PatrickDiCaprio.com

So where to begin, a lot has happened since the last time that I wrote in this thing.

• The swim season came to an end last month when we went to New England Championships at Harvard. Minus the weather, it was a great weekend. The kids swam well and everyone had a good time. I took a small group for a tour of Fenway Park on that Saturday morning. It was amazing to see how much work was still in progress only a few short weeks before the Sox home opener.
• Since the swim season ended, I spent most of my free time preparing for the banquet that was last weekend. I had over 1500 photos and 6 hours of video that I managed to get down to a 21 minute year in review. Many thanks that I only need to do that scale of a project once a year. My perfectionist self wasn’t happy with the final outcome, but everyone else raved about it.
• While I’m on the topic of swimming, I was approached last week about a position to help prepare some young triathlon competitors for the swimming leg of their event. The idea intrigued me so I signed on to help. It seems like its only going to be for a few weeks, but we’ll see what happens after the program kicks off on Sunday.
• I have a couple web projects nearing completion: A new look and shopping cart system for Injector.com and a total face lift for the Valley YMCA page. Once those 2 are online, I’ll finally feel comfortable putting up my company website as I will have a better portfolio to show on it. Once I tie up all those ends, I am going to more actively pursue some additional sidework.
• Not too much exciting has happened at Fuji other than my normal nightly tasks. Oh wait, they are sending me to Las Vegas for a training session the week of April 28th. I guess that could qualify as exciting. I’m really looking forward to the break that the trip will provide. More to follow on that once I get back.
• Went to Camp Jewell with our group of students for the United Way Youth Leadership Program last week. It was a blast. I’ve got a little video recap I hope to get up sometime in the next week or so.
• Made some pretty good progress on finishing off the weight room in the basement. I’ve got the floor on order, and I should finishing painting this weekend if all goes well. I can’t wait for it the be done as it will be much easier to do my workouts with the whole room at my disposal. I’ve already made a point of eating better and I have also completely eliminated regular soda from my diet. Slowly but surely the pounds are starting to drop.
• Got my taxes done just in time, I would like the thank the government for giving me $4800 back this year. It’s much nicer than having to pay $3300 like last year.
• Slip n’ Slide II is already in the works for the summer. I’m thinking August sometime. More information to follow.
• Oh yeah, Real Ultimate Klee is back! Go forth now and share this news with the world.

Man I suck at updating this. At least it wasn’t a full month this time. Just when I think I have some free time, it all magically fills up yet again. Here’s a quick rundown for those of you at home still following along.

- I threw what I consider a very successful slip and slide party a few weeks ago. I made it a point to take more photos at this party and failed miserably. Minus the strip of dead grass down the hill of my yard, everything went well. Not sure when the next bash will be as I have a few other things I would like to accomplish first, but I’ll make sure to let everyone know when it’s coming.

- Saw a few concerts over the last few weeks. I traveled down to Jones Beach with some of the guys for our yearly 311 trek. It was a good time as always, but that is what that company usually brings. The set list was pretty good, they played alot of older stuff and not a single song off the last album (that may have been a blessing in disguise). I was a little disappointed at the length of their set and even more so when I found out they had to cut 4 songs due to the venue curfew and the crappy opening bands taking too long. I also saw Dave Matthews in Hartford last weekend. It was my first time, maybe not my last. Not a huge Dave fan, but the pregaming in the parking lot may make it worth it to go again.

- I survived 24 hours of swim championships with a voice for once. The kids swam well and we had a few very close to the end races. It’s the offseason until October. I’m looking forward to the time off. Now my evenings are free to get in a little more kayaking.

- Right after the swim championships I had my first family picnic/reunion in 5 years. It was crazy to see all the little kids running around. It was even crazier when a massive thunderstorm hit and power went out. It was interesting to see how many cousins didn’t recognize me at all. I guess people change alot in 5 years.

