100 and Done! (Countries that is...)

-
Image
We are back! This last trip brought the total countries visited to 100! It is a crazy milestone. It is difficult, time-consuming and can be (IS) expensive. After I got back from Antarctica in 2007, I started thinking about it. After 2010 I was thinking about it more (as I moved from NY to Georgia) and in 2014 it had become a real goal. Between Angie and I we have been to 109 Countries. We are tied at 100 countries each. We have 9 countries different in our lists. For example, I have been to San Marino. She has not. She has been to Israel. I have not, yet. There has been some fun competition in this area. That's why we had to establish rules. 1.) Must be listed (as a country) with the US State Department 2.) Being in an airport doesn't count. You have to get through immigration somehow and not in a DMZ or a no-mans-land 3.) A passport stamp is not required. I have been to Canada, Paraguay, and Uruguay without getting my passport stamped. There are friendly borders in many places...
Post a Comment
-

Times Square Webcam

I was in Manhattan Tuesday night through Friday evening this past week. I think that was the highest I have ever slept. I was on the 34th floor. I don't think I have ever stayed in a room higher than that. I am not sure though. It was interesting watching Good Morning America on TV and essentially being there at the same time. I ate fish and Thai food. The food was great; surprisingly, I didn't really gain any weight.

I took a project management class at the American Management Association facility at 8th and 48th. The class was good. I met and worked with some interesting folks from around the country. The instructor remarked that our class was a good one. I think she really meant it. We were all very interested in learning. Project Management is an interesting subdiscipline of management. Some companies have a natural culture of project management and others do not. I like project management because the terms used are highly defined, like physics. It is also a suite of techniques, in effect, to reduce or remove politics and improve communication. It is both an art and science.

Back at home we got a new Rooster. Liz and Ken brought him over. He was a pretty rooster. Unfortunately, he didn't last a week. Bonnie found him dead outside after she let them out for exercise. We figure our cat Tioga killed him. We didn't properly introduce them to each other. We figure Tioga saw him beating up on his hens and stepped in to protect the chicks. The rooster of course wouldn't back down in a situation like that and he lost. The rooster's neck was snapped.

It is muddy out there. I mean really muddy. The TV is calling for flash floods and warning aganist travel.

The following pic was taken a year or so ago. I like it. It shows the weather we are looking forward to right now and the common valley fog I like.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Caribbean Trip Christmas 2025

-
Image
Before this trip I couldn't spell caribbean... It's a weird one. We didn't have a lot of time for this trip as usual. Other things in life besides travel to get done, like work. We planned Punta Cana Dominican Republic, Domenica, and Antigua and Barbuda. Our visit to DR was shortened by a cancelled flight on Liat Airlines. Our first flight on Liat we were at the ticket counter for 3 hours. There were only 3 other passengers on an Embraer 145 which holds 50. We learned in Dominica that Liat is short for "Leave Island Another Time". Or as I used my very limited Russian swearing vocaulary "Blyat" or "блядь". You can hear this word many times watching car crashes in Russia on Youtube. It is normally compounded with many other intensifiers. Of the three countries we liked Domenica best. It reminds me of Maui without all the tourism and people. Parts of the island might be the densest jungle I've seen. This pic is a improptu ...
Read more
-
Kim H Bliss Here is a neat article of a recurring theme I find my self considering. I mean where does technology end and science begin? Where is that table where philosophy, science, technogy and human existance all come to eat?
Read more
-
Fantastically Dangerous Capacitor-bank Experiments This link reminds me of the time when me and a friend were planning to build an ION laser using extraordinarily large capacitor banks. We did all the design work on the capacitors. We just never funded the project. It probably would have cost about a thousand dollars total. It seems like a lot at the time. The other thing about self-funding experiments is the heartbreak when the expensive toys go up in smoke... good experiment... good lesson... It just costs money. These capacitors could be a great source of amusement for many projects. NYSE&G just left. They hooked me up. They didn't want to come back this afternoon. So I called the inspector and he called it in and said it was ok. He is still coming out to look at things, but the service entrance has been switched from overhead via pole to underground via the barn with a bypass load center to the house underground. The NYSE&G guy said I did good work. That made m...
Read more

Helen Elizabeth Raymond Dowdell

-
Image
My Mom died today. It happens. It is the way it is supposed to happen. I am her son, always. Our human lives are physical/emotional, everything else is an abstraction (unless you are from some sort of lizard species). Looking through some photos today, I decided I liked this one for my blog (originally posted in Sept 28, 2009). The subtlety in this pic (looking very closely) is that in my Mom's gaze is an aviation NAVAID "the white thing" usually invisible when flying. I have faith. The same faith you feel when your foot hits the floor getting out of bed or when you make a turn in traffic. I will grow my faith. I will drive and pull as I did as they all did as they prayed for my survival when I was born. God bless us all. Throughout my life I was reminded from strangers that MY Mom was a genuine caring healthcare provider. She sincerely touched thousands of lives in Western, NY. They may not remember her name. They will somehow remember her care. Today, it seems these day...
Read more