New Jersey Trip

I left last Sunday (18th) at 7am and headed to New Jersey for a business trip. The Huntsville to Atlanta flight was on time and here is an aerial shot of Atlanta.

The flight from Atlanta to Newark, NJ was delayed for hours due to bad weather in the NJ/NY area. I finally got there and by the time I arrived at the hotel it was 8pm. What was supposed to be a 6 hour trip turned into 13 hours. I Hate traveling by plane anymore!

Monday morning I headed to the office in Woodbridge.

RCC is the company I work for.

I spent most of the week in developer meetings as we are working on migrating all of the individual software packages into one software application that provides a common user interface for all software applications. It was a very tedious process and the time was mostly spent consolidating individual databases.

One day I provided software training for the current version of my software to a group of RCC engineers.

I was going to take some videos while there to make a spoof of "The Office" TV show but didn't have enough time to get them all. So I guess I'll have to finish the videos the next time I'm up there which will probably be sometime in December.

I left for home on the Friday the 23rd and picked up the dogs on the way. They were so happy to see me and I to see them. There was one incident while they were in boarding where Max provoked Buddy and Buddy attacked Max. Max has several bites on his ear and neck plus one on his head. The vet said they were superficial punctures and the lesions did not require further attention.

Max is taking an antibiotic to be sure there is no infection. I think it started by Max being stirred up from another strange dog and then took it out on Buddy as he was the only dog Max could get to. Of course Buddy won the battle. I thought that type of fighting was over but maybe the new surroundings made it occur.

Now I'm playing catch up this weekend.

National Radio Day

Today is National Radio Day. I just thought I would let you know (10-4). LOL

It's been a couple of weeks since I updated my blog and there is not much new to report. I did send several emails to my family members but haven't heard back on any of them. I hope I don't have the wrong email addresses.

I installed a burglar/intrusion alarm system on my house this weekend. It's all wireless so pretty easy to install. It has many features such as dialing up to 4 telephone numbers when an alarm sensor is activated. It also has a water proof pendent I can wear for those "Help, I've fallen down and can't get up" situations. You can record a message to send to one of the phone numbers and I will have it dial 911 requesting an ambulance. I checked with the 911 center here and they will respond to prerecorded messages.

The other numbers will be programed to my cell phone and Uncle Don as a backup as he is usually home most of the time. When I travel I can remotely dial into the system and check the status as well as turn on/off certain lights in the house. I can even monitor sounds in the house as well as have a two-way conversation with any one in the house, including the burglar!

The system can be further expanded at a future time with live cameras and I can view them over a secure Internet connection.

All-in-all, it's a pretty versatile system.

Speaking of traveling, I have to go to the home office (NJ) the week of the 19th. So this is another reason I put the security system in as I have some new valuables in the house (if you know what I mean) and I would not like them to get in the wrong hands.

This will be the first time the dogs will be boarded, so to reduce the stress for them, I will board them for one day b4 I go on the trip. This way they can get familiar with the boarding facility and learn that I will come back for them. The place has large kennels so they can stay together with each other.

I will send Uncle Don my itinerary in case anyone else wants to know my schedule.

That's it for now.

Rain - Rain -Rain

All it has been doing since I got back from Florida is rain and the forecast for this upcoming week is more rain. I'm really looking forward to the first fall cold front so I know summer is over.

As you know I took the camper into the shop last week to get the AC fixed. Well of course it worked fine and they could not find anything wrong!! Since there was no warranty work they charged me $40 to check it out. However, they did add a recall fix to the refrigerator which could have caused a fire. So at least that was fixed.

I've been keeping busy with work and right now I have been pulled off my software development to provide interference analysis for public safety frequencies for the new World Trade Center (if it ever gets built) as well as in various underground tunnels. It is pretty interesting work.

I have started to watch "The Office" reruns and found them to be funny. However, the reruns are not in date order and kind of confusing at times. So I decided to go back to the beginning and I got Season 1 through 5 on DVD. There are 18 DVDs for a total of 34 hours of viewing (100 episodes). That should keep my couch potato mode going for a while!

I don't want to sound like some kind of fanatic but I have been reviewing my "Home Defense" strategy and I felt like there were some weaknesses. Currently I have my Grandpa's old single-shot 12 gauge shotgun and my handgun. This would normally be OK against a single intruder but if there was more than one, I may be in trouble. So I decided to get a "Just In Case" (JIC) shotgun that is designed for Home Defense and personal protection. Here is a picture of it with accessories.

It is very small and holds 6 shells with a pump action that allows you to take many quick shots. Being a shotgun aiming is not so critical.

The manufacture is Mossberg and they state:

Whether it’s survival in the back country or hurricane season on the coast, one can never be too prepared for the unexpected. The heart of the JIC™ package is the venerable 12 gauge Mossberg® 500® Pump-Action. Fitted with a compact 18-1/2” barrel and rugged synthetic pistol grip and forearm. It even includes a Survival Kit in a can.

I hope I never have to use it but anyone who comes into my house without an invite is in serious trouble.

What is your Home Defense Plan? You need to think about it.

