JerseyGeekDad

Hold The Gluten But Not The Fun

2009-05-11T23:33:00.003-04:00

Edited and posted Maureen's latest show tonight, Episode 23 of Hold The Gluten. She's been doing this for eleven months now, and she's doing great with it. Definitely had a few slowdowns along the way, but life sometimes gets in the way of hobbies, doesn't it? Each month, except for one, has had more show downloads than the previous one. That one month was because she was just able to record one show and not the normal two shows. It was a crazy month, and we all took turns getting really sick. We all share in our family, we're close. Two kids, lots of germs.
Maureen dedicates time to not just the podcast, but her blog as well. Easily once a week she tries out and posts a gluten free recipe, passes on some news in the Celiac Disease world, or takes the time to post information that she felt was important to others living a gluten free life. She's also involved in the social media world of twitter and facebook, connecting with others that share her food intolerance. I have to say, it's becoming quite a good community, and so many people are willing to help out each other, welcome the newbies, and respond to help requests. I can definitely see that being active there can, and has, helped out those that are struggling.

So Maureen's podcast is eleven months old, her blog is almost a year old, EaglesFanCast (my podcast) is 21 months old, and I have a new blog project launching in a couple of weeks. (More on that in a post very soon.) I love this type of thing. But it's kept me from posting here on a regular basis. I know I said earlier this year that I would try, it's just been tough. So many things to do, ya know? Time does seem to go faster now that I'm older. lol I'm quickly approaching my ten year anniversary, and my youngest child just turned four. Amazing. Well nothing's going to slow me down if I can help it. More to do, including fun... don't forget the fun.

EaglesFanCast Episode 48 is live!

2009-01-07T23:54:00.003-05:00

We recorded our 48th show last night. It's so much more fun when the Eagles are doing well, ESPECIALLY when they're in the playoffs! Listeners are writing in more, which is amazing. It's still a little weird to me that people listen to what we're doing. They definitely seem to appreciate our honesty, and they can tell we don't take ourselves too seriously. The best part is we get feedback from people mostly outside the Philly area. I try to read every email during the show, play every voicemail, talk about the game, the upcoming game, and juggle all of that while trying to keep it relatively short. I know if the show's too long we'd probably lose listeners... not to mention I want to keep it interesting for people.
I chose to stay home for the game, despite a part of me wanting to head out to a pub or friend's house to watch the game. I think it was mostly because I wanted to instill a little of the Eagles fandemonium into my two little Eaglettes. Unfortunately I think I scared them instead. LOL When Brian Westbrook caught McNabb's pass then ran for 71 yards for a touchdown, I lost my mind. My son was looking at me rather nervously, but my daughter got it.
So the Eagles beat the Vikings in the first round of the playoffs, and now move on to play the New York Giants for the Divisional Playoff game. I'm feeling confident about this one, but it's all going to depend on coaching. I think the players are ready and mature. But my fear is that the stubborn, not-able-to-adjust Andy Reid will show up if the Eagles fall behind early. I know they can win, they just have to pull it all together like they have been the last few weeks. I can't wait! E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!

New Years Determinations

2009-01-02T12:10:00.003-05:00

Everyone seems to make them, the dreaded "New Years Resolutions." Even those that determine not to make them, have thus made one. The definitions vary on what the whole concept is, and I guess we all make the mistake of only making them at the very beginning of the year. So do we all just either finish or abandon them, then just skate by the last few months? There's even plenty of talk about how they are not even good for you to do in the first place... that whole "setting yourself up for failure" thing. But just about every blog, news source and site have their own resolutions for you to read.

I'm jumping on board this year, and I'll see how I do throughout the year and revisit it in December. I'll group them into two categories: Personal and Professional. Under the "Pro" I'll lump in my full-time job as well as my blogging/podcasting side of life, so as not to make it too complicated.

Personal

Be a better Father, Husband, Son and Friend
Become Healthy
Go (more) Green
Confront a "demon" and move past it
Learn more about who my natural Father was
Reach out to more family on a more regular basis
Spend less
Teach my children about our world as a friend, not a parent
Enjoy the moment

Professional

Organize more, be overwhelmed less
Pursue more technical training
Help my friends with their projects
Take EaglesFanCast to next level
Expand HoldTheGluten into more
Centralize my online presences
Launch a new online project
Blog more

Podcasting 2008

2009-01-02T11:16:00.003-05:00

The year is gone, just like that. No, this won't be any kind of retrospective on my part, just touching on a few things in the podcasting realm. EaglesFanCast had a great year-over-year improvement and there were a lot of positives on it. We had our first (and hopefully not the last) sponsor for the blog. I'm sure it was an experiment on their end, as they weren't interested in sponsoring the podcast, where 95% of our focus is right now. It is definitely good, and pays for some of the costs incurred by this little hobby of ours. We also have a lot more interaction by the fans, which is great... more emails have been coming in, and it's all been positive about our show, even though the Eagles themselves haven't been a positive thing all season. But through some amazing turns of events, they made the playoffs, and will be playing in Minnesota this Sunday in the Wildcard game. Awesome!
That is one of the toughest parts of this niche that we're in. We're hyper-focused on one targeted audience... the Philadelphia Eagles. It's not just sports, or football, but a specific team, and we're not sports talk radio (those that spout constant stats and analysis), nor team lapdogs... and then on top of it, our listeners have to sit through a full show, which is usually 45 minutes on average. I've definitely seen more interest when the team is doing better, and a dropoff when the team is struggling. Probably the best aspect of it is that our listeners are writing in from all over the world... wayyy outside the core Philadelphia area. My guess is that the "locals" have the inundation of several radio and TV stations to satiate their Eagles fix. Partly in thanks to Eagles punter, Sav Rocca (who hails from Australia), we have a number of Aussies that are fans of the show, plus we've heard from England and closer markets such as New York, California (San Fran, L.A. and others), Texas, Hawaii, Maryland and more. I have to say it's very cool that so many are interested in hearing what us three goofballs have to say about our favorite team. We'll keep doing it, that's for sure... 47 and counting!

On the other half of the podcasting realm, Maureen's show, Hold The Gluten, is improving it's numbers month after month. We published her first episode at the end of June, and for the subsequent six months has hit a new record for total downloads. The chart is a nice one to see, that's for sure. We started that off as a weekly show, and realized it was too much, so we changed it to bi-weekly. Maureen definitely gets it. I've introduced her to the blogging world, and all the ways of getting the word out there and interacting with her listeners and readers (Twitter and Facebook for two). I say "readers" because she dedicates as much to the blog as she does to the podcast, probably even more. Her blog has become a place where she posts all kinds of tasty gluten free foods and recipes. Every single recipe she tests out at home (then takes about a dozen photos so she can find the right one for the blog post). All of the recipes stem from her mistakes and successes, and almost every one has some kind of story to go along with it.
The podcast has almost become a supplement to the blog, but she recognizes that it's almost a different audience, and treats them both accordingly. She's really made it her own, writes amazingly, is doing a lot of networking, and most importantly, is helping others in the process. All of that, and she's raising two wonderful children.
There are definitely more things in store for Hold The Gluten (and Maureen as well, but more on that later) for 2009. Hopefully we'll be able to expand it out more and utilize more tools to make it a better experience and destination for the site's visitors and listeners to the show. There have been 15 shows in the can so far, and she has ideas for plenty more! Personally, though, I do need some kind of automated "ummmmm" and "you know" audio remover to make my editing much shorter. LOL

So we definitely have plans for an even better 2009 for both shows... it's just a matter of how are we going to find the time to do it all?

EaglesFanCast Show 44

2008-12-04T15:27:00.005-05:00

We recorded our 44th episode of EaglesFanCast tonight, and it wasn't the most fun show... kind of negative considering we had such a great win against the Giants. I won't go into it too much here, as I brought up that very point on the show. It just kind of sums up how frustrating this season has been, and how talented this group of players is. Because of coaching, specifically Head Coach Andy Reid, we lost (and tied) games we should have won. So instead of playing for the Division win (which the Giants clinched despite losing to us), this Eagles team is now scrambling for a Wild Card spot. Just frustrating.
I'm also not in the Fantasy Football playoffs as I lost my last regular season game last week. Now I have to pay for trades during the season. Salt in the wounds, as they say.

So the show's up, you can either subscribe in iTunes or Zune Marketplace, or listen right on the site at http://EaglesFanCast.net Enjoy! It's not ALL negative, it's still filled with ballbusting, sarcastic fun.

EaglesFanCast Episode 42

2008-11-26T01:13:00.003-05:00

It's definitely getting harder and harder to put together a positive, fun show if the thing you're talking about is nothing but negativity. The Eagles lost this week to the tough Baltimore Ravens, but the main thing that everyone is talking about is how Eagles Coach Andy Reid benched our franchise Quarterback, Donovan McNabb. From what we're hearing, Reid didn't even tell McNabb that he was going to sit the second half. Add to that Andy Reid's poor coaching and play calling throughout the game, and the fans are now calling for his resignation!
We try to put some of the pieces together, but right now this team, and especially the coach, is a big mystery to us. At this point it's tough to even look toward the next game against the Arizona Cardinals on Thanksgiving. I'll be at the game, but despite the temperature, it's going to be a cold night a The Linc.
Check out our latest show over at EaglesFanCast.

Ricky

2008-11-20T09:34:00.000-05:00

Enough said.

Latest EaglesFanCast Is Online

2008-11-18T23:37:00.002-05:00

Well this week's EaglesFanCast was an interesting one, as we left behind all semblance of "we're having fun" and just brought out all the anger and frustration at Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid.

