Whoreticulture

See Semen Tree

I may need another hobby.
How and why do I find this stuff?




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An Open Letter To The Brazilian Consulate

First let me say - its my blog and I can bitch and moan about anything I like ... eh

Dear Brazilian Consulate,


Can you please explain why a person living outside Philadelphia can apply for and receive a business VISA in a few days; while a person from the Detroit area, travelling for the same company and purpose, must wait two weeks?


Do you fear people from the Chicago jurisdiction? Are they any more sinister, or dangerous to the Brazilian economy, than those of us from the New York jurisdiction?


Why are there extra forms, different forms, and additional letters required simply because a person lives near the windy city. Do you have something against wind? Is that it?

Do you have any concept of the f'ing around I am going to have to do with travel agency and credit card company to refund my current tickets before my automated travel expense system starts sending scud emails to my supervisor to say I am $5K past due?

Let's just say, being $5k past due can be a career limiting event. And I need no help in limiting my career.

Grounded In Glen Mills

PS - please don't cancel my VISA

From My Inbox

From my brother Matthew:

The Wal-Mart Cake

It took me a second, but make sure you read the story under the picture.

Okay so this is how I imagine this conversation went:

Wal-Mart Employee: 'Hello 'dis be Walmarts, how can I hep yous?'

Customer: ' I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.'

Walmart Employee: 'Whats you want on da cake?'

Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne' and underneath that 'We will miss you'.

Just A Little Way Off Route 66 In Front Royal, VA

Is a piece of classic Americana - Dinosaur Land.

This place has cracked me up for the 15 years I've been traveling to Front Royal.

In fact, it's the major landmark I use - "Take a right or a left at Dinosaur Land?" sort of thing.

I didn't have a camera with me, so I have to thank my friend J.A. for snapping some pix with his camera phone.




From a review I found:
"Built in 1968, Dinosaur Land still stands as a reminder of an era filled with drive-ins, B-monster movies and a certain amount of innocence that allowed for us to stare in awe at life-sized fiberglass models. Today its lure is more for children looking for a place to play and adults still searching for that last bit of childhood. However, it has so much more to offer. Where else can you sit in the hand of the famous movie star King Kong for a mere $5.00? If you are inclined you can even climb inside a 60' shark, wrestle with a 70' Octopus or trade moves with a 14' preying mantis that looks like it walked right out of a set of a 1950's nuclear radiation movie. The park is a virtual warehouse of old sci-fi movie props just waiting to be photographed with you as the latest star. No need for computer generated imaging. It's just you and the "real thing" and there's no problem with copyright issues. In fact, photography is encouraged at no extra charge. Talk about a true time warp!
In addition to all the campy fun, you just might actually learn something. Parts of the park are actually educational. Information is posted near every model with interesting facts and descriptions of many lesser known creatures such as a Diatryma to more popular Mammoth and Sabre Tooth Tiger. Many animals are forever frozen in candid scenes from their daily lives such as the Pteranodon lodged in the tree branches overhead ready to swoop down upon its prey or the Brontosaurus craning its neck to nibble leaves from a high treetop. Even the depiction of the "Epic battle" between the meat eating Tyrannosaurus and the herbivorous Titanosaurus gets the basic message of "survival of the fittest" across to even the youngest of visitors.
In its day, Dinosaur Land was the promise of every child's imagination. Now it takes a bit of that same magic as well as a longing for childhood to bring the luster back to these somewhat aging characters. Though it's a bit tarnished from years of use, it is what it proclaims to be and nothing more. Signs warn that some of the dinosaurs are being repaired and that the weather has "been hard on the park"." review

Longwood Gardens

In keeping with our Fathers' Day tradition of letting dad have the day to himself, I took the kids to Longwood Gardens. They really love it there. Other than running into the occasional sketchy colleague from work (you can't swing a dead cat in this area without hitting a Duponter), the day was quite nice ... until Sean lost his sunglasses and then OH MAN! it was all over but the crying (and there was lots of that).
They have 3 giant tree house this year. The one above is the Canopy Catherdral, the one below is the Lookout Loft.

We ran into our friends Abby and Adam in the childrens' garden
Water drips down from a dragon's head and fills a pool, the kids think the fog is the coolest
It got a bit warm - and with all those fountains, what's a girl to do?
Last pic before he lost those sunglasses.

I haven't picked up my camera in weeks, I think I'm in a funk and my mind has been somehwere else. I hope we'll have more traditional Shooting Glen Mills images soon.

Happy Fathers' Day

Happy fathers' day to all the new dads, old dads, granddads, and stepdads; but especially to my Dad and my sweetie Phil.

Phil (look at that glorious hair!), Dad (with the Pharaoh's hat I bought him in Egypt), and me



They say that from the instant he lays eyes on her, a father adores his daughter. Whoever she grows up to be, she is always to him that little girl in pigtails. She makes him feel like Christmas. In exchange, he makes a secret promise not to see the awkwardness of her teenage years, the mistakes she makes or the secrets she keeps. author unknown


And for my long suffering husband, it will be breakfast in bed, cards and small gifts from the kids, and then they day to yourself. Enjoy sweetie!

It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't.

Barbara Kingsolver

(there is something terribly worng with my scanner! Ignore poor image quality)

Tadpoles No More

Edge of Pond

Tadpole, edge of pond

gracefully swimming brightly

waiting to grow up

Nelson Nieves - 2007

It looks like this will be our summer of firsts.
We began by taking the training wheels off Sean's bike, and two days later Bridget's.

Today Bridget and Sean made another milestone - "swimming for real".
They both learned to swim in the deep end of the pool today.
And if that wasn't enough, they both got up the courage, late in the day, to jump off the diving board into the deep end.
Sean REALLY wanted to do it, but just couldn't make the leap.
Bridget was sort of non-committal about her desire.
So, who should jump first?
Girrl power!
Bridget jumped first.
About 5 minutes later Sean went off the diving board.
Then he kept saying "I just can't stop jumping in".

What's next?

Tying their shoes would be nice.