Gossamer's Revenge

Never Leave Home Without Them

2007-09-14T13:16:00.000-04:00

This one's for all you urbanites who might run out of gas in the Poconos on the way to Starbucks.

Yet another informative post from Lawdog.

Professor LawDog's School of Mayhem and Survival

My Life Rating

2007-08-16T13:23:00.000-04:00

This is my life rating curtisy of the good folks here.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	7
Mind:	6.8
Body:	7.1
Spirit:	8.3
Friends/Family:	5.8
Love:	7.3
Finance:	7.9
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

ATTITUDE

2007-07-18T13:04:00.000-04:00

Read this today in an article on MSNBC from Army Capt. Tom Deierlein serving in Sadr City Iraq.

ATTITUDE
By Charles Swindoll
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. … The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. ... We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. ... I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.

Grady Allan Jones

2006-10-25T10:19:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the world Grady. Your Mom and I are so happy you are here!!!

Live Those Songs Again

2006-08-12T13:43:00.000-04:00

Live Those Songs Again

Get first crack at Kenny Chesney's, first live album, Live Those Songs Again. now at the official Kenny Chesney pre-order store. Everyone who purchases through this special offer via KennyChesney.com will be entered into a giveaway for one of five RIAA plaques signed personally autographed by Kenny to each individaul winner! All you have to do is click here and type in the following promotional code when making your purchase.

The code to use is QBTXKCBT!

For complete contest rules click here.

New Pix

2006-05-22T17:05:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been slow to use the rest of the film in my camera but I finally wasted a few pix on the house and dog just so I could get them developed. I also got the pix off of Reagan's new digital. Lots of new stuff on the gallery. Pix have also been added to the Tremblant and B-Day BBQ albums.

Gallery

2006-03-14T16:43:00.000-05:00

We've been very behind on getting pictures up on the site.
Last night I posted lots of pics from christmas, new years, our ski trip to Tremblant, Declan's B-day party and our day out bowling with Clif and Emily.

Enjoy
Gallery

Christmas Party '05

2005-12-18T16:46:00.000-05:00

Well, last week's party seemed to be another hit.
Pics are up on the gallery.

Quote of the weekend:
al: "Hey, who brought the mattress up from the basement?"
mike: "You and me!"
al: "Oh..."

Hurricanes are over, but issue of race lingers

2005-09-27T04:49:00.000-04:00

Somebody please tell me why the press loves to stir up controversy instead of admitting that we learned from our mistakes. Can they just come out and say "We hate Bush!!!"? I really cannot stand passive agressive pussies.

This article on msnbc just plain makes me sick. There is a poverity issue here, not a racial issue. The people who want to make this a racial issue, are the racists.

My two cents.

New Orleans

2005-09-02T15:50:00.000-04:00

Normally I agree with Mike on these types of things. We are both moderate conservatives although he doesn't always admit it. However I think the whole New Orleans thing is being blown out of proportion. I am going to sound very insensitive now, so those of you who don't already know that I'm an ASSHOLE brace yourselves. As Mike states in his previous post, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness the government is not responsible for your happiness.

I do feel for the people of NO that could not get out before the hurricane it for reasons of age or handicap. I do not feel for those who ignored the Mandatory Evacuation and decided to stay. As a matter of fact I think these assholes should be the last on the list to be rescued, or simply shot on site by the people who are "expected" to do the rescuing. Just because you are ignorant is not an excuse to have have someone risk their own life to save yours. You are ultimately responsible for your own survival. These are things the liberal jerk-offs are afraid to say, or don't want to hear.

America was founded by strong people who did not want a government to run their lives. Now everyone in this country wants the government to take care of them. FUCK YOU, take care of yourself. If you can't afford gas, don't drive. If you are suck in NO, walk out. Don't just sit there waiting for Uncle Sam to save you. Save yourself. YOU CAN DO IT.

