Beach House

Mom and Bob went down today. Photo says it all.

Back on Bolivar

They started letting folks back on Bolivar today. I talked to Mom and Bob and they are planning on going over on Sunday. I’m not sure I would be ready but Bob has several houses to check on, one of which is still apparently standing.

 

Guess they have secured what is left of the Rollover pass bridge and they are allowing 1 vehicle at a time to go over the bridge. Everyone must be off by 4 pm. Mom will take some photo’s and I will post them when I get them. I am not looking forward to them. I’m not going because I am headed to Austin for the Arkansas game that was postponed due to Ike.

How to Recruit a Longhorn

Kyle and his new friends.

Unbelievable

This story goes in the category of “what the hell are they thinking?”

A Marine who was already shot by friendly fire while hold up in a house with other Marines pulls a grenade that was tossed into the house under his body to protect the others. Holy f*&^ing wow!!!! Can you get to be any more of a hero? This really happened, it is not a plot from some wacko Hollywood movie. This kid saved the lives of numerous other men at the cost of his own. Can’t get much more heroic right? Well apparently the Marines won’t award him the Medal of Honor because the original friendly fire may have already sent him down the path to death.

I’m not even going to try to make sense of this. I can only hope that the morons at the Pentagon see the light of day and honor this young man in the manner in which he deserves.

Full article here…

Mother of Marine Who Fell on Enemy Grenade to Make Son's Case for Medal of Honor

Thursday , September 18, 2008

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. —

The mother of a Marine who witnesses say covered a grenade with his body to save comrades in Iraq plans to appeal to Congress to award her son the nation's highest military honor after learning it was denied by Defense Secretary Robert Gates because of questions about his final act.

Rosa Peralta said Thursday she made the decision after a Marine general told her that her son, Sgt. Rafael Peralta, would be awarded the Navy Cross rather than the Medal of Honor because the nomination was tainted by reports he was accidentally shot by a fellow Marine shortly before an insurgent lobbed the grenade.

"I'm going to see what can be done, because I'm not satisfied with what they want to do now," she said in Spanish.

President Bush singled out the Marine's actions in a 2005 Memorial Day speech, saying Peralta "understood that America faces dangerous enemies, and he knew the sacrifices required to defeat them."

"The president spoke of him. So how is this now possible that they do this," Rosa Peralta said.

She said she was considering rejecting the Navy Cross, the second-highest award for valor in combat that can be awarded to a Marine. Peralta will be the 24th recipient of the Navy Cross for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I still don't know what I'm going to do," she said.

The question about whether to award Peralta the Medal of Honor centers on whether the mortally wounded Marine, who was shot in the head and upper body, could have intentionally reached for the grenade and covered it with his body.

"There was conflicting evidence in the case of Sgt. Peralta as to whether he could have pents, Peralta lay mortally wounded on the floor of a house and grabbed a grenade lobbed by fleeing insurgents. His body absorbed the blast and he died immediately.

In a rare move, the Marine Corps Thursday released a redacted copy of the Medal of Honor nomination by Lt. Gen. Richard Natonski and a investigative report detailing the "friendly fire" shooting of the sergeant.

The report found sufficient evidence existed to believe that Peralta was probably shot by a fellow Marine and that a gunshot wound to the head and injuries to the head from a grenade caused his death.

The nomination, which relies on witness statements, forensics, bomb fragment analysis and an autopsy, concluded that although Peralta was shot in the head, he made "a conscious, heroic decision to cover the grenade and minimize the effects he knew it would have on the rest of his Marine team."

The nomination details Peralta's actions in the final minutes of his life, with several witnesses recounting how the Marine lay face down and used his arm to pull the grenade to him. It also says a forensic analysis of Peralta's clothing and flak jacket show the grenade was underneath him when it exploded.

Peralta, who was assigned to Hawaii's 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, moved to San Diego from Tijuana as a teenager. He was 25.

Going home.

The Beach House

Better photo's thanks to NOAA and Bryan for finding them. I have cut a before and after shot.


