Friday, June 27, 2008

Apple Car and Limousine Service

I am so tired right now. Went to New York yesterday for a very short business trip (my first!) and didn't get home until late last night. But it was a fine trip, went very well.

I flew in to Laguardia with instructions to take a taxi in to the city and meet a co-worker at her hotel. I'm walking over to the line where the yellow taxis are lined up and a guy says, "you need a taxi?" I answered truthfully ("Yes.") and he ushered me over to his black car - you know, the kind of black sedan you think of when you think of "car service" It felt legit.

This guy, his name is Derick. Made a big show out of telling me that the yellow taxis will make you pay by the meter, whereas the company he works for ("Apple Car and Limousine Service" his business card read, along with the phone number for his cell phone. And, in the interest of trying to screw him like he screwed me, I'm going to give you that phone number. 917-681-4682.) charges a flat fee.

So whatever, I agree to the ride and we get in the car. Then Derrick proceeds to talk trash about how at least in his car, I can enjoy hearing the English language. At least in his car, I'm not fretting over sitting in traffic, watching the meter run. At least in his car, I'm paying a flat fee, etc. Jerkface. He was, literally, feeding the fire of my ignorance, saying whatever he could to reassure me that I'd made the smarter choice by riding in his car.

Did I mention his name is Derrick, and that the phone number on his business card is a direct line to the cell phone he was on nearly the whole time? That phone number happens to be 917-681-4682. Call him up and then either shout "Jerkface!" into the phone, or just maybe hand the phone over to your little kid once you have him on the line and let your kid babble into the phone, tying up his line. You get the idea.

At the end of the ride, I had handed over, I'm almost ashamed to say it, $85.00. Can you believe it?!?! What a fool I was. On the way back to Laguardia I took a yellow taxi, and do you know how much I paid for that ride? $43, including tip and toll!

Grr... that guy. What a jerk.

Anyway, so, again. His name is Derrick. Apple Car and Limousine Service. He caught his prey ("Country Bumpkinikis")coming out of Laguardia Airport. And, like I said, if you wanted someone to call up and hassle for making a fool of your dear Susie Blogger, you could just call up 1-917-681-4682 and do so with my blessing. Share your experiences with this little prank in the comments! I'd love to hear the results!

He is a triple Jerkface. Period. End of story.

Friday, June 20, 2008

I bought our tickets for Seattle!

Here are our dates:

Thu, Jul 3, 2008
Departs 5:51pm, Arrives 11:34pm
Manchester, NH to Seattle, WA

Fri, Jul 18, 2008
Departs 10:02pm, Arrives 10:09am
Seattle, WA to Manchester, NH


I got three tickets for me and Henry and Maggie. Jeff will arrive/depart separately!

If you want to try to schedule a get together, why, just drop me a line!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

James just lost a tooth

My goodness it is Wednesday already.

This weekend my son turns eight! Henry will be 8 on Friday, can you believe that?? Our plan is to get him a small ipod and then bring him and a small handful of friends to pizza after school lets out. Then we're hopping in the van and heading up to Maine for the weekend!

I love Camden, and it will be great to see our family up there again. Should be very good times. I feel like I haven't been out in a long time, it's going to be nice to get away for a spell...

...zzzzz...

This is pretty boring stuff! I feel like I'm pretty caught up in my own personal rut. I'm not complaining, at least I don't think so. Work is on my mind a lot, in many different ways and on several different levels. I'm not interested in saying too much about it here.

Here is where I am. I am sitting in the living room. Maggie is watching a show and Henry and Lily are doing Webkinz on the computer in the kitchen. Jeff is at a meeting, Lily is sleeping over tonight because that's easier than waking her up and bringing her home to wake her up and bringing her to the exact same spot, at the exact same time in the morning. Lily is great to have over. We all love her so much.

