Moving my shit again.

I have moved my blog back over to myspace hell, because i am a silly little school girl who loves the drama.

You can find my latest ranting and ravings at http://www.myspace.com/tomsphoto

So long, little brother.......

Its taken me almost 2 weeks to post about this, as everyone knows, my brother Chris comitted suicide on August 11th.

I honestly still can't believe it happened. As much as I knew it would happen sometime, since he said it would over and over again, to actually have to say that my brother is dead just makes me sick. I get physically ill thinking about it.

I was in Colorado for 2 weeks before he died. He called me in a very scary state, telling me he needed me out there as soon as possible. I got out there as soon as I could, which ended up taking some time thanks to work, and quite honestly, I told friends that I was expecting to find him dead when I got there, since he knew exactly what time I would be there.

Luckily, he was alive. He was in really tough shape mentally and physically, but he wanted to get off all the prescription meds he was taking, and see if he could get himself to a better place. We went to his doctors and agreed that we should do that, so he went thru the withdrawals with me there and finally around the middle to end of the first week he was feeling better. While he was withdrawing, I went thru his place and dumped literally thousands of percocets, vicodens and oxycontins down the toilet. I could not believe he had so many pills in his house. It looked like a pharmacy.

Into the second week, we went back to his doctor and he was put on Effexor to try to get him out of his funk. He actually seemed to be doing ok, but on Friday, when I was supposed to leave for home, he had a mini breakdown and begged me to stay for a few more days. I agreed, and we hung out for awhile, talked more, then I went out for a little while with his dog Max so he could take a nap. When I got home, I told him I was going to lie down because I had a headache, and around 8pm I woke up to get some dinner. I opened his bedroom door, and he was snoring away. I went and got dinner then went back to bed. I woke up around 530 Saturday morning and found a note saying he had killed himself.

Of course, there was drama with my father over all this, that was to be expected, and I finally got Chris home to my mom's grave on Sunday. I did a little ceremony for him and spread his ashes at the grave. All his friends turned out, as did a lot of mine.

As I sit here now, I am so sad I want to cry, but I can't. I know he is finally where he wanted to be, and for that we should all be happy.

Rest in Peace Chris. I miss you.

My Pal Max.....

I have been out in Colorado the last few days with my brother, and while staying at his place I have officially been put in charge of his little Boston Terrier, Max.

Max is a handsome, hyper dude with a sunny disposition, but he also has his dark side. He farts like a smoke machine. He and I were hanging out on the couch last night and he was blasting these monster farts, bad enough to almost make me gag. I never thought any dog could possibly do what he was doing. He was making my farting ability seem like Glade air fresheners.

Max's ability would most certainly be appreciated by some in Fire Alarm, where fart offs are common on my shifts. Even some of the ones you would never believe launch an air biscuit have been known to let them rip when working with me. I don't know if thats an insult or complement, however, nothing makes this fat little monkey giggle harder than a schoolgirl than a well executed fart.

If Max does come home with me, fire alarm better be ready. Max is my new secret weapon.

Max is the handsome bastard with the pink nose.

Colorado again!

I flew back out to Colorado this weekend to help out Chris, my brother. Other than the fact he is sick and just needs me to help him out for a few weeks, its pretty good. This is the 3rd time I have been out here in a year, and every time I come out, I just don't want to go home.

Today its about 95 out, but its dry and nice. Hot, but dry. Big difference then when I left NH. It was 90 and hot and humid. I am a fat guy, and fatties like me HATE humidity. Out here, at least I can go out and not have my man boobs be dripping like a river the second I get out the front door.

Anyways, the trip out was fun. I flew from NH to Chicago with a Harley granny next to me, and since I was wearing a Harley shirt, she figured that we would chat about bikes the whole trip. I think she finally got the clue that I wasn't really into chatting once I got my Ipod on, so the rest of the trip was uneventful. We actually arrived at O'Hare 25 minutes EARLY, which rocked, since my original layover was like 45 minutes. However, once we landed, the flight from Chicago to Denver was delayed almost an hour and a half. I got to spend about two and a half hours wandering around O'Hare. That was about as exciting as pulling the lint out of my belly button. Once we were getting ready to board, it was apparent that the flight was going to be FULL. I was thrilled at that prospect since the only seat I could get was a middle seat. I figured with my luck I would get someone as big as me on either side and we would look like a row of jelly donuts.

