2013/03/26 10:00 March Madness! We have some serious madness going on here on two fronts. One front is the NCAA basketball tourney and the other is the stinkin’ weather. I read today that there were 8.15 million brackets entered on the ESPN website. Not one of them has the 16 teams that made it to the Sweet Sixteen. Four out of the 8.15 million have 15 of the 16 teams. Only four! Some serious upsets in the tourney; Harvard, Oregon, Florida Gulf Coast, and La Salle. And the number one seed Gonzaga – out! On the weather front don’t get me started. I am so sick of the crappy weather. March is almost over and there is still snow on the ground and it is still cold.

Nap time; Brego and Alice.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

2013/03/21 14:30

2013/03/15 19:00 I had my third colonoscopy today. My first one was eleven years ago. The second was about six years ago. I was about a year late for this, my third one. I am supposed to have them every five years. They have gotten better over the years. The prep is easier and the drugs are better. I got to have the drug that killed Michael Jackson today. It put me right out and I woke up after the procedure very alert and lucid. Much better than the Demerol I had last time. They also did an endoscopy on me at the same time. They opened up a stricture in my esophagus and found two things, one from each end, to biopsy. Surprisingly I was a little nervous when this procedure started. I wasn’t nervous the first two times I had the procedure done. The risks are minimal and I knew that but I started thinking what if I don’t wake up from this? I started wishing I had written some notes to be read in the event that something went horribly wrong. Luckily the anesthesia worked quickly.

2013/03/17 10:00 As of today my little website is six years old. It was six years ago today that I first published the site. Happy birthday to Khan Tiki Mon’s Bar and Lounge. When first published the website was one page. The site has grown now to over seventy pages. The last few weeks I have really been adding to the content. By coincidence today also happens to be St. Patrick’s Day. Happy St. Paddy”s Day to one and all. It snowed last night. Not a lot but enough to be super annoying. Spring is not here just yet. I am sick of being teased and I want Spring to start in earnest. We have had enough false starts for Spring and the time has come for Mother Nature to deliver.

2013/03/14 23:00 I had to spend today prepping for my colonoscopy tomorrow. Not a lot of fun. You have to stay near a toilet. Still, the prep isn't as bad as it was for my previous colonoscopies. The science seems to be getting better. Alice didn't sleep well at all last night. She kept Karen up most of the night I think.

Karen had to go to work after the rough night she had with Alice. Karen was probably just as tired as Alice was but she wasn't able to pass out from exhaustion the way Alice did.

Alice didn't get her haircut but she's got a new barrette.

2013/03/13 23:30 I got home late from playing pool tonight (lost again) and Tristan was already asleep. As I came up the stairs I could hear him snoring away. Couldn't believe how I found him and I couldn't believe he was still sound asleep.

Doesn't really look all that comfortable does it?

Tristan and his new haircut.

2013/03/11 19:00 Tristan got his haircut over the weekend.

2013/03/10 23:00 I watched a really good movie streaming on Netflix tonight. I watched “Safety Not Guaranteed”. I highly recommend this movie. It was a quirky little comedy drama. The cast were mostly actors and actresses from TV shows. The movie would be called an ‘indie’ I’m sure. Just very well done, interesting, and it really engaged you.

Sadie, Alice, and Cameron at the Burnet Park Zoo.

"No nap! No nap!"

2013/03/06 23:30 Alice and I went to the zoo today with our friends from "Head Start" and P.E.A.C.E. Inc. We had a really nice time. The weather was nicer than anticipated and we did a little walking outside. The wolves were out and running around. You almost never see the wolves out like that.

My new logo.

2013/03/03 09:00 It is snowing this morning and it is very cold. The forecast calls for more cold weather this whole week ahead. Hopefully it should start to warm up next weekend. Winter is not done with us yet. It should be a quiet day today and I am going to concentrate on getting the garage cleaned out. I need to get the garage set up as my studio or shop so that I can start to accomplish some of the things that I have wanted to do in my retirement.

2013/03/05 18:30 Alice was getting a little obstinate and ornery and I suggested that she might like to take a nap. She got very upset and started yelling "No nap! No nap!". The picture below shows what happens when there is no nap. I wish I could take a nap every day. Sigh.

2013/03/02 18:00 I recently finished work on my logo. I now have a logo for my ‘business’, endeavor, hobby, or my avocation; whatever you want to call it. I am of course referring to my website, my home bar, my art work, the thing I call Khan Tiki Mon’s Bar and Lounge.

