Labor day weekend

Labor day weekend down at the boat. We fixed a bad fuel pump and now we are spending the rest of the day resting. Tommorrow we are heading to Pirates Cove in Galesille Md. At the marina Ronda from Sea Jems broke her ankle and had to air lifted to the hospital. Baltimore is two hours by land and it was a compound fracture.

Travel Alert!

Just got word I may be traveling to Sweden.

I'll be heading to the city of Umea, Sweden to learn more about a product that interfaces with our system. I'll be there for a week next month, still to be worked out.

Facts about Umea, it's closer to the Artic Circle than it is to London. It has the seventh largest airport in Sweden!

I also have to see the Museum of Skiing!

I moost stert vurkeeng oon speekeeng Svedeesh qooeeckly!. Bork Bork!

Pirates Cove ....... or bust Arrrrrrr!

This weekend we are going to try to head down to Pirates Cove in Galesville. We had a problem with the new boat installing the Racor fuel filter. It's a diesel / water separator and it must be installed correctly for the fuel to pump into the engine. We could not get it going last weekend. A couple of new techniques and a new fuel pump should get it going. I hope......

I'm Red Eye

Phew! I know why it's called the red eye! You jump on a plane 10 at night, which is 1 am in you destination. Fly all night. Try to sleep with some guy poking you in the ribs, and the stew running over you foot with the cart of $2 bottles of water that no one will buy unless they are choking on the $7 meal. ( Yes this is a rant..... ) Ok Ok I survived the flight. We get off the plane and I think the plane landed in Jersey. I felt like it took 45 minutes to get to the luggage carousel. Information is money and USAir was saving it as they gave us no clue in what building or over the three football fields of area that out luggage would be arriving.

When I left Philly there were these tough looking guys who were ready to kick my fanny from here to Guantanamo Bay if I did not follow even the smallest of rules that are written, spoken, implied or in common knowledge. I was wondering where these guys were at the baggage pick up as just about every bench had it's own homeless person living under it. I know what you are thinking.... No this was no refugee from a Phoenix flight waiting for his bag. I live in Philly. Homeless here you don't have to see to know. You can use your ummmm.. other senses. I'm not with the chamber of commerce, but you don't have to be a booster to know that the airport baggage claim is the city's front door, and having guests from out town may think twice when they see a festering mass of humanity snoring on your threshold. Not even in the home of the homeless, San Francisco, were there were homeless living in the airport. If you think that I'm being insensitive, Please feel free take one of these "ladies" and "gentlemen" to your hotel room for your stay here.

Hmmm I thought so.

Ok got that out of my system...... I fell asleep for the next 24 hours.

In San Francisco

Last weekend we took the boat to a cove behind Gibson Island. It was a closing of the chapter of some of our sailing failures. This was the place where we were going when the engine broke down last year in the ericson. We finally made it there. We were handsomely rewarded. We saw a great full circle sunset and at the same time in the opposite sky was a full circle moon rise. What a way to break a curse!


Been in San Francisco the last few days. I'm trying to meet people and learn what I have to do for my new assignment in the company. I've been real busy inside the company and have not had a chance to get out an look around. One thing I did see though was a poster with a Maltese Falcon. It was a advert to take a tour of Dashelle Hammett's San Francisco. I though that was a coincidence. Dosen't look like I'll get a chance to do that.

The Stuff Dreams are Made Of.....

Movie Night. Marilyn and I met Meg at the Amble theater were we saw the classic film noir, The Maltese Falcon.

The Dashiel Hammett story defines the conventions of the hard boiled detective. There are dead partners, feme fatales, toughs with guns, witty patter and of course a falcon. Read more here in this wiki link.

Got Quoted in the paper

I was at the train station and a reporter asked me a few questions about SEPTA.

I reposted the article from the Inquirer.

