... and stuff

Blarney Stoned Blog has moved.

2008-02-17T12:03:00.002-05:00

Please join Blarney Stoned Blog at it's new location

www.blarneystoned.com/blog

We'll see you there!
BS

Quotes, breakfast, cds...

2008-02-16T08:38:00.002-05:00

So I opened my Google homepage this morning and saw this quote attributed to Scott Adams:

"Ask a deeply religious Christian if he’d rather live next to a bearded Muslim that may or may not be plotting a terror attack, or an atheist that may or may not show him how to set up a wireless network in his house. On the scale of prejudice, atheists don’t seem so bad lately." - Scott Adams

I think I actually now some Christians that feel that way. On the other hand I know some very wonderful and fantastic people who are christians who don't feel that way and are sickened and disgusted by people that do. It's not that all are bad, just the most vocal.

The youngest daughter is making breakfast this morning, I love it when they make breakfast for me. I offered, she really wanted too, I'm ok with it. :-)

The Clayton Sabine Band has released their album! It turns out that it's a pretty good album, I'm very impressed. I hope you'll consider buying it here. Better yet, if you see Clayton tell him you want one (he gets more money that way).

Oh yeah, want to read a great story, kinda restores faith in humanity (it'll take days to read), but it's a good story. Look here.

All for now,
BS

Flight...

2008-02-02T11:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back in Vermont, not a lot happening just trying to keep my head above water. :-) I have a few things that I'm working on, including a website of pictures for sale and more "ride alongs" with the Sheriff's department.

While I was out in Minnesota Josh showed me some videos of the "Flight of the ConChords" they are a riot, but not really for the easily offended, so watch at your own risk. :-)

Business Time

If you're into it

That's about all I've at the moment.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Minnesota Part II...

2008-01-21T20:26:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been another crazy few days in Minnesota. Went to Benson, small town, their restaurant that had TV's to watch the football game on Sunday, closed. Amazing. So I went to a town thirty minutes south watched the Patriots win, very excited to see them win and head to the super bowl again. :-)

Not much to report, just thought I'd throw up a picture of the sundown I saw on the way to Benson.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Minnesota...

2008-01-20T12:23:00.000-05:00

Here I am, in Minnesota again. Always good times coming out to the Twin Cities, I get to see Josh and hang out in Victoria, one of my very favorite places in Minnesota. Upon arriving here I stopped off first at "School". Josh met me there and we had a beer, then we went to Floyd's just up the street. Hung out Saturday and then I drove to Benson Minnesota, a nice little town of about 3,000 people. It is very cold here just now the thermometer says -9 (F) and they say it feels like -21 (F), fun, cold times.

I'm working with a guy called Travis today, he's pretty cool, has an interesting hobby, he soups up his Bonneville and drives around the country smoking off the tires (ok, he also drag races it, but this sounded more fun). We're working hard and hoping to catch the Pats game this afternoon! :-)

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Apples, Oranges...

2008-01-15T09:16:00.000-05:00

Well, you know how it is when you're so super excited about something you can't contain yourself? That's how I felt yesterday when I was waiting for FedEx to show up with my new MacBook Pro! You know what? They showed!

I'm SO excited I can't even contain myself. I've been moving files over and trying to learn Aperture. That is going to be a long process. Then I have to remember to delete it all off my work computer.

2008 - the year dreams are pursued. Here I come, ready or not!

Tonight I am going on another ride-a-long with the Sheriff's department, the first one was fun, we'll see how this one goes. I'm pretty excited. I'll keep you posted.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Birthdays...

2008-01-05T07:43:00.000-05:00

In my head I don't like it when people make a big deal out of my birthday, in reality, maybe I like it a little. Not really a "big" deal, but when your sister calls at 12:01 to be the first to say happy birthday on your birthday and one your of your dearest friends gets up after only 3 hours of sleep and tells you that the day is yours, one feels very loved and honored. It was a good day, played Wii with the boys and then we went to the pub and hung out all night. Good times!

Thanks to all who made this birthday a good day!
Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Christmas, a new year...

2008-01-02T14:17:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a bit, hasn't it? Let's see, what has happened since I last updated you all?

I got a new car, 2005 Subaru Outback. nice ride! :-)

My oldest came home from Texas to share Christmas holiday's with friends and family. I was honored to pick her up at the airport, it was pretty amazing to see my daughter, a young woman and soldier now coming down the stairs. She looked very nice in her uniform, it's pretty amazing, send a girl off to the Air Force and they return a woman soldier, very weird. We had a great time together, snowboarded and did Christmas stuff. She told me she loved me. Life is good.

Christmas happened, again on Christmas Eve, I think I like this better than the 25th, seems like less pressure. This whole notion of presents has bothered me for a few years, my sisters kinda got me thinking about it. We decided, last year, to draw names and get one present for the person that we drew. It was amazing, all of the gifts were thoughtful and personal. My sister kiwi drew me and she got me the best present in the world, animals! It was the best christmas present ever!

December 25th found me, with my oldest daughter and my youngest sister at Mt. Snow, snowboarding, it was a great day! We took it easy and didn't kill ourselves trying to get there or get the most runs ever in. we took our time and enjoyed ourselves.

2008 - Welcome New Year - My new year celebration was good, hung out at my local pub with friends and rang in the new year with hugs and kisses all around, then I went to sleep for a few hours, took my oldest to the airport (a 6 AM flight on new year's day?! are you kidding? :-)) On the way back, went for a short hike up Mt. Sugarloaf, nice sunrise.

I realized I have made a few "New Year's resolutions", even though I don't do that. I am going to do things I want to do this year, learn more, take more pictures, do things I would normally not. I want to learn more history, take better photographs and be an all around better person.

I wish you the best 2008 possible, wherever you are.

Peace, Love, beer,
BS

ah to be a puppy...

2007-12-13T07:40:00.000-05:00

A funny thing happened to me this morning on my walk. I was walking down the High Street hill and saw this person and their dog walking down the same side I was on. I kept walking, not thinking much about this, until the dog turns around and sees me. The dog started jumping around and straining at it's leash, the owner tried to get it to keep going, the dog would have nothing to do with it. The dog laid down in the middle of the sidewalk and wouldn't go anywhere until I came up and patted it. Then it jumped up and down and licked me and knocked me over. What a fantastic morning!

I got thinking as I walked away, how great to be a puppy, you love unconditionally, enjoy almost everything that comes along, are insanely curious. I think I should try to be more "puppy like". :-)

On another note, I was up in Canada last week and had a pretty good time, I got to work with a few good people. It snowed the whole time I was there, didn't see clear sky at all, crazy. Look up Sudbury, Ontario if you're bored. Pics are here.

Outside of that, not much happening, I'm torn on a tough decision, my car is on its last legs and I'm not sure whether I should get a new car or go to South Africa for 10 days on a book buying excursion with a friend. hmmmm... if anyone still reads this, do you have any thoughts?

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Ideas...

2007-11-15T09:39:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is, Thursday. I'm off to Illinois in the morning, I'm flying American Airlines, not one of my favorites, they aren't bad either though, I just don't get to fly them that frequently AND I'm on a regional jet so that makes it all the worse, crammed into those little seats for 2.5 hours, ick. ah well, I'll stop complaining now.

In other news, I need some suggestions. I have this here domain and I'm not sure what to do with it, I'd really like to come up with some ideas for a website, but it's just not really working out in my head at the moment, does anyone have any ideas? Leave me some comments with ideas, please?

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Faith, Love... Hope...

2007-11-12T08:48:00.000-05:00

Well, it’s been an interesting trip. I’m writing this on my flight back to the deep dark cold from the warm embrace of Southern Texas. Ok, it’s not really THAT cold, but I heard that it was 27 F this morning at home and it was almost 70 F when I left the hotel in Houston this morning, not matter how you cut it, it’s going to feel cold.

Had a good trip, I’ve mentioned the BMT graduation, that was a great time. Then I went to Houston and worked for three days, it was only supposed to be 2, but it turned into three, that’s not bad for the ole pocket book, I’ll take it!

Then I headed down to Corpus Christi to see the Putz’s, that was a great time, they are a wonderful couple and I felt very much at home with them. While I was there Putz took me to a parking spot just off the runway where the flight students from the NAS do their touch and goes, I could’ve sat there for hours watching the T-44s (King Air C-90’s to us civilians) doing their rounds. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Eventually it was time to go to the base and actually get to go near the planes, got some cool pics, even got to sit in the left seat! Check me out! I have to admit my whole body was electric, I was so excited and just buzzing to be in a plane again (even if that plane was just sitting in a hangar). I can tell you that it brought back some memories of being at the hangar in Ft. Monroe, Virginia looking at the planes Dad used to fly, hard for me to believe that I can remember that far back, I was 4 or 5 then. After hanging on the flight line for a bit we went to see a winging ceremony, new pilots receiving their official designation as aviators, it was really neat to see, I didn’t know any of the people, but I have an idea of what will be happening for Putz in a few weeks, so that was cool. It was kind of emotional for me as I wanted to be any one of those people, ok, not really be them, but I want their commission and their wings. There is not much more to spark some introspective thoughts than seeing a bunch of people fulfilling your dream. It was a neat ceremony and I was pleased to be there and see it, it’s a big day.

Saturday Putz and I went down to the beach and drove for a few miles, got out and took some pictures and just generally chilled. It was fun. Then we met up with Amy, did some shopping and chilling and eventually it was time for me to head north. Now I’m REALLY headed north.

Thanks for a good time Texas and Putz’s, I had a good time with you both (yes, even you Texas) I don’t hate Texas anymore, it’s just not in my top 10 states list (but it is climbing!).

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Daughters, San Antonio...

2007-11-03T07:50:00.000-04:00

Well, it's happened, I got to see my daughter! What a wonderful time thing that was.

Friday dawned bright, finally, this whole time change thing meant that kputty and his wife arrived at our hotel, in the dark. Breakfast was had and we headed out to Lackland. Found pretty decent seats and waited (as usual, right?). The ceremony was nice and short. :-)

We then got to go hang out with her for the rest of the day, we had to stay on base until 2 PM then we could head out, so we went back to the putty's hotel and chilled there until a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, then off to see a San Antonio Spurs game, which none of us really watched, Alb and Trav went off to be alone for a few, then we hung out down at the food area with tables and such, all in all a nice time. The weather was nice all day. Alb looks great, same kid, not nearly as different as I expected, except for her locker was REALLY neat and clean! I couldn't believe it. She must have hired someone to keep it clean for her. :-) Here are some pictures of yesterday, I'll try to have some more up soon. AND I'll have to tell you about hanging out with a 2nd LT while on base, it's kinda funny around newly graduated Airman.

Not sure what the day ahead holds, but we'll see.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

It sneaked (snuck) up on me...

2007-10-31T08:45:00.001-04:00

Well here it is heading to Texas tomorrow to see my oldest graduate from Air Force boot camp. That's not what snuck (sneaked) up on me.

I am surprised at how much I miss my girl. We've not been the closest people ever, but I really found myself missing her, granted I didn't write more than one letter to her, i hope she understands. I'm not a writer, I only ever wrote letters to one person and that was when I was in high school. I hope she understands.

I am also amazed at how excited I am to see the Putter (see his blog) he's going to be at graduation on Friday (hopefully) and then I'm headed to see him and Amy for a few days after I work in Houston. I haven't seen Putz in over a year, we talk when we can. Apparently I actually miss him, very weird for me.

So, now to totally change the subject... I've had this discussion with a pastor friend of mine a number of times. It runs along the lines of this post. When you read it you'll see, it's not the creating part. It's the idea that going to a church service could be more along the lines of a discussion instead of a "teaching". I learn better in an open discussion and I think there are lots of people that do as well. This is not to say that some folks shouldn't be in a standard teaching church, just that some others are better off in other situations AND some leaders are better off facilitating a discussion then spending their weeks becoming experts on a text, talking about it for a few minutes and then forgetting it. Know what I mean?

Anyway, that's about it for me for today. Hopefully I'll have some pictures of graduation coming up!

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Recovering...