2013/02/13 23:30 I had my pool league tonight. My losing streak remains unbroken. It would be nice to win once. I keep getting better but I can’t seem to get a win.

2013/02/15 11:30 I got my Ohana: Luau at the Lake tickets today. They went on sale at 11:22 and I completed my transaction at 11:24. I had to be one of the first to buy. Woo Hoo! I can’t wait for the date. It’s a fairly nice day today. Seems we are indeed creeping up on spring. My wife was in attack mode last night. I think it’s necessary to have all your character flaws pointed out to you every once in a while just to keep you grounded. And luckily there is no statute of limitations for any of the really stupid stuff you might have done so those are always fair game. Just saying.

The Easter Island Moai. These are some pretty good shots of the Moai.

2013/02/13 16:00 The Easter Island Moai made it into the latest edition of Sports Illustrated.

2013/02/11 14:00 I have been going to the gym on a very regular basis for the last two to three weeks. I have a very good routine going. While I’m working out the little baby Alice goes to the daycare. It’s funny but over the weekend I lost two pounds. I didn’t go to the gym on Friday because I left on my road trip. I had breakfast all three days; French toast, waffles, sausage, bacon, ham, and homefries. Friday I had a buffalo burger with brisket on it, and steak and shrimp kebobs with a baked potato. On Saturday I had a Sheppard’s pie and later pizza. Sunday was Swedish meatballs and then a chicken dinner. All that plus a fair amount of beer and I still lost two pounds. I attribute the weight loss to my gym activity. As my workouts have gotten more and more intense my metabolism has gotten hotter. I burn more calories at rest than I did before I started exercising. If I keep the same schedule and watch what I eat I expect to lose five to ten pounds this week. Today I did three miles on the treadmill and then twenty floors on the Stairmaster. When I got on the treadmill today there was a young lady on the treadmill in front of me. I could only see her back. She had a tight little caboose, slender waist, and a blonde ponytail. I thought there are worse things than having a cute young girl on the treadmill in front of you. After about a half hour she stopped her treadmill and turned around when she got off. She was fifty years old if she was a day. I thought that is inspiring.

Barley Creek Brewpub and the Mardi Gras party that wasn't.

2013/02/10 20:00 The last stop on the road trip was Ikea. I got some shelving and a nightlight for Tristan and Alice's room.

Enjoying some Swedish meatballs, smashed potatoes, and lingonberry jam at Ikea. I love those little Swedish meatballs.

2013/02/10 09:00 We spent almost all day yesterday at Barley Creek Brewpub. We got there about 11:30 and had some sample beers at the bar while we were waiting for the tour. I really enjoyed the tour and after the tour we sampled some more beers with the brewer. We went back to the bar and had lunch and some more beers. Back to the motel for a power nap and then we were ready for the Mardi Gras party. Only problem is there was no Mardi Gras party. I must have got the date wrong. I was the only one dressed for the party. We drank at the bar and we closed the place. We were the last customers to leave right around midnight.

The Tiki Bar located on the ragin' Manatawny River.

No Tiki cocktails here. Played it safe and was drinking Victory's Headwater IPA.

Cook your own dinner on the communal barbies.

Beautiful displays at Cabelas. Museum quality.

