Made It Through The Night

Well that was a pleasant change of pace for me. I actually made it through the night without waking and staying up a for a couple of hours like I normally do. I remember waking up and checking the time and thinking to myself that I need to sleep more and went back to sleep. Nice. Perhaps it was my reward for being rather productive yesterday. Hmm. Perhaps.

So here I am at just after 6am on Christmas morning having my first of a few coffees hoping to jump start my day somewhat. I have the dishwasher going and will have to pull the towels out of the dryer and fold 'em all up. I did five loads of laundry yesterday. That's unheard of in Schlewing World! Call up the descendants of the McWhirters as I need to be noted in the next version of their books. Smiles.

I'm going to spoil myself with a big homemade breakfast this morning. I do believe I have all the fixings except I am about to run out of half and half. Ugh 2% for my coffee. I may have to spike it when I get to that point. Ha!

I have to find my wood glue. I need to fix a dresser drawer. I really need to go through my clothes in the closet and get rid of some of it. I am running out of room. Gawd I am a hoarder. I don't think I will ever get back into a 34 waist size. Who am I kidding? LOL. No one!

I have some Christmas calls to make this morning. I am looking forward to those. I have to make a better effort in the coming year on that. I carry my independent streak a little to extremes sometimes.

I need coffee number two. Peace out.

Being Kind Of Productive!

Okay I don't usually write two of these within hours but I am amazing myself with how productive I have been so far today. Let me preface that with the productivity bar not being set that high. This is me that we are talking about after all. Mr. Let's Wait Before Doing Something aka Mr. Procrastination! LOL.

You know it may be that Kahlua that I put into two of my coffees this morning that gave me that extra get up and go go.

So here we about 4 or so hours after I got up and I have accomplished this so far. Three loads of laundry washed. Well the 3rd is on its' last cycle. A load of whites waiting to be folded. Pretty darn sure that I'll have to do that given that Jynx the Cat looks at clothes as a place to lay her plumpness down on and not a thing to help fold. Ha!

I even took a shower today. Cleanliness is important!

I did my Greene's run and now have some additional reds, ambers, ales and pales in my eventually to be depleted collection of spirits. As far as I know I have two places that I can go and get some decent priced and good tasting beers as well as decent enough lower priced reds. Greene's near the mall or Total Wines at the Shops at Greenridge. Let it be said that both of these choices are not places that you want to be near to on the last shopping day before Christmas if you have the lack of patience that I have for drivers in the Upstate. There were a few colorful words that escaped my lips as I was listening to Walter Rossi's "All The Best" on my CD player. I get stressed for nothing behind the wheel. My flipping out will do nothing to change the scenario except to raise my blood pressure which is not a good thing.

As usual I have "Deep Tracks" going and I just had to put on mute because they decided to play the deranged one's "Free For All". Up until a couple of years ago I could handle his music. Now that I know too much of his politics, it's instant ignore! Good thing that it is a short song.

Okay back to pleasant things like what I also have accomplished today so far today. I stopped at Food Lion to pick up a few things as mentioned earlier.

Here's the list of what I bought:
Cajun Andouille Sausage
Neptune Salad (crab and shrimp)
Green Cucumbers
Iceberg Lettuce (the Romaine didn't look too hot)
Jumbo Red Onions
Hothouse Tomatoes
Crumbled Feta Cheese
Hard Salami

It looks like I am planning on making some finger foods or snacks at some point today or tomorrow. I sure hope those sausage are good. I had the sampler plate at Mac's Speed Shop a couple of nights ago and andouille and kielbasa are rapidly becoming my go to snack food. I'm going to have to find a place here where I can pick up fresh and locally made sausage. I'll check Whole Foods or that other specialty food place out to source my fix for tastiness.

Okay the dryer just stopped. Now I have two loads to fold and one to transfer and another load to start.

Go Go Marc!

Critical Mass

Well I am waiting for my coffee to brew and bopping along to The Honeydrippers "Rockin At Midnight". You know I appreciate that song more now than I did back then. It's a sure sign that I am getting older. I love the "rhythm and blues" feel to the song with the horns blaring away in the background.

The reason why this blog is titled "critical mass" is because I have reached the point where I don't have a single pair of underwear that is clean and I don't have a single white T left either. I have piles in my bedroom. I always have piles in my bedroom but today I have more piles than I usually do.

I do believe that today is going to be known forever more as "Clean-Up Marc's Bedroom Day". The gravity of the situation signifies the need to commemorate this day. I just need the caffeine to kick in so that my energy level gets there and I have to hide from myself David Baldacci's "Hell's Corner" which I started to read this past weekend in between naps. I know myself. If I grab that book and head to the couch; that's it the rest of the morning or afternoon will be a total write-off.

I think I need to thrown in a grocery run to grab a couple of things and may have to make a Greene's run to pick up some reds, ambers and pales. I have to make some sort of dish with the hot Italian sausage that have defrosted in the fridge. I wonder if Food Lion carries rapini.

On coffee number two now as David Bowie is singing about the "Jean Genie". I have the heard this song tons since its' release way back in '72 and I still have no idea what the heck he is singing about on this track. It bops though! Interestingly when it was originally released in the UK, the B side was "Ziggy Stardust". Wow. Imagine that just those two songs would blast away most of the pablum that is on the charts today.

I have an app on my phone called "Song Pop" that I play more often than not with random people around the world and I typically ace the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, the hard rock, the hair band, the one-hit wonders categories but when someone choose today's hits as the challenge I just want to give up on the game right away rather than guess the song title or artist for the auto-tune drivel that passes up as music these days.

Okay that's it for now.

Saturday Morning 7am

So I am wide awake on a Saturday morning slightly before 7am and already having coffee number two and pecking away on the keyboard. This is a sign that obviously I did not partake in any spirits of the material world (ha Police song reference) last night. The biggest adventure I had last night was having a huge bowl of the last of my homemade chicken noodle soup at around midnight as I was listening to The Drive's Deep Tracks while catching up on baseball news around MLB.

I tell you what as one of my former managers used to say. That's what he used to say. I tell you what. I still think that doesn't make any sense. I tell you what. It sounds like a line that would fit right in the old Abbott & Costello "Who's on First" routine.

Okay there I went off the rails again. What I meant to segue to after my first paragraph was how much I enjoy listening to The Drive's Deep Tracks. Where else will I get to hear in a half hour songs like Led Zeppelin's "Thank You", U2 and B.B. King's "When Love Comes To Town", Joe Jackson's "It's Different For Girls" and Journey's "Walks Like A Lady". Nowhere else I tell you except perhaps in my tape and CD collection. Like now Cream's "Tales Of Brave Ulysses" is rocking my world as I type this up. So cool!

Anyways I caught Wayne LaPierre's presser yesterday online after I came home from work and it boggles the mind that this man and the organization (the NRA) that he supposedly was speaking for are this out of touch, obtuse and cold-hearted. I am sure that there are some sane-minded individuals in the NRA that are absolutely appalled by what LaPierre stated yesterday. In a nutshell his answer is that more guns are required. It's ludicrous!