I got on the plane, and found that one lucky recipient of my largeness was going to a be skinny chick with the windown seat. Once I planted myself in the row, her eyes rolled as if to say "fucking GREAT." Not that I blame her. Once I was sitting a pilot proceeded to plop in the seat next to me. Luckily he was not a big guy. We ended up chatting the whole flight, since he had a lot of the same interests as me- fast cars, big trucks and faster bikes. He told me that the next natural progression for me was to go to flying school, since that is the ultimate speed freak hobby. He owned a share in a Cessna, and was saying how flying is like crack.....super addictive and super addictive. Just what I needed to hear. I would get into that and the next thing Kerri would know there would be a Cessna sitting in our driveway. I am fairly confident that would get me a solid boot in the ass and a visit from her divorce attorney.

We ended up in Denver, and it was sort of humid here (at least that was what everyone was saying.) I got off the plane and out of the terminal and was thrilled to not feel humidity. When I got to Chris' place, I was watching the news and the weather monkey was rambling on about how bad it was out and how he thought it was one of the most humid days he could remember. Obviously he's never been to New England.

The last few days have been doctor appointments, and a lot of hanging around the house with Chris and Max. Max has been his typical Boston Terrier self...hyper and wanting to play every minute. He fianlly gave up playing with me at one point because I drilled him in the ass with a giant tennis ball. I think it was an accident....but who knows.

Jet lag has been kicking the crap out of me. I dozed off last night around 9pm (here) while having a conversation with Chris, and woke up like a half hour later. Chris told me he thought I was dying or something by the noises I was making. Apparently I snore. I dragged my ass to bed, and of course woke up at 5am wide awake with nothing to do. Great. Now I am tired enough to go take a nap, since Chris is sleeping that is exactly what I am gonna do.

Andrew the Racing Machine

I finally got to go to Rye BMX last night and watch Drew do some racing.

I hadn't seen him do the track since last year, and I was really impressed by how much better he got. it was the first of the New Hampshire State Series, so the points went to him getting a (hopefully)#1 plate for 2007 at the end of the year.

Drew's 20" class had 4 riders, and him and his buddy Daniel traded wins the first two motos, and Drew won the last one, giving him the overall win.

Drew also raced his 24" cruiser last night for the first time, and he flew on it. He literally rode it for the 1st time a half hour before the race, but he took right to it and did great, keeping up with the 16 year old he had to race.

Drew now has 1st place in his age class for both 20" and cruiser, and if he finishes this way in 2 more state races, he will get the #1's for the year! Needless to say, I am incredibly excited for him.

Great Job Drew!!!!!!!

We're Back.........sorta.

For the longest time, I have been basically doing nothing with my enormous camera bag, mainly because I have been relatively uninspired to shoot.

Time's a changin'!!

I have (along HOPEFULLY with Mr. Photomedic) agreed to start working with a studio up here in Manchester.

I will be co-ordinating all marketing activities and doing a lot of the general business workings of the studio. Now, I know some of you are saying, "Well sheeeet, that sound familiar!!!" and you are exactly right.

Two years ago I went to help out a "friend" with his up and coming venture- a photo studio. When I walked in there, I felt the vision. I wanted to make it a success. I handled a ton of marketing for him, basically got his first shoots filled up with potential clients, started a photo club for him, my wife started his whole modeling program for him, then we were basically just swept aside once the friend got what he wanted out of us. Needless to say, that put a huge damper in my enthusiasm with photography in general.

That changed last week when I walked into the studio Photomedic has been shooting at. The second I walked in, I got the feeling this place could be really, really special, and I wanted to do it again. The place is super cool to shoot at- huge hi-key wall, garage door for car/bike/truck access, good amount of floor space. I talked with the owner, and we hashed out a deal to get that place up and running and to hopefully make our mark on the photo scene here in New England.

