Vacation - a time of rejevenation

Last week, I went to the beach (Myrtle) on a family vacation. We've done this before, but it's been a couple of years. With my wife, our five children, four children-in-laws, 5 year old grandson, four 2year old granddaughters, one 3week old granddaughter, close friends, their 5 year old daughter, 13 year old niece, sister, son's friends (age 21) and daughter-in-law's mother, we had a house full (for the record, not everyone was there all week).

The 2 year olds  behaved like you'd think 2year olds would behave, immeasurably cute one minute, complete melt-down when they were told no. Grandma and grandpa don't say no very often, so I suspect parents will have to readjust some this week.

As we did on our last big family vacation, we let our kids cook for us. Each one chose a night. This time, we also specified that they had to clean also (lesson learned 2 years ago). This worked well, with even the 21year old and his friends cooking (burgers, infused with bacon and cheese - my cholesterol is up).

One family member twisted my arm and asked for a photo shoot - posed pictures of their two year old. My goal is to do these photo shoots regularly for all of the grand-kids.

The family largely obeyed my censorship demand - no facebook or tweets about vacation until it was over (thank you very much). I felt it better if 99% of the US didn't know that we left our house unattended. Yes, we had a neighbor watching the house and we had two different people who came by while we were gone (for two very different reasons), but I still felt better not having the social network communities broadcasting my vacation plans.

As a result of a relaxing week at the beach, I plan to restart my blog - or reboot (a new use for a word I've known a long time from a description of the new movie Planet of the Apes - see here)

Over the next few weeks, expect to see posts on family, the economy, education (courtesy vacation discussion), politics and personal finance. As usual, I won't stick to a single topic. And your comments are always welcome.

Reflections on a marathon

This past weekend was the Richmond Sun Trust Marathon. My son-in-law decided to run this year and we decided to go up and be his cheering section. The fact that our grand-daughter was going to be there added to our reasons to go.

Adam has run two marathons before: The Marine Corps Marathon and the NYC Marathon in 2008 (see my post about the 2008 NYC Marathon). This was my first. Since I didn't want to show him up, I elected not to run this year, maybe next year. Then again, maybe pigs will fly next year too.

Since I've been traveling a lot, my wife and I made use of frequent flyer points and hotel reservation points to minimize our cost. We flew up on Thursday and arrived late that night. Friday, we rode through the marathon route. That gave us non-runners a good view of what Adam would be seeing on Saturday and helped get him in the right mind-set. It also showed us all where the hills would be.

On race day, we saw the start of the race. Over 4900 runners started out. I made the mistake of being on the wrong side of the street and didn't get good pictures at this point. I also couldn't get back across the street until after all 4900+ runners passed.


After the start, we hustled over to the first check-point to cheer our runner on. He was looking good and flashed us a thumbs-up.

And of course, the smallest cheer leader even had her own sign:

I'm still processing pictures for uploading. All-in-all, we had a great time. Adam didn't finish in as good a time as he wanted, not sure how his time compares to the previous two. I guess next year I'll have to enter so I can show him how it's done (HA!).

Vacation - 2009

This past weekend, we took all the kids and grandkids to the beach for a long weekend. Actually, I guess the long part was the travel. With 5 kids and 5 grandkids (4 under 9 months old), we spent a lot of hours traveling to the beach. Normally a 5 hour drive for most of us, we loaded up enough diapers for a small army and made the trek in 6 different cars (1 addition car made a partial trip).

I calculate we put almost 3000 miles on SC (and some NC) highways on our mission. We had good weather Saturday morning and the girls got in some shopping while the guys kept the kids. Sunday morning was golf for the guys (minus me - not a golfer). While this was intended to be a low cost weekend (and it was relatively low cost), the total impact to SC economy was probably around $2500.

All in all, a great weekend. It's amazing how much noise can be generated by 4 crying babies. It's also wonderful.

P.S. The pic above is a testament to how hard I work at being lazy...

