a Review from the Top

Christmas Dinner, part two

2011-12-26T11:32:00.000-06:00

I have to say, I am really proud of our Pâté. It was a lot of work, but boy, was it good.

Trouta and Quinn were the first to arrive. Let the party begin!

Of course, we put Trouta to work. Quinn also helped with numerous tasks around the kitchen.

The goose is about half done at this point.

More Pâté pics. I cannot resist.

Mushrooms

The stuffing, cooked.

That Ham!

and Mushroom soup

Here is the layout. Peas and Mushrooms, Mashed Potatoes, Red Cabbage, Ham, Goose, Gravy, Stuffing, and just off camera, rolls.

Another shot of the food.

Our friend Eddie always makes Doreen's favorite birthday cake. Italian Cream!

We all ate a lot.

And talked a lot.

Even the baby.

Just about ready to clean up

Then, the next day (today, that is) we make stock and goose gumbo.

A great holiday.

Christmas Dinner 2011, part one

2011-12-26T11:27:00.000-06:00

Christmas is a nice holiday in our home, as it is also Doreen's birthday. We have celebrated the holiday with the same people for many years. The menu has sort of coalesced into a more or less standard selection of food. Goose is always the focus, and we always have red cabbage. We usually have mashed potatoes, and often green peas. This year, as last, we also had cauliflower gratin. For a new treat this year, we had a Honey Baked Ham! It was delicious.

Here, the day before, we are making the stock for gravy.

We also make the mushroom soup in advance.

You have to blanch the bird to help tighten the skin a couple of days before you roast.

This is blanching the goose.

You also have to pick out all the last little feathers.

On Christmas Eve, Doreen always picks up some beautiful flowers:

Then we start cooking.

Bread for stuffing,

Blanching the cauliflower,

Making sandwiches for lunch,

Stuffing ingredients,

Peeling and coring apples,

Apples,

Putting the goose in to roast. We were a bit behind our time this year. No matter.

Red cabbage,

Stuffing. Some of the stuffing went into the bird. Some was just baked.

Apple cider for the cabbage,

Honey Baked Ham!

Accompaniments for the Pâté,

Whew. Time for Champagne!

and Pâté.

Pâté for Christmas

2011-12-24T10:08:00.000-06:00

We purchased some Mangalitsa pork fat and pork liver from Revival Meats a while back. The intent was to make a pâté or two. The liver was big, about 2.5 pounds. So we needed to find a couple of recipes, and someone to eat them with.

So, since we are having a big crowd for both Christmas and New Year's Eve, this was a good time to try out these recipes.

This is the pork back fat.

Doesn't it look great? I have another couple of pounds of this. I may make my own lard.

Doreen gave me this Le Creuset pâté dish last year, along with the book Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Rulman and Polcyn. We have cooked a little from it before, but there are a ton of recipes here that I want to try. In particular, I want to make sausage.

The Julia Child recipe requires that you line the dish with fat.

Then you cook some rice:

which you use for binding.

Here is the fat, along with some liver. Isn't that liver great looking?

but it was not really that pleasant to the touch.

Here is Doreen, in her role as the grinder.

You have to weigh the pâté to firm it up.

Looks nice, eh?

Next, we made one of the recipes from the book mentioned above. Here is the mixture, all ready to go:

You have to test the emulsion before you bake it. But you should not eat it raw. So you have to wrap it in plastic wrap and boil it. It gets hot:

For ease of de-molding, you need to line the dish with plastic wrap as well:

That is sort of odd, but it really helps.

Ready to cook!

This is the next day:

Here is the Julia Child pâté:

and the Ruhlman and Porcyn pâté:

It will be a delicious meal!

(More on the goose later)

Christmas Decorations

2011-12-10T21:45:00.000-06:00

I just got back from Oslo yesterday. It was very snowy there, and I also finished with my annual reading of A Christmas Carol. So it just made sense to start decorations.

That, and the fact that our friends Rick and Toni sent us some gifts:

and said that we should post some photos of our decorated house. So I figured we had better do so.

Here is the house before decorations. That is the living room above.

That is the staircase above. Stop me if I am going too fast.

That is the window seat in the sun room. Also called the carriage room, as it used to be a carriage room.

Another view of the carriage room

That is 17 yards (!) of garland on the front porch.

We put up a wreath on the front door, with more to come:

The garland, almost in place

Doreen, putting ribbons on the wreath. Note the illuminated garland.

There is Doreen, working in the living room.

The garland is up on the staircase.

That is not completely done. One of our strings of lights developed a flaw. We found the flaw when Doreen touched the bad light and it shocked her. I fixed it.

Lights in the carriage room.

Doreen placing the Frank Lloyd Wright (from Falling Water) star on top of the tree.

Finishing up the garland

Little Gallo

Finished garland

Sun Room

The Front Door.

Merry Christmas to all!

Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

2011-10-06T09:34:00.000-05:00

If you have not seen it, watch it. If you have seen it, watch it again.

"Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

RIP Steve Jobs

2011-10-05T21:15:00.001-05:00

The first computer I ever bought for myself was an original Mac.

I bought it in 1984, the year it first came out. It had 128k of memory (the "Fat Mac" with 512k came out a couple of years later) and one floppy disk drive. It was bundled with MacWrite, MacPaint, and I think that was it. (Was there a spreadsheet for it back then? I can't really remember)

It cost about $3,000 (I doubt I was making $3,000/mo at the time. Imagine what I could buy with a month's salary now!) and it was almost completely impractical.

I have never felt better about any purchase in my life.

That original Mac was about the coolest thing I had laid my hands on. I had been working in the Software business for about three years at that point (I was 27 years old. 2 years younger than Steve Jobs) and had plenty of experience with Command Line (look it up) driven interfaces. Just sitting down to the Mac was a revelation.

Steve Jobs did that.

I would like to thank him for that, and everything else he has done.

He changed the world.

Eleven Madison Park

2011-10-02T15:57:00.000-05:00

Doreen and I spent last weekend in New York City for our tenth anniversary. It was a great, though short, trip. I may write more about the rest of the trip later, but I wanted to remember the meal we had at Eleven Madison Park for our celebration dinner. (This was the celebration for the two of us. We had our group celebration the week before)

EMP (as those in the know lovingly call it) is a really wonderful place to eat. We had eaten there once before and loved it so much we have wanted to go back ever since. It is one of those places that is sort of hard to get reservations for, but we got online and were lucky.

We took a cab from our hotel (London NYC) and arrived at the restaurant right on time (I think it was 7:15). We were greeted warmly, and offered congratulations on our 10th anniversary. (Yes, I let them know).

We were seated in a lovely and coveted corner deuce, and were greeted by one of the many folks that would be serving us that evening. We ordered a couple of coups of a great champagne, a Pouillon Premier Cru Brut Vigneron, from Mareuil-sur-Aÿ in the Vallée de la Marne. It was a grower champagne (I always love grower champagnes.) and was perfect for sitting there and enjoying our gougers:

and we were shown the menus.

We had the choice of a four course meal, were we would pick one from column a, one from column b, etc. It came with a wine course, or, of course, you could select your own wine. There was also a "Chef's Selection" menu, where you got what you got. This, too, came with a wine course.

We were brought the bread, with both goat's and cow's milk butter.

We chose the Chef's Selection. We were very lucky that there was a special guest chef that evening. It was Mauro Colagreco from the restaurant Mirazur in France. He was working with EMP's Executive Chef Daniel Humm. And what a job they did!After the gougers, we had Tomato Tea with Parmesan Lavash and Thyme:

It tasted like a liquid, perfect tomato. I am not sure how they made it, but it something that I would love to make if I had perfect tomatoes. Of course, if I had perfect tomatoes, I would probably just eat them. We had enough champagne to finish off the tea.Next, we had a fluke and scallop ceviche:

which was served with a Sake - Dewazakura Oka. Nice touch with the raw fish. It was a cold sake, made from highly polished rice. The mollusks were delightful and the fish was sublime. There was basil, Meyer lemon, and tangerine with the seafood. It was a nice combination of tart and a touch sweet. The acid in the sake cut through everything.

One thing about EMP is that it seems that they have so much fun there. The next dish was this:

which looked like lollipops. It was lollipops. Goat cheese lollipops. It came with beets and croquettes with watercress vinaigrette.

Next was a Sea Urchin Cappuccino:

which was as strange as it sounds. But I can tell you that you wanted to lick the inside of the sea urchin shell. I can't even describe how buttery and rich it was.With this course we had a Schloss Schönborn Winkel Hasensprung Spätlese Trocken Riesling. I love Rieslings with food. I love Rieslings alone, too.

After that, there was an EMP tribute to a clam bake:

It was cute. Clams, chorizo, corn, potato, and beer. A South Hampton Saison Deluxe. What is not to like about a clam bake?

Images get a little sketchier after this.

The next course (there were a total of 13 names courses.) was Artichoke Salad with Fennel and Lemon Puree. It was served with Pichler-Krutzler Loibner Klostersatz Grüner Veltliner. I have always enjoyed GVs. The sommelier, a young woman from Wisconsin (!) was excellent. I inadvertently offended her when I did not recognize her Master Sommelier pin. But we made up later.

Next up was a foie gras dish. Foie with Plum, Bitter Almond, and Umeboshi. The smell reminded me of the fate of unrequited love. Of course, the wine was perfectly matched, a sweet Kracher Beerenauslese. Delightful.

I don't have a photo of the Quinoa Risotto with Mushrooms, Parmesan, and Parsley. It was served with a White Burgundy (but not just any White Burgundy. A 2004 Jean-Marc Pillot Chassagne-Montrachet). This was a black and white quinoa . I had no idea that there was a black quinoa. But, as you can imagine, it was good. Chef Colagreco is from Argentina, so maybe that is why he wanted quinoa.

We went back to seafood with a Lobster butter poached with Marcona almonds and Chamomile Consommé. This was served with a Chateau Grillet Rhone - a voingier. A great choice with the lobster. A strong, dry white wine that can stand up to almost anything.

Then we had a roasted lamb with eggplant, sheep's milk yogurt, and sweetbreads. I just love sweetbreads. The Lamb was good, but not transcendent. The sweetbreads were. We had a Cote Rotie (Patrick Jasmin) with this dish. Syrah goes well with lamb. It also goes well with sweetbreads.

We then had a fresh ricotta with yellow beets, gooseberries, and fleur de sel. Served with a Weingut Alfred Merkelbach, Urziger Wurzgarten Spätlese, another slightly sweet Riesling. It was an evening of Rieslings.

Before our last two courses they took us back to see the kitchen. It was a spectacular operation. Almost perfectly quiet, and as clean as an operating room, it was obvious that every person had an exact task. While there, they used their liquid nitrogen to make us a frozen passion fruit cocktail. The magic of molecular gastronomy!

Finally, we were back at our table. They made us an EMP Egg Cream (Malted Caramel, Cream, Egg, and seltzer water)

And at last they brought us some chocolates. A lot of chocolates, and a Vin Santo.

The meal ended with a bottle of Cognac left on the table. "As much as you want" they said.

We only had one glass. We could not possibly have had more.

Dumb Speeders

2011-09-20T20:57:00.000-05:00

I drove back to Houston from San Antonio this morning. Well, I left San Antonio this morning, I got to Houston this afternoon.Part of the problem was that I left much later that I had hoped to leave. (Yes, my day job is in Houston)Another factor was great BBQ in Luling:

But the real issue was that the County Sheriffs, State DPS Troopers, and City Policemen were out in force.

At least from San Antonio to Seguin. Now, let me stipulate here that I never speed. Never, ever do I consciously break the speed limit in my car:

I mean this car:

simply does not lend itself to such illegal activity.

So, now that we have that out of the way.I must have been about 30 miles outside of San Antonio, and was using my cruise control (which I seldom do. I don't like giving up that much control when you drive) so I was crawling along at the speed limit (see my stipulation above) of 70 MPH. (I may concede that the margin of error on the speedometer is probably about 2 MPH. So I may have unknowingly have been traveling at about 72 MPH. But I would never do that on purpose)

A car slowly started to pass me. He was pretty much just crawling past me (this is why I don't really like cruise control), so I am guessing that he was going, at the outside 75 MPH.He gets about 1/2 mile ahead of me, and I see that he is coming alongside of a state trooper (DPS here in Texas).I almost shouted to the empty air (well, probably to John Hiatt. But he wasn't paying attention) DON'T DO IT!!!

But he did. He slowly pass the trooper, probably thinking, "I get my 5 MPH over no matter what!" or more likely he was thinking "Doh dee doh, doh dee doh" and was most likely surprised when as soon as he got past the cop, and pulled back into the slow lane, the trooper hit his lights and pulled him over.

I know he was surprised, because it probably took a mile for him to stop.

But I did feel sorry for him.

I was chastised for having schadenfreude when I see people pulled over.

But since I never speed, I can't really feel empathy.

San Antonio

2011-09-20T15:58:00.000-05:00

The Alamo

2011-09-20T14:44:00.000-05:00

It is much smaller than you think it should be.

I did not take the tour, I did not have the time.

I will have to come back.

This could be the best BBQ in the state of Texas

2011-09-20T14:43:00.000-05:00

From City Market in Luling:

It was so good, I want to drive back tomorrow.

But I won't.

Our Tenth Anniversary

2011-09-18T16:51:00.002-05:00

Saturday, the 17th of September was our 10th wedding anniversary:

From Wedding Pictures

(this is what we all looked like 10 years ago)

Here we are five years ago:

From Anniversary Party

From 10th Anniversary Party

(This is what we look like now)

We had a great meal with everyone who was with us at the original party, plus the addition of two new spouses.

