Subscribe to my blog
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
From Here On In...
So it's been tough to find the time to post both here and on Facebook so I've decided that I'm going to post on my blog the following:
1) Links to my Flickr account for when a good set of new photos are there.
2) Stories from my life. I promise they'll be good!
So for everything else, you can look at my Facebook account:
www.facebook.com/joeganci
I hope to see you there too!
Love to all
Joe
Monday, July 13, 2009
Portillo's Hot Dogs
A mighty good chain I had never heard of until now! As seen in Barlett, Illinois.
Jain Temple in Bartlett, Illinois
Quite a remarkable site to find in the middle of a Chicago suburb!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Receiving a Sweet Kiss
Either I'm doing something right, or Lauren-Claire is giving me a birthday kiss!
Walking in the Fairfax County Independence Day Parade!
Dateline: July 4, 2009, Fairfax, Virginia
Joe Ganci once again walks in the Fairfax County Indpendence Day Parade as part of the Fairfax Sons of Italy Lodge. The crowds cheered....all for me, I'm sure!
Joe Ganci once again walks in the Fairfax County Indpendence Day Parade as part of the Fairfax Sons of Italy Lodge. The crowds cheered....all for me, I'm sure!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Two and a Half Months Later...
And it's still going on!
See http://joeganci.blogspot.com/2009/03/times-are-toughand-junk-mail-preys-on_01.html
Evgenia's Parents
Last night our friend Evgenia's parents came to visit from the Ukraine. We ate a wonderful dinner at Sweetwater Tavern. Conversation was a mix of English, Italian, Russian and Ukrainian! It turns out that Ukrainians are terrifically nice people!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Lovely Frederick, Maryland
After all these years living outside Washington, D.C., I had never until today visited Frederick, MD, only 45 minutes North of where I live. I had read about an Arts Festival happening there and decided to go visit. What a beautiful town! I really enjoyed it.
Unfortunately, on the way up there was a section of road where headlight use was mandatory. Normally I use the automatic setting for the headlights and unfortunately my car doesn't warn me when I leave them on so when I got back to the car, the battery was as dead as it could be.
A lady who was sitting on her porch nearby offered to help. Thank you to Jessica for all her help today!
Unfortunately, on the way up there was a section of road where headlight use was mandatory. Normally I use the automatic setting for the headlights and unfortunately my car doesn't warn me when I leave them on so when I got back to the car, the battery was as dead as it could be.
A lady who was sitting on her porch nearby offered to help. Thank you to Jessica for all her help today!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Lots of Meat
Viva Vienna today in Vienna, Virginia. I couldn't help but take this picture of a ton of meat and the man wearing a Big Fat Daddy's shirt. A carnivore's bliss, a heart surgeon's job security!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The Fountains of Kansas City
Nice 14-block area of fountains and shops. Did you know that Kansas City has more fountains than any other city except Florence, Italy? Also, many of the fountains in KC were sculpted by Italian artists. All this was due to the founder of Hallmark, who loved fountains and Italy.
Click the photo to see more photos.
Click the photo to see more photos.
Kansas City, Friends and Barbecue!
I met my old friends John and Jeanene Underwood and Chris Phillips at Jack Stack Barbecue while working in Kansas City. Yum - very good barbecue! Interestingly, when I was flying to KC, my seatmate was on her way there to visit her grandchildren and she told me that her niece works at Jack Stack and to ask for her, but her niece was still away on maternity leave. :-)
1960 Volkswagen Beetle
Friday, May 15, 2009
Bird in Garage
Bird in my garage. He just kept going back and forth on the top shelf in my garage, acting as if he were taunting me to shoot him down! I didn't know that birds really did the back and forth thing like in the videogames! Take a look at the video. BTW, I didn't shoot him down, I whisked him out of the garage with a rake. Yeah, I was out of ammo (haha).