Early on Friday morning I saw a story in my local newspaper that stated that my governor Nikki Haley thought the issue at hand is not some sort of meaningful gun control but better mental health screening. I commented on the editorial page that this was basically an empty gesture as her government doesn't really want to increase spending in a meaningful way there. Basically I stated on this editorial page that he comment made as little sense as Trey Gowdy's comment the day before. He's the representative for this area in the House.

You should have seen the vitriol thrown my way on this editorial page by small-minded infantile men suffering from penis envy hiding behind some computer screen using some made up Facebook ID with some avatar as their picture likely with some made-up pretend name so that the world can not identify these people as part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

The major part of their defense can be likened to the behavior of a baby that has had their pacifier or rattle taken away from them. These dips are worried that some left-wing or dare I say liberal posse will invade their abode and confiscate their guns (their pacifiers and rattles).

In the annals of time has there ever been a left-wing or liberal cabal gone door to door infringing on people's rights? I don't think so. This seems to happen way more on their side of the political spectrum. It wasn't that long ago that lynch mobs were commonplace in this state or area. It wasn't that long ago that there were laws about who can use what restroom where in this state.

The thing is that there does not seem to be a way of sanely discussing this topic with them because they are represented by the LaPierre's and the hiding behind some lame ass avatar dips of the world.

Hmm. So I went from listening to great songs to a little rant about Wayne LaPierre and his ilk. Dang! I rarely know where these fingers of mine are going to end up on a keyboard when I sit down here.

Almost time for my monthly massage. Yay. Going out for a late breakfast after that with a co-worker. I can see a western omelet in my near future. Time for coffee number three. Peace!

A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That

Okay Thursday night 6 something or other and I may be picking up the H at work as it is pouring rain here so this may be a short blog. Time for a state of the Marc address in the condensed Campbell soup form. Lately I have been wanting to throw in these out of left field comments. Never ever out of right field. If I ever played that position it would have to be called left of center field. Ellis Valentine and Rusty Staub will forever be known as the greatest left of center field players that my late, beloved Expos had in their time. They couldn't be playing right because then they would just be wrong all the time, Kind of like some dip named Gowdy that had his half-brained thoughts splayed in today's Greenville News front page. Not exactly the purveyor of the all the news that is fit to print unless they mean making me pitch a fit because then they are doing a fine job. There must be a saner way of getting crossword puzzles!

So it was pouring rain coming home tonight. You'd think that people on the road would factor in these conditions as they are moseying along to wherever they are going. Well you would be thinking wrong just like that Gowdy dipwad this morning!

There were some absolute brain dead individuals driving only with their daylights on even though it was effing dark just like my Yuengling Black and Tan. In my 10 mile drive home I saw at least four wrecks along my route. Brilliant. Cars in ditches. Cars turned around against traffic. Nah they weren't speeding! It's like an effing obstacle course some days. Unreal!

Good song on now. Our Lady Peace's "Somewhere Out There" from their 2002's Gravity album. Definitely an underrated alt rock band from Toronto. I'm listening to JACK-FM out of Regina, Saskatchewan right now where it is currently -17c or 1 degree Fahrenheit. Now that's cold!

Great thing about listening to JACK out of Regina or Vancouver is getting my Canadian content fix in music. A man can listen to only so much Skynyrd or Tucker before wanting some OLP, Triumph, Saga or Adams back in his life. Maple Leaf music rocks and rolls!

Okay that's it for now. Time to make a dining decision. I think tonight is a Mexican food night. I need some pico de gallo!

If It's Tuesday It Must Be Simpsonville

Okay so the title of the blog isn't exactly as good as if it is the Tuesday it must be Belgium movie title but it is semi-original because how often does Simpsonville get named in a blog title. Not too often I Dukes of Hazzard a guess.

So H and I just came back from grabbing a bite at Applebee's. It isn't usually a restaurant I frequent however I had gotten $100 in gift cards recently and after giving H $50 for his drinking and dining and more drinking pleasure I had kept $50 in cards handy for one of those nights that I didn't feel like cooking. Tonight was one of those nights so off we went to Applebee's.

Geezus the place was packed. No rhyme or reason except perhaps people feel a little more at ease spending money in places like this at this time of the year.

Here's a hint on how not to stretch the value of a gift card. Don't order large mugs of Yuengling because that will set you back $6.25 each. Talk about a mark-up. Two of those were almost equal in price to my Bourbon Street steak. I'm guessing that having fried onions on top of strip sirloin makes it Bourbon Street like. That must be it as it didn't come with beads or baubles. LOL. H had some lime jalapeno shrimp rice dish that he likes it seems.

It was nice time though. We talked about his upcoming Montreal trip. We talked about his 4 A's and his 4.0 GPA this semester (I am the proud Dad!) and we talked about what happened this past Friday in Newtown. I always find it interesting to look at things that happen from my unique Canadian viewpoint. It is so different in scope and nuance. I 'll leave it that.

All in all it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours. Laundry beckons!

Pleasant Saturday

Okay as the day progressed I got a little more serene. To say that I was peeved off in my last blog would be an understatement and rather than embark back on that train of thought I will leave it to another day.

So after being awake until 5am or so my body clock today is a complete mess today obviously.

In support of my manager's daughter's school I made the trek down to the Barnes & Noble on Woodruff Rd. to watch her perform in the kid's holiday pageant at the store and to get add some fresh new books to my library. B&N was kicking back some money to the school. No idea what the slice was and nor did the ladies at the register. I sure hope that it's 10% or something like that. I ended up getting 5 new books that will carry me through the holiday season as I will have quite a bit of free time off work then. I rarely go down to Woodruff anymore because of the ridiculous amount of stop and go or not go anywhere traffic. Noonish on Saturday afternoon is not a good place to be near the stores on that road. As I was in the car I kept of George Costanza's father's line "serenity now." That's all I felt like saying over and over. LOL.

After getting back from there I ended up making that homemade chicken noodle soup that I started on yesterday evening with my adventures in making a chicken broth from scratch. The broth turned out okay but I had to improvise to skim the fat off that was generated from the leftover rotisserie chicken I used to make the broth. I'm thinking that a cheesecloth would be more effective to use as a strainer than what I used. I will to try that out. The base could have been a bit more chicken-y. LOL. Probably not a word but you get my point. So I added some leftover chicken meat, parsley, carrots and celery and added some sea salt and cracked black pepper and I think that my first attempt at made from scratch chicken soup came out pretty well. I had several bowls for supper earlier tonight and it sure helped unclog me from that annoying cold that I have had for close to ten days. The soup got my sweat glands going that's for sure.

I ended up watching a pretty cool movie on InDemand called "The Human Resources Manager". It is an Israeli film that was released in August of 2010 and the film is mostly in Hebrew with some English and Romanian thrown in. That's a first for me watching a film that had more Hebrew and Romanian than my two mother tongues. LOL. This film won the Israeli equivalent of the Academy Awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress and Best Soundtrack. It's weird I don't remember much music in the film. Perhaps it's because I had to keep track of the sub-titles so much as the film was going. It was a good movie. Not typically the light-hearted romantic comedy that I usually watch. It made for a nice change of pace. Time to grab a snack and beverage. I'll be back....

This Is A Man Of God? I Think Not!

