Thursday, August 14th, 2008
All Winter, I say that I can’t wait for Summer. This is for obvious reasons. I always say that I can make it up to January 15 with Winter and then I’m done. If I can’t grow anything, I am not a happy camper.
This next paragraph really has nothing to do with this post. I just thought I would throw it in here.
Laura and I were eating dinner this evening when I noticed Finnegan Gordon Belle (Flipper Human the cat) laying on the chair next to us. Now, just to give a bit of background on this cat…he is grouchy when he sleeps. He really has no time or patience for people who get in the way of his “resting sessions.”
Well, after I finished slowly (repeatedly) placing my food in my mouth, I decided to walk over and pet the cat. I got a few good pets in. I thought this was nice. What did the cat do in return? He looked up at me, shifted his weight, sat up and bit my hand. Nuff said. I walked away and left him alone. Sure, when he wants to get picked up every other minute of the day, I accommodate him, but when I want to play, noooooo.
Here he is, the bum…
Man, you can almost see the attitude.
Ok, back to the post. If you haven’t noticed around the blogging world yet, things are a bit slow this Summer. I guess people are outside, enjoying the weather. I am sure all sorts of families are vacationing at the beach and places like that. Gee, even I got in the car a few times this season. Well, let’s just say all this enjoyment hasn’t really helped my reading habits. Blog reading I mean. Yes, it’s sad but true.
In my opinion, if you want to be one of these crazy bloggers, you have to write all the time. You have to wake up and want to bring the camera with you when you get your morning coffee. It truly is a disgusting way to live, but if you’ve ever written in a format like this, you’ll know what I am talking about.
The thing of it is…we computer people LOVE to read what you write. It doesn’t matter what it is. We just want to keep up with your lives. I should actually be writing this to myself because I have been slipping through the cracks lately. I mean, I have been cutting down some small trees on the side of the property, but I don’t think I can bring the camera every time, nor do I think people want to continuously read about it. I’m not even sure what I can take a picture of. I keep asking Laura if it looks any different than it did earlier and she just gives me a sad look and turns her face back and forth, saying…”no, my sweet prince, it doesn’t.”
I sometimes make the joke to Laura that people don’t need to call me to see how I am doing. All they need to do is read this silly thing. It’s kind of not fair because I do a lot of calling. Trust me, let’s not change this arrangement. I like you reading and I like doing the calling. Oftentimes, I feel more comfortable if things are on my terms.
I guess I get a little depressed when I see the internet get light for a while. I think overall traffic takes a hit during the Summer. I never thought I would see the day when I get excited at the prospect of a rainy day in September…when all the kids are back at school and college is in session. Ooohhh, look at all those users checking out my sites. The Christmas season is a whole other story.
It’s amazing. For all the cool things we do in the Summer, we really don’t feel like writing about many of them. Maybe it’s the sunshine. Maybe it’s the guilt of bringing the laptop out on the deck with us and writing, when we really should be looking at the squirrels. Perhaps that’s why some of the best authors like to go up to their chilly cabins to write and don’t do it on the beaches of Barbados. Really now, Barbados is no place to write. Maybe Vail…
My friends, the good news is there are new blogs being formed every day. Just yesterday, an old friend of mine showed interest in making a blog of his own. I hope he does because the world needs more smart writing. I am actually curious about what he has to say. I am sure there are other great blogs that have been started recently that I never knew about. Oh, it’s going to be fun because the blogging season is right around the corner.
So, for those people who have shown interest recently about blogging and why they should get into it, I will explain what I like about the whole thing. Basically, I think this is a place for people to get to know me. I really like the format and I feel comfortable sharing things here. I really don’t care if some trucker from India reads this thing every morning before he has his breakfast. If he finds me entertaining and gets a kick out of the projects that I do, then that’s cool. You know, I bet there are a few truckers who like to read my blog.
Also, I really like to take pictures. Here, I can post them and tell people all about what I was doing. Of course, if you haven’t noticed, I think the stuff I do is reeeeally important.
The best thing is when I help people. I know I have said this before, but when someone gets some use out of what I write, that makes it all worth while. You can imagine the blisters on my fingers from all this writing. Can you imagine that?
Well, it’s getting a bit late now and I fear that I am not making sense anymore. I just want to warn you that the camera comes back out tomorrow and I am going to be outside with it. I am going to take a picture of something and post it here. You just wait…
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Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
As promised, I am posting some (well all) of the videos we took the other day when we were in Kent, CT.
I would say there are eight videos in all. I am posting them as I upload them, but as you might guess, YouTube takes a while to upload, especially when the videos range from 30MB - 130MB. In the videos, the cool part is how much water is going down the river. We have had a bunch of rain, so that really took its toll. Also, the weather was great, so there was some company during our hike.
Enjoy the videos.
