Bad, Bad Boy.

Ok.. I get the message. Get back on the horse Dan and blog dammit! Thanks to Roy and Chief for the words of encouragement. I didn't really need them, but time does allow for me to get back to this a bit.

The car show mentioned in the previous blog was a big hit. It was the 4th annual Casco Bay Car Show held at Pine Tree Academy, my old school, in Freeport. Here is a link to the pictures my niece Ashley took. I shot some video, which I have no time to edit right now, but hope to in the future. Maybe a promo commercial will be made for next years show from it.. who knows.

So.. what is taking up all my time? Well, as some of you know, I am dealing with a really bad, but much improved, skin disorder Psoriasis. It got so bad last December, that my Doctor pulled me out of work and had me apply for disability. Since then, I have been injecting myself weekly with the miracle drug Enbrel. It has made my life livable again. The disability checks have kept me afloat since April and it is truly a miracle I was approved for them so fast.

With regard to that, a good sweetie of a friend has taken an interest in my Photoshop abilities and is helping me to polish my skills in it and also learn Adobe Illustrator. As for why it is taking up alot of my time? Well, I'll tell you. I have a long way to go to become proficient, but once I manage to produce at a high level, it could turn out to be quite lucrative. YAY.. No more disability checks! No looking for a job. I could work from home editing and illustrating in my underwear. (sorry for that visual). That also means... no commute.. no time clock.. no limit to how much or how little I want to work on a particular day.. In short.... AWESOME.

What else have I been up to? Well, I still show up at the gym every weekday and pump my iron and put in my dreaded cardio time. My sis Shelley is steadfast in her coming to workout every day and it is really beginning to show. Though she doesn't see much change, everyone else at the gym is noticing. We are all our own worst critic. False self image has alot to do with that. Shelley had a particular glow about her this morning, but nobody knows why... He he..

Cooking is still one of my free time endeavors. I got the ingredients from Elizabeth's bruchetta and made some last weekend. We all loved it. She is so nice to have shared it with me. I also try to get to the Hong Kong market in Portland about once a week to stock up on their rediculously inexpensive curries and shitake mushrooms. Gotta get my curry in me. Nothing makes me sweat like a good prik king curry with chicken and rice. Wow is it hot. Wow is it good!! Burns me twice. (no kidding about that)

I'd like to send out a thank you to Elizabeth and Roy for introducing me to one of the greatest (best kept secret) lunch locations in Portland.. Yes, I am talking about Market Street Eats. Since you spoiled me there I have been there 2 more times. With my buddy from dermatology Dennis and his wife, (Dennis went ga ga for it) and then with Dennis and my Dad a week later. We have a new lunch location forever. Everything is right about that place. The price, the location, the menu... and Colin is really nice. A real entrepreneur who does his darndest to make you feel like his only customer. All these things make us go back again and again. (try the Basil Wrapbone sometime should you find yourself in the old port district of Portland). If you know the old port, Market street is a one way street running uphill one block to the left of Exchange Street if your facing the waterfront. Find it. It is SO worth it.

That's it for now. I will not neglect you so badly again. Promise!
Later~

I'm Alive

Yip. I'm alive and well. Been kinda busy with several projects. More on that later. For now, I have to get ready to go with JoAnn to the Casco Bay Car Show, in Freeport. It starts in an hour or two. Watch for pics and maybe some video!

Later~

Photography Tour Day

Today, I took 2 of the Cheney kids for a romp around the coast for photo ops and some beautiful fresh air and sunshine. The day began foggy and rainy.. Didn't matter much to us because some of the best scenic pictures are of crappy weather situations anyways.

We began our trek at Spring Point in South Portland, walking out to the end of the breakwater and along the beach. Next we headed for the world renown light at Portland Head. Wow! Was it ever amazing out there. Luckily there weren't really alot of people and the fog was still hanging in the air off the coast.

Later, we headed to my place for lunch and then back out again. This time, we headed for Cundy's Harbor, Orr's and Bailey Islands and Land's End. By evening, we were completely exhausted and crispified. We had such an amazing day. We've made plans to again seek out more of our scenic wonders and also more historical sites.

Seen here is just one of the pictures taken. It's just a teaser. Rather than upload 32 pictures to my blog, I am instead providing a link to some of the pictures I took. Just click it.. and enjoy! CLICK HERE!

My niece Ashley has also uploaded some of the pics she took. They can be seen HERE as well as a large collection of her other photos she's taken. She has studied photography at college and has a remarkable natural talent for it.
~Later

Monday Cruise Night

Every Monday night at 5:30, the Topsham Fair Mall has 'Cruise Night'. It's a fun car show with a deejay playing music and fun giveaways from the mall businesses.

Shelley came with her ponytail mustang and two boys. I went with Matt's lady Joann and Gene arrived a little later. It was really cool and around 60 cars showed up. Not their biggest turnout to date, but a nice crowd of unusual cars considering the sky was kinda threatening and it even sprinkled once.

If showing a spiffy car, you're handed a numbered orange ticket upon arrival. As the evening progresses the deejay calls out a number and if it is yours, you win one of the prizes available. One of the more incredibly awesome prizes was a free oil change from Meineke car care. Shell didn't have her ticket on hand when the number was called out, so she sent Will and Ken to run and get it from the car. As luck would have it, when the boys returned, the number called was not Shell's anyhow. Actually, nobody had the number so they either had already left or lost their ticket (?) Good thing though! Since nobody claimed their prize, they called out a new number. Shelley's number! She let out some kind of crazy war whoop and gleefully trotted over to the deejay tent to claim her certificate. It was hilarious. Enjoy the pictures and experience the magic for yourselves. It's almost as good as being there.

