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15 Aug 2012

Privacy Please!

I wanted to take a minute and tell you about something I thought interesting that happened here this past weekend. Its glimpse into the lives of the rich and famous. But first, I wanted to give a shout out to my friends in, and the country of Great Britan for putting on some fabulous Olympic games and activities last week. Nicely done!

I was captivated at both the beginning and ending ceremonies for these Olympic games. That’s something I could not say in the past, even when our country put them on. These events were well coordinated, transitioned well, visually awe-inspiring, talent laden and a few surprises. In a word “Impressive”! My memory (such that it is) recalls previous opening and closing ceremonies with phrases conjured of “what is that”, “why”, and “is that the best you can do”. Not this time in the UK. I was sorry to see them end.

What did you think of the Olympics?

Another big event that happened last week was the PGA Championship held on one of our neighboring barrier islands, Kiawah Island. Now, I am not a big golfer but I do recognize a big sporting event when they occur locally. Same as the Family Circle Tennis Cup here in the spring, I can’t afford to go to either!

As the time for the PGA event drew near, many famous golfers came to town early to get themselves acclimated with the area (hot and humid in August) and practice a few rounds on the championship course before the event opens. But even with that expectation of these great golfers coming to town sometimes we can still take notice. Such was the case when the 155 foot yacht pulled up at the marina at Kiawah Island, with the contradictory name, “Privacy”. Even at a yacht club for many of the Southeast’s wealthy and pampered sea-goers, a 155 foot boat stands out.

Just trying to blend in and find a place to park

So then it would be no surprise to find out the eye-catching yacht actually belongs to Tiger Woods. It seems this $25,000,000 toy is how Tiger likes to go to coastal golf events (some of you may know this already). He can pull up early, catch some lodging with security and ‘privacy’ of his own planning, then escape to the hulls of the ship when he is not competing (echo, echo, echo).

So have any of your friends ever let you on their mega-million dollar ship? If not, let’s take a closer look into how the rich and famous get around, when they are not flying in a mega jet.

Its sure not the ‘Minnow’

Tiger purchased his golf-battleship back in 2004. His yacht is reported to have (only) 6,500 square feet of living and work space and a capacity to sleep up to 21 people in a master suite and five guest rooms. Research shows it includes a gym and a theater, and carries three Ski-doo’s. People magazine has reported of Tiger Woods’ yacht that it “offers all the comforts of home, certainly not my home. It has a massive 2,000-gallon water tank, a Jacuzzi, an elevator, a sky-lounge bar, a walk-in refrigerator, a deck dining area that seats 12, two built-in wall safes and a brothel (just kidding ~ had to slip that in).

Privacy’s interior includes cherry wood. His gym, a converted stateroom, includes free weights, a treadmill and exercise bike. There’s a transparent circular stair case. The ‘living room’ is conveniently located between the bar and the dining room.

Tiger’s Den

No word on entertainment being offered in the sky-lounge or not. What do you think? Christina Aguilera or Pearl Jam? ‘Privacy’ has a working staff of 8-9 to keep her afloat, clean, and Tiger fed (Grreaaat!).

Woods took delivery of his yacht in time for his wedding to Elin Nordegren in 2004; the couple spent their wedding night aboard the Privacy. It has been reported that it was Nordegren, prior to the wedding, who made most of the interior decorating choices for the yacht.

Ironically, the yacht was offered to the former Mrs. Woods as part of their divorce settlement but she declined to take it, stating the upkeep would be too expensive for her.

For instance, the fuel tanks can hold 12,000 gallons of diesel. If marine diesel is selling for $4/gallon, it is $48,000 to fill up the tank. A boat like this might burn 50 gallons per hour at cruising speed.

Rumor has it the yacht is now for sale for $20 million.

We just have to imagine what the other rooms are like…

“Privacy” is full of pricey bells and whistles that not only make it Woods’ ‘personal’ yacht but also his sanctuary. It allows him the ability to elude the public and media. But as far as ‘privacy’ it may make him more noticeable than any other golfer. Or any other athlete! I wonder what Singh and Mclroy left in?

Here is a quick, scenic video of Privacy at Bohicket Marina at sunset. Have a great weekend!

