BEMM

We just arrived at our Canada hotel.  It does not have A\C.  Luckily, it is 60 outside.  I did not relize that we would loose another hour when coming into this part of Canada.  It has been a long and exhausting drive.  It would be nice to sleep in but the sun rises very early.  We have the rehearsal tomorrow and the wedding on Sunday.  It may be that we can’t post until we get back into the states.

We visited the Statue of Liberty yesterday morning.  I have come to the conclusion that the Internet and Hollywood have spoiled seeing some things in person.  We had our expectations of what the Statue of Liberty would look like based on what we have seen online or in the movies.  The Statue of Liberty itself was breath taking, but everything that surrounds it was not.  New York City and New Jersey are just nasty.  Many of the roads and buildings should just be destroyed.  The worst part of the New York City area has to be the drivers.  They have to be the most rude drivers I have ever had to drive with.  It will not hurt my feelings to never go back.  I kept seeing shirts that said “I love NY” and all I could think was “I hate NY” get me out of here.  

Leaving NY was a nightmare.  It delayed our trip by hours.  They even have TROLL charges.  It cost us $8 to cross a bridge.  We finally made it to Maine late last night.  We plan to continue on to Canada today.  If things go well we should be at our Canadian destination before night fall.

Our last thoughts on New York City.  If we ever visit again, we need to fly in and walk or mass transit to the sites.  I hope that upper state New York is better as we return home.

We decided to go ahead and visit Hershey’s Chocolate World today instead of tomorrow. This will give us more time to travel the Amish communities around Lancaster on Monday and Tuesday.  Hershey’s Chocolate World was a lot of fun.  We rode a ride that took us on a tour 0f how Hershey makes its chocolate candies.  We then made our own Hershey’s Candy Bar.  The kids really enjoyed seeing their own candy bar being made.  Hershey, PA also had interesting lamps down town.  The tops looked like Hershey Kisses.

The hotel in Ronk, PA is amazing especially after the awful Best Western we stayed at in Arlington, VA.

It has been a long fight with the hotels wireless, but if I sit in the lobby and don’t move. It allows me fast enough speed to upload a few pics as you can see below. I hope the internet access in the next hotel is better.

Canada Trip 2010 – Washington, DC

Today is Father’s Day.  Here are some thoughts from Paul Harvey.

A father is a person who is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic. He growls when he feels good and laughs very loud when he is scared half-to-death.

A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child’s eyes. He is never quite the hero his daughter thinks. Never quite the man his son believes him to be. And this worries him sometimes. (So he works too hard to try to smooth the rough places in the road of those of his own who will follow him)

A father is a person who goes to war sometimes … and would run the other way except that war is part of his only important job in his life, (which is making the world better for his child than it has been for him).

Fathers grow older faster than people, because they, in other wars, have to stand at the train station and wave goodbye to the uniform that climbs on board. And, while mothers cry where it shows, fathers stand and beam — outside — and die inside.

Fathers are men who give daughters away to other men, who aren’t nearly good enough, so that they can have children that are smarter than anybody’s.

Fathers fight dragons almost daily. They hurry away from the breakfast table, off to the arena which is sometimes called an office or a workshop. There, with callused hands, they tackle the dragon with three heads; Weariness, Works, and Monotony. They never quite win the fight, but they never give up. Knights in shining armor; fathers in shiny trousers. There’s little difference as they march away each workday.

I don’t know where a father goes when he dies, but I’ve an idea that, after a good rest, wherever it is, he won’t just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he’s loved and the children she bore. He’ll be busy there too — repairing the stars, oiling the gates, improving the streets, smoothing the way.

I had a great fathers day.  Brian got me a really cool cutting board and funny card and Megan got me some books with a home made card.  I am very blessed to have two wonderful children and a beautiful wife.

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers in the world.

Well, I knew it was going to happen but that does not mean I was happy about.  When I got home from work today Melinda said I have bad news, “The washer finally died”.  We were having problems with it all weekend, so I was not surprised it had finally given up the ghost.

We wash at least a load a day and on the weekends we wash ten or more loads.  The good news is that we have talked about getting a front loading washer and dryer for some time.  The bad news is I had not planned on doing it today or before our trip to Canada. I got in the van and went to Temple to get a new washer knowing if I found I a good deal I would get a new dryer also.

I went to several stores and ended up getting a floor unit from Home Depot.  They had a sale on washer/dryer combos so adding that to fact they were floor units I ended up getting the pair for almost a grand below list.  I was exsited to say the least.  Now I have to read the manuals which I had to find online since they were missing from the floor units.  We will see how we like the front loading washing.  We have always been told it saves money on water.  The way we wash we will soon see.

LG Washer Model WM0642HW

LG Dryer Model DLE0442W

It has taken over a week, but I have successfully moved our domain from IPower to GoDaddy.  I did not have issues with IPower.  The move is more for my conveyance.  I work with GoDaddy at work.  I am familiar with the GoDaddy interface, so it just made since.  I also like the control I get with GoDaddy for my DNS.  The are still a few bugs to work out but hope to fix those soon.