Keep an eye here, we'll be posting stuff on our blogs talking more about the studio as we go along.

What a great picture!

Great subject, great model, great lighting, great photographer........gotta love it when it all comes together!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fun at 38 Lake, part 3.

So I wasn't here for this one, but my fearless co-workers Jenny from the Block (NOT Jenny Under the Desk) and Kelly report they hit the grand slam the other day.

As I posted the other day, the neighbors across the street from us are a constant source of amusement. One week ago, we had an arrest for domestic assault, and on Monday there was not one, not two, NOT EVEN THREE but FOUR......YES FOUR arrested there for various charges. I think I heard a few were warrants and some other stuff.

So, for those fo you keeping track, that 5 arrests in one week from the glass tower of 38 Lake....stay tuned!!!!!

Some of us will never grow up!

I went to Wakefield today to visit my friend Andy. Andy was my step dads best friend, and both were just crazy car nuts, and Andy still is.
While I was at Andy's, he started up one of his many impressive muscle cars. He has 4 Vettes which are all monsters, but today his weapon of choice was his '63 Avanti. This is a pretty rare car in its own right, and Andy has made this into an animal by putting in a 1969 Camaro 396 big block engine. The only word for this is FAST.
We took it out of his neighborhood in Wakefield, and as we hit the rotary, a guy in a nice Chevelle came up behind us. Andy decided it was time to do a little schooling. He floored it, the rear wheels spun like crazy, and we lit them up pretty much half way up the ramp onto the highway. The guy in the Chevelle hit it also, but pussed out and kept going around the rotary, deciding (probably widely) that he didn't want to challenge the mighty Avanti.

We flew up the highway (well, not really) a few exits and got off the highway and headed back into Wakefield. Cruising up Lowell Street back towards his house, we stopped at an intersection that had some relatively freshly painted crosswalks. They were a pretty green, but we decided that they needed a little black in them. After checking around for the po-po, the light turned green and he nailed it again. Spinning the whole way thru the intersection, a woman yelled her pleasure of Andy's little show. He slowed down to legal speed, and was just putting along. I could tell he was itching to floor it again, and as we were crawling along, we noticed a cop sitting on the side of the road. Andy pretty much crapped himself since he was just about to floor it again. Needless to say, it was a real good thing he didn't. We laughed like 2 teenaged retards the whole way home. Sometimes its nice to forget you are supposed to be old and responsible!

Another adventure at 38 Lake.......

Its Saturday, working a tough day shift here in fire alarm. My partner gets up and says "Hey, we need some action today......"

5 seconds later, she got it.

"Car into the building up the street!" she yells. I thought she was bullshitting, but no, there was in fact a car that hit a building about 100 yards up the street.

Turns out the driver hit another car and then hit the building. One transported to the hospital.

Of course, I did have my camera with me. I even ran out to the mighty Hummer to get it. I came back up hoping to get my award winning action shot, and I hit the button and got photography MAGIC!!

"CANNOT RECORD IMAGE."

Fuck.

I forgot to put a card in. Strong work to me!

I like Porn.......

So I finally opened up my little play Ameritrade account this week. This is one just to see how I can do in the stock market. There isn't enough in there to get too frantic about, its almost like poker, you win, you win. You lose, you lose. Oh well.

Anyways, one stock I picked was for Petel, Inc. (PTEL), which last week introduced a new broadband porn network to the United Kingdom. I bought my first 500 shares of them on Tuesday @ 21 cents a share. On Wednesday, the stock soared, going up at one point to .45 a share, but settling by the end of the day at .36 a share. I actually ended up buying another 750 shares on Friday at .41 a share, and by the end of the week, it closed at .42. The 1st week of sales for this company produced more than they expected for the whole month, so I am really hopin this stock goes up and up!!!

This week, to round out my very first week on the market, I also purchased some AMD and Sun stock. The end of the week had my initial $2000 investment up to $2094.18. Not bad for my first 4 days trading.

If anyone has any stock tips, please be sure to share them!!!

