David Starbuck You Will Be Missed
September 4, 2007 Posted by Al Castle
6comments Categories: Castle, Uncategorized
It’s been a really long day. Early this afternoon I received a depressing knock at my door. My daughters maternal grandfather, David Starbuck died when his fishing boat, Papa George suddenly sank about 12 miles off the coast of Long Island, WASH. The details have been slowly pouring in all day as I spoke with various people involved in the investigation and fishing industry.
Immediate family was the first people I spoke to and my home quickly filled with relatives I’ve never even met before. The day was spent on the phone trying to notify family members that haven’t been spoken to in years. It’s a shame it takes something like this to bring people together. We watched the local news and hearing about the death was a bit unnerving. When you listen to these little sound bites of tragic news its always happening to someone else.
I really don’t want to go into much detail in a blog, other than to say that I hope the end was quick and painless for him. Many people have said this is how he wanted to go, while on his boat, fishing in the ocean. David was a man who lived a life like each day was his last.
I asked my daughter if she understood what we were all talking about. She’s had a few fish that have died, and is always very concerned about the naughty kitties and puppies that didn’t listen to their mothers and try to cross the road. She said that, “This means I’ll never see Grandpa David again right?”. She’s a smart little thing, and I know she understands the concept of death, I just hope she manages to keep the memories alive of the times she spent with him as she grows older.
Very Tired.
March 20, 2007 Posted by Al Castle
add a comment Categories: Castle, Uncategorized, gnash-teeth
264 hours without sleep. No not me, the world record holder for going without sleep. I only know because I was looking up sleep deprivation. As most of you know I’m completely exhausted. Being brilliant and unappreciated is not a good combo which I blame my lack of rest on. It’s also why I haven’t had time to blog.
Here’s hoping that tonight I get eight uninterrupted blissful hours of oblivion. And those of you out there that are contributing to not making me happy and thus are on ‘The List’, here’s hoping you get clubbed like baby seals find a way to work your way off my list.
Puppy For Me
February 3, 2007 Posted by Al Castle
add a comment Categories: Castle, Uncategorized
Note: This was written awhile ago and unpublished.
A few weeks ago we decided to get a yellow lab puppy. She’s about 12 weeks old now and sleeping next to me. Currently we’re working on potty training, obedience school and attempting to mitigate the damage her teething attacks are having on household objects and my shoes.
Update 2007-02-03: Libby, is really Shanna’s puppy as it turns out. She was supposed to be my dog, but it seems the two have bonded and neither one much care for my attentions. The current damage includes multitudes of items with teeth marks or chunks missing - coffee table, rocking chair, shoes, socks, underwear, one of the smaller cats, the mini vans steering wheel and a chair.
Shanna is currently reading Marley & Me by John Grogan, subtitled “life and love with the worlds worst dog”. She laughs while reading it, but shakes her head and says I probably shouldn’t read the book as I’ll get upset. The little beast is about 80lbs already and big, really big, and with the puppy temperament still. When I walk in the door she can almost knock me down.
We’ve had two instances already where we ordered pizza and she’s been clever enough to steal it off the counter and eat most of the toppings before anyone can stop her. Shanna’s dad being a man of grit, doesn’t let some dog slobber bother him and was the only one who enjoyed the pizza. Another recent instance with my lasagna being completely devoured from the stove, meant another night without dinner.
I should have just caved in and agreed to get the poodle.
Since the dog is now the newest member of the family, the grandparents come over to see their “grand puppy”. Si, read it again, “grand puppy”. The house is now devoted to all things Libby, including keeping her out of the cupboards, bathroom, well actually every room because she eats everything. In fact the mini van now has a special seat cushion just for Libby. It doesn’t matter the vehicle is a small troop carrier, Shanna believes Libby should ride shotgun at all times and the rest of us can just mill about in back.
Mormon DisneyLand
December 20, 2006 Posted by Al Castle
1 comment so far Categories: Castle, Squirrels, Uncategorized
Recently I traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah to meet up with some friends and experienced many things, including I’m surprised to say some grand theft, bad food, grumpy cops, coffee deficiency and yes, Mormon DisneyLand.
