Back to Work!!!!

Well after all the flying, hotel stays, classes, visiting, and site seeing it's back to work! Things here are really just the same as I left it. ARUGH!!!! ( Why was I thinking anything would be different? )

Yesterday I got a chance to go down to the boat. I filled the tank with 10 gallons of fuel, added the cleats and brought down the air conditioner for Scott. Afterword I took about a 2 hour nap which went a long way to fix that case of jet lag that I had. I really felt refreshed even though it was about 95 degrees and 100% humidity!

Epilog

Home again. There's no place like home........ Hey, but it's hot and humid here in Philly.

I'll cool off tonight. I have the A/C humming and I'll go down to the boat tomorrow.

On the way home

Went early to the airport this morning. I took the bart which is the best way to get around in San Francisco. When I checked in there was a first class upgrade available. I took it! Elbow and leg room on a cross country flight sign me up! Hopefully the flight will be on time and home quickly. Called Marilyn last night she seemed to having fun with the girls in KCMO.

GARLIC!!!

Went to the Stinking Rose. A garlic restaurant. I was walking up Columbus and I was smacked hard with the odor of garlic. I went in and sat down and ordered a fat tire and a bagna calda, a skillet of roasted garlic, anchovies and olive oil. I sopped up the garlic and oil mixture with a nice piece of bread. I then ordered the mussels. These are not the mussels marinara of back home. The mussels are not opened with a gentle bath of warm tomato sauce. No they are forcible breached after being dropped on a hot skillet that has white wine, soy sauce and of course....garlic. What a flavor! I topped it off with a gliroy garlic ice cream.... not so good. After so much garlic I hope I'm allowed on the plane.

At the Stinking Rose

Found the stinking rose resturant. Their speciality is garlic. Picking up a few tips for garnet hill!

Last day in class

Today is the last day of the Microsoft Advanced Debuging class. I'll be heading home tomorrow.
Somehow I've been killing my BART tickets. It's costing me a fortune to buy a ticket de magnitize somehow and have to buy another one. I hope I don't do that to the airline ticket! I should be home Saturday, I may go to the boat on Sunday to bring some stuff down.

More San Francisco

Class here has been going well. There are more coffee shops than I have ever seen. Starbucks, Peets....more espresso than you can shake a mug at. Getting around on the BART has been very successful. I highly recommend to stay downtown and get around using mass transit. The guys that have rented a car have even been using trains because of the traffic here. Went to Chinatown to have dinner with co workers last night. On the menu in the restaurant had jellyfish on the menu. Yuck! Our dinner was not too weird we has soup and chicken dishes and was topped off with Peking duck.

Stranger in a Strange......

Well I was walking around the Embarcadero Center, it was mostly closed up. I found a barber and figured that I could get a hair cut. It's nice having a fresh hair cut and walking around without much structure. I went to the ferry building by the Oakland bay bridge and was watching the sailboats gliding along in the bay. I was thinking of Marilyn. She called this morning from Lincoln Center, she and Meg are seeing a show in NYC. I was missing going down to the boat this weekend.

I scraped the idea of sourdough and chowder when I found a bread place next to a cheese place. I got some triple cream brie, a few slices of salami and bread.

While walking thru the ferry marketplace I saw a meat place that puzzled me. the sign said "Humanely Treated" yet the meat was in cuts in front of me. I was hoping they did plan on treating me humanely! And in a place that some people would not come near it, they were selling lard, organic lard....Hmmmm is that really any better for you???

BYOB in the finacial district

I utterly failed to find something open here. I am on the edge of the finacial district and chinatown. I walked around and found a wachovia. This helped replenish the cash supply. Chinatown had throngs of people waiting for the ubiquitous chinatown bus. I did not want dim sum. I did find a laundry in chinatown which may be good for getting stuff washed maybe the hotel laundry will just as good. BYOB is bring your own breakfast. Me and my fellow tourists are being gouged 15 dollars for eggs and bad coffee at the hotel. Hope to find clam chowder and sourdough bread at fishermans warf this afternoon.

Good morning San Francisco!

