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.