After I landed in BWI, got the really nice Nissan Pathfinder and headed down 295 to my hotel. Unfortunately Google Maps is quite sure that you can break traffic laws and after a very nice tour of the non-touristy parts of DC, I finally found my hotel (about three blocks from Arlington National Cemetery).

Company put me up in the Hotel Palomar....fancy place, valets everywhere. Good thing I had some cash for tips and such. Decent view of the Potomac, and the room is incredible. Then again, I'd be happy staying at a cheaper place where I could get my car without a headache and drive around.

If I had more time, I'd take a walk around for a bit, but I'm beat and I think I'll just grab a snack and enjoy a quiet evening in front of the TV. More later!

Working as I normally do when I hear a twin turboprop come screaming over the house. OK, no big deal. May have been a low approach, but it can happen and move on.

Five minutes later, here he comes again. This time I go out and find him and his King Air clipping over the trees at about 300 feet. He doesn't have it wide open, but he's clearly doing over 150kts. My neighbor (who is a pilot) walks out as well and we comment on the genius when he does another turn further down the road at a 30+ degree bank, still at 300 feet.

Now, if you have a plane and want to do something stupid, by all means have fun. Just don't do it over a populated area. If he would have lost an engine, he would have had only a second or two to adjust and pull out. I called the airfield, and was given the official reason that "he is practicing his approaches". I've never seen anyone approach at 300 feet to an airport that is almost three miles away...must be something new.

Or it's just another idiot with his new toy joyriding....

The Zoo is nice, especially for Fort Wayne. Spent the night on the concrete floor in the Australian Adventure exhibit with Tyler and Nathan. Woke up at 6:30 to go see pygmy goats eat. fun fun fun...

Boys had a blast, I'm wiped from all of the "fun". The stuff we do for our kids!

Guessed it was a 3ish one close by from the shaking and lack of panic in the streets. Got the e-mail about it thirty minutes later from the USGS. Krystal woke up, but everyone else slept through it.

Why the hell did I wait so long (besides the fear of parting with $500)? Well, I knew a 8GB phone was not going to be enough for the music I wanted to carry. And our contract did not end until today with VZ, so we went out yesterday and grabbed a new phone for the wife and the 16GB for me.

Yes, I know of the 3G upgrade that is "imminently due", but 3G isn't going to help me in bumble**** Indiana. I'm thinking of jailbreaking it so I can use some of the 3rd party apps out there, but I'll probably hold off for now and just wait for 2.0 (unless someone can show me some apps that definitely make it worthwhile to do now...)

And then two days later, we were in Sydney.

And now we're planning our next excursion....ideas anyone?

1. Port Stephens, Australia
2. Nelson Bay, Australia
3. Sydney, Australia
4. London, United Kingdom
5. Edinburgh, United Kingdom
6. Swansea, United Kingdom
7. Toronto, Canada
8. Kailua-Kona, HI, USA
9. Scottsdale, AZ, USA

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There's a lot of empty space there....

Tyler has been a real terror these last few weeks. Mostly because of "cabin fever" but there are also a number of things happening outside of the home. Spent twenty minutes talking to his resource teacher about manipulation, getting out of homework, etc; and she's starting to see it as well. I've asked them to take a closer look at how he interacts with his peers. Unfortunately, the reason behind this is to see if he's spiraling into another, more scary issue.

I don't know what's going to happen over the next few months. We'll see what happens...

• Nathan bounced back from his 103 temp this morning and was up to seeing his new school.
• Went to the Andrews School Chicken Noodle Dinner and spent a good hour walking Nathan around what will be his new school next year (unless someone comes up with a totally awesome private Kindergarten around here).
• Came home and puttered around the house. Nathan ebbed towards the end of the night and headed up to bed.
• I was finally able to watch an entire Super14 Rugby match without massive interruptions (and thanks to my DVR, got through the match in about 20 minutes)

Making out a chore list for the kids this weekend, just trying to stay on top of things...

a). Flight delayed/cancelled. Panic runs through airport to make connections that inevitably are delayed.
b). Rental car goes bye-bye. Got to Denver so late, the place I usually depends on went home for the night. Got screwed by another company which I will NEVER use again.
c). Got a nice cold brewing. Got to the room at 02:00 EST last night and slept about two hours in total.

Yeah, this has been fun....

Update: Damn, six dead. Seeing my old stomping grounds (I had a couple of classes in Cole hall, the media is setup in front of Altgeld Hall (the castle).

Family day-trip this weekend. This pic was brought to you by our friends at the Plymouth Ice Festival near Detroit. 500 miles of driving to see some great sculptures and spend a bit of family time in the car. Went to Fuddruckers for dinner and drove home. Not a bad trip overall, but it just reinforces my stance that we will never live in the Detroit area. :-)

And for those of you wondering, that's Nathan in front of the frozen cast of characters from his 2nd favorite show, Scooby Doo (his current favorite is "the dentist show" known by the rest of humanity as House. Why the kid loves that show, I have no idea....). He's also holding his "souvenir" from the festival which was a chunk of ice that is now considerably smaller and wetter than it was in this photo. It's now residing the in the freezer for eventual removal in 2039.

This was one of those nights where we went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out. And this guy from Muskegon was on the losing end of it. Started something with one of the Komet players, three or four punches later and the guy was out cold on the ice.

Kids had a blast, so did we. Probably our last game of the year, but it was worth it.