Vacation, All I Ever Wanted...

Sharkey and I recently returned from 10 days of "vacation-y" bliss. We did the old fashioned drive and see the country trip. We got in the car, I put on my iTunes Playlist entitled "70's Leaning on the Backseat" and we were off to the south serenaded by some retro driving music:



We made stops in Reston (Virginia), Raleigh (North Carolina), Hilton Head Island (South Carolina), Savannah (Georgia), and St. Augustine (Florida) before reaching our final destination, Clearwater (Florida).

Here are some photo snippets of some of the things we did and saw:

Hilton Head:

This is the first Original Pancake House I have seen since I lived in Bend, Oregon. They have super yummy food. So we went there for breakfast. If you never tried one and have one nearby, go for it. I highly recommend it.



St. Augustine:



Clearwater:

Our main destination was to see the Phillies play a preseason game in Clearwater. We watched them trounce the Houston Astros 13-3. It was awesome!







We had breakfast at the same place the Phillies get their food from the next morning, Lenny's:



Orlando:

For her birthday, Sharkey wanted to indoor skydive. I am typically up for anything, but I had to overcome a bit to get myself to do it. Especially after seeing the warning sign on the 2nd floor:



Riiight.... I have dislocated my right shoulder 3x and had a titanium/stainless steel screw inserted into it to keep it from going out. So this sign really did apply to me. But I felt like I'd regret it if I didn't try, and hey getting injured while indoor sky diving is "manly" high testosterone acceptable, so I did it. It was a blast...




Afterward we went to Downtown Disney for a lovely dinner at McDonald's and had one of these babies for dessert at Girardelli's Ice Cream Shoppe:




We went to Disney Hollywood studios the 2nd day we were in Orlando. We went there 45 minutes before the park opened so we could be the first in line for the new ride, Toy Story: Midway Mania.





We were able to ride it 3x for the day. It was great!!



Hollywood Studios was very relaxing and we had an afternoon cupcake / rice krispy treat break, which produced this euphoric look on my wife's face:



We both shared sort of the same look. And while we did a lot of driving and had a lot of stops, it was a great trip!

Monkeys In Oz

Remember watching the Wizard of Oz? Well unless you are my wife Sharkey, who has never seen the movie, you probably do. My two older brothers and I would always watch the movie when we were growing up. Mom & Dad really liked Judy Garland, so whenever it came on we'd all gather around the glowing console set and get transported to Oz. There was one part of the movie that I do not like still to this day, cause, well, it freaks me out. It's the part with those creepy flying monkeys. I hated those things. I'd have dreams when I was a kid I was being chased by those damn things.

So a week ago we were in a Hallmark store getting some birthday cards and came across this snow globe:



As soon as I saw it, the only thing I could think of was those scary ass monkeys from the Wizard of Oz.

Sweet dreams all!!

I Hate Thai Food

I eat almost everything. It is true. There are very few foods I will not eat. There is however one exception. Thai food. I hate it. It is not, "I prefer to not eat it." It is not, "I really do not care for it." It is not, "That just doesn't sound good to me." It is an absolute, unequivocal hatred of the food. I think it may have to do with my first job out of college.

When I graduated from college I wanted to see the world. I had always lived in Southern New Jersey my entire life. I wanted to see what was out there. I took a job with IBM and they sent me to Bend, Oregon for six months. It was weird and surreal in a way. One moment I was in farm town USA, and six hours later I was in a corporate apartment 3000 miles away.

I felt like I needed to push myself. Not be "safe" near family and friends. I wanted to experience a different geography and meet new people. I think all of my "life" in Bend is worth another post, so let me get back to the Thai food. When I was in Bend, I shared a car with another Big Blue employee for the first couple months. He was a unique individual from India. He loved Thai food. And as luck would have it, there was a Thai restaurant in town. At the time I was open minded, wanted to try new things, had the $50 per Diem, and so I would go to lunch there with him so he wouldn't have to eat alone. We went there so many times, and I went through everything on the menu. I came to my first realization. I really hate Thai food. I think it's the spices, the presentation, and flavors. I really do not like it. I mean I really hate it quite passionately.

