As most of you know I am a technogeek. I have been exploring the new and exciting land of Droid and the many apps available to Droid smart phones. Here are a few apps I have found that are useful and cool.
Uverse (for those who are ATT Uverse subscribers). - set your DVR for shows anytime or visit the library to download certain shows to your phone to watch.
LogMeIn Ignition - this is an app that allows you a remote desktop connection to your home computer both through the web in a browser window bit also with this nifty Droid app on your phone. This works real well if I ever need to do a quick support task on my web server or access pictures or files on the personal pc.
BeyondPod - This app consolidates RSS feeds for news, blogs, and video and audio podcasts. One of the best apps for feed consolidation where it can handle all the feed activities without having to send you directly to the site.
There are other apps such as ShopSavy that scans bar codes and searchs for the same product online to find the lowest prices. Pretty handy on big electronic purchases. So far though these are the apps that have been useful to me. I guess just the fact that I am entering this blog post from my Droid is a bog deal compared to the old days.
Happy geeking out!!!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Crusader Update???
Alright I have been silent for many months in the area of debating those I affectionately named the Confessional Crusaders. It has been a lesson about be careful the terms you coin, you just might become one.
I have spent the time still observing debates but moreso just studying and absorbing than participating. I would like to announce that my views are quite a bit different and muted than they used to be when I took up the supposed arguments. So to update those who may care, here is a more revised statement on the issues I used to fight for so much in the past.
Contemporary Worship
Indeed we still participate at Victory and are active there. We are active there because I believe Victory is still true to its Lutheran origin. We work hard to maintain our Lutheran hymns in worship despite their being done in a contemporary way. We stick with the basic CW liturgy. We visibly and regularly promote the Sacraments and pastor still gives law/gospel sermons of his own creation (not hijacked from some non-dom site like lifechurch or groeschel). However, I will confess this, as the church grows the dangers of evangelicalism and non-dom’s that many have warned of are there and continually and increasingly require attention. Increasingly I hear comments by newer members who want to reduce the number of hymns and replace it with that ewwy gooey modern crap that use endless refrains to say absolutely nothing. Members who want to be even more contemporary than we are. Basically new Christians (praise God) that want the more emotion based worship (sigh!!) Now we are working on calling a second pastor and hopefully the introduction of a pastor that can work with new members and lead bible studies and congregation education can add more meat and potatoes to the new Christians we are gaining. This is ever so important so as not to develop a church that has no knowledge of what it means to be Lutheran.
Doctrines and Trends
This is my biggest fear. That if the vigor of maintaining Lutheranism ever waned at Victory, that it too will fall the way of other WELS churches that seem to be caving in totally to the non-dom or emergent church model. It is sad enough to see some relatives fall away from the doctrinal soundness of the confessions, and forgoing the benefits of the sacraments, the dangers of decision theology, and focusing on all the sanctified living kind of thing of a Baptist non-dom but at least it is clear because it is a non-dom. You expect a kind of “feel good” church light in doctrine and heavy on goo when you think of that model. It is so much worse if a Lutheran church pretends to be Lutheran but in its essence is a non-dom. That is the sad part of what I have been observing more recently in some WELS experiments.
I think that a number of WELS churches and ministries are starting to cross the lines of Lutheranism. It is sad that we are not doing more to draw some lines in the sand. I have heard some sermons at some of the oft cited synod “bad boys” churches and have to admit they were poor. Basically more about sanctified living and vague gospel notions. No law…very light on the proclamation of the gospel work of Christ as a response to the preaching of the law. I think it is unfortunate these kinds of churches are not called on the carpet more often. There is no excuse for borrowing from other denominations for sermon series. There is no excuse for preaching a watered down message filled with sanctification and “goodness”. It is sad that a church who I think does traditional Lutheran music in a contemporary way probably the best as can be done, then blows it big time with a sermon that is filled with blehhh. However it’s not just the churches the WELS is cropping up all kinds of ministries…particularly on campuses…that if adopted to the WELS mainstream will put the confessional stance of the synod in serious jeopardy.
There is a particular debate that continues nearly non-stop regarding universal objective justification that I must say I have learned a lot about and definitely feel the synod should clean up its position on. Their statements on this doctrine are sloppy and misleading for some. I think most people like me who were confirmed 30 years ago (using the old brown KJV Luther’s catechism from days of yor ) the doctrine is clear and often in the debates we are all arguing for the same thing using different definitions for terms trying to find a way to make the current statement on justification from the WELS fit the doctrines we learned years ago. In this department I have appreciated the debate and the clarification of terms. I regret many of my statements of two years ago and I will say that I have grown a lot in this area. I have elected Joe Krohn to be my spokesman in this area and rarely need to add more.
To one degree I wonder what difference the minute distinctions being made effect the day-to-day life of the WELS churches as so far I have not seen a WELS church take the implications of a poor understanding of UOJ to the ultimate extreme warned about and illustrated in the Blogosphere. However I guess I do see it illustrated in what is loosely called a Lutheran (or even Christian) church, the ELCA. So whereas I don’t see the WELS sloppiness on the issue leading to such dire consequences…it is something to watch out for… just like those members who want to take the church the non-dom route. I guess as I read out there somewhere “What is the harm of clarifying this one up all nice and tidy?”
What does this sum up to? I am definitely a more cautious individual and I scrutinize a lot more. If I hear a song played in worship that reeks of sanctification I call it out. If a sermon is weak in law or gospel I make a note of it. I want to promote the sacraments more. I am studying a lot more and am more cautious about a blanket endorsement of all things contemporary. Restraint and respect for Lutheran doctrine are still necessary and even moreso today. We need to police ourselves better and resist the urge of ecumenism and doctrinal compromise. To undo the statement of Groeshel who said “we must do everything short of sinning to reach people.” I say not true as ignoring doctrine in order to reach people is not doing any Christian a service. So I guess when I use the term Confessional Crusader these days I don’t mean it with derision as I use to. I have found it is indeed something we need to keep close and study or indeed we will lose the truth restored to us at the reformation one little piece at a time.
I have spent the time still observing debates but moreso just studying and absorbing than participating. I would like to announce that my views are quite a bit different and muted than they used to be when I took up the supposed arguments. So to update those who may care, here is a more revised statement on the issues I used to fight for so much in the past.
