All I can say is........................................
F*CK DAVIS!!!!!!
That's better. Go Hornets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Causeway Week
All I can say is........................................
F*CK DAVIS!!!!!!
That's better. Go Hornets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Tagged
My friend Mary tagged me so here we go.....
Here are the rules which must be posted on your blog if you are tagged:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random - some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names - link to them
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.
#1 I was an all-Northern California honor clarinetist in 1996-97 and performed with the Northern California Honor Band that year.
#2 I played 10 years of baseball and 7 years of soccer, earning all-league honors in both sports.
#3 I own the entire series of M*A*S*H on DVD and its my favorite show.
#4 I/my family have owned three dachshunds (doxies) in my lifetime. They are the greatest dog breed!
#5 I served as Vice President of my Townhome Association from 2003-05.
#6 I am the first member on my dad's side of the family to earn a college degree.
#7 I want an iPod and the newest Microsoft Flight Sim game for my computer.
And who I'm tagging....(not sure if I can come up with 7...)
1. Rachel
2. Nate
Here are the rules which must be posted on your blog if you are tagged:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random - some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names - link to them
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.
#1 I was an all-Northern California honor clarinetist in 1996-97 and performed with the Northern California Honor Band that year.
#2 I played 10 years of baseball and 7 years of soccer, earning all-league honors in both sports.
#3 I own the entire series of M*A*S*H on DVD and its my favorite show.
#4 I/my family have owned three dachshunds (doxies) in my lifetime. They are the greatest dog breed!
#5 I served as Vice President of my Townhome Association from 2003-05.
#6 I am the first member on my dad's side of the family to earn a college degree.
#7 I want an iPod and the newest Microsoft Flight Sim game for my computer.
And who I'm tagging....(not sure if I can come up with 7...)
1. Rachel
2. Nate
Friday, October 26, 2007
Taken from Jen's Blog
1. your rock star name (first pet & first car). Scooby Civic
2. your gansta name (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie). French Vanilla Chocolate Chip
3. your “fly guy"? name (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name). GSch
4. your detective name (fav color, fav animal). Green Dog
5. your soap opera name (middle name, city where you were born) Willis Carmichael
6. your Star Wars name (first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first). Schwi
7. superhero name (the? + 2nd fav color, fav drink). Blue Martini
8. IndyCar name (the first names of your grandfathers). Robert Frederick
9. stripper name ( the name of your fav perfume/cologne/scent, fav candy). Safari Twix
10. witness protection name (mother’s & father’s middle names ). Mary Alan
11. tv weather anchor name (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter). Copeland Chicago
12. spy name (your fav season/holiday, flower). Independence (Day) Rose
13. cartoon name (fav fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie" or “y"). Cherry Jeansy
14. hippy name (what you ate for breakfast, your fav tree). Coffee Mulberry
15. your rockstar tour name (the + your fav hobby/craft, fav weather element + “tour"). The Tuba-playing Thunderstorm Tour :-p
Thursday, October 25, 2007
I'm going to Marysville...a year earlier than planned.
My boss told me yesterday that instead of moving to Marysville when the new building opens in October 2008, that due to a few people being promoted to senior transportation planner (and one of them is relocating to this office in Sacramento), that there is now space available and I will begin making the 45 minute commute beginning Tuesday, November 13.
When I accepted the position, it was on the basis that I would be based in Marysville when the new building opened, which I fully understood, however, there was no space available so I got assigned to our Venture Oaks building.
I'm really looking forward to going to Marysville but Dawn isn't. I told her nothing lasts forever and to just see it as an adventure. Besides, I use to work in Elk Grove and it took me an hour to get there and back (EG is only 22 miles from the house, M'ville is 47 miles) because of the insane traffic on SR 99 (hence why we are fixing it).
When I accepted the position, it was on the basis that I would be based in Marysville when the new building opened, which I fully understood, however, there was no space available so I got assigned to our Venture Oaks building.
I'm really looking forward to going to Marysville but Dawn isn't. I told her nothing lasts forever and to just see it as an adventure. Besides, I use to work in Elk Grove and it took me an hour to get there and back (EG is only 22 miles from the house, M'ville is 47 miles) because of the insane traffic on SR 99 (hence why we are fixing it).