Saturday, May 9, 2009
On a warm summer day a few years ago, six friends and neighbors gathered together in my home. Among them were Richard, Sabine and Ruth who, as flight attendants, had many stories to tell about flying the friendly skies. Also present were Tom and Kitty, the beautiful married couple who manage a large hotel. I videotaped the conversation and created a transcript of the conversation, editing for clarity.
I hope you enjoy it!
Here's the link:
www.joeganci.com/TalesFromLandAndSky.pdf
Friday, May 8, 2009
Today, these birds started to attack the screens of the windows in my home office. What gives? I added an audio track so you can hear a little of what I could hear.
Put The Kids to Work!
My friends Katya and Ian and I put their two kids to work on a scavenger hunt at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to find all the frog statues! As a result, we all got a packet of wildflower seeds. Score! Make the kids work and reap the benefits!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
My new friend Pasquale and me. Pasquale is the first friend that I had previously met on Facebook and then met in real life! He is quite an awesome guy for many reasons, including being a great Italian cook!
The lovely couple, Pasquale and Colleen! Thank you for having me to your home for a wonderful Italian home cooked meal!
My Friend Lisa!
I saw my very good friend Lisa while in Minnesota recently. She married a great guy named Larry and that transplanted her from Corpus Christi, Texas to the frigid Minnesota! Now THAT is love!
My Minnesota Students
These were four of my students from the class I taught at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in April. What a great group of people! In the second photo, from left to right, we have Scott and the married couple Ann and Jeff.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
As Seen in Atlanta #2
These are my wonderful friends in Atlanta: Ian and Katya and their two boys Ben and Nikki! Katya has her own blog which you can see here:
http://itinerant-oak.blogspot.com/
Also, to see all the photos of our outing at the Botanical Gardens, click the photo!
http://itinerant-oak.blogspot.com/
Also, to see all the photos of our outing at the Botanical Gardens, click the photo!
As seen in Atlanta #1
This shows the windows that were damaged during the tornado of 2007 and have not yet been replaced because they are custom windows and are still on back order.
Click the photo to see more photos from this set!
Click the photo to see more photos from this set!
Our Garden
I love springtime! I wish someone would invent a perfume as good as the garden smells right now!
Click the photo to see all the photos I took of the garden at the end of March.
Click the photo to see all the photos I took of the garden at the end of March.
As Seen in Seattle #2
Yep! I visited the very first Starbucks!
Click the photo to see all the photos I took in Seattle!
Click the photo to see all the photos I took in Seattle!
As Seen in Seattle #1
Monkfish....looks ugly, tastes pretty good!
Click the photo to see all the photos I took in Seattle!
Click the photo to see all the photos I took in Seattle!
Everything is Relative....in Size
THIS is fascinating - it's rather dazzling to see it presented this way. (Click the photos to enlarge them.)
Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky. It is more than 1000 light years away.
This is a Hubble telescope ultra deep field Infrared view of countless entire galaxies. Billions of light-years away.
Below is a close-up of one of the darkest regions of the photo above.
Monday, March 30, 2009
"Watch" This!
I am one of those people who is prone to lose a watch shortly after donning it, especially because I don't like wearing one when I'm typing on a keyboard. For this reason, I keep the nice watch locked up at home and use a cheap watch when traveling. While I was in Italy last time, I went to an outdoor market and found this watch (the one in the photo) for only 5 euros, about $7.50. It runs pretty well, no problems, but one look at the watch and you may see why it's so cheap. Any ideas? What do YOU think?
Saturday, March 14, 2009
One of My Favorite Bands
Several year ago I attended a conference in Nashville, Tennessee. While there, we went out one evening to Printer's Alley to a blues club. The house band playing was Stacy Mitchart and Blues You Can Use. To say that they rocked the place would be an understatement. We were all on our feet dancing. They were fantastic! Before going home, we went back. It was Halloween and the place was so much fun and once again Mitchart made it fantastic. I bought a couple of his CDs and have listened to them a lot since.