SEPTA to offer more buses, late-night trains

By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer
More frequent buses. Late-night trains. Better weekend service.
That's what SEPTA promises in the next few weeks and months as it launches what it calls its most ambitious service expansion ever.
After decades of cuts, SEPTA will announce today a $10 million project aimed at easing overcrowding and improving daily service. The first of the 65 upgrades will begin Aug. 25, and all of the changes are to be made by Nov. 3.
The changes will include bigger buses on busy Route 14 along Roosevelt Boulevard between Northeast Philadelphia and Bucks County, more frequent service on Route 23 between Chestnut Hill and South Philadelphia, and after-midnight trains on the R5 Paoli/Thorndale, R6 Norristown, and R7 Trenton Regional Rail lines.
"This is really unprecedented for us," SEPTA general manager Joseph Casey said. "We need to respond to increased ridership and other customer needs."
With commuters reacting to higher gasoline prices and switching from cars to public transit, SEPTA's ridership has increased by about 6 percent, or 38,000 trips a day, from a year ago. Rail ridership is up 12 percent, to its highest point in 25 years, and many rush-hour trains are packed with standing passengers.
"It's been getting pretty crowded" on his daily commute, Rico Paolino of Horsham said yesterday as he waited for an R5 train at Suburban Station. When he catches his usual 6:30 a.m. train in Ambler, "you may not get a seat."
Now, at the height of summer-vacation season, crowding isn't too bad, he said. "But the first week everybody's back in school, it will really be packed."
Casey, who became general manager early this year, credited the state's new transportation-funding law, Act 44, with providing the money to make the improvements possible. He said more expansion might be on the way, as SEPTA tries to hang onto its new riders and attract more.
To handle the expanded service, SEPTA is hiring 184 bus and train operators, mechanics, cleaners, police officers, maintenance workers, and customer-service agents.
The new bus service is made possible by the arrival of the first 40 of more than 400 hybrid diesel-electric buses to be delivered over the next four years.
New rail cars also have been ordered, but the first of the 120 Silverliner V cars are not likely to be in service until 2010. In the meantime, eight used rail cars bought from NJ Transit will be added to SEPTA's fleet by October to help ease overcrowding.
SEPTA will tout its improved service with a $1 million advertising campaign on TV, newspapers and radio, and it will pitch its late-night service to college students with whimsical ads on bar coasters, coffee-cup sleeves, and Internet banners.
The chance to add service is a big change for SEPTA after decades of route cutbacks, "doomsday scenarios," and higher fares. After lowering riders' expectations for years, SEPTA officials acknowledged the challenges they face in offering more to passengers.
"Certainly, there is a risk," said Pat Nowakowski, assistant general manager for operations. "We will create expectations, and we have to work to make sure we meet them."
Kim Scott Heinle, assistant general manager for customer service, said, "We don't want to invite people to a party and then have a bad time." Heinle said his staff would work to make sure details such as signs and rider information make the new service easy for passengers to use.
Of the 65 route changes, 26 are designed to reduce overcrowding on SEPTA buses. Nine upgrades involve adding peak-hour trips to improve service, such as the addition of 14 round trips on Route 201 in Fort Washington. And 30 of the changes are designed to improve midday, evening, weekend and late-night service for buses and trains, such as the addition of a 1:32 a.m. train from Trenton to give Friday-night passengers out of New York a later connection.
"We're no longer a 9-to-5 society," said Charles Webb, chief planning officer for SEPTA. He said the later trains "are a test of this market. We've received a lot of requests for later service."
At Suburban Station, Regional Rail riders said any changes to reduce overcrowding would be welcome. But peak-hour commuters said they wouldn't see much benefit from the new late-night service.
"Sometimes we stay in Center City for the theater and dinner, and late trains might help then," Paolino said. "We might not feel so rushed."
Stephanie Hartman, 26, of Somerton, said she would rather see SEPTA add earlier trains.
"When I have to go to the airport early, there aren't any trains running. Even 5 a.m. would be better."
And she bemoaned infrequent midday service: "There's only one train an hour."
Bus riders said more frequent service and less-crowded buses would be a good thing. Regular passengers said that they had noticed the increase in ridership and that, in some cases, SEPTA's actions had made things worse.
On Route 27, from Center City to Roxborough, passengers have noticed that large 60-foot "articulated" buses, which can hold up to 100 riders, have been replaced with standard 40-foot buses, which can accommodate 60. SEPTA says it is shifting articulated buses from Route 27 to Route 14 to ease overcrowding there.
"It's even more crowded now," said Nicole Green, 18, waiting for a bus to take her home to Roxborough from her summer job at a Rita's Water Ice stand at 15th and Market Streets. "I don't understand that."
From a rider's perspective, SEPTA's expansion plan "is all good. . . . The only thing I'd like to see is things they can't do because they don't have the equipment," said Bob Clearfield, chairman of the Citizen Advisory Committee, a passengers' advocacy panel that advises SEPTA.
"I'd like to see more trains or more train capacity, but they're making maximum use of the equipment they have," Clearfield said.

Time for a new job......

Well yes..... I got a new job. WoooHoooo!!!!

Not in a different company but a new position in the same company. I now work for the interface group instead of the RtReports group. My boss is in San Leandro, which is where I am going Monday. I am going to get introduced and get kick started on the project. I might be based in Yardley, Pa. or down in Center City not sure yet.

Hey, Are you paying attention......

I guess not. We had driven to Jenkintown to take the train to the airport with Adrik. On the way home that night I took the express train to Ambler. I realized that I took the wrong train as I saw my car in the window as we zoomed past the stop. I had to jump on a downtown train to get to my car. Whad'a dope!