Contrary to Mike's post, it is necessary to have a plan in a massive relief effort, and no we cannot just send in heavily armed troops to shoot our own people. (They may not be able to pull the trigger and it would be a political nighmare if we slaughtered Americans on American soil. I don't care who they are.)

This post has gotten much longer than I originally intended so I'm going to wrap it up. What I really mean to say here is the government is not here to save you.... They are here to keep the country running and safe from foreign invaders. If you need money, food or water find it. Don't loot stores for TV's when you have no electricity, take food and water. If you see an animal, kill it and eat it.

If you are thirsty, find some wood, a pot or bowl, start a fire and boil the water that is surrounding you for 5 mins, allow it to cool, then drink. If you think the government is not acting fast enough, fill up your car with food and water and drive to NO. Pick up 3 people, feed them and drive them out of town... Repeat until exhausted. Until you actually act yourself, stop complaining!

Gallery :: Buffett 8/27/05

2005-08-28T22:10:00.000-04:00

What a great weekend. Got a last minute invite to see the Eagles in the NovaCare suite friday night (thanks Kristin). Then Buffett on Saturday. The rain was unexpected, but we made new friends in the pavillion at FDR park while seeking shelter from the rain.

Interesting Comments

2005-08-18T22:10:00.000-04:00

A quote that you should never here come out of the mouth of someone who works in IT. "I can't program my VCR."

The Dumb

2005-07-17T04:21:00.000-04:00

Very entertaining website.

TheDumb.com

4th of July

2005-07-09T05:41:00.000-04:00

This is just a quick post to link to picks from our long weekend in Cape May. Thanks Mom and Dad for putting up with the four of us for longer than expected. And thanks to Jen and Mark for the invite to see the fireworks on the boat. What a much needed vaca this was.

"Best thing since legs..."

2005-06-03T04:24:00.000-04:00

Watching late night TV when a commercial comes on for a motorized wheelchair. Some old guy states its "The best thing since legs..."

Happy B-day Emily

2005-05-28T05:16:00.000-04:00

I know its belated, but we were there. I know you like to see fresh content up here, so here ya go.

Hungry

2005-05-28T04:58:00.000-04:00

Working nights again... This time I forgot my lunch. I tried to get Declan to deliver me some food bubble gum machine a flashin'. But some schmoe wrecked his bike somewhere in KOP and he had to follow up at the hospital. No food for me. Only an hour or so left, so I guess I'll make it through.

Looking forward to Sunday off and nice weather to enjoy ice cold beer!

Working Overnights

2005-04-29T21:07:00.000-04:00

So I volunteered to work an overnight shift last Sunday to cover for someone. I ended up working 4 12 hour night shifts this week and 3 next. The night shift is an interesting animal here at GSI. It can go from boring to extremely busy to boring again in about 5 mins. I also don't seem to mind it as much as I thought I was going to. (Not that I want to work steady nights.) I've been getting enough rest and haven't been too tired during my shift. I make sure to get up and take a walk every so often and do things to keep my brain active.

One real benefit to working nights, especially 12 hour nights is that you have lots of time off during the week. This means I can run errands and go to the driving/shooting range and not be bothered by the weekend crowds that make me want to kill everybody who gets in my way. Instead I can head out at 10 AM with a list of things to do and be back by 1 PM w/o feeling like I have rushed to get things done. No traffic = Al not wanting to kill someone.

Anyway, I work tonight (Friday) and tomorrow night (Saturday) and I'm off until next Friday (5/6). Not too shabby. I feel like I have to post this next line incase my boss comes across my blog someday. DAVE, THIS DOES NOT MEAN I WANT TO WORK STEADY NIGHTS!!! But I definitely don't mind doing a couple weeks of them every now and then.

New Job

2005-02-24T12:56:00.000-05:00

It's official! I have given my notice to CentraView and will be starting at GSI Commerce on March 7th. I will miss working with Mike and Kevin, but this is definitely the best thing for me and my new family.

