Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Best ... Santa Photo .. Ever!
Yeah, I know it's a bit of a cheat to post a photo on November 30th, just to make sure I don't go a month without a blog post - but hey, that's one great photo.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Scary Snow
It started to snow this morning. It started to snow REALLY HARD, with flakes the size of quarters. It 's just above freezing outside, so the snow is an extremely wet and heavy snow.
Heavy snow has its good points ( It packs well for snowballs and snowmen! ) and bad points ( It breaks your back when you shovel it. ), but today it's simply dangerous. Well, I don't know if the snow itself is dangerous, but the trees being covered with it certainly are.
Most snowstorms arrive when the trees are already bare of leaves. However, today is only October 29th. While some leaves have certainly fallen already this Fall, the vast majority of leaves are still on the trees, and about half of those leaves are still green. These leaves are collecting a huge amount of wet snow, so the branches are bearing far more weigh than they normally would in a snow storm. You can imagine what that might lead to, but seeing it for yourself can be really scaring, especially if you happen to the close to the trees.
As soon as it started to snow this morning, the boys were itching to get outside. However, the last thing I wanted was for them to get soaked in all that wet snow and slush, so I convinced them to stay inside for a while. However, as it became clear that the snow was sticking and there wasn't much slush, I decided to cede to Peter's request to go outside. I let him go out in our backyard, while I watched from the glass sliding door that connects our kitchen to our deck ( Michael was still inside, and I wasn't actually looking forward to going outside in this weather ). As I watched Peter play outside, I began to notice all the snow on the branches. I also noticed a fairly large branch on the ground in our neighbor's backyard. I called out to Peter and asked him to come back to the deck. When he got to the deck, I told him that he was only allowed to play in the part of the yard that was not under the trees.
A minute or so after that, the first branch came down in our yard. There was a large cracking sound, and it looked like there was a small avalanche happening in the trees in the back our yard and a relatively small branch hit the ground. A few minutes later, I head another large crack but I didn't see a branch ( I later noticed a second branch on the ground in our neighbor's yard. ). While Peter was safe in the treeless part of the yard, I was still relieved when he came in a few minutes later.
However, as soon as Peter got inside, Michael decided that he wanted to play in the snow. I decide to let Michael out, but before I sent him outside, I sat him down and set very script parameters for where he could go in the yard. He would need to stay in one small treeless corner of the yard, and he would have to stay in my sight at all times.
While Michael was having fun, the branches continued to crack.
Crack! A branch fell in the back left corner of the backyard.
Crack! A branch fell in the right side of the backyard.
Crack! Crack! Crack! I could hear branches falling all over the neighborhood.
CRACK! This last crack sounded like a gunshot. I watched as a HUGE branch fell to the ground in middle of the backyard ( The thing is about 12 feet long and 10 feet wide. Perhaps I'll post a photo later, but Ruth is out and has our camera with her ). About a split second after that thing hit the ground, I called out "Michael! Inside Now!"
Anyway, the boys are now both safe inside, as I sit here thinking about how I'm going to manage to dispose of these 4 ( and counting! ) branches in the backyard.
Rich
Heavy snow has its good points ( It packs well for snowballs and snowmen! ) and bad points ( It breaks your back when you shovel it. ), but today it's simply dangerous. Well, I don't know if the snow itself is dangerous, but the trees being covered with it certainly are.
Most snowstorms arrive when the trees are already bare of leaves. However, today is only October 29th. While some leaves have certainly fallen already this Fall, the vast majority of leaves are still on the trees, and about half of those leaves are still green. These leaves are collecting a huge amount of wet snow, so the branches are bearing far more weigh than they normally would in a snow storm. You can imagine what that might lead to, but seeing it for yourself can be really scaring, especially if you happen to the close to the trees.
As soon as it started to snow this morning, the boys were itching to get outside. However, the last thing I wanted was for them to get soaked in all that wet snow and slush, so I convinced them to stay inside for a while. However, as it became clear that the snow was sticking and there wasn't much slush, I decided to cede to Peter's request to go outside. I let him go out in our backyard, while I watched from the glass sliding door that connects our kitchen to our deck ( Michael was still inside, and I wasn't actually looking forward to going outside in this weather ). As I watched Peter play outside, I began to notice all the snow on the branches. I also noticed a fairly large branch on the ground in our neighbor's backyard. I called out to Peter and asked him to come back to the deck. When he got to the deck, I told him that he was only allowed to play in the part of the yard that was not under the trees.
