Jocelyn and the Snowman

Otto's Christmas

Christmas Eve.

Natalie said he had been sitting in the kitchen staring at his stocking and whining earlier.

Ottos Christmas 2007, originally uploaded by tineb07.

They Might Be Giants - How Do You Spell TLA

Goldmine Reviews of Christmas CDs for 2007

Click The Photo of Granny's Tree To Read The Reviews.

TomTom

I'm A Winner - Again

This could be the start of a trend.......

Won two free tickets from the City Paper for a sneak preview of "The Mist" at White Marsh tonight. The movie was great. Matthew and I both really liked it.

SPOILER ALERT! I love an unhappy ending.

Caledonia Watercolor (PSP Script)

They Might Be Giants - With The Dark

Watch Video at YouTube

I'm A Winner!

I entered a contest on the Rock'n'Roll Geek show podcast to win Rhino's Heavy Metal Box Set. I didn't win the main prize but I did get picked as a runner-up to get a single disk sampler from the box set. I wonder what's on it?

Camping at Caledonia

Went camping at Caledonia State Park near Gettysburg in Pennsylvania this weekend. Mike, Matthew and I left about 1:00 PM in his van. We took 83 up to York and then west on 30. It was pouring when we left and it poured all the way up there. It was a miserable ride (about two hours). It was still raining when we got there. Ken was already there, in his nice, dry pop-up. We decided not to set up the tent but to sleep in the van that night. We did set up the screen tent. A few years ago, I cut big pieces of plastic to close in most of the sides. This time I used those big metal clips you use with papers instead of clothes pins and they worked a lot better. We did manage to start a fire. Good thing Mike brought dry firewood from his garage. For dinner, we had crab cakes that Mom made. Bob and Bunny came up late that afternoon. They decided not to set up their tent too but to sleep in Ken's pop-up instead. Matthew slept all the way in the back of the van, Mike slept on the bed and I slept behind the front seats. It rained hard all night and the little windows at the top of the van leaked all over me. I ended up sleeping sitting up in the front seat. I actually slept pretty good. In fact, Bob woke us up around 10:00 AM because they thought we were dead or something.

Saturday was a nice fall day. We decided to go on a hike. Here's a hint - never let anybody who runs 50-mile marathons pick the path you're going to hike on. After that ordeal, the day was pretty much over. We went back to the campsite and made dinner - New York strip steaks and potatoes cooked on the fire with canned corn on the side. Good stuff. Saturday night we just hung around the fire, drinking beer and making smores until Matthew got hit in the eye with a hot ember. We managed to get a couple of specks of stuff out of his eye but it didn't help. He was miserable. Ken had a first aid kit and we bandaged his eye up and decided to wait till morning to see how it looked. I stayed up and drank a couple more beers after everybody went to bed. There was a full moon out and when the clouds broke up it was like day time. We slept pretty good in our old Montgomery Ward tent on the air mattresses we got from Uncle Ed (Schultz).

Matthew's eye didn't look good in the morning. It was glued shut and crusty with puss. I used Mike's cell phone to call Natalie to let her know she had to take him to the hospital as soon as we got back. We packed up and left right away. It was another nice day. I would have liked to have hung around and done something while but we had to get Matthew some help. On the way back, Mike found out from Jocelyn that a tree limb had fallen on his car back home and dented his roof and broke his rear window. What a vacation.

Saw Marathon

Matthew and I went to a Saw Movie Marathon at the Bengies Drive-In tonight. They showed "Saw I", "Saw II", "Saw III" and, at a little past midnight on it's opening day, the new one, "Saw IV". I wonder what the next one will be called?

It was fun. The promotion company was there, giving away stuff. We got Saw lollipops and Saw tattoos on the way in. Marty, the second-in-command, told us to put the tattoos where they could be seen if we wanted to win a prize - he suggested the forehead. We put ours on the backs of our hands. They had contests all night. One for Best Male and Female Screamers, and a pretty cool one for the best costume made up on the spot. That was won by the "Beer Knight" - some guy with a 12 pack box on his head for a helmet and a beer can on a stick for a sword. During the first three movies, they would occasionally send out five or six people in Jigsaw masks to walk around and stick their faces in people's cars. You had to find the real Jigsaw by asking them "Are You The Real Jigsaw?" Matthew won a contest when they asked anybody with a saw to come up to the concession stand. I had packed some of the camping stuff for the weekend in the trunk and had a wood saw in there. They made a bunch of jokes about that. The prizes were a "30 Days Of Night" mouse pad, a Saw IV tee-shirt and a little thing that said a line from the movie. We got a bunch of Saw IV posters too.

