Weight Loss

As you may or may not remember, I often use the phrase "handsome and slender" to describe myself. Half of that, of course, is in jest. While I am (and have always been) devilishly handsome, I am not, in fact, slender.

But I did make a New Year's Resolution this year to drop a few (dozen) pounds. On January 1, 2007 I weighed 223 lbs. I think that is the most I have ever weighed, and If it wasn't, it was pretty close. With my wife, sister and father encouraging me I set a goal to get down to 195 by the time we went to the shore.

December 29, 2006

I joined the gym and Amy began to prepare healthier meals for me. She served me smaller portions and I made a rule for myself of no eating after 7:30 p.m. I also cut out alot of that crap that I shouldn't eat anyway - like doughnuts and Doritos.

I went to the gym and abused the treadmill, blasted my abs, and rocked my quads and tried to burn a billion calories before 7 am each day.

So the good news is that I did meet my goal. I weighed myself the day we left for the beach and am happy to report that I weighed 192.6 lbs. The bad news is that when I weighed myself today when we got home from the beach and I weigh 195.8. I suppose adding 3 lbs during vacation is nothing to complain about.

June 22, 2007

So now I have a new goal - 175 by Thanksgiving. Actually I should make that 172 by Thanksgiving and 175 by the day after Thanksgiving.

Reading Phillies

Last night Mom, Dad, Maureen, Andrew, Amy, Fiona and I went to see the Reading Phillies. It was a beautiful night for baseball.

The Phillie Phanatic was there. (For some reason Fiona calls him "Mickey.") Fiona loves watching him drive around on his four-wheeler.

Before the game began, Andrew was sitting on my lap and Fiona was sitting on Amy's lap and we were on the Fan-o-vision. In my 30 years of going to Phillies games, both Reading and Philadelphia, and the various other pro games I have been to (Montreal, Boston, Baltimore) I have never been on the Fan-o-vision. I guess having two adorable little kids with you helps your odds.

And, the piece-de-resistance, we got our picture on the Reading Phillies Fan Photo Gallery. The people in front of us were there for a birthday party and their photo was taken. As you can see in this photo Dad, Amy, Fiona, Me, Mom, Maureen and a very obscured Andrew are sitting behind the people who are supposed to be in the photo.

Weekend at the Cabin

Fiona, Dad, Larry, and I went to the Cabin this weekend. Dad finally caught Mr. Big, the Brown Trout that has been his nemisis for 3 years.


Click here for a link to the Buck Hollow Hunting Club blog for more pictures and video of the dramatic catch.

Dad, Me, and Fiona with the Tigger Rod and Mr. Big

We also visited Fiona's Christmas tree. She had been hoping that there would be gifts under it.

Fiona did really great all weekend, she didn't seem the least big homesick and was a little angel the whole time.

I am looking forward to our next trip to the cabin.

Phillies

Fiona, My Dad, Joe and I went to see the Phillies last week. It was a lot of fun. The weather was perfect, the food was great and the Phillies won.



Here are some pictures Fiona took:

Self Portrait
Fiona's Dad Pop-Pop

Another Self PortraitI just love this picture for some reason.



We had a great day!

one more reason why i love Fiona

Yesterday I got home from work and I was carrying my mp3 player. Fiona asked me if she could listen to it. I turned the volume down and put it on her ears. I had been listening to Synchronicity by the Police. She listened to it for a minute and then looked at me and said, "Can I listen to Bruce?"

Unfortunately, there is currently no Bruce in my mp3 player, so I said to her "I'm sorry, there's no Bruce in there right now... but thank you so much for asking."

Fiona has a unique way of making my day.

catching up on a couple of things

Not much exciting going on lately, just looking forward to summer. Joe and Tammy and Ava are coming in 17 days and we are looking forward to that. Joe and I are planning a day trip to Gettysburg and Dad, Fiona, Joe and I are giong to see the Phillies. Then we have memorial day weekend. Two short weeks later, we go to the beach. A couple of weeks after that, Chris and I are going to see the Police. Then the baby comes to town. Then football season starts. Then the Phillies win the World Series.

Also, I am looking forward to Shrek the Third, and the new Pirates of the Carribean movie.

Here is a video of Fiona performing her latest trick:

Fiona at ChocolateWorld.

