25 days

In 25 days (give or take) I will be standing on this.

chichen itza

-ts

white sand beaches......

So I get home this evening from Cincinnati and my boss calls me informing me we need to discuss something very important.

After making me squirm she told me I have been chosen for/awarded a spot on my companies annual incentive trip to Cancun, Mexico.....

HELL YEAH!!!!!!



January 23, 2008 1500 co-workers and I descend on the resort for some ill-mannered frivolity and a incredible networking opportunity for me.

It's hard to not feel like a rock star but.....damn.

TS has arrived.

Tom from Cincinnati.

I've been working the last four weeks on projects in Roanoke, Oklahoma City, Moline and Kansas City which when they pan out will equate to about 20,000.00 in revenue for my company so not a bad month. My next project requires me to travel to Cincinnati, Ohio which I leave for tomorrow afternoon.

For the last month I've been home and while it is nice to see people I have gotten a bit anxious and am ready to travel a bit. This should be a successful week and I'm excited to meet a new office of coworkers in a city I've never been to.

Hope they have a chipotle.

I'll post any good pictures I take.

-ts

gobble gobble....

Turkeybowl and Turkey Day are this week.......can't hardly wait.

Ghost of You......

This is one of my favorite music videos. It's by My Chemical Romance called "Ghost of You," off of their 2004 album called "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge."

on a steel horse I ride...........

Music is a large part of my life, it permeates my world every day and is what inspires me, motivates me, makes me feel good, bad or indifferent depending the tune and I feel I have an excellent opinion when it comes down to what music is good and what simply sucks. And yes there is a large volume of music that in my opinion sucks. I had an experience last night which reminds me of not only what effects good music and showmanship can have on the masses but the staying power of bands that really focus on their music and not gimmicks or concepts.

As a birthday gift to my sister I got her and I tickets to see Bon Jovi (www.bonjovi.com) in Newark, New Jersey at the Prudential Center (www.prucenter.com) which is the new home of the New Jersey Devils Hockey team.

Bon Jovi is a band that celebrates over 25 years of making music. I submit that they are one of the all time great American rock bands. Here is a short synopsis of our trip.....

We left Laurel around 1:00pm and with the help of Madeline (my GPS, named by my sister, Maddie for short) we made the near 200 mile trip in under 3 hours. The ride was full of tolls, fast food and good playlists provided by R2D2 (my ipod). Apparently I name my electronics. We got there and checked into our hotel. We got a room because we didn't want to drive 3 hours home after the concert, turned out to be an excellent idea.


We got to the Prudential Center with hopes of restaurants for dinner and pre-concert cocktails both of which were kinda let-downs but we did get sub-par pizza and watered down coke products. We found our seats which were on the floor, dead center and only 16 rows from the stage....SWEET! That is what 670.00 gets you, which is what I paid to take my big-sis to see one of her favorite bands so in hindsight it was completely worth it.

The opener was the All American Rejects who played about 8 songs including "swing swing" and my "my paper heart" closing with "move along." They were pretty good, not the best, but I was really there for Bon Jovi so no harm.

Then Bon Jovi came out and I cannot describe it adequately so in a word....again.... AMAZING.

They played for 2 hours and 40 minutes and did not stop. They first played the entire new album "Lost Highway" which is pretty solid and then played 16 back to back radio hits beginning with Living on a Prayer and ending with "Keep the Faith." Jon Bon Jovi might be the hardest working man in show business due to the simple fact that his stage presence can trump most musicians today. He is so incredibly energetic and works the crowd into such a frenzy engaging his audience in each song.

I had such a good time, this was a great experience and I'm so fortunate to have shared it with my sister as I'm sure she had a blast as well.

Here is the setlist: (Intro/Lost Highway/Summertime/Last Night/Whole lot of Leaving/Want to make a Memory/Everybody's Broken/We got it going on/Any other day/Till we ain't strangers anymore/I love this town/Seat next to you/One step closer/Living on a Prayer/You give love a bad name/Raise your hands/runaway/It's my life/Born to be my Baby/Have a Nice Day/Lay your hands on me/Sleep when I'm Dead/Bad Medicine/Who Says you can't go home...Encore: I'll be there for you/Someday I'll be Saturday Night/Wanted Dead of Alive/Keep the Faith.)

