with everything going on these days i have a one week reprieve. i am in full-blown vacation mode now...the lawn is mowed, the car top carrier packed, the last e-mail has been sent and received, the last entry made here. (for at least one week). there will be no cell phones, tv's, laptops, or other distractions. things i plan to do:

- lay on the beach and catch rays
- golf (hopefully multiple rounds)
- finish "the blue nowhere" by jeffrey deaver
- fish ('i'll wet a line but i am a complete novice)
- spend quality time with the wife and kids

i also plan to preserve many moments using my digital camera

be good..no parties or sleepovers and we'll see ya in a week

ok, it's thursday, we are almost there. still have quite of bit of packing & misc stuff to do before our trip. i'll miss my cat and my xbox but other than that, i'm really looking forward to it.

other news...i'm the leading bidder on an ebay auction that closes in a couple of hours from now. there's an amusing story behind it, but i'm not compelled to make it public domain yet. they are for 2 red sox tickets to the august 23rd game vs. anahiem at fenway park...wouldn't that rock? we'll let you know what happens.

haven't made a move on a vehicle yet...sort of waiting until we return from vacation. more later!

A Summer Wasting

Belle and Sebastian

Summer in winter
Winter in springtime
You heard the birds sing
Everything will be fine

I spent the summer wasting
The time was passed so easily
But if the summer's wasted
How come that I could feel so free
I spent the summer wasting
The sky was blue beyond compare
A photograph of myself
Is all I have to show for

Seven weeks of river walkways
Seven weeks of staying up all night

I spent the summer wasting
The time was passed so pleasantly
Say cheerio to books now
The only things I'll read are faces
1 spent the summer wasting
Under a canopy of

Seven weeks of reading papers
Seven weeks of river walkways
Seven weeks of feeling guilty
Seven weeks of staying up all night

Summer in winter
Winter is springtime
You heard the bird say
Everything will be fine

what's new? let's see...my man geno called back as expected. he's ready to make a deal. says he'll pay half of my license fee. that's $50-$100 from where we were when i left the dealership. nice try geno! now we're toying with the idea of just buying new. there's some things that are making that option a bit more attractive. we'll see...

we leave for vacation one week from today. looking forward to a week of fun & sun (hopefully). still have to get through one more week of work...more later.

well, it's wednesday..."hump day" as we say in the business. i dealt on the taurus wagon yesterday...it didn't happen. my used car salesman, "geno", wouldn't budge an inch...he'll come calling...he's got my ph #....

it looks like the whole family is going to boston at the end of august for the reception. it was kind of up in the air for awhile...now it looks like it will happen. let's see, vacation in wisonsin in a couple of weeks, trip to boston in august, trip to milwaukee in sept (barring a baseball strike), trip to montana in october...house, car, baby. hmmmmm. one day at a time i guess!

another work week has come and gone...again, nothing much new here. guess you can tell when i'm busy by my frequency of postings?
doing a lot of car researching...might be closing in on a deal for a ford tauras wagon. that's "wagon", NOT "station wagon". station wagon conjures up images of the olive-green country squire with simulated wood grain paneling and a luggage rack. ok, the taurus might have a luggage rack but it's a pretty sweet ride. snicker if you must...
more later

i have not been motivated to post much here, however i do have a couple of new pics on my images page. one from alaina's dance recital, one misc., and a couple from the 4th of july parade in eagan, mn.

i feel like a bunch of things are about to happen, but haven't really started yet. we're having a new baby, we need a new vehicle, perhaps a new house too? we are going on vacation in a few weeks, we may go to boston, i may go to milwaukee, allie and the girls may go to chicago....the only thing i know for sure is that i'm going to the ymca but that's within the next few minutes...maybe next time i'll be less confused.

well, it's a short week. got a couple of days off for the fourth.a nice looooong weekend. hopefully the weather will be nice, it's been dreadfully hot and humid but it is summer after all.

allie had a dr.'s appointment on monday and heard the baby's heartbeat. everythings progressing fine.
happy independence day and be back in a couple of days.

Dear thirdthoughts,


We contacted you 30 days ago to remind you to reduce the size of your
Angelfire site to
comply with the Free service disk space quota of 20 MB.


Our records indicate that as of June 21st your site still exceeds the Free
service disk
space limit of 20 MB. Accordingly, your account is now frozen and you may
only delete
files or move them to another location until your site meets the quota.


As of this notice, you have an additional 30 days to comply with this
request. If you fail
to do so, files from your account will be deleted to ensure your site meets
the quota.


Thank you!

The Angelfire team.

what does this mean exactly? not much really...in all honesty i don't remember receiving an e-mail from the "angelfire team" asking me to reduce the size of my website. had i received one, i would have responded accordingly. unless you were downloading mp3's here (don't worry, you weren't) than the size limitation is a non-issue. i had to delete, at least for the time being, my self-produced, legal, non-copyright violating mp3s, merely to comply with the size restriction. after having deleted said files, i am now sitting at 14 mb, well under the 20 mb limit, and still have a little room to grow. this solution suits me fine for now, until such time when i deem it more critical to have additional space for downloading of files, hosting files, etc..i realy don't have a legitimate complaint as the 20 mb is still free, and they do permit you to purchase additional space and band width. for now, my free, ad banner filled site, lives on. God bless Amererica!