GARDEN VARIETY

Winter Sabbatical

2012-01-11T07:49:00.010-05:00

So, still being unemployed, you'd think I'd be bored. You think I wouldn't have much stress. Guess what? I believe I have MORE stress now that I'm not working. Some of the reasons COULD be: I'd like to get a good job. I wouldn't worry about all the stuff our house needs that I can't afford. And most importantly, I have SUPER cabin fever.
You know, it's bad enough I'm not working. When they "restructured" back in November, my Father-In-Law said, "This is perfect Tom. Only you could lose your job right at the beginning of ice fishing season". He was correct. But, being January 11th, MY LUCK, there's STILL no safe ice!!! I CAN'T go ice fishing. THAT, my friends, is the BIGGEST reason why I'm stressed. I don't have my stress release like I normally do. It's too cold to ride my motorcycle (it's put away for the winter anyway), too cold to regular fish and be comfortable, and not cold enough for ice fishing. What's left? GeoCaching. And I was able to get out over the weekend and do some with a good friend.
For a few years now, we've been doing the "single" GeoCaches. That means, there's only one hide and one find per Cache. Well, Ryan and I decided that we were going to start doing some "multi" caches. Those are "multi" stages. You get the coordinates for the beginning, then when you find that one, you'll get the coordinates for the next part and so on until you get to the final stage. These types of caches are usually bigger, and have cooler stuff in them. So our first one was pretty close to home. And I actually marked it as a favorite! I'll tell you a LITTLE about it, because I don't want to spoil it for anyone else.
The coordinates took us to the middle of a street. We had to find the numbers for the next stage, but standing on the middle of a super busy road was NOT safe. So as we stood on the shoulder for what seemed like a year, we still couldn't find any numbers. Yet the GPS took us to the same exact spot every time we checked it. So where the heck are these numbers? Then Ryan had an idea, and it was a GOOD one. He looked over the side of the road and said, "dude, there's a tunnel that goes under the road". So guess where we went? Yep, under the road into the tunnel, and FOUND THE NUMBERS!!! BRILLIANT! Of course then we were easily put onto the final stage.
We enjoyed that one so much that we couldn't wait to do another multi, and we wanted to do one not so close to traffic. LOL. We went up to Francis Walter Dam and found a 5 stage. THAT was a LOT of fun. The folks that put that one together did a great job. There were no tunnels or puzzles, but the different containers and hiding spots were wonderful! And the VIEWS. Wow!!!

And getting to the final stage was a hike and a half. Not because it was a long hike, because we had to CLIMB! Not quite as bad as rock climbing and hanging off cliffs and such, but still a climb!

We had a BLAST doing that. Of course, we were cursing the cache owner up and down until we found what we were looking for, then we were praising them. I've come to the conclusion, that I LOVE to HATE these people. LOL!!!

On a different note, about 2 weeks ago, a friend asked if I'd help him and couple other guys demo the inside of a house and clean up (thanks Tropical Storm Lee).

I've come to the conclusion, that kind of work is NOT for me. I'm more of a "sit behind a microphone or computer" kind of guy. But it was an honor to be able to lend a hand and help these guys out. I never knew my body could do all the things it did. And it reminded that it WASN'T supposed to do those things every day afterwards. HAHA.

So what else am I doing to relieve stress? Guitar Hero. Walking the Back Mountain Trail alot, and I hope, soon, ice fishing. Old man winter is taking his sweet time getting here. We're close though.

What else? Hmmmmm. Simon is getting so big. He's walking very well, climbing pretty good, and almost running. He's 18 months old, and that means he's in the 'terrible twos'. He has sooooooo learned about temper tantrums too. All in all though, he's still a great kid. He's getting teeth quickly (that adds to the tantrums), and he's exploring a lot more things in the house. I can't wait until he gets his molars so the kid can finally eat a steak. HA. He's not quite talking yet. We'll ask him a question, he'll nod his head or point and grunt, and we say, "use your words. Say 'yes'." He'll say, "Ah-YAH". So we're getting there.
I love that kid so much!

Other than all this, life is going exactly the way it's supposed to.

Find something to be grateful for! Happy New Year! And if you're unemployed and live nearby, call me. We'll go for a walk together. :)

Thanks for reading!

New and Improved

2011-12-20T08:14:00.004-05:00

How can something be "New" AND "Improved"? If it's new, it's not improved. If it's improved.....it's not new.

Well, if you haven't realized it, I haven't posted anything here since August. Reasons? A new company took over the company I worked for and things got a bit, "hectic" you could say. Then, in the beginning of November, I lost my job. Yep....."restructuring" was the reason. C'mon, we all know the real reason. A new company buys an existing company, they buy their debt as well. The new company wants to get rid of the debt so they can make their money, and the fastest way to remove that debt is to cut salaries. Hundreds of salaries. Four people in the building I worked got the axe....but many many more people across the country got the axe too.
So, you may say I'm "unemployed". I say I'm on a Winter Sabbatical. :)
Too bad the weather hasn't been cold enough for me to ice fishing!

Oh, here's a positive about losing my gig. This blog you're reading, I don't have to watch what I say about restaurants, auto mechanics, or any other 'business'. I can mention names now. I can curse! It's not affiliated with any radio station anymore. I can actually write down exactly what I feel! What I think! And not censor myself. That's so cool! Shit. Ah, that felt good.

So here I sit, on 12/20 at 8 in the morning, drinking coffee, and not having much of a plan at all today. Again. No big deal. I've got a friend who's also not working, and we've been doing a lot of stuff together. A LOT of GeoCaching, we wandered by the river yesterday for a little fishing (it started raining and it was COLD), just hanging out. Most of the time though, I do stuff around the house. I don't mind playing Mr. Mom.
Simon is still at daycare, because we figured if we pulled him out to save the cash, when/if I get another full-time gig, we may lose his place and we love that daycare.

OK, so those are the big things that have happened since August. Well, there is one more thing that I'm not going to talk about just yet. Maybe soon. Depends.

My motorcycle is winterized and in storage for the winter. So is the boat. My ice fishing gear is all ready for WHEN WE GET FREAKIN' ICE!!!! And all our Christmas shopping is done. Big holiday weekend this weekend. Saturday, Xmas Eve we spend at Mindy's Grandmother's house. I think there are 18 of us going. And it's a SMALL apartment for all those people. When THAT evening is over, I'll be closer to all of them. Literally! LOL.
Christmas Day is at our house and it's not that many people. Mindy and her Mom like to cook the dinner. I think we're having ham, potatos, brocolli and cheese, and of course my Mother-In-Law's famous Xmas cookies. I've already eaten 743 of them.

The winter cold is setting in in my chest and intestines. I'm NOT looking forward to getting sick. Simon had it last week, so did Mindy, so I knew it was only a matter of time. Cool thing is, I don't have to worry about missing work.

OK, that's enough for now. Believe me, now that I can get back into this blog, I'll be posting a lot more. For now, look how big the little man is getting. He's got 4.2 teeth, and had his first haircut the other day.

Merry Christmas!!!

Rock-N-Roll and Rock You Like a Hurricane

2011-08-29T09:11:00.007-04:00

So this weekend was CHOCK full of interesting goings-on. First, I started it by seeing one of my favorite bands live at Penn's Peak in Jim Thorpe.......STYX!!!

This is the third time I've seen them live, and I'll tell, in my opinion, they keep getting better and better. The show was.......AWESOME!!!!! They STILL know how to rock and roll!!
Also, I was never at Penn's Peak before....wow....what a fantastic venue. Every seat in the place is great and the atmosphere is like an old cabin in the woods. And the views are amazing.
Oh yeah, Styx rocked btw. Ha.

Then Saturday was a day that involved Hurricane Irene information on Magic 93. Those 4 hours flew by while I was on the air. Followed by going home and making sure we had enough flashlights/batteries/candles/water/etc.
Sunday....THAR SHE BLOWS!!! Hurricane Irene came through our area with attitude! She knocked down trees, took out power, flooded roadways, and basically got everything.....well....wet.
It's now Monday morning after the storm, and my house still has no power. According to the electric company, it could be up to 4 days before power is restored.

The wind was so bad, our perfectly straight basketball hoop (cemented into the ground btw) isn't so straight anymore.

Oh well. Looks like we're going to have to take it down anyway. How do I even begin to do that?
So, yeah, no power in the house. No big deal. As my wife and I say, "it's an adventure". The only thing we were worried about, was the fact we couldn't flush the toliet. So we needed to get buckets of water somehow...somewhere to be able to flush. Well, for the first time in a long time, my laziness has paid off. I neglected to remove the drain plug from my boat.

THAT has worked to our advantage. It's full of water, so I just placed the bucket under the back of the boat, and turned on the bilge pump. Filled up the bucket in less than a minute and we're golden!
I still haven't looked in my basement. I'm afraid.
I'm on vacation this Wednesday through Monday, and I know what I'll be doing. Cleaning up branches, leaves, sticks, black walnuts that were projectiles during the storm and what-not. But not until after I see my FAVORITE band Wednesday night....

Yeah, I'm old. So what? :)

If you have issue because of Irene, I hope you're doing OK. I hope clean-up for you goes well.

Quick funny......this was on our vending machine here at the station over the weekend. Sometimes it's real fun to work here. :)

August 2011 Update

2011-08-18T13:16:00.007-04:00

Yeah yeah yeah....I know it's been awhile since I've updated. There's a LOT going on in my life, and when I have five minutes to myself...I want it that way....for myself! :)

So what's been going on? Good question.

I haven't done much fishing at all this season. Not enough time I guess. Having a 14 month old will do that to you. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. Speaking of Simon:

He's getting so big.

He has 2 teeth (bottom, front). And I think some top ones are cutting now too. He's crawling all over the place, and he's pulling himself up on his feet whenever he feels like it. Granted, he's using tables, chairs, cupboards, my legs, whatever he can find. He's going to be walking any day now. I can feel it.

Both Mindy and I know it won't be long now, so we decided he needed REAL shoes for when he does get 100% mobile. And this past weekend, we went to Gino's in Dallas for his first pair of shoes. I guess it's a sort of 'right-of-passage' in Mindy's family, that you have to get your first pair of shoes from Gino. I'll tell you , it takes a LOT to impress me if you're a business owner, but boy oh boy, Gino really impressed me. For the record, I have NOT been compensated for my praise of Gino's. This is all from my personal experience.

I haven't even been riding my motorcycle that much this year. First because it's been raining too much, second because it took the darn garage over a month to get my new tires in. I put crash bars on it this year, and for my birthday, Simon got me new Honda riding pegs to put on the crashbars.

The fish tanks are doing well (although I really need to clean them). And I've been doing some more GeoCaching. Although none yet this year have been THAT interesting. I still can't find the one labeled Molino that's down near Hamburg. If you're a cacher, and you found that one, please give me a hint. :)

Still doing the overnights on Magic 93. Still hosting Saturday morning 6-10a and the Best of Frankie on Magic 93. Still doing what I have to do.

Oh, and I'm working on a new pattern/design for a new tattoo that I want. Maybe I'll post some pictures soon if/when I get them. It involves Simon's handprint at birth and his Zodiac symbol (maybe). I'm still not sure.

Other than that, everything else is pretty much the same. Find some gratitude today. For some reason, it seems to be harder to find some.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for listening to Magic 93.

That was taken at Salt Springs State Park. I strongly suggest you take a day trip there. It's BEAUTIFUL!!!

Today's Music

2011-08-03T10:17:00.001-04:00

Why I don't like it. It's funny because it's true.

That is all. :)

Hike and a half

2011-07-02T07:59:00.007-04:00

It's 8AM on Saturday, July 2nd, and I'm on the air on Magic 93. And I hurt. Not because I'm on the air, but because of the hike and a half I did yesterday...all for 3 finds in GeoCaching.
The hike was not planned to take so long. I knew it was going to be around 3-4 miles on some goat paths inside the 7 tubs park. What I did NOT know, was that we were going to get lost after we found the third one. And when I say lost, I mean LOST. No paths. No roads. Pure bushwhacking through the thick woods.
The fine folks in charge here at the radio station allowed us to leave work at 2pm, and my intern and I had nothing planned for the remainder of the afternoon. I suggested we go and find some QUICK caches. She wanted to do a trek through the woods to find some. OK. No prob. I found three inside the tubs last week, let's go find the other 3. So, off we went.
The first cache was really cool. There was a cave (actually, an old mine entrance that caved in), and the temperature in there was beautiful. It was cold! We were sweating our brains out, and when we got there, the ice cold air was welcome. It was neat.

Then off to the next one. We found that one pretty quick, but the log was soaked, so we couldn't sign it.
Then we got to the third one. Wow, it only took us about an hour and a half to find these. We shouldn't have much trouble getting back to the truck. BOY WAS I WRONG.

We decided to just follow the old mining trail back. We hoped it would take us out at one of the main paths. Nope. It ended. Just stopped. So off we went into the woods. For what seemed like forever. Up hills, down huge hills, through thick brush, NOT FUN. Poor Rose (intern) wore shorts and her legs got all scratched up. Luckily she didn't bleed too much.

Finally, after about what seemed like 92 hours and 74 miles, we heard the water flowing, so we treked down a huge hill and followed the stream back. And made it to the parking area. Thank God. I was getting nervous. We figured it was around 7-9 miles we hiked, and let me tell you, an out-of-shape 40 year old's body doesn't do too well for those kind of hikes. So I really ache today. I wonder how Rose feels.

On a different note, Simon now gets his baths in the BIG TUB!! And he LOVES it!

Oh well, going to try and cut my grass today, do some weed whacking, and maybe take a bike ride. Or maybe just pass out on the couch. Who knows.

Gratitude for the day: Was lost, but found our way out. Not dehydrated too much. Got tons of exercise (for a month).

Happy Birthday Simon

2011-06-22T12:48:00.005-04:00

He's one year old today. And he still refuses to get a job. What a slacker!!!

We had a big gathering for him this past Saturday. He ate lots of food...and cake! He was afraid of the balloons for a day or two, but now they don't bother him.

For his big birthday present today, we're taking him to the Doctor's for his check-up and shots. Happy Birthday kid!!! Here are some needles.

I haven't been posting much due to the fact I'm swamped at work...and swamped after work with stuff.
I need new tires on my bike. I need brakes on my bike. I need a day to do absolutley nothing!! Ha. That ain't happening. Not soon at least. Oh well.

Here are some shots from this past weekend, and yesterday. For his birthday, we got matching hats. :) Thanks Aunt Lee.

Oh, and he's finally crawling. Time for Dad to start exercising to be able to keep up.

Tried....and Big Bass!

2011-05-16T09:10:00.005-04:00

I tried to update the blog here on Friday (Friday the 13th) with another "Random thoughts for Friday the 13th, but blogger was down for whatever reason.

So here are some new random thoughts NOT on Friday the 13th.

1) At least it's raining while I'm in work.

2) Got new shoes over the weekend. LOVE THEM!!!

3) Caught a really big largemouth on Saturday. FUN TIMES!!

4) 2 more weeks and I'm on vacation! YAY.

5) I hope when Simon gets older, he enjoys fishing as much as I do. PERMANANENT FISHIN' BUDDY!

OK, that's it. Since it's not the 13th, you don't get 13 random thoughts. Plus I'm lazy today.

Here are the Calicos my friend Darren caught on Saturday as well. Hope he enjoyed his fish fry.

Finally Went Fishing

2011-05-02T10:17:00.003-04:00

Well, Saturday was planning to be the perfect day to go fishing for the season. Perfect weather, almost perfect water temps. And the one man who was begging to get out and go, decided he'd rather do yard work. I then could not find a single soul to go, so I did some chores instead.

BUT.....

Sunday, a friend from work agreed to go, and boy oh boy, the bass were fightin' great!!!! I actually caught the biggest largemouth of my life!!!! I'm still glowing over these fish. Here they are. Beauts!!!

Happy Easter

2011-04-25T16:09:00.003-04:00

Sy's first Easter. He's so photogenic, isn't he?

Doctor's Make a Difference

2011-04-13T12:37:00.003-04:00

Of course they do....but the title of this post is for a different reason. I should say, their "opinion" makes a difference, along with their attitude, and ability to understand the patient.

In a nutshell, I was going to a doctor in Scranton for many many years. It had gotten to the point where when I would leave his office, I felt like I had about 6 months to live. "You are NOT healthy"! "You are overweight"! "You need to excercise more because you don't have a healthy heart"! "What's wrong with you? Why do you do these things to your body?" "You need activities to lower your stress"! etc. etc. I would leave more stressed than when I arrived.
So after years of my wife telling me to switch doctor's, I figured it was time. First because we live in Luzurne County, and all the health stuff was up in Lackawanna County. I really don't feel like driving that far. Second, if I really was THAT sick, I'd prefer to be sick close to home and not worry about HAVING to go a hospital up that way. So, a new doctor it is. And it's my wife's doctor as well.
I had my first appointment with him a few weeks ago, and it went OK. Yes, just OK because of fear I guess (white coat syndrome) and because I thought all doctors were the same. He wanted me to have some blood work done, and he started me on a script for Hypertension. Follow up appointment was today (Wed).
They checked my blood pressure when I got there (118/80), weighed me (lost 6 pounds since last time I was there), heart rate (98...nerves lol), and the nurse chatted with me for awhile until the doctor came in. Quick side-note, he's YOUNGER than me. THAT is weird. I'm so used to doctors being OLDER. Anyway.....
He looked at my pressure reading..."GREAT!! We did what we attempted to do". Looked at all my blood work "These numbers are fantastic!!! I'll go over them all with you if you want." "Sure", I said. I never had a doctor do this before. He showed me EVERYTHING was in range of target, and then told me...........ready for this............."Let's do one more quick blood test in three months to see if your liver and kidneys are flushing the blood pressure meds properly, and if all stays the same, I won't need to see you again for six months. You're one healthy guy!" I almost cried. Happy tears that is. I asked him about exercising with my busy schedule and what can I do? His response, "simple, take four, rapid, twenty minute walks a week to get your heart rate up over 120 and you'll be perfect!" Really? That's it? I do that when the weather is nice anyway. It takes exactly 20 minutes for me to walk up the hill and back down here at work. And I usually do more than 4 a week anyway. "Yep, that will bring the bad cholesteral down even more and you're good to go."
I have one question....what the hell was that other doctor smoking? I really want to know where he got all his info from. Was he looking at a different Tom Jenkins file (they have 4 on file up there)? Was he looking at my dead Dad's file?
My suggestion to anyone who doesn't like to visit the doctor.....FIND A NEW ONE!

There's my gratitude for the day today. And if the specific doctor I visited today is reading this......THANK YOU!!!!!

And for those who just like to look at pictures.....

Nice Spring Weekend

2011-04-11T10:01:00.006-04:00

Finally. Finally after all the waiting, I was able to get out over the weekend and do 4 out of the 5 things I really like to do to relieve stress.

Saturday was the one a month Saturday I didn't have to work, so I slept in. Well, if 8am is sleeping in...it is for me. :) And yes, I went fishing with a friend. I know the water is still real cold, the fish are still real lethargic, but I still got out there. And I didn't get skunked. One small pick and one small perchy. It just felt great to get out on a boat and float around for awhile. I then got home to a text message on my phone, "going to Nicole's....call me when you are done fishing, maybe you can come down for something to eat." That was from my wife, and Nicole is my sister-in-law. I thought about it for a bit, and decided, yes, I was hungry. What a GREAT opportunity to ride my motorcycle for the first time this season. Whooo Hoooo!!!! Granted, it's not too too far away, but it was still a nice ride.

I got there, to find out they didn't start cooking yet.....or shall I say GRILLING yet!!! YES! If you remember this post, it was now MY turn. "Out of my way, I'm grilling on that new grill of yours". And of course, we HAD to get a picture.

