Wedding in PA

So, this past weekend I was in PA for my step-brother's wedding. I left last Thursday morning, drove to Manchester, NH and then flew Southwest into Philadelphia. The day started great, said goodbye to Emily at 6AM and was on the road. 3.5 hours later I was at the airport... right on schedule. My flight was supposed to leave at 12PM; however, due to weather in Philly and a mechanical issue it was 2PM when we left. Bill picked me up around 3:30PM in Philly. From there we went to pick up our tuxedos and run some other errands. The rehearsal started at 6PM and lasted an hour. From there we went over to Sligo's... an Irish Pub. It was fantastic. As a best man gift, Bill got me a new digital camera. I was floored!!!!!! So, here are some pictures from the pub.

















Friday morning… it was still raining. Golf at 7:30AM never happened because of it. So, we went to Denny’s for breakfast and then back to the hotel to have naps. I ended up sleeping until 11:30AM and it felt good. The afternoon was spent running around finishing up errands and car shuffles. The limo was 30 minutes late in picking us up and the wedding ended up starting an hour late. It was dark in the gazebo, but it was still a nice ceremony. The reception started promptly after and we partied until 1 Am. Below are some of the wedding pictures.









Saturday found me returning the tuxedos in the morning and then driving back to Reading. I spent the afternoon hanging out with my dad and brother. Went to bed early that night because I was beat.

Sunday was up around 9 AM and on the way to the airport just after 10 AM. The flight from Philly was on time and I landed in Manchester at 2:30 PM. Made the final drive and got home around 6:15 PM. Relaxed for a bit and then went to bed.

So, that sums up the past weekend… The weekend before, Emily and I were canoeing on the Saco River in Southern Maine. The camera I had sucked and the photo quality is wicked bad. So, no pictures from that trip.

This coming weekend is the Common Ground Fair. Time to see if I can defend my 4th place finish in the horse shoe toss.

Been a while... Backpacking trip

Well it's been a while since I posted. Camera was down and work has been busy. Summer has been good, things are going well with Emily. Below are pictures from the 3rd annual Labor Day AT hike weekend. Emily drove us up on Thursday night and picked us up yesterday. The hike was 30.4 miles on the Appalachian Trail from Monson - Gulf Hagas.

This pictures are from last weekend. Mike, Lynne, Emily, and I went camping at Baxter State Park and climbed Mt Katadhin on the Appalachian Trail. It was one of the hardest things that I have ever done.

The above pictures are from this past weekend. On Saturday, Emily and I went to Rockland for the day. It was foggy but still enjoyable. Sunday found us sailing with Mike and Lynne. This is at pier last night getting ready to put the boat back on the mooring. What an incredible Rainbow.




These above pictures are from the Memorial Day weekend trip on the St Croix River. It was a beautiful weekend!

Emily and I spent this past weekend in Portland... We left work around 3:30PM and headed south. We arrived in Portland around 6:30PM and got checked in to the hotel, The Inn at St John, after that we went next door to the Dogfish Cafe. It was an excellent meal and drinks. After dinner Em and I walked up to the Old Port district and back to the hotel... approx 4 miles round trip. It was a nice night.

We woke up late on Saturday and went out for breakfast to a fantastic little dinner on the waterfront called Becky's. The place was packed and we waited for a half an hour to get a seat at the counter. I highly recommend this place. After breakfast we ran some errands to the Art Supply store and then walked around the Old Port more. We met my friend Ian who works there and then walked around more. We ended up getting caught in a thunderstorm and got soaked. On the way back to the car we made reservations for dinner at an upscale resteraunt. Made our way back to the hotel to get showered and changed for dinner. Dinner qwas at a small palce called Cinque Terre. It was awesome, after dinner we walked around the Old Port more and then headed back to the hotel.

Sunday we got to sleep in late again... This time we went to Uncle Andy's Diner in South Portland. After breakfast we headed over to the Portland Head Lighthouse. See pics above. After that we started our trek home, but made a detour in to Freeport for some shopping and walking around. We ended up getting back to my place around 8 PM last night, watched some tv and went to bed around 11PM.

So here it is... Monday, back at work and ready to leave again.

Joe

This past weekend, Mike, Lynne, and myself went on our annual winter camping trip. We hiked into Leeman Brook Shelter on the AT from Monson. It was 6 miles round trip in some different conditions. Parts of the trail had 3 feet of snow, parts had ice, parts were muddy, and parts were clear. This trip made 3 weekends in a row of hiking, this Sunday will find me on another day trip in Acadia.

Other news... Emily is back in Maine next week.... Wooo Hooo! I am really looking forward to that. Work is busy and we have our reservations for our Baxter State Park trip in June. More to follow.

Joe

Most of the month of March, I have been doing a lot of hiking. This is from a day hike in Acadia National Park, looking towards the Beehive from the Great Head Trail.

So, after work on Tuesday, I headed down to Manchester, NH. I left the Bangor Store at 5PM and was to the hotel by the airport at 8:30PM. I grabbed some dinner, talked with Emily for a bit, and then went to bed.

Up at 5Am on Wednesday morning wasn't a big deal. I got to the airport and checked right through. When flying to Baltimore, we flew just south of Reading... close enough to see Limerick, and the city. From BWI, I flew into Indianapolis.

Emily picked me up at the airport at 11:10AM. From there we toured around downtown. Saw Monument Circle and had some coffee at the Abbey Coffee Shop. From there we headed to Emily's parent's house. It was a very nice house. We hung out there for a while, Emily opened her gifts, and then we went to run some errands. Emily was impressed by my navigational skills. She made me drive home from the mall and I went a different direction. I found my way without any help. We went to dinner at Ambrosia, an authentic Italian Resturant. Excellent Food! After dinner we took a short little walk around the area and then headed home.

Thursday found us up around 10AM. We went back over towards the mall for breakfast. I had an awesome omlette with ham, swiss, onions, and mustard. The cinnamon toast was fantastic too. We ended up going back to Emily's after breakfast and played Battleship and hung out. We headed out around 4:30PM for dinner.... Mexican and it was yummy. From there, Em took me back to the airport. I flew out Indianapolis at 7:25AM. My flight from Chicago was 20 minutes late landing in Manchester.

I started my drive home at 1 AM this morning. Stopped in Yarmouth, ME around 2:30AM and slept for 2 hours. From there, I drove to work and worked the full day. Other than that... I picked up my new glasses on the way home from work today.

All in all... It was an AWESOME trip! It was even cheaper than my trip to PA the other week.

J

Well.... It's over!

I had my root canal done this morning at 10:30 Am. I was out of there by 12PM. It was pretty painless. Now I get to drive to Manchester, NH tonight and tomorrow... I fly out to Indianapolis to spend Wed and Thurs with Emily for her birthday. 3/1 for those who didn't know.

Em, has many activities planned for the trip and I look forward to them, now that my tooth isn't hurting.

Further updates to follow on Friday.

J

GRUMPY BASTARD!

So, Friday night I started with a toothache. On Saturday it was worse in the morning, so I went to Walmart to get Anbesol and Advil to help with the pain. On Sat evening when I was talking with Emily, the pain started going away and I thought I was over it. Well, I woke up around 6AM on Sunday to find my face all swollen up like in the picture. I hopped in the shower and headed to the hospital. I was prescribed Penicillen and needed to see a dentist.

Well, it's Monday and I just got back from the dentists office. My original root canal has failed and need to have it redone. UGGGHH!!! So, tomorrow at 10:30AM, I am having root canal again! :-( The good news is, I'll be able to travel on Wed and Thurs without pain.

I'll give you guys an update after tomorrows procedure.

J

My Trip to PA and West Virginia - Long Update

I left for PA on Valentine's Day, just after 4 PM. I drove as far as the first rest stop in New York on I-84. It was around 11:30PM when I stopped. I folded the rear seats of my truck down, filled up my therm-a-rest, and rolled out my sleeping bag. Emily made the last 1.5 hours of driving fly by, by keeping me awake on the phone. I woke up around 7:00AM on Wed, and got everything packed up and ready for travel again. My first stop was gas and breakfast in Montgomery, NY. Who know's what's in Montgomery? ooh, ohh! Orange County Choppers. I drove by the shop around 7:30 in the morning, snapped some pictures and saw Paul Jr. on a smoke break. I ended up driving over to him and talked with him for 5 minutes and also got an autograph. See Pics below. From there, I went to the store and bought a t-shirt and scooped out all of the bikes.