After we left Cabelas we headed to The Tiki Bar in Boyertown. When we left Syracuse there were threats of a Winter storm. We drove away from the storm and had nothing but dry roads all the way to Cabelas. On the way to Boyertown we ran into some heavy sleet. It was getting dark and the roads were unfamiliar. This is where we had our run in with the law. The sleet made it difficult for me to see anything in my outside mirrors and my back window was hard to see through as well. The police lights came up behind me and I was being pulled over. I got as far off the road as I could but it was difficult with the construction. We sat for a long time and the police didn’t approach the vehicle. I didn’t feel I had done anything wrong and I was perplexed as to why I would have been pulled over. The only thing I could think of was that many years before my daughter was driving my car in Pennsylvania on a learners permit. She got flustered at the toll plaza and drove through the E-Z pass lane without an E-Z pass. The state of Pennsylvania sent me a bill. If the bill had been for the three dollar toll I would have paid it but they sent a bill for eighty five dollars. I wrote a nice letter to the state of Pennsylvania explaining what had happened with my daughter and the state of Pennsylvania replied that that was okay and now I could pay one hundred and twenty five dollars. I didn’t. The state of Pennsylvania made some threats that I better not drive through the state anymore without paying but I got rid of the car and turned in the plates. I thought that’s the end of that. Now I was thinking that maybe somehow almost ten years later they had tracked me down for the scofflaw that I am. Was there no statute of limitations? We sat and still no approach by the police. Were they calling for backup? I kept looking and then I thought maybe I saw lights between me and the police car. Sean got out to check and sure enough there was a car between us and the police car and that’s who was pulled over, not us. We were back on our way. We checked into our motel and then headed to The Tiki Bar. We wouldn’t have found The Tiki Bar without the GPS. The Tiki Bar is tucked into the woods in the middle of nowhere. The Tiki Bar is located on the ragin’ Manatawny River. This was the off season for The Tiki Bar. In the Winter they are only open on Friday and Saturday night and they don’t turn on the heat until four in the afternoon. The Tiki Bar was a Tiki bar in name only. It was actually what should be classified as an ‘Island’ bar. The décor was inspired by the Caribbean and Jamaica not the South Pacific. And no Tikis. You can’t be a Tiki bar with no Tikis. When I say this was the off season I mean that when Sean and I got there we were the only customers. There were three employees and the two of us. The bar is a cook your own establishment with communal barbies. The food was good. It was dark and we weren’t able to see the ragin’ Manatawny River but we were told by the staff that the Manatawny River meandered more than it raged but that the ragin’ Manatawny sounded better than the meanderin’ Manatawny. The staff were very nice and we had a good time.

2013/02/07 23:00 Tomorrow I head out with Sean on a road trip. We are going to Pennsylvania; to Cabelas and to the Barley Creek Brewpub. I got the oil changed on the van today and had all the fluids topped off. We are going to a Mardi Gras party Saturday night at Barley Creek and so the kids and I went to Dougherty’s Masquerade and got Mardi Gras stuff.

2013/02/08 23:00 The first stop on the road trip was Cabelas. The Cabelas in Pennsylvania is the largest Cabelas in the world. The store is over 250,000 square feet. Large parts of the store are like a natural history museum. There is an aquarium you can walk through. We ate lunch in the café. I had a buffalo burger with brisket on it and a Pennsylvania Dutch birch beer to wash it down. I bought a cot and sleeping bag for camping.

2013/02/07 19:00

The little baby Alice and Brego - best buds.

2013/02/04 17:00 I was working on my new front window over the weekend. I was finishing staining the interior trim. The stain is mahogany and when I was working overhead on the top part of the window some of the stain dripped down my arm. The stain dried a reddish brown and looks a little like dried blood. It won’t come off with soap and water and so I haven’t had a chance to scrub it off yet. My grandson Tristan noticed it today and said, “Wow! Where did you get those scars? Why haven’t I noticed them before?” I told him that I got them in a fight with a pirate, that the pirate was winning, but luckily I had a cannon and I shot the pirate with a cannonball. There was silence. After a long pause Tristan said, “I don’t think you tell the truth all the time”.

2013/02/05 13:00 My granddaughter, the little baby Alice, has gone commando. She very recently decided that she wants to be potty trained. When I wasn’t looking she took off her pants, took off her diaper, and put her pants back on. She handed me the diaper and her potty chair is in the kitchen. She is sans diaper. It’s a little unnerving because she is sitting on my lap as she does every day while we check on our investments, peruse Facebook and e-Bay, and work on my Tiki website. I am in a dangerous position. As they say be careful what you wish for. I retired and wanted adventure and excitement and this is what I got. The stakes now are especially high because there is nothing in the potty chair and never has been, at least not yet. It’s white knuckle time.

Adison is not as sober as she appears.

My little girl. She was so drunk she called me "daddy" instead of Dad. I love her.

Sean discussing brewing with one of the brewers from Adirondack Brewpub.

Kate, Khan Tiki Mon, Adison, and Aaryn at the brewfest.

2013/02/03 11:00 Big day today. The brewfest at the NY State fairgrounds from one to four. Then "The Blue Man Group" at the Landmark at seven-thirty. After the show I had cocktails at Awful Al's and then met Adison and her friends at Coleman's Irish Pub. Whew!

