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January 14, 2007 - Added
First Night Boston
2007 to Galleries
January 1, 2007 - Added
First Night Boston
2007 Fireworks to Galleries
November 26, 2006 - Added
Nashua River
Rail-Trail to Galleries
November 13, 2006 - Added
Cranberry Country to Galleries
October 31, 2006 - Added
Happy Halloween!
to Galleries
October 29, 2006 - Added
Boston /
Head of the Charles Regatta to Galleries
October 8, 2006 - Added
Crater Lake to Galleries
September 30, 2006 - Added
2004 Red Sox
Victory Parade to Galleries
September 11, 2006 - Added
9/11 Memorial and
9/11 Ground
Zero Memorial to
Galleries
September 4, 2006 - Added
Mono Lake pics
to Galleries
 
August 16, 2006 - Created blog at
www.lee-toma.com
August 6, 2006 - Added
Boston pics
to Galleries
August 2, 2006 - Added
April Fools' Day
Sunset in the Blue Hills to Galleries
July 24, 2006 - Added
March 2001 - How thirsty is
Scott?!?! to Galleries
July 23, 2006 - Added
At Work photoshopped
pics to Galleries
July 20, 2006 - Humor
You know your boat is too small when...
July 9, 2006 - Funnies
Redneck Wheelchair
Dirty Mind
Whoops
July 6, 2006 - Bye Bye Bunny
Okay, so this isn't really funny, more like morbidly fascinating...
In news from the Netherlands,
Big mean bird kills cute wittle bunny wabbit.
The bird picked up the rabbit by it's ear...
...and ignoring the bunny's screams, went and drowned it
in a nearby creek - and then swallowed it whole.
July 4, 2006 - Fireworks!
When I was moving the Engineering Department out to California in 2002,
I managed to squeeze some personal travel time into my schedule. Since I had
to be out there all week, I worked in both weekends, and managed to visit
Yosemite twice, and I also got to spend Independence Day in San Francisco.
I took a tour of the bay, got to visit Alcatraz, went to the aquarium, and
then got to watch the fireworks show.
I'm used to seeing the fireworks in Boston, where over a quarter million
people cram into the Esplanade along the river. If you're lucky, you get
smothered under a sea of humanity but still get to see the fireworks. But in
San Francisco, the show takes place at sites out over the Bay, and there are
tens of miles of shoreline from which to watch the show. So, I got a
front-row seat, and enjoyed the show.
Hope you have a great Fourth!
July 4, 2006 - Tour de France:
Oooh! Oooh! Oooh! Biking AND maps on
one site:
Live tracking of the
Tour de France on Google Maps
July 4, 2006 - Assorted Editorials:
Sixwise.com on marketing:
People Who Drive Silver or Blue Cars Should NOT Read This
Los Angeles Times:
Joel Stein: Eek! A flag on my lawn!
When a realtor sticks the Stars and Stripes in your front yard, do you trash
it or stash it?
If only gay sex caused global
warming
Why we're more scared of gay marriage and terrorism than a much deadlier
threat.
The New Yorker
The military’s problem with the President’s Iran policy
June 30, 2006 - The self-driving Golf that would give
Herbie a run for its money
The Royal Mail (London):
The self-driving Golf that would give Herbie a run for its money
June 26, 2006 - Blue Hill
The weather here in New England has been awful for the
past two months. We've had TWO FEET of rain. That's more half the rain for
the YEAR, in just two months. So, I've been stuck inside with cabin fever,
and couldn't go out for my regular hikes and bike rides. At least we didn't
get that water during the winter, or it would have been 20 feet of snow!
Well, this week the rain finally let up, so I went hiking. I didn't find
Noah's Arc on top of Blue Hill, but I did enjoy the nice weather, and the
mosquitos did enjoy me.
Blue Hill is a nice hike. The hill is over 600 feet tall, and getting to the
top is at least 400 feet of climbing. I'm not in shape to do it on my bike
just yet (since I've been cooped up indoors all spring), but I'll get there
eventually. And it's nice 'cause it's right on my way home, and I get to
watch the sun set from the top. Some of the sunsets are really spectacular -
I'll have to post some pics online sometime.
The old observation tower was built during the Great Depression as one of
the Civilian Conservation Corps projects to employ young men. It was
intended as a lookout for fires, but these days it is best used for one of
the best views of Boston. It's a nice relaxing way to end the day after
work, burning off the frustration with a good hard hike, and then enjoying
the view.
Boston: The view is kinda blurry because of the darkness.
The best place to watch the sunset is from the rock
outcroppings along the southwest side of the hill on the Skyline Trail. The
ski slope isn't too bad a spot either, but these days it's awfully soggy.
June 26, 2006 - GOTCHA!
For the past three months, this little mouse has been
TAUNTING me. He would go running past, laughing the whole way, and when I
would chase him, he would duck under the nearest piece of furniture.
I tried traps with cheese. No luck.
I tried traps with peanut butter. Mice LOVE peanut butter. Not this one.
I tried traps with birdseed. Birdseed is yummy, no? Nope.
