Here's a few more random pictures. Click HERE to jump to the full gallery.
Orignal From: Philadelphia Eagles Game 2007
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Philadelphia Eagles Game 2007
A while back I wrote about my difficulty getting Eagles tickets & mentioned that the only way to get them is to spend. So I spent. I spent a lot. But... I got to see the one football game that I've been trying to see for many years - the Eagles vs the Dolphins.
Back in May when I bought the tickets it looked like a good match-up. The Dolphins had made great strides last year and sported one of the better defenses in the NFL. The Eagles returned most of their starters & are a perennial powerhouse. Yeah, on paper it looked great! Then the regular season started. Players dropped like files and both teams disappointed their fans. Oh well, at least they were pretty evenly matched and it would be a good game!
The weather report the day before said "Cloudy" but they decided that "Cold and raining" would be more fun for us so that's what we got. The four of us arrived via car-pool (parking is $20) at about 11 AM. We setup the grill, fought the lighter, the wind & the drizzle and eventually managed to cook up some tasty burgers & dogs. We eventually made our way into the stadium and found our seats. I managed to get section 104 - Row 3! It's a nice experience to walk down... way down... to your seat past all of the season ticket holders & people that got lucky (but not THAT lucky) the day tickets went on sale. Its even nicer to realize that you are seated right in front of the cheerleader station. Sweet!
The rain came and went throughout the afternoon. Corey had the foresight to grab all of the rain-ponchos he had - 3 - which left one of us wearing a trash bag begged from one of the Linc's Sanitation Supervisors. Necessity... mother of invention... yada yada. If Dry is the bottom line it's all good. The rain came and went throughout the game but it never rained hard enough to really mess up the game or turn the cheerleader's outfits transparent so it was basically a wash. I was even able to take the poncho off towards the end of the game.
Speaking of the game... it wasn't a great contest. McNabb got knocked out in the 2nd quarter and the rain already slowed down the offenses. The Dolphins rookie QB had a typical "First NFL Start" kinda game - it was horrible. They usually are so I'll withhold judgment on his future in the league. The only big play excitement came on a kickoff return by the other Dolphins rookie of merit Ted Ginn. His TD was the only score the 'Phins could muster. Brian Westbrook for the Eagles did most of the damage for his team and had a huge day running the ball despite the less then optimal conditions. There was plenty of near misses & action to go around and one thing can be said of a low scoring affair - it keeps the game clock moving. Before I knew it the final whistle had blown and the game was over. The final score was the Philadelphia Eagles 17, the Miami Dolphins 7.
We hung out while the crowds dispersed and watched the final game interviews being conducted by the Eagle's locker room tunnel. When the crowds died down we shuffled out of the stadium. I said goodbye to the Linc. I'll most likely never be back considering the price of admission. The other thing that bothered me was all of the empty seats. I couldn't believe that people would have the ultimate honor of just being here and still desert their seats before half time. I cursed them for not being real fans but what I was really thinking was that they just didn't pay as much as I did. I though the same thing when I heard all of the bickering and complaining ("What happened to McNabb?" "He hurt his #$%&* vagina again."). I know that for the past 75 years of Eagles football history the "fans" have measured themselves by the level of their own self-hatred but it just didn't sit right with me this time. It was as if nobody was even having a good time. Know how many "Fly Eagles Fly" chants I heard? Only one. I must have heard it a dozen times the last time I caught a game here. No, I saw more spirit from the smattering of Dolphins fans and it's sad really. So I said goodbye to the Live NFL experience. Even if I could get tickets for $90 I don't think I'd be back. Maybe after a few losing seasons the "fans" will be humbled but by then the cost of admission will be too high for me to even give a shit. The NFL is no longer an option for the average man.
After fighting to get out of the parking lot (Tip: Park RIGHT by the exit. Worked very well for us) we made our way down the road to [local eatery] where we partook of some heavenly Philly Cheese Steaks. We sat in the impromptu Dolphins section and I got to commiserate with my fellow Phins Phans. Good grub too though I think I still prefer Pats. So the day ended on an up note. We drove back to Reading with minimal difficulty. That night a blanket of snow fell across the town. Snow is pretty rare in mid November but it was somehow fitting. I had schlepped two cameras to the game and eventually had the film developed. The result of said development is seen throughout this entry. Click on any of the pictures to see the full version or click HERE to jump to the full gallery. Check back here in 3 years when the Eagles play the Dolphins again - but in Miami this time. Maybe I'll try to get tickets to that game. . .
Orignal From: Philadelphia Eagles Game 2007
Orignal From: Philadelphia Eagles Game 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Why I don't trust banks...
After my rant about paying off the load early the banks took interest and did the only thing they could to prevent me from paying... they lost the check I mailed to them.
This accomplishes several things:
1) They get to charge me $78 in fees.
2) They get to call and bug my wife.
3) We pay the missing month & next month up-front.
4) Profit.
So they manage to fast-talk us out of paying the extra not just this month but NEXT month as well. Bastards! Well, they messed up... they also sent me a "late" notice and now I have their damn address. Let's just see them "lose" my next check with the extra several hundred dollars. I'm sending it Certified.
Orignal From: Why I don't trust banks...
This accomplishes several things:
1) They get to charge me $78 in fees.
2) They get to call and bug my wife.
3) We pay the missing month & next month up-front.
4) Profit.
So they manage to fast-talk us out of paying the extra not just this month but NEXT month as well. Bastards! Well, they messed up... they also sent me a "late" notice and now I have their damn address. Let's just see them "lose" my next check with the extra several hundred dollars. I'm sending it Certified.
Orignal From: Why I don't trust banks...
Friday, November 23, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
This is our first Thanksgiving in our new home and we decided to spend it in said home. When faced with the delicious decision of which side of the family to visit over this holiday we decided that we'd just stay here and avoid the drive, the traffic, the headaches and... did I mention the drive? Since nobody is actually From New Jersey, everyone Leaves New Jersey on Thanksgiving. That puts us in our cars in what amounts to a mass exodus and the roads just aren't wide enough for Everyone at once.
Don't get me wrong, family is always worth the trip but if I spend 4.5 hours making a 2 hour trip they wouldn't want me there, ya know?
Anyway, so... yeah we stayed home. We cleaned up the house a little, ate a big pancake & sausage breakfast, cleaned up the house some more, had a nice lunch of leftovers from this past week and then decided to go for a hike in Cheesequake State Park. We explored the new trails, the lake and a marsh we hadn't been in before. I caught leaves and climbed horizontal trees while Heather found some lovely moss. We had a nice hike too & even borrowed time to find the Geocache that's closest to our home. I dropped my "Moving Man" geocoin into the cache. It can do the moving from now on! While signing the log a Turkey Buzzard lighted heavily on a nearby branch. Cool.
Back at home it was time for Thanksgiving Dinner! We microwaved a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes & cranberry green-beans. We shared it while eating over the sink - just as the pilgrims did! I gave thanks for the microwave bounty that we ate. Of course, this wasn't the last of the meal... since it was such a nice day we fired up the grill for one last time and cooked hot dogs & the last of the bacon wrapped filet mignon. For desert we had chocolate.
That's my kinda Thanksgiving. I'll close with a short poem from our dear friends at Rathergood.com. Happy T-Day everyone!
Orignal From: Happy Thanksgiving!
Don't get me wrong, family is always worth the trip but if I spend 4.5 hours making a 2 hour trip they wouldn't want me there, ya know?
Anyway, so... yeah we stayed home. We cleaned up the house a little, ate a big pancake & sausage breakfast, cleaned up the house some more, had a nice lunch of leftovers from this past week and then decided to go for a hike in Cheesequake State Park. We explored the new trails, the lake and a marsh we hadn't been in before. I caught leaves and climbed horizontal trees while Heather found some lovely moss. We had a nice hike too & even borrowed time to find the Geocache that's closest to our home. I dropped my "Moving Man" geocoin into the cache. It can do the moving from now on! While signing the log a Turkey Buzzard lighted heavily on a nearby branch. Cool.
Back at home it was time for Thanksgiving Dinner! We microwaved a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes & cranberry green-beans. We shared it while eating over the sink - just as the pilgrims did! I gave thanks for the microwave bounty that we ate. Of course, this wasn't the last of the meal... since it was such a nice day we fired up the grill for one last time and cooked hot dogs & the last of the bacon wrapped filet mignon. For desert we had chocolate.
That's my kinda Thanksgiving. I'll close with a short poem from our dear friends at Rathergood.com. Happy T-Day everyone!
It's the best day of the year.
Every body shout and cheer!
Because there no religious reason
Why we're all gathered here.
It's secular you see?
And that's alright with me.
Now say your thanks and eat a Turkey Knee!
Orignal From: Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
This little piggy went to Old Bridge!
