Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I'm not very good at this

Hancock Tower in Boston
Hancock Tower in Boston
Originally uploaded by robj_1971
I have been looking through Flickr's interesting images, or whatever they call it, for a couple of days this week and I have learned one important thing...

I am not very good at this photography thing.

I've always wanted to take a photography class. Even as far back as my music school days at U Lowell. I've never done it though. Maybe one of these days my beautiful wifey and I could take one together. Or maybe the two of us could sucker some friends into coming along too.

Just a thought. I'll never do anything about it (probably) but it's a nice thought to think about while thinking about stuff to think about with thoughts.

Happy Monthiversary

One month ago today I managed to avoid getting cold feet. My toes were toasty warm all day.

My wife is still feeling a little under the weather, but she was well enough to return to work today. Let's hope the progress continues.

This week is shaping up to be a busy one. The first rehearsal for the triumphant Break Even sort of reunion is tomorrow night. I have to go to my parents house tonight to grab my amplifier. I hope it still works. (I have been a headphone amp-only guitar player since moving into the duplex) I also need to sneak over to Guitar Center at lunch and grab myself some new strings. The strings currently on my Les Paul are so covered with rust and grime they are about 2 inches thick.

Friday Jen and I both have off from work for the holiday. We are taking the kids up to Old Orchard Beach for a day of being beach bums. We are heading up early, but at some point (as yet to be worked out) Mike and Tammy and their daughter are going to join us. We are all going to stay over night so we can put off the drive home for a while.

Saturday is the Forth of July. (insert your "Hooray we're not British" cheer here) We will leave Old Orchard Beach in the morning. Head home for a little while to clean up and change clothes and what not, and then head to Nahant for Jamie and Michael's Forth of July beach day, complete with fireworks. We're probably going to be right goodly wiped out by the end of the day, but it's going to be a lot of fun. After spending a week hanging out on Pacific Ocean beaches, it's going to be nice to see the Atlantic again. That's the one you drive East to get to... not West like that other one. There was just something wrong about that.

In closing, Happy Monthiversary to my Wife Jen. I love you sweetie.

Monday, June 29, 2009

One More

One last post from California. My wife Jen with the Pacific Ocean behind her. What a fantastic trip it was.

Tide Pools Again

One last look to the North. It still seems odd to have the water to your left when you look North. It doesn't work that way around here.

Surfing

As with every ocean view on our trip there were plenty of surfers around. These guys appeared to be boated in as there was no beach at this spot.

My sweetie

I married her.

Erosion

I never imagined erosion being kinda cool before... but it is!

Waves

The sound of waves here was wonderful.

Tide Pools

Our last stop on Point Loma was the tide pools. Just another in a week long string of beautiful sites.

Light House

This was a lamp in the light house museum.

Submarine

I'm sure the locals see Navy submarines in their back yards all the time. For me it was something pretty interesting.

Light House

This is the old light house on Point Loma. I now have the unstoppable need to photograph light houses everywhere.

Cabrillo

The monument to Cabrillo. The European who first came to San Diego.

Navy

The view from the visitor's center at Point Loma. Military bases everywhere.

Macro Cactus

I had to take a macro of every flower in California. Sorry about that.

Gondola?

It's not a surfboard, it's not a kayak... what the heck is it?

Birds

Mine? Mine? Mine?

I like taking pictures of birds now. I just think it's cool.

The Last Day

The last day in California we went back to Ocean beach to have breakfast on the longest pier on the West Coast.

Two Beautiful Sites


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Two beautiful sites. The sun set and the love of my life.

Catching the View


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
There were a lot of people on the beach who showed up just before the sun set and left just after. We were not the only ones.

Surfing USA


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Do you think the surfers took the sun set for granted? Or were they just pissed off that it was almost time to go home?

Sun Set


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
I was hoping that we would get a chance to see the sun set over the ocean. We tried a couple of times but the clouds got in the way. On this day however, we got one. It was beautiful. Just like everything else we saw that week.

Ocean Beach


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Cross the mountains into the desert visit the sea head back into the desert back through the mountains and still get back in time to see the sun set on the ocean. All in one day.

Driving Was Fun


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Another view off of a twisting, turning, spiraling, death road. So much fun to drive. Yes, I was scared shitless, but it was still so much fun.

Leaving the Desert


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Here we appeared to be heading out of the desert and back into the mountains. The landscape was continuously changing.

Incredible


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Everywhere we looked there was something stunning.

Palm Springs?


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
I believe that somewhere in this valley is Palm Springs.

Desert Mountain Beauty


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
I don't remember what road we were on at this point, but it was a winding, twisting, road of death. I was squeezing the wheel so hard my hands started going numb. It was AWESOME!

Salton Sea Again


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Just imagine a ridiculously huge lake sitting there in the middle of the desert. That's the Salton Sea.

Salton Sea


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
This is a view of the Salton Sea. The largest body of water in California. It's a salt water lake that was formed by a flood about 100 years ago.