Last year I was back in Nashville and looked them up. They are now the house band at BB Kings, a step up. I got a seat near the stage and once again loved them. I got on their mailing list hoping to find that one day they would tour near DC.
While in Orlando this week, I got an email from them telling me where they were touring right now and lo and behold, they were going to be playing one night in Orlando the very next evening. I got five of my friends to join me and we went to see them at BB Kings in Pointe Orlando. All agreed that they were fantastic.
By the way, Stacy is a GUY! :-)
Here's his website: http://www.stacymitchhart.com/default.aspx?24
By the way, I spoke to Stacy during a break and he said he was going to be in DC in May to perform on XM Radio. He told me there'd be room for about 50 attendees. I hope to make it.
You can see my entries from when I saw Stacy and his band in Nashville:
http://joeganci.blogspot.com/2008/03/more-stacy-videos.html
http://joeganci.blogspot.com/2008/03/nashville.html
As Seen at the Airport...
When I arrived at my local airport the other day to go on a trip, I took this photo of a bunch of clothes piled up near a trashcan. Can you guess why?
I'm pretty sure it's because the individual's suitcase was just a little too heavy and the cost of the clothing was less than what the extra fees would have been for the overweight luggage. What do you think?
Monday, March 2, 2009
Ringing off the Hook
We still say that the phone was ringing off the hook. When's the last time you used a phone with a hook?
I remember when I was a kid we used to have a phone on the wall and that it had a hook that the receiver hung on. If you picked up the receiver, the hook would move up and would engage the dial tone. If you put the phone on the hook, it would move down and would disengage the phone.
Let's not be in a rush to change the terminology, though. I still like it. We still say we dial the phone, right? When's the last time you used a phone with a dial? :-)
What other old phone terms do we still use?
Let me think and then add your own.
1. We still talk about wiring money. While wires may be involved, most wiring is now done through the internet.
2. Phones ring but no longer contain actual bells like in the old days.
3. We hang up the phone even though we normally don't really hang it anywhere. We normally put it down somewhere, not up.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
A Visit to Pompeii, Just Inside Washington, D.C.
There is a wonderful Pompeii exhibit being shown at the National Gallery of Art right now, one of the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. Its run ends on March 22, after which it will move across the country and be shown in Los Angeles starting in May before being returned later this year to its rightful place on the other side of the ocean.
My wife and I have been to the actual city of Pompeii, thankfully many years after Vesuvius got angry and spouted lava all over the place (I know you know, but just in case you've forgotten, that happened in 79 AD). But it's a different experience walking through the actual town and seeing a number of pieces artfully shown together in one place, such as was the case in this exhibit.
The first five photos are on the approach to the exhibit. No photography was allowed inside the exhibit, so I've scanned images from the brochure we were given so you can get an idea of what we saw. The pieces are so well-preserved (lava will do that).