The Summer is starting early at 38 Lake......

So, for the first installment of Summertime at 38 Lake St, I present the activities of our friendly neighbors across the street.

A little background....for the last few years, we have had some really fun neighbors at a two family across the street. They have all lived upstairs, and have never let us, the diligent fire alarm crew, down when it came to mid summer police raids, drug deals and other assorted highjinx. Bloods, Crips, all the kids over there are supposedly hitched up with one or the other.
Last year, one "resident" here was run over. Twice. At the same time. Now, my take on that one is once is an accident, twice is a message. That was done over some sort of deal.....what kind, well, stake your own opinion- gone bad. Luckily (unluckily?), the dude survived and walked out of the hospital a few days later.

This years events have started a bit early. We have had gang wars about 500 yards down the street at Burger King, possibly involving our friends. The late night honking and partying has begun. Its just a matter of time until things really heat up over there.


The other day, in fact, in the middle of the day when 90% of the population is working, my boss called up and told me that the little blond chick across the street was yelling at him from the porch to call the cops because her boyfriend was beating her up. Of course, beig the good citizens we are, we called, then sat back for the fun to begin. As you can see by the photos, Mr. Boyfriend of the week was arrested, I would have to assume for some sort of domestic charge.



Of course, the next night, the party was back on, with about 15 of them hangin' on the porch and driveway, hooting and hollering, and blasting that fine, fine music.
Good thing none of them had jobs to be at!!!


Check back later for the latest adventures from 38 Lake.........

Beautiful morning for ride on the Harley...plus more crap.

Woke up to a beautiful blue sky this morning and decided it would be a nice morning to ride the Harley to work.


The best thing about riding is that once you are on your way, you just literally find your mind clearing.....everything goes away, you become relaxed to a point, and its just you, the bike and the road. A great feeling, I would says its the best therapy ever.


A cop was shot and killed in Franconia last night. Supposedly the killer was then shot by an armed bystander who saw the incident unravel. I'll be the first to buy that guy a beer if thats in fact true. Anyone who harms a cop, firefighter, medic...whatever...deserves THAT kind of justice. Now some mom is going to spend tomorrow mourning their kid who died to protect us from some scumbag. What a shame.

Its even more of a damn shame that the citizens of NH have to spend a boat load of tax money to defend the cop killer from late last year. WE have to pay to give HIM a defense for KILLING A COP. Thats a disgrace on many levels. Sometimes I think maybe we should start adapting some of the laws and justices of the middle east- lose a hand for stealing, death for dealing drugs, you get the picture. I would think our crime rate would drop once your local dealer realizes that if he gets caught dealing he will get a lot more than a 6 month vacation and probation.

Anyways, tomorrow is Mothers Day. Make sure you tell your mom how much you love and appreciate her. She may be gone tomorrow.

Happy mothers day mom, I really miss you.

RIP Miss Molly

Came home last night and was cleaning my snake cages, along with doing my weekly feedings, and found my Little Miss Molly, a BEAUTIFUL salmon boa, dead in her cage. Not sure why, but its a loss, for sure. She was a little stunner with a great personality.

Great day on the tables!!

So my gambling side kick, Andy, and I took a ride to Mohegan yesterday. He plays the slots, and I was up for a little blackjack.
Once we got down there, I sat at a table playing blackjack with the "dealer match", where if you get the same card as the card the dealer shows on the draw you win. I hit that a few times at different percentages to keep me a little ahead, but honestly wasn't feeling too much there so I got up to go for a walk. I even called Kerri and told her I just wasn't "feeling it" but then found a nice little $10 table to sit at.

I pulled about $60 out and cashed in. After 5 hours, I was up over $1000. I finally walked out of there with $900, some nice Mothers day stuff for Kerri, dinner for Andy and I, and a big smile on my face.

I wish I could pull days like that off every week!!!!

Boring night in paradise.

I am bored. That is all.

