Mt Evans Pics

As promised, a couple pics from the Mt Evans drive. More vacation pics and rants/raves upcoming.

Click on the picture for more pictures.

Do not disturb?

Who is putting out the do not disturb sign at hotels and then complaining that their room is not getting clean?  Who are you?  Why are you doing this to us?  You have ruined 'do not disturb' for the rest of us.  Now, thanks to you, we get disturbed.  That's right, the last couple hotels I stayed at have policies against using the do not disturb sign for prolonged periods.  The most recent made the sign only in effect for day 1, after that, they are cleaning your room anyway.  2 hotels ago, the housekeeping knocked on my door every day and made me sign a piece of paper saying I had my do not disturb sign out and didn't want my room clean.  In other words, I had to be disturbed in order to confirm that I didn't want to be disturbed, in two languages.   Funny, I thought that was what the sign was for.   Maybe instead of a sign, I need some type of banner.  A "seriously, disturb at your own risk" banner.  A lot of the time, its because I'm travelling and working late for work, and I want to sleep in instead of being woken up to sign my name confirming that I don't want to be woken up.  Maybe someday some when we all have personal droids, this won't be an issue as my droid can stand guard and sign my name for me, but until then, I'm very displeased in those of you who have ruined the do not disturb sign.  So long sleeping in at the hotel.

Mt Evans

Enough time has passed that I can now talk about what happened on Monday.  Monday, I had the most harrowing drive of my life. 
Jeni and I were in Colorado and decided to drive to the top of Mt Evans, the highest paved road in America.  Its supposed to be a very scenic drive, lots of wildlife, breathtaking views, etc.  Well, it was breathtaking alright, as in unable to breathe.  We were cruising right along, not a worry in the world, and then we got above the tree line.  Not only was there a couple thousand feet cliff off the side of the road, there was no guard rails either.  I know guards rails are a kinda false sense of security, but still, sure would have been nice to have.  I'm not normally scared of heights, but I have to say that my blood was pumping pretty good the whole way and I almost turned back several times.  One of the scariest things was getting glimpes of the road ahead and knowing that what you see someone else doing in a couple thousand feet is going to be you next.  All in all, I wouldn't recommend the drive for anyone weak of heart or even marginally afraid of heights.  It certainly did a number on my nerves and kept me awake and on edge well into the night.  I will post a few pictures from the drive up tomorrow as well as some more thoughts and ramblings from the trip.

Bulletproof Canoes

One of my Spring semester classes was on innovation and technology.  One of the things we talked about briefly one week was a new woven fabric that is practically bulletproof.  My first thought was to make police uniforms, hunting gear, and/or military uniforms out of it.  Maybe some suits for the secret service, FBI agents, and the President to wear.  Nope.  The first application chosen was canoe lining.  I didn't realize there was such a gunshot wound risk while canoeing.  I was never a big fan of being in a canoe just because of the sheer effort involved in paddling, but now that I know I also need a bulletproof canoe you can definitely count me out.  Paddling and dodging bullets?  No thanks, I'll pass. 
After testing the fabric on canoes, they've found that its very shock absorbing and are taking their product to race cars next.  So, I guess it will still be a few years before you can get your bulletproof sweater to wear around town or to West Virginian family gatherings.
  

Happy 4th of July

Happy Fourth everyone.  Celebrate our freedom by doing some American today, like blowing up large amounts of paper, sulphur and gunpowder or grilling some hamburgers.  Jeni and I will be celebrating by horseback riding through some great American countryside and of course, watching some fireworks.  Go America!

Josh Womack

I think this guy is amazing. I won't tell you what happens whenever I try this except to say that there are jammed fingers and bruised wrists involved. And had there been anything breakable around, it would not have been pretty.

The governor

I've been asked to comment on our poor, misguided governorr, Mark Sanford.  I do have to say, the episode has left me quite speechless.  My comment is ... <Blank stare>.   I can say that I will never think of "hiking the appalachain trail" the same again.  The phrase has a whole new meaning, and is not quite the marketing that the appalachain trail was looking for I'm sure.  The sad part of the whole ordeal is that this is all about 7-8 years early for Mark.  Supposedly, he was in line to be a republican presidential candidate after Obama is done.  If this comes out after he's President, it's no big deal, just ask Clinton.  But beforehand, he might have to kiss that nomination goodbye.

Speaking of Obama, didn't he campaign that he was going to reduce government spending?  Has he done anything aside from spending money since being in office?  I know there a lot of criticism that Bush was always going over budget and increasing the deficit, as for Obama, I don't think it counts as staying within budget if you just print the money you need to make up the difference.

Newest member of the family

Jeni and I just found out about a week ago that we were expecting. However, it's not what you think. We were checking out a cypress tree in our back yard, debating how much to cut it back, when we found several robin eggs in a nest. So, we didn't cut the tree back and were expecting a couple robins in the near future. This week, Jeni went out to check out how the little eggs were doing and she had the rare opportunity to actually see an egg hatch. Not only that, we managed to get it on film for the entire world to see. Enjoy.