Jack and Rocky

Too bad they're not a couple, they look good together. If you look closely, the reflection in the window makes for a nice shot as well.

Sometimes Leigh Takes Greek Life a Little TOO Seriously...

She makes for a good 3am shopping partner. =) Next time let's go when the two better stores are open, eh?

Tori Exploring Her 'Wild Side'

One For the Road

The Back of the Bus

Brian the bartender really wishes his shift ended earlier that night.

= P

Fill in your own comment.

The Heart of the City

The Taking Of The Photo

Family tradition! It's like the kissing of the Blarney stone for us.

Welcome to New York

Taking After the Father Unit

I felt like adding a caption with some asian symbols for effect... but I refrained.

Bourbon

ROTFLMAO - not so thuggin' it... LOL

Himself

I should have gotten my hair cut closer to St. Patrick's Day so it would still have that weird red shade to it.

Cutage

Not bad for a self-taken shot.

So cute!

Need I say more?

Shelley firmly planted on her butt....

....which was better than I could muster. My back STILL has me immobilized.

First, the puppy....

Despite her enthusiasm, UConn still lost to Syracuse. =( Bad puppy!

Rob - Remember This One?

Cicero’s Letters to His Son Marcus

My variation to this essay is that Marcus is centurion with a detachment from the Ninth Roman Legion. He is stationed in Narbonesis awaiting the troops of Hannibal as they make their way up a pass through the mountains towards the Alps and Italy. On of his soldiers, Legionarre Stewart is griping about the poor conditions of this doomed posting in the middle of nowhere.

It had been nine hours since he had been dispatched to reconnaissance the Mesopotamian troops in the valley below making their way up the face of the mountain. The bright sunshine of morning had turned into a dull gray misting rain. It wasn’t so bad for the officers who had dry, although small, tents to take shelter in. For the average infantry man, the conditions were awful.
No one had counted on the seemingly clear blue water of what they had dubbed Sweetwater Lake to be full of bacteria that immobilized much of the squad with a fever. Those who were sick needed to be brought back to the base camp on the far side of the mountain by the few soldiers who were still well. The whole process took almost three hours to complete. A mission that should have taken twelve hours now looked as though it was going to stretch into fifteen or more.
Brett Stewart sat hunched over a rock still wearing his full armor, grumbling to himself about the weather, the heat, the mission, and life in general. The young trooper did not realize how lucky he was. Most of the troops had discarded their armor in the bad weather because it would rust or cause heat sores from rubbing. His laziness which unnecessarily increased his discomfort probably saved his life.
As he sat disgruntled with the world a forward scout from Hannibal’s army had snuck to within fifty yards of his position. Brett never saw the man or even knew he was there until the arrow pierced his shoulder evoking a primal scream of pain and amazement. Luckily, his battle-hardened commander, Centurion Marcus (the son of a great speaker Cicero) was just a scant few yards away and immediately seized a bow commenced firing on the scout, driving him away down the hill. Marcus quickly detailed five troopers to hunt down the scout and make sure he never returned home. While Brett waited for the medical aid to get up the hill to him, Marcus consoled him and told a story.
It began with Marcus as a student in Athens studying philosophy and mathematics as a young man not much older than trooper Stewart. He had enjoyed the free life of his early twenties and could not overcome his youthful exuberance for life. He admitted to having spent much more time partying than studying his lessons. His father was an important statesman in Rome who had made some political enemies who silenced his attacks on them by having his head severed from his shoulders. Upon learning of his father’s violent death, Marcus had left his studies to mourn the loss. He never fully recovered and after losing all of his worldly possessions when a card shark “shanghaied” him into military service. It was some weeks later when by chance or coincidence he found a scroll hidden among his gear. It was still sealed and bore the sign of his father. How the scroll came to be there he did not know, but he quickly opened it and read the contents. As he read, he realized that these were the last words of wisdom from a father to his son and absorbed them wholly with every synapse in his mind. Marcus said that the wisdom enclosed in the scroll changed the course of his life and through that wisdom he was able to climb in rank, attaining the office of Centurion.
Stewart, now thoroughly eaten raw with curiosity as to what that advise was, asked his commander in a raspy voice “So what exactly did the scroll reveal to you, sir?”
Marcus looked at him and laughed. Then composing himself, he explained “I’m sorry, its just that it was no small amount of information. It took me several hours to read it all and I can’t recite it all to you now. But the basics were rather simple rules of life. Don’t act without considering the effects of your actions. Don’t trust the offer that seems too good to be true because it usually isn’t. Always be truthful to yourself and others. Always make sure that no one in a legal standing is above the law. To fight tyranny and oppression in all its forms as best you can even when there is personal danger involved. Perhaps the hardest to accept was that he advised me to gracefully accept the problems of old age as they came about. These bits of knowledge were not a great revelation. People have lived by those ideals for many centuries and I suspect that they will for many centuries to come. My father knew that it was his last chance to impress upon me the wisdom of his many years and because he felt it was his duty to try to make my life easier. You see, it wasn’t what he said or the way he said it so much as why that made me pay attention. He loved me with all of his heart and it wounded him deeply to know that I was doing nothing with the opportunities I had. He was trying help me stop goofing off at school and make something of myself. I was unable to make the best of my first chance but I did make a successful career for myself in the army. Maybe someday when I will go to Rome and follow in my father’s footsteps, trying to make a differ…….” Marcus’ words were cut short as an arrow burst through his neck. The lone scout had returned and dealt a mortal blow to the legion commander. Brett saw his officer and friend go down gurgling and gasping for air. He saw the archer fumbling with another arrow and facing the five troopers from the hunting detail coming up behind him. In one fluid motion Brett grabbed his pilum and hurled it with the conviction and force of a god. The steel tipped wooden shaft flew straight and true, striking the ill-fated scout at the base of his shoulders and breaking through the front of his chest.
This was the story often regaled at the dinner table to foreign dignitaries and people of the court by Brett Stewart, Praetor of Rome. To his dying day he swore by the last words of his lost comrade which helped him attain his prestigious place in life.


