June 14, 2010

I quit smoking at approximately 1115 on June 14, 2010.

The train station at my work is a 1/2 mile around. I like to walk around it, planted some sunflowers, tad late but we'll see what happens, and take pictures of the trains and buses.

Pictures of MBTA Greenline Trolleys at the Lowell Train Station (don't know where they are going, the Greenline serves the greater Boston area, not Lowell).

Red Sox v. Twins 5/19/10

I'd been sick this past weekend, as well as Monday and Tuesday. Maria called Wednesday morning at 0934 to ask if I wanted to attend a game that evening, Tom got tickets.

I had slept so soundly, finally, that I missed all my alarms, but hopped in the shower, gathered clothing, and headed off to work. When I was making my left turn, Tom was waiting to turn left the other way.

Me: Where is Tom going? Is he ok?

Maria: Oh yeah, he's fine. He's going to pick up the tickets.

The topic prior to the game was transportation. I had a dentist appt in Burlington at 1430, expected to end around 1515. Maria would transport herself to Burlington via Kevin, we'd drive to Sullivan Station, and then hop on the T.

Maria left work at 1330, I left at 1355, made the dentist appt, and Maria and Kevin showed up shortly after 1530. Everything worked fine, got the T (ran for the orange line), hopped on the green (any green but the e), and ended up at Game On. Wonderful burgers, were early enough to get a seat by the window, and got ponchos for $3 each, just in case.

Here are the pictures from the game:




































when i have some more time, i'll put up pics from the 5/8/10 game

Pictures from Various Trips

When I went off to college, I didn't take any of my photo albums from trips overseas. My folks kept custody of them and are now attempting to locate the albums.

I'm trying to locate my pics from freshman year, when we went to Normandy and Mont St. Michel, as well as my old passport, which includes the Checkpoint Charlie stamp.

Meanwhile, as we are all hunting around through boxes, closets, and drawers, here is a teaser...



the above is an invitation to Pope John Paul II's Easter Vigil Mass in Rome. I went to the Mass. Our minders were under the impression Communion would take several hours, so they made us leave. It took us 10 minutes to return to our bus, our driver was watching the Mass on his T.V., we got back to the bus at the same time Mass was let out...Communion took 10 minutes for a crowd of thousands (it's the Vatican, they know how to handle a crowd). I was upset because we were forced to leave Mass early, I missed Communion with the Pope.

Golden Nugget

We headed down to Fremont St to our massive upgrade. had no luggage, one valet followed us in to watch us check-in. Found a dimebag that looked like it had coke/cocaine in a drawer with the phone book in the suite, Liz and I left it alone, Mark picked it up at which point Liz and I fussed at him, it now had his prints on it.



Didn't play at GN, hung out at a club called Gold Diggers, I keep calling it Golden Years. Met a guy staying in 10G (we were 6B), he pointed out a crowd of people leaving the elevator, said "see all those folks, they're all drunk, i met them at the pool, they're from NE, drank up all my liquor, they don't have anything like this there..." We call him 10G, ran into him again at the club, and Mark saw him during his adventure involving the stairwell. Mark went to bed early, had a headache. Liz and I danced and found a dunkin donuts at another casino. Woke up the next a.m., watched some t.v., Mark went upstairs to watch another channel. He then made a hilarious journey...


There were two entrances to the suite, the main one on the first floor, another one upstairs. Mark tried to be cute, planned to go out the upstairs door and surprise us by coming in the main door. Took the stairs, quicker and healthier than the elevator. The door to the stairs is a one-way door, you can only enter the stairwell from the hotel floors, they are not labeled as such. He did not have his cell phone on him. He made it down to the end of the stairwell (7 floors), and the door said, "alarm will sound if door is opened." Figured, "hell if the alarm sounds, i'm stuck in the stairwell." He opened the door and found himself on the ROOF of the casino. Started walking/running, apparently now sweating heavier b/c he figured at least one alarm had sounded in security, found another staircase, which deposited him back outside the hotel, at the valet. The valets looked at him with the expression, "where the hell did this guy come from..."




While this was going on, Liz went upstairs to check if he was feeling ok. When she couldn't find him, we figured he had left through the other door for some reason, and went back to watching t.v.

He returned with drinks, told us the next knock on the door could very well be security, and relayed his adventure, commenting "thank god i didn't have any bags on me while walking around on the roof." Someone did knock on the door shortly after his return to the room, but it was only housekeeping (or so they said). We did get a picture of his escape route on the way down to checkout.

