60 Please, no more weeks like last week

Last week was so incredibly stressful, I don't know if I could handle two of them in a row.

First, was finding out about Kevin, then Tuesday, finding out about my shoulder, then on Wednesday.... well, I went to the dentist for my usual cleaning, and the dentist found something out of the ordinary. He wants me to go to an oral surgeon for a biopsy on a lesion on my tongue.
When I told my wife about that last one, she went nuts with worry, not something I wanted her to do. My appointment is for a week from today.

SO..... lets hope for a better week this week huh!

Tomorrow is my first Physical Therapy appointment for my shoulder. I bet I'll be pretty sore after that.

Friday night, my friend Dave and I went out to dinner and a movie. We saw "Vantage Point", which was pretty good.

Saturday, I did a lot of work on stuff for the car club I belong to. I've probably posted it before, but here's the link to the club website that I do.

Sunday, we had our Wine Dinner for the wine group I belong to. Here's what was on the menu:

Hors D' Oeuvres:
Wine: Champagne and Mimosa's
International Cheeses and Crackers
Cut Vegetables with Dip
Antipasto
Vegetarian and Meat Crostinis

Appetizer:
Wine: Chapel Hill Angelica - Verdelho
Sweet & Sour Grilled Chicken with wilted Bok Choy

Soup:
Wine: Luna - Pinot Grigio
Roasted Tomato with Assiago Crostini

Salad:
Wine: Williamette Valley Vineyards - Pinot Noir
Panznalla, Marinated Flank Steak, Mescaline Greens, Toasted Chiabatta & Fresh Mozzarella with a Tomato Basil Vinaigrette

Intermezzo:
Lemon Sorbet

Entree: (choice of one)

Wine: Burgess - Merlot
Tenderloin of Beef, Blue Cheese Risotto with Broccoli
or
Wine: Faively Macon - Prisse
Swordfish with Strawberry Butter, Sweet Potato Hash and Vegetable Slaw

Dessert:
Wine: Fonseca - Port Bin 27
Cheeries Jubilee over Chocolate Cake

Everything was outstanding, with the exception of the dessert, which seemed to be chocolate cake topped with canned cherry pie filling. Quite a surprise after such a great meal.

Well, I have to run... have a wonderful day all!

59 Memories of Kevin

My Friend Kevin

I’ve been pouring over Kevin’s blog that he kept from the day he found out he had pancreatic cancer. I’ve had to read only a few posts at a time, or risk a complete breakdown in tears. It’s still incredibly difficult for me to grasp.

Kevin had a very good friend, Geoff Fox who is a meteorologist for a local TV station, who delivered the eulogy at his funeral. I read it on Geoff's blog. I feel Geoff and I could be/have been good friends, just from how we knew Kevin.

I guess you’d have to have known Kevin, to know why I feel this way. He was a very, very special person.

As I said in my previous post, Kevin and I, and a few other people used to go each year to the Trenton Computer Fest, on the grounds of Trenton State College. It was a long drive, about 4 hours each way, but we always had such a great time talking, wondering what the great deals were going to be, and so on.

One year, we went with a friend that had a very large Mercury Grand Marquis (there were 5 of us total), and just after leaving the computer fair, he had asked if someone else could drive as he was a diabetic and couldn’t see as well at night. Kevin offered to drive and noticed the brakes were kind of spongy, so after getting over the state line into New York, we stopped at a gas station and checked. Seems we somehow blew a brake line, but the intuitive McGuyver in Kevin crimped the offending brake line at the end, and we filled up the brake fluid and slowly limped home. Kevin drove us hundreds of miles, all the way to our cars in Thomaston CT, without ONCE touching the brakes! We were all amazed.. but Kevin pulled it off.

Every time someone in the HAM radio community was putting up a new antenna, or tower, Kevin was the first to offer his help. He climbed towers and trees like a kid (not me, I’m deathly afraid of heights) but he was excellent at this job.
As I mentioned, he was one of my "Elmer's" (people who help you into HAM Radio).

One of the funniest stories I know about Kevin, was when I helped him move from an apartment into his home.

