Here is a video of a Polar Express train from the Berkshire Scenic Railway. It's not from the time we went but it gives you a sense of what it was like:
Monday, December 14, 2009
Whirlwind weekend
Phew, what a weekend.
On Saturday I was up bright and early to join the boys from "Saturday Morning Live" on 980 WCAP. They had a special broadcast in that they did the show from 5 different locations (they traveled during long commercial breaks) to promote their annual Salvation Army Radiothon. I was at their first location at M.L. Shaw's Country Kitchen in Dracut from 6:30-8:00 along with a number of other folks.
After that, Lynn, Kevin and I went to my school for our annual Breakfast with Santa. They had great food, time with Santa, cookie decorating, and crafts. Kevin likes the idea of Santa but not talking to him. He did give him a high five but that's about it. But, he did have a good time dancing and running around.
After that Kevin and I went to a Model Train show in Lexington. It was pretty simple - a big track with different backgrounds and a ton of trains going around. Kevin nearly had a stoke when we got there and I practically had to drag him out of there (as well as the gift shop which had more toy trains).
Yesterday I caught an early mass and we then headed west to the Berkshires. Lynn dropped me off at the Norman Rockwell Museum and she and Kevin went to downtown Stockbridge to walk around and have a cookie. After we headed to the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum in Lenox for a ride on the Polar Express! Our friends Jay and Pam are volunteers there and we took a ride on the train back in the fall and decided to come back for this event. The place was mobbed (260 people) and the three of us had to share a seat. They read the story on our way to the North Pole and we then stopped at a station in Stockbridge (sorry, the North Pole) for cookies and hot chocolate. The station is kind of small so they only let one car off at a time so it got a little chaotic as we waited for our turn.
On the way back to Lenox Station Kevin was a maniac and did not sit still. We had to wake him up from his nap earlier in the day so he was all messed up already. Santa came through on the train passing out a silver bell (if you've read the story you'll understand why) and we then got a chance to chat with Jay. Jay let Kevin wear his conductor hat which made his day. After we mercifully arrived back at Lenox, Kevin played with the toy trains for a bit and we then headed to dinner in Lee. The restaurant, Arizona Pizza Company, was good but Kevin was a BEAR and we simply scarfed down our food and left. The food also took a while to arrive which didn't help the situation.
Once back in the car Kevin calmed down but he didn't fall asleep until we got to Worcester. Surprisingly, we got home around 9:45pm. I was driving like an old lady because of the rain and cold and I get nervous in those Berkshire hills. But, I think we made it home in about 2 hours which is pretty good time.
Anyway, Kevin acting up notwithstanding it was a nice weekend. I think we're going to lay low the rest of the month as we've done a lot the past few weekends and I think Kevin likes to stay home every now and then.
On Saturday I was up bright and early to join the boys from "Saturday Morning Live" on 980 WCAP. They had a special broadcast in that they did the show from 5 different locations (they traveled during long commercial breaks) to promote their annual Salvation Army Radiothon. I was at their first location at M.L. Shaw's Country Kitchen in Dracut from 6:30-8:00 along with a number of other folks.
After that, Lynn, Kevin and I went to my school for our annual Breakfast with Santa. They had great food, time with Santa, cookie decorating, and crafts. Kevin likes the idea of Santa but not talking to him. He did give him a high five but that's about it. But, he did have a good time dancing and running around.
After that Kevin and I went to a Model Train show in Lexington. It was pretty simple - a big track with different backgrounds and a ton of trains going around. Kevin nearly had a stoke when we got there and I practically had to drag him out of there (as well as the gift shop which had more toy trains).
Yesterday I caught an early mass and we then headed west to the Berkshires. Lynn dropped me off at the Norman Rockwell Museum and she and Kevin went to downtown Stockbridge to walk around and have a cookie. After we headed to the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum in Lenox for a ride on the Polar Express! Our friends Jay and Pam are volunteers there and we took a ride on the train back in the fall and decided to come back for this event. The place was mobbed (260 people) and the three of us had to share a seat. They read the story on our way to the North Pole and we then stopped at a station in Stockbridge (sorry, the North Pole) for cookies and hot chocolate. The station is kind of small so they only let one car off at a time so it got a little chaotic as we waited for our turn.
On the way back to Lenox Station Kevin was a maniac and did not sit still. We had to wake him up from his nap earlier in the day so he was all messed up already. Santa came through on the train passing out a silver bell (if you've read the story you'll understand why) and we then got a chance to chat with Jay. Jay let Kevin wear his conductor hat which made his day. After we mercifully arrived back at Lenox, Kevin played with the toy trains for a bit and we then headed to dinner in Lee. The restaurant, Arizona Pizza Company, was good but Kevin was a BEAR and we simply scarfed down our food and left. The food also took a while to arrive which didn't help the situation.