Last Friday the guy I sit next to at work wanted to go to lunch. So I said I'd go with him where ever he wanted to go. And what did he pick? You guessed it. Thai food. I went there and I figured enough time had passed and maybe I really didn't give Thai food a chance....

On Saturday, after having a really "difficult" sleepless night "gastronomically" I was working things out and then went to sit through a movie I had planned on seeing in a little bit of distress. And the one thought I had 1/2 through Watchmen when my lower intestine started announcing its displeasure in my food choice from the previous day was..."I HATE THAI FOOD...."

Who Watches the Watchmen? I do...

Sharkey had a photo shoot this morning. Last night I decided to make my Saturday plans, so I went to Fandango.com and purchased a ticket for Watchmen in iMax.



The movie was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!! Watchmen is based off of a comic book series that ran in 1987. Those were the years I fondly referred to a few posts back. So for years, fans of the series waited for it to be turned into a movie. The wait is over.

I arrived at the iMax for the 9am show this morning. The place was packed. But the crowd was very mixed. Sure there were some kids with their parents there, but there were a lot of people my age in the theater. They were former comic book junkies like I used to be I guess. The movie did not disappoint. It had the essential story line, the characters were spot on (unlike that 3rd X-Men piece of crap that was produced), and it was a good ride.

I give Watchmen the JP two thumbs up. It has a great 80's soundtrack. You know you are in for a good time when the beginning of the movie has 99 Luftballons and the first major fight scene is to Nat King Cole's Unforgettable. One tip, if you are going to see it is definitely go to the bathroom prior to the movie, because it is a whopping 2 hours and 43 minutes long. And watch how much you drink during the movie. You don't want to miss anything by having to go to the restroom. The entire movie is one wild ride from start to finish. One thing I was very surprised at was people even at 9am buy the popcorn, pretzel bites, huge bucket sized sodas, and candy. I mean come on people, chips, candy, pretzels at 9am!?!?! What are you thinking?

March Madness...

Guitar Hero....

Not sure why, but the guitar from our Guitar Hero World Tour was messed up. Maybe Sharkey and I used star power too much. If we were playing, we wouldn't even strum and the thing would register a bad note. I opened up a return with RedOctane.com (the makers of Guitar Hero) and sent back the guitar. They turned around the return pretty quick and this showed up the other day....



So now it's time to rock it out again!

Phillies in Clearwater....

Gearing up for preseason with the Fightin' Phils! My spring training duds should arrive shortly:




Top Chef....

Stephan lost!!! You go Hosea!!!! The universe balances itself once again!

Singing

I sing. I am a church cantor. Sharkey also sings and plays the clarinet. We are a musical family. Maggie also sings...



I was kicking around YouTube tonight and found this video. It is "give you a cavity sweet..."

It Is Coming...

March is here. God is teasing us with the warm weather we've been having in South East Pennsylvania (I say tease because we are supposed to get like 3-5 inches of snow tonight). My adrenaline is pumping. I can feel it coming. I can smell it when I walk outside. Golf season is approaching. From around mid March until October I play, practice, and I am in my "zone" my "happy place." I have been getting the golf catalogs in the mail, I have bought a couple of new shirts for the season and I have a new thunderstick to put into play this year,



and I have been contemplating an on course GPS (cause Sharkey peaked my interest in them the other day):



One of my life goals is to one day have country club membership somewhere. I want to be able to play whenever I want. That would be awesome. It would be nice to also have my own wooden locker with my name engraved on it to store my clubs, shoes, some clothes, etc. I realize it is a dream. It probably won't happen until I am retired if ever, cause, well club membership is what my Sharkey calls, "chaaaa---ching!"

I have been watching the first PGA tournaments of the year on TV. Looking at the guys in short sleeves playing on the beautiful greens and fairways. I was glued to the set watching Tiger Woods return this week, but he was knocked out in the 2nd round,



as well as Phil Mickelson,



and my current favorite player Camillo Villegas:



So I lost a lot of interest in the main tournament after the above three were eliminated, but here I am on a Sunday afternoon still watching to see who wins.

