Had a wonderful Christmas yesterday.

2010/12/15 21:30 Alice Cooper was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today. He is enjoying a second career as a disc jockey. I admit to enjoying his syndicated show that I catch on a station out of Ithaca. On the way home from work today Alice offered this little pearl of wisdom. He said you don't have to be religious to enjoy the Christmas holiday you just have to be a 'capitalist pig'. And Alice confessed to being just that kind of 'capitalist pig'. Great radio. I can remember the summers around the end of my high school days. My best friend had a convertible with an 8-track player and the only tape we had was Alice Cooper's "Greatest Hits". The tape played on an endless loop and was the soundtrack for a large part of my youth.

2010/12/19 19:00 I sometimes find the holiday season to be more melancholy than festive. I don’t take much solace in the fact that I am not the only one that feels that way. The holiday season probably depresses as many people as it uplifts. The holiday season highlights a classic Jungian crisis in which the aging individual mourns the loss of the never to be realized ideal family unit – the depression arises from comparing the world as it is to a hypothetical idealized world. That is a perfect explanation and description of the angst I experience around the holidays. I am reminded of things lost that can never be reclaimed. I feel the need to rewrite the past and that is something that is just not possible. I need to accept my limitations. I have no problem forgiving others but find it near impossible to forgive myself. My wife, Karen, is the Christmas spirit at our house. Without her things would be bleak indeed. She makes our Christmas holidays fun and memorable and that's only one reason of many that I love her and count her my greatest blessing.

2010/12/23 19:30 Last night Karen and I watched Bret Michael's new reality series "Life As I Know It". Actually Karen was watching it and I was just too lazy to get up and move. Apparently Bret has two daughters with his girlfriend of 16 years. He proposed to her on the show. I was trying to figure out what that meant. Maybe it means that if Bret gets 'married' he will only bang half as many skanky whores. There is a debate raging in the country right now about the definition of marriage. Is marriage only between a man and a woman or can it be between two men or between two women? Or, can marriage be between a man and a woman and an endless parade of skanky whores? Later that night I was watching "Chelsea Lately" and they were making fun of the Bret Michaels show. Chelsea said she had really been pulling for the Bret Michaels and Miley Cyrus mom tryst to develop into a long term relationship. She thought that would have made the best reality show; "My two dads - Billy Ray Cyrus and my stepdad Bret Michaels".

2010/12/26 22:00

2010/12/12 20:00 Robert spent his twenty-fifth birthday in the hospital. The nurses were really great. Robert said they brought him cake and ice cream (chocolate which he wouldn't eat - but it was a really nice gesture). When Robert was admitted Thursday night there were a lot of forms and questionnaires to fill out. The nurse had a laptop and she input all the information into the laptop. They ask questions like, "Do you feel safe at home?". I know they want to know if you are a victim of domestic violence but I wonder if anyone ever says anything like, "No, I see dead people..." or "I am frequently abducted from my bedroom by little green aliens and subjected to painful anal probes". The nurse asked Robert if he was 'independant' and Robert quickly answered, "No, not at all". I explained that the nurse was asking if he could go to the bathroom by himself, bathe himself, feed himself, etc. She wasn't asking did he have a job and could he pay for anything. I siad, "You are considered independant medically". The nurse really got a big kick out of that one. On Friday morning Robert had a colonoscopy. Karen and I were up to see him after he got out of the procedure and the doctor had cleared him to eat anything he wanted. I went to the cafeteria and got him a cheeseburger. When I was checking out the very nice young girl running the register pointed at me and asked, "Do you work there?" I wasn't sure what she was talking about and then realized she was pointing at my Zebb's shirt. Zebb's is a bar and restaurant known for their hamburgers and their hamburger topping bar. I explained that I didn't work at Zebb's but that I did eat there on occasion. She then asked, "Well, then how did you get the shirt?' I explained that I had actually gotten the shirt at the Rescue Mission thrift store. She broke into an even bigger smile, punched me in the arm, and exclaimed, "Cool beans!!" I took that to mean she was also a fan of thrifty shopping. I brought the hamburger back to Robert's room. Robert had been throwing up for days. He hadn't been allowed anything to eat in preparation for the colonoscopy and so this is his first food in days. "I can't eat this, there's no mustard." So, if you're on a plane with Robert and it crashes in the Andes mountains you are safe as long as there is no mustard (that's a cannibal joke). I went back to the cafeteria and got his mustard. Hopefully Robert will be home in a day or so.

2010/12/11 15:30 This morning Karen and I walked into St Joseph's hospital. We reminisced that it was exactly twenty five years ago today that we had walked into St Joseph's hospital and the next day Karen gave birth to our first child. That child, Robert, is going to celebrate his 25th birthday tomorrow while a patient at the same hospital. How did that happen? On Monday Karen and I were both very sick. I can honestly say that this particular stomach bug was one of the worst I have ever encountered. Robert got sick on Wednesday and was apparently afflicted with the same gastro-intestinal virus. Only it hit him much harder. One of the doctors would later say that if it turns out to be just the same virus that hit Karen and I causing Robert's problems, that the reason it didn't impact Karen and I with the same severity was because we had more "reserves". Yeah. Reserves is a polite way to put it. I do weigh myself everyday and I lost six pounds in 24 hours while I was sick. While the “projectile vomit and explosive diarrhea” diet is effective I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. Karen called me at work on Thursday and said I needed to go home and check on Robert. I went home about 2:30 and what I saw was very scary. Robert looked like he could have been on the new hit show "The Walking Dead" without requiring any make-up. I told him to just get in the van and I drove him to urgent care. At urgent care they started him on some IV fluids and did blood tests. The blood tests showed him close to complete kidney failure and the doctor at urgent care said his condition was serious. He was taken by ambulance to St Joseph's hospital. We were lucky. Worst case he could have died. Or had he required kidney dialysis he might not have recovered that function and could have had lifelong problems. Robert was admitted to the hospital Thursday night.

Jen and Tony - Jason and Theresa

Scott and Karen.

Scott Hays, Christina, and her husband.

2010/12/08 22:00 I was very sick on Monday. I had to leave work early. I actually didn't leave work early enough. I only made it to the hallway outside my bathroom. I should have left about 5 minutes earlier. I was violently ill. I felt terrible for a day. I managed to drag myself back into work Tuesday afternoon and then worked most of the night. I probabaly should have stayed home. This morning Adison needed a ride to work. She has a new job and today was her third day on the job. I had a flat tire driving her to work. It was a terrible snowy day. The roads were snowy and slushy and messy and I had a flat tire. Adison was freaking out because she was going to be late for work on her third day. She said, "Get out and change the tire, put a spare on". My spare tire is in a carrier tucked up under the van and I said there is no way I am getting out under the van in this crappy weather to change the tire. I called a tow truck and got us towed to Dunn Tire. At Dunn Tire I had new tires put on. The tow truck dropped Adison at home and she got a ride to work with her brother Michael. Karen was having a colonoscopy and Robert had driven her and they picked me up at Dunn Tire on the way home from the procedure. Robert was sick and had been throwing up in the waiting room.

2010/12/01 14:00 I ventured out for lunch today after one. The rain has changed to snow. Given all the problems with flooding the snow is actually preferable at this point. I went to Price Chopper and got a tuna sandwich and a Snapple. I didn’t gain any weight over vacation, which is kind of amazing, and I actually have lost two pounds since getting back. I need to get back into the gym and start getting healthier soon.

2010/12/06 10:00 Yesterday, last night, was the annual Bristol Myers Squibb Christmas party. It was at the Sheraton up on the University hill again this year. It was a fun time.

Amie, Kate, Andrew, Uncle Scott, Ericka, Aunt Karen, and Phillip.

2010/12/01 12:00 Today is the first day of December. And December is the first Winter month for this 2010/2011 Winter season. I woke up this morning to a drenching rain. The rain was heavy and fast and the ground was unable to absorb it. There are little mini ponds in my yard and in the neighbor’s yards as well. I have some water coming into the garage and I haven’t checked the basement yet. It seems we are having more problems with the weather than I remember having even as recently as just a few years ago. I think that the first effects of global warming seem to be just an increase in weather extremes. I had 222 page views of my website for November. That is down just a few from last month. I bought some books for my nephew Andrew on E-bay last night. I am going to send him some of the books that I read when I was his age that I consider classics of the golden age of Science Fiction. I got him “Dark Piper” by Andre Norton, “Of Men and Monsters” by William Tenn, and “A Choice of Gods” by Clifford D. Simak. If he likes those I will get him some more. We are having serious problems at work today. We have lost our servers and all computer systems are down. I can’t access the web, our own company website is down, we can’t e-mail, and we have limited phone service. There is not much work that I can do (actually there isn’t any work that I can do). I don’t know, but it seems the problem may be because of flooding and loss of power at the Henry Clay facility where the servers are located. I think the power has been restored but they are having problems “flopping” the servers. I am sure that the fact we laid off 400 people in IT last month has nothing to do with any of the issues we are experiencing today. I had such a wonderful time in Albuquerque and I enjoyed being on vacation so much that I think having to return to the Evil Empire has caused me a little post vacation depression. Together with the crappy weather, which bothers me more and more as I get older, I am feeling rather down today.

Sunday we went to a garden store and Karen finally got her burro. When we were staying in New Buffalo, Michigan this past August we had visited some antique stores. Karen saw a garden statue of a burro that she wanted. We didn’t have enough money and I said we would return in two days after our paychecks were deposited and then we would grab the burro. We came back as promised only someone else had already purchased the burro. What the hell? We have been questing for a burro ever since. The burro we found is nice and came with a little cart. Darren brought it into the house to store it safely until it can be loaded into my parent’s truck I think his dogs have been barking at it ever since.

On Friday we went geo-caching. The liquor and wine selections available in Albuquerque are far superior to what is available in Syracuse. I picked up a couple of bottles of rum that I can’t get in Syracuse. My parents are driving back to Syracuse mid-December and they will bring the rum back in their truck along with all the other souvenirs that were purchased.

International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico.

The Colonel and alien life form.

I saw what I am sure is my first bald eagle in the wild. I have seen bald eagles in captivity but it was really something to see one out in the wild. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. I don’t think it could have been a nicer day for bird watching. On Thanksgiving proper we deep fried a turkey. It was a little chilly to be cooking outside but we had a fire going to keep warm. In addition to the deep fried turkey we cooked a couple of pork roasts on the bar-b-que and my sister-in-law Sam brought a traditionally cooked turkey as well. It was a very nice Thanksgiving and the only thing that could have made it better would have been if all my children had been there. I missed having Adison and Robert there. I also missed my little dude Tristan.

The UFO museum was tacky and schlocky and I mean that in the best possible sense. I think I would have been disappointed if it was at all more sophisticated. Many of the displays were framed in saran wrap instead of glass. It was perfect. There was a little artists rendering of the different ‘alien body types’ which included humanoid, mantis, and ‘bigfoot’. Too funny! I enjoyed the UFO Museum but I think what I enjoyed even more was just being in the town The town of Roswell has totally embraced the UFO mythology and even the KFC has an alien out front. We ate at a restaurant called Farley’s and I had a very nice hamburger there.

Polynesian cocktail menu at Jinja.

My zombie.

2010/11/29 09:30 I am writing this on the plane from Albuquerque to Minneapolis. This technology is pretty amazing. I am online, on the world wide web, while I am on an airplane. I am listening to Radio Free Bakersfield, and updating my website. Karen and I had an absolutely wonderful time in Albuquerque visiting my brothers and their families. It was great seeing my nieces and nephews. It is half past nine in Syracuse. Half past seven Albuquerque time. I got the full body scan in the Albuquerque airport. I didn’t post anything to the website while in Albuquerque, and a lot happened over the last week, so this post is going to be a big one. Karen, Michael, and I all left Syracuse on Saturday the 20th of November. Michael’s flight left at 5:30 and Karen and I left at 6:00. Karen and I got into Albuquerque about 2:00 Albuquerque time. My brother Darren and my nephew Phillip were there waiting for us. My brother Paul and nieces Ericka and Amy were also at the airport. We decided not to wait at the airport for Michael and that was a good thing since he got delayed in Denver and didn’t make it to Albuquerque until much later. We went to a bar and restaurant called Jinja. It is not a Tiki bar but it has a Polynesian drink menu. The cuisine is a kind of Pan-Asian fusion and the décor was somewhat reminiscent of Trader Vic’s minus any Tikis. I had a zombie from the drink menu. It was a very nice time.

In the news, according to Jennifer Lynn Woods, "an agent patted up her legs from her ankles and cupped her genitals. Then, the agent pulled her elastic skirt band away from her waist and looked down her skirt, she said." Jennifer said she felt like she had been molested by the government. After my dealings with the IRS physical molestation does seem a natural progression. One woman, a flight attendant no less, who is a cancer survivor was made to unbutton her blouse and reach in her bra to remove her breast prosthesis for examination by the TSA.

