Monday, September 27, 2004

Reasons to switch to the Mozilla Firefox browser

Firefox has released the best version of it's browser yet. I am telling you will change how you surf the web. Need reason's why? Check this article out. Ready to make the switch? Click on the button below.

Get Firefox!

Reasons to switch to the Mozilla Firefox browser

P.S. It is a 4.5 MB download and it is easy to install. Tabbed browsing is the way to go.

VOTE or NOT - $200,000 Sweepstakes

Wanna win $100,000? Just follow the link to find out how. Make sure you follow this link which is coded to me, because if you win, I win and that would make me very happy.

VOTE or NOT - $200,000 Sweepstakes

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Summer Mourning

The summer is over and I haven't had a chance to mourn it. Busy helping my students put on their Dane Cook concert, Homecoming weekend, and just the general excitement of a new school year.

Excuse the self-indulgence, but I thought a list of what this summer held for me would be appropriate to record:

  • Spending time with my family (especially my sister) at folk festivals (Clearwater and Falcon Ridge). Bands discovered (Eddie from Ohio, Guy Davis, Dar Williams, Sonia, Toshi Reagon, Vance Gilbert, Girlyman)
  • My entry into Blogging
  • Many trips to the beach (but it never seems enough)
  • Movies seen in the theatre (Spiderman 2, Dodgeball, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Bourne Supremacy, Garden State) Wow, that is a short list!
  • Books read (Dress Your Family in corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris, Reread 3 Harry Potter books) Again I usually average 8 over the summer, too short a list!
  • Taking my friends new boat out on the CT. river.
  • Camping
  • Trip to Cape Cod to see family that wasn't there.
  • 2 weeks in RI with my parents, being a total sloth.
  • Cancer walk marathon - 2:00 am - 4:00 am shift
All in all a pretty good list, but next year I think I will make a list prior to summer, because in May there was so much I wanted to do, but now I realize that I didn't get it all in.

It was a great summer, but over way too quickly.


Tuesday, September 21, 2004

A long time ago...

I remember being 7 years old and my dad taking me to see a movie. Back then, he was working as an airplane engine machinist, working second shift. Money back then was tight, so the rare occasions that my parents took us to the movies, it was a drive-in where we were charged by the car and not by the person.

But this was different. It was just me and my dad, and it was a surprise to me. I think we went to Cinema City in Hartford. To be honest the memories blur into the cloudiness of a dream, but I remember the feeling of that day and it is one of a thousand memories since then that makes me value my relationship with my dad.

I don't know why, but this memory has always been a favorite to me. Just two guys going to the movies. (I just did the math and he was 31 at the time. I am older now then he was then.)

The movie was Star Wars and it was released on DVD today. While all Star Wars geeks are getting bashed for obsessing on a movie that is 30 years old, I would like to go on record that for me it has never been about Death Stars and Light Sabres (although they are cool!), but about connecting with my dad for perhaps the first time as his son.

For a more universal view of the movie, check out this entry on We're Taking Bets That...

Monday, September 20, 2004

Yahoo! News - MySpace Basks in R.E.M. 'Sun'

For me there are a few bands that hold revered status in my catalogue. U2 is up there, as well as Peter Gabriel, The Police, Bareneked Ladies. These are the biggies (and I already have a list of new to me bands that will be there soon). However, R.E.M. is the first band I really got into. Do you know what I am talking about? The bands that cause an obsession to have every album. I remember pay days from Baskin Robbins. I would cash that check and buy a missing cd. And then play it, and play it, and play it. I would try to figure out what every little lyric meant.

Well R.E.M. has an album (Around the Sun) being released Oct. 5. Guess what I will be doing that day. I would like to apologize in advance to my co-workers for the cd being on repeat all day.

If you would like to hear their album in advance, check out Myspace.com.

Yahoo! News - MySpace Basks in R.E.M. 'Sun'

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Free advertising for blogs :: BlogSnob

I know many of my readers are also bloggers. I just discovered this cool new service to help advertise your site. It is totally free and I think will help increase your traffic. Check it out!

Free advertising for blogs :: BlogSnob

Check It Out: "The World's Shortest Blog"

I think the greatest impact of weblogging is the ability for giving everyone a voice and an audience to rally around that voice. The revolution may not be televised, but it sure will be logged on individual's web sites.

The World's Shortest Blog

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

The Complaint Dept.

I woke up yesterday morning, tired. Some weeks I just won't let the weekend go, desperately clinging to it by staying up into the wee hours. This weekend was better than most, with a visit from my friend gmad, a trip to the UConn vs. Duke football game, and some of the best weather that reaffirmed my love of falls in New England. So needless to say, I stayed up way too late. I faced Monday and the craziness that this week will be work wise with more than a little trepidation.

To add injury to insult, my back started to throb as I was getting ready Monday morning. It was a weird pain and I couldn't figure out why it was hurting me, because the most strenuous activity I had been involved in was being a little rowdy at the football game. I decided to attribute it to a weird sleeping injury (or, as my mind tends to work, a life threatening ailment) and to suck it up and get to work.

By the time I got to work, I was feeling very uninspired (read: crabby) to be there. I sulked into my office without the normal jovial manner that has come to be normal for me. My boss picked up on it immediately: "What is wrong with you today?"

Delighted with the attention, I told her that my back was killing me. She sympathized and, feeling a little better with the empathy, I went back to my office. Now my curse (or maybe it is a blessing) is that I telegraph every little feeling I am experiencing on my face, so soon everyone was asking if anything was wrong. So I would tell them my back hurt and would relish in the attention that would generate.

"Oh, do you have a heating pad?"
"That has happened to me, not fun!"
"You should be at home!"

And with each of these comments, I felt a sense of pride. Why I should be at home, nursing my back, yet I am here because the students need me! This is homecoming week, no time to rest. If I end up paralyzed or perhaps even dead, at least the week will have been a success! Despite the pain, I was really enjoying putting on a brave face.

During the course of the morning, our new staff person came in to my office to talk about a project she is working on. Now, my coworker is an amateur triathelete, who is known for spending her free time training and being the opposite of a couch potato. Really the opposite of me and my personal philosophy of only running when chased. About a minute into our conversation (just before I was to launch into my back pain diatribe) I noticed a bandage emerging from her shirt sleeve.

"What is that?" I inquired.

"Oh well yesterday I attempted my first 'century ride'. You know a hundred mile bike ride. During the ride, my tire caught an old train track and I went sailing. I have a few scratches on the right side of my body." She then exposed to me the horrific results of her injuries up and down her arm. She said her leg is bad as well. She indicated that she was disappointed that it happened on her 51st mile.

"Oh, because you didn't make the 100 miles?", I asked.

"No, I rode 108 miles. It just made the last 50 uncomfortable."

Our meeting ended, and knowing I had been trumped, I never mentioned my back again for the rest of the day.