Archive for the ‘Family & Friends’ Category
Monday, May 12th, 2008
Yeah, I keep saying I am going to run to Home Depot to get the mailbox stuff, but I just haven’t found the time yet.
I feel like I’ve been stuck inside for days…wait, that’s because I have been. I am doing so much stuff. Unfortunately, it’s all at the same time. I take breaks to rake leaves, which, by the way, are all finished in the front. I even sweat a bit. You should have seen the bugs swirling around my head.
I have a list for the next time we go to the Depot. I need a new mailbox. I am thinking green would be nice. I am going to get a nice traditional post, like many others on the road. I am also going to pick up some more Thompson’s Water Seal (with UV protection). I am going to treat the entire post, from top to bottom. Then, I am going to dig a nice deep hole and actually use cement way down deep. If it’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s having a crooked mailbox post. I know how they get crooked…it’s because of the snowplows slamming snow against them all Winter. With my installation, I am going to try to beat the plows.
I also have to get a 5 gallon plastic gas container for the ride-on lawnmower I plan on getting towards the end of the month. Right now, I only have a push mower and that’s not going to work so well up near the road. The kind neighbor offered to mow up in that area when she does hers. I thought that was nice. I explained to her that I really don’t want to be “that guy” who just moved in and now the grass is too high.
My brother came over yesterday for a visit. He works up North of Hartford, so it was only a 28 mile trip for him. I thought that was pretty cool. We went for a walk down into the woods and then down the nature trail. Then, we got the dog and walked up the road to the dead end. I wanted to show him all the nice houses. It’s good that he is so close now because we can hang out more. I keep offering to make him dinner, but he wants to keep eating in restaurants. One day…
I am planning on taking down the basketball hoop that is set up near the driveway. I offered it to my brother and he accepted. It’s in very good shape. I’m just wondering how deep that sucker goes into the dirt and how much cement they used as the footing. It may be a long day of digging.
I’ll show you some pictures of the new mailbox when I get it in.
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Friday, April 18th, 2008
Laura and I were down in Tuckahoe, NY last night and decided to visit “The Olde Stone Mill” restaurant. The reason I had interest in this restaurant is because we saw it during the last season of Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey. This is one of our favorite reality shows because it shows different types of leadership and gives me many ideas for great recipes. Gordon isn’t much of a vegetarian lover, but perhaps someone will guide him to see the light one of these days. I suppose many good chefs have meat on their menus. Oh well. Nonetheless, he is quite entertaining.
We basically drove by and stopped so Laura could grab a photo. This restaurant is in a really great part of town and looks very nice. I am not sure it was open when we drove by, but I’m glad the lights were on. It was kind of late at night.
Earlier in the evening, on our way down to Westchester, we hit a lot of traffic on the Hutch so we had to trust my new and awesome best friend…my GPS to guide us through the neighborhoods of Bronxville, Scarsdale and Tuckahoe. I have to say, I fell in love. What a damn nice area. The culture of hardworking people with money is soooo different than those…well, let’s just say their hard work is paying off. I really enjoyed driving through those roads and looking at the pride people take in their properties. A lot of labor and elbow grease can give great results. There were beautiful houses with great landscaping. I should’ve taken more photos for ideas. Maybe we will go back.
One area I really loved was Weaver Street in Scarsdale. It’s pretty “in there” and I would definitely need my GPS again to find it, but what an area. We also went to Eastchester, so we saw a lot.
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Saturday, March 1st, 2008
Ok, ok, I’m here. Yes, it did take me a little while to get to this, but I am quite happy to oblige. My dear friend Paul, over at the infamous Homeowner’s Blog was kind enough to include me in his “You Make My Day!” post. I knew I would squeeze in there somewhere.
I have an issue with this whole thing (leave it to me). The official rules are telling me to list 5 blogs that I really read. What if I only read 2 and then throw in another one every once in a while? Oh well, I guess that’s the way it’s got to be. Here goes…
1. The Henry Family Blog – The blog is owned and operated by my sister Stephanie and her manly husband Steve. It’s not too old…I think under a year, but it certainly is getting there. They talk about all sorts of stuff and sometimes I grace them with a comment.