I rolled into Reading around 1 PM in the afternoon. The afternoon was relaxing, went and got the car washed and checked out all of the new crap in the area. New strip malls want to make me vomit. I had dinner with Mom around 5 PM and then headed into the city. The old Rajah Theater is now the Sovereign Performing Arts Center. I was there to see INXS perform. I realized that it had been 20 years since I had seen there first concert. I am getting old. JD was an excellent choice for the lead singer. He pulled the old stuff off as good as Michael Hutchens did. I got home from there around 11:30PM. On Thursday, Mom and I drove to NJ to visit my grandparents there. It was a short, but nice visit. Dad, Kyle, and I went out for dinner on Thurday night.

Friday mornning, I started my next adventure towards West Viriginia. Emily and I decided to meet halfway to have a long weekend together. I arrived at the hotel in St. Clairsville, OH around 12 PM. Some past thoughts of this place.... I stayed at that Red Roof Inn, and I learned how to drive stickshift in that Mall parking lot. Em and I had a great weekend away! Some activities included bowling, going to Cabela's, visiting the Artisan Center in Wheeling, The Burial Mound in Moundsville along with the old prison. See pics below...



Yesterday, I made the 15 hour drive home and I'm back at work today.

8th Annual Banff Party Weekend was a complete success!

We had a group of over 20 both nights of the event. Let's go back... Friday night was the annual party at Mike and Lynne's house. It was a blast since most people got into town early evening. We partied well into the late night hours.

On Saturday, Mike got up and cooked breakfast for everyone and at high noon, the poker game started. I wasn't there for this part as I had to be a work most of the day. :-( We left for the festival at 6PM and got good seats. Here is the opener that they used for this year. The music is a rush! LINKY. Saturday night was cultural night. Some of the movies included:

Balancing Point
Becoming a Man in Siberia
Charles, Edouard ou le temps suspendu
Hockey Night… in Ladakh
The Khumbu Mighty-Mites
The Lost People of Mountain Village

Sunday, was another day of breakfast at Mike and Lynne's. From there we went and did our outdoor activity. We hiked around Great Head in Acadia National Park. A good hike with some dangerous stretches, especially in a blizzard. All survived. After that our group went to China Hill for feast before the films. Sunday nights movies were sports related. Some of the movies included:

Middle Kaweah
Person as Projectile
Praszczur (Grandpa)
Solilochairliftquist
The Tangerine Dream [short]

I must say that all of the films were fantastic. Our group is actually going to make a documentary on our annual ritual to submit for next years competition.

Sand dollars at Ames Cove

BLOG UPDATE: I have enabled the comments portion on this site. Feel free to leave any comments.

Well, it's been a fun week so far... Poker was cancelled on Tuesday, I've been fighting a cold, and works been busy.

So the next couple of weeks are going to be fun and busy too. I have to work most of this weekend. Oh, well the time adds up for when I take vacation in 2 weeks.

Next weekend is the 10th annual Banff Mountain Film Festival in Ellsworth. You should check it out! Most of the crowd from New Year's will be here for this show.

On Wednesday, the 15th, Jack and I leave for PA. Jack will need a drive from PA to Baltimore since I will be going to the INXS concert that evening. This will be awesome... INXS is the first band that I ever saw in concert back in 1986. While in PA, I will go to NJ to visit Poppy and Lucille and then on the 17th, I head to Wheeling, WV to have a weekend get-a-way with Emily. I drive home to Reading on the 19th and then drive back to ME on the 20th.

So, that sums up the next couple of weeks... I'll be sure to throw some other updates in there.

This is Emily and Me at Ames Cove. It was a windy day if you can't tell by my hair.

Ames Cove, Cape Rosier, ME

I spent Friday with Emily... her last day in town before she headed off for her 2 month furlow from the Park. Emily and I have been dating for 3 weeks now and I'd have to say it has been the best 3 weeks in my life or atleast in a long time.

I'll post another picture right after this post.

J

This was the sunrise last Thursday morning on my way to work. Time flies when you are having fun!

Work is busy and will be busy for another few weeks.

We finally got some snow... about 4" fell yesterday and they are calling for another 1 - 3"'s tonight.

Well, well... 2006. This picture is from Rusty's Hard Time Hollow in VA on New Year's Day. I had a blast hanging out with the hiker trash that was there. Met some new people and hung out with old friends.

It would appear that 2006 is going to be an interesting year... Banff is in February and then I head to PA again for the INXS concert. It should be a great time. I'll get to see some family that I didn't get to see at Christmas time.

I all hope your 2006 celebrations were excellent and safe.

Fall has been very rainy here in Maine. This is water runoff of Cadillac Mountain back in early November.

Work has been keeping me super busy.

Ahhh, the mighty Saco River in Southern Maine. This is one of our floatilla groups this year. There was a total of 10 canoes and 19 people. I was the odd ball out this year because I was by myself.

It actually was fun being by myself. I carried everybody elses extra stuff and garbage (the only downside). I was able to scoot around both floatilla's very easily.

We left for the might Saco around 12PM on Friday and arrived down in Fryeburg at 5 PM. The weather was nice all weekend long. We got off of the Saco on Sunday afternoon around 5 PM and started our drive home around 6PM. We stopped for dinner in Augusta, before continuing home.

Long Blog Warning!

Well, almost 2 weeks have gone by now. Since my last post excitement has been abound. Labor Day weekend, Mike and I were supposed to go on our annual 35 - 40 mile hike on the Appalachain Trail in Maine. We set out Thurs, Sept 1, for our destination of Monson, Me. About a 1/2 mile before the trail head and 3 hours from Bar Harbor we hit a pot hole. It sounded pretty severe, but we had no idea how severe as of yet.

As we pulled into the parking area, I notice this puff of smoke coming from under the hood. I told Mike to pop the hood so we could get a look. We see oil on the plastic skid plate and then Mike looks under the car and oil is just pouring out of it. Oh Sh*t!!! I pretty much new at this point and time that our hiking trip was going to be cancelled. Mike calls VW roadside assistance and they said they are sending the tow truck out.

While Mike was playing phone tag with VW, he turned his head after he hung the phone and jammed his eyeball into the Thule roof rack on the car. I immediately looked at it and it was just bloodshot. So, I decided to hike Southbound on the AT for a bit to say at least I got to hike a little. I returned 20 minutes later and Mike says, "I see this laser light show in my right eye." I said let me look at it again... WOW! Oh SH*T times 2. His pupil was fully dialated and his left eye was normal. I'm like we need to go to the hospital to get that look at!

The tow truck driver finally arrived 35 minutes later. We loaded the car and took off for Bangor. Mike, Lynne, Molly Mae, and I had to ride in the tow truck driver's wife's car. It is now 10:30PM. We arrive in Bangor at 11:30PM first stop the VW dealership. The service guy tells us he will look at it tomorrow and try to push it through as warranty. Next stop the Hospital. EMMC was pretty dead so we got right in. Mike had his eye looked at and it was just Traumatic Mydrosis. Apparently you can paraylze your iris if you hit your eye hard enough. Mike Gillis came to pick us up at 1:45 AM. We finally got back to Mike and Lynne's at 3 AM. What a fun night that was.

Friday found me hanging out at Mike and Lynne's. I drove Mike to the Optomologist to get his eye looked at some more. No Permanent Damage!

Saturday we went to the Blue Hill Fair. This is the fair that is featured in EB White's book Charolette's Web . We got home from there around 6PM and then met Mike and Tracy for dinner on their sailboat. We got home from there around 9:30 PM.

Sunday, I ran home to check on the cats and headed back to Bar Harbor for Birthday celebrations. Mike and Pete's birthday was Sept 5. So, we went to Miguel's and drank margaritas and had dinner. From there we went back to Pete's apartment for Cake, and then back out to the Lompoc. I am glad that Lynne drove us home.

Monday, Mike and I worked on cars.

Tues - today: Work as normal. No poker last night, a first in over a year. Tomorrow, Mike and Lynne, and I head off for the Saco River canoe trip. Will post more next week.

Over and Out!

Time goes by so quickly. Last week was pretty much a blur. All of the problems we have been having at work are finally resolved. The cause? A problem with the APC software and a JAVA certificate it used. This software self destructed on July 27th and was not discovered until August 19th. It screwed up all of our computers causing up to 9 different issues.

On the after work front, we were out sailing on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Wednesday was poker and I lost big time.

Friday found me down in Bar Harbor fixing a printer at FOA and correcting some network issues for FineLine Builders. After that, I went over to St. Saviour's Church to assist in dress rehersal for First Light: The Oratorio. This is a musical based on the book First Light, a coffee table book with pictures of Acadia and MDI.

Saturday morning I met Mike and Lynne at the pier at 9:30AM. We had special guest coming with us on this sail. Charlie Anderson, owner of Greasel.com, was in town and Mike invited him out for a sail. We returned to the pier around 3 PM. From there, we got ready and headed over to the church for the World Premier of the Oratorio. It was close to a full house. After the show, I crashed at Mike and Lynne's for the night.

