Enter The Kasual Kafe

Realizations

2011-01-26T08:01:00.001-08:00

The alarm sounds. Incessantly and Insistently.

The emergency of life

Why even wake? Again and Again

A pointless exercise.

"Sometimes I feel..." - Afflicts us All

The human condition

My minds tide , Rises and Falls

It washes you away.

My moods affect those who are around me; I affect the moods of you who intercept me.

I must control that which needs controlling; So obvious, it needs no extolling.

Grasp this smelly beast by its horns and wrench; Release all that's rank ,rid yourself this stench

Then you will find the happiness you seek; So obvious , demands no great technique.

Key

3 words x2 similar

6 syllables definition

Conclusion - a a b b Pentameter

Repetition of words / themes / alliteration

Dream

2011-01-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

The unpassable river rushes below a torched and decimated bridge
I see you on the opposite bank , moonlit , your beaming face smiles.
As my shadow points your new direction , you turn and walk away.
I yell and scream but the sound is whisked away downstream.
Hopping and flailing impotently , I helplessly beg for your attention.
A moment of crazed frenzy convinces me to jump into the rapids.
The searing chill swiftly cures my mania. Scared sober,
I swim for all I'm worth , my arms and legs burning
This lactic acid bath invades my brain and soothes its will
The turbulence overtakes me and im drawn away to the unknown
A dead dove floats past me , eyes black and empty
Drifting away , my purpose lost to the side I will not reach ,
I release myself to the numbing current and the deep black.
Soundlessly, I succumb , slipping beneath the waves silently.

I Mourn

2010-12-27T16:02:00.000-08:00

I mourn the memories in my head , I mourn the love that now is dead
I mourn for all the could have beens , I mourn all the unfulfilled dreams
I mourn my pillar that crumbled away , I mourn the words I didn't say
I mourn the past that didn't last , I mourn our tomorrow that won't pass

There is no word strong enough to express my grief
There is no meter soft enough to provide relief
There is no rhyme clever enough to make you believe
There is no amount of words that aren't too brief

I was always afraid to feel
Now I feel so acutely , I'm tearing apart with it.
I feel it in waves and it drowns me in its sorrow
My tears aren't hot enough to express my grief
Should my skin boil and sear , I would feel relief

This sadness weighs me down
this mail of anguish sags my shoulders
Tennysons` crown of sorrow is no solace
Memories of joyous days only increases my misery

The warm flood of loving remembrances,
Those moments of ecstatic sharing's ; There are no words tender enough to describe.
I mourn the time that passed away
Uneventfully
Unappreciated
Its in these mundane moments that we live and love

This is my final tribute , my last goodbye and I feel it so intensely
It makes all my perceived pains and woes of my past , so insignificant.
The small everyday trials , that once engrossed me
are swept aside like soft ash

My common sufferers !! We bond together !
There is no agent of joy that can bind so strongly. I call to you!
Love is as timeless as it is transient
and no ones grief is as great as ones own.
But we all love and we all grieve together.

The healing balm of time is an exhausting and tedious relief
yet time may eventually dull the edges of this sharp pain
But I do not long for complete comfort , it is in this feeling that I feel most alive
I may weep and sob
I may wail and ache
But I Mourn and I Live !

Xmas is over.

2010-12-26T11:08:00.001-08:00

Ran/walked 4 miles both yesterday and today. Saw my dad and sis yesterday and saw charlie and fran on xmas eve ; They bought me an ipod touch :-)
Those were the highlights of what was otherwise the saddest and loneliest christmas of my life.
I survived it , and felt great running this am , thru bolton notch , with its icicle filled rock on either side of me, while the snow fell , creating a white path and outlining the naked branches.

I was considering shutting down the kasualkafe site and blog and starting a new one for .2011 but decided against it. I will not shy away from the past just because it temporarily causes pain. I will eventually remember this chapter of my life as a wonderful period where I experienced so much of life, and shared this , as well as an intense love, with a wonderful woman. This type of love may not have been meant to last forever , but I will not regret.

Happiness continued

2010-11-29T12:38:00.000-08:00

Disparate lives , making their way , wary and unsure through an ever-changing and unstable environment. Behind our facade is desperate clinging and violent flailing in self defense against the myriad of attacks , both physical and emotional , that this world is made of. We wear our masks and sloth through.
Our protections are imaginary and easily pierced. Our pain is palpable and our ignorance is omnipresent.

Happiness

2010-09-02T05:06:00.000-07:00

Happiness is something we always strive for yet most of us find it difficult to obtain. We tend to find ourselves frustrated , short tempered , difficult to deal with , depressed , fall into fits of laziness etc , irritated at minor inconveniences , always in a hurry , harried about all the millions things that need doing , everything is an emergency etc;

I am extremely guilty of all of the above , over the last few years (probably most of my life actually) I find myself intensely frustrated with everything and anything. I rarely feel Happy and always seem to be on the verge of deep depression.

Well , I have found many of my issues , really just a state of mind. Yes , I and We , all deal with some real crappy situations on occasion , but most of us find our state of unhappiness because of overreactions by our own mind. This list remains true for most of us. This list is not necessarily for someone that has experienced Tragedy (seek professional help or groups for the serious stuff that life can hand us) but is for the day to day difficulties , irritations , fears , confrontations etc; We are not alone , all humanity has experienced trials , We can get through it with positive thinking and training of the mind.

More to come in future but here is a quick list to refer to on occasion when you find yourself unnecessarily angry , frustrated or depressed.

Make peace with imperfection
Be aware of the snowball effect of your thinking and catch yourself and Let it Go
When U Die , there will still be things and stuff that needs doing
Don`t interrupt or finish sentences , Practice Listening
Do something nice - selflessly - Don`t tell anyone
Present Moment Awareness - be aware of the small moments that are happening RIGHT NOW
Don`t need to be right - Let others be right on occasion
Practice Patience
Love- Show love - Feel Love - Give Love
Life isn`t fair ...so what ...Move on
Remember how Good you really have it , Not everyone is as lucky
Allow yourself to be bored
Mind your business , Someone elses stress , gossip , or deal is not your problem
Excercise , Meditate , Stretch , Gym , Pilates , Yoga , Walk
Become an early riser - Instead of rushing around like a maniac as soon as you get up to zip to work - Get up a little earlier ; Create :MY TIME
This too shall pass- Will it matter in a year ? Will it matter in a hundred
Be Grateful when feeling Good , and Graceful when feeling down
Volunteer - Do good for others - Be good and Loving
See the extraordinary in the ordinary - see the wonder of life
Look for the positive , ignore the negative
Life is not an emergency
Don`t always need to catch the ball - There is always someone trying to get you to catch their ball - its o.k not to have to on occasion , be helpful when you want to - You`ll be more effective
Don`t judge others or keep score - Accept people for who they are , and what they do or don`t do
Stop complaining , it will come true - If you practice unhappiness it will become habit
Write a heartfelt letters to a friend , lover , family member - or simply drop a line
Remember , any pain you feel has been felt before by a fellow human , its not just yours
Money is not Happiness , the lack of it is not Unhappiness- Want what you have and Be grateful for it
Organize - I`m a big believer of lists as long as you know the list Will Never End , there will always be something to do , don`t let it stress you , let it energize you
List all the To-do`s , Want to-do`s , goals , objectives etc; and Start Nailin em

The President wrote to me

2010-08-31T21:41:00.001-07:00

Dear Kevin,

Tonight marks the end of the American combat mission in Iraq.

As a candidate for this office, I pledged to end this war responsibly. And, as President, that is what I am doing.

Since I became Commander-in-Chief, we've brought home nearly 100,000 U.S. troops. We've closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of our bases.

As Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, our commitment to a sovereign, stable, and self-reliant Iraq continues. Under Operation New Dawn, a transitional force of U.S. troops will remain to advise and assist Iraqi forces, protect our civilians on the ground, and pursue targeted counterterrorism efforts.

By the end of next year, consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, these men and women, too, will come home.

Ending this war is not only in Iraq's interest -- it is in our own. Our nation has paid a huge price to put Iraq's future in the hands of its people. We have sent our men and women in uniform to make enormous sacrifices. We have spent vast resources abroad in the face of several years of recession at home.

We have met our responsibility through the courage and resolve of our women and men in uniform.

In seven years, they confronted a mission as challenging and as complex as any our military has ever been asked to face.

Nearly 1.5 million Americans put their lives on the line. Many returned for multiple tours of duty, far from their loved ones who bore a heroic burden of their own. And most painfully, more than 4,400 Americans have given their lives, fighting for people they never knew, for values that have defined our people for more than two centuries.

What their country asked of them was not small. And what they sacrificed was not easy.

For that, each and every American owes them our heartfelt thanks.

Our promise to them -- to each woman or man who has donned our colors -- is that our country will serve them as faithfully as they have served us. We have already made the largest increase in funding for veterans in decades. So long as I am President, I will do whatever it takes to fulfill that sacred trust.

Tonight, we mark a milestone in our nation's history. Even at a time of great uncertainty for so many Americans, this day and our brave troops remind us that our future is in our own hands and that our best days lie ahead.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

The Miser and his Gold

2010-08-08T20:19:00.001-07:00

The shovel cuts through the dirt like a knife through a breast plate. Repeatedly hacking at a rough patch of ground is a gaunt , gnarled fellow. The wispy strands of hair on his head are drenched as he savagely attacks a widening dirt hole at the base of a large tree. Sweat rolls between his close knit eyes and off his bulbous nose. Swearing, he raises his stringy-muscled arms and stabs the shovel downward, with great force, into the pit. The natural blood of the earth spills over the sides of the deep hole. I must see it. I cant stop thinking about my precious treasure. His eyes light up at the first glimpse of his hidden prize. I cannot get through the long week without thinking of this moment , when I count my gold. His lips curl into a leering smile that bares his teeth as he huddles over his hoard , fingering , grasping and clutching each piece of gold coin and muttering to himself. A few moments later , he whips his head around viciously, side to side , peering out into the dark night with suspicious eyes. He quickly re-buries the treasure , tamping down the loose earth , and covers the area with leaves and brush. No one will ever know about my treasure ! It is mine ....mine .... mine! He giggles maniacally as he scampers away.

A long, sweet release of breath , from a man who was crouching behind some bushes nearby. Why does he bury this so? Why would he hide this wonderful gift in a grave? He could buy a house , or feast like a king. If he is philanthropic , he could buy someone else a house or feed a family for years. He doesn't deserve this money for he does not appreciate its value. He doesn't realize that money is not an end in and of itself. It is a means to an end. I saw his thin , skeletal figure. He is starving himself in the midst of plenty ; I am hungry too , but without such potential means. This crazy man does not possess wealth , it possesses him. One so anxious , cannot be free. I can free him of his golden shackles. Quickly , he runs over to the tree , removes the impeding brush , and franticly claws at the dirt until he reaches the gold. He fills his deep pockets with gold and runs off.

The next week , the crazy man returns to his golden hole , repeating his ceremony. When he finds the hole empty, he tears at his hair , gnashes his teeth and wails in misery. This commotion invites the townsfolk to gather around him in curiosity. He screams , " Who stole my gold ! Who took my precious treasure !"

One of the townsfolk replies incredulously , "You buried your money ??"

The crazy man screams ,"Yes, and it is all gone now , someone has stolen my reason to live , robbed me of my very life"

A townsman in the crowd yells , " What were you going to do with the gold? Buy a house or other useful things ?"

"No!" , wails the miserable man , "Nothing could bring me the same pleasure my gold"

A young boy of the town replies , "Why then , you could simply fill it with fools gold and it will all be the same"

"Yes , and your malignant and impotent greed can still be yours" exclaimed one of the increasingly agitated townsfolk. Overheard in the crowd were exclamations of , "What folly , to covet that which he

renders purposeless."

By now , the ugly man is in an absolute frenzy. He stomps the ground with great force , one leg , then the other , and then again the other , until he stomped right through the earth to his waist. In a rage , he grabs his other leg with his knotted hands and yanks so hard he wrenches himself in two.

At the funeral , there were a handful of folk and a preacher. The preacher, upon finishing a reading of Ecclesiastes 5:8-18 , addresses the small crowd and the simple casket. "No man is born a miser since no man is born with possessions. The desire to possess is a learned lesson , improperly taught by those that feel that money is the aim of ones life. This man died , twisted in these beliefs. The worth of a life cannot be measured by money. The two are not commensurate. Money has no value , except that which we give it, and only that with which it can be exchanged for. Life has a value , an intrinsic value, just by its existence.

Beauty and The Devil

2010-07-22T21:12:00.000-07:00

"The boast of a man may undo me , and break that charm wished upon me , mortally and permanently. My father , that adoring fool , in his overreaching affection , has boasted to the king, 'her youth and beauty is so great , that her tears alone can restore vigor and health ; It can recapture lost youth upon their drinking.' I can only hope that the King is not a worse fool for believing it."
Sitting upon the edge of her bed , she absentmindedly brushes out her long locks , pondering at the mirror.
Youth - so backwards a beginning , wasted on the young and deprived of the old. The energy of flaming youth , struggling to make its way through this muddled existence, is dissipated squanderously through naive choices . Its potential lost in the depths of wisdom , drowning because of its inept floundering. Despite this , the old , regret its recession - so deeply , yearn to recapture it- so wistfully , that they romanticize and over-value its measure. But this is only because we imbue it with the wisdom and knowledge we have gained. No one , truly , wants to toss this aside and revert , experienceless , intellectually regressed, to the mind of the young. We don't wish it for its sole sake ; we wish it upon our current selves , with all the gifts that time has afforded us.
I look upon myself , imagining my fading flower and my sober spirit , in a future age ; If I have no regrets , if my mind is sharp , I see no obstacle in this fixed course that nature sets before us - in fact I embrace it. I will not look back ,because its usually filled with sorrow and second-guesses ; I will not look so far forward, as that could cause worry and anxiety. We must embrace the here and the now , presently , for one cannot affect the past , we can only change its effect on the future.
The next day , to her shock , the Kings men came for her. They brought her to the castle and locked her up , high in the tower. "You shall shed your tears of youth into this urn. If they do not produce the result your father promised , you both shall die."
She cries and cries , capturing some in the urn.

