discussed the book "The History of Love".

I made myself scarce because I had a cold getting to me.

Glasses again...

Well I had to get my eyes checked again. Look like glasses need to be changed again! I ordered up a new pair and contacts. Now I can stop bumping into walls!

A sure sign of the Apocalypse

In a sure sign of the Apocalype, McDonalds will be installing coffee bars in their stores and the McJobsters will be working as baristas to compete with Starbucks. I'm sure the coffee will be served with all the care that they serve the rest of the McMenu. I can see asking for a coffee "You want to supersize that?" I guess those people making 20oz espressos in the Ozarks were testing marketing that.

In a competing move Starbucks brought back Howard Schultz as CEO. His first move reformulate their cappuccino to include, two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

Back to Work

Ugh! Getting back to work after a holiday is bad. But getting back after a holiday and a great vacation is worse! I can believe that they actually want me to do.... Work! Well it is only for three days. We'll get back for real next week. Now if I could only convince my boss of this.

The Pictures are here!

Follow the links section in the lower right column to the Photo Album. I reworked the photo album again. I like this a lot better. The sections that have new pictures are marked with "NEW". Here is a link to most of the new stuff.

Happy New Year

We just got back from the midwest. The flight was on a new plane just a week old. That is the first time in a while that we have flown on a plane that was not old and beat up. Travel on new year's eve was just fine. Every thing was light and on time. The mummers strut is going to be delayed today due to bad weather. Showers and windy this morning.

Tan Tar a

After Christmas we headed out to Tan Tar A. It is a resort on the Lake of the Ozarks. The whole family went down there. It was a great time we spent time together. The kids spent time in the pool and the indoor water park. Stacy, Lee, Marilyn and I spent time going to the outlets. The walk Marilyn and I went on was good until it started sleeting!

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.