You Gotta Love a Woman...

...who likes to go to Bass Pro.

After church tonight, we decided to run to Bass Pro Shops. I needed to provision for my fishing trip to Alaska in a week, so we thought we'd run to the greatest dude playground on earth, buy some clothes, some rain gear, and just mess around.

Angie likes to go and so does Cassie...so there were no complaints to my idea.

A couple of weird things occurred while we were there, though. First, Angie found that she loves all of the antiques that are used to decorate around the store. I think she could do without the trophies all over the place, but she loves the old trunks, globes, and other junk used to decorate around the camo, fishing and hunting gear. She saw an old gas stove and fell in love with it...

Second, Cassie gets jazzed while we are there. She acted like it was the first time out of the house - ever! She was out of control...jumping on the boats, climbing in the little river, looking at the 5-foot alligator gar in the big fish tank. She just about drove us nuts tonight.

Thirdly, I realized that I needed every hunting aid in the store. Mojo dove decoy....need it! Static poseable dove decoys...must have them! More ammo...yes! Targets, clays, new sights....thank you! I could literally spend $30,000.00 there in an instant.

That takes us to our final point. Angie and I have been dying to get a boat. A sport-fishing boat that I can fish on, that the kids can tube/knee board/ski on, and one in which we can entertain on. That type of boat that can do all three is hard to find - AND NOT CHEAP. We think we found one, and we almost bought it. Can you imagine? I went into Bass Pro to buy a couple of pairs of jeans and rain gear, and I left with a boat.

Actually, we didn't as cooler heads prevailed - this time.

I don't think we'll be as smart the next as we get closer each time.

SL

Mets vs. Yankees

A day after them NY Mets have taken sole possesion of first place in the National League East, I couldn't have said it any better...

Shea Stadium vs. Yankee Stadium

The homes to these teams are both being replaced, but the memories enjoyed will never be.

Let's Go Mets!

SL

Sorry, But I Hate You...

...State of California.

I realize that I was taught that it was wrong to hate (I should "strong dislike" instead), but I really do hate California. I'm not entirely sure why, either - especially because two of my favorite cities are San Diego and San Francisco. As for the rest of the state, I'm waiting for the big one to plunge it into the Pacific Ocean.

I think it is because California reminds me of Europe so much. That's not to say that I don't really love Europe. In fact, I love Europe and hate California. So, I'm not sure how that works, but if you haven't clicked off this page by now, allow me to try to work through this.

I'm in California this week for work and will be back next week for some more work. My hotel (one I've never stayed at before and one in which I am very comfortable) has these signs up all over the place. This sign is a real symbol of why I hate California. Why would the state legislate the fact that these signs need to be posted every five feet where people are smoking? My problem is, this sign is up in the elevator, so I'm wondering if there is some kind of steel dust from the elevator cable that is slowly turning my lung tissue into a malignant ball of tumor.

All joking aside, does the state government (and ultimately the people they represent) really believe that we are so stupid that we need signs posted to tell us that smoking is occurring? Can't I just smell the cigarette smoke and make that determination for myself? Do I really need that level of protection from the state? I don't know why this pisses me off so much, but it raises my hackles. It would seem that the state has much bigger fish to fry like incessant traffic, out of control prices, and the Governator fixing "dis and dat".

Whenever I get the impression that government thinks we are dumb asses, I get really pissed. European governments are really good at this, too. Let us make our choices, even poor choices - and hold us accountable for the results. Don't try to protect us from ourselves...

...it's not what governments are supposed to do. Even in the state of Cal-EE-forn-EE-ah.

SL

Sin Cities

Justin and I flew in from our weekend in Las Vegas yesterday, and boy are my arms tired.


In fact, EVERYTHING is tired. It may have someone to do with our 8:10AM flight, or it may have something to do with the fact that sleeping, like eating, is a secondary body function and is optional while in Vegas.


I've been to Vegas many times and it strikes me as amazing that it is ALWAYS fun - and the city is always growing. Justin picked LV as his summer weekend trip and that was fine with me; it's been a couple of years since I've been and I was definitely ready for some blackjack.


Justin and I arrived Friday morning, checked into the California and proceeded to the buffet at Main Street Station. After brunch, we headed straight for Freemont Steet to see what was going on. We walked the entire length and then some ending (starting) at the El Cortez. The El Cortez may be the scummiest of casinos downtown, but I think it has a type of charm, like an old guy smoking through his stoma kind of charm...but charm nonetheless. We ended up buying into a poker game for $25 each. I ended up playing for about an hour before losing on a half bluff with a pair of 10's. We then walked back through Freemont, looking for a cheap poker tournament for Justin. We found one at Fitzgerald's and knew where Justin was gonna be the next day. We gambled and lost some more and then headed for our show - Blue Man Group at the Venetian. I had seen the show a couple of years earlier, but I knew that Justin would love it, so I got us tickets. They rocked, and I was right, Justin LOVED it.


The next day, Justin started his poker tourney, and I started my quest. After losing a bit at Fitzgerald's, I headed over to 4 Queens. I've always enjoyed 4 Queens, so I was looking to continue that love. I wasn't disappointed. After winning some at blackjack, I headed to the craps table. I rolled very well, as did some other players and quickly won $100 in about two hours. Justin texted me that he was second in chips with five players left. I was done with the queen, so I walked over to Golden Nugget. I was about to sit down at a table when I got the page, he was done. He ended up getting knocked out and ended up in fifth place...not in the money, but not bad for a tournament in Vegas with sixteen players.


We headed over to Binion's and quickly lost a bunch from a dealer with attitude. Although she took my money, she entertained so the sting didn't seem so harsh.


We headed over to Treasure Island for dinner and for our second show, Cirque du Soleil's Mystere. It was AWESOME, especially the two "clowns" who stole the show. Several times during the acts we looked at each other and agreed we couldn't believe we were seeing people do what they were doing.


After the show, we headed over to the Mirage, as Justin wanted to see what the deal was the the Beatles stuff. We tried to get tickets for that Cirque du Soleil show, "Love", but they were sold out. We headed over the the Beatles themed club, "Revolution", but it was closed for a private party.


We headed over to Freemont Street and watched the light show.


We then headed off to an early bed time, having lost enough money and preparing for getting up at 4:30 for an early flight.



I think Justin had a great time - I know he wants to get back to check out that Beatles show and I had a great time hanging out with him.

Fortunately, I go back in October for a speaking engagement and most likely Angie will come with. We get to stay and the brand spanking new Palazzo and I think we'll take in another Cirque du Soleil show.

SL

Day 4 - Not Worth The Wait

One thing I forgot from last night (Day 3)...we stopped at Arnaud's Remoulade for a very late dinner. Arnaud's is on Bourbon St. and is one of the more famous restaurants in the French Quarter. We ate at the bar and restaurant, which is next door to the formal dining room.

The meal was OUTSTANDING. I got the Oyster Arnaud, a sampler appetizer that had 6 oysters, each prepared a different way. One was a Rockefeller, and one was a Bienville. The others I don't recall, but they were ALL good. I also had a Louisiana Taster. With it came a bowl of turtle soup. I asked if it was real turtle, or mock turtle (beef, pork or something else) and was assured it was the real McCoy. It was amazing! Even Angie thought it was awesome. Also included was a meat pie which was delicious and some crawfish etouffee. Angie got a cheeseburger, but I think she would have preferred my meal. It was really fabulous AND it was authentic.

So, back to Sunday - get away day. By now, Angie and I had done and seen everything that we wanted, save one...the beignet at Cafe du Monde. Since we were slow to get started and were up against our flight home, we took a cab to Cafe du Monde. However, it seemed like everyone in New Orleans had the same idea, and the wait was prohibitive. We decided to walk across the street to Cafe Beignet. There are a couple of them throughout the quarter and it was packed, so we thought we'd be OK. Besides, there was a line, but it wasn't too long.