Fiona with Samantha and Sara

Beatles Pictures

So i read that a bunch of beatles pictures were accidentally thrown away. Apparently over 450 pictures were thrown out.

how will our children know what the beatles looked like since there will now only be tens of thousands of pictures of the beatles left.

Fiona's New Tricycle

About 2 months ago, we made a deal with Fiona. We told her that if she started going to the potty, we would buy her a tricycle. She really really worked hard and in the past 2 months she has only had two or three accidents.

So on Monday, we went on line to search for a tricycle for her and today it was delivered. After dinner Fiona and I put it together and took it for a spin around the block.

another great comic from Michael P. Holland

State Quarters or Mike's Lamest Blog Topic to Date

I am not collecting the US Mint's state quarters, but I do enjoy seeing the designs when they come out. And for a long time I thought Vermont's design was the best because of it's simplicity. Other quarters have come along that are neat, but none matches Vermont.

Because I am obsessed with ranking things, I will here rank the five worst quarters and then rank the five best quarters.

Five Worst Quarters:

5. ALABAMA

Alabama has a picture of Helen Keller on theirs. Alabama became a state in 1819 and in the 184 years between their statehood and the release of thier quarter the only decent thing to come from their state was a deaf, blind woman?? I have nothing against Helen Keller, but is she the only thing Alabama has to be proud of? Well, maybe I just answered my own question.

4. NEW HAMPSHIRE

New Hampshire has a picture of the old man of the mountain natural rock formation. Natural rock formations that look like things never really do it for me because it is just a fluke. Now if it was a natural rock formation that actually looked like someone, like Abe Lincoln or Stevie Wonder, then that would be cool, but just a random outcropping of rock that looks kind of like a man's face - eh, not that impressive. Further more, it looks more like the rock 'em-sock 'em robots guy than a real person. Incidentally, this rock formation was destroyed in a rock slide in May of 2003. To their credit, New Hampshire did put their state logo, which is arguable the best state logo ever, on their coin: Live Free of Die. That sounds like it should be the name of a Metallica song, but in reality, it is the name of a song by Sun Volt.

3. FLORIDA

Florida went with a "three iconic images from our state" approach, but left off the most iconic images of thier state: Mickey Mouse, Retirees, and Cocaine Smugglers.







2. TEXAS

An out line of the state with a star? This was the best you could come up with. For all of Texas' "We're the biggest state in the lower 48" and "Don't Mess with Texas" talk, they sure did come up one steaming pile of buffalo dung for their quarter. 159 years of history including, but not limited to: the home of Sam Houston, birthplace of Jack Johnson, Stephen Austin, Buddy Holly, Richard Petty, Willie Nelson, Scott and Janis Joplin, and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, home of Bonnie and Clyde, 5-time Super Bowl Champ Dallas Cowboys. And of course, you have THE ALAMO!!!! Only one of the most iconic forts not just in American History, but in the History of all time. You have all that stuff and you go with and you settle on an outline of the state and a star?? If Texans are dumb enough to overlook all that history and put out this crappy quarter, it is easy to see how they the Bush family has been able to stay in power there so long. Yeah, you heard me.


THE WORST QUARTER OF ALL:
OHIO

Ohio has the worst quarter to date. What is so wrong with their quarter? They did not put anything on their quarter that has anything to do with their state. They put the Wright Brother's plane on it. Everyone in the world associates the Wright Brothers with North Carolina, and in fact, North Carolina put the Wright Brother's plane on their quarter a full 2 years before Ohio's quarter was issued. And they put a picture of an astronaut on their coin. Again, when you think of America's space program, you think of Florida where the space ships launch from, and you think of Houston. When there is a snafu occuring, people don't mockingly state "Cleveland, we have a problem," they say "Houston, we have a problem." Furthermore, the even state on their coin that nothing ever happened there, but people who did make things happen were born there. Birthplace of Aviation Pioneers... big freaking deal. The wright brothers and John Glenn were born there. Yeah; Who cares? It doesn't matter where someone is born, it is where they are raised and nurtured that matters. Maybe if Ohio didn't suck so much the Wright Brothers and john Glenn would have stayed.

FIVE BEST QUARTERS

5. WISCONSIN
Wisconsin went with the "Three iconic images from our state" motif and, unlike Florida, I think it works. Here is why: Wisconsin isn't a real flashy and or showy state. They do what they do and they are good at it. They don't rely on a lot of razz-a-matazz like Florida to get the job done. So when you think of Wisconsin, you generally think of cows and cheese, with the obvious exception of the Green Bay Packers. And as much as I like Brett Favre, I really don't think he should be on a coin.




