Summer - We hardly knew you!

Guess who’s back…back again?

I thought that this was as good as a time to post an entry as ever. There hasn’t really been too much going on with me, so hence I didn’t see the need to put my malaise into words. Although, due to the extreme boredom that I am experiencing right now, I figured it was better than nothing.

I would like to take this time to comment on the fact that summer has once again escaped us. I know this to be true and can not be a fallacy due to the fact that the roadways are once again inundated with the very large yellow torpedo shaped buses that make an inordinate amount of stops on each street around my neighborhood.

Being that this is the first day of school for the “juvies” in our district, the stops seem to take longer today because every member of the household has to be present at curbside to watch their little one board the bus for another full year of reading, writing and arithmetic. The common perception of this ritual is that the parents want to be there to support the fruit of their loins, give them that boost to make the most of their education. In my decrepit mind while sitting there with the sun in my eyes, and my foot jammed thusly into the brake pedal, I think they are really watching the bus load up just so they can be sure that in fact the kids are gone from their direct responsibility for at least a solid 6 hours (baring the Kindergarten set). I just know that a waiting 30 pack of beer was being carefully concealed in the refrigerator behind the spanking new Bob the Builder and Dora the Explorer lunch pails only to be consumed in college like binging once those yellow blinking lights are safely out of sight.
(Mind you that was just my thought pattern while being held up from sitting in this chair writing in my blog, I am sure that the parent’s are in fact there to show support for the little ones and I will probably be standing right out there too one day)

Ok, now that the ranting portion of my post is done I am happy that today is already Wednesday. The Holiday weekend was much appreciated.
- Saturday was pretty much just a day to get some house stuff taken care of. It was finally a pleasurable day cutting the grass….really! It wasn’t too hot out and there was a nice breeze. I guess that motivated me since I finished up and didn’t mentally complain about this task.
- Sunday was good too! I did my normal Church Duty in the morning/afternoon then BigDT took Andrea and me out to the Riverview Inn for dinner. I had the Chicken St. Michael (2 chicken breasts with lump crab meat and shrimp covered in a parmesan sauce) and Andrea had the stuffed flounder which I learned is 2 filets of fish wrapped around a mound of breaded lump crab meat. It was agreed that both meals were dammed delicious. After dinner we went out to our usual haunt on the Riverview Inn Deck. I had fun, had too many Coronas in too short of time, and had the chance to catch up with the Hoyt family who used to live right across the street from us when I was a wee tot. Jane was there celebrating her birthday with a MASSIVE lime martini. Her son Michael is the **star** bartender out there, and I have to say he earns the title.
- Monday (Labor Day) was easy going. We went up to the Jackson Outlets to get some items for vacation. I had high hopes that I would find some nice Kaki shorts at the RL Polo Store. Welp…they only had 2 pair left and they were in the laughable size of 32 & 34. Let it be known that I would not fit into such pants. I did have a crestfallen moment, but quickly found redemption at the Eckō Outlet. I found two sweet pair of Zoo York Shorts and just for a bonus purchase I got an Eckō full zippered hoodie (list price $90.00) for only 29.99. Since I had the preferred customer sale mailer card, I received an additional 25% of my entire purchase and a free Eckō Sinch-Sak. My spirits were very much lifted after that point. Our last stop at the Outlets was at the Sketchers shoe store. Andrea was looking for a pair of black shoes for work, which she found. The sale there was Buy 1 get 1 half off. Since I hate to pass up a good sale, I procured a pair of Man-dals for only $15.00. I made out pretty well I must say, and if I hear one word about me buying more stuff than my wife….well, I don’t know. Just don’t go there.

This weekend should be fun filled, Saturday is the annual Septemberfest in Pennsville and I will be working from day all the way through the night for the Police Department. I must say though, if I wasn’t getting paid to be there I don’t think I would spend too much time there. Although, the fireworks are something that I do enjoy seeing. Although, I know it’s the crescendo to leads up to the numerous fights that are to be dealt with before the last person leaves the park. I will be sure to update you on all the fun after the ‘Fest has occurred.