James is farting and also playing around with a toy that is his to play with. Earlier tonight I saw a big red deer up at the top of the field across from our house. That was very cool. I see a lot of wildlife in that field. Earlier this week there was a red fox hopping and playing in the field. s'cool.

I really wish I was in the middle of a good book.

I am putting myself to sleep with this boring non-content. Am I dead inside?

blech.

You said you wanted wordier posts!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Dad's Best Jokes

I found this post about someone's dad and the great sense of humor he had... made me think of my Dad. I liked this part best:

When he got older, and money was tight, he was fond of saying, "I have enough money to last me the rest of my life. If I die next Tuesday."




Anyway, ch-ch-check it out!

Dad's Best Jokes

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Hello from Saturday afternoon.

Try to make this one a talky...



Well! This afternoon I went over to the farm and Brianna and the kids played in Brianna's swimming pool thingie while Christine and I chatted. It was great to catch up with her, and all three kids had a wonderful time. Boy was it nice out there. 

Last night the four of us all went back to Sunset Lake for the first time this year. We got there around 7:30 and stayed for an hour or so. So nice. No bugs. One guy who'd brought his two girls for an after dinner swim and us. I just love Sunset Lake. It's a little pond in Greenfield, next to Crotched Mountain. And just like this afternoon, the kids played happily while Jeff and I hung out chatting.

I kept daydreaming of somehow procuring a little summer cottage on the lake. I wonder. Are there down sides to having a vacation home that is only about 15 minutes from your full time home? I would like to find out. 

Last summer Henry and I went to a lake front cottage on Sunset Lake for a birthday party of his classmate. The cottage belongs to his grandmother, and she lives in our town too. So that's someone who's determined vacation living a short distance from your primary residence is worth doing. (Perhaps my dear reader who knows who I'm talking about could chime in here. Does this woman love it? or is it used more by her grown children? hmmm.)

James is crashed out at my feet right now.

Oh! Skype! I want my mom and sisters to sign up and download Skype. I want us to video chat more often, and I have determined that this is the best way to do it between a Mac and PC. I wonder why it's so difficult to do video chats across platforms.

Last night, watching MSNBC and everybody mourning Tim Russert. What a shame. They obviously really loved him as a colleague and mentor. Keith Olbermann was read faced and lip trembling all night, poor guy. They all kept saying that he'd always ask you about your kids or check back and ask about your mom and the surgery you mentioned she needed, etc. 

One guy said Russert was such a total family man and wonderful father and made this guy a better father because of the way he saw Tim live his life. To have him die right around Fathers Day is sort of fitting because it's the perfect time to mourn and remember Tim Russert, on Fathers Day.

And all this makes me think of my Dad and how we went to Seaside to spread his ashes the weekend of Fathers Day. I think his memorial party was the Saturday before, and the trip to Oregon was the day after. I remember spending Fathers Day itself in a sort of extended pajama day at Jocelyns, not doing anything but recovering from Saturday and repairing for Monday. 

Anyway. It's a good point. If you're going to lose a wonderful father, Fathers Day might be the best time to do it. Roll it all up into one. I wish my Dad had lived to meet James, our new dog. I see my Dad in myself when I try to get Jim to play rough and bitey. "Kill, Jim. Kill." I say and slap and claw the couch. 

Thanks to two five pound weights in the bottom of our trash can, Jim is no "Garbarge Dog", however.

Today is Christine Saturday for me! My other girlfriend Christine and I are going out to grab a bite and a drink or two. I'm lousy with Christines!

Have a good one, talk to you later!


Friday, June 13, 2008

Tim Russert Died!



NBC News and MSNBC
updated 10 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after a sudden heart attack at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58.

Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday’s “Meet the Press” program when he collapsed, the network said. No details were immediately available.

Russert, the recipient of 48 honorary doctorates, took over the helm of “Meet the Press” in December 1991. Now in its 60th year, “Meet the Press” is the longest-running program in the history of television.

In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Timothy John Russert Jr. was born in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 7, 1950. He was a graduate of Canisius High School, John Carroll University and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He was a member of the bar in New York and the District of Columbia.

