Too many things

So usually I am worried about finding time for myself during a month. Everyone knows we are a busy clan over at the Paquet house. Well this week seems to be the busiest week ever. Melissa wants to (and we are while I write this) watching Twilight. Yippie! Then we have Heroes that we DVR'd last night. Plus Big Bang and How I Met Your Mother. Then there is TV on tonight. Tomorrow I have to go to work. I need to order Metallica tickets, Then I can book our plane tix for California. I need to pack for Cleveland sometime between now and Thursday. Then I would like to log about 24 more hours on Metallica Guitar Hero in the next 24 hours. I know once Greg and I meet up in Cleveland we will be going non stop for 3 days. Got huge news about the induction ceremony. Jason will be there and he will be playing with Metallica. A dream come true. We knew if it was gonna happen this would be the place. Also have another Metallica related surprise, but it's not official yet!

Well rested

So after taking a few days to recharge my physical and mental batteries, I'm again back on the blogging wagon. Really didn't have anything new to share the last couple O days so I thought I would sit back, take it all in, and let it process. Surprisingly nothing that exciting happened. We have come to realize that we lead a pretty structured and scheduled, spontaneous life. What? Yea we are real good at deciding to do something on a whim, however it is the same things almost every time. We could sit here and stare at the TV for hours and then all of a sudden "lets go out" I could money down on where we are going cause it could only be one of like five places. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy it. It's just that I think we need something new to do. I'm glad the whole paintball thing happened and some others jumped on the wagon too. But if I start doing that every weekend that will join the list too. I think it would be nice to get dressed up with a bunch of friends and go out to dinner. I don't mean dressed up like last yesterday, I mean shirt and tie stuff. Although going out in public with Brett and his mullet would be great too!

I got the itch

No not that itch. Everyday more and more ground keeps showing itself. My entire roof is almost clear. The dogs want to spend more time outside, and so do I. I am eagerly eyeing the spot I hope to build the wood shop on. The garden out front has tulips poking up. It will only be a matter of time. I am eager to play some horseshoes, grunt, basketball, beer die, paintball, and just lounge on the porch. Who's up for a bon fire and some burgers? I would love to wash the cars, rake up the remains of fall, sweep the sand off the driveway, or mow the lawn. I especially can't wait to tear a hole in the front of my house and replace the damn windows. But I'm not ready to take the chance of snow blowing in before I finish.

Hehehehehehe!

So I get the whole reuniting with an old friend, or talking to someone that you have lost contact for a while. I started a Myspace and Facebook page for just that thing. Hell even this page is a way to stay in touch with people I don't get to talk to all the time. But why must girls revert to the giggling little school girl who can't stop talking? I would love to be able to hear both sides of the conversation at the same time. There is no way that either side can hear what the other is saying, because they never stop. Melissa has been on the phone for almost an hour with no end in sight. I realize she hasn't spoken to Lauren in prob a year. She is giddy right now. I haven't heard her stop to take a breath and she is going 1000 miles an hour. She is so involved that she didn't her me say dinner was ready, I just watched two episodes of Scrubs, let the dogs out, and am now blogging. She'll be mad when she reads this, she told me to not write about her on here ever. I have been able to relive every thing that has happened in mine and most of your lives in the last year. Now Lauren knows too. I think I will go play some Rockband now, with any luck she won't be able to her me sing because Lauren will finally get her turn to talk.

Tradition

How many times must something happen before its tradition? For the last two years I have traveled to California to visit Greg. First year was a Raiders game. Last year it was a Metallica concert and a raiders game. It looks as though this year may again be a cross country flight in December. I know the worst time to head to California, the Maine winter. Metallica looks to be the center of the trip this time as well. Who knows maybe even another Raiders game. I do know one thing that will be added to the trip this year. Melissa. I told her last year I wanted her to go. This time she has no choice. It's been a few years since we took a "real vacation". Who knows maybe we'll go again next year.

The Unattainable

So I have a craving for ice cream. We don't have any. We have hot fudge, sprinkles, and cherries, but alas we are missing the most important part. There are no ice cream stands open yet. Neither of us feel like driving to the store to get some. We are going to go grocery shopping tomorrow. By then I probably won't want any though. I don't even have something the would suffice. No sherbet, ice cream sandwiches, or popsicles. If someone wants to come over tonight and hang out, We like cookies and cream.

