Hey everyone, Merry Christmas from the dport7 staff. Kate and I have already been on quite a ride this holiday season. We had a last minute trip rescheduling that put us in Defiance Ohio for some family matters. That only after fighting our way out of NYC after 10 inches of snow fell and our flight was cancelled. After our stay in Defiance and having a quick little Christmas we rushed back to Dayton to fly to Denver CO for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I've included a few shots from the trip so far. A winter morning outside the Diehl compound, Kate's new kitties sweatshirt from the Defiance Christmas, Rocket Cat from the Rybicki compound, and the best Holiday Album possibly ever.

Labels: holidays

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!! The entire dport7 staff hopes you had enough to eat and had fun around the table with whoever you celebrated. We were in Brooklyn this year with our friend BVA. As you may know he is a bit of a food enthusiast so i feel as if we lucked out with his turkey making skills.. Exceptional! Kate got especially into the holiday and made 2 pies (one apple one pumpkin) a killer bowl of mashed potato's with bacon and garlic. A really delightful corn casserole that just flat out surprised me with flavor. Then to top it off her special brie and puff pastry starter... If that's not enough Kate's friend Greta joined us with a thanksgiving favorite making a fantastic green bean casserole. We ate ourselves stupid especially me. I've forgotten how tired all that food makes you. Anyway we had a great time Thanks guys!!! Posted some plate shots below enjoy!

Friday we went to see the Fantastic Mr. Fox!!!!! Yes it was indeed fantastic. It was nice to get a break from the same old holiday movie. It was beautifully done and very funny. It certainly has the usually Wes Anderson touches. He loves for a movie to be set up like a book and this is no exception. Like all of his movies it has a Rolling Stones song. I don't think anyone can denie the magic and charm that comes along with the pain staking process of stop motion animation.If you get a chance go see it. If you don't they'll stop making movies like this and it will be all your fault.... yeah!

Labels: holidays

hello faithful. today i've posted a video that kate talks about all the time. this is with out a doubt her favorite nature video. we saw it along time ago and have been talking about it ever since. when you boil it down it's yet another reason to watch out for monkeys. As we know they are uncommonly strong and on top of they're dishonest booze hounds. Anyway i hope your all enjoying your holiday weekend i know we are.

Labels: holidays, observations

Hey everybody! Happy Easter!!!! Last night Kate and i did up some easter eggs with some help/attack from buttFUZZ. We bought this fancy egg kit (last one in the store) with metal leaf that made the eggs rap video worthy. Right now we are on our way to easter church. The easter bunny stiffed me again with nothing. Thanks! Although my mom did send a very nice card!
Enjoy some pics from our easter fun!!

Labels: holidays

Hey, everyone happy happy new year!!!! well i hope everyone had a great time at their new years parties. We sure did! Kate Ian and I went to a loft party thrown by our friend Erin (hands) Hanley. She rented this loft and everyone prepaid on paypal to come to the party it was great. I think if i could get myself organized it may be an option for the next SSP. Needless to say we all celebrated the coming of the new year with our usual heavy handed vigor. Ian took some falls but isn't to worst for the wear. I had a tough time on the 1st getting my strength back but Kate was ready for more party. (i'll post pictures soon)

yesterday Kate dug deep into her polish past to make some killer cabbage roles. I'm not all together certain, but I'm pretty sure i've had the magic that is cabbage roles before. Kate how ever nailed it on her first try. She invited a few friends over and told ian to pick out some good cheese and the result was a nice relaxing evening.

Today we are off to the adirondacks for a ski vacation. don't ask how or why it's a long story that none of us are really sure about. We leave soon and Ian seems to know where he's going. I always feel safe these days with the iphone maps forever by our sides.

lastly check out that f'n ring man!!!! that's right that ring resides on the hand of my brother big john diehl! He got it for being the head doctor for the minor league hockey team in Cincinnati! it's really pretty impressive. When i was home for christmas he asked me to post it so the smug phil anderson could see it. everyone enjoy it's glory!