....Continued at Kasual Kafe - Beauty

blah blah blah

2010-07-22T19:06:00.000-07:00

I don`t feel like I have much to say , but its been a few weeks since I updated. I spent some time with my boy Matt , which is cool , we went out in hartford one night and threw some down and I surprised him that next weekend by camping in Maine , close to where he was staying. Lori and I took a three day weekend; we got to meet Matt`s girl , she`s cool and I`m happy for him. We Did the beach thing , no waves but got some color and did a lot of walking along the water.
  Lori and I made an after work meetup hike earlier in the week , and that was cool. Hiked a spot we have never been with some good people. Plan on doing some more of that while daylight lasts.
  What else is going on ..... well .... I forgot to mention the beautiful thunderstorms we drove home from Maine in , well it started off beautiful, with the reddish brown sky and lightning streaking across the sky ...it was cool up until we drove into the torrential downpour that included hail stones. Traffic dropped like 40 mph as it was nearly impossible to see unless you are a trucker. They happily drove me out of the middle lane, into the left , by flying up at 70 mph , buffeting me with road water and air pressure ; I gripped the steering wheel like it was a helicopter`s ladder swinging me a few hundred feet in the air and tried to act like it was no big deal for Lori. Actually , at one point , I was cursing my bloody head off because a truck didn`t allow me to zip over into a rest stop ; this may have alerted Lori to my distress.
  But again , we had a great time in Maine, we walked the scenic marginal way in Ogunquitt , which is just a beautful cliff walk along the rocky shore of Maine.
  We saw Jack Johnson the weekend prior. It was a good , relaxed show , as we expected. I liked it despite it being a bit jammier than I thought it would be.
Thats all I got.

Hiking after work in 95 + degree heat -

2010-07-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

Went to my second meetup.com hiking group event. Lori and I have been members for quite a bit , but during the winter and spring , the majority of the hikes were on weekends , and we usually have something going on. But now that the days are longer , there have been a few after work hikes , and tonights was right around the corner from me at Case Mountain (Spring St) -
  The heat really wasn`t that bad come 6pm in the shady woods , I did sweat like a beast as I did more than the 4 mile or so hike. I was chosen to find some lost stragglers , who apparently took a wrong turn. I RAN , down that same wrong turn , after like 1/2 mile realized I probably screwed up , ran all the way back up , and then down the appropriate path. I then ran up the main carriage path and found my lost compatriots. A fair amount of time had passed with all the extra trail running I performed , so I left these two and sprinted up god knows how far to the yellow trail intersection where the rest of the group awaited My/Our return. Yes. I`m a Hero!
  Anyway , even with that , I felt great , met a few cool people and entertained myself during the week after work which has been something I`ve been working on. Lori and I are weekend warriors but can get into a rut during the week. Come summer at least , I like to stay active during weeknights. Lori couldn`t make the trip coz she was gettin` her hair did. - Unfortunately our hair dresser forgot / got called into other job / or something like that , so Loris hair is not did at all.
  Meetup is an internet-networking site that brings groups together. There are thousands of types of groups from hiking to book clubbing to bar hopping to business networking, and its meetups are all across the globe. We`ve only done the local hiking and have had good result. I`m sure some groups are better than others but its a pretty neat concept. Check it out , if you feel that you could use to be more social and to meet people of like interests. Some meetups are geared for singles , but the majority are not necessarily so.

Now ..That is HOT!!

2010-07-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Real hot today , Went to Day Pond State Park to hang by the water ; the sand burned my feet raw. I looked very smooth , hop-skipping my way to the water while emitting high pitched yelps reminiscent of a toy poodle.

Travels of a Lunatic

2010-06-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Not really , I just liked the sound of the title ; May one day need to reuse that to label my life journal. I did forget my recently prescribed meds at home, realizing this 2 hours too late , but resolved to not become a nut-job this weekend and for the most part was successful.

We decided to try another camping weekend since the last one got cut short. This time we stayed at Clarksburgh State park in order to kayak Mauserts Pond. I booked a site that had a direct path to the water that we could run our boats down. Unfortunately , upon check-in , I found out that I booked sat- mon instead of fri-sun. I was a little disappointed (bright red with frustration) , but the new unintentionally unmedicated Kevin remained calm , took a site further up and anticipated either moving the next day or negotiating keeping the site with the am guy.
  We set up pretty quickly ; we are old pro`s now... enjoyed a dinner of Muckies dogs and Lori`s killer pasta salad -In bed by 11am to get up early and Hike. I drifted to sleep , dreaming of our having to move the entire tent ,filled with bedding , clothes and inflatable bed ; Lori and I on either side, tripping and stumbling our way down the road towards our new site -negotiating camper traffic and folks` morning john ritual - hampered by our inability to see around our unwieldy , bulky and deteriorating dwelling.....the poles intermittently releasing themselves from their wedges , suddenly snapping straight out and collapsing aspects of the tent structure , immediately amplifying the loads width , its hazardous piercing potential and its bearers consternation.
  Awake .... as the birds trumpet in the morning and the cool fog of sleep lifts from my brow ,.... oooh gotta PEE!!!! Nothing like a cold evening in a tent to fill your bladder to bursting. Unzip the tent - catching it on the fabric every 3 inches , reverse and rezip an inch , and repeat. Eventually , I stick my feet into the dew filled shoes I left outside the tent and slosh my way to the latrine.
  Camping is Joy :-)
After a nice breakfast of cream of wheat , instant coffee and white chocolate peanut butter sandwich ( it really was pretty good_ We drove up to Mount greylock , stopped at some beautiful views along the way...... At the peak , we began a hike called Thunderbolt , something or other. Unknowingly , we found It essentially went straight down , a joint jarring 2100 foot drop that would eventually lead to a need to ascend that same distance , creating mathematical harmony but bodily chaos. I astutely halted our descent approximately 700 feet down when we discovered these facts , outlined in an unassuming historical placard that was peaking out from overgrown brush , which explained the trails original creation and usage as a downhill ski trail ....yeah , the Thunderbolt. We cried our way back up the mountain, drove further down to a much more manageable trailhead.
Or so we thought.
We went to Pecks falls which also was a lot of descent , leading to a lot of return climbing to do. We did about three and a half grueling miles. Its incredible how such a weak force as gravity can be so tiring to overcome. Lori did get to stick her tootsies in the ice cold waterfall prior to the ascent. I should`ve. Instead of looping , we hopped onto another trail (the gps showed it was nearby and would intersect near our origin) , that had some geocaches on it. I didn`t realize that we would need to descend into a valley , negotiating crumbling switchbacks , crossing the valley stream , and scrambling up the hill to HOP onto this trail. I mis-read the topo on the gps , seeing that the trail we were currently on and the trail I intended to navigate to , were of the save elevation. I must`ve missed the part where it dropped the few hundred feet in the span of 100 yards.
Well anyway , the workout was worth it. We guiltlessly enjoyed some marshmellows on the fire that evening , while I drowned out the neighbors with my Droid`s music and my singing over it , serenading Lori , despite her protestations.
  The next am , we kayaked Mauserts pond , which is not very large and was choked with water lilies ,  but still made for a nice scenic paddle. We just missed an airborne animal splash the water as I turned a corner. I swear I saw movement , yet no discernible features or colors. Just a kind of shimmer of action and then Splash! We never did figure out what kind of animal it was, though I say it was a flying otter. After a quick brunch snack we drove home via the mohawk trail , picking up a few quick roadside geocaches. Lori found most of them. We ate at Shelburne Falls after a view of the glacial potholes. Lori had an open faced pot roast with gravy and tatoes that was very good. I had a fish sandwich , with french fries (only the 2nd time I`ve eaten french fries this year) It was warm and muggy so we skipped the greenhouse like , bridge of flowers. We did do a quick 1 1/2 mile walk in Ct , at windsor locks canal , to make up for our extravagant lunch. Its a nice walk along the ct river , or would be if it wasn`t so damn muggy , but anyway. Thats a wrap , a good weekend. I came home , took a quick nap on my hammock , and have relented and restarted my missed medication regime as I was a little more testy this weekend than I`ve been in the past medicated few ....I expect to stay on it through to the end of Fall , while undergoing cognitive therapy which has thusfar enabled me to think my way through my fits of anger and bouts of depression. I intend to cure myself by December , exposing the cold winter season to a cool , calm , and collected Kevin.

Journal Entry - A new Leaf ?

2010-06-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Went camping this weekend , upstate mass , near Mount Greylock . We stayed in savoy forest. We went despite the pending poor weather since we already rescheduled last week due to lightning storms. Friday night , Lori and I , for the first time camped together , alone.
We went up Friday night after work. I got slightly lost , attempting to find the fastest way there. The GPS also kept telling me to go some retardedly back-ass-wards way. I didn`t get overly frustrated , I remained calm. Eventually found our way , got there with just enough daylight to get the tent installed , quik tarp contraption hooked up ,and bed blown up. The pump didn`t work unless it was plugged into the running car so I had to drag the bed and fill it up at an awkward angle in the brush. When finally filled with air , It didn`t fit in the tent until I squeezed it and folded it as much as I could and then pushed for all my worth. I did all this with a smile , I was cool , calm and collected. We pulled out the bedding , the food , I started a fire despite the wet leaves and lack of kindling , got the grill out and hooked up the propane , we pulled out our clothes and books and lantern and flashlight. Essentially we emptied and installed our entire SUV onto this plot of dirt. I cooked us up some hot dogs while we relaxed around the blazing fire I made. We made some smores in it a bit later as we wondered at the multitude of stars.
  We slept pretty good. Next morning it began to drizzle , we were unsure what the forecast was and had no service to check it on my Droid. We drove a few miles down the road until I had service , saw that we had rain all day , thunderstorms over night and more rain the next day. That essentially killed all mountain hiking plans. We decided that one night was a good test and we should pack it in and just do some scenic driving down route 7 towards home. It wasn`t drizzling anymore like it was when we first considered packing it in. We broke camp down in an absolute downpour. We repacked our SUV to overstuffed-edness as it is rare that camping gear folds back as neatly and tightly during the return process.
  I write this journal , not to describe our camping trip but to highlight the one difference between this event and the horrific vision Lori had of how this weekend was going to turn out. That difference was Me , and my handling of the variety of torments. I did not once , throw a hissy fit , nor have a melt down. There was not one temper tantrum and I broke nothing. I did not drive around like a maniac or yell and scream at Lori in frustration. Nothing was thrown , kicked or punched. I , through the power of mind , breathed deeply during many of these formerly rage-inducing situations , and resolved them with a calm smile. I joked and laughed at situations that normally would`ve had me spitting.
  Its only Tuesday , But I was able to keep the same positive state of mind , all week. I`m much happier and hope to be able to keep it up .....forever.

musings of a.... long.... evening

2010-05-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

The summer night is warm and thick , it tastes like hope. No time to sleep , the day is long , the night is longer , restless. Filled with longing , anticipatory tremblings of what could be.. this time it will be better ; Better than all the rest. Can`t wait , yearning for it to start right now , it`s been so long.

Long gone is the chill and the grey eves of the interminable winter. The longest I remember , grievously long. Not long ago was the absence of hope. But I smell it now ; sniff it on the warm breeze. I long to embrace it. Pining the night away , I realize I`m not alone. There is scurrying all about me - its still wild , it hasn`t all been cemented over. There is life left and I hunger for it. I want to start right now. Along these lines , I dream of the dawn to come - a red blush across the sky. I crave its cleansing brightness. Its not far away now , even though this night is long.

Italy Pics

2010-05-19T15:25:00.000-07:00

Venice , Florence and Rome - See Europe Part II

I will have a page on website with the full europe trip run down soon.

Took out the Kayaks

2010-05-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday , got out the kayaks and had a nice few hours at bigelow hollow state park. Felt good to get out in it for the first time this year. Our last few weekends kind of sucked. I didn`t catch any fish but Lori and I saw a blue heron - he hung out while we slowly floated closer. Got a few good pics. Did about 3 miles paddling according to the gps.
We hit a couple of other areas for some short walks and ate a salad picnic (nice chef salad from highland park market) We were going to hike bigleow but right at the mouth of the trail , I got bit at least five times successively by multiple skeeters. We said screw this and ran away.

Saturday , we did 3 miles at Salmon River State forest. I hiked with my fishing rod along the river part of the way; caught a nice looking trout. We did the trail that loops into day pond but cut the hike short - didn`t have 7 miles in us , and once out of the river area , the hike was not as picturesque ....had a bunch of inclines that didn`t seem to serve any purpose. Lori has had some nasty hamstring issues for almost a year now , and some of the inclines give her sharp pinchy pains. She has fought through it for the most part , but if your do the work and climb , at least a good mountain view is in order. None to be had here , so we looped back. I caught a fish !! Second of the year.

Pictures from London and Paris

2010-05-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

I described the visit a few posts ago - (spring is here)

Will have Italy up soon

See the pictures HERE

It was warm today.

2010-05-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

A lovely summer day following a few fall days. The weather is a bit erratic in lovely Ct. We went out to Margaritas last night with Charlie and Janine ...great company as always... I had a few margaritas and then stayed up too late watching the taped yankee game ...we did win though.

So my plan to go kayaking in Burr Pond didn`t work out as we overslept and then I didn`t feel like setting the car and the kayaks up. We instead went to Eagleville Falls , did a mile and a half hike near the willimantic river.. We saw a rattle snake...pretty creepy ...I looked it up and it was a timber rattler but I didn`t know they were in that area. Saw him stretched out , head away from us about 3 1/2 feet long , blackish and rattling away incessantly. We watched him a good minute , Lori was freaking ...he slithered off. Pretty cool.