Contemporary Worship
Indeed we still participate at Victory and are active there. We are active there because I believe Victory is still true to its Lutheran origin. We work hard to maintain our Lutheran hymns in worship despite their being done in a contemporary way. We stick with the basic CW liturgy. We visibly and regularly promote the Sacraments and pastor still gives law/gospel sermons of his own creation (not hijacked from some non-dom site like lifechurch or groeschel). However, I will confess this, as the church grows the dangers of evangelicalism and non-dom’s that many have warned of are there and continually and increasingly require attention. Increasingly I hear comments by newer members who want to reduce the number of hymns and replace it with that ewwy gooey modern crap that use endless refrains to say absolutely nothing. Members who want to be even more contemporary than we are. Basically new Christians (praise God) that want the more emotion based worship (sigh!!) Now we are working on calling a second pastor and hopefully the introduction of a pastor that can work with new members and lead bible studies and congregation education can add more meat and potatoes to the new Christians we are gaining. This is ever so important so as not to develop a church that has no knowledge of what it means to be Lutheran.
Doctrines and Trends
This is my biggest fear. That if the vigor of maintaining Lutheranism ever waned at Victory, that it too will fall the way of other WELS churches that seem to be caving in totally to the non-dom or emergent church model. It is sad enough to see some relatives fall away from the doctrinal soundness of the confessions, and forgoing the benefits of the sacraments, the dangers of decision theology, and focusing on all the sanctified living kind of thing of a Baptist non-dom but at least it is clear because it is a non-dom. You expect a kind of “feel good” church light in doctrine and heavy on goo when you think of that model. It is so much worse if a Lutheran church pretends to be Lutheran but in its essence is a non-dom. That is the sad part of what I have been observing more recently in some WELS experiments.
I think that a number of WELS churches and ministries are starting to cross the lines of Lutheranism. It is sad that we are not doing more to draw some lines in the sand. I have heard some sermons at some of the oft cited synod “bad boys” churches and have to admit they were poor. Basically more about sanctified living and vague gospel notions. No law…very light on the proclamation of the gospel work of Christ as a response to the preaching of the law. I think it is unfortunate these kinds of churches are not called on the carpet more often. There is no excuse for borrowing from other denominations for sermon series. There is no excuse for preaching a watered down message filled with sanctification and “goodness”. It is sad that a church who I think does traditional Lutheran music in a contemporary way probably the best as can be done, then blows it big time with a sermon that is filled with blehhh. However it’s not just the churches the WELS is cropping up all kinds of ministries…particularly on campuses…that if adopted to the WELS mainstream will put the confessional stance of the synod in serious jeopardy.
There is a particular debate that continues nearly non-stop regarding universal objective justification that I must say I have learned a lot about and definitely feel the synod should clean up its position on. Their statements on this doctrine are sloppy and misleading for some. I think most people like me who were confirmed 30 years ago (using the old brown KJV Luther’s catechism from days of yor ) the doctrine is clear and often in the debates we are all arguing for the same thing using different definitions for terms trying to find a way to make the current statement on justification from the WELS fit the doctrines we learned years ago. In this department I have appreciated the debate and the clarification of terms. I regret many of my statements of two years ago and I will say that I have grown a lot in this area. I have elected Joe Krohn to be my spokesman in this area and rarely need to add more.
To one degree I wonder what difference the minute distinctions being made effect the day-to-day life of the WELS churches as so far I have not seen a WELS church take the implications of a poor understanding of UOJ to the ultimate extreme warned about and illustrated in the Blogosphere. However I guess I do see it illustrated in what is loosely called a Lutheran (or even Christian) church, the ELCA. So whereas I don’t see the WELS sloppiness on the issue leading to such dire consequences…it is something to watch out for… just like those members who want to take the church the non-dom route. I guess as I read out there somewhere “What is the harm of clarifying this one up all nice and tidy?”
What does this sum up to? I am definitely a more cautious individual and I scrutinize a lot more. If I hear a song played in worship that reeks of sanctification I call it out. If a sermon is weak in law or gospel I make a note of it. I want to promote the sacraments more. I am studying a lot more and am more cautious about a blanket endorsement of all things contemporary. Restraint and respect for Lutheran doctrine are still necessary and even moreso today. We need to police ourselves better and resist the urge of ecumenism and doctrinal compromise. To undo the statement of Groeshel who said “we must do everything short of sinning to reach people.” I say not true as ignoring doctrine in order to reach people is not doing any Christian a service. So I guess when I use the term Confessional Crusader these days I don’t mean it with derision as I use to. I have found it is indeed something we need to keep close and study or indeed we will lose the truth restored to us at the reformation one little piece at a time.
A Niedfeldt Update
Ahhh…It has been a long time. However I am not writing this today to make any new commitments to blogging more. I doubt my current trend will improve. First and foremost is that I just don’t have the free time to blog. I do have time to ponder things but rarely have the time put them online. Work has been extremely busy the last year. I have also taken on some personal projects that take more free time out of my day.
Kt is working full-time as a preK4 assistant teacher at a daycare center in Muskego. She works with Chrissy actually. It is a challenging job and Kt spends a lot of evenings napping to recover. She will be attending classes in the Spring semester as well working on early childhood education. Kt and her friend Bonnie are working on a plan to get an apartment together and live some adventures. Right now they are saving money and maybe by summer they will be able to execute their plan.
Ike has been taking to his virtual online high school. He has all A’s and a B right now. That’s a big deal!! He is also on pace and taking responsibility for his assignments. He has said he sort of misses having the social parts of school readily available to him like passing times, lunch, goofing off in study hall, etc.. However he says the education part of it is far better. He is filling in social time by visiting his various friends from various schools and packing it in on the weekends. He also likes being able to do school at night, weekends, stay up late sometimes, wake up at 9:00am or whenever basically. He can run and get a snack whenever he likes or even sit in a “lecture” in his underwear while chewing gum if he so chooses. Ike said the best part has been that he has the time he needs to complete all his assignments. Often his problems in the past were not a product of understanding but more a result of time limits. So far this has been a good thing. It does strip out a lot of the “nonsense” of school and focuses just on the education. There is no dealing with dress codes, tardies, unexcused absences, scheduling, computer labs, cell phone use, teacher access (in virtual school they are available 9 hours a day…and even longer by multiple methods such as email, text, or chat), etc. Even if he is “talking” in an online lecture through chat or voice when he is not supposed to…the teacher can simply disable him and voila …classroom is controlled. In General this choice seems to be working out very well.
So that will have to do for an update for now. Perhaps by Christmas I’ll have another one.
