New Years Eve Jam

Dedicated to my Coffee House boys.
You know who you are. Jam on.


Get your own playlist at snapdrive.net!

Merry Christmas From U and Blue Eyes

Bring It On

55

Busted

Dude....they told me no one would ever find out.
I guess changing the spelling of my name didn't work...

Merry Christmas

Vicki, you'll get a kick out of this one.

Grace and Courage

Flying

I've often had many dreams in which I fly.
This is amazing.

Don't Do It

You'll only regret it later...


http://view.break.com/409510 - Watch more free videos

Japanese TV

You can have American Idol and Dancing With The Stars.
I'll take the Japanese any day.



http://view.break.com/208291 - Watch more free videos

That's What I'm Talkin' About!

I wonder how long it took to convince her?

Cool Stuff

24 Remake

If 24 was created in the 1990's....
Only the Techno-Dweebs, Fans of 24 would appreciate this one.
You know who you are. Remember the pain...

My First Kiss and The Catholic Church

Do You Want To Know A Secret?

I grew up in Philadelphia. North Philadelphia. It was the riots of the 60's and the drug use that scared my dad into moving to the suburbs. But it was in Philly on Lawrence St. that I got my first kiss. Actually, it was next door at the Martinez home and it was much more than a kiss.

Betsy, her younger sister Anna, and her younger brother Cookie, lived next door with their much absent mother and almost nonexistent father. I remember my brother and I are spending a lot of time at their house watching Saturday morning cartoons, especially the Beatles cartoons. The year was 1965. I was eight years old and Betsy was probably a very streetwise, precocious nine. She used to mesmerize my brother and I with these wild stories about life in a Catholic school.

There are two stories that stand out and they both involve punishment. Betsy told us that when you disobeyed the nuns, they would take you to the bathroom, kneel you down in front of the toilet, push your head in it and flushed it a few times. That was if you were bad. If you were really bad the second form of punishment involved disrobing. Betsy said the nuns would make you take all your clothes off and stand in front of the classroom naked while everyone laughed at you. Oh, it was true! Betsy had been made to do this a few times. My brother and I would look at each other, mouths wide open and be very thankful that we went to public school. These stories, along with a very scary experience with a nun, would for years instill in me a deathly fear of the Catholic Church.

One evening when I was seven years old there was a knock at our front door. I believe we were expecting company. It was night time. I went to answer the door. Not recognizing the dark figure in front of our door, I hesitated. Well, the figure pressed her faced on the glass portion of our door and smiled. Normally this would have been no problem. It was just a nun in her black habit. But that's not what I saw. I saw the devil in the flesh smiling at me. I turned and did Scooby Doo-run-in-place move and ran screaming through the house. I still tremble when I see a nun. But I digress. Back to Betsy.

Like I said, she was a streetwise, very mature (how mature can you be at nine years old?) girl. One of the popular songs on the radio at the time was the Beatles "Do You Want To Know A Secret?". Well, Betsy used to entertain us by lip-syncing the song (this was before karaoke) all the while bumping and grinding like a well-trained burlesque dancer. This would lead the four of us to sneak into her house and played "married". This was no problem since no one was ever home. I'll spare you the details of our escapades but it was much more than a first kiss and I would spend the subsequent five or six years asking God to forgive me for my juvenile indiscretions.

Those "married" games ended when my brother decided to show the entire neighborhood he was a man (at 7 years old) by standing buck naked in front of Betsy's bedroom window. My parents were not impressed. We moved the following February to the suburbs. In the coming years anytime my brother wanted to get back at me, he would start humming the beginning of "Do You Want To Know A Secret?". Betsy and all the guilt associated with that time would come rushing back. "Shut up Dave! That's not funny..."

U's advice: always know where your young children are at all times.
Now, for those of you too young to remember, I give you the Beatles.

Two Weeks & Counting

Movement

This is from last season and I just about fell off my chair watching it.
Dedicated to my son who introduced me to the phrase "dropping the kids off at the pool". See. You can learn things from your children.

Ouch

That's gonna leave a mark.

New Rules

I was cleaning out my old email and came across this. It was sent to me by a good friend who will remain anonymous. Enjoy.

---------------------------------------------------

New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes, graduations, and releases from jail. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.

New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for Classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days: mowing my lawn.

New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you're gay. If you're a kid, the cards are keepsakes of your idols. If you're a grown man, they're pictures of men.

