Ray

NYC visit to the MOMA and Rockefeller Center

2009-12-09T17:19:12Z

I haven't posted anything for a while because I honestly haven't done anything that I considered worthwhile. I recently went up to NYC with a couple friends this past weekend and we had such a good time. I started telling my co-worker over IM about the trip and it turned into so many paragraphs that I figured that I might as well post it for posterity.

First we took the E downtown to Washington Square Park which is in the Village area next to NYU. My friend Elysa hadn't been there in several years, so she wanted to see it again. it wasn't much to look at because they are doing alot of construction on it. After we were tired of that, we went to Peanut Butter and Co as soon as it opened. I had the Elvis, which is peanut butter, honey, bananas and bacon toasted. I opted for whole wheat and crunchy pb. Elysa got a peanut butter cup, which is pb and nutella. She got it toasted on whole wheat. Her boyfriend, Gregor, also got a toasted sandwhich but I don't rem what was in it and he got a milkshake. They loved it and will go back again maybe in the spring. We then walked to this store in Soho called the Evolution Nature Store. They had all kinds of bones, fossils, bugs (butterflies, bettles, insects) in glass cases, taxadermied animals and stones, jewelry etc. They love stuff like that so that was another huge hit. I would definitely recommend it and take other people to visit it.

Then we took a walk over to the Dean and Deluca cafe and supermarket. If you were a fan of Felicity, you'd remember that she worked there. I used to visit it all the time when I friend Chara was at NYU getting her masters degree. That place is just amazing. It's kind of like a really fancy wholefoods that sells all kinds of gourmet foods, veggies, pastries, chocolates, cooking supplies etc. I just love it there. I picked up a couple stocking stuffers for my brother. We took the subway to Union Square so we could go to the Holiday Market. Basically, it's all of these little booths set up and it's kind of like a little crafts market. For example, one person sells soaps, one person makes ornaments, someone else is selling art, someone else has baked goods, etc. They had a ton of little unique gifts all in one place. We each got a little something but then it started to rain heavily so we got back on the subway. It took us a while to get to the Moma because we kept waiting for the V train which would drop us right off at 53rd and 5th but four F trains went by while we waited so we just hopped on one of those. Now I know that the V only ruuns on weekdays! Unfortunately, it left us off at 47th and 5th so we had to walk to 53rd in the snow. We probably would have been better off taking the 6 to 51st and switching too the E, but I didn't know that at the time.

Well, we finally got to Moma but we went in the wrong way and there was just a sea of people, like hundreds of people in line. We finally waved over a security guard and he directed us to the information desk. We picked up our tickets that my co-workers sister left for us without a problem but then had to wait in the super long coat check line. it musy have taken us 20 minutes just to do that, but then we went about finding the Tim Burton exhibit.

We followed the signs and followed the excalators downstairs to this room that had posters from his movies and weird portraits that Tim Burton did. Like one was of this woman that had makeup on that made it look like she was stitched together and she was sawing off her leg and one was this weird bush thing that had eyeballs at the end of it's branches. Really bizarre stuff like that. In the center of the room where some of the objects from the posters. Then all of the sudden everyone got in line and was being herded through these doors but when I showed them the ticket, the security guard said that this was the line for one of his movies and we needed a separate ticket for that. I thought it was a line to go into the exhibit! He told us that it was on the third floor so we made our way up there. When we got there it was ultra crowded and they were shooing away people that either didn't have Tim Burton tickets or those who had the timed tickets but it wasn't their time yet. We got in without a problem because of our guest passes.

It was equally crowded inside, but we were able to see everything if we went with the flow of the crowd. You could jump around if you wanted but then you couldn't get close enough sometimes. The exhibit itself was cool but equally bizarre. it had all of these drawings and paintings that we did from the time that he as young until now. There were pencil sketches of weird monsters, little comics, and actual paintings. There were these little maquette puppets of these completely bizarre creatures. There was also work from artists that has been inspired by his projects.Tthey also had alot of props from his movies. They had the whole leather outfit, scissor hands and wig that Johnny Depp wore in Edward Scizzorhands, Michelle Pfieffer's catwoman outfit, a few batman masks, the baby carraige that the Penguin was in as a baby, the little puppets that they used to make Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Coraline and one used in Beetlejuice when Beetlejuice was a snake. They had these animatronic dolls from the opening scene of his Willy Wonka movie that caught on fire and were all singed and melted. They also had puppets from some other short films that he did. I think one of the coolest things he had besides the movie props where the original concepts for a few of his movies. They were hand written on a yellow notepad and it was his original concept behind Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice. After we saw everything and my friends got a few souveneers, we went to exploe the rest of the museum.

We then explored the museum and saw some strange sculptures like this bowl and spoon covered in fur and this bizaare Salvadore Dali one with a mannaquin head and feather and corn cobs for hair with a loaf of french bread balanced on top and ants crawling on it. We also saw some amazing works by Picasso, Cezanne, Jackson Pollock, Van Gogh, Monet, Salvadore Dali, etc etc. I have pics of a ton of them as you were allowed to take pics w/o flash. I have to admit that I really don't understand modern art. Some of it looks like they just threw random paint or welded together random pieces of metal. I appreciated the really colorful ones the most even if I didn't understand the point.

So, we left there around five and made our way to the World of Disney store. We had to wait in a little bit of a line because we had to wait for the employees to bag the umbrellas to keep them from dripping all over the store. I just got a mug, that flat round ornament and a pin that had the mickey symbol and NYC on it. It was kind of like a play on I heart NYC but with a mickey head instead. I also got some candy for my nephews. Then we walked to Saint Patrick's Cathedral where Elysa lights a candle for her friend that passed away five years ago. She lights one every year. Then we walked to Rockefeller Center and took pics of the tree. Elysa and Gregor got a professional pic done as it's a tradition for them. then we went into his ridiculously expensive chocolate store called Teuscher Chocolates that sold swiss chocolate at $75 dollars/pound. I did get this chocolate bar for $6.50 that is 99% cocoa. You know how with the dark chocolate it's always some percentage like 77% or so? They said it's extremely bitter so you should only bake with it. my brother constantly talks about how the higher percentage bars are so much better and had never found one above 88% so he'll be very surprised!

