This Sunday I took my family up to the mountains. It was a beautiful day for it, although a little on the cold side. We usually take a trip every couple of weekends to somewhere in New England. Our trips are mostly confined to NH, but we have been known to go to MA or VT.

This trip found us in the Franconia Notch. We really like this area, as it is close to where we live and has a lot to see. The Basin is always a nice walk no matter what season. Clark's Trading Post is great too.

We made our first stop the base of Cannon Ski Area. If you go to the Peabody entrance, you can basically drive up to the bottom of the lifts. When I pulled up to the slopes, my son saw the people skiing and lost it. He was pointing to the Skiers and saying, "Go for a ride! Go for a ride!" That got us psyched, because we want to teach him how to ski. We explained to him that he needed to learn how to use the toilet first, then he could ski.


After that we went to the Basin. The walking trails there from the summer become snowmobile trails in the winter. It was really neat to walk around there and see it from a different perspective. I was afraid that it was going to be a bunch of Yahoos flying around on their snowmobiles, but it wasn't at all. The snowmobilers were very respectful and slowed down when coming through there. Some even waved as they passed.

So after a little more sightseeing, we headed back toward home. I made the suggestion to stop at the Tilton Diner on the way home. Well, that didn't happen. We went by there at 16:00 and there was a line out the door of people waiting to be seated. If it was just Sunflower(wife) and I it would have been ok, but three year olds have no patience for lines that don't have a ride at the end of them. It ended up being Applebees for us. We walked right in there and had our meals before we would even had been seated at the diner.

That was my Sunday fun. My next post will be another of my school papers I think. That paper is on Freemasonry and what I was taught about it. I hope that someone can get something out of it.

Good Night Everyone...

Thinking about books

I want to talk about books. I have the Academy Awards on in the background, and it is making me think of how you never hear someone say "Wow, that movie is so much better than the book!" You know why? Because, even if you directed a movie, it could never be as wonderful and vivid as the one that plays out in your mind when reading a good story.

I have always loved reading, ever since I could. I tend to like fantasy because it is usually very descriptive. I will not go on with this paragraph, as I don't want to sound like a Reading Rainbow episode.

I would however like to talk about a few books that I love and why.

The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
I found this series, sadly, after I saw the Fellowship of the Ring. I started with the Hobbit, which I had avoided all of my life for some reason. I guess I thought it was more of a children's book. After starting it, I found I could not have been more wrong. I love the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, but they were some of the most difficult books I have ever read. It took me four years to read all of the books, but I did read a few other books in between to give my mind a rest. Well worth the read.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
A funny story about this series and how I found it. The first book (The Gunslinger) was given to my by my friend BC. I think I hold the record for the kid who spent the most time grounded in high school. You'd think I was a horrible kid. Truth was, my father was just a prick and got some sick pleasure of of ruling me with an iron fist. Anyway, that is a subject for another post. So, during one of my many groundings in my 16th year of life, BC gave me the Gunslinger to read. I ripped through that in the first week and moved on to the Drawing of the Three. After that I went through the Waste Lands quickly and hit a wall. "Hey BC, can I borrow the next book? What do you mean there is no next book yet?" I had to wait 5 long years for Wizards and Glass to come out. And on and on. It took me thirteen years to complete the series, and it was worth every minute.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Yes, I read this after seeing the movie. This is one of the RARE cases where a movie approached the greatness of the book. Benicio Del Toro and Johnny Dep are amazing in this movie. They really captured the essence of the characters the way they were written. If I had to pick an author to try to emulate, it would be Hunter S. Thompson. The way he writes is the same way my brain thinks about things.

Ok, enough of my thoughts on books. I am by no means in any position to be a critic. I am just a fan of reading and know what I like. The great thing about a blog is that I can say whatever I want and not care about criticism.

I want some cereal. Fruity Pebbles.....

Does that thing got a Pitco?

So today I went to go buy a new vacuum. Sears has always been the place to buy them as far as I am concerned. I found an upright bagless Kenmore on sale for under $65 dollars, so I decided I needed it. I mean, come on. It comes in Avocado! '07 technology in '67 colors.

I bought the vacuum and some other stuff at the mall. Nothing too exciting to report there. As I was leaving the store, I noticed a black Jetta TDI parked next to me with a bezel on the plate that said "Powered by Biodiesel". Now, I have heard that the biodiesel makes the car smell like French fries. This car did not smell like that. Anyone that has worked a fryolator knows the stink of grease that is long in the tooth. That is the exact smell coming off of this car. I could smell it as I walked up to it. Yuk!

My new vacuum is the bee's knees. It is scary what the old one was leaving behind. I won't go into it for fear of sounding like a complete slob. The dirt was not my fault. I swear!

Next term I start Intro to Algebra. To be honest, I am really excited to take that class. I feel more comfortable with a subject that has finite answers. English is fun, but aside from grammar and usage, there is no way to meter whether what you are writing is correct. You hope that the professor gets the meaning of your paper and agrees. All I can do is put the words on the paper and hope they are the right ones, in the right order.

Math is different. Either you answer the equation right or wrong. There is no middle ground. That is a little more comfortable to me. I think that is why I like doing what I do for work. 99% of the time, the fix for a problem with a PC is finite. That is how my brain breaks things down and processes them.

OK, I am going to sign off before this post gets so random that it confuses you readers, I fear that I have already crossed that line, but aside from correcting spelling errors, I am not rewriting what I have already put down. You will have to deal with it.

Right Into It

Here is the first paper that I have written for school in thirteen years: BBQ, Bruins and Babies

Give it a look. I got an A on it, but I guess that doesn't make it interesting. It means that it met the criteria that the teacher was looking for. Read it and let me know what you think. If you think it sucks, I want to hear that too.

I was just watching 1 vs 100, attacking it MST3000 style. "We have 15 Alzheimer Patiences tonight! And we have 10 people with colostomy bags!!!" I don't know where Bob Saget found a career again, but he has trying for 15 years and still hasn't found "Funny" yet. I suppose he gets the job done though, far better than his stint on AFV. But I digress...

Hmmm, I could go on and on... I probably will for a little bit. So, I am attempting to learn Mandarin Chinese with the help of a friend I made at school. She is from Taiwan. She makes a great teacher because she is very interested in sharing her culture and language, and seemingly does not get offended by any question. "Is it true that all Asian girls like Hello Kitty?" "How do you say Fuck You in Chinese?" I can come up with all kinds of stupid questions.

OK, been writing this for over an hour now. I still have tons more to share, but it will have to wait for other days. I need sleep.

Obligatory Opening Post Crap

So here it is. I now join the rest of my Gen X descendants by jumping head first into the cesspool of modern day poetry... The Blog.
Who knows how long I'll have the patience to maintain this, but I'll go with it while I have the gumption. I am just finishing up my first class in college, College Composition I. Guess what? I like writing. Seems we can learn new things about ourselves everyday.
So far I have received a full "A" on every paper I have turned in, so maybe I am good at it? I don't know... Giving myself credit for things has never been my style, but I don't think I'll go to Hell for letting it happen every now and again. I am going to put some of my thoughts and papers that I have written and see what people think.
Bleary eyed boy needs sleep....