Jumpin' At The Woodside

Robins arrived earlier this week. It almost seemed like a swarm of them the one morning buzzing all around the house. This afternoon they were all over the place again. The photo above is facing the street from our house and looking to the right. I don't know why they're back so early, but certainly could be the warm weather we've been having up and down the east coast. I guess they didn't get the latest weather forecast for this week. Tonight it's supposed to go down to 21 here. They're calling for snow in the higher elevations, which means they'll probably get snow in areas like Boone and Asheville - not here. Our cats certainly don't care why the Robins are back. They just like watching them. Vita V. sits at the window in the photo below.

I spent my spare time last week editing and putting together the video taken during The Big 40 celebration held last June 2-4 in Berkeley Springs, WV. Mr. Rob Monkey shot the video during the trip and gave it to me to transfer to the computer and burn to DVD. I apologize to all my fellow Big 40-ers for taking so long to get to the video. Between moving and starting a new job this is really the first time I’ve had a chance to get to it. I also needed to make room on my computer to handle the video. I purchased a big external hard drive to get over that hurdle. Once I had the space on the computer, I thought, why not take the time to edit it and put together a real keepsake of the occasion. After watching the entire tape, I saw that it only captured certain moments of the trip. This was no fault of Rob’s, because all of us were there to enjoy our time together, not to worry about getting every single second on video. I did see that many of the photos could help fill in the gaps of the v...

I remember waiting for the bus, waiting for the train, waiting to listen to my Walkman or Discman CD player – that’s right, not an iPod. I thought about this on my drive to work this morning. I remember when I moved from Boston back to the Philadelphia area. I couldn’t wait to drive my car to work and park in a parking lot. Not a generic pay lot up a few blocks from work, but an honest to goodness free lot – free for all the working people of the building to park in any space they chose, ah freedom. Here, there are bus stops on my way to work. Many times I’m either behind the bus and need to pass, or ahead of the bus and want to stay there. I have one vivid memory of taking the bus to work. The bus ride was rather uneventful, but what was memorable was the surrounding circumstances I found myself in at the time. This was in Jersey City, NJ. It was winter 1990 and I was attending classes full-time at NYU during the day, and working as a security guard overnight from midnight to 8 a.m. I...

Thank God It's... VAN DAM FRIDAY! Now that's crazy dancin'! :~) Sorry I took the image down it was too much of a bandwidth hog. If you still want to see it , Click Here

Top Secret Video Discovered! Watch if you dare, this newly discovered candid video taken during the recent New Year's Eve festivities at Lago's Lounge. >> Watch the Video (Windows Media Video - 522 KB) I will say in my defense that I was attempting to perform the goofiest dance imaginable, and by golly I think I may have pulled it off!

We had a visitor recently to our backyard, can you spot him? I circled him in the photo below, now do you see him? Still don't see him, perhaps the photos below will help. Looks like a hawk to me, especially after I saw him fly away and the wing span. Those are the clearest photos I was able to get. I took them right around sunset just before we left for dinner Saturday night, that's why they're a little blurry.

I haven't posted anything about the Eagles game this past weekend because Lago and I were at the symphony Saturday night. I know, I know... but we got the tickets months ago, and it was a Tribute to Sinatra - need I say more? Steve Lippia sang with Grammy winner Victor Vanacore conducting. Vanacore worked with Ray Charles on "Genius Loves Company." Lippia is known for singing the tunes made popular by Sinatra. He doesn't try to imitate Francis Albert, though he does sound like Sinatra, more so on the slower tunes. What he does borrow are Sinatra's arrangements by Billy May, Nelson Riddle and others. It was a great show, only soured briefly by an obnoxious jerk who sat behind us. When the show started the orchestra played a few tunes sans Lippia - many of Frank's concerts began in this manner. It took all of five minutes before jerky boy started to pipe up "What is this s***! I didn't pay for this!" Another minute goes by and jerky pipes up agai...