My main “project” has been my personal health. On March 15th I restarted running after an abbreviated return to running in the fall of 2009 when I re-injured my Achilles (after partially tearing it in the spring of 2009) I ran in the mornings with the track team and added an additional run at night. In June I added biking to work. Followed by running at night. In July I started doing fun runs, and in August Duathlons. I also coach CC at St. Marcus and at HOPE High School to Mid-October. I bike about 120-140 miles a week. I run about 35 miles a week. I have a schedule of fun runs including two half marathons coming up for the winter. When I finally have to put the bike away for winter, I will keep running but will spend more time in the weight room. I have realized now that all the fat is gone that I actually have no upper body muscle. A big throw back to high school days for sure.
All this athletic training has taken up some time to be sure. However, the results have been dramatic. I have lost 66 pounds as of today. I am 4 pounds from my goal of getting to 170. I hope to have this goal accomplished by November 1st. I have changed my diet too to eliminate excessive fat and sugar. Nothing crazy, most of my diet is to avoid the obvious bad stuff and keep the portions in a reasonable amount. These results have been good too in that my cholesterol has dropped from 232 down to 178. My blood pressure is 109/66. My heart rate is 49. My BMI is 24 is in the middle of normal weight.
So now that the weight and health goals are close to where I want them, I have been focusing on the competition of running and the Duathlons (running and biking). I have been improving and placing in the top 10 percent of the races I’ve been in. My best official 5K time is 18:54 where I finished 26th out of 350, although I got 17:53 at the 3 mile mark of the Briggs and Al’s run last week. My best Duathlon has been 1:24:45 where I finished 37th out of 791 but I finished 9th overall last weekend at the Pewaukee Duathlon with a time of 1:10:44 on a smaller bike distance. My goals for next summer are to achieve under 30 minutes for 5 miles. 4:45 for one mile. And 1:17 for a 2/20/2 Duathlon.
The most recent family events have just been Zach being home for two weeks on leave after he completed a 1 month long exercise out at sea. It was a nice visit. He got his RX7 running again after being stored in the garage for two years. We got the turbo in the Volvo fixed from my epic vacation in June. My car had been sitting in the garage unused as I am on my bike for everything. That was a fun repair to do. He finally was able to do the engagement pictures with Chrissy. We also tested a restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. Although Chrissy is dealing with the brunt of the wedding planning, it is definitely a fun thing going on in our lives. I find it fun of course as my role is limited.
Kt is working full-time as a preK4 assistant teacher at a daycare center in Muskego. She works with Chrissy actually. It is a challenging job and Kt spends a lot of evenings napping to recover. She will be attending classes in the Spring semester as well working on early childhood education. Kt and her friend Bonnie are working on a plan to get an apartment together and live some adventures. Right now they are saving money and maybe by summer they will be able to execute their plan.
Ike has been taking to his virtual online high school. He has all A’s and a B right now. That’s a big deal!! He is also on pace and taking responsibility for his assignments. He has said he sort of misses having the social parts of school readily available to him like passing times, lunch, goofing off in study hall, etc.. However he says the education part of it is far better. He is filling in social time by visiting his various friends from various schools and packing it in on the weekends. He also likes being able to do school at night, weekends, stay up late sometimes, wake up at 9:00am or whenever basically. He can run and get a snack whenever he likes or even sit in a “lecture” in his underwear while chewing gum if he so chooses. Ike said the best part has been that he has the time he needs to complete all his assignments. Often his problems in the past were not a product of understanding but more a result of time limits. So far this has been a good thing. It does strip out a lot of the “nonsense” of school and focuses just on the education. There is no dealing with dress codes, tardies, unexcused absences, scheduling, computer labs, cell phone use, teacher access (in virtual school they are available 9 hours a day…and even longer by multiple methods such as email, text, or chat), etc. Even if he is “talking” in an online lecture through chat or voice when he is not supposed to…the teacher can simply disable him and voila …classroom is controlled. In General this choice seems to be working out very well.
So that will have to do for an update for now. Perhaps by Christmas I’ll have another one.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Busy Summer
Summer has become very busy all of the sudden. The 4th of July weekend was jam packed. I now need my work weeks to relax from the weekend. Saturday I went for a 60 mile bike ride. I thought it might be a stretch but I felt great afterwards. I had been looking forward to it all week from when I invited myself along on a ride with Ron. The Drumlin trail was a pretty sweet trail and it was a pleasant change from the Milwaukee roads I have been riding on.
After that ride we scooted out to Madison for the Rhythm and Booms fireworks in Madison. They are the "Best in the Midwest" for a reason. I experimented taking pictures this year. A few of them turned out pretty good and you can check them out here. We left Karen in Madison with her parents so she could head up to theLake house with them in the morning. Kt, Chrissy and I headed back to Milwaukee.
Sunday morning I picked up Ike at 6:45am and then headed to Wind Lake to pick up a generator from Ron. This is the generator that powers the Victory of the Lamb band float. I did my usual routine of setting up at church in the morning at Showtime Cinema and then afterwards we had to take things down and get some sound equipment on the float for the Franklin 4th of July Parade. This is the 4th year I have been in the parade and it is a lot of fun. I don't have to do too much except make sure tha generator stays on and there is no feedback or harsh tones.
After the parade, we headed up to the Lake house to relax a bit. As we got within 3 miles of the house it began to rain and became overcast. Oh well. I did sleep on the porch so I could listen to the rain. It served a dual purpose of being good for my back that has been sore due to bike hunching and fat man running.
My running and biking are producing some results now. I have lost 40lbs since March 15th from a high of 240lbs. That makes my excercise a lot easier these days. It also makes my clothes fit. I still have a goal of 25 more by February 26th. I'm sure I can make it much earlier than that...I just need to keep my level of excercise up in the winter months. My goal was to be able to get to a level of fitness that would be fitting for a CC coach as well as match the charts as to what my ideal weight should be. That would include a wedding and a 25th High School reunion next year to stay trim for. I have been working on reducing portions on my eating. My goal is just to keep the excercise/diet balance going.
In the short term though I am training for a 5K on July 24th and a 10K on July 25th. Then we'll see about maybe a Bike ride like the Best Damn Bike ride or something. I think the coaching CC at Hope School will make for a very physical fall. without trying to add additional runs in.
After that ride we scooted out to Madison for the Rhythm and Booms fireworks in Madison. They are the "Best in the Midwest" for a reason. I experimented taking pictures this year. A few of them turned out pretty good and you can check them out here. We left Karen in Madison with her parents so she could head up to theLake house with them in the morning. Kt, Chrissy and I headed back to Milwaukee.
