10

Happy New Year!

Here's to a fantastic 2010! Unemployment is finally slowing, but caught up to me and nabbed me in its wicked net. Hopefully not for long.

The Red Sox are now Bay-less, but it's all about the name on the front, not the one on the back, and the Mets still suck.

Any bets on the next big RIP? Who would have guessed Michael Jackson... In 2010 I'll say Jay Leno gets it in a horrific green car mishap. Just kidding. Sort of.

The day we've finally waited for - P-Day

No, not Truck day, the day the truck leaves Fenway in February for Spring Training in Florida.

It's official (almost, but good enough for us).

Sierra is finished with her potty training!!!!

Well, like I said, almost. We're still doing the pull-up thing for overnights - she was completely dry one morning, and 2 days before that she chose her big girl undies over the daytime pull-ups.

But after almost 1 year of training and hundreds of pull-ups later, we are at the finish line. Our wallets and the local landfills are thanking her!

Now THAT'S more like it.

Just when I think you couldn't possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this… and totally redeem yourself!

Yes I'm looking at you, Mr. Epstein. Signing John Lackey is a very good thing. Mike Cameron ain't half bad either (most of my Cameron memories are from the beginning of his career with the Mets, I thought he was going to go somewhere, maybe he'll finally get that ring with the Red Sox in '10).

Yankees might have murderer's row, but would you want to face a rotation like: Beckett, Lackey, Lester, Matzusaka (non-WBC year), Buchholz/Bonser/Wakefield?

Now, let's round things out with some hitters. Losing Bay and Lowell doesn't help, but there isn't enough Pepcid AC in the world that will help me through all the 1-run pitchers duels we might encounter in '10.

What happened to my team?

Ok, I know it's not MY team but Theo's team. But what in the world is going on with the Hot Stove winter meetings this year? Honestly... the Red Sox are passing on Granderson, Bay, and Hanley Ramirez in favor of Marco Scutaro, Boof Bonser, and Max Ramirez? Who? Are we going for the team with the goofiest names? How do you expect to compete with the Yankees with moves like these? This seems to echo last year's lack of fanfare when we passed on AJ Burnett, CC Sabathia, and Mark Teixeira. What team got them last year? And what team won the world series?

Call me bitter. Call me negative. But to be the best, you have to beat the best. This new lineup, sans Mike Lowell isn't giving me the warm fuzzies.

Updated 9pm: Also, I am NOT alone in this.

Sorry

I didn't want to have to do it. But I now have word verification. I'm now getting inundated with presumably Chinese or Japanese spam.

Too Early? Nah I don't think so. Best of 2009 albums.

5. Florence + the Machine: Lungs

4. Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

3. The XX: xx

2. Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest

1. Passion Pit: Manners - I can't get enough of this album, truly. So many great tunes that could be turned out as singles, there is not one throw away track on this album. Sure it goes with the current 80s retro synth trend but it goes way beyond that.

So that's how we end the first decade of the 2000s. What will the 2010s bring? Who knows but I'm looking forward to it!

Well, now you've finally gone and done it.

Part of my job is to add sales tax to orders that we ship across the good old USA.

I see all different types of rates for different states and the variegates within states, counties and towns.

Most places are a constant 6 or 7%, usually an accepted rate in America.

But lately I've been seeing that number creep upward in the normally suspect areas - blue (liberal states), which we've come to expect almost.

At first I noticed areas that moved into the 8% range. Then the same areas almost overnight it seemed jumped into the 9% range. And especially now with the economy still doing poorly, I don't understand how this is beneficial.

Today, I noticed a community that crossed the threshold into the 10% range. And not just 10% or slightly over it.

Graham, Washington now has a sales tax rate of 10.6%.

Remind me never to move there, let alone visit.

Family Bonding, 2009 style?

Sunday morning we decided to treat ourselves out to a nice big Sunday breakfast out at a local country eatery. But that's not what this is about. Stay with me here.

10 feet or so from our table, the waitress seats another family of 3, this time with a boy of about 7 or 8 years of age.

::bleep bleep::

I turn my head in that direction.

::bleep bleep boop bleep::

Ok, they let the boy bring his Nintendo DS Game Boy. Ok, that's fine, let him mindlessly entertain himself while Pa catches up with Ma. Saves some of the childish hassle and whining. No problem.

::bleep boop bleep bleep boop bleep boop bleep bleep::

Oh. My. God. All three of them have Nintendo DSes, and they are all playing simultaneously.

Ok. So I shouldn't judge, but have we devolved that much as a society that we'd rather play video games by ourselves while we are out in public, waiting for meals or in between waitress visits?

Personally, I wouldn't even dream of this scenario, let alone plan ahead for it for my family.

Well, Redbeard, have you considered maybe they REALLY enjoy their video games? They may even be practicing for a major competition?

Sure, although I find this highly bizarre even in this day and age. Maybe I haven't subject myself in public to make myself aware of this phenomena, it may even be some sort of trend.

Ok, I realize, the ideals of a Norman Rockwell or Leave it to Beaver family have been long gone, but as a society we still grasp on to a fraction of those ideals, am I wrong? Sure, some nights I'll be on the lap top and my wife on her DS while Sierra is doing her own thing or watching one of us, but we're not doing it out in public. We don't do it to avoid each other, because *sarcasm* what would be worse than having to talk to one another as we bond over a meal at a dinner table, whether it be ours or not?

