Most of the time, I have a very bloggable life

...so why don't I blog more? Why am I the prodigal blogger (or Prodigger, if you prefer)?

I am fairly confident it is because I make too big a deal out of the content. I want my posts to be masterpieces, the lot of them. I want to make sure I include every detail that is awesome and work the delivery of every sentence.

But I believe I've decided thats a bad idea. It instead encourages me to wait too long to spend time to blog, which in turn declines readership and when readership is down advertising dollars soon follow. This in turn discourages me from writing anything until its good enough to bring in the masses and the money. But what am I thinking? People won't come if updates are sparse. Oh, and also I don't have ads. So theres that.

In other words, I plan to go for quantity instead of quality.

Now, with out further ado- I present to you "New York- a less then concise recap":

Back a few months ago, I caught wind of the concert pairing I had been hoping- neigh, YEARNING after for years. Eisley, the indy-fresh angel voiced, mild mannered super stars in hiding from Texas band, and Mute Math, the amazingly creative and hard touring, always-the-best-show-you've-ever-scene-every-time band from New Orleans. I rounded up a group of 8 other people brave enough to drive down to New York with me in a 15 passenger van (and who's schedules lined up) and headed down 95 one bright October thursday morning.


The trip down there was a good time- I had friends from different social circles, but they gelled very well together which made me quite happy. Since I was driving I didn't get to be part of much of the conversations in the back, but I could hear them having a good time over the engine noise and stereo- which was quite an interesting set up in itself. I had obtained a 5.1 speaker system from the last geek swap fest I went to for a measly $20, and thanks to Jarin's 300 watt inverter, we were able to power the monster all the way to NY, booming the bass and blasting the treble. Quite fun.

In addition to driving down there, I also got to drive in NYC traffic. When I told this to people before I left, they would always give me a sympathetic "that sucks dude" kind of look (if I told them I was doing this in a 15 passenger van they went pale and thought I was sui or homicidal). But after I got into the traffic, I really enjoyed it. In NYC you have to be aggressive, you see. Its like a competition for the road- winner takes the lane, loser has to wait a few more seconds. If you look at it that way, I think I played a pretty good game. After seeing so many yellow cabs that were basically moving traffic law violations, I realized that the cops in this town had real crime to deal with. As long as you don't kill anybody, just about anything goes. Instead of being flustered with this revelation as people cut me off left and right, I instead took it like a liberating breath of fresh air. I knew my driving abilities and limits and now I could actually drive how I wanted to the best of them. I had a blast earning respect in the concrete jungle. I think my favorite part was when I played chicken with a semi- I was behind a double parked car, and the light turned green. I knew the semi at the light had several gears to get through before he got to me, so I veered around the cab into the opposing lane straight towards him and stepped on it, getting around the cab before he could ever be a threat and turning onto the lane I needed to get to with out loss of life or limb. It was pretty jokes, man.

Even though we left about and hour behind schedule we still got there with time to see a bit of the city. After getting some coffee and using the bathroom, we strategized about our next move. Renee suggested we go to times square, and all concurred it to be an idea of merit and achievability.

Apparently, our group was always moving very fast.

We got there via the subway, meeting a few colorful characters along the way (an awesome guy who explained to us some of the meaning in a big artistic display on a building, a man singing a soulful rendition of "work all day, party all night" while handing out flyers).

New Yorker explains to us features of a building

Before long we got to our stop and walked over to Broadway street.

Wow. I don't think you can ever quite capture the larger then life scale and dyanmics of this place on film. You really just have to see it to believe it. After being there in person, I am pretty much convinced that it is the place where all the display manufactures go to sport their newest technology because every single one was brighter, bigger, and higher resolution than anything else I have ever seen or heard of. And the shapes of the screens- its like everyone was trying to out do eachother in the I-have-more-curves-and-deformations-then-you contest. But the effect overall was spellbounding. I tried not to gawk like a tourist at NY the whole trip, but when your in the middle of times square I swear its almost impossible. Its just that incredible.



Another thing thats incredible about times square (and Broadway st. in general) was the amount of street entrepreneurs that would come right up to you and try to hard sale you on something right away. They had no fear! We ended up having this little joke we'd say to eachother if someone slowed down or stopped for a few seconds. "Don't stop, you'll be solicited!" we'd say. And it was true- it was like they could smell a tourist who didn't quite know what they were doing from blocks away. We had people try to sell us a few things- but I can only remember two. One was a print copy of "The Onion". The other was a rapper bumping his demo.

He at least was a good experience. The man came up to us and started his introductions, started to ask us if we wanted to hear his demo- then stopped himself mid sentence as if he had forgot something very important earlier. "First of all, let me just tell you- I've never killed anybody, never shot anybody..." We laughed, and it broke the ice a little bit. He had a practiced somewhat weary demeanor that comes from trying to sell all day to people who don't care. But we gave him the benefit of the doubt, and I took a listen on his portable CD player- expecting perhaps a somewhat novice sound- rough recording, genuine emotion, maybe desperate lyrics. He was after all, bumping his CD on the streets of NY. You gotta be desperate at that point, right?

But within seconds I was impressed. A symphonic chord filled the headphones as one of the tracks started off, and his voice, strong, clear and determined came on the track. "Yorel," it said, "spit that fire." His intro continued cinematically. "So much pain... come on, tell me what pain is." The beat dropped and I was already strainging my ears to hear where he was taking this. Soon I realized he was quite different then I had first thought:

"9/11 was supposed to brake us- all we did was wake up.
Many tears fell as mucas caked up, say what?
Lest we forget- those 4 planes hit,
My uncle died 9/11 so he ceased to exist.
Me and my tear drops are on the line and became best friends
Mines will be falling down my face till my death
We fall and we rise- so rise up and come to accept it
You'll be an old man looking back on life you neglected"

The song as a whole was a sort of "keeping on" anthem of rising through adversity- waking up and doing something with the days of our lives and bearing the pain necessary for rewards. I was blown away. By this time I saw him talking to some of my friends about the art on the CD. I took my headphones off and listened in "...and this represents us- you see we are born into this life dead, and there is a struggle for our souls between good and evil.

The album art for Yorel's debut disc "Redemption"

So it turns out, the guy is a Christian. And his rap name, Yorel? It is Leroy spelled backwords, in honor of his uncle who died in 9/11 (he was on the plane to Pennsylvania if I recall correctly.). Really interesting guy. I bought both CDs. He was really nice to us, thanking us perfusely for our time and telling us how he was honored with the attention. ("When I blow up one day, and you come to my concert" he said, "You can come up on stage with me.")

But enough of these side attractions- I went down there for a concert after all!

We arrived their two tickets short. Jake and I decided that we would be the odd people out and find some tickets from scalpers- long story short, we got them, but it cost me through the nose. It doesn't matter- the important part is we all got in.

The rest of this I suppose would best be served by footage of the bands. Well, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is, I did take clips of each band and they came out pretty good. The bad news is, I don't have a couldn't find a firewire cable so I can't get it uploaded till I get one. But I do hope to upload it sometime, because the concert was amazing.


First, Eisley- I had never seen them live. I was not disappointed. Despite some small sound issues towards the begginng of their set, they sounded amazing. They sing just as or more beautiful then they do on their album. They didn't hold back at all- the music was so urgent in the sense that they were totally in it right then. You could feel the emotion; it was palpable. Well, at least for me. Perhaps I'm just a crazy fan though. They played just about all the songs I wanted them too- some from each album, which was really great, and some from before their album which I had heard on various live recordings.

