Memorial Day

1. Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial Colleville-sur-Mer, France

As has become somewhat of a tradition, my Memorial Day posting returns to Normandy, the site of the Allied invasion of France to end World War II in Europe. I have been to Normandy twice, it is a worthwhile trip to understand the challenges and sacrifice that was faced to push back against extremists within our parents life times.  

I am reminded that Memorial Day is not the start of summer, not the date when it is okay to wear white shoes and belts for the season, but a day in honor of those who committed and in many cases died in the wars of the past. I wish we could do a better job of remembering that when we fail to learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.  

So today, watch 'The Longest Day," remember the allied invasion, chuckle at the line "gummy-puppen!"  But remember the reason for the day.  

What Have I Learned

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It has been a complicated month.  I have had more medical care in three weeks then I have had in a lifetime put together.  What have I learned?

• I am a tough old bird. 
• I am strong in ways I never new I could be
• My emotional breaking point is not as deep as I thought it was
• I can be fearsome and vulnerable
• The show went on without me (I cancelled back to back conferences when the doctors urged me to find the nearest emergency room) 
• I can delegate
• I need to develop trust by those I have delegated to
• Privacy is overrated, want to see my behind,  I don't care, help me get well
• If your health has you crossing things off the list as things you will never do, go get help.  I am adding things back on the list
• Money can't fix everything, but good insurance gets you a private room and the best experts.
• Life is to short to not have fun, be kind, and do good each day.
• It is okay to ask for help, I can't to somethings today for the first time in 55 years. 
• It is one thing to recognize stress, another to relax. I could write a book on this.
• Cherish everyone, when the chips are down you will be amazed at who is there for you
• Being zen is very important
• Anything said or done when one is on pain medication should be weighed carefully. Percocet is not my friend. 

Health Update

I should have gotten a sponsor,  this health update brought to you by------.

The picture shows the metal work supporting my spine in the middle.  It is held in by screws from the back.  A quick x-ray and we can now check to see if I have a screw lose.

Physical and occupational therapy are progressing well.  I suspected they are going to kick me out in a  few days.  I still lack strength and flexibly in my knees. And I fatigue easily.  I haven't worked so hard and sweated so much in years.  I am now 23.5 hours without a pain pill. As long as I keep my back straight and don't overdo movement I am comfortable.  My focus is much better without the drugs. I really don't get why people want to live life in the fog of percocet, but then I don't live in their mind and body. Being this close to the edge of my physical and mental limits, I am learning so much about myself. 

On Friday they moved me to a private room in what J described as the good insurance wing. The room is nice, what a hospital room would  look like when Hilon got done. They are attentive.  Room service.  The service is good. The food is boring.  The microwave is across the hall from my room and if I ask they will warm things up.

Brake on - Brake off

A few years ago, we spent a week with friends who live in London in a small village in Yorkshire.  We rented a row house, and Bert rented a car for the week. Driving on the other side of the road is a challenge (I drove in London - once many years ago,) it was nice to have natives doing the driving,  Bert and DB live in London and don't own a car, they rent a car several times a year.  For this trip they rented a French made mid-sized four door, sort of a tiny mini-van type thing.  It was comfortable for four real sized adults.

It had an unusual feature, and electric parking brake.  Now with a manual transmission you use the parking brake, usually a lever on the floor that you pull up and snap down.  I know my car has a parking brake, but with an automatic transmission I don't think I have ever used it. British driver training apparently creates an obsession with parking brakes and the electric parking brake threw Bert for a curve.  At one point, we were parked at the curb, getting ready to go and Bert decided he needed to figure out how the parking brake worked, he was clicking it on and clicking it off, saying "brake on" " brake off'  "brake on"  "brake off".    The last day I was there, he forgot to click the brake off, and discovered that it automatically released, when you let up on the clutch (a feature that Cadillac pioneered before WWII.)

Two other observations of British driving,  a tendency to say "Sorry" with a quick wave at the other driver, and calling out TRACTOR or RABBIT if one was spotted coming the other way or crossing the road.

I wonder what looks odd about our driving to the Brits?

Indy 500

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indian

I like open wheel racing, Indy-Car, Indy Lites, the new formula -E-series, Formula One.  My love affair with Indy-car began as a teen, back the wild west days when many of the cars were once of a kind, and the rules were very liberal.  There is something magical about a car going by at 220 miles per hour. 

I have not been to Indianapolis for the big race, I avoid huge crowds and traffic jams.  I have been there a couple of times for qualifying weekends.  Indy is the "BIG SHOW" in the season, qualifying takes place over a couple of weekends before the race.  When I was in Lexington it was only a 3-4 drive to Indy, tickets for qualifying weekends are cheap (as I recall $15.)  The crowds are small and most of the track is open to explore.  The only thing I couldn't get into was Pit Lane - you needed a sponsor badge for that - I tried to buy one of those from a 12 year old ticket scalper in the parking lot one time, but he didn't want to sell, he did sell me sponsor general admission tickets but not the pit passes that went with them.  I dare say he sold those for a nice premium later.  You can get right in behind the pits on the pre-race weekends, areas that are closed on race day. You get close enough to see and hear the drivers talking to their crews, you will be surprised at how small the drivers are.  There is a nice museum in the infield.  