I woke up around 10:15AM on Sunday. Mike and I got ready and headed back to the church to set up for the Sunday Matinee of the Oratorio. The music was better, but the slide show suffered due to the sun. I got home around 7:30PM last night and just vegged out.

Hope you all had a good weekend.

J

Well another weekend here and another weekend gone! Friday night was another evening sail. We had Mike and Lynne, Monica, and 2 COA people on board. We sailed around the bay for a bit and then met up with Dave and Allison. We rafted up with them and John Sweet. We floated around for an hour or so and watched the moon rise. When we got back to the COA pier, we ended up having a cookout right there. I left there around 9 PM and headed out to pick up Kaya on the way home. I dog sat Kaya for Keith and Kelly on Friday night into Saturday afternoon.

I dropped Kaya off on the way to my DJ job. It was an excellent party with tons of people who like to dance. I played music from 4:30PM to 2:15 AM. I got home around 3 AM. Sleep was good but not plentiful.

Sunday found me up around 10AM. I got ready to come in to work for a while. I did my work thing and then called Mike to see if he was going out to the boat. He was! We met there around 1:30PM and just did work on the boat in the rain. I got home around 6PM and it was nice. That was the first evening I have been there in a long time.

Oh well... Back to work. More will follow soon.

Joe

What an incredible sunset last night. This was out sailing on Frenchman's Bay!

Another Friday is here. I hope you all have a good weekend. Tomorrow finds me DJ'ing a party and Sunday I will be sailing more.

So how was your weekend?

Mine, busy. Friday night after work, I met Mike at the boat and we went sailing on the bay. Our guests were two girls who are working in town for the summer. It was a relaxing sail with overcast skies. After we got back to the dock and got the boat put away on the mooring, I was asked to go out to the Lompoc with Andrew and crew. So were at the Lompoc and everybody starts showing up. George and Kelly, Julie, Mike Gillis, and the crew I was with. I stayed there for 2 hours and headed home when it started to rain. It was a long (50 minute) motorcycle ride home since it was raining. I did it as fast and as safely as the roads would allow.

Saturday found me up at 8 AM and out the door by 9 AM. I was down in Bar Harbor for the day helping out with the Friends of Acadia Benefit Gala and Auction. This is a huge auction and dinner fund raiser that FOA puts on each year. I think the total raised for this year will be more than last years $400,000 raised. You get to see the richest of the rich at this party. Martha Stewart didn't make it this year due to her extra 3 weeks of house arrest. I ended up getting home around 12:30AM that evening.

Sunday... the day of rest, NOT! I ended up coming into work for close to 6 hours to rebuild 3 PC's that were affected by a storm last week. It was not fun. After I left work, I went down to an ex-coworker's house for dinner. Another excellent meal!

Other than that... work is crazy for a Monday. I am meeting clients tonight for an upcoming DJ job on Aug. 20. Hopefully we'll get to go sailing tomorrow and Thursday nights. Wednesday night is Poker.

I'll be back.
J

Another week is gone. I have been working alot of hours over the last couple of weeks, trying to get our network setup correctly. It is almost done and then back to a normal schedule. Tuesday evening involved another sunset sail. Wednesday night was poker night were I ended up being the big winner with $21.00, Thursday night - work, and tonight... another sunset sail after riding the motorcycle to town.

Have a great weekend!

This is how I've been spending my summer. Sailing as much as possible. This is looking towards the Precipe in Acadia National Park.

Life and work have both been busy... Hopefully, I'll be able to update this thing more.

Joe

I don't even know where to begin...

As of January 28th I have started a new job with USA Computer Systems. I am the Network Administrator for this up and coming software company. This job has taught me many new and interesting things.

February 8th - 15th, I was on vacation in Florida with Jenn. We travelled from Ft. Lauderdale to Cumberland Island National Seashore in Georgia and back. We stopped at many cool National Wildlife Refuges and checked many cool little towns.

As of March 3rd, 2005 I am officially divorced.

May came and went. The wettest in history for Maine.

It is now June and the Park is open, the bugs are out, and the tourist are coming back.

WARNING: Long Update

So, I just got home from my trip to PA. I left on December 21st at 12:00 PM and headed south to Rhode Island. I spent the night with my cousin Laura and her husband Jay. Jay is a cook at the Salvation Cafe in Newport, Rhode Island. Laura took me there for dinner since Jay had to work. All of the food was fantastic! I even ate Clam Chowder and for those of you that know me I do not like seafood. The resteraunt was even featured on the Food Network on the $40 a Day Show. After that, we hung out at the loft until Jay was done with work. When Jay got home, we headed over to Jamestown Island and partied at the Naragassett Bar until 1 AM. We got back to there place and crashed. I had to get up early and continue my trip on to PA.

I left Laura and Jay's at 8 AM. Taffic on I-95 sucked! Contruction in 2 places and 1 fatal car wreck which had both lanes closed. I pulled into my grandparents house just at 2:30PM that afternoon. I got cleaned up and went out to finish my Christmas shopping. I could not believe how empty the stores were. After that, I met Mom & Bill for dinner at Fairground's Square Mall. From there, I went to my Dad's for a bit and then drove up to the Pagoda. I tried to take some night time pictures but they did not come out so well.

Thursday found me travelling to Mechanicsburg, PA. I went out there to see Pat and Jessi. I stopped by Wildware Outfitters to visit with Jessi. She was unable to go out to dinner with us that evening. I am just glad I got to see her for a few minutes. From there, I went over to Pat and Paul's house. We caught up on things and then went out for a fantastic dinner. I headed back to Reading just after 6:30 PM. When I got back, I went to my old bowling alley. I got to catch up on things with Mom and Pop Krick and their team. My old Thursday night team was still together and needed a sub. So, I paid the $10 and got to bowl. Let's just say, I am not that great without my own equipment. It was still a blast to hang out with the old team. I'll be taking my bowling equipment on future trips to PA.

Friday, Christmas Eve, I finished all of my shopping and began the ardeous task of wrapping the gifts. It took 2 hours to wrap everything. I bought myself a camera tripod too. Mom and Bill picked me up around 2 PM and we went to the Pagoda Driving Range. We hit a bucket of golf balls and I can still hit them ok. Dinner at Mom's was excellent and we exchanged Christmas gifts. I stopped by Dad's on the way home and arranged our plans for Christmas Day. From there, I went out to take more pictures of the Pagoda and Fire Tower atop of Mt. Penn. They came out some much better with the tripod. After I left there, I drove out to Christmas Village in Bernville to take some cool pics there. It was a quick drive home and to bed because 6 AM was coming fast.

Saturday, Christmas Day, I got to Dad's at 6:45 AM and we left immediately for our day trip to NJ for Christmas. It was good to see Poppy and Lucille. Kyle and I drove around and I was taking more pictures. I love my new digital camera. When we got back, we ate a big feast and relaxed on the couch. We left NJ around 4 PM and got back to Reading just after 6 PM. I stopped by to visit with Adric and his family for about 15 minutes before I continued to Birdsboro to say good bye to Mom and Bill. I got back to granpop's and packed the car up, checked email, and went to bed.

Sunday, the alarm went off at 4:30 AM. UGGHHH! I rolled out of bed, started the car, and got ready to leave. I was out the door at 5AM. 10 minutes into the trip, my windshield wipers broke while cleaning the ice off of the windshield. I immediately began to fear the worst. The trip did not require their use the rest of the way home. I made it back to my house in 9 hours 15 minutes. I rearranged some gifts and then headed to Bar Harbor to drop them off with Mike and Lynne and Todd and Kirsten. I finally got home just after 7PM and did nothing for the rest of the evening.

Monday morning, I woke up to 4 inches of new snow. I am glad that it waited until I got home. I still had no wipers, but that was ok. They closed our office at 1 PM because of the weather and I drove to Bangor to have the wipers fixed. I got home just after 5 PM, ate dinner, cleaned the stickers off the windows, and watched The Terminal. I give it 2 thumbs up.

Well, that wraps up this update. Sorry it was so long.

Well alot has happend in the last 6 months. Angela and I are getting divorced. The divorce will be finalized on December 30, 2004. I have moved into the new house. I will be posting pictures soon. This will be the first year that I have been home for Christmas in the last 6 years. More updates will follow soon.

A new record. 2 months without an update. Let me sum it up in a nutshell "BUSY!"

For the last month and a half, I have been preparing documentation and implementing procedures for the new project I am in charge of at the bank. We are replacing over 130 PC's in all of our branches. So far 3 are done and 10 are left. This project consumes most of my days now. At night, I do not feel like updating anything.

