Exciting Few Days.

That is putting it mildly. No internet available the last few days, so no new posts. I should have that situation corrected in a few days. Then I can resume "normal operation". More info to come.

Appliance redo times 3?

Seems like things usually happen in threes. So now that I replaced our washing machine late last month and this week we are getting a new dishwasher, I wonder what will be the next thing go. Fortunately the dishwasher bill will go to the landlord.

The wheels of change move slowly in our property manager's world, so I have become reacquainted with the business end of dish cloths and dish towels. It must be over 25 years back to a time where we didn't have a dishwasher. Before I was married and  while I still lived with my parents I don't recall doing many dishes. I think my Mom thought it was easier to do them herself than to get us kids to. My Father's contribution to this activity was to encourage my Mother to "just stack'em Harriet" and do them later, which she almost never did. As it was a near obsession with her to keep the kitchen spick and span.

Christmas gathering.

We had our family get together yesterday at my daughter's house. Most of the family was there, about 12 adults and 8 kids. We had a nice meal and a small gift exchange. It's sad to say but true. I have lost my zest for gatherings of any size. Even my own family. I wish it weren't so but it is. I start looking for a reason to leave after a couple of hours. I am much more comfortable one on one or two.

I'm not sure when I began to feel this way about gatherings, weddings, funerals, parties, reunions. I think it has been in the last 20 years or so. I will have to ask my wife. Maybe she can remember. Is this a mental disorder? My wife had a brother-in law who had similar feelings. His was linked to disease, Huntington's I think. Mine is not as far as I know, linked to any particular thing. Maybe it's old age.

Legal Residence

Just thinking out loud. I have heard that Canadians need to return to their county for at least 6 months and 1 day every year to maintain their status in the government health care system for Canadians. I wonder if the US has any restrictions like that? Do states have any such requirements to keep your legal address in that state. I have heard of people who travel all year and spend little time in the place where they legally reside.

So when considering spending winters in a warmer clime legal residency might have to be considered. I am going to research this and I will do another post in this regard. How much of one's financial life is tied to that legal residence? I can think of several items. Tax on your income, car insurance rates, entry tickets to Disney World, you get the picture.

Illness

I don't know what I have but the symptoms are not fun. Itchy eyes, runny nose, sinus pain, sneezing, you get the picture. Call it what you will, it has the potential to mess up plans for the next couple of days. I am reluctant to take any medication, as that usually for me just prolongs recovery and doesn't help the problems all that much.

I talked to daughters yesterday and their families have some illness too. I guess it is that time of the year where these things happen. Knowing that really doesn't make me feel any better.

We managed to get out a little today, Post Office, grocery store. My wife was buying the ingredients to make a holiday favorite snack. While I was paying, she scooped up the full bag of groceries and headed for the car. Not seeing a shopping cart in her way she stumbled on it, just avoiding a headfirst sprawl on the floor. Thankfully the only damage appears to be a large bruise/lump on her instep and a larger blow to my peace of mind. That could have been a very unpleasant holiday in the hospital. Whew.

Last Friday night.

My wife and I shared a meal with my brother Jim and sister Sarita and her husband Ken last Friday. We chose , as we often do, Monical's Pizza in north Champaign. They all live nearby. Joan and had a little longer trip but I managed to kill three birds with one trip. And besides, haven't you noticed how cheap gas has suddenly become. Almost 50% less than a while ago.

We had a nice visit at the restaurant and later at my sister's home. One of the big topics was our grand kids and how they growing so fast. Fast too are the passing years. We decided that was caused by the aging process and only happens to those folks over 50. As I recall time nearly stood still when I was a teen and couldn't wait to be grown up.

New photo at the top of this page.

I have had the Leg Lamp photo up now for a couple of weeks. So I thought it was time for a change. The most prominent thing on my mind right now is Florida. So that's what I chose.

The turtle is from downtown Venice. The Egret on my hood was in in Windy's parking lot Auburndale. The dragon from Downtown Disney, Orlando. The pier from Venice also. The beach from Clearwater. And finally the potted plants from LegoLand in Winter Haven.

Current Events

I used to pride myself about keeping up with the news, local, national, even world news. But no longer. The older I get the more the news is not really new anymore. It all seemed like it had happened before. I rarely watch TV or read a paper, so the source for news if I care to pay attention is the internet. And most of that I am able to tune out by selecting web-sites that have little or no news feeds. Some would say I am acting like a spoiled child, absorbed in my own world. Maybe so.