Sunday morning I picked up Ike at 6:45am and then headed to Wind Lake to pick up a generator from Ron. This is the generator that powers the Victory of the Lamb band float. I did my usual routine of setting up at church in the morning at Showtime Cinema and then afterwards we had to take things down and get some sound equipment on the float for the Franklin 4th of July Parade. This is the 4th year I have been in the parade and it is a lot of fun. I don't have to do too much except make sure tha generator stays on and there is no feedback or harsh tones.
After the parade, we headed up to the Lake house to relax a bit. As we got within 3 miles of the house it began to rain and became overcast. Oh well. I did sleep on the porch so I could listen to the rain. It served a dual purpose of being good for my back that has been sore due to bike hunching and fat man running.
My running and biking are producing some results now. I have lost 40lbs since March 15th from a high of 240lbs. That makes my excercise a lot easier these days. It also makes my clothes fit. I still have a goal of 25 more by February 26th. I'm sure I can make it much earlier than that...I just need to keep my level of excercise up in the winter months. My goal was to be able to get to a level of fitness that would be fitting for a CC coach as well as match the charts as to what my ideal weight should be. That would include a wedding and a 25th High School reunion next year to stay trim for. I have been working on reducing portions on my eating. My goal is just to keep the excercise/diet balance going.
In the short term though I am training for a 5K on July 24th and a 10K on July 25th. Then we'll see about maybe a Bike ride like the Best Damn Bike ride or something. I think the coaching CC at Hope School will make for a very physical fall. without trying to add additional runs in.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The 8th and Final Day of My Summer Vacation
6:45AM, I awake, bu not as lively as in the past. It was only 5 hours of sleep. I go downstairs and say hi to Eric and Luke, his middle child. Eric offered food but we had to get going and I didn't want to put him out. He said he'd make pancakes. Instead I declined but I promised Luke that his dad would make him pancakes.
7:30AM, I prepare to turn on the car and smoke up the entire northwestern quadrant of Broomfield. Nothing...hmmmm. Perhaps the car just needs time to warm up. My mission was to drive to WalMart first and get enough oil to last the day. It was killing me buying individual quarts at $4 each. I pull into what was perhaps the largest Super Walmart I've ever seen. As is my luck, I enter the store the precise longest distance from the Auto department. A mile later or so I get to the oil aisle, This is not to be confused with the oil isle in the Gulf. I purchase three 5 quart containers of oil. In the parking lot I top off the oil with one of my last two remaining quart bottles. We head off. Curiously though I still see no smoke from our car. Not even the little cloud bursts on acceleration.
9:30AM, I stop to check the oil after 130 miles. It is down a quarter of a quart. God bless America...well and Sweden in this case.
10:30AM, We stop one more time. I check the oil. No movement. We are at the border of Nebraska and I hand the reigns over to Ike. He's a man now and I give him the distinct pleasure, honor and privilege of driving across Nebraska. From this point forward I will describe my impression of Nebraska: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
2:30PM, I wake up as we need gas. I check the oil. It's down a half a quart. Our car is healing itself. Later on we decide it is a combo of the sealant taking some effect overnight along with a change in altitude making the turbo not blow so much oil. Back to Nebraska...Ike continues the honor of driving. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
5:30PM, Omaha, NE and we gas up again. This time I take over driving because I am SUPER excited to get Iowa and Illinois for my shift. I will now describe driving through Iowa:
12:15AM, Screw it, I can't come up with anything. A zombie could've driven that stretch. I arrive home. The car made it. I am tired. Karen has arrived home before me from her class in Iowa. She worked herself into a sweat cleaning up all the cat boxes and messes the cats made while we were gone. I unload the car but I will wait until after church in the morning to start on laundry, house cleaning and yardwork. Honestly it will be a welcome change from vacation. If you need some oil, I've got 15 quarts in the back of my car. I'll fix the turbo in a couple of weeks.
1:30AM, I go to bed. I wonder what Bob is doing right now. Will the creepy beach stalker ever find a girl of legal age that likes him? I hope Lisa can survive another year in Cedar City. What is the percentage of Prius owners in California? Are the people stuck on the freeway in Victorville even home yet? I might just have to take a road trip soon and visit all my friends to find out.
7:30AM, I prepare to turn on the car and smoke up the entire northwestern quadrant of Broomfield. Nothing...hmmmm. Perhaps the car just needs time to warm up. My mission was to drive to WalMart first and get enough oil to last the day. It was killing me buying individual quarts at $4 each. I pull into what was perhaps the largest Super Walmart I've ever seen. As is my luck, I enter the store the precise longest distance from the Auto department. A mile later or so I get to the oil aisle, This is not to be confused with the oil isle in the Gulf. I purchase three 5 quart containers of oil. In the parking lot I top off the oil with one of my last two remaining quart bottles. We head off. Curiously though I still see no smoke from our car. Not even the little cloud bursts on acceleration.
9:30AM, I stop to check the oil after 130 miles. It is down a quarter of a quart. God bless America...well and Sweden in this case.
10:30AM, We stop one more time. I check the oil. No movement. We are at the border of Nebraska and I hand the reigns over to Ike. He's a man now and I give him the distinct pleasure, honor and privilege of driving across Nebraska. From this point forward I will describe my impression of Nebraska: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
2:30PM, I wake up as we need gas. I check the oil. It's down a half a quart. Our car is healing itself. Later on we decide it is a combo of the sealant taking some effect overnight along with a change in altitude making the turbo not blow so much oil. Back to Nebraska...Ike continues the honor of driving. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
5:30PM, Omaha, NE and we gas up again. This time I take over driving because I am SUPER excited to get Iowa and Illinois for my shift. I will now describe driving through Iowa:
12:15AM, Screw it, I can't come up with anything. A zombie could've driven that stretch. I arrive home. The car made it. I am tired. Karen has arrived home before me from her class in Iowa. She worked herself into a sweat cleaning up all the cat boxes and messes the cats made while we were gone. I unload the car but I will wait until after church in the morning to start on laundry, house cleaning and yardwork. Honestly it will be a welcome change from vacation. If you need some oil, I've got 15 quarts in the back of my car. I'll fix the turbo in a couple of weeks.