We did a bit of park hopping just to reacquaint ourselves with the parks this year and plan out future excursions and kayaking. Went by mansfield hollow , did a small walk near there , hit beaver brook and mashamoquet state park ct. We drove up scenic route 169 to the Vanilla Bean - a bikers haven for some good eats.

We then went to Bigelow Hollow State Park to scout out for our kayaking and picnicking plan tomorrow. We did a 2.5 mile hike to the furthest , remotest and elusive 3rd body of water there , breakneck pond. I say elusive because some years back we tried to find it , walked like 2 miles in (we figured out where we missed the proper trail) and were attacked by clouds of bugs , gnats , mosquitos , and other buzzy , biting annoyances. That last time was so bad that we jogged almost the whole way back (we werent and aren`t much for running) flailing our arms and cursing the trail that didn`t lead us to water. This time , we found it easily , crossed a little boggy area by teetering across a man-made plank , onto a trail that goes around this beautiful , untouched and untamed waterway. We`d love to kayak here but its a bit too far to drag the boats.. The map shows a road to another end but we couldn`t find it ....It may be a dirt road somewhere , maybe well find it tomorrow.

When we got home , we set up the tent in the backyard just to make sure we still have all the pieces and parts , as it has been a few years since we camped. I intend to do some camping this year in anticipation of our future cross country trip. It a test , to see if we actually enjoy camping , just the two of us. We usually hit motels or bed and breakfasts on our weekend warrior trips. I figured , this year , doing some camping could save some money and enrich the experience. (or it could ruin it)
Anyway , tent went up relatively quickly ...looks good , its quite big for a simple tent with room for 3 people and bags and stuff ...Lori took turns bringing the cats outside and into the tent with us to play. They were very nervous at first but started to enjoy themselves , being IN the place on the other side of the window inside of a tent , listening to the sounds of people chattering , kids yelling , cars roaring and dogs barking,. Frocious at one point was so jittery that he climbed up into my shirt and stuck his head out of my sleeve. He then just plopped down there , for like a few minutes , he had no intention of leaving... kinda cute.

Just ordered a chicken parm grinder and a salad for Lori and I to split from Filomenas down the street and I hear them pulling up ...gnight

A nice day

2010-04-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

Went to Kent Falls State Park , always nice ... they put up some new stone sitting area near base of falls .... I thought it used to be all natural ....that kind of is the suck .....but anyway ...Kent is a beautiful area ...we did a nearby hike ...the AT , about 2.5 miles...then went to Macedonia State Park ...ate Loris` Salmon Pasta salad in front of a rushing creek .... we hiked 1.5 miles there .... on way home , stopped at Mount Tom ---grabbed a blanket ...went by the water ...fished for a minute ...then I took a nap while Lori read and watched the chipmunks and robins chase eachother around..
Gonna take her out for her birthday dinner. Might do Bin 228 ...wine bar and apps.

Spring is Here !!!

2010-04-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

First warm weekend since we came back from Europe. Hiked at Devils Hopyard State park and saw chapman falls , gushing ...with all the rain y`all got while we were on the other side of the pond.

We went to London 4 nights , Paris 4 days , Venice 2 nights , Florence 2 nights and Rome for 4 nights. We had the best time of our entire lives. We saw every landmark , historical area , every kind of architecture , sculpture , famous paintings ...frescoes , dozens of churches big and small , we saw lavish palaces and gardens , climbed a half dozen landmarks for ridiculous views , every corner we turned was a picture to be had (We took over 2000 pics) ... we ate and drank in the slickest cafes , the hopping-est piazzas , and the most famous squares.
I saved for and planned for this trip for two years, whilst self-educating myself for the last decade in all aspects of history , philosophy , literature , politics , and more recently architecture , art and music.
London - we saw parliament , big ben , westminster abbey , climbed the cathedral , was in the whispering walls of st pauls dome murmuring sweet nothings from 20 feet away from eachother , did a tour of and upon the tower of London ...and explored the entire city of London on foot and thru the well designed Tube .... We saw the Rosetta Stone in the British museum , and the Magna Carta in the british library. We saw great works at the National Gallery and Great People of history at the National Portrait Gallery. We visited Buckingham and Kensington palace and ogled the Crown Jewels ...
Paris- saw the flying buttresses of Notre Dame – and marveled at the gothic St Chapelle , Kissed on the Pont Neuf , strolled the Ile St Louis.... We stayed in St Germaine, next to the two most famous cafes in France , les deux magot and Cafe Flore.. these areas were the haunts of french intellectuals such as Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir ...Oscar Wilde ... Hemingway , Fitzgerald , Gertrude Stein lived in these parts and drank in this area...Lori and I spent a couple of our nights there , drinking wine and eating great meals...
We saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre as well as Rafael , Michaelangelo and other DA Vinci works in the same halls,we viewed the impressionists paintings of Monet , Manet and Van Gogh in the Musee D`orsay.
We went to the Eiffel Tower , lit up at night....all the obvious places and famous works that were supposed to be such a big deal ... REALLY WERE...I thought the Eiffel would bore me , or the small , dark , behind glass Mona Lisa would underwhelm....They did not ...nothing on this trip ..despite the familiarity of their fame ....failed to absolutely awe us in their presence. We went to the Louvre on 2 separate occassions...this is the greatest museum in the world.

We strolled the Champs d'Elysées , The Rodin Gardens , past Hotel Invalides and through numerous market streets ....we saw seedy pigalle and all its sex clubs...and we spent half a day in the Palace and Gardens of Versailles...
we saw Great views by climbing the Arc de Triomphe , Sacre Couer and the Centre Pompidou
We REALLY enjoyed Paris...

We did this trip , well studied on , the architecture we were to see ,the time periods they represent ....baroque , rococo .. the artists and their great works , the sculptures, greek and roman history as well as their mythology , great understanding of byzantine , early and high renaissance , history and art ...some of the symbolism involved in paintings of these times , The history of kings and emperors and the monuments that still worship them....(Napoleon , Louis XIV , The Tudors and the Stuarts....
This may sound a bit like bragging, but one must understand , I truly studied ...on my own , with no prompting , and no pending degree or potential financial reward ....for over a decade .... all the things I should`ve learned in school...and then found myself with the opportunity to visit the lands where all this history happened.. I will soon publish the Italy aspect of our trip which will take us 2000+ years into our history , which inspired the renaissance and the beautiful works that we were able to see 1500 + years later...

Venice ....
Florence ...
ROME.........

The annual day after

2010-03-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

Hangovers don`t change much over the years , if anything , they become more severe and debilitating. Despite my advancing age and supposedly increased wisdom, I still find it necessary to inflict upon myself that yearly hangover on March 7th , every year. Like clockwork - Yes , today is that day , it feels familiar. It is as it always is and ever will be.
...Thank you for all your encouragement.

The first day of March and the first warm day

2010-03-01T17:05:00.001-08:00

A day like today , the tease of spring , always brings out the longing for the winter to end. I was in good spirits with the sun on my head , shining through my moon-roof , on the ride to work. Workwise- Phones were finally ringing with jobs to schedule .
We finally sent some trucks out that brought in some checks , thats good. Lori and I are completely packed and prepared for our trip - well in advance. There is not a hint of snow in our driveway , and I feel no need to traipse into the dark backyard and lift the wet blue tarp to pull out tonights firewood as the house is holding its own heat without.
March will tease you like this , maybe even most of this month. I assume the late year Nor-easter will arrive the day of our flight. Otherwise , Cheers ... Ciao and Au Revoir.

I have mental problems.

2010-01-26T15:09:00.000-08:00

My second bookkeeper in 2 months quit on me , stating that the job is too stressful. This has no bearing on the actual position or the work associated with this position , as I have yet to teach either bookkeeper what the full job duties are.
This is primarily a reflection of my personal attitude and demeanor at work. Despite my 38 years on this planet , I still have a tendency to throw temper tantrums like a frustrated , inarticulate 2 year old. This occasional outburst has apparently branded employment at my company as a Hostile Environment according to the latest bookkeepers unemployment compensation claim.
I spent a lot of time yesterday beating myself up over this. I have since forgiven myself , as I realized I have managed a revolving 20-25 employees over the last 15 years without similar complaint. The majority of my employees , past and present , enjoy(ed) working with me and actually consider me level-headed , competent and fair despite my stressful position.
BUT>.......... I have always known that my volatile temperament , mood swings , mental instability , manic-depressive disorder and anxiety need to be addressed. I don`t know, as of yet , how I`m going to do so without drugs. I already am sleeping , exercising , and eating properly. I need to come up with a new plan.

01/01/10

2010-01-01T17:12:00.000-08:00

Jan 1st , 2010 - the beginning of next decade of ALL of OUR lives ..

I have to say , 2010 has not started off with a bang. New Years Eve plans were underwhelming , I wimped out on booking a long ski weekend due to cost and fear of missing out on something cool happening locally (bad call) -
Lori and I went to Hartford for "first night hartford" where there was supposed to be art , entertainment and Happenings to keep us occupied before and after the 6pm fireworks at the park ...we then intended on drinking and eating our way thru hartford until midnight fireworks.
The entertainment at the the state house and the Wadsworth and the Hartford Public library were all kind of hokey and crowded and confusing ...we went to a regular bar coz the cool eats places were closed(tapas on ann , closed , Koji Yakitori -not open yet) , hiked on down to the bushnell , near the soldiers arch and saw some surprisingly good fireworks...that cheered us up and we sped off in the wet and the cold to Agave for some margaritas and made-in-front-of-you guacomole.... a few more margaritas ...some ceviche ....and suddenly its almost 7:30 pm -- only 4+ hours to kill....
So we went home. We picked up some Plum wine and cinnamon ....Lori made a nice crab dip ....and we drank and ate and entertained eachother until 11 ish when we turned on Dick Clarks New Years Eve party. It seemed to Lori and I that Dick Clark looks really creepy , and drugged sounding , he speaks but his face doesn`t move right. I think he is kept in a hyperbaric chamber year-round and only re-animated during New Years specials. I then googled him and found out he had a stroke a few years back , so yeah ...i`m a big Dick for making fun of him...

This AM , slept in a bit and then headed out to Gay City Park in Hebron ct - (yeah , I know ...the park was named in a different time for a man named John Gay...)
We had a quick 2 mile hike ....felt good as we got back to the car until Lori noticed the glass on the ground next to it. The passenger side window was broken in and her pocketbook stolen. THey didn`t touch my wallet , the gps , nor the xm-radio so that was good but Lori`s drivers license , credit and debit cards , some gift cards , and misc. but very important to here pocketbook things and stuff are gone. We cancelled all cards , put credit watches on our names , lined up a glass guy for my car and then we went out and stuffed our faces full of food at little marks bbq ...I haven`t had French fries in over a year (intentionally) and planned on having my 1st plate of fries at this Canadian diner Chez Ben that serves poutine. Unfortunately they are renovating so I had to settle for loaded Tater Tots ... I still reserve my right to have poutine before I resume my dietary ban of all things fried and frenched.
Earlier , I felt like the whole decade was ruined but It is possible that I am being melodramatic. I am confident that there will be many better days than today and a few worse ones over the course of this next decade. That can be said for ALL of US.
I wish any unfortunate soul , who felt obliged to plow through this particularly uninteresting and slightly depressing log , a very happy new year , and better luck than we have thus far experienced.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2009-12-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

We opened our presents thisw am - chrismas eve am , like we do every year.
, I got some great books and a usb backup hard-drive (1 month after my puter and 8 years of files blew up) ...I got Lori (and me ) the Wii and Wii Fit ... Wiiiiiii

We went to the gym this AM in anticipation of a weekend of holiday pigging out.

Going to Lori`s parents for xmas eve dinner , and Lori`s grandmas tomorrow am for xmas breakfast , we will then be shooting down to queens NY to see my Father and sister ...staying overnight , on the 26th hitting the Bronx Zoo. Winter is a great time for a zoo visit , no crowds and still plenty of animals to see. Polar bears , snow leopard , Siberian Tiger , Sea Lions and of course all the indoor ones , bats , birds , monkey house , reptiles etc;
Looking forward to see phil , karen and baby isabel before going out...Sat 26th late night , staying at the Marriot and cabbing it to Dugans to drink the night away with some division ave high school meets facebook reunion. Whatever , an excuse to drink with like-minded folks.
Sunday - expecting to be hungover , will either do the planned brunch or more likely grab a bagel and cream cheese to go.
Monday - Work a few days and Then NEW YEARS !!!!
If no cooler plans appear , will probably spend the evening in hartford for food , art , fireworks and then drinking and more midnight fireworks ... that weekend , planning on trying x-country skiing in farmington , ct and may shoot up to a localish ski mountain for an overnight.

Happy Holidays

god

2009-12-10T20:15:00.000-08:00

Chimerical and empty being, your name alone has caused more blood to flow on the face of the earth than any political war ever will.
Return to the nothingness from which the mad hope and ridiculous fright of men dared call you forth to their misfortune. You only appeared as a torment for the human race.
What crimes would have been spared the world, if they had choked the first imbecile who thought of speaking of you.