4.TENNESEE


Tennesee really did a great job of simplfying. Much like Wisconsin, one specific thing comes to mind when you thing of Tennesee: music. So they played on that and kept it simple and put out a really nice looking coin. Only thing I would have changed: get rid of the trumpet and add a banjo.

3. CONNECTICUT

No flash for Connecticut, just a picture of a beautiful White Oak which was known as the Charter Oak because that particular tree played an important role in the state's history. The White Oak, incidentally, is connecticut's state tree.

2. SOUTH DAKOTA

South Dakota's quarter is awesome for several reasons. First, there is not a lot that comes to mind when thinking of South Dakota other than Mt. Rushmore. They could have put out a Mt. Rushmore-only quarter and been completly lame, but they decided to add the piece de resistance and put on their coin the coolest bird in the world, the ring-necked pheasant. And because they went with their state icon, Mt. Rushmore, they were able to put a picture of Theodore Roosevelt on their coin. Kudos to you, South Dakota, Teddy Roosevelt and a ring-necked pheasant. Take off Thomas Jefferson and you would have had the best coin ever in the history of mankind.

1. VERMONT


Just a nice looking quarter, wouldn't you say? A crusty old Vermonter tapping a couple of trees on a cold Frebruary morning in the shadow of Camel's Hump. I think it states the simplicity with which a lot of Vermonters live their lives. Again, Vermont didn't need to go with flash and gusto to show the attributs of the state. They didn't put skiiers or images of the naval history of Lake Champlain on their quarter... just a regular fellow tapping his trees to make some syrup. Vermont rules.




That is all for me today.
Take care.

St. Patrick's Day t-shirt

ahoy ahoy.

As you may or may not know, every year Old Navy puts out a St. Patrick's Day t-shirt.

Here you see the t-shirt they put out this year.

I am not a huge fan of Old Navy, but I am a huge fan of St. Patrick and Old Navy sells these cool t-shirts each year for only $5.00. And so I buy one each year.

So last year, a few days before St. Patrick's Day, was was rockin' my Old Navy St. Patrick's Day t-shirt and I went to get my morning coffee.

There is this girl who worked at the coffee shop that I go to who never once said "hello" or "good morning" or "have a good day" to me. She used to be all chatty Cathy with her young, cool-looking young male friends, but not with me. Maybe he never said anything more than "what can i get for you?" and "that's a dollar, forty-eight" to me because I am old and square and have a real job and am married. I don't really care if she doesn't want to have a conversation with me, but a little common courtesy when I am paying way too much for coffee would be nice. "Hi, how are you today?" or "Take it easy," is all I am asking for. All the other people who work there say hello to and exchange pleasantries with me, but not this girl. She always seemed to have this attitude of "I am young and cool and I am only going to talk to young cool people."

So I have established that with the exception of coffee-related queries, she has never said anything to me at all, ever.

So I go walking into the coffee shop with my St. Patrick's day t-shirt on and she is behind the counter and is chatting with some of the aforementioned young, cool friends. I walk up to the counter and ask for a small coffee. She looks at my shirt and says to me "did you know that St. Patrick was actually Roman and not Irish?"

She says it loud enough for her friends to hear and her tone seemed to me to imply that:

1.) She was telling me something that I obviously didn't know.

2.) I was a mindless drone who thinks St. Patrick's day is a made-up holiday fueled by Guinness and is just an excuse to go out and get loaded.

3.) I was into kitschy, holiday-related crap and I should have also been wearing a button that said "Kiss Me I'm Irish."

I looked up at her and considered telling her that I had fairly recently finished reading the second of 2 biographies of St. Patrick. And that I read those "Lives of Saints" books all good Catholic kids get for First Communion and Confirmation. I also considered telling her that he feared that a sin he committed when he was young was so horrible that he would be sent to Hell. I was going to tell her that he once calmed a pack of hungry, barking dogs that threatened to expose him as a runaway slave. I also thought that it might be appropriate to mention that the reason he was so successful in bringing Christianity to Ireland was because he had found a way to integrate Catholic religious ceremonies with the Pagan traditions without compromising the teachings of Jesus or offending the Pagan priests.