1:30AM, I go to bed. I wonder what Bob is doing right now. Will the creepy beach stalker ever find a girl of legal age that likes him? I hope Lisa can survive another year in Cedar City. What is the percentage of Prius owners in California? Are the people stuck on the freeway in Victorville even home yet? I might just have to take a road trip soon and visit all my friends to find out.
Monday, June 28, 2010
The 7th Day of My Summer Vacation
4:17AM, The alarm goes off. It is early....and dark....and early. I get up and start loading the Silverado. I take a few things for the car food wise but leave as much as I can for the girls. Ike is somewhat surly getting up. However for at least 6-7 years there hasn't been one morning where he hasn't been surly so actually this is not unique. I get Kt up too as she has to come with us down to San Diego Airport to rent her a car to use for the next 4 days. Bonnie had purchased a danish coffee cake thing from the store which I take half of. I am finally up early ...but it is too early for inferior waffles.
4:40AM, Zooming into San Diego. Not a lot of traffic now. There are cars on the road though. They are just Priuses.
5:00AM, We check in to rent the car. I get the insurance and was prepared to pay the "young driver fee" to add Kt as a second driver. That of course keeps everything covered for liability and such. However a "young driver" for Thrifty is only down to 21 years old. So Kt could not be a legal second driver on the car. For a moment, I pondered the risk of what I'd be liable for if she smashed it or got hit and I wasn't driving the car....but then I figured "Hey what could possibly go wrong for a Niedfeldt?" So I drove it out of the lot into the very next driveway to the "Evil Gas Station from Hell". There I handed a....wait for it....wait for it...HYUNDAI Sonata over to her ever so cautious 18 year old hands.
The Evil Gas Station from Hell was a risky place to transfer this car to Kt. In this lot a mere 18 months before, nearly to the day, we filled a rental car with gas to return to Thrifty right next door. Literally 20 feet separated our rental car and the Thrifty lot. After filling our gas tank to return the car, my wife backed up from the pump and mysteriously a pylon protecting the Natural Gas filling station rammed itself into the back of our car. After a week sitting quite unimpressed in the American shoddiness of a Chrysler 300 we returned it with its bumper maligned and tailight broken. Thank God for having a legal second driver and the optional insurance. In retrospect I think that was a good indicator of the future direction of Chrysler.
5:20AM, Ike and I head out to return our truck to Cedar City by 1:00pm Mountain time. Can't afford any delays. Ike is not aware that we have headed out. He slept through the drive into San Diego, the car rental, and actually most all of California and wakes up around the Nevada border.
8:00AM, We pass Victorville, CA where an accident on the West bound lanes has closed the highway because of a death. The wanted to open it by 8:00am but that hasn't happened. All the cars are exiting at an offramp. I start watching the odometer for the distance. 9.5 miles later I see the end of the backup with plenty more cars adding on.
9:00AM, I hear another report about how they hope to have the highway open soon. Wow, I believe had I been going that direction that this nice little truck would have been doing some desert offroading. Insanity.
10:30AM, We are rolling into Las Vegas, we have 145 miles to Cedar city and two hours to get there. However, I sure wish I had a Prius because we needed gas. $70 of gas later and two egg Mcmuffins and we were headed eastbound and down loaded up and truckin. Ah we gonna do what they say can't be done. We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there, I'm eastbound just watch old bandit run.
12:00PM (MDT) We hit the 29 miles of AZ. I love God's creation but the AZ DOT has put down some crazy windy roads through canyons with nice drop-offs and they are not as zippy as I would like.
1:02PM we pull up to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Cedar City, UT. There is a HYUNDAI ACCENT...now wouldn't that have been nice to have... sitting next to the office with a vacuum cleaner running near it, and a radio, cleaning supplies, and the car has two doors open, the keys are in it and the car is RUNNING. The sign on the office door says "Be back in 20 minutes" Now needless to say people do not leave their cars open, running, with their vacuums running, in Milwaukee very often. This town seems different that way. The temptation was that if I left them the pickup perhaps they would not remember there was a Hyundai in its place. I was thinking of how excited Bob would be about my new Hyundai.
1:18PM, Lisa shows up having taken another car through the car wash. She was dressed quite nicely and looked about 21. She had long blonde hair and lots of jewelry. She was essentially....hot. Basically there was hardly one thing that made this girl look like she belonged in Cedar City, UT. So as she took us back to Superior Auto to pick up the Volvo I asked her if she was from around here. She said, "Nooooooo, I'm from San Mateo, CA and I'm just here while my husband finishes up college." Her look of despair at being trapped in this little town in god-forsaken nowhere said a lot. She said that when he graduates next May they are moving back to CA. She did not like the weather or the lack of....everything. I told that back home in San Mateo I bet that Hyundai would have been Gone, Baby gone. The only thing more attractive would've been a Prius.
2:00PM, I go to the office to pay for the car. HOLY CRAP! $300 bucks for...wait for it...plugs, wires, and an oil change with air cleaner and oil filter of course. I guess there is an advantage to being in the middle of nowhere. That took care of the misfiring. However there was one problem we had to nurse the car home, They could not fix one remaining problem and it was the one that blew all the white smoke. I had blown an oil seal on the turbo and scads of oil was getting blown into the exhaust. Although the misfiring had been fixed by my replacing my nearly burnt away spark plugs and affected wires, there was still significant power loss from my weakened turbo. With enough oil we could get the car home without cracking the engine block because it used all the oil.
2:40PM, We went 60 miles. We are putting up enough smoke that even BP can't burn that much oil off the Gulf. I check the oil. Down 3 quarts. Holy crap. This is going to be expensive.
3:20PM, We went another 70 miles. Down 3 quarts. I find a product called STP Stop Leak. A thick goopy oil that is supposed to moisterize and gunk up your seals to fill leaks. Only 450 miles to go...TODAY!! Cars now drop far back from us because visibility is poor. When we go up hills the car lacking power often slows to a top speed of 35mph. Cars are careening off mountain passes due to lack of ability to see the road.
4:20PM, Another 70 miles. Down 2.5 quarts. We finally get to a very long stretch of highway with mild hills and stretches in the valleys of the basin. This eases the stress from long climbs up mountains.
5:10PM, We go almost 90 miles. Car is only down 2 quarts. Now the car is relatively smoke free in overdrive and only puts out colorful bursts of smoke on downshifting or upshifting. I felt like a silver, noxious cigar driving down the highway.
6:40PM, 120 miles this time. just under 2 quarts. Looking good as we are about to enter Colorado.