It was hard to imagine a better concert and although he shied away from some of the ballads I love, the sheer energy and love for his craft made watching Jon and the boys such a meaningful experience. If you get a chance to see them in concert I'd take it and be ready to be impressed.
Hope everyone can share something like this with those you love. Having my sister with me and seeing her reaction to the show was my favorite part.....

-TS

My favorite Bon Jovi song:

"Born to be my Baby"

Favorite lyric from that song:

"Buckle up baby, it's a bumpy ride."

October 2007

Hate to do this but its been a while since my last posting I am forced to do a "summary" post. I know most might not care what I've been up to lately but for those who'd like to read.....have at it. Here is what I did in October 2007, in no particular order.

• Finished up working in Maine and spent 2 weeks in Las Vegas. Vegas is my second home and I could easily move there as housing isn't that expensive, I know people and I'd have a job waiting for me.
• Renamed my blog because being angry and depressed is played out and I got to much good things going on to dwell on the pointless...
• Stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino while working in Vegas.....love that place.
• Got great news as my sister told us she is gonna have another baby in April.......
• Continued to plan my trip to Italy next year.
• Took my nephew to the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo which was a great time. However I think my brother, sister, mother and I enjoyed the animals more that Christopher did...
• Got invited to Chris's "dogwarming," went and met his adorable puppy O.P.
• Participated in a 5k walk for Diabetes through Baltimore with my co-workers.
• Went to Maryland's homecoming and played 9 hours of beer-pong while my team played horribly.
• Have realized that traveling through Boston, Philadelphia or New York airports is an exercise in futility.
• Tried for the 4th time on a weekend to go to "little spice" near Arundel Mills Mall and failed...

Here are some pictures....

obsessed much.....

So I'm making a vow, while at work I will not indulge in a new hobby i discovered because it is way to addicting. I'm talking about facebook. Facebook is a social networking website (much like myspace and friendster) and is my new obsession.

Simply put facebook is like crack and I like crack......

www.facebook.com

#2

I am pleased and proud to announce that next April I will be a uncle.......again.

Congratulations Micheal and Holly and Christopher.

Uncle Tom.

Shaun of the Dead

Is the single most entertaining movie I've ever seen. There are much better movies out there but on the subject of zombies and slackers in London this is the best.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_of_the_dead

-siskel

Family Guy - Luke Skywalker Humiliating Rebel Pilot

Heh...this is the first time I've added a video to my blog so I hope it works.

Bridges of Waldo County

For the past two and the next couple of weeks I will be working in Maine on a project which is not only really good for the career but incredibly challenging due to it's remote location. I as everyone is aware am a recruiter and I'm pretty good at it if I don't mind saying so. I am working for one of our larger clients and staffing for a business center in Belfast, Maine. Belfast is a town of about 3,000 people on the Penobscot Bay about 2 hours North East of Portland and about 34 miles straight south of Bangor. I don't expect anyone to know where it is but check them out on a map and you'll see where I'm calling home for the end of September and all or most of October.

Maine is very picturesque which is fitting because I like to take pictures. The only problem is I work from about 730am to 730pm and don't have much time to drive around and snap photos.

Below are some website about the area I'm in and some really cool bridges.

Check out http://mainebridges.com/ for more information on the area I am working in.

Another one: http://www.penobscotnarrowsbridgefest.com/

And from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penobscot_River_Bridge

Historic Fort Knox: http://fortknox.maineguide.com/

Some pictures:

Penobscot Narrows Bridge as seen from Bucksport:

Historic Fort Knox:

I'm gonna get a chance this week so take some of my own so I'll upload them when I do.

-TS

in rememberance.....