The drivers, teams and owners are extremely competitive spending days working on a fraction of a second on a 2.5 mile track, and yet there is something gentile about open wheel racing.  They make no secret of being the toys of wealth sponsors. There is a graceful elegance in the lines of a car built to push the envelope of speed.  

I detest NASCAR - they talk about the Ford, or Chevy - or Toyota, but not a single part of that car came down the assembly line. The language, culture and tone of NASCAR turns me off, but then I am not their market.  

Up and dressed.

Survived the first day of physical and occupational therapy. I did more than I expected.  But I also discovered the limits.   Lots of work to do.  Simple things.  I was 80% able to dress myself morning.    The brace will present some challenges. 

Concepts I have studied for years are very real.  When you are this dependant on others the attitude and quality of the caregivers becomes hyper critical.  I  called in Wonder Woman and simply said, there are power and control issues with X. WW was well trained.  She knew I felt vulnerable to a caregiver who was being manipulative to those most dependant on her care.

Temple of Aegina

The temple on the acropolis in Athens is the famous one, you know the one someone used as a gunpowder magazine and someone else used for target practice.  Yes, that is why they have spent the last couple hundred years trying to piece it back together.  And even if they do get it back together all of the sculptures from the frieze are in a museum in London.  How did they end up in London, the Turks were occupying Athens, Lord Elgin asked the Turks if he could have them and they said, take what ever you want, and before the Greeks could take back the city, he crated them all up and shipped them off to London.  The British Museum has taken the position that they were a gift from the government in Athens at the time they left the country, the Greeks - have never seen it quite that way.  The Acropolis is worth the climb, but the Temple is fenced off, you haven't been able to get near it for a couple of decades - but then it could be just closed for cleaning for a decade or so.

If you want to get up close and personal with a relatively intact Greek Temple, take a ferry out to Aegina. You can take the island bus from the harbor, ask and they will tell you which one goes to the temple.  The bus leaves when they have sold enough seats to cover costs, as I recall we waited about 20 minutes.  It is a pretty ride across the island, through olive groves and past a monastery.  You can get in and around the temple.  Be careful about getting off into the weeds.  A couple of days after I took this picture I had a terrible rash on my leg.  I stopped in a pharmacy down the street from the hotel.  The pharmacist looked at it and said, "you've been to Aegina - it is the only place that weed grows."  She sold me a cream that stopped the itch and the rash cleared in a few days.

TBT - Timing

Musée d'Orsay, Paris France

The Orsay was built as a train station - there is  wonderful historic photo of a train that had brake trouble hanging out the end of the building.  It was closed as a train station, sat empty for years and was slated to be torn down.  Fortunately good sense prevailed and it was remodeled and opened as a museum.  The interior is grand.  This clock is on the end on an upper level and is original to the building.  The upper floor contains a billion dollar collection of impressionist art.  Truly and unbelievable collection.  We had a spectacular lunch in a dinning room in what had originally been the first class waiting room, champagne, duck confeit.

Timing is important, the station was built in the golden age of rail travel as an elegant temple of transportation, it was closed when money was tight, or it likely would have been demolished before it could be recognized as worth saving, and saved at a time when the commitment to art collections was sufficient to cover the cost.

Timing plays a big role in blogging also, I write ahead, generally in batches, and schedule posting for days or weeks ahead.  I try to review and edit the day before, but if I miss that I know something will post at 6:00 AM eastern time.  If something comes up that I want to talk about tomorrow, I simply reschedule what was scheduled for tomorrow and post away.  I was recently on the road for 10 days, my daily posting didn't reflect that I was traveling.  Posting online that you are away from home for two weeks, is not the best for security.  I will post about Texas and Florida over the coming weeks.  One nice thing about writing on travel, I don't have to post today, what I did today.  I have a couple of decades of travel experience that I draw on for my daily posts. 

Post script interesting edit.  I  didn't go out of town.  I have spent most of May in the hospital.  But the daily posts went on. Hopefully I am home before the backlog of drafts and uploaded  photos starts to run down.  Otherwise the view will start to change. 

Health Update

Slept well.  I am feeling stronger each day.  The muscles in my legs are lose and floppy.  I have very little stamina on my feet. A couple of days I was starting to break the rules and push the limits. A couple of good conversations about the disaster that exceeding capacity and injury could lead to is enough to rein me in. Pain continues to be well managed. I am going beyond the re-done time frames pretty regularly.  The brace puts on a lot of pressure  but is needed to allow titanium bone and muscle to develop lifelong relationships. 

Waiting for insurance pre- authorization to move forward.  A new concept in time, medical time. My overall conception of time is changing.  So much to learn about myself. 
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Nap-Town

US Naval Academy, Annapolis Maryland

Annapolis is about 35 miles north east of Washington DC.  It is the Capital of Maryland, with one of the sweetest little tiny Capital buildings in the country. It is on the Chesapeake Bay, south of Baltimore near the Bay Bridge - and some of the worst traffic in the region.  The old downtown and harbor area are quaint, fun and touristy.  Annapolis is affectionately known as Nap town as in AnNAPolis.

I had a wonderful soft shell crab sandwich, I think the only soft shell crab I have ever had.  Crabs develop a hard shell, that does not grow as the crab grows, so they periodically molt, or shed the shell and develop a new one.  A soft shell crab has shed it's hard shell and the new shell has not hardened yet.  You eat basically the entire crab, they can be steamed or deep fried.  Very-very good.  You need to be in the right place, near the water that the crabs live in and they need to be fresh, when you find them, try them. You have to be a little brave, they look a little intimidating, but they are good.  They are also rare and moderately expensive (as I recall the soft-shell crab sandwich and fries was about $20.)  