Sunday morning having coffee at the local Starbuck with the homeless guys. They really know how to make a guy feel at home. I mean they got the smell of Suburban Station exactly! A little fresh air and my appetite will return. I'm on the hunt for some breakfast.

In San Francisco

I'm now in my hotel near the Transamerica Building. It's about 65 degrees here. I left my jacket on the chair at home. I deal with that.... I found that one of the diners from the show Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. here. I'll go to the GrubSteak tonight. I can't set any pictures on the blog from behind the firewall at the hotel here. So pics will have to wait.

Going to San Fransisco

Here I am at Philly International. I'm going to San Leandro for a Microsoft Advanced Debugging Class. Look I'm almost smiling! Well not really. We are missing two boat weekends because of this!

A Night at the Movies

MArilyn ad I went to the Ambler Theater to see a Marx Brothers film " A Night at the Opera" Still funny 70 odd years later. They showed a Daffy Duck / Porky Pig cartoon too!

Nemo, Neptune??

Nemo.... Neptune..... Well when we did the toast it was Nemo.... the fish!

Who we whished to address was Neptune... Roman god of water and the sea!!!

Well I hope Nemo will put in word for me!!

Asleep on The Train

The weekend took it out of me this morning. I was dead asleep on the train. I missed my stop! I went on to 30th Street Station. Good thing that it was the last stop for the train as I really getting into REM sleep! If the train kept going I was going to wake up in Paoli!

Boat Name change

We had to call on good king Neptune to help us with the boat's name change.

Neptune, Neptune help us change a name
Because the masters of the vessel are not quite the same
Neptune, Neptune we give you your share
Fair winds you will give Foul you will spare
Neptune, Neptune keep us safe in your hand
As we play on your water and return to the land.
Barbara Ann as this vessel was known before
Will be Imagination evermore.

Fourth of July Weekend Wrapup

Marilyn and I took off early on Thursday to get down to Rock Hall. Still it took over 3 hours to get down there between traffic and stops. We got down in time to load up and set up the boat before Marj and Roy arrived. We took up positions on the deck to watch the Rock Hall fireworks. They were spectacular as usual. On Friday morning we walked down main street to see the parade. It was a small town spectacular with antique cars, scouts and ending with "sandy claws" a crab that is marching band mascot. After the Roy and I went to the boat to fix the boat toilet, Marj and Marilyn went shopping. We positioned the new Jabsco in about and hour in addition we also fitted a gas grill on the stern rail. When the ladies returned we had lunch then we shoved off for Swan Creek about 5 minutes away. We had some problems with the anchor mount, the anchor would get stuck coming out of the bow roller. Roy and I replaced the bolts in the rollers with pan head screws. We anchored in the creek and went swimming and we lounged around. Later we fired up the gas grill and had grilled chicken and salad for dinner. It rained and stormed at night we stayed out as long as the bimini cover would keep us dry and we bedded down for the night. In the morning it was still stormy and we heading back to the slip. The anchor was still giving us problems. Back at the slip we got some clevis pins for the bow roller and that seemed to fix the sticky anchor. Later we had Scott and Carol over and the six of us had a champagne toast to the new boat. We stayed in and played Shipwrecked then we went out to Waterman's for crabs. back at the boat we attempted to sit outside for a while be were driven inside by the mosquitoes. Stormed again at night, no leaks thankfully. We spent a sticky day poolside. We then cleaned up the boat and went home.

Fourth of July

Getting ready for the big 4th of July weekend. Marj and Roy are coming down to the boat. Roy will help me with the head swap on Friday. Plans are to watch fireworks on Thursday night, make repairs take on provisions on Friday. Sleep in Swan Creek on Friday night go to Gibson Island on Saturday and back on Sunday. A bit ambitious but we'll aim big and go from there.

Extra Toilet

Someone asked what I was going to do with the extra marine head. Well maybe I'll open a restarauant like they have in china. The theme "Toilet". Ahhh so you think I'm sh!##ing you. look here.

I was told once that restaurateur did not want to extend credit because as he said "After 24 hours it's all the same stuff" The Chinese are trying to speed up the process.

New Marine Head on the way!

