9/28/2005
















Looking like Obi Wan is cool.  
I repeat that over and over.

Blackberry Photo Series

9/25/2005
















The pink bunny hat helps us blend in.
We look more like bunnies.


Blackberry Photo Series

9/22/2005
















White hats let's people we meet know we are not evil.
I need to get a white hat.

Blackberry Photo Series

9/11/2005

Green hats make us environmentally friendly.
I'm still wearing a black hat.

Blackberry Photo Series

9/10/2005

Our Daily Journey
Chapter 5 Keplers!
Keplers is in Trouble!
We want to save Keplers
but don't know what to do.


Blackberry Photo Series
Our Daily Journey
Chapter 4 Keplers

Our favorite stop is Keplers Books.


Blackberry Photo Series
Our Daily Journey
Chapter 3 The Flag

We wave a big orange flag
when we cross the street.

Blackberry Photo Series
Our Daily Journey
Chapter 2 Kung Fu Man

Kung Fu Man is always practicing.
Sometimes he looks at us.
We have to run to get by him. 
He takes up a lot of space.
He guards the ducks in the pond.
The pink hat doesn't scare him.




Blackberry Photo Series
Our Daily Journey Chapter 1 - The Duck Pond

The duck pond is nice and peaceful.
But...Simcoe Seadog likes The Ducks.
We sit and watch Simcoe Seadog chase The Ducks.
The Ducks quack and fly away.
Then it is quiet.


Blackberry Photo Series
Choosing a Hat
Every day the bebe and I take a trip. We see many Things.
 Before we leave we choose a hat.
 Today i chose a black hat.
The bebe wore a pink hat. Pink keeps the gnomes away.
I wear black so that nobody can see me at night. 
 Bebe doesn't worry about that. She's brave.


Blackberry Photo Series

8/26/2005

Coolest Sign in Menlo Park
Blackberry Photo Series




Blackberry Photo Series

8/24/2005

8/20/2005


Bathroom Reading - Electronic Paper
I am sick of going to public washrooms and having to sit in a stall with nothing to read. My new idea...speed up this electronic paper stuff and lets get some interesting articles in the can.  We can let the Bathroom Readers Institute (yes it is real) program the content.


This is important...we need to let the practical ideas of the world rule technology. I don't need the internet on my fridge or tv but i do need it in the bathroom at work. Its the only place i can relax.


My Research is below...it can work people! We can make it work! We just have to all work together, to get it to work!

3/03/2005

Strangest Work Expeirence Ever: Air Hockey Brawl

I have had a lot of weird experiences at my past jobs. I have been threatend, hit by trucks, thrown off of trucks, despised, loved, i've slept under my desk, and left meetings to throw up. Last week i was the strangest encounter ever.

Since last summer my team has played air hockey in the company game room pretty much every day at 2:30. It is a good mid day break, it allows my guys to blow off steam and take revenge on each other for indescretions or issues that have been building up for a long time. As a result, we get along, we don't fight, and when we do it is over quickly. It has been the best management tool I ever had.

Starting about three weeks ago we came into the game room and found a sign posted, "No Air Hockey Between 2-4 Tuesday to Thursday due to doubles pool tournament." We were floored, this really disrupted out day.

We contrived a few plans for revenge:

1. Exploding/Trick Cue Ball
2. Replace All Signs
3. Jimmy Hoffa the Pool Table Balls Into the Baylands Never to Be Seen Again

But...we are lazy, and busy, so we did nothing. We even modified our schedule to be respectful to avoid the anal, pansie pool players. I had a 10 AM meeting with my partner in crime, and part time employee, Pickle. I need to get a better nick name for him but this is all i can think of at 12 AM in the morning. I call Pickle part time because he dreams of painting and airhockey most of the day and gets his design work done in between.

Pickle goaded me into a game of air hockey. I am better than he is, but he works harder at it. He like to beat me and I find that if he wins I can get a little more work out of him. Sometimes though I have to whip his ass just to show him whose boss, i dirgress....

So there we are...at the game room at 10:50 Wednesday afternoon. There were four guys playing pool, which seemed odd and they had their eye on us soon as we started walking over. We ponied up to the table and it was unplugged.

The pool players smirked and turned around obviously thinking that they had made their point. Stupid is as stupid does so I plugged the baby in. I mean, who in the world would think that unplugging something would be a roadblock. I've been plugging in crap to outlets longer than i can remember. Matt looked at me, smilled and hit the coin entry to get her started.

One of the pool players holds up his arms like a policeman halting j-walkers in a small town and walks over to us with a concerned look on his face.

"Sorry guys, this is a tournament game, there is a sign here that says no pool during the tournament." He bends over to look for the sign on the side of the air hockey table. Now it was our time to smirk...we had deep sixed the sign weeks ago.

"Wait..well, there is supposed to be a sign here," Says the Air Hockey table cop.

