Life in this neighborhood is so predictable sometimes. The family next door got divorced and no one has been around in a week. Last week, Mom, the 2 boys, and a couple of allies came over and retrieved all the balls to take them to where ever new home is. I miss them. It's so empty in my backyard without anything to bounce back over the fence. I also realized that I lost my buffer family. Sometime in the last 8 weeks the people 2 houses down acquired 2 little mop-like dogs. I only noticed because the mops were playing not in their own yard but on the yard of the house next door. Yesterday, I watched in amazement as the mop-dog's Mom came back from the walk and entered through the gate and stopped at my entrance to talk to someone. I'm looking at these people and trying to do school but thinking "move along now, move along." The two ladies are watching the dogs get tangled up in their leashes and of course - the predictable part - the mop dog mom takes off the leas...
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When I feel an earthquake, then you know it's a bad one. Normally I can sleep through the things or not even notice but the one a couple minutes ago was big. I jumped. My lamps rattled, the desk moved, and it's been a long time since this much movement happened. For a 5.8 quake in LA/Chino Hills, this was pretty rolling to hit Carlsbad. Aftershocks are sure to be on their way soon.
This is what comic-con people do when the con gets to be too much. Eat and drink. Brian and Shawn drink Irish Car Bombs. A pint of guiness with a shot of something dropped in that makes the beer steam up explosion style. The voice in the background is Homer who filmed but didn't drink. I also took a pass on this drink.
I went into jury duty this morning prepared to be on a case. Of course once I was there all I wanted to do was leave but I had my computer and given that I was trapped, I managed to get a lot of work done. Vista court is normally slow but the judge told us that trials were up due to the red light cameras and a lot of speeding violations were going to court. I figured a traffic case wouldn't be so bad but 3 hours later and two misdemeaner juries filled, the rest of us were let go. I love Vista court. It was nice having a break from the routine but oddly enough, I missed work and having something to do. (I should have downloaded another file. I ran out of work by 10 am). So now I'm going to surf the net and watch E News! and enjoy the first non-event night in a while, at home.
I'm so tired from Con week! Even if I'm not there, I'm still doing the dinner and social aspect, writing papers, and trying to remember to pick up the mail and pay the bills. With the crowds that are larger each year, I'm starting to think that the dinners are the only part worth while anymore. But then you get an event like today - The Buffy "Once More With Feeling" sing-a-long. For fans, you all know what this is and trust me, it was great. Nothing like watching one of the best episodes on a big screen with 2000+ fans. For the rest of you, it was fun. I had to sit through Deepak Chopra and his odd relation to the comic book world via his son's comic books but it was worth it for a great seat in front of the screen for Buffy. Also went to the Ghost Whisperer panel but nothing major to write about. Homer took some photos and maybe he'll blog it. Jaime Kennedy - not really so interesting and he was highlighted as the big name at that panel. Starship ...
What a non-event day for being at such a major event. I arrived at the con by 10:30 and decided to skip the Stargate panel since the room was full and do a quick sweep of the art show. By 11:15, I was ready to move on to Hall H for a panel of the upcoming movie "Watchmen." I've read the graphic novel (amazing and it was probably the last comic book I read over 10 years ago) and liked it. But alas, even though that panel wasn't until 11:55, the room was closed and a waiting line was wrapped outside the convention center. I decided to wander the dealer's room and check out what I had missed seeing the other night. After less than 30 minutes, the crowds were too much to handle and I decided to plop myself on the floor and comtemplate email until the 12:30 sci- fi writer's panel. A few minutes later I was surrounded by a film crew from Spike TV setting up to do an interview with comic book artist Jim Lee. The crew told me I was okay where I was and with a ca...
Pictures later this weekend... I went down the con last night to pick up my badge and there must have been 30,000 people in line. So much for an easy preview night. Instead, I had dinner and a beer downtown with friends and two hours later I was able to pick up my badge in 5 minutes - no waiting and still have 45 minutes in the dealer's room. The dealer's room had never been more crowded because with 50,000 + people crammed in and no where else to go, we were squashed like a Saturday afternoon. My next day there is Friday and as of now, I'm headed to the border for a TJ workday.
A quick 15 minute trip to the dentist and my teeth are nice and smooth again. The chip was minor damage and it's all patched up now. I can eat again without paranoia and after a week of slow and careful eating, I chomped down Rubio's way too fast but that meal was great! It seems too much like summer vacation time to be working. I haven't fully left vacation mode and even the last couple of days, while working, were kind of only half supported by my brain. Only one office day and a TJ day stand between me and a 3 day weekend now. Really 4 day, since Monday is Jury Duty day and I can kind of tune out as least for a little bit.
Sunday turned into one of those days where I felt like a normal American doing American things. The truck has been sitting in the garage for weeks with a dead battery. I drive it only around Carlsbad and way less than 1000 miles per year. I have 3600 miles listed as my annual average on auto insurance and I recently had to return a paper to Farmer's stating this was accurate. Technially it's not but the insurance companies have some drive going on now to hunt down drivers who understate averages for insurance purposes. I have no worries there. Before getting to the truck I went out back and took pity on the plants who have hung in there with me for the last two years. I weeded, pruned, and even watered them in hopes they'll decide to stick around another year. Since Comic Con is around the corner and I have a full house soon it was on to sweeping and cleaning (more like moving around dust) the house. Homer arrived and it was time for the now almost annual jump start the tru...
I'll wrap up the Prague trip with a close up of the castle above and then below, the cathedral on the castle grounds. As usual, renovation is going on to preserve old buildings so scaffolding shows up everywhere these days. The inside of the cathedral is better looking than the ouside . And then it was time to brave the stairs to go back to town.
