Happy St Paddys Day !!!

St. Paddys day is here .I`ll be going to work but
...I felt I should acknowledge my Irishness ...Born Kevin Patrick Beary I must give a nod to the Saint that inspired my middle initial. Thinking of myself as Irish (which is rare that I do so) makes me think of my grandfather (may he rest in peace) playing some old Clancy Bro`s records ...we would eat corned beef with cabbage and real mashed potatoes. He would also have us eat Irish Soda Bread with a THICK slab of butter on it. That was Irish to me...the drinkers in my family had long hung up their tankards by this time due to necessity.

I also must proclaim aloud my intention to renew my New Years vows ...March 15th - I will again 6/15 and 9/15th - I believe thusfar I have been successful having lost 18 pounds and continuing to work out. I intend to continue going to the gym 3-4 x a week and continuing our active weekends filled with hikes and walks.
Hopefully my 6/15th post will show my continued resolve.

I got my Amazon Kindle !!

I just received my Kindle and already have about 50 books , mostly free from various free-book sites such as manybooks.com and feedbooks and so forth. What is a kindle you say . Just go to Amazon and you`ll find out all you need to know about this coolest gadget of all gadgets. It is an e-book reader that can purchase and download books thru its own fast and FREE 3G internet service. It can easily hold 1500 books or more. An entire library in your hand. You need to see the screen to see why IPOD or Palm readers just will not cut it. I love the Kindle !!!!

UR by Stephen King

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
My first kindle book that I read thru. Stephen King writes a novella starring the KINDLE> At first the novel feels a bit contrived but he does turn it into a story. Its a quick read ...I paid $4 to download it ...it was mostly worth it for the novelty of it but I can`t say it was a bad story. He does reference a bit of History , American lit and such which I found interesting.

Kasualkafe.com


View all my reviews.

A nice little hiking trail

Never knew it was there behind busy hartford tpke in manchester ct
see the Kafe`s Connecticut page - 2/20th for info on the trail

