Wow, guess it's been a while

Thursday last week we were busy getting ready for our camping trip this last weekend. I got a free t-shirt from Valvoline today! That was a surprise! Can't wait to get the oil and then need an oil change! Here are some pictures...



Here is the container it came in, what looks like their old oil canisters:




I also made myself a t-shirt for my fantasy football team. Here is the shirt I made:



My neighbor was flying home from France that afternoon and we had a pretty major storm come through. I'm sure you're guessing where this is going...Have you heard those stories on the news where entire flights-full of passengers are kept on planes for hours on end and not let off? Yea, that's where this story is going.

He was scheduled to land at O'Hare airport around 3 pm and just prior to that the storm was moving through the area. This was a very strange storm with wind gusts in the 80 mph range and lots of torrential downpours. Just at our house I noticed when I looked out the window that it was blue skies and sunny on one side of the house and these dark black clouds on the other. The clouds obviously overtook the house, but it was just strange to see. So they kept his plane circling a large circle up into the upper peninsula of Michigan a couple of times and then the plane was running out of fuel and had to land. Consider they've just finished a 17 hour flight over the Atlantic Ocean and just want to get off the plane.

During this time, the flight tower at O'Hare was evacuated due to the high winds. So any chance for them to land at O'Hare had been diminished to pretty much nothing. They had a few choices of places to land including Green Bay, but chose Milwaukee for some reason. Keep in mind that Air France doesn't normally land at this airport and they have no terminals or ground crew to help them. After they landed they were third in line to be re-fueled. This alone took over an hour. Shortly after that the air conditioning stopped working in the plane and they couldn't get it to come back on. They tried turning off the engines and restarting them and that didn't help so they called Air France and they said to turn off the engines for 15 minutes I think and then re-start and everything should be alright.

Unfortunately after those 15 minutes, the engines wouldn't restart. Since they have no grounds crew to help them, they waited until the military could come over with some type of contraption to start the engines. This obviously took some time as well. So now they've restarted the engines and everything is working fine and probably O'Hare is re-opened, but the flight deck crew has run out of time for flying. They are only allowed to be behind the stick (as it were) for so many hours and their time is up; they can't fly the plane any more. The flight crew that was going to fly the plane back to France is at O'Hare along with the other 300 passengers that are waiting to go to France.

During all of this, he contacted NBC in Milwaukee and was actually interviewed on air during the 10 o'clock news via his cell phone. Then after they got off the plane CBS interviewed him too. So he got to be famous in Milwaukee for a day!

So now their only real option is to deboard the plane but remember there are no Air France grounds crews here and no terminal or gate to use. Plus this is a small airport that wasn't expecting any international flight arrivals, certainly not a plane this large, and had sent all of their customs workers home. So they had to find a gate to tow the plane to, call all of the customs workers in to work to run all 300 passengers through customs at what is now around 11pm or midnight. So he wasn't ready for me to pick him up until between midnight thirty and 1 am. I picked him up around 1 and got him home just before 2 am. Then he had to drive 5 or 6 hours to get to his work. And then he wasn't going to have much time between then and when his work started, so I don't think he got any sleep for probably close to 40 - 48 hours.

During all of this I was putting the bike carriers on my Escape and getting the bikes up there to see how it all worked. It was so nice! I tell you if you are considering buying a bike carrier and a roof mount is an option and you can afford it, it is so worth every penny! We had rented a trunk mount bike carrier for a trip we took last year and by the time I was done yelling and cursing and finagling everything I didn't even care if I rode my bike. With this Thule roof carrier it is so easy. All I needed was a step stool and I didn't even need any help. I could do it all myself. I didn't yell or curse even one time and I wasn't even tired when I was done. I was actually test driving the car when my neighbor called and said he was going to be ready soon. So I just left the bikes on there because I thought it would be a great test before our trip the next day (next day being relative considering it was after midnight.)

I was driving pretty fast at some points and honestly the wind noise wasn't even that bad. Nothing appeared to move or rock or anything. I was really impressed, it's a very high quality product and I highly recommend it to everyone. I just wish I would have bought the wheel holders that can hold your front wheel on the roof since I got two fork-mount bike carriers for Julie's and my bike.

