This one is too amazing not to mention. The Texas Rangers defeated the Balitmore Orioles thirty to three today. Read about the carnage of runs here. Texas had one-inning run totals of 5, 9, 10, and 6. Whoa! Another amazing event was that, under league rules, the Rangers' relief pitcher Wes Littleton earned a save for protecting the 11-run lead he inherited. Little could he have known that he would escape by the slimmest of margins with a 27-run lead. I guess he pitched three full innings, rating a "save."
Check this amazing chronology of Barry Bonds' career in photos. Click here.
This is Ballast Point Park along Hillsborough Bay in South Tampa. I drive past it each day but finally took some time Sunday afternoon to take a stroll there. You can see downtown Tampa, the phosphate plants, cruise ships, freighter ships, and MacDill Air Force Base all from the pier at Ballast Point.
Here's me at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Well, there it is. So what, Timm and Charlie? It's just the Bucs. For any football fans reading, Gruden has gotten all bad press so far. The fans are hungry and the team's PR machine seems to make all the wrong moves.
I thought about changing the quote atop my blog recently. Despite its currency, it's been there for two years and other great snippets like "no liquidos caliente" (on my lawn chair) are out there. But then someone like the bishop in the Netherlands comes along last week. In something that could've come out of The Onion, the holy man urged Catholics to refer to God as "Allah" to ease relations with Muslims. Check it out here. Then check 2nd Peter chapter 2 for similarities.
Barack Obama's campaign announced it will cut back on debates and appearances. Bravo, in the sense that all this nonsense starts way too early now. I think the decision reflects that the more Obama talks, the more his numbers sink. He may be on the cover of GQ and appear on Vanity Fair's best dressed list. But it's what falls out of his mouth when he speaks that marks him as a novice who was working in Springfield, Illinois as an ineffectual state senator just three years ago. He recently characterized U.S. and NATO involvement in Afghanistan as nothing more than, "air raiding villages and killing civilians." Each day he proves himself more inaccurate and makes Hillary look more presidential. Think "Nobama '08."
For all of you that felt relief when I announced I would be remaining in Tampa, here's the latest on Hurricane Dean. :-) The cone on the map doesn't appear to threaten Tampa, but these things are just guesses at this point. Two days ago the computer models had this storm going north of the Caribbean toward the Atlantic Coast. Keep an eye on the Nat'l Hurricane Center web link here and on the right sidebar. HF1
People continue to be very good to me here. A retired couple from church and one of their friends invited me over for steak, salads, and great conversation on Tuesday evening. I got to learn about their former deli and restaurant businesses in Tampa as well as George Steinbrenner's declining health. Read about that here. Many Tampa folks have seen a lot of ole George since he moved here in the 70s (although he hasn't been seen much in the past two years). I knew that the famous (infamous?) Yanks' owner lived in Tampa, but it turns out he lives beside the Palma Ceia Country Club (in the middle of the city actually). That's about a mile and a half from here and I drive past every day. Small world. We enjoyed coffee and dessert and I'm blessed by them.
Check out this website called "Newsmap." It's highly technical, but it's basically chugging out a visual of the most frequent stories going through the Google News search site. The larger blocks indicate more web hits and the colors denote the category. You can click on any box. It's been out for a while, but I saw it for the first time today in one of the operations centers at Centcom. It looked like some cool product that the gurus here would put out, but it's from some egghead out there. It's out there for anyone. Click here to go to Newsmap. [Click the photo for a closeup] HF1
[WARNING: Non-sports fans, this is about sports.] Baseball followers know that the Milwaukee Brewers' lead in the NL Central has been placed atop the list of most unsafe bridges across the country. They have only the Cubs' reluctance to win key games to thank for still being in first place. Part of the problem has been the mysterious degradation of their "ace" lefthander Chris Capuano. Since making the All-Star Team in July 2006, poor Chris has been, well, atrocious. Since quality lefties are in short supply in the major leagues (but not in university faculties...couldn't resist), a recent article on the BBC's website may help the Brewers develop more quality lefthanders in the minor leagues...the extremely early stages of the minor leagues. Click here to read about it. Non-sports fans, what are you still doing reading this? HF1
The term "worrisome gouges" makes me think of Trevor's vandalism report at the monthly Neenah Park & Rec meeting. Sadly, the term appears in a NASA brief regarding some trauma on the belly of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. So sad, it seemed easier in the 80s & 90s. Time to offer another prayer for their safety. Read the entire account and view closeup photos here. Have a good weekend. HF1
Here's me, encamped along the A1A a few blocks from the Hwy 50 intersection in Titusville, about 12-15 miles west of Pad 39A where this launch took place.
The festive atmosphere began around 3pm for this 6:30pm launch. It felt like a Packer or Brewer tailgating experience.
The Ohio contractors next to me provided good conversation and information, as they had taken the Kennedy Space Center tour earlier.
I guess my cover has been blown. This is a great time!
There goes Endeavor on STS 118. The flame, while small from this distance, burned much as the sun does when you look at it (don't try this at home). Those boosters burn a family swimming pool of fuel per second! [You can click on this or any other photo for a closeup. Definitely do it with this one.]
What a fun experience! You have to do this sometime if you get into the neighborhood when a launch is scheduled. I saw lots of Disney families. HF1
No, this isn't the "Patrick" Air Force Base I'm speaking about (courtesy Chairforce.com).
Patrick is a geographically interesting place since it sits on a narrow barrier island. Click on the image for a closeup. Omernick types out there: Patrick AFB belonged to the Navy from the 1930s to the late 40s. It was known as Naval Air Station Banana River. That name rang a bell so I called my sister Maggie, keeper of the CD of Grandpa Greg's old Navy records. Turns out Greg Omernick passed through in Oct-Dec 1944 as one in a long line of training schools before his action in the Pacific Theater. Thanks Maggie and I look forward to examining those documents more closely at home.