Last night was my first attempt at co-hosting a Geocaching event. Marc (aka mblatch) was my co-hort & co-host. We set it up at Big Ed's BBQ on Rt. 34 in Old Bridge. Besides having some fantastic ribs the place is just fun. There are giant cartoon painted wood cut-outs all over the property (example at left). It has ample parking & a front section that's good for a larger group hanging out and chatting before getting down to some serious pigging out. The "piggy" theme was decided for us when I noticed that they sell Big Eds branded piggy banks that would make an excellent cache container. I bought the piggy bank, sealed the 'coin hole' with pink caulk, gorilla glued an 'airborne' tube inside the snout to hold a log book and hid it in the woods behind the restaurant with Heather a week before the event. Like the three little pigs this solo piggy made his house out of sticks. :-) 
I also decided we needed swag so bought 2 dozen small pigs from the Oriental Trading Co. and started looking for pig themed geo-coins. I found a total of three. One I had to buy on eBay, one from a vendor in Germany and the third from a small store in the US. Unfortunately the US supplier only ships once a month and, of course, the coins didn't arrive in time. I did manage to have the other coins present for the event and everyone got to 'discover' the one that had its own custom icon (
). I wrote the name of the event & date on the bottom of all of the plastic pigs to give the attendees something to take home or use as trade swag. Last, but certainly not least, I hid a bonus cache in the parking lot of Big Ed's - it's just a small play-doh container made to look like a lost little piggy. I tried to time the publication of the two new caches to they'd coincide with the event. Alas, I caught the cache-reviewer on a bad weekend and the caches weren't published in time. To compensate I printed out the cache listings and provided them to folks at the event. Tim (aka TheMadRussian) was the first person to run out to the parking lot to find the Lost Little Piggy. After the meal 7 people made the attempt at the same time. They were all lined up against the fence looking like a police lineup. When all of the eating/paying of bills was accomplished someone (Ok, Marc) announced that we should all do some night-caches in the area. There were two available and, though one was archived, Marc & I had verified that it was indeed still there just the night before. So 9 of us piled into the 2 largest vehicles and drove the mile to the official parking coordinates. This particular night cache can only be done at night. There's small reflective spots tacked to various trees and you have to follow the virtual trail they provide. The tacks are 50 - 150 feet apart and very hard to see in the fog but with 9 pairs of eyes and at least that many light sources the cache was easily found. From there we humped over the hill to Heather & my Piggy Bank cache. Again, they made short work of it but everyone seemed to enjoy the cache container & the hide. I basically made a log cabin for it under the roots of a tree. Philipe (aka CondorTrax) came up with the official First-To-Find and earned the Flying Pig geocoin I bought off of eBay.
I knew of another cache that wasn't exactly on the way home but with an "accidental" missed turn we found ourselves 150 feet from a 5th find of the night. This specific cache is called Whitetail Retreat and it's on what amounts to an island in a marsh. Once one person headed into the reeds everyone quickly followed - regardless of what style of pants/shoes they were wearing. The mist wafted across the reeds. The water was cold. The mud was... odoriferous. The cache was found! Sheer numbers trump any good hide. AVGraphics took a great photo of our shoes when we got back to dry land. I'm the geek with the black shoe & his pants rolled up. The rolling didn't help and I'll probably have to "archive" the pants. We returned to our rides on the easy to follow path that I conveniently missed the first time. Everyone seemed in high spirits and having such a good time that it was a shame the night had to come to a close. I can't say for certain that this will become a recurring event, but I'll say this... there's another night cache within a mile of Big Ed's. :-)
Here's the links:
This Little Piggy event
Lost Little Piggy
Night Vision
This Solo Piggy
Whitetail Retreat
Orignal From: This little piggy went to Old Bridge!
Thursday, November 01, 2007
New Home - Pictures & Dollars
First, I'm proud to say that I finally uploaded some dang pictures. Not sure why I waited so long except that I didn't have the uploader utility installed. :-) That' s my excuse and I'm sticking to it. See pictures here:
http://pix.ericles.com
Click on the appropriate album and enjoy!
Secondly, I wrote my first check towards the mortgage today. Big Check. Gunna do it for the next 23 years apparently. What? How'd I get a 23 year mortgage? I didn't! I simply rounded the amount I owed up to the next even thousand. It's 9% more than what I would have been paying but it chops 7 years and over 75 thousand dollars off of the total that I will have spent over that period. If I choose to also make an extra payment with the year end tax refund I'll most certainly be getting the loan will be shortened an ADDITIONAL 5 years and I'll be saving $116,395 over the term. The bank will absolutely hate me and that's fine. I want them to hate me and sell my loan every other month if it makes them feel better. Know what makes me feel better? One Hundred Sixteen Thousand Three Hundred & Ninety-five dollars. And Seven Cents. I'll be 50 years old before I get to laugh all the way to the bank with my final payment if this plan stands. 18 years is a long long time to live in one home but you never know. One thing I do know is that I plan on doing a good deal of damage to the principle of this loan over the next few years. There's an old tradition of displaying an eagle on a home you own. I can't wait for the day that walk out of the bank, still laughing, and stroll over to the corner Iron Eagle store. I already have a spot picked out on the house. Until that time I'll be pouring every cent I have (that's earning less than 6.8%) directly into the house and I'll have it paid off before I'm 50. You can bank on that.
Orignal From: New Home - Pictures & Dollars
http://pix.ericles.com
Click on the appropriate album and enjoy!
Secondly, I wrote my first check towards the mortgage today. Big Check. Gunna do it for the next 23 years apparently. What? How'd I get a 23 year mortgage? I didn't! I simply rounded the amount I owed up to the next even thousand. It's 9% more than what I would have been paying but it chops 7 years and over 75 thousand dollars off of the total that I will have spent over that period. If I choose to also make an extra payment with the year end tax refund I'll most certainly be getting the loan will be shortened an ADDITIONAL 5 years and I'll be saving $116,395 over the term. The bank will absolutely hate me and that's fine. I want them to hate me and sell my loan every other month if it makes them feel better. Know what makes me feel better? One Hundred Sixteen Thousand Three Hundred & Ninety-five dollars. And Seven Cents. I'll be 50 years old before I get to laugh all the way to the bank with my final payment if this plan stands. 18 years is a long long time to live in one home but you never know. One thing I do know is that I plan on doing a good deal of damage to the principle of this loan over the next few years. There's an old tradition of displaying an eagle on a home you own. I can't wait for the day that walk out of the bank, still laughing, and stroll over to the corner Iron Eagle store. I already have a spot picked out on the house. Until that time I'll be pouring every cent I have (that's earning less than 6.8%) directly into the house and I'll have it paid off before I'm 50. You can bank on that.
Orignal From: New Home - Pictures & Dollars
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Embarrased: Posting anyway
It's been so long and I've been so bad at keeping up with posting here that I have no excuses. I'll just say that I'm "righting" now and I'll get "write" into it...
Having a house is a good deal of work. I was prepared for this but didn't actually budget any extra time for unforeseen things like having to rake the front yard clear of pine needles. Those blasted trees dropped 4 giant yard bags worth of needles in under a week. Heather & I made the best of it by jumping in the giant pile of needles when we were done. It looked like a haystack. We found a haystack in the needles!
The inside of the house demands attention too of course and I've been just about ignoring the as of yet still packed boxes. We have to hurry up and get everything out of the way though... we have more stuff coming in! When Heather's father moved into smaller digs we happily agreed to take some of his overflow stuff once we had the house. Well, we've got it and we're getting it - even if we don't know where we're going with it! The big ticket item is a weight machine. The plan is to put it into the basement.... where we'll never see it again. ;-)
The cats are segregated. Poor Smechy couldn't hack having the other two around and soiled the bed. Twice. We're trying the Zero Odor stuff to get the stink out. The mattress is also covered with a rubber sheet & mattress pad. No stink is getting through all of that! Anyway, the kittens have the basement and Smech has the bedrooms. The rest of the house they time-share but never meet (unless a midnight storm blows the door open like this past Saturday). It's creepy to be awoken from a deep slumber by the combined sound of gail force winds & cat growling. *shiver*
I'm still finding time to go Geocaching now and then. I'm up to 270 finds - including my first 5 star puzzle "Cloak & Dagger" which dragged me all over central Jersey finding urban micro caches, solving riddles, puzzles, ciphers & enigmas. I'm co-hosting my first event next month (This little piggy went to old bridge) & plan to launch my own puzzle soon. It's still fun!
Besides that Heather & I have been getting up twice a week for a morning jog just as the sun comes up. Routine is the best way to stay motivated and having a partner makes it even harder to skip a day. One of us will mention how it's pretty late and we should go to bed because we have to get up early for the jog (translation: can we skip tomorrow's run?) and the other will invariably reply that yes we should get some sleep because I can't wait to run in the morning! Teamwork ... works. This has also given me the opportunity to explore the neighborhood a little more. I've discovered a back way into our neighborhood & a new park which is exciting.
That's about enough for now. I'll try to be more active on this site in the coming weeks. It'll certainly be easier if it gets cold out but right now ... it's just too nice to say inside typing these words. Until next time!
Orignal From: Embarrased: Posting anyway
Having a house is a good deal of work. I was prepared for this but didn't actually budget any extra time for unforeseen things like having to rake the front yard clear of pine needles. Those blasted trees dropped 4 giant yard bags worth of needles in under a week. Heather & I made the best of it by jumping in the giant pile of needles when we were done. It looked like a haystack. We found a haystack in the needles!
The inside of the house demands attention too of course and I've been just about ignoring the as of yet still packed boxes. We have to hurry up and get everything out of the way though... we have more stuff coming in! When Heather's father moved into smaller digs we happily agreed to take some of his overflow stuff once we had the house. Well, we've got it and we're getting it - even if we don't know where we're going with it! The big ticket item is a weight machine. The plan is to put it into the basement.... where we'll never see it again. ;-)
The cats are segregated. Poor Smechy couldn't hack having the other two around and soiled the bed. Twice. We're trying the Zero Odor stuff to get the stink out. The mattress is also covered with a rubber sheet & mattress pad. No stink is getting through all of that! Anyway, the kittens have the basement and Smech has the bedrooms. The rest of the house they time-share but never meet (unless a midnight storm blows the door open like this past Saturday). It's creepy to be awoken from a deep slumber by the combined sound of gail force winds & cat growling. *shiver*
I'm still finding time to go Geocaching now and then. I'm up to 270 finds - including my first 5 star puzzle "Cloak & Dagger" which dragged me all over central Jersey finding urban micro caches, solving riddles, puzzles, ciphers & enigmas. I'm co-hosting my first event next month (This little piggy went to old bridge) & plan to launch my own puzzle soon. It's still fun!
Besides that Heather & I have been getting up twice a week for a morning jog just as the sun comes up. Routine is the best way to stay motivated and having a partner makes it even harder to skip a day. One of us will mention how it's pretty late and we should go to bed because we have to get up early for the jog (translation: can we skip tomorrow's run?) and the other will invariably reply that yes we should get some sleep because I can't wait to run in the morning! Teamwork ... works. This has also given me the opportunity to explore the neighborhood a little more. I've discovered a back way into our neighborhood & a new park which is exciting.