After this trip I appreciate a low maintenance marine toilet. Got home last night and the first thing I did was order a new Jabsco Head from West Marine. The smelly overflowing unit has to GO! this weekend. I passed on the compact marine size and got the normal size. The tag line for this is a bigger seat so that you can have more bottom on top!

Imagination Log

The alarm went off at 5am. We stirred and started coffee and ate DOD's ( Day old Doughnuts! ). I took the trash on land and found a man in the dumpster. He was routing the trash for aluminium cans. Not the regular Philadelphia can router but a older guy looking in the trash for cans. He was complaining that the tourists were throwing away cans. We shoved off at 6:30. The canal current was against us about 2.5 knots. We pass thru to the Elk River. Car carriers and tugs pushing barges were passing us and on the river. Passing Aberdeen cannon fire could be heared. The proving grounds was doing some live fire testing. They had picket boats to keep people out of the area. It sounded like a war zone. We were now in the Upper Chesapeake. Several boats were sailing on the bay. We stayed on the engine for speed. Al made sandwiches again. He was saying that we never saw him doing this as Ann would have him slaving in the galley all the time. We came into Rock Hall about 12:30. The total the the engine was on was 14 hours. We moved the Ericson from our slip to a tempoary slip and moved Imagination into it's new home.

I would like to Thank Al, Steve and Harry for a great trip.

The trip is not measured in distance or time, but the companionship and laughs found along the way!

Thanks guys for a great and memorable trip.

Imagination log

Breaker on dock out no ac for ac!

Imagination log

Docked at chesapeake city. Had dinner at chesapeake inn. The dogfish beer was great. The docking was FREE. Electric was ten bucks. We are going to shoveoff at dawn.

Imagination log

In the c&d canal. Lots of current speed down to 4.9 knots. Chesapeake City by 6pm

Imagination log

Passing commodore barry bridge. Doing 9 knots. Al making great sandwiches. All well.

Imagination log

Passed airport problem with the head

Imagination log

Passing under walt whitman bridge

Imagination log

Passing uss united states largest abandon vechicle in philadelphia!

Imagination Log

Passing under betsy ross bridge. Had conrail bridge lift the span to get under.

Road Trip

This is the road trip section of the adventure. We drove two cars down to Rock Hall. Mine is now down there waiting for us to pick it up. We then drove up to the boat in Delran. We dropped off drinking water and gatoraide. We also filled the fuel tank. So we are ready to go in the morning.

Hot day on the river.....

Sorry for the blurry picture I was sweating over my camera phone. It's ours now. I went over it with a fine tooth comb found two things. Bad fuel tank gauge and a bad auto pilot. The gauge is now fixed and the pilot will be tomorrow. Looked over and got familiar with all the systems in the boat and how to do maintenance on them. Then we took the boat for a sail down the Delaware River to check out he sailing systems. Not much wind but the boat moved along pretty good for such light winds. But it is waaaaay to hot today. Left the A/C and the fridge on. Will be cold when Marilyn gets her first look at the boat in the water.

I'm So Excited

I'm just so excited. It will be the "Getting a new boat weekend"! Yahoooooo! Tomorrow writing the last check ( Ouch! ) and boat orientation. Marilyn won't make it tomorrow because of work. I'll also be adding the GPS if I have time.

Getting Ready for Adventure!

Al had called me up last night. We were trying to find the time that we are going to move out on Sunday. Looks like around 8:30. I'm going to stock the boat with provisions. ( Water, Gatoraide, coffee, beer, toiletpaper, trash bags.... ) on Saturday. Also on Saturday,I'm going to be hooking up a GPS chartplotter. The adventure is going to begin on Sunday. I'm ready to do some mobile blogging from the boat so I'll keep all up to date in real time.

Project Dishwasher Completed

The plumber ( sans crack ) came in an installed the dishwasher. Done in record time. He even had time to fix a leaky shower valve. WooHoo the dishes are now clean!

Dishwasher to be installed tomorrow

Lowes. actually the Lowes contractor will be installing the new dishwasher tomorrow! Hey buddy I suggest a longer shirt! Yes, that's a crack aimed at plumbers. Better than a plumber's crack aimed at me!

I'm excited because even though we are eating off paper plates the dishes are starting to stack up!