Seriously, we tied the Cincinnati Bengals (the 1-8 Bengals!)
Seriously, QB Donovan McNabb didn't know a game could end in a tie??! WTF?

So we get through it with a lot of disbelief, sarcasm and a bit of raging. Cool thing is we had the most feedback of any show so far. We had a bunch of comments on the site's blog, three emails to read, and my friend Paul over at Caffination sent me a very cool bumper for the show. All in all a good show, and it went longer than I wanted. I figured we'd rage and be done in 30 minutes. Guess we had a lot more raging to do. :)

Well, I've been sick with a nasty stomach virus the last few days, and just need to head to bed. Midnight isn't as bad as some other nights of editing, at least. mmmmmmmm, bed

New Hold The Gluten Show

2008-11-14T16:41:00.002-05:00

Maureen just recorded her latest Hold the Gluten podcast and we uploaded it yesterday. A few days' late because of some external issues, but it's now live and in all it's glory.
In this one, she talks about the upcoming Thanksgiving season, and how it's a field of gluten-filled mines for the unsuspecting Celiac sufferer. She gives some hints as to what to look for when buying all the viddles, as well as how to handle going to someone's house for the festive Holiday. It's good stuff, and now I'm feeling hungry myself.
The best part of her doing her podcast and blog, is she's testing out new recipes and baking like crazy. So she's making some gluten free foods for her, which is great, and sometimes I get to eat some damn good home-made food. I say "sometimes" because Maureen never learned how to share... but that's another post entirely.

EaglesFanCast Episode 40 is out!

2008-11-13T10:46:00.003-05:00

We recorded Episode 40 a day late this week. Partly because Todd's family had plans, and partly because we had to be mentally ready to talk about the Giants loss. :D It was a very tough loss this week, and we talk about a lot of issues with this Eagles team. We especially touch on how the fans have now turned in full force on Head Coach Andy Reid. His repeated questionable playcalling and history of poor clock management have finally taken their toll. This Eagles team lost yet another game that they could have won if they were coached better.
So head on over to EaglesFanCast and listen to our latest. There's info there about how to subscribe to the show as well.

EaglesFanCast Episode 39 is now live

2008-11-06T00:05:00.002-05:00

This week we have a lot to talk about such as the Philadelphia Eagles decisive victory over the Seattle Seahawks, the Phillies winning the World Series, the massive championship parade that the city threw for the Phillies, and the upcoming game against the New York Giants. This was a fun show to do as there was a lot of positivity. The Eagles are definitely looking like a better team, and have won their last three games. Cautiously optimistic? You betcha!

I'm going to create a follow-up post specifically relating to my day in Philly for the parade of parades, and I should have a few pictures as well.

So head on over to EaglesFanCast and read up on our posts and listen to the shows!

It's Time

2008-10-27T21:25:00.004-04:00

I'm sitting here watching Game 5 of the World Series. My Philadelphia Phillies are currently leading the series 3 games to the Tampa Bay Rays' 1 game. If the Phillies win tonight, it will be only their second World Series Championship since their inception in 1883. Yes, this team, the Philadelphia Phillies, has been in one town, with one name for 125 years (a professional sports record, by the way)... with only one championship. As a matter of fact, Philadelphia, my professional sports city of choice (I grew up in Central New Jersey, in the Philly TV market), last won a championship in 1983 when the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Lakers. That is 25 years, and 100 seasons (Sixers, Flyers, Eagles and Phillies) without a championship.
Our teams have been to championships since... the most recent for each are the Eagles in 2004 (which I was at), the Sixers in 2001 (which I was at), the Flyers in 1997, and the Phillies in 1993.

But the Phillies are there now. They are winning in Game 5 right now, they have a real shot at stopping this streak right now. One game will mean so much to so many people.

It's about the Phillies right now, and being a Phillies fan. Everyone that knows me knows that I'm an enormous Philadelphia Eagles fan. I have season tickets, I also produce and co host the podcast, EaglesFanCast, with two very good friends. Yesterday I was at the Eagles game, and they beat the Atlanta Falcons in Philadelphia. It was a fun game, especially for the struggling Eagles team. But one thing that made being there even better was looking around the stadium and seeing so many red Phillies hats, shirts and jerseys. The fans of the Eagles and Phillies enjoyed the day to no end... and later that night the Phillies won Game 4 of the Series.

The Phillies won their first and only World Series in 1980... 28 years ago. They were in the Series last in 1993... 15 years ago. (I know, they were also in the Series in 1983, but I lump the time frame in with the 1980 time.)

I'm watching this appearance with completely different eyes than I did in the previous years mentioned. In 1980, I watched the Series with the eyes of an eleven year old, at home with my parents, and can remember it like it was yesterday. I remember Steve Carlton's pitching, Mike Schmidt's hit that knocked in two runs in the third, Pete Rose and that bobble-catch near the dugout, and Tug McGraw throwing that final pitch and throwing up his arms in victory. I remember the players meeting Tug in front of the mound and Schmitty leaping atop the celebrating group. One of the coolest parts of a young boy's life was watching that TV that night. Watching and feeling what it meant to be a Phillies fan, and a winner.

Then in 1993, I watched the final game of the World Series in a local bar among friends this time as a 24 year old single guy, with a job and unknown future. The team was a blast to watch, with Curt Schilling, John Kruk, Lenny Dykstra, Dutch Daulton and of course, Mitch Williams. Ahh, Wild Thing, can't forget you.

Tonight, I watch the game as a 39 year old married father of two. My six year old daughter wanted to stay up and watch the game tonight. With another day of first grade tomorrow, being the responsible Dad, I had to say "No". It wasn't easy. I want her to see the thrill of a championship win. She's too young, though, and quite honestly doesn't really understand... yet. As for me, I realize that 28 years is a long time, and a lifetime to quite a number of my twitter friends. I remember that 1980 Series vividly, but those not much younger than me only know about the 1980 Phillies from articles and news video clips. Their Champion Phillies may be, ahem, WILL be, Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino, and many more. Mine will be as well, but, to me, they will not be as great as Schmidt, Rose, Carlton, McGraw, Bowa, Maddox, Luzinski and Boone. My first Phillies World Series championship was something extremely special. I hope that the 2008 Phillies become something extremely special to many more. These fans deserve it. This city and region deserve it. No matter how bad things have been over the years for each of the teams (and they have been REALLY bad at times), the fans have remained loyal and passionate. They want it for themselves, for the players, for the city and for each other. It's long overdue, and this team has what it takes to make it happen.

Three different stages of my life. Three different sets of eyes. It feels good. It feels like 1980 again. Go Phillies! We're ready for a parade!

EaglesFanCast Episode 31 is Live

2008-09-09T23:16:00.002-04:00

Nice! The Philadelphia Eagles blow out the St. Louis Rams 38-3 to open the 2008 NFL season. That was an awesome game to be at, just so much fun in the stands. Lots of enthusiasm for the team, and it was definitely great feeling to see so much positive play from all sides of the team.
We had a fun time recording the latest show tonight, and it was hard to NOT feel confident with a start like that. I hope we can keep the strength going into Dallas for Monday Night Football next week, and beat the Cowboys decisively. Cannot wait for that game.
So the latest episode of EaglesFanCast is now available, and you can get it from http://EaglesFanCast.net Go Eagles!!

EaglesFanCast Show 30 is Live

2008-08-27T00:12:00.003-04:00

This was a fun one to do. Everyone was in a good mood, and we had a funny voicemail to play. It's awesome when we get interaction from the listeners and fans. All in all, we just can't wait for the 2008 season to finally start. The preseason is fun to see the players all out there and doing the hitting, but the games don't mean anything. Anyone that knows me knows I can't stand how long the preseason is. I'd rather they just beat up on themselves for a few more weeks before entering the stadiums. I just feel that, at most, two preseason games should be enough to get the rust out, and to see what players can prove they belong on the team.
Thursday night is the fourth and final preseason game, and I'll actually be there at The Linc. I'm bringing Maureen and both kids this time! I brought my daughter last year, when she was five, and she had a blast... we stayed all the way into late in the third quarter, and she still didn't want to leave. She was yelling and cheering, and just had a blast. Can't wait.

Well, here's the link to the site, http://EaglesFanCast.net Hope you enjoy. If so, let us know!

Two Shows, One Night

2008-08-21T01:23:00.003-04:00

No, this isn't about the latest horrific video meme.

It's just a simple update that because of scheduling issues last night, both EaglesFanCast and Hold The Gluten were both recorded tonight (Wednesday). All of the editing is done, the shows are posted, and the pimping is complete.
For my show, we're still in the preseason, yet our best wide receiver, Kevin Curtis, is out for a while with a sports hernia. We talked about that and other aspects of the team. I honestly didn't get to see too much of the game because we were in Vegas, sitting at a bar that had the game on. Once the rain delay was over, I was able to see up to the point where the Eagles went down 10-0, then the bartender changed the TV to ESPN. Even though I protested (along with another Eagles fan that was there), he didn't oblige. So I finished my beer and the shot of tequila that my new friends had given me, and Maureen and I left. Oh well, such is life.

So Maureen's 6th episode of Hold the Gluten was also recorded, and I edited and posted that tonight as well. I tell you, she's hitting her stride with this podcasting thing... she's sounding more and more natural in front of the mic, and I can tell she's having a good time with it. Sounded really good tonight.

