aar0n.blog

Calling all artists

2012-01-25T22:51:00.003-05:00

Please support this art store downtown...it is beautifully done and is the kind of business that nurtures the creative types in our city. It really raises the bar for us.

http://www.artsupplydepo.com/

Does anyone remember when Richard Florida came to speak at the Peristyle? I think St Claire street's revival is what he helped us envision.

Life is good

2012-01-25T17:30:00.001-05:00

Tool concert last night, dodgeball tonight. I'm living it up in Toledo! (and making new friends in the process).

For a good time check out TSSC:

http://www.toledosportandsocialclub.com/

Snowball fight down by Imagination Station

2012-01-15T15:15:00.000-05:00

Even the great statues we have downtown can get into the action. Who says Toledo is no fun?

Some highlights of 2011...

2011-12-31T09:43:00.002-05:00

One of the main reasons behind this blog was to keep a journal of public facing thoughts and a surface look of what I've been up to. 2011 has been another great year for me. Here are some highlights...

Helped with my son's YMCA basketball team, also helped him with Pinewood derby car
Discovered TS4arts.org
Conquered Advance Wars on Nintendo DS
Visited National Museum of USAF in Dayton
Saw the Toasters & Polka Floyd @ Frankies
Traveled to Turkey with the kids (what?! yeah, I know...)
Saw Brian Van Der Aark @ Finn's
Went to Orlando for a conference and spent time with friends
Saw Sting in concert with some friends
Went golfing many times
Was amazed by the girls in http://www.GlassCitySynchro.org/
Visited Ft Wayne for step sister's wedding
Visited Erie PA for 3 day family reunion
Visited Pokagon on annual family gathering
Visited Lexington KY for work (check this out: http://www.thecastlepost.com/)
Summer road trip (Cedar Point, Pittsburg, Hershey, Lancaster, Philly, Easton)
Coordinated community yard sale
Harvested much from our garden (at least what the deer left for us)
Tailgate parties @ UT
Went back to Philly for work but stayed on for friends and family (what a great city!)
Followed the Sing-off and Survivor (not a big TV person but these two keep me coming back)
Hosted thanksgiving dinner for family
Failed miserably in two fantasy football leagues (but had fun in the process)
Delivered donations to Cherry Street Mission (look 'ma, I'm on TV!)
Hosted an all night winter party of games and good food for friends
Finished Christmas shopping with more that 1 day to spare!

Looking at this list recharges me and reminds me that I'm a lucky person. I'm thankful for friends, family, and the world that God gives.

What, I still have a blog?

2011-12-23T04:36:00.002-05:00

Ok, this is getting ridiculous. No posts in 2010? First one for 2011? Yeesh, I feel like its a lost year now! Maybe I should have joined F a c e b o o k? Am I the last holdout?!

We're coming down to the end of the year and I have some heavy things on my mind. For some reason it was getting difficult to feel that warm holiday peaceful bliss because every time I try to go there, I start thinking of all the suffering going on. For example: in my family (step-mom, cousin); my town (homelessness, spike in violent crime); my country (people dehumanizing others based on political leanings); our continent (record number of families being separated and deported from US, unprecedented violence in Mexico); our world (unrest and violence in all of the typical hot spots).

We recently held our annual solstice party and many friends came over. I crashed at about 4am, while some made it through the night, playing games / talking / eating / watching movies / etc. I woke up realizing that connecting to people recharges me and I'm ready to balance my view of things again. Looking at myself in the mirror I realize I was once very social justice and service oriented. I think my mantra for 2012 will be "make the world better". My directions will include helping my immediate family to flourish, contributing through my church, watching out for my corner of Toledo, reducing our pollution footprint, raising awareness of social justice issues, and anything else I can think of along the way. That reminds me, I've got a great idea that would help people in our community and beautify the city at the same time. Now its a matter of finding people who can help me with it. I hope to post more on this idea before 2012 is over!

Goodbye Dr Bob

2009-07-08T23:00:00.003-04:00

Whenever I've spent time with Robert Brundage over the past 10 years or so, I came away feeling a little bit inspired. The man had so much knowledge and wisdom. So many stories to share or good ideas to promote. I never found myself disagreeing with him when it came to ways to improve the community. Issues like balanced conservation of natural areas along side urban areas or green forms of transportation. I agreed with him on ideas for urban beautification such as burying power lines instead of turning out street side trees into giant strange looking topiaries. He had such a great knowledge of trees. I was always impressed by this man who was once so versed in technology and living an urban east coast lifestyle who came back to Toledo and made it a better place. He chose a path that was in some ways simple but also very complex and busy. He lived with such a small footprint on the planet, but a great impact on people. I'll always remember him.

And the beat goes on...

2009-06-17T23:03:00.002-04:00

Well, I've really fallen off the wagon with my poor blog. Its not that my life has suddenly become mundane after being sucked back into Toledo's gravitational field. Honestly, life has been very action packed and fun over the past, 8 MONTHS, egad has it really been that long?

I think 1 person per week has asked me if I'm on facebook, and the answer is still NO. I've been tempted but I think I can still happily accomplish all my social networking with email, telephone, and a more ancient method I've re-employed over the past year, pen and paper (oooooh).

So what have I actually been up to? I travelled to Philadelphia, Detroit, Pokagon, Cincinnatti, I took a grad level accounting course, watched Lost, started a victory garden, diy flooring, filled up a 55 gallon aquarium (thanks again Jeff), outfitted the living room, started up a little league team, attended PTO and TPS parent congress meetings, neighborhood association meetings, golfed on Sundays, practiced guitar, saw a movie or two, kept up a yoga practice, taxied the kids all over the place, and remained pretty much busy like that.

I have to say I'm thrilled with the development happening along the Dorr / Secor college town corridor. We now have great amenities within walking distance (e.g. coffee shop, ice cream, sit down pizza parlor). I've heard there was an idea to add a big roundabout at the intersection of Dorr and Secor and that sounds excellent to me. The intersections are so inefficient and generally unsafe around here. Just last week I saw a poor young lady (presumably a UT student) was hit by a car while crossing the street. I hope to get involved in the neighborhood / UT planning meetings.

Thats all I know for now... hey friends and family, drop me a line and lets get together this summer.

Weekend log

2008-10-19T14:03:00.006-04:00

Had a blast at badders on Thursday and back to the traditional curry with a few pints at the Glass House afterward. I'll so miss both of those and all my new friends when I move back home. Friday night went with Paul, Dave, Dave, and Carl to the Oktober Fest in Warrington(the other Paul and Dave couldn't unfortunately make it but maybe simpler that way). It was beer heaven with over 70 real ales, porters, stouts, IPAs, ciders, etc on tap. I can't honestly remember how many I tried but I know my original 9 half pint tokens were well gone (and by half pints it was usually 3/4 pint to be fair) and the lads kept going to buy more :-). Without dinner I'm surprised I managed that but I guess some of those beers were like a meal in and of themselves.

I had planned to go down and check out Cardiff yesterday but recovering from a thick head took most of the morning and then pretty unmotivated to go anywhere with the blah weather and cozy house. Maybe next weekend? I used the time instead to catch up on some mail, finish moving preparations, watch some shows, make some cookies, etc. Also wrote some letters and am shipping off some gifts for some of my friends who have had babies recently.

I'm not a big fan of TV but every so often my friends recommend something and I get hooked. Most recent case of this is Dexter. I've slashed my way through the first two seasons and am getting bang up to date. Quality show that...last one I enjoyed this much was Lost. Its funny how much time can be wasted on Youtube as well :-). I highly recommend searching for the Human Skateboard stop animations, truly hilarious.

As for movies, I don't see too many of those either but randomly watched The Wind That Shakes the Barley a couple weeks before my trip to Dublin which helped put a bit of perspective on things when I went to the Kilmainham Gaol. I give the movie an 8*, thought it was nice.

Dublin

2008-10-13T17:49:00.008-04:00

Spent an excellent weekend in the fine capitol of the Republic of Ireland. Arrived on Friday night and got soaked through from the rain in wandering Parnell street looking for the hostel. Didn't hit it off well with anyone the first night, but that was ok because I was shattered anyhow.

Saturday I set off early and spent about 5 hours in the National Gallery, who's collection really amazed me. This photo is part of the National Gallery...it goes on and on inside eventually merging into a newer galler with some really imposing modern architectural lines. Get to this area and see the Irish artists exibition near the cafe.

Things I liked:

Harry Jones Thaddeus - Market Day
Roderic O'Conor - Farm at Lezaven, Bretonne
Daniel Maclise - Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife
Signac - Lady on the Terrace
Beatrice Lady Glenavy - The Intruder
William Orpen - The Holy Well
John Laverly - The Artists Studio
William John Leech - Convent Garden, Brittany
Pietra Della Vecchia - Timoclea Brought Before Alexander
Also they have a magnificent Caravaggio there called The Taking of Christ that seems like it was recently re-discovered and is on loan through a private collection.

Later I wandered through temple bar...lots of street performers, shops on Grafton street, passed loads of cafes and pubs. Made my way to the James street for a tour of Guinness. This is very touristy but probably for the best considering how many people come to see this place. They've done some nice things with the old parts of the factory and displaying artifacts like all the old bottles or the 9000 year lease for the land. The vantage point from the gravity bar at the top is not to be missed.

Made my way back to the hostel to rest and see where people were going for the night. Struck up a conversation with a couple of guys from Newcastle who invited me to join them. We went to many pubs, my favorites being the Porterhouse (the red porter is top notch there) and Oliver St John Gogarty's with some great live music blasting through the place. From what I recall each had about 3-4 levels of lounges and bars...and some great beers, ales, porters, etc on tap. We also went to O'Sheas and The Brazen head, probably a couple others (gets hazy). We eventually ended up at "the Church" which really seemed creepy similar to Alma de Cuba in Liverpool. But I guess if it takes a nightclub to save a building and get young people back into church then I'm all for it.

