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