Another Lovely Ski Weekend

Yep so I skied. While skiing I spent a lot of time thinking about various subjects and one of these happened to be the similarity between trails skied and setlists for a concert. Okay so at Sunday River there are around 120 trails, it is nearly impossible to ski every trail in one day and you are forced to pick certain trails. Now think of trails as songs, you can't play every song you know at a concert only a limited number. In the skiing of trails you might not get to ski your favorite trails every week and will also end up skiing on some less than desirable trails. The theory holds true for concerts in that you will probably end up hearing a song you don't enjoy, because the artist may not know songs are your favorites. Taking it even further you could break each peak into an album and people tend to ski the newer peaks more often just like a band will play its new stuff more often when a new album is released. Some trails tend to be old favorites which is similar to some songs that always shop up at concerts. There are also the trails you rarely ever ski because they are never open and this would be the same concept as any rare songs which are played only once every few years.

Just some random insight into my mind on a typical day at Sunday River.

So it has been almost a week since I last updated this craziness, but since I have some cool pictures from THE GAME. Yeah I don't know why I keep calling it that, but well I do. The Fighting Injuns actually won this year something like 27-6. Everybody seemed very shocked at this, because it seems like it has been years since they actually won a T-Day game. Chillin' with B-rok and Beans was cool, I got to see Mr. Yeat in person for the first time. Beans had the quote of the holiday,"What's up YEAT!!" Haha, his response was one of confusion it was a classic moment. I then received a call from work and so here I sit in good old Boston. I am hoping I can score and extra day off now that I have come in on this holiday.

Once I get out of here it will be a nice trip home for some dinner and then on to Sunday River for the weekend. Looking forward to joining another mug club at the Grizzly this weekend. Okay that is all, just had to get those pictures out there. Woohoo expenses just finished. Have a great weekend y'all!!!!

Yes I did go skiing this weekend kind of. Travis and I went up, but it was horrible. After all the rain last week it really wasn't worth the trouble so we did a few runs and went back to the house. Rockin party at Amy's house on Saturday for more detail see the photos. Aren't Mark and Kate just the cutest couple ever. Awww!!!

My lack of a car continues and let me tell you it has just screwed up my life in the oddest ways. For example, I am now running out of food at the house because I can't go to the store, I have the pressure of finding a ride up to Maine on the weekends and believe me there is nothing I hate more than getting a ride from somebody, I just feel so indebted to that person. What else, oh yeah, I have to walk to and from the train station which is okay on a sunny morning, but not okay at 12:45 AM in the rain through a sketchy part of Salem. Today I was completely screwed and had to walk from the train to my house carrying a two duffle bags, my work bag and my guitar. It took forever and I was so sore afterwards. The auto body shop won't give me a time, but I am guessing I won't have the car back until the second week in December. WTF am I going to do. Plus how am I going to get to the Bury for the big game. My life has been turned upside down and I don't fucking like it very much.

I did accomplish a lot once I got home. I added about 150 songs to my iPod, including the Central Park show. I also watched about eight hours of the 12 hours of shows I have taped over the last week. I am now up to last week's West Wing. I am determined to get through it all by tomorrow night. I also made some cookies tonight, granted they were the pre mixed kind, but I still had to monitor them in the oven and overall they are okay.

Nice, I think this is my first entry from my apartment, since I apparently don't have time to update at work anymore this is how it will have to be for now.