These two pubs in Temple Bar are not to be missed:

Oliver St John Gogarty

The Porterhouse

I woke up on Sunday morning, thankfully safe back in my hostel bed with the vast majority of my cash being the the only thing missing (can blame no one but myself there). I stocked up on the great breakfast they include with the accommodation (the Bunkhouse), and set off to see a few more things before flying back to UK. Wandered around Trinity College, National Museum of Archeology, Kilmainham Gaol (very moving), Modern Art gallery, Chester Beatty library, walk around Dublin Castle, and one last stroll through temple bar. There was this terrific puppeteer with his ornery little marionette playing tricks on people, dancing, looking up women's skirts, so funny. Temple Bar is one of those districts you could go back every weekend for 6 months and check out the different shops and pubs, taking in the street performances, sounds trite but ahhh it was so cool!

A couple photos of the jail where many Irish revolutionaries were held and executed early 20th century:

A part of Dublin Castle, taken from nearby Chester Beatty Libary

The restored gate near the jail where you can find the modern art gallery:

weekend log

2008-09-28T17:38:00.006-04:00

Well I'm back in UK, going on week 3 now. Spent my first coherent weekend alone and managed not to go insane (last weekend was in recovery from the prior two weeks of training, partying, and orienteering). Roughly a month left in UK until I rendevouz with Megan and the kids again state side.

Friday watched Get Smart (featuring Steve Carell)... found it very good and laughed out loud but it had me feeling nostaligic. I'll soon be seeking out the 1960's series again to get a fix of the real Maxwell Smart.

Saturday I wandered around the annual Vintage Rally and Steam Organ festival at Victoria Park in Widnes. These pipe organs on display are some absolutely amazing pieces of nostalgia that have been painstakingly restored. They really rock too, you can almost feel the wind in your face standing in front of these things.

Other things to see included a model boat regala on the pond, shire horses, antique cars, antique motorcycles, all sorts of old engines working on display doing various tasks like water pumping, midway games, big band, probably more.

Later I also washed both cars inside and out, and some other chores. After that, I sat down to Youtube and watched the first debate. I'm impressed with both candidates, I really am. I think Obama is the better debater of the two and comes across very sincere and respectable. But having said that I can't pick an overall winner of the debate. Both men have excellent character and I feel this election is certainly not a "lesser of two evils" scenario, not in my book. I support McCain because of his direction of getting our books in order and curbing govt spending. He's also a great deal maker and a centrist. We've needed someone like him for a long time, as I generally believe minimal federal govt is better. I don't buy the "more of the past 8 years" argument. Everyone knows he's not a Bush administration insider.

Today I did laundry, went for a run (abt 2 miles this time huffing and puffing), flogged some stuff on eBay (including Megan's old Peugeot) and watched the movie Babel (giving it 9*, very heavy stuff). Amazing how fast the weekend went by when I had no plans at all going into it, totally unlike me!

In Support of COSI Toledo

2008-08-28T18:00:00.003-04:00

I've already said my piece about COSI Toledo. Even though its services are now greatly reduced, I still feel the same about supporting it wholeheartedly. I understand it is going back on the ballot for Lucas County.

Here is a link to my stance from two years ago:

In Support of COSI Toledo

Also here is a persuasive argument by Dan Johnson a while back in the Free Press

COSI levy will preserve important asset

In the mean time I have visited many more natural science and history museums across Europe with my family...most recently NEMO in Amsterdam. They created a terrific public terraced space on the roof which incorporates oversized board games, sandy play areas, a long waterfall and paddling pools for kids to play in. At the top there is a bar / cafe. Amsterdam is now on my favorite city list right along with Paris and Copenhagen. All the greatest "living" cities I've seen that attract creative industry, talent, and investment have excellent museums, parks, architecture, education, public transportation, and pedestrianized areas.

A night out...

2008-08-22T18:00:00.001-04:00

We visited the art museum Glass Pavilion for the first time tonight. I was mildly skeptical of it while being built, but it really turned out nice. Its worth a visit if you've never been.

Afterwards we visited Murphy's and I have to say I was let down. The cover was too high, drinks too high, and the place was not as lively as the past times we've visited.

Back in T-Town

2008-08-18T21:23:00.005-04:00

Well, as many of my friends and family know we're in the process of moving back to our old home in Toledo. We're finding many changes but then again some things never change. One thing I have to get off my chest is we've been indulging quite a bit in the dining scene, easy to do in this town especially when you're busy with moving stuff. We can't seem to get enough of Johny's Lunch on Sylvania and Talmage...it is a great family restaurant and I highly recommend it. Oh how that buffalo dog keeps me coming back. Last night it was Shorty's on Monroe...excellent beer selection and some of the best BBQ / coleslaw around.

I've been walking around downtown each day on my lunch break with my colleague Al. He's got the scoop on quite a few of the projects going on, always curious whats being done with this building or that. As far as changes go I have to say I'll miss the old Bijou, a simple art deco theater. I'm sad to hear about the presumed fate of the United Way building...as it is an architectural landmark that is able and worthy of standing the test of time.

I have less forgiveness for tearing down interesting buildings after seeing thousands of well preserved buildings in towns all over UK and Europe. The vast majority of those structures probably make no business sense in restoring, but after time I think people really appreciate seeing an era reflected in architecture.

I haven't blogged about it yet but before we left England we took one last road trip to the continent. I'll try to write about it and post pics but the path was basically Brighton, Canterbury, theme parks near Paris, Ghent, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, ferry to Hull and then back home.

Center for Alternative Technology - Wales

2008-07-13T17:00:00.006-04:00

Today we took a long drive down into North Wales, past lake Bala and nearby Machynlleth to visit CAT. This has been on our list of todos for a while and we were just waiting for a nice day (not too many of those this summer unfortunately!).

This is a wonderful facility that started life as a mine many years ago, evolved into somewhat of a hippie commune, then into an educational project, and now it has grown into something larger which also doubles as a public tourist destination for learning about alternative energies and sustainable living.

Here are some pictures from a very enjoyable day and one we won't forget...

Visitors center at the bottom of the hill(this is where you pay)

Gravity / water powered tram to take you to the top

Disused wind turbine with cutaway so you can peek inside at the mechanicals

Dining hall, picnic area, student apartments (larger set being built in the background). Not pictured is an adventure playground behind me that the kids had a lot of fun with.

Composting area shows many different designs for home composting as well as a example of what a community could invest in (like they have) to use a hot composter which is housed in this building.

A tunnel made from reused wine bottles, these guys know how to party

Straw bale construction theatre, very comfortable inside due to the ventilation and thermal mass of the walls.

Also at the site are ponds / gardens showcasing different types of farming, irigation, and fertilizing. There are many interactive hands on exhibits that teach about wind, solar, geothermal, and even fuel cell technologies. Building techniques are covered including a neat display of a basic green roof growing 3 different types of cover. At the end of it all there is an excellent book store and gadget shop. This place is really worth the visit for anyone (especially families) who are into green living, energy independance, and sustainability. Judging from the building plans and diagrams the place will look a lot different in about 5 years time.

Cotebrook Shire horses

2008-07-06T16:41:00.003-04:00

South of us about 15 miles, near the Blakemere shopping area and Delemare Forest is a terrific horse farm by the name of Cotebrook. It makes a great family day out, highly recommended. These horses are beautiful, gentle, and enormous. The owner was friendly and enthusiastically telling about the pedigree of these champion horses. There are some other farm animals and various birds around the place which were fun to see.

Klimt Exhibition

2008-06-27T17:29:00.002-04:00

Today I took off work, dropped the kiddies off at school, and took Megan to Liverpool to see the Gustav Klimt exhibit at the Tate gallery. We had a pub lunch and a nice walk around the new section of town near the John Lewis...all looks very nice.

I'm do enjoy the design of arts and crafts movement and art nouveau... subjects I'd like to learn more about. I've very much enjoyed visiting various Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles Renee Macintosh buildings. Some of Macintosh's art was also featured in this Tate exhibit.

There was more than just paintings, you could see sculpture, furniture, and architectural models of Klimt's contemporaries and friends. Its a special exhibition not to be missed by anyone interested in art and design.

Weekend Roadtrip - Windsor & Walsall

2008-06-07T17:41:00.005-04:00

We took a weekend trip down south to Windsor for a pilgrimage to Lego Land. Had a fantastic day out and absolutely perfect weather. Short queues, and our tickets were free from redeeming Tesco points...can it get any better?

After the park closed we went for a nice noodle dinner in Windsor at the local Wagamama. Gotta love that hot chili ramen with an Asahi black lager, yum yum can't get enough. The castle in Windsor is really imposing, wouldn't mind touring it someday!

On our walk along the Thames there was a bridge taken over by tango dancers, that was interesting to watch, people from all walks of life and all ages having a good time.

We stayed the night back up north in Walsall. Had a leisurely breakfast (good as normal from Village Hotels) and a swim in their pool. Then we walked Walsall for a few hours. Their New Art Gallery is fantastic... hosting huge collection of Jacob Epstein sculptures. They also had these cool of Albrecht Durrer wood carvings, along with many other impressive works by a wide range of artists from renaissance to modern.

Bradford

2008-04-13T17:01:00.004-04:00

Megan and her friends were attending a dance workshop in Saltaire this weekend so I was on my own with the kids in Bradford.

Lister Park is a good sized swath of green space on the north side of town. It has some lovely landscaping, fountains, and sculpture. The building in this picture is the Cartwright Hall which is in the center of the park, it contains a nice art gallery but is currently under renovation. There is also a small lake where paddle boats can be rented in the summer. There is a good sized play ground and also lots of paths to explore. I think we'll go back someday!

We wandered the city centre which has some decent shops and a good central square.

The highlight of the weekend has to be the National Media Museum... really a must see if you are in the area if you are at all interested in the history and production of television, photography, animation, or just want to check out a vintage TV show in their TV Heaven theatre. Admission is free but if you want to try the simulator or Imax you'll need to pay for it.

