Cloudy - full, partly, otherwise

The day was not very exciting...the only time I got out was to drop stuff off at the recycling place. The weather was too iffy to get a ride in. If it wasn't raining, then it was too dark because of the heavy cloud cover. The temperatures were perfect but I wasn't going to drive all that distance to get rained on! Some day when Jonnene and I move to a new place, we'll move to where it's easy to travel a short distance for a good bike ride, maybe even ride from the house! I can hope we'll be that lucky.

Spent more time on the house....again, it's nothing you'd notice right off the bat but I know it'll make things easier when Jonnene gets here. The closets need to be attacked and to allow her the room she will be needing...I was warned that my closet space would get smaller and smaller! There's still so much to do.

I also have to prepare for my trip to Los Angeles to pick her up in the next 3-5 weeks. Got to get the truck worked on, rotate the tires, and loaded with provisions, like blankets and food, since we'll be traveling in the winter. I'll also be looking at other travel options, mostly comparing time, cost, and the like. The last time I drove long cross-country was a trip to Albuquerque back in the Fall of 2001. I used to do stuff like that all the time but haven't had as much reason to do so since then. Most of my drives now seem to be to bike races and that's about it. I like to drive to interesting places but I've gotten tired of doing it by myself. Now that I'll be having company maybe I'll get back into it again!

Last Weekend of the Year

Late evening and it's raining....100% chance tonight and most of Saturday, so I don't know if I'll be able to squeeze in a ride in the afternoon and get some kind of mileage in my legs...and work off some of this holiday weight. I'd hate to climb a sizable hill right now!

I'm letting The Gray stay in the house tonight. Besides the pounding rain outside, he has torn the "thumb" on his right front leg, probably in a fight or caught it on something, and it looks like a bloody pulp on there. He looks exhausted so I'm letting him sleep on the cushion I have propped up on the coffee table. He's out like a light. If I had the money I'd get him fixed up and then I'd get him fixed. His owners don't seem to think that's an important thing to do. Taz is in my lap as I type this and he's in Neverland himself. I got to take Farley out into the playground behind my house before the rains came to give him a good walk and I think he enjoyed himself. He turns 11 on New Year's and that's getting old for a Labrador. I'd like to get two more years out of him and then he will have rightly earned his rest. He's been a good boy all this time.

I'm still trying to decide how to approach Dad since I've been ignoring him all week. His birthday is this Sunday and I know I need to acknowledge it. I have to tell him how much he upset me last weekend. I couldn't come down on him because I wanted to preserve the quiet of the holiday but I have to let him know he can't ever talk to me in that fashion again. I won't allow it. And he will NOT do that in front of my wife or there will be a coming-to-Jesus meeting like he's never seen before.

It will be a busy weekend work-wise which is a good thing but I'm getting concerned that no checks have come in yet and I have bills to pay. But then, that's par for the course....the life of a free-lancer, to have money but to not have money at the same time.

Jonnene has booked her flights for Sydney for her interview. It's quite possible I'll be seeing her by the end of January or first week of February. I am very excited about it all and I'm ready to be a full-time husband for her. When it comes down to it, everything I do is for her and I'm trying to do the best I can.

Amazing, simply amazing

I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep using this blog. Blogger is switching to a new system (but still leaving the old one up for those who don't want to switch yet) and they're really trying to convince everyone to go to it. To change you have to register for a Google account and I refuse to do it. I don't want a Google account to access my blog and I'm totally convinced that getting that Google account opens me up to receiving even more junk email. Sorry, Blogger, can't do it. But lately, my Netscape program shuts down nearly every time I've tried to log on....which is why you haven't seen any posts from me the last few days....and that tells me that Blogger is screwing with me by overloading my browser.

I AIN'T GONNA CHANGE! Accept it...move on. I may have to find another blogging service eventually.

Christmas was good overall. Except for being hacked off at my Dad right now, things went pretty well. Saw all my nieces and one nephew, plus some other family members and I enjoyed that. I missed having Jonnene here for the festivities and I heard from her that things went well at her family Christmas celebrations, too. We're going to call each other at New Year's as each of us transistion over to the next year. We're 15 hours apart (she's ahead of me) so having two phone calls in that time will be twice as nice!

Speaking of, Jonnene finally got her interview scheduled! Mark down January 10th at 8 am (3 pm the day before for me) for her to get a spotlight shown on her...."awright, sister, where were you on Tuesday morning? And don't be telling any fibs if ya know what's good fer ya"....and she'll have a few questions of her own, especially regarding how soon she can expect to work in the USA. Should she be found eligible and have her paperwork in order, she should be issued her visa within 24 hours and she can start the process of coming over the big water!! This whole ordeal will be coming to an end soon.

