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Maniacs Everywhere You Look

Oct 10, 2010: Patrick "The Iron Man" McCrazy? ...well, not really. Patrick (McColley) and some of his friends from his Kung Foo class (Adam and John) participated in an Iron Man like event called Rugged Maniac, which was held today in Southwick at the motocross site there.

Click on the image to view a slideshow.

The course was 5 kilometers long and had a series of interesting hazards - things like mud holes, seven foot walls, tunnels, steep hill climbs. The spectators could see some of these, but not all from one spot. So, you had to pick and choose. The panorama below shows a part of the course.

Click image to view a larger version.

Bahama Happy

February: The McColley's just got back from a week-long cruise to the Bahamas. What a perfect escape to our normally chilly early-February temperatures. Maybe we can get them to add a blog entry to recap some of the trip highlights. (Hint, hint, hint!!!)

What is this man doing?

Click image to view a larger version.

Here's Art Danek, on a visit from the warmer climes of New Jersey, obsessing over a photographically interesting billboard on Rt. 9 in Leicester. (You can just make him out between the "AVAILABLE" sign and the left edge of the image.) Folks probably drive by it in droves and don't ever notice the interesting patterns that the torn shreds of poster paper make when they've been removed in preparation for an new advertisement. The original scene is quite dark, although you can't tell that from this image. Sunrise is just about to begin in the distant horizon.

Art's plan was to photograph this in the morning light to get the background he wanted, and come back later to get the board, itself, in better light. Actually, that's not the original plan. The "original" plan was to get up at 5:30, drive here while the billboard lights were still lit, and see the board under its ideal conditions for the pictures. Wouldn't you know it, the darned lights are only on in the evening. We know, because we drove by this spot the evening before and it was lit that way...

...and, so, we came back in the late evening to capture the lit sign. The final version, shown on the right above, is a composite. If you want to find out how it was made, check our new DanekWorld Blog in a few days. Art has promised to update the blog with more information.

Two Days Of Christmas

Enjoy the 24th and 25th with us through pictures.

In typical fashion, the families gathered as best they could to celebrate the Holidays, each other, and the promise of happiness through smiles. View the gallery here.

Brrr...It's Not Even Winter!

Look who's excited about the Great New Englad Ice Storm of 2008!

Chris and Karen gave us some images to share that they took during their excursion into the Great Ice Storm. Click here to see them.

Click the image to visit Casey's Flickr site to see these images.

December 11-12: A late-Fall ice storm brought substantial damage to Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The worst of it depended on elevation. In spencer, our home is just below the level of severe damage. But, just a couple miles to the North, on McCormick Road, it's high enough so that the tree limbs made it look like a war zone. Chris called us from his house and said he didn't think he and Karen could get out. Eventually, the did and after driving off, they called again as suggested visiting his road to see the damage. We're told other parts of the state got it even worse.

Out of all the devastation, this one scene caught Casey's attention. The combination of late-Fall color and early-Winter ice was too much to pass up. This image is from the road in front of a horse farm on Gold Nugget Road - the road which connect to Chris's McCormick Road...

...and, by the way, as of Sunday night, Chris still hasn't had his power restored.

So, what’s it like to meet the hottest musical act in the world?

Jessie's Wardrobes For Her Jonas Brothers Visits

If you've read DW before, you might think we're talking about U2 again. But this time, if you ask Jessie, you'll get a slightly different answer. Here's a report about Jessie's recent experiences.

Picture a nice April morning – the radio is on in the kitchen while everyone is getting ready for school and work. That is, everyone except Jessie who is glued to the radio, phone in hand. Jonas Brothers concert tickets are being given away that morning. I gave her the number to call and went to work. On the way I had the radio on when they said to call. I decided to call in and I was caller #7 – I won the tickets. I called home to have my eardrums blown out by a pre-teen who was so excited she couldn’t even speak for a full minute.

Later on I had found out that Jamie was upset because he wanted to go to the concert and I only had a couple of tickets. We decided to buy tickets so that James could go to the concert as well.

As we got closer to the concert date, I was at work and a co-worker of mine, Rita, was having a package from the Governor delivered to her. This was the Governor of Connecticut, Jody Rell. As it turns out, her daughter, Bobbi, is a huge Jonas Brothers fan, and they wrote to the governor to ask for it to be declared Jonas Brothers Day in Connecticut on the date of the concert – July 26, 2008. The package was the signed and sealed declaration from the Governor.

This is when the quest began. After talking to Rita, I told her that she should call the record company and talk to someone about it. She asked me to do it and I did. I talked to someone there who said they would call me back. I thought I would not hear from them again. The next morning I had a message. We called and they were going to set something up for the girls to meet the Jonas Brothers and present them with the Proclamation. We could not believe it.

The day of the concert came and we had been told that the girls would get a few extra minutes to spend with the Boys, so we should just keep moving to the back of the line for the meet and greet – which we did. When we finally got in almost two hours later, it was a quick picture and out the door we went. Needless to say, the girls were crushed. They did get amazing second row seats to the concert. But, the disappointments continued – they were sitting behind an ex rock-star from the 80’s, who was not so nice to them. He would not “let” them reach out to the Brothers, and made fun of them for crying during one of the songs.

The next day, Rita and I wrote to the record company to thank them for everything, and let them know how it went. They decided that it was not how they like to hear things go, and they set up something special. Radio station z100 in NYC was hosting the Jonas Brothers CD Release Party at the Highline Ballroom. It was a private concert and they would try for a "meet and greet" afterwards if there was time. We were so excited for them. The girls were over the moon!

The day of the event arrived and we stood in line outside the Highline Ballroom in NY waiting to get in. It was a fight for position type event. We got our wristbands and found out that we were on the VIP list and therefore we would be brought in to the event before the rest of the crowd. That sent the girls into hysterical tears of joy. Earlier in the day, I had called a man that we were told to contact when we arrived. He told us on the phone to wait until we were inside and he would take care of us. It wasn’t long after the wristbands that he called me back on my cell and asked me to bring our party to the front doors of the venue. He was going to bring us inside early and seat us at a table on a platform at the left side of the stage! We went in and sat down – and of course, once again, the girls were so excited they wanted to burst! Their next unbelievable treat came when we realized that we were there for their sound check. It was us, a few other lucky guests and production people. All of a sudden, out walk the Jonas Brothers. It was almost a shocking moment. When they walked out, the girls yelled "Hello" to them and they waved and smiled. Then they tuned their instruments, tested the microphones, etc. It was about 30 minutes of just the girls being able to watch them do what they do.

Shortly after sound check, the show started. They were great – just the three boys, a piano, two acoustic guitars and a tambourine. They sang three songs and then had an interview. During the interview, the man who was helping us out told us to get up and go with him upstairs. It was time for us to prep for the meet and greet! He wanted to make sure that “The Hartford Group” (which is where the first concert was) stayed all together. Eventually, they called the girls up and they had their picture taken with the boys. We all met their parents, shook their hands, thanked them and told them to be proud of their boys.

So, if anyone ever wondered what it would be like to meet your preteen/teenage idol, just ask Jessica next time you see her!

-- by Jen McColley