Friday:
Just that little bit of room being taken up inside the car by those two wheels prevented us from taking the trailer with us so that we could ride a long distance with Grace as she can't go too far on her little bike. If I would have had more time to try and stuff it into the car maybe I could have gotten it in, but we had to get going because we were supposed to be down in Yorkville by 1 pm and as it was we were leaving late plus I needed to stop at the Chiropractor on the way because my foot isn't healing completely like it should.

So we got down there about an hour late Friday and we helped stuff goodie bags for all the ride participants for two or three hours. Then we set up our tent and went out for dinner (at Culvers - surprise!) because we were tired. Then we pretty much just came back to the tent and crashed. We set our travel alarm clock for 5 am for me and 6:45 am for Julie and Grace and went to sleep.

Saturday
All was fine until 3:15 am. RAIN, RAIN, RAIN. It rained, it poured, it did it all until around 6 am. I was supposed to show up to the registration area by 5:30 at the latest, but sitting in that tent with the rain coming down, I just didn't want to get up at all. I was waiting for the rain to stop, but it wasn't stopping so I finally got up and went over there. About the time I came out of the tent the rain stopped and I drove over there.

So I did registration until 10:30 when it ended and Julie and Grace came and helped to around 8 I think until 10:30. Then we pretty much just enjoyed the expo area and relaxed a little. I helped out with various jobs when I was asked to and Grace was really enjoying clown Sally and Ranger Rick whom was there. She got her face painted and kept getting balloon animals that she kept popping.

Since this ride was to benefit Illinois' environment, most of the vendors in the expo area were about or in some way related to the environment. REI was there and they are opening a new store in Schaumburg in November. That was exciting to find out. But what really piqued my interest was a thing called a "rain garden." I had never heard of it before then. It's a pretty cool concept where you select an area in your yard where you can improve the soils drainage and basically form a shallow pond. You then plant native plants that love water and are naturally found in wetlands. We already have a drainage area in the back that I wanted to convert to a dry river bed but the more I think about that, it will probably affect my neighbors because I'm thinking a dry river bed with a downpour will just become a river and more water will be diverted away from our yard into our neighbor's yards. I don't want to disturb the balance we've got going now, I want to improve it. So the more I think about it, a dry river bed is probably not going to work.

So now I'm going to research just how to do this and how much work it is. I looks like a lot of work, but maybe it's something I can do myself or with not too much help and with this, prevent any flooding in my yard and likewise in my basement. Plus like I just said, it should help my neighbors and it would help the actual wetlands in our subdivision because that's where all of this water goes right now.

Oh, one of the vendors was Ford because they were one of the sponsors, and they brought from Michigan...guess what? Yes, a 2008 Escape Hybrid. They should have called, I was there with mine! He wouldn't have had to drive all that way. But seriously, I talked to the guy and he seemed nice. He had noticed my car and it was good to see quite a few people actually looking at his car. I wanted to park mine next to his, but I didn't, nor did I ask. The one he brought was that green color that's in all the advertisements and he said the biggest question he was getting was 'what other colors does it come in?' He kept saying "well there's a blue one over there..."

Sunday morning we got up and basically just broke camp and came home. Then we were unpacking and stuff and then I had my first fantasy football draft. I am really excited! I think I have a great team this year. Only time will tell obviously, but I really like my team. I have another draft this weekend, but it isn't a live draft, each team just ranks the players and the computer does the rest. So I'll be ranking players up to the draft time this weekend to make sure I have everything just right.

Monday/yesterday was a hectic day. I had another chiropractor appointment in the morning. For some reason the bone that's out of place in my foot wants to stay that way. Then Grace had dance class. We tried those "natural" hot dogs and they weren't all that. We won't be having them again, but it was worth a try. They weren't horrible, they just weren't really hot dogs either.

Today was busy too. It was Grace's first day of senior pre-school. She's an old pro at this because she didn't skip a beat going there at all. It was like she had been going all summer long. I rushed home and started mowing the grass because it's really long and it's supposed to rain tomorrow. I wasn't finished yet, but it was time to pick Grace up. After I picked her up and came home, the mail had been delivered and I got my case of oil from Valvoline today! Yea!

I'll add more pictures tomorrow.

