It's Christmas

The past two years I have taken vacation the week BEFORE Christmas as vacation. The week between Christmas and New Years I scheduled local visits. It worked wonderfully for being able to finish shopping and baking and enjoying the Christmas Season. . For some insane reason, this year I decided to take the week of Christmas. I scheduled local visits for the week before.........but since I wasn't ON vacation, my plan for local visit was changed by the powers that be. I spent the week in San Antonio, Texas.

The week was enjoyable. We were in downtown San Antonio, just two blocks from the River Walk. We worked diligently during the day, then shopped and ate in the evening. The hotel was quite c0comfortable and we had valet parking. The staff at the nursing homes were pleasant and appreciative of the audit. So what is the problem? I missed getting to spend shopping opportunities with Hillary. I missed preparing for Christmas. Rest assured that will not happen again.

The good news? It somehow worked out. This evening (December 23) we had a get together at Grandma's house. The kids were wonderful, gifts were exchanged, laughter was heard, and the spirit of the holidays was in our hearts.

Update

I left on time for Tennessee last Tuesday. The president arrived about an hour after I was to leave. No crowds, no delays.

Wednesday evening I rode from Memphis to Jackson, Mississippi with a couple of people from the partnering company. It was quite interesting. I listened to a book on my iPod most of the way. We checked in and agreed to meet in the lobby and find a place to eat. I dropped my luggage in the room, grabbed my kindle and went back to the lobby. I am always waiting in lobbies so I figured I would have some time to read. And I did.

When they came back down, the fellow was upset with his room because it was a handicapped room and he didn't want a handicapped room. I just read while the two of them negotiated with the staff to find another room. He was quite incensed with the male clerk as he felt he was mistreated.

We then went to a restaurant adjoining the hotel. We had just been seated when one of the hotel staff came in and brought different keys. The co-worker I was with then spent several minutes apologizing to her about the altercation and explaining that he was most upset with her co-worker, not her.

Then came the detailed discussions about what to eat. Seems my companions are food gourmets and had to disect the options and discuss how the chef could possible mess it up. They decided on gumbo and salad. When it arrived he was quite disappointed that the bacon on his salad had been cooked in the microwave. Then spent most of the meal trying to decide if the rue in the gumbo was canned or if it was actually 'made' from scratch. Either way they decided it was passable. I had Onion Soup and Spinach Salad and mine was just fine.

All in all it was an interesting few days. The best part is that there is no report to write.

Back to Work

I've had a great 10 days of staying home. Tomorrow morning I head to Memphis at approximately the same time Obama is to land in Kansas City. Hoping we get off the ground before everything screeches to a halt.

I did take a little jaunt to Branson for a couple of days to see the Christmas Lights and do a little shopping. It was great fun, saw some good friends and took a drive around the area to see what had changed in the past year or so. The two years in Kimberling City have some of my best memories and some of my worst.

Another accomplishment from this vacation include transferring my Camry to a new owner. Glad that is done. It was a great car and served me well for 12 years and 240,000 miles.

And, I did a little plumbing to improve the drainage in the bathroom sink. Charlie wanted to drive to Albany to get a plumber snake so he could clean the drain. That would take 4-5 hours and cost at least $40 in gas. I went down to the kitchen and got a fondue fork to dig out a clog of hair and debris. Took about 2 minutes and was free. Then I had the rest of the day to watch TV and cross-stitch.

I'll let you know about Obama and the airport.

Worst Flight Ever

Monday morning my flight left KCI at 6 am, headed to Atlanta and on to Savannah, Georgia. I would then drive to Hilton Head Island for a three day Mock Survey. 6 AM flights require that one gets out of bed very early to make it to the airport no later than 5 AM. My timing was tight and I walked directly from security to board the plane. I was flying Delta and my seat was 13B. I very rarely end up with middle seats, but this time was an exception. When I cleared the doorway separating first class from the rest of the travelers I looked ahead to find my row and the sight was not welcome. The aisle seat was filled (and I do mean 'filled') with a gentleman who was much larger than his seat allowed. In fact, as I looked back to row 13 I could see very little space between him and the fellow seated by the window.

I indicated to him that I was the center seat customer. When I sat down, I immediately reached to pull the armrest down. He asked that I wait until he was seated and he would lower it. I did, and he did. But even with the arm rest defining the space, he spilled into my seat. My ability to change positions was severely compromised. There was no way to 'not touch' him. I was scooted to the side of my seat almost impinging on the fellow's space by the window. I told him I was sorry if I was crowding him, but I didn't have a choice. The flight (lift off to touch down) was about a hour and 40 minutes, but seemed like it lasted for days. My body was so stiff and sore by the time we landed I wasn't sure if I would be able to move. And I was getting more anxious as the minutes ticked by. I'm usually not claustrophobic, but I was having to deep breath and talk to my self to keep from screaming out loud. Early on I considered asking to move, but the flight was full and someone would have to sit by him. Once the bell dinged, he jumped right up and I took a deep breath. The good news, I had all three seats to myself on the connection from Atlanta to Savannah.

I was miserable the rest of the day. Every joint and bone in my body ached, even with aleve and ibuprofen on board. After a good nights sleep I feel fine. Aches, pain, and anxiety are resolved.

First time I have experienced that in six year of traveling and I hope it is another 16 years before I ever go through that again.

Mira and California

Mira loved swimming in the pool at Marian's, but is WAS the middle of October and she would quickly get cold. Her teeth would chatter and she would shiver, but totally deny that she was cold.



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After chasing the waves on the beach, we went up on the Pier at Santa Monica only to find out the rides were closed for a private party.

On Saturday we went to the LA Zoo. I had never been there and it is a pretty nice zoo. Mira had a great time and purchased presents for herself and both of her brothers.

San Francisco

Monday I flew to St. Louis and then drove 3 hours south to Sikeston for a one day engagement on Tuesday. At the end of the day on Tuesday I drove back to St. Louis and checked in to a Hampton Inn across the street from the airport in anticipation on a flight to San Francisco on Wednesday. I was supposed to have a flight from St. Louis through Los Angeles to San Francisco without having to change planes.

When we arrived in Los Angeles we ended up having to change planes .... with a two hour wait. I finally arrived in San Francisco around 6 pm instead of the 3:45 pm that I was supposed to arrive. Instead of a nice hotel, I agreed to stay in the facility guest "suite". The guest accommodations are usually pretty nice, so I wasn't concerned.

I arrived at the facility a little after seven and the person who was supposed to give me the key had already gone home. I was standing in the lobby wondering what to do, when the maintenance man came in and said he would take me to the suite. He opened the room and I was speechless..........and not in a good way. I struggled to keep my face from registering SHOCK.

The guest 'suite' was one large room with a twin bed, a straight backed chair, a love seat at an odd angle to the rest of the room, and an end table. The television had 10 channels, none of which was TNT, TBS or USA, which are my most reliable channels for entertainment. There was a kitchenette in a corner with a fridge and a two burner table top stove (no microwave), but no dishes or silverware. The bathroom was fine, but without a tub. That I can live without, though not happily. I rearranged the furniture to put the end table and straight backed chair on either side of the bed so I had places for my phone, glasses, book, TV remote, etc......

I was here for three, that's THREE days. I considered moving to a hotel for nights two and three, but the people were just great and I really did have a good time. I decided it was only three days and surely I could survive. And I did. But every bone and joint in by body hurt by the time I got home. I was never so happy to see my bed.

The Biltmore -- Oklahoma Style

So I suckered for a name.

