Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Pearson International Airport
Things have been very busy for me since the cruise. The week after the cruise I was in Montreal visiting my current customer. This was followed by a week of preparing for another prototype review for that customer. This week, I am in the Toronto area at another office for the same customer. However, I hope to find more time for blogging again.
Since it has been a while, this post will cover a lot of ground.
Andrew has been playing with a couple of bands and starting to make some money here and there. He is a lead singer and plays guitar and bass guitar. His band has had a couple of out-of-town trips with the most recent to Arizona where they played at a bar and Utah where they played at a wedding. Celeste had a chance to see him play at a local bar/restaurant near home while I stayed home with the girls.
Bethany has started the SAT/ACT testing process. You can definitely tell a motivated teenager when they are willing to PAY to get up early on a weekend and take a grueling test! She is especially looking forward to getting out of school. The day after her last final, Beth is off to Norway to visit Ina and her family for three weeks!
Hayley has continued playing volleyball. She moved up a level and has real coaching instead of just me now. Her skills have definitely improved with her specialties being serving and setting. Hayley is about to graduate from 8th grade and become a freshman at the high school.
Hayley and I went to see the latest Shrek movie last weekend while Bethany was taking her SAT Subject Tests. It was fair, but not as good as the first one IMHO.
Hayley continues to be my last hope for playing my board games. Bethany is not into them at all, Andrew will play some when he is around, and Celeste will only play a few. Hayley has really enjoyed quite a few of them and occasionally I pull out an old classic. The most recent classic was Battle Masters. This is close to minatures, but still on a game board. Granted the game board is around 4' by 5' and with lots of cool plastic pieces to move around (knights, orcs, archers, beastmen, etc.). We pulled aside the dining room table to have room to play and kept it around for the weekend. Lots of fun pulling out the old stuff!
As I write this, I am in the Toronto area for work. I am outside of town without a car since my hotel is across the parking lot from my customer. I can see downtown Toronto in the distance from my hotel room, but no time on this trip to visit. I've posted some pictures from there. Also, when I checked in they were out of regular non-smoking rooms. Rather than moving me to smoking (Yuck!), they upgraded me to a suite with a Jacuzzi and Sauna. Despite all of my trips to Finland, I have never tried a sauna. I did try out the Jacuzzi, so maybe I have to give the Sauna a try tonight. Maybe. I posted some pictures of that too.
I did take a nice walk last night and found a local geocache. I was disappointed to see the the geocoins that were supposed to be there were not. However, when I read the log today I see that a new geocoin was dropped off. If the rain stays away, I may go get that one.
My hotel is very near Pearson International Airport, so I can see planes in the final approach to landing from my room. The hotel is soundproofed nicely, so it is cool to watch. This is obviously a very international destination. Here are some of the airlines that I can remember seeing from my hotel this week:
* Air Canada
* Jazz
* Continental
* United
* American
* Korean Air
* LOT (Polish Flag Air Carrier)
* AlItalia
* Lufthansa
OK, that is enough for now. I'll try to post shorter blurbs more often for a while!
Here is the Toronto skyline as seen from my hotel window:
This is the jacuzzi and sauna in my hotel room:
Here is the jacuzzi in my room when I prepared it for use:
I found a geocache in that small tree behind me:
Since it has been a while, this post will cover a lot of ground.
Andrew has been playing with a couple of bands and starting to make some money here and there. He is a lead singer and plays guitar and bass guitar. His band has had a couple of out-of-town trips with the most recent to Arizona where they played at a bar and Utah where they played at a wedding. Celeste had a chance to see him play at a local bar/restaurant near home while I stayed home with the girls.
Bethany has started the SAT/ACT testing process. You can definitely tell a motivated teenager when they are willing to PAY to get up early on a weekend and take a grueling test! She is especially looking forward to getting out of school. The day after her last final, Beth is off to Norway to visit Ina and her family for three weeks!
Hayley has continued playing volleyball. She moved up a level and has real coaching instead of just me now. Her skills have definitely improved with her specialties being serving and setting. Hayley is about to graduate from 8th grade and become a freshman at the high school.
