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.