So, we waited and waited and waited, and waited some more. I swear that each order took about five minutes to place, and since there was six or seven people in front of us, we must have waited 30 minutes plus to place our order. The cafe had one person who took the order and fixed the drinks, another two in the kitchen, one of which brought the food out. I ordered a breakfast sandwich, an order of beignets and an iced cafe au lait. During the process I came to the realization that the order taker was just living life to a difference cadence than my own. It was surreal.

Breakfast, however, was excellent. I prefer a Boston Cream over a beignet any day, but the breakfast really hit the spot. Afterwards, Angie and I finished up our souvenir shopping (like a Bobble Head Jesus for a friend) and proceeded to walk back to the hotel to checkout and leave for the airport. On the way, however, Angie asked to stop at some tarot card readers in Jackson Square and get her cards read. It was a fifteen minute endeavour in stupidity, but she was entertained by it, so it was worth it. The reader did mention the different pace of the south due to the heat and humidity - and it dawned on me...the service has been so bad because they all move just a little slower here. Once we had that mystery figured out, we laughed about her reading all the way home.

Thanks for traveling to NOLA with us. We had a great trip in an interesting city, but I don't see myself going back - not by choice anyway. It's one of those places that you go, you see, and you cross it off your list. That being said, if I have to go back, that's OK too. I already miss the food.

And the Hurricanes.

SL

Day 3 - We Traveled To New Orleans To Do WHAT?!?!

I said to Angie, "What is it about women that they can browse through stuff even if they have no desire to own any of it?"

I then added, "If they put plates of dog shit out, you'd probably still be browsing through here!"

The last comment didn't win me any friends when I said it, but understand the circumstances. We were in New Orleans and Angie is rummaging through a Flea Market. What's the deal with that? A Flea Market?!?!

Angie saw the market on Thursday evening and since it was closed, she made a mental note that she wanted to revisit. So, after sleeping in a little bit, Angie and I set out on foot for the French Market / Flea Market. I knew the only way I was going to deal with this was with the help of Hurricanes, so I made sure we walked up Bourbon St. first and I got fueled for the day.

We stopped in just about EVERY shop in the French Quarter, and Angie was in heaven. It is what she likes to do, so when I get the chance to make her happy, I know my role. Walk with her, don't talk too much, tell her I like everything, say 'YES' to whatever she wants, and don't mention that she saw the same crap on the previous table. In fact, when she mentioned to me that I needed to stop complaining, I knew I was in trouble and had ceased fulfilling my role (accompanying Angie to little shops is my role when we travel). I never said another negative word after that, and instead turned my focus to more Hurricanes.

We then had perhaps the only really negative experience of the week. We ended up at the River's Edge Cafe on Decatur. We waited a while to be greeted and shown to our table. Service is different in New Orleans and we had learned that already, so we didn't really note HOW long it actually took. That was until Angie asked the waitress to come back in a minute as she didn't know what she wanted. Twenty minutes later, and we still hadn't ordered. OK, so we didn't get the best waitress - her name was Esther and if you see her, run like hell. Besides, she's so slow, she won't be able to catch you. After we ordered (crab cakes and a crawfish boudin po-boy for me, cheese sticks and spaghetti and meatballs for Angie) we waited and waited and waited. During our wait, we noticed that much of the plates that were being cleared off tables still had food on them. A lot of food on them. We received our appetizers and although not terrible, they weren't very good. We then waited some more, and they brought out our food - but Angie's meal was the wrong thing. And, mine just about was the worst looking and not much better tasting food I have ever been served. I commented that I wouldn't serve it to our dogs, let alone eat it. They came back to the table and told us they were out of meatballs, at that point we cancelled Angie's order. She complained about the service and the food, but they still made us pay for my entree. Thirty dollars was a small price to pay to get the hell out of there are this point, so we were gone. On our way, we informed a party of three not to bother waiting, so in the end we hopefully cost them as much as they should have let us go for.

Just so we are clear, if you are in NOLA, stay away from the River's Edge Restaurant on 801 Decatur. Their phone number is 504.525.4478. They are horrible and you have been warned - too bad, too - their location is amazing, right on Jackson Square and Decatur St.

So, we continued around the market seeing the same stuff over any over...Mardi Gras stuff, African stuff, silver, leather, souvenirs, gator heads, repeat, repeat. Angie had a great time and really enjoyed Sterling Silvia's on French Market Place. We ended up buying a beautiful cross with Fleur De Lis on them for her cross wall. We also found the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen and were entertained with great pizza AND excellent service.

We continued to stroll down Decatur to return to a store we saw earlier in the day, and ended up at the ticket booth to the paddle wheeled steamship, Natchez. Angie thought it would be fun to take a two hour cruise down the Mississippi and see New Orleans from a different vantage point, so we bought two tickets and boarded (they have a dinner cruise, too, but we were still stuff from our pizza). We boarded, listened to some live jazz, enjoyed the breeze and had a couple of Hurricanes. The captain regaled us with information about the port, shipping, the Battle of New Orleans, the ship and other interesting facts on our South-bound journey and then we enjoyed more Jazz (and, yes, Hurricanes) on the North-bound portion.

We arrived back at the dock and were pretty much done with our long day. We walked back to the hotel, again cutting through Bourbon Street for more Hurricanes and a cigar. We saw some pretty and not so pretty women earn their beads (I guess you have to experience that while there) and called it a night.

Tomorrow: Day 4 - Not Worth The Wait

Day 2 - Tour Day

Angie and I ran into Cajun Encounters on Decatur during Day 1 and thought a day spent seeing the Louisiana sights might be fun.

The tours offered were, City Tour, Swamp Tour, Plantation Tour, and Fright Tour. In addition to these, Katrina Tours and Recovery Tours were all the rage. We each picked what we wanted to do and they had a combo where we could do one in the morning and one in the afternoon. A full day of touring.

I selected the Swamp Tour and it was suggested that we do the tour in the morning where the wildlife would be more active as the heat of the day would not yet be reached. Since I hate the heat, it sounded like a grand idea.

The tour would pick us up at hour hotel at 7:15 to get our day started. We were picked up and whisked away to the bayou and swamps north of New Orleans. We drove over Lake Pontchartrain and saw some of the devastation from Katrina. The abandoned homes were numerous, some still having the rescuers markings on them stating that they had been searched. It was erie.

We got to Honey Island Swamp and started out tour. We boarded the boat of Captain Ted, a real Cajun, and for the next two hours he drove us around the swamp and bayou giving us the skinny on the swamps, the ecosystem, Katrina, Nutria, gators, why the swamps are needed, etc.

After the tour, we were returned to Decatur for lunch. We found Central Grocery, and their speciality, the Muffuletta. The Muffuletta is an Italian hero on a Focacia bread and covered in "Olive Salad". We ordered a whole, which is about 12 inches in diameter, and began to feast. Angie promptly proceeded to remove the Olive Salad ("the best part") and I put it on mine. They were delicious.

Upon being well fed, we embarked on our plantation tour, Angie's selection. We were bused about an hour and 10 minutes West of New Orleans to the Oak Alley Plantation. The grounds of the plantation date back to 1700 when a row of 28 Live Oak Trees were planted giving the plantation its name. The house was built later that century and has a interesting history as home, plantation residence, etc. The grounds did not have the slave quarters anymore, but the history of the 113 slaves on the grounds was recorded. It was very interesting.

We were returned to our hotel and we promptly went to the pool to cool off. If memory serves, we brought a couple of Hurricanes with us.

After refreshing from our hot day, we got dressed up and went down to the hotel restaurant...Dickie Brennan's Bourbon House Seafood. Angie has an awesome seafood platter with Fried Oysters, Soft shell Crab Claws, Shrimp and Catfish. I had a Filet and a dozen raw oysters. We had an AWESOME meal and a great ending to a fun day.