Scotland road trip 2008

2008-04-09T14:12:00.001-04:00

I know its been quiet on the blog front as of late. Have spent the majority of my time planning and taking our Scotland road trip. If you want to see pictures you can visit my photostream at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aar0n/tags/scotland/

We had a great experience even though we looked for and didn't see:

1) Nessie
2) Dolphins
3) Salmon swimming upstream

We did see amazing scenery, castles, cities. Sampled great food, saw many native animals including the oh so cool highland cattle.

I could see myself going back and spending more time up north, visiting even more remote areas like Orkney, Skye, Staffa. I think the highlight of the trip for me was the isle of Arran; place has great features hiking through varied terrain and forests, picturesque villages, ancient monoliths, interesting geologic formations, 2 castles, a beer brewery, distillery, cheese factory (where you can stop and watch production at all 3 I believe).

A great trip and a hard one to top, though we will certainly try. Here are some of my favorite moments:

a walk in the park

2008-03-01T11:42:00.005-05:00

We've been meaning to make it to the Sankey Valley Park in Warrington ever since, well, we moved here. Its at the western edge of the city centre, and close to a house we nearly leased.

There is a real ale pub called The Maltings nearby where you can park, enjoy the beer garden, and then take a long walk in either direction along the canal. There are interesting little bits every so often like a huge sculpture of an archery board and arrows stuck into it (arros about 20ft tall) or playgrounds for children.

One other nifty feature we found is a good sized hedge maze, though it needs a little TLC it was still fun.

Here is what it looks like from the sky...

View Larger Map

New line of family tree

2008-02-25T16:08:00.004-05:00

After gleaning a bit of seemingly insignificant information from my father last night on the phone I found a whole new section of my family tree! This branch reaches back to a man named Charles Harrison born in England around 1815. I'll be adding some good information based on records Ancestry.com effortlessly dug up including an 1880 Census record and a 1910 one. My mom, late step grandmother, and many others have helped uncover my roots. I plan to learn whatever else I can about them and document them.

Toledo downtown... reminiscing

2008-02-23T18:01:00.006-05:00

OI
COSI
Diva
Jackson's
Bellacino's
Quizno's

Toledo downtown... reminiscing

What a depressing list of of businesses closing or leaving downtown Toledo. Obviously not a comprehensive list, whats your favorite thing that has disappeared? Mine has to be that Socrates ice cream shop on St Clair. I will always fondly remember the intimate live music venues upstairs at Divas. Oh, and those grinders from Ballacino's across the street!! I remember long club nights and concerts at the Bijou / Asylum / whatever other names it took. Its kind of funny that my wife of 11 years was there one night the same night as I, but we didn't meet and didn't know each other then. I was upstairs with my ears bleeding from Urge Overkill and she was downstairs with all the tearful poetic types with October Project.

The area was at one time an enjoyable place for me to work and hang out. With the two way traffic introduction it got more congested in the mornings and afternoons. In my opinion the number of menacing transients it was constantly rising (especially in and around main branch library). I wonder what it will be like when I come back in 18months?

Ann Arbor sounds better and better all the time...sure they have their share of transients and congestion but they also have the businesses and people to make it worth while!

Today we went back to Chester, shopping and eating a bit in town center. If I were to settle in the northwest of England, that would probably be the town. When I read about towns like Waterville and Toledo being among the best places to live, I cannot even laugh because it hurts to fathom such a thing.

movies rated

2008-02-23T07:00:00.003-05:00

Last King of Scotland - Great movie, great story, great acting. Some pretty horrific scenes near the end, not for the squeemish! A young Scotish med school grad goes to Uganda in the 1970's during Amin's coup and period of civil unrest. He naively gets mixed up in affairs that are way over his head. Trouble ensues. 8*

Interstate 60 - Recommended by a colleague, very straightforward story of an american genie granting a wish to an high school graduate. He is character is tempted and tested at every turn of the road trip. Really a simple movie with not great acting or screen play, but a fun story for easy watching. I love the town of Morelaw where everyone is a lawyer, in the background you see an ambulance drive by with a mob frantically chasing it. 6*

Format wars are over?

2008-02-19T05:19:00.003-05:00

It sounds that way, at least for this generation of hi def. I've been noticing more announcements of this type from Gizmodo over the past few months. It sounds like Toshiba will officially announce and pull out support for HD-DVD.

Blueray has won, which I think is bad for most people due to the more expensive production costs and more proprietary nature. I for one, am not looking forward to more years of confusing region encoding woes. But at least I can start thinking seriously about a hi def system and no longer worry about the unsolved format war.

A day in Liverpool

2008-02-17T16:10:00.003-05:00

Megan had a day of dancing workshops with her friends today (arabic-flamenco and ATS - american tribal style). We dropped her off in the morning on Lark Lane and then made our way to Liverpool city centre.

I really love the Walker art gallery in Liverpool and would recommend it to anyone. Some refer to it as the "National Gallery of the North" because it is a massive collection. There is a nice area at the start for children to unwind. When they are done playing or making their own masterpieces you can get some clip boards and go on a hunt for certain art works in the galleries using their pre-made maps. They have different themes also so you can always come back again for a different hunt. I like the gallery for the terrific Rennaisance paintings and the sculpture room.

Here are two not so random patrons:

Right next door to the gallery is the central library which is also enormous. Right next to that is the World Musuem which covers natural history and science. It is 5 stories of dinosaur bones, aquairum, Egyption artifacts, interactive geology displays, Asian artifacts, planetarium, and more. It is all very very family friendly and completely free.

Metamorphosis

2008-02-16T18:02:00.003-05:00

Tonight I saw a play in Manchester at the Lowry based on The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. This is a story that I loved reading, like many of Kafka's strange short stories. Megan was meant to go along but alas our daughter fell ill and she stayed behind to look after her. I'll be repaying the favor tomorrow by watching the wee ones while she dances all day at a work shop with her friends.

The stage was split on two levels, the dining room and Gregor's bedroom straight above. His bedroom is oriented so you are looking straight down (e.g. bed is bolted to the back wall for optical illusion). The actor playing Gregor did some really cool athletic things to make it look like he was defying gravity, well, he was actually defying gravity with most of what he was doing!

The performance was amazing and I'm really glad I didn't just give up the tickets.

Snatch

2008-02-12T18:10:00.000-05:00

Yeah, its an action movie about 8 years old and it has Brad Pitt in it so why am I watching it now? A friend recommended it, had my doubts but actually pretty good for the genre. I gave it an 8 on my IMDB list.

I also saw Layer Cake over the weekend which pales in comparison (gave it 5). I may be biased having read Stephen Connolley's book first (which was better than I expected).

Have also picked up with watching Lost season 4, probably the only show on TV I care to watch these days. Top Gear also, sometimes.

Birmingham UK

2008-02-10T17:10:00.003-05:00

We spent a weekend city break in Birmingham. I've posted a photo set to my flickr account that shows plenty of cool photos around city centre and the Bull Ring shopping area. We spent time in the main art gallery both days, attended the Chinese new year kickoff in Chinatown, and walked through plenty of the markets and posh shopping.

Another year in the United Kingdom

2008-02-07T18:37:00.002-05:00

Many family and friends know, but for those who don't, I'm going to be working in UK for a further year. So as much as I miss reading the uplifting news as published in the Blade every day and resounding from the AM radio waves of WSPD, I've got to forge forward and see as many cool European cities and museums and parks and ???? as I can. We'll most likely move back to Toledo in July 2009.

But seriously, we are missing family and friends many of whom have taken the opportunity to come to the UK and see us, and then let us show them around. For those who haven't, get that passport ready and give us a shout!

Whats up with me? Random thoughts...

2008-02-01T12:31:00.000-05:00

Posts have been sparse lately for a reason... have been quite busy upon return from the states and what spare time I do have I've been planning out our next trips. What spare time I don't have I've been depriving sleep and watching a few movies. TV and movies are not something I see much of, people who know me can attest. Thats why when there is one on I get strangely hypnotised and cannot in good faith carry on a conversation with someone when one is on.

Anyways, in the month of January I saw several good movies which I've added to my vote history at IMDB.

I read the book L4yer Cake and will be watching the movie this weekend. Before that I read the books Chasm City by Allistar Reynolds and Roots by Alex Haley.

Last weekend we celebrated my son's birthday and also went to the Lowry in Manchester for family fun day.

I've been loosely following the US primaries and am very pleased to see McCain moving ahead. I voted for him in 2000 in the primaries and feel he can do a good job for the country. I wouldn't mind seeing a minority or a female in the white house, but not for that reason alone. I wouldn't support a move towards national health care or more social entitlements, especially after living in UK for a while.

In a few weeks time we'll be visiting Buxton and the Peak District. After that I'm planning a two week trip around Scotland. In may I'm considering Norway. The family will be quite busy this spring!!

Back in Toledo...for a while

2007-12-23T14:02:00.000-05:00

We've been home for about a week visiting family and friends. Have been real busy living it up, saw lights at the zoo, Sweeney Todd at Levis (excellent), mom took the kids to COSI, played in the snow, ate lots of good food, you get the picture.

Next week we are off to visit Megan's family in Erie.

Sweeney Todd

2007-12-21T18:40:00.003-05:00

Megan and I went out with Jeff and Steph to Levis Commons. We ate at Biaggi's and caught Sweeney Todd on opening night (in US). I loved the music and the overall story, gave it a 9 on IMDB. That is one star down from being one of my favorites, as I only rate 10 movies with 10 stars.

We had a nice night out.

Intro to Geocaching

2007-12-09T14:06:00.000-05:00

This week a colleague of mine from the Toledo office was visiting for a week of training in St Helens. On Saturday we took him around to see a bit of Chester and then on to Wales. He is an avid geocacher so we decided to look for a couple of caches near Conwy. It was really exciting to find this little plastic container that others had hidden in the old rock wall. We read through the long list of people who found it before and left their little trinkets in the collection. How cool, thanks Richard!

Sunday we went into Manchester and walked around the Christmas markets. Later on we faced the daunting traffic leaving the city and decided instead to go back to the Printworks and watch a movie (Golden Compass - really good).