I also considered saying "Yes, I actually did know that." But i decided I wanted her and her friends to know what an idiot I thought she was.

So after she said, "Did you know that St. Patrick was actually Roman and not Irish" I said:

"Yeah, no crap." as if to imply that everyone in the whole wide world knew it and that she wasn't actually teaching me anything.

I know that not everyone knows that he was Roman, but that didn't matter.

She always made me feel like she was doing me some gigantic favor by pouring 12 oz of hot liquid into a cup. And she always made me feel like i should feel priviledged that she took the 30 seconds out of her work day to give me her coffee.

And I always really hated the fact that she was the only person who has ever worked there that never once said anything nice to me, but did not hesitate for a second to say "good morning" and "how are you" to the young college-aged people that came in.

And for that matter, it felt really good to kind of say something that had a "why don't you shut the hell up and give me my freaking coffee" feel to it.

But it is not my place to put someone else down mo matter how they may make me feel, so in retrosepct, I feel bad for having said that to her and subsequently feeling good about saying it.

St. Patrick did not become a saint by putting people down, he became a saint by helping people. Therefore I should have instead prayed for her and asked God to help give me the strength to not mind that this person wasn't nice to me.

After the St. Partick's Day t-shirt incident, she went back to never speaking to me at all and a few months later she quit working there.

Crayola

Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street used to show a video of the Crayola factory that was really neat. Everytime I saw that video I thought it would be really cool to go to the factory and see it for real.

Yesterday, Fiona, Amy and I went to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. It was a lot of fun. There was a ton of cool stuff to see there and Fiona loved all of it.






Nona with the world's Largest Crayon.

Nona all plumb-tuckered out!!

The only downer on the day: The only place to eat there was a McDonalds. Since it was a Friday in Lent, I was actually looking forward to a Filet o Fish sandwich, but when we got to the counter and asked for one, the lady said to me, "we don't sell fish here." D'oh. I ate half of Amy's french fries, a chewy granola bar, and a gigantic Root Beer.

Fiona Comic

So wise at such a young age!!

ADDENDUM AND APOLOGIES

In my last blog entry, I chronicled all the concerts I have seen with my family. And apparently I forgot a few concerts I have seen with loved ones.

***IN MY DEFENSE: I did say "There is a fairly concise list of the concerts I have been to with family members."

Here are the comments I received:

Mark said: Hello? Rolling Stone in Philly y'all!
Maureen then said: Yeah, what he said!!! You obviously don't remember we were at The Rolling Stones concert at the Vet..also known as your wedding present to us!!! OR our double-date with you & your Mommy!
And then Aunt Louise said: what am I tinsel?Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band in NJ.Did you think that your family does not read your blog?!?I still love you! xo W

Holy Crap I feel bad. I can't remember the last time I ruffled so many feathers in such a short time.

So, just as an update:

I saw The Rolling Stones in Philly not only with my Mommy, but also with Maureen and Mark.

And I saw the Boss in New Jersey not only with my Mommy and Amy, but also with Aunt Louise. AND, Louise and I both failed to remember her graduation gift to me: She took me to see Michael Penn at the Mann Music Center in Philly. Holla that!

Here is a picture of my mom and Louise rockin' with the Boss.

And it had been well documented in Smokin' Dog that Aunt Louise has been very important to my musical development. She got me tickets to see Billy Joel (the first concert I ever went to.) She also got me tickets to see Tin Machine at the Tower (12th row). She took me to see Michael Penn and she got me Bruce Springsteen's autograph. Louise also saw the Rolling Stones when they were only in their 40's. I think she saw Bowie on the Serious Moonlight tour, and I know for a fact that she saw Bruce before I was even a fan.

It should also be noted that while I was at Penn State, my buddies and I had an insatiable thirst for Ballantine Ale. It was somthing that my buddies and I thought was the coolest not only for it's purity, body, and flavor, but also because no one else drank it and no one else seemed to know what it was EXCEPT for old guys... and that was old school and that was super cool. Ballantine became something of a icon for us and to this day it holds a special place in my heart.

I know what you are thinking "Mke, you are handsome and slender, where are you going with this Ballantine line of dialog?" Well, it was my Aunt Louise who introduced us to Ballantine one fateful evening in the fall of 1993.

To surmise: Aunt Louise is the coolest.
Therefore... I offer my heartfelt apologies to Aunt Louise.



Peace.
MPH

Police Part 2

Chris and I did get tickets to see the Police.