It looks like it’s almost time for the lunch hour to drop. I am going to check the in-box once more and get some food for my gullet. I will post again when I have something good to write about, definitely after the ‘Fest but hopefully before.

See you next Post!

The Weekend/Party Update

Ok, OK! So it took me all of less than a week to miss a promised day of posting.

Whatta you going to do about it?  BAH!.....I didn’t think so!

Anyway, I think I have only one reader so far. JayFraud is keeping tabs on this Blog. Maybe I should post a link somewhere on my MySpace.com profile, ahhhh….I think just writing about my day is its own Therapy. If someone gets a chance to read it, more power to them.

Well, let me catch you up on the weekend that just passed.

- Saturday (8/27/05)

I was right; it was definitely an early morning for me. I was up, dressed and heading out of the house at 6:30am to get some ice for Dad’s party. It seems surreal being on the roads that “early” on a weekend. I know that I am usually on the road during that time M-F, but on the weekend Pennsville seems like a ghost town early in the morning. It’s very quiet, almost too quiet.

I hung out at my parent’s house until 9:00am and helped Mom with some pre-party preparations. Unlike other years where I have been doing last minute changes, I just resigned myself to sweeping the deck off from all the quitter leaves that no longer had the energy to hang up on the branch.

At 9:00, I went back home to find that dear Andrea was already up. We just hung out until it was time to yet again go back over for the party. Around 10:30 Dad called to ask if I would be available to be the “Dave Tomlin” at the party until he got back from Marty’s Crabs. Apparently when he spoke to some crab slinger there, who has been since “let go”, in reference to his order. The mistake was made of writing down 2 Dozen, opposed to 2 Bushels. I can see how that mistake could be made, who doesn’t think that Dozen sounds too much like Bushel </sarcasm>. Well…luckily for them (that seems to be the most accurate and socially acceptable way to put it) they were able to accommodate the order but they wouldn’t be out of the steamer until 12:00 instead of 11:00. No problem at all for us. We got ready and Andrea even carved out a watermelon basket all by 11:30 and we were there and ready to party by 11:45.

The party was fun, it was not as big as it was in previous years but that was due to 1) A poor invitation plan and 2) People not showing up who was expected. All in all, I had a great time. I definitely got my fill of crabs; there was pile upon pile being strewn upon the table for mass consumption. We helped clean up and left around 7:30, and by that point if nothing else my fingers were ready for a break. I had been picking more than a Banjo player.

I always enjoy my Dad’s parties and this was no different. Now I am looking forward to the Monthly Eagles parties. They are a real blast!
- Sunday (8/28/05)

I was living it up! I slept until 8:00am, for me that is almost like noon. Unfortunately, I had to have the alarm set because Sunday’s Church Duty was calling me. It is a pretty good way to knock 5 hours out of a Sunday. I am not complaining at all.

After my duty was over, we had the daunting task of going over to BJs Wholesale on a weekend day to get some dog food and misc. other sundries. To avoid the need to repeat this treachery, I bought (2) 48lbs bags of Iams for the puppy. I figured that 96 pounds of kibble should hold her over for….in my estimation at least double the time of 1 bag. (That is the superior Pennsville Education coming out of me).

I knew something was too good to be true since we got in and out of BJs with relative ease. As we were walking past Jabba the Receipt puncher, I noticed that it had begun to drizzle. As we were walking to the car it decided to kick it up a notch from drizzle into full on downpour. When we finally got the car, the people parked about 2 inches next to us were taking their sweet ass time pulling out of the parking spot. That burned my ass, because as any….well, I will go with any civilized person would do. We waited to open the door to load the groceries into Andrea’s car as not to impede their departure as well as not to get our door hit. Well, after all the stuff was loaded (including 2 very large bags of dog food) we were soaked to the gills. We looked and felt like we just walked out of the ocean.