Portsmouth

2007-11-25T11:51:00.000-05:00

I traveled down to the IBM laboratories in Hursley on Thursday and Friday for a closer look at their Websphere and Workplace WCM products. It is a terrific campus, part of an old estate complete with a huge manorhouse.

I stayed at a terrific B&B called Pyesmead Farm (a real working farm) and took in some nice food and real ales down at the Shoe Inn... get it, shoe in? Actually one of the owners is from Holland so their sign has a big wooden shoe on it. The pub itself has been around since the 15th century, existing once as a toll booth.

Saturday I took a look around Gunwarf quay before heading home. This is a really nicely built up harbor that is buzzing with activity. There are ferries moving in and out constantly. Also there is a naval base and you see some impressive warships on display, both past and present. The most amazing, to me, was the HMS Victory. It had about 100 canons and carried about 1000 men.

Sure beats riding around in one of these...

I also went up the Spinaker tower which dominates the skyline and is really beautiful.

The view is terrific, obviously!

Dorr Street Rally

2007-11-20T11:05:00.000-05:00

Its really good to see some organized action in support of the Dorr Street Corridor. Here is a Blade article regarding that area of town.

The demise of COSI Toledo

2007-11-17T16:18:00.000-05:00

I'm still a bit in shock over the failure of the COSI levy. I find it incredible that Toledo voters would throw away millions of dollars of investment, an excellent resource for regional schools, and a great magnet to downtown Toledo. And at what cost, 5 or 10 bucks a year? What can I say... other than we'll be making even more trips to Ann Arbor when we move back to the area, as we have a tendency to spend a Saturday afternoon at a hands on museum about every month or two.

On a more positive note, thanks to those who supported organization, and more importantly thank you to the workers and the board members of COSI who have given us some great times over the years and touched our lives. We especially loved the Halloween parties.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T16:12:00.001-04:00

weekend log

2007-10-29T04:04:00.000-04:00

Saturday we went over to a colleague's house and watched the wedding videos of another colleague's brother. The interesting bit is that it was an all out Indian wedding of a well to-do family, so the multi-day party was quite impressive (by my standards). We also feasted on traditional northern vegetarian food, all very nice.

Sunday I took the girl for a little journey, just the two of us. We visited Rhos-on-Sea for the Harlequin Puppet Theatre's production of Alice in Wonderland. What a wonderful little show and venue, I recommend it to kids or adults.

In support of COSI

2007-10-26T17:50:00.000-04:00

Toledo Free Press Article by Dan Johnson

Dashehra Diwali Mela 2007

2007-10-21T04:01:00.000-04:00

Today we took the kids to Manchester and met up with one of Megan's friends to see the Diwalli festival in Platts Fields Park. Diwali is the annual Hindu festival of lights. I've never been to one of these before and we were all pleasantly surprised. There was a lot of nice eastern dancing, food, music, etc. There were some crafts for the kids, and also an area to have henna decorations on the ladies hands. At the end of the evening there was a lantern procession near the lake lead by a brass band, culminating with a fire works display and the burning of a large statue of Ravan.

They also had a small fun fair for the kids. The boy was quite green when they slung him in the air for this one!

Buzz around Dorr Street Development?

2007-10-15T16:13:00.000-04:00

I recieved a survey from the university today that made me perk up. They are seeking opinions for how Dorr Street should be redeveloped. This is especially interesting to me being an alum and also being a resident (well, not at the moment while traveling).

Here is a news article from the spring when President Jacobs met with Carty and discussed the topic.

My dream? A Barnes & Noble, 24 hour diner, a Trader Joes, and pretty much everything currently residing in Cricket West. Westgate is too far to walk for students...a pedestrian friendly development along Dorr Street would be a great feature for students and residents alike. My major dislikes would be: yet another laundry matt, video rental, or low end fast food joint.

Camping expedition - Rhosneigr

2007-10-14T16:21:00.000-04:00

We drove back to the island of Anglesey on Saturday and pitched camp at Rhosneigr. A good friend and colleague of mine has a static caravan literally on the edge of an RAF base and a hop / step / jump to the beach. Their kids and ours are nearly the same ages and get on pretty well. Here they are making a mess in the back of the Jeep.

The weather was a bit soggy on Saturday but was perfect on Saturday. We went to the beach to let the kids splash around and dig in the sand. On the way home Sunday we stopped at the Pili Palas, an really nice indoor butterfly garden / aviary / reptile house / and more.

A big parakeet decided to befriend me by swooping past and around and eventually landing on my shoulder. It was very funny, Megan snapped a photo and then I leaned my shoulder next to a rail for it to walk out on, but instead it walked across my neck to my other shoulder. I tried this once or twice more before getting more blatant. I reached my hand near its feat and it started pecking at me...didn't hurt, just a warning I think. But my daughter was getting quite upset by this point. So I gave the shoulder a little shake and it finally flew off to find a better perch.

All in all a great weekend but everyone thouroughly knackered out.

Glasgow Photos

2007-10-08T16:28:00.000-04:00

I haven't had a chance to blog about our trip to Glasgow last weekend. All I can say it is a great city, that I'd love to go back to someday. We had a lot of fun and saw some great things. My flickr account contains 22 new photos which will occasionally scroll the cool little flash app along with my navigation controls.

One aspect of the Buchanan Street shopping experience that the whole family loved is this Borders, that has to be in the most fantastic setting I've ever seen for a big box store! The inside of the place was equally impressive with about 4 levels of books and a big atrium at the middle where the cafe goers looked down through glass. The photo is of the back of the store, the front has lots of big windows and bigger doors. This side faces the Modern Art museum and is part of the old market exchange square.

weekend log

2007-10-07T16:00:00.001-04:00

Saturday we went to see The Reef (Shark Bait in US) at the St Helens cinema. Then we walked around town for a while, had lunch at Frank and Benny's, then headed home. We took a couple hours to pour through the huge box of travel momentos, brochures, and event ideas that has collected over the summer and fall.

Sunday we had our traditional breakfast of whole wheat pancakes with whip cream and maple syrup, bacon, eggs, and hot chocolate. We try to do that once per weekend depending on other plans. Later in the afternoon we took a drive out to the Cheshire Ice Cream farm. This is a dairy farm deep in the country side which has a farm market, tea room, indoor and outdoor playgrounds, area to view farm animals, area to view birds of prey, area to see the milking of the dair cows, and most importantly a wide selection of fresh ice cream.

After putting the kids to bed I watched "28 Days Later" and "28 Weeks Later" back to back. A friend had recommended (not in one setting) but I found them pretty cool for zombie movies. The first was a quite a bit better than the second. It was so incredible how the made London look deserted, and I had to laugh now that I recognize some of those places like Trafalgar square and the CBI Business centre. I've started an account at IMDB to start tracking my movie recommendations in one place, but not sure if I'll stick to it. I really like how I can scroll through my latest Amazon reviews right here on my blog (top right). But Amazon annoys me slightly that you must choose 1 edition of a movie to review, and also there are no "top 250 movies" type lists (that I know of).

What has been on Aaron's mind?

2007-10-07T05:09:00.000-04:00

I've been concious of the fact that my blog has sort of turned in to a travel journal over the past year. It doesn't really bother me because the goal is to keep track of both what I'm doing and what I'm thinking. I need to post a bit more on the thinking.

Some friends of mine in Atlanta recently had a new baby girl who had some spinal trouble. She has just come home with them after a couple weeks in the hospital. That really makes me feel good, and stirs memories of my little sister's experience. She spent the first several months at MCO in Toledo including spinal and heart surgeries. I was about 10 at the time and a lot of that has become a blur, but she was a miracle baby and a testament to the field of medical science.

In other news, a good friend and colleague of mine here in the UK has quit his job (for the second time) and plans a solitary bike trip from the south of Argentina up through Chili and Peru. This, while not exactly tempting for me, does make me think. You see these extreme examples of super human people who go on incredble trips, run ultra marathons, overcome great adversity (mental and physical I always think of Lance Armstrong). Jason Lewis just came back to UK from a 13 year person powered trip around the world...in which he was run over by a car in Colorado, arrested as a spy in Egypt, and attacked by a croc down under. What motivates people? Probably millions of things, combinations of those things, and they can change over a life span. Philosophers categorize, pontificate, and generalize the reasons. They dream up fiction or capture biographies or poeticize about it. One of my favorite thought experiments in this area is objectivism.

I think much of motivation is due to world view or spiritual views. I think for many people religion is a moral rudder but not a true motivation in and of itself. In the staggering numbers of people in poverty, survival is key motivation. But what about well-to-do productive people who veer off course and do something dangerous/exhilerating? These extreme challenges I think are persons pushing themselves to the boundaries of human social and physical limits, for their own sake. They believe their one physical life is sacred and should be explored as completely as possible. They would rather take an interesting avenue of life, thereby choosing quality over the possiblity quantity, since even the quantity of longevity is never garaunteed.

My suggestion to anyone reading this, is think about your life. Pretend you have 10 minutes to live, and you really aren't certain what the afterlife will hold (even if you are certain). What scenes of quality living flash through your mind? When are your happiest moments? When were your most harrowing? What achievements are you proud of? Any regrets? When you've done this, do you feel content having what you have experienced? If not, get out there and LIVE people! And if you want any further advice, do it in a compassionate, respectful way towards your worldwide brothers and sisters, both future and past. Oversimplified? Maybe...especially for those struggling for survival. But not due to financial means or being tied to a region. Living intentionally and experiencing more doesn't require a bycicle trip across a foriegn contentent. The goals are up to you.

A night at the Liverpool Empire Theatre

2007-10-03T15:10:00.000-04:00

We took the train into Liverpool tonight to see the Disney theater production of Beauty and the Beast. The girl claims this was one of her favorite things EVER. I have to admit it was nice with some songs you don't hear in the movie. However, I'd say the acoustics aren't terrific at this theatre even though the old restored decor is very ornate.