Then we walked to the M&M store in Times Square which was an absolute mad house. I just walked around while they shopped but was getting very tired by that point and the special color m&ms were $12.95/pound so I was like no thanks. We also ran into the Hershey Store and I got these Almond Joy pieces. They are like Reese's pieces but one color is coconut flavored, another is almond flavored and another is chocolate flavored. They had this concept for some other hershey products as well. My sis wanted unique candy so that fit the bill. I also got Lou the Take 5 bars he wanted and a 5th avenue bar. Then we stopped in some other outrageous chocolate store for a sample and then took the subway to Macy's on 34st street because there's this little diner/cafe that they found one time called Andrew's Cafe that they like. It was OK but nothing I'd recommend. I mean atleast not for what I got. I got a western omlette and had to pay extra for cheese which I swear they didn't even add and they had no free refills. with two sodas, the omlette and a side of bacon, it came to $17 with tax and tip. We got a better meal at serendipity as far as I was concerned. plus they only had one bathroom that was constantly occupied. then we finally caught the train home at 9PM.

We did get alot done and had a really great time. Even though it was raining or snowing most of the day, it stayed warm enough where we didn't use the foot warmers that a picked up but we did end up using a pair of hand warmers towards the end and a couple cheap ponchos during the day.

Glee

2009-11-04T19:43:55Z

I love Glee, like REALLY love it. Like if Glee came up to me in a bar, it would get some lovin:) That was all that I really felt like saying about it. I guess the best part is that watching it makes me happy. Some of the cast is nice to look at and they all can really sing. Jayma Mays is love as always and Jane Lynch is just incredible. She's so deliciously despicable:) Oh, and I'm glad that Cory Monteith's career has taken off since Kyle XY.

lazy days

2009-09-18T13:23:07Z

I'm having one of those days where I just know that I'm not going to be productive. I kinda feel in a Bastion stealing a book and hiding in a school attic mood. Maybe it was the lack of breakfast, which I just tried to bandaid with a protein shake. Summer is closing down and here comes fall all too soon. We are going to try to squeeze in one more trip to the beach tomorrow, but everyone seems more in the mood to just go on the boardwalk so we'll have to see how it goes. I think I'll try to get some work done but I'll more likely try to concentrate on processing pics that I took at two WWE shows at the end of June. Raw photos are great but it definitely takes me alot longer to play with them. I use Adobe Raw because I haven't been motivated to get CaptureNX yet. I wonder if it's that much better.

Lititz, PA

2009-09-08T14:15:26Z

I honestly didn't think that I had alot to say about it, but I started to tell my co-worker about my weekend and it turned into paragraphs, so I figured that I'd post it. This weekend, I visited Lititz, PA in Lancaster County with my parents. We went to their annual Saturday morning farmers market and got some of these little yummy orange peppers. We also got some homemade root beer but either it wasn't a good batch or it got too shaken up on the car ride back because it wasn't that great. Then we went to this antique fair in the Lititz Spring Park which was pretty much like a flea market but there were some actual antique here and there but it was all dealers who wanted too much money. The best part was the homemade shaved ice for me and the fresh cut fries for my parents.

After looking in some of the little shops, we went to this place that one of my co-workers recommended called Isaac's Deli and Restuarant. It was mostly soup, salad, and sandwhiches but you could tell it was all homemade, even the bread. I had a salad with cranberry almond chicken salad that was pretty tasty and my parents liked their sandwhiches.

After lunch, we went to Wilbur's Chocolate which was a complete madhouse. You would have thought they were throwing around free chocolate in there. They had a small display for some of the old molds and kettle pots, etc and another room with old cans of cocoa and tea sets, etc. The whole back was glass and you could see the older ladies making the chocolate. You could order special stuff from them and fudge. the lady was sooo excited to sell me tiger butter fudge which is a layer of chocolate, a layer of creamy peanut butter and a layer of vanilla
We also purchased some pretzels from the Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, which is their other claim to fame but sadly my dad didn't want to pay three bucks each for the factory tour so we called it a day. then we went back to the rv and grilled some burgers and grilled the yummy peppers with other fixins and my brother and his gf came over and camped overnight.

NYC VISIT 8/1/09 PART 2

2009-08-13T15:06:40Z

So, where was I? Oh yeah, so we made our way over to Shakespeare's Garden. We were not amused...at all. I think it's just the wrong season for the pretty. After that we were pretty pooped so everyone else got a frozen fruit bar and we laid on a huge rock.

We decided to try to get to Union Square because I wanted to get some dessert in Max Brenners. Well, we ended up getting on the wrong subway downtown because Mike ran onto it, so we decided to go to Wall Street instead. Even though I had a map, I got confused and we ended up missing our stop and going a few into Brooklyn! If that wasn't bad enough, we had a confusing time getting on the subway back to Manhatten because there was more than one subway entrance. We eventually got the subway back and took pictures of various buildings and sculptures. Our favorite subject by far was Trinity Church. It looks so out of place yet so amazing at the same time. I wish that we could have gone inside. After that, we wound our way down to South Street Seaport. It had been so long since I had been there that I didn't realise that Unos took up a good chunk on the second floor and we got in trouble because he thought we could go through the restaurant to the mall area. We did eventually find our way in and I proceeded to get the biggest diet coke that I could find while everyone else had a beer. We got some great shots of the Brooklyn Bridge and of the ships. You bcan even see the Statue of Liberty in one way in the distance. I think maybe next time I'll take them to the Staten Island Ferry as that give you great panaramic shots of the city and the Statue of Liberty.

We were pretty tired after that point, so we took the subway back to Penn Station. We found this little place that had prepackaged salads, so we each got one and a soda. I also bought this awesome looking white chocolate macadamia nut cookie and a chocolate covered macaroon cookie, which I prompty threw into the big freezer to discover on another day. I'm back in the weight loss kick finally and actually haven't had any junk at all since that day.

