Atlanta and the Princess' Birthday
Weekend Update and Atlanta Trip
I had a wonderful but long weekend. Mostly, it was a lack of really good restful sleep that made the trip to Atlanta long. Still, it was well worth the time involved.
I flew out to Atlanta on a Delta Airlines Boeing 777. It was my first time on a 777. I was using my frequent flyer miles on Delta so I didn’t mind flying in the front of the plane. For my money, the 777 is a really nice aircraft; well first class is.
They have large, high back, leather seats that have motorized controls on them. I think there are ten different buttons to play with. I picked the master button that was labeled SLEEP. One long push, it rolls out to almost flat.
Then, I tossed and turned for the flight to Atlanta. We arrived early mostly because we had a 100 mile /160 kilometer an hour tailwind. We arrived so early that we had to wait for about five minutes while they rounded up the ground crew so the plane could be towed into the gate.
I had to hike through Hartsfield Jackson Airport in Atlanta. You never ever land a terminal that is close in. As I was hiking through terminals, thinking about Sherman’s march through Georgia in 1864 when Atlanta burned, I saw this young kid with bright blue hair. For the life of me, I could not understand what possessed him to dye his hair bright blue. Seeing him did lift my spirits and make me feel much better knowing that the Big Guy turned out much better.
I had a choice to ask the Princess to pick me up at the airport or ride the MARTA subway to my hotel. Knowing that the Princess is not an early morning person, I wisely opted for the relative quiet of the subway which was quiet except the rolling along the rails and conductor announcements of the stations. The $1.75 fare seemed reasonable as well.
The MARTA airport station is just outside of baggage claim. I rode the airport train into baggage claim from Terminal E. The walk in from Terminal E would have been a mile or two.
I was very glad that I put the liner in my raincoat before I left the beach because it was 34F / 0C while I was standing on the station, waiting for the train.
My hotel was only a block and a half walk from the MARTA station and only two blocks from where we would have dinner on Saturday night. It made everything very convenient for me.
I had breakfast before I tried to doze off and sleep. It was a very nice buffet so I helped myself to scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, melon, fried potatoes, blueberries, and a croissant roll. I had some decaffeinated coffee and tomato juice to drink. At least, I was not going to be hungry until dinner time and that was eleven hours away.
My sleeping was not the best in the world. I think I picked up made three hours of good dozing and no sound, restful, sleep at all. After my dozing was over, I phoned the Princess and Doug to let them know I had safely arrived in Atlanta.
I used my time for the rest of the day to go over the financial reports of a credit union that I am going to have a telephone interview with on Thursday. The credit union got into some trouble over a lending program. Actually, the credit union got into a lot of trouble of the lending program. The situation is a lot like the “tar baby” from Joel Chandler Harris. The more you handle it, the bigger the mess becomes. The credit union did not fully understand the risks associated with the program. In situations like this, when you do not understand things, the worst happens.
I can see some solutions that will help make some of the problems go away. But other problems will hang around for another two or three years. That is no fun. On the other hand, if this were an easy task then anyone could turn the credit union around.
Dinner at Morton’s was perfect.
Technically, it was not perfect because my favorite server, Amy, was not there to serve us. The one we had, Patricia, was very good. It did take her some time to warm up to the fact that we were there to have fun and that she could be part of our fun.
We had a very good table and could see most of the restaurant from where we sat. This was how the Princess’ roommate spotted the table of four software geeks.
Now, being a father, I thought they looked on the young side and not really worthy of chatting with the Princess. Dads can be that way. Her roommate concluded that they were not eating at Morton’s on an expense account because they would never be able to explain the meal to the bean counters with sleeve garters and green eyeshades so the, therefore, were earning a decent wage to go to Morton’s.
I observed that they looked on the young side and probably would have to be thrown back into the dating pool; like when you land a fish and then discover it is undersized and has to be tossed back into the lake or river. In the end, the Princess and her friends decided to pass on the young software geeks.
Dad was happy.
The Princess liked her gifts. But, then, I knew she would. I got her a gift certificate to her favorite department store in Atlanta. My friend Sharon got her one to the same store so she will have more fun shopping there next weekend. I also got the Princess a red wool or nylon Utah beanie. She must have liked it because she let me take a photo of her in it and photos are usually act of God event.
I wished that I had my Utah beanie when I was standing on the MARTA platform in the breezy morning.
The Princess agreed with me that this year I had achieved the best lifestyle and personality themed birthday cards in a very, very long time. I think it was the best birthday ever since she has moved away from home.
The Princess drove me the two blocks to my hotel so I did not have to walk in the cold. I could have walked the two blocks. Of course, I would have been cold but I was dressed properly for the walk except for no hat.
Not surprisingly, I slept reasonably well on Saturday night. I think I picked up my first real sleep since waking up the day before. I think I got about six hours of good sleep from Friday morning when I woke until Sunday evening when I went to bed.
I went out to the airport early to see if I could catch an earlier flight. It was my lucky day. I was able to get on a flight that left two and a half hours earlier than my original flight. This was important to me because I had to drive out to the South O. C. to let Doug borrow my digital camera. In fact, it made the trip out and back to Orange County and was back at my house at the time I would have originally landed.