The girls were young, and like all youngsters, their toys were all over the place. When it came time to pack their room, he gave them a time limit and said that anything that remained unpacked at that time would be bagged and given to needy children.

Well, when that time came, there were still toys on the floor, so bagged them we did! The girls cried, and he relented of course.. he was a creampuff of a dad, as he loved his little girls.

Another example, once I was at Kevin’s house, and I can remember him trying to show me something on his Commodore 64 (C-64) and he couldn’t fit the floppy disc (5.25” one) in the drive.

After closer inspection, it seems there was a comb stuffed in there! He called all the girls around and asked who fed the comb to the disk drive, and we could tell who, by the only one that looked at the floor after being asked. Kevin hugged her and explained (more patiently than I would have *LOL*) that we don’t feed combs to disk drives.

Kevin was a very, very lucky man. He had an incredibly wonderful and loving family. His wife Melanee, is as sweet as the day is long, and a wonderful mother. I’m sure Melanee would tell you she was lucky too, and she’d be right. Their love story is right out of a romance novel.

His 4 girls were Kevin’s pride and joy. Every time we spoke, he would update me on them, and you could hear the pride in his voice.

A few days ago, Melanee wrote me an email telling me not to feel badly that I hadn’t spoken to Kevin recently, as Kevin wouldn’t want me to feel that way (even though it’s hard not to).

I told Melanee I was sure of 2 things.

1. The second Kevin passed, he was in heaven. There was no waiting line for him. He was THAT great of a person.
2. That God wanted him, and only him for a very special purpose. One that nobody else could fill. For that reason, God brought him home.

I am absolutely positive of this.

I could tell you more, but I'm choked up as I write this. Maybe at a later date I can post more.

Out of reading Kevin's blog, and talking to his wife... I have come to the conclusion that I'm not going to wait so long to talk to friends. I'm going to try my best to pay forward some of the things he showed me.

Thank you for indulging me, and your very kind comments.
Dave

58 Silent Key, N1EPU ···-·-

In HAM radio, ···-·- (di-di-di-dah-di-dah) means "end of contact, end of transmission”.

I have 3 people really to thank for my current career in computers:

Steve Lynn, my best friend at the time, who showed me his father's Commodore VIC-20, and got me interested in it and caused me to buy my own, leading to many more computers.

Kevin Webster, who I met at a class on the Commodore 64, and talked me into teaching adult education classes "introduction to the Commodore 64" then on to many more classes on PC operating systems (from as far back as DOS 3, DOS 5, Windows 3.1.. etc) and classes of Computer Technologies.

Gary Warner, who took a chance on hiring me into my first IT job, knowing I had no prior experience other than what I learned on my own, and the teaching I did at a high school at night.

I'm going to skip past Steve and Gary for now.

After getting my Commodore 64, (we’re talking in the early 1980’s) with a whopping 64k of memory, I spent many a nights typing in programs from magazines, debugging them when they didn't work, and learning the BASIC programming language. At about that time, someone mentioned to me that Southington High School (SHS) in the next town over, actually had a class at nights on the C-64. I signed up, and the first night, I met the teacher, Kevin Webster, a very bright, happy-go-lucky guy who put everyone at ease. He was one year younger than me.

It turns out that what he was teaching was incredibly simple things that I already knew, and I ended up helping him teach, giving a hand to some people that truly didn't have a clue. We instantly became friends, and he asked me why don't I teach one of the classes, as he always had way more people signing up than slots available. He encouraged me, and offered his help in any way, including giving me a copy of his lesson plan, and coming to the first few of my own classes just to sit back and watch. I loved it. I ended up teaching computers classes for 13 years after that.

A bunch of people in the surrounding towns from me started up a Commodore 64 club, called BAUD, and at my request, Kevin joined. We heard from one of the C-64 magazines about an enormous computer show in Trenton, New Jersey and a few of us decided to make the trek of about 180 miles, leaving at about 4am. Kevin was the driver of this first trek, and we were like children in a candy store. The show was indeed massive, and we found our first "BIG" deal, a 2400 baud modem for $99 when at the time, they were normally up in the $200 price range.

We attended this Trenton show for about 6 years in a row, always having such a wonderful time, we were sad when it was over and looked forward to next year.