That is so cool...

2007-10-03T10:01:00.000-04:00

Those who know me can get weary of me espousing the virtues of my pda/gps/mobile phone. I have had an HTC P3300 for about 6-8 months and it is such a joy.

Today it got even better, as I noticed JD Wetherspoons released their pub finder in Tom Tom POI form... for the less tech oriented, that means wherever I'm at in UK I my phone gives me step by step walking or driving instructions to the nearest Wetherspoons pub.

For those who aren't from UK, this chain always have a reasonably high standard of food at decent prices, but best of all they have an excellent selection of cask ales. We will miss this one when we go back to the states.

a Day in London...

2007-10-03T00:50:00.000-04:00

Today I caught an early train to London for a web content management seminar being hosted by the Butler Group research company. The train takes about 2 hours from Runcorn right to Euston Station, although a plane can do it in about 40 minutes, that only gets you from airport to airport, and just think of the possibilities for delays and hastles.

The seminar had some good examples of what different large businesses are doing for 2nd and 3rd generation WCM strategies. I still get the feeling SharePoint is too immature to be a good WCM, and that these long time players (and even some short term ones) do a better job.

After the seminar I walked down to the National Gallery for a couple hours before catching the train back home. What a beautiful place!

weekend log

2007-09-23T16:13:00.000-04:00

This weekend we visited Ormskirk. There are many nice shops and resteraunts, since it was Saturday it was a market day. All of the pedestrianized streets had clothing and food and anything else you can think of for sale. There were some nice pickings in the charity shops and book stores. One little one we wandered into is called the "The Fairy Wing Repair Shop". Very eclectic little shop of statuary and cute prints, trinkets, gemstones. Megan and the kids were happily occupied for almost an hour, very nice staff who were pointing out the hidden sprites around the store to the kids.

There was a very good park with modern playground, bowling green, and lots of opens pace, right off the town centre. We walked around the old church, which was interesting because it had both a spire and a separate tower. Also, a very creepy graveyard that the girl was just not feeling...

Later we drove into Liverpool and did a little shopping at he new Primark, what a mad house...they had to hire a private security firm for extra croud control!

On our way home, we decided to stop and see the Anglican Cathedral, I've been to that city 100 times now and have never gone inside. It dominates the skyline of Liverpool. The red sandstone it is made of (like so many other walls and buildings of the area) gets dirty...kind of a black fadded look. But the place is absolutely massive, I was very impressed and will go back some day for a trip up to the top.

This picture is actually just a chapel off the the side of the main church!

Weekend log

2007-09-16T17:06:00.000-04:00

Saturday we spent doing misc things at home and in the town. Mainly I was setting up all the wireless devices to work with the new pre-n router... I think there was a kids birthday party to go to in there somewhere, oh yes, and a trip to the library. Widnes has an absolutely terrific central library, housed in a very fancy historic building near town centre. Put that together with good schools, frendly people, low crime, and the excellent "Vicki" park, it adds up to a great place to live.

Today we went to the Manchester Printworks, saw the Silver Surfer for 5 pounds (total, for 4 of us!). Ate at the Hard Rock. That part was the boy's idea but they have some good grub and atmosphere even if it is a bit... I'm not sure... tourist-franchizy-merchandice-rich-shallow-rock-veneerish. Guess it shouldn't matter. We seem to visit that area a lot because we much prefer that area around the Arndale than the Trafford Centre or Cheshire Oaks or anything in Liverpool. Another couple of chains nearby that area we seem to eat at are Nando's and especially the Wagamama noodle bar.

Bristol

2007-09-02T17:40:00.000-04:00

The lack of posts recently has a direct but opposite correlation to the amount of post worthy activities that have gone on. My blog is missing 2 months of the busiest time of my life!

Families have come to call, and we've gone to Germany, Nederlands, France, around UK, etc. But that isn't what this post is about.

This weekend we went to an eco-festival in downtown Bristol. It is a terrific city with a harbor and quays, all done up very nicely with museums, parks, housing, resteraunts, pedestrian bridges, mature trees, coblestone streets, all very nice. The festival was mostly focused on healthy / sustainable lifestyles and food. It was not really a vegetarian focus, but more about organic methods, the negative impacts of flying foods around the world to be consumed, consuming them in season, that sort of thing.

There were music acts, variety shows, acrobatic performers, kids activities, all around a very good family friendly event. We took a harbor cruise on the Matthew, a replica wooden sailing ship with modern amenities. A ship like this is what John Cabot discovered Newfoundand with. Another famous replica ship we were able to tour was the Amistad, which has been to Toledo before, in 2003 I think. We met a young lady on board from Toledo, who lived near UT like us. Small world!

We also went to the Create center, which is full of eco-friendly exhibits and educational materials. One of the neatest parts about it is the eco-home which is right next to Create. The natural heating and cooling of the structure is based on convection, similar to Enertia homes. The most amazing thing about these facilities is that they are city government sponsored projects and maintained by volunteers!

We spent a couple of hours at the Bristol City Gallery, what a terrific museum. It blends fine art, living history, and natural history together, all for free admission.

Also in town is Explore@Bristol which is a very nice science museum, we had a quick walk through part of it but not enough time to stay :-(

We traveled via the Virgin speed train, and stayed in the youth hostel. The hostel was decent basic accomodation at a perfect location, breakfast was excellent. I'll post some pictures when I can.

An evening at the Prince Edward Theatre

2007-08-07T17:00:00.000-04:00

Tonight after a trip to the Tate Modern I took Megan, Carol, and the kids to see Mary Poppins. One of the most amazing productions I've ever seen, incredible cast, set, and nice venue. Megan's mom said it made her whole trip so anything extra from that point would just be bonus.

The girl was pleased to finally see a Jackson Pollock up close, but I think later in our trip while visiting the Musee de Orsay the boy and I convinced her that impressionism like that of Van Gogh and Seurat is worthwhile too.

crazy busy

2007-07-08T17:38:00.000-04:00

Life has been hectic lately... still haven't caught up on the last holiday memories and they just keep rolling on.

Had a crackin' double rainbow tonight, very beautiful...

Cornwall - Day 3

2007-05-28T17:30:00.000-04:00

First, a couple photos with the kids.

We traveled back to the Minack theatre to see it in nice weather. It was built by a lady named Rowena Cade and her two gardners. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING story and one of the most beautiful places I've been to. We will go back to see a play there someday. Currently is playing "Man From La Mancha", which is not family friendly so we had to settle with walking around a bit and snapping some photos.

You can see how so much of a personal touch was put into the space, the chairs are inscribed with the headline titles performed through the years.

Later we made our way up the cost to see this famed St Michael's Mount. It is an island that has a cobblestone causway that can only be traversed at low tide. Tide was coming in when we were arrived, and they would close the causway shortly after. I believe it is just private residences with some public footpaths so we weren't broken hearted about walking all the way out (as most people seemed determined to do!)

Cornwall - Day 2

2007-05-27T17:34:00.000-04:00

The weather wasn't on our side today, very windy and rainy which limited our options. We ended up driving all over the place on treacherous roads. This picture is on one where I felt relatively safe to snap a photo. Megan was gritting her teeth at various passes and I am now quite experienced in narrow winding lanes with steep grades in my 6 speed stick shift minivan! This was much worse than when I tried to cut through back roads across the Swiss alps into Bavaria.

There are a bunch of these stone formations that have been left around by the Celts in Cornwall a couple thousand years ago. These two are called Lanyon Quiot and Men an tol. Supposedly a virgin who crawled backwards through the circle about 13 times would become pregnant!?? Stranger things have happened...

The Cornwall Experience - Day 1

2007-05-26T18:20:00.000-04:00

The kids had some time off from school so we packed up on Friday night and set off early Saturday morning for the southwest tip of England. We stopped first in the town of Cheddar and took a hike up a trail to view Cheddar Gorge. Yes, this is where the cheese comes from and every other shop sells cheese. There is a town called Beer nearby that I had to resist visiting :-)

We had our first Cornish pasties and a local tea shop. The owner complained about the new American visa requirements and how it meant his grandaughter wouldn't be able to visit him now due to huge delays in processing. But overall a very helpful guy, he told us which path to take to avoid the tourist toll up to the trails, and to watch out for the rare bread of shaggy goats we would find at the top of the hill.

After hiking a while and witnessing some lovely views, we carried on to our next destination...Glastonbury. This town is your atypical granola atmosphere (plenty of nuts and flakes). We toured the Abbey ruins, which just happened to have a church service on...the kids really admired that these people still went to church with half the walls fallen down and no roof!

Eventually, we made our way towards St Just, which is near Land's End. We stayed at the youth hostel, which we know from experience these are not always easy to find. In this case that would be an understatement... I had the GPS coordinates and general directions from the YHA website. However, this road just got smaller and smaller, until I'm driving down a farm lane with walls on either side and overgrowth scraping the sides of the car. There was no where to turn around so I just kept driving, but we lost daylight and it started raining...and felt the situation could only get worse. I started backing out of the lane until a car came up behind me... ok. So onward forward, and the path splits 3 ways with no markings as to which one I should follow. I chose the widest one which turned out to be wrong. I followed this for a while till I found a comfortable place to park and call the hostel. They straightened me out and I went back to the split and took the correct path. Eventually we found it and checked into our family room. In the morning we found out what a special place this is when we saw the view.

Steve on my mind

2007-05-25T09:04:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about a colleague Steve Ruane and his bicycle accident in Sylvania. Such a tradgedy. He is a very intelligent man who lives life on his own terms. He and his family have a long road of recovery ahead.

http://z13.invisionfree.com/BikeWorks/index.php?showtopic=230

Live every day to its fullest.

Wednesday nights in Liverpool

2007-05-23T17:17:00.000-04:00

Megan's been taking a dance class on Wednesday evenings in Liverpool...so I've been taking her and then exploring parts of the city. Tonight we went to this old manor house called Allerton Hall. Its been converted to a pub with nicely sized beer garden and playground. Also its surrounded by a public park, very scenic. The kids made friends with some locals and the boy has been asking me if we could move to Liverpool.

