Japanese Caricature

So, I was looking around at my website statistics the other week and I found that there is a link to my site from some server in Japan. I looked into it a bit further and found this:


Peter: "Making, it lifts to the person, it is. You rejoice enormously, it is. Becoming funny gradually, it is my hobby what which is not stopped anymore."
That is Bea and I knitting in Tuscany as illustrated by our Japanese friend Madoka who was farming with us at Castello di Potentino in 2005. You can check out her blog, but it's in Japanese. I used babelfish to translate a little around the illustration of us, but it comes out mostly as nonsense.

The Dog House

The Dog House in Milford is officially open.


Me kraut-doggin' it up.


Bea veggie-doggin' it up.


Mike kraut-doggin' it up.

Between the 3 of us we consumed 2 veggie dogs and 3 kraut dogs. As cool as the Dog House is, it's pretty lame. It's nothing compared to Pinks or Spikes, but the fact of the matter is we can show up and get a hot dog, no questions asked. Whilst devouring mediocre dogs, Bea, Mike and I discussed the possibilities of running our own dog house one day. We all think it would be awesome, so if you interested, you'd better get in with us on the ground floor before we're way too cool for y'all later.

Last Card Game at 50 Adams Street

Joe Landers sold his house at 50 Adams Street and is moving out this Saturday. I went down there tonight with the intention of closing out the history of cards with a big defeat chalked up in his category, but unfortunately we ended it 1 to 1.

It's a bummer that the 50 Adams Street saga is coming to end, it's been a good ride. The agent at bank with Joe asked him to leave the keys on the kitchen table this Saturday to which Joe replied in true Joe fashion, "There haven't been keys to this house in 25 years!"

I'll certainly miss those Snap-On girls hanging around Joe's house. Fare thee well.

I Don't Even Watch MLB

So I decided to watch the MLB game Red Sox vs. Yankees tonight because some of Bea's family was there in person watching the game, and also because it was the new Japanese pitcher's first game against the Yankees, but normally I wouldn't care less.

So, there's a player named Coco Crisp? When I saw his name in the lower third (graphic, not inning) I really hoped that was his real name, but sadly I was mistaken; however, it's still pretty much the coolest baseball name I've heard so far.

U.S.P.S.

It is illegal to mail alcohol via U.S.P.S. In February I mailed Jesse and the gang some unmarked bottles (arguably "live yeast samples"). It went a little something like this.

Clerk: "Do you have anything liquid, fragile, explosive or perishable in there?"
Me: "Yes, pickles, but they are well packed"

I didn't lie, there was a jar of pickles in there along with the live yeast samples. A delicious jar of pickles I might ad.

Anyway, about a month after I mailed the package, Jesse still hadn't received it, but another friend of mine in the same city had already received a package (which did not contain questionable material) which I had sent the same day from the same location.

Today, about 2 months after I had mailed the package, it finally arrived, but not to where I had sent it. I mailed it to Los Angeles from Sheridan, WY but had my Milford, NH for a return address because I was leaving Wyoming the following day. The package arrived in today's mail in Milford, NH. WTF?

The following photos may shed some light?


The box, as far as I can tell, has not been opened since I sealed it in February. The arrows were drawn by a postal clerk somewhere.


Note the date and place of postage: Feb 24 07, Sheridan, WY.
I am sure the postage is ample, as the clerk weighed it himself.


Note the date and new zip code sticker: 03/30/07, 03055 (Milford, NH's code)


LAX is the abbreviation for the Los Angeles airport, and MHT is the abbreviation for the Manchester, NH airport. Note the date: 04/13/07
Okay, so what I think may have happened is that it got x-rayed somewhere between Sheridan and Los Angeles and after some deliberation (2 weeks, 2/24 - 3/30) was deemed unsuitable for delivery for security reasons and was stickered to be returned to sender (Milford, NH). At that point it made its way to Manchester, NH, a major mail routing point for NH, but he last sticker shows us that it was rerouted back from Manchester to Los Angeles. Who knows, it may have even reached Jesse's doorstop before the mail carrier realized it was supposed to be RTS'd.

But Mr. Peabody, what does all this mean?
a) I broke the law and karma got me?
b) Jesse and the gang missed out on good "live yeast samples" and homemade pickles?
c) I get to enjoy the pickles that Jesse never received, but the beer is probably expired?
d) The United States Postal Service jacked me out of $12.61 of my hard earned money?
e) Next time I should try FedEx or UPS (although it is against company policy to mail alcohol through them, it is not illegal like with USPS)?