Two Down, Three To Go

I will abbreviate this story because I don't have time to type out the full good version and I am sure you all don't want to read it anyhow.
-Went to Borders grabbed a ticket to stand in line for the Boyd Tinsley signing.
-Met up with Jeremy and he went back to the dorm to get his CD because no CD = no autograph.
-Went to Starbucks and grabbed a gingerbread latte and the number FOUR of the twelve days of Christmas.
-Returned to Borders and stood in line to listen to Boyd answer questions
-Boyd was within feet of meet and then went to some room for questioning.
-He answered five questions and then we got in line for the signing.
-The line wrapped around the store.
-Walked through the sex section.
-Worked on the crossword puzzle while Jeremy went to McDonalds.
-Walked through the religion section.
-Finally got to the reference section for some help with the crossword puzzle.
-Let the two girls behind me use my phone.
-Discussed DMB and the shows we've been to with my other linemates.
-Made a girl envious because of my iPod.
-Finally got near Boyd and prepared my items for signing.
-In a rush of confusion I met Boyd.
-He signed three things and I told him to keep doing what he's doing or something like that.
-Gathered my things together and took a couple pictures.
-Gave my linemates business cards so they could get pictures from me.
-Went to the end of BoCaNO Thanksgiving.
-Finally walked home from the train station at 1AM.

Ski Season Has Begun

Thats right ski season started for me this past weekend, but I am not going to talk about it. I remember last year how it seemed like every Monday entry was all about skiing and it gets boring quickly. Instead I am just going to include a slide show of the weekend and try to talk about something different. It was a great weekend though, the skiing was fun and staying at the new ski house by was fun. I used the iPod and it was great, getting adjusted to all my new equipment was tricky, but by the end of next weekend I should be all set.

I was in the Bury last night doing laundry and my mom took back her car, at least for today. Fortunately, Caitlin helped me out and gave me a ride back to Salem. She couldn't believe all the crap I had, from my guitar to the single weight my brother let me have for my new in home gym. Thanks so much for the ride. Now for those of you who are real thinkers, you now realize I needed to walk to the train this morning. I wasn't sure how long it would take, so I left a little early i.e. 7:07. The walk took me almost twenty minutes, I am going to have to alter my path and speed things up, I know I can get it down to fifteen minutes. It is good to be back at work, well I say that now I am sure once everybody gets hear I will be singing a different tune.

It seems like I am too busy to come up with something clever, I wish something would just annoy me. Did anybody else see the Bud commercial last night where there were a bunch of people falling over like dominoes. My entire family was captivated and burst out laughing. Haha, too funny!!!

I'm So Excited and I Just Can't Hide It

First of all let me say good things have been happening to me like crazy. First of all I got a promotion, then well I hit the deer, but it will get me a new hood. Next up was the cold weekend which allowed the snowmakers to open Sunday River five days before the original opening day. I will be enjoying the snow on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So as you can see things have been going well, so what else could possibly happen to top all of this great news. Well let me give you a hint picture:

That's right Dave, but since there are so many facets of Dave what is it this time that is causing me such jubiliation. The answer is FRONT ROW TICKETS!!!!!!!!!!! Yes you read it correctly I will be sitting in the front row at "An Acoustic and Electric Evening with Dave Matthews & Friends" at the Fleet Center on December 16th. It will be my first time sitting in the front row since the December 9, 2000 show in Albany and before that the only other time was my best show January 29, 1997 at UMaine. I don't want to get my expectations up, but this show could possibly surpass UMaine. It is an acoustic show so it gets extra points, plus now I know more of the songs, the commute will be relatively easy, which is a big selling point of the UMaine show. Either way I am very excited. Oh yeah and I almost forgot to mention the second row seats I have at the Providence show three days before the Fleet Center show. Boy when it rains it pours.

This smile will not leave my face, I'll be riding this high until 2004.

Wired Again

Do you want to Make Snowflake.

Good times last night. I couldn't wait to get home and get my internet working. Turned on the PC and it was all set, sweet!!!!! I then updated all of my software that has grown old due to lack of internet. My favourite upgrade was for my iPod. There is now a game where the iPod will play a song and you have to guess the name of the song. Its difficult now that I have 1052 songs. The internet makes putting CD's on it much easier, unfortunately I only have two more CD's to put on before I bust into my Dave Matthews collection, which won't be on CDDB. Did some grocery shopping? Listening to music while shopping makes it much more fun, though I am afraid I probably looked like a freak. I made some yummy pizza for dinner and also got to play the guitar, but only for a couple of songs. I have to keep practicing my singing on Gravedigger and Jimi Thing. Two songs down only 100 or so more to go.