What a difference a day makes

It's been hot and so humid here for some time now it was a real shock today to go outside. I forgot what nice weather was like - it actually felt cold to me and that's scary because this is my ideal temperature. The high today was 74° and a nice cool breeze. I should have changed from shorts to jeans, that would have helped. But that's just crazy talk for this time of year.

After Julie left for work today Rosco (our dog) decided it was time to get up. I usually sleep until Grace wakes up but not today as he had to go out. So I was up at 6:20 this morning and it was nice to relax and read before Grace got up, but I'm really tired! I'm not used to getting up early any more. Grace got up around 8:00 and she didn't want breakfast until 10:00 or so I think. But she did eat a good breakfast when we finally had it and then "A" came over. Julie's sister called and wanted to have lunch with us today so we all went to Panera Bread for lunch. There was a little "excitement" there as we were eating the police came and ticketed a car that was parked in a handicapped spot without a placard in the window or a plate. It was interesting to watch. There were two squad cars one parked behind the "offending" vehicle and another was writing the ticket out. Once they were done the one that was parked behind took a picture of the back of the car aiming at what looked like the license plate.

We tried to stick around long enough to see who's car it was, but Grace was getting tired of waiting so we left. Interestingly most of the people that were in the restaurant while we were eating had left so who knows who's car it was. They might not have even been there. After that we ran over to Office Depot and got some self-stick fasteners for file folders. I couldn't believe that the smallest package you could buy them in was 100 pieces. I'll have those for the rest of my life. Also picked up an optical mouse for my experimental "server" for only $5. And I grabbed the smallest package they had of DVD-RW's so I could experiment with them in my DVD recorder. Not sure how well those really work.

After that we came back home and Grace wanted to play outside but like I said it actually felt cold with the wind, so "A" wasn't too keen on the whole idea. After Julie came home I convinced her to go out to eat for dinner at Culvers. One of her other sisters called and mentioned that portions of their proceeds today were going to the Relay for Life/American Cancer Society. So we were just doing our part and helping out. We actually met Julie's sister and her family there, and our neighbors from across the street met us there later for dessert.

We were going to watch the movie "Citizen Kane" tonight as it's due at Blockbuster tomorrow but Grace wasn't cooperating too well to get in bed easily for Julie tonight, so we didn't really have time. Not sure what I should do; just be late since there aren't any "late fees" any more or just take it back. We can always rent it again.

So as you can see from my other post today I haven't heard anything from Libertyville Lincoln Mercury or Lisa Madigan's office about our complaint and I'm tired of waiting. I did finally hear from our credit card company yesterday or the day before that they are still reviewing the case and haven't made any determinations. I called the representative from Lisa Madigan's office again today and her voice mail again said she was out of the office. Maybe I should leave a message every time I call, but I don't want to be a pest they are helping me after all; at least I think they are.

I talked to the Ford store where we ordered our Escape from and our salesperson said that she thinks she knows why our order is taking so long. Apparently taxi companies in New York are using the Escape Hybrids and they've ordered a boatload of them. So of course these taxi companies take precedence over the "average consumer." Which really sucks because we really wanted to take this new car on vacation because it'll have a navigation system and it gets great fuel mileage (not as good on the highway as the city, but still better than any other car we've owned recently.) She said to pretty much plan on taking Julie's car to Colorado and if this one is in before we leave it will be a pleasant surprise. So that's what I'm going to do and that is usually my philosophy, but we've just been waiting so long for this darn car that I'm tired of waiting.

I asked if there was a way I could pick up the car from the factory and avoid the whole delivery time frame after the car has been built. She said absolutely not. But I know I've read somewhere before that some customers have done that. I'm thinking there is a way around that. Maybe it's more of a dealership policy that they want to take physical possession of the car so they can sell it, like they wouldn't trust me with it until I've paid for it or something; who knows. Obviously I'd be willing to do all the paperwork before I actually took possession.

On a lighter note, a blog reader suggested I look into myfantasyleague.com as an option for our Fantasy Football league this year. We have looked into that site in previous years when we were considering changing, but we weren't impressed at that time. I have to say after creating our league today on their site I'm very impressed with the number of customization options available. Thanks for telling me to check them out again. I'll bring it to every one else's attention in our league and see which one they prefer.