This past week has been unusual as my daughters were both gone on trips. My oldest daughter (15) was on an orchestra trip to Spain and Portugal and my youngest daughter (13) was on a missions trip to Nashville with a group from our church. Both girls have been away in the past for camp and things but I think that this is the first time that both have been gone at the same time. It was pretty quiet in the house (too quiet). The oldest got back this evening from her trip and the youngest will be back tomorrow around lunch time. I am thankful that both will be home in time for Father's Day!
The other unusual event this week is that I had an episode of Afib (very irregular and fast heart rhythm) on Wed night as I was getting ready to call into a conference bridge for a late night work session. My work requires occasional midnight sessions where we do updates to the customer's network. The work was planned for 01:00 (CDT) on Thursday morning as we were making updates to a system in the Mountain Time zone. As I was getting ready to call in for this work I realized that my heart was not in it's normal rhythm. The Afib episode went from about 12:30 until 2:15 when my heart came back into a normal rhythm (though it was a few hours later before it was at my normal heart rate). I was able to do my work during this time but it did add to the stress on my end. On Thursday afternoon I talked to my boss about this and she told me to take off the rest of Thursday and Friday to get some rest. So this is what I have been doing for the past day and a half. The Afib hasn't returned during this time and I am hoping that it will be some time before my next episode. I have been on medication for this condition since it was first diagnosed in September 2009. I had a 15 minute episode at the beginning of April this year but this latest episode was the longest I have had since I started on the medication. The episode in April was in the morning on a day that I was scheduled to fly to Seattle for 2 weeks. I was able to make the trip after that episode lasted so briefly but both of these 2 recent episodes have been at inconvenient times.
I am looking forward to the weekend and spending the time with my family. I can't wait to hear all the stories from Spain, Portugal and Nashville.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Seattle - Cherry Trees and Parks
On my final trip to Seattle (in May) I finally got to do a little bit of sightseeing over the weekend I was there. Some co-workers and I drove into Seattle on a pretty day. Our first stop was at the University of Washington campus. We walked around the campus and enjoyed the sunshine, the architecture and the cherry trees. A few of the cherry trees were still in blossom when we were there though most had reached their peak a few weeks earlier. (click pictures to see larger images)
The coolest sight was probably a view of Mt. Ranier from the campus (from 61 miles away). It wasn't the clearest day to see the mountain but it was still cool. I really wish that I had brought a real camera on my trip but I had to settle for pictures from my phone. The mountain isn't very easy to see in this picture but it is at the bottom of the path. I assume that the path was built in this direction to point toward this view.
After walking around the campus we drove to a park (Gas Works Park) on the northern side of the lake which is just north of Seattle. The park was once a gas manufacturing site for the city but is now a city park with a large hill for flying kites. The old factory equipment is now a very popular subject for photographers (at least it was the day we were there). The park had a nice view of Seattle across the lake and we were able to watch some planes take off and land on the Seattle side of the lake. If you look close in this picture you can see the plane that is about to land on the water.
Our final stop was at Discovery Park which is on the northwest side of Seattle. The park has a large number of hiking trails and beaches on Puget Sound. We did some walking and made it to the north beach. It was all very nice though by the time we made it back to the car we had had enough walking for the day.
It was one of the prettiest days that I spent in Seattle and definitely a great day to be out enjoying the natural beauty.
The coolest sight was probably a view of Mt. Ranier from the campus (from 61 miles away). It wasn't the clearest day to see the mountain but it was still cool. I really wish that I had brought a real camera on my trip but I had to settle for pictures from my phone. The mountain isn't very easy to see in this picture but it is at the bottom of the path. I assume that the path was built in this direction to point toward this view.
After walking around the campus we drove to a park (Gas Works Park) on the northern side of the lake which is just north of Seattle. The park was once a gas manufacturing site for the city but is now a city park with a large hill for flying kites. The old factory equipment is now a very popular subject for photographers (at least it was the day we were there). The park had a nice view of Seattle across the lake and we were able to watch some planes take off and land on the Seattle side of the lake. If you look close in this picture you can see the plane that is about to land on the water.
