Contact Information: SteveAndPeggyB@gmail.com

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Christopher and Cameron Boxing

Christopher and Cameron had a wonderful Christmas. This is one of the famous games that those over 40 will remember. Christopher is 4 years old and Cameron will be 2 a month from today.
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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Tiger of the day


This photo was taken in September 2007 and is one of my favorite shots.  [Click on the photo to see a full size image].  This image was taken at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Night Photos of Columbus


Click to expand to full resolution


Click to expand to full resolution

These are two more photos taken during the "Night Photography" class through the www.meetup.com meeting. You can see all of these photos posted on that site.
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Thursday, November 12, 2009

Night Photography

Click on bottom photo for full resolution image.

Peggy and I took a class on "Night Photography". I must say, I was impressed with the results of the field trip. It was a bit cold but I muscled through and was very pleased. These two images were taken from the roof of the parking garage on the corner of Rich and Third Street (http://bit.ly/CityCenterMall). This 1.2 million square foot mall has been standing for 20 years and in the name of advancement, is being torn down.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, "Visitors abandoned the mall for bigger suburban complexes, and stores soon followed. In February, the city said it would demolish the mall this summer and unveiled plans for a park that would replace it. The long-term plan calls for creating Columbus Commons -- a mix of shops, homes, offices and restaurants -- at a cost of $165 million." (http://bit.ly/DispatchArticle)



Thursday, November 5, 2009

A little fun with light...

Peggy and I went to Stonewall Jackson Lake and decided to go out and take pictures of deer. The night got dark quick and we decided to experiment with night photography. The image above was taken with the camera sitting on the bridge railing. The shutter stayed on for perhaps 30 seconds and ISO-800. During that time, Peggy took my pin light and began painting.

It is important to say that we had no moon and the only light (other than the pin light) was from distant street lamps and star light.


This photo was the same conditions but she walked in front of the camera which resulted in her not showing up at all (unlike the first photo). The interesting situation is that with no moon light and it being as dark as it was (11:30 pm). The shutter was open for 8 seconds for this photo and the ISO was set to 800.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Ohio Department of Natural Resources Posted my Photo


This Screech Owl photo was taken at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus, Ohio and was also posted on the ODNR's Website.

What is the name of this bird? This photo was taken in Columbus, Ohio and was posted in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) website.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Blasted Economy!

Image from www.NBC4i.com

A bit of bad news today. I got laid off on Tuesday. Apparently, the financial status of the company required eight very good people to lose their jobs. I believe I have a good attitude about this situation right now, but there are times when depression tries to creep in.
"Nearly one out of every 11 Ohioans is out of work and looking for a job." NBC4i.com
My plans:
I am going to get up early every morning and attempt to convince other companies, which are going through tough times, that I am someone they cannot turn down. In addition, I will be competing with all of the other very good people in my situation. (This is where the depression comes in)

I am very good at what I do and have nearly 30 years in this environment. My next actionable step is to convince other companies; I can bring an efficiency and organization which is crucial during these badly needed times.

Challenge:
Besides the obvious competition, I believe my biggest challenge is to find the right people to contact. It is obvious to me, the Human Resource (HR) person may not be the key person. I think this is where my Social Networks will come in handy. I will be hitting tools early today.

Okay, high stress, time to better myself, and nothing work is not holding me back. You know, I can only see the good in this situation. The high stress is a motivator to better myself and "work" is no obstacle! Wow, what an Epiphany!

No time to play. I will let you know how things progress. I do not expect a job today or even tomorrow, but I do expect a positive outcome. I recognize this will be a challenge but I am ready. So, with that said, have yourselves a productive day and:

Prepare for the worse and reap the wealth, security, and piece of mind.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Catfish'n

The channel catfish has four pairs of barbels.

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday evening, I had an opportunity to go fishing for catfish with Chris, Robin and boys. It was a real blast and I enjoyed it quite a bit. When we got there, we seemed to have forgotten to get bate. So, I grabbed my bass pole and headed out for bate. Robin was fishing for the bluegill and Christopher was being Christopher while Cameron was quite content (At first).