New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them? Okay, we're done.

New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket - water, but without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.

New Rule: Stop messing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.

New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the a**hole you are. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a huge a**hole.

New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing "Enter," verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want cash back, and pressing "Enter" again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.

New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to "beef with broccoli." The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.

New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN recently televised the US Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait. They're already doing that. It's called "The Howard Stern Show."

New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&M. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.

New Rule: and this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your webcam, dude. I just want to wash my hands.

New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to know in months. "27 Months." "He's two," will do just fine. He's not a cheese.

Happy Birthday Lisa

28 years ago. Don't they go by in a blink...
Love you, Baby.

Dude

Very handy word.

Windows Vista

Even though I think we eventually will be using it, it'll be a while before we upgrade the school to Vista. At least 2 years.

This is funny but it's true too.

Sweet

Unbelievable.

Jack is Back but...

What do they say: fool me one shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me?

Last year's season was a major disappointment but yeah, I'll probably watch again this season.

Yee-Haww

Smart ForTwo

I want one. Four feet shorter than the mini-cooper!
My birthday is in December. I'm just sayin'... Save The Earth.

Woman

John Lennon was killed in December of 1980. This song was a cut from the album Double Fantasy, which was just about to be released before his untimely death. He is quoted to have said that this song is a tribute not only to his wife Yoko, but to all women.

Lennon had a heart breaking relationship with his mom Julia, twice choosing to live with his father only to return back to his mother. Lennon was 17 at the time of her death when she was killed by a drunken driver. He said it was one of the most traumatic events in his life.
In May of 1968 he met Yoko Ono. Here are a few quotes about the love of his life:
"Before Yoko and I met, we were half a person. You know there's an old myth about people being half and the other half being in the sky, or in heaven or on the other side of the universe or a mirror image. But we are two halves, and together we're a whole. I am with this goddess of love, the fulfillment of my whole life. Everything we do is together, and that's what gives us our strength."

It's often said that when men and women are looking for a spouse they subconsciously are looking for someone like their parent: women are looking for someone like their father and men are looking for someone like their mother. I would have to agree. I would also add that women want someone to take care of them like their father and men want a woman who loves him unconditionally like his mother. It's probably an oversimplification but I would bet it's true in most cases.

Lennon captures it perfectly for me in this song when he writes:

Woman I know you understand The little child inside the man, Please remember my life is in your hands, And woman hold me close to your heart, However, distant don't keep us apart, After all it is written in the stars.

As I make my way through this life I've come to appreciate the many women who have been a part of my life. All my aunts and grandmothers but especially the three most important women in my life: my mom, my wife and my daughter.

To my mom I say “Thank you for loving me unconditionally. Your support throughout this journey has made me the person I am today.”

To Blue Eyes I say “Thirty three years together is not enough time to tell you what your love means to me. I love growing old with you.”

To my daughter I say “From the day you were born till today I have loved you with an unconditional love that will never end. You will always be my little girl.”

To all three I say:
“So let me tell you again and again and again. I love you. Now and forever.”

Strict Church Membership

OK. I know pilgrims are not allowed to talk about sex in public but it is a gift from the Almighty and this one involves a married couple. I've cleaned it up the best I could:

A couple wanted to join a very strict church. The pastor told them, "We have a special requirement for new member couples. To show your devotion to God and others outside of your union, you must abstain from sex for one whole month."

The couple agreed and after two-and-a-half weeks returned to the church.
When the Pastor ushered them into his office, the wife was crying and the husband was obviously very depressed. "You are back so soon...is there a problem?", the pastor inquired. "We are terribly ashamed to admit that we did not manage to abstain for the required month," the young man replied sadly. The pastor asked him what happened.

''Well, the first week was difficult but we managed to abstain through sheer willpower. The second week was terrible, but with the use of prayer, we managed to abstain.." "However, the third week was unbearable. We tried cold showers, prayer, reading from scripture...anything to keep our minds off carnal thoughts."

"One afternoon, my wife reached for a can of paint and dropped it. When she went to pick it up, I was overcome with desire and I just had to make love to her right then and there. It was lustful, loud and passionate. It lasted for over an hour and when we were done we were both drenched in sweat," admitted the man, shamefacedly.

The pastor lowered his head and said sternly, "You understand this means you will not be welcome in our church." "We know," said the young man, hanging his head, "We're not welcome at Home Depot either."

Whoa!