Yesterday I went to the driving range to get some "hitting" in. That's my code word for driving range practice. Before I leave the house, I kiss Sharkey goodbye, and tell her "I'm going to go hit, be back in an hour." It was pretty crowded yesterday too. I guess a bunch of guys have the same addiction as me. Only the guys there yesterday were beginners. Balls and clubs were flying all over the place and they were giving each other armchair golf pro tips. "Keep your head down, don't twist so much, grip your club like a live bird, hit down on the ball like an axe..." The one guy I was next to was way scary. The stalls at the range have 3 foot high walls that separate them. Good thing too. This guy was hitting the side walls (thank God those walls were there or he'd have hit me a few times), the ceiling (which I'm not sure how he was able to do) and was burning balls to about 100 yards. He asked me how to tell how far his balls were going (the ones that actually did leave the stall anyway), so I showed him the sign in his stall that listed the yardages of the different range targets. And I was hitting pretty well yesterday, so he was trying to get some tips from me. I think my best tip was, "If you are going to take the game up for real, take lessons as soon as you can." =)

Remember the 80s?

At work today I went a couple aisles down from my cube to my old cube. My old cube is located where my old team sits. Even though I am not on their team anymore, I still feel like I am still one of them so I go for a visit now and then. One of the women brought in her old CD's she was cleaning out of her house. So everyone was talking about what they used to listen to back in the day when they were in high school. One of the girls said she listened to Debbie Gibson. The rest of my team said, "Who's that? I've never heard of her. What did she sing?" I was like, are you kidding? She was awesome! She sang "Only in My Dreams" and "Shake Your Love." I saw her in concert. OK, I just totally dated and outed myself as a former teen pop star fan... But still, Debbie Gibson brings back great memories... The 80's!



After that little conversation I went back to my desk, took out my iPhone and queued up Pandora. Pandora is a sweet little application that streams music based on an artist you key in (Oh, BTW apps for the iPhone like Pandora makes reason #1369 for getting one). It selects genres of songs based on who you pick. So I keyed in "Debbie Gibson" and I spent the rest of my work day with background music of some old friends:

Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
Roxette
Richard Marx
The Bangles
Belinda Carlisle
Heart
Tiffany
Naked Eyes
The Motels
A-Ha

It is pretty amazing how listening to all of that just takes you back to another time.

Wasabi, A Little Goes a Long Way

I went out to lunch with my team today. We were celebrating a woman's birthday on my team. She initially wanted Thai food, but fortunately the Thai restaurant was closed for a private party today. Yeah, I really do not like Thai food. I have never craved Thai food or even thought, "Hey you know what sounds good, a nice Pad Thai!" Nah, no, not... Fortunately for me, my favorite Japanese restaurant is right next to the Thai restaurant, and everyone (yes, I used the Jedi mind trick on all of them) thought Japanese sounded good.

We went in, I said a big "Hi!" to the owner and received the warm, happy greeting (favorite restaurant means JP frequents the place quite a bit). We all ordered lunch. I sat next to the Birthday girl who ordered sushi for the first time ever. Brave girl. Of course, she was sitting next to the master... I was explaining all the in's and out's of the different types of sushi you can get. She went with a raw, spicy salmon roll and the "standard" California roll. I went with my standard selection of spicy tuna roll and an Alaskan roll. The sushi came, and she asked me what the green stuff was. I told her it was the "heat," the stuff of legends, and the main reason why a lot of people eat sushi -- WASABI!! I told her some people mix it with soy sauce, while purists like myself take it straight up on the sushi. She picked a little wasabi with her chopsticks and before I could warn her, stuck it in her mouth...

So after the paramedics left after having revived her, and her normal facial color returned, she said she could not believe how hot it was. I told her she should be one of the soy mixing people to start her sushi eating adventures. That worked out pretty well and she was lovin' the raw fish and was looking forward to trying it again. She said she really liked the colors of the food and was almost disappointed to eat it, because it was so pretty. Another satisfied customer.

Today's incident reminded me of $10 I spent in high school. My friend and I were at a sushi bar and he kept saying that the wasabi wasn't that hot. I bet him $10 he couldn't take the 1x1 inch of wasabi and down it all at once. He took the bet. He just about died. He turned bright, bright red, his eyes shot out of his head and he pounded his fists on the table and afterwards chased after his sinuses which unmercifully shot out of his head and went screaming away into the night. It was the best $10 I had ever spent!!! Yeah, that's right. That's how JP ROLLS!!

