20170802 - Dancing Milk & Rained Out

20170802 - Up in the am and we loaded the car and headed North up across the George Washington Bridge and into Connecticut. We made a stop at the World's Largest Dairy, Stew Leonard's in Norwalk CT, where saw the animatronic displays all over the store. All this food made us feel starving so we headed out so G could see the Goats before we found a local diner to get a huge meal. We were the youngest patrons by about 3 decades, but it was good! 

Back on the road and into Massachusetts, L mostly missed the sign, and we drove for what felt like days before arriving at a military museum that was closed... On to the hotel where we got checked in and then across the road to catch a bus to go Fenway for an Indians @ Red Sox game. The stadium was awesome and we got to our seat, that were luckily under cover as it was raining, and then had a nice Fenway dinner of dogs and soda. DG&I headed out looking for very specific hats and found the across the road in the team store. We got back to our seats just in tie for them to cancel the game :-( So a little wet we headed out to the bus stop, not raining now, to catch our ride back to the hotel. We made it back in one piece and settled in for the night, a bit disappointed our evening entertainment was cancelled.

20160708 + Counters Corn and Gravy

0160708 + Up early to get ready for the countertop delivery, 9am and they are still not here...  Finally the guys showed up, everything looked good,  everything fit, new countertop in!  I installed the cooktop and the sink plumbing, all good, on the road to Columbus Indiana by 1pm.  On the way we stopped for lunch and there was a cornfield nearby that since we forgot to get our 4th of July picture taken on the 4th we got it done on the 8th.  Corn is plenty tall and not the tallest we saw on the way.  After a couple hours of riding I made a slight detour to see the World's only courthouse with a tree growing out of the top of it and tour a couple of the old building around the Greensburg IN town square.  On to the hotel through some back roads where we saw some interesting sights, like some metal presidents in the back of Jeeps, corn and soybeans...  We checked in then ran to a flea market where we found a huge ant.  We then got the troops together and headed to Skooter's in downtown Columbus and had a great meal.  After dinner I spent 3 hours in the pool with the team as all the other parents were somewhere...

20160421 + Kick Diner, PIs

20160421 + Up in the am and into work. Long day crunching numbers... Headed to Pickerington to see J's soccer game with L&G, D at a baseball game in Olentangy, he got to play second today. J's played a lot in the 1st half and a bit in the second half, but they lost. After the game we headed to the Nutcracker Diner for a fantastic meal with 2 grumpy tired boys. Headed home and D was on the way to his girlfriend's and he popped up on the 'Find Friends' app right in front of J&I on the way home so we followed him. We tracked him down at a Wendy's were we got to meet his new girlfriend (DGF5). Home and got the boys to bed. Up late working on the PC and watching 4400.

20160420 - Lunch @ Lilly's w/ Lori

20160420 - Up in am and into work. Got some things done around the office and then L showed up for our insurance biometric screening. I gave her a tour of the plant, we got our blood drawn, blood pressure taken and other checks done. We then headed to downtown Grove City for a nice lunch at LIlly's Diner. 

Back to work for a bit and then left early to head to Lancaster to Watch D at his baseball game. John & Betty stopped by to see the game and D was not playing so we had a nice chat. D's team was losing by 1 and there were 2 outs in the top of the 7th. A guy got on base and then coach put D in as a pinch runner... :-o The first pitch D took off like lightening and stole 2nd, just beating the ball with the slide and popping up right on top of the base 'SAFE'! Ready to run with 2 outs, and a crack of the bat, D was already in motion rounding 3rd and flying towards home with the ball on its way... He slide under the catcher, across home, popping up jumping in the air pumping his arms coming down in a sea of his players yelling and screaming as he just tied up the game!!! Bottom of the 7th and the Lancaster team got a run and a walk off win :-( D's coach was pretty upset and made the boys run, he hasn't lost a game until now for the last 2 years... Drove home, saw the little boys for a minute. Up on the PC and watching the 4400.

20140706 - Scenic Route

20140706 - Up in the am and J&G got directions from Abe and Perry Come for the day.  We headed to the Scout campsite to get D and headed to Philadelphia.hilly.  We took the scenic route and stopped at the diner 'The Blob" was filmed at.  Onward to the Phillies stadium where we got private tour and D got hat.  then we headed Downtown to tour Independence Hall and to see the Liberty Bell, We walked to Sonny's for the classic Philly Cheese-steak, YUM!  We stopped at the art museum to see Rocky and run up the steps and then drove through Chinatown to get to our hotel with low ceilings in the parking garage.  We got settled in and went swimming before bed.

