It is a new year. The years they just keep coming. That’s a good thing. As with any and all new years the only way is forward. The rants will go on. The rambles will continue. The ravings show no sign of slowing. Perhaps this will be the year I find some sense of purpose. Maybe.
In the bar at Carrabba's after dinner.
After we left the MOST we went to Peppino's for pizza.
2017/02/09 10:30 There was about an inch of snow on the ground this morning. The temperature has dipped into the teens. Winter is still with us. The long term forecast is for a normal March and April but a warmer than usual May. I picked up Elliott this morning. We didn't stop anywhere but rather just came home. I think he has a bit of a cold.
My broken mug pieces now gone to a better place.
2017/01/10 12:00 I finished the intro for my YouTube channel yesterday. I am not completely satisfied with it but I am pressing on. I know I will never be satisfied and if I wait to perfect everything then I won't ever post anything. I think I can make my self-imposed deadline of having my first episode done before the end of January. I will shoot content either Wednesday or Thursday.
2017/01/14 22:00 We went to the MOST today. Robert and I took Tristan and Alice to the planetarium. I have been to the MOST (Museum of Science and Technology) many times but have never gone in to see a show at the planetarium.
2017/01/27 09:30 I didn't make it to the gym yesterday. I am definitely planning on doing the gym thing today. Yesterday we got our Roku Express in the mail. When I signed up for Sling TV we were promised a free Roku Express and it came yesterday. I hooked it up and it only took more than a little while because I was being an idiot. I got confused and went to the Sling TV website instead of the Roku website. We have had our cable disconnected for almost a week and haven't missed it. I am going to call and cancel it on Monday. With the Sling TV I can watch CNBC which was important to me. Last night Karen and I watched "Travelers" episodes 9 and 10 on Netflix. I went to bed and Karen stayed up to watch "The Wire" also on Netflix. The only thing I can't do is record "Mad Money" on CNBC. I haven't found where I can stream it yet. No snow outside. It's cold but not really cold. Temperatures are hovering right around freezing. I looked at the fifteen day forecast and while there is snow in the forecast there isn't a call for super low temps.
Back at home Karen was very mean to Elliott and wouldn't let him use the sharpest knife in the house to cut up his apple.
2017/01/19 12:00 The month of January is more than halfway over and so that means the Winter of 2016/2017 is half over. We have the much dreaded month of February ahead of us. The weather has been unseasonably warm. There is no snow on the ground at all. It is supposed to be 45 to 50 degrees through the weekend. On the downside it has been raining a lot so everything is wet, damp, and yucky. On the up side all that rain could have been snow.
I am afraid that my 'fear of completion' thing that I have going on may have reared its ugly head yet again. Either that or it is just my lack of focus. I had set a deadline for having my first YouTube video done and posted before the end of January. I was doing really well. There was a lot of progress being made and it seemed I was going to make the deadline no sweat. Then I got distracted by problems here on the website. My navigation bar has been a disaster. I have over 120 pages now and the navigation has just been getting more and more annoying and useless. So, I am two or three days into a major overhaul of site navigation on the site here. I have moved pages to sub-pages and I am finally making the table of contents on the home page something that actually works. I have completely updated the home page. Not done yet but getting close. I still want to try and have the first YouTube channel video up before the end of the month. So much to do and so little time. How did I ever work for a living? We don't have the grandkids this weekend so maybe it will be a very productive time (if not as much fun or as emotionally satisfying).
2017/02/05 12:00 Yesterday Adison and I took the kids to 'Jurrasic Quest' at the NY State Fairgrounds. It was an ordeal to get inside. I had no idea we would have to wait outside in the cold for as long as we did. And it was very cold and windy waiting in line. Poor little Elliott was crying and crying. Tristan only wore a hoodie and refused my offer for him to take my coat. Once we were inside and warmed up it was okay. I think this was pretty much the same as the thing we went to at the OnCenter a couple of years ago. It was just larger with more displays. Adison said it would have been better if it wasn't so crowded. It was very crowded.
Everybody was sleeping soundly when the fire alarm went off at two in the morning. Someone had pulled the alarm I guess. We couldn't evacuate the room until Robert changed his underwear and put on clean pants and cologne. We only made it as far as the stairwell when the fire department cleared it for everyone to go back inside. In the stairwell with us was a guy with his three daughters aged probably seven to twelve years of age. He was carrying a cardboard box with three bottles of vodka. They weren't even good vodkas. I guess he wanted to be prepared in case we were trapped in the parking lot for awhile.