Garden Scene, Pompeii, House of the Golden Bracelet, fresco, 1st century BC - 1st Century AD, Ufficio Scavi, Pompeii
The Forum at Pompeii with Vesuvius in the Background, Christian Kobke, 1841, oil on canvas, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Two seaside villas, Pompeii, 1st century BC - 1st century AD, fresco, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli
Kantharos entwined with olive branches, Pompeii, House of the Menander, 1st century BC, silver, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli
Two table supports, Pompeii, House of Gaius Cornelius Rufus, 1st century AD, marble, Ufficio Scavi, Pompeii
Plato's Academy, Pompeii, Villa of T. Siminius Stephanus, 1st century BC - 1st century AD, mosaic, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli
Apollo and the muse Clio, Moregine, Triclinium A, 1st century AD, fresco, Ufficio Scavi, Pompeii
Homer, Baiae, 1st century BC - 1st century AD, marble. On Loan from the British Museum, London
Aphrodite, Rione Terra at Puteoli, probably early 1st century AD, marble, Museo Archeologico dei Campi Flegrei, Baia
Victorius Athlete, Herculaneum, Villa dei Papiri, 1st century BC, silver, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli
Torso from a statue of a woman, Rione Terra at Puteoli, 1st century AD, marble, Museo Archeologico dei Campi Fiegrei, Baia
Tray-bearing youth or Apollo, House of Gaius Julius Polybius, 1st century BC - 1st century AD, bronze, Ufficio Scavi, Pompeii
Girl fastening her peplos, Herculaneum, Villa dei Papiri, bronze, 1st century BC - 1st century AD, mosaic, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli
Alexander the Great on horseback, Herculaneum, 1st century BC - 1st century AD, bronze, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli
Bust of a youth or Apollo, 1st century BC, bronze, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli
Vesuvius from Portici, Joseph Wright, c. 1774-1776, oil on canvas, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
A Sculpture Gallery, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1874, oil on canvas, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
Times Are Tough...And Junk Mail Preys on Our Fears, Part 2
Here's another one we got in the mail. On the outside, very large letters: Retirement Relinquishment. What the heck does THAT mean? I've relinquished my retirement funds? Has the economy gotten so bad that my retirement fund is completely kaput?
Well, no, of course not. Now get ready: this one is really a stretch. It's basically a going-out-of-business sale for a furniture store. They call it retiring the business and they're relinquishing their furniture. Get it? Yeah, I told you it was a stretch! I don't think I'll be shopping there anytime soon...or ever!
Times Are Tough...And Junk Mail Preys on Our Fears, Part 1
The First Notice, Customer Reference #22123 you see here was showing through a plastic window in an official-looking envelope I received. First Notice? Sounds as if I'm behind on a bill! Oh, no! I open the envelope and see at the top of the letter ATTENTION: LOAN MODIFICATION NOTICE. Oh, no again! What loan? Of course, it was all a scare tactic to make me read the letter, which was nothing more than an offer to refinance our mortgage. Why do people think that after scaring us for no good reason we'll be open to doing business with them?
Oh, and Customer #22123? I've never been a customer of theirs, so that number is totally random!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
You TOO Can See My Keynote Speech
Oh, yes, I know you're dying to see me in action, up on the stage, hundreds of adoring fans hanging onto every word that comes out of my mouth...haha.
Take a look if you like, but be kind with your comments!
Click here to see it.
More Friends in Orlando!
Here I am with Patti and Jeff. Patti and I have been friends for years and Jeff and I have been friends since he married Patti! They treated me to a really nice Italian restaurant in an area of Orlando called Portofino, patterned after the real Portofino in Italy.
Below you see a couple of shots of Portofino and a picture of me with the accordion player in the restaurant.
The last photo shows Jeff and I copping a feel from a young lady. She was a bit stonelike, but no matter!
In the restaurant, a trio sang and played for us. I had them sing Happy Birthday in Italian for my wife, who was stuck back in cold Virginia, poor thing!
Listen to them sing in the videos.
My New Friends
This lovely couple are Luana, originally from Brazil, and her husband Giovanny, originally from Columbia. Don't they make a lovely couple? We met at the conference at which I spoke last week in Orlando and we have become fast friends...fast!
As Seen In Orlando...
A black horse and a white unicorn. Are they dancing? Are they about to fight? Are they using sign language to communicate? What do you think?
Who Drives This?
I saw this parked at the hotel where I stayed in Orlando last week. With the sun shining on this beauty, I could see it a mile away!
What a lovely shade of...purple?
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Kill, Kill, Kill!
This was my last night in Orlando before going home (yea!!), at least for two weeks, after which I'm back here for another conference!
So I wanted to get at least seven hours sleep before leaving for the airport. Instead, at 3 am I woke up to a loud argument happening in the room next to mine. There is an adjoining door between our rooms and their argument was so loud I thought they were in my room!