Saving time is always an excellent endeavor or endeavour, for those you who learned non-American English.
After a simple dinner and checking my email inbox, I crawled into and immediately dropped off into a deep and restful sleep.
Utah Women’s Basketball
The Utes made to the regional finals with a game tonight. They seem to be playing a solid and consistent game. They have picked scoring from others on the team when the primary players have had off nights.
Unfortunately, Utah lost to Maryland tonight in overtime. It was a very close game with the lead changing teams regularly. I think one of the key factors was an injury to one of Utah’s leading scorers Shona Thornburg. Thornburg only had 10 points in the game when she is usually scoring around 15 to 20 points a game. She also missed the lasts five minutes of the first half.
I think the Utes might have been able to pull off the victory in regulation play had Thornburg been healthy for the entire game. Of course, this is the stuff that Winter long conversations are made of.
In the end, the Utes made it to The Elite Eight and in doing so raised the level of their play and recognition nationally. The television exposure may help with recruiting for the next years’ teams.
Other Odd Observations
I drive past the Los Angeles Air Force Station on my way to work everyday.
The Air Force Station is unlike any other base. It has no runway. It has no planes. The primary mission of the station is to manage procurement contracts for the design and manufacture of satellites and long range missiles. It is a sort of technical base with a lot of very smart people on it.
For some reason, the base staffers have taken to wearing cammies [camouflage /combat uniforms]. I used to wear cammies when I was in the Marine Corps Reserves. Marines always look proper wearing their green combat utilities. I just find it so hard to imagine these Air Force officers in a combat situation, having to fire a rifle or pistol. For Marines, it was and still is second nature.
Back to my observation, I think these Air Force officers are playing at being a warrior. They try to dress for the part but lack the look. It is hard to look like a warrior when the hair on the back of your neck is touching the collar on the cammies.
Marine Corps officers, even part time reserve officers, have their hair shaved so that it is long only on the top of your head. Marines do look the part of warriors.
Foreign Visitors and Long Time Visitors
We had some long time blog readers this past week. One visitor read for about 16 minutes and another read for an astounding 27 minutes. I had absolutely no idea that I was that much of an interesting or compelling reader.
I decided to not count anyone from Canada as a foreign visitor. There are a couple of regular visitors from Canada. We did have a visitor from Nigeria and one from Mauritius. I am just going to guess that those readers got lost and stumbled into the blog.
That was my weekend gentle readers. I hope you had as much fun as I did with mine.
Be well and stay happy.
I had a wonderful but long weekend. Mostly, it was a lack of really good restful sleep that made the trip to Atlanta long. Still, it was well worth the time involved.
I flew out to Atlanta on a Delta Airlines Boeing 777. It was my first time on a 777. I was using my frequent flyer miles on Delta so I didn’t mind flying in the front of the plane. For my money, the 777 is a really nice aircraft; well first class is.
They have large, high back, leather seats that have motorized controls on them. I think there are ten different buttons to play with. I picked the master button that was labeled SLEEP. One long push, it rolls out to almost flat.
Then, I tossed and turned for the flight to Atlanta. We arrived early mostly because we had a 100 mile /160 kilometer an hour tailwind. We arrived so early that we had to wait for about five minutes while they rounded up the ground crew so the plane could be towed into the gate.
I had to hike through Hartsfield Jackson Airport in Atlanta. You never ever land a terminal that is close in. As I was hiking through terminals, thinking about Sherman’s march through Georgia in 1864 when Atlanta burned, I saw this young kid with bright blue hair. For the life of me, I could not understand what possessed him to dye his hair bright blue. Seeing him did lift my spirits and make me feel much better knowing that the Big Guy turned out much better.
I had a choice to ask the Princess to pick me up at the airport or ride the MARTA subway to my hotel. Knowing that the Princess is not an early morning person, I wisely opted for the relative quiet of the subway which was quiet except the rolling along the rails and conductor announcements of the stations. The $1.75 fare seemed reasonable as well.
The MARTA airport station is just outside of baggage claim. I rode the airport train into baggage claim from Terminal E. The walk in from Terminal E would have been a mile or two.
I was very glad that I put the liner in my raincoat before I left the beach because it was 34F / 0C while I was standing on the station, waiting for the train.
My hotel was only a block and a half walk from the MARTA station and only two blocks from where we would have dinner on Saturday night. It made everything very convenient for me.
I had breakfast before I tried to doze off and sleep. It was a very nice buffet so I helped myself to scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, melon, fried potatoes, blueberries, and a croissant roll. I had some decaffeinated coffee and tomato juice to drink. At least, I was not going to be hungry until dinner time and that was eleven hours away.
My sleeping was not the best in the world. I think I picked up made three hours of good dozing and no sound, restful, sleep at all. After my dozing was over, I phoned the Princess and Doug to let them know I had safely arrived in Atlanta.