2010/11/19 19:00 I am officially on vacation now. Leaving for Albuquerque in the morning. So, I guess I am going to get my junk handled before take-off. I am not referring to anything that might happen tonight between me and my significant other (where the handling of my junk wouldn't be a bad thing) but rather to what's been in the news with the TSA.

2010/11/13 08:00 I was off from work for Veterans Day on Thursday. I hadn't had a day off during the week since Labor Day in September. I woke up Thursday and I was sick. I felt terrible. I had a very sore throat and I was super achy all over. I felt like there had to be some kind of cosmic conspiracy involved that would cause me to get sick on my day off. My wife Karen is a scientist and she explained that it was crazy to think of a cosmic conspiracy. The fact was that my being sick was psychosomatic. I had gotten sick on purpose because Karen had asked me to get the yard cleaned up. My illness was an act of passive aggression aimed at my wife. I felt worse now. Even though my aggressive use of the common cold was subconscious and I hadn't knowingly intended to cause Karen pain I felt even more terrible.

2010/11/18 23:30

I made two little additions to my office space today. I added two Yankee Candle tea light holders that were a gift from my friend Michelle. Only one more day of work and I am on vacation. I will be on a plane bound for Albuquerque early Saturday morning.

Marina also sent me a card. Very nice!

I am so happy to be off from work tomorrow. Woo-hoo! I am going to tell you a little story about something that happened tonight but first a little background. Tristan and I frequently go grocery shopping together. I really have a lot of fun at the grocery store, Wegmans, with my grandson. When we are checking out we buy a chocolate bar and when we get to the van we break it in half. Half for me and half for Tristan. Tonight Tristan brought a crunch bar from his Halloween candy stash to me and asked me to open it for him. I asked if I got half and he said no. I asked how come I didn't get half what with all the times I had shared with him at the grocery store. Tristan said, "Pop-pop, this isn't Wegmans and you share with me, I don't share with you." I love my little grandson. And speaking of grandchildren I am going to be a grandparent again in April but this time it's going to be a little girl.

2010/11/03 10:00 Last night after work Karen and I scored a really nice china cabinet and matching buffet off of Craigslist. I have been working in the ‘mud room’ for the last week or so. I have stripped the old wallpaper off and I have done a lot of painting. Tristan has been helping me as much as he can. Tristan is my almost four year old grandson who lives in my basement with his Mom and Dad. He says the funniest things sometimes and I have no idea where he gets them from. Michael and I moved the new buffet into the room where Tristan and I had been working. Later, Tristan was standing next to me, it was just the two of us, and he had his hands on his hips surveying all of our hard work. He was admiring the new buffet. He looked at me and he said, “This is really nice. We’re going to make this place a home!” I had to smile as I thought, yeah, well, I have actually lived here for twenty two years and raised three kids here, so I guess it’s about time to make it a home. Too funny.

2010/11/04 10:00 The big news on the radio this morning on the way to work was that the parents of Miley Cyrus are getting divorced. Billy Ray and Tish are breaking up because Tish got caught sleeping with Bret, take off the bandanna we know you’re bald, Michaels. Tish and Bret met on the set of the duet performed by Bret and Miley. To be fair, maybe Tish threw herself at Bret to protect Miley. She maybe figured if someone was going to hop in the sack with Bret it was better her than her daughter. Or maybe Tish hated Bret’s reality series “Rock of Love” as much as I did, and knowing of Bret’s medical challenges, she was trying to put him out of commission and prevent another stupid TV program from happening (it didn’t work because Bret will be back with yet another reality show called “Life As I Know It”). The radio show I was listening to had a parody of the Fountains of Wayne song “Stacy’s Mom” where they changed the lyrics from “but I’m in love with Stacy’s mom” to “Bret is banging Miley’s mom”. It was pretty funny.

2010/11/07 21:00 Someone told me once, "I want to be more in touch with nature." Why? Nature is ugly. Nature is something killing and eating something else and then in turn getting killed and eaten by something bigger and with sharper teeth. Nature is the food chain. And man is part of the stewpot. We are by our very nature creatures of violence and conflict. The natural order of things is chaos and anarchy. Civilisation is an aberration and maintaining the unnatural order is a lot of work. And if civilisation is a veneer it isn't very thick. Turn out the lights and we are content to club each other in the dark. Me, I am an eternal optimist. I want to transcend nature. I want to rise above the fray and create things that have meaning and beauty. The weekend is over and I am feeling a little blue. A little down. I am sitting here wondering how so much of my life got behind me. Friday after work Karen stopped at WalMart on the way home from work. She locked the last key we had for the Saturn in the Saturn. She called me from WalMart and I came and got her. She called some lock out services and it was going to be fifty to eighty dollars to get the car opened. We were contemplating what to do when Adison called and Karen asked her if she had a key for the Saturn. She did. So, Saturday morning we drove up to Oswego to get the key. Adison was working and she left it at the front desk for us. I missed my Saturday morning at Tim Horton's for coffee with Karen. We got coffee at the drive-thru and we chatted on the way to Oswego but it didn't feel the same. I felt I missed something. Karen and I did get our Sunday morning time together for coffee at Tim Horton's. That was nice. Winter is close. As always I don't feel ready for Winter. I never feel like I have enough nuts squirreled away to make it through the long cold days ahead. When I get to feeling like I do now I am just grateful to have a partner and a friend who also happens to be my wife. I can't imagine how I could be happy without her.

2010/11/09 20:00 It is going to be an abbreviated week of servitude here at the Evil Empire. It is only a four day work week because I have Thursday off for Veterans Day. Counting tomorrow I have seven more days to toil before I am on a jet plane bound for Albuquerque and a week of relaxation with family. I am so looking forward to a temporary respite from the drudgery and tedium that comes from wearing the yoke of the Evil Empire. The last couple of days I have had some general feelings of uneasiness. A little sense of anxiety here and there. I am hoping a vacation will reset my emotional equilibrium. Get me level again.

2010/11/10 23:00 When I got home from work today I discovered that the United States Postal Service had delivered my shrunken head pendant. I got this super cool shrunken head pendant from MeduSirena Marina. The head is a Thor creation (Tom Thordarson aka Thor is the artist responsible).

We left a vehicle at the Spaghetti Warehouse and we put ten people in the van to save on parking. It was a little cramped. We had a scare over the tickets. Adison had bought the tickets online using my credit card. She bought her tickets at the same time with her credit card. When we got to the civic center and I asked her for our tickets she said she didn't have them. She said they had mailed them to my house. I didn't have the tickets. After some anxious moments at the will-call window they were able to print new tickets for us. It all worked out okay and the show was very funny. There are two professional web designers that I truly admire. They are Humuhumu, aka Michelle Trott, and Hanford Lemoore. Hanford is the creator of Tiki Central, which is more than just a website; it is a community. Humuhumu is the creator of Ooga Mooga, Critiki, and Humu Kon Tiki. Humuhumu also designed Arkiva Tropika, the website home of Mimi Payne’s paper Tiki ephemera collection. I have links to Tiki Central and Oooga Mooga on my links page. I need to add links for Critiki, Humu Kon Tiki, and Arkiva Tropika. I got a very nice PM from Humuhumu and this is what she said about my website, “I enjoyed your site very much. The quality of the content is what it's all about, and you've got plenty of good stuff there for visitors to chew on. Hanford & I are big fans of the Charlie Brown holiday specials, and in particular we make lots of references to The Great Pumpkin, and how he is only interested in spending time in pumpkin patches that have sincerity. We both try to create things that The Great Pumpkin would like to spend time in. And your site, sir, is one that would definitely attract The Great Pumpkin. It has sincerity. Kudos!” Such kind words are greatly appreciated. And also being a fan of the holiday specials I took special delight in the reference.

Linus:”Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.” In twenty days I will be on vacation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am looking forward to visiting family for Thanksgiving. Karen, Michael, and I are flying to Albuquerque on Saturday November 20th. I didn’t get Michael his ticket at the same time I got Karen’s and mine. Michael was being a little wishy washy about whether he was going or not. So, we leave on the same day, about a half hour apart, but we are taking very different routes. Karen and I leave at 6:00AM from Syracuse, change planes in NYC, fly to Minneapolis, change planes again and then continue on to Albuquerque. Michael leaves a half hour before us. He travels to Philadelphia, changes planes and continues his journey stopping next in Denver before continuing on to Albuquerque.

2010/10/20 18:00 Once again it is ‘hump day’ at the Evil Empire. It is halfway through another soul crushing week. Yesterday the weather was just gorgeous. It was a beautiful Autumn day. I am unsure how much longer the weather will hold. A co-worker told me this morning that she heard we may have snow this weekend. I definitely need to have Karen put another blanket on the bed. It was kind of chilly last night.

2010/10/16 11:00 Last night Michael and I went to the movies. We went to see "Red". The movie starred Bruce Willis. Red refers to the what was stamped on the Bruce Willis character's CIA folder. Red stands for 'retired and extremely dangerous'. The Bruce Willis character is forced out of retirement when a hit team comes to kill him. The movie costarred Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Mary Louise Parker, and Helen Mirren. Seeing Helen Mirren handle all the weaponry, including a 50 caliber heavy machine gun, was a hoot. When the Helen Mirren character announces she's coming out of retirement to help, the Morgan Freeman character smiles and says, "looks like the band's getting back together". I enjoyed the movie. I added 4 new pages to the website yesterday. I added a new 'mugs' page which will be devoted to serveware. By serveware I mean my collection of plates, glassware, coasters, and swizzles. I also added a page for my pendant collection. Just three pieces in the pendant collection so far. I added a page for Trader Vic's. The Trader Vic's page will have pictures I took at the Trader Vic's in Chicago. It will also have any pictures I take at any of the other Trader Vic's I get to visit someday. The Trader Vic's page will also have my collection of Trader Vic's mugs and other Trader Vic's ephemera. I am writing this at Tim Horton's where Karen and I are having coffee this morning. Having coffee in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays with Karen is the best part of the whole week.

2010/10/19 18:00 My website will soon have forty pages. The website has evolved over the last few years; sometimes it seems to have had its own sense of direction. The site is basically broken down into about six different types of pages. There are pages that function as a ‘blog’. These are the pages I refer to as my “Rants and Rambles”. There are pages that are collection pages. These pages display, organize, and explain my various collections. There are event pages. These pages are for events attended i.e. the Hukilau and Festiki. There are place pages that are about places. Some of the places are current, they exist today, and some of the places are gone. I have some communication pages; mailbag, guestbook, contact me, and links. The pages for my reviews of books, music, and films, as well as the glossary page, I would characterize these pages as informational. My cocktails page is informational. At least it will be once I get some recipes on there. I need to pay a little more attention to the glossary page. That page needs some work. I am going to add two more place pages this week. One for Tiki Gardens and one for Disney's Tiki places; the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Polynesian Village. Adding these two new place pages will put me at forty pages. Once I get my act together and start some carving and painting I will add a gallery page to showcase my work.

2010/10/13 14:00 Once again it is hump day at the Evil Empire. It is half way through the work week. It is also about half way through October and half way through Autumn. Time recently has just been flying by. Passing too quickly I fear. I slept on the couch last night so that Karen could get a good night of sleep. I actually sleep really well on the couch. The cat slept with me. Elsie spent the night on my chest or in the crook of my arm. Occasionally when she felt like being petted she would head butt me. That’s her new way to get attention. She head butts me. The big news today was the rescue of the Chilean miners who had been trapped a half mile underground for over two months. They were greeted by their loved ones and the president of Chile. I read that one poor bastard was claimed by both his wife and his mistress. That had to be awkward.

Khan Tiki Mon and his wahine.

If you mention any of this to Karen be prepared. I am sure that the cluttered state of the Saturn is somehow all my fault. Not sure how yet but I am confident that somehow I am to blame. I have a very responsible position in my family unit in that I am ultimately responsible for everything.

2010/10/10 12:00 Karen and I went to Jen and Tony's wedding yesterday. The reception was at Embassy Suites. The wedding was really very nice and the reception was a lot of fun. I slept in way too long today and Karen and I didn't get out for coffee at Tim Horton's until after 11:00AM. It is an absolutely gorgeous Autumn day today. I plan on pouring some concrete this afternoon. It should be a great day to work outside.

The bride and her father.

The traditional after wedding "high-five".

Jen, Theresa, and Kevin. We were seated at the 'ferry' table.

Theresa and Danielle outside the church after the wedding.