Crashed up the REX

Went to the white mountains in New Hampshire last weekend for a 3 day snow filled adventure. It was an adventure. Day one , did some wonderful snow shoeing in Franconia Notch State Park , saw the flume - a frozen waterfall and gorge crevice - very cool. Drove down scenic Kancamagus highway and hit some trails there including another frozen waterfall - sabbaday falls. Stayed at Woodstock inn which owns a few old houses around itself- we stayed in the building across the street. It was nice ...nothing to jump for joy about. After a long day of snow shoeing - we looked forward to the health club they advertised that was within walking distance with gym equip. , pool , and hot tub. It turns out that the walking distance health club is no longer available but we were given a pass and parking certificate for the gym at Loon mountain (10 min drive) - We were given pretty inept directions , pulled onto the roadway for the mountain resort (jam-packed to all hell at 4ish with people leaving en-mass) and promptly got lost within this mass. Despite all the people leaving , the area that we believe the gym was at was completely full. All parking under garage required one to pull in , drive to the rear , realize that there are no spots , and then perform a 12 point turn in order to turn around unless you decided to slam the car in reverse around corners at breakneck speeds in frustration as was performed by myself during the 3rd or 4th attempt. I promptly screamed and cursed and tore off thru parking lots , and slammed on brakes and then slammed on gas pedal and then yelled and screamed at Lori , and cursed the witch at Woodstock inn who provided us with improper info. Went back to room , took a nap , felt better and ate a nice dinner at the Woodstock brewery. We were on diets up until this time so having a steak dinner was quite a heady experience.
After our excellent breakfast (included) we headed up north to Bretton Woods , New Hampshire for some cross country skiing. It was about 40 degrees and raining , much warmer than the previous day , but the rain was supposed to stop. As we got near Mount Washington the weather changed to ice and sleet and finally snow. As we entered bretton woods nordic center , right across from the beautiful Mount Washington Hotel , we plunged into a blizzard , high winds and driving snow. Having never cross country ski`d before , and with the winds causing the pelting snow down every nook and cranny of our outfits , we decided that this was not the day for beginners to learn to x-c ski. Yes, we wimped out.
We headed back to the hotel. My intention was to attempt going to the gym again after securing explicit directions from the inn owner. The blizzard did not relent and soon the highways were covered with slick icy snow , unmolested by plow or sand , as the storm came quick and heavy.
Apparently one can get whiplash driving at speed of only 15-20 MPH despite having 3 car lengths notice and attempted avoidance of instantaneously non-moving vehicles in front of us. We ended up the 3rd car in a 4 car pile up. There was a 5th car , we found out later , that caused this episode by sliding into a guard rail in a one lane area of the highway causing car #1 to slam on brakes to avoid hitting him , cars #2 to promptly crash into him , whilst I hit my brakes , downshifted , released brake and attempted to slide my way around car #3 ....unsucessfully ...causing # 3 car to slam into # 2 car whilst # 4 car crashed into my side. You may have noted that I said it was a 4 car pile up , that 5th vehicle drove away unscathed and unidentified. Did you catch all that ?
Everyone was o.k , Lori and I didn`t know there were any physical issues until much later and we have since recovered. Just had some stiff and uncomfortable neck issues for a few days. Front left corner of car and hood simply crumpled , battery fell out ...side doors were pushed in ...i`m guessing not totaled but the subaru WRX is Effed up. A few $60 cab rides , a partially paid rental that I can`t return in ct but must return either in NH or upstate mass (I thought enterprise was nationwide ...guess not) and a ruined weekend later , we made it home. I have no status on the car as yet as the insurance company dropped the ball on having the adjuster out to look at it. I just know its gonna cost me money. The accident is not my fault but I have a feeling its going to cost me my 1000 dollar deductible on collision. I am hoping it will be totaled so I can get a Subaru Forester (so I can put kayaks on it). Then I won`t have to drive back up to NH to get my repaired but value-diminished WRX. I expect to get screwed on this as well. I`m hoping this is one of the few times my negativity is unwarranted and inaccurate.

Politics is Frustration

We have the best political system in the world , but when you watch the wheels turn it can seem the most ridiculous and ineffectual mechanism of governing.
Obamas message of forgetting politics and getting things done was a great campaign speech but it doesn`t happen in reality. In truth 40-48 percent of government want HIM TO FAIL.. Limbaugh even said it out loud on the radio. They are rooting against America`s success. It is better for their ideology for us to suffer so they can regain power. Thats what our political system is made up of. Its kinda crazy.
It is more important for congressman to make a personal statement then to assist in creating good legislation. The republicans are going to lose their case with the stimulus and instead of working on a plan they all can live with they are simply going to go on record as opposing some aspect of it. 8 yrs ago , it was the other side hoping Bush would fail.
There is no alternative governmental system that I prefer , ours is the best system in the world , its just that even as the best , on a scale of 1-10 , it tops out as maybe a Six...
I am not exactly sure where I stand on the massive government intervention of the last year but do believe some form of stimulus is a good thing right now and just hope the ugly back and forth we see on the News will eventually bear fruit for the good of America.

cradle of filth

We went and saw cradle of filth

Its a black metal goth band that we saw at Ozzfest a few years back and loved. They are also played on XM radio a bit and we were kinda psyched to go see them , enough to drive to the Paladium in Worcester.

Now , I`ve always known that the majority of young adults in Worcester are drunken idiots , I still am always surprised at their proliferance , year after year , churning out new ones to mingle with the older drunken idiots generally found in Worcester. This show was especially filled with a multi-variety of drunken , stumbling , slurring morons. Not that we are unused to seeing a few at the many concerts we`ve been in , it just seems there are always so much more of them here , and so much drunker . There was just one such punk , who while we watched the concert from a raised platform toward the back , sat at loris feet , and promptly puked on himself.
After his escort we went on to enjoy the show until .....