My wife and I at the time became friends with he and his wife, and 4 wonderful daughters, Leah, Ashley, Mallory and Marlene. We often joked about him living in a rent with one bathroom, and 5 girls! Soon after, I helped him move out of his apartment and into their own home.

Kevin was a HAM radio operator (N1EPU), as were a few people in the BAUD computer club. I was getting interested in it, and Kevin offered his help in any way he could, including practicing Morse code with me, and lending me his manual for the Novice class license exam.

Soon, I had passed the written test and Kevin had suggested I take the code test even though I hadn't memorized every letter yet (I had to be able to copy 5 words per minute, for 5 minutes).

I took the test, and passed. I was a HAM Radio Operator. 5 weeks later, I got a letter in the mail from the FCC granting me license KA1TBE. I instantly fired up my first radio that I had bought (used) and made 4 contacts. The first, was in Cuba, and the gentleman was so happy to have been my very first contact, he sent me in the mail not only his QSL card, but post cards from his area, and information on Cuba and his HAM club. The first person I called after my contact, was Kevin.

Less than a year later, I passed a written test for my next level HAM radio license, and got a new call, N1GUF.

Kevin and I, and a few other friends got together once or twice a year or so to do some HAM radio contests, and we always had a great time.

In the past 4 or 5 years, I hadn't heard much from Kevin, as he was very busy with work, he had daughters getting married, had a new grandchild.. the things that cause us all to be busy. The internet was quickly taking over from HAM radio as our primary interest.

Fast forward to Tuesday night (March 24). I got a call from my friend Dave (also a HAM), telling me that in the new issue of the magazine put out by the American Radio Relay League (home to HAM radio in the US), that N1EPU was a Silent Key. A Silent Key meant that the person had passed away.

I was astounded. I was in shock.

Even worse was when I found out he passed away on June 1, 2007, and I never knew. Kevin was very active in his church, and with helping kids. He was a role model for many. And he was gone. I felt a tremendous wave of sorrow and grief that I didn’t get to say goodbye.

I didn't sleep at all the night I found out. I keep wishing I had talked to him, known he was ill. I wish I could have told him what he's meant to me. What he's done for me. But it's too late. I spoke to his wife today (Tuesday), and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying on the phone. She told me of a blog he created, when he found out he had pancreatic cancer, stage IV. I started reading it, and was in tears. I want to read it.. to hear his voice in my head once more, but right now, it's too tough.

With that, I ask that you get in touch with an old friend you haven't spoken to in ages.  Ask how they’re doing. Remove barriers from the past. Break the ice.

Life is too short.

73's my dear friend.... (73’s = Best Regards in HAM radio parlance )

···-·-

57 - March Madness, I Love It!

Well, I'm hoping that my comments weren't working for Friday.. as I was pretty surprised to see nothing there tonight. (if you didn't see how my doctors appointment went, scroll down to post #56)

It's Sunday night as I write this, and while the UCONN men were knocked out in the first round (their point guard tore an ACL 9 minutes in), the UCONN Women are on right now, and ahead of Cornell by 41 with 10 minutes to go.

Friday, I had a bit of a "basketball party" at my house with my brother, my friends Ray and Dave and my wife and I to watch some basketball. I had plenty of munchies and beer and we all had a great time. Then our team lost.
Well... we still love basketball, so we keep watching.

Easter was nice, we had 10 people here, 2 hams, lots of great sides and a great time. Everyone had a great time, and went home stuffed and with some leftovers.
Our whole family loves ham, so we always make extra.

With that, I'm going to sign off as I'm pretty beat tonight, and need some rest.
Before I do, let me leave you with a small joke:

The CIA had an opening for an assassin. After all of the background checks, interviews, and testing were done there were three finalists — two men and one woman. For the final test, the CIA agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun.

“We must know that you will follow your instructions, no matter what the circumstances. Inside this room you will find your wife sitting in a chair. You have to kill her.” The first man said.“You can’t be serious. I could never shoot my wife,”

The agent replies, “Then you’re not the right man for this job."

The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about five minutes. Then the agent came out with tears in his eyes. “I tried, but I can’t kill my wife.” The agent replies, “You don’t have what it takes. Take your wife and go home.”