The argument finally stopped (sort of) after they turned on the TV full blast. They were watching My Cousin Vinny, one of my favorite movies, only I wasn't quite in the mood to watch it right then. Then, while the movie was playing, the couple in the room started screaming at each other again. It seemed a little alcohol-fueled considering the slurring I was hearing.
I debated with myself:
1) banging on the adjoining door and risk having them break down mine and politely challenging me to a duel in my sleepy state
2) calling the front desk, but at this hotel they NEVER answer the phone and besides the couple next door would be able to hear me and then proceed to option 1 above
3) calling them directly but again they'd hear me through the door (stereo effect), which would lead to option 1
4) going out into the hall and banging on their front door, but that's kind of like option 1, which would lead to the results of option 1.
So which did I choose? That's right, I turned on the air conditioning in the room, setting it to the current temperature so that it wouldn't actually turn on, but then set the fan to high, which made a lovely loud white noise sound, almost completely muffling the next door neighbors.
Ah, to sleep, perchance to dream. I fell back asleep.
I had set the alarm for seven a.m., but instead woke up at 6 a.m. and the usual thing happened - my brain started racing around thinking of all the things I had to do. Yep, I couldn't sleep. I got up, finished packing, and turned on my TV. Not real loud, mind you, just enough. The couple next door no longer has their TV on, but I can still hear them arguing.
Couples on vacation, so relaxing!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Funny Pics Galore
A Man Who Really Wants to Get into the World Cup
Best T-Shirt Design
What Will You Be When You Grow Up?
Don't Worry, It's a Refrigerator Magnet
Saturday, February 14, 2009
A Valentine's Day Incident
This month, February, is a costly one for me. Not only is it Valentine's Day, but the next few day are also my wife's birthday and our wedding anniversary. Then our second child decided to be born on our sixth anniversary so I have his birthday too. I went to the card store and there were all the men buying Valentine's Day cards. I picked up four cards, one for each of the above events. A man saw me holding four cards and with eyebrows raised said, "Just how many girlfriends do you have?" I just smiled and walked away!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Getting Older...Still!
I've noticed another disturbing trend as I get older...many of the famous people are younger than I am. I've gotten used to seeing new actors and actresses come onto the scene who are years younger than I, but...
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND...
The president of the United States is younger than I am! He was born a year after I was!
This trend is truly disturbing! If it continues, I see a time when everyone on Earth will be younger than I. What will happen then? Will I win some kind of contest?
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Time to Get Serious, Part 2 - Lying for God
I receive so many forwarded messages from several well-meaning individuals, most of which were written by the original poster taking umbrage at some incident that proves that America is moving away from God. The only problem is that most of the time those incidents never happened! The most recent exclaims that the words "so help us God" were left out of a quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt that is engraved on the World War II Memorial here in Washington, D.C. The problem here is that the quote from a speech that FDR gave never says those words in that part of the speech. Many of the emails are even more obvious in their fallacies. Another one I just got recently states that Budweiser has stopped delivery to a store in California after Sept. 11, 2001, because the beer delivery man saw the Muslims inside celebrating. Again, this has been disproved, including by Budweiser itself.
Oh, there are so many other stories that are like these. They are almost universally sent by those who have a far-right or a religious agenda and usually fall into one of these categories:
1. Someone or some organization is trying to delete God from our country.
2. An inspiring story from 9/11.
3. During the months leading up to the election, something proving that Obama was a fundamentalist Muslim, or a God-hater, or an atheist, or...well, almost anything else that is negative and not true.
When I receive one of these stories, I like to check for myself whether they are true, because sometimes, though rarely, they are. Luckily, there are impartial research organizations that check these all the time. One of the best ones is www.snopes.com. There is a search window there and you can just type in a keywords, such as "World War II Memorial", and you'll see any stories that relate to that subject. Right at the top it will say whether the story is True or False and then give a very good explanation as to why. I highly recommend it to anyone.