End of Florida Visit

It is later in the morning on Wednesday and I met Pamella at Brynne's home. We went to the pool and had fun in the water.

Later we traded pictures and videos on our computers so we would all have a set (201 total between 3 of us). Somehow I ended up with one of Aislynn at ballet which I couldn't take earlier in the week. She is so cute!

Here is Grandpa and his two grandchildren.

I took a closeup of Keiran to show his long eyelashes. Such a pretty baby.

We then went out for lunch. We forgot to have someone take a picture of us so we did a self portrait in the parking lot where we ate.

It was sad to say goodbye but we all parted company. I really had a great time seeing everyone and I will miss them a lot.

My original plan was to depart for home early Thursday AM but I decided I would never sleep that night with the camper AC out (85 - 90 degrees) so I decided to head for home. I got the camper ready and was on the road by 4 PM.

It was a grueling drive and I had a little trouble keeping alert but I made frequent stops to wake me up. The dog's and I had burgers in Montgomery and we finally arrived home at 12:45 AM. I just parked the camper and we all headed in the house and went to bed.

This Morning (Thursday) I unloaded the camper and took it to a local RV repair shop to get the AC fixed. This same thing happened last year went I took a trip to Debbie's. It is still under warranty so there should be no cost.

The rest of the day I played catch up and took a few naps as I was still tired.

That's it for now.

Last Day in Florida

Here it is Wednesday already. I will be heading back to Guntersville tomorrow morning. Time just goes by too fast. Brynne and I took the dogs to the beach yesterday AM and took some pictures and videos. The dogs loved the beach and I took them in the water for the first time. At first they were a little reluctant but once they got comfortable I think they enjoyed it. They swam for the first time in their life.

Brynne and I then returned to the camper and had lunch. The dogs were tired and zonked out right away.

In the afternoon I went to Pamella's and we went to Aislynn's ballet class. We watched her through a tinted window which was too dark for taking pictures. She did real good and it seemed she liked the tap shoe session the best.

That evening I went to watch Brynne and Sean play softball for Sean's work team. It was too dark to take pictures. The other team won (of course [LOL]). After the game we stopped at Olive Garden, Brynne's favorite restaurant, for a late dinner. The food was great and I overate again!

I crashed in bed around 11PM and woke up in the middle of the night sweating. The camper AC quit working and it was 85 degrees in the camper. I could not get it going again so it will be miserable for me and the dogs.

Today we are all meeting at Brynne's to go swimming in her pool and to have lunch.

Tomorrow I go home and I was planning on leaving the camper here in storage so I won't have to drive it back and forth. But now I need to take it home so I can get the AC fixed.

This will be my last post while in FL.

Happy Labor Day & Photos

As you know from my previous post I had forgotten my camera interface cable for downloading photos. I was able to get the $7.00 cable at Radio Shack for only $21.00! Here are some pictures starting from Friday when I left for the trip.

The dogs rode in their crates which filled up the whole back end of the Durango.

Going down the road pulling a 4,000 pound plus camper going 60 MPH. I let Buddy drive while I was taking pictures and videos. Glad no cops saw this!!

Settled in at the campground.

Ate lunch at Moe's with Sean and Brynne.

Stomp them "Gators".

Aislynn's birthday party.

I couldn't find one of the three books I gave Aislynn so I put a $10.00 bill in her birthday card. She looked at the bill and tossed it down with all of the other present wrapping trash. I guess in today's world we use too much plastic money. Pamella will take her to a store and show her the "Power" of CASH!

Grandpa and Kieran.

Aislynn acting silly at a hamburger joint.

Florida or Bust

I thought I would be able to post every day on the visit but it ain't working like that. Number one is I forgot my camera adapter cable so I am unable to download photos at this point. Hopefully I will find a cable today (Sunday).

I left Friday at 7am and arrived in PCB around 4 pm. It was a long trip pulling the camper and frequent stops for me and the dogs to do pottie stuff!!

I met with Brynne and Sean that evening and we went out to eat some Mexican Food. It was very good except one of the items on my plate was too "hot" for me.

Saturday Brynne, I and the dogs went to Santa Rosa Beach to visit Pamella, Shaun, Aislynn and my new grandson, Kieran. He is quite the "man". Aislynn had an early birthday party with some of her friends and she got the "Mother Load" of presents. It was probably better than any Christmas that I ever witnessed.

Brynne and I played "Hungry Hippo" with her and drove Pamella and Shaun crazy with the noise of those hungry hippos chomping for the food (marbles). If anyone remembers that game you know how loud it is. I think the inventor of the game must have been deaf as he would have never built the toy if he could have heard all of the racket!!

After eating sandwiches, salad and cake we all went out for Pizza! It worked out great because Saturday night is my normal pizza night. The only problem is I had to waste the pizza for a dinner rather than just a snack as I usually do! LOL

There is an apartment near Brynne's and Sean's that has a FL Gators mat by the door and we all stepped on it (in a bad way) as we walked back and forth. Sorry all you Gator fans (Andrew).

Hopefully my next blog will have some photos.