Farewell, Mr. Bond

Tonight on What's Next, we pay tribute to Sir Roger Moore, best known for his portrayal of James bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985.  Taking the role from Sean Connery,

who originated the role in 1964's "Dr. No,"  Moore brought a more fun, humorous Bond to the big screen.  Although several others have played the role of Bond, Moore, along with Connery are remembered for portraying Bond in the "Classic Bond" films.

To many of Bond film fans, Moore is regarded as the "best Bond," which is often the subject of much debate.  Moore brought a new sense of humor to the role when he took the part of Bond in 1973's "Live and Let Die," putting aside the harder edged, rougher Sean Connery version of the character.  Bond remained sophisticated, refined, always getting the bad guy, and of course-- always getting the girl.

What makes Roger Moore memorable to may people like me, is that Moore's Bond is the James Bond we grew up with.  My sister and would make a movie night out of it when the Bond Films would be shown on TV in the '70's, and as we got older, we'd always try to make it to the theater to see them on the big screen.  I look back on the series of those Bond films-- "Live and Let Die"  "The Man With The Golden Gun"  "The Spy Who Loved Me"  "MoonRaker"  "For Your Eyes Only"  "Octopussy" and "A View to a Kill" as fond memories of my time growing up with James Bond.

Hearing the news this week of Roger Moore's passing struck a blow, as one of my childhood movie icons has departed us.  Yes.  hearing the news this week has left me a bit shaken...but not stirred.

Rest in Peace double-o-seven.

Still there??

Hi!

Is this some sort of inspirational message to myself??

I found a scrap of paper on my desk while cleaning today.  It has one sentence on it, handwritten:

"26 years of childhood games."

It's in my handwriting, and I have no idea what it means.

....is there anybody in there???

...just nod if you can hear me.

It's been a while since I've written here, with all the other social media outlets, it seems that blogs are so, I don't know, 2002??  There's been a-plenty going on with me, but if we're friends via Facebook or Twitter, you know what I've been up to.

I honestly don't know what inspired me to write today.  Well, really, I DO.  I just read a very well written post on one of my favorite music blogs, Popdose and it inspired me to try and "put pen to paper."  Well, you know the paperless paper that is a blog.

I've been feeling the need to be creative again.  I've got the radio show going on, so that's at least one creative outlet.  (By the way, if you don't know, it's called "What's Next??" and it airs on University of Hartford's station, WWUH every Thursday night/ Friday morning midnight- 3AM)

What to do creatively??  I  don't know.  A podcast??.  I've been listening to this wonderfully produced podcast, Welcome to Night Vale and I'd love to do something like that.  But I'm unsure of if I have what it takes to produce that kind of output on a consistent basis.

I've had some other ideas knocking around for a while.  Ideas of the more visual nature.  Yes, I'm talking about a photo exhibit.  More about that when I get things more organized.  But if you've been over my apartment recently, some aspects of that concept are hanging on my walls.

Maybe I'll just get back to blogging regularly again.  It seems like a great output of the things running through my head.

My Daughter the Blogger

Delilah was showing me her new blog today, Put This in Your Oven and Bake It, she was showing me all the new template tricks that you con do here. I hadn't updated my blog, let alone the template in almost three years. The redesign that you see here was done by myself and Delilah.

Please, check out her blog, she's put a lot of hard work into it!

An outdoor party was broken up this week on Fountain Ave, the scene of the "riot" between Wesleyan students and Middletown Police last spring. I post this here as a concerned neighbor to the Wesleyan campus.

You can read the story and comments on the Wesleying blog here.

My comments to the blog post were as follows:

I'm a Middletown resident who lives relatively close to Wesleyan. We've had parties with 30+ people in the past where neighbors called in a noise complaint. Usually at least 3 officers showed up. They asked us to turn it down, and we cooperated and there were no incidents.

We all live in a city where we have to live with neighbors and deal with it, you didn't see us protesting. You're not only Wesleyan students, you're also a part of the community. We all have to live by the same rules.

Repspectfully,-one of your neighbors

(respectful responses are welcome)

Back to Karaoke

I went to Central Cafe for the first time since they've had Dave as the new host. Dave had been a frequest visitor to Cenrtal on Tuesdays since I've been going there. It was good to get out, I havent really felt like singing much the last few months. I did some old classics, and tried Creep by Radiohead as well (it went over pretty well).

Dave joined in on background harmonies for "Losing My Religion", and that went really well, even tought I nessed up one of the verses. How can that be, I mean the words are RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF ME..... Anyway, it was good to get out, even though I stayed way too late and the $2 drafts had my head pounding the next day.

The Quest

The Quest for a Cheeseburger

I'm on a quest. Yes, that's right, a quest. The quest for a cheeseburger. I don't know where this came from, but I was looking at restaraunt reviews (particualry for roadside stands like Harry's in Colchester and Guida's) and I came across a review for Shady Glen in Manchester. So, after reading Michael Stern's review over at Roadfood (check out the pictures there), I have been yearning for a Shady Glen Cheeseburger.

