Fun Stuff

A Free iPod….I hope

So folks in the Blogosphere are helping other bloggers post links to get a free iPod from freeipods.com. I hesitated signing up for it for a long time but a friend of mine just got notice from them that his iPod has shipped. So, I have also signed up and encourage others to do so as well!

If you can get FIVE people to complete ONE offer (offers include BMG Music, Columbia House DVD, Blockbuster Online, The Literary Guild, etc.) you can get a free iPod, including a 20GB iPod that holds 5000 songs! That’s a lot of songs, people.

My link is found here and if you start an account and complete an offer through that link it helps me qualify for a free iPod AND it gets you started towards getting your own! I’ve been told that some people have gotten spam emails at the email address they use, so feel free to create an email address at hotmail or yahoo specifically for spam purposes. I use my hotmail account for all online purchases and forms so that ALL spam goes there instead of my legitimate email addresses.

When you sign up it’ll ask you if you want to take advantage of tons of offers – just click NO on all of them until you get to the main page of offers and referrers. The first batch of offers are not worth your time or energy, but the page of offers on the referrer page is the “good” set of offers.

I signed up for 4 bags fo coffee from Boca Java. I am on a coffee kick and this seemed the best one for me.

For further info as to whether it’s legit or not – please see the article at Wired.com. Worst comes to worst you are stuck with 4 bags of bad coffee.

Busy busy and more busy and now throw in a trip to Cleavland in a few weeks….

Spent the last few weeks trying to get ready for the winter and my trip to Cleveland (more on that in a bit). For the last few weekends, I have been into work either getting the “Big Cube” cleaned or working converting a few machines from 98 to XP. I have been to NYC a few times. Twice to the new office space and a third to get the tape backup installed on the NYC server. It looks like I will be going to NYC a lot between now and the trip. We are moving the office from mid-town down to the financial district. From the new office suite, we can look right down into the World Trade Centers hole. It will be interesting watching them convert it into the park. I have taken the Path train from Newark to the WTC site now 2 times not a bad way to get into the city. I will miss Penn Station.

Now the trip to Cleveland…

(more…)

Labor Day Crab Fest

The day may have been cloudy and windy, but we all had a great time.  The crabs were picked up around 1:30 and the party grill was fired up at 2 and the first 3 crabs escaped from the bushel at 2:15. Those little guys should have stayed in the bushel because my sister-in-law said if you have to catch them then throw them in a pot inside and cook them. So that’s what I did, she and Avery cleaned and ate them right away. I fired up the big pot out side for the rest of them and cooked about 8 dozen crabs in 2 hours. Avery was the record holder…15 crabs cleaned and eaten. She became the teacher to those who had never eaten crabs before. I am very proud. We also had the other normal food, burgers, hot dogs, ribs and salads. The party ended about midnight when the last of the crew headed home and I tried to get most thing cleaned up and put away before I crashed out around 1.

Back to work from a decent Vacation

Well after a good week in Bath with Avery at my parents it’s back to work and time to get some things done.

The week in Bath was good. I got to see some good friends Lorie Crocker, Sherman Lyke and Andy Bremen. We all got together on Wed night at the Rockwell Museum of Western Art for a nice patio party. A good band was playing and the beer was good as well as the Margaritas from what I was told. Then we went to the Wood-house for some good bar food and some more drinks an conversation. It was good seeing them. I was glad Sherm and I got a little time to talk, it had been too long. I found out a lot of info on some of the people I use to hang out with and what they are doing. It is always good to reconnect with people you use to hang with while in school. It was hard leaving bath this time because I did have a real good time….hey a good bonus about going to bars in NY state is that there is no smoking so I didn’t smell like a big but…

Well back to work…

It’s Picnic Week..Wed

Weather: 80 Hot, Humid and Rainy

Stated the day bright and early by going to bed at 2am and getting woken up at 7:30am by a phone call to pick up my Uncle Fran for breakfast and talk. After a quick ride to Hamilton Twp to pick him up , my youngest cousin Lou joined us and we headed to the Crystal diner for a a good breakfast and a lot of coffee. Clora and Dean showed up and we worked on the game rules for Sat and the awards that we hand out. We headed back to Eggerts Crossing Rd. and started working on the CD-Rom covers and other things inside sine the weather is kind of crappy outside. Dean has done a great job on the cover art. Ira and he did a lot of printing and putting together last night before dinner at the Indian Restaurant. We are trying to just take it easy this morning and hit the ground running when the weather breaks.

We are listening to Deans nephews band Audiot. A very tight band and very professional sounding. The lead singer has a real good voice. Check out the sight and download there MP3’s from there current album “The Do It Yourself Lobotomy Kit”.

4th of July weekend

Well the weekend was taken up with getting ready for the party we threw on Sunday. A lot of the time was getting a real cool back drop up on the patio and getting everything ready. The party was great. The food ranged from clams on the half shell, Margaritaville Shrimp, a clam and muscles dish cooked on the grill, racks of ribs and the usual picnic fare. The salads and deserts were excelent..thank you all who brought them. A big thanks go to smed for the keg.

We hope everyone had a good time….

Pictures can be seen here.