I am quite relieved, Angela and I are on vacation in Pennsylvania until 4/28. We drove to PA on 4/21 and have been busy here as well. We went to NJ on Friday morning to visit with my Grandparents, then we drove to Balitmore for the weekend to visit with close friends, and then we drove to Harrisburg to visit with some more friends. We arrived back in Reading on Monday night. Today is a day of rest before we drive home. We'll do some shopping and hit some golf balls.

Hopefully I'll get some pictures posted soon on the website.

Joe

Well no updates have occurred in 2 weeks. This past weekend was a long weekend for us. It was our 6th annual Banff Mountain Film Festival Weekend. I had to work on Friday and Saturday at the new Rockland Branch. Angela attended the Friday night Toga party, which did not have to many people at this year. On Saturday afternoon, we played a $10/person round of Poker. Angela played and won a total of $17.00. She was the second highest winner. Saturday night was the Mountain Culture Films, which were all good. After the movies, we went back to Mike and Lynne’s to party some more. On Sunday, we got up late and met everyone for a hike around Jordan Pond. It was a Sunny, but cold day. After the walk we got showered up and ready for the Sunday night Mountain Sports films. Once again, another night without any boring films. After the movies once again it was party time. Monday was a slow and quiet day for us. We went up to Mike and Lynne’s to say good buy to the Baltimore crew. After that we went to Wal-Mart and the grocery store. Angela went to book club on Monday night. Tuesday we hosted poker night at our house. I was doing all right until we played a game of guts. I lost $5.00 in a matter of 3 hands. Oh well…

Work is going well right now. Angela’s immigration paperwork is completed and we are planning a trip to PA the first week of April.

TTFN.

The onion soup party was a success. Both pots of soup were gone by 10PM. We partied until midnight.

Since then, things have been extremely hectic between life and work. I have made another trip to NB to get the mail and some more things from the house, We have been looking at land to purchase, playing poker every Wednesday night, and so on… Work has been extremely busy with our upcoming Rockland Branch acquisition; almost as crazy as the Sovereign Bank Days.

Thank goodness the weekend is upon us. I will try to have an update on Monday.

I went home to NB 2 weekends ago. It was a fun drive in the snow both ways. Not to much has happened since then.

Movies that we recently watched include: Liar, Liar; Bruce Almighty, Lara Croft The Cradle of Life, and Seabiscuit. Angela and I highly recommend Seabiscuit!

Last night was poker night at Mike and Lynne’s. I ended up winning $2.20 on top of my original $5. Tonight we prepare for our visitors. Kevin and Patricia are coming to visit us for the weekend. Tomorrow night we are having, “Joe's Fabulous Five Onion Soup Gathering” as Angela put in the email. Should be a nice gathering of friends and family as always.

This coming weekend is a long weekend for me. I’ll have to post an update of all of our activities that we did.

GO EAGLES!!!!!

Another short week this week. I worked on Monday, Tuesday and Friday, had Wednesday and Thursday off. Wednesday afternoon, we got things around the house together in the event of a surprise New Year’s Eve Party. We went out to dinner to China Joy in Bar Harbor with Lynne and her family. After that, we went to the wharf to watch the fireworks, which started at 7 PM. It was a 20-minute show that actually wasn’t too bad. From there, we went to Noreen and Suzanne’s for a while. We left there around 9 PM and headed to MacKay’s Public House. Angela, Lynne, Grace, and I left around 11:30 PM and headed to our house to bring in the New Year. We got home with 10 Minutes to spare, opened the Champagne, and watched the ball drop. I was glad to see that no Terrorism happened! We slept in on Thursday until 12 PM, got up and became vegetables for the rest of the day. We watched the Santa Clause 2 and other regular TV shows.

I am supposed to head to NB this weekend, but as of now, it is snowing. I’ll let you know how I made out next week.

The Boxing Day Party was a smash! Our visitors included George and Kelly, Mike and Lynne, Ben, Gracie, Pete, and Noreen. We ate lots of food, drank lots of alcohol and danced around the living room with my new Disco Light. Next years Boxing Day party proves to be even better. Angela and I got to bed around 12:30AM after some initial cleanup. Saturday was a long day for both of us.

Angela had to work all day. I got up around 9 AM and took the garbage to the Transfer Station. After that, I drove to Seal Harbor to check on Pat and Bob’s house. I was house sitting while they where away. My next stop was the Hardware store to get supplies to wire up the telephone jacks. I got home a short time later. My first task at home was to wash the dishes, done. Next I worked on the computer desk that Bob gave me. Cut the top of it to meet our specifications, done. Next I set up the computers and laptop on the new desk, done. My next task was to rewire the phone jacks for the patch panel in the basement to the new jacks in the bedroom and spare room, done. Once all those activities were completed, I took Bam for a 1.5-hour walk up around the woods. We got home around 4 PM and showered up. Angela got home shortly after. We ate left over chili and watched, X2. That was an awesome movie.

On Sunday, the day of rest, we slept in late. Angela cooked up omellettes and potatoes for breakfast. During breakfast, we watched Terminator 3 – Judgment Day. Another great movie to explain the story. After that, we got ready and headed to Ellsworth to do our laundry. We got home just after 4:30 PM and proceeded to make dinner. After dinner, we decided to watch Bad Boys II. A good story with a lot of funny parts in it. All in all it was an awesome weekend.

Well… I have to agree with Shawn @ www.duf.net about Amazon. They certainly do SUCK! I ordered a book for Angela on December 10, 2003. I was given a shipping estimate of December 16 or 17th. My package was supposed to arrive between December 22 – 24th by 4:30 PM. So, here is where the fun begins. I waited at my office until 4:30PM on 12/24 and no driver. I wasted 3 hours and 30 minutes because we closed at 1PM on the 24th. AGGGGHHHHH!!!! Oh well, the package is supposed to arrive today and I’ll never buy anything from Amazon.com again. Bastards!

Let’s go back to Christmas Eve Eve. We went over to George and Kelly’s for a little get together of friends. It was a good night and great time. Angela and I got home around midnight. On Christmas Eve, we went to Mike and Lynne’s for their party. It was a good time; we played the 20th Anniversary Version of Trivial Pursuit. I think it is harder than the regular version.

Christmas Day – Angela and I woke up around 9:15AM. It felt good to sleep in late. We got dressed and opened our gifts from our stockings. After that, we headed up to Mike and Lynne’s for more festivities. We spent most of the day up there and got home just after 6:30 PM. Angela and I opened our gifts to each other around 7:30 PM. I got snowshoes and new luggage and Angela got a new shelving unit for the kitchen and a Pannini Grill. After the gift time, we cleaned up the house because we are having the Boxing Day party tonight at our house.

We’ll post some details of the party next week.

Time for another update... only a week has gone by. Last week was a short week, I had vacation on Thursday and Friday. My Mom and Bill came up to Bar Harbor for an early Christmas on Wednesday. It was a good, but short visit. I got to take them sightseeing around the Park and down to the Bass Harbor Lighthouse. Angela's parents arrived on Friday afternoon. On Friday night we all ended up going out for dinner at MacKay's Publick House in Bar Harbor. Excellent food!! After dinner, we all went back to our house to celebrate an early Christmas. We opened gifts, had some drinks, and talked for a few hours. Mom and Bill left around 10PM because they were heading back to PA at 7 AM on Saturday morning.

On Saturday, I took Angela's parents up to Bangor to do some shopping. We ended up meeting Angela at 5PM at the Mall. From there, we went to the Oriental Jade for dinner. After 1 plate at the buffet, I was full. We ended up getting home around 9PM. I think we all were in Bed by 10 PM.

Sunday came with me driving Angela to Bangor at 6:30 AM. UGGHHHHH!! 1 hour drive each way. When I got home, I cooked up breakfast for Angela's parents. They left shortly after breakfast for New Brunswick. I ended up going to Home Depot and Wal-Mart for some stocking stuffer gifts. After that, I went home and took Bam for a nice long walk out the Breakneck Road. We got home just before 2:30PM. I then proceeded to wrap Christmas gifts and the stocking stuffers. After that, I showered and cleaned up the house before Angela got home. When Angela got home, we went to deliver Christmas gifts to our friends. No one was home at the 4 stops we made. Later, we went to Mike and Lynne's and watched a movie called Fahrenheit 451. It was a 60's movie about the future. The plot has to deal with "firemen" who burn books because they make people anti-social. Not a bad story.

That brings us up to Monday. Last night after work we went to see The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King. It was a most excellent movie. I think it was the best of the trilogy. The whole movie was over 3 hours and 30 minutes long. Well worth it.

Well, only one more day till Christmas... May you all enjoy the holiday season!

