Put back a bunch of the old photo galleries, school and family galleries for the most part. I've got them all organized from all over the place in the old site and I only have 82 more to set up and get on here.

Oh, by the way - Have a great New Years Eve!

Run down memory lane : Rossi Excursion 2003, the original, Arches 2004 and Arches 2005.

I'm starting to get around to getting all the old picture galleries and videos from the old site up here. I'm starting with the extras - not videos and not regular photo galleries. Here's the first one - Urban Challenge 2004.

I just finished reorganizing the Photo Galleries pages, you might have found it a little tedious looking for a specific set of pictures, I sure did. So, I set them up in catagories so it will be easier to find what you're looking for.

I also put the old Motel West Obscene story back up. I'm not going to put a link to it here, I'm trying to keep this site PG-13, but for anyone who remembers way back to 1987, the link to this story is http://www.srossi.net/*.html - the star is Sir Duke's real name, first & last, no capitals, all one word. If you can get there - have fun going down memory lane.....

Techno weenie tribute to "T'was the Night Before Christmas".... (This one is especially for Alex)

And a bunch of new videos :

Thanks Rachel, this is a great video for a song I've always liked : We Didn't Start the Fire.

Nice mountain roads in Bolivia..... (Click "Open" when box comes up and then click to advance to next picture.

Another modern play on the old skit "Who's on First".

Took Danny's pictures from the trip to Mexico and turned them into a little (well, not so little) movie. It's 42MB, so downloading it may be a little less annoying than trying to watch it on the web. And you can also see them in gallery form.

Finally got the geckos (gecki?) that I bought in Mexico put up on the house. Been looking for some for quite a while and found the perfect ones while on vacation. Named them even, Edgar, Hector and Julio, after two of the guides on the zip line tour and our waiter on the beach. Click on them if you want to see them full sized.

Guess what? TPT never showed up to complain. Good thing, I was a little worried about losing my job over it and all. Yeah, right. I'll tell ya though, for being the season of happiness and joy, people out there really are cranky. Nothing as much fun as the two with the gas can, but just a general crankiness. Actually I should say that there are a lot of people in a good mood out there, and some of them are in an unusually good mood, but it's just that the number of grouches has trebled. Guy comes in and asks "So it's true, if you pound on the pump gas comes out? That's what the guy out on 13 seems to think." Not true, but guy out on 13 prepaid $20, pumped 89 cents worth, hung up the pump and then got all pissed off because he couldn't pump the rest of his gas. Had to explain to him that when you hang up the pump it ends the sale, shows a refund, but won't let the next guy (even if it's you) get your remainder. Thought it was all a communist plot to make his life miserable. Ah, well.

Pissed off a couple of TPT today. Lady comes in today talking on her cell phone, I hear her say "I'm in the Chevron now" as she comes through the door. She walks right back to the automotive area, picks out a gas can and comes up to the counter. She wants to pay for the gas can after she fills it up and I tell her that she has to pay for it first, giving her the excuse that we can't have a gas can full of gas in the store. Well, she's not very happy about that, gripes a bit and then rips the receipt out of my hand as I hand it to her. A minute or so later a woman in an older dark colored Rodeo (one like A&M's) pulls up to the front of the store and parks across 2 stalls. She comes in and says "You don't have a loaner gas can?" So I tell her that we do, that it's a $5 deposit and she mumbles something about it being illegal for us not to have one and walks out. 10 minutes later her and the first woman come in and she sets the gas can on the counter and just looks at me. When I ask her how I can help her she demands "I want my $5 back. Um, sorry but you've already bought that one and used it, I can't take it back. At which point she informs me that it is just the loaner and she wants her money back. I tell her that no, the loaner one is in back, that's the one her friend purchased. At this point she's getting a little bit loud and informing me I have to give her the money back because her friend asked for a loaner and I told her that we didn't have one and that it's illegal for us not to have a loaner. Not even bothering to debate the legality issue, we argue for a minute or two over whether or not I was asked for a loaner, until I decide this isn't getting me anywhere so I tell her that I can't do refunds anyways and she'll have to talk to Mindy, the manager. She asks where Mindy is and I tell her that she's not here, she'll be here at 7 tomorrow. "No, I'm here now, I want to talk to her now!" Sorry, she's not here until tomorrow. We argue that point for a minute or two, until once again I see it's not getting me anywhere, so I tell her "This isn't getting us anywhere, you're going to have to talk to Mindy tomorrow." Probably not very politely (but not rude), probably not entirely quietly either (but not yelling). "Oh, I'll talk to Mindy tomorrow." "Good, the name's Steve" as I point to my nametag. And they storm out mumbling something about one of those cars belonging to me (as she's looking over where the employees park). Smart move, since I know what she's driving, I have a credit card receipt from her friends purchase and now I know to move my car out front where I can watch it. Fun & Games at the Chevron. One hour until I get out of there and I saw neither hide nor hair of the two again. Can't wait to hear the story of when they talk to Mindy.