2. Homeowner’s Blog – This is Paul’s blog. I read this one when I am done reading the blog I listed above. There is some good stuff in there, but he doesn’t nearly talk about me as much as he should be. Once a post would be nice.
3. Sun Volt Solar Blog – I read this one every so often. I know the guy who runs it, so I have an in to the latest in the energy front. Even though I don’t believe in renewable energy, I do get a kick out of what he writes. HAHAHAHA, just kidding. I believe in renewable energy.
So, there you have it. That’s all I got. I read some more blogs, but none as much as I read these. Here are the rules, so Stephanie and Steve better write about me:
The obligatory rules that go with these sorts of posts are…
The ‘you make my day award’ works like this:
1) Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think and/or make your day.
2) Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3) Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news!
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Friday, February 29th, 2008
Today was another busy day. I spent a good majority of the day organizing things online. I would tell you what they are, but I have this thing about telling people my secrets. Oh well. I will say that I find it simply amazing that I am able to wake up every morning of my life and work on the computer for at least eight hours straight. Mind you, those are the days I have nothing to do. Oh, I just love looking at the clock as it reads 3PM and realizing that I have been sitting here since 7AM.
As I get older, I find myself focusing on my “physical” self more than I used to. I always try to sit up straight in my chair, so I don’t get a bad posture, like I have been warned about when I was a kid. I also recognize that I need exercise these days. When I say need, I mean “need.” I mean, I am in good shape, but as anyone gets older, I think they become more aware of these things. I also feel my eyes going to hell. When I was a kid, I used to pride myself on not wearing glasses. Well, the years of staring at this monitor has taken its toll, I’m afraid. Last year, I bought computer glasses to help take the strain off my eyes. These days, I find myself having to focus a heck of a lot more. I can actually feel my eyes getting tired. People say that you should get up every so often to give your eyes a break. They say that you should look out the window every once in a while so your eyes can focus on something else, other than your computer screen. I do that, but I am just hoping that one day I will make enough money to pay someone to do my work for me as I sit in a chair behind them, telling them what to do.
So, what’s new in life…I guess it’s just day to day stuff. As I work, the cats take their turns using my lap as their bed. I am not working on adding any more websites to my portfolio…well, I had to pop a new one in there, I just couldn’t help myself. This is the year of marketing. I haven’t focused on that portion of the business all that much in the past few years, so it might be something I should do to boost the $$$. I believe I can do a very good job with that in the next ten months.
I also have been making beer, if you haven’t noticed. I think it’s a pretty rewarding thing to do. Paul came over to pick up ten bottles for a party he is having tomorrow. He is going to get back to me with the consensus. I hope he likes them.
Since I have been in college, I have been looking for the perfect place to live. I have learned that it’s pretty useless looking on the internet for that perfect town. All it takes is one lousy picture of a town to ruin everything. On to the next perfect town with that one lousy picture, and so on. I think the only way I am going to make it is to get an “anchor” house somewhere up north, with another smaller home in the heat for weekends in the Winter. I have also learned that the perfect town may not even exist anymore. Back in the day, there was a quiet little main street somewhere in Indiana that you could walk up and down for the rest of your life. Now, you have to worry about tornadoes and the Wal-Mart they are putting up at the end of the block. You might think I’m kidding, but look around. The most pristine places are very unaffordable. So the quest goes on.
On Monday, Laura and I are making a trip to Washington, CT. We are going to have lunch at the Mayflower Inn. A few years ago, my mother got us a gift certificate for the Inn that we used for a perfect Valentine’s Day dinner. It was one of the nicest places on earth. We were thrilled with the little antique town, but it was kind of dark on our way in. We really want to see it during the day. You would be surprised what the Connecticut hills have to offer, for a price. I’ll let you know how it goes. YouTube certainly needs a video or two of Washington, CT.
