First Post 2010, Disco Memories, Skate Memories, Soccer time for the Girls

I know, its been ages since I updated this BLOG. But now that my lovely wife, Kyrsten has given me somewhat of a break from helping her out at the horse barn, caring for those horses, and a little inspiration from a golden romantic song I just heard on Sirius, well.... ==================== ONLY SIXTEEN by Dr. Hook: The song and the memories it brings back: Oh yes that song... Only Sixteen by Dr. Hook. Yes that song does bring back some great memories...memories of a beautiful girl who had my attention at this time back in 1976. Oh my.... She was only Sixteen (or 15 in this case)
Only Sixteen
But I loved that girl so.

She was too young
to fall in love
And I was too young to know
Song Link: http://popup.lala.com/popup/576742254328634485 YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QChPG1rSOU0 Well it was April 10th of 1976 and yours truly here, all of age 16, was visiting relatives in Colver, Pennsylvania, and checking out the teen nightlife at Cicero's Roller Rink in nearby Ebensburg. But there I was standing at the admissions window waiting in line to get in. And then she caught my eye (of course), a beautiful girl with gorgeous blond hair,feathered in the 1970s feathered style of the day, the cutest facial features topped with beautiful blue eyes, and of course as I couldn't help but notice (as some of my friends also noticed) she was quite "well-endowed" (translation...big breasts, how lucky was I in those days). Well I was a teenage guy so what could I say. As the door opened, we all poured into the rink after paying our admission. And this is where it pays off to have friends in the right places, one of my buddies overheard that girl talking to her friends and heard her mention about this guy who to her looked like a real man. Guess who she was talking about…. THE REST OF THE STORY at Skatelog.com.

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Gigi and Laci go at it in soccer.

Well its soccer season and we have Gigi and Laci in the local Cocoa, FL soccer league. And they are taking to the game. In fact since they started last month, both girls have really got into the game. Laci really likes to take out her aggression on the field. We tell her, this is one place where she can be aggressive. Gigi too is getting into it. Oh but Gigi took a direct kicked ball to the tummy which did draw a few tears. But she’s OK and has a nice mark to show off for a little while.

Laci’s 6^th Birthday :

We had a small birthday party for Laci who just turned 6. Amazing how time flies, when she came into our lives, she was only 3 ½. And she’s growing up fast, in fact catching up to her 10 year old sister Gigi. But we expect a big growth spurt from Gigi soon as she closes in on 11 and 12.

And I must say, both girls are just so beautiful…they both have that early Jessica Simpson look down so when they get to be teenagers, time for the old Hankster to dig up the M-16 as they’ll both be guy magnets. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here yet, that time will no doubt come.

The big party for both girls (with all their friends) comes in June. Time to get some birthday gifts.

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Happy Sweet 16 Amanda

Well folks, its been awhile since I updated this. Halfway thru the NFL season and my Cleveland Browns are a Federally-declared disaster area with a 1-7 record so far. And now with a chance to totally embarass Dawg Pound Nation on the national stage with a Monday Night game against our arch-rival Baltimore Ravens. If the Browns play hasn't improved dramatically, this could be a slaughter. But then some good might come of it and our sorry excuse for a front office might finally get that football genius (such as Marty Schottenheimer) for a GM or President. A guy who can finally rebuild this team into a title contender. That is the hope of Dawg Pound Nation.


Onto a much happier topic. Our lovely teenage neighbor, Amanda celebrated her Sweet 16 Birthday (Monday, Nov 9th). And we got to celebrate it with her. FYI, Amanda is becoming one beautiful classy lady who (along with her mom and her sister Vicki) helps keep my lovely wife company when I have to go out on the road. Here's some Sweet 16 pics of Amanda (which we sent to her over MySpace as well):

Oh and that new dress she's wearing, we got her for her birthday. Well actually we gave her the $$ for it and she picked it out. Isn't she a knockout?
(A definite guy magnet. I hope she lands a totally classy boyfriend who treats her right).

My lovely wife Kyrsten with Sweet 16 Amanda.




















Amanda with her newborn niece, Elizabeth Rose (who's mom is her older sister Vicki). As you can see, I got to hold little Elizabeth as well.



I just had to include this picture of little Lexi (Amanda's niece as well). Just look at that expression as she contemplated digging into Grandma's choc cream pie.



And that's our Happy Sweet 16 for Amanda.