Well it's almost 2am and I am likely going to be up for several more hours given that I fell asleep watching a Rush live in Cleveland concert on VH1 Classic earlier in the evening. I woke up about an hour ago as it is bit cooler in the living room than it is the other rooms in the house. I should really check the windows and door as it seems that there is cold air creeping in. I decided to write a blog rather bide my time cleaning up my bedroom or doing something else productive.

So I was on Huff Post a few minutes ago and saw a story about Mike Huckabee's comments on the tragedy that occurred yesterday in Newtown. This cretin of a human being came out with a theory about this tragic event where twenty children under the age of ten were gunned down by a sick individual and stated "that this crime was no surprise because we have systematically removed God from our schools." Okay Mike Huckabee is fucking insane! Mike Huckabee as an ordained Southern baptist minister represents all that is wrong with organized religion in the country. Rather than act as a human being offering condolences, thoughts and prayers for the immense loss that these families incurred today; this douche bag of a man came up with this incredibly stupid statement about what occurred yesterday morning. This guy came in 2nd in the 2008 Republican nomination race as that party's candidate for the office of the presidency. Holy fuck people are stupid! Or maybe another way of looking at it is that there were enough smart people in the GOP that backed John McCain that year. I could not imagine living in a country where this insensitive ass of a man would be shoving down our throats his ridiculous bile. This dunce needs sensitivity training pretty much like half of the other dumbasses on Fox News. TV for idiots!

A sure sign that I am upset is when I swear in a blog and I use the eff word without abbreviating it in my semi-unique way of doing it. Seeing Huckabee the A-Hole's comments this morning made me upset. This man will now be known as the A-Hole in all my future thoughts and writings. What the eff do they teach in these schools where these so-called men of God learn to minister? How effing perverse!

Likely A Short Blah Blah Blog

So I think I am just ending my first complete week with this cough cold thing and it's rather effing annoying. I'm good for a couple of hours then all of a sudden off I go to the races to empty a box of kleenex. It seems that my showers in the morning are lasting an extra 10 minutes or so just to get enough steam going so that I can clear my nasal and ear passages and get my chest heaving. Great way to start the day. I will say that it is better than what I used to do 3+ years ago which was to reach with my right hand to stop that infernal alarm clock and then grope in the dark for that top of the morning to ya cigarette. Gawd that was so gross!

I've come to the conclusion that gas stations may be one of those places that once you cross this invisible line entering the space occupied by this purveyor of fuel, cigarettes, crap ass beer and wine and these weird things on hot rollers that a couple days ago resembled a hot dog most people's brains go on complete shutdown. It's either that option or perhaps I am only just realizing today on 12/12/12 that in general people are effing moronic. I sure hope that it is that line crossing theory of mine. If it isn't it partly explains why Jim Demented is the junior senator in the state of SC. Sometimes I wonder how a day can go by here without a car driving into a gas pump like you see in some poorly written and acted action film brought to you by the fine folks running the WWE. Yes I am name dropping a wrestling organization. LOL.

I wonder who the heck buys those hot dogs. I wonder why they always have swill like Natural Light and Icehouse on sale and not a Sam Adams product or a New Belgium product. I wonder who buys that "Jailbird" newspaper that they have next to the cash. I think that is the SC version of Quebec's "Allo Police" without the stories. I guess that is how some want to achieve their 15 minutes of fame. I wonder who uses food stamps to buy stuff at my local StopAMinit. It makes me wonder what qualifies as food on that program if people are using it at the gas station. They are not exactly stocked with items not containing chemicals of some sort. I wonder who the eff uses that powdered cream stuff in their coffee. Does that stuff even dissolve in a hot liquid? I'm still wondering who the eff is eating those hot dogs! I am wondering that if chewing tobacco or snuff or dip or whatever that absolutely gross stuff is called wasn't sold at gas stations would it even exist. I am wondering whether or not if my bill added up to $6.47 and I gave the cashier person a $20 would he or she come up with correct change if the register didn't tell them what the correct change amount added up to. Or would that person look as befuddled as I did this morning stopped at a red light near my house where I was turning right and not realizing until I was there for a minute or so with nary a car passing by that it was okay for me to turn. Gawd I am useless in the morning! LOL. I wonder if I am anymore useful as the day progresses. I am wondering whether or not I was supposed to use question marks in some of those sentences above. Oh well I have typed it with periods. Live with it people! Big grin.

Well H is out again for a bit as he had today off. I was hoping to hear whether or not he ended up with a 4th A this semester and where his GPA ended up. I guess I will have to text the young man to get an update. I guess it's going to be leftover tilapia or rotisserie chicken for supper eventually tonight. They have that 12/12/12 concert thing going on tonight. Perhaps that will be the reason I use to avoid housework, laundry, work-work or anything else productive. LOL.

Gawd I want to stop blowing my nose.

A Smidgen, An Iota Or Un Petit Peu

Goodness gracious snakes alive I feel a smidgen better today than I did yesterday. Gone is the scratchy throat and that has been replaced by my eyeballs or eye sockets hurting as well my hair follicles on the top of my head. Just imagine how bad I would feel if I had hair growth on more than 40% of my head. I would be begging for a morphine drip or something.

I finally managed to get some clean clothes on and get myself to Costco to fill up the gaps in my fridge. I was out of milk, tzatziki, spinach artichoke dip and H's favorite snack lately which is taboule with crackers or pita corners.

The total bill was actually reasonable as I only bought a bottle of chardonnay for one of my cooking endeavors later this week when I can actually taste food. I am stocked on all other adult beverages at this time. LOL. Those items tend to take up a disproportionate amount on my total bill more often that not.

Under The Weather

So this day has been total write-off if I was thinking of getting anything done whatsoever. I haven't felt great for the last couple of days with a scratchy throat and now it has pretty much turned into a cold of sorts. My throat is still scratchy, my body aches and it isn't because I worked out yesterday or earlier today. I get these hacking coughs that remind me of the good old days 3+ years ago when I used to smoke a pack or so a day. Now that's a remember when for me.

I heard H leaving for work at around 630 this morning when the garage door opened and then I pretty much re-fluffed the pillows up and went back to sleep on and off for the next three hours. It hurt getting out bed. I know a sad, sad sight.

I managed to make some sunny-side eggs up with a few pieces of whole wheat toast and had a couple of coffees. You know that I am not feeling well when even coffee tastes like crap. Oh well this is likely the worst day of this nonsense.

I prepared some rigatoni with a marinara sauce for what either became my late lunch or early supper for me and H's supper. Now I am sitting in my room listening and watching a live 25 song set that The Tragically Hip posted online on YouTube. It's from an August 2009 show in Abbotsford in support of their "We Are The Same" disc from that year. I am not that familiar with that disc as my most recent addition of theirs to my Canadiana CD collection is 2006's "World Container" which I bought when I was visiting my sister at Christmas that year. Looks like I need to get busy on the Maple Music website as there are definitely a couple of items that I would like to get delivered before Christmas. A DVD and t-shirt for me and likely one for H as well.

Time for me to hop into a steamy hot shower and try to clear up my chest somewhat. Ugh I better be in better shape tomorrow.

