Transportation of the future?

The GoCycle is a folding, rechargeable electric bike.  I have rented electric bikes a couple of times and my experience is that they are a nice ride.  You pedal and ride them like a normal bike, the electric motor extends your range, adds a little speed and smooths out the hills.  This one is being marketed to yacht owners - and priced accordingly at $4,500 in the Ship Store in the Newport boatyard. 

I wonder if I could fit a nice cargo box like this on the GoCyle? 

Have you ridden an electric bike? 

Bentley?

I parked next to this at dinner one evening, it is Bentley SUV, base price in the USA $229,100.  I question what Bentley was thinking when they came up with this idea, probably that there are enough people willing to pay that much for something this ugly, that they can make money on it.  

It looks a bit like a porn star, who went off the diet for a decade.  Still nicely upholstered, but a bit large in the hips. The front is simply large, the back side is huge and lacks lines or styling.  The interior looked like a nice place to spend the day.  

It is a head turner, but not necessarily in a good way.  If I had that kind of money to spend, I'd buy 2 or 3 of something else instead of one of these.  

Would you keep it if it was given to you? 

Indulgences

I can still remember the first time I indulged, the clumsiness, feeling and finding my way, not knowing quite what to do with it, but trying as hard as I could,  the sweetness of finding the meaty core and sinking my teeth into a lobster for the first time.  I kind of like lobster.  I seldom order it, it can be rather expensive.  We had a quick lunch at the Newport Lobster Shack, actually my first "food truck" experience, the food is cooked in a mobile kitchen.  It was very good.  

Out on the lobster docks we passed many barrels of "bait."  Salted fish and the fermenting whole fish.  Be glad the smell-a-blogger on that first barrel.  You can take my word for it, or go smell for yourself.  

Have you ever cooked a live lobster? 

When I was a teenager, my grandmother and I picked up live lobsters to take home to cook.  I was getting all strange about it and she just chucked them and said to "act my age."   

Relics

Relics have a connection to the past.  In religion, relics have a connection to a spiritual leader. Saints were frequently broken up into parts, with a fragment ending up here and there.  A connection to something or someone distant by time, or geography.   

We all have relics in our lives.  I have the bronze elephant paperweight that my Grandmother Godfrey had on her desk, that came from her mother's desk before her.  I have two tools on my desk at work, a beekeepers hive tool - symbolic of the work my parents did, and a micrometer from J's father's tool box.  Both of our fathers worked in precision machining, both used micrometers. J's father died before I came into his life, yet I feel a connection to him - through the tool he used in his daily life.  

What relics are in your life?   

Sunday Five - Air Travel

We recently returned from a trip to Rhode Island, Americas tiniest state.  Getting there was uneventful, coming home was an adventure in modern air travel.  Hence this weeks five questions about air travel. 

1:  Do you normally get Pre-Check or not? 
2: Do you ever encounter a security person at the airport with a sense of humor? 
3: Have you ever been spontaneously upgraded to first class? 
4: Have you ever had a flight diverted to another airport because of weather? 
5: When you easy 50 minute flight, turns into nearly 4 hours on the plane, what do you say to the flight crew when leaving the plane? 

My answers
1: I signed up and paid the fee for Global Entry so I qualify for TSA Pre-Check - the expedited airport security and for the automated express lane at customs and immigration.  
2: As I was shoving my carry on into the ex-ray machine in Providence the security officer asked me if I had anything metal in my my pockets, or water bottles or soft-drinks in my carry on, I said, no; then she asked if I had an small animals, you know like kittens, or squires or hamster in my carry on?  I said, no, I don't think I have ever been asked that before.  She said, I wanted to see if you were paying attention and you wouldn't believe what people leave in their bags.  
3: Jay and I were sitting at the gate talking and the airline agent walked over and asked if we were sitting near one another - we checked, we were across the aisle from one another.  She said "I need to move a few people around, if you don't mind I will move you to better seats." She came back a couple minutes later with seats in row two of first class.  
4:  Yup, glad we were in first class, we flew 250 south west of DC and sat at an airport for two hours.   

5: Thank you, see you again on my next trip!  I have been surprised at the number of times I have had the same cabin crew, they remember if you are not nice to them.  

Rental Cars

Renting cars, is a bit like prostitution, you charge someone to use it, give it a quick wash, and charge the next person to use it.  I swear some of the cars I have rented have been used for the worlds oldest profession - and I sometimes think they are pimped by the same people.  

I have paid nearly $100 a day for rental cars, and I have rented cars for less than $10 per day - on that one the taxes were more than the rental fee.  

I worry about rental cars, worry that I will mess one up.  The worst I have ever had was a rock breaking a windshield in Montana.  I have a policy with one of my credit cards that provides $0-deductible coverage on any car I rent on that card for a flat fee of $20. So I always decline the insurance.  

I learned the hard way, that the pre-paid fuel option is a bad deal, they charge you for a full tank of fuel, unless you return the car running on empty, you paid too much.  I have once returned a car without filling it.  There was a traffic backup going into one the airports in Hawaii, and we were afraid if we filled the car we would miss the check in for our flight.  The rental company was thankfully quite fair, they only charged me for 1/4 of a tank at their double the price price.