Back from Colorado...and wish i was still there!! (5/4/07)

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XMas, Birfdays, and more ramblings... (12-27-06)

Had a great Christmas (well, really it was great 2 days before Xmas since I had to work Xmas day....) Drew came up and got his Xmas gift from Kerri and I....a Nikon D40 with the 18-55 kit lens. Its pefect for him- he tried to use my D2H and D200 but both were obviously too big for him- and we ended up shooting a little bit before I had to take him home Christmas Eve afternoon. I let him try my new toy- the Nikon 10.5mm fisheye. Its a FUN ASS lens and I can't wait to do more shooting with it. I just couldn't bring myself to buy him yet another video game or toy that wasn't going to be used more than 10 minutes.

Andrew was already hitting up Kerri to let him use her lenses......like father, like son. Next thing you know he is going to be asking me to borrow my 70-200!!!

Found out my son has a Myspace page.....and little girls are hitting him up for dates already. Guess I will have to keep my eye on that. We added some pics on his site, and we are going to put a new page up at andrewpszenny.com that will have his photography on it. He is a natural, I tell ya......

Just got a real sweet deal on a 105 D lens also- I had the 60 but really preferred the working room with the 105. I was reading reviews on the new VR 105 and it just didn't seem like it was worth the extra money, and I found a MINT used one for less than half the price of the new VR.

I get to doggy sit my trainers Shitzu this week, he is getting along fabulously with Rocky and Yogi, and even kind of making himself Mr. Alpha Male. I worked XMas day, and Xmas night was spent on the couch with 2 snoring pugs on my stomach and an antsy Shitzu on top of my head. At least he let me watch TV.

The good part is my trainer is away for a week or so....the bad news is my trainer is away for a week or so......she promised bodily harm if I gain any weight while she is away. Better hide the Toblerone.

Trying to figure out where I want to go on vacation in 2007- Probably Colorado in April with Drew to see my brother, Vegas around September (want to go see the Mr. Olympia competition), plus god knows where else.

Since I couldn't make it to the Aunts house for Christmas, I took my grandmother out for lunch yesterday for her 89th birthday. Got to see 2 of my aunts (the 3rd blew me off for her NEW BOYFRIEND!!!!!) and we had a lovely lunch at the 99's in Salem. I still don't miss that area at all.....too many people, too much traffic. Happy birthday Bubch!!!

My bud Bud (aka Big Bad Bud is Sweet Willie Now, which I am sure he HATES) and I are working on some big stuff for 2007......you'll just have to wait and see what it is. Depending on how it pans out, it could be really really BIG!!

Speaking of big bad BUD, we celebrated his birthday tonight at Gaucho's, a great restaurant in Manchester. Happy 40th, big guy!!

Hope everyone has a great New Years....we'll be celebrating at the casa de Pszenny, but since I have to work the next morning I guess I will have to stay sober!!

Fisheyes, the Legend, Sweet Willie, fat asses and big printers. (1/10/07)

Fisheyes, the Legend, fat asses and big printers.

Happy New Year to everyone....hopefully 2007 will be a far better year than 2006 was for most of us!!

So in my never ending quest to do bodily damage to myself, I have once again started riding at the Rye Skatepark with Drew. Luckily no major crashes, and I am starting to get a little bit of air on the ramps. Soon I will be blasting huge air around there, right Drew? As long as I don't break my back or fat ass again, or anything else for that matter, I will be happy.....

I am actually trying to ride quite a bit- I got a singlespeed Redline 29" Monocog for putting around town- its an awesome ride, tall as hell, and will go anywhere. I am really starting to feel great since I am working out 5 times a week, twice with a trainer so I don't screw myself up too badly.

I entered a contest at Golds Gym where I am competeing to lose weight, lose body fat and gain muscle. When I did the intake test Saturday, I actually did 15 (good) pushups, which shocked the crap out of me, my trainer and the guy doing the intakes. For 300 pounds, I did ok! I am aiming for 250-275 by May, so those of you who hang with me have to make sure I don't eat too badly....please!!!