Too Busy 'til Now

Many of you know this weekend was mostly spent in the city hanging out with the girls from 100 Beacon and their visitors. Basically what this involved was lots and lots of walking along with lots of eating at various locales in the Hub. Vanessa and I met Lauren and Lindsay at the airport on Thursday morning before I went to work. A huge bunch of us went to Border Cafe that night, especially because of the santas all eating fajitas (photos to be provided soon). Friday night we went to the Kinsale for some very good Irish cuisine, followed by a trip to 100 Beacon Street (photos to be provided soon). Saturday was quite fun, NOT!! I had to sit inside all day long waiting for the cable guy to make install my new digital cable box. He showed up twenty minutes after the 1-3 window I had been given, but no harm no foul. So now I have digital cable and internet, which also means I have less money. I then went to pick up a wireless router at Best Buy before going into the city for dinner with everybody.

We walked in the cold to Chilli Duck on Boylston near the Pru. It was a quaint Thai restaurant, I had their signature dish, Chilli Duck and thought it was okay, except very strange to eat. I periodically went outside to get pictures of the lunar eclipse. My Attempt at Moon Photos I found it to be rather anti-climactic, I am not sure I will go out of my way to catch the next one in six months. Following Chilli Duck we went to see an accapella performance over in Harvard Square. The show was good and there were definitely some interesting people there, Cambridge never fails to provide plenty of classic people, like the waitress who cursed at the bartender and then on the next walk by called one of the girls a Biatch. Haha it was funny. Of course as always I left relatively early and went back home to sleep through Dave Matthews on SNL. It happens every time. Yesterday I had to go home and do laundry, which was as fun as ever. After being there for about an hour a fire broke out in Newburyport and I went over there to take pictures. The fire department did a great job, because by the time I got there it was pretty much out, but I got some decent pictures all the same. Merrimack Street Fire Slideshow
I finished my laundry packed up a bunch of stuff and went back into the city to drop off some stuff including a plastic lawn ornament Santa Claus for Britt. I drove around the Common forever before finding a parking space and then had to carry the Santa through the streets of Boston. I should mention I did see Amy walking around while looking for a space, I almost didn't recognize her with the straight hair. For the rest of the afternoon Britt and I did some good old fashioned cousinly bonding, she read while I went through all of the Emerson students iTunes libraries and played music. I was looking for a classic 80's tune to cover on the guitar. Last year at Suds some kid got up on stage and played some old tune and the crowd just loved it unfortunately I can't remember what song he played. A little help?? Vanessa came back from her meeting and we went to dinner in the North End. The food was excellent, I had the largest Chicken Parm I have ever had at Al Dente. We had some trouble with the bill. Two new pet peeves from this weekend, settling a group tab and how everybody asks what everybody else is getting before they order. Next and final stop appropriately was Finale. The dessert was great as can be seen in the slideshow above, the company was even greater. I parted ways with everybody and went back to Salem to battle with my computer, internet and wireless router.

So typically in my life whenever I try to do anything with technology I am usually missing one part that prevents me from getting it to work exactly how I want it too. For example, everything in my entertainment center uses RCA style cables except for my TV, so I can't really set it up exactly how it should be set up. Another example, I wanted to install the new version of software in my iPod, but my computer didn't have the correct service pack and it didn't work. My internet looked like it my be the same way, but I might be okay. After wokring on it for two hours last night I gave up, because for some reason my laptop's battery can't hold a charge for more than ten minutes. Now this would be fine if I could leave it in the dock, but unfortunately have to bring it over to my television to set it up for the first time. So basically I had to set some of it up, plug it back in and finally when I was almost there, the stupid thing dies again. I gave up went to bed and with the twenty minutes I am allotted in the morning actually got it working. The only thing left is to get the wireless router set up and I will be on my way to LJ updates at home instead of them taking up half of my work day.

