The Wanderer

Day Three In Paris

2011-09-18T02:16:00.000-06:00

I bet that all of you thought that I had forgotten that I still owe you one last day in Paris, am I right. Wrong, I haven’t forgotten. I just got tied up in a few things which I’ll blog about later.

My last day in Paris started out a little late in the morning, I was tired from the past couple of days and even though I tried to hide it Mammodouy knew it. Thanks Mammodouy, I could only imagine how you felt by this time. Popeye had to leave early to go to work so it was just Mammodouy and I, even though there were a lot of places she would have liked to have shown me we just went to one, the Louvre.

The Louvre is a large “A” type shaped building that is lying down, I guess it is around 3 city blocks long and 2 city blocks wide at the bottom and 1 city block wide at the top. The center of the building is a large open area and has a glass pyramid for the entrance. The line for the entrance had, I would guess 100 to 150 people waiting to get in, but thanks to Mammodouy (she is a photographer and lives in France has only been to the Louvre almost every week of her life) knew of a few side entrances. After paying for the taxi we walked across the street, into a side door, up to a ticket booth and into the Louvre, must have taken us all of 10 to 15 minutes.

Once in I was amazed how many people were there, it was only around 10:30 in the morning, you basically had to push, twist, stop, go, or anything else to get through the crowd. I was just glad that Mammodouy and I were as tall as we are, so I could keep an eye on where she was going, I pitied the short people in the crowd who couldn’t see above the heads. The Louvre is where one of my fellow interns lost her hip purse. She had it strapped to her waist, but in the bumping and pushing someone was able to cut the strap and take off with it. She lost a lot of valuable stuff, passport, wallet, keys, Gov. ID and around 300 euros.

There are four levels to the Louvre, they have them labeled, -1 floor) (basement) here they have sculptures, Egyptian antiquities, history of the Louvre, medieval Louvre and temporary exhibition halls. When they were renovating the basement they discovered part of the original Louvre and exposed what they could for visitors to look at. 0 floor) (ground floor) sculptures, Near Eastern antiquities, Egyptian antiquities, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities, as well as arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americans. 1^st floor) more of what they have on the ground floor. 2^nd floor) on this floor they have French paintings, prints and drawings, German, Flemish, Dutch, Belgian, Russian, Swiss and Scandinavian paintings. They have so much art and stuff in France that they have opened up another building similar to the Louvre and are building another to open in the near future.

One of the first things I wanted to see was the Mona Lisa; it took us almost 15 minutes to get to her resting place. Mammodouy stood outside while I tried to get close enough to take a look at the painting. She was smart, about another 15-20 minutes I was close enough to see the painting and admire it for a few moments until I couldn’t take the crowd anymore. There were still well over 75 to 100 people trying to force their way close enough to take pictures, although flashes aren’t allow, there were flashing every which way. Mammodouy ask me what I thought of the painting, I told her that it was smaller than I realized. She said that is the typical reaction of most people. The only pictures I have seen of the Mona Lisa were that in magazines, television, and the movies. With magazines the picture was always 1” by 2” square so you never could get the true size. With the television and movies, apparently they enlarge the painting so that you can see what it is, so I always thought it was some large portrait. I also thought it was done on canvas. In reality it is 79.4 cm by 53.4 cm (31.25” by 21.02”) and done on a poplar wood panel.

Some of the ceilings are painted and I tried to get pictures of them, but they didn’t turn out due to all the bumping and shoving. One of the last statues that I got to see was Venus de Milo. It also wasn’t as large as I thought, of course it was on a pedestal and missing the arms and roped off so you could only get so close. But we were able to get a picture with me standing in front.

After spending a few hours at the Louvre which was not long enough, too much to see not enough time, besides I was peopled out. I have never been one to enjoy crowds and before I went totally insane Mammodouy and I went and had lunch, I was worn out by this time and still had a couple of hours before my train left so we went back to the apartment and I took a nap. After which we went to the train station. In one of her e-mails to me, Mammodouy told me that she would not have anything happen to me while I was in her care and she was right. She waited at the station with me until it was time for me leave. She wanted to make sure that I boarded the right train headed in the right direction. I was grateful because I only read and speak English and sometimes I get confused with that.

The train ride back to Germany was something else. I had decided to save 50 euros and ride second class, I know better next time that it is worth to spend the extra money. I was seated behind 4 high school girls with 4 more next to me. After the train got moving 3 more showed up and they all started talking. For 4.5 hours non-stop and as fast as the train was traveling these girls gabbed. When one stopped to take a breath another one started. It lasted the whole train trip. The train was also equipped with power plugs so that you can charge your laptops or phones, but only one plug for two seats. My battery was dead on my laptop and the passenger next to me was doing homework and needed the plug because his battery wouldn’t keep a charge. Yes, it was an interesting trip back to Germany, just glad I had a nap before I left.

I am so grateful to have met new friends like Popeye and Mammodouy. They are such wonderful people, I’m sure they have their ups and downs or they wouldn’t be human, but if more people were to treat people like they treated me the world would be a better place to live. I take my hat off to them, may they be blessed the remainder (and may they be long) of their lives.

Until the next time — some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.

The Edition You All Been Waiting For - Day Two In Paris

2011-08-14T01:50:00.000-06:00

I know I know I am way pass due, but I finally pieced together my second day of my trip to Paris. I haven’t forgotten everything I did during the three days of being there. It is hard to forget spending time in a place you have never been, it isn’t like living there and seeing the same thing over and over until you get sick of it. Like in Utah it took me fifty some odd years to get to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, even though I have been to the lake many times. I may not remember it exactly the way I experienced it, but it is close enough.

As usual I was up before the sun and trying to be quiet in an apartment that the floor creaks with every foot step is difficult, but I didn’t want to wake up my hosts so I stayed mostly in my room or the living room on the computer. Mammodouy and I had a long day the first day there and I wanted to let her rest the best she could. Popeye got up and did his morning run and returned around eightish (I don’t own a watch so I’m guessing on the time). We decided the night before that we would let Mammodouy rest in in the morning to regain her strength (we did a lot of walking the first day) so Popeye suggested to take me to see his friend in a village on the out skirts of Paris.

His friend repairs guitars and one of Popeye’s hobbies is collecting guitars. Popeye was telling me about a late fifties Fender bass that he picked up that needed some repairs so he gave it to his friend to repair. We left around nine for a village by the name of St-Nom-la-Bretèche which is close to Versailles. The village was small, but the surrounding area around the village has two (maybe three, can’t quite remember) golf courses. One of which is one of the best in France, and like all golf courses there are houses that border the course. These houses are some of the richest homes in the Paris area and are like normal rich homes that you see all over, so I didn’t get pictures of them.

The above pictures are of St-Nom-la-Bretèche.

After seeing Popeye’s friend, he took me to see Versailles. It is a small château that was built built before Louis XIV decided to live in it until he was forced to move back to Paris. When I say it is small I was just joking, the palace is huge. It would easily cover three to four city blocks and that is just the main building.

We took about 15-20 minutes just to drive past the front and one side of the building. Popeye did however take me into the gardens. The gardens themselves had a couple of small villages in them; one in particular was called the Queen’s Garden. Popeye told me that they used the village in the Queen’s Garden in a couple of movies, the village is a few centuries old.

These are some of the pictures I pulled from the internet. I just wanted to show you the size of Versailles.

After driving around the gardens for about a half hour (driving is about the only way you can see the whole garden), we stopped so that I could snap a few pictures. After the Gardens we drove back to Paris where Popeye took me to a shop that specializes in cheeses and bought around six different types of cheese. We went back to the apartment and had lunch of cheese and bread. After lunch we got ready to go out again this time with Mammodouy to tour some more of Paris, Popeye agreed to drive us around, he is one of the best parallel car parker I have ever seen. Popeye was able to park his LandRover in a place I wouldn’t attempt to park Smart car. He had inches between both bumpers and with just a few forward and back maneuvers he was in and out with no damage to any vehicle, I would say more about his driving, but I don’t want to give him a big head (his beret wouldn’t fit).

Popeye first tried to get us to the island of Notre Dame, but all the bridges were blocked to traffic going onto the island. They were having a carnival from Brazil and weren’t allowing traffic onto the island. Then he decided to take us to one of the highest points in Paris called Montmartre, which Mammodouy said it is actually a small hill, but all the roads leading to the top were blocked off because someone wanted to use the hill to try to break the world’s record skateboard jump, whether he did I have no idea. So Popeye took us around to see the parts of Paris that aren’t so famous on the normal tours of Paris.