UPDATE::::: I started the new frames09 which includes ski trip pics. New Years pics are back in frames08...... enjoy!!

Labels: holidays, party, vacation

merry christmas everyone from the entire dport7 staff. It turns out we had to let the entire PR department go before the holiday so sorry for the lack of christmas pictures. Anyway we hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season and don't forget to listen to the me and paul show for a special holiday surpise at the tail end of the show.

Labels: holidays

is it christmas? honestly, i'm not even aware of the holidays anymore. I guess that's the thing about getting older you don't even know the holidays are coming because, really who has time to even think about it. I did some christmas shopping but i don't think i even thought about the holidays the entire time. It was just another thing i needed to get done. Sad? I guess but whatever. Kate bought a wreath for the apt but i think that was just to have the scent of pine around the place. anyway just wanted to push out a post. listen to me and paul podcast good luck with your christmas season... try eggnog I liked it. dairy free of course!!! buttFUZZ has adjusted well.

Labels: buttFUZZ, holidays

well everyone here it is the start of the holiday's, thanksgiving. It's never been my favorite holiday till this year. For some reason I've really looked forward to it. I guess I just needed a break from the city. Out here in defiance ohio the hours seem to go by a little slower. I don't know if it's all the kittens running around in a fury or if it's just that there's literally no one else around for at least a solid mile. either way it's a nice break. Check out the picture below, I took a quick snapshot of the annul dport7 staff thanksgiving. this year i packed up the entire staff and we all came back to Ohio for a thanksgiving to remember. Although we had to let much of the staff go due to the economic collapse the few remaining were more than happy to come along. Apparently i failed to mention that once we got here they were expected to cook the dinner. tensions seem to be running a bit high as a result but i'm sure the trip home will find me drowning in invite thankyous. Never the less We all hope everyone out there in internet land has a happy thanksgiving and remembers to eat and drink responsibly and not to get in and religious or political conversations with family members. It only leads to hurt feelings and strained relationships. not that i would know.

Labels: holidays

happy Easter everyone! Just a quick update. my parents are in town for the Easter holiday and staying till tuesday. yesterday on a shockingly nice and sunny easter sunday kate my folks and i all went to the cloisters in upper manhattan. it's part of the met and as you might have guessed is full of mid evil art. it's easy to make a day out of the event and to say the least it was exhausting. Other than that it's just been family time.
in other news tony ritz is back so start checking the site again!!!!!
::::::::update::::::: i posted some pictures i took at the cloisters in frames.

Labels: general, holidays

alright everybody, well happy new year!!!! so for new years eve kate ian and i met up with michele and erin to go to allie's place for a new years party. it's kinda a weird college flash back. although we all collectively had a great time. I'm ganna be honest with you kate and i and everyones else for that matter bought in the new year with a bit too much to drink. it was great to see everyone.
Anyway lets talk about 2008. first off uncle urb and urbn cowboy is back. for those of you that have been around the dport7 halls for the past few years will remember. also bellafrench got a face lift for her site so check it out.
new years resolutions:
well i don't really have one. i just want to do more dport7 stuff. for you the reader. so get excited.
check out the FRAMES for the last shotes of 07...... soon to be replaced with 08 (sorry for the quality most were taken with iphones)

Labels: friends, holidays, party

So I know I said I would do some blogging this week and I let you down. Here's the thing, I got to Denver on Wednesday with a bit of a cold and then come Thursday morning a blizzard blew into town. So Kate and I made a trip to the mall but with all that snow we couldn't go far. Friday we went to see Charlie Wilson's War at the movies. It was really pretty good, phillip seymour hoffman was as always the best character on the film I think we all can agree he's the best. Saturday kate and I headed up to Keystone to do some big time skiing. Kate is a true talent out there on the slopes. On the first run down some snowboarding tool sacked kate out of no where. Leaving her shaken and bruised pretty bad. Like a champ kate shook it off and we went on to ski blues the rest of the day. Out of shape Paul is so sore today its laughable.
Kate's parents have been wonderful hosts and the entire dport7 staff can't thank them enough for everything. So thank you! Oh and thanks to rocket (the cat) I promise I didn't steal anything.