[UPDATE] You gotta give Maggie credit! She rushed Grandpa's scanned documents to me ASAP. Here's his travel voucher for the train tickets between Corpus Christie, TX and NAS Banana River, FL. Thanks Mags! [Click to enlarge the photo]
Here's a good shot of the Space Coast. Click on the photo for a closeup of the spots I traveled to.
I drove up to the Space Coast Tuesday afternoon to get a room at Patrick AFB, check the history, look at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and see a Manatees game. Patrick, the Cape, and Kennedy Space Center are all separate areas.
Patrick AFB hosts several different types of units from the 45th Space Wing to the 920th Rescue Wing, making for some interesting aircraft on the flightline. Check out that cool C-130J model on the far end.
The Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) is headquartered at Patrick. This agency monitors seismic and nuclear events worldwide.
The Patrick Passenger Terminal hosts a C-17 Globemaster out of Charleston, SC.
The outside of Space Coast Stadium, home to the Manatees and the Washington Nationals' Spring Training complex.
I attended another Brevard County Manatees game, this time in Brevard County. You may recall that they are the Class-A minor league team for the Brewers. I printed some of the photos from the last game I went to in Sarasota and had Ned Yost IV and others autograph them. I stayed through the sixth inning as the Manatees pummeled the Tampa Yankees 6-1. I had to get back to the room to watch the ongoing ESPN original drama series The Bronx is Burning. I've been watching since the first episode in July. It's pretty good, covering the Yankees' 1977 team, the Son of Sam murders, power outages, NYC mayoral race, as well as a bunch of other stuff I remember from childhood. Has anyone seen this series? Leave a comment with what you think about it. They mix the acting scenes with plenty of real footage. Good stuff. There are three episodes left. Tuesdays at 9pm Central on ESPN.
The Kiel family has a custom of photographing any NFL or Major League Baseball stadium we come across in our travels. It's odd, since we're moderate sports fans, having purged the Packer pathogen from our souls. For example, if the weather is nice on a Sunday, we can actually go outside or do something away from home. Anyhoo, above we see Dolphin Stadium, a.k.a. Pro Player Stadium, a.k.a. Joe Robbie Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins. Notice the typical suburban (northern Miami-Dade Co.) large parking lot setting for modern stadia (I chose the second plural option 'cause it sounds cool).
Now, behold the classic sports venue, Miami's Orange Bowl. Ensconced firmly in an urban neighborhood, the surrounding apartments hug the property similar to Madison's Camp Randall Stadium, except here it's on all four sides. I was a rabid NFL fan as a kid and the many editions of Super Bowl chronicle magazines jumped into my head as I gazed at this marvel, currently home to the University of Miami Punks, er...uh, Hurricanes (conveniently located near a local police precinct). Home to Super Bowls II, III, V, X, and XIII, only the Louisiana Superdome ranks higher with six championships. But with its age, setting, and better facilities elsewhere, I'm sure it's done. Still, you can sense Griese throwing to Warfield and the Csonka-Kiick combo crushing defenses on the way to an undefeated season. Okay, I guess I am a bit of a fan.
Hooray! I've now been to the north AND the south ends of Highway 41. The sign reads "EAST" because it swings east/west between Naples and Miami. Non-Wisconsinites may not understand that 41 is the lifeblood of my home in Neenah. Lori and I once drove to Copper Harbor, MI in college and tripped upon the north end landmark.
Here's me standing at the corner of Highway 41 ending at U.S. 1. The car behind me is finishing 41, pointing east.
This little one accosted me on the way into the visitor center. Brilliant color.
The visitor center displayed a diagram of the flow of the Everglades in 1870 and as of 2001. It used to begin near Orlando! It's actually a flowing river. These days, the water has to be pumped southward to keep the system alive. The urge to prevent flooding at Lake Okeechobee led to dams, etc. that interrupted the cycle. It's working, however, the pump stations have to go on indefinitely.
The scenery deceived. Apparent grassland (above) is actually shallow, slowly flowing water (below). Park personnel and the guy at the air boat outfit made sure to remind us that this is not a swamp. Swamps are stagnant and go nowhere, like original thought in Congress.
I made it to "Flamingo," the end of the road. The little marina nearby teemed with boaters, but this visitor center seemed overgrown and a relic of a bygone era. Evidently Hurricane Wilma whacked the area in 2005. I stepped into the unlocked desk area which displayed a marker board with a message from three days earlier. The old style structure reminded me of a Jetsons 1940s-60s architecture. I thought back to my grandparents who often flew off to Florida for vacations in the 1970s. It seemed the kind of spot folks like them might have snapped photos and ate lunch.
A spectacularly violent storm system slowed my progress enroute to and away from Flamingo. As the rain stalled at the visitor center, some incredibly constant lightning put on a show in the Florida Straits to the south here.
And geez. On the way back to Pembroke Pines and Robert's house, Mr. Tourist with no change came upon this choice. I skipped it and asked the next toll booth human worker what my sentence would be. She ensured that they don't do anything, "till the third or fourth time." I'm sure that's exactly how the state statute reads, eh? Avis hasn't called me yet with the threatened $100 fine :-) HF1
Robert & Henry jam at their Sunday night practice on August 5th.
Robert’s wife had suggested some nice artsy faux-wrought-iron music stands. We noticed that Robert couldn’t turn the pages because of the design. Well, in stepped me, Air Force Historian and wielder of hacksaws. My rhythmic sawing motion complemented the cover songs as Robert and Henry fine-tuned. I still think they should try this “hacksaw percussion” direction but they remain unconvinced. I at least insisted I be declared honorary roadie to “Dixon.”
