Princess Tree

Last week I posted a blog trying to identify what type of tree was growing on my property. As it turns out, thanks to some help of my fellow neighbors on the mountain, it's called a PRINCESS TREE.

ECOLOGICAL THREAT: Princess tree is an aggressive ornamental tree that grows rapidly in disturbed natural areas, including forests, streambanks, and steep rocky slopes.

DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES: Princess tree is found in 25 states in the eastern U.S., from Maine to Texas.

HABITAT IN THE UNITED STATES: Princess tree can be found along roadsides, streambanks, and forest edges. It tolerates infertile and acid soils and drought conditions. It easily adapts to disturbed habitats, including previously burned areas, forests defoliated by pests (such as the gypsy moth) and landslides and can colonize rocky cliffs and scoured riparian zones where it may compete with rare plants in these marginal habitats. Its ability to sprout prolifically from adventitious buds on stems and roots allows it to survive fire, cutting, and even bulldozing in construction areas.

Bye Bye HughesNet

After nearly 3 years of paying for an overpriced internet service at Blue Mountain Oasis I have discontinued my relationship with HughesNet. Finally they have DSL at the house, which is much faster and easier to deal with!

HughesNet was a a source of anger for years. The customer service is located in India and horrible. I get they have to use flip charts but it would take hours to get a resolution to the most basic stuff. If you ever needed new hardware expect to pay an overpriced fee of $200 + dollars. If your cable gets cut, expect to pay even more money. Plus, you have a limit of 250mb per day of bandwidth!

It served the purpose for me but if I had to use the service on a daily basis I would of been screwed.

How come 1 in 5 people in Wal-Mart and Sam's Club have PJ's on? Amber and I always see them, in masses!! This past Sunday morning we went to Sam's Club. I was curious why people were waiting outside and realized the store didn't open until 10am. A few minutes after 10am we enter and to my amazement I realize what the fuss is all about. These folks wake up, drive to Sam's club (while still in PJ's) to eat free samples for breakfast at 10am.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to play 6 hours of paintball at Liberty Paintball in Patterson, New York. The facility is very nice! I don't recall playing at a field that had a structure with a real kitchen where they were cooking food and indoor bathrooms! Not like what I am used to in rural PA and Virginia! The pricing was also not bad! $70 for a case of paint and $20 to play. The fields were nice .. good mix of terrain and they had enough wooded fields to make me happy. Ok, now for my complaint: This isn't Liberty Paintballs fault .. heck, this is a good thing for them .. but this is the typical NYC crowding syndrome I seem to notice when you are within 1 hour of New York City! The place was JAMMED PACKED! Seriously, this was a regular day, no special games and they had to of had at least 300 people. As a result, you had to wait between games for the next field to open and adhere to the refs schedule. If you wanted to skip a field for another you were out of luck! I plan to visit this place again and maybe it was a freak day and won't be so packed.

A few months have passed since my late update so I figured it was time to put more useless ramblings on the internet! Our home remodel over at Project Hillside continues to progress nicely. I am also preparing to release the next two wines for Backyard Winery: Chocolate Raspberry Port and Blackberry Port wines. These wines will bring us to 4 total wines and the next focus will be on some stellar red wines.

Things at my day time job are going well! I never thought I would learn so much about SEO in 8 months but I can confidently talk with some of the best companies and agencies and go toe to toe talking SEO. The SEO culture is something I find very interesting. I don't think I've ever worked in a vertical with such die-hard people on a subject such as SEO. Next year will be an exciting time for us!

Amber and I had an amazing engagement party on October 23 and shared this exciting time in our lives with family and friends. We had the engagement party at Poe's Mountain Lodge and the scenery was fantastic. The wedding planning is fun and a bit stressful at times, but together we are creating memories we will cherish forever. Stay tuned about our wedding on September 10, 2011 on our website, AmberLovesJason.com.

Weekend Oasis Vacation Rentals continues to operate smoothly with a total of 4 rental properties. Poe's Mountain Lodge is our latest cabin on 25 acres. Every week I love reading the positive comments from guest after they check-out.

Be sure to keep an eye on my Facebook page, Twitter, and FourSquare pages for the most recent updates.

Going to work on Monday, October 4, 2010 was interesting. Trying to get into the office at 9am I find myself walking up to a major crime scene. The entire block is shut down. Investigators and camera crews roaming around with an SUV parked on the curb, the windows shot out and a white blanket covering what is inside. Two young men were shot to death, execution style, in the head (Murder witnesses shot dead inside SUV near Union Square).

Hours after the crime scene was cleared and an entire day passed I walk by it again (it is on my way from our office in NYC) and the glass debris is everywhere. A nice pile of it on the curb and pieces littered on the sidewalk. Really? NYPD or someone in New York City couldn't sweep it up? What, it would take all of 3 minutes? Or wait, you must wait for the union street cleaner to sweep it up? I just don't get it.

This city is littered on every square inch. Even when someone gets murdered and the glass fragments found themselves on 2 dead bodies, the pieces of this murder cannot be cleaned up but left for everyone to walk by.

It doesn't make any sense to me and actually disgusts me with the class of whomever was working the crime scene. Show a little respect and not leave a littered crime scene, please.

UGH! It is that time of year again. When Amber and I must make a decision. Renew our current apartment lease at Port Imperial in Northern New Jersey (near Hoboken) or find another place. Since this isn't our primary residence, I try to ensure we get the best value and don't mind moving frequently. I ventured into downtown Hoboken today to look for some apartments that were smaller and cheaper than what we had. I was shocked. These places shouldn't be legal to rent.