My first bass was under a pound and that quickly became bate. Chris put it on his pole and later that evening, something grabbed it. That's right, I said, "something". We never did see it because I believe it was a submarine. Nothing was going to stop whatever was on the other end of a "catfish pole". It was a bit exciting watching that bobber dancing around and knowing that the mouth that took that fish had to be big enough for a man's fist to go in without obstructions.

I wish we could have seen it but, it is what it is. That is why we call it fishing and not catching...

I caught two more bass that were larger. The second fish was about a pound or larger and the third was close to three pounds.

I also tried for the first time, throw netting. My first two tries netted a small bluegill and a little bass about three inches. Throwing this is a bit harder than it sounds. The intent is to get the net open into a complete circle just as it hit the water. You then let it sink to the bottom and then, pull in your bounty! Okay, pull in your sticks and mud.

Well, that's it for now. Have yourselves a productive day and watch for more posts at www.whatiz.com.

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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Zemanta - A Very Cool Blogging Tool

I installed a "addin" for Mozilla Firefox. It is from the site, "Zemanta". When I begin typing a particular topic, Zemanta will suggest snippets for your blog. As an example, this particular post is about Zemanta and the following was suggested:

As you can see, this is the "Coolest Application for Bloggers..." This application also shows some icons of Mozilla Firefox that can be clicked and "BAM!" it is in the post. See>>>

Now, this was amazing.

Okay, let me try another topic...

Let's try... Fuelcells... (should be two words but this is a test)

I believe our energy problems can be solved with fuelcells. I know that when we see the billions of dollars we send into our atmosphere every day in the form of burnt potrolium products, it is inevediable that something must be done. Fuelcell by-product is water.

Construction of a low temperature PEMFC: Bipol...Image via Wikipedia


As you can see, the link to fuel cells is embedded in the above list of links.

Additionally, I've clicked on a link, to a graphic, that was suggested and you can see how this image can now be discussed.

Embedding two or more images seems to be a bit cumbersome because when the photo was "clicked", it seemed to get embedded in the beginning of this post. Well, using Bloggers interface, I simply drug the image down to where I wanted it.

Another feature of this tool is the ability to quickly add labels to the post. This is another automatic system. As I type, suggested labels will dynamically appear. The only other thing that I need to do, is, click on the suggested words and "presumably" these words are now part of the post.

Additionally, just below the composition window (where I am typing right now) is another list of suggested words. These works are directly related to what I am typing. if I click any (or "apply al") of the words, this tool will automatically insert hyper links into the post. I no longer have to go out and embed links anymore.

Finally, in the event a particular topic does not promote suggested content, this tool has a search function that you can type in. As you may have noticed earlier in this post, I discussed "fuelcells" (one word). I later talked about fuel cells (two words). Well, when I first began, nothing came up but I then typed the two words into the search box and a plethora of suggestion were then available.

Well, that is all I have for this morning. Come again and I will talk about some of the "Random thoughts of Steve Blake".

Have a productive day.
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Welcome Back from Memorial Weekend

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend. Peggy and I were quite productive. We started by cleaning up our dry river bed in the back. Well, actually we started but we still need to finish cleaning up the dead parts of the yucca plants

After cleaning up the some of these plants, we started on the front walkway. This walkway goes from the front step that turned towards the driveway and meandered down to the front sidewalk. (Click on picture to see a large version) We put this walkway in some years ago and was ready for some basic maintenance. This was just a matter of removing the old pea gravel that was full of weeds and grasses, reset the decorative brick that went through the center of the walkway and reapply new pea gravel.

We also took the time to power spray the house and mend one of the gates to the back yard.

Additionally, we decided to do a little painting and repair on the back door. This was one of those double doors where one is latched on the top and bottom and the other is used as the basic entrance.