We went and saw the poor village of Paris and Popeye told me that the buildings there are sinking into the ground due to the water seepage from the Sine. He said that if you placed a marble against one wall it would roll to the other side of the room. The only thing that I noticed was a lot of vehicles were covered with graffiti, so you wouldn’t want to leave your car parked there over night.

We then drove through the middle class village (they call the various sections of Paris villages, which is what they were centuries ago, just like in the U.S. they are called towns. Even when they are overran by the cities). The average apartment here would cost roughly 3 to 8 hundred thousand euros and that is for a studio, of course that is if you can find one for sale. Usually they are passed down through generations.

Popeye then took us to see the rich area where an 800 sq. ft. apartment would cost in the neighborhood of 1.3 million euros, again if you can find one.

All of these villages were in the old part of Paris and even though they have been renovated they all had the same look. Apparently Paris is trying to keep the old area of Paris looking as much as it did centuries ago, which I admire. You can see in the distance the business district and there are more modern buildings and high rises there, but in the old part of Paris the only high rise (or skyscraper) was the one I mentioned in my first blog about Paris. The city passed a law prohibiting buildings of that type being built in the old Paris.

Otherwise Paris as the world knows it would not exist anymore. I say good for the city officials for trying to preserve the Paris the world has come to love. Popeye took us down one of the richest streets in Paris; it was lined with jewelry shops on both sides for about two blocks. Mammodouy told me that if you told a taxi driver to go to that street the driver would know how much money you had.

We did eventually make it to Notre Dame and this time was able to get out and see the building. Although the building is huge, again I was disappointed in the way Hollywood displays it. It is on an island in the middle of the Sine which I never knew I have always seen it with streets and buildings all around it. And although the stain glass windows are awesome they are not the 50-60 foot size that they seem to be in all of the movies that people are always getting thrown through. I’m really starting to believe what everyone is saying about television and the movies "that everything looks bigger on screen".

After Notre Dame, Popeye took us to dinner which was fabulous, thanks Popeye, then it was time to go home and to bed.

This is me pretending to read a menu. It was all in french and I had no idea what I was going to eat, Popeye and Mammodouy did all the ordering for me. I had no regrets.

Mammodouy or Popeye feel free to add or correct anything that I missed or got wrong, but this is how I remember it after a month and enjoyed it all. Still to come will be day three which will eventually leave my brain and placed on paper.

Until the next time — Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

Not What You Expected Is It

2011-07-22T23:33:00.000-06:00

Sorry guys and gals, I know you expected me to blog about my second day in Paris, but it is still in the works. I needed to get something out so that people would know I'm still alive. Went and seen HP last night and got home late. I could give you more excuses, but like I always say, "Excuses are like armpits, everyone has a couple and they all stink!" Mine are no exception, just tired and lazy today. Accept my apology or not that is your choice, but I've been surfing the net everyday for eight hours a day for the last month and my eyes are tired of looking at computer screens. So now you have my couple of excuses enjoy your week and be careful, cheerful, or what ever ful you want to be, just enjoy it, eh.

I will get the next Paris Trip issue out as soon as it is complete, might even tie the third day into it, who knows it's my blog and I'm sticking to it.

Until the next time...remember the only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.

Mon week-end à Paris

2011-07-09T03:10:00.007-06:00

To see Paris in one weekend is very much like trying to do all of Disneyland in less than three hours, although Mammodouy and I gave it a good shot. Now I have to try to write a whole weekend with pictures in just a few paragraphs. I tell you, life is not fair and neither am I, because I’m going to do the whole weekend in one blog. I did promise you a blog about Paris and here it is.

If you read my last blog about my train trip then you already know how I got to Paris so I can skip that part and get right into what I remember about the trip. I first need to apologize to Mammodouy and Popeye in advance for not remembering every place we went, but even after a week, my head is just spinning trying to remember everything and in order. I know it will not be easy, but I’ll do my best.

I arrived in Paris around 9 pm and was met by Mammodouy and her husband, Popeye, they are a distant (about 5,078 miles [8,173 kilometers]) away, but very close friends of Myrna and our family, so close that we consider them part of our family. After a quick tour at night from the train station to their son's, Sweet Pea, apartment, I was able to settle down for the night.

On Saturday, July 2nd after a quick breakfast, Popeye had to go to do some work so Mammodouy and I started on my tour de Paris.

The first stop was the tallest building in Paris, Tour Montparnasse, Mammodouy chose this as the first stop due to the location was within walking distance from Sweet Pea’s apartment, only about 10 to 15 minutes away and I would get a good view of Paris from one location. Due of the building's size and architecture two years after the building was complete the city put a ban on all skyscrapers in the city center. Standing 59 stories (not counting the terrace) a person can get an awesome 360 degree panoramic view of Paris. Here are some pictures of the view that is possible.

The next stop was a brisk walk (20 – 30 minutes) to Les Invalides, a famous military hospital.

Louis the 14th, the King who built the Palace of Versailles, staged many wars in Europe. In 1670, he commissioned Les Invalides, a military hospital in Paris, to take care of wounded soldiers. The ashes of the greatest French military genius of all times, Napoleon, rest under the dome of Les Invalides. Mammodouy and I rested a bit in one of the garden areas of Les Invalides before venturing to our next destination, The Eiffel Tower.

Another almost 20 minute walk away and that was just to get within a half kilometer to the iron structure. Mammodouy called Popeye to see if he was finished what he was doing, which he was, and asked him if he could come pick us up.

After a few pictures Popeye arrived and drove us to the tower. After I had my feel of the tower, due to the amount of people waiting in lines to ride or walk up to the tower, we decided that lunch would be better than waiting about 2-3 hours on a hot sunny day to ride an elevator to the top of an iron structure, besides we had already been to the top of Tour Montparnasse.

We all had salads for lunch after which walked to the apartment to freshen up a bit before our next trip into the city.

We decided to walk to the metro station to take the subway to the Seine River. On our way we were greeted by a large group of protestors, a couple of hundred bike riders. Mammodouy and Popeye told me that bicycles have not been in Paris for very long and that bike riders think they own both the streets and the sidewalks. The city was trying to pass a law in Paris that limited the bike rider to the same rules and regulations that automobile have. The bikers don’t like that so they protested. We finally made to the station and got our tickets and boarded the subway. We got to the Seine River within a few minutes, a brief walk, a stop here and there for pictures, and short slip on the stairs (I was graceful that day), we were on the bank of the Seine River.

After passing a couple of islands (twice once one way than the other), we went to dinner. All my meals were interesting, for some reason most of the menus are written French and I don’t read French so Popeye would order for me and I discovered that what he ordered was very good. After dinner it was back to the apartment to recover for the day, which is a good place to end this blog.

Until the next time- Remember, "We live in a society where pizza gets to your house before the police."

Trains Planes And Autobuses (Sorry no Automobiles)

2011-07-01T23:24:00.014-06:00

I’m well on my way to Paris; I’m at least at the train station in Heidelberg waiting for the train. This will be my first legal ride on a train other than a city train (tram) going for just a couple of blocks.

You see, when I was going to high school (yes, I went to high school, well most of the time anyway, sorry Mom) we lived the better part of 3 miles away, no it wasn't up hill both ways what do you think this is a old grandpa story (wait I am an old grandpa, sorry still no hill), although, the snow did make it interesting at times. During the warmer parts of the year my friends and I would walk to and from school. We didn't have a car, wouldn't have done us any good if we did, we didn't have a license and bikes were not as cool as they are now. Well, it just so happened that there was a railroad yard between the school and the route we would take (it was only a few (6 maybe 7) blocks out of the way, give us a break, there were real trains involved, we had no choice!). Trains and teenage boys (you do know that magnets attract each other right, this was worst then magnets), I bet you couldn't guess of what happened next.

After timing the schedule of the trains as they worked for a couple of days (we were just watching the trains as we did school work, honest), it just so happened that the trains would eventually correspond their passing with our walks (imagine that), so being the typical boys we were, we just fell (had to hop a little) into one of the box cars as it passed (just like they use to do during the depression, we may have had to run a little). And just because it happened often (at least when we walked) doesn't mean it was a on going thing.

