Time flies....doesn't it?!

Yeah, I'm still here.

No news is good news..that sorta thing...

Herman and I celebrated our 20 year wedding anniversary in August by going to Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City for two nights...NICE...lol..

Everyone in my family is doing well...and doing the "right thing"..whew...much relief..

Spent this past weekend with my TSPR friends (Sue, Ali and Terry) at Univ-Con in State College, PA...Penn State..we had alot of fun! But I was tired...still am..

Work is ok...I was out for a couple of weeks..had my gallbladder surgically removed..

Then I hurt my shoulder/back...no gym for a few weeks...but I went back tonight!

Anyway...

Peace

Damn!! July already?!

Sue, Ali, Joel and me

The beautiful Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Co

Jason Hawes, Sue, me, Ali and Grant. Sue and Ali bid $$$ for this cool picture taken by Adam Christian Blai. Cool, huh?!

The 3 of us with John Zaffis, one of the nation's leading demonologists. What a great guy he is!

I can't believe how time flies!

The Stanley Hotel trip: March 29th thru April 1, 2007 What a great time we had! It was Ali's very first plane trip. (She's 60!) When she got off the plane, she exclaimed, "This is what I was worried about all these years?! It's scarier driving in a car!" So much happened in the 3 short days we spent there. We got to hang out with some pretty cool people and we even made a new friend, Joel. Joel is a paranormal researcher from Colorado. Hopefully he'll be able to meet us in KY next spring for our anticipated investigation of The Waverly Hills Sanitorium. One of the most interesting (and upsetting) presentations was given by Adam Christian Blai, an exorcist who is sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church. He really gave us (paranormal researchers) alot to think about. It was alot to digest. Many people left that presentation in tears, Ali and I included. We also went on the ghst hunt in The Stanley Hotel. What a great time we had! We investigated from 9pm until 2 in the morning! We were DEAD (pun intended!) tired. The food at The Stanley was fantastic! We ate like Queens! All in all we had a wonderful time and we hope to return in the future to do some more investigating.

Life in general: Becky graduated high school on June 21st, 2007...her 18th birthday! We had a big party for her that weekend. Her plans are to attend a local county college for a couple of years, so that she figure out what she'd like to do with her life.

My parent's are getting married next weekend, the 14th of July! There will be about 58 people at the wedding, which will be at one of our favorite restaurants. I'm thinking that I should prepare a toast of some sorts, huh? What doyou say at the wedding of your parents, who have been divorced for 30 years?! Anyone?

The kids have been pretty good. Jackie is visiting for the weekend. She hopes to head into a three quarter way house on Monday or Tuesday. She spent 5 months in a halfway house, where she did very well. Seems like she needs some sort of supervision in order to stay clean. So be it.

Well, that's all I have time for right now. Hope everyone is well (if anyone is reading this, that is!) and enjoy the pictures!

Peace!

Tags: The Stanley Hotel; paranormal research;

I'm alive and well

Hey!

Just wanted to update and let everyone know that I'm still alive. I recently started a myspace site for myself and for TSPR. You can check them out at:

http://myspace.com/tristateparanormal

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=148981861

Things haven't been so great for us recently but we're hanging in there. I'll update once I get a clearer head.

Only 3 more weeks til Sue, Ali and I head to CO to The Stanley Hotel with the guys from TAPS, Patrick Burns, The Dave from Darkness Radio, John Zaffis....I CAN'T WAIT!!!

 

Tags: The Stanley Hotel, TAPS, myspace, TSPR

Yikes! Has it really been 2 months?!

Ok..here we go.

Life in general has been ok with some very upsetting exceptions. Without going into too much detail, Rachel has joined Jackie in using heroin. Rachel is currently in a rehab and will step down (maybe today) to a partial hospitalization program. She doesn't want to go, but it's an insurance issue and also a progression issue. We found out about her using heroin (snorting it) the day before New Years Eve. We spent that whole night (Saturday) watching her detox and then she finally got an appt at the rehab on Sunday, New Years Eve day. Herman and I spent NYE on the couch at home, by ourselves, in varying degrees of shock/anger/sadness. New Years day we spent on the couch with John adn Becky, curled up watching movies and sheltering ourselves from the world. We didn't answer the phone for a few days. That same Saturday, earlier in the day before Rachel's admittance to using, we found Jackie on the upstairs bathroom floor, half dead. She was supposed to have been getting on a flight to Phoenix to go back to the half way house program that she had attended last year. Hermn picked her up off the floor and threw her into my truck. I took her to the local ER, where they admittted her into the ICU for a few days. Apparently she had been using (with Rachel) the entire week that she had been staying with us. She started to detox and because she is a diabetic, once she started vomitting..it was all over. She's out of the hospital now and staying with my mother until she can legally travel to AZ. (Court issues that I really don't know too much about other than the fact that if she goes to AZ without first going to court, she'll be thrown in jail should she ever come back to NJ.) We also received very sad news this past Saturday. A year or so ago I wrote about my friend's son (Anthony) who had osteosarcoma. This past Friday night Anthony passed away at the age of 16. He fought a brave and valiant fight.