Tomorrow: Day 3 - We traveled to New Orleans to do WHAT?!?!

SL

Day 1 - Shock And Awe

While we flew towards New Orleans, Angie admitted to me a small amount of trepidation around our trip. She shared that she was somewhat concerned about security in the city since Katrina, and that perhaps the city had not recovered enough for us to be safe during our weekend. The airport losing complete power upon our arrival did nothing to allay her fears.

However, upon our arrival to our hotel, I think she started getting more comfortable. The hotel we beautiful and was well located on the corners of Canal and Bourbon Streets in the French Quarter.

We had no real plans for our weekend, so we thought we would just walk and get some ideas. We started down Bourbon Street. The bars, restaurants, and small shops were expected and enjoyed...the sex shops, sex clubs and strip bars were somewhat of a surprise. I felt like I was walking through Amsterdam, and that was unfortunate...I'm not a huge fan of the sleaze.

Along the way, Angie and I ordered our first Hurricane - a cacophony of Light Rum, Dark Rum, Grenadine, Orange and Cranberry Juice. Basically, Hawaiian Punch and Jet Fuel. Yummy.

We continued to walk the Quarter and enjoyed some quiet time at the St. Louis Cathedral, where we proceeded to make fun of a street magician who made my disappearing napkin trick look polished. When he dropped his fake thumb, we were rolling.

We continued up the Quarter. Angie immensely enjoyed the architecture and I immensely enjoyed another Hurricane.

We ended up on Decatur, which is the end of the French Quarter along the Mississippi River. Angie saw the Flea Market / French Market and knew what she wanted to do before we went home. Me, I saw some restaurants and new what I wanted to do right away. We ended up at the French Market Restaurant and Bar. We had a GREAT meal of boiled shrimp, raw oysters, jambalaya, shrimp etouffee, red beans and rice, filet mignon, and....Hurricanes.

After dinner, we continued to walk around the French Quarter, and ended up at Harrah's Casino. If I was expecting a well run casino in the Las Vegas tradition, and I was, I was apt to be disappointed. There were only a couple of blackjack tables open and no available seats (although there were tons of other blackjack tables with dealers, but they were all standing around waiting for cards?!?!?). We played roulette for a little while, lost $45 and decided that our NOLA casino experience was satiated.

We walked back to the hotel, Hurricane and cigar in hand, and called it a night.

All in all, a great start to our long weekend holiday.

Tomorrow - Tour Day.

SL

Hurricane Season in New Orleans

This evening, Angie and I returned from our long weekend in New Orleans. Our weekend was categorized by awesome food, good sites, some learning opportunities, many hurricanes, a couple of poor choices, a couple more hurricanes, more good food, lots of laughs, even more hurricanes and a very healthy appreciation for each other.

We had an excellent time, but are happy to be home. Like Las Vegas, it seems to me that there is definitely a finite amount of New Orleans that one can take. Angie and I reached that point today and were happy to be coming home.

I have lots of pictures to post and lots of stories to tell. Because there is so much detail, I will start tomorrow with separate posts, one for each day.

For now, enjoy a picture of St. Louis Cathedral from the French Quarter.

SL

It's The Little Things

Before you read the post below, click here and read this one. When you are done, click BACK on your browser and come back here. Then, accept my apologies...

Cassie and I decided to spend a couple of hours together tonight. She's been hanging with mom for long durations for the last several days (Angie has a friend in from Mexico with whom she's been spending lots of time). And, since Angie and I leave for our summer weekend vacation tomorrow, I thought it would be good to have her hang with the DaDa.

So, we decided to go to Chick-Fil-A. It's her favorite fast food restaurant and I don't mind.

It's amazing how you can have a real conversation with a six year old. Now, yes, I truly believe she is exceptional, but we can really talk, laugh, whatever. We ate, we did magic (terrible magic, but magic nonetheless - you should see me do the disappearing napkin trick. David Copperfield need not fear).

However, when I grabbed the little table advert and used it as a pair of binoculars, things got very funny. I put them up to my eyes, and panned back and forth. As I did so, I said, "I'm scanning the horizon."

She grabbed the "binoculars" and repeated my motion, but she said, "Hi, VERIZON." I laughed so hard my diet coke came out of my nose. I swear that everyone in the place thought there was something seriously wrong with me. How does she know Verizon? Yes, they provide our triple play services, but she shouldn't really know that stuff.

After explaining to her what the horizon was, I told her I was gonna blog about it. She asked me not to, but obviously, I didn't listen. I'm glad I was listening at dinner, though.

Again, my apologies.

SL

Cry Freedom

Some movies touch the soul...that's probably why I love to watch them. Yeah, I love shoot 'em ups and vampire movies more than anyone I know, but sometimes I want to watch a movie that makes me feel like a better person for having invested my time.

A couple of weeks ago, Angie and I watched Amazing Grace. I blogged about it at the time, and I remember being touched by the description of the conditions aboard the slave ship. I wanted to know more, and I realized I never saw the movie Amistad, so I put in into my queue and put it to the top of the heap.

Angie and I watched it last night and I don't know if I will ever forget the experience. In fact, I am tearing up as I type this post. The brutality and the inhumanity on the ship cannot be imagined. The movie recounts how the crew threw 50 people overboard because they realized they did not have enough rations. As you can imagine, Steven Spielberg portrays the brutality as realistically as possible and it is disturbing. The story is about the fate of the 44 surviving Africans aboard the ship who revolt against their captors.

The brutality is countered by the humanity shown by the lawyer and by John Quincy Adams who end up representing the Africans in court and ultimately in the US Supreme Court.

The movie is something special. I recommend watching it to see the worst, and best, of humanity.

SL

Marissa Begs!

Open Letter to anyone who cares about Marissa...

As you know, Marissa's love for all things David Wright runs deep. Her love for him will probably be exhausted by the time she's 13, but that doesn't mean that it is real and feels like forever now!

For this reason, she is BEGGING everyone she knows to vote for David Wright for the last spot on the NL All Star Team.

Her instructions are as follows:

1) Click on his beautiful face to the right (he's the dreamy dude in the bottom right corner)
2) Click on Vote Now
3) Enter your details, and click on David Wright to vote for him
4) Enter the goofy number thing and submit.
5) Rinse, Lather and Repeat as often as possible

You'll know where to find her when the all-star game is on.

Please don't let down this poor young girl, and she thanks you from the bottom of her heart (which she gave to David months ago). Tell your friends, so they can vote too!

We'll see you in Houston, Mr. David McKenzie!!!!

SL

We Are The Champions

Actually, Dylan is the champion...the District 8 Junior Little League Champions, that is.

Our Fourth of July was spent at the ballfield.

Dylan has made all stars every season he's played Little League. The all-stars consist of a several team, double elimination district tournament. Yesterday, his team (the Garner Little League Junior Division All-Stars) went into the finals of the tournament without a loss. That meant that they had to win either game of a double header to take the district.

Game one was an awesome fight, where they gave up a lead and then clawed back. Garner was down 1 run when Dylan came up with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and smoked a line drive to left center that scored the tying run. The team then self destructed in the eighth (extra innings for Little League) and they lost 13-6.

After a 45 minute break, game two started with Dylan on the mound. He quickly dispatched the North Garland batters and then had an RBI double to start the scoring. Dylan ended up pitching a fine five innings and left the game with a 6-2 lead. He had another RBI hit during the game, and all in all had an awesome double header.

It was 100 degrees out and Dylan caught the entire first game and pitched most of the second. His all white uniform looked orange by the end of the day from all the dirt and sweat.

Next Thursday starts the Sectionals. Should the advance past that, then State. It would be cool to play ball through August.