I was not expecting to work much this week but I was surprised. I've been at the computer all week working on several jobs and I think it'll keep on for a couple more weeks. Nice!

Now if I can get back on track and start getting some of this weight off from the holidays. I'll be doing a lot of bike riding and running this weekend....there's a duathlon next weekend I'm going to try to do. Always need the motivation.

A Nice Dream, Sad Ending

Last night I had one of those amazingly realistic dreams. One of those you almost could swear actually happened. I could see details, have conversations with people, interact completely with my enviroment, the interior of buildings made complete sense and could be entered and exited normally, sound effects were normal (even heard a brand new song and the words were really funny...but, sorry, can't remember them). It featured Jonnene and I throughout the entire dream and it was great. We were spending the weekend somewhere, I know it was along a river since I remember seeing levees near our hotel. We drove there, checked in...the place had a nice interior lobby with columns and curtains along the walls. We had gotten a 2-room suite. I remember a washer-dryer in a pantry area. We did things like go to a park, plenty of walking to places I can't remember now, and we definitely had a meal at some restaurant nearby. It was great to spend time with her even if it was a dream. It felt like she was really there. So it was a great two days vacationing somewhere...wish I knew where!

My animals came with us (sorry, Jonnene, I didn't see Sophie anywhere). Farley, my black Lab, was his usual self, walking around, sleeping, getting lots of love from the two of us, of course! But here was the odd thing: my black cat, Taz, wasn't there. My old yellow-tab, Toulouse, was there instead. I had had Toulouse for 10 years before he disappeared in June of 2001. He didn't come with us to the hotel though. I was out with Farley in this semi-wooded field near the hotel when I looked over and there he was, just sitting there, scratching his shoulder with a hind leg. I recognized him immediately and said, "Toulouse, what are you doing here?" He meowed and walked over to me, and I picked him up to my shoulder like I always did where we were eye-level to each other. He just had that look that said I've just been catting around as usual. Even Farley came over, gave him a sniff, and wagged his tail as he recognized him, too. I introduced him to Jonnene and we got to hang out for a while. It was nice to see him again. He hadn't changed a bit, still had that attitude, the crooked tip of his tail, those gray-green eyes....all of his characteristics were there.

Then the alarm went off, I woke up, and I was sad that the dream was over. I cried. I miss that stupid cat.

Mid-week

Well, I'm settled down a bit with this whole immigration thing. I talked to Jonnene last night and we agreed that the main thing was to get her here one way or the other. We both can deal with the other stuff later and we'll be fine in the end. Our lawyer is inquiring about which visa would be more useful to us since both were approved at approximately the same time. Either one will get her into the country...we just want to make sure we use the proper one and in the right order! I'd like for her to use only one of them, the permanent immigration visa, and cancel out that K3 visa.

I received a reply from my Congressman today (two days after I hand-delivered my letter to him) and his office had contacted the proper authorities at the US Consulate in Sydney, asking that they look into the matter and to send a report on their findings. His letter promised to keep me informed if any information comes up. I have rarely had to contact him (the only other time was to buy US flags that had actually flown over the Capital) during his terms in office but his office always replied promptly. You can't beat that kind of service....after all, I AM paying for it!

Started going through my chest of drawers to see what old stuff I need to throw out or turn into bike cleaning rags. I think I got rid of half the stuff in there! Some is actually being tossed away, saved as rags for cleaning stuff (did I mention my bike?), bagged to give to Goodwill, or bagged to give to the Salvation Army. I kept all my old LaS'port uniforms for historical reasons although the elastic in the legs of the shorts is dried up or melting/sticking to itself, making them useless for wearing unless you replace the elastic....that ain't gonna happen. There's still so much I need to get through before Jonnene gets here but it's good to do it. I'm at that point where I want less stuff around here to keep up with. Sometimes I'll have to be ruthless and when she gets here, more stuff might get tossed. I'm for that but I might have to fight for something at some point, I'm sure.

I'm hoping to get some upgrades to my computer sometime next week or the week after. I need about 1.5 gigs of RAM installed plus a CD/DVD player/burner (I bought it on Ebay) to be installed, along with a larger second hard drive to use as backup to my main hard drive. A guy I've known for several years will do the installation along with updated software, including System 10 for my Mac! I'll finally be in the 21st century!! The good thing is that my Mac G4 will be useful for two more years before I'll have to get a new machine with the Intel chips. I can spend time saving up the money during those two years.

Eeeeyyaaaahhhhhh..........