Angela and Joe

Another update… It started snowing last night and is still snowing now. We are forecasted to get up to 15 inches of snow. The weekend was interesting to say the least. I had to work all day on Saturday doing a software install for the bank. On Saturday night was my work Christmas party. The party was ok; the DJ’s sucked, maybe next year I’ll offer up my services. I woke up on Sunday morning and drove to New Brunswick to fetch so more things from the house. It was a long day of driving. I made it home in time to see the Survivor Finale. I definitely would have taken John to the final 2 because he would have been easy to beat. Oh well, not my decision.

Oh by the way... I almost lost all of my money at Poker. I had to borrow money to stay in. With the $2.00 I borrowed, my winnings returned. I left that night with an extra $3.50 in my pocket.

Blog update… Well the weekend of snow was interesting. We got a total of 12” at our new place in Maine. It was nice only having to shovel a small driveway instead of the ¼ mile long driveway in New Brunswick. We had some friends over on Saturday night for dinner, which was nice. So far the workweek has been pretty steady. Tonight is our weekly Poker night. Hopefully I’ll walk out of there with extra $$$$. I’ll let you know!

Well, I just heard this morning that we are supposed to get 6-12 inches of snow this weekend... Sounds like fun to me!

So, are weekend was pretty awesome. Friday night we hung out with Jack and Trina and the crew at Mike and Lynne’s. We played Pass the Pigs, a pretty cool game. On Saturday, we didn’t do too much except go for a hike. Angela and I hiked up and over Day Mountain and then along some carriage roads. After that, we went to Mike and Lynne’s to hang out more. We played more Pass the Pigs and relaxed in the hottub afterwards. On Sunday, I got up at 5:30AM and drove to New Brunswick. I picked up more items at home and some groceries. I spent 6.5 hours of driving for only 2 hours in New Brunswick. The theory to make it a worthwhile trip did not work on this.

The Theory goes like this…. If the visit time is double the drive time, then it is worth it.

On Monday, we rented Hollywood Homicide. A pretty funny movie with Harrison Ford in it. The entertainment value was high. Our Tuesday was good too. We watched our favorite show, 24, that has many new and intersting plot twists. I still highy recommend this show.

So, again it has been a while since the last update of this BLOG. Time to bring you up to speed.

October 31: Angela and I went out for Halloween. We started our trick or drinking at George and Kelly’s house. I was dressed up as a wizard and Angela was a Princess. Pics to follow soon. From there, we went to Rupunini’s, a local bar, for a costume party. Angela and I placed in the top 10 with our costumes.

November 1: I drove to Canada to get more furniture for the house.

November 5 – 8: I was in Lindon, Utah for the second course on the new Altiris software we are installing. I did some site seeing while I was there. I drove up to the Sundance Lodge where the Sundance Film Festival is held every year. I also drove into Salt Lake and toured around the city and the Temple Plaza. Pictures to be up on the site soon. While there I did my usual Hard Rock Café meal and drank a local micro-brewed beer called Polygamy Porter. The name fits well with the whole Mormon thing.

On November 17th, we drove to Bangor to check out the latest Matrix movie. Ang and I seemed to like it better than the 2nd one. The story seemed to flow better, but allowed for another possible movie.

November 22 – 26th: Angela and I drove to York, Me for a pre-thanksgiving party with our friends that we do the Saco River Canoe trip with. Lots of ETOH was had by all. I highly recommend trying deep fried turkey! It was by far the best turkey I have ever had. Crunchy skin and juicy meat. On the 23rd, Angela and I got up and headed to PA to see my family. We had dinner at my mother’s house on Sunday afternoon. Monday, Ang and I drove to Ikea in Philadelphia and spent the day there. Dad took us out to dinner on Monday night to the Windsor Inn of Shillington. Another fantastic meal as usual! We got up late on Tuesday and headed to Mechanicsburg to visit with our friend Jessi who we had met on several visits to Maine. We got home from there around 8:30 PM, just in time to watch 24. On Wednesday morning we left for Maine around 7 AM. We got home in 10 hours exactly. There was no holiday traffic, which surprised us. We unpacked after our trip and headed up to Mike and Lynne’s for dinner and to hang out with the gang from Baltimore.

November 27th: T-day! We ate well at Mike and Lynne’s. Ang and I spent the morning building our new shelves from Ikea, making sausage stuffing, and watching the Macy's Parade.

November 28th: Black Friday and I am at work. I think I would rather be here, than trying to walk around the malls. I am glad our Christmas shopping was done by the end of September.

Well, that pretty much brings things up to date for now. I am going to try and update this BLOG a few times a week now.

TTFN,
Joe

It’s hard to believe that another month is gone since my last update…

Angela and I did go back to Fredericton for Canadian Thanksgiving with the whole family. We had a blast! While there, Ang and I packed a lot of things up for our new house, a winter rental.

We moved in on October 14th and have been getting things arranged while there. The house has 2 small bedrooms, a newly renovated kitchen and bathroom, hardwood floors throughout, a working fireplace, and a garage. Ang and I will be in this place until May. Hopefully by then, we will have built a new place.

The week after the move, I was in San Antonio, TX for an Altiris course. I did much site seeing and picture taking while there. Got to love all you can eat steak for $14.99, and gasoline at $1.30 a gallon. Hopefully there will be some new pictures up soon.

Today is Halloween… We are going out tonight for a costume party. That should be a blast! I am sure there will be some pictures taken tonight.

Work… Is going well, I am implementing the Altiris software this week. Next week, I go to Lindon, Ut for part 2 of my Altiris training. More info and pictures to follow that trip.

I believe Angela and I will be heading to PA on the weekend before Thanksgiving. Dates are still in the air as of now.

TTFN,
Joe

It is pretty much confirmed that we will be in Canada in October for Thanksgiving with Angela’s parents.

So, let’s bring you folks up to date. Mike and I did our 35-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT) on Labor Day weekend. It was a long and strenuous trip; but we both survived. Our trail name was “Team Office Job” with the other Thru-hikers on their way to Katahdin. It was a great trip and met some very interesting people. That weekend of hiking was about working out the heart, lungs, and legs. The following weekend was all about the liver!

Our 2nd annual Saco River Canoe Trip was awesome. Angela and I left Bar Harbor after work on Friday afternoon and made the 3-hour trek to Fryeburg, Maine. We canoed to the campsite in the dark, which was pretty interesting. When we got close to the site, we lit our tiki torch to announce our arrival. We hung out until 1A.M. and then crashed. Up at dawn, we broke camp, cooked breakfast, and prepared for a day of drinking and floating on the Saco River. The weather was nice and warm the whole weekend. We got back from this trip around 9 PM on Sunday evening. This brings us to the 3rd weekend in September.

I ended up driving back to Fredericton on that Friday afternoon. I had to stop at the Lubec branch to do some security updates for Microsoft. I ended up getting back to Freddy around 10 PM AST. I woke up early on Saturday morning and went to the bank and ran some other errands around town. On my way back to Bar Harbor, I had to stop and work at the Machias, Milbridge, and Winter Harbor Branches to do more security updates. On Sunday, Angela and I went to brunch at the Bar Harbor Inn to celebrate Jessica’s (one of Angela’s co-workers) Birthday. After that we walked around town for a bit and then headed over to Bob’s (one of my co-workers) house to watch some football and have a couple of drinks. We left there around 3PM because Angela had to get ready for work. Weekend number 4 was like this.

On Friday night, I had to work doing more security updates. On Saturday morning, I had to work. Saturday afternoon, I went to the Town Hill Garlic Festival at the Atlantic Brewing Company. It was a good afternoon. After that I went with Dave and George over to Dave’s house to fix the water pump line. Then we went to Jack Russell’s Pub for some beers. Angela met us there after work for some more drinks. We went to bed early on Saturday night. We woke up early on Sunday morning and left the house by 7:15 Am to head for the Common Ground Fair in Unity, ME. We hung out there for most of the day and got some good information on Solar setups for a new house. We left the fair around 3PM to get Angela home in time for work.

Well, that brings us pretty much up to date. Working a lot of hours and having a lot of fun. We met with the mortgage people at the bank to start some paperwork for a new construction loan for a house and land. What a pain in the butt… some much information needed to build a house. It was definitely not that bad in Canada. It looks like I am going to San Antonio, TX for some training towards the end of October and Lindon, UT in the beginning of November. It looks like a trip to PA will be in November now. Angela’s work schedule will slow down at the end of October. That is all for now.