The before: (http://picasaweb.google.com/txterrill/HurricaneIke#5246418601619895890)





The After: (http://picasaweb.google.com/txterrill/HurricaneIke#5246419054707325730)

Sad Day... The Beach House Is Gone

Well, it looks as if it is gone! This is truly a sad day. I practically grew up in that house and was watching my son do the same. All my friends and family that have visited over the years... all the new friends and a lot of the new family met for the first time.... college parties... spring break... best seafood ever... Mama Theresa's... sitting in the swing with the cool ocean breeze with my coffee (or Bloody Mary)...

Too early to know if/how we will rebuild.

The best look we have had so far. See the larger image at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/txterrill/HurricaneIke#5246244312841290450

See the Coast Guard video at:

http://www.click2houston.com/video/17471901/

Ike Update

Night has fallen and after a hard day of traveling and working it is finally time to rest. We got a lot of work done here in Deer Park but there is still so much more to do. Then we need to go to Nonnie's and all the others.

You can view the photo's I took today at http://picasaweb.google.com/txterrill/HurricaneIke#

Although Mom has power (thank goodness) Trish and Uncle George does not so we are moving the generator back and fort in an effort to save the freezer and fridge.

One thing the news is not really sharing with those not in the area is the incredible amount of helpful folks just going around and doing things, anything. Not for money, not for attention, but just because they feel they need to do something. Amazing! Scratch that, it's not amazing. It's Texas!

In Houston

Damage and water everywhere

Aggies have power.

In Calvert. First place I see damage.

Mom has power!!!

On my way to Deer Park.

The Beach House

Not looking good. Thanks to Bryan for tracking down these photos. It is hard to tell, but I think this first one is a view of the Big Store which is about 2 miles from The Beach House.

Some other photos.

Help is on the way

Thanks to the generosity of friends I am headed down with supplies, generator, chain saw, and of course, beer. Let the clean up begin!

Thanks especially to Angie and Chad for use of their Generator and Bryan and Lisa for their gas cans and "body" cooler to hold a butt load of ice.

The real question is did the Beach House survive. Early reports don't look good.

I will report what I can from Deer Park.

Storm has Passed

Mostly. Still very windy but no rain. All are fine and Nonnie didn't even loose power!

From Mom...
Eye just pasd no pwr fence dwn all ok bt hot

Time is wrong

Just noticed for the first time that my post times are Pacific not Central. Wonder if I can change that?

IKE update

Worst is moving on shore now although the eye is still about 2 hours away. Sustained winds at 110 mph (111 is a Cat 3). Morgan's Point wind gauge is off line, but last check it was gusting up to 65 MPH.

Text Mom about 20 mins ago but have not heard back. Cell may be out. When I hear from her I will update.

IKE Update

Mom just lost cable. Power still on.

Update

Rain bands are moving into Deer Park. Can't even get to the NOAA web site to see what the storm surge is.

Mom still has power.

I 'm freaking a bit. I should have stayed.

Mom still has power

From Mom...

Neighbors across st decided to leave. Afraid of trees around house. :-O

Text from Mom....

Wind picking up now but still no rain

Update Ike

Just spoke to Mom. All OK and still not much wind and rain.

IKE Update 15:20

Storm surge on Bolivar is above 8 ft. Winds at 39 mph gust to 51.

Morgan Point (on the Channel near Deer Park) is at 6 ft. Winds at 20 mph gust to 31.

 

Mom says not much wind and barely sprinkling so far.

Some good sites to watch

Near real time wind speeds

http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/hgports/hgAllMET.html

 

 

 

Storm surge updates.

http://www.weatherforyou.com/cgi-bin/hw3/hw3.cgi?forecast=stormreports&use_state=tx&nc=forecast,pands,country&dpp=0

Update

Current wind speed in Deer Park is 25 mph gust to 36 mph. TS winds on Bolivar.

Update

Just talked to Nonnie and she is holding pat. I made her promise that if she loses power for more than 12 hours that she gets out. Of course that is if the roads will allow.

