esoteric diversions

I'm not dead...

2009-11-09T13:02:00.002-05:00

Just was sick for a while and then went on vacation...

Photos are up...

The whole trip...

The Jordan Cliffs/Penobscot Mountain Hike...

Perpendicular Trail/Mansell Mountain Hike...

Iced Coffee! [Flickr]

2009-11-09T09:53:54-08:00

jps246 posted a photo:

IMG_0522 [Flickr]

2009-11-09T09:53:53-08:00

jps246 posted a photo:

IMG_0521 [Flickr]

2009-11-09T09:53:51-08:00

jps246 posted a photo:

somewhat better

2009-10-30T12:23:00.001-04:00

At least the bulk of the cold has left, now I'm left with some coughing and a tiny bit of a stuffy nose. I just wish the coughing would go completely away.

Thankfully last night was the first night I basically slept through the night. I needed that.

Adventure time with Sharon today!!!

recovering

2009-10-27T17:11:00.002-04:00

Still feel sick...I think all the work on Sunday set me back a bit...however the leanto is finished. Check it out in the leanto building set...

sick

2009-10-24T12:33:00.001-04:00

I've caught my annual fall cold...not sure what it is, but it seems to be following the normal path. Wake up with a sore throat for a day, then my head clogs up, then I start coughing and then it takes a while for the nose to clear up and the coughing to go away.

Of course, this time it occurred in the middle of our review at the store so I ended up working close to 30 hours in three days all the while being sick. At least by yesterday afternoon we had passed, so the work was worth it and now we don't have to worry about it for a while.

In the meantime I'm trying to catch up on sleep. Slept most of today away and then tonight we're driving to the Catskills to do some more work on the shelter before coming back on Monday.

snow

2009-10-19T10:55:00.002-04:00

Look what we had yesterday...

It only added up to maybe half an inch to an inch, but still, October 18th in Eastern Massachusetts and there was snow...go figure. When I lived in Greenville in Maine or in Lyndonville in Vermont, it would usually be the end of October before we'd get snow in the lower elevations.

Strange weather I suppose.

Crazy week coming up...yikes.

39 and rain

2009-10-18T09:07:00.001-04:00

It looks like November has come a bit early for us as a Nor'easter makes its way up the coast and we're treated to weather like this. Makes me glad for the wood stove and for the comfort of a hot cup of coffee.

Makes it kind of hard to do landscaping at the store for our corporate review though...I'm going to be running around like a chicken without a head this week.

Not sure what is up, buy my insomnia seems to be returning. I think it's the fact that the heat is on and the stove is going. It dries me out while I sleep since the humidity gets so low and I end up sleeping like crap. I swear, I was exhausted last night, laid down and proceeded to toss and turn all night. Woke up feeling like I was run over by a mac truck. I've got to clean the humidifier and hook it up in the bedroom. It doesn't completely solve the problem, but it helps.

That or I need to get some ambien.

In the meantime, I can get some other work done as I'm stuck inside.

friday

2009-10-16T10:41:00.001-04:00

This week has gone by awfully fast...seems I was just getting home Monday yesterday but here it is Friday. Working long days on Tuesday and Wednesday probably didn't help. Yesterday helped out too and Moe and I troubleshooted some of the equipment. Today I thought I was going to work, but turns out that I read the schedule wrong and yes, I'm the one who makes the schedule. Go figure...

Gives me a chance to catch up on laundry and everything else that's been piling up at home. Plus I have some store stuff I need to get together here before I bring it in and set it up.

Our corporate review is this upcoming Thursday. I think Sharon and I will be holding our breath until then.

Yesterday Moe, Sharon and I went down to Mohegan to use our free play and get some dinner. I walked away with $300 only using free play to win it. I think that was pretty good. Of course, next time I go, I'll win nothing, but it was nice to come home with some extra cash I hadn't planned on before.

back

2009-10-12T17:15:00.004-04:00

Had the first frost the other night in the Catskills...it was cold...even colder going to the Octoberfests and then going to work on the leanto the next day...brrr....

Did a small hike up to the beaver pond in Pecoy Notch on Friday...write up at AITO.

Leanto work was fun, but I managed to get paint all over my North Face fleece...guess it's time for a new one...

ouch

2009-10-08T13:42:00.003-04:00

Stepped on a nail last night while trying to fix the cover I had over the wood pile (it had blown away in the wind). Had some scrap lumber nearby and I wasn't looking and stepped back and pop, the nail went through my shoe and into my foot.

