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

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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...
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It is a cool rainy Saturday morning. I need to be out splitting wood. It won't be doing much drying today but splitting is a step in the right direction. I probably have about 6 face cord put up, but I want to get some cushion. Next year's use is fine. I always go through a bit more than I plan. I guess it is like eating what is in the pot. If it is there you consume it.

I got a promotion at work. I was getting pretty bored. It will be good to have some new challenges.

My flight instructor gave me some kudos the other night. I did my best landing ever. A "greaser" is what you call it. The flying experience is really a great one. It pulls from all corners of the mind. It really makes you feel alive. We were commenting that it is a strange calling. It is stressful and enjoyable all at the same time. It was great the other night. We were using runway 7 which is unusual because of the prevailing winds. There is a road that crosses the grass runway on the runway 7 approach end. You aim for the road and touchdown just after it. The pattern goes around the village of Greene, past the plant and you turn base between the round barn and the Ford dealership.

The chickens are laying about a dozen eggs a day. There are a fair amount of double yolkers too. Some of them get really large.

I was watching TV last night and I was a bit taken back by the complexity of the TV and related gear of controlling it. That sure is a long way from the days of the B&W TV. The remote control consisted of a verbal command to a small child to move between one the two or three channels. I remember years ago the first hard drive we bought at work for the second generation CAD system. It was a 10 megabyte drive from H-P. It cost something like $20,000.00. With Terabyte hard drives now under a hundred dollars is is hard not to feel a bit old.

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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...
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