all that fun again

whoa -- little red wagon. supersized!

uh ... fred ... uh ...

c-17 aircraft are huge. and you would expect one to land on a very long runway. well, this c-17 was supposed to land on an 11,000+ foot runway but somehow touched down on a 3,000+ foot runway instead. it managed to stop with 10 feet to spare. mistake? or on purpose? don't know yet. funny though ...

from the ballroom to the highway

this is so cool! a rear-view mirror which actually shows you something. at least it sounds like a good idea. i'll take one of those, please.

losing a love and learning to hate

all right, that does it. i found out the other day that my absolutely favorite listening station has quit.  yes, Groovera, aka FrostByte Groove Lounge, has called it quits. i loved that station -- specifically Low Mercury -- and it didn't have any commercials to interrupt whatever you had going. tim q. quitting, because of personal health, is a tragedy all by itself.

but now, we find out the first class airline tickets we bought for our trip to MYS's wedding has a leg which is messed up. the plane has been downgraded and they moved us three rows back. WTF??? oh sure, it's a computer system that makes the seating decisions and there's nothing they can do and no you can't have any money back.

well, i'm not in the mood. i've lost my music and now my money doesn't mean anything. after this trip i will never fly again. i don't care that it will take longer to get there. slower pace, back to the roots, remember how sweet it used to be. big business can just get along without me. and i totally do not care if they eventually have money problems, and i would help them down the tubes after experiencing their snotty/hateful attitude toward their customers. greedy bastards i can do without.

but i really miss my music.

dum, dum, de-dum ....

MYS is getting married! they thought about it last year, but they're incredibly busy and couldn't make it work, so they're getting married this summer. the ceremony will be in a caldera, and it's a really beautiful spot. it's going to be low-key and attended by close friends and family. i'm looking forward to a really nice time!

oh, and didn't i say ... i LOVE our new soon-to-be daughter-in-law!!! she's a jewel of a person and i'm so glad she's going to be part of our family! the husband and i have always thought we were lucky with our boys and we're continuing to be lucky with their girls!

yay, the universe!!!

night lights

have you been in an airplane at night and seen the lights from the sky? from the cockpit? this video is so totally cool! i watched it first without the sound, then with the sound. it's easier to pay attention to what you're seeing without the sound. and it is sooooo neat!!

great family!

MOS and his family were supposed to come up for the weekend a couple of weeks ago. then they all got the flu. oh yeah, i remember that -- young kids mean everyone's sick a lot of the time.

about the time of the cancellation we got the news that MYS and his fiancee were coming up for a couple of days on their way to a seminar she was going to. YAY! we hadn't seen them in x-months and it was great news.

older son, younger son, and the rest of us all got together one afternoon. it was great to have everyone in one place and i just wish we all lived in the same area so we could do that more often.

love them all!!!

zippin' around ...

okay! i'll take one of these. one big car, one little car. perfect!!

gees louise....

my cousin sent me this link -- http://www.wimp.com/vegetablemarket -- and i don't want to spoil anything, but you really need to see it to realize that some people live in crowded circumstances.

and another one

on the other hand, i could probably afford the tata pixel. its 'zero turn drive' is a kick. and it doesn't look too shabby either.

this is the one

i have just found my ideal car -- the renault captur. it is so beyond any expectations of a cool car i might have envisioned, that i can hardly stand it. the fact that it is not in production, and probably would cost more than i could possibly afford, are minor details. i am totally in love.

which color do you like?

MYS's fiancee is wanting to buy a motor scooter. it's an  inexpensive option for them and, in their small town, should work out well.  they told me where a dealer is and i checked out the website. too fun!! seeing the scooters again reminds me that we had considered getting one years ago and, really, it might be nice to have one now. after all, we live in a small town, too.... what? oh, yeah. we have quite a bit of rain. oh well, it's a neat trip down fantasy lane to check them out.

turn here, no ... wait!

did you see how becoming a slave to gps might lower your brain function as you get older? i've just never gotten around to doing the gps thing. maybe my spiritual guide was keeping me away from something which wouldn't be good for me. i've worried along the way that maybe i was slipping behind in the 'knowledge of technology' area, but that might not necessarily be a bad thing. besides, i like doing the 'map' and 'getting lost' thing.

amazing mishaps

did you see the item about the three youths (boys, aged 14 and 15) who drifted in a boat for 50 days across 800 miles? it's pretty amazing that they didn't suffer dramatic problems. they started out near the atafu atoll and ended up northeast of fiji. those islands aren't that big and that ocean is huge. i'm just in awe of the whole thing. in many ways they put kon-tiki to shame!

go a little ways then turn left at the tree and go awhile longer ....

how are your gps skills? we've never gotten around to getting one and now i may be glad. it seems that using a gps (using it a lot, i would guess) may turn your brain to mush.

three studies have been done which conclude that how we navigate around today may impact the way our brain functions as we age. the article talks about the spatial navigation strategy versus the stimulus-response strategy.

it also talks about grey matter and alzheimer's and the hippocampus, blah blah, but i found it interesting. it would be particularly telling if they did another study made up entirely of air traffic controllers. controllers use spatial reasoning a lot! and if that group had a smaller percentage of alzheimer's victims, you'd think the theory really had truth to it.

regardless, i enjoy using maps and envisioning routes, and finding my way around, and i don't care if i get lost. it's a quick way to learn about the vicinity. of course, the way that guys give directions and the way that gals give directions are completely different and worthy of a study by itself!

anyway, read the article -- it's food for thought.

your turn....

did you know that airports don't have to let tsa screen travelers? i was aghast when i read this -- i didn't realize there was another option, but there is -- airports can hire private screeners and a florida congressman is encouraging them to do just that.

i actually don't know what i think about private screeners doing that job. it's a thankless, complex, difficult job and there are idiots, arrogant jerks, and unpleasant people manning some of the positions. still -- they have the inside information about what the government is encountering and trying to deal with, and i'm not sure private companies would be given all the information which is surely available to the tsa managers.

no i don't like those new scanners, and the new pat-downs? oh good grief! but at the same time, what IS the answer??

i can either what or what??

airport security just gets tighter and tighter, but should it? it's a tough issue for everyone to deal with, and now some people are protesting the new scanning technology. i don't like the idea of that equipment either but what is the alternative? decent people have gone along with all kinds of inconvenience because of the terrorist threat, but maybe we should start looking outside the box for answers since the answers we've used so far aren't that great. on the other hand, how do you think terrorists would effect their drama if people quit flying? that can really dredge up some unpleasant thoughts.

what does that mean?

need something to lighten your day? here are some signs from around the world.

why would they do this?

for whatever reason, i don't usually think of 'europe' as being against the u.s. boy, am i naive. read this.

all across the country

particulars about our trip:
the radisson at seatac was an excellent place to stay and leave our car while we were gone -- highly recommended, especially since we just walked across the street and into the terminal.
the country inn & suites on east henrietta was a big disappointment -- not recommended.
u.s. airways (to philly) was an excellent experience -- i wonder if it was only because we were in first class. we enjoyed our breakfast and juice/pop. we particularly enjoyed it when the ticket taker turned back a young gal trying to board when they called first class. when she finally did board, she was at the tail-end. slacker.
the philly airport was not at the top of our list of pleasant airports; outside temps in the 90s.
u.s. air/republic (to rochester) was pleasant.
the rochester airport was hesitant to take my nexus card -- didn't see many of those, they said.
the american eagle flight (rochester to o'hare) was dumb -- they lost points.
american air (o'hare to seatac) wasn't a good as u.s. air, but they kept serving us food.
i think it's safe to say i don't ever want to fly anywhere again unless it's in first class.