As far as privacy goes, here’s a link to where the boat is right now:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?mmsi=319164000

Posted in Archives

14 Jul 2012

4 Comments

Memo: Summer vacation should never be dull!

So how is your summer so far? Have you been able to get out and enjoy some of the great activities outdoors? Our life in 3D has been fairly busy so far although “activities outdoors” turned out to be a bit of a curse. You’ll see what I mean later. When you live on the coast you get a lot of visitors in the summer. This year has been no exception. So I wanted to get you an update on where we have hiding the past month or so, sans WordPress.

Our girl’s summer vacation began with the end of school this year. Their Aunt Sue came down from PA for a week. Aunt Sue is one of the several friends that love to dote on our girls. If I was to guess I would bet she has half of their Christmas presents bought already and part of their birthday gifts. She doesn’t need a reason. If she see’s it, its on sale, and its cute, has something to do with Disney Princesses, cute clothes or shoes she will buy it for them. (Shhh… my wife and I hardly ever have to buy any clothes for our kids the way this works.)

Aunt Sue came down with a to-do list in hand. During the week the kids went to the park or Chic-fil-a to play every day.

Hang on…. there’s more

Cinderella, you’re soo mav!

They played at home doing one of their favorite activities: Playing “dress-up”.

Knickitty knock-knock Tink!

They went to the nearby water park and then we all went to the beach on Saturday. We left in the morning to avoid the bridge traffic jams, bad leftover parking spots and prospecting for a spot on the beach.

Summer Saturdays in the surf and sand

The down side of going to the beach Saturday however is that it eclipses my gym day. So the first thing I did was try to sneak in a run back across that island bridge. Phew! Do you know how hot and humid it is running outside? That was sarcasm as I spend most of my running indoors on the dreadmill.

You can practically feel the humidity through this picture!

It was a great week and great weekend. Its always like a bit of a vacation for us when people come to visit as there is always plenty of attention to go around to the girls. They are at their best the whole time!

The next weekend the girl’s Aunt Charity came down with our girl’s favorite cousin Nikki. Nikki is two years older than Dylan and the two really hit it off. In fact that’s where she is at right now. Its great to see all three of them together! This time, however, we had to try to fit that ‘summer vacation week’ into a weekend.

Our ‘Heartbreaker’

So once again it was out to the beach. The kids love to play in the water (me included) and we had a great time. Then we hit a great beach restaurant on the way back before naps.

She Luvs the water!

Afterwards, packed up the car again to go see a the Disney Movie “Brave”. To me, this was not the typical Disney movie. The young heroine actually rebels against her own mother. My wife points out this is nothing new for Disney if you think about the Little Mermaid. But it was a good movie.

I really enjoyed it and a must see for any mother / daughter duo out there. Plus it was set in Scotland with all those wonderful Scottish accents and scenery. (paralleling the movie Braveheart in a sense)

The next weekend was a break at our house. Our neighbors are a couple of loving grandparents. Accordingly they shipped 12 (yes, I said 12) of their closest grand kids in from all over to spend the summer here. They are all great kids. None are older than 10 and so they work out great with our two cherubs. Two or three of the oldest kids have really taken to our two. So I invited those three and my two to our downtown aquarium on Saturday.

We had the best time since I have taken our kids there. The popular favorite was the 12 foot albino alligator. We also saw a 10 foot Nile Croc curl up and scratch his ear like a dog. They are supposed to be sedentary aren’t they? Dylan petted a snake. Skylar grabbed said snake when it was here turn. I had a hard time pealing them away from the exhibit where you pet passing rays and horseshoe crabs.

“We got Fins to the left, fins to the right…”

They enjoyed seeing the jelly fish and sea turtles. Then they all caught their breath in front of the large tank. This time the 4 foot sharks kept making their passes right by our kids sitting on the floor. They swam up close enough to the glass where it was easy to spot their 3 rows of teeth. One time one swam up slow and close, appearing to almost stop right behind an oblivious Skylar, who had her back to the tank. The shark got everybody else’s attention!

The next week was the 4th of July week. Our old neighbors and best friends came back to town to visit and spend time with their family. We met up with them at the mid-week fireworks display. The kids had a great time playing with their oldest as us older kids just sat around and caught up.