The engineer eventually caught us and chewed us out because of the danger of the ordeal, what did he know. As if he only knew, we were teenagers and invincible, beside he didn’t know that we had been doing this for at least a couple of days, we were professionals. You know how some teenage boys think when their manhood is challenged; we just had to prove him wrong, right?

The engineer did offer us a better alternative though (I guess he knew us better then we knew ourselves, imagine that), he said that if we would stop trying to jump onto the moving train, that he would stop the train and let us on the engine to ride the half mile to where we had to get off and finish the walk to school, as long as the yard house didn’t find out. He would then explain to us how the engine worked and then proceed to tell us stories of when he would travel coast to coast. I think he enjoyed telling us the stories as much as we wanted to hear them.This went on until we got our driver’s license and drove to school.

This train ride is almost as exciting, I’m in a foreign country, I don’t speak or read the language (German), my tickets were purchased in another country (France), and I can’t read what they say (French), I would say that this is going to be one interesting trip. As Alastair Sim once said, "I'm as marry as a school-boy. I'm as giddy as a drunken man."

Airports, train stations, and bus stops can get very interesting places, but you have to take your time, observe, and compare the actions of the people to, oh let’s say creatures that you are familiar with. To me the people at the airports and bus stops are like cattle heading their way to the slaughterhouses. The people line up to get their tickets like cattle lining up to get inspected, then they are prodded or guided so to speak to a waiting area waiting to board their cattle cars. After as many as the “ranchers” can pile into the cattle car (airliner or bus) they are taken to slaughter (their final destination). As for train stations the people are like insects; ants, if you have ever noticed ants, they travel in two directions at different speeds; one away from the hole and the other towards the hole. When the ants find something interesting they congregate around the interesting item whether it be food or something to be moved. At the train station people do the same thing, they travel to and from the trains and the exit (or entrance); some are running to catch a train, some wandering trying to find their way, but always moving in two directions. Some find food in the food court, once one has found the food; others must congregate there as well. Some gather around the ticket counter, same thing, when one person stops to buy a ticket then others all must stop. After which they then run, walk, or stroll to their destination (away or toward their hole), the place is always busy, the people never stop moving, some may rest a bit, but then realize the time or see someone they know and off they go.

Well it is my turn to play ant as I am now off to board my train destined to Paris. I have boarded the train so my turn of being an ant is over for the time being. There won’t be any pictures, I don’t have a window seat and leaning over some stranger to take pictures, I don't think so. Also I will be assuming that the train will be traveling between 30 and 200 kilometers per hour and taking pictures at the last speed would just turn out blurry, sorry.

I’ll take a brief moment and try to describe my train ride the best I can. Imagine driving your car to the top of the highest mountain that you can find, one with roads that twist and turn, both sides of the road are over hung by trees and greenery with the occasional tunnel and village or city to drive through. Make sure that your brakes are metal against metal, shut your motor off and start coasting down the mountain all the way down to the bottom. (The reason you need the mountain is so that you can coast and get the forest affect, you could try to have someone tow you, but you’d have to be a far enough behind him so you have just the noise of the air rushing by, plus you’d lose the overhanging trees.) Try maintaining a steady speed of let’s say 25 to 75 miles per hour and you will have to slow down once in a while apply your brakes to get that scraping sound especially when you get to a village or city. Also, half the passengers will have to turn around and face backwards. I’m riding backwards trying to see where I was, but at the same time I want to see where I’m headed (to me that sounds a lot like life and another blog discussion), but all I see are trees with the occasional opening of fields, with a scattered village or farm here and there. The trains are electric which eliminates all the noise, which is why you have to turn off the motor. That is basically what I see and feel, the peace and quite the gentle rocking with the occasional turbulence when the train goes around a curve or passed by another train going in the opposite direction, but the turbulence is more of a small earthquake side to side movement and not the stomach loss drop like in an airliner. But, that is another story, right now I want to enjoy the blurred green of the trees and the open brown (the hay is ripe) of the fields, the occasional herd of cows and sheep before it gets to dark.

Until the next time – You don’t need a parachute to skydive, you just need a parachute to skydive more than once.

You Never Know What You Will Find And Where

2011-06-23T10:35:00.005-06:00

First things first, Abra, Nancy, and Rosie I thought that I acknowledged your Father’s Day wish to me on Facebook, but I guess something went wrong and it didn’t post right or got lost in cyberspace. Anyway, I want to thank you for your Father’s Day post on my wall.

Sorry for the length of time between blogs, but it has been rainy and cool for the past few weeks, not great weather to walk around in. So I didn't have anything good to blog about. Just to let you know how bad it rains here for those who have lived or been to Vancouver area and can remember the heavy rain where all the streets turn into rivers, that is about how heavy it has been raining the last few weeks. So, to let you know I'm still alive I think I'll blog about sharing washers and dryers during laundry day.

I live in an apartment complex that has three sections; each section has six units giving each building 18 units. The 18 units share two laundry rooms; each laundry room has five washers and five dryers. So that is 18 so called families (apartments sharing with roommates count as a family, right) sharing 10 washers and dryers.

Our assigned laundry room has four working washers and one working dryer. I try to separate my laundry, darks, lights, and whites, no problem that’s the way you’re supposed to do laundry right? I figure that if I wash them separately I can just dry them all at once, anyway that’s the way guys think, so no problem.

A couple of weeks ago I was unloading the clothes from the washers and throwing the clothes into the dryer (you have to throw the clothes to avoid the puddle from the leaking pipes above the dryer), I got to the whites when I noticed something black shot past. Puzzled (I knew that I didn’t mix dark with whites) I dug out the black article and held it up to see what it was. It was a black lace thong; I thought when did I wear these? When I stretched it out I discovered that it would wrap around me almost one and a half times (now you know how large the women are around here) and knew that they weren’t mine. The following week all I found was one blue sock with yellow polka dots mixed in with my darks, I searched all over for the other one, but couldn’t find it (shucks, I really wanted to find the mate).

Anyway, I hope that the rain stops so that I can blog about something more interesting.

Until the next time - A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood.

Heidelberg Shopping District

2011-06-01T10:43:00.001-06:00

Most everyone that have read my last blog has commented I shouldn’t sit around calculating the seconds until I leave Germany and go back to the States and that I should find another hobby. I have to admit that it sounds like an interesting and great way to pass the time, if I had the time to spare. It would also be impossible due to the fact that the seconds keep passing by, so to calculate the seconds to the time I leave; I first would have to calculate the amount of time it would take me to calculate the seconds and then subtract the amount of seconds it would take for me to type it into the blog and post it, even then I would be a couple of hundred of seconds off.

Although it is quite possible and it could be done (not by me, I don’t want to do it) I have to be honest with you, it just took me a click of the mouse to calculate the seconds. I downloaded a gadget (a countdown program) onto my computer that calculates the time I have left in days, hours, minutes and seconds. I discovered that if I click on the gadget I get the amount of time in seconds. So now you know that I don’t spend time trying to figure out the millions of seconds I have left until I leave. Yes, I do keep track of the time I have left, but I don’t dwell on it. The countdown program lets me know how many days I have left to enjoy Germany and the surrounding countries, to get up and do something and not how many days I have left before I have to go home.

Just to let you know that I do other things and have places to go, I ventured into Heidelberg on Monday. A couple of intern friends rented a car on Friday and drove through Germany, Switzerland, France and back. The car needed to be returned Monday morning so four of us took it back to the dealership and hitched a ride to a diner where we had breakfast, after which we boarded the train to downtown Heidelberg.

The tourist’s shopping area is a street that has shops on both sides, not as narrow as the marketplace in Cairo, but still narrow enough in some places to allow only one car (if they were allowed, only vender's are allowed) to drive down. The road is about 1 to 2 kilometers long with side alleys. The shops are roughly 10 to 20 feet wide and 10 to 60 feet long, that is unless it is a store like Macy’s then it is about a quarter the size or less of an American Macy’s but two stories. Most of the shops have knick knacks like the stuff tourists would buy, a few chocolate shops, and bakeries, but mostly little shops.

Entrance from the bus/train stop to the shopping district

All the beer glasses are filled with golden gummy bears topped with white ones

I went into a couple of cathedrals that did not look very appealing on the outside due to the shops being built right next to them and little stands set up around the entrance, but ,you could tell that the cathedrals were older then the shops because the cathedrals were made of brick instead of stucco and shop windows. The insides were beautifully done with stain glass, pillars and tile.