Hayley and I went to see the latest Shrek movie last weekend while Bethany was taking her SAT Subject Tests. It was fair, but not as good as the first one IMHO.
Hayley continues to be my last hope for playing my board games. Bethany is not into them at all, Andrew will play some when he is around, and Celeste will only play a few. Hayley has really enjoyed quite a few of them and occasionally I pull out an old classic. The most recent classic was Battle Masters. This is close to minatures, but still on a game board. Granted the game board is around 4' by 5' and with lots of cool plastic pieces to move around (knights, orcs, archers, beastmen, etc.). We pulled aside the dining room table to have room to play and kept it around for the weekend. Lots of fun pulling out the old stuff!
As I write this, I am in the Toronto area for work. I am outside of town without a car since my hotel is across the parking lot from my customer. I can see downtown Toronto in the distance from my hotel room, but no time on this trip to visit. I've posted some pictures from there. Also, when I checked in they were out of regular non-smoking rooms. Rather than moving me to smoking (Yuck!), they upgraded me to a suite with a Jacuzzi and Sauna. Despite all of my trips to Finland, I have never tried a sauna. I did try out the Jacuzzi, so maybe I have to give the Sauna a try tonight. Maybe. I posted some pictures of that too.
I did take a nice walk last night and found a local geocache. I was disappointed to see the the geocoins that were supposed to be there were not. However, when I read the log today I see that a new geocoin was dropped off. If the rain stays away, I may go get that one.
My hotel is very near Pearson International Airport, so I can see planes in the final approach to landing from my room. The hotel is soundproofed nicely, so it is cool to watch. This is obviously a very international destination. Here are some of the airlines that I can remember seeing from my hotel this week:
* Air Canada
* Jazz
* Continental
* United
* American
* Korean Air
* LOT (Polish Flag Air Carrier)
* AlItalia
* Lufthansa
OK, that is enough for now. I'll try to post shorter blurbs more often for a while!
Here is the Toronto skyline as seen from my hotel window:
This is the jacuzzi and sauna in my hotel room:
Here is the jacuzzi in my room when I prepared it for use:
I found a geocache in that small tree behind me:
Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Blogging, Family, Games, Geocaching, GPS, Hayley, Ina, Movies, Rob, School, Travel, Volleyball, Work
Monday, August 06, 2007
GPS facts from Dallas, TX
I am writing this entry from Dallas, TX. I'm here on a business trip and I brought along my handheld GPS for no particular reason. I don't have time to do any geocaching and I have my car GPS with me for local navigation. I just brought my handheld GPS to play around with it. Today I am truly in touch with my inner GPS geek.
Here are some facts determined with my GPS device.
I'm currently at 415 feet above sea level.
I'm 262 miles from the Alamo in San Antonio, TX. I marked that location in my GPS when I was there last January.
I'm 618 miles from the geocache that I found near Colorado Springs, CO last month.
I'm 955 miles from a waypoint that I set in Zion National Park last month.
Girl Scout Camp Scherman in California is 1139 miles away.
My waypoint at Sea World, California (one of the oldest points in my GPS) is 1180 miles away.
Home is 1201 miles from here.
The farther waypoint from here in my GPS is a customer location near Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA. They are 1253 miles from here.
Here are some facts determined with my GPS device.
I'm currently at 415 feet above sea level.
I'm 262 miles from the Alamo in San Antonio, TX. I marked that location in my GPS when I was there last January.
I'm 618 miles from the geocache that I found near Colorado Springs, CO last month.
I'm 955 miles from a waypoint that I set in Zion National Park last month.
Girl Scout Camp Scherman in California is 1139 miles away.
My waypoint at Sea World, California (one of the oldest points in my GPS) is 1180 miles away.
Home is 1201 miles from here.
The farther waypoint from here in my GPS is a customer location near Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA. They are 1253 miles from here.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Camping
We went camping last weekend. We took the tents and sleeping bags and such and headed out to a campground that I remember going to a lot as a kid. The place is called Vail Lake Resort (it was called Butterfield Country when I was a kid) and it is a few miles east of Temecula. We went a few years ago over a long February weekend and it was great. The site was still being re-built after years of neglect, but they had done a good job on what was done. Based on that, we decided to head out there again with some friends of ours.