- I managed to totally revamp my home entertainment system over the last 3 weeks. I finally got the tree next to my driveway taken down last month so that allowed me to get Dish Network finally as the line of sight path was now clear. I figured if I was going to get the dish put on, I might as well have them put up the HD dish while they were there. This, a discount coupon and a sale at Best Buy prompted me to spring for the 40″ Samsung LCD HDTV I’ve had my eye on for a while. When I was putting the new TV in place, I managed to knock over and break my center channel speaker, so I had to replace that. And lastly just by dumb luck, my receiver randomly decided to start raising it’s volume to the maximum at will the week before the dish got put on. All in all, since I moved in back in October, the only piece of equipment I haven’t had to change was the front channel speakers. At least I am out of things to buy. I hope.

- I switched to the midnight to 8:00 AM shift for work 2 weeks ago. The thought of it had been in my head all summer, but then at a staff meeting it was suggested that an L2 move up for a while and I immediately volunteered. So far I am quite happy with it. All I really did was flip my work and sleep schedules. I picked up an hour of my day not spent in rush hour traffic and I no longer have to work during the day on Sundays. At first this was going to be a temporary thing while the guys that were on the night shift got some daytime exposure, but now I’m thinking I am going to stick with it. The peaceful quiet of the night shift is very appealing to me.
I also miss out on all of the office politics that happen during the day. I don’t think I will ever miss that.

That’s all for now I guess. I fly out for Cuba Saturday morning so I’m not sure if I will post before then. Hopefully I will have easy internet access when I’m there, but I’m not real sure as it is a Navy base and all that I am staying on.

It’s been a while since my last post, but I have been extremely busy the last few weeks. He’s a quick run down to catch up:

- June 29, my first Sox game of the season. They won 2-1 behind Wakefield. This was the game that Kenny Lofton stole 4 bases. When he got on base for the 3rd time, the wave was going around the park. I looked at my friend Scott and said “Wouldn’t it be crazy that when the wave went up Lofton was on first and when it came down, he was magically on second?” The next time around, that exact thing happened. Before the game, Scott and I took a tour of the ballpark which was very interesting. We also go to see Ortiz take extended batting practice over the entire duration of the tour.

- July 4, new personal best: 9 hours, 5 BBQ/Parties. Let’s just leave it at a good day

- July 12, 2nd Sox game. The Sox took a 4 run lead in the 1st inning and never looked back. I have deciding that one of the most energizing experiences you can have is being in Fenway Park in the 9th Inning when Papelbon comes out for the save. The place just goes nuts.

- Chris got a dog last week, her name is Rounder. She is about 6 months old and a ball of energy.

- Alot of my time lately has been spent developing ideas towards launching a successful web design company on the side of my full time job. I have some good thoughts running through my head, now I just have to implement them. My friend Sean approached me with an idea that could turn very profitable in the long run which I plan on helping him pursue heavily in the next few months. Hopefully it all works out. If anyone needs a website built let me know. I might be able to cut you a deal.

- The busy summer continues. I really have every weekend accounted for until after Labor Day. Plus work decided to send me to Cuba for an install so I will be down there August 18-23. Luckily after next weekend, the summer swim season is over and I will have some more free time to get things done. I’ve had a few projects on hold around the house that I really need to get back to.

That’s all for now, hopefully it will be less than a month until my next post.

So we held our first party since New Year’s on Friday. I would have to say it was a great success. We had like 30 people in total and everyone seemed to have a good time. Ping pong balls were flying all night and some late night grilling was welcome as always. We killed a keg of Bud Light, a log of Magic Hat, half a handle of Jager, and probably a total of another 6 or 7 liters worth or miscellaneous booze. The success has already got me thinking towards the next event, tentatively to be held in July. Be warned, it will probably involve kidde pools, palm trees and a slide n’ slide. More to follow later.

Side note: The Wing Burger may be the greatest drunken hunger fix ever. If you are not familiar with this gourmet delicacy, please let me know and I will be happy to enlighten you. They are good anytime, but be warned to get the full effect, you need to consume it in it’s intended environment. It is best to first sample them at 2 AM after a consumption of a large quantity of alcohol to get the full effect. I cannot be held responsible for any addictions that may occur as a result.

I originally started this blog with the intention of writing more than once every 6 months, but that has not been the case. That is all about to change though. I’ve had alot of things on my mind lately and I think that writing some stuff down may help a bit. Hopefully I won’t seem to crazy to my loyal readers (if any of you actually do exist).