All thanks to Sharon you know since she called and I was on my way out for ice cream. If I hadn't gone out, I wouldn't have fixed the cover.

So this morning after work I call my doctor and they say they are out of tetanus shots and I should go to the clinic nearby that has them even though they don't take my insurance. So I figure $40 bucks to get that out of the way, I can deal with that. I get there, it's a production...it actually comes down to my nurse talking to them on the phone almost yelling (I can hear this standing there next to person on the phone) "give him the shot." All because they wouldn't do it without me seeing a doctor and they wanted me to pay like $200 for the shot and the office visit. I was like "I'll go back and see my regular doctor and get referred back here for just the shot."

Thankfully I got the shot. Now I just have to take care of my foot.

Hiking plans our out for the weekend in the Catskills now though, oh well.

monday...

2009-10-05T10:25:00.002-04:00

I have to admit to kind of losing track of days now that I've been working more here and there...I worked all weekend and now I'm working straight through Thursday. Friday I've got off and I'm on my way to the Catskills for the long weekend. That should be fun and it'll be nice to get away for a few days, but I'll have my family to contend with.

Did a bit of a photo shoot with Will and Grace over the weekend. Will wouldn't cooperate, but Grace posed a few times...

In other news, who's getting a wedgie?

There was some yard work done too...I mowed the lawn for hopefully the last time this year.

Had dinner with Garrett, Dave, Jeff, Sharon, Moe and I on Saturday night at La Cantina. Had a great time, but I was dead yesterday when I had to open the following morning.

not sure...

2009-10-02T23:12:00.005-04:00

The premier of Stargate Universe didn't exactly grab me. It kind of seemed like Star Trek Voyager with a Stargate and a bit of a twist.

Not that I didn't like it, but I think it'll have to grow on me, like Stargate Atlantis did.

I have to say though, the Syfy channel sucks with commercials. I swear I watched more of those than the actual show.

Off to a full weekend of working at the store...

kind of cool...

2009-10-01T16:56:00.001-04:00

An article on the trail that's near the cabin...never hiked it all at once, but have been over all of it many, many times, between hiking for pleasure and hiking it when I was a Forest Ranger.

2 Days, 3 Nights, on a Path Named for a Devil

stimulus package

2009-09-30T11:41:00.002-04:00

After a day of what seemed to be a constant stream of bad news, we decided to head to Mohegan last night and partake in their stimulus package. Namely using up our free play and having some dinner without having to worry about anything else.

Turns out you can make $75 in free play last for quite a while. I played all around, though I think Sharon visited the ATM a few times when she had exhausted her free play.

We had dinner at Margaritaville which I don't know, it's not bad food, but it's not my thing I guess. This was our second visit, I doubt I'd go back again. I'm just not a Hamburger in Paradise kind of guy I guess.

As for the bad news, ugh...one of our friends, her mother just died, found out Moe's Grandmother almost caused an accident because she couldn't see while driving and her license isn't going to get renewed, got the total for Moe's car repairs (don't even ask) so that it can pass inspection and then I've still got to take the Honda in for new brakes on Friday...eeek, Moe's sister is having troubles with her mortgage (not that she wasn't paying, but the company she was paying to went bankrupt and lost a couple of payments that didn't get to the bank) and I think Sharon and I are starting to get a bit more nervous about the corporate review thing for the store...it is only 22 days away at this point and the store is nowhere near ready.

Kind of weird that all this news came in on a single day.

Can I just say how much I love being back on the Verizon Wireless network. AT&T, you suck!

calm down

2009-09-26T17:04:00.003-04:00

This morning it was a bit chaotic at the store, well a lot. The promotion we're running just makes things crazy, very crazy. I guess free anything brings the people in. Well this woman was waiting for her free coffee as I was getting the order before that and she goes "excuse me, why aren't you getting my coffee." I turned around, smiled and was like "well, because it's the next order."

Not the correct answer.

So in order to please this irate customer who has actually bought nothing since the coffee is free, I grab the cup and ask her how she'd like it. I start to make it and she says something insulting under her breath. I was like "honestly, no need to be rude, I'm getting your coffee."

She goes, "I'm not being rude, you're just deaf."

At that point I go "oh no, now you're really being rude" and I notice all the other customers staring at this woman with looks like "who the fuck does she think she is."