On a fun note. I had the opportunity to get my kayak our for the first time. Peggy bought me this kayak at Christmas and I finally got it licensed and out on Big Walnut Creek. I check

Recreational kayakImage via Wikipedia

on Google Earth and determined I went approximately 4 miles. Being this was the first time I have ever been in a kayak, I started out heading upstream for a while and just playing about near where I was parked. That way, when I take a dive, I would be able to get a dry towel. This was expected but I am very please to say I did not dump once. After a while, I got comfortable and headed upstream for just over a mile. Only once did I get a bit concerned. I was in a "fast water" situation when I hit a rock. Now, this rock was big and I saw it coming for quite a distance and yet, I hit it! All went well but that taught me a good lesson.

Now, you may have noticed I did not say I did not get wet. Actually, I can now understand why they developed the "spray skirt". This is a waterproof boot that goes around the waist and attaches to the opening on the kayak. Why did I get wet? Well, every time I took my paddle out of the water, it ran down the paddle and in my lap. I have these rubber things on the paddles that keeps most of the water from coming all the way down and in the kayak but even with that, I got wet.

Once I returned home, I got on line and ordered the same spray skirt that Gander Mountain wanted $69.00 for, but I only payed $40.95 with no shipping and tax and this was from the manufacturer.

Well, back to work. It is now Tuesday and we need to "reboot" our minds into "business as usual". So, have a productive day and I will post again.
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Monday, April 20, 2009

Happy Birthday Brittnii





This weekend, Peggy and I went to New York to surprise my niece on her sweet 16th birthday. Brittnii, her parents and Paige (friend) arrived at their room with a bit of a surprise. Okay, that was the way it was suppose to happen.

Actually, we get to the Westin Hotel in New York Time Square to find our rooms not ready. This was not surprising because checkout was at noon and we arrived at 9:30am. We had pre-arranged a meeting with the assistant to the hotel manager to get into Brittnii’s room (an adjoining room) to decorate. Well, as we arrived, the hotel wanted to give us a different room that would be ready. We explained that we were there for a surprise and my brother and family will be in the adjoining room. Okay, brother and family had no idea we were going to be there and this plan was brilliant.

As Paul Harvey would say, “Now for the rest of the story…” We finally meet with the assistant hotel manager and finalize the plan. We agree that I would go and retrieve our stored luggage that contains the decorations and we would meet upstairs. Just as I am standing by the desk waiting for my luggage, I look out the window to discover my brother and family stepping out of a cab. I explain to the bellhop that they are to take the luggage to the 8th floor and take it to the Executive Club Lounge and took off running in hopes they would not see me. I explain the situation to the assistant manager and we scurry off to our hiding place.

Apparently, the room was still not ready for us to do the decorations so we wait and wait and wait… Eventually, we get into our room and the adjoining room. We were told the room would appear as not ready until we were finished.

Our room was huge. The assistant Manager out did herself with this room. We walk into the adjoining room to find it to be significantly smaller. Peggy and I felt a bit guilty about the size of their room, they had four people, and we were just two. However, out room had a king size bed while their room had the two beds. We shrugged our shoulders and proceeded to decorate their room.

Once finished, we “texted” Brittnii to discover they left the Hotel to do some site seeing. We eventually broke down and called my brother to find out they were at the statue of Liberty and actually gotten a different room! So, we had to let him in on everything but with strict instructions that he was not to tell the rest of his family.

When we all arrived back at the hotel, we knocked on their door (the OTHER ROOM) and SURPRISE! We explained everything at that point and decided to go to the “Pre-arranged” room for the festivities. Jill (the mom) arranged for a cake to be delivered and for whatever reason, a bottle of Champaign. (That may have been for her… actually, I believe that was a gift from the Hotel)

We open gifts and eat some cake and all was good with the world. I think the greatest gift she received from her Aunt Peggy was the CD of Jon Bon Jovi. Okay, not really but it came from Aunt Peggy and so, although she may never listen to it, liked it anyway.

I have so much more to discuss but I will just have to say, that is all I have for this morning…

Have a productive day and I will continue this saga later.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Pictures of Chris and Cameron Playing in April09

He just got up from a nap... or he discovered electricity

Isn't he ADORABLE!

Engineering in the making. He wants to see how it is made.

Grand Slam. Look at his expression.
Click on any photo to see full resolution of that photo.
To see more of these photos, go to:
To see all of my online albums, go to:

Monday, April 13, 2009

Hope You Had a Happy Easter


Good morning everyone.