Finally, it was the woman’s turn. Only she was told to kill her husband. She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one shot after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman. She wiped the sweat from her brow and said, “You guys didn’t tell me the gun was loaded with blanks. So I had to beat him to death with the chair.”

Have a great week...

56 - Post Doctor Report

Well, this will be a short post, but the good news is I don't have a rotator cuff injury. What I do have is AC Arthrosis, while it's not as serious as the cuff injury, it's not completely without it's problems.

The doctor, upon examining me for a few minutes, had me get some x-rays (they have an x-ray room no more than 20 feet away), and he was able to see the pictures immediately. One of them, a picture of me from the chest up capturing both my shoulders, shows it very clearly (enough so that both my wife and I could see the difference plainly). I'm going to try to get ahold of that picture (the doctor I went to see was at where I work, the UCONN Health Center). The doctor said that x-ray was so good, that he's going to use it in training and presentations!
I also have quite a good size bone spur there.

So.. they set me up with some physical therapy that I start on April 1st, and if it gets worse he can give me a shot that would help.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Weekend....

55 - Europe Part IV

As we left Bruges, Belgium.. we headed  a short distance away to Brussels, a place I had visited on my very first trip to Europe for business (a co-worker and I went there for a long weekend). Brussels is a very beautiful city, and at some time, I'll have to tell you the story of my first visit there. It was quite hilarious.

The bad news was, the tour guide was a strict "time-nazi", and we had to just about run to one spot, then run to another, take pictures then rush back to the bus to leave. I was VERY upset over this and when the trip ended, I complained quite loudly to the tour company (Globus).

One of THE most beautiful places in Brussels, is The Grand Place, (at right) a center of town with incredibly old buildings. Click on any picture to 'embiggen'. The age of the buildings is staggering, but the condition is breathtaking.

We got a chance to quickly walk around The Grand Place before being rushed out.

The next picture, is very large when you blow it up, but I wanted it that way to show you how intricate the work is.

Some of the buildings are "town" buildings, one is a brewery (we all need one of those don't we), and one other is a museum.

Unfortunately, the shadows from it being still early morning kind of messed up the pictures.

Here's a link to a site with a great picture of The Grand Place. You can see that it just takes your breath away.
This is a 360 degree picture (you can spin it around) of the same place. They often sell flowers there, and once a year have a huge flower show that takes up the whole floor of the square.

From Brussels, we rode the bus again through Belgium, into Germany to the Rhine River where we boarded a riverboat for a cruise to see some beautiful castles. The trip took us from Cologne, to Koblenz, about 60 miles. Along the way, we say castles like this. The views were gorgeous and there were many vineyards along the hills near the castles.

The next picture, is of a castle right smack dab in the middle of the Rhine, that we were told was built by King Ludwig, who later built Neuschwanstein Castle, the most famous castle in all of Europe.

When the cruise ended in Koblenz, we boarded the bus again for a trip to Heidelberg, where we would spend the night. We were supposed to get to spend some time in town, where I was going to take my wife up to see Heidelberg castle which I've visited before, but the "time nazi" was all upset as we were a tiny bit late (under 15 minutes), so the best I could do was the following picture.

This is where I really started getting ticked off at the tour guide, and when we got to the hotel, I was online checking my emails from home when I saw he was waiting for me so he could get online, and I made HIM wait. I tried to talk to him about relaxing his timetable a bit, but (and no pun intended, he was German) he got all crazy about having to be on time to the minute. I gave up..

More when I can....

BTW, Thursday is my doctors appointment, so any nice wishes you can send along would be appreciated.

Not sure if there will be a Friday post.. as I'm taking both Thursday and Friday off.

With that, have a wonderful Easter this weekend.

Till the next wave........

54 March Madness... My Time of Year!

Yep, they picked the top 65 College Basketball teams in the country, and they start playing on Thursday (ok, there's a play-in game for the 65th team on Wednesday, but the real games start Thursday).

UCONN, my team, is a #4 seed, due to play the University of San Diego on Friday. Luckily, I have Friday off of work, and I'm sure a bunch of us will head down to the local sports bar and have some wings, beer and watch some hoops! I can't wait. It's my favorite sport and the best time of the year.