NYC visit 8/1/09 Part 1

2009-08-07T21:00:29Z

My brother's girlfriend invited me to go up to NYC with her, my brother and one of her friends. She always nvites me when they go up to NYC and are nice enough to pick me up along the way to the train station. It always makes me feel special when they want to involve me in their plans and NYC is one of my favorite places. The kinetic energy of the place won't allow me to move at any slow pace, much to the chagrin of anyone who accompanies me. Good stout walking shoes and a hearty disposition are a necessity for that kind of journey.

They wanted to take a more thorough tour of Central Park and I was more than happy to oblige. It's a necessary part of any visit to NYC as far as I'm concerned. I've been through it many times and it truly feels like another world. I think the contrast between it and the city is my favorite part of the visit. We started at Columbus Circle and wound our way over to the Gap Stow Bridge. I really love this bridge because it is the first place that I visited in the park with my friend Chara so many years ago when she went to NYU and let me sleep on the floor of her dorm so that I could explore the city for a few days at a time. There was actually a carnival going on in the wollman rink, which I had never seen before, but we had no time for that. We meandered north, passinng by the Dairy and the Carousel, past the baseball fields all the way to Strawberry Fields. It was crowded as always and my companioned didn't seem to be too interested, so I snapped a couple pictures of the Imagine mosaic and we were off. By then we were getting really hungry, so my brother pulled out his GPS to try to find us someplace to eat nearby. We found a couple promising places on Columbus Ave, but from the menues we felt thheyy were too pricey so we tried again. We ended up at Utopia on Amsterdam and 72nd. It is a your typical diner but it had beautiful wood trim throughout the dining room and was clean and well taken care f. we were squezzed in a little booth by the front door next to some pictures of celebrities who had eaten there and left little notes. One was from Mariah Carey, which I figured was a good sign because I don't think she'd eat crappy food. I ended up getting the chicken salad platter with cottage cheese, which was huge in typical diner fashionand pretty tasty. I'd definitely go here again if I'm in the area. After that, we walked back down 72nd, passed by the Imagine mosaic again which now had flower petals on it in the shape of a piece sign, and wound our way over to Bethesda Founntain. We spent a while here photographing all of the frescos and intricate stonework in the shape of animals and flowers. We then made our way to the Alice in Wonderland Statue where Amy had a great time posing with the various figures. We briefly stopped by Cleopatra's Needle. We then visited Turtle Pond which was very active with turles! We really couldn't get any great shots with all of the green film but we tried.

To be Continued....

lockesedai @ 2009-07-08T14:30:00

2009-07-08T18:37:10Z

Just figured I'd write since I haven't done so in a loooooong time. this past weekend turned out to be eventful. I got pulled over by a state trooper for speeding and for following a car too close. Let's just forget about the fact that I'm on a crowded busy major road and going with the flow of traffic and the fact that the minivan in front of me saw the cop first and slowed down into me. fun times.

We tried to go to Ephreta, PA to go to this farmer's market called the Green Dragon. Three miles took us over an hour because apparantly it's the only thing around. Intead of waiting in even more traffic, my Dad had the brilliant idea that we should walk. What he didn't realise is that we were almost a mile away from it. we basically got to the crap hole, ate and walked back.

Oh ho, but there is a shiny lining in here somewhere. We visited this really cool town called Lititz, PA. They are home to the Wilbur chocolate factory and the Stergis Pretzel bakery. They are also a Moravian settlement so I spent most of my time exploring the historic houses and taking pictures of flowers and churches. We'll have to go back when the factory is open for a tour.

lockesedai @ 2009-02-02T22:10:00

2009-02-03T03:13:35Z

When Randy and the Legacy took out Shane and Stephanie backstage and Steph went flying, it was even better than Randy punting Vince in the head!! I almost lost faith in Raw after that oh so fake beating from Shane, but they have totally redeemed themselves tonight!

Weight Goals

2008-11-13T02:33:10Z

Gaining weight really sucks. You can't fit into any of your clothes and it's really hard to say no to junk much less refrain from eating it for long stretches. I mean, there's always an excuse: birthdays, halloween, stressful day, etc. Not to mention the fact that there are two wonderful places right across the street from work with quality junk. I decided today that I really want to get on track. Not just for the short term of fitting into some clothes or the million pairs of jeans in my closet that I can't bear to throw out because they are almost new and I used to fit into them 40 lbs ago.

I've decided to set two goals: one short term and one long term. Regarding the short term goal, I've learned today that Key West Night club in Center City, Philly has some hot muscular strippers every once in a while. If I lose 20 lbs, I'll check it out. For the long term goal, if I lose another 25 lbs, I'm buying a Nikon D90.

This past weekend

2008-10-15T16:50:08Z

I've been wanting to jot down what I did this past weekend before I forget all about it. On saturday, I went to Fallsington Day with my parents. It's basically an annual event where people sell their arts and crafts and they have various forms of local entertainment including people in period garb and bake sales. Well, we drove into the town but we were stuck because they didn't close off the road and there was nowhere to go. So, we're waiting for people to turn around and just as we are about to go, this woman starts frantically beeping and waving at us. I assumed it's because she was in a hurry to get moving so I yelled out something that I'd rather not repeat and we went on our way. As we're driving along, I noticed that she was following us. When we parked, she parked right next to us and I finally realized that it is my brother in law's sister! I'm not very familiar with that side of the family, but I had recently seen her when I went to see my sister and her baby in the hospital. I'm sure that the rest of her siblings are very nice, but I like Gio the best. I get really leary around Jehovah's Witnesses since I used to be one and I feel there's alot of judgement there. Fortunately, not only did she marry outside of the religion but she was never baptised in it so alot of their rules don't apply to her. I think I could actually be friends with her with a little effort.