I usually don't post anything political but this is a great answer.
His name is Mike Huckabee and he's running for President.

Best line: I don't know. I wasn't there.

Across The Universe

I saw the previews over the summer and I knew right away it was a movie I had to catch. It came to O Town a few weeks ago but the only theaters that were showing it were down by Disney. This week it finally came to Altamonte. Blue Eyes and I caught it last night.

The reviews were very good so we had high hopes we weren't going to be disappointed. We weren't. A few reviews compared it to one of my favorite movies, Moulin Rouge. That movie was a feast for the senses. It was similar in that there was more singing than dialog and also very visually appealing. However, Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor's singing were superior to the singers in this one but I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

The movie is a musical based on The Beatles songbook and set in the 60s England and America. It's also a love story intertwined with the anti-war movement and social protests of the 60s. If you love The Beatles music the way we do it's a must watch.

It was fun to catch all the subtle references to Beatles songs. It started with the list of characters. The main characters were Jude and Lucy. Other characters were Prudence, Sadie, JoJo, Maxwell and Bono from U2 playing Dr. Robert. He was hilarious. Joe Cocker also made a cameo. I don't want to give them all away but in one scene Prudence suddenly appears in the apartment and somebody asks "Where did she come from?" and someone shouts "She came in through the bathroom window." Blue Eyes and I looked at each other and smiled. We got it but it seemed no one else around us did. The crowd in the theater was much younger that what I thought would be there. I don't know. Maybe they got it too but were too cool to show it and just laughed at the two old farts giggling and nudging each other throughout the movie.

Back to the music... If I was a little disappointed it was at some of the singing. The lead characters' voices were a little week and it didn't help that many of their songs started out acapella. After a while the music would join in. I think I just keep comparing it to Moulin Rouge where all the songs were major productions carried by great voices. The only exception was Sexy Sadie. Boy, she had a great Janis Joplin-like voice.

My favorite parts were the scenes for the song For The Benefit of Mr. Kite and the underwater scenes.





I've never done any kind of illegal drugs (that's for another post) but I would imagine it would be something like these scenes.

The Pilgrim gives it 4 out of 5 strawberries. He says check it out.

First Help Desk Call

I love my job but yeah... sometimes it's like this.

Oh, For Heaven's Sake!

I thought this was a joke from The Onion but I'm afraid it's real.
Have we become a nation of hyper-sensitive little cry babies?

Why There Are No Italian Muslims

I'm all for modesty but maybe they should have ordered a milkshake...
with a long straw.

Rainy Tuesday - Mellow Boss Jam

The man is a lyrical genius. Even if he's from the armpit of the US.
Sorry. Philly guys don't care much for Jersey.

Anyway, this one's off his great Born To Run masterpiece 32 years ago.
Oh my. Has it been that long?

The distant trumpet always throws me into a melancholy tail spin.

Best lines:
And all we gotta do is hold up our end
Here stuff this in your pocket
It'll look like you're carrying a friend
And remember, just don't smile
Change your shirt, 'cause tonight we got style

Shut Up Already

I really don’t care what our so called celebrities do in their personal lives. The only reason I try to catch late night talk shows once in awhile are for the opening monologues on popular culture. I find both Letterman and Leno no longer funny. They’re more annoying than anything else. Lately I’ve been recording The Jimmy Kimmel Show. His opening monologues are great because he’s not so full of himself like the other two. Plus he’s actually funny.

The one thing I can’t get past on any of these shows (and too many others) is the studio audience. Where do they get these people? These are the people (mostly young women, by the high pitched sound of their screams) that start to scream, hoop and holler at the drop of a hat. They scream when the host comes out, when the guests come out, when the celebrity or host says something they agree with, in the middle of the monologue, in the middle of the conversation… SHUT UP already. I’ve really come to believe they are the same group of people that show up at these other stupid shows like Dancing With The Stars, American Idol (sorry honey), The View, award shows and any daytime idiot fest talk show. I blame Arsenio. Can I get a whoop, whoop? NO!

Anyway, it drives me nuts. While I'm getting things off my chest, allow me to rant about clappers. These are the people who find it necessary to let everyone around them know they agree with whatever the speaker has just said by clapping. And they won't stop until a bunch of other morons sheep see it as their cue to join in. These are the same people who probably have bumper stickers all over their cars, sharing with their fellow motorists (who don't give a shinola) their political views, personal views and (dare I say it) religious views. I know God used a jackass once to speak but I've never heard of anyone coming to faith by reading Got Jesus? on the bumper of a minivan. It could happen but I think it cheapens the gospel.