Just wanted to drop a quick note this morning.

What a weekend. The weather was not bad. We had a lot of sunshine and actually had the time to get some yard work done. On Saturday, Peggy and I had a lot of help outside with the boys. We had Christopher and Cameron both Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday morning, we took Cameron and Christopher to the Columbus Zoo. This was the first time Cameron (1 yr) had been there and seemed to be quite amazed at the big animals. As you can tell, we had them wrapped up nice and warm and Cameron did real well in the wagon. We did not stay but an hour and a half but that was all Cameron could take for his first time.

I will post more pictures and let you know where you can see the our adventure at a later date.

Once we got back to the house, the boys took their naps and afterwards we went outside to play. This is where Christopher helped me get all his toys out of storage and set them up for him and Cameron to play on.

While we were out there, Peggy took 54 pictures and some of them will be posted at a later date. Suffice to say, the boys had a lot of fun with Papaw. This picture shows Cameron riding down a roller coaster like ride. He had such a good time.

P. S. You can alway click on any picture to see the full resolution image.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Polls.whatiz.com

Okay, I have notice a few links to polls.whatiz.com. Now, that was way before Whatiz came into existence... at least in my realm. So, with that said, take a moment and answer the question on the right and hit [Submit] at the bottom of the poll. I am also experimenting with the poll results. I know the answers are going to be subjective but, I'm just looking for data.

So, enjoy

On a side note, IT IS SNOWING AGAIN!!!!! Sorry, for the rant. :<(

Monday, April 6, 2009

Okay, it's not really spring yet...

Can you believe. The last couple days has been nice and in the 60's and 70's and now we are expecting snow today and tomorrow. This is just simply not right in so many ways!

Oh well, it is what it is...

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Got this in an Email...

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a
well. The animal cried piteously for hours as
the farmer tried to figure out what to do.


Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the

well needed to be covered up anyway;

it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.


He invited all his neighbors to come over and

help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began

to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the
donkey realized what was happening and cried

horribly Then, to everyone's amazement he

quieted down.


A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally
looked down the well. He was astonished at what

he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his

back, the donkey was doing something amazing.

He would shake it off and take a step up.


As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel

dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it

off and take a step up.


Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey
stepped up over the edge of the well and

happily trotted off!


Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds

of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well
is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of

our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out

of the deepest wells just by not stopping,

never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.


Remember the five simple rules to be happy:


Free your heart from hatred - Forgive..


Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.


Live simply and appreciate what you have.


Give more.


Expect less


NOW ............


Enough of that crap
. The donkey later came back, and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.


MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON:


When you do something wrong, and try to cover

your
butt (donkey... get it?), it always comes back to bite you.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Letter - February 26, 1934

The following letter was written 1934. This letter was written four days after my Dad was born.

Click on the individual images to see the full resolution picture.







Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Extraordinary Leadership and Failure


I am presently listening to an audio book called, "Extraordinary Leadership" by Robin Sharma. This is actually a free download. It is an 1 hour and 7 minutes but packed with excellent revelations.

One of the disclosures was talking about failures. First, you may wonder what "Extraordinary Leadership" and failure has in common. According to Robin, they are bed buddies. (my words) He believes the Extraordinary Leader will fail at least one time (usually more) every week. If you are not failing you are not trying. It does make a lot of sense, but it is something that we do not see because, all of the successes overshadow the failures.

He also talks about how we must be careful about becoming the stereotype leader that must talk a certain way and act a certain way. The most powerful leaders are real! If you look at the two riches billionaires, according to Forbes, we see Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. To look at their past records and see that Warren failed horribly in real estate while building his empire and Bill is known for his failures in Windows®. Regardless, they are worth billions of dollars. That has to tell us something.

If you want to hear this audio book or a plethora of other free downloads, visit www.learnoutloud.com. This site will require you to sign-up for free and you do not have to enter any credit card. Some audio books can be downloaded direct but other will have a $0.00 charge that will require you to go through the shopping cart. I went through the process and it is painless.