A minute or so after that, the first branch came down in our yard. There was a large cracking sound, and it looked like there was a small avalanche happening in the trees in the back our yard and a relatively small branch hit the ground. A few minutes later, I head another large crack but I didn't see a branch ( I later noticed a second branch on the ground in our neighbor's yard. ). While Peter was safe in the treeless part of the yard, I was still relieved when he came in a few minutes later.
However, as soon as Peter got inside, Michael decided that he wanted to play in the snow. I decide to let Michael out, but before I sent him outside, I sat him down and set very script parameters for where he could go in the yard. He would need to stay in one small treeless corner of the yard, and he would have to stay in my sight at all times.
While Michael was having fun, the branches continued to crack.
Crack! A branch fell in the back left corner of the backyard.
Crack! A branch fell in the right side of the backyard.
Crack! Crack! Crack! I could hear branches falling all over the neighborhood.
CRACK! This last crack sounded like a gunshot. I watched as a HUGE branch fell to the ground in middle of the backyard ( The thing is about 12 feet long and 10 feet wide. Perhaps I'll post a photo later, but Ruth is out and has our camera with her ). About a split second after that thing hit the ground, I called out "Michael! Inside Now!"
Anyway, the boys are now both safe inside, as I sit here thinking about how I'm going to manage to dispose of these 4 ( and counting! ) branches in the backyard.
Rich
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Sports just saved me $177
Being a sports fan just saved my family $177 bucks, and possibly a lot more.
This morning, our credit card company called to ask us if we had just made a $177 dollar purchase for a World of Warcraft subscription. We certainly hadn't, so we got our $177 refunded and our credit card number changed.
While we were happy to get the call, I was a bit surprised that a credit card company would even check up on a purchase of only $177. After all, that's not a huge amount of money, so the purchase was clearly flagged because it was considered to be an usual purchase for our family.
That got me thinking about how lucky we were that I don't play games like World of Warcraft. After all, I kinda fit the profile. I'm a male computer programmer, and I played Dungeons and Dragons in high school. I'm good at Math and Physics, studied engineering in college, and didn't even kiss a girl until I was 21. Heck, I bet 90% of guys with that background have made credit card purchases for various types of sword-n-sorcery type games, books, and movies. If I had been making those kind of purchases regularly, I don't think a $177 credit card charge for World of Warcraft would have raised any eyebrows.
However, I don't purchase that type of stuff, because I'm a huge sports fan, and most of my leisure time is dominated by sports. If it wasn't for my love of the Mets, Jets, and Knicks, I'd probably be a World of Warcraft player, and I'd be at least $177 poorer right now.
I guess, I also have my kids to thank. I used to buy lots of video games ( mostly sports video games, but still video games nonetheless ), and if I was still buying video games I guess the World of Warcraft purchase wouldn't have seemed too unusual. However, I pretty much stopped playing video games after my kids were born.
Anyway, it a scary world out there, and it tends to bite you on the ass more often than not. It's just nice when you are lucky enough to dodge a bullet every once in a while.
Rich
This morning, our credit card company called to ask us if we had just made a $177 dollar purchase for a World of Warcraft subscription. We certainly hadn't, so we got our $177 refunded and our credit card number changed.
While we were happy to get the call, I was a bit surprised that a credit card company would even check up on a purchase of only $177. After all, that's not a huge amount of money, so the purchase was clearly flagged because it was considered to be an usual purchase for our family.
That got me thinking about how lucky we were that I don't play games like World of Warcraft. After all, I kinda fit the profile. I'm a male computer programmer, and I played Dungeons and Dragons in high school. I'm good at Math and Physics, studied engineering in college, and didn't even kiss a girl until I was 21. Heck, I bet 90% of guys with that background have made credit card purchases for various types of sword-n-sorcery type games, books, and movies. If I had been making those kind of purchases regularly, I don't think a $177 credit card charge for World of Warcraft would have raised any eyebrows.
However, I don't purchase that type of stuff, because I'm a huge sports fan, and most of my leisure time is dominated by sports. If it wasn't for my love of the Mets, Jets, and Knicks, I'd probably be a World of Warcraft player, and I'd be at least $177 poorer right now.
I guess, I also have my kids to thank. I used to buy lots of video games ( mostly sports video games, but still video games nonetheless ), and if I was still buying video games I guess the World of Warcraft purchase wouldn't have seemed too unusual. However, I pretty much stopped playing video games after my kids were born.
Anyway, it a scary world out there, and it tends to bite you on the ass more often than not. It's just nice when you are lucky enough to dodge a bullet every once in a while.
Rich
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
The Evidence
So, as promised, I did it. I went to the the most evil place on earth. As you can see, I wasn't happy about it.