Clearwater Here We Come

Sharkey and I are putting together our vacation plans for the end of March. We determined we are headed south. We are going to road trip it. We were batting around the ideas of Las Vegas, the Caribbean, a cruise, and Florida for vacation and to celebrate Sharkey's:



Birthday.

Well, with all the planes going down all over the world and more frequently in the North East, the statistics of safely flying is becoming a bit troubling. And even though the "spendulous" package passed through congress this week and is going to give us a whopping $15 more dollars a week, we thought we'd try to conserve a bit, while still having fun. So here's what we are looking at:

Day 1: Reston, VA

There's a restaurant there called Big Bowl.



Sharkey and I used to frequent Big Bowl in Minneapolis, and this is the closest one and on the way south to our final destination.

Day 2: The Carolina's

Lunch in Raleigh, NC to meet with friends, possibly a nephew and then on to Charleston, SC.

Day 3: Florida Land of Oranges and Mickey

On to Florida. Cross the border, drink some fresh orange juice and then explore some coastal towns. We could use some help with this leg of the trip. I wonder if someone who lived in Florida has any ideas (cough, William, cough, cough) for us?

Days 4-6 : Clearwater, Phillies vs. Astros, beach / umbrella drink time

Clearwater, Florida. We are taking in a preseason game for the 2008 World Series Champions, Philadelphia Phillies:



We also thought we could hang out in Clearwater for a few nights and do some days at the beach and just relax.

Day 7: On the road again

Back up the coast to the Carolina's

Day 8: The Keystone State

Home sweet home in PA

Day 9: Recuperation, it's not just for breakfast anymore...

Crash out at home from the trip

We are hoping to see more of the things you would typically miss when you fly over them in an airplane. I'm sure Sharkey will take lots and lots of pictures and I'm hoping we can find some off the path places and little food places. This trip reminds us both when we were kids on vacation with our families in the car on the road. Do you remember? Let me take you there. It was the time when the cars on the road were all metal, no one wore seat belts, and you would hang on the front seat from the back, cause front seats were not separate, but were like couches. And you'd hear some familiar tunes on the AM/FM radio while Dad drove all over the place with the window down and his left arm out the window.



Yeah, those times. Great times...

Mac N' Cheese

I have been on a quest for the past two days. I have been trying to make homemade Mac N' Cheese. And I am trying to find a "great" recipe. I am talking about something better than the Kraft box kind. I am talking something like S'MAC in NYC:



I was driving home from work the other night and it was cold, blustery and overcast. It was one of those nights you want to curl up by the fire and have some "comfort" type food. You know what I mean? Something like a great soup with some crusty bread, or meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy, or some really good mac n' cheese. That's when something inside my head clicked. Mind you this is a different type of clicking from when JP has a revelation. There's less smoke, bells, and lights flashing...

So last night I tried to reproduce the S'MAC gooey goodness. I tried to make their Napoletana dish. It was pretty good, but it fell short of what I had in mind. Sharkey liked it too, but said I needed to tweak it a bit.

Tonight was round 2. I felt that the mozzarella cheese really wasn't a good cheese for mac n' cheese, so I went to the traditional sharp cheddar. I have used recipes of Alton Brown before, so I figured I would give another one of his creations a try. So I made the Stove top Mac & Cheese. This dish was picture perfect. I thought it had the right texture and it looked yummy. Unfortunately, the dry mustard gave it a weird taste and Sharkey thought it was a bit salty. GGGGGGGGRRRRRRR... Alton you let me down brother!!!! I also felt really unsatisfied after eating it, so I filed it under "T."

My next attempt with be to modify the S'MAC recipe and replace the mozzarella and muenster with other cheeses. Maybe American/Cheddar? Or perhaps a Gruyere? I will get it right. I need to get it right. Anyone have a good recipe I can try?

