There is a Dunkin Donuts next to where Baileigh goes to school so today when I picked her up we went there. I got a coffee and she got a donut. At the last minute I decided to get a donut for myself. I knew they weren't that fresh but figured I get one anyway.
It was one of the worst donuts I think I ever had. It was soo stale. I know it was late, around 4:45 PM but back in the 80's and early 90's no matter what time you went in there the donuts were fresh and the coffee was good. Now the donuts suck and the coffee is OK at best. I must admit that the worst cup of DD coffee is still better than any kind of coffee that Starbucks has. I have only been there twice and will NEVER go back there. At least with DD you have a 50/50 shot of getting a decent cup of coffee.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Give Me Back My Christmas
Somewhere over the past few years, and I am not really sure when, our Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Christmas cards etc. have become a "Holiday" tree, "Holiday" lights, "Holiday" cards etc. I have one question...why??? Apparently it is because we offend people of other religions. So now society wants us to omit the Christmas so as not to offend anybody.
So, I have one more question...what about all the Christians?? Does it not matter if they are offended?? Isn't a menorah still a menorah?? Isn't Hanukkah still Hanukkah?? Isn't Kwanzaa still Kwanzaa?? So why has Christmas become "Holiday"?? As a Catholic (albeit not a practicing one) I feel offended that my Christmas was taken away from me. I guess it doesn't matter because I am a white catholic so I am not a minority and do not have a special interest group looking out for my "well being".
I have even heard of some schools not serving hot cross buns because the "cross" is offensive to non-catholic students. Solution; turn the buns so they become hot "x" buns.
On a serious note- when will it stop? When have we become so sensitive that we have to find anything...and I mean anything to complain about. After all, isn't this nation "The Melting Pot"?? Where we supposedly accept people of all backgrounds, religions and cultures. So why are you turning my religious holiday onto yours?
Give me back MY Christmas!!
So, I have one more question...what about all the Christians?? Does it not matter if they are offended?? Isn't a menorah still a menorah?? Isn't Hanukkah still Hanukkah?? Isn't Kwanzaa still Kwanzaa?? So why has Christmas become "Holiday"?? As a Catholic (albeit not a practicing one) I feel offended that my Christmas was taken away from me. I guess it doesn't matter because I am a white catholic so I am not a minority and do not have a special interest group looking out for my "well being".
I have even heard of some schools not serving hot cross buns because the "cross" is offensive to non-catholic students. Solution; turn the buns so they become hot "x" buns.
On a serious note- when will it stop? When have we become so sensitive that we have to find anything...and I mean anything to complain about. After all, isn't this nation "The Melting Pot"?? Where we supposedly accept people of all backgrounds, religions and cultures. So why are you turning my religious holiday onto yours?
Give me back MY Christmas!!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Nature is still winning....
I went to the farm yesterday for some bow hunting. I really didn't have a good feeling due to the weather. When I pulled into the driveway, the outside temperature reading in my truck was 56 degrees at 6:20 AM!! On November 15th!! I should have just turned around and went home but being the glutton for punishment I am, I stayed.
When I got to my stand I was soaked with sweat at 6:45 AM. I don't have any light weight clothes for hunting, eveything is for cold weather. I got into my stand and was ready. At about 7:30 I heard a turkey in the distance. About 1/2 an hour later I saw him. I tom with a pretty long beard. He was about 80 yards away but it looked to be about 9" long.
At 10:00 my back couldn't take sitting in my stand anymore so I got down and went to my truck for an early lunch. It was too hot to go back so I figured I would get the camera out and take pictures until 3:00 then try hunting again. As I was walking around I almost step on a snake!! I do not like snakes of any kind. This one turned out to be a milk snake about foot or so long. yuck!! I did manage to get some pretty good pictures around the farm.
At 3:00 I headed back out only this time I hunted from the ground. I hunted until 5:00 and saw nothing. I think the warm weather has everything screwed up. Hopefully it will get cold real soon. After yet another disappointing day of hunting I packed everything up and headed home. I didn't get out of the driveway before I hit traffic. I sat in bumpber to bumper traffic for over an hour. I finally got home over 2 hours later. As I was eating dinner at 7:30 at night, I was really wishing I had stayed home. Oh well, at least I got some from air, albeit hot.
When I got to my stand I was soaked with sweat at 6:45 AM. I don't have any light weight clothes for hunting, eveything is for cold weather. I got into my stand and was ready. At about 7:30 I heard a turkey in the distance. About 1/2 an hour later I saw him. I tom with a pretty long beard. He was about 80 yards away but it looked to be about 9" long.
At 10:00 my back couldn't take sitting in my stand anymore so I got down and went to my truck for an early lunch. It was too hot to go back so I figured I would get the camera out and take pictures until 3:00 then try hunting again. As I was walking around I almost step on a snake!! I do not like snakes of any kind. This one turned out to be a milk snake about foot or so long. yuck!! I did manage to get some pretty good pictures around the farm.