You tell me, if I were talking to you on the cell phone and decided that I had to go to the bathroom, would you rather I a) tell you I'll call you back later or b) talk to you while I'm doing my business? I was working with Jim last night and he comes out of the bathroom and tells me that there was a guy in there on the toilet talking on his cell phone. Then later this lady walks into the bathroom talking on the phone, and comes out still talking on the phone. Now I don't know for a fact she was on the phone the whole time, but still I have to ask what conversation could be so important or enthralling that you couldn't spare a few minutes to answer nature's call? Just goes to show that we are becoming so addicted to "being connected" that we can no longer even take a pee in solitude. Shoot me if I ever become that bad.......

What to do if you are alone when you have a heart attack.... (this is actually serious, and informative, not one of my usual funny things....) WARNING : I have not checked into the authenticity of the claims made herein, so use your own judgment. If anyone has reliable information on the accuracy or inaccuracies of this, please eMail me and let me know.

Spent Thanksgiving in Nuevo Vallarta this year. That's directly north of the better known Puerto Vallarta. It was our tri-annual Rossi-Ruscetta family vacation. Last time we went on a cruise in the Caribbean, this year it was a resort on the coast of Mexico. I had a blast. The weather was fantastic, the water was perfect. Got there on Wednesday, sometime around noon and spent the rest of the day laying on the beach. Thursday and Friday we did pretty much the same, although my memory seems to be a little fuzzy on the details. But I do know I had a great time. We did get a little loud at dinner on Friday, when the band came over and played the song "Tequila", we got to chime in on the chorus. Saturday was the best though. Alex, Danny, Elaine and I did the zip-line tour over the forest canopy. We took a cab to the pick-up point, the parking lot of a restaurant and waited for our ride up into the hills. As we're standing there waiting for the bus, what looked like one of those mercenary transport trucks shows up to bring us up in the hills. As we get further out of the city, driving down dirt roads and through little villages, we look at each other and someone expresses what we were all feeling - "Have we just been drafted into some South American civil war?" Nah, it was all just a part of the experience. So we get up there and they strap us into these harnesses and we start to get our lesson on using the "Mexican Harley" (their term, not ours). That's basically a 4" metal wheel with a couple handles and places to clip the 2 straps from our harness. This is when we find out that that small metal wheel is going to carry us on a 1/2" metal cable from one side of the valley to the other. Reaching speeds of up to 40 MPH and heights exceeding 600 ft above the valley floor. (*) Halfway though the first one I, all fears gone, I was amazed at the intensity of flying across the canyon virtually unencumbered. It was awesome. After the ride was over, all too soon, we had something to eat at the kitchen they had up there and were treated to a complimentary shot of tequila. The tequila came in a Crown Royal bottle, which came refilled for the second shot. I don't think it was any brand name tequila, we came to the conclusion that it was probably made somewhere on the premises. It was the smoothest I'd ever had, and we all still have our eyesight, so obviously they knew what they were doing. The ride home was as much an adventure as the ride there, going down thin mountain roads in an old windowless bus. It was an experience I'll never forget. Sunday was another day of rest and relaxation on the beach, and then Monday was coming home. From beautiful 80 degree weather to snow and lows in the teens. But I was still on vacation, so I didn't change out of my shorts and flip-flops (565 pesos at the grocery store) until I got home. Which made for a really cold ride home.

(*) Sorry the pictures are a little bit fuzzy. I didn't want to take my good camera so I took an older camera, which I hadn't used in a while, and left it on the wrong setting - it was set for close-up pictures.....d'oh.

If Abbot and Costello were alive and working in 2006, what do you think their "Who's on first?" schtick would have looked (or sounded) like? Here's what one person thinks.......Click

Back from Rossi Excursion 2006, our tri-annual dual family (Rossi & Ruscetta) vacation. We went to Nuevo Vallarta, which is the sister city to the better known Puerto Vallarta. Had a fantastic time. I'll tell the whole story at a later time (so it'll fall on the December page and stay there for the whole month), but I just have to say that we (Danny, Alex, Elaine and I) did the Canopy Zip Line. Intense. And thanks again to Rachel for setting the whole thing up, and Danny for taking care of all the money matters. Seriously, it was an incredible vacation and you two made it what it was.........