Senate staffer before entering journalism
After graduating from law school, Russert went into politics as a staff operative. In 1976, he worked on the Senate campaign of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., and in 1982, he worked on Mario Cuomo’s campaign for governor of New York.

Russert joined NBC News in 1984. In April 1985, he supervised the live broadcasts of NBC's TODAY show from Rome, negotiating and arranging an appearance by Pope John Paul II, a first for American television. In 1986 and 1987, Russert led NBC News’ weeklong broadcasts from South America, Australia and China.

Of his background as a Democratic political operative, Russert said, “My views are not important.”

“Lawrence Spivak, who founded ‘Meet the Press,’ told me before he died that the job of the host is to learn as much as you can about your guest’s positions and take the other side,” he said in a 2007 interview with Time magazine. “And to do that in a persistent and civil way. And that’s what I try to do every Sunday.”

Cuomo, Russert’s onetime boss, wrote of Russert: “Most candidates are not eager to present themselves for Tim’s incisive scrutiny, which is fed by his prodigious study and preparation. But they have little choice: appearing on ‘Meet the Press’ is today as vital to a serious candidate as being properly registered to vote.”

Russert wrote two books — “Big Russ and Me” in 2004 and “Wisdom of Our Fathers” in 2006 — both of which were New York Times best-sellers.

Emmy for Reagan funeral coverage
In 2005, Russert was awarded an Emmy for his role in the coverage of the funeral of President Ronald Reagan. His “Meet the Press” interviews with George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000 won the Radio and Television Correspondents’ highest honor, the Joan S. Barone Award, and the Annenberg Center’s Walter Cronkite Award.

Russert’s March 2000 interview of Sen. John McCain shared the 2001 Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence in Television Journalism. He was also the recipient of the John Peter Zenger Award, the American Legion Journalism Award, the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society Journalism Award, the Allen H. Neuharth Award for Excellence in Journalism, the David Brinkley Award for Excellence in Communication and the Catholic Academy for Communication’s Gabriel Award. He was a member of the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame.

Russert was a trustee of the Freedom Forum’s Newseum and a member of the board of directors of the Greater Washington Boys and Girls Club, and America’s Promise — Alliance for Youth.

In 1995, the National Father’s Day Committee named him “Father of the Year,” Parents magazine honored him as “Dream Dad” in 1998, and in 2001 the National Fatherhood Initiative also recognized him as Father of the Year.

Irish America magazine named him one of the top 100 Irish Americans in the country, and he was selected as a Fellow of the Commission of European Communities.

Russert is survived by his wife, Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine, and a son, Luke.


This is just so sad to me. I love Tim Russert! Totally my guy. And so excited by all that's going on these days. What a shame.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Better Way




I'd heard this song by Ben Harper might be used in Obama's Presidential campaign. The thought of hearing it playing while Barack and Michelle do their sexy fist bump and ass grab before he knocks it out of the park oratorically, damn near brings a tear to my eye.

I'm a living sunset
Lightning in my bones
Push me to the edge
But my will is stone

Fools will be fools
And wise will be wise
But i will look this world Straight in the eyes

What good is a man
Who won't take a stand
What good is a cynic
With no better plan

Reality is sharp
It cuts at me like a knife
Everyone i know
Is in the fight of their life

Take your face out of your hands
And clear your eyes
You have a right to your dreams
And don't be denied
I believe in a better way


More Words

I have, as a personal goal, determined to post more words to this blog. I am also beginning to investigate other ideas I have such as an area to view collections of photos, an area to view collections of movies and other top secret projects I haven’t thought up yet. I also want to get Henry and Maggie to make video blog postings. Keep your fingers crossed!

