Todd's Pad

Live video of Oil Spill

2010-05-28T08:39:00.001-05:00

What happened on my vacation

2010-05-20T08:43:00.001-05:00

So, while on vacation in San Antonio, Texas, the refinery next to Espada Park, where we were eating lunch, exploded.

I hopped in the car and drove over to get a closer look.

Martha took the following video from the park

Eagle Watching Day

2010-02-21T15:18:00.005-06:00

We went out with my parents to watch the eagles at the Clark Bridge in Alton, IL. Most all of the eagles where too far away to really see, but this one stuck around for awhile.

While there, a very large flock of Snow Geese flew high over us.

A mallard duck couple

Out on the river three Common Goldeneye ducks were swimming and diving.

Hike at Lone Elk

2009-09-07T17:11:00.005-05:00

Just got back from a hike at Lone Elk State Park. The temperature was great, only a bit muggy.

There were a couple of stags out on there own, and then one that had a harem.

Baby Elk, Ahhh.

There was this very interesting mushroom growth around a dead tree, and this tree looks like it has a face on it.

Some turtles were out sunning.

The downside to today's hike is that I dropped my camera while taking it out of the trunk of the car. The neck strap got caught on the tailgate latch pin and essentially pulled it out of my hand.

The camera and lens still seem to be working, though the UV filter on the lens shattered, and I still haven't figured out how to get the old filter off because its mushed.

Florida Vacation

2009-06-21T14:17:00.008-05:00

I just got back from a very relaxing vacation in Pass-a-Grille, which is this little peninsula south of St. Petersburg, FL. During the week we swam in the Gulf and walked the beach every morning. After breakfast, we spent time reading on the porch of the condo.

We ate lunch out at one of the many local restaurants. Our favorite was the Sea Critters Cafe. All the food was good, and their onion rings were excellent!

During the middle of the day (when only mad dogs and englishmen are out), we played games, did some more relaxing reading, and some shopping.

On Monday, we went to a bird sanctuary.

On Tuesday, we visited, played games, and had dinner with my parents.

On Wednesday, we went canoeing with the alligators. Actually the alligators are pretty shy.

On Thursday, we went to the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, FL. On display, they had many works of Salvador Dalí spanning his entire career. Some of the works were familiar, but some I did not know about including statues and jewelry.

One of the main things to take away from his life is don't name your son after his dead sibling, and tell him about it. That kind of thing can mess with your mind :)

Thursday evening, we went out for dinner with my parents to Roaring 20's Pizza and Pipes
. The draw for this place is that it has a fully functional "Mighty Wurlitzer".
Their non-pizza food was just OK, but my parents really liked their pizza. Afterward, we all went and had ice cream at the beach while watching the sunset.

Our flights to and from Tampa were on Southwest and were very good.

More Animal Pics From the Trip:

2009-02-22T09:27:00.001-06:00

It's Mr. Jones to you

2009-01-25T15:47:00.002-06:00

Tom Jones is such a sweety. He must have been someones kitty before hand. He'll let you pick him up.
Also, he doesn't completely freak when we rap him up in a towel so that we can medicate his ears and eyes.
Oh, while at the vet, they did blood work on him, and discovered he has FIV (Kitty AIDS), so we won't really be able to let him back out into the wild or hang out with our kitties. Bummer.

Tom Jones is in the house

2009-01-24T22:35:00.003-06:00

Martha managed to catch Tom Jones yesterday and took him to the vet to get checked out.
Three hundred and eleven dollars later, his wounds were clean, he is now neutered and on three medications. Eye goop, ear drops, and an oral antibiotic.

He's really friendly though, and seems to be coming around to this indoor thing (which is better than single digit weather).

And he uses the cat box. YEA!

A stray cat

2009-01-21T11:34:00.003-06:00

Over the last week or two, there has been a cat that has been staring in the backdoor of the house.

From the first, he would not run away when we approached the door.

He's been in a fight recently, and has a wound behind his ear. It also looks like he's favoring his right front paw, so we would like to take him to the Vet to get checked out.

In the last couple of days, he's come inside the backdoor to eat his breakfast (yes, we started feeding him in the mornings, then he's off for his daily round). So, hopefully, we will be able to get him in a cat carrier and take him to the vet for his injuries and shots and stuff.

So far not too concerned about feline AIDS or leukemia, as one is transmitted by snot and the other by blood, so his food and water bowls are kept outside, away from our inside kitties.

Musical YouTube

2008-11-10T21:32:00.003-06:00

Here are a couple of Musical youTube videos that are really great!

I'm Joe the Plumber

2008-11-01T12:55:00.002-05:00

Installing a new dishwasher, that makes me Joe the Plumber for the day.

Here's the Door

2008-10-04T16:22:00.001-05:00

So here is the replacement doors.

New Windows and Door

2008-10-03T12:54:00.003-05:00

We are getting two new windows and a replacing the sliding glass door. I had to head off to work, but here are some pics of the windows getting replaced. They all had broken seals and dirt and condensation inside them. Will add pics of the replacement door when I get home.

Tear Down the Wall

2008-09-27T18:35:00.002-05:00

So today Martha and I, along with ~15 other fellow parishioners took our sledge hammers, shovels, and blood, sweat and tears to the old "white house" that was on the back of the church property. It had been condemned for a long time, so it was time to tear it down. I spent most my time on the roof removing shingles. While I and four others worked on that, the others went to tearing down the walls. We finished stripping the roof, and as you can see from the pics below, the others really got a lot of the walls bare.
I am now tired and sore, but it will be good to see this house completely done.

First E-Ink Cover

2008-09-09T09:55:00.004-05:00

This is pretty cool. The technology has been on the horizon for awhile, and now the Esquire October 2008 issue cover contains it. This really only scratches the surface as to what it will be able to do, but does show that it can be mass produced.