See you all on Labor day…. 🙂

It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere….

Wow….that is all I can really say. I haven’t been to a Jimmy Buffett concert before and it’s an event that is very close to a Grateful Dead show. I was finally able to get tickets this year and made a surprise gift for my wife and daughter at Easter. Well, last night was the night and we all had a blast. We hit the road around 4 pm after work and were in Camden by 4:45. We were late, the party had started already. The main parking lots were packed with Parrot-heads and they were partying.

We saw and smelled tons of good food and heard a lot of blenders running and making what I hope were some great margaritas. We had a great time just watching people. There is really no real difference between a deadhead and a parrot-head except that a deadhead is a little less groomed than your normal parrot-head. No smellies at a Jimmy show…

We got in line about a half-hour before the gates opened and made some quick friends in line and had some good conversation. It’s interesting how much more attention you get when you bring your 11-year-old daughter with you, all the woman in line keep an eye on here and make sure she doesn’t disappear. The gates opened around 7 pm and the mad rush of all the lawn seat people started. Compare it to the running of the bulls. We lost a lot of the people we were talking to in line and ended up about midway up the hill dead center of the stage. We were surrounded by true parrot-heads. We had a blast watching them..they know how to party…

The show kicked off about 8:20 with Jimmy coming out solo and doing a few songs then the Coral Refers hit the stage with him and the party kicked into high gear. He took a very short break at 9:30 and then came out and played to 11:30.

The highlights of the show music wise for me were, of course, Margaritaville, Fins, and Son of a Sailor, but the big surprise for all of the attending Deadheads was a cover of Scarlet Begonias it made my heart swell and put me on a definite different plane of fun. He finished off the show with a 3 song encore ending with an acoustic version of “Pirate Looks At Forty”.

Overall it was a great show. Avery was disappointed that he didn’t play “Fruitcakes” and I was hoping for “Tin Cup Chalice”, but other than that the show was great. The crowd was excellent and well behaved and in a party mood. The one thing that surprised me was the lack of pot being smoked. There was none at all I didn’t smell any at all. I guess I have been going to too many jam band shows…

As we were walking back to the car my wife and daughter informed me that we have to go next year. So all you parrot-heads see you there next year…..

Here is the setlist:

HOT HOT HOT

Banana Boat Song

01 Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes with the original Coral Reefer Band
02 Great Filling Station Holdup with Mac
03 Pencil Thin Mustache starts with Robert and Ralph joining in and finally the whole band
04 Only Time Will Tell
05 License To Chill
06 Carnival World
07 Son of a Son of a Sailor
08 If The Phone Doesn’t Ring It’s Me
09 Brown Eyed Girl
10 Volcano
11 Why Don’t We Get Drunk Purple Rain psychedelic style
12 Hey Good Looking
13 One Particular Harbour

Intermission

14 Smart Woman (In a Real Short Skirt)
15 The Pascagoula Run
16 Jamaica Mistaica
17 Come Monday
18 Grapefruit-Juicy Fruit
19 Jolly Mon
20 It’s Five O’clock Somewhere
21 Cheeseburger in Paradise
22 Coast of Carolina
23 Cuban Crime of Passion
24 Southern Cross
25 Scarlet Begonias
26 Margaritaville

First Encore:
27 Fins
28 We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About

Band Intros

Second Encore:
29 A Pirate Looks at Forty

Let the summer begin…

My favorite time of the year has started……summer. The temp goes up and the leaves come out on the trees and the days are longer. And no snow to shovel…..

This weekend we had a nice cookout with a good bunch of friends and the conversation was great. I would like to thank those that came for coming. I think this year we are going to do a few more cookouts and use the backyard a lot more than in previous years…..

Hair Length

Since I started the Haverling Alumni Site I have had old classmates and friends from the Bath area get in touch with me. they have been saying how when they found this page they weren’t sure it was me since one of the pictures at the top showed me with long hair. And when I was in school and the years right after I had short hair, no mustache or glasses.

The other day one of them sent me an e-mail an asked how long my hair was these days and I realized I hadn’t taken any pictures of the length….so here are 3 of them…next time I wear a light shirt I will get better ones…..

Long week

Well I have been getting no work done on the office room this week, but I am going to get the office furniture on Sat. I think I am just going to put 2 tables in. 1 for ma and 1 for Carolyn. I am going to try and use the closet for all storage and not let the mess get out of hand in this office.

Lug/ip meeting last night. It went well Kurt Williams did a great presentation and we had a good crowd. We a re averaging about 2 new people a month. Getting allot of great compliments on the web site so that is make me and the board feel good.

So that’s about it for now……..oh yea get to go to school tomorrow for Avery’s parent teacher conference….that should go well…..

I’m gonna sing you a hundred verses in ragtime
I know this song it ain’t never gonna end
I’m gonna march you up and down the local county line
Take you to the leader of the band

Just like Crazy Otto
Just like Wolfman Jack
Sittin’ plush with a royal flush
Aces back to back
Just like Mary Shelley
Just like Frankenstein
Clank your chains and count your change
Try to walk the line

Did you say your name was
Ramblin’ Rose?
Ramble on, baby
Settle down easy
Ramble on, Rose