Marquis De Sade

Thanksgiving Weekend

2009-11-29T13:55:00.000-08:00

LOG

Saw my Dad and my sister this weekend , nice turkey dinner , nap and football ... Was sick most of the weekend but for the most part got by

Friday , we knew it was going to rain all day so we went to the casino. It was busier than I expected , I was looking forward to 5 or $10 min. blackjack tables with only a few people per ...no luck...packed with $25 min. Craps -- packed - Roulette - packed... played some machines and video poker which ate all the winnings from the Black Jack Video Dealer game. The black jack game is cool , 6 people sit down to a video screen that shows a smiling , busty , dealer who deals out cards on a digital screen in front of you .. you can then hit / stand / double etc ; Including surrender. Played $5 - $10 hands for an hour , came a head $50 ish ...fed it to the machines.
Sat- Real windy , pretty chilly , we changed hike plans to do a quick 2 mile walk at an old standby , laurel marsh in manchester ... found a geocache , and upon leaving we happened upon an open Chez Ben diner. This is a diner that serves french canadian staples such as meat or salmon pie, creton , and poutine , as well as solid breakfast fare. We thought it closed down due to the poor economy and the fact that there was a for sale sign and it was closed down.....for only three weeks as we came to find out...they went on vacation .....waitress said it was curious to her that business took so long to pick up upon their return ...well duhhhh!!!! It would`ve made some good business sense to put up a sign that they are on vacation from Day A to Day B.... Anyway , happy its open and enjoyed the creton and toast.
Hit the library and picked up like 20 books (lori gets a little nuts in there) and a few car audio lectures for me. DId some laying around and reading until:
We did birthday dinner with lori`s parents to celebrate both of the old peoples birthdays. Lori and her sisters chipped in and got their old man Rock Band II - the beatles for the WII.... He was psyched until he realized he was stuck assembling the bloody thing. We were supposed to go out with Fran and Charlie but they begged off , just as well coz I felt kinda crappy. It turned out that I was unable to sleep ALL NIGHT , possibly due to taking a late day Sudafed ....I ended up on the living room couch to avoid haunting Lori`s sleep with my coughing , sniffling , moaning , tossing and turning etc; I never slept more than an hour at a time. It was amazing that I was not too exhausted to start early Sunday AM with a hike.

Sunday ..went to granby to enders falls (the best falls in Ct IMHO) to retrieve the geocache that got denied due to its close proximity to another cache (which noone can find ,by the way) - saw some beautiful falls , deposited our travel bug into another cache and left for another 1 mile walk near old gate prison. There is a pond in the back ....we left the trail to stand near the water ...it looked peaceful ...thats when I noticed a head duck under the water and the ensuing circular wake was noticed by Lori , who missed the head.
5 breathless minutes later , a full head and behind of an otter in real shallow water near an earthen mound in the middle of the pond , Lori thought it was a beaver as the mound looked similar to an animal made structure but it was not. It was our first view of an otter. It was beautiful and brief.... he ducked below the waterline once again and disappeared , not to return to our sight.
Mostly uneventful weekend but we kept busy enough to avoid the depression that inflicts itself upon me when I don`t plan a good weekend. I need to work on this but the easy solution is to plan my weekends in advance.
We are headed back to NYC in a few weeks for a long weekend.

City Hopping

2009-11-17T19:04:00.001-08:00

Spent the last two weekends in boston and nyc ... Visited Lori`s sister in Boston , hung out Friday and Sat night did some barhopping ...other than the 3mile drunken walk home it was a good time.
and on Sunday went to Salem... Next time we`ll go in September and do some of the halloween type stuff....we saw the house of gables ,kinda cool but expensive for a quick tour like that. a
last weekend went to NYC , stayed at the Grand Union Hotel Friday night , ate across the street at the Artisenal ...Fondue and Wine , and some more Wine.
SAt- Saw METALLICA at madison square garden.. A+ concert !!
Did some shopping on 5th ave...and then down St Marks just for the contrast...

went downtown and had a nice lunch in Little Italy on Sunday before heading home. We intended on hitting the tourist offices of Britain , Italy and France for our pending Europe trip but found out they are closed on the weekend ... DUH !!! Ya think I woulda looked up their hours. Oh well , gonna have to book a 3 day weekend in NYC to get that done... Whattya gonna do.

Fall Foliage in Bethel Me

2009-10-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

bethel

Went up to bethel me for a long weekend , maybe the last good one this year. I decided to take a monday off in the middle of my ridiculously busy fall season instead of waiting for that tantrum day , my yearly fall implosions when I scream "I can`t take it anymore" , and throw an absolute fit mid-day at work and storming off for the remainder of the day , vowing never to return , only to return the next day. What a waste , I don`t even do anything fun when I skip out like that.
I figured scheduling that mental day in advance would prevent such wasted emotion and a waste of a perfectly good I QUIT for a day.

Fri night - drove up to Lincoln NH , stayed at the franconia notch motel , got stuck in accident traffic for an 1 1/2 ....which sucked ....but we survived and made good time ....12:30 am - went to bed , up early ... off HIKING
SAT - Drove up to crawford notch 16 and 302 and hit a couple of their roadside waterfalls , beautiful and lots of flow. Lots of beautiful foliage views throughout. We found a number of geocaches.. couldn`t find the crazy up the mountain geocache on one of the cascades. Ripley falls --- Did some hiking.
took route 2 to bethel , me Checked into the victoria inn , bed and breakfast . One of the few times we`ve returned to a particular bnb...coz the first time we had great conversations with the innkeeper who mixed her own tea and had tea service. This was a few years back and started me on enjoying tea. We actually just finished the last of the tea we bought from there and intended on buying more . This time There was no tea service nor was there any conversation with the innkeep. Kinda felt like a motel ...oh well.
We did have a ridiculously wonderful dinner there that night - see memory list
Sunday - Grafton notch tour , moose cave , mother walker falls , step falls - a mile and a half hike. Lake umbagog - wasn`t quite as cool as we thought it would be but the preserve area was closed. Will have to check it out again. Wonderful foliage trip though. I did catch a rainbow trout in one of the few access areas we found.
Sunday night - watched it snow like absolute nuts at the Pats game , was threatening to be icy snow by us but nothing came all weekend . WE lucked out coz the town is dead if our outdoorsy stuff was gonna be rained and iced out.
MOnday - drove down evans notch - hiked up a 1200 ft hill THe Roost - nice little hike there and then mostly did roadside stops at some unbelievable pull-off scenic bluffs. One view was of sheer cliff faces with ledges that peregrine falcons nest in. Another was of 6 separate mountain peeks , Evans notch , down 113 wasn`t on my small whole state maps but was just a wonderful drive. We stopped at the basin , a beautiful bowl area with a small lake and lots of colorful turning leaves. The pics we took cannot capture its beauty. No fish catch here.
Got home in time to catch monday night football kick-off.
Good weekend... back to work sucked but at least its a short week !!!

memory list

Rt 16 in the mountains ... Pma ... Near pinkham notch
ripley falls ....return to jackson maybe snowflake inn ... The trees that dropped leaves look wispy and soften the foliage mountain background
nice dinner ... I had choc port as my 1st cordial ... A bellini and a chateau bianca ...lori loved her pomegranate duck ... Billy joel , les miz amd elton john played by the pianist
caught a fishie ..rainbow trout at umbagog ....found some geocaches

beautiful blue trail near dunn falls but not quite unless wanna get wet ... Take appalachian white trail bext time.

scare crows made up as blue man group ...

Rock Spring Preserve in Scotland Ct

2009-10-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday- mobile journal

SEE AMC's Best Day Hikes in Connecticut - Rock Spring Preserve or see bottom for description

appx 4 mile hike ... Found a geocache (see geocaching.com for explanation) called the Council of the pines where there were a few symmetrical rows of tall pine trees ....neat view especially the way the light came thru the trees .. we were expecting elves to emerge from this ordained to be sacred spot
wonderful trail but a bit overgrown ...avoid late summer early fall on a wet day...Our clothes were official dew collectors ... We could`ve squeezed life giving H20 to quench the thirst of an entire tribe out of our pants.

We had a nice picnic as the sun came out.. We took our blanket out and ate a nice salad with blue cheese and strawberries and some cheese and crackers . TIFLM...
So other than the creepy white fuzzy haired caterpillar that insisted on marching onto our blanket it was real nice.
We drove home up historic rt 169 admiring the changing leaves ....flew down RT 44 home , showered , changed and headed to Shea`s Bar and Grill 4 a beer and Jets football. Would have been the crowning moment of a great day had the Jets won..

<<>>

Its the Economy , Stupid.

2009-10-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

An investment manager friend told me that no matter what he does with his clients money , he is always wrong. In our down economy , if he decides to pull 50 percent out of the market and the market does drop: Well he didn`t pull enough out. If it rises , he took out too much. "I wish I had a crystal ball" , wails my friend.
I started thinking about this and decided that he was wrong. A crystal ball would be very bad for the investors !
Sure , it might start off all grand and wonderful , but eventually exuberance will outweigh common sense. (Can you say irrational exuberance) The proprietor of said ball will inevitably get greedy. He may start pulling family and friends in , or selling off safe assets ,or borrowing to invest in the crystal ball infused scheme.
The market will rise in the areas of all the good bets , investors without a ball will inevitably notice how well some stocks are doing and continue to drive up the price creating a bubble. This bubble will burst. Ball holders may anticipate this and pull out in time , but at what expense to the market and the economy and other investors. Eventually that crystal ball will only tell you not to invest in the market that the ball ironically destroyed. Thats NOT a boon for investors.
And how long do you think this crystal ball would remain secret. Come on , Iran can`t even keep nuclear secrets and they are VERY secretive. Iraq couldn`t keep its secrets about hidden weapons of massive destruction......oh wait ...bad example. Obama couldn`t keep the secret that he thinks Kenye West is a jackass despite his abuse of official power attempting to censor the press. "Come on guys , cut the president some slack and don`t print that , I have a lot on my plate today"
So we know that eventually the crystal ball will no longer be secret. The powerful will find a way to benefit at the expense of everyone else , outrageous bonuses will be handed out right after the layoff announcements. Unemployment, High gas prices , queues for bread etc ; will ensue.
Then the chinese will figure out how to reverse engineer it and sell it on the black market. It will be about this time that the burst bubble will become a supernova sucking everything in causing chaos and anarchy and religious fanaticism. The apocalypse is here.
Stupid idea , that crystal ball.

No-one Knows the News

2009-09-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

The news , an always horrific relection of our society , can no longer be viewed passively.

What I don`t mean by that statement ; the state of our society the news depicts should prompt aggressive action to repair our society , though it definitely should.

I mean that , on all sides , there is a clear bias in the news. It is sometimes obvious and sometimes subtle , but everpresently causes news watching to be an Active and Aggressive game of deciphering the truth.

The Summer of `09

2009-09-02T16:19:00.000-07:00

It was a good summer. Kept active and in good spirits throughout. Looked at one of my OLD kasualkb`s logs that described a summer that didn`t go quite as well or feel quite as fulfilling. It was short though , must say that. Crazy year between the economy and the weather.

You may be thinking that its only September 2nd , summer is NOT OVER !!!

Well , its been 50 degrees at night and not much warmer in the am`s .... Kids are back in school as evidenced by their inconveniencing me during my am commute. Work is picking up and there are pockets of time where 4 or 5 phone lines are ringing at once with demanding customers. I expect to be pretty miserable pretty soon.
I did book our last summer trip this labor day weekend. We are going to the Catskills. Going to kayak the Bashurkill lake and hike a half-dozen waterfalls in the area and do a bit of fishing in the creeks near Ashokan resevoir.

Maybe this Fall won`t be so bad .....

Rantings

2009-08-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

Song of Happiness IV

I must shed this skin of scorn
Tear free this garment of
isolation

the wordless tongue idles in its spittle
the soundless struggles of my
solitude

Scratched and raw from this journey
the sloughed skin leaves its scabs
exposed

Wrench this insanity from my mind
spill these foul seeds , ungrown and
vulnerable

Musings

2009-08-03T17:54:00.001-07:00

When traveling to an out of the way area , I always seem to find the locals to be hickish: Almost caricatures , with their bulbous features and blank-faced looks. When catching their eye , one sees only shallow and boorish thoughts , or if they are relatively astute or innocently moral , Sincere Vacancy.

Hows the Weather ?

2009-07-29T19:04:00.001-07:00

Its what you talk about with your neighbors or your less intimate co-workers. Well , this year , I think we all actually have had a real reason to talk about it with anyone who will listen. What freakin` crazy weather! ...we barely had a summer and then when summer hit , we have florida-like thunderstorms every night that I get out of work. In Wethersfield Conn. there was even a tornado.. a freaken TORNADO!!!! , in CT !!!

Early spring , when it was more like late winter or fall weather ,it rained every freakin weakend , and now it rains every evening just when I get out of work . Did I mention that already ?
I only wrote this to chronicle this years wacky weather for future contemplation when Global Warming turns the midwest into a desert.

Maine

2009-07-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

We went to Hallowell Maine , stayed at the MAPLE HILL FARM BED & BREAKFAST INN ...A great place to stay , great Innkeeper Scott went out of his way to make our stay enjoyable.

Sat , we kinda got rained out , we stayed at a cheap motel in Lewiston Maine on friday night , and on sat made our way towards Augusta. In between the drizzle , we hit Pine tree Aboretum and did a nice walk appx 1.25 mile thru beautiful trails with marked foliage exhibits, including rock gardens , lilacs , rhodendrum , numberous stree species , due to the rain we had to avoid stepping on the hundreds and hundreds of snails underfoot.

We did another 2 miles at Kennebec river trail , walking along a rail trail next to the river.

We then check in to our bed and breakfast , waved to the chickens and cows as we rolled up the driveway -
On the property is a mile or so walk thru the woods and fields to Jimmys Pond , which I intended to kayak this weekend. We made it about 3/4 of the way , GPS in hand tracking every move , until it got too mucky and mosquito infested , so we had to turn around. We then drove to Jimmys Pond and confirmed that this will make for a great kayak trip thru remote and quiet pond areas. We added a few more bug bites during this visit as well.

Hallowell happened to have a parade and block party of sorts , as well as fireworks which we enjoyed after a thai-sushi dinner at Cafe Bangcock...Good food , horrible service.

Sunday - Togus Pond - Incredible day of Kayaking - we did about 4 hours here , also tracked via gps and saved - We saw a few BALD EAGLES flying overhead, incredibly beautiful birds , We spied them with our binoculars to confirm identity. I also saw what I believe to have been a mink , sunning himself on an exposed rock ....startled by my sudden appearance , scooted and dove into the water. That was my first water mammal sighting.

Later , we hit Lake St George Park and did some sunning , swimming and reading.

