Cockroach Patrol

I flew the red eye flight from LA to Chicago on Monday night. The flight departed LA at 11:10 PM (PST) and arrived 3 hours later in Chicago. I slept the whole flight. The only thing that woke me up was the announcement from the pilot that we were 40 miles from the airport and that we would be landing in 15 minutes. I was truly amazed since it seemed like we had just departed LA.

Not much was happening at Chicago O'Hara airport at 4:30 AM. There were a few shops and restaurants open. It was not the hustle and bustle of activity that I was accustomed to, but I did have an interesting experience while I was waiting to board my plane for Syracuse.

My carry on bag was between my feet and I was using it as a table to hold my Bible. I was leaning over reading my Bible when I saw something dash out from under my chair. It was an ugly bug and it was making its way towards my carry on bag. I lifted the bag and bug ran right by it. I'm so thankful that I saw the bug since it turned out to be a cockroach. It made its way to the seats that were across from me. There was a gentleman sitting on the end seat across from me. I kept a watchful eye on the cockroach to see where he would make his next move. Sure enough, he turned 90 degrees and started making his way towards the gentleman. I soon realized that the cockroach had every intention of climbing up the man's pant leg. You say, "how did I know this?" Answer: when the cockroach climbed on the man's shoe and seemed very interested in the bottom of his pant. I calmly said to the gentleman "Excuse me, sir, there is a bug on your shoe and you will want to get him off from you." The young lad looked up at me in a daze and said "what". I repeated myself and then he looked down at his feet. Horror filled his face when he saw the massive cockroach about ready to make his way up his leg. The man yelled "get him off from me!!" and began shaking his foot. The cockroach did fall off from him and ran to the other side of the airport. Another gentleman standing on there saw the cockroach and ran over and stepped on him.

The gentleman that was sitting across from me couldn't thank me enough for letting him know about the bug on his foot. He was relieved once he shook it off.

Lesson learned from this experience: be on cockroach patrol when you travel since you never know where one will appear.

I'm Home

I arrived home today from my long red-eye flight from LA last night. My flights were all on time and I landed in Syracuse at 10:15 AM EST. After stops in Cicero & Watertown, I got back to the cabin around 4:00 PM.

I have many stories to share about my trip home, but am too tired to write about them now. Check back in a day or so ... I certainly will be rested by then.

Traveling Home

I can't believe that a week has passed already and it is time for me to travel home.

My stay at my brother's has been relaxing and exciting. I truly enjoyed my time in southern California and would consider moving here if I felt the Lord leading me to leave NNY. The weather is great and the people here are friendly. There are also many choices for entertainment & food here. The best part is that I have family leaving here and it would be great to hang out with them all the time.

To my friends and family in NNY, don't worry I am coming home and am excited about that too. There are certain aspects about the north country that I truly miss; i.e. my cabin, cats, less traffic, and most of all my friends and family.

I'll be leaving for the airport in about 45 minutes. My brother is getting ready to take some family pictures before I leave. I guess I need to sign off for now.

See you all soon.

Visiting Vineyard

Today we ventured out to visit a new church - Vineyard Church @ Anaheim, see here.

Wayne informed me when I first got here that there was a Vineyard church near were he lives. I asked if we could go since I've heard a lot about Vineyard churches and wanted to have a Vineyard experience.

I was impressed by the size of the church. The sanctuary had signs indicating north, south, east, or west entrances. We entered through the north entrance and found seats. Worship had already started and it was better than anything that I've heard on any of the Vineyard's CDs; it is true that live worship is better than any recorded worship. The Pastor was laid back, but shared a powerful message about giving and forgiveness. After service, we stopped by the Newcomer's area and picked up our free guest packet, which included a free Vineyard CD and coffee gift certificate at their bookstore cafe. We visited the bookstore and all got coffee. We truly enjoyed sitting in the cafe and sharing stories.

We decided to stop by a Chinese restaurant on the way home for lunch. This was no ordinary Chinese restaurant that one would find in Potsdam. The wait staff brought carts loaded with food to our table and we selected different dishes. Most of the dishes contained food that I couldn't eat. Consequently, I ordered off the menu.

This past summer I remembered ordering sticky rice when I visited a Thai restaurant with Theresa and Blanche this past summer. I asked Irene if this restaurant would have sticky rice and she said yes. We ordered sticky rice. It was not what I had in mind since it was wrapped in some sort of kale leaf. Three waiters came to our table to inquire what exactly I wanted. I said sticky rice with mango. They all agreed that they had that and departed the table. One waiter returned within minutes with a bowl full of rice that looked like it had hot peppers in it. I shook my head and informed him that this is not what I had wanted. The waiter then asked me if it was the sticky rice dessert. I said yes. He departed with the dish he had brought and appeared minutes later with what looked like what I was expecting. One bite, though, told me that it was not. That was ok because Irene liked it and she brought home with us.

