New post!  Retirement orders are official. 

Tom Tom chillin w/ some watermelon

Tom Tom trying and enjoying watermelon. Everyone knows how much I detest watermelon so his mother taught him well.

Tom Tom speaking his mind!!!

Here is a video of Tom Tom in one of our local parks. As you can see, he is a very vocal speaker and we are very proud of him!!!! Sugarduck says he has the same finger pointing techniques that Fidel has....

His father is a BEE Tech so it makes sense....

So Sugarduck and I have been blessed with watching Tom Tom grow and develop these past few months. Every day spent with him is an adventure and we love our time together. Now before I start to sound like an awful "Lifetime" movie (That's totally the link to Lifetime's movie schedule, don't ever say your Uncle Tom doesn't care about you) or ridiculous"Hallmark" commercial let me remind you my happy viewers that I am all man baby!!! Each and every day our play time with Tom Tom varies. Sometimes we read to him, sometimes we walk and look at the trees and animals outside, and sometimes well, sometimes we just make noises to see what happens. For your reference below, this was on a weekend that Sugarduck and I discovered his love of the "Buzzzzz" sound......

Tom Tom's true love, I'll give you a hint... It cost us $49.99

All-

Well here are two more videos of little Tom Tom enjoying his activity center. What I would like you to pay attention to is the amount of laughter and enjoyment his face shows. Yes, no amount of attention and love from his mother and father have brought such joyful emotion from him.....

You have to listen to this one first, listen closely to the sound he makes (about 6 seconds in)....



Here is the second one we took in a room with better lighting.



I would at this time, like to thank the Disney Toy Company for taking our son and making him a slave to "the system". I had always hoped he would turn out like Lloyd Dobbler from Say Anything (one of your Uncle Tom's favorite films) and not "make anything sold, bought, or processed". The other side to these incidents is that they make two hella great videos that we all hope you enjoy. Take care my happy readers. We hope you are all well.

Uncle Tom, Tom tom, and Tom Petty

Evening folks!! Well here is another upload of a video with your dear Uncle Tom and his Tom Tom. Today's adventure has us rocking back and forth listening to Tom Petty sing "Don't come around here no more"



Now now, before any of you make any comments, let me address the following issues

1. Yes, I know that it is dark in my house, I would like to have brighter lights but the boy needs to sleep so give it a rest okay
2. Yes, I know you can't see his face. He wants to put his hand in front... leave him alone.
3. Yes, we are dancing and moving, so what.... it calms him and you should be happy to see how adorable he is.

I would like to post a video every couple of days depending on what we listen to. Todays selection was "Don't Come Around Here No More" He really did like to hear Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Greatest Hits
Thanks for stopping by, he loves to hear from all of you. Maybe Sugarduck will dance tomorrow, I hear she likes to listen to Squeeze.

Baby Tom Tom Learning about music and colors

Hey folks! Your Uncle Tom wanted to share the following video you all. It's little Tom Tom kicking it on his Baby Einstein Seek & Discover Activity Gym. He loves to lay there and listen to the music. He is going to be a genius one day.



You can hear me taking picture after picture in the background. I was trying to capture his different faces. He is just so amazing that Sugarduck and I could just stare at the perfection of him for hours....

Uncle Tom has another traveller to join him!!

So after 9 months of waiting, your Uncle Tom has some exciting news!! The picture you see above is that of his new son. Yes Thomas Castillo or Tom Tom was born on 31 Aug 09. Sugarduck and I brought him home and are looking forward to bringing him on our adventures. We were able to take him on a walk with the result below:




So far, little Tom Tom seems to love to eat, poop, and listen to Cat Stevens while his father walks him around the living room. It is amazing to see his eyes light up when Sugarduck and I sing to him (granted his look is that of bewilderment). He also loves to hear Uncle Tom read to him, right now we are reading: "Birds, Beasts and Relatives" by Gerald Durrell. He really seems to enjoy hearing the stories about the animals and Greece. Can't wait to take him there! Well my happy readers, it has been almost 1 year and obviously a lot has changed, Sugarduck and I hope to post more as Tom Tom grows, we can't wait to share with our travels with all of you..

Uncle Tom and Sugarduck are cold and loving it!!