They were these 3 incredibly moronic fans hovering behind us. More moronic than the usual fare. These 3 all shared the same brain cell and weren`t even bright enough to know they should fight for it. Our ape ancestors would be ashamed to call them biolgoically superior descendants. One gets used to a few yells , and hell yeahs at concerts ....after a few of those , you kinda tune it out and go enjoy the show. But it was difficult to ignore their horrifically ignorant , or obvious , or moronic remarks screamed at the top of their lungs. To give the exact details of these utterances would probably do you damage so I shall spare of such horror , but you must understand my point. I cannot begin to explain the unintelligible conversations they were having with eachother ...Looking at them did not dispel the perception one iota , they were fat , open mouthed breathing , drippy lipped slurring and seemed to be semi-retarded ...actually thats an insult to the mentally challenged. They were DUMB> Really , really dumb .... Have I made my point ridiculously clear. Well , If THEY read this rant , it would not penetrate their minds as to how dumb I proclaim them to be.

Sorry , I might have gone a little overboard on that little shpiel , HELL NO I DIDN`T..

Anyway , the show was good but not great. The sound was so-so and the lead singers mic was just not loud enough .. you couldn`t hear his yells and growls and the keyboard chics haunting voice didn`t sound as good live .... There wasn`t much theatrics like the ozzfest show which had half-naked hotty chics climbing 15 foot curtains and doing kinda strip pole stunts with them. They did have really sick looking videos and artwork depicting all sorts of depraved acts upon the curtain screen behind the band. We apparently most like their newer stuff that has more baroque orchestral sounds and keyboard with the chic backup singing to go along with the crunchy ....

First Ski weekend of the year

Feel free not to read the following because it is not interesting but I felt I must journal this episode as to remember it in the future.

Went to Stratton Mountain ,vt for the weekend and stayed at the inn on the mountain. Planned on Lori to take ski lessons but we didn`t make it in time coz it takes over an hour to get rentals ...sux
I had a relatively nice day of skiing despite the frigid temps , except towards the last hour plus of trying to get off one side of the mountain back to the main lodge , only to find myself back on a trail leading to that same wrong side of the mountain. With no exaggeration , I spent 1 hour out of 1 hour and 7 minutes either on a lift in 17 degrees weather or on a quad burning connector green trail ,skate-skiing so as to avoid an absolute standstill...
We also wimped out on the x-country ski lessons I planned on , sunday , as it was snowing and windy , and my all wheel drive subaru almost didn`t make it out of the inn`s parking lot. Took three attempts to get up the icy hill... We ended up doing some snow shoeing instead at Fort Dummer state park in brattleboro , vt and had a nice lunch in greenfield , mass ...a quaint college town that may or may not have a college.
We even hit the gym that sunday evening when we got home , and I did 24 laps in the pool (brando told me I should swim and he was right) which is probably the most swimming i`ve done since I was a kid (I passed a lifeguard test as a young punk but never bothered lifeguard-ering) - So despite not eating all that wonderful (we did pack some good for us food but had difficulty with dinner options) I lost another pound ... I`m officially 5 pounds lighter than when we started dieting , Jan 5th. Lori , complainedly , only managed to avoid gaining weight over the weekend weighing in at .......____(yeah right , she`d kill me)

Fat til the Fifth !!!