2010/10/12 10:00 Karen spends hours watching this show “Hoarders”. I have never understood her fascination. Today I did get a different perspective. Karen wanted to switch vehicles. She wanted the van and so I drove the Saturn. The car is packed full like a ‘hoarder-mobile’. I couldn’t push the seat back to make room for my legs because of all the stuff behind the seat. I drove with my knees bumping the steering wheel. I stopped and got gas and some coffee and I couldn’t put my coffee in a cup holder because the cup holders were full of vases for potting plants and flowers. The back seat has two child car seats while we have only one grandson. Riding next to me in the passenger seat was a dresser. The sharp corner of the furniture was about six inches from my head. I drove extra carefully. I could imagine the ME’s autopsy report, “he survived the impact of the car crash but was killed by flying furniture….”;

2010/10/06 14:00 Today is hump day at the Evil Empire. It is halfway through the work week. It is a little more than 32 months until I will take my early retirement. It is just 980 days until I take my leave. Tomorrow is pay day. The Empire allows a little bit of coin to trickle out of the coffers to placate the minions. Last night we had a dinner party at the house. We had Trevor and Michelle over. I made an antipasti, a lasagna, and some garlic bread. Cocktails were served as well as some wine with dinner. I had a great time and I wish I did more entertaining. Karen called today and said she locked my key in the Saturn and the vehicle is stranded at the Olive Garden. I let her take my key when she lost hers. I hope Michael has a key so that we can get my key out of the car and get the car home.

2010/10/01 23:30 I reset the page view counter. I had 212 page views in September.

2010/10/03 13:00 Dilbert feels the same as I do after a days work. Saw this in the Sunday funnies while Karen and I were having coffee at Tim Horton's.

Panel from the cartoon "Dilbert".

2010/10/04 16:00 It was back to the grind today. The weekends seem to pass too quickly while the grind of the work week just seems to drag on and on in slow motion. Sunday Adison and Mike stopped by and we went to Tully’s for lunch. We watched football on the multiple screens at Tully’s. I had a lot of fun and that's something that should be done more often.

2010/09/29 14:00 They asked me at work today if I felt like I was getting burned out by the massive work load and the excessive demands placed on me. I said, "I am extra crispy". I have been singing this song in my brain all day today; "I hate my job more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow." You know the song. The original lyrics were just a little different. Oh the things the Evil Empire does to you. On a more exciting and much more pleasurable note on the search engine Bing my website is now found on page 4 and page 9 in the results to the query for Tiki mugs. Two different pages on my site are found in the search results. It’s pretty cool. I am going to stop at Trapper’s Pizza Pub on the way home from work and have a beer or two and play some Quick Draw from the NY State lottery. Perhaps Karen will join me and we can have a little dinner.

2010/10/01 14:00 I thought I had a premonition last night. I have never thought I had any psychic abilities. I had never had a premonition before. I had a feeling that if I went to sleep that I was going to die in my sleep. I would never wake up. It was kind of creepy. I actually hesitated when it came time to go to bed. I thought it through and figured there was no way I could stay up forever. I certainly wasn’t going to call in sick the next day saying that I didn’t get any sleep because I feared I was going to die in my sleep. Besides, I reasoned, there are certainly worse ways to go than peacefully in your sleep. Like burning to death. I wouldn’t want to burn to death. Or drowning. Drowning is low on my list. And it would be absolutely horrific to be eaten alive by a lion. The thought of being devoured alive by another creature makes me shudder just thinking about it. So, I just went to bed like always. I woke up this morning after a very restful nights sleep. I am not psychic just as I had suspected. The fact that I am here today proves I am not psychic. It has been raining a lot the last few days. Everything is wet and damp. Last night we went to Smokey Bones to celebrate Karen’s birthday. Adison and Mike came down from Oswego. I drove up after work and Karen and Michael came with my Mom and Dad. It was a very pleasant evening.

Panels from the cartoon "Adam at Home".

Some inspiration gleaned from the Sunday comics while enjoying coffee with Karen. Yeah, let's bring down the Evil Empire!

2010/09/17 16:00 It is best not to complain too much. Or at least try to keep those complaints in perspective. I complain about my job and the company I work for but how about those miners trapped underground in Chile. Thirty three miners have been trapped underground since August 5th. If it wasn’t bad enough that they have been trapped underground for over a month the poor bastards have been laid off. The company they work for, that buried them alive, has filed for bankruptcy protection and the miners have been sacked while trapped underground. They aren’t going to get paid. That truly sucks. I would assume they will be denied unemployment benefits as well since they aren’t really able to work, what with the whole being trapped under ground thing.

2010/09/17 19:30 The kitty incarceration is nearly complete. Elsie the Cat has been under house arrest since she was attacked by another cat in April. Her rabies vaccination wasn't up to date and the Health Department sentenced her to lockdown. We recently got permission to update her rabies vaccination, which I did after work today. The Health Department may lift the cat sanctions on Monday or Tuesday. Elsie didn't like the trip to the vet and she didn't like the shot. If she understood that she was close to freedom I think she would be excited. I know she can't wait to take a dump in the neighbor's garden. For my part I am very excited because I had my first entry in my guestbook today.

2010/09/22 15:00 I have been trying to understand meta tags and how they work. They have something to do with where your website shows up in search engine results. I put meta tags on some of the pages on my site. Today, if you searched for “tiki mugs” using the Bing search engine my website comes in on the second page of results and is about the 20th site listed. If you search for “tiki mugs” on Google my site isn’t in the first 30 pages and I don’t know if it shows up at all. Obviously the meta tags had some impact on Bing and none on Google. Before I added the meta tags I was about page 10 in results on Bing and nowhere to be found on Google. Google is very commercial in the results of any search. It seems no matter what you type in to search for using Google one of your top 20 hits is going to be Amazon.com. It’s fair to say then that Amazon.com is paying the big bucks to Google. Bing, while being owned by Microsoft, is much less commercial and returns results based more on content than commerce. I searched Bing for “Festiki” and my site came up on page 1 and was 4th in the results. I am guessing if you search for "a broken piece of glass" or "dirty little piece of string" on Google you will get to Amazon.com.

2010/09/26 12:00

I have a few "Rage Against the Machine" T-shirts. I've had this one for years. Bought it long before the recession that we're living through now. Bought it before the Evil Empire took over the company that I work for. Seems more appropriate now than ever.

A very nice fire in the Tiki fire bowl.

2010/09/14 23:00 Just got back from the movies. Michael and I went to see "Resident Evil: Afterlife". It is the fourth installment of the movie series and the first one in 3D. The movie was filmed in 3D. It wasn't one of the crappy conversions to 3D done as an afterthought. The 3D effects were really good without being gimmicky and were worth the added expense. The two tickets for Michael and I were twenty seven dollars. This fourth movie had the highest opening gross for any of the films in the series yet. One reviewer wrote that he is sure they will keep making "Resident Evil" movies until all of Milla Jovavich's kids are through college. Wentworth Miller, who starred in the TV series "Prison Break" was on hand with his character being a prisoner. Another critic wrote that Wentworth Miller doesn't need an agent, he needs a parole officer. I have to admit I think this fourth go round in the "Resident Evil" universe was the best yet. Looking forward to number five now. I have made a couple of changes to the website. I dropped the updates page. It wasn't working the way I had envisioned it and so I just deleted it. I added a page view counter to the site (the page view counter is located on the home page). Everytime someone views one of the pages on my site it advances the counter one. This will allow me to get some idea as to how often the site is being viewed. I also added a guestbook. I had resisted adding a guestbook because I've seen other sites get some nasty or inappropriate comments. But then I thought so what? I remember once a few years ago when Michael and I were actively into model rocketry that I visited someones site devoted to model rocketry. Someone had written in this poor guy's guestbook something along the lines of nice site and you seem to know a lot about rockets. The visitor then went on to explain that his girlfriend was a skanky crack whore and did the site owner think that this guy, the visitor, could use a rocket motor to burn the skank out of his girlfriend's ass crack. I actually laughed pretty hard when I read that. I'm thinking that if someone writes something I really don't like I can just delete it. With the updates page deleted what I will do now is everytime I make any serious or significant updates I will mention them in the rants and rambles section. I am hoping to make some big changes to the site this weekend. I need to get all of my Tiki mugs on the site and there are going to be too many for one page. I am going to have multiple pages for the mug collection. I will have the main page and then pages devoted to Tiki Farm mugs. A page devoted to Orchids of Hawaii mugs. And a page devoted to Orientalia or Benihana mugs. I will probably have a page devoted to mugs from Trader Vic's, Don the Beachcomber and other Tiki establishments. I am also adding a page devoted to all things Trader Vic's. I will also start a page for my pendant collection.

2010/09/16 23:00 I had a very different kind of dream this morning. I dreamed I came home and Karen was working in the basement. She had decided that she wanted one of those built in vacuum systems for the house. She was trying to wall up a shop-vac. It was kind of like Edgar Allen Poe and "The Cask of Admontillado" but with a shop-vac and drywall compound instead of a poor victim and bricks. I was trying to help her when my dog Missy came in. I could hear her dog feet padding on the floor and her claws clicking. It was such a familiar sound and it was just so vivid. She was so happy to see me and her tail was wagging like crazy. I knew something wasn't quite right as the realization that Missy had died gradually became part of my knowledge. I asked Karen, "How is it that Missy is here with us?" Karen said, "Does it matter?" And I thought, no, it doesn't matter. I squatted down and hugged Missy and I was so very happy. When I woke up I was still happy and I had a kind of warm feeling that stayed with me for a very long time. I went to work and it was well past noon before the Evil Empire could break into my happy place and begin the daily crushing of my soul.

2010/09/17 06:00 Today marks a milestone for me. I am convinced that my job is killing me. Slowly grinding me down and crushing the life and soul out of me. I am under a lot of stress and I am convinced that the stress in my life now is the same stress that had led to my heart attack. My job, on top of being stressful, is sedentary and just plain unhealthful. I have referred to, and continue to refer to, the company I work for as the Evil Empire. For me the term "Evil Empire" really goes beyond just the company I work for and encompasses my whole situation. I take the term "Evil Empire" from the band "Rage Against the Machine". "Rage Against the Machine" was a Grammy Award winning alternative rock band that was formed in 1991. In 1996 they released their second album titled "Evil Empire". The band is well known for its rants and sloganeering against corporate America, cultural imperialism, and government oppression. The band was all about social and economic justice. Having decided that I would live longer if I left the Evil Empire I made the decision to leave early and take an early retirement. Leaving early means leaving without having achieved all the points needed for a full retirement. I made a financial plan and set it in motion with the goal of retiring at age fifty-six. With the plan in place I began counting the days. When I say I began to count down the days I mean I literally began to count down the days. When I started there were 1,481 days until my liberation from the Evil Empire. Today there are 999 days until I slip free of the shackles. So, today is a milestone as I slip under one thousand days until I can reclaim my soul. The plans are on track and every day is one day closer to salvation.

2010/09/02 12:00 Karen and I went to the Great NY State Fair yesterday. It was the first day of September and the day of the rescheduled Justin Bieber concert. There were little teenybopping Bieberites all over the place. It was also a very hot day. Temperatures were in the mid to high 90s. For the most part Karen and I stayed out of the sun. We went from building to building but the heat was everywhere. After walking for about six hours, in the heat, Karen and I were both pretty tuckered out. We had our baked potatoes in the horticultural building. I had a London broil sandwich and Karen had an ear of corn. We split an 'elephant ear' fried dough. We both agreed that we prefer the funnel cakes to the 'elephant ear' fried dough or the pizza-frites. We had a funnel cake at Festiki in Dayton, Ohio and it was delicious.

2010/09/05 12:00 Yesterday Karen and I went to Ithaca for the Ithaca Brewfest. We met Adison and Mike there along with some of their friends. Karen was designated driver. Even though there were some scattered little squalls, probably remnants of Hurricane Earl, it was still a very nice day. Not too hot. There were some bands playing and there were lots of beers to sample. The food was good and pretty fairly priced. We had been planning to get Karen in on a reduced price designated driver ticket but they didn't have those this year. Someone from security told us they did away with the designated driver tickets because last year they had too many drunk designated drivers. There are usually enough idiots in any crowd to ruin the good intentions of the planners. We were talking to security after they had surrounded Karen for a possible take-down. When Karen bought her ticket they neglected to give her a wrist band. She was spotted by security as a possible troublemaking interloper and three pretty beefy security guys came and kind of surrounded her in case there was a violent confrontation. The average age of the crowd was definitely under thirty and counting Karen and myself there were probably less than a dozen people over 50 in the crowd of thousands. But to be on the safe side security has to assume that even innocent looking grandmothers might be capable of sudden vicious and violent outbursts that would require swift neutralization. Once Karen produced her ticket the tension was broken, the security personnel relaxed (defcon 4 back down to code yellow), and we were all able to have a good laugh.

The golden ticket.

Kona Brewing was represented with their Longboard Ale. I drank a few Longboard Ales this summer and I had a couple more at the Ithaca Brewfest.

Me and my daughter enjoying the day at the Ithace Brewfest.

