And the motorcycle journey begins (4/28/2015)…
A beautiful and crisp, sunny morning (38 degrees). 1600 miles to go. Gonna be fun!
And the journey makes a pit stop…
Three days later and 1603 miles under my belt. Or should I say, under my butt! I drove 445 miles and 440 miles on days 1 and 3 and 715 miles on day 2. First time taking a bike ride that long but I really enjoyed the trip. I took the back roads on the last day and what a great choice that was. No billboards, no trucks – just rolling hills, farms and cattle ranches. And bugs, lots of bugs! Other than cleaning the windshield and headlight, I gave up on the rest of the front end. I also had one rather strange encounter. As I was driving on the back roads, another motorcycle came up from behind and pulled alongside of me. It was a Harley chick on a Sportster. Either that or a good looking guy with long brown hair and man-boobs! Anyway, she nodded, smiled and rode alongside for about ten miles. I guess she was just being a friendly Texas rider.
As you can see, I made it to Corpus Christi. That’s looking out this morning from my daughter’s back deck.
Horseback riding on the beach. Alana and I went to a riding stable on the beach today. Perfect weather for a ride and only 6 people in the group. Alana’s ridden quite a bit but this was my very first time. I gave my best John Wayne impression without the ten-gallon hat! I have a newfound appreciation for women who ride horses. I think my thighs got more of a workout today than the 1600 mile motorcycle trip down here. Then we went and ate some giant strawberries. Fun day, so far.
Dozen my meal the other night look good? A dozen oysters, a dozen shrimp and a dozen buffalo hot wings! One of my favorite places to eat on the island, Scuttlebutt’s. Life is good.
And the journey continues…
I’m currently trying to thread the weather needle. Drove through the aftermath of the tornado and storms here in Texas and Oklahoma. Lots of flooding and building damage in places. Left Corpus Christi late yesterday morning to make it around the back end of that huge storm. If I didn’t leave yesterday, it didn’t look like there’d be an opening for another week. Mostly a dry trip until Waco and Dallas/Fort Worth. Got up to Oklahoma City this afternoon. I’m trying to stay in that little sliver of clear weather that you see in the radar picture above. Looks like clear sailing if the weather forecasts stay true. I’m really enjoying the bike trip. I don’t know if a 3200 mile trip north and south counts as a cross-country trip, but I’m checking it off my bucket list!
And the journey ends (5/14/2015)…
Made it back safely. What a great trip. Can’t wait to do it again.
This wasn’t on my original bucket list, but it is now. Racing, baby! Went race car driving at the Michigan International Speedway. What a blast. They have rev-limiters on the engine so you can’t go over 160 MPH. Still pretty quick though. You can hear me hit the limit several times on the straightaway. I’ll say one thing. The driver’s cockpit is cramped. You can only slide in through the window with the steering wheel off. Once you’re strapped into the seat with the 5-point harness and the helmet and brace are attached, you can barely move. I couldn’t see the pedals or the shifter – it’s all by feel. Of course, once you’re out on the track, the only thing you have to do is steer and work the accelerator pedal. You don’t use the clutch or brake. If you’re looking for a real kick in the pants adventure, this one is highly recommended.
Here’s a link to the video of my ride. Click here
Well, it’s been a little over two years since my last blog. What better way to restart things than to solve the meaning of life!! I’ve been thinking about this for the past month or so. It’s not some sort of epiphany that I had but more of a gradual revelation based on looking at my life and those around me. The meaning of life distilled into two words – Meaningful Relationships. Not too earth-shattering or complicated, right? Let me explain. It is composed of three types of relationships:
A Meaningful Relationship with God – I’m not trying to proselytize here, but in the long run, without this, nothing else will really matter. I’m not talking about just believing that there is a God. Heck, there are numerous surveys out there that show anywhere from 60%-90% of the American people consider themselves to be Christian. You have to walk-the-walk. It doesn’t mean that as a true believer you won’t ever sin again. However, it does mean that you will try your best to minimize its influence on you and you will strive to grow spiritually in both your heart and mind.