Crick In My Neck

So obviously I am no Albert Einstein given that I repeat the same behaviour and expect a different result. Okay so this is not some huge grandiose thing I am talking about but my perverse thought process in continually falling asleep on my couch that is at least 5 inches shorter than my 6'5" frame. I was watching the Science Channel earlier and before you knew it Jynx and I were asleep on the couch. I only woke up when my I realized that my neck was feeling all scrunched up. I'll probably be up half the night now given that I may have been asleep three or so hours. I'm hemming and hawing on whether or not I should have a plate of baked tilapia that I made for supper Thursday night. I'm hungry!

Various Thoughts On Whatever Strikes My Fancy

Okay so I just finished a plate of leftover spaghetti and my body temp increased a couple degrees because of the amount of crushed chili peppers I put on top of the sauce. I'm actually sweating!

Just did my semi-monthly trip to Costco and wonder why every trip there lately costs something just south of $200 for two people. I guess if I backed out the cost for a case of Fat Tire and a case of Red Bull the final bill would not resemble half of a car payment.

My cat is amusing me in her never-ending quest to follow the sun streaming into the house either from the skylights or the windows. She is working on a cat tan I guess.

I'm thinking that my neighbors to the left want me to rake some leaves on the side adjoining the property line as their lawn is now devoid of any fall foliage. Well it will have to wait until Sunday because I need a nap as I was awake way too effin' early this morning.

Well I am back. It's 430am Sunday and I am wide awake. I guess that's what happens when one falls asleep on the couch at 9pm. LOL. Just about to have my first coffee and a bagel with cream cheese. Yum!

I have 97.1 The Drive Deep Tracks playing as I hunt and peck on here. They just played Bob Seger's "Brave Strangers" from the 1978's "Stranger In Town". I love this song. I read somewhere that it is because of songs like this that you don't buy greatest hit compilations or listen to radio stations that play the same old, same old. You would not hear this or "The Famous Final Scene" from the same album. Got to listen to that album song by song.

I read on Fox Sports' baseball page that there are Yankee fans that are giving Derek Jeter a hard time because he has put on some weight after getting that surgery for his fractured ankle. Let me say first that the only Fox website I will visit is their baseball page because they have a couple of decent baseball writers. Ken Rosenthal being one. Let me say second that I am not a Jeter fan but I will give props on what he has accomplished over his amazing career. That being said it makes me effing laugh when I read some of these a-hole do-nothings that think that Derek Jeter having gained weight 3-4 months before spring training is any of their effing business. When they have 3304 career hits then they can voice their opinion as if it means something. Besides that they should just shut the eff up!

Speaking of shutting the eff up I would suggest that "brainwave" from Wasilla had her 15 minutes of fame back in 2008 and she just needs to go back to hunting bears and other wildlife from helicopters like all other moronic yahoos with 18 brain cells. If the world wanted advice on what she is good at that would be her topic not her effing opinions on world matters. Her knowledge of the world was in plain sight when she claimed to be able to see Russia from her back or front porch. Maybe she can replace Lisa Ann in her next Hustler movie. LOL.

Back to Fox Sports now to rant some more about their journalistic standards. Do they even have editors on their website? The first hyperlink on the left side of their Sports front page states "Chiefs Fans Tailgate, Mourn LB's Death". What an idiotic and insensitive headline! Perhaps tailgating is a bit much especially in a location where a sick man took his own life yesterday. Who the hell is mourning his death? Perhaps his own mother I guess but given the fact that 30 minutes or so before he killed himself he murdered the 22 yr. old mother of his 3 month old child! What about a headline that recognizes the evil that he did. That should be the story not the festive atmosphere that they claimed was taking place a little over 24 hours after a tragedy. Boy oh boy their priorities are effed up!

Okay enough ranting for now. LOL.

Saturday Morning

Well this is going to be a quick one as I have breakfast sausage cooking on low in the kitchen. Definitely a nice aroma to it as it wafts towards my room. I've been up and at 'em since H woke me up at 740am to give him a ride to Food Lion as he slept in because the battery on his droid gave up in the middle in the night it seems. It's great smart phone but the battery really sucks. You're lucky if it lasts half a day when you've several apps going.

I was going to shave this morning before going to see Becky at Massage Envy for my monthly massage but I started reading some news items and before you knew it I had to hop in the shower and get going to not be late. I have what I call as itchy face. It's been a couple of weeks since I shaved and my beard has tons of white and/or grey in it. I'm getting old. That isn't exactly a breaking news story.

Anyways I have Marillion on the player and I am about to prepare a big huge breakfast for yours truly. I was going to stop in for breakfast at the local diner but I knew I had to pick up a couple of things at Food Lion where H is at so I figured I may as well get all of the breakfast fixings and do it at home. Those sausages smell wonderful!

Time to get another coffee going, slice some tomatoes and get some eggs going. I always feel good after my monthly morning massage. I need to somehow bottle that vim and vigor for the rest of the month. Ha.

Foreigner at The Biltmore Estate

As I mentioned briefly in a previous blog, Foreigner was playing this past Labor Day weekend at The Biltmore Estate in Asheville. As is usually the case in Schlewing's World the decision to attend the concert was made less than 24 hours before the event was taking place.

I will never be known as one that makes plans with my free time. Sure there are things like actual vacations that need to be planned by booking time off or booking airfares and hotels. However when it comes to what's for supper, what's the plan for tonight or what's the plan for the weekend I rarely know until said time arrives. I don't even wear a watch so time planning for me is an exercise in futility.

Anyways back to the point at hand. I ended up booking three seats online for the Foreigner show at a pretty decent price and started to "rev on the red line" in advance of the show. LOL. Had to throw in a Foreigner song reference in there.

It's a nice drive up to Asheville along the Poinsett Highway and then SC25. Late August and early September is still early for fall colors here so all you see is a sea of green along the way. It is still a majestic vista in all directions.

Once you arrive at Biltmore you know that you are going to be in a pretty unique environment for a rock concert. Driving along the narrow and winding tree-lined roads you see a flock of Canadian geese hanging out near a pond just up the road from a rafter or gang of wild turkeys. Not exactly what you on your way to the BiLo Center in downtown Greenville.

You're then directed to the parking lots that are a bit of trek from the main building and surprisingly you aren't charged to park your car like you are at the Charter Amphitheater if you attend a show there. Once you park your car, you're directed to the bus stop where they have a fleet of buses running concertgoers up to the Biltmore House. A five minute bus ride and then you're dropped right off in front of this grandiose house built for G.W. Vanderbilt and his family between 1889 and 1895. It is a sight to see!

Most of us know Foreigner from the 70s and 80s as a band led by vocalist Lou Gramm and guitarist/writer Mick Jones. Over time these two guys have had their differences in musical philosophies and Lou Gramm first left the band in 1990, came back a couple of times and then left for good in 2003. Kelly Hansen the present day vocalist showed up in 2004 for a few shows and joined the band officially in 2005 as Lou Gramm's replacement. As for the other players in the band, several of them have been playing with Mick Jones off and on for almost 20 years and in a live setting these guys are tight.

First off as the sun was setting and the seats were filling up and I am looking towards the stage, all I can think of was how beautiful this scene was. You're sitting outside right next to this glorious house and you have this majestic scenery of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background behind the stage. Before you know it their road manager is welcoming you to the show and onto the stage walks Foreigner.