Camping trip - take two

Last August I tried to go camping but was rained out (read about it here). Today, I leave for another attempt at the trip. If the weatherman is accurate, and if I believe in signs today like I did last August (see the post), this trip is meant to be.

Some family members are supposed to visit tonight and I'll grill some burgers. My 3 year old grandson is supposed to stay with me and tomorrow, we'll do some hiking, then come back the following day.

Wish me luck.

P.S. Sorry, that's not my tent in the picture. But one can hope....

Back from vacation

As I last posted, I was headed out to vacation. A week in beautiful Charleston, SC can be very relaxing. We drove down on Saturday and found the temperatures were unseasonably cold. No matter, we still were able to do almost everything including a couple of walks on the beach (albeit in blue jeans and jackets).

We went with another couple and their 3-year old daughter. I had forgotten how much fun a child that age can be. Especially when she's not your problem when things don't go according to plan. You can simply walk away and think "I'm glad she's not MY problem." Fortunately, that didn't happen often.

On Wednesday, Greg & I walked the Cooper River Bridge. The weekend before, 35,000+ people had run the bridge (see here). We walked the opposite direction (from downtown to Mt. Pleasant) and fortunately had the wind at our back. Total walk was about 4 miles.

Oh, the picture above? We saw this on our last day in a parking garage. Apparently, the car had been there a long time, definitely longer than the 72 hour limit the garage had posted. The words just struck me as funny. If you can't read it, it asks "any dead bodies inda car"? Now if CSI shows up to investigate, it stops being funny.

Great vacation, glad I'm back. (not really on that last part, but it sounds good).

Batteries

On Saturday, after becoming an empty nester (see Sunday's post), I took my wife's car to the local auto parts store to have the battery tested. It had failed to start earlier that morning, and the battery seemed like the best bet. Once it was checked out, the store-worker confirmed that the power in it was low (something like 100 amps, vs expected 400). He also checked the alternator and saw that it was putting out 14 volts, which meant it was in good shape. A new battery was purchased and the car is fine now.

This morning, the optical mouse on my desktop computer stopped working. This happens pretty frequently, and rather than wasting energy by turning on the low battery light, it just dies. I stopped at WalMart this morning for a pack of AAA's and it should be working again soon.

So where is all this leading? Well, it's time to recharge my personal batteries. This year has been a particularly frustrating year at work and it doesn't look like it's going to get better. So it's time for me to take a vacation.

Next week I plan to go camping at Table Rock State Park. One of the beautiful things about this State Park is that there are no computer hookups. No cell phones. Just peace and quiet. I plan on doing a little hiking, but since I'm not in 100% shape (maybe not even 75%), I won't attempt a climb to the top. There are a few nice shorter trails that I'll use. I'll take my camera, a few good books and the Good Book and just get away for a while.

I'm planning on 3 days (2 nights), but depending on the weather (hopefully Fay will have visited and gone) and how I feel, I may shorten or extend the trip.

I'll miss the Democratic Convention (darn), but it will go on without me. I'll catch up on the news when I get back. Consider this a fast (or really a "slow"), away from computers, the internet, tv and work. I'll probably post once or twice more this week, then no computers for a week

Washington Vacation - Bob's church

(My apologies if you saw this post a few seconds ago - empty. I hit a bad button on my keyboard and submitted it accidentally. Bad Button! {ok, it's been admonished})

For our last 2 days of vacation, we drove about half way back to a little town called Scottsburg, Va to visit with a friend of ours named Bob. Dinner was grilled chicken and good company. Catching up on old times, sharing plans for the future. Thanks Bob & Mary for the hospitality.

