REMEMBER THE MAINE

NOPE! This is not a blog about our vacation cause we haven't gone yet! I'm looking at what it is taking to just "go on vacation". Sometimes you wonder if it is worth it and then do you really really rest? Isn't that what a vacation is? Rest? I think not, though I try my best to "rest" I fail at it miserably. I have no one to blame but myself cause I just can't sit still. Sure maybe Day 1 & Day 2 I may just plop my butt in a beach chair and soak up the sun and read a good book (that's one without pictures folks). No, on Day 3 I'm ready to go and that means we leave our little nest we made and explore the area, spend some money, eat some of the area's cusine. Yep, gotta leave those PB&J sandwiches behind, at least for the day.
Oh yes, we will return to our nest for more "rest" but now it has become more of a pit-stop in our ventures through the area. The rest is over except maybe a futile attempt to "rest" a little bit more once a day.

Now don't get me wrong, I love vacations, I love to get away with my adorable wife, (Divadeb) and my 13 year old step-son (Wrestleman) who is a great kid. We do have fun and lots of it. We see what we can see and do what we can do and spend money wherever we can spend money, which of course is everywhere!
Though we went to Vermont last year and we had to struggle to find things to do but that was more our fault due to where we chose to go which didn't fit our stule of living so please Vermonters don't take offense. We will try to do better the next time we visit Vermont.
So tomorrow we are off for out 8 day vacation and if you are really lucky, I won't have a blog about our ventures but no promises. Oh yeah in case you didn't figure it out, we are going to Maine

THE SOS PAD DILEMMA

I have been informed by a knowledgable person, well at least he thinks he is knowledgable. Hell, I don't even know if I spelt knowledgable right. In which case I'll have to find another knowledgable person.

Back top the topic at hand, I've been informed that the use of SOS Pads causes Alzheimers. Yep! Now we know. Stay away from the dishes, no more scrubbing. Men rejoice! Women rejoice! Childrem rejoice!

Yep, poor Ronnie Reagen was one of those who got Alzheimers from cleaning all those pots and pans in the White House on his downtime.

How do we injest this product? Simple, the product is made of steel wool with the operative word "steel" here. The steel gets wet and what happens when steel gets wet and is allowed to dry? It oxidizes or simply forms rust which then can becomes dust (rust dust)(Hey! a good name for a rock band) that floats through the air and we breathe them in and hence achieve Alzheimers.

So I need to ask you. Are you willing to give up your SOS Pad for the sake of your memory or are you a trooper and will continue to use the memory masher?

Need to learn more about the dreaded SOS PAD go to: http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/sos_pads/ and learn all you need to know about the SOS Pad.

NOW I SEE YOU, NOW I DON'T

My left eye has been bugging me the past few days. A little irritation from what I don't know. I wear contacs and I tend to wear them longer than I probably I should, but I figure they still work for me plus I'm cheap. So maybe the overused contacs have caused the irritation.

With this irritation I have been washing out my eye with a name brand eyewash and it has really helped. One of those times I was washing my eye I opened my left eye while washing it in the solution which is in an eye cup and is then placed over the eye for the wash. I opened my eye.

I saw nothing. I was blind in my left eye. It gave me such a start until I realized I was covering the whole eye cup with my left hand. Breathe a sigh of relief.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE EMBERMEN FIVE?

Anyone remember the Embermen Five? I do as I was once an extension of that group sort of. The Embermen were a rock group from the 60's from the great state of North Dakota. The group emulated The Beatles more than any thing but played many songs from other groups as well as their own material. I came across their web site today which is at: http://www.break-a-way.de/pages/embermen/ember1.htm So I start reminiscing.

So if you want to read up on the group, be my guest. I digress. I said I was an extension of that group and I was. The Embermen's Drummer (Herb) formed another group that emulated the sound of the group CHICAGO. Herb never played in the group but was out arranger/composer. That's where I came in, I played Trumpet. That was my 15 minutes of fame. The group was called "Pierson Lake" named after a lake somewhere in Canada. We were a rock band with brass, a one of a kind at that time for North Dakota. We not only played Chicago music, we also did BS&T, Beatles (with & without brass), Bee Gees, even a little Country and anything top 40 that would fit our genre. We also recorded a couple records during our brief existence and they even made it on the North Dakota charts be it briefly.