I am in Oklahoma City about twice a year to work with a company that owns numerous nursing homes in Oklahoma. I usually stay at a Hampton Inn which is about five minutes from the corporate headquarters, where I usually work. I primarily do education here and we use a conference room at the headquarters. Last year when I worked with a bigger group that needed a larger room, we met off site at a very nice Best Western, but I still stayed at the Hampton.

So now for this year. The initial plan was to use the Best Western again, but they ended up not having a room large enough and the event was moved to the Biltmore Hotel. I decided to change my reservation to the Biltmore thinking it would be a bit more cushy than the Hampton (after all, it's a Biltmore). I'm picturing a large several story hotel with room service, restaurants, and plush.

Not so.

I didn't bother with the GPS as the address was Meridian Street. This street runs straight from the airport and is called 'Hotel Way' by the locals. It's the street where the Hampton is located and everyother hotel you can think of. I drove along looking for the Biltmore and couldn't find it. I was starting to be concerned and decided if I hadn't found it by the time I reached McDonald's I would stop and get the GPS out of the trunk. Wonder of Wonders....it was right across the street from McDonald's and was a two story motel, NOT the Biltmore I had imagined. Granted it was large, consisting of three two story buildings, three swimming pools and a tennis court. My room was clean and comfortable and the mattress was wonderful. It just wasn't what I had in mind when the name was 'Biltmore'.

And they even gave me a free drink coupon. Only problem was that when I went to cash it in, the only kind of wine they had was 'preimum' Sutter Home. I decided to find a different restaurant where the wine list was a little more appealing.

When I returned to the 'hotel' I realized I left my key card in my room. I truged to the front desk to get a new one. She said she would have maintenance meet me at my room to let me in. I asked why she couldn't just make me a new card. The answer....."There is a $1 charge for a new key card."

I wondered why the cost of the room was only $72 per night. That should have been a clue. You get what you pay for.

News

It's been a pretty tough month. I've been all over the country and had limited week-end time. I have either had to leave on Sunday, or not arrived home until Saturday, resulting in several one day week-ends. Interesting trivia about these times.

I arrived in KC around mid-night one Tuesday and needed to pick-up a rental car. When I reached the rental car facility the attendant asked me what my name was, then told me they did not have any executive level cars available and that I would have to take this Mercedes. Oh Darn!! It was a great little car and every time I parked it I was impressed that I had gotten out of that nifty car with the Mercedes emblem on the front.

I made a quick (less than 24 hours) trip to Florida and had a late flight back to KC so I could work in KC on the next day. I was reading my Kindle when the announcement was made to turn off all electronic devices for landing. I turned it off, then apparently went soundly to sleep. The next thing I knew, the flight attendant was waking me up and the plane was empty. I felt like those kids who get left on the school bus.

Austin, Texas totally overwhemled me with regard to getting from one place to the next. I realize some of that is due to the fact that my GPS has not been updated since 2008. I-35 runs directly through down town and has one-way outer roads on each side. To get from one direction to the other is trickey and I couldn't always figure out what the GPS wanted me to do, especially since it thought there were roads that weren't there. When I finally arrived at the health care center, they asked me if I had the key to my room?????? Seems I could have had a guest room at the community which would have been much easier. If I ever go there again I will remember to ask for a guest room, ......... or purchase an upgrade for the GPS.

October 1 is this Saturday and the schedule should improve. I will try to get my week-ends back.

Early Morning Disasters

Last Friday morning I was headed home from Northern California. My flight was to leave the airport in Sacramento at 6:20 AM. The hotel was supposedly 15 minutes from the airport. My plan was to be up by 4AM and leave the hotel by 4:30. I would drop the car off and take the shuttle and be at the airport by 5. I was flying Delta and would have priority status, so I could get right through check-in and security and have time to spare. Good planning does not always work out.

I got up without a problem. I washed my face and brushed my teeth and was loading the car by 4:25. Ever since that fiasco with locking the keys in the trunk I do not lay the keys in the trunk. I set them on the bumper. As I closed the trunk I realize the keys were going to be trapped, but it was too late to do anything about it. Luckily the key-bob was on the outside and I pushed the button to unlock the car doors and popped the trunk. Good save, except that the key was now bent and could not be fully inserted into the ignition. I look at it with a knot in my stomach and sat down on the curb to see if I could un-bend it without breaking it. It straightened somewhat and I tried it in the ignition again, but it still didn't work. The only choice was to again use the concrete and pressure to try to straighten it some more. I decided the worst thing that could happen was that I would break the key, but it didn't work now, so I wouldn't be any worse off than I was. This time it was straight enough and I was able to start the car. YEA!!!!

I set the GPS and headed to the airport. My first turn was onto the entrance ramp onto I-5. Hmmm. The ramp was closed for construction. I punched the 'detour' option into the GPS and followed the directions. The GPS apparently presumed I-5 was the problem and not the entrance ramp. What was supposed to be a 15 minute drive actually took 45 minutes. And it was dark. I think I would have seem some interesting terrain, but I couldn't see anything and was starting to panic that I would miss the plane. I was 5:30 when I reached the car rental return. Normally there are shuttles one after another. You check in the car and get on the shuttle. Not so today. I waited almost 10 minutes for a shuttle. This doesn't seem long, unless your plane is scheduled to leave in 50 minutes. I forced myself to breath slowly and be calm. I would either make it or not and there was nothing I could do about it.

I did have an express lane to check-in, but there was no express lane for security and a very long line. It is now 5:50--30 minutes before my plane is scheduled to leave. I was amazed at how fast the security line moved. I timed it and was through security in 10 minutes. I made it to the gate where they were loading the plane. And took a deep breath of relief.

Oroville, California

Yesterday was spent traveling from San Diego to Oroville, California. I flew from San Diego to Sacramento, then drove an hour or so north of Sacramento to a little town called Oroville, with a population around 15,000. The terrain here is much different from San Diego. There I was right on the ocean and there are mountains all around. Here it is quite flat and brown. Lots of orchards and crops. It is definitely a farming area.

Yesterday afternoon I drove about 15 minutes out of town to the Oroville Dam, which turned the Feather River into a lake. I drove across the dam and back. Apparently I was just around the corner from the visitor's center which has a documentary about the area. I should be finished about 4 today, so I think I will drive back up there and check it out.

After many routine weeks of my usual travel routes, it has been fun this week to go somewhere different.

Phone Story

Once I was checked into the hotel last night, I started to make some phone calls only to discover my phone did not have reception. Actually, two bars were lit up, but none of the calls I attempted went through. I couldn't even get text messages to go through. I decided it was the reception here in the hotel and that I would be able to get better reception today.

This morning I was up and at it by 5AM. I got a considerable amount of work done before I had to go to the site for the training at 9:30. Still no phone. I finally thought to check and see if I was receiving e-mail......nothing. Then the light bulb came on and I pulled the battery out and re-booted the phone. It worked fine. The last time that happened was in New Orleans when the girls couldn't find me.

Then my slide clicker quit working just after the noon break. I hate to have to stand in one place and talk, but since I had to click from the laptop, that is what I had to do. I asked the facilitator if they had any AAA batteries, but they did not. Then I took the batteries out and re-installed them and it worked fine for about 15 minutes and quit again. I repeated the process and got another 15 minutes. It was sort of like shaking the toner to get a few more copies.

San Diego

Left Kansas City yesterday afternoon to go WEST. Flight was on time and uneventful, which would not have been the case had I been heading EAST. The San Diego airport is right on the harbor, and it is very pretty. Lots of sail boats and yacht type boats anchored around in the water. It was a pretty afternoon and temperatures were mild. I am so glad we are on the downside of summer.