Didn't we look like babies?

From Wedding Pictures

Now we look like adults:

From 10th Anniversary Party

We had a great meal at Brennan's, where we had our wedding party as well as our 5th anniversary party:

From 10th Anniversary Party

I have to say that the soup was the best thing of the evening.

It was great to see everyone again.

We need to do this more often.

Fish Friday

2011-09-02T21:39:00.000-05:00

On 1 July this year my sweet ever lovin' and I decided that we would have fish on Fridays here at the Stevenson House.

It did happen to correspond to the opening of the new Whole Foods on Waugh, which is in a direct line form my office to the house. And I can easily stop there for a chunk of fish that we would have for dinner.

My younger brother, Matthew, has been telling me to cook fish for years, but I resisted. It is sort of slimy.

But we have held fast to the plan, and we have had some great meals.

Our first was a Yellowtail Snapper:

Beautiful! and delicious:

(we ate it before we could take photos)We also had red snapper:
Grouper, Shrimp, Mussels, and Salmon.(I only have photos of the mussels)

(thanks to Rick and Toni for that hint!)

This week we had Dover Sole:

along with carprese salad and corn pudding.

What a great tradition!

Pop-up in Houston. Les Sauvage

2011-08-13T17:06:00.002-05:00

About a month ago, I was lucky enough to get reservations at Houston's newest Pop-Up restaurant, Les Sauvage. It was dinner #6, with the guest chef being Grant Gordon of Tony's restaurant here in town. We didn't really know what to expect, except that the other dinners seemed to have been well received.

Even hours before the meal was to be served, we didn't know what the menu would be. I had e-mail the head Sauvage, and he said they don't know what they will serve until minutes before. My only problem with that was that I didn't know what wine to take! So we took a Champagne (Laherte Frères Champagne Brut) and a nice white Burgundy (Moret-Nominé Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru - one of my favorite whites of all times. I bought it at Wine Library and had it delivered via the internet. Thanks to our anti-Free Market governor here in Texas - Rick Perry - we can no longer buy wine from a retailer on the 'net from out of town. Thank you, you socialist!). We also took a delightful Pinot Noir we picked up in Oregon - Archery Summit - just in case we did not have enough with the Champagne and Burgundy.

The location of the dinner was just blocks from our house. It was nice to be so close to home.

We arrived just at 7:00 PM, and most of the crowd was already there. They had complimentary cocktails, so we got in line to watch a very competent bartender swinging cocktail shakers with both hands non-stop. She was offering a bourbon, grapefruit juice, simple syrup, tarragon, and prosecco drink. I cannot remember the name. But it was quite refreshing, and a nice touch.

We sat down at our table - there were only 40 people at the dinner, so they had 5 tables of 8 people each, and introduced ourselves to our table-mates.

In one of those very small world stories, we knew one of the other couples at our table! She was the real-estate agent who represented the seller when we bought our house! How do you like that! She is a lot of fun. Her husband is a brain surgeon, who looks just like Patrick Duffy from Grey's Anatomy. There was another couple who had very close connections to me via the industry. She was a petroleum engineer (drilling engineer) with ExxonMobil, he was a geologist with Shell, who now has his own consulting company. The last couple run a hip clothing store on Washington Avenue. They were young enough to be hip, and had young twins. Nice to have some Gen-Xers at a table full of Boomers.

So with that prep work, how was the food?

It was delicious!

We started with a nice Amuse that was a Tongue Pastrami with homemade mustard. Just a bit, but it was great. The champagne was good with it. Of course, I think that champagne is good with everything.

Next we had a small piece of fluke on an edamame puree (yes, it tasted just like edamame. I am not sure why I was surprised at that, but I was) and a burnt scallion puree.

Then a vegetable course - eggplant, peppers, and "gribiche" - an emulsified sauce.

The next two dishes were probably my favorites - the gnocchi with pork cheeks and saba, followed by sweetbreads with swiss chard and a monkfish liver veloute. I could live on sweetbreads, and having them piqued by that fish liver veloute was something else.

In a continuation of the protein combo, the next course was halibut braised in olive oil (it was not at all oily, nice a firm) with brandy scented chicken jus, and faro. If I remember correctly, there was a bit of crispy chicken skin laid on top of the fish. I think we change to the Chardonnay at this point. As above, the fish and the chicken complimented each other is a way I never would have guessed. Faro is like big barley, and was great. A bowl of that, with the chicken jus would be a nice treat.

By this time we were getting full, and not just a tiny bit tight. We seldom drink more than one bottle of wine between us, and here we had already had a cocktail and a bottle of champagne. And there was a little more to come.

The last main course was a lamb filet with a tiny nan (about the size of a nickle) some hummus, and a lamb jus made with syrah. Flavor explosions in your mouth.

The dessert was a ricotta with kefir and olive oil cake, and muscadine grapes. Nice way to end the meal. There was also a nice glass of iced coffee at this point.

And finally, everyone got a piece of berry coffee cake to take home for breakfast.

The pacing was good, and they really had the food distribution down well. IT was a long meal (we didn't get home until about 11:00) but that was to be expected with so many dishes.

We have been to other set dinners so we know it can be done otherwise (too much time between some courses, slow pickup of dishes, strange timing of the course, etc). It was impressive to see what these Wild Ones have put together.

Go if you get a chance. Your meal will not be like mine, but you can only put your foot in a river once.

A little step back in time: The Thistle in McMinnville

2011-08-09T19:30:00.003-05:00

I have been meaning to write about The Thistle in McMinnville since we left. We ate there our last night in town, and it was really quite an adventure.

It didn't really start that well, as Doreen had tried to get a reservation while we were still in Houston. She never spoke to a real person, but left our information. We called once we got to town, but were told that they had no reservation in our name. Oh well. We said that was fine (We had been eating quite a bit anyway) and we would try to come by (late) to see if a table had opened up.

The did let us know that we could probably sit in the Kitchen, and eat at the Chef's Table (though I don't really remember what they called it). We thought that might be interesting, but little did we know.

We showed up about 8:00 PM, and indeed they had a couple of seats at the kitchen. Now, you have to understand that in this restaurant, the kitchen was in the window facing the street. The seats were facing the kitchen, so you could see everything that was going on. IT was only about 3' deep and 9' long. It was a tiny kitchen.

The other thing about sitting in the Kitchen is that you don't get to pick your own dinner. You get to pick your wine, and as is the world these days, they asked you if you had any food allergies, but other than that, you were at the mercy of Chef Eric (shown above).

We love places like this. First of all, you don't have to make any decisions, so you don't end up with Food Envy. Second, you know that the Chef is giving you his best shot (unless he is just trying to get rid of the losers of the evening) so it should be good.

And it was delicious.

They recommended that instead of getting one bottle of wine, we get two splits, one white and one red. That made sense, so we started with a Riesling. (I can't recall exactly which one, but I think it was a Joseph Cristoffel. In any case, it was dry and fruity, the way you like 'em)

As a starter, we had Oregon Oysters. Much different than our Gulf Coast Oysters (which the chef called an "acquired taste". Me? I love 'em), they were served with pickled shallots and a champagne vinaigrette. The only problem was that there were not enough of them.

Following the oysters, we had two salads. One was Baby Gem Lettuce (surprisingly common in the Northwest) with Green Goddess dressing, and Beets with sauce. Both outstanding.

After that, we had two fish courses: Raw Tuna with Radishes, and Crawfish (!) with a dipping sauce. the crawfish were local, and HUGH by Texas standards. The chef called them a traditional Scandinavian Solstice meal. They were good (but surprising) no matter where he got the idea.

We had one more course before switching to a red wine, and that was gnocchi with wild foraged mushrooms, potatoes, and caramelized onions. Gnocchi are in right now, and when done right can be delicious. These were delicious.

For our red wine, we chose a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir (no surprise there), the Domaine Drohin 2008. We had been to that vineyard earlier in the day.

The first thing we had with the Pinot was Soft Egg with Mushroom. It was a very gently scrambled egg with more delicious mushrooms. Sometimes you don't remember how good eggs can be.

To keep up the egg theme, we then had Steak Tartar, so of do it yourself. The egg yolk was piled in the middle of the meat. You mushed it all together and ate it. Greedily.

Then we got to some dishes that I doubt either of us would have ever ordered. Duck hearts with kale in a cherry reduction, and lamb kidneys with coral mushrooms. The duck hearts were tasty little nubbins, and the kidneys had none of that ammonia taste you sometimes get from older kidneys. (OK, I am being kind. Sometimes they taste of urine. These were wonderful)

By now we could barely move. But there was one more dish - Cherry Tartuffe. We ate it with an Aged Vermouth as a digestive.

A truly delightful meal.

Seattle

2011-07-28T18:00:00.001-05:00

We had an excellent time in Oregon. There was nothing to grouse about:

but it was time to head up to Seattle and spend the weekend with Rick and Toni.

You could not possibly have found two more congenial hosts. They were very generous with their time, food, and wine. And they weather turned absolutely perfect just as we were rolling into town:

You can seem some snow peaked mountains from very nearby their house.

We went down to the harbor where they keep their boat, a Najad from Sweden. A Viking boat!

It was very nice:

but we didn't go out in it. I am not much of a sailor and was probably not too encouraging. C'est la vie!

We had a good time sitting around the boat, though:

Doreen liked to play the part of rail candy:

while I was still being amazed that you could find snow capped peaks in July:

After the boat, we headed over to Seattle's beautiful Japanese Garden:

It was very big, and had great vistas, complete with different colors and textures.

After that, we headed over to the Volunteer Park Conservatory. This is a statue of William Seward. He is sort of a hero in Seattle:

Look at that sky! The bluest skies you ever see, are in Seattle!

The Aurora Bridge Troll was on the way home:

To give you a sense of scale, that is a real Volkswagen Beetle in his left hand.

This is Rick and Toni's house:

It is very near Green Lake - that is a landmark you can always find on a Seattle map.

The next day we took a Ferry:

That is Mount Rainier in the background

and that is Mount Baker:

Nice view of the Seattle Skyline:

Here we are, having fun:

Then we took it back. This is a totem pole that a fellow build to honor his dead brother. The brother was killed by a cop:

That actually reminds me of something that I wanted to put in my post about the Columbia River Gorge.

While driving on scenic route 30, I wanted to sing Roll On Columbia by Woody Guthrie (and who wouldn't?) so I asked Doreen to Google the words.

It was mostly the way you remember it as a kid:

Roll on, Columbia, roll on.
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
So, Roll on, Columbia, roll on

except for the last verse:

Remember the trial when the battle was won,
The wild Indian warriors to the tall timber run,
We hung every Indian with smoke in his gun;
Roll on, Columbia, Roll on!

Yipes!

Wine tasting in the Willamette Valley

2011-07-25T19:35:00.000-05:00

One of the reasons for this trip was to familiarize ourselves with some of the Oregon Pinot vineyards. That is why we stayed in the Youngberg Hill Inn (a very nice B&B) right in the heart of the Willamette Valley.

I want to clear something up from the start, though. It is pronouced will-AM-it (as they say there, it's Willamette, Dammit!) not WILL-ah-met.

OK! Now that that is done we can talk a little about wine.

The very first winery we stopped at was Stoller Vineyards. (Doreen's last name). In spite of that seemingly well connected introduction, the tasting room host was decided cool to us. AND we buy a bunch of their wine! Well, we did anyway. We won't anymore.

But then we went to Archery Summit and had a great experience. The wine guy obviously loved his job, he was healthy with his pour, and we tried things we just can't get at home. We bought a bottle of their Arcus Estate wine. We brought that one home.

After AS, we went to another big one - Argyle Wines. They have a huge tasting room on the main drag (99W, I think) in Dundee. They not only had Pinot Noir, but Bubble and Stickies (sparkling and sweet). Very nice. We bought one of their nice Pinots and drank it in Seattle (which see)

We picked up some treats (cheese and sausage) after lunch.

and finally made it up to the Willakenzie Estate vineyard in Yamhill.One of Doreen's co-workers highly recommended this wine.

They even had a Winery Cat:

We then made it back to the B and B (quite safely!)

The next day, we started out at Domaine Drouhin the following day following a quick stop at the Red Ridges Farms shop.

We really enjoyed this tour. You could see the fermentation vessels there:

We bought a bottle of their wine as well. We drank that one in Seattle, too.

Then we made our way to our favorite stop of the trip, Ayres:

We really liked the winemaker - Brad McLeroy was a very entertaining hosts, along with his dog Gigi:

He really loved what he did, and we really loved his wines. We bought two, one to bring home, and one to drink in, you guessed it, Seattle.

Gigi, greeting guests:

Note the wine barrel road markers:

Then we made it to Beaux Freres. We didn't care for them too much.

There was one more stop before we got home. We wanted to try something we had never heard of before, so we stopped at the Lemelson Winery. We really enjoyed that tour as well. They built the winery so they didn't have to use pumps. (Their slogan is "Gravity flows, Pumps suck")

I didn't take any photos, but we did buy some wine. Nice!

Portland and the Columbia River Gorge

2011-07-21T21:42:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, before we headed out to Portland and beyond, we grabbed a couple of carrots and went to feed the Youngberg Hill horses (Toppper, the paint, Katheryn, the
sorrel, Chewie, the black one, and Hazel, the bay).