I've had a runny nose all day!

Bit o' frustration? Oh, yea.....

No good deed goes unpunished. That seems to be the catch-phrase for trying to be a LEGAL immigrant in the USA. No matter how many t's you cross and i's you dot, there's some beaurocrat (and maybe a lawyer or two) who finds a way to extend a process that is already taking longer than it should.

It may take four more weeks before Jonnene is able to even schedule an interview at the US Consolate in Sydney. Even though the visas have been approved by the CIS, it seems the interviewer has the final say (understandable, but don't tell us the visas are approved before the interview even happens and then throw an "if" at us). I'm quite sure Jonnene will sail through the interview and, with the later date, she might get a cheaper airfare to Sydney instead of the current holiday rates.

But I'm getting more frustrated because both the K3 and I-130 visas are arriving at more-or-less the same time. That's not suppposed to be the case. The K3 was to allow her to enter the USA while the permanent immigrant visa was being processed, and we were told that it shouldn't take more than 4 months. We're now seven months into the process and the other visa is ready. Now we need to find out which one we need to go with at this moment. I prefer the I-130 to get the permanent immigrant thing going. In doing that, it makes me feel like the K3 was a waste of time and money. I'm annoyed by this and I'm not sure who I want to kick in the butt for it.

I'm sure there are plenty of countries on this planet that make things hard on people trying to immigrate, and probably make it way worse, but it really gets to me when I read in the news about illegals here easily getting work permits in less than a month (when Jonnene may have to wait up to 90 days!), getting drivers' licenses, housing, and such....sometimes due to obviously sham marriages. They overstay student visas, they sneak in past the borders and we coddle them for the money they're costing US. And they'll sue (with the ACLU's support) if we try to kick them out!

Meanwhile, we're doing everything right/legal and now seven months later we're still waiting for people to get off their hind ends to let a perfectly good person come to the USA and contribute her experience and vitality to a community that could use it. Oh, and she would be paying taxes as a working member of society....you'd think somebody in a position of authority would take THAT into consideration!

On the road....again and again

This turned out to be a great weekend to ride the bike....warmer than usual temperatures and very pleasant weather all around. The riding would have been even greater if I was in the shape I was in last September. But I'm not. After essentially six weeks off the bike, I have climbed back onto the saddle to get ready for the upcoming racing season. It won't be easy and it won't be that much fun for a while, but that's the price you pay for taking time off.

Got in 30 miles on Saturday and 49 on Sunday, all at an easy pace, keeping my heartrate below 160 to keep the rides at what is called a "fat-burning" ride. Nothing to burn up the muscles but to use the fat that's collected in me for fuel instead. Saturday's excursion was similar to last week's ride but Sunday was different. Eight of us left Waskom, Texas to go exploring whatever side roads we found in the East Texas countryside and we found a lot of them. Probably about half of the ride was on poorly maintained roads with potholes, plenty of road acne, cracks, gravel...we spent miles bumping and bouncing our way along. I think most of my internal organs have rearranged themselves! There's no doubt that my upper arms, shoulders, and neck will be sore tomorrow. Having been off the bike for so long I have lost being immune to all that stuff and everything in me was feeling all the shocks that were running thru me. My hands and butt will probably hurt some, too. I did put in a hard effort at the end of the ride to catch Terry, who had drifted off the front with a couple of miles to go, and I got the HR up around 183! It'll still be a while before I can do those efforts with a lower heartrate but here's where all that starts. My front tire flatted with 1/2 mile to go so if I had to flat, that was one of the best places to do it! I rolled in, tossed the K2 in the back of the truck, and ate out at a local diner with the rest of the bunch. I want to get in 500 miles before I go riding with the team and before I shave my legs!

End of the Week

Last night I attended a dinner put on by a group I'm associated with - TOTS, "Times Old TimerS" - composed of retired and former employees at The (Shreveport) Times newspaper. I used to work at The Times 1979-1985 as an illustrator and page designer, and those were some good times. I quit in '85 because I was getting burned out and I started my free-lance career, which I'm still doing to this date. Not sure how long I'm going to keep doing it....I'm starting to get rather worn with the idea and I'm looking to other paths.

Anyway, a former Times employee is now the editor of the Biloxi (Mississippi) SunHerald and was our speaker. His paper managed to keep publishing during the hurricane Katrina disaster in '05 and he told us how they did it and the problems they had to solve...all the while as the staff was trying to keep their own lives in order with destroyed houses and property and everything else. Southern Mississippi was hit way harder than New Orleans was but NO got all the attention in the media and in Washington. The SunHerald won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage and Stan brought the medal, in its wooden box, with him for us to see. Yeah, I got to hold a Pulitzer and it was neat. Definitely the Holy Grail of the newspaper world.

