We're getting the tail end of Ivan up here in Virginia, and it has already spiked my power twice this evening.

    One principle reason for writing last night was that my internet was down after the brief power spike, but in short order it was restored. So I moved onto other means of entertainment.

    It's Saturday morning and I have a cup of coffee here and I'm yawning. Sitting Indian Style on a computer chair that threatens to spit out the remaining foam that keeps my bottom in something resembling comfort. I would love to purchase a new one, but it's so low on my priority list right now. As I'm typing this I'm thinking that I should go to Costco today so that I can have some "real" food around the house for a change. I've been on the road so much that I have bought just enough to keep me from starving. Well, I don't have any trips scheduled and it's time to replenish the refrigerator. The other day, my brother was over here and he said, "All you have in the refrigerator is Eggs and Beer." I dryly retorted "The eggs aren't mine." Which prompted a laugh on his part. I also need to fold laundry and a host of other domestic responsibilities that would be prudent to do. For those who know me, my house is rarely unorganized. At the same time, it could use a vacuum, dusting and general purpose cleaning. And the litter box needs to be freshened...

    On pets. Fritz had a seizure a few Sundays ago. It was kind of scary. He was sitting on the couch and then he sort of raised up and turned like he was going to go after a scratch that was a little hard to get at. But then, his tail was tucked well between his legs and his eyes were just scared. He moved a couple of times, but mostly he was just stuck. He couldn't break out of it. This lasted for several minutes and I was very concerned until I talked to a co-worker who has a beagle. B said that his Beagle gets them once or twice a year, and that his beagle is now 10 or 11 years old. He warned me that if the seizures begin to chain together, then I would have a problem.

    My writing balloon is deflated. I have writer's thoughts, but not a writer's drive. I don't feel like typing this all out. I was at Costco earlier this week and they had a portable recorder which can plug into your computer and (hopefully) transcribe your words into text. It was about $50 and I was wondering if it would be a good investment or not. I occasionally have these deep thoughts that I think may be interesting. Deep may not be the right word, more like mini epiphanies. They won't change the world, but they may just change me.

    Right now, I just need to catch up before the month ends. Let me start from the beginning. I was a born a Chinese boy in a small town.... Whoops, that's not my story. Let me start from where I left off. I went down to Florida on Aug 16th. I budgeted a few extra days down there so that I could have some vacation. My grandmother has a great little cottage near Orlando which is about 2 hours from Jacksonville. Because this was partly my vacation I rented a convertible for this trip. Right after arriving, I met with the folks that I had to work with down there in. After lunch we started work, and quickly realized that we needed to pick something up from another facility about a mile down the road. So, it was a hot day and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to put the top down and enjoy the drive. We picked up the monitor that we needed and then I decided to leave the top down, because there wasn't anything worth stealing in the car. We went inside and worked for several hours and then we heard a thud on the roof which sounded like thunder. I went outside and the sun was shining brightly, but it was also shimmering on the blacktop, because there was water there. I went out to the car and there was at least 1/4 inch of water in my cup holders. We spent a half hour wringing out the mats and trying to sop out as much water as possible. The seats were slightly wet for at least 3 days. Fortunately, it was all dry before I returned it on Friday. And it didn't smell bad!

    While I was in Jacksonville, I stayed right on the St. John's River and I took a few pictures right from my hotel Room. Before I drove down to Orlando, I did go to the beach. A storm was coming, but I got a few pictures before retreating back to my car. The pictures of the beach turned out better than I thought.

    On Wednesday of that week I went down to Disney World! Yeah! It was hot, but not as crowded. So it was a trade off. It was difficult to stay all day, so I left a little earlier than I would have. I didn't take any pictures. I still have about 200 pictures from when I went back in 1998 and I never look at them, even though they are of pretty high quality. Not much changes in Disney World, but the Haunted Mansion and the Pirates of the Caribbean did have some elements added since the films have debuted.

    I also had a chance to spend time with my Grandma and she was in great spirits. She even kept me up until almost midnight! All in all, it was a good trip. A convertible, a trip to Disney World and good company. Given all of the activity in Florida over the past month and a half, I probably got there at just the right time. Weather was favorable, albeit hot. Charley swept through the weekend before I arrived and Frances came long after I was gone.

