Pictures from Umea

Here are some pictures from Umea on a quiet Sunday Morning.

Greetings from Umea Sweden.....

First of all I have been saying the name of the town wrong. It's not U-MAY-A it U-MER. Which points of I can't pronounce anything in Swedish. I feel completely illiterate. The town is about 100,000 people. It's a it in a rural area here. It cool here not cold about 48 during the day 35 at night. I'm in the town center there is a shopping street here which is the major attraction. I e-mailed the guy I'm meeting here and asked what was there to see and he basicly said that he did not know. Which was the same answer that I got from two other guys who live here when I talked to them on the plane. Seems like this place is just a regular town. But I disagree. The town seems lively there is a river front. I'm going to see the Umea tourist information tomorrow and see what they have to say. I have my camera and I'll have some pictures on the web site.

My time sense is all screwed up it's about 1:30 and I'm going to try to get some sleep.... I hope.

To Sweden

Flying in the US lately has been a drag. Security, no food, crowded carryon a real pain. I flew out of Newark NJ and I check in to SAS, no baggage fee so consequently there was no rush to pile on the carryon in the passenger comparment. Most of the carryon space was empty. I had a middle seat, in the middle asile of the wide body. There was no one to the left or right of me so I had all the elbow room I needed. The seats had a entertainment center showed a choice of movies on demand or a camera from the front of the airliner or a moving map showing current position, speed and altitude. They served a warm meal with fresh bread, and a complementry cocktail. Two hours to Stockholm they also served breakfast. Rolls, youghrt, OJ you get the picture. Did I mention this is ecomony class! International arrivals at Stockholm was confusing but the aiport was under construction. You show your passport, get your bags and go thru customs. I was mostly waved thru. You go thru security again when you go into the domestic terminal. I woman at the check point patted me down. Boy did I get a Swedish massage. I then got on a flight to Umea the flight was less than half full. Remember that? I took a taxi to the hotel in Umea. I walked and looked around and tell you more and may post pictures tomorrow.

Got a Cold......

Sneezy, sniffly, drippy, yucky, no not the seven dwarfs. I pickup a bug somewhere in my travels. Hoping to get rid of it by Friday when I head to Sweden. Been going to the office in Center City. My badge dosen't work in Yardley. Seems like they got a bad batch of badges. Being in Center City is great I got to see some of my friends in the office and on the train.

I've given a lot of advice about going to Sweden. Bring indoor shoes, the people are fair, knowlegeable, not aggressive, and like their coffee. And I should stay away from the blond women.

Rock Hall Fall Fest

Heading down to Rock Hall today to the fall fest. Busy weekend in little Rock Hall the Fall Fest is on and the Spring Cove Marina Picnic is taking place. The Fall Fest is more fun in two city blocks than I have ever seen. Musicians, art, the lint lady, just a lot of fun stuff. I think that Madaline drafted me to grill burgers for the picnic.

Marj and Roy are coming down for the fun. Roy may help me set up the solar panel charging system while we are down there.

Assignment Cambridge Complete!

The test that we ran last night was a success! Customers computer application running well and he is happy. So my first solo customer service call was a great success. Tried to come home early but all trains were sold out. Have to wait for the 3:15 Acela.

In Cambridge Ma

Welcome from Cambridge! I took the Acela to Boston. The train ride was great Hi Speed rail is sooooo much more civilized than air travel. I'm visiting the a biotech company in the area. I can see both Amgen are Biogen from my hotel room. My visit was a success! The software works great and I jusy have to see how it's running in the morning. MIT and Harvard are around the corner. ( Do I seem any smarter???? Yes, I thoought not too! ) I hope to go to Legal Seafood for dinner tonight to celebrate.

And the Number Is........

The PowerBall is up to 170 million. I gotta put a couple of bucks down on this. Think of the millions that I could have. I could pay for the roof that needs replacing. The taxes will go a long way to pay for that Wall Street Financial bail out too!

Roof Leak Part Deux!

The siding guy is still working on the house. It's looking real good. Bad news the roof is rotten in places on the back addition. Looks like the roof has to come off and a new one put on. It will be for the good though. He will be able to reinsulate or better the roof of the back addition so it will be warmer this year.

Home again....again...