Today was just a crummy day weather-wise, foggy and cloudy, but the temperatures were pleasant. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and about 20 degrees F above normal so I plan to get some riding in Saturday and Sunday.

Pet Meds

Taz got his shots and Farley got his resupply of heartworm prevent meds. All is well with the world.

Sudden job today when a client called to see if his Christmas cards were ready. Uhhhh, no. After all, we had last talked about it in September! So I'm knocking it out tonight (client approved the sudden idea that I sent to him later in the day), send it to him in the morning, upon approval I color the illustration and get it to a quick printer for mailing on Friday. Another nice check to come that I wasn't really expecting.

I'm good. That's all there is to it.

Blonde Ambition....featuring me!

Ugh, Hollywood got up early today. The alarm went off at 4:15 am....get cleaned up, shave....load my 4 changes of clothes into the truck, and left by 5 for the "home base", which is what the little cluster of tents at the Municipal Auditorium parking lot is called for the production of "Blonde Ambition", the newest movie being filmed in Shreveport. It features (shall I say it again?) Jessica Simpson, Luke Wilson, Penelope Ann Miller, and Andy Dick.

It's dark at home base and I get my paperwork that needs to be filled out if I have any desire to be paid. There's several rows of tables with chairs in the biggest tent. I was one of the first to show up but everyone gets there by 5:30 or so....it's still dark. The head of wardrobe, Sara, looks through everyone's collection of clothes and selects what she wants people to wear for the shots scheduled....we're not changing into four sets of clothes like I thought, we're wearing the best combination of what we've got as Sara desires. When she gets to me, she takes a very quick look and says "I like what you have on already...I like the jeans....just put on your sport jacket and keep your overcoat with you, wear it or don't wear it. You're fine like that!" Well, that's less work for me. Everything else goes back in the truck and I get on the "people mover" (bus) to go to the 900 block of Milam Street.

The PA's, or production assistants (Felicia was one), and director (Kevin) made it very clear that all cell phones had to be left in our vehicles or turned in to be picked up later. I could understand that, you don't want a phone going off while a scene's being filmed. Later I heard another reason....two people had been kicked off the set last week for taking photos with their cell phones! And Simpson has been in the paper/tabloids a lot lately....they're trying not to add to what's been going on with her.

We're dropped off at a former guitar store next to the old Capri Theater on Milam....the last time I saw a film in the Capri had to be in the early 80's. There's sixty of us extras ("background" as we would be called all morning) in the building and we wait a while as it gets lighter outside and the weather is threatening....it had rained earlier. Around 7:30 the PA's come in and make a few announcements, then the director comes in and goes through the commands that will be barked out during the filming. For instance, he will place the extras at a starting point for each scene, all of them scattered out along the sidewalk to give that random look. That starting point is Position One, so when he says "Everyone back to their ones!" that means to go back to the exact place you started. "Reset" means to go back to a previous position, usually the ones. When actual filming starts, everyone yells "Background!" which means we all start moving, then "Action!" is when the primary actors do their bit. Yes, they still say "Cut!" to stop everything. We had to be aware of our surroundings and actions so that we do the same things each time we redo the same scene so there's some semblance of continuity.

Oh, and don't look at or wave at the camera....or the actors...during filming. And if the director sees any cell phones, he will take them away and NOT return them. He's a young guy but he sounds serious. And he's way full of energy....I get tired just watching him run all over the place.

The first scene has Penelope Ann Miller as a bike messenger who rides up the street and is almost cut off by a taxi, where she hits the hood of the car and calls the driver a bad name. Then she gets a call on her cell and talks to "Jessica". While she does this, the "background" is moving across the street and up/down the sidewalks. I was selected to be a "crosser" which means there's 10 of us who cross the street in random order in front of the entire scene as foreground action. I was the first one to pass by the camera on the three rehearsals and three filmed segments....probably means I'll be the first cut out! But after I would cross, off camera, a PA would direct me down the sidewalk, so maybe I'll be seen walking away as Penelope talks on her phone. I remembered looking at Penelope and thinking "I've seen you naked!", which is true since I saw her in "Carlito's Way" a few years ago where she played a striper.

But I digress......

