Here and There Blog

The ever changing wall at Senor Grubby's celebrates teachers of all types. Who have we learned from in real life and inspired life? Looking at you Princess Leia. It's always fun to travel and come home annd find a new mural. They're always a different perspective, color, and idea. Always unique. As we ring out 2017, I hope that 2018 finds us inspired by each other to do better and bring more peace and love to the world.

2017 wasn't meant to be the year of Invisalign and Yertle but that's how it worked out. I'm in the last few weeks of the program and if all goes well, the final couple of months of updates. Luckily the Yertle Calendar 2018 arrived in time for Christmas (thanks JM!) and the updates will continue on until complete.  For anyone who is actually reading specifically for Invisalign, I'm on tray 14 of 17 in the refinements. This tray has the teeth moving into the almost final stages and while there's no pain when I put in the new trays, the attachments this round have moved into where they push enough into the flesh that I've had to use the numbing gel a few times. Just one more reason to keep the trays in as much as possible.

Tray 12 of 17 of the refinements.  Now at last I can see the end game. The teeth are shifting to where they should be and I'm not as self conscious of my smile anymore. It's not Hollywood perfect but it's good for me.  The best thing that ever happened was going to weekly trays instead of every two weeks.  What would have been 18-19 months is only 14. I'm ready for the end and the last 6 trays seem a lifetime away. Next Invisalign update in January from Australia. I'm startig off the New Year with a long work trip to Adelaide and Brisbane. I won't miss having to deal with the trays while traveling. That's been one of the hardest parts, especially on long plane flights.

Nuremberg shines in the heart of the historic district. All the Christmas decorations were going up, people were moving about and it was a fun place to be. While the front door of the church was locked, the side door was open so we looked around.   Best of all, we were in time to listen to the final 10 minutes of the organist's rehearsal.   Bridges and Waterways Nuremberg certainly has charm and it must be a good place to live because so many locals were genuinely friendly to the tourists.

Going to train museum isn't my idea so we can all guess that it's OB's idea of fun. Nuremberg's Train Museum actually is fun and has enough going on in the world of trains that you don't have to only look at train after train. I realize that if I was really doing this, I would have burned my hand. Oops!  Sometimes though you are looking at trains.  Or you might be trying to find the interactive button to ring the station bell and then when you press it, the bell is really loud! The upper level of the building is also home to the Museum of Communication. You can stamp your name in Hieroglyphics.  Mrs. OB and I sort of successfully did this.  The letter "E" is not part of this alphabet. I am KARN. Except now that I look at this, I realize that I used the German "K" and it's not on the English paper. 

The old city walls are lettered in areas. So K is for Karen! At least for this moment in time.  Strolling along the river.  Back at the main square. We took the underground tour of the cellars that were created to store beer, then later used as shelters during WWII air raids. It was too dark for pictures but at the end of the tour we were shown a whiskey room.

I arrived in Nuremberg in the evening and had time and energy to do a quick look around the hotel. There's plenty of walking areas in the old sections and churches with bells going to remind you of the time. Today it was get an early start and check out the castle. Of course one of the must-do's was take the stairs up the tower to get the view shot on this sunny (but very cold) day. Looking out from the castle. 

The sun slowly gave way to clouds then rain. This is not a city for walking in the rain. Before it was time to shelter and stay dry, I did one last walk around the area. The business district and surrounding areas are clean and little graffiti or murals. Found this flamingo? near the old  city.  While the leaves probably congest the waterways, they do look cool floating on the water.  Ornate door entrance. Soon after this was taken, the clouds and mist lowered and the top of tower stayed obscured for the rest of my stay. I decided to pass on paying to go to the top when there was no visibility.  Back in my hotel room I saw this rainbow emerge right before the rain started pelting down.

Army of the Dead and dying? Death battle? I'm not sure but there was a lot of detail put into this.  Looking up at one of the old churches.  And up close and personal.  Town Hall. Some cities have cows, some lambananas, and Dusseldorf has Cartwheelers. Not just ones like this but as a city symbol that pops up everywhere. I don't know if I was so happy today to do one but the two girls on the left of this photo were playing around the Cartwheeler so there must be something to the joy of the moment.