I interject quickly, because I can see his confidence is slipping away and I wanted to get playing.

"The tournament is from 2-4...its a 11am..."

"Oh...this is a make up game,"

Now... that line was said assuming the following

1. I care
2. I might back down
3. I have any clue what he is talking about

So... i shrug my shoulders and move in a step closer towards the table... i mean come on. Get out of my way already. He's obviously not going to budge or say anything else. I had exhasuted my will to talk about the subject.

I had that feeling of lightheadedness I get before I really freak out.   I get a little dizzy. Its as if god is saying...ok, go nuts. It was deffinately the strangest work environment situtation i had ever been in. I coud feel it! I was going to get in a brawl in the game room over air hockey!  It was a trainwreck i couldn't stop.

Luckily... cooler heads prevailed. The Air Hockey cop interjected..."We would appreciate it if you let us finish our game."

Well, politness was just what the doctor ordered. All i could think of was, why didn't this fool say that in the first place. I was pretty pissed at this point though so I just turned around shook my head and left. This place is weird.

1/04/2005

My Last Top 5

Here it is... i hope you have enjoyed as much as I have

Top 5 Reasons I Do Not Want to Have Man Boobs

5. I can't wear tight shirts anymore - There goes half my wardrobe

4. Poor self image - I don't need anything else to make it harder to love myself.

3. Too much cyring - I will look even less manly if I am crying after looking at myself in the mirro and have man boobs.

2. They hurt - The pain caused by jiggling when I am going downstairs is simultaneously discomforting and nauseating.

1. I won't be able to be on the "skins team" during soccer games on hot days

1/03/2005

Top 5 T Shirts of All Time

Well, weekend is almost up and i am running out of steam. I hope you have enjoyed... i will dissapear for a while after this.

5. No One Knows I'm New Wave (white cotton, black letters - '92) - I made this one myself. I saw Mark Arm (Mudhoney) wearing one in rolling stone and I thought it was cool. Plus i love the cars.

4. Death to the Pixies (black cotton, white screen print - 90) - I stil have this one because it is so cool. I plan on passing it on to my children. My legacy will be a small black t shirt cause any money I have will deffinately be gone by then since it will probably cost me 100k a year to send them to college. I wore this to a grateful dead concert. I was the only person wearing black in the whole fucking place. I was so post punk.

3. Blue red tie die (cotton - 90) i bought this at my first grateful dead concert with Kris K. and Lahoda. We had to leave the concert early because Kris wanted to beat the traffic. Dude... that was so spazzy.

2. Ocean Pacific Hoody T Shirt (cotton - 83) There was a fad going on with OP stuff in the early 80s. One of the cool pieces were these thin cotton t shirt hoodies. It was the best. Long Sleve t shirts rule and this was had a hood which was even better. I would wear this one now if i had it. A timeless classic despite its 7th grade fad appeal.

1. Cycling - (blue cotton 01) I think my brother sent this to me, it is a nike t shirt that just says cycling. It is heavy cotton and simple. I love the font.
Top Five Birds

I like birds.

5. Owls - They have HUGE wingspans. Its like watching a fat pteradactyl fly.

4. Herons - Also have huge wing, so graceful, so delicate.

3. Hawks - Just because the should be my nickname. Ted "hawk" Burns

2. City Falcons - My love of falcons started with the Blue Falcon cartoon. Then in VA i used to watch the falconers train their birds to hunt in the fields. However, in Toronto i got hooked on the city falcons that would live on the tops of buildings. They are so resiliant, they came back and took over the skys between buildings. I could watch them from my office on the 33rd floor of the Scotia Bank building and they would soar, and dive, and perch, it was super cool. Plus they kill pigeons which makes them all right by me.

1. Pelicans - Pelicans are simultaneously noble and goofy. They waddle around but they fly in huge packs and are awesome hunters. The best is when they shoot up into the air and nose dive right into the water after a fish. Talk about faith in your own abilities.

1/02/2005

Top Five Meals of All Time

I just ate at mcdonalds which made me think of good food. I had their new chicken strips. 5 was too many and 3 is too few. Once again i feel screwed by McDonalds.

Honorable mention: Tortialla with peanut butter and jello powder 1994 (Adirondacks, NY) I was so hungry I started dreaming about food. For some reason this combination came to mind and it was something to behold.

5.Garlic Ship Dish 99-Present (Toronot, ON-Menlo Pak Ct) Caitlin always makes this, it is social (you dip bread in the pan to soak up the garlicy olive oil) and has lots of garlic and olive oil. Bascially one sure fire way to make anything taste good is to add garlic and olive oil. It is a sure fire crowd pleaser

4. Hot Turkey Sandwhich 97 (Gloversville, NY) - Post bike race meal. I had this about 20 minutes after i finished. The next day i was almost completely recovered from the day before. Since then hot turkey sandwich and mashed potatoes are my magic food for job intereviews and bike races.