Tristan had his milkshake with whipped cream on it and Alice had a hot chocolate with whipped cream on it. When our waitress came back to take our orders I told her that Elliott was very jealous that he didn't get any whipped cream. She brought him a big bowl of whipped cream.
2017/01/04 16:00 Did I make any New Year's resolutions this year? I must admit that I did. The principal resolution made is just to stop being so passive and allowing life to just happen to me. I need to take control of my life and make things happen.
I have been trying to teach myself Adobe Photoshop Elements 15 and Adobe Premiere Elements 15. I want to have my first YouTube video posted before the end of January. What will determine if that happens or not is how far I get in learning how to use the software.
2017/01/01 11:00 Happy New Year. I had a most uneventful New Year's Eve celebration. Actually I didn't even celebrate. I was in bed and asleep before eleven. I am not going to talk about the year that was right now. I will talk about looking forward to another year later. Tomorrow I will talk about resolutions and stuff. For today I am just saying "Happy New Year".
2017/01/28 13:00 Just a lazy Saturday morning. Tristan was hungry and I made him a turkey sandwich. I guess he doesn't like mayonnaise so I had a turkey sandwich for breakfast. I made a second dry turkey sandwich and chicken noodle soup and that he approved. I got a message from my friend Caroline. Trooper the cat had broken some of my Hawaii Kai mugs and I had sent the broken pieces to her. She got the pieces and is going to use them in her bar top in the Tiki bar she is building. She sent a picture of my broken mugs in her collection of broken mugs.
I went to the gym yesterday. I hope to go to the gym again today and I hope to film content for my first YouTube video today.
2017/01/02 10:00 December is done. Just two more Winter months ahead of us for the year 2017. Last month I had the most views of this website ever; 2,387. First time ever over 2,000. One of my biggest projects I am looking forward to this year is YouTube. I am going to start a YouTube channel for Khan Tiki Mon's Bar and Lounge. I am going to try and be a YouTuber.
2017/01/06 08:00 I went to bed early last night. And I had taken a nap before that. I wasn't feeling too good. My stomach was upset and I felt kind of achy. I must have slept it all off because I woke up early this morning and I feel pretty good.
It is very cold outside. It snowed last night. Not a lot of snow. A dusting as they say. I need to work outside a little bit today. Not looking forward to that. I am so sick of the cold weather already and we aren't halfway through January yet.
I am busy this morning trying to master some new software. I am trying to create an opening sequence for the YouTube channel I am making. I know what I want it to look like I just have to figure out how to make that happen. I think getting the first YouTube episode up will be the hardest and then hopefully it should get easier from there.
2017/02/03 18:00 Today the sickness passed to Adison. Karen says that Adison is a bigger whiner than I am when sick. I went to her house to help out. I got Elliott up and dressed. Apparently I put the wrong diaper on him. I used a 'sleep' diaper. Then, to make matters worse, I put a nighttime shirt on him. He seemed to handle all my errors like he wasn't even aware of them.
Graph showing the traffic on my website.
I still need to get my first YouTube video up. It is probably pointless to set another deadline. I just need to do it.
2017/02/04 12:00 And today the sickness passed to Karen. In an interesting twist she didn't get the projectile vomit but instead got the explosive diarrhea. I didn't make it to the gym yesterday and in light of the developments today on the sickness front it seems I may not make it to the gym today either.
I have no idea how the little girl could get chicken wing hot sauce on her eyebrows and still not get any on her white sweater. Good job!
A woman stopped us in the mall to express her opinion that Elliott was the cutest little boy in the whole world.
My rants, rambles, and ravings will be pretty much the same as always. Will I be as boring as usual? Most likely. Will I still be as weird as I have been in the past? I think so. Will I share too much information? We can only hope. If you choose to read on then I do admit to enjoying the company.
“Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”
― G.K. Chesterton
2017/01/25 23:00 I didn't make it to the gym yesterday but I did today. After I was finished at the gym I got cleaned up and Karen and I met Marty and Laura at Carrabba's for dinner. We had a very nice time.
2017/01/15 20:00 I had another wonderful evening at SubCat Music Studios. It was the 36th edition of the Sub Rosa Sessions. It was the two Andrews; Andrew Greacen and Andrew Grimm.
2017/02/02 23:00 I made it to the gym yesterday. I had a good day yesterday but Elliott not so much. The poor little dude got sick.