The US Naval Academy is in Annapolis.  You have to show ID and clear security kind of like the airport to get onto the grounds of the Naval Academy, then you can wander around.  You can even pose on the big naval gun.  

Los Alamos

Mock-ups of Little Boy and Fat Man at the Los Alamos Museum, New Mexico

I had a free day in New Mexico a few year's ago.  I went to Santa Fe and quickly became frustrated with traffic and the crowds, so I headed north to Los Alamos.  I had heard about it, the role that it played in the end of World War II.  It is out there a way, in the middle of no-where, the kind of place you would imagine putting a team of scientists and engineers working on the worlds most secret project.  There is a nice small museum in town, in one of the original cabins built for the Manhattan project. Very interesting, I looked around, took a couple of pictures and looked at the map.  I decided to go from there to a National Historic site with cliff dwelling remnants.

I programmed the destination into Ms Garmin and set off.  Following the directions, I was headed into the gates of what looked like the parking lots of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, I thought I must have missed a turn, did a U-turn and went around.  I hadn't missed a turn, Ms. Garmin and the maps directed me back to the security gate.  I pulled up and popped the window down.  I told the well armed guard where I was headed and asked how to get there, and he said, "we'll see."  He asked for my driver's license and said "your not from around here and your are driving a rental car, when you did the U-turn I ran the license plate - don't do that again."  Now I have been around our national Capital for a few year's but this was security at a level I have never seen before.  He stuck his head in the car and asked, "how much gas in the car?" Before I could answer he had checked the gauge and said "Three-quarters of tank, good, the most direct route to where you are going is through a highly secured area.  I can give you a pass to drive through but you have to agree to a couple of conditions.  You must drive at least 35 miles per hour, and not more then 60 miles per hour.  DO NOT STOP.  If you have a flat tire, keep driving until a security officer in a market truck with the blue lights on top motions for you to pull over and stop.  The officer will change the tire for you, you can not get out of the car, when you reach the cross road at the other end, turn right and you are on your way. Do you agree to all of that?"  Uh, yes, "good, here is your license and pass - leave the pass here on the dash clearly visible from the outside.  Remember, don't stop until you get to the right hand turn a the end of this road."

I have no idea what I drove through.  I didn't start glowing in the dark afterwards.  I am sure I am still in the database for having made the U-turn.

Health Update

I am making progress.  A little bit each day. I walked more on Monday than I had all week.  Pain management is okay.  I have to watch my stress level.  I am learning the joys of idleness. 

Trying to arrange an active inpatient physical therapy stay. I guess I finally get to go to boot camp.  That will start sometime this week.  Could be hours. Could be days. Medical time. 

The tumor guy said he would have me riding a bike in 60 days.  Then stopped and asked if I could ride before.  You may never forget.  But learning without knowing would be journal time.

Spotting the Tourists in the Crowd

Can you tell the locals from the tourists in this image? Before Blogger and Facebook, I was active on Virtual Tourist,  they have a very active online forum where people can post questions about travel and get advice from other forum members.  Every week someone would post about planning a trip to a foreign land and wanting to dress like a local so they would not stand out from the crowd as a tourist.  I frequently responded, dress comfortably, and modestly and don't try to look like a local.  The locals can pick out the tourists.  We look different, we dress differently in subtle and sometimes not quite so subtle ways. We talk differently, we carry ourselves differently.   I notice differences in foot wear and socks as I travel.  In Europe, printed T-shirt in English featuring "American" themes, frequently are fictional to avoid paying licensing fees to US universities and athletic teams.

The picture above was taken at the bus stop at the Temple of Aegina on the Island of Aegina in Greece.

Denver Museum of Contemporary Art

Love them or hate them, it is hard to miss a Frank Gehry designed building.  Bold geometric shapes, angular, clad in shiny surfaces, they stand out from other buildings while being designed to reflect the landscape.  The shapes appear to defy gravity, I sometimes wonder how they stand up.  They are wonders of engineering, and construction.  To work well the interiors need to fit the shape of the building and defy the traditional boxes of post and beam construction.  Light, heat and air-conditioning need to be designed, installed and maintained to exacting standards for the space to work.

Frank Gehry designed the new Facebook campus.  The design is described as open and industrial, almost unfinished in appearance.  The unfinished appearance was intentional, making the space appear as a work in progress, to remind that the staff that their product needs to be considered a work in progress.  It also has a huge green roof garden.  A great building.

Not everyone likes Gehry's designs, they defy tradition, use non-traditional materials and appear different.  I like them, but then I am a little different.

Produce Boat - Aegina Greece

A couple of weeks ago I shared a posting from a Greek Tourist promotion site featuring the produce boats that visit the islands of Greece.  When we were in Greece we did a day trip to the Island of Aegina. Aegina is an easy ferry ride from the port nearest to Athens, we took the high speed hydrofoil out an back.  I will post about that one day.  The harbor is a center of activity, for locals and tourists, with nearly everything that is imported and exported to and from the island coming in through that harbor (there is a second small harbor  on the other side of the island, but most of the commercial traffic comes in through the main harbor.)