That's about enough for now. I'll try to be more active on this site in the coming weeks. It'll certainly be easier if it gets cold out but right now ... it's just too nice to say inside typing these words. Until next time!
Orignal From: Embarrased: Posting anyway
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
General Update
Yeah, not much time for writing these days. I'm spending as much time as I can unpacking and reorganizing the house. I'm also spending as much time as I can avoiding unpacking and reorganizing the house! This "chronadox" leaves me with no time (apparently) to get anything finished.
Well, that's not entirely true. I did spend most of Saturday building The Grill. Sunday of course then had to be Test The Grill Day. I didn't really have a choice as you can see! Despite my procrastination efforts (and it is an effort) the house is coming along slowly. I'll post pictures one day.
The cats are still at odds though perhaps to a lesser degree. With the cooler weather we've torn open the shutters and thrown up the sashes and the cats (all of which were outside cats at one point) can't get anough of sitting on a window sill and starting at ... whatever it is that cats stare at when they look at nothing. One day they'll get to go and explore the great outdoors but we're not quite to that point yet. They haven't even explored the entire INSIDE of the house!
The biggest news of the week is Heather's new job. I wont spoil her fun of telling everyone so you'll have to call her and ask if you want more information ASAP.
That's about it for The News from Treasure Lake. Running? Geocaching? Football? Not enough time for everything. Not even for blogging! Until next time... gotta go!
Orignal From: General Update
Well, that's not entirely true. I did spend most of Saturday building The Grill. Sunday of course then had to be Test The Grill Day. I didn't really have a choice as you can see! Despite my procrastination efforts (and it is an effort) the house is coming along slowly. I'll post pictures one day.
The cats are still at odds though perhaps to a lesser degree. With the cooler weather we've torn open the shutters and thrown up the sashes and the cats (all of which were outside cats at one point) can't get anough of sitting on a window sill and starting at ... whatever it is that cats stare at when they look at nothing. One day they'll get to go and explore the great outdoors but we're not quite to that point yet. They haven't even explored the entire INSIDE of the house!
The biggest news of the week is Heather's new job. I wont spoil her fun of telling everyone so you'll have to call her and ask if you want more information ASAP.
That's about it for The News from Treasure Lake. Running? Geocaching? Football? Not enough time for everything. Not even for blogging! Until next time... gotta go!
Orignal From: General Update
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Homeowner!
It's done! I've been offline packing/cleaning/painting/packing/cleaning & consoling scared kitties for nearly two weeks so I apologize for the tardiness of this post but it was necessary believe-you-me. Here's the summary:
Because we've had so many close calls with closings we really didn't start packing until we finally closed. That happened on Tuesday September 4th. The sellers, the buyers & their respective attorneys & realtors all gathered around a big able and signed papers at each other. All told I siggied 39 times and just like that (over an hour) I became a homeowner!
And then came the insane packing blitz. We had only 3 and a half days to completely paint 5 ceilings & 4 rooms (after spackling over and sand any holes/cracks), clean 6 dozen cabinets/drawers/closet shelves, wipe down every flat surface, vacuum the non-flat surfaces (including the interior walls), and steam-clean 3 carpets. Whew! Oh, and then there's a 7 room apartment to pack, 3 more rugs to clean, a several dozen chunks of hardware to remove from the walls (and then spackle over), a porch full of garden & a trio of cats that need consoling. Yeah, we didn't have enough time.
The actual moving day went fairly smooth like. The movers showed up, loaded stuff, left unpacked stuff, drove truck, unloaded stuff & broke very little. The unpacking is going slowly but we're taking it one room at a time and spending most of this week just getting the apartment broom-swept clean so we can get our security deposit returned in one piece. After all the work we put into the apartment if they try to keep one red cent of that deposit so help me I'll knock the fridge off-level, rip the lighting fixture out of the bathroom, break down the shelf in the kitchen, tear out the insulation from the attic, insert a ton of staples into the floor, a handful of nails into the porch & a bunch of pubic hairs into the paint. That way we'd be leaving the place JUST AS WE FOUND IT. That'd show'm.
Ok, that's enough typing for now. I'm writing this at work because our internet hasn't been turned on yet. I'll write more when I can!
Orignal From: Homeowner!
Because we've had so many close calls with closings we really didn't start packing until we finally closed. That happened on Tuesday September 4th. The sellers, the buyers & their respective attorneys & realtors all gathered around a big able and signed papers at each other. All told I siggied 39 times and just like that (over an hour) I became a homeowner!
And then came the insane packing blitz. We had only 3 and a half days to completely paint 5 ceilings & 4 rooms (after spackling over and sand any holes/cracks), clean 6 dozen cabinets/drawers/closet shelves, wipe down every flat surface, vacuum the non-flat surfaces (including the interior walls), and steam-clean 3 carpets. Whew! Oh, and then there's a 7 room apartment to pack, 3 more rugs to clean, a several dozen chunks of hardware to remove from the walls (and then spackle over), a porch full of garden & a trio of cats that need consoling. Yeah, we didn't have enough time.
The actual moving day went fairly smooth like. The movers showed up, loaded stuff, left unpacked stuff, drove truck, unloaded stuff & broke very little. The unpacking is going slowly but we're taking it one room at a time and spending most of this week just getting the apartment broom-swept clean so we can get our security deposit returned in one piece. After all the work we put into the apartment if they try to keep one red cent of that deposit so help me I'll knock the fridge off-level, rip the lighting fixture out of the bathroom, break down the shelf in the kitchen, tear out the insulation from the attic, insert a ton of staples into the floor, a handful of nails into the porch & a bunch of pubic hairs into the paint. That way we'd be leaving the place JUST AS WE FOUND IT. That'd show'm.
Ok, that's enough typing for now. I'm writing this at work because our internet hasn't been turned on yet. I'll write more when I can!
Orignal From: Homeowner!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
On Melvin's Mud & Sticky Chiggers
On Sunday August 12th I competed against the mightiest Geocache of Middlesex County: Melvin's Multiple Madness. It breaks down to a 7 stage multi-part through the title marsh of Cheesequake State Park. One branch of the Cheesequake Creek - Melvin's Creek - is the focus & locus of the hunt. You can't park within a mile of the first stage so your first challenge is just getting there. The best looking route by satellite images takes you through a NJ Superfund Site. Once you make it to the actual marsh you have to cross the Melvin twice and the mud/silt is deep & unusually viscous. What sinks into Melvin's Mud stays in Melvin's Mud. I sank up to mid thigh on the first crossing and even deeper on the return trip. I was fortunately strong enough to pull my legs out but, alas, I was stronger than my boots. The mud ripped them in half. Litterally. It took the sole right off of the leather upper and wouldn't give it back. Henceforth I shall call it:
Melvin's Creek - the eater of Soles.
Walking across a reeded tidal marsh full of mollusk shells and Superfund runoff in stocking feet was an adventure to be certain. You can read the full account of my adventure (and see the photos) by clicking here.
While not slogging through the marshes I've been busy hiding the Speedway Cache. It's not published yet as this writing because I've been slowed down by work, rain & CHIGGERS! Otherwise known as the Harvest Mite, Chiggers are small (I mean small, dude!) mite/spider/ticks that cluster at the tops of tall grass or low branches and hop on as you go past. Its not uncommon to have dozens and dozens fall upon you at once. If they make contact with skin, like a tick, they'll seek out a safe place to eat. Then, like Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly", they squirt digestive enzyme and slurp up the liquefied you. Obviously the body doesn't take kindly to this kind of treatment and responds with itchy painful red welts. Anyway, Nicol park, like most of New Jersey, is susceptible to chigger breeding and on my last visit I must have walked through a few hives because my right leg was covered with'm.
Not just a few dozen though.
There were HUNDREDS!
And they were HUNGRY!
And they don't brush off!
And they don't squish!
And they were making their way up and down my pant leg looking for MEAT!
And I, having popped out for some lunch time woods walking/coordinate verifying, was wearing my work clothing that I couldn't shed without losing my job (and possibly freedom). What was I to do? First things first: Get the pants off! Done. Hide pants in trunk! Done. Get back in car before traffic on Rt. 34 notices me! Done. Drive back home, bathe in DEET-ful "Deep Woods" Off, Shower off anything I just killed, put on new clothing and drive back to work 30 minutes over my lunch break. Final step: work late to make up time. Oh, and itch all day for the thought of hundreds of mighty mites drinking my skin. One chigger is a nasty thought but two gross? Too gross.
Four days later the pants & shirts I was wearing that day are out on my back porch. I'm waiting for their short lifespan to pass before I go back out there. In the mean time I'll scratch at my dozen or so potential chigger chomps and be glad that I noticed them before I got back in the car. *shudder* Mental note: Duct Tape or Lint Roller = essential late summer/early autumn caching gear!
Dang, now I itch again. Scratch these:
Melvin's Multiple Madness
The Harvest Mite (Chigger)
Two Gross
Orignal From: On Melvin's Mud & Sticky Chiggers
Melvin's Creek - the eater of Soles.
Walking across a reeded tidal marsh full of mollusk shells and Superfund runoff in stocking feet was an adventure to be certain. You can read the full account of my adventure (and see the photos) by clicking here.
While not slogging through the marshes I've been busy hiding the Speedway Cache. It's not published yet as this writing because I've been slowed down by work, rain & CHIGGERS! Otherwise known as the Harvest Mite, Chiggers are small (I mean small, dude!) mite/spider/ticks that cluster at the tops of tall grass or low branches and hop on as you go past. Its not uncommon to have dozens and dozens fall upon you at once. If they make contact with skin, like a tick, they'll seek out a safe place to eat. Then, like Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly", they squirt digestive enzyme and slurp up the liquefied you. Obviously the body doesn't take kindly to this kind of treatment and responds with itchy painful red welts. Anyway, Nicol park, like most of New Jersey, is susceptible to chigger breeding and on my last visit I must have walked through a few hives because my right leg was covered with'm.