OK...enough "debbie Downer" crap.

Me, Sue and Ali are headed to The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park CO on March 29th! We are going on a paranormal retreat with the guys from TAPS, John Zaffis and Darkness Radio. You can go here to see the details. We're sooooo excited about this trip! Ali has never ever flown before so it will be that much more exciting!!

This past Saturday Herman and I were able to enjoy the Tiki Bar in Point Pleasant due to unusually warm weather we've had here in the northeast. It was 73 freakin' degrees out!! We sat on the pier overlooking the Atlantic sipping a Corona! Jan 6 and we were sitting at the Tiki Bar enjoying a beer! It was kind of surreal, tho.

Ok...I have at least 20 loads of laundry to do and meatballs to make and sauce to cook...better get going.

Peace...and Happy (belated) New Year!

Tags: Stanley Hotel, paranormal retreat

Way to go....!!

WAY TO GO, RUTGERS!!!!!

WOOOOO HOOOOO!

So much has happened...some good, some bad..

Where to start...

I guess we'll start with the "good". Last Saturday night I was able to catch up with my girlfriend Diana. Diana and I were best friends throughout high school. We shared many an adventure! Diana moved to CA when she was 17. Last time I saw her was about 12 or so years ago. (My kids were really young.) So, what did we do? I met Diana, her daughter Jesse, Jesse's friend Ashley, Diana's sister Vera, and Vera's daughter Dana at Penn Station around 7pm on Saturday night. It was too funny. Diana and Vera both looked at me and exclaimed "Oh my God! You look EXACTLY the same!!" (Is this good or bad?!LOL!) I cannot tell you how happy I was to see Diana again! She and I were tighter than sisters at one point of our lives.  So...anyway...We proceeded to Chinatown for dinner. Dinner was good. I had chicken in curry sauce. We all kind of shared what we ordered (pork fried rice, sweet and sour pork, pork lo mein, beef and green peas, etc...) It was all pretty good. (Just some hole-in-the-wall place we found walking down Canal Street.) From there the younger girls wanted to do some shopping so we obliged them. Finally we wound up in the Lower East Village at Coyote Ugly! WHAT A BLAST! We had a great time! The younger girls danced on the bar in true Coyote Ugly fashion! They earned the shirts that they either received as gifts form male patrons or bought themselves. (Please, search "Coyote Ugly" to see what this place is all about!) Ok..the place was a tiny hole-in-the-wall but what alot of fun we had! Herman drove into the city to pick me up, as taking the train home at 130am by myself was totally UNAPPEALING. I was the 1st to leave. (Side note: Vera was soooo f'n pissy that night...but she's always been this way. I told her daughter (Dana) that Id go to the city with her anytime she wanted to go.) I had hoped to see Diana before she left (earlier today) but it never worked out that way. I'm hoping to take a road trip out to CA ( Martinez, 30 miles northwest of San Francisco) in the next year. This way I can spend time with Diana, no distractions!

Ok...now on to bad news. I recently received an email from my mom that totally BLASTED me for being a terrible mother to Jackie. I received this email about a week ago and have yet to get over it. This email was totally inappropriate and completely uncalled for. Prior to this email, my mother had IMd (didn't call, didn't have Jackie call)  me to ask me to pay for Jackie's medication yet again. I signed off before I had to answer, as I was taken off guard. The next day my mom emailed me to say that she was waiting for my response. My response was, 

Hi Mom,

    I'm sorry but I cannot afford to pay for Jackie's medications. Jackie should be checking into programs that the drug companies offer for people who cannot afford medication. It's unfortunate that she waits until she is completely out of her medication before she worries about where the next prescription is coming from. This is something that Jackie needs to take care of. As long as she knows that someone is going to pay her way, she won't be forced to take care of herself and her needs.