The picture you all see is the Inner Harbor area of Oslo. Of course it is also a picture from Spring time. Now it's winter, the high is about 30 and it gets dark at 3 pm. It's cold but wonderful at the same time. We arrived yesterday after an early morning flight of 630 am. That means we were up at 2 and at the airport by 4 am. It was a long day so our first order of business was to take a short nap after we checked in at the airport. We woke up in time to walk into the downtown area and went to a Julemarked seen below:



After walking around and sampling the cheese and reindeer soup (yup cancel Christmas everyone, Rudolph and his cohorts dead) Sugarduck and I went to find a place to have dinner. We found a restaurant called Biff Restaurant and went in to have a bite to eat. Although we did not have reservations, they were able to seat us. Your Uncle Tom decided that one reindeer was not enough so he ordered the Reindeer Medallions in a gravy. Sugarduck ordered some lamb in a mint gravy. Both meals were amazing and we finished dinner by sharing some walnut ice cream in a blackberry sauce. The meal ended up costing 700.00 Kroner which roughly translates into 90 dollars. Not too bad considering we thought each person's plate was going to be 70. After dinner, we went home, slept and are now getting ready for day number two.....Day at the Museum (No Ben Stiller in this one though....)

Uncle Tom and Sugarduck are back from the really really Old World

Yasas my happy readers!!!

Yasas is hello in Greek. Yes, your Uncle Tom and his Sugarduck have just returned from a trip to Athens Greece. We took the above picture at the Temple of Zeus. The link is to an Athens guide site taken is a few years old. When we were there, the field was grassy and some of the columns have collapsed. This is the 4th trip outside of the UK that we have taken, and it really was one of the best. The winters here are cold and dreary and to be able to get away to another country where the weather was a comfortable 56 degrees was wonderful. For this trip, we used EasyJet airlines (another no frills but economic airline). We set out with our carryon luggage (you have to pay more if you check bags), and left Friday afternoon. Upon landing we found the Athens Metro Station. Having been recently renovated the rail system was inexpensive, amazingly clean and the easiest rail system that I have used to date. It cost us 10 Euro for the both of us to ride from the airport to the closest stop next to our hotel, the whole ride lasted about 50 minutes!!! We departed the train and made our way to our lodging.... Hotel Candia Okay so we knew going in that our hotel was a budget hotel and that we shouldn't expect too much, just a bed, a bathroom and a hot breakfast every morning. Well, after checking in and making our way to our door, we and by we I mean Sugarduck were pleasantly surprised to see that we actually had 2 beds in our room!!!

I know that the photo may be a bit out of focus, but you are seeing right, it's 1953 in our room. I just hope that Sugarduck remembers to serve me my martini, make my tv dinner and watches "Leave it to Beaver" with me! Okay, in order for this to be an informative travel blog and not some goofy ramblings by the village idiot, let me be honest. The room may have had two beds and the shower may have been just the shower head handle (it wasn't mounted on the wall), having a balcony and being on the sixth floor gave us an amazing view of the city and mountains in the distance:

Whenever Sugarduck and I travel, we rely heavily on The Lonely Planet guidebooks. We have found them to be the most informative and helpful out there. Most of the restaurants on this trip were recommended in there. Have a happy read my 4 readers, Uncle Tom thanks you for stopping by.

How to eat escargot by Uncle Tom

So my happy readers, your Uncle Tom's travels took both him and Sugarduck to Paris for Christmas. While there, I was able to try escargot in its original form/home, it's shell. Sugarduck being the highly supportive spouse that she is, shot the video. I would like to dedicate this post to Canowine, we used to try so many different foods and I really miss that. Anyways, a few years back, we had our office Christmas party at Normandie Farm in Potomoc MD and for lunch, we both tried some the escargot. It was served already out of the shell in a butter and garlic sauce and they were really good. This time, however I had to use a pair of pliers and fork to get at the meat. See for yourselves below....

Uncle Tom has reached the Old World

Hello my faithful readers. Yes Yes, I know that it's been awhile since you've heard from your Uncle Tom, but I've just recently been granted access to the information super highway. I did want to share with you the above picture taken in the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England. My beloved wife Sugarduck took me up there to celebrate the day of my birth. We visited the town where "All Creatures Great and Small" was filmed for BBC in the 70's. The books were gifts from her for previous holidays and I must say that I have enjoyed reading them. The Dales themselves were gorgeous and I will have to share more pics when I have the time. We are planning a trip to Brussels this weekend so more adventures have begun for us. Know that your Uncle Tom misses all of you and I hope that you like the pictures.