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Sunday, March 9th, 2008
I have some good news and bad news about my current batch of beer. I will tell you about it in my next post. For this post, I would like to tell you about a beer I picked up today. Well, actually there are two types of beer, but this post is only about one.
This morning, we were sitting on the couch, when I said, “If we were to do something today, what would you want to do?” I really didn’t have anything in mind, I was just curious. I was happy sitting around all day. Well, to make a long story short, we ended up at Emmanuel’s Market Place in Stone Ridge again. I know I said before that I was getting a little tired of the Sushi up there, but the combination of the getting out of the house, Sushi, beer and bagels gets me every time. So there we were.
We did get a bunch of Sushi today. I thought it would be a good idea to mix things up, so we got a bunch of veggie Sushi, like a lot of rolls with avocado in them. I am excited for later. As usual, I grabbed some bagels. On the way to the bagel area, I passed fresh pasta. I have never (that I know of) eaten fresh pasta before. I asked Laura if she wanted to get some, when I remembered that I bought her that new KitchenAid mixer for her birthday. There is an attachment that goes with it that makes pasta. Now, you know that went on my to-do list. We voted against the fresh pasta for today.
What this post is really about is the new beer I got. I picked up a 6-pack of Wolaver’s Oatmeal Stout and wanted to tell you all about it.
Why am I buying beer? I’ll tell you about that later. Anyway, this one is pretty good. I cracked the bottle open and poured it in my trusted beer glass. It poured like a nice dark beer and tastes kind of like one too. I would say this beer is a very good one that might be appreciated by people who like dark beer, but a bit lighter than the rest. It has a “thinner” taste and doesn’t overpower you like that Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout I have had. This is a very drinkable beer and I would buy it again.
There you have it. Now, for my home brew story, please see above.
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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…
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Friday, January 11th, 2008
The other day, Craig and I decided to meet for breakfast in Newburgh. I thought this was a great idea, because we haven’t seen each other in quite a while. He had to pick up some parts in the area, so it was easy for us both.
I had a pretty uneventful drive to the diner. I took Interstate 84 East and got off the Newburgh exit…right before the bridge. Once I was off the highway and rolling to a stop, I noticed someone standing at the end of the off ramp holding a sign. As I got closer, I realized it was…I am not even sure what to call it. Here, I took a photo…
I think he may have seen me taking a picture of him, but I couldn’t help myself. The sign he was holding read, “Homeless, please help.” Now, if I was a better citizen than I am, I surely would’ve pulled over to give him directions to the diner I was going to. I mean, if he looked to his right, he could’ve seen it. If I was an even better citizen, I would’ve gone to the diner and picked up an employment application and brought it back to him.
This whole thing got me wondering…how should a person respond in a situation like this? The first reaction for a lot of people is to get mad and blame the person for being in the position they are in. I mean, aren’t the rest of us working our butts of trying to make a living? How can we be expected to help someone who is in perfect working order (I mean, he was standing there and got to that spot himself) who we think isn’t trying as hard as us?
You know, when people are young, they are taught all sorts of stuff…one thing we are taught is to help people. If we listened to our parents, we all would’ve pulled over to help this person who saw standing there asking for help. Somewhere, sometime, as we were growing up, we all changed. Not many of us help all that many people anymore. Sure, if we know who you are, we will help, but not so much for strangers. I oftentimes think about what happened to us. Why don’t we help anymore?
One of the big things with me is anger with certain situations. I remember a few years ago, I was reading a newspaper and there was an article about “Habitat For Humanity.” This has always been one of my favorite programs. I did have a little tiff with them a few years ago though. As I was reading the article, I learned that the person these wonderful people built a brand new house for was a local single mother of three. There was a picture of her standing there in the driveway with her three children. Off to the side, was her boyfriend. He was a dirty looking, skinny fellow standing there…smoking a cigarette. Hmmm, that made me think. Mind you, this was after the big increase in the price of cigarettes. I thought about how nice it was that these people now had a nice house to live in. Then, I pictured that skinny little dirty boyfriend sitting in some donated loveseat, smoking a cigarette and maybe drinking a beer. That kind of peeved me because I am not sure if he had any blisters on his hands from helping with the construction of the house.
