Picked up the VW last night

I got off the train and my car had a low front tire. Stopped at the mechanics to get it fixed. He could not find a screw or nail and filled it. Stop in tomorrow and he'll drop the tire in the tank to find the leak. I told him that I was going to buy a VW tonight so don't bother putting me on the schedule. A VW??? Why would want to buy one of those? Get rid of the Acura that only need oil and filters ever!! Well this tire's on the house. I'll be seeing you soon!

That's some bad mechanic juju man.....

Anyway We picked up the car last night. Beyond the expectations of my mechanic the wheels held on till we got home. The small run from the dealer, to home, and to the train station was 30mpg. No parts left behind yet!

Wha'd a Dope!!!

I'm a real dope sometimes!

I ran out of work at 4pm.

Got onto the express train.

Got to my car.

Realized that I left my keys on my desk, downtown!!!!

Insert well earned Dope Slap!

More TDI Jetta stuff

Here is NY Times TDI Jetta article. Yet another TDI touting, Prius bashing piece.

Dat's Cool!

We the sales guy called up yesterday and he told us that he found a silver 2009 TDI Jetta wagon with automatic transmission. Now I figured that there would be no more 2009's this guy pulled one out like a rabbit out of a hat. We were going to wait for the 2010 but we took the 2009 as it had the $1300 on it. So Thursday or Friday we'll pick it up.




Ok here is a video of the Motorweek review of the Jetta Sportwagon.

I'll fix your wagon.....

Tomorrow we are going to look at a new car. A VW Diesel sportwagon. We've been hauling junk in my car and taking trips down to the boat. So this is a bigger car and the diesel gets 40+ mpg.
More space, less fuel, $1300 tax credit. What could be bad?

Looking at the sunset in Swan Creek.

After several missteps on Saturday we finally got out and anchored. We just dropped the anchor and took a deep breath and relaxed.

More pictures are in this album.

Updated travel plans

Looks like we have to wash out one night. Tonight we may anchor out in Swan Creek or just stay in the slip. Venturing out in the bay in this weather is dangerous. We will just go to broad creek tomorrow and throw out Galesville. We'll back to Big Mary's bar again someother time.

Weather Hold

We are in a weather hold we are expecting strong thunder storms shortly. Radar has a big blob of red heading our way.

Fun Friday Friede Cruise

Down at Rock Hall this morning waiting on the Friede's to come on down. Carl is a long time friend from back in NJ. We are going to Broad Creek in the Magothy and Galesville the next day. It's going to be stormy tonight so I hope he comes soon. The battery is toast. It will make it this weekend and some more but I need to replace the house battery bank. Marilyn is swabbing the decks to get the boat into shape for those guys.

At the Riversharks game

It's guys night out and we are at the Camden Riversharks. They are playing the Bristol Bluefish. Also, it's Michael Jackon appreciation night :-O


This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

Dead Laptop this morning

I guess dropping my laptop this weekend finally put it out of it's misery. It booted to the blue screen of death. It's now at IT trying to get resuscitated. My stuff is now on my desktop computer.

Batteries still a problem

The batteries still seem like they do not have the capacity to run the fridge, lights and pumps over the weekend. I'm going to to have to check how much I'm drawing from the batteries when we are at anchor. New batteries look like they are in the near future.

Slipping away....

The high winds have calmed down from last night. We had dinner with Glenn and Carol. They told us about there week long cruise on the bay. We were picking up tips on where to stay on the bay. I'm still not sure where we are going next weekend maybe the Magothy and Galesville.

Loading up the boat again.

We are down on Imagination this weekend. Carl and Nancy are coming down next weekend and we are doing maintenance, cleaning up, and filling tanks. It's windy and storms are expected this evening, small craft advisories are up now. I'm checking the batteries which gave us some trouble last weekend. I charged them up and checked them with a hydrometer. I'm not sure if one may need to be replaced.

Credit for Cash

Marilyn and I went to the Keswick in Glenside to see Rosanne Cash we had front row seats WOW! What a great show. She played a lot of old favorites from Black Cadillac and Interiors. Then she turned her sets to her new album, The List. Even though she was not doing the duets with Springsteen and Jeff Tweedy like she does on the album, the sound was just great. It's super to see such a seasoned performer in such an intimate setting as the 1300 seat Keswick. The new album will be out in the fall.

ARGUH!!!!

Called the electric co and ask this nice lady WHY did the PECO representative not make it to my house at the appointed day and between the magic hours of 8 and 5? Oh, it said here he did not need to...... Sooooo..... after driving me crazy telling me I need to take a day off for this guy to come down, someone dropped the ball and did not tell me the guy did not need to check the system. Another milestone in customer service.

Working from home today

Doing work from home. A guy from the electric co. is supposed to come by to check the heat pump so that we get the lower electric rate in the winter. It's 4:30 and he's not shown up.

I got a call from my boss and I have to make a trip to San Francisco soon .... for an orientation class.... WHAT!? So I've been at the company for 10years and spent most of last year in San Leandro. Oh well..... I like San Francisco ... now I just gotta find those unused BART tickets.

Getting over the back to work BLAH's

Getting over a Monday from a looooong weekend. Work can't compare to a weekend on the Bay even if you love your job. On the job front, JZ is working on having me exempt from front line support. YEAH! I can't tell you how fustrating front line support is. What is a nice way to tell a customer to RTFM. Also, the big guy was talking about the state of the company and we are doing good and he was talking bonus. YEAH BABY! I hope bonus is a bonus bonus not a bogus bonus.

Marilyn's car is in the shop for a recall. I was hoping the wheels didn't fall off before we got there! My car needed a software update... No, it didn't run faster...." Please pull off to the side of the road and close all windows.....( dashboard has blue screen of death ) " Just the GPS .... "WhereTheHeckAreWe" ... and the radio... and the phone....."..Can you hear me now!!!!!" Soooo.. we'll see how the update works out.

Back Home Again.....

Back home and very tired. Dropped on the bed and fell asleep as soon as I got home. I guess that is the sign of a very fun vacation weekend. We drained the batteries and the engine would not start but the spare battery was topped off and ready to go. The sail home from Thilman Creek was nice but no wind. One of the things we saw was rays in the water in the bay off St Micheal's. We got through Kent Narrows draw bridge quickly as it opened as soon as we arrived.

I'll get some pictures ready this week and post them on the blog.

Near st michaels

We are in a creek near st michaels. We crossed the bay with 20 knot winds. Lots of fun moving smartly. The creek has good swimming, lots of bird watching, and a nice breeze. Fireworks going off in the distance. Heading to rock hall via kent narrows in the morning.

This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

In galeville

Hi
We made it to pirates cove. No internet access. Having much fun. Sailing great, strong winds but not too bad. All crew tired and ready for sleep.

This message expertly written with all thumbs on my mobile device.
--Rico Paolino

At the boat

We got off work and ran down to the shore to the boat but first we has to get provisions. We stopped at the Acme and fill the locker to the brim. Sandwiches, drinks, dinners, snacks all done. Have to get gas for the generator and batteries for the backup GPS yet. I hear a little fresh water leak.... just another thing!

--Rico

Late Addition

Got a new piece of equipment that should make navigation easier. It will tie the GPS to the autopilot and other instruments on the boat. It SHOULD take 5 minutes to install... We'll see tomorrow morning.

 

--Rico