Caves


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
We should have gone spelunking.

Rocks


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
This was another highway pull off that just dazzled us.

Desert


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
We've left the mountains and are now in the Desert. You can tell by the vast barren wasteland surrounding us.

Breath Taking


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Just an amazing view.

B again


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Is it Aliens trying to tell us something?

Spectacular


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
I could have stayed at this spot for hours, and we might have if it wasn't so damn cold.

B


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
We were at a highway pull off overlooking a spectacular view. The road you see here is... I think... route 78, which we were about to turn onto. The B you see on the slope to the right... I have no idea. We later drove past it though, and there was a W around somewhere too.

Our Awesome Bird


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
This is the bird that buzzed us again. This time he was way over head.

Huge Bird


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
This guy flew straight at us. He came out of the woods behind us, crossed a street, and buzzed over our heads. It was the coolest bird related experience of my life. I think it's a hawk, but I can't really tell. He was HUGE though.

Everywhere You Look...


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Everywhere you look there are rocky peaks to be seen.

Wild Turkeys


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Jen saw these guys out of the corner of her eye as we past them so we turned around to check them out. Thanksgiving is coming soon!

Here Kitty Kitty


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
This was the moment we decided against hiking.

What Kind of Bird is This?


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
This bird hung out with us at a pull out. I don't know what species it is.

Where's the Green

The mountains in Southern California are different than New Hampshire and Vermont. Here everything is green. There, not so much.

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Originally uploaded by robj_1971

Mountains


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
Here come a slew of pictures from our day in the mountians/desert/Saltan Sea/Ocean Beach.

The Flu Sucks

So that was a fun weekend.

On Friday at about 3:00am or so there was a really noisy thunderstorm. It woke both of us up. Jen already pretty much knew she had the flu, but at that time she started getting dizzy. That was scary. At 5:00 she got up and called in sick to work. She already had a doctors appointment for that afternoon but she called and had it moved to a couple of hours earlier. I got up at 6:30 and saw how tough the dizziness was making it on her and decided there was no way she was driving herself anywhere so I called in sick too.

Saturday she felt worse. That made it tough on me as I was going to help my sister and her husband move into their new house. I felt terrible leaving my wife home sick. I did at least manage to get home early enough to help her out in the afternoon.

Sunday her flu symptoms were much better, but the dizziness was worse. There was also a bit of nausea too. She was feeling bad in the early afternoon and tried to take a nap. After a few minutes she asked me to drive her to the emergency room because the dizziness wasn't getting better.

We checked in at 2:00. Four hours later she was discharged after taking two, one liter bottles of that I.V. fluid they give people to rehydrate them. The dizziness and nausea were just symptoms of dehydration. On Friday her doctor told her to make sure she takes in a lot of fluids, and she did. She had a drink with her all the time. (juice or water... not a "drink" drink.) It just wasn't enough.

Once we got home we made sure she had more than a lot to drink and she was feeling a lot better. We were both really tired though and ended up going to bed very early.

Next weekend is 4th of July weekend. Hopefully things go better than they did this weekend... although the law of averages tells us that chances are I will be sick with the flu by then.

Stupid flu bug.
Stupid, stupid flu bug.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Dehydration Blues

Did you know that dehydration can cause dizzyness and nausea?

After sitting with my beautiful wife of four weeks and one day in the
ER at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen we now know exactly that.

My sweetie has the flu, and what we thought was a decent fluid intake
over the last couple of days was sadly not enough.

Sweetie is fine and we are about to celebrate that fact with some pizza.

Thanks everyone who helped us out.

Hey flu, suck it.

My sweetie wife's flu is inturupting our flake Sunday. We were
supposed to be home watching "Scrubs" and mowing fudge striped cookies.

She does look strangely sexy in a surgical mask though. I magically
love her more than ever now.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

My big sister's new digs.

The evil thorn weed bush thingie lives at my sister's new house too!

Friday, June 26, 2009

At the Doctors' Office

My poor sick wifey.

Honeymoon Pictures

All of my honeymoon pictures are up on Flickr now. Here is a link to the collection. There is a photo set for each day and there are a ton of pictures. Look at them if you like. Don't if you don't. I don't care, I had an absolute blast taking every single one of them.

My wife is still sick. She seems to have the flu but she's had some dizzy spells this morning. She has a doctor's appointment but there is no way I am going to let her drive if she's dizzy so I am going to stay out of work and take care of her today. I love her, it's the least I can do.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

How Old is Music?

Ever wondered how old music is? Not a specific piece, but music in general?

According to this Boston Globe article it is at least 35,000 years old.

Blue Sky!

Honest to goodness actual blue sky over Massachusetts. Who woulda thunk??

Mickey Mouse


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
The biggest star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. No question about it.

Frank Sinatra


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Originally uploaded by robj_1971
The Chairman of the Board had tiny feet.