The concert is on July 20, so I have 4 months to learn the words to their songs so I can sing along and won't get bored... and so I don't look like a poseur only singing along to the songs off of Synchronicity.

I borrowed The Police's box set, Message in a Box, from Chris which has all of their songs. I put them all on my MP3 player and will rock that exclusively for the next couple of weeks/months.

I wanted to add a few things to the lists from my previous post, stuff that i forgot or didn't mention at the time:

"Bands I am not crazy about that I would like to see in concert" I need to add to that list:
Metallica

"Musicians/Bands I am glad I saw even though I am not crazy about them" I need to add to that list:
Ani DiFranco

And something intersting about all the great live music events i have seen at Hershey Park Stadium: Every concert I have ever been to there has been with family members. I have never seen a concert there with a friend. AND, the only concert I have been to with my dad was at Hershey Park Stadium... That was the Bob Dylan concert where it rained the whole show and Bob skipped a verse in Tangled Up In Blue. BUT he did sing Hard Rain Gonna Fall which was pretty neat.

Concerts I have seen with Mom:
Bob Dylan in Hershey
Rolling Stones in Philly
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in New Jersey
Rolling Stones in Hershey

Concerts I have seen with Chris:
Dread Zeppelin in Philly
Red Hot Chili Peppers/Foo Fighters in Hershey

Concerts I have seen with Maureen:
Stone Temple Pilots/Flaming Lips/Butthole Surfers in Philly
Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band in New Jersey

Concerts I have seen with Amy
4 Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concerts (E. Rutherford N.J., Boston, E. Rutherford again, Philly)
Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band in Camden N.J.
Red Hot Chili Peppers/Fishbone in Montreal
2 Joan Baez concerts in Burlington
2 Ani DiFranco concerts in Burlington
Bob Dylan in Lake Placid
Sun Volt in Burlington
Tenacious D in Burlington
James McMurtry in Burlington
The Zambonis in Burlington
Shawn Colvin in Burlington
Karan Casey in Burlington

Concert I have seen with Dad:
Bob Dylan in Hershey

Concert I saw with Mark:
Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band in Camden N.J.

Concert I saw with Seamus:
Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band in Camden N.J.

There is a fairly concise list of the concerts I have been to with family members.

There will be a test on this at a later date.

Peace,
MPH

Funny Nona Comic

The Police

The Police are going to be playing at HersheyPark Stadium and Christo and I are going to try and get tickets. I don't suppose it will be that hard to get tickets - The Rolling Stones played there and it was quite easy to get those tickets. And they are the most famous band in the WORLD.

I know what a lot of you are thinking - "Mike, you are handsome and slender, but I never knew you were a Police fan." Well, you are right, I am not much of a Police fan. I've always liked them, but never really went nuts for them. They are, however, an iconic band who were very very talented. And I think I want to see them just for that reason. Kind of like the Stones - the first time I saw the Stones, I didn't even own an album of theirs, but I wanted to see them. (And after seeing them live, I wanted to see them again... and if they tour again, I will want to see them again.)

For that same reason, I always wanted to see the Grateful Dead and Ramones. I can not stand the Dead, but they were legends and it would have been cool to have just seen them. Same deal with the Ramones - they started punk rock, you gotta go see a band like that. But, despite the oppurtunity to see both of those bands on several occasions, I never did.

And for that same reason, I am glad that I can say that I saw the following musicians/bands that I like but am not entirely crazy about:
Pearl Jam
Smashing Pumpkins (worst live band ever)
Arlo Guthrie
The Rolling Stones
Marilyn Manson

Here is the list of bands I've had the chance to see, but didn't, and will never get to see:
Nirvana
Grateful Dead

Band I wish I'd at least have been given the chance to see:
Led Zeppelin

Band I need to see at some point in my life:
U2

Bands who I could have seen and are considered 'great' but I think blow:
The Who

So, I will hopefully get to see The Police even though I don't particularly care that much for Sting himself... he seems like kind of a jerk and when he was on the 1988 Amnesty International Tour with Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Yousou N'Dour, and Tracey Chapman, he always had this look on his face like he was better than everyone else on the tour.
Item 1: Musically speaking, he wasn't the most best person on the tour, that was Peter Gabriel.
Item 2: Sales-wise, he wasn't the most popular person on the tour, that was Bruce.
Item 3: Connection-to-the-suffering-of-people-in-the-third-world-wise, he wasn't even close to Yousou N'dour despite his trips to save the rain forest, etc etc.
Item 4: Popularity-wise, he wasn't the most most famous person on the tour - that would have been Yousou N'Dour. Yousou N'Dour couldn't walk down the street in any city in all of Africa without being mobbed. He is like Muhammed Ali over there.

