Fun and Games Dept

Earl and I attended my family’s traditional Thanksgiving-Christimas dinner at Halloween celebration today. The tradition started nine years ago when my grandfather remarried and started going to Florida right after Election Day. Since he and his wife weren’t going to be around for the holidays, we’d all celebrate early with a delicious buffet and a smattering of presents. It was a good time to get together with all my cousins and such and catch up with the family.

I didn’t know if the tradition would continue since my grandfather passed on in July, but I was glad to find out that everything was going to go as planned. So Earl and I trucked up north and went through the whole early holiday dinner routine. It was good to catch up with the family and share some stories. It’s probably the last time we’d see my sister before she heads back to Moscow to join her boyfriend while he plays hockey. She’s going to be gone until April this time. This is going to be an odd holiday season. Thank goodness for the internet and webcams.

Earl and I just returned from a friend’s Halloween party. We had a blast hanging out with everyone and the food was delicious and it was a romping good time. On the flip side, I feel like a big weight has been lifted from my shoulders because it was a costume party. And I’m not really that good at costumes.

I’m afraid my gay card will be taken away.

I always think of the *perfect* Halloween costume on November 3rd. It’s a given. I look back at the festivities we attended and say “oh, I should have dressed up like Spiderman” or something like that. This year I had absolutely no idea what to wear for tonight’s costume party so Earl and I went as Eagles football fans. Not very ingenious since we are Eagles fans, but a comfortable costume nonetheless that allowed us the luxury of hanging out in football jerseys without the fear of dragging a bat’s wing through a cheese dip or a mistakenly leaving a Zsa Zsa Gabor diamond in the fruit punch.

Now I’m looking back at the party and thinking I should have worn a barber’s smock and thrown a comb and a pair of scissors in the pocket and gone as a barber. I think a barber with a shaved head would have been cute. See, I always think of these things too late.

The last time I had a really original costume was in the early to mid 1990s when I dressed up as a bag of recycleables. I wore nothing but a blue recycleables bag and hung a bunch of soup cans and pop bottles off of it. It was a bit drafty but I didn’t feel fat because I wasn’t in a Hefty bag after all and it was environmentally conscious. And very suggestive. Good thing I was single at the time.

I think I’m going to make a note to review this blog entry in mid October 2006 so that I’m better prepared next year. Barber smock. It’ll look great.

Talking To Myself.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

In honor of the release of the second season of Bewitched on DVD, the same season that introduced Samantha’s look alike cousin, Serena, I decided to do a little video project utilizing split screen technology. It’s going to take a little while for me to figure out all the logistics and whatnot (so the project hasn’t been posted yet), but I thought it might be fun to practice with the still camera first.

Now there’s proof that I do talk to myself when Earl is out of town.

I found this test on my blog friend Snarl’s webpage. Click below if you want to take the test yourself.

I am 9% White Trash.

I, my friend, have class. I am so not white trash. . I am more than likely Democrat, and my place is neat, and there is a good chance I may never drink wine from a box.

Take the
White Trash Test
@ FualiDotCom

Stroll.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

I decided to celebrate my feeling better today by going for a walk during lunch. The sun was shining brightly, the breeze was mild and the enchantment of October was riding the wind. So I decided I needed to enjoy our downtown area. This is about a block from where I work. As you can see, the streets aren’t that busy at lunch time!

As I look at this photo, I realize that downtown looks like a city scape you’d see on a “behind the scenes” movie tour set you’d see at Walt Disney World or Universal Studios. All that’s missing is the fountain that the Friends played on.

Earl and I are very excited about our friends Steve and Tim coming to visit from Buffalo. They’re spending the weekend with us to get away from it all and we’re looking forward to seeing them.

It’s also a wonderful reason to clean the house and spend money redecorating.

The spare bedroom has never looked so good. The bed is made, the scented candles are lit to give it a warm, homey feeling. I’m a little disappointed that I don’t have mints for the pillows, so I’m going to leave a couple of Butterfingers instead.

Yesterday I went to the local Kohls to get new towels and bathroom accessories. They had the ideal shower curtain on display that matched the color of our bathroom perfectly. Of course our mini-me version of Kohls didn’t have any of what was displayed actually in stock, so we jumped into the car last night and drove to Syracuse to go the real Kohls. While we were in Syracuse we also went to Carrabba’s for some pasta fun. Whenever we go to Carrabba’s we shun waiting for a table and opt to eat at their pasta bar instead. I had a couple of glasses of wine, Earl ended up driving home after a stop at Wegmans to grocery shop. Wegmans is grocery nirvana and can not be duplicated by any chain, regardless of how many times they try. (I should get paid by someone for all these retail endorsements.)

So now we’re armed and ready for fun with our friends. I might even cook breakfast in the morning!

Smile. Halfway through the work week.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Sometimes you have to just take it all in stride. It helps if you smile, and bitch about stuff on your blog.

