I'll Teach You To Laugh At Something That Is Funny!

So the last week was very eventful. There was a lot of field work to do at BEL and the week ended on Friday with my roommate's graduation from the State Police Academy. Chris has worked really hard to get through 20 weeks of police boot camp to get his badge and we're all proud of him. We sat through a mid-length commencement and then headed out for dinner with Rita (Chris's mom), Nick (his brother) and Cindy (friend and works with Rita at the town of Newport office). Chris started police duty within hours of commencement and Nick and I went to catch the opening of "The Simpsons Movie". I didn't know what to expect, but I had good faith that it would not disappoint. It was incredible. A truly epic Simpsons adventure in the good fun and style we've come to know and love through the years. The gags were faster and the veil of censorship was lifted. It's not like it went into South Park territory, but you finally feel like you're watching the Simpsons do what you'd hope they would all these years. I will definitely see this again as well as be getting the DVD. Speaking of DVD's, the great visual masterpiece, 300, comes out tomorrow and I cannot wait!

The last week has also been a big week of purchases for me. I'm finally retiring the old Inspiron 8600. It's still a great machine, but I need more power for work as well as play. The warranty has made sure all the parts on the old machine are newer than the day I purchased it. My new laptop will be an Inspiron 1520. I'm nicknaming her "Bumblebee". Transformers fans will understand after seeing the bright yellow shell. There's helluva lot of power in her and I can't wait for her to get here! I also went ahead and purchased a guitar I've been eyeing for a while now, a '57 Les Paul Junior replica. Along with "Leslie", I got a baby Vox amp, to my surprise, they sound good together. I've never played electric guitar, but I'm picking it up gradually. Between the two purchases, I'll be in debt to Master Card for a while, but it's well worth it.

Well, now I'm finishing up Bourne Supremacy (I watched Bourne Identity last week) in preparation for the final chapter in the trilogy, Bourne Ultimatum, to come and then out for the evening run before bed. G'night friends, I love you all.

-Rod

New Prince Album Rocks...And So Does Prince!

Okay, so this is awesome, I picked up the new album after work today and loved it, but in lieu of a booklet, there's a web URL to get the CD notes from and it has all these articles to read. Gotta love big names that are showing the music biz who is making them money!

========================================

July 15, 2007 UK - When Prince's new album Planet Earth was released in the U.K. on July 15, almost 3 million people picked up a copy. Normally, that kind of news conjures up images of record industry execs high-fiving each other and fans streaming into record stores to empty the shelves of their hero's latest offering. But in this case, the record industry execs are livid. And it's true there isn't a single copy of Planet Earth in any store in the country — but only because they were never there in the first place. In fact, Prince didn't sell any copies of his album in the U.K. He gave them all away. Click here to read more.

Where Do You Go When You're Lonely?

So today Bonnie (the '98 Bonneville of mine that is) got new tires. She is VERY happy now. In the morning she goes in for realigning, then she'll be skipping down the highway...er, I guess the new tires and realigning will keep her from skipping, that's the point...anyway, you know what I mean. It was due time, so I made an appointment and 2 hours and $800 later, she was cruising down I-95 like a dream. The new Goodyears have several features, but most of all, for the money, it's guaranteed for a very long time and that means I don't have to worry about it for a very long time, and that's worth the hefty cost to me.

This last weekend Nick and I were able to slip in a lunch date with newlyweds, Dan and Erica Wolfe, amongst a full schedule of work. It was good to see these guys out where they belong, the East Coast, that's right, I said it, if you guys read this, know that I know. hehe. Anyway, they were on their honeymoon/roadtrip and we were able to intercept them in Philly and introduce them to Rita's Water Ice...if you don't know what that is, go back to this post and then come out to visit to try some.