Included in this is the produce boats, there were several of them tied to the wharf with magnificent displays spilling out onto the sidewalk. Greece is a mild, almost semi-tropical climate and very close to the warm climates of the middle east and north Africa.  The variety and quality were amazing.  The boats move from Island to Island, picking up fresh produce and selling it along the way - as they have for centuries in the eastern Mediterranean.  

More about the Island and the Temple sometime soon.

My Brace For the next few weeks

I am out of ICU and feel like a truck ran over me. They say that is a good thing. Decent pain control.  Stood up for a minute today. 

Art in Everyday Life

Milwaukee Museum of Art

What is art? When traveling I enjoy popping into Museums and galleries.  But art is not only in museums. Representations that bring pleasure or excitement are also found in everyday life.  in industrial deign, and packaging.  A few maverick artists have turned the everyday into museum pieces.  There is some extraordinary public art, large scale sculpture, and even large scale paintings.   

Alive

10 hours in surgery on Wednesday. They tell me 90% of the tumor removed.  Good movement in my legs and feet. Sensensattion  about the same or maybe a little better.  Started pain medication a little while ago. They say the pain will get worse over the next couple of days. 

Luray Caverns

Stalactites, Stalagmites, one hang tightly to the ceiling, the other grows mightily from the floor.  This picture is primarily stalactites mirrored in shallow water on the dark floor of the cave.  Luray cavern were discovered when someone came across a hole in the ground venting cool air on a hot summer day.  When people shimmied down the hole, an underground wonderland was found.  Luray is just east of the Skyline Drive in north central Virginia.  Expect a modest wait, admission is charged.  There are considerable steps in and out, but good handrails.  The walking tour at the bottom is largely self guided.

Double Falls Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park, Montana

I was in Montana a few years ago, at about this time of the year.  We were presenting workshops on the Blackfoot Reservation in Browning, Montana.  We stayed across the road from Amtrak Station in East Glacier Montana.  I had a free day in the schedule and went exploring the east side of the National Park.  This is a double water fall.  On the right about 3/4 of the way down, you can see water flowing out of a hole in the rock, the second fall on this cliff.

It was an interesting area near Two-Medicine Lake. My training colleague had seen a bear and cub in this area the day before.  At the parking area for the trail back to these falls there were large signs about bear safety, wear bells, carry pepper spray, make noise to the bears hear you coming and run away.  I dearly wanted to see and bear, and didn't.  In the general store they had two printed tourist T-shirts.  I bought the one that read "Bears Love People, They Taste Just Like Chicken."  I wished I had bought the one that said in "In bear country wear bells on your clothing, carry pepper spray and be on the lookout for bear droppings, bear droppings are easy to identify they have little bells in them and smell like pepper."

In this area the road was open, but the National Park was not open for the season, we were a couple of weeks to early.  Up on the mountain on the Going-To-The-Sun Road, they were still working with front end loaders to dig a path through the snow and repair damage from winter landslides.

This is one of my all time favorite travel pictures, a print of it hangs next to the sink in my bathroom.

May 2015, 12 on 12

A Different Twist This Month,  One image from each month for the past year

May 2014
Made famous by the opening scene of Married with Children, the Buckingham Fountain in Chicago. 

June 2014
National Harbor, Maryland
Hey, why not  

July 2014, A wild turkey on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

August 2014, street musicians Alexandria, VA  

September 2014

Hilary - will she be? 

October 2014
Main Reading Room, Library of Congress
Washington, DC



November 2014
Keenland Racecourse
Lexington, Kentucky

December 2014

Santa Sheep and Santa Penguin 

January 2015

Huntington Beach, California the view from my hotel room 

February 2015

North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii 

Wonderful surf - a great day out with a convertible 

March 2015

National Cathedral

Washington DC 

April 2015
Jones Point Light House
Alexandria, Virginia 

May 12, 2015

Onward with the Medical Journey.

If all goes as planned the vascular mapping is scheduled for the afternoon of the 12th, and the tumor removal (reduction) and rebuilding the bone on Wednesday.  I will likely be off line for a few days.  The Blog is scheduled through June 6th.  I will supplement as I have a chance, 

Relax and Enjoy Yourself

So many of us, spend so much of our lives trying to live up to the standards of others and focusing on what we think other see as our weaknesses.  Occasionally when we are traveling, far away from home, we will let down our guard and think, these people don't matter to me, I will never see them again and be ourselves.

We should live our lives like that everyday.

Those that will judge, will judge, and I will never live up to their standards.  Those who truly love me will accept me as I am and not focus on my flaws or weaknesses.  And yet, I judge myself.  While this couple was relaxing and enjoying their time at the beach, I was judging myself as unattractive, to chubby to take my shirt off in public. Relax, even with clothes on people know I am chubby, what am I trying to cover up?

The recent hospital stay was a unique event for me.  Grin and bare it time, I joked to a couple of nurses and radiology technicians, I am sure you have seen worse today.   The next round will be even more "revealing."  What can I say, they see it all everyday, nothing but an extra 75 pounds to see here.

Why I am happy and making jokes at this time

I am not in pain going into this. While I was in the hospital they asked several times a day about pain, when you are in the spinal unit that is a normal question, and I kept having to explain,  I have mobility, sensation and balance issues, but very little pain.  Being that things are stable going into surgery, there is not existing pain to stack the post surgical pain on I should have it easier then I would otherwise. That is my theory and I will hide behind it to convince myself that I will have an easier then average recovery. It can be easier if I think it is easier.