2010/09/06 09:00 I spent a good part of the day with Tristan yesterday. We played on the tire swing. He helped me put up some shelves. And we cut up some brush and downed limbs for firewood. Later in the evening Tristan and I went out and started the fire in the Tiki fire bowl. Just the two of us. He was excited even before we started the fire. He got so excited just seeing the stars. Then when the fire started and some of the sparks and embers went skyward he was just overjoyed. It is so much fun for me to see things again with my grandson's perspective. Later, Adison, Mike, and Eric came over to the house when they left the NY State Fair and they sat by the fire for awhile. Eric, Mike, and I played some pool. It was a difficult game in the dim lighting. I guess I need some better lighting for nocturnal pool games. I was so happy that Adison and her friends stopped by that apparently I committed a grammar faux pas. I let slip that I was 'stoked' that Adison and her friends had come to enjoy the fire. Karen said that I was too old to use such a term. I am older than I feel and that term is best left to surfers and snowboarders.

2010/08/31 23:30 e-mail to Lynn Lynn, thank you so much for letting us use your house in New Buffalo. Karen and I really appreciated the hospitality shown. It was great to see Jack and Michael. They are really very nice young men. We really enjoyed going to the football practice and having dinner at your house. I loved getting a chance to cook for you and the boys. I love making food for people and it is just the best when it gets eaten up. Very satisfying. John could have a second carreer as a sailing instructor. He's very good at it. He put me right at ease and I had a lot of fun sailing on the lake. We left with the parking pass. Karen already mailed that back to you. I also left my Festiki print in the bedroom. I am going to send you a mailing tube and if you wouldn’t mind mailing it to me I would be grateful. I would prefer if it didn’t get creased but it's not really that big a deal. Sorry to be a bother. I am going to give you the URL for my website / blog. Karen says when I share this with people that I know I should offer some warnings first. Specifically, 1.) I am boring, 2.) I am weird as hell, and 3.) I share too much information. If none of that scares you than please check out my site. I have been working on the site for over three years. It will never be done but sometimes I am more satisfied with it than at other times. It is a hobby. The link is [edited to reflect my new domain and website] www.khantikimon.com/

Jack, Aunt Karen, Sage, Uncle Scott, and Michael.

2010/08/27 14:00 TGIF baby! And this weekend is the last or next to last weekend of the summer. Is it the last weekend of summer? It is the last weekend in August but next weekend is Labor Day weekend. Typically Labor Day weekend is considered the last weekend of summer. Labor Day is late this year. The last two weekends Karen and I were not at home. We were in Dayton, Ohio for Festiki and then in New Buffalo, Michigan visiting family and friends. A lot of driving was done last week. We drove to Ohio and then on to Michigan. Then we drove from New Buffalo into Chicago, Illinois twice and then finally back home to Syracuse, New York on Sunday. It was about eleven hours in the car on Sunday. It is going to be nice being home. The weather forecast calls for some awesome days this weekend and into next week. Perfect weather for the great NY State Fair. Today is our anniversary. Karen and I were married 27 years ago today. That was a long time ago and a whole lot of life has happened since that day.

2010/08/28 12:00

Panel from the cartoon "Mallard Fillmore".

More truth culled from the funny papers on a Saturday morning while at Tim Horton's for coffee. I work for a monopoly and I can attest to the evilness inherent in the system. My monopoly brought an executive big wig from 'across the pond' to America and tried to charge the ratepayers thirteen hundred dollars to move his wine collection. "You can't get a decent claret in the colonies, now can you?"

2010/08/31 22:00 I struggled free of the grips of the Evil Empire about six-thirty this evening. I ventured out to the parking lot where my van was the last vehicle in attendance. It was a beautiful summer evening this last day of August. I climbed in the van and put a Queensryche CD in the stereo, queued up "Jet City Woman", and cranked it up.

Every time I leave

you say you won't be there.

And you're always there.

Every time I cry your name at night,

you pull close and say it's alright.

Waited so long I can't wait another day without you.

Jet City Woman.

It's a long way home to my

Jet City Woman.

I see her face everywhere, can't get her out of my mind.

Whenever I'm alone I'm thinking

there's a part missing from my life.

Wonder where I'd be without your love

holding me together now...

but without you I can't breathe.

You're the air to me!

Jet City Woman, to make the clouds go away.

Time for some blue skies...

Best minutes of the day. Sometimes that's all you get. I had the air conditioner on full force and the silk lei I got in Ohio was hanging from the rearview mirror and danced in the cool blasts of air. Leilani on the dashboard was rockin' out and we were free.

2010/08/22 10:00

2010/08/21 12:00 Karen and I went to Pop's Noze. Pop's Noze is an antique store in a big utility building and they are purveyors of concrete garden statuary. The outskirts of new Buffalo appear to be fairly depressed. The area has obviously been hard hit by the recession. The woman working at Pop's Noze told us the store was named for a large probiscus that used to adorn the outside of the store. They no longer display the huge honker because it doesn't fit with the zoning in New Buffalo. Apparently the town is trying to promote a certain image and a big nose in among the boarded up buildings with the overgrown weeds might give people the wrong impression. There were two styles of cement Moais for sale. I debated long and hard before opting for the smaller of the Moai. I am sure that I will regret the decision. Karen got a cement frog for her frog garden.

Cement garden Moais. The one on the right will soon be at home in Syracuse, NY

Dashboard Leilani leads the way to Trader Vic's in Chicago.

Khan Tiki Mon at Trader Vic's in Chicago.

John Wayne in the 'John Wayne' room at El Rancho Grande.

2010/08/19 08:00 I woke up at 7:00 this morning. I was the only one up in the house once again. I spent the last hour finishing up my Festiki page. I am pleased with how the page looks now. I need to finish the Hukilau 2010 page. I would say that I am waiting for Karen to get up so that we can go get some coffee but I don't want to get into trouble so I am not going to say that. Yesterday Karen and I went into Chicago and watched our nephew Michael's football practice. Before we left for Chicago I made a lasagna and we had that for dinner with Lynn, Jack, Michael, and one of Jack's friends. Tonight we are heading back into Chicago to Trader Vic's. We will be meeting Karen's college buddies; Mary and Peggy. It promises to be a fun evening.

2010/08/20 08:00 We went to Trader Vic's in Chicago last night. We didn't have any trouble with the drive in. When we drove into Chicago to see Michael's football practice we missed getting on the interstate and drove through Gary, Indiana on Route 12. Karen said, "This looks kind of like Afghanistan doesn't it?". Yeah, and we weren't in an armored Humvee. What was scary was there weren't any kids playing outside. Even the pictures from Afghanistan show kids playing outside. Karen's friend Mary had gotten sick and they didn't join us at Trader Vic's. It was just Karen and I. We had a drink at the bar. I had a Mai Tai. Very delicious. Then we moved to a table for dinner. We had the beef cho-cho for an appetizer and I had the scallops for dinner. With dinner I had a Suffering Bastard (that is the name of the cocktail and not any reference to my dinner companion). the Suffering Bastard is also a super delicious cocktail. I finished up with a cheesecake and a Coffee Grog. A great evening. Trader Vic's was awesome. After dinner we drove south and paid a visit to Mary, Peggy, and Dave. We had a pleasant conversation and then Karen and I drove back to New Buffalo.

2010/08/18 10:00 The time I am putting on this post is Syracuse time; Eastern Time Zone. Where we are staying in New Buffalo is very close to where the time zone changes. The time on my cell phone keeps changing depending on what cell tower I am pinging off of. Since I don't really care what time it is it is not at all disconcerting. Karen read some of my posts yesterday and she complained about me writing about her sleeping, More specifically she was complaining about me writing about me trying to wake her up. So, I am not going to say that I am awake by myself here waiting for Karen to get up so we can go get some coffee. Yesterday we ate at this Mexican restaurant called "El Rancho Grande". The decor celebrates the heroes of the Alamo. It celebrates the American heroes of the Alamo which seems a liitle funny for a Mexican restaurant. The food was good, and reasonably priced. I had a Corona and then a Margarita in a souvenir mug that we got to take home. It was a nice place. We ate in the "John Wayne" room.

2010/08/17 13:00 Sunday morning Karen and I woke up in Dayton, Ohio and had a second complimentary and free breakfast that we didn't have to pay for. Festiki was a great time. I saw some friends, saw some great bands, and scored some great swag. I got a Lake Tiki original hand carved pendant, a hand printed flyer for the event, a Festiki T-shirt, and some Surf Ohio swizzles. We checked out of the motel and bagan the trip to New Buffalo, Michigan. It is Tuesday morning and it is my second morning in New Buffalo. I have been working remotely from the public library. I am getting ready to quit for the day and meet Karen at a local coffee shop. Four little old ladies just came into the library and sat at the table next to me. They must all be deaf as posts because they are all yelling at each other. In the library. "How are you doing?" "Don't ask - let me tell you - I went to the doctors on Friday and..." Too funny.

2010/08/17 18:15 posted on Facebook In about a week Karen and I will have been married for 27 years (to each other). I am very lucky that after all these years I still like travelling with her.

Me and my buddy April.

2010/08/13 09:00 A big heaping helping of justice was served up last night in the Town of Scriba court. I went to "District Attorney night" to get a plea bargain on my speeding ticket. I dropped Karen at Adison and Mike's apartment with the understanding that we would all go to Azteca for 'Margarita Thursday' after I got out of court. It is a family tradition now. You have to be on time for court and then they make you sit and wait. They call the victims of that nights judicial buffet not on the basis of the offense allegedly committed but by alphabet. As they called, Aaron, Abrahams, Allen, Atwater, etc., etc. I looked around the courtroom and I thought, "There better be a shitload of Ws misbehaving this week or I'm gonna be here a long time". I was there a long time. A very long time. I got my 42 seconds with the District Attorney who offered me the blue plate special for that evening; namely a one hundred dollar parking ticket. I paid my tab and then headed to Azteca for the Mexican food and Margarita that I had been dreaming of while I sat in court. They put the Margarita in front of me and I only got one sip before Karen upended the poor Margarita into a basket of tortilla chips. I went after the Margarita in the basket of chips with my straw which caused some giggles from the coeds at the next table.

Poor defenseless Margarita before being upended into basket of chips.

2010/08/08 12:00 It is Sunday morning and I am enjoying coffee with my lovely bride at Tim Horton's. I am writing this on my netbook. Today is the last day of the weekend and then tomorrow it's back to the grind. Friday night I went to the movies. I went to see "Salt". It was better than I expected. It was a good role for Angelina Jolie. The movie was actually a little sad. Or at least I found it to be a little sad. I had to go to the movies by myself again. I need to find a "movie buddy" to go to the movies with me. Saturday morning Karen and I went out for coffee and then we took the trash to Jamesville. I went to the mulchpile by myself and then went on to Baldwinsville for an open house party at April's new apartment. I had a really good time at the party. I saw some people I used to work with that are retired now. I did get a little envious as I want to be retired very very badly. I ended up staying well past the end of the party just talking to April, her son, and some of her friends. I have the parts I need to finally get my pool fixed. I am hoping to get the filter running before we have to leave for a party at the Redmond's this afternoon. I'm slipping into one of my funky moods I get into sometimes. I don't know quite how to describe it. I'm not depressed or anxious. I just feel disconnected or adrift somehow. It's like I have no center. I am lost in a way. I don't even know what I want so it's not like I can fix it. I do know I would feel better if I didn't have to go to work. Ever again. I am not exaggerating when I say that working for the organization that I work for crushes my soul. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. No, I'm pretty sure it's not. The Evil Empire is a soul crushing entity without mercy or pity that is bent on world domination.

Yvonne, Kathleen, Caroline, me, Mark C., and Mark P.

My new friends from Illinois; Lauralee and Mike.

2010/08/04 18:00 I frequently complain here about my job. I would like to make some things clear. I like the work I do. I like my customers and my customers like me. People bring me problems and I fix them and I make people happy. I find all that very satisfying. What I don’t like is the company I work for. The multinational corporation. The huge behemoth that purchased the company I used to work for makes my job more and more difficult to do almost everyday. My work load has increased and I get no support and no backup. I understand that there has to be profits. But profits need to be balanced with customer satisfaction, the health and well being of the employees, and at least some small measure of social responsibility. Cutting costs, which usually means cutting staff, as a means of increasing profits is unsustainable. Cut ten percent this year and then ten percent next year and so on and eventually you no longer have a work force that can get the job done. The corporate mantra heard at many corporations is “do more with less”. Sometimes all you can do with less is less.

2010/07/30 15:00 So, the CEO for BP is getting an 18 million dollar bonus for the ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. I think it is premature. We don’t know the extent of the damage yet and if it turns out that the damages are worse than feared they will have to call him back to up the ante. “The damages caused under your watch were much more extensive than we first assumed so here is an additional 18 million dollars”. What is wrong with this picture? A guy steals a loaf of bread and goes to prison while the greedy CEO of the multinational corporation steals the whole bread company and then makes the cover of Fortune magazine after he sacks half of the bakers. If a driver for UPS sold the truck he was driving he would go to jail because he doesn’t own the truck. But if he is the CEO he can sell all the trucks and take an 18 gazillion dollar bonus and yet he still doesn’t own the trucks. At least I can be grateful that today is Friday. TGIF. I can put the Evil Empire in the rearview mirror for a weekend.