The crowd was really great, too. I was kind of nervous for them going in because it was the north east and they were a little band from Tyler, Texas- not to well known in the mainstream and very different then the "main attraction" band. But the crowd seemed to know their work well, giving them a very warm welcome and being just about as roudy as you can be during an Eisley show. One of my favorites songs was " I could be there for you"- not just because Stacy sang a large portion of that song to me (no I'm serious!) but also because the crowd totally seemed to "get" what was going on when Chauntelle sang her bar of the song- celebrating loudly after she sang the last words with cheers and applause. For those who don't know, since Eisley's been signed (and a bit before), Chauntelle has been the only girl who didn't sing. She used to, but decided for awhile that her voice wasn't good enough. She just wasn't confident singing up on stage. Well, in the process of this album being made she had a bit of a breakthrough- singing guest vocals for a friend, and becoming more confident. So when she sang sang that key bridge, executing it confidently and perfectly, it was really, really neat to see New England cheer her on. I was quite proud to be part of this crowd, which on their blog Boyd called "by far - the most roudy, jam packed crowd" and even concluded that "By the end of the set the crowd had peaked the highest level of this tour.". I couldn't be happier. Now maybe they will come back more often. (I talked to Boyd- their dad and manager- afterwords, by the way and made sure he knew I was much closer to the Boston area and that they should come down their more often, or even to NH. I MIGHT have said that if he went to NH I would bring a crowd at least 20 strong... so...if that happens, please back me up guys, k?)

After their set, I actually gave up my place closer to the stage to go and talk to Eisley. They were singing and hanging out back by their merch booth, and I decided that if I came all the way from NH I had to at least say Hi to everyone. I did. Everyone was just as nice and sweet as I thought they'd be. I also learned that one of our group knew some of them from way back when the Eisley family played worship at a church in Texas. It was pretty cool- Chauntelle recognized them and they caught up a little bit before Mute Math.

Mute Math. Daaaang. After Eisley's set, it was like someone said they were passing out 100 dollar bills, but the catch was you had to walk up as close to the stage as possible, bring 5 friends and not let anyone in edgeways. The crows was pretty big I thought for Eisley, but seemingly out of nowhere it just about looked like it doubled. I have never been in a indoor crowd so packed. But its no wonder why. They started off with their amazing intro like they always do, but this time their was a new element- video. Completely synchronized behind them for most every song was a mostly abstract concoction of video goodness that went along with the lighting, crazy antics and mood set by the band. And as usual, their performances were amazing. They know how to build up energy in a room. There is just such an air of excitement when they play, its amazing. It makes you just overflow with emotion.

The drummer, Darren King, looked very exhausted though, even after only a few songs. Like, really exausted- as in might be dehydrated and fall over any minute. I watched him for a little while, concerned- he wasn't missing any beats, but I could tell he was struggling. I've not ever seen him look so tired. I watched him for awhile through a whole in the crowd and made eye contact. I just nodded my head and smiled, like "You can do it dude; you've got this". It looked like he met my gaze and it was like he just pushed himself through it- picked up his head, pushed it up a notch. It was pretty impressive. Those guys really do give everything they have in those shows. Its one of the reasons I love them so much. Oh, and they do crazy things- like at this one, Darren crowd surfed- standing up! - on his drum. They are just straight up entertaining.

And that my friend, is my story more or less. We went home after that- mom swapping out for me on the road back to NH (thanks mom!) so I could get a bit of rest. We stopped in a sleepy stupor over at McDonald's and had much food and laughter (everything is funny at 3am over French fries). When we got home, it was almost 7am. I crashed and woke up at 1. Ate something, showered and went to work.

Ahh, my life. Tis good.

Most disappointing picture ever? YOU decide!

Best. Gift. EVER.

"Honey, get up if you want to eat. Breakfast is on the table."

That was the first thing I heard Saturday morning. I was trying to sleep in...For a weekday, perhaps I had done a halfway decent job. But for a Saturday? Failure. It was only 8:40. I rolled over in my bed, working up my self to getting up. I was still zonked out from the night before- I had been up till 2 working on Kiaya's gift. Today was her birthday, and true to my form, I hadn't finished it till the very last hour.

After getting dressed I trolled over to the breakfast table. Somewhere behind me Moriah is asking someone where Joy is. Must still be in bed. Lucky.

As I pour my cup of coffee, the smell of fresh off the skillet apple pancakes and cinnamon fill the air. Maybe waking up wasn't such a bad idea after all I think to myself as I finish fixing my coffee and take a sip. I think Kiaya is supposed to call me today, too. I still don't know when her party is. Maybe its a good thing her party isn't till later in the day... should at least give me more time to wrap everything up.

On my chair is a shopping bag filled with duct tape of many bright colors. It was to be part of Kiaya's gift. I pick it up to move it into the living room, noting to myself that one of the girls must have dropped an envelope into it, because I know I didn't put it there. But it doesn't matter. All that matters right now is drinking my wake up juice and biting into a wonderful warm homemade apple pancake with butter and cinnamon sugar.

It isn't long until just about everyone is at the table eating breakfast. Everyone except Abs, who is at work, and Joy who Moriah keeps complaining about. I feel sympathetic for the sleepy, and don't engage Moriahs observation. Instead I steer the conversation to the tickets I had to purchase online from less then orthodox sources the night before. Everyone is moderatly impressed with the story. I'm starting my second hot cake.

"Hey Zeke, what was that bag on your chair? Was that... duct tape?" my mom asks.

"Yeah... its part of Kiaya's gift. She asked for Duct Tape...in technicolor!"

My mom grabs the bag and takes a look. "WOW! Thats so neat. I don't think I've ever seen them in neon like this!"

"Mom has anyone seen Joy this morning?" Moriah chimes in once again.

"I don't think so." mom replies off hand, looking at the duct tape.

"Yeah, its pretty cool. They make it in all sorts of colors... I had to choose between pink and purple. There were a lot, actually. Pretty -"

"What's this?" mom interrupts, taking out the envelope.

"Oh I don't know. Noticed it when I moved the bag, maybe one of the girls. Hey Mo, you know anything about that?"

Mom looks at it curiously. I take another sip of coffee. I'm probably still only about a quarter awake at this point. "Its addressed to the family of Joy. Anyone know who this is from...?"

"Nah..." I casually remark as I dig my fork into the pancake. To much cinnamon... its almost dry. Or no- to little butter? Mom opens up the note and places it on the table between us as she reads...

"Roses are red and violets are blue,
Your joy has been kidnapped- boohoo hoo hoo!"

Whoa, a note in rhyme. What is this? I look up and see a note, in cut and paste font complete with ripped edges. My mom continues reading it.


I looked up at the note and started laughing. This is awesome. So THATS what was going on! I think to myself. Thats why I hadn't been told the time of the party. Kiaya had a trick up her sleeve. All this time I had set aside Saturday for her party, and here she was doing something for me too... probably because of my birthday a few weeks ago. Nice! But at this point, I'm still only 1/3 awake. I laugh again.

Uhh...I start to forumlate a plan. While I eat my pancake.

"Zeke! Joy is kidnapped, how can you eat?!?" my mom cries out in semi convincing dismay. "Well mom, " I laugh between bites "she's not getting any losster..."

But I finish my pancake quickly, then run down stairs to get directions to the street that the note mentioned and get some shoes on. Mom suggests I take dad's car since it has more then 2 seats- and I was already taking Mo as my navigator/moral support/sidekick. I hadn't charged my phone over night, so I brought my wall charger and an inverter so I could use it in the car. Moriah brought my DV cam. We loaded up and while Mo was getting situated I sent a little text-o-gram to my number one suspect:

"Roses are red
Violets are blue
I know your behind this

And I'm coming for you."