I was first class for the first leg of the flight, which was good because it was a regional jet and there is quite a bit more room in first class than coach. The second leg of the flight I was in coach, but is was a big plane, so I wasn't scrunched up anyway. I tried to read, but kept falling asleep!

I am now awake and it is 4:30 AM. I can't seem to go back to sleep, which always happens when I'm in the Pacific time zone, so I will just get a little report writing done before I head out to work.

Lazy!!

I can't believe it has been over a month since I have posted. The truth of the matter is that not much has been happening with regard to travel.

BUT, I head to San Diego this Sunday afternoon, and for the next several weeks I will be in all four corners of the US map, so surely something entertaining will happen.

Stay tuned.

Significant Changes

Saturday was spent at Ocean's of Fun with Mira and Griffin. They are so much fun in the water. I was watching Griffin at the Pirate Ship while Brooks took Mira to some big slides and Hillary had a Pina Colada with Charlie at the adult pool.

Griffin tried to ignore me while he played. I watched him on the Pirate Ship slides and whenever he came down a slide in front of me, he looked the other way as if he hadn't noticed me. After a while he moved down to a different area with slides and shallow water. I moved to an area which provided some shade and a clear view of which ever slide he decided upon which to play. During this time he never looked my way. He then started up some steps to the top of a slide. About 2/3 of the way up he stopped and looked around. He took a few more steps, then started back down with a distressed look on his face. I jumped up and headed toward him. Once he saw me he stopped and said, "I didn't know where you were!!" I replied, "I always knew where you were." and hugged him. He went ahead and went to the top of the slide and slide down. Then he came to me and said, "I need to go get Sully and go home."

I found Hillary and Brooks and told them Griff was ready to go home. Mira was not, but I did not have a car seat. Hillary and Brooks took Griff home ( and picked Sully up from Grandma Lana). I played with Mira. She found a little friend with whom to play on the slides. I got a kick out of watching them hold hands on the slides and laugh all the way down, then splash into the water.
We also played in a bigger pool where she climbed on rafts, slides and floating snakes. She is amazing. The swimming lessons this winter were worth every penny as she has no fear about getting her face wet, understands about holding her breath, and swims by kicking her feet and using her arms. When the summer is as hot as this one, appreciation of the water is a good idea.

Brooks came back and had a beer with Charlie, then took Mira to some more pools and slides. I finally reclined on a lounge chair at the pool, had Charlie get me a frozen Martguerita, and watched the people and tattoos. I was ready to go home. I still needed to finish laundry and packing to I could head out Sunday AM.

I left Kansas City at 6 AM Sunday morning when it was 83 degrees. I arrived in Montana around 2PM and it was 80. From there, the next three days continued to get cooler. Tuesday afternoon was their employee recognition dinner and picnic. It is usually held outside in the Pavilion, but it was too cold and they moved it inside. Ummmmmmmmm..................................................

This morning I left Montana at 6 am and it was 55 degrees. Five hours later I landed in Kansas City and it was 99 degrees according to the readout in the rental car.

Tomorrow I am headed to Des Moines, Iowa and back again......then will have four days off.

Montana

I arrived home from Michigan around 6 PM on Friday the 22. Charlie picked me up at the airport and the temperature, as cited by his truck, was 98 degrees.

YUK.

We stopped at Hy-Vee to buy a couple of steaks and other groceries. I planned to fix a gourmet dinner of steak, baked potato and salad. Note, the steak was to be grilled on George Foreman, NOT the wonderful gas grill that is new to my patio. It was entirely TOO hot to cook outside.

Charlie told me that my house had been comfortable when he was there watering and feeding the cat the day previous. We arrived at my house, and I carried the groceries in as Charlie retrieved my luggage. I thought it was a bit hot in the house and checked the thermostat to discover it was 92 degrees in the upstairs. When I went outside, I discovered the air conditioner unit was not running AT ALL. I called an air conditioner business and arranged for a visit on Saturday morning, then went to Charlie's where the air conditioning DID work. The dinner plans were scrapped. By now, I had no interest in cooking. I ate cheerios and Charlie had a salad and toast!!

Saturday AM the service man arrived and the difficulty was determined to be a piece called a 'capacitor'. Same problem Molly and Ben had experienced. My fix was a bit pricier than theirs, but at that point, who cares? I just wanted a cool house.

After a fun Saturday afternoon with Mira and Griffin at Ocean's of Fun, I headed to Montan this morning (Sunday). It was upper 80's here. I went from the airport to the movies to see the new Julia Roberts/Tom Hanks movie "Larry Crowne". Both the movie and popcorn were good.

This Montana gig is always fun. Good people and good geography.

HOT

From Indiana I headed to Waterford, Michigan where it was still unseasonably hot. I had an evening on my own and decided to explore. That is a good idea when I have a GPS, but not so good when I don't. I left the facility and turned RIGHT. Had I turned left I would have been on familiar turf, but I thought that by turning right I could see some new territory and at least find enough familiar streets to find my way to the hotel. Not so.....

I just kept driving and listening to a Harlen Coben book and moving farther and farther away from where I needed to be. I thought I would surely find a sign and arrow pointing to a highway I recognized, but when I saw the arrow to I-75 I knew I was headed in exactly the wrong way. I just didn't know how to get headed back the right way.

I had to give up and pull into a parking lot to checked out the address and then retrieved my computer from the trunk. I booted it up to open my mapping software. OH NO!!! I am about 30 minutes south of where I need to be!! It was actually a very interesting adventure into the unknown. The point at which I decided I needed technical support was Bloomfield Hills, which is a country club area that puts Mission Hills in Kansas City to shame.

I safely arrived back at the hotel and by that time was so engrossed in the book, I spent the evening with ear bubs and finished the book in time to sleep.

Too Hot to Shop

Still in Valparaiso, Indiana.

Instead of traveling all night, I decided to leave early in the AM and do two 1/2 days in Detroit, getting home late afternoon on Friday. As a result, I have another evening here. I decided to check out the 'downtown'. They have the traditional town square and it has lots of cute restaurants and trendy shops. BUT, it was so x##!!xx##!! HOT I couldn't make myself wander in and out of the shops. I picked out a cute restaurant and had acorn squash with a small fillet, but the restaurant was so hot I nearly dripped sweat into my food.

I am now in my hotel room where is is sooooo cold I am wearing a sweater.

Indiana Dunes

Well, that plan didn't work out so well.

I drove the 10 miles to the Indiana Dunes, paid $10 to get into the State Park, and couldn't even see Lake Michigan. There was a very thick haze over the water. Actually, the beaches are very nice. They look like the beaches at Santa Barbara or Venice Beach. Lots of nice clean sand. And they were filled with people, beach umbrellas, and volley ball courts. I just couldn't see anything. I tried taking pictures, but all you can see is fog and haze.

Once I gave up on that, I tried to find a ribs place the staff at the facility had told me about and promptly got lost. I just kept driving until I finally found a sign with an arrow pointing toward I-80. I-80 at that point is a toll road, but the toll both would not give me a ticket. I drove on through and when I exited back at the Valparaiso exit I just told the fellow in the booth I didn't have a ticket and he charged me sixty cents. (You realize by now, don't you, that I do not have my GPS.)

I came back to the hotel and ordered room service.

Back on the Road

After several weeks of minimal travel, I hit the road again last week. It had been so long since I had packed I had a little trouble remembering everything I needed.

