Rob and the California George Family

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:

Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Blogging, Family, Games, Geocaching, GPS, Hayley, Ina, Movies, Rob, School, Travel, Volleyball, Work

Not that I am complaining. Work continues to be busy. I was out all last week on vacation in Hawaii. Got home late Sunday (technically early Monday) and now it is Monday night and I am back in Montreal.

I have a lot of topics and some fun pictures to post. Hopefully I can find some time for that this week.

Anyway, it is midnight here and I should get some sleep. More later...

Labels: Travel, Vacation, Work

For the 3rd week in a row, I am heading home tomorrow. Weeks 1 and 2 were spent in Arlington, Virginia (across the river from Washington DC). This week was spent in Montreal, Canada. There were very few weekdays in the last 3 weeks where I didn't get snowed on. Pretty unusual for a Southern California boy!

Labels: Travel, Weather

The sun has been shining for the last two days, so the roads are at least somewhat usable. People obviously returned to work today because there was a LOT of traffic on the roads this morning.

My flight is scheduled to leave on time direct back to Southern California, so no problems there. I am headed to the airport right after I post this entry. I am returning next week just as a new snow storm arrives. No one is sure, but it looks smaller than the last one.

Here are some follow up photos from my hotel room window from yesterday and today. The car that I was watching is slowly starting to melt out from under a pile of snow!

Labels: Travel, Weather, Work

I am working in Arlington, Virginia this week - across the Potomoc from Washington DC. For the first time in my life, I can use the words "snowed in" to describe my condition. As I have documented, my company has sent me to some cold places over the last 2+ years. However, the snowfall here beats anything from my prior trips.

The Washington DC area is getting historical amounts of snow this year. Last weekend they were hit hard with airports and roads closed, people stuck in homes or businesses, etc.

They cleaned it up enough so that those, like myself, that don't know any better could fly in to the area on Monday. Tuesday afternoon the next storm came in. Today they are having "near blizzard" conditions.

Don't get me wrong - me and my coworkers are fine at our hotel. However, the customer has closed their office for the day and the authorities are urging people to stay off the roads. Due to that, I am working from my hotel room today. With an internet connection and a phone, I can be just as effective as I can from my office or home for most things that I need to do.

The hotel that I am at is fine, but does not have a restaurant. They had a continential breakfast, but no other meals are offered. In this weather, there is nothing in a reasonable walking distance. However, the rooms do have full kitchens. Keeping those facts in mind, we all hit a grocery store last night and brought lunch and dinner good to keep in our refrigerator. No problems there!

Naturally, I took a few pictures with the camera on my phone. I wanted to document the level of snow that we got.

The 3 pictures below are all taken from my hotel room. The first was taken today at around 8:00am, the second at around 9:30am, and the last at around 12:15pm. They are basically the same angle. In each photo, there is a parked car near the bottom of the picture. You see less of it as time goes by. Also, you can see that my room window is clear in the first photo and has more snow on it in the following photos.





My impression of my first blizzard-like conditions? Much less impressive than I expected. If I were out in it, I would definitely be miserable. That is not my point. I really expected to see heavy snowfall and more accumulation of snow on the ground. The snow is not done, but should finish by tonight. I think that the heaviest of it is behind us now.

I do take it very seriously. Here are some excerpts from the weather service winter storm warning:
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE OCCURRING. DO NOT VENTURE OUTSIDE. THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION FOR ANYONE WHO BECOMES STRANDED.

FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS WILL CREATE WHITEOUT CONDITIONS... MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL... HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU. IF YOU GET STRANDED... STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE.

PEOPLE ARE ENCOURAGED NOT TO PANIC... BUT TO SIMPLY STAY INSIDE... ENJOY YOUR FAVORITE INDOOR ACTIVITIES... AND RIDE THIS STORM OUT... THE HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS WILL BE IMPROVING LATER THIS EVENING.

IF YOU GET STRANDED IN YOUR VEHICLE... DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO WALK FOR ASSISTANCE... YOU CAN QUICKLY BECOME DISORIENTED IN WIND DRIVEN SNOW AND COLD. THIS STORM WILL SUBSIDE EARLY THIS EVENING... SO WAIT IN YOUR CAR FOR EMERGENCY HELP TO ARRIVE.

