Kull's World

Benzino Turns 2 Months Old!

For Ben's Two Month Photo, we got a little crazy and ditched the pose in a cute outfit, in favor of the straight up Pampers Pose. 

Its amazing how much he has grown of late, developing these humongous thunder thighs, numerous chins, etc.  Watching him grow both physically and mentally is hard to describe, everyday is something new.  The faces he makes are priceless, god bless digital photography.
       

Get an idea of how much he's changed in the past month by looking at this photo at 1 Month Old --->

Pic of the Day

Whatchu lookin at?
Originally uploaded by JAKULL.

Thankfully I left my digital camera with Kristin last weekend and went old school on my trip to Philly with a disposable, otherwise I wouldn't have come home to this gem of a snapshot!

Fear of the Sales Pitch

The other day, I made a switch from Dish Network to DirecTV.  I made the switch for many reasons.  One of them is value, I found that for about the same monthly payment, I would receive approximately 50 more channels with DirecTV than I was with Dish.  Also, since DirecTV is in bed with Tivo, the system works much better together, and after nearly two years struggling with Tivo's interactions with Dish, I was ready for the switch. 

So DirecTV gets installed, with my new DirecTV/Tivo unit (up to 70 hours) on Monday.  An hour later I call Dish Network to cancel my service with them.  I had more than satisfied the one year agreement so it should have been painless, right?  Wrong...it never is, you can't just call up, cancel and be done with it.  You have to endure the inevitable sales pitch to keep you as a customer.  But I was ready, had a story which I figured would get me off easy (it did for Moon), so it led to this exchange:

ME:  Hi, I'd like to cancel my Dish Network service effective immediately.
DISH CUSTOMER SERVICE: I am sorry to hear that, at Dish Network we never like to lose a customer and I see you have been with us since 2002, could you tell us your reason for leaving?
ME:  Well, I am moving to a new residence that does not permit me to have a Dish on the building.  (my nose slowly growing, not going anywhere, just signed another 1 year lease)
DISH C.S.: Mr. Kullman, you should know that everyone has the right to Dish Network, we can send some paperwork over to you to assist you in gaining permission to have the Dish.
ME:  Actually I am moving to my father's house and really don't want to start a family debate over this matter. (this wasn't prepared going in, first thing that came to mind)
DISH C.S.: Oh....okay.  Let me get your cancellation started.

I should have just told them I was unhappy with the value of their package, the picture quality their dish provides me, etc.  But I chickened out with what I thought was an easy cop out.  I never thought they would throw the legal right to the Dish routine at me.  So what's my point?  I don't know...just kind of thought it was a funny story.  What's the lesson?  Just tell the truth, don't make crap up.  I just thought I would save some time with the moving story, but I think it actually took longer.  Any hoo...after two days with DirecTV, we are very happy.  Kristin was amazed at the improved picture quality and even thought I somehow subscribed to HDTV it was so clear.  No babe...that's next.

Guess who's back...

Back again...Riv is back ...tell a friend.

Guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back!!!

Glad to see controversial blogger Jeff Rivers back on the blog scene.  Check out Jeff's opinions regularly, I know I will.

Collection of Cousins

(L-R) Wyatt, Chloe, Tanner, Hunter, Maya, Lucas, Benjamin, Delaney, Adam
(Note: Babies in utero are not pictured)

On Sunday, all NINE Grandkids of Grampy Rich & Grammy Pattie were assembled under the same roof for a few hours.  A family wedding on Grammy's side down the Cape had all the siblings and their offspring converging at the house on the lake for some BBQ and photo opps.  Needless to say, the scene was quite chaotic.

Fun with Flickr

Just when I finish a post about how I am bored with my blog, I get inspired by a post from my father in law and felt I should share it in this space.  Here is a fun thing created by Kastner in which you can enter any word/s and the program will automatically spell it out with pictures plucked from Flickr photos.

This Flickr thing is getting pretty crazy.