The opening riffs start and you recognize "Double Vision" immediately and as soon as you hear Kelly's vocals you realize that you're in for a treat. This guy has a set of pipes and can carry these songs on his own. Amazingly this song from way back in 1977 is played just like it was that year all over again. The words and the chorus are immediately recognizable and remembered and I catch myself singing along with the boys in the band.

With hardly a pause Double Vision leads into another album title track which was "Head Games" from 1979. Like most Foreigner rockers, you have a great riff, a catchy chorus and the lyrics come right back to you as they're singing them. One thing I noticed right off the bat is that when they play these songs live they allow themselves a little bit of liberty in extending the songs and the solos so that you're getting a fresh take on the song.

Next on the set list is immediately recognizable from the opening keyboard riff for 1977's "Cold As Ice". Man what an opening trio of songs. The song is played as is at the start and the harmonies on the chorus are perfect and then the band experiments a bit with some a cappela vocals and harmonizing and a bit of a keyboard solo. Great, great version.

Things slow down a bit then with a moody intro seguing into 1981's "Waiting For A Girl Like You". Time to hold hands, flic your bic or as they do in this day and age, use a candle app on your cellphone. I draw the line at the app. That's so gay. Okay I am not being politically correct there. Sorry. I should have typed lame. Anyways this song gives you a chance to hear Kelly Hanson's voice front and center and you realize once again how good of a singer this guy is.

The tempo picked up again with 1978's "Blue Morning, Blue Day" which was the 3rd single release from the "Double Vision" album. This led into one of my favorite Foreigner songs from 1979's "Head Games" which is "Dirty White Boy". I have played air guitar to this song for over 30 years. Another one of those singalong songs for this dirty white middle-aged man.

After those two up-tempo rockers, Kelly talked a bit about this next song and how they have rearranged it as an acoustic song allowing for all the members to be up front and center and sing a stripped down version of 1987's "Say You Will". Great rendition of the song.

Then the unmistakable opening riff of 1977's classic "Feels Like The First Time" gets everybody out of their seats bopping up and down to this great live version of the song. Once again the song showcases some great vocal work by Kelly, some cool guitar work and some pounding drum work by Brian Tichy.

The next song started off with some solos on lead guitar and keyboards leading into the unique sax work of 1981's "Urgent". The sax work being played by Thom Gimbel who's been in the band 1995. He did a fine job on this live version.

Then came the big bass drum intro of my fav Foreigner song 1981's "Juke Box Hero". Another one of those air guitar anthems from my youth. Live it starts with the drum, a bit of keyboards and a single spotlight on Kelly when he starts the song off. Amazing version done live.

Before you know we're at the encores. Hit after hit and you kind of know what's coming next especially when you see the kids from the Blue Ridge High School choir joining the band onstage. That means one song and one song only; 1984's classic ballad "I Want To Know What Love Is". Another opportunity for Kelly to bless us with his vocals and I am sure that it was a simply amazing chance of a lifetime for the kids onstage to sing the chorus. It was amazing to see and hear especially in that majestic setting.

To end the show Foreigner pulled out all stops and gave us an amazing version of the classic hit from 1978 "Hot Blooded". Another song that everyone knows the lyrics to and without fail when you hear it, you singalong to it.

What a great show. What a great place to see a show. I can't wait to go back to the Biltmore to see another great band in that setting.

A Day To Give Thanks

So here I am in my quiet home this morning tapping away at the keyboard trying to put into words some coherent thoughts on what I call American Thanksgiving. I am still used to Thanksgiving being the 2nd Monday in October as it is in Canada. I am supposed to be off today but I do have to check the order queues for the Canadian accounts as this is the busy season in our business. So the queues have been checked on my work laptop in the dining room and here I am blogging in my bedroom on my desktop.

H and I went out played trivia for the first time in month or so and didn't do too well. Most rounds we ended up with 7 or 8 questions right and missed out on some of the sound bite questions related to shows that were on TV in the last 20 years or so. Both H and I aren't really avid TV watchers. I think the only thing he watches is that AMC show "Walking Dead" or "Living Dead" or "Whatever The Eff Dead It Is" show. As for me, I watch baseball, some cooking shows, MSNBC in the evening at times and that pretty sums up my TV habits. I think I use the TV more as a sleep enhancer as I will often lay down on the couch on the TV and within 15-20 minutes I am off to the land of nod.

Suffice to say that H and I didn't exactly know many of the trivia questions related to TV. Last night they had a question on "Moonlighting" theme, a kids TV show "101 Dalmations" and Gena Lee Nolin. The theme sounded familiar as I think it was Al Jarreau singing. I remember the Disney classic from way, way back when called the "101 Dalmations". I had no idea there was a TV show called that also. As for G.L. Nolin. I had no idea who that is. I actually answered Baywatch and Dynasty. The first one was right and the second one was way off. It was Sheena. Not Sheena Easton. Just Sheena. Not sure when that show was on. Sounds like it may be related to George of the Jungle or something. I just googled Ms. Nolin. Well she was on several TV shows, she has been married three times and she is an attractive woman. I still don't know who she is. That's cool. She doesn't know who Marc Schlewing is so that makes us even in my books. Ha!

Anyways I should be talking about the blog title a bit shouldn't I? I guess the thing that I am most grateful for is how my son is turning out as he enters his early 20s and adulthood. Reflecting back on how I was at 21 makes me realize how fortunate that H has not chosen the path that I chose back then.

The best way to describe it is that I lost a decade due to some incredibly bad life choices I made back then that affected my family, my education, my career and my general well-being. Hitting a bottom that included being homeless and eating at soup kitchens and carrying all my worldly possessions in a large gym bag was my wake-up call.

I know that my son is way smarter than that in making his life choices. While we differ in opinions at times which I think is normal given that we look at life from different age perspectives; H more often than not makes the smart decision when making his choices. At 21 I didn't do that at all. His having a combined 3.72 GPA after 4 semesters at Greenville Tech along with three Dean's List and one President's List award is all a result of his hard work and dedication. The young man works part-time 30 hours or so a week and takes a full course load at school while being a pretty decent human being. He does take the time to enjoy life with his friends as 21 yr. olds should but at the same time seeing him open up his text books and working at the dining room table for a few hours on Friday or Saturday evening is something I never did or thought of doing.

So on this day after American Thanksgiving, I give thanks and gratitude on how well my son has turned out and how well he is doing. His Dad is super proud and thankful.

This & That Sunday Morning Version

So I have the coffee brewing, a load of laundry in the washer and the vocal stylings of Shirley Manson and Garbage telling me "not to worry baby" on the player. I decided to go random on my You Tube player this morning and started it off on the last few hundred songs in my favorite list. I figure this way I will get some stuff playing that I haven't heard in a while. So it started with Garbage and now I have the band Live playing a concert version from Belgium of "Lakini's Juice" from 2003. My head is bopping to the beat of the drums. Blood rush alert! Blood rush alert!



Okay back from getting my first coffee of the day. Things go better with coffee! That should be a slogan on a t-shirt that one wears in the morning. Darby Mills and the Headpins are now playing "Don't It Make You Feel" from 1982. Another trip in the way back music machine in Schlewing's World.