Imagination Ready

Just got word that Imagination will be ready for pick up this Friday. Now my band of pirates and I can plan on moving the boat on Sunday. This will insure that it will be ready for the Fourth of July festivities!

Broken Dishwasher

The dang dishwasher broke. The door will not lock close and just falls to the ground. We have to run out to buy a new one. This KitchenAide just was the worst for cleaning dishes anyway.

Helicopter Crash

Setting up my big helicopter. Found some stuff still wrong with it. Had two servos wired backwards. I fixed that in 5 minutes and took it into the back yard. It heli took to the air for a couple of minutes. I landed it. Took off again but it was heading for the fence and I landed it. Only the landing was a bit too hard and it smacked the tail boom and bent up a bunch of things. I ordered a bunch of parts and its back to the workshop.

Joining the crew

I've joined the crew that is taking our new boat down the Delaware next week. Next Sunday Al ( from our marina ) his brother, a friend of thiers and I will take the Catalina down the Delaware to Rock Hall. There are too many unknowns for me running it down the river. So I'm just going aboard as crew and leaving Al's brother in charge as skipper. I hope they don't make me walk the plank!

The Treasure

We went out last night to see The Treasure of Seirra Madre at the Ambler Theater. I'm just going to blantly rip off an other blog about the discription and comentary about the film.

Go to, rent or stay up a late night and see this film. It's a Hollywood classic. I'm glad we saw it on the big screen just the was it was supposed to be seen.




In 1926, in the coastal Mexican city of Tampico, Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart, in what is regarded by many as the finest performance of his career) is dirty, unshaven, currently jobless and dependent on asking strangers to “stake a fellow American for a meal.” He ends up taking a construction job, but is later stiffed by his employer for wages.
Dobbs befriends a good hearted American named Bob Curtin (Tim Holt), also struggling south of the border. They spot the man who ripped them off and by working together, are able to beat him up and recover their money. They check into a cockroach infested flophouse called the Oso Negro for the night.
There, their ears are prickled by the tales of an old prospector named Howard (Walter Huston) who tries to warn the men that even if you were to make a real strike, not even the threat of a miserable death would be enough to drag you away from the lure of gold. Dobbs disagrees, saying he’d only take what he set out to get. Howard replies: “I never knew a prospector who died rich. Make a fortune, sure to blow it tryin to find another.”

Dobbs convinces Curtin that they should try their luck at prospecting, but knowing nothing about mining, ask Howard to come in with them. The three men brave bandidos, northers, the jungle and the rigors of mining before they strike gold. Then, just as Howard predicted, “As long as there’s no find, the noble brotherhood will last. But when the piles of gold start to grow, that’s when the trouble starts.”
Directed by John Huston, from a screenplay he faithfully adapted from the novel by B. Traven, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was recently ranked #30 by the AFI for their 100 greatest American movies of all time list. Words like “classic” and “masterpiece” get thrown around a lot, but this is a timeless example of both. Like all great films, it has something profound to say about the human condition; in this case, the danger of greed, vanity and corruption.
Huston had spent a lot of time in Mexico, and the atmosphere he creates here has a very weathered, but richly authentic feel to it. The film was notable for being one of the first to make use of extensive (and costly) location shooting. The night scenes where shot on a sound stage in Burbank, but the daytime exteriors were filmed near San Jose de Perua, and Durango.
The film’s dialogue and action have a ring of truth to them as well. Walter Huston, the director’s father, won an Academy Award as the tougher than leather old sage who’s seen enough and done enough to know that good intentions evaporate once a man’s greed takes over. The cantina fist fight between Bogart & Holt and their deadbeat employer (Barton MacLane) is rough, nasty and staged like the real deal.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre fared poorly at the box office, and Bogart was completely ignored by the Academy for his portrayal of Fred C. Dobbs, but his is one of the great characters in film. Bogart plays destitution, idealism, honesty, opportunity, paranoia and villainy all in one role. It’s one of the best portrayals of a man slowly losing his handle on morality that I’ve seen.
Robert Blake appears as the boy who sells Dobbs his lottery ticket, Ann Sheridan had an unbilled cameo as a lady of leisure, while John Huston, lanky and dark haired, appears as the Man In White Suit whom Dobbs continually pesters for money.
The oft mimicked line “Badges? We don’t need no stinkin badges!” was actually misquoted by Mel Brooks for Blazing Saddles. When Dobbs is confronted by bandidos claiming to be federales and asks them where their badges are, their leader (Alfonso Bedoya) says: “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!”