On Sunday, my parents, Lou, my brother and his girlfriend went to Peddler's Village to have Sunday Brunch at the Cock and Bull Restaurant. It's a full buffet and I must say that it was very good. Some of the highlights were omelettes cooked to order, bacon, sausage, a carving station with ham and beef, fresh fruits, lox, shrimp, and various other breakfast foods and desserts. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it. So far for my birthday, I received a jansport bookbag, Jack's Mannaquin - The Glass Passenger, a new remote for my car, and a pair of jeans. I'm having a party with my friends this weekend at Charlie Browns Steakhouse. Lou ordered me a cake from one of my favorite bakeries, Clay's, up in Berwyn, PA. It should be a fun time :)

Facebook: The Ultimate Time Waster

2008-09-25T14:50:17Z

I know I'm not the first to say this and I know I won't be the last, but facebook is definitely the best time waster out there. This thing is even worse than MySpace! There is an especially addicting applicaton called My Heroes Ability that I play quite often...well to be honest just about every spare second at work. Between that and iLike, I'm hopelessly hooked. If you are ever bored out of your mind and need something to take up some time, sign up for an account. It's worse crack than the Twilight series:)

cupcakes to zeppolis

2008-09-16T17:28:34Z

I decided to take a trip up to NYC this past saturday for the San Gennaro festival. http://www.sangennaro.org/ It's located in Little Italy and the celebration goes on a whole week. I wasn't sure if I was gong to go because the weather didn't look like it would be good and my brother didn't want to go. I had invited him and his girlfriend when we were in the city a few weeks ago and at that time he seemed interested. He's just one of those people that are up for anything until something better comes along. His girlfriend was going with a couple friends but by the time that they got in the city and wanted to meet up, I was already heading home.

Anyway, when I got up, the weather was looking good so I hopped on the NJ transit train in Trenton and got into town by 930AM. I took the subway up to 79th and lex because I read that Gossip Girl had filmed there the day before and wanted to see what the deal was with the Hotel Carlyle. First, I stopped in Crumbs bakery and got myself a Reese. It's a chocolate cupcake the size of a muffin with peanut butter frosting, a few slivers of pb cups with a rim of chocolate and pb chips. I thought it was pretty tasty and would recommend it. I found the hotel, but didn't think that it looked that impressive from the outside and it was hard to get a good picture so I didn't bother.

I then meadered through Central Park, taking pictures as I went. I figured that it was a good opportunity to try one of the free walking tours, so I made my way over to Bethesda Castle for the Amble Through The Ramble tour. It was OK. There is alot of construction going on in the park right now so it's harder to appreciate it. I would recommend the Adirondacks tour over this one.

I hopped on the subway down to Chinatown and slowly made my way to Little Italy. As I mentioned earlier, I had been in NYC a few weeks ago and in Little Italy there is alot of outdoor seating for dining and some vendors selling pizza, gelati, canollis etc from carts in the street. This goes on for three of four blocks. I was very surprised at the size of the festival as it went on for eight blocks up Mulberry St and also branched out a couple blocks in each direction on Grand and Hester St. There were tons of food venders selling everything from pina coladas to shish kabobs to Torrone. There were games of chance and small kiddie rides such as a ferris wheel, a merry go round and a moon bounce. I had a zeppoli with bavarian cream and a cherry on top. Kind of like a boston cream donut without the chocolate. I also had a shish kabob which was really good. There was also a small parade around 2PM with mostly marching bands. One of the Grand Marshels was Robert Davi, which I know from the Goonies as one of the Fratelli brothers. I brought a poster to get signed but didn't have the chance to find him.

Around 430, I got tired of the crowds and had seen all of the booths so I made my way up to Rockefeller Center. Surprisingly enough, 6th Ave was also closed off for another street festival, which according to http://www.nycstreetfairs.com/sched.html was the Great Irish Festival, but I didn't get that impression and that site doesn't veen list the San Gennaro Festival, so who knows. There's always some sort of festival going on every weekend during the Spring and Summer.

I visited the NBC Experience store and mustered up surprising restraint. My hands were full with all kinds of stuff but I eventually widdled it down to a few postcards and a pack of trading card. They now have an awesome Heroes section, which would satiate any fan. They had the DVD, a cd, calendar, watches, a pen, trading cards, the magazine, the graphic novel,action figures, glasses, mugs, hats and a dozen different shirts.

I then made my way over to the Palace Hotel. After taking a few pictures I sat in the outer courtyard. Several scenes of Gossip Girl had been shot there and it was cool to see it myself. Other people were taking pictures too so I didn't feel like a total noob. took a walk down to Times Square and visited the Virgin store and the Hersheys store but I didn't end up getting anything because I was getting tired. All in all, it was a very full day, as is usually the case when I go by myself. I may post some pictures later in the week.

Boonville, NC (Part 2)

2008-07-17T15:00:34Z

This is Part 2 of my trip down to Boonville, NC for a family reunion. This consist of the events on the 4th of July. Including fun in the pool, a hayride, exploration of a bamboo forest and a campfire.

So, the whole point of this trip down to North Carolina was to visit my Mom's aunt and cousins. These are people who I hadn't seen since 1991. There are only two times when I actually remember seeing any of them. The first time was my Aunt Deirdre's wedding in 1991 and another time was a visit to Long Island to visit my Aunt Myrtle and her son John's family. I remember going up to see Aunt Myrtle with my Mom and Uncle Eddie. She had a lovely rancher surrounded by chestnut trees. I remember that she had a lot of energy for a 75 year old. We played board games and she tried to give me chestnuts but they spoiled on the trip home before they became ripe. I remember visiting her son John and his daughter Amanda. We played with barbies and her white cat named Marshmellow. Anywho, that's the extent of my memories so you see that these people were basically strangers.

There were 40 people at this reunion including my parents and I. Aunt Myrtle even made it at the ripe age of 92. Unfortunately, she doesn't really remember that much anymore, but it was really nice to see her anyway. The first thing we did was jump in the pool. They have a 9 foot deep in ground pool that they keep luke warm all year round. All of the grandchildren were already in the pool and as soon as they saw that I had a camera, they wanted me to take pictures of them jumping in.

In the meantime, Cousin Dave had this great idea that everyone should put together this metal gazebo for him in case it rained later. He found alot of these kind of projects during the course of the weekend.

Alot of the day was spent sitting around and chatting. Dave put the pork shoulder of the BBQ to slow roast as we were having pulled pork sandwiches for dinner.

Here's a pic of my Great Aunt Myrtle.