Sunday night , went to a irish bar/restaurant , downtown hallowell for a few drinks and a pretty good meal. Lori actually had a beer sampler and of course , Shepherds Pie.
Monday , early morning after another great breakfast , we checked out and ...we kayaked jimmys pond , about an hour and half ...went all the way thru to little jimmys and thru a stream to a portage area to get to hutchinson pond. We werent feeling Portage today as I had us lined up to go to the beach. Another day of no fish catching for me but we did see a fellow fisherman catch what looked to me like a pickerel ...I told them that the knowledge that they confirmed that there were fish in these waters didn`t necessarily please me.
I took us down some scenic roads along the river towards the shoreline. We went to Popham beach in Bath , Me ...Low tide had exposed 1/4 mile of beach on all sides. Maine beaches are wierd...there was water on multiple sides of us...we climbed the rock jetty mountains for a beautiful view... walking along the water , really really cold water (yes I went in ...It was invigorating though it left you breathless) we saw birds dive bombing into the water for fish...It was very cool to watch...I still haven`t figured out what type of birds they were but they were much cooler than sea gulls.
A nice drive home ...perfect driving weather and here I am , typing my journal.

Geocaching.com

2009-06-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

We did some kayaking at mansfield hollow state park... beautiful area for kayaking , undeveloped shorelines like a small marsh yet as large as a big open lake. Just Beautiful.
I bought a delorme gps (more will be written about this inside kafe) and used it to track our paddling and attempted my first Geocache find which took me off the water and up into the woods , limping around with my banged up ankle (more on this too) I was also attempting to fish .... all this activity had Lori a bit beshmuggled (yeah I made it up but I`m sure you can ascertain its meaning) At one point , upon leaving the boat , the lure caught onto the back of my shirt and I was unable to remove , Lori had to paddle to shore and rescue my shirt , dangling from the rod and lure as I had whipped it off and started climbing up a hill in search of my cache.
See geocaching.com to get a grasp on what I am talking about.
Anyway , couldn`t find the cache , my gps had me pointed back into the water for it so something wasn`t right.

The next day , did much better and found 3 geocaches.....(more to come)

cuecat scanner and good reads

2009-06-22T17:43:00.000-07:00

I bought a cuecat scanner off amazon , so I can scan the books that I own (probably over 1000) only 1/3 of which I have read, and enter them into goodreads. Goodreads is an online social book cataloguing site where one can post books they read , would like to read , own etc; the cuecat isn`t a super smooth scanner but it does its job and for 12 bucks or so , has kept me entertained and helped me organize.
I want to catalog the books I own and haven`t read because with the volume of books I own , I find myself holding a book in my hand wondering if I already own it or have the author or its sitting in my to trade pile... I`m documenting this to remind myself that I must complete this project

If you want to know what a cuecat is - see wikipedia article - cuecat

Check out my books on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/profile/Kasualkafe

2009-06-14T16:54:00.001-07:00

Today we kayaked the best water yet ...Grafton Pond ..was beautiful ... I caught a few sunfish and saw a loon ...

2009-06-14T16:52:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we hiked pillsbury state park ...2.8 miles.... we kayaked there and our first portaged from one pond to another..

Maybe the dumbing down trend can be reversed

2009-06-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

The downfall of the US economy`s paper industries may be a good thing in the long run. We don`t make anything anymore , and in the services or high-tech fields , we are being beat out by foreign companies. We produce nothing of value , instead we have created industries that take slices out of anything of potential value .
F-I-RE - Financial , Insurance and Real Estate have all taken a hit . I`d like to include Lawyers , another group that generally eats up value.
Finally , advertising and marketing and PR has taken its hits as well , as returns on these products have dropped , many business and industries are in the process of restructuring or folding. Well , thats good too. It seems that most companies , instead of producing a better product , would rather spend the money creating better marketing that convinces the consumer its products are the best they can be.

Many well schooled people are out of work and are looking at new ways to make close to the kind of money those industries offered them. Many are looking into entrepreneurial paths , hopefully to spark the next good idea that can increase our standards of living which has been in decline despite steady technological advances.
The internet serves up all kinds of HOT JOBS lists and at the top of all these lists are specialists in Science , Engineers of all kinds , Bio-Tech , and anything in the health industry.
There are many students in top colleges , rethinking their transfers to high finance and other such dying industries and returning to the core studies of math and science that produce the leaders of fields that may be able to solve some of our most problematic issues such as our crumbling infrastructure , health care , global warming , energy dependence. Maybe , the next generation can lead America back to the top in manufacturing and services.
Or maybe the decline and fall is inevitable.

June 1st update

2009-06-01T17:28:00.000-07:00

So far the spring has been cool , took our kayaks this past weekend to Cedar Lake near the cockaponsett forest . Beautiful little lake , worth doing again. We did an uneventful 1 mile in 1 mile out hike in the cockaponsett forest. There are much cooler trails but I didn`t have maps for the area I went in , need to go back there with the Ct walk book East and do those trails.

Sunday , checked out Gardner Lake , was a bit windy and some boat traffic , Not sure Lori and I are ready for that lake , maybe later in the summer when its warmer and we have a few more trips under our belt , we went to Lake hayward nearby , a nice area but almost every parcel of land is owned and a house blots the landscape.

A few weekends prior we went to Squantz pond in New Fairfield , it was beautiful water. The park was filled with a lot of punks who were loud and obnoxious so we simply went straight to the water. Saw some turtles and an egret and explored lots of undeveloped shoreline and coves. Everything was wonderful until I lost my fishing rod while changing the lure. That sucked and ruined my life ...
O.k it didn`t ruin my life , but it did suck a lot ....

I got a tow hitch put on our new Subaru forester and picked up a bike rack , Lori and I have biked the rails to trails by our house a few times. Lori is not exactly a well seasoned bicyclist but she is picking up and eventually I`ll get her on some more interesting terrain.

Tonight we did a quick 1 hour kayak at Bolton notch park down the road from our house , its kinda cool to do that after work while the sun is setting and just floating in the water with no one else in it but a few fisherman on the side , jealous of our mobility as I snag fish after fish from pockets they cannot reach.
I didn`t actually catch fish , but that thought made me smile as the work day melted away. Beautiful.

Life is but a Memory

2009-05-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

Memory is an imperfect thing
Flitting careless on Wispy Wings

a-morphous shadow,
camouflaged truth

Flirting among imperfect scenes
Memory Makes Distorted Dreams

A-Brightness beclouds,
retrospective lies

Memory is a wonderful dream
Fairy Fables of Familiar themes

Kettletown Park and Southford Falls - Ct

2009-05-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

May 9th - beautiful day -- Lori and did 1.25 mile at soutford falls - southbury ct area ,pretty waterfall.
then we went to kettletown park in southbury ,ct and did 2 1/4 mile loop - the millers loop that has a little outshoot (take the blue orange trail) for a nice vista over Lake Zoar.
We then took our Kayaks out for an hour or so... active day ...fun!!!

See Kettletown Park
and Soutford Falls

A Poem of Joy - By Kevin Beary

2009-05-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

It might itself appear
Time is not on our side
The message still unclear

Our Fear of Genocide
Of shadows and of death
Fill the voids with unrest

Finality its breath
Empty of common quests
Death reverts to shadow

Hiding that, can be seen
Inspires all that's hollow
Trading us in between

To follow light blindly
And believe in a cloud
Its will is unkindly

The hope shatters aloud
Not till our blood flows free
Will faith end misery

To reveal the secrets hidden in this poem click Here

I think we can officially say its SPRING !!!

2009-04-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

It went from 40`s to 80`s even hitting 92 on Saturday. Everyone was out taking advantage of it. I believe that every person in New York and New England who was affected by seasonal disorder has been cured today.
I updated the Connecticut page with this weekends historic activities.

Reminder to Self

2009-04-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

I have been cycling back and forth a bit of late and felt I need to remind myself of some bits of wisdom to obtain happiness and reach contentment. I logged most of this info on http://www.kasualkafe.com/articles/happiness.htm

Present Moment Awareness -
( my catchphrase to remind me to make sure that when a good moment is here that I immerse myself in it fully and appreciate it for what it is , etch it into your memory to comfort you in time of need)

Make peace with imperfection

Allow yourself to be bored

Look for the positive , ignore the negative

Money is not Happiness , the lack of it is not Unhappiness-
Want what you have and you will have what you want.

Just bought my Subaru Forester XT

2009-04-10T20:14:00.000-07:00

Just Traded in my wrx for a Subaru Forester XT , picking it up on Tuesday .. SWEET !!! Next week , picking up my his and her kayaks , loading up my new turbo engined all-wheel drive small SUV with all my weekend fun gear ....fishing rods, tackle (salt and fresh), beach chairs , , picnic blankets and towels, various footballs , basketball , frisbees and what not , raquetball set , hiking bag packed with more hiking essentials than I ever will require, extra clothes should the urge to swim or hit a nice dinner or go dancing come upon us, camp chairs , tent , blow up raft , books to read , my kindle e-book reader , MP3 player , palm pilot phone , sattelite radio , GPS , - can`t forget the kayak gear , bicicyles , surf half-board and beach bag and beach umbrella ....
My book bag includes my waterfall guide books , state parks and forest books , my lake and pond fishing compendium , Connecticut walk books with full topographical maps and trail guides , various new england area books filled with attractions , restaurants etc; Maps of every new england state and New york , various delorme atlas gazetteers of all new england states showing every trail and pond and river and waterway along with GPS coordinates.

Just need to remember to stock up the vinyl cooler bag full of food and drink and POW ~~~ Instant weekend warrior ...
- need to pick up this years state park sticker and I`m all SET for that too!!!
I`ve had a Subaru wrx for over 7 yrs , a 2002 then a 2006 , I don`t like trucks , really coz of gas mileage and their just all over the place and slow and clunky and have only good handling in 4 wheel and crappy any other time. The 2009 Forester with the turbo engine is faster than the 2002 wrx I had , with all-wheel drive it handles like a car , has plenty of storage room especially with the backseats flattened yet is smaller than most SUV`s making it easy for kayak removal and better driving feel.
I sound like a commercial but I`m PSYCHED!!! to pick it up ...just in time for spring baby .... I`ve been cooped up all winter with the last month and half of driving the crappy chevy malibu rental while waiting for my car to be fixed. I dind`t want to take this car that lost traction in the rain back upstate to winter fun after an accident in my AWD wrx .......so I only skiid once this year , the worst winter season ever and we only snow shoed out of state like 2x ... Next year ...I swear I`m gonna get at least a half dozen trips in during the winter. . I mean winter sucks but it can be suffered if I get in some fun weekends skiing , snoe-shoeing , and next year we will definitely try cross-country skiing. The day of the accident (which is detailed in a previous blog) was a day we wimped out on our 1st attempt of x-country. See where that got us ? Next year -NO WIMPIN OUT ...I don`t care if its an effin blizzard ... WE DOIN IT !!
I think it was a great idea and time to trade in. We are a week or 2 away from REAL SPRING , not this 60 degree one day , 35 the next crap we`ve been dealing with. I was 20,000 over mileage on a lease , was out of warranty , would`ve need brakes by the end of the year , and even though the car looked mint ..it felt like it ran rougher and louder than before ....better off trading it in ....besides , eventually I won`t need such a fast car , even though the truck is fast ....its baby steps toward the more sensible vehicles someone pushing 40 should drive .... HELL NO I WONT GO !!! 224 HorsePower BABY !!!!

Trapped Soul

2009-04-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

The Man
In the tapestry
Screams
Lost Breath
Caught in his throat
Frozen , Timeless
A thread
it hangs ..
Longer and L o n g e r
The unraveling of a man
continues
throughout the years
His old soul
grows cold
the thread is
heaped
upon the dusty floor
Free !!!

Obama surprises me again.

2009-03-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

I`m just as angry as the next guy ,over AIG paying off the execs with bailout money whilst they lay off the average joe. BUT... I was amazed that the congress voted on passing a punitive tax rate of %90 on those bonuses. If this passed , what other knee-jerk angry reactions can congress enact ? I was further worried that it would be tied in to something O`Bama did want to sign.
I was thankful to read the following

--President Obama, said we cannot "govern out of anger" just because of public outrage ; he does not like the idea of "passing laws that are just targeting a handful of individuals" or using the tax code to punish people.

"Let's see if there are ways of doing this that are both legal, that are constitutional, that uphold our basic principles of fairness, but don't hamper us from getting the banking system back on track," Obama said on CBS' "60 Minutes."--

This is just one of a few times , I had heard the government was going to do "this crazy thing or enact that crazy idea" and Pres. Obama eventually sets the record straight by retorting with common sense. I don`t agree with everything the government is doing but just when I start doubting , Pres. Obama reminds me why I voted for him.

Happy St Paddys Day !!!

2009-03-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

St. Paddys day is here .I`ll be going to work but
...I felt I should acknowledge my Irishness ...Born Kevin Patrick Beary I must give a nod to the Saint that inspired my middle initial. Thinking of myself as Irish (which is rare that I do so) makes me think of my grandfather (may he rest in peace) playing some old Clancy Bro`s records ...we would eat corned beef with cabbage and real mashed potatoes. He would also have us eat Irish Soda Bread with a THICK slab of butter on it. That was Irish to me...the drinkers in my family had long hung up their tankards by this time due to necessity.

I also must proclaim aloud my intention to renew my New Years vows ...March 15th - I will again 6/15 and 9/15th - I believe thusfar I have been successful having lost 18 pounds and continuing to work out. I intend to continue going to the gym 3-4 x a week and continuing our active weekends filled with hikes and walks.
Hopefully my 6/15th post will show my continued resolve.

I got my Amazon Kindle !!

2009-02-26T19:48:00.000-08:00

I just received my Kindle and already have about 50 books , mostly free from various free-book sites such as manybooks.com and feedbooks and so forth. What is a kindle you say . Just go to Amazon and you`ll find out all you need to know about this coolest gadget of all gadgets. It is an e-book reader that can purchase and download books thru its own fast and FREE 3G internet service. It can easily hold 1500 books or more. An entire library in your hand. You need to see the screen to see why IPOD or Palm readers just will not cut it. I love the Kindle !!!!