Jah-Mon

Bea and I were walking into a store tonight when a friendly looking fellow was exiting. The man was black and I suspected he was a foreigner because of his had/headwear. I usually end up expressing a little little more kindness/whatever to foreigners here because I like them to feel welcome here and because I would hope people would do the same to me in a foreign country. Anyways, we made eye contact, exchanged smiles (his was very wide), and after I nodded to him and said "hello" he greeted me with a very Jamaican "Jah-mon!"

Usually the Milford area sees a boost of Jamaicans during the apple harvesting months in the fall, but they seldom stay year round.

There is little to no point here, but I thought that guy was pretty cool.

Flank of Dahlen

Today I started a temporary gig that entails me restoring a barn that caught on fire last summer at the Bedford Village Inn. It was rainy and around 30-40 degrees all day. I will be working this job until I'm fired or until I'm hired by the Town of Milford or Philmont. The following pictures are for your consideration:


This is the barn after we cut off and disposed of a little more than half of the burnt up roof.


Apparently, the owners had some sort of cork fetish; we spent painstaking hours removing them all.


There was an area about 8' x 4' x 4' deep of burn up corks in melted plastic bags that needed to be shoveled. An extensive collection indeed.


Here some nail/wire puncture wounds are shown disguised as a face. This is a view of my better side, my flank.

Birthday Flood (Birfday Flood)

Today is Bea's birthday!
Today New England is flooding!


Dad, Mike D, George Murphy, and I drove around town for a couple hours this morning documenting the amazing flooding around town.

Later, Justin arrived from Manchester and we helped him setup a pump to start emptying out his basement. The pump is shooting about 1800 gallons per hour, which only made a 1" dent after the first hour out of the 20" volume of water there. Bummer Justin.

Between Mr. Murphy, Dad, Mike D, and myself, we ended up with tons of photos. I'll be sorting through them this week and upload them soon.

Foxwoods Casino

Last night I ate more shrimp than you can shake a stick at. The dinner buffet at Foxwoods Casino was $18, but between the heaping piles of cocktail shrimp, fried shrimp, potato encrusted cod, steak, ribs, and dessert, I think I received my money's worth out of the deal.

As far as the gambling goes, I gave Bea $3 which she gave to her mom who then gave us each $5 which we each lost on the slots. Bea had never done slot machines before and ended up spending her $5 on 2 or 3 spins because she didn't understand how the betting options worked. Oops.

Anyways, Bea, her mother, her mother's mother, and I didn't go down to gamble or eat, that was just happenstance. We were actually by the casino to see the Yarina Inca Band which Bea saw before at the summer camp she worked at a couple summers ago.

Martha's Exchange

Uncle Bert, Aunt Mary, and Cousin Sara came up to Nashua to have some good eats with Mom, Dad, Bea, Mike D, and myself. We were considering going to Bugaboo Creek, but further deliberation and investigation on that subject showed that the only vegetarian option there was Mac 'n Cheese from the children's menu. Mike D referred to them as a "burn and turn" restaurant since they're a chain. So, we ended up going to Martha's Exchange which is a much classier establishment, and they're a brew-pub which is always a plus.

We usually try and take a couple of group photos whenever the fam gets together, but this time we opted for something a little different.

Noses and Moustaches

Point of Interest:
It's best not to have a moustache at the same time that you have a runny nose.

Happy Sorghum Easter

After several weeks in the waiting, we brewed up Dad's gluten-free "beer" which also contains:
* malted sorghum
* malted buckwheat
* agave extract
* Belgian candy sugar
The stuff should be ready to drink in a month or so.

As for the rest of the day, we had Easter dinner with cousins Sarah & Gabi and Emily & Micky, Joe Landers, Justin & Francine, and the fam (sans Eric & Ashley). Mom used a lot of pineapple this year and her overnight potatoes were fantastic.

Note:
* Mike was feeling ill from too much partying in Boston last night, he missed dinner and slept most of the afternoon, what a sissy.

Gentlemen and Moustaches

Josh and I, the sole surviving members of the Gentlemen's Club, enjoyed some nice German beers at Grendle's Den in Cambridge.


Bea and Ally sporting finger moustaches at Penguins Pizza in Roxbury. Very hot.