What a week Austin, Tx and San Francisco. Hopped on the red eye again and rode a middle seat home. Spending today trying to ride out the jet lag. Next week I just have to run to Boston for a few days. But mostly I'm home!

Final thoughts on Austin

We stopped for lunch at Rudy's. A Bar B Que place that is a gas station, store.... and smoked brisket by the pound. BBQ brisket, sauce, white bread...... no more need be said.

Wish I has some time to hear some music. It looks like a really missed some good stuff there.

www.bicyclefilmfestival.com was one of the two film fests running at the same time.

Is Austin Weird?

I'm not sure.... spent a lot of time lost..... got a broken GPS from the rental car company. I'm here on business. Went downtown last night to a place called the Ginger Man. Many beers on tap from all over the world. Downtown was hopping for a Tuesday night, looked like a bunch of bands playing in various places. Did not go and investigate. We went to a Italian place for dinner. ( not my choice! I'd be going to a place for some que! ) Talked much business. Found that the New Zealand team used PI in thier boat to win the America's Cup. Rino said that he would get me a cap with Team New Zealand and PI.

Home again....

We're home again.... The house is still getting siding. Seems the contrators have had some weather delays. Have to get ready for my trip to Austin, Tx tomorrow morning.... flight out at 6:45 am eeek! Just time enough to unpack and repack.

Back in Rock Hall

Yesterday morning we took off early around 7 form Tilghman. The forcast was for rain and there was a small craft advisory out. The winds were going about 15 to 20 knots form the south and the current was behind us. This made the boat a little hard to control as were surfing on the wave tops. We made it to the Kent Narrows bridge. I asked the bridge keeper if he was going to open the bridge ar 9:30. His response was " ....should I?" Yes please. Sheesh I didn't know the bridges had trolls? Once past the bridge we could see rain cells passing to the north. The last part was an easy run to Rock Hall from the Chester River. We did not get caught in the rain untill we tied up at our slip. The it started sprinkling. We had dinner at a local pizza joint. After our dock neighbors Al and Ann were there and we invited them over and the had a few people and in a while we had a full boat of people munching and drinking. Ann and I went out for a folding chair. I heard a cry for help and heard splashing. I ran over to the other dock to find John was on the ladder in the water fishing their dog out. It seemed the dog could not see well and walked off the dock. He got the dog out and I helped him up off the ladder. I made it back to the party which lasted to midnight.

Tilghman creek

We left the solomons around 7 am. Wind was 18 knots from the east and 3 foot chop. Around noon it calmed down enough for us to put up sails and sail for a couple hours. Made it the 40 or so miles in 8 and half hours. It was real relaxing. Had dinner at anchor in Tilghman creek. Wind picking up tonight. Should be nice sleeping weather.

Last day in the Solomons

We took our option this morning to stay one more day. The winds were blowing pretty hard in the morning and there was a 4 to 5 foot chop on the water. Tomorrow would be favorable winds and calm seas. We did some shopping at the local West Marine and we got some foul weather gear and updated cruising guide. We topped off the fuel tank and emptied the holding. After watching the blue crabs walk on the pilings we took a walk down town again. We had lunch at a shop and had the best key lime pie. ( see note A ). We saw schools of fish in the water here, up in Rock Hall the water is more turbid and you can't see much of anything. We made it back and jumped into the pool which was chilly. The we had dinner and preped for an early start in the morning. Tomorrow we are shooting to get to Tilghman Creek 40 miles and 7 hours.






(note A ...... Mom for the record YOU make the best key lime pie...... this is best key lime in a place other than home!!!! )

Solomons on Tuesday

We toured Solomons Island today. We enjoyed Calvert Marine Museum where we learned about marine fossils, Drum Point Lighthouse and hermit crabs among other things. On our way to the Solomons we passed beautiful cliffs, which we learned have 24 layers - each taking 1 million years to make - and they contain all sorts of fossils. People continue to hunt fossils there.

Surprisingly among the old oyster boats and oyster house exhibit was an otter exhibit. We stopped by but the otters were taking a nap in the shade instead of frolicking in the water. The lighthouse, built in 1883, was another screwpile lighthouse like the Thomas Point lighthouse we sailed by on Day one. Anyway, as soon as we were at the to of this lighthouse, the guide said we needed to come down because of the storms.

We will be staying here another day because of ugly weather and wind.