I first visited Shady Glen about 6 years ago, when several co-workers and I decided to stop in for lunch. Their cheeseburgers are memorable, I might add. What makes them so darned good, you might ask? They have a special way of letting the cheese hang off the edges of the burher until it gets crispy and then fold it up back on top of the burger. More details forthcoming when I actually visit the place.

I didn't want to take the trip to there solo, exploring is so much more fun when you have a companion. It's about a 35 mile drive from here. And also, I didn't want to visit on Memorial day, as the place is always packed! So, now I have a craving and it will have to wait..

Read the Roadfood review here.

I got a new ride!

Yesterday, I picked up my new (to me) car. I finally replaced the leaky, old 1996 Saturn SL@ that had a slew of problems and other non-mechanical related baggage to go along with it. I replaced it with a 2001 Ford Explorer Sport. The picture below isn't my car, but one like it...

A
remote
broadcast
tower outside
New York City
Sends its message
out into the area.
Beyond the Orange mountains west of the city,
Thin night clouds settle
and the sun's rays can no longer hold
back the interference from the distant antennas.
Against nature, a family
labors to isolate the sound of the broadcast from the static.
Like so many others before them, they strain at the fine tuning knob of
their reciever.
Finally free, they hear and understand.
This recording is dedicated
to their struggle.

Teach Your Children Well

My daughter has been cheerleading for ther Bristol Midget Football "Bulldogs" for the last 2 seasons. She's having fun with it, and I noticed a definate increase in her self-esteem and confidence. I think that all in all it has been a positive influence in her life.

The Jr. Pee-Wee team that she cheers for are all about 9-10 years old. The Bulldogs won every game except 2 this year, both to Meriden. One of the games was in the regular season, one was in the playoff game last weekend.

Meriden defeated us badly this weekend. I didn't attend the game (I was working last weekend), but was told that they won by a wide margin. The fans and the Parents of the Meriden team were booing the loosing team. So bad, that by halftime, many of the Bristol players were in tears.

Now, it was my understanding the one of the biggest things that we are teaching our children with their participation in sports was sportsmanship. Have a good time, have some fun, do something as a team, and most of all, win or loose, be good sports.

These are kids, all 10 and younger. Meriden parents, if your kids were loosing, would you appreciate the oposing team booing your 10 year olds? These aren't professional athletes, who are adults and aren't as sensitive to beeing booed. These are children!!

What are we teaching them by this type of behavior?? I certainly hope that Bristol fans and parents wouldn't boo the oposing team. I hope that we woudn't set such a bad example.

Trick or Treat

This year was the first year that I took Delilah trick or treating on about 4 years. Both of us were very excited about it this year. D wanted to go dressed up as an angel.

The only thing she had for her angel costume was a halo. The day before, she and I went to the Halloween Store and picked up a set of angel wings and some white gloves. She planned to wear a white long-sleeved Under Armour top, but we didn't have anything else.

When I picked her up from school on Halloween, she was wearing her school clothes and the halo (so cute, my little girl is really good kid..) Some of my coworkers at the Bristol and Plainville sores wanted to see her in her costume, so she changed into her white top and put on the wings.

At this point, we didn't have a white bottom (we picked one up at Goodwill a bit later) so she was telling everyone that she was an "angel in blue jeans." She looked adorable, even without a complete costume.

When we got to Goodwill, I was walking past the women's skirts and there was a white one there. Even though it was a woman's size, it fit D without me having to pin it or anything. As we went Trick or Treating, many of the poeple handing out candy commented that her costume was one of the best they've seen that evening.

We had a really great time, D said that she really enjoyed spending the evening with me. I'll post pictures as soon as I get them downloaded from the camera.

It’s the little things in life....
Yesterday, I left the house with every intention on joining Jacq at Edgwood Park in New Haven for the yoga and chanting. Really, I did. I even ended up in New Haven. For some reason when I got there, I just wasn't feeling it. So I just kept on driving.

I decided to go up the West Rock Ridge and go to the overlooks and possibly take some pictures. West Rock has an incredible view towards downtown New Haven and the Sound. The day was a little hazy, so it really wasn't the best day for taking good pictures.

As I sat at one of the pulloffs, a state Department of Environmental Protection vehicle drove by, on a routine patrol, I assume. When I drove to the bigger parking lot at the end the vehicle was parked there, with the ranger sitting inside. I parked a couple of spaces away and started looking for something to get pictures of.

"Your first time here?" the ranger asked me through the open window. I expalined that I had been up to West Rock several years ago when my job took me to the radio transmitter site on the "closed" side of the park. I hadn't been up there since.

He got out of the vehicle to talk with me, and as we stood there talking, several predatory birds started circling overhead. Apparently, the ranger had studied up on his birding, because he was able to identify several different species of bird. We spotted Red Tail Hawks, Osprey, and Turkey Vultures to name a few.