Well now that it's 1:30 Thursday morning, and I haven't been able to get a decent night's sleep in over a week now, I should head to bed. It's that time, and I'm exhausted. Maybe I'll check twitter just one more time first. lol

New Media Expo 2008

2008-08-18T15:03:00.015-04:00

So I've now been podcasting for a year, and very much still consider myself a noob. I listened to podcasts for probably two years before finally pulling the trigger and getting this one started. One of the things that kept me off the stage for so long was the audio side of things. Other than singing in a few "productions" in grammar school, I have no experience with any musical type things. Audibly, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a mandolin and a clarinet, I think. So I had to teach myself a bunch of audio-technical stuff, in addition to the tech behind podcasting itself, before starting. Oddly enough, it seems to work.
So in this last year, I've learned a lot more, some of it marketing (again not in my personal history), some of it technical (ok, I pick that up quick because it's my nature) and most of it patience (and anyone that knows me understands I am very much so). I've tried to get involved in the online community (blogs, social sites, forums and more), to spread the word about the podcast, but most importantly, to learn much more from those immersed in it. Last September I attended the unconference, PodCamp Philly, but I could only go for one day. I was amazed at the friendliness and energy level of the few people that I was able to speak with. I made a few connections and learned more about what I needed for the future of my show.
Soon after, I heard that the New Media Expo would be moving to Las Vegas for it's 2008 iteration. One of the reasons stated was that Vegas would give the conference more credibility, rather than Ontario, California, where it was held previously. The online buzz and early interest seemed pretty high, and back in October or November I decided I wanted to go to this year's Expo. A few months ago, the date was announced, and registration opened. I then had to weigh the costs ($300 for early registration) of attending the sessions to just having access to the show floor (free). Despite wanting to see a number of session speakers, I decided that this year I would hold back and only go to the (free) exhibit floor, as I heard that other podcasters were doing the same. A majority of sessions seemed to be geared toward the "Corporate" side of podcasting, plus the whole idea of the "hallway meetings" that were being touted appealed to me quite a bit.
My wife, Maureen, and I had never been to Vegas, so we were making a small vacation out of it as well. Plus back in June we started her podcast, so she was now more interested in attending the Expo with me. I'll talk about our vacation part of it in a later post.

Well, the New Media Expo 2008 started off with a bang. We both woke and went to the opening keynote, presented by Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV. Talk about high energy! Gary presented a keynote unlike any I've seen before... he was honest, blunt and confident. That combination I'm sure put off some people in attendance, but, for me, resulted in one of the best I've seen (in person or recorded). I have to honestly say that he nailed it, and I feel that I learned 80% more about podcasting and what I do, than I did before. It was worth the trip just for that.

So when it was over, we went into the exhibit hall, to see who was there, run into people I wanted to run into, pick up some schwag and mostly, learn. The initial plan was to walk the whole floor and make some mental notes as to who we wanted to go back and talk to in more depth a little later. We were done walking the floor (even with stopping quickly at a few booths) in about ten minutes. At this point, we both wondered how we were going to fill up two and a half days. Now I've been to a few conventions before, and the floors took the better part of a day to walk and talk. Needless to say, I was surprised, and I'm sure Maureen was considering just hitting the pool at this point.
Well, we went back in, and walked around the hall as two unknown podcasters. We did get to talk to a bunch of exhibitors, and we were able to see Leo Laporte doing his live show, TWiT Live, which was very cool, as I've been watching him since the early TechTV days. Each day I stopped by and was able to watch him talk with plenty of folks, all streaming live on the Net via Stickam.

At the Expo, I was able to see Kent Nichols of one of my favorites, Ask A Ninja, plus Veronica Belmont, C. C. Chapman, Brad P, Trucker Tom, iJustine, Geoff Smith, Michael Geoghegan, Seth Harwood, and Felicia Day. From being plugged in and being a podcast / internet listener that I am, it was definitely cool to see these folks in person.
On the show floor I was able to have some very good chats with Todd Cochrane, Paul Colligan and THE Drew Olanoff. Drew took the time between a few interviews and asked what my show was about, and actually took the time to answer a few of my questions honestly and with thought. Before he had to rush off to do an interview at an adjacent booth (which I think I was keeping him from), he invited me to an event in Philly the end of this month, and offered to sit down and talk again at a later time. To me, that was great stuff... he is the epitome of what this is all about; about the community, about helping.
Another very good thing that happened on Thursday evening was meeting up with and talking with Gary Puckett, who was at his fourth NME. Gary was more than happy to share some of his experiences and anecdotes from some of the podcasters/interviewers in his network. We just ran into him at the Hilton restaurant, Hacienda Margarita, and we talked for a couple hours.

So the meetups were very minimal, for me at least, despite trying to via twitter a few times. Two different times we were at another part of the strip hanging out when I saw a tweet about a meet up, and when we were over in that area, those we went to find had moved on to somewhere else. It was tough, too, because I don't watch many video podcasts, so recognizing people was kind of limited to what I know from their twitter avatars. lol

That brings me to the negative aspect of the show, and it directly has to do with whether you attended the paid sessions or not. I have to believe that if I went to the sessions, I'd have more opportunity to interact with people. Walking the show floor was very tough because it was so small. You can only talk to the exhibitors you want to so many times, and walk around the four aisles so many times before you start looking like a stalker, and the LVCC Security is summoned. I think it was just too separated and spread out. It's tough to jump into a conversation with someone who is literally in the middle of talking with someone else. The opposite is also in effect here, because the exhibit floor was rather small, people could literally be in and out of there within an hour. If you didn't happen to be in there when someone you wanted to run into was there, you were out of luck. I know I missed several people that I really wanted to see, such as Scott Johnson, Jason Van Orden and Norbert Davis to name a few.

The last thing that I was surprised that wasn't there were the parties! Granted this has nothing to do with the organizers, at all. I remember hearing about a number of parties and big get-togethers last year, and was psyched for it this year. There was only the Coverville 500 Concert. Granted I read in twitter that evening that it was awesome, but we missed most of it. Long story short, our helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon was moved from that morning to the evening. The jaunt was breathtaking... but at the expense of missing most of the concert and only getting to see Richard Cheese perform. He was funny and definitely entertaining, but I heard so many good things about the other artists.

So even though I made a few contacts there, and had some great conversations, the 2008 New Media Expo just didn't live up to the hype, whether it was publicized or my own hype. Again, I learned a lot, mainly because of Gary Vaynerchuk, Drew Olanoff and Todd Cochrane, but I expected more in the way of "experience" if that makes sense. I don't regret going, and if anyone asks, I'll happily give my suggestions for improvement. I really feel I missed out on much more simply by not paying for, and attending, the Sessions.

At this point, though, I'm really looking forward to going to PodCamp Philly in a few weeks. I can only go on Saturday and have to skip Sunday because of the first Eagles game. But the local aspect, and the smaller, more intimate locale, will surely lend to the community atmosphere that something like this needs.
Will I go to New Media Expo 2009? I'd really like to, but we'll see, both financially and logistically, if it will happen. I still commend the Bourquin brothers for pulling something like this together, as I am sure the headaches can outweigh the positives for them.

Test Blog Update

2008-08-12T16:18:00.000-04:00

Well leaving for Vegas early tomorrow morning, and wanted to see if I
could get this to work. See you all soon!

EaglesFanCast 28 is Posted

2008-08-11T23:51:00.003-04:00

Was a bit rusty after 2-1/2 months of off-time, but we pulled a show off. Well "we" meaning just me and Eric because Todd wasn't able to make it. He had some visitors in, and some other things going on, so he just wasn't able to be there.
So Eric and I talked about the Eagles Training Camp so far, the preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Friday night, and what's going on with us and more.

So take a listen, and tell us what you think... man we are getting so excited about the start of this season. http://EaglesFanCast.net

It's only two more days until Maureen and I head out to Vegas for the New Media Expo! We're looking to meet up with lots of people in the industry, from other podcasters to the people related to the services that make podcasting happen. I'm hoping we can make some good contacts that will help us down the road. So packing is almost done, I have to get all the gadgets ready to be packed safely, then early to bed Tuesday. The Expo is Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and we fly out Wednesday and fly home Sunday. We're still figuring out our full itinerary, as neither of us have been to Vegas before. Should be fun and damn hot! It was only 103 today... eeeesh.

Father's Day

2008-06-16T23:10:00.004-04:00

I simply have to share how my Father's Day was on Sunday.
Life, for everyone, has it's ups and downs, and no one that I know of is immune to that kind of thing in their lives. Everyone deals with their own, and obviously there's lots of levels of intensity to that. This past year has had plenty of that roller coaster ride... some highs and definitely some lows. But we live to take care of each other, and give our children as wonderful, safe and loving life that we can.
Well Sunday was Father's Day, and I normally sleep in on Saturdays (Maureen sleeps in on Sundays), but we switched this weekend at her request. So somewhere around 8:30, I heard the typical sounds of the rabid housebound kids, my 6-year old girl and 3-year old boy. Then as I headed towards a shower, I smelled the unmistakable, wondrous, heavenly scents of... bacon.

awww yeah

So I eventually head downstairs, and am greeted with screams from my kids the likes of which most dogs would go, "Damn, that's high."
Maureen and the kids come out of the office, and close the doors, which is suspicious in it's own right, and shuffle me into the kitchen. "Breakfast is almost done" I'm told, and my daughter is already giving me self-made cards. My son mumbles something sounding like "pee pee" and runs into the living room. So my daughter then proceeds to read her card to me, and it's actually a poem that SHE wrote! My six year old wrote me a poem, does this happen?? I was amazed. So after she beams when I'm telling her how much I love it, she pulls out a picture that she drew for me.
Now she's a little artist, actress and all around director. Not in any order, and they are not exclusive, mind you. She's even taking art classes every Saturday, and we go through more crayons, markers, glitter, paper, glue and pencils than most old-school Disney Imagineers. Well in her hand is one of her best works yet, and I can't tell you how it made me smile and laugh. It was a crayon picture of her, holding the guitar from Guitar Hero 3 (complete with the exact order of colored keys on the neck), big smile (including missing tooth), red shoes with yellow stars on them, and the coup de grace, her one hand is giving the typical rock and roll devil horns. Epic!
My son runs up and roars at me, then sprints off to the other room to either kick a basketball or torment our blind dog.