Now on the player is the Foo Fighters doing a live version in Sydney back in 2002 of "Everlong". This version is the hard-rocking version as originally released back in 1997 and not the splendid acoustic version from 2006's "Skin and Bones" CD. Probably the definitive Foo Fighters song. Classic stuff.

So anyways yesterday I was rather productive. I worked in the front of the house for a while mowing leaves and setting up some mulch piles around the two Bradford pear trees that I have out front.

I did a couple loads of laundry of which one is waiting to be folded still. LOL. All my white t-shirts. I at least hung up the other load which consisted of shirts and pants eliminating the need to iron them. Ironing ranks right up there with cleaning showers as my least favorite household tasks to do.

The Wallflowers "One Headlight" from 1997 now playing. Darn good song!

I then decided that I should straighten up the garage. My two car garage was rapidly filling up to the point where soon I would be parking my car outside with the amount of stuff that was building up everywhere.

Things like a lawnmower that died. An old edger that worked twice until I burnt it out one day. A leaf blower that never worked given to me by a neighbor. A broken down wall unit that may be older than H. A metal foot stool that could be used as a lethal weapon. Months and months of newspapers waiting to be sorted to have their puzzles set aside for future boredom days. That pile had gotten to the point that I couldn't put anything else on the desk. A broken kitchen chair or two. And on and on it went.

I looked up the local recycling place and it turns out to be less than 4 miles away. So I loaded up the "trunk" space in my Sorento and off I was with the old metal scrap or "crap" to the recycling center. I asked the city worker on-site what they do with the stuff and he told me that they sell the metal stuff to recyclers and the money is added to the general revenues coffer to try to keep taxes lower. That sounds like a good deal to me.

Just getting rid of that stuff freed up quite a bit of room. Next week's run will have all the old wood pieces related to the wall units. I have to break them down so that I can transport them.

H finished work around 3pm yesterday and he wanted me to run him over to the Craft Beer store up on Fairview Rd. so off we went to get some "good" beers. I didn't get any as I had already done a Green's run last week and had some Dos Equis Ambers, Harp's and Fat Tires in the house.

We ended up stopping in at Wild Oats for a quick bite around 430 or so. I can't say that I was impressed by their beefy nachos. It was a messy dish with an overabundance of nacho cheese. Like way too effin' much cheese. The jalapenos were vinegary. I prefer fresh ones. H got a burrito and he likened it something that you get at Taco Bell. Hmmm I spent $8 or $9 on a Taco Bell-like burrito. That isn't good! I will say though that they have some great beer choices on tap. I had an Arrogant Bastard and a Rogue Dead Guy Ale. Excellent beers.

Got back home and I went through about 75% of the newspapers late in the afternoon and early evening and have added another hundred or so of crossword puzzles to do one day. LOL. I said to H that I should start on them one day or people may think I am a hoarder. I'm going to finish off the sorting after I finish this blog.

The garage is starting to look better. More space that's for sure. I'm going to buy some sort of floor cleaner. My car was leaking oil a while back and there's an area that looks rather iffy at best.

Just finishing off coffee number two. Brought H to work. Time to get busy or as Ed Schultz on MSNBC says "let's get to work". LOL.

This And That

So here I am typing away on early Friday evening while I am being serenaded by the hard-rocking pipes of one Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden. I am in a head-banging mood right now. Started off with the "Flight of Icarus" which led to "Hallowed Be Thy Name" leading into "The Trooper" live from Tokyo. True balls to the wall vocals, guitar shredding and the oh so powerful drumming Nicko McBrain. What a cool name for a heavy metal drummer. Definitely not in the mood for Phil Collins right now. Ha!

My plan this weekend is to be super-productive around the house. I have to fix the toilet in H's bathroom as water seems to be leaking. Just got the water bill to prove it as it 2.5 times higher than usual. Like I have money to flush down the toliet. Pardon the pun. I gave myself an opening there. I should come clean here. I will buy the part to fix in the bathroom but my construction engineer to be son will fix that important piece of porcelain. I would likely hurt myself using a screwdriver or wrench.

I have a load of whites going in the washer and after I finish this quick blog I'm going to prep some chicken breasts Greek-style for some grilling tomorrow for souvlakis.

A live version of Styx's "Crystal Ball" with the Cleveland Contemporary Youth

Orchestra just came on. This version is great. Actually any version of that song is great. Definitely in my top three Styx songs ever.

I have lots of leaf mowing or raking to do this weekend as the never-ending dance macabre with my trees and their foliage continues. Hopefully the weather will hold out tomorrow. I have some work-work to do in my never-ending quest to make my numbers for this month-end.

Ah cool song now. The Angels and their classic hit "Marseilles" from way back in 1980. This song effin' rocks! As I type this paragraph I wonder how many people down here heard of this band. Another one of my down under bands that I seem to like so much.They were known as "Angel City" up north in Mtl. for copyright reasons and they had a couple of albums in the late 70s, early 80s that were pretty effin' good.

I was playing too much air guitar there. Now the song is over and Stephen Stills with the rest of the boys in Buffalo Springfield are singing "For What It's Worth". That song is 45 years old and is still absolutely amazing. Man oh man music is awesome.

I also have to get rid of stuff in my garage to free some space up. I have a broken down lawn mower, a leaf blower that never worked and old wall units that have seen their better days. In fact those wall units saw their better days back in the 80s when the Angels were coming out with songs like "Marseilles", "Face The Day" and "Fashion". LOL.

Weird this blog about this and that became a blog of the music I am hearing as I hunt and peck away. Time to prep some chicken and then maybe I can convince H that we go and grab a bite to eat somewhere.

Labor or is it Labour Day Weekend

Looking back over my first half century on the planet I've come to realize that Labor Day weekend has come to signify the unofficial end of summer which doesn't really make sense as the temps here in SC are summer-like for another month or so. I understand that reasoning back in Canada as school would only start the day after Labor Day. If there is anything that signifies the true end of summer; it is no doubt the trauma of going back to school when you are a teenager. Summer truly is a magical time when you are a teenager.

Anyways over the last couple of years with Jackie; I think we have tried to make Labor Day weekend unique or fun. I know that one year we had beach weekend near Charleston. Last year we were down in Atlanta for a ball game and then on Lake Keowee with friends. I can't remember the other one. LOL. Yeah yeah I am getting old. I'm sure we had a good time though as all weekends really seem to be fun, different and enjoyable filled with good food, good music, good drinks and general all around smiles.

As is often the case in the spring and summer, Friday night is all about being downtown listening to free music on Main Street and enjoying some Fat Tires, Stella Artois or Shocktops. The band playing this past Friday was the Palmetto Swamp Congregation. A local blues / folk rock group from Taylors that have been playing on the local music scene for quite a while. The band was tight and played some songs that you don't normally here downtown. Songs by the Allman Brothers and Spartanburg's own Marshall Tucker Band. No beach music there. Thank Gawd!

Once the band was done Jackie and I decided to end our Barley's Taproom boycott after about a year because of some terrible food and service that we endured as a group of 8 or so the year before. The less said about that particular dining experience the better it is. We were really in the mood for some craft beers and decent pizza and decided to stroll on over. My choice was what us Montrealers call an all-dressed with pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers and cheese. You say all-dress to the wait or counter staff down here and they look at you as if you lost your effin' mind. J got one of those healthy pizzas with veggies and greens. It wasn't all that bad considering it was meatless. My beer choices that night were a Bell's Amber Ale out of Michigan and a Stone Double Bastard Pale Ale. You try ordering a Double Bastard with a straight face. LOL. Anyways Barley's is back in the good books. The pizza was phenomenal and brought back memories of all those classic Montreal pies I have had in the past and really miss having down here.

