Contact Jim at Jim.Ahokas@gmail.com                  Subscribe with:            

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Recent Shows

APC 2-10-2008

Happy Birthday Debbie

Music
Some mashups
Matthew Ebel    -    Downtown

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APC 1-21-2008

Marching Band

House Upgrades
Coin Collection
Bought a new car
Music
Joe Colledge    -    American Girl - Authorized Cover
 The Black Crowes    -    Goodbye Daughters of The Revolution
Duran Duran    -    Falling Down
Clark Datchler    -    Shattered Dreams (remember Johnny hates Jazz, This is the lead singer)

 

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APC 5-28-2007

Details to come soon

Here are some links to the video's

Patricia Paay and the Star Sisters - Melody

Geoff Smith - Digg the code (Geek Brief TV)

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APC 4-7-2007

Janet back from Shanghai

• Nice visit, no major news except the thermostat needed fixing

Had a snow storm.. Worst of the year 5/16

• Snow blower failed and had to fix
  • Mike walked to his poker game
  • Took us three hours.. frozen bottom of the 5'
  • Getting to old for this crap

Mom's B'day

• Turned 80!
• Went out the evening before to a nice restaurant in Yonkers. All had a good time

Spring Break Down in Orlando, Nice condo rental in Orlando

• 4 bedroom, living room kitchen 3 baths.
  • Floor was a bit dirty but all-n-all very nice place
  • had internet in our room as we were across from the business center.. That was very convenient

 Universal & Epcot

• Weather was great. a bit to warm some days
• Bought the speed pass in both of the Universal parks $40 per head, which let us go on everything in one day
  • A tiered system which rewards the ones who can pay, YES!
• Yesterday, Friday, just me and the kids did a final visit to Universal.. I kind of bailed and just sat around as without the speedpass the lines wee just to long 90mins +
• Epoc fireworks show was great!

MUSIC

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Broken Radio - Guest vocals by Bruce Springsteen - Jessie Malin
• Mine Again - Black Lab
• Captivate Me  - Zach and Sarah

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APC 3-11-2007

• Pontiac G-5 I think
• Golden-Apple Scholarship Award
  • Created in 1988 by the award-winning teachers of the Golden Apple Foundation, the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois program recruits and prepares bright and talented high school graduates who represent a rich ethnic diversity for successful teaching careers in high need schools throughout Illinois.

DST Change is 3 weeks early

• Things are going to be bad. As a geek with toys I have my doubts that all will be good
  • The Saab will fail (probably need to bring it in for an update (60k checkup due now)
  • Got a mail for my Tivo series 1, I should be OK but may manual stuff is screwed)
  • Just got an update for my phone, what about the other phones that are not smart?
  • We have a few atomic clocks, what will they do
  • Am I making to much of this or what

Janet heading of to Shanghai for a week

• Just visiting to meet the people Steve works with... As they say in our old neighborhood 'just schmoozing'

• On March 22, 2007, a bunch of  podcasters are aiming to game the charts in the Itunes Music Store for at least a day by asking everyone involved in podcasting to buy just one song, a specific song, Mine Again by Black Lab, that day. The effort, called Bum Rush the Charts, is designed to demonstrate to old media that podcasting has reach and more importantly, purchasing power.

Got Some Snow two weeks back

• Fixed the snow blower as the front cowl broke loose and it held up. well it was only about two inches
• Weather is much better now

Mom got a computer

• Had to do a fix, as stupid Vista is very aggressive in trying to do the right thing
  • to make it really easy I told mom that if things get out of hand just hold down the power button to reset. This would be kind of OK in XP but Vista flips out when it detects filesystem inconsistency and decided rather than do a FSCK it would restore the computer from a previous image.

Had lunch with mom at a restaurant we have been going to for at least 40 years

• Cornyn's Coach-n-Four Closing on March 24Th

• Driving down as there will be five of us
  • Ming Sum (Cindy) Debbie's niece coming in from London where she is an exchange student there this year.

MUSIC

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• I am not Afraid - Majek Fashek
• Not a Day Goes By - Cherry Suede
• Am I Wrong For Loving You  - Laura Lambert

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APC 2-4-2007

• Wing and Chyannsa had a baby boy named Jireh

Debbie finally had her tooth pulled

• Dentist was an older man who just knows how to treat a patient. those younger Docs are just in it for the money and could give a crap about the victim!