A Meaningful Relationship with Family – if you take care of your relationship with God, you will strive to have a good relationship with your family.
A Meaningful Relationship with Friends – Again, the key word here is meaningful. I’m talking about true friends, not so much a regular acquaintance or fellow co-worker. Someone that you pretty much treat like your own family.
Everything else in life is just a footnote. Not unimportant mind you, but not what gives life its true meaning and richness. Life’s ups and downs will make for an interesting journey, but in the end it will be the relationships that will sustain you and give meaning to your life. Loosely paraphrasing something that Max Lucado once said, “When you’re in the final days of your life, will you want to spend your time in the garage with your shiny new car, or looking at your financial statement or admiring your personal awards? Of course not. You’ll want to spend your remaining time with people who matter to you. If relationships will matter most then, shouldn’t they matter most now?”
At least according to my Garmin GPS watch! My wife and I recently bought a second home near Lake Michigan. It’s near the river/channel that empties into Lake Michigan. If the area isn’t too snowy, I like to take a run along the channel and out to the pier and lighthouse. The graphic above is how my GPS watch logged the run. As you can see, most of my run was on the channel and into Lake Michigan. Even though the accuracy of the GPS is a couple of feet, the map overlay is in need of some serious updating. The far west part of the run was the end of the pier that juts out into Lake Michigan.
It’s certainly been a warmer than normal winter this year. Even though it’s late February, the channel and lake still aren’t frozen over. I’m definitely not complaining though. There’s less snow to shovel and more days to get in a walk/run. A very good start to the New Year.
My two favorite teams are the San Francisco Forty-Niners and any team playing against the Steelers or Patriots. The 49ers almost made it to the Super Bowl this year. However, two inopportune fumbles by a replacement punt returner gave the game to the New York Giants. It was still a great season for them and I hope they do well next year.
I don’t know if I really believe in Karma, but it sure is a good explanation for the downfall of both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots this season. I think the Steelers have a bunch of dirty players who have gotten away with cheap shots for a number of years. Three of the worst are James Harrison, Ryan Clark and Hines Ward. The final straw was the sexual assault charges against their quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. There was enough evidence presented to believe he was guilty on some level. I believe in second chances but the Rooney family should have cut him after the second incident came to light. I lost all respect for them after those incidents went unpunished for the most part. Sitting out a few games was not appropriate punishment. It was so great during the Playoffs last month to see Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos beat them in overtime. Now there’s a good athlete, class act and even greater human being.
Right before the start of last night’s Super Bowl game, I leaned over to my brother-in-law and said that the perfect game for me was to see the Giants beat the Patriots in a close one just like the last time they met. I didn’t think there was much chance for that happening. However, once again, the Giants came through. I don’t care very much for many of the players on the Patriots and I really don’t like their coach, Bill Belichick. He and his team were caught cheating years ago by secretly videotaping opposing teams’ coaching signals. He said he didn’t really think it was illegal and it really didn’t make any difference in the outcomes of those games. He had been doing it since the 2000 season until he was caught in 2007. Funny thing though, ever since he was caught cheating, he’s never won another Super Bowl, and he’s been back there twice. Also, his postseason record hasn’t been as good, either.
The Steelers lose in overtime to the Broncos, the Patriots lose to the Giants in another close game and the 49ers almost make it to the Super Bowl. Two out of three isn’t so bad. Go Niners!!
My wife and I took a little trip to southern Georgia over the New Years weekend to attend a wedding. The weather was absolutely perfect during the day – 68° and sunny. I got up Saturday morning and decided to go for a run. Our hotel was right on the river walk across from the Ray Charles monument and park. It was about 8 o’clock but there wasn’t a soul on the river walk. I had it all to myself. The only thing I saw were squirrels and snails. There’s a winding paved walkway along the Flint River and I took a nice 10-mile run. The temperature at that time was in the mid-50s, which is ideal for running.