I also downloaded the latest iTunes and Quicktime, both announced today in concert with a bunch of goodies from Apple, including a video iPod. Music videos, movies and tv shows, among other things, are now available from iTunes. I tried it out by downloading my first music video, “Deeper and Deeper” by Madonna. I enjoyed the video so much I downloaded a second Madonna video, “Rain”, one of my favorite tracks of all time.

I was going to be so productive around the house this weekend. I was going to get the garage sorted out to make room for the Acura. I was going to scrub, dust, polish and ‘dazzle-fy’ the house from top to bottom so that it would once again meet health inspection requirements. I was going to make cookies and other assorted goodies so that we’d be ready for the week.

I’ve spent all my free time to today trying to make myself disappear (via a movie) like a Star Trek crew member.

I’ve got my own unique sound effect down. I played it over the phone for Earl, he’s given it his stamp of approval. Now if I could just get the video effects just right. It has to have the right amount of flair.

Now if I could only beam this house clean.

Normally I shun McDonalds. I was once a huge fan of the chain and basically lived a “Supersize Me” existence when I was working nights on the Top 40 radio station. I could name every Mcburger, past and present, and even knew regional offerings throughout the country. Had my hair been a little redder and a little more plentiful, I could have been named Ronald.

A couple of years ago when I went on my health kick, the first thing I did was dump the McDonalds and friends fast food habit with one exception, and that was Chick-Fil-A. (There’s no Chick-Fil-As near us, so it was safe to keep it on the board as a rare treat.)

This past Monday McDonalds kicked off their annual Monopoly game, where you can win cool prizes, hot food and fun for the whole family. I don’t know why I obsess about this game, but I do and this year is no exception. I’ve eaten at McDonalds three times in the past week and at each visit have upped my grilled chicken sandwich to the “large” value meal so that I can get extra stickers. I have set up my game boards on my desk so that I can monitor my progress to winning a new car or a chance to be in an upcoming Buena Vista movie. I am saving my “Best Buy Bucks” for a DVD purchasing frenzy. I even considered posting “In Case Of Fire” signs on the walls through the house with the following instructions: 1. Save The Spouse. 2. Save The Cat. 3. Save The Computers. 4. Save the Stickers. I might have a fire drill over the weekend to make sure alternate escape plans are in place.

I considered meeting with our lawyer to modify the will so that I could negotiate who would take over the peeling fun, but he doesn’t take free breakfast sandwich stickers in payment.

Sideling Hill Tunnel.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Today I accomplished something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I hiked up to the abandoned portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and got to see one of the tunnels up close and personal.

When the Pennsylvania Turnpike was built in the late 1930s, it was built along the old South Pennsylvania Railroad right-of-way. There were seven tunnels along the mainline roadway, all of which were two-lane. By the mid 1960s, the tunnels were growing bottlenecks. Four of the tunnels were “twinned” with a second tunnel alongside. Three of the tunnels were bypassed. In 1968, a nearly 14 mile bypass was built between the Breezewood and Fort Littleton interchanges. The original turnpike roadway, and tunnels, still exist today and were donated to the Southern Alleghenies Conservancy and are now a bike trail.

The abandoned roadway begins at the Breezewood Interchange and is visible when you exit the turnpike to follow I-70 east towards Washington D.C. From there it winds its way through the valley while it’s newer counterpart goes up over the mountains.

Unfortunately the original overpass over US 30 is in the process of being demolished, so I was unable to hike from Breezewood up to Ray’s Hill Tunnel as I originally planned. I was a little disappointed because that tunnel is short enough that you’re able to see the other end when you’re walking in.

Instead I followed US 30 east to PA 915 North and then onto Oregon Rd., a forest road. After a three mile drive through the forest and parking next to the forest station, I hiked about 1/2 mile through the woods and came across another portion of the original turnpike, about 1/4 mile west of the Sidling Hill Tunnel. This tunnel is the longest of the turnpike tunnels, clocking in at 6,782 feet. You can not see the other end of the tunnel when walking in. As you’re approaching the tunnel, you can feel the damp, cool air blowing in, chillier than anything you’ve felt from a subway tunnel. I hiked right up to it, curiously walking along the left side of the road as if it was an active roadway. I don’t know if I thought something or someone was going to come driving out of there or what, but I figured better safe than sorry.

I cautiously hiked up to the tunnel, mostly concerned about bats. Then I figured, I didn’t have any hair that they could get tangled in and if Bruce Wayne could survive the bats then I could too, so I walked in the tunnel about 250 feet and realized that I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. The tunnel has swallowed all the daylight I had left behind me. I peered ahead in the darkness, looking for signs of the other end of the tunnel and found none. I turned around and looked for the reassurance of the opening I had entered and saw the welcoming rays of sunlight. I turned around, walked a little closer to the opening, snapped some pictures and then hiked west along the roadway another mile or so before turning around and heading back to the car.

Afterwards, I stopped back in Breezewood, gassed up and hit the Turnpike to head home. Taking a different route than usual, I passed through Altoona and Williamsport, Pa. and Corning, Ithaca and Cortland, N.Y. before getting home.

All in all a great trip.

There’s more pictures here.