In the Attic Video Podcast (get it here)

• OK this is a music thing that I fell in love with
  • Rachel Fuller and Pete Townshend, Holly molly what a production
    • Live unplugged acoustic music with Rachel Fuller and The Who s Pete Townshend backstage at gigs festivals and venues around Europe

Mid Terms this past week

• Kids seemed to have no classes and just tests.
  • I picked up Mike about 10AM on Thursday as he had nothing to do until 2pm swim team practice

Jenn took her SAT test

• Results not in yet, hopefully she did OK

Tried to build an old computer for Mom for her casino game

• Built it out twice as the first time I applied patches which tock to much disk space (4GB drive) sounds like a plan landing (HP Kyak)
• Ended up the old monitor is no good
• Getting a cheap laptop $500

Debbie and Jen went to a day Spa

• Mom brought Jenn, who had a massage and it was great
• Debbie went for a wrap thing all went wrong as they had no hot water as the boiler broke. I made a nasty call and got full credit for her treatment as all they chucked in was a $80 massage. Not sure Debbie will ever go back :-(

Had our Church group over

• About 6 couples The theme was Chinese New Year Actual date is Feb 18th (year of the Pig)
  • Everyone brought great food, it was a feast

Letterman 25 years (Checkout first show here)

MUSIC

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• On My own - Granian
• Shine - Rachel Fuller
• Just Breathe - Featuring Pete Townshend - Rachel Fuller

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APC 1-15-2007

• surprised on how much is not covered under Dental

Jan 6Th hottest day in January ever

• BBQ on Jan 6Th 70+ degrees Did a steak!! in my shirt sleeves at 6PM
• Jen went to a sweet 16 party (looked absolutely gorgeous) She has become a beautiful young women... God help me!
  • Rumor has it that the party cost $75,000 and could have been on that extreme sweet 16 party program (MTV I think)
• took a long walk to Lake Valhalla with Debbie. She just realized there was a shortcut down a foot path that cars cannot go down.

Chyannsa's Baby due Jan 15th

• How cool is this, Mike wants it to be a boy so bad.. We are all holding our breath

Mike is a Poker player

• $5 pot each, 10 players 1st place gets $40, 2nd gets $10

• Went to see Jenn play in the Symphonic Area Band Sunday afternoon
  • Excellent concert you could close your eyes and swear there were professional musicians up there

Need to Lose weight

• Everyone is yelling at me to go on a diet.. Guess I have to watch what I eat and get more exercise
  • Off to the treadmill after this show

Funny Note for a selfish BMW owner (took two spots)

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• The Clintons - College Daze
• Josh Ritter - Man Burning
• Jon Caspi - Down in it

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APC 1-2-2007

Birthday Came and Gone

• Had a nice lunch at a Korean restaurant with Debbie and Mike... Jenn was stuck babysitting for a neighbor
• How old was I again?

Went to a Neighbors house for a Cooking Demonstration

• Had a guest Chef come over to demo how to cook a fish, Chinese Style
  • Chef is from a Chinese restaurant we frequent often. Very nice time (language was an issue)

Played Mr. Mom the week after Christmas

• Kids are older so it was not a big thing
  • Flute lesson (where the teacher forgot, and was not home
  • Dentist appointment for Mike.. Brought a box of chocolates for that office

Jenn still learning to Drive

• Doing well.. No great adventures yet
• She drives the speed limit on local roads and it is amazing how many shmucks are out there.
  • Some jerk on a local road (40 MPH) was on her bumper and when she needed to turn into 7-11, she stopped the car as someone was also coming out. It turns out the idiot was also going there and, to him, that was the last straw and started to honk the horn... Well Debbie gave him a piece of her mind in the store and told the jerk that when he ever needs to teach his daughter he will realize his error

House repairs
 

• Sink clogged again. Of course 3 months and 4 days after our 3 month guarantee.. $176.00
  • This guy was very calm and just did his job.. No cursing and it took an hour
  • I will never again try to clear this drain again. It took 50 feet of snake, several times, to clear the clog.
• Fixed Jenn's door
  • Door jam was split and top hinge was not holding. Reinforced and put longer screws in with glue

New Years Eve at a neighbor's home

•  quiet party. only 3 Families which was very nice
  • Kids (all teenagers) actually fell asleep before midnight.