Oh and I sent this nifty YouTube video ( as a birthday card) to Amanda. She had never heard this song by the Beatles before (gee you know you're getting old when today's teenagers don't recognize the Beatles) but Amanda absolutely loved it.

Birthday Song for Amanda, by The Beatles.

I think we'll also send her Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little 16". After all your Sweet 16 only comes around once in a lifetime.

Next Sweet 16, our other lovely neighbor, Leslie which is next March.

Its Been Such a Long Time...and my BROWNS still suck!!!

Well folks, like the old hit song Long Time from the classic rock group Boston, its been such a long time since I actually updated this blog. Just haven't really felt like it as there's always something more important. Like my family (wife & girls), this road-trippin job , Browns games....well maybe not so much this season.

Speaking of my Browns, well they're off to their usual sucky start, 0-2 after two games and a lackluster performance against the Denver Broncos last Sunday. I know this is going to be a rebuilding season for the team but sheesh, can't they at least generate some freakin touchdowns?
No wonder the defense gets so gassed in the 4th quarter, they're on the field for most of the game because our offense can't generate any freakin offense.

In other news, I may a possible career change opportunity come up over the course of the next 12 months or so. I won't comment on it much more than that at this point but in involves people we know who know other people who are in a position to help. Which is something I haven't had with past career "possibilities".
The drawback, I may have to take a cut in pay. But it would offer two things I find quite valuable and worth the reduced pay. One is the fact I'll be home most of the time. Two, there are possibilities for some honest to goodness career advancement.
A few years ago I wouldn't have been interested. But funny how a job that has you away from home can change one's perspective.

In a update to a previous blog, my old teen hangout Randall Park Mall has now closed down for good. What was once a fun place for a guy in his teen days to hang out, shop and meet girls is now a dead hulk of a empty building.

Informational Wikipedia Article on RPM.

Well our girls continue to grow up and get taller (and prettier, ). Gigi is now 10 years old, Laci is 5. My how the time goes by so fast.
Well if I think of anything else....well Kyrsten (my wife), I love you dearly.

First Blog for 2009.

Well folks, while Lane is scratching his head looking for my original Ruby Tuesday Thinkings posting, thought I'd put this up to summarize as much as I could, the original posting (which I was going to copy over to my Blog but somebody got a stinky fin...err....itchy delete finger before I could copy it.

Inauguration Day: No I did not watch it, I just got the quick 1 minute version as during the ceremony, I was out on a fitness hike thru the California desert mountains. We're spending some time at a shopping center in Rancho Cucomonga B4 heading towards Edwards. My candidate (Mitt Romney) didn't get in so I could care less about the 170M party the Democrats threw for the Obamessiah Coronation. Instead I've decided to set my sights to the future, namely 2012 and the hope that a Sarah Palin/Michael Steele (B-Greg knows Mr. Steele rather well I think) would bring back to this now-bankrupt government.
And that's all the political commentary I have here.


Much happier, taking my family ice skating (for the first time ever) over the Christmas holidays. I was quite a scene all of us getting used to the ice skates. Since I have a roller skating background (from my teenage days), I managed to master the ice skates rather quickly and helped my girls do the same as you can see.

Oh well, I'm not quite Brian Boitano but hey.




All the Christmas lights, the ice rink in downtown Cocoa and family members (including some family from St. Petersburg joining us) made for a real nice Christmas evening.


Also a couple days later, the lovely lady of the house and I went to see the Lippizaner Stallions show as their annual tour stopped in Orlando. Kyrsten had been wanting to see this show for a long time but never did until this Christmas season.
At the arena before the show.




More coming as I think of it but for now, time to rest up for Edwards.

Randall Park Mall memories

Well folks, I was busy passing the time and did a search on one of my old favorite shopping venues (back as a teenager), Randall Park Mall up in North Randall, OH. Found the Wiki entry for RPM and the entry on Deadmalls.com

Sad to see the place is now pretty much a empty, falling apart hulk.

Back in 1976 when it opened, the place was packed to the gills with shoppers and it was THE place to shop in Northern Ohio. In fact it was briefly the world's largest shopping mall. While it wasn't my normal everyday hangout, I do have some memories of the place (along with the now vanished Richland Mall in Johnstown,PA).

Over the next few years, I'd do a lot of Christmas shopping there, see some great movies at the triple theater there and enjoyed the mall Christmas decorations.


Randall Park Mall Memories:

- My first date (where I actually got my mom's car for the date) was to Randall Park Mall (a girl named Rita) and my first viewing of Star Wars back in July 1977.
I did something right because I got kissed out in the parking lot after the movie.
and I ended up putting a dent in mother's car (I just got my license a week ago).