Congrats to my bud, THE LEGEND JOE BROWN, who was the Boston Herald's Man on the Scene for the huge train accident on Tuesday, January 9th. His pics were picked up internationally, on top of being made into a slide show on the Heralds front page and countless front pages of New England papers. Check out the slide show here: http://news.bostonherald.com/galleries/?title=Woburntraincrash

I was bored this week, and it was rainy out, so I shot the pugs with the Nikon 10.5 fisheye I scored...check 'em out... www.pszenny.com/fishpug.htm

Speaking of Buds, my bud Bud (aka Sweet Willie, though I am sure he HATES that....) is running some new classes in Manchester this month, check out his website at www.nedpw.com for the schedule. I am sure I will be hanging around assisting/learning if I am not working.

People ask why I call him Sweet Willie- well, its from "Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now", a horrible and obscure song by the mighty Van Halen. Since Bud's real name is William...well, you get it...I hope.

Bud got the big ass SCORE OF THE WEEK- an Epsom 7600 printer for $250. This is a huge, $2500 roll printer, big enough to have its own zip code. Why can't I find deals like that?????

Well...off to bed...have a lovely week.

Crashes, Ice Storms and a sad day. (1/17/07)

Rode Rye with Andrew last week, and it was PACKED. I was buzzing around on my Haro Backtrail X24, and because I had dirt tires on, and was on slick cement, promptly lost traction and landed on my head in front of about 20 kids. Banged up my shoulder enough that I couldn't lift it at all for two days. That was fun!! We are heading back today to conquer some plywood. Hopefully I will make it home in one piece.

You know you have reached the pinnacle of myspace friends when you have an iguana named Angelina Jolie as your friend.

Got yelled at yesterday by my wonderful trainer Charissa. I DEFINITELY earned it, though. She is pissed that my weight is not going down, only maintaining (for the last month or so...). Obviously I need to change this, I don't want to face the wrath again! It was not fun.

Lost at poker TWICE in the last few weeks, both times making it to the final 3 out of about 8, but still not getting any $$. At least I didn't lose to Bill Kennedy.

On Monday, we have had a wonderful little ice storm here in NH. I did the day shift in fire alarm, and we did 150+ calls in about 8 hours. It was NUTS, considering in that time span we usually do about 25. I went home, went to bed, and heard the 911 line ringing in my head while I was asleep. Maybe this morning I can get out and shoot everything frozen around my yard.

One year ago today, unbeknowst to me, the worst week of my life was beginning. I stopped by my moms place, and she looked like hell and said she had a migrane. What it really was was the anurysm that eventually killed her letting go. A week later, she was dead.

I miss you mom.

My best buddy's BIRTHDAY!!! (1/29/07)

Happy 11th birthday Drew!!!!

I am very proud of you and love you!!

Snakes, Dogs and kids..... (2/21/07)

Man, it feels like forever since I posted something on here....

Its been a good few weeks, at least for the most part. On January
25th, Kerri and I remembered Karen by taking a ride down to Mohegan.
We spent about 4 hours at the blackjack tables, and we think Karen was
most certainly smiling down on us as we put together a very good
run.....good enough for Kerri to finally get one thing Karen used to
worship..a Coach bag. It was a fun day, and definitely the proper way
to remember my mom, the Mohegan Machine.

I felt about 100 years old when I realized that Drew turned 11 1/29. I
felt about 125 when I saw that there are little girls chasing him all
over myspace. I am afraid. Very afraid. Drew, girls are BAD. Stay
away!!!

Working like a cheap 'ho, haven't had much time to shoot lately. I
have some new stuff to post, I have just been incredibly lazy. One thing I have been shooting is my new little collection- I picked up some cool ass boa constrictors.

Back before Kerri came along, I had quite the impressive reptile collection- a 10+ foot burmese python, rock pythons, ball pythons, yellow and green anacondas, big iguanas, tortoises...you name it, I probably had it at one time. Andrew was always saying he wanted a snake, and in the back of my silly little skull, I know I wanted something cool also. I actually did not have a ton of boas, but I wanted something this time around that was a bit smaller and easy to handle, and boas were the way to go. I ended up getting a sweet baby Salmon Hypo boa ( gray with lots of nice shades of pink and salmon), a one eyed albino (yellowish) boa named, apropriately, Popeye, and two other argentine albinos that Drew named Big Daddy and Lil Momma. We are going to get them ready to breed next fall, and hopefully by this time in 2008 we will have some fantastic baby boa morphs if anyone wants some! :) BD and LM are probably going to get broken up and bred with snakes closer to their own ages, I am trying to find some nice morphs to breed with each to get some nicer babies. Check out some cool ass snake pics on my page for them at freakyboas.com !!!!!