Mike's 50th Birthday Party

Watch Video At YouTube

Jocelyn and I threw Mike a surprise 50th birthday party today. Jocelyn and Mike had gone to Catonsville for a double header earlier in the day, and we were a little worried about him getting home before the guests arrived because they had moved the start time back to 11:00 AM from noon. Joc got him to stop in Hampden for a little while and he arrived right on time, about 4:50. We had told everybody to be there at 4:30. He seemed genuinely surprised.

A lot of people chipped in with the food and beer (Mom and Dad did a lot). The cake came from BJ's. We had a fire going out by the pond. The kids did some fishing and canoeing and later on they made smores and hot dogs over the fire. Jim and Matthew each caught a pretty big bass. I think everybody we invited showed up. Let me see if I can remember who all was there. The Brushes, The Sanzas (except Chris, who had a wedding to go to), The Hubers - Bob and Bunny, Steve and Kelly and all their kids, even Miss Sandy all the way from OC. Cindy, Megan and Aaron Schilling, Rita's companion/helper Judy, Mikes friend Pat and his wife Mary Carol and there two kids, Karen,Steve and Chris, Jim and Dan (there friend Russell brought them out and stayed a while), our gang, Mom and Dad, Joc and a couple of her friends, Ken Qualiano. I think that's it. Everybody seemed to have a good time. Mike even did a beer bong out by the fire. The party lasted till about 10:00. Oh, we also watched the Indians get creamed by the Red Sox, who eventually beat the Indians in seven games after being down 3 games to 1.

Vinny Testaverde Touchdown Dance Hopelessly Out-Of-Date

They Might Be Giants "The Mesopotamians"

Click on Anne & Robbie to see "The Mesopotamians" Video

Performed Live On One of Conan O'Brian's Last Shows

Road Trip To Frederick

Washington Monument

Natalie and I went out to Frederick today. Our first stop was the South Mountain Creamery. They make they're own cheese and ice cream. We got some Farmer's Cheese with Walnuts and Black Pepper, Gouda with bacon and onion and some Havarti. It was all good but I think we liked the Farmer's cheese the best. We went to Washington Monument state park our little wine and cheese picnic. Nice place but I don't think you should have to pay $3.00 to get in. Maryland's park system is horrible. It would have been free in PA. The monument itself was pretty cool. There were a lot of bird watchers at the top of the monument. Nice day to be outside, sunny and just a little cool.

From there we went to the Barley & Hops Brewpub in suburban Frederick. It could have been anywhere - a generic place in a generic area. And the beer we had wasn't very good either, red ale that had no hops taste at all. Definitely not a place to go out of your way for. After that, we headed into downtown Frederick. The whole area was packed with people and we missed Brewer's Alley on our first pass - the sign is hard to understand, but we found a place to park easily and walked back to the block it was in. The place was packed. Lots of pretty girls in fancy dresses, maybe some homecoming dance thing. We both liked the IPA's we got and they were only $3.00 apiece. The building used to be an opera house. We definitely want to go back there when we have more time and money to spend. We got back around 8:00 PM.

Photo Story from Picture It! Photo Library Program

Doesn't work to well does it? The video was uploaded directly to Blogger who "processed it" to death.

Ocean City 2006, Pt.1

I finally got this movie online. It's been split in two.

Ocean City 2006 Pt.2

Music at Hampdenfest and White Marsh

Went to see two local bands today - The Jennifers and The Pale Stars.

The Jennifers played at Hampdenfest. Natalie and Matthew went with me and we met Leslie there. They checked out the fair while I stayed at the City Paper stage and watched the band. They were really good - good enough to spring for their new CD "Colors From The Future". I wish they had played "Caroline No", a song I downloaded from somewhere. They do a good version of " Good Morning Starshine" but they didn't play that one either. The festival was pretty cool. They had three stages of bands playing all day and from what I heard, all the bands were worth hearing. And for once, they actually had good beer at a street fair - Brewers Art, and it was cheap too, $4.00 a pop. There's also a nice used record store on The Avenue that I'll have to go back and check out by myself.

