Playdate?

(From the Book of Faces, September 13, 2012 - Thank you, Laura Packer:)

Laura Packer: My pet cucumber. I don't know what you're thinking, and I don't want to know.

Michael D. Cohen: Perhaps we should set up a playdate with our little Rocky:

Bobcat Scrapple

(From the Book of Faces, August 28, 2012 - Thank you, Laura Packer:)

Just lost an entire hour, reading XKCD, a Science-based, online cartoon by Randall Munroe.

Have come to two conclusions: a) I would follow a comic called Bobcat Scrapple v. the Jetpack Ferret Lawyers*, and b) there is definitely a connection to the Local area. This is just one example of Munroe's twisted genius:

    

*Read a few of them, and you'll see what I mean, or just go here: Trochee Fixation.

International Beer Day

Tomorrow, August 5th, is the International Day of Beer. It's a little-known fact that the dude on the Sam Adams Label isn't Adams (he wasn't very good-looking), but P. Revere himself, taken from the John Singleton Copley Portrait. So go have a Beer with Paul Revere!

Torture Device

Yesterday, my bike seat was officially recognized as a Medieval Torture Device by the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). So, I improvised a new one, and then bravely set off for Walden Pond. It was, how shall I put this, still a pain in the ass. Below is Rev. 2, and yes, the Tape of the Ducks is a major binding agent. Off to Walden Pond again, hopefully with less distress.

LATER: Well, it's an improvement. Am just going by the seat of my pants here, but may still need to come up with Rev. 3....

Baconauts

If you see even one movie about Bacon this year, it might as well be this one. I hate to say this, but it makes Cinderella look like a Fairy Tale:

"Baconauts" - Hormel® Bacon Minute Films

In this thrilling science fiction drama, two brave baconauts land on a strange planet and make contact with an alien life form....

Camping

This was the (evening) view from our camping site. Dinner the first night was grilled corn on the cob, grilled swordfish steak, and a hand-made Greek salad. Desert was rice pudding & chocolate pudding (a little of each), plus a couple of TJ's coconut bon-bons. (Annie was too modest to list all of the food she made, but it was really good.) If there's one thing that Annie and I agree on, it's that we'll never starve....

 Found this bad boy on the side of our tent the next morning:

Lake ChargoggaWhat?

Last week, Annie and I stopped at the Mobil Station next to this strip mall in Webster, MA. Right behind it is the Lake, which has one of the longest place names in the World. Here's the Town's official sign, with the full name on it:

(From the Book of Faces, June 17, 2012 - Thank you, Bunkosquad, for the top photo.)

Chimney Cap

The day before Memorial Day, I was out at Walden Pond, swimming; but on Memorial Day itself, I was up on the roof, installing a Chimney Cap.

It was a very hot day, and the roof tar was melting, and I was "schvitzing like a Chazer", and I really should have been back at Walden Pond, but I got it done. Swimming outside the day before was such a primal experience, it gave me the courage to go up there and do it.

In some ways, it really was a waste of a beautiful day, but then again, who wants to go up on the roof and risk their life on a crappy day?

Daddy Cool

(From the Book of Faces, June 6, 201:)

Brendyn Schneider:

 THE RAYS - ELEVATOR OPERATOR

I picked this up at "Happy Harold's" Discount Records in Toronto (1970?). The title did it for me. When I got home and heard it, I was blown away! It is hard to believe that it was written and produced by Bob Crewe, the same guy who wrote and produced "Silhouettes", "Sherry", "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", and "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You". 

Michael D. Cohen: Holy Time Warp, Batperson! I didn't know that song, but I do know their song "Daddy Cool", thanks to the Australian band of the same name. I bought their album, "Daddy Who? Daddy Cool", circa 1973 at Robert's Music Store on Bank Street in New London, CT, and played it a lot. After graduation, my roommate Ken Baker, and his wife Connie, were recruited to teach in Australia. When they came back, they told me that the young lady who lived upstairs from them in Melbourne used to sneak out of her house when she was a teenager to go listen to that same band....

Brendyn Schneider: Yeah, The Rays were awesome. You should write a book, Mike.