Last Sunday Mike and Mindy and I were at his parents house flipping through about 700 channels of nothing and for about 45 minutes watched a documentary on 9/11. It brought back a lot of memories and was fitting since in a couple days it will be the 6 year anniversary since the attacks on the world trade center and the pentagon. I'm going to be traveling in Maine but wanted to drop a post for anyone who reads this. I remember back 6 years ago feeling many emotions, mostly bad, but also needed to express them in some way. So I wrote a poem. Now I'm no poet but below is what I wrote pretty much the day after the attacks. I hope whoever reads it likes it.

"I watched"
I watched as the world stood still.
I watched nightmares become real.
I watched as a nameless little girl with an all to familiar face, searched for her daddy.
I watched ash and smoke and metal and dust and bodies and dreams and futures fall to the ground.
I watched in a daze.
I watched as fear became hope became grief became anger.
And I watched that anger.
I watched fourteen hours of Peter Jennings.
I watched no commercials.
I watched as people we're all of a sudden alone.
I watched my teacher cry for his son.
I watched real heroes. Die. and Fight.
I watched people love people, people hate people, and people lose people.
I watched as people walked, simply walked, towards any daylight.
I watched with the world.
I watched as people unexpectedly had to say goodbye.
I watched and wondered when again, will Freedom Reign.
I watched cause that's all I could do.
I was afraid to watch, but terrified not to.
I watched as human kind was tested.
I watched Prayers. Tears. Screams.
I watched.
And for the first time in my life, I watched the word "War," used with a terrible realness.
I still watched.
On September Eleventh, Two Thousand One. I watched another day go down in infamy. Freedom.
~Thomas Stover.

Now I don't live my life in the best or cleanest way and there are things I regret every day. But in all honesty and sincerity, I thank anyone who chose to do what is right when given the option to do what is easy. And to all the military folks I know, and you know who you are, including the soldiers I see coming and going on my weekly flights. Thank You.

-TS

blogs suck.

See the problem is that I'm much wittier and funnier in person. I went back and re-read my blog tonight and I'm pretty impressed. I mean basically it looks as if a 3rd grader wrote half this stuff but some of it is really entertaining. Good Job Tom.

-Tom

labor day weekend

Labor Day weekend came and went and in hindsight might have been just what I needed. Let’s recap. Friday night I get off work early (3:00pm) and come home to chill out. I meet up with Mike and Mindy and Parul joins us to go out in Federal Hill for a friend’s pre wedding celebration which started at Shulas and ended at Grumpies. Evan even came to meet us as he was out in town and we toasted to things that aggravate us. The night ended with us back at my house and me drifting off to dreamland.

Saturday I woke up with one task in mind….painting. 40 songs, a quarter gallon of “boston brick” and 2 Gatorades later and I had my first coat on the wall down to my basement which will look awesome when finished. I’m glad I picked a vibrant color as it draws the eye and compliment the exposed brick very well. It was around 3:30pm when Jason called and invited me over for steaks, corn and potatoes on the grill. Who could say no? We ate and then I came home as I was going out again to Federal Hill but this time I was crashing the 10 year reunion of Howard High School (class of 1997.)

Jump forward 2 hours, I get to Crazy Lil’s and pay 30 bucks to get into this reunion but since I graduated the year before them people only “kinda” knew me. Didn’t matter, I soon made new “old” friends, connected with a hot chick who works for my company and was very interested in my role and some people I know through Missy and Jason. We continued the party at mad river which actually didn’t suck. I think it’s due to a cameo from a girl named Marie and her hot Spanish friend whose name escapes me.

Night ended with me and Jason and some bomb cheese steaks from Hilltop Pizza.

Sunday morning I woke up and called Mindy. She was hungry. So was I. We met at Chipotle and took our food to Lake Elkhorn in Columbia, ate and then walked around the lake. Sparkplug was with us and he was trying to usurp me as leader of the pack. Didn’t work. Then mike met us and we went back to casa de quirus. Spent the afternoon in a recliner watching movies including “cliffhanger” “friends with money” and “the opposite of sex.” Only the second one didn’t completely suck. I stayed in Sunday night which was a nice change.

