It has been Quiet

here in my part of the south. The kids are off at University and I have been traveling a bunch.

K and I are also remodeling our bedroom end of the house. This entails moving all of our stuff, splitting it between the girls bedrooms, tearing down all the drywall, the closet, moving/changing a door to a pocket door, relocating a bathroom, relocating a closet.

We are about 3/4 of the way done with our bedroom, it being re-wired, new drywall installed. There is the drywall mudding, painting and trim to do before we get new carpet. Before and after pictures will be posted when we are done.

This is why we have not blogged much.

In my travels

I get to go many places where there are friends and family. This week found me fortunate enough to stop by Lebanon, OH to see Niece B, her husband S, young T and their newest addition R!

It was great to see their whole family, even for a short visit. It is really cute how their T just loves his new brother, to the point of smothering him at times. But he is a good looking young man that at 2 is now stringing some words together to get certain desires known. You know when he wants a video, or something to eat or drink.

For proof, here is a picture of R and moi.



So, for you JO, I am the most awesome 'cuz I got to see and hold him and you didn't, HA! Oh yeah, who is the best now!

Hope your day is great too.

Milky Way

I found this neat site to view the Milky Way galaxy.

http://www.gigagalaxyzoom.org/

Be sure to zoom in on some of the various features. There is also a tour to some of the popular destinations.

Things

are getting back to a more normal chaos. All the cars have been fixed, the lawn mowed, at least until this weekend again, and we are now working on the bathroom/bedroom again.

It is a good thing that C and A are away at school as we have taken over their bedrooms. We have moved everything out of ours and disbursed it as best we can to keep the house neat.

As it has been said, "It's hammer time!"

Been a few weird weeks

on the mechanical side.

My car threw a lifter needing a cylinder head replacement, the Van blew a heater hose that was nearly impossible to reach, A's car had problems staying running and with a catalytic converter, C's car had a window problem where the driver side window would not go down, then immediately followed by the passenger side front having the same problem, both lawn mowers had semi major problems, one requiring a new engine and the other a new cam, the weed eater decided not to like to run. After it was all fixed, then the grass needed mowed and the house needed trimming. It seemed to be every week there was something preventing us from getting work done on our bathroom. That does not include my travel for work.

In the middle of some of this, A moved into a new apartment and C moved into a Dorm.

Life is never boring.

For those of you who knew

A is now back in the country from Panama. She had a blast and talked non-stop for about 4 hours about her trip. She said she would do it again, but for a shorter time next time. Two weeks is too long.

One minor hitch occurred last night, when she was to return. Her flight into Miami was over an hour late, causing her to miss her flight to Raleigh. She got a night in Miami at the airport Hyatt, dinner and breakfast, all courtesy of American Airlines. Her and about 150 of her closest friends on that flight missed their connections. It was a systemic thing because there were many flights delayed for one reason or another and many got stranded by missing their connections. With those being the last flights of the day, you might think AA would have held the flights, saving a bunch in hotels and meals.

Glad she is home, safe and sound with another world experience under her belt.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Johnson

From my Junior High School and High School days, this man played a role in my life. He was the father of a friend of mine, husband to a wonderful lady and a quiet leader. But he was a soft spoken, gravely voiced man that said the simple truths in life.

Their house was always open to us kids and decorated for the various holidays, inside and out. Easter eggs hanging in the trees, Christmas decorations, pumpkins all over the place, flags on memorial day, 4th of July, and Veterans Day. Always appropriately over the top, but great to see.

But I never knew:

Wayne Howard Johnson

Wayne H. Johnson, Sr., of Sylvania Township, passed away Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at Ebeid Hospice Residence, just eight days before his 84th birthday. He was looking forward to being reunited with his beloved wife of 42 years, Louise who preceded him in death in 1996.

A WWII U.S. Marine Corp. Veteran, Wayne fought with the 5th Marines Division 28th Infantry Regiment and was awarded the Purple Heart for being shot through the head during The Battle of Iwo Jima. He was the sole survivor of his foxhole and his platoon was responsible for erecting the United States flag on Mount Suribachi . He was a member of the DAV and served as head Quartermaster for the former VFW Post No. 3013 in Holland . Until retiring in 1987, Wayne worked for the former Unicast Company as a molder. He was an avid fisherman and enjoyed small game hunting.

Wayne ’s true loyalty remained with his late wife, Louise. Each Monday he decorated her grave with flowers.

He is survived by his son: Wayne (Angie) Johnson, Jr.; grandchildren: Michael and Katelynn Johnson; ...

Wayne’s family wishes to express gratitude to the staff at both the Toledo Hospital (9th floor) and Ebeid Hospice residence for their excellent care and compassion. Also, thanks to all of the friends and family who showed support during Wayne ’s last days.

It will be a happy reunion between you and Mrs J. Mr J, you will be missed.

This week, Milwaukee

I am traveling this week to Milwaukee, WI for my job. Actually, in more correct terms, I am really going to Kenosha, but most people do not know where Kenosha is located.