Nice bike ride home after dinner, and a great night sleeping, knowing I didn't have to get up too early the next day. Ahhhhhh, so THIS is what stress release feels like huh?

On Sunday, my friend Darren and I went Geocaching. Inside Francis Slocum State Park. We had 5 to find on our list, and we hiked, and walked, and searched, and found them all. It felt like we hiked 73.6 miles, when in all actuality, it was more like 4.5 miles, but it felt good. And I saw some pretty cool stuff in the woods.

I never knew half this stuff was there, and I didn't realize Slocum was THAT big.
Returned home around 3:30-4PM, and proceded to strip off my clothes VERY quickly because there were MANY ticks on me. They are out already, and they are bad. Clothes in the washer, tick check, cooked some dinner on my itty bitty grill, watched Bob's Burgers and Family Guy, took a shower then went to bed pooped. What a GREAT weekend. And here we are, Monday morning, the weather is still beautiful, and I'm SOOOOOOOOOO not wanting to be here at work. Oh well, it should make THIS weekend more enjoyable.

Thanks for reading, thanks for listening to Magic 93, and if you couldn't see the gratitude in the above post.........

Nothing too Special except Sunglasses

2011-03-28T08:49:00.006-04:00

Nothing spectacular happened over the weekend. I'm just in the mood to write down some stuff. And share some pictures.

Saturday: Worked on Magic 93 6a-10a. Went home. Michelle Taylor (ex morning show host on 97.9X, now works for Metro Traffic in Philly) came up for a visit. It was GREAT seeing her again. Michelle, Mindy, Simon and my Sister-In-Law and Neice all went out galavanting Saturday. I stayed home and got a nap that I so needed. When I arose from the nap, my phone was beeping, and this picture was on it.

Coolest baby in the world right there.

Speaking of Simon, he's still not 100% after this past week's terrible cold. His belly is still not all that great. Thank God his fever is no longer, but he's still on and off with the crankyness.
I took this picture yesterday.

Still cool!

Yesterday, my friend Darren asked me if I'd give him a hand trimming a maple tree in his yard. This maple tree is HUGE. I'm thinking maybe 75 feet high. All I really had to do was look at it from a distance, tell him which branches to cut, and then help him clean up. I haven't done THAT much manual labor since Fall. It was good though...I needed the exercise.
Look carefully, you'll see Darren in the tree.

That took all day. But I really enjoyed being outside even though it was cold.
Speaking of cold....than darn groundhog was not only wrong...he was VERY WRONG!!! Usually it's 6 more weeks of winter...it's been 8 since they ripped him out of that hole. I guess we need this crappy weather though so we can be grateful and appreciate the nice weather more. Think about it, if it were warm all the time, we'd totally not enjoy it as much. So I guess I'm grateful for the cold.....I'm just sick of it. LOL.

That's it for now....very busy week ahead. Hopefully you can be grateful for something today.

WELCOME BACK SPRING!!!

2011-03-23T09:36:00.005-04:00

Yeah right.
It's officially Spring (according to the calendar), yet this is what I woke up to this morning.

That groundhog is a LIAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, will someone please go and shovel/plow my driveway and clean off my deck?

Monday....Stress...Etc.

2011-03-21T11:11:00.005-04:00

So I thought for sure spring was here for good. Beautiful weather on Friday...a little chilly on Saturday, but almost perfect on Sunday.....then I wake up this morning and have to shovel 4 inches of snow and ice and water from my deck.........AGAIN! Ugh.
OK, whatever with the weather. Here's some stuff that happened over the weekend.
First, a tip for those with gas grills (or charcoal). Make sure you have ALL the grease and grime cleaned from everywhere. Do this cleaning at least once a month if you use your grill as often as I use mine. If you don't......

Isn't that nice? Well...look on the bright side...I don't have to clean any of the grease off it now do I? LOL.

Got my motorcycle uncovered on Saturday, and I washed/waxed it. Now I just have to put air in the tires, change the oil, and wait for a fairly nice day to go for a ride. I also need new tires altogether, or it won't pass inspection. Plus, tires are really important. ;)

Nothing else major happened this weekend, but last night was the icing on the cake. There's ANOTHER stomach bug going around, and this time Simon got it. Luckily he's not throwing up, but oh boy was he screaming bloody murder last night. God bless my wife. She was up almost all night with him...just holding him, rocking him, and helping him get any gas out that needed to get out. He's doing a BIT better this morning, but he's still cranky. I have to say, my wife can handle this stuff wonderfully! I was trying to comfort him, and he was screaming. He would not relax. Well, no duh..he's got a belly ache. Dad didn't do too good. I also realize I need MUCH more work to handle situations like this. She was holding him, rocking him, talking nice and quiet, and being a super, comforting Mom. I was in the other room feeling helpless, sad, upset, and stressed. Again, thank God Simon has ONE parent who's good under those kind of conditions. Now, if he gets a cut, or a scrape, or has to get shots or something, I'm OK with that. I know, clean the wound, bandage it up, and he'll get better. But the screaming because of something I couldn't see was killing me. In due time I guess.

Anyway, my morning today started with me getting a KUB X-Ray for a follow up due to the kidney stone(s) a few weeks ago. Ooodles of Doctor's appointments this week. Can't WAIT to see what comes of THIS. (smell the sarcasm?)

Gratitude of the day: Calm, cool, collected Mom at home with sick child. X-Ray went quickly...didn't have to wait a long time at the hospital. It's almost lunch time. :) Snow is melting as fast as it fell. I'm sure there's more, but I need to get back to work. Thanks for reading.

Be grateful....it helps get ya through the tough times. ;)

Facebook

2011-03-15T10:17:00.004-04:00

So I finally signed up for Facebook. Yeah yeah yeah...I know, it's about time. Back off OK?! LOL.

I'm enjoying the smart-alec comments from friends......IE:

And wow, 58 friends in a day? Who do you think you are, Charlie Sheen?
March 8 at 4:19pm · Tom Jenkins Oh wait, they're still coming. WINNING!

The things that get to me though are.......what's with the 'poke' feature? Virtually 'poke' someone? It's annoying to poke someone in real life....why would you want.....ah, nevermind.
I also love (sarcasm here) the people who sign on to facebook once a day, and within those 15 minutes they're on, they post 34.2 links to news stories they disagree with. Then sign off. OK, thanks for sharing.....I guess.

Anyway, you can find me on facebook now. I don't do a LOT of stuff on there, just read and converse with friends via message.

Simon is learning to drink from a glass.

Wow, no real direction on the blog today. I'm tired. I want spring. I'm done.

Thanks for reading. :)

Late Ice=Good Ice

2011-02-28T11:14:00.005-05:00

First let me say.......I gave birth yesterday (Sunday 2/27/11). Oh yeah, I passed that kidney stone NATURALLY. It's out. Thank you God!!!!

Now, for the big reason of this post. Yesterday's ice fishing trip. Notice I haven't really been bragging/complaining about this year's ice fishing? That's because it's been pretty rough going. Granted, I caught fish every time I went out, but nothing to really brag about......until yesterday. :)

My friend Barry showed up at the house aroun 11:30, and we had to wait a bit because I felt that stone working its way up. It finally made an appearance, so off we went. The place we fished doesn't have a name. It's behind a church. Far away. That's all I know. Anyway, we got there around 1 o'clock and Barry had 8 holes punched in the ice quick. We set up our tip-ups and got our jigging gear ready. Barry then punched a million more holes and I picked one to start. Within an hour, I had over 30 decent bluegills on the ice.
A flag pops, and Barry pulls out a huge pickeral.
We continue jigging, 70-80 more blueg's, and another flag. I pulled a small largemouth out.
70-80 more blueg's, another flag, Barry lands a bigger pickeral.
70-80 more blueg's (yes...we were catching hundreds of bluegills and sunnys with a crappie tossed in there), another flag...another small largemouth for me.
We took a break from jigging, ate our hoagie, then took a little walk away from the holes to another spot on the pond. When we were sitting over there, I noticed one of our tip-ups popped so I started a slow walk over. Then I saw the WHOLE TIP UP start violently shaking. Now I'm RUNNING over. Barry's not far behind me as I'm yelling "THIS IS A BIG FISH BARR.....IT'S BIG!!" His response, "I don't have a gaff". Oh great. I saw the head under the ice and almost passed another kidney stone. I had to choose fast, stick my whole arm down the hole and risk getting my fingers bitten off, or just pull this fish up quickly and pray the line doesn't break. My fingers are too precious to me so I yanked and prayed. And landed the biggest pickeral of my life.
All-in-all, we had a wonderful day weather-wise, LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of fish, I'm talking hundreds of panfish, and 3 nice pickeral.
I'm hoping the weather doesn't break up the ice this week so we can go back there this Saturday.
Here are some pictures from yesterday.

DELICIOUS!!

And for those who are constantly asking me for updated Simon pictures, here are a couple from dinner Saturday night over at Aunt Nicole's house.

I'm VERY grateful for yesterday. The stone leaving my body, all those fish, and a great kid.

Thanks for reading.

Oh, btw, I read "The Magic" from Andrew Hannon's THIRTEEN Volume One. If you want to know about it, and what happened, drop me an email, or leave me a comment. tom@magic93fm.com

Pain

2011-02-26T09:25:00.003-05:00

So Thursday morning (2/24/11), I get to work and something just doesn't feel right. A bit of discomfort in my lower left back. My thought was that I slept wrong, or pulled something shoveling all the snow we got a few days earlier.
Well, within an hour, the pain was so overwhelming, I was getting woozy, and I could barely stand up. Plus, I felt I had to use the bathroom, but when I tried, nothing came out.
I ended up at the ER, and come to find out....kidney stones. Oh yeah.....that was a pain I don't wish on ANYONE. Needless to say, I spent the majority of the day in the ER, CT Scans, fluids pumping through, and they're still in there. It's now Saturday, and they're still there. Luckily, the pain has subsided, (they dropped into the bladder according to the Urologist), but they're still in there. So now, I have to drink water like it's going out of style and when I use the little DJ's room, I have to go through a filter.

So far, nothing.
I have a follow up CT Scan/Xray in two weeks, so hopefully they'll be gone, or they have to go in after them. I'm NOT looking forward to that!
Say a prayer that the water will force these puppies out and I don't have to go through all that.
That's it for now. That's what's been going on.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to pee. (again, LOL)

Random Photos from "My Pictures" 2

2011-02-10T09:21:00.010-05:00

So back in October of `09, I did the original random pictures post.

I think enough time has gone by to do it again for the simple fact I have accumulated OOOODLES more pics. And also, because of this post.

What I do is, hit the 'Add Image' button up top, go to "My Pictures", scroll really fast and click on a photo at random. Then post it. Then maybe tell a little story about it. Hope you like it.

So without further ado.....Random Photos from "My Pictures". (Part 2)

Hahahahahahaha, that's the pic I use in forums when I want to be a jerk! A troll, if you will. It's my pet peeve when people use all caps in everyday 'computer' talk. Because you SCREAMING AT ME WILL GET ME TO UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT WHAT YOU'RE SAYING!!!

Next.

THAT is beautiful. That's Toby's Creek in the Back Mountain along the Dallas walking trail. If you like to walk, I highly suggest walking that trail. Start across from Pizza Perfect and walk all the way to Luzerne. It's a beautiful walk, and the views are out of this world. Oh man, I miss the warm weather. That groundhog needs glasses.

That shot was back from November 2010. WOW....in just a short time has the little man changed. And he keeps on changing every day.

Well, I HAD to get him on the ice with me in the first year of his life. Of course he probably won't remember it, but I can say, as a proud father, my kid was on the ice with me this year. Granted, he was only out there with me for five minutes, but he was there! :)

My motorcycle. Ah, did I already mention I can't wait for Spring?

Sushi. Yummy, delicious, filling, sushi.

My secret fishing hole last spring. Oh yeah, I can't wait for spring. The smell of snow melting, of plants growing, of the fresh air wafting through the open kitchen window to air out the baby smell LOL. OK, I've officially had enough of winter. I'm done.

Chickens. Hillside Farm's Chickens. That's a funny word. Chicken. Say it 15 times a bunch of different ways....chick-en...chickennnnnnnnn.....chhchchchchchchchchicken. Ha ha. Bazooka is another funny word. Ooooo, chicken bazooka. THAT would be funny.

Ok, that's enough for today. I have to get work done. Oh, quick interjection....Saturday (2/12/11) after I get off the air on Magic 93, I'll be at Mohegan Sun Arena's box office for when the Elton John tickets go on sale to.....ready?....give away FRONT ROW TICKETS to the show!!! This is going to be HUGE. I can't wait. Stop by and register, say 'hi', and thanks for listening to Magic.

Have a great day....I hope Spring arrives soon. Remember...attitude of gratitude!

Spooky Stuff

2011-01-29T08:54:00.005-05:00

Here's a little something about me that not many people know.....until now lol. I like spooky stuff. Paranormal stuff I guess you can say. Yes, ghosts and goblins and things like that. Now, don't take this the wrong way....I'm NOT into the occult, or Satanism, or anything like that....I just find the spooky stuff fascinating. I like reading scary stories, like "From The Shadows" blog, and I really dig "Ghost Adventures" with Zak, Nick and Aaron. I DON'T like TAPS, or those other shows MUCH. I'll watch them, but it doesn't really do it for me.
I like searching on You Tube for "ghosts caught on tape" and stuff like that. I don't know why, I just find that sort-of thing interesting. UFO's are boring though lol.
I remember awhile back I read a story from a journalist named Brian Bethel regarding "Black Eyed Kids" or B.E.K. I don't know if it's true, but the way he wrote this story, it was SPOOOOOOOKY. I actually allowed my imagination to get away with me, and I was spooked for a week and wouldn't venture into my backyard at night alone. Hahahahaha, I'm a dork.
But just recently, something peaked my interest....there's a book written by 113 different people (written in the UK I believe), where the first short story is supposed to be the scariest story EVER!!! Their webpage has 3 stories from the book on there, and they were pretty spooky, but from what I've read, the FIRST story "The Magic" is the bees knees for fear. This book was edited by Andrew Hannon, and it's called "Thirteen". 500 pages of stories. Rumor has it that it's so scary, it's been banned in Italy. I can't seem to find much more information on it, but I'm debating on whether or not to order it from Barnes & Nobel.

Have you ever heard of this book? This story? Please drop me an email, or leave in comments if you have.

Heck, I love a good ghost story, do you have one? I'd love to hear it. Maybe I'll even post it on here if it's REALLY good. lol. I don't care if it's true or not, I just like spooky stuff.

Anyway, hope to hear a good story, comment, or info on "Thirteen" from you. Until then, keep that attitude of gratitude and everything will be OK.

Cya.
Edit on post (Mon 1/31/11).....called Barnes & Noble, and they said this book has to be "ordered" all the time. How it works is, you order it, they put the order in, THEN and ONLY THEN will the company print the book for you! They don't already have this book printed. If you order it, and change your mind, you still have to buy it. And I can't find any copies on EBay. lol.

Pictures Pictures Pictures

2011-01-14T09:29:00.007-05:00

Human nature can be funny. Like watching the difference between a man and a woman when you show them pictures of your child. A man looks at the picture, smiles, and says, "cute", or "nice"...then hands the picture back to you and goes about his merry way. I've come to the conclusion that men don't care about looking at your kid's picture. And you know what, being a man, I don't care about looking at your kid's picture (unless of course the kid is doing something amazing, like catching a big fish, or scaling a wall, or riding a unicycle). But just a picture of him/her, does nothing for me (or most men). A WOMAN on the other hand, will look at the picture, and smile, sigh, and usually say something like, "OH MY GOD....HE'S SOOOOOOO CUTE. I LOVE THAT SWEATER....LOOK AT ALL THAT HAIR.....WHAT BEAUTIFUL EYES......etc." And, yes, they usually say it THAT loud! So from this point on, any pictures of Simon I have in my possession, I will show to women only. Unless of course he's doing something really cool....and at 6 and 1/2 months old, he doesn't really do anything cool.
I also like to watch people read this blog. The men scroll down until they see a picture, then move on...no comment...close the browser...that's it. Women will stop, read all this stuff, then look at the pictures and comment on them. Seriously, go through all my postings where there are comments....all women. Men don't care (usually).
So, for the women actually reading this, thank you. :) For the men who just like to look at the pictures....here's my kid during bath time (which he loves) just the other day. Hehehehe, double-whammy for the guys...long reading in the beginning, and pictures of my kid. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Sucks to be you guys!!! LOL.

PS. Thank you Aunt Snoopy for taking those wonderful shots!

OK...here's one for the guys.

Hope you all have a great weekend, (ladies, because the guys aren't reading this lol), and thanks for reading. Also, thanks for listening to Magic 93. (I'm the overnight guy there now. Tues-Fri Midnight to 5AM; plus Saturday morning 6a-10a)

Find something to be grateful for. Something out of the ordinary....like your car started this morning. Or you were able to take a hot shower.

Off-topic ending...I'm NOT digging the new Spider-Man costume in the new movie. Sorry, no picture yet. Do a google search if you REALLY want to see it.

Why Ice Fish?

2011-01-04T09:19:00.007-05:00

I love it. I love it when people don't understand something, it's automatically a bad thing. Of course, I'm talking about ice fishing. People get an idea of what they THINK it is, and base their opinion on that one thought without getting the whole story.
"You're going ice fishing AGAIN this weekend? Why in God's name would you want to just sit out there on a bucket over a hole and freeze all day? That's crazy. You're an idiot! Stupid! Why?" Hmmmm, let me think about this for a second........I WOULDN'T!!!!! In my opinion....That's BORING! That's STUPID! I don't know ANYONE that would want to just sit on a bucket, looking over a hole and freeze all day. That's NOT what ice fishing is!
I want to try and explain this.
To simply put it....it has NOTHING to do with catching fish. Really. IF....and sometimes that's a BIG IF.....I actually catch fish, it's an added bonus. It's the icing on the cake. It's the nap after a turkey dinner. It's the....you get the picture, right?
And it's NOT about sitting on a bucket, looking over ONE hole all day freezing.
First, we put on enough clothes to NOT freeze. So there's one theory shot down. We're NOT COLD!!!
Second, there are MANY holes that we're looking over. We move from hole to hole to hole to hole to hole. And that's just with ONE fishing pole. In the state of Pennsylvania, you are allowed FIVE (5) lines in the water AT ONE TIME. Soooooo, we put in FOUR (4) tip-up's (tools used to catch fish through the ice).

There's bait on the end of that. If a fish takes the bait, the flag pops up, and we RUN to the tip-up to land the fish. Yes....RUN!!!! On the ice. Notice...running=NOT sitting over a hole all day.
While we wait for the tip-up's to trigger, we move all over the place trying to catch other fish with the fishing pole (jigging rod). And MOST of the time, we're not even sitting when we do it. As a matter of fact, I don't even HAVE a bucket.
But the biggest reason why I like to ice fish is because it is my escape. I leave the real world for the day. It's also the reason why I like to regular fish too. No stress (OK, not MUCH stress), GREAT camaradarie, and fresh air. Plus excellent scenery.

And if I catch a fish or two while I'm at it.....BONUS!!!!

