Can you tell not much is going on?

Been home this week and laying low. It did finally snow a little bit today and not so cold. I'll admit it...I'm tired of the snow.

Okay, but here's the news.

I booked the Coral Princess Hotel and Resort in Cozumel, Mexico for my 50th birthday next year...and you're all invited. I got the three bedroom suite. It is first come first served. The dates? January 17 - 24, 2009.

Friends JT and Linda Taylor are also in the process of reserving another suite. If you decide to come and if you decide to reserve, be sure to mention that it is for my birthday. Who knows they may give you a break.

Toyota Camry

Don't think I've had a Camry before. I like the look. The curves are just right without looking old-school I think.

This one was decked-out. I've been kind of spoiled that last few rental times with lots of gadgets and a level of luxury. The Camry is not a luxury vehicle. I like the large speedometer and the way the tachometer wraps around the speedometer.

I don't like the heating/ventilation controls and radio controls. For some reason I find it confusing when too much functionality is in one control. You push it, you turn it this way for one thing and that way for another thing. I think it becomes tricky to the eye and that isn't a good thing when you're driving.

One more complaint is that the side outside mirrors are small. They do adjust like I like but it takes more adjusting because they are so small.

I have to say that the Camry drives effortlessly. The acceleration is smooth and more than adequate. What really stands out though is the steering. I guess I never pay that much attention to this but the Camry has excellent feedback and it isn't too easy or too hard.

I would recommend the Camry except that it is just kind of boring.

Crazy?

Just got back from walking over to my favorite coffee shop and bakery, Isles Bun & Coffee. It was super crowded. The sun is blazing today and it isn't even 20 degrees yet. But sitting outside the coffee shop, leaning against the building with the sun on your face, drinking coffee, and reading...it was wonderful!

Thankgoodness for flight status notifications

I'm still in Dallas - Irving to be exact.

I always sign up for flight status notifications to be sent to my cell phone. They start 3 hours before my flight. The very first notification had the flight delayed. That is a bad sign.

A couple of minutes later another notification comes. The flight to Minneapolis is now an hour and half delayed. Time to put in plan B. Stay another night and leave in the morning. If the flight schedule is going south that fast, then it is time to bail.

I contacted American Airlines and switched to the first flight out Friday morning. I then got on-line and booked a hotel.

It is now almost 9pm. Another text message came through about an hour ago and the flight tonight is now not supposed to leave until 10:20pm! I am so glad I am not hanging out at the airport. I don't have the temperament nor the energy today to do that.

I highly recommend signing up for notifications if your airline does it and you have a mobile phone with text messaging. Some of them even send voice messages. American is great because they give you all notifications. Northwest only gives you one. If the flight gets delayed, Northwest doesn't tell you. American will tell you delayed departures, delayed arrivals and even gate changes at both ends.

52 degrees

52 degrees was the difference from the temperature in Minneapolis when I left Monday morning and the temperature in Dallas when I landed. Zero in Minneapolis...you can figure out what it was in Dallas.

Speaking of weather. Though this isn't weather really. Did anyone see the eclipse of the moon last night? It was partly cloudy here so only able to see the moon occasionally but it was pretty neat looking.

Heading home today. Noticed that it was zero again this morning in Minneapolis!

Back to Dallas

It was decided last week that some of the team should get together in Dallas this week. So I'm heading back down on Monday morning. I hope it is warm there.

Will be home late Thursday night. Same old same old.

Winter poem

Thanks to Bunny for the following...

From our cousins in Wisconsin, who have it much colder than we do....... I found this beautiful winter poem and thought it might be a comfort to you. It was to me, and it's very well written. ENJOY! ' WINTER ' a poem by Abigail Elizabeth McIntyre

' Sumbitch It's Cold ! '

The End

Not much going on

Home again this week. Heading down to Dallas next week.

Still cold here. Are you tired of hearing me comment on that? Too bad. It is Minnesota after all.

Over the weekend we had 41 hours where it didn't get above zero. It has been a long time since that has happened.

We might finally get some snow Wednesday night and Thursday. I'm not counting on it since all the storms have been passing to the south.

Foolish or Badge of Honor

Fourteen below zero and pretty good wind this morning. It is Sunday and I almost always go to my favorite coffee shop, Isles Buns & Coffee. It is about a ten minute walk.

I got that great face mask/head covering/scarf thing from Betty for my birthday. I wore it to the Pond Hockey Championships and it worked great. Figured this would be another chance to wear it and not look like an axe murderer.

The sun was shining brightly and actually felt good. I was fine until I got to the Lagoon and there weren't any building blocking the wind. Yikes! I was headed right into it. My glasses had fogged over and now the fog was frozen. I had to take off my glasses so I could see.

I made it to the coffee shop and stayed for an hour to warm up before heading home. Walking into the sun felt good.

Winter activities continue

Finally an ice castle to go see. A Habitat for Humanity fund raiser, these people built an ice castle in their backyard!

It is very impressive looking. It looks like its made from water filled buckets and just poured water in place.


The irony was that last night when Christine and I went to see it, it was "closed" due to cold weather.

A big time cold front was coming through yesterday and by night time it was around zero and a whipping wind. It was definitely a bad night to be outside.

Pictures of Jackson, TN

My niece, Kristine, lives in Jackson, Tennessee. She is okay but there was a lot of damage from storms this week.

Kristine sent some pictures, click this to see...My AOL Public Gallery

Caucus Fever

I walked over to my gym this evening. I went out through the backyard to drop off my garbage on my way. My route took me down the alley next to the United Methodist church. The church was the local caucus site.

There were people filing towards the church. The line was out the church and growing down the sidewalk.

I did not caucus this year. I'm still undecided. It was exciting to see so many people participating in our democracy.

A fresh coating of snow

I'm home this week. No travel. Yeah!

We had a bit of snow yesterday. Not as much as they predicted but enough to make everything clean and white again.

City of Lakes Loppet

This weekend was the City of Lakes Loppet. And on Saturday night was the Carabou Luminary Loppet. Lake of the Isles near my house was encircled in 800 ice luminaries.

There was also a pyramid made of ice luminaries. It was so beautiful to see the light around the lake. There were lots of skiers taking part and lots of people just walking around on the lake enjoying the beauty.


There was even two guys doing fire twirling on the ice.

Oh, by the way, loppet is another word for cross country skiing.

Ice sculpture photos

Christine took these photos with her mobile phone camera.





Its the scarecrow and tin man from The Wizard of Oz. Also, the chainsaw man!

Lincoln MKX

This week's rental vehicle was the Lincoln MKX. This smallish SUV is a competitor of last week's Cadillac SRX. So it was comparison time.

Here's a list of the Lincoln's luxury features:
automatic headlamps
automatic heat/AC temperature setting
backup proximity alarm
auto-dimming rear view mirror
power lift gate
XM satellite radio
SYNC system
headlamps that turn as you turn
driver's seat automatically pulls back when you remove the key and pulls forward when you insert the key

My SRX was a front wheel drive only version. It had so much power that it was easy to spin the front wheels. I think the all-wheel drive version would be a better choice. The vehicle looks a lot like the Lexus or BMW small SUV. And it is the sister vehicle to the Ford Edge -- Aunt Donna we talked about wanting to try one of these.

The SRX is very nice to drive. The leather interior is comfortable. There wasn't heated seats and steering wheel like the Cadillac but that is probably an option.

The Lincoln SRX seems more up-to-date than the Cadillac but I would rate the Cadillac SRX slightly better. I've mentioned this before but the GM transmissions are very smooth. Smoother than the Ford.

The Cadillac was the only vehicle I've driven that when you put the transmission in to Drive, it doesn't start moving until you press the gas. I think that is terrific. The vehicle only goes when you want it to. You can stop at a stop and you don't have to keep your foot on the brake to prevent the vehicle from driving forward.

The Lincoln MKX is definitely very very nice and worth a checkout. It is nice to look at from the outside and inside.