2010/08/01 11:00 I am feeling a little tired this morning. I didn't get home until 3:00 this morning. I had a fun evening at Shifty's last night. I am not used to those late nights anymore. Mark Costa, with some family and friends, was in town. Karen and I went to Chuck and Patty's house in Liverpool for a cookout and saw the Illinois crew there. They said they were going to Shifty's later that night and they let me tag along. Karen was feeling a little tired and so she stayed home. I don't think there was an official timekeeper hanging out at Shifty's and so the Guiness World Record for the longest version of the "Electric Slide" ever wasn't officially broken by the band that was playing. I stayed true to my diet and didn't touch the garlic wings and I was the only one in the group that left unprotected from vampire attacks. To be fair anyone within a couple of mile radius of the Illinois crew was safe from vampires last night.

Mel, Karen, Katie, and Theresa.

2010/07/24 13:00

Panel from the cartoon "Non Sequitor".

A couple of weeks ago I wrote here in my rants and rambles section, "If you think you live in a democracy you are fooling yourself or just allowing the powers that be to pull the wool over your eyes. We live in a corporatocracy. The large multinational corporations run the show and wield all the real power. America is a shadow of it's former self." This cartoon was in the paper this morning. The little children in the funny papers know what the hell is going on.

2010/07/25 13:00 It is Sunday morning, or early afternoon, and Karen, Tristan, and I are at Tim Horton's for coffee and baked goods. It rained like the monsoons on Friday and Saturday. I think it may still rain some more later today. Yesterday Karen, Tristan, and I were shopping at the Christmas Tree Shops and I found a DVD copy of "The President's Analyst". I stayed up late last night watching it. The 1967 movie starred James Coburn and was just as funny as I remembered. The movie was a little dated in that the cold war is now over. Also, in the movie the real evil entity turned out to be the phone company (TPC). If the movie was remade today the evil entity bent on world domination would have to be replaced by the power company. It could still be referred to as TPC (same initials) but it wouldn't be as funny because now our power company, National Grid (which is a large multinational corporation), is actually, in reality, actively engaged in evil attempts at world domination. Not so funny in real life, huh? I have been known to refer to TPC as the Evil Empire.

2010/07/22 23:30

Mel and Karen.

2010/07/17 10:20 I managed to get Karen up. This is pretty early for us to be out for coffee. I am having coffee but skipping the baked goods this morning. I started going to the gym on Monday. I am getting back into it pretty quickly. I have lost six pounds since Monday. I really enjoy going to the gym. I really can feel that I have more energy already. The forecast today is for some intermittent thunderstorms. I am still going to work outside. I have tarps to cover my workspaces if it rains.

2010/07/18 07:00 I am up early this morning. I woke up around five but didn't get out of bed until six. I went to the movies last night. I went to see "Knight and Day". I ended up going by myself. No one wanted to go with me. It's too bad because it was a really good movie. It was actually a great summer movie. Lots of action, an interesting story, some laughs, and two great performances by Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Those two had some great onscreen chemistry. I had read some good reviews before I went and they were justified. Yesterday I poured 240 pounds of concrete for the patio. I mowed the front lawn. I worked on the pool for a bit. And I went to the gym and did 1.8 miles on the treadmill. It did rain. A pretty good thunderstorm but it passed quickly. I do not believe that it is supposed to rain at all today. I am having a little coffee and then I am heading over to Home Depot. I am not sure what time Home Depot opens on Sunday but I am hoping it is 8:00AM. I am going to need a new wheelbarrow at some point. The one I have had for the last twenty years or so is rusted out pretty bad and I don't know if it will make it until the end of this project. Life feels pretty good right now. I am trying very hard not to think about my inescapable return to the toils for the Evil Empire tomorrow. But the hell that is the Empire looms like a giant mountain in my path and it casts a long and very dark shadow.

2010/07/16 22:00 Today is Friday. TGIF. I never get tired of saying TGIF. There is no better sight in the world than seeing the Evil Empire in the rearview mirror. Looking forward to a great weekend. I'm going to turn in a little early tonight in the hopes of attacking the day tomorrow bright and early. We will see.

2010/07/17 09:00 Last night I had a nightmare. It was one of my recurring themed nightmares. The story is different but the theme is the same. I call it my "guilty" dream. Last night in my dream I was in Toronto. Don't know why. There was a famous statue in Toronto and it had a rectal thermometer in its ass. I pulled the thermometer out. Don't know why. The city was now in an uproar. Scientists were on the news explaining that the thermometer had been part of some important scientific research and now that data was lost. The Mayor estimated that it would cost a billion dollars to repair the damaged statue. At this point no one knew I was the one that removed the thermometer. Two girls that worked for a department store approached me. They had a video with some grainy footage that showed me removing the thermometer. They asked if I wanted to be part of their press conference when they showed the world the evidence. I asked for an hour. I found my parents and told them I was guilty and I apologised for letting them down. Then I went to the press conference and confessed to removing the thermometer. I was guilty. I was stripped of all my wordly possessions and I went to live in a tent in the woods somewhere where it rains every single day. It was just a stupid dream. Today is Saturday. It is morning and the day is just full of promise. I am trying to get Karen up so we can go to Tim Horton's and get some coffee.

Tristan and the penguins. Last Thursday I went to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays with Denise, Jane, and April. I hadn’t seen April since she left suddenly with a disability retirement. It was really nice to see her and see her doing so well. I have always admired her outlook on life and she still makes me feel happy just being in her company. It is back to work in the morning. My soul will take a pounding two more days and then it is the weekend. Woo hoo!

2010/07/14 23:00 Today was hump day at the Evil Empire. That means it was one half of the way through the travails, travesties, and tribulations that beset you during a week of service to the Empire. Adison called me and asked if I wanted to leave work early and meet her and Michael downtown. It doesn’t take much to entice me to burn a vacation hour or two and seeing Adison is way too good to pass up. She was in town for a doctor’s appointment and then she and Mike were continuing on to Ithaca for some boating. Karen came too and we all met at the Blue Tusk. We had a beer outside on the patio and then we crossed the street to Empire Brewing and we ate upstairs in their new dining room. A good time was had by all. Last night Karen, Tristan, and I went to the laundromat. Our dryer is broken and the new one we bought won’t be delivered until Friday. I left Karen and Tristan with the clothes washed and in the dryer at the laundromat. I left them for about an hour and a half while I went over to Chili’s and had a margarita with Michelle and Trevor. This past Sunday Karen and I took Tristan to the Penguin Palooza at the Burnet Park Zoo. Lots of fun. It was more fun this year than last year because Tristan was older and he was really into it.

2010/07/05 15:30 Today has turned out to be a real scorcher. It is very hot outside. The sun is just brutal. I took Tristan with me to the pool store and to Home Depot. We got chlorine, both liquid and slow tabs, at the pool store. We got pressure treated 2x4s at Home Depot. We got home and I carried the wood and the chemicals into the backyard and I was drenched in sweat. I started ripping a 2x4 and my table saw overheated and shut down. I put some chemicals into the pool, which is a mess, and then I came in to sit down in the air conditioning for a minute. I had little spots in my vision that I noticed when I tried to read something on the computer. That was either from the heat or from breathing the chemicals. Either way it couldn't have been good but it has passed now. My vision is back to normal. I need to watch myself in the heat.

2010/07/05 20:45 PM to Vince Martini on Tiki Central Hey Vince! Aloha. Once again let me say it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance at Hukilau this year. I have what I hope is not a strange request. I have a website where I document my Tiki collection as well as my Tiki trips (it also serves as my blog where I tend to overshare but that's a different story). It is very much a work in progress and quite amateurish. Anyways, I'm getting ready to publish my Hukilau diary for 2010 and I was wondering if I could appropriate a couple of your Hukilau photos for my site, I would give you credit as in "photo by Vince Martini". All the photos I took of the Neanderthals came out crappy and yours are much better. I would never appropriate something from someone without their blessing. Mahalo, I am Khan Tiki Mon to some and just Scott to others. [ Note: Vince answered, "Use what you need my friend. My pics are our pics! Mahalo to you for asking!" ]

2010/07/06 08:15 Arrghhh! I am screaming inside my brain a little bit as I settle into my desk at the Evil Empire. It is difficult returning after a three day weekend. The longer I am away the harder it is to return. I am but a little cog in the giant wheel that is the Empire. I work and with the multitudes working in concert with me the wheel grinds on relentlessly without mercy or pity. I fear that as the wheel grinds it wears me down a little more each day. I hope there will be something left of me when I am at last able to break my shackles and escape from the grind of the Evil Empire; if such a feat is even possible. Escape may just be an illusion. An opiate to ease the pain and make continued service to the Empire survivable without a complete meltdown of the mental synapses. The dream of a paradise just out of reach may exist only to keep some semblance of sanity.

2010/07/10 00:00 I have been enjoying this thread on the paperback and magazine covers that are Tiki related. I have been collecting paperbacks and men’s action magazines with covers that are Tiki, tropical, island, South Seas, or nautical for a couple of years now. When I first started collecting Tiki it was just mugs. My collecting has grown to include mugs, Coco Joe’s, Tiki art, Hawaiian and Aloha shirts, Exotica and Hawaiian LPs, torches, postcards, books and magazines, and other ephemera. The men’s action magazines of the 40s and 50s had some recurring themes in their cover art. One of my favorites is the damsel in distress. The attractive young lady is usually sporting some cleavage and may have a ripped dress exposing some thigh. She is in imminent danger, either from savages or from wild animals. In the background, coming to the rescue, is the great white hunter or the American GI. Given the demographics that the publisher was trying to reach I’m sure the idea was for the prospective buyer to put himself in the shoes of the hero and imagine just how grateful the young lady or ladies were going to be. This issue of – has one of my favorite covers. It is not perfect because the stone idol is more South American looking than South Pacific but I include it in my collection none the less. I have it framed and hanging in my Tiki lounge.

As an aside, hanging next to this copy of – I have a print by Anthony Carpenter called “ “. The print for me is a perfect homage to the covers of the men’s action magazines from the 50s. If that is what Anthony Carpenter had in mind or not I don’t know but I love these two side by side.

2010/07/04 11:30 Happy Fourth of July. It seems weird having the Fourth of July fall on a Sunday. I get Monday off for the holiday. Monday isn't really the holiday but I get it off from work. I am not complaining. I will take any day off from work I can get. There are not enough holidays as far as I am concerned. Once I am retired I will be celebrating all of them - Canada Day, Boxing Day, Bastille Day, Cinco de Mayo, the official French Toast day - whatever! If it's a holiday I'm in. I am going to start construction of my new back patio today. I cleared the site yesterday of some really nasty pricker bushes. Today and tomorrow should be good days for construction. I hope Home Depot and Lowe's are open because I will be making a few trips of that I am sure.

2010/07/05 11:30 I slept in much later than I wanted to this morning. I hate using some of my precious time away from the Evil Empire engaged in nothing but sleep. I did get quite a bit of work done yesterday. I have most of the outside frame for the back patio done. It was a very quiet Fourth of July for me. Certainly it was uneventful. For dinner I just cooked some hot dogs on the grill and Karen and I sat outside with a fire in the Tiki fire bowl. We only sat out for a little while. I was absolutely content for that short time. The longer I am away from work the more content I become and the healthier I feel. I can just feel the tension and stress flowing out of me. Karen and I will head over to Tim Horton's for some coffee this morning and then I will get back to work on the patio.

2010/07/03 10:00 Today is day one of my three day weekend. We get a three day weekend to celebrate the independance of our nation. What a crock! While at one point that may have been true it certainly is not today. We beat the British in the Revolutionary War only to have them return to our shores as new oppressors in the guise of corporate giants like BP and National Grid. We defeated the Germans and the Japanese in World War II and now corporations chartered in those countries call the shots here in the good old US of A. If you think you live in a democracy you are fooling yourself or just allowing the powers that be to pull the wool over your eyes. We live in a corporatocracy. The large multinational corporations run the show and wield all the real power. America is a shadow of it's former self. I was listening to a piece on NPR about the history of the Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam was the single largest public construction project ever undertaken by the US Government. We are entirely incapable of undertaking any public works project of that magnitude today. Instead our infrastructure around the country is crumbling. Bridges collapse and water mains burst and the tales of their failures populate the news with stories that make our once great nation look like the largest third world country on the planet. We put a man on the moon and having accomplished that lofty goal today are completely incapable of repeating the feat. And the sheep march obediantly to the slaughter. Wake up people. What can you do, you ask? Here's a simple thing. Greedy corporate bankers make obscene salaries for having brought about a near worldwide financial collapse. Don't pay them. Don't do your banking with banks like HSBC. Did you know HSBC stands for HongKong & Shanghai Bank of China? I bank with a local bank where all the employees together don't make in a year what some of these multinational CEOs get as a bonus for not pooping in their pants. Wherever you can don't do business with a large multi-national corporation. The same advice applies to the people in other countries. I have nothing against the people of Britain, Germany, China, India etc. They are in the same boat as us paeons here in America and are being exploited by the same large multinational corporations. Do business locally. Small is beautiful. Local should rule.