Next scene shot was with Simpson where she's on her bike and having trouble maneuvering thru the streets of New York. It was the job of the "background" to give her room as she weaves up on the sidewalk as she yells, "Excuse me....sorry...coming through...." and yet still look like we're going about our business. She showed up after we did a couple of rehearsals and then we filmed it about 3 1/2 times (one take was cut short). I walked away from the camera on all the takes and walk right by her as she rides up the sidewalk each time. She seemed a lot shorter than I thought she'd be after seeing her in "The Dukes of Hazzard" where she looked kinda tall. She's attractive but, sorry, Jessica, I'm already taken!

Anyway, during all this it was a cloudy sky with occasional drizzle and was much warmer than it had been the last week. Being in place for both scenes took a couple of hours, with positioning of the "background" and moving cameras around for different angles, including closeups. It was very interesting. The crew certainly knew what they were doing and I noticed they were very good at watching each other's back....it was the norm, for instance, to see a PA set a foot out on a cable that's being stretched out so it didn't knock anything over, and nobody asks them to do it. The grips would coil cable and cords so that when they were stretched out again and again, they wouldn't tangle up....seems simple but I was impressed by it all. I was wondering how much sleep they all get during production! It can't be much.

I was impressed with how the production designers made Milam Street look like a smaller New York side street. There was a NYPD police car, 8 yellow cabs, a New York Times newspaper box, NYC traffic signs on the street, a simulation of a steam vent on the sidewalk...THAT was pretty neat, even a Shreveport city bus with NYC Metro decals all over it, a few sedans, and a few box/moving/loading trucks here and there. Physically it wasn't a lot but it was convincing enough to fool someone if they had been dropped in the street without being told where they were.

So we were done by 11 am (the sky then dropped a ton of rain...good timing) and returned to the building to turn in our paperwork to Felicia. Our checks will be sent in the mail but I'm not quite sure how much I'm getting paid. The wage base rate written in on my form says 55/8 which I'm going to assume is $55 for 8 hours. Normally I interpret 55/8 as 55 multiplied by 8 but I don't think I'm going to get a check for $440! It would be nice though, wouldn't it? Anyway, if I get called again, I'll mention it. Hopefully, I've made it to celluloid immortality for a film that will probably be distributed as a DVD within a week after it is released to the theater!

Of course, I'll buy a copy.

Going to be sore tomorrow!

Got up very late this morning...I just didn't want to get up!

After five weeks off my K2, it was time to hit the roads again. It was way too cold to join the numbnuts who went out at 9 am for a ride so I waited until after lunch to get my first ride in while it was somewhat warmer. So at 1 pm it was around 46 degrees F and Michael was at the parking lot to do a ride, too. He had been off the bike for three weeks because of a tendonitis problem in his shoulder so this was his first ride back, too. So we went off together, heading for Frierson and then turnaround at I-49. Our pace was slow as I was keeping my heartrate below 160 to make this a "fat burning" ride. The heartrate indicated how out of shape I was when it would go up to 164 on a slight hill when it usually would read 140-146 while going about 10 mph faster! The fitness will come....you gotta start somewhere and getting back to a decent condition is a pain as it takes a few weeks to even begin to feel fit. I told Mike all about my Oz trip and I think I've got him convinced to take a trip there in 3-5 years (so he can save up the money) with his wife. I'm a good ambassador for traveling to Australia! Anyway, we got in almost 30 miles in under two hours which wasn't bad for our first trip into the fire. It's not fast by any stretch but a good start. I plan to go tomorrow, too, either before or after a visit to see my grandmother at a party at the care center where she lives.

But my legs will be sore tomorrow and my butt will not like the saddle too much either! The second ride back is usually the worse. Tonight is my bike racing team's end-of-the-racing-season-and-Christmas-party so I plan to make up for all the calories I burned off this afternoon!

The Weekend Cometh

It's been tough to get out of bed this week. Unless I HAVE to get up, I usually need the light of day to wake up. It's terrible during wintertime as the days get shorter. The alarm still goes off at 5:15 am (because of the morning bike ride I do during the summer) which I ignore, and it's around 6:30-7:00 am before I get out from under the covers because that's when it gets LIGHT outside! When I was in Australia the last couple of weeks.....it's summer there now....the sky started getting light by 4:30 am and by 5 I was wide awake! I was up, walking around, checking email, eating breakfast, whatever. By eight it felt like half the morning was over! Then I come back home to the States and I'm zombied out until around seven.