Perhaps, through the years, we noticed that more and more people who ask for help, do things in their lives that we don’t agree with (and cost money), such as smoking, drinking, drinking soda, eating potato chips, driving gas guzzlers, shopping at Wal-Mart for junk, etc…
I am not sure if I told you this story already. One time, I was in the local Hannaford buying some groceries. As I got in line to check out, I noticed a family in front of me using food stamps. I was thinking about how hard up these people must be to be using food stamps. To be honest, I don’t even know what food stamps are, but I do know you gotta be kind of hard up to use them. I thought I shouldn’t judge them. Then, I noticed what they had on that little conveyor belt. I saw all this name brand stuff. It all looked very appetizing. I looked down in my basket and noticed a bunch of Hannaford brand things. Wait, I did have name brand tofu. I guess that could make up for the name brand “oatmeal cream pies” they were buying on discount. Whatever. They left and I started putting my stuff on the conveyor belt. What I didn’t notice was that the father had left the store a few minutes earlier to pull the car up. I saw a minivan pull up and park in front of the store. I noticed the family walk toward and stop at the minivan. I noticed them put the groceries into the minivan. Then, I noticed that the minivan was only a few years old. I looked out past their late model minivan at my nine year old Honda Accord. I thought to myself, “Hey, the family using food stamps has a nicer car than me.”
I know, I know, I shouldn’t complain. Who am I to judge people who are in need, especially when they smoke and drive nicer cars than me? Well, at least they eat better than me too. Man, I feel myself turning into a conservative. I remember I read somewhere a few years ago, something like this, “If you aren’t a Democrat in your twenties, you are heartless. If you aren’t a Republican in your forties, you are an idiot.” If was something like that.
Well anyway, Craig and I had a nice breakfast. I left and he left. On the way home, I was on the phone with a realtor and Craig called me. I couldn’t pick up, so he left a voicemail. He told me that he saw the bum I was talking about. He said, “Hey, I just passed by your bum…he was drinking a beer.” Enough said.
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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…
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Monday, January 7th, 2008
One of the main reasons I wanted to get this new Sony Handicam Camcorder was to take videos, and videos I am taking.
I am on the internet quite often looking for nice towns throughout the United States. Every so often, I bump into some bright and intelligent genius who takes video while driving through various places in various towns. I really like this because it gives a nice picture of what the towns are like…the main street, the traffic, the types of cars parked on the sides of the roads, etc…When I search YouTube to look at these types of videos, I really like it when I actually find one.
With that in mind, I decided to take some video yesterday while driving through Ellenville and Stone Ridge, NY. These videos aren’t the greatest, because it was kind of cloudy yesterday and there was dirty snow all over the place. That actually might be a good thing because it shows what the town actually looks like at a certain point in time, good or bad.
Anyway, onto the video driving through Stone Ridge…
…and the video driving through Ellenville.
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Sunday, January 6th, 2008
Today is Sunday. On Sundays, we like to get in the car and go for little trips. I guess you can call us Sunday drivers. We probably drive as slow as them.
This Sunday, we decided to go up to Emmanuel’s Market Place in Stone Ridge again for their delicious Sushi. This may very well turn into something we do often. I had three things in mind that I wanted to get from this store…Sushi, beer and bagels. The Sushi is a given as we always get that. The beer variety is usually pretty good, because it seems like this place likes micro-brews and the bagels were a toss-up.
We got to the store and grabbed the Sushi. Then, we walked back to get some bagels. I was pretty surprised when we found the bagels. They are the biggest bagels I have ever seen. Here, take a look…
There was a sign to the side that said something like they apologize for raising the price to $.79. It’s because of the cost of materials. I thought, “Gee, they raised their prices to the same price Hannaford has, but their bagels are twice the size?” That’s weird. We put four of them into the basket.
Then, we were onto the beer. I was really looking for some oatmeal stout. That is my all time favorite type of beer. I kept coming across this india pale ale stuff that didn’t interest me in the least. I couldn’t find any dark stuff. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, when I say dark, I mean oozing, dripping dark. We were about to give up when I noticed some beer up above the dairy cases. We walked over and I found two good, dark looking beers.
The first one is called, Dogfish Head Chicory Stout. Here is a pic…
Here is what they say about this beer:
A dark beer made with a touch of roasted chicory, organic Mexican coffee, St. John’s Wort, and licorice root. Brewed with whole-leaf Cascade and Fuggles hops, the grains include pale, roasted & oatmeal.
I opened this bottle first and am drinking it right now. I can’t say I am disappointed, but it didn’t give me the “Wow” that the Sam Adams Double Bock did. I am not sure I will ever get that again. This is a good beer though. It is pretty creamy and tastes “complex,” if I am allowed to use that word.
The second beer I picked up was Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout. This looks like a really dark beer, but I will have to tell you about it after I try it. Here is a pic…
People are saying pretty good things about this on Beer Advocate. One person described it as “3000 mile motor oil.” That sounds nice to me. Others have said the alcohol taste is too prevalent. We’ll have to see about that when I try it.
Here is a photo of the bottles:
Till next time. Adios!!!
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Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
Ok, like I said, if I go to the dealer, I am coming home with a car.
Today, I took a drive down to Middletown Honda in New York. I guess I made the decision when I woke up. I had already done tons of research online and there were just no cars out there that could beat the reliability, performance, features, safety and price of this car. I compared the 2008 Honda Accord EX V6 against the similar Toyota Camry and the Honda came out on top. The Camry’s base price is lower, but when you add all the features that the Accord comes with, the price is higher.
