tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145419322012-02-02T02:14:05.871-05:00"La Dolce Vita" is Italian for "The sweet life". My father has another Italian expression "Quando arriva, scriva!" - When you get there, write. While I have not arrived there, I'll still write.suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.comBlogger5141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-31203864038986539612011-12-18T20:14:00.000-05:002011-12-18T20:14:12.707-05:00

Things I thought about driving to Mount Laurel, NJ from Gaitherberg, MD MD-200 is the road I've dreamed about all my life. It was empty, patrolled by Office Ray Charles and went exactly where I needed to go, bypassing the Beltway. As I passed an older man who who was drifting out of his lane as he was driving 40 miles and hour with those giant sun visors on, I wondered why we don't test older

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-2063862200471180292011-12-03T10:26:00.000-05:002011-12-03T10:26:59.273-05:00

Hi, My name is Mike and I am addicted to  "Donut House" coffee from my new Keurig K-Cup machine. (Crowd says "Hi Mike") It all started a few weeks ago when the Chancellor declared that my faithful "Mr Coffee" machine would never do in our newly renovated kitchen and we needed a sleek new K-Cup machine. Since the Chancellor hates coffee, this had nothing to do with coffee, but everything to do

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-52454550162471386182011-10-15T09:48:00.000-04:002011-10-15T09:48:42.615-04:00

Wow. It's been a while. I've been stuck on all things George Harrison for the past week since flipping through channels and catching the Scorsese documentary Living in the Material World. It's well done of course and the 4 hours are worth it just for the stories like Tom Petty talking about George with a trunk full of ukuleles and Harrison's son talking about how going to Military School was a

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-35054244089665507182011-07-23T10:20:00.001-04:002011-07-23T10:31:13.524-04:00

It's been jungle-hot out there with television news people, digital thermometers in hand, taking the temperature of everything from Phillies seats to sidewalks all the while talking about dew points and heat index like they know what the hell they are talking about. We are in day 7 of a nasty heat wave and yesterday was one of those days when you think despite running around the clock, your AC

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-91903375961897904752011-06-27T22:38:00.000-04:002011-06-27T22:38:37.488-04:00

Been listening to a lot of Tenth Avenue Freeze Out since Clarence Clemons passed away last week. I must have 5 versions on my pod, most of which are captured live. It's a tight, concise story of how the E street band was formed and I keep thinking how hard it will be for Springsteen and the E street band to ever sing that again live since so prominently featured Clarence. I guess he has three

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-89032486395187503592011-06-25T07:33:00.000-04:002011-06-25T07:33:23.545-04:00

Last week was Youngest's son graduation from High School believe it or not. I'm still in shock that I have now two in College and thank goodness for that money tree otherwise I'm not sure how we would do it. Because it threatened to thunderstorm, the Graduation itself was held in the High School Gymnasium which was near wood-fueled, brick-oven temperatures by time they got to the the "F"s.

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-4337476874849801512011-05-11T04:27:00.000-04:002011-05-11T04:27:08.012-04:00

Days 4 and 5 were on the weekend so we spent them driving short distances in our rented Puegeot "piccolo". These were the only days that Oldest Son did not have classes and we squeezed as much out of them as we could. We were very fluid in our requirements about how long to rent a car but not flexible on price - it had to be cheap. All told, I think we spent more on gas and tolls then we did on

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-11179257077078960962011-05-10T01:55:00.001-04:002011-05-10T11:07:54.315-04:00

Day 4 in Rome will officially be known as the "day of the strike". The Italians have regularly scheduled strikes at least one Friday a month according to Oldest Son, so we knew this one was coming, it just showed up in a different form than expected. We planned a day at the Vatican Museums and then later in the afternoon we would walk over to our pre-purchased, special tour of the coliseum. We

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-33700704822325789212011-05-06T01:28:00.001-04:002011-05-06T01:37:34.476-04:00

On Day two we began our touring of Rome in earnest and took the Metro from our Apartment to Piazza De Popolo. From there we went up the hill to Villa Borghese and made our reservations for later in the week for the Art Museum there. Along the way, the Chancellor and I began work on our new hobby, taking pictures for strangers. It began on the hill over looking Piazza De Popolo where we ran into

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-25704944986903814222011-05-05T16:52:00.000-04:002011-05-05T16:52:12.520-04:00

If you find yourself at Zara on Via Del Corso in Roma, I would be very cautious of trying on pants in my size. Let me explain. Day one's afternoon found us in our apartment waiting on Air France to deliver our lost luggage. I needed a shower but the only clothing I had were literally the clothes on my back. Namely: 1 Short Sleeved Man's shirt 1 Pair Men's shorts, 1 size too big 1 Pair of low

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-22830533864727177932011-04-17T09:31:00.000-04:002011-04-17T09:31:05.795-04:00

I can't get the opening riffs of "Can't you hear me knocking" by the Stones out of my head. I must have listened to it 50 times over the past two weeks. Hearing it reminds me of the Steven Wright joke: "I can't believe the Stones are still doing it after all these years. Fred, Barney Wilma...." Maybe I should be hearing "Under Pressure" by Queen and Bowie since that's more how I feel these

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-88059850719458135382011-03-13T10:02:00.000-04:002011-03-13T10:02:45.736-04:00

A big week for travel for the family as the Chancellor was off to Mexico for her birthday on what they were calling "International Girls Weekend", Oldest Son is in Rome for his semester abroad and Youngest son and I went to beautiful, downtown, Towson, MD. I must have missed a meeting or something when we were giving out assignments. The Towson trip was for a college visit and tt was a packed