Death Valley

We went to Death Valley, did the tourist triangle (Sea Level sign, Badwater Basin sign, and Artist Drive). Also stopped by Devil's Golf Course. It was absolutely beautiful. Found the NV test site as well.

Tommy came to visit!

Tommy came out this past weekend for a high-school reunion and we hung out together on Sunday (2/25/07).

We started the day with a trip to Red Rock Canyon and the 13 mile scenic drive. The rock formations were very interesting, apparently some of them were once sand dunes. There were climbers on some of the rock walls. We walked the Willow Springs Trail because it was ranked "easy", 1.5 miles long, and ended up running into a trio of women. The following was our conversation with them:

Lady #1: Are you guys are the Willow Springs Trail?

Tom: Yep

Lady #1: We didn't see any willows, any spring, or any pictographs!

Tom: Well, did you walk a mile and a half?

Lady #1: No

Tom: Well...the trail is a mile and a half long

Lady #1: (pause) oh

Tom and I: ok, see yah, good luck!

Tommy and I noticed some fences that were along the path and then finally ran into a sign explaining the fences. The pictographs were on the rock faces behind the fences. We managed to find one of them for sure (it was faded but you could still see most of it) and noticed a questionable one of a hand, then another hand, and then the initials "JC". We wrote the two hands off as vandalism.

We also stumbled across a spring during our walk that is one of the few places a certain type of snail lives. After we finished our walk, we took another path, hoping it would lead back to our vehicle...it didn't, so we ended up walking up the wash until we found the trail we started off on. I don't like leaving the designated trails, but since the wash was just gravel, it was o.k. this one time.

We still had about 6 miles to go on the scenic drive and about 3 miles from the end, there appeared to be a traffic jam of some sort. When we passed the trail/scenic overlook pull-offs, we would slow down to allow for cars pulling into our lane of traffic. This traffic jam was in the middle of the road, there were no pull-offs nearby. As we got closer, I noticed that there was a burro right next to a minivan and the minivan had their passenger side sliding door open. The burro was sticking his head into the passenger compartment of the minivan. Both that burro and the second one about 50 yards ahead were completed surrounded by people. I'm not an enviromental nut, but some animals are domestic, some are wild, and some (like dolphins in exhibits) are somewhat of a mix. Regardless of the level of domestication or mental function, people need to realize that they are dealing with an animal and animals can be unpredictable. Don't feed the wild ones, they will expect it from every car they see pass by. Weren't there some problems when the bears got used to getting food from people in National Parks?

I'm thinking of getting a year pass to Red Rock, iirc it is only $20. The area out there is very beautiful, with plenty of trails to explore.

After hiking around for about 2 hours, we headed over to Red Rock for lunch and met up with Liz. We figured this was the first time since 2nd year that Tommy and Liz have hung out/seen each other. Apparently, my god-kid, Michelle, has been asking about me because I haven't been up at their house in the past few weeks due to work-related activites. Michelle and I should be able to get together this upcoming weekend and hang out for a bit. Liz and I will be staying at the Luxor Friday night (thanks, Mark) and then hanging out with everyone Saturday and Sunday (Liz' folks will be in town starting this Wednesday). After we ate, we played the penny-slots for a bit and Tommy and I are happy to announce that after putting in $7, Tommy won $25 (Tom won the Pharaoh's Fortune!! total gain of $18) and after I put in a $20, I won $50 (total gain of $30...ah, the Luck Lionfish machine; he gave me $40 one time after I put in one of Liz' $1 bills). Liz played the gem penny-slot she likes and unfortunately, she did not win anything :( But we all got free drinks :)

Tommy and I had been discussing the Cirque de Soleil (sp?) shows they have out here and settled on seeing Love after we found out it would finish in time for Tommy to catch his red-eye home. We self-parked at TI (after missing the turn for self-park at The Mirage) and took the tram over. I DO NOT like driving around TI and The
Mirage, the speed bumps are wacky and no one pays attention to the stop signs.