Well, at least the boys seemed happy ( even Michael the Mets fan. He hasn't learned to really hate the Yankees yet - the little guy doesn't have a mean bone in his body ).
Well, at least the boys seemed happy ( even Michael the Mets fan. He hasn't learned to really hate the Yankees yet - the little guy doesn't have a mean bone in his body ).
As you can see below, Peter was especially happy.
If you zoom in on the picture below, you'll see that I was actually smiling ( That's because we were leaving. ).
Rich
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Mommy protects her baby
Me ( to my wife ): I went downstairs earlier tonight and found Michael doing bench presses on the weight set. He was bench pressing 5 plates! I don't think you could lift 5 plates. I think your little baby has already gotten stronger than you.
My Wife: We are NOT going to let him play football!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Bad Tiger
Tiger Woods used to be the most famous athlete in the world, but since then, he's committed the biggest crime a public figure can commit.
He's become boring.
Let's face it, all these 37th place finishes and all these petulant, defiant, and yet somehow bland press conferences have been really boring.
I guess he could get exciting again if he actually started to win, but since that's probably not going to happen anytime soon, I suggest the following ....
Tiger needs to turn into Bad Tiger.
- Bad Tiger would wear a sinister looking beard at all times. I see he's actually started to grow one, so he's well on his way. However, the beard has got to get a lot more sinister. I'm talking about the "evil twin" style beard they used on Knight Rider and the original Star Trek series.
He's become boring.
Let's face it, all these 37th place finishes and all these petulant, defiant, and yet somehow bland press conferences have been really boring.
I guess he could get exciting again if he actually started to win, but since that's probably not going to happen anytime soon, I suggest the following ....
Tiger needs to turn into Bad Tiger.
- Bad Tiger would wear a sinister looking beard at all times. I see he's actually started to grow one, so he's well on his way. However, the beard has got to get a lot more sinister. I'm talking about the "evil twin" style beard they used on Knight Rider and the original Star Trek series.
- Bad Tiger would wear black at all times.
- Bad Tiger would never smile, except for the few seconds before erupting into a sinister laugh.
- Bad Tiger would be rude to all golf fans. He would insult them during tournaments, revel in their boos, and would never sign autographs ( Except at events where fans were forced to cough up lots of cash ).
- Bad Tiger would never been seen off the golf course without at least two bimbos on his arms.
- Bad Tiger would neglect to pay his child support.
- Bad Tiger would refer to his ex-wife as a gold-digger and a ho.
- To make up for all the endorsement contracts he's lost lately, Bad Tiger would endorse products like porn sites, condoms, and AshleyMasidon.com.
- Bad Tiger would relentlessly hit on his fellow golfers' wifes and girlfriends, and whenever possible, their daughters. He would also brag continually about his conquests.
- To finally push things over the top, Bad Tiger would go all Clubber Lang in a press conference with Phil Michelson. Bad Tiger would leer at Phil's cancer striken wife Amy and say "Hey woman! Bring your pretty little self over to my mansion tonight, and I'll show you a real man!.".
C'mon, who wouldn't love that? What golf really needs to get its mojo back is a pure unadulterated villain ( Actually, considering how much he's cheated on his wife, maybe we should refer to Tiger as "adulterated" ). C'mon Bad Tiger, fill that void!
Rich
Sunday, August 7, 2011
The Flag Man
Two weeks ago ( June 24, 2011 ), I was in Saratoga Springs, NY with my family for my cousin's wedding. There were a few hours between the wedding at the church and the reception, so we headed back to our hotel room to relax for a bit. While I was in the hotel room, I decided to use Google Street View to see what the reception location would look like as I drove up to it. Peter was watching me do this, and he surprised me by asking "Why does the man have a flag". I had no idea what he was talking about, but he asked again and pointed to the Google Street View man in the bottom right corner of the screen, and sure enough, he was holding a little flag ( Well, as best as he could "hold" something without arms ). I took a closer look and noticed that he was holding a rainbow flag. Actually, I was pretty sure it was a Gay Pride flag. I guess it was all well and fine that the Google Street View man was showing gay pride, but why was he doing it that day of all days?
I did a little googling, and this link answered my question.
Apparently, the Google Street View man was celebrating the first day of legal gay marriage in New York State. Pretty cool easter egg. I guess I was lucky to be checking Google Street view in New York that day, because the street view guy only had the flag in locations in New York State.
Rich
I did a little googling, and this link answered my question.
Apparently, the Google Street View man was celebrating the first day of legal gay marriage in New York State. Pretty cool easter egg. I guess I was lucky to be checking Google Street view in New York that day, because the street view guy only had the flag in locations in New York State.
Rich
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