On that note, since there was nothing of a perishable nature in the car we decided to make an impromptu stop over at BigDT’s to take on Round 2 of the crabs. There was almost a whole bushel left over still on ice in the cooler from the day before. After about an hour and a half of diligent work we knocked it down to about a heaping plate full. I was happy with myself. I think I almost enjoy crabs more the day after. It seems that the flavors are even more robust and the meat comes out in nice lumps much easier when there is a little chill to them. It was a perfect lunch and I was happy to make the most of the remaining crabs.

The rest of Sunday was pretty laid back. Andrea finished up the weekly chore of laundry and ironing (Which just in case she is reading this, I am ever so grateful for her diligence to our organization). I watched Apollo 13 on the History Channel since it was just about the most captivating thing on at the time. All I can say is, come one Fox Sunday Season Premiers in 2 weeks.

I will leave you with this question to ponder (maybe I might even get a comment or 2)

• Will Family Guy turn into the new Simpsons with its longevity? It has been cancelled once, but will the popularity hold strong. Discuss, Dicuss!

See you tomorrow…..Promise ;^)

BTW – Monday was a wash for posting. I had a dentist appointment and that was all I had in me for the day. I make no apologizes for that, for only a cleaning…my dam noise hole was killing me.

Who said anything about set plans?

Not that this should come as a surprise to anyone, but half of tonight's plan went down the porcelain hole. Sharon sent Andrea a text message letting her know that due to a headache she would not be able to make it to our house. For this malady I can relate.

I did make the trip to the Nail Shop, and at least the ends of my appendages are looking like a million bucks. (Well...I guess not all appendages). Since I had no one to flourish my tech-savvy on, I decided to make use of my lesser used talents of putting random things together with the benefit of single sheets of paper; that most look like they just came of the ancient mimeograph machine, called instructions. BigDT procured an outdoor bar, and was in need of a laborer to assist getting it ready for the Tomlin Crab-tacular tomorrow. It was a fairly easy process, not much more than slide tray "A" into slots "C" through "E" and so forth. Turns out this random act of offspring kindness has benefited me in 2 ways.

1. BigDT said that after the party tomorrow, the outdoor bar would become the property of me. (That is a sweet deal, I will have to post a picture of the bar when I get it back here)
2. BigDT took Andrea and I up to the Riverview Inn Deck for some munchies and drinks.

Mike "P-Dog" Plale at a previous RV Deck outing

Tonight's experience at the Deck was not a "banner" night for the place in my opinion. The food was awesome as always, but the service on a Friday night is for shit. I guess that it is the big "Drinking" night of the week there, and they are definitely catering to the drinking set. I was once on that side of the fence, but I no longer see the excitement in blowing a hundred+ dollars at the bar. "I guess this is growing up" - Blink 182 (1997)

I think it's about time to get to bed. I have an early start tomorrow, it is my duty to get the coolers filled with ice for the party. You know that always turns into me dropping off the coolers and then having to totally re-doing everything at the house so the party will "flow" how I think it should. Off to bed now.....looks like Simba Mosher might be spending the night with us. Let's see how this works out.....yikes!

There is a light at the end of this tunnel

God I love Fridays! There is just something about them that is liberating to me. I guess that I am a little more excited than normal since I have some pretty cool plans already for this weekend.

Since I am totally secure in my manhood, I will tell you without hesitation that I have my 1st of 3 pre-Aruba Man-o-cure appointments tonight at Andrea’s nail place in town. I will admit though that I do feel like a zoo exhibit while I am sitting in there, but who gives a rat’s ass! I just keep thinking to myself..”Don’t make me tap the ring people, don’t make me tap the ring!” It’s definitely not something that I would do year-round, but it was Andrea’s birthday present to me and it is pleasant to have your feet and hands looking nice while on a fancy vacation.

After I am done with my appointment, Andrea’s friend Sharon from her previous job should be stopping over to get a user’s lesson in downloading music (I am sure from a subscription service) and burning CDs. She just got a new laptop, so I am going to flex the power of new my in home Wifi. Hey, it’s takes very little to keep me happy.