SL

She's So Nosey

I've been traveling a lot and nothing ever beats getting home. I love returning to my home, and more importantly, my family. Hugs and kisses and "DADDY'S HOME!" usually greet me at the door...and sometimes, a surprise or two.

This most recent trip is no exception. I returned from Salt Lake City yesterday afternoon and as I walked in the house, Cassie shrieked. She ran to the door, kissed me and told me she had to show me a surprise.

I put my bags away and walked into the kitchen where the kids and Angie were sitting. Also there were Justin and my mother-in-law as everyone was having lunch. I said hello to everyone, but I didn't see any surprise. I could tell something was wrong, though, as everyone was acting just a little "goofy". Angie, especially, had a weird little smirk on...

Then - BAM! I saw it. I noticed a small diamond sticking out of the side of her nose. She finally gathered the courage to get what she's been talking about. She got her nose pierced. She's been talking about it for months now (since her 40th birthday) and I was supportive of it all the way. (Truth be told, I think they are totally sexy). We'll she got it and the starter diamond is a little big for my taste but it looks very cool on her.

The only mistake I made is that I led with the fact that I thought it was too big...

...not the fact that I think it it makes her look even sexier than she already looked. I've been making up for that fact since.

And, now it means I can go get that tattoo that I've been wanting.

SL

A Road Less Travelled

It's amazing the crap you'll do when your bored. I am waiting in St. Louis International Airport for my next flight so I thought I'd take a look at a couple of other Blogspot pages. There is a ton of crap out there. It pretty much validates my stance that blogging is a total waste of time. (funny enough, I posted that post back in 2006 and it still applies).

I did, however, run across something pretty cool in the morass of garbage...the Travbuddy.com website. The site basically allows you to create a map marking all of the places that you've traveled to. My map is to the right. With a free account, you can update it as it changes. For example, over the course of the next couple of months, I'll be able to add Alaska and Louisiana. My one rule - I would have had to leave the airport for the country/state to count.

When I look at the map, I am struck by how much I HAVEN'T been to. I always thought I was really well traveled, but looking at the map (and the 10% blurb) makes me think that there is still a ton of places to see.

I guess the next website I visit is AA.com, to book some travel.

SL

Customer Served

I've posted previously about the lack of customer service or product quality that I have encountered. Because of that fact, I thought it only fair that I post about an excellent customer satisfaction experience that Angie and I recently experienced.

Back in March, I posted about our change from Time Warner to Verizon for all things digital (phone, Internet, and cable). In that post, I commented that the change was precipitated by the lack of customer service exhibited by TWC, more than the service that Verizon had to offer (although, in truth, the fiber optic Internet is FAAAAAAAST!)

However, now that we've had an opportunity to utilize the customer service of Verizon, the change seems to be validated. Back in March, when Verizon connected the house to the fiber at the curb, they unwittingly and unknowingly punctured our sprinkler line. I didn't realize it at the time, and it wasn't until a walk through of the sprinkler system that I discovered the problem. As I saw the water bubbling up from right when the Verizon line came up from the ground and entered the garage, I knew we had a problem.

I told Angie that I'd love to let Verizon know about it, but there is no way they were going to do anything about it. In fact, I was sure they were going to basically say, "Sorry, but there is really nothing we can do about it." I told Angie that if she was interested in calling them to do so, but I wasn't going to waste my time.

Well, a couple of weeks ago she did just that. She called their customer service and they immediately scheduled a contractor to come out and fix the line. She acted all smug because she argued that they would fix it from the beginning. They did - she was right, and I was wrong. This morning, about a week since the repair, a customer service representative called to make sure everything was satisfactory. The perfect conclusion to a very successful customer service interaction.

I guess I've just become too cynical. My livelihood depends on how well not only my engineers serve the customer, but how well I take care of the customer. It seems that Verizon understands this fact, as well.

SL

Working Weekend

On Friday evening the kids (Dylan and Marissa) arrived home from a week away at church camp in Corpus Christi. After catching up on sleep, the work began.

We started slow, as to not burn ourselves out. Saturday's mission: Put up Dylan's ceiling fan. Dylan has been waiting for me to get up on the ladder and hang it - his room get's pretty warm as it is on a sunny corner. As for me, I've been putting it off for two reasons; 1) Hanging ceiling fans is a real pain (I've done six others in the house) and 2) Dylan has a high vaulted ceiling which means I was going to have to go high on the ladder. I have a serious fear of heights, so I was not looking forward to that.

However, as I took my first couple of steps up, it was no big deal. I seriously recommend that if you do not like going up on a ladder, buy the Little Giant. It is the most stable ladder I've ever been on and has freed me up to go where I wouldn't be able to go on a regular ladder.

Because this was my seventh fan (I'm thinking of starting a business hanging ceiling fans) and Dylan was helping, it went up with little difficulty, even if it took several hours. Mission accomplished for Saturday.

Sunday was a different story. I've been wanted to "reclaim" my garage for a while now. In fact, I've been wanting to get the camper out so we can shake it down and use it a couple of times before summer is over. Mission: Clean out the garage, get the camper out, open it up and clean it, and put everything back in its place.

We started after church. It was hot, but I had everyone helping. Dylan and I basically took everything out from one half of the garage and put it on the driveway. Marissa and a friend of hers helped, too. We shop vaccuumed the floor and started on the other side. I finally went through my remaining books that were stored in the garage (Angie took a ride to Half-Price Books and got $24 for all of the ones I no longer wanted). In the end, the garage is completely clean and mostly clutter free. However, we didn't get the camper out...we ran out of time. Since the garage is clean, we can just pull it out next weekend and give it a good overhaul.

I don't know about the kids, but I am all-over sore today. I feel like I worked out a ton yesterday.

The pain won't last, but neither will the order.

SL

Strange Visitor II

In November, I posted about my nephew visiting from NY as he was passing through on a job...yesterday, he did it again.

Paul called me a couple of days ago and said he was coming to pick up a truck in Dallas to drive it back to NYC. "OK", I said. "Tell your boss that your uncle will pick you up, and take you to the truck. And, tell him that you are staying at your uncle's the night and will get on the road early the next day."

He did, and that's what we did.

Now, you have to understand, the kids are completely enraptured by Paul. They think he's cool, funny, and fun. The fact is, he is all of those things. In fact, Paul is so cool that even Justin came over last night to visit with him. They ended up going out and hanging at Justin's apartment until 2am...so much for getting an early start on the road.

Since Dylan and Marissa are at camp, they missed all of the fun, but Cassie played with Paul as much as she could. She is crazy about him, too. She looked VERY sad when he left.

I think I may have seen a tear in her eye. I tried to console her - she'll see Paul in August and who knows, with his jobs he may be here again soon...

...his love of Sonic may demand it.

SL

How Sweet The Sound

Angie and I watched Amazing Grace last night. It is the story of William Wilberforce who, as a member of parliament in the early 1800's, fought for the abolition of slavery in Britain.

The movie is fantastic. It is the story of a principled man who desires to change the world, who fights against the popular idea, who is attached as treasonous, who overcomes an illness and ends up persevering. The story is both uplifting in its message as much as it is condemning of the practice of slavery.

Just hearing that a ship which originally leaving Africa with 600 men, women and children would land in the New World with 200 surviving distresses me. I cannot fathom the brutality and the inhumanity. Yet, I wonder if I would have had the same courage as Wilberforce.

In fact, I don't have to wonder if I have the courage - I can look to my actions today to see if I am willing to stand up to popular culture for what I believe to be right. Unfortunately, I find myself lacking and it's convicting. We've been going through a message series at church that also has been addressing this issue. It's been called, "Jesus For President" and the main message is that it doesn't matter if we vote Republican or Democratic, if we are truly following the Kingdom of God with Jesus as our leader. A takeaway from the series is, "We vote every day with our actions." To paraphrase - do others see the way I live, notice that it is different and special, and know that I live my life for God?