So, I sat and thought for a while, and wondered what type of food I would
find irresistible if I were a mouse. And then it hit me. CHOCOLATE! So I
took some more traps and pressed chocolate chips into them. BINGO! Gotcha!
(Warning: icky dead mouse picture below)
June 26, 2006 - I laughed so hard I almost wet myself!
Go bye bye!
Toilet training video from Japan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGbewHT7zKU
June 23, 2006 - Nine Inch Nails concert
Wow. Went to the nine inch nails concert on Friday at the Tweeter Center with Charlie and his friend Robby. The show was INTENSE. The energy, focus and feel of the concert was just
unbelievable. Words fail me...
On a geeky side note, the display graphics systems and the lighting production were amazing, too. In the background was an array of displays with full motion video, and at times during the show they dropped down cage-like panels which apparently had an LED light array built in. You can see Trent and the band through this display in a couple pics.
Charlie and Robby (at far right):
Charlie and me after the show:
Robby and Charlie:
We were very fortunate - as it was, the show was incredible - but I was not in the mood for an epic mud-bath at the top of a hill in a thunderstorm. The weather all day had been awful, with relentless driving rain. Miraculously, it stopped just as we arrived. Good luck? A sign? I don't know...
Click here for a professional review and photos: The Boston Phoenix
May 21, 2006 - Lance Armstrong speaks at Tufts
Univeristy's 150th Commencement Address I
haven't been back to Tufts in several years, but when I heard that they were
having Lance Armstrong speak at the Commencement address, I just had to go.
Now I've done a moderate amount of biking over the years, at least 14,000
miles that I've kept track of.
- I've ridden thousands of miles on the unforgiving streets of Cambridge,
Somerville, and Boston - the most bike un-friendly city in America
- I've ridden the roads of Indiana, like in "Breaking Away"
- I've laughed as I passed exotic sports cars stuck in Chicago traffic
- I've ridden with the elk and bison in Wyoming
- I've gotten yelled at by the Secret Service for locking my bike to the
fence at the Denver Mint
- I've cruised along the boardwalk in Santa Monica
- I've ridden with the multitudes in Japan
- And, I've crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and tackled the hills of San
Francisco, tires squealing in protest against the bricks of Lombard Street -
and gone ballistic off the flats of the hills, like Steve McQueen in
"Bullitt"
But none of that compares to what Armstrong and the other guys do in the
Tour de France. They ride over 2,000 miles in one month, with some stages of
over 100 miles in the rugged Alps! It is just an heroic feat, orders of
magnitude greater than anything I've ever done on a bike. It is just
mind-blowing what they accomplish. And he won SEVEN times. Wow! So, anyway,
I had to go see him at my alma mater. He was entertaining, amusing, humble
and still inspiring. One of my photos is below. You can check out more
online at:
Tufts University
May 18, 2006 - Humor - Bird Flu Hits Florida Trailer
Park
The Bird Flu was identified as the cause of this deadly outbreak at a
Florida trailer park...
[props to Martha Taylor for passing this along]
May 7, 2006 - Humor - When a redneck wins the
lottery...
What happens when a redneck wins the lottery?
[props to Martha Taylor for passing this along]
May 9, 2006 - Photo from Indianapolis
The sign is real and was up for about two hours before someone stopped and
told them how to spell peonies.
[thanks to Shirley Stempson for this one]
May 7, 2006 - New(ish) car
I traded in my old, old car. It had served me very well over the
years. I was sad to see it go, but after 13 years and 161,000 miles, it was
time. Plus, the new car is a blast to drive, and it holds more bikes inside!
April, 2006 - On The Road...
Things that make me laugh...
I was on Route 9 in Wellesley on my way to work and saw this little car with a for sale sign...
I was at the grocery store in Norwood, and looked over at the next car to see this dog staring back at me as if to say, "What are you looking at?"
Redneck emergency brakes - I saw this on an offramp from I-70 on my way to work in Plainfield, Indiana back in '02...
...'course I shouldn't laugh too much. My old clunker e-brakes didn't work too well the last few years I had it...
March 17, 2006 - Humor - Florida Biker and
his Babe
March 13, 2006 - Cool Tech - The Pot Cave
Holy cow this is very inventive.
This is how they grow it in Tennessee. This was underneath a house in a
cave. The entrance was through a secret hydraulic door in the garage that
led to a concrete ramp that went about 50 yards into the ground.
Inside the cave was living quarters and a secret escape hatch that led you
through a tunnel that exited via another hydraulic door that opened up a
rock on the outside. It was very elaborate. The set up allowed them to
harvest every 60 days which resulted in multi-million dollar sales. One of
the guys busted was living in a house on the water in FL and had a nice
yacht.
One of the agents here in Nashville worked on this for 5 years before the
warrant was finally served in December.
[Thanks to Doug Leithauser for this one]
January 1, 2006 - Texas
Visited San Antonio with Preston for New Years.
Thanks!
After eleven years in Texas, he is now a Texan. You
can tell because he has a Texas flag growing out of his head:
It looks like it's giving him a headache.
Archives:
2005
This page was last updated
Monday January 15, 2007
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