Lori and I during the holidays have decided that we werent going to make our selves crazy worrying about calorie intake. We have been going to the gym relatively regularly , but have not been eating consistently well. So , Lori came up with FAT TIL CHRISTMAS !!! Woohoo , all worries are tossed out the window , anytime we considered skipping ...say ...french fries with a burger we yell Fat til Christmas , and doggone it ...order them damn fries.
Its such a liberating feeling to relieve oneself of the guilt associated with naughty food choices. Simply exclaim our Mantra , sometimes very loudly and in a high pitched voice , FAT TIL XMAS !!!! and order away , or submerge it in oil , or bathe it in butter , or smother it with sausage gravey ... woohooo Fat til hmmmm.....
We realized that it is still holiday season after xmas , after all Lori and I are off work most of new years week... fat til xmas will not work. There is still a week of holiday before the obligatory new years resolutions. Aha !!!
FAT TIL NEW YEARS !!! - heee haww !!!
And Fat til new years became the new thought of the day , the new style , the new fit (or not so fit). Fat til New Years lasted until ...about ....New Years.
Now.... Hungover , with more Vacation time til we have to get back to full work weeks ,starting on Monday , Jan 5th....We realized that another change must be implemented , one that truly fulfils our goals and expresses our deepest feelings. .
FAT TIL THE FIFTH --- Yes , thats it , we do not need to deny ourselves in the face of a FAT breakfast following a night of drinking. AFter all , how can one diet when hung over. Need to eat those queasies away. So Fat til the fifth it is.
We did consider FAT til February but felt that may be pushing it. As it is ,it is feasible that we will for all that be Fat til February despite our fortuitous attempts of
de-fat-ifying from the Fifth Forward.

Sledding after the 1st winter storm

In anticipation of this seasons first storm , I bought some sleds for Lori and I to play with when winter inevitably destroys most outdoor activities with its cold temperatures and snow fall. I figured we would maybe do some snow shoeing this year and maybe some sliding down some snowy hills would be fun and keep us active throughout the winter. I bought one sled that was more like a boogie board for like $40 and then a cheapie round sit-on jobber just in case the boogie board one wasn`t all that. Coz I`m shmart !

We went to Wickham park in East Hartford , ct , where others with similar plans , were trekking with their families to enjoy a day of sledding. Lori and I went and dragged our ass up past these families up wickham park hill , Lori with my cheapo round seat sled and me with my high-end multi-handled boogie board sled ; upon reaching the top , out of breath , and lower backs screaming ,we hopped on our respective sleds and promptly sunk into the snow.
Have you ever seen a snowboarder stranded on a flat area of a mountain ? They either must hop their way to a decline or make themselves prone and drag their way to a more favorable location.
So here we were , Beached , already prone , both hopping and dragging our way down the hill , still out of breath from the climb. Eventually we catch a patch of sufficiently packed snow at an appropriate angle that enables our fat asses to descend at a child-like speed of a mile or 2 an hour.
Encouraged by this achievement , modest though it was , we cheerily charged back up the hill a little further. This quickly ignited those aches and pains previously experienced , and again with labored breath we geared ourselves for another exhilarating ride. By this time , numerous families were dragging their children in sleds up to our very spot , no doubt realizing their error in attempting to sled at their previous lower altitudes. I`d say there were a dozen or so , little brats included , traipsing up the hill and clogging the slalom lane. I , confident in my sledding and steering abilities , took a running dive and slid down the hill ....weeeeeeeaaahhhhhh , I was going appx the same speed down the hill as the children , dragged by their fathers , were making their way up the hill... DAMN !!!! This %*&&*^ Sucks and I shouldn`t have bothered to *&%^^&(* and other profanities and complaints.

Meanwhile , Lori , fearful of hurtling thru little kids at breakneck speeds (yeah right) , opted to wait , and wait and wait , while I , flailing and cursing at the base attempted to goad her into action ....fruitlessly ... I gave up , whipped my sled thru the air towards the woods and stormed off. Lori promptly started trudging down the mountain , sled in hand , cursing my temper. She did retrieve my sled from the woods , met me at the car , and wordlessly we drove off. I drove to her sisters house , who has kids , and dropped the sleds off in her foyer.
Sledding Sucks !

The Holidays are almost here , wheres the cheer ?

