I'm writing this from my hotel room in Bristol, Connecticut. We've actually got free high speed internet access in the room ( I guess this is getting more common. We're not really at a high-end hotel ( We're at a Holiday Inn Express ), and the only other time I had free high speed internet access in a hotel room is when we were at a luxury resort in Hawaii last summer for my sister-in-law's wedding . When we were at Disney last year, we had to pay about 10 bucks a day for internet access, and it really wasn't true high speed ( it was only halfway between dial-up and high speed ). It's really a nice to get high speed internet access in a run-of-the-mill chain hotel.
Anyway, considering that I've got internet access, I couldn't resist writing a little blog entry. So, Lake Compounce Amusement Park really exceeded my expectations. It's really a wonderful little park. It the perfect size for a family, has water rides and kiddies rides, and has decent and reasonably priced food ( All soft drinks are free. ). It also has a couple of nice roller coasters. Normally, I don't have time to ride roller coasters when we go to an amusement park with the kids. However, the lines were really short, and everything is close together in the park, so I actually had time to hop on a few coasters while the boys were on the kiddie rides.
The weather wasn't perfect today ( It was cloudy most of the day, and we had a few thunderstorms ), but the sun came out long enough that the boys were able to spend some time on the water rides. I'm definitely looking forward to going back to the park tomorrow.
I noticed one rather random thing during the day. The carousel there was playing some really unusual songs. At one point when I was walking by it, I noticed it was playing an instrumental version of the theme from "Welcome Back, Kotter" ( I doubt that most of the people reading this have ever heard of "Welcome Back, Kotter". It was an American TV show in the 1970's. It's actually the show that gave John Travolta his first big break. It was a decent show, but you wouldn't expect the theme from the show to be played on a carousel 30 years later. ). If you are unfamiliar with the song, just play the YouTube video below.
Rich
Friday, July 3, 2009
Rain, Rain, Go Away.
I'll going to on vacation to Lake Compounce this weekend. Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain on Friday, and the temperature isn't supposed to reach 80 degrees Fahrenheit all weekend. This summer ( and late Spring ) has really sucked so far. By this time last year, the boys had already enjoyed the water rides at Sesame Place 3 or 4 times, and I had set up the backyard kiddie pool about 4 or 5 times during weekends. This year, the temperature has rarely gotten over 75 degrees, and it's rained almost every day ( and certainly each weekend ) since late May. We've only had one Sesame Place trip ( no water rides, just the dry rides ), and I've only filled the kiddie pool once ( last Sunday during a few hours of sunshine - and it really wasn't warm enough for the pool that day ). When Ruth and I arranged this vacation earlier this year ( we decided to go to Lake Compounce so we could pay my uncle ( my Dad's brother ) a visit in his nursing home. ) we never though it would be this cold in July. I was really hoping the boys could try the water rides. I hope we get enough sunshine tomorrow so they can at least try the water-slides a little bit.
Anyway, I'm off to sleep. We've got a long drive on Friday morning.
Rich
P.S. A copy of Roxio Toast 9.0 arrived at my home today. After I RTFM, I should be able to use it to get those Wiggles videos up on YouTube soon.
Anyway, I'm off to sleep. We've got a long drive on Friday morning.
Rich
P.S. A copy of Roxio Toast 9.0 arrived at my home today. After I RTFM, I should be able to use it to get those Wiggles videos up on YouTube soon.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Peter the Dance Machine
I went to my company's summer party with my family today. Before going into the party a bit, I wanted to share a video we took of Peter at the party today. Before, you watch it, I'd just like to mention three things:
1) This was completely spontaneous. Peter does this kind of thing all the time when he hears music he likes.
2) Notice the group of 4 young female fans he attracted. They were actually taking photos of him before it was over.
3) Notice that I was so transfixed by Peter's dancing, that I didn't even notice that Michael wanted me to take him to the bathroom ( I'm in the brown shirt ).