The Jennifers Onstage At Hampdenfest 2007

Later that day, we went up to The Avenue in White Marsh to hear the Pale Stars. They were really good too. They have kind of an unusual sound. At first I thought they were using backing tracks because I could have sworn I heard keyboards, but it was the lead guitarist. He used a lot of effects to offset the basic sound of the rest of the band. Of the two bands I have to say I liked The Jennifers better. They had a little more edge and punch than the Pale Stars but both bands are good. The Avenue in White Marsh (an "artificial" city street) has a sterile atmosphere compared to a "real" avenue like 36th street. You see some unusual people in Hampden, totally white bread on the fake avenue.

The Pale Stars onstage at The Avenue In White Marsh

Dirty Found on SexTV

Third Orioles Game Of The Year

Went to see the Orioles last night. Natalie got four free tickets from work. Mom and Mike went with us. They were great seats, section 30 - row LL, just to the right of home plate towards the Orioles dugout, about 20 rows back. Parking was included, a big plus. The game was horrible. We should have known how it was going to be when the Angels scored 5 runs on 5 hits in the top of the first. The Orioles made 2 errors in that inning. Later in the game, the Angels had loaded the bases and the Orioles pitcher walked in a run. A new pitcher was brought in and he walked in another run. Bottom of the ninth, the Angels pitcher struck out the side. The only bright side was it was Minor League Appreciation Night and they had all the mascots from the Orioles minor league teams there, doing the stupid things they only do in the minors. If only the minor league teams had been there to play - they couldn't have done any worse. Final score Angels 18, Orioles 6. Pathetic.

He's Out?

Trembley Doesn't Think So.

He was suspended for three days because of this performance.

Scary Girls

Article Featuring Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Etc.

Simon Reynolds tracks the history of electronica's Seventies pioneers OMM The Observer

Motor City Madman Attacks Dems

In a video of a recent live performance, rocker Ted Nugent launched into a tirade against Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY),...

Fucking Yankees, Reports Nation

BOSTON—Moments after the New York Yankees continued a month-long stretch that has seen them climb from the bottom of the AL East to pull within a once unfathomable four games of the first-place Red Sox by defeating the Baltimore Orioles...

Ocean City - Saturday

Packed up, said our goodbyes and hit the road by 10:00 AM. We wanted to get our telescope pictures but things didn't work out. We saw Jean and her gang there and she told me their printer wasn't working. We got set up at a terminal then Natalie started feeling faint so we had to leave before we had a chance to check out the scopes. We went to BJs for lunch before we left town. I had the soup - Cream of Roasted Pepper with Crab, and a fish sandwich. Matthew had a teriyaki chicken sandwich, Tom had a Buffalo chicken sandwich and I think Natalie had a club. We split an order of potato skins. Tom didn't seem to like his too much but everything else was good. Traffic on the way home was moderate, it probably took us about 4 hours. Things slowed to a crawl after 404 merged with Route 50 and it was bumper to bumper, stop and go on the bay bridge. We also hit a traffic jam at the junction of Route 97 and 100. The next day we read in the paper some idiot had hit a tow truck driver on the shoulder. We stopped at Dundalk Veterinary Hospital on our way home to pick up Otto .

Ocean City - Friday

My turn for dinner today - the traditional chili. A better day on the beach but it was still windy. We did the telescope picture thing early and just hung out out for the rest of the day. Nelson and Haddy were there. A bunch of us walked over to the bay side to see the sunset. Natalie spent a lot of her night packing.

Ocean City - Thursday

I went to the beach today - very windy and partly overcast. Everbody else seems to have ended up down at the boardwalk. Natalie and I went to Reflections for dinner. We split escargot and a salad for an appetizer, along with two orders of their great bread. We both ordered specials, Natalie had some kind of seafood pasta and I had tuna topped with crab in basil sauce. Everything was great - even the vegetable medley side dish and my baked potato. For desert, we split a piece of mocha chocolate pie.