They like their carrots:

They like them so much, they want to keep eating the hand that held the carrot:

The Inn is a delightful place, well situated on a nice hill (Youngberg Hill, I imagine) giving it a rather strking appearance:

The horses sometimes like to play dead. It is very odd:

Portland is about 30 miles from where we are staying (which is near McMinnville) but it seems to take forever to get there. Traffic in this part of the world is pretty bad. It may be because they lay traps for bicycles:

This is for my niece Jesse:

We stopped in there and had a nice chat with the woman who was working there. She tried really hard to sell us some fibers. We resisted.

We only spent about three hours in Portland, proper. (Well, almost exactly three hours. That is how much parking we bought). But we did see the Chinese Garden:

then we went to a place called Andina for a great Peruvian meal. I highly recommend it.

If we would have spent more time in Portland, we would have had more stories. I did have a chance to grab a Stumptown Coffee espresso - one of the more famous small coffee roasters in the country. Excellent shot.

Then we drove east into the Columbia River Gorge, driving on Historic Route 30.

It was quite a view:

There was a place called the Vista House built in 1916:

that had a great view.

We kept going and hit Latourell Falls:

You can see the columnar basalt here which underlies much of the area:

We then drove over to see Multnomah Falls:

It is a two jump falls that is quite well known, and deservedly so:

Finally we made our way slowly back home. Wait, are we in Wisconsin?

We had dinner at a great place in McMinnville called Nick's Italian Cafe. Worth every calorie and gram of fat.

Evergreen Air Museum in McMinnville

2011-07-19T23:47:00.000-05:00

We came for the wine, we saw the aircraft.

A C-47. My father jumped out of these in WWII

The DC3, its civilian Cousin:

Spruce Goose:

Snoopy's Favorite, the Sopwith Camel:

Best fighter of WWII, the P51:

Self Portrait with IR:

Spitfire. The best the Brits could do:

Smokejumpers. I knew some of these crazy jokers:

Ball turret from a B17. I would not want that job:

A tank:

A Mars Rover:

Part of the Berlin Wall:

A Soviet (CCCP) spacecraft:

Whale watching in the San Juans

2011-07-18T12:13:00.000-05:00

One of the appeals of The San Juans here in Puget Sound is that they are a prime spot for whale watching. There are three resident pods of Orcas (killer whales) and a number of transient pods come through on a regular basis as well. We arranged for a whale watching tour through the hotel, and were told it would be about a three hour tour (maybe longer if you see whales). They pick you up on the beach, and the world renowned chef from the Willows Inn would prepare a "Gourmet food basket" for the trip.

We were told to show up at the inn around 1:00 PM, and the boat would pick us up at 1:15.

I hate to be late, and expect that in others. I am usually disappointed. We showed up at 1:00, and the basket was not quite ready. They had to toast the bread.

The gourmet basket consisted of several pieces of toast, some cheese in olive oil (hard to eat on a boat) some meat spread (ditto) and some small chocolates. I can say that we were disappointed.

But we showed up on the beach as directed:

and waited until about 1:35 before the boat came by.

We did not know what to expect, so every vessel we saw, we thought was the whale watching boat.

We thought this one was:

But that was some sort of a tug boat or rescue vessel.

Finally, we saw this come in:

and we thought, oh no! It is raining and cold. This will be a long trip.

But Troy, the skipper, was very nice. He gave us some rain gear to put on, and off we went.

We saw some porpoises as we crossed the water to what we thought were the whale watching grounds.

But this was just a runabout that took us to the main whale watching boat:

It had an inside cabin, and there were about 10 people already on it. We came in, found a place to settle, and listened to the "stories" that the pilot and guide told us.

We motored for about 45 minutes to the Lime Kiln Lighthouse, where there was a pod of orcas, including a baby.

I took a lot of photos, but most of them turned out like this:

a lot of water.

But then I was able to snap a few shots of the whales

There were plenty of whales

they were frolicking and jumping about. We saw a couple of them breach, and the baby was jumping around with the adults.

It was relatively warm, and mostly dry, inside the cabin. We were dressed for the occasion.

That is my Tilly Hat. I had a chin strap so that it wouldn't fly off. Doreen got a baseball cap from the Lummi Island Historically Society that had an image of a salmon reef netting rig:

We saw some more Bald Eagles

and then it was time to leave our little boat.

and get back on our really little boat.

While the day wasn't exactly what we expected, it was pretty fun.

Goodbye, Captain Troy!

Lummi Island Chili Cookoff

2011-07-18T09:48:00.000-05:00

We were sitting on our deck when the folks staying in the building next door told us that the Lummi Island Chili Cookoff was taking place that afternoon between 1:00 and 3:00. We didn't have any other plans, so we decided to head over there.

Parking was in a cow field:

Here are the cows:

We got there about 1:30, but 2 of the 13 chilies were already out. It was only $5.00 for chili, lunch (hot dogs) and all the beer you could drink. We ate a little and sat down to relax

Then we decided to hike the Otto Preserve Trail. We had to get provisions:

But were able to make it up without any problems.

The trees were very impressive

Then we came back to listen to a little more music:

It was a nice afternoon.

The Willows Inn on Lummi Island

2011-07-16T21:18:00.001-05:00

We are spending a few days at the north western edge of the US on Lummi Island in the San Juans. While this may seem to be an incongruous place for a world renowned chef to open a restaurant, this is where Blaine Wetzel, late of Noma, chose for his first head chef assignment.

I sometimes say that Doreen and I are "bad foodies" as we can't ever seem to get all the pieces in place to make a big splash of a report on a new place. We usually forget to take pictures of some of the courses, and get wrapped up too much in eating, rather than in thinking about eating. So last night, our first dinner at The Willows, I didn't even take the camera. We wanted to concentrate on the food. We didn't take notes, either, other than writing down the six (yes that is right six!) amuse bouche courses before we started on the menu.

This is going to be a long post, and as I am not breaking it up with photos, I wanted to start with this:

Nice! I especially like the porcinis that wild harvested on Mt St Helens.

We had cocktails on the deck before dinner. (While totally unnecessary, it was nice.) I had a glass of Sauv Blanc, Doreen had a cocktail called Saint. Gin, Grapefruit Juice, and Elderberry Essence. Little did we know how much we would be drinking once we sat down.

When we got to our table, around 7:10 or so, we were greeted with a nice glass of prosecco, poured by a young lady from Paraguay. (When was the last time you met anyone from Paraguay?). Light and very effervescent for a prosecco, it was a very nice accompaniment to the homemade bread (offered in a basket filled with hot rocks to keep the bread warm) a local butter. We could have eaten that all night. Oh wait, I think we did.

Chef Wertzel himself brought out the first treat - house smoked salmon. We could see the smoker from our seats. It was presented in a closed, beautifully crafted box with heated, still smoking cedar chips. You open the box, and two bites of salmon are waiting for you. Wonderful.

Next up was a bite of smoked black cod, caught in Puget sound. They were gently smoked, and had little pieces of shallots on them.

All along, if we ran low on prosecco, there was more poured.

Then we had fresh local greens (don't ask me what) served with a dipping sauce of some sort. All of this was eaten with your fingers. The greens had malted barely sprinkled on top.

Then we had toast with MORE greens on top of them. Just a bite, very fresh.

After that we had local oysters served with house made sauerkraut. The sou chef delivered that. As I make my own kraut, I asked him about his. He said that they found some funny cabbage (I can't recall the name, but will find out and post later) that produced a large amount of brine without much salt. It was delicious.

Finally, before we started our meal, we had crab pickled in sauerkraut juice.

Whew. Now we were ready to eat.

Here is the menu:

From Willows Inn July 15th

(you can see my notes for the amuse bouches on top)

But you can't be expected to eat a meal like that without wine. Here is the wine list:

So where do I begin? Oh, let's say the wine.

The first glass was a Columbia Valley viognier. I almost always like viogniers because they have such an oleaginous feel to them. This was served with the aforementioned Mt Saint Helens foraged Porcinis, along with a fresh cheese that was almost like cream and some woodruff, a local green. Porcinis are so rich it almost like eating small steaks. The wine interacted beautifully with the mushrooms, cheese, and greens to create quite the finish.

Next up was a Semillon also from the Columbia Valley. It was lighter than the Viognier, and fresher. It was perfect with the spotted prawns that are kept alive at the inn. You could not have more perfect prawns. Also in the dish were pickled kohlrabi. A nice crunch to go with the prawns.

After that, we had a Walla Walla valley Sangiovese. I never think about US produced Sangiveses, but this was great. It made me think we were in Tuscany. The course was grilled onions with rhubarb and thyme. I love almost any grilled vegetables, and these were delicious.

For the main course we had a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and King Salmon with celery, turnips, and mustard sauce. Each bite was delicious. Doreen, especially, loves root vegetables, and I think that the turnip is her favorite.

Finally (!) we had a nice Moscato d'Asti from Italy for our dessert course, which was Wildflowers and Verbena ice cream. While pleasantly full, we did not have a problem finishing this off.

We then walked back to our beach house, about 3/4 a mile away from the restaurant.

A wonderful evening.

Beach walking on Lummi Island

2011-07-16T14:43:00.000-05:00

Today after breakfast at The Willows (I will write more about the food there by and by) we took a couple of walks on the beach. The first walk was low (ish) tide and Doreen collected some rocks. Sorry about the fuzzy photo. It was rather cloudy and damp.

Then we went to the farm that the Willows owns called "Nettles Farm". They run their own bees:

And chickens. They have a chicken slaughtering class, but I think we will pass that up.

The also start their own greens:

When we came back, the tide was even lower. I think that this was about as low as it goes:

Then, wonderfully enough, we saw two Bald Eagles. Here is one of them:

We also saw a bunch of seals on a small island:

Doreen started talking back to them (they were very vocal) and they came off the island and started after us:

Luckily, we were able to make our escape.

The tide in Puget Sound

2011-07-14T20:25:00.000-05:00

I did not realize that Puget Sound had such large tides.

Here is a photo we took this morning at about 9:30:

Same area around 3:30 or so:

Amazing!

Mexican Freetails

2011-07-13T07:43:00.001-05:00

Texas is pretty well known for our Mexican Freetail Bats. There is an enormous colony in Austin underneath one of the bridges, and here in Houston we have a pretty good size colony under the Waugh Steet Bridge over Buffalo Bayou. I saw them leaving there one night back in the spring as I was driving home. It was amazingly impressive.

Here in our neighborhood, a small colony has taken up residence in a condo complex not too far from our house. We see them coming home every morning while we walk Blaze.

They are hard to photograph, but I tried:

There are hundres of bats coming home to roost. You can smell them as you walk by, you can hear their wings flapping, and you an imagine that you hear the squeaking.

It is a fun thing to see everyday.

4th of July!

2011-07-04T21:09:00.001-05:00

Doreen and I had a great long weekend. We started when I picked up some Yellowtails and we roasted them for supper on Friday:

They were twice as good as they looked.

The, on Saturday we went to see Midnight in Paris (on our 11:00 AM show. T here were only four other people at the show) and we just loved it. While I never expect anyone to read much of this blog (it is more for me to remember things) one item that would probably be apparent is that we love Paris. The first year we went to Paris together was 1998, and we have been every calendar year since then but one (thoug we made it up by going twice the year before and the year after). It was a great movie.

Then, that night we had dinner with two dear friends at Indika, one of the most interesting restaurants in the city. I started off with Mulligatawny Soup, and ended with Chicken and Green Masala. A nice Verdejo accompanied that and we were very happy.

On Sunday, we had rented the new True Grit movie. I am a huge fan of Charles Portis, and this movie clove close to the book. I would recommend both. Then we had summer sauage sandwiched fdrom Held's in Slinger, outside of Milwaukee. You can't get any better summer sausage than that.

Finally, today a good friend of mine was generous enough to invite us to his ranch in Gay's Hills, just outside of Brenham.

You can see that it was a beautiful place

I think that we behaved ourselves well enough that we will be invited back.

We had a great time.

Finally, we came home, and were able to enjoy the waning moments of the holiday with our pets.

Blaze:

and Djimmah:

Little Gallo was sleeping elsewhere.

Now, we are about to listen to the fireworks.

Happy 4th of July!

Roasted Fish

2011-07-02T10:27:00.000-05:00

Doreen and I recently went to a new doctor for a checkup. She recommneded (among other things)that we eat more fish.

Traditionally, I have been reluctant to cook fish. I find it a a little creepy. But after cooking sardines with great success, I decided it was time to use a New York Time recipe to roast a fish.

I left work a little early yedterday (about 5:30) and stopped at the brand new Whole Foods on Waugh (it opened on June 23rd) and talked to the fish monger. What a great guy! He recommended these beautiful Yellowtails:

Look at the clear eyes!

Here it is, dressed:

I forgot (as usual) to take a photo as soon as we took it out of the over, but here it is, sort of picked over:

and here are the bones:

We will do this again!

M3 back. As good as new

2011-06-18T15:52:00.003-05:00

The whole effort to get the M3 back on the road again as taken quite a bit of time. You may recall that I suffered a disater on May 28th while returning from the farmer's market.

Since then, I have been in almost daily contact with GEICO (my Insurance Company) and Advantage BMW (my dealer and repair shop). We had to go through a couple of iterations of insurance inspection before the car was ready to be delivered this last week Thursday.

I was pretty happy, but my insurance adjuster was on vacation. I called his mobile phone, which pointed me to another adjuster. I call that phone, and she told me who would be taking over for my assigned adjuster while he was on vacation.