Is this what's wrong with the world? I don't know. Do I plan to change? Not any time soon.

Year end.

It's that time of year again, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my favorite, Tax Time. Not really. Looking at my desk piled high with papers, I decided to get started on cleaning it up and filing anything that might prove useful with the business of being a US consumer/Tax Payer. Not to exaggerate, the stack was nearly 18 inches. Everything from old insurance policies to "This is not a bill" letters from Medicare to actual tax return copies from previous years (So far no paper cuts).

I have not yet completed going through that stack. I did manage to whittle it down some. So there will have to be another period or two where I give it a go before the year is considered complete. Maybe New Year's Day morning while the  parade is going on in California.

Photos on your contacts.

I'm sure I knew about these a long time ago but a recent lesson from the Geeks on Tour got me thinking about doing it on my phone. I currently use a BlackBerry 9810 smart phone so it took a little bit of  fiddling to adapt the Android lesson to fit my current phone. But the principle is the same.

I first decided which people I wanted photos to appear on my phone when I called them or they called me. I chose about ten people to start with. I think I mentioned previously the Google program Picasa for managing photos on your personal computer. This program has a feature of face recognition which made searching for photos of certain people very easy. I found and cropped a good photo of each person, then attached the photos to an email to myself.

On my phone I then downloaded the attached photos and saved to my gallery. Then it was an simple edit to add the correct photo to each contact on my phone. Just a nice addition to see the face of the person you are talking to or calling.

Pets

Since my my childhood days my family has owned several pets. Mostly dogs, but we did own a tom cat just after I was married, till my wife found out she was allergic to cat dander. That cat went to live in the country with my sister in-law.

The first dog I remember was called Spot. A mixed breed short hair that was white with a couple of large brown spots. I was 6 or 7 when and we lived in Cropsey, Illinois, a small town of about 150 people. Spot was an outside dog and was allowed to roam, even though he would often return home with scars from fighting with other dogs. I was heart broken when he was not allowed to move to Paxton with the family. I was told he was given to a farmer but don't know if that was true. I say that because that is the same story I told my kids when a dog had to be put to sleep.

Most recently my wife and I had three small dogs. One my wife got from a friend and we got 2 hand-me-down puppies from my oldest daughter, when my grandson was born. All three of those had to be put down, mostly from old age. so now we have no pets, which is a lot more convenient for our life style.

Winter Weather?

I know, I know, if I want this weather to continue I should just ignore it. But what fun would that be.

So here goes. What a great couple of weeks of weather in December so far. Now this trend can continue for a while as far as I am concerned. No snow, above average temps, and a few sunny days. The wooly worm forecast for this winter was like last winter, cold, snow, with icy roads and cloudy skies. Maybe the color of all those larvae doesn't really matter after all. Here is what the weather experts have to say.

School buses.

I put my grandson on a school bus and watched it drive away this morning. That brought back a whole host of memories from my own school days. Although we always lived too close to my schools to need daily busing I remember the joys of school bus travel as early as 6th grade.


A trip to my first major league baseball game from my hometown to Chicago's Comisky Park, where we watched the White Sox play someone. I don't recall the score but the trip was memorable. Over a hundred miles with a stop in Kankakee for lunch at my first McDonalds with their 15 cent hamburgers. It was the Little League annual event of 100 kids (3 buses) and chaperones.


I recall later traveling to away basketball games on the team bus in junior high school and then on the fan bus to away games in high school where there was more fun had on the bus than at the games.


As an adult chaperone on a bus with 40 noisy kids I remember the bone jarring ride of those yellow beasts built for  young bodies, not for humans. I think I would rather walk.

Grand children

The wife and I just completed a week of watching 3 of our grand kids. For the most part they were well behaved. Just the same, having that responsibility for that long with their parents a 1000 miles away was exhausting. It's so much easier to just care for oneself. I do not recall so much stress, even when we had all 5 of our own kids still at home. Of course I was able to go to work to get away from it, so that made a big difference. Women must have special genes to cope with all the sibling rivalry stuff.

A week of getting them to bed, getting them up, not missing the bus, dirty diapers, video games, eat your lunch, brush your teeth, don't hit your brother, you get the picture.

Drive In, Drive Thru, Drive Up.

I was reminded today how much convenience we have become used to. From banking to fast food to even weddings in Nevada, most any thing you want or need can be had without even leaving your car. I don't know when all this started, but I am pretty sure it became widespread in my lifetime , most likely after World War II. I guess this is something else for which we Baby Boomers can be blamed.