Monday I took my mom and brother out to New Market to visit with my nephew, sister and brother in law. It was a pleasant afternoon and I must submit that he (my nephew Christopher) is the most adorable kid I’ve ever known.

Tonight I chatted with Amber online and watched Justin Timberlake in concert while doing laundry and preparing for this week at work.

It’s 11:02pm and I’m going to bed. Good Night. Moon.

-TS

PLAYLIST

Here is a list of songs I usually default to in my travels. They have become my playlist of sorts. I guarantee you will like them if you download them. If you don’t your taste in music is either just A. different than mine or B. sucks. I’m guessing B. But I hope you check them out. – DJ

1.) FM Radio – Joshua James
2.) Trapeze Swinger – Iron and Wine
3.) Lying is the most fun a girl can have with her clothes on – Panic at the Disco
4.) Mad World – Gary Jules
5.) Holiday in Spain – Counting Crows
6.) Nothing Lasts Forever – Maroon 5
7.) Get Over It -- OKGO
8.) Thank you for the Venom – My Chemical Romance
9.) Face Down – The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
10.) Grand Theft Autumn – Fall Out Boy
11.) Whistle for the Choir – The Fratellis
12.) Invincible – Muse
13.) Frightened – Toby Lightman
14.) The Idea of You – Dave Matthews Band
15.) Stronger – Kanye West

Word.

Shame on you Samuel L.

Last night I was laying on the couch (shocker) and while flipping through the channels on my beautiful TV I came across a movie title I remember really wanting to see simply for the sheer ridiculiousness of it......Snakes on a Plane.

I don't want to belabour this so let me say that this was the dumbest movie I'd ever seen and felt hatred for myself while watching this poor excuse for a blockbuster.

To recap: a kid witnesses a mob boss kill someone and is taken by police officer Samuel L. Jackson to LA to testify against him. The mob boss in turn fills the plane they are on with violently aggressive poisionious snakes. Calamity ensues including multiple deaths (mile high couple in bathroom get it first) and some fleeting attempts at humor. They do land safely thanks to a guy who knew how to land a commercial airliner because he played video games a lot. Honestly.

I hate myself for watching this movie. And i'd recommend it to anyone.

-Jules Winnfield

pictures from aformentioned wedding.

Mr. and Mrs. Sara and Josh Z-Something

Last weekend my friend of roughly 8 years got married and I was fortunate enough to be defaulted into an invitation as the arm/eye candy date of the lovely Jessa. That sentence is pure shenanigans however we did go to a wedding and we did have a blast. Here is a synopsis of last weekend.

10:30pm Friday Night: My flight from Jacksonville lands, I get my bags and race home to get over to Dave's for his B-Day BBQ.

11:00pm-?: Flip Cup.........

8:00am Saturday: Wake Up

11:30am: Mindy calls running late and I go to pick up Jessa from Columbia.

12:30pm: I am ready, Jessa, Mindy, Parul and Erica are not

1:30pm: I call cab, girls still not ready

1:45pm: No cab, I decide to drive

1:55pm: We park and run to the church just before the ceremony commences. The ceremony was held at Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Federal Hill.

2:00pm: Lovley Ceremony where Sara goes from Sara K to Sara Z in the eyes of god and friends and family.

2:00pm-4:00pm: I sweat profusley although looking like a million bucks you wouldn't know it. We make it to Rolling Road Golf/Country Club for the reception.

4:00pm-9:30pm: Great reception which included good food, open bar, a very violent thunder and lightning storm which cooled things off and the electric slide.

10:00pm: We get back to my house and change to go to Rafters for the after party.

10:30pm-2:45am: After party in a dive bar which played great music (old school Weezer) and had some interesting characters and finger food.

3:15am: Pass out after pizza from Hill Top. So bad for you.

Congratulations to Sara and Josh Z-something. Little known fact: I met Josh for the first time after their first date and for the second time at their wedding. I really appreciate being a part of this special day and have nothing but respect for them both.