UR by Stephen King

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
My first kindle book that I read thru. Stephen King writes a novella starring the KINDLE> At first the novel feels a bit contrived but he does turn it into a story. Its a quick read ...I paid $4 to download it ...it was mostly worth it for the novelty of it but I can`t say it was a bad story. He does reference a bit of History , American lit and such which I found interesting.

Kasualkafe.com

View all my reviews.

A nice little hiking trail

2009-02-21T12:47:00.000-08:00

Never knew it was there behind busy hartford tpke in manchester ct
see the Kafe`s Connecticut page - 2/20th for info on the trail

Crashed up the REX

2009-02-15T16:02:00.000-08:00

Went to the white mountains in New Hampshire last weekend for a 3 day snow filled adventure. It was an adventure. Day one , did some wonderful snow shoeing in Franconia Notch State Park , saw the flume - a frozen waterfall and gorge crevice - very cool. Drove down scenic Kancamagus highway and hit some trails there including another frozen waterfall - sabbaday falls. Stayed at Woodstock inn which owns a few old houses around itself- we stayed in the building across the street. It was nice ...nothing to jump for joy about. After a long day of snow shoeing - we looked forward to the health club they advertised that was within walking distance with gym equip. , pool , and hot tub. It turns out that the walking distance health club is no longer available but we were given a pass and parking certificate for the gym at Loon mountain (10 min drive) - We were given pretty inept directions , pulled onto the roadway for the mountain resort (jam-packed to all hell at 4ish with people leaving en-mass) and promptly got lost within this mass. Despite all the people leaving , the area that we believe the gym was at was completely full. All parking under garage required one to pull in , drive to the rear , realize that there are no spots , and then perform a 12 point turn in order to turn around unless you decided to slam the car in reverse around corners at breakneck speeds in frustration as was performed by myself during the 3rd or 4th attempt. I promptly screamed and cursed and tore off thru parking lots , and slammed on brakes and then slammed on gas pedal and then yelled and screamed at Lori , and cursed the witch at Woodstock inn who provided us with improper info. Went back to room , took a nap , felt better and ate a nice dinner at the Woodstock brewery. We were on diets up until this time so having a steak dinner was quite a heady experience.
After our excellent breakfast (included) we headed up north to Bretton Woods , New Hampshire for some cross country skiing. It was about 40 degrees and raining , much warmer than the previous day , but the rain was supposed to stop. As we got near Mount Washington the weather changed to ice and sleet and finally snow. As we entered bretton woods nordic center , right across from the beautiful Mount Washington Hotel , we plunged into a blizzard , high winds and driving snow. Having never cross country ski`d before , and with the winds causing the pelting snow down every nook and cranny of our outfits , we decided that this was not the day for beginners to learn to x-c ski. Yes, we wimped out.
We headed back to the hotel. My intention was to attempt going to the gym again after securing explicit directions from the inn owner. The blizzard did not relent and soon the highways were covered with slick icy snow , unmolested by plow or sand , as the storm came quick and heavy.
Apparently one can get whiplash driving at speed of only 15-20 MPH despite having 3 car lengths notice and attempted avoidance of instantaneously non-moving vehicles in front of us. We ended up the 3rd car in a 4 car pile up. There was a 5th car , we found out later , that caused this episode by sliding into a guard rail in a one lane area of the highway causing car #1 to slam on brakes to avoid hitting him , cars #2 to promptly crash into him , whilst I hit my brakes , downshifted , released brake and attempted to slide my way around car #3 ....unsucessfully ...causing # 3 car to slam into # 2 car whilst # 4 car crashed into my side. You may have noted that I said it was a 4 car pile up , that 5th vehicle drove away unscathed and unidentified. Did you catch all that ?
Everyone was o.k , Lori and I didn`t know there were any physical issues until much later and we have since recovered. Just had some stiff and uncomfortable neck issues for a few days. Front left corner of car and hood simply crumpled , battery fell out ...side doors were pushed in ...i`m guessing not totaled but the subaru WRX is Effed up. A few $60 cab rides , a partially paid rental that I can`t return in ct but must return either in NH or upstate mass (I thought enterprise was nationwide ...guess not) and a ruined weekend later , we made it home. I have no status on the car as yet as the insurance company dropped the ball on having the adjuster out to look at it. I just know its gonna cost me money. The accident is not my fault but I have a feeling its going to cost me my 1000 dollar deductible on collision. I am hoping it will be totaled so I can get a Subaru Forester (so I can put kayaks on it). Then I won`t have to drive back up to NH to get my repaired but value-diminished WRX. I expect to get screwed on this as well. I`m hoping this is one of the few times my negativity is unwarranted and inaccurate.

Politics is Frustration

2009-02-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

We have the best political system in the world , but when you watch the wheels turn it can seem the most ridiculous and ineffectual mechanism of governing.
Obamas message of forgetting politics and getting things done was a great campaign speech but it doesn`t happen in reality. In truth 40-48 percent of government want HIM TO FAIL.. Limbaugh even said it out loud on the radio. They are rooting against America`s success. It is better for their ideology for us to suffer so they can regain power. Thats what our political system is made up of. Its kinda crazy.
It is more important for congressman to make a personal statement then to assist in creating good legislation. The republicans are going to lose their case with the stimulus and instead of working on a plan they all can live with they are simply going to go on record as opposing some aspect of it. 8 yrs ago , it was the other side hoping Bush would fail.
There is no alternative governmental system that I prefer , ours is the best system in the world , its just that even as the best , on a scale of 1-10 , it tops out as maybe a Six...
I am not exactly sure where I stand on the massive government intervention of the last year but do believe some form of stimulus is a good thing right now and just hope the ugly back and forth we see on the News will eventually bear fruit for the good of America.

cradle of filth

2009-01-17T12:52:00.000-08:00

We went and saw cradle of filth

Its a black metal goth band that we saw at Ozzfest a few years back and loved. They are also played on XM radio a bit and we were kinda psyched to go see them , enough to drive to the Paladium in Worcester.

Now , I`ve always known that the majority of young adults in Worcester are drunken idiots , I still am always surprised at their proliferance , year after year , churning out new ones to mingle with the older drunken idiots generally found in Worcester. This show was especially filled with a multi-variety of drunken , stumbling , slurring morons. Not that we are unused to seeing a few at the many concerts we`ve been in , it just seems there are always so much more of them here , and so much drunker . There was just one such punk , who while we watched the concert from a raised platform toward the back , sat at loris feet , and promptly puked on himself.
After his escort we went on to enjoy the show until .....

They were these 3 incredibly moronic fans hovering behind us. More moronic than the usual fare. These 3 all shared the same brain cell and weren`t even bright enough to know they should fight for it. Our ape ancestors would be ashamed to call them biolgoically superior descendants. One gets used to a few yells , and hell yeahs at concerts ....after a few of those , you kinda tune it out and go enjoy the show. But it was difficult to ignore their horrifically ignorant , or obvious , or moronic remarks screamed at the top of their lungs. To give the exact details of these utterances would probably do you damage so I shall spare of such horror , but you must understand my point. I cannot begin to explain the unintelligible conversations they were having with eachother ...Looking at them did not dispel the perception one iota , they were fat , open mouthed breathing , drippy lipped slurring and seemed to be semi-retarded ...actually thats an insult to the mentally challenged. They were DUMB> Really , really dumb .... Have I made my point ridiculously clear. Well , If THEY read this rant , it would not penetrate their minds as to how dumb I proclaim them to be.

Sorry , I might have gone a little overboard on that little shpiel , HELL NO I DIDN`T..

Anyway , the show was good but not great. The sound was so-so and the lead singers mic was just not loud enough .. you couldn`t hear his yells and growls and the keyboard chics haunting voice didn`t sound as good live .... There wasn`t much theatrics like the ozzfest show which had half-naked hotty chics climbing 15 foot curtains and doing kinda strip pole stunts with them. They did have really sick looking videos and artwork depicting all sorts of depraved acts upon the curtain screen behind the band. We apparently most like their newer stuff that has more baroque orchestral sounds and keyboard with the chic backup singing to go along with the crunchy ....

First Ski weekend of the year

2009-01-12T19:28:00.000-08:00

Feel free not to read the following because it is not interesting but I felt I must journal this episode as to remember it in the future.

Went to Stratton Mountain ,vt for the weekend and stayed at the inn on the mountain. Planned on Lori to take ski lessons but we didn`t make it in time coz it takes over an hour to get rentals ...sux
I had a relatively nice day of skiing despite the frigid temps , except towards the last hour plus of trying to get off one side of the mountain back to the main lodge , only to find myself back on a trail leading to that same wrong side of the mountain. With no exaggeration , I spent 1 hour out of 1 hour and 7 minutes either on a lift in 17 degrees weather or on a quad burning connector green trail ,skate-skiing so as to avoid an absolute standstill...
We also wimped out on the x-country ski lessons I planned on , sunday , as it was snowing and windy , and my all wheel drive subaru almost didn`t make it out of the inn`s parking lot. Took three attempts to get up the icy hill... We ended up doing some snow shoeing instead at Fort Dummer state park in brattleboro , vt and had a nice lunch in greenfield , mass ...a quaint college town that may or may not have a college.
We even hit the gym that sunday evening when we got home , and I did 24 laps in the pool (brando told me I should swim and he was right) which is probably the most swimming i`ve done since I was a kid (I passed a lifeguard test as a young punk but never bothered lifeguard-ering) - So despite not eating all that wonderful (we did pack some good for us food but had difficulty with dinner options) I lost another pound ... I`m officially 5 pounds lighter than when we started dieting , Jan 5th. Lori , complainedly , only managed to avoid gaining weight over the weekend weighing in at .......____(yeah right , she`d kill me)

Fat til the Fifth !!!

2009-01-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

Lori and I during the holidays have decided that we werent going to make our selves crazy worrying about calorie intake. We have been going to the gym relatively regularly , but have not been eating consistently well. So , Lori came up with FAT TIL CHRISTMAS !!! Woohoo , all worries are tossed out the window , anytime we considered skipping ...say ...french fries with a burger we yell Fat til Christmas , and doggone it ...order them damn fries.
Its such a liberating feeling to relieve oneself of the guilt associated with naughty food choices. Simply exclaim our Mantra , sometimes very loudly and in a high pitched voice , FAT TIL XMAS !!!! and order away , or submerge it in oil , or bathe it in butter , or smother it with sausage gravey ... woohooo Fat til hmmmm.....
We realized that it is still holiday season after xmas , after all Lori and I are off work most of new years week... fat til xmas will not work. There is still a week of holiday before the obligatory new years resolutions. Aha !!!
FAT TIL NEW YEARS !!! - heee haww !!!
And Fat til new years became the new thought of the day , the new style , the new fit (or not so fit). Fat til New Years lasted until ...about ....New Years.
Now.... Hungover , with more Vacation time til we have to get back to full work weeks ,starting on Monday , Jan 5th....We realized that another change must be implemented , one that truly fulfils our goals and expresses our deepest feelings. .
FAT TIL THE FIFTH --- Yes , thats it , we do not need to deny ourselves in the face of a FAT breakfast following a night of drinking. AFter all , how can one diet when hung over. Need to eat those queasies away. So Fat til the fifth it is.
We did consider FAT til February but felt that may be pushing it. As it is ,it is feasible that we will for all that be Fat til February despite our fortuitous attempts of
de-fat-ifying from the Fifth Forward.

Sledding after the 1st winter storm

2008-12-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

In anticipation of this seasons first storm , I bought some sleds for Lori and I to play with when winter inevitably destroys most outdoor activities with its cold temperatures and snow fall. I figured we would maybe do some snow shoeing this year and maybe some sliding down some snowy hills would be fun and keep us active throughout the winter. I bought one sled that was more like a boogie board for like $40 and then a cheapie round sit-on jobber just in case the boogie board one wasn`t all that. Coz I`m shmart !

We went to Wickham park in East Hartford , ct , where others with similar plans , were trekking with their families to enjoy a day of sledding. Lori and I went and dragged our ass up past these families up wickham park hill , Lori with my cheapo round seat sled and me with my high-end multi-handled boogie board sled ; upon reaching the top , out of breath , and lower backs screaming ,we hopped on our respective sleds and promptly sunk into the snow.
Have you ever seen a snowboarder stranded on a flat area of a mountain ? They either must hop their way to a decline or make themselves prone and drag their way to a more favorable location.
So here we were , Beached , already prone , both hopping and dragging our way down the hill , still out of breath from the climb. Eventually we catch a patch of sufficiently packed snow at an appropriate angle that enables our fat asses to descend at a child-like speed of a mile or 2 an hour.
Encouraged by this achievement , modest though it was , we cheerily charged back up the hill a little further. This quickly ignited those aches and pains previously experienced , and again with labored breath we geared ourselves for another exhilarating ride. By this time , numerous families were dragging their children in sleds up to our very spot , no doubt realizing their error in attempting to sled at their previous lower altitudes. I`d say there were a dozen or so , little brats included , traipsing up the hill and clogging the slalom lane. I , confident in my sledding and steering abilities , took a running dive and slid down the hill ....weeeeeeeaaahhhhhh , I was going appx the same speed down the hill as the children , dragged by their fathers , were making their way up the hill... DAMN !!!! This %*&&*^ Sucks and I shouldn`t have bothered to *&%^^&(* and other profanities and complaints.

Meanwhile , Lori , fearful of hurtling thru little kids at breakneck speeds (yeah right) , opted to wait , and wait and wait , while I , flailing and cursing at the base attempted to goad her into action ....fruitlessly ... I gave up , whipped my sled thru the air towards the woods and stormed off. Lori promptly started trudging down the mountain , sled in hand , cursing my temper. She did retrieve my sled from the woods , met me at the car , and wordlessly we drove off. I drove to her sisters house , who has kids , and dropped the sleds off in her foyer.
Sledding Sucks !