I had a 6 AM flight from Kansas Cit to Baltimore last Monday morning. I try to avoid early flights. They are usually crowded and I don't like to get up at 4 AM anyway. This time I didn't have a choice as I had to be in Baltimore before noon, so the alarm went off at 4 AM and I hustled around to leave by 4:45 and make it to the airport by 5. I was absolutely amazed at how many people were milling around, checking luggage and in line for security. I counted 13 flights for Southwest leaving between 6 and 7. Fortunately, I have priority status with Southwest, so I was able to move right to the front to check my luggage. Then, on to security. I have never had more than one or two people in from of me in the priority lane for security, but at that time of day, the priority lane had a line of 10 to 15 people. I made it to the gate about 5 minutes before we started boarding.

Flight was uneventful. I was reading and kept falling asleep. I landed in Baltimore around 9:30. The rest of the crew wasn't due in until 11:30 or so, so I went to the rental car facility and sat and read (and dozed) while I waited for all to arrive and head to the facility.

I flew home on Thursday evening, arriving back in Kansas City at 11 PM. I did two load of laundry, cleaned the cat litter, watered my flowers, went to the library and bank, re-packed and was ready to leave by 10AM on Friday morning, when a friend from church picked me up to go to Branson for a week-end of good food, fun shows, lot of ice cream and great fellowship with great people.

I flew out of the Branson airport on Sunday morning headed to Tampa for 23 hours. Last night I flew from Tampa to Chicago and drove to Valparaiso, Indiana. The best part is that I again have a car. I really do not like to be at the mercy of other people for wheels.

I am here for three nights then fly on to Detroit for one night before heading back to Kansas City on Friday afternoon. This evening I hope to drive to the Indiana Dunes which is only about 10 miles from the hotel.

My New Escape

After 12 years and 227,000 miles, I decided it was time to buy a car. I decided about a year ago that when the time came, I was buying a small SUV. It was between the Toyota Rav4 and the Ford Escape. Since I rent cars weekly, I had several opportunities to try out different versions of small SUV's and after driving an Escape for a week last summer I was sold. I really didn't want to buy a new one but wanted a low mileage 'pre-owned'.

Wednesday evening I arrived back from Oklahoma City around 4 and went to the Ford dealer in Liberty to check out the options. I asked about low mileage used and the first one I saw fit the plan. It had everything I couldn't live without, PLUS heated seats, remote start, AND would sync to my Blackberry for hands free talking. After some nimble negotiating which included me promising NOT to make them take my Camry in trade, I am the owner of a 2010 Escape!

Now I have to figure out how to get rid of the Camry. Maybe I could have it bronzed and put in a museum.

Never, Never, Never....Accept the Upload

Just a few hours ago I bragged on Facebook that I had successfully connected my blu-ray/DVD player to access Netflix. I even watched a Hal Holbrook movie about an elderly fellow who escaped from the nursing home only to discover his son had leased his farm to a less that stellar individual.

Following the movie I was surfing around to see what other treasure awaited me via this new technology when "an updated version is available, do you want to upload at this time" appeared on my screen. Now, please understand, I never, repeat NEVER, accept these opportunities. When that pop up appears I just cancel it and go on. I have no excuse or explanation as to why I responded, YES. Following the acceptance of this 'upgrade' I was no longer able to access Netflix. When I clicked on 'Premium' the dotted circle just kept on going and going and going and going.............

Friday morning I called the LG helpline. The lady was very pleasant, but not very helpful. After about 45 minutes of her having me repeat everything I had already tried (disconnecting, changing televisions, rebooting my router, etc, etc, etc, she decided she needed to access a bigger brain than hers, but alas, this bigger brain had not yet arrived at work. She would call me back later in the day. The day progressed with nary a phone call.

I picked Griffin up to spend the night. I have several Thomas movies on DVD so he wasn't too inconvenienced by not being able to use Netflix. I again tried to access Netflix, but the dotted circle just kept on circling. I changed Televisions thinking it would reboot and fix whatever I had messed up by accepting the 'update'. The dotted circle just kept on circling.

I again called the LG helpline and the saga began. She had me disconnect and reconnect everything. Nothing happened.


She had me disconnect the wireless and connect to wired. This sounds easy, but involved me moving the blu-ray/DVD player from downstairs to upstairs where the cable comes into the house. I had to then disconnect the Ethernet cable from the wireless router and attache to the blu-ray player, which involved getting pliers from the basement as my fingers could not apply enough pressure to the devise to disconnect it from the router. Once that was accomplished I discovered the upstairs TV did not accept the technology I needed. It would not display the information from the Blu ray/DVD Player because the remote did not have an option to adjust the 'input'. I moved the kids 13 inch TV from their bedroom to my bedroom and tried to connect it to the Blu-ray/DVD player. Unfortunately, is was too old and would only connect to the white and yellow connectors. It did not have a port for the red one and would not display the picture. So, I went back downstairs and brought a 19 inch upstairs to see if it would connect. As I was dragging it upstairs Griffin looked out from the playroom and said, "That's a big one, Grandma."

Once I had it in the bedroom connected to power and the Blu-ray DVD player (which was connected via a wired connection) I was again in business to figure out what why the dotted circle just kept on circling. The LG lady had me again go through the process of disconnecting/connecting and checking and again the dotted circle just kept on circling.

She then put me on hold to talk to another 'technician'. They decided the problem was the 'update' I had accepted. The good news is that I can retrieve the correct version and reinstall it into my Blu-ray/DVD player by using my computer and a thumb drive.

Next Problem: Since I have disconnected my wireless, my laptop would not connect to the Internet. Back downstairs to retrieve my broadband air connection. The first thumb drive I tried didn't work. Back downstairs to get another one. She had me connect to the LG site and talked me through to the 'download this software' option. It took about 30 minutes to download to my computer. (Griffin is in the bath tub by this time.) Then I had to transfer the software to my thumb drive, which only took about 10 minutes. Next was to move the thumb drive to the USB port on my Blu Ray player and transfer the correct version back to my device.

It actually worked!! And I will never accept an 'upgrade' again.

Griffin was able to watch TWO Thomas movies from Netflix and happily went to bed.

Lost and Found

Charlie has made remarkable progress the past couple of weeks and when the colleague I was supposed to orient in Florida canceled, he decided he would come with me. The problem was that I couldn't get him a seat on my plane, so he was on a different airline. I left Kansas City around 9:30 and changed planes in Dallas, and arrived in Palm Beach around 5:30. He was to leave, on Delta, at 11 AM, change planes in Atlanta and arrive in Palm Beach around 5. I told him he would get there first and to get his luggage and wait for me there.

I texted him from Dallas and said my plane was going to be about 20 minutes late and gave him the airline and flight number, so he could check it. I thought it was strange I didn't hear back from him, but figured he was on the plane. When I landed in Palm Beach I called. He didn't answer. I walked through the concourse keeping an eye out for him and then to the luggage claim area. No Charlie anywhere. I called again. He didn't answer. I fetched my luggage, then looked for him again. The signs said his flight had arrived. I walked the length of the area looking at everyone and calling. Still no answer. (All in all, I called him 15 times with no answer.)

I was starting to get worried and went to the Delta ticketing counter to ask if they could tell me if he made the connection in Atlanta. They said they cannot give out passenger information, but why don't I try having him paged. I used the courtesy phone and had him paged to the luggage area. I returned and sat for 15 minutes. No Charlie. I decided to go pick up the car and come back, so I wouldn't have to continue to drag my luggage around and could cover ground faster. I continued to call and leave messages. Once back at the airport I quickly walked all three floors and checked out the two remaining restaurants that were open. No Charlie. I sat down for a while and tried to figure out what to do. I finally called Chuck and told him the story and asked him to see what he could find out. Meantime I would go to the hotel on the off chance he had taken a taxi.

