Weekend in New Hampshire

We spent the weekend up in Wolfeboro NH, courtesy of Lori's brother Mike and his wife Nancy, and made our first ever attempts at water skiing. I managed to get up on my skis a couple times, but then went straight back down - creating a new sport of water dragging. After five attempts, I gave up and let Lori have a crack. She tried it twice before hurting her hip which had been injured during her marathon training. Thus ends our water skiing careers.

Later we went tubing instead - much more my skill level. Lay on an inner tube, get pulled all around the lake and hold on for your life. That I can do. At least I could until the third consecutive time I caught air going over the wake and somehow punched myself in the face. I wasn't sure if I had really hit myself or if I was so out of control I landed on the rope handle or something - so I bailed out at that point to check out my fat lip. Mike and I tried to get Lori up into the tube for her ride, but that didn't work so well. Believing my life preserver was all powerful, I tried to lift her up into the tube which of course just shoved me under water, after 15 minutes of choking and gagging we headed back to the cabin for a long night of drinking and games with about 16 people, 3 dogs and 3 kids.

Threw Homer into the lake a couple times to try and prove to him that he could swim, but he is not a fan of the water. Homie just bolted for the shore as quick as could. He even stole toys from Bogie - Mike's retriever who loves going into the water - in an effort to stop Bogie from going back into the lake. It was like Homer thought he was saving Bogie's life by keeping him out of the water.

The End of Harry Potter

Oh, relax - I just mean the end of reading Harry Potter books. I'm not saying anything about who survives and who doesn't. Like millions of twelve-year-olds around the globe, I spent this past weekend doing nothing but reading "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows". The book was dropped on my doorstep Saturday afternoon and I read it for a few hours. It wasn't till I picked up it Sunday morning that I made the decision to just do nothing but read and get it finished before some TV, Internet or newspaper report ruined the whole thing for me. I've read the other books quickly, finishing them in the first week normally, but I've never just sat down and done nothing but read for an entire day. I don't know how kids can do it all night long but I gave up Sunday night, leaving just the epilogue to finish on Monday. I think this was my favorite book in the series. Since it is the final volume and Voldemort (I've never been afraid to say his name!) is up and kicking from the get-go, it starts with a bang and doesn't let up. It really is a roller coastering, adventure ride. I loved it and thought it was all brought to a very satisfying conclusion. So now I guess I need to go prowl a pre-school to figure out what to read next.

D'oh! Vermont Won

To celebrate the coming "The Simpsons Movie", Twentieth Century Fox had a contest between the many Springfields across America to compete and see who was the actual Springfield from "The Simpsons". Of course I was pulling for my birthplace, Springfield Mass, and once I heard Senator Ted Kennedy was taking part in the video, I thought we were a lock. But alas, the premiere will be held in Springfield Vt on July 27, 2007. I have to admit, I liked the Vermont entry better than the Mass one too.

You can check out all the videos here -
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/simpsons-contest.htm

Roger Waters - Live

We saw Roger Waters last night at the Garden in Boston. He's touring doing all Pink Floyd tunes, something he refused to do in his earlier solo years. Our seats were just three rows from the top - seats I normally wouldn't bother with, but for this show I thought they just might work - and they did. The show featured a 12 piece band, the largest and sharpest video screen I've ever seen, floating space men, pigs, lots of Bush bashing, lasers, an insane light show and lots of pot smokers.

I don't get high - but during the second set of the show which featured "Dark Side of The Moon" in its entirety, I sure felt like I should and the spectacle of the show, the lasers, lights, video, smoke... all combined to make me think I was high. Waters looked like Richard Gere from our seats, but I can't imagine his voice was ever better. I never saw Pink Floyd, but its hard to imagine they ever sounded better. Though Waters relies on a lot of extra guitarists and singers to try and replace David Gilmour.

I love how the Boston Herald summed up the show; " Waters’ runthrough of "Dark Side of the Moon," complete with near-seizure-inducing light show and extended arrangement, was as mind-bending as stadium rock gets. The trippy freak-out of "On the Run" bled into a perfectly embellished tom-tom solo to kick off "Time." The wailing vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky" brought chills. And "Money," a song killed and buried by classic rock radio, was resurrected gloriously." My other favorite moments were the rip roaring opener of "In The Flesh", everyone singing along to "Mother", "Wish You Were Here", and the final song of the night, "Comfortably Numb". Plus extra bonus points for no opening act or extended solos!

Set One
In the Flesh
Mother
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
Shine on You Crazy Diamond
Have a Cigar
Wish You Were Here
Southampton Dock
The Fletcher Memorial Home
Perfect Sense 1 & 2
Leaving Beirut -- this was the lone new song and a huge ripping of G.W. Bush
Sheep
(intermission)
Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety:
Speak to Me/Breathe
On the Run
Time
The Great Gig in the Sky
Money
Us and Them
Any Colour You Like
Brain Damage
Eclipse

Encore:
The Happiest Days of Our Lives
Another Brick in the Wall (part 2)
Vera
Bring the Boys Back Home
Comfortably Numb