Something nice actually in the news...

This morning CNN.com presented a nice story.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/23/cookie.factory.reopens/index.html

The gist of it is that (evil) Archway closed a cookie factory in Ohio earlier this year, and laid off the 300 workers. Another snack food company, Lance, bought the factory at an auction and is rehiring the workers previously laid off. As if that wasn't enough, Lance gave each of the 300 workers a prepaid Visa card worth $1500 just before Christmas, even though not all of them had been rehired yet. Lance said they wanted the town and the workers to know who they were. No doubt left that Lance are the good guys.

I get very discouraged by all of the bad news, reports of horrible things perpetrated by people onto each other, and most of all by an apparent trend to keep all of us in a state of fear over what might happen next. Yes, its a tough world out there. And bad things happen. But lots of good things happen, too. Most of the time its just one person being kind or considerate of another. But sometimes, its worthy of notice. Thanks to Lance Snack Foods for going above and beyond, for restoring hope, joy, but most importantly, self-worth in a population of previously laid-off workers.

A long cold business trip

I just returned from two and a half weeks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The purpose of the trip was to manage a technical problem with an electric motor. But the most memorable aspect of the trip was the weather. It was cold and snowy.

When I arrived, there was several inches of frozen snow in the ground, the temperature was well below freezing. I grew up in Milwaukee, and remember lots of snow from the days of boyhood, struggling with snow shovels, digging forts in the piles of snow, snowball fights, and ice skating. I also remember lots of snow from from the days of my early adulthood, but these memories center more on the work caused by snow instead of the joy.

It snowed several times while I was there. It actually got above freezing for a day, and the dirty slush on the streets melted and flowed away, and it was pretty nice out. But of course that didn't last long. I remember times when we wondered whether there would be snow for Christmas. A few years there was not. But snow came early this year to Wisconsin.

The trip afforded an opportunity to visit friends and family, as the business side of things dragged on slowly. That part was fine, it is always good to visit the ones you love and appreciate. I rescheduled my return to Texas several times, and finally got back. The technical part of the trip continues to be a concern, and will hopefully work itself to a successful conclusion in another few days.

On the road again

I am not sure where home is right now, but within a few weeks it will be Sugar Land, a southwestern suburb of Houston. We close on our house there on Monday the 15th of December. The movers will be at the house in TN on the Monday afer Christmas, and I will be there as well on Tuesday evening. Wednesday, the wife & I will celebrate New Year's Eve on the road, probably in Memphis. With the dogs. We will hopefully make it to Houston the next day, New Year's Day, but if not, certainly the next day. Then within afew short days we will be unpacking and getting our household set back up.

For the last few weeks, I have been traveling. Mostly business, but the week of Thanksgiving was with my lovely wife in TN. I spent a few hours in Houston before hitting the road again, this time to Milwaukee to see about an electric motor that is causing some problems. I also managed to get over to a little town north of Flint Michigan to see a potential customer. I will hopefully get to (finally) fly back to Houston on Thursday. Lots of things to do in preparation for the move. Being here in the frozen Midwest will help the company, but it is starting to encroach on my ability to have a personal life. The weather has been cold and snowy. Times liek this make me question that whole global warming thing. Winter seems to have come quite early here, and deposited a considerable snowy mess.

Real Estate dealings

Our home in TN is for sale, and has been for quite some time. Now that the election is over, we are starting to get some calls and showings. We have an open house this weekend, Sunday afternoon. I hope our agent does well and ends up bringing us an offer or two.

Meanwhile, in the Houston area, I have made an offer on a house in Sugar Land. The owners have countered, and I have made a counter to theirs. If the deal works, it will be good, but we have a couple back-up houses that are quite nice was well, just in case the deal falls through. If we can manage to get both houses closed within a month or so of each other, life would be good indeed.

I am looking forward to living with my wife again. This living apart is not very much fun. See you soon, dear.

Takin' a ride

It has been a couple weeks since I started work at the new job. This evening, after I'd settled back a bit, I got a call from a coworker to meet for pizza and a beer. Cool enough. We had a nice conversation, and then we went outside and he asked if I wanted to see a bit of Houston. I said sure, so he pointed to his car: a bright blue Viper coupe.