I understand this type of thing is not for everyone, and I'm not trying to pursuade you into making it your thing. I accept the fact some may not want to layer up and spend the day on a frozen body of water. That's cool with me! Just think about something that IS your thing, and all the negative comments you get from those who's thing it ISN'T BEFORE you condemn me for MY thing. (Understand what I just said there? If you did, please explain it to me, because I have no idea lol).
For the longest time, I HATED winter in Northeast PA. The cold, the wet, the lack of leaves, etc. Well, I can't change the weather. All I can change is ME. I didn't want to move to a warmer climate, because I do love it here, so I had to find something I could enjoy when the weather wasn't to my liking. And so my passion for ice fishing was born (many years ago). And now, it doesn't matter what time of year it is here, I enjoy it all the time. Why would I want to be miserable 5 or 6 months out of the year? Why wouldn't I want to be happy ALL YEAR LONG? Hehehehehehe, now, when I AM miserable, I can't blame "Seasonal Stress Disorder" LOL. I'm still out there getting the Vitamin D when ice fishing. I can only blame ME now. :)
It's Tuesday now, and I'm planning on fishing...YES, ICE FISHING again this weekend so I don't go stir crazy. So I don't get miserable. SO I AM HAPPY THIS TIME OF YEAR!
Thanks for reading. Thanks for listening. Find something to be grateful for! I'm grateful I'm able to change ME (with some help), and not be miserable. And if you want to try ice fishing with me on weekends, drop me a line (see what I did there? Tip-up reference), and make sure you have waterproof.....INSULATED boots. I don't want to hear you complain your feet are cold. lol.

Now, enjoy the scenery from the warmth of your computer.

Happy New Year 2011/Resolutions

2011-01-01T07:16:00.003-05:00

So I'm here on the air (6am-10am) on New Year's Day again this year. I'm real tired (nap time at 11am), and I've been thinking (uh-oh). People are always making new year's resolutions...IE: Lose Weight, Quit Smoking, Save Money, etc. And only 4% of the population sticks to those resolutions. OK, I made that statistic up, but I'm sure not many follow through all year long. And end up feeling real bad about themselves.
This year, I want to be able to tell everyone that I'm sticking to MY New Year's Resolutions...especially in December...but how can I stick to them? Easy. The following are MY New Year's Resolutions for me, that I KNOW I'll stick to. Or, if I don't, it's really no big deal because it's a win-win situation all around.

1) Eat more junk food.

If I stick to it, I enjoy doing it. If I don't.....that means I ate healthier. See, win-win!

2) Gain weight.

Self explanatory.

3) Spend more money.

Another self explanatory.

4) Exercise LESS.

See the pattern here? :)

5) Watch more movies.

I hardly watch television at all already, so one movie a week and I can keep this one. Again though, if I don't, I won't feel bad.

6) Blog here more.

I'm sure I can think of many more, but I'm so sleepy, I may hurt myself. One thought though....why do we need a specific day to change our lives? Why can't we just make the decision to change, then change? Say, on March 4th? Or August 19th? Or even February 22nd? If there's something you want to change about you....just change it. Don't wait.

Gotta go. Gotta get more coffee. Happy New Year! Change! Be grateful!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go re-heat a breakfast burrito. (see resolution #1)

Christmas Simon Milestone, Texting again

2010-12-28T16:00:00.009-05:00

Hope you had a GREAT Christmas. Mine was Christmas. It's pretty much the same every year. Mom-In-Law, Dad-In-Law, Sis-In-Law, Neice and my Sister and Bro-In-Law all came down to our house. My Sis/Bro-in-law came later after dinner for a quick visit. It was nice to see them again.

We tried a new recipe for shrimp this year. Here it is....and it's AMAZING!!!

Peel and de-poop jumbo shrimp. Spray butter all over them. Little bit of sea salt, little bit of crushed pepper, sprinkle of old bay seasoning. Wrap them little buggers in a half a slice of uncooked bacon...stick them on a skewer..fire up the grill and cook away.

They were out of this world. We'll be making them "just because" next time. :)

Dinner was good as usual. Ham, potatoes, asparagus, and of course Canoli's for dessert.

Santa was good to all of us, even though I already had everything I wanted.

But the milestone of the holiday was the little man, Simon. He's starting to STAY sitting up all by himself, and he had a blast with his new "O" ball toy.

The milestone was...he fell asleep right where he sat playing...all by himself. You see, usually, we rock him, or put him in his crib, and THEN he'll fall asleep and nap. Here, he did it all on his own. Fell right over and, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

What a cutie!

Santa was REAL good to him.

Remember this post?
My pet peeve regarding text messaging? My rant on the Facebook thing? Here's another little pet peeve that just kinda pushed me a little bit more.
On Christmas, I received over 20 text messages all saying the same thing: "Merry Christmas". And that's it. Some even looked like this: "FWD: Merry Christmas!" Really? Really? Really, you can't call and wish someone a Merry Christmas anymore? You can't call just to say, "Hi, hope your day is great?" I did. I called a LOT of people that day just to say "Merry Christmas". I did get ONE phone call from a friend. Just one. I answered the phone, "Merry Christmas Jim!" And his response was, "that's why I was calling you my friend!" And we chatted for about 1 minute. Thank you for calling Jim!!!!

Has our society become so unsociable, that we're now sending Christmas wishes via text messaging? Are we THAT unfriendly? Hehehehe, maybe if I had a Facebook account, I could have gotten the message there.

Ok, pet peeve rant over. And if I didn't call you on Christmas....Merry Christmas!!!! (I'm such a hipocryte lol)

Let's end this with the PERFECT way to wake up on Christmas morning......

Next year he'll be jumping up and down on the bed screaming for us to wake up because SANTA CAME!!!!!

If I don't talk to you before next week, (or call you on Saturday)..Happy New Year!!!

Find something to be grateful for! I did.

Good tidings

2010-12-14T18:38:00.003-05:00

This brought a tear to my eye. I almost lost it when the Mom grabbed her child's hand to hold it. Just look at the smiles on these faces. Look at the joy brought into their lives by something as simple as this.

Merry Christmas!!!

Absolutley Nuttin

2010-12-09T16:00:00.007-05:00

I have written much because, well, not much has been happening.

Simon is getting bigger each day. He's eating baby cereal (mixed with milk of course) as well as his normal supply of milk.

He has a chest cold. He smiles a LOT. He's a happy baby.

Right around Thanksgiving, we had a party at the house, and of course, my two oldest friends came by. They brought their kids with them, and all the kids wanted to do was sit in my boat and 'pretend' they were on the water. Ah....the future!

Other than that, just doing what we gotta do for Christmas (decorate, shop, spend waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much money, etc.)

These cold temperatures are sure a welcome for me (and a handful of friends), because ice fishing time is almost here. I'm predicting (if all stays the same), we'll be on the ice on 12/19/10.

I haven't hit the Powerball yet, so I still have to come to work 6 out of the 7 days a week.

Mindy and I borrowed my Mother-In-Law's WII, and we are having a blast playing it (when we have time). The first night we played so much, my body ached the next day. I'm soooooooo out of shape.

I picked up many more hours on the air on Magic 93 coming up, so as you're enjoying the Magic of Christmas, you can attempt to enjoy my sparkling personality. HAHAHAHA. That's funny. Oh, and "NO", I won't play Dominick the Donkey for you! And I won't play the "Christmas Shoes" song either. I like to be HAPPY around Christmas. If those two songs are already scheduled to play, I turn the speakers down in the studio. I'm going to break disc jockey rule here by saying.....I really really really HATE those two songs. If I NEVER heard them again, it would be too soon. BUT, if they are scheduled, they get played. But I don't have to listen to them. :)

Thanks for reading. Find something to be grateful for. I found two things today that made me smile.

If I don't write before the end of the month, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!!!!

Best-Lookin' Baby

2010-11-09T11:19:00.004-05:00

Of course he is. The best-looking kid in the whole wide world (and I'm only a little biased).

After his bath the other night, dancing with Mommy and Daddy to Barry White.

And he's getting so big. He's in his high chair already. Granted, he'll only sit there for about an hour before he gets bored and wants to be walked around, but he's still sitting there.

Looks like we'll be starting him on baby cereal this week sometime. I'm excited because I FINALLY get a chance to be part of the eating process.
They grow up so fast. :)

Thank Goodness It's Over

2010-11-02T19:36:00.003-04:00

Today is election day. I'm sooooo grateful it's over. I am so SICK AND TIRED of the political TV/Radio commercials. Is it just me, or have they been overloading the airwaves this election? I'm not sick of them because there are a ton of them.....I'm sick of them because I have NO IDEA WHAT POLITICIAN IS GOING TO WHAT FOR US!!!!! Understand that? I have not heard or seen one stinking POSITIVE commercial. Not a one. All they do is bash their opponent. "He did this in his past, and he did this in his past......" OK, what are YOU going to do in the future? It's really unbelievable. Voting today is not all about voting for the best candidate, it's all about voting for the lesser of two evils. I firmly believe nothing good will come of this. Just look at the past with all the Luzerne County scandals, and law breakers, and corruption. And the funny thing is, we voted these people in. Why? Because they were the lesser of two evils. Will a candidate in the future, please please please please please tell me something GOOD about what you're going to do? Will a future candidate please please please give me some hope, and some positive reinforcement to live in Northeast PA? Why should I vote for YOU?!?!?! Leave the other guy out of it. If a candidate for, say, County Controller, told me nothing about the other opponents, and just sent the message of HIM/HER, and what THEY WILL DO WHEN THEY GET ELECTED......I'd write them in for the Presidency!
It's funny, I was talking with a couple people about this exact situation, and unless you pay real close attention to the commercials......we have no idea who is running for what position. They are so focused on BASHING the other guy, they don't even say what office they want to hold until the very end..."Paid for by I'm Not Full Of Baloney for Governor". Ha.

I've got just one message to any politician that wants to run his/her election campaign this way in the future....Remember the Golden Rule! And that's NOT whoever has the gold makes the rules. Realize the image you've created. Your "Brand" if you will during this advertising campaign. Whoever wins whatever today, I still don't know what you're going to do, I still don't know what you ran for, and you know what.......I DON'T CARE!!!!! What comes around, goes around!

On a lighter note...Simon is doing great, he's got his first cold, and it stinks. But we're doing what we gotta do.

It's that time between regular fishing, and ice fishing, plus it's too cold to ride the bike, so I'm chomping at the bit on weekends. Maybe I'll do more GeoCaching until the ice gets here.

Anyway, sorry it took so long to update here, but I've been working a lot more (daycare ain't cheap ya know), and when I have 5 minutes, I just want to sit and breath. Meditate.

Talk more with you soon.

Find something to be grateful for...I'm grateful the elections are OVER!

Thanks for reading.

ThunderBusters

2010-10-26T11:33:00.000-04:00

Saw this the other day. I think it's brilliant.

Confusion

2010-10-13T11:59:00.003-04:00

Is it just me, or does this NOT make sense.

Bottom left-hand corner of the back of the book.

BTW...it was 33° F this morning. The freeze will be here before we know it.....and that means ICE FISHING!!! Whooo Hooo!

Grill Envy

2010-10-04T09:07:00.003-04:00

It is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. My sister-in-law......smart cookie that she is.....waited until the END of the season to get herself a new grill for her back deck.

A $300 grill she got for HALF price. GOOD JOB NICK!!!!!!

Of course, being the only one in the family that owns a pick-up truck, I was nominated to go pick it up and deliver it to her house. Another of course, it's too heavy to put together for just one person, and I don't think her 11 year old daughter would be strong enough to help soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo........I stuck around the house for the assembly. I'm glad I did......but man oh man I AM JEALOUS.

You see, I love grilling. Steaks. Ribs. Chicken. Bacon. Soup. Fish. Bananas. Water. If I can figure a way to get it on the grill and keep it there, I'm grilling it. I grill all year long. If I can get to the grill, it's getting fired up and I'm cooking SOMETHING! And just looking at Nick's new grill, all 5 burners, a side burner, stainless steel outer shell, under firebox storage, etc. made me want one of my own. But MY grill still works fine, and it's seasoned. :)

If you love grilling as much as I do, then you'll drool over what I'm about to show you. If you don't, then just enjoy the three shots.......

Ladies and gentlemen...I present to you one of the most beautiful grills I've ever seen...

What a lucky grill....I mean girl! LOL.

Quick Updates and Misc Stuff

2010-09-29T16:34:00.007-04:00

Went to the Bloomsburg Fair on Sunday. It was JAMMED with people. I also have come to the realization that whenever the family is around together, I canNOT get near my Son. LOL. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining what-so-ever.....I think it's a beautiful thing how much they love him. And I don't have to change a poopy diaper.

This is the honest-to-God view of what I saw when my wife was changing him and I "tried" to help. I was physically pushed out of the way.

My niece was also INSIDE the car helping from that angle. I couldn't even get in there. Beautiful!

My wife made some killer burgers the other night. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix, an egg, and some Italian Style Bread Crumbs. I, in turn, grilled them, grilled some bacon, melted BLEU CHEESE (not American) on them, and they were out of this world!!!

Oh, and Simon was at his FIRST breakfast before we went to the fair at our local restaurant. I can't wait until he knows how to use utensils. :)

So, other than that, nothing really too cool to write about. I just thought I'd share those little things. Because those little things to me are what make my life wonderful!

Hope to talk with you soon. Thanks for reading.

No Title....I'm not feeling creative

2010-09-23T08:45:00.008-04:00

I know, I know. It's been awhile since a post has happened. I'm tired. Gimmie a break. :)

I still don't know what to write. Not really much has happened lately that's super interesting. Well, that's not quite true......some of the things that have happened I canNOT write here. If you really want to know, call me, or drop me an email. ;)

Let's go back a couple weeks. Labor Day weekend I believe it was, some family members were in town and were having a get together to have all the new children meet, and for the grown-ups to 'catch up'. Mindy and I had all intentions of going, but while I was on the air that Saturday morning, something decided to get into my stomach, and, well, I won't go into detail here. Needless to say, we couldn't make it up to Scranton that day for the reunion. I don't think I would have made it that far in the car.
I feel bad because they were all looking forward to ALL of us getting together. They even made a "welcome to the world" cake for all the kids.

Again, if my family is reading this...my apologies. God had other plans for me that day I guess.

This past Saturday, 9/18/10, a group of friends of mine and Mindy and Simon all went to those twin bridges in Forks, PA for a picnic. Remember this?

We had a BLAST. So much food, like homemade chicken wings (garlic & honey), potato salad, cheezeburgers, hotdogs, and of course, I fired up one of the charcoal grills and cooked up about ten million bbq spare ribs.

Simon actually had a good time too. He LOVED the attention he got from everyone.

We had a bocci (sp?) ball tournament, on uneven ground, with holes, and I haven't laughed that hard in awhile.

On a different note.....I was on my bike Tuesday, and had to pull over because I noticed this:

Since the beginning of May, I've traveled 3000 miles on my bike. Wow. The cool thing, there's still MUCH MORE riding this season before I have to lock her up in the barn for the winter.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for now. Work is starting to pick up a LOT, so I better stop slacking and get back to it. Thanks for reading. Thanks for listening to Magic 93.

Find something to be grateful for today......even if it's just that you're verticle, above the grass, and still sucking wind.

What It Is!!

2010-09-01T10:46:00.010-04:00

I don't know. I've just been kind of 'existing' lately. Up one day, down the next day. I don't even know what to write/blog/share etc. So, random time.

Today (Wed 9/1/10) is Simon's second day of daycare. He's handling it well. I'm handling it well (except for the $$ part...ugh, it's a second mortgage)....but my wife is NOT handling it well. I can understand too. She's been with him 24/7 for 2 and a half months. It's hard to have some 'stranger' take care of him all day. But, as with everything, time will help the hurt. (And so will this face when we pick him up at the end of the day)

Summer is almost over. And I'm thrilled about this. I LOVE autumn. The crispness. The colors. The smells. Plus that means one season closer to ice fishing. Yeah, I know, I need help.

It seems like I'm constantly going going going going going going. Get up, go to work, come home, help this one move, take out the garbage, cut the grass, clean this, pay that, go to bed. Get up, go to work, come home, change this diaper, feed the fish, cook dinner, etc. etc. etc. I cannot think of a day where there was absolutely NOTHING going on at that moment. I guess it's a good thing though, because if there was nothing going on, the Earth either will have been demolished, or I'd get up in my head, start thinking, and end up demolishing the Earth. Ha. At least in my own mind. Uh oh, getting in my head. Gotta get out of it. Time for a random, get out of my head, distraction.

OK, that's much better.

I'm trying to ride my motorcycle more. One, because it's fun. Two, because it saves on gas. I get GREAT gas mileage. But it's weird, because in the morning, it's freezing cold, so I layer up, and in the afternoon, it's bloody hot. And I don't have a LOT of room in my saddlebags for all the clothes I wore in the morning. So is it better to be chilly in the morning, or sweating to death in the afternoon? I vote for chilly in the morning. It keeps me awake (which is always a good thing on a bike), and more alert.

What kind of extra jobs can I do on the side to get a couple extra bucks, so we don't have to worry about Simon and daycare?

Our company here just told us we're not allowed to use Firefox anymore as our browser. We have to use IE. It's going to take me a long while to get used to using it. I don't like it. I never did. But, they sign my paychecks sooooooooooo.......

Oh well, I guess it's time to get back to work. I'm going to try and find some things to be grateful for today. I've been having a hard time having the gratitude just POP into my head. I need to make a conscience effort to do it. So, I'm grateful I have 10 fingers to be able to type all this out. That I have a job. That I have a health child. That I have a wonderful wife who's SuperMom! And many other things that I don't have time to type. Hopefully, you can find some gratitude today....and if it just POPS into your head....then I'm grateful you've got that today! Have a great Wednesday...thanks for reading, and thanks for listening to Magic 93.

Birthday, Bike Ride, Trout Fishin'

2010-08-20T13:07:00.008-04:00

So I just turned 40. Happy Birthday to me. Whoopdeedoo! Anyway....

I had a couple days off work (Mon/Tues), so I had some things planned. Actually, I had things planned all weekend long AND on my b-day. Here's how it all went down:

Friday at work.....had to sneak out to a Doctor's appointment. I HATE going to the Doctor's, for the simple fact this guy will say things, and I'll end up walking out feeling like I'm going to die in 6 months (God forbid). Simple things like, "you're almost 40, you are NOT healthy!" I'm not? I feel fine! "Listen, you need to make sure you do activities that lower your stress level. Go fishing. Ride your motorcycle. But make sure you get exercise. Don't eat this. Eat that. Don't drink this. Drink that. I want you to now start aerobic exercise too." WHEN AM I GOING TO DO ALL THIS STUFF AND WORK, AND RAISE SIMON, AND SLEEP? "You're overweight!" By 15 pounds. 15 pounds. "And you're ugly" is what I FELT like saying to him. But I didn't.
So I had this thing on my arm that looked like a burn, and I asked him what it was, he referred me to a Dermatologist. That's later in this story.
Needless to say, in 3 weeks, I have to have TONS of blood work done, a urinalysis, and I have to monitor my blood pressure daily....THEN go back to him so he can tell me how much I suck at taking care of myself. All this PLUS managing stress, eating right, exercise, aerobic crap, raise my son, sleep, work, pay bills etc. I'm stressed just TRYING to be healthy.

Saturday morning, I'm not on the air 6-10, but 10-2. No big deal. Afterwards, some friends came over the house to visit (see the baby), eat some MEAT on the grill and hang out. Around 7:30PM I headed up to Lake Winola to try a new kind of fishing. Hey, I HAVE to go fishing to lower my stress, remember? :)
It was a VERY interesting fishing trip because we targeted trout. This is a fish I don't really know about, so it was all new to me.....and I really enjoyed it! I got home around 2:30AM, cleaned the fish I brought home (yea, we caught trout....BIG rainbow trout), and went to bed.

Sunday was nice. I found a recipe online on how to cook trout, made it up, stuck the prepared fish back in the fridge and Mindy and I (and Simon) went grocery shopping. WHY DO I ALWAYS DO THIS TO MYSELF? Why do I insist on going grocery shopping on a Sunday? EVERYONE goes grocery shopping on Sunday, so it's pure mayhem at the store. I'm a moron!!
When we got home, I cooked up the trout and they were delicious!!!!! If you want the recipe, just drop me a line and I'll "hook" you up with it. Ha (that was corny).