I called THAT fellow, and he told me he would not be able to get to my car until Monday or Tuesday. Oh! I was depressed.\

I asked if there was any way he could take a quick look, and pointed out that I have been without my car for quite a while. He said probably not. I thanked him, and hung up.

Imagine my surprise (and joy!) when he called up the next morning and told me my car was ready to go. I arranged to leave work early, and dropped off my cute little bug, and made it down to my dealership around 4:00 PM.

There it was! I got it home to my garage (gingerly) and took a photo or two:

That same day, we saw a baby mockingbird in our Lace Bark Elm in front of the house:

One more shot of the car:

I have to give a shout out to GEICO, in particular Gifford H, and Advantage BMW, in particular Gustavo Q. Both companies, and individuals were a joy to deal with, kept me informed, answered any questions I had, and really worked with me to get my car back.

Thanks!

Wisconsin

2011-06-14T13:28:00.001-05:00

Last weekend Doreen and I flew up to Wisconsin to celebrate some birthdays, and the fact that my Three Sisters were running in a 10K race in Green Bay.

Sadly, one of my sisters had a stress fracture in her foot, and was not able to run. But her daughter ran in her stead:

They all finished, and did quite well. Melanie (the one on the right) placed 26 out of thousands and thousands of entrants! We hope that she will be the next Rosie Ruiz (ha! That is a joke. I recall that in the original version of Trivial Pursuit, one of the questions was "Who did not win the Boston Marathon in 1980. There are about 6 billion right answers to that question, and only one wrong answer: Jacqueline Gareau)

But after the race, the festivities began. My sister Abbie hosts Thanksgiving in this house every year for most of the nearby family. (I come only occasionally.) SO she is well prepared to entertain many, many people. You can see a small piece of the crown here:

Part of the fun of such a gathering is playing games. Here, our nephew Brian Larson is golfing in the living room. He was playing through from a bad shot. Nobody seemed to mine. (in reality he was getting golfing advice for a tournament in which he was in his CEO's foursome. He has never played golf before, and we were "helping")

Gus is Abbie's very tolerant and ever supportive spouse. Here he is making crappy ceviche. Maybe that is croppie ceviche. Some sort of ceviche, at any rate. It was delicious!

This is a robin's nest on Abbie's back porch. That color, I believe, is Robin's Egg Blue

Much of the time in Green Bay was spent waxing poetic. We all had many things to say, and the worst part was waiting your turn to say it!

These are some of the crazy inlaws. Laurie, (Matt's Wife), Jesse (Eric's Wife) and Doreen (my wife). They all wanted to risk their life on the Zippin Pippin. Crazy, I know.

They survived.

More family fun. Ree, Laurie, Madeline, Abbie, and Jesse. Jesse is a very talented Fiber Artist. She showed off some of her creations at the party, and they were snapped up by discerning consumers.

This is Eric. He is holding a rasher of Bear Bacon (Jesse's boss gave it to her). Eric pointed out that the bear bacon (which was delicious, by the way) was shot out of a jerky gun. Enough said.

We were lucky enough to even have the Wyoming branch of the family in town! This is in-law Beth and brother Chas.

Little Joe Cool (Ben) was everyone's sweetheart at the party.

Matt and Eric. (Eric loathes to have his photo taken without giving a big thumbs up)

The other great thing about family gatherings is that nobody minds if you just walk out with some of the furniture. Here is Matt, who had his eye on this chair for a while, and then just put it in his car.

Here are the seven sibs. Mark, Ree, Chas, Abbie, Matt, Mel, and me.

I had to slip in a self portrait in Abbie's back yard.

The house I grew up in (isn't there a country song about this?) 714 Pierce.

My namesake

We stopped by brother Matthew's Quickrete plant on the way to the airport. Nice!

And here he is in his office.

Next year in Santa Fe!

Sent from my niece.

2011-06-03T22:28:00.000-05:00

My Niece sent me this link after seeing my rental car:

YouTube - The Largest Auto I Could Afford: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

I love it.

My ride. The yellow one

2011-06-03T12:34:00.001-05:00

From my Android phone

At last, some good news

2011-06-02T14:13:00.000-05:00

The engine on the car is OK. So now (all) it needs is a new transmission, along with the oil pan and various under-bits.

I should have the car back sometime next week.

Yeah!

Dinner at the Roe House with Ree and Quinn, too

2011-05-30T20:46:00.001-05:00

Josienne arranged a nice evening over at their house with Ree and Quinn, and Doreen and me.

We had delicious hamburgers and fresh corn on the grill.

Jared cooked:

The rest of us sat around and "helped" take care of the baby:

I was trying to get a photo of Tancred "smiling" but it didn't turn out too well:

Good photo of Quinn:

And another good one of Josienne:

A nice one of Doreen and Julius, both smiling:

and now for some random, but baby shots:

Our plots

2011-05-30T16:08:00.000-05:00

Yes, some may think it a bit morbid, but since we don't have kids, we want to make the decisions about our eternal resting place.

We have always liked the Glenwood Cemetery, and started looking for plots there a year or so ago. We looked in the new section, and in the old section, and finally decided to buy these two plots:

They are off the main road, one layer back. The plot looks like this:

Of course, you always have to try something on before you buy it:

Iberian Dinner Party

2011-05-30T10:37:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in the story about my car, we had a dinner party last night. It was an Iberian Themed party, so we had sardines as the main course:

which I had to clean (too bad I don't have a gut-boy to help me)

and then we pack them in salt for a couple of hours. I am not sure why, but I think that it dries them out some. Anyway, it is now a tradition.

Another dinner party tradition that we have to to bake the New York Times No Knead Bread:

which is always delicious.

As it was Sunday morning, I also baked my famous "Dannidamim" bread:

Doreen selected a couple of interesting dips to go along with dinner. One was a Reg Mojo sauce. You had to rehydrate ancho peppers, and the scrape the pulp off the skins:

It was a lot of work. Interesting sauce.

No knead, done. Isn't it beautiful? And it tastes as good as it looks.

We also made a chocolate and macadamia nut tort. This is the crust.

Toasting the macadamia nuts

And of course we had asparagus. Grilled. It is that time of year.

Kiss the chef!

Scallions, waiting to be grilled. These were dipped in to the Red Mojo Sauce.

Dressing the tort. I did not do this.

Ta da!

Iberian treats. Marcona Almonds, Manchego Cheese, Serrano Ham, and olives.

We also got andouille sausage from the Greatful Bread guy at the Eastside Farmers Market. Delicous!

Grilled sardines. Hard to beat

Most of the food. That is my sis-in-law's World Famous Three Bean Salad in there.

Looks good, eh?

It was a delightful time. We had some Cava as a starter, and then some vinho verde with the meal.

And great company to enjoy it with us!

Killer Pothole

2011-05-30T10:14:00.000-05:00

We went back out to the location of the problem. The City of Houston has now marked it:

You can see the chunk of concrete to the right (west) of the manhole cover. I am pretty sure that is what I hit.

Close up of the concrete:

There is a little dip just this side (north) of the manhole cover

I put the camera case in the dip to try and show the relief, but it you can't really see it.

So I suppose that my right wheel was in the dip, and that brought the car just low enough to catch that chunck of concrete.

So sad to be me

2011-05-28T22:23:00.000-05:00

So Doreen and I were at the Farmers Market this morning, picking up vegetables and such for our dinner party tomorrow night (Grilled Sardines!) and while coming home, badness happened.

I was driving west on Alabama, just at Spur 527 - a route I have taken hundreds of times before - and I straddle a man hole cover. That particular man-hole cover is not particularly high.

But as I go over it, we hear WHAM!!!

And everything just goes to hell.

we limp home (about six blocks) just as it is obvious that the oil pan has a hole it in (Yes, the lights all came on about a block from where I stopped)

The good news is that GEICO has been great (so far) as has BMW assist and Advantage Midtown.

I just hope that I dd not damage the engine.

Breaks my heart! I don't even have 5,000 miles on the car.

I went back to the site, and I would have straddled that man hole cover again. All I can see is that there was a chunk of concrete that was sitting catty-whampus on the street.

The front fairing - no apparent damage

Here you see a little scratch and the damage starting below that.

I wonder if that picked up a chunk of concrete and flipped it under the car

I wasn't even going 30 MHP

Isn't that horrible?

That looks bad.

The car is at the dealer, and they don't seem too worried. The adjuster is in Dallas, helping people with hail damage.

I am glad I don't have hail damage.

Afternoon Edition

2011-05-25T21:36:00.000-05:00

I love newspapers.

It came from my youth, when I would read both the Appleton Post Cresent (an afternoon paper at the time) and the Chicago Tribune (delivered in the mail). I would read the Post Cresent after I got home, and the Tribune when I would be home for lunch (oddly enough, I frequently came home for lunch from elementary, junior high, and high school)

I remember quite clearly my father reading the Post Cresent in the yard in the afternoon on temperate days. It was nice.

It probably didn't hurt that I started delivering the Post Cresent while in Junior High (in the afternoons during the week and Saturday, Mornings on Sunday) and to my sophomore year in High School. Good money for a kid!

Then when I moved to Madison I subscribed to both Madison newspapers (at the time the Capital Times - which was the morning paper, and the Wisconsin State Journal, which was the afternoon paper.) Since i was a student, I could also get the Wall Street Journal for next to nothing. So I developed that habit as well.

My first job as an engineer took me to Greenville, IL. There, I subscribed to the St Lois Post Dispatch, as that was the closest big city to Greenville. I loved the Post Dispatch. I remember one day coming home from the mine (The Coffeen Mine from Consol) and a local policeman followed me to my trailer. (Not sure why. I was sober) he asked if he could look inside my car (of course, officer!) and then looked me in the eyes. I asked him if he could use his flashlight to help me find my Post Dispatch. It was under my car.

When I was living in Kemmerer, WY, I subscribed to the Salt Lake City Tribune. That was a fine paper, but not enough funnies.

I moved to Houston in 1980 when we still had a morning paper (The Houston Post) and an afternoon paper (the Houston Chronicle). I, of course, subscribed to both. I just loved reading the Post with my coffee before I went to work and the Chron with my beer after I got home. I was very sad when first the Chron went to a morning only edition, then finally bought Post and shut it down.

I lived in Denver for a year as well. They, too, had a morning paper (the Rocky Mountain News) and an afternoon paper (the Denver Post). I did my best to keep them both in business, to no avail.

I moved to Caracas in 1993, and that was a newspaper mecca. They had an English language paper (I think it was called the Daily Journal) that has since shut down, and many, many Spanish language papers. I subscribed to El Universal. What I didn't understand I made up in my own mind.

After Caracas, I moved to Singapore. There, they had (and still have!) a pitiful excuse for a newspaper called The Straights Times. There may be a worse newspaper in the world, but I have never subscribed to it.

And so I am back in Houston. We don't have an afternoon paper, but we do subscribe to three morning papers (All delivered before 5:30 AM, thank you very much!) the New York Times, the Houston Chronicle, and the Wall Street Journal.

I can't say I don't miss my afternoon paper, but I am glad that I have these three papers to enjoy.

For now.

The Mississippi River in Flood

2011-05-14T10:54:00.001-05:00

I was flying back from Frankfurt to Houston when I happened to open the windowshade as we passed over the Mississippi River.

It is obvious, even from 35,000 ft that the river had exceeded its banks.

I don't know exactly where we were, but it was south of Memphis.

All the brown areas are water. You can see that big field is completely flooded.

It looks like all the old oxbows are flooded

It is hard to tell, but there is a little town there in the left side of the photo. All the river front streets were under water.

That little island was also mostly flooded

Bankruptcy, and other learing experiences

2011-05-04T17:26:00.000-05:00

In July of 1999, the Board of Directors of Bell Geospace asked me if I would be willing to take over at President and CEO. This was a hard decision. The guy I would be replacing was (and is) a friend of mine. And the Company was in a tight spot.

In spite of raising over $20 million in equity and $14 million in debt we were quickly running out of cash. We had to close several sales or an additional round of funding to make the company work.

Reluctantly, I said yes.

The Board put me into the role and I immediately had to hire a CFO. I ended up hiring a fellow who became a very close friend (battle scars). I kept telling him we had plenty of cash (well over a million dollars) but he never really asked how much we were spending. Alas, we were spending WAY too much.

So first we tried to raise more money. We had a term sheet from a young and up and coming Private Equity firm based in Lime Rock, CT. The problem was the "pre-money" valuation (that is, what share price they were willing to pay for our stock) was $12 million. Yipes! Our last "post-money" (after our last round of funding) valuation was $45 million. That was quite a "down round". None of the current investors were willing to see such dilution.

So we focused on sales. We really had a pretty spectacular growth rate - in 1998 we sold only about $200k worth of data, and in 1999 we sold over $2 million! But our burn rate (cash out minus cash in) was about $2.5 million a month. Yipes!

My CFO told me that we had to get relief from our debt obligations, or we would be in violation of our loan covenants. (you had to keep a certain amount of cash or the loan could be called. There were many of these types of rules we had to follow)

Our biggest debtor (other than the loan with Third Coast Capital) was with Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the instrument we were using to collect our data. We had a payment due in October, and if we paid it, all our loans would be called.

It seemed like it would be a simple thing to go to Lockheed and ask that we reschedule payments. (there is a lot of history that I am leaving out here. The instrument we had was delivered very late, which meant that we missed the oil price peak, which meant that oil companies were cutting back on exploration, which meant that nobody wanted to buy our data. For want of a nail...)