Anyway, I see clappers in church all the time. For once I would just love to see no one join in. Sometimes you'll see them looking around encouraging others to join in by nodding their heads or even (God forbid) standing up.

I just want to yell "STOP IT YOU IDIOT! I'M TRYING TO WORSHIP GOD!!"
All in Christian love, of course...

Time To Upgrade?

"Thou shall not covet"...

The old one is working fine but it's almost 2 years old
and blah, blah, blah [insert justification here].
Help me Landrum. Talk me out of it.

One Semester of Spanish - Love Song

Feel the passion.
Best line: "No remembro how to say 11"

"Shut up! You had me at "Donde esta el baño”..."

One Semester of Spanish - Love Song

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Kiefer Sutherland arrested on DUI in LA

C'mon Jack. Say it ain't so.

The Builder

In an effort to train this young man in the ways of men (can i get a grunt from the guys out there), I've been teaching the Little Guy how to use tools and other manly objects. He now knows the difference between a nail, bolt, screw and tack. He's mastered the art of swinging the hammer. I even threw in a few power tools: the drill and a jigsaw.

He's really loving it. So much in fact that for the last four weeks he waits for me at the door when I come home and yells "Papa! Can we play with wood today?". Well buddy, that's a discussion we'll save for a later date but we can work on the birdhouse.

Viola!

Countdown

Nine weeks till Adam's wedding. It's going to be here before we know it.

They use to be called Bridal showers but lately they're more like Wedding showers where both men and women get together to celebrate an upcoming wedding. We had Sarah and Adam's at Lisa's house Saturday night. It was well attended by both family and friends. Sarah's whole family came up from the Tampa area (Palm Harbor).

As always, click on the photo for a larger image.






Long time friends of the family with Blue Eyes.


Lisa lookin' as pretty as her mother.
That's Sarah's brother Matt and her younger sister Lindsey.


Blue Eyes, Angela and Mom.


Lindsey with Sarah's parents, Matt and Rita.


Fathers of the Bride and Groom.


Proud abuelo.


Yeah. He's my son.


Friends since Elementary school.



Mom and Pop lookin' good as gold.

1993

It wasn't that long ago.

Sweet II

More sweetness. I am such a techno dweeb.

At this week's TechCrunch40 expo, an exclusive, invite-only gathering of 40 technology startups, a company named Extreme Reality showed off its 3-D Human Interface product. The software uses a simple everyday Web cam to translate your movements into on-screen controls such as zooming, tilting, panning and cursor movement.

The iBible

Hat tip to Robert. Thanks.

Best lines:
"It quotes itself out of context!"
"It even self-deletes the verses it knows that you don't like."

Help Me, Please

This is a little on the blue side so if you're offended by necessary bodily functions (sort of), don't watch.

You've been warned.

Keep an eye on his knees...

A Weekend of Music

I am told the night before I was born my mom had spent the night dancing to the Latin rhythms of the season (December birthday). I know of only two people who love music as much as I do. That is my mother and my daughter. It's in the blood.

Friday we had our monthly family poker night at Dave's house. We took a break from poker and had a karaoke night. I have an eclectic collection of over 4700 karaoke songs from ABBA to ZZ Top. It's interesting watching a karaoke gathering. At first no one wants the microphone (even in the midst of family). By the end of the night we're all fighting for the thing. Everybody likes to sing. My mom and I were even dancing up a storm during the country songs. I've got friends in low places... We had a great time.

Saturday afternoon David Gilmore from Pink Floyd had a live event from London that was beamed out to a number of theater venues throughout North America. Lisa and I both enjoy his music so we set out to I-Drive where they were showing it. It was a 3 hour show. Part of it was live and part of it was a sneak preview of his yet to be released DVD showcasing his last concert tour. It was a great afternoon of music. At first they had a few technical difficulties. This was the first time something like this was ever tried so it was to be expected. But after the first 25 minutes they seem to fix it all.

And speaking of Pink Floyd, that same night one of my old band mates was playing at a local eatery with his new band so Lisa and I headed over there to check it out. The music was ok but I felt a little out of place. Not my kind of crowd.

Contrast that to Sunday morning. Surrounded by brothers and sisters in the faith, one of my favorites hymns begins:

O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name.