Here's a quick update for all... I had the pin removed from my thumb on August 20th. The range of motion is slowly coming back now. I took my Windows 2000 Professional exam in Fredericton that day too and passed. Which means I will get a small raise. We have picked some land out that we like and have picked out a modular home that we like. Now it is time for us to talk to the mortgage people at the bank and see what they can do for us. I can get a great rate and not have to pay some fees because I am working here. Angela and I are planning on coming to PA sometime in mid-October I believe. It was supposed to be September but that is booked up between work and other weekend events.

Mike and I are leaving tonight to do a 4 day hike on the Appalachain Trail from Monson, ME - Gulf Hagas, ME (the Grand Canyon of Maine). It is around a 35 mile hike. The weekend after that is our 2nd annual Saco River Canoe Trip in Southern Maine. Work is the following weekend. The next weekend is the Common Ground Fair weekend. Things will finally start to slow down after Columbus Day weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving). I think we'll be in Fredericton that weekend to celebrate with Angela's Family.

Saturday, August 9... Have been quite busy with work since the last time I wrote. Updates of last week... I am working right now until 10:30 AM for the Bank. We each take a Saturday as on call. This is my first one. The job is going really well.

Angela had her physical for her Green Card application. All of the paperwork required is filled out. Just need to get Passport photos to send in with the application. Once that is done, it is just a matter of time.

Next weekend, I am heading back to Fredericton to DJ a wedding for some friends of ours. I also have got my thumb surgery rescheduled for the 20th of August. THE PIN IS FINALLY COMING OUT!

Have a great week.

Not much to write for the last week or so... pretty much has been work, work, and more work. Angela and I are both doing great!

Quick run down of highlights:

☻ Bam came in second place in 2 events at the Eastern Maine Agility Club's Fun Match last Sunday.
☻ I was home and did some yard work this past weekend.
☻ Angela and I went to look at some land.

Another week gone by so fast. Work has been keeping me busy. So far, so good. I am learning many new and interesting things. I went back to Fredericton this past weekend on Sunday morning. I did a Geocache and then went home. I mowed grass for 5 hours and came to this conclusion. I work all week in Maine only to go home and work there for the whole weekend.

I was excited about Monday the 14th. My pin was supposed to be removed from my thumb. So, I drop the Xterra off for an oil change and head over to the hospital. Right on time. The doctor numbs my thumb and cuts me open. He tries to find the pin for about 10 minutes without success. I was sent down for x-rays shortly after that. The pin was still there in one piece. It had apparently moved. I don't know how since I still cannot move my thumb. So now I have to have surgery again to remove the pin. Hopefully it will be within the next 2 weeks. On my way back to Maine, I ran some errands and actually worked for 6 hours in Lubec and Machias for the bank.

So here we are on the verge of another Friday... already at 35 hours for the week and looking for a relaxing weekend for a change. TTFN.

So... It has been some time again. I have begun my new job at Bar Harbor Banking and Trust. I was offered the position on June 23rd, I counter-offered, and accepted the banks final offer on Wednesday the 25th. My official first day of work was June 30th. It was nice starting on a short week. It has been a busy week so far, learning new software and systems, but all is going well.

On the 4th of July, we got up and marched in the Parade with Friends of Acadia. After that, Mike and I went and did a Geocache for some fun. We ended up going over to Noreen's cliff house to spend the evening. No fireworks were visible as the fog moved in just after 6PM.

On Saturday the 5th, I drove back to Fredericton for the day. Mowed some grass and got a hair cut. I left to come back to Bar Harbor on Sunday morning.

Sunday, was a quiet day around the house. We did another Geocache in the afternoon on the Rockefeller property. Sunday night was veg in front of the TV.

What do they say...."Time flies when you are having fun."

Last weekend, the weekend of June 13th, I drove to Rhode Island to DJ my cousin Laura's wedding. I left from home on Thursday morning and drove to Bar Harbor. I got up and left Bar Harbor around 9:30AM. What should have been a 5 hour drive was closer to 9 hours with traffic in the Boston area. I met up with Grandpop, Mom & Bill at the motel. I decided to bring my DJ computer in the room and set up Laura's song lists. When I turned the computer on, it started to boot up only to freeze 10 seconds later. I was fuming. We all went out for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Back at the motel later, I found the pc had a virus and needed to be rebuilt. I was lucky enough to have all of the software with me. I finished that 2 hours later.

Saturday the 14th was dreary. We went to breakfast with Uncle Denny and then went sight seeing. We went to Judith Point and Beavertail Lighthouses. We made it back to the motel at 1PM and got ready for Laura's wedding. The wedding was nice and simple. The reception, which I DJ'd, was very relaxed. I mostly played dinner type music and Bob Marley later in the evening. After the reception was over, I went over to party at the Motel 6 for an hour before returning to the motel. Only one thought comes to mind... I've never seen my Uncle, the minister, tipsie before. It was a great night!

I got up on Sunday morning and headed back to Bar Harbor at 9:30AM. I was back in 5 hours.

On Monday, I went into the Bank and spoke to the HR person to advise her that I was living in Bar Harbor now. By the time I got back to Mike and Lynne's, Rick Bansley from the bank had called. I called him back and we scheduled a second interview.

On Tuesday morning, I went in for my second interview. Had even more fun than the first one. Rick took photocopies of my drivers license and insurance card. He also told me that they would not go this far if they weren't interested in the applicant and would I please call back on Thrusday to arrange a interview with the IT Department VP. Tuesday night we went to see Lynne's gymnastics class spring program that she taught. We left for Fredericton after that at 8:30PM.

We got home at 1:00AM AST on Wednesday morning. Angela and I got up around 8AM. It was Angela's day at the SPA. I dropped her off at 10:00AM and proceeded to do things around town. We ate dinner with Angela's parents that night.

So, here we are in Bar Harbor again. We drove back on Thursday morning. I called the bank at 1PM and left a message. Rick called back to see if I was available for this morning at 9AM. Hmmm, I was. I met with John Lewicki, the VP, this morning. The interview went well. Rick said they were verifing my references and doing a background check now. Again he said,"If we didn't want the applicant, we wouldn't be spending all of this money on him." I am just waiting to hear now... If I don't hear anything by Wednesday, I was told to call him back.

So, that pretty much sums up the last week. I hope to soon have canoe and wedding pics online soon.

Phew... another week of posts to come!

Thursday, June 5th. Drove to Bar Harbor late in the afternoon. It is good to see Angela when I have been away for a few days. On Friday the 6th, We went on a cruise to no where. Mike got us tickets through Friends of Acadia for this cruise on the CAT. So, Mike, Lynne, Angela and I went on this 3 hour cuise with free alcohol and food. It was awesome. On Saturday, we did stuff around the house. Sunday, Mike and I spent the day cleaning and all sorts of other fun stuff. I applied for 2 more jobs on Monday before I drove home.

So, yesterday and today I have been busy getting things done. I mowed around 4 acres of grass yesterday and today is laundry day. I am hoping to hear about the bank job this week. Fingers crossed!

Friday, May 30, Drove to Bar Harbor in the morning. Got there in time to pick Angela up from her job. Angela and I went out for supper to Antonelli's to celebrate her birthday. We then drove around the island and headed to Jack Russell's to meet up with Mike and Lynne. We had some drinks there and headed back to M&L's around 11PM.

On Saturday, we did alot of work around the yard. We planted the garden, mowed the grass, put the screens in, made ETOH, filtered ETOH and much more stuff.

Sunday, we relaxed. George and Kelly came over and we went to the Criterion Theatre to look at the space for our distillery. It is big, needs some cleaning up. All minor work. After that we went back to Mike and Lynne's and had a small party.

On Monday, I woke up and got ready to go to the College of the Atlantic. I applied for a temporary job there. After that, I got ready and headed back home. I got in around 5PM.

So far the week at home has been boring. Yesterday, I weeded Angela's flowers, fed my garlic plants with some manure, and did other things around the house. Home is just not the same without Angela.

So, Friday May 23rd. Left for the campsite along the St. Croix River at 12PM. Had our site picked out and set up by the time that the rest of the crew showed up at 8PM. It was quiet and relaxing not having a care in the world. Once everyone had there tents set up, Angela cooked nachos for dinner.

Saturday morning the 24th. We woke up early and had our Bagels and cereal bars. We loaded the cars up and headed out to start canoeing. We canoed until 6 PM. It was a little rainy, but not to bad. We ate well Saturday night, chicken quesedillas.

Sunday the 25th. Got up early to it rainy quite hard. We decided to go into St. Stephen after breakfast to get gas. While there we went to Dooly's Pool Hall and shot a few games of pool. The sun came out shortly after and we headed back to the river. We canoes that afternoon from our campsite down the river for an hour. Dinner was Meat on a Stick, kabobs! George and Mike tried to break a cedar tree down.

Monday, Memorial Day, we canoed from our campsite down to Loon Bay. We cleaned up most of the camp before we left. We were back on the road to home just before 5PM. I got home around 8PM.