Tristan and Alice riding the carousel at Destiny USA. They rode by themselves and the woman operating the ride told Tristan to "hang onto his sister". He is very protective anyways but with that admonition he pinned her to the seat for the duration of the ride.

Tristan being menaced by a giant at the mall - Destiny USA.

Alice was kicking and screaming, wouldn't let me buckle her in her car seat - she finally gave in as long as she could wear my hat.

Safety is most important even when all you are doing is having a hot dog for lunch.

2013/02/01 10:00 And so February, the bleakest and most dreary of all the months, begins. Ahead are the most frozen and cheerless of days. The dismal and sunless month has the least days of any month but with its freezing arctic days and dark depressive nights it seems the longest. Old Man Winter has already thrown the cold and icy days of January at us. We’ve survived and endured and so his last gasp is the dire and hopeless chill of February. The hope of Spring sustains us. There were 363 page views of the website in January.

2013/01/29 23:00 Snow day today. I took Tristan and Alice to Destiny USA to see a movie but there was nothing playing that we could see. We just walked around and rode the carousel.

2013/01/29 12:00

2013/01/26 10:00 We are more than halfway through the Winter season of 2012/2013. It has been brutally cold the last few days. Not much snow but just that brutal chill. We still have the bleakest month of the year ahead of us. February is short in days but can seem to last for a very long time. We will get through it. We always do. I really think that I would like to go someplace warm for a week in February. I think February would be easier to take if you could be somewhere nice for a week just to break things up. I will have to work on making that happen for next year. It’s really too late to put together a trip for this year. Of course the brutal month of February is what makes the arrival of Spring so special.

I am an amateur at little girl fashion I must confess.

2013/01/24 19:00 It's not a new hat but rather a spiffy new coat and hood. It is very very cold out but the little baby Alice is quite the fashion plate in spite of the chill.

Triscuit minis. These little crackers are good on a salad in place of croutons. They are better out of the box. When eaten in the box the cardboard is dry and flavorless while the plastic is hard to chew and pretty much indigestible. I’m assuming these are the complaints received in focus groups before they changed the advertising to reflect the need to remove the little crackers from the box.

2013/01/22 16:30 I feel pretty good today; energized. I think this year is going to be great. I am looking forward to accomplishing a lot. I went to the gym today. Alice went to the daycare while I worked out. She enjoyed it. There are a lot of old farts at the gym around ten or eleven o’clock on a work day.

2013/01/22 14:00

Chuck E. Cheese's virtual roller coaster was a lot of fun.

Acting as chauffeur for Chuck E. Cheese seems to require a great deal of concentration.

2013/01/21 23:00 Today was Martin Luther King Day. The kids had no school and after the new front window was installed we went to Chuck E Cheese’s. Adison met us there. After playing at the little rodent’s place we ate at Subway.

2013/01/21 18:00 I spent most of Saturday and Sunday working to get my front window ready for the contractors today. Comfort Window came and installed a new front window. The result is really awesome. I am very pleased with the new window.

Punch-out model of Matson Line cruise ship.

I have watched two good movies recently. Both of the movies I watched on Netflix streaming. The first was “Hugo”. I expected this to be a good movie and I wasn’t disappointed. The second movie that I watched that I truly enjoyed was “Butter”. This one was more of a surprise. I didn’t have any expectations before seeing the film and I really enjoyed it. This is a film that I highly recommend. “Butter” was the first movie made by Jennifer Garner’s production company and stars Garner. She is really good at comedy and she was perfect in this role. The movie got generally negative reviews and I couldn’t disagree more. I would strongly recommend this movie. I thought it was very funny and still had a nice story at its heart. Michael said the movie reminded him of “Best in Show” in a good way. It did have that kind of Christopher Guest ensemble comedy vibe to it. We watched the final episode of “Fringe”. I loved that TV series and the final episode wrapped everything up nicely. I can’t say I am a big fan of the TV series “Criminal Minds” anymore. Not after watching the last episode. Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen the episode and you care; but Dr. Reid’s girlfriend gets killed. Apparently the most dangerous job in the world is being the wife or girlfriend of someone in the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit. You are going to get killed by a serial killer or some deranged lunatic. Sorry but it is going to happen. The odds of being killed by a serial killer in America have got to be very very slim. That is unless you are involved with someone that works at the BAU and then your chances go up to 75% or maybe just inevitable. So stupid.

MamaJuana from the Dominican Republic.