The doctor had called in some prescriptions to Walmart. So I planned on using their drive up service, since it is cold and I needed nothing from inside the store. Wouldn't you know the drive up was out of service, so I had to go inside to pick up my drugs. Luckily I was fully dressed (remove pajamas, put on jeans and shirt) so wasn't a big deal, just a small inconvenience. This too was Black Friday but it was not very busy, at least in the pharmacy section.

My internet provider.

I have had the same internet provider since we moved to this address over 6 years ago. Initially it was Verizon, who was the local phone company at the time. A couple of years ago they sold out to Frontier, and my service plan went over to them. I had one DSL modem die since then, so they sent me a new one with WiFi about a year ago. With all the new gadgets we now have, using the internet, I thought maybe I needed a faster service. And I did, as my speed test revealed.



After coming from a dial-up service to DSL the performance seemed terrific. But like most things with technology, if you snooze you loose. I found out my current speed is not even offered anymore and I was due a faster service and new modem for the same price I was currently paying. My new speed test is 5 times faster. Oh happy day.

People say.

People say there are two things you never talk about in public, religion and politics. But I don't listen to people and this blog is not very public. Besides I want to say a few words about a clergyman not the religion he so obviously believes and practices.

Our local church and the one I attended 11 miles away and 2 others participated last year in a process that ultimately combined all four into one building with one priest. So not only did I lose a friend (Fr, B.K.Tran) and comfortable  group of fellow parishioners, I gained an uncomfortable church and a not so likeable new pastor. That circumstance led me to seek and find another church (11 miles the other way) and a man who epitomizes what I think a clergyman should be.

My wife had knee surgery not long after I started at the new church and was having a hard time with lingering pain and side effects from that. So I mentioned this to Fr. Carl at church one Sunday and asked if someone could bring Communion to her at home. Most parishes have lay people who do that very thing. He said of course. And that was the start of weekly visits by Fr. Carl himself that lasted a couple of months. Each week he would come and spend 30-45 minutes visiting and encouraging Joan with good humor and a sympathetic ear. As Joan was able to attend church that humor and encouragement continued. They say when God closes one door he opens another. I believe it.

Passwords

How many does it take? Banking used to be the only one I had or needed, no longer. If I have one I have 50. How do you keep track. you don't. At least once or twice a week I need to receive an email with instructions how to reset a password. Especially hard are those you only use once in a while, like insurance or utility accounts. Is it case sensitive. Does it require numbers and letters, or worst of all special characters.

I suppose I could write them all down, but that doesn't seem too secure. And isn't that what passwords are all about, SECURITY. Now that I think about it, this all could be a conspiracy to weed out the more feeble-minded and keep all this good technology away from those who can't keep track of their passwords. I know there is an "App for that", but wouldn't that mean another password?

Like Yogi said (deju vu all over again).

No matter how many times we make this trip to Florida, something about it keeps me awake worrying. Not the whole week before but, parts of several nights leading to our departure. I am by nature a pessimist. I think my parents were that way too. At least they could blame the Great Depression for their anxiety. I worry about things we might forget to do, or things we might leave behind, or things that might go wrong on the road. None of which has happened (knock on wood). I like to think most sensible people feel this way. Thus putting myself in the sensible category.

Here is the way we went to Florida last year. Click on the colored markers for info about each location.

Photo at the top of this page.

For those of you who don't know what it's all about, here it is. Such a lamp played a small part in the movie 'A Christmas Story", a classic of dubious quality. Through the eyes and ears of young boy, who recalls one special Christmas years later, the now adult boy narrates his fondest memories.

Turkey Day (Take 2)

I stopped in today to see my hair stylist (for those of you over 50 my barber). He is quite the outdoors man, with the fruit of his labors decorating the walls of his shop. Almost no room for his customers. So anyway there was this addition on the wall I asked him about, and away he went talking about his passion. He pretty well eats everything he kills which is the way I used to do it. I kept no trophies except a tail feather or two. He used a bow and arrow to get the latest (whitetail deer).

For almost a month.

I have been at this for almost a month now, publishing this blog. Writing something down every day. I don't think I every kept a diary. I do like to write so this isn't to much of a chore. Keeping it interesting can and will be tough, so there may be some " bare spots" along the way. But I'll just play it by ear.

My mother has been dead now for a year and a half. I think about her and my father nearly every day. I hear something or say something she had said or do something she would have done. I am amazed how much like my parents I have become. My kids are starting to say things like "I am my mother's daughter". That seems to be the natural order of things.

