the next adventure

as i mentioned earlier, i've been busy with a few other side projects. the aquarium design project is just about complete. i still have a few other pieces to finish off along with a few odds & ends. The finished designs will then need to be cataloged and photographed. I'm pretty happy so far with the results. It was a manageable investment that i hope will turn well over time. i can't tell you how great its felt to be creative again. i would spend 3 or 4 hours a night (after work and on days off) planning, researching, hunting for the product and designing. it was all i could do some nights to stop "working"!

oh, and the new blog is up and still has much to done to it. small steps right? i made a long list of potential names for the aquarium blog. much to my dismay, almost all were not available name-address for a blog. so i then tried to break down into key area's, what i wanted to achieve with the aquarium blog. the end result was this title 'aquarium lifestyle'. i'll explain another time, the details of it.

don't make mother come over

thought you heard the last from me?

a word to the wise...if you can still feel all those lies on your tongue...cherish that sensation because it won't be long till i rip it out of your thick skull.

you should be ashamed of yourselves...you're there to help them find there way down the dark paths and not to take away the flashlight.

dan's a damn good teacher and you aren't allowed to fuck with his passion! it would be in your best interest, to write that down.


oh and one more thing sweetie's...

you'll be cleaning up all the blood, i will have been of course, wearing white that day.

time & family

i spent today over sleeping, squirming and traveling. last week mom asked me what i wanted for my birthday? i thought for a moment and it was clear... french fry's w/gravey! of course she anticipated and hoped for something more "commercial"; as always i had other ideas. so today ben (my brother) and i met up with my mom, my uncle, and cousin bonnie at the new berwick diner, berwick pa.. turns out the owner, chris, is greek. so an ever bigger surprise fell into my lap. not only was i able to have my fry's with gravy but i also had a few greek dishes to choose from as well! FAB! i remembered life in boston and the day i had my fist ever greek salad; i fell instantly. back to berwick...the food was great (salad, gyro w/lamb, stuffed grape leaves), my family did'nt argue once, uncle ren didn't tell any dirty jokes and mom & bonnie got to gossip about some of the other local ladies (patrons)! the owner brought out a freshly baked piece of chocolate cake (local baker in hazelton, pa. (hello mummsy!) mary/michele something) with a candle; they all sang way off key. the cake was delish! turns out chris is a customer at american paper & supply, where my mom works. all in all, a great time. wendy called (my sister) when we got back to my moms. we did a little catching up and talked about my "crafty" thinking. ben & drove back to wilkes-barre around 8pm and within about 15 minutes after being home, my m.s. decided to punish me for my day's activity. i had no choice but to go to sleep. my "nap" ended up being 2 hours. i'm back up now, working on ideas, listening to corrine bailey rae, having a little "smoke" and writing this...life is pretty groovy right about now.

and to the rest of you who also had a hand in making "my day" a-little brighter with cards, calls and emails...you're all very special to me. we all fit together in a comfortable, loveing way-don't we!

if you foregot, that's just fine. you're still loved bunch's!

a celebration of the fish's!

today, 8 march i turned 43!

I'd like to think of my life as a work in progress... learning, changing, adapting, helping and re-thinking. my absence over the past month or so stems from that.

imagine if i had said that i've been spending all my time at the wonka chocolate factory!

two projects have been in development: one is complete and the other is almost finished. i think it was early in 1996 when i decided to get on board with then, a new online auction business, called ebay. after a few years of mostly buying, i stepped back and looked at my spending habits: time to put on the breaks. yes the bargains were amazing and the new additions to the many things i collect made it even better. after this long period of "don't go shopping on ebay", i've decided to return to ebay as a seller (my ebay page here) on this particular journey. it's only been about two weeks since i put up my first item and i've already got my own little beehive of activity.

an underlying idea of the return to ebay was to also create a place to market something of my own creation and maybe make a few extra bucks! i'm a pretty talented guy and i've been lucky to have been blessed with a-lot of creativity abilities and a dynamic imagination. so with my knack for design, love of color and disgust of "what's available" i've decided to start creating my own line of aquatic landscape pieces. the first wave will be silk aquarium plants, offering alternative species & styles with a focus on color, form and presentation. most of us aquarium buffs are far too familiar of vast number of "plastic" plants that are available and just how un-natural most of them look. yes, silk versions do exists but in my opinion they are few in choices and way over priced. as of today i've got everything i need supply wise to start creating; the first designs will show themselves in a few days. i'll list them on my ebay site once they are ready. i'm also planning another blog for us aquarium hobbyist which will also showcase my work along with other articles of interest, ideas, species information and items related to freshwater fish tanks. i'll keep you posted. cheers!-ron

my hero