Not just a few dozen though.
There were HUNDREDS!
And they were HUNGRY!
And they don't brush off!
And they don't squish!
And they were making their way up and down my pant leg looking for MEAT!
And I, having popped out for some lunch time woods walking/coordinate verifying, was wearing my work clothing that I couldn't shed without losing my job (and possibly freedom). What was I to do? First things first: Get the pants off! Done. Hide pants in trunk! Done. Get back in car before traffic on Rt. 34 notices me! Done. Drive back home, bathe in DEET-ful "Deep Woods" Off, Shower off anything I just killed, put on new clothing and drive back to work 30 minutes over my lunch break. Final step: work late to make up time. Oh, and itch all day for the thought of hundreds of mighty mites drinking my skin. One chigger is a nasty thought but two gross? Too gross.
Four days later the pants & shirts I was wearing that day are out on my back porch. I'm waiting for their short lifespan to pass before I go back out there. In the mean time I'll scratch at my dozen or so potential chigger chomps and be glad that I noticed them before I got back in the car. *shudder* Mental note: Duct Tape or Lint Roller = essential late summer/early autumn caching gear!
Dang, now I itch again. Scratch these:
Melvin's Multiple Madness
The Harvest Mite (Chigger)
Two Gross
Orignal From: On Melvin's Mud & Sticky Chiggers
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Zip Code Madness!
Everything is progressing well on the purchase of the new house. Nothing really to complain about except I don't know where it is we'll be moving in a few weeks!
It all started when the insurance folks asked me which county can claim ownership of the land. I blinked... loudly... and proclaimed that I really had no idea! Its on the border you see and my map didn't have enough detail. I've since looked it up and it's indeed Monmouth but the fun doesn't stop there, oh no! You see there's also the zip code to throw monkey wrenches all around haphazardly. I've been hit in the works with a Monk-Wren and it smarts!
Here's the thing: Our zip code is officially 07735. The tax tables say that 07735 contains Cliffwood Beach [Monmouth] (Us), Cliffwood Beach [Middlesex], Union Beach & Keyport. I can rule out the Middlesex & Union Beach addresses, but the trouble is the address written on The Deed says Keyport while maps obviously point to Cliffwood Beach. Which is it?
This is no arbitrary decision. Hundreds of dollars in property taxes (which we've learned are paid to Aberdeen by the way) and preferential treatment by the insurance companies is at stake! I've decided that I'm going to say Cliffwood Beach when folks ask where I'm homing up. If they give me the "Oh my god I've lived in NJ for [n] years and I have no idea where that is but I don't want Eric to know that!" look I'll say it's in Keyport. If the look continues I'll just add "Exit 117" and they'll smile and nod approvingly because everyone knows that's exactly [n] miles from their Parkway exit.
Uh.
What was I writing about again? I don't remember. I'm going to bed. While there I'll dream of my new house in Keypwood Beach, Monmoddlesex County.
Orignal From: Zip Code Madness!
It all started when the insurance folks asked me which county can claim ownership of the land. I blinked... loudly... and proclaimed that I really had no idea! Its on the border you see and my map didn't have enough detail. I've since looked it up and it's indeed Monmouth but the fun doesn't stop there, oh no! You see there's also the zip code to throw monkey wrenches all around haphazardly. I've been hit in the works with a Monk-Wren and it smarts! Here's the thing: Our zip code is officially 07735. The tax tables say that 07735 contains Cliffwood Beach [Monmouth] (Us), Cliffwood Beach [Middlesex], Union Beach & Keyport. I can rule out the Middlesex & Union Beach addresses, but the trouble is the address written on The Deed says Keyport while maps obviously point to Cliffwood Beach. Which is it?
This is no arbitrary decision. Hundreds of dollars in property taxes (which we've learned are paid to Aberdeen by the way) and preferential treatment by the insurance companies is at stake! I've decided that I'm going to say Cliffwood Beach when folks ask where I'm homing up. If they give me the "Oh my god I've lived in NJ for [n] years and I have no idea where that is but I don't want Eric to know that!" look I'll say it's in Keyport. If the look continues I'll just add "Exit 117" and they'll smile and nod approvingly because everyone knows that's exactly [n] miles from their Parkway exit.
Uh.
What was I writing about again? I don't remember. I'm going to bed. While there I'll dream of my new house in Keypwood Beach, Monmoddlesex County.
Orignal From: Zip Code Madness!
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
w00t! Free money from Google!
There actually is a grain of truth to those Google related spam traps. Big G just sent me a check for a little over $100. This is the amount that I've earned in the past 14 months since I signed up for Adsense - Google's text based ads appear on a few of my pages and if anyone clicks them I get paid!
I hooked up with the free service StatCounter a bunch of years ago. They let me know which of my pages are the most popular as well as a slew of other stats regarding who's visited, how many times, etc. What I learned was that 95% of my hits were to pages inside my Ego-Surfing cache. Once upon a time I used to collect references to myself that popped up on the net. It's called "ego-surfing". I created a page of all the funniest/most impressive links that reference someone named "Eric Dalton". Years later I went back and noticed that many of the links had gone down and were gone forever so when I redid the page I saved the pages & put them in my Ego Link Cache.
As years went by the original pages vanished and MY version of the page became the only reference on the internet to a sometimes quite obscure topic (Sonoluminescence for example). At one point if you searched Yahoo for "gospel stage plays" I was the #1 link! Someone sharing my name had posted a message in a forum regarding "Madea's Family Reunion" and other gospel stage plays by Tyler Perry. When the original forum went down my page became a top source of information on the topic. Cool! I never thought of using the cache that way, but I'm happy to provide a service, albeit a tiny one, to the www at large. The nice part is that if I put an ad on that page with links to related information the searchers have even more options. Even better - I get a few cents for every link clicked.
Over the months I included ads on 7 pages. The Tyler Perry information is my top draw and biggest earner but the quickest way to earn me a buck is to download one of Google's software offerings from my referrals page. Thanks for reading, and thanks Adsense for giving something back to the little guy!
Links:
Google's Adsense Program
Eric's Referral Page
Orignal From: w00t! Free money from Google!
I hooked up with the free service StatCounter a bunch of years ago. They let me know which of my pages are the most popular as well as a slew of other stats regarding who's visited, how many times, etc. What I learned was that 95% of my hits were to pages inside my Ego-Surfing cache. Once upon a time I used to collect references to myself that popped up on the net. It's called "ego-surfing". I created a page of all the funniest/most impressive links that reference someone named "Eric Dalton". Years later I went back and noticed that many of the links had gone down and were gone forever so when I redid the page I saved the pages & put them in my Ego Link Cache.
As years went by the original pages vanished and MY version of the page became the only reference on the internet to a sometimes quite obscure topic (Sonoluminescence for example). At one point if you searched Yahoo for "gospel stage plays" I was the #1 link! Someone sharing my name had posted a message in a forum regarding "Madea's Family Reunion" and other gospel stage plays by Tyler Perry. When the original forum went down my page became a top source of information on the topic. Cool! I never thought of using the cache that way, but I'm happy to provide a service, albeit a tiny one, to the www at large. The nice part is that if I put an ad on that page with links to related information the searchers have even more options. Even better - I get a few cents for every link clicked.
Over the months I included ads on 7 pages. The Tyler Perry information is my top draw and biggest earner but the quickest way to earn me a buck is to download one of Google's software offerings from my referrals page. Thanks for reading, and thanks Adsense for giving something back to the little guy!
Links:
Google's Adsense Program
Eric's Referral Page
Orignal From: w00t! Free money from Google!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
On houses, runs & general silliness.
Our neighbor moved out yesterday. By complete coincidence our doorknob broke at the same time. We thought they changed the wrong locks. Just a coincidence. They fixed the lock/doorknob. Huh.
With our closing date of Aug 30th we'll probably end up paying rent all the way through September. Drats. If the apartment masters are able to clean/repaint/rekey the place by the 15th however we could save six hundred plus dollars. The extra is what I expected to be paying movers to make it easier on myself, but now I'll be toting my own bale. The upshot of all of this is that we'll have lots of overlap where we can go between the two domiciles and pack/move/clean to our hearts content (or two weeks goes by, whichever comes first).
Want some good news? The mortgage has been approved and locked in at a rate of 6.125. Back to the magic number from earlier in the year! We were able to swing this lower rate because I qualify as a "moderate income" shlub. Fine by me. Any special program that saves me money is worth it. Label me a waddleflap for all I care, just as long as my bottom line is happier.
The next step is to get do the title search (another expensive proposition that really only takes some clerk 10 minutes + a phone call) and get the house insured. I'll be going through NJ Manufacturers who currently insures our cars. I might even get a break on the car insurance. Once these two things are done we only have to wait until the 30th and the closing. I'm still waiting for a shoe to fall on me, but so far all is looking good!
Speaking of shoes... this past weekend I donned my running shoes & imported my Mother from North Carolina to run in the Ocean Grove Biathlon. I do it pretty much every year and had been training for about two weeks to make sure I didn't embarrass myself. Well, the end result... I finished last. Or first. Depends on how you look at it. You see, the race was the 21st not the 28th as reported by this website:
http://www.njlaws.com/calendar_of_community_events.htm
Why I chose to look at that site instead of all of the others that told me the race was on the 21st is beyond me. I guess it wasn't meant to be and that I'm supposed to run the Neptune City 5K this Saturday instead?
Maybe I will... maybe I will...
Orignal From: On houses, runs & general silliness.
With our closing date of Aug 30th we'll probably end up paying rent all the way through September. Drats. If the apartment masters are able to clean/repaint/rekey the place by the 15th however we could save six hundred plus dollars. The extra is what I expected to be paying movers to make it easier on myself, but now I'll be toting my own bale. The upshot of all of this is that we'll have lots of overlap where we can go between the two domiciles and pack/move/clean to our hearts content (or two weeks goes by, whichever comes first). Want some good news? The mortgage has been approved and locked in at a rate of 6.125. Back to the magic number from earlier in the year! We were able to swing this lower rate because I qualify as a "moderate income" shlub. Fine by me. Any special program that saves me money is worth it. Label me a waddleflap for all I care, just as long as my bottom line is happier.