No one knows.

My friend Dan tells me he was in a car accident Thursday. Luckily no one was injured. He was traveling a three lane highway at the speed limit, when a speeding car rammed him from behind. Apparently this same car had almost hit them twice before a few miles back. Dan sustained 4000 dollars damage to his car.  The other had to be towed.

I have had a few near misses over the years. My wife and oldest son were surviving passengers in a fatal crash years ago. Makes you stop and think. No one knows when his time is up.

Old photos. (Take three)

I would venture a guess that everyone has a box or album of old pictures around that you haven't looked at in ages. Mine range from school photos of my kids and grand kids to family shots taken before I was born to recent trips. All of these were taken with film and printed on paper. Not so convenient in this digital age. So I set myself to fixing that situation this week. Using my printer/scanner and computer I slowly removed the hard copy from it's storage place (album, frame, or shoe box) and copied each one to my hard drive. Not only that, but from there I backed them up on the Cloud (aka. internet) to a free storage  site. Where I can access and work with, from any computer connected to the internet. How great is that?

John & Joan

I used several pieces of software to accomplish this. Cannon MP Navigator (which came with the printer/scanner) to scan and save to my computer. Picasa (photo edit and management) free from Google to edit, resize and upload to the Cloud. And finally Photos (by Google +) to manage and share on the Cloud (internet) when and if I want to. That last "if" is important.

Google says as long as I keep each photo a small size I can have unlimited storage space free. That's good.

I must be getting old.

Of course we are all getting older. The alternative stinks. But my doctor will tell you that I am for sure. It wasn't long ago my blood pressure was near normal enough that I needed no medication to keep it in range. Then a couple of years ago "they" moved the goal posts to a new recommended lower range. So I started taking one pill a day to lower it. Now this last month one pill isn't doing the job any more. Yesterday I started a second pill. That doesn't sound like much compared to many others, but it is another "chink in the armor".

I do look older I know, less hair, a few more pounds. I still feel much like I did 10 years ago which is good. But time seems to go faster and faster, another sign of aging.

Old timer's School

My sister sent me a link to a site about all the schools that have been closed or consolidated. That got me thinking about my school years. I suppose everyone does now and then. My earliest recollection of school was indeed from the building my sister was talking about. That building was torn down years ago.

First grade (no Kindergarten), Cropsey Grade School, teacher Mrs. Brucker. There were lots of Bruckers in the area. One family of Bruckers lived a 1/2 mile west of Cropsey. They had three boys near my age. Paul, Dick and Tom, who is an attorney in Fairbury now. Dick was killed in a farm accident a couple of years ago. I spent many hours with Dick and Tom on their farm. We lived in Cropsey on the west side so I used to cut across the corn field to reach the Brucker's house. Many mornings in the summer I would arrive before the boys were awake and their mom would allow me to wait inside on the floor reading comic books till the boys woke up. Playing in stacks of hay in the second story of the barn was a favorite. Making tunnels between bales and chasing each other thru them was great fun.

We moved to Paxton in the fall of my 2nd grade year. I recall being the new kid in class who knew no one. Not fun at any age. Another school that is gone is the Paxton High School, the building is still in use for grades 7-8. Now consolidated with Buckley and Loda, Paxton moved to a new building the fall after I graduated. Anyway this website has some history about my school, mainly sports teams. I did not see anything about the golf team, in which I participated. So I sent in a few recollections to add to their data.

Hello Sunshine.

One of my oldest and best friends is Vernon Mast. We have known each other since we started working together in the late 60s. Both of us were Engineering Technicians with the Illinois Department of Transportation in Ottawa, Illinois.

Vern was in the first group (1957) of high school graduates hired and trained by IDOT to assist in building the Interstate Highway System in Illinois. I came along in 1965 and was trained like Vern for 11 weeks at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois. Little did we know that our friendship would extend all our working years and thru today, some years into retirement. Vern moved to Florida a few years after retirement. One of my favorite things to do is visit with him while there and reminisce about the time we worked together.

The title to this post has been my phone greeting to Vern since he moved to Florida. Last winter was the first year we have missed getting together in a long time.

 Poor health and bad timing prevented our get-together. Here's hoping for better luck next year.