Snow Day

Last night a wonderful winter storm went through. We received about 3" of snow, followed by sleet, followed by ice. I woke up, looked out the window, then picked up the phone and left a message for my manager that I wouldn't be in. See, I don't mind the snow and we do have an all wheel drive Subaru that I'd take, but the ice is an issue. On TV and the radio I saw/heard the accidents this morning and after processing that information, I was like, "Um, I don't think so."

So I had a wonderfully productive day. Well sort of... I used the snow blower to clear out my driveway and the neighbor's. I caught up on some movies, I watched 21 followed by Ocean's 11. It made me want to go to Las Vegas. "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!" Plus the goat / car problem in 21 is classic mathematics:



Also, I like the last line Clooney says to Brad Pitt in Ocean's 11, "Ted Nugent called, he wants his shirt back..."

One Ball

I went to NJ today to help my Mom shop for a new refrigerator. Her current one is a byproduct of the 80's. It was definitely time for it to go. It is on its last leg. It is also a wonderful color, like a brown mustard (whoever thought that was a good color, I dunno...). She found a nice, white Frigidaire which will be delivered tomorrow. I had lunch with her, took her back home and then headed back to PA. Whenever I go see my Mom in NJ, I also try to go visit my Dad's spot at the cemetery.

I go to say "Hi" and to tell him what's new with me, Sharkey, and Maggie. It is funny, but I'm not exactly sure why I even talk at the place. I mean, it is not like I really believe he is really there to talk to and that place is the only place where I think he can hear me. See I know his ashes are there, but I know his spirit is elsewhere. He is somewhere better, somewhere perfect, and somewhere where I will be someday as well. But still, maybe it is because I am still flesh and blood that makes me need a physical "place" to talk with my Dad.

When I was there, I told him that I couldn't wait for the weather to warm up so I could golf again. Then that made me think a bit and reflect for a few minutes. I took up golf just to spend time with my Dad and get him out for some physical activity. Now golf is a huge part of my life. It is definitely something he passed on to me and I may have mentioned this before, but when I am playing out on the greens and on the fairways I feel like he's there with me watching and smiling.

I went to my car, unzipped my golf bag and took out a ball. I then went over to his stone and placed it into a spot in front. I suppose it is my way to thank him for passing on his love of the game to me and giving me a way to always be close to him. One ball with three red dots to symbolize so much...



Now I just need to wait for my Mom to call so I can explain to her where the golf ball came from by Dad's stone.... =)

New Years Activities

New Year's Eve...

Came home from work around 4:30. The head cold finally was subsiding a bit and my voice was starting to come back as well. One of my female co-workers had commented I sounded less manly and like my old self. (Come to think of it, that could be kind of insulting taken the wrong way, so it is a good thing I am very manly and do many masculine, testosterone filled activities...) Anyway, Sharkey and I didn't have any set plans because she knew I was under the weather and we had just come back from the frozen Midwest, but it's New Years Eve, so we just couldn't stay home. I went to OpenTable.com and was able to get a table at the Cedar Hollow Inn for 7:00pm. If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done right?

Watched the ball drop on ABC. Always watch the ball drop and I do admire Dick Clark for doing the show post stroke, but um...I totally did not need to see him lock lips with his wife with the Judy Jetson hairdo. Yeah, totally did not need that image going into 2009!

New Year's Day...

Cooked Japanese food most of the day. New Year is a big deal for Asians. Trust me, it even applies to us bananas (banana=yellow on the outside, white on the inside). So I made some Japanese Lo Mein. It is sort of a misnomer, because as everyone knows, Lo Mein is a Chinese and not Japanese dish. But this dish is a family dish which is only made at certain times of the year and my Mom was kind enough to pass the recipe to me, so I have taken up the mantle. It's pretty good. It requires lots and lots of prep work (mainly chopping) and relatively short cooking time, and it is always better the next day. Since Sharkey and I were in MN for Christmas, we had not gotten together with my family, so I was making the food for Friday.

First Monday Thoughts for the New Year...

Back to work...

When's the next holiday?

Crap, graduate school starts up next week again. Man I cannot wait to finish that Master's degree

Where should Sharkey and I try to get away to for a vacation during the winter?

Oh Memphis Belle is on. That's one of my all time favorite movies.