Solomons,MD

SECURITE, SECURITE, STAY AWAY FROM THE PLATFORM! THERE IS A 500 YARD SECUITY ZONE AROUND THE PLATFORM! Boomed the voice of the great and powerful Oz. On our way down here we passed a gas tanker offloading platform. The VHF cracked with the warning every hour. We stayed far away. Calm day but no wind. We motored all day. Arrived in 6 and half hours. Saw freighters and barges. The Cove point light house is remarkable. We are at the Solomons in Spring Cove Marina. Not at all like our Spring Cove but livable. They have underwater music in the pool. We are here at least for two days. Weather tomorrow is for rain and a cold front is coming thru.

Thomas Point Lighthouse

Here is Thomas Point Light as we passed it this afternoon. It is about 1 mile offshore proctecting ships from running aground on the Thomas Point shoal. This is what they call a screw pile lighthouse. The pilings that are the foundation are screwed into the bay's bottom.

Going on vacation!

Got under was about 11:30. Fuel and water filled waste empty. Our first leg to galesville. We past under the bay bridge, Annapolis, Thomas Point Lighthose among other places. We sailed for a while then the wind died, motored the rest of the way. At anchor now in Galesville.

Winds now

We have 30 knot north winds now. Showers and the boat is rocking. The marina is having a hurricane party but we are snug here. We are tied up in the center of the slip and it's too far to jump off the boat to the finger pier.

More hurricane live blog

Lots of rain... Some wind..... Not too bad. Sailboat off our stern pulled up anchor and went to a slip. Just sitting here listening to the radio.

Starting to rain

Just started to rain a few hours ago. Hot and steamy no wind yet. A sailboat has anchored about 15. feet off our stern. I hope he is locked down well. Nice in snug here just made a nice warm cup of coffee.

In yer eye Hana

We have started our vacation and we are down at the boat. All is calm with intermittent showers. There are other boaters here George and his wife are in slip d9. And there are a few others so we are not alone. Internet a little spotty but that is the worst of it. Eye passing over us tomorrow sometime. Let you all know how we are doing.

Vacation

Marine Forcast
TROPICAL STORM WATCH IN EFFECT

SAT
E WINDS 30 TO 40 KT...BECOMING NE 40 TO 50 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WAVES 2 TO 3 FT...BUILDING TO 4 TO 6 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. RAIN.

SAT NIGHT
NW WINDS 25 TO 30 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 40 KT... DIMINISHING TO 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WAVES 2 TO 3 FT. A CHANCE OF RAIN.


We are going to spend the next week on the sailing vessel Imagination. The Solomons is out destination. We are going to start by spending the weekend on the boat with hurricane Hanna going overhead. We're well inland and pretty well sheltered so we'll be ok Saturday. ( If not we'll run like hell! ) The Solomons are two days away. Stopping at Galesville first. Ike could be a factor in the vacation equation. We'll try to not get swept up! But it there is a long pause in our posts........


.... Come looking for us!

Disco?

Went to the Fringe Fest and saw Disco Descending. It was a trip into Hades to rescue Eurydice. But Orpheus can only dance disco and Cerberus is real dog. This is a nice story of a man descending into the pits of disco after the loss of a loved one. Not a word is spoken the dance says it all. So does the flaming mirror ball. Go see it if you can at the Susan Roberts Theater.

Disco still Sucks!

Weekend Wrapup

Never made it to Pirates Cove. Anchored in Tighman Creek with Glenn and Carol. It was a new place for both of us. We had a great day sailing. We were sailing wing on wing, where the wind was hitting us on the stern and boths sails are open to catch the wind. We rafted up at the creek and had dinner of hot dogs and meatloaf on the grill. This was a dark creek and the stars just lit up the sky as we layed on the deck counting them.

Can't wait for our boat vacation next week. Have to watch the hurricanes looks like Hanna may drop some rain on us and delay our departure.

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.

Installing Bedroom A/C

I have the window fan in the bedroom and for the past few nights that has been great. It brings in cool air and is energy efficient and quiet. The temps and humidity are rising and it will be in the triple digits here next week. So I'm going to install the A/C unit tonight. Should only take an hour or so.....if I don't have to run to Home Depot.