We stood there, watching the birds riding the thermals, and the pair of Red Tail Hawks "flirting" with each other. The male was riding the breeze, stationary, and the female was flitting by him, chirping what I interpreted as a happy song. I tried to get a picture of this, but the shutter delay of my digital camera didn't make it possible for me to get a shot of what I wanted.

The ranger said something to me the kind of reminded me of one of my mantras. He said "Sometimes people don't take the time to appreciate the little things in life." Just standing there watching the birds hovering and circling in the breeze made realize how right he really was.

It's about time....

Last Summer, the city of Middletown had a "brilliant" idea. They took the section of High Street that runs through Wesleyan University and messed it up. High Street was a straight-as-an-arrow street and they decided to make it all squiggly and narrow in an effort to slow motorists down .

This was also attempted a few years ago on Westfield Street in front of St. Pius church. I have even heard the city snowplow drivers complaining of how ridiculous it was on Westfield St. The first winter they dug up all the new curbs with the plows.

All they succeeded in doing on High Street was making it a better obstacle course for all the drunks and the punks with their loud souped up foreign cars. They eliminated several parking spaces, and made the apron of our driveway into a small pond.

The project was started last Summer, and was to be completed by Winter. Well, they never finished the final grade of the apron of our driveway, or removed the old storm drain they eliminated. Every time it rains, the rainwater collects at the foot of our driveway. My neighbor had to "trench out" a ditch to the old storm drain (now in the middle of the grass) to drain the water out of the driveway.

I had been planning on calling the city to complain about this unfinished mess. Today, when I was arriving home from work, I saw a couple of city cars parked out front, and some guys were taking measurements of something across the street. When I inquired about the situation to one of the workers, he pointed me out to the head of the city Department of Public Works, who actually spent a few minutes discussing this with me.

He informed me that the contractor wasn't finished with the job (it was never "signed off" as they say in the biz), and that they were waiting for the gas company to complete work up the street before doing the finish work and paving the street. Was I getting "lip service?" I hope not.

A Pirate Looks at 40

OK, it's official...I turned 40 on Monday. Mike asked me if I made any "resolutions." I don't believe in resolutions much, I never really do them on New Years, so why should I do them when I turn 40. I don't really feel any different, it's just another calendar day.

I just said that "I'm going to keep learning and growing every day." It took me nearly all of my 40 years on this planet to realize that everything I do, be it good, or bad, something is to be learned from it. I've realized that for many years, I wasn't looking at everything that was happening around me and learning and growing from it.

But now that I came to that realization, I have a heightened awareness of all the events that I can learn from each and every day.

Raising an independent girl

The other day, I got a flat tire while driving with my daughter. I pulled the car into a quiet parking lot and started getting out the spare tire, jack and lug wrench. Delilah, my 9 year old daughter, got out of the car with me and was watching. I decided to turn this into a learning expereince for her.

"Do you want to learn how to chage a tire?" I asked. "Sure, Daddy!" was the reply. I explained to her that I don't want her to be one of those girls who, when she's driving around with her friends, gets a flat tire and is totally unaware of what to do. I mean, my father never taught me how to change a tire!!

I don't want her to be someone who has to rely on someone to take care of things like this for her. "No, Daddy, I'm going to be an independent woman!" She will be the envy of all her girlfriends!

We're all insane

Ok, it's true. Dating in your 30's and (almost) 40's is difficult. I mean, when you're younger, you still believe that the fairytale romance still exists. Whis is a great dream if you can hold onto it.

Most of the people I know are now in their early to late 30's (yes, there are some exceptions, but we're not talking about YOU this time). Almost all of them who I have talked about relationships to have been hurt at least once . Some are downright scared to get involved again...

Most of us can't decide if we even want to be get close to anyone, let along get into a relationship. I know that personally, I miss the closeness of a lover. But I don't miss the "drama" and all the other stuff that typically seems to go along with a romantic coupling.

Ok, we're a cynical bunch. We have baggage. We've been so soured by love in the past, that we just don't want to deal with it anymore. I really can't blame us. Because getting hurt really sucks.

We're all looking for a normal, sane person to be with us. But that's impossible, because at this point in our lives, we're ALL insane! So, I reiterate what I said a few blogs back. I simply give up on the whole relationship thing.

I complain about hearing Margaritaville at the laundromat. So why is it that last night, I chose that song to sing at karaoke?? And this isn't the first time. Of course, it was a slightly older crowd, and it's great to see them all singing along.. At least this time, I didnt change up the lyrics!!

This week, I'm going karaoke crazy!! Tonight, I'm meeting up with an old friend, and we're going to do karaoke!! Oh, what have I become!!!

Karaoke night last night. I went to Central in Plainville and we sang it up again...

What can be better than Johnny Cash covering Depeche Mode??

Johnny Cash- Personal Jesus (link fixed 4/23/07)