stick a plastic fork in us...

the wife, kids, and i clocked in at 8 and a half hours at the fair today, a new personal best. here's a short list of fair delicacies we indulged in (i skipped out on the pronto pup): sausage breakfast pizza, frappe', pronto pup, gyro, sweet martha's chocolate chip cookies, turkey sandwich, a trip to the all you can drink milk booth, and a gizmo (beef & pork italian sloppy joe). it sounds like a lot but it was spread out over the entire day - ok, maybe it's still a lot? an aggressive but talented salesman at the merchandise mart was able to procure me a "2 for 1" set of german towels, i.e., super absorbent chamois's. these towels soak up six times their weight in liquid and i was scant able to resist after seeing the demo with my own eyes. we also caught a glimpse of "squeaky" the states largest boar, checking in at 1,240 lbs., hit the giant slide, and little farm hands. i was also able to sneak away to check out some of the cool (and not so) illustrations, paintings, and photography at the fine arts building. we also enjoyed taking in a free show under the air-conditioned big tent at the state fairs version of big top chautauqua, a musical show by local legend warren nelson and friends, which is an entertaining an descriptive narrative of minnesota's history set to music. other attractions were getting a bunch of autographs from local news personalities including, alix kendall, erik matland from fox 9 news (not pictured - briefly forgot about the cell camera), mike pomeranz and julie nelson from nbc kare 11 news, and frank vascellero, and jeanette trompeter from cbs wcco channel 4. it's always fun, but by the end of the day i'm always done...at least til next year.

all is fair...

heading to the minnesota state fair tomorrow, the friday before labor day, as is our annual tradition. we try to arrive early enough to get a decent parking spot and score some breakfast pizza in the food building. i'm also hearing talk of some sort of frozen coffee drink i might scout.
the kids will buy some cheap trinkets, we'll eat fried things on a stick, enjoy the fabulous people watching and stay all day or until the kids start getting tired and owly, whichever comes first. rest assured there will be plenty of dusty miles walked, dollars spent, and even more empty calories consumed.

kids sale...

update
sale going better than expected...the kids are approximately $50 richer, and I have several more sq. feet of free space!

no, i haven't decided to sell the kids just yet. not quite that desperate, however, the kids have decided to hold a "kids" garage sale this wednesday to 1,- get rid of a bunch of their old toys to earn some cash (thier idea), and 2,- to free up a bunch of space around the house (my idea). it's mostly toddler stuff, dolls, cars, games, etc., but it is all gently loved and ready for new homes.
if anybody is around our 'hood this wednesday and want to swing by to score some sweet loot, my kids and their piggy banks would be most appreciative.
mention this ad to earn the right to pick anything from the "free" box.
</shameless plug>

the recap...

we arrived back in minneapolis yesterday, on-time, and virtually hassle-free. the family and i had a fantastic time in beantown. it still remains my favorite vacation spot. with only a loosely framed entertainment docket, we managed to successfully check off all of our to-do's, including hitting multiple beaches, a day trip to cape cod, a water park, the new england aquarium, harvard university, and of course fenway for me. we enjoyed spending time with both sets of relatives and appreciate all of the hospitality shown to us during our visit. thanks to allie's family for organizing the day trips, providing more than a couple of meals, tickets to the water park, etc. a special shout out goes to my sis and bro-in-law for the first class accommodations and for getting me celebrity status tickets to the redsox game. it was sad to say goodbye but we'll be seeing this same bunch in a few months at christmas time. hope to make it back out to new england again in the not so distant future.
took a lot of pics and i only posted about 25%. enjoy the pictorial here.

america's most beloved ballpark...

my bro in law and i headed down to fenway for the sox\blue jays game today. he was able to score us seats in the homeplate pavilion club section (see chart). we had access to the state street pavilion, an exclusive restaurant and bar with a fantastic view of the ballpark. the game itself didn't go our way (sox lost 15-4) but to get to take in a redsox game in that kind of style was an amazing experience and one i certainly won't forget.
oh, and tonight i finally got my seafood fix in. the family went to kelly's where i had the fishplate and some authentic new england clam chowder.
tomorrow we travel to portsmouth, new hampshire to check out watercountry. yes, sadly, vacation appears to be winding down.

another day at the beach...

today's forecast was sketchy but we rolled the dice and headed to gloucester (town where the movie and true story "the perfect storm" was based) to wingaersheek beach. we managed to milk every minute of the 6 hours of sun and started packing up the beach gear right as the huge thunderhead was closing in. i slathered on a bit more sun screen this time but i've already stared to shed my first layer of skin. under clearing skies we arrived back in melrose to clean up and refresh a little and then headed to medford where we hung on the deck and grilled out.
tomorrow is the redsox game with my brother in law. weather looks good. looking forward to getting in my fenway fix.

boston bloggin'

packed a lot in today. started off by cruising to harvard university in cambridge to see where my brother in law works and to pick up some discounted new england aquarium tickets. spent a couple of hours at the aquarium and then walked over to quincy mah-ket. had some authentic italian pie at regina's pizzeria, saw some street performers, and enjoyed the fabulous people watching. paid the $34 bucks to park in the ramp and headed back to melrose to recharge. tonight we went to the locally famous jordan's furniture store in reading, mass. no, we weren't shopping for ottoman's, this place is an entertainment mecca all it's own. here's a description:

Walk into Jordan's Reading store and you walk into Beantown, a city made out of jelly-beans including Fenway's Green Monster, The Sweet House, Beantown's Big Dig, The Duck Tour Game, The Lenny Zakim Bridge with the only indoor Trapeze School in the country. You'll be thrilled by Beantown's Liquid Fireworks Show, our gigantic 500-seat Verizon IMAX 3D Theater, and room after room of gorgeous furniture displays in the store showrooms.