Blogger's Block

I was told last night by a good friend and KW reader that "your blog sucks of late"  He wasn't trying to rip me or anything, I think he was just a bit bored with the lack of posts in the last week or so.  So I figured I'd get something on here, but it ain't gonna be much.

Unfortunately, I am suffering from blogger's block.  When I first launched Kull's World, I was always eager to run to my computer and fire up a blog post when I read or saw an interesting news item, or experienced something interesting myself.  Not so much anymore.  Don't get me wrong, my life is very interesting and exciting right now, I just don't have the urge to blog about it.

My bad...keep visiting though.  I may snap out of it at any given time and fire off 5 blogs in 5 days.

Happy Father's Day

So Father's Day has taken on a whole new meaning for me this year, becoming a father and all.  But it has given me a whole new appreciation of all the things that my father did for me growing up and continues to do for me to this day.  There are many stories, but forgive me today as I "open the yearbook" to share one of my fondest stories of my Dad.

My senior year in high school, my basketball team was very successful.  In fact we had the best regular season record in the history of the school, going 20-0 and winning the Clark Tournament in Worcester for the first time since the late 60's.  We were the #1 seed going into the District Tournament, earning an unprecedented two byes into the quarterfinals, where we'd play the #8 seed.  Long story short, we lost the game, by 4 points if I remember correctly.  It was one of those deals where we would have beaten this team 99 times out of 100, but that night was the night they were up to the task.  They couldn't miss, we couldn't make.  So it happenened, it was one of the biggest upsets in Massachusetts HS Basketball History. 

We were devastated, it wasn't just that we lost, but I played hoop with all my best friends, and had since the 5th grade.  And we all knew we would never play together again.  That hurt, and it came way sooner than we thought, we weren't supposed to lose this game.  After the game, I finally managed to find the energy go out to my car and go home, once I did I wanted nothing more than to escape to my room, didn't want to talk about it, think about it, nothing.  So I did.

As I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, figuring out how life would go on (yes it seems silly now but at the time, ya know how it is) and my Dad came over the house for a quick visit and show of support.  My Dad wasn't one of those typical sports fathers that put too much pressure on me, he literally just came to my games and loved supporting me, cheering for me, and never criticizing me.  And to this day, that means a lot to me.  So, he comes down to my room and I don't even recall the words he said or if he even said anything.  But it was what he gave me that meant the world.  He simply placed a pack of LIFE SAVERS on the nightstand nearby.  And for me at the time, that was the single greatest thing anyone could have ever done for me.  No words would have made the situation better.  And at the time I probably didn't truly appreciate the gesture...but as you can tell...I NEVER FORGOT IT! 

Happy Father's Day to my Dad and all the Dads around Kull's World!

Complaint Letter of the Year

This is hilarious, check out this complaint letter from a guy kinda pissed at Continental Airlines for his seating assignment...Download Seat29EC.pdf

The customer is always right!

Kevin's Gate

I have recently become involved with an exciting and challenging project in my hometown of Lunenburg .  A committee has been formed to begin raising funds to construct a "Memorial Gate" to the Lunenburg High Athletic Fields in memory of my friend, Kevin Szocik who as many of Kull's World readers know, was killed while working in the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.

The first major fund-raising effort will take place on September 11th, 2005 and will be a 5K Memorial Walk around Lunenburg.  At this time the committee's major effort is finding sponsors for this event.   Sponsorship opportunites exist at many levels and will involve company name or logo on the event shirt, signage placed along the walk route, or large banner/sign at the walk start/finish line.  Of course, we are encouraging early registration of participants for the event itself, as the first 500 to sign up will receive a free t-shirt.  Additional information on the event can be found here.  Please email me at jakullman@gmail.com if you have any questions or might know of a business interested in becoming a sponsor.

I truly cherish my very supportive group of friends and of course, family and know I can count on them for ample participation in this meaningful fundraiser.  With lots of hard work through fund raising events, our goal is to have the gate constructed and unveiled on September 11th, 2006, and it will look something like this.