We walked to the end of the street and halfway across an old bridge where I took a few pictures of the old castle. We didn’t go to the castle (saving for another time and another blog), but it was very interesting just looking at it from the bridge. I hope that my pictures do it justice.

Heidelberg castle

Entrance to Heidelberg from the bridge

One of the statues to the right of the entrance to Heidelberg

After the bridge we went to one of the many sidewalk cafés that were along one of the alley ways. I have to tell you that eating in one of those places is an experience in itself. Unlike the U.S. (where it seems like you are rushed to get in and out so that the waitress can get as many people through as possible in one day and if you are there longer than 15 minutes after you’re served you don’t see your waitress again), once you sit down you more or less own that table area for as long as you would like or until the café closes. You wave your hand and the waitress comes over and takes your order for drinks (by the way a bottle of none bubble water is more expensive than bubbled water), after about a half hour you wave your hand again and order another drink or your meal. The meal will come when it gets there; it will be a half hour to forty-five minutes after you order (it is still hot), kick back and relax, you’re going to be there awhile, I would guess the average lunch is between 1 to 3 hours long, it depends on you. If you’re in a hurry, stop and get a wrap to go, there are plenty of sandwich shops scattered throughout the plaza.

You do have to watch out for the pigeons though, they are almost twice the size of American pigeons and more dangerous (and I don’t mean the droppings). As I was leaving one of the shops I was the victim of a “fly by”! I just left one of the shops and as I entered the street, I stopped to snap a picture (the one with my finger in the way), when two low flying pigeons came flying by. One was so close that it smacked me in side of my head with its wing tip while its buddy mussed up my hair with its jet stream as it dive bombed inches above my head. If I had been looking in the opposite direction I would have gotten a wing tip in the eye or the camera pushed into my face.

If you notice my finger, it is because of the stupid pigeon that hit me

That was my first (and not the last) trip into downtown Heidelberg.

Until the next time - a cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Boy What Fun!!!

2011-05-28T21:58:00.005-06:00

Third Week and only 138 days left, the week started out okay; on Monday on our way to Patton Barracks we passed a group of protestors in front of one of the other camps. I later discovered that it was a protest about wages and not just here in Heidelberg, but that it was nationwide. So it wasn’t such a big deal, I don’t think that it even hit the news. Unlike the fire in Slave Lake, Alberta, this was all over the news here on base, sure hope that all is well, I know that there were some buildings destroyed, but I hope no deaths or injury. With no TV in the apartment and no radio I’m limited to computer access, but only in the apartment.

I’m happy to say that I finally got over my jet lag, now if my roommates can train their families not to call at 3:30 in the morning, I would be okay. I have two roommates; one is from Baltimore the other Seattle. When it is 3:30 am here it is 9:30 pm in Baltimore, 7:30 pm in Utah, and 6:30 pm in Seattle. I realize that it is hard to adjust to the time difference, especially when you’re not used to it. My family has had relatives in different time zones for years or we have had the opportunity to travel to different countries on business or service so we have learned to either calculate the difference or wait to be called to be safe, especially if we know roommates are involved.

Heidelberg reminds me of Utah back in the early 60’s. It is not a large city, but is does cover a lot of area. There is (what they call) a small mountain range on one side (it is like the foothills east of Salt Lake) and part of the city is going up the side of it in splotches and then spreads down into the valley. I haven’t been to the center of the city yet (hoping Saturday), but the out skirts of the city is broken up with farmlands and vineyards with smaller parts of the city or villages built throughout. You really have to see it. The farms and vineyards, that I noticed, are not fenced and are broken up with bike and walking trails.

The trails do not run parallel with the main roads and do not follow a certain pattern. My thought is that in the olden days paths were created by the people going from one farmhouse or village to another in which they seldom took the same path twice, or wandered off the path to the nearest tree and returned. Eventually, the paths widened and became trails, the trails became wagon routes, and the wagon routes became roads, and so forth. Some of the farmhouses have since been removed so the roads just end. If you are driving and pass up your exit or turn you may have to travel 20 to 30 minutes out of your way to turn around. So there are a few things that you need to know to get around 1) know the address you are heading to; 2) have a GPS with you; and 3) know how to get back, if you don’t have these then getting around is going to interesting, even just walking or biking. When I go sightseeing, I’m going to have fun because I have no idea about numbers 1 and 2 and hopefully I can figure out number 3. Tell you what, if you don’t see a blog from me in the next couple of weeks, call the U.S. Embassy here in Germany and report me missing (just kidding).

The last sentence came sooner than I thought. The reason you haven’t seen a blog from me for awhile is due to week four.

Week Four

Friday or Saturday of week three, another intern mentioned that he had a cold; Sunday at an intern get together I started feeling achy with a scratchy throat. I should have posted my blog then, but decided to go to bed early to try to beat the cold that was coming on. The next day I could hardly move my body ached in every joint. By Tuesday I was running a fever, Wednesday was even worse; I couldn’t get out of bed. Thursday was more like Monday, just achy and by Friday just the coughing and running nose.

Which is a shame because this is the long weekend and I had planned to go out venturing Heidelberg, but I don’t think I will until I’m sure that I am over this cold, I’m not the only one in the group to get it, but I was the one who got it the worse. Good news is that I’m still here and still writing, so hopefully I can have a post week only about sixteen weeks left, 126 days 18 hours 9 minutes 24 seconds, or at this point 11,0338,141 seconds (it is hard to calculate the seconds when they keep dropping), but who’s counting, eh.

Until the next time – a closed mind is a good thing to loose.

Forms, Forms, and More Forms...

2011-05-11T10:15:00.000-06:00

Week two hasn’t been too shabby. All that I accomplished so far was my processing so that I can get onto the camps and computers. I hope that all the paperwork is done; all they give you is form after form to fill out so that you can reproduce it on the computer, and I thought the computer was supposed to reduce the amount of paperwork.

I have my I.D. card and I’m just waiting to get onto the computer system. Due to security reasons they have no Wi-Fi in any of the buildings (so my laptop is useless until I get back to the apartment). But, it stands for reason; Wi-Fi is one of the easiest ways to access a computer system from the outside. The military figures that if they have no Wi-Fi then no outside hackers can break into their system, thus reducing threat. Everyone needs to pass security clearances in order to get access to the computer system. There are three to four online tests that you have to take and pass.

The problem is the tests are online and before you can access them you have to have access to a computer. In order to get access to a computer you have to pass the tests. Also, some of the forms you have to fill out to get security clearance are online as well. You have to have a military email address in order to get your I.D. card, but you have to have access to a computer to get a military email address. No problem, no I.D. card no computer access, no computer access no I.D. card, isn’t life fun. Solution, borrow the supervisors’ computer using their access card so that you can be on the system for the four to six hours that it takes to complete the tests and forms. Hoping that there isn’t anything important that comes up to interrupt while doing the tests (or you start over), thus the supervisors can’t do their job until you’re through, efficient, eh. The people who thought up the system must work for the government.

I mentioned before that there are around eight camps (I don't know quite how many I've been to six) mingled through Heidelberg and surrounding towns. You would think that the processing would happen in the same camp. Well not exactly, the main processing happens in one camp while my security processing was in another. Do you have one place to go to get the main processing done? Well, I will tell you that the main processing was in one building (same area?...ahh, no, three separate rooms, opposite ends of the building and one on the second floor). In all the buildings that I have been in I have seen only one elevator, which was installed after the building was built so that disabled people would have access to the processing on the second floor.

The camps were built to house the Germany military during WWII. The main camp, Campbell, is where I was told that Hitler had his command center. One of the relics, a globe, is supposed to still be in one of the buildings. When I get a chance I’m going to see if I can find it and if possible get a picture of it. It is hard to get pictures in and around the camps due to security. The camps are not tourist sites, even though I’m sure that, everybody and their dogs know that they exist, the military does not want, everyone to know what is happening where, when, and how. So if I post any pictures of the camps on my blog, I fear I will have to go through the same process as getting an I.D. card meaning, I would have to do a lot of running around getting permission. I do of course have five months of trying to find out what I can and cannot do.

Germany and the surrounding countries have a lot of history. I do not want to be like my roommates and plan trips to the tourist sites just because they are cheaper, which are planned by the USO, just so that I can say I’ve been there. I want to see and visit the history of the country so that when I say I have been there, I actually was there.