A little while ago I bemoaned the fact that I couldn’t get the Matson Line ship model because it was out of my price range. Well I scored a ‘punch-out’ model that I just got in the mail. This is a cardboard 3D model that you assemble after punching out the pieces. This model was never punched out and is in the original sleeve. It was bought by a passenger as a souvenir and never assembled. You can tell by the discoloration of the printed cardboard that this is old. It is probably 40 to 50 years old.

2013/01/19 23:00 I had a pretty good week. Karen says I went to out to lunch a lot. That’s true. Wednesday Alice and I had lunch with Marguerite at Riley’s. I had a pork tenderloin with squash and roasted apples. I really enjoyed the squash. That’s something I am going to have to make at home. On Thursday Alice and I had lunch with Adison at Coleman’s Irish Pub. I had a shepard’s pie. On Friday I had lunch with Michelle at Ale N Angus. No Alice Friday. I had an awesome hamburger at Ale N Angus. I think I will eat there again. Would be perfect for before a show at the Civic Center. Michelle had just come back from the Dominican Republic and she brought me some MamaJuana. Or rather she brought the makings. MamaJuana is purported to be an aphrodisiac; sometimes called the Dominican viagra. MamaJuana is concocted by allowing rum and red wine to soak in a bottle with tree bark and herbs. The alcohol extracts the curative properties from the herbs and the drink is taken as a shot. I have never made MamaJuana before but this is how it is supposed to go. I will add dark rum and red wine to the bottle containing the bark and herbs. The concoction will work in the bottle for a week or so. There will be a kind of maceration process. In winemaking maceration refers to the process where the materials of the grape, the tannins, coloring agents, and flavors, are leached from the skins, seeds, and stems of the grape. I believe this will be similar and the result should be a reddish potion somewhat the consistency and strength of a fortified port. As to the potency of the tonic we shall see. I will post results of this experiment as they become available.

2013/01/17 19:00 The little baby Alice and I stopped by the Man Cave today to visit with Ray. Ray is going to be 90 soon. He asked me if I spoke any French. I said, "Passez moi les petit pois s'il vous plait". I think he was very impressed because he got a pencil and wrote down my name. Alice and I then went home to get my six year old grandson off the bus. Alice is almost 2 years old. When Tristan got off the bus his sister and I were waiting for him. He said. "Pop pop, could you excuse us for a minute. I need to speak to Alice in private." Is there a plot being hatched? Is a coup-d'etat imminent?

It was a very big day for the little baby Alice and she is plum tuckered out.

Animatronic dinosaurs.

Adison and the little baby Alice in the shadow of giant dinosaurs.

Today, Sunday, was a very busy day. I had coffee this morning with Karen, Adison, Tristan, and Alice at Tim Horton’s. From there we went to Adison’s apartment to help her out with stuff. Karen and the kids stayed there and hung pictures while Adison and I went to LaFayette to get her treadmill out of my parent’s garage. We carried that thing up the stairs to her apartment and got it back together and working. We all then went to Panera for a late lunch. After lunch Karen went home and Adison and the kids and I went to this Dinosaur Adventure thing at the OnCenter. The kids had a lot of fun. Animatronic dinosaurs and big dinosaur bounce houses. For me I love any big group of people because people watching is just so much fun. I always try to figure out people’s ‘deals’ by looking at them. There was a mother at the Dinosaur Adventure with long skinny legs. She had very narrow hips and a super skinny waist. She had stick thin arms and massive boobs. I was thinking, yeah, those are definitely store bought. That body type doesn’t occur in nature and actually neither does that hair color. She was wearing pink pants, a white top, and six, maybe eight inch spike stiletto heels. If I had to guess her profession first choice would be stripper. Too funny!

2013/01/13 23:00 Dinosaurs invade the OnCenter.

Syracuse Post Standard.

2013/01/09 14:00 I retired just over five months ago. I never looked back. I have been very happy with my decision and I have been quite content having left the company. When I was getting ready to leave and I confided in some of my co-workers they said to make sure I got out before SAP went live. They warned it was going to be a disaster. Seeing this in the paper this morning I'm glad to be out.

Shopping at Destiny USA. The girl likes her Coach products.

2013/01/08 20:00

2013/01/07 12:00 This morning the dog was going crazy. Running from room to room and looking out each window and barking. I looked outside and couldn’t see anything that would drive her so crazy. She wouldn’t settle down and finally I saw the problem. The neighbor cat was in the tree. Brego must have treed the cat when she was out earlier. I called the neighbor and he came and rescued his cat. Peace and order were reestablished in the neighborhood and Brego was able to take a much deserved nap.