The next step is to get do the title search (another expensive proposition that really only takes some clerk 10 minutes + a phone call) and get the house insured. I'll be going through NJ Manufacturers who currently insures our cars. I might even get a break on the car insurance. Once these two things are done we only have to wait until the 30th and the closing. I'm still waiting for a shoe to fall on me, but so far all is looking good!
Speaking of shoes... this past weekend I donned my running shoes & imported my Mother from North Carolina to run in the Ocean Grove Biathlon. I do it pretty much every year and had been training for about two weeks to make sure I didn't embarrass myself. Well, the end result... I finished last. Or first. Depends on how you look at it. You see, the race was the 21st not the 28th as reported by this website:
http://www.njlaws.com/calendar_of_community_events.htm
Why I chose to look at that site instead of all of the others that told me the race was on the 21st is beyond me. I guess it wasn't meant to be and that I'm supposed to run the Neptune City 5K this Saturday instead?
Maybe I will... maybe I will...
Orignal From: On houses, runs & general silliness.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Simpsons Movie! I'm on the internet within minutes....
Movie Review:
The Simpsons Movie - 2007 - 20th Century Fox
Plot:
Homer's tom-foolery has grave repercussions for the entire town of Springfield. Can he win back the trust of his family, his friends & his town? No spoilers here. You've seen the trailers so you know the basics anyway. D'ome!
Characters:
They plugged a cast-of-thousands and might have hit the mark. Every single character from the show's 18 years supposedly makes an appearance and I can't say I had the eyes fast enough to notice them all (especially in the large mob scenes) but all of the more common characters (Even Maggy) at least had a single line. They even dragged in some of the reoccurring guest stars like Joe Mantagna for two lines for Fat Tony. No Sideshow Bob however.
What's Different:
This isn't the 22 minute show. They have the luxury of slowing down the pacing, putting in more scenes without dialog & allowing timing jokes to work correctly. The animation itself is the new fangled enhanced 3d-ized stuff with highly detailed backgrounds & special effects that you wouldn't ever see on a Sunday. They didn't resort to old gags either. You wont hear Bart say "Eat my shorts!" or see Maggie fall down. You will see plot essentials like Homer choking Bart & Marge hiding stuff in her hair, but hey, you can't reinvent the show just to make a movie, right? You also get to see them take "Itchy & Scratchy" to the next level, Homer flashing "The Bird" & a bit more about how Otto spends his downtime. Can't do that in syndication!
Things to watch for:
I'll have to see it again (and probably again) but there weren't as many site-gags as I expected. A lot of what I would write about here would be "note which character's torch goes out in the lynch mob scene" but I didn't see a lot of stuff like that. I would have died laughing if it was Gil's torch that fizzles but alas, I wasn't hired to write the movie. I'll give you this though: Watch for the ambulance from Season 2's Bart the Daredevil (Aka Springfield Gorge Aka episode 7F06). In the episode Homer ends up trying to jump Springfield Gorge on Bart's skateboard. He doesn't make it and tumbles horribly down the rocks into the gorge. He's lifted out on a gurney and loaded into an ambulance. The ambulance IMMEDIATELY crashes into a tree and Homer rolls out, still strapped into the gurney and proceeds to tumble back down the gorge. Hilarity then and a fantastic call-back now. Oh, and stay tuned all through the credits. ;-)
Final Words:
I enjoy going to cult-following movies the first day because all of the other freaks are there with me. People applauded at the end and a guy was actually dancing in the isle during the credits. You might be too late to get the same kinda crowd that I enjoyed but the bottom line is this: Not everyone there was a die-hard Simpsons fan and they laughed, cried & enjoyed the ride. They left as happy as the fan-boys and that's the hardest thing to pull off. The Simpsons Movie entertained the masses while somehow not letting the hardcore fans down. Thumbs up!
Heh. I saw his doodle.
Orignal From: Simpsons Movie! I'm on the internet within minutes....
The Simpsons Movie - 2007 - 20th Century Fox
Plot: Homer's tom-foolery has grave repercussions for the entire town of Springfield. Can he win back the trust of his family, his friends & his town? No spoilers here. You've seen the trailers so you know the basics anyway. D'ome!
Characters:
They plugged a cast-of-thousands and might have hit the mark. Every single character from the show's 18 years supposedly makes an appearance and I can't say I had the eyes fast enough to notice them all (especially in the large mob scenes) but all of the more common characters (Even Maggy) at least had a single line. They even dragged in some of the reoccurring guest stars like Joe Mantagna for two lines for Fat Tony. No Sideshow Bob however.
What's Different:
This isn't the 22 minute show. They have the luxury of slowing down the pacing, putting in more scenes without dialog & allowing timing jokes to work correctly. The animation itself is the new fangled enhanced 3d-ized stuff with highly detailed backgrounds & special effects that you wouldn't ever see on a Sunday. They didn't resort to old gags either. You wont hear Bart say "Eat my shorts!" or see Maggie fall down. You will see plot essentials like Homer choking Bart & Marge hiding stuff in her hair, but hey, you can't reinvent the show just to make a movie, right? You also get to see them take "Itchy & Scratchy" to the next level, Homer flashing "The Bird" & a bit more about how Otto spends his downtime. Can't do that in syndication!
Things to watch for: I'll have to see it again (and probably again) but there weren't as many site-gags as I expected. A lot of what I would write about here would be "note which character's torch goes out in the lynch mob scene" but I didn't see a lot of stuff like that. I would have died laughing if it was Gil's torch that fizzles but alas, I wasn't hired to write the movie. I'll give you this though: Watch for the ambulance from Season 2's Bart the Daredevil (Aka Springfield Gorge Aka episode 7F06). In the episode Homer ends up trying to jump Springfield Gorge on Bart's skateboard. He doesn't make it and tumbles horribly down the rocks into the gorge. He's lifted out on a gurney and loaded into an ambulance. The ambulance IMMEDIATELY crashes into a tree and Homer rolls out, still strapped into the gurney and proceeds to tumble back down the gorge. Hilarity then and a fantastic call-back now. Oh, and stay tuned all through the credits. ;-)
Final Words:
I enjoy going to cult-following movies the first day because all of the other freaks are there with me. People applauded at the end and a guy was actually dancing in the isle during the credits. You might be too late to get the same kinda crowd that I enjoyed but the bottom line is this: Not everyone there was a die-hard Simpsons fan and they laughed, cried & enjoyed the ride. They left as happy as the fan-boys and that's the hardest thing to pull off. The Simpsons Movie entertained the masses while somehow not letting the hardcore fans down. Thumbs up!
Heh. I saw his doodle.
Orignal From: Simpsons Movie! I'm on the internet within minutes....
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Moving Right Along...
Wow! What a difference having a motivated seller makes when trying to buy a house! We're out of Attorney Review, have the inspection planned for later this afternoon & a mortgage company picked out. My goodness, this could actually happen this time!
Unless the inspection reveals gremlins in the appliances & a troll in the basement anyway.
So I'm glad we're finally progressing but I'm pissed that I missed the boat on good interest rates. The first time we had pre-approval for a loan our rate was 6.125%. The best we could do now is 6.5%. If you don't care to do the math I'll do it for you: 0.375% amounts to $54/month or $19,370 over the term of the loan. I choose to look at it this way: lawyers and bankers have already cost us over $20,000 and we haven't even closed yet. Thanks!
Here's the thing: I won't forget this. The plan right now is to leave the state (and the law specifying that lawyers are mandatory) for the next house purchase and go somewhere cheaper. I don't intend on taking a loan for that next house. If things work out Banks will never see another dime from me. I'm not just bitter because of the whole "buying a house" fiasco either. Many years ago First Union dropped a fee on me for not holding a minimum balance. They took my remaining few bucks, bounced a few of my checks and then didn't tell me for a week during which time I bounced another check. It cost me around $60. Why did I let it drop below the "minimum balance" you ask? Because in the agreement I signed with the bank that was purchased by FU there was no minimum. They simply usurped my bank, changed the rules and reaped the benefits of fees on all of the "legacy" accounts. Thanks!
I pointedly chose the word Usurp above. I look at banks as the new monarchy. Did prior monarchs rule because they were regal & just? Of bloody course not! They ruled because they had all of the money! In the end they could afford to pay the military to keep people in line and for really thick/tall walls when they stepped over that line. The only difference is the banks can't tax us directly. Or can they?
When it comes time to close the deal on the new house I need to hand over the down payment. The banks refuse to take cash or a personal check. I can only hand over a Certified Check or make a Wire Transfer.
The Bank charges me $12 & $15 dollars for each respectively. I smell taxation. Where's my representation?
Orignal From: Moving Right Along...
Unless the inspection reveals gremlins in the appliances & a troll in the basement anyway.
So I'm glad we're finally progressing but I'm pissed that I missed the boat on good interest rates. The first time we had pre-approval for a loan our rate was 6.125%. The best we could do now is 6.5%. If you don't care to do the math I'll do it for you: 0.375% amounts to $54/month or $19,370 over the term of the loan. I choose to look at it this way: lawyers and bankers have already cost us over $20,000 and we haven't even closed yet. Thanks!
Here's the thing: I won't forget this. The plan right now is to leave the state (and the law specifying that lawyers are mandatory) for the next house purchase and go somewhere cheaper. I don't intend on taking a loan for that next house. If things work out Banks will never see another dime from me. I'm not just bitter because of the whole "buying a house" fiasco either. Many years ago First Union dropped a fee on me for not holding a minimum balance. They took my remaining few bucks, bounced a few of my checks and then didn't tell me for a week during which time I bounced another check. It cost me around $60. Why did I let it drop below the "minimum balance" you ask? Because in the agreement I signed with the bank that was purchased by FU there was no minimum. They simply usurped my bank, changed the rules and reaped the benefits of fees on all of the "legacy" accounts. Thanks!
