Last night we went to see the RPO (Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra) play various pieces from the Star Wars movies. The event was held at the performing arts center in Canandaigua. The weather was perfect for an outdoor concert. After the intermission they played pieces called The Planets that was the inspiration for the Star Wars music. Almost every planet was showcased with a musical piece along with images that NASA has taken over the years.

Getting into the venue was very frustrating. They were saying we could not bring in food but the sign outside said you could. After arguing for about 10 min with security we just walked right in. We had a grocery bag with food in it and later on people were bringing in coolers with wheels on them. That's what happens when you have rent-a-cop security.

We bought lawn seats for the event and it was great to lay down look up in the sky and listen to the Starwars themes that we all know and love. They even had people dressed up like Stormtroopers, Obe-Wan, Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker.

The main reason we went is there was a friend of our playing with the RPO. He is a trumpet player that lives in NY but he has subed for the RPO several times so we always try to see him when he is here. He is a huge Star Wars fan so I can imagine this was very exciting for him.

Hey Y'all. Yeah thats right I said Y'all. It has been about 3 weeks since I posted anything but I am sure most of you don't care anyway :) I feel obligated to blog even more now that the Estrip server is in my basement. (e:paul) tried to trick me into thinking my house burned down this weekend but little did he know I was home on Saturday playing beer pong on the server. It makes a nice flat surface.

My wife and I went to Vegas one last time before the baby arrives. It was very hot and we spent most of our time at the pool. A few nice dinners and very little gambeling. It was a very relaxing trip because I did not feel obligated to do anything around the house. Plus the last time I checked I don't have the Bellagio fountains in my back yard.



Two weeks ago I went down to Orlando for the Cisco Live! conference. It used to be called Networkers but they are changing the name. It was great to be around so much geek stuff and people that totally engulfed themselves in Cisco knowledge. Gave me something to strive for. The conference was at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) and was the best run event I have ever been to.



Last weekend my cousin Scott got married. It was a very nice outdoor wedding in Cazenovia. His family bought us all these shirts from Hawaii for the rehearsal dinner.



That's about it for now. Back to playing beer pong on the server and then eventually changing over to flip cup.

Tonight at 6:30 I heard what sounded like a garbage truck on my street. I looked out and they are finally cleaning up the stump in my front yard. The Town of Amherst has some "FEMA" money to use since the October storm and they are taking down trees that are questionable. To tell you the truth I don't think that my tree was going to die but who am I to say. A couple of months ago they took down the tree and today they finally took out the stump.

::Download Flash Video::

The Blackberry 8330 can take some video but this does not look all that great. Low light and I was inside behind the window and screen. Well hopefully you can see just how powerful this machine is. Cuts though the stump like butter.

Tomorrow my wife and I are headed to La Vegas for one last trip before the baby comes. I know that life is not over after kids but flying is so much harder with kids and I am sure money will be tighter. We are not big gamblers but it is a fun place to go. Most likely we will hang out by the pool by day and dinner or a show at night. The weather is supposed to be 100+ so that is always fun. Dry heat my ass.....it's still hot!

This is a little late however after a very long wait I finally have my Verizon 8330 Curve Blackberry!!

Here it is in all its glory:



I love ball for navigation as opposed to the wheel setup in the previous model. The body is slim and narrow also which is nice. Most of all it has a camera which I have been longing for. It's nice to have the option along with me now.

Here is a pic I took with the zoom on. Not to bad for situations when you want to buy a goat and don't want to forget the number.



For the most part I am pleased with the 8330 so far. I do wish it had wifi though.

This past month for me has been very stressful. Work has been the root of most of this stress as my team is understaffed and have so much to do. I have not even wanted to post to estrip at all lately. I will go to the site and close it knowing all my time needs to be spend elsewhere. Besides running on my lunch break I think I need to get that Allentown Athletix membership very soon. Hopefully they have a punching bag so I can take out some of my aggression. If not then just sweating a little might do the trick. Thanks for listening ;)

This weekend I am going to the 133rd Running of the Preakness. I am so excited as this is a bachelor party. We all have tickets to the infield that is sure to be crazy. I have not been to an outside beer bash since the 10 Ugly Men festival in Rochester. I am sure I will have a lot of drunken pics to post when I get back. Doing a little bit of research tonight I have seen the shenanigans that go on there. Overweight men in speedos, people in horse costumes and afros etc etc. Has anyone ever been to this?

Today I took a day off of work to have someone clean my house...sounds great doesn't it?? We actually got our air ducts cleaned today which I wanted to do last year but didn't have the money to do it.



The crew consisted of two guys. One of them worked in the basement on the main trunk lines and the other cleaned up all the registers. The trunk lines needed to have several holes cut out to get access. Here is a video from their website:



They taped off all of the vents in the house so dirt would not blow out all over the house.




Look at all the junk they got out. The bottom two filters are from the cold air returns. The top one is from the supply lines. The filter that is blue was not used but put down for reference.




After about 4 hours of cleaning they patched up the holds and pulled off all the tape.



It feels good in here already. Not sure if that is all mental but I hope this does good for my wife's allergies also.

I love getting my hair cut by a barber but I feel like it's kind of a waste. I don't have to much hair but a 1.5 on the top and a 1 on the sides usually does the trick. I used to "bic" my head in college which was always a nice feeling. Everyone told me I looked mean though.

We finished up our journey yesterday. I can't remember the last time we just drove to where ever we wanted and had very little planned. I think for us that works out the best.

Thursday we went to Baltimore and spent time in the inner harbor. We were able to slip into the aquarium before they closed and it was very cool.


We stopped at Phillip's express to get a snack and it was alright. I got some fried crab to hold me over until dinner time. I did end up getting shit on by a bird while sitting by the harbor. It happened so fast and I didn't really know what happened at first. The majority of it hit the right lens of my glasses and luckily I was able to close my eye fast enough. Very little got on my pants and sleve. I was still able to wear them the rest of the night. However, I did feel all gross and just wanted to take a shower. My wife said it's good luck...frankly I think it sucked.





We met my uncle Don and his girlfriend (Bev) for dinner at The Rusty Scupper. I had a broiled seafood dish that included blue crab. It was excellent and tasted so fresh.



D.C. was our next stop. We had been there a few times before but it is always fun to walk around and see everything.





This trip we were able to see the new WWII memorial. The layout was very well done. They seemed to touch on so much and I am very happy to see they finally have something honoring this war.




I wish I could get a hold of some of this grass. Sounds like it would do the trick in my backyard.



Our hotel was in Arlington just on the other side of they Key Bridge. It is named after Francis Scott Key who wrote the Star Spangled Banner.



Next we drove up to Pottsville and hit the outlets before heading to my cousins for the night. Apparently they have a nuclear power plant near there. I had never been this close to one before...that I know of.



We had our first home cooked meal of the week with some of my family in Doylestown, PA.

The drive home was uneventful except for some traffic that delayed our arrival by an hour. I tried to get a picture of the bugs on the windshield. I hate bugs on the windshield!