I showed it to Moriah and she smirked. "You think its her?" she asked as I pulled out as fast as the little Camry could go. Kiaya texted back "Happy birthday." Short, unapologetic yet not admitting anything directly, it was the perfect response. I laughed and showed it to my sister. By this time I was starting to get into the act, and when I came to intersection up ahead that was held up at a light, I announced that "I don't have time for this, my sister is missing!" and jetted onto a side road I knew as a shortcut. I enjoyed Moriah's nervous reactions.

It just so happens that the place I was going was very close to where I work, so I knew most of the terrain pretty well. I found the spot surprisingly quick. After pulling up, I nervously got out. I was supposed to ask for Mike.

As I got in I recognized the man at the counter. It was Kiaya's step dad, Mike. Still, I tried to enter in character. "I'm looking for a MIKE... " He laughed and from his desk provided another small envelope. I took it and walked out the door as I opened the package. It had a flyer and a ransom note demanding a 3 for 3 soda deal. I was to buy it where my sister worked. Interesting.

Instinctively I reached for my pocket to check for my wallet. It wasn't there. Ohh.... I thought to myself. Luckily, my house was on the way to the store anyway. I drove there cautiously, picked up my wallet and fled. I had a ransom to pick up.

I ran in, trying not to let Abi see me as I entered. I started to look around at some aisles aimlessly then laughed at myself. "Moriah-" I said, handing over the flyer "LOCATE!" she chuckled and we eventually found the soda aisle. We got everything we needed, so I went to Abi's lane to check out.

"What are you doing here? You know I can't serve you in my aisle."
I knew that was true, but I figured she had to give me the next clue. So I gave her a kinda "I know what your doing" look and stood there a second. I started to put the stuff on the conveyor belt.

"No, I'm serious!" she replied, putting her hands out to block me. I looked at her kind of confused. I didn't expect this. I was loosing face. "Do you, uhh...have something for me?"

She looked at me weird. "No. Now get out of my aisle."

I looked at Moriah strangely as I retreated. "Where am I supposed to get the next clue?" She said she didn't know, so I decided to go back to the shelf and check under each bottle of soda and behind the cards that had the price on them. Nothing. I texted Kiaya in ryhme to let her know that I hadn't found the third clue. Moriah suggested that it must not be in the store. I began to head for the door. Right before I got outside, my phone rang. "Talk to me." I answered in the best gruff detective voice I could muster. Kiaya was laughing on the other end. Banter flew back and forth, and somewhere in there she informed me to check my windshield. I ran to my car and saw a note.

SHE WAS JUST HERE! "Moriah, look around! They might still be here!!" I said while I covered up the microphone piece. I opened up the note. Two pieces of paper and... "OOH! a donut!" I exclaimed while I grabbed the little bite sized piece of heaven from the envelope. A piece of paper below the confection said "For missing your apple pancakes. Share it with Mo." But it was too late, I had already consumed the tasty morsel. Meanwhile, Kiaya had put a distraught Joy on the phone. She cried into the mic and told me how horrible it was. It was all quite pathetic, in a fun awesome kind of way. Kiaya came back on the line. She started to say something, but I knew at this point the dame was trying to pull on my heart strings- with all the crying Joy bit and such- and I wanted to send a message that I would not be manipulated. I hung up.

Yeah, probably wasn't the best idea. For some reason it seemed like a good idea at the time, like something a real cool character would do. And I was totally a real cool character.

Anyway, the next clue led us to Mac's apples. I assumed that this would be where I picked up Joy and we all had a grand little party- I mean, its the pefect place. Always the paranoid one, I drove up from the lesser used entrance, and slowly winded my way into the parking lot, looking all around for spys. I didn't see any. And when I did find the clue, it wasn't a "look behind you, happy birthday here we are" sort of clue. Inside was a clipping from a newspaper that had a walmart address and the following note:

I looked again at the clipping. Manchester! Holy crapes! This is truly a super game of massive geographical proportions! Thats when I realized how awesome this thing was. I have NEVER gotten to do anything like this. But I always wished I could. I dreamed up massive games that would spread the state, but I had never done anything close to it. And then suddenly, here I was calling home to verify an address on a piece of evidence where I would have to find the next clue under "satisfaction's sign" from a girl with "stars in her eyes". Unbelievable. This is the stuff dreams are made of.

Each stop I got more and more into it. When I went to the walmart, I cautiously started to walk towards the part of the sidewalk where I knew overhead was the word "satisfaction". I could see from a little ways off a young female figure, dressed in red. Is that joy? I thought to myself it can't be this easy... then I noticed two familiar faces out of the corner of my eye. My heart jumped. I grabbed Mo and pulled her back.

"Two guard right there- follow me comeonCOMEON!!" I darted into the store for a second then walked out behind another group. After I cleared my exit we bolted for the car. I took the car and drove it away from the entrance....dead end. I looked back. No one was there, so I crept back out into view of the sidewalk and quietly as I could snaked around the road to the far side of the parking lot. Looks like I'd have to sneak up to get her. After getting out and surveying the target, it became apparent that the girl on the bench was not joy. We wouldn't be able to perform a rush-in extraction after all. It was certainly our girl though- not only did I recognize her as Kelli, she was wearing glasses shaped like stars that were almost as BIG AS HER HEAD. I couldn't suppress my laughter when I got the pun, but I tried to stay in character. I darted around the nursery area, trying to not be seen. I didn't want to deal with Kiaya's security forces, you see. I just wanted to talk to her agent and get my sister back with as little drama as possible.

I tried approaching her with out laughing, but her glasses were ridiculous. I asked her for a clue. She looked up at me and said "I have a clue for you. But first you must get me a 6 pack of IBC root beer and a bag of plastic cups." I went in and quite nervously darted around the aisles, trying to locate the items. The search was made more pulse pounding by the distinct impression that we were being tailed- and for a good reason. The same security forces we had tried to out-maneuver outside kept showing up, just exiting our vision. It was intense stuff. We weaved and double dodged them as best we could, but they had our number.

Eventually we got the goods and delivered it to the starry eyed girl. She handed me a peanut butter sandwich in a bag marked "Eat me" and told me to drive away. This was the cleverest of the notes I had seen yet- the clue was protected by a small plastic bag and placed between two layers of thick crunchy peanut butter. Getting it out was a hilarious mess. I looked at the note:


Now I was hiding my car and meeting someone on a bridge. DUDE. I stowed the car right between two others at the Sunoco, and made sure to lock it up. The mechanic guys we passed looked kinda tough, and a bit confused at my park-and-ditch. But they didn't talk to me, and I didn't make eye contact. If I looked like I belonged there, I shouldn't have any trouble. Feign confidence, I thought to myself. Thats my motto. And it worked- no questions.

As I got to the bridge, I could see a figure off in the distance. Oh my I thought to myself I think its the boss herself! Up to this point I had only made contact with her agents. Since market basket, I had felt like she was onestep behind me though, watching me always, masterminding my doom with an evil laugh. And now, here she was in person. I greeted her, trying to stay in character. I think when she asked me how I was, said "I have had had better days". During the whole conversation I was taking in the scene: A hundred feet or so above the water, standing with the mastermind of my sisters demise and quite possibly the greatest game I had ever played. I was looking around for my sister in the nearby foliage. I was also looking for snipers. I couldn't find anything. It was just Kiaya. Kiaya, and her envelope. The message in this one was a bit different. It had a riddle to solve and a number to call:


This one's pretty hard to read- basically it gave me directions to a church between Union and Pine. The last line was call when you know in which hand the lantern doth glow (I've blocked out the number to protect the guilty). Exciting stuff. I left her company and drove off for Pine street. I parked on Lowell like it suggested. I got out of my car and the second we closed our doors, the church bells started ringing. Moriah and I looked at each other with a "Whoa." kind of expression. The timing of the bell was perfectly eerie. We walked around- it was a big catholic church, with eerie and impressive architecture. But there were lanterns galore. We walked around the place 2 times before Moriah finally pointed out an unusual feature. Out of a certain area in the building, the arm of a statute jetted out and held onto a lantern. I gave a little jump when I saw it- it was somewhat freaky. But clearly, that was it. I looked at it for a second and the way it was holding the light, imitating its pose with my own body. "Left. Thats a left hand!" I called the number.