Love, Sharon

 

The next day I received such a scathing email from my mother that I was unable to read the email in it's entirety. I deleted the email before I was able to read it through. It was so awful. Such accusations. Calling me a bad mother. Telling me that Jackie was a "victim". You know what? I don't like anyone who plays the "victim" card. In any case, this email has caused me such grief that I am not planning on spending the holidays with my mother and sister. They have turned this into a situation that makes people choose "sides"...There are no sides to this. This has nothing to do with us loving or not loving Jackie. My mother is doing Jackie such a disservice by enabling her. In my mind, my mother is helping Jackie kill herslf. You provide for her so that she has money to stick a needle in her arm?! How are you saving her?!! I have never told my mother that she cannot help Jackie...that's up to her. Then tonight Becky received an IM from Jackie, who told her that she had totalled her car yesterday. She said that something fell behind and got stuck behind her brake and she plowed thru a red light. I suppose this means that the cars she crashed into will be seeking compensation since the accident was clearly her fault. She's supposedly in a methadone treatment program. Should she be driving? She's "under the influence", because it is a drug. When will she ever learn? All we want is for her to be back in a program that makes her become responsible for herself. When she was in AZ, she was atotally different person. She was self reliant, responsible..in charge of her life. We offered to send her back but my mother (interfered) talked her out of it. And yet, my mother claims that we don't care about Jackie. All we want is for Jackie to be healthy and happy. And we feel that this is NOT going to happen back here in NJ. She has too many people (my mom and my sister) who will allow her to lay around the house and watch tv all day long...in other words, enable her.. When does this all end? I can tell you that we have no hope for her as long as she stays near my family. They think that they are helping when in actuality they are really only helping to speed the process of her killing herself. They just don't get it. There's just so much going on with Jackie that I cannot even begin to explain...

 

Sorry to vent..I just needed an outlet. I just want to scream at the top of my lungs. And it doesn't matter, because my family still won't get it. They won't get it. They'll blame me for the rest of Jackie's life.

 

Can't write anymore.

Peace.

Yeah, it's been a long time..I know..

Ok...where do I begin?

Been doing really well at the gym. I curled 25 pounds with my left arm tonight!! (Ok..I could BARELY curl 10 pounds when I started so 25 lbs. is a miracle! Also, I couldn't curl it with my right arm becasue my right arm isn't as strong as my left arm.) So, yes...progress is being made daily. I've been averaging 3 days a week for the past few weeks. My weight is up but I think it's because I'm getting more muscle mass. ( I love flexing my biceps! LOL) Elisa has been keeping up with me, even passing me up in the upright bench press.

I've been pretty busy the past few weeks. Oh, I caught a damn head cold that kept me down for a few days. I hate head colds! Give me the flu any ol' day! Lay in bed, sip soup, have people take care of you, call out of work for 4 days!! A cold, well...no sympathy, no soup, no calling out of work. ::ugh:: 

TSPR news: We are getting new shirts and a new jacket this week! We (me, Ali and Sue) went back to do a follow up investigation last night. One of our ranks resigned today. This saddened me. I hate to see this person go. On Wednesday night we are going to see John Zaffis (a demonologist) at a local college. Can;t wait! We (me and Ali) were very fortunate to meet John at a paranormal conference in CT 1 year ago. He's fascinating!

Jon: Maybe you know Jon, maybe you don't. He's a good friend of Brian and Kathleen's. A week or so ago he lost his dad to a massive heart attack. Jon's entries are heartbreaking , to say the least. Please hold Jon and his family in your thoughts and prayers. If you read thru Jon's journal a bit, you'll see that a friend of his is missing and has presumably committed suicided. (He left a carefully placed note.) How much can a person endure? You can feel Jon's pain when you read his blog. (Side note: Jon is an incredibly talented and witty guy. Read his journal. I think you'll agree that he has a way with words. And he's as sarcastic as the day is long...and I like that in a person!)

John: My son broke his wrist 2 weeks ago today. He was skateboarding and when he fell, he smacked his wrist against the wood and broke it. He's in a cast for 1 more week and then a wrist splint for another 3 weeks. When I originally took him to the ER, they said that it wasn't broke and that it was sprained. An hour after we got home, they called back and said that the radiologist saw a break in his wrist. So we had to go back to the ER and get it splinted. Then we had to go to an orthopedic dr and get it casted the next day. Aghhhhh...

Ok...I guess that's it for now.

Peace.....