Ups and Downs of the week.

 Chicago, IL – Great city, except…

  Chicago, IL – Lots of obnoxious people here.

Dad – Home for good it seems. Going to visit in two weeks.

  Red Sox – Still stumbling along, but they’ve lost the offensive spark. Maybe the All-Star break will help.

 Baby Raccoons – All kids love a pool. Baby coonies are no different. Just before I was able to snap this picture, this guy’s sibling was fully into the bin and splashing around.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Home again – After being on the road nearly non-stop for three weeks, it’s good to be home. I have no school work and no place to be this weekend. I intend to enjoy my lack of things to do.

  Greed and self-importance – ‘Nuff said.

 Dad – Stronger every day. Hopefully he’ll go home again this week.

   Red Sox - Big Papi seems to have recovered somewhat from his epic slump, but Dice-K is just awful this year. They’ve got some issues to work out.

 Ragtops – Top-down driving is awesome. My Thursday commute was perfect. Sunny, warm (ok, hot) day, top down, a/c blasting cold air at me, Bob Marley cranking on the stereo, and near empty roads going to and from work. I thoroughly enjoyed the 110 mile round trip. 

We’ve been in London, Ontario over the weekend for a wedding. We drove back today and crossed into the US through Port Huron, MI. As we drove up to the checkpoint, I rolled down the window and handed the customs guy our passports. He asked where we lived and where we’ve been, and then scanned the passports. As soon as he scanned my passport, alarms went off and a half-dozen customs officers surrounded my car. They made me shut off the car and get out, then raise my hands and walk backwards until I was behind the car. Then I had to put my hands behind my back and lean forward. They cuffed me and hauled me off to a detention cell. Then they did the same thing to Sarah.

Once inside they asked me a few questions about where I lived and what my SSN was. After a few minutes they uncuffed me and let me out of the cell. Sarah was already uncuffed by then. Apparently they had an APB on a guy using my exact name with the exact same date of birth. He’s considered armed and dangerous, so they weren’t taking any chances. I think his description must be very different than mine, because the customs guy in the booth seemed to know right away I wasn’t their man, but because two items matched (name and DOB) they had to take me in until they were sure.

Quite the experience, though. I wonder what all the people in line behind us thought when they saw us both being hauled off in cuffs.

At the risk of becoming dull, I have one more set of pics from our walk today in Central Park. The weather was mid-70s, dry, and sunny. In other words, perfect. The park was very busy today.

We can’t come to NYC without stopping at The Strand bookstore at Broadway and 12th St. This is a huge bookstore with used books and remainders and rare books and such. While Sarah was browsing, I took the opportunity to shoot some different sort of pics with the little Lumix P&S I bought a few months ago.

Here’s The Strand from the street.

What I see when I’m there.

Not what most people see.

Here are the pictures I promised. First set is Central Park. It was a nice day for walking, albeit a bit muggy. The temps were fine, though, so it was easy to walk for hours. The second set is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What a huge place. We didn’t come close to seeing it all. If we lived here, I think we’d be members just so we could come back again and again to see everything. 

Ups and Downs of the week.

 New York City – This place has its down side to be sure, but it’s a great place to visit. I especially like Central Park. We walked about 4 miles today through the park and around the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I’ll get some pics posted later. The food here is awesome as well. Today I stood dumbfounded in a deli just marveling at all the food choices. Then Sarah called and said she was coming back from the conference, so I was saved from the decision and went to meet her for lunch. 

   Dad – Back to the rehab facility to regain his strength after the hospitalization last week. Looks like a couple more weeks before he’s home again. 

  Red Sox - Well, they had first place for a bit. Tonight’s loss to the Jays could land them in second behind the Yankmees if the Evil Empire wins, which is likely.

 Verizon 3G data network – Got a Verizon USB760 adapter, so now I have broadband access virtually anywhere. I’ll be trading it in next week, though for Verizon’s new Mifi 2200. More on that gadget later.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 Long weekend – I need it. Starting Thursday we’ll be gone for most of the next three weeks. Thursday we’re off to NYC to BookExpo. We come back on Monday and leave again on Thursday for London, Ontario for Sarah’s cousin’s wedding. We’re back on that Sunday and gone again on Wednesday to Chicago for the HNS conference, finally coming home the following Monday. Lots of travel and not much rest.

   Dad – Back in the hospital again. Nothing too serious; just the same buildup of fluids that makes it hard for him to breathe. Thing is, this is exactly what convinced the docs he needed heart valve replacement way back in October. Now after 7 months of recovery from that, he’s having the same symptoms. Modern medicine is still a lot of guesswork. Dad should be home again on tomorrow, though.

 Red Sox - Despite tonight’s loss to the Mets (they got outpitched and Lugo was playing, so there you go), they still swept the Jays this week and are a half game out of first. Jays and Yankmees both lost tonight as well, so no ground lost.

 Weather – What a great week for weather. Got a bit of a sunburn from all the top-down driving, though.

  Illinois government – What a joke. The whole bunch of them need to be fired. Start over fresh. Maybe if the job paid better and was full-time we’d get some intelligent people to run for office.

 Bob Marley - What a shame he died so young. Incredible music.

 Grand Prix of Monaco – The premier race of this weekend. True racing talent on display here. High speed racing between Armco barriers through the streets of Monte Carlo. Much better than a couple hundred identical laps around an oval track like that other race this weekend.

Ups and Downs of the week.

 MLB.com – Despite technical difficulties on Opening Day (inexcusable), the picture quality this year is awesome, although the delay of nearly a minute makes it difficult to read posts on Sawxheads.com without reading spoilers. And the Nexdef app really ramps up the CPU usage. 

  Red Sox – Not a promising start to the season.

  Weather – Supposed to be cracking into the 60’s this coming week.

  Weather- It was in the 40’s today. It’s April, for Pete’s sake!!!!

 Dad – The man is a born fighter. So hard to gain that last bit of confidence and strength, though. Still, he’s toughing it out and will prevail, I’m sure. 

 Ramsau – I know I post about this a lot, but this has to be one of the most awe-inspiring webcams on the internet.

…we were in Bermuda. Seems like centuries ago.