Driving to London

.........London Bridge that is.

Mom and I just spent 17 total hours and 1112 miles since yesterday at 2:20pm going back and forth to Arizona for a special event. We have done this a few times to various places, the longest being to Phoenix and back when we were first married (most seem to be to Arizona, dunno why). I have a question for the Department of Transportaion, "Why is there no freeway from Vegas to Phoenix? Say, down US93/95? I mean I saw people passing on a two lane last night that scared even me and made Mom say, "Oh!" and grab the handle above the door. She would then call into question that persons ability to form a cogent thought, forcefully.

People are getting more nuts on the road. I like to drive and have worked to become better at it, though Mom thinks my mind wanders when I am checking the speedometer or changing the the temperature in the car. I do admit on long trips I fiddle with my iPod too much to get it to send songs to my radio.

Note to all car manufacturers, iPod docks should be standard equipment! Pay Apple the royalties and be done!

By the way, the London Bridge was interesting, if not actually what I thought it might be. Most of us think of the Tower Bridge as the London Bridge, but that is far from the truth. London Bridge is old and therefore pretty simple. Just a low bridge over the Colorado River with some stonework at either end. We should have walked it, but I had to be back to teach a special lesson on Family History on Sunday and so we left. Might come back, though. It was very nice.



Some guy came up to me and tried to sell me a timeshare in the hotel. It was weird because he had no teeth and was not dressed as a salesperson. Just started asking me questions. Made my skin crawl.

My eyes are burning, and I am tired so will sign off for now. Hopefully I will start writing here more. It's a goal of mine next year to post here and on our family history wiki. Maybe post the same thing in both places or maybe a story based on the other writing, I don't know. I just want to make it interesting. Both my children and my wife are better writers than me, so I need the practice just to keep up.

Dad

Chile Party

We did have one team party in Chile at a restaurant/showplace called Bali Hai. This is due to the culture of the Rapanui from Easter Island which is a part of Chile. We had a great time dancing to the national music of Chile and with the Rapanui dancers (who looked a lot like Tahitian dancers)


The first part of the video is from Vina Del Mar looking at Valparaiso across the bay. Very pretty and a nice creme brulee' at the restaurant I am sitting in. I still haven't gotten the video to do well on my camera. Next time I will take a real camera and real video.

The Sculpture of Chile

It seems that in Chile they have a penchant for odd sculpture made out of concrete. In front of every building in the office park where I work a couple of times a year there are these odd chunks of concrete and metal with one water feature thrown in. One was pretty cool, it looks like a businessman with his briefcase and umbrella braving the elements. "Neither wind nor rain nor snow nor dark of night will keep him from his money!"

Others bring to mind an early version of a wheel (sizing is a little off), some alien trees growing, a child's toy or missing automotive part and my favorite, in front of our building, sandbags made out of concrete draped over a pole. Like I said, odd....

Chile itself is great, like No. California used to be but with more Spanish spoken. Now there is a lot of Spanish still in California, but there is a lot of Hindi and Chinese as well. Not so in Chile. Driving in Chile is also an experience. Like a perpetual game of chicken. You poke your nose in and see who wins. There are many cars with various injuries, usually to the front fenders, due to these automotive jousts. I managed 2 weeks without incident except for having to relearn driving a stick with a bad clutch (the clutch smelled a little the first day due to burning).

The ocean is about 90 minutes away or about 150 km. Beautiful bay and nice clean beaches. Water is cold though because of the Humboldt Current from Antarctica. I ate at a little hotel overlooking the water. It was wonderful and the creme brulee' was awesome.

Food in Chile is very fresh with lots of fruits and vegatables. I liked eating there very much. Seafood is the best meat with sea bass at the top. They do like their butter with fish, though. Most everything is poached in butter.

It's a long trip there but I look forward to going back in a couple of months. Then I won't go for a long stretch, gotta play with the grandkids!

Back From Chile

Chile was very nice. It's a lot like the East Bay area or even Napa Valley area of Northern California. Santiago is about 150 km or an hour and a half by car from the ocean. I spent two weeks there and like it a lot. I got back this morning and have had about 3 hours of sleep in the last 24 so I will post more, maybe tomorrow with some pictures.