After the run we did a little sightseeing and went to Radium Springs. It’s a pleasant spring-fed watering hole that empties into the Flint River. We attended the church wedding early that evening and ended the day at a private New Years celebration at the hotel. A good time was had by all.
Hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday season. Happy New Years!
FROM: Pauline Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO: All Employees
DATE: 4 November 2011
RE: Christmas Party
I’m happy to inform you that the company Christmas Party will take place on December 23rd, starting at noon in the private function room at the Grill House. There will be a cash bar and plenty of drinks!
We’ll have a small band playing traditional carols. Please feel free to sing along. And don’t be surprised if the CEO shows up dressed as Santa Claus! A Christmas tree will be lit at 1:00 PM.
Exchange of gifts among employees can be done at that time. However, no gift should be over $10.00 to make the giving of gifts easy for everyone’s pocketbook.
This gathering is only for employees! The CEO will make a special announcement at the party.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Pauline
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FROM: Pauline Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO: All Employees
DATE: 5 November 2011
RE: Holiday Party
In no way was yesterday’s memo intended to exclude our Jewish employees. We recognize that Chanukah is an important holiday, which often coincides with Christmas, although unfortunately not this year. However, from now on we’re calling it our “Holiday Party.”
The same policy applies to any other employees who are not Christians. There will be no Christmas tree or Christmas carols sung. We will have other types of music for your enjoyment. Happy now?
Happy Holidays to you and your family,
Pauline
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FROM: Pauline Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO: All Employees
DATE: 6 November 2011
RE: Holiday Party
Regarding the note I received from a member of Alcoholics Anonymous requesting a non-drinking table, you didn’t sign your name. I’m happy to accommodate this request, but if I put a sign on a table that reads, “AA Only,” you wouldn’t be anonymous anymore!
How am I supposed to handle this? Somebody?
Forget about the gift exchange, no gift exchange allowed now since the union officials feel that $10.00 is too much money and management believes $10.00 is a little cheap. NO GIFT EXCHANGE WILL BE ALLOWED.
Pauline
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FROM: Pauline Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO: All Employees
DATE: 7 November 2011
RE: Holiday Party
What a diverse group we are! I had no idea that December 20th begins the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which forbids eating and drinking during daylight hours. There goes the party! Seriously, we can appreciate how a luncheon at this time of year does not accommodate our Muslim employees’ beliefs.
Perhaps the Grill House can hold off on serving your meal until the end of the party – or else package everything up for you to take home in a little foil doggy bag. Will that work?
Meanwhile, I’ve arranged for members of Weight Watchers to sit farthest from the dessert buffet and pregnant women will get the table closest to the toilets. Gays are allowed to sit with each other. Lesbians do not have to sit with gay men, each will have their own table. Yes, there will be flower arrangements for the gay men’s table too.
To the person asking permission to cross dress – no cross dressing allowed.
We will have booster seats for short people. Low fat food will be available for those on a diet. We cannot control the salt used in the food. We suggest those people with high blood pressure taste the food first. There will be fresh fruits as dessert for diabetics. The restaurant cannot supply “no sugar” desserts.
Sorry! Did I miss anything?
Pauline
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FROM: Pauline Lewis, Human Resources Director
TO: All Employees
DATE: 8 November 2011
RE: The ****** Holiday Party
Vegetarian jerks: I’ve had it with you people! We’re going to keep this party at the Grill House whether you like it or not, so you can sit quietly at the table furthest from the “grill of death,” as you so quaintly put it. You’ll get your f****** salad bar, including organic tomatoes, but you know tomatoes have feelings too, they scream when you slice them. I’ve heard them scream. I’m hearing them scream right NOW!
I hope you all have a rotten holiday and then drink, drive and die.
Pauline, the Bitch from HELL!