Prague Buildings
We'll file these under the ABC's - another beautiful castle, clock, church, etc....
My stress that I thought was gone after vacation must have only been pushed way down. On Sunday night I chipped a tooth from clinching my teeth together in my sleep. It's a small chip on a corner but it's enough to be sensitive (and look dumb) and send me to the dentist next week. For those of you who know how obsessed I am about my teeth, this is not amusing to me at all. Last night I had to make a subconscious effort to sleep with my jaw unclinched . I feel really tired this morning.
Reasons why to use Trip Advisor
The Park Inn Airport Hotel in Zurich was one of the few hotels with rooms available on our last night in Europe. I booked it since it had an airport shuttle and it didn't cost a fortune. Word of warning - the shower is in the bedroom. Not in the bathroom. Not in it's own room but right next to the beds. It may be designed to be opaque but I wouldn't want to share a room with a co-worker or someone I didn't know well! The Park Inn Zurich was originally designed to be one of three McDonald's chain hotels. You can still see the golden arches in the rooms and a McDonalds is attached to the hotel.
The pictures are on their way in random order! Above is the yummy ice cream and family namesake but no relation at all. Bummer. Hansen's makes good ice cream and cheese. Old Town Prague - eating Czech food under the umbrellas. We're drinking Budvar Dark and it was a good beer. A short time later this happy scene turned to chaos as a storm broke out and we were getting soaked by rain even under the umbrellas!
Home and wiped out! The travel delays continued yesterday and early this morning as Lisa and I tried to get home from Zurich. Luckily we were only delayed, not canceled or rerouted. Unknown problem in DC and weather in Chicago contributed to 1:00 am arrival in SD and by the time I was back in Carlsbad, it was after 2:00 am. Oddly enough I was up and awake at 6:30 am so now I'm diving into the day, getting caught up on work happenings and planning the weekend. I've got that jet lag dizziness (or maybe lack of sleep) thing going on now but overall, the day is proceeding along at a fast pace.
After walking after the walking, we ended last night in Prague with an ice cream from the small mini-mart that was every bit as good as the street stands at 1/4 of the price. It's a bummer to leave without having covered every corner of the city but sometimes it's best to leave a few sights just in case of a return trip. Now it's on for a short overnight in Zurich before heading home on Thursday.
Prague is a great walking city if you are not directionally challenged! Between the narrow streets and high walls, add in the twisting streets, and ever-changing names and the fun begins! It's a good thing Lisa and I spent 45 minutes rambling about last night because we found everything that we needed to identify for today's power sightseeing! Dinner ended up in an Irish pub (good choice) and today we walked for almost 4 hours before plopping down in a netcafe. Moblog's not working here so now all photos appear to be delayed until this weekend when I'm home but Prague is a photogenic city!
Monday morning, 1145 am or so. Denmark airport and so far, we've gotten checked in and through security without incident. I see on the monitors that all flights to-from Stockholm are canceled, so OB and Lorie, hope you are not in a storm or stranded at your own airport! It's goodbye to Denmark and hello to Czech Republic in a few hours.
Yesterday we went to some Viking park that operates as a really small Viking village. A few people are in Viking garb and various beer , food , and snacks are available with a few games. The beer photos were from this place but it was somewhat slow as everyone was preparing for a play later than night that we choose to not attend. ( being in Danish and all ) So far we've managed to walk off every ice cream and gourmet cheese slice we've eaten and hopefully the trend will continue. I will be able to upload photos other than a cell phone next week when I'm home. The trip has been relaxing and that's just what I needed !
Lisa and I finally arrived in Denmark around 730 pm last night. Our final flight was delayed by 30 minutes so the streak continued. As we boarded, there was yet another problem with our boarding pass somehow related to the eticket. We were nearly the last ones on the plane except for the unlucky few behind us. 5 flights, 6 airplanes and only 1 was problem free and that was the flight we were never supposed to be on, Frankfurt to Zurich. Go figure. All that's behind now and it's a beautiful day in Denmark and we're going to be out and about doing something.
Wed. morning at 5am started off with the bummer news that the aircraft from DC to Zurich had been swapped and we no longer had the cool new biz seats. Then, we left SD late and ended up in Denver only to have our flight to DC delayed 45 min. We then sat on a plane while mechanics tried to fix broken toilets. After 45 minutes of that, they told all international pax to get off the plane and rebook. So we did but because we were so late, every other segment had to be rebooked. It took 2 hrs. The rebooked flt from Denver to DC was then late due to incoming aircraft delay. We arrive in DC as our now rebooked Frankfurt (where we never wanted to go) was boarding but i had no seat. After a threat of a downgrade the agent found out that the denver agent had checked me in as Chicago. Somehow after we got on the plane and this plane was also delayed to a broken PA system, the agents also gave us our passes from Frankfurt to Zurich. So here Lisa and I sit in Zurich, awaiting a flight to Copenhag...
Now who in California could possibly forget the new hands free cell phone law that started today? Only every freeway traffic sign, the radio, and television have been talking about this for weeks. "Hands free or ticket" was what I heard over and over on the radio. Some lady is on the news for getting the first ticket in CA today and her excuse was she forgot. I got my call and used speaker phone. What I learned was that I'm a great driver with a phone in my hand but using speaker phone, the phone moves around my lap and my driving followed the phone. Seems not as safe to me. This is the happy time - 2 hours before vacation officially begins! Or 2 hours before I have to do more school stuff to be able to quickly copy and paste it at 3:00 am to get credit for Wednesday posting, then I can pack, and then be ready for vacation!