Boot to the head

Went to the Edge day show back in October and am finnally writting about it. It was Have Hearts last show and Bane was playing as well as Cruel Hand from Portland. It was so much fun. I some how ended up getting a bad black eye. It lasted over a week, which created some interesting conversations with customers at work.

I am the guy with the Future-Breed written on me and the sleaveless guy climbing over my back. I was so physically exhausted by the end of Bane that I only lasted one song with Have Heart before I had to go and sit down.

Mac Attack!

I shot an apple (Macintosh) with an arrow. Not as difficult as I thought it would be. When you spent as much as I did on my bow I guess it should be easy. Maybe I should have tried it without using my sights. Naa.

I had to put the apple on a spike on top of a bucket in front of my target because I didn't want to lose another arrow in the woods.

Wine review 1

I opened one of my wines that I bought in Canada for my first wine critique.

It is a 2007 Pinot Noir from Inniskillin. It was one of the wineries that we passed by in Niagara-on-the-Lake on the way to the Whirlpool Jetboat tour(which was so awesome).

I am a self proclaimed wine ignoramus. I know pretty much nothing except that there is red, white, sparkling and other types of wine out there. I have had some wine at some weddings and some was good and some was not. I figured I would try to find some good stuff but could never remember what I have tried so I thought I would write about them here.

The first thing I noted about the Inniskillin was that it had a screw off top. Maybe it's just me but that screams cheap, bad wine. Maybe not, but that's what it seems like. Sure I only paid like $10-15 Canadian for it, but I didn't notice the non-corkness at the store. I cracked it open and poured it into my wine glass (our wedding glass-the only wine glasses that we own). I tried acting all professional and swirled it and sniffed it. It has a nice bouquet (like I'd know a good bouquet, it didn't smell like crap, how's that). I took a taste and it set my tongue all fizzy and weird-like. Mel said maybe I should let it breathe more, I forgot all about that.

It was pretty good, after it aired for a little while it was smooth and has a pleasant grape/woody taste with a nice aftertaste that isn't bitter and make you want to chase it with gum to get the taste out of your mouth.

I guess I would give it a 7 out of 10 due to the fact that I have nothing to compare it with but would not hesitate to buy another bottle of either Pinot Noir or something from Inniskillin.

Date Night

All week long Mel and I talked about going out on Friday on a date. Mel had seen an ad for a movie and thought it would be cute so we planned on doing the dinner and a movie date that seems too typical and boring but is a classic date night because it can be fun. Mel and I can make anything fun.
My first boo-boo. I had assumed that we would leave Reese in charge and it would be no big deal. Mel wasn't crazy over the idea because we wouldn't get home until late and thought it might freak Relo out too much. No problem, a quick call and luckily Grammy said she would stop over and check in on the boys, making Reese still feel responsible but not feel nervous.
Next problem--- We had planned on going to eat at a local Italian place that we had always wanted to check out; then we looked at their website and found it was a bit more $$ than we wanted to spend. Had to make last minute eating plans and decided to go to The Old Country buffet. It has been an ongoing joke for us because every time we wanted to go they were either closed or had lines out the door. We got there just as a bus from Canada pulled in and so we decided to just wait in the line anyway. It was a decent price and the food was good. Weird though, the main courses we much better than all of the deserts. The deserts looked good but were nothing to get excited about.
We got to the movies and I decided to see The Informant! instead of The Invention of Lying, which was the ad that Mel had seen and sparked this night out.(note to self-do what she wants not what you think will be better!) Oh my Lord! after about 15 minutes of The Informant! I knew I had made a mistake. What a boring, worthless movie. It never got any better. One small twist in the plot and that was it, dumb and boring. We kept asking each other on the way home, "Who thought that that would make a good movie? and When they realized that the movie was going to be crap Why didn't they just stop filming and cut their losses?"

We still had fun and we finally got to eat at the OCB but we should have gone to see Zombieland. Ha!!

quick review

time flies and alot has happened and i'll try to remember everything. Mel and I have started to donate plasma and have been in twice. It takes a little longer than we had hoped it would and we can't bring Strider into the place. I went to Toronto with Mike and Rob and we went on the whirlpool jet boat in to whitewater on the Niagara River, but doesn't really count as whitewater rafting. While I was up there I did by a Stephen Hawking book A Briefer History of Time and I bought two different types of wine from the Niagara region, but again, I have to read the book and drink and critique the wines in order for them to count. We did see a Blue Jays game so that counts towards the professional sports games.
Today I chaperoned with Jaren to the Cumberland Fair with school. It was a lot of fun and we had a beautiful sunny day.