 

Just tried to call Mom, but the network was busy. She sent a text message and all is OK but she feels like she is in a cave because the house is all boarded up. Still sunny and little wind. For now…

 

Laura is also staying in San Jacinto county. I’m a bit worried about that because she did not board and she is in the middle of the piney woods. But she has lots of neighbors staying so she should be OK.

 

New forecast is that Ike will not make it to a Cat 3, so that makes me feel MUCH MUCH better.

Evacuated

Well, I thought I was going to be stuck down in Deer Park even though I had a seat out on the 09:20 flight this morning. Yesterday, when I couldn’t get out on stand-by, I had to take a taxi just to get someplace Mom could pick me up. Traffic was at a standstill all over Houston and especially on all roads leading away from the coast.

 

I was pleasantly surprised that there was nil traffic this morning at 06:00, so Mom dropped me off and out I went.

 

It’s 11:19 and according to KHOU.com, the Peninsula is already under water. I see a new shed at the beach house in my future.

The Beach House

Bob and the gang prepare the Beach House.

 

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1138292619/bclid1137896012/bctid1786849054

 

 

I45 North

I45 North is beginning to stack up as mandatory evacuations are being ordered for the Houston/Galveston area ahead of Hurricane Ike. I’m in downtown Houston at a postal conference but will be catching the first flight out in the morning. So far most of the family is holding tight. Aunt Brenda and Uncle Steve (Port Lavaca area) I believe are headed out since they are in the direct path. Kathy and Patrick will be spending quality time at the hospital where they both work even though La Porte is in the mandatory evacuation zone. Everyone else is staying put.. for now.

California Teen Accused of Posing as Soldier for Perks

In the “How sorry can you be?” category:

 

CROSSVILLE, Tenn. —  A California teen was arrested and charged with criminal impersonation in eastern Tennessee for allegedly fooling businesses into thinking he was a soldier to get discounts and other perks.

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Department arrested 19-year-old Damian Paul Castillo of Anderson, Calif., last week on 25 counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, six counts of violation of the bad check law and one count of criminal impersonation.

Sheriff's Investigator Ben Waller says Castillo is accused of passing himself off as a member of the U.S. Air Force by wearing a military uniform. He's also accused of bilking nine businesses out of more than $14,102. Investigators say the Air Force confirmed he had never enlisted.

Some of the alleged scams included getting plane tickets upgraded, shopping tax-free or getting a military discount. Investigators say he's also accused of using a credit card that was not valid and writing bad checks from another fraudulent account.

 

Psychiatric Test Ordered for Accused Meat-Cleaver Killer

Do you really want to be Psychologist who examines this guy?

 

A judge has ordered a psychiatric examination to determine whether a former mental patient accused of hacking a Manhattan psychotherapist to death with a meat cleaver is fit to stand trial.

View article...

Sites From The Stadium

The Texas Flag

The Texas Flag

Game Day

There is NOTHING better than opening game of College Football! As you know I bleed Burnt Orange, but it doesn't really matter what school is your passion, it is the tradition, the friends, the history! I LOVE IT. Beat the hell outta FAU.

Hypocrisy

McCain announced that Governor Palin of Alaska would be his running mate. She was elected in 2006 as the youngest and first female Govenor of Alaska. In response to this, Bill Burton, spokesman for the Obama campaign had this quote…

 

“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.”

 

 Hmmm, suddenly the Obama campaign thinks experience matters? I guess those extra 2 years in the Senate gave Obama all the experience he needs to be not a heart beat away, but the President himself.

 

The rumors of Mr. Burton’s gagging cannot be confirmed. Idiot.

 

 

On The Road Again

Back to LHR and Brussels. The is my bird over the pond.

Stupid and Vain

It is August 1 in Fort Worth, Texas and it is forecasted to be 106 degrees today. So when I see cars park on the roof I giggle at the stupidity.