It just started snowing. Laura proposed another walk in the snow. Who am I to say no? I have a feeling I will be putting my boots on at midnight again. I do want to say that I am getting a little tired of the snow. Every time I think the driveway will be clear for a few days, it snows. I admit that it keeps things exciting, but enough already. It’s been a snowy Winter. The next week looks warmer with the temperatures above freezing. Also, the sunset is much later now, so that January depression has lifted. Now, the sun is going down close to 6PM. In March, we set the clocks ahead, so that should be fun. I am going to try to really soak up the seasons this Spring, Summer and Fall. I think they are worth it.
Wow, what a post. This might actually be what blogs are for. I guess I have to write some real stuff when I am not busy buying things and writing about them. Hey look…it’s another cat on my lap. I think they are doing laps now. This one is Sexy Boo.
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Saturday, February 16th, 2008
This morning, the nice UPS man dropped off a little package for me at the door. This has been a busy week for him, because I ordered four things. It’s not my fault, I just keep coming up with these great ideas.
In case you were curious, he dropped off the webcam I told you about in my last post. I was fairly excited to hook it up, but since the whole webcam thing happened yesterday, I already knew what to expect. The webcam I ordered was the Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000. Here are the features as per the Logitech website:
* Carl Zeiss® optics: Get more detail and clarity from Carl Zeiss® optics. Logitech’s glass lens designed in collaboration with Carl Zeiss®, the global leader in camera optics.
* Premium autofocus: Your images stay razor-sharp, even in close-ups.
* HD video: Video calling and sharing has never looked so real at 960 by 720 pixels.
* Higher megapixel performance: A true two-megapixel sensor. Up to eight-megapixel* photos (enhanced).
* RightLightâ„¢2 Technology: Adjusts intelligently to produce the best possible images in dimly lighted or poorly backlighted settings.
* Integrated microphone with RightSoundâ„¢ Technology: Enjoy crystal clear conversations, free from echo** and annoying background noise.
* Ultra-wide field of view and intelligent face tracking: Keeps you right in the middle of the action.
I installed the software and hooked it up. I went through all the setting and then plugged in the USB cord (of which ports I have run out of). Then, I saw myself…about 20X more clear than yesterday. Wow. The lighting is really good as compared to the lighting yesterday. The clouds may have caused that. This one is two megapixels and has a nice microphone. It was built just for the purpose I am going to use it for…talking to James.
Now, I am just waiting for Stephanie to call me so I can try it out live.
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Friday, February 15th, 2008
This is pretty neat. The other day, I was fooling around with my laptop. I noticed that it had a built in webcam, but had no idea how to use it. There didn’t seem to be any program associated with it.
I emailed my sister, Stephanie, and asked her to look into this because she has a very similar laptop. We got them at about the same time (I am actually writing a post from it for the first time). A few days later, she told me she figured out how to use the webcam. She said any program that needed it would automatically use it. Cool, I thought.
Around the same time I was fooling around with the webcam, I downloaded and installed Skype. I told Stephanie about it and she downloaded it as well. Basically, (if you aren’t familiar with what Skype is), Skype is a program that allows you to talk to a computer from your own computer. It also allows for video communication. I wasn’t having much luck trying to call Stephanie through Skype because she wasn’t logged in.
Today, I was just sitting there doing some work on my computer, when I heard this weird noise coming from my computer. It was sort of like a phone ringing. Then, I saw this box in the middle of my screen…it told me that Stephanie was trying to call. I clicked the green button to allow her to connect. I faintly heard Stephanie trying to talk, when I saw this little box pop up. It was a video of her and my nephew, James, sitting at the table looking at her laptop. They were waving and saying something I couldn’t hear. I starting laughing with such joy. I know that sounds lame, but it was really exciting. I started yelling at my computer, “Hey, can you hear me…CAN YOU HEAR ME???” She couldn’t hear anything, or see anything for that matter, so she ended the call. I didn’t have a webcam or a microphone on that computer. I instantly picked up the phone and called her. She answered and I started yelling, “I saw you. I saw you and James!!!” She was pretty damn excited. I got on my laptop and asked her to call back.