Manchester Museum

2007-05-13T17:25:00.000-04:00

Today Megan went to the Indian Dance Days workshop at the Lowry. We dropped her off and then went exploring Manchester. I wanted to check out Platt Fields park because there are some events we'd like to see later this summer.

There was some serious model sailboat racing going on...interesting to watch these guys pacing back and forth at the pond's edge nearly jousting each other with the radio control antennas.

When the weather took a turn for the worse we sought out the Manchester Museum. It is sort of an anthropology and biology musuem. Dinosaur bones and insect displays, all kinds of animal displays...samurai armor, ancient coin collection, etc. It was a great day out and well worth the admission price (free!)

Liverpool China Town

2007-05-02T17:38:00.000-04:00

While Megan danced tonight I took the kids to China town. The boy was sticking his nose into each resteraunt and begging me to go in and buy something.

signs of spring

2007-04-07T18:18:00.000-04:00

Took a walk down to the Birchfield park today, gave some bread crumbs to the ducklings. How cute!

Most of the English really take pride in their gardens, and there are blooms of ornamental trees everywhere (wreaking havoc on my allergies...but its worth it).

Wales camping expedition

2007-04-02T15:58:00.000-04:00

This weekend we packed our thermals set off for the beaches of Anglesey for 2 nights of cold weather camping.

I'm surprised but the kids didn't complain about the cold one time. They were a little unsure about the wind considering it uprooted the tent stakes and blew the tent upside down with our stuff inside it...but slept like rocks after hiking around beaches and dunes all day. Some friends of ours have a static caravan nearby where we went to hang out and play games for a while. We introduced them to some of our favorites like Apples to Apples, hiss, and slamwhich.

Here is a picture of the "old bridge" at Aberffraw... its over 300 years old.

On Saturday night there was not a cloud in the sky which made the moon and stars very beautiful, but also made the temperature drop. It was just 4 celcius (39 or so F) and don't know what that made it with the wind.

On Sunday we made our way to Carnerferon Castle, this is where prince Charles was ... installed? There is a nice museum there and they keep the place in nice shape. The view from the towers is pretty impressive.

weekend update

2007-03-18T13:14:00.000-04:00

This weekend were working around the house mainly but took a break on Saturday afternoon to see a show at the Citadel theatre in St Helens: The Elves and the Shoemaker. The boy was pretty sure he wouldn't enjoy it since he had seen and heard this story "a hundred times already". From the first song both kids were taken. The songs were bright and cheerful and the actors did a nice job. My only criticism would be the costumes... might have been less distracting to have some "period" clothing?

Sunday was mothers day in UK and the kids delighted in giving Megan their hand made cards and bringing breakfast in bed.

Top movies...

2007-03-12T21:38:00.000-04:00

Lisa tagged me about 2 months ago to post my 5 top movies... this is probably more difficult than top music.

Having trouble putting them in order, but here are 5 mainstream movies and 5 dark movies, because I couldn't possibly recommend watching the dark films to normal people!

Mainstream:
Forrest Gump (1994)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Dark / alternative:
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Titus (1999)
Gattaca (1997)

And thats all I have to say about that...

Top 20 Albums

2007-02-21T16:54:00.000-05:00

A colleague challenged me to name my favorite 10 albums. This is so difficult! Here is my 10, plus another 10 honorable mentions. There are certain songs on some albums that annoy me, but overall they are all excellent. I plan on reviewing all of these on Amazon if I haven't done so already.

Top 10

1) Kings of Convenience - Riot on an Empty Street
2) Ben Folds - Unauthorized Biography of Rienhold Messner
3) Craig Armstrong - As if to Nothing
4) Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
5) Death Cab for Cutie - Plans

6) DJ Tiesto - Just Be
7) Nelly Furtado - Folklore
8) William Orbit - Pieces in a Modern Style
9) Beth Orton - Daybreaker
10) Joan Osbourne - Relish

Next 10 - heavier and older

11) Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
12) Days of the New - II
13) Stone Roses - Second Coming
14) Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
15) Meat Puppets - Too High to Die

16) Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies
17) Phish - Billy Breathes
18) Dave Matthews - Crash
19) Charlatans - Some Friendly
20) Tears for Fears - Tears Roll Down

Firenze / Florence

2007-02-18T17:06:00.000-05:00

Had an unforgettable time with Megan and the kids in Italy for the past 6 days. We spent some time in Pisa and the rest in Florence. I have so many photos and so many things to glow about, but nary the time to blog about it. Here is my highlight... my 4 year old girl trooping to the top of Brunelleschi's dome with dear old dad. 295 feet and something like 450 steps to the top. You climb up narrow steep stairs between the two layers of the dome.

By the way, the images painted on the inside of that dome are scary!!! I'm talking people getting eaten alive and the condemned being sodomized by torches...not exactly what I'd want to daydream about on Sunday morning!

We visited many churches seeing all kinds of fresco / alter / grave / relics / gardens. We saw the art of Uffizi, Bargello, Acedamia, Piatti Palace, Boboli Gardens.

We toured the science center where you can see these excellent old contraptions like one an original Pascal calculator (and one even older), astroblades, lode stones, telescopes, etc.

Walking around town we saw lots of old town ruins and little statuary tucked here and there within the city. We sampled lots of wine and local food (gelato...mmmm), ate at streetside cafes under canopies, listened to musicians and watched street performers, bartered at open air markets, ugh... I am so tired just thinking of it all again! But it was a once in a lifetime experience that I'll always cherish.

Stoke on Trent

2007-02-10T15:23:00.000-05:00

Today we went to a place called Stoke on Trent, its like the pottery capital of UK.

There are various museums in the town, we chose the Gladstone. It is obsolete as far as pottery production goes, but they've kept the old factory nicely in tact. You can look inside the old ovens, wander around and see what it was like for the workers, and best of all, you can get your hands dirty!

The boy took a shot at spinning a bowl. The girls made bone china flowers.

Its a great experience, highly recommended. I will fix up this stiched photo someday...not great exposure controls on my mobile phone ;-)

There is a nice exhibit on ceramic tiles. You can see arabic designs from 13th century, large mosaics, see presses and how making tiles has changed over the centuries. They also have a very strange exhibit on toilets through history...toilets as functional art? Never gave it much that much thought!

Copenhagen sightseeing day

2007-01-28T09:48:00.000-05:00

A brief selection of what I saw, many more pics to come. What a smart and beatuful city, except for that Chistiana part...more about that later.

Training day in Copenhagen

2007-01-28T09:22:00.001-05:00

The course went very well... Michael took me to his favorite lunch spot. He always gets the mussels there, something I've never tried, until now. I had no problems with them, but maybe not something I would go out of my way in ordering again. When the course was over, I walked around some of the shops on the Strøget. This is claimed to be the longest pedestrianized street in Europe...I'd beleive it. I love my Ecco's.

Now that is what I call a bike rack...

Later in the evening I decided to venture out and see what the streets were like at night. I passed a club playing some caribean music, peaked my head in and found they were giving mambo lessons. Then later a live Cuban reggaeton act (Aliaza I think). Never understood a word they sung but they had very good harmonies and rythms! When I finally left it was snowing and the city was so beautiful. People were still riding their bikes through the slushy snowy downpour, at midnight! By the time I made it back to the hotel my wool coat was covered with big fluffy snowflakes, I looked like a snowman.

Women of Toledo, beware...

2007-01-26T20:35:00.000-05:00

My friend Andrew sent me this article today, ranking the healthiest and least healthy cities for men in the US. Toledo rated 98th, I think he is proud that he escaped the gravitational pull of Toledo for sunny Orlando. But after reading, I wonder if it is worse for the women's prospects of dating the unhealthy men?

Live from Copenhagen

2007-01-25T17:14:00.000-05:00

I found the motorway towards Manchester airport to be more like a parking lot, so I took backroads (cutting through Warrington at 8am) and somehow made it to the airport on time. The flight was somewhat annoying, because I had the world's most obnocsious passenger to the left, and the most nervous on the right. At least the food was decent.

Copenhagen airport is very nice, and the train station joins up directly to it (what a concept, c'mon Toledo). Took the train to city center for 28 kroners (Denmark doesn't use Euros). The trainstation roof is a timberframe masterpiece!

Walked the city a bit and found my hotel. Walked the city some more, visiting the National Museum. It is a wonderful museum and covering both art and some natural history. It had some great Hindu statuary of Pavarti, Shiva, and Gonesh. It also had some amazing medieval Christian woodcarvings.

Tomorrow is a trianing day, but on Saturday I'm hoping to see some more sights. By the way, it is cold here! There is some frozen snow that melts in the sun during the day and refreezes at night. Reminds me of what Ohio is supposed to be like. In England we have only seen frost 2 or 3 times this season, and ice forming on ponds or rivers is pretty laughable.

Salling Clicker

2007-01-20T20:34:00.000-05:00

I've just discovered a new use for my Mio... it is a wifi based HTPC remote control! I was sort of jealous of my boss who just bought a sonos system for his home (which is still cool if you have the cash).

But using Salling's clicker software to establish a wifi connection to the agent you load on your PC, you can use pre-configured scripts to control apps like Windows Media player, Winamp, powerpoint, or even just a virtual mouse/kbd to navigate your htpc monitor. If they don't have a script for your app, you can make your own. Imagine walking around with your PDA which can control any HTPC or regular PC in your home...the possibilities are endless. The software can be set to use proximity detection also to lock everything and shut off the music when you leave.

Truly amazing stuff.

The Mio runs Windows Mobile 5 on a 400mhz processor. It plays movies, stores plenty of content on a 4gb sd card, and navigated me across Europe. I'm already considering turning in my n80 that has the problematic symbian os for a windows mobile 5 gps wifi enabled phone like this one.

A blustery day in the hundred acre wood...