For the 1st time in a number of years , I have felt like the holiday season was going to be enjoyable. I watched some xmas shows . I enjoyed the little bit of shopping I`ve done. I`ve listened to some xmas music , including some traditional orchestral , and enjoyed it.
I have always bah-humbugged every year , generally getting sort-of depressed during this time. Last year , we even had a family xmas cancellation which didn`t help.
But ... one of the things I have always looked forward to despite my skepticism of the holiday was some time off of work as we generally shut down a number of days during the holidays. NOT THIS YEAR ... I can`t get any plans together , I`m missing out on the few things that sound cool and can`t motivate myself to come up with something fun.
I must get myself together and plan something cool for the holidays to do or I will lose my mind.

Ebay is addicting !

I havent touched ebay in like a year . Its too easy to spend money , ya know. But I did end up doing some x-mas shopping on ebay this year and kinda got suckered into buying stuff for myself- Merry Xmas to ME !!
Did get some killer deals on cyber monday - got 30% money back on ebay - They give you the money into your paypal account , so you have to spend it , right !
Got a new 22in computer monitor - flat screen , finally - $140 - shipped !! Then the next thing you know I`m bidding on stuff , getting outbid , and then going Aggressive !! - I think I may not have had as good deals on the other purchases. Can`t talk about those til after x-mas -
Happy Holidays , stay away from E-Bay , Its the male version of QVC

Black Friday

A few people getting trampled has got to be good for the economy , right.

A 34-year-old male employee was pronounced dead an hour after shoppers breached the doors to the shopping center in Valley Stream, Long Island, about 5 a.m. Friday and knocked him down, police said.

Click here for photos. - (no there were no photos of the trampled so I didn`t post it. )

"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," Jimmy Overby, the man's 43-year-old co-worker, told the New York Daily News. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too ... I literally had to fight people off my back."


What I get from this story , is that the state of the economy is sound. The consumer , who drives 2/3 of our economy is back and on a rampage.
In this free for all - free market , darwinian culture , one less impoverished walmart worker who collects from the state can also only improve the economy.

Wedding Photos are up

Finally have the wedding photos up - Visit the Kasual Kafe Gallery

They don`t get it

At the gym this AM , on the treadmill , watching the news -
The CEO`s of the Big Three auto co`s flew to Washington on their private jets to ask Congress for money.
They spent $20,000 to fly , had a limo waiting for them , to show up to Congress with their tin cups. Disgusting.
They just don`t get it . One would think with all the marketing , sponsorships and PR they do , they would understand that PERCEPTION is everything. Talk about entitlement culture , it has reached the TOP as well and is even more repugnant than the usual suspects.
AIG , got caught with their pants down too a few weeks back , but they were doing something that was planned for months in advance as incentive for top earners. That still was a poor choice.
Who are these multi-millionaire managers that blunder there way through the business world , who recieve ridiculous bonuses for deteriorating the companys worth. I want an interview , damn it. I`m sure I could`ve lost the shareholders money at least as rapidly as they have.
We must not enable these companies by providing them with undeserved relief. Any bailout would come at the expense of those who did nothing to cause this auto mess.

Rhapsody Music

"1. Complicated - The Cliks
Testing Rhapsody to Blog"

clicking the title is supposed to send you to a link to play the song. Hopefully it works.
This is a chick band that Lori got me to listen to , I ended up liking it.

Brock Lesnar stops Randy (The Natural) Couture via TKO at UFC 91

Couture held his own for a round and a half , even bloodying Lesnars eye but just couldn`t hang with the beast. Couture at one point looked like he was going to pick up Brock , It seemed to me like such an unnatural sight as Brock sort of got lifted , one leg in the air and arms and shoulders up like he was gonna go , and then NO..Leg down , Couture couldn`t pull it off.
I noticed that Brocks head doesn`t move even when his body jigs back and forth coming forward for a strike , I was thinking Couture might be able to exploit that but he didn`t get the chance. I think Couture was stung twice before being knocked out. He took a shot from Lesnar , shook it off and belatedly his leg bucked but he recouped real quick , it was right around then that he returned the favor by bloodying Lesnars eye. He also looked like he got hit good with a knee , a little bit before the glancing Ham Hock of a fist against his ear put him down. Brock still doesn`t really know what to do with a guy on the ground but I guest slamming his Lunch Box sized fists , hammer fist style repeatedly on someones head is a fair submission move for a guy of his stature.