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Coming Back To Work
It is really hard sometimes to come back to work after a long vacation...however, I feel I got my batteries recharged. Just a quick note here...because so much work was awaiting me when I got back yesterday, I feel really eager to tackle all of it.
I'll try to post the photos up from the trip later this week.
I'll try to post the photos up from the trip later this week.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
We're Home Now
I will do a more in depth post about the rest of the trip...but we safely made it home last night. More to come. I will also post more photos as the wireless signal we had at Carm's house was too weak to upload photos.
Monday, October 15, 2007
The Trip Part II
Ok, so we are now in New York and still need to fill in about the rest of the trip. Needless to say, after the wedding, the trip on the train got really interesting and had issues kind of like an airline has. Actually, we had an issue with the flight from LAX to RDU.
So we get to LAX on time on Thursday night at about 5:30pm. We get dinner and head over to the Delta terminal (T5 at LAX) at about 7:00pm for a 10:25 red-eye departure. When we got there, it was one of those gates that are split (53A and 53B). At 53A was our plane to RDU, waiting for us for 3 hours while the plane at 53B was a 7pm departure to Las Vegas. I put on one of the kids' DVD's so they could calm down and hopefully fall asleep. We had put their pajamas on their in the terminal so they could sleep on the plane, which they did.
At about 8pm we noticed the people on the LAS flight come off the plane. They stated that their plane went mechanical with the gear lights display not working. So they took our plane to RDU and hoped the plane to LAS would be fixed in time by our 10:25 departure. It never got fixed. At 10:10, Delta announced to us that our flight would be delayed at least til 10:55 to get the problem fixed. It still was out when 10:55 came so they said "...we are awaiting a flight from Atlanta, which was also another 738 so we can keep the same crew...." That plane did not get there until 11:15 and after cleaning the plane and we boarded at 11:55 and took off at 12:30am. We got to RDU at 7:30am EDT, an hour and fifteen minutes later than scheduled as we made up time with a 145 mph tail wind (I love the jetstream going east!).
On Saturday, we had lunch with Mary and her boyfriend Eric at Carolina AleHouse and it was good to meet her and get to know her better. A good time had by all.
The wedding was very beautiful, even though the minister thought the wedding was two hours later than it was supposed to (a 2:30pm wedding, he got there at 3:30!). Got to know more of Nate's family and met Robin's while at the reception. Nate' cousin Sara also did marching band at Univ. of Washington so we traded band war stories, mostly about our archrivals!
The reception ended at 7pm and we headed back to the hotel for our 4am wake-up call and our 5:40am train departure for New York Penn Station. Got the kids to bed about 10pm and we finally got to sleep about midnight...ugh! We got up right at 4 with two wake-up calls and got showered and dressed and we got to the train station right on time.
We had an on-time departure and the kids went back to sleep immediately when the train started rolling. Lauren woke up about an hour later and I took her to the cafe car to have yogurt while I got some coffee. Headed back to our seats where Lauren then fell back asleep where Dawn was already out with Evan. I got some sleep as well when we pulled into Richmond at 9am and we all woke up hungry.
We went to the dining car to have breakfast. Dawn, Lauren and Evan split the continental and I had the breakfast scramble....not bad, but way overprice because of being on the train. We got to Washington DC Union Station on time at noon and had a 30 minute layover due to switching from a diesel engine to an electric one going onto the Northeast Corridor. Left on-time and got to Philly on schedule. Now this is when the trip got really interesting and frustrating.
As we pulled out of Philly, the engine started to have problems. Every time we started to get about 30 mph, the engine would shut down and the circuit would be tripped. We would slow to a stop, reset the breaker, and start again. It took an hour fifteen to get to Trenton in a trip that would normally take about 30 minutes!