A river runs through it

2008-03-26T15:25:00.001-05:00

Last week in St. Louis, the Meramec River flooded from all the rain that had fell on southern Missouri the week before. Near where I work, the Meramec makes a bend in Fenton, here are some pics from the area. This area is where Anheuser Bush has a conference Center and Soccer Park. The road at the end is Vemell Rd. and is used by east bound traffic to get to the north side of I-44. Now they have to go further east on 44 to do it.

More are available here Flood pics at Flickr.

Goronwy Owen and Virginia

2008-03-15T20:37:00.008-05:00

We recently took a trip out to Lawrenceville, Virginia to see where Martha's nine times great grandfather lived in the mid-seventeen hundreds. Goronwy Owen was an interesting person. He was born in 1723 in Wales, and died in 1769 in Lawrenceville Virginia. He is a famous Welsh poet of his time, apparently known for reviving a form of Welsh poetry that is quit difficult to pen. He made his way to Virginia when he was appointed rector of the St. Andrews Episcopal Church in 1760. He also served as Master of the Grammar School at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA.

Martha and I flew off to Richmond, VA. on Saturday, March 1st. Once there, we rented a car and drove down to Lawerenceville. Once there, we checked into the Three Angels Inn B&B. That was a very nice B&B, and the owners knew a lot about its history.

Martha had contacted the current rector, and he arranged for Wayne Gilley to take us out to Goronwy Owen's house. He picked us up at the B&B and after switching vehicles at his house and picked up his wife Shirley. Shortly from there we arrived the house. From what Wayne and Shirley had heard, the house had not been lived in for almost 100 years. After looking around the house we headed into the woods and found his grave near his barn.

On Sunday we got up and took a walk around in the field behind the B&B. Along the way we made friends with horse. We also found this rusting out International truck. It has been sitting there long enough for a tree to grow between the front fender and the bumper, and another tree to grow right behind it, such that you would have to cut one or both down to get it out. Googling it, it appears to be from 1948ish.

After breakfast, went to the Sunday service at St. Andrews.

After church,we hit the road and were off to Williamsburg.

On Monday, We drove out to Yorktown and took in the battle sites.
After that, we drove back to Williamsburg and toured its historic area and had lunch there.

We then walked to the college campus to find a plaque that had been erected to Goronwy Owen. It was spring break so we had the campus to ourselves practically. We wandered around a lot of buildings. I even talked to someone at undergrad enrollment, and she directed us to the oldest building.

This is the building he would have been teaching at, but alas, no plaque there. We did bump into another person and she was very apologetic about not knowing where the plaque was, but directed us to the library.

Once there, I asked the librarian and she immediately knew where it was, and sent us up to see it.

Next to it is a set of shelves dedicated to him and houses all kinds of poetry from many authors.

On Tuesday, we headed up to the Airport. Our flight got delayed do to the massive snow happening in St. Louis, MO. It kept getting delayed until about 5pm, when they just cancelled it. Boo! (First time that has happened to me) So several of the passengers and us called the Days Inn. They didn't really have shuttle service, but one of the employees came over with his van and picked us up. This was a rather sad Motel. Its an old one with all the doors facing the road. I called my boss to let him know I was not coming in the next day, and then we went off to dinner. It rained like crazy that night.

In the morning, we got up, since they don't really have shuttle service, we had to get a taxi. Luckily, the weather had all passed and we managed to make it home.

Skiing 2008

2008-03-09T17:37:00.007-05:00

Another year, another great vacation in the mountains.
This year started off with an unexpected passenger, Phoenix the Dog. She is being transported to her new mommy in California. She went across the state with Rachel and I, the first leg of her trek.
Once we got to KC, we stayed overnight at George and Julies. Saturday morning, we all piled into the truck and headed to Colorado. I drove the the whole way out, while George and Julie kept Phoenix company in the back seat.
Upon reaching Denver, we dropped Phoenix off with the next person. For the entire time we had her, she was great. Fun and happy when out of the vehicle, and very calm in it.
The drive from Denver to Silverthone was fun because it was snowing. Slow going got us there.
We had planned eat at our favorite pizza place, but it was no more, so after driving around for a while, we gave up and went to "Old Chicago".

For our first day, Sunday, we went to Loveland. We started off on a the bunny slope to get our ski legs back. After a couple quick runs we were off to slopes. There was a lot of new snow. Ah the powder, well actually, the powder kinda sucked, as none of us had really skied on powder, so we (I mean George and I), had some difficulties. (Some may say maybe it was the skier that sucked rather than the powder, but I beg to differ ;) Once we where back on groomed, or pre-skied snow, we where doing great. George had some issues with his boots, so that evening we went and replaced them.

With new boots in hand, George was skiing up a storm on Monday. After making breakfast at the condo, we went to Copper Mountain.

Rachel had to sit today out do to migraines. She just can't catch a break. She stayed at the ski lodge and we swung by several times to check on her.

The snow is flying on our drive.

This was a good day of skiing. This year I brought my hand held GPS and had it attached to my right forearm so I was able to create track logs for all of our runs. Also, I was able to tell how fast we were going. It was amazing that when it felt like I was barely moving, I was cruising at 7-10mph, and when I really opened it up, I was normally doing about 25mph. Only once did George and I hit 30mph.

For Tuesday, we made breakfast again, and then headed back to Copper. It was another beautiful day for skiing. Helped Rachel get the hang of cutting. As the day went on, she managed to earn her nickname 'Speed Demon'. She managed to get herself pointed straight down the mountain. Once George and I noticed she wasn't slowing down, we bolted after her. According to the GPS, she was screaming along at 25mph. Luckily, she finally just sat down and came to a stop without injury.

Julie, Rachel and George resting between runs

During all of our escapades over the three days, Julie managed to stay upright the entire time. She gets the 'No Falls' award for the year.