I think I got everything, it is hard to remember what has been going on without writting daily. I will try to keep up.

Home improvement II

this is a continued post -read the one below first.

We had 3 employees taking apart these shelving units and stacking them on a cart for us. Once we paid and loaded them in the van we knew that our plans for the day had just changed. We went straight home to take care of our new plants, and once we had lunch and repotted the plants we started to unpack the shelves.

We weren't exactly sure where everything was going so we moved a few things around and started to set up the first couple of units. We then decided that we needed to clean up the craft area of the basement in order to figure out where everything was going to go. Next came the decision to rebuild the craft table. It makes sense. So much of the crafting supplies that is just stacked in the basement used to be in this table that is sitting in pieces in a corner of the basement. The problem is, I'm not sure I can remember how to put it together. It has been over a year since we took it apart. We cleared out the area and pulled up the rug and found a play may underneath the rug. I knew something was there I just wasn't sure what it was. Now tomorrow (if I ever get to bed) I will be able to do my exercise on a mat. The carpet doesn't give much padding.

Back on track--I was able to get the table together a lot easier than I had expected. Now Mel just has to load it up, we'll hook up some sort of extension cord to a strip of plugs to plug in the sewing machine and maybe some organization will start to come to the basement.

We have 4 of the 6 shelving units built, two of the fancier ones are in the picture. The craft table is done so this completes number 91. The storage shelves aren't completely built and arranged so I cannot say that 47 is done yet.

Home improvements

Things did not turn out as expected today. To say the least. We knew we had some errands to do today; going to the chiropractor for Mel, the post office, new shoes for Mel and Strider, Walmart, and maybe Home Depot.

I thought that I might be able to pick up a pink shirt for work at Goodwill, which is right next door to the post office. So I was excited because the pink shirt is number 9 on my list and I knew Mel might be getting some shoes so it would be cool if we could both check off something. However there were no pink shirts to be found. Oh well. Our next stop was Olympia, and with absolutely no help from the employees Mel did get her new sneaks.

Next we decided to go to Home Depot to get some Great Stuff foam to fill in all the drafty spots from our home audit. As we walked in Mel said that she wanted to get a plant, because she has to keep a plant alive for a year and she wanted to start now. On my list I need to get and keep alive an indoor tree. I don't know why but I have wanted an indoor tree for the longest time. I just thought it would be cool to have this large plant in the living room. This seemed like the perfect time to pick one up. I found a dracaena massangeana which would grow up to 9 feet tall. This seemed good and I picked it up.

Now here we are going in and around the isles of Home Depot with the race car cart and a rather large plant/tree in it. I have to look to the side in order to see where I am going. We decide to look at shelving for the storage area in the back room. As we were looking at the stuff in the isles a friendly employee comes up and says that if we are interested in shelving he has some display models from a promotion that they had marked down. It was too good of a deal to pass up. We ended up bringing 6 shelving units home.

to be continued

Poem 1 and explanation

Settling down with something warm to drink,

Getting comfy, makes me stop and think,

Of all the things I've done with you,

Filling me with smiles, through and through.

Although together we can not always be,

Make yourself a warm drink, and think of me.

Mel asked me to create a quick poem for her cocoa bags that she is making for craft fairs and this is just what I whipped up. Not my typical poem subject but it came rather easily and it is number 30 on my list.

I also set up an appointment to donate platelets for next Monday.

Take me out to the ball game

First Seadogs game that I made it to all year and what a beautiful day. Started off by going to the Portland Expo to an open house of the Maine Redclaws, the new local basketball team. We met up with Mike, Meesh, Julia and Sam at the Expo. We got to shoot around on the court and they had a contest where if you made a shot from half-court then you got season tickets. I missed, of course, but I was surprisingly close. I actually hit the backboard.