The kids had fun this past weekend, although it was less so for us parents. There were a lot of cool things going on including live music on Friday and Saturday night, a BBQ and fireworks on Saturday, lots of places to ride bikes, and we added 3 new geocaches to our finds.
However, on the negative side it was hot, dusty, and loud. Hot was annoying, dusty was manageable, but the loud part was very unacceptable. It was like the campsites around us were having a stereo volume war and everyone lost. On top of that, we were dealing with kids screaming until well past midnight.
Wow, I feel old complaining like this -- but on the other hand I have rarely experienced such an utter lack of courtesy by so many different people in what should have been a relaxing atmosphere. The campsite had rules, they just didn't enforce them. I asked the nearest group to turn it down around 11pm, but I just didn't have the time or energy to deal with all of the others. Unfortunately, we don't plan to return anytime soon (and definitely not in the summertime).
The kids had fun this past weekend, although it was less so for us parents. There were a lot of cool things going on including live music on Friday and Saturday night, a BBQ and fireworks on Saturday, lots of places to ride bikes, and we added 3 new geocaches to our finds.
However, on the negative side it was hot, dusty, and loud. Hot was annoying, dusty was manageable, but the loud part was very unacceptable. It was like the campsites around us were having a stereo volume war and everyone lost. On top of that, we were dealing with kids screaming until well past midnight.
Wow, I feel old complaining like this -- but on the other hand I have rarely experienced such an utter lack of courtesy by so many different people in what should have been a relaxing atmosphere. The campsite had rules, they just didn't enforce them. I asked the nearest group to turn it down around 11pm, but I just didn't have the time or energy to deal with all of the others. Unfortunately, we don't plan to return anytime soon (and definitely not in the summertime).
Labels: Camping, Geocaching, GPS, Rant
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Geocaching
We have discovered a new hobby: geocaching. Some friends mentioned this to us a while ago, but we never got around to trying it until last weekend. The girls are now hooked!
Geocaching is basically a GPS treasure hunt. Find a cache that is near you (we use www.geocaching.com), enter the coordinates in your portable GPS, take along any clues of where the cache is hidden, and go. When you find it, at a minimum you sign the log book. Most caches have prizes within where the rule is to take something out and put something in.
We have only found 3 so far, but they have been fun to hunt down. Some people out there get VERY creative in how they hide those things! Last night the girls and I figured out a puzzle for the next one that we are going to find. That's one cool thing about this activity -- it combines computer work, puzzle solving, and outdoor activity.
I'm looking forward to it as something new to do outside with the kids. For example, our local Aliso Creek Bike Trail has a bunch of them hidden along the route. We can go for a bike ride and track down caches as we go. The caches are literally hidden all over the world. Bethany's Girl Scout troop wants to create a cache of their own and publish it. There are enough people with this desire that there are many places to practice this hobby.
Geocaching is basically a GPS treasure hunt. Find a cache that is near you (we use www.geocaching.com), enter the coordinates in your portable GPS, take along any clues of where the cache is hidden, and go. When you find it, at a minimum you sign the log book. Most caches have prizes within where the rule is to take something out and put something in.
We have only found 3 so far, but they have been fun to hunt down. Some people out there get VERY creative in how they hide those things! Last night the girls and I figured out a puzzle for the next one that we are going to find. That's one cool thing about this activity -- it combines computer work, puzzle solving, and outdoor activity.
I'm looking forward to it as something new to do outside with the kids. For example, our local Aliso Creek Bike Trail has a bunch of them hidden along the route. We can go for a bike ride and track down caches as we go. The caches are literally hidden all over the world. Bethany's Girl Scout troop wants to create a cache of their own and publish it. There are enough people with this desire that there are many places to practice this hobby.
Labels: Family, Geocaching, GPS
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
New Car & GPS choice
We have been talking about getting a new car for me for over 2 years. My Altima is older than my 10 year old daughter by about 6 months. However, it has low mileage and still runs well. The clincher is that Andrew is now driving and needs a way to get to school.