I have rented cars in France twice. France - outside of Paris, is fun and easy to drive in.  The car above I rented in Iceland.  A great way to get around, even if it was a bit expensive.  

I have learned to stick with companies I know, mostly Thrifty / Dollar  and Alamo.  I think they are all owned by the same people anymore.  I have used Enterprise a few times.  When I traveled for AARP, they had a corporate account with National - always nice cars - but seldom the best price. I have rented from Hertz, but usually their price is the highest.  

What is your tip for the best rental car deal? 

Baa!

I wonder what sheep would say if they could talk?  Would they tell about their lives, the pastures?  Would the criticize the way we treat them?  Would they want to travel more, or graze away a lifetime in the pastures of their birth?  Are they happy?  Frightened?  

A few years after Richard Nixon retired, he was sitting in a park, watching the fish in a pond.  A friend of mine sat down next to him and watched.  Richard turned to him and asked, I wonder if fish ever blink?  

If you could talk to the animals, who would you ask what? 

Your Mother Forgot to Cook the Cabbage

I come from a coleslaw family, J comes from a cooked cabbage family.  I had never had cooked cabbage until I met him, the first time he cooked for me he made stuffed cabbage - delicious but a bit complicated to make. More than once when we were visiting my family, J remarked, "your mother might be slipping, she forgot to cook the cabbage."  

For you cooked or not cooked? 

Summer Thoughts

I like the long, sunny, warm days.  I always have.   I am reminded of lazy summer days, when school was out, when the teachers let the fools out.  I admire countries like France and Italy that take a month off in the summer. Not the same as summer break from school, but close.  Time to disconnect and experience changes in attitudes.  

How is your summer? 

Happy Independence Day

241 Years Ago Today, the United States of America declared it's independence from Great Briton. Some days in the past year I have wanted to say, oops, sorry, that was a bad idea, we would welcome the old Queen back.  It is never a good idea to upset old Queens.  

This is a good day to declare our independence from the the things that bother us while we are traveling.  

• Silly discount airline rules - I will not book basic economy - ever. 
• Bulky carry on luggage - I will check a bag and let someone else be the baggage handler (I get free checked bags with American and Delta.)  
• Overpriced hotel breakfasts. In most places breakfast is the most economical meal of the day, but not at most big hotels.  They have gotten the idea of the $29.95 all you can eat buffet breakfast as being a good idea.  It isn't - and I won't.  
• Long airport security lines, TSA Pre-check or I am not interested in flying. 

What do you vow to change about travel? 

Nuts in the News

Apparently a testicle is worth a million dollars in Pennsylvania. According to a recent news report, that is about what a jury awarded a man who is, well how to put this - missing one.  

For the past 15 years the man had suffered from a testy testicle, with ongoing pain in one gonad.  He finally consented to have the offending orb removed.  To put it indelicately, the surgeon cut off the wrong one. This leaves, Uno, as his friends now call him, with the testy testicle.  Uno is still in pain. He has chosen not go under the knife again and is reportedly a bit upset, imagine that, so he sued. A Pennsylvania jury did put a price on love, a little over one-million dollars for pain suffering and incompetence.  It didn't help that the surgeons post operative notes said, ops, I may have removed the wrong one.  I had a doctor say ops one time as he was cutting into the side of my face - it is not a good thing to hear - but that is another story. 

One million dollars, too much, or not enough? 

What Do I See In Him? Sunday Five

We are coming up on 25 years of life together.  We have had a lot of fun.  We are a couple of unusual people, that make a couple.  Hence this weeks five questions. 

1: Is there someone special in your life? 
2: How long have you known one another? 
3: What one thing most attracted you to that person? 
4: How often do you make one another laugh? 
5: What is the greatest adventure you have enjoyed together? 

My answers: 
1: Is there someone special in your life? Yes - see above 
2: How long have you known one another? 25 - years 
3: What one thing most attracted you to that person? Intelligence 
4: How often do you make one another laugh? Almost daily when we are in the same house - harder to do by video chat 
5: What is the greatest adventure you have enjoyed together? - Life over 25 years, moving, education, sickness and health, travel.  

Looking up

For the most part, my sense of balance came back after my 2015 medical adventures.  I haven't fallen since, I can once again walk down a flight of stairs without a handrail.  One thing that will throw my balance off, is looking straight up.  I start to wobble and fear that unlike a Weeble, I will fall down.  So, I don't do that.  From time to time, I miss things that are directly overhead.  

When I was shopping for a new camera, I went into an old fashioned camera store in Chicago (Central Camera down in the Loop.)  The shop sells mostly old film camera and equipment, but is also a Nikon dealer.  I asked what the major differences were between two models that I had kind of narrowed it down to.  The guy said, really two things, the more expensive one will accept a remote microphone if you are recording video, and the more expensive one has a rotatable screen on the back.  I didn't think to much of it, as I was really thinking I would mostly view through the lens.  In the end his price on the nicer one was a high - and I waited.  A week or so later I found a sale on Amazon and snapped up the nicer one. 

