Holdin on the rail

Spent the weekend in Chicago and had a great time visiting a friend with two kids under the age of 2. It would have been great if I'd had more time, but isn't that always the case? Anyway, the train ride there was delayed by an hour... the ride back was only a half hour late... seems that Amtrack has a high speed rail between Niles, MI and Kalamazoo, MI that allows the train to go up to 95 mph. The conductor was very excited to share this... however, this was where the delay came in, since there is only one track for a portion and the train leaving K-zoo was already on it... so we sat for a half hour. Oh, the irony. But, once they get this high speed upgrade on all trains, and all tracks, it will shave 2.5 hours off the rail time from Detroit to Chicago--I wonder what that will shave off the delay time? Still, I prefer the train... even if the woman across the aisle from me was busy spreading the word of Jesus to some unsuspecting passenger. For 2 hours I over heard the joys of miracles, the rapture and other scripture references and all clearly heard over my iPod.

The last weekend of July...

Well, it is finally a Friday again and the same debate that plagues me every Friday doth reared again... do I take work home with me for the weekend. The answer, quite simply, was no. I'm headed to Chicago and while there is plenty of time on the train to read through documents and get motion sickness as a result, I decided that in spite of (or because of) the constant work-related dreams, I need to really step away. After this weekend, that mission will be harder as I will be moving my office home where projects and documents and emails will be staring at me from the dining room table that will be my station for the 6 weeks following.

It was also my hope to be able to leave the office today after my last call... but it was not to be the case... and thus, I am behind on prepping for my departure in a few hours. When procrastination strikes, I find it best to blog.

Still, the essentials are done, and if I don't wrap presents for the kids, they won't even notice--neither one is over the age of 2... and that reminds me... camera!!

Have a fabulous last weekend of July!

Back, Baby!

I'm back from my trip to my mom and dad's for a long weekend. Mom's gardens are in fantastic blooms--my allergies are still also in fantastic bloom--I got a lot of pictures, and this is just one.

There were frogs in the pond this morning, too. Quite cute, just sitting there resting... the chickens (yes, the have chickens, turkeys and bunnies... I will have to share the saga of the bunny farm at another time) were also happy this morning clucking and eating watermelon rind. We got a nice boat ride in on Friday evening. My brother stopped in for a few hours also...

Saturday found us going to garage sales--it was, after all, Father's Day weekend as such, you subject yourself to the insanity of garage sales with my dad. There are rules and guidelines... first, there is ALMOST no point in going unless you get there early and on the FIRST day--otherwise, the "good stuff" will already be gone. Second, you have to drive for 20 minutes and then almost talk yourself out of going once there because of distance, the caliber of stuff that might be for sale, whether or not the sellers are "bums." Finally, and apparently, the last rule I had nearly forgotten, but was reminded of when dad veered into the opposite lane of the highway, turned around in someones yard and then sent me flying from one side of the backseat to the other is that the rules of driving are suspended when searching out garage sales.

Saturday wrapped up with my taking the folks to dinner to celebrate their 20th anniversary. They decided on the new "Greek" restuarant in Cheboygan. Actually, I have to say it was more "Greek fusion" that is, Greek fused with Cheboygan. Moussaka was good, and suspiciously more like eggplant parmesan than any moussaka I've tasted... Gyros from what I could see were served up on a ciabatta bun... the Greek salad description surprisingly did not include feta, rather, "Special Feta Greek Dressing." I had the veal, it was quite tasty, dad had the shish kabobs, which were also quite good. Mom and I veered away from the Spinach pie as it was described as having ricotta, parmesan and mozerella cheeses with Greek spices--it was concerning. Also concerning was that the waitress came to the table and informed us that they were out of baked potato... Er, baked potato? Well, okay... but I was a little surprised by their spicy feta hummus... which might have been good, but we passed. All in all, the food was good, but certainly not what I would really call Greek... perhaps Greek inspired. One bonus on the dining experience was that in the hallway to the dining room were a series of photographs of the building of the Machinaw Bridge. For those not aware, this is the 50th Anniversary of the Bridge... and in acknowledgement of that, Mike Fornes, a local writer and journalist I've admired for many, many years has a book on the Bridge coming out this August. Mr. Fornes was very supportive of me as a writer when in high school, and for that I will always be grateful. I look forward to his latest endeavor.