Our final stop was at Discovery Park which is on the northwest side of Seattle. The park has a large number of hiking trails and beaches on Puget Sound. We did some walking and made it to the north beach. It was all very nice though by the time we made it back to the car we had had enough walking for the day.
It was one of the prettiest days that I spent in Seattle and definitely a great day to be out enjoying the natural beauty.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Seattle - Umbrellas and Dim Sum...
I have traveled on occasion with my job in the past but recently I have spent quite a bit of time on the road. Between Thanksgiving and mid-May I spent 9 weeks in Seattle over 5 trips. These were the first times that I had ever been to Seattle (other than a airport stop on a flight many years ago).
Seattle was very nice though I am not sure that I would want to live there due to the weather. The stereotype of frequent rain is no stereotype. It rained probably over half the days that I was there and was cloudy many others with no sight of the sun. The only good thing to say about the rain is that it is typically just a drizzle and you can often walk in it without an umbrella. Though it was interesting that there were "public" umbrellas that Microsoft had donated to the mall area where my hotel and work location were located. You just grab an umbrella whenever you leave a place and then drop it off in a bin at your destination for someone else to use later.
One thing that I really did enjoy in Seattle was the food. There were a number of very good restaurants but my favorites were a couple of Dim Sum (Chinese dumpings) places. These restaurants (The Noble Court and Din Tai Fung Dumpling House) were both in Bellevue, WA. I went to both of these restaurants with a large group of coworkers. This is the best way to eat Dim Sum as you can order a large number of dishes and everyone gets to try all the different types of dumplings. The Din Tai Fung restaurant is a chain of restaurants that started in Taiwan and has since spread to China, Japan, ..., Los Angeles and recently Seattle. Here is the process (in the "fishbowl") where the dumplings are put together:
And here is what the final product looks like (image from Din Tai Fung website):
Seattle was very nice though I am not sure that I would want to live there due to the weather. The stereotype of frequent rain is no stereotype. It rained probably over half the days that I was there and was cloudy many others with no sight of the sun. The only good thing to say about the rain is that it is typically just a drizzle and you can often walk in it without an umbrella. Though it was interesting that there were "public" umbrellas that Microsoft had donated to the mall area where my hotel and work location were located. You just grab an umbrella whenever you leave a place and then drop it off in a bin at your destination for someone else to use later.
One thing that I really did enjoy in Seattle was the food. There were a number of very good restaurants but my favorites were a couple of Dim Sum (Chinese dumpings) places. These restaurants (The Noble Court and Din Tai Fung Dumpling House) were both in Bellevue, WA. I went to both of these restaurants with a large group of coworkers. This is the best way to eat Dim Sum as you can order a large number of dishes and everyone gets to try all the different types of dumplings. The Din Tai Fung restaurant is a chain of restaurants that started in Taiwan and has since spread to China, Japan, ..., Los Angeles and recently Seattle. Here is the process (in the "fishbowl") where the dumplings are put together:
And here is what the final product looks like (image from Din Tai Fung website):
Gatorade Bath
About a year ago I was watching one of the local sports teams on TV and a commercial came on that caught my attention. It was a Chicago Bears commercial that was promoting community service. I am not sure if I ever saw the commercial again but I remembered it as it was cute and one of the Bears in the commercial was Tommy Harris (a former all-American defensive lineman from OU).
Well the other day I happened to be online and I saw a reference to a youtube video from a friend's webpage and it turns out that it was the same video. Here it is:
The "rest of the story" is that when I saw this commercial and noticed the Bears who were in it I totally missed that the guy who is receiving the Gatorade bath is a very good friend of mine, Charles Stephens. I talked to Charles at work the next day after seeing him in the video and said "Were you really in a Bears commercial?" and his response was "oh yeah that was just something I did last summer"... :)
Well the other day I happened to be online and I saw a reference to a youtube video from a friend's webpage and it turns out that it was the same video. Here it is:
The "rest of the story" is that when I saw this commercial and noticed the Bears who were in it I totally missed that the guy who is receiving the Gatorade bath is a very good friend of mine, Charles Stephens. I talked to Charles at work the next day after seeing him in the video and said "Were you really in a Bears commercial?" and his response was "oh yeah that was just something I did last summer"... :)
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