Class of '09 - Wear Sunscreen

... Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’09
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering experience…

Anybody remember this little song? I wish I had last Saturday.
We were playing a volleyball tourney starting in the morning and the
weather was great. Sunshine, a bit chilly, but ideal for playing.
We played a bunch of games and the day went by fast. When I left
I could feel the sunburn and when I looked in the mirror at home I
stared at a tomato head. Ouch.
So, PLEASE take the advise: WEAR SUNSCREEN!!


Movie Update:
I saw "The Informant!" last week. I'd give the movie a solid 3.5 stars,
mainly because I liked the story, acting, and dry humor.

It's football time.

That's right. Football is getting close. Finally, a sport I like to watch on
TV. Soccer in Germany started as well, but my team, Bayern Munich,
has an awful start so far, so I am hoping the GB Packers are going to
do better. I also joined a fantasy league at work, so that should be fun
as well. Couple of thoughts on football related issues:
Packers: My favorite team is looking good so far
and I hope they are going to be better than
last year, especially on defense.
Lions: I am surprised the people of Detroit
actually still routing for the team.
It doesn't seem that they have improved greatly.
Bret Favre: I think the Vikings made a
mistake to bring him back, but hopefully the
Packers will profit from that.
So, yeah, let those INTs rolls.
Michael Vick: Let the guy play already. He paid his dues.

So, welcome back NFL. Can't wait for the first kickoff.

Back home

Since I wanted to take the ferry back to Michigan, I decided to take
another boat. The Lake Express is a fast ship going from Milwaukee
to Muskegon in just two hours. Certainly faster than the Badger.
I had booked the last sail of the evening, giving me enough time to
hang out in Milwaukee for a bit. Karl and Kip joined me and we spent
some time at the old stomping grounds. We walked at the
lakefront, wandered through downtown and settled for a nice lunch
at the Rock Bottom. After walking back to the cars I said good bye to
Kip and Karl, who were heading back to Peoria. I still had plenty of
time, before I had to be at the ferry, so I went back to the park, had
a nice coffee at the Art Museum until it was time to make way to the
harbor.
As soon as I hit the parking lot of the ferry terminal, m y cell phone
rang with a prerecorded message from the Lake Express ferry.
They cancelled the trip, due to high waves and winds on Lake
Michigan. Just GREAT! I went inside to ask for my options and it was
either trying to rebook the next day or cancel the ticket and get a refund.
I wasn't really in a mood to wait around, so I decided to drive instead.

After I went back into the car, I programmed the Garmin to take me
home. SUPER... 355miles. Well, what can I do? I really don't like long
drives, especially, when it is late in the day and fatigue is setting in
already. Overall it went pretty smooth. I past Chicago feeling pretty
tired, but as soon as I turned East, I got my second wind.
As soon as I hit Michigan, the speed limit changed to 70 and I made
faster progress. I arrived back in Novi in the early morning.

Overall it was a great Mini-vacation.

Trip to Oshkosh. Part 2

After hitting Wisconsin I made my way down to Iron Ridge and checked
into the Motel. Finally, I could take a rest. Zzzzzzzz. Zzzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzz.
Later that night I met with the gang from P-town and we had dinner
before calling it a night.

The next morning we made our way to the air show. I had no idea what
to expect until we were close to the airport and 3 P-51 Mustangs were
taking of right over our heads. Wow, what a start.

This airshow is massive. LOTS of airplane of all shapes, sizes and ages.
Form the small home build experimental to the Airbus 380. I spent
the morning basically just walking around and looking at the vast array
of airplanes. I am not a airplane
buff per se, but I do enjoy the
ingenuity and technology
displayed at these planes.
And the sky was just buzzing with
airplanes. Private planes coming
in for the show, various planes
offering rides, choppers hovering over
the airfield. Amazing.
I also had a chance to say Hi to Charlie Bates who was at the show.
It's always good to see old friends.

After lunch, I made my way to the airfield to watch the airshow. It started
with a flight demo of the White Knight 2. Very odd shape. After that,
as one of the highlights, a demo of
the A380. This HUGE plane took
off, flew a couple of passes, and
then went off back to Europe.
I also saw acrobatics and
stunt flying which was pretty
interesting as well.
To round up the
demonstrations, the WW2 warbirds were giving a display of their
flying capabilities.

I finished the day looking at some more planes and as daylight faded, we
all met at a diner, just of the highway for a late diner and then drove
back to the hotel.

It was a long day, but certainly, cool to take it all in.

Going to Oshkosh

What is this terrible sound in my head?? I was in the deepest dreams, when
this sound of alarm horns goes through my head..... Ah yes, I set my alarm
to the most annoying sound I could find to make sure I would wake up
at 2:30AM. Boy, it is early. After a three hour power nap I had difficulties
waking up, but I had to leave by 3:30AM to catch the ferry to Wisconsin
in Ludington.
I threw my stuff in the car, turned the Garmin Navigator on, and pointed
the Schnitzlewagen westwards. Off we go......

As predicted by the Navigator, I arrive in Ludington around 6:30. The
S.S. Badger was moored at the pier and after check-in I left the car to be driven
onto the ship. You can tell these guys to that all day long, because they
had all cars in the boat in no time and even driving a camper trailer
backwards was not a problem.
The 'Badger' is on old steam ship
from the 50s and was built to haul
rail cars over the lake. Later they
converted it into a car and passenger
ferry, but it still has the look and
feel of an old work horse and
the smoke stack does its name proud.
Although, these days they don't use coal anymore
to heat up the steam engine.

I watched the ship leave the harbor, but after that I was looking for a
comfy chair to get some shuteye. After I rested up a bit, I went to the
back of the ship to stuck my nose into the breeze. NICE.... For some
reason, I always liked being on the open water.
Just for fun I turned on the Garmin and what do you know, it put
our position right in the middle of Lake Michigan doing 16miles/hr.
I typed in my new destination and to my surprise the first instruction
is "leave ferry and turn into main street". Technology is great.

We arrive in Wisconsin to some rain, I get my car back, and
I am headings south. Another couple of hours and I should
make it to Iron Ridge, WI.
Tomorrow, I'll be going to the Oshkosh Air Show, so that should be great.
I'll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA!

Let's talk about the weather

Let's talk about the weather. Really? Seriously? The King of Pop is dead
and you want to talk about how hot it is in Novi these days.
Well, not really. But I have not much to say about Micheal's dead,
besides the fact that I am not that surprised.
I was never a great Michael Jackson fan and since he has not done anything
musically good since the 80's, I forgot totally about him.
Well, so long Micheal.

Movie Update: I saw 'The Hangover' the other day. I thought the movie
was quite funny, but believe me, it is not everyone's kind of humor.
I'll give it four stars anyway. (4/5)

Restaurant Update: We have been going to this small Asian place in
Walled Lake for lunch lately, which I really like. It's called Nu-Pacific Bistro
and its just a whole in the wall, but I had some good food there.
3.5 out 5 Schnitzelwagens.