This is my last evening in southern California. I travel back to NNY beginning tomorrow night. I'm taking a red eye flight and will arrive in Syracuse Tuesday morning. I look forward to coming home and getting back into the routine of things. I'm sure that my two cats will be happy to see me too.

Ocean Fishing

I got to experience my first ocean fishing adventure today. It was all that I could imagine and then some.

We arrived dockside around 6 AM. First order of business was to pay for the trip, get fishing licenses, and rental tackle. We then boarded the boat and were on our way to Catalinia Island. After about 2 hours, we arrived and fishing lines were in the water.

I dropped my line in and immediately I had a fish on. It was a mackeral and the deck hand informed me to throw it back since it wasn't good for eating. My two nieces, Whitney & Nicole, got their instructions from the deckhand and dropped their lines. Within in minutes they both got fish called bonitas. The deckhand let us all know that bonitas were good for eating and that we could keep them. My brother and I kept on catching mackerals while the girls kept reeling in the bonitas. I finally caught a bonita after about 2 hours of fishing. Wayne also began catching bonitas and we were all pleased with our catch. Later in the day I caught a couple of calico bass that I kept.

All in all, we had a great day on the ocean. We caught most of our limits for bonitas. The deckhands cleaned them for us and we had some for dinner. They were yummy.

Here are some pictures of our day.

Whitney & Nicole

Where we spent the day - aboard Daveys Locker

Calico Bass

Wayne waitng for a bite, above. A bonita, below.

The Day After Thanksgiving

The ladies of the house decided to venture out for shopping today.

Irene, Nicole, Whitney, and I arose at 6 AM (PST) to hit the shopping trail. We were off at 6:45 AM and arrived at the mall. To our amazement, there were several other hundred shoppers already standing in line at Mervyn's waiting to pay for their merchandise. That didn't deter us and we made our way through the store. Irene, thinking ahead, decided to hop at the end of the line and save us all a spot. The line was so long that all of us had time to shop while we each took turns holding our spot in line. Two and half hours later we were all at the cash register paying for our great bargains. I got a pair of tennis shoes (Irene informs me that this is the proper term for sneakers in the LA area), a black turtleneck, and a couple V-neck T-shirts; all for a whopping $60.00. Being the adventurous shoppers, we all decided to walk around the mall and window shop. We did stop at a coffee shop for what else - coffee. I had pumpkin spice coffee and it was yummy. The mall began to get overcrowded around 11 AM and we decided it was time to head home.

We arrived home and showed my brother our bargains. He too adventured out and went shopping at a local tool shop. He has very nice woodworking shop in his garage and needed tools and hardware to complete a project for Nicole. He didn't have to wait in line as long as us to pay for his merchandise.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing and even got a 1.5 hour nap in. We are currently are watching a movie and looking forward to going to bed early.

Deep sea fishing is on the schedule for tomorrow. We will be getting up at 4:30 AM (PST) since we need to be at the dock by 6 AM. Check back for the fishing report and pictures.

Thanksgiving Morning

I began to think of all the things that I'm thankful for as I arose this morning. My thankful thoughts continued to flood my mind as I went for my morning walk and did my stretching exercises. I've concluded that I have a lot to be thankful for.

God has blessed me in so many ways. My list of thanksgiving to the Lord is endless. The neat thing is that my list will continue to grow as I continue following the Lord. This is how the Lord designed it to be - to continue pouring out His blessings upon His children. I'm so thankful that Jesus died and rose again so that I can know God through Jesus and enjoy His bountiful blessings in my life. Thank you Lord!!

Another thing on my thanksgiving list, is the fact that I get to spend the day with my brother and his family. This is first time that I've seen him and his wife in about three years. I also have met two of my neices for the first time and will spend the day with them too.

I'm also thankful for the beautiful weather in southern California. The sun in Northern New York has been elusive this fall and I'm truly enjoying the sun and warm weather here in California. I think that this is the first Thanksgiving that I'm wearing shorts and short sleeve shirt. It is nice.

I wish all my family and friends back home a warm and happy Thanksgiving. I encourage you all to think about what you are thankful for this day and lift your praise of thanksgiving up to the Lord.