Outrage!!

One of the new features when you open up your Yahoo mail is Yahoo Buzz.

Seems like a good idea on paper - promote good topics that people think are newsworthy and you can comment on them, and give them thumbs up or thumbs down.

However, it doesn't take very long looking through Yahoo Buzz that the only topics being trended up are hot-button controversial issues.



I'll spare you the inane comments people make on Buzz, but it's quite obvious the people commenting on Buzz are of a specific slant, then similar people vote up the conservative and/or ignorant comments, and any dissenting educated opinion is voted down.

My opinion? This is not a cross-section of world views, or even American views, but rather certain organizations have instructed (or possibly even employed) groups of people to post on Yahoo Buzz, then buzz up or down according to that certain slant in order to influence popular opinion and politics.

What say you?

Random Question

Who would win in a fight: an army of vampires or an army of zombies?

Answers go in the comments section. Have fun!

A Lack of Something

Certainly my motivation to blog has been lacking of late, settling for the daily Facebook interactions, which can be quite satisfying, but my creative juices have suffered because of it. In addition, the summer time isn't always the best time to blog, what with all the outdoor distractions that come with it. Throw in a busy 3 year old and... Oh my god I'm making excuses again!

At least I'm not the only one.

Ok, really, enough with my excuses! Focus... dedicate...

So a quick catch-up is in order.



No, not that kind of ketchup.

Sierra got a taste of pre-school this summer. After being referred to EEE (Early Education) for speech, they decided to rush her into a 6 week summer program (which was only 5 weeks due to our annual camping vacation), 30 minutes twice a week one-on-one, then in September she will begin 2 hours twice a week with other kids. So far she loves her school and her speech has picked up a little bit but she still has a long way to go (Thursday's child has far to go).

With a couple of flips and flops, the decision to move to New Hampshire for my job is off. Mistakes were made but I think this is the right thing to do. As a result, my mother is trying really hard to get me to move back to New York but I'm not sure about that yet.

We had another excellent week at Lake Groton. It wasn't all that warm save for a couple of days but it only rained 2 out of 8 days, so overall it was a success, Sierra enjoyed herself and we made it out of the campground to enjoy some of the other things - the Nature Center, Boulder Beach across the lake.

Enjoy some pics. Maybe I'll post again sooner than 3-4 months.

Milestones

Yes. This morning my trusty vehicle hit 100,000 miles. Approximately 4 miles from home, in front of Saint Michael's College on Route 15 in Colchester, VT, at 8:00 this morning on the way to Burlington to an appointment at the hospital.

This has happened only one time before in my previous vehicle, which was little more than a block from home one day on my way home from work.

More fun with Google Street View Maps

For some more street view fun, see ... well ... Streetviewfun.com. (Try to find the woman who tried to flash the Googlemobile! It's in there although the photo was removed on the Google site.)

My elementary school



Abbey Road crossing



Where I resided for 10 years with my mom (yeah it's a mobile home, what of it? narrowly missed that tornado although.)

Sierra's first easter egg hunt

You can't stop them from growing. Now at 3 years old, she's old enough to grasp the concept of the easter egg hunt, albeit with mommy's help. Please enjoy the easter egg hunt video.

I Heart Google Street View

Ok so you might have heard the story this week that townspeople in a small village in England chased a Google Street View camera car out of town. Me? I don't think there's anything cooler 360 degree street views in online maps, especially since we're house hunting out of state and we'd like to take the neighborhood into consideration.

Above, I'm keeping tabs on the house I grew up in. My dad sold it a few years ago after I moved up here to New England. From humble beginnings... well, i'm still humble. (sort of).

Adventures in Plumbing: Fountain (for Sparkle Plenty)

So Sparkle Plumby... errr... I mean Plenty... has recently had some plumbing woes with her aunt and friend. This gave me the opportunity to share with some of what I do at work on a daily basis. For the last 4 years I've been employed by a water heater appliance distributor. If there's a complaint about plumbing, I'm pretty sure we've heard all of them.

Personally, I don't deal directly on the phone with customers with what I do, but there's enough of my co-workers around me that do, so I know how much abuse they take from irate customers. But understandably so. No one really thinks about their hot water until it's gone- taking showers, washing hands, clothes and dishes are rather mundane activities but if you can't do any of that, things deteriorate rapidly; so it's our job to try to restore that hot water as quickly as possible and keep our customers satisfied. Of course doing this is costly, which is part of the complaints.

Anyway, when one of our heaters goes bust or isn't up to snuff, they get returned to us. About 10 years ago, this fountain was created with returned tankless heat exchangers. A very out-of-the-box recycling endeavor... I know... water heating is a tankless job... (HAR!)

Protein Roll-up

Here's a new healthy creation I conjured up yesterday:

1 Whole Wheat Tortilla/Wrap/Flatbread
2 Tbsps Hummus, any flavor (although I recommend Joseph's Supreme or 1001 Spices)
2 slices Light Bologna
10 slices of pepperoni

Spread Hummus in a rectangle in the middle of the wrap. Layer with bologna and pepperoni and roll. Enjoy!