Yesterday, while out and about, Laura and I decided to do a drive-by at the University of Connecticut, or better know as UConn in Storrs, CT. I took a gander at this area on Google Earth a few times and we actually wanted to visit for some time, but never got around to it. Now that we’re about 20 minutes from the town, it’s much easier to get it done.
Now, if you aren’t familiar with UConn, it’s basically the whole town of Storrs. I am not sure if the residents would agree with me, but that’s the way it seemed. I think it’s kind of like State College, PA and Penn State. Either way, it was pretty cool and much larger than I imagined. It was actually the biggest college I have ever visted.
Too bad it was raining and so gloomy out. I took the above photos while we were driving. We did a little zoom zoom through part of the campus.
When I was going to Binghamton University, I had a roommate who just came from Penn State. He said it took a half-hour to get anywhere on campus. That’s what it seemed like here.
In an effort to learn more about the area we now sleep in, I have been suggesting that we visit different grocery stores for our food shopping. So far, we have been to Whole Foods in Glastonbury (very nice, but expensive), our local grocery store (pretty ok), Super Stop and Shop in Colchester (big and very well priced, but nothing wowed me) and today, Shaw’s in East Hampton.
We have been seeing quite a few Shaw’s grocery stores around in various towns. I haven’t really wanted to go in any of them because I prefer those jumbo super-stores. I like a wide variety. Well, today was different. Laura needed to deposit a check and her bank is in East Hampton, so Shaw’s was the store of choice.
We parked in the parking lot and began walking into the store. I turned to Laura an told her I really liked what I saw. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and the store looked great. We shopped around for a little while, when I turned to say something to Laura. She kind of had a weird look on her face and hadn’t been putting any groceries in the cart for some time. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that the place had crazy high prices. I started to look around and I quickly agreed. Things were way out of whack. I understand that food prices are going up, but this was a little up, up and away. We did what we had to do and left.
After leaving the store, I stopped on the side of the road to grab some photos of Lake Pocotopaug in East Hampton. It looks like a really cool lake and it might be good for the canoe I want to get.
Pretty cool, huh?
After mentioning the canoe idea, I have been informed that this wouldn’t be the best place to go. Apparently the ConnecticutRiver offers some sort of a canoe rental. I will let you know what we find.
I thought I would give you a little update on the house. The homeowners accepted our offer. The real estate agent is drawing up the contract and we are going to visit it once more on Monday. We are going to walk up and down the road for a second once-over. I guess it would be called a twice-over. If everything is cool, we are going to head to the real estate office and sign the contract. I will be sure to take photos of the neighborhood and post them.
I already called the mortgage company and gave them the revised numbers and I have an appointment on Tuesday morning to get everything done. He says that we could have the closing before the end of the month. I would say that’s pretty fast. He told me that he had a closing in four days, a few weeks back. That is just nuts.
Needless to say, I am a little nervous. We are going to be swimming in the house, but at least Laura will get her own office and so will I. There will also be another bedroom with a bathroom, so if we ever have guests, they will be hooked up. We can then have another whole family living in the finished basement. Also, the two car garage is something I have always wanted. No more scraping ice off the windshields. Ye haw.
The other day, during our Connecticut trip, I passed the 1000 mile mark in my almost new car.
I was wondering when this was going to happen, since it’s been a while. I think I’m doing pretty well, considering I bought the car on January 3rd and hit 1000 miles on March 3rd. That’s about 500 miles per month. Not bad for saving gas.
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.
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.
These are some old videos of a time when Laura and I went hiking on the Appalachian Trail near Bull’s Bridge, Kent, CT.
As my old post said, we like to go to dinner every Easter at Fife’n Drum in Kent. Afterwards, we go hiking on the trial just for a few miles. It’s nothing huge, but it is fun.
A few years ago, I got some video of some crazy people kayaking down the river. Also, there was a big raft doing some white water action. It was a good show. I just keep thinking how cold it was.
Ahhh…my first audio book. I don’t know how Laura finds these things, but she does.
I like to think of her sitting at her computer, very studiously analyzing and contemplating my psyche. “Who is Jay?” she would ask herself. “What makes this guy tick?” In actuality, she probably sees what is popular that day on Amazon, but we try not to think about that.
I can’t get over the clarity of the new stereo I installed in my car today. Just a moment ago, I walked outside, across the driveway to it. I sat down in the driver’s seat and turned the key. The radio came on so I could hear 95.5 WPLJ, down in the city. I changed the channel to 100.3 Z100. It’s remarkable how clear the radio receives the signal. My old one never did that.
I pushed the CD in the brand new slot. Everything is so shiny. The radio stopped and the CD started. A very faint, but clean guitar sound started. It got louder, and then a very soothing voice, that introduced himself as the author, Bill McKibben, began to speak. I though, “Ooh, this is going to be good. I listened for a few minutes and turned the key back, so the sound stopped. I didn’t want to ruin the first part of the story during a time when I wasn’t focusing on it. I turned the key forward, so the CD turned on again. Yup, it picked up right where it left off. This was going to work out fine.
So what’s the story about? Well, Bill’s website tells it like this…
“The acclaimed author of The End of Nature takes a three-week walk from his current home in Vermont to his former home in the Adirondacks and reflects on the deep hope he finds in the two landscapes.”
As you can see, I am quite excited about using my frontal lobe even more than I currently am. It is going to be nice to break out of the mold of NPR and bad local radio. Yeah, it’s going to be nice.
If I woke up last night not knowing where I was, I would’ve thought I was on another planet and all the people around me were aliens. If you haven’t guessed, I was in Connecticut. Things are strange in Connecticut. It’s amazing how many variations of cultures we have in this country, even ones that are quite close to one another.