2007-10-26T08:15:00.001-04:00

I am a recovering...
Evangelical - Pretty good article, describes things pretty well and the last line, I have to figure out how this fits into my everyday life, yeah, that's the rub, isn't it?

republican, person, friend, man, father, husband, geek, artist, jerk.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

blog move...

2007-10-25T09:38:00.000-04:00

as you may have noticed, my blog was down for a while! I'm working on switching my blog to a new domain, but it's taking some time to work out the kinks. Sorry about that, keep your eyes peeled, we'll be moving soon.

I guess this means I need to take a trip to Ireland to kiss the stone, eh? Anybody wanna come with me?

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

There and back again...

2007-10-23T12:06:00.000-04:00

Well it has been far to long since I wrote to tell you about what has been happening in the world of BS. Nothing super interesting I'm afraid. I did mention a few times that life is pretty boring, however it always seems to keep me busy, between traveling, my middle daughter playing soccer and other various and sundry things. It may not be that interesting, but it isn't for lack of things to do, that's for sure!

My middle daughters soccer team got 2nd place in their local tournament this past weekend! 14 teams plays and they got second, not a bad deal for a team of girls up against co-ed teams?! eh? :-)

My trip back from Minnesota was uneventful, not nearly as exciting as the trip out! I've been hanging around the home area working and spending time with friends and new acquaintances. That has been fun. Although one of them decided to bag on Canadians the other day, I should so them my very cool shirt!

I would like to encourage all of my faithful readers to add another blog to your list of blogs, this guy Josh Longbrake has been a very interesting writer for me and his pictures are great, he is going to be selling them soon, just thought you might find it interesting.

Not much else for now, a friend has a birthday this week, I am cooking dinner for some friends on Thursday AND watching the Red Sox at the pub with some other friends. Exciting times!

I guess that is about it for right now, hopefully I'll have something more interesting for you sometime soon.

Peace, love, beer,
BS

Friends, Wilco...

2007-10-11T13:54:00.000-04:00

So I've had a couple of pieces of good news this week, well, one wasn't really good news it was a cool thing that happened! First the good news...

I get to see my friend's Theresa & Scott this week! that is VERY exciting!!! Originally I thought I was only going to see Theresa, but it sounds like Scott is coming too, how awesome is THAT??!!!

The cool thing that happened to me was I got to go see Wilco last night! What a great show, if you are into rock and roll and want to see a fun band, go see Wilco, they pretty much rocked the night away, played for two hours straight. They had to be done at 10:30 so they didn't make us go through endless encores, they just played.

Good times!
BS

I must be missing something...

2007-10-10T14:51:00.001-04:00

I get into the shower the other day and realize I didn’t bring any soap with me, damn! Ok, I look around, bottles of shampoo and… body gel? What the hell is body gel? I read the bottle and determine that I’m pretty sure it’s soap, but it could also be stuff to make you smell good, I’m not sure, is it soap or is it smell good stuff, or both? Anyone?

My time in Minnesota is going pretty well, I had a few days where I had to do some training, that wasn’t as much fun as just sitting in a server room, but I made it through.

Going to see Wilco tonight! I am SOOOOO excited.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Detroit Rock City…

2007-10-08T17:21:00.000-04:00

So, on Sunday, October 7th I headed out to Minneapolis, I was to visit my buddy Josh and work for the week, I think I’ll still get to see Josh, but it’s a little after 5 AM and I’m at the Detroit airport. I spent the night in the Detroit last night, we had, what the airlines like to call, a little bit of a “maintenance problem” with our aircraft. This caused us to be able to make it as far as Detroit and then we passengers were scattered to the wind.

It’s not as bad as I make it sound, I’m sure we were never in much danger, the part that was annoying was that the pilot told us that we would be transferred to another plan and flown to Minneapolis. Turns out they routed us to other carriers or through other cities. Some folks had to fly to place like Charlotte, North Carolina and then to Minneapolis. I was routed through Cleveland, Ohio and then to Minneapolis, but the flight to Cleveland was delayed an hour so I couldn’t make the connection. Northwest paid for me to spend the night and gave me some money for food and such, that was cool. Just annoying that they told us one thing and did something different. Ya know?

Anyway, I’ve been up since 3:45 EST and I’m tired already and it’s not even 5:30 yet! I have to teach today, which has its own set of annoyances, I can’t just sit in a server room and be mindless, I have to be somewhat amusing. HA! Off to the races….

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Not much happening…

2007-10-08T17:20:00.000-04:00

My life has been unusually “boring” lately, that is to say that I don’t really have a lot to blog about, I’ve been just chilling, working and hanging with friends. I’m not complaining, just saying.

I guess the biggest piece of anything exciting was my kids computer died. In February of 2004 I bought an eMac, mostly for the kids to use for games and in hopes that they would start using the computer. This month the computer died, hard drive burnt, not much in the way of backups or anything, so I spent some time trying to rescue the information off the hard drive. I purchased a new hard drive and tried to at least resurrect the old computer, no dice. Finally I had to go purchase a brand new iMac, well, I guess I didn’t have too, but the girls are starting to use the computer more and more, yes it’s for games and e-mail and such, but they are using it and I don’t want them to stop, I think it’s a good skill to have and starting young is the way to go. SO… I am the owner of a new iMac, thanks to Brown Computer Solutions in Brattleboro, Vermont, who was running a special where I got an extra 1 GB of memory AND were willing to stay open late so I could pickup the computer. Good times. I think the girls are happy!

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Oregon (Vacation? Part II)…

2007-10-08T17:16:00.000-04:00

Well, I’m finally getting back into the swing of things here on the East Coast. Although I must admit that I haven’t felt so useless in a long time, but that is another story for another time.

On Monday, September 17th I headed off to Oregon to work, I took along my backpack and all of my backpacking gear, I was to work Tues-Fri and then head east to Mt. Hood to hike a 21 mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail. I did it! (see pictures) Although I learned a few things along the way, as follows:

1) Hiking alone is MUCH different than hiking with others. I usually hike with J-dawg or Mike and this trip I was alone. My pace was way faster then it needed to be and I over extended myself. I’m not sure why I would do that to myself and I’m not sure how to stop it in the future, but at least I’m aware of it, right?

2) Hiking on the west coast can be different then the east. Mostly, when they say mountain, they mean it! Comparatively we have foot hills, so be careful when someone says a short jaunt up a hill or “not much elevation that day” it may be 4,000’ and we east-coasters aren’t used to that.

3) Shelters are a good thing. Out east we hike to shelters and even if you’re not spending the night on the trail, one usually goes past a shelter and it’s a nice spot to spend lunch or just take a break. Not so much on the west coast, they don’t do shelters as frequently, one can go days without seeing a shelter, so bring a tent and be comfortable with that.

All in all a good trip, I learned some things about myself and I conquered a fear. So that’s cool.

Thanks to all who asked to hear stories and all, it’s been fun!

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Maine (Vacation update 1)...

2007-09-26T10:12:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm FINALLY back and writing again, it's been a while, eh?
Let's see, I took 10 days off for vacation, went on my annual hiking trip and did some general hanging about, that was fantastic.

Got back, worked for a few days and headed off to Oregon for a week, that was fun in that I got to go hike around Mt. Hood during that trip, but I'll talk more about that later.

So... first off, let's see, vacation and Maine, wow, what a great year we had, it was a bit warmer than usual, which was good and bad, it was good in that the Dawg and I got to swim a couple of times and by swim I mean we got to dunk in the rivers and or streams, but it was a lot like swimming (water was very cold so sticking in there wasn't much of an option). We did somewhere around 37 miles this year, wasn't a super stressful deal, mostly flat and chill, we didn't get an early start any day, mostly just waking up leisurely, breaking camp and getting on the road between 9 and 11, walking for the rest of the day and camping again, always good times! I really enjoy hanging with Mike and the Mad Dawg, especially camping, we have a pretty good rhythm going (after 8 years with Mike and the Dawg joined us for the last 5) as a team so we have a good time. Here are some Pics of the 2007 Baxter trip, enjoy!

Guess I better get back to work...

Peace, love, beer,
BS

National Talk like a Pirate day...

2007-09-19T07:59:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a long time, vacation and travel get in the way, I'll be back later this week with hiking stories and a fresh view from... well, Oregon! :-)

Until then, it's national talk like a Pirate day today (Sept 19th) see all the details here!

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

vacation...

2007-09-06T00:03:00.000-04:00

well it's off to vacation for me. I hope that you have a great few days, I'll type to you next week.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Florida...

2007-08-29T12:32:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-08-25T08:34:00.001-04:00

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...

2007-08-24T17:06:00.001-04:00

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...

2007-08-24T11:55:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-08-22T09:12:00.001-04:00

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...

2007-08-21T15:41:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-08-20T17:17:00.000-04:00

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)...

2007-08-17T13:20:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-08-16T08:46:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-08-15T15:00:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-08-15T14:18:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-08-09T14:02:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-08-08T08:27:00.001-04:00

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...

2007-08-06T13:00:00.001-04:00

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

Tulsa outrocks Cleveland...

2007-07-24T19:50:00.000-04:00

Again, It’s been a looong time since I posted anything up here. I’ve probably lost the one person that read this darn thing religiously. Ah well, maybe you’ll come back if I try to do better?

A lot has happened since my oldest graduated last month. Two friends have been married; one went on their honeymoon and returned the other, currently in Ireland on honeymoon. I had the distinct honor and pleasure to be a groomsman in both weddings, it was quit the time I’ll tell you!

J-dawg was best man for his brother’s wedding and he did a smashing job! He had everything wrapped up and totally under control, the groom freaked out once, but the man was quickly there to grab him and make sure he was alright. The most exciting part of their wedding was at the reception they surprised almost everyone by doing the final dance from dirty dancing, that was really cool to watch, very neat to see Seanie dancing for real!

Shawn was the best man for his brother’s wedding, that was an pretty interesting time. We all (Shawn, Shaun (and his family), Matt and I) all traveled out to Tulsa, OK for Todd’s wedding, the wedding was a good time, but the hangin in Tulsa was probably the best part. We had a bachelor party, opened and closed the hotel bar a number of nights in a row AND the groom’s 86 year old grandma closed the bar down with us! It was a wonderful experience. As a “By the way” if you are ever in the greater Tulsa area, stay at the Doubletree downtown on 7th Street, Troy, Cheryl, Summer, Trish, James and the rest of the crew are the best bunch of people in Tulsa!

I guess that’s it for me for today.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Older...

2007-06-15T11:46:00.000-04:00

Well, here it is the day I've been dreading for 13 years. Today is the day my oldest daughter graduates from High School.

I remember dropping her off for her first day of kindergarten. I had worked all night and I met her and her mom at the school and took pictures and her mom walked her while I headed home to bed. Today, almost 14 years later, I will watch her don her cap and gown (with this amazingly gorgeous dress underneath) and march down the aisle. I'm sure, that if you're reading this and you are a parent you know how I feel, but it is weird, I must say.

Anyway, that's consuming my thoughts for today.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

a long time...

2007-06-09T09:22:00.001-04:00

Can you believe it has been a month since I last wrote anything?

A lot has happened since I got back from Vegas, or maybe it just seems like a lot. I have been out riding my motorcycle a good bit (never enough though), been to a few parties (most notably one where I played Wii for a good chunk of time). I’ve been hanging with some friends, most notably the boys from DC have been here the past week (well, Todd has been here longer), we’ve had some good times.

AND the coolest part, I got to dog-sit for a friend’s dog! Keegan came to stay with me (and the kitties) for three days. We had a very good time, we played ball and Frisbee in the park, went for walks, ate good food, etc. All in all it reminded me of one of those times in a movie when the music plays and you can just tell that everyone is having a good time and enjoying life. What fun! (Here is a picture of Keegan and Ben, Ben wasn't too thrilled but did, I think, enjoy the presence of doggy.)

I’m off to a stressful pre-wedding thing today, I don’t understand why I’m stressed about it. I guess I feel like I’m in the middle of a couple of situations that I shouldn’t be, who cares, it’ll all be over in a few hours.