At 3:00 I headed back out only this time I hunted from the ground. I hunted until 5:00 and saw nothing. I think the warm weather has everything screwed up. Hopefully it will get cold real soon. After yet another disappointing day of hunting I packed everything up and headed home. I didn't get out of the driveway before I hit traffic. I sat in bumpber to bumper traffic for over an hour. I finally got home over 2 hours later. As I was eating dinner at 7:30 at night, I was really wishing I had stayed home. Oh well, at least I got some from air, albeit hot.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Schools going too far??
Yesterday day we sent Baileigh to school with her lunch just as we do every day. Beth gave her some candy corn for her snack. She loves candy corn and can't wait for Halloween to eat them. We never let her eat more than a couple.
Last night she told us her teacher would not let her eat them. She goes the YMCA's Hazlet Children's Achievement Center and they have a "No Candy Policy". What the hell is that!! She is OUR child and we PAY for her to go there, so if we feel that she can have a few candy corn, that that is our business, not theirs. I think this whole health issue is going waaay too far. Now I hear a school in NY is banning home baked goods for kids Birthdays. I remember as a kid looking forward to birthdays because you knew you were having cake, cookies, brownies etc. And it is not like we send Baileigh to school everyday with candy, this was the first time.
I guess the drug problems and gang problems are no longer a problem and the education system is so top notch and needs no more fixing that we can now focus all of our attention to candy and baked goods. If you want to combat the obesity problem plaguing our children, why not start at the children's home.
Yeah, I may not be the healthiest guy around nor do I eat healthy but I make sure Baileigh does. That's the problem, for some reason these days, parents want society to raise their children instead of themselves. I am not sure when this started happening but it is getting out of control. 30 years ago if you got fat it was your parents fault, not your friend's mom for sending cookies to school. The best part of the whole health battle is that people were upset that fast food restaurants were not posting the nutritional value of their food. Helloooooo!!!! It's fast food people, it ain't supposed to be healthy. There is probably more nutrition in the wrapper of a Big Mac then the burger itself. Well, I guess next week it'll be something else.
Last night she told us her teacher would not let her eat them. She goes the YMCA's Hazlet Children's Achievement Center and they have a "No Candy Policy". What the hell is that!! She is OUR child and we PAY for her to go there, so if we feel that she can have a few candy corn, that that is our business, not theirs. I think this whole health issue is going waaay too far. Now I hear a school in NY is banning home baked goods for kids Birthdays. I remember as a kid looking forward to birthdays because you knew you were having cake, cookies, brownies etc. And it is not like we send Baileigh to school everyday with candy, this was the first time.
I guess the drug problems and gang problems are no longer a problem and the education system is so top notch and needs no more fixing that we can now focus all of our attention to candy and baked goods. If you want to combat the obesity problem plaguing our children, why not start at the children's home.
Yeah, I may not be the healthiest guy around nor do I eat healthy but I make sure Baileigh does. That's the problem, for some reason these days, parents want society to raise their children instead of themselves. I am not sure when this started happening but it is getting out of control. 30 years ago if you got fat it was your parents fault, not your friend's mom for sending cookies to school. The best part of the whole health battle is that people were upset that fast food restaurants were not posting the nutritional value of their food. Helloooooo!!!! It's fast food people, it ain't supposed to be healthy. There is probably more nutrition in the wrapper of a Big Mac then the burger itself. Well, I guess next week it'll be something else.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Photo Project #2
I recently submitted my latest photo project for my course. Again I had to take 3 pictures each with a different technique. I also included the picture shooting info and the Evaluators comments.
I must admit that I almost didn't include the comments because I didn't want it to sound like I am bragging...because I am not. In fact it is quite the opposite. I wish I had looked at the first two pictures better then I might have had 3 perfect pictures. Oh well, I guess I'll have to try harder the next time.
Picture# 1- Rule of thirds- This is of course, Baileigh.
Picture info...
Shutter speed- 1/60 sec
Aperture- f32
ISO speed- 1600
Evaluators comments: The picture and composition are perfect, except that Baileigh is not in total focus. At first I did not see that but now I do. Hind sight is 20/20 as they say.
Picture#2- Framing - This is my friend Eddie at the farm we hunt.
Shutter speed- 1/125 sec
Aperture- f4.5
ISO speed- 100
Evaluators comments: Again, the picture is perfect except I didn't follow the rule of thirds. I did not realize I was supposed to on this picture and she agreed. The lesson was not clear enough.
Picture#3- Leading Lines- This is a picture I took on Rt 287 in North Jersey while Beth was driving.