The initial list of possibilities included MS and a cancer that had metastasized to the bones. Both have been ruled out.  If it is a cancer, it is a rare bird that only lives on the spine and does not spread, and the tumor doc said he can deal with those pretty effectively the once a year or so he finds one. If it was MS, it would be an advanced stage with limited treatment options.  It does not appear to be.

Another early possibility was a serious diabetic neuropothy.  My blood sugar tested normal.  When I asked about A1C results a couple of days in, the hospitalist said we didn't bother because you readings were normal, but just to be safe, three minutes later the vampire was back for more blood.  It was very normal.  I still need to lose 50 pounds to reduce the risk factors, but I am doing okay at this point. That makes healing from other things easier.

They scanned me literally from the top pf my head to my knees.  And the only thing that kept showing up was the tumor on my spine. Not a good thing to find, but it could have been much more dire.

I have good health insurance, and good short term disability insurance. I am fortunate to not need to worry about go broke while trying to get well.  I have Jay here to be my good helper. I need to remind myself to be kind to him, he just wants to keep me happy, and I tend to snap when he does not read my mind or move faster then my thoughts.

Nothing terminal was found.  The worst case scenario, is that I could lose control of my legs and feet.  That would change a lot of things, but I do work that I could largely do from wheels.  I went for a drive on last weekend to take my mind off of things, and there was a guy in a hand cranked three wheel recumbent rolling down the Mt Vernon trail, at the moment he is getting around better than I am.  John reminded me that paralytics lead full lives.  And they do, I barely beat one out for the job I have (she was  friend of mine.) Well I could die during the process, but people wake up dead everyday. It is dying, not death that scares the crap out of me. A relatively fast death is my idea of the way to go, I don't want to hang around unless I am happy and having fun. Quality is more important than quantity. I would rather fewer full days then decades of vacant ones.

Health Update

The red hexagon marks what is on my spine that shouldn't be there.  I am resting for a few days at home in anticipation of having this addressed.  As promised the medication has given significant if temporary symptom relief. It is are also having the warned about digestive impact, don't get between me and a bathroom 20 minutes after a meal. I am moving better than I have in at least six months, and have less tingling in my legs and feet.  Not 100%, but if we can preserve this level of sensation I will be a very happy man.  Waiting to hear back from the doctors is a pain, but they want to do it right rather than rush, it is urgent, but not an emergency at this point.  I tire more quickly then expected, but it has taken all of my strength for the past few weeks to drag myself through the commute to work and back and I did spend most of three days in a hospital bed this week.

In anticipation of being home for couple of weeks post surgery, I put a TV in my bedroom for the first time since I moved to DC.  Between Jay and I we have sorted out some housekeeping that I have been unable to do for several months as my mobility had declined.

How does this impact travel?  Well I was scheduled to go to Austin Texas on Wednesday to speak at a conference and from there to Orlando this evening.  I was going to spend a little time with family and attend a conference in Orlando later this week. Five fewer hotel nights for the year.  Florida is always nice, but I was not looking forward to Austin, not my favorite city in Texas.  But this is not how I wanted to get out of that trip.  I submitted two really so-so workshop proposals because I am obligated to do so and hoped that they would be rejected.  They were both accepted.  But when the doctors said, if you go, you might not be able to walk when you get back, I got the hint.  Travel can sometimes wait.  

Up-Up and Away

Titusville, Florida

My father was a hobbyist pilot,  I grew up around airports and little airplanes in the mid-west and south-east. I love flying. I have flown in about everything you can think of, from a Piper J-3 Cub to a 747.  I have only ridden in a helicopter once.  I visit family in Florida a couple of times a year, a few years ago I started seeing signs, helicopter rides $40.  The first I saw the signs I looked, thought about it and didn't do it.  One of my mantras in life, is that we regret most - what we didn't do when we had the chance.  The next time I was in Florida, the sign was up, I took the turn and parked.  I went to the desk and said, here I am when do we go.  The guy looked at me and asked if there was anyone with me.  No, I was traveling solo.  He explained that the price was $40 per person, with three people, or $45 per person for a party of two.  He suggested that I wait for a few minutes and see if someone else showed up and wanted to share the ride.  I wandered around for about 20 minutes, got bored, and asked, how about if I pay for two, and go alone?  No problem, I dropped the Amex Gold and three minutes later I was climbing in and buckling up.  

He asked what I wanted to see, I said, north along the river to the north causeway and marina and then back down along Barna Avenue would be fun,  I explained to him that I had gone to High School there and flown from the two airports in town with my father in single engine aircraft, but this was my first time in a helicopter.  

The space is tight, but the view in the glass bubble canopy was unbelievable. The take off is magical, the noise picked up, and just as smooth as sitting in your living room we levitated off the ground.  It is a very unique sensation, when were about 25 feet in the air we started to move forward, gain altitude and turn north along the river.   

NASA Causeway, Titusville, Florida  

It was a short flight, about 20 minutes, we went north along the river, with a wonderful view of the town and the Kennedy Space Center, turned and went back south.  It was an amazing ride, after a few minutes the pilot figured out that I was not afraid of flying, as Igor Sikorsky once wrote to army brass, "the danger lies not in flying through the air, but in striking the ground." Coming back in for a the landing he came in low and fast over a stand of pine trees, blowing the tops of the trees like a hurricane.   