Now on Monday, I have the day off. Mindy, Simon and I went to look at a daycare center for when Mindy goes back to work. These things are SOOOOOOOOOO expensive. It's a 2nd mortgage payment. I'm NOT exaggerating either. We stopped by the radio station to introduce everyone to Simon, then went home. We did some stuff around the house and more or less just chilled on Monday. Tuesday (my birthday), I had a motorcycle ride planned with my friend Darren. Our plan was to go Bushkill Falls, via the Delaware Water Gap. But FIRST, I have to go to Scranton to see the Dermatologist regarding those things on my arm/wrist. Darren was nice enough to suggest we ride the bikes up there, then just take off from there since my appointment was first thing in the morning. So we get up there (surprisingly finding a parking spot in downtown Scranton at 9:15am), I fill out all the necessary paperwork, and in the back I go. Quick side-note...I LOVE being the first appointment of the day. I walked in there at 9:20, and I was back on my bike by 9:45. That rocks.
In a nutshell, the thing on my arm (2 of them actually) are some pre-cancerous skin thing from too much sun exposure growing up, nothing to be alarmed about BUT make sure I use sun-block from here on out because they might become cancerous etc etc etc. So let's see......Eat better, drink more water, wear sunscreen, watch what you eat because of the high blood pressure and stomach issues, exercise, do aerobic exercise, go fishing/bike riding to lower stress, work more to make more money to pay the hospital bills (and MY Dr bills), sleep better, monitor blood pressure, lose weight.......AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Turning 40 sucks!!!!
Back to the Dermatologist appointment....he burned (froze) those things off with liquid nitrogen. It did NOT feel nice.
----------------WARNING: GROSS PICTURE TO FOLLOW---------------------

That's them burned. They blistered up, and I'm still waiting for them to heal. Away we go on our ride.....

First stop....Lake Wallenpaupack. Don't forget now, we don't ride on highways(on purpose). All back roads.
It was nice. I've been there a million times, but never on a motorcycle. Route 590 through Hamlin was a joy of a ride! Now I'll follow Darren until we get to Bushkill Falls. A few hours later, we did.
There are no pictures of the falls, because they were charging you TEN BUCKS to walk on the trails. Boy oh boy, do we take-for-granted the hiking trails we have around here that are FREE!!!! TEN BUCKS!!! Wow. We hung out here for awhile and decided to take Route 209S (business road) to 115N, then Bald Mountain road back home. 209S turned into Route 80 HIGHWAY!!!!!! We did NOT know this. And to add insult to injury.....it was a highway with MILLED PAVEMENT! Motorcycles do NOT ride well on milled pavement. God was with us that moment, because we only stayed on there for about 4 miles. We finally got off that road, back on 209S, ended up in Brodheadsville, and finally got on 115.
All-in-all, it was a wonderful day (minus the scary, messed up pavement, on the highway). About 200 total miles were put on my bike, and Darren's company was appreciated, as usual!

Wednesday, back to work, more dental work (fillings, scraping, cuttings..ugh) and back to the grind.

So it's now Friday, I'm broadcasting live from Bo Brother's at PNC Field this afternoon for Happy Hour, then back on the air tomorrow AM 6-10. What a wild few days. I can't wait to see what life brings me NEXT week with another night fishing trip and Tuesday visit to Knobel's!!!!

Have a GREAT weekend (try at least lol), find something to be grateful for, and maybe I'll see you this afternoon at Bo Brother's.

Friday the 13th Part Deux

2010-08-13T10:41:00.003-04:00

Last Friday the 13th, (Feb of `09 I think), I did a "random thoughts" post. So here are 13 MORE random thoughts for THIS Friday the 13th.

1. I still hate American Idol. (And all reality shows)

2. *sarcasm here...I can't wait to hear what my Doctor will yell at me about this afternoon.

3. I hope my friend Jeanne is OK. She has bone/breast cancer and is in Philadelphia for treatment. They gave her 4-6 years to live, I hope she proves them wrong and lives longer.

4. I think my son's first word will be "Up". Or "Light". I hope it's NOT "Mom", or "Dad". That's too cliche.

5. Why is coming up with "random" thoughts so difficult?

6. I need to dust my work desk.

7. I'm off work Monday and Tuesday. I hope those 2 days go by nice and slow.

8. My other friend Jesse just lost his job yesterday. I KNOW it will all work out the way it's supposed to for him. I just pray he gets through this rough patch easily.

9. I have heartburn.......again.

10. I REALLY HATE the word "revision".

11. It's hard to believe I'll be 40 years old soon. I only feel 39. :)

12. Maybe this weekend, we'll watch the remake of Friday the 13th.....finally.

13. I got a Powerball ticket this morning. I'm backwards, so maybe with it being Friday the 13th, I'll have some luck.

Enjoy your weekend. Enjoy Friday the 13th. Have some gratitude. Pray for Jeanne for her please.

Love You Too

2010-08-10T14:55:00.003-04:00

Love you too Kiddo!!!!!

Weekend was Weird

2010-08-02T13:49:00.008-04:00

What an ODD weekend. Some good odd, but most BAD odd. It was like the weird fairies got together and said, "hey, this Jenkins fella hasn't had anything odd happen to him in awhile, let's overload his weekend."

It started Friday evening. I wasn't home. I kind of wished I was to see this, but then again, maybe not. A bear went through our yard. I don't live in the woods. I live in a residential neighborhood, and a black bear decided to take a detour through our yard. No one in my house saw it either. But ALL THE NEIGHBORS DID!!!!

Saturday morning, up at 4AM. This time, not to work on Magic 93, but to go fishing. My friend and his wife from out of town came up to spend the weekend (and to meet Simon), so Chris and I went fishing Saturday morning. As we got to the campsite where the boat is, we noticed that the rain/wind storms we've had knocked down 3 trees.......RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE CAMPSITE. Not too bad to move them with some muscle if they weren't covered in poison ivy! Needless to say, we didn't attempt it. So, having a 4x4 pickup, I just drove through the woods into the campsite.

We got to the lake right as the sun was coming up, and it was beautiful.
The water temp was obviously MUCH warmer than the air temp, so the fog was THICK. We dropped the boat in the water and Chris started to rig up his fishin' rod.
Once on the lake, we noticed how bad the weeds had grown. They were thicker than the fog. It was NOT easy fishing on this lake with all those weeds. Even using top-water lures, we caught more weeds than anything else. It was still beautiful though, and just being out there was nice......until.....

those thick weeds ended up burning up our trolling motor's high speeds. No high forward, no high reverse. So we went everywhere.....VERY SLOWLY. Slow enough I could click this picture without worrying about going in a different direction.
So after about 6 hours of slowly fishing, we only caught 3 fish. I got 2, and Chris got 1. Mind you, this lake is infamous for wearing out your arm from reeling the fish in. But I think, because it was too hot for the past umpteen weeks, the fish were NOT interested.

So off we go home. Tired, worn out from casting, not catching, and also from being up that early. I realized I HAD to cut my grass, and with a friend there, we could have it done in less than an hour. That is, if the lawn tractor cooperated. This tractor doesn't owe me anything. It's been around I think longer than me, and it's served its purpose wonderfully. It's old. It's rusty. The blades aren't even that sharp. But it still cuts grass, when it wants to. And Saturday, it really did not want to. The shoot that throws the grass is so rusty, that I hit a bump in the grass and it bent in, causing the blades to drive themselves into it, and it started smoking. I had to get a pair of pliers and bend a chunk of the shoot outwards so the blades would spin. Now the grass is thrown out, and UP to the right. Then all of a sudden, as I'm cutting the front part of the house, some BIG metal piece just falls off. I don't know where it goes, I don't know what it does, but it just fell off. The tractor kept cutting and moving, so I did as well! Grass is all cut, now for some minor maintenance on my motorcycle.

I just got myself a sissy bar for it so I wanted to put that on. That was the easy part. And the bike looks pretty cool too.
But recently, there has been terrible rattling going on at high speeds. I thought it was the headlight. So we put some foam rubber around the base. That wasn't it. Then I realized it was the windshield. So we took that apart, layered some foam rubber around the clamps, and FOUGHT TOOTH AND NAIL to put it back together, only to realize that's not it either. We still can't figure out where it's coming from. Oh well. I'll live with it.

We all decided we wanted to go for dinner Saturday night, and my sister-in-law agreed to come over and babysit while we went out. We ended up going up to Scranton. When we got to the restaurant, I had to use the little Disc Jockey's room. I went in, and as I was doing my thing, I ended up passing a kidney stone. AND NOT A LITTLE ONE. This thing was at least 3/4 of inch big. It scared the pants off me. Now I'm worried, because it's been YEARS since I've had any issues in the kidney department. Doctor's appointment is scheduled for 2 weeks anyway. Ugh.

To add insult to injury (notice I didn't tell you the name of the restaurant?), the food, the service and the check was AWFUL!!!!!! It was the absolute WORST dining experience of my life. Really. It was THAT bad. The waiter couldn't speak English that well (and it's an American restaurant), so it was difficult to understand him, plus he said, "uh-kews me?" after everything we said. I guess he couldn't understand us either. The food was terrible. The worst!! I would rather get a hunger headache than eat there again. I really wish I could tell you the name of it. But........well, you know. I can't due to possible advertising. But oh my gosh......my steak was like shoe leather. Mindy's lobster was under a heat lamp for God knows how long, and the seafood crepes Kim had, the consistency was like lumpy mashed potatoes wrapped in a thin piece of pasta. Chris got some seafood soup, and THEY LEFT THE LOBSTER TAIL SHELLS IN IT! When the waiter brought the food, he brought one plate at a time from the kitchen, and when he put Chris's broccoli down, he practically threw it at him. It almost landed in his lap. Unreal. I will NEVER eat there ever again. Which is sad, because it used to be one of the finest dining establishments in Scranton. As a matter of fact, Mindy and my first date was there. Oh well.

Remember how I said I was up at 4AM? We're now home after a terrible dinner, I'm still aching from the stone, and over tired. I went up to bed around 11:30PM....and could not fall asleep. I was up until around 2AM. I just couldn't sleep. Luckily I did fall asleep. And Sunday was a MUCH better day. Nothing weird happened Sunday. Breakfast, Kim and Chris left, lunch, I went for a small bike ride, dinner (PERFECT steak on the grill btw), and Mindy and I went to bed at a reasonable time.....and slept. And so did Simon. Thank you Simon!!!!

All-in-all, nothing HUGE bad happened, but this is a weekend I don't think I'll forget too quickly. I just keep trying to remember the views on the lake.
Good friends, good fishing (not catching, but fishing), good bike ride, good weather, and Simon sleeping!
Thanks for reading. Thanks for listening to Magic 93. Be grateful for something today and you'll be OK!!!

Boulder Field, Baby Update

2010-07-26T10:10:00.007-04:00

It's Monday (7/26), and I want to share with you this past weekend.

My friend Darren and I took another bike ride on Saturday to Hickory Run State Park. I think we're going to attempt to ride our bikes to every State Park within a 100 mile vicinity this year. We've already gone to Francis Slocum, World's End, Rickett's Glen, and Moon Lake. And this past weekend, Hickory Run. That's our goal at least. Our plan. But life will probably get in the way. LOL.

So we ventured out around 11 Saturday morning, and went the way of Jumper Road/Suscon Road/Bald Mountain, to 115, and then some back roads I have no clue where. I like to follow Darren on the bike. That's because I have NO sense of direction. Really. None. I don't know North from South, Up from Down. I get lost in parking lots. I'M NOT JOKING. I have a hard time finding my way out of parking lots. I don't know why I'm like this. I just am.
Our first quick stop was at the "duble-wa". I LOVE WAWA. I used to eat there 4 times a week when I worked in Allentown/Bethlehem. Their Iced-Tea is scrumptious. Plus, it was 168 degrees on Saturday, so we needed to stay hydrated. Gottahavawawa!!!!!

Then it was down back roads until we got to Hickory Run State Park.

My apologies for the pictures, these things were behind glass, so it made it hard to photograph.

Our one and only goal was to see the landmark, "Boulder Field". It was a sight.
Rocks galore. They went on and on and on and on. What I also remember most of this, was that it was a 3 mile dirt road to get to it. Dirt, and gravel. And not that thick gravel, the thin little pebbles. Millions of them. NOT AN EASY ROAD TO RIDE ON ON A MOTORCYCLE!!!!!

But we took our time, and made it in without dropping the bikes. Thank God.

Rock and roll!!!

We then had to take that dirt/gravel road BACK out. No sweat. Through Jim Thorpe to Hazleton, then backroads home. All in all, the trip was around 180 miles (give or take). It was a nice day. Nice views, and not too too hot.....until we stopped moving. LOL.

So that was Saturday.

Sunday (yesterday) was more or less a day of house stuff, spending time with the new Mom, and my kid. Yesterday he was in a foul mood. Hardly slept throughout the day. I was calling him "cranky pants" all day. (And a few other choice words :))
Simon is doing great though. He's getting his baby fat, he can see things clearer now, and God has given the poop even more "aroma". :)
And here he is after a good feeding. He gets "milk drunk". It's hysterical.

So that's about it. Nothing too spectacular. Nothing great, nothing bad. Just an average weekend.

Here's a little video I saw this morning that I literally laughed out loud at. I don't know why I find this so funny, I just do. Maybe you'll enjoy it too. Maybe not.

Have a great Monday. Find something to be grateful for, and everything will be OK.

If Simon could Talk

2010-07-14T09:46:00.007-04:00

If Simon could talk.......
For all I know, he's thinking other things. Or just mystified at the shiny object stuck to the fridge.

The little dude seems to be doing just what he's supposed to be doing. He's a baby. He eats. He cries. He spits-up. He cries. He sleeps. He cries. He wiggles around. He cries. He sucks on his fingers and pacifier. He cries.

It's funny. People are always coming up to me asking, "How's little Simon?" Well, he's still breathing, so "good" I guess. :) I mean, he's a baby. I don't know how he is. He could hate Justin Bieber for all I know.

Not much more to write. I'm tired. My body isn't used to the lack of sleep yet. It's getting there though.

Gotta go change a diaper.

Three posts in one

2010-07-08T15:51:00.005-04:00

It's been a little bit since I posted something.....having a baby in the house will do that to ya. Anyway....this is a 3 in one post. First part:

Went on the longest bike ride so far this past Monday. 280 miles. I have saddle sores. For real. It's not comfortable. But the ride was a TON of fun. Let's just say, Darren and I took the VERY LONG way to Wellsboro, PA and the quick way back. These are the only 2 pictures I have from the trip because, well, I was riding most of the time and I need both hands.

I LOVED this little general store. The first thing you see when you walk in the door are coon-skinned caps. What does THAT tell you?
It was a wonderful ride....LONG ride....but wonderful. It's going to take at least a week for my butt to get back to normal.

Second part.....the rant.
I'm not going to mention any company names here for fear that they may advertise with us in the future and I don't want to jeopardize the sale....BUT....when you have only 2 companies to pick from for a product, and your choice is based on the LESSER of two evils....it makes me not want to watch television anymore. (Not the places you get the TV's, but the companies that put the pictures in there). I cannot believe how unprofessional, disorganized, and just RUDE these people are at these companies. Plus, I don't know if they just lie to you to get your business, or one hand really doesn't know what the other hand is doing. I really wish I could get into details here, but to keep their anonymity, I cannot. Ugh. I wish cable TV wasn't so expensive.
When deciding on one of these companies, I feel like I'm weighing my options with politicians. It's not who can offer me a better service, with more channels, at the better price...it's who's not as sketchy and who's a little nicer. They still rip you off and double bill you for everything (check your bills each month CAREFULLY), but at least there's a show on we can watch FOR NOW.

Third part. Baby update.

Simon is doing GREAT. He's being exactly how he should be. A baby! He eats (marathon eating), he sleeps (snores sometimes too), and poops.......A LOT! But that's what babies do.

Here he is in the car on the way home from the hospital.
And here is my favorite picture of him (so far), after a 4 course meal and a few drinks. Just hangin' out with Mom.

I can just hear, "Hey Dad, how's it goin? Have a tough day at work? Not me man, Mom and I have just been chillin' out today. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to poop one more time, then I'm taking a nap."
We had him at the Dr's for his second appointment the other day. He's back up to his birth weight and his birth length, and according to the Doc, "that's above average of what we expect after 2 weeks"...so...way to go little man.
I took him out fishing with me on Saturday on the boat. I taught him how to throw the anchor overboard, and how to pull it out of the water when we were underway, but for some reason, he just can't grasp the concept of thumbs yet. No no no no no, I'm kidding. Just joking.

He did his job perfectly....plus he caught a few fish in the process.

So there are the three parts to this. I'm going to try and update more often for the three people that read this, but I can't make any promises....yet.
If you're in the neighborhood tomorrow (Fri 7/9/10), stop by Bo Brothers at PNC field in Moosic between 5 and 7PM and say "hi". I'm broadcasting live. That should be fun.

Talk with you later. I've got a dirty diaper to change. Cross your fingers he doesn't want to play fireman and pretend Daddy's chest is on fire......................again.

Simon Sez GET ME OUTTA HERE!

2010-06-26T08:13:00.007-04:00

Baby watch is over! Little Simon is here! He was born 2 days past due, and ONLY because they (medical team) had to go in after him. He was NOT coming out on his own. Here are the quick details....born 6/22/10 at 7:12PM. He was 7 pounds...14.5 ounces and 21.5 inches long. He's got a perfectly round head and he's JUST like his father with the attitude.

In a nutshell.....went in Sunday night (due date) for the beginning stages of inducement. Monday....ALL DAY....my wife was being "induced", and NOTHING happened. I mean NOTHING. So, they hooked her back up Tuesday....and doubled the inducing process. Still....NOTHING happened. No contractions, no water breaking, no labor pains, no dilation, no NOTHING! Oh, wait, one thing did happen, her blood pressure kept rising. So that's when they decided to go in a get him. He didn't even drop down....he was swimming around in there and refused to do anything because he was happy. So one quick c-section, and lots of muscle relaxers later (for my wife...NOT me lol), Simon Jenkins was born.

That was on Tuesday, it's now Saturday, and when I get off the air, I'm going back to the hospital to take Mom and Simon home. And it's SCARY!!! But it's OK. :)

And for the record.....I changed more poopy diapers in the past few days than my wife! His first night there, he pooped while I was changing him....ON ME. Blech. But I wouldn't trade it in for the world. That's why there's soap.

Here are a couple more pics of the little guy. I'd write more, but I'm exhausted. :)

I'm the happiest guy on earth! And the most grateful too!

Bridges, Bikes, and Baby (soon)

2010-06-15T15:33:00.011-04:00

So this past Saturday (6/12/10), when I got off the air on Magic 93, my friend Darren and I had plans to take a nice....................long...........................bike ride to.....................wherever! I love those rides. Just picking back roads, side roads, stopping every so often to look at something we've never seen before, and just relax. This long ride was just like the others, except this time I took pictures. :)

After a little chain adjustment on my bike, we took off into the wild-blue-yonder, and our first stop was here.

From what I read, and remember, these are the only twin covered bridges in Pennsylvania. And they're almost in our backyard. Instead of me giving you all the history on them, if you're interested, here are some links.

http://www.columbiapa.org/coveredbridges/twinbridges/index.php

http://www.columbiapa.org/coveredbridges/twinbridges/gallery3.php

http://www.coveredbridgesite.com/pa/east_paden.html

It was really cool seeing these bridges. I never knew I enjoyed covered bridges until I was able to walk through these.
There was an area (very small but nice) that had two or three spots for grilling, some picnic tables, and a little playground for kids. Of COURSE what I liked was Huntington Creek ran under these bridges, and there was a nice deep hole for trout fishing. Which one of the locals decided to do that day.