2017/02/11 10:00 I was up early this morning to run an errand and I stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way home to get the kids a treat for breakfast. I was standing at the counter and a very cute and perky young girl was waiting on me. She was very friendly and she had an infectious smile. While she was waiting on me another young girl that worked there asked her about something in the back room. The nice young girl waiting on me said, without losing her wonderful smile, “No, it’s as empty as my soul is working here”. All I could think about was how much I had hated my job and how happy I have been since I took an early retirement. I know she was joking but I hope she and everyone else finds the thing that makes them happy.
Elliott was being pretty goofy. He seemed to be trying to copy the poses of the models.
2017/01/22 11:00 It is 42 degrees out today. The forecast is for it to reach the mid 50s today. The work on my navigation here on the website continues. The home page is almost done and I am liking the way the table of contents looks. I ordered Sling TV yesterday and it comes with a free Roku streaming device. I just have to wait for that to come in the mail. I went to the gym yesterday. I am planning to go to the gym today which will make it three days in a row. I still haven't filmed the content for my first YouTube video. Maybe tonight that will happen. I got a Logitech c930e webcam in the mail last week and haven't even opened it yet. It is not for use in my first video but will be for shooting later content from my computer. I also got a Blue Yeti microphone for my computer to use with the Logitech c930e and I haven't opened that yet either. I did get the Mohu Leaf 50 antenna hooked up. The cable is disconnected but not canceled yet. I watched Saturday Night Live last night with the antenna. Karen has been watching her show "The Wire" on Amazon by streaming it on the BluRay player. Once we get the Roku stick we can stream Netflix, Hulu, Sling, and Amazon on the Roku. The only problem with watching live TV with the antenna is you can't pause or rewind like we could with the TIVO.
2017/02/13 10:00 I just got back from a doctor's appointment. It was my yearly check-up with my eye doctor. Why would I have made the appointment for eight in the morning? I am retired. I could have slept in on this snowy morning. We got about four to five inches of snow overnight, Not the huge Winter storm we were threatened with and that's okay with me.
2017/01/12 11:00 Walking around the mall with Elliott. Passed a store with a huge poster of a girl with a shirt showing her belly button. Elliott stopped and pulled up his shirt to show his belly button.
khan tiki mon's rants and rambles v.11.00
Uncle Robert with his nephew Elliott on the way to Billy Beez.
2017/01/23 10:15 Still kind of Spring like this morning. It was about 40 degrees and everything has dried out a little. That's all about to change according to the forecast. We can expect 4 to 9 inches of heavy wet snow starting around one this afternoon. Awesome.
I didn't make the gym yesterday. I fell asleep on the couch in the early afternoon and took a pretty good nap. When I woke up Karen said she wanted Chinese food. We watched the first two episodes of the Netflix series "Travelers". It has started out pretty interesting and we will continue to watch. I haven't canceled the cable yet but it is disconnected and we haven't really missed it. I am going to give it another week and then I will call Time Warner and cancel. The plan is to make the gym right after lunch time today.
2017/01/24 12:30 Yesterday there were weather warnings predicting a Winter storm. We were to get up to nine inches of heavy wet snow starting at one in the afternoon. Didn't happen. New prediction was for the storm to start at six. Didn't happen. I went to the gym yesterday around six and it was clear and the ground was dry. I expected to see the beginnings of the storm when I came out of the gym. Nope. Karen and I watched two more episodes of "Travelers" on Netflix. I went to bed about ten and there was still no storm. I woke up early this morning to go get Elliott and there was about two inches of heavy wet snow on the ground. Not that I am complaining. Forecast says temps in the 40s tomorrow. Elliott and I went to Panera for breakfast. We usually go there on Tuesdays and Thursdays now. After breakfast we went to the new store At Home that recently opened in the mall. We bought a rug for the garage. I am still working on updating the navigation system here on the website. That has been a huge undertaking. I really need to get working on the YouTube channel if I am going to meet my deadline.
They have these cheap little cakes at Wegmans and Tristan loves them so that was his birthday cake.
2017/01/26 12:00 I picked up Elliott this morning and we went to Panera in the mall for breakfast. After we ate we walked around the mall.
I bought my tickets for Ohana: Luau at the Lake today. I feel that my voice has been heard. Bamboo Saxotica is returning. So looking forward to this event in June.
Cousins.
2017/01/29 11:00 Yesterday we went to Billy Beez in the mall. Karen, Robert, Tristan, Alice, and I went and met Adison and Elliott there.
2017/01/08 18:30 We went to Embassy Suites this year to celebrate Tristan's birthday. He is now ten years old. Adison and Elliott came to visit and the cousins had fun playing on the beds in the hotel.