I did make it to Mackinaw over the weekend as well, and got myself some Oreo Popcorn from the Popcorn Factory... yeah, I know, how do you take a relatively healthy snack like popcorn and turn it into a snack worse than 3 Snickers? Glaze it with sugar and toss in crushed oreos... but it was yummy!

So, busy weekend... but I am back. The kitties have almost forgiven my absence--fresh catnip, lots of treats and even more air conditioning seems to have helped with that effort. And now, a little TV and then a little sleep before the craziness of a Monday sinks in.

Yesterday was the last long training walk... the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is now just days away. I admit, I'm excited... looking for tent decorations for the Wellness Villiage, getting the last minute supplies, getting my sleeping bag laundered and ready... tonight, I will do a dry run on the gear bag to make sure it doesn't exceed the 30 pound limit and that the bag itself is large enough.

This week for me will focus more on giving my body some rest; shorter walks, strength training and time permiting, playing in my new garden... I also need to get the cats situated and all necessary supplies at hand for SK and Mal--despite SKs threat of refusing the boys treats, I think she will acquiese once a purring sweet faced Calvin or Jakey rub against her.

Despite my excitement about the impending Walk and vacation, I realize all too much that there is just not a lot of time to get all the things that I want done... and if the places I needed to go were open right now, I'd be there instead of here, writing about it. And really, yesterday might have provided more opportunity to get all these things done, except yes, I sat on my patio for 2 hours reading and soaking in too much sun after my training walk.

Vacation is a much needed escape and the first part will find me doing the Walk and visiting friends I have not seen--some for years! And then concluding with hiking in the Catskills and a stop by Niagara Falls on the way home via my Canadian neighbors--providing the US Government will cooperate and get my passport here as they indicated the would several months ago. Don't make me sense a conspiracy!

The time now is upon me to get dressed, get som hula hooping in and get going on some gardening supplies... there is an orientation today, and hopefully a little time for me to work the land--as is said... indeed a full day of excitement ahead.

Airport Entertainment and Getting Home

Well, I made it back from my travels Friday night--very late. But you know the nice thing that NorthWest does for you when they have delayed your flight is entertain you. Yes, the same folks that brought you the mechanics strike, among others, can't seem to get their plane fixed, so they play musical gates. Gate 2 at Reagan National was originally what we were to depart from... and after moving to Gate 5 via the board, we get to Gate 5 only to have the attendant there yell at us that even though the Board said it was our gate we needed to be at 2... meanwhile, over at Gate 2, the attendant is making an overhead announcement that our flight will be departing from Gate 5... now these gates are not more than 50 feet from each other, so the attendants begin to yell across the terminal at each other. Within 1o minutes, we were back at Gate 2... then 5 before we FINALLY departed over an hour later, from gate 3. I feel bad, we never utilized Gate 4. So the flight is delayed though no fault of anyone holding a boarding pass, we've been shuffled from gate to gate for over an hour and the attendant, who decided at some point it made more sense to shout from the door rather than use the speaker, began to tell us that we needed to HURRY UP and board... and that the plane, while still containing enough seat-age, was not as large as the scheduled plane, so if someone is in your seat, take another open one, if your seat no longer exists, just sit someplace and do it QUICKLY. The tone obviously implying this was all our fault.

But here's the thing... once they annouced the Southwest type seating, about 10-15 people within hearing distance shoved forward... I was nearly crushed!! So once on the plane, it became ever apparent that the attendant out in the terminal had not communicated her strategy for boarding and seating with the attendants on the INSIDE of the plane... who wanted all those with no seats (rows 23-26) to just stand in the back of the plane while everyone else boarded. I being in one of those rows, just sat down, as did 2 others and we filled up our row, much to the attendant's dismay... so she ran to the front of the plane in the midst of the meyhem to tell us all how SHE wanted this situation handled. A few seconds later, the original instruction giver appeared and yelled at those standing in the back to just sit somewhere... all in all, very entertaining.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out who the hell the guy in the terminal standing next to me was and chatting me up like he knew me was... I became convinced that I must have gone out with him once or twice... that was until take off... and it became clear that he was my former Master's advisor with whom I couldn't ever get a response or agreement from... And, I would have gone back up after the seatbelt sign had been turned off except I would have had to crawl over the Phelgm Phactory that was sitting next to me and apparently was unaware of the advent of Kleenex. He was lucky I didn't have nail clippers and a file on me--I'd have had to kill him.