We watched him catch about 4 creek chubs, but he did pull out two or three nice trout while we watched. I'm sure there were more, but we were too busy looking for the little bikers room. :)

After we left there, we just started riding, and next thing you know, we ended up at World's End State Park.

The place was JAMMED with people, and we just wanted to stretch our legs for a bit since we were sooooo far from home. HOME? I almost forgot.....my wife is STILL pregnant at HOME. Oh boy. I had to call her to see how she was. No phone service. No prob. There's a pay phone. I'll call collect. I tried 3 times and for some reason the phone just wasn't cooperating. So we boogied it back down the mountain until I could find phone service. Whew, she's OK.
Next stop, Ricketts Glen State Park. (Sorry, no pictures). There we took a nice walk down to the beach, watch some anglers, visited the little biker's room again, and it's time to go home.
We rode all the way back home, a total of about 140 miles, round trip, and boy was my butt sore. Numb actually.

Now for the baby update. He's not here yet. He's due on Father's Day, but I think he'll be late.
I won't get into the gory details, but I believe he'll be a Cancer, not a Gemini.

Anyway.....I probably won't be posting for awhile since he is almost here, but stick around, because you never know....he may show up tonight.

Simon's Room

2010-05-11T15:53:00.009-04:00

It's almost done. We're just waiting on the glider/autumn now.
I don't EVER want to put together another piece of furniture as long as I live. :) But I know I will. Look at it this way, it's good practice for all those toys I'm going to have to assemble at Christmas time.

And my wife is allowing me to post her picture too. Just because it's the only picture of Simon we have so far. LOL.

I still can't believe he'll be here soon. Real soon!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look again!

2010-05-06T08:31:00.004-04:00

It almost happened yesterday (Wed) on the way home from work. I was almost a road pancake. By the grace of God (I firmly believe he was riding on the passenger seat with me), I was able to use what I learned in the MSF class and NOT become like a bug on a windshield.
I want to preface this post with: I WAS NOT RIDING LIKE A CRAZY PERSON. I WAS BEING VERY RESPONSIBLE (because I don't want to become a statistic).
I was on my way home on my motorcycle, traveling North on Hillside Road. I do NOT have a stop sign at the intersection (Huntsville Corners). A minivan at the stop sign on State Route 1005 did not look AGAIN. Pulled right out in front of me. Again, by the grace of God, I didn't go down, but my saddlebags did graze their back bumper. And they didn't even stop. I pulled over by Huntsville Dam (because I was shaking so bad...and I wanted to make sure I didn't pee my pants), a different vehicle stopped to see if I was OK.....only to have the car behind them start honking their horn and yelling to "MOVE IT!". WOW. Unbelievable.
Funny thing is......I didn't get mad. I got disappointed that the person didn't stop, and that other's didn't care about anything except getting to where they had to get to. Oh well, that's my problem I guess.

The big reason for this post though, isn't to tell you I had the daylights scared out of me. It's not to tell you how I almost met my maker yesterday......it's to BEG you....LITERALLY...I'm on my knees here.......BEGGING......PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE....when you're at an intersection, or changing lanes, or turning anywhere......PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look AGAIN. We motorcycle riders aren't anywhere as big as cage (car/truck/van/suv/etc). You WILL overlook us if you don't look again. And you may end up KILLING us.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking you to let us rule the road....I've got a TON of things I have to do on my part......look 12 seconds ahead, cover the brake/clutch, pretend I'm invisible, etc. And I plan on doing everything I can to be safe for me, and for you as well. Really. I don't want to end up in the passenger seat of your vehicle (unless you're giving me a ride somewhere :))

The weather is nice, and we're all over the place. Please, for the love of life, look again! I want to be around when my son is born.

PLEASE!

May Day weekend

2010-05-03T16:39:00.010-04:00

This past weekend was, I think, the nicest weekend weather-wise we've had. (Wow, say THAT 10 times fast).

Saturday was a day that was chock-full of stuff. It started out at 4:30AM. I get up, shower, gear up, pull the bike out of the barn, and as it's warming up, I noticed this......

Whoooo HOOOOOOOO!!!! 4 thousand miles I've ridden since December 2008. :) And the good thing is, I haven't killed myself yet. :) (God forbid). Reference here.

So I ride to work at 4:45AM, and by the time I got 4 miles into the ride...I was FREEZING cold. It was a chilly morning. Now, I still have PLENTY of time to get to work, so I stopped at Sheetz, got a cup of coffee and warmed up. I also put the full-fingered gloves on, the neoprene face mask, and zippered up every zipper on BOTH jackets. Made it to work with plenty of time to spare, and wasn't an icicle.
For the next few hours, I played Continuous Soft Rock, gave some stuff away, and had a pretty good shoe. Then I went to breakfast with one of my first interns. She was in the neighborhood, so we ran down to the local diner and enjoyed artery clogging eggs, bacon and coffee. Plus we had a lot of catching up to do. She's doing great, and I'm so happy for her.

Home I went...now SWEATING my brains out. The temperature shot up into the 80's by the time we were done with breakfast, and I still had all those layers (and not enough room in my saddlebags). Needless to say, I made it home without dehydrating (too badly). Once I got the bike back in the barn, stripped off the 74.3 layers, I noticed this amazing aroma wafting through my yard. The lilacs are in FULL-bloom, and they smell wonderful!

A friend of mine showed up at my house around 2:30, and we went fishing.....for the whole afternoon AND evening. The weather was wonderful. It was so relaxing. Plus we caught ooodles of fish. Tony is now known as the "Crappie-KING". Everything he threw in the water, wherever we were, he caught crappies. He did whack a few perch, bass and pickeral too. I, of course, had my fair share of pickeral, and bass.

That's not the lunker of the day, but it was a nice fish altogether. We ate hoagies/subs/grinders/whatever you want to call them, fished, drank oodles of water, and I had a great, relaxing day.
I also slept wonderfully that night! The Mrs. woke me up early enough on Sunday for us to have our traditional breakfast at the local restaurant, and off we went looking for a dresser for Simon's room.
We've looked at so many dressers, they all look the same to me now. I wouldn't know what I was looking at anymore. I did see one thing though that made me laugh (to myself of course).

That chair is a VERY small chair. It's for little kids. I was going to sit in it for a reference in size, but I'm too big. THAT'S how small it is. It's cute. It would be cool for a little kid.........but ONE thing made me wonder. See the cup holder? It's for a cup! Right?

I don't know if you can read that (click on it to make it bigger), but what little kid will be using that as an ashtray? Funny stuff.

So, all-in-all, this past weekend was good. Too short, but good. :) I got to ride my bike, I got to see an old friend, I got to go fishing, and I got to spend time with my pregnant, hormonal, cranky......oh wait....wonderful, thoughtful, caring, VERY ALTRUISTIC wife. :) She knows I'm teasing

I hope.

Wife's Weird Cravings/Random Thoughts

2010-04-21T11:11:00.002-04:00

So we're getting down to the wire. Baby Simon will be here soon. My wife's belly has officially bypassed my fat gut, and she's having little "issues". Not bad issues, just little issues. Like numbness/pain in her hand. Snoring loudly, keeping me awake....and she has to sleep on her left side, so that means she's snoring RIGHT IN MY EAR. Plus it's hard for her to get comfortable at night, and she's tossing and turning all the time. If you know my wife, she's not a very gentle individual, so when she tosses and turns, the whole bedroom tosses and turns. The window, the furniture, even the dogs are like, "What the....?"

The best part about this pregnancy with her, are the cravings of food. Not weird cravings.....just random cravings at weird times. Here are some random text messages from her:

8:53AM: I want Picnic Chicken.
(this is a certain dish from a restaurant by our house)

4:56PM: Oh My God!!! Wegman's is out of hot pretzels! NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Email today: I want a tomato sangwitch and gravy fries.

Plus add some lollipops to the cravings. Hot wings (which I'll gladly enjoy with her). Around Easter all she wanted was salad. LOTS OF SALAD. And I believe she has gone through about 38.6 GALLONS of Farmer's Iced Tea.

Then there are the odd, random text messages and emails.

"Bathe in the river! I cleaned the bathroom!"

"What are the measurements for Simon's room? I'm at Ollie's and I'll fill you in later. DON'T PANIC!!!!"

"I want to go to Canada".

All-in-all, this has been a great pregnancy for her. Minor nausea, minor aches and pains, minor ankle swelling. Plus, she looks fantastic! She's got this glow about her! And no, it's not a glow of anger at ME!!!! God Bless her....she's going GREAT!!!!

Pretty soon. Simon will be here pretty soon. I'm excited. She's excited. And as soon as he learns how to use his thumbs, he's going fishing with me.

Now I have to find a baby motorcycle helmet and leather jacket, and we'll be all-set!

It's Friday.....and GREAT WEATHER

2010-04-02T11:12:00.003-04:00

Not much to write....but I HAD to share this.

Me (outside at work, enjoying the beautiful day [slacking], talking with a co-worker).

Some dude (walking through our parking lot, noticing us standing by my motorcycle)

Dude: "Nice day. Did you bring the bike to work?"
Me: "Is the Pope Catholic?"
Dude: "No, he's German."

Happy Friday!

Here's a penguin. I don't know if he's German or Catholic.

Your Life Will Change

2010-03-19T09:11:00.003-04:00

As you know, my wife is pregnant and we're expecting our first kid on June 20th. I'm excited. I'm willing to change things. I'm not scared. I know my wife will be a wonderful Mother, and I'll do the best I can as a Dad (that sounds weird). I do not have any issues with being a parent. I will do whatever I have to do to be a good parent, and to keep the kid alive. I will ask a lot of questions, and seek the advice of others WHEN THE BABY IS HERE! Again....I WILL ASK!!!!!

Now for the rant........

Why is it, every person that has children, takes great pleasure in telling me how BAD everything is going to be? Why does everyone HAVE to volunteer their horror stories? To prepare me for it? I'm prepared! I'm willing! If I take what everyone has said to me in the past few months.....this is what my life will be like in June.

1) I will NEVER sleep. Not even a cat nap. I will end up in the hospital due to exhaustion.
2) I will have to buy myself new clothes often, because of the excessive vomit, pee and poop coming from the child, covering me and staining all my clothes.
3) I will only eat cold food, and maybe only once a week. It appears that whenever I want a hot meal, this child will sense that, cry, poop, puke, and do whatever it takes to prevent me from eating a hot meal.........................EVER! Leaving me cleaning him up, the floor, my clothes, the dogs, and what-not, only to get back to eating dinner......cold.
4) That cold food will be the only food available to me, and only once a week as well. I was told this morning, that if I make myself a sandwich, I'll attempt to take a bite, look at the child, despite my hunger pains, and the fact that I look like I haven't eaten in a month, look at the child, and automatically hand them the sandwich so they can eat.
5) I will NEVER have any more friends. And forget about quality time with anyone other than the child. I will lose all my friends (even the ones with children already), and no one will even stop over the house for a cup of coffee to say "hi".

And my favorite one of all time: (and I'm not being sarcastic here, this was actually said to me)
6) I will have to sell all my toys. ALL OF THEM. I was asked to rank the importance of my toys. When I asked why, I was told that I will have to sell them to afford this child. First my boat. Then my motorcycle. Then my ice fishing gear. Then my regular fishing gear. Then all my fish tanks.
Pretty soon, my wife and I will be selling ALL of our worldly possessions, selling our house, and living at the no-tell motel up the road because it's only 50 bucks a week rent.

Not one of these people told me anything positive. Not one of these people told me how wonderful it is to bring a child into the world. Not one of these people told me the joy that another human being brings you. Not one of these people told me how grateful they are/were about the job they did with their kids. Only the horror. The bad stuff. I haven't heard anything about how proud they are of their children.

No wonder guys get scared to death when their wife tells them they're pregnant.
I remember distinctly the feeling I had when that little white thing said "pregnant". I felt joy. I felt happiness. I felt excitement. Then I got everyone's opinion. :)

So my friends......I guess what is going to happen in June, is that my wife will give birth to my son, life will change to the complete opposite of what it is now, and I'll be dead by July. It was nice knowing you!

Think Positive AKA Change

2010-02-25T18:03:00.004-05:00

So it's snowing.........a LOT! It's what everyone is talking about. And, it's what everyone is COMPLAINING about. I've been a firm believer, that if you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. So instead of whining and crying about the snow falling....why don't we change the way we look at it. So look at it differently..... :)

It's Northeast PA. It's February. This is what happens. It'll be over before you know it, and then everyone will be complaining on how HOT it is.

Nothing changes, when nothing changes. Have a great day. Be grateful. Enjoy the snow.

Ice Fishing 101: A Tutorial

2010-02-22T17:53:00.018-05:00

So I haven't really written anything in a bit, because my life is, well, average. Nothing really too exciting (except baby shower registering, and that's an entirely different post), and nothing really too super to brag about.

Of course, it's the heart of ice fishing season, and I'm out ATTEMPTING to catch fish every weekend. This past weekend was no exception. There is one difference though. The friend that went with me has never hard water fished before. Yep, I had an ice fishing newbie out there with me on Sunday. Let me tell you, it was a learning experience for me as well.

First I have to say, he learned very well. He learned things quickly. He learned patience (no fish biting again this weekend ugh), and I learned my lesson. (Not in a bad way....I had a BLAST)

Going with a new guy, I experienced new things myself....things that I want to share with you......classroom style. Ladies and gentlemen, grab your coffee, and turn up the radio, because it's time for Tom's Ice Fishing 101 class. Here are the do's and don't's of ice fishing if you're going with me.

First thing is: Find a body of water that has ice. Safe ice. (No ice is 100% safe, but safe enough to walk, run, slide, crawl, dance, and jump on).

Once you have found that body of ice.........put your cell phone in your pocket, and LEAVE IT THERE. Don't spend your day Texting your girlfriend/wife. If you miss her that much, don't go fishing. :)

Make sure you have the correct equipment. Here are the necessities. An auger to cut through the ice.

Notice the bait bucket in the upper right as well. (It was super sunny and I couldn't see through the camera viewfinder). Make sure you have bait (minnows are the best). Also to the right in that pic is the spoon part of the scooper. That scoops out the slush from the hole once you drill one. Hence the name, "Scooper". Brilliant!

Next, a tip-up or three helps.
Oh yeah, leave your phone in your pocket. Please.

Next, drill a hole to make sure the ice is safe enough. And to set up your tip-up.

Use the 'scooper' to 'scoop' out the slush and what-not, and set up your tip up with bait. First make sure you don't have any holes in your "dip-net" to get the minnows out of the bait bucket.

Set up the tip up, and wait. That's pretty much it. At least that's how it's been this season.....wait.

Here are some 'extras' for you though if you're going ice fishing with me.

Make sure you bring water. To drink. Lots of water. You will dehydrate quicker on the ice than in the sun in the summer.
Notice it's half empty? I get thirsty. Also, make sure you have a nice HOT cup of coffee with you. There's nothing like sipping a hot cup of joe standing on the ice.

Drinking coffee, and lots of water, nature will eventually call. Luckily I'm a guy, so any tree will do, and no, there are no pictures to go along with that.

I suggest safety gear too....JUST IN CASE. Here, my friend has safety spikes hanging around his neck. This is in case he falls in, he can use these picks to pull himself out.

Luckily, we never had to use them yet (God forbid). (Phone is in his pocket.......for now).

Have good boots. Waterproof. Insulated. Good boots. If your feet get cold and wet....your day is done.
BOOTS.

these aren't boots
Beware of sea monsters. They sneak through the ice and try to grab your phone, that SHOULD be in your pocket.
If you want to bring food, and it's a Pop Tart, I highly suggest you put it in the cooler, or somewhere it won't get broken into a million pieces. Your cold fingers cannot grip small things, and you'll starve to death.

Leave your cell phone in your pocket.

Most importantly, have fun. Enjoy the day. Go for a walk when the fish aren't biting. Be grateful to share in the beauty around you. Inhale the fresh air (no germs in subzero temps). And tell stupid jokes. "Why does Snoop Doggy Dog carry an umbrella?" "For tha drizzle". Ha.

Overall, for me, the most important thing about ice fishing, is just having a good time with friends. Good conversation, fun ribbing, and maybe catch a fish or three. Unfortunately, I didn't catch anything, but I still had the good conversation (when someone wasn't on the phone), and some great ribbing. Plus, I brought a sandwich, not a pop tart so I had a good lunch. :)

I'm debating whether or not to hang up the ice fishing for the season and just chill on the weekends, or stick it out maybe another 2 weeks or so. Who knows, maybe we'll get a nice warm-up and melt the ice so I don't have to decide.

Anyway.....tight lines, droopy nets, stay on top.....and keep your cell phone in your pocket.

New Keyboard

2010-02-16T08:34:00.001-05:00

This is real cool. I got a new keyboard over the weekend. It's a brand new one made by Toyota. It's very reliable, and easssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssasaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Coldest day this season....LET'S GO FISHING

2010-02-01T14:56:00.006-05:00

Yeah........this past weekend was the coldest so far of the winter. Negative numbers after the sun went down (at my house at least), and just........plain.........cold.

So what does any person do when it's that super cold out? You got it.....GO FISHING!!!!!

Ha.

My friend Eric (Best Man at my wedding and one of two of my oldest friends) shows up at my house on Sunday around 7:15am to go ice fishing. Before you think we're crazy....let me explain something. Yes, the temperature may have been in negative/single digits, BUT there was no wind and not a cloud in the sky. It MAY have been 2F, but it felt like 15F, and that's nice when you're ice fishing.

If you've been following my ice fishing season...you'll know it hasn't been all that good. As a matter of fact, this is the WORST ice fishing season I have EVER experienced. Not that there's not enough ice, just not enough fish. I have no idea what's going on, but my "go-to" ponds and lakes skunk me. They are skunking ALL of us.

Anyway, he shows up and I'm just about ready. (I think it took longer to put my boots on...too many layers, and I'm getting older. I can't lift my legs that high anymore lol). Off we go to a private place in the Back Mountain. When we got there, we had to "gear up", and that takes awhile as well. Especially when it's that cold. I won't get into too much detail, but just imagine what it feels like when you're waiting for your significant other to get ready to go out. We both felt this at one point.......HURRY UP DUDE!!!! LOL.

Once on the ice, the serenity set in. It was an almost PERFECT day to be out there. Like I said before, no wind, no clouds......almost perfect! (If it was actually 25 or 30 F, it would have been perfect). We popped some holes and started setting up as usual. One problem we had to face was the holes freezing back up quick. It felt like a constant battle with the cold weather regarding keeping the holes open. But we managed.

After about an hour or so, I saw something that I have yet to see this year. A flag on a tip-up actually popped up. You heard me....a flag was tripped. FISH ON!!!!! (I hope at least).

Eric was on top of that flag like a lawyer at a car wreck. Then I saw something else I have yet to see this year. A fish was actually caught on a tip-up. ONLY 6 ICE FISHING TRIPS TO FINALLY SEE THIS!!!! It wasn't a huge fish.....but it was a fish!!!!! I HAD to take a picture.

I was sooooooooooooooooooo thrilled. My patience and tolerance finally paid off and I got to experience what I love so much (else) about ice fishing. That moment right there made my day...and if the trip continued the way all this year's trips were, it didn't matter. I saw a fish caught on a tip-up. I was satisfied.

