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Re: Pisa

Duh - forgot the picture.


----- Original Message -----
From: Allen Miller
Sent: Mon Mar 23 07:13:39 2009
Subject: Pisa


Having fun in Italy.

Regards
Allen e Joyce e Susan

This blog is moving

Just figured it was about time to change this blog. It turns out it is VERY easy to create a blog at wordpress.com and then import from the Google blogs. So, unless I change my mind, this will be the last post here. Allen's Board will now be found at AllensBoard.wordpress.com. Update your shortcuts or reader accordingly if you want.

Night Blooming Cereus

If you don't think that mother nature is incredible you just need to look around and open your eyes a little. I'm lucky enough to have a wife that is a plant junkie (in her words) so we have some pretty incredible things in our house and our yard much of the time. Like HUMMING BIRDS that visit the backyard when we have our dinner out on the patio - the only bird that can fly backwards! Yesterday evening we observed the main event for a plant called the Night Blooming Cereus. This incrdible flower blooms from the edge of a leaf, not from the stem. It blooms at night (duh) and by the next morning it is spent. Click on this link to see a few pictures I snapped last night.

Trains always win

Today I was driving on Wyoming Avenue in Cincinnati around high noon. If you know the area, you know that there is a railroad crossing between Lockland and Wyoming.

When I was taught to drive a car by my father a long time ago - one thing he told me was to stop when I approached a railroad crossing and to look both ways. Don't trust a gate or flashing light to protect your life - they might be out of order after all.

From time to time we hear about someone killed or injured in their car at a railroad crossing. I'm sorry if this seems cold hearted but I just can't feel any sympathy for someone stupid enough to cross a train track when a train is coming. After all - this is the Darwin Theory in full operation. The truly stupid will take themselves out of the gene pool - given enough time. Trains ALWAYS WIN - and - they are not hard to see or hear. You couldn't possibly say 'I didn't know it was coming'.

Back to driving on Wyoming Avenue.

So around high noon I am about 3 vehicles back at a railroad crossing with the gates down and lights flashing. There may have been bells ringing but it was hot, I had my AC on and listening to music. Then I was SHOCKED to see a QUEEN CITY METRO bus, the first car in the ones ahead of me - GO AROUND THE GATE. While he/she was going around the gate I was hearing the horn of the train blowing!

Of course in the urban areas trains don't go real fast - but they don't have to go real fast to hurt you if your vehicle gets stuck in their path. The bus made it across the tracks and there was no collision. I hope there weren't any passengers on this bus. I did make a telephone call to the Metro's business office to let them know what I observed. They advised me that there are video cameras on the buses and they would review this video and take appropriate action. I think appropriate action in this case would be canning the driver. Who knows what a person driving a bus that knows they are being video taped might do next time.

And then there is the issue of discipline in our local employers. I read recently that about half of the police officers that have been fired for job related performance problems have been rehired because the city caved in to the unions! Maybe they can hire the bus driver?

iPod

I know what you will be thinking - what century are you from?

After setting up iPods and helping my wife and 3 daughters for many years with these devices I finally got my first iPod - an 8gb 3g Nano. I have to say this is one piece of technology art. I bought an Archos 605 a few months ago thinking I primarily wanted to watch video and it had a bigger screen. Once I got it I found I wanted to listen to podcasts and some music but it was kind of heavy for being portable. The Nano is really small - I joke and say I need 'one for each eye' for watching videos - but it really isn't that bad. The user interface on the Nano is great - and there is just so much interesting stuff available in free podcasts. I downloaded my first audiobook today that I will probably start listening to tomorrow when I paint one of our bedrooms.

Oaxaca MX

We just returned from a five day trip to Oaxaca Mexico for the wedding of Monica and Ethan (our nephew). This was the first time in about 3 years that the five of us were able to all go away together. Oaxaca is a beautiful city. The hotel we stayed at - La Provincia - was over the top as far as service and facility. There was some issue that resulted from a language barrier. I requested one room for Joyce and me and one room with a large bed and a cot for our 3 collage age daughters. When we checked in and I asked to see the rooms, the second room had a large bed and a crib. I guess they thought we had a baby. Anyway this was easily corrected with a different room.