Unfortunately, I don't think I can honestly answer this in the affirmative. Thank Him for His amazing grace!

SL

Pictures From Beantown

Dylan posing with the Green Monster. The Monster is Fenway Park's version of left field. Dylan wanted seats up on the Monster, but they were upwards of $2500 PER TICKET!!!!
Paul Revere's House from 1700. Paul and his second wife lived here with some of their children. Paul Revere had 16 children, 8 with each of two wives. 11 grew to adulthood.
The Old North Church. It is from the steeple that the lanterns were hung to warn Paul Revere how the British soldiers would be arriving..."Two if by land, one if by sea". The two laterns still hang in the steeple and the rest is history.

The gun deck of the USS Constitution. I cried when I first saw the ship. If you want to know why, read the book "Six Frigates" by Ian Toll. Over 300 men and boys have died serving on this ship. The victories of this ship (33 wins, zero losses in battle) helped shape our nation.

John Hancock's tombstone. Imagine Bill Gates willing to give up both his fortune and his life for liberty...John Hancock was the richest man in the colonies and was an ardent patriot. With amazing men like him, it is no wonder the young nation prospered.

The Old State House. It is from this balcony that the Declaration of Independence was read to the people of Boston. Abigail Adams witnessed and declared that Independence was Born here.

The view of Boston from the harbor as we left on our whale watching cruise. Boston has a beautiful skyline AND is a total walking city. Dylan and I walked basically the entire downtown area.

Humpback mother and calf leaving us after putting on a heck of a show. For 20 minutes the calf breached, jumped, spun, and slapped the water. What a show!

Green Monster

I haven't had a lot of time to blog, but I wanted to share my weekend with Dylan...

As previously discussed, I've decided to go away for weekends with each of the kids this summer - sort of a way to make up for all the travel that I've been doing. Why not use some of those hard earned miles and spend some alone time with each of the kids doing what they chose? Marissa and I were in NY last month, and Dylan and I were in Boston last weekend.

All I have to say is WOW!!! We had a blast. We arrived to cold and rainy Boston on Friday afternoon. After checking into the hotel, we discovered the subway and proceeded to get lost. Although we followed the instructions we were given, the stop was wrong and we ended up having to get back into the subway to get to Fenway. At one point, Dylan suggested just following those in Red Sox garb, and we did. And, he was right, we got to the stadium and saw the Green Monster in person. Although it was cold, we had a GREAT time. The Red Sox got slaughtered, but since neither of us are big fans, it was fine. Dylan has committed that he wants to go to ever major league park in his lifetime. After Houston this summer, he'll have four (Houston, New York Mets, Texas Rangers and Boston).

On Saturday, we decided to see the historical sites of Boston. We again to the subway into the city and purchased a trolley tour. The trolley served two purposes; 1) Show us what we might like to see and, 2) act as a taxi service as we were allowed to board and disembark all day. We took the tour around the city (about an hour) and then proceeded to Dylan's first "want to see", Paul Revere's House. After that we walked and walked and walked (Boston has the "Freedom Trail" marked on the sidewalks and streets, so it is easy to find your way to the monuments); Old North Church, Cobb's Hill Burial Ground, the USS Constitution, Bunker Hill Monument, Old South Meeting House, Granary Burial Ground, etc. etc. We had a blast. One of Dylan's interests is history and he loved every second. We had a tremendous time taking pictures, learning about history and talking about our day.

We decided to have dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, which Dylan really enjoyed, particularly the wall of symbols along the entire back wall. We returned to our hotel and collapsed.

Sunday, we decided to take it a little more easy. We took a four hour whale watching cruise. After about an hour trip out, we saw them right away. We ended up seeing perhaps seven or eight humpbacks and a couple of glimpses of the more shy Minke Whale. Included in our sightings was a mother/calf pair of humpbacks, and like most children the calf wanted to play. He breached, did turns and slapped the water for about twenty minutes. It was perhaps one of the coolest experiences that either of us had ever had and it was awesome to be able to share it with Dylan. When he got excited and told me that it was one of the coolest things he's ever seen, I knew we had hit pay dirt.

We returned to the hotel, picked up our bags and departed for the airport. We had several hours to wait before our flight, but it was worth it. Another GREAT weekend was had.

Unfortunately, I had to leave for Orlando not 12 hours after returning home from Boston, so I haven't had a chance to tell anyone about the trip. I'll post some pictures as soon as possible.

SL

Red Monster

My Dell XPS 720 Red arrived today...

It is a monster of a computer and right now I couldn't be more pleased. Angie's computer died a couple of weeks ago and it was time to upgrade, so I got a new gaming machine and she gets the more than capable machine I had been using. We'll be replacing some components in her old one and will be making it available to the kids. We are convinced that there the ones who messed hers up anyway.

The amazing thing about the new computer is that it is HUGE!!! The full metallic tower is about a square yard in size and is about 10 inches wide. AND - it's got these cool red LED lights accross the top and along the middle. It is perhaps the coolest looking computer I have ever seen.

And, as I play the Call Of Duty 4 Demo...it's got enough guts to pull it off.

SL

Problems With The TV Reception

I'm gonna go off on product quality in this post...if you aren't interested hearing me vent, go elsewhere now.

What the hell is up with the way things are made today, specifically the quality in which they are made? Have we become such a disposable society that it doesn't matter how long things last, we'll just throw it away and get a new one when they no longer work? I see that attitude somewhat with the kids and frankly, I think we all have it to some degree. If we didn't, Wal-Mart wouldn't be such a retailing force. At the end of the day, price is king and if we get an inexpensive piece of crap, then at least it was cheap. For example, I know for a fact that Wal-Mart "forces" their suppliers to keep prices down. How can a supplier do this? There is only one way, reduce the cost of producing the product. More often than not, that means quality...use a lesser material, perhaps take out a couple of features, get the product from a cheaper part of the world, etc. I learned last semester that Nike decided not to do business with Wal-Mart because they couldn't meet pricing demands while maintaining quality standards.

So, that takes me to the title of my post...Angie treated me to an Emerson 32" flat panel HDTV for my office. We gave the 19" we had previously purchased to Justin for his new apartment. It was the final piece to my man-cave and I was very pleased with it - for about 45 days.

The other day, the TV wouldn't turn on. I unplugged it for a while, but that didn't help. I went online and found other people with the same problem. Some kind of defect in the TV. So, I call the Customer Service center. The rep took my details and gave me the number for a service center (the TV is covered under the warranty - 1 year, and 90 days on labor). The problem was that the number she gave me wasn't for the service center, rather their home office. After getting that straightened, I learned that the service center was a hour away by car. So, that means to get my 45-day old TV fixed, I'd have to basically take a half day from work.

I called Wal-Mart to see if I could get an exchange. Nope! 15 days is the limit there.

So, this morning I buckled my TV in the front seat and took the hour drive to the service center. They have my TV, and I currently have a 13" standby in my office.

I can't keep but thinking that had I spend a little more money on a quality TV from a quality retailer that I wouldn't have had to spend the morning, let along the $20 in gas, to service a BRAND NEW TV. If I would have paid a lot of more money (for like a Sony), would I have gotten better quality? It's why I still go to my dealer for maintenance on my truck...I've convinced that they know my truck better than anyone and by adhering to the manufacturers recommended maintenance schedule, I am prolonging my investment. You can argue that point, but my truck looks and rides like the day I got it.

I'm a little miffed by how far the service center was, as well. Truth be told, I'd pay a little more for convenience...and if I could have repaired the TV on my own for $50, I would have elected to do that locally. My time is just more valuable to me.