Chuck called back with no information, but said he was pretty sure he would turn up. I gave Molly all the flight information and asked her to see what she could find out. She was able to get a somewhat affirmative response that he had made the connection and arrived in Palm Beach. OKAY! Now I know I only have one geographic area in which to hunt.

I was on the phone with Molly, when a call beeped in from a number I didn't recognize. By the time I tried to get it it was too late. I immediately started to call it back, but it rang again and, yes, it was Charlie. He was in a taxi driving around West Palm Beach looking for the hotel. Only problem is that the hotel was in Boca Raton. I gave him the address and he finally arrived, about three hours later than the initial plan. I asked him why he hadn't called sooner, he left his phones in Kansas City and couldn't remember my phone number. He had finally called Chuck and asked him if he knew the number. (Chuck wanted to know why he hadn't called Chuck sooner.) He arrived a bit rattled and $80 dollars poorer. I'm sure the taxi driver had quite the story to tell his family when he got home! I listened to the message he had left me on the first call. He said, "Hi, Sarah, this is Charlie Trump and I'm lost. I forgot the name of the hotel, and I forgot my phones."

I asked him why he didn't just sit down at the luggage carousel and wait for me. He said his plane was late and he figured I had already arrived....."And you thought I would just go off and leave you?" We now have pact that we never leave the luggage carousel unless we know where the other one is. Hopefully, we will be able to travel on the same airplane from now on.

Today he went to AT&T and bought his third I phone.

They Moved the Airport

It's been a pretty quite travel month, since I have been able to work from home for the past three weeks. Charlie had the Halo removed on 5/19, and I headed to the airport on 5/23.

I was in Indianapolis this past week providing a Mock Survey. It was a very nice facility with some significant system problems, but the residents and families were happy and the staff seemed to genuinely enjoy their work and the residents. I was working with a new consultant from Illinois and we worked well together and enjoyed finding a new place for dinner every night.

It was a tough weather week in Indiana. The storms from Missouri that destroyed Joplin were moving through the area and we kept having to move the residents into the hallway and shower rooms due to tornado warnings. Wednesday evening I spent the entire evening watching tornadoes make their way across the area. It would be dark and pouring rain, then clear at bit, then start over again. The facility was under a tornado situation for 5 1/2 hours, which means 27 Alzheimer's residents were kept in the shower room for the entire time!! Apparently they moved the portable piano in there and sang most of the time. Luckily they had someone who knew how to play.

Friday we finished around noon and stopped for lunch at Panera, then headed to the airport. My colleague was driving and was to drop me off at the airport, except we could not find it. Her GPS did not agree with the highway signage. We followed the GPS and ended up in a desolate area with empty parking lots that had weeds growing up around the edges and in the cracks of the concrete. We turned around and started back at which time I saw an exit ramp leading to a building that looked like an airport, but was deserted. Hmmmmmm. I think they moved the airport. I was last in Indianapolis in 2008 and the area looked right. All the hotels I recalled were situated around the area, but NO AIRPORT. We returned to the Interstate and decided to follow the signs and ignore the GPS. Yep, they moved the airport! I asked the person who checked my luggage and she said they moved around 2 years ago. Fortunately, we had plenty of time to get lost and found and make the flight with time to spare.

Home for Memorial Day week-end and watching a Star Trek Marathon..............

Just a Little Delay

This is going to be lengthy. .......................

Tuesday I was headed to Cape Giraudeau, MO. It is about a 5 1/2 to 6 hour drive. I was up early and even made zucchini bread, along with laundry and picking up piles of stuff. I met Hillary at JoAnn's to look at material for the new baby's curtains, then headed to the airport to pick up a rental car. I would then return home, pack the car and head to Cape, hopefully no later than 1 PM.

I chose this wonderful red Impala and headed out. About 10 minutes from the airport I was moving along in double lane traffic on 152 and realized that everyone was slowing down. I looked for the problem and slowed down myself. Unfortunately, the person behind me was not as successful as I was at slowing and while I was focused on not hitting people in front of me, I heard and felt a THUD. Darn. I really did not have time for this.

I pulled over in front of a car in the 'pull over' lane. (A lady was parked there talking on the phone.) The vehicle that hit me was a small SUV. It pulled over behind this lady. I crawled over the console and emerged from my car. A cute little gal was doing the same from the SUV. About this time, the lady on the phone finished her call, put her car in drive, and left. My damage was isolated to the passenger side rear bumper. Her damage was on the driver side front bumper and headlight, but was pretty extreme. The bumper was knocked clear off the vehicle. She was talking on the phone. I asked who she had called. Her answer, "My boss." She then disconnected the call and I told her she needed to call 911 and report a non-injury accident. (I left my phone in the car). The amazing thing at this point, I heard her tell the 911 operator that we did not need a tow truck, but within five minutes, three had arrived. The police weren't even there yet.

My attacker was a very nice young woman from Utah. She had arrived in Kansas City on Monday evening, with her very cute little dog, after an 18 hour drive. She was here for an extended work assignment ( I think around 4-5 months). Her company put her up in a hotel Monday night and she was on her way to check out the apartment they had rented for her. She was shaking and kept asking if I was okay. I'm fine. It's not my car, not my insurance, and I was hit from the rear. If you have to have a wreck, just may be the best possible circumstances.

Back to the wreck..... The tow truck guys were irritating. Apparently, they cruise around listening to the police scanner, waiting for someone to have a wreck. They then capitalized on the moment. I'm in a rental car and I'm not going to pay them to tow. I'll call AAA if I need a tow.

The rental car company said that if I could drive the car, to bring it back to the airport and they would give me another car and send me on my way. If I couldn't drive it, they would bring me another car and remove the damaged one, but it would take from 2-3 hours to make that happen. I thought I could easily drive it, but the tow truck guys said I could not. The muffler bracket had been broken and the muffler was rubbing against the tire, thus they would need to tow me. Why can't we just move the muffler away from the tire????

I asked the highway patrolman what he thought and he hedged. He couldn't make any recommendations, bla, bla, bla. Since Charlie has a 'halo', I called David (Brook's Dad). He said he would come and check it out. He arrived in about 20 minutes. He shoved the muffler back onto the brackets, then wired it there with bailing wire he brought. He followed me to the rental car place. I got a new car and the ordeal was over, except for the six hour drive that was still in front of me.

Thought for the Day: When Brooks married Hillary, it probably didn't occur to David and Lana that they were getting me, too."

Making the Most of Time

Last Wednesday I left Kansas City for Arizona. Since I have been in five different hotels, driven over 1,000 miles, and visited four nursing home, and drove to LA and back.

On Friday, I left Arizona and drove to Los Angeles for a frenzied 39 hours with Marian. We saw one movie at the theater and watched another three we rented. I had a pedicure and eyebrow wax. I finished Baby Smith's afghan and Marian made cookies. I did two loads of laundry. We ate supper at a great Italian restaurant in Tarzana (about 20 or so minutes away) and had to drive back a second time as we both forgot our sweaters!!

I'm in Phoenix right now and will get on a plane at 8 in the morning to go home.