Next Maureen and my daughter give me a gift bag, which contains not one, but two shirts from one of my favorite podcasts, Extra Life Radio by Scott Johnson. I've become a big fan of the show, and geek out with it each week. I'm very happy with the shirts, let me tell you, plus all four of us are going to the Phillies game this coming Saturday... Maureen's not one for keeping secrets, and told me about the Phillies game a couple months ago when she originally bought the tickets. :) It's going to be a blast, as it'll be the kids' first game.
So then I'm ushered towards the office, and they tell me to sit down in front of the computer monitor, and anyone that knows me knows I'm already smiling. Maureen turns on the monitor, and on it is a drawing, and I recognize the artwork as Scott Johnson's (yes, same one as above... he does web comics, too!) Then I saw the name at the top was "GlutHound", which is my normal gaming handle! Long story as to how it was created, but it goes back a number of years, and I won't need to go into it here.
Basically what I'm looking at on the screen is my own superhero that Maureen commissioned Scott Johnson to do! How absolutely geeky cool is that? It's not just an computer graphic either, it's a print that will be coming in a couple days that I can hang in the office! Well, GlutHound's costume is midnight green (the Eagles' colors, thankyouverymuch), wears a cape, and he has a Guitar Hero guitar slung over his back, an iPod hanging at his waist, earphones and a podcasting microphone, and holding a football... and did I mention he's a super hero? How absolutely awesome is that?

Yeah, I geeked out about it big time... then my son came in, demanded chocolate milk repeatedly, and we ventured into the kitchen.
We had breakfast, a really good breakfast casserole, which Maureen details out nicely in her blog here. The rest of the day we had fun, hung out, I finished up (finally) the PC game Call of Duty 4, which I haven't played in a few months, then we went out to dinner. Dinner was at a place called The Pop Shop in Collingswood, NJ. The place was a blast... 1960's era flavored sodas, breakfast food anytime, unbelievable shakes and sundaes, and super kid friendly.

I tell you, it was my best Father's Day yet... next to that first year back in 2002 when I held my four month old daughter in my arms and realized that day was forever changed for me.

Two New Projects

2008-06-01T20:09:00.002-04:00

The EaglesFanCast has been going along well, but it's the off-season for football, so it's been slow. Been working on two new projects, both podcasts / blogs. The first one relates to a "creative" blog I share with a good friend. It's called "Horatio and Cornelius". It's gone through many, many iterations for almost ten years. I won't bore you with it's history just yet. It's now morphing into a full-blown podcast, with Eric and I writing stories, nay, adventures... which will be made into podcast productions. We're moving to blog to it's own website, which is almost done. It's slow going, because the writing is slow. We hope to have that live in about a month... stay tuned.
My second project is something that I've been trying to get off the ground with my wife, Maureen. She has Celiac Disease, as I've mentioned before. I've proposed to her on a number of occasions that she could help others with this, in podcast form. I've learned a lot from EaglesFanCast for the past ten months, and tried to instill that confidence into her. Well finally this past week, she's decided to go for it. The blog is now online, and it's called Hold the Gluten. The podcast will be called the same, and if things go well, she'll be speaking into the mic, solo, mind you (I'll just be doing the production work for it) within a couple weeks. Again, STAY TUNED!

EaglesFanCast Episode 26 is Live

2008-04-22T23:55:00.004-04:00

Our latest show is now posted over at EaglesFanCast. I had a lot of fun with this one, as Tommy Lawlor from The Scouts Notebook joined us to talk about the NFL Draft coming up this weekend. Tommy has also written a number of articles for the Eagles website, www.philadelphiaeagles.com starting around the time that we started our podcast last year. He writes the featured articles called "Fan-Demonium" on the site, and they deal with the Philadelphia Eagles players and prospects in the next Draft Class.
The show was over 50 minutes, and I think Eric and Todd had a great time doing this show.

Now if I can just get myself to stop being a perfectionist and finish the updates to that site, I'll be a very happy man!
I've pulled myself away from Burnout Paradise, but Guitar Hero III has entered the fray... and it's as good as the hype. Not good for production output.

Anyway, here's a direct link to the latest show.

EaglesFanCast Episode 25 Is Up

2008-04-16T00:14:00.003-04:00

Well the latest iteration of EaglesFanCast is up and out there. Only Eric and I were able to get together tonight, as Todd is having some scheduling issues. But he was there in spirit (and voice).
Eric and I talked about the 2008 Eagles schedule, which just came out today. I felt really good about this episode, and didn't have to do too much editing. Still getting to bed kind of late, but it felt good to record a show again. It's been a month since the last one, but man it's the off-season, there's just not a lot of stuff going on!
What was very cool is we had a fan email from a guy in Melbourne, Australia! How cool is that! His brother actually knows the Eagles punter, Sav Rocca. Neat stuff.

I'm psyched, though about next week's show. We're going to have Tommy Lawlor on the show. He writes the feature articles "Fan-Demonium" on the Philadelphia Eagles website. He also is an amateur football scout, and runs the website The Scouts Notebook. I talked to him on the phone last night, and he's a really good guy, and a huge Eagles fan. Next week should be a good show.

Here's a direct link to the show's post here.

New EaglesFanCast Show

2008-03-20T12:15:00.002-04:00

I know, I know. I haven't posted here in quite a while. My plan is to change that. No seriously.

I've been busy, it's been a tough few months. OK, tough Winter, as I just realized that it's the first day of Spring, and I hadn't posted since November. Not good. So, let's see. In that time I turned 39, my wife had a birthday (because I love you, I won't mention how old you are Hunny), and my daughter turned six. My wife also had some surgery a few weeks ago, but it's turning out well.
What else, well the Philadelphia Eagles didn't make the playoffs... no surprise considering how lousy they played. The podcast continued on, and we took a few weeks off after the season ended.

By the way, we just recorded our 24th Episode of the podcast last night!

So anyway, I plan on updating this more often. Welcome me to 2008!!

Disney Magic

2007-11-14T08:35:00.000-05:00

Flew home Saturday from a Magical week in Disney World in Florida. Ahead of time, I was really stressing about the flights, with a 5-year old daughter and 2-year old son in tow. Especially since US Airways split us up... when we purchased the tickets, all four of us were together, and it was a necessity, mainly to keep our son occupied, and thus behaving. He's not a bad kid at all, but it's just the fact of him sitting in one seat somewhere around three hours made my head hurt.
Well I'll leave the flights and that horrible airline for another post, I'll just talk about the good stuff of the vacation here.

We flew down Saturday morning, and were staying at the Disney Resort itself (Boardwalk). They have it down pat, I have to say. The flight arrived, we then checked in for the Magical Express (a bus service that takes you directly to your resort), boarded the bus, and arrived at the resort about 30 minutes later. Along the way, the very funny driver amused us with his ramblings, plus pointed out two alligators! Cool stuff for a lifelong Jersey guy. We met my parents right away, who had driven down days earlier... Dad hates flying. Our luggage arrived from the airport, when our room was ready... nice.
Our son was an angel, and is usually obsessed with trucks and planes anyway. At one point, he actually exclaimed, "I'm flying Daddy!" Talk about a moment that will stay with me forever... that was definitively one huge one. He watched his DVD and munched on some pretzels, and our daughter played on her Leapster, drew pictures, and looked out the window.

We hit all four parks: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and MGM. Our daughter was all about the characters this time around, and we stood in line (usually with other New Jersey folks) a bunch of times to see too many characters to list here. Our daughter's the more leery one in terms of rides, but our son is the adventure-seeker, but still just a tad too short for the roller coasters. She definitely went on more things than she did the last time we were down, and we let her dictate where to go next, for the most part. Maureen and I traded off with my parents to watch the kids when we all wanted to go on the other rides like Haunted Mansion or Pirates of the Caribbean... it worked out really well.
We only split up once, and that was when Dad and I walked over to Epcot Tuesday morning to ride the Segways, while Mom, Maureen, and kids went over to a Princess Breakfast in Germany in Epcot. My daughter had her princess dress on, and I heard my son had a thing for Jasmine. As for the Segways, I have GOT to get me one of them! This was the second time riding it, and this was an updated model. It's amazing how natural it is... me want.

We hit the Magic Kingdom three of our days there, and caught the Main Street Light Parade (or whatever it's called) and the fireworks twice. Didn't plan on seeing them at all, but the first night we gave it a shot after a later dinner, and the kids absolutely loved them both. My daughter was on my shoulders for the fireworks, and it was her first time seeing them... she was actually shivering at times. The second time we watched them, she yelled out, "THAT'S AWESOME!!!" repeatedly. Our third time in the Magic Kingdom was our last full day in Disney, and we planned on getting out of there around 4:00... well after the mandatory shopping, photo ops, snack runs, etc. it was definitely later. I was standing in line, I think for my daughter to see Jiminy Cricket, and Dad was standing off to the side with my son, who was saying something I couldn't hear. I went over, and he was saying, "Fireworks?" I had to break it to him, "No fireworks today buddy... all done," kissed him and went back in line. I looked back over, and he was looking at me with a boo-boo face and Dad was laughing... he was trying to play me, and at two years old!
But seriously, how awesome is that? Something like the fireworks made an impression on someone so small. Our daughter cried leaving on the bus because she didn't want to leave, and she would miss Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop (who were staying longer, now that they're both retired)... and has cried at home once since, because she wants to go back. What an impression, and what great memories we've been able to give them already... it's worth every penny, and I was able to see both of our kids grow in that week.