Sausage Party

So far so good. Rousing game of golf. Followed by another. Then four giant sausage subs with onions and peppers. Watched Role Models. It was pretty good. Now back to some more video games and beer. Hopefully I can stay up for a while and continue the man festival!

Getting pumped up

So the next couple of weekends are shaping up to be great ones. This weekend Melis went home, so I am playing bachelor for the weekend. Played Star Wars tonight, more of the same tomorrow afternoon. Then Caleb is coming over for some video games and beer. Then Sunday and Monday to relax. Then the following weekend is the release of Guitar Hero Metallica! I am very excited for this as I'm sure you know. But not as excited as the next weekend. I will be travelling to Cleveland with Greg to see Metallica inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A once in a lifetime opportunity. I was told the other day that I am a true fan. Some people are "fans" of something but they don't take that next big step. I guess for me and Metallica this is it. I will a be fucking happy camper. I may even be on TV as the whole ceremony will be broadcast live on FUSE. Along with the S&M show in 1999, meeting Jason in 2002, this is the biggest event in my Metallica "career". One that I am sure will not be forgotten for a long time.

You caught me

Well, as you may or may not know. I missed a day. Not on purpose or by accident. I fell asleep last night before I got a chance. Then when Mel woke me up on the couch, I kissed her and stumbled off to bed. I realized my carelessness today when I got up, but alas it was too late. So I plead that I was not in the correct frame of mind and therefore unable to fulfill my blogging duties. Don't hold it against me, I have gotten a lot of flack for even doing this in the first place. I'm doing this mostly for me, but some people can't see that. Kinda like clothes. A majority of people wear what they wear to please others or fit in. Buy your kid a new shirt, none of their friends like it, they never wear the shirt again. Wear a certain brand of clothes cause you overheard peeps at the office talking about it. Me I wear what I do cause I like it. Today I wore shorts for the first time this year. Very comfy! They just happened to be plaid. So what, I bought them cause I liked them, I could give two shits what you think. Believe me I heard about them all day. Guess what, I'll wear em' again. It takes a lot more pride to be unique and stick with your guns then it does to be a sheep and fit in with the flock. And I definitely stand out in a crowd!

Honeydew

So we got our first save the date for a wedding this year. As far as I know this is the only one. I hope anyways. I am starting to realize that we need to tell everyone no for like four months so that we can have and actual summer for ourselves. I need to redo the decking on the snowmobile trailer, replace the windows in the living room, build my wood shop, a Robstock project, fill one of the flower beds with new dirt, finish the drainage under the porch, and redo some stuff in the attic. Plus weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, parties, other random get togethers. Then squeeze in washing the cars, mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, weed whacking, planting new grass seed, and other such yard work. when do I have time for me?

Ahh, the time has arrived.

Well, today was the day, it has officially begun. I spent a half hour or so scraping and wiping down the racks. Then I let it warm up for a while. I checked the tank. Scraped it down again. Then I made some burgers and tossed em on the grill. That's right the grill! It is always a great time of the year, when I can get to the grill without having to worry about wearing shoes, jacket, gloves, or hat. This is the beginning of summer in my book. We will probably grill 3-4 times a week from here till the snow flies. In fact we have two nice pieces of swordfish ready to go in the next couple of days. I really cant wait till I throw some ears of corn and a nice steak on there. You know what else this means. The beginning of summer, means the end of summer. and the end of summer means Robstock is near!

Relaxing at last

So I have made it home from a busy, fast paced, exciting weekend. Got up early today packed up and headed home. But not after sharing the stories from last night with the guys who went to bed early. Travis, who drinks maybe once a year has found a new love. Beer pong. He drank 16 Smirnoff Ice and two shots of Dr's last night. Even as we were helping him off the bathroom floor he was still screaming for one more game! I must admit he was a trooper. But today as I exited the gas station @ 9am with two hot dogs, he quickly reverted to the cringing man who crawled to the bathroom to puke in the middle of the night. He actually complained about the heated floors. He said that you sweat like crazy while you are sleeping (more like passed out) on them. I got a bunch of great pics. too many to put up here. so if anyone wants to see let remind me sometime. Here are a few...