Then Sunday morning, we got up to go to Bob's church. Now Bob doesn't own the church, but he is the preacher there. Senior Pastor you might say (only pastor you might say). It was a nice small town church, a "shotgun" church if you're familiar with the term. One piano, old hymns and a lot of loving, smiling people. Music led by a lady and special music by her and her young teen daughter on the guitar. Very good harmony. "Daddy's Hands" put tears in my dear wife's eyes as she remembered her daddy's hands. (lyrics here)

The church gave out little key-ring flashlights to all the dads in the congregation. I honestly believe that this is the first time I've ever been given anything by the church for father's day. Moms get roses, but Dads get nothing. As my friend Neil pointed out in his Father's Day post, it IS the 17th most important holiday of the year.

Finally, back home last night, I enjoyed a dinner made by my two youngest. Chicken al fredo with bow-tie pasta.

Vacation was nice, but it's good to be home again

Washington vacation - At the zoo (part 4)

Today was our trip to the zoo. As we were getting ready, the Simon and Garfunkel song "At the Zoo" hit me (lyrics here). I recalled that I have the song on my laptop, so I googled the lyrics, brought up Media Player and serenaded my wife in my mostly out of tune voice. She thinks I'm crazy.

We heard there were some delays on the Metro (Red Line). I confirmed this would affect us, but hey, we're not on a schedule. Delays don't bother us. We boarded the Metro (Yellow Line) rode to the China Town station, which seemed kinda scary based on all those old movies. It wasn't bad, we figured out we could go down an escalator and board the Red Line. The train was in the station boarding and we managed to hop on quickly. We got seats, but not together. Off to Metro Center, some folks get off and we get to sit together. Leaves the station and goes a few hundred yards and then STOPS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TUNNEL. We sit a while and then a nervous lady announces we are headed in reverse back to Metro Center and everyone has to get off the train.

I took it seriously, we exited and went to the street. We caught a taxi and had a nice day at the zoo. The metro back was uneventful, then on the news, we found out there was a fire on the train tracks. GOOD THING WE GOT OFF THE TRAIN! No one was hurt due to the fire, there were some stations closed and some passengers had to climb 188 steps to get above ground. One person hospitalized. Given the situation, not too bad.

Dinner in Old Towne Alexandria. We had a nice Italian dinner and then walked by the water. A nice romantic evening.

Tomorrow we head back. :(

Washington vacation - part 3

Today was cut short by some personal business I had to handle. This forced us back to our hotel by 12:30, but we spent the morning at Arlington Cemtery. We visited JFK's tomb and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. Watching the changing of the guard was impressive. I sat there in the blazing sun (90+ degrees) and some humidity. Sweat rolling down my back. But the whole time, I was thinking, that guy has to be hotter than me. 21 paces. Turn to face the tomb. Pause for 21 seconds. Turn to go back. Pause for 21 seconds. 21 paces. Repeat. For thirty minutes. Then the changing of the guard.

The seargent came out and announced what was going on and asked for silence. The new guard came out. Inspection time. Now, I know it was inspected before he came out. But it was a thorough inspection. First of the arms. White glove test on the bayonet (all the time, the first guard still pacing, turning, pausing, repeat). Then inspection of the uniform. Very deliberate. All in all, lasted about 5 minutes.

Then visting the memorial to the Shuttles Challenger and Columbia and the troops killed in the failed Iranian rescue attempt.

I was reminded of the quote from Robert E. Lee "It is good that war is so horrible, or we might grow to like it.'

The afternoon was spent by the pool, me in the shade, her in the sun.

A very relaxing day

Funniest thing of the day: 1) the little girl who passed us on the way to the pool who said "Bye Randy" (I think she was talking to her brother and 2) Stopping at a Bestway grocery store for canned Pepsi and being the only English speaking people there.

Washongton Vacation - part 2

Today we toured the monuments and memorials. We slept a little later, but then we have no schedule so that was ok. The temperature was down at least 10 degrees from yesterday and lower humidity. It was pleasant this morning, livable this afternoon.

The Washington Monument was neat. A word to any prospective visitors, either plan your trip or be prepared NOT to go into the cool places. By the time we arrived, all tickets for the monument for the day were gone. You can order tickets (they are free) online or by phone, but you have to order a month in advance. No problems, I laid on the pavement beside it and took pictures (will upload on another day).