Weekend Wrapup

Marilyn and I drove down to the boat on Friday night. It was really great to have an extra night down there. I got the GPS wired up and we headed out. There was wind in the bay. Too much. It was blowing about 20 knots and we have never put the sails up on the boat before. We went back in and anchored in the creek for the night. We swong on the anchor in 25 knot winds till morning. On Sunday morning it calmed down and we put up the sails. We practiced out sail handling and had a great time.

Temp measures......

Last night I bought a window fan and a small air conditioner. The guy from Hannaberry said we need a new air conditioner ( and heater.... ) and that won't happen untill at least Spetember ( or October! ) So we have to make due until then.

In other news we are going down to the boat this weekend. ( at least there is air conditioner down there! ). If the winds are with us we are going to cross the bay and head to Gibson Island.

Ski Trip and Air Conditioner

Mike, Linda and I spent a nice evening talking about the details of next February's ski trip to Stowe, Vt. The bus company wants to stick us with a big increase this year. Also, the economy is not doing anything good to anyone's budget so skiing may an expendable experience for many people this year. We just have to be aware of the cancelation dates.....

When I got home, Marilyn asked me to check the air conditioner. I inspected the outside unit just in time to hear it scream in pain .... and die..... Calls to the air conditioner repair guy have gone unanswered.

Back to Work!!!!

Well after all the flying, hotel stays, classes, visiting, and site seeing it's back to work! Things here are really just the same as I left it. ARUGH!!!! ( Why was I thinking anything would be different? )

Yesterday I got a chance to go down to the boat. I filled the tank with 10 gallons of fuel, added the cleats and brought down the air conditioner for Scott. Afterword I took about a 2 hour nap which went a long way to fix that case of jet lag that I had. I really felt refreshed even though it was about 95 degrees and 100% humidity!

Epilog

Home again. There's no place like home........ Hey, but it's hot and humid here in Philly.

I'll cool off tonight. I have the A/C humming and I'll go down to the boat tomorrow.

On the way home

Went early to the airport this morning. I took the bart which is the best way to get around in San Francisco. When I checked in there was a first class upgrade available. I took it! Elbow and leg room on a cross country flight sign me up! Hopefully the flight will be on time and home quickly. Called Marilyn last night she seemed to having fun with the girls in KCMO.

GARLIC!!!

Went to the Stinking Rose. A garlic restaurant. I was walking up Columbus and I was smacked hard with the odor of garlic. I went in and sat down and ordered a fat tire and a bagna calda, a skillet of roasted garlic, anchovies and olive oil. I sopped up the garlic and oil mixture with a nice piece of bread. I then ordered the mussels. These are not the mussels marinara of back home. The mussels are not opened with a gentle bath of warm tomato sauce. No they are forcible breached after being dropped on a hot skillet that has white wine, soy sauce and of course....garlic. What a flavor! I topped it off with a gliroy garlic ice cream.... not so good. After so much garlic I hope I'm allowed on the plane.

At the Stinking Rose

Found the stinking rose resturant. Their speciality is garlic. Picking up a few tips for garnet hill!

Last day in class

Today is the last day of the Microsoft Advanced Debuging class. I'll be heading home tomorrow.
Somehow I've been killing my BART tickets. It's costing me a fortune to buy a ticket de magnitize somehow and have to buy another one. I hope I don't do that to the airline ticket! I should be home Saturday, I may go to the boat on Sunday to bring some stuff down.

More San Francisco

Class here has been going well. There are more coffee shops than I have ever seen. Starbucks, Peets....more espresso than you can shake a mug at. Getting around on the BART has been very successful. I highly recommend to stay downtown and get around using mass transit. The guys that have rented a car have even been using trains because of the traffic here. Went to Chinatown to have dinner with co workers last night. On the menu in the restaurant had jellyfish on the menu. Yuck! Our dinner was not too weird we has soup and chicken dishes and was topped off with Peking duck.

Stranger in a Strange......

Well I was walking around the Embarcadero Center, it was mostly closed up. I found a barber and figured that I could get a hair cut. It's nice having a fresh hair cut and walking around without much structure. I went to the ferry building by the Oakland bay bridge and was watching the sailboats gliding along in the bay. I was thinking of Marilyn. She called this morning from Lincoln Center, she and Meg are seeing a show in NYC. I was missing going down to the boat this weekend.

I scraped the idea of sourdough and chowder when I found a bread place next to a cheese place. I got some triple cream brie, a few slices of salami and bread.

