i keep a diary

February 22, 2015

Visiting Florida & Old Photo Nostalgia

Monday, February 23rd

maddy
On Monday afternoon, I grabbed my wiener dog and we headed to LaGuardia. Hates a bag. Wants to get out of a bag so bad. Can get out of bag now?
airplane ˆ dog in a bag ˆ maddy
maddy
Thank you, sir.
airplane ˆ dogs ˆ maddy
Descending into FLA USA.

Tuesday, February 24th

Up bright and early in my parents Golden Girls neighborhood...
maddy
...in order to take this one for a nice long walk before the sun got too hot!
maddy
Later that afternoon, Uncle Bruce and my cousin Chris picked me and my dad up...
driving
chris b, uncle bruce
...and we went to the nearby gun range!
gun ˆ shoot ˆ chris b ˆ uncle bruce
dad, uncle bruce
Brothers in arms.
gun ˆ shoot ˆ dad ˆ uncle bruce
I've shot handguns less than 5 times.
gun ˆ shoot ˆ target
Years of playing videogames really do make shooting real guns a lot easier. Got my first bullseye!
gun ˆ shoot ˆ target
dad, me
Later that evening, we hopped in my dad's golf cart...
driving ˆ golf cart ˆ dad ˆ me
...and went over to the range to hit some balls.
golf
Went for a nice dinner at the harbor...
boat ˆ sunset
...and afterwards I walked over to Uncle Bruce's for a hang. (His garage is filled with all sorts of neato remote-controlled flying toys!
airplane ˆ remote

Wednesday, February 25th

dad, mom
My mom is super into activities. On Wednesday, she suggested we all get in the car and drive about an hour away to...
driving ˆ dad ˆ mom
...Lion Country Safari, Florida's only drive through zoo. Saw some wildebeasts.
zoo
Ostriches!
zoo
zoe
Some kind of gazelle thingies.
zoe
Rhinos! After we were done with the drive through part...
zoo
...we went into the zoo where you use your legs. Porcupine!
zoo
My favorite thing there was this really high tower that you climb in order...
giraffe ˆ zoo
mom
...to feed the giraffes!
giraffe ˆ zoo ˆ mom
Giraffes are one of my favorite animals. Having mostly admired them from afar or in photos...
giraffe ˆ zoo
...it was really nice to get to appreciate them up close!
giraffe ˆ zoo
Basically just a stretchy camel.
giraffe ˆ zoo
It was fun to watch the kids feed the giraffes...
giraffe ˆ zoo
...and scream when their giant purple tongues would shoot out of their faces! Haha.
giraffe ˆ zoo
Me and Stretchy.
Came home and walked my favorite tiny giraffe. She is stretched across instead of up.

Thursday, February 26th

chris b
On Thursday afternoon, I went over to Chris' house and we paddled canoes out the inlet towards the sea. About 45 minutes after we left, a HUGE storm rolled in, and we had to paddle back in a hurry against a strong current that came out of nowhere. My arms were sore for DAYS. Hahaha.
canoe ˆ dock ˆ chris b
uncle bruce
Relaxed and hung with Bruce while he took some measurements of Chris' house for a CAD project he was working on.
uncle bruce
dexter
Bruce has a really fun, new dog named Dexter!
dogs ˆ dexter
While walking through their yard, I almost walked face-first into this huge spider that was crawling along its silk line.
scary ˆ spider ˆ wtf
Spiny-backed orb-weaver is the common name for a genus of spiders called, Gasteracantha, Looks like a bad guy out of Super Mario Brothers.
scary ˆ spider ˆ wtf
Got some quality ear-scratching in with Romeo...
dogs ˆ romeo
chris b, uncle bruce
...and my parents and Jen's parents all came over for dinner!
family ˆ chris b ˆ uncle bruce

