Monday, May 31, 2010

Recap

Yesterday we spent most of the day at Sea World, we visited the hotel's ginormous pool, and then Jen and I went out for an anniversary dinner at the top rated independent steakhouse in the country, Charley's in Kissimmee. It was a fantastic day.

Today we are heading to Animal Kingdom for another great day.



Sunday, May 30, 2010

Monster Moron?

I just need to know...

Why would you do that to a perfectly good truck?




Anniversary Cake

Our Hotel Has a Lake





I'm Never Leaving This Place

Our hotel room is insane. The whole trip is a success based soley on the balconies. Litteraly the suite is bigger than our apartment.

We checked in at about nine last night after two days and 1482 miles.

We have to do some shopping for the couple of things we forgot to pack, and then later this morning we are going to Sea World.

The painful, difficult part of the trip is over for now (until Friday) so our job between now and then is to have tons of fun.

This is a crappy picture of the view from our bedroom balcony. If you look close you can see Epcot.





One Year

One year ago today, on May 30, 2009, I married the love of my life. My best friend and the source of all things that truely make me happy. Jennifer, in other words.

Today is our first anniversary. I love her more today than ever before.

Thank you for an amazing first year babie. I can't wait to see what comes next!

Happy anniversary!



Saturday, May 29, 2010

Here

In the hotel parking lot after driving 1482.0 miles.


Side window video

One more for now.

Back Window Video

The kids and I are in the back back seat. They are sleeping. I tried
without any luck so I took a couple of "travelin'" videos.

Putz Alert

Is the woman driving the vehicle behind us from Pennsylvania? Because she sure drives like an asshole.




For Larry

Larry asked if I'd seen any 1980's Baltimore Orioles hats (it's an inside joke based on the movie Highlander).

No, but I've seen an Orioles logo.




Road Trip Day Two

We stayed overnight in Ashland, VA. With Pennsylvania long behind us.

We hit eight states. NH, MA, CT, NY, PA (grrrrrrrr), MD, WV, and VA.

We still have a little more than half the distance to travel, but we are on route 95 for the duration.



Friday, May 28, 2010

Virginia

We have entered the Confederate States of America (formerly, of course). Virginia is for lovers so Jenny and I should fit right in!




West Virginia

Entering West Virginia! (blurrily... Stupid bump)




Entering Maryland!

Entering Maryland is the polite way of saying escaping the cesspool that is Pennsylvania!





Quick Highway Video

It's 9:32 PM. We are in heavier traffic than we had through most of
rush hour, complete with tailgating and weaving tractor-trailers and
complete jackasses stradling the two lanes.

Route 81 continues to suck royally.

Route 81 can Suck It

We stopped near the start of a traffic jam. Someone at the gas station told us that the traffic was more or less stopped for about 15 miles and suggested an alternate route. That route took us through the worst looking depressed rural areas imaginable, including roads that were barely paved. We kept expecting to see the characters from Deliverence. On top of all of that, it put us two hours behind schedule (although probably still ahead of where we would have been if we'd have toughed out the gridlock). To top it all off, when we were back within site of the highway we got stuck at a Memorial Day parade route road block. Insult to injury? Route 81 in PA can just suck it.


Travelin' Pics

A couple of travelin' pics.

Am I out of control?

Yes, yes I am.

The love of my life is driving.



An attempt at a passenger side mirror self portrait of some fat guy.



Hey jerk in the white pick up, I don't care how far up our ass you tailgate us, we aren't giving you any Doritos!



Welcome!

Jen is driving so I can handle the really important stuff, like taking camera phone pictures of state signs.



We hit a bumb as I took this.

Road Trippin'

Exciting views from the road!

Our one MA pit stop.



Our rooftop luggage carrier.



Our NY pit stop.




After the NY pit stop we had to turn away from the highway due to traffic on the side street. Jen picked a random parking lot to turn around in.

It was a strip joint.

I tried to get a picture but I was a touch too slow.




What to do?

What should we do today?

Oh, I don't know... How about a good hefty road trip?

Great idea!



Thursday, May 27, 2010

Strep Throat is No Deterrent!

