5 questions a week, guaranteed to make you look more closely at yourself. I love the idea myself. Now to the answers...

Update : 1) who was your favorite band/musican when you were younger?

My oldest memories of music I actually appreciated, rather than simply listened to, are of my first year of college over the summer in North Carolina. I had gone ahead to NC ahead of the rest of the family, and spent almost a month alone till they showed up. I was taking two calculus courses. I spent a good deal of time driving the 60 minutes to and from the college, and focused on 3 artists in particular.

Meatloaf, Garth Brooks, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.

2) why?

Ballads and irreverance. Meat and Garth have some awesome songwriters, and a great presentation style. Reading through the lyrics reveals some very nice poetry. Meat was angsty, sometimes angry, and a good release. Garth was positive, hopeful, and appreciative of the life he lived. A nice counterpoint to Meat. Al is Al, what more do you need to say.

3) are they still your favorite/one of your favorites?

Yup. Along with DDR music, They get the most play of my iTunes collection.

4) what is your favorite of their songs?

Meatloaf - Objects in the Rearview Mirror
Garth - How You Ever Gonna Know
Al - Any polka, Albuquerque

5) are there any specific lyrics you hold dear?

Garth Brooks - How You Ever Gonna Know

Listen not to the critics
Who put their own dreams on the shelf
If you want to get the truth to admit it
You gotta find out for yourself

How you ever gonna know
What it's like to be there
How you ever gonna know
If you're the best
How you ever gonna know
What you believe in
If you don't put it to the test
How you ever gonna know
How it feels to hold him
How you ever gonna know
What livin' means
How you ever gonna know
If you never chase the dream

How you ever gonna know
Your potential
How you ever gonna know victory
How you ever gonna know
What it's like when dreams
Become reality
How you ever gonna know
How it feels to hold her
How you ever gonna know
What it's like to dance
How you ever gonna know
If you never take the chance

Happy Birthday Mom.

The long ride home. We are taking it in two parts. First, we go to West Palm Beach, and visit dad's old stomping grounds. This is where he and Bob spent the second half of their youth growing up. Right off US-1 in Hypoluxo. We got here arounf 2pm, and put the boat in the water to put around the area. We puttered past the canal where their old house was. It looks like I remembered from the times I visited there as a kid. We then puttered past the island where Bob and Dad camped out through a hurricane. Then toured the rest of the area, which was more for Dad's benefit and interest than our. They were geeking over boats as I would gush over cameras in the store. Good for him to have some fun.

We also headed out through the inlet and out into the open waters of the Atlantic. Unlike the Keys, the shelf quickly disappears as we get close to the Gulf Stream current. In only 2 miles, we were floating in 600 feet deep waters. It was a choppy 3-4 feet sea, which made for tolerable but not very comfortable boating. Very bouncy, very jarring. Dad threw out the fishing rods, and we trolled for an hours before heading back with not so much as a nibble. The waters were a beautiful blue, and we did see a bunch of flying fish. Nothing like I figured they would be like, these little guys jumped out, and actually hovered above the water for 50-60 yards before plunging into a wave. They were cute little things. We also passed a pair of cargo ships, halfway loaded with cargo containers. These are big boats, and might even put a passenger cruise ship to task in terms of capacity.

Finally we went to dinner at a french bistro in Boca Raton.

Update : Question:

Under otherwise normal circumstances, when trying to get your baby to sleep, is it okay to leave them alone in a hotel room in their crib to take a five minute walk while they cry temselves to sleep? If not, how far is one allowed to be from said crying baby? Oter side of te room? Sitting just outside? What about a there and back trip to get someting from the car? How long and how far away is okay?

One more dive, then the vacation ends. Today, we headed out to a barge that we heard of from the local dive shoppe. We actually couldn't find the barge, and the water here was looking rather green and cloudy, so we headed a half mile up to a place called Sombrero Reef. Here the water was nice and blue, and the ecosystem was the best we've seen yet. Instead of flat rocks with coral, here we had full boulders. Actual ravines and fissures, loaded with fish. This is what Finding Nemo looked like. Coral reef in three dimensions.

These dives took the better part of each day. We'd start out around 10am, and not return until 4pm. This day was no different. We got back, and I went out to pick of the film from the night before. When I got back, we went out to dinner at a place called Cabot's, on the water. Nice. On the way back, we went to K-Mart to get some CD-R's to make music for the trip home tomorrow, and a nice picture frame I happened to spot on the way out. More places to put pictures of Mike and Denise.

I'm still working to break my dad of his Yanni habit. Nothing wrong with Yanni, but when that's the only CD in your car, you need help. I'm going gentle on him, but introducing artists in the same genre as Yanni. So far, he's heard of Bond, Vanessa-Mae, Kitaro, and Blue Man Group. He's liked them all, so I'm going to leave a few CD's of their stuff in his truck. I tried some Weird Al too, but that didn't go so well. Oh well, baby steps. . .

Went to the dentist, and he gave a clean bill of health. No dental problems, and recommended to continue diving with Alieve as needed.

Went diving in the morning. We ended up making two dives, near to each other. The first dive was the longer of the two, and also the most scenic. Swam around a gorgeous reef, saw a number of tropical fish, most I couldn't name. Some of the notables were two spiny lobster, black sea urchin, puffer fish with gold sparkly eyes, spider crabs, all sorts of coral structures, sea creatures that quickly pulled into themselves when they felt motion in the water, and bright vibrant colors everywhere. I only wish I had brought more than one camera under with me. :( 27 pictures were not enough. We were out for a good 5 hours, and I have a nice tan as a result. I also started reading Runelords by David Farland on the ride back to shore. So far so good.

Back home after two dives, cooked up some steaks and bratwurst on the grill. Two dives is rather tiring, although I can't think of a better way to get exercise than 10 feet under water.

Posted some pictures of Mikes first birthday party, and from his actual birthday July 19. It was a great party, and as I get more time today, I'll write about it.

Also, I've put together a new front page for Mikes site, even though it's not updated very frequently these days. Two pictures from his birthday party make up the collage.

Update :
Bob came over today, flew in around 5:30am into Miami. Dad was up at 3:00am to drive the 2 hours to Miami to pick him up, then home around 8:00. So excited were we to all be together that we went for an early morning dive out at Coffin Cove, a coral reef a few miles off shore. Bob suggested that I take some Aleive to reduce the swelling in the area, then go diving. And lo and behold, it worked. I spent a good half hour under water looking at coral and reef and fish. It was a great clear day, and the water was bright with 50 feet of visibility. The underwater camera took some pictures, and it was a great dive all around. We'll do it again tomorrow.

Then dad pulled out all the stops and took Randy and I to the local airport. Available for air tours was a Waco biplane, bright blue in color. This salty island guy was flying people for tours in the two seater plane, taking them up for 20 minutes for a spin around the island, and the opportunity to fly the plane for short stints. It was scary and exhilariting at the same time. The open air plane, I poked my head out at 80 miles an hour at 500 feet to look straight down on the boats over the water. The pilot knew his sticht, was great in the plane, gave a great tour of the island.

I got some great pictures of the plane and the flight.

Oh yes, I did some work on the photos and Mikes web page as well.