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-61501358610254566132011-03-13T08:14:00.000-04:002011-03-13T08:14:07.030-04:00

The Aluminum Falcon was in desperate need of repair with a turn signal out, a muffler leak of unknown origin and the check engine light on. The check engine light AKA CEL or MIL was the lowest priority in my mind since I was pretty sure that was something stupid. It had come on one fall morning (OK, it was as different season) after the car started. The car's engine hesitated just for a second,

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-78009639726899761252011-02-27T10:17:00.001-05:002012-01-31T16:31:46.912-05:00

Buying a car has changed since my wife and I bought our last new car ten years ago. I'd like to pass on the tips we learned along the way. These may be something you already know but maybe you don't so here goes. My plan was to Evaluate->Price->Understand Finance and Incentives ->pull the trigger 1. Stay out of the dealership.  Car dealers only want you in the dealership to put the full

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-73259416660813752162011-02-20T11:22:00.000-05:002011-02-20T11:22:55.668-05:00

The car hunt continues and our latest test drive was the Subaru Forester. Employing our new Internet "by appointment only" methodology, we emailed ahead, asked for appointment at 3:30 on Saturday and received said appointment. Then the dealership responded as if we had just walked in off the street. We were to meet a salesperson named Rich and when we arrived, Rich, if he exists at all, was "

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-84323663896044776462011-02-17T22:00:00.003-05:002011-02-17T22:00:02.504-05:00

The car hunt continues. Saturday was spent at the Honda dealer where we bought our Odyssey way back in 2002. Those were the days. You waltzed into a dealership with giant sign across your forehead that said "please take my lunch money". No plan. Just show up. And that's pretty much what we did Saturday as well. We went in, asking to drive a CR-V and ended up on the wrong end of 20 minute

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-24816263525184925592011-02-12T10:52:00.001-05:002011-02-17T21:02:22.685-05:00

The Aluminum Falcon had a near death experience last week. I was driving home from work when I looked up to see the line of cars in front of me had stopped. I hit the brakes and of course, this being February in the northeast, I hit nothing but ice. Somehow, at the very last second, I managed to turn the wheel to the right, narrowly missing the gigantic white SUV directly in front of me but

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-40790776969616491862011-02-05T08:34:00.000-05:002011-02-05T08:34:22.403-05:00

It's been an unbelievably bad 2011 so far. My Father passed 15 days into the new year, then I got sick with what I can only guess was some sort of new strain of bird/duck/pig/tiger flu and now oldest Son took off for a "semester abroad" in Italy. (BTW When did including a European vacation in a 45k/year college experience become the norm?) He left last Monday from JFK in New York. We showed up

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-1972365618482312912011-01-21T14:08:00.000-05:002011-01-21T14:08:14.432-05:00

My Father passed away last Saturday. It was both expected and a surprise. He was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in November of 2009 and had outlived any expectations I had during his fight.  He had only gone into hospice the week before so we all honestly thought he would have a tough go of it through the winter. It was more than likely tumors that had spread to his brain that made for a

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-17058018342520389742011-01-09T08:48:00.000-05:002011-01-09T08:48:32.446-05:00

It's winter and while I don't have cabin fever just yet, it is prime time for TV viewing and since this is my blog, here is what I'm watching these days. How I met your Mother. I'm Tivo'ing the reruns and I'm hooked. I hardly watched the show when it was a primetime only thing but now that I have queue 10 deep I can't stop. My only regret is that the reruns are not being played in order. It's

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-82023136224307343632011-01-08T09:27:00.000-05:002011-01-08T09:27:02.140-05:00

The sunrise flight from Las Vegas to Philly was packed, every seat was taken. That's just the way things are these days - empty seats have gone the way of in flight smoking and hot meals with silverware. Of course I was in my usual zone 508 or something for boarding and one of the last ones on the plane. How I end up in the last zone EVERY. TIME. I'll never know, It must be part of the airline's

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-43550776959085300352010-12-29T13:21:00.001-05:002010-12-29T13:21:47.140-05:00

032Originally uploaded by mfalcianSign outside section 113 in the concessions. In pencil it says it's for the South Philly Vikings NYB.

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-75757801949561828272010-12-29T11:53:00.000-05:002010-12-29T11:53:29.799-05:00

Well, it's official. I need to stay away from the Linc for Eagles games. If I go, they lose. Period. I've now been to three games this year thanks to Mr C: Vs Greenbay (L 27-20), Vs McNabb and the Redskins (L 17-12) and now last night vs the Vikings (L 24-14). The only other losses were away. Those were not my fault because I wasn't there. Last night was brutal but not as bad as sitting

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-33333001564218119172010-12-09T18:17:00.001-05:002010-12-09T18:21:31.949-05:00

I've been using the side entrance to Graceland. Graceland is what I've started calling my room here at Caesars Palace In Las Vegas. Graceland and I came together quite unexpectedly. I had reserved a standard room here but they were out of rooms that smokers had not been in so I was upgraded without charge. I don't have anything against smokers, hell I used be one myself but I would just as soon

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-49696183691119828502010-11-26T08:34:00.000-05:002010-11-26T08:34:48.174-05:00

Things did not go according to plan at all. 1. Oldest son missed a detail on Girlfriend's dinner plans: What time are you eating and visiting relatives. It turns out that it was late. too late to drive to PA. 2. Dessert at Mom's turned into dinner at Mom's after Dinner at The Chancellor's Mom's. Oh and then dessert. 3. We still have to work out today's plan.