Public Sauna.. for FREE

Unless you live in a cave, where it's nice and cool and the ambient humidity stays low underground, you probably are well aware that we have enjoyed 2 knockout summer days in a row. Around here, sizzler isn't a restaurant, it's an adjective for the intensity of heat and the humidity that comes with it.

Our local sizzler restaurant closed and became a gym. Ironic.. All those 'fall-off-the-bone ribs', burgers, chicken and other greasy offerings replaced by people wanting to get fit as a result. All this talk of meat.. I'm gonna go throw a steak on the grill.. of my car. I bet that would be a rare occurrence. Pun intended.. (Well done Dan, well done!) 2nd pun. Man.. I crack myself up..

I still think my idea of a combined gym/laundromat would be a hit. Laundry is boring, boring, boring. I usually walk down to the pet store or hang with my friends Don and Cheryl, the laundry owners, while my duds go kathump kathump. Just picture it for a moment. Instead of reading a magazine or watching endless episodes of the Waltons or Little House on the Prairie, you could leap onto a treadmill or elliptical and make.. more dirty laundry. I think it is job security for whoever takes my idea and runs with it.

Anyhow. Enough of that. It has become necessary, for sleeping comfort at least, to run a window insertable cooling device for a couple of hours before bed. My version has a remote control. I can be at full command of my entire domain from the comfort of my couch. Music, entertainment and comfort. Whoever invented the couch is a genius, but I bet he or she never envisioned it becoming a 'home command center'.


Late this afternoon, I had to run for my camera. In the eastern sky, there was the most amazing thunderhead formation growing. Unfortunately it was moving away, denying us of the downpour of rain that we could have run around in. I snapped several pics of the formation and have a couple here for your optical enjoyment. Ok ok.. I might have done a little tweaking on one of them in CS2, but I wanted it to look really angry. The pictures do the scene some justice, but it doesn't really allow the colossal scale to be realized. Think of it as looking out your window and seeing Mt. Everest looming over the pines.. That was how it felt.

Tomorrow evening, as per usual on Fridays, is dinner at my place. Open invitation. Drop me a quick call so I can plan deliciousness. My old friend SJC is coming with Sue and I know Elizabeth is coming. So what are you waiting for? Grab the phone now and come hang with us. You know you want to.
Later~

This Week Flew By

Thought it was only yesterday that I posted.. well, not really. It only seems that way.

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to go see "West Side Story" at the Maine State Music Theater on Tuesday. Here's a link: http://www.msmt.org/ (photos by Pierce studio). It was fantastic. I borrowed these pictures from the web as photography during performances is 'strictly prohibited.' Too bad! We were in row B on the right side of the stage! In the center section of the theater, there is one more row, row A, but on our side of the stage, row B is in the front. So cool! Everyone involved with these productions are professionals who come up to Brunswick from New York. I've never seen a play on Broadway, but I doubt it would be any better. Matt and Joann took me to see it with them. Thanks Joann and Matt!

Shelley has started going to the gym with me every weekday morning at 6. I am ecstatic. It was always fun, because I get to work out with Joann and joke around with Matt, but having my sister coming in is extra fun. We are good at motivating each other. If I had my way, I'd have my whole fam damily working out there. Yeah, I spelled that wrong on purpose.. Shell took a liking to Joann's ipod shuffle and got one. Had to kinda help her with it.. I wouldn't call her electronically challenged... well.. not to her face anyways..

Father's Day on the Lakeside

Father's Day was wonderful. I got some long awaited one-on-one time with my sis, Shelley, and as usual we were cracking up all the way up to Dad's house (especially after we were both hopped-up on caffeine and sugar from our iced coffees from DND.) She took her Mustang, and I suffered through the ride in that beauty as best I could. I did get scolded when I committed a very minor "indiscretion" involving air quality within the bounds of her car. We had the windows open, so I thought it was ok. She had concerns about permanent damage to the leather upholstery, which were unfounded, I think.

Lunch was, as usual, awesome. Barbie and her sis Linda made amazing burgers and dogs on the grill with some crazy good crinkly fries. I had to stop eating the fries or I would still be eating them now. I brought the fixin's for my now world renown deviled eggs and stuffed mushrooms. Dad enlisted my help and advice with creating a magical macaroni salad. The secret ingredients made it most delicious. If I told you what we did, it wouldn't be a secret now would it? Then, as if anyone had any room left, we had brownies and ice cream. Glad I skipped breakfast today because if anyone had offered me a thin mint, I might have popped, no matter how wafer thin.


Once we were all satisfied with our excellent summer fare, and when my bro-in-law Gene and nephew Will were finished destroying the hammock, almost all of us piled on to the party barge for a cruise up the lake. Even though the sky was a little angry, it only rained once for just a short while. Then it opened up and got nice and sunny/steamy. It is so peaceful on the lake. The late afternoon there makes the water like glass. Several loons surfaced and didn't even seem fazed by the presence of 4 dogs on the boat with us. Can't wait to go up there again soon and take some friends with me. Dad and Barbie make anyone and everyone feel like long lost family returning home, and it is awesome.
Later~