To make a long story short, we “video talked” about four times today. I got to see Steve, Steph, Storm, James, Matthew, my mother and my father. That was a thrill. I carried my laptop around the house and showed them all my stuff. All for free. Skype doesn’t charge for computer to computer calls. I think this is very cool.
Anticipating this, I already ordered a nice video webcam from Circuit City a few days ago. I am going to hook that one up to my desktop. I have to get a headset for that computer as well. I think this is going to come in handy when I have to talk to people from now on.
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Saturday, January 19th, 2008
Paul went shopping at a local beer place a few days ago and decided to surprise me with my favorite type of beer…Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout. I think that was very nice and thank you Paul. Mad props to you and your family.
The first time I tried this type of beer was about ten years ago, back in the old deli. Craig and I were feeling good on a nice Spring day. We walked into the deli to get some lunch and instead of getting our usual Gatorade, we decided to get two bottles of this Oatmeal Stout beer.
We waited to crack the caps off until we got up to the street we lived on…Hickory Drive that is. I think he probably had a pickup truck and if memory serves me correctly, we pulled down the gate and ate lunch while sitting on the back of the truck. Man, I can remember tasting this oh so sweet Oatmeal Stout. It instantly became my favorite, which is now tied with Guinness. Many people agree over at Beer Advocate. It gets very high marks.
I am going to dive into this sucker tonight and then have a nice night’s sleep on the new mattress.
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Friday, January 11th, 2008
The other day, Craig and I decided to meet for breakfast in Newburgh. I thought this was a great idea, because we haven’t seen each other in quite a while. He had to pick up some parts in the area, so it was easy for us both.
I had a pretty uneventful drive to the diner. I took Interstate 84 East and got off the Newburgh exit…right before the bridge. Once I was off the highway and rolling to a stop, I noticed someone standing at the end of the off ramp holding a sign. As I got closer, I realized it was…I am not even sure what to call it. Here, I took a photo…
I think he may have seen me taking a picture of him, but I couldn’t help myself. The sign he was holding read, “Homeless, please help.” Now, if I was a better citizen than I am, I surely would’ve pulled over to give him directions to the diner I was going to. I mean, if he looked to his right, he could’ve seen it. If I was an even better citizen, I would’ve gone to the diner and picked up an employment application and brought it back to him.
This whole thing got me wondering…how should a person respond in a situation like this? The first reaction for a lot of people is to get mad and blame the person for being in the position they are in. I mean, aren’t the rest of us working our butts of trying to make a living? How can we be expected to help someone who is in perfect working order (I mean, he was standing there and got to that spot himself) who we think isn’t trying as hard as us?
You know, when people are young, they are taught all sorts of stuff…one thing we are taught is to help people. If we listened to our parents, we all would’ve pulled over to help this person who saw standing there asking for help. Somewhere, sometime, as we were growing up, we all changed. Not many of us help all that many people anymore. Sure, if we know who you are, we will help, but not so much for strangers. I oftentimes think about what happened to us. Why don’t we help anymore?
One of the big things with me is anger with certain situations. I remember a few years ago, I was reading a newspaper and there was an article about “Habitat For Humanity.” This has always been one of my favorite programs. I did have a little tiff with them a few years ago though. As I was reading the article, I learned that the person these wonderful people built a brand new house for was a local single mother of three. There was a picture of her standing there in the driveway with her three children. Off to the side, was her boyfriend. He was a dirty looking, skinny fellow standing there…smoking a cigarette. Hmmm, that made me think. Mind you, this was after the big increase in the price of cigarettes. I thought about how nice it was that these people now had a nice house to live in. Then, I pictured that skinny little dirty boyfriend sitting in some donated loveseat, smoking a cigarette and maybe drinking a beer. That kind of peeved me because I am not sure if he had any blisters on his hands from helping with the construction of the house.