Visit to Huntington

My sister-in-law, Irene, informed me that we were scheduled to have afternoon tea at the Huntington Tea Room, which is located at the Huntington Library. My initial thought was great, but I found it strange that a tea room was located at a library.

As I walked through the main gate, an attendant handed me a brochure and I found myself admist a beautiful botanical garden. I quickly began looking at the brochure and learned that the Huntington Library is a private, nonprofit collections-based research and educational institution. The Huntington consists of a library, museums with art collections, and botanical gardens. The Huntington was established in 1919 by Henry Edwards Huntington, who was born in Oneonta, NY. Information in the brochure stated that:

"Huntington was a man of vision -with a special interest in books, arts, and gardens. Durning his lifetime, he amassed the core of one of the finest research libraries in the world, established a splendid art collection, and created an array of botanical gardens with plants from a geographic range spanning the globe."

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised when I walked through the main gate of the Huntington Library. Irene and I headed to the cafe for lunch and then we spent about an hour walking through the botanical gardens. We also visited one of the museums. Many of you know that I don't like museums, but this one contained the Gutenberg Bible; something that I truly enjoyed seeing.

Irene and I met my brother and two neices at the tea room for our afternoon tea appointment. We enjoyed their special tea, Holiday Season, and all the snacks; there were even healthy snacks that I could eat with lots of veggies.

We paid a visit to the gift shop prior to leaving. We all bought souvenirs and left the feeling very satisfied with our visit.

Here are some pictures of our visit.

My two neices, Whitney & Nicole

Me enjoying my snacks & tea.

A flower in one of the gardens.

Window Washers

I had a two hour lay over in Chicago yesterday. It was during this time that I noticed a four man team of window washers doing their job. Two of them were on the inside and two of them were on the outside. The guys on the outside had to use extenders to wash the windows since the windows were above their heads.

Two things that I noticed about the window washers. First, they worked well together as a team since the inside guys guided the outside guys where the streaks were after their first wash. Although they were only washing windows, they took their job very seriously, did it with excellence, and made sure the windows were sparkling clean when finished.

I couldn't help to think about the scripture that tells us to do our work as to unto the Lord. I don't know if any of the window washers were Christians, but they certainly seemed to be doing their work as to unto the Lord.

The four window washers will never know that I was watching them, but I learned a valuable lesson from them: no matter how unimportant the work may seem to be I need to do it as unto the Lord.

Arrival Downey

I arrived safely at Downey, CA. My flights were all on time. Actually, my flight departed Chicago about 15 minutes early; the plane left the gate, went right to the runway, and we were off. I fly through Chicago all the time and this was the fastest that I've ever flew out of there.

The plane arrived 40 minutes early into LA. I called my brother to let him know that I had arrived and he was amazed. I met my brother outside the baggage claim area. He picked me up in his bright yellow Ford 150 4x4 pickup truck. I couldn't miss it since it looked like a school bus. I'm not sure why he needs a 4x4 in southern California; it was 91 when I arrived. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid 70's.

I was also able to have breakfast with my dad this morning. We met at the Cracker Barrel in Watertown. My dad will be leaving for Flordia next week and this was the last chance for me to see him before he departs. We had a good visit.

Plans for tomorrow include playing golf and enjoying the weather. Later in the week we may go deep sea fishing. This is something that I've always wanted to do.

That is all for now.

Going West

I'm traveling tomorrow to Downey, CA. I am leaving the Hybrid in NY and flying to Downey since California is too far to drive. Downey is 13 miles south of Los Angeles.

I'll be visiting my oldest brother, Wayne, his wife, Irene, and Irene's mom, Eunice. I'll also get to meet two of my neices for the first time too.

What do I plan on doing while in Downey? Golf, pay a visit to Disney Land, and be a beach bum. Sounds fun, right? I can't wait!!

I'll be gone for 8 days. I will be posting to my blog during my time in Downey; so check back to find out how much fun I'm having.

Speedometer Shock

I had just pulled out of my driveway and began my long drive to work. Down the road I traveled noticing the morning rainshower that seems to be the norm these days. I was feeling pretty relaxed as I continued down the road and then I noticed the speed on my speedometer: 89.

I was shocked and began to think how can I be going 89 when I had just pulled out of my driveway; I also didn't feel like I was traveling 89 on the highway. The information on the speedometer didn't match what I was sensing to be true. My internal warning lights began flashing to me that something was wrong. I then looked at the units after the speed and was greatly relieved to discover that they were Km/hour. Switching back to MPH showed that I was traveling at 52.

Lesson learned: check your units on your speedometer when in doubt of your speed.