The drive home Wednesday was uneventful, but long. About 11 hours back to Kansas City, then another 3 back to St. Louis. In Kansas, there is a big wind farm outside of Salina. That was a beautiful sight to see. Which reminds me, that on all the Copper Mountain Ski lifts there was a sign stating that all of the lifts are powered by wind farms.

Phoenix the Rescue dog

2008-03-08T17:22:00.003-06:00

PhoenixWithGeorgeAndJulie
Originally uploaded by FotoMeister

This is Phoenix, she is a rescue dog that needed to go from St. Louis, MO. to San Diego, CA.
For the first Leg, Rachel and I drove her across Missouri.
Once there, we piled into George's truck and headed across Kansas to Aurora, CO.
We were kind of packed in there all the way across the state.
She was the nicest dog.

breakfast face

2008-03-04T10:07:00.003-06:00

Laura's Birthday /First try out of Flash

2008-01-21T19:34:00.000-06:00

I went to Laura's birthday Sunday evening and figured this would be a great time to really try out my new strobe (Vivitar 285HV). Since its not a fully automatic flash, it does take a little finesse to work with it. It cycles fast enough on low power setting that I could put the camera in multi-shot mode and it would fire for each one (3-4 times a second).

Here are some pics. The party was fun her mom brought lasagna, it was yummy. It was funny watching her try to wack the "30" pinata. It finally broke loose of the ceiling.

Remodelling My parents Kitchen

2008-01-02T22:33:00.001-06:00

For Christmas we desided to update my parent's kitchen so that it will be more sellable next year when they retire.

Here's a pic of the kitchen before replacing the counters, sink and dishwasher:

Here's another pic with the cabinets removed to be cleaned and lightly sanded. They did not get painted at this time as the weather went south, and snowed.

In removing the counter, we had to remove the bottom row of tiles because the new counter is 3/4 of an inch taller, and what looked like a little metal "L" trim actually went under the tiles and was nailed to the wall. This was one thing that was not expected and took some extra time to get those tiles off without destroying the other ones. We have no plan of replacing all the tiles in the kitchen.

Once the old counter was off, the new one fit like a glove (not a bloody, this glove's too small kind of glove, but a nice well-fitted one).

The counter came with the sink hole only partially routed out so that it remained strong in transit, so I had to use a sabersaw to cut that out. No sweat.

The next unexpected pain was getting the counter screwed down to the cabinets as working in the tight cabinets really required a contortionist.

Here I am working under the sink to get the water connections setup.

Here's the counter and sink done:

And here is the finished product. The old dishwasher is on right and got taken out the next day. That really opened up the the room.

The cabinets still need painting, and a new row of tiles that will tie-in the counter, walls and cabinet colors.

Halloween

2007-11-03T09:11:00.000-05:00

We had a nice Halloween this year. Martha carved a couple pumpkins and we put a bunch of candles in the the windows.

We managed to give out all the candy by about 8:30. One group of kids did this song and dance after we had handed out the candy. It was funny.

Those Home Improvement Projects

2007-10-16T23:05:00.000-05:00

So, we got this new ceiling light fixture to provide reading light while in bed a while ago, and so I finally decided to tackle it on Sunday. The complexity of the project was that there was not fixture there before, and it is being installed in a ceiling of a bay window.
luckily, the main roof is the bay window roof too, so there was access to the attic. So I cut my hole, pushed a bunch of wire up it, and then went to the attic to pull it over to where the light switch is. Murphy's Law kicked in and the wire had gotten hung up on a roofing nail. So, now I had to go body surfing head first down the vaulted ceiling to were the roof and ceiling meet to fetch the wire. Even though it was cool on Sunday, it was still sopping wet with sweat hot in the attic.
Figure 1

The rest of the installation went smoothly. I ran the wire to the existing switch box in the room and added a switch fixture with three switches and a dimmer.

Chama New Mexico

2007-10-10T21:42:00.000-05:00

On Monday, Oct. 1, after staying in Santa Fe, we headed north to Chama to visit with my parents. The terrain was scruffy, and sometime rich in red colors. Georgia O'Keeffe spent some time at the Ghost Ranch, which was on the way, but not open when drove by.

Along the way, we stopped to take some pictures at a lake.

There we saw a rock wren and and a female mountain blue bird. There where also some nice views.

We finally made it into Chama, had lunch and then went to Twin Rivers RV park my parents were staying at. They drove in towing their Fifth-wheel. After unloading the car, we all jumped in and took a ride up the mountain to do some train spotting. My dad told us that the train we were seeing today was only ran once a year. It comprised of freight cars such as boxcars, tankers and flatbeds, rather than the normal passenger cars they use on the scenic railroad.

After the train chase, we went out to dinner at the High Country restaurant, they have good food and it showed as they were busy.

Tuesday Oct. 2

Today my dad Tom and I started off with walking through the railyard. While we were doing that, Martha and my mom Bobbi did a little shopping. Once the train left the station, we drove up the mountain and took pictures of it making the trek.

Here we got completely off the road and hiked down to the tracks and then up the tracks a bit.

Here we made it to the top at Cumbres Pass, Colorado (10,022 ft). They removed the front engine as the rest of the train trip is downhill, so the extra pulling power was not needed.

The rest of the day we spent driving out and visiting the Great Sand Dunes National Park. This is an impressive place. Its hard to imagine them until you see people sanding on the top of them and the people look like the size of ants. We stayed here until dinner, which we had in Alamosa, and then drove back to the RV Park.

Wednesday, Oct. 3

If you haven't guessed already, my dad really likes the railroad. I can appreciate that. It is really neat. I do enjoy trying to get that perfect or unusual picture of it. Today, we actually rode it.

The ride is about six hours with lunch in the middle. They didn't mess around with lunch, it was delicious. They offered a full traditional thanksgiving meal, a Meatloaf meal or a very complete soup and salad bar. The turkey was great!