The next morning it was back to the movies to watch a free airing for kids. We were lucky to see Dreamwork’s, “Puss In Boots”. It was quite creative I thought as it wove a story line using practically every story book character around, from little Boo Peep, Jack and Jill (they weren’t so nice) Humpty Dumpty, Jack and the Bean stalk with the goose that laid the golden eggs and many more.

Salma, Antonio and Humpty-Dumpty disguised as the Golden Egg

It was a better than expected flick with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek in the lead roles. Hey, where Mathew McCoughney is to you girls Salma Hayek is to me.

Somewhere I picked up the most tenacious case of poison ivy that past week. I was wiping it with pure bleach. That didn’t even keep it down. It fell nicely into the weekend plans however.

Saturday and Sunday our friends ~~stood us up~~ found other people they needed to visit. We got it but it left our kids hurting as they were looking forward to doing fun times with them again. So how do you distract the broken hearted kids? Take them back to the beach! That was my idea. I remember from my youth how the healing powers of the sea ( they really are!) do great things to cases of poison ivy. That was my plan Saturday morning when I said “Let’s go”. I spent two solid hours playing in the salt water! The only effect the sea had on my poison this time was spread it around to my butt!

I was ~~spreading~~ getting the poison in all the worse places to get poison ivy. Think of the worst place to you? Yep, I got it there too. Sunday morning I got it on a place on my bum where I couldn’t see it. It just itched there! I had to stand up on a chair in front of the mirror in the bath to get a glimpse of how and where it spread. Now, imagine the feeling you might get as you innocently turn the corner in your bedroom early one morning and find your spouse standing up on a chair looking at their bum in the mirror? Its never dull around here!

Seizing the opportunity, I hopped off the chair and exclaimed, “Perfect timing!” (No doubt) I told my wife that I had a new batch of poison where I can’t see it and barely reach it. I asked her if she would do me the honors of dabbing the new batch of poison with a cotton ball filled with bleach. She fell to my logic and reluctantly agreed.

Now, going back to the idea of “never dull around here”. I bent over a bit, put my hands on my knees and prepared for the cold sting of the bleach ball. My wife started painting the affected area on my backside with the Clorax. All was quite until Dylan turns the corner and asks, “Whatcha doing mommy?”

“Well I, ahhh….you see., ahhh…because I, ahhh…. Dylan! Shouldn’t you be getting ready for church?

But the party doesn’t end there. You see, in our church they do a children’s sermon where they bring all the kids up in front of everyone and the Pastor tries to tell them a story or lesson. That Sunday’s theme was helping out other people. The Pastor asked if they helped out at home.

Help with the cleaning he asked? Help putting away their toys? He was leading up to when Jesus helped two people, ridding their illnesses, when entering a new town. And so he asked the kids if they ever need help at home when taking their medicine?

Dylan finally chimes in, “Well Pastor, I don’t so much, but this morning, my mommy…….”

Never a dull moment!

I hope the rest of your summer continues to get hotter and hotter…in the fun way, not literally. And that your summer may never rest on DULL.

PS: I went to the doctor that same Sunday afternoon and got a shot in my now infamous bum.You can’t have poison ivy when there are kids around, can you?

What fun things have you done this summer?

What has been one of your more embarrassing moments?

Posted in Archives and tagged aquarium, Aunt, beach, Brave, cousin, fireworks, how embarrassing, just take me now, never dull, ocean, please just shoot me, Puss in Boots, run, summer

19 Jun 2012

11 Comments

Summertime Rocks!

I heard this old song on the radio this morning that instantly took me back. It was a song from my youth. Do you have those memory jogging songs that take you back to a particular place and time? The song was ‘Back in the Saddle‘. The record that it came from was Aerosmith ‘Rocks‘.

I was so taken back by this song I thought I might do an album review! What’s that? Album? Maybe even change the whole format of this blog to record reviews? I am kidding of course.

What’s so special about this record? This is probably my favorite Aerosmith record. it was their fourth effort and probably the hardest rocking one they ever put out.

