The song, Lightning Crashes, as sung by Live, has always been known as the Bad Luck song by myself & Ben, my friend back home. Every time we heard this song randomly, something bad would happen. It didn't work if we specifically played it. But if it happened to come on the radio (in heavy rotation back then), the curse would strike.

For example: We were driving around town & the song played. We got back to our friend Gary's place, where I called my girlfriend. She promptly broke up with me.

Another time, I'd just finished work and had a couple drinks at Snuffy's. (Before you say it, no this was NOT drunk driving, as it was only 2.) The song played on the radio when I was there. As I left, I got in my car and headed down Pennsylvania Avenue. I got as far as the Draft House when I got rear-ended by a guy in a new Bonneville. His car, not a scratch. My car, totalled. Nice Oldsmobile Cutlass, of the 1986 vintage too!

Again, driving around, again, heading... somewhere, the song played. Ben's Cavalier broke down.

Again, the song played, then a phone call came in. Ben's girlfriend dumped him (though this happened a lot with that particular girlfriend).

This all came back to me today as I was listening to music and the song played. I have the mp3 it seems. Came with a collection I downloaded. Since this is technically "random", the curse struck.

My computer crashed out, bringing an hours worth of work with it, and now I'm plagued with intermittent computer problems. It seems the curse is still in effect and is no longer only associated with girls & cars.

Ten Days in Warren & Niagara Falls

The Mrs. and I returned from a two week vacation in both my hometown of Warren, PA and her company office in San Diego. As always, it was good to get back, and as always, I gained about 10lbs. But in my defence, those chocolate ice-cream cakes are FANTASTIC!!!

We spend the first 10 days in Warren, where I showed Grace around town. Some of the pics are on her blog. We hit up the usual spots... Kinzua Dam, Washington Park, a few malls here & there, Freddies' Bar & Grill.... While it's all old hack to me, having grown up there, Warren does seem to impress those who aren't from there, and it's especially impressive when you can see a BLUE sky, as opposed to Shanghai's grey-ish sky, and stars at night, as opposed to Shanghai's off-colored moon & 2 random planets.

As usual, I got on www.hellificare.com, another hometown website, and as usual, announced that there was STILL NO sign of Yetis, Bigfoots (bigfeet?) or alien dentists in white trenchcoats ANYWHERE in the Kinzua vicinity, despite some of the more vehement posts on that site about their existance.



A trip to Erie PA brought us to the Quaker Steak & Lube restaurant. Back in College, my ex, Angela & I went there to try the Suicide wings, one step below the "Atomic Wings", the ones you have to sign a waiver for before eating. Talk about HOT!!! This time around, we went a step lower & got the "Hot" wings instead. Perhaps it's living over here too long that gave me a much better tolerance for anything spicy, according to the missus, but neither one of us thought they were even REMOTELY hot. We'll have to try the Suicides again, next time we're back.



Another day took us to Niagara Falls, where Grace got some fantastic shots of the falls. We did attempt to go over to Canada while we were there, but were quickly turned back at the Canadian Customs office. Visa office in Buffalo? Who'd have thought! It's okay though, as we figured as much. The Colt .45 was NOT in Niagara Falls, by the way.