Old photos (Take two)

Now here is a special moment in time. Grade one, for a lot of folks their first year in school. Now days it's more likely their 2nd, 3rd or 4th, if you count preschool. I don't remember much of my first year, my teacher, the building. I do think this may have been when I received my Polio vaccine. Three sugar cubes impregnated with  a liquid if I remember correctly. Given to us over a period of weeks I think. That was the year we also started brushing our teeth in school with a tooth powder. Maybe it was a fluoride treatment, I don't know.

Now look at that photo above. My youngest son was in this class.What strikes me is the class size. That is a very good number by today's standards. Also notice that some kids paid extra for for two pictures in one. Same story today, haves and have nots. I wonder where they all are today, what they have become.

Joan's Christmas

When was the last time you enjoyed shopping for Christmas? If your like me, never. Call me Scrooge, or the Grinch. Shopping ranks right up there with trips to the dentist. And Christmas is the worst time to be shopping. It's cold and everyone else is out shopping too. No parking spaces, long checkout lines, you get the picture.

So Joan and I went shopping last Sunday evening, and guess what? It was none of those things. We were warm and comfortable. We stopped for a nice meal. We found what we wanted at a good price. You know where this is leading. Yes, from the comfort of our living room, she on her computer and me on mine, zipping around the internet and ordering her Christmas online. All with free shipping. Isn't technology great.

Just call me Santa.

From beyond the Grave

What started out as a simple show and tell has grown into a full blown "hobby". Not sure if that term really fits. But a lot of my time for the last 6 months has been spent doing it. What is "it" you say. Well photographing headstones in all the local cemeteries of course. Over 14,000 and counting. Not just taking a picture, but uploading it to the website Find A. Grave .com to a memorial someone has already created or creating a memorial from the inscription on the stone. The count on my created memorials is near 2,500.

This pass-time has grown from me photographing my parent's headstone to share with my siblings. I wanted to show that the date of death had been added a while after the funeral. So from there I found the Find A Grave website and away I went. There is a whole community of people doing this. Many like me closer to our death than birth. Some of the "old timers" in this group have well over 100,000 memorials created. In fact there is competitive spirit among some of the contributors to add the newest burial in a cemetery before anyone else does. I personally enjoy seeing the percent photographed for a nearby cemetery rise to near 100%. Knowing that any relative searching for a person can find a memorial and a picture of their loved-one's headstone.

This is something you can  do away from home as well. As my recent side trips to cemeteries in Michigan have shown.

Some people.

I was looking thru some old photos recently and found these.

 I'm not going to debate the authenticity of what people have said about the stains on the windows. But I was amazed to see how these windows have produced actions by people that run the full spectrum of human nature good and bad.

  From the religious belief that some sort of miracle  created them, to the purchase of the building to house  a bookstore, to the vandalizing by slingshot, people are people in all their glory or ugliness.

The link tells just a small part of the story. If you google "Madonna on window" you can find much more.

Disney on Parade

I can count on one hand the number of visits I made to Disney World in Florida. It is an experience, but not one I care to do to often. I think it is mainly the crowds that keep form going more often. And the cost. My good friend Vern who lives in Florida goes 2 or 3 times a year. In fact he has gone every year since it opened I think. Even when he was working and living in Illinois.

My oldest daughter too has "Mickey ears". For the last several years, up to this one, she had spent 2 or 3 days there by herself, ahead of her husband on vacation. He would join her in Florida after her Disney stay for a couple of weeks of beach and other fun. This year they spent their Disney time and money to and back from Texas, where my Grandson was completing his Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB, San Antonio.

What me worry?

My parents were born around 1920 and lived to near 90 years old. So they experienced first hand the Great Depression of the 1930s. and the recovery that took years and years. My wife and I are Baby Boomers who really have not had to worry about where our next meal was coming from or if the farm we were living on and making our living from was about to be taken away because we couldn't pay our mortgage.  I think Mom and Dad had worries like those early in their adult lives. I don't recall them talking about such things, but a lot of people had those issues during that period. So their ideas about being frugal were based in need rather than want. I'm sure some of that rubbed off on me but only to the degree of "monkey see monkey do".

Alfred E. Neuman

 I was fortunate to find a steady job right out high school. The wage from that job was never a lot when compared to some but the work was interesting and there was the promise of a decent pension when I reached retirement age. So that time has come and gone and I am well into my retirement years. We do watch our pennies, like cutting coupons and shopping at Walmart. But our biggest issue now is our health.

 My kids have a whole new bunch of things to worry about. Things that won't be resolved in my lifetime. Another old adage based in fact, "The more things change, the more they stay the same".

Wiziwig.tv, What?