But nothing with a large government contractor is ever simple.

This division of Lockheed we were dealing with (Lockheed Martin Federal Systems - they also made submarines) had never had a private client before. They were so naive that when it was obvious that they were not going to make the contracted date for delivery of one of our instruments, they told us that the price was going up (!!). We pointed out that in the contract, if they missed delivery, they had to pay a penalty. They said it never worked that way with the government. (I guess!)

So my CFO and I showed up in Manassas, Virginia on September 30, 1999. We had a meeting arranged with the head of the division, her finance guy, and a bunch of other people who didn't talk.

The meeting did not start off too well. She started telling us how they needed our cash in order to make their yearly bonus. I explained that we would not be able to pay them, and we were looking for a payment plan where we could push the payment out into 2000. She was not eager to do that.

Every time I explained that we could not pay, she explained that they needed our cash so they could get their bonus. I then brought up the fact that we were in this predicament because of their inability to deliver the instrument on time. She apologized, and then told me that she needed our cash to make their bonus.

I said that if we did not get relief, we would have to file for bankruptcy. She said that didn't matter to her, as long as she got her cash.

This meeting lasted pretty long into the evening. I was getting frustrated, and I could tell she was also.

I finally said, if you do not give me a payment plan, I am going to file for bankruptcy in the morning. She said "Well, you have to do what you have to do, and so do I. I need that cash"

So I got up to leave and said we were filing as soon as the courts opened. She said OK, and then turned to one of her minions and asked, "What does "filing for bankruptcy" mean, anyway?"

I was sort of flabbergasted. I said:

"It means you won't be getting your bonus"

We filed in the morning.

Fast Company love Houston

2011-05-03T17:07:00.000-05:00

O Pioneers! | Page 2 | Fast Company: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Famous people speaking famously

2011-04-15T21:42:00.000-05:00

These past two days I have been a judge in the Rice Business Plan Competition. It is a great event, and I love participating. I may write up a little about it tomorrow, but tonight I am just going to comment about a very famous VC who gave a presentation there this afternoon.

Many people believe that his fellow is God-like in his ability to identify companies and executives. Indeed, when he was introduced by the President of Rice, he was compared to Lincoln talking to a bunch of Civil War Buffs.

Of course, since I just finished reading Tony Horwitz great book, Confederates in the Attic, I know that most "Civil War Buffs" would not be characterized as Lincoln fans. (This is what you get for having a Yankee running Rice)

But maybe he was not far off.

The man was a truly great speaker. He was holding the crowd in the palm of his hard. But all that was coming out of his mouth was platitudes.

I won't dwell on this as I think it makes me seem bitter, and I am not a bitter person, and indeed have nothing at all to feel bitter about regarding this gentleman.

But I honestly had hoped for something more insightful from a man who has been so tremendously successful.

Maybe next year.

New Birth in the Backyard

2011-04-11T08:07:00.001-05:00

Spring came early to Houston this year. We have already seen one clutch of White Wing doves hatch, fledge, and fly:

From Doves and Monarchs

and that was quickly followed by the Monarchs finding our Milkweed (aka Butterfly Weed) plants again. This led to caterpillars:

From Spring 2011 in the yard

Chrysalis:

From Doves and Monarchs

Development:

From Doves and Monarchs

and finally, Butterfly:

From Doves and Monarchs

Ah, the circle of life!

Home again

2011-03-29T19:32:00.001-05:00

We arrived home yesterday about 2:00 PM. Out good nephew Quinn was able to pick us up and was waiting at the airport. Thanks!

It is always nice to get home. Blaze,

Back home

Blaze

was happy to see us, as always (though she was well taken care of by Linda)

Djimmah

and Little Gallo

Were happy to see us as well.

The yard was starting to burst into life

From Spring 2011 in the yard

and bloom

From Spring 2011 in the yard

I always like getting home. I like our house, the way we live in it, and our daily routine (fresh bread, home roasted and brewed coffee, the newspapers).

Auntie Em was right, there's no place like home.

Le Train Bleu

2011-03-27T14:31:00.000-05:00

(think of this post with a small remembrance of Lynn Lethcoe, who died a couple of years ago, way before his time. He first recommended Le Train Bleu to us)

After the reservation was made at Le Train Bleu, we headed directly over to the Gare de Lyon. (C'est magnifique!) We had to change Metro trains, once, but arrived just spot on time. (Those of you who know me know that I abhor being late. I think it drives Doreen crazy, but there you have it)

The restaurant is on the East end of the station:

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

With big sweeping staircase and art deco everything, it feels like a place out of time. (M.F.K Fischer called it "Not a Station, but a Place" and I would agree). We were seated immediately (before the waiting hoards who had no reservations, even though ours were only 45 minutes old) and had a view into the Gare, watching both the TGV trains come and go, and the old fashioned, slow trains as well.

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

Doreen was happy to be at Le Train Bleu, as was I

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

The place was very busy - with waiters and waitresses wandering to and fro continuously. And loudly. And dropping several plate (I seem to remember four in the two and a half hours we were there). But it just contributed to the charm. We ordered leisurely and ate the same way. For my appetizer I had Pistachio Sausage from Lyon in Brioche:

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

Doreen had Pig's Trotter and Escargot in Croustillant:

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

Both were delicious. With the meal I ordered a nice Pernand Vergeles (Louis Latour) Burgundy (2007) which went very well with the starters, and later, the main courses. The sauce on my brioche was just delicious. I am sure there was plenty of butter in it.

For our main courses I had the leg of lamb with scalloped potatoes. I did not know it when I ordered the lamb, but they carved it at the table:

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

It was beautifully presented:

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

and plenty of it, too.

Doreen had the veal chop with macaroni and cheese:

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

She found the veal a little stringy, while my lamb (some red, some nicely blackened) was great. I couldn't finish the whole plate.

For dessert we shared something called Creole Profiteroles. It was a single, large puff pastry with ice cream and banana inside. It must have been the banana that made it "creole".

They poured melted chocolate over it at the table, for a spectacular finish:

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

It was quite enjoyable.

Overall, a wonderful meal.

As we were taking advantage of the facilities before we left, I noticed a cat, the Chat du Le Train Bleu in the lounge:

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

Sort of sweet. I like the way that pets are treated here.

Here I am, waiting:

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

The worst part was that I left my hat in the booth.

I realized it when we got to the Hotel de Ville Metro stop. Doreen went on to wait for me by Notre Dame:

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

But my hat was still there, as you can tell after we ambled over to the Palais Royle during our postprandial stroll:

From Marche au Puce, Train Bleu, more

And we fly home tomorrow.

C'est tout!

Marche au Puce

2011-03-27T13:38:00.000-05:00

We started out sort of slow this morning. But a cup of coffee, a Chaussons Aux Pommes and a Pan au Chocolat got in the mood to get going.

We decided to leave the apartment:

From Marche au Puce, Tren Bleu, more

and head up to the Marche au Puce for the morning. It takes about a half hour from our stop on the Metro, and is a rather seedy neighborhood. (Not quite a banlieues, but not far away from one) We have been several times before, and always enjoy the trip.

Almost the first thing we spotted was this screen:

From Marche au Puce, Tren Bleu, more

Which we may end up picking up for our fireplace. I am not sure of the size, but we will check it out when we return.

It is hard to describe all the little shops, selling everything from Carousel Horses (and chickens)

From Marche au Puce, Tren Bleu, more

To machine guns (yes!) art deco lamps, Picasso plates, old ceramic jars, and stuffed monkeys:

From Marche au Puce, Tren Bleu, more

We saw more than one stuffed monkey at the marche. But I was not allowed to buy any of them. (I remember, though, that one time in Borneo my brother Matthew bought a monkey's paw. Or maybe it was a money skull. It was cool, in any case)

We eventually left the Marche, without any purchases. But before we left, we stopped by to look at the fireplace screen again. The fellow who was there was very nice. We took dimensions, and then asked if he would check and see if Le Train Bleu, the restaurant in the Gare de Lyon, was open on Sundays. He not only looked it up, but called and made us reservations! Now, isn't that nice?

C'est bon!

Saturday in Paris - Wandering about

2011-03-27T03:33:00.000-05:00

We spent Saturday leisurely wandering about the city. We left our apartment (we are on the third French floor - or fourth American floor) and walked down as per usual.

You can see that this was an expensive building from the beginning:

From Paris - St Sulpice and a llitte more

The stairs are wide and the hallways have windows. Very luxurious. We have enjoyed staying in this location (St Germain de Pres) and the apartment is quite nice.

We took the Metro up to Les Halles to stop in at one of the world's most famous kitchen good stores. This is where Julia Child shopped for her "Batterie de cuisine" while in Paris:

From Paris - St Eustace and a llitte more

We didn't buy anything, but we love going in there to see all the amazing things you "need" while cooking. They have some amazing copper pots, heavy steel skillets, tiny little porcelain ramekins and bowls, and so much more. You need a duck press? You can get one here.

From Paris - St Eustace and a llitte more

St Eustace was built in the mid 16th century. As you can see by the columns and arches, it is just on the verge between medieval and Renaissance. I think it is the patron church of deaf people.

From Paris - St Eustace and a llitte more

We spotted the Police (le Flics) dragging the river. We figure that this detective agency:

From Paris - St Eustace and a litte more

had something to do with it.

Later we walked down to Le Comptoir du Relais, a well know Bistro not too far from our apartment. Like almost everything in the food world, it is controversial. They have taken standard bistro food, made it better, and much more expensive. We had Oeuf Cocotte (those famous eggs in buckets) with Truffle cream, a plate of ham, cochon de lait (suckling pig) and a Russian Cake for dessert. It was all delicious. We did not have to wait in line, as Doreen got there right at the nick of time to snag the last table, a tall one on the sidewalk. It was perfect for us as we were able to sit side by side.

But we did see people waiting over an hour to eat there. It was certainly worth the money. I am not sure if it would be worth the wait.

Then later that day (!) we had dinner at L'atelier de Joel Robuchon. Probably our favorite restaurant in the world.

Sadly, our favorite waiter in the world (Vincent Chaudoreille) was not working that night (vacation! skiing in Switzerland!). It made it a little less special. But the food was good, as always. If I have time later today, I will post some descriptions.

A day in Passy

2011-03-25T15:31:00.001-05:00

We started this day really late. I must be the one to blame as I was doing some work until about 11:00 AM or so. Well, maybe later.

But around noon, we jumped on the Metro (We still had some tickets left over) at the Mabillon station

And headed up to Passy.

We are both reading a book called Murder in Passy by Cara Black. Doreen had read a novel by her the last time we were here. And it was a promoted book ($0.00 on Kindle) a while back. So we wanted to see where the murder took place.

So we took the train.

This is the station where we changed trains. I think it was called Le Mot Juste. Or something like that. (la mot picquet, I am told). I liked the station, and took its picture.

We got to Passy, and found it very nice. It is sort of like a small village in a big city. I guess like The Heights in Houston. It certainly had its own feel to it.

This is the old train station. It is not a train station anymore.

You can see the Eiffel Tower from almost every place in Passy. It is on the other side of the river (The Right Bank).

We ate lunch at a "South West" food place called Le Maison Lembert. Foie Gras and duck. We had both.

I had chicken

Doreen had the Hunter's Plate.

Balzac (my favorite author) lived in Passy. He was a typical artist (that means always in debt) and lived here:

He would have to escape from his creditors, and his mistress's husband out the back door.

He would edit a LOT. This shows a proof from his publisher. Man! I would go crazy. They had series of edits from one of his stories that went all the way across the room. Fascinating. They also had all (?) the characters from The Human Comedy on a chart across three walls, including images of the characters. I don't know why we have not come here sooner.

Oh, and it was free! Very odd for Paris. I would have gladly paid.

Balzac allegedly died of caffeine poisoning. He drank a lot of coffee. This is his coffee maker.

Here is the gate from which he escaped.

He had some association with the published Gautier. I think I am related to Gautier. Or at least I had some relatives in Louisiana named Gautier, so I am claiming him as my own.

Balzac's garden was not well tended. Well, it was well tended, but it was not well designed. Rather wild. I like it like that. Not at all like Rodin's garden.

Here is the house where the murder took place.

near that house there was a park. It had this sign outside the park. You can't be jolly and walk your dog here. Your dog can't be jolly, either.

There were two different people taking a photo of this couple. So I thought I would join in.

Getting back on the Metro. There was a very low passage. I almost had to duck.

Finally, we stopped to get something for supper. Melons and Prosciutto and Sancerre.

Delicious!

Arrival in Paris

2011-03-25T05:24:00.001-05:00

We took the Eurostar over to Paris to avoid airports, airplanes, and security lines. The price was about the same, but the hassle was much, much less. Our train pulled out of St Pancras station at 10:25 AM. We left our hotel about 9:15, and could have left even later. Checking in was automatic. They x-rayed our bags (no checking of bags) and we waited a few minutes before they loaded the train.

We got on the train, stowed our luggage at the end of the coach (Coach 11, seats 61 and 65 - they faced each other) and sat down.

We had a little continental breakfast, read and snoozed.

Right on time, at 1:47 PM (Paris is one hour ahead of London) we pulled into the Gare du Nord.

Paris is much more chaotic than London. The short cab ride from the Gare to the apartment was harrowing - nobody worries about "Blocking the box" in Paris. You drive like crazy - our cabbie beeped at a young woman whose baby carriage was too far out in the street. Yipes! At one intersection it was like gridlock. The traffic control lights seemed to have to effect at all.