Shutter Speed - 1/2000 sec
Aperture- f3.5
ISO Speed- 100
Evaluators comments: She said this picture is great and I could not have done any better. I guess because here I followed the rule of thirds AND used leading lines.
I must admit that I almost didn't include the comments because I didn't want it to sound like I am bragging...because I am not. In fact it is quite the opposite. I wish I had looked at the first two pictures better then I might have had 3 perfect pictures. Oh well, I guess I'll have to try harder the next time.
Picture# 1- Rule of thirds- This is of course, Baileigh.
Picture info...
Shutter speed- 1/60 sec
Aperture- f32
ISO speed- 1600
Evaluators comments: The picture and composition are perfect, except that Baileigh is not in total focus. At first I did not see that but now I do. Hind sight is 20/20 as they say.
Picture#2- Framing - This is my friend Eddie at the farm we hunt.
Shutter speed- 1/125 sec
Aperture- f4.5
ISO speed- 100
Evaluators comments: Again, the picture is perfect except I didn't follow the rule of thirds. I did not realize I was supposed to on this picture and she agreed. The lesson was not clear enough.
Picture#3- Leading Lines- This is a picture I took on Rt 287 in North Jersey while Beth was driving.
Shutter Speed - 1/2000 sec
Aperture- f3.5
ISO Speed- 100
Evaluators comments: She said this picture is great and I could not have done any better. I guess because here I followed the rule of thirds AND used leading lines.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
My little ballerina
Last night was the first ballet class for Baileigh. She was looking forward to this since we first told her about it last Spring. In fact, she wanted to get dressed in her tutu an hour and a half before we had to leave.
When we first got there she couldn't wait to get into the dance room but when we did, she got very shy. She became very clingy and didn't want me to leave. We can't stay in the room, we have to go to the waiting room in the front and watch the class on a monitor. So I told her I would wait by the door for as long as I could. Her teacher, Ms. Meagan, came over and brought her over to the group. She reluctantly sat on the floor with the other girls. I slowly made my way out of the room and down the hall to the waiting room to watch on the monitor.
At first she didn't even realize I was gone but when she did it seemed as if she didn't even care because she was having so much fun. I may be a little biased here but she did awesome!! In fact, most of the girls already took a ballet class with Ms. Meagan and Baileigh did just as good as all of them and this was her first time out.
We are not allowed to take pictures at the studio so these picture are at my mother-in-laws house right before we left.
When we first got there she couldn't wait to get into the dance room but when we did, she got very shy. She became very clingy and didn't want me to leave. We can't stay in the room, we have to go to the waiting room in the front and watch the class on a monitor. So I told her I would wait by the door for as long as I could. Her teacher, Ms. Meagan, came over and brought her over to the group. She reluctantly sat on the floor with the other girls. I slowly made my way out of the room and down the hall to the waiting room to watch on the monitor.
At first she didn't even realize I was gone but when she did it seemed as if she didn't even care because she was having so much fun. I may be a little biased here but she did awesome!! In fact, most of the girls already took a ballet class with Ms. Meagan and Baileigh did just as good as all of them and this was her first time out.
We are not allowed to take pictures at the studio so these picture are at my mother-in-laws house right before we left.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
September 11th 8 years later
I can't believe that it has been 8 years since the 9-11 tragedy. I am going to make it a point to not only remember those who died trying to save lives such as the fireman, policeman and other rescue personnel, but to also remember those who died just going to work. Not to take anything away from the heroes of the horrible day but I think we all lose sight of the innocence that was lost on that day.
Being a fireman or policeman brings with it a risk every day. Each shift beginning brings the chance of it being the last day and to me that takes guts. But what about the insurance salesmen, real estate agents, janitors and other civilians that perished on that day. There were many heroes among them as well. I, as I am sure most of you, knew someone that died in one of the towers. She was not firemen nor a policemen, but a very peppy, outgoing woman who finally landed her dream job...selling real estate in downtown Manhattan.
So today, when you see flags flown half staff, see tributes or hear songs played on the radio in honor of that day, try to remember ALL the victims of 9-11, both civilians and those in uniforms. God Bless the victims, their families, friends and most of all, GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!
Being a fireman or policeman brings with it a risk every day. Each shift beginning brings the chance of it being the last day and to me that takes guts. But what about the insurance salesmen, real estate agents, janitors and other civilians that perished on that day. There were many heroes among them as well. I, as I am sure most of you, knew someone that died in one of the towers. She was not firemen nor a policemen, but a very peppy, outgoing woman who finally landed her dream job...selling real estate in downtown Manhattan.
So today, when you see flags flown half staff, see tributes or hear songs played on the radio in honor of that day, try to remember ALL the victims of 9-11, both civilians and those in uniforms. God Bless the victims, their families, friends and most of all, GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!
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