One last list:
Musicians I have seen at the HersheyPark Stadium
Bob Dylan
Red Hot Chili Peppers with the Foo Fighters
Rolling Stones

I find it hard to believe that I have see this many great musicians in Hershey PA.

Peace

President's Day Weekend

So far we are having a great president's day weekend.

On Saturday we went to Bombergers and got a new battery for the Subaru. The old battery just was not cold-cranking like all the advertisements on TV say it should be. I took it out and threw it in the creek. Let nature take care of it, I say.



Then we went sledding at the park. Nona LOVED it.

click here to see a video of nona on her sled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLjUFpJDitU

Amy & Nona took naps and we went up to Reading to see Maureen and Andrew before they left for Massachusetts.


Sunday was another beautiful day. We mostly hung out at home. We did go to Target and then to Lancaster Breweing Company for lunch. You may remember from previous posts on this blog that I once asked for the beer sampler and got like 12 5-oz glasses of beer. I'm not as dumb as I was on Saturday July 14, 2005. I got one pint of Litening Lager and I enjoyed it a great deal.

We got home and Nona and Amy took a loooong nap as I worked on some projects. After they woke up, Nona and I watched the Daytona 500. She really seemed to like it.


I went to bed around 10:00 and slept great knowing that I did not have to be at work the next day. That felt great.


Here is a comic I 'wrote.' Maureen and Erin say I shouldn't be allowed to say that I 'wrote' a comic if all I did was draw some pictures with other people saying funny things. Perhaps I will say this: here is a poorly drawn representation of Me and Amy chronicling something funny that Amy said.



Peace
(Jesus Peace, Not Hippie Peace)
MPH

Morro Castle Maritime Disaster

I saw a book at the library called When The Dancing Stopped: The Real Story of the Morro Castle Disaster and its Deadly Wake. It is a piece of non-fiction about a shipwreck and something drew me to it. As I always do with a new book, I look at the pictures first. After a few ho-hum photos of the principal characters of the book, I came across this picture:

clearly that is the Asbury Park Convention Hall. As you all probably know, I saw Bruce Springsteen there in April. I thought it was pretty cool, and I was further intrigued by the book so checked it out.

Back at work, before actually getting to read anything more than the jacket of the book, I was flipping through the pages and came across the title of Chapter Ten: Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. That, of course, is the title of Bruce's first album. I figured the author was throwing it out there kind of as a joke, like 'this would be a funny name for a chapter in the book and maybe some Bruce fans will get a kick out of it.' well, I certainly did get a kick out of it.

On my afternoon break, I started to read the prologue of the book... I won't relate to you the details of the prologue, as it has nothing to do with this blog entry, other than to say that there is a man on trial awaiting the jury's verdict in his murder case. At one point the defendant is thinking back to his days when he was nationally known as the hero of the Morro Castle disaster and enjoyed a brief speaking engagment recounting his heroics. What struck me was that on pabe xvi, author Brian Hicks, uses the phrase "he thought back to better days..." as opposed to "he thought back to a better time in his life" or "he thought back to his prime." He uses the words "Better Days." Better Days is a Bruce song. Of course, I thought that it was no coincidence.

I am way past my days of relating every blessed thing to Bruce, or every use of the number 37 to Cool Hand Luke, but this book was begging me to tally the Bruce Springsteen references... and there were a lot!

I counted 17. Some are a stretch, but I am taking them anyway and I will offer an explaination of each.

1. Page xvi - Better Days

2. Page 20 - "in the summer" as in "in the summer all the lights would shine..." from Mansion on the Hill

3. Page 51 - St. Mary's - Hicks speaks of a priest onboard the Morro Castle and specifically mentions he is from St. Mary's Church. In "independance day" Bruce says "We're leaving this morning from St. Mary's Gate..." and in "linda let me be the one" he says "in the basement of St. Mary's" I know - you are thinking that this is a little bit of a stretch, but I don't think it was necessary to mention the name of his home parish other than to make a Bruce reference.