Any one else ever think about this? I think for now on, I'm going to buy the things I want to last for a while from somewhere other than a discounter.

I'm just so tired of buying garbage and having to accept it.

SL

School Daze

As of tonight, I'm back in school - and it sucks.

In the short couple of weeks that school's been out, I really got used to not having to go. I've sat with family, played games, worked late, whatever - I could do whatever I wanted to as I didn't have to get to class.

Unfortunately, if tonight is any indication, this class is going to be a continuation of really bad courses at UTD. Starting with last semester, my business courses have been the opposite of compelling. The professors have been bad, and worse, haven't really seemed to give a crap. This class will make it three in a row. I'm in the process of fighting a mistake in a grade from last semester and I can't seem to find anyone at the university that seems to give a crap that a mistake may have been made. Tonight, we met our professor who seemed to think that International Business applies only to India, China, Egypt and Brazil. Not sure how those last two got in there, but they did.

He also seemed to be real keen on reading slides. If I have one major pet peeve it is when a presenter reads a slide to me. It is the number one public speaking no-no and he did it all night. If I wanted someone to read to me, I'd ask Cassie to read one of her books. At home, lots of fun...at school - not my idea of a good time. The good thing is that after the first test I'll be able to judge if I even need to go to class. Unfortunately, I really like a class that engages so I can be excited about it. However, being this close to my degree and being so fed up with school, I'll take an easy grade as a substitution, even if the professor takes attendance.

So, if you are looking for me on Thursday evenings, I'll be in class - BA 4371, International Business. Or, I may be home.

SL

I'm A Slab

This morning, I had the pleasure of meeting a Mr. Oh. He's got a colorful personality, yet likes to lie around and get walked on all day. His full name: Pat E. Oh.

The workers are here ripping up the lawn, capping some sprinkler heads, and hammering wood borders in the ground in preparation for our new patio to be poured. As part two of our home improvements (for part one, click here), we are beginning to focus on the outside. The third part will be a fence, but we are going to hold off on that for a while. The fourth part, which may be sometime next year, or later, would be to cover and screen in the patio so we can enjoy grilling, sitting, an outdoor fireplace, and a hot tub. That will be cool.

Angie picked out a stained concrete sort of rust in color. Today, they border the space (about 25 feet wide by 12 feet deep), lay the rebar, and pour the concrete. In a couple of weeks they come back to stain and seal. I'll probably put up some paving stones to create a nice edge, as well. I'll post a picture as soon as it's done.

It should look nice and we are really looking forward to enjoying our big back yard. We've been looking for some outdoor furniture and also high on my list is a huge honking gas grill. It should be pleasant in the early morning and late at night - but you'll probably never find us out there during the day, at least not until winter.

I can't want to walk all over Pat.

SL

Not So Mighty Movie

We were very much looking forward to watching "A Mighty Heart". We had heard good things about it and we were really interested in the story....unfortunately, the movie is as boring as can be.

The story is about the wife of Daniel Pearl, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal who is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan post 9/11. You'll probably remember, his kidnapping and subsequent beheading were one of the several that had been posted on the Internet. I confess that I saw the video, and I will never forget the inhumanity, the brutal-ness, the evil and depravity, the disgust that I felt. I remember crying after watching it, wishing I hadn't.

With that, I expected to movie to be the riveting story of what had happened. Instead, the movie played like watching a group of people eating dinner at the dining table. At some point in the movie, the three of us (Angie, her mom, or myself) had fallen asleep. I fell asleep early, Angie's mom in the middle, and Angie at the end. If our slumber is any indication, the movie just wasn't compelling.

Too bad, because the story certainly was...

SL

Only Funny Once...

...but once is enough. Enjoy.



SL

Asking For Directions

Face it - guys don't ask for directions. We could be so lost, but we're not going to stop and ask for help. If our wives want directions, they can ask for it, but they better not do it in front of us.

Fortunately, this post isn't about BEING lost, it is about WATCHING "Lost". I've been bitten by the Lost bug, and after four years of avoiding it, I've been taken in. A colleague allowed me to borrow the first season on DVD and I've previously completed the first five discs (20 episodes). The remaining disc (four episodes) was completed on my iPod as I flew back from Washington DC.

So far, the show has been very interesting, if not a little weird. We've got 48 people marooned on an island in the Pacific, we have a crazy French woman and other strangers on the island, an unidentified passenger kidnapping pregnant women, we've got an unidentified monster running around, polar bears, some weird capsule, guys that just stole a child from the island, and a myriad of characters all with their own ghosts and skeletons. And that's just the first couple of episodes. I'm told that by the third season things are running very well. I can't believe it gets even better. I love the way the show bounces back and forth between the island and the characters lives prior to the crash.

I already have season two next in my queue, and next to ship.

Just don't tell me what happens in season four. Just like with asking for directions, I don't want your help.

SL

Happy Birthday, America

This week, or at least the beginning of this week, I am in our nation's capital for a conference. The conference is being held at the brand spanking new Gaylord National Hotel. This is the second time that I've had an opportunity to help open a Gaylord resort. They are amazing. More like little cities than large hotels. This one has a huge (read: IMMENSE) window that opens to the National Harbor. It is a site.

On the flight in, and on the drive over to the hotel, I saw the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, The Capitol, and a bunch of other assorted unidentified "monuments". I forgot how beautiful Washington DC is, as it's been several years since I've been here. I'm thinking a family trip is in order within the next couple of years, so the kids can get a glimpse.

While here, I turned 39 years old (Monday, May 19). This is not the first time I've blogged about being on the road for my birthday - a couple of years ago I spent the day in Cincinnati for one day meetings. This one isn't so bad, although I sure would have like to be home for Angie's arrival back to Dallas from Mexico. The reason it hasn't been so bad is because of what I did last night - I had dinner at the Capitol View Restaurant, which is aptly named since it looks at the Capitol Building. If you've never seen the dome, it is awesome. Really pretty, especially lit up at night. We had drinks on the veranda of the 11th story overlooking the Capitol.

The dinner was a vendor event to which I had been invited. The guest speaker was the former White House Pastry chef, Roland Mesnier. Not only did he regale us with an amazing desert, but with funny stories from the past 25 years in the White House, encompassing five administrations. Two of the funnier stories were how Rosalind Carter wanted to hire him, but he wasn't an American Citizen, so he was whisked to the State Department. After answering ALL of the Citizen test questions incorrectly, they asked him who the president was. He knew that, he was just at the White House. With that, he was granted US Citizenship.

The other is a story was about how Ronald Reagan was eating chocolate mousse out of a huge mixing bowl with a large serving spoon. He dropped some on his shirt, and proceeded to eat if off his chest. I'd do the same thing, but to hear the "Great Communicator" do it is very funny.
We had a great meal, good conversation, funny stories, and were given a signed copy of Mesnier's memoirs on our way out.


All in all, not a horrible birthday.

SL

Littlest Lessard - Epilogue

The Littlest Lessard is over, done, kaput!

I've paid my debt for getting badly beaten as Marc and Michele arrived in Dallas at about 4:30pm CST on Friday. Cassie and I were there to meet them and off we were. As a sidebar, it was Marc's third flight...THIRD FLIGHT IN HIS LIFE. His only other flying was a round trip to California on vacation when he was seventeen. That's over twenty five years ago!!! Needless to say, Michele had finger marks in her arm where he was squeezing too hard.

Upon collecting their bags, we returned home to pick up Dylan and Marissa who elected to spend the evening with their aunt and uncle that talk funny. After a quick tour of the house, we had a nice meal at Dickey's Barbeque Pit. We were then off to the Mesquite Championship Rodeo to see the relatives of all the meat we had just eaten. The rodeo was actually not very good that evening, but we had front row seats and had dirt in our pockets. We had a great time, even when Marc came out of the gift shop with a ginormous set of longhorns for me (my mistake for mentioning to him that I had always wanted a set).