While walking thru the ferry marketplace I saw a meat place that puzzled me. the sign said "Humanely Treated" yet the meat was in cuts in front of me. I was hoping they did plan on treating me humanely! And in a place that some people would not come near it, they were selling lard, organic lard....Hmmmm is that really any better for you???

BYOB in the finacial district

I utterly failed to find something open here. I am on the edge of the finacial district and chinatown. I walked around and found a wachovia. This helped replenish the cash supply. Chinatown had throngs of people waiting for the ubiquitous chinatown bus. I did not want dim sum. I did find a laundry in chinatown which may be good for getting stuff washed maybe the hotel laundry will just as good. BYOB is bring your own breakfast. Me and my fellow tourists are being gouged 15 dollars for eggs and bad coffee at the hotel. Hope to find clam chowder and sourdough bread at fishermans warf this afternoon.

Good morning San Francisco!

Sunday morning having coffee at the local Starbuck with the homeless guys. They really know how to make a guy feel at home. I mean they got the smell of Suburban Station exactly! A little fresh air and my appetite will return. I'm on the hunt for some breakfast.

In San Francisco

I'm now in my hotel near the Transamerica Building. It's about 65 degrees here. I left my jacket on the chair at home. I deal with that.... I found that one of the diners from the show Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. here. I'll go to the GrubSteak tonight. I can't set any pictures on the blog from behind the firewall at the hotel here. So pics will have to wait.

Going to San Fransisco

Here I am at Philly International. I'm going to San Leandro for a Microsoft Advanced Debugging Class. Look I'm almost smiling! Well not really. We are missing two boat weekends because of this!

A Night at the Movies

MArilyn ad I went to the Ambler Theater to see a Marx Brothers film " A Night at the Opera" Still funny 70 odd years later. They showed a Daffy Duck / Porky Pig cartoon too!

Nemo, Neptune??

Nemo.... Neptune..... Well when we did the toast it was Nemo.... the fish!

Who we whished to address was Neptune... Roman god of water and the sea!!!

Well I hope Nemo will put in word for me!!

Asleep on The Train

The weekend took it out of me this morning. I was dead asleep on the train. I missed my stop! I went on to 30th Street Station. Good thing that it was the last stop for the train as I really getting into REM sleep! If the train kept going I was going to wake up in Paoli!

Boat Name change

We had to call on good king Neptune to help us with the boat's name change.

Neptune, Neptune help us change a name
Because the masters of the vessel are not quite the same
Neptune, Neptune we give you your share
Fair winds you will give Foul you will spare
Neptune, Neptune keep us safe in your hand
As we play on your water and return to the land.
Barbara Ann as this vessel was known before
Will be Imagination evermore.

Fourth of July Weekend Wrapup

Marilyn and I took off early on Thursday to get down to Rock Hall. Still it took over 3 hours to get down there between traffic and stops. We got down in time to load up and set up the boat before Marj and Roy arrived. We took up positions on the deck to watch the Rock Hall fireworks. They were spectacular as usual. On Friday morning we walked down main street to see the parade. It was a small town spectacular with antique cars, scouts and ending with "sandy claws" a crab that is marching band mascot. After the Roy and I went to the boat to fix the boat toilet, Marj and Marilyn went shopping. We positioned the new Jabsco in about and hour in addition we also fitted a gas grill on the stern rail. When the ladies returned we had lunch then we shoved off for Swan Creek about 5 minutes away. We had some problems with the anchor mount, the anchor would get stuck coming out of the bow roller. Roy and I replaced the bolts in the rollers with pan head screws. We anchored in the creek and went swimming and we lounged around. Later we fired up the gas grill and had grilled chicken and salad for dinner. It rained and stormed at night we stayed out as long as the bimini cover would keep us dry and we bedded down for the night. In the morning it was still stormy and we heading back to the slip. The anchor was still giving us problems. Back at the slip we got some clevis pins for the bow roller and that seemed to fix the sticky anchor. Later we had Scott and Carol over and the six of us had a champagne toast to the new boat. We stayed in and played Shipwrecked then we went out to Waterman's for crabs. back at the boat we attempted to sit outside for a while be were driven inside by the mosquitoes. Stormed again at night, no leaks thankfully. We spent a sticky day poolside. We then cleaned up the boat and went home.