 

This blond obviously did not want anyone to cause damage to her cookie cutter white Honda so she parked covering two spaces. I wonder if she knows that the inside of her car will reach upwards of 160 degrees shortening the life of the instruments, leather or fabric, vinal, plastic, and any thing she left behind?

Kyle's First First Class Trip

Just a short trip down to Houston. We had no choice to go first, coach was full.

The Baron von Raschke

Wabasha's favorite son?

While enjoying a 4th of July concert Under the Bridge in Wabasha we ran into one of Glenda's childhood heroes, The Baron von Raschke. The Baron was a famous wrestler from the 7o's and 80's who was know for "The Claw" (that is what The Baron and Kyle are showing you in the picture). The Baron was among the top in the world of professional wrestling for many years and even played Madison Square Garden to a sold out crowed.

Glenda was taken back to her youth and giggled like a school girl when she met him. It brought back very fond memories of watching the Baron battle it out with the likes of Andre the Giant and The Crusher with her dad on Sunday mornings.

Wabasha, MN

We decided to get out of the heat and celibrate the 4^th in Wabasha, MN. Home of the Lillies. AKA GaGa and PaPa. This is Kyle in GaGa’s garden. Yeah, that’s corn in the background. 

 

In the Category of things that don't suck

wow

4 dads, 6 boys, and a lake - Pig Boy 2008

A great Memorial Day weekend!

Words

When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you CAN make words mean so many different things."

"The question is", said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that’s all."

 

 

I am finding this passage to take on great meaning lately.

Selfish

I got upset today. I know that is nothing new nor is it something to really right about. I probably get upset more than I should. But that is not why I’m writing. I’m writing today because I got upset at my son for being selfish. Remember, he’s eight. Of course he is selfish. That is what little boys are. I know that, but I’m the dad and it’s my job to point out to him that being selfish is not a good thing to be. In actuality, I don’t believe that either, there are times when it is perfectly great to be selfish, but you don’t tell your eight year old that. So it got me thinking about our society and are we a selfish society in that we are selfish to a bad point? The easy answer, and I bet the popular answer, is yes. But I don’t know that we are. We do selfless things everyday but if we are not selfish, we don’t brag about it nor do we really notice when others do because we expect it. I did a cursory look around the net for some simple site where one can go to brag about a simple selfless act, but could not find one. Not sure if anyone would ever read a site like that, but I would think it would be uplifting.

Take Me Out...

Bryan scored some great seats.

Looks like the Simpson’s are Longhorn fans.

The Future

I wonder if we will see a much bigger Kyle with this pose at the ballpark someday.

The fun

Yea, traveling is glamorous.

T5

After an uneventful flight over (in first class) I feared the worst, a connection through the now infamous T5 at LHR. However it could not have gone more smoothly. Much better than T4. Of course I am carrying all my bags.

Space?

I'm off again, back to Brussels with a side trip to DC on the way back. This time I have a phone that will supposedly work over there. If so I can send updates on the road.

Now about the photo. Looks like a bad shot of a space magazine but it is actually the counter at Wolfgang Pucks at ORD.

Extreme bocce

Kyle playing extreme bocce at Eastwind Games.

Grandpa and coffee

Say goodmorning. You owe me a dollar.

News Flash: Obama is Black

 Well, it finally happened on the main stage. It was really only a matter of time before it did. Geraldine Ferraro made a comment that Barack Obama is the Democratic front runner because he is black.

 

This is the point where you are wonder which way I’m going to flop on this debate.

 

Wait no longer.

 

She is right.

 

Now before you go off calling me a racist think about it. He is the 46 year old junior senator from Illinois elected just 3 years ago. He is a prolific speaker and in fact gave the rousing speech at the DNC in 2004 which placed him on the main stage of American politics. He has very little experience and in my opinion hasn’t really offered much in the way of what he would actually do if elected… other than change things. So why is he wildly popular? Because he is fresh, young, and not seen as an old established politician. A huge part of that is due to the fact that he is black. Ask yourself if all things were equal except the color of his skin would he be the likely nominee?   