More importantly, to me, it was released in May of 1976. I listened to it. My friends listened to it. It was quite the edgy record in 76. And its songs catapulted me into the one of the best times of my life!

Yes, Back in the Saddle and Rocks reminded me of my best summers ever, the summer of 1976. This was the year I spent most of the summer with my best friend in Stone Harbor, NJ in his house right across from the ocean.

I was 14 years old and just completed my 7^th grade. Stone Harbor is on the south Jersey shore, close to Cape May. There is no Snookie. It is filled with nice kids and great families from the Northeast who were fortunate enough to have summer homes on the coast. More residential then touristy, the coastal retreat had a small town feel while still being on the edge of the tourist section in New Jersey.

Previously, MY family made the trip to the coast for one week each year. These were the things, along with Christmas, that I looked forward to each year at that young age. That year, however, I was able to spend about half the summer in an ocean front house with my best friend, John Himes, and his family. I was officially a beach bum!

I could get use to this!

What a summer! It was a summer of excitement and a summer of discovery and new experiences. It was a taste of ocean front coastal living with a family that was not on a budget. And what an impressionable age to experience these new things! As you can tell, it made a lasting memory!

The age when we were realizing what summer meant, being a kid, getting a little more freedom, more mobility and independence to roam, a little bit more money in our pockets to spend how we wanted. At least he did. We wore our favorite pair of faded jeans, cut off and frayed to the bottoms of our pockets (it was the 70’s after all) and our perceived coolest tank tops. We also were starting to notice all the other types of Junior High girls out there!

It was the Year of Summer Hits like: ‘Silly Love Songs’, ‘Afternoon Delight’, and “If You Like Pina Coladas’ remind me of this summer too. Peter Frampton had his Live album and ‘Baby I Love Your Way’ and ‘Do You Feel Like We Do’ filled the airwaves. There was ‘Play That Funky Music White Boy’ and forgettable songs like ‘More, More, More (how do you like it)’, ‘Fly, Robin, Fly’ and (gulp) ‘Disco Duck‘. It was the summer of Blue Oyster Cult’s ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’ plus this cool 4th record from that new group, Aerosmith, called ‘Rocks‘. And it was the summer of JAWS! Imagine seeing Jaws while spending the your summer at the beach.

This summer was playing all day under the warm summer sun in the ocean, playing in the waves over our heads, riding the waves, perfecting our body surfing to a fine art, noticing the cute girls on the beach our age, and then coming home to a refrigerator full of new snacks. I ate my weight in Bugles that summer! We took pride in toughening up the soles of our feet across the hot street to the ocean for the hot beach sand and getting the deepest, darkest tans we could under the hot summer sun.

Catching some waves…

It was the summer of our nation’s Bicentennial. Remember that? There were festivities planned all summer across our nation climaxing to a fun and spectacular July 4^th week, weekend and evening celebration. There was so much to do and Red, White and Blue was everywhere in every conceivable fashion, manner, trinket and souvenir. Their were so many festivities that year; more than this old boy can recall.

the Bicentennial Silver Dollar

It was that summer I lined up on the right field foul line to race other kids my age to the other end of the field for some 4^th of July festivities. I won that race. My buddy John came in second. To this day that trophy is still the biggest trophy in my trophy case.

Later that day was the Home Run Derby. Here, I was looking forward to showing everyone my little league skills from back home. Plus, Shawn, the friend of Carol, who was the friend of John, was at the HR competition. I spied Shawn a few times on the beach that summer with Carol. Shawn might have been the cutest girl I had ever seen! (to that point in my young life) Summer days were somehow brighter when she was at the beach. Had she noticed me at the HR Derby? Did she remember me? I was the fast kid earlier that day. I had my name called over the PA system at the awards ceremony earlier that morning.

Swinging for the fences

So at the HR Derby I tried to hit the ball so hard I that I barely hit it at all. I glanced over at Shawn in between each pitch to see if she was watching me. While I didn’t win this time I thought I heard Shawn and Carol cheer encouragement for me. She must have known who I was I thought! And that was enough intrinsic rewards for me.