I can say that I have driven through every state in the United States except Alaska and Hawaii, but I cannot say that I have been there and seen all the states. Some of the driving I did at night, what you see at night, is the darkness and stars, most have been on the Interstate zipping along at 55 mpg or faster (mostly faster), and being the driver you don’t see much, but the road. But, I’ve been there (sort of, at least I have seen signs telling me that I have left one state and entered another).

What I have noticed about Heidelberg just by riding the shuttle between camps is that life in this country is different than in the U.S. In the two weeks I have been here, I have seen maybe three to four people walking down the street talking on a cell phone. Everyone wears clothes that fit, not hanging down around the bottom of their butts showing off their boxers. When walking down the street people stroll down the sidewalk, not strutting or the determined walk I have noticed in the States. I’m sure that the people here have urgent places to go and be, but it is more of a casual care free type walk. I haven’t seen one skateboarder or scooter weaving in and out of people or traffic. I have seen lots of bikes and bike/walking trails woven throughout the cities and farmland. I want to be able to describe places of history and the people around the places that I have visited on my blogs and not the cost of the touristy places and gee it was interesting, but because of the tour group I didn’t get a chance to spend a lot of time there. I may not see some of the surrounding countries in a weekend trip like other interns are planning to do, but at least when I been to Germany I'll mean it. I do plan to spend more than one day touring France, I just don't know when at this point.

Until the next time – may you travel light and enjoy it.

My First Week In Germany

2011-05-06T11:10:00.005-06:00

My first day wasn't too bad. we were picked up around 10:00 in the morning by Rafael, the HR person in charge of the program I'm in and he drove us (there are going to be up to 36 interns, 6 of us were here at the time) to get processed so that we could get our I.D. cards. After which he took us around the various camps showing us the ropes (there are eight camps). Then I was dropped off at the camp I work at to get introduced to my fellow workers. Afterwards one of my co-workers took me back to Patrick Henry Village (PHV) where my apartment is. All is well. Every time I went some place in a vehicle, the driver took a different route claiming it was faster (ha).

Heidelberg is a relatively small city. It is intertwined between mountains and valleys. I was told that there are about eight Germany camps mingled through vineyards, farm lands and city that the U.S. Army utilize and are making arrangement to return the facilities back over to the Germans. It really is quite beautiful. There is a castle (I am planning to visit soon) that was destroyed by the French years ago, the walls are 7 meters thick. You’ll just have to wait until I get more information on it.

The second day, the day didn’t go as well as planned. Not being fully processed in, the newbies have to carry around passports and orders that state that we are civilians and are authorized to work here. Some of the security guards look at the papers, say “Thank you” and then let us through with no hassle. Some question the papers and give us a big hassle.

This was the case on the bus I was on; the guard, questioned my papers and a small disagreement about the papers arose she tried to tell me that they were no good and that I needed a supervisor with me to sign me in, this of course delayed the bus, angered the driver, and ,as well as, make the rest of the passengers unhappy.

I also knew that the camp I was supposed to be at was only about ten minutes away from the camp I was staying in, and since this was the first camp that the bus came to, I figured that this was my camp I was supposed to get off at. Nothing looked familiar, but it had to be my camp. Of course being a newbie, new to the camps, new to the country, new to the language, and new to everything else that was around me (bet I stuck out like a sore thumb, eh) I was wrong.

I knew that I had a long wait as the buses run every hour. My excuse was that Rafael, who had been showing us round seemed to be going in circles pointing out the various sites and camps and kept mentioning “Thompkins Barracks”. I figured that I worked at Thompkins Barracks, of course I was mistaken. Thompkins Barracks is where Rafael works; I on the other had work in the opposite side of Heidelberg at a camp called Patton Barracks. Which is roughly 10 to 15 miles away or about six to seven bus stops in the opposite direction. Where I got off was in the middle of the loop. Having the word “Thompkins” stuck in my head by Rafael mentioning it so often was the only thing I could remember, I started asking the bus drivers if they were going to Thompkins they all told me no they were going to Patton. I finally was able to get onto the bus that was heading to Thompkins Barrack and guess what, it was the same driver that I had angered before. He just shook his head and said something in German (I think it was an insult, I have no idea) and what I did understand was "Oh, it's you". I made it to Thompkins and met another intern that was getting on the bus as I was getting off and I told him that I was confused. He had a phone so he called Rafael and we got everything straighten out. I was only two hours late my second day. I would say that is too bad.

My third day, Wednesday, I got about 80% processed in, up to 90% Thursday, and today Friday I about 95 to 98% finished getting processed. Now all l have to do is to pass the security and get access to the computer network system, should only take one week to a week and a half. I have since made friends with the bus driver, he now speaks English (with a heavy German accent), but I can understand most of what he says. We laugh and joke about my first day riding the bus.

Germany is an experience that I will not forget nor would I want too.

Until the next time – may closed doors open and the opened ones always shine on you.

Warning to All…

2011-05-01T04:51:00.000-06:00

I just want to warn everyone that I can get in touch with about an incident that just happened to me. I don’t want any of my family or friends to go through what I’m now going through. First before I get into my warning a brief history.

If you have read my previous blogs I was offered a 5 month internship to work for the Department of Defense (DOD) in Germany. I had purchased a laptop so that after I got there and got everything set up I could Skype with my loved ones in the States. The laptop is great, not perfect, but I don’t think anything will be, I’m satisfied with it with minor complaints that I can either deal with or live with. One is that the computer came with roughly 40 gigs of sample programs (hidden somewhere on the drive). I spent a couple of weeks setting up the computer to my liking before I left for Germany. I didn’t have the time to go through the free software that the computer company put on, I figured I would have time in Germany which I started doing. I would look at what the software, Google it, and if I didn’t like it delete it (long process).

I found one that interested me. The name of the software was ooVoo (a Skype type program), the company by the same name. All of the information that I looked at talked about how good the package was. So I installed it. It was a program that is a Skype type program stating that I could conference up to six people at once, great video and sound, with my family size I figured I could get most if not all at the same time thus saving me the problem of one-on-one Skyping (Skype has conferencing, but I haven't tried it). Reasonable, at least I thought. ooVoo said it was free, well it is you get a free trial (didn’t look into it far enough to see for how long). I don’t know if all features promised you are included in the trial period. What I did notice was when I went into my browser ooVoo changed all my settings to the settings they wanted me to have, i.e. ooVoo toolbar, homepage set to bing, and such. I was more than a little upset, after spending about 2.5 weeks getting the computer the way I wanted and like it who wouldn’t be. No problem I told myself, so I went in and uninstalled the program (wasn’t free anyway), opened my browser (Foxtrot) and noticed that the toolbar was still there. Went back and uninstalled the toolbar. Opened my browser the ooVoo toolbar was still there. The Win7 uninstall program seems to have just uninstalled the toolbar name from the uninstall program because it is not there. Looked in Google on how to uninstall the toolbar and ooVoo’s tech explained how to uninstall the program, I did it that way but still the toolbar is there. I checked it off my view, but I can’t uninstall it as of yet. I went back and read everything that the tech put on his reply to the uninstall question (now for the warning) he said you should have read the small print because there is a small toggle in there that will allow you not to install it. I’m not going to back in to reinstall it to find out how small or big the toggle is. I’m just going to let everyone know not to install the program (doesn’t matter how great the program is).

I figured that I would restore my computer from the restore files that I created. I figure that I would do a restore backup in case something like this happens. The files have been erased, apparently ooVoo figures that if someone doesn’t want their product and the way they configure their computers they will just mess you up big time. Now I wonder what else they placed on my computer. I would just set the computer back to the original setup and loose the 2.5 weeks of setting up, but I left my backup disks at home, plus I would lose all the data files that I have created in the past few weeks. The way I figure ooVoo owes me the amount of money that they give their top computer techs for 120 hours work to set up the computer in the first place plus the amount someone would charge to wipe the hard drive and get the computer back to the way it was when I bought it. I will now start going through and putting all my data onto flash drives so that when I get home I can fix the problem.

I would like everyone who reads this not only to check the web about the product but also check to see what people have experienced uninstalling the product. If there is at least one negative remark about a product don’t install it, unless you have very reliable source about it.

At least I now have something else to keep me occupied here in Germany. Thanks ooVoo or should I say VOODOO (the black magic)!

