Yep, FFC, it's Nifty. :wave:

Just a quick blog post to spread the word about this incredible video by a guy named Matt. I found it while surfing YouTube for some old, classic School House Rock videos to show my kids. It's an amazing planet, this Earth. It's still very possible to be happy just to be alive... Matt sure found a way to show that. Thanks, Matt!

Washington Square Park doesn't have as many Scrabble junkies hanging out as it did last year, so we were told and observed, but our trip to there on Saturday, June 17th, was still fantastic. Aldo, Scrabble expert and incredibly beautiful human being, kindly played me a game. Kenny snapped this photo of me in intense thinkin' mode, as I tried so hard not to let Aldo beat the crap outta me too badly (it didn't work, Aldo beat me with an end score of 480 to 318.) Our day began the night before, as we drove on the highway towards Urgo's place on Long Island. As we passed an exit sign, Kenny started to say (loudly) "HOLY SHIT! AMITYVILLE! WE ARE GOING THERE!" He then crossed a few lanes, which made me realize he meant we were going there right then and there. At night. The Amityville Horror house. With no directions to the spooky haunted house. I think Kenny figured the ghosts would guide us in, evil spirits beckoning him in with a siren call. "Kenny, Kenny, get to the house so we can scare you, hoo hoo hee hee...this way, buddy, this way... take the exit."

I quickly talked him out of it, by calling Urgo, who said he knew right where the house was, because he works near there and also had the cops called on him during a visit to the Amityville house with some of his friends. All they were doing was taking pictures, but the folks who live in that neighborhood aren't too keen on horror film fans who just show up at all hours of the day and night to see the house where some murders took place. I guess it's a reminder they don't want to be reminded about.

It's a beautiful area, very gentle and calm looking in the daytime, which is when we went, bright and early at around 8:00 a.m., almost surreal in the feel of the air and the docked boats in the background just bobbing up and down on the merry bump of tiny waves and wakes. The owner of the house was walking in the back, near the boathouse, and he didn't look too happy to see us parked in front of his house taking pictures and phone-recorded movies. Maybe we were lamenting too loudly about the change of the windows, which really did de-spookify the place. There was a woman with a dog, which I didn't see her, but Kenny and Urgo did, and she was glaring at them both. "We better get out of here," Urgo said, "I think they are going to call the cops."

So we left, and Urgo got great pictures, but I got short movies of the house, because I couldn't figure out my new cell phone and everytime I clicked buttons on it, it was making 1-minute movies. I'm clicking away, thinking I'm taking snapshots, but here's one of the short clips (use Real Player to view it, it's the only program that works for it for some reason.) It's the first and only clip on that link, for now... will add more short films to that area as time goes on with the new phone.

We arrived at Washington Square Park at around 10:00 a.m., and the Scrabble section was empty. Chess area was packed nearby, though. We decided to do some geocaching until the Scrabble section got some players. The first cache was right in the park, a virtual/visual cache, and we found that one pretty quick. The next one was some miles away, so we hailed a cab and ended up in this cool little park inbetween some buildings. A few huge sections of the Berlin Wall are displayed in this cubby hole of a park, and we found that cache quickly, too.







This little park is one of many, from what I read online after we went there. With waterfalls and trees, along with tables and chairs, it's a very cool idea for a getaway spot in the heart of a huge city. It smelled good in that little section. Parts of Washington Square Park smell like pee, so I kinda expected this little park to smell the same, because it offers a small amount of privacy... but apparently even the street folks don't want to piss it up, maybe outta respect for the way the little park brightens up the inner city.


When we got back to Washington Square Park, the Scrabble parkies had arrived. That's when I played Aldo. A sidenote with the Aldo game... Aldo said the game didn't count, as one of the tiles was found under a picnic table and returned during our game, an 'S' tile. In my opinion, the game counted, because it had already started by the time the S tile was found. I think Aldo was just trying to be graceful about his severe defeat of me by over a hundred points (ouch, man, OUCH!)