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-21385031097269312582010-11-25T08:47:00.001-05:002010-11-25T10:35:38.052-05:00

Well it's the holidays and once again we plan to put on more miles than a trucker trying to make Tuscan by sunup. The only difference is that we will be driving in circles. Also, the difference today is we have four drivers now so we get a certain economy of scale over the days when I was the lone driver for this insanity. I'm just hoping the Aluminum Falcon is up to the task because we are

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-58580628644026046552010-11-21T10:47:00.000-05:002010-11-21T10:47:24.986-05:00

The cold weather is finally settling in as if for good, like it's moving in to stay. The days can be nice like last weekend was. This weekend is looking the same. The leaves seem to have real staying power this year and the colors have been brighter and staying longer than I ever recall, but maybe that just comes with getting older. I feel like saying "Yep, back in aught two we never had colors

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-10260124312628766242010-11-15T20:08:00.000-05:002010-11-15T20:08:57.040-05:00

The college search for youngest son continued last week with a visit to Hunter College in New York City. This was his idea, I swear.  The Chancellor and I set aside the second Tuesday in November and took the time off to take him on the train to NYC. Monday night before the visit and suddenly it's a different story. He doesn't want to go because he has to make dumplings for his German class

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-77744266297725845332010-11-09T07:22:00.000-05:002010-11-09T07:22:23.334-05:00

Oldest Son is spending next semester in Italy and on Friday he came home so that we could work on logistics. He's in a well established program that helps with details like housing and a student visa to Italy. I'm not sure that this program makes it easier or not since we had to download a huge PDF that explained in extenuating detail the process of obtaining a visa with all of its "supporting

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-48003732873046920972010-10-31T09:55:00.001-04:002010-11-01T08:28:24.739-04:00

My Mother's Uncle Buddy passed away this week. His name wasn't really Buddy since I don't think anyone has "Buddy" for a given name, but for Uncle Buddy, it fit. Uncle Buddy was real "hows yous doing" South Philly guy. The funeral followed the time honored South Philly pattern of a viewing at Nunzio Carter's, a Mass at a neighborhood church, a burial at either Holy Cross (if the deceased could

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-15846157486731488052010-10-16T09:37:00.000-04:002010-10-16T09:37:18.997-04:00

I spent my 21st Anniversary night watching The Promise on HBO. The Chancellor had joined a group of ladies that go to the theater once a month and it just so happened the Thursday of our Anniversary was the first night of their group. This was OK by me. I would have rather spent the night celebrating but I was looking forward to the documentary that was premiering that night. Besides, here is

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-75317020114618121172010-10-10T19:41:00.000-04:002010-10-10T19:41:20.291-04:00

Oct 7, 2010 Looking out over Philly from Citizens Bank Park last night seemed dream-like in the 3rd inning last night. Rain must have been falling over center city and the low hanging clouds made the buildings appear smeared, like you couldn't quite focus on them. Like they weren't real. Later, I was sure it was dream. Like I didn't really see what I had just seen. It was raining in the dream

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-83948685540439410132010-09-26T10:17:00.000-04:002010-09-26T10:17:36.758-04:00

I love September. Our group of three with five seats has the final (phinal?) regular season Phillies game today vs Mets at 1:30 and of course the logistics are something out of Operation Dessert Storm. Oldest Son is taking a bus and train where I pick him up at 11:30 in Hamilton NJ, then it's back to Mt La-La to pick up the next 2 of 5 and drive to CBP where we meet the final member of our crew.

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-42539178122507357522010-09-25T09:27:00.000-04:002010-09-25T09:27:57.169-04:00

Yesterday was a whirlwind tour through two local Universities with Youngest son. It was a fast paced day so hang on. The day started with me waking to the sound of the garage opening and closing and then realizing that The Chancellor had taken the Mini-Van leaving me with the ever deteriorating Aluminum Falcon to take on a hundred mile journey around the I95-I295 loop. Since the check engine

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-48635763096320739202010-09-19T09:24:00.000-04:002010-09-19T09:24:08.598-04:00

Fall is here and with it the 6:30 AM screaming matches over when a High School Senior should print something required for that day have arrived. It's a peeve of mine (not a pet peeve, just a peeve) as I spent 4 years with oldest son printing some highly required document moments before the bus arrived. These episodes would always end with the help-desk (me) performing some heroic last minute act

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-85361810347793738942010-09-13T21:31:00.000-04:002010-09-13T21:31:02.165-04:00

Tuesday is a mulligan. On Monday I got up, packed a lunch and headed to a Dental appointment for an early morning follow up visit before work. Only problem? I went to the wrong office and had to then go out of my way to the right one and by time my 5 minute appointment was done, I had to head home to be on time for a conference call. Tomorrow I shall head out in Monday's clothes with Monday's

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-46196332763501541232010-09-06T19:49:00.000-04:002010-09-06T19:49:20.588-04:00

I still have an overwhelming desire to buy ice. It's hard to shake it off after spending a week at the beach. You get into a rhythm, a structure, a routine very quickly. Get up. Ride the bike. Find an obscure Breakfast place. Shower. Get Ice for the cooler. Put up the tent. Go to the beach. Pack up and leave from the beach. Ice Cold beverage. With Lime. Maybe two. Shower. Occasional 5 PM tipsy

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-75336971808711599372010-09-04T07:16:00.000-04:002010-09-04T07:16:00.818-04:00

