Live...From New York.... well...not...

...really... So...we had some issues pop up on the home front and decided to delay the whole trip till July. Seems as though someone(s) took Jessica's wallet and Ipod and my Ipod out of our cars last week, and while I still had my cards, etc....we had to hang around and deal with the police reports, etc. and all that... it also seems that they stole some other stuff out of our shed too that points to some specific people, so we are hopeful that the offenders will be brought to justice, as Bush might say. So..luckily, I was able to shift those vacation days to July and it will probably work out for the better since Kristen will be more in a groove with her new addition to her family and Brown won't have the dancing responsibilities that he normally has on the weekends.

So...all the excitement has been delayed. But it will come eventually...

spooling up...

...for a jaunt up the coast to see Kristen (and her new daughter) and Brown. Kids and jessica are going too and we are piling in the jetta for the drive up. Thank god for the jetta getting 60mpg. tentative plans are...

Saturday -
Arrive at Browns'
subway/taxi to Statue of Liberty
walk to World Trade Center
The Village (lookin around then dinner)
subway back to Brooklyn then to Juniors Cheesecake in Brooklyn
Back to Browns

Sunday
Subway to Central Park
Central Park Zoo
FAO Swartz
5 avenue
Subway back to Browns'
Coney Island for evening

Monday
Brunch in Brooklyn?
Drive out to Jersey to see Kristen
Hang out at Kristens ( kids can do pool )

Tuesday
Drive Back

We might actually leave Kristen's early if they are still getting settled in with their daughter and just overnight it back to the Carolinas. We will play it by ear. So there you have it...its a little ambitious, especially with Ryles and I-man in tow. I suspect we will only hit half of this plan because i think it will be a big shock to them, as well as the ride being a task for them.

Today is Father's Day

I'm not going to wax poetic and ramble on about something inane in regards to Father's Day. I di get a cool gift from jessica and the twins. They (she) printed out all the pages from this blog and had them bound into a book, based on the year. So i have three books done.. 2004, 2005, and 2006. It is pretty cool cause I had pondered when/how is was ever going to do this as I didnt want to lose all this and wish I had it somewhere. So I got a pretty nifty Fathers day gift. Now if/when I keep the following years in a similar vein, I wont have the daunting task of starting from ground zero...

oh yeah, almost forgot...

...trying out this Safari browser. It is actually fast than Firefox, but it is a tad confusing figuring out the RSS feed thingy on this browser. i think I am sticking with Firefox though...but for you techies, download Safari and try it. It's definitely APPLE...

I hate summer

I hate summer. Hate is a really strong word for me, for i rarely use it in any serious way. I might dislike the Patriots or Florida football, but I dont hate them. They are people, too...blah, blah, blah... but... I hate summer. I dont like heat. I dont really like sun, except when its like 65 degrees and sunny. I grew up in a house with no Air Conditioning...NONE..no window units. Just box fans, which actually work very well when you are in front of it. Kinda noisy though... So when it gets warm in the house, it brings back those memories. (kinda drifting on abt 3 different subjects here in my mind, so bear with me). Back to the summer thing.... It just gets a notch too warm here some days in July and August. But like i said before, it isnt very often, and its enough for a good variety in experience. Definitely not like Phoenix or Oklahoma. But I think that my problem is mental. If i lived here in this house and we didnt have a heat pump, and it got warm, i'd adapt and be cool (Ha!)  with it. Open the windows at night and circulate air through it. No problem, But since i know i have AC capability, it bothers me. At any rate, AC man coming at 1 today. problem resolved, and I can quit having Ryles wake up in the middle of the night complaining about being hot (which it realy hasnt been over the past several day, just a couple of days last week) when it is 77 degrees in her room. kinda funny though...Ryles cannot be even remotely warm, while at the same time I-Man is in the same room with a blanket, sheet AND comforter on top of him sound asleep. Its been 74 to 75 degrees in the house over the past few days...comfortable to me, Jessica and I-man it seems. AC man will fix the issue and allow me to get it down to 72ish at bedtime so i wont have to hear the whining. Funny how your focus changes when you have kids. Everything you do is essentally for them, even if indirectly. For those of you reading this who have kids, you know exactly what I mean. For those of you who have kids on the way, i can just smile as i keep thinkin that you have no clue how much things will change.

At any rate, yesterday I-Man and Ryles learned what "f" and "p" means. Kinda funny when you think about how remedial that is to me, yet how important that actually is in music. Kinda like driving a car...ever think about how much we dont even think about what we are doing while driving? I was thinking while driving yesterday how much goes into driving my manual car. How i actually do while turning at a stop sign, shift through the turn..and its like all this stuff going on at the same time, and I am listening to some song thinking about something else and not even thinking abut the several things both hands and feet are doing at the same time. kinda weird.

but anyway, I hate summer because it just seems to be kinda unstructured and drifty. Fall, winter and spring revolve around school, football and other stuff. There are events that happen every year and i like that. Summer always seems to be boring to me, and while I do plan things and do stuff, it still seems haphazard. Plus its like...hot out in the sun. And it just seems to magnify the fact that my closest friends are all many hours away. (yeah yeah, I know...a couple of you are within 30 minutes)...which is just the way it is, and will always be. Sigh...