The weekend was great, busy and exhausting, but still great. It was great to see Lauren and Lindsay again. It feels strange that I have only met them in person once this summer down in Florida, it seems like I hung out with them more. Weird how things work in this new internet wired world, gotta love IM and LJ's, they connect you to a group of people you may never have known otherwise. It was also good to finally meet Ben and Chris, who were also up visiting from Florida, I had heard there names a lot, but Putting Names To Faces = Always Good. They were definitely on a mission to see Boston, all of Boston before leaving, and from the plan they were talking about yesterday I think they are actually see almost everything. Heck they already saw the self cleaning toilet in action, they didn't actually use it, but put a quarter in anyway to see what it did. Who does that?

The weekend officially put an end to the skiing off-season which officially ended at Killington at noon today. Sunday River will be following suit this Friday. They have been making snow all weekend long and will probably have a handful of trails open for the weekend. Hmmmmm, Friday, maybe I'll, no I couldn't, well I do have mom's car and I will need a head start on the rest of the crew....

Not Much To Say

Scottie sent me this movie this morning and I thought it would be nice to let you guys check it out. Clever and funny end of the world movie

So I still haven't heard a thing about my car and won't today because the lady handling my claim is not working today. I miss it already and for the weekend my mom wants her car back so I will be stranded in Salem or at least only within walking distance of the commuter rail. I will probably be in the city a bunch this weekend to hang out with the collage kids. I love being tour guide, which was obvious when I explained why the tiles in the Big Dig only go half way up the wall.

Okay I am done now. Hope for a nice and short day, it sounds like John is staying late so I can leave earlier than I thought and go to Border Cafe tonight. I'm still trying to figure out how to prevent my jacket and clothes from reaking of fried food, since Border is famous for stinking things up.

Have a great day!!!
Keeg

Promotion

It's about time I got this email from my boss, too bad I had to actually go and argue for it.
I am pleased to announce that Keegan Sands has been promoted to the position of Application Developer 2 in the MFS Fund Group.

Keegan joined the MFS Group in November 1999 as a Fund Accountant and quickly grasped the daily responsibilities of the FA role. While in the FA role, Keegan began to develop simple macros that interfaced with MCH and assisted him and his FA Group in completing some of their daily tasks. His initiative to leverage technology in a useful and meaningful way helped him get promoted to a Technology Analyst 1 in July of 2000.

As a TA1, Keegan worked hard to improve his technical skills by researching different coding techniques that could be utilized in the MFS Fund Group. He used his acquired technical skills and business background to build more complex macros that the MFS Fund Group readily embraced. Keegan always took care to build macros that meet the user requirements and were user friendly. During this time, Keegan also spearheaded the effort to move the MFS Fund Group from Excel based macros to Access based applications.

In November 2001, Keegan was promoted to a Technical Analyst 2. As a TA2, Keegan continued to expand his technical and business knowledge in an effort to make the MFS Fund Group as efficient and productive as possible. He personally developed many of the integral Access applications that the MFS fund group uses on a daily and has modified many of the others.

Keegan has been and is one of the driving forces behind most of the forward progress the MFS fund group makes in terms of technology and new ideas that help make the MFS Fund Group successful. Aside from his technical and business capabilities, Keegan is a pleasure to work with. He is a team player and is always willing to do what it takes to get the job done. Keegan is especially effective in time-critical situations, remaining cool, calm and collective.

I value Keegan�s past contributions and look forward to his participation in future endeavors that the MFS Fund Group decides to work on. Please join me in congratulating Keegan on his promotion.

Oh Deer!!

The sun began to set on another warm autumn day in the western mountains of Maine as I drove down Route 2 contemplating a possible trip home through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I had been up at our new ski house assisting in the installation of a new hot tub and also the completion of some odd chores around the house, the most random of which was vacuuming up bugs from every window in the house. The work went quickly and painless and I even found some time to take a nice little scenic trip up to Grafton Notch State Park. After working at the house I stopped by Sunday River to pick up my season pass to avoid the long lines which would certainly occur when the season finally begins in a few weeks. I filled up my tank in anticipation of a long non-stop trip back towards Massachusetts, the only question was which way to go. The White Mountains while much more fun to drive would take longer and since the sun had nearly set I decided the beauty of the mountains would be lost in the darkness. So I took a left turn off Route 2 and saved the drive through New Hampshire for another day when perhaps daylight would make the longer route seem worth it.