When we got to Trenton, the engineer tried to see if they could fix the engine instead of the stop gap measures they implied while trying to get it there. Finally the call came on that we would transfer to a train across the track that was also going to Penn, yet, the baggage car, with our six pieces of checked luggage, would remain with the other train. I asked the conductors what about hooking up the baggage car to the end of the train we were getting on and they said they couldn't (I think it was they wouldn't). They told us that the train would follow, but probably get to the Penn about four hours after the train we got on would get there!! That made me really angry and the kids by this time had had enough of being on the train and just wanted to get up to NY.
Now we were contemplating staying at Penn for four hours so we could get our bags. And we still needed to transfer to the Long Island Railroad to go out to Hicksville where my cousins were awaiting to pick us up. As we approached Newark, the conductor of the Amtrak Regional came on and said they unhooked the problem cars that were causing the engine to trip and that it would be 40 minutes behind us! Thank God! We got to Penn at 4:40pm and we got a coffee and a snack for our kids and then our bags got there at 5:20. We quickly grabbed them and headed to the LIRR concourse, bought our tickets to Hicksville and got on that 5:40 train. Deb picked us up at 6:30 and headed to the house where my cousins Carmen, Mary and her boyfriend Dave had dinner awaiting. After dinner, Mary and I dropped Dave off at his house and she took me to LaGuardia to pick up the rental car at 9pm. Picked it up with no problems and was back to the house at 9:30pm and then crashed after getting back. The kids were down and Dawn waited for me to get back to go to sleep.
Never again will I do a train trip like that again. Im glad I did it once, but if I ever have to go from Raleigh to New York again, I'll suck up the extra cash to fly the hour and a half route!
I will add photos for this post later.
So we get to LAX on time on Thursday night at about 5:30pm. We get dinner and head over to the Delta terminal (T5 at LAX) at about 7:00pm for a 10:25 red-eye departure. When we got there, it was one of those gates that are split (53A and 53B). At 53A was our plane to RDU, waiting for us for 3 hours while the plane at 53B was a 7pm departure to Las Vegas. I put on one of the kids' DVD's so they could calm down and hopefully fall asleep. We had put their pajamas on their in the terminal so they could sleep on the plane, which they did.
At about 8pm we noticed the people on the LAS flight come off the plane. They stated that their plane went mechanical with the gear lights display not working. So they took our plane to RDU and hoped the plane to LAS would be fixed in time by our 10:25 departure. It never got fixed. At 10:10, Delta announced to us that our flight would be delayed at least til 10:55 to get the problem fixed. It still was out when 10:55 came so they said "...we are awaiting a flight from Atlanta, which was also another 738 so we can keep the same crew...." That plane did not get there until 11:15 and after cleaning the plane and we boarded at 11:55 and took off at 12:30am. We got to RDU at 7:30am EDT, an hour and fifteen minutes later than scheduled as we made up time with a 145 mph tail wind (I love the jetstream going east!).
On Saturday, we had lunch with Mary and her boyfriend Eric at Carolina AleHouse and it was good to meet her and get to know her better. A good time had by all.
The wedding was very beautiful, even though the minister thought the wedding was two hours later than it was supposed to (a 2:30pm wedding, he got there at 3:30!). Got to know more of Nate's family and met Robin's while at the reception. Nate' cousin Sara also did marching band at Univ. of Washington so we traded band war stories, mostly about our archrivals!
The reception ended at 7pm and we headed back to the hotel for our 4am wake-up call and our 5:40am train departure for New York Penn Station. Got the kids to bed about 10pm and we finally got to sleep about midnight...ugh! We got up right at 4 with two wake-up calls and got showered and dressed and we got to the train station right on time.
We had an on-time departure and the kids went back to sleep immediately when the train started rolling. Lauren woke up about an hour later and I took her to the cafe car to have yogurt while I got some coffee. Headed back to our seats where Lauren then fell back asleep where Dawn was already out with Evan. I got some sleep as well when we pulled into Richmond at 9am and we all woke up hungry.
We went to the dining car to have breakfast. Dawn, Lauren and Evan split the continental and I had the breakfast scramble....not bad, but way overprice because of being on the train. We got to Washington DC Union Station on time at noon and had a 30 minute layover due to switching from a diesel engine to an electric one going onto the Northeast Corridor. Left on-time and got to Philly on schedule. Now this is when the trip got really interesting and frustrating.