The show was interesting, first one by the Cirque group that I've seen. The Beatles' music remixes were good and the acts that accompanied the tracks fit pretty well, imo. The blackbird skit was dumb. The opening was good, Octopus' Garden was neat, but lighting effects during Revolution made me kinda sick to my stomach. The guys on the roller blades with the furry leg-warmers kicked ass, as did the guy doing flips on the one-man Berserker (Berserker=pirate ship at Kings Dominion that swings back and forth, then finally takes you all the way around). It was neat to finally see one of their shows, but this one was kinda pricey (yes, Tommy, the check is in the mail when you send me your addy). Guess I'll have to check out some of the other ones to fully form an opinion.

After the show, we walked back to the car because the tram was broken (in reality, it was probably faster to walk), and headed west on Spring Mountain, 15 south, 215 east, through the tunnel, and arrived at the airport around 9:15 p.m. Somewhat of a roundabout way, but I wasn't sure what the traffic would be like on the Strip nor Trop.

As of 10:12 p.m., Tommy made it through security but was waiting to see if he would be on this flight. The lovely airline overbooked the flight.

Wouldn't airlines that serve Las Vegas take a look at what happened last Monday and Tuesday and scale back on their overbooking flights out of here? Last Monday, day after NBA All-Star game/Chinese New Year/President's Day weekend/MAGIC, the line for Southwest started at Southwest and extended 3/4-1 mile down the sidewalk to Terminal 2/International Terminal. It got worse during the afternoon and had yet to resolve itself by Tuesday morning. Overbooking makes sense to a certain extent, but what does the airline do if everyone booked shows up (see entry about Tommy and Jess' Wedding, our hotel overbooked and we were sent elsewhere, but we still had a room)?

Right now, 11:30 p.m. Sunday night, I'm not sure if Tommy is on his way back to D.C. or in a cab on his way to the Luxor to crash with some other friends from out of town. I called, his phone rang a few times and then went to voicemail. I'll learn in the morning what happened.

Monday 2/26/07: Whelp, turns out at 11:30 last night, Tommy was trying to get himself a seat on a flight out today. He left the airport at 3:00 a.m., arrived at some hotel/casino, stood in line with everyone else that was bumped from their flights, and arrived at his room at 4:30 a.m. This allowed him time for a quick shower and a one hour nap before heading back to the airport. When I spoke with him at 12:15 p.m. Las Vegas time, he was somewhere in Texas, about to board his next flight. Apparently, the airline gave him a free flight voucher. Tommy said this was the worst travel experience he has had. He finally made it back to Washington-Dulles around 8:00 p.m. east coast time.

Oh, and we took pictures, just on Tommy's camera because mine requested more batteries. They'll be up after he emails them to me.

P.S. Thanks for visiting, Tommy! I had a great time playing around Red Rock Canyon, hanging out at Red Rock, and seeing the show with you. Next time you visit, bring Jess and we can check out the Valley of Fire, Area 51, Death Valley, or Lake Mead/Hoover Dam.

Random Pictures, mostly north of Flamingo

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!









Caesar's Palace, looking south









Bellagio









Harrah's, Casino Royale, The Venetian, Wynn









The Stardust


















New Frontier












The Mirage









The Wynn









Circus Circus









Riviera









Flamingo










View of the back of the Strip from the self-park level of the Flamingo's garage









Drive Safe, Come Back Soon!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Well, I apparently have at least one regular reader, my friend, Jim, from Davenport (Hi, Jim!).

As a result of his email, we're doing a year-rewind in this entry and a brief Holiday update (which will be completed post-New Year's).

At the beginning of this year, I was located just south of Cincinnati, OH.



In July, I learned I was going to move to Las Vegas, NV.

My Dad and my friend, Liz, came to help drive the 2,000 miles west. That was a fun time, even though it was hectic. When we got to Las Vegas, Liz and I had tickets to see the current incarnation of Guns N' Roses at The Joint. I wish my Dad could have stuck around for a bit longer, I have fun hanging out with him.

Liz and I won tickets to Disney Live! Magic Show, Frightdome (can't find our tickets), and Pauly Shore at House of Blues.

Liz' Dad came to visit, as did her mom. Liz, Mark, and Michelle got a new couch when her Mom came out.



Rob came to visit right before Thanksgiving (all of our pictures from that weekend are on Liz and Mark's computer, so they'll be here later).

We went to San Diego for Thanksgiving to visit Aunt Ginger and Uncle Jeffrey. Liz' Mom and Dad met up with us out there. We also visited the zoo and LegoLand (we have to drop the film off to be developed, so pictures will be added later as well).