 

Now, all that being said, I don’t think this is a bad thing and I certainly don’t think that Ferraro is a racist because she said it. It is no less true that Hillary is where she is today because she happened to be married to Bill. It is no less true that W is in the white house because he is the son of GHWB. It is no less true that a big part of the reason McCain is where he is today because he was a POW. We all use our strengths to advance ourselves and our cause. Obama does and should use the strength of the color of his skin. I am just glad that society has finally reached a point that being black is considered a strength.  At least for some and as it looks now, enough to get him the nomination.

 

 

 

A Texan and His Word.

As you know I am a proud Texan. Something that endears me to some and is frowned upon by others. Regardless of how you feel about Texan pride one must admit that it is based on a profound history of brave and honorable men and women. Unfortunately since the time of the Carpet Baggers, not all those that make it in Texas government deserve the right to call themselves Texan.

This is true of Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson. I have no idea if Mr. Patterson was born in Texas or not, but I can tell you he can't be a Texan. You see, the State of Texas received a generous donation of land near Big Bend under the condition that it be conserved. The deed stipulates that the land must remain in public hands unless written permission by the donors is received. Unfortunately Mr. Patterson instead decided to pull a move befitting the seediest Yankee lawyer and put the land up for sell to the highest bidder. When asked about receiving permission from the conservationists who donated the land, he stated that he would ignore that restriction in the deed because it is unenforceable.

That may be, but my daddy taught me that a Texan's word is gold. That a promise in Texas is stronger than any contract. Now I'm not stupid, I know that this is a quaint view, but damn it, if the State itself can't keep a promise what does that say about being a Texan?

Venus and Jupiter

It has been a while since I have left for work before 06:30 as I did this morning. So it was a surprise to be greeted to an astronomical event. The Venus and Jupiter, two brightest objects in the sky outside of the Sun and the Moon, were in the sky right next to each other. Now, I know very little about astronomy but this was pretty cool. I wonder how often this really happens.

Settle a few things

Had a great night last night with friends at the pub. Of course when you get me and my friends together and throw in some adult beverages it usually sparks some great and controversial subjects. I won't go into all of the debate points now, but I do want to clear up a few things.

1. The US is the worlds largest economy. I searched and searched for the "most fair" documented proof on the web and quite frankly could not find any source that did not say that the US was the worlds largest economy. They only thing that came close was the International Monetary Fund which lists the EU as a single country and was slightly bigger than the US. A point that can be argued at the next meeting is if the EU is a country.

2. The definition of mercenary is "Motivated solely by a desire for monetary or material gain." Therefor I think it is unfair to say that all of the US Military is mercenaries because while many may in fact join in part for monetary or material gain, I would have to say that the vast majority are also motivated by the desire to serve their country.

3. Prince's "1999" was debuted on the album "1999". Which was 1 year prior to the movie "Purple Rain". It is still, at this point, undetermined if the song was sung in the movie. It does not appear on the sound track.

A Rich Man

It is amazing that when some call, many come. That is the sign of a very rich man.

Monkey's are ALWAYS funny!

Tee hee.

Easy

See MB, It's that easy. Awwwww....

The Difference Between Us and Them

After reading the above Pearls Before Swine strip, how did it make you feel? I giggled pretty hard at it. But then I wondered how others would take it. I’m not practicing any religion at the moment, but I grew up in the Baptist church and know plenty of other Christians and I can’t think of any that would be offended by it. I’m sure there are some that will, but over all, I don’t think you are going to hear calls for Mr. Pastis’ head.

Now consider the recent plight of Gillian Gibbons, the British teacher who merely allowed a student to name a teddy bear Muhammad while teaching at a school in Muslim Sudan. She was arrested and immediately sentenced to 15 days in jail. If the British Government had not stepped in, the sentence would have included lashes and could have been punishable by death.

So which is worse, illustrating your Savior as a comedic crocodile or naming a teddy bear after your chief profit? Either way I think the reaction speaks for itself. This is just another reason why Western cultures are seen as superior to others. We don’t want to kill people for making a joke.