As we pulled out of Philly, the engine started to have problems. Every time we started to get about 30 mph, the engine would shut down and the circuit would be tripped. We would slow to a stop, reset the breaker, and start again. It took an hour fifteen to get to Trenton in a trip that would normally take about 30 minutes!
When we got to Trenton, the engineer tried to see if they could fix the engine instead of the stop gap measures they implied while trying to get it there. Finally the call came on that we would transfer to a train across the track that was also going to Penn, yet, the baggage car, with our six pieces of checked luggage, would remain with the other train. I asked the conductors what about hooking up the baggage car to the end of the train we were getting on and they said they couldn't (I think it was they wouldn't). They told us that the train would follow, but probably get to the Penn about four hours after the train we got on would get there!! That made me really angry and the kids by this time had had enough of being on the train and just wanted to get up to NY.
Now we were contemplating staying at Penn for four hours so we could get our bags. And we still needed to transfer to the Long Island Railroad to go out to Hicksville where my cousins were awaiting to pick us up. As we approached Newark, the conductor of the Amtrak Regional came on and said they unhooked the problem cars that were causing the engine to trip and that it would be 40 minutes behind us! Thank God! We got to Penn at 4:40pm and we got a coffee and a snack for our kids and then our bags got there at 5:20. We quickly grabbed them and headed to the LIRR concourse, bought our tickets to Hicksville and got on that 5:40 train. Deb picked us up at 6:30 and headed to the house where my cousins Carmen, Mary and her boyfriend Dave had dinner awaiting. After dinner, Mary and I dropped Dave off at his house and she took me to LaGuardia to pick up the rental car at 9pm. Picked it up with no problems and was back to the house at 9:30pm and then crashed after getting back. The kids were down and Dawn waited for me to get back to go to sleep.
Never again will I do a train trip like that again. Im glad I did it once, but if I ever have to go from Raleigh to New York again, I'll suck up the extra cash to fly the hour and a half route!
I will add photos for this post later.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
The Trip Part I
First of all, I was hoping to do a post while I was at LAX, however, due to no WiFi in the Delta Terminal, and I was not going to shell out $25 for a one day pass to the Crown Room Club, my first post is here now after the wedding and as well try to get about 4 hours sleep before waking up to take the train to New York City.
We got to SMF two hours before departure and going through security with the little ones was actually not bad. With all the stuff we had to bring, I'm amazed that security did not ask us for extra searches. The TSA wanted Evan to go through the detector by himself, but he was a little apprehensive about it so I picked him up to go through (and of course nothing happened I told him). One TSA guy even called my "SuperDad" for getting the brood through...ha.
We then had some lunch in Terminal A and then went to the gate area to put our stuff down and I took the bambinos over to the play area to get out some of the energy they had.
I also started taking photos at this point.....here is Lauren with her baby and water with a big ol grin!
Evan here probably saying "where is the airplane Daddy?"
Our ride to LAX (a Delta Connection by ExpressJet ERJ 145-one of the planes Daddy use to fly as I told Evan):
So the flight was perfect...not a full load, and both Evan and Lauren had fun flying...and for Lauren, her first ever plane ride! She even had fun drinking her apple juice and trying to have some of Dad's ginger ale (sorry no photo of that) though I do have a photo of Lauren with the headphones on trying to listen to the XM radio (it wasn't on for this flight...bummer):
Editor's note...ok, its now 11:21 EDT on Saturday night and my wakeup call is set for 4:00am for the train! I am going to continue this later...but for now, enjoy!
We got to SMF two hours before departure and going through security with the little ones was actually not bad. With all the stuff we had to bring, I'm amazed that security did not ask us for extra searches. The TSA wanted Evan to go through the detector by himself, but he was a little apprehensive about it so I picked him up to go through (and of course nothing happened I told him). One TSA guy even called my "SuperDad" for getting the brood through...ha.
We then had some lunch in Terminal A and then went to the gate area to put our stuff down and I took the bambinos over to the play area to get out some of the energy they had.
I also started taking photos at this point.....here is Lauren with her baby and water with a big ol grin!
Evan here probably saying "where is the airplane Daddy?"