Ocean City - Wednesday

Most of the men went boating on the Pocomoke River today. I spent the day on the beach, but the weather wasn't a very good. It was OK early but it got very windy as the day wore on. Natalie went shopping. After dinner we had a birthday party for Judy. She had turned 43 on August 7th. Later, Natalie and I went out for a few drinks. First, we drove up to Fenwick Island but they had closed for the night. They roll up the sidewalks after dark there. We ended up at Shenanigans on the boardwalk at 4th street. We had a blast, even though things started out rough. The kitchen was closed, even though they are supposed to have bar food late, so no stuffed pretzels. Then, the frat boys arrived and surrounded us, ordering shots of Jagermeister and being obnoxious. But we moved to better seats and the live music started. A guy named Sean Fleming was playing. I guess he plays solo early in the week, then he has a full band later on. He was good, just him with a semi-acoustic guitar and a little electronic bass drum for accompaniment. They also had the Orioles game on from earlier in the day that they were re-broadcasting. It was fun, even with all those people from Pittsburgh. We stayed to closing time and then went back to the condo. A lot of people were still up and it ended up being a very late night.

Ocean City - Tuesday

Took a break from the beach today. Natalie, Matthew and I went to West Ocean City. We had lunch at the Harborside. Natalie and I used to go there when it was the Stumblin Inn. It doesn't look all that different. The food was good. I had little neck clams and they were really little, like those mussels Jim got from behind the convention center. On the way back we stopped at Fish Tales in the Bahia Marina for a drink. No fish came in while we were there. Jean made tacos for dinner.

Later on, the three of us went to the boardwalk with Mike, Mitch, Little Mitch and Alex. We parked at the inlet and wondered up to 2nd street and back. The kids got on some rides and we hit Marty's and Sportland. I had the three food groups - Thrasher's French Fries, Love's Lemonade and a Dumsers Chocolate milkshake.

Ocean City - Monday

Another great day at the beach. Scott and his family came over and sat with us. The Ravens played a pre-season game that night and we were all supposed to meet at the Galaxy rooftop bar to watch it. We had to sit at a table and use a waitress. They had one TV with the sound turned off . We left after one drink. Natalie and I had been to the place years before after it had just opened, we may have even gotten a drink at the downstairs bar. We didn't like it then and the rooftop bar didn't change our minds - it's a yuppie hole. Mike Evans stayed at the Galaxy and Mom, Mike, Natalie and I went to BJs. Mike drove Mom back to the condo after the first half and walked back to BJs to watch the second half. I watched the Orioles on another TV. The Ravens won but I can't remember what the Orioles did. Karen and Steve ended up watching the game at the Salty Dog.

Ocean City - Sunday

The weather was great today - not a cloud in the sky. We spent the whole day on the beach. There was quite a crowd there - Aunt Colleen, Uncle Tony, Patrick and Nelson, Uncle Howie and Aunt Dolores, Sandy Huber, Steve Huber and his family (except Shawn). Jocelyn and Molly got in from Fallston later in the day. Spent the evening hanging out on the porch. This was the night that was supposed to be the best for seeing the Perseids Meteor shower. I walked up to the beach and saw a few but it wasn't very spectacular.

Ocean City - Saturday

Left for OC about 6:20 AM this morning. We stopped at Holly's for breakfast, as usual. I got 2 eggs, sunny-side up, with scrapple. They must give you more than 1/2 pound with your meal. Tom got cream chipped beef and Natalie and Matthew got BLTs. Traffic started getting heavier after we left Holly's, even that early in the morning. We got to 78th street in OC a little after 10:00 AM and hit the beach. The weather had been overcast all the way down but it was bright and sunny on the beach. We got settled in and everbody else arrived at different times through out the rest of the day. Natalie and I walked over to BJs for a drink later that night. They had Natalies favorite soup - Cream of Roasted Red Pepper with Crab. Great stuff.

Friday's at the Walters with Natalie

Natalie and I went down to the Walters today to see the Quilts of Gees Bend. It was pretty interesting. After that, the plan was to stop by the house and pick up Otto and head out to my parents house. We were going to leave the dog there while went to Ruby Tuesdays and used the gift certificate Natalie got from her sister Carol for Christmas. But the weather looked bad, real bad. We ended up just going to Red Brick Station for happy hour and $1 roast beef sandwiches. Then we picked the dog up and headed out to my parents. It was overcast and misting for the rest of the night.