We have had a little visitor over the last week, my trainers ShitzTu (or however the hell you spell it...) Petey, also known around here as the Happy Humper. He has been humping Rocky and Yogi whenever he gets the chance. Its quite humorous, and he is a fun dog to have around the house, though all 3 are now pretty much pissing everywhere to mark their territories. Maybe I should try that too.

It looks like the studio gig Bud, Kerri and I were working on has kind
of fizzled out, which sucks because I was really looking forward to
having such a cool shooting space available 24/7. Its not completely
dead yet, but looks like its on life support. I know Sweet Willie
found an open house for another studio in ManchVegas later this month,
and hopefully we will be able to check it out and see what its all
about.

Well, I am on my days off over the next few days....I feel another blackjack trip coming on! See ya!

Take away my Man card. (4-8-07)

So a big, burly and dashingly handsome snake and pug lover takes his family to a pet shop owned by a company world famous for their snakes and other reptiles, fully expecting to come home with maybe a nice boa or reticulated python after promising his equally dashing young son a little Easter present since he was a bit too old for an Easter basket.

While said big burly man was checking out all the reptile goodness, the lovely wife and son disappear to other parts of the store.

Now again, my son is ALL MAN. I totally expected him to pick out a snake or tortoise or maybe even some cooler.

What did we come home with?

A chihuahua. Yes, a little rat ugly chihuahua who literally fits into my hand with room
left.

Now, truth be told, he IS cute, and quite lovable, but he ain't no snake.

Please feel free to deduct from my mancard.

Restore the Mancard, please... (4-11-07)

Restore the Mancard, please... 4-11-07
Current mood: chipper

After years and years of dreaming of one from afar, I took the plunge.

I bought a Hummer.

Not that kind of Hummer.... the one you drive.....you pervert.

I was checking out used Hummer H2 prices online, and found some really excellent trucks available at below half of what they went for new. VERY reasonable, if you are into big manly burly trucks, like me.

I negotiated with the stealership for 2 days to get the deal done on this gem, its a 2004 with 29,000 original miles. Simply awesome shape, it looks and drives like new.

Everyone is saying, "oh my god, you are gonna pay a ton for gas blah blah blah.." well, on my 1st trip from ManchVegas to Nashua, on cruise control at 68mph it got 16 miles per gallon pretty much the whole way down. Not bad considering my Ram was getting around 15-16 itself.

Gotta say, driving this thing is everything I expected...big , comfortable and yes, sexy. Its an awesome looking truck. Nice tax writeoff, too for the company! :)

I am sure Kerri is now jumping off a bridge. Just think honey, plenty of room for the babies. :)

Joining the Sweet Willie Militia!!! (4/19/07)

(Sweet Willie killing some paper)

So, in the last few weeks I have been picking up some new

hobbies.......I finally got around to picking up a gun again after almost 15 years

and joined the Manchester Firing Range, which is like 5 minutes from my

house.



I was looking around, figuring I would get another Glock like I had

many moons ago, but saw the Springfield XD line, and knew that was what I

wanted. I ended up going with the XD45, and boy, what a nice gun it is.



The first time shooting again Tuesday night was kind of like riding a

bike- even after so long, after a few shots it just felt like old times.

While my skills are not the greatest (yet), I did alright for my 1st

time out. I actually ended up going back Wednesday afternoon and shooting

some more. It was a lot of fun.