Once back in the car Kevin calmed down but he didn't fall asleep until we got to Worcester. Surprisingly, we got home around 9:45pm. I was driving like an old lady because of the rain and cold and I get nervous in those Berkshire hills. But, I think we made it home in about 2 hours which is pretty good time.
Anyway, Kevin acting up notwithstanding it was a nice weekend. I think we're going to lay low the rest of the month as we've done a lot the past few weekends and I think Kevin likes to stay home every now and then.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Palin on Conan
Sarah Palin showed up on Conan O'Brien's show last night. I didn't think it was that funny but what blew me away was the ovation she got.
See it here, it's very brief.
See it here, it's very brief.
Friday, December 11, 2009
On the air
Law and Order Bias
I used to love "Law and Order", especially SVU. But a couple of years ago it's liberal bias was out of control and they were portraying pro-life people as fanatics and took shots at Republicans and conservatives all the time.
I guess on a recent episode of SVU, a character said "Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly, all of 'em, they are like a cancer spreading ignorance and hate...They've convinced folks that immigrants are the problem, not corporations that fail to pay a living wage or a broken health care system..."
These people are a broken record. Bill O'Reilly fought back - see here.
I guess on a recent episode of SVU, a character said "Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly, all of 'em, they are like a cancer spreading ignorance and hate...They've convinced folks that immigrants are the problem, not corporations that fail to pay a living wage or a broken health care system..."
These people are a broken record. Bill O'Reilly fought back - see here.
Typical
I am sure you have heard that Lawrence Mayor-elect Willie Lantigua is refusing to resign his state representative seat when he is inaugurated next month. The feeling is that Lantigua wants to pad his pension by making over $160,000 in 2010 by holding both jobs.
Mark at Mr. Mill City destroys Lantigua in a posting from earlier this week. I don't follow Lawrence politics all that closely but I guess during the campaign, Lantigua refused to debate his white opponent and would only speak to Spanish speaking media outlets. Can you imagine the outrage if this was a white person pulling this?
You can see Mark's thoughts here but below are some tastes:
I said it on the radio right before election day. Willie Lantigua is a race baiting disgrace. See other people wish they could say that, but can’t so I will for them. I don’t live in Lawrence and the only “Chief” I come in contact with is Ned’s dog and my homeslice Brutus would eat him as a snack. So I don’t sweat Willie Lantigua. If you listen at all to “Paying Attention” with Tommy Duggan (like I do when running errands on a Saturday morning) you’d know that when he ran against Dave Abdoo in the last Mayoral election in Lawrence he refused to debate Dave Abdoo and only did interviews and press for SPANISH outlets. Essentially he ran a Spanish only campaign. He’d then go on to make all kinds of wild accusations against Mr. Abdoo that were all false and didn’t even pretend to want to represent the city of Lawrence. He secured the Latino vote and figured the rest of you non-speaking spanish residents of Lawrence would just have to fend for yourselves. Nice huh? That’s the new Mayor of Lawrence for you. No commute and a $40K raise right? Wrong.
Willie pick a f’n job and do it. I know this may come as a shock because you fancy yourself as the King of Lawrence and the fact that all the Latinos backed you last month might make that so- but you’re not the King of Massachusetts. You hold no sway over me so I’m not afraid to call you a greedy pig. If I met you in person I’d call you a greedy pig to your face as well. I’ve croaked Tom Golden on this site before, and admittedly we’ve talked about why he’s voted certain ways. I respect him, and I think he respects me because I don’t bull sh*t him when we speak. So it’s only fair that I trumpet something like this that he nails on the head so very nicely in this quote-
Mark at Mr. Mill City destroys Lantigua in a posting from earlier this week. I don't follow Lawrence politics all that closely but I guess during the campaign, Lantigua refused to debate his white opponent and would only speak to Spanish speaking media outlets. Can you imagine the outrage if this was a white person pulling this?
You can see Mark's thoughts here but below are some tastes:
I said it on the radio right before election day. Willie Lantigua is a race baiting disgrace. See other people wish they could say that, but can’t so I will for them. I don’t live in Lawrence and the only “Chief” I come in contact with is Ned’s dog and my homeslice Brutus would eat him as a snack. So I don’t sweat Willie Lantigua. If you listen at all to “Paying Attention” with Tommy Duggan (like I do when running errands on a Saturday morning) you’d know that when he ran against Dave Abdoo in the last Mayoral election in Lawrence he refused to debate Dave Abdoo and only did interviews and press for SPANISH outlets. Essentially he ran a Spanish only campaign. He’d then go on to make all kinds of wild accusations against Mr. Abdoo that were all false and didn’t even pretend to want to represent the city of Lawrence. He secured the Latino vote and figured the rest of you non-speaking spanish residents of Lawrence would just have to fend for yourselves. Nice huh? That’s the new Mayor of Lawrence for you. No commute and a $40K raise right? Wrong.