I love Couture , he has helped make this sport and had some exciting fights , but Lesnar just seems so much more dynamic and exciting , watching him grow in this sport. Many Couture fights were greco-roman clinches which isn`t very exciting. I look forward to future fights of both , Bring on Fedor.

KB

Election Day

I`m looking forward to the end of the political rhetoric , euphemisms , meaningless campaign sound bites and blatant false generalizations rampant in this years campaigning.
I`d say , tomorrow we can move on , but the defeated in this campaign will not intend to remain so. They will be vocal , scornful and persistent.

OBAMA !

KB

New England Foliage

Had a good weekend , did day trips to western mass and eastern ct , see Mass page and connecticut page for details and visit the gallery for beautiful pics

Fall Foliage

Went on our first fall foliage trip ... I may have seen fall foliage , but never actually made a weekend around it.  We went to brattleboro vermont.  We had a great trip.  See travel page , vermont for the details 

Definition of PRAY :

 To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled on behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy.  

Ambrose Pierce , The Devils Dictionary

The World is a Mess !!

  We are fighting two wars with troops , cold war is back on with Russia , Our allies are not our allies (pakistan) our enemies are as sworn as ever - Iran , Korea.  Europe is indifferent or mildly hostile to the US .  
Our economy is falling apart .,...Stagflation , rising prices with falling wages and diminished growth.  The government is bailing out Major coporations with taxpayer money and deficit borrowing (aig , freddie and Fannie mac)  
  The presidential race is mind bogglingly backwards and confusing.  Conservatives , normally frowning on young unmarried and pregnant women , are now in defense of the Palins , arguing that these things happen even in the best of families while the left is denouncing the pregnant daughter as a bad example for todays youth.    
  The right , traditionally anti-feminist , are louding Palins heroism in pursuit of a career while raising 5 kids whereas liberal feminists are suggesting that her ambition makes her either an absentee mom or a distracted vice pres.  
  One day , republicans say that lack of political experience is a major flaw ; Democrats say it frees you to see things anew.  Now its the other way around.  
Vote Obama for change.  oh wait ... Vote McCain for change.  
  Well somethings gotta change
KB

The end of summer

The end of summer labor day trip to Rhode island sucked .. No waves , No Fish , too windy , too crowded I`m incapable of having fun.  

Summer is over , Fall is here , work is getting ridiculous busy and stressful.  
Good News JETS WIN - Go Favre !!
KB

We have a new baby kitty

We have a new baby kitty I took home monday.  Our two cats do not like this kitty as of yet , they hiss and growl and Meeaarrrwww ! at it.  I hope we can get them to get along before this weekend as I booked Lori and I a beach vacation in Rhode Island for Labor Day Weekend.  
kB

summer fun

Couldn`t fish at misquamacut so we went a mile down the road to weekapaug , quieter beach , fishing off the rocks (no action - one guy told me only good in fall)  
No waves either but it was flat everywhere according to surf reports.  

Nxt day went to old lyme but no good fishing there  .. spent the day lounging ..was nice
Did about an hour of surf casting before sunset at Harkness Park , a beautful spot 

Last weekend , Lori went camping with her girls and I hung with Charlie.  Charlie said he enjoyed my company but I`m not so sure.  We did enjoy watching UFc - Brock Lesner , St Pierre and Kenny Florian , all victorious and good fights.  
I also went to Salmon River Park this weekend , beautiful pristine water and river hike , brought my rod and fished and hiked for hours.  Spot that needs to be hit again in the early fall.