Labels: holidays, movies, travel

Merry Christmas everyone. I'm here in Ohio tapping this out on the iPhone and then tomorrow I head to Denver see Kate and the Rybicki's. I hope everyone got everything on their list. I know I did! My new electric toothbrush and I will be every happy together. Big brother john got me a chipotle burrito gift card among several other great gifts. Anyway merry Christmas everyone and hopfully I'll have some pictures from the mountians later in the week just for you!

Labels: holidays

hey guys. had the office holiday party on friday. it was pretty fun. we take the holiday party pretty seriously so it was as cool as can be. hung out with rebecca and her gang last night. she gave me a robot that she bought me a year ago. stopped by luke and laure's house a holiday hello. I'm working on some worth while content for you but as of now thing have kinda cooled off here. here's the robot.

hey so I was checking the stat's for the site just now and it seems like there are some folks in germany that love to visit the site. I'm pretty sure it most be some internet bot but is we have some german fans let me know i'll send you a t-shirt. oh hey we also got a hit from macedonia, the former yugoslav wow. I don't know what started the international craze but lets keep it up.

Labels: friends, holidays, party, robots

well i hope everyone had a good holiday. mine was restful. i slept more over this holiday break than i've slept in months. why? well i was at my grandmothers house in canton ohio and there's not a whole lot to do. i can't go out because i don't really know anyone in the surrounding area and everytime i have a drink around my parents they think i've "lost control" anyway that leaves plenty of time for naps. I'm not complaining though i needed it. in between the naps the family decided it would be a good idea to go see a movie. being that we all have different tastes in films my mom chose the feature, which was disney's enchanted. now those of you that know me, know that this isn't exactly on my list of movies to see. I kinda don't like "cute" so much and i also hate patrick dempsey for his awesome hair. needless to say this one was a bit more than i could take. if your into over blown love fairy tales dripping with perfect world sugar sweetness run right out and download this one on bit torrent.
in other news i took the bus back from LGA for a bit of adventure and a savings of like $40 which these days is huge. i don't suggest it if you don't have a good knowledge of the subway in the boroughs of queens and brooklyn, but if you do check it out and save some dough.
also in other news check out my friend elinor's blog foodzi!!! she's a restaurant goer with things to say. Check it out she's got pictures of her food (before it's eaten) and they always look good. she just started the blog so leaver her some comments to get her going. tony ritz you always have good comments lets see what you can do on a food blog.
lastly,(almost done) if you have time this weekend or just whenever go out and buy or rent the first season of Flight of the Conchords. this could be my new favorite show. it's about this two guys from new Zealand that have a band here in NYC and it id hilarious. this is one of those shows that same me from free falling into depression. with all the other crap that's on TV this is a saving grace. it may take you a couple of episodes to get into it so watch at least three before you make up your mind. here's a little clip of them doing a rap that cracks me up every time i watch it. click on the link to check out more clips.
ps... special note for those of you with iphones and the ipod touch. the tech team here at dport7 has finally gotten on the stick and made the video posts playable on your device so enjoy!!!!
(double click to play)

Labels: blogger, holidays, movies, shows

well happy thanksgiving everyone!!!! I'm posting out here at LGA waiting for my Airtran flight back to my home state of ohio. I couldn't help getting sucked into the airport wiFi (which should be free by the way, shame on you LGA) to post one of the old dport7 thanksgiving holiday greetings. i know that most of you will be enjoying a meal today with family or friends or both or maybe with a whole foods meal on the go plate. no matter what your doing dport7 is here to send you a genuine semi_weird happy thanksgiving wish. (was that kinda gay?) either way for some reason even though i don't particularly enjoy the holidays i thought you may enjoy a post. so wherever your at have a beer for me and pour a bit out for dport7!!!!!!