Vegas, baby... (Part II)

2007-05-03T08:58:00.000-04:00

The image that you see here is the color of my body after sitting in the sun for an hour yesterday by the pool at the Las Vegas Hilton YES! I am a royal idiot! I thought about sunscreen and then promptly sat in the sun for an hour and fried myself silly. You can call me dumbass if you want too. :-)

Anyway, have a great time here in Vegas, I'm up $80, playing with the houses money now, so that's fun. Met the "new guy" last night (my bosses boss) he seems pretty cool. Got to see some old friends and meet some new folks. All good times. I guess I'm off to the showers and to get ready for another day.

Hey if anyone is interested in footing the bill for a "Vegas Vacation" I will SO come back to Vegas to see Diana Krall play here at the Hilton. :-)

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

Vegas, baby...

2007-05-01T08:38:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been an exciting and fun couple of weeks. As previously mentioned, last week I went to DC, we bottled beer and hung out, what a GREAT time. Many thanks to my wonderful friends down there in the greater D.C. area. I love you guys! (Note the fantastic label the guys made on "our" beer)

Sunday, I flew to Minnesota and stayed with my friend "Merch" for a couple of nights, today he and I are flying to Vegas for a "conference" I'm sure that will devolve into what amounts to idiocy and crazy stupid fun, but whatever. No seriously we have a conference on Wed - Fri, so we're going out today and hanging until tomorrow at 4 PM, then starting the conference and not leaving to head back until Saturday afternoon. Should be a fun trip, I'll keep you posted!

To those of you that commented either on the Blog (Fuzz) or via e-mail (others). I'll try to respond as quickly as possible.

Peace, Love, Beer,
BS

No comments...

2007-04-27T14:58:00.000-04:00

So, it seems that everyone that reads this (all two of you) have NO thoughts whatsoever on the previous posts? Alright, here is one more, if you don't comment, I shall assume that we are not going to comment on anything ever again and I will simply just rant about whatever comes to mind.

BS

Your thoughts (Please?)...

2007-04-19T11:31:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure how I feel about this article. Not sure what to do with it in my life. Does anyone have any thoughts? Read it here.

On another note, I'm pretty sure I want to read this book. So if anybody has it would you please e-mail me, I'd love to borrow it instead of buy it.

That is it for now. I'm off to DC for the weekend, pre-wedding stuff for a friend of mine. I'm looking forward to the trip, 9 hours on the train. Downtime, although there was a chance that the J-Dawg was going to go with me, but that doesn't look possible. Anyone want to sponsor his trip?

Hopefully there will be some pics from DC forthcoming.
Peace, love, beer!
BS

(I think) I'm helping...

2007-04-10T09:53:00.000-04:00

For those of you that use Microsoft IM – Live version 8.1 – you too can help make a difference in the world. How much of a difference, who knows, but every little bit helps, right? So here are a few links for you to do some research and decide for yourself.

http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Home/

http://blogs.technet.com/kevinremde/archive/2007/03/01/use-the-new-secret-emoticon-and-tell-microsoft-where-to-send-some-money.aspx

Now this brings up an interesting question. I’d be interested in your thoughts. I’ve recently had a conversation with a friend of mine who doesn’t believe that one person can change the world or even make a difference in the world. I have a very hard time with this thought process, I much prefer to look at people like Mother Theresa, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Jr., Adolph Hitler, Stalin, Lenin (I didn’t say it had to be a good difference, although I do believe it is easier to get noticed for evil). I think if we aren’t trying to make a difference in the world, in our world and/or in someone else’s, what is the point of being here, what’s the point of being alive. We need to help people to focus on what they need and how they are doing. If we focus simply on ourselves and what we need doesn’t that just drive us into a shell or a cave?

With that asked, I’m helping the Sierra Club, I also bought a Motorola Product (Red) phone, not that either of these make a HUGE difference, but they make a difference.

BS

Kitties...

2007-03-28T10:20:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess I gave away the big surprise in the title of this post, but I have two precious little kitties that came to live with me. They are currently staying in my "extra" (read my girl's) room. As they get used to the noises and smells around here, then I'll let them get used to the rest of the apartment and we'll see how it goes.

So... want to see a picture?

Yes? you betcha! :-)

They are brother and sister, Ben is the ginger one and Lil Rock (Lil Raquel) is the gray one. They are pretty cute, so far. :-)

Well, that is about it for now.
BS

Friday evening funny...

2007-03-23T18:08:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I'm not usually into this You tube thing, but these are too funny. I beg of you, watch these four videos. They are awesome.

Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4

Enjoy!
BS

Churches, pubs...

2007-03-23T11:44:00.000-04:00

So, here is my reader question for the day (for the two of you that read this thing). What is the difference between the pub and the church?

I can tell you what the differences are for me.
1) I like going to the pub.
2) I feel like I'm accepted at the pub
3) I feel like I can go to the pub whenever I want and not on a specific day at a specific time for a specific reason. Even if I just want a glass of water and to sit quietly where there are people milling around. I can just sit and watch.
4) I can go to the pub "just as I am", sad, happy, depressed, grumpy.

With that being said, there is a bit that you don't/can't get at the pub. For the most part, I think church people are more willing to help, maybe it's that they are more willing to "go deep" I don't know. Some people are willing to "go deep" no matter what. I'm not really sure, but I gotta tell you, the reasons outlined above, for me, are pretty big.

Hard tellin not know'in.

Thoughts?

BS

What is wrong with us(?)...

2007-03-22T09:14:00.000-04:00

Thanks to my fruity sister-head, I'm posting a link to this article from Time.com. It's an article about how the rich buy indulgences for their sin of porking the environment (See article here) Can you tell I'm a little upset about this? There are two reasons for todays rant. First, the aforementioned article and second, something that happened to a friend of mine recently.

This friend of mine works for a group that strives to be environmentally conscious and help people here in the U.S. and around the world. Recently someone went to work for this company that used to work for a Christian organization that does all sorts of good for people here in America and around the world, I'm not sure where they stand on the environment, but that's secondary. The discussion inside the new company where my friend works, was about the new guy and how he seems like he is going to be a good addition to the team, someone mentions that the previous organization they worked for was "Christian" suddenly the question becomes, why would a christian want to work for an organization that helps people in the US and around world AND cares about the environment? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!!! If Christians, myself included, have not and are not at the forefront of taking care of other people and this planet (of which we are supposed to be stewards. We've done an awful job of being who we are supposed to be. Obviously we've done too little to show what is important and we are spending too much time shooting at each other for things we have or haven't done. People should be turning to organizations that are taking care of people and the environment and, only after the fact, finding out that they are a group of people that follow Christ.

Alright, I guess I'll stop ranting now. Thanks for listening. :-)

Batch updates at large companies…

2007-03-02T12:32:00.000-05:00

Why is it that my clients, most of them relatively small to mid-size manufacturers are interested in and willing to put the money into real time updating of websites and databases, but the "big guys" aren't. I have had occasion lately to notice that some of the larger companies don't update their databases but once a day. Let's take for example, Blockbuster. You return a Blockbuster Online movie to the store, when does it show up as returned, sometime the next day (hint: after their batch upload is run!) that's not too bad and it's understandable. However, What about the shipping out of movies, sometimes I'll get an e-mail saying that my next movie was shipped and boom it's in my mailbox the same day. Do you think that this has to do with the efficiency of the postal service? I think not, I think it's batch updating again. Why, oh why, doesn't Blockbuster have online fulfillment centers? The lack thereof makes no sense to me, but nobody asked, so I guess they don't really care what I say, huh?

BS

Airlines... Early mornings...

2007-02-20T11:08:00.001-05:00

So, a funny thing happened to me, last week while I was trying to leave San Francisco. I went to the airport, returned my rental car, grabbed the tram to the terminal, checked my bag and headed to the gate. Usually when heading to the gate I grab out my license and stick my wallet and other metallic objects into my pocket. This time I went to get my license, it wasn’t there! I realized I had left it in my rental car, so I dropped my junk with someone I could trust and booked to the tram. Realized after 10 minutes that I was on the wrong tram, got on the correct one, got to the rental car, people were buzzing around it, I hollered please don’t move that, I left my license in it. They all looked at me and said, how about the keys? I couldn’t believe it (insert long story here about trying to get a ride back to the terminal to get their keys, which I left in my jacket, to no avail!) and no license! Talked to the lady that checked me in, nothing. Oh no! Talked to the most senior Avis guy and he told me to just leave the keys with someone from Northwest. Great! Back I go to the terminal, realized my keys were in my jacket, in my checked luggage! Northwest folks bent over backwards to get my bag back and there was my license! YAY!!!! And I even had time to get breakfast. I guess the next time I think about 1) getting ready the night before and/or 2) checking my jacket pockets before packing said jacket, I should just do it! Huh? I was glad I got up at 0300!

That’s it for today.
BS

New Digs….

2007-02-16T22:42:00.000-05:00

We begin with a dialog:
Family member: So, what the heck is up, BS? You haven’t blogged in a long time?
BS: Well, I just haven’t had time.
Family member: BS!
BS: Well, I haven’t had anything to write about.
Family member: BS!
BS: ok (hangs head), I’m a slacker?
Family member: right on!

So, without any further adieu....

On January 15th, with the help of some friends, I moved into my “new digs”, it is a fantastic and wonderful apartment right off Main street, I overlook the common and the loony bin (read: housing for the mentally ill, where I’ll probably end up some day!). I have been here just over a month and I love it! It has it’s lonely days and it’s bad days, but for the most part it is a phase of my life that I totally missed and wished I hadn’t. If I had done this before getting married, I may have chosen a different life.

Outside of the new place, life is pretty alright, friends are friends, others are others and life seems to have returned to some sense of “normalcy”.

I found out yesterday that one of the people that I am VERY fond of is engaged. This person is one of the few that I would probably break up with anyone at any time, if I thought I had a shot with them. I don’t, so that is probably not even something reasonable to say, but when they told me they were engaged, I told them that. They were flattered, I think they chuckled a bit and forgot about it, but that’s good. I mean, sheesh! In retrospect, what kinda guy just blurts out (when being told that their friend just got engaged) “I SO would’ve loved to have been with you”. Huh? Not someone who’s nice!

Anyway, that’s my story for tonight. I have another few fun stories, but they’ll wait….

G’night
BS

Grinding Gears...

2007-01-12T12:24:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I feel like Peter (from Family Guy) “You know what really Grinds my Gears?” piece. I feel like I’m always complaining, am I?

Today in the news, I’m not sure if it’s good news or not, Becks moves to L.A.! What the hell is up with that??!! David Beckham is moving to the L.A. Galaxy, I am still in a bit of shock, I have mixed feelings, I think it will be good for MLS, but it may also be bad for MLS. Becks has the ability to draw fire and he IS getting old.

People – what the heck is up with people? A few months ago I get this very disjointed e-mail that sounded more like a drunk person trying to talk (think Stewie and Brian at the Drunken Clam), I chalked it up to just venting feelings about all that was going on at the time. Then I saw him the other day in a parking lot he just raised his head a couple of times and then said something that didn’t have much to do with anything and walked off. I don’t know, maybe I’m too sensitive, maybe I care more than I let on. Who knows? I guess I should send an e-mail and ask what’s up, we’ll see.

On another note, I picked up the key for my first very own apartment, today. I do this with a bit of nervousness, I’ve never lived by myself, I think I’ll be lonely, I like to be around people. So we’ll see what happens.

BS

Is there anybody out there?

2007-01-04T18:43:00.000-05:00

What does one say, when they’ve been away from their blog for so long you don’t even know if anyone is reading it anymore! It reminds me of a song, by the McKrells “Is there anybody out there”? (now where should THAT question mark have gone?).

What does one say about the month of December, with all of the things that have been going on lately (re: family matters) it was a difficult and interesting month. My oldest daughter had a birthday, turning 18, that was an interesting feeling for me, I don’t really care when my birthday happens, but when my kids are growing up, holy crap do I feel old!

Not much else happened in December, I continue to live with my sister and brother-in-law, that is wonderful! I fear that the time to leave there draws nigh and it will be a difficult parting. Maybe they’ll buy a duplex and I can have my own space AND live with them, wouldn’t that be awesome!