9:00PM, We had some nice valleys to travel in but we are now hitting some of the more aggressive parts of the Rockies. Lots of long mountain highways and we literally crawl over some of them at a top speed of 25mph.
9:20PM, I notice two State Patrol cars have two different people pulled over on this windy mountain stretch. Interesting considering how little police are in the west. A few miles later I see two State Patrol cars with people pulled over on the other side. As I notice this I see a State Patrol in my rearview mirror. I move over to the right hand lane to let him pass only to see him pull behind me. Oh brother. I have a feeling that the problem will be my rolling environmental disaster. Corporal Anderson was a big boy. I call him Corporal Anderson because his title was a Corporal. I called him Anderson because he he looked exactly like Louie Anderson. I swear to God I could have killed the man and ended the entire stop simply by throwing a donut over the side of the mountain. His little partner goes screaming by to catch yet another motorist. Cpl Anderson had two important points to make. First he said, "You were driving in the left lane." I said "Yep" (I have been driving in the left lane for 4000 miles up to this point or more than 500,000 miles in 26 years but who's counting) He said, "Were you aware that that is passing lane and you have to move over by law?" I said, "Nope" (Well of course I know thats a law...and if my turbo was working, passing is all I'd be doing to people and you'd be stopping me for speeding. Plus my wife has pointed out your concern to me for ...26 years...about that very issue). He said, "Do you know your car is also belching a lot of smoke?" "Yep" Cpl Anderson asks, "Where are you headed?" "Denver. Sleeping overnight at a friends. Only an hour and half left." Again his concern is overwhelming, "How long have you been driving?" "We have been on the road for 16 hours." "Are you two switching off driving?" Without missing a beat my son chimes in "Yessir!" (I had not let him drive as I was very pre-occupied babysitting the car and negotiating mountains and oil, etc..) My child was an enthusiastic natural born liar. I was so proud...and scared at the same time. Cpl Anderson wrote me a stern warning about driving in the left lane which to this very day I am pondering and contemplating. Mainly how Colorado legislature has too much time on their hands...OR...the sheer brilliance of getting the idiot slow people out of the left lane. I'm sort of wishing WI would get all our fricken idiot Buick drivers and make them drive on the shoulder or something.
11:00PM We hit the worst of the rockies and the Continental divide...which happens to be in the middle of a tunnel through a mountain. I stop at the top of the last mountain climb and we do one last oil check. Only one quart down after all those climbs. Getting better. Looks like we're going to make it to the flats of CO and beyond and make it home. I think that last climb however took 15-20 minutes with a top speed of 17 mph in spots.
11:30PM, We come over that last rise where the lights of Denver lie spread out before us. What a sight. we cruise up I-25 to Broomfield and pull into the Drs. Brucker driveway at 11:45pm.
1:30AM, Ike and I finally go to bed after telling our tale of woe and catching up a bit with Eric. Eric was/is one of my best friends and was my roomate from DMLC days. He left after freshman year and I left after Sophomore. He went to Univ of CO and then Univ of Texas and Post Doc at Rice University. He has a PhD in Chemistry and is married to Noel, a Pediatrician. They represent two of the very few people with such exceptional educations that are still the coolest, interesting, down to earth, Christian, and warm-hearted people I know. Tomorrow we have a quick 1000 miles to home. But I am going to get my oil in bulk at Walmart this time and save some money. Almost home.
4:40AM, Zooming into San Diego. Not a lot of traffic now. There are cars on the road though. They are just Priuses.
5:00AM, We check in to rent the car. I get the insurance and was prepared to pay the "young driver fee" to add Kt as a second driver. That of course keeps everything covered for liability and such. However a "young driver" for Thrifty is only down to 21 years old. So Kt could not be a legal second driver on the car. For a moment, I pondered the risk of what I'd be liable for if she smashed it or got hit and I wasn't driving the car....but then I figured "Hey what could possibly go wrong for a Niedfeldt?" So I drove it out of the lot into the very next driveway to the "Evil Gas Station from Hell". There I handed a....wait for it....wait for it...HYUNDAI Sonata over to her ever so cautious 18 year old hands.
The Evil Gas Station from Hell was a risky place to transfer this car to Kt. In this lot a mere 18 months before, nearly to the day, we filled a rental car with gas to return to Thrifty right next door. Literally 20 feet separated our rental car and the Thrifty lot. After filling our gas tank to return the car, my wife backed up from the pump and mysteriously a pylon protecting the Natural Gas filling station rammed itself into the back of our car. After a week sitting quite unimpressed in the American shoddiness of a Chrysler 300 we returned it with its bumper maligned and tailight broken. Thank God for having a legal second driver and the optional insurance. In retrospect I think that was a good indicator of the future direction of Chrysler.
5:20AM, Ike and I head out to return our truck to Cedar City by 1:00pm Mountain time. Can't afford any delays. Ike is not aware that we have headed out. He slept through the drive into San Diego, the car rental, and actually most all of California and wakes up around the Nevada border.
8:00AM, We pass Victorville, CA where an accident on the West bound lanes has closed the highway because of a death. The wanted to open it by 8:00am but that hasn't happened. All the cars are exiting at an offramp. I start watching the odometer for the distance. 9.5 miles later I see the end of the backup with plenty more cars adding on.
9:00AM, I hear another report about how they hope to have the highway open soon. Wow, I believe had I been going that direction that this nice little truck would have been doing some desert offroading. Insanity.
10:30AM, We are rolling into Las Vegas, we have 145 miles to Cedar city and two hours to get there. However, I sure wish I had a Prius because we needed gas. $70 of gas later and two egg Mcmuffins and we were headed eastbound and down loaded up and truckin. Ah we gonna do what they say can't be done. We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there, I'm eastbound just watch old bandit run.
12:00PM (MDT) We hit the 29 miles of AZ. I love God's creation but the AZ DOT has put down some crazy windy roads through canyons with nice drop-offs and they are not as zippy as I would like.
1:02PM we pull up to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Cedar City, UT. There is a HYUNDAI ACCENT...now wouldn't that have been nice to have... sitting next to the office with a vacuum cleaner running near it, and a radio, cleaning supplies, and the car has two doors open, the keys are in it and the car is RUNNING. The sign on the office door says "Be back in 20 minutes" Now needless to say people do not leave their cars open, running, with their vacuums running, in Milwaukee very often. This town seems different that way. The temptation was that if I left them the pickup perhaps they would not remember there was a Hyundai in its place. I was thinking of how excited Bob would be about my new Hyundai.