It was a little expensive, but worth every penny.  How many people of modest or middle class means, have every chartered a helicopter? If you ever get a chance, go for it.  Even a Penguin can fly with rotary wings.  

   

Capturing the Moment

Milwaukee, taking a picture of someone talking a picture of the Milwaukee Museum of Art.  I have always been the one who was out front taking pictures and walking.  I have slowed down a bit, someone might actually get out in front of me today.  Take a moment and think about composition, what is in the image, where it at in the image, how does it fill the space, can it be seen, what does the color, contract and light look like?  Is it focused?  Is the camera set in the best "mode" for the image you are capturing?

I have owned a lot of cameras over the years.  I bought my first 35mm SLR when I was a freshman in high school.  A couple of years later upgraded to the top of the line Cannon professional SLR.  Then I added lenses, secondary bodies, a 6x7 SLR.  At the peak I had four cameras and a dozen lenses. About a dozen years ago I bought my first digital camera.  We were headed out of town on a road trip and I packed the digital and the Nikon 35mm.  When we got home I downloaded the digital pictures and was blown away by how good they were and how easy it was (it was like a 6mp camera with a good lens.)  A year or so later I realized that I had not finished the roll of film in the Nikon.  I have owned two large digital cameras that view through the lens you take the picture with (I'd say SLR, but these are not interchangeable lens cameras.)  Three of four year ago I realized that I didn't always take a camera with me, because of the bulk and decided to try a compact digital.  Again I was blown away, a year later I bought a better compact camera with a lens that runs from wide angle to moderate telephoto.  I used that for a couple of years, and broke it,  I have only broken a couple of cameras in 40 years.  I replaced it with a Samsung, 16mp and a 21 x zoom from the 35mm equivalent of a 24 mm wide angle to a 740 mm telephoto.  I love it. It helps me capture the moment.

Update on Curves in the Road

Some of you have read an update on FB today, but not all cross over.

An update from this mornings' update on FB.  As expected I am home for the weekend while they assemble the arsenal of men and machines (I know that is sexist language, all three surgeons are male - sorry.)

I have a tumor on and along my spine at T9, that is about three ribs (a short stack) up from the bottom of the rib cage.  There is about a 90% chance that it is not cancerous, and if it is it is a rare slow growing cancer that is treatable. Because of the size, and location of the tumor, radiation  and chemo are not good options. It is exerting strong pressure on the spinal cord inside the spinal column.  The surgeon said if it was cancer and he could get 10% of it out of the spinal canal he can attack with radiation and other therapies, but because of the degree of blockage it is either take it out, or pick the color for the Hover-Round.

They have given me a great deal of temporary symptom relief with drugs. With the doctors permission I drove home from the hospital.  But the relief is a temporary fix. I have had little pain, a good sign in many ways.  The only pain medication so far is Tylenol.  The hard stuff will be after surgery.

The surgery is less ugly then first discussed.  They will go in through the back of the spine, preserving as much nerve function as possible. Remove as much of the tumor from the spinal canal as can be safely done, then remove as much of the tumor from the bone, around the spine, a couple of ribs, and as far as they can chase it into the chest.  It is big enough for the untrained eye to see.  Then a second surgeon will take over and fuse the bones (screw in titanium plates and rods) to stabilize the bone structure.  Before they do any of this there is a separate procedure to locate the vessels that feed blood to the spine, one of them may run through the tumor and be feeding it blood.)  It helps to know all of this before they start hacking away.

How big is it?  The outpatient MRI place on Friday evening sent me home with a CD with all of the scan images on it.  I popped it in the computer last weekend and clicked the right buttons and took a look.  I was strolling down through my spine and suddenly it changes,suddenly it does not look like the the parts above or below.  I panicked for a minute and remembered I didn't have a clue what I was looking at.  Took the CD out and put it away.  Yesterday when the neurosurgeon showed me what we are working on, he showed me the exact same mass.  The difference is he has 20 years experience in knowing what he is looking at.  If you get one of those CD's, don't look at until someone goes over the report with you. You will only scare yourself. They gave me back the CD, I will save a few images from it for blog-fodder.

So where do we go from here.  Tomorrow or Monday they will call with a schedule.  Surgeries and inpatient stay are 4-6 days, then home for 4-6 weeks of recovery.  My employer has wonderful short term disability insurance that kicks in on the 5th day, and pays my full salary for 20+ weeks if needed.  That takes off a lot of stress going into this knowing that I don't have to worry about paying the bills. If I am not ready to go back to work in 20 weeks - we will be taking another turn. Now I only have to worry about the insurance deductibles / co-pays and I there is limit, I think $2,000 a year on those, I can live with that.

For right now I am handing all of the projects in the office over to someone and take some time off. I thought the Neurosurgeon was going to stomp on my phone when he came in the second time and found me working on office email (doesn't anyone post on Facebook anymore?)  So doctors orders, I need to de-stress and not work for a few days  weeks.  This is not where I expected to be, when I drove to the office on Monday, shortly after I arrived at the office the family doc called and said, take yourself to the nearest emergency room and hand them the CD, they will know why you are there once they see the images, I only worked 4 hours after that before I left.

I will get some more travel posts ready to go while I am waiting to hear and update as I move forward. I was working until they gave me a sleeping pill last night, I have 7 hours in today.  I promised J that I would turn off my office email tomorrow.

Spines, after all these years of thinking I lacked one!