"Do you have the answer?" Chris's voice asked through the phone.
"Yes. It is the left hand."
"Correct. Your next clue is at the Palace theater. Walk there."
"Okay..umm..."
"*sigh* Its on the corner of Hanover and Elm...."
"Oh okay thanks! Got it...."

We walked over to the Palace to find Kiaya and Kelli waiting for us there. She informed us that we were waiting on someone who was running a bit late. It seemed closer to the end and I couldn't hold back my stupid grin anyway, so I broke character and gave her a big hug. It was a bit of a break in pace- Mo and I took a much needed bathroom break, and then we all hung out for a very short amount of time, chatting up how it had gone so far. Then my truck pulls up- with Abi in it.

Dunn dunn dun duunhh!! Of course she was involved in this too! Oh thats why she wanted to know how much gas was in the truck... all these thoughts went around in my brain at once and I laughed at how cool everyone had been to me. But it wasn't over. Kiaya handed me a business card and a map.

"Your looking for this person- Robin. She's at a quilting shop in hooksett. You need to go up to her and say the following phrase. "Hello, I'm clueless." She made me repeat the phrase exactly to her. Then she sent me off, while her and her posse dispersed to go get me into more trouble.

I got to that store eventually, and I got this final note:


What class. They had driven me right past the park that contained my sister on my way to get this clue! I rushed back to derryfield and parked as quietly as I could. I could see Joy, and she had her back turned to me. So did her guard. I ran up as quick as I could and attempted to free her from the grip of her captor. It took her guard quite by surprise, but so did it take her as well- she tried to hold on for dear life. We all laughed and had a good time. My attention was brought to the gazebo, where stood the plotters and most of the cast of the whole 6 hour game. Sister in arm, I walked down and greeted everybody.

From there we went and got pizza back in L-town, I driving the mastermind and former arch nemesis herself. We talked it up and discussed how it all went down and all the last minute incidents she was had to handle. It was all quite impressive. Then my brother even called, and attempted to vouch for his own humanity to her (she thinks he is a figment of our families imagination or a hologram) but she remains a critic yet.

As they ordered the pizza, I drove back home and pieced together my gift for Kiaya. Once I got back to our tailgate party (complete with ransom soda) I gave her my gift. Even though it was nothing so epic as I had been given, it was nice to have something up my sleep in return. The chilled Dark Peppermint Mocha frappacino was especially well received, and watching her smile at the note that I stayed up late writing certainly made it all worth it.

We parted ways just after 4:09- her exact birth minute, at which point there was much hollering and hugging and well wishing.

Thank you Abi and Kiaya and Kiaya's mom and EVERYONE who helped out with this amazing surprise- it really made me smile. It really was the best surprise anyone has ever given me, and the most fun I have had at a birthday in as long as I can remember.

Thank you!

Lost and found (repost)

Most of you have heard at least something about our recent and infamous hiking trip in the white mountains. Here is the story from my point of view. If others post, I'll edit this and link them up top. Edit: Pictures added.

Leah, Abi, Rachel and myself pause for EVER on this bridge. If memory serves me correct, Leah explained to us that she couldn't pass this bridge because of an enchantment.

Our youth group had planned a short hiking trip for Sunday the 23rd, right after church. We were going to climb the trail for Lonesome lake, an easy 2.7 mile hike that lazily twisted and turned around beautiful rivers and waterfalls. The weather couldn't have been more perfect- with Autumn fast approaching, it was the most warm and sunny day you could ask for. Some of our company had even brought gear to go swimming in.

Some of the ample areas where one could go for a swim. Waterfalls abound in this trail; its quite beautiful.

A friend of my sister's and myself had unexpectedly dropped by our church and to our delighted surprise was even able to go hiking with us. But since she had not come prepared for a hike, so she came as she was: A long skirt and sandals. But its not like we were scaling a mountain vertically, or even hiking Lafayette, so she was fine in what she had.

Our group got started up the hill pretty soon after we landed at the parking lot. Shortly after setting out, our group split into smaller groups based on the pace that people wanted to take up the mountain (as usually happens on hike). I decided to stay with my sister and our friend Rachel for the most part, bringing up the rear at a nice leisurely pace. Mrs. L, Nicole and some others went up faster, and my father and LittleMan were somewhere in between. Ethan, Noah and Jay took the riverbed and quickly made good time ahead of us. We thought.

If you've ever hiked around the basin before, you know that the rivers beds running down the mountain are very wide but the rivers themselves generally only take up a narrow strip of it of the rocky bed, so following the river as a trail is very easy thing to do. Its a beautiful walk.

Part of the river bed. The dry big rocks in the picture goes on for quite awhile behind the camera (its where I was standing).

The hike up the mountain was pretty pleasant for me and my group. 2/3rds up we over took Leah, who was resting contemplatively on one of the big rocks in the stream. She joined our group, and informed us that as per parental orders, we were to turn back by 5:00. Apparently this had been announced shortly after everyone got on the trail, but I had missed it (probably because I was off to the side on the rocks myself at that time). So at 5:00, we turned back, making good time down the hill though stopping for some photo opportunities along the way and arrived back at around 6.


Other little groups followed soon after. It wasn't long before we were waiting for the last group to get back: Ethan, Noah and Jay. We were hoping they would show up soon. By 6:30, we were concerned. Fish and game were alerted and my dad and Mr. L. shot back up the trails calling out for them as they looked. They had decided to turn back at 7:00, because of the diminishing daylight and it was a good call- according to my dad, the latter half of his return hike was to dark for him to make out trail markings reliably. We've hiked this trail at least 5 other times, but even he had to walk back slow to make sure he didn't slip or get off course. Both him and Tim L. returned, neither one finding the kids. Night had fully set in by 7:10- it was dark and chilly.

I spent most of this time waiting in the van, being the "responsible adult" with most of the younger kids. Leah, Nicole and Abi were in the van for a little bit, but soon grew too restless and joined Mrs. L. at the base of the trail. I was in the van for an hour or so, with the awkward charge of staying nearby and trying to make sure the kids' imaginations didn't get the best of them and put them into a panic. I've never really done this before... basically it consisted of us either being quiet for awhile or talking about unrelated things and then, someone would start to say how worried they were and what might happen to them out there on the trail. Then I'd try to offer a calming dismissing of the fear, assuring them that all would be fine and that we had experts on the case: It wasn't a big mountain, they couldn't get THAT far, it wasn't THAT cold, etc. I don't know if I was doing it right or not. It was a bit of a difficult job when the only updates that would come to us would essentially be that there was no update, except for that Mrs. L and Leah were occasionally in tears now.

Around 8:40 I heard my dad's voice coming up to the van. I hoped that he was coming to tell me they had been found, but instead he just moved the vehicle down to the part of the parking lot where the ranger and everyone else was. Mounting tension was palpable... a few people in the group were upset at the ranger for sitting in his vehicle seeming to take forever about things, not realizing he was coordinating the effort, not actually executing it. He was in radio contact with the top of the hut and working out stuff on the map.