I've been on a Ryan Adams kick lately. I heard "Come Pick Me Up" from my iPod a few days ago from the Elizabethtown Movie Soundtrack and then later heard "When the Stars Go Blue" on a college radio station and went to iTunes to download some different tracks. Actually, if you haven't heard those two yet, stop what you're doing and go get them. If you click on the song titles, you'll get a clip, but it will not do the songs justice as Mr. Adams is, well, like many reviews put it, "This guy can just write great songs." If you have heard them, you know what I mean...if you don't shed a small tear everytime you hear either of these, you don't have a soul. Anyway, time for bed...g'night folks...

-Rod

Rod/Nick Midwest Tour '07 Comes To An End...

So within 48 hours of returning from Scotland, Nick and I set out on a midwest tour of college buddies, friends and family. From Jersey, we hit Valparaiso, IN; Naperville, IL; Hinsdale, IL; Darien, IL; Oak Forest, IL; Indianapolis, IN; Greentown, IN; Converse, IN and Cincinnati, OH. Our main goal: to attend college buddy/former housemate Dan Wolfe's wedding to his beau Erica Westergren. This trip didn't have as many photos to accompany it, but there are plenty of memories to compensate.

We started our road trip Wednesday after a stop for road snacks/drinks at Target and dinner at Friendly's. At Target, I found a Transformers Activity Kit and after being swept back into my childhood, it went with us on the road as entertainment, if not now, when? Within a few hours of being on the road we are on an empty interstate in the pitch black of night. The only other vehicle around is gaining on us and decides to tailgate us by no more than a couple of feet. A few minutes later this turns out to be a cop and we get pulled over. Normally, I am very respectful of what law enforcement are doing and don't question an action. This time, we were accused of spending too much time in the left lane. This may have been true, of course this depends on the official definition of "too much time" but also contingent upon the fact that there were no other vehicles whatsoever on the road! We still cooperated with the officer's requests and were let off with a warning, but a lot less respect for a bored cop.

We finally hit Valpo around 11am in time for lunch to meet our friend from college, Josh Smith, only to forget about the time change around the edges of Indiana and the fact that it was actually 10am there. So after killing some time and waiting for Chili's to open and Josh to get a lunch break, we enjoyed a brief time of catching up. BTW, Josh, if you're reading this, thanks again for lunch!

After lunch in Valpo we hit the road again for a couple hours to Naperville, IL where we checked in to our hotel and crashed for a few hours before meeting with the lovely Kelly Condron, also a good friend from college. We spent the next few hours catching up and exchanging our latest musical finds over noodles at Noodles & Co. After making our farewells, Nick and I set out to a 24 hour Wal-Mart to get our "real" gifts for the newlyweds. Sure, both of us purchased items from the gift registries, but now it was time for the real stuff. I won't go into details about what was purchased that night for Dan and Erica, but it did get the response of, "Should I call the police on you?" from the cashier that checked us out. To anyone who was at the wedding, yes, this was the infamous "Spiderman bag"!

The following day began with a trip to the Fox Valley Mall to get lunch and find any last minute things we might need for the wedding. To anyone keeping track, this makes today Friday the 13th...and yes, it was intentionally scheduled this way by the bride and groom. Around 2pm, we decided to head to the chapel early and see if we could catch up with anyone we haven't seen in a while. We arrive at the chapel to see a receiving line throwing rice on a bride and groom and for a second, we're a little worried that we got the wrong time. After closer inspection, we realize we don't know anyone and find out another wedding was just before the one we were to attend. We attend the correct wedding and then head to the reception in Darien which was a lot of dancing and carrying on. There, I had my first drink in months, gin & tonic, and was reveling in the fact that this was the first wedding in years that I had no responsibilities in the actual wedding. It was nice. Thanks Dan. The whole celebration was beautiful and the reception was equally a celebration. Dan was certainly celebrating...click here to see him celebrating...hehe...love ya man.

The next day Nick and I checked out of the hotel and headed to Hinsdale to meet Liz Derstine and Sarah Kim (no relation to me) for brunch. Liz was a good friend from college and Sarah was a new friend I had gotten to know through Liz and it was nice to finally meet her. For those of you who are into good music, check out the various projects Liz and Sarah work on, they are awesome. One of those is Ghhrfy, and it's hard to describe, but check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/ghhrfy. Hopefully we can work out more opportunities like this to hang out.