Fourth of July

Getting ready for the big 4th of July weekend. Marj and Roy are coming down to the boat. Roy will help me with the head swap on Friday. Plans are to watch fireworks on Thursday night, make repairs take on provisions on Friday. Sleep in Swan Creek on Friday night go to Gibson Island on Saturday and back on Sunday. A bit ambitious but we'll aim big and go from there.

Extra Toilet

Someone asked what I was going to do with the extra marine head. Well maybe I'll open a restarauant like they have in china. The theme "Toilet". Ahhh so you think I'm sh!##ing you. look here.

I was told once that restaurateur did not want to extend credit because as he said "After 24 hours it's all the same stuff" The Chinese are trying to speed up the process.

New Marine Head on the way!

After this trip I appreciate a low maintenance marine toilet. Got home last night and the first thing I did was order a new Jabsco Head from West Marine. The smelly overflowing unit has to GO! this weekend. I passed on the compact marine size and got the normal size. The tag line for this is a bigger seat so that you can have more bottom on top!

Imagination Log

The alarm went off at 5am. We stirred and started coffee and ate DOD's ( Day old Doughnuts! ). I took the trash on land and found a man in the dumpster. He was routing the trash for aluminium cans. Not the regular Philadelphia can router but a older guy looking in the trash for cans. He was complaining that the tourists were throwing away cans. We shoved off at 6:30. The canal current was against us about 2.5 knots. We pass thru to the Elk River. Car carriers and tugs pushing barges were passing us and on the river. Passing Aberdeen cannon fire could be heared. The proving grounds was doing some live fire testing. They had picket boats to keep people out of the area. It sounded like a war zone. We were now in the Upper Chesapeake. Several boats were sailing on the bay. We stayed on the engine for speed. Al made sandwiches again. He was saying that we never saw him doing this as Ann would have him slaving in the galley all the time. We came into Rock Hall about 12:30. The total the the engine was on was 14 hours. We moved the Ericson from our slip to a tempoary slip and moved Imagination into it's new home.

I would like to Thank Al, Steve and Harry for a great trip.

The trip is not measured in distance or time, but the companionship and laughs found along the way!

Thanks guys for a great and memorable trip.

Imagination log

Breaker on dock out no ac for ac!

Imagination log

Docked at chesapeake city. Had dinner at chesapeake inn. The dogfish beer was great. The docking was FREE. Electric was ten bucks. We are going to shoveoff at dawn.

Imagination log

In the c&d canal. Lots of current speed down to 4.9 knots. Chesapeake City by 6pm

Imagination log

Passing commodore barry bridge. Doing 9 knots. Al making great sandwiches. All well.

Imagination log

Passed airport problem with the head

Imagination log

Passing under walt whitman bridge

Imagination log

Passing uss united states largest abandon vechicle in philadelphia!

Imagination Log

Passing under betsy ross bridge. Had conrail bridge lift the span to get under.

Road Trip

This is the road trip section of the adventure. We drove two cars down to Rock Hall. Mine is now down there waiting for us to pick it up. We then drove up to the boat in Delran. We dropped off drinking water and gatoraide. We also filled the fuel tank. So we are ready to go in the morning.

Hot day on the river.....

Sorry for the blurry picture I was sweating over my camera phone. It's ours now. I went over it with a fine tooth comb found two things. Bad fuel tank gauge and a bad auto pilot. The gauge is now fixed and the pilot will be tomorrow. Looked over and got familiar with all the systems in the boat and how to do maintenance on them. Then we took the boat for a sail down the Delaware River to check out he sailing systems. Not much wind but the boat moved along pretty good for such light winds. But it is waaaaay to hot today. Left the A/C and the fridge on. Will be cold when Marilyn gets her first look at the boat in the water.

I'm So Excited

I'm just so excited. It will be the "Getting a new boat weekend"! Yahoooooo! Tomorrow writing the last check ( Ouch! ) and boat orientation. Marilyn won't make it tomorrow because of work. I'll also be adding the GPS if I have time.

Getting Ready for Adventure!

Al had called me up last night. We were trying to find the time that we are going to move out on Sunday. Looks like around 8:30. I'm going to stock the boat with provisions. ( Water, Gatoraide, coffee, beer, toiletpaper, trash bags.... ) on Saturday. Also on Saturday,I'm going to be hooking up a GPS chartplotter. The adventure is going to begin on Sunday. I'm ready to do some mobile blogging from the boat so I'll keep all up to date in real time.