Can you believe I got an A for that poorly-written "5 AM Special" essay? Especially when it was supposed to be a minimum of 5 pages. And don't forget that the objective was to DETAIL and EXPLAIN the virtues individually. LOL

NYC & The Lion King = Très Impressionnant!

The drive down was easy, given that Rt 15 is an infinitely better selection for entering the city than 95. I managed to snap a few photos on the way in and out of the city. One was of a large ad stretched across the side of a building for the new Corvette. It was a matte black background with the Corvette emblem at the bottom and the simple slogan across the center reading: "SORRY, WE CAN'T ACCEPT SOULS AS PAYMENT." I am considering a lawsuit against GM for emotional pain after my car accident... LOL

The other cool shot was from the lounge where we had lunch over Times Square. I took a great picture of the main street there leading towards where the ball drops on New Year's. I am in the process of installing my new mega-printer... did I mention I bought a new printer? Anyway, when I'm set and get a few chores and exercising doen around here I will attempt to figure out how to post pics again and FINALLY give you some recent shots to view. Are the natives happy? Ye'd best be!

The Lion King, itself, was an excellent play. The musical score was the same lively tunage composed by Elton John for the original movie. The singing was on par for Broadway... not opera-esque, but better than any crap on American Idol (though the dude with the funky beard thing does pretty well on that show.) What stole the afternoon for me was the visual effects for the play and the impressive use of costuming/puppetry. Definitely a play I would recommend to others. So.... just quit your jobs like me and spend your days wandering the streets of NYC like a beat poet. Ha!

Job news... waiting to hear back from Ashlar Village now. Not much else.

Off to figure out the mega-printer. I just got an HP 7410. It slices, dices, dehydrates, purees and pretty much changes the laws of physics. No, but it does print, fax, copy and scan. It also can print digi-shots directly and has a wireless function, so I can put it anywhere in the house and print from my PC. Handy, no? My inner (hell, it's wide open to all of you) geek is very pleased with this purchase.

Geek on! =)

The Requested Update

First, I hope Rob is well today after exhibiting symptoms of mass mucous mayhem. Maybe the asthma lately has been an early symptom?

Yesterday was fun having everyone here for brunch. Me and my cream cheese ham/egg sandwich, and Shelley with her custom Crisco eggs... when I heard that I wanted to barf, thank you very much.

Trying to think of postworthy topics...

Ye olde Job Hunt continues today. Yay! Let's see what we can find, yes Precious?

Over the past...week? I've been dreaming incessantly. There was one where I was in some sort of sports car heading North on 91. I think I was going to either Paul's or a car show? Not sure. In any case, I looked at the next exit sign and realized I was almost in Massachusetts. Then I looked at my clock... 12:48? But I left the house much earlier than that. Strange. And as I kept going, I glanced up into the clear blue sky. There, only vaguely discernable, was a hovering disc. A UFO! I instantly thought to myself... I've lost time! Then I realized they were coming and I focused on keeping my eyes open... since I AM traveling at speed on the highway and passing out would be bad. I put my whole energy into keeping my eyes open, but they were forced shut on me... which brought great fear for personal peril. But as soon as my eyes closed in the dream, I was wide awake for the day.

A mini-series of other dreams I have had lately deal with intimate topics and people I both have and have not dated in the past. This is only noteworthy for me because I never dream about people who I know in real life, and certainly not directly. Usually something representing them. In this case, at least one of them was a bit different than reality, or at least different from memory. In any case, it was both an odd and interesting set of dreams.

That's all I got for now. Back to job hunting!