The team I will be working with at GSI seems nice and after I started interviewing there I found out a couple ex-colleagues from ASPRE are already working there. That should make the transition that much easier.

I am very happy the job search is over. I had a number of recruiters call me for different positions. Some that sounded very interesting, others that were nowhere close to what I was looking for. Sorting through job searches on Monster and other job sites was very time consuming also.

When I found the ad for the GSI job it seemed to contain everything I was looking for. It was local, required Linux skills and involved e-Commerce. All things that I have good experience with and have enjoyed working on in the past. The interview process took some time, but Blair and Patty from The Computer Merchant were great at keeping me informed and up2date on where I stood.

I hope to post more in the future about my career advancement at GSI, or where ever my future takes me.

My Birthday

2005-02-08T15:02:00.000-05:00

Today is my birthday. It seems like any other day to me, especially since I'm at work. At least I have off Friday to spend a long weekend skiing. If any of you forgot about my birthday and are looking for a last minute gift, I have compiled a nice wish list just for such an occasion. If nothing there tickles your fancy a beer will do. I'm married now, I can't just go around tickling people's fancies anymore... ;-)

Honeymoon

2004-10-25T08:34:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally got the honeymoon pics up on my gallery. Cabo was great. So great we didn't want to come home. One week is just not enough time to take everything in and do everything there is to do. We are definitely planning on going back sometime soon (year or two). Snorkeling, ATVriding in the desert, the food, the drinks. All inclusive is definitely the way to go, at least for a honeymoon. We didn't leave the resort the first couple of days. We needed time to relax and recover from the wedding and all the plans, not to mention the flight. It's very easy to relax sitting on a bar stool in a pool.

As much of a nuisance as it may sound like, we would recommend going to a timeshare presentation. The one we went to was only 90 mins and pretty low pressure. We walked away with a $50 gift cert for dinner at the restaurant of our choosing, free ATV tours for both of us (4 hour tour through the desert and out to the Pacific, we only used one ATV b/c Reagan doesn't know how to shift) and a free Booze Cruise (3 hour open bar on a boat at sunset).

Next time we go we are bringing a group with us though. This time we need to really experience the night life and party a little. There are so many bars and most of them run 2 for 1 happy hours all day and
night. I also plan on doing some fishing next time we go. I got some good tips on fishing on a budget from people we met down there.

Married

2004-10-20T15:42:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally got married Last Saturday (Oct 9). I have been living with Reagan for the last six months, so things really don't feel all that different (she'll kill me for saying that). The first couple of days were very surreal, especially the honeymoon. But after that we seem to be back to normal. Other than the silly giggles Reagan makes when I refer to her as my wife...

Kristin sent us some pics and I have posted them here. We should be getting more soon. We took lots of pics in Cabo and should be getting them back soon, so stay tuned. I'll post them along with some good stories sometime in the next day or two.

Mike just sent me some more pics from the wedding, so they are now posted on the same site.

More pics. Thanks Sue.

Reagan's Shower

2004-09-17T15:28:00.000-04:00

The pictures are in from Reagan's shower. I'm very glad she was able to enjoy herself at this one.

Success

2004-07-20T12:48:00.000-04:00

"Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success." Christopher Lasch

House Warming

2004-07-01T09:38:00.000-04:00

Well, the house warming went off w/o a hitch. Everyone seemed to have a good time and much beer was consumed by all. Although this does confirm my need for a digital camera. Now that I have this blog I have no way of sharing just how much of a good time it was. Not all of us remember the entire night, but beer pong with my dad was a definitely a highlight.

Emily made this great John Deere cake for the move to the country. Other than the blue seat it looks great (thanks for pointing that out to me cliff.)

new to this

2004-06-16T12:10:00.000-04:00

It seems that everyone I work with is blogging these days. Seems like a pretty cool way to get your thoughts out there. Thought I'd give it a try. I'm not expecting to post somthing everyday, just when something happens in my life that I feel like sharing with others.