Willie pick a f’n job and do it. I know this may come as a shock because you fancy yourself as the King of Lawrence and the fact that all the Latinos backed you last month might make that so- but you’re not the King of Massachusetts. You hold no sway over me so I’m not afraid to call you a greedy pig. If I met you in person I’d call you a greedy pig to your face as well. I’ve croaked Tom Golden on this site before, and admittedly we’ve talked about why he’s voted certain ways. I respect him, and I think he respects me because I don’t bull sh*t him when we speak. So it’s only fair that I trumpet something like this that he nails on the head so very nicely in this quote-
“I think it’s outrageous. And I would hope in the next 20 days he will come to his senses and resign. He’s making the rest of us look bad for what, quite frankly, appears to be greed,”- Rep. Tom Golden (D)- Lowell
Home run.
One party rule leads to little political fiefdoms like this. Lantigua knows the Lawrence Latinos will back him so he thinks he can get away with whatever his greedy little heart desires. Because no one can challenge him at the polls there is ZERO accountability.Must be nice...
The USA Today is reporting today that the average salary of federal government employees is $71,206. Care to guess the average salary of those of us in the Dreaded Private Sector? $40,331.
Since the recession began two years ago, there has been an increase of 46% of federal government employees who make over $100,000!!! There are been a 93% increase in those who make over $170,000.
Now, we cannot blame President Obama for all of this. President Bush gets some of the blame. The article said Bush approved across the board pay raises of 3% in January 2008 and 3.9% raises in January 2009. Did you get raises during this period????? Nope. Me neither.
Since the recession began two years ago, there has been an increase of 46% of federal government employees who make over $100,000!!! There are been a 93% increase in those who make over $170,000.
Now, we cannot blame President Obama for all of this. President Bush gets some of the blame. The article said Bush approved across the board pay raises of 3% in January 2008 and 3.9% raises in January 2009. Did you get raises during this period????? Nope. Me neither.
Should be a good one
I confess that before we had Kevin, I really could care less about Christmas stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas but I haven't been "into it" as much as I was when I was a kid. But now, I enjoy taking Kevin to Christmas events and he's been having a blast with them.
This weekend should be a good one for all of us. Tomorrow my school is having its annual Breakfast with Santa and I am going to take Kevin. It was cancelled last year because of snow but Kevin did go the year before. He was too little to know what was going on then so hopefully this year will be better for him. After that I am going to take him to the National Heritage Museum in Lexington for a model train show. Kevin LOVES trains (or woo woos) so this should be amazing. I just hope they have trains he can play with otherwise he may get frustrated. We took him to a model train museum in Pennsylvania last Christmas and he got very annoyed that the trains were behind glass!
The highlight of the weekend should be Sunday when we head out to the Berkshires for a ride on the Polar Express. My friend Jay and his wife Pam are volunteers at the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum and they've been having Polar Express trains for the past few weekends. We luckily got the last seat - good to have friends in high places! I am hoping to also make a quick run to the Norman Rockwell Museum as I haven't been there in a year and it's my favorite places in the Berkshires.
It should be fun!
This weekend should be a good one for all of us. Tomorrow my school is having its annual Breakfast with Santa and I am going to take Kevin. It was cancelled last year because of snow but Kevin did go the year before. He was too little to know what was going on then so hopefully this year will be better for him. After that I am going to take him to the National Heritage Museum in Lexington for a model train show. Kevin LOVES trains (or woo woos) so this should be amazing. I just hope they have trains he can play with otherwise he may get frustrated. We took him to a model train museum in Pennsylvania last Christmas and he got very annoyed that the trains were behind glass!
The highlight of the weekend should be Sunday when we head out to the Berkshires for a ride on the Polar Express. My friend Jay and his wife Pam are volunteers at the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum and they've been having Polar Express trains for the past few weekends. We luckily got the last seat - good to have friends in high places! I am hoping to also make a quick run to the Norman Rockwell Museum as I haven't been there in a year and it's my favorite places in the Berkshires.
It should be fun!
Merry Christmas...I dare you
Howie Carr has a humorous column today on seeing if Martha Coakley has the guts to utter the most vile words in a moonbat's lexicon - Merry Christmas.
See it here.
See it here.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
First concert
I've been told at Church that I am a decent singer so I decided to join my school's choir this year. It's harder than I thought - I didn't know there were different voices and that we all sang in different harmonies. I was put with the tenors and it is tough to sing differently when the person near you is singing another way.
We've had three masses this year (well, 2, the last one became a Communion service because the priest had car trouble) and tonight is our Christmas concert. I tend to sing softly unless I am confident in the harmony - don't want to throw other people off who are much better than me. It should be good though, our director is amazing and has us sing some great stuff.
We've had three masses this year (well, 2, the last one became a Communion service because the priest had car trouble) and tonight is our Christmas concert. I tend to sing softly unless I am confident in the harmony - don't want to throw other people off who are much better than me. It should be good though, our director is amazing and has us sing some great stuff.
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