C'est bon!

The apartment is very nice. It is owned by a Hollywood Wheel (former President of Miramax!) and is outfitted very nicely.

It is, in the vernacular of Paris apartments, Calm et claire (Quiet and light).

It has this spectacular staircase at the entrance. When we were leaving, I looked up and took this photo. As with most digital cameras, ours has a lag. While it was lagging, this young woman jumped into the picture. She laughed and laughed at that.

This is ST Sulpice. It was recently cleaned. The last time we were in Paris it was all under wraps.

We walked to the Luxembourg Gardens just for fun.

It was really packed with people, as the day was very nice. Everyone had TWO of these chairs. One for their butts, and one for their feet and luggage. We had three for two.

Then we walked back.

We had dinner in a little place called L'Epigramme - a small (12 table) place that was family run. We had foie gras and octopus for appetizers, Lamb and Duck for our main courses, and cheese and pears for dessert. All washed down with a nice burgundy.

Ah, Paris!

It is good to be back!

London, the Tate Modern

2011-03-24T03:19:00.001-05:00

On Wednesday we had some more beautiful weather. I don't think I mentioned how lucky we have been everyday on this trip with the weather. It has been sunny and mild almost the whole time. One day it was a little overcast - but that was the exception. I hope that it stays that way!

This is a view of St Paul's from the Millennium bridge. Nice!

These may look like sunflower seeds. But they are really ceramic sunflower seeds, each hand painted in China. There are about 100 million of them in this installation. The artist is Ai Weiwei. You can read a little about this here.

You can get a sense of the scale here

and here.

Then we went to Parliament, and had to look at Big Ben.

We had lunch at the Cinnamon Club, which is not really a club. It is in an old library building.

Excellent food!

This is the famous Banqueting House designed by Inigo Jones. This building changed the face of London.

On Trafalgar Square, they always have one plinth that is used for temporary Art installations. This year it is a ship in a bottle. It is Nelson's ship HMS Victory. The multicolored sails represent the multiple cultures that now occupy the UK.

There I am, after washing off my pants. This bird:

Made me very lucky.

That evening we went to see The Children's Hour - a play set in the 1920s in a small town in New England. Keira Knightly and Elizabeth Moss were the stars.

Hampton Court

2011-03-23T18:25:00.001-05:00

Doreen and I planned on meeting some good friends (Jamie and Andrea) for dinner on Tuesday evening. After much back and forth, we decided to meet in Hampton for drinks, and then head to India Zest for dinner.

So we took a train from Waterloo station down to Hampton Court in the afternoon.

As we were getting off the train, I snapped this photo. The conductor said he would have to confiscate my camera, as he thought I might be a terrorist. I said he just wanted a picture of my wife.

Hampton Court, as everyone knows, was originally built by Cardinal Wolsey, but was "given" to Henry VIII when the good Cardinal was trying to keep his head. (it didn't work. There is a lesson there for all of us)

It is a spectacular place, though. They have folks dressed up in period costume and they did little performances. It was fun.

The place is huge - about 1,000 rooms. They only have about 100 open to the public. That is the "Great Room" above. Probably the biggest room outside a church at the time it was built.

Hampton Court is really two palaces. The Wolsey Palace built in the 16th century, and the William III (William of Orange, or William of William and Mary) initiated additions (such as this courtyard below) designed by Christopher Wren (of St Paul fame. Though I always wondered if he was related to Percival Christopher Wren...)

They also have a maze:

I told Doreen about the "one hand" trick, and this is indeed a one handed maze. The trick is to never remove your hand from the wall, and you will get out of the maze. IT may not be the shortest way, but you will get out.

Not all mazes are one hand mazes but this one is. The trick worked.

The daffodils were blooming while we were they. Absolutely spectacular. They had a whole field of blooms.

They had swans, too. I am not sure if these were for the kitchen (as per The Tudors) but this fellow was rather aggressive.

This is a good view of the Wren facade. A spectacular place

But we did have to use the handrail HSE all the time! You spot it, you got it!

Here Doreen is in front of one of the many gardens. 60 acres worth.

One last shot.

I have to say that the meal with J&A was spectacular. They are excellent hosts.

London on Tuesday

2011-03-23T05:32:00.000-05:00

Monday I worked all day, but yesterday (Tuesday)we had a good day all around.

Monday evening Doreen got tickets to her friend Bruce Norris's play Clybourne Park, which just won the Ollies (the UK equivalent of the Tonys). (you can see the poster here, at a pub):

It is a play set in Chicago, 50 years apart. This is a simplification, but it is about a neighborhood that first goes from White to Black, and what the neighbors think about that - and then 50 years later when the neighborhood is starting to gentrify and white people start moving back in.

We always make it to the British Museum, to check and see if the Rosetta Stone is still behind glass. It still is.

A couple more photos from the Museum - one of our favorite places

Finally, we had to stop and whet our whistle (or is it wet our whistle?) at a pub.

We had some "real ale" (that means warm beer. And delicious) to tide us over for the rest of the day.

More on the rest of the day later. (Think Hampton Court)

London

2011-03-19T16:21:00.001-05:00

I have Board meeting in London Monday. The Company has invited "Partners" to come on this trip and get to know the other Board members and spouses. This was an alien concept to me, so when the Company asked me if I would be bringing a "partner" I did not know if they wanted me to invite a client, a supplier, or my spouse!

I waited to see what other Board members would say.

Happily, they meant spouse.

So we set off for London, and will be visiting Paris on this trip as well.

We start all our international trips in the Continental Presidents Club. Not sure how that will change with the United merger, I guess we will just have to see.

It is a good place to unwind. My good nephew Quinn drove us to the airport, and will be picking us up. Our good friend Linda will be taking care of the animals, and the house. And she live there, so don't think about going there to rob us. She is a real Texan, and is no doubt armed. You are forewarned!

This was a 777 with the new lie flat beds. Nice! This is the first time that I was actually able to lie flat on them. We both slept most of the way here.

Our hotel is The Arch just north of the Marble Arch underground (Tube!) stop. It is small, but seems quite nice. We are on the First (that means second) floor.

We wandered about this part of the city to stay awake and to buy a metro pass. We are just on the cusp of the either just paying for our tickets or buying a seven day pass. Since I am working one day, we bought Doreen a seven day pass, and I just loaded up my Oyster card with pounds. We walked over to the Marylebone (look at that word. What do you think the \genesis is?) train station.

We walked through Regent's Park afterward, and saw this flock of herons. (Herons, not egrets) They had a rookery nearby.

The park is very pretty, but I think it would have been nicer in a couple of weeks. The daffodils were blooming, but not much else.

Well, the apple trees were blooming, too.

From Regent's Park we took the tube to London Bridge. Some friends of ours told us about this gourmet food market on Borough High Street that is open on Saturdays. This was a good way to stay awake! (Thanks, Richard and Jim)

The market was amazing, and PACKED! It looked like you could get just about any sort of food there. (Even Mexican food)

There was plenty of fish. One place had Fish Soup that looked excellent, but we didn't get any.

Lots of sausages and pig parts. You could even buy pig heads:

But we didn't get any of those either.

We got Pastys:

Sort of like meat turnovers. They are Welsh or Cornish in origin, the miners use to take them underground. They would say hot all day.

Meat, potatoes, other root vegetables with brown gravy. Delicious!

As I said, plenty of fish. Here was a batch of fresh cod (the fish that changed the world)

and other, less important fishes.

And, of course, Italian Cheese.

Here is the Southwark Cathedral. The market surrounds this building, and probably has for over 1,400 years. There have been religious ceremonies on this cite since 606 AD!

Finally, we walked across London Bridge.

and then came back to the hotel for a well deserved nap.

A joke from The Fed

2011-02-08T19:00:00.000-06:00

Hat Tip to The Economist Free Exchange Blog:

DALLAS Fed President Richard Fisher is an entertaining guy to listen to. He likes to tell jokes, as he did to open his latest speech on current economic conditions. This one is borrowed from Ronald Reagan:

Paddy McCoy, an elderly Irish farmer, received a letter from the Department for Works and Pensions stating that he was suspected of not paying his employees the statutory minimum wages and that an inspector would be sent to the farm.
On the appointed day, the inspector turned up. “Tell me about your staff,” he asked of Paddy.
“Well,” said Paddy, “there is the farmhand. I pay him 240 a week and he has use of a free cottage.”
“That’s good,” said the inspector.
“Then there’s the housekeeper. She gets 190 a week, along with free board and lodging.”
“That sounds fine,” said the inspector.
Paddy went on. “There’s also the half-wit. He works a 16-hour day, does 90 percent of the work, nets about 25 pounds a week when all is said and done, but takes down a bottle of whiskey and, as a special treat, occasionally gets to sleep with my wife.”
“That’s disgraceful, Paddy,” said the inspector. “I need to interview the half-wit.”
“Well,” said Paddy, “you’re looking at him.”

Poets and Writers Ball

2011-02-06T11:27:00.000-06:00

Last night we went to the Inprint Poets and Writers Ball, their main fund raising event for the year. (My sweet ever lovin' is on their Board of Directors) It is one event that she doesn't have to drag me to - I enjoy this evening.

It is held at the Houston Country Club (fancy!)and the event is really a celebration of writing, with a focus on local writers. They have cocktails from 6:30 to about 7:00, then the crowd divides into three rooms, and local writers read from their most recent works.

During the drinking part of the evening Doreen introduced me to Jeff Smisek, the CEO of ~~Continental~~ United. (His wife is on the Board of Inprint as well). I chatted with him a little, saying how I hoped that he would make United more like Continental, and keep the level of service as high as it used to be. He assured me that they would. I told him I flew 150,000 miles on CO last year and he asked me if he could shine my shoes (While that sounds odd, it was surprisingly nice). We talked a little about Gordon Bethune, the charismatic CEO that rescued CO from oblivion a couple of years ago. Smisek said Gordon was right for his time, but that the company needs professional management now. I can't say that I disagree. This is one of those things that we just need to wait and see what happens. I will keep flying Continental and I will keep letting you know how it goes.

The three writers last night were Antonya Nelson, poet Martha Serpas, and Austin-based author S. C. Gwynne.

Serpas is from Galliano, LA and read some poems about the flat, sugarcane plantations, and water of South Louisiana. She was very intense (she is a trauma chaplain at Memorial Hermann Hospital) and an excellent reader. He two books of poems are called Côte Blanche and The Dirty Side of the Storm. I will look them up.

Nelson read a funny essay about getting a tatoo at 46.

S. C. Gwynne read from his book Empire of the Summer Moon, about the Comanche Indians. Excellent! I bought it this morning.

The main course was Colum McCann, who wrote Let the Great World Spin. He talked about how important stories are in our lives. He is Irish, and mentioned that he wanted to get the crowd singing. I was disappointed that he did not. So afterward, I went up to him and we sang a couple of verses of Irish Rover (much to the amusement of all concerned)

I went into a tavern I used to frequent,
and I told the landlady me money was spent
I asked her for credit, she answered me nay!
Such a custom as yours I can get any day!

and so on.

Finally, as we were leaving Doreen introduced me to Justin Cronin, the author of The Passage. I told him how much I enjoyed his book, and I guess that was still new enough to him that he wanted to talk. So we chatted about the book, the science behind it, the complex social relationships that he had to take care of, and when the next two books in the trilogy will be coming out (1 year and 3 years). His wife was standing by, looking bored so we eventually moved on. But I am pretty sure that he would have stood there and chatted all night.

It was fun.

Continental flight crews

2011-01-31T18:45:00.001-06:00

Are the best in the industry.

Sent from Samsung mobile

On the way to Pittsburgh

2011-01-31T17:43:00.000-06:00

Sent from Samsung mobile

UW Madison Mining Engineer: Exxon Minerals, My First Real Job.

2011-01-28T20:57:00.001-06:00

This is sort of self referential, but there you go:

UW Madison Mining Engineer: Exxon Minerals, My First Real Job.: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Peter Carey

2011-01-25T08:03:00.000-06:00

Last night we were fortunate enough to see Peter Carey read at Inprint, the Houston reading series (My sweet ever lovin' wife is on their Board of Directors). Prior to the reading, we were at a dinner with Mr. Carey - a small dinner with about 14 folks.

During dinner he joked and told stories, and was generally very amiable. I have read several of his books (The True History of the Kelly Gang, Oscar and Lucinda, Jack Maggs, Theft, My Life as a Fake, 30 Days in Syndey, and his latest Parrot and Olivier in America)so we had plenty to chat about. We bantered, which I always enjoy.

Some of y'all may know that my sweet even lovin' really likes to have autographed copies of books. (Note to potential inheritors - look in all our books for autographs. They will be worth some money!) We debated how many books we could fashionably bring to the dinner with us. I said two.

That topic came up during dinner, and Mr. Carey laughingly said that we shoul have brought them all! We enjoyed that.

After dinner, we handed over the two books (Jack Maggs and Parrot and Olivier in America) to him. He thought a minute and asked what he should write in them. I suggested "To my most charming dinner companions" in the first one:

From Peter Carey Books

Then as he was thinking about what to put in the second, I suggested he say "You should have brought more books":

From Peter Carey Books

He was equally charming at the reading.

Read his books, and catch a reading if you can.

A Short Term Blogging Task

2011-01-07T11:16:00.001-06:00

I was recently informed that the University of Wisconsin Madison has a Geological Engineering department - the logical successor to my Mining Engineering degree.

