Hey there, welcome to day 2 of the ADAM WADE BLOG ROAST!

Keep the roasts coming, so far they've been... great!

Working hard right now, as usual.

Ate a corn muffin today (thought I'd treat myself).

Plan on getting a salad for lunch to compensate.

Obla De, Obla Da!

The NJ Path train was jammed today. I got a seat but this 7 foot guy practically had his crotch in my face. I got up to stand... and he took my seat.

I bought a 'cool' pair of PUMA sneakers (size 10) and after wearing them for a week I noticed that they were a size too small.

GUESS WHAT?:
STORES DON'T TAKE SNEAKERS BACK AFTER YOU WEAR THEM FOR A WEEK:

So...
I was at my local pub the other night, talking to Ronny and TNB (Thursday Night Bob) and they told me I should go to the local Hoboken Cobbler (Giovanni) to see if he could... STRETCH my sneakers.

Well... I dropped them off today and they should be ready by Wednesday evening (for only $5) . This is the first time I have EVER had my sneakers STRETCHED!. Looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

Soooooooo GOOD!

(yes, it's a chocolate eclair)


((oh yes, 6 for $1.69 at the A and P))

INTERACTIVE BLOG - WEEK 20
GREAT CAPTIONS THIS WEEK! WOW!

HERE'S HOW IT ALL WORKS!:
WE NEED CAPTIONS FOR THIS PHOTO!!!!
Captions that you, the visitor to this blog think best represents the photo.
HERE ARE THE WINNING CAPTIONS FOR THIS PHOTO:



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THE ALWAYS STRONG, ALWAYS FUNNY CAPTION BY A PAT COOPER FAN AWARD:
In Bosnia-Hercegovina, karaoke circle-jerks have become quite commonplace.
"Go Sergei, it's your birthday..."
Lonny

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THE 'YOU GOTTA LOVE MENUDO' CAPTION OF THE WEEK:
Five of the orginal members of Menudo keep hope alive that the reunion tour is coming. No comment from the last six members of Menudo, living in exile in Puerto Rico.
'Ben' Flanders


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ADAMWADE.COM'S VERY OWN FONZIE IMPERSONATOR NAILS THE HAIRCLUB FOR MEN FOR A FUNNY CAPTION OF THE WEEK:
The Hair Club for Men know how to whoop it up at their annual mixer.
matt 'go redsox' sears

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'THE BOSS IS BACK AND IS STRONG' CAPTION OF THE WEEK:
"It's raining men, hallelujah!" Paul Schaffer collects another royalty from his song.
deano

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NEWCOMER/THE 'YOU GOTTA LOVE THE 'TOP GUN' REFERENCE IN A CAPTION' AWARD:
Gravatar You Never Close Your Eyes Anymore...At the Top Gun Reunion, Maverick, Ice, Slider, Hollywood & Jester sing their rendition of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling".
Jamie Norton


BEST CAPTION BY A FOXY MAMA (WELCOME BACK FM):
And yet another group of hopefuls auditions to be the great Wade's back-up band...
thefoxymama

(Special thanks Dan Kennedy for posting this!)

This is the text of the Stanford Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life.

That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.

Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life. During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife.

Pixar went on to create the world's first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together. I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as theyears roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.

Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

THE BLOG MISSES ED SR, AKA MIKE C.

HOPE ALL IS WELL!

I have a new job and I must be in to work every morning very early so...

I will be missing out on the ol' Italian Tuna (a Friday staple of WADE'S DIET) from Fiore's Deli in Hoboken.

I am happy to have a cool job, but a bit sad that I must sacrifice the beloved Italian Tuna.

This is actually the 2nd week without the ol' I.T.

I miss you.



Meet Me Half Way aka The Love Theme of Wade and the Italian Tuna
by Kenny Loggins
album: Back to Avalon (1988)

In a lifetime
Made of memories
I believe
In destiny
Every moment returns again in time
When I've got the future on my mind
Know that you'll be the only one
Meet me halfway
Across the sky
Out where the world belongs
to only you and I


(special note: I didn't even have the heart to post an image with this post)

DON'T BE SHY, FOLKS!!!

WELCOME TO INTERACTIVE BLOG - WEEK 20
THANKS TO ALL PEOPLE WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE PAST 19 WEEKS.

HERE'S HOW IT ALL WORKS!:
WE NEED CAPTIONS FOR THIS PHOTO!!!!
Captions that you, the visitor to this blog think best represents the photo.