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well it time for another birthday.I was wishing for the best present.... I won the lottery and did not have to go to work today. Maybe next year.

Mobile blogging

Got a new PDA and I'm testing the mobile blogging feature. I'll be able to blog on the run!

Last Look

With all the happy talk of a new boat there is always one loser in this situation. We took the last look at our ericson today. Cleaned out the last of our toys and got her ready for her trip next week up the Delaware to be traded in. We had a lot of great weekends and she taught a lot about sailing. She will be missed greatly. Fair winds little boat, we hope you make new friends and have great adventures.

Book Club

Marilyn had the bookclub over last night. I got off work at 3 to get groceries and make dinner. I made hummus, grilled veggies, lamb kabobs and saffron rice pilaf. It worked out as I got it done just as Meg rang the door bell. The ladies had a great disscussion and enjoyed dinner.

New boat news

Went to the boat dropped off a large check and did some paperwork and now the boat is officially ours. They still have to put in the air conditioner, GPS and other things. We have to clear out the ericson this weekend as they will be picking it up next week. Then on the 20th ( maybe ) the new one will be ready and sometime after that we will have it in our slip in Rock Hall.

The boat's name is ...... Imagination.

Weekend Roundup

We went down to the boat this weekend to try out the new engine. The boat has to make the trip up to Riverside. Anyway the engine worked great! We took it out for a 2 hour shake down cruise. Kudos to the crew at Swan Creek Marina for all their great work. We jumped into the pool to cool off afterwords. This is our first heat wave of the season. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon with Glenn and Carol on their boat, it's air conditioned! Glenn was showing me all the Catalina tips. After dinner a thunder storm brewed up with the worst lightning that I had ever seen. We closed the hatches and ran off the boat to the marina porch then later to the car! This was really bad. I was not going to sit under a large aluminum mast. Well no boats got hit but I did not put in the compainionway boards. It never rains in the boat with bimini cover up. Well it did. What a mess wet cushions everywhere. We cleaned up as best we could. I did not sleep a wink crunched in another bunk. Sunday morning the sun came out. We put the cushions out every thing dried up in a few hours. I had time to do just a little more varnishing. The pool was a great oasis.

The thing that I'm convinced that we need more than anything for the new boat is a nettle net. so that we can cool off on days like today and not meet any jellyfish.

New boat delivery

We were going to sail our old boat to the where the new boat is then sail the new boat back to Rock Hall. That was until I found out how far it really is. From the C&D canal there is about 75 miles of the most scenic urban industrial river that one can imagine. It would have such sites as chemical facilities, oil refineries, container ports, prisons, airports and ship building facilities. All this and having to dodge container ships and tankers too! No thanks, please deliver it. The UPS guy is really going to hate me......

KooZa

Marilyn and I wend out to Cirque du Soleil KooZa laast night. We stopped at Nodding Head and had dinner a a beer. I had mussels and Grog. Then we waled down Broad Street to where Cirque had the tents set up. The shows are always amazing. The clowns are funny and the unicyclist showed there is nothing that can't be done on one wheel. The trapeeze artist had a fall but was saved by the safety equipment. The wheel of death terrifying and you could not stop watching.

Installed the Window A/C

I installed the window air conditioner in the living room. It's not real hot but it will be soon. Had to make all new brackets and mounts because of the new windows. The A/C is in and working well. The book club will be glad next week.

They say.....

... a sailor's happiest day when he buys a boat and when he sells a boat. We have found that not to be true. We have had great days on our Ericson. We were sad to se her go. But we are happy to welcome our new Catalina 36 and are looking forward to new adventures.

Yes we bought a new boat. Well not new but new to us. Yes that's it in the picture. No I'm not kidding. It's being fitted out ( almost like a new boat ), with a/c and some other stuff. We'll have it sometime next month. We have to drop off the Ericson in New Jersey ( stay tuned that sounds like an adventure ).

