Lots of Hot Air: November 2009

Friday, November 6, 2009

What a whirlwind.....

Last Thursday very late in the afternoon I found out that I was going to a meeting in Sunnyvale, CA for work. On Monday of this week a little voice popped up with 'JetBlue' has really cheap tickets from the Bay Area to Long Beach'. After some quick checking with my boss and the travel folks I had them change my return flight from San Jose to LAX and grabbed myself one of those cheap tickets and here I am :-)

Certain little curly haired tot is napping right now but we have been very, very busy with going to the park and the zoo and reading books. She sure is a cutie but I wish that I had brought a camera.

40 things about me

1) I was born and raised in Logansport IN
2) I have been married to the same woman for over thirty years (how does she do it???)
3) I have two wonderful daughters
4) I am an electrical engineer
5) I attended Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology for my freshman year but transferred to and graduated from Purdue University
6) I have been issued six U.S. Patents
7) I am a licensed hot air balloon pilot
8) I love gliding along five feet (or maybe less) above the trees
9) And the challenge of navigating to an acceptable landing site using nothing but the wind.
10) I have been in all 50 states
11) and stayed overnight in all but Rhode Island, Delaware and Washington.
12) I have been in 21 countries
13) I have lived in 3 states and one foreign country (France).
14) Living in France while interesting was also very annoying.
15) I love to travel and see new places
16) I find some museums interesting (military history, technology or engineering) but others (modern art, “popular” culture) utterly boring.
17) I like dogs but not cats
18) I played the clarinet in the band and sang in the choir in high school
19) I like to sing
20) But hate it when other people sing out of tune (I ignore it when I am out of tune 
21) I HATE hypocrisy
22) Especially people that whine about the things that give them the economic wherewithal to complain (they hate big trucks on the highway but demand fresh fruit at their market – they hate that factories are closing and taking away all of the high paying jobs but they want to go to Wal-Mart and buy a $49 DVD player.)
23) I hate having people condescend to me even more.
24) I like watching sports on television
25) I hate watching shows and/or movies that are supposed to be real where the writers are too lazy to check their facts or violate basic physical laws.
26) I admire creative people
28) I am disappointed by people who don’t take responsibility for their own actions.
27) I am puzzled by smart people who don’t use their intelligence
29) I have the ability to visualize three dimensional objects but not always the skill to build them
30) I don’t like to be around people who always try to “top” everything mentioned in the conversation (they’ve seen a larger one, they know somebody who has a faster one, they attended the event that was better). These people annoy me.
31) I like to read (the newspaper, science fiction, Tom Clancy military/technical thrillers)
32) Sometimes I read too much.
33) I like to drive
34) I hate to ride in a car with someone else driving
35) I procrastinate too much
36) I have a phobia about visiting the dentist.
37) I learned to ski when I was 36.
38) I haven’t skied in 10 years (Indiana is way too flat)
39) I don’t mind heights, nor tight spaces, but ABSOLUTELY abhor speaking in public.
40) I once took an F on an oral book report rather than stand in front of the class and present it.

Lots of Hot Air

Friday, November 6, 2009

What a whirlwind.....

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