TBT - Up-up and Away

Bath, England

Fifteen years ago, we spent a couple of nights in Bath.  Bath is named for the Roman baths, that are still there,  The baths were built on a natural mineral spring.  The Roman ruins are next to the Cathedral. We sampled the waters, I don't know that the waters cure, but I am still alive. Most of the city is Georgian. The Royal Crescent  is worth the stroll.  We came in by train, the visitors information center made a reservation for us at a Bed and Breakfast run by a delightful couple who had retired there from a life following oil exploration around the world.  We took a long walk around the city, following a barge canal for a mile or two.  

Despite the bad reputation from the post war world, English restaurant food is really quite good.  We found a neat little modern restaurant in a pedestrian street.  We were sitting there and we could hear WOSHHH!, WOSHHH!.  I looked up and there was a hot air balloon low in the sky.  How fun! It was a great visit in a through back city   

I have flown in about everything that flies, but I have not floated in a balloon, yet.  Plans are underway for a dirigible ride this summer,  

Soldier Field

There are many architectural wonders in Chicago.  Chicago is known as the second city, because much of what you see was built after the great fire, it is literally the second city on that location.  It was built during a great renascence of architecture. If you like great buildings, it is a great city to spend some time in.

Soldier Field is home the the Bears.  The original stadium was built in Greek Revival style.  A few years ago they did a major remodel, building a new stadium inside of the classical colonnades, and refreshing the colonnades. The last time I was in Chicago I bought a day pass in their bike sharing system.  I started near the Chicago River and Michigan Avenue and worked my way south.  Through the park, down to the museum campus.  Soldier Field is across the street from Field Museum, there was a bike share station on that side.  I looked over and the sidewalks into the stadium were open.  I rode up and around the stadium on the mezzanine level.  The space is spectacular. The view from the lake side is spectacular.

An update.  There is a mass on my spine in the middle of my back.  Still unclear what it is and what the treatment options are. But we are making progress.  I am feeling better. But still looking for that next curve in the journey.  

Road Trips

When I was growing up, we didn't travel a lot.  My father was a bee farmer, and summer vacations were out of the question, that was the busiest of busy seasons.  If we went away during the summer it was a quick day trip.  Winter vacations were complicated by four kids in school. But when we did go, it was usually a road trip, a couple of road trips across country from Michigan to Arizona (I went to part of the 1st grade in Phoenix) and a couple of winter trips to Florida.  By the time I was in middle school trips from Michigan to Florida became and annual event.  A two plus day road trip.  Travel opened my eyes.  I liked seeing new things and places, I loathed long days of pushing onward.  

As an adult, I enjoy a road trip, I have been known to put in the occasional 14 hour day, but for the most part I break road trips into shorter days, with planned and unplanned stops along the way.  You get a real feel for the diversity of American geography, topography and culture driving across it.  I am looking forward to a road trip in Germany later this year  

Scary Stuff

The MRI results are not pretty, I am looking for a specialist.

Posting for Travel Penguin are pre-scheduled past Memorial Day.

The Cross Roads of the World

Times Square has been called the cross roads of the world.  New York is an amazing city, and in many ways Times Square is the beating heart of New York city.  Times Square is busy, crowded, noisy and glitzy.  It has traffic, pedestrians, shopping, and restaurants, television studios, the neatest police station and hotels.  It is a landmark location in a must see city.

At the risk of insulting the I Love NY crowd, New York is not the center of the world, it is not representative of the United States.  New York is to the United States, like London is to the United Kingdom, well not exactly, London is a world Capital, New York is not.  New York is worth visiting, but there is a lot more to the country then NY.  NY dominates coverage of the United States in the world scene, in large part because it is a major center of journalism and media.

If you have a chance, go see New York, but while you are at it, see some of the rest of the country.

I need to Ramble about the journey through life

Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, just north of Norfolk Virginia
Taken with the camera held through an open sunroof

Life is a strange journey. If you hang on and go for the ride it will take you places you never expected to go.  I have been a lot of places, and I am sure I have a few left to go. But there can be some unexpected turns along the way. 

Those who have seen me over the past 5-6 years may have noticed that I was slow standing up, not always steady on my feet.  The change in my gait have become noticeable over the past couple of years.  In recent months it has gotten worse.  The initial assumption was arthritis, worn out knees, I was a gym rat that ran 1,000 plus miles a year, rode a bike 5,000+ miles a year and swam 100 + miles a year for a decade. Over the counter anti-inflammatories, creams and rubs and trying to move more have had limited effect on my walking.  

Over recent months I have started falling. I am walking with a cane most of the time.  I haven't ridden a bike in 4-5 months.  I have also noticed changes in sensation and  muscle control in my legs and feet.  A lot of stiffness, some pain.  I fell coming out of the metro station on Wednesday evening.  I called Thursday and scheduled an appointment with a new doctor for 8:30 AM on Friday.  The good news, it is not arthritis, my blood sugar level was normal; the bad news is we need to figure out what is causing it.  I spend over an hour in an MRI machine on Friday evening (a novel experience, just lay back, close your eyes and try to make music out of the rhythm of the machine - don't open your eyes unless you like laying in a white cave with the ceiling three inches from your nose. I have a whole CD of MRI images I could bore you with.) The options are not pretty, it could be a fluid collection, it could be a disk issue in my spine - though I have little back pain, it could be a neurological condition.  Now the wait for results and treatment options.  