20130803 + Animal Lover

20130803 + Up in the am and J up early ready to go. I had to take care of just a couple things first, so I had him put together a supply pack while L drove me to get the black car. The guys at the shop showed me the frame and sure enough it was rust completely through in the back... :-(

Home and packed up a couple things. Then J&I hit the road for our annual 'Dad & Me Day'.  J's first pick was McD's for bfast. Then we got gas and cash at the bank. One more stop for a bag full of candy and a map. Now we were ready...

J's second pick was Rolling Ridge Ranch Animal Park in Millersburg OH. I showed J where it was on the map and asked him how we should get there...  let the navigation begin!  J directed me over many hills and turns for the next 2 hours and then we arrived. Now this place is special for J. He was just there 4 days earlier with Gma&paB.  He liked it it so much, and thought that I would like it just as much, so he wanted to share that experience with me. We first walked around and J introduced me to some of his friends, the pair of young camels that seemed to remember him, some parrots that chatted with him Tuesday and some goats.

We were then summoned to the wagon and J knew just where to sit: the back of the wagon. We started our ride and we saw and got to feed many amazing animals; ostriches, zebras, deer, alpacas, llamas, antelope, buffalo, long horn cows, pigs...  It was quite amazing!  J was a bit upset that there were so many others on our wagon, earlier in the week they pretty much had the place to themselves. But I didn't mind. I had never been that close to many of these animals, and today I got to feed and pet them!  J was right, this was really cool!!!  What I liked the most was seeing J watching, studying, interacting with the animals, he just loves them; you can see it in his eyes...  The ride was over and we went back into the petting zoo. We saw the monkeys, lemurs, porcupine, huge tortoises and four horned goats.  AMAZING!!!

We got back in the car,  had a candy bar and then to a big store where we picked up some novelty items and a couple huge ice cream cones.  We ate our ice cream in a gazebo by the store and J climbed a tree.

Down the road a few more miles to Berlin OH where we found a magic shop.  This place was packed with cool stuff and the guy there was a good magician, and he showed us some tricks. J picked one and we got it and headed to the car.  J gave me the route to take and I got us on the road as J worked on perfecting his magic trick (It is really cool!  If you see him ask him to show you the matchbox trick).


Before long we were in Loundenville and took a nice drive along to river to see all the people in the canoes and tubes going down the river.  We ended up at the Mohican Adventures where we got some tickets and the were off to the races.  We did 3 sets of go-kart races and banged and bumped around the track, J beaming from ear to ear.  He beat me the first race, I beat him the second race, and I cheated (Spun him out) on the third race to win.  It was a BLAST!!!




We headed into old downtown Loudenville and found the Hanover House Diner to grab a bite.  J ate and ate, he even got a sub to go, it was super good :-)

The next stop was way over by Delaware, a camp site, where his best buddy Donovan and family were camping.  We stopped there and Jack did his magic trick on everyone and then he vanished to have a good time with his buddy.  There was one loud bang that we had to check on and could find no source for the noise, and both boys were ok...

We headed home and got J to bed about 12:30am. Here is the map that J kept track of our travels, and he noticed when he turns it a certain way it looks like a giraffe ;-)

What a wonderful day with a boy that loves to be around animals, family and just make sure everyone else is happy.  His calmness and caring remind me so much of my Grandma Winger.  J is at this point the kindest person I know that is living...

The boys think I do this for them...  What a special treat for me today was.  

090222 - Longest day

090222 - Up early and in to work for another day of testing. We worked hard through the morning and had a touchpoint with the Holland team where we were informed by the customer that the Go-Live would be postponed. This means that this trip was a failure and quite a blow. However it was the right decision and the trip did allow us to get a lot of functionality further defined and refined, and it works! We got Ahndi and Lee out the door early so Ahndi could get home to Scotland and not be stuck in the US another week. I stayed at the office to finish things up, clean up the action lists, email, documentation etc. About 7pm I headed out for a bite to eat with the customer team. It was nice to sit and not be in the total stress environment. We parted ways still friends and I headed to SFO to drop off the car and catch the red eye flight home. Found 'Lori's Diner' in the airport.