It looks like I'm going to be in the movies....or at least have the opportunity to be on a cutting room floor! There's a film being shot here in Shreveport called "Blonde Ambition", starring Jessica Simpson and Luke Wilson, and a couple of days ago a call went out looking for extras to be in the film on Thursday and Friday. I sent in a photo and an email, telling whoever that I could make time to be an extra if they needed one. I didn't hear back on that call-out but this afternoon I got a call from a guy named Chris who said they were looking for extras to be background pedestrians in New York (that is, downtown Shreveport) for this Monday. I thought he was kidding but realized quick enough that the guy was for real. I have to call Sunday night for details but essentially I have to bring 4 changes of clothing, one a business suit and the others....that aren't business suits. Apparently I may be four different characters in different locations as they film the scene...a way to create a crowd out of a small number of people. Do multiple takes of the same scene from different angles, edit them together and the viewer thinks they're looking at a location with people all over the place! Except that it's the same people! I'll tell how it goes after it's done Monday. The best part is it's a paying gig! I've heard the pay for an extra can be anywhere from $50 to $150 a day. Either way, I can always use the money.

Saturday I do my first outdoor bike ride in five weeks. I took November off from the bike as a break and to concentrate on the half-marathon in the middle of the month. In Oz I ran only once and did two pilates classes....otherwise, not much else. Since my return I've started back on the weights and have done two wind trainer rides in the living room. It'll be very cold tomorrow but I have to start buiding up my mileage base again for the '07 racing season. I could do my first race as early as mid-February or the first weekend of March, so I need to get LOTS of miles and saddle time in me before then. The race in March is the famed Rouge-Roubaix down in St. Francisville, a 100-mile effort with about 26 miles or so of that distance "off the pavement"....on dirt roads, gravel roads, extremely steep hills, all sorts of abominations we have to ride over. It's only fun when it's over and I've done it three times so far. I've had bad luck with flats at the most unfortunate times and once you lose the pack on those dirt roads, it's over....it becomes a training ride then. Anyway, I hope to get two rides in this weekend and be able to walk normal on the movie set on Monday!

A young man who graduated from my high school in Minden died in Iraq on Wednesday. He was one of five guys in a Humvee that was blasted apart by a roadside bomb. It was especially sad in that he had just returned to Iraq last Sunday after spending two weeks of leave seeing his new son, his wife and the rest of his family. As I write this, it was only seven days ago his family saw him off at Shreveport Regional Airport on his way back to his troops (he was on his second tour). The last thing he told his Dad was that the last two weeks was the best leave he had ever had. He was a 2003 graduate of Minden High...I graduated in 1973...and I believe he is the first Minden graduate to lose his life in war since a classmate of mine's older brother was killed in Viet Nam (bad luck...he was already wounded and was being evacuated when the vehicle he was in struck a mine...his name's on the Viet Nam Memorial wall in Washington now). Here's a couple of links to the story (copy and paste the links into your browser):

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061208/NEWS01/612080313

http://www.nwlanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1470&Itemid=26

The rest of the way

The 65th anniversary of Pearl Harbor today. Always remember.

Okay, now the rest of my trip back to the States BY MYSELF! I expect to always have company in the future.

Los Angeles to Dallas: After around 13.5 hours of flying, we came into LAX on a bright sunny Monday morning although you could see the sludge in the air over the city. It's much better than it used to be. I remember flying in and seeing a distinct brown layer over LA in 1987....haven't seen anything like that since. We got a great view of Santa Catalina Island off the coast. The landing was a rough one, we came down hard which seemed wierd since it didn't appear that you could blame the weather conditions on it. When we got to immigration, the lines were long (the Sydney flight came in just before ours) especially in the non-American line. Us US citizens had a long line ourselves to deal with but we got through immigration quickly enough, then picked up my bags much faster than the last time I was here. Breezed through customs and got my bags forwarded for me right then....wish it had been that easy back in May....that was a nightmare!

The rest was killing off time in Terminal 4 at LAX. I didn't see any movie stars (a few years ago I found myself standing next to Alec Baldwin in this same terminal) but I did overhear a fellow at the shoeshine booth telling the shoeshiner about doing a film with Robert DeNiro. He wasn't bragging and was only answering a question. In this place you never know if you're walking by a future star or a current one that you can't recognize in the real world. Eventually I went to my gate, 42A, and just layed down on the carpet and snoozed with my new Jakaru hat over my face. Then they called my flight, I boarded the 757 and settled down for the 3+ hour flight to Dallas. I slept practically the entire way, using ear plugs, eye shades, and a neck rest....I was comfortable! We came into Dallas where it was already getting dark.

Dallas to Longview to Bossier City: Had two hours to pass so I grabbed something quick at one of the food booths, then took the fast super-rail train from Terminal C to Terminal B. Then we got on one of those small SAAB turboprops (which I don't mind flying in) with about 30 other people. It was a full plane! A quick 30 minutes to Longview when Dad and Gladys picked me up and drove me back home.