It has been a while since I've driven or ridden in a high performance sports car. And this is the real deal! A V-10 Engine with 8.3 Liters and well over 500 Horsepower. I snuggled in to the well bolstered passenger seat, and away we went. I didn't notice it before, but most of the lights at night seem to blur in long horizontal lines. Houston just streaked by in bursts of effortless and high-G acceleration in this ride. It was very much fun, and I'm glad for once that I wasn't driving. In fact, I think the Viper just may be more car than I can handle, at least when the accelerator is pushed down vigorously. We went around all four leaves of a clover-leaf interchange. There may have been another car attempting to keep up, but when we left the intersection, he was still on the second leaf. The tires never even squealed. I had a thought during one particularly exhilarating accel, that this is what a golf ball must feel like when it leaves the tee.

My coworker asked if I wanted to continue the evening and bar-hop a bit, but I declined, as I my fun-meter was pretty much pegged out at that point. My Toyota Avalon felt a bit stodgy as I drove back to my temporary housing.

Starting again in Texas

As noted in my previous posting, I have unretired, and have started my new job in Stafford, Texas, a suburb just southwest of Houston, certainly part of the greater metropolitan area. After a very nice trip to Milwaukee, the wife and I came back to Tennessee, and spent the week continuing to get organized for this transition period. I left for Houston Monday morning, and got here Tuesday mid- to late-morning. I reported to work, and spent the day in-processing. I know it would be better if I could spend more time with my wife right now, she has an awful lot on her shoulders. She is trying to get her late aunt's house ready for sale, keep our house in show-able condition, go through things to prepare for our move, and all the while, run herd on our pack of three dogs. I try to talk with her as much as I can. This may be the first time ever that I will actually use all the minutes on our cell phone plan.

I must say, the Houston traffic is incredible compared to our rural little town in eastern TN. Even after work, at 7:00 PM, it was still bumper-to-bumper stop-and-go. Amazing. But this evening, at about the same time, it was flowing much better.

We had our first inquiry on the house in TN, just a nibble, really. A realtor asked about showing the house sometime soon. It has been almost a month since we listed the house, so we are a bit hopeful, perhaps overly so, about this.

The new job is going well, there is a lot to learn, with new systems, new procedures, lots of new names and faces. But I am excited about it. I started on my first proposal today. It is for a customer I started to court late last year, and we have progressed to defining and pricing some very specific tasks. And my first business trip is starting Saturday afternoon.

Nearing the end of a chapter

My time in Tennessee is newly limited. I have decided to go back to work. The firm for which I have consulted these last two years has agreed to hire me full time, on the condition that we move to Houston, TX. I accepted the job offer, and start September 30. So we have put our house up for sale, and I will drive there at the end of the month.

My lovely wife will be somewhat occupied here while our house is being marketed. Her aunt passed away a couple weeks ago, and she is the executor of her aunt's estate. There is a lot of stuff to go through in the house, so she and her friend Sue are doing just that. Sue's husband will be here this weekend, and I will join them to help as well.

We had made plans months ago to visit friends and family in Milwaukee next week, and we still intend to do that too. Boy is this September busy!!

Jumpin' Jack Flash, it's a gas gas gas.....

We are all so relieved that the price of oil is dropping a bit. And ever so thankful that gasoline is getting a bit less expensive too. But no one is asking the big question: WHY?

The news is saying that U.S. demand has dropped. That's true, but demand has been dropping significantly since May. And oil & gas are just now dropping in response??? Bull!

T. Boone Pickens' ad was running, encouraging support of alternative energy, less dependence on oil, especially foreign oil. And a few politicians were trying to get approval through for significantly increased oil exploration and drilling off the coasts of the US mainland. But all of that has fallen by the wayside since we've experienced a few dollars off the price of a barrel of oil. Wake up America!!! We are being manipulated again.

Big oil, especially OPEC, is afraid that we actually might develop alternative energy sources and make a huge dent in their flow of US dollars. The best way to cut that off at the knees is to lower the price of oil. All of a sudden, we as a nation are being swayed to drive again, use lots of gas and oil now that it's cheap again.

We need to keep up the pressure to develop those other energy sources. If we don't, this will happen again, oil will rise again, this time to well over $200 per barrel.