Until next time - The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.

The Heidelberg Experence

2011-04-30T06:22:00.000-06:00

I left Salt Lake International Airport around 8:30 Wednesday morning after one and half hours in line, trying to get my boarding pass. But, due to storms the east coast was having at the time, my plane that I was supposed to take was delayed. I waited a hour and a half to get my flight re-scheduled and another half hour waiting for the airlines to ready another plane. Instead of flying to Atlanta, GA and then to Frankfurt like I was supposed to have done, I had two transfers one, at Chicago O’Hare and then Detroit, MI. Both airports had layovers that gave me roughly 20 minutes (before I got off the plane) to get to my next gate. I arrived at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany at around 7:30 am Thursday. See my previous blog about those flights. When I arrived I had to pass through customs, get my luggage and then find my ride. This took less than 30 minutes (about 20 of that was waiting for my luggage). I found my ride immediately and was expecting to meet another internship employee but was informed that he was re-routed as well and will not be getting there until around 4:30 pm. We left Frankfurt airport and drove the 2 some odd hours to Heidelberg.

As we drove the driver kept pointing out some of the old castles that are scattered throughout the landscape between the two cities, Frankfurt and Heidelberg. For those who don’t know it, the Autobahn does have speed limit and the police drive around in unmarked cars. When they find someone not obeying the laws they will not turn on their sirens and pull them over, instead they will follow the vehicle and when that vehicle gets near a turnout they will flag them down with a paddle or sign. They have other police vehicles waiting at the turnout just in case the driver doesn’t stop. I heard that the police are unforgiving and the fines are quite hefty, so if you decide to speed or are doing some sort of reckless driving just don’t get caught.

I arrived at Patrick Henry Village (PHV), which is one of eight military Army camps that surround Heidelberg, at around 9:30 am. The driver said that he was going to drive around a little and show me some of the sites the base has to offer, but instead he received a phone call and had to drop me off at my apartment to go do some work, he briefly pointing out a couple of places.

After seeing the apartment and got myself unpacked it was close to 11:00 and I was a bit hungry. Airport food is worse than hospital food in taste and proportions. I was shown where a Burger King was and was told that it was close to 1 kilometer away and not having any form of motorized transportation I was forced to walk. I probably could do with a bit of exercise anyway (and I know that Myrna wouldn't hesitate to let me know that). I bought a Whopper Meal ($6.89 - more if you super-sized it, I didn't super-size [love ya honey!]) sat down and ate, finally something that filled me. I know, not very healthy, but the airline forced everyone to go on a diet.

The airline boasted that they saved around 1.2 billion gallons of gas between the years 2002 and 2011. I guess the airline figured that they could save more gas by forcing everyone to go on a diet during flights and reduce the weight of the passengers would save even more gas. Also, I guess that they figured they could save even more gas and reducing more weight by cutting back the amount of peanuts and pretzels they stock on board and hand one per person, gee, just like the Halloweens I remember. It was an eight some odd hour flight how long did they think the roughly 10 to 15 peanuts (guessimated amount of peanuts in a bag) would last? You can see my other blog to find out about the other (almost) food they had to offer.

Back to apartment after lunch I went and I thought I would get some sleep, I have been up since the day before I should be able to sleep, right. Nope, no such luck, after 2 hours of tossing, turning, and lying there I had to get up, nothing to do but to go exploring. Another 2 to 3 kilometer walk around looking at the sites (PHV is more or less the housing complex for the military personal and their families). If you have ever been at a military base you would know that almost every building looks the same, same shape, same size, same color, etc. (Pictures pending).

I should mention that PHV was a German military base until after WWII when the Americans and Allies over took Western Germany. The Americans have occupied various German facilities ever since. I was told that the U.S. plans to give back the bases in and around Heidelberg by the year 2015 or so. But, that is just hear say.

After that walk, again I figured that I could sleep. It was more a rest than sleep only about one and a half hours. When I got up again, it was time for dinner so out for another walk. I walked another couple of kilometers to a restaurant that was pointed out. I looked at the menu on the door and noted the prices then decided that I wasn’t that hungry, boy the price of food at these places is unreal, I got to get used to that.

Another couple of kilometers back to the apartment, well it was more than a couple. You see it was getting dark (did I mention that ALL the buildings looked the same?) I felt like I was lost in a fun house mirror room, I walked for a couple of hours rather than kilometers until I found my apartment, there must be over 200 buildings that are identical in this camp and I walked into almost all of them. Boy, did I get funny looks from the occupants when I tried to open their door.

Finally, found the one my key worked and went inside hoping, just hoping...I was in luck. I saw familiar stuff, my stuff, so this must be my apartment. I decided that if I can’t sleep might as well write on my blog, so I wrote about my fantastic flight over here and posted it. I wasn’t sleepy, tired, but not sleepy and yet I wasn’t awake either (kind of like I feel now mind just drifting, I've had some sleep, but not enough to recover). At around 12:30 Friday morning someone was playing with the lock on the front door, I thought someone else got lost in the room of mirrors and was just trying out various doors to see if their keys worked. The door popped opened and (I didn’t know at the time) in walks one of my roommates. His flight was as wonderful as mine and his luggage decided to go else where. He was about as messed up as I was due to his flight; neither one of us could sleep so it was off for another fun lap around the base, but this time I had company. Did I mention that the buildings…

Until next time —Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.

Guten Tag Mate

2011-04-28T11:31:00.001-06:00

Well, I made it. It was your typical routine “Delta” flight. The first thing that happened was I couldn’t get my itinerary up on their "fast do it yourself to save time (with no help) computer system" so I could print out my boarding pass.

When I asked for assistance, the nice attendant lady told me that I had to wait because she had all those other people in line that need to come first. Delta, at the time, only had three people to handle the early morning rush of about 20 people two to handle the people and one to stand around waiting for the luggage. I was a good boy, I waited without complaining. Finally, after about 5 minutes the attendant I asked yelled at the people in the line, “If you have not gone over to the self serve area and gotten your boarding passes, please do so!” It was then close to 95% of the line came over to where I was to get their boarding passes, but I still was a good boy and waited until the attendant lady finished with what was left in the line. I did get a little irate when she started helping those who came over to get their boarding passes without helping me first, they were first in line, I was first at the computers. Gee, if I was smart enough to “try” to get my boarding pass and was waiting for help going on 20 minutes shouldn’t I be one of the first one to get help? Not according to Delta, by what I saw it was the ones that were closer to the attendants so they wouldn't have to walk as far. The attendant could figure out why the computer found my itinerary but wouldn’t print my ticket and sent me over to the ticket purchase area.

Another 15 minute wait, not bad, even a little reasonable. That attendant told me that the flight to Atlanta, Ga. has a big delay (I didn’t find out until later it was due to stormy weather). No problem, she just booked me onto another flight. I had a few choices on when I wanted to arrive and one was within five minutes of the original arrival time, because I would have people waiting for me and another party that was going to arrive around the same time I chose that flight.

After going through customs I got to the gate to wait out my 45 minutes until the plane left. Like Andrew, I was happy that the Salt Lake airport has free Wi-Fi and was able to notify Myrna and my contact in Germany about the change. Me happy camper! Left on time for Chicago’s O’Hare, the plane was a stand-by, happiness slowly fading. Have you ever had a flat tire in one of the newer cars? Ever seen the size of the spare compared to the other tires? Take the same ratio and apply it to Delta’s emergency stand-by jet. When you have to duck all along the way to your seat you know that it is a small jet. Every seat was taken, full flight. But, still the stewardesses started her routine of passing out their little goodies and even gave out two (read it and reap – TWO) packages of peanuts. Granted there are only about 10 peanuts per bag, but we got two of them plus a little over half of glass of juice. I told you how small the jet was, it was almost big enough to contain the smiles that the stewardesses were giving to everyone. Made me feel better, cramped but feeling better. Then we landed.

I had less than 20 minutes to get to my next gate to leave for Detroit so it was off to the races. It was around 3:00 pm and the plane departed at 3:20, Delta wanted you to be on the jet at least 30 minutes before takeoff so I was already running late no time to stop for a bite, besides Delta would be generous and fork out a couple more packages of peanuts and a swallow to wash them down. Nope, I was wrong (forgot that this was Delta). Due to the short trip (roughly 45 to 50 minutes) the stewardesses could only handle the first class people. They didn’t even bother to close the curtain between classes. By the time we landed in Detroit my stomach was growling louder than the jet’s engines.