2007-01-18T17:47:00.000-05:00

They don't really know tornados here, but man was it windy today!! We were sitting in our office when the gusts started getting bad and they blew open the emergency doors a few inches. Then we saw a big plastic dumpster roll across the parking lot, jump the curb, and make its way down the stairs letting its two bags of rubbish free to roam. Pieces of our building were blowing off and damaging cars. Crazyness!

9 deaths attributed to high winds

Gardener's Seed Swap

2007-01-17T16:27:00.000-05:00

Toledo GROWs, an outreach program of TBG, will once again host the increasingly popular Seed Swap at the Crosby Conference Center. The Swap is simply the sharing of seeds for the upcoming garden season. While exchanging seeds and bulbs green thumbs can also share knowledge, ideas and tips. The event is free and open to the public.

Friday, February 23 at 6:30pm events and presentation topics include...
Seed Tasting
Seed Starting/Saving
Preserving Local Culture Through Seed Saving

Saturday, February 24 at 12:00pm events include...
Seed Exchange
Live Music featuring the Root Cellar String Band
Games and Storytelling for Children

Click here for more info.

I've been busy lately...

2007-01-16T16:33:00.000-05:00

After holidays I had plenty of work to catch up on. Its always a rush in January to get ready for the boy's birthday. I also bought a car for Megan (Peugeot 309). Lastly, busy planning out the next three excursions.

January - Copenhagen, DK

February - Italy (Pisa, Florence, Lucca, Siena)

July - Germany road trip (Cologne, Bremen, geneology search)

back "home" again

2007-01-01T21:17:00.000-05:00

At least our temporary home, this going back and forth over the holidays has really made me thing about what the word home means. It really was excellent meeting with family and friends for a couple of weeks.

On our flight back to UK yesterday I saw Little Miss Sunshine...what an excellent movie!! I had heard good things about this in the past but just couldn't get past the movie premise on the jacket. To those who like their movies a bit off color, this film is a must see. It is hilarious in parts, has some horrifying social situations, and is very very creative. The diverse eccentric character personalities were put together nicely and the acting is top notch. Toni Collette has been in some cool movies!

Onward to Erie

2006-12-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

After all the Christmas festivities at my two families, we headed to see Megan's folks. Its about a 3-4 hour drive from Toledo, and Cleveland makes a nice stopping point whenever the kids get stir crazy in the car.

In Erie we visited the new Tom Ridge environmental center on Presque Isle state park...it was really nice! It highlights the use and changes of the penninsula over the years and has some good interactive exhibits. There is a tall lookout tower with great views of the bay. Also, the building has some cool green features like natural convection cooling and use of recycled materials.

Also we visited the Splash Lagoon waterpark, whew some of those water slides are crazy! I went down this one that takes you outside (in the dark) and then back into this huge vortex type thing that then drops you down into a big pool of water. When you come to the surface you can barely tell which way to swim to get to the edge.

On our way back to Toledo, Megan and the girl stopped in Cleveland to see the My Little Pony live show. Me and the boy went to the downtown library for a while, what a very impressive place!

The party continues

2006-12-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today we picked up the boy and then headed over to see a family we met while he attended the Grove Patterson school. We left our remaining gold fish Jerry with this family when we moved to England and were sad to hear that he had given up on life...but it was a long life of 7 years for the carnival fish won in the ping pong toss.

Later we headed over to one of my good friends Jim's, who put together a nice party for us. Some old friends from Napoleon as well as some newer friends from the Toledo area dropped in. There were kids hopping around; real english ales; the Los Straitjackets holiday songs in the background... what a great time. Thanks a lot Jim!

Breakfast with Laura

2006-12-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today we had breakfast with a good friend of ours, Laura Lago, and her daughter Abigail. Laura has this way of coming in and out of our lives at important times. When we were getting maried, she was the nice lady at the fabric shop who helped Megan pick out the fabrics for her dress. When we had the boy, she was the wise lady who helped us plan Liam's naming ceremony at First Unitarian. Megan has spent countless hours with her sewing and pontificating religion. She has spent some nights at our place with the kids so Megan and I could sneak out for a while. It was good to see her again and I think she feels back at home in the old west end.

Later that day we made a family trip to the dentist (health care isn't so great in UK) and then the boy went for an overnight with one of his good friends.

Lunch with co-workers

2006-12-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today Megan and I ran around town getting some gifts sorted for Christmas. We stopped in for lunch with my former boss and my old team...it was really nice hanging out with them again for a while.

a day in Ann Arbor

2006-12-18T09:43:00.000-05:00

Today Megan and I wandered Ann Arbor... Pinball Pete's arcade, bookstores, cafe, etc. Later we saw US vs John Lennon at the Michigan Theater main hall, a very beautiful venue! It had lots of music and interviews and was produced pretty well. It filled in a lot of gaps for me because I've never known much about him (and Yoko). A quip about Bush near the end really cheapened the whole thing and I'm really surprised this wasn't edited out. Only in a town like AA do you get a standing ovation at the end of a Monday night documentary at the theater!

We almost moved to this town once, I think it still has possibilities when we move back to the states.

Lunch at Mom's

2006-12-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

Today we drove to Napoleon and had lunch at mom & Dave's. Later Megan and I made our way to the Holiday Inn French Quarter while the kids spent the night at grandma and grandpa's.

Flight to Toledo - Back in T Town

2006-12-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

We came home for a couple weeks to meet with family and friends over the holidays.

We arrived at Toledo Express at 7:30 and headed to Liberty Center to stay at dad's house for the night. The kids were very shy and didn't know what to do when they saw my dad and step mom...but they soon warmed up. It was a weird feeling driving the old Saturn again, I like my Vauxhall Zafira much better I have to admit.

Has it really been that long?

2006-12-13T19:44:00.001-05:00

Yes, yes it has. Megan and I were married at Hope Lutheran Church on Indian / Bancroft 10 years ago today. Since then we've done some very nice things like finish college, start a family, remodel a home, and live abroad. I wonder what the next 10 will hold?

I sure hope it slows down a bit because that decade absolutely flew!

Lymm Dickensian Parade 2006

2006-12-09T15:15:00.000-05:00

Lymm is a nice old town between Warrington and Manchester. Each year around this time they have a Dickensian parade (in the style of Charles Dickens). We took our friend Bob to brunch and then stayed for the parade. He'll be moving back home to the states soon and we will sure miss him and his wife!

Pied Piper Opera

2006-12-06T17:09:00.000-05:00

Tonight after work I packed up the family and we went to the Lowry theatre in Manchester to see the Pied Piper. The venue was small, had a great little orchestra, the singers were amazing, and acting full of emotion and movement. Even though it was billed as family friendly, I wasn't sure how the kids would take to it. But from the moment we walked in they were interested what was happening on stage; I think they got a lot out of it.

The Lowry is a really cool piece of building right down at the quays in city centre. Out across the water you can see Old Trafford and the Imperial War museum.

Manchester VBUG

2006-11-29T18:03:00.000-05:00

Since moving from Toledo I haven't gone to any .NET user groups. Last night that all changed as I went downtown to catch Dave Sussmen and Alex Homer talk about Linq and the MS Enterprise Library. It was a nice venue in a lively part of town (near china town). I really like how Alex had some problems with his demo, but immediately knew how to recover. In the process helped you understand how the situation could easily occur. He covered a bit on Partial Trusts at the end which would be interesting for ISPs or companies that bring in .NET development from outside companies.

Afterward we went across the street to a pub for a while. Alex and Dave are both great guys. We talked about religion in public schools all the way to round-abouts in "Americker" as they say.

Signs of winter in Widnes

2006-11-19T18:29:00.000-05:00

When it gets cold, you can see the foxes come out of hiding because they are hungry. Here is one the boy spotted from his bedroom window a few days ago...

To all my poor friends back in Ohio...we've had frost 1 day so far, but complaining about the weather seems to be the official national passtime here.

Another Place

2006-11-12T18:39:00.000-05:00

Today we drove to Crosby, a coastal town where an artist named Anthony Gormley put a bunch of human statues in the sand walking out into the sea. Its titled "Another Place". Rumor has it the whole installation is moving to NYC sometime soon.

Dismal election...

2006-11-08T14:51:00.000-05:00

Things really did not go my way in this election. Cosi failed, DeWine lost, Sarantou lost, Kazcala lost, Schulz not even close. The Cosi failure realy bugs me, considering it was 1/6th the cost of the Zoo levi which passed by a wide margin and passed a levi in the last election as well. It doesn't make sense to me.

On the other hand, there were two really cool things that happened, but they weren't related to Ohio. The governator won re-election, and Lieberman pulled off his independant race. That should be interesting if he decides to throw his hat in for the next presidential primary.

Happy Halloween...

2006-10-31T15:28:00.000-05:00

Trick or Treat is catching on in the UK. We had a few lucky kids frequent our house for an unhealthy share of treats.

In support of COSI

2006-10-30T03:48:00.000-05:00

I've added a temporary banner to my page in support of COSI issue 11. I feel this is of great importance to the medium-long term success of Northwest Ohio as a technology corridor.

Every couple of years we hear of some administrator (e.g. superintendents, board members, mayors) getting lambasted on the perceived lack of short term success and brain drain of our population. However, children are raised and educated over decades, not 24 month cycles. To build a creative young and vibrant community, we should continue enriching schools and attractions for children, adolescents, teenagers, and young adults. The benefits from an institution like COSI are not easily quantified and will not see results overnight. Likewise the damage of its removal will not be seen overnight. But it will have serious negative consequences for the following reasons:

1) Loss of a local, highly fun and anticipated, destination for school age children to learn about science.

2) Loss of an excellent tourist destination for families both living in the region and passing through.

3) Moral loss of another downtown Toledo venture

4) Loss of huge prior investments of time and money, getting another science museum opened would require the same large start up costs in dollars and manpower.

5) Additional disused building in downtown Toledo.

6) Positive economic impacts diverted to other science centers such as Ann Arbor, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Fort Wayne.

7) Moral loss to a generation of children who are already seeing large battles about redevelopment of schools and continuous closings of schools.

