I've been hacking away at the site the past couple of days, getting the site ready for the big changes. I've updated my B2evo program to a later version. New blog updates will be put on the new platform effective immediately. To get to the new platform, just click on the link up top of this page that says "NEW Andiamo Log, or just click on the title of this entry.

Now for the fun stuff, getting the content integrated, and all the other new stuff put on. We'll see how much I get done.

It's getting a bit frustrating for me. It seems like Elvis is showing up for less and less time each day. One day, for instance, he showed up at 11 AM, worked until 12:30 and then took off for lunch. He didn't come back until after 3 and worked another hour and a half. It was particularly annoying because he was starting to complain about how long the job is taking him. Whenever he complained, I dryly suggested that maybe he should show up earlier and get more work done in the course of the day rather than the short days he's been working. Perhaps he'd get done sooner. I don't think he caught on to the sarcasm.

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Elvis and his guys were fairly quick in getting the engine apart. He was sure he could get everything apart on the boat to the point where he would just leave the bare engine block on the boat, and take everything else to his shop to get prepared and rehabbed. Didn't quite work out that way. When he tried to get the pistons out of the cylinders, it proved to be impossible.

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Since buying Andiamo almost five years ago, there was only one thing I dreaded and feared. Ok, there are actually alot of things that I dread and fear when it comes to boat ownership. But there is indeed one particular thing I really never ever wanted to deal with when it came to owning Andiamo, and for five years, I was able to stave it off. That is, until now.

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Ok, so in the time I've been slacking on the blog the past few months. I've had a few revelations.

One, I've neglected it far too long, and that has to stop, and it does effective immediately. This blog has become a strange part of my life, and in my zeal to accomplish other things, I found this weird void because I wasn't keeping up with it. Nevermind the few almost daily emails and facebook messages I've been getting from people wondering what was up and why I haven't been updating!

Two, I've had a few interesting writing and consulting projects this past year that have definitely boosted my confidence about my ability to write about various subjects.

And three, I think it's time to take the Andiamo Blog to the next level. And yes, there IS a next level...

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Milestone time for me again...

My mom passed two years ago today. On some levels, I find it absolutely incomprehensible that it has been two years already. How is that possible? It feels like just last month that I was on a plane back from LA to Orlando after getting the news. My sister and I missed saying goodbye to my mom one last time by a matter of a day.

Much of what I'm feeling these days are "coulda', woulda', shoulda'" about my parents' final days. Wishing that I'd been there on time or soon enough to just say goodbye to them just one more time. Or, to just remind them that regardless of all the stuff I had to go through on their account, I was glad as hell that they were my parents.

Coulda', woulda', shoulda'...

I woke up today, glad that the internet was FINALLY back on, happy that I can get some work done. Only to be incredibly disheartened to find out that one of my all time cultural heroes, George Carlin, died yesterday.

I grew up listening to Carlin's records and watching his comedy and philosophy evolve from that of a counterculture funny-man to one of an incredibly articulate, no-holds-barred, and direct philosopher of modern life. Reading his books, watching his amazing stage presence on his HBO specials (I regret I never got to see him at a live performance), and just plain taking in his amazing wit played huge roles in my outlook on life and the world today.

There are only a few people in my life that I consider "true" heroes. No sports figures, no movie stars, not even politicians. But rather seemingly ordinary people who've done amazing things with their lives. People like Jane Gooddall, Michael Moore, and of course, Carlin. George Carlin started out as just another suit and tie comedian on the gritty club circuit in the 50's and 60's. Yet, thanks to his cultural environment and influences, including Lenny Bruce, he became an icon of wisdom, cynicism, pragmatism, secularism, and even libertarianism for my generation.

I salute my hero, and his cut-through-the-bullshit wit and audacity, which is so BADLY NEEDED in these very strange times of so-called "cultural war", will be SORELY missed. Nonetheless, the mark he made on American culture, and the fundamental voice of reason against the insanity of religion, politics, and corporate greed will not fade anytime soon.

I thank him for the life he lived.