Another Ocean City vacation is in the books and this one was punctuated by Earl, the Hurricane that couldn't close the deal. Not that I would want to actually see a Hurricane hit Ocean City but there is a certain sense of disappointment when something takes a week to get here and then is "Just a bit outside" like a Ricky Vaughn Fastball. Earl did make for some drama on the beach Thursday and

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-14228269291130812432010-09-01T12:10:00.000-04:002010-09-01T12:10:56.285-04:00

My In laws and I are all in IT and being on vacation this means that we brought more technology with us than actually landed on the moon in 1969. I personally have a one to one relationship between people in my immediate family and laptops at the shore. The house we are staying in is well appointed for Ocean City rental standards technology wise. It has a nice older 42 inch LCD panel hanging on

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-38054813517586063372010-08-30T11:17:00.000-04:002010-08-30T11:17:29.391-04:00

We are having a last summer fling with the The Chancellor's Family and we are back in Ocean City. We have considerably upgraded accommodations compared to last time with a beach/boardwalk/pool view out the front deck compared to a view of the Wawa last time around. It's an incredible house with 5 bedrooms and 4 baths and it shares a pool with the attached duplex next door. I can not begin to

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-30452507825063528632010-08-23T22:06:00.000-04:002010-08-23T22:06:40.293-04:00

Really crappy weekend. I woke up Saturday to dead home file server. Dead. Power button did nothing, dead dead dead. Nothing much on there, just every document we own, all the digital pictures, home web server etc etc. I have nightly backups of course (insert Foghorn leghorn here saying "Fortunately I keep ma feathers numbered for such an occasion"). Still it's a mess. It's the DHCP server, DNS

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-67072704665977635452010-08-15T10:40:00.000-04:002010-08-15T10:40:19.811-04:00

Invited to the Eagle's Preseason opener this year, I had a problem. I just couldn't put on my faithful #5 jersey now that McNabb had been traded to the Redskins and I only owned the one jersey. I guess I could have squeezed into the Chancellor's large child's sized #10 Jackson, but that seemed silly. What to do? The casual collared shirt I wore to work was sort of green and so I opted for the

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-62878061608944587662010-08-14T10:51:00.001-04:002010-08-15T10:41:49.014-04:00

Thanks to Mr C I got to see Kevin Kolb and the youth movement Eagles, well sort of. I did get to see Kolb play but not as long as I had intended. Allow me to explain, it's a good news, bad news, good news, bad news good news again story. Mr C invited me to the Eagles game Friday via email and after checking with the Chancellor, gladly accepted. Thanks to the McNabb trade, I no longer have a

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-49705569993693996382010-08-08T08:19:00.000-04:002010-08-08T08:19:25.918-04:00

Late Summer, early Sunday morning. The coffee is brewing after a wake the dead grinding session. It's wonder the rest of the family doesn't push for me to drink tea. The summer mornings are starting to have that September feel to them with a damp chill that evaporates quickly in the summer sun as the morning burns on. TS Colin is wandering the Atlantic like a petulant teenager.  I love the words

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-79463199519390890232010-08-07T17:42:00.000-04:002010-08-07T17:42:06.713-04:00

Youngest son has entered the workforce. Well if wearing flip-flops is considered part of the workforce. He is a lifeguard at a water park in local hotel. What this means is that despite 9.5% unemployment, my little corner of the world is 100% employed at this point. I'm working, the Chancellor has hours, Oldest Son has his job at college and now Youngest son is a lifeguard. It's not exactly

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-64157449534894503322010-07-31T11:00:00.003-04:002010-07-31T11:00:01.314-04:00

Why are these people so unhappy looking? In a word, Pinochle. They were on the losing end of the great Pinochle controversy of 2010. It had started simply enough with a friendly game of Pinochle. It was a game we had learned from two places: I had learned the game on scout trips and the E sisters had learned from their father. We had taught Mr C over the years and had friendly games down the

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-14830651982702803672010-07-25T00:18:00.001-04:002010-07-25T11:38:48.748-04:00

8 - Pounds of Chicken on Wednesday Night. 6 - Pounds of Pasta Thursday Night. 16 - Boxes of Mac and Cheese consumed. 34  30 - Dollars won by John W at 31 on Thursday Night. 5 - Athletic looking non-Caucasians beaten at beach football by the boys. 72 - Miles ridden on the bike 40+ - Residents and guests over the week between two houses. 1 - Zim 427 - Pictures taken by me. 4 - Lbs gained by eating

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-42459514186832644632010-07-22T10:27:00.000-04:002010-07-22T10:27:56.178-04:00

It's 8 am on Thursday of the 4th annual Aunt Tina's beach circus. The wind is howling like we were having a Nor'easter but I'm sure that it is only because the circus is sleeping and there are no other noises. Well, no other noises except the sounds of two strangers snoring on the pull-out sofa.  I'm guessing they went to bed at 5 AM. That's not good since folks will be up soon and keeping it

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-25749805811065970322010-07-19T10:57:00.000-04:002010-07-19T10:57:26.184-04:00

Wow. Hazy, Hot and Humid. I did not see this coming. In July. But it's beach circus week so I'll take what I can get. This is the 4th annual beach circus and we have two of three condos in the same building , units B & D. For once we are together but God help whoever is unit C. We are a little far from the beach but we are close to the Wawa. In fact we are across the street from the Wawa and

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-72113795532268693132010-07-10T08:56:00.000-04:002010-07-10T08:56:21.966-04:00