I accelerated after I made the quick corner onto Route 5 because after driving down this road every weekend last winter I was very familiar with almost all of the twists, turns and hidden dips of this obscure back road. It wasn't long before I left Bethel behind and hurtled deeper into the woods, the thrill of driving quickly increased as civilization began to fade away. I was now in the most rural part of the trip where I could really open up and let the turbo engine work its magic. My fun abruptly came to an end when I came to the end of the road and was forced to stop at an intersection. After stopping I made a change of music and put in a different Dave Matthews CD, something more mellow for the sudden change in lightness outside. Tearing out of the stop sign I left Route 5 behind and continued on Route 35 towards Waterford.

It wasn't long before I once again came to an intersection and had to slow down again, immediately following that was a hill with a market on it, once again causing me to putter along at a snails pace. I always get concerned near the market especially on the way up to Maine because it is near the bottom of the hill and you never know where the police are hiding. After passing the market I began to accelerate up the hill, and as I approached the top something jumped out in front of me. I slammed on the brakes, but it was too late and the collision began. The deer hit the front bumper with a loud thud and was thrown out of the way of the car, at the same instant the deer was flying off towards the should I could see the metal Volkswagen emblem flying off in the other direction. The car came to a screeching halt and in my rear view mirror I saw the deer slowly come to rest on the side of the road. He didn't seem to be moving, but my attention quickly turned to my car and what sort of damage had been done. Initially I was angry, not at the deer, but at myself for not being more aware, however I quickly realized there was nothing I could have done to avoid the wild animal which had dashed out into the road in front of me. I turned off the car and through on my hazard lights before jumping out of the car to assess the damage. The hood was badly crumpled, the grill was missing and the radiator was hissing like a soda can with a small puncture. I glanced back towards the deer and he was motionless except for a slight spasm in one of his outstretched legs, he did not fair as well as I did in this incident.

My brain zipped back to reality and I realized I needed to take action about the situation, and I went back to the car to get my mobile phone to call for assistance. I selected the number for VW Roadside Assistance and pressed the send button, only to hear the deafening sound of the no service alert. I was now stuck in the middle of nowhere with a damaged car and no way of contacting the civilized world. After pondering my options for a minute I decided to attempt to start the car and see if it was still in working condition and to my surprise it started and none of the dashboard warning lights were aglow. I made a U-Turn and began driving down the hill towards the market about a half mile back, when a truck passed me in the opposite direction, slowed and then backed down the road. I pulled over and got out of the car to speak with the obviously concerned citizen and to my surprise the truck contained two hunters covered from head to toe in blaze orange. They had some very strong Maine accents and immediately pointed out the obvious.

"So it looks like you hit a deer," said the driver.
"Yep, it jumped right out in front of me, do you guys know what I need to do now?" I replied.
The passenger, looking over at the deer says, "It looks like a young one, you can tell by its small antlers."
"I was thinking about driving down to the market and calling the police, is that the standard of procedure for this sort of thing?"
"Yep, that sounds like a good idea to me," answered the driver.

We went over to my car and they checked out the front of it making comments about what they thought would be wrong. The determined that I needed a new hood and it sounded like my air conditioning needed to be replace, but the radiator might be okay. I thanked them for their help and continued the drive down towards the market. The drive was short and I pulled into a parking space in front of the store, put the car in park and make my way inside to call for help. I stand in line behind some customers and eventually ask the woman behind the counter for help. I ask to use the phone to call the police and tell her how I just hit a deer. She dials the number and hands me the phone on my first 911 call of my entire life. As expected the operator answers with, "9-1-1 what's your emergency?" I tell her what happened and she directs me to a different operator who also utters the same question. I recite the story again and she says an officer needs to come out and fill out a report. The store owner hands me a card so I can tell the operator where I am. I hang up the phone and remember my stepfather is a couple towns away and I should notify him of my situation. My stepfather knew the second he heard my voice something was wrong and said he would be there as soon as possible. I assured him I was alright and to take his time.