On Tuesday, I went to the dentist in the morning. My old work partner to me out to lunch after I finished cleaning out my desk.

Wednesday, Surgery Day. I had my tendon reattached to my thumb. The cool part was that I was awake and watched it all. They numbed my whole arm up for the procedure.

Thursday... got the car packed up and ready to go to Bar Harbor for the weekend. I am on the job hunt now... More to follow after the weekend.

May 22, 2003.... My offical last day of work with NexInnovations. I was laid off from my job due to Corporate Restructuring. Good thing I had a job interview this past Monday. I was given a good severance package, so it is not all bad. Today, I am in cleaning the last of the information off of my PC. Then I am off for a weekend of canoeing on the St. Croix River. If anyone wants to send me an email, please use my hotmail address. TTFN.

Well it is over for this season, and confirms that the story will continue next season on 24. I was pretty much at the edge of my seat for the entire episode. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what she had on her hand to take out the President. Angela had two job interviews yesterday in Bar Harbor so things are starting to look up.

Well, it has been a busy long weekend.

On Friday night, I DJ'd a Youth Dance for the playground. We had the highest number of kids so far, 59 showed up. They danced until 9:30 PM. We got cleaned up and home around 11PM that night. Angela had to do some Pampered Chef stuff and then we went to bed.

I woke up on Saturday morning and cleaned up the kitchen, cat's litter, and made breakfast. We got showered and were on the road for Bar Harbor by 11 AM. We got to BH at 3 PM EST. We got dressed and ready to head out to Kirsten and Todd's wedding reception. Apparently I had a good time... can't remember to much of it though. I woke up Sunday morning hung over and swearing off Alcohol again. We had a nice day around BH. Our group went over to Kelly and George's for a BBQ and birthday party. We hung out there for a while.

On Monday, I had a job interview at Bar Harbor Banking and Trust. It went well, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I met Angela in town after for a stroll around town. Bam and I headed back NB around 2:30PM. We stopped in St. Stephen to investigate the dirt roads for our upcoming canoe trip. I ended up getting home around 9PM AST.

Back to work today... pretty good day so far. Apparently some of my references have been contacted already. Tonight is the season final of 24. That will be my evening. Talk to you soon.

Whew.... Thank God It's Friday!!!!!

My week of hell is almost over. This has been the busiest week that I have had in over 2 years. 24 is down to one episode left. I didn't feel like much was accomplished on the past episode except to set some of the finale up.

Last night Patricia, Kevin, Angela and I went to see the Matrix Reloaded . Wow! I don't think I liked it as much as the first episode, but it had a storyline and great special effects. The ending leaves you hanging... to be seen in the next movie. All in all, not to bad. I'd give it a 4 out of 5. We got home around 10 PM and I stayed up to watch the Lunar Eclispe last night. That was an awesome sight.

Today has been the usual Friday routine, calls and paperwork. Tonight I am DJ'ing a youth dance at the Maugerville Community Center for the Playground Committee.

Have a great weekend all... Monday is a holiday for us here.

Another busy work week in progress, sometimes I don't feel like there is enough hours in the day.

Let's go back.... Friday, we got home from work and made dinner. We watched Friends, ER, and Ghost Ship and went to bed shortly after. We got up Saturday and got ready for our day in Moncton. We left for Moncton around 12 PM and got there around 1:30 PM. Angela's Pampered Chef party started @ 7PM. I hung out at Paula & John's for a couple of hours while Ang's show was happening. We left Moncton for home at 10:30 PM and got home around midnight.

Sunday, I woke up early and went to get gas, propane, and spring water. I got home around 9:30 AM. Angela woke up around 10 AM. We both worked around the house and yard for most of the day. We went in for supper at 6PM. We watched Maid in Manhattan and the Survivor finale. I can't believe that Jenna won. Oh well. It was after midnight when I went to bed.

Up at 5 AM on Monday to get ready to leave for work. We didn't do much last night, I finished my David Eddings book and went to bed by 10 PM.

Tonight is 24... only one more episode after this one.

Only 2 hours left on 24. Like I have said before, this show sucks you in. Just when you think something positive is going to happen, something happens to throw everything out of whack. Let's see what happens in the last 2 hours. My guess is that they will get the proof required, avert a war, and restore Palmer back into the Presidency. Should be interesting to say the least.

We ate dinner at the Snooty Fox last night. I had won dinner for 2 from a local radio station contest. We definetely will be going back there again to eat.

It is Tuesday... 24 is on tonight!

It is official. Angela and I have moved home as of last Friday night. The road is dry enough to travel. We watched 8 Mile and I Spy on Friday night. The latter of the 2 wasn't that great. Angela went to bed halfway through it. I managed to stay awake to finish watching it.

We both got up around10 AM on Saturday. We had a nice breakfast and did things around the house and yard. I had to leave around 3PM to go and DJ. I DJ'd a party for the Signal Squadron Unit at the Lindsay Valley Lodge at CFB Gagetown. The party was great and lasted until 1 AM. I cleaned up and was out of there by 1:15 AM. I was home in bed by 2:30 AM.

I was up at 8 AM on Sunday. Angela was up for 9 AM. We got showered and left for town just after 10 AM. Paula, John, and the kids were coming up for the day. We celebrated Jared's birthday and Mother's Day is one party. Lunch was good, Shepard's Pie and warm rolls. Angela and I made Apple Crisp for dessert. After lunch, we went for a walk across the train bridge in town. It was a nice day and a refreshing walk. On Sunday night we got home and watched White Oleander.

A pleasant suprise occured on my way home from work. They grated the Grub Road smoothing out most of the rough spots. Soon we will be able to travel in and out the road in 5 minutes instead of 25 minutes. Last night we dug out the summer clothes. Half of them do not fit us anymore since we lost all of this weight. After that, I hooked up DVD player and Satellite to play through the Stereo to for video control.

It has been a week since the last post. Some days you just don't feel like typing anything.

We went home for the weekend. It was slow and bumpy, but the road is drying out. On Friday night, we watched the Ring and Swimfan before heading to bed.

We woke up late on Saturday. Angela worked out in the flower gardens all day, while I cleaned the basement out. We moved the canoe out and brought the snowmobile in. We had decided to go visiting across the brook on Saturday night. Instead of the 35 minute bumpy ride, we canoed across the brook. The water is up to the top of the bank on our side. We landed at Frank's camp directly across from us and visited with him for a bit. We then hiked the 5 minutes up to Tony and Katie's to visit with Tony and Galen. We canoed back around midnight.

Sunday was another late morning wake-up. It is good to sleep in your own bed! We did chores around the house and got ready to head back to town since they were calling for more rain. We watched the Tailor of Panama before we left. Angela and I got to her parents around 7:30PM on Sunday night.

Monday was a typical day at work as was Tuesday. 24 is getting as interesting as ever. Only 3 more hours left.

Back to work today...

Last Wednesday, we left for PA after work. We stopped in Bangor at 9 PM for a brief Acadia Distilling Company meeting. We continued our journey on to PA at 11 PM. We ended up stopping at 2 AM just inside the MA border. I slept until 5 AM and then we continued on. We arrived in Reading around 12 PM on Thursday.

Thursday night, my Dad took us out to dinner at Red Lobster. We all had lots to eat! After that we went to Best Buy, and he got us a DVD player as an anniversary gift. We ended up getting home around 10 PM and went straight to bed.

Friday, we got up pretty early. We took my brother Kyle with us for a day of shopping. We went everywhere. The Berkshire Mall, AC Moore, Reading China & Glass, Home Depot, Lowes, Pet stores... We dropped Kyle off around 4 PM and we went back to my grandparents house. We left for dinner at the Windsor Inn around 7 PM. Another spectacular meal at this place. Over 8 years of going to this resteraunt and I have never had a bad meal. I drank my first Yuenling Lager is 6 months and boy was that good.

Saturday morning we woke up by alarm clock. We were on the road to Baltimore by 9 AM. We got to Pete's Apartment by 11 AM. We ended up going to Annapolis for the day. It was sunny and in the 60's. NICE! We walked around the Naval Academy and the docks. Looked at alot of the historic buildings in the area. Jack and Trina met us there around 4 PM and we ate dinner. From there we went back to Pete's apartment to look at his slide show from Costa Rica. He is one awesome photographer.