 Yes that's what I said. I don't remember when or how I stumbled upon this gem but I'm sure glad I did. I have enjoyed many an hour of sports viewing using the links provided on this website. I even manage to understand some of the announcers speaking in a foreign language. Luckily most broadcasts are in English. This is where I nurtured my enjoyment of English Premier League Football (Soccer to you uneducated). Not just the Premier League, but football worldwide. All sorts of competitions. You can even watch NFL games, European Tour Golf, and PGA Tour Golf. The list is impressive. This is all done using my internet connection and the plug in from Adobe, Flash Player. Available for free download if your computer does not already have it.

Turkey Day (Not then, today)

No it wasn't a big black pheasant. It was a wild turkey, right there along side the road just east of Pontiac on our way home this afternoon. As we slowed to turn left onto county road 1700 North. She must have been filling her gizzard with rocks from the road shoulder. I say she, because of the size primarily, but the feathers were drab brownish black also. I think males are shinier.

Cell phones.

 As I told you in another post, my wife and each have a cell phone. Mine is a "smart phone". Hers is older style "flip phone". I call it the the not so smart phone. Actually it can do a lot of the things mine can but is mainly for phone calls (imagine that). We paid only $0.99 for hers with a two year service plan.

Anyway, the time is fast approaching when I will be able to renew my service contract and get a big discount on a new phone. So that is where the problem is. So many choices. My last two phones have been Blackberry. Yes they still make phones, but they have fallen way out of favor. I am pretty sure their market share is below 5%. That means very few programers will write Apps for them.  And a smart phone without Apps is not good. Since I am not a fan of Apple that leaves all the Androids. Of those Samsung looks like the leader. The only device I can remember I owned made by Samsung was a flat screen TV that died a month after the warranty ran out. Still, from what I have read the latest Samsung phones are as good as there are. We do own a Nexus 7 tablet, which is very nice. Right now it looks like the Samsung S-5 is the one.

International Travel (Take 2)

Our other adventure into the unknown of a foreign country was to Canada. Namely a bus excursion

to Niagara Falls, Ontario. I don't recall what hotel we stayed at, but we did have a nice meal in the Skylon Tower, and its Summit Suite Buffet and Revolving Dining Room. That was the same trip I described in my post "On D Island". Another day or two north of the border.

 That boat ride to get "up close and personal with the falls" was great. It was pretty impressive,  as you can see from the pictures. My wife still talks about that trip today. She thinks Canada is one big flower garden. They were nice gardens. But the main event is the falls.

Everybody's heard about the bird.

I purchased a birding field book to take with us on our recent trip to San Antonio, Texas. Before the trip I spent a lot of time with it and with the accompanying CD of bird calls. It was a lot of fun.

 My plan was teach my 3 youngest grandsons, who were coming on the trip with their mother, the basic stuff about local birds and any unusual birds we happened upon. Well so much for plans. So I thought I might put a few birds on this blog and see if their mother will let the boys try them out.



OK mom, ask the boys to ID the pictures and then click their name to go to a site and click the "Skip ad" play button or "Listen" symbol again to hear or see that bird.





      Red Winged Blackbird           American Robin              American Crow       Baltimore Oriole 

The Season of Reason

I'm sure I mentioned them in an earlier post. These two vagabonds. Traveling the country. Taking their home with them. Living their dream. Sharing their knowledge along the way. No, not them. It's the "Geeks on Tour".

I have always envied people with the energy to live the full-time RV lifestyle. My mother and  father were sometime campers after my dad retired. They made it as far as Florida one winter, pulling a small camper with a pickup. Unfortunately that ended badly. My dad had an accident with the pickup while still in Florida. I don't think they ever camped again. Certainly never out of state.

My wife and I did a little tent camping way back before our family grew so large. And we spent a few weeks living in my wife's sister's fifth wheel in Arizona after I retired. But we have never done any real RVing and probably never will. Even so I still think a lot about it.

So I guess there are two strong attractions to the Geeks. RV travel and technology. Two reasons why I joined their group, visit their website and watch their instructional videos. They do seem like nice people trying to earn a living by sharing there knowledge.

With their help I created this blog. I hope it continues to be something people enjoy. Thanks for coming along.

Fits right in, don't you think?

Man that's a good looking bunch.

I'm the one in the middle.

Who says you can't go home again?