I went in and talked to a nice sales guy. I am not sure if he was ready for my attitude, but we did OK. I always think that push is going to come to shove in these places and it kind of did today. I got a little ticked off, but we worked it out. At the end, I traded my car in and drove home later on in a brand new one. Good enough for me.
I have to say, it’s a pretty sweet ride. I have never owned a brand new car before, so this is a treat. Here are the specs:
Standard Features
Technical Features
• 268-hp, 3.5-Liter, 24-Valve, SOHC i-VTEC® V-6 Engine
• Variable Cylinder Management™ (VCM®)
• 5-Speed Automatic Transmission
• 100K +/- Miles No Scheduled Tune-Ups
• ULEV-2/PZEV CARB emissions rating
• Drive-by-Wire™ Throttle System
• Double Wishbone Front Suspension
• Independent Multi-Link Rear Suspension
• Front and Rear Stabilizer Bars
• Variable Gear Ratio (VGR) Power-Assisted Rack-and-Pinion Steering
• Power-Assisted Ventilated Front Disc/Solid Rear Disc Brakes
Safety Features
• 3-Point Seat Belts at all Seating Positions
• Front 3-Point Seat Belts with Automatic Tensioning System
• Adjustable Front Seat Belt Anchors
• Dual-Stage, Dual Threshold Front Airbags (SRS)
• Dual-Chamber Front Side Airbags with Passenger-Side Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS)
• Side Curtain Airbags
• Active Front Head Restraints
• Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure
• Vehicle Stability Assist™ (VSA®) with Traction Control
• Brake Assist
• Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
• Four-wheel Disc Brakes
• Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS)
• Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD)
• Daytime Running Lights (DRL)
• Side-Impact Door Beams
• Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH)
• Child-Seat Tether Anchor (Rear-Center)
• Emergency Trunk Opener
Interior Features
• Driver’s Seat With 8-Way Power Adjustment
• Power Lumbar Support
• Power Windows with Auto-Up/Down Driver’s Window
• Power Door Locks
• Cruise Control
• Center Console with Sliding Armrest and Storage Compartment
• Tilt and Telescopic Steering Column
• Illuminated Steering Wheel-Mounted Cruise and Audio Controls
• Ambient Console Lighting
• Dual-Zone Automatic Climate Control System
• 160-watt AM/FM/6-Disc In-Dash Audio System with 6 Speakers
• Speed-Sensitive Volume Control (SVC)
• Maintenance Minder™ System
Exterior Features
• One-Touch Power Moonroof with Tilt Feature
• 17-inch Alloy Wheels
• Flat Blade Windshield Wipers
• Security System
• Remote Entry System with Power Window Control
• Multi-Reflector Halogen Headlights with Auto-Off
• Chrome Door Handles
• Body-Colored Heated Power Side Mirrors
• Dual Chrome Exhaust Finishers
• Fog Lights
I took some video of the ride today. You can view them below. Also, I will take some photos and video tomorrow and post.
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Monday, December 17th, 2007
There was supposed to be a big wind/snow storm over the weekend here in New York. We heard sleet hitting the windows Saturday night and woke up Sunday to see a nice layer of hard sleet/freezing rain on the already existing snow. This is the kind of snow you can walk on top of. It pretty much sleeted all Sunday. There was supposed to be heavy winds all Sunday into Monday.
Well, it was very quiet all Sunday. I was hoping that the wind missed us. I really hate wind. Of all things, I hate the wind.
About 7PM or 8PM last night, I felt a gust hit the house. I wasn’t happy about this. I looked out the window and noticed everything flying around. Good thing I brought the recycling cans inside the night before. I felt a few more strong gusts, so I looked out the back door onto the porch. I noticed that the tent (set up in the summer and never taken down) was upside down on the table. I thought the tent legs were going to put holes in the screening from tumbling around all night, so I went outside to take it down.
When I went outside, I felt like I was in a vacuum. There was strong wind coming from all directions. It had to be over 50MPH. I thought for sure that the huge oak tree in the back yard was going to take me out. I started taking the tent down. Someone call the “Guinness Book of World Records” for the least amount of time anyone has used to disassemble a tent. I was like Laurel and Hardy in fast motion. You should have seen me scurrying around pulling the tent poles out and folding them up. I got everything apart and threw it in the dining room. There was no time to drink wine, so that wasn’t even on my mind. Well, I guess I thought of it, but there were more pressing issues.
Laura got out of the shower and looked very relaxed. I was sitting there with my clothes all messed up and my hair standing on end. The tent was thrown on the floor. It was like one of those moments…when one person has no idea what the other person was just doing.
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