Cheers!

Uncle Tom

Holy Crap Uncle Tom's on YOU tube

more to come...

It doesn't get any better

Sorry folks, I can't put into words the emotion that this video invokes. Strummer's soulful voice does it all I know it has been awhile but please forgive mes. Your Uncle Tom Loves You and hopes that you love this video....... Canowine, thanks for all your musical knowledge I am a better Padawan because of you (that's all hetero folks so, thank you very much happy readers!!)

Uncle Tom is back with a short post/tribute to Sugarduck

Greetings all!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, not much has been happening travel wise for you Uncle Tom. I do have a new video for everyone though. But first let me tell you a story. I hope you are all sitting down with your milk and cookies and are ready to be blown away!

Before your Uncle Tom was able to wed the beautiful Sugarduck a mating ritual occured. Well it was a lunch date but come on, I'm trying to set a scene here. Imagine this, a young handsome Uncle Tom eating a lunch of a sandwich, fruit, and some yogurt. He purchased an elegant meal/cheeseburger and french fries for his date. The topics ranged from what they both did for work and also about 80's pop culture! Can this be true, was this beauty that worked in the same building interested in those great films of the 80's that your Uncle Tom grew up with?!?!?! Yes, my happy readers, it was true, she spoke of her love for the Muppets, MacGyver, Legend(okay that one's a lie), and most importantly "RAD". For those of you who remember, "Rad" was a film far ahead of its time. Sure there were skateboard movies out there. Who could forget Gleaming the Cube, or Trashin. But a movie about BMX! With Lori Loughlin that hot chick from Full House!!! It was at this moment, the planets aligned for Uncle Tom and even Handels "Messiah" could be heard. So my happy readers, I give you one of the GREATEST VIDEOS OF ALL TIME!!! Sugarduck, I can't wait to dance on a Huffy with you....

It's been two more years and I'm better for it

Today's video is dedicated to the following... Canowine for turning us on to all kinds of great music one band being, Bloc Party, RC666 for going to the show with me at one of the greatest concert events of my life at the Black Cat (another shout-out to Canowine for showing us how to see a real show), Sugarduck (this was our first concert together and my personal favorite although Beck was amazing and unfortuanatly unforgetable as well), and also Keoki for first finding this new cut and sharing it with all of us. No other post today because I can't post pictures on to blogger. But I hope you all enjoy this video. UPDATE: Still no A/C

A New Addition (and no Bobby Brown)

Good Morning again my happy readers. Today I bring you something new. I don't want to pretend that I am even remotely close to having the musical knowledge that my good friend Canowine has, but starting today I am going to try to have a daily post of a music video that I like or, depending on my mood hate. We all know (well those of us with decent taste know) that Michael Keaton was the best Bruce Wayne/Batman (Keoki is shedding tears right now). But in honor of his amazing skills as the "Batman" I, your Uncle Tom present to you...... Siouxsie and the Banshees' REALLY SEXY AND HOT song from the soundtrack to Batman Returns which on a side note is THE BEST BATMAN MOVIE EVER "Face to Face" And there is no Mud Boggin in site.

Hotter than the Earth's core and Uncle Tom can still hang out!

Happy Greetings my readers! Uncle Tom here with another travel report/food review. This past weekend I was able to Suwon City. The only disadvantage was the fact that the temperature was about 50,000 degress. The tops of my hands were actually sweating, what the heck is that!?!??! We took the subway and were dropped off at Suwon Station which is not only a subway station but also a 8 story mall. Lunch was at a restaurant on the 8th floor. It was a great little Korean place, I had what's called a Pork Cutlet. Check it out:

After lunch I wanted to check out the local sights and hopefully see the fortress that surrounds the entire city. What really made the day was the hike halfway up to the top of the fortress walls. Here are the steps that I think numbered in perhaps the million billions:


It really wouldn't have been that bad. The heat just wore you down. Once halfway up, there was a "Happy Suwon" trolley that wound halfway around the fortress. I took that but you have to check out the front. How cool is this?