PERIODICALLY RUN YOUR ENGINE FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES EACH HOUR FOR HEAT. ENSURE YOUR EXHAUST PIPE IS CLEARED OF SNOW AND ICE. CRACK YOUR WINDOWS TO AVOID CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING. TIE A COLORED CLOTH TO YOUR CARS ANTENNA OR WINDOW TO BE VISIBLE TO RESCUERS. FROM TIME-TO-TIME... MOVE YOUR ARMS... LEGS... FINGERS... AND TOES TO KEEP BLOOD CIRCULATING.

Labels: Travel, Weather, Work

I reviewed where my company has sent me for the last 3 Decembers. Are they trying to tell me something?

Dec 2007 (Mellansel, Sweden = temp around -10C)
An unbelievable amount of snow, yet people choose to live there!


Dec 2008 (Helsinki, Finland = temp around +3C)
Note: It is fuzzy, but you can see a temperature display in the upper right hand corner. Above freezing, so no snow. Still very cold!


Dec 2009 (Montreal, Canada = temp around -20C)
Yikes! It was almost as cold as my coldest day ever in Sweden (my personal low temp ever experienced is -26C in Sweden).


At least I got more sunshine in Montreal than on my trips to Sweden and Finland. They only get about an hour less sunlight than home in December (around 9 hours). In Helsinki, Finland there was about 8 hours of sunshine per day. In Mellansel, Sweden there was about 6 hours of sun per day - and it stayed very low on the horizon.

I am a native Southern California guy. What are they trying to do to me???

Labels: Rob, Travel

I have a new project that started in October. It has required 2 trips to Montreal, Quebec, Canada so far. If all goes well, I will be headed back there a number of times in 2010.

The unfortunate thing is that I am actually staying in a suburb of Montreal called Anjou. There is not much around. It is not like the trips to Helsinki where there are a lot of cool historical places in walking distance. I did get to drive into the main city with some co-workers one night, but that was it.

The area where I am staying seems safe to walk around, but there is not much there. Mostly strip malls and residential areas. Not much of interest.

I did take a few photos on my first week there (see below). Per Lee's suggestion, I checked out a Tim Horton's and had dinner there one night. I think I would appreciate it more if I were into coffee, but it was fine for a quick meal and a donut.

A typical residential street near my hotel. It will be snowing soon, but for now the weather was in the 30s and 40s.


The picture above shows apartments or condos. Not far away was an area of single family homes such as this one.


Below are a couple of pictures of park areas that I passed as I explored.



Everything is in French and sometimes also in English. The sign below was for a local election. The idea of marking up the signs seems pretty universal. I went to a couple of restaurants where they only speak French. I will have to have Bethany tutor me some (she is in her 3rd year from French at school).


More signs in French.



My hotel is on the right. Straight ahead is a major highway (freeway in California speak). The hotel is near the intersection of two major freeways. There is a mall across the freeway and a bit to the left of this photo, but it seems pretty quiet over that way in the evenings. I did not get a chance to go check it out.


Here is a self-portrait across the street from the local Tim Horton's. Tim is everywhere. I thought that Starbucks had a lot of locations in the US, but Tim seems to have them beat in Canada!

Labels: Bethany, Rob, Travel, Work

I have not been keeping up-to-date on postings. I need to get going again.

Last week was a travel week again. That gives me some topics. Guess where I was.

Labels: Travel

I never posted anything significant about my last trip to Finland (May 2009). It was my first time to travel with a co-worker. That led to some different experiences since I went to some restaurants that I did not want to eat at on my own. We also visited some places that I had not been to before. For example, there are some casinos in Finland. The main one in Helsinki (maybe the only one? I am not sure.) is run by the government with profits going to various social programs. Anyway, that is an example of one new place that I checked out.

Like with my trip to Sweden last June, the days were very long. It had to make sure to close the heavy curtains by around 11pm or so or I did not feel like sleeping.

Below are some of the photos taken on this trip.

