Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Just catching up

Wow, I did not realize it was 7/11/2007 since I last updated my blog. At least I am not as bad as Pastor Dear, 6/25/2007 last update. I thought when Pastor Shawn got here his life would be easier? Sure DD is keeping him busy!!

Here is what happened since last update:
  • Went to Chicago for 2 days worth of meeting, tried to fly back on the 6:15 AM flight, but flight was delayed 4 hours, so what else is new? almost always happens to me.
  • Signed up to take a cruise with the family the week before Christmas, never been on one, but have wanted to for a long time. Found a great deal to the Western Caribbean for 5 nights
  • Angela's sister Tammy had the great(?) idea to have a wiener roast last Saturday night! It was only about 85 outside, but she thought it would be fun? What was funny is she came to our house to cool down! Ended up being fine, cooled off very nicely when the sun started going down.
  • Tammy got the twins and Brooklyn BB guns so they were entertained the whole time shooting empty coke cans
  • Had the Salyer family reunion on Sunday (that was why we left church early, nothing wrong Pastor Shawn, it had nothing to do with the songs written in 15 sharps). Had a good time, Angela had to work, so she left early, I don't think she enjoys buffets of food, cooked by unknown people, sitting out on picnic tables on a hot day, too much.
  • Brandon & Corey organized the family softball game and their team won
  • My brother Jim and family came. Could not believe my nephew, Nathan, lost about 100 pounds! Looked like a different kid, much better.
  • Having a great week at work, nice to get up, go to work, come home, eat Angela's food, for a change. Start traveling again next week to VA and then MI at the end of the month. Do I need a tetanus shot before crossing the Michigan border?

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

travel woes

I flew from Columbus yesterday through Chicago and on to Phoenix.

  1. Flight was delayed leaving Columbus almost an hour due to the storm. Hasn't rained in almost a month, but when I am trying to fly out of town it storms
  2. Flight leaving Chicago delayed 30 mins before boarding
  3. Once boarding finally started we had to wait in the 90 degree, at least, Jetway, while the crew got a 95 year woman on her last leg settled in her seat.
  4. As I was getting on I heard a yipping dog, I had a bad experience with dogs and planes once. I sat next to a lady with a dog that yipped for 4 hours!! She kept giving it these pills to relax it, she ended up giving it about 10 pills before it quieted down, hope the dog was OK.
  5. Back to the story,
  6. I am sitting right behind the elderly woman, the man who had the dog was the son-in-law of the elderly woman listed above, and he was sitting across the aisle from me, in the middle seat. The man between him and me was allergic to dogs and was making a BIG STINK about it.
  7. Then a family gets on the plane, grandma, grandpa, mom and 2 little boys, all sitting apart from each other. Grandma sits next to me, grandpa was putting his crane in the overhead bin when he accidentally whacked the guy who was complaining about the dog, in the side of the head!!!
  8. The guy gets even more upset, so now the flight attendant gets involved and musical chairs begins.
  9. The guy with the dog switches places with grandma, so he is sitting on my right in the middle, with his wife, daughter of the old lady, right in front of him, dog under seat in front of him.
  10. Grandma gets moved next to the guy complaining about the dog and getting hit in the head, and grandpa is now sitting right in front of her.
  11. NOW the plane gets delayed for 2 hours on the runway due to a storm in Chicago! (see #1 above)
  12. Finally, the plane takes off but only after the pilot comes back and checks the old lady out, I think he was seriously thinking about asking her to get off the plane, she looked that bad. Daughter got medicine and gave her some and she settled down.
  13. Finally take off, dog is fine, old lady asleep, chair all the way back in my lap, bad guy finally calmed down, when 2 hours into a 3 hour flight the guy with the dog, gets out his cell phone and calls someone in Phoenix telling them they will be late!
  14. Flight attendants come from both directions telling the guy he just broke federal law and telling him to turn it off. He does turn it off, claims ignorance and flight lands without a problem.
  15. Get bag pretty quick, get to rental car fine, look at display on the car and it 8:00 PM and still 98 degrees outside!
  16. Today coming back from the plant it was 109! Don't care if it is dry heat or not, 109 is HOT!
  17. Gotta be an easier way to make a living!

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

The Bridge Builder

by Will Allen Dromgoole

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you a bridge at the eventide?"

The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him."

This is my hope and prayer that I can be a bridge builder for my sons.

Some of the things they think are "old fashioned" today, are really the bridges we built based on the times we crossed the turbulent river.