RV for the Tailgate

2007-10-19T15:06:00.000-04:00

We have an RV for the tailgate this week! What was gearing up to already be a great tailgate fun, with breakfast sammy's, steak, shrimp, jambalaya, burgers, dogs, beer, RB&vodka, Mo's 7-layer dip and snacks galore, is now going to be even more fun. A friend of ours, who's going down, is bringing along a full-size RV for the tailgate experience. Oh boy.

This should be an experience.
Even the weather's cooperating: supposed to be 75 and mostly sunny Sunday. Most likely the girls will still be cold and huddle inside the RV, though.
I know we're not the first to bring an RV to a tailgate, but this is my first time... out of the probably ten-plus years of actual tailgating. Can't wait for Sunday! And oh yeah, the Eagles play the Bears later on in the day. SCHWEEEEEET!

Eagles FanCast Episode 11 Now Up!

2007-10-17T15:22:00.000-04:00

We recorded our 11th episode of Eagles FanCast last night. The show was a good one, and we had fun. The three of us are definitely getting better with timing, working off each other, and not talking over each other too much. I still have to work more on reeling in the longer-discussed topics, but I'm still learning.
I want to do some work on the website when time allows... more is needed, and a new design is needed as well. I want to get a pictures section up there, as well as a better look and feel. Maybe after vacation in a few weeks. Prior to that there's a kids Halloween party, the Eagles-Bears game with a big tailgate planned, Halloween party (sans kids), Halloween itself and my high school reunion! Yeah, so no time for that updates type of stuff in the meantime.
When the hell am I going to have time to play Halo 3, Portal, Half Life 2: Episodes 1 and 2??? sigh

About Time Things are Changing

2007-10-09T10:24:00.000-04:00

I've written briefly about the music industry from a consumer standpoint a couple times on here, mainly about the RIAA's idiocracy here and here. There's been a lot going on, including some setbacks where one Minnesota woman lost her case and now owes $220,000 "in damages" for sharing 24 songs online. By the way, a Sony executive in that case also decided to redefine theft and piracy, and calls backing up our purchased CD's or copying our CD's to our iPods, Rios, Zunes, etc., piracy. Interesting... I really thought I owned that CD I overpaid for. Apparently not in Sony's eyes. Well, I guess I won't be buying any more of Sony artists' music (Sony, Columbia, Epic, Arista and more). I'm sure what's next is we will be called pirates (arrrr!!) for copying our purchased digital music to our media players as well.

Personally I don't want to take that chance of potentially being singled out for piracy, do you know what I mean? Sorry AC/DC, Alice In Chains, Korn, Foo Fighters, Audioslave, Aerosmith, Good Charlotte, Bob Dylan, Soul Asylum and Joe Satriani... you've all rocked. I'll really miss Pearl Jam and Live. Maire Brennan, your voice is amazing. No more Tenacious D, System of a Down or Cake on my purchase list. James Taylor, take it easy. Who I'll miss the most is Bruce, and of course the E Street Band.
I'll listen to you all, illegally in Sony's cataract-covered eyes, through my purchased music (but I don't OWN it!! Right?!)... but I won't take the chance on breaking laws. It'll be safer to just NOT buy anything more from you.

Hey, what's that out there... Nine Inch Nails is now label-free? So is Oasis, Madonna and Jamiroquai? Hmm, they're recognized artists. Others are letting people decide how much to pay for a new album? Still others have given away their latest? What the hell is going on? Wait a damn minute, one of the online music distributors is now finally standing up to the music industry? Something is wrong... no wait, I take that back. Something has been wrong, and maybe is finally starting to be corrected.

Well I hope to see more of this correction, and see more sites support the artists like the Podshow Music Network, PodSafe Audio and The Beat Suite.

You hear that record industry? It's the sound of change, the sound of frustration being released... and it's the sound of you catching up, instead of leading.

Eagles FanCast Episode 9 online!

2007-10-03T13:49:00.001-04:00

I haven't had much time to post here lately at all. Things have been busy, and we're trying to catch our breath. Hopefully I'll be able to get back here on a semi-regular basis.
Still been doing the Eagles FanCast though, and we recorded our painful 9th episode last night. Painful only because the Eagles are killing us at this point. Boy we need this BYE week at this point. Anyway, lots to talk about, but not much time... hopefully a new, real, post coming soon.

Eagles in The Onion Sports

2007-09-13T15:42:00.000-04:00

As an Eagles fan, it's impossible to NOT like this...

Eagles Fans Give McNabb Three-Week Deadline To Win Super Bowl

PHILADELPHIA—Frustrated with the Eagles' last-second 16-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers last Sunday, and with quarterback Donovan McNabb's failure to single-handedly score three touchdowns, prevent two of his teammates from muffing punts,...

Six Years

2007-09-11T09:53:00.000-04:00

Six years ago, life was much different for the world. Terrorism, for the most part in America, was a thing of foreign matters. It hit home in a most dramatic, and horrific, way six years ago today.
Once again, today on the anniversary, there will be many articles written by the media outlets regarding September 11, 2001. They'll obviously do a better job than I can, and I won't try.
Six years ago was a completely different time for us, and it feels like a different lifetime. We lived in a different part of New Jersey, in a different house. We were pregnant with our first child. We both worked completely different jobs than we do now.

On that day, life changed. But how cliche has that phrase become?

The following day, as no planes flew overhead (which we saw a lot of, considering we were right between Philadelphia and Newark airports), life was scary. No longer did we just have the normal fears of having a child, but we questioned raising a child in a new world. If terrorists could hit there, then where else? Was it wise to hope? A war was inevitable at that point.

Life moved on for us. The planes began to fly again. I had a birthday, then we celebrated our "last Christmas as just husband and wife." Maureen had a birthday, then we had our very precious daughter on a lightly-snowing magical day. Life was better. Maureen resigned her job to raise our daughter, I found a much better job, possibly my dream job. We learned that the world was a good place to raise kids, and we had our second child, a boy. We moved into a bigger house, leaving the area that I spent over 36 years of my life, and relocating an hour from central Jersey to south Jersey. We brought our kids to Disney World. I was able to go to see the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl (although with a loss.) I quit my "dream job" after the president of the company essentially became paranoid and delusional, and started my own consulting company. Our daughter just started Kindergarten last week, and I started a podcast last month.
There were also some negative times in this time as well. Shortly after 9/11, anthrax came to town, literally. The huge post office in our town, Hamilton Township, was shut down when it was discovered that it became contaminated by the anthrax letters, as Hamilton served as a regional sorting hub. We have also endured two wars, both of which are ongoing, and with rumors swirling of a third to start soon. Maureen developed celiac disease. And this year we lost a beloved member of our family, who is very much missed by us all.

Six years.

Amazing how a life can change so much in what seems to be such a short amount of time.

It was wise to hope, and I won't ever stop again.

The week in review

2007-09-07T08:24:00.001-04:00

What a week... our daughter (who's the oldest), started Kindergarten on Wednesday morning. Talk about stresses! She's gone to preschool the past few years, but this is all day. So far, after two days, we're not impressed with the substitute teacher (her regular teacher is out on maternity leave until January), as she's pretty much just babysitting them so far, shows up after most of the kids are already there, and isn't organized at all. Not a confidence booster in the whole "teach our kids" department. Our daughter's played with a lot of Play-Doh, which she likes, but she's been playing with it for three years and is already bored.

Also, recorded the fifth episode of Eagles FanCast last night. Another decent show, and the Eagles' first game is Sunday against Green Bay. All three of us are just jonesin' for the season to start... can't wait!! After five shows, most of the technical issues are out of the way, and I'm thinking about how to start spicing it up a little bit. We have a repeat audience now, too, so that's nice... just have to keep them around. lol

Sure glad I drafted Joseph Addai as my top running back in my fantasy league Wednesday night... a few points out of him, and he stomped my opponent's Marvin Harrison, which is nice.

A kids party on Saturday, a podcasting expo in Philly (PodCamp Philly), also on Saturday, and the game on Sunday... it's going to be busy yet again.

Episode 4 of Eagles FanCast is online

2007-08-30T09:51:00.000-04:00

I know, I skipped telling people about Episode 3, but at least I'm telling you about Episode 4! We've been so busy with things, I haven't had the time to post to this blog lately. Stinks, but it's the way it is. I'll try to post more things, more often, but getting this podcast off the ground took a lot of work, so I've been trying to spend more time on things around the house and especially with the family.
Well that's about it for now, another boring post, but a post regardless.

EFC Episode 2 is live

2007-08-17T10:33:00.000-04:00

Just had to put it out there, that the second episode was recorded Tuesday night, and posted on Wednesday.
The family was hit with the monkey pox (our pet name for when some kind of heinous virus infiltrates our health), and hit hard. Days of high fevers and swampy fever-breaks, sore ears, throats, messed up sinuses and pink eyes galore. Sounds like fun, yes? Three of us were down, as Emma was recovered from the week before and finishing up her meds, so it seems like she survived the hard hit we all took.
Still cloudy and tired, and only back to work for three days... no more of this sickness, please!