While we were at Main Street Fridays, we decided that we would attend the Foreigner show on Saturday night at The Biltmore Estate and bring J's youngest along with us to give her the chance to see a great classic rock band live and in person. We decided to make an overnight trip of it as we were going to stay in hotel up there to partake in some of Asheville's tourist delights. The Saturday and Sunday part of the weekend is going to be in my next blog which will likely include a review of the Foreigner show.

This And That On A Sunday Morning

Just starting on my second mug of Tim Horton's coffee this morning and listing to "The Stretch with Sharon Hyland" on 97.7 CHOM out of Montreal. This shows seems to focus on the softer side of rock as the last three songs have been slower paced songs by the likes of Poco, Eric Clapton and Starship. I actually like this. I haven't heard Poco's "Heart Of The Night" in a long,long time. I have a greatest hits of theirs somewhere in my messy home. I'll have to root it out of some pile today.

Today I plan to be a bit more active than I was yesterday. I didn't do much yesterday except watch baseball TV and read up on the huge Red Sox and Dodgers trade that was finalized yesterday afternoon. Talk about a trade that changes the structures of both teams. Interesting. The money involved with these players is absolutely insane. It's no wonder that for two people to go to a game; the costs are north of $150.

Good song came on after Poco. It's Paul McCartney and Wings "Mull of Kintyre" from 1977. A beautiful song with a haunting bagpipe sound throughout the nearly five minutes of the song.

Today I am planning on getting some exercise by working outside on my lawn, bushes, etc. etc.. I'm also planning on doing some work-work to try to catch up on my month-end numbers to be near where I need to be by Friday.

I learned a couple of things this week that really puts my life and perceived troubles into a better perspective.

First I learned that the injuries that a co-worker suffered at home earlier this year have led to her being paralyzed from the waist down. She was doing something that a lot of us do and by a terrible twist of fate she fell the wrong way and now she faces a life filled with greater challenges than most of us face. I was told that she is facing these changes with determination and optimism that made me realize that I should not be whining if I was to begin with at times.

The other thing I learned was that a young lady whose Mom lives a few houses down the street took her life at the age of 24 yrs. old this week because she just couldn't cope with life anymore.

H and I talked about this last night and I related to him what I knew and recalled about my father's death under the same circumstances at the age of 32. H was not aware of many of the circumstances surrounding my early life it seems. It's weird I was sure that I had told him all of this stuff over the years. He told me otherwise. What had started in an "I am making this for supper conversation became a conversation about some of the crappier things that happened in my life when I was 5 to 9 years old". That was a good thing. It was bit cathartic and has triggered something that I have to add to my to-do or must-do list in the next week. That list is getting long. LOL. I need to actually doing it rather than adding to it.

Up At 315am...Oh Joy...

Well it's around 315am here in Ft. Myers, FL where I have been since last Saturday. This is the first night this week that I haven't been able to sleep through the night. I wonder what I did differently today to cause this. It's been nice getting through the night without having to get up to pass time until I get tired enough to go back to bed and catch some zzzs.

I'm trying to think of the last time I was away for over a week from home. Over the last few years, most of the vacation breaks I have taken have been what most would consider long weekends. Typically 4 or 5 days off as opposed to this nice 9 day break I took this go around. Pretty sure that my face will look well rested after this time off though if I have a couple of these middle of the night episodes I will have circles under my eyes darker than those crop circles in some farmers' field in the middle of Podunk, Iowa.

I spent about 5 hours today at the beach at Gulfside City Park on Sanibel Island. It was great. The air temperature was around 90 I think and the water temperature was in the upper 80s. Put it this way; there was no shock to the system as one approached the swimming trunk's water level height. Most guys would get this. LOL.

Ever since I was way young as Mashmakkan once sang "As The Years Go By", a lot of my more serene moments in life have occurred in or near some body of water. The combination of hot sun and nearby lake, gulf or ocean just lowers the stress ratio by umpteen degrees. Not sure what umpteen is but I am pretty sure that it is more than 1 or 2 as there is a teen in there.

The only thing that was missing today was a beach chair to sit on and a radio to listen to while listening to the gentle roll of the waves in the Gulf of Mexico. My body is just not meant to lay down on the sand regardless of what I am laying on. It's hard to find a comfortable position that lasts more than 10 minutes when sitting on hard sand and trying to read a Steve Martini book. It would have been nice to have a radio with me tuned into the region's classic rock station. Turns out they have a station called the "The Arrow" here that plays Tom Petty, Foreigner and Queensryche. Sounds like my kind of station. Any station that plays "Silent Lucidity" or "Jet City Woman" can't go wrong in my books.

Prior to arriving at the beach I stopped for a late breakfast at Island Cow on Sanibel Island. We had been there a couple of days earlier for lunch and liking that experience I decided to stop in for breakfast there. I got myself a table outside in the shade near to a large fan that kept the air circulating which was a good thing as the air was already rather sticky at 1030am.

I ordered the Farmer's Frittata which is an open-faced omelet with three cheeses. No idea what cheeses though; I'm a blogger not a true blue restaurant reviewer. LOL. In the frittata there was sausage, peppers and onions. They served that with home-style potatoes and grits and a slice of watermelon and of pineapple. I should have said hold the grits and double up on the fruit. For the life of me I just don't get grits. It's like eating papier mache even though I have never eaten papier mache.I just think that it may resemble it in texture. LOL. I tried a forkful and set it aside. It just isn't for me. The frittata though knocked my socks off even though I was wearing sandals so there were no socks to knock off. I have a rule. Sandals no socks. One of my many rules it seems. LOL. But let's face it socks and sandals get you nominated to the geek hall of shame. They serve Starbucks as their house coffee and you can never go wrong with that brand especially if you like their darker roasts. My only complaint is that they charged $3 for the coffee to go with breakfast which seems a little high. Then again I think they mark up the beverages to make up for smaller margins on the food as the servings are quite large for the price charged. I also have to take into the equation that I am in one of the tourist meccas of southwest Florida so chances are that prices will be higher than my hometown prices.

Sanibel Island also has an interesting grocery store called Jerry's Foods that Istopped in for liquid refreshments (Labatt's Blue) and freshly made sandwich for later in the day. Jerry's seems to be an upscale grocery store locations in Eden Prairie and Edina in Minnesota and here on Sanibel Island. I'm thinking the original Jerry had it with Minnesota winters one year and decided to come down to southwest Florida and presto decided that expansion in this neck of the woods was a good thing. Their prices are a little higher than let's say a Food Lion or BiLo and obviously if you are a WalMart shopper you would be scandalized by the prices, friendliness of the store staff and the cleanliness of the store. I liked the store.They have a great bakery section where you can by singles of some great danishes and pastries as well as some freshly baked breads. Given their location their fresh fish selection is outstanding as well Given that this was in essence a beer run I could have just stopped at a gas station but having heard about Jerry's two days prior I figured I may as well stop by. It was well worth it.