We had a great time at the party today, and we got LOTS of GREAT pictures of the boys. I'll definitely be posting these photos when I get a chance. I'd like to leave captions on the photos and get some of your comments, so I'll definitely post most of them on facebook ( I'll post a blog entry with a few photos to let you know when the facebook photos are ready ). Hopefully I'll post them soon. I told you all I'd be posting Bronx Zoo photos a while back, but aside from a few camel photos, that never happened. Sorry about that, but I ultimately decided that we really didn't get too many great photos from the Bronx Zoo trip. So, I won't post the Bronx Zoo photos, but I will post the company party photos as well as Disney photos from last year when I get a chance ( Disney photos could take a while - there are a lot that need to be organized ).
Oh, I'm still working on my Parenthood blog post ( well, I haven't touched it in almost a week, but it is still in the pipeline ), and I'd like to close this post with a few links related to my last post.
I told you in my last post that "I'll be There" is my favorite Jackson 5 recording, but I think I have a new favorite. The studio recording of "I'll be There" was fantastic, but I think the a capella version below blows the studio version out of the water.
I also happened to find this remarkable cover version of "You Are Not Alone", which I actually think is better than Michael Jackson's original version.
1) This was completely spontaneous. Peter does this kind of thing all the time when he hears music he likes.
2) Notice the group of 4 young female fans he attracted. They were actually taking photos of him before it was over.
3) Notice that I was so transfixed by Peter's dancing, that I didn't even notice that Michael wanted me to take him to the bathroom ( I'm in the brown shirt ).
We had a great time at the party today, and we got LOTS of GREAT pictures of the boys. I'll definitely be posting these photos when I get a chance. I'd like to leave captions on the photos and get some of your comments, so I'll definitely post most of them on facebook ( I'll post a blog entry with a few photos to let you know when the facebook photos are ready ). Hopefully I'll post them soon. I told you all I'd be posting Bronx Zoo photos a while back, but aside from a few camel photos, that never happened. Sorry about that, but I ultimately decided that we really didn't get too many great photos from the Bronx Zoo trip. So, I won't post the Bronx Zoo photos, but I will post the company party photos as well as Disney photos from last year when I get a chance ( Disney photos could take a while - there are a lot that need to be organized ).
Oh, I'm still working on my Parenthood blog post ( well, I haven't touched it in almost a week, but it is still in the pipeline ), and I'd like to close this post with a few links related to my last post.
I told you in my last post that "I'll be There" is my favorite Jackson 5 recording, but I think I have a new favorite. The studio recording of "I'll be There" was fantastic, but I think the a capella version below blows the studio version out of the water.
I also happened to find this remarkable cover version of "You Are Not Alone", which I actually think is better than Michael Jackson's original version.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Sick
I think I've got the flu.
I say this, not because I'm looking for sympathy or anything, but to let you know why I might be neglecting my online life for the next week or so. I usually do most of my online stuff in the hour of so before I go to bed ( after Ruth and the kids have already fallen asleep ). However, in order to maximize my chances of beating this flu quickly, I think I'd better start going to sleep early each night.
That's a shame, because there's a bunch of online stuff I'm just itching to do.
I'd really like too ...
1) Finish the LONG blog post on parenting that I'm working on.
2) Actually make some more YouTube vids before my channel withers and dies.
3) Work on getting my Wiggles videos converted to Mac format and loaded to YT.
4) Upload my Disney pictures from last summer to facebook ( with appropriate captions ).
5) Write a blog post on running.
Speaking of running, this flu is really going to mess up my running schedule. I can be pretty obsessive about my running, and I always get apprehensive when I have to miss workouts of any kind. I have this irrational fear that I'll get completely out of shape if a miss a few workouts. I was actually getting close to a fitness goal of mine, so this flu is probably going to be a big setback. ( A little over a year ago I had to quit running for two months due to a knee injury. When I finally started running again, I had to start at a relatively slow speed to make sure I didn't re-injure the knee. I've been spending the last year gradually increasing my speed ( The knee still doesn't feel 100% percent - I've got a feeling that nothing short of the Fountain of Youth will ever make it feel 100% again ), and I had almost gotten to the point that I could run my regular distance in the same time that I could before the injury. I really want to get back to running at my top speed by the time I turn 40 in January. I would really mean a lot to me to be in the the best cardio-vascular shape in my life at 40. ). In the past I've found skipping two weeks of running due to the flu impacts my endurance so much that it usually takes me two months to get back to where I was before the flu. So, if this flu lasts until early July, it make take until early September to get back all my endurance.
