Ugh...

...it's 47 minutes past our take off time, and we're still on the ground. They have a traffic shutdown for some planes going in certain directions (not ours) due to volume, but those planes were already lined up to take off. Now they're trying to move them out of the way so that unaffected planes (like ours) can take off.

And it's slow going.

Ugh.

London, here we come!

We're on the plane to London now, and are about 20 minutes away from departure.

Guess I better start with the British euphamisms now...

"Bloody Hell!"
"Bollocks!" (?spelling)
"Cheerio!"

See y'all on the other side of the Atlant...POND! I mean pond!

Hello New York City!

We've arrived at JFK! Now to wait for our next flight...

Heights of Glory

From miles in the sky, we're over halfway to NYC and the movie is "Blades of Glory". Hadn't seen it until now...pretty damn funny.

Kids have enjoyed their MP3 players, and the wife slept through a good portion of the flight.

So far, so good!

4,411 miles to go...

Okay, now we're on the plane, and people are crowding through, going to their seats, etc. However, we're currently 4,411 miles from Gatwick Airport in London, so that's how I'm counting the miles.

Kids are settling in...this should be a quick flight...which would be good, as I need to get to the next Crown Room!

Aaaahhh....

...vacation...

Well, we made it through security. Now, the wait.

Check in was easy (thank you. Medallion status!). Security had no one at it, so that was easy. Now to wait 2.5 hours for our flight to New York...

...And helloooooo Crown Room! :)

A big thanks goes out to...

Delta Airlines for the free tickets (frequent flier miles), Jane at the US Passport Agency's information line for helping expedite the passports along, and Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart's staff (Yamel and Gladys) for helping make sure we got our passports! GREAT job everyone!

Headin' to the airport soon. Keep tuned here for updates!

(This was also a test from my BlackBerry, and it worked, so we're in good shape! See y'all back in the States soon!)

VACATION! VACATION!

It's almost time...

Happy Happy, joy joy, JACK JACK! (You don't know it!)

Yay! "You Don't Know Jack" is back! (No, this is not "24" related.)

Harvey the Wonder Rabbit

...as in, I 'wonder' why I still have this rabbit?



Well, one reason why is probably because the owner's parents took down my signs.

Anyone want a free rabbit? He's very well behaved, and litter trained!

Oh, and I'm 90% certain that it's definitely a 'he'.

A cause to get behind...

...er...that doesn't sound quite right...

Mystery Bird De Jour

Saw this bird when I was leaving work the other day...it's call was what attracted my attention...from what I recall, it was a lower in pitch call...the white chest and striped head threw me...anyone know what it is?

Almost committed...

You know...nice, beautiful end to the day...eating dinner with the family...looking out the window...and a small fluffy bunny rabbit head appears from around the corner of my fence.


"LOOK, A RABBIT!" I exclaimed...and then it bounces off out of view as my wife comes over to see...

South Florida is not a native environment for fluffy white bunny rabbits, especially my neighborhood. In an effort to make sure my wife doesn't think I'm entirely crazy, I had to go catch the fluffy white bunny rabbit to prove my sanity.


In the grand scale of things (related to animals) that I would not expect to ever see while looking out my back window at our lake, fluffy white bunny rabbits rank pretty high on that list. Now, I have seen a cow, before but that was in someone's backyard...not meandering down the street...

I chased the fluffy white bunny rabbit a bit...it was nervous...but it eventually stopped, lay down flat on it's stomach, let me pet it, and pick it up (by the scruff of its neck). So...now...we have a fluffy white bunny rabbit in our garage in a cage. We have signs up stating "RABBIT FOUND!" in our neighborhood...that went up within 15 minutes of me catching it...and no one has called.

Luckily, we had a good sized cage to put "Harvey" (get it?) in, and I went and got bedding, rabbit food and a water bottle for him (or her...please, God, don't let her be pregnant!). He (sticking with that) immediately started to drink water, and when we put food in, he started to eat.

Personally, I think someone dumped him. It rained earlier, but he was completely dry. He was clean, and apparently healthy. So, if he didn't escape, someone dumped him. I hope not...Harvey's a good rabbit. And very tired. He's had a long day.

Now THIS is neat...

I have an airline power adapter that would let me use my laptop at my seat during a flight without worrying about running out of battery. The only problem is that you can't always get a seat that has power at it.

Enter the "Inflight Power Recharger".

It lets you plug into the audio jack at your seat and use that to charge your USB-enabled device (Ipod, MP3 player, cell phone, etc.). Yes, it won't do the laptop...but heck, if I can watch my Ipod Video during an entire 10 hour international flight without worrying about its battery...I'm game!

Testin' the camera...kid style...

So we got the children digital cameras in preparation for our upcoming trip to Europe. Each of us has a digital camera now, and the neat thing is we'll be able to see the trip through their eyes.

In preparation for that, they need to learn how to use the camera. Here are samples of some skills we worked on yesterday...

...taking pictures from the car (important for while we're driving)...

...and taking macro (close up) photos (okay, not so important for the trip, really)...

And an extra Spinal Tap video from yesterday, too...

It's Stonehenge and Warmer Than Hell!

Roger Waters videos from Live Earth

It's not the entire set...but close to it!

Money

Brain Damage/Eclipse

The Happiest Day of our Lives/Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)

Roger, it was good seeing you again!

Again, thank you, Live Earth, for bringing Roger Waters back to the spotlight!


Roger had a great set tonight, albeit a short one. But atleast he didn't have Kanye West come up and ruin one of his songs (like "Message in a Bottle" during Police's set).

TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!

Thank you, Live Earth, for making Spinal Tap reunite!

I haven't been able to watch all the video yet...




...but they did have lots of guests to help them out...

So you whine that you don't have a game console...

...and can't play those awesome games like Guitar Hero...



Well, there IS an answer...Frets on Fire, which you can play on your PC with your keyboard!

And if you want more songs, read up here (although it does seem a bit tricky...but cool...).

Crappy day...then beautiful night...

I was worried earlier today...

...but had nothing to fear, 'cos the rain cleared up and left us with a night of festivities...

...I hope your 4th of July was just as nice!

If the British had still controlled the US...

...our rights to the following would have been severely impaired...



Those wacky British!

Happy Independence Day!

Make it a great day!

Quick! Read this! Live forever!

Headline as seen on Yahoo this morning (picture to come later):

Adopting healthy habits even in middle age lowers risk of death

Wow...I thought death was inevitable...woohoo! I can lower my risk of dying!

yes...Yes....YESSSSS!!!!

Read more here...

There's a reason why I call 'em Crapinental...

Funny...and scary...thing is...I took the same flight last year August.

New baby update...this time...a woodpecker!

Went to try to find Hairy today...I heard peeping...and it seemed to be coming from the tree where I put his nest! So I went over and round...


I shall name him Copper Top...even tho he don't have his red head yet. But he's a kindred spirit with me. I think I need to get him a White and Nerdy t-shirt.

Happy Memorial Day!

Enjoy it!

Mockingbird update...probably the last one.

Heard the peeping outside and went hunting...the mocking bird wasn't in its nest anymore.

After listening, walking around for a bit, triangulating...I found it in our backyard, hiding in our of our plants:

Maybe it was used to me...I don't know...but it let me get very very close to get this nice photo:

Shortly after I took it, it hopped out of the bush, ran under the fence and tried to get away. I chased it into our neighbor's back yard (rather than towards the street...eek!) and I bet it will be able to fly within the next few days. They only are fledglings for a short while...a matter of days...before they take to the air.

Good luck, little one! I'll name you Hairy, since you still had some fuzz on yer head. Best of luck to ya!