This cartoon was in the paper this morning. It may or may not be funny. It may or may not be in poor taste. It is certainly topical. The large multinational corporations seemingly not satisfied with just ruining civilization in their quest for world domination now seem bent on ruining the Earth as well.

I love my T-shirt. That part of the movie had me laughing so hard I almost passed out. After we finished playing pool and opening presents my parents came over and we all went out to the Spaghetti Warehouse for my birthday dinner. It was fun. After dinner we came back to our house. Adison’s boyfriend Michael is a little bit of a pool celebrity. He played on a team in college and nearly went to Las Vegas for the finals. He had retired his old cue when he got a new one and he passed his old one down to me. That was so cool. I was going to ask him to sign it but it would probably get all smeary in my sweaty hands. Is that a word? Smeary? If it isn’t I think it should be. I like it. Smeary.

2010/06/24 23:45 Tonight we went to Oswego so that my license shouldn’t be suspended and so that no bench warrants for my arrest would be issued. While the idea of being a fugitive from justice may have some romantic allure it really ends up just being a gigantic pain in the ass. Karen came with me. We stopped in Oswego at Adison and Mike’s apartment before I went on to court. Karen stayed there with them and I went on to court by myself. We planned on getting something to eat after justice was served. If you want to feel good about yourself and your life just sit in court for a few hours. There seems to be no end of pathetic cases. People go to jail for six months because they can’t come up with three hundred dollars and they don’t know a single soul that could keep them out of jail for a couple of hundred bucks. C’est la vie. I sat in court for so long waiting for my turn that eventually Karen, Adison, and Mike came to court to find out what was happening. I thought they were motivated with concern for me and for my freedom. I thought they were coming to bail me out if needed or, worst case scenario, to bust me out of the hoosegow. But no, Adison was just really hungry and they all wanted to eat. I finally got my 15 seconds in front of the judge and then we went to Azteca for Margarita Thursday. We weren’t the only ones to head for Azteca and Margarita Thursday after court. One of the two girls I saw arraigned for a girl fight (with each other) was at Azteca also. I told Adison go tell her, “I heard you were talking some shit about me!”, but she wouldn’t. I raised a sensible young woman and I am very proud of her.

2010/06/25 23:45 At the last minute tonight I decided to go to the movies. I tried to get Michael to go but he said I didn’t give him enough warning. So, I went to the movies by myself. I went to see “Jonah Hex” and I saw it all by myself. You probably don’t understand what I mean when I say I saw the movie all by myself. I mean that I was the only person in the theater and that I saw the movie all by myself. Apparently it was a private screening just for me. Who knew? The movie was based on a DC comic and starred Josh Brolin and Megan Fox. Here’s a funny Megan Fox story. A few weeks ago I read in the paper where Megan Fox was fired from “Transformers 3” supposedly for saying some things about the director Michael Bey. Karen and I were going grocery shopping with Tristan and on the way to Wegmans I was telling Karen the story of Megan Fox’s firing. Tristan insisted on wearing his Transformer mask in the grocery store. Karen always incorrectly refers to the Transformer mask as Ironman. We were checking out and Karen made a remark about the “Ironman” mask in front of the cute young girl cashing us out. The cashier, probably 19 years old, said something like that’s not Ironman it’s Optimus Prime (she even knew which Transformer by name – impressive). I said, “oh, you’re a fan. Did you hear about Megan Fox getting fired?” She had heard and we started chatting. Now, Karen hears me telling the cashier about Megan Fox and she thinks I’m just boring the cashier with the story, not realizing that the cashier had started on the topic herself. Karen says, “Stop talking to her about Megan Fox.” Then the cashier says to Karen, “Look at you! Getting all jealous him talking about Megan Fox.” It was pretty funny. The movie “Jonah Hex” is a western that takes place after the Civil War. In the movie the Megan Fox character is a prostitute. She wears this corset and bustle and it made we wonder if there was any CGI manipulation of her figure because she seemed just amazingly trim. The main character Jonah Hex, played by Josh Brolin, had been brought back from a near death experience by an Indian tribe and now has the ability to talk to the dead. Jonah’s sleuthing techniques involved digging up dead bodies to interrogate them. Made me think of the TV series “Pushing Daisies”. Just not as warm and friendly. I really liked “Pushing Daisies” and I was sad when it was canceled. Before the movie they showed previews for the fourth “Resident Evil” movie – to be shown in 3D. I can guarantee there will be a lot of projectiles coming at you during that movie. I had a really crappy and stressful day at work and sitting in the dark movie theater letting the film engage me was relaxing. I needed that little bit of relaxation.

2010/06/26 16:00

2010/06/24 09:00 Yesterday, on Wednesday, Adison and her boyfriend Michael came to Syracuse for my birthday and for Father’s Day. We played pool in the back yard. I lost two games. We drank some Landsharks. I figured out that I need to get some cocktail tables. It is too tiring to have to bend over and pick up your beer off the floor between shots (that’s pool shots – not shots of alcohol – although it certainly would be tiring having to pick “shooters” up off the floor as well). Finding some cocktail tables is going to be a priority. I’ll get Karen trolling Craigslist for them. After pool I opened the presents that Adison got me. Adison got me a plastic bag from Game Stop for my birthday. It should come in pretty handy. I can use it for carrying stuff and for storing stuff. It has the Game Stop logo on it. It’s sweet. Adison says that really wasn’t even supposed to be one of the presents. She just used the plastic bag when she wrapped the presents instead of tissue paper (which she didn’t have). She also got me a “South Park” book and a T-shirt from the movie “The Hangover”.

2010/06/20 11:00 It has been a week since the end of Hukilau. Karen and I have been back at home. I really had a good time in Florida and I have to admit I suffered a little post vacation letdown when we got back. I really didn't want to go back to work and I think that was most of the problem. When we picked up the rental car they offered to upgrade us to a Mustang convertible. I declined since we were going to put less than fifty miles on the car. Sunday when we were heading to the airport to start the journey home I was wishing we had that Mustang and that we were headed south to the Keys. Coming back to work on Monday was a wrenching jolt back to my present reality. I have settled back into my routine at work and this little worker bee will just have to tough it out a little bit longer. Last night Trevor asked me to go see the "A-Team" movie with him. The movie was okay. I enjoyed it but I have to say that the movie "The Losers" that Michael and I went to see a couple of months ago was better. It was the same type of movie, same basic idea, with about a tenth of the budget, and executed so much better. Karen and I are enjoying coffee at Tim Horton's and I am writing this on my new netbook. I got the netbook before we left for Florida and I took it with us on vacation. I have to say I am really liking it. It is so much more portable than a full size laptop. Today is Father's Day. I am having my parents over for a backyard cookout. I am going to cook some steaks on the grill. Last night Karen and I went to Red Robin after I got home from the movie and we used my free birthday hamburger coupon. They sure make a nice hamburger. I got a free sundae for dessert but had to endure the Happy Birthday song from the skeleton staff that remained so close to closing.

Edgar Winter was playing and I got treated to a little "Frankenstein". A week from today I will be chillin' at the Hukilau in Fort Lauderdale. Woo hoo!

These are pictures of the steep set of stairs leading up to Adison’s new apartment. There is a quick hairpin turn at the bottom with a large newel post obstacle to increase the difficulty factor. We moved Adison and Mike into their new apartment on Saturday. Up these challenging stairs we carried an armoire, a futon, a treadmill, and a Steelcase desk (with the emphasis on steel). After the move we had lunch at the Pressbox and then I got a ticket as we were leaving Oswego. The Oswego po-po seems to have it in for me. This is my second ticket courtesy of the City of Oswego. The only place I am more wanted is the Village of Liverpool. Having gone twenty years without a citation, only to now be persecuted by the municipalities of Oswego and Liverpool, makes we wonder if there might be more afoot than just some slow crime days. I am wondering if maybe these municipalities aren’t looking for poor unfortunate wayward travelers to make up shortfalls in their coffers.

2010/06/05 12:00 Last night I went to the Taste of Syracuse downtown. Karen had a girl's night so I went by myself. I ran into the two Jens.

2010/05/25 23:00 Karen had some friends over after work. It was a get together to see Arica and her daughter Abriana. They were going to order pizza but they let me make something instead. I love playing chef for these littlle gatherings. I made a couple of pork loins with a mango salsa and a rice side dish. For the salsa I run the onions and the garlic through the food processor. The tomatos I chop by hand. I core the tomato and then squeeze the water out. I learned that trick watching Giada. I add the diced tomoatoes to the onion and garlic. Then I cut up the mango and mix in the mango with a fresh squeeze of lemon juice. I add coarse chopped cilantro, salt and pepprer, and the salsa is done. The key to how good the salsa is is not using the food processor for anything other than the onions and garlic. It is just too violent and pulverizes things. The mango salsa was a big hit. I marinated the pork loins for about an hour or so in a honey mustard sauce and then grilled over charcoal. I sliced the pork loin, covered with fresh slices of pineapple and then put the salsa on one side and the rice and black beans on the other. Delicious if I do say so myself, and I do.

2010/05/30 09:30

2010/05/24 09:30 I have never transported a dead body in my van. Certainly not a corpse in any advanced stage of decomposition. So, it is impossible for me to know exactly how bad my van might smell after such a task. On Saturday Karen and I took the yard waste out to the Jamesville mulch pile. One of the cans had a hole in the bottom and it leaked decomposed vegetation juice onto the van’s carpet. It is hard for me to imagine that a rotting human corpse could smell any worse than that weed and grass clipping decomp soup. I was forced to call out my mini haz-mat response team. We vacuumed out the back of the van and sprinkled renuzit carpet cleaner everywhere. A few days of driving around with the windows open and the odor should fade away.

My mini haz-mat team in action.

2010/05/01 10:00 My cat is under house arrest. It seems that last week she was attacked by another cat in the neighborhood. She had been bitten on the right thigh. It seemed to be okay for a couple of days but then she seemed to be getting sick and it was obvious there was an infection. I took her to the veterinarian and they treated her wounds and gave me some antibiotics to give her. Her rabies vaccine wasn’t up to date and the vet was obligated to report her to the health department. Poor little Elsie the cat is being quarantined for six months and is on lock down. She can’t leave the house. Representatives from the health department will make monthly unannounced visits to verify that she is complying with the terms of her house arrest. In some ways this is nothing new for us. We’ve been through a similar situation with my oldest son Robert. When he was on probation his probation officer would make unannounced visits to the house to verify that Robert was complying with the terms of his probation. Today is the first day of May. Looking back on April it was a disappointing month. I didn’t get much done on my website and made few entries here in the rants and rambles section. I am hoping that May will prove to be a better month.

2010/05/13/19:00 Another angst filled tune I got turned on to on Radio Free Bakersfield. Don Dixon.

Every heart on the steal, hide behind your lips

You could spark the ancient feelings from your finger tips

Silent dreams on the war but heaven is in my building

Two more dinks of alcohol could turn my knees to jelly

I always knew the time would come, cracked and faded in the sun

I press my lips against the gun and whisper goodbye

Heaven must have sent you to me

I can hear a million angels sigh

2010/05/16 23:00 Today Adison graduated from college.

2010/04/15 12:45 So, yesterday, Pop Pop and Bamma took Tristan with them to get Chinese take-out at the East Wok on Thompson Rd. While we were waiting for the food Tristan didn’t like where we were sitting and wanted people to change seats. Pop Pop said, “Why don’t we have Bamma sit in PopPop’s lap?”. Tristan thought for only a moment and then shook his head, “No, Bamma’s too big.”

2010/04/17 23:00

Bowling banquet was today at Coleman's.

2010/04/23 23:00

2010/03/25 16:00 I had a great night bowling last night. I bowled my best series ever. I bowled a 165, 190, and a 146 for a series 501. With handicap a 702. WooHoo! I listened to a little Radio Free Bakersfield today. I love a really good angst filled song. From the band Boss Martians their song “Run and Hide”:

You’re the queen of all rejection

And I am your loyal subject

Only looking for affection.

2009/04/09 19:30 TGIF. That means thank god it's Friday and I don't have to prostitute my soul for the coin provided by the Evil Empire for two whole days. WooHoo! For most of my life I have felt like a misfit. I just don’t fit in. Anywhere. Just like Hermey the dentist I have always felt that I belonged on the Island of Misfit Toys with the winged lion, King Moonracer (that’s a reference to the animated 1964 TV classic “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” for those of you that didn’t grow up watching every Christmas). I feel like an outsider everywhere. I feel more alone in a room full of people than I do when I’m by myself. These are just facts. It is just how I am put together. Sometimes it bothers me but other times I wrap myself in it and it keeps me warm.