Project Dishwasher Completed

The plumber ( sans crack ) came in an installed the dishwasher. Done in record time. He even had time to fix a leaky shower valve. WooHoo the dishes are now clean!

Dishwasher to be installed tomorrow

Lowes. actually the Lowes contractor will be installing the new dishwasher tomorrow! Hey buddy I suggest a longer shirt! Yes, that's a crack aimed at plumbers. Better than a plumber's crack aimed at me!

I'm excited because even though we are eating off paper plates the dishes are starting to stack up!

Imagination Ready

Just got word that Imagination will be ready for pick up this Friday. Now my band of pirates and I can plan on moving the boat on Sunday. This will insure that it will be ready for the Fourth of July festivities!

Broken Dishwasher

The dang dishwasher broke. The door will not lock close and just falls to the ground. We have to run out to buy a new one. This KitchenAide just was the worst for cleaning dishes anyway.

Helicopter Crash

Setting up my big helicopter. Found some stuff still wrong with it. Had two servos wired backwards. I fixed that in 5 minutes and took it into the back yard. It heli took to the air for a couple of minutes. I landed it. Took off again but it was heading for the fence and I landed it. Only the landing was a bit too hard and it smacked the tail boom and bent up a bunch of things. I ordered a bunch of parts and its back to the workshop.

Joining the crew

I've joined the crew that is taking our new boat down the Delaware next week. Next Sunday Al ( from our marina ) his brother, a friend of thiers and I will take the Catalina down the Delaware to Rock Hall. There are too many unknowns for me running it down the river. So I'm just going aboard as crew and leaving Al's brother in charge as skipper. I hope they don't make me walk the plank!

The Treasure

We went out last night to see The Treasure of Seirra Madre at the Ambler Theater. I'm just going to blantly rip off an other blog about the discription and comentary about the film.

Go to, rent or stay up a late night and see this film. It's a Hollywood classic. I'm glad we saw it on the big screen just the was it was supposed to be seen.




In 1926, in the coastal Mexican city of Tampico, Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart, in what is regarded by many as the finest performance of his career) is dirty, unshaven, currently jobless and dependent on asking strangers to “stake a fellow American for a meal.” He ends up taking a construction job, but is later stiffed by his employer for wages.
Dobbs befriends a good hearted American named Bob Curtin (Tim Holt), also struggling south of the border. They spot the man who ripped them off and by working together, are able to beat him up and recover their money. They check into a cockroach infested flophouse called the Oso Negro for the night.
There, their ears are prickled by the tales of an old prospector named Howard (Walter Huston) who tries to warn the men that even if you were to make a real strike, not even the threat of a miserable death would be enough to drag you away from the lure of gold. Dobbs disagrees, saying he’d only take what he set out to get. Howard replies: “I never knew a prospector who died rich. Make a fortune, sure to blow it tryin to find another.”

Dobbs convinces Curtin that they should try their luck at prospecting, but knowing nothing about mining, ask Howard to come in with them. The three men brave bandidos, northers, the jungle and the rigors of mining before they strike gold. Then, just as Howard predicted, “As long as there’s no find, the noble brotherhood will last. But when the piles of gold start to grow, that’s when the trouble starts.”
Directed by John Huston, from a screenplay he faithfully adapted from the novel by B. Traven, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was recently ranked #30 by the AFI for their 100 greatest American movies of all time list. Words like “classic” and “masterpiece” get thrown around a lot, but this is a timeless example of both. Like all great films, it has something profound to say about the human condition; in this case, the danger of greed, vanity and corruption.
Huston had spent a lot of time in Mexico, and the atmosphere he creates here has a very weathered, but richly authentic feel to it. The film was notable for being one of the first to make use of extensive (and costly) location shooting. The night scenes where shot on a sound stage in Burbank, but the daytime exteriors were filmed near San Jose de Perua, and Durango.
The film’s dialogue and action have a ring of truth to them as well. Walter Huston, the director’s father, won an Academy Award as the tougher than leather old sage who’s seen enough and done enough to know that good intentions evaporate once a man’s greed takes over. The cantina fist fight between Bogart & Holt and their deadbeat employer (Barton MacLane) is rough, nasty and staged like the real deal.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre fared poorly at the box office, and Bogart was completely ignored by the Academy for his portrayal of Fred C. Dobbs, but his is one of the great characters in film. Bogart plays destitution, idealism, honesty, opportunity, paranoia and villainy all in one role. It’s one of the best portrayals of a man slowly losing his handle on morality that I’ve seen.
Robert Blake appears as the boy who sells Dobbs his lottery ticket, Ann Sheridan had an unbilled cameo as a lady of leisure, while John Huston, lanky and dark haired, appears as the Man In White Suit whom Dobbs continually pesters for money.
The oft mimicked line “Badges? We don’t need no stinkin badges!” was actually misquoted by Mel Brooks for Blazing Saddles. When Dobbs is confronted by bandidos claiming to be federales and asks them where their badges are, their leader (Alfonso Bedoya) says: “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!”

