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...