The Happiness Lecture

Marilyn and I went out to see The Happiness Lecture at the Philadelphia Theater Co. It was comedy about .... well I'm not sure. It had clowns, puppets, Asian theater and the occasional massacare. By far the best production I've seen at this new theater.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday to Marilyn's Mom! Her birthday was this weekend and it was great that the whole country stopped and celebrated!

Memorial Day

Memorial day weekend Marilyn and I went down to the boat. The shifter cable is not fixed so we stayed at the slip. We put on the sails and cleaned out the inside. It really needed a good cleaning. We also varnished all the teak. We still have a few more coats of varninsh to go yet.

We saw Bill and Pat Rock zip by on their tandem as we out for a walk. They were so shocked to see us they had to stop and make sure. Nice new yellow and black tandem guys!

When we came home we threw a few burgers on the barbie.

In the water

The marina splashed our boat into the water yesterday. The new engine has roared to life and the boat is now in the slip. But the shifter is still not working well and they are getting a new shift cable. We'll be able to go down this weekend but we won't be able to take it out. It needs a good cleaning and we have to set up the sails and varnish anyway.

Roof Leak!

Looked up in the living room and found a little brown stain. Oh Crud..... A roof leak. Gave a call to Bill Rock and he came right out and fixed it! Turns out it was the guys who installed the windows stepped on a vent. Took him about 10 minutes to keep us dry.

It's a Hurricane

Got the latest helicopter kit put together. On Sunday tried to start it up in the driveway to see if it was all working as expected. Everything worked except for the motor. It would not turn the main rotor. I took it to the basement to check it out and I found a bad solder joint. Fixed it and ..... It was raining. I'll try another day.

Bottom Paint

We painted the bottom today. Not our best job but it is done and ready to splash! New engine and rerigged stairs and bildge pump we are ready. The boat yard still has a few items. Exhaust system, shift cable, hour meter, and start the new engine. Memorial day weekend we'll spend getting things in order and cleaned up. Sailing season has begun.

Computer Updating

One of Mike's guys was having trouble updating a old computer over at the shop. Seems that updating Windows can be a real pain in the .....hard disk. He got it all snotted up and it took a few days to get back in order.

Not what we expected

Marilyn, Meg, and I had tickets to a comedy at the 1812 productions. So we all were looking forward to a dinner and mojitos at Cafe Habanna. Well... Cafe Habanna is now closed. So we ended having dinner at La Fontanna. Great dinner, but I was looking forward to the mojitos! The show Beautiful Boy we thought to be a comedy. Well.... It was a developmental play about an actor with an autistic child. Not a comedy. Good play though. Just not what we were expecting.

Movies

We went out to see Iron Man over the weekend. It's another great movie ripped form the comic books. I'm just glad the Comics Code didn't kill all the great charaters in the 50's. Not the most intellectual movie but just plain fun.

Tomatoes!!!!

Nice day today so I roto tilled the garden and Marilyn planted this year's crop of tomatoes. We put down newspaper and straw to prevent weeds from invading the garden. Herbs and lettuce is next to be added to the garden.

Hot Dog!

The new grill arrived. So we had some hot dogs for lunch. ( Any one remember where we parked the weiner mobile ?!? ) The Weber has been great and should last a long time.

Saving Gas

You gotta love Oscar Mayer for trading in their foot long SUV of a weinermobile for this. A cocktail weiner sized Mini. They can still hot dog around town on less gas and more gape. It cuts the mustard environmentally at 31 mpg. Smaller dogs also take less time on the grill!

Oh I wish I had an Oscar Mayer mini weiner!

Heli Modifications.

The heli collection is now down 4. One crashed and is not worth fixing any more. One is just a toy. One ( pictured ) is lightweight and for flying in the living room. One is the TREX that I just fixed from the last crash and I have been flying in the back yard. Lastly, the Hurricane the biggest one so far with a rotor span of 4 feet is still being built. The little black one is also being rehabed. I got some parts from a place in Hong Kong, ( you gotta love globalization and the internet ) that I'm putting on to it. I'll be finished with the modifications in a few days.