After pulling the van up to the closer parking lot, my dad gave me some money and told me to go get everyone something to eat. Even though most were very hungry and more were badly in need of a bathroom break, no one really wanted to leave the site. I can't blame them. Dad got some directions from a ranger on the nearest place to get a bite to eat. The van was loaded up with silent and somber patronage. I drove us out.

To get back south towards civilization, you have to head north for 5 minutes or so till you get to exit 34A where you can turn around and go south. I left the site nervous but very purposeful- I have never navigated this area before, and I had a van full of kids who were already distraught... This was my one charge; to get them to a warm place to sit down and get a bite to eat. It wasn't much, but it was important and I did NOT want to fumble it.

I made the 34A turn around fine and rocketed back south. I passed the basin. Pretty soon, I was coming up with exit 34B. The ranger told me that the closest food was on exit 34, and to stay left. I realized that this had to be 34B, because the other one was going the wrong way. I took the exit, and noticed it too split. The sign said services were to the right...but the ranger told me left. I took it slowly, realizing further with each foot I rolled that I was going BACK 93 North. But I couldn't turn around, I was commited now. I was frustrated with myself- now I had to PASS our groups turn off, hit the turn around AGAIN and come back. Meanwhile there were people who were going to explode if they didn't get to the bathroom and grieving siblings in the back. Great. Good call, Zeke.

I sheepishly explained that I had to loop back AGAIN. One person might have acknowledged me but mostly, it was just quiet. When I hit the loop was when most people realized it- "Weren't we JUST here?" "Yes...."

We did get back to 34B and this time I took the right. We got into civilization- but it was mostly closed breakfast shacks, hotels and lodges. We went a bit of a ways before we got into a little towny strip that had two family restaurants open. We had intended to get food at a fast food joint, as people wanted to get back as soon as possible. But after I passed this strip it began to look like we were quick leaving civilization. I decided that we needed to stop at one of those places, at least to use the bathroom.

We all rushed into a little geek family restaurant and I went up to the counter.

"I need to ask something of you that I know is a really big favor, and if you want me to pay for a drink or something, I will. I have a van full of kids here who desperately need to use the bathroom, is it okay if they use yours?" The lady gave me a smile and said "Go ahead." I thanked her and bought a coffee, while trying to get ahold of my dad to ask him where the Macdonalds he knew of was. I couldn't get ahold of him. It wasn't a big surprise though- everyone's phone was blowing up.

Word had apparently spread very fast. Anders tried to get ahold of me (thinking that our whole party had been lost), and Jay's older brother called me as well. Leah's phone was receiving call after call and even more text messages. I think she actually received 5 messages over the course of a few minute long conversation at one point. Abi's was ringing too.

After how nice they were to us, we decided to have a sit down meal at the greek place after all. I tried to lift the mood a bit, pulling out and treasuring a few reluctant smiles from the group. I contemplated a lot of my mixed feelings over that pizza- I wanted to be strong and comforting to the group... logically, it was a very short trail and I was pretty confident they would be found. The only real concern I had was if someone was injured. But I didn't want to sound like I didn't care about it. I didn't want to run off my mouth about how they would be fine. But I felt like some people might be looking to me, so I wanted to keep things calm. I felt like it made me almost distant sometimes... I wanted to comfort the group, especially Leah who was missing a brother up there. But I didn't know how to. I wanted to embrace them, to give them a hug and tell them it would be allright, but I was afraid of appearing like I was making advances. It frustrated me. All I could do was drive them and take care of the food. Thats it; thats basically all I had. It felt inadequate.

After we finnished, we loaded back into the van and took off. Abi's phone had died from receiving one to many calls from concerned people, but Leah's phone still had a good charge. She talked on it off and on. I could feel the fear and concern in every word. It broke my heart and made me wish I could do something more. I think all of us wished there was something we could do... friends and family called in to ask if they wanted a volunteer search team. Jay's whole family was coming down. Everyone on the prayer chain at our church knew about it and so did most of the homeschool co-op.

In the last stretch of highway towards the basin, I overheard Leah next to me saying into the phone the words that I wanted so badly to be true-

"They found them?"

I held my breath for a second, hoping that those in the back might not have heard it just in case it was a false alarm. But of course they had- it was like everyone's ears were straining to hear those words, and a collective sound of exclamations and questions erupted behind me. It was true. Just as Leah was confirming it, we pulled into the place where we had parked and got out. Details remained sketchy- they found them up the trail, .3 miles out, or they found them off the trail, .3 miles out. How did they get lost? Didn't know yet. Were they okay? Yes- as one rescue worker said "They are more scared of their parents right now then anything else."

They would be coming down into the parking lot on the other side, the rescue workers informed us. After waiting for Jay's family to arrive (which didn't take but a few minutes) we all loaded into the van and went to the exit 34 turn around so we could get to the other side. When we arrived, their was a small crowd. Rescue workers, family and other church members- and the boys. They were all there. Everyone jumped out. I grabbed the pizzas I had got from the greek place (we had ordered more to feed them when they got down) and headed over. They were in good spirits, laughing and joking around with us. Apparently they never got the word to turn back at 5. Not that it mattered- none of them had a watch. Or a cell phone.

They had shot up the trail, following the rocky riverbed. The river split a few times though, and eventually they got further and further away from the trails. They didn't turn back till "right before it got dark" which would be just about 7:00. How fast it got dark caught them by surprise. They had attempted to rejoin the trail several times, thinking they had found it only to see it dead end or loose it in the moonlinght. Each time, they'd back track and follow the riverbed down further, slipping a few times and misstepping in the dim light.

I bounced back and forth between the different ex-lost boys getting as much info as I could and carrying around pizza. Delivering the pizza was probably the best part for me, everyone was really happy to have food, and finally it felt like I was doing something to help.

We had to stick around there for a bit, while the rescue workers got the story nine ways to heaven from each of the kids. We left for home around 10:30, thoroughly enjoying the ride back- talking and laughing with everyone over the night's drama.

A lot of things went wrong for this to happen, and everyone involved in authority is still troubleshooting it. It just seems such a stupid thing to happen to us- Everyone on that trip had been hiking before. The youth group had been up part of those trails once before last month, and my family have been up it a lot- I've probably hiked the basin at least 5 times within the last 4 years.

We'll get everything worked out, and we'll all be better for it. Meanwhile, I have to work on some promotional material for our youth group. Nicole and I had discussed possible ways of spinning this whole thing into a new tagline. After brainstorming with my Brandon, I'm thinking of going with the following one:

New Testament Hikers club:
Looking for direction in your life? Join the club!

This fall: LittleMan IS the rock ninja!

Ouch.

Preface

I was going to post an amazing poem and sort of deep ramblings type post next. I had some stuff I've been knocking about in my head for a spell that I had until very recently not been able to render in any discernible form. These were the things that my next post would be about.

But then someone seemed to almost take offense that I posted about a car (or any possession for that matter- the thought!) and seemed to suggest that non-material things would be much more flattering on this blog.

Dude, this blog is me. It's post processed for a number of reasons, sure- but its me. If I get a car, am I not to be happy about that? If I make a good deal with someone, am I to wipe that smile off my face and put on sackcloth and ashes? We live in a world of things material. To not find joy in them would be folly in my opinion. To make them the source of our joy or to buy them hoping they will provide our joy- that is folly was well. I strive to be like Paul- being content with plenty and being content with little.

Strangely, before purchasing the car (and I'll admit, a little bit after it) I had this weird "car guilt" complex. Because it was fun and really cool. No, I didn't spend to much for it. No, it wasn't useless. No, I am not getting this car to attract attention to myself and no I am not getting this car as a status symbol (its 17 years old for Pete's sake!). So why would I feel guilty? There is no reason to make a purchase, and then instead of enjoying it, turn around and wallow in remorse.