Dave has around 40 acres of land. Most of it he leases out to a local farmer and some of it is forest. We took a hayride (there was no actual hay involved, just padding) through the forest and went on a short walk to their bamboo forest. The whole forest takes up around 4 acres with 1 acre on Dave's property. There is such an abundance of trees and they grow so fast that he is actually harvesting them to build a bamboo fence around the pool.

Once we got to the bamboo forest, we discovered that were was a small creek that devided it from the regular forest. this made around a 5-6 foot ledge on either side and the only way over was to run down a plank that went from the ledge to the other side of the creek. The forest was definately unlike anything I've ever seen. My dad said it was like being in Vietnam. It's definately something that I never thought I'd find in North Carolina!

After the pork was done, four of five of us took turns shredding it while Dave's brother, John, whipped up some special BBQ sauce. Everything was delicious including two kinds of coleslaw and potato salad.

Cousin Dave and a little girl named Samantha also had birthdays that weekend!

After dinner, we decided to have a campfire. After collecting wood, and many attempts to light it, they got a fire going and all of the young kids roasted marshmallows!

Next time, I'll talk about our day in Old Salem, NC....

Boonville, NC

2008-07-11T17:41:12Z

Wow, I really haven't posted in a long time. I guess I'll recount my recent trip to North Carolina for a family reunion, since I wanted to document it anyway.... I am going to divide it up into a few posts because I'm long winded and there are images to share. This part will be about Mt. Airy and Pilot Mountain.

My parents and I rented a Kia Spectra and drove down to North Carolina from Pennsylvania. We took the turnpike to RT81 and it took around 9 hours. The radio had an aux port for my ipod so that's how we survived the lack of good music. We stayed in a Days Inn, which wasn't bad. They had an in ground pool which was only 4ft deep which I found kinda funny. The people down there seem to be nicer. We had good service at every place we ate and when people asked you to come again, you felt like they meant it. We seemed to pick alot of diners that had buffets. Don't know if that's the norm but I wasn't complaining.

We were going down there to visit my mom's aunt, cousins and their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. So, I guess for me they were all my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th cousins. I don't have any first cousins on my Mom's side. We visited their farm with 40 of my cousins on Thursday-Saturday, July 3-5. It used to be a working farm back in the day, but now they lease most of the land to another farmer, but they still have a couple vegetable, fruit and herb gardens and they are raising a couple of steer to sell and slaughter in the farm.

On Thursday, we came over in the morning for a quick visit. Cousin Dave invited us in for pancakes and gave us a tour of the house and property. We had already eaten but he really made us feel at home right away. Cousin Nancy was very nice but alot more low key, compared to her very animated husband. When we told Nancy that we planned on visiting Andy Griffith's birhplace of Mt. Airy, she gave us directions to Pilot Mountain. On the Andy Griffith Show, Mt. Airy was known as Mayberry and Pilot Mountain was known as Mt. Pilot. While we were visiting, my Aunt Deirdre and Uncle John came over. They had driven down from Virginia and were also staying for the week. It was nice to have them there not only because I haven't seen them in a long time, but because it was nice to have a familiar face with all these people who were basically strangers to me.

We left shortly afterward and headed to Pilot Mountain. It was surely an impressive site. We used one of the scenic pullovers so that I could snap a few pictures.

We drove all the way to the top and took some of the short paths to the scenic overlooks...

I then decided to wander down some of the hiking trails. I started on the Jomeokee Train which was listed as a moderate level, but then I came across the Ledge Spring Trail which was listed at a strenuous level. It was only .89 miles and I figured great risk equals great reward so why not? I have to say that the cliffs were really amazing. Up close you could see how the weaker rocks like sandstone eroded away to create huge ledges and crannies which makes it a popular area for rock climbers.

I passed by a few other adventures: a grandmother with her four grandchildren, a young couple and a few groups of rockclimbers. The trail took alot longer than I thought, about an hour atleast. It was mostly downhill stone steps and then at the end it was all uphill switchbacks. I came out on the opposite side of the parking lot and found my Dad pretty pissed off that I took so long.

Our next stop was Mt. Airy. This is the town where Andy Griffith was born and grew up. It was also the inspiration for the Andy Griffith Show. The town had recreated some of the sets, such as Floyd's Barber Shop and the Sherriff's Office. There are oher places like Opie's Candy Store, Mayberry Five and Dime and Mayberry Soda Fountain, and Wally's Service Station. We were hungry, so we started our visit at Snappy Lunch, which is famous for their pork chop sandwich and is the oldest eating establishment in town. It was pretty much their idea of a fast food restaurant, though it might have also been quick because apparantly they close at 1:15 on Saturdays and we went in just around then. My mom had the pork chop sandwich, while my dad had a cheeseburger and chips and I had two cheeseburgers sans bun. All in all, we thought it was pretty good! Then we found our way to the visitors center where we were told about a tour of the town in a vintage 1960's police car. I thought it would be fun, so I opted to pay for it. Our driver, who was named Goober, took us on a ride to the North Carolina Granite Corporation which has the largest open face granite quarry in the world. They've been mining it since 1743 and still have plenty left. We also saw churches which had stones from the quarry that were all different sizes and then their additions were normal sized blocks as the technology improved. We also drove up Main St and then over Andy's home where his family lived from 1935-1966 and the Andy Griffith Museum

After we were done the tour, we took a tour of the Sheriff's office and got locked up!

We just walked around the town, shopping in the various stores until just about everything in the town closed around 5pm. We ate that night at Jordan's Country Restaurant and had the buffet while my Dad chatted up the owner about her Dad's navy career. He was wearing his Navy hat which sparked the conversation. Never had I had a waitress assure us so many times how all of their food is very fresh. It was all good and we went to their breakfast buffet a cuple of times as well.

To Be Continued....

baby Sloane

2008-06-09T00:19:57Z

I wanted to take a minute to post because my sister just had a baby girl. Her name is Sloane Ellison (yeah, just like Sloane from Ferris Bueller's Day Off). She is 9lbs, 1 ounce and 21" long. She was born on Friday, June 6th.