That summer, we would walk 20 blocks downtown to see the other kids staying in Stone Harbor all summer. They were short blocks and we had fun the whole way down and back. Once downtown, I was instantly accepted by these kids because John knew all of them, he was bigger than most of them, and I had that dark summer, live-at-the-beach tan (and the way cool cut-off jeans).

We played roof top miniature golf, went to lots of places I had never been before, and walked in all the summery souvenir stores. I fantasized about owning all the trendy t-shirts, with the decals ironed on them, back to school in the fall as my badge of honor to what I did that summer. It was on those walks home from downtown that I discovered the full moon never moved from its position over the ocean, no matter how far north or south we walked. How could anything be so big I thought?

We would walk over to the ocean front hotels and look around. We saw other families on the go, trying to fit their summer vacation into one week. We walked around, pretended we were older than we were, went to the places only the locals knew and felt about as important as any 14 year old could feel.

And then we would wake up early, to the sound of tennis balls hitting the neighboring tennis courts, eat English Muffins on the deck while watching seagulls sit atop the beach pylons and live the life of a kid at the beach all over again.

This was the summer that persuaded me to pursue a degree in Hotel/Motel Restaurant management and then move to the beach after graduation. Have I mentioned I am a bit of a beach bum?

Which brings me back to the summer-sun setting on this post, back to reality and back to the brink of this year’s summer season.

Please let this post be my WordPress Summertime V-card to all of you. I really hope you find a memorable, fun and exciting summer this year too. Make it happen! Make it one of your favorites and one of your best. Make some summer plans, try new things, stay fit, fun and fabulous, meet new people, reacquaint with your best friends from your past, stay optimistic in what you can do, and take time to notice the great things all around you. Its summer after all! Have a Stone Harbor summer! I hope it ROCKS!

What has been YOUR favorite all-time, Aerosmith Rocks summer?

Posted in Archives and tagged Aerosmith Rokcs, summer vacation, the beach, the ocean, the shore

08 Jun 2012

8 Comments

3D Batteries

Hello out there! Sorry I have been absent for so long. I know I have been out of touch awhile. Never fear fearless bloggers I am still reading your good stuff, although it has been a fast, stealth-like method lately; in and out. Keep up your good work!

To all friends, family and followers I am sorry I have been out of touch. I know by now you must be starving for some updates on these two spectacular girls of ours. So here are some quick, bullet-point updates over the past few weeks:

Dylan counted to 100 the other day, all by herself. She continues to impress us with her smarts and fantastic memory. It won’t be long until she will be making fun of MY memory, not just Mom.
Aunt Sue is coming down for a week this weekend so that means hundreds of new pictures for you to see how much these toddlers are growing up into little girls (sigh).
Each of the girls are enjoying VBS this week. They actually ask to go. Are we parents that bad to be around? The second day there one of the instructors came up to me and said that Dylan was going to be a great mommy. I said, “How?” She said Dylan was trying to keep Skylar from roaming around too much out of there class room. She finally stopped beside her instructor, threw her hands on her hips with a frustrated sigh and said, “I just can’t control the girl.” Know what you mean kiddo!

12 new kids moved next door to us for the summer. All are older than our girls but they have someone to play with. Last Sunday night we helped them set up a nice above ground pool. They better be checking that Ph with 12 little kids in there!

On the way to VBS tonight Dylan said, “Daddy I was wrong” She may be the first female I have ever heard say that, showing, again, how truly progressive she is. 🙂 Just kidding ladies!
We rode bikes to our favorite restaurant last week. It is about 4 miles round trip and Dylan is still in her training wheels. She is a go-getter though and made it there with no problem. On the way home she got the post-lunch sleepies and quit about half way. I had to put her in the kids seat on the back of my bike and hoist her little bike over my shoulder and ride with both the rest of the way. I guess we need some more training for that girl!

Our favorite restaurant manager and Dylan’s adopted Mom at Texas Roadhouse

Skylar knows her colors now and most numbers. She can count to 10 all by herself. Most of all she is asserting her independence in her never ending cries to, “Let me do it! Let me do it!” She still loves her swing.

She can name all the colors

That’s about it for now knuckleheads. I will try to do better next time. I have a few ideas to write about. I just need to find some batteries for some more energy and a wee more time. As always, thanks for dropping by!