Okay that's it for now...

This Weekend Flew By....

I made it through Monday. It was nice and calm today at work. What a difference an environment can be when certain people aren't around. I was tired walking into work after what may have been my quickest weekend in a long, long while. Yes I know that all weekends consist of around 60 hours.

Well this one seemed way shorter as a lot of it was spent in a car either as a driver or as a passenger as J and I drove up to Youngstown, Ohio to surprise her Mother at her father's side of the family "family reunion. Yes I know wrote the word family back to back. LOL. Even funnier was that her Dad was back home in Hemderson, NV as he couldn't make it back east for the family dinner.

What did I discover this weekend? Well I saw that West Virginia has absolutely beautiful scenery with its' greenery and rolling hills. It isn't the easiest state to drive through because of the Appalachians especially in a 4-cylinder car. It seems to me that no matter what route you take, you are going up and down these ancient mountains.

U.S. Route 19 is a nice route to take though you are stuck driving through towns at

times and have to deal with traffic lights which slows things down. Taking this route though does afford you the opportunity to see the New River Gorge. The bridge that crosses the New River near Fayetteville is the 5th highest vehicular bridge in the world at 876 ft. and is pretty darn cool to see. Until 2004 it was the highest such bridge in the world. We didn't stop on this trip.

The other option in going to Ohio is taking Interstate 77 all the way. We took the W.V. turnpike on the way back as we ended up in a part of Ohio that was closer to 77 than 79 near Pittsburgh on Sunday morning. Only issue is paying $6 in turnpike tolls. Taxpayers' dollars already went to building the Eisenhower interstate highway system. This is a blatant revenue grab and almost as annoying as being on the Maine Turnpike but that one doesn't cost $6 to travel at least. I can't vouch for that 100% as I haven't been on it for a few years now.

Back to the reunion dinner. I found out about it last Wednesday when J was in Aberdeen. She didn't think that she could make it due to her travel schedule but when I found out about it; the decision was made to go to the dinner even though it involved 1200 miles of driving round trip over a weekend.

To see the look on her Mom's face when she first saw J at Johnny's Fine Food & Spirits in Boardman, Ohio was absolutely priceless. She was in total shock and never ever expected her to be there. The only thing that would have made it even cooler was if J's children were there as well. Gives us something to work on for the 5th installment of the Montiori, Mondora & Neopolitain family dinner on July 20th, 2013. I may have spelled the first last name wrong; I'm a Schlewing after all. LOL.

As for the evening it was pretty effing cool even though I am not related to anyone that was there. I was amid five generations of a family that all started back in southern Italy years and years ago that had a member or two emigrate to the States in the late 1800s. I think that the first ones here would be darn proud of their descendants. Among the 60 or so people in the room; there were seven or eight engineers, a doctor or two, a television producer, a teaching nurse, a teacher, an airplane pilot, a couple computer geeks and two men that could have been extras in the Sopranos. That was it. I think I was the only that uses curse words on a regular basis. Dang what is with that? I will have to socialize more next year just to see if there is anyone that can teach me a lesson or two in Italian curse words.

Laundry, Nats Game & Blogging

Well I didn't do any laundry this morning so as I am listening on my Nats against the Mets on ESPN, I have a load of shirts tossing and turning, splishing and asplashing as I type these words of whatever. Could be wisdom. Could be humor. Think it will as a whatever though.

Beverage of choice right now is Boston Lager. H put a dent into my Newcastle Summer Ale stash. Darn the prodigal son at times.

I had leftover fajitas for supper tonight. I had marinated a top roast or london broil the other day in a mix of teriyaki sauce (out of soy hence the voluble sauce), garlic, vegetable oil, ketchup and oregano all in an effort to tenderize a cheap cut of meat. It turned out pretty well. Once I grilled it, I sliced it against the grain to have some beef fajitas. I had prepped some tomatoes from the vine along with a spanish onion along with some freshly chopped cilantro. What a pain it is to de-stem cilantro. The only reason I continue to do it because that herb adds so much to a dish. It's an effing pain to prep though. I only had a couple pitas left in the pantry. I think I have to hit a speciality food store to find some. I've only seen tortillas lately and I like the wrap to be a little thicker hence the need for pita as opposed to PETA. All in all they were very good. I need to get better at slicing the meat though. A little thinner would be even better I think.

While eating supper I had MLB on and they were carrying the extra innings game out of Chavez Ravine with the Dodgers hosting the Phillies. The Phils are 13.5 games out of first. Wow. That's unreal. A lot of Phillies fan will say it's because of injuries but there isn't too many teams that don't have the same complaint. My Nats have been without Morse, Zimmerman, Ramos, Werth, Storen among others suffering the day to day stuff that goes on in a 162 game schedule.

The reason why I brought up the Dodgers game though is because Vin Scully was doing the play by play as he always does for Dodgers home games. He has been the voice of the Dodgers for 63 years. That's incredible. It's a joy to listen to him describe what is going on the field. He does both the play by play and color commentary on these TV games and his voice is in good stead still at the age of 84. Man he also has a great head hair. I'm jealous. Great job and great hair. Ha.

The only bad thing he had going for the last couple of years was working for the classless parking lot owner of the Dodgers until earlier this year.

That being Frank McCourt who ranks right up there with Jeffrey Loria (ex-Expos current Marlins owner) as owners who have defiled once proud franchises with their tawdry business dealings. McCourt had the gall to send out job evaluation surveys on the Dodgers radio and TV broadcasters as if he is dealing with people on the Family Feud. What an effing numbnut. Just goes to show that you can have money but be totally classless.

I couldn't be happier that after swindling or blackmailing Florida local governments for free taxpayer money to build Marlins Park or whatever the eff it is called that now Loria may be instructing his management team to have another fire sale of their best players so that he can suck some more dinero out of the revenue sharing pie that the other teams put in.

I didn't agree with the late George Steinbrenner on much but he saw this BS scam that some of the owners pull off to line their own pockets with this revenue share thing. Loria is Selig's buddy though so he won't get called out on it. Now Loria is stuck with the loose cannon Ozzie Guillen as his manager who can be the main topic of one of my future blogs for his some mindless episodes like praising the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Jeffrey Loria is the same jackass that tried to fire Joe Girardi back in 2006 when as the manager of the Marlins, Girardi told Loria to shut the heck up as he was sitting behind the dugout and heckling the umpire. Loria acted so badly that the umpire warned Girardi about his owner's behaviour. Girardi told him to can it and Loria went psychotic on him and wanted to fire Girardi after the game. Girardi stayed through the end of the year but got fired by Loria at the end of the year. Funny thing Girardi won manager of the year in 2006 after leading the Marlins to compete for the NL wild card with by far the lowest payroll in baseball. Like I said class and Loria not words that are seen together too often in a sentence.

Loria and his son in law David Samson have managed to be zeroes for over ten years in the Montreal columnist Jack Todd's list of heroes and zeroes. He screwed over baseball in Montreal in the early 2000s and somehow managed to pull the wool over people's eyes in south Florida since 2002.

Well this blog went "nasty" but quick. LOL. Time to put down the keyboard and seek serenity. LOL.