2017/01/13 14:00 The fear of the number thirteen is called triskaidekaphobia. The fear of Friday the Thirteenth is called paraskevidekatriaphobia. In Norse myth twelve gods were having a party in Valhalla. The party was crashed by a thirteenth uninvited guest. The party crasher killed the god of joy and gladness. Bummer. Happened on a Friday? Must be.
Brother and sister on the big slide.
2017/02/07 11:30 Last night Michael and I went to see "xXx: Xander Cage Returns". I enjoyed it. It was fun. Stupid but really fun. The first Triple X movie was released in 2002. They tried a sequel without Vin Diesel in 2005. It has been eleven years since we heard from Triple X. The movie was obviously made for the foreign market. The movie had a diverse international cast. I wouldn't mind seeing more Triple X sooner than eleven years.
Logo for my YouTube channel. Next up I will put it in Premiere and kind of bring it to life a little with pan and zoom. That and some music and I think I can have it looking pretty sharp.
We are going to spend the night tonight at Embassy Suites to celebrate Tristan's birthday. The kids can swim in the pool and soak in the hot tub. Tristan wants tacos for dinner and he wants my home made tacos. We will take all the fixins' to the hotel.
Today the sickness was passed to me. I left the house this morning to go and get Elliott. I felt a little off but I didn't think it was anything to be concerned about. I was wrong. Once I had Elliott I felt terrible. I was afraid that I couldn't make it home without having to pull the car over and throw up. I made it home with the heat in the car at full blast to combat the chills. I must have fallen asleep in the driveway because I was awakened when Karen called from inside the house to ask why we were sitting in the driveway. I brought Elliott into the house and got sick for the first time today. Not a big fan of projectile vomit. I came downstairs afterwards and I knew this was going to happen. My wife didn't ask, are you ok? how do you feel?, can I get you anything? No, instead she said did you clean up your mess? did you clean behind the toilet? I had. I had the chills and we keep the house pretty chilly because Karen still has hot flashes I guess. I crawled into bed and fell into a tortured sleep. I dreamed that I was on an Arctic expedition and our ship was stuck in the ice. We were all freezing to death. There was a young girl on board and she had an idea for a new lining in our expedition coats that would keep us warmer. I was sad because I didn't think we would make it back to civilization for her to profit from her idea. Everyone figured she would die first and a lot of the crew was talking about eating her when she did. I think this dream came from an episode of the show "Penny Dreadful". I got sick three more times; the last being at six. The whole sick thing lasted eight hours. I still feel tired and weak but the worst has passed.
Uncle Michael stopped by also but he didn't stay for dinner. He is not a fan of tacos.
2014/02/12 10:00 From Syracuse.com: " A 'complex winter storm' is reaching Upstate New York this morning, and the entire region is under severe weather alerts...Upstate New York is at the confluence of two separate weather systems: one moving in from across the Ohio Valley and a nor'easter marching up the East Coast. The complexity of that merger of storms, plus the fact that temperatures are hovering near freezing, make this a difficult storm to forecast. As those storms converge, they'll also create high winds. Gusts across much of Upstate Monday morning could reach 40 mph."
2017/01/20 10:30 I am continuing with the massive updating and upgrading of the website. I am almost finished with all the changes to the site navigation. The table of contents on the homepage is nearing completion. Once all the navigation is done I will really start on updating the content.
My new and free Roku Express.
2017/01/30 12:00 There is a light dusting of snow on the ground. And it is cold. I had no trouble falling asleep last night but I couldn't stay asleep. I was up about two in the morning. I tossed and turned for awhile and finally just got up. I came back to bed about 5:30 and then slept in until eleven. My day is already messed up.
On Saturday I shot some test video for the YouTube channel. I was happy with how it looked. My deadline for getting my first YouTube posting looms large. I need to shoot the footage today. I also need to go to the gym today.
2017/02/10 09:00 The Northeast got slammed with the biggest storm of this Winter season. The storm hit last night and this morning. The cities of Philadelphia, NYC, and Boston were hard hit. We got lucky and were spared so far. I woke up this morning to about two or three inches of fresh snow. My parents, who live a little further south and at a higher elevation, they got about eight to nine inches they said. Last night Adison asked us to watch Elliott because Mark had to work. That would have made four days this week. Not complaining. Adison sent a text this morning saying Mark decided not to go to work so we are off the hook for today. Tristan and Alice had a snow day today. Robert is looking into the possibility of getting them early for this weekend.