The views from the train was great. We managed to time the vacation just right to be in the Chama area for the turning of the aspens.

Thursday, Oct 4

Today we went up to a lake near the pass and hiked around it. At 10,000 feet, there was some huffing and puffing on this hike. There where some nice views up there. We managed to have our time just right and made it back to the car when it started raining. We then went to see the land my parents had bought to build their retirement home. They ended up selling because the cost to build in the forest, not near a major town, got too expensive.

Friday, Oct 5

Today we drove up to visit Martha's cousin, Kathy who lives in Taos. Just before you get to Taos, you cross the Rio Grande Gorge. The bridge is the third tallest in the United States at 650 ft.

Here are some views from around Kathy's place.

Saturday, Oct 6

We did some walking and hiking today. First we did a walk around her neighborhood.

Then we hiked in a nearby park.

Kathy has three dogs and two cats. The dogs are very laid back.They almost make me want one.

Here are a few random photos from the trip.

Santa Fe

2007-09-30T19:52:00.000-05:00

We arrived safely in New Mexico. Here are some pics from the first couple days. These are from the Santa Fe area.

Add a brief downpour, but it made for some good rainbows.

View on the drive up to Santa Fe on the Turquoise Trail. The rain was following us. The view didn't live up to the hype, but that's probably because of the clouds. We stopped into a Sears to pick up a pair of binoculars. While there, a storm came through and knocked out the power at the mall. Since our plane took off at 7am, we were zonked by bedtime.

Today we did some shopping for some gifts. We also went to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum. Very lovely art exhibit.
We then did some hiking.
Rock Squirrel

Had some very good indian food this evening.

Big Kitties

2007-09-23T20:40:00.000-05:00

We went to Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary to see the tigers. It was one of the tigers birthday and it was the first public showing of their newest tiger, Izzy. Izzy was a photo cat (a cat that people posed with), but her previous handlers had too many other cats at the time, so they sent him here.
Izzy had not really been around trees, so he loves to attack branches of them and chew all the leaves off.
Izzy is only 7 months old, he still has needs to grow into those paws!

Thor is a big goofball, just loves playing around. The small kids really gets her attention. Hmmm, tasty snack?

Raja loves those lazy days. Rohan catches some Zzzzz. When awake, he roars a lot.

Guess the big kitties are not that different than our our pet kitties, they all sleep all the time.

The Great Forest Park Balloon Race Glow

2007-09-16T14:26:00.000-05:00

A coworker let me know that the balloon race was this weekend, as I normally miss it. This year I made it to the Glow night, Friday evening. There was a lot of people there, but it didn't feel too crowded. I used the Metrolink to avoid parking near Forest Park, everyone else did this too :)
It was really cool as they let walk right up to the balloons, they even sometimes ask for your help by being ballast to keep the balloon on the ground.
Here are some pic's:

My Rc Planes

2007-09-08T11:00:00.000-05:00

Here's some pics of my RC Planes. I also have a trainer. Have not flown the Red Baron this year, just the P-52.

Wow what a Night

2007-08-13T15:33:00.000-05:00

So last evening we went out to Cuivre River State Park so we could get away from the city lights and watch the Perseids meteor shower. The weatherman said it would be clear, so we packed up and left.

When we got there we setup camp, it was warm so we left the tent fly off as we would not need it. After setup we then popped out for dinner. Returning we played some games then headed into the tent to get some rest as the best time for viewing was at 3am.

Around 11:15pm, we woke to a lot of lighting way off in the distance, there was practically no pause between flashes. So much for a clear night, though it was still clear above us. We put the fly on the tent and watched the lighting for awhile.

Then it all rolled in. First we went from a calm breeze to literally gale force winds whipping the trees and deforming the tent like crazy. At that point we abandoned the tent and took shelter in the car, finally the rains came. Wow thats a lot of rain for a clear night ;-)

In the morning we broke camp, we managed to loose nothing. We popped down to the lake and took some pics of turkey vultures sunning.

Here's Narya, she kept us safe and dry last night.

The changing of the Cars

2007-08-09T18:50:00.000-05:00

Well, it finally happened. Martha's car had a problem that was going to cost around $900 to fix. We decided that because it was 10 years old with 98 thousand miles on it, that money may be better served as a down payment.

Martha really liked the features of the Honda Fit, we had test driven it the weekend before her car started having problems. So yesterday, the salesperson, Blake at Ed Napleton, called us saying they had one just come in. So after work we shot down there to get it. He was a good salesman, easy to get along with.

We got there and the car had a dealer addon sticker in the window, but they had not had time to add all the items. There were a couple of things already on it, the Cargo Cover and wheel locks, so we OK'ed those. They really wanted to add the other things like floormats and pin striping, but we said no deal and the backed off.

The other point of contention was the trade-in value. When we got around to this, we were kind of frazzled, so when they tried to offer us less than we wanted, and would not budge, we asked for the keys back. Martha immediately left the building and I waited for the key. All the sudden they said they would match our request. Martha came back inside and it was a done deal.
There was a long wait to get to see the finance guy as they managed to
sell like a dozen cars within an hour of each other.

Here's the old car before we took it in.

There's A New Rat In Town

2007-07-28T20:41:00.000-05:00

Today we introduced our newest rat Lexie to the other female rats. It went great. A few shoving matches to determine dominance, then it was off to sleep in a big rat pile.
We got Lexie two weeks ago from an animal shelter near Lexington, MO, hence the name Lexie, while we were over visiting my parents for my moms birthday.

Normally they call these things rat rescues, but this time it really was. Do to personal problems, the shelter people needed to drop the rat off with us quickly, so we just met them in Lexington. They drove up in a pickup truck, Lexie was in a cage in the back of the truck, sun beating down on her. She had no water, nor food, and her cage was filthy with mounds of feces.