Personally, I would have slapped some boxing gloves on the bear and said I was just a big fan of 1970’s boxing.

Love Advice

So we're sitting at a Mexican food joint when Kyle declares that the waitress is "hot". Now for those of you that know him you aren't surprise. The in issued this bit of love advice...

"You have to make them FEEL cute before you tell them they are. If you just tell them they are first, it will ruin your whole relationship. They have to feel it first."

1. He is eight
2. He is right
3. I'm in big trouble when he starts dating.

Ahhhh Traffic

Since I have nothing better to do but blog while sitting in this crap, I thought I'd send this in. I used to get really uptight in traffic but either age or just getting used to it has calmed me down. Often I just thing that the poor slop that is causing this jam is worse off.

Blogging

 Tee hee

 

Why I live in Texas

Just a little proof that we do have some color here in the fall, and unfortunately my little camera just can’t capture the colors very well.

A lot of people think Texas does not have a fall, actually they are wrong, we have a very long fall, we just don’t have a winter. Not a long one anyway, about a day or two is plenty for us. Y’all can keep the snow, if I want snow I know where to find it.

Seriously, I know it gets too damn hot in Texas during the summer which also last too damn long, but when you have days like today I can’t honestly see why someone would live anywhere else.

Antwerpen 1.5

Did I mention the narrow, yet historic roads and alleyways?

 

 

 

 

Antwerpen 1.4

Most of these photo’s came from personal walking tours and a guided tour that our host, Post Belgium, conducted for us as we did a progressive dinner. You know what I mean, drinks in one place, appetizer in another, main dish in another and so on. Six stops in all, I think this one was appetizers. It was really kind of neat, even if all we really wanted to do was drink (hey, we are mail guys and gals, it’s what we do).

 

 

 

Antwerpen 1.3

“Hey, what are you staring at? Not every part of my body can be GIANT!”

 

Cute statue of drunken sailors looking at the giant. Just very unfortunate positioning of the little guys.

 

 

 

Antwerpen 1.2

At first I thought this was yet another gruesome statue, which of course it is, but it really does fit. This is the top of a statue that is found in the main square. It tells the story of how Antwerpen got it’s name. Apparently during the medieval times they found some whale bones near the river… being medieval type people with medieval sized brains, they just figured it was the bones of a giant and thus had to come up with a story. So I guess the one that stuck was that there was a giant that would make boats pay a toll to come this way up the river. If you didn’t pay the toll, it would cut off your hand and toss it to river. Apparently there was a Roman hero that came up there river and battled the giant, cutting off his had and tossing it in the river thus ending his reign of terror. Werpen was the Roman word meaning “to throw” and thus “Hand – werpen” became Antwerp.

 

Hey, I don’t make them up I just tell them.  

 

 

Antwerpen 1.1

I was fortunate that our meeting was being held at the Hilton in the historic district of Antwerpen because believe me my company would never have approved the cost had I not threatened to take a taxi every day from the other side of the city. (What they don’t know, is that probably would have been cheaper).

 

Old Antwerp is dominated by its Cathedral and indeed it proved very useful while marching through the narrow and winding streets and alleyways of the city. If ever I wondered where I was I only had to look up or listen for the bells that rang every 15 minutes. The cathedral has a much storied history. Started in the 15^th century it latterly took centuries to finish. In fact, some would tell you that it is not yet finished as it only has one tower. You can see it’s stubby, unfinished, sister just this side of the finished tower the photo here. Indecently, I tried taking many many photos, but being that most of the time I could be out and about the city it was dark, this is really the best I had. The one thing I was told by locals is that everyone can remember how tall the tower is because it is an even and easy to remember 123 meters high. I guess because it is the 1-2-3 it is easy to remember, but I thought it would have been easer to remember if it was 100. I guess they didn’t ask me.