Yup, that's my ride! It left at 4pm I boarded at about 3:40. So that meant 20 minutes of mind numbing sweat inducing heat that melted my core. This is where the hand sweating began. We finally took off and basically just drove around. The comfort from the wind feathering my sweat soaked hair was like kissing the heavens. Keoki, it's basically like your neck of the woods right now and I hate it just as much. When the tour ended at the halfway point, we had to get a taxi back to the subway station but before we took off, we saw that the fortress has an archery course!! Holy Crap, how cool is that? The next time I go, my lovely readers, your Uncle Tom is going to throw down some arrows. Well, that's it for tonight, my A/C is out in the room and I'm tired and just want to get to bed. I will post about my return to the subway station and the crazy food that I ate (some sort of meat product that a lady handed me) So my happy readers, Jo un Haro Dae Seyo (Have a nice day)

your Uncle Tom Loves YOU!

Uncle Tom chows down with some Journey, Chicago, and even Bonnie Tyler

Hello my happy readers! Uncle Tom here with another post about another dining experience from Songtan City Korea! As you can tell from the picture above, an OB was needed to get through the meal. Dinner was at "Filipino Restaurant" (yes, that is the name of the place). This was a new restaurant for Uncle Tom since the previous one that I went to "Subic Bay" has a little problem with tiny roaches making their way into the food that is served. Gross right? So anyway, the restaurant has a first floor and also a basement dining area where in addition to having a fine ethic meal, one can be entertained by the soulful singing voices of the towns finest juicey girls/karokie professionals...... We will get to that in a minute so please be patient. The meal started with the traditional appetizer of lumpia which is always a good thing. I didn't get a picture of that because well, if you look in my previous posts you can see that lumpia was already showcased. The main course was a spicy chicken dish whose name escapes me right now. I will have to edit this post at a later time so that I can tell you the name. But here is what the dish looks like:



Of course no picture of food can look good without an Uncle Tom tasting it so here you go...



Ahhhh how your Uncle Tom loves to try new things!! Now back to the music shall we. It was apparent that the local juicy girls were off for the night. Well at least the 5 or 6 that were at this place. Their table was located right next to the karokie machine. The sound was uber-loud. The volume must have been at an unreasonable "11". We did ask them why not just make "10" louder, but they came back with a resounding "but it goes to 11" AHHHHH touche' So dinner was served while we listen to "Open Arms", "You're the Inspiration", "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and various Korean ballads that I'm sure had some deep emotional meaning to 16 year olds. I felt like I should either:

1. Be at a high school dance hoping to cop a feel on a girls butt all the while my hands are on her waist and her hands are around my shoulders (in the meantime, the principal is glaring at us for being too close).

2. It is a Friday night and I'm at the skating rink hoping that said girl will allow me to drag her around during "couples skate"

3. Said girl and I are driving along in my Trans Am on Saturday night and I'm wearing some kick-ass jeans, a t-shirt and leather jacket (Canowine you know what I'm talking about).

But no, none of these things was actually occuring, instead I downed my beer, ordered another one an enjoyed my food.

Uncle Tom OUT!!

Uncle Tom kicks it with Menudo and Ricky Martin is nowhere to be found!

GREETINGS EVERYONE! I know what you are all thinking and yup your Uncle Tom is back and readying to blog some more. So, after a brief hiatus to Hell's Waiting room (or Texas as the rest of the world calls it) I'm back in Korea. My recent trip to the motherland was great. It felt good to be back in the states and I was able to spend time with the Keoki and his family and Sugarduck flew in to see me after 2 months of not being in each others company. The picture that you see above was taken at a little hole in the wall restaurant called Taqueria Guadalajara. I had a small bowl of menudo and a plate of Carne Guisada (Beef tips in Gravy!). Sugarduck ordered some Bistec Tampiquena. Our order is below:


The beef tips were so good but my love of gravy can make me biased on some things. Now that I am back, my happy readers, I hope to be writing some more. I still have to post about my current room and also I will be going downtown to sample some more goods. One of the recent foods that I've tried is Jellyfish which to be perfectly honest isn't so good (surprise surprise). I want to offer you a preview of what I hope is my next post. Behold ladies and gentlemen, the shower that I wash in:



I know that if the Keoki were here, his head would probably explode or he would be speaking in tongues saying crazy stuff like "Coke and Pepsi taste the same" On a serious note, if you are ever in the area, feel free to stay the night, just be sure to bring some shower shoes!

UNCLE TOM OUT!!!