Weekend

Not much happening this weekend. I was trying to stay in the house as my allergies are killing me. Marilyn spent much time planting herbs and flowers in the garden and working in her sewing room. I stayed in the basement building a new heli. The bbq grill did not show up this weekend. Have to call to see where it ended up. Next weekend we have to get the boat painted and ready for the water. Also, I have to get the motorcycle running as gas prices are killing us. $50 to fill my little Acura Yikes!!

Podcast from the Phillies Game

Marilyn and I went to the Phillies game on Wedensday night. We went with the PRSA group and got to tour the press box and we got onto the field during batting practice. The had a pre game dinner and great seat behind home plate. The Phils played the San Diego Padres. It was cool for a baseball game night and we only stayed to the 7th inning. It was a great event too bad the Phils lost. Created a podcast at the Phillies game click here.

New Gas Grill

A few weeks ago we tossed out the rusty wreck of a gas grill. I finally ordered a new one. A nice shinny Weber gas grill is being delivered to out backyard by Ambler Fireplace.

Garden Notes

Marilyn spent last weekend planting flowers. She had a winfall too as she won a gift certificate from Home Depot at the flower show. The front and side garden are looking up already!

Heli Crash

Looks like eight flights was the limit. Tried to run a power up maneuver and I touched the ground. It took out a couple of gears, shafts and bearings. I had spares for everthing but the bearings. A trip to the hobby shop is in order tomorrow and I be back on the flight line. Tomorrow may be pretty crummy weatherwise.

Ballet Tonight

Marilyn and Meg are heading out to the ballet tonight. I'm going to stay home. If I went there I would interrupt the dance with big sneezes. Pollen is starting to dust the cars in the last few days and everyone is sniffeling and sneezing.

Fixing SailBoat

Went down to the boat on Saturday. Looked at the new engine that was put in over the winter. It looks great but it still needs some work. I made a list for the marina to work on. I set up the solar panel to charge the battery. Fixed the blidge pump, and filled the engine with oil. Next weekend we have go down and take care of the boat's bottom. Sand it down and slap it, with a coat of bottom paint. Soon we'll have it splashed into the bay!

First Flights

Well I got the TREX model helicopter to fly in the backyard yesterday. I have been flying a bit last week. The weather has been cooperating with calm winds. So I have about 6 flights with no crashes! The flights last about 5 minutes and all I can do is just hover.

Happy Birthday Marilyn

Happy Birthay to Marilyn! I know that it is a week late, but with all that happend last week we said that we would postpone it for a week. Ok Marilyn, blow out the candles!

Saul, sorry I still can't tell you how old, she'll smack me!

Gone Green

We are well on our way to saving the planet. The change we did at the start of the year to compact fluorescents has been saving a bunch. Our third PECO bill for the year confirms that we used 35% less electric this year.

Hair Cut

Well ran out of a crazy busy day at work just in time to get a hair cut. Went to Ralph's in Glenside. I was expecting a full blown kindergarden like it was the last time I went there for a quick cut. This time instead of 12 kids waiting for the horsey chair it was just me. Mmmmm... well I was not waiting for the horsey chair. But just me in the shop. I got sheared and out the door in record time.

Now that's better

Feeling better now, almost 100%.

Just in time too Marilyn made the best oatmeal cookies tonight.

Getting better

I'm feeling a little better. I think I got a case of revenge of the kimchi. Sunday night and Monday I spent in bed. Well mostly in bed. But I'm still getting better and went to work today.

Also, we got the package from home today. Marilyn is eagerly going thru it now.

Suburban Love Songs

Marilyn, Meg and I went out to see the 1812 production of Suburban Love Songs. It a play about free love, sex drugs and rock and roll told thru interpretative dance, physical comedy and 60's lounge music. It's set at a suburban party in the 60's and not a word is spoken and the story is told thru the dance and music. It was really original and and funny! The music ranged from Steppenwolf, the Beatles, Burt Bacharach and bouzouki! So come on down join the swinging 60's, dress as sharp as James Bond, grab a cocktail, get out the twister and put on some Herb Alpert!

April Fools

Ok looks like we have to be on guard for any type of tom foolery.

By the way did you hear about the maple trees exploding in the forest?