So I hand her the coffee and the extra cream and sugar she wants and I'm like "you just have a great day with that free coffee."

The next customer I ask about how she wants her coffee and she's like "I just want cream and sugar, no big deal, no emergencies here, no one get upset," and we all laughed.

I wonder how tomorrow is going to go...

oh glorious day...

2009-09-25T14:04:00.003-04:00

I love fall days like this...sunny, blue skies, temperatures in the mid 60s a bit of a breeze to blow the leaves around...heaven...I wish the rest of the fall could be like this.

I was out cleaning up the yard and getting rid of stuff we wouldn't need any more. Filled up a couple of garbage bags and managed to get myself covered in ants too since one of the tarps I was putting over the woodpile must have had a nest in them.

Speaking of woodpiles...

Does anyone have any wood they don't want (I know, I laughed too)...I mean, I'd be happy to come over with the truck and take away any fallen trees or limbs you don't want (as long as they are reasonably sized so I'll get usuable firewood out of it). I'll also take down small to medium sized trees that aren't too close to the house or power lines at no cost if I can keep the wood. I'd like to build up a bigger stockpile. So please, please, if you have trees you want down or wood you want taken away, call me!

I've got to work all weekend, but that should keep me busy. However it doesn't seem like my last three days off was all that off. I don't know. I have this list of stuff to get done, but it never seems to get done. That said, I did switch back to Verizon (love it!) and I started to clear up the yard.

For some reason I'm on a baking kick today. I took butter out to bring to room temperature last night so I'm planning on making some chocolate chip cookies and I was going to do a pumpkin pie but realized I don't have any pie crusts. I might like to bake, but I hate making pastry dough, so the pies will have to wait until I get the store again.

I was at Walmart this morning...ugh...I know, I hate it, but it's so cheap, especially for things like toilet paper and plastic containers. I was weak. In my defense it was first thing in the morning though, so the store was almost empty.

No real luck in the job search. Found a few things to apply for. I think at this point I'm just going to start expanding my search into things I'd like to do but that may not really be what I had been doing. Can't hurt to try I suppose and a career is ever changing, so maybe it's time for a change.

a bigger family(plan)

2009-09-24T11:58:00.002-04:00

We spent the better part of the afternoon at Verizon Wireless yesterday switching back from AT&T. I don't know...at first it didn't seem so bad, but the longer we were on there, the more and more I thought AT&T sucked. Not only that, but the costs were escalating each month since Moe was using more and more text messages and stuff.

I didn't think it would take so long, but I think we were there for close to 2 hours.

Sharon is now officially part of our family though...as she's got the third line on our family plan. We made sure to find her a phone with really big keys and a big display so she can read it. She called me today on it, so at least we know she knows how to make calls.

Moe's in better spirits now that his review thing is over and done with (thank god).

Working all weekend, so have to take advantage of today and tomorrow to get some work done around the house that I have been avoiding.

Speaking of diversions...WOOF! I'd be all over that.

good news...

2009-09-23T10:06:00.002-04:00

Moe's redo on his corporate review thing went off with flying colors, he finished with all A's...

So hopefully that means he doesn't need to be working quite as much as he had before to make sure the store would pass. Maybe I'll get to see him now. At the very least, he finally has a day off today and I do too.

I called unemployment on Monday and actually talked to a live person who was polite and helpful. Walked me through getting the extended benefits, so now starting this Sunday, I should be filing under those I guess and everything will be all set. I have 20 weeks worth of extended benefits, so that's another couple of months of trying to find a job.

eek...

2009-09-21T03:40:00.001-04:00

Apparently my traditional unemployment benefits ran out. I went to file and they were like "you've exhausted this claim, call to see if you can apply for extended benefits." Just what I wanted to do today after working all day (literally, 4am to 4pm) yesterday and having to work again this morning (hence the very early post)...sit on the phone with the Division of Unemployment and try to figure out how to apply and get these extended benefits.

Hopefully (fingers crossed), it'll be a fairly easy process. They've had 6 months to fine tune their system since I first tried filing for unemployment and at least it can't really be worse than that.

Ugh...a milestone I didn't really want to reach.

food safety

2009-09-17T08:58:00.002-04:00

I'm going through the food safety class online to get certified for the store and let me tell you, there are some things I defintely don't want to catch...like the parasite in fish that makes you cough up worms..