OH! One interesting thing happened in December; I learned what true friends are. True friends are the friends that, no matter how much they disagree with choices you’ve made, still love you. They may want to kick you in the knee, smack you about the head and neck with a broken bottle, or let you loose in a cage of drunken monkeys with sharp objects, but they still love you and will stand by you no matter what happens. It is an amazing thing to watch and an honor to have these men and woman as friends. You know who you are and IF you do read this, thanks for being here, you have no idea how much it means.

I’ve had a few interesting experiences already this year, as follows:
1) My buddy SSG was home for my birthday. Now this may not seem all that strange or interesting to you, but you probably don’t know that 11 years ago to the day (my birthday) he shipped out for the Air Force, every birthday after that, for 10 years, he was either leaving or gone on my birthday. You have to know SSG to see why this is important. Note the friendship mentioned above and take it to another level, if I called this guy at 0300 and said, “I’m in a barn, I just woke up, there’s bodies and blood and I don’t know how I got here” This man would show up and help me, no questions. I have a few of those people in my life, he is one of them (and the one I’ve known the longest) and I got to spend my birthday with him, what a great thing.

2) A friend that I haven’t really spoken too for almost 7 years, IM’d me today. I hope, at some point, she’ll tell me why today. Anyway, we had a nice chat, she got rid of most of her kitties, which is too bad, I would have had FUBAR flown across the country to live with Kiwi, J-dawg and MAX, I think he would have fit right in. This friend is getting married soon, sounds very happy with that, work and everything else, so that’s good. If you happen to be reading this, friend, I hope we stay connected this time and I don’t let another almost 7 years go by.

Well, I suppose that is enough for now, further bulletins as events warrant.

Peace, love and beer,
BS

Blog Update?

2006-11-26T16:54:00.000-05:00

What is this? A blog update?

“impossible”, “improbable”, “scandalous” (ok, I’m running out of words you might be thinking). It is improbable, but not impossible. I think often of writing and I’m just not sure what to write about these days, there are so many things going on that it’s tough to keep it all straight.

Well, what can one say, things are progressing nicely, if not as I had planned completely, but I’m sticking to my plan and keeping things moving along, in my own weird little way. A number of people are upset with me for not moving forward as quickly as I could be with things, but that’s ok, there are other people involved and it takes them time to find their way in this sticky and messy situation. I continue to live with my sister and brother-in-law, what a fun time this has been, although I must admit I am getting antsy to have my own space… now the question is, “what will that space look like?” I’ve been to see a few places and they are either 1) too small or 2) too expensive. I fell in love with this one spot that seemed to house my muse, but it was WAY too expensive for me (by about $300/month) the great part is that my “office” could be on the 4th or 5th floor overlooking river and mountain, what a great place to work, write and watch the world go by. The day I went to see this place it was somewhat sunny and the sun streams in through the 4 very large windows, it was warm (good for winter, but summer?) and bright, the whole place was bright, I loved it. OK, I’ll stop going on now, but don’t get me started on the bedroom and kitchen area!

The one place I’ve looked at that was a bit small, but acceptable is in view of where my muse lives, so that’s good, maybe we can meet for coffee (do I have any idea what I’m talking about??!!).

Times like these (separation from a spouse, family, etc) appear to be very difficult on more people than I thought. The stress level that this has created in me, my family and my friends is strange and interesting. It’s all new ground for me to covering and some expect me to have all of the answers. It’s interesting how many people have told me that my decision (see blog posting from October for details) is the “easy” path to choose. I’m not sure that these folks are even aware of the words that are coming out of their mouth.
<----thus begins my rant for today---->
EASY! Are you kidding me! This is in no way easy! My children cry and hold on to my leg telling me how hard it is for them that I’m not there, one of my kids doesn’t talk to me, I have hurt (very deeply) my wife and friend and other “friends” of mine won’t speak to me or in many other ways have anything to do with me. So you can take your easy talk and shove it up your butt! This is not easy on anyone so shut up!

I’m tired of listening all the time and decided that it was time to vent, so there are my feelings for today.

Well, I better leave something to write about later, I’ll try to make another update soon.
Peace, love, blarney,
BS

Vacation, Part II…

2006-10-28T10:45:00.000-04:00

So, here I sit in this great little coffee shop in Victoria, Minnesota. People have been asking me, so you’re on vacation, why the heck would you go to Minnesota (or more often, “come to Minnesota”, Minnesotans don’t get it). I encourage you, take a trip to Victoria, come down to the “School of the Wise” and you’ll know why. Sure the people that work here are great (well, all but the manager folks, they all come across as jerks!) but the worker-bees are great. I’ve spent a lot of time here over the past few days, it’s been nice, I don’t normally just get to sit and people watch anymore, mostly because the places I frequent I know so many people.

This morning the place is filled up with, mostly, women, some talking about work at a law firm, others just general things about life. Then there’s the “church ladies”, It amazes me, you can spot them a mile away, I saw these ladies come in, greet each other (seemed very fake) I thought, “hmmmm, church ladies”, sure as shootin, church ladies. Now, please keep in mind that I’m not beating up on church people, I’m simply pointing out that you can spot them in a crowd, especially if there is a crowd of them. and I talked with some of the ladies, they are indeed a church group. No judgment, just weird that you can pick them out of a crowded room.

My days have been filled with not much, having some beers at night in different places, chilling during the day, Messing around on the computer, contemplating the next moves of life and processing the past few weeks. It has been a wonderful time! A big thank you to the folks in the D.C. area (all of you!) and the “Merch’s” here in Minnesota. I’ll try to put up something interesting soon.

BS

Vacation, Part I…

2006-10-27T13:54:00.000-04:00

So, the ill-fated trip to Haiti has turned into a great vacation for me. Even though I missed my flight on Wednesday, it’s still been a fun vacation. I went down to Washington, D.C. for a few days, visited with some friends, saw the sights, spent a lot of time downtown walking the Mall and other various places and sites. I finally got to the Jefferson Memorial, a great and wonderful thing to see, did the Lincoln Memorial and read all of the things there, which was wonderful. Abraham Lincoln (and many other leaders of the time) were such great orators, why can’t the people of today be more like that? (Text of Lincoln’s second inaugural address)

The National Spy Museum was fun, a LOT of reading, but the gadgets and gizmos were cool to see and it was quite an education to cram in to two hours! Next time you’re in D.C. go check it out. It’s not a far walk from the Mall and, if you get there early, the eatery attached has a “Spy Breakfast”, I could tell you what’s in it, but I’d have to kill you.

That’s about it for the beginning of my vacation, I’m on too Part II in Minnesota, which has been a good time so far, basically been hanging, more to come.

BS

Traveling fool…

2006-10-25T17:32:00.001-04:00

Well folks, today you read about the traveling tales of your friend “BS”. This week, I am on vacation, so far fun times. I traveled to a city to visit with some friends and do some sight-seeing, this turned out to be an excellent trip, I got to know some folks better and got to reconnect with some old friends, I also got to “see” acts of true Christ-likeness from people that I never really expected to see it from.

Today, Wednesday, I am switching cities, this called for a plane trip, so I flew to my “central” point, had some time to kill, so I headed out of security to get some fresh air. I looked at my itinerary, but didn’t really register that my flight was at 1315, I thought it was at 1330, I wish I could say it was because my earlier flight was at 30 minutes past the hour, it wasn’t, I think I’m just not very bright. So I get in the security line, thinking I may just make it, look at my watch, my boarding pass and I think “OH, $%&#, I am not going to make this plane”, so I managed to get to the ALMOST front of the security line and missed my plane by about 1.5 minutes (long story short). So I sat at the airport for another 4.5 hours until the next plane, I’m about to board it. Crazy day! I’m not in a hurry so it’s not that big a deal, I had people waiting on me in the next city though, so that’s a bit sad, but I’ll see them later. Oh well, funny story and another memory made.

BS

Well, this is tough…

2006-10-14T17:45:00.000-04:00

It’s been an interesting few weeks. I’m not really sure where to begin, so I suppose at the beginning, seems reasonable. This could be long, rambling and painful, so if you’re really not interested, come back later, maybe the posts will be shorter.

A number of years ago I married a woman that I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with. It turns out that over the years we have grown apart, some argue that is a choice that I’ve made, others agree with me that it’s something that can just plain happen, I’ll leave you to your own conclusions. I can tell you this much, over the past years, I have tried to communicate, in various ways, that I was unhappy and things needed to change. I will accept that it is entirely possible that I may not communicate well, I will also accept 100% of the blame for my marriage breaking up. I will however, require that the other party involved accepts 100% of the blame as well. Whatever else it is that has happened a relationship has died. It’s a very sad thing, I am surprised at some of the emotions I feel, I thought this would be easier. I know it’s the correct decision for me, and I’m pretty sure that, in time, my children and wife will come to agree that it is the correct decision for all of us. I don’t want my kids growing up in a house where Dad really has no interest in being there. It would be horrible for them. I just must make the effort to be with them as much as I can.

The worst part about all of this is that I feel very little for the person in this that I’ve hurt the most, the woman that I married. It’s very strange, I’ve analyzed a lot of feelings over the past few weeks and the one person that I really don’t feel much but sorry for is my wife. Very strange.

So, needless to say, things have been strange for me lately. I live with my sister and brother-in-law, which is turning out to be a very cool experience. My sister and I disagree on a few rather major choices I’ve made in my life, but we still love each other and it’s interesting to see how two people can disagree (vehemently), air their differences and still love each other. I guess that’s what happens when one (me) lets someone else (my sister) in to their “inner circle” or the inner sanctum of whom and what they love. One of the things that I’ve realized about myself, over this time, is that I don’t very easily let people in to “me” some people will see some sides of me, but I rarely go “all in” with anyone. I believe this to be one of the strong failures of me, with my wife. I don’t think I ever really allowed myself to love her or to be loved by her. How strange is that? It’s a very strange thing to come to realize about oneself as well. It’s actually very tough to look at yourself and realize that you may actually be 100% to blame for all the pain and misery that you’re causing a group of people.

With that being said, I also realize that having put myself and my wife through the past 11 years of marriage. I have distanced myself so far from her, that there is no hope of return. If I can cause her irreparable harm, so much pain that she screams and “hates” me and not even feel interested. I think that’s pretty good proof of how far I’ve gone in a direction.

There are many other things happening in my life, now. For the most part, I am just trying to lay low, chill out and not get in to any more trouble. I think I’ve caused my kids, parents, siblings and friends enough pain for now. That’s the worst part, you know? I’m a people pleaser, I always try to like and be liked by people. It’s tough to hurt so many people. In the end, yet, I still think I’ve made the correct decision.

On an interesting note, the “Christian” community has responded in many different ways. I’m going to leave my parents and siblings out of this as, while some of them are part of said community, they will, by virtue of the fact that they are my family, respond differently. One person that I’ve known for many, many years has “forgotten” my name, I don’t think it’s intentional, they have just started calling me by another name, it’s strange. Others have responded with cards or e-mail, telling me how much they hate what I’m doing. The only person (again, family excluded) that has bothered to talk to me (AND, I might add, that was only after I made the first move) has asked questions, saying that they wanted to understand what’s in my head. I know this person loves me, I know I’ve hurt them, but I know that they still love me and I know that they have no way of understanding this.

Another interesting note. I took some time off from the pub last night to write most of what you’ve just read. I went back to the pub and talked for a number of hours with an “old” acquaintance about their divorce and how they and their kids handled it. It was a great talk and I came away from it feeling like I wasn’t the worst person in the world. That was nice.

I think, after this post I’ll disable comments on the blog for a while. I don’t want people posting nasty comments up here (you know who you are!), but if you’d like to send me an e-mail, please go ahead e-mail to blarneystonedblog@gmail.com.

BS

Getting back into the swing...