..Wait, what the heck? This was supposed to be a shallow "look what I dun wit my here toys, yeahaw!" type posts. Huh... Oh well... I'll just work my point into the story.

Once upon a time...
Now that I have a car that I can commute with (both for [AwesomeCo] and my own meetings), I am less concerned about the trucks quirks, even if they prove fatal. Even if Big Yellow went down, it won't affect my ability to get places. This allows me the freedom to use my truck in a very stupid, fun recreational sort of way... going over trails and through woods, even if Grandmas house isn't on the other end.


I found some power line trails pretty close to us that Brandon and I spent an hour or so with one day. It was pretty fun, but we couldn't go to far on it. Then the other day Brandon told me about some trails over by his work. When our schedules finally matched up, we loaded into the truck and got going.

As it was my truck, I was first. I drove up the trail slowly until I got to a certain point where we parked to get out and survey the road ahead. Mum had warned me to not get stuck and we took the advice to heart- anywhere the terrain looked iffy, we walked through testing the firmness and plotting out how we would steer to avoid this rock here, or that boulder there. We mapped ahead till we found a place we could turn around the truck in- that way we would have the option of going further, but at least we knew we could get back.

I started at the top of a hill, which we went a little ways down in a crazy crossing back and forth manner at first, but after that the path wasn't very hilly- just curvy. Speed isn't the thing in offroading (at least its not the only thing)- you want to be in control and the fun appeal is more in conquering the terrain and going the limits of your vehicle mechanically rather then going as fast as possible. That being said, when we came to the mud stretches, we needed enough speed to make it to the other side. I took the first one- pulled to the right a little over the track to dodge rock number one, cutting it hard to the left for a second to avoid rock two, then straighten out to make it to the other side. I was just about to come to a muddy and futile stop- Brandon was saying "Don't get stuck, don't get stuck...." and I was replying "I know I know, almost out..." We were loosing speed, but just before we would have come to a stand still my front wheels grabbed solid land and pulled me out. Perfect.

After that I the ground rose a couple of feet and curved around again to present a second muddy area. This one was not so tricky as it was a much clearer shot and I basically just powered through it. So far, so good.

We came to the little area where we could turn around and parked the truck. Hopping out, we ran up the trail a bit and saw another mud pit- this one much worse. "I dunno..." we said. We wanted to drive further, so we followed the trail up a bit more by foot to come to a small wetland area complete with frogs resting in a shallow lake. "Okay, not going to work..." we said and turned back. After investigating a fork in the trail that also lead to disaster, we headed back to the truck. "Your turn Dude!" I told Brandon as a handed him the keys. He got in, adjusted the seat and all that, then we were off.

He deffinatly didn't want to get stuck. The first mud pile he powered through a little faster then I did and got over with no problems at all. Now we wound our way down and around to the second one. Coming back to this mud area from the other direction meant we didn't have any straight lead up to it like the last time. It was just sort of there, and our front wheels were almost in it . He laid the gas down heavy.

Too heavy, IMHO. We were bucking like bull riders, and when your front wheels are in the air steering is much less effective. Long story short, we hit a rock or two. Hard. From the air.

(...okay thats a bit over dramatizing it I guess. What I mean is that I my front wheels went up and then slammed down on a rock I think).

We heard an awful scraping sound, drowned out only by the noise of the engine and Brandon's perfuse apologies. We figured there was some damages- but at this point we weren't out of the mud yet so we were committed. He pressed on till we were out of the mud pit. He threw it into park and we got out of the vehicle to see what happened.

Immediately I started to look around for something that had come off of the truck. I don't have a skid plate and it really sounded like I hit something on the undercarriage. But after looking behind us on the track for awhile and around the vehicle we didn't find anything laying about. We got back in and started to roll out some more. As we started to drive, suddenly I heard a weird sound-

"ka-thump....ka-thump....ka-thump"

Again we stopped the truck, and again I jumped out. This time, I saw the problem. The right front tire was flat, and a little bit off the rim. "Oh man, I popped the tire off the rim..." Brandon observed. Oh well- I had a spare, no big deal. I dug into the back of my truck and fetched out the tire-iron, then the jack- oh wait no! I don't have a jack. Shoot.

This proved to be a problem. For a while we tried to figure out how to drive it into some terrain that would lift the wheel off the ground for easier access, but after that failed we surveyed the terrain ahead of us and decided to drive it up and out onto the road (I drove this time). We got it there and pulled it to the side, flashers on. Then we proceeded to go door to door asking for a jack.


Two no-one homes later and one "don't have one" later, we called in the infantry- that'd be...that'd be my mom. We called my mom, who found the floor jack and brought it over to us.

But before that happend, a cop came and...well I guess he couldn't really pull us over since we already were, but he pulled over, and did the whole "guilty till proven innocent" thing. I was all smiles with him, having a good time but boy was he nervous.

"Whatcha got here?"
"Just a flat."
"Where were you?" (Clearly a rhetorical question since the trails were to the right and my muddy tracks to the road were right in front of him.)
"Over there on the trails..."
"What were you doing?"
"We were just going around on the trails."
"WE? Who's 'WE'?"
"Me and my friend."
"Wheres your friend?"
"He's just over the hill...hes taking a break"
"He's what?"
"Just takingabreak..."
"What he doing?"
"He's taking a leak Officer."
"Can I see some I.D.?"
"Sure..." (pull out my wallet, give him the ID then put my wallet and hands back in my pocket)
"Sir please remove you hands from your pockets!!"
"Oh, okay right..."

It continued. We got back to the topic of what I was doing.

"Supposed to be there?" (Strangely worded...its not like that was our calling, but...)
"Yes officer- or I mean, we aren't not supposed to be over there."
"Is that so?"
(trying not to take the confrontational bate)
"Yes Officer I believe so-"
"That your land?"
"No sir, but its public access."
"Is it?"
"...yes officer- I mean, I am not trying to contradict you sir but I am fairly sure it is. Is it not?"
"Its the power companies property"
"Yeah, but its public has public easement, doesn't it?"

I could tell he didn't know this, but he was really nervous about it. It was almost like he wanted us to let on to what was legal or not. It wasn't really going to work since apparently we didn't know anything he didn't either way. About that time Brandon came back from the hill and joined the fun. Asked him what we were doing, he told 'em we were mudding, officer asked for ID, etc.

When he turned to go to the cop car and we took a step forward while we asked if he had a jack he got scared again (though this time I suppose I can understand it)- "Please do not approach the vehicle!!! Please step back and remain by the truck!!"

Phew... I tried and tried through smiling and making small jokes to get this guy to laugh but the most he did was crack a "you stupid youth" sort of smile. I guess thats something. We didn't get written up for anything after he found out that there were no warrants for our arrest, so thats cool. He did tell us not to go on those trails because they were the private property of the power company. He wouldn't tell us anywhere we could go, just that we should take it up with our towns.



After he left and we were waiting for the floor jack to arrive, the person who didn't have a jack for us came back out. "I'm really sorry, I feel kind of stupid I have 4 cars and not one that will fit yours... did you guys get someone?" We told him we had- he was really nice. Hung around while we changed the tire and even let us use his pliers. While we worked we told him about what the cop told us about it being the power companies property."

"Nah, that all back there is MY property, actually."

Oh, huh... go figure. I suppose if we ever had the urge to go back to that trail we could ask him for permission then... not that this will happen. This kind of maintenance is not really in my budget (when we got the wheel off, we found out that the rim was bent. Yay us).

