First Christmas Alone

Going thru a divorce really stinks.
This one is one of the worst I have ever seen in my entire life.
My wife is turning my kids against me one at a time. :(
It's been 10 months now and it's clear it's over.

But, somehow I need to pull thru and get moving.. sooo...

I decided to stop living at my friend house and BUY MY OWN.
It's not my dream house by an stretch - but it's mine, or will be this Thursday.

I haven't got any furniture so moving will be EASY!
Wait, no.. a friend gave me a couch. So I will have a place to sit down.
I will need to shop for a bed and some other neccessities!

What will help?
I think decorating for Christmas will.
I am going to go shopping for some 'icicle' lights this week.
I picked up a Christmas Album - Sarah McLauchlan at Starbucks.
And perhaps a Christmas tree will help too. We'll see.

:)

HD to NYC

What a ride!
Some silly storm was terrorizing the southern states and it hit Norfolk on Friday.
We waited patiently since neither of us wanted to ride in the pouring rain unless we had to.
Kurt F and I headed down the road early the next morning (2 Sept) and had no idea what lay in wait for us – a slow moving storm… and we were riding 70mph toward it.

A gorgeous day.
We rode across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel and north across Virginia and Maryland. The Cape May-Lewes Ferry was a 3.5 hour wait so we rode on.
Delaware and New Jersey were fine until we caught up to the storm.

First the rain was light, but soon we were in torrential downpour and high side winds that were blowing us around. We made several unintentional lane changes. The rain was hitting my face so hard it actually hurt, so I periodically shielded my face with my left hand while holding the throttle with my right.
I also had to often reach up and empty my glasses as they kept filling with rainwater and getting into my eyes.
It was tough to see Kurt ahead sometimes as we rode on – and I couldn’t afford to get behind, because he knew the route we were taking and I didn’t!

We rolled into his in-laws driveway just as night was falling.

All I could think of was our 3 immediate needs.. which I told Kurt and Family while standing in the rainy driveway:
A Hot Shower
A Warm Woman and
A Cold Drink

His mother-in-law said she could find us 2 of the 3 and I was hoping her water heater was broken!!!

After a hot shower and a couple cold drinks, we all stayed up late playing cards by candle light since the storm took out the house power.

The next day was beautiful.
Kurt and I ran 4 miles or so (I was totally out of shape) and then we rode our Harleys to Yankee Stadium where we saw an incredible win by the Yankees 10-1.
Monday we rode home in perfect weather and finished the best motorcycle trip I’ve ever been on.

I hope there will be many more in the future.

The Life Cycle

I think the life cycle is all backwards.

You should start out dead and get it out of the way.

Then, you wake up in an old age home feeling better every day.

You get kicked out for being too healthy; go collect your pension, then
when you start work, you get a gold watch on your first day.

You work 40 years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement.

You drink alcohol, you party, you're generally promiscuous and you get
ready for High School.

You go to primary school, you become a kid , you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a baby, and then...

You spend your last 9 months floating peacefully in luxury, in spa-like conditions; central heating, room service on tap, larger quarters everyday, and then...
..you finish off as an orgasm.

I rest my case.

Caffeine Anyone

I found someone that loves coffee as much as I do!

Confusion Says:

I used to say:

That that does not kill you,
Makes you stronger.

But have decided upon the following as a reasonable alternative:

That that does not kill you,
Hurts like hell... but, it doesn't kill you.

French Vanilla and Chocolate Syrup

I couldn’t help myself.
I purchased a quart of French Vanilla ice-cream and some chocolate syrup. I scooped 4 gigantic spoonfuls of ice-cream into a bowl and just COVERED it with syrup.
It was sooooo good.. but I just know I totally cancelled the 5 miles I did this morning!!!
Dang

Poison Ivy

I have never been susceptible to poison ivy before in my life.

A couple weeks ago, I caught the absolute worst case you can imagine – well I take that back since some people have died from it – it was just the worst case I could imagine: up and down my legs, on my back and chest, arms – none on my face or head Praise God… I have been very careful NEVER to scratch an itch or touch my head in any way… it has been really tough.

My guess is that the stress I am going thru has broken down my immune system.

I used to be able to walk in it, sit in it, play in it.

Once my sister and I were feeding handfuls of green leaves to pigs in a pen.. my sister caught poison ivy worse than she has ever had, I didn’t get it at all.. and we don’t know what happened to the pigs.
:)

Geocaching has it’s issues – poison ivy is the one that effect me the most.

Atlantic Ocean - Virginia Beach Oceanfront

I’ve spent quite a bit of time at the beach lately.

Mostly to let the ocean’s natural salts soothe my poison ivy.. but also to play in the waves. I’ve made some very fun sand castles and have been perfecting my body surfing.

The beach is a wonderful place, I just wish my skin tanned better than it does – I always have to swim in lotion before going out. Actually I have been playing for about an hour and then putting on the lotion – just to get some color.
:)

Motorcycle in the Rain

This time of year short bursts of torrential downpour come without warning.
I was out riding my Harley the other day and got caught in some cats-n-dogs.
Raindrops the size of grapes were pelting me and luckily I wasn’t going fast. I have found that above 40 miles per hour these sting pretty hard. The rain soaked my shirt, pants, underwear, everything. The rain was running down my legs and into my boots.. by the time I got where I was going, my boots were completely FULL of water. I sat down and poured the water out and rung out my shirt before going inside.

It was quite an adventure.

This may sound weird, but I liked it.. being totally soaked and free. It seems that unpredictable things like this don’t happen often enough, and I welcomed it.

Great Card

My sister sent me a great card the other day.

FRONT: When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.
INSIDE: But when life hands you a load of crap, don’t make anything. Trust me on this one.