One man asked my wife if she could take a picture of him and someone with him (father? brother? friend? it didn't matter). She gladly did so, then when she was finished, I offered to take a picture of the three of them together. It took him a minute to realize I was joking. He took a picture of the two of us with the Lincoln Memorial in the background.

We also did the memorials. While at the WWII memorial, we actually saw Bob Dole. We have lots of pictures. What was most striking at the WWII memorial was the number of WWII veterans accompanied by their children, about my age. I spoke to one vet who served in the Army, 1942-1946. His job was loading the ships. I asked him if he had been in Seattle and he said yes. I told him my dad was there in late 1945 (post VJ day) and planted grass. Dad always said he had to cut that same grass when he came back through after his tour. The man laughed.

We then went to the Vietnam Memorial. I know one family that lost a son there. When I was about 10, he died. I remember the man crying at church. It always struck me. We found his name and took some pictures. I tried to help one lady get a "rubbing" off the wall. It was very high and even I couldn't reach it. Her husband and I offered for her to stand on our legs, we crooked our knees to give her a platform. Unfortunately, we weren't stable enough. Later we saw her with a park ranger and a ladder.

Next was the Lincoln Memorial. Then the Korean War memorial. Then we took a long walk the the FDR memorial. I remember one of the quotes on the wall talked about what he thought about war. It ended with "I hate war". After seeing all the memorials today and then seeing this quote, it really struck me. Of course, even though he hated war, FDR was the one who led us into WWII. Enough said about that. I want to remember the memorials and remember that quote. More on another day.

Finally, we went to the Jefferson Memorial. On the way back to the Metro station a lady coming out of the Dept of Treasury stopped us from going up the wrong way. We asked her the quickest way and after a momentary hesitation, she said we could just follow her. Once she headed to her car (or wherever) she gave us excellent directions to the station. I don't know what her job was, but she was very nice.

Strangest thing for today: The waitress at dinner. She had tattoos all over her forearms and had a pierced tongue, a pierced eyebrow, and a pierced lip/chin (looked painful). She also had a pen in her hair, I don't think it went through any skin (I hope not). She was a good waitress.

The Obama Hand Bump

I wanted to get this prediction in quickly, so I can say that I beat everyone to the punch (no pun intended).
Prediction: By the end of 2008, everyone will be doing the "Obama Hand Bump" (I intend to trademark that term, so everyone who uses it will send me a quarter).

When Obama "won" the Democratic nomination, he gave his wife the "Obama Hand Bump" (OHB). Did you see it? It actually wasn't a good one, way too deliberate. But as a declaration of victory, it was pretty good. High fives would have been ok, but this was something unique (not really, but that's besides the point). A chest bump on stage, like all the football players, would not have worked. Neither Obama is big enough to obliterate the other, but it just wouldn't have looked good. I'm sure some women's rights group would have said he was trying to abuse her.

I also predict that OHB will carry over into 2009, regardless the results of the election. We'll see it at all business kick-off meetings. As Executive 1 passes the meeting to Executive 2, they'll hand bump on the way by. There may have to be executive training sessions on how to properly execute OHB (I'd better get more than a quarter for business use of the term). CEO's will be shown the proper force to use. Too little and you're seen as a wimp. Too much and you could wipe out a key employee. OHB your boss too hard and you may get fired.

I'm on vacation, but I'm going to start practicing. As I wander around DC today, I'm going to OHB random people just to see what kind of reaction I get (if I don't post something tomorrow, please send someone to bail me out.)

Washington vacation

As mentioned in my last post, I'm on vacation in Washington DC. One astute reader noted that Bush was out of country, so I won't be seeing him this trip.

We spent Sunday night with some friends and business contacts on the way up (thanks Tom and Lory!). It was a chance for the females to meet as I'd met Lory before. We had some good ribs and enjoyed a nice evening. Then Monday we drove up.