Friday night, we went to the casino, and met two friends of ours there (Gary and Debbie) and had a great dinner at "Big Bubba's Barbeque" there. After that, the girls went window shopping, and Gary and I went to play cards. We played, and talked, and had a great time. As we bid farewell for the night and headed back to our bus, I was up about $50. Not too bad for an evening of fun!

The rest of the weekend was spent just doing stuff around the house, visiting Mom.. the usual things.

That's it for today.... but oh... I almost forgot:

 

Happy St. Patricks Day!

53 Friday Night @ The Casino

Well, one thing you'll notice is I've started numbering the posts again (as I used to do in my former blogs), and next is that Friday night, my wife, mother, mother in law and I will be going to the Mohegan Sun Casino. It's a bus trip from the union where I work, and it should be a great time.

It's been a busy week, and I"m looking forward to a fun weekend. The bad news is, my UCONN Husky Men lost in their first game in the Big East Tournament. They have one more shot when they play in the NCAA Tournament beginning next Thursday.

Speaking of next Thursday, I have a doctors appointment with an Orthopaedic Surgeon to look at my left shoulder, as I've had problems with it for months. After looking online at the symptoms, it appears like I may have to have rotator cuff surgery. Not good.

In surfing the web this week, I saw this INCREDIBLE video of a 17 month old who can read! Watch the video till the end and you'll be amazed.

If anyone out there that reads this is using Microsoft Vista, you have to check out this web site! It's amazing and chock filled with information, hints, tips and how-to's.

I hope everyone noticed I posted a link at left to Merle's Third Try. She's a wonderful lady from Down Under (Australia), and I hope you check out her site.

And now, a funny for you all:

A woman and a baby were in the doctor’s examining room, waiting for the doctor to come in.

The doctor arrived, examined the baby, checked his weight and found it somewhat below normal. The doctor asked if the baby was breast fed or bottle fed.

“Breast fed,” the woman replied.

“Well, strip down to your waist,” the doctor asked. She did. He pressed, kneaded, rolled, cupped, and pinched both breasts in a detailed, rigorously thorough examination.

Motioning for her to get dressed he said, “No wonder this baby is under weight! You don’t have any milk.”

“I know,” she said, “I’m his grandmother, but I’m glad I came.”

Have a wonderful weekend!

More on Europe...

Well, when we last left the story, we had just left the White Cliffs of Dover (England) heading for Calais, France.

Once in Calais, we immediately board a bus for a trip to Bruges, Belgium.
Bruges is a beautiful small city, about 62 miles from our French port. We get there in plenty of time to look around this gorgeous city.

As you can see from the picture at right (click on any picture to 'embiggen'), Bruges is a typical Belgian city near the ocean with many canals. The water was clean, the buildings very old, and walking around was comfortable with temps in the 60's F.

Not long after we checked into our hotel, we ere out walking, exploring this old city. About a block away, there was a vendor working out of a small building selling one of my favorite foods I'd ever had in Europe, real Belgian Waffles. I smiled to my wife and said "oh, this you HAVE to try", and bought her one and watched as her

eyes got wide when she took her first bite of this light pastry from heaven. I got one for myself, and we walked slowly around the city.

Like most European cities, there's beautiful, small cobblestone streets, with quaint pubs and restaurants and little shops to poke into. Many of the buildings are medieval in architecture, and just ooze history. Being as we had some time to kill, we decided to stop and have a drink.

Well, you just HAD to know there'd be a picture of me like this.. *chuckling*.

Well, here I am having a beer at a nice Belgian ale house. (yes, my wife had a beer too, they're not BOTH mine!)

Now, below this, is one of my favorite pictures of Bruges.

 

 

In the center of town, there is a Market Square, with some incredible buildings surrounding it. We just walked slowly in awe at the age and condition of these buildings, and you're left wondering, why buildings in the US don't last so long. Of course, ever few feet I was taking pictures of this and that, my wife enjoying her first visit to Belgium, and me, my first visit to Bruges.