Moral
Okay, so I said I'd tie this story in with the point of my preface. This at least won't take long- I just wanted to say that I didn't really care that Brandon busted up my wheel. Its material. We are all safe, its an accident, I've broken things before. I don't want to be the type that freak out when something of mine breaks, even if it cost me something. Its just not worth getting upset about it. I'm sure he feels worse then I do as it is anyway- I know I would and I don't want to make things worse.

Thats how I want to enjoy material things- they come, you can enjoy them, but when they go (I'm Not to say my truck is dead- I drove it home and everything) , just don't worry about it. Its just things. I want to be able to do that with everything, especially when I have a family. "Oh, you drove my car through the garage junior? Well just next time don't drive until your over the age of 10." "What, you burnt the clutch out Susan? No honey, don't worry about it I did the same thing with my dads."

The world is made up of things. Enjoy them. But don't rely on them- after all they are just things.

Hello... I'd like to introduce you two.

Have you met my new friend? Here she is:

Beautiful, ain't she? I'm not 100 percent sure of her name right now- perhaps the U.S.S. Capitalist, or maybe Interceptor. I dunno. Suggestions are welcome. What I do know is she is my friend, and I think were going to have a great relationship.

She's a 1990 Honda CRX and is 137,000 miles young. For Hondas and this year, that really isn't much. Previous owner put a nice cd player in it, so when I'm tired of just listening to the engine noise, I can crank up the tunes as well. I'm just now getting used to the transmission, which is a bit more touchy then the Camry I learned how to drive a stick with. But enough of my blabbering- this is a picture post after all!!





...and an semi cloesup:


So there it is guys. I hope you like it.

But what of my Big Yellow? What of the mustardmobile you ask? Well, I know I have some fans of this great truck here, and don't worry- he won't be going to the crusher soon. In fact, he was recently spotted frolicking in an undocumented location (though he did sprain his four wheel drive):





That last one was his playmate for a little while. As you can see, Big Yellow is getting along just swimmingly...


See, doesn't he just look as happy as a pig in the mud here? And thats AFTER he knocked off his front license plate...

But its not all play for him... after this it was back to his Kennel:

Okay actually he's just behind the gate that surrounds our pool. And he wasn't in detention- he was helping me out with some computers:





Yes, he shall live out the remainder of his years under my care. I shall try to be good with his upkeep that doesn't cost a fortune, but it is nice to not be dependent on it. If it breaks, I don't HAVE to go fix it that week or I'm out of a commuter car. This is a nice freedom to have.

So why did I get the car? Is it totally an irrational 20-something's speed-and-pick-up-chicks type of car?

Probably. But thats not how I rationalized it.

A) Now I have a car thats cheap to drive all around the state. High MPG, good honda reliability.
B) It didn't cost me a fortune.
C) I can now use the truck only when I have to, theoretically, stretching its life

So thats what I rationalized. Yeah, it doesn't have more then two seats right now. But I got around that too- seat kit. I'll get around to getting one in a bit and put it in. Now its practical, see?

All this being said- yes it is a LOT of fun to drive. And no, I'm probably not getting the best gas milage out of it the way I drive it right now. But hey- cheap fun- didn't have to pull out a loan or any nonsense- straight cash. Its a sneaky mix of fun and practicality.

Least thats what I keep telling myself....

I'll see you all later... going to a midnight showing of Pirates 3 in a few hours. And yes, I'm going in my CRX.

-- -_--_-_-
Okay, one more random truck shot:

I like this one...for some reason the candid-ness makes me think of a sasquatch sighting or something...

Another deal, another day

I originally had an awesome idea for a very reflective, deep post- unfortunately, though I started to write it, I think I started to late as all my awesome ideas were failing to form on the screen.

Instead I decided I would take you on a tour of what my days look like now. And since this may bore many of you, I brought pictures!

Below I give you a tour of my week. Of course, the way I keep track of all this is with my lovely secretary, Miss LG-VX9800. By now just about everybody has met her, but heres a picture anyway:

Monday

Get up at 8:00am. I need a place for my recycling business to grow outside of the garage, I set up a meeting last week to look a place in Nashua. Its at a decent location, has a loading dock, has 1000 sq ft. with alot of room to grow AND its at a good price bracket. The only negative about this property is that its right near the river and in the basement. This year and last, it flooded to about my chin. This makes it tough to sell. But its also one of the reasons I love it: Since copper and aluminum don't rust, flooding means maybe at worst moving the steel and tools out of the space once a year, and at best a bargaining chip for a lower price. So I'm excited about the property- it looks like a great place to chop of transformers like this one:

Went to a computer store, bought a cooler a contact wanted in exchange for some scrap. Then I pulled into a car tuner store and asked them how much to install some body kit parts. My truck, glorious though it may be, is not going to be with us much longer. I want to get a stable commuter and a big cargo carrying vehicle. For the commuter, I have my eyes on this hott 1993 Honda Prelude. What makes it so utterly attractive to me is that its butt ugly right now- half of the body kit is installed but not painted, and the back end isn't installed. All the parts come with it though, and the guy wants to sell it. I can probably trade the truck in to him and get it for $400 or so. That leaves me room to throw the body kit on and paint it, and get a cargo vehicle. See? Responsible and practical...

Okay, I'll admit- this car is drives and looks AMAZING too. Heres a stock Prelude from the same year (complete girl with freaky death stare):

Not too bad looking, eh? Yeah, well if I get the one I'm looking at, the body's been all tricked out and looks way cooler.

Anyway, after getting the quote from that dude, I went home and ate, then left to work at [AwesomeCo] till 11. Came home and watched two episodes of "The Office" with my sister. Went to bed around 1 someting.

Tuesday
Got up at 9:00am, I think. Met my old economics teacher at 12:00pm to let him hawk me insurance. The cool stuff about this insurance (Perm) is that you can do stuff with it. Unlike regular (term) insurance, you are actually putting money into something you own. It gathers interest and you can even withdraw money from it like a bank account. The cool part is its tax differed- so you don't get charged for the interest you earn like in a regular account (such as my ING Direct). He bought lunch (score!) and I had a good time.

After that we walked down the street to a Practice where he introduced me to his lawyer, whom I might very well use for my upcoming business venture. I got to ask him a few questions and got his pricing and contact info for later.

Left Manchvegas, went back to Salem and got to work for [AwesomeCo]. Got out at 11, went to bed about 12.

Wednesday
Got up at 8:00am. Left at about 10:00am- picked up a large wad of cash at the bank, then headed off to Antrim, NH. I had seen a guy trying to sell several computers on craigslist for awhile and I finally emailed him and started haggling over a group price. After a lot of going back and forth, we decided I would just and settle the price once we got there. Obviously, both of us thought this would be in our favor. Obviously, one of us was wrong.

Sadly, I think I was the loser here.
1. I had committed to driving there (about an hour and ten minutes both ways), so I wanted to leave with something. No longer did I have the advantage of no connection, where I could take it or leave it indifferently. I had already invested time and gas into it, so that would affect my decision.
2. The stuff was all newer hardware. It was still used, but it was way better then scrap. Pentium 4 stuff. I have never really flipped this kind of thing before.
3. The guy was firm as a rock with his price. I barely got him down at all.

Some of the stuff I from the Craigslist guy in Antrim.

Hopefully I can flip the stuff, or I'm out a sizeable amount of cash. I'm working on it... we'll see. If not, hey- another expensive lesson. As much as I love an education though, I really would have rather bought a car instead...

Went to work at 3. I made my first almost major mistake. There is this ONE file that I check around 3:30 every day. I go in, check for it, then start a script that sends it out to another company. I record how long it was, wait for them to send a report back to us, then print it out. The report should say "no errors" and if it does I staple it to a form, put an initial and I'm done for that check. Simple stuff.