We returned home and visited and played Bananagrams for several hours.

Saturday was a bit more sedate. After eating the many crepes that Michele made (hadn't had crepes in a VERY LONG time). We shopped and we shopped. We went to Bass Pro, Boot Town, Chick-Fil-A, Half Price Books, and Macy's. After a little wait, we were off to Pappasito's. Everyone got the DelMar, although Marc ruined his by getting some weird shrimp variant. The meal was OUTSTANDING. I think Marc and Michele enjoyed it as it lived up to its hype.

After dinner, another run to a bookstore, and Cold Stone Creamery we were done. I was literally done. Hadn't slept much all weekend, and I was ready for bed. So, after opening some birthday presents, watching Cassie's video and looing at pictures we went to bed.

We all flew out together. Marc and Michele to NY and me to DC.

SL

Special Delivery

The dogs are going crazy, which can only mean one thing...someone is at the door. I look out the window and the FedEx truck is pulling away. There's an envelope at my front door. It's from New York City and it's addressed to me.

I open it, and there's a business sized envelope within. On one side, it says, "WHATEVER COULD IT BE????" On the back it says, "OPEN IT ALREADY! CAREFULLY! NO SCISSORS! SERIOUSLY!"

Now, I'm thinking I've got a letter bomb but the envelope doesn't have much of anything in it. How about some Anthrax...could be. Whatever it is, I'm a little nervous.

I open the envelope with a letter opener. Inside there is a zip lock baggy...my worst fears are realized. I'm going to be dead inside of two days.

I pull the baggy out and it contains a strange brown granular substance. I expected Anthrax to be white. On the baggy is ominously written:

REAL

SHEA STADIUM DIRT!

LEFT FIELD WARNING TRACK

MAY 14, 2008

How cool is that? Thanks, Jill. I appreciate the piece of Shea which, after this season, will be no more.

SL

Kindergarten Rocks!

Here is an excerpt from tonight's program. Cassie was understandably proud of herself. Apparently, the kids have been working on this for months. Apparently, they'll do anything to get some participation at a PTA meeting.



It's my kid, my camera, and my blog. If you don't like it I can recommend someone elses lame-o site (Joey).

SL

Adiós, Mi Amor

Today something happens that has never happened before. My lovely wife will be boarding a plane without me to take a trip that does not involve me. She is leaving us to visit some friends in Mexico City.

We have good friends that have taken an expatriation package to work in Mexico for a couple of years. Angie and I have wanted to visit them since they've left, but apparently Angie got impatient of waiting for my calendar to clear. So she, along with another girlfriend, are leaving today for five days in one of the largest cities in the world.

Although Angie is free to travel and make plans as she wishes, three things are happening which make this not the ideal weekend. 1) My brother and sister are coming as part of their Littlest Lessard winnings. They arrive tomorrow and depart on Sunday. 2) I leave with my brother and sister (albeit it to a different destination). I have a trip to Washington DC for a conference, so although Angie returns home on Monday, I won't see her until Wednesday night. 3) Monday is my birthday, so I won't get to see my baby (truth be told, I would be on the road anyway, but that doesn't stop me from "guilting" her into better presents).

Actually, I am pleased that she's traveling - it indicates that her fear is being replaced with her desire to go places, see friends, etc. This is a good development for my wanted trip to Europe for a second honeymoon.

Have a good and safe trip, sweetie. See you on Wednesday.

SL

All Shook Up

I know that when Angie isn't interested in a movie I want to watch (which often involves Vampires, Zombies, or other monsters), I watch it when she's not around. Cloverfield was just such a movie the other day. Dylan saw it in theaters and said that it stunk - he hated the handheld camera thing. I think that the movie was made without much use of a script in an attempt to make it as realistic as possible, since it is filmed from the point of view of a handheld video camera from the participants. If you've seen The Blair Witch Project, you know what I'm talking about.

The result? It is OUTSTANDING! The movie is creepy, scary and really entertaining. You won't see Academy Award acting and you'll need to get past the fact that there are about 100 times in the movie where any rational person would have left the video camera behind, but other than that, the movie is very compelling. The monster is believable, the action is awesome, and you couldn't have a better backdrop than the island of Manhattan. The beginning attack scene with the collapse of the Woolworth Building is reminiscent of the September 11th attacks. The destruction of the Brooklyn Bridge is amazing, the bombing of the monster is very cool, and the monster is shown in much more detail than I would have expected.

I could see why the camera shake could be annoying, particularly on the big screen, but at home it was fine. Really creative, and well done. If you are into that kind of flick, you'll very much like it.

Now, what is up with the name, Cloverfield?

SL

I Own You

They say that if you want to know who owns your assets, just look to whom the monthly payment is going. With that, as of today, Angie and I own our cars. Not just one of the two, but BOTH. I made the final payments on both of our loans today. We planned the loan durations to be co-terminus - so they are both paid off together. Now, we've just gotten a nice monthly raise in that we no longer have those payments.

Angie's van is a 2002 Dodge Caravan with no bells and whistles. In fact, it has a little 4-cylinder engine and has almost 100K miles. But, the body is in fine condition and we're hoping we can get an additional three years with it. That will allow us to meet our committment to the building campaign at church AND save a years worth of payments. However, she is having some engine trouble, and we may alter our plans to get her in something more reliable sooner than planned - just don't tell her that!

Mine is a 2005 Silverado and has less than 45K miles. Add to the fact that I just don't drive as much as I used to because I get to work from home and I'm hoping I get another ten years with it. Again, we may alter that as mine doesn't have any bells or whistles, isn't big enough in the back seat for two tall teenagers, and may be used as a learning/borrow car for those teens that are closing in on driving age in the next couple of years.

Whatever we do we are going to enjoy not having a car payment for a while. When we went through a budgeting exercise several years ago, getting out from car payments was a big goal. We've reached that, and it feels good. Literally, the ONLY debt we carry is on one credit card (80% of the balance is reimbursible from work) and our mortgage. It's time to redo our budget and now the payment we'll be making is to our savings account.

Talk about liberating.

SL

AMA's Got Vultures?

We've arrived home yesterday with no difficulties. The "2nd Semi-Regular Lessard-O-Rama Slumberfest and Mets Game" is history. The weekend that was "all about Marissa" is complete, and I think she had a great time - even if she did interpret literally a comment from me about my family being vultures and not saving me any chicken parmigiana.

In fact, it was interesting to see how Marissa interprets things all weekend. While we were waiting on line for security, I asked Marissa if she wanted to "cut the line" (or more accurately, use the frequent flyer line). She said no and we waited with everyone else. However, within a minute (and see a couple of other people "cut"), she changed her mind and said she wanted to cut. Things like that were fun to watch. She seemed real interested in understanding the dynamics of my family - something she doesn't get to witness often.

Marissa and I arrived into a rainy NY LaGuardia on Friday night about 90 minutes late. AMA was waiting for us and whisked us home. There was family galore there and we visited and laughed and fought. It was great. We played Bananagrams until 2:00AM which is amazing, since we are all so competitive, games typically result in fighting. That wouldn't happen until the second night of Bananagrams.

The Met game was fun, as we got to watch Johan Santana pitch and David Wright hit. The Mets won 12-6 and we had a great time. AMA, Michele and Jill made loot bags including buttons, key chains, beads, tattoos and Mets scratch off tickets. Who doesn't love $5.00 hotdogs and $8.00 beers? We got a good glimpse of Citi Field, the Mets' new home starting next season. We had pizza and Wright Castles and stayed up late for the second night, as well.

Sunday came and we departed for Dallas. The weekend was fantastic, but way too short.