The picture at right is the 13th century "Belfry" building, housing a municipal Carillon comprising 47 bells. The city still employs a full-time bell ringer, Aimé Lombaért, who puts on regular free concerts.

When we left the Market Square, we went back to our hotel for one of many dinners that were part of the tour we were on. We had some typical Belgian foods, and by the time dinner was over, we took one more short walk around town, as at night, it's even more beautiful as during the day.

Such ended our trip to Bruges. The next morning, we would be leaving on the bus again for a quick stop in Brussels, then on to Cologne, Germany to get on a ship for a cruise down the Rhine River.

More on that another day.

Have a great Hump-Day all...!

Spring Forward, Fall Back...

Ok, so we all lost an hour of time last night (at least most of us in the U.S.). I tried to sleep a bit later today to make up for it, but my daughter called to ask if we could go visit my mom early, as she was tutoring someone at 11am. I'll sleep late next week I guess. *chuckling*

Today, after visiting mom, I spent some time online, then had a meeting of our car club here.

More about the European vacation Wednesday.

Yesterday, my friend Dave called me and asked if I wanted a free ticket to see part of the Big East Women's Basketball Tournament. Of course, the UCONN women weren't playing until today, but I went anyway as I'm always up for watching some good basketball, plus I know we can get very good seats for the early games as some of the teams were quite far away (like Louisville). Our friend TJ went too, and we had a great time. We got to sit only about 8 rows from the floor, and we were close enough to hear the coaches calling the plays.

Yes people... March Madness is HERE! *LOL*

Not much else to report on tonight, so I'll give you a few news items:

Here's a list of some very ODD college donations

Ok, if you wondered what The Addams Family looked like, I bet it was like this

Another of those really cool night time pictures of the Earth

That's it for now, have a great Monday

From Lion to Lamb

It was only 2 days after the snowstorm the first few days of March, when the temps already were up to 58 degrees. We actually had 2 days in a row up over 55, then a day of heavy rains in the high 40's. So, all the snow we got last Friday, is now gone. Again.

Back to our European vacation as promised.

 

As always, 'click on any picture to embiggen'.

Here's a picture of the Tower Castle, part of the story from Monday. It really is a beautiful castle, and it was an incredibly interesting tour.

We got to see many of the Crown Jewels in here, as well as some incredible stories, not only from our tour guide, but the Beefeaters too.

 

 

Here's a picture of London, from our hotel window.

Not too bad a view huh! This was from a Novotel hotel, downtown London. The city itself is very beautiful, with lots of color, and very friendly people.. and the best part is, we speak the same language! *LOL*

 

As part of a tour we took in London, we also got to see the Queen's Horse Guard. They were just coming right up the street near Buckingham Palace.

The gate across the street, was very ornate, with a beautiful gold piece on top. The Queen was in the palace that day, so there were no tours. Only when she's not available there, are there tours.

 

 

 

From just outside of the Tower Castle, looking to the East, this is what you see (this is my wife and I). That's the Tower Bridge, and it's absolutely breathtaking. If you notice the boat just to our right, it's a tour boat on the river and we took the tour late the afternoon into the early evening where I got some mostly blurry shots of things like the London Eye (big ferris wheel) and Big Ben (blurry) but I did get one good shot, of the Parliament building.

The boat trip was fantastic, and we got some beautiful sights, if not great pictures because of the moving boat and night time photography.

As I said, there is so much history in London, in such a small area, it's mind boggling.

The next morning, we boarded a bus to take us out of London, to the East coast city of Dover (ever hear of the White Cliffs of Dover?).

Well, here they are, along with a twin of the ship we took across the English Channel. A high-speed catamaran that was very luxurious, with leather seating, a fine restaurant. I was really enjoying this.

The boat took us across to the city of Calais, France, where we boarded another bus and headed to Brugge, Belgium for the night.

 

Well, that's enough of the story for today, more next week.

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Is There Such Thing as Worded Wednesday?

Ok, I wanted to continue with the Europe story, but there's lots of pictures too, and we're still not out of London yet! I'll continue with it on Friday. I promise.

After a cold weekend, Monday, it was up to 58 degrees out! It's teasing me I tell you.. it's teasing me! *LOL*
I just want to take my toy out... but, patience I guess.

