Friday, September 21, 2007

Fancy a Pint?

Tonight the Ski's board a Virgin Atlantic flight to head across the "pond" to visit the centre of the British Empire -- the City of London. The next few days will be spent visiting Parliament, catching a glimpse of the Queen at Buckingham Palace, touring the countless historical museums, listening to the call to prayer, having a pint in a pub older than the United States and petting the British Bulldog.

I have been waiting a long time to visit London and hopefully my expectations of taking in lots of history will not be dampened. A complete recap of events will be posted upon our return.

Oh, and thankfully, to ease my traveling fears, Virgin Atlantic has channel 9.

Unfortunately though, this just had to happen......great......just great.....

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

A Real American Beer.....(I suppose)

I know that it's almost October and that I'll always be forever a Coors Light man but I have to hand it to Budweiser --- they know how to come up with cheezy yet poignant commercials. Here is a commercial Budweiser did for 9/11. They only aired it once so as not to benefit financially from it but rather to acknowledge the tragic event (supposedly).

Monday, September 17, 2007

Bizarre Monday in the News

I don' t know what's more comical in todays news---- The fact that Blackwater Security (mercenaries) is getting booted out of Iraq even though they are the principal security detachment for U.S. State Department officials in that country or the fact that France would declare war on Iran should they obtain a nuclear weapon. What a Monday.

Friday, September 14, 2007

DHS and the Blogosphere

The Department of Homeland Security this week became the latest cabinet level entity in the Bush Administration (Health and Human Services was the first) to start a blog. It's called the Leadership Journal.

This should be entertaining.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Forget the Jihad for a moment we have other problems.....

Very interesting article may be found here.

Take me to Jersey please.....

This past weekend, the Ski's motored down to the Jersey "Shoarh" for a friend's wedding in Brant Beach NJ. Leaving late Friday evening we were able to make it through the Bronx, over the crumbling GW bridge and then past Newark without getting shot at or our car stolen to stop at Wall Township NJ around 2AM. It was here where we stayed in a lovely yet incredibly sketchy and smelly Travelodge hotel room. (Let's just say I slept that night with one eye open.) Yeah, no hot water in the morning either.....



The next morning we were able to make it to Brant Beach where we stayed at the hotel "Daddy O's." Despite the name it was a nice up scale chic hotel as well as only one of three hotels in the area. Anyways, once we arrived we were able to see this goombah get out of a huge Cadillac:











Needless to say, it made my day. Unfortunately you can't see his numerous gold chains, slicked back hair and the pinkie ring. Oh and his name was Tony. You can't make this stuff up kids....


After sitting on the beach and catching some rays on the beach, we shuttled off to the wedding and to the reception where we had a great time and got silly on the dance floor.



Finally, the return trip home was made even more exciting by us stopping at H & H bagels in down town New York City.



Overall it was a great weekend despite all the driving.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

The Fightin Side of Me

Tuesday evening, the ski's took in the Ray Price, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson Last of a Breed Concert. Three absolute legends (Merle is my hero) crooned the night away to old time classics such as 'Whiskey River" and "Mama Tried." It was a great experience taking in such classic music. Absolutely phenomenal.
Oh and a little note about Merle - In 1972, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan gave Haggard a full pardon for his past crimes. Another reason to respect the Gipper.

Monday, September 3, 2007

I'd Like to Check You for Ticks......

On Friday evening, the ski's ventured up North to the Essex Junction Vermont Fair to take in a Brad Paisley Bonfires and Amplifiers Concert. Brad was accompanied by Taylor Swift and Kelly Pickler and all three were quite good. Paisley just became my favorite country music performer. (Sorry Toby). It was an outstanding concert despite being surrounded by 18 year old wannabe country girls wearing cowboy hats and boots. When Brad busted out with some renditions of Johnny Cash, the crowd went silent except for the ski's screaming in excitement. Oh well, as my wife says, us Yankee's just don't get it! Anyways, Taylor is going to sell lots of records once she turns 18 and Pickler we realized isn't the sharpest tool in the toolbox as she was easily distracted by the ferris wheel off to her right. (She looks a heck of a lot better than in her first video though!)

The fair itself was a blast as anytime one gets a chance to walk through a Carnie, you see all sorts of walks of life! But the evening was made by seeing john deere tractors, cows, chickens and a woman smoking a menthol screaming at us to get our palms read. Good times, good times...


Vermont is certainly the place to be!

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Book(s) of the Month - August

August brought three great books to my hands -

1. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. This book was a 1954 clever and riveting vampire classic. Quite out of the spectrum of books that I normally read, but it was a fast and fun read. Moreover, this is the book that brought us the Charlton Heston movie "Omega Man" and will also bring us Will Smith's upcoming movie "I Am Legend." Be warned that it's a very short story and has a quite unique ending to it.

2. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Since 1997 I've always remembered seeing this book being prominently displayed in airport bookstores but I never bothered to pick up the book and read it. The reason you may ask? Becuase I thought it was about plane crash survivors lost in the mountains, and since I was going to be getting on a plane, I wanted none of that! Anyways, this was a great book. Krakauer tells quite a tale about the tragedy that nipped at his heels on Mt. Everest. My favorite part of the book is the ending where he and another author and climber that were on the mountain battle about whose story is more realistic. The afterword by Krakaer is hilarious.

3. Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick. To steal a line from the book, this was truly a story of courage, community and war. The book details the journey of the Pilgrims from "Old Europe" to New England and the settling of Plymouth Colony and the perils that the colony had in settling its community in a new and unknown world. The relationships with the various Indians and the war that followed was quite interesting as I grew up in and among the various battle "sites" between the colonists and the Indians. This is definitely a book that I would recommend to those interested in the extreme "Olden Days."

Okay, now off to the bookstore and to find my books for September!