More details

Okay, I know that I said this before but this house is awesome! Direct TV, Wi-Fi, Heated floors, Three bathrooms, and the perfect beer pong sized kitchen table. Last night I went 5-1 team style with Chad, Tonight so far we have been playing singles, I am 2-3. Not so good. So today we went about 100 miles. we averaged about 35-40 MPH. It was gorgeous out all day.Perfect temp, not alot of people out, and good trails for most of the day. We did have a few minor mechanical setbacks but nothing we couldn't work around. I also met my match today. I ordered the "fire wings" at lunch. I did NOT finish them. They were the hottest wings I have ever had. The really messed up thing is , I would get them again! We had a great day and I am excited about coming back here again next year. We have been talking about it all day. Pics to follow tomorrow.

This is amazing

I haven't taken pictures yet but this place is amazing. We went out for a while today. Cruised around, saw about 30 deer on the trails. Had dinner at the local dive and are back to the house now warming up the pong table. More to come tomorrow.

Ahhh the sun

Well it's 3:39 am and I am starting to feel more energized when I wake in the morning. I usually get up and flip on the outside light and hope it not snowing. Then drag myself to the fridge for a drink and stumble down here to check my email before my shower. It was so dark and cold I just wanted to crawl back in bed. Today however the moon is shining bright outside, and I feel ready to go. For a while I was dragging ass getting up and falling asleep way to early. I think my batteries just couldn't recharge due to it being dark all the time. Now it is getting brighter earlier and staying that way longer. The sun is back to stay for a while, and I am seriously happy about that.

The end is near

Well it looks like today will be my last blog till Sunday. You see I'm going on a snowmobile trip for the weekend and most likely won't be able to get to the inter-web until when I get home on Sunday. Kinda sucks as I had a good streak going. But It's not my fault that the back woods of Maine don't have a wireless hot spot by the birch tree. I thought about prewriting a couple of blogs and then having Melissa post them for me. That didn't seem like the moral thing to do to you guys so I opted out. I technically guess I could write something tomorrow morning before I head off to work, That would make me feel a little better. I think I'll take the laptop in case the local watering hole by chance has wi-fi. Maybe I can at least post a few pics of us out on the trail. It was good while it lasted anyways. I had fun while I was doing it. You seemed to enjoy it. I'll be able to get back to it in a couple of days. Damn this trip sounds more and more like the period blood of my sex life.

The irony of it all

So here's one for you. The Curves in Westbrook is doing a food drive. A FOOD DRIVE! You know where people show up to a designated area and drop off non perishable food for the needy. Except in this case the designated area is the same place where overweight women go to lose weight. And the needy are overweight women who need more food. I can just picture Sally walking on the treadmill stuffing her face with raw macaroni. AWWWWM-num-num-num-num. (hows that Andrea?) You have to admit it is a good cover. Women who are trying to better their life, reaching out to better other's. I envision Curves as some kind of secret club.
-Only women are allowed to join.
-You have to be a certain weight so as to not make the others feel worse about themselves.
-Bring a snack to share with the others (cookies or brownies preferred).
-Participate in shady donation causes to help acquire more food.
There is probably a secret handshake too. But we will never know. I bet once donations are closed for the day, the shades are drawn, and out come the boxes. Can openers come out of gym bags, pasta is boiled in the whirlpool, and cakes are baked in the sauna. They probably set everything up on the mats, and all sit around for a nice buffet. I know, I have a twisted way of looking at things. But I wouldn't take an AA group on a brewery tour, a sex-aholic to a strip club, a diabetic to a candy store. And I certainly wouldn't leave food in a room full of hungry women.

They're all short busses now

I remember getting up and having to walk a quarter mile to the bus stop. Then bitching and complaining the whole ride that we stopped every 5 seconds to let a car go by. Then I had to repeat the same trip in reverse on the way home, diving out of the bus when it got close to my stop. Today however I was fortunate enough to follow a bus home. Wow things have changed since I was in school. I guess the new procedure is to stop at every single house on the route whether or not there is a kid to get off there. The twenty of us used to pile out at the community stop and then had to hoof it the rest of the way home. Rain, snow, locusts, and hurricane, we walked. We also had about 3 seconds to get off the bus before the doors slammed shut. Now the bus stops, the kids get off, and the bus sits there until the kid gets inside, takes off his coat and sits down for a snack. Or mommy picks the kid up in her Lexus and must have a little five minute chat with the driver before it can move the thirty feet to the next stop. I remember bolting off that bus as it was the most exciting thing I'd been looking forward to all day. Now the kids stop and wait for the driver to motion them across the street like Vanna showing them the puzzle. Also, the minimum cars that must be traveling behind the bus for it to pull over is evidently around 1000. I must have been the 15th car in line today and I couldn't see how many were behind me it was so long. So I guess this might be some kind of contributing factor into the fat kids of America club. Lets treat them all like the short bus kids. And if you don't know what the short bus is, that's probably because you were riding on it.