my girls even took a 3 minute trapeze lesson, complete with a monitored trapeze ride. if they ever consider taking up this sport professionally they'll be way ahead of the curve. we the had some fantastic ice cream at richardson's while we watched the laser light water show.
the rapid-fire paced series of events continues tomorrow as we head north to wingaersheek beach in gloucester, weather permitting.
in other news, my brother in law upgraded our tickets to the red sox game on sunday. looks like we are sitting club-level, behind home plate. rumour has it there are waiters and air-conditioning. wow.

boat club...

we were able to spend a solid hunk of the day at the medford boat club. we were able to bring my sister and nephew this time which was cool. there was a platform about 30 yards off shore with a tower and slide attached that you could swim out to. we had a blast sliding and jumping off the tower. there was also a giant bocce ball court (see picture), snack shop, and game room.
a massive rain storm moved in late afternoon and that pretty much ended those proceedings. we had a great dinner at our relatives in medford and then called it a day.

day at the beach...

yesterday was all about hanging at old silver beach all day. had to get there early to snag a $20 parking spot. it was amazing to me how many people were at the beach on a wednesday. don't you people work!?
despite putting on sun screen i did get a lot of sun. i wouldn't say i burned, but pretty close. guess you're supposed to gradually move from 8 hours of "0" sun in the office to 6 hours of bright sunshine at the beach.
the drive back from the cape pretty much blew. it was bumper to bumper traffic for nearly 3 hours. it took us about 90 minutes to get there from boston and double that going back home. guess my 15 minute commute to work has got me spoiled.
took plenty of pics...here's a couple snapped from my cell to give you an idea. there will be a proper photo re-cap post-vacation.

the longest day...

we woke up with the morning dj's and news anchors in minneapolis to get to the airport for our 6:40 flight. all travel details went off without a hitch, save for the additional 20 minutes waiting in queue for a runway from philly to boston. arrived at logan, snagged our luggage, hopped the shuttle to our car rental (a ford taurus - those that know me well will snicker at that one), and let the gps guide us to my sister's place in melrose. we hung out with my sis, bro-in-law, and nephew for awhile, grabbed dinner, and then headed to medford to visit my wife's relatives. we chilled, watched some olympics, formed a plan for tomorrow and then headed back to base camp in melrose.
it should be noted, the accommodations at my sister's place are 4 star. we have our own apartment complete with full kitchen, bath, 2 monster tv's and high speed internet.
due to an iffy weather forecast we have deemed tomorrow as dedicated beach day. we're heading south towards the cape to hopefully soak up some sun and surf. we'll play it by ear after that.
it's 11:00 local time and i'm completely gassed. more to come.

the departed...

we are shipping up to boston bright & early in the a.m. i have lowered my travel expectations so as not to be completely thrown off when things go south. i am assuming that our flight from mpls will be delayed, we'll miss our connecting flight in philly, our luggage will end up at LAX, and the shuttle to the car rental - out of service. low expectations = few disappointments. this way if things do happen to go well, it'll feel as though we're living charmed lives. we have family members checking on the cat and retired neighbors with nothing to do watching the house.
looking forward to the getaway, it comes at a much needed time for me. i make no promises as to the frequency of blog posts and\or tweets, it'll depend on web access, time, and other uncontrollables, but i will try to keep up as much as possible. i'm sure i'll have a scad of pics to post upon my return. until then, enjoy this bit of celtic-punk by a band of irish-american hooligans known as the "drop-kick murphy's". cheers

the search is over...

i've always been one to not lose stuff. in fact, i'm a bit obsessive about it. i never misplace my wallet, keys, cell phone, ipod, etc. i've even been known to rip other members of my family for misplacing their purse, their cell phone, or the checkbook. that is why i've been going a little batty these last few days looking for 1 misplaced twins baseball ticket. i've spent a lot of time turning my house upside down looking for this little piece of card stock. for whatever reason, it ain't happening. the search is officially called off.
i usually buy a block of games at the beginning of the season from a guy i know who has season tickets. since i'll be out of town for my next game i've been trying to sell my two tickets for next saturday. problem is, i don't seem to have 2. ever try to sell somebody something for $45 that you can't produce? not easy. so, after jumping through some hoops and a somewhat less than than cordial conversation with a member of the twins ticket office customer service staff, we are able to provide a provisional ticket and give them back to the original seller. this will work out nice, unless someone actually shows up with the actual ticket for the assigned seat (a scenario i can't imagine). i know that this is my fault and that's what kills me. i may never figure this one out. ready to turn the page on this and move closer to vacation-mode.

today's date 080808

random bits...
first pic, apple makes some cool hardware but the hinges on a powerbook g-4? definitely not their best effort. every time i run into one of these the hinges are whacked beyond a reasonably priced repair.
second pic, me looking at me, taking a picture of me...enjoy.

a word from the paaks depaatment...

this medford mass city councilor has the perfect boston accent. time to start working up my accent so as to blend in with the locals.

out to the ballgame

we saw the return of francisco liriano and watched the twins beat cleveland this afternoon 6-2. as the whitesox lost, the twins moved into sole possesion of first in the a.l. central (at least for now). maybe they'll be able to build on this. the girls also got to run the bases after the game...it was actually the first time i'd ever been on the metrodome turf myself...yes, hard to believe. saw twins manager ron gardenhire leaving from the concourse area after the game. kinda cool. all pictures were taken from my razr which explains the low quality images - i wasn't really prepared to take real pics.

rejected!

some ill-advised promotional material for the site