On Sunday, Our 5th Anniversary, we got up and showered. We were meeting Adric at his church. We met George and Linda, Adric's parents, in the lobby. Adric is the music director of the Church of the Nativity in Timonium. The music was awesome. After chuch, we went out for lunch with Adric and his parents. We went back to Adric's apartment for some cake after lunch. We ended up leaving Baltimore around 5:30 PM. By 6:30 PM we were in Mechanicsburg, PA visiting with Jessi, Pat, and Paul. It is nice to catch up with friends. Jessi is looking great, all of her scars have healed up. She is walking without crutches and she is driving. We got to check out her apartment before going to a bar near there. We went to the Gingerbread Man and had a drink. We left there just after 10PM. We landed in backing in Reading at 11:05PM. Off to bed right away.

Monday, our last day in PA, we went shopping at some Amish Quilt and Antique places. Didn't buy anything, but drooled alot. We had dinner with my Mom and said our goodbyes. I went down to Dad's to say our farewells too. We watched Third Watch and then went to bed. 4 AM is coming early.

Tuesday... up at 4 AM. We got the car packed and were on the road by 5 AM. It was a dreary kind of day. The rain finally ended in Fredericton. We made it home at 7PM AST. Unpacked the car and watched 24. I guess Jack really did die. But as they say, " Jack is Back." Asleep by 10PM last night.

Wow, busy, busy, busy! Last week was pretty routine. Angela and I ended up going home on Friday night. The road actually wasn't to bad, I personally expected worse conditions. We watched Road to Perdition and went to bed shortly after that.

Saturday, April 12. My 32 birthday. I don't feel like I am getting any older. Angela and I did things around the house that day. She cooked me breakfast in bed. After that, I moved a couple loads of firewood in the house. Did some other cleaning, while Ang worked on a Computer Program for Jack in Baltimore. We had homemade pasta for dinner and Apple Crisp for birthday desert. We ended up watching One Hour Photo, Robin Williams plays another bad guy. No one was around on the Grub, so we spent another quiet night at home.

On Sunday, we got up and did more chores around the house. We got our bags packed to head back to town. Angela cooked steaks on the BBQ. The first time for this year. Mmmm, Mmmm, Good! We left for town around 5 PM.

Monday and Tuesday were the typically busy days at work with hardly any chance to breathe between calls. Last night was another good episode of 24. Things are getting interesting now.

Today... No car right now. Getting an oil change and some other minor stuff fixed before we leave for PA.

Well, we spent last Wednesday - Friday at the in-laws. Friday afternoon we left for Moncton, Angela had a Pampered Chef show down there. Saturday we didn't do to much, it started snowing around 3 PM and continued all night. We ended up watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding on Saturday night. Not to bad. Sunday, we got up and decided to try and get home to check on the cats. The road was completely frozen up again so we had no trouble getting in past the ruts.

Well, I went to the plastic surgeon this morning for the problem with my right thumb. It appears that I have torn my tendon the controls lateral movements. I now have to decide if I want surgery which means a cast for 6-8 weeks or just live with it. If I didn't have the pain when I move my thumb, I probably would just live with it. I guess I'll call them later today to schedule the surgery.

Well we made it home... The road was frozen again but will probably thaw out today. The ruts by our place are getting worse. We can actually see where the skid plates are hitting now. If the ruts get any deeper, we'll have to walk the last part of the road to get home.

24 was good last night. I have read that there will be another season of 24 next year. The cats are doing fine as of now.

Monday is here... This weekend was a pretty quiet one at home. On Friday I had to do a server reboot at Canada Post. Normally it is a 2 hour job, but seeing it was a new person running it from Ottawa it ended up taking 11 hours to complete. I told this person 4 times the correct procedure but she would not listen to me. Finally after talking to her 3rd level support, she followed the correct procedure. She says to me at the end, I quess if I would have listened to you we could have left 5 hours ago. I ended up getting home at 7 AM on Saturday morning.

I ended up sleeping until 1 PM on Saturday. Angela woke me up to a steaming pot of chili. My oh my was it tasty! We ended up going over to the other side of the brook to visit with Galen for a few hours. We got home around 10 PM and watched some TV.

Sunday, we slept in. I went outside about 20 minutes after I got up to work on the driveway and the road. It is spring time on the Grub Road and the ruts are getting bad. I built up low spots on the driveway with left over crushed rock from the septic system install and dug trenches through the ruts to divert the water off of the road. Angela finished up the quilt she is doing for Gail and Bob MacLeod who live in England now. After that, we watched The Master of Disguise, Sweet Home Alabama, and The Tuxedo. Went to bed shortly after that to get up early today.

Well, talk about being a slacker. I have a good excuse for not updating this in so long. I had to rebuild my PC over the last 3 days in between doing project work and other things at home.

Let see where to start. Friday, I was off from work. Angela and I left for Baxter State Park in Maine for our annual winter camping trip with Mike and Lynne. We crossed the border in about 10 mins time. We thought with the war it would take even longer. We killed a few hours in Lincoln, Maine and arrived in Millinocket around 5:30PM EST. We called Mike and Lynne around 6:30PM to tell them we found this little bar, The Blue Ox Saloon, that we were at. They met us there shortly after 7:30 PM. We sat there had some drinks and continued on to Abol Bridge for the night. We car camped in a parking lot by the bridge.

We woke up early on Saturday and got ready to hike/snowshoe. We left the parking area just after 9AM. We snowshoed 3.5 miles south on the Appalachian Trail to the Hurd Brook Lean-to. It took us 4 hours to get there. Once there, we got the sleeping and cooking areas set up. We drank until 5 PM. I think we were all asleep by 8PM.

On Sunday, we woke up and got ready to hike out by 10 AM. It only took us 2 hours to hike out. We left the parking area around 1 PM and was sitting in a diner in Millinocket by 2 PM. We ate a big lunch and proceeded our different ways. We got home around 7 PM AST and cleaned our gear up. I had a nice hot relaxing bath and was in bed by 9PM.

Monday got to work to find my PC DOA. The hard drive had crashed. Luckily I had backed most of my information up to the other hard drive so I did not lose to much info.

Tuesday, I was in Florenceville and Woodstock for a project with Human Resources Canada (HRDC).

Today, I was in Perth Andover over 2 hours way for the HRDC project.

Another Tuesday is here.... Last week busy, busy, busy!

Friday night I DJ'd a dance at the Maugerville Community Center for 3-5 grade kids. Angela was a chaperone for the dance too. We got home around 10:30 PM that night.

Saturday, I had to work at Canada Post. I started at 9AM and was supposed to be done by 1PM. 8 hours after that I left. I was done at 8:30PM. I went to the grocery store and then got dinner for Angela and myself and headed home. We ate dinner and then went over to Galen and Dixie's camp until midnight.

Sunday, the day of rest. NOT! We moved 13 wheelbarrow loads of firewood into the house, I cleaned the bathroom, did the dishes, and made 2 batches of mash. I finally got to sit on the couch at 6PM. Ang and I watched Serving Sara and went to bed shortly after that.

DID YOU KNOW: Angela has a new job babysitting for some friends of ours. It keeps her busy.

Well, it is now Tuesday. I thought I would give Angela the chance to make some updates for a change. The weekend was good, it felt long.

On Friday, we went up to the snowmobile lodge and hung out with some friends until 2 AM.

Saturday, did stuff around the house most of the day. Galen, our neighbor from across the brook, came over and asked if we were going snowmobiling. WE said sure! By 5PM we were off. It was warm, +3° C, and sunny. We went approximately 80 miles in a big loop around the Fredericton area. We got back to the snowmobile lodge around 7:30 PM where we proceeded to have dinner. We ended up hanging out there until 1 AM this time.

Sunday, more chores around the house. We watched the Bourne Identity and Lilo & Stitch. We also watched Survivor from Thursday night.

Well it is Thursday. Not to much to report. Last night we got another 7" of snow. I am starting to HATE winter! This weekend will be spent at home bringing more firewood in the house.

Monday.... back to work day. Slacking a bit on the updates. Let see, last Thursday night Angela did another Pampered Chef party.

Friday night, Angela had her monthly meeting for Pampered Chef until 9PM. I walked the mall and dreamed about all the things that I wanted to buy! I picked Angela back up around 9:30PM. After we left there, we headed over to Canada Post where I had to work from 10PM - Midnight. We finally got home around 1 AM on Saturday.

Saturday was good. Sunny and warmer day! I cleaned up some snow around the driveway area, brought in some firewood. We left the house around 5 PM and went up the road to Paul and Brenda's for supper at the Lodge. We left there just before 6PM and drove to Noonan, 10 mins away. We were invited to Nicole and Richards for a Fantasia Party (Pampered Chef type party for intimate items). We left there around 11PM and went back to Paul and Brenda's. We shot pool and had some drinks with people from across the lake. We ended up getting home around 2 AM.

Sunday, was the day of rest. We slept in until 12PM. I got going around 1 PM to head out and get spring water. After that we watched some movies and just chilled on the couch.