Why am I going to Kenosha? My company sold some equipment to Ocean Spray, the cranberry people. The equipment is not working properly, my counterpart that covers the upper Midwest is going in other directions for about 30 more days and this cannot wait. So I will go see if I can help them get things going in the right direction.

Computers

I just got off the phone after 2 hours and 15 minutes of working with Dell about my laptop computer. That is after an hour of being on the phone with them yesterday. And after being on the phone with them on Monday for an hour. The LCD screen back light went out and the computer is under warranty.

I think it is actually the power supply to the back light, because I can get the screen to light for several seconds, but the light goes out. If the brightness of the LCD is kept to a minimum (think watching a very dark screen at the bottom of a cave), then you can watch the LCD screen on my laptop.

The Dell service person asked me to remove this plate, then remove some screws and then the keyboard. Then unplug/replug the main LCD feed cable, put the computer back together and see if that fixes it (no), I did this same procedure with three different people. Then go through diagnostics buried in the computer, then hook up an extra monitor to make sure it works (testing the video card). After that, go through Dell remote assistance so he can check my settings to make sure that no setting is causing the problem.

After all that, he then agrees that I have a bad LCD back light. My computer will be fixed tomorrow night. For now, I will use my computer with an external monitor.

I realize they do not want to give away parts, but we had the service call number and they could see what I was asked to do in the previous two calls. The other thing they do not know, is my aptitude at fixing things.

This is the second laptop computer where the LCD back light went bad. I will be trying to get my company to let me buy or provide an external monitor to maximize the LCD life.

I enjoy the

technical side of life sometimes, to the dismay of K occasionally. Recently, I stumbled onto a discussion about Moore's Law (think computer speed doubling in ~24-36 months).

Personally, I found it interesting that people would track certain things to extrapolate what they should be seeing in the future. Anyway, this discussion was interesing to me.

Stuff Happens

Seems my weekends have been filled with fixing autos lately. A's car had a problem, then another problem, now all fixed, then it was time for the timing belt for my VW. That took all day Saturday of last weekend.

On the way home this week, while out traveling on business, the Passat started to make a ticking noise. Not too loud, but loud enough. This was as I was coming through the mountains in TN/NC. The oil was fresh from a change, changed every 4-5000 miles by using synthetic.

I investigated the noise but could find nothing. By the time the trip was over, the engine was running roughly. The car had 60K on the spark plugs, so I thought that might cause the rough running. I pulled the spark plugs and changed them, did not fix the problem.

So a compression test was done, and the #5 cylinder showed 0 compression. Not good, especially when cylinders 4 and 6 had over 200PSI. I popped off the valve cover gasket to find the center intake valve lifter to not be touching the cam. The cam also looked like this:



The cam should look smooth, not rough around the edges. Seems a valve lifter failed. Tomorrow I will remove the cylinder head to see if there is more damage. It appears not, but you never know. After the head is off, the true picture will unfold.

The off to work on K's van.

Wow, just wow

I read this today and thought, this is amazing. Bravery on multiple fronts.

http://www.militarytimes.com/news/2007/09/army_rpg_moss_070922w/

Just some more pictures.

This was shot as C walked off the stage at graduation. Can you see the relief in her face? It is more of a look that says: I am tired from staying up all night.



Here are a couple more of C and Prom. Here is the rainbow of dresses that we saw:

Pictures, Part 3

Here are some more pictures, this time from the trip up to Maine.

Since I was not along when these were made, I cannot further describe the scenes. These are from or near the "Northern Estate" of AP/UJ. These are not the standard east cost beaches:









And one from New York, from the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, looking east, toward the UN. You can see the Chrysler Building on the left.

Pictures, Part Deux

As promised, here are some more pictures. One is funny, IMO, but the rest are from C's Senior Prom.


C in the Duke Gardens



C and her roommate in the Duke Gardens


Another of C at Duke Gardens:



The group of people that we took to Duke Gardens for Picture taking:



Hi sis! ( I will change this pic in a day or two, but for now, enjoy!)

Pictures, finally, part one

I have dumped multiple cards onto my hard drive and will endeavor to post a few pictures each day over the next few days. Because the pictures are from multiple cameras, there may be no discernable order to the pictures. I will add a brief description for each picture.

Here is a picture of A and her boyfriend, A.


Here is C and A at C's graduation.


The Fam at graduation.


Here is C with Uncle D and Aunt J


This is K and C on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building

Africa - A new take

I was directed to this remake of Toto's Africa. It is a pretty good, uplifting video. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Travel- A wordy post

Last week I traveled to New England. This time, however, K and C went with me.

We stopped by AP/UJ's house in CT and got to see them and TJR on the way up. The so graciously offered (and we accepted) the use of their Maine estate for a couple of days while I worked in the area. (This is an informal thanks for the use of your home and hospitality on the return trip.)

So off K, C and I went toward Boston, then further north. The trouble with my schedule is that it changed from needing to be in ME, to not having an appointment in ME all week. The schedule shifted a bit west along with south. So K and C dropped me off at a hotel in Lawrence, MA, then proceeded to ME. According to K and C (not a chicken place), their stay in ME was very nice, given the constant rain and 50 degree temperatures. They also traveled to Bar Harbor to visit a friend of C's from school that is doing some research at Jackson Institute.