I pointedly chose the word Usurp above. I look at banks as the new monarchy. Did prior monarchs rule because they were regal & just? Of bloody course not! They ruled because they had all of the money! In the end they could afford to pay the military to keep people in line and for really thick/tall walls when they stepped over that line. The only difference is the banks can't tax us directly. Or can they?
When it comes time to close the deal on the new house I need to hand over the down payment. The banks refuse to take cash or a personal check. I can only hand over a Certified Check or make a Wire Transfer.
The Bank charges me $12 & $15 dollars for each respectively. I smell taxation. Where's my representation?
Orignal From: Moving Right Along...
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Mighty Ericles Cache Spree of Summer 2007!
On June 23rd I hit a cache in the parking lot of a Cabelas in Pennsylvania. The next day I hit one in Reading, PA on my way out of town. The day after that I snagged a tricky puzzle cache after work that I had finally solved earlier in the day. I had a mini-streak going but didn't think much of it. I relaxed and allowed it to lapse the next day. Well, I planned to.
Out of the blue WWWW planted one near my place of employment and I ran out to try for FTF. I ended up 2nd, but the streak continued. Several times I quit but then I would just happen to take the scenic route home from work and oops! I did it again! FTFs are what really preserved the streak though... I've nabbed 5 in the past 4 weeks. Considering I only had 3 in the previous 5 months I think that's one seriously lucky streak!
Lucky? Maybe. It's hard not be superstitious in caching but I felt as though the streak was somehow charmed. I found everything I looked for without much trouble. Granted, I didn't really go after the 5 star caches, but I picked off a few harder ones without trouble. I even found an unlisted benchmark! All of that changed when I got greedy with the 1st-to-find honors and picked up 2 in one day. After that my luck turned and half of the caches I looked for were simply not there. I managed to continue the streak for 2 more days but another trip to Reading this past weekend and a DNF up on a Neversink Mt. sunk the streak. I planted a new cache while I was there so I didn't think it was a complete loss until I got home, logged my DNF and realized that there was another cache only 350 feet from where I hid mine! It's currently "temporarily disabled" for maintenance which is why it didn't show up on my listing but I can't activate mine while that one is there. D'oh! I even dropped a coin in there as a FTF prize and now it's stuck until the other cache either goes belly up or I make the pilgrimage to get the cache back. Double D'oh!
So, am I cursed? Nah. I'll just let a few others grab the First honors for a while and go back to enjoying destination caches for a while. In the end my streak stats look like this: 28 days, 44 physical finds (5 FTF) & 2 events.
Not bad for something I basically started by accident. This will be my last attempt at a streak until I move to a completely new area. I pretty much wiped out my neck of the woods. :-)
Friday, July 20, 2007
My brain hurts!
This week marked the official return of the Eyegraine. For years I talked to doctors & headache people and even an optometrist and nobody had any idea what was wrong with me. Finally, in the past 5 years or so I've started seeing information on what I now know is the Cluster Headache. In the same family as the Migraine headache, Cluster Headaches differ in that they are usually isolated to a specific area - usually behind the left temple or eye and show up for months at a time sometimes several times a day and then stop for months. For me at least the individual headaches last from 15 minutes to an hour. I get the sensitivity to light & smells and all that lovely pain. Although they can just come on whenever they wish they can be triggered by stress, low-oxygen trance-like computer programming & pheromones (like the perfume counter at the Boscovs). I'm currently in a cluster cycle and getting a headache once or twice a day unless I'm able to abort it before it goes full blown. Actually aborting a pending C.H. is tough. By the time I feel it coming on (they have an "aura" much like a migraine) it's too late to pop pain pills that might take a half hour to kick in. Caffeine helps but suffers the same time delay problem as pills and has the side effect of messing with my sleeping which can actually cause a cluster cycle to begin. No, for me there's only one way to get rid of a C.H. - Adrenaline!
I wish (oh how I wish) I had learned the secret sooner, but the best way for me to kick a headaches ass is to kick my own ass. Grab the running shoes and sprint out the door or drop and knock out 50 push-ups or spend a few minutes fighting the heavy bag. Jump rope, squat thrusts, sex, it all works and it's all good! Some research suggests that result is due to the increase in oxygen in the blood, but as I've personally seen an elevated heart rate & tried deep breathing techniques without relief, adrenaline is the only way to go! Its not always convenient to have sex or do squat thrusts while at the office though but I've found my ways around the problem. I used to walk up/down 16 flights of stairs while I was working at Spiewak. I've pulled off the highway and ran laps around the parking lot. I've dropped to do push-ups in the mall. I'll do whatever it takes because an Eyegraine in full bloom is heinous!
So if you see me absentmindedly rubbing the back of my neck or left temple, it's Cluster Time and you should immediately scream "What's your major malfunction soldier Oh, does your head hurt? DROP AND GIVE ME 40!"
Headaches. They're all in your head anyway.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_headache
http://www.clusterheadaches.com
http://www.ouch-us.org
Orignal From: My brain hurts!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Minor cosmetic changes
You probably wont notice, but I changed the site in a primarily cosmetic fashion. The headers are more along the lines of my color scheme & each posting has category icons now. It's all done through the style sheets & custom code to do the icon things. No plug-ins for me, man! Custom code all the way! I'll eventually make better icons but for now I'll do with what I have. Enjoy! Or don't! Whatever!
Orignal From: Minor cosmetic changes
Orignal From: Minor cosmetic changes
Monday, July 16, 2007
New House - New House
It's a new new house although it's only new to us. You see we got tired of being dicked around by the previous sellers' attorney and bank (Adios Banco Popular!), ixnayed the deal, made a bid on a new dream home and as of this very evening have a signed contract. We're back in attorney review - but this time with real people who want to move out. We even have a closing date. The house is in Keyport, NJ right off of Treasure ("Yarrr! X marks the spot!") Lake and a 2 minute walk from the bay.
Sorry, no pictures this time. I'm not going to jinx it. I will send you a linksie or three though!
Google Maps Sat View
Zillow's House Page w/Birds Eye View
City Data for Keyport, NJ
I'll provide more info as things get settled!
Orignal From: New House - New House
Sorry, no pictures this time. I'm not going to jinx it. I will send you a linksie or three though!
Google Maps Sat View
Zillow's House Page w/Birds Eye View
City Data for Keyport, NJ
I'll provide more info as things get settled!
Orignal From: New House - New House
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Happy Independents Day!
Independence is a grand thing but too many folks around the Fourth of July mindlessly celebrate by drinking, blowing things up and watching Will Smith movies without remembering from what they happen to be independent. No, I don't mean The Redcoats. The British are not coming back and it's time to lay down those arms. No I mean a generality of being without dependence as an individual. I mean more along the lines of the definition from the Oxford English Dictionary:
• adjective 1 free from outside control or influence. 2 (of a country) self governing. 3 not depending on another for livelihood or subsistence. 4 not connected with another; separate. 5 (of broadcasting, a school, etc.) not supported by public funds.
On the Fourth of July 2007 I celebrated my own personal lack of outside controlling influence by not buying a Dunkin' Coolata, watching TV or going to see the Transformers Movie. I proved myself self-governing by deciding to sleep in and not take a shower until mid afternoon. I depend not upon another for livelihood! (I made my own ball-park franks & "peace, pasta & parmesan" mac & cheese) I may be connected to my wife, but we did our own thing almost all day. We even have our own separate cats. Oh, and though I did enjoy the benefits of some public fun I do not enjoy the benefits of any public funds.
I think for myself, feel my own emotions & do not buy into propaganda. I pay my taxes, vote my conscience & hate how all the fireworks I heard yesterday were made in China. I'm proud that an American is once again the hot-dog-eating-champ but sad that comic book writers killed Captain America and the final Sopranos episode was filled with thinly veiled political rhetoric.
It seems lots of folks have lost their pride in America. Maybe I just have too much faith or maybe I can't let go of the dream because my name is right there in the middle of the word America for goodness sake. Whatever the reason I hold out hope that more Independents will emerge. They'll turn off The News, crack a book and think for themselves. They'll see the big picture. They'll run for office. They'll win. Congress will be filled with Independent Thinkers and a new square peg who just doesn't fit into the old system will toil in the oval office every four years.
But that's a ways away... first things first! Before you can take pride in your country, start by taking pride in your back yard, your children & most importantly: yourself. See yourself independently of how others tell you how you are supposed to look. Work independently of the limitations others have prescribed for you. Think independently of the groupthink others have thought for you. Be your own person for God's sake! Or, failing that, be your own God for man's sake. Have pride in yourself and everything else starts to fall in line like so many ducks in a row at a Cheney family reunion. Start now and by this holiday next year you too can celebrate Independent's day and nobody will ever be able to take that away from you.
Orignal From: Happy Independents Day!
independent
• adjective 1 free from outside control or influence. 2 (of a country) self governing. 3 not depending on another for livelihood or subsistence. 4 not connected with another; separate. 5 (of broadcasting, a school, etc.) not supported by public funds.
On the Fourth of July 2007 I celebrated my own personal lack of outside controlling influence by not buying a Dunkin' Coolata, watching TV or going to see the Transformers Movie. I proved myself self-governing by deciding to sleep in and not take a shower until mid afternoon. I depend not upon another for livelihood! (I made my own ball-park franks & "peace, pasta & parmesan" mac & cheese) I may be connected to my wife, but we did our own thing almost all day. We even have our own separate cats. Oh, and though I did enjoy the benefits of some public fun I do not enjoy the benefits of any public funds.
I think for myself, feel my own emotions & do not buy into propaganda. I pay my taxes, vote my conscience & hate how all the fireworks I heard yesterday were made in China. I'm proud that an American is once again the hot-dog-eating-champ but sad that comic book writers killed Captain America and the final Sopranos episode was filled with thinly veiled political rhetoric.
