The drama is set in 1959 Miami Beach. The main character, Ike Evans, owns a luxury hotel and the action revolves around a large cast and all the current events of that time and place – the Cuban Revolution, the Kennedys, the Mob and more.

Rick was audio technician for the production.

Watch the premier this Friday on Starz or watch three episodes online here.

I have a spelling checker.
It came with my pea sea.
It plane lee marks four my revue.
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.

Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it’s weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.

A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when I rime.

Each frays come posed up on my screen.
eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o’er every word.
To cheque sum spelling rule.

Bee fore a veiling checker’s Hour.
spelling mite decline,
And if we’re lacks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.

Butt now bee cause my spelling.
Is checked with such grate flair,
Their are no fault’s with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a ware.

Now spelling does knot phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den.
With wrapped word’s fare as hear.

To rite with care is quite a feet.
Of witch won should be proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaw’s are knot aloud.

Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays,
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse.
Buy righting too pleas.

– Sauce Unknown.

It’s 6 minute video taken with my new HD camera that shows a really quiet, peaceful scene of the horses, some Sandhill Cranes and my dog,  Nellie.

Dead Tree

Christmas is set aside as a time for most people in our country to at least pretend or attempt to be a little happier then other times of the year. Life is hard. Especially with the poor economy and chronic unemployment it’s easy to feel depressed, downtrodden.  We go full speed all year, sweating and toiling;  trying to stay alive. Life is gray and difficult. Then Christmas comes. A happy time. A time of parties and good food and gift giving. Then someone has to go and die and ruin all the good tidings.

I lost two good friends at Christmas.  Steve Stover was a kid I grew up with in Ohio. We met when I was about 12 years old. We were in the same classes and graduated high school together.  Afterward, he went off to the Navy but we kept in close touch. We did a cross-country trip together in 1981.  He died of complications from pancreatic cancer the  day after Christmas in 1997.  He had just turned 41.

Just last year my friend Danny Smith died the day before Christmas Eve.  Between 1975 and 1982 we were as close as two friends could be. He had Hepatitis C.  Four or five days before he died I went to visit him for the last time. He was delirious as the disease and pain medications racked his brain. When I hopped in bed beside him and told him I loved him I think he heard me and understood. He said he loved me too.

Now just 8 days before Christmas Eve I learn that the incredibly gifted writer Christopher Hitchens has died. I tried to read everything he wrote.  He described complicated ideas in such a simple and understandable way.  I wish I could write that way.  I didn’t admire all of his ideas but I really admired his writing ability. I certainly loved to watch him take apart some feeble-minded, right-wing believer in a debate.  I could only hope to be half as smart as Hitchens.

“I do, still, try to nurture that little flame of curiosity and defiance: willing to play out the string to the end and wishing to be spared nothing that properly belongs to a life span,” he wrote.

It’s certainly sad when anyone dies, anytime of the year.  There’s something extra sad about having someone you love die during the holiday season.  Dying at Christmas makes it seem as though reality is mocking our childish beliefs about joy and peace and goodwill towards men.  Of course it’s not true but it sure seems that way to me.

UPDATE: A very good friend of mine, Mitch Fugitt, passed away on Wednesday December 21.  He was like a brother to me and he will be missed.  I hope he’s at peace now.

Photo credit: Shutter Operator

I looked around for a solution and found Keepass Password Safe. This little program has been the best thing I’ve ever done to help protect myself online. KeePass is a free open source password manager. You put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password to unlock the whole database. The database is encrypted using the most secure encryption algorithms currently known. So all I have to remember is one password which I use to unlock my a file that contains all my other passwords. With Keepass I make passwords that are 15-20 charaters long, with upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters like ?>!%. I never have to remember any of them.

I would highly recommend everyone who is online to get some sort of password manager. Hackers are out there looking for a way to take over your online accounts. Don’t make it easy for them.

Keepass Password Safe is available for every operating system known to mankind. I use a portable version installed on a flash drive I can take with me wherever I go. Check them out on their website at: Keepass Password Safe.

Photo Credit: zimpenfish

For more information visit the National Novel Writing Month website.

Terry Grovesnor – He was the manager when I started.
Ernie Biggs – He was the assistant manager. He had a badass Charger, even if it was an automatic.
Steve Stover – A guy I grew up with and one of my best friends.
Mike Mitchell – A really good friend and a great personality.
Kathy Barr – One of the girls that worked up front. Foxy!
Barbara Jean Englemyer – One of the girls that worked up front. Too pretty to even talk to.
Craig Patten – A really good friend who taught me a lot. I still talk to him from time to time.
Betsy Dye – One of the girls that worked up front. Foxy! Was in my class at RHS.
Gerry Gerkin – Was assistant manager and later manager. One of the nicest guys. Later joined the Navy.
Bill Patterson – A great human, good friend and a guy I still keep in touch with.
Candy Christensen – Dated Candy for a while. A really cool girl who had to put up with a bad home life.

Danny Smith

I met Danny at his brother’s wedding. A girl I knew from high school asked me to go with her. Right away I learned this guy was someone who knew how to have a good time. He went to the same high school as me. What first solidified our friendship was a common interest in certain recreational activities that were popular in the 1970′s.

Danny graduated a year ahead of me but in December 1975 we shared an apartment near the campus of the Ohio State University in Columbus. I got a job working construction and he was just beginning to learn what would be his life long trade, carpentry. By February 1976 I convinced him to hitchhike to California with me.

Danny Smith at his wedding

After we returned I ended up going back to school and Danny got a job but we always remained close friends. A lot of people don’t know that Danny spent at least a half a year attending Ohio State University. I was at a party one winter night around 1981-82 when Danny met Diane. She would later give birth to Danny’s son, Aaron.

During the years Danny lived in Arizona we weren’t as close but we did talk on the phone when we could. By 1986 Danny was living in Florida and I came to visit during Spring Break. We had a great time. Two years later I graduated. I was going to go to California but my friend Steve couldn’t put me up. I called Danny and he said sure come on down to Florida, so I did.

Danny Smith at his wedding rehersal

When he first told me about his Hepatitis infection I really thought he would beat it, either with drugs or he would get a new liver. He said the drugs made him too sick to even stand up and apparently he was not rich or famous enough to get a liver transplant. And so he passed on.

Danny Smith was such a shining star. He was kind, generous, and when he was around everyone was guaranteed to have a great time. A time they wouldn’t forget. There’s a hole in my life now. All I can say is I hope that we see each other again some day. And then the good times will live again.

Sandhill Crane takes a rest

A group of Sandhill Cranes swooped in for a visit on December 17. Charlotte got some pretty dramatic snapshots. She has already posted these to FB. But I couldn’t resist the re-post.