Next we went to the game and got our seats. Nice seats for general admission, but no seats are bad at our little ball field. We all went and found a player signing autographs and had the kids picture taken with him. There were a few home runs and a lot of excitement, but unfortunately they lost the game. There was lots of food, songs, and everyone had a good time. The kids even got their picture with Slugger. It was nice to go and do something with Uncle Mike and family and it was a nice day altogether.

Hikin and swimmin

Everyone had plans to go hiking on Monday and of course I was working so we decided to go today instead. We left early in the morning knowing that it was a hour and 15 min drive just to get there and if you show up to late and the parking lot is full then you have to wait until someone leaves. No worries about that though, very few cars in the lot and away we went. It was a beautiful day and the only thing we could complain about was the mosquitoes on the hike. It was not too hot nor too cold. All the boys were great and Strider only had one minor breakdown.
When we got to the beach the waves were huge and everyone had a great time. However the water was freezing and the undertow was pretty strong. Just made things all the more exciting.

This is the first hike on number 3 of my 101 in 1001.

Keep the home fires burning

Yesterday I decided to have a cookout on the fire, complete with ice cream for desert. I was going to make it easy and just have ham and pineapple in foil, but the ham was a thin slice and it seemed a little to much like cheating. Instead I decided to go with the corn bread in pie irons as appetizers, and sweat and sour pork chops as the main course. The corn bread in the pie irons actually came out better than I expected. I thought it would be burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. Next Dean and I had fun layering all the ingredients that Mel had so graciously prepped for us. We rolled everything up in the foil and tossed in on the hot coals. It cooked a little bit too long but was mostly edible. The ice cream was a hit. With everyone (except Stri) mixing up their own batch of ice cream, we all had cold hands from shaking up the bags of ice and then quickly got ice cream headaches from eating it to fast.

this was number 41 on my 101 in 1001.

X'ed up!

Had a great workout this morning. It was the Shoulder, Bicep and Tricep routine in p90x. I pushed myself right through the ab routine. Feels good starting the day pushing yourself to the max and finishing on a strong note. JUST PUSH PLAY AND BRING IT!
Have lots of fun plans this Labor day weekend. Hiking, baseball, and maybe even try to squeeze in some fishing and a campfire somewhere.

I missed it by that much

Earlier this month I had bought myself a Mission bow by Matthews. Its a real nice compound bow with all the gadgets, and fun to listen to the pop as the arrows hit the target. I try to get out to practice on my days off and have been successful to shoot for a half hour or so most days.

I missed the target for the first time today. It just zoomed off into the woods behind our shed. My left elbow buckled just as I was pulling the trigger on my release and the arrow disappeared. With my bow set up the arrow probably travels between 250-275 feet per second, so by the time I recovered from my elbow twicth, the arrow had silently vanished into the trees. Mel and I searched for the neon green and orange feathers for about 20-30 minutes with no luck.

Just writing about shooting makes me want to go out and practice some more. Its way more fun than even I expected.

Last day of summer vacation

I can't believe it is here already, so much was planned and most of it got done. The summer seemed short but it seems really short now that the kids go back to school tomorrow.

The day started like most others, I didn't want to get up, hit the snooze, got up-fed the dogs-went back to bed. I kept telling myself that it is the last day of summer so why not sleep in a little. Also I knew that I was doing the kenpo routine in p90x, and that only takes an hour so I can push snooze one more time, and I'll do it while Mel is at the chiropractor.

I did the routine and had fun, the kenpo routine is fast paced and full of punches, kicks and you just sweat like crazy. Mel came home shortly afterward and all six of us went out in the boat and Reese and Jaren went tubing. It was windy and gave the kids some good bumps.

After lunch we visited some Cub Scout friends to try to plan the year. It was good to sit around with the adults and watch all the kids play.
After dinner we had an open house at the middle school to help Reese remember where his classroom is and where his locker is. We got to meet one of his teachers and the band director. We went to The Dugout for some ice cream and then came home to tea and cookies with Gram-Gram. Doesn't help the diet, but it tasted good.

I got my book it the mail today. It is The Rookie by Scott Sigler. I listened to the podcast first and have been a Sigler Junkie ever since. This is an autographed numbered limited edition that I can't wait to read to the boys. It is supposed to be a toned down version because Siglers stuff can be a bit graphic/disturbing/harsh language, which is probably why I love it.