It's been hot here. Earlier in the week It seemed like the trees were going to explode and I felt like Bill Compton out in daylight. It was so hot I think the weather station freaked out a little bit. If you have a weather station, these are the days you want to see accurate readings from. Record heat brings this sort of thing out in weather guy. As I watched the results on Tuesday, they were

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-155759500371177022010-07-05T18:26:00.000-04:002010-07-05T18:26:52.440-04:00

A day spent lounging around the pool. Again. It's a day where the most trying task of the day is patching a leaking raft. If Thomas Jefferson had procrastinated, today would be the day with the parades and fireworks. Yesterday we held an impromptu pool party where everyone brought something. We ate hamburgers and hotdogs, sat in the pool cooling off and then afterwards when the sun went down we

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-66117497089095266042010-07-03T09:37:00.000-04:002010-07-03T09:37:17.936-04:00

A gorgeous start to the 4th of July Holiday weekend and I just had to step out on the deck to admire the morning. It's cool and no humidity. The humidity is coming tomorrow. The Chancellor is off to work for a half a day after a 6 - 11 shift last night. She is finding it tough to pick up hours in this economy and takes what she can. While outside, I also admired my handiwork on the cabana. I

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-64919349884256030352010-06-27T18:13:00.001-04:002010-06-27T18:15:04.444-04:00

Yesterday was spent with morning chores (food shopping and painting 3 of 5 brown outdoor chairs candy pink) and a Graduation Party of a good friend's son. We came home exhausted but still awake enough to watch a few tivo'd episodes of our new favorite show, International House Hunters. The Chancellor has always like these HGTV house hunting shows but I am recent convert. A couple of days ago

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-43984618971466893722010-06-13T10:32:00.000-04:002010-06-13T10:32:49.357-04:00

Summer is officially here since I spent some time Friday night picking up towels from around the pool and Oldest Son is commuting back for weekends. Tensions are higher than those of the Israeli/Palestine blockade between the Parents and the Children as we discuss how to study for a high school final and what "out" on Saturday means. On Friday Oldest Son and his friends went "out for ice cream"

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-72040554465200750412010-06-06T10:40:00.000-04:002010-06-06T10:40:55.738-04:00

I found a great site with a bunch of old ads and was amazed at how stupid some them were. I just had to share. According to Jon Stewart, the Gremlin Automobile was invented for two reasons: 1. To keep young males from procreating 2. So that the Pinto wouldn't feel so bad about itself. If Jon's off brown '76 model kept the ladies away in droves just imagine how one with a Levi's interior did.

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-52514272872869823422010-06-06T10:26:00.000-04:002010-06-06T10:26:48.518-04:00

The Chancellor and I worked like slave labor in the backyard this past Memorial Day weekend. It's been eight years since the pool and landscaping were installed and they are starting to show their age, especially in the brook stone mulch around the patio. Sunday was declared "brook stone" day and we got to work early in the heat. We both had basic strategies in mind to clean the brook stone,

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-44055499364416906452010-05-30T08:14:00.000-04:002010-05-30T08:14:43.988-04:00

We've been enjoying all things Flyers related for the past month and a half. Part of it is the HBO documentary The Broad Street Bullies and part is how today's team fought their way into the playoffs, through a 3-0 hole and into the finals. Yes, it's all very bandwagon-ish complete with new Flyers T-shirts. On Tuesday morning all of this Flyers business reached The Chancellor's purview when Fox

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-26945012112532043422010-05-23T09:54:00.001-04:002010-05-23T11:36:34.851-04:00

I was driving home and I was listening to a particularly sad episode of This American Life. Dan Savage was telling a tale of his experiences around the time the death of his Mom when I got the text. It was from my wife and it was incoherent. Recently I'd noticed her text messages had become increasingly perplexing, like "What is the PIN", "What is that movie about the windshield wipers" and the

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-22860616474446753812010-05-10T21:02:00.001-04:002010-05-11T09:33:55.245-04:00

The Chancellor was summoned for jury duty last month and of course I thought this was the funniest thing I had heard in a long time until I got mine in the mail a week later. I've always been registered to vote but never had my number picked for jury duty until today. I was to report for the afternoon session today and was part of a group of 40 jurors escorted to a court room in the County

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-32145278003485692762010-05-03T20:41:00.000-04:002010-05-03T20:41:22.449-04:00

The Busy weekend started with a little civil war era dental surgery followed by a trip to the DMV. Could you think of a worse day? The trip to the DMV was for a license renewal and after having a drill and pliers in my mouth all morning, I was dreading what the my new picture was going to look like as your face tends to look a wee bit puffy after that sort of thing. After filling up on Advil and

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-48842514025318834342010-05-02T10:17:00.000-04:002010-05-02T10:17:42.097-04:00

Talk about irony. Yesterday after returning from food shopping at 11:30 AM, I was informed by the Chancellor that both our cars now needed a Graduated Drivers License sticker on the car when ever Youngest son was behind the wheel. The GDL was supposed to be on the cars starting today. It was a little late since Youngest son had already taken the car to go to the SATs. We were a little late.