Friday, February 27th

me
On Friday morning I went through some of my parents photo albums and took some pics of some choice cuts. Here's my kindergarten class photo! I'm in the 2nd row all the way on the right.
class photo ˆ nostalgia ˆ me
grandma, me
Playing Go Fish with Grandma. (I guess this shirt was a big hit this year).
nostalgia ˆ grandma ˆ me
mary, me
My 2nd Grade Class photo. I'm on the right in the top row. While looking at this photo, I realized my friend Mary Andrews who I met in NYC in 2000 was IN MY 2ND GRADE CLASS!?! Crazytown! How did we never figure this out! (She's in the 2nd row, 4th from the left!)
class photo ˆ nostalgia ˆ mary ˆ me
brett, me
Piloting a toy boat with Brett in 1983
nostalgia ˆ brett ˆ me
brett, chris b, me, steve b
My brother and my cousins with a hired Santa at Pop-Pop's basement Christmas party. Everyone's face in this photo is so funny!
nostalgia ˆ santa ˆ brett ˆ chris b ˆ me ˆ steve b
brett, me
Cuddle buddies, 1983.
nostalgia ˆ brett ˆ me
brett
My little brother was really into building couch-cushion forts.
cushion ˆ nostalgia ˆ brett
brett
Afghan roof for the win!
cushion ˆ cute ˆ nostalgia ˆ brett
brett, dad, me
Fishing with dad! Modesty has never been my strong suite.
fishing ˆ nostalgia ˆ brett ˆ dad ˆ me
chris b, me, uncle bruce
Me and Chris getting our Atari on Christmas morning 1983! Concentration face! Haha.
nostalgia ˆ videogames ˆ chris b ˆ me ˆ uncle bruce
brett, me
Supervising bathtime with Brett. Never not a ham.
nostalgia ˆ yell ˆ brett ˆ me
brett, me
Halloween 1986!
halloween ˆ jackolantern ˆ nostalgia ˆ brett ˆ me
brett, me
Christmas 1987! Me and Brett getting ready to open some videogame presents!
nostalgia ˆ xmas ˆ brett ˆ me
brett, me, mom
Christmas 1987 - my brother and I freaking out about getting the long-awaited PHANTASY STAR for the Sega Master System. This was the first RPG I ever got into and it exploded both of our brains!
best ˆ gift ˆ videogames ˆ xmas ˆ brett ˆ me ˆ mom
goldie, me
My mom got to pick out our family dog and we got a giant, apricot Standard Poodle named, Goldie!
dogs ˆ nostalgia ˆ goldie ˆ me
brett, goldie
She had a great personality and my mom used to put t-shirts on her and take her to my brother's soccer games as the team mascot. Haha. Here she is in her trademark, yellow Crazy Eddie t-shirt. Haha.
dogs ˆ nostalgia ˆ brett ˆ goldie
dad, kathy steinmuller, mom
Every summer, my family would drive up to Bow Lake in New Hampshire and spend a week at my Uncle Steven & Aunt Kathy's lakehouse on Beech Island! Here's a shot of Brian Crowell getting ready to waterskii!
bow lake ˆ dock ˆ nostalgia ˆ waterski ˆ dad ˆ kathy steinmuller ˆ mom
My dad teaching someone how to waterski by pulling them out of the water by hand a few times. After you get the hang of it, you're ready to go behind the boat!
nostalgia
brian crowell, uncle stephen
Uncle Steven driving his sparkly-blue Glastron speed boat, which we all grew up calling THE BLUE BOMB! I grew-up waterskiing behind a tiny boat called a Boston Whaler, but by the summer of 1988, I was a few weeks away from turning 12 and Steven said I was big enough to ski behind THE BIG BOAT!
boat ˆ bow lake ˆ nostalgia ˆ waterski ˆ brian crowell ˆ uncle stephen
dad, me
Here's me tandem-skiing with my dad!
bow lake ˆ nostalgia ˆ waterski ˆ dad ˆ me
me
It was also the summer I learned how to drop a ski and get down on ONE SKI! Big news.
bow lake ˆ nostalgia ˆ waterski ˆ me
brett, brian crowell, dad, kate c, me
After a long day of swimming and skiing, we'd all pile into the awesome-smelling cedar hot tub!
bow lake ˆ hot tub ˆ nostalgia ˆ brett ˆ brian crowell ˆ dad ˆ kate c ˆ me
brett, me
Brett & Me, Halloween 1989. I was Freddy Krueger. My brother asked me to help him look like a punk rocker. I dyed his hair pink, gave him Alice Cooper make-up and made him a rock-shirt with a bunch of hand-drawn logos of all the bands I was into! (I can't read them all, but I do see Anthrax, Metallica, Van Halen and TESLA! hahah).
best ˆ costumes ˆ halloween ˆ nostalgia ˆ brett ˆ me
brett, me
Me and Brett fishing on a Y Indian Guides camping trip in matching jean jackets.
fishing ˆ nostalgia ˆ brett ˆ me
dad, me
My dad teaching me how to drive the new riding mower he bought! At first I couldn't drive it because the tractor came with a kill-switch underneath the drivers seat that would stop the engine in case you fell off while mowing. But I didn't weigh enough to keep the switch down! My dad wasn't about to mow the lawn himself and so he went into the kitchen and found a really strong magnet, lifted up the seat and clamped the magnet to the kill switch! Blamo, problem solved!

This brilliant move, however, would come back to haunt him later in the afternoon when he was teaching me how to park the tractor in the shed. I went in to far and started hitting the back wall of the shed, and instead of telling me to hit the brake, my dad just started yelling "STAND UP! STAND UP!" thinking the kill switch would engage and the tractor would stop. But he forgot about the magnet he put on and I drove the tractor right through the back of the shed. Hahaha. Famous family story.
nostalgia ˆ tractor ˆ dad ˆ me
me
Skull & Crossbones ice-cream cake for my 12th birthday, August 1988.
birthday ˆ cake ˆ ice cream ˆ nostalgia ˆ me
me
My parents got me my own mask, snorkel and fins.
birthday ˆ gift ˆ nostalgia ˆ me
me
Ready to dive.
birthday ˆ diver ˆ nostalgia ˆ me
chris t, keith w, me, sean v
Summer before sixth grade! For my birthday party, my parents took me, Chris, Sean & Keith to NJ's INFAMOUS Action Park. Check out those shirts! Haha.
action park ˆ birthday ˆ nostalgia ˆ roxbury high school ˆ chris t ˆ keith w ˆ me ˆ sean v
brett, me
Christmas morning, 1988. (Check those mullets!)
nostalgia ˆ xmas ˆ brett ˆ me
Getting ready to play LASER TAG in my backyard with Chris Toscano. (5th Grade, 1986)
nostalgia
me, uncle bruce
Back to the Future! Later Friday night, I went over to Bruce's and we hung out all night and talked about some of my favorite conspiracy topics that might interest an engineer: the golden ratio in nature (and what it says about the shape of sub-atomic space), the relationship between the vibratory octaves of sound & light, the fact that the heart sends more info to the brain than the brain sends to the heart, (Heart Math Institute), and the declassified files about remote viewing from SRI. Then I gave him reiki. Nice lil Friday!
me ˆ uncle bruce
mom
Mom making dinner!
cooking ˆ kitchen ˆ salad ˆ mom

Saturday, February 28th

dad, mom
On Saturday morning, my parents took me out to Denny's for a goodbye breakfast...
breakfast ˆ diner ˆ food ˆ pancakes ˆ dad ˆ mom
...and then took me to the airport to head back home! Great to see you, everyone!
airplane ˆ clouds ˆ flying ˆ wing