The time is now five o'clock, fifteen minutes has passed since my accident and I realize I am going to be here for a while, but since I am not hungry I pass on the Snickers bar and instead go with a drink. As soon as I step into line the two hunters from earlier walk in the door and just stand there looking at me. One of then approaches me and begins to inquire about the deer.
"So are the police on their way?" the first hunter asks.
"Yep, who knows how long it could take."
"We were wondering, do you think you are going to want that deer."
"I don't really know, I guess it is mine though, huh."
"Well if you don't want it let us know."

I left the vultures inside so I could wait for the police to come and fill out my report. It was now almost dark and people kept stopping in to have their deer tagged, because as I later found out it was the first day of hunting season. The proprietors were very excited to hear Melby's Market had the highest number of deer compared to any other deer station under their warden's jurisdiction. I returned to my car to survey the damage and realized I hadn't taken one picture yet, so I grabbed the camera and took a bunch of pictures. Photographing my car was exciting, but after a few pictures I became bored and went back to the front of the store to continue waiting for the police. My two favorite hunters had come outside to wait with me; apparently they really wanted the deer. Finally after an hour the State Police showed up and took my information, he also asked me what I wanted to do about the deer. I told him about the scavenger hunters and he told me it was easier for him if I let them have it. I agreed and he told them they could have the deer. They tore off towards their truck and were out of sight within seconds in search of my deer. The officer then recommended I call to have my car towed since it would take a while for them to show up. It seemed rude to bother the store owners again for the use of their phone so I tried the pay phone outside. It had been years since I had used such a device and the experience helped back up my less than positive view of them. After waiting on hold for what seemed like an eternity of bad eighties music the operator took my call and said a tow truck would be there within the hour.

My stepfather showed up and surveyed the car and also made observations about what was wrong with the car. It seems to be a thing men do when damage has occurred to anything especially automobiles. My stomach began rumbling so I went back inside the market to find something to eat. I went to the counter and ordered a hot dog something I had been craving for some time. The waitress gave me a placemat and I hurriedly completed the word search just before my hot dog was ready. My meal was delicious, I hadn't had a red hot dog in such a long time and it tasted delicious. Upon completion of dinner I went back outside and told my stepfather he should go back to the house and pack things up and then come back and get me since it would obviously be a long time before the tow truck showed up. Two hours had now passed since I hit the deer and I was becoming a little bit anxious about being stuck in North Waterford. In an effort to feel more secure I went back to my car and took out my iPod to listen to some calming music. I was now alone in the middle of nowhere with a broken car, a useless phone and only ten dollars to my name with no ATM in sight. Walking back into the store a man made a snide remark asking me how the hunting was today. I shrugged it off and continued walking toward the very 1950's style counter.

The waitress who had helped me earlier asked me if I needed anything else, and I couldn't resist more food and ordered up some berry pie. We ended up talking about the SAT's and she told me about the two career interests she was considering. It was the first time since the accident I actually had a normal conversation with somebody and it was very relaxing. The pie came and we continued talking about life in Maine and about why in the world I was driving through town. When I began enjoying my pie she returned to the kitchen to work on cleaning up the place for the night. More people came in and enjoyed dinners, the owner was kind enough to point out the fact that I got my first deer today. The parties would congratulate me until she added the key piece of information about how my weapon was my car. They would then show sympathy towards me and remind me how lucky I was to not be injured.

Quiet was only interrupted when the phone would ring, and generally the calls were for me and the inability of AAA to find somebody who wanted to bring my car down to New Hampshire. Finally, they located a man in Fryeburg and he only had one condition, he wanted to pick it up tonight and then bring it to the garage in the morning. It didn't make much of a difference to me since nobody would be doing work on it for several days. I agreed and he said he would be there within the hour, not the first person to make the same promise. Boredom began to set and I thought for a moment I would be stuck in this little town forever and be forced to go and ask for a job at the market to survive.