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-75116979037403347742010-05-01T08:59:00.000-04:002010-05-01T08:59:18.899-04:00

Last weekend the Chancellor and I went to the Manayunk Pub Brew fest with a couple of friends. This is kind of funny since we aren't really beer people. Beer people know the differences between a lager and pale ale but to me they all sort of taste like mucilage with a hint of something like strawberry or  boysenberry. For us it was social event. I'm sorry but I'm just an occasional Coors Light

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-47801765575836183812010-04-06T23:15:00.000-04:002010-04-06T23:15:00.605-04:00

Tonight at 8 I was talking with Don. Don is a 6'5" Native American. Don was telling me that Sioux Lakota were getting rich off the largest oil deposit ever found outside of Saudi Arabia. Don was telling me the oil reserve stretches from North Dakota to Wyoming and is controlled by the Indians. President McKinley knew about the oil reserve and try to pay off the Indian people to buy the oil but

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-38232907578394059652010-03-31T20:00:00.000-04:002010-03-31T20:00:02.797-04:00

Left to right: Cousin Richard's pompadour haircut, Uncle Rico (with Cigarette), Pop (Angelo Terranova), Great-Grandmom, My Maternal Grandfather. A couple of things to note: I had an Uncle Rico. Actually its Enrico (Henry in Italian) and he's my Grand Uncle. I guess after ten kids you start to run out of meaningful names. Uncle Rico is always mentioned at the same time as his older brother

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-729568842503498222010-03-25T20:21:00.002-04:002010-03-25T21:17:14.037-04:00

I moved offices a few weeks ago. I'm still at the same company (sort of, but it's a long story) but we moved floors. If you work in corporate America you understand thus constant: moving offices. We were moved onto what I would call a "elevator crossover" floor. If it were the World Trade Center it would be called a "sky lobby". It's a floor where you can cross elevator banks from the set that

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-79513258772755791692010-03-21T09:02:00.001-04:002010-03-21T09:32:34.514-04:00

This is the first of a series: The Family Slides from 1959 until the 1970's My father shot 35 mm slides from about 1959 until the 1970s and some will be featured here. This (as near as I can tell) is the Quaker City String Band from the 1959 Philadelphia Mummers parade. I'm guessing the that parade took place on Saturday the 3rd of January since the first was rainy and this appears to be the

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-31973161764409812472010-03-20T17:50:00.000-04:002010-03-20T17:50:43.413-04:00

Yesterday at lunch my old Weight Watchers instructor serendipitously sat near me at the Marathon Grill in center city Philly. It's been 3 months since I stopped the program but I am still sort of watching what I am eating. I'm not sure why but I was very self conscience about what I was having with her sitting across from me. I was glad I ordered the special, a grilled chicken thing with mashed

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-24505488642551926282010-03-16T20:59:00.000-04:002010-03-16T20:59:06.386-04:00

I'm still messed up from daylight savings time but I did find all the clocks and change this this year. There is typically that one clock that I find on Tuesday of the change week that I missed. I also usually miss the set back thermometers and wake up to a cold house on Monday morning but I remembered that this year. Sunday was spent changing the Ni-Cad batteries and finding out that the rain

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-27240385873966415622010-03-05T07:11:00.000-05:002010-03-05T07:11:49.129-05:00

1 Lb 95% Lean Ground Beef 1/2 Sweet Onion, preferable vidala 1/2 Red Pepper 1 tbspn oil 2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce 1 can Bush's Chili Magic Chili Starter a pinch of Cayenne Pepper chop the onion and pepper and sauté in the oil over low-medium heat. We are not trying to blacken the onion and pepper here, just soften them. Set aside. Brown the ground beef and drain. Mix in tomato sauce, Chili

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-91721438219766065212010-02-26T21:00:00.000-05:002010-02-26T21:00:00.312-05:00

The winter that won't end was just capped off with the snow storm that won't end. Snowstorm number four met meteorologist's expectations as far as snow totals for our area and it lasted longer than originally anticipated.  The low pressure that formed off the coast was stiff armed by a high pressure area north of Maine. In fact it stiff armed it so bad that it headed inland instead of heading

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-34354241540135102072010-02-21T08:56:00.000-05:002010-02-21T08:56:14.894-05:00

8 AM Sunday Morning. Sinatra is on the iPod and I am drinking coffee. The Chancellor is at her Mothers after seeing old High School Friends last night and I have the morning to myself. I Spent the last few days in Broomall visiting the folks and seeing my siblings and some old friends. It's strange seeing old friends like that after all those years. I spent a lot of time with these people until

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-47035669134180637192010-02-20T17:05:00.000-05:002010-02-20T17:05:42.343-05:00

The big melt is on. Forty something outside today and again tomorrow followed by rain. Gracious of the weather to have slowly melted the reservoir of over two inches of water equivalent rather than a deluge of warm rain that would have surely caused flooding.  There is still a nice snow bank right outside the sliding glass doors for chilling beverages though. Oldest son was came back for a

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-34880212140713361862010-02-13T10:30:00.003-05:002010-02-13T10:30:01.000-05:00

We are finally completely dug out after two incredible snowstorms. The back to back gigantic storms hit us on Friday into Saturday and Tuesday into Wednesday. Incredibly, 4 of the past seven days have had significant snow totals. The Chancellor works in the health care industry which I prefer to refer to as "those that work in their pajamas" since "scrubs" are more like PJs then they are to

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-39544101301175478212010-01-28T10:44:00.000-05:002010-01-28T10:44:29.584-05:00

It's the ipod game! 1. Put your iPod on shuffle. 2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer. 3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS! My friends see me as: Do you want to know a secret, The Beatles My day will be like: Chic, Raphael Saadiq I.ll have a good day if I can just hear: Spider Webs, No Doubt Next time I.m in front of a crowd, I.ll say:

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-3577944321488784112010-01-24T10:36:00.000-05:002010-01-24T10:36:55.637-05:00

Today is the Chancellors birthday and last night Mr and Mrs C took us out to Maggiano's in Cherry Hill. The Chancellor made reservations for Maggiano's on her new iPhone earlier in the week and it was one of those things I just knew was going to end badly. I just knew that making a reservation from you phone is bad idea when you can just pick up the phone and call the restaurant instead. Why add

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-51545928972494751492010-01-17T17:04:00.000-05:002010-01-17T17:04:53.646-05:00

This morning while eating breakfast and reading the newspaper, my wife saw the word "Chancellor" in the paper and declared that she would like to be Chancellor. So I made her Chancellor. Of the Family. I'm not sure what the roles and responsibilities of the Chancellor are yet but I'm leaning towards foreign relations. She can deal with her brothers family while I deal with the more pressing

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-68127102689449197482010-01-10T10:00:00.000-05:002010-01-10T10:00:31.927-05:00

We are not exactly what you might call "early adapters". We usually are behind the curve on picking up new technologies and so it was for bluetooth, the "personal network of devices". We've had bluetooth capable phones for a few years now but still we weren't walking around looking like Lt Uhura nor were we talking to ourselves while walking down the street like crazy people. Until the

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-58154071247559022242010-01-03T13:50:00.000-05:002010-01-03T13:50:03.460-05:00

Look Here

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-1529408877001247422010-01-02T09:15:00.003-05:002010-01-12T08:59:07.443-05:00

We are on the downslope of the Holiday break and are back home trying to catch up from all the travel and eating and more eating. New Year's Eve was spent at my parents house along with 60 close friends. My sister got married. It's a hectic time at my Parents for reasons I won't go into here and then the fact that we were having a Wedding made things just nutty. On the day before NYE (New

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-27798356709906085602009-12-28T19:25:00.004-05:002009-12-28T20:06:33.669-05:00

Today was my annual PC clean up day. Every year after Christmas I spend at least one whole day cleaning up a years worth files, reinstalling a desktop OS or rebuilding a Linux fileserver at home.We used to have a saying at my old job that went like this "Anytime you touch your PC, it's a day". True.This year I finally replaced my creaking HP Pavilion desktop circa 2002 with 3/4 of a Gig of ram

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-52370094619840254602009-12-27T07:35:00.005-05:002009-12-27T08:40:28.135-05:00

Another Christmas is in the books and this was a good one.Christmas Eve was my mother-in-law's 80th birthday which we celebrated at the Melting Pot in King of Prussia. The boy's girlfriends went and my wife felt obligated to point out the parts of the Mall to the girls as if they were components of her home town (and here's the mall and over there is court).She wasn't too happy when I pointed out

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-86081456359379246742009-12-26T07:03:00.004-05:002009-12-26T08:02:13.027-05:00

I can finally discuss the secret project I've been working on now that Christmas has past.It's amazing how I got on secret project. For some strange reason I started looking for a picture of my Father's old 1963 Bonneville sedan and ended up converting all the family slides to digital format. It's like looking on the Internet for a recipe for chocolate chips cookies and getting mesmerized by the

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-87613996034851946012009-12-20T09:07:00.003-05:002009-12-20T11:04:56.849-05:00

Day two of the great snowstorm siege of 2009.We tag teamed periodic shoveling expeditions until 11:30 last night. It was still coming down heavy when we went to bed at midnight.Oldest sons friend stopped by in the early in the evening and is now digging his Camry off the street before the plows make him a permanent fixture on the final Cul De Sac.Questionable judgment wasn't limited to youth but

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-11989280454510645262009-12-19T15:36:00.004-05:002009-12-19T16:19:47.726-05:00

It's snowing. It's winter and somehow this is news. Big news.I woke at 6 and decided it was best to do the food shopping before the snow really hit. I was there as the Shoprite that used to be Stop-n-shop but was a Giant before that opened at 7. It was kind of a mad rush as people were just throwing things in carts and heading to check out as fast as they could. One guy had a entire shopping cart

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-81384026775633937502009-11-27T09:07:00.004-05:002009-11-28T08:28:27.238-05:00

I have walked past Superior Shoe Repair and Shoeshine Parlor twice a workday for the past 10 years and never set foot in the place.With Thanksgiving coming up I decided it was time my shoes got shined and stepped in on my way home from work Wednesday night. It was like walking into another world.I walked in, set my coat on chair covered in 30 years worth of boot black and climbed up high above my

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-25762720975219825892009-11-23T20:18:00.005-05:002009-11-23T21:03:29.704-05:00

It was a busy weekend. I need a weekend from the weekend. At least it's a three day week.I was out Friday night, only to come to our female dog outside and barking. The phone rang the minute I got in and it was our neighbor explaining that the dog had been out since 2 PM barking the whole time. Yes, they bark all the time but usually at something. I'm not sure what she was up to and why she

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-39735724022620967042009-11-14T08:13:00.007-05:002009-11-14T08:47:51.869-05:00

We are just now ducking out from under a nasty Nor'easter that has been sitting on us for the past three days. No real damage here, 50 miles inland, but the requisite pictures of flooding in the shore towns are showing up. Not sure what the pictures mean since sometimes it looks like that after a summer shower but it sounds like they really did get some flooding and beach erosion.The weather

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-29022085297732430942009-11-08T11:30:00.000-05:002009-11-08T11:30:00.167-05:00