Or is it something else? Anyway we do live in a small world. And here are just two examples . Both happened a few years ago at the casino poker table. (That's a story for another time.) So there I am 1200 miles from home in Tampa Florida, a few years ago. My wife and I are in Florida for a few weeks to get away from the winter weather. And in Tampa because a good friend of mine lives there. We were scheduled to stay with my friend starting the next day, so this night we were at a motel nearby. My wife decided take a nap that afternoon and I went to the local dog track/poker room. I signed in to wait for an opening at a low limit table and was called to take my seat after a few minutes. On my way thru the room (about 50 tables) I was surprised to see my younger brother already seated at one with cards in hand. This is my brother, recently retired from a large New York insurance company and living 150 miles south of Tampa. Small world.

Another moment in time happened  closer to home (90 miles). Again while visiting (this time my youngest daughter) I stopped in the local riverboat to try my luck. When I was seated at the table none of the other players seemed familiar. After a few hands I struck up a conversation with the player next to me. Come to find out he was from my home town (Paxton) and was one year ahead of me in school. From that chance meeting miles form home our friendship has grown. In fact only my wife spends more time with  me now than Dan. We golf all summer and last winter we exchanged visits while in Florida. He stays in Venice and I stay in Aurburndale.

Speaking of Florida, a third example has come to mind. While in Florida two years ago I happened to be in a local financial institution waiting to see someone. I was seated in the lobby munching on some complimentary snacks when a another customer asked me how the snacks tasted. Well the face was way different but I recognized the voice right away, another coworker retired from IDOT who I had not seen for many years Bill Beck. Come to find out he was living in the park I was renting in, 10 miles from the scene of our chance meeting. Go figure.

International Travel

With all the traveling we have done since I retired we have been out of this country only twice. And one of those times was on foot. A less than 1/2 mile walk from an Indian owned and operated parking lot on our side to the Mexican village of Los Algodones across the border. My car insurance company was pleased to see us get a little exercise and leave our car behind. At that time all you needed to return to the US was your drivers license and a smile. We were in Arizona visiting relatives. One of many trips to the Valley of the Sun or better known as Phoenix.

Not just Phoenix, but places like Sedona and this church. Arizona is so very different from home, I guess that's why we enjoyed it so much. I think our first time there was a 5000 mile van ride for a nephew's wedding. And the last time, just before leaving, our much loved dog (Pocket) had to be put to sleep.

That experience made for a very long ride home.

Cutting the cord (AKA no landline)

Besides not having a regular phone line for over six years my wife and I seem to make out just fine with no television, cable or satellite. It's been that way now so long we don't even think about it. We do use Netflix on our high speed internet connection, so some of last season's TV programs  do get watched, without commercials :). Another part of my daily routine is watching a few regulars on YouTube. This website has a wide selection of short videos on any subject you can think of. From my friends Geeks on Tour to Trucker Josh there is more than enough to watch. I especially like the product reviews offered by consumers and producers alike.

Apparently we are not alone.


This is not the first time our family has gone without standard TV. Back in my working days we turned off the noise for extended periods. Just ask my kids, they will tell how they suffered (LOL) because of it.

To be, or not to be (a Geek).

I have always considered my self to be Geeky. As far back as I can remember, electronic gadgets have fascinated me. My earliest recollection of this is of my father and I in the 1950s. At some point our family purchased a black&white television. RCA brand if I remember correctly with a screen size smaller than many desktop computer monitors today. Now inside this huge wooden console was the main picture tube and a dozen or so smaller vacuum tubes that controlled what was displayed on the large picture tube. The life-span of these smaller tubes was always in question. So when one one of them died and ruined the picture on the television my father would open the back of the TV and remove all the small tubes that might be the problem. And off we'd go to the store that sold TVs and TV parts. At the store he would use the tube tester on all the tubes removed from the TV to find the bad one and purchase a replacement. This process happened every couple of months it seemed.

So as I grew older it seemed natural to tinker with electronic stuff like my first computer a Commodore Vic-20. Using this machine I taught myself to write simple computer code to perform sorting of names in a database and other tasks that happen at the touch of one button on today's computers. From the Vic-20 I graduated to the main-frame computer at work, At his time our work related data was starting to be computerized and I got in on the ground floor as coordinator in our department. From there to PCs and Lotus 123 and today's smartphones and tablets.

Today I still am trying to learn more about how to use these devices. That's where Geeks on Tour come in. I found these folks about a year ago and have enjoyed all their work since. Especially their live video "hang-outs" held Sundays @1:00pm on Google plus. Or see them on You Tube anytime.

Unlike Rhett Butler I do give a dam (Hoover).