2010/03/21 11:00 Sunday morning is a peaceful time spent with Karen and the Sunday paper at Freedom of Espresso. Coffee and a pistachio muffin. What an absolutely gorgeous morning. Today is a great day to be alive. I feel there is so much promise in the air.

2010/03/23 17:00 It has been raining today. It rained most of the day yesterday as well. These Spring rains just seem so cleansing. They make the air smell so fresh and clean. I am enjoying Spring more than usual this year.

2010/03/20 11:00 So the week that was has passed peacefully into the history books. It was a pretty uneventful week for me. Wednesday was St Patrick’s Day. I had lunch with Karen and her friends from Bristol at Danzer’s. St Paddy’s day lunch at a German restaurant is a tradition for that crew. The weather has been great. I’m definitely thinking that the snows of Winter 2009/2010 are behind us. Spring 2010 lies ahead and I’m excited. Technically today is the first day of Spring. Meteorological Spring started with the first day of the first Spring month which was March the 1st. During the first days of Spring it’s appropriate to venture outside and see what damage was done by the snows, ice, and cold. I checked out both sheds on Thursday and my efforts last Autumn to make the sheds squirrel proof seem to have been successful. I didn’t see any signs of squirrel or other rodent damage. This morning we did find evidence that some mice had gotten into some grass seed stored in the garage. Karen and I are at Freedom of Espresso this Saturday morning. Soon we will head out to Jamesville to deliver our trash and recyclables. I’m trying to talk Karen into going to Big Lots after the trash run. I don’t know where the nearest Big Lots is. Two nights ago Karen got an I-Pod Touch with her bonus money. She’s trying to ‘google’ the location of the nearest Big Lots.

2010/03/19 16:30 TGIF. Another work week comes to an end. Just in time as far as I’m concerned. On Monday I took a vacation day to be home in order to get FIOS installed. We currently have DSL and we were going to upgrade to FIOS. It didn’t work out because I need to upgrade my electric service first. I’ve known for a long time that my electric service was in need of an upgrade. I have the original fuse box from when the house was built in 1957. I want to put in a 200 amp breaker panel. The tech from Verizon couldn’t install the FIOS due to some code violations. I rescheduled the FIOS installation for the end of April. Hopefully I can get things where they need to be by then. Tuesday I returned to work but I ended up leaving early because I wasn’t feeling well. I think I had a sinus headache. I know I had a headache and I’m guessing that it was sinus related. I feel much better now. The weather has been great and I think the sunshine has been drying out all my congestion. It may be too soon to call but I’m saying that winter is over and spring is here.

2010/03/12 09:30 Last night Karen and I went out to dinner at El Canelo to celebrate my getting a paycheck. The dysfunctional company I work for still owes me some back pay for lost checks but I did get a paycheck this week. Karen said she’s sick of listening to me complain about not getting my paychecks and last night she forbid me to say the word paycheck anymore. Michael said we should start calling paychecks dog kennels like in the Monty Python sketch where the salesman couldn’t say ‘mattress’. El Canelo is a Mexican restaurant and they serve pretty good food at a very reasonable price. After dinner we stopped at WalMart. While Karen was shopping I amused myself by reading the latest issue of Comopolitan and the cover story “50 Things to do Butt Naked”. I told Karen I had read the article and she asked for an example. One of the things suggested was to play Scrabble. “Ewww!” that’s gross said Karen, “me and my friends sitting around naked playing Scrabble”. So, I had to explain that it was kind of a couple’s thing. They weren’t suggesting she get together with her regular Scrabble crew and let it all hang out. At least I don’t think that’s what was being suggested.

2010/03/01 16:00 Last week, on Thursday, my co-worker Marguerite got married. She eloped. Marguerite is one of my best friends. Sunday night I made her a wedding cake. I frosted it Monday morning. Last minute, I know, but it came out pretty good. I’m not the best at cake decorating but it got the job done.

2010/02/28 20:00 Today Karen and I took Tristan to the new market concept in Syracuse called Paradise Market. We couldn't stay too long because it was a little too loud for Tristan. There was a Polynesian show for the grand opening. The troupe was from Texas.

I listened to Radio Free Bakersfield at work today as I often do. I was listening to Episode # 170. The original podcast date was 2/22/2010. This episode was a tribute to Bob Keane and Del-Fi Records. Bob Keane founded Del-Fi records in 1958. Some of the original acts were The Surfaris, The Lively Ones, Frank Zappa, and Ritchie Valens. Del-Fi records closed in 1967. The movie based on the life of Ritchie Valens “La Bamba” was released in 1987 (Joe Pantoliano played Bob Keane) and there was a resurgence of interest in the Del-Fi recordings. Del-Fi records was back in business in 1990. Two songs from the Del-Fi catalog were in the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” which was cause for a further surge in interest in Del-Fi. In 2003 Bob Keane sold the Del-Fi catalog to Warner Brothers. Bob Keane died November 28th 2010 at the age of 80. This podcast of Radio Free Bakersfield was a great show as usual and once again I got turned on to some music I had never heard before.

2009/02/26 18:00 This morning was horrible. We were snowed in. Karen couldn’t get the Saturn off the lawn. I had to get out the snow blower for the third time this winter season and run that before I went to work. It was warm enough that the snow was now heavy with a lot of water content. I got so sweaty cleaning out the driveway and pushing out the car that I felt like taking another shower before I went in to work. Actually I didn’t feel like going into work at all. I sometimes feel that cosmic forces conspire against me. Certainly there are forces on Earth that conspire against me. Remember, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean people aren’t out to get you. The extremely dysfunctional company that I work for has managed to lose my paycheck two weeks in a row now. This has caused some financial hardships and while I am a victim in all of this there are people that can’t resist blaming the victim.

2010/02/28 12:00 Karen and I went to Freedom of Espresso this morning without Tristan. He is fun to take along but without Tristan I do get to have a muffin with a non-slimy top. Every week I get my pistachio muffin which has white frosting stripes on the muffin top. Tristan eats the white frosting stripes off the top of the muffin and then leaves the rest for me. Yesterday morning Karen, Michael, and I went to dig out my parents in LaFayette. They were pretty well snowed in and it took a few hours to get them dug out. Afterwards we went to the Elm Street Café for brunch. It has been a rough couple of weeks because the dysfunctional company that I work for has taken to losing my paychecks. Even so, we managed to cook some steaks Saturday night and we flipped back and forth between the SU Villanova basketball game and the hockey game at the Olympics.

2010/02/07 09:00 After coffee yesterday at Freedom of Espresso I dropped Karen at home and went to the bus station to pick up Adison and her friends Mike and Eric, They were going to Brewfest and had arranged for me to drive them. Smart thinking on their parts. I dropped them at the NY State Fairgrounds around 1:00PM and then went to Jamesville to unload my trash and recyclables for the week. I picked the kids up from the fairgrounds at 4:00PM. I picked them up despite the fact that I got a better offer while waiting outside for them. Another group of kids offered me cash money to drive them home. While I was negotiating a price the car behind me put his vehicle in reverse and smashed into the car behind him. Don’t know why. I decided to drive the kids I started with and to forgo making a profit. We left the fairgrounds and went to Clark’s Ale House for roast beef sandwiches before starting the trip back to college. After sandwiches and beers we left for Oswego. We had to make three ‘emergency’ stops on the way to Oswego for roadside regurgitation. One stop was on Interstate 81 and two on Route 481. It was suggested that some evil toxin in the horseradish sauce at Clark’s Ale House was responsible for the tossing of the cookies. I don’t want to leap to that conclusion and impugn the reputation of the cuisine at Clark’s. I’m thinking the starboard upchucking may have had something to do with the ales, pilsners, lagers, and stouts consumed at the Brewfest. The spewing of chunks notwithstanding I had a great time with the kids at Clark’s and on the ride to Oswego.

2009/02/12 20:30 TGIF. And I mean TGIF! I don’t think I could take another day of work without a day off. Three day weekend ahead. WooHoo. Boy do I love three day weekends. Sunday is Valentine’s Day. They had an interesting piece on NPR today about Valentine’s Day in Japan. It seems that Valentine’s Day in Japan is kind of a Sadie Hawkins-ish holiday. The girls give chocolates to the boys. In the Japanese culture the girls don’t like to see droopy and sad guys so not only the hot and hunky guys get chocolates. The other guys get “obligatory” chocolates. As the type of guy that would be getting “obligatory” chocolates I find it hard to believe that the recipients of these “obligatory” chocolates don’t realize they are getting said “obligatory” chocolates. Still it must mitigate some of the sting of rejection. There are basically two weeks of winter left. Two weeks of February left. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining too much about this winter, While it has been cold the snowfall has been minimal. I have only had to run the snow blower once this winter season. I think most of the snow has been south of here for a change. The Winter Olympics have started. We haven’t been watching. There was a luge athlete killed in practice. His sled left the track and he hit a steel I-beam. He was 21 years old.

2010/02/20 08:00 I ran out of gas last night. The gas gauge on the van has been acting funny. Karen, Tristan, and I were going to Carousel Mall. We ran out of gas on the on ramp to Interstate 690. I called home and my son Michael came to rescue us. I think he sped the whole way there because he said he knew that inside the van would be a “hostile situation”. They say after a man is married he never has to remember any of his mistakes ever again. His wife will take care of that for him. And in a car with no gas on an on ramp to an Interstate they will be recited to him. I managed to get the van started but not before I reeked of gasoline. We went on to the mall and luckily no one set me on fire.

2009/02/25 23:00 It seems Old Man Winter has deemed it necessary to take at least one last jab at us this year before he loosens his cold and snowy grip on us. What an ornery bastard. The snow has been falling all day. It has been a kind of lazy snowfall. I had been watching the snow just kind of drift by my office window for most of the afternoon. It’s been a light and fluffy snow that hasn’t seemed in too big a hurry to reach the ground. While it might have seemed to be falling at a leisurely rate the snowfall was certainly accumulating. I got home from work and I had to get out the snow blower for the second time this winter season. As Michael and I got the driveway and front steps cleaned up Karen came home from work. She had a minor accident on the way home. She slid and hit the guardrail with the Saturn. The Saturn is the car with only one more payment due.

2010/02/06 12:00 I got chocolate on my chocolate this morning. Karen and I went to Freedom of Espresso for coffee and I had a chocolate muffin. Adison sent me a text message and I responded on my LG white chocolate phone and got dark milk chocolate on my chocolate. I hate it when that happens.

2009/01/30 13:00 I had to fly solo at Freedom of Espresso today. Karen had to work overtime. Last night we had a night out with the bowling team. We went to the Coppertop for drinks and dinner. I learned that Eric has a recording studio at his house and that he can transfer some of my old out of print LPs to a digital format and burn them to a CD.

I made it to work unscathed. I didn’t feel any better and I had a persistent cough. I moved a couple of million dollars around and then decided to pack it in and took off using 4 hours sick time. That puts my sick time at 400% over last year. Last year I used 1 hour sick time.

2010/01/25 22:00 Karen and I took Tristan with us to do the trash and the recyclables this past Saturday morning. We had made plans to see my parents after that for brunch at the Elm Street Café in Tully. After we left the OCRRA facility in Jamesville we headed out to LaFayette. We were running a little late and so I called my parents to let them know where we were and when we'd be there. I said we had just turned onto Sentinel Heights road. After I hung up Karen asked me why I had lied to my parents. I didn't understand what she was asking. She explained that when I told my parents we had just turned onto Sentinel Heights road we were actually about 200 yards away from the turn. I explained that I was just trying to convey where we were and give them a decent idea of our estimated arrival time. She said that I was still a liar. I then offered that I could have said we were in Onondaga County, which would have been an absolutely true statement but would have done very little if anything to convey where we actually were or when we might actually be arriving. Karen just got more and more angry. I said I would try to be more precise when stating my location. She's still mad and tonight she said she was going to teach me a lesson by going to another state with Theresa and her kids to watch the Super Bowl. I think she's going to New Jersey.

2010/01/28 19:00 I was not feeling well at all last night. I went to bed early, around 9:00PM, and slept straight through. I woke up still not feeling well. I was congested, achy, had a headache, and just generally felt all around rotten. I still went to work. It was snowing and blowing when I left the house and the roads were very slippery. I was thinking more and more that I should have just stayed in bed. I took Kirkville road to pick up interstate 481 and there on Kirkville road was a bad accident blocking the road. I snapped a couple of pictures. There was a vehicle up on its side and there were a couple of other vehicles with obvious damage.

2010/01/23 21:00 My son Michael was playing with his nephew Tristan. They were playing with duct tape; sticking pieces of duct tape on each other. They were having a good time. Tristan stopped and said, "Michael, I need my diaper changed". Michael said, "Yeah, well, if you can ask that question you should poop in the toilet". There is no way Michael would ever change Tristan’s diaper. Too funny.

