Dignan_Rocket's Xanga

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Sun, 10 Oct 2004 21:08:03 GMT

I'm trying out another online website thing. Less of a blog type thing, more of a template based website. We picked up an iBook and have a free 60 trial for .mac. Figured I would try that out for a while to see if it's worth using or not.

The web address is http://homepage.mac.com/tombastian

So head on over there and bookmark that for now since that is the site I will be updating for a little while.

Tom

Friday, October 08, 2004

Fri, 08 Oct 2004 00:40:09 GMT

It's been a busy couple of weeks for us. Just about two weeks ago I got word that a good friend of mine from High School, Jan Millard, had passed away. So last week a bunch of friends flew in for the services and some of us made a trip down to Blacksburg VA, home to the VA Tech Hokies. Jan went to college down there and really got into following their football team. Jan's dad had extended an offer to any of us who wanted to go down there to celebrate the life of Jan, Hokie style. So thats what we did. Despite the circumstances it was a good trip and gave a few of us some time to catch up with on another. Situations like this really suck but I think the trip down to VA was a good thing for us, as well as for Jans dad. Since a lot of you who read this did not know Jan I won't go into too much here. For those of you who read this and did know Jan you already know how much of a great friend he was and how much he ment to all of us.

The weekend before the VA Tech trip was on our annual Fishing Trip. This was I believe our 4th year out with the crew from the Miss Atlantic City. This year we were on a new boat, the Captain Collet. A much nicer boat, a great day as far as weather goes and all the Sea Bass we could catch. Here are a few random shots from the trip.

I think we may be joining the mac world. I've been checking out the new iBooks. Really nice machine. A little more versatile since it's a lap top and lately I have been really impressed with the software and hardware that Apple has been offering. Plus I found out that Steph can get the educators discount at the Apple store in KOP.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 00:06:07 GMT

Had a good weekend. We went down to Baltimore to visit our friends Mike and Jenn as well as their new little addition, Petra. Got down there on Friday night, order in some Chinese and basically hung out with Jenn, Mike and of course Petra...both her and Elliott hung in there for a while. Saturday morning Steph, Elliott and I got up and headed over to the Baltimore Aquarium. The whole ride over to the Harbor it really wasn't raining at all. Of course when we got down there it started to pour. None the less we had a great time. Elliott really seemed to enjoy the Aquarium and by the afternoon the rain had stopped.

While we were outside the Dolphin area Elliott took it upon himself to make a friend. Didn't really get too many good pictures because I didn't know how the girls parents would feel about me taking pictures of her. But he just went up to this little girl and started to hug and kiss her. The pictures below show him checking out her backpack and then fleeing the scene. For lunch we grabbed a bite to eat at the ESPN Zone. Cool concept, but the food wasn't too great. Probably should have went with the Hard Rock or someplace else.

Saturday night we went back to Mike and Jenns and they have a few of their friends over for some Poker. Below is a picture of Mike and Petra (sorry Jenn, I didn't get a picture of you and Petra...next time). Oh and Elliott in a Dumbo costume. He didn't seem too happy to have it on. But we all wanted to see what it looked like, it was a costume Jenn and Mike had and that does not quite fit Petra yet.

I did ok at Poker. Did not make it to the 2nd table, last one out before the two tables merged. But I got about 3 hours of play in, which was my whole goal...to not be one of the first people out and play for a while. Tom and Joey G showed up in their best as you can see below. I didn't get many action pictures from Poker, too involved in my game. The middle pictures below is when the final table was getting down to just a few and the final pictures shows the big winner (guy with the shaved head). The winner was the neighbor of a guy from Mikes work. Nobody knew who he was besides the guy who brought him...so the jury is still out on if we were set up or not :)

Last night we had Mike, Amy and Nate over for the bike Eagles game. What a nice Monday Night win.

Today I picked up the new Green Day album "American Idiot" during my lunch break. I've only gotten through the album about two times so far, but it sounds really nice. Catchy, great production, great hooks, vocals sound solid. Should be one I'll have spinning for a while.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 02:04:11 GMT

Wes Andersons new movie "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is finished up. Release date in US theaters looks to be December 24th. Can't wait. Just watched the trailer here. Here are a few still shots from the film.

Sunday, September 12, 2004

Sun, 12 Sep 2004 23:07:51 GMT

Painted our bedroom on Saturday. Turned out nicely. Home Depot has this painted made by Behr that is really good. Goes on nicely, only one coat needed and the color selections are good. Plus it's rather cheap, like $18 for a gallon.

Football season is in full swing. Eagle played incredible and at least this weekend, McNabb and Owens lived up to the hype they have been getting all pre-season. If the offensive weapons the Birds have this season can stay healthy they could be an extremely tough team to stop.

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Tue, 07 Sep 2004 23:39:16 GMT

Had a nice 4 day weekend. Great weather and a few exciting things going on. Thursday night we had a going away party after work for my good friend Jim who is transferring to another facility our company owns in Wilson, North Carolina. Sad to see him go, but kind of nice to hang out with some people from my work, outside the work setting.