I am still reading Peter and the Shadow Thieves to the kids, so before bed tonight I was able to get in several more chapters. Alas, we are not really even close to halfway through it. (But it is also a great book that I highly recommend)

motivation waning

Had a hard time getting up this morning, I don't know if it was because I really didn't want to go to work today or if I didn't want to do my p90x routine. It was Legs and Back today, followed by the ab workout. 1 hour 20 minutes. such a long time at 5 am.
Took a long time to get into the flow at work also, I just didn't care.

I did buy some floss so I can start keeping track. See # 3.

tired good night.

everything takes so much longer than it should

I had my day planned out so I knew it wouldn't work. I had every thing written down in time slots based on how long I thought it should take.
I wanted to get up early, work out, then wake the Reese, Dean, and Stri and go fishing. Jaren was sleeping at a friends house and Mel had a 9am chiropractors appt. The turtle eggs started to hatch last night so we were up late with the eggs and were checking on them first thing this morning. Dean was too tired to go out and Stri was being a sour puss. So instead of fishing I got out my bow and did some archery for about 45 minutes. It took longer than I expected to put my gear away and needed to find a place to hang my bow, and while I was at it I hung Mels jewelry rack. Then I remembered that I was supposed to paint a second coating on the holes in the living room that I had patched up. Painting always takes longer than it should, then there is the clean up.

I was running about 30 minutes behind at this point and my next job was to bring both cars to get oil changes, return something at Staples, go to the bank, and get windshield wipers for my car. Pronto oil change was amazingly fast and all the errands went smoothly. But I was still behind schedule, so I said the heck with it and picked some blackberries (which Reese ate most of) for about an hour. I then washed the van until the financial planner came over at 2.

I only scheduled 1 hour for the planner and, of course, he left about 4. I finished the day with mowing the lawn before dinner, then making a blazing campfire to cook marshmallows over.

I did not get to fish, practice the guitar, call for platelet pheresis, play on itunes, or read to the kids. My new Scott Sigler book The Rookie should be here in a couple weeks and I can't wait to read it to the boys but we are not even half way through Peter and the Shadow Thieves.

busy days

Well my birthday was Monday and I was working so I decided to wear my kilt to work and get one of my four days done. It was fun. Made lots of people smile and probably question my sanity, but that's nothing new. I only had one customer who really had no idea of what I was wearing and was surprised that it was allowed. I got lots of women who asked my technicians what I wore under the kilt. I couldn't lie and said that I needed something under there since I was at work. Now I can update #8 to 1/4.

I have been getting up to exercise every morning and am on day 8 of P90x. I really pushed myself this morning and got nauseous while doing the chest and back routine, tomorrow is the pylometrics workout (aka jump-training). Another killer morning routine. My before pics will hopefully be attached to this post. (scary pictures, I'll only attach one.)

Melissa had scheduled the energy audit for the house today. The woman showed up at 8 am and I assumed that it would be a couple hours at the most. She left at 1pm. She was very thorough and we went over the entire house. She had a thermal-imaging camera and was able to show us all the spots that heat would escape in the winter. The final report and recommendations will come in about 2-3 weeks. She only gets paid one flat fee and give us lists of places that the house should be made more air-tight and some tips on how to make the fridge run more efficiently etc. We will have a list three miles long no doubt. Lots and lots to do. She will have a breakdown of what is the most cost effective jobs and how to do them. Definitely worth the $ just for the info, now we just need some $ to implement the recommendations.

Another item on my list that we did today was to go out fishing on the lake. All six of us squeezed on the boat and we anchored on a rocky point. I had a bite and saw him jump but that was the closest thing to a fish we had all year so far. We did see a bald eagle circling above and heard some loons calling back and forth. It was nice. I finally, after 37 years, can tie a lure on my line. Thank you Dad, your persistence has paid off.

101 in 1001

Here it is, do 101 things in 1001 days. Sounds easy doesn't it..

HEALTH AND PERSONAL GROWTH
1.) finish p90x workout (0/90)
2.) floss -finish three 55 yard containers (2/3)
3** hike on 5 different trails (5/5)
4.) lose weight to below 175 and maintain (175)
5** get certified to give vaccines
6**48 hour only liquid nutrition
7.) blog ongoing results minimum 150 times (36/150)
8.) wear my kilt to work 4 times (3/4)
9.) get a pink shirt to wear to work
10** canoe or kayak around this side of Little Sebago Lake
11**try 6 new wines and critique them on blog (6/6)
12**try 6 new beers and critique them on blog (6/6)
13** get a massage (probably after finishing #1)
14.) write out daily/weekly schedule with slots for exercise, archery, guitar...

