Merry Christmas

Santa visited Ellie and her cousins on Christmas Eve in NH.
Each of them took turns sitting on St, Nick's lap making sure he had their list of toys. And adding any last minutegifts. After that they all sat and listened as he read them "Twas the night before Christmas".

Before Santa left to begin his journey back to the North Pole he gave them each 2 gifts to open.
The kids loved seeing Santa. It was a special night for them and all the grown ups too!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

The Fighting 69th

I did a vanity google on myself this past snowy Sunday morning and came upon likely the most famous Michael Corcoran. I'm uncertain if their is any relation but I found it all pretty cool and thought I would share it. This was on Wikipedia.
Enjoy



Michael Corcoran Nickname: "Mick" (September 21, 1827 – December 22, 1863), was an Irish, American general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and a close confidant of President Abraham Lincoln [2] serving in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He led the 69th regiment into action at the First Battle of Bull Run. Corcoran also led the regiment to Washington, D.C. and served in the Washington defenses building Fort Corcoran. He was the only child of Thomas Corcoran, an officer in the British army, and Mary McDonagh. Through his mother, he claimed descent from Patrick Sarsfield of the Jacobite Wars.

Corcoran was largely idolized by his Irish-American troops. His name, and that of the New York 69th, figure prominently in many of the Irish Union ballads of the day.

The Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg unveiled Ireland's national monument to the Fighting 69th in Ballymote on August 22, 2006. The monument was sculpted by Philip Flanagan. The inscription around the top of the monument reads "Michael Corcoran 1827 - 1863" Around the base is inscribed "New York Ballymote Creeslough Bull Run. Underneath the monument is a piece of steel from the World Trade Center, donated by The family of Michael Lynch, who died in the tower on September 11, 2001. Mr Lynch's family are from County Sligo.

"America's Irish Brigade": 'When Jefferson Davis he sounded alarms, the sons of Columbia rushed into arms, and our noble militia to Washington sped, with the brave Michael Corcoran marching at head'

"Song of the Regiments": 'We have volunteers to fight who have pride and brave and darin, Thomas Francis Meagher and his gallant sons of Erin, the Massachusetts ninth, Michael Corcoran's Irish legion, and all the rank and file of every state and region'

"The Fighting 69th": "...They're a band of men brave stout and bold, from Ireland they came; and they had a leader to the full and Corcoran was his name."

This marching song has been covered by 2 bands. The Wolf Tones and the Dropkick Murphy's.

Patriot Party 2007

Hey ya'll

Friday was my company holiday party at Gillette Stadium. We were able to see the field and the interesting snow removal practices from our dining room. It was an incredible view!

We quickly got word that the Patriots would be practicing at 1:00. So we were able to watch them practice. Oh and see Tom Brady practice punting the ball from mid-field... future trick play????? He did pretty good too. All the players were there. It was crazy but not as crazy as when we ran in to ALL of them on our tour!

Yup, we weren't going to get onto the field due to them still practicing
so while we were in the tunnel sure enough they must have rapped up
practice and being the first person in our small and last tour group I
spotted Rodney Harrison, Ellis Hobbs and Randy Moss heading my way. I
should add Phil Simms (he'll be the commentator for Sunday's game on TV)
was present at practice and he walked by us a moment or two before the
team did.

Security tried to get us to turn around and they were yelling "Don't
talk to the players, Don't yell at the players, don't photograph the
players" Kinda crazy the tour guide was just as shocked and freaked as
we were. HAHAHA. I was less than 6 feet away from them. So I just got
out of the way and hung out. If I stuck out my hand I would have whacked
Wes Welker in the head... the dude in tiny. You name them I saw them..
and yup... Tom "the Golden Boy" Brady with Coach Belichick. Tom has a
lot of fun at practice. Kind of a goof ball when he's on the sideline.
And spends a decent amount of time with Randy Moss during practice.

It was a very, very cool experience. I was in the visitors locker room being
completely ridiculous. The visitors locker room has a hideous carpet. It's on purpose. It's designed to make you dizzy. Our tour guide pointed it out but asked that we don't stare too long. The visitor's locker room placement is specific to the field so that the visiting teams loses 4 minutes from their half-time break. It's the little things!

Til next time!

Ciesta with Cinco Ocho!

No Corona in First Class? C'mon!

Lobster boat update

I'm over due on an update for the painting I started. Here's where I'm at with it.

I haven't been able to touch it in a few weeks. My schedule has gotten much busier the last few weeks. I think I have a few more sessions left with this. I haven't added any black and you can still see the under painting.

I visited an art store in Avon. I needed to pick up some supplies for a top secret
product idea that I developed for work. It's gone over very, very well and hopefully I can tell more people about it. While I was there I snagged some stuff for myself.

We'll be getting our Christmas tree on Saturday.