I laughed out loud and put it right on my desk.
What a great sister.
:)

Boat Work - Blue Water Ahead

I helped a friend work on his boat this past weekend.
We fired up the motor and scrubbed all the decks and surfaces.
It was fun and got me wanting to get MY sailboat up and running again.
It’s been 4 years since my boat has seen water – I think it is sad just sitting on the trailer. I have just spent ALL my time playing with the kids and getting a new business up and running... I neglected the poor boat!

Yet, working on the boat was very rejuvenating. Somehow, somewhere deep inside, I got some energy.. a little wave of hope.

Finally Got some Tail

It's been 9 months and I finally got some tail.

I was riding my motorcycle along the Colonial Parkway.
This is one of the best places to ride your bike in Virginia; tree covered road, along a river, cars few and far between. A must.

Anyway, I was riding along and I passes a racoon - roadkill.
I quickly pulled over and walked back.. with my trusty Buck knife, I cut off the tail.
I was hoping to tie it to the back of my Harley so it could flap in the wind as I rode.. but after I went on the internet to research what it actually takes to make the tail 'usable'.. I perished the thought.

The taxidermist website said I had to: split it full length with a knife, remove the tail bone and all meat, salt the hide for 3 days (scraping and reapplying salt each day) and then soak it in Borax so the bugs wouldn't eat it. And it would be stiff, unless I took it one more step and actually TANNED it with some chemicals.

NOT GUNNA HAPPEN... They only cost $3.50 on Ebay.

Geo-Caching

Discovered a brand new (to me) hobby.
Geo-caching.
You may have heard about it before, but until you have done it.. you can't knock it.

Basically, it's a treasure hunt for small hidden treasure all over the planet.
Most of these little hidden locations are in the USA, and increasing in number daily.

Individuals have placed hidden 'caches' in wooded areas, on cliff sides, along rivers, under water, and even on busy streets in urban areas.
To find them, you must go to www.geocaching.com and type in your zip code (one of the ways to find them).
You will then see a list of all the caches near you.
Cutting and pasting these coordinates into Google Earth gives me a quick aerial view of the site.
Then I simply input the coordinates into my GPS unit ($150 at BestBuy), which guides me to within a few feet of the hidden cache.
From here you must be a sleuth.. think like the guy that hid it and you shall find it.
Signing the Log Book is always a task, and if the cache is large enough to contain small treasures (misc items that look like they came from the dollar store), you TAKE one and then LEAVE one (yep, gotta bring something with you).
Making sure no one is watching, you must RE-HIDE the cache and split.

It's a gas.. and good ol' outdoor fun.

Lost Sunglasses

Dangit.
I lost my sunglasses.
I took them off on the airplane and set them on the seat next to me.. so I wouldn't forget them.
Then like 'pavlovs travelers'.. when the little bell when 'ding' every single person on the plane stood up. I mindlessly grabbed my bags and headed off the plane, took a leak in the first MENS room and realized I was missing my glasses.
I wasn't 30 feet from the gate and got permission to re-board.. but my glasses were already GONE.
Dangit.
Someone must have spotted them in my seat (3A-First Class) and pocketed them.
I hope they enjoy them.. they were a very nice pair.
Bogus.
I am not feeling the full loss of them yet since the 2 glasses of wine have me partially sedated.
It will hit me when the sun comes up tomorrow.

New Family

I joined an elite group recently.
Harley Davidson motorcycle owners.
It's a nice family if you look past the tattoos, goatees, leather and scull-cap helmets.
One guy even had a "Loud Mufflers Save Lives" sicker on his helmet (safety conscious).
They all tell me I need a 'bitch' to ride on the back.
I think they are referring to the sweet and gentle girl that often accompanies you when you ride.. one that has more underarm hair than I do.
:)
Here's my new ride.

Insect Collection

My twin daughters have an assignment in school to collect 10 insects (and kill 'em).
I remembered doing this when I was a kid so I jumped in to help.
At first this sounded like a simple task: Just go outside and turn over some rocks and logs and grab everything that moves.

No so fast.
I was too anxious.. I had this instinct to kill bugs!
(I've eaten tons of them in my lifetime.)
Soooooo... after Daddy terminated a centipede, two rolypoly bugs, and spider... I was told they died in vain.

Insects only have 6 legs.

The beetle, the crane fly and the earwig were OK for the collection.
Tomorrow, I'm on the prowel for a bumble bee, a butterfly and perhaps a grasshopper!
I hope I can even dig up a grub or two! :)

(The 'Killing Jar' has some cotton balls with fingernail polish in it.)

Dude.. that's Rude

Sitting next to a girl that didn't have earphones for her DVD player showed me a new kind of rude.
We were on a regional jet, so the outside noise was a little louder than usual, which in turn caused our deaf little passenger to crank her DVD player so we all could enjoy a move only she could see.

No care for others.
No idea that she was not the only one on the plane.

Some people's kids.. I swear.

Applebees

I just ate a piece of leather that was on the menu claiming to be 'Applebee's Choice Sirloin'.
Thank God for Killians Red.. it helped.
:)
Remind me not to go to chain restaurants anymore.
Sheesh.

Chips Di Morte

There is a style of chip out there that will drain all the fluids out of our body and shrivel your tongue to resemble a sidewalk worm on a hot summer day.

"Salt and Vinegar"

Chips that Kill

Homeless and Rejected

A clean cut white guy approached me on the city street today as I walked to my office.
He said,

“Please,
Please Help Me.
I am homeless and need something to eat.
I am sorry for having to ask you for money.

My wife took everything from me,
And now I have nothing left.

Please.”

I gave him all the money that was in my wallet.