Strep throat is no deterrent to our travel plans! Some heavy duty antibiotics for a few days and POW! Journey restored. My step-daughter is feeling much better today. Not 100% yet, but majorly improved.

We've still got a little time to get stuff together, but the packing and the shopping and the preparations are well under way. Now if the damn day would just get here!

The Memorial Day holiday weekend is almost upon us and the increase in police activity on the roads was all the proof I needed. Also the confused traffic was a sign. With the exception of one interchange, the highways were pretty clear. The back roads were moving nicely, but still there were long back ups in a couple of places. It felt like a Friday in places... but felt like a Thursday in others.

Jen is working from home today. I wish I were working at home today. I also wish I were working at home but taking my lunch, dinner, and breakfast at Kimball's. I could eat me some ice cream today.

And there, dear readers, is the pointless, meandering, drivel filled, comma filled, post for this morning.

Pull Over!

Do you think the cop is just rehearsing for the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend traffic violation bonanza?




Rt 2

Nothing like a repair crew on a highway at 8:30am.




Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Question?

Is this the face of a commuter bored to tears by his fourth cycle at a stop light whose cycle is two minutes long?



Yes, yes it is.

Warren the Ape: DUI

Warren the Ape gets pulled over for DUI. (not the first time, I'm sure.)



I can't wait for this show, even though it's being on MTV pretty much guarantees it's going to be awful.

Some Pictures from Sunday's Wedding

Okay I have made a command decision. Pictures taken at the site of Mike and Yvonne's wedding, Dockside Restaurant in York, ME, that do not include anything actually related to the wedding can be posted here. Pictures that are wedding related (ie have the kids in them) are heading to the private page.

The site of the wedding was an island, so there was water all around. Unfortunately there was also a ton of fog for parts of the day. Fortunately it rolled out for the ceremony before rolling back in as the reception was ending. Good timing.



Even with the fog, the views were still pretty great.
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Although visibility was greatly reduced.
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When Jen and I buy a house on the ocean (or any other significant body of water) we are totally getting chairs like these.
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I'm a big fan of the pier, the dock, and all of the boats.
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Here's another view of those two chairs that we will have in our yard when we live on the ocean.
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I was going for the flag in this one. Obviously.
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I didn't want to ignore the boats mored away from the dock.
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Flowers are always good to photograph, right?
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These are different chairs, but just as cool.
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After the ceremony the fog had thinned enough to let us see the other side of the water. Like this lucky stiff's private dock.
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If I were to buy a boat it would be simple like this. Just big enough to float with my huge ass parked in it.
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Sun on the shore, fog on the water.
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If not for the courage of her fearless crew the minnow would have been lost.
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Later in the evening my step son and I braved the rocky shore for some quality time throwing smaller rocks into the water. We alternated between seeing if we could skip the rocks and trying to make the biggest splash possible.
2010-05-22 and 23 Ocean and Mikes wedding 394

Back to the other side of the island.
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Yup, it was wet.
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I like gazebos.
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More to come on the other page.

The Atlantic Ocean in Pictures

This weekend I had two opportunities to take shit-tons of pictures. The big one was Mike and Yvonne's wedding on Sunday. On Saturday though I got to sneak in a few pictures of two of my favorite models. The Atlantic Ocean, and Jen.

We took the scenic route up to Jen's mom's house in Rochester. We hit the water (figuratively, not literally) just at the northern tip of Hampton Beach. We pulled over at a scenic view pull out somewhere in Rye, NH. I tried to save the spot on my phone via a GPS application but the coordinate it saved was actually in Saco, ME. About an hour away. Nice job, GPS.

Here's a few pictures...
2010-05-22 and 23 Ocean and Mikes wedding 001

Have some rocks. Not exactly a beach spot, but it was beautiful. We could have used more sun though.
2010-05-22 and 23 Ocean and Mikes wedding 006

Never pass on an opportunity to get a picture of a sail boat in action.
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We've decided we are going to buy this house.
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This was laying on a rock next to the road. Note the foreground in focus and the background blurred. Hell yes Robbie can pretend he knows what he's doing!
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Again, foreground in focus and background out of focus.
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And now we see my absolute favoritest model in the whole wide world. My wife. My love. My Jenny.
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Love ya, sweetie!
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The wedding pictures will end up on the private page soon. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow. There are a lot of pictures, but I have cut out the bad ones. We'll see them eventually.