- I got my first tux from Diamonds Men's store (for a Christmas dance, 1977 with my then-girlfriend Michelle, ) at RPM. It was a white dinner jacket tux with black pants.

- Saw the movie Animal House for the first there at RPM. Joined up with the gang for the movie. This one was memorable because... well a little background here. My friend Jim had his girlfriend Connie with him. Well Connie's sister Cheryl and I liked each other and Connie was really protective of Cheryl (the girl in my USMC picture).
During one of the movie's romantic scenes, I commented , hey, there's Cheryl and I, which of course Connie overheard.
I almost didn't get out of the theater alive.
(Cheryl and I liked each other but weren't dating quite yet).

- Bought all my BROWNS jerseys at the Koenigs in RPM.

- Bought a pair of Adidas tennis shoes at the RPM Koenigs for the then-unheard of sum of $38. Boy did I get some razzing from the gang on that one. Wore them over to Connie's birthday party.
Well, Cheryl thought they were cool.

- In fall of 1977, I bought my own weight set at the Sears at RPM. Included 225 lbs of weights, a bench press, long bar and two dumbells.

- Last movie I saw at RPM was Superman III back in 1983.

- Memory is hazy but my last visit to RPM was in 1985 or so. Even then the place was starting to show wear & tear. With other malls opening closer to Aurora OH (or high-class malls like Beachwood Place) , RPM started to lose shoppers, especially to Beachwood.

- I still have some old 110 slides that I shot inside the mall back around Christmas 1976.



Anybody here from the Watercooler or other boards remember this mall? Its pretty much closed down now with only the Sears store, a handful of local shops and the Ohio Powersports Institute still there. It was supposed to close in June of this year but seems a religious group wants to buy it and convert it to something.

A Harvest Moon Dedication to My Lovely Wife, Kyrsten

Well, thought since I'm home with my lovely, I write a nice little song for her and post it.

Actually, the song was written by Roland Kent Lavoie, better known in the artistic world as "Lobo". It was one of my favorite songs back as a 13 year old teen guy with budding romantic thoughts streaming thru the windmills of my then-teenage mind.


For Kyrsten:

I'D LOVE YOU TO WANT ME
written by Lobo

When I saw you standing there
I bout fell out my chair
And when you moved your mouth to speak
I felt the blood go to my feet.

Now it took time for me to know
what you tried so not to show
Now something in my soul just cries
I see the want in your blue eyes.

Baby, I'd love you to want me
The way that I want you
The way that it should be
Baby, you'd love me to want you
The way that I want to
If you'd only let it be.

You told yourself years ago
You'd never let your feeling show
The obligation that you made
For the title that they gave.
Baby, I'd love you to want me
The way that I want you
The way that it should be
Baby, you'd love me to want you
The way that I want to
If you'd only let it be.

Thursday Thoughts

Just thought I'd type out whatever knucklehead idea comes into my cranium.


BROWNS vs New York Giants: A Monday Night game and everyone (in the sports media) picked the Browns as their surprise team for 2008. Alas, watching my Browns this season is kinda like watching the stock market lately or the Presidential Debates (nothing political now). Its just plain depressing and you end up feeling like that time wasted watching the debacle could have been better spent on some other activity. Like maybe trimming my mustache with a weed-whacker or something.

Well folks, here's hoping that somehow the Browns can pull a Miami Dolphins and defeat one hell of a football team (uh, that would be your Giants) or at least give them one hell of a game. (I'd rather not think now what will happen if the Giants duplicate the butt-kicking from that pre-season game).


On another note, I hate to think that $500 I spent for near-front row seats to the Browns vs. Jaguars game in Jacksonville (Oct 26th) was not money well-spent (I hear laughter somewhere). Then again the Jaguars have been having their problems as well so that could actually be a decent game. It will be the first one for my little 9 y/o cheerleader. BTW, the Pop Warner games she cheers at had a lot more intensity than that Browns vs Bengals Lunesta pill I watched a couple weeks ago, even if we did win.


WHY CAN'T IT BE SARAH: I listened to the second POTUS debate and McCain put me in the mind of my Spanish professor back in college. Nice guy and all but he could rival Lunesta as a sleep aid. If McCain does end up winning this election, it will be because Sarah Palin dragged his butt first across the finish line.
Oh how I wish it was Sarah running for POTUS.