Florida...

Well, as I mentioned, I was in Florida this past weekend, what a great trip I had! Outside of the lizard thing in my room (kept me up for a while wondering if it was going to fall on my head) it was a good trip.

A big shout out to the boys in IT at you guys are awesome!
Here are some pictures of the IT guys I worked with this weekend, Ozzy, upgrade central. The best damn IT group in Florida and maybe even the world!

I also got to see Seth while I was down there, which was cool, his sons Austin and Alex are almost as cool as their dad, but not quite. These guys made me a wonderful dinner, and then Seth and I hung out and watched football and looked at pictures till almost midnight. It was a good time, thanks Seth!

That is about it for today, I’m installing some software that I haven’t installed in months! I’m struggling with it, good times.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

I'm amazed...

I'm not even sure that this is worth talking about.

AND further proof that I can really not live in the real world, I did not realize until Ozzy (network admin at the company I'm working at)told me yesterday that Miami was mostly Cuban exiles. He told me about these rumors of Castro's death. I had no idea.

I have met the best darn IT department in Florida, here at (the company I'm working at) , we have guys from Jersey, North Carolina, Florida, Trinidad, and El Salvador. We've hung out a bit and these guys are a right riot! What a good time. I've had occasion to talk to Ozzy most, he's a smart guy, history buff, very interesting fellow. He looks like he would be a bit of a "playboy" gamer, but he's very interesting to talk too. Further proof that you can't judge a book by it's cover!

BS

Maybe I am stable...

So, even Mother Teresa had a crisis of faith, maybe I'm not that bad a person.

In other news... there really isn't any other news. I'm just working in Southern Florida.
BS

Happy Birthday...

I'd like to give a big shout out to the Todd-Meister, it's his birthday today. You share a birthday with another distinguished and famous "icon".

Steve also had his birthday this week. He's on vacation on the Cape, but we've been making sure that his business gets, well, business. :-)

I'm in south Florida at the moment, it is hot, humid and I have a cough. blech. Started reading Harry Potter book 7 this week, it's pretty good. I think I need to go back and read them all again, not that they are significant literature in our world, but they are fun to read and I barely remember the story lines.

That's it for now.
BS

Church...

I think I’ve mentioned that I’ve been reading this book called “Blue like Jazz” it is a pretty good book, I just finished it (and started reading the last Harry Potter book!). I really enjoyed the book, agreed with some, disagreed with some, but all in all a good read.

One of the bits that really resonated with me is the part about how the author (Don Miller) grew up in the church and was told how it is a big bad world out there and was raised with this us (Christians) against them (the big bad world) mentality. Then after he got out into the world (at 20 something) he found that people were pretty great, some bad, some good, but all in all people wanted to listen, learn, love and accept. The stretch came when he found a community that was living the life that Christ taught his followers to live, but the didn’t necessarily believe in Christ. He was further challenged when he entered back into the Christian community and found the judgmental attitude.

Very interesting, as that is what I have found lately in my life’s journey. So the rub comes when one tries to incorporate the teachings of Christ into their life, it isn’t a formula that someone can write down, it’s not math or science it is a lifestyle that we embrace and walk, run, crawl or amble our own way. I think it is fine for us to talk to each other and learn from one another, but that learning has to be in a particular type of environment, for me. The “church” setting doesn’t do much for me, bring on McNeil’s or Flat Street with a beer and a bible and a few friends that I trust and that is “church” for me.

Any thoughts?
BS

the untouchables...

I rarely get into "people" you know famous people (or not so famous people). I mean, I don't have any great desire to meet people that everyone wants to meet. There are a few notable exceptions, as follows:
Billy Graham - currently hospitalized - preacher, author
Donald Miller - author
Dr. John Munday - scientist
Josh Longbrake - blogger, photographer, author

That is about it on the list of people that are "out of reach". I have to tell you though, I have just about finished reading "Blue like Jazz" and I would really like to meet Donald Miller while I'm out in Portland at the end of next month. The chances are slim, but I'd really like to buy him a cup of coffee (pint of beer), you know?

Anyway, with that being said. I guess it's time for me to go work on some other stuff. I'm not really sure why I felt the need to post such things, but whatever, it's my blog, right?

Peace, Love, beer,
BS

I'm in love...

I didn't think this would happen again, especially so soon, but I fell in love today, right after reading this news article. Alright, I know, corny, right?

and in other news... A big shout out to the Rapti for dinner and hanging last night. You guys rock.

Porches (or Decks)...

So my parents went on vacation, just before leaving, Dad asks me if the J-dawg and I can come up with a time to finish the porch we started a few weeks ago, by finish he means build the structure in the front and put up the lattice. Well the J-dawg decided it would be cool to finish it while he was gone, so we did. Thanks to the J-dawg and the G-man we finished in just 2 nights (well 3 if you count our "planning" night)! We had a good time doing it too. We ate, we drank and the thing is still straight! The pictures aren't the best, but here they are.

That's about it for today.
Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Me? Stable? RIGHT...

I don’t remember ever being accused of being a stable person. It happened yesterday, I’m slightly disconcerted, here’s why.