2017/02/06 10:00 The weekend is over. There are three weekends left in February. That's not to say that it will be all sweetness and light come March. Last year March was not a Spring month but just another Winter month. Still, March is hope. Karen and I watched the Super Bowl last night. I cut the cord last week. I went to the Time Warner office and turned in the equipment we had and we no longer have cable or the monthly bill. I bought the antenna but honestly we haven't used it. We watch everything streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. I use Sling to watch CNBC. Watching the Super Bowl our only choice was the Mohu Leaf 50 antenna and Fox is a weaker channel. The game kept cutting out for a "Low Signal" warning fairly often and it was extremely annoying. Almost as annoying as the Patriots winning again.
2017/01/21 11:00 I am getting ready to cut the cord. Time Warner, my cable company, has pushed me away. I was always happy with my setup. I had cable and I had my TIVO. My cable plugged right into my TIVO and everything was good. I paid Time Warner monthly for their service and I paid TIVO monthly for their service. Then Time Warner made it so my TIVO wouldn't work. I had to get a box to go between my TIVO and the cable and I had to send away for a decoder card. Then Time Warner made it so my cable wouldn't work in any of my TVs that were stand alone without the TIVO. I was a loyal customer but they kept making it more and more difficult to remain so. At present I pay 115$ a month for cable. I also pay for Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. I pay TIVO too. I bought a Mohu Leaf 50 antenna. I am going to try dropping cable and picking up Sling TV. I will keep Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. If I can't get the antenna to work with TIVO I will drop TIVO. My monthly savings after adding the monthly fee for Sling should be 70$ plus. We will see how that all works out.
In other news I continue working on upgrading the navigation on the website here. I still haven't finished the table of contents but I am happy with how it is progressing. Once I get the navigation to where I want it I will start in earnest the content update.
I haven't forgotten about getting my YouTube channel going. I hope to shoot the content for my first video this weekend. I still plan to have everything edited and posted before the end of the month.
The weather is still unseasonably warm. I think it is supposed to top 50 degrees today. I went to the gym yesterday. I had been neglecting that for too long. I plan to go again today. I need to establish a good habit of attendance at the gym.
The owner delivered our food to the table. He started to put the NY Strip in front of me and I said that went to the boy at the head of the table. That's surprising the owner said. Who gets the hot wings? I said they are for the little girl. He said that's even more surprising.
2017/01/07 10:00 I finally got the logo for my YouTube channel done and looking the way I want it to. I spent some long hours on it figuring everything out. Now that I know what I am doing I could recreate it in about three minutes.
2017/01/05 10:00 Having breakfast at Panera this morning at the mall with my grandson. We walk in and there is a table of four. Someone at the table says "Look how cute that kid is". Someone else at the table says, "Yeah, we know him. That's Elliott. He's here all the time".
I don't really like February. At least not February in Upstate New York. February in Key West, the Conch Republic, that would probably be okay. The snow is starting to come down pretty heavy right now. Yesterday Robert and I took Alice to Destiny to see the "The Lego Batman Movie". It was a love story released just in time for Valentine's Day. It was fun. I am planning to go back to the movies tomorrow with Michael to see "John Wick 2".
2017/02/01 09:30 It is the first day of February which means we are in the homestretch as far as the Winter of 206/2017 goes. This last month of Winter is always the most depressing. I am so done with the cold and dreary days. Hurry up Spring.
Last month was the busiest month ever for this website. I almost broke three thousand in page views.
Chillaxin at the mall with my bubby.
2017/02/08 22:30 Normally we watch Elliott on Tuesdays and Thursdays now. We had to watch him today because the woman that watches him on Mondays and Wednesdays got the sickness that is passing between us all. We are watching him three days this week.
2017/01/31 23:00 The last day in January for 2017 comes to a close. I made it to the gym yesterday but not today. And I didn't get the footage done for my YouTube channel. I will not make my deadline. I picked Elliott up in the morning and we had breakfast at Panera. Then we did some shopping at Target. When we left Target we stopped and picked up Karen and then we went to the Dewitt Library for a story time. Elliott didn't really seem into it at all.
When we were leaving the dinosaurs behind Tristan said he wanted to go to McDonald's for a strawberry milkshake. I said I would take him someplace better and he would get a better milkshake. We went to the Little Gem Diner. Tristan ordered his strawberry milkshake. The waitress brought the rest of us our beverages and told Tristan that the owner was making his milkshake and would be out with it shortly. The owner came out and told Tristan this was the best milkshake he would ever have. Tristan agreed.