Larger than life

So I am in the process of another project that has turned out to be way bigger than I thought. On Saturday I helped Tim hang his TV and run new wiring in the walls. I figured around 4-5 hours was a respectable guess. That turned out to be a huge underestimation. It actually took more like 7-8. Now I am in the process of cleaning up my hard drive by compiling my music files. I figured I would move, rename, consolidate files for a few hours and then rip some more CDs to the drive so I can trade in the discs at Bullmoose. Well after relocating everything. I decided I needed to delete the duplicate files before the next step. 22.4 GB of duplicate files later I am now into Itunes, converting files that were previously lost in some black hole folder, gathering album artwork, and renaming files. I started this around 10 this morning. I still have the first CD sitting in the drive waiting for Itunes to finish. So much for a few hours. All this work to make a few bucks.

The shopping has begun

Well we bought our first Christmas present today. I know it's a little early right. We always try to take care of it in pieces starting somewhere in October. This however is a giant step towards getting it done early. I once picked out a movie for my mom to give me, which in the course of the year she wrapped and lost it. Come X-mas I was very disappointed to find out it couldn't be found. So she bought it again and I received it the next year, only to have her find the original copy a few weeks later. It can be kind of a hassle to keep track, and remember the things you have already bought, wrapped, and stashed away. How many times have we forgotten where or what something was. I hope it doesn't happen this time, cause it's a pretty cool present, and I would hate to have it waste away in the back of some closet. Good thing it's not a puppy.

Hoping for the best

So it may be the fact that I'm a dirty old man, or the warped conditions that society has created. No matter who, age, ethnicity, who they are walking with. Whenever I see a Victoria Secrets bag being carried through the mall, my mind automatically takes over. I understand and realize that they sell normal underwear and bras. In fact they sell your average PJ's, flannel too. But for some reason whenever I see that bag, I think is contains the dirtiest nastiest thing you could possibly buy. Lets say Mom, little Joey and his friend Doug are out shopping. Mom wants a bottle of the new perfume for her work associate who is retiring next month. My mind uses its X-ray vision and sees a crotchless teddy with cutouts for her nipples. Or a couple teenage girls who stopped in to buy a nice bra for prom. Yea that bag has a couple of fishnet stockings and a garter belt. Which wouldn't be that bad.

Someones in for a surprise

So I got hit by car in the parking lot today. I had just pulled into a spot and was out of the truck, when I heard a loud rubbing, screeching, followed by a loud pop. I noticed that my truck jarred to the side a little. I thought "ah fuck!" As I turned around to see what the hell happened I saw a scared shitless teenager peering through his windshield at me. He was previously parked on the passengers side of me, and backed out of the spot once I had pulled in. He obviously grossly mis-judged the swing, and his entire front end had hit my truck. I again thought "ah fuck!" So I walked around to the access the damage. My metal GMC truck suffered the damage of what looks to be salt from the roads on my tire. Maybe a three inch mark. It wiped right off. I turned and looked at the driver as he rolled down his window, and said "don't worry about it." He was very thankful and asked repeatedly "are you sure?" I told him it didn't do anything to my truck and I wasn't worried about it. Then he drove off hurriedly, probably to not allow me to change my mind. The funny thing was he never got out of his car. Or I am guessing never got out of his parents car. His little plastic Prius suffered a far worse condition. The entire front bumper was gaping wide open and hanging on one side. Large black streaks all across the front onto the side. I'm guessing he was very thankful that I did not want to get police or insurance involved. However I can't keep his parents from finding out.

All I ask is for a little help

So everyday I am plagued with a burning question. It's the same question everyday. I always ask the same question, and get the same answer. A very non helpful answer. Then I have to deal with it on my own only to repeat the process over the next day. Melissa and I have lived together for ten years. I am giving you this tidbit of information to emphize my point. One would think that after ten years, (3650 days) of asking "what do you want for dinner?" I would at least get an answer every once in a while. No, I get "I don't know". Even I run out of ideas now and then, but I have to come up with something everyday. So I want to thank Bob for the wonderful idea yesterday. It was good, something different, and easy to make.

