Monthly Archive for August, 2007

back east trip journal; entry no. 4

Published on August 31, 2007 in Family & Friends. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , .

Tuesday, I hooked up our sweet new toy from the Sony store, the Sony VRDMC5 DVDirect DVD Recorder. It’s a simple, yet effective way to transfer Mom’s VHS stuff to DVD. It has all sorts of nifty features that make it super easy from Sony video cameras, but it works quite well from any video source with composite cables. Its built in software makes a simple menu interface and you can force new titles wherever you want. I got through a Fox News “Zip Trip” to Dudley, but didn’t manage to get to any of the high school performance videos… maybe on Monday?

Tuesday evening, I met up with Erika and Shane. We took a little shopping trip to pick up a remote controlled dragonfly (like this one). Then we headed back to Webster and went to Friendly’s for some dinner and ice cream. I love their peanut butter sauce. I had kinda forgotten how much.

Wednesday morning, I headed out to the Mazda dealership, where we bought the car, for an oil change and tire rotation. I had Kristin with me and we took a walk to Honey Dew Donuts while we were waiting for the work to be done. Honey Dew is the same as I remember it… good competition for Dunkin’, even if it is just in a small regional market. Kristin and I also visited Steve at Toad Hall, and I got my dose of Wormtown music and gossip and such. We also swung through Woonsocket, while we were killing time and I went to Hava Java, where they still remembered my order (six months later). I took a few pictures of a local landmark while we were in the area. That evening, we swung out to the Hockomock Teen Center and saw all the kids who weren’t there on my last visit.

I had no specific plans for Thursday morning until Erika called and asked for a ride to Worcester. She needed a CAT scan because she had sneezed and then gotten a sudden headache and problems with vision and tracking with her left eye. I left her at the huge new “Medical City” in the early afternoon. She was there until 7PM, and they sent her home, but another killer sneeze has made all the pain come back since then. I dunno what her plan is, the big shiny hospital seems useless, from my point of view. On my way out of Worcester, I stopped by a new shiny diner, fairly close to where I used to live. It had a 50s theme and was fairly good.


Name Me?

I ended the night with the only official plans I had for the day – a visit to Sara, my old roommate, and Tyler, the cat. Tyler was as cute sexy as ever and there’s a new kitten, who is being called bit until he gets a permanent name. We watched some awesome TV and had some awesome sandwiches and were entertained by the cats.

This morning, I grabbed a coffee with Mark at Victoria Station in Putnam and then tooled around Webster, chatting with some other local artists and talking about upcoming Webster-Dudley events. Now, I’m trying to decide what to do until I pick up Sarah at 11PM in Providence tonight. I’ve got plenty of options, but no idea which one makes the most sense.

back east trip journal; entry no. 3

Published on August 27, 2007 in Family & Friends and Photo. Closed Tags: , , .

Yesterday was all about recuperation. I left the house a couple times to help Mom do some shopping, and that was it. No excitement to speak of. One of the things we bought is this simple device put out by Sony that I’m going to use to convert a bunch of Mom’s VHS tapes to DVD. It’s a good project for me this week. I haven’t confirmed any plans beyond getting Sarah Friday night, Woodstock Fair on Saturday and King Richard’s on Sunday (now accompanied by my sister and her kids). I also still haven’t called the local Mazda dealership to schedule an oil change. I need to write myself a reminder or something.

Today, I took a ride down to Woonsocket, almost on accident. I was just looking for a place to pick up some audio/video cables and just ended up heading that way. I went to the shiny diner, which is no longer a Scramblers… it is now Patriot Diner. The menu was hilarious, I wish I had taken a picture. They obviously just took the front cover picture from the previous owner’s menu and pasted a piece of paper onto the picture of the diner that said Patriot Diner where the last name had been… it was black with light writing and completely flat in perspective, while the diner was at a slight angle. I may have to go back and get a picture, it was that good. Unfortunately, they no longer have crunchy french toast on the menu.