Things on my mind

I am contemplating going back to work. My old employer called and asked me if I was interested in helping to write a proposal. It would be something I can do from home, mostly. And just today, an engineering contract labor firm asked if I was interested in a 1-2 yr assignment in Indianapolis as a Project Manager. Both offer pretty reasonable rates of pay. I want to talk to the firm I am currently helping through a consulting agreement before I actually accept one of these positions, especially the latter.

To be candid, I am feeling a bit useless, just golfing and putzing around. My consulting work is just a couple hours per week, and really doesn't help much in terms of monthly expenses. The financial advisor told me I need to do something for the next couple years to generate some additional income, and I really don't want to be a WalMart greeter, despite the fact that I would be really good at it. Lowe's might be fun, but when I compare the pay rates ($8/hr vs. $45 to $75/hr) the consulting and working out of town sound so much better.

The bathroom is done

It has taken just around two months and about what we thought it would cost. In fact, our contractor was within 1% of what he estimated. I can't imagine being better than that.

House Painting

Our house was looking a bit drab and tired, so we decided it could use a paint job. I hired a local contractor to do the job. He came recommended, and we are quite pleased with how it all turned out, as well as how his workers accomplished their tasks. They started out by washing down the whole house with bleach water and scrub brushes. No pressure sprays to penetrate our log home with unnecessary water. Then they filled in every crack and opening between pieces of wood with caulking, and the primed spots that needed it. Finally, they painted the house a golden brown color, accentuating the logs and the wood. Trim was done in a dark green, and the ceilings of the porches were done in light blue. Supposedly, flies and other insects do not like that color, and will not hang out. Here are some pictures showing the completed work.

Almost done with the new master bath

We are waiting for the mirror and the shower enclosure, but here is what it looks like so far:

PSA Tests are important

A few weeks back, as part of my regular visits to the doctor, my blood tests came back showing a PSA reading of 4.4. It was up from right around 3 the previous year. As a result, my Doctor referred me to a Urologist for further investigation.

The Urologist did the digital exam and said the prostate seemed enlarged and smooth. But he also wanted to be sure, and wanted to perform a biopsy on it. So we scheduled that appointment. The first time, I hadn't read the prep instructions well enough and hadn't discontinued taking my daily 81 mg aspirin dose. By the next week, I was fine, and he did the procedure, which is "uncomfortable" to say the least. Today, four business days later, he called to tell me that the results were negative. I do not have prostate cancer. But I do have to get my PSA levels checked every six months from now on.

Good news.

The Master Bathroom - A Progress Report

Work started last Friday. The room was gutted and cleared. Rough plumbing was completed. We put an ad in the local newspaper and sold the cast iron clawfoot bathtub for $300.

Monday through today (Thursday), a lot has been completed. The rough electric was put in , the new linen closet was built, the shower floor pan was installed, and a stub wall between the shower and where the new vanity and sink will be was built. Today, the first coats of drywall compound were applied.

Tomorrow, the floor was supposed to be tiled, but that has been moved to next Monday. Instead, drywall compound will continue to be applied, and the plumber will install the new shower tower control valve, as well as performing a repair to the plumbing vent system so that the washing machine doesn't flow sudsy water into the downstairs toilet when it drains.

All in all, things are moving right along. The longest lead time item is going to end up being the glass surround for the shower, which cannot be started until the cultured marble is up, so that final dimensions can be calculated for the glass.

Master Bath Remodel

Yesterday, our contractor presented the total of all the estimates for the job. I paid him $3,000 to get started and they were here bright and early this morning at 8:30AM. It is now 2 1/2 hours later, and the bathroom is pretty much gutted. I hope to salvage only one item from this project, which is to sell the cast iron, clawfoot bath tub. I put an ad in the local paper to sell it for $300 with the faucets. The ad will run for two weeks. If its unsold at the end of that, we'll haul it off to a scrap metal dealer and get what we can for it.

The new bath room will have a custom, cultured marble 4' x 5' shower, with an integral bench seat and a shower tower with 4 body jets, a fixed shower head and a shower on a hand-held hose, a built-in soap and shampoo niche, and frameless glass surround and door. Adjacent to the shower, where the old bath tub used to be, will be a new custom vanity with a single under-mounted sink. As you face the vanity, you will look into a mirror illuminated by a new fixture as well as 4 recessed waterproof can lights in the ceiling, which also illuminate the new shower area. The toilet placement will remain the same, but where the old double vanity used to be will be a new linen closet. All of this will be sitting on a new tiled floor, replacing the old wood flooring.