-pastor (in a non-sac religious way) ts

ambivolence.

When you fly as much as I do you have plenty of time to sit and stare out the windows of airplanes. Recently I caught myself gazing out a fluffy white clouds as the tapestry of America unfolded beneath me and this reminded me of feelings of jealously I use to harbor toward a rather prevalent 80's street gang of sorts....the care bears.

You see it's not that they cared, we all should care about something. It's that they lived in the clouds and lied about shiftlessly until some kid got mad at his mother and needed a "life" lesson in caring. It's the sitting around in the clouds that I envied because, simply put, it looked comfortable. I know the reality and if I tried to nap in the clouds I would plummet to my death. You win again, Good Luck Bear.

-TS

Washington DC

After a 2 weeks off me and my brother got back to biking this past Saturday and decided on our nations capital as our destination. We got up around 7:00am and drove down parking close to the White House and set out to tour around the memorials and the national mall stopping frequently for pictures. Our trip took us from the Washington Monument to the new(er) World War II memorial which is very respectfully done. Down along the reflecting pool over to the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. We then proceeded over the Arlington Memorial Bridge to the Cemetery which despite growing up 30 miles outside of DC, I’d never been too. It was a very awe-inspiring trip and helped put a lot of things into perspective for me.

After Arlington we biked to the Jefferson Memorial stopping briefly at the FDR Memorial which I didn’t know even existed. We then made it back to the mall and biked the length of it to the Capital Building which again I’d only been to a hand full of times. After some pictures we went around the back and visited the steps of the Supreme Court building located at the corner of Maryland and First Street.

After getting back to my car we loaded up and took Rhode Island Avenue out of the city and through College Park.

I’m guessing we went about 6-7 miles round trip. Next week we’ll be back to trail riding which is why we bought the ridiculously expensive bikes anyway.

Just a thought, if you haven’t been downtown in a while you should go. Its really nice to remember all the sacrifices that went into forming our freedoms which are seldom recognized and easily taken for granted.

Here are some pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomstover/BikingInWashingtonDC

wide open spaces...............

sorry about the big empty space below the Virgin Festival post....i'm trying to figure this blog thing out.....word. -ts

Virgin Festival 2007

It’s been a week since the concert even of my summer has passed. The strange thing is that even though there were 20 + bands except for the Beastie Boys and the Fratellis, I like, but I’m not a major fan of any of the artists that performed. That being said my expectations where low for this years Virgin Festival and it made for a great concert going experience.

The two day event was held at Baltimore’s Pimlico race track a blur of sweat and heat and loud music and high priced cheap beer and funnel cake and spicy pizza and crowd surfing minors etc…..Can’t wait for next year.

Day one I saw: Cheap Trick, The Fratellis, Incubus, Amy Winehouse, Beastie Boys, and the Police.

Day two I saw: Matisyahu, Spoon, Panic at the Disco, Wu-Tang Clan, Velvet Revolver and the Smashing Pumpkins.

In summary, Beastie Boys were my favorite, Matisyahu rocks a crowd harder than any other Jewish Reggae Rapper I know of, Wu-Tang Clan was mildly amusing, the Fratellis and Panic at the Disco are legit and seeing Sting and Slash in concert (not together) was amazing.

See you all next year.

-TS

look what the cat dragged in.....

After 21 years of rock and roll and probably a lot of drugs and countless groupies I can say that Brett Michael and CC Deville rock harder than most of the newer popular bands of today. Me and Holly went to see Poison in concert at Nissan Pavilion on recent Sunday night and after 2 bands one of which was a glam rock band from Sweden, Vains of Jenna (http://www.vainsofjenna.com/) and the second Ratt (tired rock band) went off stage I was ready to sing my lil’heart out to classics and Brett and the gang didn’t let me down one bit.

If you get the chance check them out live. Even though the concert rocked I knew that being Sunday I had to get up at 4:00am the next morning for my flight to Vegas. This made it hard to truly enjoy the concert. I guess Every Rose has its Thorn.