The Holidays are almost here , wheres the cheer ?

2008-12-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

For the 1st time in a number of years , I have felt like the holiday season was going to be enjoyable. I watched some xmas shows . I enjoyed the little bit of shopping I`ve done. I`ve listened to some xmas music , including some traditional orchestral , and enjoyed it.
I have always bah-humbugged every year , generally getting sort-of depressed during this time. Last year , we even had a family xmas cancellation which didn`t help.
But ... one of the things I have always looked forward to despite my skepticism of the holiday was some time off of work as we generally shut down a number of days during the holidays. NOT THIS YEAR ... I can`t get any plans together , I`m missing out on the few things that sound cool and can`t motivate myself to come up with something fun.
I must get myself together and plan something cool for the holidays to do or I will lose my mind.

Ebay is addicting !

2008-12-11T20:05:00.001-08:00

I havent touched ebay in like a year . Its too easy to spend money , ya know. But I did end up doing some x-mas shopping on ebay this year and kinda got suckered into buying stuff for myself- Merry Xmas to ME !!
Did get some killer deals on cyber monday - got 30% money back on ebay - They give you the money into your paypal account , so you have to spend it , right !
Got a new 22in computer monitor - flat screen , finally - $140 - shipped !! Then the next thing you know I`m bidding on stuff , getting outbid , and then going Aggressive !! - I think I may not have had as good deals on the other purchases. Can`t talk about those til after x-mas -
Happy Holidays , stay away from E-Bay , Its the male version of QVC

Black Friday

2008-11-29T12:40:00.000-08:00

A few people getting trampled has got to be good for the economy , right.

A 34-year-old male employee was pronounced dead an hour after shoppers breached the doors to the shopping center in Valley Stream, Long Island, about 5 a.m. Friday and knocked him down, police said.

Click here for photos. - (no there were no photos of the trampled so I didn`t post it. )

"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," Jimmy Overby, the man's 43-year-old co-worker, told the New York Daily News. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too ... I literally had to fight people off my back."

What I get from this story , is that the state of the economy is sound. The consumer , who drives 2/3 of our economy is back and on a rampage.
In this free for all - free market , darwinian culture , one less impoverished walmart worker who collects from the state can also only improve the economy.

Wedding Photos are up

2008-11-25T15:12:00.001-08:00

Finally have the wedding photos up - Visit the Kasual Kafe Gallery

They don`t get it

2008-11-20T21:15:00.001-08:00

At the gym this AM , on the treadmill , watching the news -
The CEO`s of the Big Three auto co`s flew to Washington on their private jets to ask Congress for money.
They spent $20,000 to fly , had a limo waiting for them , to show up to Congress with their tin cups. Disgusting.
They just don`t get it . One would think with all the marketing , sponsorships and PR they do , they would understand that PERCEPTION is everything. Talk about entitlement culture , it has reached the TOP as well and is even more repugnant than the usual suspects.
AIG , got caught with their pants down too a few weeks back , but they were doing something that was planned for months in advance as incentive for top earners. That still was a poor choice.
Who are these multi-millionaire managers that blunder there way through the business world , who recieve ridiculous bonuses for deteriorating the companys worth. I want an interview , damn it. I`m sure I could`ve lost the shareholders money at least as rapidly as they have.
We must not enable these companies by providing them with undeserved relief. Any bailout would come at the expense of those who did nothing to cause this auto mess.

Rhapsody Music

2008-11-16T18:13:00.000-08:00

"1. Complicated - The Cliks
Testing Rhapsody to Blog"

clicking the title is supposed to send you to a link to play the song. Hopefully it works.
This is a chick band that Lori got me to listen to , I ended up liking it.

Brock Lesnar stops Randy (The Natural) Couture via TKO at UFC 91

2008-11-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

Couture held his own for a round and a half , even bloodying Lesnars eye but just couldn`t hang with the beast. Couture at one point looked like he was going to pick up Brock , It seemed to me like such an unnatural sight as Brock sort of got lifted , one leg in the air and arms and shoulders up like he was gonna go , and then NO..Leg down , Couture couldn`t pull it off.
I noticed that Brocks head doesn`t move even when his body jigs back and forth coming forward for a strike , I was thinking Couture might be able to exploit that but he didn`t get the chance. I think Couture was stung twice before being knocked out. He took a shot from Lesnar , shook it off and belatedly his leg bucked but he recouped real quick , it was right around then that he returned the favor by bloodying Lesnars eye. He also looked like he got hit good with a knee , a little bit before the glancing Ham Hock of a fist against his ear put him down. Brock still doesn`t really know what to do with a guy on the ground but I guest slamming his Lunch Box sized fists , hammer fist style repeatedly on someones head is a fair submission move for a guy of his stature.

I love Couture , he has helped make this sport and had some exciting fights , but Lesnar just seems so much more dynamic and exciting , watching him grow in this sport. Many Couture fights were greco-roman clinches which isn`t very exciting. I look forward to future fights of both , Bring on Fedor.

KB

2008-11-09T18:44:00.001-08:00

Election Day

2008-11-04T17:39:00.000-08:00

I`m looking forward to the end of the political rhetoric , euphemisms , meaningless campaign sound bites and blatant false generalizations rampant in this years campaigning.
I`d say , tomorrow we can move on , but the defeated in this campaign will not intend to remain so. They will be vocal , scornful and persistent.

OBAMA !

KB

New England Foliage

2008-10-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

Had a good weekend , did day trips to western mass and eastern ct , see Mass page and connecticut page for details and visit the gallery for beautiful pics

Fall Foliage

2008-10-08T19:40:00.000-07:00

Went on our first fall foliage trip ... I may have seen fall foliage , but never actually made a weekend around it. We went to brattleboro vermont. We had a great trip. See travel page , vermont for the details

Definition of PRAY :

2008-09-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.

Ambrose Pierce , The Devils Dictionary

The World is a Mess !!

2008-09-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

We are fighting two wars with troops , cold war is back on with Russia , Our allies are not our allies (pakistan) our enemies are as sworn as ever - Iran , Korea. Europe is indifferent or mildly hostile to the US .
Our economy is falling apart .,...Stagflation , rising prices with falling wages and diminished growth. The government is bailing out Major coporations with taxpayer money and deficit borrowing (aig , freddie and Fannie mac)
  The presidential race is mind bogglingly backwards and confusing. Conservatives , normally frowning on young unmarried and pregnant women , are now in defense of the Palins , arguing that these things happen even in the best of families while the left is denouncing the pregnant daughter as a bad example for todays youth.
  The right , traditionally anti-feminist , are louding Palins heroism in pursuit of a career while raising 5 kids whereas liberal feminists are suggesting that her ambition makes her either an absentee mom or a distracted vice pres.
  One day , republicans say that lack of political experience is a major flaw ; Democrats say it frees you to see things anew. Now its the other way around.
Vote Obama for change. oh wait ... Vote McCain for change.
  Well somethings gotta change
KB

The end of summer

2008-09-10T19:49:00.000-07:00

The end of summer labor day trip to Rhode island sucked .. No waves , No Fish , too windy , too crowded I`m incapable of having fun.

Summer is over , Fall is here , work is getting ridiculous busy and stressful.
Good News JETS WIN - Go Favre !!
KB

We have a new baby kitty

2008-08-26T18:36:00.001-07:00

We have a new baby kitty I took home monday. Our two cats do not like this kitty as of yet , they hiss and growl and Meeaarrrwww ! at it. I hope we can get them to get along before this weekend as I booked Lori and I a beach vacation in Rhode Island for Labor Day Weekend.
kB

summer fun

2008-08-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

Couldn`t fish at misquamacut so we went a mile down the road to weekapaug , quieter beach , fishing off the rocks (no action - one guy told me only good in fall)
No waves either but it was flat everywhere according to surf reports.

Nxt day went to old lyme but no good fishing there .. spent the day lounging ..was nice
Did about an hour of surf casting before sunset at Harkness Park , a beautful spot

Last weekend , Lori went camping with her girls and I hung with Charlie. Charlie said he enjoyed my company but I`m not so sure. We did enjoy watching UFc - Brock Lesner , St Pierre and Kenny Florian , all victorious and good fights.
I also went to Salmon River Park this weekend , beautiful pristine water and river hike , brought my rod and fished and hiked for hours. Spot that needs to be hit again in the early fall.

Is summer over ?

2008-07-31T20:04:00.000-07:00

August hits , the buzz of the upcoming fall season begins at work , and then I feel summer is over. So far its been a good summer , have been keeping busy and keeping myself entertained.

Last weekend went to Montauk at Chris` time share with NY Tina and her friends. Caught a wave !!!! Woohoo . Took my half board and caught a ride in for the 1st time in like half a decade.

Now I got the beach bug so Lori and I are going to Misquamicut Rhode island to the beach to catch a few more waves and I plan on doing a little surf casting for blue fish . Sunday gonna go to Soundview in old lyme for some laying around in the sun and some more fishing , just no waves on the sound.

Previously we went to Lincoln Park concert with Chris cornell. They rocked ! It was really really good.

And july 11th weekend went upstate new york in Lake George to see my mom and her husband Bobby. Bobby and I did some fishing by riverwalking the rocks and casting in pools to catch trout. I caught nothing. We also did some kayaking in a beautiful lake spot. Lori enjoyed it and I loved it. I caught a sunfish. Kayaks are in Lori and mine future.

Another month I`ll be going to Russia. I`m still kinda freakin about it.
KB

July 4th weekend

2008-07-10T20:05:00.001-07:00

Lori and I went to New hampshire , the white mountains for the long weekend , we saw 2 fireworks shows , hit 5 or 6 different waterfalls , got some fishing in , some hiking , some swimming etc; Was a good weekend.
I have some beautiful pictures of waterfalls ,gorges , some beautiful views of the scenic drives we did on the kancamagus. I`ll have them up after I get the wedding photos up
KB

My Dad is married

2008-06-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

So my dad got married....again ... I mean after he got his divorce ... well that was 20 plus years ago so he is now remarried. Oh jeez. !
Congrats Dad ... We wish you and Virginia a happy life together.
  I didn`t come down for the wedding as it was in City Hall in queens. I`ve been to the DMV before so I felt this could be skipped. Lori and I did celebrate with them and his new extended family at a great Churrascaria restaurant in Corona , queens NY called green fields.
  If you`ve never been to this type restaurant it is killer ... great salad bar and unlimited amounts of meat... I mean MEAT !!! They stop by one after another with prime rib , sausage , chicken , turkey , beef , beef ribs , and so on and so on . They have skewers and cut you off a nice hot piece every visit. It was good and I think everyone had a good time. I`m happy my father has found someone to spend his less harried years with.
  We hit the bronx zoo that morning prior to going out to dinner to keep us busy near this area. WE love the zoo , unfortunately we forgot the camera so no pics.. It was a bit warm and we didn`t get there til almost 1 so we only went to see the better exhibits like birds of prey , monkees , sea lions , polar bears , otters and others. I`m thinking we should do another trip , with the camera , get there early and take our time sometime this fall. k

Manhatten Weekend

2008-06-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

Went to Manhatten for the weekend , did an overnight and went to Yankee game on Sunday. Good game , yankees win 4-1 , was a 1hr or so rain delay but it wasn`t so bad. Kinda cool coz the wind kicked up , some lightning , and then downpour. The field crew pulling out the tarp lost an edge of it and the wind kicked it up fierce... kinda funny to watch them strugglin wit it.
  Kyle wasn`t able to meet us for dinner at a place he got reservations for , but Lori and I planned on keeping those reservations. It was for the Flora Del Sol.  Kyle didn`t know the address , who the reservation name was under , but said it had great paella , and some good apps , etc;   WHile I was on the phone with him attempting to nail down some details , I pulled the info off the search engine and typed the address into my phone.
  We shoot down ny saturday , hit the central park zoo , which is always fun . They have monkees , rain forest birds , sea lions , penguins and more. They also have an animal we have seen here but have never seen active , a polar bear. He was swimming back and forth in the water , very cool , very big , very neat. I have a little video of it , it was kinda funny coz he repeated the same motions going from one side to the other , under the water , kick left , kick right , emerge , bounce head left , bounce head right , fall backward and swim on back , Tongue out kick off rock , dive - Repeat! - He truly did this for at least an hour straight in the exact same order. I`ll put the video up on the main site.
   We check into our hotel , The flatotel which had the biggest hotel room I`ve ever seen in NYC...ever .. Bigger than a suite I stayed in. Big ..
  I called the restaurant to confirm (and make sure they were actually made) the reservations , my excuse was to change it from 4 - 2 people. WEll , never heard of Kyle or Kenya or their last names , or anything whatsover .. !!! AGghhhh !! KYLE !!!!!!
So , after bitching out Kyle for a bit I called back and made a reservation under my name , expecting them to say like 9pm or something - nope , no problem 7:30 reservation just like kyle had.. hmmmmnn

  Get to restaurant ... get seated .. looked kinda contemporary and posh. We were a bit underdressed but sitting down we looked o.k. Get the menu and its basically only 2 pages. ONe with a tasting menu of 6 courses for 89 and another with 3 prixe fix for $79 .. OUCH!!! It took me a number of embarassing questions to the waiter to figure it out thus far. I didn`t even know how to order. There was no paella , just a bunch of uppity meals with a bit of a french twist.
  I say screw it ... lets do the 6 course , still totally confused why Kyle would reccomend this place without at least a heads up on the cost. I was getting more and more mad at him as we stayed. IT was too late at this point to leave so we ordered away.
  AT one point I had rabbit , with Foie Gras Emulsion. - Whats that you say ??? Foie Gras , I admit I`ve enjoyed. Its duck liver - a pate - whereas emulsion is when something is liquified and foamed. It looked like coffee foam poured over the rabbit. But it tasted luck Duck Diarreah to me.
  And then I had an epiphany. Kyle would not have thought this place was cool , I don`t care if he became a yuppity ... Whats the name of this restaurant again ... Fleur De sel .   wooaahhh ... Thats not the place kyle said. Kyle despite his travels in spanish country has poor pronunciation but I really believed he said Flora Del sol .
I pull my smartphone out , go to palm google - type in Flora Del Sol and sure enough this review of this kick ass spanish restaurant tapas with bar and entertainment. Agghhhh !!!
  I think when I typed in the search engine to find this restaurant , the search engine re-spelled what I wrote to what it felt was correct and absent mindedly I copied the address for this French crappity , overpriced restaurant. AGgghhh ....
  The night didn`t get better as Lori`s shoe straps broke and she was limping and hobbling and tripping along which caused us to end the night early and go back to hotel. My bar hopping plans went out the window.
  Oh Well .. I can`t say the weekend was uneventful , but I can`t say it was a lot of fun either

Goodbye Fuzzy

2008-06-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

Fizzgig , or Fuzzy guy , or simply fuzzy died yesterday. We don`t yet know why. He was only 4 . Lori and I are very upset. We will miss him.