Labels: holidays, lame

happy easter everyone from the entire staff here at dport7.com!!!! visited the cathedral today, packed like every year. the yankees game yesterday was without a doubt the coldest game i've ever been to. phill and i lasted till the 7th inning the yankees we down 7-4 and it seemed like the team just ran out of steam. phil called when i got home and said A-rod (who sucks, says new yorkers) hit a grand slam to win the game. well whatever. anyway put a few pics in fames, and made a special easter surprise pic for you. oh and by the way what's with all this easter snow right?

Labels: games, holidays

HAPPY NEW YEAR from the entire dport7 staff and crew

news flash at the stroke of midnight my cell phone's sim card expired and is no more.. if your trying to call me i'm sorry but it's not going to happen. call kate to reach me.

:::update:::

i got a new sim card so call... the bad news is i lost all my numbers so please send me your number via email so i can keep intouch. mailme

Labels: holidays, lame

you know the days between christmas and the new year always seem kinda strange....... it's like christmas happened and now it's just a waiting game for the new year... unfortunately 2006 couldn't slip away with out giving me one last cold so i'm spending this years "waiting game" with a head full of snot. christmas went well. i got a new robot t-shirt and a upgrade for final cut express (big new movie in 07) and an itunes gift card from john. on the day after christmas i drove up to toledo to see my good old best friend brian.... unfortunately the illness was just starting to set in so i only stayed for a few hours.... we drove around town a bit talked of people we used to know and drank some great lakes beers..... after dinner with him and dad i headed back to defiance to pass out for the next two days.... back to new york tomorrow ........ whats up for new years you ask? nothing man i'm over that racket. check out brian's beard.... oh i forgot to mention for those of you that have been around for the last few new years i'm again growing my holiday mustache, look for awful pictures soon!!!!!!!!

Labels: friends, holidays

Merry Christmas from dport7.com

here's a quick update on the past few days.

kate and the roommate's and i had a small gift exchange and well kate out did her self this year and got me a red/orange eames injection molded arm chair. didn't see it coming really and i'm blown away at the magnitude of this gift. in a word thank-you.

phil nicole and I along with to other doctor friends ended up at my most favorite destination for the holidays in new york on friday night. no not rockefeller no it's a small karaoke bar in china town. i've ended up at this place on several separate occasions and every time it's around the holidays. either way you can't lose this the songs only listed by title and a sound system that has been blown out so may times it sounds like there's one tiny speaker behind the toilet in the bathroom that's doings it's best to push my "like a prayer" rendition across the bar. we all did our best to hold the karaoke machine hostage by doing more songs than anyone else in the bar ever wanted to here. phil and i definitely didn't do wake me up before you go go...... that might be the homo gay

lastly i got a head start on my new years resolution...... that's right my planing to better myself in 07 by skateboarding again. i went to the skate shop today and bought a new enjoi deck. Check it out. i thought it was hilarious. i found a few skate parks around brooklyn and i couldn't be more excited. i'm always my happiest when i'm skateboarding so let;s just hope i don't get hurt at all.

Labels: friends, holidays

uhhhh so last night was the entire office christmas party as this place called
Guastavino's which happens to be under the queens bough bridge. The place was really impressive. it's this reception hall that's literally built into the bridge and exposing the architecture as the interior decor. i have to say i had a much better time this year than last year. why? mainly because I know more people now so the awkward feeling is lessened. over all it was a good night i didn't say or do anything too stupid and other than a bit of dancing i don't think i embarrassed myself too horribly. sadly the after party was less than worth while so one of the other guys i work with and I jumped in a cab and went to a local bar down town for a few more.

hey for those of you that keep up as web site check out this thing
fireftp. it's an extenion for firefox that puts an ftp client in your browser. i just set it up here and it really handy for times your not on your home computer.