EaglesFanCast Podcast is LIVE!

2007-08-08T08:59:00.000-04:00

Well last night started the brand new podcast, EaglesFanCast.
For the past couple months, I've been learning things in an area that I know very little... audio.
People that know me know that I have absolutely no musical talent. Other than being forced in grade school by the music teacher, Mrs. Spisak, to sing in every "production" that was put on, I'm musically inept.
I've never played an instrument, have no idea how to read sheet music and you have to ask Maureen about my very interesting rhythmic dancing when we go out.
So in the past couple months, I've taught myself things like the audio waveform, compression, limiting, normalizing, the mixdown and who knew that "gain" is actually "volume"?
With that brand new knowledge, and learning RSS feeds, online syndication, etc. the thing finally came together. Eric, Todd and myself sat down and talked about the Eagles for almost an hour... it was casual and smooth, like we were doing it for 50 shows already. Great fun. Eric and Todd definitely know more of the ins and outs of the team and sports in general, so they were able to carry the conversation throughout, and I was thrilled.
We ended it, and that's where the rest of the show came in for me. I saved the file, then edited out a lot of the dead space (long pauses between topics, etc.), then did some of those things I learned about (compression, normalizing). Then I had to record and mix in the music for the intro and outro. Then I had to put it all into one file. Then I had to convert it to the MP3 format (like any songs you download through iTunes and such). Then I had to update the file's "tags" which are things inside the file like Title, Artist, Year, Comments, Track, etc. etc.
Then I uploaded the final file to the file server online, updated the show's settings, updated the show notes, and made it available for the various sites that list podcasts.
Once that was done, I updated our website / blog with the info on the new podcast, and listed the show notes in a post.

Then I went to bed.

Well the good thing is, half of those things ONLY have to happen on the first episode, and can just be mixed in for the rest of the shows, and a few settings updated with the new info. In theory, I won't have to go to bed at 2:00am on the night of a show anymore. :)

So the website is http://www.eaglesfancast.net
And if you know what RSS feeds are and want to subscribe to the shows, the feed is
http://eaglesfancast.libsyn.com/rss

It was fun, and I learned a lot... and there is a LOT of polishing to be done on my end for the post-production work. Plus I have a bunch of things to do on the website as well. I'm tired.

New project coming...

2007-08-01T16:45:00.000-04:00

I'm working on something new, and will reveal it officially in the next week. It's just something that's been an interest of mine for a couple years, and now I'm jumping onto the other side of it after much "observation". A few buddies of mine will be helping me out as well, so that will make it work the way it's supposed to.
In the meantime, I just have to do some more learning, practicing and tweaking to make it come to fruition.

Me, Simpsonized!

2007-07-18T20:54:00.001-04:00

Peggle Grand Master

2007-07-16T19:27:00.001-04:00

That's right.... Grand Master. Love that game!!

iPhone iN iHand

2007-07-04T13:42:00.000-04:00

Geekin' out with the iPhone. That's me, holding an iPhone in an Apple store unaware that Eric was taking this pic with another display iPhone. Pretty decent pic, I didn't alter the colors or contrast prior to uploading it. Actually I didn't realize he took the shot until I checked my gmail and saw a message from "John Appleseed." All gushing aside, how cool is it that they let you use every aspect of it to take pics, send them via email, make calls and send text messages, all with demo units. Apple just does so many things right these days.
Now, anyone that knows me knows that I've been a DOS/Windows guy for all of my life... I just have simply never been exposed to any Apples at all, either in schools or in my professional life. And being a WinGuy, I have jumped on that wagon of giggling at the Mac fanboys of the world.

A few years ago (sometime in the latter half of 2004), Eric snagged an iPod Mini, when the clickwheel was introduced. Up until that point, I was curious about a media player (I had tons of CD's scattered throughout my car), but couldn't get interested in carrying one of these things around. But when I tried out his, and realized how damn easy it was to navigate with that clickwheel, I was VERY interested. I think at this point I was already using iTunes anyway, because, in my opinion, was the best, intuitive media organizer/player on Windows.
A couple of weeks after I tried his out, Apple announced the 4th Gen iPod, with the clickwheel, and a 20GB (or 40GB) hard drive capacity! I talked myself into getting one a few months later.

Honestly, the thing has changed the way I listen to music, and media in general. I would never have thought that a gadget could do that. But I moved almost all of my CD's to it, created a handful of playlists, downloaded audio books (I have an hour commute each way), and was introduced to podcasts. Now, I literally only listen to terrestrial radio MAYBE less than a half hour a week. When I hear any commercial, I change the station or find something on the iPod now.
So, getting back to the iPhone, from a geek point of view, I was psyched in January when Steve Jobs announced the smartphone/iPod/web browser hybrid device. How could I NOT be? This new gadget even had a completely new way of interfacing with it... after all, it's ALL screen, and you don't use a stylus, but your fingertips.
Granted the cost is so high, and I have a phone (that I made smart, but that's for another blog entry), and my 4G iPod which is only 55% full, and I can't fit all my stuff on the iPhone anyway. So I won't be buying it anytime soon. But I wanted to geek out and see this thing in person, I wanted to try out the interface. Let me say, it really is awesome. I loved it.

Spice Girls Reunion Tour!

2007-06-28T13:46:00.000-04:00

This is big news, folks! Those dancing (if that's what it was), singing (yeah, not so much), hot (never a fan) Brits announced that they're going on a staggering 11-city world tour.

Realizing just re-hashing their awful '90s music wasn't enough, they also updated their spice with new names. The new power group will consist of Decrepit Spice, Plastic Spice, Metamucil Spice, Cadaver Spice and Old Spice (props to Eric for that last one).
Other news about the tour has revealed that some of their old roadies will also be joining them, still having the superb ability and skillz to constantly tell them "Yes, you're very talented. Yes, you're soooo beautiful. Noooo, you don't look fat." and "Yes, the other girls in the group like you."

The all-girl group finished collapsing in 2001 after realizing that no one wanted to put up with them any longer. Recent news-worthy stories announced that Victoria Beckham (the former Posh Spice) is moving to Los Angeles, and Melanie Brown's (the former Scary Spice) new claim to fame is having Eddie Murphy as her baby daddy. The desperate-for-attention quinary saw that some are still interested, so they jumped at the chance to be scoffed or ignored by a new generation of listeners. Their original listeners have been quoted as saying, "What was I thinking?" and "I thought they died in a blimp accident."

Get in line now, as those 11 shows might sell out in a few months!

The Little Mother That Could

2007-06-27T09:43:00.000-04:00

Can't tell you how much I'm rooting for this woman... again! She's a single Mom that was sued by the RIAA, and after fighting with them in court, was able to have the suit against her thrown out. Two years of her life lost because of these bullies. Well now she's turning the tables with her own lawyers, and they've put together quite a laundry list of accusations... awesome.
If her lawyers did their homework, then this might be a nice precedent. Can't wait to see what happens here folks!

Found Koala pr0n

2007-06-23T19:53:00.001-04:00

This photo was hanging behind our table at an Outback Steakhouse... I can't be the only one to see this in such a way. right??

Looked for a soda...

2007-06-10T10:27:00.001-04:00

... found an iPod

Disgusting

2007-06-07T10:47:00.000-04:00

Just boggles the mind.

Well I guess, by precedent, I don't have to worry about drunken driving laws in California.

Judge sues for lost pants?

2007-06-06T09:09:00.000-04:00

In the You've Got to be Kidding Me category...

A Washington DC judge is suing a dry cleaner for losing a pair of pants... for $54M dollars. Yes, that's correct. Yes I know, I know, I'm being unfair here, he had lowered that amount from the ridiculous amount of $65M he had originally started the suit at. It's much more reasonable now.

I read this story, twice, and could not at all fathom how this man is allowed to continue to sit on a bench and be considered reasonable in any remote way. How scary is this that he is enforcing the legalities of our country. None of his colleagues have tried to talk sense into this guy? One of his claims has to do with a sign the dry cleaners had hanging that said, "Satisfaction Guaranteed". Yup, must be law, and any blunder should be seized upon with great vengeance and furious anger.

Why would any reasonable person sue for that much money for. losing. a. pair. of. pants?

How special were these pants? Oh, it must be about the principle, right? Must be. Who knows, maybe they were jerks, too. So, if they were bad business persons, wouldn't it be the consumer's (-cough- Judge) responsibility to not patronize said business? But if that wasn't the case, and this business DOES have a good reputation, and has treated this consumer well during past business exchanges (-cough- Hawaiian shirts and capris), then their first mistake is so unforgivable that you have to drive them out of business and destroy their reputation entirely? Who ARE you?

Hey "Judge", send me your home address, and I'll pack you up not one, but TWO pairs of chinos, so you can drop this lawsuit and get back to what's really important... like resigning. Ass.

You know, come to think of it, last week I ordered a small drink and was delivered a medium. Because of the stress of being forced to drink the entire thing rather than be wasteful, I believe I may now sue them for a very reasonable $97M. It's not about the money, it's about the principle... they should NOT have made a mistake!!

For Sale: 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe

2007-06-05T12:55:00.000-04:00

Practically New! Extremely few miles!

Offered AS IS. Sorry, no refunds.

Will be available after June 15th.

My new laptop

2007-06-01T09:43:00.001-04:00

NICE!

Memorial Day

2007-05-27T20:45:00.000-04:00

It's Memorial Day, and it's a time here in the States where picnics take center stage. It's used in the marketing arena as a way to kick off the Summer season and funnel thousands to the beaches, and into stores. Many of us take the time to get together with family and friends in some way and have a good time, eat good barbecue, have a few beers and play horseshoes and quoits. (That last one is kind of like horseshoes, but better.)