Saturday is going to be the highlight of the week for sure. BigDT is once again hosting the annual Tomlin Crab-tacular. This year he has increased the menu to include all standard BBQ fare, along with some shrimp and clams to accompany the crabs. I was totally killing some crabs at the Grimming’s BBQ 2 weeks ago, and since there will be 2 bushels on hand, there will be no holding me back from loading up on the steamed and cleaned crabs. (No Hot&Dirty crabs for me, especially when Pop is springing for cleaned #1’s)

I think that I am going to get my consultation billing taken care of for this month and then hit the ole’ dusty trail back to Pennsville. I hope to post this weekend, but if you don’t hear from me I will be back on the Blog Monday for sure. Have a great weekend!

The curse of the Nap

Well…another day has passed closer to the weekend. I could handle the weekend right now that is for sure! Last night was mostly uneventful, since I left work with a massive headache and really didn’t have the notion to do much of anything of substance. I did get a chance to catch a little nap. Although I totally bypassed the benefit of it buy going to bed at 11:30pm.

It’s such a flippin paradox though; I was as tired as a one handed man tying his shoe yesterday, so I decided that it would be prudent to take a nap. {On a side note: I do think that when I get headaches I turn into a vampire since the faintest trace of light boars directly through my skull into the area right behind my eye.} I got the room darkened enough so I could lay there with relative comfort. I think that I slept for about 90 minutes until as always I wake up in a panic thinking that I am terribly late for some unknown appointment that never exists.

After waking up I just strolled around the house deciding on things that I should get done. Not that I am going to get right on them by any means, but it is always good to keep the mental checklist fresh in your mind.

My Personal Top 5 List:

1. Get trim around the front door that looks right


2. Steam clean the carpets, with the Hoover & Febreze shampoo


3. Get the Cable TV line in the computer room hooked up


4. Make the “Guest Room” (HA!) inhabitable should we actually have someone that wished to stay the night with us.


5. Last but not least: Decide on what colors the rooms in my house should be painted.

That task of domicile investigation grew weary fast, so I thought that I should spend some good quality with my good friend Dell. He seemed to be acting a little sluggish around me recently and I just knew that he could use some long over-due attention. So being the nice guy that I am, I decided that he had way too much on his mind. So with a few swift clicks of the mouse I drastically cleaned out the “My Shared” folder and cleaned up some serious resources. Also, I cleaned out the Temporary System Files that have been stacking up since the first login. Dell seems to be a bit happier now, but much like a child it takes a couple of requests to get it to shut down at night.

While Dell and I were hanging out together, Andrea called to let me know that she was leaving work an hour early and was on her way home. That was very welcomed because, truth be told…I was getting bored out of my gourd. The rest of the night was pretty calm. We played with the Penny and Hershey for awhile, but here is where the aforementioned paradox came into play. Due to my nap, I had no desire to go to sleep. So that is how I ended up being awake until 11:30pm, and once again waking like I just slept on a train. Final Score -  Naps: 0  Tired: 3

1st post and I am already tired!

Well here it is in all its glory! After much procrastination I have finally decided to get off my duff and start up a Blog. As everyone else on here says “I plan on updating daily”, but we all know that goes the way of the political promise. I can assure you that I will do my very best to update daily, but I can make no promises. </intro>

     Wednesday – The day of Hump. For some reason my body is telling me that it should be Friday already. I think that I am in dire need of a real vacation where I can just relax, nothing more. I have worked through the whole summer with out any vacation time (which is so not me) in anticipation for our Aruba trip in October. Speaking of sun and sand, Andrea and I took a really great trip to Ocean City, NJ last Saturday but much like most day trips the relaxation to travel ratio was terribly flawed. I am not a huge fan of day trips for that very reason, but an overnight trip wasn’t even close to feasible. Not to mention that they charge an arm and a leg for a room, we didn’t have anyone to watch the dogs. Oh well, I really did enjoyed myself at the beach…it was a perfect day there.

     I guess that I should be getting back to work ;^) now. I have to figure out how to work this new Google Talk Messenger program. It is a tough job, but someone has to do it.