A little bit of time progressed, some food was consumed, some coffee drunk, some water consumed (I had to keep shaking the 2 liter water bottle because it was freezing up), and of course TONS of laughter and joking around, then the magic words. Right from Eric's mouth, "Jenkins, you got a flag". What? I what? Where? How? When? Why? This is sooooooo not the norm this year. I ran to the tripped tip-up, and God granted me what I've been waiting for. What I've been searching for. What I hunt everytime I go out...........a LUNKER. (A lunker for you non-anglers is a real big fish.) My fishing line was SCREAMING under the tip-up, the reel was spinning so fast, the water was boiling around the hole (not really, but that would be pretty cool) and I set the hook. "DUDE, THIS IS BIG ONE!!!!" I think I said that about 5 times, all while fighting this fish. What scared me a bit is that this fish was swimming through EVERY STINKING PIECE OF WEED under the water. I had to pull this fish through weeds, around stumps, through some sort of maze he was going through, all while he was pulling back. It was WONDERFUL. I saw the head and said a prayer this fish wouldn't open its mouth, because if it did, I wouldn't be able to pull it through the hole. He obliged. He kept his trap shut and I landed the fattest pickeral I EVER landed. Not the longest, but the fattest.
This thing was a beast!!!!

My day was MORE than satisfying. I was super happy. We spent a few more hours on the ice, a few more smaller fish, and LOTS more laughs, LOTS more stories, and LOTS more coffee. :)

By the time we exited the ice, it was 24 times warmer than when we got out there. Yes, it was 24F. Now we were sweating. But that's OK, since we stripped off 34 layers, we were OK.

Half-way home, I realized I left my PRESCRIPTION glasses on the roof of the truck. Oh well, they are long gone now. Eric even volunteered to go back and look around on his way home. No avail. They are now with all the odd socks of the world. No biggie. I don't NEED them, and I have a back up pair or two. So this trip cost me a pair of glasses (and some gas $$). And I'm grateful.

If you're heading out fishing...tight lines, droopy nets, and stay on top (if ice fishing).
Thanks for reading, and for listening to Magic 93.

Almost Skunked AGAIN

2010-01-25T10:24:00.008-05:00

Saturday (1/23/10) was a beautiful day. The temperature where we were didn't get above 32F, but the sun was shining and there was a slight breeze. My friend Barry and I decided to go ice fishing. After I got off the air on Magic of course. We chose to go to Ford's Lake in Clarks Summit. A fairly big pond, but not too big that we had to walk 87 miles to a spot. We got there around noon and it appeared many others had the same idea.

No problem. No one was in the 'spot' Barry planned on. And out we went. The fishing trip started with Barry's gas auger NOT firing. He yanked that rope at least 50 times and the thing wouldn't even sputter. So I had to take the trek back to the truck to get the manual auger. It's OK, it was only about 1/2 mile walk, and the day was beautiful (I think I mentioned that already) Walking back to the spot, I decided to randomly click a pic with my phone. Here's what I saw.

We fished our area hard. 8 tip ups with decent bait and we were jigging numerous holes (well, I only jigged one, but Barry was all over). I caught 4....count `em....4 bluegill. And they were smaller than the bait we had on the tip-ups. I'm starting to sense this ice fishing season is awful, being that I've been out 5 times so far, and I've been skunked (not caught anything) almost all times we went. What is going on under that ice? Did the fish have a meeting in October and all move to Florida for the winter? Around 3:30, I begged Barry to go somewhere else. So we did. We packed up and went to a private pond that I KNOW is loaded with pickeral. I had a feeling I'd be chasing flags (tip-ups) on THIS body of water. I didn't care if they were tiny, I just wanted to chase flags and catch some fish!

We arrived at our new location, popped enough holes for our tip-ups, and waited. And waited. And waited. WHERE ARE THE PICKERAL? WHERE ARE THE FISH?
It was night time when we left there.
The sun is almost down in that picture..........still no fish. Yep, we walked off that lake in the dark without a single fish to show for it. I may retire my ice fishing career for this season if this keeps up. Ugh. Barry still had a good time though.

So on Sunday, I had an invite to go fishing again, this time I said "NO". You heard right, I declined to go fishing. Wow....the fishing must really stink for me to say no. Another friend Mike and I went GeoCaching instead. Nothing too intense (being that it was supposed to rain badly), just some cache's around the area. We found all but one we went searching for. And that ONE was on the 8th Street Bridge somewhere. Gorgeous views, but the traffic was awful. We did learn a lot though through our day. We learned about the Dennison House in Wyoming, we learned about the Bloody Rock in Wyoming too. I didn't even know that was there.

That was one angry woman!

And we TRIED to learn if we could park here. We weren't sure, so we didn't venture too far from the truck. Luckily the cache was within reach.

All in all, we had a good time. We found a park in Franklin Township that neither of us knew existed....we found hiking trails right off the Cross Valley that we didn't know were there.....and we found a TANK in Swoyersville. Yes, a full-blown tank!
The way I look at it......I may have almost gotten skunked on Saturday, I didn't give the fish a chance to skunk me on Sunday and I still got out and enjoyed the day with friends. Let's just hope I can get my son (when he's old enough....oh, and born first) into the same hobbies.

Enjoy your day! Thanks for reading...thanks for listening to Magic 93.

T

Stan, Sushi, Simon, Satisfaction

2010-01-20T15:41:00.008-05:00

My apologies for not updating in a while. My apologies to all 4 of you who read this. :) I was sick for a bit (flu or something), and I was cranky (work or something) for a while too, so I didn't feel like it. ANYWAY.........

Every year, Stan Phillips and I go for a sushi lunch, and it's usually Stan's Christmas present to me. Today, Stan and I went for sushi, for my 2008 Christmas lunch. I enjoy it when we go to lunch, because we don't really get too much time to chat during the work day. He's super busy being the boss, I'm super busy slacking.....I mean......writing and producing commercials, so it's always a treat when we can sneak out for an hour or so. And today was the day.

We went to a local Japanese/Sushi restaurant that we have been to many times before, and today, for some reason, was even better than I remembered. Now, I'm not a HUGE sushi fan......but I really do enjoy it.....once a month maybe. Twice is rare.
We had to go at 2PM, because that's when Stan gets off the air, so by 1:55PM, I was STARVING. I skipped lunch knowing we would be shoveling raw fish down our throats. We belly-up to the Sushi bar, and I pretty much already know I don't want too much for lunch, but enough to be full. No prob.....I'll have the "Sushi Lunch" which includes a soup (Miso), salad (with yummy ginger dressing), 5 pieces of sushi (Tuna, Salmon, Yellowtail, Shrimp, and something I don't recognized but I ate it anyway), and a half of a California Roll. I substituted the California Roll with a Philly Roll. "That's a dollar more" the waitress said, with my response...."That's OK, he's paying." :)
This is what it looked like.
Now mind you, I did not take a picture of the salad or soup...you know what they look like. Also, this was my PLAN. This of course did NOT go the way I wanted. But this time, it's OK.

The waitress comes over, takes our drink order, and in 2.5 seconds has our drinks on the counter in front of us. How they do that, I have no idea. While we were waiting for our drinks, we were noticing the "Roll specials" on the wall, and I commented they all sounded good. I order my sushi lunch. Stan orders the Sashimi lunch. THEN he orders a "Volcano Roll" for us to split. OK, I'll try it. I'm game. Let me explain what's in a Volcano Roll. Avocado. Shrimp Tempura (lightly deep fried shrimp). Jalapeno pepper (no seeds). Spicy Salmon. All rolled together, topped with Roe (fish eggs), with a Cilantro dip on the side.
We chat a bit longer, eat our salad, eat our soup, and the Sushi chef hands us a little plate of some concoction he "whipped" up.
I have no idea what it was, but Stan and I ate the whole thing. It was DELICIOUS. That sushi chef is one heck of a nice guy.

Then the VOLCANO ROLL comes out. It was a masterpiece. A work-of-art. It was beautiful.

I didn't want to eat it. I wanted to look at it all day. It was right then and there I knew....I knew dinner was NOT an option tonight, and this afternoon was going to be an uncomfortable rest of the day. (Shhhh, don't tell anyone, but my pants are unbuttoned). The volcano roll not only looked fantastic....it is now officially my favorite sushi roll I have ever had the joy of eating. It was unbelievable. We finished the volcano roll, and I was satisfied. Then I remembered......MY LUNCH IS NOW COMING OUT. Oh boy.
Out comes the lunch, and for the first time, I did not finish all of it. I usually eat everything when it comes to sushi, but today, I left 2 pieces of my Philly Roll on the plate. I just could NOT eat anymore. It's not that I didn't want to, I just couldn't. As I sit here and type, I know I still can't finish it. Even if it was here.....staring at me....I couldn't finish it.

So let's see.....soup, salad, sushi chef concoction, volcano roll, 98% sushi lunch and 2 sodas. Yep, I'm gonna hurl. No, not really (I hope). But I am stuffed!!!! Overloaded. I just want to take a nap now. The worst part about this is that I want to do this once a month. The food was THAT good. I have eaten sushi in many different places in NEPA, and I have to say, that where we went today is the absolute best. To risk getting in trouble with our sales department, I won't say where we were...but it is my favorite. And by the looks of it, it's Stan's too.

I'd eat a mint for desert, but I don't think there's any room.

On a different note, as you well know, my wife and I will (God willing) be having a baby this June. We just found out.....I put the stem on the apple. :) I (my wife) am having a little boy. A little fishin' partner. A fellow motorcycle rider. And we have decided his name will be Simon. Not after that jerk on American Idol......just Simon because we like that name. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of Simon yet.....so here's our sushi chef from today.

Hope you have a great rest of your day. Find something to be grateful for. My list is too long to write at the moment, so I'll leave you with this: Look at your feet. You are RIGHT where you're supposed to be right now! Enjoy it!

Thanks for reading. Thanks for listening to Magic 93.

Tom

New Layout

2010-01-05T16:33:00.002-05:00

Hope you like it. :)

And for fun...here's a picture of our child.

Text messages

2010-01-04T14:18:00.004-05:00

It's Monday, and I thought I'd share my last three text messages I received.

These are my friends. These are the people I associate with. Take it as you will.

Text 1 Hey, left a can of beans on the floor in the studio. Could you put it in the fridge?

I did. :)

Text 2 Good call! Stay in and stay warm!

This is in reference to me not ice fishing yesterday. It was waay too cold and waaaay too windy for any fun on the ice.

Text 3 First Sunday off this week. Let's make swiss cheese out of some lake. I'll even do the Mexican Fish Dance.

This is for this coming weekend. A friend of mine (years ago) decided to 'dance' around the holes we drilled when the fishing was slow.......so now a bunch of us refer to it (and do it) as the Mexican Fish Dance. I actually have a picture.
That was from many years ago.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading, and for listening to Magic 93. Cya.

Happy New Year!!!!

2010-01-01T06:09:00.007-05:00

First, let me wish you a very Happy New Year!!! Or as some say, Happy New Years.

Second......it's just past 6AM on January 1st and I'm on the air. Yes, I'm working. Yes, I watched the ball drop last night, so, yes, I'm running on only about 3 hours of sleep. That doesn't really bother me.....what really bothers me is that I made a HUGE mistake last night. And let me tell you, this is NOT a good way to start the new year.

A few years ago....I quit drinking. Why? That's an entirely other post at an entirely other time. Let's just say, I'm grateful that in a these few years I have NOT awakened in the morning with a hangover...feeling like I slept in cold mud with the flu. I have awakened feeling tired, but NOT hungover, and always within a few minutes, feeling great to tackle the day.
Well, before you jump to conclusions, I did NOT partake in the spirits last night. But I sure as heck FEEL like I did. WHY? Two words.

Chicken wings.

The human mind is an odd thing (OK, mine is). It's difficult for me to remember the bad consequences related to boozin'....but I do remember all the good times. Luckily, by the grace of God, he has provided me with chicken wings to remind me.
It's difficult for me to remember the bad consequences related to eating chicken wings, especially a whole dozen within 10 minutes. I remember the delicious, mouth-watering tang of the vinegar, the slight burn of the spices, and the oh-s0-yumbilee in my tumbilee combination of dipping the whole wing in bleu cheese dressing. And this morning.....I now remember why I don't eat chicken wings that often. I also remember another reason I quit drinking. The hangover. Thanks to the chicken wings.
My stomach is ON FIRE this morning. I have taken my Nexium pill, plus a Zantac, plus I'm swallowing antacids like candy, and I feel like I was out drinking all night long.
Now, mind you, I'm grateful I actually WASN'T drinking last night...and I am grateful that this chicken wing hangover will pass soon (I hope), but oh my goodness, I feel like I swallowed gasoline this morning, and I'm just waiting for someone to drop a match down there. I had to write about it, so I can hopefully come back to this post next time my mind says, "Go ahead Jenk......go on, you know you want chicken wings. You know you do! "

On a side note.....let's see if my fishing partner will be too hungover to go ice fishing today. Haha. I'll be able to empathize, but hey, if I can get up at 4AM to be here at work, WITH a chicken wing hangover, he can sure as heck get his drunk butt out of bed. I'm driving. Come to think of it.......could I get a DUI for operating a motor vehicle after a night of binge chicken wing consumption?

Happy New Year!!!! I hope each day gets better for you. And remember, do we REALLY need resolutions? Do we REALLY need a new day to change? No......just change now! :)

NOTHING CHANGES, WHEN NOTHING CHANGES.

New Tank

2009-12-28T09:53:00.003-05:00

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas day. I learned something about myself on Christmas. I learned that I cannot sit still. I was very restless as the day progressed, so I had to go out to the garage and 'tinker'. I tinkered on a, hopefully, successful CO2 injector for my new fish tank. Let's back up.

Grandma wanted to get my wife and I BOTH something for Christmas, and we needed a new fish tank at home. (The old one ended up with a small crack in the side of it).
So Grandma gave us the cabbage, and last week, we went and picked up a new tank. A 29 gallon to be exact. I like that size. Not too big, not too small.
Well, this tank has been sitting, empty since we brought it home, and of course, that gets my mind wandering on what I want to do to/with it. I really want plants....real plants. There is no pet place locally that sells the kind of plants I wanted, so I knew a trip to Lancaster to That Fish Place was going to be in the future. (That Fish Place has not given me anything to talk about them. They don't even know I exist as a person...just some more $$$).
Anyway.....I got some ideas and made a mental note of them.
On Christmas Day, my Mother-In-Law and Father-In-Law got me a new filter for the tank. Not the 'hang on back' kind. They got me the canister kind. I won't go into detail on the differences, but let's just say, the canister filters more water, faster, and you can't even hear it running.
Now I MUST get to Lancaster so I can set up this tank. I want sand substrate, I want plants, I have the filter, I need a super bright light for the plants, and I'm making that CO2 injector (out of a 2 liter bottle of soda btw).
Saturday rolls around, I'm on the air until 10am, I get home, and the wife and I decide...ROAD TRIP! With the rain, and wind, and BLECH, it took us about 3 hours to get to That Fish Place. We spent 2 hours in the store. And another 3 to get home. More travel time than shopping time. Too funny.
Needless to say, I got all the substrate I needed (black sand), I decided on a "Low Light" plant pack because they don't make bulbs to fit my tank that are bright enough, and a bunch of misc. items. Sunday is the day planned for setting up the tank. And believe me.....it took all darn day!

First I had to clean the substrate. Do you know how difficult it is to rinse sand? Thankfully, my garden hose wasn't frozen, so I was able to use a 5 gallon bucket and rinse it that way. For HOURS!!!!! The sand got rinsed, placed in the tank, and then we set up the filter.
Have you ever tried to put furniture together you purchased from IKEA? (IKEA did not give me anything to mention them here.) If you have, you know that it's not easy. First because the instructions aren't in English, second, the illustrations look like they were drawn by a kid in first grade. IKEA instructions are better than the instructions we got with this filter. BUT, we managed to get it all put together. And working! LOL.

In the end.....(took almost all day).....I finally put the last plant in the sand, and just let the water filter through, cleaning out all the blech from the sand, and the plants, and from me sticking my arm in there over and over and over again. Of course, I took some pictures. Here they are. Enjoy. I will be putting fish in there, just not too soon. I want to make sure the plants don't die.
Happy New Year! Pray my plants don't die. Pray that they grow. Big and strong. :)

Thanks for reading, and for listening to Magic 93.

OMG, TTFN, TTYL, FFILROX!

2009-12-15T14:06:00.005-05:00

2 things I want to talk about today. First......Enough about Tiger Woods. PLEASE!! He cheated, he was unfaithful, with many different people....so what? (That's rhetorical).

OK, now the second thing. LOL.

I'm all for new technology. I love the internet. I love high tech gadgets, being able to surf the web on my cell phone, and using "Blue Tooth" technology. Last night I just realized that I'm getting older because there are things about all this new technology that I don't like....at all!
One is the new kids coming out of college that have no idea how to spell. Simple words. They rely on 'spell-check' so much, that I don't believe they ever learned how to correctly spell. Also, their grammar is terrible. Run-on sentences that go on for paragraphs, never end where they should have no punctuation sevnty too diffrent thoughts all mooshed togeter in one long sentinse that seems like it nver ends ect ect ect. (ETC....I know, I'm being saracastic).

Don't get me wrong, I am FAR from perfect when it comes to the English language, but you can understand what I'm writing.....right? I guess it's just a huge pet peeve of mine.

I also know I'm getting older because I found out my Aunt had a stroke.....months ago. How does that make me feel old? Because I found out through my sister, via email, and when I asked why no one from my Aunt's family called me, her response was, "Oh, I found out months ago on Facebook. If you had Facebook, you would have known." I can accept the fact that professionals in my field don't want to talk directly to me, so they have to email me. I can accept the fact that friends who don't want full blown conversations text message me instead of talking to me. But my own family? When someone HAD A STROKE couldn't call me on the phone? Just EXPECTED me to have a Facebook account? Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't they already know if I had a Facebook account? And they STILL didn't call me? I don't understand. I guess they don't want to talk one on one anymore. As a matter of fact, I don't think ANYONE wants to TALK anymore. Well, if anyone wants to know how I'm doing.....

1) Fine.
2) Healthy
3) Happy
4) Work is good
5) Wife is good (pregnant)
6) The dogs and cats and fish are good
7) Oh, and for those who don't answer the phone(catch #5?).....I'm going to be a Father in June. That's right, the Mrs. is expecting, and God willing all goes well, there will be a little one crying and pooping all over the place this summer.
Now when I get the phone call with, "Why didn't you tell me?" I can say, "If you just read my blog, you would have known all about it!" I'm such a hipocrite. :)

One last pet peeve. If you are going to send me a text message....make it just that please....ONE text message. If you want to carry on a conversation, CALL ME!!! LET'S CHAT A BIT!!! And can you please spell out words? I don't understand TFND, LO>L OOFFI...ROXKKSHH.

The following actually happened awhile back. Names have been changed to protect the innocent (and communicationally challenged)
My phone: HIYA. HWRU?
My message: Hey. What's up?
My phone: NUTTIN.
My message: Everything OK?
My phone: YEAA>.BORED.
At this point, I had an idea what was happening. So I did not respond. Only to have this next message pop up.
My phone: WUTCHU DOIN?
My message: I'm working. If you want to talk, just call me.
My phone: WUTS THE NUMBER?
I almost dropped my phone. What's the number? The number to call me? I HAD to ask.
My message: What number? The phone number?
My phone: YEAA. SO I CAN CALLU.

So I guess, cellular phones are only for text messaging anymore. I think we have gone BACKWARD in time, sending messages via airwaves.....telegraph?
Needless to say, they called, (after I had to give them my number, the same number they were texting me to) the conversation lasted 30 seconds because of complete silence on the other end, and I'm still in awe.
My computer at home has been broken for awhile, and you know what? I think I like it that way! You want to talk to me, call me. :) Or better yet, just stop by the house, we'll have a cup of coffee, and, -gasp-, maybe even, -gulp- TALK FACE TO FACE AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH, THE HORRRRRROR!!!!!!