OUR INTERACTIVE BLOG BOARD OF DIRECTORS WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS THIS MONDAY

Begin.
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"CHEYENNE"

on 33rd and 9th Ave.

I had a London Broil sandwich there today with mashed potatoes and gravy. The roll was toasted with butter and garlic powder. It really packed a punch.

I love it!!!!!

I am glad I don't have a date tonight because my breath is K-i-c-k-i-n-g!

I might treat myself to a corn muffin there tomorrow.

(WADE DIET WATCHERS - I've been behaving all week folks, I deserve a corn muffin, right?)

Andy is a fitness trainer to the stars. He's a regular on the NJ Transit 126 bus. Whenever I see him on the bus I know I'm in for 20 minutes of laughs.

Andy loves Hoboken and there's a rumor that he's pretty good with yardwork (the zen master of the weedwhacker).

Congrats Andy, enjoy being the HOBOKEN HERO OF THE WEEK!

Tonight, around 8pm I will be eating the chicken and angel hair pasta (white cream sauce) at my favorite local pub. I will be drinking a Sprite because of my sinus trouble. If you want to hear some jokes/stories, c'mon over and tap me on the shoulder.

AND

THURS JUNE 23rd, 2005
The $1 Room
Telephone Bar
9pm
149 Second Ave
(Between 9th and 10th Street)

There's a McDonald's literally 10 feet from my new place of work. I am craving, I mean craving for a hot fudge sundae. Yes, I love them!!!

Now it's only a $1.09 for one (here in NYC, in Hoboken they are $1.06).

But I currently have a $1 coupon for McDonald's that I got for my birthday (thanks Claresa) .

I will keep you posted, I am being called into a meeting at the moment.

WADE'S GRANDMOTHER AND
GREAT AUNT ARETY
MAKE GREEK CHEESE PITA


My Grandmother (Yia Yia) and Great Aunt Arety are excellent cooks. When I lived in New Hampshire I ate at their house every Saturday night!

They cook many Greek specialties and my favorite
is their
GREEK CHEESE PITA!

Let's following the steps that make their's the best.

(click here to see full length cooking photo shoot)

I AM WORKING VERY HARD!

It's a cool Monday night.

I just had a hard day of work, I am watching the Red Sox on my computer (I love that Hazel Mae), and dreaming of a chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles from TONY aka MISTER SOFTEE OF HOBOKEN.

Where the hell are you, Tony?

Here's a little something I am proud of.

This is Morganna the KISSING BANDIT OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL FAME!

Notice the name on this autograph!

Thanks Kissing Bandit!!!!


OTHER WADE NEWS:
Had a Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee this morning on 42nd and 9th Ave
IT SUCKED! I ordered a regular and it tasted like coconuts and blueberries.

$2 down the crapper!

INTERACTIVE BLOG - WEEK 19 WINNERS!

HERE'S HOW IT ALL WORKS!:
WE NEED CAPTIONS FOR THIS PHOTO!!!!
Captions that you, the visitor to this blog think best represents the photo.

WADE SAYS:
"This week was perhaps our strongest week ever!"

Here are the winners:
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BEST POST FATHER'S DAY CAPTION:
"Daddy, when I get older, can mommy buy me pectoral implants as well?"
Lonny

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BEST CAPTION THAT... SPEAKS THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH PART 1:
Finding it increasingly difficult to shed the lbs. after the straight to DVD release of "Bridget Jones 7: Bride of Chucky Cheese", Renee Zellweger-Chesney-Copperfield-Cruise poses with her trainer/motivational speaker and "free-lance Furrier", Joey Two Bats.
(Inspiration? Sources tell us Mizz Renee is rewarded with Canolis just for showing up! You go, Cinderella Grrrl!!)

Possibly mistaken for a Turturro brother, fellow Boot-Camper Aidan Bin Laden reluctantly smiles for the camera while his nephew frolics in the surf wearing a Fisher Price Full Metal Jacket instead of his water wings!
Careful, son..Don't get your Lego-Ammo all sandy!

* Elite Beach Boot Camp is held at an undisclosed location- a makeshift bunker/cabana/pizzeria at the Jersey Sho...DOH!
Correction by Editor: Apologies too numerous to mention.
Quinn

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BEST CAPTION THAT... SPEAKS THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH PART 2:
From the Wade family photo album: July 1988, Brothers Matt & Adam enjoying Hampton Beach,NH, picking up chicks. Matt has his hands full here. Adam has his eye on the one in purple.
Flanders

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ANOTHER STRONG CAPTION BY THE #1 RED SOX FAN/ FONZIE IMPERSONATOR:
Cheech Marin will be featured on the next season of "Lost".
matt sears

I am working on a very special cooking segment for this site featuring my grandmother and great aunt.