Now, I never thought I would be joining Sweet Willie's Militia, but

with the shooting that just occured, I am really starting to believe that

perhaps we might all be a little safer if we were all well trained and

carried firearms. Maybe if someone on that Virginia Tech campus was

carrying the other day, there would have been a lot less than the 32 that

were killed. Unfortunately, because of this whack jobs little outburst,

the people who carry firearms legally will end up paying the price for

his rampage. Stupid, non working gun laws will be presented, great hype

will be established, and yet again the government will control more and

more of our rights while the criminals who illegally carry firearms

still get the slaps on the wrist and no real punishment for their

offenses.



Anyways, enough of that crap. What really made me laugh was while

filling out the paperwork for the gun club, the guy there was telling me

that they had young kids shooting with their dads there all the time. I

thought that was awesome. At some point I am going to have to teach Drew

about guns, and will teach him how to shoot once we have some time. I

can't wait for that since I love doing new stuff with him.



Speaking of new, I traded in the Mighty Dodge Ram........for a Hummer.

The Big Hummer. A big Fire Engine Red Hummer. What an awesome ride. Its

a 2004 with 29K miles on it. Its big and sexy, just like me....hahaha!

Even Kerri likes it, which says a lot. It will be perfect for taking

the trailer riding and day tripping with all the puppies, who will have

their own little palace in the back. It is as big as a house, though.



Since I mentioned puppies, Besos is doing wonderful. Rocky and Yogi

seem to be tolerating him and Kerri loves him to death, which is amusing

because she always says she hates Rocky and Yogi, but we all know that

is a lie.



Next week, Drew is on vacation, and we are all off to Colorado to see

my brother. It will be fun since Colorado is an awesome place and Drew

and Kerri have never been there. Hopefully we'll have a lot of pics to

post, so till then, see ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Memories.... (4-22-07)

I was staring at some boxes the other day, it was stuff left from my mom's place that we had boxed up and put into storage.

It struck me as sad, that my mom's life had come down to a few boxes of stuff and some great memories. All that she did, all that she was, and it came down to those boxes. Stuff.

I have been having a lot of fun with Drew, and this is important because I know the memories have kept me from ever forgetting how wonderful my mom was. I want to make sure Drew has some fun, great memories of me when I am gone, no matter when that may be. I know that even though my stepdad died 11 years ago, the memories of all the great times we had keep his spirit very much alive inside me. I was riding my Harley to work today, and was thinking that if he was alive right now, he would probably have a Harley too and go riding as much as he could. I could almost picture him riding beside me as I cruised down Route 101. While he wasn't physically there, he was there in spirit. When Drew and I are out riding the dirt bikes, I see Warren there and experience the fun he had watching my brother and I learning to ride when I see Drew zipping around. It really is a priceless feeling.

I want Drew to experience as much as possible in life. We ride our dirtbikes together, he goes out on my Harley with me, we ride at Rye together, and there is more and more that we will do....and I hope when he is my age, he looks back on the time he had with his dad and smile, just the same way I do when I think of the times spent with my mom and Warren.

Fatal Accidents.....the bright side (4/30/07)

I have been carrying this around for many years....not sure where it came from, but its rather brilliant.

Proposal: FATAL ACCIDENTS: THE BRIGHT SIDE.

Every day some new do-gooder is trying to save us from ourselves. We have so many laws and safety commissions to ensure our safety that it seems nearly impossible to have an accident. The problem is we NEED to have accidnets, and LOTS of them.

DANGER IS NATURES WAY OF ELIMINATING STUPID PEOPLE. Without safety, stupid people die in accidents. Since the dead do not reproduce, our species becomes progressively more intelligent (or at least less stupid.)

With safety, however well-intentioned it may be, we are devolving into half witted mutants, because idiots, who by all rights should be dead, are spared from their rightful early graves and are free to breed even more imbiciles.

Lets do away with safety and improve our species. Take up smoking. Jaywalk. Play with explosives. Swim right after a big meal. Stick something small in your ear. Take your choice of dangerous activity and do it with gusto. Future generations will thank you.

Welcome to the Fat Happy Bastard's House!

Since I like to type while at work, I figured I would swap my blog over here from myspace since we cannot access that at work. They think we will be corrupted by it. Sit back and enjoy the ride.