And yeah, my wife really is pregnant. She's in the 13th week, so I'm allowed to talk about it now.

Wow, I had a lot built up there. Whew, thank goodness I vented.

Merry Christmas! Thanks for listening!

No, I won't play Dominick the Donkey! LOL.

Soon

2009-12-11T09:49:00.002-05:00

Friday, December 11, 2009. This is the temp from this morning at my house. (Bottom number)

I made darn sure to text that picture to everyone on my ice fishing list. It won't be long now.
Welcome Old Man Winter! Welcome!
I received a response from my one friend in Philly, all it said was "Nice". He's not a man of many words. Then I received another from a different friend in Scranton with a picture of HIS thermometer. It read 23F with the caption, "Can't wait bro....soon!"
The pond/puddle I pass every morning was locked up (no open water), and I think this weekend, I'll be checking out all the local ponds I usually hit first. Now I just need a crazy friend to come along with me in case I decide to become a depth finder (God forbid).

Soon!

Snow Storm Question

2009-12-09T09:51:00.004-05:00

Why is it when there's a snow storm predicted, people buy up all the Milk, Bread and Eggs from the grocery store?

Do they ALL get an unbelievable craving for French Toast?

Some of my fav Holiday Vids

2009-12-05T08:02:00.003-05:00

I was sitting at work yesterday (Friday) and memories of Holiday video's swamped my brain. Some funny, some amazing. I want to share them with you. Something different because all I've been talking about lately is ice fishing and GeoCaching. :)

First, I think this one is SOOOO cute. Plus I like the Drifter's.

Next is a group YES ACCAPELLA group, Straight, No Chaser and their version of the 12 Days of Christmas. It's talent, humor, and good clean Christmas fun!

I remember when this aired and I couldn't stop laughing. I'm not a HUGE SouthPark fan, but this was hysterical. Ah, memories. :)

And of course, another accapella version of Oh Holy Night by Boy Band N'Sync. I just like it because it's accapella. Not because it's N'Sync. LOL.

And finally (for now), this is one of my favorite holiday tunes. I also find it amazing the story behind the recording. Look it up if you want to know. If not, just enjoy the song.

Thanks for listening to the Magic of Christmas on Magic 93. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Tom

Gone ice fishin'........NOT YET.

2009-12-02T09:22:00.004-05:00

So on my home last night (Tuesday 12/1/09), I stopped to pick something up at the store, and the puddles were frozen over!!!! FIRST ICE BABY!!!!!! Too bad the ponds and lakes aren't frozen over yet....BUT....we're getting there. It was a "scrape your windshield" morning, as well as my deck was slick this morning too. I checked the long range forecast, and if it goes as predicted, we won't be on the ice until the new year. I think this is the latest I've gotten out since I started ice fishing. The earliest was a few years ago, we were out on Black Friday. THAT was a cold winter. But now....some past reminders of WHY I love ice fishing. (And to torture myself some more)

C'mon Old Man Winter!!!! Hold off on the snow, but bring the cold so we'll have some, "ICE ICE BABY"

Busy Week and Lots of FUN!!

2009-11-30T08:07:00.007-05:00

For those of you who know anything about Advertising.......the week before Thanksgiving all the way up to the Wednesday before are sheer mayhem. EVERYONE wants to advertise, and they all want to get on the radio NOW!!! So it's a bit busy. BUT, I made it through another year with minimal hair loss, and only one day with high blood pressure. So Thanksgiving came and my wife and I spent it with family like we do every year. Delicious food, great company, and the newest addition to the family (cousin) started the Italian traditions early.
There's wine at every dinner (Thanks Uncle Saul)......and that Turkey leg was almost bigger than him. Of course my niece had to get in on the act as well.

She took one bite and was done. That's OK, Uncle Tommy was more than happy to finish off the leg. I think she wanted the chocolate pie more than anything else.

I got stuffed. I loved it. I slept wonderfully that evening. :)

Then of course, having a few days off, and with beautiful weather, I grabbed my friend Mike, and we went......yes....GeoCaching!
Since I've been gloating about how I love geocaching, a lot of people ask, "What do you find? Where to do you find these 'cache's'?" Well, I've got pictures of the actual cache's and/or hiding places. So if you're out geocaching, and you're looking for these specific ones, please don't wreck the fun for others, and use this information for good...not evil. :)
Yesterday (Sunday) was a day to "HIKE". A lot of the caches we find are "Urban", which means they are hidden in town, in parking lots, on the outskirts of the Weis/Mr. Z's grocery store...etc etc. So we decided to hit the forest for some hiking and caching. I'm so glad we did. I got so much stinkin' exercise yesterday, I worked off the entire Thanksgiving dinner.
The first one we hiked to was behind the "Stump Pond" near Francis Walter Dam. This was a HUGE hike. We walked for what seemed like an hour just to get to Ground Zero. It was a nice hike though. Not too rough, but not like walking on pavement. When we got to the area, Mike was focusing on the GPS while I looked around. "What is this?" "Why is there a rope attached to a tree in the middle of nowhere?" I followed the rope up the tree only to find this.

The cache was WAAAAAAYYYYYYYY up the tree. So we used the rope to lower it down and found all the treasures inside.
I signed the log, read some of the other inputs, and we took a little toy. I also left a Red Rose Lucky charm. :) Then back up the tree she goes for someone else to find.
After the 32 hour hike back (I exaggerate) to the truck, we were off to find another. This one was supposedly ON THE ROAD to Francis Walter Dam. We pulled over and allowed the GPS to take us all over creation with NOTHING around us. BUT then......I think this may be it!
"Mike........is that it over there?"

Yep...that's it. Where you may ask? Under the reflector. YES...UNDER IT.

That was an interesting one too. We trucked on into the park, found one in a bird's nest, then called it a day, because the one road was closed due to construction. Back home we went. Mike says, "Let's see if we can find the one in Dallas Park again". He says "AGAIN", because we were there on Friday ripping the woods apart looking for this. BUT THIS TIME....we found it. We actually found 2 right next to each other, but there was only supposed to be one. Oh well, signed both logs, left some little things while we took the "Goofy" toy, and I took Mike home. It was getting dark.
All-in-all, I had a wonderful holiday break (even though I worked on Friday and Saturday), enjoyed caching with Mike, enjoyed dinner with the whole fam damily, and enjoyed the laziness with my wife.
I can't wait to see what this week looks like in the advertising aspect. :) Some years it's explosive, other years it's been super slow. We'll see. (Let's hope for the explosive).
Until next post....thanks for reading, and thanks for listening to Magic 93.

Tom

Cemetery Caching

2009-11-17T13:38:00.008-05:00

So I'm obsessed. Yes, as per my last post, GeoCaching has obsessed my persona. I love it. It's like I'm a treasure hunter out for buried treasure.
It's an adventure. I think next time I'm going to dress up like Indiana Jones....I do have the hat. LOL. Strap a whip to my belt, throw on a brown leather jacket, no pistol because I'd hurt myself, and carry around a big radio playing the theme song when we get close to the cache. That would be hysterical.
I sneak out at lunch to find some 'micro' caches around town, and when the weekend hits, I spend a whole day searching. This past Sunday was no exception. I had it all planned out with my friend Darren. So I met up with him around 9:30 at his place, which is in the middle of really, nowhere, and off we went. I printed out a bunch of cache's that were all around his neighborhood, because 2 weeks ago, we found all the ones in MY neighborhood. :)
The majority of these caches were little ones, found on guard-rails hidden inside 'hide-a-key', but there were a few that were in cemetery's. Some cemetery's were nicely kept, but there were 2 that were, let's just say, like something out of a horror flick. One cemetery was very well kept, and the view was just amazing!!!!
Beautiful!!!!

Without further ado.....here are pics of the other 2 cemetery's that really need help. One I didn't even know was there until we were on top of it....it was creepy.

None of the cache's were anything spectacular, but it was sure fun going on these treasure hunts. I STRONGLY suggest, if you want to get outdoors for awhile, get some exercise, and just enjoy places around town you never knew existed, give GeoCaching a try.

Hide and Seek for adults AKA GeoCaching

2009-10-31T07:03:00.006-04:00

This past Monday or Tuesday, I was reading posts on this motorcycle forum I belong to, and someone had posted about "GeoCaching". I used to drive a Geo, so I was intrigued, only to find out it has nothing to do with Geo's. :)
If you have never heard of this, it's a treasure hunt......for real. Here's how it works:

You create an account on a website, like geocaching.com (it's free), and that's when you get hints/clues/coordinates to find the "cache". A cache is anything the hider wants it to be. It could be a tupperwear container painted green or black, it could be a film container in a plastic bag, or even a matchbox in a bag. It can be as small as they want it to be (microcache) to as big as they want it to be. In these 'caches' could be anything, but usually they all have a "log book". Some have little knick-knacks in them, some "tracking" items to keep track of how far around the world they travel, etc. And yes.....these things are hidden IN PUBLIC. It's cool.
Once you have an account created, you NEED to have some sort of GPS....handheld ones work the best. I have the Garmin ETrex that my wife got me for Christmas one year when I fish the big lakes...(I DO get lost and this has saved my butt many times).

Using your GPS, you punch in the coordinates you get from the website, and off you go. If you find the "cache", it's suggested you sign the log book with time and date, who you are on the website, and if you want to leave them a message. Then if the cache has little toys/knick-knacks/SWAG in it, and you want to take something from there, you can, as long as you put something in. Once you're finished for the day, you log back into your account online and log everything you did. It's pretty cool to see how many people have found the same thing you have, and where they're all from, etc.

So, this peaked my interest knowing I have a GPS, and I decided to try this this weekend. But my impatience got the best of me, and yesterday (Friday) while at work, I found a "cache" online that was hidden real close to the radio station. Actually, according to my GPS, it was .32 miles from here. :) On my lunch hour, I grabbed Adam (night time guy on Magic) and said, "c'mon, we're going for a walk in the woods to find something". He said, "what are we looking for?" I said, "I don't know, and that's going to be the fun of it". I explained what we were doing on the way down the block, and next thing you know, we're walking into the woods. The GPS was taking us little by little to the location of this unknown prize. Let me tell ya, the walk in the woods was refreshing and a nice break from the Friday mayhem, but what made it even cooler, was when the GPS got us to "Ground Zero". We were now standing in an area in the woods of about a 50 foot radius, and there was nothing around us but tons of leaves, trees and rocks. Seriously...NOTHING but woods. So Adam starts kicking leaf piles, and I'm looking for hollow trees, and we still can't seem to find this "cache".

So we are standing there just looking around, and I notice this HUGE rock. This rock had moss all over the top of it, and I noticed none of the other rocks had moss. I pointed to the rock, and Adam says, "huh, yeah right, it'll take 3 of us to lift that thing". I tapped on the top and it made a "thunk thunk thunk" sound. Both our eyes lit up....it was hollow....it was NOT a rock. I lifted it up (easily mind you because it was made out of foam), and sure enough, underneath was an ammo can. Inside the can was a huge log book with tons of signatures, and LOTS of 'knick-knacks'. I immediately signed the book with the comment, "GREAT CAMOFLAGE!!!" I also read back to the beginning of the book to find out this cache was hidden in May of 2005. It's been there for over 4 years.....I find that amazing!!! I didn't root through the can because we were on our lunch break and we had to get back to work, but I did leave a bottle opener in there that I took off my keychain. It was SUPER fun, and the adrenaline rush we got when we found it was the same feeling as when a fish takes your bait ice fishing.

Needless to say, I have printed out a bunch of different locations all around my area, and a friend will be coming over Sunday for us to go on our adventure. I have a feeling I'm really going to enjoy this new hobby. Hiking, exploring, being outdoors, AND getting a material reward for it......good times!!! If you want to get more details on GeoCaching....check out GeoCaching.com.

As always, thanks for reading, and thanks for listening to Magic 93. Hopefully I can find my way out of the parking lot!

Oh the Horror!

2009-10-28T09:32:00.012-04:00

Being that Halloween is almost here.......and the wife and I watched the original "Friday the 13th" movie the other night....I thought, "Hey, talk about all your favorite horror movies, and see who likes what". :)

So, without further ado; my favorite horror movies.

Let me preface all this by saying that I really enjoy horror movies. I enjoy the good ones, and the bad ones. When I say "bad", I mean poorly done, AKA "B" movies......like Troma flicks. Also, the majority of the movies I'm going to talk about here are NOT for kids.

I love the Friday the 13th flicks. I have yet to see the 'remake', but I really enjoy the originals. Probably because "Part VI" was the FIRST horror movie I ever saw, and I saw it at the "Eric" theater in Scranton. Remember the "Eric"? Fifty cents for the movie? The theater was also set up like an actual Broadway theater. There was something to be said about watching a horror movie in a 'classy' theater. I also really enjoyed it because it was full of loud mouth kids just like me, screaming and hootin' and hollerin'....and when the moron of the movie got axed....we all cheered. Good times. I was NOT fun walking home from Downtown Scranton back to South Side at night though.

I also enjoy the original Halloween movies too. Michael Myers is a good killer. Why? Because one minute he's there in the background....and the next he's not. He's got that lightning strike timing down! As for the Rob Zombie remake....YES, I SAID REMAKE....it was good...but the original is hands-down the best. Now, when the "Jamie" character made her appearance, that's when the series went down hill (all my opinion btw). Plus, Halloween 3 had NOTHING to do with Michael Myers. It was about stupid mind controlling masks.

Next up.....the Phantasms. These were almost "B" movies, but I enjoy them just as well. Those silver spheres were NASTY!!!! And the little folks were like Star Wars Jawa's with attitude.
And of course, the "Tall Man" is just creepy as is. If you can get past the bad acting, these movies are pretty entertaining.

The first 2 Hellraiser flicks were good, but then they got weird. As well as the first three "Nightmare on Elm Street"s.

If anything, and you feel like laughing....I strongly suggest you watch the very first horror movie spoof "Student Bodies". It's finally out on DVD (why they took so long to release it, beats me). It's not a new movie, but it's hysterical. I laugh so hard everytime I watch it because I usually catch something I missed before. Like the cat in the backyard that barks. Or when the girl walks across the floor, the footsteps don't match when she's walking. The killer is known as "The Breather", and you can't understand him because he talks through a rubber chicken. Too funny.

There are a ton of other ones that I'll watch again and again and again, and I really don't have much more time today to share them. I will say though, if you want to watch a movie that will really mess with your mind, see if you can find "Martyrs". It's a French movie, but there are English subtitles. Do NOT allow your kids to watch it. It will mess up your head, so imagine what it would do to a kid. It's not scary, per se, but it is violent, and emotionally draining. It's a really messed up movie. I enjoyed it BECAUSE it made me go, "WHAT? How? But....OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". "Wait, it's over already? OH.....HOLY.......OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....OUCH......Whew." "WAIT.....MORE? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". It's a three part movie. Watch it to the end (if you can).

So that's my short list. Maybe I'll update if I think of more. I'd LOVE to hear what your favorite horror/scary movies are. Leave a comment, or drop me an email. Fill me in.
Happy Halloween!!!! Maybe this Saturday morning, I'll do the morning show talking through a rubber chicken.

Thriller Accapella Style

2009-10-21T12:38:00.002-04:00

If you know me by now...you know I like accapella music.
I also think it's pretty cool when ONE person does ALL the parts of a song. This French guy did JUST that with Jackson's "Thriller" last year. And the cool part is you see all the parts as well as hear them.
Just in time for Halloween.......

Plus I think his French accent is funny when he says "Thriller". My French Grandmother sounds the same when she says her "TH"'s. We try to get her to say Massachusetts. Forget it. She'll throw you out of the house before she says it. But we love her just the same.

Thanks for listening to Magic 93!!!

Random Photos from "My Pictures"

2009-10-19T12:39:00.010-04:00

I thought this would be fun. Just random pictures I have saved. I won't even look at them first, I'll just select a shot, then upload it here. Then I'll tell a little story about that picture. Here we go.

This is my friend Rob. He used to work here awhile ago. This is a pic of him holding a Blue Fish from our Deep Sea fishing trip in NJ last year. Funny thing is, I was SUPER seasick that day. I LOVE fishing...I LOVE being out on the water, but I get so seasick on these trips. I don't get it. Maybe one day I'll get over it. OK, next picture.

Oh, I LOVE this picture. This is a sunrise at Lake Wallenpaupack back in 2007. I believe it was in early September, and it was 30 degrees that morning. I remember because of all the fog. Yes, I was out on my boat, but this time NOT seasick. My friend Matt was with me this day. BTW, he just got married! Congrats bro!!! I especially like this shot because it was taken with my crappy camera phone. Pretty good pic for a phone huh?

NEXT:

JOURNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is all.

This is a shot from last October in a cemetery in Loyalville, PA. I took a bunch of pictures that night, and a lot had some weird stuff in them. This one as you can see has some sort of mist. It was a perfectly clear night that night with no fog, and no one was smoking at this time. What is it? You be the judge. What I DO know, is that this cemetery is very magical, in a positive way. That's all I'm sayin'.

I love this picture too. This was sunset this past summer. That's my friend Jesse on the boat with me. I took this shot with my camera phone too. Jesse is a great caster, and a great fisherman, but a LOUSY catcherman! lol. Plus he doesn't like touching the fish. What's up with that? I'll get you gloves for Christmas! :)

This is a Western Native American whale. I also have a lot of Salmon pictures that resemble this. I've been playing with the idea of a new tattoo of this form/color, with maybe some turquoise tossed in here or there. What do YOU think?

This is me being a smart guy! :) We have these things called Production Orders. They are sheets that tell me what commercial to put on what station for how long, etc etc. This day the Prod Order wasn't filled out properly, and our traffic girl stuck the sticky note on there. I HAD to come back with a smart mouthed response. Thankfully, she was in a good mood, and didn't hit me.

OK, one more.

Ah yes. The Galaxy Rasbora. Or the Celestial Pearl Danio. Whichever you'd like to call it. I'd love to get a school of these, but they are SUPER expensive, and VERY sensitive. So, I don't want to kill them accidently. But they are beautiful aren't they?

I have about 100 more shots floating around here, so maybe in the future I'll do this again. This was fun, clicking "add picture", "browse", then just spinning the little ball on the mouse followed by a click then "upload". Very fun. Especially for a Monday.

So I'm doing the 70's at 7/80's at 8 tonight and tomorrow. That's ALWAYS fun. Talk with you later tonight!
Thanks for reading, thanks for listening to Magic 93. Now, where's my Dramamine?

Tom

Snow? Whose Live Anyway?

2009-10-16T09:20:00.006-04:00

Wow. What a Thursday I had. Other than the work I had, other than my intern, other than the cold, wet weather during the day.....Thursday evening was pretty amazing. Here's why.

First, because I'm AMAZED that it's snowing (still). It started yesterday, and is continuing today. Now, snow in NEPA is not an uncommon thing.....but this much in the middle of October IS. It's not too bad in the "Valley" cities (as we say on the air). But those "higher elevations".....LIKE WHERE I LIVE.....whoooo hooooo! I got home from work yesterday afternoon and it wasn't too bad. But when I left the house to enjoy my evening out....I saw this....

As you can see, I haven't even gotten the outdoor furniture in storage yet.
Then I tried to walk off my deck, only to get this.....

I had to LIMBO to get off the porch......HOW LOW, CAN YOU GO?
Of course, my deck gets as slick as goose s........spilled oil. So I had to be SUPER careful. But off I went, to pick up Michelle from our other station 97.9 X. Yeah, we had a date. My wife was OK with that. LOL.

We went to see Whose Live Anyway at the FM Kirby Center.