2010/01/18 20:00 Happy Martin Luther King Day. I sure do enjoy three day weekends. They all should be three days long. Saturday we went to Rochester to visit Megan and Matt. We went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I had never been to a Cheesecake Factory before. We had a nice meal and a very pleasant conversation. Sunday morning Karen and I took Tristan to Freedom of Espresso for coffee. There was an accident. Tristan was fishing ice cubes out of Karen’s iced coffee. For those of you that know me well it will come as no shock that the accident was my fault. I have a very responsible role in my family unit. If anything goes wrong, I’m responsible. I was supposed to have caught the toppling iced coffee before it was completely toppled. It seems my Jedi-like reflexes aren’t fully operational that early in the morning. Who knew? I spent some time Sunday working on the website. I made a little cardboard "studio" to take some Tiki mug photos. Tristan helped me so I really didn't get anywhere near as much done as I wanted. Making the cardboard "photo studio" devolved into making Tristan a cardboard house to play in. When we were done Elsie moved in. She seems to like the "cat house". Tristan really liked the idea that Elsie liked the house. This morning Karen and I ventured out for coffee at Freedom of Espresso, this time by ourselves. A lot of the snow had melted and there was a whiff of spring in the air. Just a tease of course because winter is half over at best. We still have to get through February. February is my least favorite month of the year. February is a good month to spend someplace tropical. Maybe next year.

December, January, and February make up the three months of winter. They roughly coincide with what we consider meteorological winter to be. The winter of 2009/2010 is more than one third over. It has been very cold and there has been a lot of snow the last few days. The winter seems to get more serious in January and then down right ornery in February. I don’t know if it is a fact that January and February are tougher months than December or if it just seems that way as the winter wears you down. The winter gets me down more as I get older. I was reading yesterday about SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder. It is a ‘mood disorder’. The symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter. The annual “winter blues” or that seasonal funk might really be SAD. It saps your energy and makes you moody. The again maybe it’s just too damn cold around here. I bought a bunch of yogurts that I’ve been eating for snacks to be healthy. I get the Dannon Light & Fit yogurts. For the holiday season they had some new and special flavors out and I tried the apple pie flavored yogurt. Take my advice and skip that one. It was horrible. The texture, every thing, was just wrong. It had little pieces of soft cinnamon apple in it, which sounds okay I guess, but it was just so wrong. Tasting it caused an instant gag reflex. I almost threw up. I get queasy just remembering how nasty it was. I don’t usually have such strong or visceral reactions to yogurt. I am surprised that this horrifying yogurt hasn’t crept into my nightmares yet. Maybe the yogurt is causing my nightmares without actually being featured prominently in the story line. I worked 40 hours this last week. It was the first full work week in 2010 and I didn’t use any vacation. One of my New Years resolutions is to use my vacation time more wisely. I need to resist the temptation to just take vacation whenever I am feeling like I really hate my job. Wednesday after work I had bowling. After bowling Trevor and I went to Trapper’s Pizza Pub and I had a beer, sandwich, and I won $82.00 playing quick draw. It sure doesn’t get much better than that – does it? This last week I brought out the snow blower and used it for the first time this winter season. I snow blowed (blew –sp?) the driveway and also the front lawn. I have a two car driveway and often times I have to park four vehicles hence the snow blowing of the lawn. We park on the lawn so as to not be ticketed by the local gendarmes. A book I really wanted finally came up on e-bay. Sometimes when you are looking for something on e-bay you might not find it for a long time. The longer the time between postings on e-bay the rarer the item is. That’s my theory. The last time this particular book was on e-bay it went for $35.00 which was way over my budget. This time it was listed by someone who didn’t have a clue what they had or how to list it properly and I got the book for $1.50. I had some more thoughts and observations on the movie “2012”. I have written before about this movie. It’s your basic end of the world picture and the world governments decide to build ships to save a very small portion of humanity. Even with civilization as we know it ending the bean counters decide to outsource the ship building to China to take advantage of a cheap work force. In order to get a ticket for a spot on one of the ships you have to be one of the world’s elite or just have a lot of cash. At the end of the movie the world’s elite decide to let the Chinese workers onboard. We’re supposed to cheer for the humanitarian gesture but I’m thinking, sure, if they don’t let the workers on who is going to make the shoes in the brave new world? The other thing in the movie I’ve been wondering about is how come at the end when the Amanda Peet character was in the water there wasn’t a better wet T-shirt effect? These disparate thoughts I believe illustrate the duality of man. I’m going to kind of paraphrase some observations made by Woody Allen in his movie “Love and Death”. He said the mind embraces art, poetry, philanthropy, and all the noble things while the body, specifically the naughty bits, gets to have all the fun. Friday night Karen and I went out to dinner with Tristan at Chili’s. Saturday we got a surprise call from Adison that she was going to be in town and she and her friend Mike met us at the Ollive Garden for lunch. Robert, Tristan, Karen and I had soup, salad, and breadsticks. On Sunday my Mom and Dad came over to the house and we had a birthday party for Tristan. The little dude is three years old. Time just seems to be passing at an alarming rate.

2010/01/10 23:00

January 2nd Saturday morning perusing the paper at Freedom of Espresso.

2010/01/01 16:00 Today is the tenth anniversary of Y2K. Happy New Years to all. I am starting a new rants and rambles page. Breaking with tradition I am starting the page on January 1st. For New Years Eve I had dinner at Red Robin. Karen and I met Sean, Tina, and Zach there. After an onion ring tower, a gourmet cheeseburger and some pleasant dinner conversation the Redmonds headed over to Sean and Shelby’s to watch the ball drop. Karen and I stopped at Laura and Marty’s on the way home. I had a nice time at Laura and Marty’s but we didn’t make it to midnight. Times sure change. It was exactly twenty eight years ago that Karen and I ‘hooked up’ for the very first time. After work that night twenty eight years ago I stopped at Krystal’s because they had an all night license. That’s where the party was. Karen was there and she was dancing with a feather boa. I took her home and she started crying because she couldn’t remember my name (she’d had a few or more). Twenty eight years. Where has all that time gone to? I’m not going to say that I realized I was in love with her that night. It didn’t take long though. Somehow I realized very quickly that this was the girl that was going to complete me. Make my life whole. I knew I was in love by Valentines Day. I bought her a very expensive pair of gold earrings. I just assumed that all girls were into jewelry and just knew how much everything cost. Karen didn’t realize my feelings for her at that point and she had no idea how much I had spent on the jewelry. She promptly lost the earrings. I don’t suppose we have an equal relationship. By that I mean I am sure that I love Karen more than she loves me. And I’m sure that I need her more than she needs me. But that’s all okay. So, New Years Eve 2009/2010 we are home sitting on the couch and I fell asleep. Karen said she was going to put on one of the countdown shows but I was snoring and she watched her show on the people climbing Mount Everest instead. She went to bed and left me on the couch. It’s not the first time I’ve slept on the couch and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I actually sleep pretty well on the couch. The only problem is the setback on the thermostat. At night, to save energy, we have a programmable thermostat that turns the heat down. It doesn’t matter much when you’re snug in bed under the comforter but when you’re dozing in a short sleeved shirt on the couch it’s pretty damn cold. There are lots of different ways to be awakened. You can be awakened by sound. You can be awakened by light. On very rare occasions you can be awakened just because you’re done sleeping (that doesn’t happen very often). Sound and light startle you awake and it’s pretty sudden. Being awakened by the cold is gradual. Your body is kind of figuring things out and it starts to realize, “Hey, caveman, get up and throw another log on the fire before you freeze to death”. Usually I get up and go to bed but last night Elsie joined me on the couch after I woke up. She crept up on my chest and settled in purring and generating a whole lot of heat and I was comfortable just hanging out with the cat. My number one resolution for the year ahead is to manage my vacation time better. I burned up a lot of vacation early in 2009. I was having some issues with the clinical depression thing and I used vacation just so I could lie in bed like a big vegetable. I ended up with no vacation left for November and December. What a revolting development that was. Anyways, here’s to the year that was, farewell, and here’s to the year ahead!

2010/01/02 12:30 Karen, Tristan, and I just got back from coffee and snacks at Freedom of Espresso. I love my Saturday mornings at Freedom.

khan tiki mon's rants and rambles v.4.00

Even more of what's going on? Does it ever end?

For this latest iteration of my rants and rambles I am breaking with tradition and starting the page on the 1st of the year. The key components will be unchanged. There still may be too much information shared and I am still most definitely weird as all get out. Being fair warned please read at your own peril.

2010/12/31 14:00 Today will be the last entry on this page. The year that was 2010 is coming to an end and it's almost time for 2011. I was off from work today. I will not have to toil for the Evil Empire for the rest of this year. Looking back on this page I can see that I let it get too big. I should have split it mid year and that's going to be the plan for next year.

Michael got a "crate" for Christmas. After Christmas we will be filling it with a dog.

2010/12/27 20:00 Yesterday was the annual Redmond-Tennant Christmas get together at the Spaghetti Warehouse. I had my annual picture taken.

Everyone loved the "Charlie Brown" tree. Karen likes a sparse tree so the ornaments are more prominent. Karen is the spirit of Christmas in our house and it would be a sorry holiday indeed without her efforts. Love her!

2010/10/15 18:00 It has been raining all day. When I drove to work this morning it was cold, damp, and the rain was coming down in sheets. As I drove to work I passed a girl walking to school. She was probably about thirteen years old or so. She was wearing a gray sweatshirt, no rain gear of any kind, and she was walking slowly in the drenching rain. She was walking slowly because she had her head down, not looking at the ground or her feet, as she texted furiously on her phone. I laughed to myself and I thought she better be texting Verizon for a new phone because as wet as this one has to be it's not going to last very long.

Michael was joking around with Tristan and told him he was going to be sleeping in the crate from now on. Tristan got very excited and couldn't wait to check it out. He really liked the crate a lot but told Michael he couldn't sleep in it unless Michael locked him in. "Michael, lock me in!!" (Please note: Tristan never slept in the crate so your calls to the authorities are not necessary - thanks anyways).

My wife got me a Barbie doll mermaid for Christmas. She's awesome (my wife - not the Barbie. The Barbie is cool also). My grandson Tristan will be four years old January 4th. He calls me Pop pop. He asked me today, "Pop pop are you a girl?" I said no I'm a boy why? He said boys don't have Barbie doll mermaids. Well, this one does. I am going to put my Barbie doll mermaid in the display case I am making from the aquarium that I got from the rat-king.

Tristan and Bamma opening Christmas presents.

Christmas dinner; Karen, my Mom, my Dad, Michael Tinti, Adison, and Michael Tennant.

2010/11/01 10:00 Today is the first day of November with November being the last month of Autumn for 2010. I had 243 page views in October. That passed the 212 I had in September. The weekend is over and it is back to work for me. I had a nice weekend. Friday after work I stopped to pick up an aquarium that Karen had found for me on Craigslist. I have wanted an old aquarium to make a display case for some of my Tiki mugs. It doesn’t have to hold water or be leak free and so I wasn’t looking to spend a lot of money. Karen found a 55 gallon one for ten dollars. The guy I bought it from raises rats. I didn’t ask what for. I have since referred to the guy as the ‘rat king’. He was very nice and the aquarium is just what I was looking for. It is a little dirty and Karen won’t let it in the house until it is disinfected with some chemical she is bringing home from work. The aquarium and former home for rats needs to be hantavirus free before being admitted to the domicile. The hantavirus is actually a nasty little bug that is carried by rodents. I think it can make you bleed from the eyes and do other unpleasant things to you. Being aware of, and therefore safe from, nasty little viruses is one benefit to living with someone that works with biologics. Saturday we went to see my parents. My Mom asked me if I wanted this old collection of Mark Twain books that she has. They were my grandmothers. I can remember seeing the books at my grandmother’s house. I actually read these books. This collection includes the copy of “The Mysterious Stranger” that I read in high school. I list that book as one of the books having had the most profound impact on me when I was growing up. I am definitely taking the books. My parents, Karen, and I went to the Elm Street Café for lunch. I ordered the ‘maple mountain’ which was probably a big mistake. To make the maple mountain they start with a big pancake that covers the whole plate. They cover the pancake with scrambled eggs, ham, and bacon. They top all that with another giant pancake and then cover the whole thing with sausage gravy. Karen said it looked like a heart attack on a plate. Given my medical history she didn’t think it was a good thing for me to have ordered. I could only eat about half of it and theoretically I probably shouldn’t have eaten again for about a week. After lunch I was able to make it out to Jamesville and drop several cans of yard waste at the mulch pile. As far as the weather goes Saturday was a pretty nice day. I can’t say the same thing about Sunday. Sunday was Halloween and it seems that over the years here in central New York there have been an awful lot of nasty evenings for the little trick or treaters. This year Halloween was no different with hail, sleet, and some snow. Adison and her friends came to our house Sunday before we all headed out to see the comedian Daniel Tosh at the civic center. We had snacks and beers at our house and then headed out to the Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner before the show.