You have to understand that I ate a small breakfast at around 4:15 am Wednesday and the time (counting time zones) would have put my landing around 5:20ish Utah time. But, I still had (again) roughly 20 minutes to find my gate, I arrived at gate 34, and needed to find gate 40, no problem just turn right add the numbers until I reach gate 40, and I was in luck there was a McDonald’s in between gates 37 and 40. Should I stop, do I have time yes! One Big Mac $4.89, fries and drink extra. Airport rip offs, they know that they have you trapped and figure they can charge whatever they want, not only that it was cold! If I wasn’t so hungry and didn’t need it so badly I would have told them to stuff it. I don’t even care for McDonald’s food.

Finally, left for Frankfurt, Germany, I remember the way we were treated on the flight to Cairo, the jet was roomy, the food was good and plentiful, and life was serine. That flight, of course, was not a Delta flight. About 20 to 30 minutes into the flight I was asked if I wanted peanuts or pretzels and what to drink. OJ and may I have one of each, a bag of peanuts and a bag of pretzels, please. The stewardess informed that due to cut backs I had to wait to see if there were enough peanuts and pretzels to go around I may have one or the other. Okayyy, I’ll take the peanuts then. Count the number of peanuts, eight, yep, cut backs even shorted me on the peanuts. Never saw the stewardess again so I figured they ran out. Few hours into the flight came our meal, this time a different male steward asked “pasta or chicken”, me “chicken”. Let’s see what we have if I dig under the teaspoon of rice and veggies I can find the chicken, it was about the size of fifty cent piece and maybe twice as thick, about four bites of salad, one roll, and a half a bite of brownie. The whole meal lasted ten to fifteen bites depending if I ate the rice one grain at a time. The empty food tray sat on the lap tray for around two and a half hours before it got removed. Coffee came around, me “may I have OJ please”, stewardess “we have to save that for morning so that we will have enough, would you like an after dinner wine instead, or we could bring you a beer for $7.00. You will have to pay by credit though, we don’t handle cash”. Me “no would you happen to have any water?” They were generous and gave me one and a half swallows in a cup. If I wasn’t so dry I could probably spit the amount of water they spared me. At this point I was wondering if the price of gas was really the problem the airline is losing money.

Figuring that there are 8 seats across, guessimating roughly 25 rows per section, and 4 sections per plane that puts roughly 800 people on the plane, being way conservative at a $1,000 per person (first and business classes pay considerably more and I know that my ticket was more) that is about $800,000 per flight. I know that paying for wear and tear on the plane takes a big chunk out of it, and I hope that they don’t pay the stewardesses the rest. What it probably is the airlines told their board of trusties that they expect a $100 million dollar profit by the end of the year, but they only made $40 million so they lost $60 million dollars let’s make it up by providing lousy food and service to our customers.

I shouldn’t blog about airlines when I have had no sleep. I really dislike the way I have been treated over the years by the airlines and airports. I have more bitter tastes (not mainly from the food) left by the way I was treated then not so bitter. Delta got hit because I just flew it and was dissatisfied with the service. So sorry Delta maybe my return trip will be better, we'll see, eh.

Until the next time…may the bird of paradise land on your window sill…

Life Changing Situations

2011-04-23T11:56:00.008-06:00

Life as I know it is about to change. According to my countdown monitor I have 3 days, 22 hours, 8 minutes and still counting before I leave for Germany. Many decisions left, what to take, what do I need to buy, how big of suitcase, what can I purchase over there, what type of weather to expect, etc., etc…

Thinking about life changing situations reminds me of a couple of childhood incidents that have happened when I was younger. But, to save you the boredom and maybe use the others for another blog or two, I’ll just tell you about one.

If you don’t know about Utah, it is located in the western United States. Right along the east side of the state is a mountain range called the Rockies or the Rocky Mountains. Now Utah has some of the most scenic views that I have seen. In the north in the spring and summer are lush green valleys. To the south lie the desert mountains, where the jagged peaks of the Uinta’s break away to the beautiful reds, whites, and greens of Bryce and Zion canyons and the natural arches of Arches National Park. To the west of Salt Lake City is the Great Salt Lake and desert. West of the lake is the Bonneville Salt Flats known to most for the races that are held there seasonally. The “Rockies”, a majestic series of mountain ranges that run north and south, and stretch from the northern top of British Columbia to New Mexico roughly 3,000 miles. The part of the Rockies around Salt Lake City is known as the Wasatch Range and is known worldwide for the snow during the winter months, thus the nickname of “Utah, The Greatest Snow on Earth”. Now I left the Rockies for last because that is where this little mishap happened.

If you remember in one of my earlier blogs I was challenged, this is another challenge or dare that happened during my brief high school years. When I say brief I mean to say that when you have lived as long as I have (and I’m not saying that I’m old, but…) three years are very brief but a lot can and did happen in the short span of those years.

My Dad has worked in construction all my life until he retired. Because of this we were able to acquire a few extra things around our home that were done in trade. You know like in the olden days of the 1800's give or take a few centuries, where if a mill worker needed a wagon wheel fixed, but couldn’t afford to pay in money, he would trade a bag of flour for it or a doctor would trade for chickens and so on.

Sometimes I wish that sort of trading would still go on in the first world countries maybe we wouldn’t be so much debt. Besides, it is getting to the point that money isn’t worth what it was years ago. The trading is probably going on in third world countries where they have no money.

Anyway, to get on with the life changing story. One winter my Dad got us all season passes and skis, on trade, to a ski resort that is about 45 minutes from Salt Lake City. I have never taken a ski lesson in my life. My oldest brother, who was an expert (he's been skiing for nearly one and half years), gave me a few tips, like how to snow plow to slow down, put your weight on the ski in the direction you want to turn. When that gets boring just point your skis downhill and shout beginner! If you have to stop, just fall down. As he skied off he shouted, “Oh, and try not to hit anyone!” That was the extent of my lessons. They lasted about as long as it took you to read them. The first ski season passed and I didn’t break a leg so I figured I learned how to ski. The second year was about the same as the first, but with more confident. Now, by the time my third year of skiing I thought (emphasize “thought”), I was fairly a good, not great, but good skier, not racing material, but not bad, my form, technique and probably a lot of other stuff needed work, but my confidence was up there with the best of them. My brothers also thought (I thought some of them were) they were good skiers on the slope.

So…one day my little brother and I took the lift up and on the way started talking. You know, the type of talking that leads to bragging, challenging, and then the dare. We dared each of us to go to the top of the mountain, passing the bunny trail, passing the intermediate trail, and go to the top, where the powder is waist deep, where signs are posted "Experienced Skiers Only". Hey! we had three years behind us, we were experienced, right! Three lifts later when we got off and looked down it was almost as if we were looking down the bunny trail, didn’t look that bad.

My little brother said, “Follow the leader!”, then took off. I was seconds behind him. Did I say that it didn’t look that bad? Looks can be deceiving because everything was white you couldn’t tell how steep the slope really was. And due to the waist deep snow you couldn’t see the tops of the trees (that kept flipping up when you knocked enough snow off them, kind of like a nature made booby trap). But, the speed was unreal, not like on the bunny or intermediate trails. Oh, the rush we just loved it! Following the leader in deep powder, taking jump after jump mere seconds behind. He would jump then I would jump! I got a head and jump then he would jump, back and forth switching between leaders! This went on for quite a while.

Then it happened (does anyone know why there is a time delay between racers, I found out rather quickly) my brother missed a jump and wiped out on the other side of the jump, the landing side. I was right behind him, he took off, I took off, I was right in mid-air when I saw him crash, and lay sprawled out on the other side where I had to land. The skis that we had were metal and had razor sharp edges, and mine were headed straight for his face.

You know I mentioned in the beginning of this blog that I was starting a life changing situation? This was also one of those life changing situations. I had one of a few choices to make with only fractions of a second to make it: 1) I could try to stop, giving my brother time to move, not going to happen, remember I’m in mid-air; 2) get me a pair of new “head” skis, I didn’t like this one, new skis yes, but not my brother’s head; 3) turn in mid-flight, now remember, no lessons, third year skier, etc.