CHARITY AND COMMUNITY SERVICE
15.) donate platelets 10 times (4/10)
16.) buy at farm stand/farmers market 5 times (1/5)
17** walk for charity/cause
18** buy a Toy for Tot 3 times (4/3)
19** fix Grams dryer vent so it doesn't blow into the attic
20** volunteer/chaperon at school 3 times (3/3)
21.) give or buy from scouts or organization outside of grocery store
22.) participate in a Habitat for Humanity project

CULTURE, MOVIES, ART, & LITERATURE
23.) learn to play 2 songs on the guitar (0/2)
24** finish reading Les Miserables and 4 other classics (5/5)
25.) read The Bible -old testament
26**read 5 novels to the boys (5/5)
27.) go see Spamalot on Broadway with Melissa
28** listen to my podcasts and get list to below 5 (5)
29.) see 6 pro sports games (4/6)
30** write 5 poems and post on blog (5/5)
31** see 4 shows/concerts (4/4)
32** read 5 non-fiction books (5/5)
33.) see a Michael Moore film (Sicko?)
34.) watch An Inconvenient Truth
35**Read a book by Stephen Hawking

WORSE CASE SCENARIO
36.) take primitive skills class
37** take gun safety course
38.) purchase gun and gun safe
39.) 24 hour blackout once per season for a year (1/4)
40.) plant 6 more apple trees (0/6)
41** cook entire meal on campfire with homemade ice cream for dessert
42.) learn to pay the bills and file receipts
43** shoot an apple with an arrow
44** make fire outside in the winter
45.) make chicken coop
46.) get archery sets for boys
47** build storage shelves for basement
48.) stock shelves with emergency supplies/food

FUN & FAMILY
49** go on cruise with Melissa
50.) get new tattoo (after donating platelets)
51.) whitewater rafting
52.) bring kids to Red Sox game
53.) play 20 games of pool (5/20)
54**Lord of the Rings movie marathon
55.) finish ICE files
56.) update wills
57.) bring boys on Superman ride at Six Flags
58**sleep under the stars
59** camp out in living room next to fireplace over the winter
60.) take L.L. Bean outdoor discovery school class
61** take week off from work to volunteer at cub scout camp
62** go swimming at midnight
63**go swimming in October
64.) get harness for Pearl to pull kids on sled
65.) go on Casco Bay Cruise
66.) go galactic bowling
67**rate 1000 movies on netflix (1005/1000)
68.) go to Acadia National Park
69** go to Baxter State Park & see Mt Katahdin
70.)visit friends in NY
71.) go fishing 10 times (you think this would be easy) (8/10)
72** see Reese perform in a band concert
73.) eat out at a Greek, Indian, and Thai restaurant (2/3) thai,greek
74.) dress up on Halloween 3 times (2/3)
75** shop on Black Friday
76**subscribe to Old News
77** go on 5 dates with Mel (not during school) (5/5)

HOME IMPROVEMENT
78** kitchen -
79.) bedroom -
80**livingroom -
81** kids room -
82** energy audit of house
83.) organize workshop
84.) grow and keep alive an indoor tree
85** prune and weed around raspberry bushes
86** grow 10 different fruits/veggies (10/10) pumpkin,squash(2),beans,cukes,tomato,green pep,strawberries,grapes,eggplant
87.) get organized tupperware
88**get home water treatment system
89** replace 2 appliances with energystar rated appliances (2/2) -a/c count?
90**giveaway, trash, goodwill, sell 30 books of mine (30/30)
91** rebuild Mel's craft table
92.) declutter 200 items (86/200)
93.) get oil changed in cars 12 times (8/12)
94** max my IRA every year
95**be able to park my car in garage during the winter
96** install light in camp/holiday side of basement
97** re screen all windows or get new windows
98** insulate Grams attic
99**insulate/finish off boys attic
100** get carbon dioxide detector for basement
101.) build 2 bat houses and hang them (0/2)

**-done