I won't try and pad out my list to try and get to a magic number 10. These are negative aspects regarding the loss of COSI. What do I see as positive aspects? Some are just the flip side of issues already listed. Here are some more positives:

1) COSI is a good place for families to hang out - it is a safe, fun environment for families of all backgrounds.

2) COSI has value for children - obviously they learn about science in fun ways.

3) COSI has value for adults - they spend time with their children and grand children learning and nurturing.

4) COSI has value for employees - a creative job in a town considered by many to be dull.

5) COSI has value for people who have never even gone through its doors - it improves our economy directly by attracting people to downtown, and indirectly by fostering our next generation of citizens, employees, and entrepreneurs.

I feel I've become somewhat of a science museum aficionado, having seen about a dozen around the US and half dozen in Europe. Most recent was the 10 year old Scientastic in Brussels. It is a nice museum supported 95% by admissions, but too tight on space, located in a dark area underground. I've seen from a customer side, the whole range of science museums; free to the public, to being completely supported by admissions. It is a difficult balance, but an important one. Tipped to much towards independence and you end up with run down facilities and not much great content. Too heavily supported by taxes creates a heavy burden on the community and a place not focused on its customers.

I think $5 year per average homeowner is probably too small an amount for COSI to be asking, but they may be fearful of even this amount getting passed. I don't understand this mentality when I consider community support for some other organizations that are great successes (Zoo, metroparks, museum, libraries). Look at the comparative age of these organizations; COSI is still an infant. I believe we should bring it along for another generation by supporting this levy. Vote yes on Issue 11.

Brussels

2006-10-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

Here is an attempt at a panoramic shot of the main square in Brussels. I'll add a viewer control once I figure out Blogger's rules on javascript...

Fall 06 Roadtrip - Day 6 - Luzern

2006-10-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today we headed to the Transport Museum in Luzern, which is a very massive museum reminding me of the trains at Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, and parts of the Smithonian in Washington DC.

There are some great features for kids, like free razor scooters to travel around between the buildings, or on this special track to help learn traffic patterns.

There is an outdoor construction yard where they can sort, transport, and build with these resin bricks.

We stayed here about 4 hours, but I think you could spend about 3 days to truly go through and read everything.

Later we walked the streets of the city, visited the Library, browsed some shops, ate some nice foods.

This is a town I could definately see myself coming back to someday.It is very pedestrian friendly, and I've never seen so many bikes and scooters in my life. Check out the vintage bike in this photo...notice the lever brake that pushes directly against the tire.

Fall 06 Roadtrip - Day 5 - Luzern

2006-10-25T07:00:00.000-04:00

We had a good breakfast at Rotberg, walked some trails, and then were on our way.

It looked like it would be a nice day, so we decided to drive right past Luzern to Alpnaschtadt. This is at the base of Mt Pilatus where you can catch a cogwheel train up to the top. Considering my wife is mildly clausterphobic, and the kids might freak out with the cable cars as well, we decided this train would be the best route. It took about 30 minutes to reach the top, and 4 tickets cost about $130 for the round trip, but the views were amazing.

Later we checked into our hotel, and walked the streets of Luzern, what a beautiful city! Here it is looking down from Pilatus.

Here it is looking back at the mountain a few hours later, overlooking the mill bridge. This bridge has these old paintings in the rafters depecting death coming for various people.

Fall 06 Roadtrip - Day 4 - Mulhouse / Basel

2006-10-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today we got up and moved out of the Luxembourg Hostel. We drove through the Alsace area of France to the city of Mulhouse. This region is where France, Germany, and Switzerland meet, mostly German speaking. I've since found out Mulhouse was a German city before WWII. We visited one of the largest Zoo and botanical gardens in Europe. Check out those exotic north american bison...

For a time I was off the TomTom maps lost in Basel. This was a harrowing experience, because after cutting down a couple of side streets looking for a place to turn around, I found myself in the middle of this pedestranized triangular shaped intersection, with light rail trains coming / going in 3 directions, hundreds of people, bikes, construction workers pointing me to drive in a direction that was even more full of people. Ugh, somehow got turned around and back out of that place.

We were getting hungry, it was getting dark, went to a MacDonalds and they had no cash point, didn't take any form of credit or Euro, and didn't know where we could find a cash point. For the record, it can be very difficult to pay by credit card and to find a cash point/ATM in Switzerland! People knew what we were looking for, just didn't know where to find one. Do people work on a cash basis in this country?

At 7:00 it was dark and we were searching for our hostel. Our GPS took us to an intersection where we should find a small driveway. We followed this up the side of a large hill. We found the parking area we needed, but only a farmhouse nearby, no sign of the castle. After calling Thomas, the hostel keeper, he told us to search around for a small orange lit button. We found this button and it illuminated a path going up the hill through the forest. He assured me it was only 150 stairs and will see me in a little while, but first warned me to not bring too much luggage. Due to Megan's planning we had this night's clothes / supplies already packed into 1 duffel, so we started the ascent. About halfway up, the lights went out. We were in a pretty thick forest at this point, and there was no light. My daughter started flipping out but Megan soothed her with the glow of her mobile phone. The boy and I forged forward to the top of the hill, where we found another glowing orange button. Pushing this lit the way for another 10 minutes, plenty of time for the girls to finish the hike. Now we could see this old fortress, it was so cool! The kids were pretty sure this place was haunted, but they weren't too keen about going back into the forest either. So we entered through these thick, meideval looking doors, climed some more stairs, and were finally greeted by Thomas. He looked like he was in his mid-30's, shaved head, one of those evil looking goatees...but very nice and helpful. He took us up to the 3rd floor for our room. We settled in and made the beds, and then went back down to the dining hall to play some games and have a snack. You can see the scale of the main support timber to the left of Megan in this photo.

Eventually we settled in for bed. For some reason I woke up at about 3AM and walked over to one of the windows. There was not a cloud in the sky and I could see so many stars. I just looked and thought about things until I got too cold and went back to bed.

Fall 06 Roadtrip - Day 3 - Luxembourg

2006-10-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures from Luxembourg. The day was overcast so I didn't get great photos. Luxembourg was originally built as a fortress city, and has this cool laberinth of caves beneath a section of the city that they call the "casemates". In this picture you can see part of the old fortifications and the entrance to the caves is nearby.

This is a cool bridge near the casemates. The lower bridge connects two parts of the tunnel system.

Cool fountain, the city center is very walkable.

I remember walking through town up this street thinking, boy, I wouldn't want to drive through here. On our way out of the city I ended up having to drive up this hill through the arch...not on purpose ;-) ugh.

Fall 06 Roadtrip - Day 2 - Lille France

2006-10-22T17:00:00.000-04:00

Woke up and took our time with breakfast. Drove into Lille city centre to have a look around. They have really nice underground parking right in the middle of town, as we later found that many other cities do as well. Rarely do you see ugly above ground parking garages or huge expanses of blacktop surface lots in the old parts of towns.

As it turns out they were having a diwalli festival over a two week span, and really spruced up the main street of town with these huge elephant statues and lots of lights. We had some really nice pastries from a bakery, toured some indian exhibits (ancient arts, pop culture, labor in the textile industry, etc). They had an old open air market inside one of the buildings that had old books, coins, stamps, antiques. I bought an 1968 ed book by JP Sartre.

Eventually our legs got tired (Megan says full bellies) and we trooped back to the car. Next destination, Luxembourg City. Driving was pretty fast and easy on the way to Luxembourg. On the way we stopped this amazing rest area that was two large timberframe pyramids spanning the highway. but getting through the city in the dark with only vague directions was probably a bad idea. I had no clue how the roads emerge from cliffs, onto narrow bridges, and zig zag around in this city. It was amazing at night, and even more amazing the next morning when we could actually see what we drove through.

Fall 06 Roadtrip - Day 1

2006-10-22T01:08:00.000-04:00

We set off from Widnes at 6:30am for the white cliffs of Dover. Driving went pretty smoothly, still getting accustomed to my new GPS (Mio p550). Arrived at ferry at 2:30pm including 2 stops along the way. The weather was a little harsh so the ferry bobbed around a little but the kids just thought it was fun.

After I drove off the ferry it was a little disorienting going on round abouts in the a clockwise direction and driving on the right side of the road again...but it soon became comfortable. We set off for our hotel just outside of Lille France, about an hour away. It really strikes me how similar the landscape of France is to northern Ohio. Lots of corn fields and barns, patches of trees and wildflowers, narrow country roads.

One particular corn field has been turned into a technology park, with lots of new office buildings. Here we found one of the coolest hotels I've ever stayed in. You walk in and see a coulple of NICE billiards tables, fooseball, a fully stocked bar, a cafe, plenty of lounge chairs and couches. The place is covered by a translucent roof to keep it bright inside, and all of the rooms look inward towards this atrium. For only 60 euros I got a room with two big beds, kitchenette, real art on the walls, a widescreen TV, and a dolby surround DVD player / music player (complete with subwoofer). This even included breakfast for all 4 of us! Really this apartment / hotel is geared towards young professionals who would come to work at this business park, but worked out perfectly for us.

long time no blog...

2006-10-21T02:13:00.000-04:00

Mailed off my absentee ballot request to good old Lucas County BOE this week. Have been having a great time with my new job and co-workers. Had a major episode of deja-vu on Wednesday. I distinctly remember waking up about 5 years ago and telling Megan that I saw myself surrounded by a bunch of co-workers that I didn't know. Well, now I know them! I saw the exact same windows, desks, and stairway, sitting from a place I've never sat at until that day. So creepy!

In other news, we've spent a lot of time planning out our Fall 06 European road trip. I'll be blogging and posting picks as soon as I can. We'll be covering about 1900 miles in 10 days, including a ferry trip across the channel. I've been talking to the kids about the trip and pointing out some of the countries on the map. Today my daughter brought me her scrap book from our Spring road trip to the Smokies and Orlando. She told me about each picture and told me how much she liked going to all those places. :-)