I love all kinds of music. But music that's lifted up to the creator... well, it doesn't get much better than that. Music has to be one of His greatest gifts to us.

Friday Stupid Double Shot

No need to know the language. The videos speaks for themselves.
You gotta love the Japanese.

Life Is Short?

After his struggle with cancer, another friend pass away a few days ago. He was my counterpart on the church side. Among his other jobs, he took care of the technology at Orangewood Presbyterian Church. He was also a gifted artist and he had a heart of gold. We often would compare our Tech stories as we attempted to support our sometimes clueless users. He had a great sense of humor.

I started to write about it and came across Vicki's words. She does a better job than I ever could. Check these two entries.

It's often said that life is short. Many times I think "Ah yes, but compared to what".
If you base the totality of your existence in this life, life is not short.
Life is your whole enchilada baby.

But in light of eternity this life is short. But what follows is not.
Live your life accordingly.
Hope to see you soon, Greg.

Sweet

I just came across this great find.

MyTrashmail.com allows you to create a temporary email account on the fly.

This is a great way to keep you regular email account from getting clogged up with spam. It's also very useful for when you sign up at forums, newsgroups, software downloads, sweepstakes or other dubious sites that require email confirmation.

Here's the FAQ.

Check it out here.

And That's What's it's All About

This has been around for a while but it still make me laugh out loud.

With all the major news, sadness, and trauma going on in the world, it is worth reflecting on the passing, which may have gone unnoticed, of a man who had a great influence on American culture.

Larry LaPrise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Pokey," died peacefully at the age of 83 in Boise, Idaho.

Reportedly, the most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin.

They put his left leg in .... and that's when all the trouble started ....

Happy Anniversary To Us

29 years married and counting. Love you babe.

I Can See!

I have a number of side businesses that keep me pretty busy. I have one client I visit on a monthly basis. The company is not big enough to have a full-time IT person so I come out once a month and maintain and repair their computers and servers. This morning I jumped on the motorcycle with my reading glasses in my pants pocket. When I got there I realized they had slipped out and were probably sitting on Interstate 4. My reading vision is not too bad... well maybe it is because I couldn't see a thing. Windows XP has this neat little feature called a magnifier that allows you to magnify portions of the screen so I was able to cheat a little bit and take advantage of that feature.

When we go to Mexico there is not a more pleasant sight than watching a person, young or old, who hasn't been able to see for while, after they received their glasses. Priceless.

More Mexico Pictures

We've opened a public Flickr site to post our pictures here.

Here Kitty, Kitty

Patty, you want to adopt this one too?

That's Bull

That'll teach 'em to keep him to keep him corralled like a beast.
Wait a minute...

Sucker

See? I told you it was too expensive.

Jenn, you should have waited. I'll stay with mine for a while.

Home Sweet Home

Great trip but there' s no place like home. Thanks to all who commented
and were praying for us. See you soon.

More Pictures

This was where our friends lived and the results of the mudslide.


This was the giving of the gift ceremony/service.

Long Day

UPDATE: Sorry for the wacky text. I lost connectivity.

We're on our way back from our very long day. It's midnight and we've got an hour ride back. We started the day early with devotions, had breakfast and then were off to our first of two services with our Mexican friends. The first service was held at the Santa Cruz community center and the second was held at the Jalalpa center.

The second service was special in that we were able to give the families that lost all their belongings the furniture we help build for them. It was a very emotional service and very satisfying.

After the service we piled the 80 pieces of furniture into a moving truck for delivery. Before we left we gave each family a cooked chicken (from a local Costco no less), a couple of loaves of bread and a liter of coke. We then proceeded to all go over their temporary dwelling to have dinner with them. It almost looked like the scene from the movie "It's A Wonderful Life" when they helped move Mr. Martini into his new home.

Each one of us were assigned a family. All of the non-Spanish speaking memebers of our team (which is most of them) were quite nervous. If you didn't know Spanish it was pretty much hand signals. It was great for me ;-) I brought my guitar, we ate, laughed, sang songs... we had a great time.

I've posted pictures below this entry. We're coming home Tuesday evening.

I'm missing Blue Eyes more than I can say.

Day Of Worship

Bongo Man





Me and my homies chillin like a villan. Yo.

Mission Accomplished

Construction Day

Living on a garbage dump/land fill





Orangewood workers





Mexican workers





One Team



We had dinner at a restaurant that had a mariachi band.
Mom, this one's for you.