2006-09-14T19:37:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of "J-Dawg" and the only chic we picked up on our hiking trip! :-)

The problem with going in to the woods, even just for a few days, is that being “unplugged” for that period of time is a good reminder of how dependant we have become on technology, being able to get the information we want in seconds, rather than days or weeks. I find myself wanting to be able to Google things that I don’t know, learn, gather information that I once had in my head (like the definition of epistemology), or basically just look stuff up on a whim. I really enjoy that aspect of being “always connected”. However, sometimes it goes to far, doesn’t it? When you miss it, when you get to the top of a beautiful mountain and you switch on your “crack”-berry to check e-mail or see if you have any voicemail. That’s just sad. I embarrass myself a bit with my level of connectedness and my constant need to troll for information, it’s tough to just be sometimes. Then I think of people that are bored with life, they just hang out and watch TV, not interesting TV but sitcoms or other junk (not that downtime is bad, but ALL the time??).

So the unplugged thing was nice, as it is every year. As I was up in Maine I realized there is something that I don’t like about our trip every year. I’m not sure what it is but there is something that I don’t like. I think, maybe, its night. I love to sleep, I love to sleep in the lean-to and I love to sleep in the cold. So what the H-E-double hockies is my problem? I think it’s the length of the sleep time, when the sun is down, we’re in the rack (pretty much, except for drinking and talking by the fire, but you know what I mean). I like to be able to get up and wander or “hunt and gather” at the computer or in a book (usually something mindless for the book). So sometimes it’s hard for me to stay in bed, especially with my sleep patterns as of late. Very strange times indeed.

I have no deep contemplations to share today, nothing of any great import at all. I have thoughts galore, but none that are fit to print. Nah, actually, I’m just getting back into the swing of things and it’ll take some time to process new thoughts and such.

Oooh, I do have one fun bit. I finally got to do some production for one of our local radio stations. I am VERY excited. I love doing production and think that it is one of the things that I am fairly good at. I got to do a spot for the local newspaper, I guess I should turn on the radio and see if it actually airs. It may get rejected by “the boss”!

BS

Baxter, Tributes...

2006-09-13T17:00:00.001-04:00

I’m baaaack!!! I can’t say that I’m super thrilled to be back at work and back in the real world. I can tell you that the hot shower and that getting up to use the bathroom didn’t require putting on shoes and freezing was wonderful. We had a great trip, a few mishaps here and there (including them closing our favorite lean-to), all-in-all a good time.

I’ll type more later, it’s been a long day of work and such.

The picture you see here was a tribute four hikers left for their brother/friend who was killed on September 11th 2001, tribute left September 11th 2006 on the top of North Brother. It was touching, I choked up a little.

BS

Knife Edge...

2006-09-06T23:00:00.000-04:00

So, I’m off, J-dawg, Mr. LaRoss and I are all headed to Baxter State Park tomorrow. We’ll be spending a few days hiking and hanging in the woods. This trip I look forward to more than almost anything else in the year. It’s an incredible time.

In honor of this event, we contemplate the lyrics of Brooks Williams in the song, “Knife Edge”: (in part)
-------------------------
There is a trail on Main's Mt. Katadin called the "knife edge"; the
exposed path is narrow and the sides fall dangerously away.
Ramblers are warned to take heed in bad weather.
Seems like an apt metaphor for a love song.
-------------------------

So walk the knife edge with me baby
Be my lover, be my friend
There will be wind and stormy weather
Trying to blow us off the edge

I'm afraid that I might lose you
I'm afraid that we might change
I'm afraid one day we just won't talk
And we will never be the same

We've seen it happening to others
They fall right out of touch
Like a wreck out on the highway
We look but can't talk about it much

I cannot beg for more tomorrows
I cannot wish to relive our past
No turning back from joy or sorrow
No way to know our love will last

When your heart is growing weary
And your wits are at their end
I'd like to think that I could help you
If not as your love, then as your friend

A fitting tribute for a trip to Baxter State Park, I should think. I wish you all peace and happiness. I shall return on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Who knows when the next post will be.

BS

Decisions...

2006-09-05T16:43:00.000-04:00

Ever have one of those times when someone says something to you and you realize that they are very right. Someone told me that making a decision isn’t a bad thing, basically saying that mental masturbation isn’t the be all and end all, if one makes a decision, it’s a good thing. I think they are right and I appreciate this person very much, especially their willingness to call me on this.

I think I am starting to come to terms with what has had me in this funk lately, I think it was something that I didn’t want to find and that’s what made it all the more difficult to do so. Actually, I’m pretty sure that I’ve known what the issue was for some time, but the answer was the part that I didn’t want to find, now I am working on that part. Not easy, not good when you look inside yourself and find things you don’t like.

So, off on another adventure I go. Now I have to find the answer (or pick from the ones I already have) and then implement it. I leave the close of this very short post to the final Calvin and Hobbes printed in US newspapers.

BS

Kanata, Ontario, Canada...

2006-08-31T19:11:00.000-04:00

Here I am, Kanata, Ontario Canada, try to tell people where you’re going in Canada, they think you’re trying to be funny. I thought the people that were from here were making a joke when they told me where they were from. Here’s the view from my hotel room, last night when I “landed”.

Anyway, I went out for lunch today, local pub (nice place, looked like good beer on tap, but I’m working), so I sat there, ate my bangers and mash (VERY good!) and I notice this one waitress comes up to the bartender, she’s crying. Proceeds to tell the story of this lady that orders a steak (for lunch, if you can imagine!) and gets upset when it’s not there on time, rips the bill up in the girls face and refuses to pay for her drink (rum) and salad. Come to find out this lady was with a party of people that are with the company that I’m doing work for. So I got another side to the story, same story. I was pretty ticked, you just don’t treat people that way. That’s twice in two weeks that I’ve been places where people treat wait staff like second class citizens. What is up with that??!! Do we (collectively) not realize that they are people too? I asked the bartender who pays for that, she tells me it’s the waitress, she has to pay the tab out of her tips. I have half a mind to find that lady and talk to her, I’m afraid I’d be rude though. That just burns me up.

That’s about it from Canada. Things are going well here, not as quickly as I had hoped, but I’ll be done in time to head home, maybe even make it home tomorrow night.

BS

Attitude, adventure, abandon...

2006-08-30T05:45:00.000-04:00

Well, that was completely uncalled for don’t you think? Last night I was out with the guys and I actually got upset about how to play a dart game. Do you really think that darts has anything to do with why I was upset? Yeah, me neither, there is obviously something else bothering me. Now starts the process of finding it. It’s probably a very good thing that I’m headed out on the road, maybe I can relax and soul search. Anyway, I owe an apology to a few people, I’ll talk to you guys later, until then though, here’s a public, I’m sorry for my attitude.

In other news, I’m headed to Canada today, I’ve got the GPS loaded with maps of Vermont, New York, PQ and Ontario. I’m going to drive and then let the GPS get me out of wherever it is that I am. That could/should be fun. We’ll see how it works out for me. Unless I decided to take the bike, then I’ll have to stop and buy a map.

I think it’s time to put down all of the other books and tapes and such and grab a novel and read it. Maybe it is time to give the brain a rest, let it go into cruise control. I can’t say have more fun, I’ve been having more fun lately than I have in a very long time. Maybe that’s part of my angst? To much fun? As if!

BS

Smelling the roses...

2006-08-29T09:20:00.001-04:00

Tuesday broke dreary and humid, but not hot, so that’s nice. Very strange to come upstairs at 5:30 and find that it’s still pretty dark out! I’m not very thrilled with that idea, I like long days. Oh well, in a few months it will seem strange that dawn is breaking earlier. Go figure.

I walked up the hill this morning, like I do, during the walk down I noticed that the “mountain” in the distance was shrouded, again, in clouds. It’s amazing to me how we can live around things for so long and not see their beauty. Maybe we just don’t take the time to notice, maybe we’re so caught up in our own little worlds to notice the world or worlds around us. Riding the motorcycle has been great for that. Big D and I were talking about that last night, riding in Vermont versus riding in New York, where he used to ride was pretty congested and up here it’s more of pick a direction and go, it’s not going to be that crowded (save holiday weekends, etc). It’s good to remember to stop and smell the roses or see the mountains or just find a cool place to pull off the road and sit, quiet, look at hills or sun or nothing at all, just notice the world around you.

Went out riding yesterday for a few hours, what a great time. I have to travel to Ottawa tomorrow and I’m thinking of taking the bike, I’ve scratched the whole day off the schedule, for travel, and it just seems to make sense, taking the bike. At the same time, it’s a long ride, weather is unpredictable and well, I’m nervous about a ride like that, to be honest. If I had someone with me, preferably on a second bike, I’d feel better. Oh well.

All in all, things are going well, I’m starting to feel a bit better these days, not as funky as before. I still haven’t had a real good deep conversation for some time. The message from Sunday proved to me that my brain still works, so that’s good. There’s a question on the table about 1 Timothy and caring for widows, I must try to find the context of the passage, etc. Seems a talk with Dr. Stets is in order.

I suppose I’d better get back to work. Tomorrow could/should be a good day of riding/driving, so I better get directions, etc.

BS

The core of all religions is the same...

2006-08-27T15:00:00.000-04:00

The title of this, second post in one day, is the gist of the message that was given by one of the deacon's at the Episcopal service that I attended early this morning. She started out telling a story about how a young Jewish student wanted to know the meaning of life (after years of studying the Torah) so he started asking around. Finally he went to the Rabbi and asked him, the rabbi slapped him and said, "answers divide us, the questions unite us, you have a perfectly good question, keep studying." I wondered where she was going with this. I liked this story.

Then we get to the "hard" part for me. She says that all religions, at their core, are the same, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc. I can't buy into this. When you use some of the definitions of religion as Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines it, there is opportunity to agree with her, Merriam-Webster says that religion is, as follows:
------------------
Main Entry: re·li·gion
Pronunciation: ri-'li-j&nFunction: noun
Etymology: Middle English religioun, from Anglo-French religiun, Latin religion-, religio supernatural constraint, sanction, religious practice, perhaps from religare to restrain, tie back -- more at RELY
1 a : the state of a religious
b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
2 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
3 archaic : scrupulous conformity : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS
4 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
(Merriam-Webster online)
------------------

Now we think about what these religions are actually at their core, Christianity is the following of the ways and teachings of Jesus, isn't that the core? Buddhism is the following of the ways and teaching of, Buddha, right? Islam - Mohammed, etc. I'm not sure how I see these as the same thing. Or am I missing the core? is the core actually deeper than, is the core self-preservation at a cosmic level? Buddhism (if my memory serves) the idea is to transcend to a place where you are one with everything, the self is gone and you are one, so cosmic self-preservation doesn't seem like it's right. Is the core to be a part of something that is bigger than you?

I'm not sure I know the answers, anyone have thoughts?

BS

'05 Suzuki Boulevard C-90...

2006-08-27T05:32:00.000-04:00

I darn gone and done it now! Yesterday, I made the long drive and picked up my “new” bike. A 2005 Suzuki Boulevard C-90, slightly used, but in amazing condition! I’ll throw a picture up for you to see it.

I’m so excited I just can hardly stand it! It’s very hard not to go switch plates (from the old bike) and drive it, but you know what would happen then, right? I’d run into someone, get hit, or lay it down. So I’ll wait, impatiently!

I had a great time traveling to get the bike, two of my bestest buds in the whole world went with me and I really enjoyed our time together. One of the worst things about growing up, you don’t get to spend the “old days” with friends, know what I mean?

After taking the bike for a short, illegal, ride, I went and helped take some measurements for a mug rack we are building for a local pub, then had a couple of pints, dinner at the local Indian restaurant, have I mentioned how much I loooove Indian food?? We were going to eat at the pub, but Indian sounded so good we had to go there. Thanks for dinner Fuzz and Dawg, you certainly didn’t need to do that!!! It was a nice treat, though, dinner with above mentioned and Mom and Dad. Then back home for a brief, illegal, ride on the bike, fall asleep on the couch, bed.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do this week, I’ve been trying to be a bit more laid back when I travel and such, so maybe I’ll leave early on Wednesday (I have the whole day to travel) and visit friends along the way, maybe I’ll just blaze on up to Montreal or stop in Ottawa (I’ve seen Parliament before, but didn’t take pictures). Who knows, I think I’ll leave Wednesday as free-form as possible. I’ve got the rental care slated for early pickup so I can “blow with the wind”.