Long story to get to taking pictures looking straight up. The rotatable screen, allows me to turn the lens strait-up, and view the image on the screen at eye-level and not need to tilt my head back to look up. I can now view and take pictures of things directly above my head without fear of toppling over.  It will also look around corners.  I will keep working on that option.  

Can you look directly up without wobbling? 

Work When I Work, and Not when I am Not

I have to constantly remind myself to work when I am working, and not when I am not.  I get busy from time to time, and work spills over into personal time.  I remind myself that I don't sleep in my office and I don't work in my bedroom.  When I start doing one, I need to start doing the other.  

Hence, Saturday and Sunday afternoon's, when I am home and the sun is out, you will find my floating in the pool for a few minutes each afternoon.   

One of this year's impulse Amazon buys, was an underwater camera.  I have always wanted one, now I need to find places to use it.  

Do you work at home, or sleep in your office? 

Robot Adventures

I remember the robot from Lost in Space and Rosie the maid on the Jetsons.  Over the decades there have been promises of robot helpers and companions being just around the corner.  The few that were introduced were clunky and expensive.  Industrial robots have flourished.  I recall that field in it's infancy in the early 1980's with the development of industrial machines that can be programmed to do multiple jobs. Robots differ from automation, in that robots are not built to perform only one task in only one way.  Industrial robots can multitask.  

Finally we are seeing home automation and home robots start to emerge.  There are programmable floor sweepers, that can be perform multiple cleaning tasks and learn their way around the space (I should buy one of these, I am not a good housekeeper.)  Voice activated technology is available to do a variety of functions. Self driving cars are getting closer daily use every day. 

I think we got it wrong on the early robots.  Vainly we tried to make robots look and function like humans, or dogs.  The floor sweepers look nothing like Rosie, but they certainly do the job.  Alexa looks nothing like me, but she can find and play music faster than I can, or reorder yeast from Amazon faster than I can - heaven only knows what I am going to do with four pounds of yeast.  Bake a lot of bread I guess. Maybe there is a little work to be done on that one.  

Personally I look forward to house cleaning robots, and self driving cars.  

What do you wish a robot could do for you?    

Painted Rocks?

An old high school friend of mine, who does not blog, but should, has gotten into painting rocks.  It is just what it sound, she paints designs or decorations onto small stones and then leaves them in public places or gives them away.  She lives in Florida, I asked where she finds rocks to paint, and her answer was aisle 3 at Lowes. The goal is to leave a little art, in a public place, to add a little charm and adventure to the day of the person who finds it.  
  
I was thinking this is a local thing in Florida, well apparently it isn't, I ran across this one on the gate to the lower garden at Mt Vernon.  

Have you ever left something in a public place - hoping someone would find it and be pleased by it? 

Random Pictures

Mt Vernon Bumblebee  

Summer Lamb 

Great Advertising 

Fisherman's Wharf  - San Francisco 

San Francisco, Enter at Rear hmm?  

French Bird. 

Mt Vernon Active Displays

I enjoy active historical displays, in other words people demonstrating work in history displays.  In the past Mt Vernon has done little of this, the Blacksmith shop has been open for a just a few years, and there is usually a cooking demonstration at the lower farm.  

This year the spinning and weaving shop has been brought to life.  Up until now it was an entirely static display, I think it really comes to life when work is being done.  

Food - Sunday Five

I love to cook, and it shows.  I am an adventurous eater, there are few things I won't try.  There are things I just don't understand why people eat.  Some that are more trouble than they are worth. 

1: Artichokes -  Have you ever cleaned them and cooked them? 
2: Artichokes - Wonderful - or why bother? 
3: Oysters - Have you ever opened them? 
4: Oysters - Love them, or hate them? 
5: Rutabagas - have you ever cooked one of those monsters? 

My answers: 
1: Artichokes -  Have you ever cleaned them and cooked them?  - Yes, a lot of work for what you end up with. 
2: Artichokes - Wonderful - or why bother? - Why bother? Not much flavor - 
3: Oysters - Have you ever opened them?  A long time ago, yes 
4: Oysters - Love them, or hate them? LOVE then, raw or fried 
5: Rutabagas - have you ever cooked one of those monsters? - Yes, I usually leave them for J to cook.  

Your answers? 

Julia Child

The Unabomer's cabin is in the Newseum, Thomas Edison's workshop is at Greenfield Village, Julia Child's Kitchen is in the Smithsonian.  I have seen two of these three.  Moment's in history, picked up and moved, preserved for people to see.  

Julia was innovative in testing recipes, and describing technique.  She was one of the first to emphasize the method as being just as important as the ingredients. Once I master technique, I can make anything, and change any list of ingredients to make almost anything I want.  I would have loved to have spent afternoon cooking with her.  She invited us into her kitchen on television, and you can still visit her kitchen today.  

Edison's workshop was home to great moments in technology.  His friend Henry Ford had it moved to preserve it.  

Someday I will go to the Newseaum to see the home of madman.