-TS

plans.....

This summer is about to go quick. Here is a calendar of my known plans...

Next Weekend: Virgin Festival
(work -- Las Vegas)
Following Week: No plans
(work -- maybe Cleveland 0r Montreal or Portland)
Following Weekend: Dave Matthews
(work -- who knows)
Then Sara's wedding.

Then finally a relaxing 5 days at my beach condo in Ocean City........can't hardly wait.

-ts

spelling bee

Disclaimer: the spelling in the post for my rivermen trip below is horrible as is the frequent and pointless overuse of the word "then." I swear I am literate.

-prof. stover.

Rivermen

The New River Gorge is located in Fayetteville, West Virginia and I am use to hearing it referred to as the "new" by all my climbing friends. Apparently this is one of the best locations for climbing near Maryland. I am not a climber but got the chance to visit the gorge with about 35 other people when I agreed to accompany Missy and Jason on a white water rafting excursion last weekend.

After a 5 hour car ride and some horrible food from Arby's we arrived at our camping ground.

Rivermen(www.rivermen.com) was the outfit we chose and after our experience I wouldn't chose anyone else. Not only were they incredibly knowledgeable of the river, geology and history of the area but they can also throw down. You see Friday night when we got there and Saturday night after we ate dinner we (the residents of our 5 campsites) partied like no other. We had all the other campers from neighboring campsites stopping by for dancing, beer pong (which I am championing of) and more late night grilling. Jason's friend Rick brought his DJ equipment and we had a block party in the woods.

A small piece about the guide who ran our boat. Her name is Ella, she is a senior guide, incredibly gifted, good at shouting orders and easy on the eyes. (Pictured below w/TS) She also has a daughter who is 21 and a son who is 18. She works the river on the weekends and resides with her husband in Dayton, OH. We learned all of this while she took us on several class 4-5 rapids (I think). Her dream was to run the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon which despite a long waiting list she will realize next year. She was also a former Florida cheerleader. (I am not a stalker, I just do my research). Ella and the rest of Rivermen's guides and staff were all amazing and I cannot wait to put together a trip next year.

Synopsis of Events: Friday: We arrived after a 5 hour car ride and set up camp. Then we went and bought beer and food and started grilling. Then Party #1. Then I went to bed sometime around 3:00am. I slept in a tent on some very unforgiving ground and got about 2 hours of actual sleep. I woke up at 6:00am on Saturday and changed for the day of river adventure. At around 7:30am (or so) we all piled into some schoolbuses after signing a waiver stating upon dying we had not right to sue. Very confident. Then when we got the the very crowded river's edge we split into groups (8 to a raft) and got int he water. After some quick instruction from the lovely Ella we were ready for our first rapid.........scene missing.

We ended the day and got back to camp, showered and got dinner at the main lodge area. Then after a quick rest (I basically lied on the hard-ass ground and tried with no luck to sleep for 26 minutes) we stared up the music and the grill and partied until the cops told us to kill the music. During that time I ruled the beer-pong table and danced next to the fire while campers and staff came to our camp site to see what the "cool kids" were up to.....
Sunday morning we woke up, took down the tents, packed the trailer and after some crucial

Burger King we hit the road. The end.

Note:
On the second night when our guides and the rivermen owner came by and partied with us. I think he told Jason that he's never seen a group like ours or a party like we threw in the backwoods of West Virgina and he appreciated having us there.

All I can say is this was one of the most fun experiences I've had in a while.

Here are some pictures and I look forward to going again next year.

Thanks Missy and Jason and all my new friends who didn't mind that I didn't shower for 72 hours.......stank.
Shout out to Missy, Jason, Jay, Rick, Jason's Dad, Monica and Craig, Cormick and Kevin, Rich, Julie, Cherokee, Ted, the rest of our 40 person party, The firefighters from Ohio who can't play beer-pong to save their lives, and everyone at rivermen outfitters.
-TS