My brother came over tonight, and I was showing him my playlist on YouTube (yes, you can watch music videos and save them to a playlist!)
Here's what my playlist looks like:

The Beatles - If I Fell (I just adore this song.. my fave Beatle song)
The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony (a new band to me, love them)
The Verve- Lucky Man (ditto)
Aerosmith - I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing (I think of my daughter when I hear this song)
Scorpions "Wind of Change" music video
Scorpions - Still Loving You
Men At Work - Down Under
nothing else matters - Metallica
Supertramp - Breakfast in America
The Clash London Calling Video
Jenny (867-5309) - Tommy Tutone
Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears for Fears
Emerson Lake & Palmer - from the beginning (some of the best guitar work ever)
Cheap Trick - Dream Police
Elton John - Empty Garden (Live)
Elton John - Tiny Dancer
Madman Across the Water - Elton John
Tower of Power- you're still a young man (holds very special meaning to me)
Santana w/ Tower Of Power - What Is Hip?
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters (Live) (different from earlier one)
Taylor Swift: Teardrops on My Guitar
Great White - Rock Me

What do you think?

Have a great Hump-Day All!!!

March, In Like a Lion...

Well, March 1st came in like a Lion. We got about 6 inches of snow on Friday night, making sure we still know we're in New England, where the weather changes by the minute. The snow wasn't going to start till after 9pm, so my friends Dave and Dan and I went out to dinner and a movie.
We went to see Jumpers, which was ok.. but way too short. When was the last time you saw a movie that was only 1 hour and 20 minutes long (short?)!

I give it a 3 out of 5, but it could have been much better.

Because of the storm, I never got to go to the computer show that I had hoped to on Saturday. Usually, when the weather's bad, most of the vendors stay away anyhow.
So, Saturday I stayed in and watched some great basketball (something I really enjoy), and watched a few things we had on DVR that we needed to catch up on.

I've been going through more pictures from my basement, but 99% of them are of the kids. I have found some though I'd like to share with you all.

They're from a trip my wife and I took to Europe back about 6 years ago. We had decided to take a tour from a large company (Globus), that visited 5 countries (The UK, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and France). We took this one, as it went to at least a few places I had been to before, that I wanted to share with my wife (Brussels, Heidelberg Germany and Paris France).

We started off in London, and I could tell already we would both LOVE it. There's more history in such a small area, than probably anywhere in the world.

Our first day in this beautiful city, we took a tour of The Tower Castle. One of the funniest stories I've ever heard happened on this trip. Seems there was a young (around 21) Asian lad on the tour with us, and the tour guide was very good explaining every place, item and nook and cranny to us. When he asked if there were any questions at the end of the tour, the young man asked "Who do you think was the most popular King of England"?
The tour guide thought about it for a moment, then said "I think it'd be George the VI", to which the young man said "Well, what about King Arthur".

I was biting my tongue to keep from laughing out loud, but the tour guide never missed a beat and said "Oh, he was popular too..." as he turned to walk away quickly while probably laughing under his breath.

Here's a picture of me, with a Beefeater, or a Yeowman Warder as they're called.

Click on the picture to 'embiggen'.

They're VERY friendly, and love to talk. We chatted for about 20 minutes, before we had to go.

While there, we go to tour the inside of the castle, where the Crown Jewels are kept. Some of the things in there are absolutely absurdly opulent, and unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures in there.

All in all, it was an outstanding tour. I had to though, ask the tour guide later how he kept from bursting out laughing about the King Arthur question, and he said "I had to bite my tongue so hard to not burst out, I believe it's bleeding!".

After we went back to the hotel, my wife and I asked where we could go nearby, to get a good, authentic English meal. The staff at the hotel pointed us in the direction of a wonderful little pub/restaurant called The Queen's Head", in the Hammersmith area of London. We walked there, and halfway there we were wondering if we took a wrong turn, as it was in a residential neighborhood!

Here's a couple of pictures of the outside:

                               

Again, click on any picture to 'embiggen'.

That's it for today... I hope you enjoyed part 1 of this trip. More to come (if you're interested).