1:18PM, Lisa shows up having taken another car through the car wash. She was dressed quite nicely and looked about 21. She had long blonde hair and lots of jewelry. She was essentially....hot. Basically there was hardly one thing that made this girl look like she belonged in Cedar City, UT. So as she took us back to Superior Auto to pick up the Volvo I asked her if she was from around here. She said, "Nooooooo, I'm from San Mateo, CA and I'm just here while my husband finishes up college." Her look of despair at being trapped in this little town in god-forsaken nowhere said a lot. She said that when he graduates next May they are moving back to CA. She did not like the weather or the lack of....everything. I told that back home in San Mateo I bet that Hyundai would have been Gone, Baby gone. The only thing more attractive would've been a Prius.
2:00PM, I go to the office to pay for the car. HOLY CRAP! $300 bucks for...wait for it...plugs, wires, and an oil change with air cleaner and oil filter of course. I guess there is an advantage to being in the middle of nowhere. That took care of the misfiring. However there was one problem we had to nurse the car home, They could not fix one remaining problem and it was the one that blew all the white smoke. I had blown an oil seal on the turbo and scads of oil was getting blown into the exhaust. Although the misfiring had been fixed by my replacing my nearly burnt away spark plugs and affected wires, there was still significant power loss from my weakened turbo. With enough oil we could get the car home without cracking the engine block because it used all the oil.
2:40PM, We went 60 miles. We are putting up enough smoke that even BP can't burn that much oil off the Gulf. I check the oil. Down 3 quarts. Holy crap. This is going to be expensive.
3:20PM, We went another 70 miles. Down 3 quarts. I find a product called STP Stop Leak. A thick goopy oil that is supposed to moisterize and gunk up your seals to fill leaks. Only 450 miles to go...TODAY!! Cars now drop far back from us because visibility is poor. When we go up hills the car lacking power often slows to a top speed of 35mph. Cars are careening off mountain passes due to lack of ability to see the road.
4:20PM, Another 70 miles. Down 2.5 quarts. We finally get to a very long stretch of highway with mild hills and stretches in the valleys of the basin. This eases the stress from long climbs up mountains.
5:10PM, We go almost 90 miles. Car is only down 2 quarts. Now the car is relatively smoke free in overdrive and only puts out colorful bursts of smoke on downshifting or upshifting. I felt like a silver, noxious cigar driving down the highway.
6:40PM, 120 miles this time. just under 2 quarts. Looking good as we are about to enter Colorado.
9:00PM, We had some nice valleys to travel in but we are now hitting some of the more aggressive parts of the Rockies. Lots of long mountain highways and we literally crawl over some of them at a top speed of 25mph.
9:20PM, I notice two State Patrol cars have two different people pulled over on this windy mountain stretch. Interesting considering how little police are in the west. A few miles later I see two State Patrol cars with people pulled over on the other side. As I notice this I see a State Patrol in my rearview mirror. I move over to the right hand lane to let him pass only to see him pull behind me. Oh brother. I have a feeling that the problem will be my rolling environmental disaster. Corporal Anderson was a big boy. I call him Corporal Anderson because his title was a Corporal. I called him Anderson because he he looked exactly like Louie Anderson. I swear to God I could have killed the man and ended the entire stop simply by throwing a donut over the side of the mountain. His little partner goes screaming by to catch yet another motorist. Cpl Anderson had two important points to make. First he said, "You were driving in the left lane." I said "Yep" (I have been driving in the left lane for 4000 miles up to this point or more than 500,000 miles in 26 years but who's counting) He said, "Were you aware that that is passing lane and you have to move over by law?" I said, "Nope" (Well of course I know thats a law...and if my turbo was working, passing is all I'd be doing to people and you'd be stopping me for speeding. Plus my wife has pointed out your concern to me for ...26 years...about that very issue). He said, "Do you know your car is also belching a lot of smoke?" "Yep" Cpl Anderson asks, "Where are you headed?" "Denver. Sleeping overnight at a friends. Only an hour and half left." Again his concern is overwhelming, "How long have you been driving?" "We have been on the road for 16 hours." "Are you two switching off driving?" Without missing a beat my son chimes in "Yessir!" (I had not let him drive as I was very pre-occupied babysitting the car and negotiating mountains and oil, etc..) My child was an enthusiastic natural born liar. I was so proud...and scared at the same time. Cpl Anderson wrote me a stern warning about driving in the left lane which to this very day I am pondering and contemplating. Mainly how Colorado legislature has too much time on their hands...OR...the sheer brilliance of getting the idiot slow people out of the left lane. I'm sort of wishing WI would get all our fricken idiot Buick drivers and make them drive on the shoulder or something.
11:00PM We hit the worst of the rockies and the Continental divide...which happens to be in the middle of a tunnel through a mountain. I stop at the top of the last mountain climb and we do one last oil check. Only one quart down after all those climbs. Getting better. Looks like we're going to make it to the flats of CO and beyond and make it home. I think that last climb however took 15-20 minutes with a top speed of 17 mph in spots.
11:30PM, We come over that last rise where the lights of Denver lie spread out before us. What a sight. we cruise up I-25 to Broomfield and pull into the Drs. Brucker driveway at 11:45pm.
1:30AM, Ike and I finally go to bed after telling our tale of woe and catching up a bit with Eric. Eric was/is one of my best friends and was my roomate from DMLC days. He left after freshman year and I left after Sophomore. He went to Univ of CO and then Univ of Texas and Post Doc at Rice University. He has a PhD in Chemistry and is married to Noel, a Pediatrician. They represent two of the very few people with such exceptional educations that are still the coolest, interesting, down to earth, Christian, and warm-hearted people I know. Tomorrow we have a quick 1000 miles to home. But I am going to get my oil in bulk at Walmart this time and save some money. Almost home.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The 6th Day of My Summer Vacation
Day 6
9:00AM, I awake to another fine California day. However I again miss the inferior HoJo complimentary breakfast. I decide to run today but in the opposite direction. This direction is a bit more daunting because the first 1.5 miles is uphill. I find the run very pleasant though as there is a botanical garden along the way and at the top of the hill is a pedestrian walkway that provides a fantastic view of the valley on the other side as well as the ocean to the west.
9:45AM, Almost back. Is it just me or are there a lot of Priuses around here?
10:00AM, Quick jump in the pool to cool down and then get ready for our adventure of the day.