Golf league starts in 3 months, whooo hooo!!

Watching "Diner's Drive In's and Dives." Geeze Guy, this show is going to kill you. How can you eat all that fat and grease all the time?

No Voice, No Problem

Christmas came and went. Sharkey and I came and went to Minnesota. You know, you do not truly understand how cold, cold is until you step outside into a -8 degree climate with gusting wind. Yes it is true. It was frigid. First day we were there, -8 was the high. Second day we were there 0 was the high. The next day the temperature shot to 22 degrees. That felt like summer! The even more insane thing was that when we hit Pennsylvania on our way back this past Saturday, it was 73 degrees!! Think about that. From the time we arrived at MN to the time we hit the PA border we had an 81 degree temperature shift!

I have to admit. Minnesota is sort of a blur to me. We got there and it was go, go, go... The time just flew by. Wrapped presents, went shopping, thawed out windshield wiper fluid reservoir, wrapped more presents, cooked food, ate food, went to visit grandma, unwrapped presents, played with kids, played with dogs, ate more food, played guitar hero world tour w/ Sharkey, Character Builder, and CB's Husband (now that was fun!!!!), drove home... This description is my recollection of this past Christmas.

So from Minnesota to PA I received my last "present" for the holidays. Between Wisconsin and Ohio I picked up "the head cold." You know what I mean? It's the "Barbara are you up, Barbara are you up....I'm up now....I can't sleep, my throat's all scratchy...I'll get the aspirin and Sucrets...aspirin and Sucrets?" I'm on stage three at this point. No more sore throat. Just the dry, choking cough and lack of voice. I cannot talk w/o sounding like either James Earl Jones or Peter Brady in that "Time to Change" episode...



It is going to make this weekend interesting. I am supposed to cantor this weekend. I may have to get a sub....

I know I need to man up, but the truth is, I am the biggest Mamma's boy when I get sick. I want to just go to sleep and not get up until I am better. Sharkey on the other hand is the total opposite. She gets sick, she moves around, and still does stuff. This is a total foreign concept to me. I shut down like the East coast does when snow falls... I have gotten a bit better in the 8 years we've been married, but I still like the sleep, read book, watch movie, play video game method of recuperating. I do hate not being able to talk though. It is very limiting, but then I remembered, I have a blog, I still have a voice....

On the Road Again

Sharkey and I are off to the Midwest for Christmas. Yesterday, I shut down my PC after putting my out of office on and setting my phone to voice mail only. IT FEELS GOOD! We had decided months ago to road trip it from PA to MN because gas was at like $4.50/gallon and it would've cost us like $1500/plane ticket to fly, plus board Maggie, plus rent a car, plus pay for gas when we got there... Fortunately, Sharkey and I both love road trips. And since we are driving, Maggie can come with us. She is a great traveling dog too, we are sooo lucky she is... I grew up w/ multiple road trips for family vacations. My Dad loved to drive, and drive we did, all over the USA and a bit into Canada as well.

We actually got off to a good start today. Usually we do not make it out of the house until 11am-12pm, but this morning we were up and out by 8:30am. What you need to understand is that neither of us are great morning people. We would like to be, but it is just not in the cards. Sleep always wins. The funny part is that this morning, all of us, including the Maggie-Moo were nestled all snug in our bed. So I am surprised we were able to get going so early. But here we are in a nice, warm hotel room in glorious Toledo, Ohio. We made good time and we can unwind for a few hours before we all hit the hay and then get up and do part 2 tomorrow.



You may think Toledo is a weird place to stop, but it is about 1/2 way between where we live and Sharkey's parents, and more importantly there is a Texas Roadhouse restaurant next door. So driving all day I am thinking about a salad, loaded baked potato, and medium filet with warm cinnamon buttered rolls. You know, driving long distances requires incentives!

How Do These Songs Get Passed On?

Sharkey and I have the most stimulating conversations. We solve earth shattering issues. We discuss ethical dilemmas currently facing our country. We plan strategies to solve many of the common man's problems. Our last topic was especially stimulating. For this session we discussed the way certain songs are passed from generation to generation from geographic location to location. Case in point, the Jingle Bells, Batman smells song:

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, Robin laid an egg...