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FROM: John Bishop, Acting Human Resources Director
TO: All Employees
DATE: 9 November 2011
RE: Pauline and the Holiday Party
I’m sure I speak for all of us in wishing Pauline Lewis a speedy recovery and I’ll continue to forward your cards to her. In the meantime, the management has decided to cancel our holiday party and instead, give everyone the afternoon of the 23rd December off with full pay.
Have a SUCCESSFUL day!
John
My brother-in-law recently completed his first marathon in Philadelphia. He’s been wanting to run one for a while and finally got his chance last Sunday at the Philadelphia Marathon. He had pretty nice weather and was able to run a good portion of the race with his son. I wasn’t able to be there to watch him run it but I did meet him the following morning in Washington, D.C. We all gave him a gentle ribbing about his new “walking style.” If you’ve ever run a marathon before, you know how badly your calves and hamstrings feel the first couple of days. Even stepping up onto a curb can be a challenge.
A marathon is a pretty big accomplishment for someone and definitely worthy of a post on my blog.Congrats, Marathon Jim!
Kidney stones are not fun! If you’ve ever had the experience of passing a kidney stone, you know what I mean. Those babies are painful. I had one last month in my left kidney. At first it feels a lot like lower-back pain. However, it gets sharper and starts to feel like someone put a knife into your side. That initial pain is when the stone gets lodged in the ureter that’s attached to your kidney. If you’re lucky, it eventually makes its way through your system and you just pee it out. If not, you have to go to the hospital and have them try a few different methods like sonically blasting it, or as a last resort, surgically removing it. I had another one about 12 years ago and the pain got so bad that I had to go to the hospital. At first, they tried giving me vicodin, but that didn’t help at all. Finally, they gave me morphine and that killed the pain. They had me stay overnight and I finally passed it.
The picture below is my stone from last month.
The stone is like a tiny little object with razor-sharp points on it. When the stone is moving through your ureter and urinary tract, the pain can be excruciating. It can make little cuts in the interior walls along the way and that shows up as blood in your urine. I talked with a nurse who had them once and she said that kidney stone pain was worse than delivering her baby. I don’t know about delivering a baby, but I can tell you that kidney stone pain is the worst pain I’ve experienced so far.
We just got back from a two-week vacation to the Washington D.C area. We were visiting our daughter. On Tuesday, August 23rd, we were on the 7th floor of an apartment building when an earthquake struck. I’ve been exposed to earthquakes in the past in both California and Maine. However, being in a high-rise is a totally different experience. The shaking was longer and much more pronounced. Also, earthquakes are not a very common occurrence in that neck of the woods so you’re not really expecting it to happen. There wasn’t any damage that we could see and when we looked out the window to the streets below, there were dozens of people running out of the various buildings and businesses in the area. We eventually came out of our building and walked around the area. Of course everyone was on their phone trying to call or text someone but the cell towers were immediately saturated and calls/texts weren’t getting sent. Eventually, things went back to normal and people reentered their buildings. We figured that would be the end of our excitement for this trip. We were wrong.
Four days later, Hurricane Irene struck. We were in New Orleans in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew struck. Andrew caused some damage in our area, but overall it was more of a really bad storm than a hurricane. Most of the damage from that hurricane was in Florida. Concerning Irene, the media sure made it seem like a catastrophic event was about to take place. The day before the hurricane, we went to the grocery store and bought a couple of meals that we could eat if things got bad. Of course I bought a half-gallon of ice cream. If I’m going down, I’m going to be eating something I like! Anyway, Saturday came and went and Irene only brushed alongside the D.C. area. There was some wind and water damage in places, but overall, things went pretty well. We easily survived natural disaster #2.
That takes care of the “Earthquake” and “Hurricane” in the title, but what about the “Lion”, you might ask? Well, while I was there, I installed the latest operating system upgrade for my daughter’s Apple computer, OS X Lion. Ha!