My fourth trip to Oz was done! I want Jonnene with me the entire way the fifth time I go!

Home!!!

In many ways it's good to be home, in other ways it's not a happy time. I came back by myself, without Jonnene, although we already knew that would be the case. The good thing is that we're on the downhill side of this immigration ride and I really think we can count her arrival to the States in weeks now!

Ah, my trip back to the northern hemisphere, 19:38 of total in-the-air time....here's one way to look at it:

Perth to Melbourne: My flight had already been set back an hour because of the time change in Western Australia, and now it was moving back another hour because the plane was late getting in from Sydney! That meant a 12:45 am Monday morning takeoff! The good thing was that it meant another hour with Jonnene and the later arrival meant that much less time spent in the Melbourne-Tullamarine Airport. I'll skip the sappy parts of my last couple of hours with my wife but it was nice....I could look into those eyes all day. My last view of her as I turned the corner on the skybridge was of her looking at me and a short wave before I went out of sight. I thought of that sight for hours afterward. I was on a 747 outfitted for domestic flying and the plane, which can seat around 340, was only 1/3 full! The flight attendents were telling us that once we were in the air, feel free to claim a row to sleep actually laying down! And we all took advantage of it! I put in about 2 hours of snooze time of the total 3:08 flight time, so I felt somewhat rested as we landed in Melbourne under a cloudy morning around 5:50 am and it was a tad chilly outside!

Melbourne to Los Angeles: I spent a lot of time on the internet kiosks letting everyone know I made it to Mel-bun....even made a blog entry. The only thing that appealed to me for brekkie (Aussie slang: breakfast) was the sausage croissant at Hungry Jack's (the Aussie name for Burger King) and I really didn't want that either. But mixed with iced coffee it wasn't too bad. Around 10:30 I made my way thru immigration so I could get my passport stamped that I was officially leaving Australia and headed toward Gate 11 in the International Terminal. Sent a final message to Jonnene after getting one from her. She had just woke up, about two hours behind my time. Because our flight was going to the USA, we had to go thru a search of our carry-on bags and a non-intrusive body search, no problem for me since I had nothing to worry about and my time wasn't being encrouched upon. The lady looking thru my pack saw the cookies Jonnene had made for me and was envious....she likes cookies! We started boarding our Qantas 747 around 11:50 am but would still be 20 minutes late leaving (so far, EVERY flight on this trip has started late!).

More, Melbourne to Los Angeles: I sat at seat 47A, a left-side window seat and the closest to the front I've ever been on these trans-Pacific flights....I liked it...only 5 rows from the front of the economy/peanut gallery section! Unfortunately, I had a couple of large people in the other two seats of my section, but they were nice folks and went out of their way to not intrude on my space. Saw two movies, "World Trade Center" (not bad at all despite it being a Oliver Stone flick) and "The Devil Wears Prada" (which I liked much more than I thought I would....Anne Hathaway is a babe, I admit it, and Meryl Streep was "delicious" as the evil boss). There was nothing else on the entertainment system that I really cared to watch...maybe because Jonnene wasn't there and I was thinking about her a lot. So I tried to sleep as much as I could but it was in fitful spurts. I did my usual laps around the plane to stretch my legs. Fourteen hours can really stiffen you up! Anyway, we came into LAX around 7:20 am Monday morning, about 5 hours before we left Melbourne (I love that conflict of the International Dateline!).

More to come!

Greetings from Melbourne!

Yep, I'm back at the International Terminal of Melbourne Airport this morning...my 8th visit to this place and I've got the layout memorized like the back of my hand (hmm, where's the back of my hand....it was here a minute ago). My flight from Perth was an hour late leaving....I got out at 12:45 am Monday morning on a Boeing 747 that was only 1/3 full, which meant nearly everyone on board had a row of seats to themselves to lay out on for a nice nap on the 3+ hour trip east. I think I managed about 2 hours of nappy time but I need to get more on the upcoming flight to Los Angeles.

It was tough saying goodbye to Jonnene. She stayed with me until I had to board and I kept an eye on her until I turned the corner on the walkway to the plane. It'll be at least 30 days before she's able to come to the States, even if she gets her visa numbers from the US Consulate in Sydney in the meantime. Her dog, Sophie, has to have a rabies shot (the disease doesn't exist in Australia and they like to keep it that way) at least 30 days before being shipped to the USA and she will be trying to schedule that this week. We want to time it where Jonnene and Sophie arrive within a day of each other in Los Angeles, whenever that is. So that is where we stand on the arrival of my wife. But her visas have been approved so that's another thing taken care of.