They said they were terrified of rats, so they had not gone into her cage to clean it. This rat is one of the sweetest rats we have ever had. She's not afraid of people, she's happy to see you, just sweet.
So we quickly went and bought a carrier and put her in it, gave her some water and food, for which she went through in no time.

Here Lexie is with her new cage mate Winter.

World Bird Sanctuary

2007-06-24T16:20:00.001-05:00

IMG_7327
Originally uploaded by FotoMeister

Spent a lovely day with Rachel, her mom Claire, and Martha at the World bird sanctuary here in St. Louis.

They have a variety of birds and some other critters too, like a couple of hedgehogs, some reptiles and even a bunny.

After looking around the sanctuary, he had a picnic in Lone Elk park, which just across the road.

Jim the Wonder Dog

2007-06-09T20:37:00.000-05:00

While looking around Marshall, Missouri, I stumbled across an amazing monument to Jim the Wonder Dog.

This incredible dog lived from 1925 to 1937.

He was a purebred Llewellyn Setter (also known as an English Setter). He had a many talents including understanding commands in any language. Being able to pick out a person in a crowd with a certain characteristic (Like find the newly engaged woman). Being able to predict things, like horse race outcomes, and winners of elections.

The memorial was beautiful, with a waterfall, koi pond, gazebo, many plants, and a statue of Jim himself.

The interesting thing about the memorial, is that it was created (or dedicated) in 1999. I do not know if a previous incarnation was there before.

On a weird note, across the street from the memorial is an ice cream shop that sells.... "Wonder dogs".

Cookin' Indian

2007-06-02T22:33:00.000-05:00

Took a cooking class on Indian food Saturday evening at the Viking Store on Brentwood. On the menu was food from the appetisers to the main course.
It started out a little awkward as started making the Samosas (curry vegetable pastries). The feeling mostly came from an unfamiliarity. Luckily, that soon passed and the evening became fun. We had three people on our team, Martha and I, and Susan. Splitting up the tasks of cutting, grinding, dicing, grating and stirring was easy.
The samosas look kind of like pot-stickers, but are deep fried. After cooking the stuffing, we made our own dough, patted it out into small sections and wrapped the stuffing.
We then made Dhal (split pea curry). This one was easy to make.
We also made basmati rice, this mostly consisted of soaking the rice for 30 minutes then cooking it (wow ;)
Finally, we made chicken with roasted coriander in a coconut curry sauce (Dakshini Murgh). This had a new trick for me that we roasted the seasonings in a dry pan until they browned a bit.
There was a twenty five minute break after getting the chicken simmering when we got to look through the store. Funny, on the tv, live, was Emeril cooking an indian dish, browning his seasonings.
At last, we all sat down and had the full dinner. I thought every thing tasted good. The overall experience was fun. I did learn some things, and it did not end up like an info-mercial on all the great Viking products.
Overall, if you have already made (successfully) some indian dishes, I probably would not recommend it, unless you were going as a group to have some fun. It is nice though to test drive the utensils and things before you buy.

Trip to Prague

2007-05-26T11:34:00.000-05:00

Prague is a beautiful city. It was spared being bombed in World War II, so its old architecture is largely intact. I would recommend visiting if you can. Overall the people are nice. Most spoke english well enough that language was not an issue.

We started our trip with a direct flight from Atlanta to Prague. 10 hours. It was a night flight so after they served dinner, I tried to sleep through most of it. Unisom to the rescue. When we arrived, we had a driver waiting for us, he was holding a sign with our name on it. Cool. I was not about to drive here where the the language was different and they drive like crazy. We rented an apartment for the trip as it was less expensive. It was in a nice location on Wenceslas Square. It didn't face onto the square, but in hindsight, that was probably OK as the square is party central on the weekends.

View from our room:
After we got in and settled, Patty and I went out looking for some soda and bottled water to stock the frig with. we walked around the block and found a deli/butcher. The lady serving us spoke no english and was really snarky. When it came time to get the change, I held out my hand, and she got all disgusted and put the change in a little tray on the counter. I was really starting to feel anxious that the language and culture differences were going to be bad, I didn't want to be an 'Ugly American'. The next day I was relieved that it was just her, everyone else was great and understanding.

That evening we were beat, we walked around and finally settled on TGI Fridays, yes I know that's sad, but we were hungry and tired, and just wanted some easy to understand food. For the record, this was the last time we ate at an 'american' place while there.

The dichotomy of this: The Communist museum is above a McDonalds!

The transportation system in Prague is great with both subways and street cars.

On Wednesday (5/16), We took a lunch cruise on the Vltava River. We got concerned briefly when 15 minutes into the cruise, the boat turned around and headed back to the dock. Hmm, maybe our concept of cruise was different than theirs. As it turns out, they went back and picked up some people that where late.

We went through a set of locks to get further up river.

Lunch was buffet, and was good. When we walked on the boat they gave us a shot of something strong, probably vodka, went straight to my empty stomach head. I guess that's some custom.

Views of the river:

After the cruise, we had a private tour of the Jewish town and old town Prague.

This was really nice as it was just us and the tour guide. It was easy to hear her, you could easily ask questions. Much better than a big group tour. While in the Jewish section, called Josefov, went through 4 synagogues. One of them had all the names of Jews from Prague that were exterminated in WWII. Over 88 thousand names. We also learned about Golem of Prague. It was reported to have been created to protect the Jews of Prague from antisemitic attacks.
Franz Kafka statue. It shows him riding on the shoulders of a bodyless man representing the struggles with bureaucracy

We went and walked the Charles Bridge, built in 1357, and got to go up in the tower.

Went by Kepler's house. Then had dinner at a restaurant on the old town square.

On Thursday, we went and saw the old town hall with the astronomical clock, called Orloj. Fascinating device. It shows Prague time, zodiac time, sun and moon time, and below the calendar.