Little Things

Missing Phone Charger: For the past few weeks I have been carrying my back pack instead of my rolling briefcase. This started because I had to take two suitcases to my last Arizona trip to take handouts and video equipment for the engagement. Then Charlie had the car wreck and I didn't get around to switching back. Last week, before I left for California, I moved everything back to the rolling briefcase, except my phone charger. It was in a little zipper pocket on the side of the backpack and didn't get moved. I didn't realize this until I needed to charge the phone on Tuesday night. I already had my jammies on and was settled down to watch Bones reruns when I tried to charge my phone. Fortunately, I had my car charger in my purse, so I got dressed and went for a ride around Visalia, California for about an hour to charge the phone. The next two days I ate lunch in the car with the motor running to keep it charged. After the three hour drive back to Los Angeles on Thursday evening it was fully charged and from then until I made it back home last night I have been alert enough to remember to charge it whenever I am in the car. I'm just glad I didn't end up needing to buy yet another charger.

Taking the 'Red Eye': This was something new for me. Last week-end was the week-end the girls and I had planned for a 30/60 birthday week-end. We had decided on New Orleans for the adventure since none of us had ever been there. I was supposed to work Monday thru Wednesday in Florida then meet them in New Orleans around noon on Thursday, however, I had had to rearrange my schedule and had to work in Visalia, CA until 4:30 on Thursday. The best deal to get me there was to fly out of LAX at 1 AM and arrive in New Orleans at 6:30 AM on Friday morning. I was pretty strange hanging out in the airport until the wee hours of the morning. The good news is that I was upgraded to first class and had a relatively comfortable seat. Everyone slept! The plane was about 1/2 hour late leaving LA, and by the time I got the car and battled morning New Orleans traffic it was nearly 8 when I made it to the hotel. My phone had locked up and I didn't realize it wasn't working. The girls decided I had met a tragic fate and had called my corporate office in Tampa to find out what happened to me.

Closed Bridges and Parades: Sunday was the day to drive out into the country and visit a sugar plantation. We had a wonderful breakfast brunch, set the GPS and headed to Oak Alley Plantation, north of New Orleans about an hours drive. IF the bridge across the Mississippi River is open. Unfortunately for us, it was not. We dove the direction the arrows pointed for a while, but felt we were headed back to New Orleans. Between the GPS on Hillary's phone and my Garman, we found a bridge further north which seemed like it would take us to the right place. It did, but not before we meandered on blacktop roads for a while. Molly got a little frustrated with the experience. The plantation was great, then we started back to New Orleans...across the open bridge and straight to I-10 for a quick uneventful drive back. I drove this time, Molly was done! As we got back to New Orleans, I asked if they wanted to drive the causeway across the middle of Lake Ponchartrain....Sure. I took the exit toward the causeway and asked, "How far is it across the causeway." Hillary answered calmly, "Twenty four miles." WHAT! I immediately started looking for an exit. We took the very last exit before we would have been committed to the drive. It was 5 PM and that would have been a 50 mile drive. But getting back to the hotel ended up being so time consuming, we probably would have saved time to drive across and back. The traffic was bumper to bumper and we commented on why on a Sunday evening it would be so backed up. We were nearly to the major road which would take us back when we were turned back by the police. An ambulance was in the intersection and there was all kinds of trash scattered around. We figured it was a wreck, but further efforts to turn that direction brought the realization that it was a parade. The experience brought to mind trying to outsmart the Apple Blossom parade to get from place to place the first Saturday in May in St. Joe. The good part of this drive was that we saw parts of New Orleans that had been flooded after Katrina that we would not otherwise have seen.

Noisy Seatmates: It is common knowledge to all who know me that I do not talk to people on airplanes. The last time Charlie and I were coming home from Florida, we were seated in sequential rows, ( 33 and 34 ) each in the aisle seat. When the lady next to Charlie realized we were together, she offered to change so we could sit together. Charlie said, "No, that's okay. She doesn't talk to me anyway."

I left New Orleans for Chicago on Monday morning on Southwest. I was A16, which meant I was one of the first to board and select my seat. Pretty quickly into the boarding process, a lady asked to take the window seat. I'm reading my kindle. A while later, another lady asks to take the middle seat. I'm still reading. She immediately strikes up a conversation with the window lady in a piercing voice and they didn't shut up until we landed. Now I am really pretty good at shutting out noise, but this was too much. I couldn't read. I finally got my iPod out and turned the volume up to drown them out, but you have to turn it off during take off and landing.

A Dead iPod: This morning I left home early to drive to Des Moines for the day. It's a three hour drive. I had downloaded an extra book to my iPod to make sure I had enough to last through the drive up and back. Just north of Liberty it quit. The battery was dead. I was so upset! What to do? How was I going to stay awake for 6-7 hours of driving without a book to listen to? My computer! I pulled off at Kearney and got my laptop out. I plugged the iPod into the computer to charge and listened to talk radio for about an hour. By then the iPod was charged. I shut the computer down and was back in business.

Seems I started this post with charging issues and ended with charging issues. Such is life on the road.

Room Service

So, I decided I wanted to just get something to eat in my room and watch TV. The restaurant at the St. George Hilton Garden Inn is not open for the evening meal, but does have room service available. I read through the menu and decided I didn't want a full meal, just something crunchy and snack like. I ordered the nachos.

This is what was brought to my room 20 minutes later!!

I am please to report I ate only about 1/3 of the mess, and that was after I picked all the jalapeno peppers out of it. It sure doesn't look like that healthy food Molly takes picture of.

Utah

Saint George, Utah.

Last week I was in St. George, Utah. I flew into Las Vegas and drove about 2 1/2 hours through the NW corner of Arizona to the SW corner of Utah. It was a pretty drive with the mountains and different colors of terrain.


This view is from the hotel in St. George

One day I took my lunch hour to drive out and take in some views outside of town. This picture combines the 70 degree weather in St. George with a view to the still snow covered mountains.

The trip was uneventful with regard to travel. Flights left on time, luggage wasn't lost, and I was actually upgraded to first class for part of the trip.

Over the past several months I have been primarily visiting my routine facilities. It has been fun to see different places.

The Next Chapter

It seems like times flies and stands still, all at the same time. We're nearing the two week from the wreck point and it seems like it just happened yesterday, but everyday seems to last forever and I wish we could just skip over the next few weeks to a point where he can see an end to this.

He is very frustrated and constantly tries to talk people into finding a different halo, or just getting a wrench and taking it off for a little while. He was looking for a handyman with tools on Wednesday morning. He calls it 'that chair strapped to my head."

Getting the meds adjusted has been a challenge. He was getting Ativan in the ICU when he was getting IV morphine. He was changed to po pain meds, but they kept the IV Ativan at night and he was turning into this crazy person all night long. I dozed off at one point on Tuesday night and he managed to unbuckle one side of the halo vest. They stopped the Ativan and tried Seroquel, which wasn't much better. Chuck stayed that night and said he didn't sleep over 15 minutes at a time.

Last night we asked for no 'psych' meds. Just pain pills and a plain old sleeping pill (Ambien). David Smith stayed and said he wasn't really crazy, just restless at times and would want to stand up. They stood him up three different times during the night and he would then lay down and sleep for a while. Right now the goal is to reach a point where he understands the halo and that it is a permanent thing for the next several weeks. Second goal, that he will use the call light to call for the nurse before trying to get up. Learning this patient role has been difficult for him.

I think the biggest obstacle at this point is denial. He just cannot grasp the extent of his injuries and the complexity of his recovery. And he is doing some bargaining. 'Just take this off so I can wash my hair and I'll let you put it back on."

This morning when I talked to him, he sounded more like himself and was able to actually carry on a conversation. He thinks the therapists are kind of 'pushy'. I told him they were paid to be that way. This week-end we will be investigating skilled nursing facilities. The rehab people feel he is not yet able to tolerate three hours of therapy per day and will need to go to skilled until he gains more strength. Unfortunately, his insurance is United Healthcare, and there are not many options for placement. The initial plan was for him to go to the new LTACH on Hwy 169, but the insurance would not approve it.