So last Sunday was the one year anniversary of my dad dying. It went okay. Living so far from my dear family stinks rotten eggs sometimes, and so I have to cobble together whatever sense of family I can out here. Luckily I have great friends who are like family to me, and I also have my own actual family, the one where I’m the Mom and it all revolves around me, so you need not shed too many tears over my plight. It was just a bummer that important days like these must pass with such private, internal personal fanfare.

You want to know another thing that sucks rotten eggs? Fuel prices. I’m not going to get into it, ‘cause you feel it too. I feel like I’ve been forced back into the dark ages. I need to get the video chatting up and running again because maybe that would help. I miss laughing and seeing expressions on faces.

*sniff*!

Right now the guy is fixing my computer and I am appearing studious and hard working over at my co workers desk, who is gone all week. The gal whose son was in Iraq is now off celebrating his return to US soil. Hooray for coworker who shall remain anonymous!

I’m thinking about this heat wave we have. It is miserable. I don’t know which of you I spoke with back in Seattle who said they’d trade my weather for theirs, but you have a deal. Please reply to this post and we will coordinate the transfer. Thank you.

I’m thinking about our dear friends in Wisconsin and wondering how they and their loved ones are doing with their bad weather. And where is the government in all this? Where are the folks who joined National Guard in hopes of stepping in and helping out at times like these in their hometown? Where are the folks and the supplies and the rescue maneuvers who could be plucking Ma and Pa Midwest out of the swollen rivers and pitching in with the aid and the emergency management? I’m not mad at them, and I know there are people pitching in and helping. I’m mad at this idiot war that stretches our resources and this idiot president and these kabooberous times we live in.

Last night Henry asked me about has it ever been where the presidential election was split right down the middle. I told him about 2000 and sort of haphazardly misinformed him where possible. Anyway, it got us talking about Al Gore and how if he’d actually become president, his ability to focus on climate change and finally get us woken up about it, would that have been possible? Or would he, as president, been able to throw the power of his administration behind it and actually gotten further on that topic? I think 9/11 would still have happened, so I feel like it would’ve probably been tabled.

Anyway. See where this rambling gets me? Now I’m all worked up, spitting out half baked ideas about politics and the world at large. I reserve the right to spout half baked cockamamey ideas about politics in honor of my dear father, who had plenty of ideas for when he became dictator…

One of my favorite memories is when he and mom were visiting once, and he said, in response to securing our borders, “What they oughta do… What they oughta do is take every. single. American soldier and link them arm in arm from California all the way across Texas.”

My girlfriend Kathy said in response, “Surely there would be better uses of our resources…” or something similar. Made me laugh. I don’t know why that moment has always stuck with me, but it has. What really matters is that we care enough to have an opinion. It can be whatever it is, but at least try to have one.

Alright, so I’ll post this. You want words, you got words. I wish for a break in this cool weather, I wish for peace and hope for all mankind, and I wish for a tasty lunch in air conditioned comfort. OH! And I wish for a scooter.

That is all. Peace, out.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Good Times on Main Street





Maggie self tattoos

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

Friday, June 06, 2008

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Grammi Kisses

Maxine likes to send little care packages to the kids - thanks Grammi! Here is a video of Maggie with her new tattoo - doesn't she look long in this video?


Bad Boys of Baghdad

My co worker has a son who's been deployed in Iraq, and we have all been living vicariously through her as she lives day to day with the uncertainty and worry and fierce love and pride for her soldier. She tells sweet stories and has wonderful pictures that really illustrate for me the investment a soldier's mother has in this whole convoluted situation. I am learning a lot from her and what she's going through, and we are all very excited that his tour of duty is wrapping up and he is on his way back home to her.


She's told us that her son gets bashful and teasing with her when he's seen her wearing something from her collection of patriotic "My sweet baby boy is a soldier and I'm one proud mamma!" T shirt collection.



"Mom!" he says. "You are so gay. That. is so gay."


So this morning we're looking at his pictures on myspace, and on the pretense of showing me how young and childlike her son and his buddies are, she shows me this picture:




"THAT." I say. "Is so gay."