Daytona 2006

Special Sneak Preview At The Bengies

I got an email from the Bengies Tuesday about a free screening of the movie "Hot Rod" tonight. It was by invitation only - you needed them a copy of the email and your ID to get in. Matthew, Nelson and I went, it was Nelson's first time at the drive-in. The movie was pretty good, it had some funny moments. Two of the main actors are from the current cast of Saturday Night Live - Andy Samberg and Bill Hader. It also had a former SNL cast member, Chris Parnell. I dropped Matthew and Nelson off at his house after the movie. Matthew is spending the night. Tomorrow, we're all going out to Granny & Pop's (it's supposed to hit 95 degrees). Tommy and Matthew will spend the night and the following morning the whole crew is off to Knoebels.

Daytona 2006 Postcard

Second Orioles Game of the Year

Matthew, Mom, Mike, Jocelyn, Jocelyn's friend Sarah and I went to the baseball game today. There was a ceremony for Cal Ripken before the game, in honor of his induction into the Baseball Hall Of Fame. The official ceremony in Cooperstown take place later this week. Some of the Orioles in the Hall Of Fame were there - Robin Roberts, Brooks Robinson, Earl Weaver and Eddie Murray. Jim Palmer gave a little video greeting but wasn't there in person - I think it's hard to get him out of Southern California. No Frank Robinson either. It was a nice ceremony, Cal drove in and out in a white car throwing baseballs up into the crowd. He almost got one up to where we were sitting, which was pretty far up.


The Orioles beat the Devil Rays, 3 - 0. That evens up my record for the year so far. Daniel Cabrerra was really good, giving up 1 hit and only 5 walks (good for him, he's the king of walks).

Belmar Theatre

This place was supposedly right around the corner. I would have never thought it was once a movie theater. Mom thinks that the website is wrong and this building was actually the Belmar Bakery. It could have been a movie theater, then a bakery. Who knows? It was way before my time. Click the link below.

Belmar Theatre Baltimore Maryland

Longtime Married Couple Subjected To Excruciating 'Romantic Weekend Getaway'

KENOSHA, WI-Sources report that longtime married couple Duane and Edna Schumacher's weekend stay at Chicago's FantasyLand Suites was a grueling ordeal of unwelcome interruptions to their long-established marital routine.

First Orioles Game Of The Year

Mike, Dan, Matthew, Jeff and I went to the Orioles-White Sox game last night. Mike thought it would be fun to go while Jeff was here. We sat in lower reserve seats, just below the cheap seats we used to get when the kids were in the Dugout Club. It was a pretty bad game for the Orioles, they were loosing from the 1st inning, but they made it exciting in the bottom of the ninth. They came back from 9 - 2 to 9 - 7. They were two outs, with a man on, with Brendan Fahey due up. His average was .172 - not promising. The Orioles sent in Jay Payton to pinch-hit and he promptly hit the first pitch right to the shortstop for the last out. Oh well.

Max's Happy Time

Matthew, Jeff, Jeremy and I went to the Bengies last night (Pop's treat). The bill was "Shrek The Third", "Transformers" and "Disturbia", kind of a mini Shia LaBeouf film festival. I liked them all, even Shrek, but "Disturbia" was the best of the bunch, although the kiddies would probably vote for "Transformers".

Letters From Iwo Jima and Pan's Labyrinth

Watched these two movies last week.

Letters From Iwo Jima was good but pretty slow moving. Not a lot of action scenes. Pan's Labyrinth was good but could have used more scenes in the labyrinth. Great bad guy. Matthew liked it a lot.

Bar Skanks Announce Plans To Kiss

COLUMBUS, OH—The skanks would neither confirm nor deny that the kiss would involve tongue, forcing many bargoers to wait and continuously eye the suggestive pair.

A Couple of Movie Reviews

Matthew, Tom and I went to the crappy $3.00 movies tonight. We saw "28 Weeks Later". It was OK but there really wasn't much to it. The kiddies liked it though. I think that's the last time I'm going to that dump.

Earlier this week, I rented "The Messengers" and "Apocalypto". "The Messengers" was good but the ending was weak. "Apocalypto" was really good, definitely the best of this bunch.

28 Weeks Later

Apocalypto

The Messengers

Christian Rockers Deny Kicking Ass

Open-Minded Music Lover Likes All Kinds Of Metal

LOGANSPORT, IN—Area music enthusiast Curt Webber, 22, is completely open to enjoying "all kinds" of metal, the self-described eclectic...