3. Gallerie Laffayetee 1980 (Paris, France) - My parents had been trucking us around parents and we went into the Gallarie Lafayette to use the washrooms. It is a huge Department store in paris. My dad and i were hungry so we went to the cafe and bought half a chicken. It was AMAZING. it was seasoned down to the bone and not greasy. We were both liking the one to keep the taste alive in out mouths, and it worked. Never had any chicken that came close to it since.

2. Marche 2001 (NY, NY) - Fancy NY french place on the upper east side. The super cool thing here was it was my first tasting menu at a restaurant and it came with wine. They brought a drink to match every course you have. Who knew such a think existied! I am such a bumpkin. When people know what they are doing eating is fun.

1. Thanksgiving 98' (Eastern Short, Maryland) - Up util this date i never really appreciated food. It really only ate for sustenance, ie. because i had to. I had had only one realy gourmand experience, (at the gallerie lafayette) and had no interest in huge meals. All i wanted was to feel full and not be grossed out. Anyway... girlfriend at the time took me to a thanksgiving dinner at friends of her parents out on the eastern shore. They had courses, great turkey, and a wine to go with every course. It was all planned and you could eat and drink a ton. God i love it when people match booze to food, that just seems classy to me. Again... i am a bumpkin.

1/01/2005

Top Five Pant Styles and Pairs of Pants
Pants are very complicated as you will see....they can't be too fancy and must be comfortable

5. Black parachute pants (Parachute pants1983) - I actually wore these a fair bit, they had nice linner and the pockets were convenient. I don't know why these are not still popular with all of the pockets.

4. Brown Dress Pants (Nordstroms - Cotton/Nylon blend 2003) - They travel well and the cuffs are 16.5 inches around making me look sort of like a mod. I can spill on them and don't need to iron them. They are perfection

3. Black comfort fit jeans - (Gap - 94) I died these late 80's faded blue jeans to black on ex wifes advice. They didn't last long but were super comfortable and looked cool with my green stiched doc marteens.

2. Green Army Pants (Army issue fatigues - 88-93) - I had 2-3 pairs bought at Army and Navy in Johnson City NY. I would wear them until they had holes that couldn't be patched up. The coolest thing was i had a grateful dead patch patching up the butt at one point. Some news photographer took a picture of my post punk hippie wear in montreal and it made the fashion section of the Montreal Gazzette in 1991 or 92.

1. Grey Ocean Pacific Cargo pants (Cargo pants 1984) - They made me feel and look like indiana jones. I could escape from my life a little everytime i put these on.


Top 5 Things I Probably Should Not Have said to my in-laws last night

I find the theory behind this one very similar to the top 100 songs of the year list. Most albums that the labels think will sell well are released in August and September. So 75% of the list is from a period of four months.

5. "Canadian politicians screw around as much as US politicians" - This was pretty harmless but they seemed marginally offended

4. "Canada is going to have their own Red and Blue States" - DOH! I meant provinces!

3. "Canadians are the worst at judging their own character" - This one got Caitlin worked up. You'd think i didn't live in Canada half my life.

2. "I'm so drunk!" - For obvious reasons this should be retracted. I hope they didn't hear me.

1. "Canadians are famous for their war crimes." - This one came out totally wrong. I was trying to prove my point that Canadians have this dual character. Their Army has historically been poorly equipped and poorly trained. As a member of the commonwealth they were usually dropped in some of the bloodiest fighting, and as a result resorted to some of the most savage fighting to survive. IN WWI and WWII they were known as some of the "crazier" units because they would go totally beserk on the battlefield. Then in the 90s Canadians were charged with a whole bunch of war crimes in Somolia. Anyway.... all they heard was Canadians and war crimes and looked at me like I was a lunatic.

Top Things I Would Take Back If I Could

I just saw 50 first dates...so if i could re-live anything here are the moments....

5. Agreeing with Ex Wife when she said she didn't want to get married the night before we got married - Yeah, it happend ... self explanatory

4. Kicking Tim something or other during a gym floor hockey game - Tim kicked me back and his creepy burn out friends laughed. Kicking him was so lame.

3. Not throwing Bob Dertinger out the window in english class the last time he tortured me - I was 14 or 15. I could have lasted in juvie for a year or two. Though his dad was in the FBI.... maybe it was a good choice afterall

2. Making a move on Caitlin during our fist date in NYC - Technically i was seeing somebody else but the writing was on the wall. Caitlin was hot, a doctor, and we were staying at the Paramount. Could i have been more of a tool?

1. Not reciprocating the hand holding gesture madde by Tricia Bell, my 7th crush, during a track meet in Ithaca. - She had just broken up with John Vaughn, now i know i was only 13 and totally immature and not ready for any kind of commitment but i relived this moment once a month until i was about 26. Now i only think about it every six months or so. When i hit my sixties i won't care any more... please make it come quick.