Random Meme

2008-05-30T15:40:18Z

WRITE EXACTLY WHATS ON YOUR MIND AND DON'T LIE

I'm tired of:
being fat and gross

I'm listening to:
not at the moment

Maybe i should:
get to work

Chocolate is:
so divine

I have lost respect for:
people who comment on show that they hate just because

I last ate:
a chicken and cheese omelette

Right now im craving:
sugar

Love is:
something I cherish

Today:
is great because it's payday

Tomorrow:
will be a catchup on shows day. TG for DVRs.

I get annoyed at:
stupid customers

QUESTIONS

Is your cell phone right next to you?
it's in my pocket

Are you wearing chapstick?
nope

Are you tired?
not really

Are you wearing pajamas?
not right now

Is there something on your mind that shouldn't be?
ofcourse

Are you upset?
not really

Last beverage?
water

Last phone call?
some random customer

Last time you cried?
um a couple nights ago when I ate some junk which makes me especially sensitive to sad scenes in movies. can't even meme what I was watching.

Dated someone twice?
recently? no

Been cheated on?
not that I know of

Lost someone close?
not recently

Made a new friend?
at work..

Laughed until you almost cried?
all the time

Met someone that changed your life?
doesn't everyone you meet change yout life, atleast for a minute?

A is for Age: 29
B is for Beer of choice: don't like beer
C is for Career: tier 1 tech support
D is for favourite Drink: water, diet soda
E is for Essential item you use everyday: computer
F is for Favourite song at the moment:  different stars - Tresspassers William (first thing that came to mind)
G is for favourite Game:  Monopoly, Checkers, Rummy
H is for Home town: Morrisville, PA
I is for Instruments you play: None
J is for favourite Juice: grape
K is for Kids: want
L is for Last kiss: my boyfriend
M is for Marriage: eventually
N is for full Name: Raymond Michael Lutz (since my latest crush is Kellan Lutz)
O is for Overnight hospital stays: None
P is for Phobias: heights, bugs
Q is for Quote:"If you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded from this, but that you first make thieves and then punish them." Drew Barrymore, Ever After (originally Sir Thomas More)
R is for biggest Regret:  too many to list just one.
S is for Sports: Wrestling
T is for Time you wake up: 6am
U is for colour of Underwear: white
V is for Vegetable you love: spinach, broccolli, anything green except brussel sprouts
W is for Worst habit: biting my nails, eating junk
X is for X-rays you’ve had: teeth, chest
Y is for Yummy food you make: lovely omlettes
Z is for Zodiac sign: Libra

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post it in your own journal.

CW Upfront pics of the guys

2008-05-14T14:24:25Z

Of course, I had to post the lastest CW Upfront pics, filtered to only include my favorite guys ofcourse!

Twilight

2008-05-10T02:02:30Z

So, now I'm all into Twilight. This was a cute way to summarize the first book:

in rainy forks washington, born and raised
with my edward is how i spent most of my days
cookin' for charlie and trippin' like a fool
and ignorin' all the boys who were nice to me at school

then a couple of vamps who were up to no good
started makin' trouble in my neighbourhood
i watched one game of baseball and edward got scared
he said "bella, my disney princess, i've gotta get you outta here"

we whistled for the cullens and emmett's jeep came near
the license place said "grizzly" and had dice in the mirror
i fumbled with the seatbelt and a plan came crystal clear
and i said "now emmett, you gotta get me outta here!"

i pulled up to the studio after makin' my escape
and james was there waitin', i'd sealed my own fate
he beat me and bit me, i'm lucky edward was there
to take me home to the prom, which was the real nightmare

by the amazing </a></b></a>muckymuckerson

possible plans for the month of May

2008-05-02T14:05:14Z

It's Spring, which is usually my favorite time of year. It still is, don't get me wrong, but I'm just depressed today because I gained back the ten pounds I lost. Instead of wallowing in my sorrows, I'll take the time to post about what events are going on this month and which ones I might attend. I'll put it under a cut so in case you don't care, it won't take up space in your flist, and because I tend to ramble....

This weekend is the Strawberry Festival in Peddler's Village. There is food, entertainment, etc. I don't know if I trust myself around the chocolate covered strawberries and other yummy desserts, so I may skip this one. I'm still on the fence about it.

The weekend of the 10th, I'm going up with my parents to our RV in Coatesville, PA to celebrate Mother's Day and soak in some more Lancaster County sites. It really is a nice change of pace from New Jersey. I do miss going to the beach but I like the fact that we have a permanent spot for the year so it's not this waste of time with setting up and breaking down everything which makes it much less stressful.

On the weekend of the 17th, my friend Suzanne and I are going up to NYC for the day. I really hope that the weather is nice because I want to take her to the botanical gardens in Central Park. She works in the lawn and garden center at Walmart so she really likes plants and it's something that she hasn't done in the city before. I also want to show her this really crazy statue near St John the Devine. I think it had Archangel Michael cutting off Lucifers head as well as Noah's Ark. I have pictures on my home computer so maybe I'll post a pic later.

I'm really into Gossip Girl, so I may add some filming locations such as the Bishop of Sinods and the Palace Hotel. I'll have to see how open Suzanne is to these detours because she doesn't watch the show.

I would also like to take her to Ellen's Stardust Diner. I have been there a couple times with friends and family and I've generally enjoyed the singing. It's basically a lot of aspiring Broadway performers who are working to pay for acting/voice/singing/dance lessons in the hopes of getting their big break. It's basically Nifty Fifties food with a few salads thrown in. It's pretty reasonable for NYC if you can resist the milkshakes and other desserts.

Whatever else she wants to do is entirely up to her. I've never been to Chelsea Market but then again, I should probably stay away from all those yummy treats. It's the same deal with Junior's. It's been a stop everytime I've gone up in the past year but even the sugar free cheesecake has unneeded calories.

On the weekend of the 24th, my parents are going to Hershey Park. I know it's the ultimate sweets paradise but I've been wanting them to go for a really long time and it's a bearable drive from Coatesville (still an hour and a half but good enough). Well mainly concentrate on the shows and the Zoo and maybe get some pictures with the characters.