On Fathers Day, the family surprised me by taking me car shopping. Due to a family connection, we were able to get employee pricing at Chrysler (ironically they brought back employee pricing for everyone after I bought the car). Anyway, I purchased a 2006 Pearl Blue PT Cruiser. Just the basic model. The only options I wanted were Air Conditioning, Automatic, and GPS Navigation. Why did I want GPS? It is useful for driving to new places, but mostly as a toy (I have to admit that). The dealer found me a car with AC, Automatic, and Sirius Satellite radio. I told them to keep trying, so they gave me the Sirius radio for free. They also setup a work order to install the GPS unit the following week.
First of all, the Sirius radio is cool. I'm not a Howard Stern fan, so that meant nothing to me. However, the comedy stations and the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s stations have been nice. I get 1 year free with the radio. I doubt that I will renew the subscription next year, but I will enjoy it while I have it for free.
The GPS unit turned out to be a saga. It turns out that the 2006 PT Cruiser has had the dash redesigned and the Chrysler Mopar in-dash GPS unit no longer fits. I found this out after leaving my car at the dealer one afternoon and returning to find that nothing was done. Instead they ordered a Garmin-built unit that would be installed on the top of my dashboard. I had to persuade them to dig out some specs for the unit. It was much cheaper than the one I intended, smaller, less functional, and sat in an obvious spot for thieves and blocking my vision.
At that point, I did some serious research into options. The dealer wasn't helpful. I found a Pioneer in-dash unit that was very cool. It was small and would slide the screen in and out of the dash as needed. It also was a DVD player. Lots of cool toy potential. However, the cost was more than I had paid and the dealer was not willing to eat the additional cost. I was not willing to pay additional cost.
A few days ago, I decided to think about portable GPS units. As it turns out, this was the obvious answer to make this more than a toy. A unit that could easily move from car to car and travel with us would be very useful. In fact, it would have been really helpful on our trip back East last April.
Yesterday this was resolved. The dealer is refunding what we paid for the GPS and I am spending less than that to purchase a high end portable unit. The order was placed last night. I can't wait to get my new toy!
On Fathers Day, the family surprised me by taking me car shopping. Due to a family connection, we were able to get employee pricing at Chrysler (ironically they brought back employee pricing for everyone after I bought the car). Anyway, I purchased a 2006 Pearl Blue PT Cruiser. Just the basic model. The only options I wanted were Air Conditioning, Automatic, and GPS Navigation. Why did I want GPS? It is useful for driving to new places, but mostly as a toy (I have to admit that). The dealer found me a car with AC, Automatic, and Sirius Satellite radio. I told them to keep trying, so they gave me the Sirius radio for free. They also setup a work order to install the GPS unit the following week.
First of all, the Sirius radio is cool. I'm not a Howard Stern fan, so that meant nothing to me. However, the comedy stations and the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s stations have been nice. I get 1 year free with the radio. I doubt that I will renew the subscription next year, but I will enjoy it while I have it for free.
The GPS unit turned out to be a saga. It turns out that the 2006 PT Cruiser has had the dash redesigned and the Chrysler Mopar in-dash GPS unit no longer fits. I found this out after leaving my car at the dealer one afternoon and returning to find that nothing was done. Instead they ordered a Garmin-built unit that would be installed on the top of my dashboard. I had to persuade them to dig out some specs for the unit. It was much cheaper than the one I intended, smaller, less functional, and sat in an obvious spot for thieves and blocking my vision.
At that point, I did some serious research into options. The dealer wasn't helpful. I found a Pioneer in-dash unit that was very cool. It was small and would slide the screen in and out of the dash as needed. It also was a DVD player. Lots of cool toy potential. However, the cost was more than I had paid and the dealer was not willing to eat the additional cost. I was not willing to pay additional cost.
A few days ago, I decided to think about portable GPS units. As it turns out, this was the obvious answer to make this more than a toy. A unit that could easily move from car to car and travel with us would be very useful. In fact, it would have been really helpful on our trip back East last April.
Yesterday this was resolved. The dealer is refunding what we paid for the GPS and I am spending less than that to purchase a high end portable unit. The order was placed last night. I can't wait to get my new toy!
Labels: Day Trip, Driving, GPS