We pulled in to Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT. Of course, the traffic was filling up the parking lots. We were guided to a nice spot in a back lot. Right after we shut the car off, most of the other cars and trucks around us started popping their trunks and setting up BBQs, tables and food. We didn’t have anything but our bodies. Since we were early, we sat in the car for a while, just to watch what was going on around us. The crowd was like a big white mass of insurance workers. I saw a lot of blond hair and I can imagine many of the guys were named, “Tom.” They all had this look about them…they kind of all looked like Pilgrims. I guess they were cool…just different. Odd crowd. I was eavesdropping on a conversation to the right of us and heard this little exchange…”Yeah, put that in an Excel spreadsheet.” “Yeah…DOUBLE UNDERLINE!!!” I just love dorky work talk among coworkers.
So, the show started off with Fiction Plane. These guys were really good. I thought the lead singer sounded strikingly like Sting. Laura kept saying that he could be a mini-Sting. She mentioned that when Sting kicks the bucket, this might have to be her replacement. Well, as it turns out, the lead singer of Fiction Plane is Joe Sumner…Gordon Sumner’s son…AKA, Sting. How cool is that? I am sure I am going to hear about this from Laura because if there was one man she would leave me for, it would be Sting. Geeesh, now there are two. I guess I gotta clamp down.
A funny little story about Joe Sumner and Laura. As we were sitting there last night waiting for The Police to set up, Laura told me a little something about Fiction Plane. She said that they had opened up for Sting during another concert. After the concert, she was out getting a t-shirt or something and someone asked if she wanted a Fiction Plane autograph. She said (out loud), “I don’t want an autograph, unless it’s Sting’s.” She told me that she thought the Fiction Plane guy heard her. Well Laura, watcha got to say now?
Fiction Plane was really good. They played for about a half hour…from 8PM to 8:30PM. It took about 45 minutes for The Police to set up, but it was worth the wait. The Police played the first song without the big video screens on. I think Laura was getting nervous. Then, after the first song and a little in to the second…WHAM, the colors from the Synchronicity albumn came up and faded to the live action. Pretty cool stuff.
Yeah, the concert was pretty cool. Nice loud sound and great visuals. They played all the good old stuff, obviously. The bad part is that I was taking pictures with my cell phone, which I would not even waste posting here. The lady next to us had a digital camera and was taking shots the whole time. I was waiting for the end, so I could hand her my business card and ask her to email the photos to me. Towards the end of the show, I looked over and they were gone. Man!!! I would’ve loved to post them up to show here.
So, if anyone has original photos and you are willing to allow me to post them here, please let me know. Thank you.
Here is what they played -
1. Message in a Bottle
2. Synchronicity II
3. Walking on the Moon
4. Voices Inside My Head
5. When the World is Running Down
6. Don’t Stand So Close to Me
7. Driven to Tears
8. Truth Hits Everybody/Regatta de Blanc
9. The Bed’s Too Big Without You
10. Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
11. Wrapped Around Your Finger
12. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
13. Invisible Sun
14. Walking in Your Footsteps
15. Can’t Stand Losing You
16. Roxanne
Encore
17. King of Pain
18. So Lonely
19. Every Breath You Take
Believe it or not, this post title has been sitting on hold since I started this blog, back last August. WordPress has a feature where you can type a title in and save it. With all the other exciting things I was writing about back then, I just never got to this one. I guess a rainy Saturday will help me catch up.
Back when Laura and I lived in Brewster, we liked to drive down to Green Chimneys for a daily walk around their nature trail. Basically, Green Chimneys is this:
“Founded in 1947, Green Chimneys is the nationally renowned, non-profit organization recognized as the leader in restoring possibilities and creating futures for children with emotional, behavioral and learning challenges. Recognized as the worldwide leader in animal-assisted therapy, Green Chimneys operates residential treatment for children and a special education school.”
It really is a very cool place…you should drop by if in the area. It is located near the Great Swamp in Patterson and near Putnam Lake, right on the border of New Fairfield, Connecticut. One thing they are very much known for is their annual “Birds of Prey” day. We have yet to make it to this one, but when we drive by, cars are lined up and down the road.
Way back when I was a kid, my friend Brian’s father used to play soccer in Green Chimney’s indoor soccer field. We would usually swim in their pool for a few bucks. But that’s not what Laura and I would go there for…
The walk around the nature trail is about 3/4 of a mile. It’s just long enough for us to get off our butts and get just a bit of excercise while having a decent conversation. Since Green Chimneys is located in a farm setting, there are friendly animals around the whole loop of the nature trail. The cow above just loves visitors. Who even loves visitors even more is this deer type beast below…
This one was hilarious. We would walk by and she would pace us, just waiting for a good petting. As you can see, she likes to get close, even if it means sticking her head through the gate. After we left, it was a bit depressing seeing her follow us all the way to the end of the fence and be forced to stop.
Here are a few more good shots…
These are what we like to call a little horse and a big horse. Notice their difference in size. Man, there are tons of different types of animals at Green Chimneys…ducks, horses, cows, all type of birds, snakes and even cats. I am not sure the cats were brought in as a rescue or anything though. This funny cat below slept under a little shed at the end of the trail. She would always come slowly walking out just as we passed.
I would want to keep on walking, but noooooo…Laura liked to spend an extra half-hour sitting on the bench with the cat on her lap. I would usually walk around and look for things to play with. One time I found a little cat of my own and tried to pet it. It was hanging out on the hood of a pickup truck. One pet and the damn thing scratched my hand. No more love for that cat.
Anyway, Green Chimneys is a great place that specializes in large bird rehabilitation. It is worth the drive…just be sure to drop a few bucks in the donation box if you want to spend some time there.