We took a tour of Prague Castle. Its really a series of buildings and churches.

After dinner at an indian restaurant, went back and took pictures of the castle at night. Night comes really late there, well after 10pm for it to really darken.

Friday we had a tour to Kutna Hora, a small town south east of Prague. Our main point of interest was the Sedlic Ossuary. It is a church decorated with human bones.

Kutna Hora used to have a major silver mine, so much so that they also built a mint there for which we toured. While there, we got talking with Sophie from France. She was on a quick, 5 day holiday. On the way back to Prague we found out that they were not going to drop her back off at her hotel. Figuring out where she was staying, it wasn't far from where they did drop us off, so we walked her back.

We had dinner in the basement resturant. The food was good.

On Saturday, we were pretty leasurely. After brunch, we went to the new town hall and tower.

They let you climb the tower, and inside it still has its bell. Luckily, they don't ring it anymore, otherwise it would have been really loud in there.

Later we toured the the old town hall. Over the years it had been expanded into several buildings beside it. During the the tour we were taken to the basement level. This level used to be the ground floor, but because the square outside flooded alot, they filled in the square making the ground floor the basement. (Wow thats a lot of dirt moving for the 14th and 15th centuries).

On Sunday we had a lazy day. We got up late. Took a walk back across the Charles Bridge and had lunch. We then walked up a rather tall hill into a park. Along the way we passed the U.S. Embassy.
The park was nice and shady as it had gotten warm these last few days. On the way back down, Martha to a minor spill on an unmaintained path, louckly she walked way with only a scrape. That evening we ate at Rocky O'Reilly's Irish bar. Real authentic irish food.

Monday was our last real vacation day. We went down to the river and rented a paddle boat. Got some nice views while on the water.

Had a big lunch as we were taking a hot air balloon ride that evening so we wanted only a light dinner. Spent the day buying suvaniers and window shopping.

Later in the afternoon we sat around and played some gin rummy to fill the bit of time before they picked us up for the hotair balloon ride.

We took the balloon ride over the country side as we'd seen the city from above up on the surounding hills and towers. The countryside was beautiful.

The only snag we had with the ride was at the end, we thought we could pay for it with our credit card, but we could not. They wanted cash. In the end Both Patty and I went and got as much as our ATM cards would get out, and then I still had to go to Western Union to get the difference, plus commision, off my credit card. We were sweating it. I really didn't know if we were going to be able to come up with the money. Tuesday was our final day, we got up, had a little to eat, packed and was picked up at 10am for the trip home. The flight from Prague to Atlanta was good. Since it was a daytime flight, I got a lot of reading in.

Our layover in Atlanta was five hours long, so we ended our vacation at the same resturant (chain) that we started with, TGI Fridays. 24 hours from when we woke up, we finally made it back home, sleep came quickly.

Here's some goofy things we saw while we were there.

Some artistic photos:

I want shoes

2007-05-08T12:33:00.000-05:00

I thought today's Aunt Perl on short sleeve shirts and deodorant was pretty funny. It does suck when others 'force' their fashion sense on you by not offering what you want to buy. Just this weekend I was desperately looking for some new casual shoes similar to the ones I normally wear. I ended up going to three places, and ultimately found two that I like. (same design, just in black and dark brown). It also sucked that the black was only available one half size too big. (better than too small). I'll buy an insert to fill them out. To my surprise they were ten bucks off at the cash register, only twenty bucks each. Wahoo!

I don't think I'm that far off the main stream fashion highway. Maybe I'm delusional.

Hiking and Friends

2007-04-28T23:13:00.000-05:00

(video links are slow because they don't stream, wait for it...)
Went down to Lane Spring Campground in Mark Twain National Forest, near Rolla, MO, to visit with some friends and take a hike. It was a good time. George and Julie were there with there dog Sophie, as were Rachel, and Kim (sans Jonathan) with her daughter Erin.

We all took a little walk down to the spring. Definately a cold spring. We then went back to the camping spot to have a bite to eat and socialize. Very relaxing.

See Julie walking Sophie

Sophie drinking

Martha and I went off and took a hike while others napped or took a trip to WallyWorld for air matresses.
Here are some pics from the hike.

After the hike we went through the booty George and Rachel returned with. Time for more socializing and eating.

Heres a link to George inflating an air mattress
Kim reading to Erin

Kim brought this soup called Taco soup. It was delicious. Nice and spicy and very filling. Mmmm.

On the way home, there was this roadside attraction. Not really sure it was an attraction, but its something you don't see everyday.

Some Pics While riding the Katy Trail

2007-04-15T23:02:00.000-05:00

Heres some pics I took while riding the Katy Trail.

The colors have not been altered. It was really that green ;)

Here's some pics from my business trip

2007-04-15T18:46:00.000-05:00

I had a business trip to install our manufacturing system at a new client of ours down in Mobile, Al.

The trip went like everyother install. It started out looking good, and by the end, though successfully installed, was approaching cluster F@*!$ status.
Tuesday night, we left and had dinner and just went back to the hotel. Everything is just fine.

Wednesday started out so boring as we were going through the training manual, I was emailing friends asking what they where doing. But then we went todo hands on training, and a few things munged up the works and had me trying to figure out what was going on. (in the end, a bad .psd file and a problem writing to a samba share were ironed out).

Thurday, we figured we needed to be leaving them at 12:30 to catch our flight at 2:30, but that time came and past while fire fighting. We got it all straightened out and was on the road by 1:15. luckly the airport is neither far away, nor big. It has a whole seven gates.

While on the business trip I took some pics. The fog had rolled in Wednesday morning, so I got some great (I think :) shots. Here are the best I think.

Where's My Luggage!!!