But the name of the holiday is "Memorial Day" and it is the day designated when we pay tribute to the men and women in the Armed Forces, and especially those that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. My father was one of them. He died on foreign soil... Saigon, Vietnam, almost 39 years ago. He was an MP in the Army, assigned to the US Embassy in Saigon. A tragic accident took his life... three weeks before I was born.

You are still remembered on this day, and many days. You also have a granddaughter and grandson, and they are growing, and will take your legacy with them as they live their lives too.

So remember, respect, and welcome home those that served... and thank them.

Friday Night, TD on the Tube

2007-05-26T00:27:00.000-04:00

Well Maureen's out for the night with the girls from the neighborhood. I had decisions to make... gaming, TV, movies, porn, WHAT?? Well I've got the 360, the PC, and some great games for each (Gears of War and Supreme Commander, respectively). But I don't feel like thinking, and I just feel like sitting. MOVIE!!
OK, so... a movie that Maureen isn't interested in. That narrows it down to anything not on MTV and all comedies. I've got a bunch of DVD's I've bought and not watched yet. A few around, but anything 1. Jack Black and 2. ridiculous... will work. So the only answer is...

Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny

This. may. be. the. best. rock. movie. ever. made.

Jack Black's comedic timing, and Kyle Glass's (Glass'???) non-acting-skills, as well as their rock opera injection make this a comedic rock masterpiece. The first few minutes, with a "young" Jack Black and Meatloaf as his Dad, with singing dialog is awesomely great. Some great lines, and some even better song-lines, if that makes sense.
"Fuck-a-luck-a-ding-dong" was just one of them, as I was writing this.

Funny thing... Maureen JUST walked in, as Black was trying to disable the laser protection beams, with, his, uhhhhh, "member". Talk about walking in at the wrong time.

I can't say that it's the 3rd drink I've had since I started watching this, but this movie has a lot of the timing, goofiness, crass comments (in this case, in song), and blatant outrageousness that make this a great comedy that's worth watching on any night alone, or with the guys.

In watching the last five minutes of the movie..... I have to say... best. rock. movie. of. all. time.

Thank you Swedesboro, and good night!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Moblog Test

2007-05-14T15:02:00.000-04:00

In my never-ending quest for more geeky fun, I helped Eric figure out how to post pics from the mobile phone to his blog.

He wanted to figure out an easy way of blogging on the road, easily, without carting his entire laptop. Since I won't be going on the Phillies roadtrip up to Chicago (Chi-town, Windy City, City with big shoulders, my kinda town...), at least I can live vicariously through him.
Plus, now I know how to do it, which can make for some more interesting posts on my part.

Tomato, Tomato

2007-05-09T14:39:00.000-04:00

No matter how you say it, I planted eight of the plants in my humble garden on the side of my house Monday night; two each of plum, cherry, early girl and big boys. Also threw in two, maybe three or four (a few seeds seemed to take in each dirt pots) cucumbers, and two eggplants. With all the plants Maureen bought, I'm glad I expanded the garden by a few square feet this year. Emma helped me plant each of them, and I couldn't be more thrilled. My Pop Pop had a garden, my Dad and Mom took it over, I helped them out, now we have our own for the eighth season, and I'm going to keep my kids interested in it. Pretty damn cool.

If only I could grow grass in that soil.

Last evening I busted out the tiller and took some more ~~dead spots~~ grass out of the equation to finally put in a bed at the back of the house where there were two lilac bushes. Some big, creepy spiders were not happy with me, and I definitely was careful avoiding them when picking out the upturned grass and roots. Anyone that knows me is well aware that I'm not a spider person by any stretch. Unfortunately for me, Maureen's less of one, so I have to take care of them, and they seem to enjoy our garage. [shiver] But I think that I was more creeped out yesterday since I saw this article earlier in the day.
That just skeeves me to no end, and I think it's mainly because these BA sonsof.. keep pets!! [shiver]

Cinco de Mayo!!

2007-05-08T13:51:00.000-04:00

Went out on the Cinco with some good friends in Philly. We started at the El Vez restaurant... where Mexican-American meets East L.A. in a Tijuana Taxi. Nice. Food was very good, and plenty of gluten-free (and tasty) things for Maureen. I couldn't finish all of mine, which says something about my new eating lifestyle because that NEVER would have happened before. All were happy.
Then we walked around the corner (more or less) to Senor McGillin's for a nightcap (more or less). That's where I was finally introduced to Red Bull and vodka. I know, I know, that combo's been around for at least a decade, but I never had an interest. Never even had a Red Bull before either. So after my fifth one Saturday, I realized that it's a sweet, guzzling kind of drink and the sugar/caffeine definitely offset the vodka nicely. No hangover the next day either, but I wonder if it's because I didn't get enough alcohol in my system in the first place. Probably won't make a night out of that drink again, but it fit the bill perfectly that night. We laughed our asses off for hours.
On the way home, we talked our DD into a quick diversion down South Street. Now anyone that's familiar with South Street on a Saturday night when it's a perfect-weather night just knows that there's no such thing as a "quick diversion." Driving was slow, so Scott, Eric and myself jumped out of the truck and ran up two blocks to get slices from Lorenzo's. After we stood in line, grabbed the slices and paid, the girls had just pulled over out front. Nice.
The trip home was a combination of pizza, laughing hysterically, and singing (loudly) to many Prince songs... it's probably best to not ask.

A good time was had by all.

Family Bush

2007-05-03T09:33:00.000-04:00

So since late January, family's been more and more important in my life. We lost a beloved aunt to cancer, and as these things tend to do, it brought the family closer together. We talked more on the phone, we were able to share stories, laugh together and cry together. I believe it made a lot of us think, and maybe some of us regret not going the extra mile up to this point.
Well since then I've been inspired to lose weight, start this blog, and start gathering info on my family for genealogy. Not that I have so much extra time, but this will be fun... I've always had a thing for plugging in data into forms. LOL
I bought Family Tree Maker 16 and installed it last night, and started harassing family members to get me info. Once I get a lot plugged in and it starts slowing down, I'll try exploring some of the online resources and see where my family came from. Who knows, maybe I'm a direct descendant of a Hungarian, Irish or German ruler... or fry cook.

Soundtrack - iPod playlist including: Foo Fighters, GnR, Red Hot Chili Peppers

RIAA Wunderkind

2007-04-27T10:50:00.000-04:00

So much is written and said on both sides of the whole RIAA and DRM thing, I tend to just stay away from the conversations. My personal opinion is simple: they're a bunch of desperate, old-media, bullying, non-innovative, lawyer-driven neo-luddites that have no clue in today's technological reality. Simple.
I really believe that if they didn't have the extreme bank accounts that they have, they would already be struggling for survival. Instead of embracing the positives of the new generation of music listeners, they've repeatedly alienated them through threats and lawsuits, and treat all listeners as morons by spewing statements about how what they're doing is for the consumers.

Gizmodo wrote a great little response to some of Bainwol's latest paranoid Jesus-complex statements...

RIAA: DRM is Pro-Consumer; Gizmodo: Shut Up, Idiots.

Nice and short and funny.

So now do you know why I try to stay out of these conversations?

Rockin' the Tut

2007-04-23T09:20:00.000-04:00

What a great weekend this was! The weather was priceless... 70's both days, with clear skies. Maureen and I went to see the King Tut exhibit in Philly on Saturday. My parents came down to our house to watch the kids, and were going to stay overnight. The exhibit was amazing... crowded, but amazing.
I've always been interested in ancient Egypt, but not to the point of decorating my bedroom with mummies and golden sarcophagi, mind you. The items shown in the rooms, with a combination of Egyptian burial artifact history as well as Tutankhamen's (assumed) lineage, amazed us with their preservation. We were both blown away that a wood sculpture we were looking at was over 3200 years old, with original paint and inscriptions. I was definitely more struck with the items that were used by Tut and others more so than those that were made for his burial.
The child's game board, alabaster jewelry box (with a written description of the contents, almost as we label things today), his chair and footstool (with wear marks on it), and his flail and crook definitely impressed me more than the items that were crafted upon his death.
Regardless, we both learned a lot of new things, and are going to be doing some research of our own to learn more... it's worth going to see.
Afterward, we hit a restaurant in the city that had some gluten-free items on the menu, and could accommodate Maureen's celiac needs. Our staple restaurant has been Buddakan in Philly, but Maureen believes she was "glutened" the last time she was there because of a bonehead waiter that wasn't paying attention. So we went to Buca di Beppo, a family-style Italian restaurant. We ate in the "Cardinale" room. Each room had a different "theme", such as the "Pope" room, which had a bust of John Paul II on a lazy susan in the middle of a round table that probably seats ten - kinda freaky. The food was great, although limited for Maureen since almost all of the few gluten-free items had meat, and she's (unfortunately for me) a vegetarian. They were nice there, and were able to substitute shrimp for salmon in her meal. I had the tortelloni and a meatball... a half-pound meatball! WOW. It was damn good. I ate the meatball and half the tortelloni meal (the "small" is for two, mind you... remember the family-style part?) So I went off the diet, but had control, which is a good thing.