The bad food was a shared experience that was really pretty funny. As it kept happening over and over until finally on the last day, David lost his dinner - (which I caught on camera in case anyone is interested). I guess I can blame my companions as they chose the restaurants. In one case, even the name of the business was a glaring warning to all that enter. At first I thought my companions were joking when they kept preferring to the restaurant as “upchuck-arama”. It’s actual name is Chuck-Arama, I had to have my picture taken in front of that sign.
Our hotel was the only place which served coffee, even the gas station mini-mart didn’t carry my SoBe Green Tea or other favorite wake-up beverages. I may have developed a type of caffeine related scurvy or something.
Part of my experience was coming to grips with my misconception of Utah as some sort of Leave It To Beaver, crime-free, nuclear family, Pleasentville mashup. The day we were to leave was when my *misconception water broke and I realized I may have built Utah up too much in my mind. I awoke early and headed to the rental minivan to load up my luggage and checkout of the hotel. As I approached the back of the vehicle I realized we’d been robbed. The rear window had been busted with a rock and thousands of dollars worth of really cool new stuff was taken. We were parked right in front of the main door of the hotel, in a well lit parking lot. Of course we had to cancel our breakfast outing, reschedule a meeting and call the police. The officer who came was not pleasant at all, that’s all I’m going to say about him. Another theory floating about, is that I may have broken the window. After that we couldn’t get another rental car from the same company even though it wasn’t our fault, and with that in mind I ask that you to use another company instead of Budget.
After dealing with all of that negativity it was decided we should go check out the Temple, associated buildings and grounds. My first impression of the architecture was of a Catholic cathedral. Being a born-again heathen I’m not allowed within the temple, but one of my companions shared the secret handshake with me and as such I was allowed into a few of the lesser buildings, all of which were pretty educational about the Mormon beliefs. We took some pictures, here’s Mark, David and myself with the temple in the background and the angel atop the temple.
I didn’t manage to get any good pictures of the mountains which looked really cool both during the day and at night. I also have a few photos of me and Jesus that I need to find.
All told it was an awesome trip and I’d like to thank my companions for the good company.
Disclaimer: The title of this blog post came from a comment I made to my companions about the temple grounds being like DisneyLand for them. Alex an LDS member in good standing says that it was indeed funny. If you find it offensive please take it up with Alex.
Note: Misconception Water and the act of it breaking in any tense are trademarks of my imagination and cannot be used without my explicit written permission and all rights are retained regardless of law.
Pictures are credited to Mark Effinger.
God of War II
July 28, 2006 Posted by Al Castle
2comments Categories: Uncategorized
I just noticed that there is a God of War II scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2007. Check out this video preview I spotted on YouTube. Righteous bad ass ballet like action is in my near future. Amazon has the game listed for $49.99
God of War
July 28, 2006 Posted by Al Castle
2comments Categories: Uncategorized
Behold. After five days, some 25 hours of post work game play, I have defeated the 2005 Game of the Year - God of War.
I know I’m a year behind the times. I happened to be at Target wandering about the mall, killing time before our movie started this weekend, when I noticed the title. I don’t follow the gaming scene and have only occasionally picked-up titles. We purchased the PS2 several years ago as a Xmas present for my eldest daughter, who uses it more for a DVD player than anything else.
My previous happy purchases include one and two of LucasArts Star Wars: Battlefront. Excellent game play, innovative, and great graphics. Being able to choose era, team, and individual was killer, but also being able to interact with turrets, enemy XWings and the like was over the top for me. I’ve also spent a pretty penny for The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction when it came out and was fairly pleased with the overall game. Having been a Hulk fan since before the womb I was excited to be able to issue some general mayhem and the indestructible cows were a lot of fun.
God of War differs from the previous titles mentioned in several ways and despite the cool features of each it outshines them all. The story line or plot of the game was well thought out with a surprise ending after defeating Ares. The quick of it being you are a Spartan commander who makes a deal with Ares the Greek God of War just seconds before you’re about to be slaughtered. Whereupon Ares offers some magical enhancements to you. The cut scene goes onto show you kick some serious tush in a rampage and also, oops! - butcher your own family. At this point you turn on the God of War and have to do a whole list of impossible acts. Including acquiring Pandora’s Box, escaping Hades, and killing the Olympian Ares.