4. Page 131 - he uses the word "darkness", as in "Darkness on the Edge of Town." again, one word does not a reference make, but when it is an iconic word of the Bruce lexicon, I gotta throw it in there.

5. Page 131 - chapter title "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J." Nuf said.

6. Page 161 - Fourth of July - as in the song "Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" again, a popular holiday as a Bruce reference? Yes, I am going to take it.

7. Page 161 - Calliope - as in "The calliope crashes to the ground" from "Blinded by the Light."

8 Page 161 - the palace amusement hall - as in "beyond the palace, hemi-powered drones stream down the boulevard" from Born To Run.

9. Page 162 - Madame Marie - as in "did you hear the cops finally busted Madame Marie for telling fortunes better than they do?" from Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy). (It should be noted that when the Morro Castle was shipwrecked in Asbury Park, Madame Marie would have been there for less than 2 years and would have hardly been the icon of the boardwalk that she has become." Here is a picture of Me, Noel, & Nathaniel at Madame Marie's "Temple of Knowledge."

10 - Page 163 - now here is the quote that made me realize I was right all along. Concerning the scene on the deck of the Morro Castle after the fire, Hicks makes reference to "the skeletal frames of burned-out deck chairs." In Bruce's song "Thunder Road" he sings of "the skeletal frames of burned-out Cheverolets." Now, if that is not a direct reference to Bruce, I don't know what is.

11. Page 164 - Hicks refers to the 1930's Asbury Park as a "city of ruins." Bruce referred to Asbury Park as a 'city of ruins' in his song about Asbury Park called "My City of Ruins."

12. Page 232 - ambulance pulled away - as in "no one watches as an ambulance pulls away..." from Bruce's best song - Jungleland. (Jungleland was the first song Fiona ever heard. I played it for her when she was like 10 minutes old.)

13. Page 256 - Jersey Girl - technically, this is a Tom Waits reference, but Bruce kind of made the song his own on his live album.

The rest are just scattered words that bring Bruce to mind:

14. Page 176 - Rumble "There's gonna be a rumble out on the promenade..." - Atlantic City (and the title of Bruce's wife's first album - Rumble Doll)

15. Page 176 - Thunder - Thunder Road

16. Page 181 - Midway - "He carrys him off down the midway..." - Wild Billy's Circus Story

17. Page 281 - Deserted - 4 songs - Independence Day, Wreck on the Highway, Waitin' on a Sunny Day, Sinola Cowboys.

I know that some of them, like the places in and around Asbury Park, might just be coincidence, but he only mentioned 6 or 7 specific place, and 5 of them were mentioned in Bruce songs. He talked about the a ride called the Calliope... were there not 20 other rides that he could have mentioned?

ALSO - he mentioned the Asbury Park Casino (which was torn down 2 weeks ago). Bruce filmed a couple of videos in there. And he mentioned the intersection of Ocean Ave & First Ave - There is a somewhat famous picture of Bruce taken at that corner - he is leaning against the street sign that says "ocean ave/first ave" with a ferris wheel behind him.

So, if you think I am crazy and am still hyper-obsessed with Bruce (as opposed to just being regular-obsessed) please read this:

After finishing the book, in the afterword, Hicks says when he first saw the picture of the Morrow Castle that is at the top of the page, he felt like he knew where it was without knowing where it was. He knew where it was because he remembered the Asbury Park Convention Hall from a trip he and a friend took to Asbury Park... a trip to see what Bruce was singing about. ALSO, in his thank yous as the end of the book, he thanks Bruce Springsteen and says that Bruce provided the soundtrack for all his travels while researching the book.

IN CONCLUSION: This book was really good - with or without the Bruce references. I only enjoy non-fiction, and I generally only enjoy that when it is a decent story. And this book certainly was a good story. Intrigue, suspense, heroics, psychopaths, commies, unions, and a lot of interesting characters - some weirdos, some very endearing.

peace

mph

Stylish New Glasses

In my last post, I put up a comic I wrote about my stylish new glasses and Chris' reaction to my stylish new glasses. Maureen asked to see a picture of my stylish new glasses, so here is a picture of me celebrating my 35th birthday with Fiona while wearing my stylish new glasses. Under which, I have included a picture of Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer of Weezer and half of the inspiration for the comic about Chris' reaction to my stylish new glasses.

Me and Nona

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Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer of Weezer.

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Peace

MPH