The Quiz

My son has challenged me to write here. I realize that I don't very often. Being busy as I am and less inclined to spend more time online than I have to contributes to my lack of posting. So, for now, here is the quiz. I will respond to the tag in another post.

you are deeppink #FF1493

Your dominant hues are red and magenta. You love doing your own thing and going on your own adventures, but there are close friends you know you just can't leave behind. You can influence others on days when you're patient, but most times you just want to go out, have fun, and do your own thing. Your saturation level is high - you get into life and have a strong personality. Everyone you meet will either love you or hate you - either way, your goal is to get them to change the world with you. You are very hard working and don't have much patience for people without your initiative. Your outlook on life is very bright. You are sunny and optimistic about life and others find it very encouraging, but remember to tone it down if you sense irritation.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

I must say, that even though this is a girly color, I do love reds, pinks and mostly purples and magentas.

Alien Engineering

This really speaks for itself. Since I am surrounded by engineers and have been all my life, this speaks to me in profound ways. It hearkens to my childhood when I was regaled with high intensity plasma barriers, multipart insulation and fluid dynamics. Those were the days!

Fun and Games on the Road

Generally, when I am on the road it's a boring routine. Drive to the airport, park, check in, stand in security line, feel violated if they check my bag, wait in a noisy airport with the press of humanity, fly in a noisy and cramped plane, land and get bag, get rental car, drive to hotel, try to sleep, go to work the next day and work 12-14 hours per day for 2-3 days and do it in reverse order to get home.

While some trips are cool like to Singapore, Monte Carlo, London, Tokyo, New York, Gaithersburg, etc., most are to places like Racine, Manitowoc (Wisconsin), Sidney (Nebraska) and other garden spots. Business travel is not like it used to be and is getting worse. Now that I have reached 1 million miles with Delta, I don't feel the need to get miles as much.

Once in a while, though, we do have some fun. Even in Racine. One of the guys on the implementation team bought what he thought was a dead fox in China. Actually it was a dead fox but made into a stole. He really didn't know what it was until I put it on this week and showed them how the mouth is the catch for the foot so it will stay around your neck.

Everyone was totally grossed out saying they didn't understand how I could do that. It smelled a little musty, but not bad. I could have used it outside, it was VERY cold (snowing) for April 3rd. In any case, we all got a good laugh out of it.

In any case, Mr. Fox from Racine, via China wishes all of you a Happy Easter! He is going after the bunny but the Peeps are safe. They are no good unless they are really stale anyway. Couple of months....

Dad

(Wow, I REALLY need to lose that 30 pounds!!! No Peeps for me)

43 Things

So, today I am in lovely Racine, WI at a customer. They make many consumer products that you may use every day, Pledge, Ziploc, Oust, Suave, etc. Nice people, though it's difficult at times to get them to do what you need so your job can get done. All customers are the same in different ways.

Since this blog is such a vast wasteland, I thought I would at least make the attempt to put another post out here. It's odd, I don't write because I don't think people would be interested. Maybe because I lack the vision to see what is interesting in my life. So, let's find some things.

There is a web site out there called 43Things.com which is somewhat interesting. Basically you list 43 things you would like to do and then I guess you check them off. I didn't spend a lot of time there, but the concept was interesting. So, here is at least a partial list of my 43 things.

Visit Africa
Visit South America
(I need both continents and then I will have 6 out of 7. Antarctica is a longshot)
Take all my grandchildren fishing at least once (preferrably on a nice boat)
Be a cool Grandpa
Take Debi back to Japan so she can see her birthplace and do it before all the Japanese is gone.
Live for 6 months in England doing genealogy
Get a degree in Art/Photography
Get photo/article published by a major magazine
Finally get my websites so they are almost self-sustaining
Lose 30 pounds before I am 60
Lose 30 pounds before I am 59
Lose 30 pounds before I am 58
Lose 30 pounds before I am 57 (you get the idea)
Finally finish my home theater and actually watch a movie in it.
Play Tevye in any production
Do a standup comedy routine in some dive club and get heckled.
Nail the heckler!!!!!
Retire with more than enough money to live comfortably

That's a pretty good start, I guess. Let's see how I do over time. As I accomplish them, I will chronicle them here. Maybe I can even get Mom to participate....