It seems lots of folks have lost their pride in America. Maybe I just have too much faith or maybe I can't let go of the dream because my name is right there in the middle of the word America for goodness sake. Whatever the reason I hold out hope that more Independents will emerge. They'll turn off The News, crack a book and think for themselves. They'll see the big picture. They'll run for office. They'll win. Congress will be filled with Independent Thinkers and a new square peg who just doesn't fit into the old system will toil in the oval office every four years.
But that's a ways away... first things first! Before you can take pride in your country, start by taking pride in your back yard, your children & most importantly: yourself. See yourself independently of how others tell you how you are supposed to look. Work independently of the limitations others have prescribed for you. Think independently of the groupthink others have thought for you. Be your own person for God's sake! Or, failing that, be your own God for man's sake. Have pride in yourself and everything else starts to fall in line like so many ducks in a row at a Cheney family reunion. Start now and by this holiday next year you too can celebrate Independent's day and nobody will ever be able to take that away from you.
Orignal From: Happy Independents Day!
Friday, June 29, 2007
Health & Fitness: Mid Year Update
We're half way through the year and my Resolution was to do 10,000 pushups this year. I resolved to run a 10K & do 10K pushups. Yeah, I know but crazier things have been promised on party nights, believe-you-me. Fortunately most folks forget these promises.
Anyway, I use my running log to keep track of the pushups and I'm on target for my goal. As of this writing I have pushed 5230 ups and run 85 miles including my first ever 10K. The race was all trails & all hills. I finished and ran every step. I even managed to do 35 pushups that day.
I started doing my pushups in sets of 15 and increased the amount by 5 every month. Since it is June I'm supposed to be doing 40 at a clip but I usually do 2 sets of 20 or just some other number that works for me at the time. I've done as many as 45 at a time but I think I've plateaued as they haven't been getting any easier for several weeks now.
If you could only do one "muscle" exercise, pushups should be that exercise. They hit your triceps, pectorals, deltoids and most of your trunk for support. Do them fast to get the heart rate up or do them slow to feel the burn! My Dad always did pushups and credits them for retaining good upper body strength well into his 50s. That's all well and good, but I need a challenge. A few years ago I researched the training to become a NJ State Trooper and noted that a requirement was to do 45 pushups in 2 minutes. Well, I didn't intend to become a cop, but I made sure I could do the required pushups. They've since changed the test to a point based system rather than a flat number. Oh well. I'll just have to make sure I can do all of the 'maximum point' exercises on their new list!
Know what the hardest thing about the pushup challenge has been so far? That month where the vacuum cleaner was busted and I ran out of clean patches of carpet. Yech!
Linky: NJ State Police Physical Qualification Test
Orignal From: Health & Fitness: Mid Year Update
Anyway, I use my running log to keep track of the pushups and I'm on target for my goal. As of this writing I have pushed 5230 ups and run 85 miles including my first ever 10K. The race was all trails & all hills. I finished and ran every step. I even managed to do 35 pushups that day.
I started doing my pushups in sets of 15 and increased the amount by 5 every month. Since it is June I'm supposed to be doing 40 at a clip but I usually do 2 sets of 20 or just some other number that works for me at the time. I've done as many as 45 at a time but I think I've plateaued as they haven't been getting any easier for several weeks now.
If you could only do one "muscle" exercise, pushups should be that exercise. They hit your triceps, pectorals, deltoids and most of your trunk for support. Do them fast to get the heart rate up or do them slow to feel the burn! My Dad always did pushups and credits them for retaining good upper body strength well into his 50s. That's all well and good, but I need a challenge. A few years ago I researched the training to become a NJ State Trooper and noted that a requirement was to do 45 pushups in 2 minutes. Well, I didn't intend to become a cop, but I made sure I could do the required pushups. They've since changed the test to a point based system rather than a flat number. Oh well. I'll just have to make sure I can do all of the 'maximum point' exercises on their new list!
Know what the hardest thing about the pushup challenge has been so far? That month where the vacuum cleaner was busted and I ran out of clean patches of carpet. Yech!
Linky: NJ State Police Physical Qualification Test
Orignal From: Health & Fitness: Mid Year Update
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Showered with photos!
My cousin David & his wife Asami are expecting the first Great Grandchild in my family and the Baby Shower was this weekend. It was my first "shower" and the new thing is that everyone attends, including the guys. I didn't mind so much because the shower sort of doubled as the wedding reception they hadn't been able to have at the time.
Quick summary: Lots of folks from all sides of the families. Good eats. A cake made out of diapers. A real cake with little "booties" on it. A gifting ceremony with many a "Awwwww!" from the audience. Tons of photos.
I'll spare you the bandwidth by not posting the shots here, instead I'll upload them to the photo gallery.
Click here to see my shots of the shower.
Congrats to David & Asami on becoming parents!
Congrats to Tiff on becoming an Aunt!
Congrats to Dave & Bev on becoming grand parents!
Congrats to Nana on becoming a Great grand parent!
Orignal From: Showered with photos!
Quick summary: Lots of folks from all sides of the families. Good eats. A cake made out of diapers. A real cake with little "booties" on it. A gifting ceremony with many a "Awwwww!" from the audience. Tons of photos.
I'll spare you the bandwidth by not posting the shots here, instead I'll upload them to the photo gallery.
Click here to see my shots of the shower.
Congrats to David & Asami on becoming parents!
Congrats to Tiff on becoming an Aunt!
Congrats to Dave & Bev on becoming grand parents!
Congrats to Nana on becoming a Great grand parent!
Orignal From: Showered with photos!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Hillary Clinton & the Sunny Palace
Apparently I'm the only only blogger writing about Mrs. Clinton's visit in the Garden State last night. Here's the story:
I'm out on a date with my wife at the eatery of her choice: Sunny Palace featuring fine Chinese cuisine. We pulled into the parking lot which was just packed and were surprised to find the one section vacant except for a police cruiser which was just pulling out, one limousine and one black SUV. None of this seemed too odd but I wondered if there was a private party and I wasn't allowed to park here. Sure enough, while I was futzing with the radio I heard a wrapping on my window, rolled it down and was greeted with a secret service badge. The conversation went like this:
Man with badge: "Could you stay in your car for a moment sir."
Me: "Sure. What's going on?"
Man with badge: "Hillary Clinton is in the building."
Me: "No kidding."
Man with badge: "Just stay in your car until we leave the lot."
So we did. While waiting I took the opportunity to notice the extra pair of American flags that had been draped here and there. After about a minute they pulled away. We went inside and found a festive atmosphere of post-rally enthusiasm. Mrs. Clinton had been garnering support (for or from) Asian Americans and there were bumper stickers and buttons all over. A bus load of supporters had been carted in from DC & professional musicians from... violin world? It must have been a real gala event. Hopefully Hillary has finally make up for prior mistakes. Not that I blame her. It seems the Asian American community might be getting oversensitive.
Once the hubbub died down we found a table and enjoyed a good meal. Heather ran into a student of hers having a birthday party and learned that we missed an opportunity for photos with the former first lady. Oh well. I would have had way too much fun with that photo anyway. My dad would have had a coronary. ;-)
But it was good to see Capital Hillary again. Well, the back of her getting into a limo anyway. I had seen her speak once before while I was in high school and she was plugging for her hubby while he was still in the primaries in 1992. That's nearly half my lifetime ago already. I feel old! Good thing I chose to open my fortune cookie last night...
Orignal From: Hillary Clinton & the Sunny Palace
I'm out on a date with my wife at the eatery of her choice: Sunny Palace featuring fine Chinese cuisine. We pulled into the parking lot which was just packed and were surprised to find the one section vacant except for a police cruiser which was just pulling out, one limousine and one black SUV. None of this seemed too odd but I wondered if there was a private party and I wasn't allowed to park here. Sure enough, while I was futzing with the radio I heard a wrapping on my window, rolled it down and was greeted with a secret service badge. The conversation went like this:
Man with badge: "Could you stay in your car for a moment sir."
Me: "Sure. What's going on?"
Man with badge: "Hillary Clinton is in the building."
Me: "No kidding."
Man with badge: "Just stay in your car until we leave the lot."
So we did. While waiting I took the opportunity to notice the extra pair of American flags that had been draped here and there. After about a minute they pulled away. We went inside and found a festive atmosphere of post-rally enthusiasm. Mrs. Clinton had been garnering support (for or from) Asian Americans and there were bumper stickers and buttons all over. A bus load of supporters had been carted in from DC & professional musicians from... violin world? It must have been a real gala event. Hopefully Hillary has finally make up for prior mistakes. Not that I blame her. It seems the Asian American community might be getting oversensitive.
Once the hubbub died down we found a table and enjoyed a good meal. Heather ran into a student of hers having a birthday party and learned that we missed an opportunity for photos with the former first lady. Oh well. I would have had way too much fun with that photo anyway. My dad would have had a coronary. ;-)
But it was good to see Capital Hillary again. Well, the back of her getting into a limo anyway. I had seen her speak once before while I was in high school and she was plugging for her hubby while he was still in the primaries in 1992. That's nearly half my lifetime ago already. I feel old! Good thing I chose to open my fortune cookie last night...
"You will have a long and healthy life."
Orignal From: Hillary Clinton & the Sunny Palace
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Eagles Tickets Ain't Happening
My teams are the Eagles & Dolphins. Yeah, I know you can't have two, but I can. I'm special that way! Bliss would be going to a game and watching both teams at once. The trouble is they're in different leagues and they only play each other every 4 years. To make it more complicated, they alternate home teams. That means they only play in Philly every 8 years. They WOULD have played a game 5 years ago, but there was a shuffling of divisions in 2002 and the Dolphins getting two home games in a row. They played in 2003 in Miami. This year they play in Philadelphia!
