Pat's Journal

The trip we made to Hollywood is still etched upon my mind

I've been ignoring this blog in recent months, favoring the microblogging you can do over at Twitter. But I'd really like to do a better job of documenting my life again, especially since I shouldn't be as busy at work this fall. It's also my son's senior year of high school, and my daughter's first year of middle school, which should bring interesting stories to tell.

Let's see if I can briefly summarize the last few months:

-- We visited Mom in Milwaukee in June to help with a few home maintenance items. I'm still too far away to help with much, and she has to depend on neighbors for many things. She had more health concerns in August, but tests did not reveal any serious problems. She's feeling better lately.

-- We also spent nine days in Southern California in July, visiting Sharon's brother and his family. We also brought along Sharon's parents, who are in their 80's, so they could see their son. We tried to do activities that didn't involve a lot of walking or standing, and split up on occasion. S got to spend a few days with a Minnesota friend who was in California visiting family. We also went to Hollywood, Catalina Island, Laguna Beach, Sea World in San Diego, and several excellent restaurants. Also had my first In-N-Out burger!

-- After returning from vacation, I was very busy at work. First I helped another engineer in my department with designing some important controls for a machine being built locally. Then I traveled to Alabama in August to help another engineer with the operator interface for his project. I worked 16 days in a row before returning home. There were no days off after returning, as I had to finish the controls design and startup that was unfinished before I left for Alabama. Now I've got another software startup coming up locally in the next two weeks. I'm planning to take a week of vacation in October, so I have a goal to complete my work before then.

-- Our orchestra survived under a new name. It is now called the East Metro Symphony Orchestra. So far we have a good deal: we will be rehearsing and performing at the new high school in our area, about 10 minutes from our house. The music looks interesting so far. And I am no longer involved in the business activities of the group, so I can just enjoy playing. It will be fun to see how the season plays out (pun intended).

-- In Internet news, I followed a British expat who completed a road trip to all 48 continental U.S. states, visiting a place in each state that had the same name as a tube station on the London Underground. It was a lot of fun because he posted stories and videos on his blog, as well as messages on Twitter in real time. Since I had visited many of the same places in the Western U.S., I offered suggestions for places to see and things to do along the way. I also almost got to meet him in person when I was in Alabama, but returned home before he came through the area. You can read about his trip here. I also found the new blog of a blogger I enjoyed reading in the past. The blogger shut down the original blog in late 2007, and I had missed keeping up to date with their life.

-- Sharon spent this weekend in northern Minnesota with six of her college friends. One of the friends and her family own a cabin and invites the friends (women only) for a weekend in the fall each year. She's been having a great time. So have I, as I've been free to do things I want to do (like blogging) instead of always working on house projects and cleaning.

-- S has been working at the local Arby's since late April. He got very few hours over the summer, which was disappointing, but in mid-August started getting more hours, finally making it worthwhile working there so he could save some money. He also took the ACT test twice and completed visits to potential colleges, so now he is starting to fill out applications for admission.

-- We're going to see Steely Dan! They're one of my favorite bands that I've never seen live, and they're coming to Minneapolis, which I never thought they would do. Sunday night, November 8th at Northrup Auditorium.

That's all for now. I'm going to try to post at least once a week, if time allows. Maybe I'll link some pictures when I have some time.

posted by pat @ 3:24 PM