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well it time for another birthday.I was wishing for the best present.... I won the lottery and did not have to go to work today. Maybe next year.

Mobile blogging

Got a new PDA and I'm testing the mobile blogging feature. I'll be able to blog on the run!

Last Look

With all the happy talk of a new boat there is always one loser in this situation. We took the last look at our ericson today. Cleaned out the last of our toys and got her ready for her trip next week up the Delaware to be traded in. We had a lot of great weekends and she taught a lot about sailing. She will be missed greatly. Fair winds little boat, we hope you make new friends and have great adventures.

Book Club

Marilyn had the bookclub over last night. I got off work at 3 to get groceries and make dinner. I made hummus, grilled veggies, lamb kabobs and saffron rice pilaf. It worked out as I got it done just as Meg rang the door bell. The ladies had a great disscussion and enjoyed dinner.

New boat news

Went to the boat dropped off a large check and did some paperwork and now the boat is officially ours. They still have to put in the air conditioner, GPS and other things. We have to clear out the ericson this weekend as they will be picking it up next week. Then on the 20th ( maybe ) the new one will be ready and sometime after that we will have it in our slip in Rock Hall.

The boat's name is ...... Imagination.

Weekend Roundup

We went down to the boat this weekend to try out the new engine. The boat has to make the trip up to Riverside. Anyway the engine worked great! We took it out for a 2 hour shake down cruise. Kudos to the crew at Swan Creek Marina for all their great work. We jumped into the pool to cool off afterwords. This is our first heat wave of the season. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon with Glenn and Carol on their boat, it's air conditioned! Glenn was showing me all the Catalina tips. After dinner a thunder storm brewed up with the worst lightning that I had ever seen. We closed the hatches and ran off the boat to the marina porch then later to the car! This was really bad. I was not going to sit under a large aluminum mast. Well no boats got hit but I did not put in the compainionway boards. It never rains in the boat with bimini cover up. Well it did. What a mess wet cushions everywhere. We cleaned up as best we could. I did not sleep a wink crunched in another bunk. Sunday morning the sun came out. We put the cushions out every thing dried up in a few hours. I had time to do just a little more varnishing. The pool was a great oasis.

The thing that I'm convinced that we need more than anything for the new boat is a nettle net. so that we can cool off on days like today and not meet any jellyfish.

New boat delivery

We were going to sail our old boat to the where the new boat is then sail the new boat back to Rock Hall. That was until I found out how far it really is. From the C&D canal there is about 75 miles of the most scenic urban industrial river that one can imagine. It would have such sites as chemical facilities, oil refineries, container ports, prisons, airports and ship building facilities. All this and having to dodge container ships and tankers too! No thanks, please deliver it. The UPS guy is really going to hate me......

KooZa

Marilyn and I wend out to Cirque du Soleil KooZa laast night. We stopped at Nodding Head and had dinner a a beer. I had mussels and Grog. Then we waled down Broad Street to where Cirque had the tents set up. The shows are always amazing. The clowns are funny and the unicyclist showed there is nothing that can't be done on one wheel. The trapeeze artist had a fall but was saved by the safety equipment. The wheel of death terrifying and you could not stop watching.

Installed the Window A/C

I installed the window air conditioner in the living room. It's not real hot but it will be soon. Had to make all new brackets and mounts because of the new windows. The A/C is in and working well. The book club will be glad next week.