Some days are good, some are not and my journey drops me on my knees.  If you ask me how I am, the answer is okay, or good, or not bad, or unbelievable.  Unbelievable is a good answer, it always fits, unbelievably bad or good, I don't have to go into details. Bitching won't change anything, why should I screw with someone's day? (But isn't that what I am doing here, I guess I just need to ramble and vent for a few minutes, ignore this post if it depresses you.)    

So, I focus on what I can do.  I can still move and travel, though with less walking, or climbing stairs. I move slower and as a result I see, hear and smell things that I would have charged past in the past.  J-Bear has a huge file of pictures of me walking away - as he stopped to smell the roses and I charged onward, now he has to slow down to stay with me. I can still work.  I have a backlog of travel pictures that will keep Travel Penguin going until they all become fodder for TBT.  My mind is intact.  I have my sweet bear.  I can still try to improve the lives of older adults (the focus of my professional work for the past 15 years - but I don't talk about my work here.)  I have a new found understanding of changes in mobility and how little changes in an environment can make a huge difference in everyone being able to participate - this is likely to feature passionately in my work over coming years (just ask Ron how eye opening this is.)  I can still drive, or ride in a car, I can still fly - and with a cane you get to board before first class (if I had known that I would have bought a folding cane to travel with years ago.)  I can still sample the good whiskeys of the world, used in moderation it might even help lower my blood pressure. And when you are not steady on your feet to start with, you have practice moderation.  

Over the next month, we hope to figure out where this journey is going next.  Hang on, it might be a wild ride around an unexpected corner.  I promise to keep you informed, but to try not to lament my tale of woe.  As I told the doctor, "I am here today," I didn't say that I have left a dusty road in my wake.     

Derby Day!

Live Racing at Keeneland, in Lexington, Kentucky 

I am not from Kentucky, but I lived there for 13.5 years, I own property there, I maintain a professional license there, which means this is a major holiday.  Derby Day is always the first Saturday in May.  It is hard to describe what an event it is for the state.  It is the start of the run for the triple crown, requiring a single horse to win three very competitive and very different races in a single season, a feat no one has accomplished a couple of decades. For Kentucky the Derby is the biggest race, the most people, the best horses, the most money wagered. I have never been to the Derby (with an "e" not an "a",) I have watched it at Keeneland and at parties.  I bet on it one year in Vegas.

Until I lived in Kentucky I had never been to a horse race.  Growing up, horse racing was somehow taboo, yet my parents went to Vegas and bought lottery tickets.  Somehow horse racing was different.  And it really is.  Horse racing is elegant, and at the same time has a blue-collar following. Owning competitive horses is a hobby for the very wealthy, it is fair to say that more money is spent owning horses, then is made by owning them. Occasionally a long-shot from humble beginnings blows the field away and makes the owner wealthy, but most of the small farmers just hope to produce a crop of foals that sells for more than it costs most years.

When you have a chance you should go watch live racing at one of the classic tracks.  There are two classic racecourses in Kentucky.  Churchill Downs in Louisville is home to the Derby.  Unless you have thousands of dollars to spend, don't think about going to the Derby.  For a hundred dollars or so you can get into the infield and watch the race on the jumbo-trons, why not stay home and avoid the crowd.  Churchill Downs is a great place to go for racing anytime except for Derby weekend. Keeneland in Lexington is even more traditional.  Keeneland is beautiful, it was modeled after Saratoga Springs in New York.   Keeneland only runs live racing about 10 weeks out of the year, and really doesn't need to make a profit on racing. Keeneland's money and fame come from horse sales - several each year attracting big horses and big money.  When I lived near there, I knew when the big sales were on, because the privately owned 747's would show up at Bluegrass Airport, Keeneland is directly across the street from the airport.  Attending the sales is another thrill - and a free one unless you decide to buy something.

But the Derby is the big draw. People come from around the world.  I was flying out of Lexington one morning the day after the Derby. Off to one side was a British Airways jet, loading the Queen's hat boxes into the cargo compartment, the Queen had been in town for the Derby, when I boarded my flight, William Shatner was in the front row, he now owns a farm in the area, he had been in town for the Derby.

Detroit

Downtown Detroit from the air

Henry Ford and the tunnel from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario Canada, feature in my family history.  My grandfather on my father's side was born on a farm about 60 miles north of St Louis on the Illinois side. His father had grown up a child of privileged who never really learned how to work, he read Latin and Greek from a private tutored education and really didn't know what hit him when he spent the last of his inheritance and was told he needed to earn a living.  He had a dozen children by then and tried farming. But it was not good farm land and he was not a good farmer and the family barely scraped by.  Ford came through town recruiting workers for five-dollars a day - they offered him a job and he sold the farm and moved to Detroit.  He worked in the power house at Henry Ford's Fairlane Estate for 20 years, he was there the night Henry died.  My father's mother's family came to Detroit so my great grandfather could build the tunnel under the Dettroit River to Canada (or was it built from Canada to Detroit?) He was an English coal miner, who came to States to dig tunnels.  His specialty was working in compressed air in soft soils, the tunnel under the river is just below the muck level in very soft soils. The two families lived a couple of blocks apart and Red and the little English girl fell in love and married in 1926.  

I was born about 70 miles due north of Detroit and visited the city often while I was growing up.  Today it is primarily a place people change planes as a prime hub city for Delta.  I will pass through there in August.