Jordan, from high school, popped in for a weekend just after Thanksgiving. None of us brought our cameras, but we all met up at the outdoor bar at Caesar's, had lunch at Margaritaville (thank you, Jordan), wandered around the Flamingo (do they feed the flamingos shrimps with food dye as well?), watched an old lady dance in an outfit she should not have been dancing in, and ended the evening driving Jordan back to Circus-Circus.

Things are mellow at work right now, we got delayed. Which is why I spent Christmas in Las Vegas instead of catching a flight to Florida (when we got notice, it was too late to get a good fare).

Christmas was fun, Michelle had a great time delivering and then helping everyone open the gifts. Michelle received several new outfits, three pairs of shoes (including some Crocs), her ornaments, a new suitcase, and a new chair equipped with a cupholder. Liz and Michelle received Santana Moss jerseys from Mark, Mark got Liz and I a room at the Luxor for January 27th, I hope Liz and Mark have a pleasant time at dinner at the Italian restaurant down the hall from the pub, and all of us will be enjoying the Red Rock spa deal we got. I was very proud of Michelle when we opened my gift and she exclaimed "Bob!" (LEGO's Adventures at Bikini Bottom set).

My folks sent me several things, including a book about the Rolling Stones, a new handbag, perfume from my younger sister, and two beautiful bookends (they are stones with various veins of blue color running through them). I feel bad, I had no idea what to get my older sister and her family and after talking to my folks, I was somewhat under the impression that Jamie was not going send a present this year, which is fine, she has 2 kids. My mistake...Jamie sent me steak knives and Weber Grill tools. I need to figure out something to send her, I just have no ideas (any suggestions are welcome).

For New Year's, Liz, Michelle, and I will be catching a flight back to Washington, D.C. Liz and I are attending the Redskins/Giants game, Michelle can chill out with her Grandma and PawPaw, and Mark can relax.

To be continued...

We left out of Las Vegas at 6:30 a.m., which meant we had to arrive at the airport around 4:30 a.m. Our flights were fine, we went through Chicago, not Denver, and arrived at Reagan-National around 2:00 p.m. Liz' Mom and Dad picked us up and we headed back to their house. We had a quiet evening, had fondue for dinner, and started to watch Cars again. I was the first person to fall asleep, followed quickly by Michelle and then Liz.

Saturday morning, we opened presents and then Liz' Mom and Dad headed down to the closest UKrops to pick up some sandwiches for Michelle's party on Monday. Traffic was absolutely horrendous and around 5:00 p.m., her folks called us and told us to give a neighbor a call to see if she could watch Michelle for a bit so Liz and I could start heading toward the football game. We dropped Michelle off, made it to the Franconia-Springfield Metro around 5:20 p.m., and hopped on the train.

If the fare card machine was actually working properly, we would have caught the earlier train. Liz and I transferred at King Street and it was somewhat amusing when we overheard one guy telling his buddy "no, we don't transfer here, they are going to be two minutes behind us all the way." Apparently, he didn't understand how the metro runs, so he and his buddy ended up on our train at the Pentagon. We switched back to the Blue Line at L'Enfant Plaza and found Rob in the process. So, the faulty fare card machine was actually a good thing, as Rob was able to catch the same Blue Line Liz and I were using, find us at L'Enfant Plaza, and ride with us to Morgan Boulevard. We decided to hike down the hill, up the hill, and then around the bend to FedEx instead of catching a $5 shuttle. For those transit folks interested in our trip on the metro, go to www.wmata.com and click on the metro train map.

We had fun at the game, even though we lost. Rob went with David, his brother-in-law, and our friend, Bartley, was there as well. We met up with Bartley after the game. Things were not as festive in the band area after the game this year, perhaps it is because our season ended and there are no play-offs for us. Last year, there was food all over the place and people partying in the band lot. I'm figuring that may be the reason that the FedEx sign is not on, like it was last year. We hiked back up to the metro, took the Blue Line all the way around (we were on the last train), left Rob at Van Dorn Street, and finally arrived at Franconia-Springfield. We made it home sometime after 3:00 a.m.