SL

Meeting My Son-In-Law

Today begins my summer trips with just me and the kids. This weekend is Marissa's turn and we are headed to New York City to see her future husband, David Wright (star third baseman for the New York Mets).

Besides a Met game, we have two family slumber parties ("SlumberMetsFests") scheduled, where 15 of my closest family and I will pack into AMA's two bedroom house. I got dibs on the shower. I'm sure pizza, White Castles (which I will call "Wright Castles for the weekend"), games, and good natured (and some not so good natured) ribbing will be had, as well. I'll blog with all of the details.

Following Marissa's weekend, Dylan and I will be going to Boston in June to see the Green Monster and Old Ironsides.

July will be Angie and I in New Orleans for some food, drink, music, and most importantly - some alone time.

July will also see Justin and I try our luck in Las Vegas. A couple of shows and his introduction to how hard it is to make, but how easy it is to lose will occur.

August will complete my pleasure travels with two trips...a week in Alaska sight seeing and fishing with a friend from work; a week with Cassie at AMA's in NY, while I work.

All of these trips are an attempt to spend some time with the kids (time that I lose when I travel on business) and it is somewhat poetic to use the miles I earn on those trips to be able to travel with the kids.

It promises to be one busy and fun summer.

SL

Who's War is it Anyway?

It is often said that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. It's hard to watch "Charlie Wilson's War" and not think that we could very easily make the same mistake in Iraq.

I want our boys to come home, but I don't want to leave the same power vacuum that we left in Afghanistan after we helped the Afghan Mujahideen defeat the Soviets. "Charlie Wilson's War" is the amazing story of Charlie Wilson (played by Tom Hanks) who was a Representative from Texas who, almost single-handedly, helped fund our backing of the Afghan freedom fighters who were fighting against the Soviet Union at the end of the cold war.

It's one of those movies that doesn't hide all of the personal weaknesses and personality flaws of the main character, yet you like him anyway. In fact, you like him because he is flawed and because of his principals. Yes, he may take drugs, drink to much, cavort with any woman he can, but he is also moved by the injured children and the poor women of Afghanistan. You have to love a man like that. Because he acts with passion - both good and bad.

Angie and I enjoyed this movie a great deal. We commented at the end that two hours after starting the movie, we were smarter for watching it.

I just hope that we don't abandon Iraq, and "let the crazies take over" as we did in Afghanistan. If you aren't aware, and the movie touches upon it briefly, it is likely that our abandonment of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the Soviet army is how the Taliban took power and how the country became a training ground and planning location for al-Qaida.

At the end of the movie, after we spent billions helping the Afghans fight the Soviets, Wilson tries to get a measly one million dollars to build schools. He is told, "no one gives a shit about schools". Too bad we were so short sighted.

Let's hope we learn from that history.

SL

At Least It Was Short

Last night, Angie and I watched "Next" starring Nicolas Cage as a Vegas magician who can see two minutes into his future. I wish I could see 90 minutes into mine, so I could have avoided wasting my time with this movie. Next...

SL

Stone Cold Movie Review

This will begin a new post category - movies. Angie and I love to watch movies, although she prefers the theater, and I prefer home (see my post about the theaters). Interestingly enough, we were supposed to have a date night on Saturday evening and I asked Angie if she wanted to go to the movies. She told me that she won't go on weekend evenings anymore. I guess I'm rubbing off on her. But, that's ok...since school isn't in session, we typically watch a lot of movies at home after the kids go to bed. It's our opportunity to get to the backlog in our Blockbuster queue.

I was up late the other evening watching a movie. I was messing around with my iPod at the same time, and happened to be online because of it. A family member IM'ed me and asked what I was doing. When I explained, she asked what movie. I told her, and she said she hadn't heard of it. In fact, as I thought about it, if it hadn't been in my queue (and thus in my DVD player) I wouldn't have heard of it. I must have seen a commercial and added into the queue without much thought. And, since our queue is so backlogged, I must have added it a long time ago.

Then, when looking at the movie description (upon it's arrival in my mailbox), I couldn't imagine why I added it in the queue. It was full of no-names, save one - Stone Cold Steve Austin. The professional wrestler/beer aficionado, who is NOT known for his nearly winning the Oscar for best actor. In fact, I feared that if his acting is as poor as his wrestling/acting, we would be in for a late night.

However, as I got into "The Condemned" I started enjoying it. It clearly earns its R-rating for language and violence, but the story is complex, even if the acting is not. It's about an Internet guy who "collects" 10 of the baddest dudes and dudettes on the planet (all condemned to execution and living on death row in prisons around the world) and drops them on an island for the most extreme reality show of all time - a fight to the death with the last one alive getting freed and gaining some cash. It's a social commentary about the viewers of such a program (all of whom paid $50 to subscribe to the web broadcast). I admit that I would likely be one of those subscribers, since I love Survivor, Amazing Race and Hell's Kitchen. It's got good action and a compelling story.

Best of all, Mr. Austin isn't asked to speak very much.

SL

Chimney No More

On Sunday I celebrated one year of not smoking. I remember my last cigarette like it was my last...well, cigarette. I had gotten home from a business trip in California (I had not smoked the entire trip) and we went up to a neighbors to say Hi. She is a smoker, and I bummed one from her.

I don't remember enjoying that smoke (it was menthol), and I haven't had once since.

The truth is that it hasn't been as hard as I expected (this is the longest I haven't smoked since I started smoking when I was seventeen - BACK IN 1986)! I quit for nine months a couple of years ago, thought I had it beat, and started smoking again. Not all at once, but one here and one there. Before you know it, I was buying a pack again.

That's the difference between that time and this time. This time, I know I don't have it beat, but rather have it under control for the time being. This equates to not being able to have another. EVER! I can't take a drag. I can't bum one with the belief that I am good to go.

I've gained serious weight since I've quit...and I know that's bad, but I love the fact that I am no longer a slave to my cigarettes. Think about it, I no longer look forward to landing so I can run out of the terminal to smoke. I no longer stink upon my return into the house or the office after having a smoke. I'll get the weight taken care of at some point, but not having that tobacco monkey on my shoulder is a tremendous thing.

In fact, I don't like to even be around it anymore. Not because I dislike the smell...but because I like it a lot!

I guess that monkey is closer than I thought!

SL

Going Bananas

I've been introduced to a new game, and although yet to play it, I've bought two of them. The game is Bananagrams. It is very much like Scrabble, but with no board. Additionally, unlike Scrabble, the object is to use up all of your tiles first (no scores for the letters). Simply speaking, the player who uses all of their tiles first, wins. Another major difference is that players make their OWN puzzles, instead of sharing one community puzzle like in Scrabble. The last major difference is that your puzzle board changes during the game since you can add OR remove tiles, words, etc.

The game promotes itself as a funner, more flexible version of Scrabble. It looks like a lot of fun and I'll be bringing one (the tiles are stored in a yellow banana bag) to NY with me and Marissa on Friday. You can play from one to eight players.

Now, you may ask how this game became known to me and why I would go buy two of them without ever actually playing it...or, you may just not give a darn and have decided to go look at someone elses stupid blog (to you, I say "au revior" and allow me to recommend the Friday News FeedBlog).

For those that decided to stay, I was introduced to Bananagrams by colleagues of mine that I work with in North Carolina. As you may know, I've spent the better part of the last five weeks in North Carolina working on a couple of high profile projects. The story of Bananagrams has come up several times - both as a personal entertainment device (played with family and friends), but also as a team building device (used to build cooperation and respect for how others do things). Understanding how a stupid little game can be so effective in many different areas (and still be fun) got me very interested. I look forward to playing and seeing if it is as fun as everyone says. I'll let you know in my post about the weekend in NY.

As an aside - the game has already spread to some more colleagues in Florida. We'll see if the family in NY picks it up and spreads it, too.

SL