After that brutal ass-whipping by Aldo, Kenny and I played a newcomer to the park who also plays on a game site we play at called ISC. I beat the guy when I played him, I was in an extremely competitive mode after Aldo's slamming of me, but Kenny had a tied game with him, and a high-scoring game as well. 432-432... check out their board:





That's a beautiful board. We'll play that guy some more on ISC, he's a great player. In his defense, when I played him he was getting some really, really bad racks and no matter how hard he tried to dump his crappy tiles, he kept getting back some more crap. Still, I was glad to have a victory after losing so horribly to Aldo, whom I had taunted when I first arrived. "I'm ready to beat you at Scrabble again, Aldo!" I think were my first words to him. HA! :spanked:

We left as the sun started to set, because with Sunday being Father's Day we had a gathering to go to and couldn't stay a late night in New York. Hopefully next year, because I really want to check out some of the jazz and blues clubs.

The drive home was rainy... but I'm ok with all this rain we've had this year. Everything is so lush.... grass, gardens, houses all shiny, roads get the sand washed off. This morning we had a very serious thunderstorm, which was very pretty to watch, which I did, with a cup of coffee and my computer chair turned to just face the windows.

Today is officially the boys' first full day off from school. It's been pretty calm. We're all just bumming around today, having some relaxing time just playing inside. Watching cartoons on tv, playing on the computer and video games, kickin' around in the yard.

Got a small list of things to do today... but mainly today is going to be a float-day. Nothing *has* to get done, no appointments, nothing on the calendar at all, and it's so, so nice to finally have a day of just bumping around the house, fiddling around on the computer, playing outside. :)

That said, I'm going outside to weed the garden, which I will put up a movie of at some point soon, cuz it's a gorgeous garden!

This morning I spent some time reading my son Winter's school journals. He'd actually thrown them all out, but I rescued them from the trash. I put aside all of them to keep in his 'keepsake box', which is a collection of things from over the years that I think he will be happy I saved for him.

His journals are a collection of writings based on his daily/weekly events, and all of them are really funny. He's got a bold sense of humor, my littlest guy. He writes of sledding in the snow, his cat Spaz, his love of hurricanes and tornadoes. He mentions his plans to move down south when he's older, so he can live in 'tornado alley'.

I had a hard time putting his papers down to get ready for work, but eventually did (after I finished reading all of them.) Sometimes Winter's grades aren't all that good, but after reading how he sees the world around him, and knowing how much passion the little guy has for learning (mainly about weather), I'm not worried... he'll do just fine. :)

Today I'm going to be driving a total of 7 hours... 1.5 hours to pick up my Noodle chick, 2 hours to get to an art show, 2 hours to get Noodle chick back to her school, and then 1.5 hours to get myself back home. I leave right after work in order to make it to the art show/book signing of Amy Kinney. This chick Amy is FANTASTIC. I think I've blogged about her work before, she is an inspiration to anyone who has been through depression.

I was worried about the lack of timeframe to play with on a weekday/school-day/work-day, but once I figured out it would be possible, my heart and mind got all happy. :) I've got some great cds to bring along for the drive. I'm excited about visiting the place the art show is being held, because it sounds like a place I'd like... lots of chocolate!

We'll grab a bite to eat while we're there, along with buying a copy (or two...) of Amy's autographed book.

Had an incredible day yesterday. Capped off the night with 8th place in a cribbage tournament. Got a go-go-go weekend coming up, a friend's bbq on Saturday, and a birthday party on Sunday. Next weekend is just as busy, heading to New York for our 13th anniversary to play some Scrabble at Washington Square Park. Busy weekends mean the back deck is on hold once again, but I think Kenny has plans to sneak in a few hours in between things of paint stripping. I am starting to think that back deck won't be done until August.

Might be moving this blog to myspace... not sure yet, but considering it. I like the setup here, but having everything on one website also appeals to me (less time needed, condensing it all into one place.) My Noodle chick had me get a myspace so she could share some things with me (photos, writing, etc)... my myspace is located here.

Off to work with me... just a quick drive-by bloggin'. :)