On Sunday, Liz and Michelle went to visit Sandy and Ned, Mark's folks, and her Dad went to church. Liz' Mom and I hung out, reading the paper, and trying to figure out if it would be better for me to go to DC today or tomorrow for Ford's Lying in State. We figured today would be better because dinner was going to be served after 7:00 p.m. because there was a church service that evening vs. Michelle's party at 1:00 p.m. the following day. I was dropped off at the Franconia-Springfield metro, took the same Blue/Yellow combination into the District, and deboarded at the Archives/Navy Memorial Station just before 3:00 p.m.

I walked along Pennsylvania Avenue, toward the Capitol, not knowing what to expect. Rob and I attended President Reagan's Lying in State in June 2004. He and I got in line at 6:00 p.m., after scoring a most excellent parking spot (I was able to see my car from all points, so I knew it hadn't been stolen), and walked down the steps of the Capitol at 11:30 p.m. When Rob and I walked back to my car, we were amazed that the line had grown by at least twice the size of that at 6:00 p.m.

This time, as I approached the Capitol, the line was disappointing, in my opinion. Admittedly, the Reagan administration coordinated the fall of the Soviet Union, along with Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. But Ford also served as President of the United States and that in itself deserves respect (note: friends will have to drag me to Clinton's and Carter's, but I will attend out of respect for the dead, as much as I disagree with their positions).

At Reagan's, the Capitol Police had a "check" area, where folks could check their cameras, bottles of water, sunscreen, etc, and pick them up afterwards. There was no check-point this time around, people were allowed to take such items into the Capitol. The Capitol Police were not as militant this time, perhaps because this was the second Lying in State in just a few years and they learned from Reagan's or perhaps because they were not expecting the massive turnout that Reagan's produced.

I was offended when people used digital cameras to record their journey around the casket, I don't record my friends' funerals, why would I record this? Yes, it is an event, but one has to remember the person inside the casket and their family. The chick recording her trip around the casket reminded me of the lady's cell phone that went off TWICE during The Changing of the Guard at Reagan's. I tell my family and friends about the experience and that is their memory, although my Dad watched C-Span for hours in order to see Rob and I walk through the chamber at Reagan's. Anyhow, I was in line at 3:15 p.m. and walking down the steps at 4:15 p.m. God Bless You, President Ford, and thank you for your service to our country.


Since paying respect to President Ford took quite a bit less time than we all expected, I headed on over to the Archives. Since I arrived about 4:50 p.m., right before closing, I decided to take the "American Triangle" tour (reference to the Louvre in Paris) and see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. There was time for me to actually read the information in the display cases, unlike my trip in elementary school, when there was no time whatsoever. In addition to the Triangle, there was Ford's first Oath of Office and excepts from his final State of the Union address as well as the 1297 version of the Magna Carta. The Archives closed at 5:30 p.m., at which point in time I headed off to catch the Red Line to Shady Grove to meet up with Liz and Michelle up at Ned and Sandy's.

Dinner was excellent. Duck is good, very good (damn, the lamb Liz' Mom made us out here was really good as well). I will now blame Liz and her family for my more expensive dining habits. Although, I do miss my Daddy's steaks. My Dad redeemed the Petty's gift card for New Year's dinner.

After dinner, Liz and I headed over to Rob's for a New Year's party. We got there later than expected, but had fun. It was nice to see everyone in one location and Liz and I liked our hats (although, Liz' didn't stay on very well). Rob was wearing a little hat inside a big hat, which was cute, imo.

Monday was Miss Michelle's third birthday party...and she is only two. God help us all when she hits 10, 16, then 18, and finally 21.

The party was somewhat delayed due to a 4 car pile-up on 95 South near the Lorton exit. And Michelle took a nap. Liz went upstairs to wake up Michelle so she could make an appearance at her own party. We had fun, it was nice to see folks from Liz' church again, and Michelle had fun opening her gifts. We were somewhat disappointed that more people didn't make it, Liz' folks planned for 60 and only 20 turned out.

Our flights home were fine, Michelle was a bit more fussy this time around. She calmed down a tad after we got the minimeal (Liz and I redeemed free drink coupons), and took a second nap after she and Liz returned from the restroom (Michelle got mad b/c she couldn't roam the plane/not get back into her seat, which reminded me of Anna being stuck in a car-seat for 3 days as my older sister and I drove from South Bend, IN to Bismarck, ND).

Overall, it was a very fun holiday. Michelle is a good plane traveler, she deals with the change in elevation/altitude very well.

I'll update the pictures as soon as I can, Liz' Dad has some saved on his machine.

And Happy New Year to All!