Weatherman was right

...it was a tad bit frosty in hell yesterday. Jessica's driver defected to the archrival enemy. The fans are in uproar. "How could he do this?" Of course, most fans fail to realize that most of the drivers are indeed friends, even the so-called rivals. Its the fans that make the rivalry of things. And Junior and Mr Hendrick have known each other and been friends since Junior was a small kid. Hendrick is practically juniors second father. Oh well...this should be interesting for it really sets up a Yankees type situation where a minority pulls for one lone group, while everyone else pulls for ANYONE to beat them.

Did I mention the bugs on my windshield? Driving home thru the rain was a chore, since the wipers just wanted to smear the dead bugs across the window.

One thing I have noticed this summer is just how many Grandparent/grandchild groups i see walking around. I guess summer is truly the time to have the kids go see Grandma and Grandpa, especially since Momma and Daddy still have to work.

Ok..a year till the National Conventions for the parties. I think I am going to start paying a tad more attention to the election stuff. I have saved the POTUS channel on XM, which is a channel solely devoted to election coverage.

and finally, the twins have started piano. jessica is teaching them for now, and they seem to be picking up the basics out of the starter book she is using pretty good. I still think that jessica will only be able to take them so far, not because she doesnt know what she is doing, but because it will be difficult for her as mother to teach and enforce the practices. At some point, someone else will probably have to teach, be it my mother or someone else. But by that time, they should have mastered the beginning concepts and basics and be able to advance forward. I am already eyeing Baritones on ebay for I-Man ( i project him as a Tuba player eventually ) and Ryles will be in the Pit on mallets. Of course,  fate says this means I-Man will be twirling flag and Ryles will be playing snare. or whatever... as I have said before, it remains to be seen just where their true interests will lie be it sports, music, dance, or racin. But i guess one can hope.

weather report

heard a report this morning that its supposed to get down to 32 degrees in Hell today.

bugs

my car, for some reason, attracts bugs at night. I know the fact that I drive with high beams a lot, and thatmy high beams are seemingly extra bright, might have something to do with it. But everytime i get out of my car now i make a point to look at other cars and their are virtually no bugs. My car is covered with splattered bugs and my windshield looks as though it is a bug storm goin on...

wait a minute

...did I see the winner of the French Open Mens tennis wearing...capri pants?!?!?!

Looks like we gotta call the AC guy for another tweak of the AC unit. Seems it has a leak and it pretty much has failed to keep the upstairs at an acceptable level over the past 2 days. It has gotten to abt 80 degrees up stairs, which makes the twins somewhat restless sleepers. Its spitting out cool air, which is fine if the temp outside doesnt rise over 85 or s. But the last 2 days have seen mid 90's and by 6 pm, theupstairs is too warm. Not an oven and definitely cooler than outside, but still warm enough... I think we will DEFINITELY have to budget in a new heat pump for next summer.

well...hmmm...

...just when i was about to get really annoyed with this whole Paris Hilton thing, the original judge has ordered her back into court. Aint no way she should be simply allowed to leave jail just cause she dont feel well...how unfair and biased would that be? I bet if my mother were to go to jail for the same offense, guess where she would be right now.... in jail. I must admit that if Jessica was in the same place, she'd probably be in jail too. But...Why is it that Whitney Houston is looked upon as a sad drug addict, while Britney Spears is celebrated? And why are Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton celebrated vixens and socialites, yet Tyra Banks and Naomi Cambell are called whores and bitches? and while we are traveling down this road...why are 12 million Mexicans allowed to stay here, yet if any Cuban or Haitian floats over on a boat, they are immediately flown back? ( Calm down Brown, I can hear the George Bush diatribe warming up already) I dont know...seems like a little bit of a different set of standards here.

Addendum!!

Believe it or not, I'm not all that obsessed with Paris Hilton. I do not find her attractive or even remotely interesting. but then again, the fact that she will be allowed to phone in for her court hearing today from her mansion again smacks of injustice to everyone else.

all quiet on the "insert name here" front

been a pretty quiet week with the twins at the Grandparents.

I've been racin on Forza 2 on the Xbox 360. Man, that is pretty sweet. Except last night when I had to swallow my pride. I have this Ford Mustand Shelby 1973 that I have been working on and with all the upgrades I have put in it from my prize winnings, its producing over 550 horsepower. Well, I havent figured out how to get that to translate properly to my chassis and i constantly have to feather the gas pedal now else, the car is constantly wanting to spin out even on the straitaways. When I floor it going straight, the rear will pop out on me. Anyway, after crashing repeatedly on a certain track, I had to hire a driver to complete the last race of a stage i was in. I simply cant control the car at a level needed to win the stage. I am going to consult with some people and see if I can get a workable setup . i think when i took out the spare tire, seats and installed the roll cage, that screwed up the balance of the car.

just cruisin along right now...

...twins spent days with Grandma last week, and are with Nanna and Pappa this week. Its kinda weird with them not here. Things are so quiet. But i do look forward to their return. I am sure the grandparents will have had their fill after this week.

Got Forza 2 this week. Also got a wheel to drive with. This wheel certainly changes everything in how thi game plays. With the force feel stuff, it actually feels like a real car drivin. Already got my Bora and am practicin gettin ready to go online. By the way, in Europe the Jetta is called Bora.