A few minutes after the clock struck eight the tow truck pulled into the parking lot. Finally, I had some sort of activity to do. The driver took my keys asked me for a couple details and then drove off with my Jetta hanging from his truck. It was a sad moment, but oddly enough not the first time my less than one year old car had to be towed. I returned to the market only to find it was nearly closing time and in fifteen minutes I would have to sit outside. The kind waitress gave me my check and I paid with a generous tip, partly because of the great service and hospitality, but I also didn't want to give up the two dollar bill I had received for change. Closing time finally came and I asked my kind hosts if I could snap a picture of them to help remember my adventure at Melby's Market. They were hesitant but did pose for a photograph. I thanked them for there hospitality and assured them I would be back to try the pizza. The owner said I also needed to come in for breakfast some morning and I promised I would.

The door closed behind me and I was now sitting on a bench in the cold in front of the market. The hunters had all gone home and the only cars left in the parking lot were of the employees who were putting the finishing touches on the closing duties. The night was very peaceful and it seemed strange how the amount of activity had changed so much in the last four hours. In a very short amount of time the market had gone from a bustling hub of activity to a quiet shadow of its former self. While it was now peaceful and quiet I missed the people and commotion I had witnessed upon my arrival. The market I had dreaded and been so bored with earlier was now something of a comfort and I couldn't wait to return; hopefully under better circumstances.

Wait for it, wait for it

So yes it was a rather eventful weekend, so much so that I have to break it into two parts. First of all to keep the story I am going to tell separate from the basic what I have been up to and because I want to get some of this stuff out there now.

The Halloween season was good despite the fact I didn't get dressed up in any costumes this year, though it was from a lack of ideas. On Thursday Britt and Vanessa came up to Salem to check out the scene and while it was slightly disappointing I think it is safe to say everybody involved had a good time. The candlelit tour was definitely a highlight for me, not only because of the scary tour guide, but because so many people had trouble with their candles, from Vanessa dropping her's about two minutes into the tour to the old woman's which caught fire and had to be put out by her daughter. The wax museum was blah and not necessarily worth the six bucks, but it was somewhat informative. Here is the slide show for that Pre-Halloween Slideshow



On All Hallow's Eve I met up with the Emerson crew and went with them while they trick or treated on Beacon Hill. It was a new experience for me since I only know Halloween in Amesbury and was quite impressed by the amount of participation by the people on the Hill. Almost all of the people handing out candy had costumes and even more people had some sort of decorations up. One house actually had a cotton candy machine and was giving out cotton candy. A couple house made the kids put on a little show before they were allowed candy, which allowed Ryan the chance to use his Cuban Rowing team joke. Why doesn't Cuba have a rowing team? Answer: Because all the good rowers are in Florida. The act worked well and helped the candy count. I left Boston on the 9:30 train, which was a mad house because of all the people in costumes heading for Salem. The train was packed and everybody was talking and just having a great time. We finally got to Salem and upon stepping off the train I was amazed to see the people on the platform waiting to go back to Boston. Almost everybody was in costume and they were all a little intoxicated. I decided to walk downtown and just see what the Salem Halloween Scene was all about and boy did I see. Every street downtown was closed and people were just aimlessly walking around checking out everybody elses costumes. Now people have asked me what costumes I saw, but I honestly couldn't tell you because I saw so many. One observation I can make is there were a lot of people dressed in slutty outfits, from slutty nurses to the extremely popular school girl outfit. I did a couple laps of downtown and then went home.

I woke up early on Saturday to go to Maine and help move a hot tub on to the deck at our new house. I got up there at nine and we had it on the deck by 10:30. I then helped do some work around the yard, believe me it was so exciting. I did at one point play baseball with rocks and a piece of wood, until the bat broke. Notice in the pictures how I almost backed my car into a sink hole. Here are some pictures per my mom's request Ski House

Later in the day I went for a ride over to good old Grafton Notch State Park and took some waterfall pictures, which can be seen in the Grafton Notch slideshow I then picked up my season pass at Sunday River and began the long trip back to Salem. To be continued....