I'm really hoping I'll feel better by Saturday, but that doesn't seem likely. I first started feeling the symptoms Friday night ( runny nose ), and these types of flus usually last about two weeks. Saturday is the day of my company's summer party. The kids just love that party ( lost of rides and activities for the kiddies ), and I LOVE to see them smile and have fun, so there is NO WAY I'm missing that party. However, it would be nice if I had ordinary levels of energy for the party. It takes a lot to keep up with the kids at such a big event ( There are about 10,000 people at the party each year ( it actually gets a little bigger each year ) ). I also REALLY hope the kids don't get the flu. I've been careful not to hug and kiss them for the last few days.
In any case, I hope to talk to you all again soon, but if it doesn't happen, at least you'll know why.
Rich
I say this, not because I'm looking for sympathy or anything, but to let you know why I might be neglecting my online life for the next week or so. I usually do most of my online stuff in the hour of so before I go to bed ( after Ruth and the kids have already fallen asleep ). However, in order to maximize my chances of beating this flu quickly, I think I'd better start going to sleep early each night.
That's a shame, because there's a bunch of online stuff I'm just itching to do.
I'd really like too ...
1) Finish the LONG blog post on parenting that I'm working on.
2) Actually make some more YouTube vids before my channel withers and dies.
3) Work on getting my Wiggles videos converted to Mac format and loaded to YT.
4) Upload my Disney pictures from last summer to facebook ( with appropriate captions ).
5) Write a blog post on running.
Speaking of running, this flu is really going to mess up my running schedule. I can be pretty obsessive about my running, and I always get apprehensive when I have to miss workouts of any kind. I have this irrational fear that I'll get completely out of shape if a miss a few workouts. I was actually getting close to a fitness goal of mine, so this flu is probably going to be a big setback. ( A little over a year ago I had to quit running for two months due to a knee injury. When I finally started running again, I had to start at a relatively slow speed to make sure I didn't re-injure the knee. I've been spending the last year gradually increasing my speed ( The knee still doesn't feel 100% percent - I've got a feeling that nothing short of the Fountain of Youth will ever make it feel 100% again ), and I had almost gotten to the point that I could run my regular distance in the same time that I could before the injury. I really want to get back to running at my top speed by the time I turn 40 in January. I would really mean a lot to me to be in the the best cardio-vascular shape in my life at 40. ). In the past I've found skipping two weeks of running due to the flu impacts my endurance so much that it usually takes me two months to get back to where I was before the flu. So, if this flu lasts until early July, it make take until early September to get back all my endurance.
I'm really hoping I'll feel better by Saturday, but that doesn't seem likely. I first started feeling the symptoms Friday night ( runny nose ), and these types of flus usually last about two weeks. Saturday is the day of my company's summer party. The kids just love that party ( lost of rides and activities for the kiddies ), and I LOVE to see them smile and have fun, so there is NO WAY I'm missing that party. However, it would be nice if I had ordinary levels of energy for the party. It takes a lot to keep up with the kids at such a big event ( There are about 10,000 people at the party each year ( it actually gets a little bigger each year ) ). I also REALLY hope the kids don't get the flu. I've been careful not to hug and kiss them for the last few days.
In any case, I hope to talk to you all again soon, but if it doesn't happen, at least you'll know why.
Rich
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Really Funny!
OK, this is going to be a really lazy blog post with almost no input from me. However, the video below is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. It's also rather timely considering that Father's Day is Sunday ( BTW, I will be doing a long blog post about parenthood rather soon - probably not in time for Father's Day ( busy weekend - it's also my 13th wedding anniversary on Monday ), but soon. ).
Oh, and if you enjoyed that video, you might want to check out the two videos below from the same channel:
Oh, and if you enjoyed that video, you might want to check out the two videos below from the same channel:
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Anybody want to help me with a video?
I'm sure that most people who follow this blog also follow my YouTube channel, but if you don't, please check out the video below:
Basically, I'd like to do a parody of this video. However, that means I'll need a female volunteer to do the singing. If you can think of anyone who would be willing to give this a try, please let me know.
Rich
Basically, I'd like to do a parody of this video. However, that means I'll need a female volunteer to do the singing. If you can think of anyone who would be willing to give this a try, please let me know.
Rich
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)