Dedication

So here I am again with nothing on my mind. Dedication is my only drive today. I have to keep the streak alive. Today was the first day that I thought about what to write all day. I did have a couple of ideas, but nothing of substance. A few tidbits will prob resurface in some future rant, maybe even today. So the point of this blog was to share, reflect, and let out some creative juice. I didn't expect anything in return from anyone, I do know that some people are reading, daily even! But if everyone stopped, I think at this point I would keep going, for myself. A lot of people today won't do something for someone else let alone themselves. I challenge you to do something for someone else. Without the expectation of something in return. Find someone in need, or volunteer to help a friend. This weekend I am actually going to help the construction impaired, with a home wiring project (Tim doesn't know how to use a drill). I actually like the fact that people think of me when they need help. Except for moving, you must know someone else with a truck!

I have time to kill.

Have you ever sat staring at the computer, waiting for the next page to load, or the file to finish downloading? I find my self doing this quite a bit. I have a thought while waiting and then go off on some search tangent that just ends up opening another tab/window, and then I forget everything else that's going on. In fact right now I have seven programs running, 3 tabs open in Vista (fuck vista by the way), a mixed CD in the works, and I've barely started what I sat down to do; write my blog for today. Which I guess is kinda the reason I'm now writing. I started out with nothing, remembered something I was gonna look up (The Pogues) then started my usual tangents of windows, programs, searches, files, torrents, and shopping. Then I found myself staring at a status bar. Just watching it. Waiting for it to finish like I had nothing else going on. And now here it is 9:17 and I really want to go to bed. But I'm in the middle of ten things. Yes I know they can wait till tomorrow. In fact some of the downloads won't be done till tomorrow, but I insist on continually watching their progress. I'll prob finish my Cd, purchase the Ebay item I have looked at twenty times over, read a little more about The Pogues, check Facebook one last time, Then prob kiss the wife and crawl into bed with Reilly (I know he's already warming up my side of the bed, such a good little boy). I wonder how much of this would have already been done if I didn't space out while watching that little status bar?

Not that surprising

So I did a little research today. Of course the Internet has all the information we need, or that "they" want us to have. Lets start with the "facts".
-At 3:45pm I currently have 10" of snow.
-The Forecast for Casco (at 9pm last night) predicted 6"-8".
-It is still snowing.
After the blunder of last weeks misguided attempt to warn us of snow, it really comes as no surprise that this storm has also been underestimated. So once again the more"accurate" weather forecast is to look out the window. Amazing that I have a better grasp on the climate just by drawing the shades. After all I have no radars, barometers, weather balloons, or fancy high tech green screens. These must have some relevance on the "accuracy" of our weathermen, right? Well I got to thinking, "how accurate are they"? After some pretty basic search engine shenanigans, the word "accuracy" is a debatable term amongst meteorologists. It seems in terms of temperature, if they are within 10 degrees, high or low, they made an accurate forecast. So to you and me, that means 30 is the same as 40 degrees? I think not. As for overall weather, if they say "Sun", as long as it doesn't rain. ACCURATE! So it turns out that the average accuracy of predicted forecasts is 50-65%. And this number is way skewed in my book based on the above facts. Also the forecast that we see online or on TV is a collaborative effort of multiple forecasters. They can't even make the call by themselves! Where do these guys (or girls) get their info and training from? Another search reveals that a BA degree in meteorology takes an average of three years. Some go on for another two to get their masters. But wait! Did you know that you can get the degree in a one year online course! Here is the ultimate kick in the pants. A degree is NOT required for most TV and radio meteorologist jobs. I'm not even sure why we pay attention to the weather anymore. If I got all my school work 50-65% right. I would have failed high school. But I guess I could still get a job predicting the weather.

Not much to say

Well today seems to be a no brainer. Was pretty much a relaxing thoughtless day. Slept in, had a nice breakfast, went shopping, Had dinner with the C's, and them home. Only mildly exciting thing was almost being T-boned by a semi. But that excitement quickly lost its luster. Oh and I did point out to Melissa another Pet Peeve of mine, only to find out she agreed. Why do people put up their windshield wipers when it is going to snow? Its weird considering that the first thing you do after it snows is clean off the windshield anyways. They look like little gay flags saying "look at me I'm afraid of the snow". Or maybe it's so they can find their car in the parking lot buried in a dusting of snow. Is it so they can tell the difference between theirs and the other ten cars of the same year, make, model, and color that are in the entire state. Kinda makes me want to run through the parking lot putting them all back down. You know, like setting off all of the Kung-fu hamsters at the same time.