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• White Feather - Phil Ayoub
• Every Day of my life - Jonathan Roberts
• Come down with me - Beatrice Ericsson

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APC 12-27-2006

Jenn Made the Area Band

• 16Th chair, remember she was sick the day of the tryouts, last year she was 10Th chair

Saw The Producers B'way show)

• The Family and Jenn's Boyfriend all went to the city Sunday to see the Producers
  • Hunter Foster.............(Leo Bloom)
    John Treacy Egan.............(Max Bialystock)
  • Last show of these guys after about four years... Tony Danza taking over the role of Max Bialystock
  • Super discount about $28 per ticket for lower mezzanine seat

Jenn Got her permit to Drive

• had 6 hours of lessons by the Driving instructor at School
• Her Driving is Not to bad, Drives a bit fast and tends to drift to the right, (Wait is that here driving or political affiliation)
• Needs to ware her glasses, especially at night.. (I have to remember that)

Janet and the girls are in Shanghai

• Left on the 22nd for a 15hour flight to meet up with Steve
• No issues and all arrived safe.
• Are presently in Xi'an to see the Tera cotta Army life size soldiers and horses
  • dates back to 210 BC

Christmas Celebration

• Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year. Mom came out
• Had dinner at the Appian's Way in Orange , NJ on X-mas Eve.. very good.. Charged a Holiday premium but it was worth it, always good food
• Christmas Day
  • Had the neighbors over and a single girl from the church who has no family here on the east coast
  • Way to much food

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• I hope this year is better than the last - The Alice Project
• Lonely Boy - Black Lab
• Superfly - Sterophile

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APC 12-10-2006

Mom back from Chicago

• half hour delay on the ground at LGA due to no gate available
  • Web said she arrived at 3:15 but I did not see her till about 4:20
• No luggage issue this time
  • Remember last time we took the wrong red bag and had to go back to the terminal to return it
• Got home and went out for dinner
  • Coach n Four very nice, she had her favorite coconut shrimp

Marching Band

• Marching Band Banquet
  • Event held Wednesday 11/29 at the Knolls Country club
  • Every one had a good time
  • Kids sat on one side of the hall and adults on the other
  • We sat with the Freshman parents (hey we have a freshman to
  • Awards were given and a DVD of the highlights of the year. That's where I got loony tunes from.
• Final Presentation at Giant Stadium
  • Half time show by the band at the State playoffs for the HS football team (Section II, Group II)
  • West Essex beat Montville 8-7 with a 2 point conversion in the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter

Jenn got a bad cold

• Came home early on Wednesday, took Thursday and Friday off
  • Went to Doctor on Thursday got some antibiotics
  • Poor girl had her Area Band tryout on Saturday and was not feeling well.. Hope she makes it

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Geoff Smith - 'Some Christmas Huggin and Kissin'

• Olwen Ringrose - 'Emmanuel'

• Beatrice Ericsson - 'Christmas without you'

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APC 11-26-2006

Thanksgiving, Jenn got a job, Both Mike & Jenn made the swim team, Grandma is on her way back home from Chicago, High School Football team made the State Championships and will have a playoff at Giant Stadium (Marching band part of half-time show)

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• 3 Blind Mice - 'Watchstar'

• Father Roderick - 'Song dedicated to podcasters (Parody of let it snow)'

• Podsafe for Peace - 'If every day were Christmas'

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APC 11-5-2006

Marching Band Competition, Open House for church Couples, Mom off to Chicago. Another phone take a ride in the washing machine

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Nina Simone - 'Turn Me On'

• Matthew Ebel - 'Every Color'

• Howard Jones - 'Building our Own Future'

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APC 10-9-2006

Pool is closed, Chinese Moon Festival, Brother-in-law in town form China, Marching Band on its way to 1st place?

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Michelle Hotaling - 'Defy'

• Phil Ayoub - '4th District Court of Bristol County'

• Alice Cooper - 'No More Mr. Nice Guy'

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APC 9-25-2006

Happy Anniversary Debbie & Jim

17th Wedding Anniversary, Car broke down (Transmission, Sunroof, Turbo charger). Dinner at the Manor in West Orange

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Colin Raye - 'Hurricane Jane'

• Granian - 'Mark my Words'

• George Thorogood and the Destroyers - 'Anytown USA'

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APC 9-4-2006

Wow it's been a whole month since I did a show.

Kids went to Band Camp, there was a sweet 16th B-day. I had some laser procedure on my eyes. Woodstock concert was 37 years ago. School is starting next week.