~ Andy

ourlifein3d

Posted in Archives

22 May 2012

9 Comments

How to Beat the Birthday Blues

I’m not a big fan of birthdays, as you may know by now. This last weekend is a prime example. My wife calls me Peter Pan, as I don’t want to grow old and sometimes the birthdays can just sour me a bit.

Such was the case this past week. But I beat those Birthday Blues this time. One might say by getting in touch with my “feminine side“, based on my antidotes for the Birthday Blues, along with some great and kind advice from the blog-o-sphere. You’ll see what I mean. But, if you ever have trouble with your birthdays, here is my recipe for kicking those Birthday Blues in the bum

1) Listen to “Don’t Fear the Reaper”. The popular 70’s rock song, made famous by Christopher Walken’s “I got the fever for more cowbells” on Saturday Night Live. My brother sent me a birthday card and when you opened it up this song played. I had to laugh. I was feeling sorry for myself and he just kinda made fun of me. It was just what I needed. I didn’t fear the reaper anymore!

This was one of my all-time favorite songs from my youth. It is a very cool, harmony-laden, well written song that romanticizes death (Romeo & Juliet are together in eternity) leaving you to believe it is ‘trendy’ to walk with the Reaper and that there is “nothing to Fear”; i.e. “40,000 men and women do it everyday; 40,000 people redefine happiness / We can be like they are”. … Hey, at 50 I still want to be hip!

2) Got the Blues? Buy a new pair of shoes! Right? Every woman knows this. In my case I took some birthday money and went out and bought some new high end, eye-catching, feel-better… Asics running shoes. I am hoping the curiosity of ‘are these things going to help’ will get me running more. And ~~more better~~ better! The last time I bought some racing Saucony’s it worked miracles for my performance.

Let’s go for a run!

3) Go get some great looking, feel-good cosmetic surgery! I get this tip from my wife watching the Housewives of Beverly Hills. When those girls are feeling down they go get some plastic surgery to make them feel good again. OK, I have no use for implants; or Botox. So, to make me smile and feel good about myself again I went…….. to get my teeth cleaned. 🙂 And I feel so much better! (wink, wink) They don’t look 20 years younger but at least the stains are not scaring little kids anymore. Tomorrow, I may get my hair ~~done~~ cut and maybe my nails. Nah, not the nails.

The ladies at Flowertown Dentistry will make you smile!

4) Go to the gym. Simply go prove you are not as old as the calendar says. This Saturday I hit some new highs with the weights including 3 sets of 70lb bent over dumbbell rows (these will be important later), 190lbs on the Hammersmith Bench Press machine, and 480 calories burned on the treadmill on a good 35 minute run. These aren’t my all-time personal bests but I haven’t touched any of these 3 levels in a good year or so, telling me my body is not withering away like my sorry butt wanted to believe. In fact, its still getting stronger each week. I just need to go to them gym to remind me of that. Exercise will make / keep the body younger. JDI!

I felt 20 years younger! (almost)

5) Enjoy your surroundings. Do a put off Home Improvement project. If I want to be around awhile I might as well make my home a little nicer to grow old in. So I went out and worked on my weekend patio project where I am making a stone patio and walkway out back, replacing the torn down deck we first had. Folks this will look nice when I am done making a bigger patio and a bigger backyard for our girls. I was so energized to get this done I moved 4 tons of stone and cement! In 3 hours! I placed 3 tons of individual flagstaff stones in place on my patio and then bought, moved, and stored 12 80lb bags of cement. Now that might not sound like a mental rejuvenation but just the fact that I did all that tells me I can still hang. Four tons, one rock, or cement brick at a time! Those dumbbell rows came in handy! In fact, I wasn’t even sore the next day.

Tons of fun!

So that’s my recipe for beating the Birthday Blues. I stumbled on them all by accident this past weekend but each one had a positive impact on my attitude. Sorry for being such a stinker last week. Being Peter Pan, I never really have enjoyed birthdays for the last 10 years. “Life begins at 50” someone said last week and so I have nothing to fear. So, come on take my hand, we’ll be able to fly, we can become like they are, come on baby, don’t fear the reaper…..I got the fever…. for more cowbells!