2007-04-14T18:25:00.000-05:00

So I had this business trip this week. I packed so that I did not need to check my bag. Only two days, the bag was just a small gym bag. I also had my computer/crud bag. On the way down I had to check it plane side do to the smallness of the plane.

So, on the way back, since my boss had to check his luggage (projector and such), I figured I would too. Unfortunately, in Houston, our bags did not get transferred. So they didn't make it back to St. Louis.

In St. Louis, there was a very nice lady at the airline desk that took our info. I felt sorry for her though, the next flight coming in had ALL its luggage swapped with a different plane's. That will be a lot of pissed off people.

Oh, the luggage showed up on my doorstep the next morning. Yea!

Freya is at rest

2007-04-03T07:16:00.000-05:00

We lost our fourteen year old kitty Freya to renal failure last night. She was diagnosed with it a while ago, so we had her on the K/D diet food. Unfortunately, last Tuesday she was not looking good, so we took her in for blood work. It came back real bad. So, we started giving her subcutaneous fluids every day at home. On Sunday, it didn't seem to be helping anymore. Yesterday, she could not walk or open her eyes all the way, and in general, was really out of it, so we had no choice but to euthanize her.

She's a Cornish Rex , which are very thin and Siamese looking. And she had a very distinctful and loud voice that could be hear upstairs even when the TV was on.

We had her for four years, her previous owners had to give her up because they had a baby, and at that point Freya started urinating outside the box. She was on the coast, so they actually bought her an airline ticket to fly her to us.

Heres a video of her drinking from the sink.

Our four kitties, (clockwise), Freya, Vashti, Mango, and Kiwi

Blades of Glory,...Really

2007-04-01T22:56:00.000-05:00

So we wanted to see a funny movie tonight, and surprisingly, Blades of Glory was getting some good reviews. So, we took the plunge and went and saw it. There were a few scenes at the beginning that were homophobic, but they got those out of their system quickly. After that, it was a parody of the ice skating competition scene, with cut throat antics, skating humor, and fun bickering. There was only one scene that may be gross as it involved eating, but the rest was clean. It's PG, what can you expect.

It was fun, probably more laughs for the buck on DVD rather than the big screen, but I'd still recommend it.

Beef Curry Pie

2007-04-01T19:33:00.000-05:00

Mmmm. today we made beef curry pie.

It took over an hour to make, but most of that was either simmering or baking.

How'd it turn out? Pretty good. The flavor was OK but a little bland, could have used a little more curry and garlic. Will have to improvise with it a little next time.

Oh, and it looks better in person than in these pics. The yellow of the curry came out green for some reason.

The New Driveway

2007-03-28T20:02:00.000-05:00

So we'd had enough with the old drive way. The ground beneath it had settled
since the house was constructed 13 years ago, and had left a big trench. One of
the slabs had broken and was still ok to drive on until the roofing people
drove their hugh dump truck on to it and really broke it. Now I could not even
drive on it without bottoming out the nose of the car.

So, we got St. Louis Concrete to come out and replace it.

First they came in with this machine that punched holes in the drive way. It works like a guillotine.

Then a quick clean up. On to grading and filling in the trench.

Laying the gravel base. Pouring and leveling the cement. Smoothing and texturing.

Finishing of the Faux Brick trim (Which really looks great!)

The final product.

Let's go ride a bike

2007-03-24T17:06:00.000-05:00

So, Martha and I decided to go bike riding today. It had been forever since she had been on a bike, and for me, the last time was with my friend George's sister, Margaret, over eight years ago. It had been long enough that we had gotten rid of my old bike several years ago (which was ok because I'd bought it from Walmart when I was in High School twenty years ago).

So today we just rented from katy bike rental in Defiance, MO. They were really friendly, got the bikes all adjusted and pointed out the door to the Katy Trail running behind their shop.

We rode about eight miles total, which was enough to make our bums sore. The weather was great, high 70's, limited cloud cover. It was fun.

Here's some pics of a barn on the trail.

Even Guys Like Flowers

2007-03-21T12:45:00.000-05:00

For no particular reason, Martha sent Birds of Paradise flowers to me at work.

They are beautiful flowers. It also came with the bunny and some chocolate.

Guess she just wanted to let me know how much she loves me!

Puzzled

2007-03-18T22:36:00.000-05:00

Heres a puzzle made from a picture I took. Enjoy!

Click on it to put the puzzle together.

Sealing the Garage Floor is Fun, Really

2007-03-15T21:37:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we had a sealing the garage floor party. Heather and Jamie came over to help. Overall, it went down quick with little mess.

Unfortunately, it rained last night and managed to get in and fill in some of the depressions. Will have to see it needs resealing by the door.

Overall it looks good though.

Somehow, either last night, or after I left for work, some drops of the epoxy paint got on Martha's car, but not on my car. I had left the unused portion outside, so I have my theories as to how it got there, but will never be able to prove them.

I should be able to get it all off, it will just take some elbow grease.

Viking Kitties

2007-03-11T13:36:00.000-05:00

I got this link on viking kitties. I almost rolled on the floor laughing.
If you like Led Zepplin and cats, check it out.
Viking Kitties

For the Love of Skiing

2007-03-10T11:15:00.000-06:00

Just got back from three full days of skiing and two days driving to get there and back. It was a blast.

For me, it started a 5am in St.Louis Mo. I drove across to Lenexa, Ks (outside Kansas City) to my friends, George and Julies house. George was off boarding Sophie their dog; so much for leaving at 9am. Along with them, Rachel, a long-time friend of Julie's, was joining us. It will be the first time for her.

We loaded up George's Tacoma and hit the highway with Julie at the helm. She decided that us geeks (George and I that is) should be able to "geek out" in the back seat and play computer games on the two laptops. The truck was totally geeked out with two laptops, a radar detector, and a thing to pipe sound into the radio from the laptop. Two PDAs, one with Tom Tom on it, at least two cameras. Totally geek.