I'll post some progress pictures soon.

A Long Weekend in Houston

Last week Wednesday and Thursday, we drove to Houston, TX to attend the wedding of the daughter of good friends. The drive was pretty easy, in fact I was surprised at how little traffic there was on I-59 from Chattanooga to Slidell, LA. That's where we stayed overnight.

Driving across Louisiana on I-12 was a little different, though. There is a long causeway across the swamp, and some construction. That wouldn't be too bad, if not for the drivers there. They are made up of two groups as I observed. One group tends to drive at a speed less than the speed limit in the left lane, and are oblivious to other drivers. The other much smaller group is made up of people who weave in and out as they wend their way through the slalom course known as I-12. I-12 also seemed to be the most heavily patrolled road we traversed on our journey. My guess is that there are frequent accidents on this two lane (in each direction) road. And when one happens, the world stops for a long time until its cleared up. We decided to take a different route home.

The wedding weekend was quite nice. There was a party Thursday evening for the out-of-town guests at a very nice home in Houston. There were quite a few out-of-towners, as the groom's family is from New York. There were even relatives of the groom's mother from Paris, France. Friday's agenda included a rehearsal and dinner for the wedding party, but we had a free day to explore Houston. That evening, late for us at least, we met up with everyone at Goode's Armadillo Palace for drinks and finger food. A great place for party, although it seemed a bit loud to us. The younger crowd enjoyed it though. There was even a huge live longhorn steer there with a saddle. You could climb on up and get your picture taken.

Saturday, we spent the day touring art galleries with friends from Connecticut and South Carolina. We saw some very interesting and beautiful things. We capped the free part of the day off with some Texas Barbecue for lunch. For the evening, we donned our formal attire, the wife in her dress and me in my tux, and went to the church. St. Anne's on Westheimer was packed, with people even standing in the back. The traditional Catholic ceremony lasted just over an hour, and then we drove to the reception, held at River Oaks Country Club. It was a beautiful party, with a band playing music and a wonderful buffet of food. My guess is that there were at least 800 people there. The party was winding down a tad, and we bid our good-byes to our hosts.

Sunday morning we headed north on US 59 to Texarkana, where we picked up I-30 to Little Rock. Then it was I-40 all the way to Knoxville, punctuated by an overnight stay just west of Memphis.

Altogether a very enjoyable weekend. Now its back to what passes as normalcy.

More pictures

No, the snow was not in Tennessee. That was Good Friday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Over 16" fell, and it was moderately wet and heavy. It didn't stop snowing until early Saturday morning.

Next, our little dog, Jasmine, enjoying the warm sunshine this afternoon.

Persian lilacs just starting to bloom, followed by daffodils in the front planter.

Then the tulips, first when they just started to poke out of the ground, and then in bloom, with many more promising to come soon. The reds bloomed first, and now it looks like the yellows and the purples just starting.

The first Spring flowers

As promised, here are some pictures of our first Spring flowers. As more start to bloom, I'll post additional pictures.

Can Spring be too far away?

My Alpha Phi Omega (Upsilon Chapter) fraternity brothers have set a date for all of us to gather and remember those who have passed, and to celebrate those of us who remain. The Saturday after Easter we'll gather at Saz's in Milwaukee, starting at about 5:00 PM or so. I seem to remember our evenings started a bit later than that, but that's okay. It will be good to see them.

Last week, I drove to Milwaukee and picked up my mother-in-law, and brought her back here to Tennessee. Its been quite cold and snowy in Milwaukee this winter, and the wife and I were getting a bit concerned that she couldn't get out and may be needed to see the sun. Okay, its not Florida, but it does stay pretty much above freezing, and she can get out for a walk if she's so inclined. Yesterday, she and my wife spent the day making home-made ravioli, stuffed with chicken, pork, beef tenderloin, mortadella, three different kinds of cheeses, Parmesan, Romano and Fontina, and also some chopped spinach and parsley, and seasoned with nutmeg, and salt & pepper. Yum!! We'll take her back to Milwaukee in another couple weeks, in time for all of us to celebrate Easter with her other daughter and son-in-law.