The wedding was fantastico. The ceremony was at the Santo Domingo de Guzmán church which was begin in 1572. The reception began at 6pm in the Ethnobotanical Garden that is part of the church complex. The reception ended at 6am - there was entertainment non-stop throughout the night. I'm a lowsy dancer and even I spent most of the evening on the dance floor. Joyce and I BOE (bugged out early) and went back to our hotel around 3am! Monica's family are just the most wonderful people and I feel honored to have been included in this celebration.

Worthington

While we are at - here's a picture of some of Joyce's mosaic work on display at the Old Worthington Art Show - more at her website.

Technology?

I'm sitting in a small park in Worthington Ohio. Joyce, my wife, is a mosaic artist and has her work on display at the Worthington Art Show. I have my laptop on my lap and since I don't have an aircard yet I have my Treo tethered to the laptop which is giving me internet access thanks to Verizon. With all of this I can connect to the web, browse, read email and create a blog post. I've got my point and shoot digital camera and took a picture that shows a little of what happened in the park yesterday afternoon when a storm blew up rather quickly. At the time of the weather event I was back in Cincinnati so I missed out on the fun.

The deal for these outdoor artshows is that there are a few manufacturers of the 10' x 10' display tents. The entry level tent is sold at the discount stores and costs $200 or less. These things open like an umbrella and are basically not intended to weather the weather. The move up to the heavier canvas waterproof jobs cost about $1k and up. This picture is what I saw as the remains of one of the entry level tents - get the picture.

Dale Unroe - Guy has a Gift for You

Dale, we missed you at the SBS User Group meeting tonight. However, you weren't forgotten. Guy was especially thinking of you as evidenced by this set of bicycle training wheels he brought to give to you. Get well soon.

EFR - Emergency First Response

Yesterday evening I got together with a bunch of my scuba buddies and met some new scuba buddies at Scuba Unlimited in Blue Ash Ohio. We were there for our Emergency First Response course - CPR and First Aid training. As a volunteer scuba diver at the Newport Aquarium I am required to be current in these certifications. This training is a great program and probably something that would be beneficial to everyone, regardless of involvement with scuba.

There is just no telling when you might be the first one at the scene when someone has been injured or become seriously ill. In these situations seconds count. While I can't claim to be an expert - I can say that this training has helped me (and someone else) on more than one occasison.

Brugmansia

In case you don't know, Joyce is a fantastic gardener. We all benefit by the beauty she coaxes to grow all around us. Here is another one of her green thumb results - one of our Brugmansia - or Angel's Trumpets plants.

As you can see, the flowers open pointing downward. These plants are actually NOCTURNAL - they are most fragrant at night - because they are pollenated by moths!

Gas Prices

They just keep going up - gas prices - as if that's news. Kind of like when the local TV stations put a camera reporter on site at the post office the night of April 15 and show us the last minute tax return filers - how can they call what they do NEWS? Here's my fill-er-up today - $156 - and that's only for 39.5 gallons - the tank holds about 45! How far can this keep going?

The good news is that the Corvette is back in action. After dying on me when I drove to Dayton a couple weeks back - it now has 8 new fuel injectors and boy does it GO!

Gas Prices

Last night David Letterman jokingly (I hope) said gas prices will reach $10 per gallon by labor day. I filled up the Suburban this evening - the bill was about $125! Notice this was for 35 gallons. As it turned out I had almost 1/4 of a tank left when I went to the pumps. This tank holds 45 gallons. Extrapolating - a full tank would have been $160 at this price.

When I was in college I had a 1962 Volkswagen Beetle. The tank held about 10 gallons and I can remember at Ohio State going to the gas station when they had price wars. You could buy gasoline at $0.25 per gallon. An entire tank for that bug cost less than one gallon now. Actually, I bought that car for $200! Just a little over the cost of one tank of gas now. I heard someone talking recently about their old pickup truck that they were selling. The other guy in the conversation only asked one question - 'how much gas was in it?'