In other news, the Putter comes home today, I think, I’m very much looking forward to seeing him. He hasn’t really been gone all THAT long, but it sure seems like forever. I enjoy our times together, he is a good friend and a good guy.

I guess that’s it for today, maybe I’ll walk downtown for Mass and bagels (not together!)

Crash Test Dummies, motorcycles, funk...

2006-08-26T05:16:00.000-04:00

So, here it is Saturday morning, August is almost gone. WOW! This year has certainly flown by. I have a very difficult time believing that time can move as quickly as it seems to. I went out with my two youngest daughters for dinner last night, they are both such mighty fine young ladies, it’s an honor and a pleasure to hang out with them. I, personally, had a wonderful time, now I understand the look on my Dad’s face when he used to hang out with his daughters, always grinning, like the Cheshire cat, I never understood it. Now I do.

Today’s lyrical contemplation (really it’s just a song I get stuck in my head) is Crash Test Dummies “I think I’ll Disappear Now”, don’t worry it’s not what you think. The part that I find interesting is the first few lines, “Running into you with no warning, is like catching a sniff of tequila in the morning, but I’ll try, try to keep my food down.” The song is really about a guy seeing his girl after a breakup and wanting to just slip away for a while. I’m not totally sure why I’m jelling with this song at the moment, maybe it’s the motorcycle rides I’ve been taking. Just up and disappearing for a few hours, it’s nice. Very good therapy for me, know what I mean?
As I may have mentioned before, I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. I know it’s tough for people that care about people to just let them be in a funk, how does one deal with it when people are trying to pull you out of a perfectly good funk? Sometimes I think it’s not a bad thing, to be in a funk. Sometimes you get to explore different sides of your personality. Find out a little better what makes you tick or at least better understand yourself so that the next time you get “funky” you can identify what’s bothering you faster or discard items. I don’t know it’s tough, huh?

A few positive, or VERY positive notes (I’ll let you decide), I’ve been sleeping in my bed for the past few nights, that’s nice! Although I seem to have gone to sleeping 5-6 hours a night, different for me, but I’ll take what I can get (for instance this post was started around 4 AM, It’s taking a while to do as I’ve had e-mails to do and comics to read, AND revisions to make, etc.). I’m heading to pick up the motorcycle this morning, I really hope everything works out, I’m a bit leery of making such a large purchase from someone that advertised on the internet, but I suppose it’s not much different seeing a bike on the side of the road and buying it from them. So I’m looking forward to getting that on the road on Monday, I have to travel to Canada on Wednesday, but I don’t have to leave until afternoon, so I’m hoping Wednesday is a good day for a ride, but by then I’ll have other things to do, so we’ll see if a ride materializes. I spoke with someone yesterday who’s husband has an amazingly expensive bike, yesterday was the first time he’d been on it all year, he packed an overnight bag and said, “I’ll call you when I ‘land’”, I think that sounds like good therapy, maybe I’ll have to try that next year. ‘Course I’d clear it with the wife first!

This isn’t nearly as long or as interesting as it once was, revisions, you know. However, it’s an update.

“And just in case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night”
BS

Billy Joel?...

2006-08-23T22:23:00.000-04:00

Today’s lyrical contemplation doesn’t really make any sense. I’m sitting here at work, I have a bit of a headache and I’m feeling very tired of customers and work and computers. So I was thinking about the line (and title) from Billy Joel’s song “And So It Goes”, I like the line, however the song doesn’t fit in context. It’s about love, I took the line out of context, oh well. That’s the way it goes, huh? Welcome to the post-modern world, I can do that! HA!

Ah, the stories I could tell. I guess they’ll just have to wait for another time.

Not a whole lot has happened since the last writing, but I figured it was time to throw something up here. Ever have those times when you just feel dry? Like your brain doesn’t work or want to wrestle with tough questions. I’ve been having one of those times lately. Occasionally someone will spark a good thought with me and we’ll get into a decent conversation. Lately I’ve found myself pretty bored though. I need some stimulation.

Maybe the new motorcycle will help stimulate me. Yup, I did it, I’m going down on Saturday to buy the C90 Suzuki Boulevard, 2005 loaded to the hilt. I’m excited, can you tell??!! Come by and take a ride.

Guess that’s it for now.
BS

A few days later, a motorcycle...

2006-08-20T07:23:00.000-04:00

Well, it’s been a few days, hasn’t it?

Let’s see, a recap of the week. Worked in a town about two hours from home, fun times, yeah whatever. I did listen to a good book “A New Kind of Christian”, while driving. My sister and one of my wife’s friends (and Skip) have been trying to talk to me into reading it for a while. I resisted, but now I’m ensconced in the book and thoroughly enjoying it. It’s certainly a good read and brings up some very good points, maybe a post about this book is forthcoming.

Wednesday, Thursday I “worked” from the office, didn’t have a whole lot to do, supposedly an upgrade in Texas for two days. The upgrade turned into one day, so I rode the motorcycle Wednesday and Thursday. Friday I went hiking with the kids, wife and aforementioned wife’s friend (I may be able to call her my friend these days too, she’s been nice) I think we all had a good time, funny to see the difference between my kids, one blazed right up the hill and the other blazed down. The five-and-a-half year old kept up amazingly well! I really suspected that he and my youngest wouldn’t make the whole hike, they did. Very impressive!

Spent Saturday cruising around with one of my buddies, we logged a good three hours in the car driving around looking at motorcycle. What a blast that was. It’s looking good for him! He found a really nice used bike, wish I could remember the model, but it’s a Suzuki 800, comfortable, well cared for. It’d be nice to have someone to ride with.

This brings up my motorcycle shopping spree. Well, it wasn’t really a shopping spree, I got out of work early on Tuesday, so on my way home I stopped and looked at motorcycles at a few different shops, I rode an ’05 Suzuki C90, what a beautiful bike, Blue on Black two tone paint and a 1500 cc engine. It’s very comfortable. I’d really like to get it, I just don’t know about making the family live that tight, know what I mean?

Ah well, guess I better get off to church to practice before it’s time to “work”.

BS

Better days...

2006-08-14T11:20:00.000-04:00

It’s amazing what a little bass playing will do to help one’s attitude. As you may have noticed, Friday was a crumby day. Saturday wasn’t the greatest, but it was alright, Sunday things started to get better, there isn’t a whole lot that clears the mind (and scares the crap out of you) like riding over a very steep and windy hill at only slightly under highway speeds, particularly when you’re “out driving” your headlight. Sunday made things much better, I got to play bass AND had a drummer there, that was fantastic. Apparently he’s not going to be playing much, if at all, anymore so that is sad.

Saturday I spent some time looking for screws for the cabinet doors, just plain can’t find any of the size that I needed. So, I didn’t get to put the doors on in the kitchen (they look very nice, even though they are strewn around the kitchen! You two lady’s did a great job! And I hear you had “fun” doing it!), I did, however, manage to get a few things done that I needed too, paid bills, various and sundry other office work that needed done. The Dawg and I got our favorite pub manager a bottle of Oban Scotch, his daughter is getting married today in New York City. We figured, the father of the bride doesn’t really get anything except bills, so we thought a bottle of Scotch would help. We hope it did!

Sunday, church, lunch, hung with the wife for a few, then the good Dr. H stopped by and showed me his new motorcycle. I must admit I’m envious. I really want a new ride, I just don’t want to settle, I want what I want, you know? Is that wrong? Then I went to see Big Stetz and help him with his porch, I hope I didn’t mess it up too badly, you know me and hammers!

Today, I’m back on the road working, but close enough to drive home tonight, so that’s nice. Not much else happening... Oh yeah! One of my buddies may be getting a motorcycle! His wife sounds like she’s “warming” a bit to the idea, so that’s exciting! (You listening McB? This could be you! Think of the times you and your man could have cruising around on a motorcycle! It’s good times, I’m telling you!)

Suppose I’d better get back to work. Let me know what you think about the new bike.

BS

A bit of depression...

2006-08-12T00:06:00.000-04:00

Ever have one of those days when you wake up in the morning feeling like your on top of the world, feeling like your living in harmony with everything, your life, nature, the whole nine yards. You decide that if your in a poker game you can’t do anything but win, so you sit down at the table and start to play, you look down and you’ve got all but one card that you need, that card, you feel, is in the dealers hand, ready to be flipped, so you go “all in”, the dealer flips and instead of flipping the number card of the suit you need, dealer flips number card of the neighboring suit, you lose, but SO close, so close you could taste that money, so close you could taste the wine, Italian wine, yeah, that’s it. Alas, it’s gone and you got nothing.

Today was a strange day, the highlights of my day were the few hours I spent on the back of my bike and ushering Saturday in (at the pub, of course). The really good part of being on the back of the bike was that I’m alone, alone with my thoughts, I’ve really needed a lot of that lately, I’m not 100% sure why.

Suffice to say that it was one of those days that you wish you could go back and do over again, maybe make some different decisions, maybe not. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to sleep tonight, it’s been a weird day.

BS

Traveling, environment, meandering...

2006-08-11T07:03:00.000-04:00

As I type this, I’m on a plane from SLC headed east, back home. This morning the Transportation Safety Administration told us to remove all lotions, gels and liquids from our persons as we attempted to come through security checkpoints. You’d think that since all passengers (a majority of the “frequent travelers” carry water with them) have had to dump all liquids that the airlines might be willing to help us out by giving us more water on our flights??!! Not so the case this morning, so far I’ve been able to obtain one eight ounce bottle of water, merely a shot glass for me, I usually drink a liter plus on a three hour flight. I guess I’ll have to drink up on my lay over! On a positive note, an atta-boy to Delta for continuing to show movies on their flights, “MI:3” and “Over the Hedge” were good, oh alright, I didn’t actually watch “Over the Hedge” figured I’d wait to watch with the kids, but I glanced at it a few times and it looked funny. The ladies across the aisle seemed to enjoy it.

So I was thinking how funny it would be if a Bible came with the words “Don’t Panic” on the cover, instead of “Holy Bible”. I realize that may be sacrilegious to some folks, but I think it would be very amusing. You know the reference, right? I don’t really know why I think that would be so amusing, I just do.

How cool is it that the local Salt Lake paper has a section called “Outdoor” the out-of-doors is such a focuse for people in West, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, etc. It’s really cool! I suppose probably the Boston and New York papers have such things and we don’t have that, because we don’t need it, we live it on a day to day basis. Although, I don’t live it as much as I’d like. It’s hard to find that balance between all the projects I have to do around the house and being outside, riding the mountain bike (about 5 times so far this summer), hiking (what, once this summer?), riding the motorcycle (a lot more than the others, simply because I can go further faster) and other things. It saddens me. Ah well, we live with what we got, right?

I wish that I could reprint, in whole or in part, Tom Wharton’s article from “The Salt Lake Tribune”, if you can find it online it’s called “Has nature just become a thrill ride?” (August 10th). It’s a very well written article (and timely for those in SLC as the Outdoor retailers meeting is happening this week) It asks a tough question that has an even tougher answer. How does one “compete” and “commune” with nature (especially where money is involved), is it even possible? It is opined that only the heart of the person (or intent) is really how it is defined.

I think Tom is right and I think that applies to “religion” also. If one is a nice person because they are a nice person, good for them. If you struggle with being nice to people and you work hard at it as a sacrifice, say, to Jesus I think and believe that you will be rewarded for your effort. The same way that if you go out into nature to climb a mountain or a rock face and find that in so doing you may very well destroy something (or contribute to its destruction) and you forgo your expedition or take strides to minimize your damage, I think that’s good and you’re showing responsibility and good stewardship. If you don’t, well then you’re heart just isn’t in the right spot and you lose your right to complain/gripe or tell others how to live (I urge you to read Peter Schweizer’s article in USA “The Forum” for August 10th entitled “Gore isn’t quite as green as he’s led the world to believe”). I really hope that Peter’s allegations aren’t even 50% true, as I respect Al Gore’s getting people thinking about the environment more. (I say as I sit in an airplane that is spewing junk into the air.)

This has been a meandering post hasn’t it? Sorry about that. I hope it has made some sense to someone!!??