11:30AM, We head onto I-5 up to Los Angeles to see Hollywood. As I don't see myself returning to California anytime soon I decided we had better take the time to visit when we can. Traffic was pretty good getting into downtown and we exited at Hollywood Blvd. We turned the wrong direction and ended up in little Thailand. Everytime we see all these potentially awesome places to eat I get sad knowing my family will not be adventurous with me.
12:00PM, I swear every other car on the highway is a Prius. Is this the national car of the Republic of California?
12:45PM, We park at a lot just off Hollywood Boulevard just past Vine. The most immediate impression is the Walk of Fame. I was amazed at how many people I knew. However it is distracting to try and catch all the names when you bump into people because no one is looking forward. It is hard to imagine that anyone would park their stroller on Brittany Speers star.
2:30PM, We stop for a potty break at the McDonalds and by a family pack of McNuggets for a snack. I think I realize at this time that no one in Hollywood is from the USA. Perhaps eastern Europe, Asia, and South America. What is it about McNuggets that are so addicting. I actually determine it is the tightly guarded recipe for their barbecue sauce. I really don't need the McNuggets at all but they won't give me the containers to just use my fingers to eat the BBQ sauce.
3:00PM, I have decided that I was not very impressed with the standard sights of Hollywood. We saw the Chinese Theater and such but the rest of the streets were just shops for tattoos, piercings, weird wigs and Lady GaGa outfits. I would say that it was similar to State St. in Madison but the people were more normal. There was someone every 12 feet or so soliciting for tours of the Hollywood Hills and the stars homes.
4:00PM, We decide to drive to Beverly Hills and check out Rodeo Dr. and the unrestrained wealth of that town. The streets and houses are amazing and the unrelenting stream of $100K cars surrounding our hillbilly Silverado was astounding. I simply cannot comprehend the sheer concentration of cash in one place.
5:00PM, Obviously it was the perfect time to leave downtown Los Angeles. Traffic was good all the way up until the very moment we entered the freeway. Then we got to be in LA traffic for a good while. The children entertained themselves by waving to every single car around us in traffic seeing who would wave back. A surprising number of people did wave back. It would seem they may as well as there is plenty of time to sit around and chat with those around you.
6:00PM I'm pretty sure this should just be called a Prius jam.
6:30PM, Finally we break free of traffic and cruise in the HOV lane.
7:30PM, I pick up noodle bowls for dinner.
8:30PM, Pool and Hot tub time
10:30PM, Time to shower and pack up. Ike and I are heading home tomorrow. We are leaving Katie and Bonnie to fend for themselves and explore San Diego. We need to leave by 4:15am and drive down to San Diego to rent a car for the girls to use. Ike and I need to be back in Cedar City, UT by 1:00pm. tomorrow and that leaves us 7 hours to get there. It will be close.
11:30PM, I go to sleep wondering why I couldn't have rented a Prius and glad that I don't have to commute in LA. I must say my impressions of all the hype about LA were debunked. It is just an overpopulated place.
9:00AM, I awake to another fine California day. However I again miss the inferior HoJo complimentary breakfast. I decide to run today but in the opposite direction. This direction is a bit more daunting because the first 1.5 miles is uphill. I find the run very pleasant though as there is a botanical garden along the way and at the top of the hill is a pedestrian walkway that provides a fantastic view of the valley on the other side as well as the ocean to the west.
9:45AM, Almost back. Is it just me or are there a lot of Priuses around here?
10:00AM, Quick jump in the pool to cool down and then get ready for our adventure of the day.
11:30AM, We head onto I-5 up to Los Angeles to see Hollywood. As I don't see myself returning to California anytime soon I decided we had better take the time to visit when we can. Traffic was pretty good getting into downtown and we exited at Hollywood Blvd. We turned the wrong direction and ended up in little Thailand. Everytime we see all these potentially awesome places to eat I get sad knowing my family will not be adventurous with me.
12:00PM, I swear every other car on the highway is a Prius. Is this the national car of the Republic of California?
12:45PM, We park at a lot just off Hollywood Boulevard just past Vine. The most immediate impression is the Walk of Fame. I was amazed at how many people I knew. However it is distracting to try and catch all the names when you bump into people because no one is looking forward. It is hard to imagine that anyone would park their stroller on Brittany Speers star.
2:30PM, We stop for a potty break at the McDonalds and by a family pack of McNuggets for a snack. I think I realize at this time that no one in Hollywood is from the USA. Perhaps eastern Europe, Asia, and South America. What is it about McNuggets that are so addicting. I actually determine it is the tightly guarded recipe for their barbecue sauce. I really don't need the McNuggets at all but they won't give me the containers to just use my fingers to eat the BBQ sauce.
3:00PM, I have decided that I was not very impressed with the standard sights of Hollywood. We saw the Chinese Theater and such but the rest of the streets were just shops for tattoos, piercings, weird wigs and Lady GaGa outfits. I would say that it was similar to State St. in Madison but the people were more normal. There was someone every 12 feet or so soliciting for tours of the Hollywood Hills and the stars homes.
4:00PM, We decide to drive to Beverly Hills and check out Rodeo Dr. and the unrestrained wealth of that town. The streets and houses are amazing and the unrelenting stream of $100K cars surrounding our hillbilly Silverado was astounding. I simply cannot comprehend the sheer concentration of cash in one place.
5:00PM, Obviously it was the perfect time to leave downtown Los Angeles. Traffic was good all the way up until the very moment we entered the freeway. Then we got to be in LA traffic for a good while. The children entertained themselves by waving to every single car around us in traffic seeing who would wave back. A surprising number of people did wave back. It would seem they may as well as there is plenty of time to sit around and chat with those around you.
6:00PM I'm pretty sure this should just be called a Prius jam.
6:30PM, Finally we break free of traffic and cruise in the HOV lane.
7:30PM, I pick up noodle bowls for dinner.
8:30PM, Pool and Hot tub time
10:30PM, Time to shower and pack up. Ike and I are heading home tomorrow. We are leaving Katie and Bonnie to fend for themselves and explore San Diego. We need to leave by 4:15am and drive down to San Diego to rent a car for the girls to use. Ike and I need to be back in Cedar City, UT by 1:00pm. tomorrow and that leaves us 7 hours to get there. It will be close.
11:30PM, I go to sleep wondering why I couldn't have rented a Prius and glad that I don't have to commute in LA. I must say my impressions of all the hype about LA were debunked. It is just an overpopulated place.
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