Even though I've been to Oz four times, I have yet to see whether water drains out of a sink or toilet in the opposite direction from what it does in the northern hemisphere. The plumbing system is such that when you pull the plug or flush, everything shoots down like it's under 15 G's of pressure! Nothing gets a chance to swirl. Someday, when I think about it, I'll find out the real answer.

Soccer, rugby, and Aussie Rules football are some of the big sports here, but right now the country is focused on The Ashes, or something like that. It's the big cricket match between Britain and Australia, played in five cities in Australia this year. It's a big deal on TV and among the cricket fans here. Of course, there are Aussies who don't really care about cricket....kinda like Americans who don't really care about the NBA....there's a lot of us out there. But the natives do keep up with it in some form or fashion, mainly because nothing else is going on this time of year.

Also, the Western Australia Ironman Triathlon down in Busselton went on Sunday morning and we kept up with the race online. I especially liked the finish of a German who recorded a 13:13:13 time for the Ironman distance. I think he saw the time as he was finishing and waited to cross the line when all those thirteens popped up. I'd have done the same!

Also, my ULM Warhawks won their last game of the season, 39-20, against their rival, the ULL Ragin' Cajuns down in Lafayette. I was very pleased and followed that game online, too.

Aussie Time Change

To say I'm late in updating my trip is an understatement but I've been busy....really! Right now it's Sunday noon (more or less) and we spent some time at the beach. We took the dog, Sophie, with us to what's called the "dog beach" here in Perth. Quite literally, there's dogs everywhere as their owners walk them along the surf, toss balls into the water for them to swim after and return, and you can watch the animals "re-aquaint" themselves with each other. Nearly every kind of dog you can imagine is out there from little mop-tops to Great Danes. Later this afternoon, Jonnene and I have to resume packing my bag along with another one that'll have a lot of her stuff in it. We have to watch the weight of each bag to avoid being charged for the extra poundage...American Airlines, domestically, only allows 50 pounds per bag which is not a lot since most luggage can hold way more than that. Qantas allows 70 pounds per bag but we're sticking with the 50 lb limits.

Last Thursday night we went to see "The Guardian" and Jonnene recognized the LSUS pool very easily. She enjoyed the movie and we got to see it in a part of the megaplex called "Gold Pass" which is a theater that holds only 40 people, all seated by twos in comfy reclining chairs with a small table between them. A wait staff brings you drinks and a meal you choose from a menu in the Gold Pass Lobby at whatever time you choose. It was great but we discovered that it's hard to eat from a plate while watching the movie and in the DARK! Of course, it costs a bit more but I'd love to see one of these in Shreveport. This one was very classy and the staff is very polite and accomodating.

Friday night we went to Jonnene's cousin Kim's house to eat with her family, husband Brett and four daughters (my brother knows what that's like!). I can finally say I've had "shrimp on the barby"! Along with chicken, beef, a salad, bread, and a baked cheesecake Jonnene made, we managed to fatten ourselves up quite well. I even got a chance to help out with the cooking although it wasn't that much. I finally had a beer, too, and I've had plenty of opportunities to get one before now. The standard Aussie brew has twice the alcoholic content of the American brands and quite tasty. Good thing I'm such a teetotaller!

Saturday, the two of us went up to Kalamunda to visit the once-a-month outdoor market there. After finally finding a parking spot (Jonnene was surprised by how many people were there judging by all the cars!), we walked to the market in the town park and meandered our way through all the booths and shops. If I had the money I would have spent most of it! There were so many good things to look at and that I wanted to get but I had to watch my dollars these last couple of days since I still had other souvenirs I needed to grab up elsewhere.

That night we dressed up to go out on a "date", heading to a place called "That Little Mexican Place" (really, that's the name) which had been suggested to us by Jonnene's pilates instructor, who is originally from the States. He said it was the closest thing to real Mexican he had found in Perth, and I can tell you that he's right. The place was small, maybe 8 tables inside and 2 outside on the sidewalk, and the chef/owner came out to visit with us and talk about how he is trying to bring REAL Mexican food to Perth. He was a funny fellow and said he has a number of real Mexcan recipes he collected when he got to visit Santa Fe a couple of years ago. Jonnene is a real food critic and said she will definitely come back again before she leaves for the States. I told the guy that if he's still in business the next time I return to Perth, I will most definitely be back to his restaurant. He was very pleased to hear that and said he is expanding his menu. I'm looking forward to that. We got home and watched the DVD of "Cars" which we both enjoyed. It was nice for my last night in Perth.

More to come, but that's the latest highlights.