Well, when I first learned to do this, the guy who taught me showed me that he also checked the bottom of the file to see if it also said "no errors". Every other day I did this. Today, I did not. At 9:00 something the company called because they had just realized that their server had run out of room and never got the file all the way. Thats bad on their end, but we should have realized that right after we sent it out. I went back and looked at the print out... at the top it said "no errors" ant the bottom it had a specific error. Oi. Not cool. I worked with the other company to get the file resent and and had to write an email to the morning team explaining what happened. Got out as usual at 11, came home, ordered lunch for thursday via email (explained below) and got to bed.


Thursday
Got up at 8Am. At about 10:00 I got a call from a friend who told me the church was throwing away two EKG machines in if I didn't want them. I told him I did. I got there at about 11:20, loaded the two machines (which actually turned out to be EEG machines) into my truck and was off to my next meeting.

The two machines loaded into my truck. This ballance of this is even sketchier then it looks...

Thanks to an invite from my economics teacher, I have been going to these Business networking lunches in Manchester since last week. Every Thursday, people from all these businesses from around the Granite state get together, eat lunch, talk about their businesses and socialize. Basically the idea is that by establishing relationships with each other eventually everyone gets good referrals- not just from each other, but from people that everyone in the group comes in contact with. They only allow one person from each niche join so it is really a great deal for everyone involved. They didn't have a recycling broker niche yet, and I was formally accepted into the group on this fine thursday.

After the meeting ended at 1:00pm, I shot out to pick up some servers from a guy I met through craigslist. Over the past month or so I have bought out his entire collection (about 90) of PCs and sold them out to my scrap contact. The first 20 I bought I lost money on. The next 20 I made a solid trade with and the one after that I made over 200% profit. This time, I was picking up servers and he haggled me a bit on the price. There were only about 10 of them, but it was a challenge to get them all in the truck around the giant EEG machines. I ended up putting a lot of them behind my seats and about 4 on the passenger seat. The truck was loaded.

After loading up there, I turned around and shot off towards Smitty's new place. Smitty- or "Slick Smitty"- is the nick name for the guy who I usually sell electronics and computer scrap too. His real name is Sean, but when I first met him I thought he looked like a new york watch dealer... I told this to Jim who later referred to him as Slick Smitty, and the name stuck.

I got there at about 2:10ish and unloaded all the PCs. I bought them for $100. At 25 cents a pound, I sold them for $160. Not bad... at least it was a quick flip. The guy that was unloading the stuff started eyeballing the EEG machines.

Look at all those purty switches and knobs...

"Interested in these?" I asked.

"Well yeah I am pretty sure we are... don't know how to price them though, never done an EKG before."

We proceeded to agree that I could store one there and I would talk to Smitty about price later. It solved the problem of the big machines rattling against another in my truck and falling out, since I could lay the remaining unit down on its side. I then realized that it was 2:40 and I was still in Auburn. I got in the vehicle and shot out like a rocket, trying desperately to make it to [AwesomeCo] before 3:00.

On the way I got a call from Leah.

"Can you drop me off after the movie tonight?"

My mind pulled a blank for half a sec, then I realized that I was going to the midnight showing of Spiderman 3 with her and other friends.

"Yeah, no problem." Shoot, I thought I better buy my ticket.

I went down 93 much faster then I would advise anyone going in my ailing truck, but with my file checking goof last night this was NOT the day to be late. I got there only a few minutes late and no one seemed to care. I was a bit tense for a bit, running through my checks and checking my email. After things calmed down, I bought my ticket. Then Abi decided to join so I bought them again. This was all fine... until I left.

I started the truck up and was about to peel out when I noticed a weird feeling... a kinda dragging, tilting feeling. I stopped the vehicle and looked out to see exactly what I was hoping it wasn't: A flat. Greeeat.....

I called up Abi and ordered an extraction. She laughed, but complied and got over double quick.

Friday
Long story short, we saw the movie (it was good), but then Jarin had to stay at my place because he couldn't drive home after 1. This is fine and good but for some reason we ended up having more tea and talking in lou of sleep. I got to sleep at about 4am. I got up at 7:40am, a bit panicked- I wanted to be in Deerfield by 9:00am.

I was going to an event called NEAR-fest- basically an amateur radio festival and general geek swap fest/flee market. I had gone to an event called "HOSStraders" last year which was very similar, but this event has basically taken its place. Jim found out about each of them. He also found that on the forums, people were discussing what to do with the spare electronics and things left over.

As you may have figured out, I had some ideas. I offered them a solution and I talked to the organizers. As a show of good faith, I got there early Friday Morning (the first day of the festival) even though I didn't get any scrap. Jarin came with me that day, and I picked up Anders as well. It was a good time. Went back and worked at awesome co. at 3. Got to bed late again.

Saturday
I wanted to get up early this day so I could go replace the tire on my truck and still be in Deerfield by 9 for day two of the flea market, so I set my alarm to 7. My body had other plans- I woke around 8ish. Semi panic strucken, I got dropped off at the parking lot of [AwesomeCo] and finnished the job. Talked to a coworker I haven't seen in since I left the graveyard shift, then went back home. It was past 9 by now and I just accepted the fact that I'd be late.

Called up Jim and Brandon and we eventually met up and caravaned out of Londonderry- it was pretty crazy: Two 15 passenger vans with the seats taken out, on our way to get us some junk. With those two beasts we could have singlehandedly shut down 93 if we wanted.

Anyway, much longer story somewhat shorter, I ended up taking more then half of the electronic scrap. We filled both vehicles. We probably could have packed one of them to the top if it wasn't for our scrap lord rivals- the enemy in his giant truck, having others go around for him on a tractor picking up stuff. We would see the little JohnDeere operated by the cleanup staff and try to beat it to the good stuff. Or if the other guy wasn't around when the tractor came by, we'd just help them unload it into our vehicle. At first I wasn't so gutsy, because I was under the assumption that we were going to do some sort of civil "split the bounty 50/50" type of thing because of a previous oral arrangement. But after I finally talked to a coordinator and he said it was pretty much every man for himself, I knew what to do. We drove around that place like the scrap ninjas- One of us would patrol the grounds with the vehicle, then when we would see something we would barely stop the vehicle before the other two would jump out and grab the target, throw it in the van, jump back in and speed away before anyone else was the wiser. This was not with out danger:

Brandon was a bit new to the acceleration characteristics and apparently thought the van wasn't going to take him seriously when he stepped on the gas. It did. I having no warning, flew back screaming while desperately trying to find something to hold onto and landed on a military grade "radio fax machine" machine just long enough to tear my shorts and start to cry out in suprise and pain. Hearing this, Brandon slammed on the brake which thankfully saved me from further damage by throwing me back on my feet, at which point I was able to catch a passing seatbelt and die. The whole thing lasted only a few seconds but was the source of endless jokes for the rest of the evening.

Got back to my place at about 5 or 6 and unloaded both vehicles. Thats a story in itself- suffice to say, between our two vans and my truck we heavily damaged the cosmetics of one vehicle and invented a new budget dumping method with another. Stay tuned for that- Youtube videos should follow.

After this I went with Brandon and Jim to his house where we... looked...at some stuff from his work. IT WAS REALLY COOL- wish I could tell you guys about it. I am part of a semi paranoid company so I can sympathize with Brandon's and their wishes not to run on about this stuff, but its really a shame. You all would enjoy it, I'll just say that.

*looks around *
I hope I haven't said to much...

_--__-_
And that my friends, was last week. In
closing, and to thank those of you who got this far, here is a picture of a "Shatter proof blade" that I shattered while cutting through a transformer. Enjoy.