Jay Gaulard Blog

Time to “Spring Forward”

Sunday, March 9th, 2008

Every Winter, I wait and wait for the days to get longer. This Winter, it seems to be happening faster than ever before. I’m not sure why…probably because I am getting older and everything seems to happen faster as I get older.

I just checked my handy dandy sunrise and sunset times website and see that tonight, the sun will set at 6:56PM. That’s a major boost for the Winter blues. I’m sure there will be more people walking around the track down at the school very soon.

Mayflower Inn, Washington, CT

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008

Laura and I decided to get in the car and visit Washington, CT yesterday. What was the destination? Well, no less than the Mayflower Inn & Spa in Washington, CT.

As I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, my mother purchased a gift certificate for us a few years ago for the Mayflower Inn. If memory serves me correctly, we used it for a Valentine’s Day dinner, but I may be wrong. It was either that or New Year’s Eve. Anyway, we drove there at night and (even at night) really liked the area. We decided that it needed to be visited during the day.

Now, please let me explain…I am sure we have all heard of New England. Sure, we have heard of it, but have we ever really seen it? What we learned yesterday was that be merely driving through Connecticut and Massachusetts really doesn’t count for visiting New England. There is a little corner of Connecticut that, if visited, you can easily imagine some English dude sitting on a log with one of those white wigs on. That is what Washington, CT is like. You can also throw in Bridgewater too. They are both like that. There are more white houses that are over 100 years old than you know what to do with. Needless to say, they are really cool towns. Pricey towns, I’m sure. What really struck us both yesterday, was the fact that we weren’t able to locate one messy property or piece of junk. The whole entire area was extremely clean, which made us feel very nice inside.

One of the things that really aggravates me is the lack of pictures and videos on the internet. Even on Google Earth, people would rather post videos of their kid’s first birthday party, instead of videos of main st. in the town the video is attached to. When I visit town websites, I expect to see some sort of photo gallery or even a walking tour. You would be amazed at how few websites actually offer these features.

Since we visited the Inn yesterday and I happen to own a regular digital camera and a video camera, we decided to use them. I took all the photos and Laura took half the video. These are all just of the Inn and not the town. We’ll get to that. Enjoy!!!

It may look cold, but it was actually the first time this year that I actually felt a warm breeze. It was about 50 degrees outside. This is a photo of the path up to the bush maze, going towards the spa.

These are both of one of the places you can stay if you decide to check in.

This is a photo of the main building that we ate lunch in.

Here is a photo of the outdoor pool and the pool house. We decided against going for a dip.

These are all photos of the spa building.

This is my favorite part of the whole place. I just love the Rhododendrons and huge trees.

Ok, time for some video…

Today Certainly is Another Day

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Today was another busy day. I spent a good majority of the day organizing things online. I would tell you what they are, but I have this thing about telling people my secrets. Oh well. I will say that I find it simply amazing that I am able to wake up every morning of my life and work on the computer for at least eight hours straight. Mind you, those are the days I have nothing to do. Oh, I just love looking at the clock as it reads 3PM and realizing that I have been sitting here since 7AM.

As I get older, I find myself focusing on my “physical” self more than I used to. I always try to sit up straight in my chair, so I don’t get a bad posture, like I have been warned about when I was a kid. I also recognize that I need exercise these days. When I say need, I mean “need.” I mean, I am in good shape, but as anyone gets older, I think they become more aware of these things. I also feel my eyes going to hell. When I was a kid, I used to pride myself on not wearing glasses. Well, the years of staring at this monitor has taken its toll, I’m afraid. Last year, I bought computer glasses to help take the strain off my eyes. These days, I find myself having to focus a heck of a lot more. I can actually feel my eyes getting tired. People say that you should get up every so often to give your eyes a break. They say that you should look out the window every once in a while so your eyes can focus on something else, other than your computer screen. I do that, but I am just hoping that one day I will make enough money to pay someone to do my work for me as I sit in a chair behind them, telling them what to do.

So, what’s new in life…I guess it’s just day to day stuff. As I work, the cats take their turns using my lap as their bed. I am not working on adding any more websites to my portfolio…well, I had to pop a new one in there, I just couldn’t help myself. This is the year of marketing. I haven’t focused on that portion of the business all that much in the past few years, so it might be something I should do to boost the $$$. I believe I can do a very good job with that in the next ten months.