The harbor is to my left. I have posted photos of that big church in the distance before. This was a very windy spot - the flags are flapping like mad! I took this photo from in front of a big Russian Orthodox church. That is some sort of barracks I think in the foreground.


Here I am in front of that Russian Orthodox church. It is a very impressive brick structure on a hill overlooking Helsinki harbor.


There are plenty of boats in the harbor now. Definitely a contrast from November/December!


Downtown Helsinki: train station on the left, trolley cars down the middle of the street, office to the right (including NASDAQ's Scandanavian HQ). I am standing at the top floor of a hotel where I stayed before (but not this trip). This picture was taken at around 9pm or so - still lots of sunshine! If you head straight and follow the street veering to the right, my hotel for this trip was down there. The Casino is blocked from view by the train station, but very close.


My hotel for this trip is on the left. The glass pyramid looks down into an underground shopping mall. There are a lot of those in this part of the city. The street veers to the right to the square where you find the train station, the casino, the hotel from the picture above, etc.


Some sort of polo-on-bicycle game was in progress here. It looked fun. The speeds were fairly slow, so the hardest part seems like keeping your balance on the bike.


This bird caught my eye and let me get fairly close to him. The trees just to the right of the bird are in Esplanade Park -- they were outlined with blue lights in my photos posted last December.


The two pictures below were taken from my hotel window at around 9:30pm and then 10:00pm. The sunsets went on for a very long time! By around 11:00pm it was twilight outside, but not very dark.



I've posted pictures of this bay before. You can see the Ferris Wheel from the amusement part in the middle of the photo. We had a nice walk around this bay before dinner on our last night. We stopped part-way through the walk to enjoy an "adult beverage" while I joined a Friday morning call back in the US. This picture is Lucas - my co-worker that I traveled with -- as we sat at a restaurant (where I took that call) with seating overlooking the bay.

Labels: Rob, Travel

In my last posting, FlyingVan asked if the Tango is still popular in Finland. I had not heard anything about it, so I asked. The answer was a resounding yes! They consider themselves second only to Argentina (and some claim first) when it comes to passion for the Tango. I have now done a little more research into this and have more of an understanding on the topic.

Thanks for the question - it helps to understand my customer's culture and have another topic to discuss with them.

Labels: Travel

Way back in October, I promised to write a blog entry about my visit to Suomenlinna Sea Fortress which is on a series of islands just off the coast of Helsinki. I spent a day there visiting. I wrote about my near-failure with geocaching last October, but not about the rest of the photos that I took. Since I don't have a camera to take pictures on this trip, I will share some from my prior trip.

For those not familiar with my prior post, Suomenlinna was built by Sweden (which controlled Finland at the time) to keep the Russian navy in check in the mid-1700s. It was considered second only to Gilbraltar in strength. One of my activities was a walking tour and the history was very interesting to learn. After the tour, I wandered on my own for the rest of the afternoon. The pictures below were from my ferry ride over and the visit on the island.

Here is the ferry that I took over to the island. It can carry two cars in the center. There was one car on my trip over. The ride takes about 20 minutes.


I did some experiments with the timer on my phone's camera so that I could be in more pictures. In this shot, cannons have been used as fence posts with chain going around a church. The camera is sitting on the steps on the church.


... and here is the church. It is the only church in the world that also serves as a working lighthouse. The top of the church has the rotating light. This was a naval fortress and it is at the entrance to Helsinki's harbor, so using the tallest building for a lighthouse made sense.


The pictures below show one of the most popular beaches in the Helsinki area. Not much space by California standards, but they make do with what they get.



There were lots of old cannons around the islands. Some in museums. Some out in the open placed in their historical positions.







I wondered what this cannon could see from its point of view.


With the help of my timer, I found out.



The afternoon was much sunnier than the morning. While the air was still chilly, it turned into a very nice day.


Finally, there is the tale of the boat channel that runs right by the farthest of the fortress islands. The channel is fairly narrow -- or at least I thought so when I watched this guy go through.




I couldn't believe it when I saw this ship coming a few minutes later!


But it made it through!





Wow, what an overload of pictures. Good thing that I didn't post them ALL in this message! It was a nice, long walk around the islands.

Labels: Travel