Eli, the neighbor cat, up in the tree.

Aunt Adison helped Tristan and the little baby Alice build their first snowman.

The end of a busy day. Celebrating Tristan's birthday with four birthday cakes. Tristan got a Kindle Fire for his birthday and now he has a newer more cooler Kindle than I do.

The little baby Alice getting ready to fly solo.

The Downhill Double Racer. Aunt Adison gave Tristan this supercool tube sled for Christmas.

Adison and Tristan. Best Christmas present ever.

Alice isn’t the only one with cool hats. The cool hat I am wearing here was made for me by Karen. I couldn’t wear the hat for several years because it caused debilitating embarrassment for my teenage daughter. She is older now and has come to accept if not embrace my eccentricities and general weirdness. So, I can wear the hat in public again.

Getting ready to go sledding. The little baby Alice tried out Adison's hat.

2013/01/06 23:00

2013/01/06 10:00 I fell asleep on the couch last night. Karen was in the kitchen making birthday cakes for Tristan. I say cakes plural because Tristan wanted at least two cakes for his birthday. Karen made four small cakes. We bought a pan at Michael’s that made four small domed cakes that when complete Karen said looked like boobs. So, anyways I fell asleep on the couch and I had the strangest dream. I dreamed that I was planning my own birthday party. The caterer was Guy Fieri from the show “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives”. We had set up a large circus tent and there was one of those miniature trains that ran in and out of the tent that you could ride on. I had a Batman costume and I was going to ride into the tent on the train in my Batman costume. Guy asked how many guests and I said at least two hundred. He said he was planning for more like ten at the most. He asked when the party was and I said tomorrow and he said he definitely didn’t have enough food for two hundred people. One of his assistants said they had a cancellation and they could do two hundred ‘Hawaiian’ chicken dinners. I said okay. We talked about a keg of beer and a bar set-up and then he left to get everything ready. I realized then that the party was tomorrow and I hadn’t invited anyone. I also started to think that I didn’t have two hundred friends and that I might not even have ten friends. This dream was slowly becoming a nightmare. Then I woke up and went upstairs to bed.

2013/01/04 23:00 All of my kids are in their 20s. If that wasn’t enough to make you feel old my grandson’s birthday is today and he is 6 years old. How is that possible? Where has the time gone and how has it passed so quickly? Sigh.

Model of Matson Line cruise ship.

I don’t like Grover Norquist because I don’t like absolutes. Never say never again.

2013/01/03 18:00 In another life I would have been a museum curator. I think that would have been the perfect job for me. I have gotten very interested in Matson Lines. Matson Line was the company that operated cruise ships to Hawaii and the South Pacific from the 1930s to 1976. I have been collecting items from Matson and just recently started a page here on the site for my Matson stuff. I have so much stuff that it will need to be more than one page. The most awesome item came up for bid on e-Bay. It is a model of one of the Matson Line’s cruise ships. This was probably something that was given to travel agencies. The thing is absolutely gorgeous and belongs in a museum. I wish I could get it but it is outside my price range. It will end up selling for over a thousand dollars.

This latest iteration of my rants and rambles will be much like past versions. 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. It is time now to ramble on!

2013/01/01 10:00 Happy New Year! 2013. This year will be the first full year of my retirement. The first five months of retirement didn’t go exactly as planned. I have to confess to some disappointment. I also accept that the disappointment is my fault. There were obstacles in my way and I let the obstacles win rather than overcoming them. I won’t let this happen in the New Year. Resolutions? Pretty much the same as last year. Taste and drink more rum and make more delicious Tiki cocktails. Make more art and get more done on the website. And, hit the gym on a regular basis and get myself to a healthier place. I am optimistic and ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work. New Year’s Eve was pretty uneventful. We didn’t go anywhere. I did open up a bottle of champagne. We sat on the couch. I watched a show on chainsaw carving and missed the ball drop. There were 307 page views in December.

