Last Work Day

Today is my last work day of the year. I have holidays and vacation until January and so this day is my last day. I like that… I’ll be spending all my free time with my wife. I like that better. I will be using my vacation time to finally straighten things up around my office, and maybe hang some pictures up that have been waiting…

And, of course, to sleep late.

I Must Be Insane

I must not have been paying attention to the weather. But when I left the house on the motorcycle, the temperature on the bike said “24”. Hmmm… Did I stop and circle the block and go pick up the car? No – like a mad-man, I continued. I rode on and on for about an hour until I finally reached my destination in the mountains of Western Virginia. It was 14 degrees. I think.

It was so cold, that my motorcycle thermometer gave up displaying the temperature. The last one I saw was 15 degrees before it went to “- -“. I guess Honda figured that only idiots would ride in weather that cold so they didn’t allow the thermometer to read that low.

So, now that I’m here, I don’t want to leave – it’s too cold out there. Maybe it will warm up by 3pm enough for me to ride home…

Winter Ick

I’ve been under the weather today. Seems I have to have at least one Winter sick day every year. So, I spent the day trying to “rest up” and get better. Of course, it’s really cold outside and probably will be all winter long.

I was hoping that riding the motorcycle to work so much in the cold would toughen me up, but I guess it hasn’t worked like I’d hoped. Of course, I seem to get rid of the symptoms when I go outside in the cold – it could be the whole “inside” atmosphere that gets to me. When it gets back into the high 30s in the mornings or higher, I think I can ride again. Otherwise, my fingers will fall off.

And then, there’s that whole ice thing…

4 City Mileage Run

Since I have not been travelling much with my new job, I have not been earning miles. So, in order to “preserve” my Continental Platinum Elite status for one more year, I needed to earn 5,210 miles. I just did that Saturday. I found a cheap flight and flew from DC to Houston to San Francisco to Newark and back to DC. Long day that was – especially when the first flight out left at 6:00am.

When I left the house that morning at 4:30am, it was cold. Not just chilly, nor freezing, but bone-chilling, finger-blackening cold. Well, for a displaced Houston boy at least. It was 18 degrees at the coldest point I saw and almost had to pull over the bike to put my hands on the engine to warm them up.

But, all ended up well with me getting to the airport on time and with all extremeties intact. I got upgraded on all possible segments as well – that is ALWAYS welcome.

So – I’m going to be Platinum at least one more year… I’ll lose it next, though.

Back To Work

2012-01-08 23:29:23

It seems like I’ve been away for so long, that I got used to being home. I was dreading the fact that I’d have to work a WHOLE WEEK this week. Funny how it only takes a little slip to convince you that what you normally do is way too arduous.

So, i’m back at work after a great Thanksgiving weekend. I actually got some rest, fixed some things on the web site and did some yard work [of course, there’s still more of THAT to be done before the next snow].

The rain has stopped and it’s bright and sunny outside. Of course, that means that it’s just plain COLD outside now. Luckilly, I have a new fleece under-jacket to wear under my leather for extra warmth as well as some glove liners. Now, all I need is warmer boots… and heated hand grips… and a heated seat… that’s all.

But, when the snow comes, and I mean REALLY comes down, I may have to steal Laura’s car. I haven’t yet tried to ride below freezing, although I came close a couple of weeks ago. It was … uncomfortable. Brrr.

And I love every minute of it.

Happy White Thanksgiving!

When we wake up in the morning, we will look out our windows and see that white flakes of frozen water have fallen from the sky and smothered the nearby plants. Yes, you heard me right: snow. Snow now? In November? Where do we live, Montana? Nope. Virginia. Not usually known for its harsh winters, this first snow of the year is unusually early. This doesn’t usually happen in fall, but more towards the middle of winter. Last year, I don’t remember snow until January.

Maybe it’s getting cooler around here – like a Little Ice Age.

So much for Global Warming, eh?

Happy [White] Thanksgiving!

Bye, Bye Verizon!

Well, mostly…

I’m ditching my land line with Verizon in favor of Vonage VoIP. The monthly cost will be less than half of what I’m paying now. And, since I have this wonderful fiber connection with all this bandwidth, I might as well get some use out of it. So – I’m keeping Verizon for my fiber connection – which is really worth the cost especially now that I will be able to save some money on my phone service!

Weathering The Storm [Wilma In Cozumel]

I ran across this post on Divester:

Divester contributor Eric Brodeur has a dive buddy who rode out Hurricane Wilma in Cozumel. Locked in his hotel’s main dining room for three days, his friend nailed pieces of furniture to the walls to reinforce the shutters, “stacked credenzas and other furniture against one doorway to the outside as a barricade to keep it from collapsing,” and generally went without sleep for the duration. What a terrible, exhausting experience. What’s more: when it was all over, his escape from Mexico was equally stressful and chaotic. Check out this, uh, “trip report” on Eric’s blog and be happy you weren’t there.Or, as Eric writes, “if you suffer from ADD, skip the words and go straight to the photos.”

 

What makes this important to me is that the resort in the pictures is my favorite resort in Cozumel: Fiesta Americana. Having stayed there before many times, I’m saddened by the devastation. I am, however, glad to hear of the co-operative nature of not only the staff but also of the residents/tourists when the chips are down.

I encourage you to read the entire post – it’s quite moving.