I have taken it upon myself to recap my mining, and subsequent career for them (sort of, but not really, at their request)

You can see the progress of such self indulgence here.

I will fill it out as time goes by.

Sardines Get a Modern Makeover - washingtonpost.com

2010-12-30T10:08:00.000-06:00

Sardines Get a Modern Makeover - washingtonpost.com: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

2010-12-29T17:24:00.002-06:00

We got home late last night on an uneventful flight from SFO. (Thanks Quinn!)

It was a great vacation. We were celebrating two birthdays (My lovely Bride and her best friend Paul's) in San Francisco

From San Francisco and Doreen's Birthday

and Sonoma County:

From Sonoma and Redwoods

Both legs of the trip were great (I wrote a little about our trip to Berkeley for a play and dinner for Chez Panisse here.)

As usual on our trips we ate WAY too much great food (La Mar, Chez Panisse, Wayfare Tavern, The restaurant at the Kenwood Inn, Cyrus, and more that I can't remember) and drank maybe one too many glasses of wine.

The side trips were great:

From Sonoma and Redwoods

From Museum and a little more

and the company was the best.

From Museum and a little more

San Francisco and points north are always a great time, even if the weather did not cooperate:

From Sonoma and Redwoods

A good celebration!

Merry Christmas to All!

2010-12-24T22:00:00.001-06:00

And to all a good night.

Arabian Nights at the Berkeley Rep

2010-12-24T21:41:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Doreen and I took the BART over to Berkeley to see the matinee performance of Mary Zimmerman's Arabian Nights at the Berkeley Rep.

From Berkeley

I wasn't sure what to expect, either for Berkeley or the Play, but both were very entertaining. I seem to remember visiting Berkeley once or twice in my ill spent youth, but the town seemed totally new to me. First, getting out of the BART station we noticed an unusually large number of beggars. Not just beggars, but young beggars. And not just young beggars, but young beggars smoking pot. I certainly have nothing against young people smoking pot, but to see them begging (rather aggressively) honestly surprised me. I wonder who gives them money.

But we wandered around town and found a nice little place for lunch called Le Note. Doreen had Ratatouille, and I had a Croque Madam. Both were passable, if not great.

We then wandered about the UC campus to kills some time. It is a very pretty campus:

From Berkeley

and stumbled into a street festival. Those are always fun.

But getting back to the Arabian nights. We all know the story (The king is betrayed, he promises to kill each wife after one single night, Scheherazade keeps her head by stringing out stories that never end, and the king always lets her live one more night to hear one more story until he falls in love), but each story was played just delightfully. And the stories! There are stories within stories within stories. And each actor just became the role they were in at the moment. It was a long play, and I just didn't want it to end. If you ever get a chance to see it, you can't turn it down.

After the show, we had dinner reservations at Chez Paniesse (careful if you click through. There is music) Alice Water's (justly famous) restaurant. The food was great (you had no choice. But that didn't matter - it was great) and the wines were superb. We started with a roast quail salad with a duck liver crotini on the side. Then lobster bisque. The main course was roast lamb, and dessert was buckwheat pancakes! It was an excellent meal

Doreen living in the land of bliss

2010-12-24T00:08:00.000-06:00

50 days of Bliss (out of a lifetime of bliss)

2010-12-22T16:07:00.002-06:00

My sweet ever lovin's birthday is this Saturday. You may notice that she shares this birthday with a very famous religious figure. That being said, I always try to make her birthday someone special.

This year, for example, we are in San Francisco:

From San Francisco and Doreen's Birthday

That is us on a cable car.

We are here until Saturday, when we drive up to a spa in Sonoma County for even more fun.

Additionally since this is a milestone birthday for her, I have been at her beck and call, honoring her every little wish, and simply put, making her life joyful for the 50 days preceding the actual birthday.

This has become known as her "50 Days of Bliss"

Of course, her life is pretty blissful anyway, so this was sort of just like gilding the lily.

Cars - Chapter eleven 2007 BMW 550i

2010-12-16T15:26:00.003-06:00

My current car - until tomorrow, when I am selling it - is the best car I have ever owned. Not the best looking, mind you, but the most reliable, and most performant car that I have had the good sense to drive. It is a 2007 BMW 550i, a solid 5 series with a nice sized V8 (oddly enough, it is 4.8 liters, not 5.5 liters like the name would imply). 0-60 in 5.4 seconds, and all that at 20 mpg:

From Cars

Did I say 20 MPG? I meant 19.14 MPG. How do I know with such precision, you may ask? The answer is that I have recorded ever tank of gas that I put in that car. (You can see the data here.) I am not ordinarily this obsessive, but it started when I picked up the car and I asked the salesman what the gas mileage was. He couldn't answer, so I said I would find out. Then after about a year you can't really stop recording the data. The cool thing is that you can also follow gas prices over the past four years.

This car has some great technology that is now pretty much taken for granted. Sonar in backing up and driving forward (for help in parking), satellite radio, heated seats, bluetooth connection to your phone (though I seldom talk on the phone while driving. It is much easier to text [just kidding]). And fast? This car was probably faster than 95% of the cars on the road. Did I drive fast? Well, not really fast. Maybe occasionally. But it was nice to know that the power was there when you needed it.

I will miss this car.

Cars - Chapter ten 1997 Mercedes Benz E420

2010-12-14T12:38:00.003-06:00

I think that this is the best looking car I have ever owned:

From Cars

I first saw this style while living in Singapore - I think it was the first model year. I like the "organic" curves and round headlights. I never drove an E420 before I bought this (via fax!), but I did drive its younger sister, the E320 (V6 instead of V8). I tried to put this car on my American Express card. AE had no problem doing that, but the dealership was not game. I guess the % cut to American Express was too much for them.

The photo above, along with the photo of the car in Chapter two, was used in a Mercedes ad a couple of years ago. They asked owners to send in photos of themselves with their cars. I had the old one, and then several years prior to that ad campaign my wife took the photo above, recreating the earlier photo. We got paid, as did my brother Matt, who (probably) took the earlier photo. A minute of fame.

I always felt good while driving that car. It was pretty quick (there is no replacement for displacement) and as I said, i felt it was just a really attractive automobile.

The first day I was driving that car I was (honestly) speeding down Memorial Drive, the curvy part eastbound just past Sheppard. A cop pulled up along side me and simply gestured for me to slow down. Now that was nice of him! The car still had paper (new car) plates, so I guess he was cutting me a break.

The oddest thing that happened to me is that I ran that car for over a year on expired plates. Long story, that - let's just say I didn't get the paperwork in a timely manner, and, quite frankly, who looks at your registration sticker date?

Then one day when driving to the office (in Alvin, home of Nolan Ryan) I was stopped by a state trooper on Highway 6 in Manvel. I had NO idea why he was stopping me. I pulled over, and he asked "Do you know why I am stopping you?" I told him I had no idea. I said I was probably driving a couple of miles over the speed limit, but that just couldn't be the problem. Then he pointed out that I was OVER a year expired! I apologized and made some excuse about not getting my mail. He wrote me a warning ticket. Nice guy.

That was on President's Day, 2002. I know that because during the day I was trying to find out what I needed to do to re-register the car, and all Harris County offices were closed.

THEN, on my drive home, I was stopped AGAIN, by a different cop! I showed him the ticket, and told him my story, as well as the fact that it was President's Day, and all the county offices were closed. He said "I can still give you a ticket, you know!" Which I acknowledged, and he let me go, too.

Here is the odd part of the story. If you are late in paying your registration fee (I think more than a month) you need to pay a fine to get it reinstated. But if it is over a year, it is considered a NEW registration, and not only do you not pay the fine, you don't pay for the back registration! What a deal. I was a lucky boy with that.

I really liked that car.

Cars - Chapter nine 1994 (ish) Volvo who knows what

2010-12-12T11:21:00.002-06:00

In January of 1995 I moved to Singapore. I inherited my predecessor's Volvo. It look just like this:

From Cars

But that is not it. I don't have a photo of that car.

It was convenient having a car in Singapore, but I did not like anything about that car. What I liked most about that car is that I could drive out to Pungoll Seafood for Black Pepper Crab and Salt and Pepper Shrimp.

The first time I went to Pungoll Seafood I didn't realize they did not take credit cards. The owner was as nice as she could be, and said that I could return later with cash. Nice! I think it was the Volvo that made her trust us.

There are not many funny Volvo stories, but the night before I left two of the guys I worked with (now they are both high rollers at their respective companies - Halliburton and Chevron) came over and we drank all of my remaining wine, which I had got from another ex-pat who had left Singapore.

We drank and drank, then we went out to a bar, I think it was called Saxophone, or something like that. I was so tight I sang St James Infirmary on the bar.

I had an early flight the next morning, and no car booked. I had hoped that one of these jokers would give me a ride to the airport. The car (that stinking volvo) was almost out of gas. Luckily for me, one of the guys did give me a ride, well hung over before a 24 hour flight.

And the car didn't run out of gas, as far as I could tell.

Cars - Chapter eight 1993 Jeep Cherokee

2010-12-11T10:00:00.002-06:00

This is one of my two company cars, but I though I would include it anyway.

This is the only photo of the car that I have:

From Cars

That is it to the right of the photo. You may be able to tell from the picture that I was not living in the US at the time I owned that photo. I was in Venezuela. The gentleman in the photo is a good friend - he was a retired Colonel of Artillery in the Venezuelan Army. The picture was taken on the way to his finca at San Juan de los Moros:

View Larger Map

It was always fun riding with the Colonel. He had, of course, his military ID with him at all times, as well as his 9mm automatic. When we would come to a military checkpoint (of which there were many in Venezuela) he would let the soldier swagger up to my window and ask me what I was doing, and where I was going. He would then lean over me with his ID in his hand. The soldier would immediately snap to attention and wave me through with a very deferential "Sigue, sigue, me coronel!"

That car was OK. Called a "mafioneta" in Caracas as it was well liked by the drug dealers in the country, it was an often stolen car. Someone tried to steal this car too, but they were not successful. But they did ream both locks out with what I assume was a screwdriver. The only way to open the car was with the remote control.

These cars were stolen so frequently, I had to have secondary anti-theft devices in the car. I had two - a "tranca palanca" and a "tranca pedal". The first one locked the shift knob (it was a five speed manual transmission) to a piece of angle iron welded to the floor board. The second was a device that locked the brake to the clutch pedal. That way, you could not depress either. We had these two locks installed by different shops, because I was told that if you had them both installed by the same shop, they would keep the keys and then steal the car if they happened across it in the street.

I loved driving in Venezuela - it was really survival of the fittest. Once, I had two folks down from our Houston office. The guy the back kept having a sharp intake of breath as we would come close to other cars. The fellow in the front seat said, "You should just close your eyes when Dan drives. It is safer that way." I replied "Yes, that is how I manage to get by in this city"

I never even had a fender bender.

Cars - Chapter seven 1989Ford Taurus SHO

2010-12-08T16:44:00.002-06:00

The Saab lasted me about seven years, and it was time to pass it on. I sold it to my younger brother Matthew for a steal, and he drove it for quite a while. I am not sure of the final disposition, but I think it met a violent end.

But what I got nest surprised many of my friends, a Ford Taurus SHO:

From Cars

This was an unusual Taurus. It had a Yamaha Marine V6 3 liter engine that generated 220 horsepower (a lot at the time) and did 0-60 in 6.6 seconds (very fast at the time. For comparison the BMW M3 coup from 1989 had a 2.3 liter engine that generated 195 HP, and went 0-62 in 6.9 seconds)

It came with a five-speed manual transmission (only) and was a front wheel drive car. It generated so much torque that it would pull the steering wheel out of your hands in a sharp left turn if you really tried to floor it. But it was a fun car. (Partly because nobody knew how fast it really was!)

I only drove that car for about three years. I bought it when I started working at Landmark Graphics as a salesman, and kept it in storage while I was living in Caracas, but finally sold it to another Landmarker (you know who you are, John) when I moved from Caracas to Singapore.

A friend bought a similar car, and we would occasionally see each other on the freeway. Mayhem would ensue. He tapped his car out on the freeway one day in a one car accident. He was fine, though.

I enjoyed that car. Not a car to love, but certainly one to appreciate. I liked what Ford did with that car. IT kept it low-key and high performance.

Cars - Chapter six 1982 Saab 900 Turbo

2010-12-06T18:02:00.000-06:00

Finally! My first new car ever.

Seeing as one of my life motivators is to be different, when I finally realized that I could afford a new car (even at a usurious interest rate) I opted for a Saab instead of a BMW. One of my buddies in the office (Dave Smith. He was a mining engineer from Wyoming, and my partner in crime during one of the worst incidents in my Exxon career. That involved a vehicle, too. A Chevy Suburban. Now, back in 1981 a Suburban was a working truck. We used ours mainly for a surveying truck, not a housewife's succor transporter. And it was big and ungainly, with a manual transmission with a crawler first gear. The less said about what actually HAPPENED in that truck the better, but suffice it to say that beer, and a fire hydrant, were involved) had a Saab and he loved it:

From Cars

Quirky, of course, but who doesn't love quirky? I mean, the ignition key was on the floor between the seats! (That had something to do with Saab's origin as a aircraft manufacturer. But I am not sure what. Not like Porsche, who puts the ignition switch on the left side of the steering wheel so that in a Le Mans style racing start you can have your right hand on the shifter.)