Look out here comes the dope slap.....

Sunday Brunch... sort of.....

Took Adrik to Chinatown for dim sum this morning. Went to Ocean City ( the old Riverside ) the Olympics were on the big screen and carts of food were being pushed around. Dim sum is small plates of dumplings and rice and other dishes kind of like Spanish tapas. This was an authentic Chinese restaurant as the tables were filled with full Chinese families. Some stuff pushed the yuck button for Adrik but I think he had a good time. We then went to the New Hope Auto Show, A great show but it was outside and it had started raining. A, liked the Ferrari's... and the Porsche's and the Lotus's. Hummmm expensive taste... Rain came down and we went to the the Will Smith Movie "Hancock" Pretty good... but PG-13.... Some word made me cringe with A there. ... Hmmmm never thought about that before. Dinner and Heli simulater at our house.. Discussing a 6 am train to the airport..... Holy smoke 6am! .....

Back to the blog......

Marilyn woke up early on Friday and ran out to the balcony to see dolphins again, she did but not in the numbers she saw Thursday. We had a big breakfast at Mad Batters a B&B in Cape May, the best breakfast of the bunch. After we went out to the Cape May airport and saw the Aviation Museum. Really good as you can get close up to the planes. We then took the Cape May - Lewes ferry, on our way to Rock Hall. It was an 80 minute ferry trip to the other side of the Delaware Bay. We reached our boat in Rock Hall and anchored in Swan Creek for the night. A great sunset was there waiting for us. I was trying to tell Adrik the importance of watching every sunset and sunrise you could. He said he saw them before.......he's 13 give him a while.....After dark Adrik was using the night vision viewer to look at the whole creek. We were hit with 20 knot winds during the night. It was cool but ok great sleeping weather. We sailed to the middle of the bay the next morning, when the wind gave out. Turned on the diesel engine and had Adrik helmed the boat to port where we had lunch and jumped into a cool pool.

Last Night.....

We has dinner at a resturant in Wildwood. The place that i wanted to go was just packed... We parked the car and went to Morey's Pier on the board walk. Adrik rode the Great White a wooden and steel roller coaster that he described as jolty. Marilyn, Adrik and I rode the skyride a ski lift that rode hight over the park. Marilyn was scared but the ride though high was far from scary. We called it night pretty early,

Just Beachy.....

Nice day today.... Had Breakfast and went to the Cape May Lighthouse. It was lighthouse day and there was a crowd. Later Marilyn and Adrik rode bikes and I took a walk. A dip in the hotel pool refreshed us . More Later....

Dolphins

Looking out our balcony this morning we saw several pods of dolphins swimming along the shoreline. Some were jumping out of the water. Looks like another good day at the beach!

Just a day at the beach.....

Well we drove down to Cape May. After a big breakfast at Uncle Bill's we parked the car at the a Grand Hotel and headed for the beach. The water was cool and the sand was HOT! I think I burned the bottoms of my feet. We flew the kite, the winds were a little variable. We spent some time in the water and napping on the beach. Later we walked downtown and got t shirts and salt water taffy. Dinner was at Godmother's we had steamed garlic mussels for appetizers and pasta for dinner, ( Adrik had salad! Smart guy! ). After dinner we headed to sunset beach to watch the sun go down.

In Cape May

Adrik, Marilyn and I are down sunning ourselves in Cape May. Nice cool breezes down here good thing too as the A/C in the living room gave out. Ocean is cool about 75. Adrik puts it as an icy refreshing chill!

Adrik Boarding

Adrik's plane is running late. I have the link to his blog. There should be some adventures there in a day or two.

New Album

New pictures on the web here is a link to the album page. This is one where I'm sailing away with the new boat from the dealers dock.

The album has pictures of the sailboat pick up, Fourth of July, Arts and Crafts with Marj and Roy, and KC Friends.

Trying to stay cool

Woke up early this morning to open the windows and have the fans blow in cool air. The air is cool but very humid. We are coming into home stretch in the clean up. Once this is done we'll run down to the boat!

Pre Adrik Weekend

Got the A/C unit in the window. We now have one down stairs and one in the bedroom. When Adrik visits he can sleep in the living room with the A/C unit. We are still picking up the house for the visit and we have to go down to the boat on Sunday to do the same. Actually Sunday will be the warmer of the two days and we'll clean up when is is cooler and go down to the boat to cool off.

We have big plans for Adrik's visit. Going down the shore to Cape May and Wildwood. Heading to the boat to cool off and then to visit the Battleship New Jersey. Lot's of sand, water, and fun! We'll see if I can get his blog "Adrik's Big Adventure" working again.

The A/C guy will stop by on Monday to give me the bad new on how much our fatally stricken air conditioner will cost us.