While today's weather is certainly November like, I am thinking of warmer climes and interesting places. Say what you will about Las Vegas, Nevada, it sure is interesting. We have been there a couple times but not recently. That may change now that our grandson Zack is stationed at Nellis AFB for a while. That added attraction just may prompt our return. The last time we were there we stayed "Downtown" as in Fremont Street. However what really remains in my memory of that time was our visit to the "Dam". Very impressive, and so essential to the people of the west.

Map of Hoover Dam area.

On "D" Island

After I retired my wife and I were able to travel much more than we had previously. We chose to go by bus tour on many an occasion. One of these included a stop at a world famous hotel (The Grand Hotel) on Mackinac Island in northern Michigan in the month of August.  That time of the year must be the best for a visit. This hotel was used as a movie location. Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour starred in Somewhere in Time. I did not think much of the movie but the scenery was nice. The island is a step back in time as no motorized vehicles are allowed (except fire and ambulance). So horse drawn wagons and bicycle were how we got around. We had lunch at the Grand before departing. An experience you don't forget.  Map of the Grand Hotel

Double Trouble

Everybody loves a baby. So why not "play two" as Ernie Banks used to say. When my youngest son found out his wife was expecting we were all excited. Even more so when it proved to be two identical girls. Not long after we had a little gathering (Meet the Twins) at our place so a few relatives could share in the adventure for an hour or two.

It now has been several years since we had that gathering. After a lot of hard work and dirty diapers those two are on their way to becoming young adults. This all has been a special thing to watch. Especially since my wife is a twin (brother John) and my wife's mother was an identical twin. Helen and Louise were the best of friends right till Helen died near the age of 90. Louise lived a few years more. For as long as I new her, Helen would coordinate her clothing with her sister at any function she attended with Louise. They even were to be buried in identical dresses.

The Road to Hana

 I can't remember if it was the second or third day of our Maui visit, that all six of us boarded the minivan for a 65 mile adventure across the island to the village of Hana and back. Now that doesn't sound like much of a trip but it proved to be an all day journey. Not soon after leaving the city the way turns into a winding, hilly, narrow road with almost a hundred one-lane bridges thrown in just to spice it up. Luckily my son in-law was driving. I would have turned around after the first 5 miles and gone back to our cottage.

Map of the Road to Hana

 We stopped for a picnic lunch about halfway. We had also stopped a few times for pictures. Arriving near Hana we took our time hiking down to a black sand beach. After enjoying Hana for a while we continued on our way with the intent of a circular route back to our lodgings. Only to find the road closed by rock slides. So the way to Hana became the way home from Hana. The road home was not wider, flatter or straighter. We stopped for a meal at the end of the day back near the city.

 Map of the road to Hana                                           

Map of the road to Hana

More Background

My one and only trip to Hawaii was a memorable one. My daughter got married on the beach on the island of Maui. Of course I was skeptical about the long plane ride and all that water. But we managed to get there and back safely as thousands do every day. It all started with a  limousine ride to O'Hare airport for 6 (my wife and daughter, future son in-law his mother and aunt and me), plus luggage. Chicago to San Francisco was uneventful, but the fun started while changing planes in California. Our new plane had mechanical problems. So a planned layover of 90 minutes turned into 4 hours of wandering around a boring airport. Our second new plane finally arrived and we landed in Honolulu about 1am local time to a deserted airport and a too small minivan ride to our hotel.

Our flight the next day from Oahu to Maui was not till late afternoon, so we had time to do a couple  of tourist things like the Pearl Harbor Memorial. I am even more impressed now (after 9-11) looking at our photos with the history of that place.

 Our accommodations on Maui were very nice. The newlyweds had an apartment above the owners house and the rest of us shared a 2 bedroom cottage on the back of the property. We had a nice sized swimming pool and a cookout hut, all with a view of the ocean (3 miles away) and the volcano when not hidden in the clouds.

Link to location of Honeymoon Villa



 

A little background info.

My profile picture has an interesting story that goes with it. Several years ago on one of our many trips to Florida, my wife and I went to see the beautiful flowers at Cypress Gardens (Lego-Land), in Winter Haven. At that time there were a few boat rides and this huge carrousel that rose into the sky above the trees. That photo was taken from that ride (Sunshine Sky Adventure).

Much of the gardens remain the same but I haven't been back inside for years.

 Above you can see some of the garden beauty that this place was famous for. The link below will show a map where these photos were taken.

Legoland Winter Haven