Quote of the day:
Ones best success comes after their greatest disappointments.
Henry Ward Beecher

Monday, March 30, 2009

Love and Appreciate What You Have

Good morning and welcome back to Whatiz. I wanted to start out this morning's post talking about something that we naturally take for granted. When we are around each other and can predict the behavior of our loved ones, it becomes almost impossible not to take them for granted. We hear the statement that some day they will be gone and we will then wish we could start over and do thing differently. I do not have to say that, at that point, it is "IMPOSSIBLE". We also have the excuse that, "what do you mean? We are too young for something like that to happen!" Well, as the Bible says, we are not promised tomorrow. However, we hear all this and we can still justify our relationships, because all the excuses are nothing more than words.

Let me say that I hope my sweetheart realizes how much I appreciate her but I do not want to assume anything. I try to let her know how amazing she is every day and truly mean every word. We hear about our "better half"… if you look up the word "Better Half" in the dictionary, you would see the definition, "Peggy".

I know this is rather deep for a Monday morning but we truly need to examine our relationships and ourselves. We need to in all honesty, begin to show our appreciation to our families and loved one while it is still "POSSIBLE". Even if they do not show their appreciation.

We received a phone call yesterday from my brother. He delivered some horrible news about my nieces' husband. Apparently, her husband (Scott) was feeling bad and sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning, he passed away. Now, I have not heard of any previous ailments, so this was quit sudden. The shocking thing was that he was only 28 years old. My niece (Candy) and Scott has two of the most well behaved small children and now without a daddy.

So you see, even though we do not know when we are to leave this earth, this should be evidence enough that we should show appreciation while it is still POSSIBLE. I know when a drunk driver killed my brother, the statements were made, "we didn't even tell him we loved him" and the response was "well, he would have probably punch you if you would have told him that…" Isn't that sad?

Please keep Candy and her family in your prayers.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Waiting in the "chair"

Peggy and I are out doing a little hunting and gathering. We have been asked to look at Kohl's for some item for my sister-in-law.

So, here I am sitting and waiting for the most wonderful person I know.

It is funny just watching people. The seriousness you can see on peoples faces. The little children running around with what appear to be no parental supervision. Watching the good mothers wrapping her small children at the door before going out in the cold wind. Then, there are those men holding the clothes and purses for their presumed wives. Finally, then comes the assumed professional shopper that says things like, "I know I can get this cheaper at Walmart".

While I was typing this post with my two thumbs, I received a call from my sweetie (Peggy). She wanted to know I could hear the music. Well, I had no music at all where I was sitting. I was at the front door when this call came thru. She was in the shoe department. Apparently, Jon Bon Jovi was playing on the public address system.

Yes, I know. I told you at the top of the Blog, that these posts was going to be "Random thought of Steve Blake"

I would like to encourage everyone to leave comments.

Thank you for coming by and spending some time on me Blog.

More later.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Spring is on the way... YAHHHHH


I don't know if anyone is tired of staying indoors, but now the weather is breaking (for now), the blooms are beginning to show themselves. This is such a good thing to see. On the other hand, I have seen a big snow on Easter... I'm just saying...

Monday, March 23, 2009

When "SMALL" goes to far



Actual Manual

I recently came across this interesting manual for a pair of sunglasses. You know that when Abe is having problems reading this text, things are too small. Of course, Abe is now 200 years old so, I suppose he has an excuse.
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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Before I got on the plane

I was talking to this nice lady just before I got on the plane. She was a little old grandmother going to Dallas to visit her daughter. Apparently, she has never flown on Southwest. She was asking if she was in the right place. Well, she wasn't and I explained everything to her. Well, she seemed to get concerned when she replied, "No assigned seats? How will they know who we are if we are in a plane crash?". I told her that it didn't matter because, in the event of a crash, you may end up in several seats. Mainly seats closer to the front of the plane. I thought she was going to die laughing.

I know, I am bad.
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Arrived in St. Louis

The flight from Columbus was very nice. Upon arriving in St. Louis, I noticed a flight boarding for Dallas. I inquired about changing my itinerary so I could take advantage of this earlier flight. Apparently, it would be an up-charge of the amount of a new ticket. Obviously, I missed that flight. What does that means? I have a two hour lay over.

