Accosted

My wife and I are at the grocery store. She just walked up to the ginger inbetween two older gentlemen looking for various other vegetables and things.  One gentlemen almost immediately asks here for advice on how to pick good ginger.  I can only presume he felt comfortable/secure in asking her because she is Chinese American.  He thanked her and moved on with his fine pick of ginger.

Then immediately, the other gentlemen engaged her in a conversation about her heritage,  Chinese language, etc.  I didn't interfere because it was more adorable than anything.

We finally broke away with our fine pick of ginger.

Who needs privacy?

Allie said just now, "I don't know why people post everything on Facebook. ...there's no privacy." I couldn't help but post this quote on Facebook just to be ironic.

Portland, ME

Allie and had a nice weekend in Portland, ME in Sept.  Beautiful town with friendly people, fresh seafood and nice weather.

SeaWorld Orlando is moderately disappointing

My memories of SeaWorld San Diego have jaded my experience at SeaWorld Orlando.  I actually went to SeaWorld Orlando with high expectations.  Everything just seems smaller in the Orlando, FL version of the SeaWorld theme park franchise.  Even trying to find a cool t-shirt with "SeaWorld Orlando" provided to be difficult.  I will say that the two rollercoasters are actually well designed and fun.  Anyway, here's some photos of me and Allie's day there.

Praying Mantis

Found this little guy on top of a trashcan in Wellesley.  Didn't seem to be doing much, but it did take notice when my wife and I took a few shots.  It's kinda creepy to have a bug watch you while you are watching it.



Grist Mill

A few weeks ago, Allie and I spent an afternoon on a short drive around the area to catch Autumn near its peak in MetroWest.  It's a beauty place near Wayland Inn just off of Highway 20.  It was just past peak, but still very beautiful.



Kimball Farm in Littleton, PA

A popular attraction just outside of the MetroWest area is Kimball Farm.  It's an outdoor family entertainment place with great seafood, driving range, batting cages, famous miniature golf (designed by some Hollywood types, so I hear), arcade, bumper boats, and even more famous ice cream, oh and a few farm animals too...and don't forget the iconic weather vane.  My wife and I had a chance to enjoy the "farm" several times this summer, but only really explored it at a company event held there.  The miniature gold course is one of the best I've seen in terms of creativity.  There's even one hole that pretty much requires you to float your ball down a stream in order to have a chance at getting a hole-in-one.



Toebzilla's first Cape Cod Adventure

Allie and I went to Cape Cod this past Sunday, and we brought along Toebzilla.  We ended up a Nauset Light Beach, which is dog friendly.  It's been a long time since Toebzilla has been to any beach, so the adventure was like new to him.

After settling near the water, I walked with him to the edge of the surf.  A little nervous, he moved towards the small waves as though he intended to take on the entire Atlantic Ocean himself.  He watched a tiny wave or two before he figured out the timing.  When the next tiny wave rolled up, he pounced on it and attempted to nip at it.  Instead, he got a mouth full of salty water and splashed up to his knees.  At that moment, he decided he had enough of the Ocean, and preferred sunbathing on the beach towel instead.



Where'd that T-Rex come from?

Here's a funny photo that Allie and I took at a tourist trap somewhere just off the freeway in Arizona or New Mexico while on our cross-country road trip just after Thanksgiving last year.

Meeting Mike Rowe

The Joke
When travelling across country late last year with my wife, I discovered a section of our hotel store at the Grand Canyon that was dedicated to Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. There was a foam board cut out of Mike Rowe’s image. To joke with my wife, who loves Mike Rowe but who never found her way into the store, I took a photo of me with the 2D cut out. The joke turned out to be so little, Allie forget all about the photo within a couple of days.

Irony a few months later
In a bit of irony, I actually did meet Mike Rowe at SolidWorks World 2012 earlier this year. Yes, he graciously took his photo with me. Can you tell which is the real Mike Rowe?

SolidWorks World 2012 is a design conference dedicated to 3D CAD related products and services for engineering and similar fields. The conference happened to fall on Valentine's Day this year. It was in San Diego. This means, I (and many attendees) were away from our spouses on Valentine's Day. I asked Mike Rowe if he would write a Valentine's Day message to my wife (an autograph written to Allie). He signed my conference badge. I'm not going to show it here because its my gift to my wife. It is an autograph that will never be sold, and it's up to Allie to show it off!

I thanked Mike Rowe a bit too much and then told him that my wife and I have been fans since he was on Evening Magazine in the San Francisco Bay Area. He looked at me surprized, if not a tiny bit consternated.

On Stage
On stage at the conference, Mike Rowe talked about the need to bring recognition and honor back to the blue collar trades (plumbers, electricians, etc). He founded mikeroweWORKS for this purpose and to help people connect with each other in the trades.