On Thursday after business calls are finished for the day, K,C and I (the sunshine band) meet back up and we head to RI as I have business appointments there on Friday. It is still raining on Friday AM, but while I was working, C/K took the opportunity to visit Newport, RI and see some of the big houses there.

After work on Friday, we traveled back to CT to return the keys for the northern estate to AP/UJ. While the AP served a wonderful ham dinner and all of the local cousins and their children came over for a visit. It was great to see everyone. While we were in CT, the sun was out making for a nice visit. As soon as we left, the rain was back. C/K and I left at about 9 PM, headed for a day of sightseeing in NYC on Saturday.

The van was parked on the NJ side and a ferry was used to go into the city. It was the same ferry group that helped the flight that landed in the Hudson.

It was a wonderful Saturday in NYC, going to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, riding the Gray Line bus for sight seeing, visiting Times Square. It is fun to ride an open top bus, in the rain, not so much.

We even visited Canal Street to see what all the hubbub is about there. I will say, from a guy perspective, Canal Street and the associated mess that is there was less than exciting. C/K did get to see some back rooms full of interesting merchandise, but I was people watching from the street or sidewalk, so it just added to the day. Departing NYC about 8PM, all of us were tired from a long day of walking and riding in the occasional rain.

Driving toward home, we stopped for gas at a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike. A minor set back occurred as the van would not restart. Irritating a lot of people as we blocked a gas pump for about an hour, the service station attendants and I attempted every thing we could imagine to get the car started, but to no avail.

A tow truck was called and with that, C/K and I got to spend an interesting evening in Bordentown, NJ. From the tow truck business office, I called all the hotels in the area and found only one room available, at the Hampton Inn, a smoking room with a king sized bed. Being our only option, I took it. There was a significant returning presence of Reservists from Iraq to Fort Dix so there were many families that came from far away and also many people traveling to Six Flags, clogging the hotels.

The car needed repaired on a Sunday, and fortunately the tow truck driver left the van at a place having a mechanic working on Sunday. The mechanic arrives at about 10AM and diagnosed the starter on the van failed without warning and needed replaced. I walked from the hotel to the service station, about 2 miles, as C had accidentally left her glucose meter in the van when we dropped it off. As I got to the service station, the mechanic had just diagnosed the starter problem. It would be 45 minutes or so until the starter arrived and about an hour for installation. The owner of the station even let me use his personal vehicle to get back to the hotel.

Blatant Plug: If you are ever in need of service or gas and are near Bordentown, NJ, Exit 7 on the NJ Turnpike, please visit Bill Waite's Service Center. He was a really nice guy and fixed the van at a reasonable price. He will get my vote as a good business to use.

Minus a few $, but none the worse for wear, we were back on the road at 1:45PM. Garmin said we would arrive home at 8, but little did Garmin know of the traffic. At each of the toll plazas in Delaware and MD, there were significant lines of traffic that even an Easy-Pass could not overcome. Miles and miles of traffic. Coming out of the bottom of DC, from I295 to I95 was solid, bumper to bumper, inching along. I95 continued to be solid, bumper to bumper, slow moving traffic for 15-20 miles going south, all for no apparent reason other than quantity of cars. When the traffic did get up to speed, cruise control was not an option as there were too many vehicles too close together. It was only after passing Petersburg, VA and reaching I85 did the traffic thin. We arrived home at about 10:30PM.

Think of this: How many people get to travel by Van, Bus, Ferry, Subway, and Tow Truck in the span of 24 hours? The only things missing were a pack mule and airplane.

K and C had a great time in their travels, and NYC was enjoyable for us as a family. It was also really wonderful that AP/UJ, my cousins, and their children all took time to visit with us. It was a memorable trip.

This Weekend

Working on the house this weekend will be interspersed with trips (3 round trips) to Durham, NC. It is prom weekend for C, so she needs a car for hair and nail appointments. That is the Friday trip. Saturday afternoon around 3PM we will meet with her and friends at the Duke gardens for pictures, and then Sunday evening we will need to retrieve our car from C. Figure about 2.5 hours round trip (actual travel time is a bit less than 2 hours. C will look beautiful in her dress (as nearly all the Prom young men and women do).

It is our last Prom. Our little family is nearly all grown up, sniff, sniff.

Sorry it has been a month

But K and I have been working on a remodel job for the laundry room. I built a cabinet on one end that matches our kitchen cabinets in style/look, we will be installing a new, stacking front loading W/D combination, which meant relocating water/drain pipes, rewiring some outlets, building a wet wall, laying tile, installing trim, painting, installing the new dryer vent in the roof. All that mixed in with a normal dose of my travel schedule.

It will be 95% completed this Sunday, before I leave for Upstate NY for the week. The last thing I will be building is a cabinet over the new W/D combo that will hide the dryer vent pipe and have a short bar for hanging clothes fresh from the dryer. But that will occur another day. One cannot have too much storage, even though we have 2x what was here when we bought the house. Pictures will be posted next week.

Next up is a master bathroom redo (already started).