Though we never got the laptops to work correctly together, it still helped pass the time. George had a cellphone data card, so we looked up Rachel's mom's blog, Catmum . We then skyped her and she was there. Ain't technology cool? She told us to drive faster, but Julie was driving, so we stayed at more sane speeds.

Unfortunately, all that technology blew a fuse in the adapter, and when we stopped for gas at this Winery-Gas Station, they gave George a funny look like 'we are drinking wine and eating cheese, don't pester us with your silly wants'. We later found a real gas station and got a fuse.

We almost got to see the lunar eclipse. (see catmum's its light years better)

We arrived in Siverthorne, Co ~8pm, popped into Virgin Island Ski Rental, amazingly we all got pretty much the right sizes, then off to dinner at Maxwell's . Good pizza, look them up if you are in town.
Our condo was great. George always does a great job of finding condos. Ours was in the Timberline condos, two bedrooms, one with a queen and the other with two twins. Two full bathrooms and a kitchen, it was great. As George and Julie were there as a couple, they got the queen and Rachel and I shared the room with the twins.

Day One of Skiing

Once again, George and Julie being great organizers, managed to buy some coupon books with 2 for 1 coupons to Loveland Ski area. It is less known, but it was not crowded and the runs were great. We got there in time for Rachel to go off to Ski lessons and the rest of us hit the slopes, a few times quite literally.

Once we got our ski legs back, it was time for lunch and time for Rachel's lessons to be done.

We then took Rachel up a tall chair lift, freaking her out, but by the time we made it back down the green run, she was looking good.

That evening we went over to a condo that George's friends had. Mel made some of the best tasting lasagna and mostaccioli with Italian sausage. It was also Mel's husband Linus' birthday. They had six people staying at their condo, it was huge.

Day Two of Skiing

So we went back to Loveland and went to its other side where it had several easy greens for us to take Rachel down. The beginning of the green was kind of nerve racking as it was narrow and had a drop off on one side. We kept her corralled, she did fine. We worked her down the run, and when i say we, I mean mostly George. He was doing a fantastic job of coaching, Julie and I piped in with hints and encouragement.

At lunch, we got to see what had happened to the breakfast bars we had brought to snack on. George did the demonstrations on how to eat them correctly in their current state (smashed beyond all recognition).

Due to altitude and rubbery legs, and maybe that chilly(not really), Rachel packed it in for the day rather than face injury. Since it was already after 1pm, she just went and slept in the truck.

Getting lost on the Mountain

(For reference see the last lift on the right, with the double-black diamonds at the top)

George, Julie and I went and did a few more runs and then decided we needed a little more difficulty and went off to some blue runs. There is a big clump of them, and a warning sign that the chairlift only went to more difficult runs. We've done difficult, get out of the way and let us go. On the way up we make a plan to stay far right, and that would dump us onto some greens below. Well, we had a plan, but we didn't stay far enough right, there where very few signs like in other places, and came up to a very steep hill with Moguls. Eeeek! So we went down the only other way we could, which was a steep, soft snowed hill that led directly into the trees with no way around. After about 45 minutes, we made it through the trees on our butts or stepping sideways down the hill between the trees.

Short movie George took at the time

After one more run to repair our damaged egos, we called it a day. Actually the ski patrol called it a day for us as the slopes were closed, and followed us down the mountain.
Knowing we would be too tired after dinner to use the hot tub, we popped over to the clubhouse for a hot dip. This was great!
Short movie George took at the time

We had dinner at the Dam Brewery. George and I had their seasonal raspberry beer. Very smooth, with no after taste, not really fruity at all. I would highly recommend.

We then went back to the condo and Rachel and I made chocolate chip cookies. Yummy!

Day Three of Skiing

Julie, George and Rachel skiing in front of me

We went to Copper Mountain this day, and took Rachel down an easy green. She was skiing like a pro at this point. Julie dropped her glove on the way back up, so I sped down the mountain, picked it up, went back up and then caught up with them just as they had finished.

Rachel letting George know how much she likes her pic taken right now

At this point we took turns, leaving one person with Rachel. I think it was George, then Julie then me. On the runs I took with George and Julie they were great. My last run was with Rachel and she did great, often going faster than I was (speeed deeemon ;).

As it was our last day of skiing, we have the obligatory last ski drink. I now know that I do not like Hot Toddies (whiskey drink). Julie had hot chocolate with (something cinnamoney) and Rachel had hot cider (not hard).

We had dinner at Tuscato, a nice Italian restaurant in Frisco. That was really yummy. I had the portobello mushrooms, peas and peppers in a Alfredo sauce. George had this great looking chicken dish with cheese and marinara sauce. Rachel had Spaghetti, and Julie had (forgot Need to ask).
After that George was now coming down with something nasty, so just Rachel and I went to the hot tub. The water felt hotter. We had some nice conversation and then went back to the condo.

The Way home

Sad to say, but we had to come home. George was really bad at this point. We all packed up and left. Rachel, being the smart one of the bunch, had a flight from Denver back to St. Louis. Me, being the dumb one, also had a flight back, but that would have left my car in Kansas City, so much for thinking that all the way through.
Julie once again being a trooper, drove, while George was sick and I slept. I needed to sleep because I had to drive from Kansas City to St. Louis to be at work the next day. (I got home at 1:30am )

The sickness that follows

So, all of George's friends in the other condo also got sick. Rachel seemed to really get hit Thursday. I got something, but don't really think its the same as what they got. They had more acute flu symptoms, I had much more mild pain, mild fever, but my lungs felt as if they were on fire. As of this writing, George says Julie is circling sick, hoping not to land there.
My doc said that at least sickness is easier to get over than a broken bone (I did that last year)

For the love of Skiing, I will do it again next year.

All the pics from the trip are here: Skiing Pics or here