The End of the 'Vette

Charlie wrecked the corvette last Sunday night and pretty much wrecked himself in the process. He was in an induced coma from Sunday to Wednesday evening to support his lungs. The kidneys were damaged, but have recovered nicely and he is breathing and coughing on his own.

Now that the organ systems are working satisfactorily, they are starting on the bones. He has a fractured pelvis, fractured ribs, and a C-2 cervical fracture. He is going to get a halo brace on Monday so that should be fun.

He is a fairly good patient, but I had to run some interference this afternoon when the nurse insisted that he HAD to lay on his right side for 2 hours. That is the side with the most pelvic damage and he does not tolerate that position at all. He told me she was a bitch and didn't know how to do her job. I thought she was a little over zealous and could have compromised, but she wouldn't. But I supported her and calmed him down. Then she gave him extra medicine and he was totally snowed until around 7 this evening. After insisting about the 2 hours on the right side, she left him on his back for over three hours and I had to go ask her about turning him. The night nurse is much more reasonable and Charlie is awake has been able to chat. Even called Chuck to ask about the house and farm.

I want to be able to remember the funny things he has said, so I guess this is a good place to record them. When he was first off the vent and beginning to wake up I spent the whole night, Wednesday, telling him what happened. He would ask, "What happened?" Answer: "You were in a wreck""Where was I?" Answer: "You had taken David home and were coming across 291 to go home." "What was I in?" Answer: "The "Vette." He would digest this, then doze off. In 10 to 15 minutes we would start over. Sometimes the questions varied. "How bad was the car damaged?" Answer: "Worse than you were." Chuck had a better answer: "We'll probably need to get a new one."

Thursday I went home when Chuck arrived at the hospital so I could get some sleep. I slept until 4 PM, then went back to the hospital. He had digested the information somewhat, but still needed reminders about where he was and what had happened. He asked me during the night Thursday night, 'What happened?" I asked him, "What do you think happened?" His answer: "I acted like a fool." (Pretty good answer).

Today he is coming to terms with how badly he is injured. At one point he looked at me and said, "I'm pretty fucked up, aren't I?" I replied, "You sure are, but the good news is there is nothing that can't heal." When I asked him if he was scared he said, "I wasn't, but I am starting to be now that I know how much damage I did."

During the night last night he said, "I think God is testing me." I told him, "No, God isn't testing you. God wrapped his arms tightly around you to protect you, or you wouldn't be here right now.

Baby, it's COLD outside!

I am home this week. I have a four day Mock Survey at one of my favorite facilities here in Kansas City. I gave some thought to having a different consultant do the survey to provide 'different eyes', but decided that I didn't want to fore go the chance to be at home an entire week!

This has been a very cold week. Yesterday I headed out about 6 AM as I wanted to arrive in time to observe the early morning activities. I leave from a heated garage and when I got out of the car at the facility was amazed at how very COLD it was as I walked from the parking lot to the door.

I finished up around 3:30 and went to pick Griffin up at day care. It was his special day to stay with Grandma. I planned to take him to Wal-Mart to buy a new train for Grandma's house, but I was so cold by the time I had him buckled in that I decided he had enough trains! We went straight home. Griffin is such fun. He plays with his trains and watches Thomas movies. He loves to get the Play Dough out and make his trains get 'stuck'. After his bath we worked two puzzles several times. I was amazed at his concentration and ability to match the colors and pieces.

SO..... This morning I got up around 6:30 and went downstairs with Bouley. He was complaining and wanting food. I didn't have a can of cat food in the kitchen, so went to the garage to get a can. I opened the door to the garage and immediately realized the garage door had been open all night. The good news is that is wasn't my fault. Charlie had arrived around 8 and came in through the garage with groceries. HE didn't close the door.

The problem became apparent when the toilet didn't flush. When I checked the tank was empty. The water to the tub didn't flow. The pipes were frozen. Charlie fired up a space heater in the garage and we left the door to the house open in an effort to thaw the pipes. The bathroom sink was not frozen, so I turned the hot water on thinking that would help thaw adjacent pipes.

THEN, Charlie called out to ask how to turn off the water to the house. Why? A pipe was burst in the garage and water was pouring ( and I do mean POURING) into the garage. We found the shut off valve in the basement and successfully avoided any water damage to possessions.

As we figured all of this out Charlie was pretty calm and collected, but became more agitated as time transpired. The 'Thomas' music Griffin was listening too started to be a bit much. I moved Griffin's movie to a different room while Charlie endeavored to find a plumber.

I was just happy that I had washed up prior to needing to shut the water off, however, I had not brushed my teeth. HMMMM. I went to the garage to get a bottle of water and discovered they were frozen solid. No tooth water there. I would brush my teeth at Hillary's when I took Griffin home. When I buckled Griffin in I noticed a bottle of water 2/3 full that was not frozen, so I was able to brush my teeth.

Charlie found a plumber and I told him how happy I was that I was going to work and he was staying here to deal with the mess! The plumber actually arrived within the 30 minutes that was advertised. The pipe was fixed before noon and Charlie is a few dollars poorer.

It's supposed to get warmer. I'm headed to Florida on Sunday.

Great Hotel

This year we are at the Mandalay Bay for the Polaris Annual Meeting. Our rooms are in THE Hotel tower and are wonderful suites.


My living room, where I spent yesterday evening catching up on some reports. Since I don't gamble, I have a great time chilling in the surroundings.

Another view of the Living Room.

The closet/TV wall of the bedroom. I ended up with two Queen beds instead of a King, but I wanted to check in early and that was the only type of room clean. Fine with me. I can only sleep in so much space anyway and the second bed is great space to dump stuff.

I actually had two bathrooms. This one which also has a great big tub and a glass shower stall , and a second 1/2 bath off the living room.

I will be packing up in a few minutes and getting ready to head back to Kansas City. It's always a long week here when you spend all day in meetings. I haven't been outside since I got here!

Dessert

Since Molly and Hillary have shown us such healthy food, I decided to post the very pretty desserts I have had this week. Unfortunately, I didn't get this bright idea until I had eaten the first two.


This was a mint/orea lilttle goodie on a shortbread cookie. The fancy diamond shaped topping was dark chocolate.

This was a very pretty and tasty creme brulee with fresh fruit and whipped cream and a chocolate curl.

Snow Day

First of all, let us celebrate that I now have a computer!

Last week I was scheduled to be driving around to various nursing homes Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. Wednesday I was in Prairie Village, Kansas and was to leave there around 4:30, stop by home in Gladstone to pick up my suitcase and head to Macon, MO to check into a hotel where I would sleep before heading to Paris, MO for a visit on Thursday.

The drive from Prairie Village to Gladstone usually takes about 40 minutes. On Wednesday evening, thanks to lots of snow falling to the ground it took much longer. About 1 and 1/2 hours into the drive (and I was still in Kansas) I decided that continuing to drive to Macon was not in my best interest. I am usually a 'rain, sleet and snow' kind of person, but decided I really didn't have anything to prove to myself or anyone else. I have a perfectly fine home and bed in Gladstone and could always reschedule the Thursday visit. I made it home around 7 PM and stayed put.

Why the picture of my stove? Did you notice how CLEAN it is? Since I was snowed in on Thursday morning, I started cleaning the kitchen. I started with the dish washer. I had not noticed how incredibly dirty it was. From there, I actually looked at the cabinets, stove and refrigerator and realized it had been quite some time since I had remove the debris from their surfaces. The removable parts from the stove and oven went into the dish washer and I cleaned all else with elbow grease and soap/water. It is SO clean. Maybe I should do this at least once a year??