We left Hinsdale for Oak Forest to make a cameo at Dan and Erica's open house at the home of Erica's parents. We had some good BBQ and made our farewells to the happy couple before heading to Indy. We were already running late, but on the highway to Indy we were delayed more so by cars riding the left lane for nearly an hour without passing. Where is that effing cop when you need him?! We finally make it to Indy and got dinner at Kona Grill with Elizabeth Lee, her husband Michael, Jeb Templeton and his wife Dawn. I know Elizabeth's last name is now "Head" but she will always be "Lee" to me. It was a great time and good to see some of my closest friends again. I discovered a wonderful Oriental Salad at the grill and found Elizabeth a new obsession there. The few hours we had there were not nearly enough for all the catching up we needed to do, but I am thankful for it.

We left there to stop at my parent's home in Greentown to see my dad and have a mini-birthday party for him (his birthday was a week before). Pamn and her grand daughter, Katelyn, stopped by to partake in some very rich cake. My brother, Peter, was supposed to be there, but due to some horrible scheduling from the Christian Church, he was hours away that evening. My mother was in Canada visiting relatives, but we had the celebration anyway. The next morning we went out to lunch at Mike's Pizza in Kokomo and then headed out to Converse, IN where Peter's college travel team would be stopping into that afternoon. We spent a couple hours there with him and took a few photos since it had been ages since the last family photo. Thanks to Nick and his great photography skills, we got some great shots. We left Converse to get some Steak n' Shake and then it was off to Cincinnati, OH!

It was just a couple hours to our final stop in Cincy where we stayed with Nick's Aunt, Uncle and cousins. We stopped by a couple malls and had Skyline Chili, mmmmm... At the end of our time there, Nick's Aunt took us out to dinner at Texas Road House. We headed back to the house for a couple hours of a nap and then it was on the road back to the East Coast.

At 4am we hit the road back to the East Coast but made a pit stop in Columbus, OH to get some White Castle before leaving the area. There are White Castles in the East Coast, but for those of you who have seen the movie, it's right, they are very hard to find! We arrived back at my apartment around 1pm and Nick headed back to his place in Jersey.

I crashed for a few hours and then got up to post this very blog, and now it's time to head back to bed so I can return to work tomorrow!

In the end, I needed this trip, both me and Nick needed this trip. If for nothing else, to take a road trip as friends again and not coworkers on a mission. This was enhanced by all the other friends we got to see along the way. Huge thanks to Dan and Erica for being the excuse to get out and do all of this, one week on the road across the midwest/eastern US. Thousands of miles later and dozens of Transformers activity sheets colored, we had a really great road trip.

Thanks for tuning in,

-Rod

On the road to Chicago.

Optimus Prime activity kit to keep us entertained.

Exploding Cars and Beautiful Castles...What Else Is New?

I've promised to blog about the adventure to Scotland I recently took and so in the few hours I have before I leave for Chicago, I'm doing just that. The story starts a couple years ago when friend Charles Hornbostel became legally married to a young lady he met while stationed in Europe with the US Airforce. They planned to have a proper ceremony a couple years later in Comlongon Castle in Scotland, UK. This currently holds the record of the earliest RSVP I've had to make for a wedding: two years. Fast forward nearly two years later where Jeb, his wife Dawn and myself are closing up the final details of our travels out to Scotland for the wedding. Though Jeb and Dawn live in Indiana, we find there connecting flight stops in Philly where I fly out of and work it out to synchronize that flight over the Atlantic Ocean.

The day before we're scheduled to take off, the attacks on the Glasgow Airport take place (the airport we are scheduled to fly into) and we have no idea what that does to our plans. After a considerable amount of questions and phone calls to US Airways we sit between two gates: one to Glasgow and one to Manchester waiting to see what transpires at Glasgow. Glasgow Airport gets up and running and we end up flying into Scotland after all. At this point, we had spent over 8 hours at the airport and a 7 hour flight.