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• David Ippolito- 'Tom Cruise Scares Me'

• Deep Purple - 'Woman From Tokyo'

• Deep Purple - 'Girls Like That   '

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APC 7-29-2006

Family is back home from Hong Kong, Mike is having a birthday, Where is the restroom

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Laura Clapp- 'The Other Half of Me'

• James Brown (The Godfather of Soul) - 'Gut Bucket'

• Candy Butchers - 'Lets Have a Baby'

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APC 7-16-2006

Family coming back home from Hong Kong, Podshow + Unleashed

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Maria Daines- 'Rollin'

• Danko Jones - 'First Date'

• Lee Maddeford - 'Im Going Home'

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APC 7-2-2006

Fathers Day Annual Adventure, Mike's Graduation, Debbie and the Kids go off to Hong Kong or was that Chicago

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Black Lab- 'Learn to Crawl, Ecstasy'

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APC 6-3-2006

What Podcasts do I listen to, Last Middle School concert for us, Memorial Day BBQ

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Clintons- 'Strange Day in Mexico, Abercrombie Jeans, Come with Me'

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APC 5-27-2006

Memorial Weekend coming up and poor Jim needs to work, Finally got our new Phones, Someone is going to Shanghai

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Natives of the Dawn - 'Good Day'

• Bob Gentry- 'Upside Down'

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APC 5-5-2006

First week back from Vacation, YUK! New Phones for the entire family. Will Jenn's computer Die?

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Natives of the Dawn - 'Good Day'

• Bob Gentry- 'Upside Down'

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APC 4-29-2006

Went on our Cruise to the Bahamas and Key West, The diet went out the Port Hole.

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Black Lab - 'Without You'

• Lanky- 'Falling Hard for the Girl'

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APC 4-9-2006

Two weeks till the Family vacation, Debbie's brother coming to town, Diet is going well.

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Black Lab - 'See the Sun'

• Matthew Ebel- 'Wasting my Time'

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APC 3-30-2006

Mom back from Chicago with a new red bag. Airport pickup with NO security. Jim is on a diet. Deaf Operators

Podsafe Music from music.podshow.com

• Bari Koral - 'Aspiring Angel'

• Mathew Ebel- 'Drive Away, Live from the CD release party'

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APC 3-18-2006

Saint Patrick's Day celebration with the neighbors at the Lake Club. Clumsy Jim bangs his head

Podsafe Music from

• Jim Terr - 'Do they have Email in Heaven'  http://music.podshow.com

• Matthew Ebel- ''Wasting my Time'  http://www.matthewebel.com

• Matthew Ebel- ''I Know you're there'  http://www.matthewebel.com

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APC 3-3-2006

Snow day for the School, kinda. New software for making the Podcast (yep I bought Castblaster), Job changes for Jim

Podsafe Music from

• Natalie Brown - 'Confused' www.natalie-brown.com

• Candy Butchers - 'What to do with Michael' www.candybutchers.com

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APC 2-20-2006

Presidents Day!... (hope everyone enjoyed their presidential gift). Potluck church gathering. Snow blower fixed again. Tax day coming. A podcast removed due to copyright infringements.

Podsafe Music from

• Slackstring - 'Wednesday Morning' http://www.slackstring.com/

• Matthew Ebel - 'Drive Away'  http://www.matthewebel.com/

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APC 2-13-2006

Big snow storm on the East Cost.... 27 inches in New York City - All time record for snowfall in NYC, 16 inches in my backyard - long way from the record :-)

Podsafe Music from

• Natalie Brown - 'I Wonder' www.natalie-brown.com

• Adrina Thorpe - 'Fly Fly'  www.adrinathorpe.com

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APC 2-6-2006

Day off for Jim, Jen's first day at school after the surgery, Spicy lunch date with a beautiful woman, podsafe music

Podsafe music from

• Matthew Casteel - 'Never Ending Love' www.mathewcasteel.com

• Carrie Pettit - 'Dream On'

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APC 2-1-2006

The Chinese New Years party, Jennifer's Surgery

Podsafe music from

• Jesse Foster - 'Song for Marvin' www.jessesings.com

• Leslie Gore - 'Better Angeles' www.lesleygore.com

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APC 1-27-2006

Trying new software called Castblaster, Song by Melissa Schuman www.meliissa-schuman.com

Chinese New Year this coming Sunday. Big party!!!!

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APC 1-21-2006

Cousins, Area Band, Big solo at the middle school

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APC 12-09-2005

Merry X-mas Podcast,

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APC 11-13-2005 (Sorry it was not Podsafe and the download has been removed)

Ginos Restaurant, Giant Stadium All-state competition, winterize the house

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APC 10-19-2005

Marching Band Competition State competition