It should be very exciting as they prepare a GREEK DISH for little ol' me.

I know you are very excited about this, but please, please try to contain yourself.

Rock stars get groupies, and me... I get Wilma!

And you know what? I have no complaints, folks!

Wilma is the best! She's been to many WADE shows and she is a sweetheart! I met her through my friend Sherry.

Wilma, enjoy being the WADE SUPERFAN OF THE WEEK!

(fact: it's Saturday night at 8:43pm --- I am still nursing this head cold)

Is my new favorite sportscaster.

I got that MLB.com baseball package ($15 a month) on my computer, and she does some sports desk things for the Red Sox.

I've had some conversations with a few of my NESN, New England buddies and they agree with me and say she is the next big thing. Keep up the good work Hazel!

WILL SHE EVER INTERVIEW THE 'DREAM BOAT' RED SOX GENERAL MANAGER?
CLick here to see:

Still feeling heavy headed, but better than yesterday! Sinuses are all out of whack. Thanks for all the kind and encouraging comments.

I gotta start being (or acting) a little tougher!!!!

Yep, today is my dad's birthday and of course Sunday is Father's Day so in celebration here is my tribute to my dad.

The photo on this post is of Charles Bronson, one of my dad's favorite actors. I remember watching all the 'Deathwish' movies with him when we first bought a VCR in the mid 1980s. Then him telling me about a Western movie with Henry Fonda, Bronson and the hottest babe ever. The movie was 'Once Upon a Time in the West' and this movie became my favorite movie EVER!!!!!



The My dad likes to read so I bought him a Barnes and Noble Gift Certificate. I figure, why not let him pick what he wants to read.


Well dad, enjoy the day. Thanks for always being there and being you.

Yep, I am sick! I got a cold. Taking the day off from the site. Drinking a lot of water and Gator-ade!

Gotta cold, folks.

WELCOME TO INTERACTIVE BLOG - WEEK 19 !
Last WEEK'S CAPTIONS WERE GREAT, one of the best weeks ever!!!!!

HERE'S HOW IT ALL WORKS!:
WE NEED CAPTIONS FOR THIS PHOTO!!!!
Captions that you, the visitor to this blog think best represents the photo.

OUR INTERACTIVE BLOG BOARD OF DIRECTORS WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS THIS MONDAY

Begin.
_______

So I'm eating at a diner and just want to eat and leave. But the poor lady that waits on me wants to chat.

She keeps asking me questions like, "So where are you going? You look like you're in a rush." And the way she says it... she's so laid back and so NOT in a rush.

I try to smile and say, "I'll just take the check." But she interrupts and says, "What do you do for work?"

I don't want to get into any of the four jobs I have, so I just say, "I'm a writer."

(Wrong answer)

"Wow that's so interesting," she says, "I'm a poet."

(have I told you this lady is in his fifties?)

So I just hope she gives me the check ASAP, BUT she... she... starts up with a poem she wrote,

"Birds

Birds are nice

Birds are sweet

Twinkle Twinkle

Birdie feet."

I smile, then move my head up and down, back and forth, I put all the dirty napkins and empty maple syrup packets onto my plate.

"That's the poem I wrote this morning. You like it, Mr. Writer?"

"I love it dear." I say. "Please, maam I need the check."

She smiles and I realize she has no intention of giving me the check.

"Twinkle, Twinkle Birdie Feet!" She says again.

Now, I smile and try to get up. I would LOVE TO SAY, "HEY EMILY DICKENSON, GIVE ME THE CHECK!"

But I don't. I just sit there and she recites a few more poems and the Greek guy that owns the diner comes over and says, "Adamos, $2.50 for the corn muffin and coffee."

I pull out a $5 bill and leave it on the counter and wave at the waitress as she just keeps on reciting poems.

"Bye, bye, come again." She says as I get to the door and for a split second I wonder if she's talking to me or reciting another poem.

Due to technical problems we were unable to get my Grandmother and Great Aunt Arety on tape talking about what they thought about the photos of the Italian Tuna (my favorite sandwich) I showed them.


Hopefully we will get that to you later on in the week.


BUT FOR NOW LET'S LOOK AT THEIR FAVORITE MEALS-

Adam's Grandmother: Broiled Haddock and rice.



Adam's Aunt Arety: Pasta Fagioli Soup from The Olive Garden