A little skepticism can help us to avoid falling for so many lies. That leads me to the question...why do people lie to promote the idea of God? When the original writer of an email writes about something that is made out of whole cloth (for my foreign readers, that's an expression in English that means something is not true), even if the email promotes giving yourself over to Jesus Christ as your Savior, do they believe that Jesus approves of their lies? Do they think Jesus thinks it's OK to lie on His behalf? If so, how much further down the road do they have to go before they think it's OK to steal or kill on His behalf?
Time to Get Serious, Part 1 - Tolerance
Not only do I believe in tolerance, I believe in acceptance. I believe we should accept each other no matter our beliefs or backgrounds. The only thing that makes me want to distance myself from someone is an individual's actions, not beliefs, fears, kinky ideas or anything else. I don't promise to respect your beliefs if they are different from mine, but I will not mock you or try to convince you to abandon your beliefs. If you ask me about mine, I will share freely. If you ask me about yours, I'll tell you what I think without being condescending (I hope). If you try to belittle me for what I believe, don't expect me to be happy about it.
No, nothing has happened today to make me write this. It's just an overall conclusion I've reached after a lifetime of experience.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Cool Demo from Adobe!
Adobe has a new cool demo for its latest version of Adobe Creative Suite. Click here to see it for yourself.
Be sure to move the red bar at the bottom all the way to the right to see the whole animation. Be sure also to have your speakers on.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Spirit Leaves the Body...
I was using Skype Video to talk with our friend Gina, who is in Preston, England, for a few months. At a certain moment, I saw her spirit leave her body and took a picture of it, which you see here. I promise you I did not retouch this photo in any way!
I believe this is the first time in history that anyone has actually taken a picture of the moment that the spirit leaves the body.
Oh, please don't tell me that this is due to slow connection and slow screen refresh! No, no, there are no technical reasons behind this. The fact that Gina is alive and well has nothing to do with anything! She was just temporarily separated from herself. The fact that she felt nothing different during this process means nothing! Now give me a million dollars! :-)
Sunday, February 1, 2009
These Guys Really Mean It
Can you "hear" the message any louder than when a chain is attached to the pen? Don't Steal Our Pen!
I took this picture at a local restaurant!
Friday, January 30, 2009
The Video Phone Has Arrived
Several times a week, I speak with mom with Skype video, absolutely free. Thank you, Skype, for giving us this option! It's so cool to talk to mom, here with Sally and Klaus (the dog), this way - almost like being there. The video looks a lot sharper than what you see here, but because it's often after dark there when we talk (it's winter now, short days plus the time zone differences), they're often in semidarkness whereas I have sunlight coming through the window caressing my delicate skin!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Our First Snowfall of the Winter
Not that we had any snow in the Summer or Fall, mind you!
The first picture I took through my window, a night shot of course. This is my front yard.
The second picture I took a few minutes later. It's my backyard and I used a setting to capture more light.
The third is the morning after. They had plowed the road, as you can see, and my son was getting the ice off his back window - using the claw of a hammer! It worked very well.
In the movie, you can see my son performing a maneuver to get his car into our garage. The slick ice on the driveway required a slick maneuver! No problems - he's a pro!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Aluminum Foil Wonder!
I got this from a friend.
Whoever looks at the end of the aluminum foil box?
You know when you try to pull some foil out and the whole roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. It never goes back in the way it came out and it always comes out at the wrong time.
Well, I'd like to share this with you. Yesterday as I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box for some reason I looked at the end of the box. And written on the end it said, "Press here to lock end."
Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place.
How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too.
I looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one, too!
I can't count the number of times the Saran wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up. The only box that doesn't have this feature is the Wax Paper box.
It's a small thing, but this little bit of information may just save your day when you're in a hurry.
Goes to show you learn something new --- every day.
Mom and Klaus
Isn't this a cute photo of mom and Klaus? He protects her, watches over her and especially keeps a keen eye on her when she is going up and down the stairs.
Thanks to my sister for this photo. You can see her blog by clicking on the link to the left, the first one in the Friends and Family section.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)