While I never was in a wreck with this car (that was left to my brother Matthew) it was sort of jinxed. The heated seats never heated (not that big a deal) but you could never turn the regular heater OFF. (Not such a big deal in Denver, where I was living at the time, but a BiG problem when I moved back to Houston. This caused one of the strangest fixes I even did to a car. I was able to figure out how to divert the cooling fluid (which that car used in the heater coil) back to the radiator hose bu cutting one of the hoses and installing a manual valve. Then, whenever I would need the heat, I would have to open the hood and switch the valve. The problem was that the valve could not take the heat of the coolant, and failed, spilling all the coolant onto the roadway. I had to have the car towed to the dealership and my "fix" fixed.

The car also had a problem with its transmission. Right before the warranty expired, I was able to convince the dealership that there was something wrong with the transmission. They opened it up, and had to replace first and second gear.

By the end of that car's life it turned to a very noisy car. It had a ton of rattles and squeaks, exacerbated by the fact that the read seat was a fold down seat, thereby adding a whole new level of noise producing joints.

But it was my first new car ever, and I certainly still think of it fondly.

I just will not ever buy another Saab.

Cars - Chapter five 1968 BMW 1600 (with a 2002 engine)

2010-12-05T16:21:00.005-06:00

After selling the Olds, I was back to my old German cars again. Another 1600, but the previous owner had replaced the smaller 1600 engine with a 2002 engine:

From Cars

This was another very fun car that slowly degraded over time. Cars just didn't last as long then as they do now.

From the first day I owned this car I was never sure if it was going to start when I needed it to start. I always kept a can of ether in the trunk to help. (You know, you take off the air cleaner, squirt the either in the carburetor, then run into the car and hit the ignition before all the ether evaporates. If you are luck, it gives you enough juice to start the car and get the fuel into the engine.)

I was living in an apartment complex called Indian Springs on Watonga street in Houston at the time. I thought it was pretty cool to own a BMW, even on old, unreliable, rusty, beat-up BMW. The woman who lived downstairs from me drove a brand new Porsche 924. I was always trying to make time with her to no avail. I think that once I even said, "I own a BMW" to impress her. The problem was that she knew which BMW it was, so it didn't work.

I moved to Denver in the summer of 1981 and drove this car up there. It made it all the way, and then promptly failed. I was in the parking lot of a large liquor store between Denver and Golden and was trying the ether trick when the battery went dead. A fellow in a Ferrari drove up to give me some advice. "You're flooding it" he said. Floor the gas pedal and it will dump the gas". I told him that what I really needed was a jump, as my battery had died. He just raised his electric window and drove away.

This was the only car I have ever had that was broken into. While it was parked at the apartment complex in Denver someone slim jimmed the door, popped the hood, and stole the upper radiator hose and the little plastic cover that protected the fuses (the fuse box cover). I was able to replace both for about $10.

That was the last totally unreliable car I owned, but not the last car to leave me stranded.

Cars - Chapter four 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88

2010-12-05T11:50:00.002-06:00

After the 1600 was totaled, I needed a car fast. Not a fast car, at least not that I could afford one.

One of the guys at the office, our Electrical Engineer, Larry Goetz, told me he would sell me his Olds Delta 88 (This is not it, I don't have a photo of this car, either):

From Cars

But that is the right color, and it was cold when I owned it.

Larry was a good guy and was trying to help me out. In my youth I probably didn't realize that he was doing me a big favor, and I did not return the pleasure.

I did not like that car, and started trying to sell it as soon as I took possession. For some reason, I was acquainted with a recent Russian immigrant. He wanted the Olds, and I sold it to him less than a month after Larry sold it to me, at a profit. I didn't even have clear title!

Not something I am particularly proud of, but there you have it. I made some money, but upset Larry.

If you are out there Larry, sorry about that. I was just a dumb kid.

Cars - Chapter three 1967 BMW 1600

2010-12-04T18:09:00.003-06:00

The third car I owned was a 1967 (pretty sure on the date) BMW 1600:

(This is not the actual car. I can't seem to find any photos of this car.)

From Cars

I look back in wonder at that car. I wonder how BMW got so many horsepower into such a small package. I wonder how they managed to keep that first gear SO LOW. (you had to shift at about 4 mph). But mainly I wonder why I bought that car.

This was in 1980, and I had just moved to Houston to start my first real job. I had no money, but good prospects. I tried to get a new car, but nobody would loan me any money. (Remember 1980? 20% interest rates on car loans for the GOOD prospects!) I had to buy a suit (you had to wear a suit to work at Exxon), some furniture, gosh, all sorts of stuff.

And Houston was going through it hottest summer in years (I moved down in mid-July). There were something like 9 days in a row over 100 degrees. Exxon Mineral's offices were in a building downtown (then Dresser Tower, now KBR Tower) and there was a bank right across the street with a rotating time and temp sign. So I remember the heat quite well.

But getting back to the car. Anyone out there who is familiar with the 1600 would know that it did not have air conditioning.

Let me clarify:

I bought a car.

In Houston.

In July.

In 1980.

That had no air conditioning.

So, as I said, I wonder, baby, why I bought that car.

But it was some kind of fun. Quick and hard to drive, the synchronizers were toast, so you really had to know what you were doing in order to shift that car without grinding the gears.

I owned that car from that July until it met an untimely demise when a car turned right in front of me and I smacked into her front quarter panel.

Oh, did I mention the car had no front bumper? It was not a fair contest. She was driving a big Cadillac, I was completely wrecked.

I was coming back from the post office on 43rd street with a Christmas present. (I can't remember from whom) when she turned in front of me.

She got a ticket, I got almost nothing for the car.

Very sad way to lose a car.

Cars - Chapter two 1965 Mercedes 220S

2010-12-04T10:44:00.006-06:00

Here is the second car I owned, a 1965 Mercedes 220S in deep blue:

From Cars

I bought this car in Madison, WI for $400. I needed it to drive to Kemmerer, WY for my second co-op engineering job at the Kemmerer Coal Company.

In retrospect, it was probably not the best choice of a car to drive half way across the country, and live in a small town in western Wyoming. The greater Kemmerer area (which, of course, included Diamondville and Frontier) had about 3,000 people. Of course, I was not thinking about that when I bought a car that immediately needed about $200 worth of work. But all I could think of was, "I own a Mercedes!"

The car had numerous problems while I was in Kemmerer. The clutch, a hydraulic clutch, leaked. So I had to continually add hydraulic fluid and bleed the hydraulic line. Well, at least until I broke the bleed valve and had to ask my brother Mark to carry a Clutch Kit from Madison for me when he visited Kemmerer on an interview. I found a local mechanic to install the kit and the car worked fine.

It got really cold in Kemmerer, but I never had a problem starting this car. It turns out that this was because the fuel pump was leaking gasoline into the crankcase lowering the viscosity of the oil to the point where it was probably useless. But oddly enough, this wasn't much of a problem until I had to drive to Salt Lake City to pick up brother Chas, who was going to drive back to Madison with me.

His plane got in early, very early, so I had to leave Kemmerer at about 4:00 AM. I can't remember the exact day or date, but it had to be something like December 20th. I could probably figure it out because there was a new moon, and Venus was so bright it was casting a shadow.

I know that because the car broke down on highway 189. At about 4:30 in the morning, about 7,000 feet elevation, and about -20 degrees F.

Not the car's finest hour.

The problem was that the aforementioned fuel pump issue. The car would stop, I would let it rest for about 20 minutes, and then I could drive it again for about 20 minutes. Not the best way to travel 150 miles.

Every car that passed me stopped and asked if I needed help. That was (and is, I guess) Wyoming for you. When the first couple stopped I thought I would be able to limp into Evanston, but then reality snuck in and I hitched a ride.

I was dropped off at a 24 hour truck stop in Evanston, and had to wait for the town to open up. I was probably there, drinking coffee, for about three hours before a tow truck came by. We drove UP to get the car, then BACK to Evanston. We called a couple of parts stores to see if they had a fuel pump for a 1965 Mercedes 220S. That seemed to have caused great merriment in town. I had resigned myself to having to tow the car into Salt Lake City.

I guess I need to explain a little about my situation in Kemmerer. I was a co-op engineering student, so I was being paid like a junior engineer, and I was saving that money to pay for my final year of school. So I had my last paycheck in my hand, all of $600 or so. I had almost no other cash. With this money I had to pay the tow truck driver, the mechanic in SLC (I had an appointment at the Mercedes dealership, as I knew the car had some problems) and my share of the gas to get home.

The tow truck driver was kind enough to agree to charge me for a one-way tow to SLC, so that saved a little money. But when I got to Salt Lake (I remember now - it was a Saturday. What would that have been the 23rd? Chas, were we traveling on your Birthday?) I knew I had to cash that check.

Think about this - a Wyoming Check, a Wisconsin Driver's license, and I needed cash. The funny thing is that I had no problem at all. I found a local bank, told them my story (remember when you could talk to bankers?) cashed the check and moved over to the Mercedes dealer.

They must have felt sorry for me, as my billed seemed unreasonably low. Maybe $200? But at least the car was running.

The drive back to Madison was late, long, and cold. It didn't help that the rocker panels were rusted out and you got -20 degree air blowing in while you were trying to sleep, nor did it help that the A-frame was rusted and the car pulled so hard to the left that you could turn a corner by just letting go of the wheel, but it was a fun ride none the less.

I remember that car fondly.

Cars - Chapter one 1966 Chevy Impala

2010-12-04T10:31:00.005-06:00

Earlier this week my older brother Chas asked some folks their opinion of a Subaru Outback. While I don't have personal experience with this car, it made me think of all the cars I have owned.

I have owned 9 cars, and for four years had a couple of company cars, so that makes 11 cars that I been driving over the past 34 years.

I will post them here one at a time.

1966 Chevy Impala:

From Cars

My father found this car for me. I think it belonged to one of his friends. I bought it in January of 1977 because I needed a car for my co-op engineering job - in a coal mine in Southern Illinois (The Hillsboro mine from Consol Coal). I was living in Greenville.

The car was cheap - I think I paid $350 for it. It had some real problems that I never fixed - the manifold gasket had failed, so it was really, really loud. The gas tank had a leak, so you couldn't fill it up more than half way, the radiator leaked, so I had to put in "drugs for cars" which would plug up the holes. But other than that it was a great car. Cheap and reliable.

I won't talk here about driving it one-eyed.

salman rushdie

2010-12-03T22:53:00.001-06:00

We went to listen to Salman Rushdie talk tonight.

More on this later, but he is a very entertaining speaker.

News!

2010-12-02T14:13:00.000-06:00

Object Reservoir Announces Daniel J. Piette Joins Board of Directors - Yahoo! Finance: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

30 Most Dynamic Cities in the World - Derek Thompson - Business - The Atlantic

2010-12-02T13:29:00.000-06:00

30 Most Dynamic Cities in the World - Derek Thompson - Business - The Atlantic: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Video: Are mileage runs for elite status futile or worthwhile? | Upgrade: Travel Better

2010-12-02T11:14:00.000-06:00

Video: Are mileage runs for elite status futile or worthwhile? | Upgrade: Travel Better: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Terminal D

2010-11-28T15:28:00.000-06:00

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Back to Oslo

2010-11-28T15:18:00.000-06:00

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TSA overstepping bounds

2010-11-27T15:49:00.002-06:00

Here is a video of a young woman trying to get through TSA security with breast milk:

Here is the punch line:

They don't let her, violating their own guidelines.

Write your congressman, senator, and airline.

I have opted out before, and I will again. This must stop.

How to Draw An Owl

2010-11-27T11:39:00.000-06:00

Ben Casnocha: The Blog: How to Draw An Owl: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Airport screening: Grow up, America | The Economist

2010-11-24T17:11:00.000-06:00

Airport screening: Grow up, America | The Economist: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

The Hidden Costs of Extra Security

2010-11-19T15:17:00.000-06:00

The Hidden Costs of Extra Security - NYTimes.com: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Congressman Ron Paul Introduces The American Traveler Dignity Act | The Nomad Lawyer

2010-11-18T13:03:00.000-06:00

Congressman Ron Paul Introduces The American Traveler Dignity Act | The Nomad Lawyer: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

A Writer's Career in the Digital Age

2010-11-06T10:10:00.001-05:00

A Writer's Career in the Digital Age): "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

From here.

The wave of the future

2010-11-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

Abandon Ownership! Join the Rentership Society! | Magazine: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Now, how can I use my capital to make money on this?

How Obama Saved Capitalism and Lost the Midterms

2010-11-03T09:20:00.000-05:00

How Obama Saved Capitalism and Lost the Midterms - NYTimes.com: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Ride home

2010-10-29T02:48:00.000-05:00

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YouTube - Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography - Language

2010-10-28T20:38:00.001-05:00

YouTube - Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography - Language

A tip o' the hat to Brother Chas.

Well worth the 6:34 it takes to watch.

Liverwurst in the Lufthansa lounge.

2010-10-27T02:27:00.000-05:00

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Note to self

2010-10-26T16:01:00.000-05:00

Don't take seat 9c on a Lufthansa 747 again.

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Your friend at the airport

2010-10-26T15:34:00.000-05:00

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My ride to Frankfurt

2010-10-26T15:31:00.000-05:00

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I love stuff like this!

2010-10-21T14:46:00.000-05:00

Physics of Wet Dogs Shake Out in High-Speed Videos | Wired Science | Wired.com: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

At least one other CO plane

2010-10-20T13:57:00.000-05:00

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Very sad

2010-10-20T12:37:00.000-05:00

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