And the saga continues...

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First class!

Okay. First class isn't worth the hoopla. I am in the very first seat and I have not received my foot rub yet. Okay, Southwest doesn't have a first class. Everyone is first class that fly Southwest. Wow, do I sound like a commercial?

We only have 60 people on this plane that holds 170. So, this should be a nice flight.

More later...
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sitting in the airport

Good morning everyone. I am presently sitting in the airport, waiting on a plane for Dallas. This is going to be a very long day because I will be flying back this evening.

I printed my boarding pass (through Southwest Airline) last yesterday. The flight to Dallas required a plane change in St. Louis and therefore, I got two boarding passes pass.

As for the return flight, I could not print the other passes because Southwest will only allow you to print two passes at a time.

It is now time to board, so I will have to go now.

Have a productive day.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Monday, March 16, 2009

Christopher and Cameron

Good morning and welcome to another magnificent week. The sun will be shinning (above the clouds) and the temperature will be in the 80's (somewhere). The birds will be singing (actually whistling, because they don't know the words). With all that, life is good (for someone).

I said all that to say... okay, I had to start with something.

We had Christopher and Cameron this weekend for a short time on Saturday, so Chris and Robin could go out on a date. Christopher and Cameron are the most ADORABLE kids in the world (...it is true...). I could just squeeze them to death.

Cameron stayed for a little while on Saturday before going to my mother-n-laws for the night. I barely handle both boys for extended periods of time. Christopher did stay the night and was a joy. The next morning, Peggy and I took Christopher to Sunday School. We asked him if he wanted to go home or go to Sunday School and he wanted to go to Sunday School.

After Sunday School, we took Christopher home and Peggy and I went to a presentation. This presentation was sponsored by Carnival Cruise Line. They are the "cost effective" cruise line and we have sailed with them several times. We had several games and laughs and in the end, we did not win any door prize. We were told of their two new ships they will be coming out with and a bit about the some of the new changes they are making.

Well, that is all for now. Have yourself a wonderful week, don't get too cold, and watch the sunburns. (somewhere)

Friday, March 13, 2009

Ihop

Yes, eat your heart out. I am sitting in an Ihop with a brilliant engineer. I am blowing my diet but that's okay for now.

I am sleepy but have a full day ahead of us. Afterwards, we have a long drive back.

More later.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Rain forest Cafe

I am presently at that the Rain forest Cafe. It is a wild place to shop and eat. I am sitting with Sasha beside a very nice aquarium. The animal are everywhere and the are all very active.

More about that later.

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My day is going much better now

We finally got everything working. This game played out just like a well written action flick. We had a total of 15 minutes to determine if this trip would be a waist of time. So, we began to rack our brains.

We were about to blow $2,500 for this screw-up and the pressure was on. With just a couple minutes left, Sasha discovered something was grounded that was not suppose to be grounded. We removed this ground strap and it worked!!! With only seconds to spare, true testing began.

While the testing was under way, I went out Burger King and bought everyone lunch so they would not have to stop. This way, perhaps we might catch up some of the lost time.

More later.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Crazy thing are happening

Well, we began our testing this morning and nothing is working. These units were tested before we left.

This is crazy! We are paying big bucks to... Wait... It is working now... :o( no it is not. Grrrrrrrrrrr


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Windy Chicago


My co-worker and good friend got into the Chicago area last night. The intentions were to get all of the electronic equipment setup last night. As it turned out, the test chamber needed for this setup was not ready for us, so we just dropped off the equipment and went to dinner.

Sasha and I went to a sea food restaurant. Things were good but a bit expensive. I had the clam Chowder and shrimp. As expected, the food was great. The dish came with coleslaw and fries but the coleslaw was about one bite and the fries could feed an army. I ate the slaw but did not want the fries.

After dinner, He and I went back to the hotel and I began doing some work with emails and reports. I figure, I can get the reports done early and so I don't have to worry about them later.