Our ride to LAX (a Delta Connection by ExpressJet ERJ 145-one of the planes Daddy use to fly as I told Evan):
So the flight was perfect...not a full load, and both Evan and Lauren had fun flying...and for Lauren, her first ever plane ride! She even had fun drinking her apple juice and trying to have some of Dad's ginger ale (sorry no photo of that) though I do have a photo of Lauren with the headphones on trying to listen to the XM radio (it wasn't on for this flight...bummer):
Editor's note...ok, its now 11:21 EDT on Saturday night and my wakeup call is set for 4:00am for the train! I am going to continue this later...but for now, enjoy!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
The Trip Begins.......
And so, the day is here to fly out to see Nathan and Robin get married, visit Mary in Raleigh, and to see the fam on Long Island (or as they say there...Lawng Guy-land).
I am at work now and will leave about Noon PDT. Pictures will be taken with associated commentary and notes. I don't think I will do a trip report like on airliners.net or FlyerTalk.
Hope to hear from you all.....
I am at work now and will leave about Noon PDT. Pictures will be taken with associated commentary and notes. I don't think I will do a trip report like on airliners.net or FlyerTalk.
Hope to hear from you all.....
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
I Can Breathe, I Can Breathe.....
Well almost. Certainly much better shape now than two days ago at this time. Mostly I am tired just fighting this thing.
BTW, I am going to blog our trip so look forward to pics and comments.
BTW, I am going to blog our trip so look forward to pics and comments.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Pressure, Pressure Everywhere.
The cold is still here, but I am winning the battle. Took Sudafed last night, slept pretty good, and woke up better than yesterday. Stupid foreign bug in my system!
Sunday, October 07, 2007
This just in....
I'm flying this week and now I have a cold (drat!). For the next 48 hours, Airborne is my friend. That is all.
That and what a choke job by Green Bay tonight.
That and what a choke job by Green Bay tonight.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Friday Bullet Points...
Since I have so many things on my plate, its amazing what I remember and forget. So..
* Need to start packing for the trip. Taking two youngin's cross country is an enormous task for 10 days. At least they are both walking age and we don't have to take the stroller.
* Been so busy forgot that Monday is a holiday (Columbus Day) which means I can pack for the trip.
* Along with worrying about the kids, how will they deal with a 3-hour time change to the East Coast as well as transcon flights? At least the first transcon is a red-eye so they can sleep.
* Ready the band scripts for Scott Moak so he can announce for the band during next Saturday's football game (its only the 3rd home game I will have missed in the last 17 years).
* Getting my second working paper out for my CSMP project. Templates seem to change everyday from the other CSMP's (Thank God my corridor is not the lead one!) and it sets me back at least a day to change the settings.
That's it for now. Hopefully I will post what I think about the Hornets game tomorrow at Weber State. The band was originally supposed to go to it (and to think I am missing a 12 hr. bus ride today...lol). The weather is forecast to be about 45 degrees with light rain. I made a predicition earlier in the week that we would win 31-14. But now with the weather, I am going to say we win 21-10. Go Hornets!
* Need to start packing for the trip. Taking two youngin's cross country is an enormous task for 10 days. At least they are both walking age and we don't have to take the stroller.
* Been so busy forgot that Monday is a holiday (Columbus Day) which means I can pack for the trip.
* Along with worrying about the kids, how will they deal with a 3-hour time change to the East Coast as well as transcon flights? At least the first transcon is a red-eye so they can sleep.
* Ready the band scripts for Scott Moak so he can announce for the band during next Saturday's football game (its only the 3rd home game I will have missed in the last 17 years).
* Getting my second working paper out for my CSMP project. Templates seem to change everyday from the other CSMP's (Thank God my corridor is not the lead one!) and it sets me back at least a day to change the settings.
That's it for now. Hopefully I will post what I think about the Hornets game tomorrow at Weber State. The band was originally supposed to go to it (and to think I am missing a 12 hr. bus ride today...lol). The weather is forecast to be about 45 degrees with light rain. I made a predicition earlier in the week that we would win 31-14. But now with the weather, I am going to say we win 21-10. Go Hornets!
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