On Friday night we went to this beer tasting sponsored by Magic Hat Brewery. The brewery is based in Vermont and they just started distributing beer to the Philadelphia area. We talked to the guy who was there from the company and he gave us a bunch of the background on the company and how the whole beer distribution thing works with US based Micro-breweries. An interesting conversation and the fact that the beer they make is great help aid in the conversing as well. The company kind of has the whole "hippy thing" going which I could do without, kind of like Ben and Jerrys. But they really make some great beer. I tried what they call their Blind Faith (basically an IPA), Fat Angel (English Ale), Number 9 (this one is unique, kind of has an Apricot flavor going on, great stuff) and Jinx (this is their seasonal brew for the fall). The Number 9 and Jinx were my favorites. If you like beer and you see a varity pack of Magic Hat in your local distributor, pick up a case. If you don't like it, let me know and I'll help you out.

On Saturday our friend Mary Ellen who we went to high school with got married. The reception was held out this place called Springton Manor. Kind of like an old farm house, with kind of an outside deck area. Really nice place and the food was great. It was buffet style but it really was done well. It was nice to see some friends who we do not get to see often.

On Monday I painted our master bathroom...purple and it sure came out purple as you can see. It kind of looks cool though and I'll be doing our bedroom a lighter shade of purple so they should compliment each other nicely. For Stephs birthday I told her as a present I would paint a bunch of rooms in our house. Master bathroom, master bedroom, powder room, spare bathroom and maybe the game room. We'll see how many I get to. I plan to paint our bedroom this Saturday. I'll post a picture once I get it done.

Monday, August 30, 2004

Mon, 30 Aug 2004 22:48:36 GMT

Elliott turned 1 on Sunday. We had a little Birthday gathering for him at our house on Saturday. Here are a few pictures.

Have a nice 4 day weekend coming up. That should be cool. Our friend Mary Ellen from our High School days is getting married. So that should be nice to see some folks. Some of which I haven't scene in years. Others who I only see about once every 6 months or so.

Overall this summer has been really bad for music. I can only really think of two albums that I was really impressed with. Typically the summer is rather solid for releases. But all I have really enjoyed have been the new releases from Pedro the Lion, Brandtson and the Polyphonic Spree. The new Wilco I just couldn't get into and there really wasn't anything else that stood out.

Speaking of the Polyphonic Spree...anyone see them on the MTV VMA's last night? Kind of cool, yet kind of odd. I guess maybe they are just playing the cult thing up a little bit, to mess with people. But they sounded good. How about Hoobastank though...oh my, how did those dudes get a recording contract with a major label? Must be some major auto tune work in the studio for dudes vocals. So bad...

At least the fall has some promising new releases from Elliott Smith, Green Day and Jimmy Eat World coming out. I want to check out the new Further Seems Forever also.

Friday, July 30, 2004

Fri, 30 Jul 2004 01:09:15 GMT

Man this Xanga is in need of an update. Finally found some time tonight to get a few pictures and a brief update up. Last week we were on vacation in North Wildwood with my family. Here's a photo summary of that:

You know you like that farmers tan I have going on.

Not too much else going on. Actually a lot going on, but not much that would be exciting to read about here.

Monday, June 21, 2004

Mon, 21 Jun 2004 01:21:15 GMT

Had a really good Fathers Day weekend. Saturday morning we went over to my parents then in the afternoon we headed down to South Street in Philadelphia to see Pedro the Lion do a free acoustic set at Spaceboy Records. Elliott loved it. The band was really cool with him too. TW gave him a drum stick to play with and kept teasing him the whole set.

Saturday night I went over to see Pedro the Lion play at the Philadelphia Ethical Society with my friends Joel, Scott and Cake. Before the show we went to this bar called Monks Belgian Cafe and Beer Emporium, it's on 16th and Spruce if anyone is interested. They have tons of imports...mostly from Belgium. Some of the best beer I have ever had. I'm not sure I can have another Miller Lite after getting a taste of some of these beers. Here are a few we had.

Sunday morning we stopped in at the new Krispy Kremes before church. Elliott loved the free hats.

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Thu, 17 Jun 2004 00:52:27 GMT

Do any of you have a Baja Fresh near you? They just opened one up about 15 minutes from my work. A little on the far side to pull off a lunch run, but today I had to head out to the Best Buy to pick up a DVD for my dad for Fathers Day and the Baja Fresh is right there. I had heard it was kind of like Taco Bell, but just a little higher quality. Well after eating there I have to say that Baja Fresh blows Taco Bell out of the water and gives most of the sit down Mexican Restaraunts in our area a run for their money. I got a Burrito Ultimo, one of the best Burritos I have ever had.

If you don't have one in your area keep your fingers crossed. It seems like they are putting a whole bunch of them up all across the US. If you want to check go here. Oh, ours is right next to a brand new Krispy Creme shop too. Krispy Creme is also brand new to our area.