Tonsils

Okay, according to wikipedia (and if wikipedia says it then it must be true) tonsillitis does not automatically require a tonsillectomy.

Also, strep throat only requires a couple of days worth of resting and medication and then you're free to go about your business again.

whew

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Ice Cream

I think this happens every year, but Boston.com has a story listing the best ice cream places in New England.

Notice how the first one it shows you is Kimball's. There's a reason for that.

Click here for the story.

BTUs BABIE

I just got back from a department store. You know, the one with the bullseye for a logo? I walked in the door with one thing on my mind. BTUs. At least 5,000 of them. Yes, kids, I was air conditioner shopping. My wife proved her exceptional bravery by letting me go shopping by myself. (thanks honey!)

Fortunately, they only had two models in the store. One was 5,000 BTUs. I could feel the cool air just thinking about it. The other... the other... woah... the other was 6,000 BTUs. That's like, a whole thousand more BTUs. Being the bigger-is-better type of person (I am 6'5" tall after all) I went with the 6,000 model. I can feel the frosty air. I can see myself snuggling up against my wifey for warmth while wrapping the huge blanket around us. Sweet! (dig the alliteration on the letter 'w' there. I don't think I've ever done that before!)

On a totally unrelated note, my office building is shared between my company and another company. The other company is a major player in the wireless phone/data network business. You know them. They are the ones that many Apple fanboys and fangirls often burn in effigy. Anyway, there are two ways to spot the people who work for the other company. One is to look at their ID badges and see that they are different from ours. The other is to look in their ears. If they have a blue tooth headset sticking out of their noggin then they probably work for the other company.

Now I think my eyes deceived me earlier today. I was walking to my car and I think... stress think... that I saw a guy in the garage who had a blue tooth ear piece in one ear, and a cell phone up to his other ear. Almost... like... as if... he was... you know... using two cell phones at the same time. That's a new one for me. I've never seen such a display of awesome coolness before.

Now again, my eyes may have been playing tricks on me. It is so common to see people with ear pieces that maybe my brain was just expecting to see something and was fooled when it wasn't there. Trust me, it's very easy to fool my brain.

Still... two cell phones at once.

Tuesday

Well the Stanley Cup Finals match up is set. Here's the schedule:

2010 STANLEY CUP FINAL
Date
#2
West
vs.
#7
East
Network
Saturday, May 29 at Chicago, 8 p.m. NBC, CBC, RDS
Monday, May 31 at Chicago, 8 p.m. NBC, CBC, RDS
Wednesday, June 2 at Philadelphia, 8 p.m. VERSUS, CBC, RDS
Friday, June 4 at Philadelphia, 8 p.m. VERSUS, CBC, RDS
*Sunday, June 6 at Chicago, 8 p.m. NBC, CBC, RDS
*Wednesday, June 9 at Philadelphia, 8 p.m. NBC, CBC, RDS
*Friday, June 11 at Chicago, 8 p.m. NBC, CBC, RDS

After the first two rounds my predictions were a paltry three correct, and nine incorrect. After the third round I am a still very crappy 5-9. I picked Chicago because the San Jose choke was imminent... I was certainly right about that one. I picked Philly because I hate Montreal only slightly more than I hate the Flyers. I was right about that one too, but winning sort of feels like losing in this case.

Now for the main prediction: I pick the Blackhawks. Big fricken surprise there, huh?

Last night I picked up my step daughter at her softball game. She was awesome, as usual. After that it was a McDonald Land Dinner followed by... Air Conditioners!

I installed two of them, one in each kid's room, and tried installing a third in our room but it was too big for the window. We'll remedy that somehow. Probably with a lunch break trip to Target or something.

There is still such a long way to go before the trip to Florida. It's painful having it so close yet so far away. I want to go NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW! (I think I might have mentioned that before)

It's hot and muggy and I'm tired, despite a great night's sleep last night, so I am going to cut this one off right here.

Go Blackhawks!
Go Florida!
Go Mickey Mouse!