Labels: holidays, party, technology

well everyone i'm officially feeling the holiday season. the office parties are starting which means people all over america are embarrassing themselves in a mistaken drunken attempt to get to know their co-workers on a more personal level. it is after all the hap-happiest season of allllllllll. I had my annual team (the team for the client i work for) end of year/christmas party dinner. things on this account are going well so we went to the most over priced restaurant in the most over priced part of town the meat packing district. if you've been down there you might have seen the old home stead steak house. it has a big cow sign out side and the only thing they do is steaks.... let me just say that i had the best steak i will ever have that night. dinner took like 3 hours but it was worth it. I held on to my wits over the long dinner and even saw a C list celebrity. for all you american idol fans yes it's true taylor hicks looks like a massive tool in real life too. the night ended at a cigar bar down the street and as i smoked my free cigar i became proud of myself knowing i hadn't said or did anything stupid i would be embarrassed about the next day. that's when i decided that was a miracle and said good bye to the group snagged a cab and went home.

Labels: holidays, party

so i got back from thanksgiving in ohio today around 10am. it was nice to see everyone and of-course enjoyed seeing my brother john (who's blog has recently become an international blogisphere powerhouse). My mom has a fresh batch of kitten running around the house, and everyone had to comment on my new hair cut. every time i go home like that i think about the movie home for the holidays. i know it's a bit of the homogay but it's pretty funny and i've always had a thing for holly hunter i guess.

anyway when i was home everyone was talking about decorating for the holiday's and to be honest with you I'm not a decorator. i don't like trinkets or ornaments. but dport7 is a different story. for some reason i love to do different holiday things here on the site. so i decided that the splash page was and has become kind of an annoyance. i set up my bookmarks to skip it completely. i know some of you like the changing graphics that existed on the splash page so i'm going to just try and bleed this over into the top banner. this is my first shot at a flash based banner so i don't know if I'm quite happy with the layout of it but hey it's up and working. oh if you think the snow is blowing a bit too hard run your mouse up there and your able to control it.

Labels: blogger, holidays

going to the airport has turned in to the last thing i ever want to do. a few years ago the thought of flying some were... anywhere was exciting. now even though i don't really travel that much it seems to be a chore i'd rather put off as long as possible. right now I'm on a nwa flight back home for thanksgiving. i know it seems odd mainly because i haven't been home for this holiday in like 7 years. i tend to shy away from thanksgiving because of it's pushing of food.... usually food i can't eat (dairy hates me). anyway back to the airport. going through security really isn't that bad. what annoys me is the line of frantic women laying in to some homeland security officer about how she "went to the website and knows for a fact that she can bring that exact amount of lip gloss and hand cream on the plane" for the love of god just buy it when you get there. after i get my belt back on i head to my gate to sit in the dirtiest waiting area in new york. looking around i swear i've seen subway stations cleaner than this terminal. looking for an isolated seat there are always a good amount of attractive girls waiting for my same flight. being shy and in a 5 year relationship i head for the corner. Although i always hope to have one of those attractive young ladies in my assigned row on the plane..... after a few quick phone calls i get in line like cattle to board, and without fail (and this has happened several times i sit next to a older gentleman with a 1889 style walkman with a taped talk radio program from NPR blaring. i tend to sit in the isle so that always leaves the middle man to be kind of a hopeful surprise. again with out fail this is the very last person on the plane. it's as if i requested to sit next to the person that had a frantic time getting to the airport that day. and of course again without fail it's not one of the attractive fell dressed young ladies from the terminal. oh no....... it's always a middle aged dude that smells like a subway sandwiches. if that wasn't disappointing enough 10 minutes into the flight the subway sandwich dude's wife comes and says that she needs to sit next to him because she's freaking out. so because she seemed frantic i quickly agreed the trade sit. turns out the frantic with was in a window seat tucked in by two obese women. thats when i decided to order a whiskey and check out sky mall. that were i found the marshmallow gun you se pictured below. god save us all!!!

Labels: holidays, travel