Perhaps, through the years, we noticed that more and more people who ask for help, do things in their lives that we don’t agree with (and cost money), such as smoking, drinking, drinking soda, eating potato chips, driving gas guzzlers, shopping at Wal-Mart for junk, etc…
I am not sure if I told you this story already. One time, I was in the local Hannaford buying some groceries. As I got in line to check out, I noticed a family in front of me using food stamps. I was thinking about how hard up these people must be to be using food stamps. To be honest, I don’t even know what food stamps are, but I do know you gotta be kind of hard up to use them. I thought I shouldn’t judge them. Then, I noticed what they had on that little conveyor belt. I saw all this name brand stuff. It all looked very appetizing. I looked down in my basket and noticed a bunch of Hannaford brand things. Wait, I did have name brand tofu. I guess that could make up for the name brand “oatmeal cream pies” they were buying on discount. Whatever. They left and I started putting my stuff on the conveyor belt. What I didn’t notice was that the father had left the store a few minutes earlier to pull the car up. I saw a minivan pull up and park in front of the store. I noticed the family walk toward and stop at the minivan. I noticed them put the groceries into the minivan. Then, I noticed that the minivan was only a few years old. I looked out past their late model minivan at my nine year old Honda Accord. I thought to myself, “Hey, the family using food stamps has a nicer car than me.”
I know, I know, I shouldn’t complain. Who am I to judge people who are in need, especially when they smoke and drive nicer cars than me? Well, at least they eat better than me too. Man, I feel myself turning into a conservative. I remember I read somewhere a few years ago, something like this, “If you aren’t a Democrat in your twenties, you are heartless. If you aren’t a Republican in your forties, you are an idiot.” If was something like that.
Well anyway, Craig and I had a nice breakfast. I left and he left. On the way home, I was on the phone with a realtor and Craig called me. I couldn’t pick up, so he left a voicemail. He told me that he saw the bum I was talking about. He said, “Hey, I just passed by your bum…he was drinking a beer.” Enough said.
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Sunday, December 30th, 2007
Laura and I went out for Sushi at the Panda House in Danbury, CT tonight. This Chinese/Japanese restaurant is, by far, our favorite Sushi place. We have been to quite a few Sushi restaurants, so we know what’s good and what is being charged too much for. Usually, we are getting ripped off…especially that place up on Rt.9 in Poughkeepsie. I am not going to name names, but if you have been there, you know they have some skinny Sushi. Nobody likes skinny Sushi.
Actually, we don’t get the Sushi, we get the Maki-zushi (roll).
Today is cause for celebration, so we wanted to go out to Dave & Busters down in the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack. They were calling for snow (which it is doing right now), so we had to call everyone to tell them to stay home. That was a drag. Then, we got an idea. Since we could go get Sushi much earlier than we were going to go to Dave & Busters, we may miss the snow. That was a good idea. As we were sitting in Panda House, enjoying our Sushi with two friends, it started to snow. It snowed all through dinner. I wasn’t all that nervous, because it looked like it was melting as it hit the ground. We were more than an hour from home, so it did concern me a bit.
We finished up dinner and left. We made it home in good time without event, except for that car going 30MPH on Interstate 84. We had a nice dinner too.
YEE HAWW
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Friday, November 30th, 2007
Goodbye, Au Revoir, Adios, Sayonara, Auf Wiedersehen, Bis Dann, Arrivederci, Hejdo, Ciao, Le’hitraot, Sampai Jumpa, Paalam, Zai Jian, Zoi Geen, Farvel, Namaste, Fir Melenge, Feri bhetaula and Do zobaczenia.
To the friends I have made over the past five years, I will miss you. I really will.
Anyway, until we meet again.
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TYSM I read this one and decided to try it out on my ACER (See, its not always HP with the problems)...