The true destination for Thanksgiving 2017 is Nuremberg but I had extra time and hotel points to burn and decided to give Dusseldorf a look. First up the shopping promenade is a great location and perfect for walking. The small historic district is nearby and several gardens and parks make for a pleasant visit.  Here's a few from the late morning post jet lag coffee walk. Sea Serpent Captured? Not quite sure what was going on here. Amazingly sunny and not horribly cold. This is near one of the larger gardens. One of the old churches.   Not sure. Representing poverty, shoe-less, and trying to get a fitted shoe on one foot? Lots of little sculptures like this are around.

After what seems like 3 years of continued summer the weather has finally dipped to high 60's at night. Add in a seabreeze and it's time to bring out the winter gear. Our bodies don't know what to do with this drop in temperature! I am happy that I can exercise without sweating off the sunscreen for the next couple of months.  This was taken last night post sunset even though it wasn't even 5:30 pm yet. The clouds were kind of swirling around out from the sun. It looked better in person as sunsets always do.

The morning fog burned off quickly today. Luckily the air stayed chilly for good beach walking. It was strange (in a good way) to not have to slather up in sunscreen. No boats, no surf, even the birds were somewhere else today. Just a lazy perfect Saturday.

Tray 7 of 17 begins. It's still going well with the weekly trays although they are tight start to finish. No more of the super loose trays at the end of the second week. It feels and looks like the first six weeks of refinements are bringing my teeth to where I thought they'd be after the first round.  I also am getting slack when it comes to keeping them in as close to 22 hours a day as I could. I'm more around the 19 - 20 hour mark this time around. Like Yertle in this photo, I'm slowly sprinting to the finish line of this program.

Random images on an electrical box. No more than a few inches and barely noticiable.

The refinements seem to be going well. I'm doing weekly trays with no issues. The first 24 hours of popping them in and out are slightly difficult, it's not detrimental to the process. Even #14 is snug in it's tray but not moving yet.  The way it always seems to go, the teeth that I didn't think needed moving are the ones that are shifting about. Next update in a few trays.

I bought this house in 2006 with the intent of living here for 5 years and selling. 5 became 11 and every year for the last few years I keep saying I want to sell.  The house itself is only 17 years old but has come to the end of the first round life cycle and is starting to break down. So in order to force myself to get it fixed up to sell, I'm going to set a Spring 2019 sell date. That will give me time to get repairs done, enjoy them myself for a bit and then get out. One of the many is pictured below. The patio sliding door replacement. That was a doozy. Should have been an easy glass pop in and out but of course the original was an off size and stock didn't quite fit. Then the screen door had to be custom ordered and I went the summer without a screen. Now I have one. Yay. What else? Shower enclosure replaced. Windows washed and screens repaired. Smoke alarm replaced. Bathroom sink faucet fixture broke a few weeks ago, had all four fixtures totally replaced. Today ...

Some days I feel like this at work. Looking out the window, wishing I was somewhere else. Maybe wanting something different to eat and do. Zoos are great to keep people in love with animals. When you look at the still photos and the expression on the animal then it gets hard to justify the lock up. I hope we can prevent the day that only some remaining species will be found in zoos and not in their natural habitat. At the end of my work day I am free to roam. For this big cat, the confines of the small enclosure offer no such escape.

I know I drove through Kansas City once but didn't get off the freeway to explore. So in my first realy stop there, I found myself eating and drinking far more than normal because the culinary experience in this city is pretty good.  It's not often there's a food edition on this blog! This was an appetizer as dinner. Hash rounds, smothered in pepperjack queso, sour cream, bbq shredded pork and topped with guacamole. Beer on the side. Worthy of the food porn moniker. My view as I ate was an event area across the street. The Kansas City Chiefs had a home game and the water was dyed red in their honor. Good thing they won the game!  I had to walk off the food and wandered downtown. I didn't find any street art but a wall of books was something I hadn't seen before. Craft beer is booming. Boulevard is the city's pride and the Pale Ale was the original and tasty! The chocolates were a gift. The purple one on the left was a liquid caramel center infu...