WWE Raw House show in Trenton, NJ 4/8/2008

2008-04-11T23:36:33Z

I went to a Raw House show on 4/8 in Trenton, NJ. I have to say that I do like the Sovereign Bank Arena. It's small so there's not many bad seats. They claim to be able to hold 10,000 but I really doubt that. I was in section 5, row 2, seat 6. The only problem that I have with this venue is that they take their sweet time posting a seating chart and it is almost always after tickets go on sale. Since I had no idea where section 5 would be located, I took a chance because of the second row. This turned out to be one of their caddy corner sections which I generally don't like because there is more of a chance of your view being blocked by a corner post. Well, unfortunately, that's what I got and what made it even worse was that the lighting rigging was also strewn down that post. Despite all that and the fat head biker wannabe in front of me, I had a really good time and enjoyed the show. There's really nothing like a live performance; so many like minded people shouting and screaming for their favorite wrestler. The commentary alone is sometimes worth the admission. I took several pictures as always...only 381 this time. This stemmed from the before mentioned issues but I think I got a few winners:) If you want to see this very image heavy post, you know where to look:)

The first match was between Brian Kendrick and Carlito. I think they are trying to turn him into a singles competitor. I mean I guess it's good to grow and branch out but I don't want them to leave Paul London behind! Brian won:)

The next match was between Paul Burchill and DH Smith. Burchill's "sister wasn't with him so I guess they must have dropped the incest plotline for now. I really liked him as a pirate and wish they'd go back to that but I guess it was as popular as Kevin Thorn's vampire persona meaning not so much. I'm glad to see DH back in the ring I know he got in trouble for steroid use not very long ago and I really want to see the British Bulldog's son succeed because something tells me he will be really good. Burchill won.

Next up was Charlie Haas and Ron Killings. I always thought that Haas was hot and he was looking good that night. I'm glad he lost the mask that he had when I saw him in Philly. I'm not really an ECW fan so I have limited exposure to Killing but my god does he have a hot body! He was really entertaining. He kept shouting "Say What?" and incorporated really funny and cool dance moves into his performance.
Killings Won.

Next match was Val Venus and Snitsky. I have to say that watching them was really something. How they ever came up with the porn star persona for Venus I have no idea. He could never be a gay porn star. Well, I take that back because he could but not for anything I'd watch! Snitsky is always great as well. People always chant Brush Your Teeth and he always yells back. Man, he really is something to look at. Those nipples were really more frightening than his teeth though! Snitsky won.

I also had to post this one. Something about it makes me feel sorry for him somehow. He's just zoning out and getting ready but for that one second he looks really vulnerable to me. Kinda like wow this is my life as a circus freak. I really like Snitsky and don't think of him that way, but it just struck me in that one second that he's a vulnerable human being like the rest of us just trying to make his way in the world.

This was a tag team match with Beth Pheonix and Katie Lea vs Mickie James and Maria. I just realized that Katie is Burchill's "sister"!!!! I really did not know it at all when I was there. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pics of her. I do love Mickie James so very much. I still fondly remember how she was brought to the show with her fantastically crazy obsession with Trish Stratus! I really wish they'd do another story line for her. Beth Pheonix is really something else. Every tiime I see her, I think of Wonder Woman and American Gladiators. I heard that she once dated Chris Masters. I always thought Maria was sooo cute, too. I feel like she sold out with the Playboy thing but it seems that's how the divas get ahead these days. Mickie and Maria won! YAY!

Next tag team was Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes vs Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. I really like Cody Rhodes. They needed another good looking one:) I never paid attention to Hardcore Holly until they teamed up, but I like him OK. I never could stand Cade or Murdoch. Murdoch must be off the roids cuz he's getting fat. Cody and HH won!!

This wasn't even a match as far as I'm concerned. I have to say that Santino is pretty funny. His lion tatoo is very awesome. He's kinda like that Simon Dean of a few years ago. His effort to befriend Umaga was kinda funny. He had with an Italian and a Samoan, they could be some mo' italian lol Ofcourse Umaga spiked him in 2.2 seconds.

This last match was the very reason I went. To see my favorite hot wrestler, Randy Orton! I don't know how anyone can find this man ugly. I hear things like beady eyes and neanderthal forehead and I'm like WHAAT?! All in all, he has to be one of their best looking talents. HHH is always awesome, too. I'm so glad that Randy is the champ right now. When he came out, I was so excited, I could hardly breathe! Randy didn't lose the belt of course, as I doubt they'd do that at a house show. HHH won by disqualification because William Regal came out and attempted to pummel him lol. I'll do a separate post at randyortonlove with more Randy pics!

Raw tonight in Trenton, NJ

2008-04-08T16:38:28Z

So, I'm going to a Raw house show tonight in Trenton, NJ. My only gripe with the venue is that they didn't post a seating chart until days after the tickets went on sale, so even though I have floor seats they are in the section in the corner of the place which is farther away than I'd like to be. I mean, I'd rather be row 8 center than row 2 off to the corner. Oh well, it's not a really big place so I know it will be fine. I'll try to give some good pics of Randy as always. I'm glad that I still get to see him as Champ! I wish that he'd do some meet and greets or signings. It seems like he only does that overseas. I always email WWE directly to double check but it's a no go yet again.

Benevolent Simon Cowell blend

2008-02-26T17:23:19Z

You might wonder what I do at work all day. Well, stuff like this! Well, whenever I get a free moment that is. Access to photoshop goes with the job description so I take advantage every once in a while. This is the new image to grace my bulletin board. I call it "The Benevolent Simon" as an ode to everything I love about American Idol; the auditions of the wacky and wonderful:) The only reason it was done in black and white is because I need to get some color cartridges for the work printer and did want to wait to put it up:)

the secret world of lemons

2008-02-21T21:37:53Z

Please note that I'm really not right in the head and that these humorous images under the cut were derived from a pretty horrible phenomenon. View the following graphics and youtube video at your own risk and disgust. (Honestly, the images are not bad but do you really want to know the story behind it? View if you must.)

lemons in restaurants study

How I buy music

2008-02-09T23:20:54Z

Maybe it's only interesting to me but I am going to tell you how I find the music that I like and how I go about getting it.