My brother and I don’t know how, but by twisting by body somehow I was able to accomplish the third choice. I landed so close to his head that I cut off the ball that was attached to his tuque (knitted cap). We were both relieved, him that he didn’t have to die and me that I didn’t do him any harm or serious injury.

Did we learn from this experience? You’re just going to have keep reading my blogs to find out.

Until the next time…As my daughter found out if you’re tired of running, walk.

The Waiting Game

2011-04-15T05:52:00.015-06:00

I am waiting, I have about twelve days until I leave to go to Germany. I have always thought that waiting was a game. How long will a doctor keep you waiting, does he really have someone in there or is he just wanting to see how long he can keep you sitting in his waiting room. There is so much to do and time is running out, so what do I do? I spend my time trying to think of things to say on my blog (see what you started Myrna, love ya anyway).

Some of my kids wanted me to write my past history down. So to my family and friends who care, I have decided to include at least one item of my past on each of my blogs (provided I can tie it into the main theme I want to say), to all the others who decided to read blogs for a living and happen to run across this one will just have to deal with them. Granted, the past history will not be in any way personal, I will how ever try to keep them from putting you to sleep. They will not be in order the way they happened in real life and they will be the short version. They are all from my memory therefore will be my point of view. They will not reflect any of my brothers, sister, or anyone else's recall of what happened in the past. I realize that everyone has a story to tell and if you listen hard enough to them all you will most likely get the full picture (semi quote from "Hoodwinked").

I chose the title, "The Waiting Game", because all I can do right now is play the game. Did you know that waiting can be a game? It could have good results, bad results or both depending on your attitude and in some situations the it can even turn deadly.Some of my family and friends know this well.

Now a flash of the past in "The Waiting Game".

When my brothers and I were working construction and the neighborhood kids would come around to investigate what we were doing or to gawk at us running around on stilts, we would say to them “Go tell your mother she wants you” or “Go play on the freeway”, anything to try to get rid of them. Someone must have mentioned the latter to my brother and I to give us the idea.

This is a story that my mother related to me; to be honest I don’t remember any of it and I strongly recommend that you don’t repeat it to your little ones for fear of giving them ideas.

First a little history of my family situation. I grew up with five brothers and one sister, I was labeled “Number Four” in other words I was the fourth child. My three older brothers and I were a year apart (give or take a month or two) and one brother was a year and a half younger than me, and sister a year younger than him. Roughly thirteen years after my sister we were blessed with another brother. Remembering all that had happened in the past and after having kids of my own all I can think of now is "our poor parents, what were you thinking?".

I must have been three at the time because I was told that my older brother (who was just a year older) was with me or I was with him, because of our ages we were constantly together. My two other older brothers were probably in school. There were only two houses on the block where we lived and both houses were connected by a huge field in the back and faced a main street. This happened back in a time when even though the street we lived on was considered a busy street, only a dozen or so cars drove past every ten to fifteen minutes, and for some reason the people were not in a hurry to get from point A to point B and took time to look at their surroundings. Unlike today where there's a couple of hundred cars every one to two minutes, and the people have to get there now if not sooner, only looking at the break lights of the car in front of them. Anyway, to get on with the story, nobody knows who came up with the idea, my brother or I. We just thought it would be fun to take a stroll. So we strolled out into the street, lied down on the yellow line then started to play the waiting game. We waited for a car to drive past and tried to touch it as it went by. Nobody knows how long we were out there doing this when we got caught. Our Mom found out because a truck driver would stop and pick us up out of the street and take us to our house. We were either smart or dumb enough to lay in the street in front of our house so the driver easily figured out where we lived (or could it had been all the toys in the yard?). According to my Mom we did this on more than one occasion. There you have it a waiting game that could have ended deadly, but didn't because I am here to write about it.

At least this past week has been busy with Myrna and Josie's Gamelan Bintang Wahyu (see Laytonology) and Myrna's cousin's daughter Wendy's premiere of "An Evening With My Comatose Mother" a short film which she was the star of. And may I add I enjoyed both thoroughly.

And now I must continue playing "The Waiting Game", but instead of thinking of things to write I must concentrate on getting ready for the trip.

Until next time...may you have good luck.

Double Dare Ya!

2011-04-10T09:06:00.001-06:00

I dislike certain challenges or dares. I personally don't think there's much of a difference, except with a dare you can double or triple dare someone. Which, if you're in your younger school years, really put you in a bind. The ones I really dislike are the ones that might get your body destroyed, worse get you into trouble or both. This is one exception, once in the summer of '79 I had just purchased a new car (Camaro Z28), just like the one pictured below.
It had some nice features, but what I liked about it was it was fast.

I was in Missouri cruising around 60 mpg (speed limit was 55 mpg at the time) and came upon a convoy of 19 to 20 semi-trucks doing 40 mpg to 50 mpg. I had a CB at the time so I got talking to the lead truck and asked if they had seen any police because I'd like to pass them. The lead truck said no they had not seen any and their radar detectors don't pick up any radar. If I had enough power to go ahead and try to pass. That was the challenge! Did I have enough power to pass 19 to 20 trucks? I down shifted from 4th to 3rd and pressed the gas pedal down, within seconds I had to shift into 4th. I shot past the lead truck doing around 150 mpg to 155 mpg with more pedal to push. I traveled about a half mile past the trucks at that speed (loved it), but thought wise not to press my luck. Won't do that again unless I'm on a race track, can't afford the ticket. That challenge wasn't painful, but it could have been if something would have gotten in my way.

I have since broken down from the thrilling challenges that I just mentioned (there are more) to the ones I'm currently doing. Because I am going to spend the next five months in Germany. Myrna challenged me to start a blog. She says so that family and friends could experience my stay there as much as I will. I think she wants me to write the blog to keep me out of trouble, she knows that I don't write very fast. Okay, you see I have this thing about writing. Not that I can't write, but my thoughts are random so when I speak or write everything is fragmented and I have to cut and paste (which is easier to do on a computer then when you speak) to try to make it all make sense to everyone and when it comes to the spelling and grammar, I'm not so keen about it. I have to constantly stop to try to figure out words that I can't spell or try to figure out another word that I can spell to replace the word that I wanted to use, but couldn't spell. Then where do I put all those little commas and things. Do I use a question mark or just a period and why do some of the words kinda float around the page? With pen and paper I was lost. I was in the pre-computers era so I didn't have computers in school when I was growing up. (Listen closely little ones) We had to write everything out with pen and paper. Also, we had a place to go to to do research, it is called the library, and look everything up in books. My papers were always messy with words crossed or scribbled out. I couldn't even copy a paper without making mistakes. But with all that I took Myrna up on the challenge and started the blog.

Now comes the the double dare.

Last night we had our granddaughter over for a few hours so that her mother could have a break from two children and Rachel's sister could have some one on one time with mom. Before it was time for Rachel to be taken home I got out my laptop to experiment with the camera software. I wanted to see what it could do to be ready for Germany. I let Rachel be my stooge because I don't like my picture taken (another dare when I was a kid and another blog). Myrna asked (dared) me to make a blog of those pictures so that I could get used to placing pictures on the blogs. Here are the results.

Rachel thought that the program was great and fun to play with. The stuff that they do with computer software is amazing. Like I mentioned earlier I'm just thankful for spell check, cut and paste.

Until the next time - don't let the bed bugs bite

First Time Blogger

2011-04-08T09:10:00.000-06:00

Hi...
I know that blogging has been around for years, I have been reading my wife's, kid's, kin folk's and friend's blogs for that long. And I want you to know that even though I don' t always comment on them I do enjoy each and everyone. Some make me laugh, feel sad, angry, and knowledgeable (because I have to research information that I don't have a clue what you are talking about). But, I do enjoy all the stories, pictures and movie clips and I hope that I can repay the privilege of reading your blogs by adding my own blog to your special group. I know I don't write like Nancy and Eric you should have no fear about my pictures showing yours up. But, I am open to any suggestions that you experienced bloggers have.

I am starting this blog to let my family know of my experiences in Germany where I'll be living the next five months working an internship with the Department of Defense. I'll be Heidelberg, Germany working with the U.S. Army as an Equal Opportunity Assistant. I know that the position doesn't sound that exciting, but we'll have to see if I can't beef it up a little with my great blogging skills (ha ha) and I understand that there is a lot to do in and around Germany and I'll do my best to show you Germany through my eyes.

So until next time...don't let the moss grow under your feet!