Peace,
BS

Leaving Salt Lake will anyone notice...

2006-08-10T07:12:00.000-04:00

A big thank you to the people of the Salt Lake City area. I’m headed to the airport in just a little bit and, so far, it’s been a good trip, the beer is tasty, the people nice and the view is beautiful!

A funny thing happened to me last night, while I was sitting at the Wasatch Brewery in Park City, Utah. I met some very nice folks, Dana and Scott, both from Colorado currently, but Scott is originally from the Boston area. The funny thing is, the conversation started around baseball of all things! Those of you who know me, know that I don’t give two flying pigs feet about baseball. Anyway, Scott is a freelance marketing dude and Dana is the executive director of an organization that I have a lot of respect for. I have or will allude to them during this post, but for reasons of not wanting to ID people on my blog (you’ll notice this is the first time I’ve used names, simply because there is no connection between, Scott, Dana and I) I’ll leave the ID to your sleuthing abilities. Dana would NOT autograph her business card for me. Oh, well, I have the card and if anyone disputes the fact that I met her, well, they’ll have to drop her an e-mail and have her prove it!

Anyway… Dana and Scott are agnostic so our conversation centered a lot around “religion” and politics. It’s very hard to explain how I feel about “religion” versus following Jesus as a life journey. The definition of religion does not define how I feel I live my life, not a set of rules that I conform to with ardor. I study Jesus and the Bible and try to follow them. I don’t do a good job, most of the time, but I try.

I digress. My new acquaintances have two children and were in town as part of a large convention, I figure they have, either, a lot of money or the conference folks were paying for the babysitter, cuz the kids were at home. I’m guessing the conference folks were paying, these folks didn’t seem the types to be stuck on money and stuff. At any rate, we had an enjoyable conversation, and their offer of joining them for dinner was VERY tempting. It was late and I am up early to head home. Thanks Dana and Scott for making a lonely evening in Park City a very interesting and thought provoking evening! May you be blessed along the rest of your life journey.

Some of you may not find this next bit funny, but I did. I only brought two pairs of socks with me on this trip, I don’t know why, but I did. So that meant I either had to wear the dirty socks or wash a pair. This I did, yesterday morning after getting ready for work. Washed the socks, wrung them out and brought them to work with me. I set them on the trunk of the car and let the Utah sun do it’s job. What a great job it did! Just after lunch, my socks were nice and dry, stiff as a board (hard water) but dry! My client folks laughed at me, they thought it was a riot that I had “laundry” on my trunk drying. It was fun. I like fun.

Well, it seems that I must get ready to head to the airport. I’m hoping to make it on time. I’d like to go to the re-vision meeting tonight, but more importantly, I’d like to make it down to the pub for a beer with the dawg (and others). I miss my “home brew”.

“On the road again, I just can’t wait to get on the road again…”

BS

Salt Lake Brewers...

2006-08-09T07:41:00.000-04:00

Last night, I got to go to yet another brewery here in Salt Lake City. I was told, during my last trip, that Red Rock was the only brewery in town. Turns out it isn’t! Last evening at Squatters I partook of a very nice beer selection. They Cask Conditioned Full-Suspension Ale was very nice, not as good as the stuff from “home”, but better than not having anything cask conditioned at all! The interesting thing was that I expected to be punished for having 2 casks and a sampler, but the beer affected me very little, I don’t really understand that, particularly because dinner consisted of nachos, and the altitude here is almost 4,300 ft. I’m alright with that, so alright that I may very well take a trip to the Wasatch brewery tonight. Oh yes, Wasatch brewery, makes of Polygamy Porter! Not that I’m super excited about that, but the Dawg saw that somewhere and thought it was a riot, so I figure he’d get a kick out of knowing that I’d been there (maybe there’ll be a t-shirt in there for him somewhere, but DON’T tell!! Ok?)

So I was laying in bed this morning, thinking about something to share with you all, one of those once in a lifetime revelations about oneself. Then I remembered something else and forgot about the revelation, how frustrating is that??!!

BS

Salt Lake City...

2006-08-07T20:23:00.000-04:00

Here I am, Salt Lake City. I guess these are the days for expanding ones horizons or maybe I’m just finding that my comfort zone is too small, or maybe I’m just tired of being me (the old me) and I’m turning over new leaves, left and right.

This morning (afternoon to the East Coasters) upon my arrival out here in Salt Lake, I got caught up on some work stuff (e-mails, etc) and then I headed to downtown Salt Lake, I even ventured out to find the Trax (light rail here in Salt Lake, VERY civilized McB (in case you read this) I even saw a guy give up his seat for a woman). So I wandered around Salt Lake for a while checking out the various sights, main street, LDS Temple, Tabernacle (unfortunately undergoing MAJOR renovations), Utah Statehouse (from a two block distance, if I had remembered my camera I might have gotten closer), read some history of SLC and then hit my favorite little brewery in SLC! I was pretty full from a very late lunch (on Main St) so I only had a sampler and ¾ pint of Dunkel (yes, fruity-one I tossed ¼ pint! Don’t tell the dawg!) It rained like a son of a gun while I was in the brewery, that’s why I ordered the pint, then it stopped raining so I bolted to the train, while I had the chance. I may just have to go back tomorrow night, should I get a shirt or glasses or something???

The end of vacation was good, we did some more sight-seeing around D.C. (National Archives was WAY cool!) and, much to my GREAT joy, we went to the Air & Space Museum Annex at Dulles. What a fantastic time we had. A big thanks to the folks in D.C for making our time so enjoyable AND putting up with four crazies! How you livin???

Sunday, I woke up early and composed a message to deliver at church. It was strange for me, because originally I was going to entitle the message, “My Jesus” and talk about how and why I think the church has messed up Jesus and who he was. Instead the message turned out to be “The Jesus” and it was a challenge for people to get into history so as too see who Jesus was, in his time. This will help us better understand our jobs, I think, but I’m still working through these things myself. I realize that the title is only one word different, but it took six week of wrestling with God before I would acquiesce and do what he wanted me too. Thanks to all of you who prayed, encouraged and talked me through this one. It wasn’t easy (not that any of my messages have come easily, this one was a long labor).

I think that’s good for tonight. May you never lose your temper, when you get in a bar room fight.

BS

Vacation...

2006-08-02T07:11:00.000-04:00

So, I’ve been trying to make myself more spontaneous, it’s not easy to change how one is wired, but I’m trying. It’s fun.

I’m on vacation this week and figured I’d just work around the house getting some things done. Didn’t work out that way, we decided on Monday that we should go to Washington, D.C. so we did. Bought tickets on the 12:30 train from our home town to D.C., It was a long ride, but we got in, late even, but in good spirits. One of our friends picked us up and drove us around the city a bit (my wife and two of my kids) we saw all of the monuments, etc. It was cool to see them all lit up at night. I must say the WWII memorial is amazing at night! Last time we were here it was still under construction, so we finally got here and slept, just hanging around today (which is VERY nice) maybe tomorrow we’ll go into town and see what’s happening. Tour some monuments and such, maybe we’ll hit the zoo, we’re not sure exactly.

I started reading a good book on the way down to D.C. “The Challenge of Jesus” by N.T. Wright, so far, good book. I would love to use this book as a basis for a message, but I don’t have enough time.

I am still baffled however; as I am scheduled to speak in church on Sunday (two services) and I still have nothing, nada, zip, zero, less than that even, I’m in negative numbers here. We shall see where his majesty leads.

Well, I guess I better get back to my vacation.

Peace, love, beer,
BS

Mrs. Lincoln...

2006-07-26T11:37:00.000-04:00

Ever have those days when you feel as though your head may just explode? Yeah, I’m having one of those days. I think I’ve finally found what is making me ponder so deeply, the problem is it requires me to either change myself or a change in my surroundings. I’m not sure that I’m willing to change either at this point. If I don’t, however, my head may explode. I think maybe a change is due, bits of BS all over the place? Not a good scene!

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? What a dumb question.

So I’ve gone WAY out of my comfort zone for this crazy kids thing at the church, I’m doing a bit of “acting” fortunately I have my brother “Daryl” with me, that makes things easier, but it’s still pretty tough. We are the only “act” that doesn’t get to read our stuff AND because we are so mobile we can’t really use a cheat sheet. We’ve messed up a few times, but I think we’re getting the hang of it. The Big “L” hasn’t yelled at us yet.

God...

2006-07-22T10:37:00.000-04:00

Almost always I try to say something and it comes out wrong or I just can’t get it into words. Then you read someone else’s writing and WOW, they’ve put almost your exact feelings into words. I’ve shamelessly copied from Josh Longbrake’s blog for this one.

“personally, the last thing i am interested in is easy christianity. i am not interested in being a trendy gathering where it's cool to be seen at and where you can see a hip band and hear a swank teacher with a goatee and get validated that it's cool to be this age. what i am interested in is seeing what Jesus is doing in the church, in the community, and in the world. i am interested in reaching out to those who have less, to see what it means to have deeds alongside faith. i am interested in getting stretched, in feeling uncomfortable about what i'm doing with my faith, in being called to action. don't get me wrong; i'm not against bands in the least. i'm a hack musician myself, so the natural thing for me to do is to get a band together and play music. it's just that i don't want to simply attract people with music or with cool clothes. i'd rather get together with those seeking revolution and start praying, fasting, and seeking God to see what He wants to do with us. wouldn't it be better to find out Who we're worshipping and then respond to it in music? and it's not that i'm against teachers either. quite the contrary. i'm very interested in teaching, but i really want to involve dialogue within the teaching. i'm still trying to develope that idea in my mind.”

Yeah, that’s about it, although I think I only got to the first sentence, I hadn’t fleshed out much beyond that.

Alright, Josh, when do we get to have a beer together?

BS

Why am I thinking about Jim Henson...

2006-07-20T17:28:00.000-04:00

What interesting creatures we humans are, one minute we’re all happy and the next, for no apparent reason, we’re in a funk. So, I’m in a funk, I don’t know if it’s working down here in the basement, just working, or what. I’m also thinking about school starting on August 28th, I’m nervous to get back into it. It is a lot of work, worth it so far though. Mixed emotions run rampant.

So FIFA has handed down their decision for Zidane and Materazzi for their antics during the World Cup Final in Berlin. I think it was a good decision, almost sounds like they “split” the discipline. Zidane was given a three game ban from International matches and Materazzi a two game suspension. Ironically Materazzi’s suspension means that he will miss a game against France during the 2008 Euro qualifiers. Zidane will work his symbolic suspension off by doing three days of community service in the name of FIFA.

Enough football.

So, I’m finally in my new office, started working here yesterday, it’s nice to be here. Although it is hotter than I expected it to be down here, maybe I need insulation, maybe A/C maybe I should just stop whining, who knows! 

Week after next I’m on vacation for a week, don’t really have any plans. I’d like to maybe take a day and hike, but we’ll see. The wife would like me to take the kids to six flags, I really don’t like amusement parks, but I suppose I could “take one for the team” and go.

Not much else happening around here, slow news day.

Peace,
BS

Motorcycles are heaven...

2006-07-11T08:54:00.000-04:00

So here I sit on Tuesday morning. The classes that I am scheduled to teach start in 2.5 hours and I have one of them ready to go (although I should probably do a walk through or something of that sort). I should also just stop whining about it and go and get everything done, but it’s hot and humid and….

It was a pretty good weekend. Got home Friday afternoon, went down to the pub with kiwi, j-dawg, Mc B., Hil, and my wife. Good times were had by all (as far as I know). Saturday was spent helping Skip and then Dad, then off to the pub to watch Germany take 3rd place in the World Cup. Sunday, church, picnic, World Cup final!!! Sat for an hour or so after the game in shock, couldn’t believe Zizou’s outburst. I completely don’t understand the amount of pressure that someone is under as captain of the national football team, with that being said, I was very disappointed in the outburst. All in all, Italy is the world champions, congratulations, Viva Italia! I am sad that the Cup is over, it has been a wonderful month of watching!! 2010, here we come (USA, USA, USA)!!