Around noon I headed to Illinois for the Friday visit. The sun was shinning, the roads were clear, and my kitchen was cleaner that it has been in several months.

It's Snowing

I made a quick trip to Detroit Monday evening and arrived back in Kansas City Tuesday night where I picked up a rental car for the rest of the week. The plan was to drive to East Missouri on Wednesady, to West Illinois on Thursday and back by Friday night.

Wednesday I was scheduled in Prarie Village, Kansas. The plan was then to stop at home to pack and head to Macon, Missouri to spend the night in preparation for the Thursday visit in a small Missouri town called Paris, Missoui. The snow started about 1 PM in Priarie Village. I left that facility around 4. What is usually a 40 minute drive to Gladstone was over 2 1/2 hours. When I started sliding sideways on I-635 I decided it was not rational to believe I could drive to Macon, Missouri tonight. It's one thing to be in a blizzard and need to keep going to find a bed, but I HAVE a wonderful home in Gladstone where I made it safely. I can sleep in my own bed and not sacrifice my life (or the rental car).

I canceled the reservation for Macon, MO for tonight and will call the nursing home in Paris, MO in the morning. In the mean time I am watching it snow.

What a Week!!! Part Two

The snow caught up with me on Monday night.

When I awoke on Tuesday, there was snow, about 4 inches deep, everywhere. It continued to snow throughout the day until around 3 PM. By the time I left the nursing home at 5 the streets through Chicago were in pretty good shape. That is until I reached the Indiana line. From there it was snowing and blowing and the Free-way was snow packed and slick. I arrived safely at the hotel around 8 and by morning the snow was over. However, the car was covered with snow and ice and car did not have an ice scraper. I swept the snow off and then sat until the car warmed up and melted the snow.



When I headed home on Thursday evening, I drove back to Chicago Midway airport. That drive takes me across Chicago about 5 miles on surface streets. With the traffic and stoplights it takes about 20 minutes and sometimes 30. I was following a maroon SUV with big rear windows. I noticed it had dual DVD screens dropped down and a movie on. As I drove along, I started to notice the movie and then REALLY noticed. Yep, it was porn. It was a little disturbing and I tried to get a car between us, but that car turned and I was right there again. I couldn't see anyone in the back seat, but who knows?



When I arrived at the airport I had a little over an hour to check my bag and get through security. The security line was backed up farther than I had ever seen it. Midway doesn't have a 'Fly By' lane. Well, actually, they have one labeled Fly By, but they don't monitor it and it isn't any faster than any of the other lanes. I picked the shortest and started waiting. The line was moving slowly. After about 15 minutes, this lady behind me asked to cut in front of me because her plane was going to start boarding in 10 minutes. I told her mine was, also. Most of the people around me were needing to get through security and there didn't seem to be much hope in sight. It took 40 minutes to get to the person who checks the identification. Then I still had to get through the screeners. I called Molly and asked her to check to see if my plane was delayed. According to the website, it was on time. I finally got through the screener and then pretty much ran all the way to the gate. The departure board said the flight was boarding. But, alas, when I reached the gait, it wasn't boarding. I waited 30 minutes to board the flight. We didn't have a pilot. Then we waited another 45 minutes to take off.

What A Week!!! Part One

Last week was a series of adventures.

I escaped the snow in Kansas City on Monday afternoon with only about a one hour delay while they de-iced the plane. When I arrived in Chicago there was no snow in sight. The streets were clean and dry. I flew into Midway and drove to Glenview, which is a suburb on the north part of Chicago. As I arrived in the Glenview area, I saw a Subway, and since I am on the Jared diet, I stopped to buy a sub. Then, a few blocks further, I pulled into a 7-Eleven to buy a six pack of Michelob Ultra. (Not sure if this is actually part of Jared's diet.) I was going to be there three nights which equaled two beers per night at 95 calories per beer.

I bought the beer and put it in the trunk, placing two bottles in the side pocket of my suitcase. the other four would stay cold in the trunk for subsequent nights. I then closed the trunk. I put my hand into the pocket of my coat to retrieve my keys and open the car door. Alas....the keys were not in my pocket. Where might they be?????? HMMMM. I guess they are in the trunk. I am now locked out of the rental car. Not only am I locked out, but I have nothing with me but a coin purse. No phone, no debit or credit cards, no identification, NO NOTHING.

I returned to the 7-eleven and asked to use the phone to call a lock smith. It was about 4:45 PM. I reached a lock smith who said they did not have anyone to send. I would have to wait until after 5 when the emergency line kicked in. About that time I realized I have AAA for just these situations. While I was trying to find a number for AAA, I noticed two fellows entered the 7-Eleven in official law enforcement type clothing. They were there for free coffee and chatted with the people at the cash register, apparently asking about the crazy lady using the phone. They were from the Cook County Shederrif's department. One of them tapped me on the shoulder and said that their co-worker, Bob, would have a key kit and could probably break into my car. I told the nice AAA lady I had the potential to solve my problem and hung up.

The Cook County Sheriff Deputy called Bob. He said he would be glad to retrieve my keys, but had just arrested a fellow and would need to take him back to lock up first. Well, Bob finally arrived and was able to unlock my rental car. I then used the trunk release and retrieved my keys. I was about 10 minutes from the hotel. I checked in and ate my Subway and washed it down with my Michelob Ultra lite.

Very Long Three Day Week

I'm in Arizona this week and doing a lot of driving. I left KC on Tuesday and flew to Phoenix, then drove to three hours to Yuma, arriving around 8 PM.

Wednesday, I worked at the nursing home from 9 to 5 and then drove three hours and some minutes to Lake Havasu City, arriving around 8:30 PM.

Today, Thursday, I worked at the nursing home from 9-5:15 and then drove four hours and some minutes back to Phoenix. I had a little trouble finding the right Hampton Inn. I tried to navigate it using the GPS to get me to the airport, as I thought I could easily find the hotel from the airport. It was dark and I couldn't find the landmarks I wanted to use. When that approach wasn't working I pulled into a parking lot to retrieve my itinerary from the trunk. Then I chose to not believe the GPS, even after I programmed the address. I found a Hampton, but it was not the one at which I had a reservation. So, I finally followed directions from the lady in the GPS and found the right hotel.

Tomorrow morning I get to come home. Between the working and the driving, it has been a week with very little down time, and both reports will be complicated and time consuming, which will cut into my week-end.

Thanks for letting me whine.

It's a New Year

After three wonderful relaxing weeks, two of vacation and last week visiting facilities close to home, I am back on the road this week. I headed to Arizona today and am in Yuma right now. Tomorrow I will work here, then drive to Lake Havasu City for Thursday and home on Friday morning. It's in the 50's and 60's here, but it's warm in Kansas City, too.

There were MANY amateur travelers out today. Must be the stragglers finally going home from the holiday travels. The lady in front of me going through security used five, that's right, FIVE, bins for her stuff to go through security. Then once she was through, she stood right there and reassembled everything and redressed, totally blocking the line of people trying to come through. I took my ONE bin and maneuvered around her to get out of the way and go sit down to put my shoes back on and replace my computer in the briefcase. Then it took forever to load the plane in Kansas City. People were so slow figuring out where to put carry on stuff and picking out seats. They just stood in the aisle holding up traffic while they had long conversations about where to sit. The lady behind me sat down and told her seatmates, "I haven't flown in several years." I wanted to turn around and say, 'Really!!!" but I refrained.