I got the cables I needed, eventually, but while I was setting up the devices, Mom got home and immediately started yelling for me from outside… and asked if I could bring an aquarium up. When I got there, I saw what they had seen, and understood. On top of our screened in porch, there sat an iguana. Pam, friend of the family and nurse for my grandfather and uncle, was chasing the thing down and trying to get a hold of it. I went inside to fetch a box and the phone. After I gave the phone to Pam, I got my camera out of my car. I snapped a couple of pictures and then went down to the computer to print out a basic iguana guide and consult with a couple friends about the whole situation. Mom and Pam headed down the street to the house that the raccoons had come from (apparently, she feeds them in her backyard). It turned out that the iguana had escaped about a month ago. They were very happy to see Fredo again.

back east trip journal; entry no. 2

Published on August 25, 2007 in Family & Friends and Music. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Today was yard sale day. It was also in the 90s and the heat index made it close to unbearable outside. We didn’t have as many customers as we’d hoped, but at least a bunch of the sorting and lifting is already done. There’s plans for a bigger, better yard sale in early October. I don’t think I’ll be out here to help, but I feel like I’ve done my part. It may not have been an immense amount of work, but the heat over the last two days has made it feel like an extremely immense job.

After the sale, I took a much needed shower and then headed off to Worcester. I explored a little, to rekindle some Worcester memories, mostly of the times when I lived out there, which is really getting to be a long time ago. My final destination was the Java Hut, where Mark and Raianne were playing tonight. The place was pretty crowded and kinda warm. I got a milkshake on the way in, and it didn’t settle very well… too sweet or something. The opening performers were pretty decent, but in the middle of Raianne’s set I got a phone call from Sarah (about this awesome all night flea market she was attending) and some douchebags stole my seat while I was outside. I stood for a few more songs, but the combination of the heat and the milkshake eating my insides and the fact that I was standing after a ridiculously long day out in the ridiculously hot heat was just too much… so I got in the car and headed back to Mom’s. It’s past my bedtime, anyway.

Plans are starting to dwindle.
I think tomorrow’s itinerary includes sleeping …maybe some eating …possibly getting dressed.

back east trip journal; entry no. 1

Published on August 24, 2007 in Family & Friends, Photo and Work. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , .

Managed to avoid the rain on the whole drive out. It took 15.45 hours total and about 35 gallons of gas. I listened to the audiobook version of Clash of Kings for the entire ride. Hopped off the highway to avoid traffic with little detours (guided by the GPS) around Buffalo, NY and Erie, PA. Stopped at the first Tim Horton’s I saw along the highway (somewhere in NY state before Buffalo, I think) and grabbed a coffee milk and a devil dog at the first rest stop in Massachusetts. Got in to Dudley at around 11-something.

Yesterday, I visited Camp Foskett and Camp Elmwood and the Hockomock Teen Center. I’ll probably make some time to go out to Hockomock again next week, since Dawn and Rebecca were out at Leader’s School. It was good to see some old familiar faces still hanging around Foskett and nice to get a warm welcome from a lot of the staff and kids at Elmwood.

When I got home, Mom pointed out all the yard sale stuff and what her goals were for pre-sale day set up (after a small distraction by some local raccoons) and then we showed each other pictures of our recent adventures.

Today, with the help of Mark, we tore through a bunch of stuff in the garages and got a few aisles full of sellable stuff and tables to display it all on. We also went to Jimmy’s Pizza for lunch.

Trip and ToDo Lists

Published on August 5, 2007 in Family & Friends, Music and Work. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Things that I’d like to accomplish back east:

  • help Mom with stuff for the Yard Sale
  • visit Camp Foskett
  • visit the Hock Teen Center & Camp Elmwood
  • catch The Bangles @ the Woodstock Fair (sweet)
  • take pictures @ the Woodstock Fair (hopefully better than theirs)
  • see some Wormtown music (maybe a Wormtown Wednesday)
  • hang out with whoever says they miss me

Northeast Stuff to acquire and bring home:

  • Devil Dogs
  • Peggy Lawton Cookies
  • Coffee Syrup
  • Moxie & other Polar Sodas

Find and bring home:

  • folding chair with footrest
  • last year’s Nalgene bottle with the good lid

Before I leave:

  • make sure I have coverage at the Y
  • get new sneakers
  • load up iPod with audiobooks/new music
  • get new iPod mount for car

What’d I forget?

back east for a week+

Published on August 4, 2007 in Family & Friends. Closed Tags: , , .

Looks like I will be heading East to help Mom and stick around out there through the Woodstock Fair, as I mentioned in my last post. I will be driving out sometime before the 25th to help Mom prepare for the yard sale. Hopefully, between the yard sale and Woodstock Fair, I’ll find some time to visit and catch up with some people. Lemme know if you’re missing me, I’ll fit you in! Sarah is going to fly out on the 31st and we plan to drive back on the 3rd, Labor Day, unless her job situation is flexible about Tuesday. Haven’t done a long drive in a while, kinda looking forward to it. And since I’ll have a virtually empty car for the drive home, I’m trying to make a list of things I might want to bring back.