Part 1 How I find music
When I have spare time at work or home.....basically anytime I am in front of a computer, which is fairly often, I like to look for new music. This obsession started when my boyfriend gave me his old ipod. Suffice to say that it's now full, so I have to take off some of his music to make room for mine.

MySpace is a great place to find a lot of different groups and 9 times out of 10 get to listen to atleast a few full length songs to give you an idea about whether or not you like their music. I usually look under the categories of emo, indie, or alternative.

At work, I listen to Pandora. What you do is type in an artist or song that you like and it will play something by that artist or other artists that sound similar to that song. They give you the artist, song and album. You can also link out to the song list and information about the particular album.

If I like what I hear, I'll crank up Yahoo Music Jookbox. Since Lou has a subscription, we can listen to full length CDs and download songs for 79 cents and albums for $8.48. They don't have absolutely everything, but they have a great deal of newer stuff and add new stuff all the time. If they don't have it, I'll look on iTunes and listen to the 30 second clips.

I really like the music that they play on one of my favorite shows, One Tree Hill. There is this awesome site at oth-music.com that lists each song for every episode. It tells you the song, artist, cd and also links you into their myspace page and their official website. They are officially endorsed and get all of their information directly from the One Tree Hill music supervision department. It's run by the same guy who ran dawsonscreekmusic.com. This site makes things so easy to find. I'll listen to their songs on myspace and then look up the album on yahoo or iTunes. There used to be one for Kyle XY, but I think it's gone. It's the best site that I know of but there may be some for other shows. If you know of any as good as oth-music.com, please let me know! I also love Smallville, Supernatural and Kyle XY.

Part 2 Purchasing music
There are several places I go to get the music that I like. I like alot of indie stuff, which isn't always easy to find but I find that Best Buy has the very best selection. Out of 40 CDs I was looking for, they had 35. Ofcourse, this also means that you are going to pay top dollar for them. Not quite as bad as FYE, but usually not less than 12 bucks. I can spend the same amount at my local CD store and I have a feeling that they need the money a lot more. Target is known to have a few CDs for $9.99 and if you are really lucky $7.99. I'll occasionally grab a couple but their stock doesn't change over enough for my tastes and it's a special trip. Walmart sometimes has the CD cheaper on the first week that it is out so that's another option.

The best place that I know of to get CDs at awesome prices is secondspin.com. They have a huge selection and depending on what you want, you can get CDs for $5.99. Usually, they are around $7.99 or $8.99, which are still great prices. They also run promotions all the time which they'll list on their homepage. Besides CDs, they also sell DVDs and games. You can also sell your stuff to them. Just watch the shipping and tax (which really is reasonable anyway) and you can get some awesome deals. I've bought dozens of CDs from them and have yet to be disappointed.

If secondspin doesn't have it, I'll look on Yahoo Jukebox and download it. The only pain with that is that they are not compatible with my iPod, so I'll have to use their program to make a CD and then import it through iTunes. I will use iTunes if I can't get it any other way, although you can rarely download albums for less than $9.99.

If you really want to know, you can find my current wanted CD list under the cut....

The prices are either what they are currently selling for on secondspin.com or what they will cost to download from Yahoo Jukebox.

Athlete - Tourist 7.99
Aqualung - Memory Man 6.99
Band of Horses - Cease To Begin 7.90
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm 6.99
Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City 7.99
The Bravery - The Sun and The Moon 7.62
Calla - Strength in Numbers 8.47
Cartel - Chroma 8.47
Cartel - Cartel 8.47
Dashboard Confessional - Swiss Army Romance 7.99
Matt Costa - Songs We Sing 8.99
Andy Davis - Thinks of Her
The Editors - An End Has a Start $7.90
Michelle Featherstone - Fallen Down 7.90
Hotel Lights - Hotel Lights $5.17
Ben Jelen - Ex-Sensitive 6.99
Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light 8.99
Great Northern - Trading Twilight for Daylight 7.99
Greg Laswell - Through Toledo 4.47
Meg & Dia - Something Real 7.99
Meiko - Meiko 7.99
Matt Nathanson - Some Mad Hope 8.47
Nada Surf - Lucky
The Panic Channel - (One) 4.99
Paramore - Riot! 8.48
Low Vs Diamond
Luke Pickett
Park - Building A Better 7.99
Punk Goes Acoustic [Bonus Disc] 6.99
Shiny Toy Guns - We are Pilots 7.99
Sherwood - Sing, But Keep Going 7.99
The Shins - Oh, Inverted World and Wincing the Night Away 7.99
Slowdive - Souvlaki 8.47
Something Corporate - Leaving Through The Window 6.99
The Storys - The Storys
Sugarcult - Lights Out 5.99
Test Your Reflex - The Burning Hour 6.99
Jackson Waters - Come Undone 4.99
the western states motel - the western states motel
Youth Group - Casino Twilight Dogs 7.99
Zero 7 - When It Falls 8.99

Hard to find:
Pete Murray
Trading Yesterday

the FLU

2008-02-07T20:30:11Z

Wow, do I envy anyone that did not fall into the grimy clutches of the FLU. It all started Tuesday morning with a "Hmm, I don't feel so good" to getting into work and putting the space heater directly on me and shaking when I was away from it for five minutes to a "I'm too week to work". I got home around 1:45 pm and slept till 6 pm and then wandered out to the living room to watch a bit of a bootleg of Sweeney Todd. Once the bloodletting began, I slept for a couple more hours and then felt well enough for some ice cream. I woke up several times during the night, most likely because I slept so much during the day. My alarm went off at 5:45am, but I didn't have the strength to turn it off so I layed in bed until it finally shut off around 6:30am and then drifted in and out of sleep until 8:45 when I could finally call out of work. I didn't wake up till about 2:30 and finally got out of bed around 3:00pm when my Dad poured some ginger ale (which I later found out wasn't diet so no wonder I got an energy burst for a little bit) for me but forgot to bring it to me. Things have looked up since then and I made it to work. I still can't eat too much, there's this strange chalky taste, and my stomach is still bothering me, but I feel almost normal. The only good part about staying home yesterday is that I got the Supernatural Con pics from Kim! I haven't looked at them all yet, but there are some good pics mixed in there and I appreciate the effort that went into that project.