I also have been making beer, if you haven’t noticed. I think it’s a pretty rewarding thing to do. Paul came over to pick up ten bottles for a party he is having tomorrow. He is going to get back to me with the consensus. I hope he likes them.

Since I have been in college, I have been looking for the perfect place to live. Where we are living now isn’t perfect, by any meaning of the word. As my mother would say, we have decided to hate it. It’s painful to realize that, but it’s true. I have learned that it’s pretty useless looking on the internet for that perfect town. All it takes is one lousy picture of a town to ruin everything. On to the next perfect town with that one lousy picture, and so on. I think the only way I am going to make it is to get an “anchor” house somewhere up north, with another smaller home in the heat for weekends in the Winter. I have also learned that the perfect town may not even exist anymore. Back in the day, there was a quiet little main street somewhere in Indiana that you could walk up and down for the rest of your life. Now, you have to worry about tornadoes and the Wal-Mart they are putting up at the end of the block. You might think I’m kidding, but look around. The most pristine places are very unaffordable. So the quest goes on.

On Monday, Laura and I are making a trip to Washington, CT. We are going to have lunch at the Mayflower Inn. A few years ago, my mother got us a gift certificate for the Inn that we used for a perfect Valentine’s Day dinner. It was one of the nicest places on earth. We were thrilled with the little antique town, but it was kind of dark on our way in. We really want to see it during the day. You would be surprised what the Connecticut hills have to offer, for a price. I’ll let you know how it goes. YouTube certainly needs a video or two of Washington, CT.

It just started snowing. Laura proposed another walk in the snow. Who am I to say no? I have a feeling I will be putting my boots on at midnight again. I do want to say that I am getting a little tired of the snow. Every time I think the driveway will be clear for a few days, it snows. I admit that it keeps things exciting, but enough already. It’s been a snowy Winter. The next week looks warmer with the temperatures above freezing. Also, the sunset is much later now, so that January depression has lifted. Now, the sun is going down close to 6PM. In March, we set the clocks ahead, so that should be fun. I am going to try to really soak up the seasons this Spring, Summer and Fall. I think they are worth it.

Wow, what a post. This might actually be what blogs are for. I guess I have to write some real stuff when I am not busy buying things and writing about them. Hey look…it’s another cat on my lap. I think they are doing laps now. This one is Sexy Boo.

Total Lunar Eclipse Photos

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Since there was a total lunar eclipse tonight, along with a very clear sky, Laura and I decided to venture out to the front sidewalk to have a look. We went out there and then bolted back inside to grab our cameras.

We were just in time…I think it was 9:52PM. the moon looked like it was almost fully in the Earth’s shadow. The orange color was really neat. We took sixteen photos between the two of us. When we got back inside to look at what we took, we were quite proud of ourselves. Then, I opened them on the computer and we were less proud. Since not one of them stood out to be the best, I decided to put them all together in one photo. We did manage to get some pretty neat effects though.

Here, have a look…

PS - Please feel free to Digg this.

Yesterday Was a Winter Day

Monday, February 11th, 2008

Yesterday was one of those Winter days you could do without. It was snowing a tad bit in the morning, but by the afternoon, the snow was flying directly sideways. Well, eventually it hit the ground. I think we had a whiteout here.

On the news this morning, I heard there was a car pileup in Scranton and Rochester due to the wind and snow. I stayed up way too late last night listening to the wind. I hate this type of weather.

I took a picture of the trees in the back of the house. You can tell which way the wind was blowing because one side of each tree is completely covered while the other side has no snow at all on it.

Driving Up The Shawangunk Ridge - New Paltz, NY

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

I don’t have much time to write this because Lost is on in twenty minutes. This is going to be a crazy episode. If you are interested in theories about the show, click here to read some. This is my favorite one, by far.

Ok, so Laura and I drove up to the store today, but this time, we took a different way than we normally do. We usually drive up Rt.209, but this time we took Rt.44/55 through the ridge towards Kerhonkson. I wanted to drive this way because of my itch to get out of the normal routine. It worked pretty well because I feel good right now. That may be because I just had a beer though.

I did take some video of the trip. There are so many nice things to see…I just wish I was a better videographer. Oh well, I’ll learn. Here are the videos…

Hi Everybody, I’m Still Here

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

I feel like I haven’t been writing all to much lately. I don’t know, sometimes I start writing and writing and writing and sometimes I don’t.

