Thursday, March 31, 2005

Business Card Promotion


BC Promo
Originally uploaded by Marinade Dave.
This is a business card I designed for a company I work for. If you wanted to order cards, guess who would do the design work?

Monday, March 28, 2005

Marinating Tips

Please click on the title of this post (above) to link to the actual Marinating Tips post, or CLICK HERE .

Thursday, March 24, 2005

The Difference Between Men And Women

This morning, on my way into work, I stopped at a grocery store to buy some frozen entrees for lunch. The store was promoting a 'buy one, get one free' deal, so, I wanted to take advantage of that and stock up. On my way out, a somewhat attractive woman stopped her car in front of me. She looked and said, "I can't find my drink!" I walked over to her vehicle, not too close, though, and looked in. Then she turned around and looked into the back seat. There, in plain view, were pretty much her exposed butt crack and cheeks. Her jeans were slid down. Far.

Well, and a mighty fine 'Good Morning' to you. Not what one would expect to see at 8:00 o'clock in the morning. At least, not from a total stranger.

I wished her good luck, told her she'd either find it or get wet, and went on my way.

I thought about what if, when I approached her, I noticed she wasn't wearing pants or anything at all down there. Suppose it was a man doing the same thing to a woman, exposing all his parts, what would she do? My guess is that she would take down his tag number as she was running back inside and call the police. Most men, though, in this situation, might be inclined to ask for her phone number and a date. Or at least give it a passing thought before calling the police.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

San Diego Fires


San Diego Fire
Originally uploaded by Marinade Dave.
When I went to San Diego, I went up to my hosts' mountain home, overlooking Lake Cuyamaca. I took this coming down the mountain, January 7, 2005. This is from the San Diego Fires in October of 2003. A lot of the structures haven't been rebuilt yet. Construction companies are backlogged, just like roofing companies in Florida from the hurricanes of 2004.

It kind of symbolizes, to me, how devastating fires can be. A little piece of Heaven turned suddenly into a fiery Hell. It was one of the worst in the history of the United States.

Monday, March 21, 2005

Update On Bud

It's been a while since Bud underwent his chemo. Soon after, he came down with a rather high fever and a general malaise. No strength. No appetite. He lost a lot of fluids. The doctors have no idea what has caused the fever. They've run lots of tests. I asked him, you know, if they've treated 10,000 people with AML, how could you possibly be the first person to come down with a fever? They have no idea. He tried to eat a hospital pizza the other day. He is on a very restricted diet, but, that seems to be OK to eat. I said, hey, if you're allowed to eat a lousy hospital pizza, why not order a good one from an Italian restaurant. From their last trips out to Houston, when he underwent the clinical trial chemo, they got to know Johnny Carrabba, his mother, Rose, and his cousin, Damian Mandola, from their Houston restaurant. I said, order a pizza from them. They make a good pie you would enjoy. It's not too big and, perhaps it will enhance your appetite!

He must lose the fever and regain his strength enough to undergo one final chemo treatment just before the stem cell transplant. If this does not occur, he will not be able to have the transplant and that would be a most terrible thing.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Maggie & Bud


Maggie & Bud
Originally uploaded by Marinade Dave.
This is the last picture taken of my sister, Maggie, and her husband, Bud, before they left for Houston, where he will undergo chemo before his stem cell transplant for leukemia.

This was taken a little over 2 weeks ago. Since then, he has undergone that chemo and is a very weak person now. He must remain this way until his transplant in the beginning of April. If his condition improves during this time, it also means his leukemic blast levels are on the rise, and that is not good. It's almost a sort of suspended animation, but, you are conscious. No energy and not much of an appetite. In the meantime, he will undergo platelet and red cell transfusions up until then.

We are all pulling for him.

Friday, March 11, 2005

Pizza Delivery Boy Dave


pizza
Originally uploaded by Marinade Dave.
Back in the early 80's I worked for an ad agency. We designed advertisements for a department store chain based out of North Carolina. We also did radio spots and I got to do several voice-overs. We ran ads and radio spots throughout a good part of Florida. The copywriter, Larry, and I became pretty close friends. At some point, he had health issues concerning his liver. The doctors wanted to do a biopsy which entailed his overnight stay in a downtown hospital. I went early that evening to see him. I asked the head nurse if he was on any type of restricted diet. She said no. I asked him if he wanted a pizza, that I wanted one, too. Of course, he said. There was a place called Lorenzo's a couple blocks away that made a pretty good pie, the kind that when you fold it to eat, the oil oozes down your arm. Not very healthy, but it sure was tasty.

Now, back in those days, I used to imbibe in a little green stuff once in a while, if you know what I mean. Earlier in the week, I had a friend who set me up with a little of that green stuff. I called the pizza joint and ordered a large pie with mushrooms and extra cheese. When I brought it out to my car, I broke open the bag of already cleaned stuff and began to sprinkle it all over that pizza. I knew the oil would make it very moist and easier to eat. I figured it would help him relax.

I got back to the hospital and took the elevator up to the second floor. As the doors opened up, there was another nurse standing there. She asked. "Where are you going with that pizza?" I answered, "To Larry's room. The head nurse said it was OK." To which she responded, "No you're not! Not without giving me a piece!" "Well," I said, "you can have as many slices as you want." She took two. Larry and I ate the rest. I didn't tell him about that extra spice, but, he did ask me later if I had done something with that pie, that he sure did feel good that night and next day, even with the anticipation of knowing what was going to happen in the morning. Yes, I did. We both wondered about what happened to the nurse that night and laughed. She was a really nice lady and I'm sure it did her no harm. At least, I hope she didn't get into any trouble. Hey! What are friends for? And she was the one who insisted on eating some.

Larry died a couple of years later from complications of liver cancer. He was a great guy and I still think about him every so often. He was the one who gave me that stuff.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Insurgents near Kirkuk attacked the Al-Dibbis oil field belonging to the North Oil Co.


sunset smoke sm
Originally uploaded by Marinade Dave.
My brother, Tim, took this picture from his base (Krabtown) in Kirkuk. The insurgents keep blowing it up. American soldiers protect the employees who go in to work on it.

He has sat down and drank tea with the Kurds who work on base. He says they are very friendly and happy the Americans are there.