We arrive in Glasgow and bride and groom pick us up. We spent the next 24 hours decompressing from an exhausting flight and adjusting to the 5 hour time difference. The few hours doesn't seem like much, but it's enough to throw off your routine as opposed to something closer to the 24 hour mark where you're offset by a day.

One of my first ventures is out to the countryside where I jog for miles falling in love with the landscape - it is breathtaking. Our first actual day out consists of errands for the wedding and sampling the extraordinary selection of Scottish foods. I finally had proper scones, jam, clotted cheese with tea. We explore the High Street of Dumfries (in southern Scotland) and once again I am soaking in the sights.

The third day was the 4th of July and also the day of the wedding. The entire wedding party and guests commute to Comlongon Castle just outside of Dumfries and we scurry to get events in motion for the ceremonies. Due to complications in finding a videographer and photographer, I was drafted to take some last minute initiative and fill those duties. It was hectic, but in the end, visual records of the wedding were made and the bride and groom were happy with it. The wedding day consisted of a ceremony in a tower room where vows were exchanged and a bagpiper escorted guests and the wedding party in and out. An exquisite cake was cut and a multi course Scottish feast was served. After dinner, a Celtic Blessing Ceremony took place which, to me, was more interesting than the main ceremony. The ceremony consisted of a hand-binding and dagger kissing. The hand binding had six parts where as vows were exchanged, friends and family chosen by the bride and groom tied knots around the wrists of the couple. We were told at this ceremony that this ceremony, which predates Christianity, is where the phrase "tying the knot" comes from. I am pleasantly surprised in having the honor to tie the last knot. As with Celtic tradition, the wedding party and guests were all asked to make secret promises to the couple and kiss a dagger to symbolize that promise and the couple placed that dagger in the ground together sealing the promises. The day ended with a colorful fireworks show. We stayed the night in the castle and it was a surreal experience. As I lay in bed in the dark, I glanced out the window above me seeing the moonlight catch a castle turret and realize, "I'm in a castle!" It's amazing.

I wake up early the next morning to jog around the castle property and then settle with my hand written journal in the castle bar. As the other guests awake, we prepare to head out to Glasgow. All the final goodbyes are made and we head out to Glasgow. Our first night in Glasgow was at an aged Bed & Breakfast that was comically decrepit. We set out to find other accommodations and the next day find shelter in a Ramada Hotel. We spent most of this time decompressing from the wedding but early the next morning head out to Edinburgh Castle via train. We spend the entire day exploring the castle and it quickly becomes an item on a list of "Great Things Done In Life". It is incredible. After the castle, we explore a bit more of Edinburgh city and take in a few monuments. The next day, we set out to Stirling Castle and though a little smaller than Edinburgh Castle, becomes my favorite stop on the entire trip to Scotland. Every view of the castle and from the castle is breathtaking. I spent most of the day staring out into the horizon breathing the clean air atop the castle on the hill. At both castles we take "audio tours" which consist of headphones and small audio players you type in numbers as you see them in the castles to learn about the history of that location. It was very interesting and gave you more of a sense of being in a movie you saw as a kid.
After Stirling, we explore Glasgow a bit and have our final meal at a little Italian place in Market City. We pack up and spend the next day flying back out to the states. All in all, I am glad to have gone to Scotland. Both for my friends and for the trip after the wedding. It was good to actually have a vacation for the first time in 3 years from work.
Now, I'm off on my midwest tour and to my good friend Dan Wolfe's wedding. If you're out there and I haven't spoken to you yet, see if you can catch Nick and I while were out in Chicago and Indy! Ah, the life of a twenty-something, everyone getting married. One day it won't be like this anymore, so I need to enjoy it now.

Anyway, thanks for tuning it...cheers!
-Rod

P.S. Many more photos are on my MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/rodkimrocks

P.P.S. I can't believe I almost forgot to mention that while in the UK, I have become obsessed with a candy bar called "Aero". It was one of my first foods there and I can't get enough! There is a chocolate outside and mint flavored bubbles on the inside! If anyone is looking for Christmas/Birthday/Anytime gift for me, import some of these!