 

Back to the history… I’m doing this from memory, so don’t sue me if I get it wrong in a few places. After the Romans left town the Vikings decided to take a turn at Antwerp (something that apparently happens a lot) and being Vikings, they burned the place to the ground. After the Catholics came a conquering they found, in the ashes, a statue of what appeared to be a Madonna, which was most likely the Roman Fertility god, but it was burned and when you’re looking for a miracle, who’s counting. So they figured this was where God was telling them to build a church, they did. The decorated it with a lot of great art, most of which can now be found somewhere in Madrid, because of course the Spanish had to have their turn with Antwerp.

 

 

 

Antwerpen

If you have ever been to Europe you know that the Train stations are magnificent. Of, course they were the latter day “airports” and nobody does them better than Europe and Antwerpen is not the exception. Never caught when it was built, but the façade is at least 18^th century. After some much needed sleep it was time to wake up and shake the cob webs from my head. Unfortunately, being nearly winter, the sun went to bed early and with was dark by 5 o’clock.

 

 

 

Something new

OK, I’m going to try blogging about the trip and since I like this new email interface so much, I’m going to use it to get this accomplished. So you will see multiple posts instead of one long one. Oh, and I’m doing this because my little TV. screen on my flight home is busted and I can’t watch movies. Arghhh.

The posts I made from my phone should be posted by now so you know how I got there, but you don’t really know the story of my getting home. Ah the trials and tribulations of airline employee travel. I can’t just buy a ticket like a normal person. No I have to fly stand by on any carrier but mine. I have been pretty lucky, but that luck ran out and I couldn’t get on the flight from BRU to FRA so my best option was hopping the Eurostar to London. With the new high speed tracks now on the English side and the new arrival terminal at St. Pancras (pictured) I was there in two hours! Then a short tube ride to Victoria station and then on the Gatwick Express. From the time I made the decision to abandon hope getting to FRA to the time I was at LGW was less than 4 hours. Not too bad.

Sleeeeeepppp

It is 10.47 am on 28 Nov and I have been traveling for over 13 hours. I went through FRA this time and barely got on the LH flight to BRU but here I am. Now an hour train ride with connections to Antwerp. A short taxi (hopefully) to the hotel then some glorious sleep for a few hours.

Back on the road again.

Well that was quick day and a half. I will write more about Antwerp when I am less mobile, but for now it is back on the train to BRU after only 3 hours of sleep.

OFF again

As you know I have come to the point where I hate to travel. But it is always a good feeling when I have to and I get to turn left after entering the airplane.

More Fun

Now I'm just getting silly. I took some more video on my camera, but blogger rejected it saying the file was too big. We will see if I can do it this way.



These people are leaving work early for the Thanksgiving weekend. Unlike us dedicated employees who just stay here and use company resources to blog :-)

More Fun

And now some video. View from one of my office windows.

Having fun now

Well, more like testing how far I can go. I just sent an attached photo to see what it would do.

Woohoo it worked.

Now I just have to follow through and actually send the emails. Incidentally, this is what I did...

http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=41452

Have a great Thanksgiving.

If this works...

Some really good suggestions were received from my post yesterday which means that you people are actually reading this. Amazing!

So per one suggestion I am sending this from my phone. Apparently Blogger has this feature already enabled, so if this works I may be able to rant much more often. Lucky you.

It is what it is

I am a terrible blogger. But you knew that and yet here you are reading it anyway. Get a life freak… :-)

But seriously folks, I don’t do this enough. As those of you that know me know, I like to rant about things. Most of the time I will throw facts in to support my position, but they really are just rants. But as I get older I find that I just don’t care much anymore. I guess that is not unexpected but I find it disappointing. I hope it is just maturity and the realization that there are truly important things to care about and everything else is just crap you need to deal with.

So, what to do about blogging? I wish there were a chip I could embed in my brain that was hooked to a device that would just record my every thought. Because mostly what I do today is react to the current situation and move on. These situations, other than work shit, rarely happen while I’m near a computer and I fail to jot down my thoughts on the situation. Then either because I’m too old to remember or I just don’t care enough, I never write them down when I do get back to the computer.

Well, it is what it is.