Fortunately, my bags were not searched at Reagan... and I only had a 90 year old woman in front of me--FOLDING everything she put into the bin. Yes, she got it all nicely into the bin, and then went through the whole body gloucoma test and magnets, but failed to actually put her bins on the conveyor... It was still early, I had no idea of the delay ahead of me... I was nice and shoved them through while the guy with X-ray vision glared at me suspiciously.

And I made it home without a homocide under my garter. The cats were not amused. They were out of kibble and had destroyed the bag of treats... gutted it like it was a gazelle on the Sahara. I think they wanted me to think that SK had done the damage while she was over on Thursday checking on them... but had she done the said deed, BOTH sides of the bag would not have been torn apart; thereby clearly giving them away.

But the weather has been good and the kitties, while not quite forgiving my absence have had almost 24-hour access to the balcony--even if it was too hot out there today (obviously my fault). Yesterday, I did a 21 mile training walk with a fellow walker who was in town for the weekend. It was good, we finished in 6.5 hours... and I learned a few adjustments will need to be made--I'm not happy about learning this so late in the game, but at least I didn't realize it on the walk.

Speaking of the walk... my 522 mile challenge to train that many miles by May 1 was met on April 18... as of today, I have trained 571 miles. It feels good, even if today was the first day I was sore... like I said, a few adjustments to the new gear are needed!

The threat of face cream and the new airport rules

Yesterday, I had to have my bags searched while at the airport... yes, yes, they are onto me. Seems at 5 something in the morning, I'm not thinking clearly about all the rules... I remembered to not have any water on me, get my laptop out and in its own bin, take my jacket off, take my shoes off, strip down to my underwear--just in case... but it seems I forgot to remove my Ziplock baggie (which I conveniently stored within quick reach, but folks, I hadn't even had coffee yet and it slipped my mind since I had Beavis in front of me. So, after searching my pink backpack for the suspicious items, the woman lectured me about the "rules" and that they have to have that out separately because--and I quote--"We can't tell if the items are in a Ziplock bag or not through x-ray unless you take it out." Whaaaaaa? I'm no security expert, and believe me, neither was this woman donned the official looking rubber gloves, but I've seen how stuff looks through the x-ray machine, and of course, there is my x-ray vision, too... Do they think that I somehow packed all items together like that in the backpack on accident? Could it be I used a brand other than Ziplock? Could it all be a trick and my face cream is really that dangerous in an overhead bin without the steel protection of plastic? Could it be that in a moment of sheer rebellion, I TAPED them all, or GLUED them all together to appear as if I was in compliance with airline regulations? I suppose anything is possible.

Well, ok, I survived and I won't let it happen again tonight, though I'm more sleep deprived than I was yesterday... but I have a few rules of my own for my fellow travelers:

1. Please, don't wear a belt you will have to take off. If you must wear a belt when traveling, there is really no need for one where the buckle doubles as a codpiece... obviously outside of Texas there is never a reason to wear that, but do what you will--just not when you are in front of me on the security conveyor belt.

2. A bottle of water is dangerous, please don't try to "sneak" it in past Checkpoint Charlie. If you are really that thirsty, there is water available on the other side of the post for $4 an ounce.

3. The other end of the conveyor belt is not a dressing room. Just because you had to strip nekkid to make it through does not mean you should stand there, tucking your shirt in and looping your belt through ALL the holes (see #1)... That is what your gate assignment is for... you are there 5 hours early, fix yourself up elsewhere, some of us are barely going to make our flights.

4. Believe it or not, you don't have to be the first one on line for boarding. We have assigned seats and they aren't going to suddenly cut the line off after 3 people and kick the rest of us out. So you see, pushing me out of the way to get in line does not mean that you will make it on the plane and I will not.

5. Panicking when you hear them drilling on the side of the plan just prior to take off will do you no good. Remember, this is NWA and the planes are in constant need of repair... your questioning if the whole plane is intact is ridiculous, clearly isn't not or you wouldn't have gotten that bargain fare... and by the way, that's the luggage compartment you hear them closing just prior to take off, so when landing and you hear them "drilling" again, don't exclaim "Oh my god there's that noise again!"

So there are my rules. Commit them to memory, I don't allow second takes, the first offense renders a pink backpack upside the head.

Happy travels!