Views from Jacksonville

    I returned home for a few days, and then flew out to Cincinnati. Well, more accurately, I flew into Columbus because it was $300 cheaper and worked in Cincinnati. Independence Air was way cheap. I'm sold for local travel. Anyway, I once again took a few days to be included in my vacation and was able to spend time hanging out with my relatives on both sides of my family. I had dinner with 5 uncles, 2 aunts and a grandfather. It really was a lot of fun hanging out with them. I always get a bigger kick out of them when It's just me hanging out with them. The more people, the less intimacy. After one of the nights out, my Uncle showed me his home theatre, which is indeed a theatre. The presentation was so good, that I could probably point out the flaws in the source material better than I could point out the flaws in the projection. It was an impressive display of technology in someone's home. He works with media, so he gets it discounted, but I imagine that it cost a pretty penny. It's enough for me to begin to scoff at my measly setup, which is pretty good. Before I left Ohio, I got to see and help my friend M pack up for a trip back home to Mom and Dad. I did the same thing when I left the Air Force. Go home, organize your stuff and then re-launch the new you onto the world when you get the career job. Family can be wonderful that way.

    Two weeks ago, my church had it's annual Labor day picnic under less than optimal skies, but it was fun nonetheless. With the sky being overcast, we had less people turn out, but it didn't really rain, so it was just fine. I ended up playing football all day long and I paid for it over the next several days. During the game I actually played Quarterback for a little bit. It was kind of cool. Half of the contestants were kids, and the other half were adults. With half the playing field below my shoulders, it was easier to hit my targets. If I were 6' 5" I totally would have played football. But at a more modest 5' 8" it just made more sense to do a more proportional sport. Anyway, I had a few touchdown passes and when I was receiving I caught a few as well. All in all, a good day, but it really did impact the rest of the week.

    On Tuesday of that week I flew out to Albuquerque, NM to do an installation. All week, I was sore and beat. I thought that it was time for me to just pack it in and maybe not travel for a little bit. I really had to force myself to be a tourist which is unlike me. Over the last several months I've been a very active tourist. On this trip, I only saw one real landmark, although I did drive down route 66 for a while, which was pretty cool. The only touristy thing was when I went to Sandia Peak. It's billed as the longest aerial Tramway in the world. I was on one of these down in Stone Mountain, Georgia. This was brought you to an elevation of about 10,000 feet. It was a spectacular view of Albuquerque, but I did enjoy Stone Mountain more. It seemed more peaceful and conducive to just chilling out.  No description will do a better job than pictures, and even the pictures lack context. But I'll give it a shot.

View of Albuquerque from my hotel room

Views from Sandia Peak

    Even though I was thoroughly unmotivated to explore, I did do some exploration. Most of that exploration was due to my inherent lack of direction. Even in a location that contains mountains to help guide your way, I still managed to go the wrong direction on more than one occasion. One of those missed directions had me traveling through the heart of the University of New Mexico which was a happy accident as Universities typically have the best record stores.

    Upon returning home, I was really excited about the incoming football season as well as the Survivor debut. For both of those I've now created pools using Excel. My friend A in Albany says that I'm a walking spreadsheet. Well, in this case, I'm maintaining spreadsheets for football and Survivor. I got my butt kicked in Survivor last year, but I've had some modest success so far in the football pool. I came in 2nd this week, and I hope to win on one of these Sundays. I just enjoy the competition, the money is just there to encourage people to remember to vote. Anyway, the new Joe Gibb's Redskins started off great with a win in week 1, but they stumbled at Giant stadium and have Dallas on Monday night at home. It would be nice to get a win against our hated rivals the Cowboys.

    In U2 news... It's been a big week for news this week. On Thursday, they debuted their new single "Vertigo" and it's fantastic. I don't know if it will be a classic U2 track, but it's so much to listen to. It's the lead single for their new album "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" The album is due out on on November 23rd, and I'm really psyched for this one. It sounds like a really exciting album. The sound for Vertigo is really dizzy and it's just fun to turn up loud particularly when I'm driving. Great guitar! That's it for now. I should investigate putting up wee little Mp3's of my featured songs, and then wait for the RIAA to come knocking. Hmm, maybe tomorrow.