What do you think?

You've gotta be here to enjoy this.

Mmm,bakery!

Vacation!

I'm going on vacation starting today! "Down the shore" as they say around these parts - down to the New Jersey shore for a week of sun, sand, beer, and ice cream. And I'll look for some lemon sherbert!

Wednesday Weirdness #13

1.) What material is your favorite for bed sheets? In the winter I like flannel - much warmer in the winter and sooo soft!

2.) How often do you masturbate? Not nearly as much as I used to or should. I do it at least once a week. It used to be an every day or several times a day affair. Occasionally I'll get a few days in a row in. Recent medical findings say that men should masturbate at least 5 times a week to keep the pipes clean and reduce the risk of prostate cancer. And it has to be masturbation for some reason as they found that sex doesn't do the trick as well. I find it not only cleans the pipes, it also clears my thoughts.

3.) What takes you the longest to do while showering? (IE shaving, washing hair, etc) Probably shaving when I do shave in the shower. I never really timed myself. I probably should to see how much water I'm using.

4.) What do you think is the right amount of foreplay? Do you spend enough time readying your partner for sex? I love foreplay! I could spend a lot more time on foreplay. I just love exploring her body. How much is too much? See #7.

5.) Who tends to initiate sex more when you are in a relationship? I do. She's initiated only a handful of times.

6.) What birth control do you use? Condoms. Neither of us wants to get an operation or have her take the pill. Anyway, condoms are interactive - when she's ready she puts it on me. And there are so many different varieties of them. I don't know if one style or another makes any difference to her, but its fun to change.

7.) What is one thing your partner could do in bed that would instantly turn you off? Be passive. I don't like it if she's just laying there not doing anything. It sends the signal "I'm not interested" or "I'm bored" which then turns me off.

At the Phillies game last weekend (7/12):

The Philly Phanatic!

A panorama of the stadium:

Philly as seen from the stadium:

Driving home. That's William Penn way up there on top of City Hall.

TMI Tuesday #143 - School Days Edition

1. What were you known as in HS (Jock, Princess, Geek) I was the geek, but not the uber geek that studied 3 languages and hung out in the A/V (audio/visual) room all the time. I didn't have much style and had ugly glasses. A knee injury kept me out of sports. I did have lots of friends in all of the other cliques, and I tutored the captain of the football team on physics and math. I did belong to a science fiction book club.

2. What were you really? Farmer Ted "Fresh breath is a priority in my life."

3. If you could go back and tell your 16 year old self one thing, what would it be? Don't take school or yourself so seriously. Sure, good grades are important, but remember to have fun while you're there. Stop and smell the roses.

4. If you could erase one moment from your school days what would it be? Not so much as a moment as an on-going thing - my best friend was dating this girl and over time was spending more time with her than with me. I didn't consciously realize I was jealous and I didn't treat her so well.

5. Who did you not date (or more) that you wish you did? I can think of a few, Carla, Bena, Nancy, Chris. The first three I had known since the 1st Grade. I didn't date any of them because we weren't in the same social circles and I was much too shy to ask any of them out. Even the girl that I took to the prom, I had a tough time asking her even though we were set up as my three friends were taking her three friends. And I was so absolutely terrified at not wanting to do anything wrong that I didn't do anything right. I had to be the worst date.

Bonus (as in optional): If you went to prom, describe your outfit. I wore a black tux, nothing over the top. Unless you include the people I was with. The other three guys wore whites tuxes with tails and top hats. We picked up our dates in an antique Roll Royce. It was a sight to see.

The Good and The Bad of the InBev Anheuser-Bush Deal

By now you may have already heard that InBev will be buying Anheuser-Bush for $52 billion to create the largest brewing company in the world. Whether this is good or bad largely depends on your point of view. As much as I don't like drinking A/B beverages (or SABMiller or Molson-Coors), I am disappointed to see the sale. I think this leaves Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams), Yuengling, and Sierra Nevada as the largest American-owned breweries.

Good:
-For the A/B shareholders: They'll be making a tidy profit by the sale. Hopefully one of the index mutual funds I own will too.
-For microbreweries: Many people that traditionally drank A/B beer because it was an American owned/operated/located company. Hopefully, those people may now say to themselves "Why should I drink a beer that supports a foreign company when I could drink a beer made by a locally owned & operated microbrewery?" (There's some false logic in there, which I'll get to later.)
-For A/B beer: Just maybe they might tinker with the existing formulas for the better, or more broadly market some of the “micro-brewed” beer that they already produce.

Bad:
For Americans in general:
-Another homegrown business sold to a foreign company. The breweries will stay, but the profits go to Europe.
-Jobs will probably be cut to some degree, although A/B had proposed a list of cost-cutting measures before being sold.
-The export market: Lots of folks overseas drink A/B beer as it is an import to them, just as we in the States drink beer from other countries. Some InBev whiz bean counter will say “ Why should we import Bud to Europe when we can just make it here and save on the shipping costs?” The “import” will then just be another domestic and sales might decline.

"Hi! gang at Cheers!" as the line goes. I hope that I haven't lost too many people with the sparce postings. Things have been super busy lately.

Feetman. Has anybody seen or heard from Feetman? He used to have several great blogs about the beauty of the female foot. He left a few comments on my Flickr account over the weekend. And what do you know? As I'm blogging about him, I checked my Yahoo Messenger and we're chatting. No new blogs :(

Tcho Chocolate. Remember waaayyy back in February's Valentine's Day post I mentioned Tcho Chocolate? No? Ok, I'll wait a few minutes for you to re-read it. Back? I recently ordered two of the "Chocolatey" flavor. Mmmm, mmm! Damn! That's good stuff! I'm not much of an artist when it comes to describing how things taste, so excuse this if it doesn't make a lot of sense. Its a dark chocolate, more on the bittersweet side than the milk-chocolatey or sugary. The flavor seems to develop as I keep it in my mouth to melt. At the $5 price point it is not an everyday chocolate bar, more for a special occasion. It would go great with a nice dark, malty porter.

4th of July. We had some rain this weekend, but it didn't spoil the parade. No Eagles cheerleaders in it this year :(

Lots of fire engines!

Can't forget the AOH!
The local gang.
And no parade is complete without Mummers!

Need to Keep Busy (or Waste Time)

Try going to Games With A Purpose, or GWAP. It has a few different games that you play on-line with a partner the computer selects. The games are different types of matching games, and the purpose behind them is to teach the computer. Its kind of neat, something different to try.