2013/01/02 17:00 I was up late last night waiting to see what the idiots in the government were going to do or not do. I was prepared to sell my entire retirement portfolio and go all into cash. I think everyone was pretty much certain that if no deal was made on the fiscal cliff then the market was going to tank. Well, a last minute deal was made, the markets opened and rallied. I am up across the board and I am pleased. I know the relief is only short term. There was no grand deal made and a good part of the problems were just tabled for later. Now we have to look forward to the sequestration cliff and the debt ceiling cliff.

khan tiki mon's rants and rambles v.7.00

The only way is forward. There is no going back. The rants and rambles will continue.

Last Saturday night Karen, Kathy, and I went to see “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” at Syracuse Stage. I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. It was very well done. Tonight I am going to see the Famous Artist’s presentation of “The Addam’s Family” at the Civic Center. Karen is staying home to watch the kids and Kathy and I are going.

I am finishing up my eighth month of retirement. I am very happy to be out of the dysfunctional situation I was in at the Evil Empire. I am so much happier and relaxed being a free man. Things are not going as planned but that’s okay. I am adapting.

2013/03/01 10:00 It is March the first and the Winter months are officially behind us. This is not to say that there isn’t some brutal Winter weather ahead. The month of March often harbors a blizzard or two. But, for the most part, Spring is very close at hand. There were 282 page views of the website in February.

2013/03/01 15:00

I guess our singing of "Happy Birthday" was so bad that Tristan found it necessary to cover his ears.

2013/02/26 23:00 We celebrated Michael's birthday tonight. We had dinner with my parents at Chili's and then came home for a cake that Karen had made.

2013/02/25 19:00 Alice and I hit the gym today after a week off due to extended illnesses. I was able to pick up right where I left off.

New Minnie shirt from Aunt Adison.

Totally captivated by Elmo and crew from "Sesame Street Live".

Tristan, Adison, and Alice posing with 'biggie Elmo'.

2013/02/23 18:00

2013/02/22 14:00

Shifty's on Friday night.

2013/02/16 02:00 Midnight Friday night and I was getting ready for bed. Adison texted me: come out for a drink. No, I said, I’m going to bed. Adison texted back: come out to Shifty’s for a drink. I said, who’s playing? Adison texted that “Stroke” was playing. I texted: okay see you there. I met Adison and her friends at Shifty’s and I had a cocktail and listened to some great music. When Adison was in the bathroom one of her friends told me they were trying to decide where to go when they left Coleman’s – either Chadwickes or Shifty’s. Adison said if we go to Shifty’s I think I can get my Dad to come out. Ha! I love my little girl.

Photo booth fun at Rock the Knight; fundraiser at ESM High School.

Alice and I had lunch with my old crew from Beacon North. Had fun and so did Alice.

2013/03/01 23:00 Tristan came home from school last week and said he had something important to talk to me about. He made me sit down. He got right to it. "Pop pop", he asked, "Do you like parties?" He talked me into going to the fundraising party at ESM called "Rock the Knight". We talked about going for days before the event. Tristan was excited because there was going to be face painting there. At the party tonight we waited in line for the face painting and when it was our turn Tristan said, "Pop pop, I am not up for this right now." He did work up the courage later in the evening and the face painting was accomplished. Alice was quite the little dancer and really enjoyed the DJ and the light show.

Michael's birthday. Time to cut the cake.

The kids love cake and parties.

Retirement update: Tristan says, “Pop pop – these games are not going to play themselves. I’ve got some hungry hippos here”.

Adison and Alice at "Sesame Street Live".

2013/02/24 23:30 Adison and I took Tristan and Alice to see 'biggie Elmo'. That's what Alice called it. The show is also known as "Sesame Street Live". A good time was had by all.

I love the product warning labels. I came across this one today. Apparently I can’t store the little baby Alice in a big Tupperware container. I would have ‘burped’ the lid so as to seal in the cuteness but I guess that is still to be frowned upon. I will find another way to keep her fresh.

When my wife saw this cartoon she immediately thought of me. I have been complaining that it is impossible to get anything done with the little baby Alice. Alice has quite the mischievous streak and I have to watch her like a hawk. Consequently I am way behind on the things that I had wanted to achieve in my retirement. C’est la vie.

2013/02/19 16:00 The sweet little baby Alice has had a bad case of diarrhea all day today. Or, as she calls it, “big poopies”. It’s been totally awesome. If you believe in Karma then I am either being punished for something bad I did or I am due a big reward in the future. If you don’t believe in Karma then it’s just a bug or a virus going around. Either way it has been an adventure and I am still just livin’ the dream. Peace out.