On the way up Monday, we stopped at the Marine Museum. In one minute, you felt gung-ho, in the next you felt proud and inspired by the stories of these young men and women.

Last night we toured downtown DC, mostly driving around. Refilling the tank cost $4+/gallon. What an experience. (I promise a post on gas prices later).

Today was HOT. We took the Metro downtown, then walked to the Botanical Gardens. Then, my favorite, we walked to the Smithsonian Air & Space museum. I could have stayed there all day (plus it was cool inside). Next was the Natural History museum. By 5pm, we were exhausted.

Strangest occurrence: On Sunday somewhere around Butner, NC, I ran into a business contact from Winston-Salem, NC (90+ miles away) at Wendy's. He was headed home from DC.

Vacate

Yep, I'm going on vacation. The purpose of which is to "vacate" as in to clear the brain.
I'll take the laptop, so you may still see some posts and comments. I'll check my work email (self defense - I get 50-100 emails a day) and probably just delete emails I don't want. I can answer the important ones when I get back.

Our destination? Washington DC. I've been twice before, but my wife has never been. I'm disappointed that we won't get to see the White House. I've seen it before and honestly there's not much to it. But it would have been nice. The post-9/11 rules won't allow it unless you're in a group and give a lengthy notice. Ah well, we'll see all of the monuments and museums, or at least get our fill of them.

Maybe I'll call George and have breakfast with him, just to let him know how things are going. I wonder if he eats grits?

Savannah

This past weekend, my wife & I took a short trip to Savannah, a first for both of us. This was in celebration of our sixth anniversary.

Let me first say that I am married to the most wonderful woman in the world. How she puts up with me continues to be a mystery and the fact that she deigns to my level is still beyond my comprehension. But she doesn't consider it that at all and that's even more mysterious.

Savannah is a nice town to visit. At 60 feet above sea level (lower in places), I'm not sure I'd want to live there. There's lots of history, back to the revolutionary war, the Spanish-American war and the Civil War. We walked through a Colonial cemetery and read some of the tombstones. The first I saw was a woman who died after the birth of her 15th child. I think it was self-defense.

We strolled along the river, saw street performers and just enjoyed the first evening. On Saturday we went to a light house. It was nice, but looked like all the other light houses I've seen. I'm sure I'll see more in the years to come.

After the lighthouse and the lighthouse museum, we went downtown for another stroll. (I find that I stroll more now that I'm older). Saturday night we took in a riverboat cruise. It was nice and relaxing, but we couldn't see a lot. Sunday morning we took a carriage ride. Lots of historical information.

Savannah is smaller than I imagined. It would be hard to make a full week out of it, but it's a nice weekend get-away.

Vacation is over

Vacation was great. Braves won 2 out of 4 games, Bonds didn't get his record breaking home run against my team (but it would have been nice to see it).

But today, I was back at work. And unfortunately, it was hectic, catching up with everything. Why must it be that return to work makes you regret (at least a little) the fact that you took time off?

The son of a very good friend of mine was in a major car accident about two weeks ago. I saw the friend and is one today and things are better than before I left for vacation. He has a severe brain injury, but they are talking about transferring him to a hospital close to home (he is about 4 hours from home now). They have (after almost 2 weeks) removed the ventilator and most of the tubes. Hopes are improved, but still no discussion of the long term prognosis. Your prayers are appreciated.

San Francisco - a nice place to visit.....

I wanted to post an update on the city, not just baseball or vacation. We're staying downtown, outside of some of the traditional areas. It's not the financial district, nor is it China town. It's a little off the standard tourist area, but not too far.

The city is relatively clean, but not sparkling. There's not a lot of trash like in some cities. But most streets smell of urine. The number of homeless people is amazing. It's tough to walk a block without seeing 10-15. Many of these appear to have some form of mental/physical deficiency. Most are asking for handouts, but no one has been "in your face" with their requests. The few times we've been walking around at night, mostly for short distances, most of the streets are empty of these folks, so they must have somewhere to go.

As for the other people in this city, life is busy as in any city. The sidewalks are full in the daytime of people rushing from point A to point B. Cellphones and Bluetooth are out and a large percentage are making their next deal or calling their bookie (I overheard a conversation in the men's room). The people working here are generally nice, but a few have been down-right rude. These few aren't enough to spoil the city, but it's more than in most cities. The desk-clerk who was rude to his co-workers and some guests, the lady at the metro train station who treatedly me rudely because I had to audacity to ask questions.

The weather has also surprised me. Last night was down right cold at the ball game. 60 degrees for the high yesterday, (cooler after sundown) fog and heavy winds made it almost unbearable with our light jackets. Special thanks to my wife for asking about jackets as we left. Otherwise we would've been in bad trouble. I'm told this is normal.

And we wistnessed a shop lifting. We were at a department store and this fellow was folding shirts. He had a strange bulge under his jacket and I looked him in the eyes. He seemed almost catatonic as he looked back, sort of "the lights are on, but no-one's home." I walked away and then realized what was going on. I went to tell the security guard (who was almost asleep standing up) and she went after the guy as he left. She didn't catch him, but another security guard and store manager came. I explained what happened and then they re-deployed the store employees to watch for the next shop-lifter.

All in all, not a bad city, but not the highest on my list. The homeless people do bother me a lot. Why are so many here? I honestly believe it's a higher per centage than in most cities I've visited (including New Your which is high also). What makes this city attractive to homeless? What will happen to these people? I'm no bleeding heart liberal, some of them are quite capable of getting a job. But many aren't capable and clearly need help.

In the old days, these people would have been in an institution. Many of them should be today. That may sound cold, but they can't take care of themselves. Back in the 80's, many of the mental institutions were down-sized and the patients were main-streamed back into society. While this was good for many and the institutions were bad, it was bad for many more and the streets were worse. The cost of institutions was (and still is) high, but the humanity of leaving these people on the streets is worse.

I think of all the memories I have of this town, the homeless will stand out the most.

Day 3 of vacation

Day 3 started out very nicely with us walking all over creation (or at least all/most of SanFrancisco). We saw a lot of touristy things, Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, etc. Alcatraz was truly booked and no chance for us to see it this week, but we brushed that off.

By game time, we were both very tired. We got to the game and found it was very, very cold. And windy. But we enjoyed the game. Late in 7th inning, Bonds struck out and it looked like he wouldn't get another at-bat. Lots of folks left and we moved down to some really good seats in deep center field. Bond came up again in the 9th, but he popped out. With the Braves winning
4-0 and 2 outs, we decided to head for the Muni (train service). Once on the train, we found we left too early. Giants came back and tied it up.

While on the train, Bonds came back up. I was nervous that we would miss one of his big home runs.

Well, if you're a ball fan, you know the rest of the story. We got back to the hotel room in time to listen to the active parts of the extra innings (game was blacked out from TV) and the Braves won 7-5. Bonds did nothing spectacular.

Lesson learned. It ain't over until it's over...

Vacation - End of day 2

Day 1 ended in a major mess (no luggage, the wrong hotel room). Day 2 started out not much better. Luggage finally arrived around 2pm. Then it got better.

We move to a better room after the luggage, got into clean clothes and made our way to the ball park. $2 for the "Muni" to get there, then enjoyed a good game. The Braves won and Bonds didn't get a homerun (actually, I'd like to see him at least tie the record, so I can say I was there).

And we heard some encouraging word about Alcatraz. We're going to go down in the morning and hopefully get to see the place.

As for the luggage, I have some serious problems with the way lost luggage is handled. They contract out the delivery to some local company. Once the delivery company picks up the luggage, it's out of their control. In my case, they tried several times to contact the delivery company with no response. They had no idea what happened after that part.

I have a nasty letter to write and hopefully it will go in the airline's file for the local delivery company..