I attempted to setup this Blog so I could post to it through a super - secret email address. On the way to Chicago, Sasha and I stopped at Cracker Barrel. I attempted to post an entry to Whatiz and it did not work. I discovered the super - secret email address was not correct and it is now working. So, you may see very short post on some of the events of the day.

Well, that will be it for now. Expect to see some tidbits of activities from time to time.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

New updates

Wow, talk about dynamic planning. At 8:30 p.m. last night, I was told the Dallas trip was cancelled. So, Chicago it is! I will be leaving this morning for a few days in the tropical breeze of Chicago. Okay, it is going to be a high of 29°F for the next couple days. I guess I wasted those tanning sessions. :>(

I was also informed by my "events coordinator" (Peggy) that my Brother, Sister-n-law, and niece will not be joining us for the Las Vegas trip. What will we do????

Well, this was quick but I need to leave for Chicago now so if I miss a post or two, that is why.

Until later.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Traveling Dad...


Mountains in Reno, NV

Traveling Dad...( this is a reference to a good friend on MySpace, Traveling Mom...)

One moment it is on, the next it is off. I am in between my next trips at work. On Wednesday, it will be Dallas TX or Chicago IL???? :>) All I know is that I am doing a lot of traveling right now and I am not enjoying it at all. However, it is a necessary evil for this position of which I am enjoying a lot.

I try to bring something back with me each time I go somewhere. On my last trip to Reno, I brought back some excellent photos of the mountains. Unfortunately, the photos were taken with a simple point-and-shoot. This time, I will be taking my camera equipment.

Last night Peggy and I went shopping for some low carbohydrate foods. We are getting ready to go to Las Vegas next month and we need to loose some weight. We are just going to buckle down and look simply marvelous for the trip. We are also beginning to go to the tanning bed so we will not take the chance of getting burned while we sit by the pool and soak in the rays or head out into the desert.

We will be going with my brother Danny, sister-in-law Jill (Party waiting to happen) and niece Britt. I always enjoy going on trips with them. They will actually be going with us on our cruise scheduled for the end of June. More on that later.

Well, that is it for right now. I well let you know how things turn out at work. Here is my prediction... I will end up in Dallas on Wednesday, take care of business there, fly back to Chicago on Wednesday and take care of business there on Thursday and Friday. At that point, I will drive back from Chicago on Friday.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Back from Reno



Yep, that is right. I just got back from a business trip from Reno Nevada. The weather was cold but the scenery was magnificent. I was there on business and stayed at the Peppermill Casino and Resort.

On my way to Reno, I left Columbus and flew through Las Vegas. Boy, I am glad I don't have a gambling addition. Nevertheless, we were actually 15 minutes late on an original layover of 30 minutes. Las Vegas is not a huge airport, so I was able to run from my Columbus flight to my connection in short order. I was the second to last person on the plane before the door closed. As I was huffing and puffing past the "door greeter" and down the cat walk, I was told to not worry, my luggage would make it.

Well, I made the flight and get to Reno when, to my surprise (Not!), no luggage. I fill out all the necessary paperwork and told the front desk to be looking for the luggage and to bring it up as soon as they get it. I was also told that I would have the luggage by 10:00pm (Reno time, 1:00am Columbus time). I am not sure what happened but I woke up at 2:00am (Reno time) and no luggage. My first thoughts were that I have a meeting that morning and the only clothes I have include, jeans and sweatshirt. As it was, they did have my luggage in the lobby and brought it up to my room.

Now to step back... The first thing that hits you when I walked into their casino was not the megawatts of power surging through the lighting, sounds and machines, no, it was a lung full of cigarette smoke. Now, I do not smoke and find it to be appalling. I was not there to gamble and I really don't enjoy the gambling addition. However, if I did want to play the games, I would not enjoy it with the choking, toxic air.

The second thing I noticed was the fact the front desk was not obvious and (of course) you had to walk through the huge smoke ladened casino to find the front desk.

Okay, off the soap box and back to my typically good natured self. I am back and anticipate my next trip to be Wednesday. The question is, will it be Texas or Illinois... Stand by to hear more about the fantastic happenings and Random thoughts of Steve Blake.