I used my time for the rest of the day to go over the financial reports of a credit union that I am going to have a telephone interview with on Thursday. The credit union got into some trouble over a lending program. Actually, the credit union got into a lot of trouble of the lending program. The situation is a lot like the “tar baby” from Joel Chandler Harris. The more you handle it, the bigger the mess becomes. The credit union did not fully understand the risks associated with the program. In situations like this, when you do not understand things, the worst happens.
I can see some solutions that will help make some of the problems go away. But other problems will hang around for another two or three years. That is no fun. On the other hand, if this were an easy task then anyone could turn the credit union around.
Dinner at Morton’s was perfect.
Technically, it was not perfect because my favorite server, Amy, was not there to serve us. The one we had, Patricia, was very good. It did take her some time to warm up to the fact that we were there to have fun and that she could be part of our fun.
We had a very good table and could see most of the restaurant from where we sat. This was how the Princess’ roommate spotted the table of four software geeks.
Now, being a father, I thought they looked on the young side and not really worthy of chatting with the Princess. Dads can be that way. Her roommate concluded that they were not eating at Morton’s on an expense account because they would never be able to explain the meal to the bean counters with sleeve garters and green eyeshades so the, therefore, were earning a decent wage to go to Morton’s.
I observed that they looked on the young side and probably would have to be thrown back into the dating pool; like when you land a fish and then discover it is undersized and has to be tossed back into the lake or river. In the end, the Princess and her friends decided to pass on the young software geeks.
Dad was happy.
The Princess liked her gifts. But, then, I knew she would. I got her a gift certificate to her favorite department store in Atlanta. My friend Sharon got her one to the same store so she will have more fun shopping there next weekend. I also got the Princess a red wool or nylon Utah beanie. She must have liked it because she let me take a photo of her in it and photos are usually act of God event.
I wished that I had my Utah beanie when I was standing on the MARTA platform in the breezy morning.
The Princess agreed with me that this year I had achieved the best lifestyle and personality themed birthday cards in a very, very long time. I think it was the best birthday ever since she has moved away from home.
The Princess drove me the two blocks to my hotel so I did not have to walk in the cold. I could have walked the two blocks. Of course, I would have been cold but I was dressed properly for the walk except for no hat.
Not surprisingly, I slept reasonably well on Saturday night. I think I picked up my first real sleep since waking up the day before. I think I got about six hours of good sleep from Friday morning when I woke until Sunday evening when I went to bed.
I went out to the airport early to see if I could catch an earlier flight. It was my lucky day. I was able to get on a flight that left two and a half hours earlier than my original flight. This was important to me because I had to drive out to the South O. C. to let Doug borrow my digital camera. In fact, it made the trip out and back to Orange County and was back at my house at the time I would have originally landed.
Saving time is always an excellent endeavor or endeavour, for those you who learned non-American English.
After a simple dinner and checking my email inbox, I crawled into and immediately dropped off into a deep and restful sleep.
Utah Women’s Basketball
The Utes made to the regional finals with a game tonight. They seem to be playing a solid and consistent game. They have picked scoring from others on the team when the primary players have had off nights.
Unfortunately, Utah lost to Maryland tonight in overtime. It was a very close game with the lead changing teams regularly. I think one of the key factors was an injury to one of Utah’s leading scorers Shona Thornburg. Thornburg only had 10 points in the game when she is usually scoring around 15 to 20 points a game. She also missed the lasts five minutes of the first half.
I think the Utes might have been able to pull off the victory in regulation play had Thornburg been healthy for the entire game. Of course, this is the stuff that Winter long conversations are made of.
In the end, the Utes made it to The Elite Eight and in doing so raised the level of their play and recognition nationally. The television exposure may help with recruiting for the next years’ teams.
Other Odd Observations
I drive past the Los Angeles Air Force Station on my way to work everyday.
The Air Force Station is unlike any other base. It has no runway. It has no planes. The primary mission of the station is to manage procurement contracts for the design and manufacture of satellites and long range missiles. It is a sort of technical base with a lot of very smart people on it.
For some reason, the base staffers have taken to wearing cammies [camouflage /combat uniforms]. I used to wear cammies when I was in the Marine Corps Reserves. Marines always look proper wearing their green combat utilities. I just find it so hard to imagine these Air Force officers in a combat situation, having to fire a rifle or pistol. For Marines, it was and still is second nature.
Back to my observation, I think these Air Force officers are playing at being a warrior. They try to dress for the part but lack the look. It is hard to look like a warrior when the hair on the back of your neck is touching the collar on the cammies.
Marine Corps officers, even part time reserve officers, have their hair shaved so that it is long only on the top of your head. Marines do look the part of warriors.
Foreign Visitors and Long Time Visitors
We had some long time blog readers this past week. One visitor read for about 16 minutes and another read for an astounding 27 minutes. I had absolutely no idea that I was that much of an interesting or compelling reader.
I decided to not count anyone from Canada as a foreign visitor. There are a couple of regular visitors from Canada. We did have a visitor from Nigeria and one from Mauritius. I am just going to guess that those readers got lost and stumbled into the blog.
That was my weekend gentle readers. I hope you had as much fun as I did with mine.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 7:35 PM
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