The group could have gone somewhere professionally but as with a lot of groups there was a lot of friction within the group as well as outside influences. We were all in our late teens, early 20's and hadn't grown up yet and slowly the group disbanded and went on to other ventures with many of us staying close to the field of music.

It was a fun time in my life and always wanted to play in a rock band. I had my chance and did it. I only know of the whereabouts of a couple members from the band as I have lost contact over the years. It was nice to live out what could have been a fantasy for me. Glad I'm back down to earth.

My love for music will never die and Pierson Lake will always have a small place in my heart. Three Cheers for the group "PIERSON LAKE"!!!

OF COURSE I'M HERE

Killing a little time today before we head to our son in laws' birthday bash I decided to do a little web surfing. I started with my name just to see what pops up. Well guess what? I'm dead, but I'm not, nor am I even close, but there it was for all to see. Kind of makes a person think a little about one's self existence. I'm just one person out of billions that have lived on this earth and for me to even find my name on the web was exhilarting, but you gotta be dead first? I don't think so. Well I'm sure you figured out by now that this was another person with my same name that died. God rest his soul and I'm sure glad it isn't mine, yet.

So for all you people out there who thought Seltaeb was no longer of this earth will have to wait a while longer. So keep those e-mails coming. Hmmmmmm, no wonder my e-mails have slacked off lately. yet another mystery solved!!! Seltaeb lives!!!

Oh yeah and that put an end to my name surfing.

COFFEEMAN DOWN!

My coffeemaker died and I'm in mourning. I thought everything was going along quite well. I did nothing out of the usual, said good morning to it,I filled it with water, gave it three scoops of coffee grounds, switched it on. It Made one cup and it stopped.No more. Man I've done everything except throw it out the window and that's next.

I think it's a little ticked at me as I brewed a pot of coffee last night to make some ice coffee today. Now why it would be ticked at me for that I have no idea, unless it doesn't like Hazelnut. Nope can't be as I've used that before. Thought maybe it was looking for a little culture so I even danced the Macarena in front of it. Nothing, not even a gurgle or a hiss. I'm stumped.

Now I don't ask for a lot in life but I do need my coffee in the morning. So I'm hoping this isn't a clue as to how my day is gonna go. Maybe I should crawl back into bed and try this all over again .............................................................................................................NOPE! Didn't work, coffee maker is still dead. I'm worn out! Looks like a Dunkin' Doughnuts run, hope they don't mind I'm still in my jammies.

IZ He Or IZ He Not

Recently my lovely wife and I watched the video "50 First Dates" starring Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore. We both loved the video. Thought it was a very sweet story and being we are both romantics we have a soft spot for those type of movies. Anyhow, I'm not going to talk about the movie, as I'm sure you've all seen it. But what I want to bring to you attention is the last song in the movie while they are running the credits along with some additional footage (outtakes). Do you remember the song? "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". No, No, not the Judy Garland version, this one was sung by an Hawaiian named Israel Kamakawiwo'ole or IZ for short.This song is performed with IZ singing and playing the Ukelele. IZ was possessed of a voice so sweet, so tender, and so lovely that it continues to deeply stir those who hear it long after he died. I have never heard of this man until I watched the video of the movie and heard his rendition of Rainbow. I fell in love with his version and wanted to know more about the man. You can too, by visiting a couple sites:http://www.geocities.com/~olelo/iz-themanandhismusic.html or http://www.mele.com/Farewell/tribute.htm and learn about this extraordinary man.

I like to buy soundtracks of some of the movies I watch as I may like the compilation of the music in the video and it's a way of my remembering that particular video. Sadly though, Over The Rainbow is NOT on the Soundtrack ..............which leads me to my next topic.

Why call it a Soundtrack when (a) the music in the movie is not on the soundtrack and (b) the music isn't even IN the movie and it's on the CD. There is this little saying, "Music inspired by the movie".