Batmobile lost its wheel so the Joker got away...

The Jingle Bells, Batman smells songs transcends gender, generations, and geographic location. You could go from East to West coast, north to south, and find someone who knows this song by heart and can sing the entire thing back to you. So how does this phenomenon happen? I know the song has been featured on The Simpsons, Family guy, and on various TV shows, but the interesting thing is that even before those shows, back in the 70's (yes we were little kids of the bell bottom, long hair, bad clothing era), Sharkey and I both knew that song. How does that happen? I lived in NJ. Sharkey is from MN. That's like 1000 miles. So would you like to join our deep, insightful conversation and lend your theories? =)

Nubs and Stressin...

Nubs...

Maggie Moo had a grooming session yesterday. She is now all nice, soft, and pretty smelling. She is a girl after all, so she should smell good, right? She decided last night while we were watching Top Chef NYC that Mom looked comfy.



Those are my girls. Aren't they both Sweet!



Sharkey didn't even reposition her for the pictures. Maggie totally put herself into her relaxation poses.

Stressin...

Today was "one of those days." It started so well too. I got up on time, was productive, and reasonably happy, well until I received the phone call at 11am. "JP, you know that thing you helped us with? We think it caused a major problem with..." Yeah, those calls SUCK!!! And then my day went totally downhill from there. I spent the next 5 hours fixing things, verifying other things, and then explaining things to the person who called me. I got everything straightened out, but it was exhausting and I could feel the tension in my shoulders and neck. I had to sit back in my chair, close my eyes and take some deep, relaxing breaths. That calmed me down a bit and then I was able to refocus. I'm hoping for a quiet Friday at work!!

Public Speaking Tip #1

I just finished a Graduate course. In this course, all the students were required to do two presentations in front of the class. A lot of people in the class, including me, used Power Point slides for their presentation. Now, I am not new to public speaking. I have taught classes which ranged in sizes of 50-80 people at national conferences. I have delivered a speech to about 200 Japanese American people. So giving a presentation to a group of 26 people for a graduate course is no big deal. You learn a few things the more and more you public speak. You learn what works and what does not. You learn how to read your audience to see if "they get it" or "if they don't get it" and if you are losing them or if you have their interest and attention. But most importantly, you learn to use your presentation tools properly. So here's a tip for you all who do not public speak very often or have something coming up where you're thinking about using Power Point. When you have to speak in front of a lot of people and use Power Point, use your slides as speaking points. They should not have everything you are saying on them!! To illustrate my point...



You cannot believe how many people write every word of every sentence into the Power Point. Then they get up and say exactly what's on the slide. Less is definitely more! And I have news for you people that's not presenting, that's reading!!! Microsoft named the software Power Point, because you are only supposed to show major POINTS and specific IDEAS. I think after listening to each of the 26 presentations 2x, there were only like 3-4 that were decent. The rest were akin to chewing on tinfoil and made you want to stick a pencil in your eye.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Cow I'm on FIRE!

Every 1st weekend of every month I get to do the liturgy at church. It is not a big deal. I do the cantor part. So I sing (yes JP sings) this part, the congregation responds, I sing another part, they respond, etc. I also do the readings from time to time and help out with communion as well. This morning I helped with communion. The Pastor does the bread, I do the wine. The people come up and circle the altar and he gives them a little bread from a loaf and I hand them a little plastic cup of wine. And we go around until everyone has each of the elements. Well, we are now in advent and someone had the bright idea of putting the advent candles on the altar. Two of them are lit right now. As I go around, I pass really close to the candles, and the robe I am wearing is my choir robe and it's made out of a poly blend, the absolute best combustible fabric you could possibly wear. You can sort of see where I am going. Sharkey comes up to the altar and looks me straight in the eyes and tells me, "Be careful of those flames." I get through, just fine, but I still have this picture in mind of how it could have turned out....



UPDATE... I am really shocked by the lack of comments on this post. COME ON PEOPLE?!?! JP almost catching on fire is hilarious!! Do you think you could really offend me or you do not want to say anything because this post has...gasp...Christian tones to it!! =)