I don't think I laughed that hard EVER. And I've laughed a LOT in my life. :)

Other than technical difficulties, and the show starting 45 minutes late......my face and stomach STILL hurt from laughing so hard.

I can't describe it. It would take way too long. Even if I was verbally describing it. These guys are VERY creative, VERY witty, and VERY quick on their feet. If you thought that stuff on TV was pre-planned....think again. Off the cuff, impromptu, IMPROV!!!!! PHENOMENAL!!! If you EVER get a chance to see this show live.....go for it!!! We're STILL talking about it this morning. As a matter of fact, I got an email from Michelle that said, "Wanna go to lunch? I was thinking we could go to the Waffle House and just drink some syrup :P ". That's the actual email.

So, other than all that, I'll be on the air tomorrow morning as usual, I'm also scheduled Sunday 10-2, so that should be fun. I also think I'm doing a few 70's at 7 and 80's at 8 shows coming up. We'll see.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for listening to Magic 93.

"I'M DRINKING SYRUP!!!!"

Friday Morning Randomness

2009-10-09T08:36:00.005-04:00

It's Friday, and I'm glad. Monday is Columbus Day, and I took the day off so the Mrs. and I could do our Christmas shopping. YES....I SAID CHRISTMAS. Think about it.....the stores haven't jacked up the prices yet for the holidays....it's Columbus Day, so they're having sales, and when we get home Monday night, WE'LL BE DONE SHOPPING FOR THE SEASON. Then we can ENJOY the holidays like when we were all kids. Get it done I always say.

OK, next random thing. I've been seeing a preview on TV for a horror/scary flick that's playing in 'select theatres'. "Paranormal Activity". It's made with a Blair Witch feel to it. All supposedly homemade. I WANT TO SEE THIS!!!! I'm hoping it comes to NEPA. This is not your typical 'horror' flick. This one actually looks scary!

I'm a sucker for a good scary movie, but some of the poop they are putting out today....it's all about the gore factor. LIKE ALL THE SAW MOVIES!! They're not scary, it's GROSS. Seeing some dudes intestines on the floor isn't scary for me. If I want to see those kinds of movies, I'll check out the Halloween's, or the Friday the 13th's. There are some other scary movies I have watched, but won't talk about them here because, well, it's not proper for this blog.

Accapella song of the day. SONOS SINGS. They have embedding disabled, so I have to put the link here. I STRONGLY suggest you either turn up the speakers, or put on a good pair of headphones (we call them 'cans' in the radio biz) and turn it up. The production on it is phenomenal, their voices are amazing, and the overall video.....sexxxxxxxxy! I SWEAR that one girl winked at me. LOL

And for the final random of the morning. It MAY be autumn, the temp MAY be a bit chillier, but there are some of us that are STILL riding our motorcycles. Please be aware we're still out there. I'd like to see Christmas.

Hope you have a great Friday, and a great weekend. (I'm on the air tomorrow AM as usual).
Happy Columbus Day too. Let's go Christmas shopping!!!!

Fall/Autumn/Nice!!!

2009-09-30T09:43:00.004-04:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything here. To be honest, I forgot. Many things have been going on, and I just forgot. So......let's play 'catch-up'.

In August, I went with my family to Seattle, Washington for a cousin's wedding. It was nice. The views were AMAZING. You think we have mountains here in NEPA? HA. We have "Speed bumps" here. I saw snow! In AUGUST! I experienced 40 degree temps...IN AUGUST. It was cool. My wife took 2.4 million pictures, all which I have yet to download to my computer. But she got them printed. They came in a shoebox. I'm not lying. All the pictures were given to us in a shoebox.
Anyway, while in Seattle, I spent the majority of my time at the market place. You've seen this...it's where they throw the fish. It was pretty neat. Plus, there was a place there that makes these little donuts. They come in Plain, Powdered Sugar, Cinnamon Sugar or Sprinkles. They are the BEST donuts I have ever eaten. Our hotel was 3 blocks from the market place....we got a dozen donuts, and they were gone before we got back to the hotel.
The wedding was beautiful. It was in a Vineyard in Quincy and the views there were phenomenal.

OK, back home.

We got new cell phones. I can't get into reasoning, or what kind, or anything like that because of our sponsors on Magic 93. If you want to know, call me. :)

I worked A LOT of extra hours on Magic 93 in September. I guess that's when the majority of other part-timers take time off. I'm so NOT complaining. I could always use the extra cabbage.

So now to get to the title of the post. (Wow, I'm all over the place here).
It's autumn. I love ALL seasons in NEPA. And I just took this picture with my phone. This is out back of the radio station.

I love the colors of autumn. I love the crispness in the air. There's nothing like sipping a hot cup of coffee, while enjoy the fresh smells of autumn (as long as you're not near a garbage dump).
I also love autumn because we're getting closer to winter, which means (BIG FANFARE) ICE FISHING!!!!!!!!

I don't know why, but I also like to wear autumn/winter clothes. Big, bulky clothing. Big, bulky, comfy clothes. Heck, I was debating on whether or not to pull out the long johns already. :)

Plus, in the fishing department, autumn usually means the fish start stacking up for the winter feed, so it'll be Octoberfest in more ways than one.

There is a LOT more I could write about, but I don't have any pictures to go along with the words, and I know we all love to look at pictures. :)

So hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures for you soon, maybe some video (my new phone is so cool) and I'll post more. Until next time........pray for ice for me. And if you don't like the cold weather....put on a coat, or move. LOL. It's NEPA, it's going to get cold. Thanks for listening.

All Powerful!!!!

2009-07-28T14:54:00.003-04:00

I'm all powerful!!!!!!

Old Time Rock-n-Roll

2009-07-06T10:46:00.004-04:00

I saw .38 Special, REO Speedwagon, and Styx this past Friday night (7/3). Let me tell you......THAT is what Rock-N-Roll is all about. Of course, in my opinion. LOL

I've been noticing a lot of the 'new' music that comes out, from the American Idols, or the such, is the lack of MUSIC. It sounds to me like some canned, pre-recorded track for these "stars" to sing to. Whatever happened to the music aspect of it? When songs had :37 intros because it was a good SONG. Whatever happened to 'bridges' of songs? Guitar solos? Drum solos? Maybe I'm just getting old. What I do know is....STYX ROCKED!!!!!

Speedwagon was great as always, and .38 Special warmed up the crowd wonderfully.

One more quick note......pet peeve rather......but if you have an assigned seat at a concert.....SIT THERE!!!! One of my co-workers sat next to us at the show, and in between Speedwagon and Styx, they went for a walk. I had to tell 4 different people the seats were taken. People who did NOT have those seats were trying to sit there. People were constantly trying to sit in the luxury boxes when NO ONE had tickets for there. Kudos to the Live Nation security for bouncing the 100 and some seat jumpers.
All-in-all.....great stage prescence from all three. Great sound from all three. Great show all around!!!! ROCK-N-ROLL!!!!!!!!

That's the T-shirt I got. (making devil-horn hands and banging head)

Rain Rain Go Away

2009-07-01T12:58:00.011-04:00

So a friend and I decided we were going to go camping one Saturday into Sunday. We picked the weekend of Father's Day back in April. The plans were set. And God had his own plan. Ooooodles of rain! I don't know about you, but I don't like camping, boating, walking, hiking, in the rain. I promised I'd go, and if you know me, I'm a man of my word to the best of my ability.
I'm so glad I went. This friend, Darren, and I made a plan on how to stay dry. We did for the most part. BIG STINKIN' TARPS!!!! And with the help of a 6 foot ladder and some clothes line, and of course, the cooperation from God for a few hours to get set-up, we didn't get too wet at all. Just my feet throughout the weekend.
That's tarp #1. Covering almost the entire campsite. Notice the angle for rain run off? I didn't think of that, Darren did, and I'm glad he did. Seriously, this tarp was HUMONGOUS.

Tarp #2 went over my tent.

See the ladder? That came in super handy. For some reason, Darren's tent is waterproof. Mine is not, so I needed the tarp. Thank goodness I used it, because it poured like MAD that night. But I stayed dry and warm, and all was good.

By the Grace of God, we even were able to get out on the boat and do some fishing. Darren SMASHED a lunker largemouth.

But when the sun went down, I fished at night, and ended up whacking a HUGE largemouth as well from the shore. It's tough to see, but he's a beaut.

We ate hot dogs over the fire, coffee cooked over the fire, and slept well. It wasn't easy getting the fire going with all the wet wood around, but Darren brought a hatchet. It was pretty cool watching him shave bigger logs down to get to the center of the wood where it's dry for kindling. Once the fire swelled up, it was pretty easy to burn wet stuff.

There a few more folks that want to do a weekend or something at my private little place, and they're more than welcome....as long as I'm there to enjoy it too.

I'm off this weekend on Magic 93. I'll be at the Styx show Friday night, so I won't be functioning properly Saturday morning. Thank you Suzie Quinn for covering the AM show.

Here are some more pics of the campsite after we got it set up.

And here's what it looked like when I woke up the next morning.

Beautiful! Thanks for listening to Magic 93. Thanks for reading. Enjoy your weekend! Find something to be grateful for.

Good Weekend

2009-06-15T10:32:00.005-04:00

It was a good one. It only rained on Saturday afternoon/evening.

Saturday morning I obviously was on the air on Magic 93. It was funny, since I started riding my bike (motorcycle), I would normally take the back roads into work to avoid the Cross Valley. The ride would usually take me about 50 minutes. I like to get here around 5AM on Saturday morning to prepare. That means I would leave around 4:10 if I was riding the bike. Well, this past Saturday, I decided I'm comfortable riding the Cross Valley WITHOUT traffic. I left the house at about 4:15AM, and came straight to work. I got here at 4:45. I think I would have been here earlier, but I've noticed that because I'm on a small motorcycle, I can't trip the Red lights to Green. Anyway.....I worked on the air until 10AM, and off I went.
I took the SUPER long way home, because I was on the bike, and the ride was wonderful.
I met up with my friend at home to go fishing. It was the first day of bass season, and even though I don't keep them, I still enjoy fishing for them.
I have to preface this with.....the last billion Bass openers I went fishing, I NEVER caught a bass. The day ALWAYS stunk. So I had the "this is going to stink" attitude when we were loading up the boat. Needless to say, it didn't stink.
I whacked 5 decent largemouth, and Barry about the same. Between the 2 of us, we must have boated over 30 fish altogether. Pickeral, Perch, Bluegill, a handful of Calico's, and of course the Large Mouths. We both also caught the BIGGEST largemouths EVER caught out of this lake we fish.
That's mine. Five minutes later....Barry's.
I have to edit out the background because this is my secret fishin' hole, and I don't want a lot of folks hogging the fish. LOL.

We noticed the sky getting dark, QUICK, so we high-tailed it to the shore. Luckily we did, because 5 minutes after we packed up, God opened the sky and dumped BUCKETS on us.

Sunday came and it started with the basic pattern. Wake up, call friend John, get dressed, wait for John, get in wife's car (all three of us), go to breakfast, come home, cut grass, trim bushes, clean up......and then the monkey wrench was tossed. John and I usually walk the new trail that they built in Dallas, but this Sunday was different. As soon as we were done cutting the grass, John took one wrong step and blew out his ankle. The 4 mile walk was out. Oh well, I can get some more stuff done around the house, and maybe go for a bike ride. Which I did.
My wife and I had a delicious dinner out on the back deck, and after it settled, I geared up for a ride.

I had one goal.......back roads until dark, then home to relax. I rode down 118 to 29, turned left and went past Lake Silkworth. After I drove past there, I decided when the mood struck me, I was going to turn left and drive. So I did. I don't know where the heck I was, and all I kept praying for was that there were no dirt roads....keep the pavement please.

Well, after about an hour of cruising, and a LOT of water consumption, nature was calling. I was on this back road, and I didn't see a car for at least 20 minutes. I found a nice little spot to pull over and, well, answer nature, when I looked over at where my bike was parked. I HAD to click a picture with my phone, it looked kinda creepy.
It was great. It was a fun weekend, it was a weekend that I got a lot done, and had a relaxing time. It was wonderful that it wasn't raining (too bad), because I'm really getting sick of "A chance of showers and thunderstorms" EVERY STINKING DAY. If I wanted Florida weather, I'd move to Florida.

Out of Nowhere

2009-06-13T08:00:00.001-04:00

SOMETIMES YOU JUST NEED TO DANCE

Almost Perfect

2009-05-18T09:08:00.006-04:00

So this past weekend was amazing. It was full of stuff, and 99% of it was great fun and relaxation. I worked early Saturday AM as usual, and my friend Barry met me at my house at 11:30. We went to a "secret" pond to go fishing near Harvey's Lake and boy oh boy, let me tell you, our target fish was bluegill/perch/calico and we got 10 keepers in the first hour. When I say "keepers", I mean BIG ones. Lunkers if you will.

I mean, if you could lip a bluegill, you KNOW it's a big`un. So we put 10 on the stringer, and that was going to be my dinner Saturday night.
Someone else met us up there around 2 that afternoon and he decided he was going to put some corn on his hook and let it sit on the bottom. Within 25 minutes, he hears his drag clicking, so he grabs his pole and he's in for the fight of his life. I'd say it took about 20 minutes worth of fighting for what he pulled in, luckily I had my HUGE net with me. He was so thrilled.....a carp that's at least 30 pounds. Also, luckily, I had my cell phone with me and it takes great pictures.
That was Saturday.

Yesterday on the other hand went even better. And I didn't even go fishing.

I awoke early on my own at around 8, and my wife and I met up with a friend for breakfast. After breakfast, we went back to my house (all 3 of us), and I volunteered to do the weekly grocery shopping at Wegman's. What was I thinking?!?! It went OK, but I think there should be a class to teach people how to drive the shopping carts as well as their cars. :) My wife is house sitting for our Aunt this week, so it's up to me to do those kinds of things.
Got back to the house, put all the groceries away, and John and I decided to go for a walk on part of the new walkway in Dallas. So we drove down to Carverton Road, found a place park, and up the steps we went towards Luzerne. Let me tell you......it....was....beautiful! The weather was perfect, the path to walk on was perfect, the view of the town, the woods, the mountain...everything was beautiful. We even walked to an area on a bridge that went over Toby's Creek, and the waterfall was....yep...beautiful. The camera-phone picture doesn't do the view justice.
I 'googled' the route after we got home, and it looks like we walked around 4.6 miles. Not too shabby.

Now the sun was out, it was a nice afternoon, so I decided to cut the grass. John, being the wonderful friend that he is, volunteered to help. He grabbed the push mower, and I jumped on the riding tractor. We had the whole yard done in about an hour. Rock on!!!! This day is going wonderfully!!!

It's time for dinner. We're both starving, so I cooked up some potatoes in a pan with onion and butter, and grilled 4 honkin' pieces of lamb on the grill with a bit of salt and pepper. Dinner was delicious!!!! And fulfilling!
After dinner, both John and I were still full of energy, so we decided to grab all the excess cardboard around the barn and burn it...yes, in a fire pit. While the cardboard was burning, we were commenting on how GREAT of day it was. I suggested the perfect way to wrap up the day. Jump on the motorcycle, and take a nice casual ride around Harvey's Lake. John was up for it, so in the house we went to gear up.
I was putting my boots on when John went into my dining room to get the riding jackets. That's when I heard his voice yell, "Tom.....there's something not right in here!!! Get in here!!!" I went running into my dining room, and it was RAINING. Water was pouring out of the ceiling. In a nutshell, the pipe behind the upstairs toliet corroded and snapped, spewing water directly through the wall into the ceiling and pouring out. My dining room ceiling is ruined. Luckily, Scott, from the day before, is a plumber, and he came right over and fixed the pipe so I could at least use my shower. I called my wife and told her, "Honey, you are NEVER going to leave me home alone again", and proceded to tell her what happened. She was on the phone with the insurance company, and as I type this Monday morning, the water clean-up crew is at the house, well, cleaning up the water. Hopefully my house will be back to normal by the end of the week, but if not, oh well. I took Thursday and Friday vacation days, so I may be cleaning then. :) We'll see.
I firmly believe one of two things from this past weekend. Either:
1) God KNEW the pipe was going to break, so he allowed me to have 1.8 great days so I could mentally/emotionally handle this water explosion or
2) God saw I was TOO happy. I was floating too much on a pink cloud, and in order to keep me balanced and knock me down a notch....blew up the pipe.
Luckily we were home when the pipe broke and it's minimal damage. Luckily I understand there's not much I can do about this, so why worry. I'm OK with the whole thing.
Dealing with all the Politicians and their Political radio commercials on the other hand........my pipes can blow up twice a year and it's less stressful. Thank goodness tomorrow is election day and I won't have to hear how DemocratXXXX said this, and RepublicanXXXX did that, and Blankety blank believes this so don't vote for him will be over.
Moral of the story: Bad things MUST happen to us, to teach us how to appreciate the good things, and to be grateful!

Pan Flute Thursday

2009-05-14T10:30:00.003-04:00

It's Pan Flute Thursday. (I just made that up)

Enjoy.

New York City Street Performer - Agua Clara - A funny movie is a click away

That's a group Agua Clara. I've seen them perform at the Bloomsburg Fair. They are fantastic.

I saw this next one this morning and it gave me a bit of a warm feeling. I share it with you.

And of course...being Panflute Thursday, we MUST have the KING of the panflute....Zamfir.

Hope these brought a bit of a smile to your face......enjoy your Panflute Thursday.

Stand By Me

2009-04-29T08:53:00.003-04:00

So I'm doing my morning surfing online while eating breakfast, and I come across this on another website. The description was: Stand By Me by street performers. I thought, "yeah, this will be good for about 30 seconds" until I watched it. "Playing For A Change: Song Around The World". WOW!!!!!

Here it is in a nutshell. This group, "Concord Music Group" went around the world and recorded street performers. Then when they got back to their studio, mashed them all together. And came up with this. It actually moved me a bit. GREAT way to start a morning.

Enjoy! I did.

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

It's a beautiful day!!!

2009-04-25T16:08:00.005-04:00

It's Saturday afternoon, April 25th, and it's 87 degrees. This is the weather I've been waiting for. You see, if you couldn't tell by the other posts....I'm an avid angler. I'll ice fish, lake fish, river fish, stream fish, ocean fish...whatever. And for the past handful months, I could NOT get out to fish. Why? Because it was that time where the ice wasn't safe enough to walk on, and after it melted, it was still waaaaaaaaaay too cold to get on a boat. The fish even agree. They're like, "no way man, just because you're here, it's still winter to me and I'm lethargic"!

So I've been watching the weather patterns, the water temperature, the barometric pressure.....ok, I've been online, looking at fishing forum posts about Northeast PA fishing and seeing if they're catching anything. But finally....this weekend!! THIS IS THE WEEKEND!!!! I'M GOING FISHING THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!

Little did I remember, Suzie Quinn asked me about 2 months ago to switch shifts with her on Saturday. I usually do 6-10am, which then leaves the WHOLE rest of the day to fish, ride the motorcycle, yardwork, whatever. But today.....NOPE. No prob.....I'll go fishing early in the morning, then get to work for 2. And I did. And I caught one fish. Just one. Granted, it was a pretty big fish, but I was on that boat for about 4 hours and only caught one fish. I don't care....I went. I got out. And I fished.

Now tomorrow, that's a different story. I don't have to work, and I'm waiting for my friend to call me, so I know what time to meet him at the boat launch. If I know him though, it'll be in the afternoon, because he'll be boozin' it up tonight, and hung-over tomorrow morning. I'm so glad I stopped drinking. LOL.
So if you're like me, and you're getting out fishing today or tomorrow, I wish you luck, tight lines and droopy nets. Enjoy the weather!!! Spring is here!

Thanks for listening to Magic 93.

Suzie, you owe me one. :-D