Tickets went on sale at 10 AM today for all of the Philadelphia Eagles home games and I was ready with Internet & Phone. I had juiced up on caffeine and laid out my credit cards in front of me. I was READY. A few minutes before 10 I started dialing the phones (plural) and hitting Refresh on my stripped-down-for-speed Internet Explorer (in 3 windows). The phone continually told me that all circuits were busy. The Internet told me tickets were not yet on sale. The phone continued to tell me all circuits were busy. Suddenly the Internet told me tickets were available! I told it to give me 4 "best available" seats and clicked the Next button. They told me that to prevent fraud I should tell them what is displayed in the graphic shown above.
The graphic couldn't be displayed in my stripped down corporate IE session.
I failed.
All circuits were still busy on the phones but I had Firefox ready to go with a quick refresh. I tried only 2 tickets, filled in the Captcha "KISSING" & waited. A screen popped up telling me I had a 5 minute wait. Then it went to 7 minutes. Then 15.
It took about 6 minutes until the site came back like this:
So once again I have failed to get tickets. This does not mean I will fail to see the game. It just means that it will cost me 3 or 4 times as much. Good thing Pennsylvania has that law that limits what a scalper can charge for the ticket! Good thing scalpers can charge a $200 "convenience charge" to get around that!
Hmmm. That's a pretty clever idea. I wonder where the scalpers got that idea? (Hint: Ticketmaster).
So out I go to look at the low-life scum suckers who are already selling tickets. They'll sell me end zone seats for 400% what they paid AND they'll charge a $50 "service charge" on top of that. Nice, huh?
Long story short, I'll have my tickets to this game one way or the other and then I'll never see another professional sporting event in Philadelphia. Tickets are out of reach for the common man. I only hope that Adobe gets kickbacks from Ticketmaster because not loading the flash player probably cost me $1000 today.
Eagles Tickets sell out in six minutes
Orignal From: Eagles Tickets Ain't Happening
Tickets went on sale at 10 AM today for all of the Philadelphia Eagles home games and I was ready with Internet & Phone. I had juiced up on caffeine and laid out my credit cards in front of me. I was READY. A few minutes before 10 I started dialing the phones (plural) and hitting Refresh on my stripped-down-for-speed Internet Explorer (in 3 windows). The phone continually told me that all circuits were busy. The Internet told me tickets were not yet on sale. The phone continued to tell me all circuits were busy. Suddenly the Internet told me tickets were available! I told it to give me 4 "best available" seats and clicked the Next button. They told me that to prevent fraud I should tell them what is displayed in the graphic shown above.
The graphic couldn't be displayed in my stripped down corporate IE session.
I failed.
All circuits were still busy on the phones but I had Firefox ready to go with a quick refresh. I tried only 2 tickets, filled in the Captcha "KISSING" & waited. A screen popped up telling me I had a 5 minute wait. Then it went to 7 minutes. Then 15.
It took about 6 minutes until the site came back like this:
| Your request Is not available | ||
| There were no tickets available that matched your request There are several things you can try:
| ||
| Return to Event Page | | |
So once again I have failed to get tickets. This does not mean I will fail to see the game. It just means that it will cost me 3 or 4 times as much. Good thing Pennsylvania has that law that limits what a scalper can charge for the ticket! Good thing scalpers can charge a $200 "convenience charge" to get around that!
Hmmm. That's a pretty clever idea. I wonder where the scalpers got that idea? (Hint: Ticketmaster).
So out I go to look at the low-life scum suckers who are already selling tickets. They'll sell me end zone seats for 400% what they paid AND they'll charge a $50 "service charge" on top of that. Nice, huh?
Long story short, I'll have my tickets to this game one way or the other and then I'll never see another professional sporting event in Philadelphia. Tickets are out of reach for the common man. I only hope that Adobe gets kickbacks from Ticketmaster because not loading the flash player probably cost me $1000 today.
Eagles Tickets sell out in six minutes
Orignal From: Eagles Tickets Ain't Happening
Monday, June 11, 2007
NJ Tour Update
Since I last posted my Geocaching update I've nearly finished the tour of 21 counties.
5/27/2007 - Essex has fallen! (South Mountain Reservation)
5/29/2007 - Union is no more thanks to the Wachung Reservation.
6/03/2007 - Passaic has been conquered. (High Mountain)
6/10/2007 - Cumberland has been assimilated. (Union Lake)
6/10/2007 - Gloucester has fallen into The Blue Hole.
This week I'll be finishing off Ocean County and visiting the house we're trying to buy in Jackson all in one fell swoop.
Here's the official link to my Tour De Cache log page so you can follow along with all the exciting action!
After this I'm going to to for all 50 states, then every country, then every continent! Ok, maybe not. What I'll probably do is take a long vacation... one that doesn't have me driving all over the state in holiday/weekend traffic. :-)
Ocean Country here I Come!
Orignal From: NJ Tour Update
Saturday, June 09, 2007
You can bank on it. . .
Can we buy a house? Maybe. We set yesterday, June 8th as the day for the seller's bank to provide feedback regarding the short sale (yes, no, or stage of process). The bank showed some progress in making up their minds, but no decision has been made yet. The seller's attorney had all kinds of problems zeroing in on the correct person to talk to at the bank but with that mission accomplished things started moving a little. An appraisal has been ordered and all the bank needs now is a gob of paperwork and documents from the seller. This could be a problem if the necessary documents are/were in the house and therefore scattered to the seven winds. The bank was requiring work history, pay stubs, tax records, etc. Considering the house was in foreclosure... well, draw your own conclusions on that status of financial records. I'm hoping a lack of paperwork stands on it's own as proof that the bank should sell to us. Of course, lack of paperwork might just look like incomplete paperwork and more delays. *sigh* As of this time we agreed to a two week extension. I'll post more as I learn more.
Orignal From: You can bank on it. . .
Orignal From: You can bank on it. . .
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
My name is mud mask
My wife just attacked me with a mud mask. Here I sat ready to type out a blog about human nature and mountains when she slides up and starts smearing "warming" mud on my cheek. Then my chin. Next thing I know it's EVERYWHERE and she says it's detoxifying and I say it's smelly.
What have I become.
I just had a look at myself in the mirror and I feel a little better. It just looks like I'm smeared over with vasoline. Not that being covered in vasoline makes me feel more masculine, but at least I don't look like I'm supposed to be in a spa commercial. Yaurgh. I'd rather have coins on my eyes than cucumbers.
Ok, so anyway... as I've been Geocaching all over the state the past few weeks a pattern emerged that I had been noticing subconsciously my entire life....
Every time I crested a hill and found a nice high place with a view... I also found a fire ring. At first I wondered about the paleolithic remnant of our brains that insists that mountains need fire. Then I realized that even Mountain Men like to enjoy the view now and again, but male bonding isn't possible without Beer or Fire or - better yet - Beer AND Fire. Then I reflected on the Mountain Boys who had been up here recently and had the same problem but instead of two guys toting a faggot of firewood up the hill, these two boys carried spray paint and wrote "faggot" on the rocks. I can only assume this was in brash defiance of the feeling that "if my friend's hand brushes mine one more time I'm going to grab it and if he doesn't pull away I'll squeeze his hand tight in mine for the rest of my life"...
My mind tends to wonder while I wander.
Of course the truth of the fire-rings has nothing to do with human nature.
Orignal From: My name is mud mask
What have I become.
I just had a look at myself in the mirror and I feel a little better. It just looks like I'm smeared over with vasoline. Not that being covered in vasoline makes me feel more masculine, but at least I don't look like I'm supposed to be in a spa commercial. Yaurgh. I'd rather have coins on my eyes than cucumbers.
Ok, so anyway... as I've been Geocaching all over the state the past few weeks a pattern emerged that I had been noticing subconsciously my entire life....
Every time I crested a hill and found a nice high place with a view... I also found a fire ring. At first I wondered about the paleolithic remnant of our brains that insists that mountains need fire. Then I realized that even Mountain Men like to enjoy the view now and again, but male bonding isn't possible without Beer or Fire or - better yet - Beer AND Fire. Then I reflected on the Mountain Boys who had been up here recently and had the same problem but instead of two guys toting a faggot of firewood up the hill, these two boys carried spray paint and wrote "faggot" on the rocks. I can only assume this was in brash defiance of the feeling that "if my friend's hand brushes mine one more time I'm going to grab it and if he doesn't pull away I'll squeeze his hand tight in mine for the rest of my life"...
My mind tends to wonder while I wander.
Of course the truth of the fire-rings has nothing to do with human nature.
That is where the space ships land. Obviously.
Orignal From: My name is mud mask
Friday, June 01, 2007
Almost The End of an Era
If you don't touch your website on Geocities for a few ages they disable the account. I hadn't touched My Original Website since the late 90s and it (finally) went disabled! Fortunately I somehow managed to remember my username and password and re-activated the site.
I realize now that I was really bummed about the site going down. At the time I was quite proud of my creation. I self-taught myself HTML before there were guides online or books in the stores. I created all of my own graphics from scratch pixel by pixel. More importantly, it was Mine. The worst part is that I realized I don't have the site archived anywhere, Google doesn't have it Cached any more and even the Wayback Machine doesn't have a working copy. I thought it had really vanished for good this time.
Well, web historians needn't worry because this scare has set me right. I'll be archiving the site on the Ego Surfing page and my personal hard drive ASAP so that future generations shan't be deprived of the worst website in the history of the World Wide Web!
Orignal From: Almost The End of an Era
I realize now that I was really bummed about the site going down. At the time I was quite proud of my creation. I self-taught myself HTML before there were guides online or books in the stores. I created all of my own graphics from scratch pixel by pixel. More importantly, it was Mine. The worst part is that I realized I don't have the site archived anywhere, Google doesn't have it Cached any more and even the Wayback Machine doesn't have a working copy. I thought it had really vanished for good this time.
Well, web historians needn't worry because this scare has set me right. I'll be archiving the site on the Ego Surfing page and my personal hard drive ASAP so that future generations shan't be deprived of the worst website in the history of the World Wide Web!
Orignal From: Almost The End of an Era
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