Man, I remember back when Soundtracks were what they are.............. Soundtracks. Sound tracks from the movie DUH!! Remember Hollands Opus? There were two Soundtracks, one with the Vocals and one with the Background Music. Now THAT"S a soundtrack. That's TWO Soundtracks. Even The Beatles got it right by including not only their top selling tunes but also some of the background music. Back then they turned me on to Wagner and I didn;t even know it until years later when I started studying music.

I know , I know, it's all in the commercial aspects of selling the accompanying CD, but for Gods' sake, put the music in the CD that was in the movie, don't give me this "inspired" crap. Don't be afraid to add some of the "filler music" as there is some nice stuff being written and performed that doesn't get its' due.

Oh, and as far as buying the CD Soundtrack of "50 First Dates"? NADA! I found "Rainbow" at the iTunes shop and I now have it nicely nestled amongst my iTunes in my iPod. I'll make my own Sountrack, thank you.

HAPPY JULY 5TH

I Know, I know,what happened to July 4th? Well, I don't know, it's all a blur. Granted I know what I did on July 4th but it sure didn't seem like July 4th. It seemed just like any other day except this was a Sunday, we went to church, we did our weekly "run" to Blockbuster with a stop at Dunkin' Doughnuts for iced coffees/carmel swirls lattes. And I grilled a mess of hamburgers, ate outside and had a nice time visiting with Divadebs' Mom and Dad. Oh almost forgot to mention, we did go to Home Depot though and bought some border for our bedroom and some paint. Which leads me to my next meander.

Why do they have people hired at Home Depot? Shortly after we arrived at Home Depot, Divadeb and I had picked out our borde. We were left alone and found what we needed in just a few minutes and this was great. Now came the time to find some help. No one was to be seen except for one salesperson, who was busy with another customer so being the gentlemen I am I didn't interrupt, I'll wait my turn and he saw me waiting. Well he finished with the customer and then excusing himself form that customer disappeared. Wha happened??? Now what was running through this guys brain anyhow. Let's see...........Hmmmmmm.........Okay I'm helping this guy with his purchase but now there's another guy waiting to be helped. What do people think I'm here for? I've done my 5 minutes of work and I'm due for a 15 minute break and by God I'm gonna take it. This guy can just keep on waiting or find someone else. So I'll shake this guys hand and disappear into the bowels of the store. And that is exactly what he did, I never did see him again.

But then I figured something out. I knew someone had to come back to this spot cause that is where the computer is and where all the orders are taken. So I went and hid amongst the wallpaper samples of Home Depot and sure enough first one worker came and then another appeared. Ah-Ha!!! I had two Home Depot employees in the same spot, an unheard of thing, but it happened! Right before my eyes. Trouble is, nothing was going to happen, these were two males, pretty useless in the area of wallpaper. But I moved in nevertheless and even though they saw me, they continued their male banter for another 5 minutes before I said "EXCUSE ME". Oh, one said, "Do you need help"? No! I came here to see if two male Home Depot employees will try to mate". "Of course I need help you numbnuts." So what happened? They both diappeared with one promising to bring back the perfect person for the job.

True to his word the right person did come to help and we got our order done and all was well once more. Oh, did I mention that the Home Depot employee that finally ended up helping us was female?

PS. I also realized why the computer area is a favorite spot. It's the only place in the store where there are chairs!!

THE SIXTH SENSE?

Don't ask. This post has nothing to do with "I see dead people"(well not really). In fact it's about my lovely wife, Divadeb.

Today is one of the happier days of my life. The day I married her six years ago. Even though we have been married six years I feel I've known this woman all of my life. From the first time I gazed into her eyes I knew I knew her. Which is strange in itself as she lived in CT and I ,at the time lived in ND. So we always kid ourselves and say we met in a past life. Who knows?

She is a sweetheart, a very caring and sensitive woman who loves God, her family and of course, me. She is not only my wife but she is my best friend, my partner, my critic, my supporter, my advisor and my lover and I try to be that to her also.

Even though we married later in life as we were both widowed we know our limitations on our celebrations, such as we know we probably won't make our 50th Wedding Anniversary, so we celebrate or at least observe each month, so if my math is correct, we are now celebrating our 72nd (Month) Wedding Anniversary.

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart, I Love You.