I still believe. Wait ’til next year!

Get some. Breyer’s Peach Ice Cream. You can use their handy-dandy product locator to find peach ice cream near you.

I’m so proud. Connecticut has the highest gas prices in the nation. Why? Simply because we’re willing to pay $4.25 a gallon.

On the fence about whether we’re being taken for a ride by big oil (Bush/Cheney)? Rent yourself a copy of Who Killed the Electric Car? We’re idiots, all of us, because we stand by and let this kind of thing happen. People are sheeple.

Last tuesday I attended an all day Photoshop Training Seminar hosted by Scott Kelby, whose books I have taken a shining to because of his everyman style of teaching. On the drive up to Hartford I was wondering how many folks like myself were willing to plunk down $99 for the seminar. The fairly new Hartford Convention Center was the venue, and this was my first time there since it opened.

To my surprise, I walked in to a ballroom that was the size of a football field and filled to capacity. There were over 500 attendees! Not a bad day for Kelby and associates, I’d say. The seminar was great, although many of the techniques were those that were covered in some of his books. But, it was helpful to see some of these techniques applied in person, albeit on a massive screen.

The ditty bag for attendees consisted of a seminar workbook, a DVD chock full of training videos, and a keyboard shortcut card. And, I managed to buy yet another Kelby book, potentially his best yet, for me anyway. The new book, Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Photoshop is helpful for hacks like myself as it takes you through through the image editing process step by step by telling you what to do to a photo and in what order. This works for me as, although his other books are very helpful, it teaches me the order to apply enhancing techniques rather than techniques themselves. I think that makes sense. Well, it makes sense to my blog audience which is, well, me. ASlso, free copies of Layers Magazine and Photoshop User were there for the taking.

Last wednesday night, the last day of April, brought with it the dreaded freeze warning. All said and done, there were records set all over the state by beating the previous low temperature of 30º. Had we not planted 125 new plants from Spring Hill Nursery two weeks prior, I wouldn’t have batted an eye. But, rather than waste the $200 we spent on plants I thought it best to call Mom and get some guidance on how to save the plants and continue doing my part to reduce global warming. As usual, Mom saves the day by telling me to cover the plants with sheets to keep the frost off of them. Mission accomplished. Thanks, Mom!

Now the other plant danger is either the squirrels or woodchucks eating all of the shoots from said plants. In my childhood I had a slammin’ CO₂ powered pellet rifle (Thanks, Dad). If you loaded two CO₂ cartridges it behaved more like a .22. Me thinks that I may be shopping for a nice pellet rifle. Just to scare them, of course. However, I’m not sure how the neighbors would feel about a rifle barrel sticking out of the kitchen window should they glance this way.

After dismissing the idea for the longest time, mainly because of my assumption that the standard size chimney didn’t hold enough charcoal to get the job done, I picked up a Weber Charcoal Chimney for less than the cost of four gallons of gas.

All I can say is that if you’re a charcoal griller (if you’re not, you should be), and you don’t use a chimney, maybe you should give one a try. The coals come out uniformly hot and ready to go. Grill on, brothers and sisters.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all. Driving home from work, I was stopped at a traffic light behind a large dump truck that had a “Commercial Paving” logo on the tail gate. Also on the tail gate, in bold white letters across the top was, “CAUTION: CONTENTS MAY CAUSE ANAL LEAKAGE.” It was one of those moments where you think that there must have been another letter, or two, that had fallen off and this was the result. But, oh no, that was what it said and that was what it meant, I guess. What in the hell is in the dump truck that would have that affect on anyone? Actually, I don’t really want to know, I don’t think.

I don’t make these things up, folks, I just write them down.

Yesterday was the first lawn mowing of the year. Yes, you’re right, it was only the front lawn and not the entire lawn but, grass was cut, nonetheless. In an unsolicited testimonial for Scott’s Turf Builder, my lawn was the only lawn on the block that needed
cutting after I laid down the magical elixir of toxins two weeks ago.

The good news in the war against the weeds is that I have identified the intruder that is threatening to take over the lawn, ground
ivy. The bad news, it appears, is that the only way to get rid of it is to pull it up by hand. Having started this yesterday I will attest that is a
complete pain in the a** and, essentially, leaves bare ground in it’s wake, causing yet another trip to Lowe’s for a bag o’ grass seed.

In other riveting news from the homestead, the bird feeders have been
discovered by a few species. So far, the regulars are Goldfinch,
Black Capped Chickadee and Downy Woodpecker.
Mourning Doves hang out on the ground under the feeder, bringing yet even more excitement.

Note: Comments posted by Red Sox fans are highly unlikely to avoid
deletion. Who’s surprised?

It’s here. A rain out for the 26 time World Champion New York Yankees but, it’s still here. Hoorah!

Welcome, everyone. Give me your tired, your poor, and your hopelessly lost on the internet otherwise why would you be here. Alas, yet another attempt at maintaining a blog. It could last only a day, less than a week, or even a couple of months! Suspenseful, is it not?

Speaking of failed attempts at blogging, check out the yourmortal world photo blog.

It’s that time of year again. The Spring Triumvirate. March Madness, Opening Day, and The Masters. These all mean frustratingly chilly weather and a whole lotta yard work coming my way. The time of year when all those months of complaining about cold and wishing I could be outside have come to the defining moment where I actually need to get off of the couch. Well, not today, of course. Did I mention March Madness? Today is the day to “analyze” all of the games from my basement studio. Tomorrow will be yard work day. Right, tomorrow. And that reminds me of a song…