Ciao Vanderbilt

The final dinner of sophomore year at Vandy. Here we are (Fred, Danny, Ally, Susan and me) at Logan's Roadhouse. This was a LATE NIGHT dinner, especially for Fred and I who are really on eastern time. The entire day's schedule was pushed back because Fred was prevented from getting an early start on packing Danny's dorm stuff because SOMEONE (I'm not going to say her name but her initials are Gabby) was sleeping in. We had a lot of fun at dinner tonight discussing politics, world peace, and many other easily solved issues. Rumor has it that Fred may be back at Logan's tomorrow too.

And, in furtherance of my education, I learned today that studying at Rice University is considered to be studying abroad by some (or is that a broad?)

April 15 is almost here

We did it. Joyce and I sat down this afternoon and wrote all the income tax checks - Federal, State, City - 2007 filings and Q1 2008 estimate payments. I'm glad that ordeal is over. My good friend Gary still has 6 months to go - two more extensions. He still has to pay the taxes - just doesn't have to do the filing until October.

Ohio River Disconnect

Just leaving another fun day of my volunteer scuba diving gig at the Newport Aquarium and I had to stop and snap a picture of what might be considered a little business interruption situation. Once the bleeding hearts have all of us taxpayers pay for the fools that borrowed all this subprime money - maybe they'll want us to bail out the fools that pur their homes and businesses in the flood plain and then act surprised when they get flooded! Oh wait - I think they already have used the declaration of national emergency to bail out many of these folks. Why are they even allowed to build where we know it will get flooded?

A Great Product can make your Day

Today I used a GREAT PRODUCT - and I was motivated to put it on paper here. We live in an older house in Hyde Park, Cincinnati. Our first floor powder room is in the process of being redone. The light fixture above the mirror and sink had a push button switch which we knew where to find but none of our guests could ever find (a little embarrasing when dark out so no window light). Part of the project is replacing the light fixture and the new fixture, of course, does not have a switch on the fixture. Now, here's the rub. The place where a light switch should be located - on the wall opposite the hinge side of the door - has our brick chimney behind it. No way to run wires or insert a switch box behind the wall. Check out RunLessWires - they make a fantastic wireless lightswitch which requires no batteries for the remote switch and will mount flush on the surface. They market these to people that have log houses which of course do not have hollow walls. This switch was easy to install and works like a charm and most of all - eliminates the problems that I had.

Nashville - Bluebird Cafe

We just got back from Nashville visiting our daughter and her sorority's parents' weekend. It was a great weekend even with the rain. A lot of good food, nice people, bigs, littles, great music, art and cowboy boots. Saturday Susan took us to the most fun place - it's called The Bluebird Cafe. You wouldn't believe this place. It's a storefront in a retail strip of stores. You make reservations online Monday at 8am or come and stand in line to see if you get lucky. The venue is referred to as In The Round which means there are 4 to 6 chairs in a small circle in the center of the floor and then small tables around the rest of the floor. The entire place probably seats 100 people or less. The entertainers are song writers that play and sing their songs. Many of the singers have songs that have been recorded by big names and become hits. The music was FANTASTIC! The night we were there was being conducted as a fund raiser for the area YMCA organization. People were buying CD's for $100+ to support the cause. I got in the spirit when one of the keyboard players asked if anyone had a piano in their home. I raised my hand out and said you got it. Before I knew it I had made a donation to the YMCA and we have arranged a summer party in Cincinnati with a fantastic Nashville song writer and recording artist to play for us. You can see a short video and also see some pictures from the Bluebird Cafe

De Lorean Double Take

I was driving on Columbia Parkway (Cincinnati) this morning and saw two De Lorean automobiles coming side by side from the other direction. It's not often to see one of these, pretty unusual to see two. These cars were orginally manufactured for the American market from 1981 to 1983 in Ireland. There were about 9k of these built.

The De Lorean Motor Company went bankrupt in late 1982 following John De Lorean's arrest in October of that year on drug trafficking charges. He was later found not guilty, but it was too late for the DMC-12. Approximately 100 partially assembled DMC's on the production line were completed by Consolidated International (now known as Big Lots).

Probably most known for it's role in Back to the Future.