Spring 2008

2008-06-03T15:47:00.000-07:00

So far its been a good spring. I got married to a wonderful girl , went on a wonderful honey moon to disney - See the gallery for pics

Had a few good weekend excursions since we came back . This past weekend went up to vermont for a 3 day weekend around Lake Champlain , some wonderful scenic drives , state parks, fishing , hiking , and some waterfalls on the way home - also went to shelburne museum which was wonderful. I`d like to put up some info on my vermont page if I ever get around to it.

The weekend prior went to the berkshires for a day trip , hit Wahconah falls state park for a pretty waterfall and again some more scenic drives , impromptu hikes in Pittfield State forest nearby.

The weekend before that we went to Bigelow Hollow in mansfield Ct , its a state park with picnicing , boating , fishing etc; We brought lunch , I fished a bit , and took Lori out on our 4 man (really only 2 people can fit in it ) inflatable raft and paddled around the lake a bit. Lori had trouble at first so I did most of the paddling which is fine.

All in all , we`ve been pretty outdoorsy and busy doing the things we like to do. I intend to keep us busy all summer so we don`t get bored coz boredom for me leads to depression.

We are back !!

2008-05-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

My wife and I are back from our honeymoon.
How weird is it for me to type that sentence ?
Well , we made it through the wedding and had a great time in Disney for our honeymoon , and we are now back home , ready to start real life again on Monday.
We have hundreds of wedding photos and disney photos to go thru and I will get them online soon.

If you have pictures you would like to share , please contact me at Kevin@kasualkafe.com to arrange pickup. If under a few meg , can email them to same.

the wedding is tomorrow !!!

2008-04-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

I`m freakin out ... I`m having anxiety panic attacks ... I got almost no sleep last night.
I hope I don`t screw up the wedding for Lori .. I`m not freakin` out about being with her , I`m good with her ...I`m bugging out about the event itself. Its not rational , I know , but tell my mind and body that.
agghhhh!!!!

Going to disney for honeymoon ...Can`t wait ....We are staying at one of their resorts. I`ll be calm when I`m having my first drink by the pool.

Baseball Season is here !!

2008-04-03T09:18:00.001-07:00

Watched the first Yankee game of the season. Joe Girardi`s first game as a Yankee manager couldn`t have been scripted better. A little bit of offense against a tough Roy halliday... Wang pitched solid 7 innings - Joba and Mo close out the 8th and 9th innings for the win and Mo hands Joe G. the game ball.
Wonderful beginning of the season.

Going to Disney !!!

2008-03-24T15:34:00.001-07:00

I booked Lori and I for a 10 day honeymoon in walt disney world. I already have an itinerary for every day we are there including dinner reservations for each night. We are staying at the Port Orleans resort. Should be fun.
KB

Clinton and Obama still neck in neck

2008-03-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

I don`t think this tight race is good for the democrats. With the back and forth bashing of eachother , the primaries are providing the republicans with fodder to use against the future democratic nominee.
  Just like the last election when the republicans were able to establish "Flip Flop"
to tip the scales in their favor , they have plenty to go on thanks to the
candidates own primary campaigns .
We are already hearing things like the following ,

She - Will do or say anything to win.  Claims experience she doesn`t actually have.

He - is a muslim , He is all talk no action.

This is just making it easier for Mcain to win the presidency . The Dem`s are in trouble.

Conversations of Madmen

2008-02-25T05:25:00.000-08:00

Lori complains loudly , "I am sick , I feel like Shit !" Kevin replies , "Like shit on a steeeek?"
"No , more like shit on toast", says Lori.
"hmmm...spread or a dollop?"
"Definitely mashed down and spread"
Kevin , wanting to be empathetic and to not be accused of trying to fix this shitty situation ; replies "I`m sorry to hear that , honey"
"I`m sorry to feel it!" , snaps Lori
Ignoring the image of spread shit on toast , he leans over to kiss her on the forehead and says , "Try and be positive , at least you don`t smell like shit"

Well now , Kevin is in Deep Shit!

More Freakin Snow

2008-02-22T14:10:00.003-08:00

I guess I can`t complain coz it hasn`t been too bad with snow but it doesn`t take much to put me in a sour mood this time of the year. I hate freakin snow unless I`m intentionally visting it.
KB

Vermont Weekend

2008-02-13T18:28:00.001-08:00

Went skiing this weekend at mount snow. Took Lori to a bed and breakfast inn. We usually enjoy our stays at b&b`s - but this one wasn`t so great. We initially liked our hostess , a kinda spunky older lady with a smoke-gravely voice; After a while , her spunky was just funky and annoying.
  We woke up at 6:45 in the AM to the cooks radio , apparently we resided right above the kitchen. It was rock music , but once it makes it thru the ceiling and floor to our ears , it just sounds like muffled discordant noise: At 6:45 AM , regardless of sound quality , this wasn`t appreciated.
  The cook was an "out there", loud and obnoxious Neo-hippy who obtrusively offered his dinner services , prior to even allowing us to taste his breakfast. His breakfast sucked. No cheese to goalong with the dry eggs was my complaint. Lori loved her pancakes.
  We had a cheesy little jacuzzi tub but took advantage of it two nights in a row ; on the 2nd night Lori`s bathing was interrupted by the Hostess who said that the tub was apparently leaking
downstairs. We promptly ceased using the jacuzzi and drained the tub , they promptly shut the
water off with no warning.  Ugghhh!
  We left on Sunday without their crappy breakfast , attempting to sleep in despite the cacophony
of the kitchen radio. Unsuccessful , we got up and left. I planned on taking us snow shoeing but it was 18 degrees , 40 mile per hour gusts , and snowing . We wimped out...The drive sucked as it was icy as hell , at one point my subaru which rocks in
the snow , was unrelentingly sliding down a hill whilst the breaks did nothing but whine.
In slow motion we anticipated sliding into the car ahead of us. The drive didn`t get much better from there.
  Finally made it to Northampton on Sunday in anticipation of our night out to see The Clicks , a concert at Pearl St nightclub. This is a fun little college town despite all the hippy lesbians that attend the local college. I obliged Lori on hitting all the funky little shops , filled with mystic tarot cards, fair trade textiles , gay literature , vegan food stores , bath and body shops etc; I was even patient for the most part. We ate Indian food at a place we have enjoyed in the past , but this time it wasn`t quite as good. Something about Indian food , as much as I love it , restaurants rarely repeat the dish exactly as you have had it before. Well , we check into our hotel . It was kinda nice considering it was half the cost of the B&B. We relaxed , showered and dressed for our night out , and make it to the nightclub to find out that The concert was Cancelled. The lead singer apparently called out Sick ! Fuck !!! Shit .... SHIT FUCK !!!
Sorry , but this was actually the event I booked the entire weekend around. Lori wanted to see
this band , and I liked the CD she picked up , booked this first and wrapped the rest of the crappy weekend around it. SHIT ... FUCK!
  Our hotel happened to have a pool and a real jacuzzi , Lori and I whiled away the evening til we were wrinkly and waterlogged. We drove home the next day , basicly laid around the house.  What a waste of a long weekend.

  In between all the bullshit I described , their was pockets of fun.  It wasn`t all horrible.  Skiing was fun , we enjoyed one of the dinners out in vermont , the pool and
jacuzzi in the hotel was great and Lori and I , for the most part , got along well and enjoyed each
others company.

Quote

2008-02-11T16:59:00.000-08:00

After reading and watching the news , I coincidentally ran across this quote by Benjamin Franklin.

He that best understands the world , least likes it.

Its February

2008-02-04T08:05:00.000-08:00

Well my new years goals are still on target and its february. Generally by now most people have relapsed into the bad habits that prompted the yearly resolutions.
  Well , I`m still not smoking , and I lost over 11 lbs . Not easy to do considering when I quit last (8years ago or so) I probably gained about 20.
  I have a mental plan that when March 15th hits , and 6/15th and 9/15th ....That I will renew or create new resolutions. This way if I start to flatten out by march , I can re-up. I figured timing it by the beginning of the change of seasons will help gear me up esp spring / summer and all the fun things that can be done during that time.
  Last weekend prior , we went to Marilyn Manson concert. It was good , not great , but good. We have seen him 2x prior and thought the other shows had better sound and more theatrics. This was at the orpheum theatre. A small place compared to what Manson can sell out. I expected the sound to be better since the place was built for maximum auditory experience but it sounded a bit muddy.
   I also found myself complaining as I feel like I spent the entire weekend WAITING. Waiting for the girls to get ready , waiting for the T , waiting on the T for like a million stops , went to museum , felt crappy and bored quickly , waited hours to leave , walked around boston , for hours , waiting for show to start. Got to show before 7 - waited for warm up band , about 8ish.  Then waited until after 10pm ...now we were here for over 3 hours in tiny ass
little uncomfortable chairs , until Manson finally came on stage.
I couldn`t wait to go home !
It wasn`t as bad as I`m describing but hopefully next weekend will be better .

Quitting Smoking - Day 1

2008-01-28T18:37:00.000-08:00

Agggghhhhhh!!!!!

AAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

ahem.. I`m o.k - just a craving....

I did good today . . Didn`t kill anyone.. I had one cigarette at 3pm ..the only one I will ever have again I believe...

The pills do work a bit...I recall much worse anger and frustration when I quit last. But , it is not a magic pill. I still have to Quit... It doesn`t just magically clear all urges away.

But I`m hanging in there , and am confident I can do it.
KB

Going to Boston for weekend

2008-01-25T12:18:00.000-08:00

Finally , got things lined up for the winter to get some fun in. Haven`t done alot this fall or winter , mostly due to work. This weekend going to Boston and seeing a marilyn manson concert. Not everyones cup of tea , but Lori and I will have fun. Staying at her sisters and going to the museum of fine arts during the day. I love city hopping.

mid feb - lined up a trip to mount snow vermont to get some skiing in and then a night in north hampton mass (cool little college town) on the way back to see a band - The Clicks

let ya know how it went
kevin

Yes , it is a global economy

2008-01-21T14:43:00.001-08:00

World markets dive as fears of U.S. recession grow
Posted: 02:39 PM ET

LONDON (CNN) — From Paris to Mumbai to Tokyo, Monday was one of the worst days for stocks since the terror attacks of September 2001. Europe’s main three indices, the FT-100 in London, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX in Frankfurt fell between 5 and 7 percent.

Getting Healthy

2008-01-19T10:55:00.000-08:00

I signed lori and I up at the gym last week , I did a couple of light workouts so far , she has also taken advantage of the inclusive classes. Went this morning to gym , I`m weak ...gotta get back into it. I`m sore from light weights. Oh well...They also have basketball court , ran around shooting hoops , felt good.

THe last two weeks have been eating good , lost about 5-7 pounds already .. Pisses lori off.
I`ve been eating more often , just lower calorie food , and not stuffing my face at night.

Part of the reason I`ve done the above , is cause I`m starting the chantix quit smoking pill. When you quit smoking , ya get real hungry. I also need to take it with food , and I usually don`t eat breakfast til late , instead going right for coffee , so I`ve been eating breakfast in am in anticipation of starting the pill on monday.

I`m hoping , the gym (release agression ) , the wonders of this pill , and plenty of small snacks , will make quitting smoking easier , as well as preventing me from getting fat prior to the wedding.
Wish me luck

Benjamin Franklins Autobiography

2008-01-17T19:21:00.000-08:00

Finished this book last week or so , and since lent it to charlie. I didn`t think I like biographies but have now changed my mind. Granted this is an autobiography , that is actually written by the author in his own words. Benjamin Franklin is a wonderful writer.

Anyway , some of the reasons I lent it to charlie , is that BF loved to discuss and dispute various intellectual topics , science , poetry , politics etc; and was hoping it would inspire Charlie and I to get some discussions going on the message board again. Reading a topic , and thinking about it critically is one way to learn. But to discuss it , air it out , listen to differences of opinions ,
articulating critical thoughts , that is learning.

Anyway , some more of my thought on Benjamin Franklin on the Kasual Kafe History Page

The new food pyramid

2008-01-14T19:41:00.001-08:00

--This is the governments new , nonsensical food pyramid - See more at http://www.kasualkafe.com/foodanddrink.htm

I saw a cool movie - Identity

2008-01-14T14:04:00.000-08:00

Some excellent actors in twisting plot that won`t fail to surprise. Some of the actors...John Cusack ... Ray Liotta ...Amanda Peet.. Clea DuVall..Rebecca De Mornay etc;

Besides the plot ....the filming itself was wonderful... Lots of tarantino-like - refilming of same time frame with differing view points. This isn`t a scary movie perse , but the delivery and filming definitely gave it some creepy tension , as well as the setting ( in a dingy ass - out in the middle of nowhere motel) during a dark rainstorm. Yes - maybe played , but adds to the movie
Anyway - rent this movie
KB