My Weight Watchers at Work officially ended a week and half ago but I am continuing on my own.It started with a packed house of 50 women and three men back in August but by the end there were 15 of us and I was the sole surviving male. Needless to say this put me in awkward position, especially in the final session when the leader announced that her boyfriend proposed to her.The ladies went a

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-42286370886898492142009-11-01T09:03:00.004-05:002009-11-01T10:29:47.129-05:00

I ran into a old coworker on facebook a few weeks ago and discovered he was into orienteering, something I've enjoyed from Oldest Son's time in scouts. On Friday, I discovered that both Oldest Son's Troop and my friend were heading to the scouting event in Washington's Crossing State Park.I decided to check it out.If you've never been, orienteering is about finding specific spots on given map in

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-35006424105094819642009-10-24T08:26:00.005-04:002009-10-24T09:53:40.005-04:00

Let me start out be saying that I would rather stick my eyes out with a sharp object or shave with a cheese grater before I do any sort of furniture shopping. That being said, you can understand why it's taken since July to get a bed to replace the one Oldest son took to college.He was coming home for "fall break" and had no where to sleep so the jig is pretty much up and we had no choice. We had

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-66934324712752979422009-10-17T08:28:00.005-04:002009-10-17T13:16:12.561-04:00

This past Tuesday was the long awaited Springsteen concert at the Spectrum. You may recall that in April I made absolute idiot of myself by blurting out something semi-obvious and yet oh so personal about the woman in front of me.This time I was able to keep my mouth shut.The seats were in the row one of the second deck on the right side of the Spectrum. Naively I assumed that row one was in the

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-26060925879270318022009-10-11T09:42:00.003-04:002009-10-11T10:27:01.502-04:00

By time we arrived at John Wayne, Orange County, Santa Anna, Britney Spears International airport brought to you by Disney and ESPN, I had a massive sinus headache. I was sure that I had brought along my over the counter sinus pills but after fishing through my carry on back pack/rolling luggage in a head pounding haze, I could not find a single precious blister pack with magic pills. So you'll

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-33472522333788322832009-10-11T09:39:00.001-04:002009-10-11T09:39:34.321-04:00

IMG_1676:California Trip Mikes PicturesOriginally uploaded by mfalcianIn this shot I've captured "Ari" Falciani demanding that Vince gets a trailer larger than Tom's and fresh papaya and gorilla breast milk every morning.

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-5550954945798828732009-10-09T21:54:00.004-04:002009-10-09T23:25:27.808-04:00

I'm out back by the pool, it's 10 PM and it's 71 degrees out. It's a nice night for October in Jersey but it's not perfect. I'm listening to my California play list and I'm thinking about California where it is perfect. Every single day the weather was perfect. My brother, never a big vegetable guy, keeps Coors Light in the veggie drawer of his fridge. where a direct vent from the freezer keeps

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-37360118157130801262009-10-06T08:19:00.005-04:002009-10-07T00:36:56.488-04:00

Let me start out by saying that if you were in row 5 of Tower of Terror yesterday at 1:30 in Disney's California Adventure and have bruise on your left thigh, it's not entirely my fault.We are on vacation with my two brothers and their wives and yesterday was the Disneyland portion of the trip. My wife had been talking up Tower of Terror for a week in anticipation. She was trying to overcome the

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-75926633918838146532009-09-23T20:28:00.005-04:002009-09-23T21:32:06.671-04:00

We are buying a wood burning stove insert for our fireplace. Actually, we are replacing the one we had for 15 years. It was "installed" by a previous owner and by installed, I mean three large guys picked the behemoth up and slammed it in the 1970's era prefab metal sided fireplace. No flue connection. No insulation. Just a giant metal thing sitting on the brick. Literally. To open and close the

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-720426461697355512009-09-11T22:35:00.004-04:002009-09-12T13:26:59.490-04:00

I'm declaring the summer of Michael officially over as of 9/9/09 and we are now in the fall of Paul.Like the chill in the air and the cooling of the pool, each season brings with it something new and something old departs. So just as when the sidewalk vendors on 15th street took down their Obama shirts and put up Michael paraphernalia in June, I'm moving into a Beatles phase.Hail to all things

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-25131575403932654592009-09-05T07:51:00.004-04:002009-09-05T09:12:15.157-04:00

It always amazes me how the weather in Philly can turn on a dime on the first day of September. Last week it was jungle hot and then Monday morning came with temperatures in the low sixties and massive dew on the cars. Every morning was even cooler that the morning before it with great "sleeping weather".During the days we had what I call "9/11" weather. Bright sunshine with cooler temperatures.

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-75388144213442766742009-08-29T07:53:00.004-04:002009-08-29T09:13:04.701-04:00

Another weekend and Philly stuck between another tropical weather system and a front. This time around it is Bill's kid brother Danny and three quarters of an inch of rain was our reward. I've never seen an August were the grass was a green as April and I am still emptying 3 trash bags of grass clippings. Typically cutting the grass this time of year is more for show. You go out and sweat,

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14541932.post-5798727575189139752009-08-25T20:31:00.003-04:002009-08-25T21:23:18.959-04:00

Yesterday I crossed a boundary I thought that I never ever would. One that I thought I would only cross if forced to, one that I thought was so horrible that I would never, ever like it even if I did cross it.I tried ground turkey in burgers on the grill.Like everyone seems to say, "it wasn't bad".It wasn't dripping down your chin, howling at the moon, mmm good delicious - "it wasn't bad". Nobody

suburbanstorieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08161784234378563921noreply@blogger.com1