Hot Hot Hot

Yesterday I experienced a rolling blackout because it was 101*. Yes, that's right 101*. Now you know why I moved out of Texas. I am in Dallas right now and it's only 99*. Aparently there was such a HUGE demand for electricity yesterday that they had no choice but to do unannounced rolling blackouts. At lest I was at the hotel and not trying to drive through Dallas with all of the traffic lights out.

I had a good visit with Mom, Dad, and Gram Saturday and Sunday and then got to see Sheri on Monday as I went through Temple (where she works) on the way to Dallas. I didn't get to see Dad & Ruth who were visiting Brady (Ruth's son) in Houston - no way I could go from Chicago to Houston to Lampasas to Dallas - Texas is just too big. I played golf with Mom Sunday morning - boy do I stink - but it was fun anyway (and we saw a REALLY big snake crawling across the fairway).

Looks like I will be doing development and training in Seattle for the next few weeks until I go to Atlanta the last part of May. Hey - anybody who knows my cousin Andy - send me his contact info in Atlanta!

I taught today and will teach tomorrow for 1/2 day then fly back to Seattle. I am ready! I have to be in Tacoma with my motorcycle Thursday morning at 9 (the only opening they had for service).

OK this is the most boring blog ever - I will come up with something interesting later.

31.6 and counting

Yes, I met and EXCEEDED my goal of losing 30 pounds in 15 weeks!! I am now in phase 2 of the 20/20 program and I have lost 31.6 pounds. I go for measurements tomorrow so I can update you on that later. I have 8.4 pounds more to lose. My dietician said it's now ok for me to try high glycemic fruits & vegies: potato, yam, winter squash, dried fruit, bananas, cheries...wow. Next comes ...alcohol. I wanted a glass a of wine with my fish the other night, it will be nice to add it back in! I am definitely having a baked potato tonight!

In other news, I went to a motorcycle maintainance class yesterday and learned how to maintain my chain, change my oil, adjust the free-play on my clutch lever, etc... it was very cool. Next I want to take the dirt bike course so I won't embarass or hurt myself (or my bike)when going off-road.

I leave for Chicago tomorrow right after my fitness test...expect to hear from me from the airport!

Group Ride

Last Sunday we went to a Washington BMW riders meeting and from there went on a long ride. Here are some pictures:

The BLUE part is the route we took. John has a GPS unit and we can track ourselves!


Some of the people on the ride with us. We had 11 total.


John taking pictures - that's me right behind him.


Oh - now you get to see action shots of John passing me!





And here we are putting new parts on the bikes. It's a strange thing, it seems the bikes do not come with all of the things you need, it is necessary to buy many many after-market parts.

The Blood-Mobile

I gave blood today for the first time in about 5 years. Last time I passed out afterwards so this time I was prepared - I stayed laying down. It was a good thing because I quite suddenly went from feeling fine to uh-oh, I am going to puke and breaking out in a sweat. They took my blood pressure and put ice packs on my chest and under my neck and made me stay in the blood-mobile for a long time. I didn't feel well all day after that.

My Life in Airports

So - I am sitting in the Burbank airport. My plane was delayed - not the 45 minutes that it said when I checked on the web, but more like 1hr 45min. I was walking around on Hollywood Blvd. and taking stupid pictures of the stars on the sidewalk and people's hand and foot impressions in front of the Chinese theatre - I could have stayed for another hour! Oh well.

I was here in Burbank to train people at Warner Bros. that's Bros. - not Brothers - I was informed that it is NEVER spelled out. Hmmm. There are giant bronze statues of Buggs and Daffy in front of the building I was in. I was just down the hall from the production offices for "Smallville" and some new show called "Mercy Reef". It sounds cool - but it wasn't a big deal, I saw no stars! I did see Steven Hawking - he was on my plane from Seattle (which was also delayed).

There was a woman in the class here that was just....stupid. She not only did not understand even the basic things about computers, but also had no basic logic skills or common sense. Worst of all is that she is an outside contractor they hired to TRAIN THEIR EMPLOYEES!!! I couldn't believe it. She didn't get that links are blue and underlined - "Which ones are the links - how are you supposed to know?" She said at one point that she had found the help button and typed in redflag but didn't get any help at all. I tried to explain that you would need to use the correct terminology in order to find information in the help section and she was really surprised - I can't remember what she said, but it was almost as if she had NEVER done any kind of keyword search, or internet search at all. She was one of the most computer illiterate people I have EVER seen. Really weird.

Next week I am flying to Chicago to attend a class about ReportNet - a product that I am developing training for. This is very good news as I have been asking for help for some time now and no one at my company knows any more about the product than I do (a very sad state of affairs if I know the most!) I fly to Austin directly from Chicago and spend Saturday and Sunday with my Texas family - then drive to Dallas Sunday night and teach a class there Mon, Tues, Wed.

I have been trying NOT to listen to the rude cell phone guy near me, but it's not working. He has been calling person after person and telling them all about how great he his. He has already driven away 4 people - the last of which just got up cussing and murmuring something about "idiot exhibitionist". There is also a 5 year old boy playing with a LOUD LASER gun. His father is watching a DVD with headphones on and is totally oblivious to the nasty looks other people are giving him. WOAH! Cell phone boy has now made his 7th phone call since I have been sitting here!

OK - still bored - I think I will go look at the news stand now.