I think it has something to do with all this year-end business stuff. As the years go on, the pressure gets ratcheted up a bit. I even found a gray hair on the left side of my head today. That’s pretty strange, because I think I saw some gold ones in there too. Perhaps I won’t go gray…I’ll go gold. People can look at me and say, “Yes, he’s the man with the gold hair over there.” I guess there is a gold lining to it all. At least I’ll be worth a lot of money.

Also, it’s getting a little colder out again and inside the house is looking all too familiar. Boy, those warm days really woke up the neighborhood. People were outside walking around and everyone seemed to be in a better mood. As I always say, I like Winter up until about half way through January. After that, Spring can come early. The only problem is that I freak out at the first drop of sweat. A few days ago when it was 60 degrees outside, I began to sweat. I didn’t like that. So, the dark days of Winter will last for a few more months.

I wouldn’t mind have a good game of Frisbee though. I love Frisbee.

Walking in the Snow

Monday, January 14th, 2008

Yesterday, we heard that it was going to snow overnight. I think we were supposed to get a few inches while NYC and Boston were supposed to get hit pretty hard with up to a foot of snow.

Laura and I were watching TV when I asked her if it was snowing. I think it was around midnight when she told me it was. I got up and stood outside on the front steps. I think the nicest thing about the snow, especially late at night, is the silence. I love to hear the flakes hit the ground. The neighbors had their driveway light on, so I could see how much was falling.

I walked inside and, half kidding, asked Laura if she wanted to go for a walk. She didn’t say no all too quickly. I think she gave me a weak excuse. I was sort of kidding anyway. While I was sitting on the couch taking my shoes off, she came out and said, “I’ll go with you.” Oh, how neat.

As we were walking down the road, I asked her when the last time we took a nice night time walk in the snow was. We couldn’t remember. I mean, I remember doing this stuff when I was a kid, but those days are long gone. Now, everything is work and thinking about work. It was very nice to be outside while there were no cars on the road and everyone else was asleep. It’s such a different world.

This late night walk came right on the heels of a great daytime walk we took yesterday. That one went for a few miles. On the way back, when we were almost home, I thought to myself how I didn’t want the walk to end. That’s the sign of a good time.

These walks are very therapeutic for me. If you haven’t noticed, I get kind of stuffed up during the Winter and a bit frustrated at things. I think I am going to make an effort from now on to walk more. In addition, Holly likes long walks. After all, she is a snow dog.

Walking in the Woods Near the Shawangunk Ridge

Monday, January 7th, 2008

Today was an awesome day. It was one of those days that makes it worth it to live in the Northeast. It was 60 degrees today. Weather.com said it was only 57 outside, but my thermometer said it was 60, and that was in the shade.

I had a bunch of things to do today. One of them was to pick up the rest of the sheetrock that was laying at the end of the driveway under some black plastic. I had about two garbage cans worth.

When I first went outside, I was in a short sleeve shirt. I was working away, breaking up the sheetrock, putting it into the garbage cans. I was working so hard, I started to sweat. Because of this, I had to take my short off. Some cars drove by and were probably wondering what the weird guy was doing in the driveway with no shirt on. Whatever. I think I am the only guy in the neighborhood who takes his shirt off when working outside. I think we moved into a conservative area.

It was so nice outside, I thought it would be a nice idea to share a short walk in the woods with my faithful viewers. Now, this is not an exciting walk, but you do get to see what the woods in back of our house look like and you get to hear my voice. So here goes…

It’s 3 Degrees Outside

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

Yes, that’s right, it’s 3 degrees outside. I am not sure I can tell the difference between 10 degrees and 3 degrees, or minus 30 degrees for that matter.

I just got back inside. I had to bring the big garbage can in and adjust the recyclable cans, because the garbage guys knocked one of them over. I sure hope it’s recyclable week.

One reason I hate the cold is because I freeze fast. I have a little problem with not dressing for the weather. I tell myself that I will be out there for just a second and then I go outside. Of course, it’s miserable. I have been doing this all my life. Now, I am trying to dress for the occasion. When I went outside this morning, I got all suited up and wore gloves. I felt good…the only thing that got cold were my fingertips because gloves suck in the cold. When I wear my snowboarding mittens, I am nice and toasty. In mittens, you can make a fist to keep warm. I think dressing warmly will make a big difference in the winter.

It’s supposed to warm up for the rest of the week, starting tomorrow. Because of that, my mother doesn’t have to worry anymore. She knows how much I like to run around in the buff. They have colonies for that kind of person, right?