Sunday was busy, but stay-at-home busy. Dad helped me build a pseudo-retaining wall around the air conditioning units on the side of our house. The ground on the sides of our house slopes a lot, and the two A/C units are on this slope. Trouble is, the water pump outflow from the summer dehumidifier on the inside blower (and the winter's humidifier unit) lands next to the one A/C unit. Because of the flow almost year-round, the soil's been slowly eroding. So, because we had a lot of slate rock left over from the rock wall Maureen built around the shed, Dad and I used them to build the rock wall around the A/C units. It turned out really nice. All that was still to do was to fill it up with something to level it out... later.
We grilled up some burgers for lunch... the inaugural 2007 barbecue. Nice.
Then Emma and I tried to fly the kite we bought for her at the Franklin Institute on Saturday (where the Tut exhibition was). Wasn't much of a breeze, but she ran her heart out back and forth across the yard. To her it was a success, and we all had a lot of fun.
After my parents left, I decided to move as much of the river rock (see Freakin' Rocks!) from the back of the house to inside the rock wall around the A/C units. That was a lot of rock, again.
By the time we sat down to watch The Soprano's, my back and legs were aching.
The kids passed out with no hassles. I found out my parents passed out shortly after getting home. We passed out shortly after the show was over.

24 (not the show)

2007-04-20T10:46:00.000-04:00

Lost 24 pounds since the end of January. It's getting harder to stick to it... it's almost as if I'm getting bored with it. I was surprised that I've gotten this far, but I'm not done yet. I want to get healthy in general.
My aunt (Mom's sister) passed away from cancer in January. She was essentially the matriarch of the family, one of the sweetest people you'd want to meet, too. The family (she had three children) took it very rough. I realized at that point, more than ever, that my family's life expectancy really isn't that high. (How scary is this... the now-oldest person in my blood family isn't even 60 yet). I'm approaching 40, and my kids are 5 and (almost) 2 years old. I want to be around for them forever, and my life of eating Wendy's, cheesesteaks and candy galore will have definitely caught up fast. So I made a decision to lose weight, then start exercising.
Baby steps though... I'd diet and eat healthier (what ARE these vegetable things you speak of??), drop some weight, THEN start exercising. Been dropping weight steadily, and bought some weights and equipment. Cleared out some of the chaos in the basement to move the bike, bench and exercise equipment from hell to a usable area.
It's working so far. I still have weight to lose, and starting to work out. I lifted weights for the first time in decades, and it felt great. Some things are definitely important.

My chest hurts.

CompUSA Brick & Mortar - Good Riddance!

2007-04-19T10:58:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, CompUSA announced they were closing over half of their retail stores because of some lame excuse which deflects their true mis-managed reasons. The one closest to me at work is closing. Granted, I haven't stepped foot in one of these stores in a few years, but I had mixed emotions about it. One, walking into a place like that is nothing short of geek porn. The other end of it is that never once has going in there been a good experience.
Being in tech for the years I have, seeing stores open dedicated only to the things in my hobby was awesome back in the day. It's like an avid golfer walking into the pro shop, a comic book collector going into a comic store, or a vegetarian walking... into a field, or something.
There was a CompUSA near me where I worked at the time, and it was a good place. There was a Computer City in Princeton, close enough to where I lived. The prices were high and their employees were idiotic and arrogant, and the two times I was in there, the line for returns was twice as long as the checkout line... I'm not kidding, PLUS it wasn't a holiday season. Then I was psyched when CompUSA bought Computer City... a changeover near home! Nope, same crap.
I started to trust online purchasing, then discovered great prices, and have since built my last two computers, and bought countless gadgets, from online retailers.

Back to present day... they started with 5-15% off. Not great, but hey, a discount is a discount, right? I went in on lunch to find the place fully stocked, and plenty of people walking around... allright, bargain time!!

Holy shit!

They marked up their prices so much (or maybe they were that high to begin with), but who really sells items for the MSRP nowadays? Seriously. I walked the whole damn store, just hoping to find something worthwhile. Nothing. The prices were ridiculously high. I was irritated, but hey, it was the first few days, what did I expect? Plus the store was fully stocked.
OK, I did buy a PC game, Supreme Commander. It was brand new, I wanted it anyway, there was one left on the shelf, and it was $35, with the 10% off. I found it $5 cheaper with free shipping online that night. Oh well, no biggie.

A couple weeks later I went back, and noticed the signs proclaiming "15%-30% OFF Storewide". Nice.
So with renewed vigor I went in. Some of the shelves actually looked lighter. I walked the store again. The expensive stuff? Five percent off. OK, that's not what the sign says out front, bastards! What's 30% off? Well, things like cables or power strips. Irritated, I start heading out.
But what I see along the way are guys (not a woman in sight) with smiles on their faces standing in the checkout line, and walking out with bags of items. HUH??? I spied what these guys were buying and walked back to see what the prices were myself. Hey, there must be bargains here after all. Generally I know prices, and when I found the items, they were all seriously high. I just kind of laughed and left the store, again. These guys are all buying items that are still marked up, yet at a "20% off price!" UGH! It's so easy nowadays to look up comparative prices online... come ON people!!
Case in point... a coworker wanted to see if he could find something over there, and saw the prices were now "20%-40% OFF" blah blah blah. So I went for the ride. This was another two weekends after I had last been there, and the store's shelves were now half empty (or half full in CompUSA's misguided eyes). There was something I had my eye on before, one of the Logitech Harmony remote controls. Now 30% off, but I can STILL get it online for almost $60 less. Laughable... but they'll probably sell them all. Actually, it's brilliant for their bottom line... because it's been so long since anyone's bought anything from their stores, no one knows the prices, so they jack them up to MSRP, then "discount" them... people go ape!! Then they'll sell the shelving systems themselves and walk away from the leases. Huge profits this quarter!

Ehh, have at it. They're late to the party at this point, and they had the opportunity to ingratiate themselves to the market and make some real fans. They blew it, and now after I've seen what they are doing now, you'll never see me shop at their website. I'll just happily shop at Newegg, ZipZoomfly or even Amazon. Their prices are all good, they're trustworthy, and they respect their customers.

I think there's still a display model Pentium III laptop there for $2295 if anyone's interested. Hey, it's 5% off folks!

Freakin' Rocks!

2007-04-14T20:46:00.000-04:00

So we're working outside today, trying to get some things done before the Nor'easter comes barreling up the coast (WTF, in mid-APRIL!!??) and drops cats and dogs on us. It's creating new beds, piling up new mulch, planting bulbs and a few little other flowery type of things... not in that order. I'm mowing the lawn in the back and Ryan's napping (slacker). Maureen takes Emma and goes to get more bags of mulch to finish up with what we have to do.
She finishes the mulching of the beds in the back around the shed, I'm almost finished mowing, Ryan's still napping, and Emma's digging holes for bird seed (don't ask, it makes sense to her). So Maureen realizes she needs more river rock to line the new bed she just created, and grabs Emma to run out and get two bags of the rock.
She comes back with no rocks, because the place didn't have any bags left, but the good news is that they'll deliver the river rock for us because they're quiet right now. So we have a quarter-ton of river rock to come soon, which really isn't that much. Ryan wakes up and I go up to get him and dress him so he can come out with us. The truck shows up, and he dumps the rock in the driveway like Maureen had instructed.
So, I'm upstairs (I do know the truck is out there delivering it) changing and dressing Ryan, and I hear him start dumping the rock. And the sound continues...

... and continues.

I finish, and the boy and I go outside. The truck's gone, and Maureen kind of has this sheepish look on her face and says, "They gave us extra rock."

Uh oh.

Well, now it seems our driveway is blocked, and there's no WAY we're getting our cars out of the garage and down that driveway with a ridiculous pile of rocks on it. OK, the Jeep yes, but the majority of the rocks are on her side of the driveway.
Now I can't do it tomorrow, remember the damn nor'easter? Yup.

Moved however much tonnage of rocks into the carrier, down the hill, and dumped them along the back of the house. Maureen helped, granted, because the kids were occupied inside.

She thinks I hate her.

My back hurts.

100,000

2007-04-11T21:55:00.000-04:00

A couple days ago I just turned over 100k miles on my Jeep. Have to admit, that was pretty cool to see. When I was a kid, the cars' odometers just kicked back to '000000'. It's only a 2002, but despite the mileage that thing rides as good as the day I first got it. Although I'm a tech-head, and it's always great to try out a new gadget (and hell, what new car ISN'T like a new gadget), I really don't want anything else right now. An SUV isn't too "green" nowadays, and I'm definitely getting hit with the rising gas prices (AGAIN!!!), but boy do we use that thing a lot to lug shtuff around. Especially now that it's Spring and there's more things (read: work) to do outside, we couldn't be without it. Now if I could only figure out some way to keep the kids out of it, it would be SWEEEEEET! Maybe I'll treat her to new speakers.

You wouldn't understand... it's a Jeep thing.

And away we go...

2007-04-09T23:16:00.000-04:00

So. Hi there. Glad you could make it. What, uhhhhh, are we going to talk about? You ever get the feeling you're being watched? Well I don't... after all, no one knows about this thing yet. So...
Bored yet?
OK, I know, this is where it starts. Here's a quick stream for ya, maybe details will follow.
My kids are awesome, but insane... I'm trying to get healthy and am losing weight... the Phillies are sucking and as a result the Eagles season is so damn far away... I am absolutely tired of commercial radio, especially in this town where there's only one station worth listening to, and I now despise commercials... TV is quickly approaching the same status, but luckily the Sopranos and Entourage started back up and I'm still reluctantly into Lost... but nothing keeps me from Family Guy... music listening is rare, but I get my podcast on daily... my iPod is all that, as well as my PC (just built last October), and even my xbox360, despite being a PC Gamer through and through.
Well I've started, let's see where this takes me. Some say I talk too much. Let's see what happens here.