The daffodils and tulip bulbs I planted have poked their little green shoots through the ground, and each day I check to see if a blossom might be forming. I have seen a lot of daffodils in bloom on south-facing hills lately. Hopefully our will bloom in the next few days. When that happens, I'll post a couple pictures.

Thoughts of a rainy, grey morning

My thoughts lately have been more preoccupied with sad news. Within the past couple weeks, a fraternity brother has passed away, another friend-coworker-fellow retiree died, and yet another friend who had successfully battled cancer for the last several years now has a more grave prognosis facing him. I suppose its only natural that these kinds of events become more common as one gets older, but they are distressing nonetheless, as they concern people who I care for, and are my peers in age. At 60 or so, it seems too young to die.

The father of a good friend died a couple months ago, and a favorite aunt recently passed away. While these events were sad also, they were not unexpected as the people in question were in their late 80's and 90's. It was comforting to know they enjoyed their lives, and got joy from their families and loved ones.

I intend to appreciate what each day brings, and share my joy with the ones I love....

Mid February thoughts

It has been cool to cold here in eastern Tennessee. We had snow flurries yesterday which stuck to the grass and trees, but melted on the road surfaces. Thank goodness for small favors. While we were in Florida a few weeks ago, there was one morning here with black ice everyewhere, and as a result, quite a few accidents on the roadway, including a multi-car that made the news.



The birds have been working the feeders hard the past few days, and we enjoy watching them. Red cardinals and their brown mates, finches, flickers, chickadees, and some grackles all working around the back yard. I took a shot of a half dozen of the birds that are more scavengers, perched at the top of our neighbor's dead tree.

I didn't have any editorial comments about them, but I'm sure you might think of a good caption for the shot.

I worked most of last week in Houston, building a proposal for the firm I help on a regular basis. The proposal should get submitted tomorrow or so, and if it gets to contract, will result in me spending a fair amount of time in the Atlanta area. I'm hoping it works out, as the work should be pretty exciting, as well as personally satisfying.

I hope it warms up again soon, I am looking forward to playing golf again in reasonable temperatures.

Pictures from Florida

As previously promised, here are a few shots from our recent trip to Florida. There is a view out the window of our room at the resort, the resort as seen from the beach, and a short video of the waves washing across some coral rock that has been exposed due to severe beach erosion this year. I also added a couple shots taken at a fly-in community where we stayed with friends for a couple days. One shows a Piper Cub fitted with pontoons and a cool old hot rod, and a front shot of an old Piper Cub J model.

Snowbirds in Florida

We just returned from a couple very pleasant weeks in Florida. It started with a visit to my brother Mic and his wife. We enjoyed a great dinner which was also attended by their son Andrew and wife and two children. It was a fun, family evening. Next on the agenda was a golf weekend for me with some of my old buddies from work, playing four different courses in Orlando.

Sunday afternoon, we drove to Jupiter and checked in to the Jupiter Beach Resort on the ocean. This was an exchange for our time share week at Tahoe that we had banked a couple years ago. We had fun all week, dining out and meeting old friends in the West Palm Beach area. Saturday morning, we checked out and drove south to Boynton Beach and stayed a couple days with friends Jon, Sandi, and Leslie. Again, great times good food, and a chance to see old friends.

Monday, we drove north to the panhandle of Florida, just west of Ft. Walton Beach to visit Mike & Joanne, friends we met in Germany. And finally we drove back home on Wednesday, after just over two weeks away. We are thankful for the warm weather we experienced, and the chance to see friends and family.

I'll publish a couple pictures within a day or so.

A cold morning in TN

It dropped to less than 10 degrees Fahrenheit last night. The heat pump worked hard to keep the house warm, and kicked in the secondary heat several times. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, a heat pump is simply a reverse cycle air conditioner. In the summer, it cools the air in the house by "pumping" heat outside, and in the winter it pumps heat from outside into the house. As it gets colder, it gets harder to pump heat, so the secondary kicks in. That is a series of heat strips in the plenum that produce heat while air is blowing across them. Just like having a toaster oven with a fan blowing across it as your house heat source. And of course this morning, everyone's power consumption was up, so the power failed a couple times. Fortunately, it seems to be fine now.

Here's a picture of our water fountain, taken at just before noon. Lots of ice formed last evening and this morning, but it is still running.