Can you imagine, you go to clear your throat and there's a handful of worms in your napkin?

In the meantime, I think today Sharon and I are tackling cleaning up a few things at the store in anticipation of our corporate review...believe me, there's a lot more work to do too.

I have a board meeting tonight...fun stuff...and then tomorrow I've got the whole day free!

Mount Washington

2009-09-13T20:11:00.001-04:00

Photos from the trip Sharon and I took up Mount Washington via the Auto Road...

cheesecake

2009-09-09T11:05:00.002-04:00

I didn't have it, but Moe enjoyed a slice last night at the Cheesecake Factory while I had the chocolate truffle cake and Sharon had quesadillas...long story, she'll let us know how hungry she was for a while...

That was all because Moe and I went to a dinner for a guy that was retiring from the Town Board I'm on instead of going out to dinner with Sharon on a Tuesday night.

We're on her shit list now I bet.

Nothing is really happening lately. Been working and oh the stories I could tell. I forgot what a joy dealing with dumb customers is. However it has been keeping me from going stir crazy, so I can't complain.

Tomorrow Moe and I are both home all day so I'm hoping the weather is decent and we can go out and do something interesting. I'm thinking maybe finally making that trip over to Mount Greylock and driving up the auto road if it's a somewhat clear day.

recent Epinions stuff...

2009-09-09T11:00:00.002-04:00

Thought I'd catch up on some of my more exciting recent reviews...

I do have to get the reviews of our new cameras written up, I just haven't been feeling like reviewing, even though I've been making some decent money off of Epinions lately and considering I've been unemployed, you think I could spend some time writing a bunch more.

eh

2009-09-08T13:46:00.002-04:00

I've been kind of blah lately. Chalk it up to the 6-month anniversary of being laid off and my ongoing unemployment (or should I say under-employment) on Sunday. I don't know.

No word from that place I interviewed with. I'm guessing after 2 1/2 weeks it's a lost cause. I guess I should be happy for the interview, but it kind of sucks that I can't even get a part-time job at the moment.

Plus I haven't felt great. Maybe allergies are kicking my butt. I wake up in the morning feeling like I haven't been sleeping and the tiredness just seems to be feeding on itself.

Eureka

2009-09-05T09:29:00.002-04:00

Somehow I managed to get sucked into the Eureka marathon on SyFy last night. I think from like 6 in the evening to 1 in the morning, I was watching, except for a break to go to Papa Gino's for pizza.

Pretty sad.

Of course, that's after I took a two hour nap starting at 3 for no apparent reason. I was just like "I'm tired, I"ll lay down" and woke up and it was 5.

No big plans for the holiday weekend. I'm off today but then I'm working at the store tomorrow and Monday, so I'll be staying busy there I guess.

adventure

2009-09-03T12:00:00.003-04:00

We decided to go on an Adventure (with a capital A!) with Sharon yesterday afternoon and ended up heading to Kittery in Maine for the evening to go to the outlets and to have dinner.

When a trip starts with a pose from Sharon like this, you know it can only get better.

We went to the Kittery Trading Post, which took a while since it's so big and then headed to dinner at this restaurant Moe and I had found in the past. Moe was finally able to find a lobster roll without celery in it, so he was as happy as a clam in mud!

At dinner, the host was a good looking guy and caught Moe and I's eye as we came in. He kept coming over and asking how things were and kept smiling away to the point where Sharon was like "OMG even I can tell he's flirting with you two." We told her we should give him our number as a joke and she went and wrote it on a napkin. Then on the way out, I didn't realize she was going to do it, but walked up to him and gave him the napkin.

Then afterward on the way home, she's like "what if he actually calls!"

Sadly, no text message yet, he probably was wondering why an old lady gave him her phone number.

Links for 2009-02-19 [del.icio.us]

2009-02-20T00:00:00-08:00

F*** My Life - FML : Your everyday life stories.

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2009-01-16T00:00:00-08:00

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2009-01-09T00:00:00-08:00

Science news and science jobs from New Scientist - New Scientist

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2009-01-05T00:00:00-08:00

Hiking in New York State's Catskill Mountains - Associated Content

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2008-12-24T00:00:00-08:00

What Dog Breed Are You? The Dog Breed Personality Quiz by Dogster

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2008-11-27T00:00:00-08:00

Get Rich Slowly

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2008-11-21T00:00:00-08:00