That about does it for my weekend. My wife graciously painted my office for me yesterday, Skip came and put the electric in to the panel and I helped put the outlets in and such, verified that Internet was up and running, hopefully I’ll be able to move in there by the weekend.

I am speaking at church on August 6th, I’m not sure what I’m going to talk about yet, I have an idea, but I’d really like to hear from God on what he’d like, maybe a few hours on the back of the motorcycle would help. Seems that it’s easier to hear God talk to you when you’re on a bike going 50 MPH.

Peace, love and beer,
BS

bar flies who talk to much...

2006-07-06T22:10:00.000-04:00

Ever have those days when you just want to go, sit at the pub, have a beer and a salad or some wings and read the paper or a book and then Mr. Freakin-jabber-jaw sits down next to you and starts telling you about how he’s going to make a lot of money selling his house? (Alright, Fuzz, don’t be checking my grammar, it’s late!) Criminy, I muttered some very un-Christ-like words to this guy tonight. I was deeply involved in my USA Today sports section (I only get involved in that when it’s about football (soccer for my American readers (except Mc. B)) and this guy sits down and starts talking about the baseball game. If you know me, you know baseball and me, well, we’re like fire & ice, we know each other exist, but we will never meet this side of 0 degrees K! I didn’t even get to finish that article about the New York Cosmos in the ASL in 1977. oh well, I’ll take home for the J-dawg to read about the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. It’s a good article.

Outside of that, I had a good day at work, it’s going along well, almost done! It’s almost Friday! I had some good beer tonight, Wachusett Blueberry, interesting beer, one pint is enough.

It is 10 PM, I’m tired, I think I’ll bail, not much interesting from me tonight.

BS

and then there were two...

2006-07-05T19:27:00.000-04:00

So France beat Portugal in 90 minutes of soccer (football for my international friends). I predicted that, but not like that! I thought France would outplay Portugal not win it on a controversial penalty call! I’m sorry to the Portuguese, it’s a rough way to go.

Have I mentioned how much I hate shopping? If not, let me tell you. I really do not like to shop! Apparently, however, I like to shop more than create content for classes. That’s what I’m supposed to be doing tonight, instead I went to the Emerald Square mall and bought 4 pairs of shorts ($18 each! More than 50% off), I bought a pair of sandals too, we’ll see how they go with my stupid feet. Sheesh, I hate my feet.

And now I’m blogging, instead of creating content for my class. I bet I’ll be a dead man!

Went to the parade yesterday with the fam, met some friends there, the parade was pretty weak. I was a bit torn though. People were handing out “Bernie for US Senate” stickers and stuff and I’m not completely convinced I won’t vote for him. He seems to be one of the best guys we have in D.C., yeah, so he’s a socialist (communist?) big deal, he gets stuff done for the older folks and the environment, two things I’m concerned about. He also seems to be pretty straight up, lives modestly, etc. Supports the causes he believes in (aforementioned), I just don’t know. Strange for me, I’m usually pretty conservative. Maybe it’s time to take a trip to meet Mr. Sanders, I just don’t know.

The picnic was alright, watched Germany get beat my Italy, alright game. I think Italy is going to beat France in the final (especially after the two yellow cards for the France boys. We shall see. Two games left in the 2006 edition of the World Cup! Saturday at 3 and Sunday at 2, both games you’ll find me down at the pub, come on down!??!!

Then the fireworks last night, met some friends there, saw other folks I hadn’t seen for a while, but again, didn’t seem as big as usual (like the parade) the finale was fantastic though! Really appreciated that! Think of the Boston Pops fireworks show, now chop off all but 80 feet and shorten it by 15 minutes and that was the finale. It was worth seeing though.

Weeeeell, I suppose I better get some work done, class is next Tuesday and I have TWO (count ‘em!) two, two hour classes to create content for. I don’t know why I can’t just talk for four hours, I know the stuff, what a pain! Oh well, off I go. Peace, Love, Beer.

BS

World Cup Soccer...

2006-07-03T14:00:00.000-04:00

This weekend reminded me of the Billy Joel song, “And So it Goes”.

Started off with golf on Friday at the Brattleboro Country Club, no I’m not one of THOSE people, I played in a fundraising event for the local school for the deaf. Then it was time for some World Cup Soccer viewing down at the pub. Always good times! Watched a bit of Monty Python’s “Meaning of Life” although, I fell asleep.

Saturday was a day for helping people, watching World Cup soccer and moving my office. The office is still in shambles, but that’s alright too. The Soccer part was the good bit, I love world class soccer, there isn’t much better. After the final game we hung down at the pub, it was a good/interesting evening. The two guys (we were there with three women) were dismissed to the upstairs, we were allowed to bring drinks and food and that was about it. It was all our fault too, the ladies apparently thought that “the dumb guys” can’t multitask (ie, play darts, talk and listen to them at the same time). Any good looking lady says the word “thong” or “huggy dress” within earshot and I’ll learn to multitask faster than you can say “boo”. So the evening ended with me taking two beautiful ladies home, one to her house, and one to mine. Good evening for me! :-)

Same ole on Sunday, except that I got to go visit some friends that I haven’t seen in a very long time, so that was cool. Oh yeah! I got to kayak too, that’s always fun. I’ve only done it twice, but someday I’d like to do more. My oldest daughter would like to kayak with me sometime, so maybe that would be a good daddy/daughter day.

I had an interesting discussion with an older gentleman Sunday evening. You see, our church is going through a revision process (read: strategic planning, for any business people out there) and it seems to be causing more grief than anything else. After two hours of conversation it turns out the older guy is basically just upset at the amount of money spent to figure out what we already know (that our church is focused inward and that Jesus wants us to tell the world about him and his love) and it seems to be a question of method that causing trouble. So that was interesting, finding out that at the beginning of a conversation you think you’re miles apart in opinion from someone and by the time you has through it, you realize you were about two inches apart, two inches can be dealt with.

I suppose that is enough for today.
BS

... an oldie but a goodie.

2006-06-29T17:11:00.000-04:00

It’s been an interesting day, started out with no clients to see and by 1500 I had two that needed help and not enough time to get stuff done before 5. I realize, now that I’m not working in the “home office” for a few weeks how much I like to be in and out of the “office” early. When I’m at home I don’t mind working late, but when I’m not, I like to be done and gone!

Today it seemed I spent more time e-mailing than anything else. I’ve been in some pretty interesting conversations lately, the common thread that runs throughout these conversations is that if we let ourselves be ruled by Jesus, if we focus our attention on him and how he taught us to live and we truly try to live like that, things work out better. It’s when we try to get “our way” or we put ourselves before others, that is when we run into problems.

It has also been interesting to see the similarities between kids and older people also. Our culture, by and large, doesn’t respect people that are older, therefore the feeling of not being needed is added to the feelings that come with old age (body wearing out, friends dying, the “good ole things” are changing, etc.). So the older folks get the same attitudes as the kids an almost “I’m taking my ball and going home” attitude or well fine if I’m not wanted then I’ll just leave. I think it’s a sad commentary on our times and our attitudes that we have allowed this to pervade our society. Those of us who claim to follow Jesus need to follow his teachings, in so doing I’m pretty sure that our attitude toward the older people in our world will change.

I suppose that’s enough to chew on for today.
BS

house, etc. (apologies to The Choir). :-)

2006-06-27T10:05:00.000-04:00

This whole blog thing is tough! I don’t really have enough to say (or at least I don’t think I do) but then I start typing and BAM! (apologies to Emeril) before you know it, I’ve said something.

So, we bought a house and then spent the next three weeks immersed in this pathetic little world that I don’t like. I much prefer helping other people with their stuff, but it was my turn to receive. I can’t even tell you how much help there was!! I can’t even believe it myself. Everyone from family to friends to acquaintances showed up to get in on the action, it’s funny to look around our “nowhere near finished” house and remember the many hands that touched it! Thank you all!!!!! (Especially the fruit-headed sister of mine, I’m pretty sure she’s the only one that reads this anyway) :-P

We officially moved in to the new place on Father’s Day, that was fun (NOT!!) I hate moving. Now that I’ve said it, I’ll probably get a job where I move once a year or something crazy like that!

For now though, work goes well, home is in chaos and, well, we’re all still exceptionally beautiful people. :-)

I must say that I have been challenged over the past few months (no I haven’t forgotten the bit about intelligent design/evolution/creation, see March of the Penguins and let’s talk about those guys!) about the whole prayer thing. Being raised Christian, in a Christian school and church, prayer just doesn’t seem like it really does anything. With this being said, I started a few months ago to pray the “Prayer of St. Francis” (go ahead, Google it) I can’t say that it’s changed my life or anything, but it certainly seems to keep the most important things on the forefront of my mind. Any thoughts on prayer or anything?

BS

Criminy... a whole week went by!

2006-05-23T16:22:00.000-04:00

An entire week since I have posted anything here! Golly, what a jerk I am.

Well, it’s been a week and a day since school let out and I have been busy partying! Not really. Mostly working and getting ready for the purchase of our first house. Everyone else I know seems to think this is a bigger deal then I do, but I suppose that all goes back to my penchant for understating everything that happens to me. Things can be cool and exciting for others, but I don’t like to get to excited for myself, maybe that’s because I don’t want to make a big deal about myself. Although maybe I do, I should probably ask my sister, she’ll usually tell me when I’m being a dolt, so if you’re reading this sister, tell me, am I like that?

Some friends from Minnesota are coming to visit this weekend, that’s cool and very exciting, a friend from CT is supposed to be coming up, but I haven’t heard from him lately, so we’ll see if he shows. A friend goes in for surgery on Friday, hopefully it’ll be early so I can stop in to see him before the closing and the surger (after Breakfast with Mike, of course!), but we’ll see.

Not much else happening, contemplating this whole evolution/intelligent design/creation thing, got some pretty good stuff from Jere for the creation side of things, I’m sure I’ll be able to find some other stuff for the other positions. Here’s the question of the post: If you are studying something (particularly in a science that you aren’t 100% immersed in) do you end up confusing yourself by getting too many points of view, or should you study as much as possible?

I guess that’s all I have for today, I’ll talk more soon. 

BS

School is done for the summer!

2006-05-15T16:20:00.000-04:00

Finally! I finally finished my schoolwork. This class was a nightmare, our professor wasn't there for most of the class so at the last minute (literally! three days before class ended) they brought in a replacement. Dr. Beth gave us some assignments, none of us were too happy with them. They need to prove they are doing their jobs too, I suppose. So I finally finished the school work at 7 AM this morning, so I'm done!!!

No more pencils
No more books
No more teachers dirty looks!

I guess it would be strange if I were getting dirty looks from my teachers, you know, going to school online and all. :-)

I also found one of my favorite albums of all times today! (I screeched like a little girl, not very manly, but whatever) I have been looking for "Sticks and Stones" by the 77's for forever, I knew I had it I just couldn't find it. It was in a stray CD case piled in with all of the other CD cases. VERY COOL!!!

Outside of that, not much happening today. Went for a walk (in the rain), taught a friend how to burn CD-RW's, read http://www.thelongbrake.com (someday I hope to be as cool as Josh). That's about it, no real musings today.

Peace,
BS

so...

2006-05-12T11:56:00.000-04:00

I guess I'm here, blogging, what the heck for? Mostly to relieve some stress, I suppose. There isn't a whole lot interesting to talk about. My wife and I are buying a house, I'm going to school (although taking the summer off to fix up the house), learning to play the bass guitar (which I love! but I'm having trouble finding the groove), and wandering down this road that is following Jesus Christ. Now I realize that you may have just "tuned out" and I don't blame you, Christians have done/said/believed some really dumb things. Please, don't "throw the baby out with the bath water", a good chunk of us really are trying to live the life Jesus said to live and the way he taught. Jesus' teaching were to live in harmony with ourselves, others and nature. Unfortunately this has been trampled on by many people, myself included. As time goes by I hope that you’ll see, I am no better than anyone else, I’m just another guy.

I guess that’s it for the first things. Now… on with the show!

Let's see how this goes.

2006-05-11T09:08:00.000-04:00

Only slightly more ludicrous than me having a blog, is someone actually wanting to read it. I’ll give it a whirl and see how it goes.