For many years (20) I’ve been going to visit chiropractors, I always thought it was voodoo magic, but I felt better (and one can’t really argue with that, can one?) so I let it go. In 2004 while playing soccer I got clipped on my right knee and popped my ACL, I went to see the chiropractor (mostly because I do the computer work for the practice so it’s free for me to go) and he asked what happened, I told him to tell me (supposedly they can do this whole “asking your body what’s wrong deal”) he asked my body and, by golly, it told him, he told me that I took a blunt trauma to the outside of my right knee. This was, in fact, true. Now he knew that I had a problem with my right leg/hip/ankle/foot, so that narrowed it down, but still, there are a lot of things that could’ve been wrong, he actually pointed to the exact spot that I had been hit at. Amazing!

Fast forward to this year, I have been having some trouble with my general hip area for the past 8 months or so, it started happening in December of last year and it has, with little relief, gotten worse. So I’ve been seeing the chiropractor and stretching and other stuff, just trying to keep myself feeling ok. Last week I went on a hike and, without much in the way of detail, my hip hurt very badly. So I decided it was time to take some more drastic measures, talking to the MD and seeing the chiropractor on a more regular basis. If I don’t do something soon, my hiking trip(s) in September is going to bust up! So, after a few weeks of treatments, a friend suggested that my hip could be stress related, so I asked my chiropractor about that yesterday, she ran me through some tests to determine how my body was reacting to stress, then she tells me that I seem pretty “well balanced”, she said something to effect of “I haven’t had anyone pass the test like you did, you are very well balanced”. I said, “I haven’t been accused of being well balanced, in… well, EVER!” She chuckled. I them told her that I don’t feel very well balanced or stable, but I am taking some homeopathic stuff that is supposed to help, so maybe it’s working. Voodoo?

Well, that turned into a longer post than I had imagined. Hopefully I’ll have some interesting stories coming up soon. I am heading to Florida (for work) next weekend, Rochester, NY for my sisters “wedding” the weekend of Labor Day, then headed to Maine for hiking a few days after my return from Rochester, then two weeks later to Oregon for work and a two day hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. Should be some fun times coming up. I’ll try to have some interesting time to write about.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Metacomet-Monadnock Trail...

This past Saturday seemed liked a nice day for hike, so my brother-in-law and I decided to try to knock off a few more miles on the Metacomet-Monadnock trail. I have completed all but about 20 miles of this trail and J-dawg has come along with me for the northern route from Farley, Mass to Mt. Monadnock, we don't get to go out often, but when we do it has kicked our butts, each and every time! Here are some pics from this past weekends trip. I think maybe we are done with the crazy part of the M&M trail and we are into smooth sailing now. :-)

Sunday I decided to go on a motorcycle ride up to the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, VT. That was a fun trip, went with Steve, owner of the Flat Street Brew Pub here in Brattleboro. It was a nice ride, I think I scared Steve a bit, I MAY be a little more rowdy on the bike then Steve is. Ah well, it was a good time anyway.

That is it for today.
Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

5 Women...

The reason that I asked about naming 5 women from history stems from a conversation that I had with a good friend of mine. We were talking about the effects of sexuality on girls and as they grow up. There was a recent study done about sexuality/girls says that girls are doing more “going wild” at a younger age.
My friend asked me to “name 5 women in history” so I named:
amelia earhart
lady bird johnson
marilyn monroe
rosa parks
madonna

That was my answer and I asked the question a bit different, wanting to see what you all came up with. I was pretty impressed to see that most of you (except the highest ranking military officer in the reading bunch, kidding dude, kidding) did a pretty alright job not coming up with “pop tarts” (Britney, Lindsay, Paris). Well done my readers!

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

a question for the day...

I am in the mood to give some homework, so here is a question that a friend of mine asked. I'll give you my answers after you answer.

Name 5 famous women

That is it, simple? I'll tell you why it's not later.

Peace, love, beer,
BS

A good article...

I'm pretty sure that, if I were a few years younger, and a girl, I'd travel west to meet Josh, just to have coffee with him. He reminds me of the poet dude in "Blue like Jazz".

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7386

Peace, love, beer,
BS

Party, visitors, new friends...

So… it appears that there isn’t much exciting happening in my life at the moment. That is not, all in all, a bad thing. However, it makes it difficult to blog about anything.

We had a great party at Shawn’s house this weekend, a bunch of family and some friends showed up, that was cool. We kicked a 7.5 gallon keg in 7 hours, so that was a lot of beer. Then we drank more after a beer run. Swam in the pool, played Bocce, volleyball, badminton, etc. All good times. Spent a lot of time on my motorcycle this weekend, that was fun and nice, the weather was wonderful for it, I LOVE hot days and cool nights, if I could have that ALL the time, I’d live there.

OH! One exciting thing happened this weekend, my sister and two friends came up, one friend I’ve known for a long time and I like her, she’s the coolest gal from Nebraska that I’ve EVER known. Although, every time I open my mouth around her I end up picking on her, so she hates me and probably thinks I’m an ass, which I am, but why do I have to keep proving it? The other friend I just met, she seems nice, cute and nice, but she’s from New Jersey and that just pegs way down, on my list. Although she doesn’t have the annoying accent and she seems to be kind, so maybe I should give her a chance. I picked on her a lot too, but then again, who don’t I pick on?

Got to see Shaun again this weekend, that is 3 weekends in a row! What the heck is going on? I’m going to go for the quadfecta (can you even HAVE one of those?) and see him next weekend, but I don’t see that happening, so I’ll have to settle for just the trifecta.

Well, I’m guessing that is about it for this installment.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS