Working From Home...sort of

No travel this week so I get to work from home. Except that I cannot connect to my client's network from home for some unexplained reason...unexplained by them because it worked until an upgrade in the Fall.

My two favorite coffee shops to hang out in were also experiencing connection issues. The Dunn Bros at Lake and Bryant is having wireless internet connection problems and have been unable to resolve. Isles Bun & Coffee has the similar connection problems as my home wireless. I can connect to the City of Minneapolis network from Isles but it costs money and is not too reliable.

So being a good consultant I decided to go to the downtown IBM office and connect from there. Well, that was a disaster. To make a long story short, it didn't work so hot. So I packed up and headed back to Uptown. On the way I lost my hat and it is cold and windy today.

I'm at another Dunn Brothers in Uptown but their wireless isn't working correctly either. So I've connected back to the City of Minneapolis service. We'll see how this works out but I think it is a sign that my time with this client should be over or I have to travel to Dallas.

Christmas '09 Snowstorm Rounds 2 and 3

There wasn't really a round 2 other than it snowed all day Christmas but it also warmed up and started to rain on top of the snow....a very big mess was created.
Round 3 would be that it turned cold and the slushy, very wet snow has now frozen. The roads are icy and the sidewalks are treacherous. The mounds of what was wet snow and slush are hard and sharp danger zones.

Merry Christmas Eve -- Snow Storm Round 1

The much anticipated Christmas '09 snow storm is in a bit of a lull at this time. It is just snowing lightly now at 9:30am and was not snowing at all at 8am when I shoveled.

Looks like I've gotten about 5 or 6 inches so far around my house. It is very wet snow and has a blue hue to it.

They are calling for even more snow this evening and overnight. So no doubts about a white Christmas.

Joy and Peace to all...and to all a snowy night.

Ornament Tree

I've been wanting to display my ornaments...many of which are from my childhood and others that I've been given through the years. I've been nervous about hanging them on a tree with Frankie and Uno's curiosity.

I came up with the ornament tree you see to the right as the blog's new photo. It actually looks prettier than the picture.

Merry Christmas to all.

No Travel -- Yay!!

No travel this week. Which is particularly good since I think I've come down with something.

Really sore throat on Friday and now just run down. Glad I'm not flying this week.

Prairie Lights pictures

Here is the entrance as we start the drive through.

Asha at the lighted forest.  There was a separate admission but the girl in the booth very sweetly let us in for free.

A rare Friday in Dallas

Client asked that I stay through Friday this week since I won't be traveling for the remainder of 2009.

This past Tuesday went to Prairie Lights with Asha.  I have a neat video that I'll post this weekend.  Yesterday we had a team lunch at the Four Seasons.  Just us IBM developers and client developers.  It was nice to get everyone out of the building and together for a change.  I then took the IBM developers and their wives to the client's downtown store.

I was hoping for amazing Christmas window displays but was somewhat disappointed.  Client has done a display to support children, innovation and creativity.  It was clever but not so Christmassy.  The store itself is not all that big but is extremely tasteful.

Santa was there having his picture taken with children but he was getting ready to take a break when we arrived.  He looked a bit tired and was kind of cranky when I tried to chat with him.  I'd probably be cranky too if all kinds of kids had been sitting on my lap.

Dallas for the last time....2009

This is probably my last week in Dallas for 2009.  There is an outside chance that this is the last time period.

Left Minneapolis this morning with a beautiful light snow and low teens.  My new outdoor thermometer wasn't displaying and I didn't have time to find out why.  Arrived in Dallas where it is sunny and low 70's.

Shovel test

Got home last night anticipating the new patio covered with snow and how shoveling would go. 

I am very happy to report that it is easier to shovel than the old sidewalk.  The old sidewalk was narrow and had been pushed up in couple of places.  Though I was used to it and knew exactly where each little step was, it is nice to have a large even surface that I can shovel as wide and where I want.

I tried shoveling the driveway this morning and got it half way done before my hands got too cold.  It was 3 below and the snow had blown off the garage roof and was over a foot deep on the drive.  I'll do the rest of it later.

Wild goose chase...or is it a coyote?

Asha invited me to go see the Prairie Lights a Christmas light display that you drive through.  She lives in Cedar Hills which is south of Dallas.

I met her at her house.  First we were going to put the lights on her Christmas tree but on the last string of lights one half weren't working.  I tried replacing the fuses but that didn't work.  We gave up.

We climbed into my Hertz Ford F-150 with Beaux, Asha's new dog.  We stopped at Popeye's and Taco Bell for some food to take.  We planned on eating while waiting in the line to get into Prairie Lights.

Turned out that Asha didn't know exactly where Prairie Lights was but we figured there would be plenty of signs.  Well, there werent'!  Matter of fact the one or two signs that we did see were not in the least bit helpful.  We drove around for quite awhile until we went back to a sign to get the phone number.  Asha called and the directions given over the phone were also not very helpful.

We finally arrived a little before 10pm.  The place closed at 9pm!

On the way out to Prairie Lights we saw a coyote cross the road right in front of us.  Seeing that animal made me think that Mom's backyard fox may have actually been a coyote.  My brother had also mentioned that Kim (daughter) had seen an entire coyote family in her backyard in rural Virginia.

On the road again

Back in Dallas this week.  I have made the top level of American Airlines frequent flier program, Executive Platinum. I think the only real difference is I get automatic upgrades.

I'm renting from Hertz this week.  Got a Ford 150 pickup truck!

Past week's trip to DC/VA

I decided to do a between holidays trip back home to Virginia. My friend Christine was going to DC for an interview with the State Department for a foreign service job. I thought it would be fun to do some DC touring with Christine. Her friend Liz drove down from Philadelphia to visit, too.

I landed in DC at Reagan National Tuesday night. The new airport section is beautiful in the evening.
I rented a car and drove out to Mom's in Burke, Virginia.  Wednesday Mom and I drove to Pentagon City to park the car and catch the Metro.  Mom's Metro pass wasn't working so she got to ride for free and we went to Metro Center station to see if we could get it fixed.  She had to buy a new card and the clerk gave us directions on how to transfer the money from the old one to the new one.

We took Metro to Judiciary Square to visit the National Building Museum.  This rarely-visited museum is one of my favorites.  It is so beautiful inside and out.  There was an exhibit on parking garages which was interesting.  The gift shop at the National Building Museum is probably one of the best in the city.

Christine and Liz were touring the Holocaust Museum on the other side of the national mall. Mom and I met Christine and Liz and at the American History Museum which recently completed a major renovation. I wanted to see the new Star Spangled Banner flag exhibit. The exhibit is amazing and quite moving.

It was raining pretty good by the time we left the museum which closed at 5:30. We walked over to the Willard Hotel to have a drink before meeting my friend Lance Pennington and his partner Tony near Capitol Hill. It was raining hard when we left the Willard to take the Metro to Eastern Market. We found the restaurant and had a fabulous time with Lance and Tony. I've known Lance since the early 1980's when I worked at Arena Stage. Lance is still there.

Mom and I got home very late. Thursday my sister Carol came over and we went to Occoquan for lunch. It was warm this morning but cooling off as the day went on. We ate at The Garden Cafe and it was still warm enough to walk around this historic little river town.

Thursday night Mom and I met my sister Lea, her husband Tim, my niece Gracie Kay and her husband Nate and son Alex in Alexandria for dinner. Alex had just turned three and has quite the vocabulary. When Mom and I got home, she looked out her fourth floor apartment and saw a large fox in the back yard. The fox hung around for little bit before trotting back into the woods.

Friday we met my friend Judy for lunch. Judy was the executive secretary at my very first job out of college in 1981. We've kept in touch all these years. Friday night was do-nothing night and relax.

Saturday we ran some errands early as it was supposed to snow. The predictions were changing by the hour but it was sounding like it was going to be a good storm. And it was. My early evening there were a few inches of very wet snow and it was sticking to the road which wasn't expected.
We had already made tentative arrangements to meet my brother Loyd (Spade). We were hoping to help decorate his boat on the Potomac and participate in their annual Christmas boat float. It was raining down where he was and decided not to get wet and play with electricity. So we met Spade and his wife Bev in Gainesville. It was still snowing a lot and the drive was kind of slow with some cars already spilled out in the median.
After dinner with Bev and Spade, we saw my niece Kimberly at her hair salon. She is manager and head hair dresser.

I flew home today.

Road Trip - Ely, Minnesota

Weekend road trip to Ely, MN for Pat Lammi's 75th birthday celebration. Stopped in Cloquet, MN at the only gas station designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The attendant was very nice and opened the upper level observation deck.

Here is Pat and the gang from Minneapolis that came to wish her a happy birthday. Front row left to right is Sam, Bailey, Pat (birthday girl), Linda and Amy. Back row is Bunny (Pat's daughter) JT and Jeff (crouching so he doesn't feel so tall).

Ely is the home of the International Wolf Center. From Pat's birthday party we drove to the other end of town to see these magnificent animals.

The Wolf Center has created a pack of five wolves from 3 different sub-species of timber wolves. They were very active while we were there. The guides were extremely knowledgeable and excited to talk about the wolves.

Back on the other side of town is a newer center for bears, the North American Bear Center. It is home to three black bears..one of which we were able to see after looking every where but under our noses.
There are lots and lots of video screens showing various bears and these three to greet you at the front door.

We drove back to Minneapolis via Duluth stopping at the lift bridge entrance to the Duluth harbor.

It wasn't really too cold for Duluth even though Amy and Linda look freezing.

A miracle

The miracle is that I found a cat grooming tool that actually makes Uno purr.

First off I've never heard Uno purr if there wasn't food or running water involved. She loves yogurt, peanut butter, cottage cheese and, yesterday, I discovered she likes cooked sweet potato. She also purrs for water coming out of the faucet.

I finally went to my dentist since I was home this week and there is a pet store below my dentist's office. I planned on just getting some special cat treats for Thanksgiving but saw this rubber grooming tool that looked like it would at least be soft on her skin.

I finally really gave it go this evening and Uno actually started to purr! To be honest the tool doesn't do a great job of removing the loose hair but does pick up some. Best of all though is that she doesn't squirm and complain...until I picked her up and started to groom her tummy. The good cheer ended with that but I think she'll be okay the next time.

The name of the tool is the KONG Zoom Groom and can be seen under Cats - Grooming at their website...kongcompany.

An almost nothing day

Today, Sunday, was an almost nothing day...it was fabulous.

I stayed in bed to listen to National Public Radio Sunday morning show. Then continued my lounging while watching CBS Sunday Morning.

I finally got out of bed and fixed breakfast. I wandered over to Isle Bun & Coffee to get a coffee and cinnamon bun. I read the paper while sitting outside. It was a warm day though no sun.

Walked to the bank ATM and then home. Watched the Vikings beat Seattle and channel surfed. Frankie and Uno were quiet all day.

Finally at 3pm I decided I should do something so cleaned up some in the garden. Trimmed up the peonies, day lilies and irises. I let Frankie out so spent time keeping an eye on him. The garden work took about an hour and a half. That was it.

And no travel this week. Yeah!

Busy week...sort of

Was kind of a busy work week in Dallas. The project has entered a new phase where actual users are testing in one environment while the client's tech folks are trying to populate another environment for more testing.

This all means that my team is not working so much on fixes but mostly providing assistance to client teams. In some ways it ends up being a bit easier work load but at other times their crisis becomes ours!

My car from National Car Rental this week was filthy. I should have taken it back but didn't have time and only realized how really dirty it was as the week went on. There was a lot of dew one morning and on the windshield was actual writing! It kind of looked like the Amazing Race episode on Sunday where the the contestants had to figure out a secret message by holding up a piece of paper to a candle. I couldn't make out what was written though.

I told the rental return guy yesterday what I thought of the dirtiness. He apologized and took off the gas charges and a day of rent. That was nice and unexpected. It is really the first time I have had an issue with National.

Saw Port Twilight at The Undermain Theatre thanks to John Arnone, the Tony-award winning set designer. Port Twilight is a strange new play by Len Jenkins. Well acted and definitely a thought provoker.

At DFW you have to take a bus to the centralized car rental facility. When you return your car, you have to be sure to take the correct bus back. There are separate buses for each of the terminals -- A thru E.

I'm on the Terminal D bus headed back to the airport and notice that the driver takes the E exit. I was sitting up front and I asked him if he knew that he took the E exit. He said he had just come from there and so was kind of on auto-pilot...where have we heard that before recently?

I don't think anyone else on the bus realized what was going on. The bus driver adeptly just exited back on to the regular road and took the D terminal exit. He thanked me for pointing it out. That is the first time in 2 1/2 years that that has happened.

The flight home turned out to be totally uneventful...thank goodness. Though I had to switch from the 5:45pm flight to the 8:40pm flight because of a late meeting. It was a bit of a hassle to change flights as American has some strick timing rules.

Direct line to Santa

I call my friend Kathy in Petoskey, Michigan every Thursday from the airport as I wait for my flight home. Kathy does event management and one of her clients is the town where she lives.

The town puts on a Thanksgiving parade the Saturday after Thanksgiving and Kathy is managing it. I asked her if Santa was in the parade. She said there was and her problem has been getting his sleigh/carriage. The previous "donator" of the equipment went out of the horse busiess and sold off all his stuff.

She hounded the guy who bought the horses and was able to track down a carriage for Santa. So I asked her if she was in communication with Santa. And she is...or at least Mrs. Claus was the last person she talked to and made sure that Santa was still on.

So if you need a Santa connection, Kathy's got it.

Not one of my better ideas

I made a pact with myself to eat at at least one new restaurant a week. I had gotten into kind of rut with my eating choices. I've passed a Mexican place on the way to the hotel every evening so decided to try it.

The restaurant seemed close enough to walk to and it was a nice evening. I checked into the hotel and changed into jeans and sneakers...at least that was a good idea.

Well, I forgot that Dallas doesn't believe in sidewalks. I hadn't gone very far when the sidewalks ended and I was walking through grass. Then grass that had just been watered so I ended up walking in the road.

I finally made it to the restaurant, J Pepe's. To be honest it was a little scary looking. Only one other couple at a table and a few guys at the bar. After walking all that way and with nothing else around, this was it for dinner.

I ordered a variety plate with chicken flauta, a beef enchilada and chicken in soft tortilla. The food was actually very good.

Instead of clogging through the grass and all I thought I'd simply take the next street over....one further from the freeway. Well, it was dark and deserted and ended up taking me further from the hotel than I reckoned.

Needless to say I made it back safely and certainly didn't need to go to the gym as the long walk was workout enough.

Something going on at MSP

There was something going on at Minnespolis-St. Paul International this morning. When I was going to get into the security line, there was a police officer telling everyone in line to go to another security entrance. I'm pretty sure it was not a TSA person.

Then when our plane was getting ready to get on the runway for takeoff, two police vehicles came down the runway from the opposite direction! The two vehicles passed in front of our plane with their lights going. They pulled over next to each other near the NWA repair hanger and the same 747 that was parked out there from last week when we had to turn around.

Looked on Star Tribune web site but didn't see anything. Anyway, made it to Dallas with no delays or problems.

A Weather Window of Opportunity

The weather this weekend was perfect. Highs in the sixties and lows in the forties. Perfect for finishing the backyard patio.

The temperature needed to remain above 40 and be dry in order to put down the special sand product called polymeric sand. It is swept into the cracks between the stones and then wet down. It dries hard and keeps weeds and ants from coming through in addition to filling the gaps between the stones.

I had gotten 5 bags when I bought the 5 tons of stone. The salesman at the stone place made the estimate. He was pretty darn right on. I needed about another half bag which I got Saturday morning.

Here is the patio just after the watering on Saturday around 1pm.

The next two photos are from today with the product nearly dry and beautiful. I am so so pleased with how it all came out.

It was a lot of work but the final result looks great and is just wanted I had envisioned.

A Special First Saturday Coffee

An absolutely beautiful day for coffee outdoors.

Bunny brought an interesting postcard for show and tell. James wowed the crowd with his double-circle origami trick.

This first Saturday of the month coffee gathering turned into a special event because of Rose's mystery guest. He was such a mystery that even Rose had never met him.

David Knapp, Special Events Coordinator Minnesota AIDS Project, presented the team 6th place award to Rose. As many of you know Rose is the team leader for "Rosie's Arts Ensemble" MN AIDS Walk team.

The team was the 2nd smallest in the top ten but raised enough money to place 6th! Thanks to all the team members and to all the team contributors.

Ladies and Gentlemen, an on time arrival

With gorgeous North Texas weather, Minneapolis St Paul International runway reconstruction complete and clear, dry Minnesota weather my 6pm flight left on time and arrived on time.

A quiet cheer.

Luck - both kinds

Bad luck -- I couldn't get an aisle seat on my flight yesterday. I played the waiting game to see if one would free up but it only got worse. By the time I checked in online there were only middle seats. I decided I would use my upgrade points and try for an upgrade.

Good luck -- I was standing in line to talk to the gate agent about getting on the upgrade list when my name magically appeared on the upgrade list. It had gotten busy at all three of the American Airline gates and the gate agent was in and out. When she got back I told her I was wanting to upgrade and that my name had magically appeared on the list. She agreed that American was magic. I got a first class seat.

Bad luck -- I think I actually dozed off while we taxied to the runway because when I opened my eyes, instead of being in the air we were parked along side a Northwest 747 and the repair hanger. A few seconds later the cockpit door opens and the co-pilot walks down the aisle of the plane.
A little later he comes back to the cockpit and the pilot announces that a passenger reported that a wing didn't look right for takeoff and since she and the co-pilot weren't sure what it was supposed to look like, we were heading back to the gate for a maintenance inspection.

Good luck -- Maintenance and the co-pilot checked out the wings and we were given the "all clear" to fly. Having idled and taxied all that time, we had to get the fuel topped off and we were on our way a bit over an hour late.

More good luck -- The pilot made up almost half hour of time in the air...pretty remarkable for a 2 hour flight and we ended up landing only about a half hour later than usual.

The weather in Dallas is beautiful by the way.

Buick LaCrosse

First impression is of a sleek high-tech 2010 vehicle. The exterior is somewhat similar to the Infinity G series. The side windows make a very graceful arc like a crescent moon.

The interior continues the curves with a wrap around dash in the same family as the Chevy Malibu. The lines of the dash board continue on to the driver and front passenger doors. The handle to pull the door closed has its own curve as does the handle to open the door.

The interior ambient lighting highlights the curves. There is a bead of light the entire length of the dash. Each curved handle cavity on drive and passenger sides include ambient lights as does the side of the console between driver and passenger.

There are lots of buttons and knobs in the center of the dash for climate and radio controls. The vehicle information center is not too intuitive at first. I prefer the speedometer in the center of the driver's sight in the dash but the LaCrosse has it to the left and the tachometer to the right. In between is vehicle information which you can control and one of the settings is a digital speedometer. I ended up using that even though I prefer the remaining miles to empty display.

The engine is smooth running and like all the GMs the transmission is fantastic.

One thing that really really sets the LaCrosse apart from almost any vehicle I've had in Dallas is the ride. Dallas roads are bad. Not pot holes. Not rough paving. It is the fact that they just lay the road on the ground without grading the earth before. So there are undulations and bumps and dips where you aren't expecting. The LaCrosse smooths them all out without having a cruise ship feel. The steering is very light and easy and you still feel in control of the vehicle.

According to the MPG display I was getting around 22 miles per gallon. That isn't very good in this day and age but this is one four door sedan I think people should definitely consider.

Fire Alarms

The fire alarm was sounded at work yesterday and it was raining...no...pouring at the time. The announcement was to gather in your designated area but I didn't know where that was so just followed the crowd.

Thankfully it was determined that a smoke detector had indeed gone off but there was no fire and we didn't have to go outside into the mess.

My flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Minneapolis was way way delayed. There had been tornado warnings in Dallas in addition to all the rain. Even my first notification said that it was an hour late. We were supposed to take off at 6pm and it was sometime around 8pm that we finally did.

Minneapolis/St. Paul airport runway construction is still causing delays and the weather in Minneapolis was just as nasty as in Dallas. At least twice are plane had to circle around the airport. We landed about 10:30pm.

Walking up the terminal there were strobe lights flashing and announcement that a fire alarm had been triggered. If you were to see anything that looked like a fire, you were to evacuate immediately.

Everyone was still just going about their business and no one was rushing for the doors that's for sure. The airport was very busy especially for late night. Looked like most flightts were being delayed going out and coming in.

By the time I got to the parking garage the fire alarm was deafening. But an interesting thing was that four people, including me, got on the elevator. Each of us had a different floor and we actually talked and made eye contact.

Notice how people rarely talk or even look at others on an elevator. I guess the shared experience of the fire alarm broke that convention.

So it was my day of alarms.

That feeling that you've forgotten something

I got almost all the way to my rental car this morning before it dawned on me that I didn't have my suitcase.

I packed it this morning in the hotel room when I got back from the gym. I went up to the 25th floor Executive lounge for breakfast. Chatted with Donna as usual. There was an accident on the freeway near the hotel that you could see clearly from the 25th floor.

The weather is bad this morning and supposed to get a lot worse. I was thinking about my flight and whether it was going to get canceled. Also, thinking about work stuff. All the while I had this inkling that I was forgetting something.

Got my banana and yogurt for my mid-morning. Got my coffee. Dropped off the key card on Donna's desk in the lounge. Got on the elevator. Out the rotating lobby doors. Across to the parking lot. Bingo! No roller-board suitcase!

The Kitties

Couldn't resist taking pictures of my kids.

Uno on the cat carpet from my sister Carol.

Uno..."Do you really need to take my picture, papa?"

A sleepy boy

"That flash is so bright."

Hope you are sitting down

Landed EARLY!

Home again. We pulled away from the gate only 5 minutes past scheduled time and we arrived at MSP ahead of schedule. Looked like we were very lucky. The airport was packed. Apparently either getting out of MSP was a problem or getting to Chicago or both.

I had checked my roller bag because of extras that I brought back. Don't ever check and was reminded why...waited for about 1/2 hour for the darn thing.

Repeat Champions

Joey Babay held his Twin Cities road rally scavenger hunt again this year. The previous race was in 2001 and was won by....
Me and Jenny Batten, Andrew Datwyler and Troy Luna.

And this year's winner was...
Me and Jenny Batten, Andrew Datwyler (not pictured) and Keith Horvath

The event is a complicated scavenger hunt of clues and driving. Andrew is an awesome driver. The clues were really really difficult. And there were a total of 80+ clues that tooks us from the Richfield HUB to The Bedlam Theatre in downtown Minneapolis.

Joey thought it would take around two hours. Far from it. We took 4 1/2 hours and were the second fastest team. But speed only counted for 30 out of the 100 points. The rest of the points were obtained by answering questions or getting trinkets along the route. We accumulated 58 points.

Bob Davis' team seemed to have disappeared but came in 1 1/2 later. Because the time didn't count for all that much, it would be possible for his team to pass us in points. However, Bob's team got 53 1/2 points so we retained the championship.

The whole thing was lots of fun but really really difficult.

The Team ready to get going.

Chevy Equinox and Chevy Traverse

For my ten days in Dallas I had a Chevy Equinox, a crossover. This was a very nice vehicle for the most part.

The kind of odd thing was that I could not get the driver's seat in just the right position. The seat has an electric drive to go up and down but manual slider forward and back. No matter what I did, it never felt quite right.

The vehicle has incredible get-up-and-go which made the fun factor high. And it gets great gas mileage. After I finally figured out the vehicle information center, I reset the miles per gallon calculator. I was getting 30+ miles per gallon and drove over 300 miles of city and highway....lots of highway it being Texas, after all.

The radio is not situated for the driver. It is a bit too far away.

This week I had a Chevy Traverse which at first glance looks just like the Equinox. Then you realize it is longer. The Traverse has three rows of seats while the Equinox has two rows.

The Traverse is like a mini-van made from a truck. It feels more rugged than a mini-van but looks kind of like one. This puppy has a lot of power. It was nearly impossible to start off without jetting down the street. The gas pedal is hyper-sensitive.

The interior of the Traverse is nothing like the Equinox. Or maybe it was just the versions I had. The Equinox had lots of bells and whistles with screens and vehicle information consoles. The Traverse has a fantastic gauge console but not much else.

As I've mentioned before with GM, the transmissions in both vehicles are fantastic. Both accelerate evenly and confidently and even better, don't abruptly downshift.

Home again...late

2 1/2 hours late last night. Supposedly the runway reconstruction project at MSP held us up. This time the pilot said that MSP contacted them before we even took off to say it was going to be 3-4 hours beyond are arrival time that we could land.

We were allowed to get off the plane at DFW and wait at the gate. It turned out we took off 2 1/2 hours after scheduled. We MSP once and landed at 10:42pm...original schedule as for 8:15pm.

Anyway, I'm home. Frankie and Uno greeted me at the back door. I think they are just wanting more treats.

It was a muggy week in North Texas. Lots of rain before I arrived. Apparently it makes the ants have to do major house cleaning. There are these big piles of dirt everywhere....and I mean every where...if there's some unpaved land, there are dirt mounds.

A section of Irving is called "Las Colinas"...here is link to an interesting article about Las Colinas. There is this giant landscaped clock which keeps really good time. With all the rains, the plants and grass are spectacular.

Deep Vein Thrombosis - DVT

You may have read about DVT in the back of your airline magazine. It is a blood clot deep in tissue, usually your leg, and can be caused by sitting a lot which you do on a plane.

Well, I don't have that. Or at least that is the conclusion after 3 hours of waiting to see a doctor yesterday here in Dallas.

My left calf has been giving me shooting pains at times when walking or sitting. Since I have flown every week for the nearly the past year, I was concerned that there could be something major going on.

I went to an Urgent Care facility in Carrollton which was the closest I could find. The initial wait to see a doctore they said was 2 hours. I went and got something to eat at Popeye's...one of my favorite places to eat...and returned. The office had free wi-fi so I connected and got some work done. At about the 2 hour mark I got ushered to a room and had my vitals taken. Another half hour later, the doctor came.

I did get an x-ray and she ruled out the DVT thing. I got some muscle relaxant and a steroid prescription.

I drove to the hotel to check in. Dropped off my bags and headed to the pharmacy. By the time I got back to the hotel the whole ordeal had been more than 4 hours.

Took the muscle relaxant before bed. Woke up with sharp pain in calf again. Started the steroid treatment. Hope it helps but glad the DVT thing has been counted out.

Backyard patio - updated

Home from the picking up highway trash, most of the snow was melted. Needed to make some progress on the backyard and clear up the two piles of grass and dirt that were still left from leveling the patio area. So built retaining walls to hold the dirt and terrace the yard.
Can you tell what the walls are made from?

The jack-hammered concrete side walk.

Still need to fill the cracks with the polymeric sand that is supposed to hold it all together. The directions say it has to be above 40 degrees and very very dry. That rules out last weekend. And makes we wonder if there is going to be time before winter really sets in.

Monday home -- Tuesday Dallas

Since I stayed over in Texas last two weeks, I decided I should spend an extra day at home with Frankie and Uno.

It is snowing and sticking today.

This was early in the morning. The snow continued until after noon.

This would be a quaint picture if it was Spring time...but it isn't. Its October and even the day lilies are trying to hold on.

Adopt-a-Highway Fall 2009

A huge THANK YOU to the Adopt-a-Highway Fall 2009 cleanup crew. There were some rather adverse weather conditions...it snowed!

Yes, we had measurable snow Saturday morning and the temps were below freezing but a hardy group of seven (including me) made the trek to Elk River to cleanup "Tall Boy's Fan Club" four miles of highway 10.

At Rachel's suggestion from the Spring 90 degree plus effort, we split into two teams. Three took the northwestern facing route and four on the southeastern direction.

Either there was less trash or the snow was covering it up, but we didn't fill up as many trash bags. The trick was in seeing shapes that didn't fit. A piece of paper makes the snow flatter and too even, a bottle or can usually showed a glint of an edge, and there were still some odd things...a ripped-up rubber inflatable boat, a switch blade and utility knife, still lots of car parts including an entire battery.

The shout out goes to Rose, Bunny, Loretta, Christine, Rachel and JT (who drove all the way to help out even though he had other plans). We were done in record time...less than two hours.

Home - a little confused

I'm home after a long time away. I caught a much earlier flight thank goodness. The weather was getting crappy in Dallas and I was way ready to get home. It was a bumpy flight.

When we landed, I couldn't find my car keys. I went through everything. I called the airport and TSA lost and founds and neither had keys matching mine.

So I called my neighborh Sari to see if she could get my spare set of keys and bring them to me. I thought I'd better check that the truck was still in the parking ramp so I headed over. When I got to the ramp, it finally occurred to me that I hadn't driven. I took the bus and train to the airport ten days ago!

I texted Sari to let her know I'd lost my mind and she didn't need to come to my rescue. She volunteered to pick me up any way at the light rail station. I took her up on the offer and am doubly glad to be home and with the truck in my garage.

Ready to come home

Hotel living is okay but it is boring. I got a regular room with two double beds and it is a good size but it is still just a room with a bathroom. I'm ready for more space.

I miss going to Isles for coffee. I miss my workouts at Fitness Together. I miss walking around Uptown...though I hear it has been cold and rainy.

I enjoyed touring Dallas and Fort Worth and seeing the Texas State Fair but having to return to the hotel and eat out every meal is a hassle.

I miss my friends and I especially miss Frankie and Uno. Heading home tomorrow. The weather is supposed to get nasty here so I'm going to try to catch noon flight. I don't need to get stuck here for another day.

Sunday, Texas State Fair

The day started out with really crappy weather. I was bound and determined to get the the State Fair but it was raining like crazy. Asha had said she wanted to go but I thought she was going to bow out...and totally wouldn't have blamed her.

The afternoon looked more promising so we agreed to go around 1pm. It turned out great. The weather kept most people away so there weren't any crowds or lines and we didn't get rained on at all.

That's Big Tex behind Asha and me. He's a giant...it is Texas afterall. He greets you when you come in the main entrance.

We made it to the bird show. At the recommendation of David B. we sat right in front of the middle platform where some of the birds land. One of the birds is an East African Crane which I had seen at the International Crane Center in Baraboo, Wisconsin. I got to see it fly at the Texas State Fair!

The big food thing is that everything and anything is deep fried. I tried the fried butter...basically a lightly deep fried flour bisquit not unlike a hush puppy. It was good. Also had a fried peanut butter macaroon. Also good. This thing called a Green Goblin..a jalepeno stuffed with chicken and guacamole dipped in batter and deep fried. That was really good.

There weren't many animals. Matter of fact, we saw a couple of mules and burrows and some cows. There were no horse, swine, chicken, etc. The fair goes on for several weeks so I guess it would be difficult to have more animals all at once. We did see a dog dancing demonstration including a dog that made it on America's Got Talent.

Visited the crafts building. There is a butter sculpture but it goes beyond scuplting princesses of the milky way. This was a sculpture of an entire room. I didn't actually get it. That's the picture in the middle.

There are several major permament buildings on the fair grounds including the Cotton Bowl, several museums, the Dallas Auto Show and a theatre which currently has the touring production of Mary Poppins. It terms of State Fair-things, I think Minnesota is bigger but that might just be because I know where things are.

Saturday, Fort Worth tourist

From Dallas I got to my car and drove to Fort Worth. Unlike Minneapolis/St. Paul Twin Cities which are only a few minutes apart and actually touch in places, Fort Worth is a good 45 minutes from Dallas. I kind of keep forgetting that.

I intended to go to The Kimball art museum but forgot to bring the address and it was getting close to 5pm which I knew was when it closed.

Fort Worth has several buildings on the historic register. Pictured here are the FlatIron building based on the one in New York. Also, the Bass Performance Hall.

Fort Worth has a compact downtown and is home to the Flying Saucer, a bar with hundreds of beers. I stopped there.

There's also this strange water park behind the convention center. There's all this concrete and water. It really isn't peaceful or calming in any way.

Saturday, Dallas tourist

I started my tour of Dallas by going to the Uptown neighborhood. I often come here for dinner. Dallas has a free trolley that goes fron Uptown to Downtown. I ended up walking the blocks and seeing the neighborhoods. My destination was the Nasher Sculpture Gardens.

The Nasher is similar to the Walker Art Center only smaller. It was Free First Saturday sponsored by Target. The museum was full but not crowded. The day was beautiful and it was nice to stroll through and sit in the sculpture garden.
The indoor exhibit was on eco-architecture. Many of the models were of buildings in London which I had seen in 2007.
There also was a full room dedicated to the new arts center being build across the street.
The big coincidence was that I ran into someone I knew from Minneapolis. He had just moved to Dallas 2 months ago.

From the Nasher I walked down to the Dallas World Aquarium. More than just an aquarium, this had all kinds of annimals in indoor areas some of which were open and others closely tucked into corners and crevices. It was pretty neat and there were lots of people. From the aquarium I walked back to catch the trolly. The trolly driver was fun and provided some local color.

Thrillvania, Terrell, Texas

Friday night I went to Thrillvania, a haunted entertainment, with Cheryl and her family from my project. Terrell Texas is about 45 minutes east of Dallas.

It was a lot of fun. There were three haunted houses and a really scary haunted trail.

Stormy Weather

It looked like a scene from the movie "Independence Day". Walked out of the offices at about 6pm and it was bright blue to the south with thes very onimous clouds over head. Even the birds were kind of freaked out. Dozens were just sitting on the edge of the roof watching the clouds.





I drove toward downtown where my hotel is. I wanted to get something to eat. It still wasn't raining much so I went to a takeout place.


When I came out of the take out place it was pouring buckets. I waited a while and it slowed down just a bit. I got to my car and drove a block away where it wasn't raining at all!

It was clear and bright at the hotel. Later when I walked over to the gym, the moon and stars were out but to the south you could see clouds being completely lit up by lightening traveling between the clouds. It was very cool to see.

A Stayover

After more than two years of traveling to Dallas, I'm going to stay over a weekend. The Texas State Fair is in progress and I figured it would be fun to check it out.

And finally check out the museums and may be even the nightlife.

Besides the weather is supposed to suck this evening so I'd probably get stuck here anyway.

I feel guilty leaving my kitties for the weekend so I'll have to make it up to them when I get home next week. Also, feeling guilty not working on the patio. I have to get the cracks/seams filled before it gets too cold.

Backyard patio update

Friday evening I was able to get the "water feature" in and working. The fountain is a large stone speckled with quartz. There is a hole drilled through it and it sits on a pedestal in the water. A pump circulates water up a plastic hose through the drilled hole. It sounds and looks great.

Put in patio edging all around. The edging should keep the stones from wandering apart. So all the stone is in place. Now I need to partially fill the space between with dirt which I'm filtering to remove rocks and weeds.

Then I'll fill the cracks with a special sand that will bind the whole thing together.

Spring Green

A quick entry with pictures of this year's Spring Green road trip.

Linda and her cow at the Baraboo Candy Store.

Lunch before the play at American Players Theatre.

We stopped at the International Crane Center in Baraboo. There are all 15 species of cranes located here in a beautiful setting.

Alex, cheering a great breakfast at The Shed in Spring Green.