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http://givemethekeysilldrive.blogspot.com/

Hola,

I'm in the process of moving the blog. I have spent the better part of the morning archiving all the entries from this journal into a word document. It's 174 pages long. I'm still not sure whether I'm going to move all our old entries over to the new blog or not.

I"ll have the new address up when I get things up and running. For now just use this address.

Adios,

Today we purchased Quinn his first Crocs. Here is a picture.




He's been working on getting his Buddha belly back ever since he recovered from his illness. It's looking pretty good, as you can see here.



He's also working on two molars right now and is generally looking like a very big boy.



Here he is sharing some raisins with me.

I have been meaning to post our address for some time. We have bee informed that all mail for us should go through the school. Here is the address you should use if you want to send us anything:




Ben & Julia Sheridan
C/O Korea International School
373-6 Baekhyun-dong
Bundang-gu, Sungnam-si,
Gyeonggi-do, 463-420, Korea

We had a nice video chat with Molly this morning. Quinn was very excited to see and talk to her. We gave Molly a video tour of our apartment. It basically consisted of us walking around the apartment with our laptop and showing her each room. Since our apartment is fairly small it took only a couple minutes.

Here are some quimages of Q having lunch.




Here is Quinn goofing around after lunch.





Here is the skate park in our neighborhood.



Here is a picture taken from E-mart looking back towards our apartment. If you look for the arrow you will see where we live. We are on the 19th floor, second from the top.



Once again if you click on the picture it will open in another window. If you click on it one more time it will get large enough to see some detail. If you look in the foreground of the picture you can see a bike path next to a creek. That is the path we can take into work if we decide to ride our bikes. The path runs all the way into Seoul. It has paths that branch off in all directions that will take you to various areas of the city. You really have to pay attention while riding along this path. There are tons of people walking, riding, rollerblading, etc. Most of them are not really paying attention and weaving all over the path. As you can see there really aren't any pedestrians on the path in this picture. The picture was taken in the middle of the day and most everyone avoids the mid day sun like the plague.


Yesterday I went for a cool MTB ride with around 15 other expats. One of the guys on the ride was a fellow I work with. He is actually from AZ as well and an avid cyclist. We live fairly close to each other so we met up and rode to the trail head where we met up with everyone else. The ride had quite a bit of hike-a-bike. The guys said that most rides did not have this much hiking and were excited to show us some of the other rides in the area. Two of the riders were teachers at another international school. They live in a fairly close area and are keen to show us more trails. Sweet!

Tomorrow is our first day of work where we have kids. We are both excited to get things going and get into a groove.

Finally I'll leave you with some pics of a sweet Honda I saw outside of our apartment.





Adios

I have been so busy I haven't had time to take many pics. I did snap a couple at orientation the other day. One is from the BBQ the school sponsored and one is of the staff out on the field doing some team building activities. If you look into the distance you can see apartments in Bundang.






Adios,

We've been working for a week now. It's a bit hard to get back into the swing after three months off. This is the curse of the teaching profession. It usually takes me about a week to get into summer vacation mode and about a month to get out of it. Anyway, the returning staff came back to work yesterday, so now the whole staff is together (118 total, I think). Ben and I have met our teaching partners and everyone seems really nice. Everyone is full of enthusiasm so it is a fun environment. Today we even had some time to work in our classrooms...a good thing since the kids and parents are coming on Friday for orientation. Monday, the first day of school, is fast approaching. Yikes.

Yesterday we listened to a lecture given to the staff on Korean culture. It was given by an American guy who has lived here for 28 years. It wasn't the most informative talk, but it was very entertaining. He talked at length about funny things like not being able to get a straight answer from a Korean person. We have already experienced this at length. It's so true...they completely talk around things. Apparently even the language itself is ambiguous in nature, as they have little use for things like pronouns and plurals. To illustrate the point, he said that if you were to say to a Korean, "The sun is so bright today." He would most likely respond with something like, "Yes...the sun means brightness...without it we would die." And this Korean would secretly think you were an idiot for stating something so obvious.


The presenter also talked about how things seem very "western" on the surface here in Korea. And it's true. At first glance, things really aren't THAT different from what we're used to. But don't be fooled, said our speaker, because under the surface things are actually the complete opposite of western culture. There are countless hilarious examples of this, and when you really think about it it's amazing that the two cultures are able to blend with any sort of harmony at all. It's pretty impressive.

The best thing for us to do is realize that we are the guests and it is our job to assimilate as much as we desire or are able. I think the more we can let go of what we see as "the right way" of doing or saying something, the better off we'll be. This is a rather obvious sentiment when it comes to living and working in a foreign country, but I still need to remind myself of it. Especially here in Korea. And while this is one of the harder things about being an expat, it also carries one of the biggest benefits. It teaches you humility, over and over again. And in a backwards kind of way, it helps you see how similar all humans are.

On an unrelated topic, we've got more pictures coming soon...I know you're dying for them.

Today we went through more orientation at school. It was both informative and entertaining. We learned about a wide variety of topics, some of which had nothing to do with school. We went to a series of stations where we learned about things ranging from how to pay our utilities, common cultural courtesies, how and when to take out the trash and recycling(more difficult than you might imagine),how to get a substitute, as well as other topics related to living and working in Korea. After school I played some B-Ball with fellow staff members. Wow and I bad at B-ball. Luckily most everyone else is as well so I didn't feel so bad.

Yesterday we hopped on the subway and went to a place called Samsung Plaza. It is basically a big area for shopping etc. We mainly went just to check out the subway while we had the time to get lost and then get found again.

Saturday night we went to a restaurant below our apartment called "Raccoon". Despite the name it was actually pretty good. While we there a lady was playing peek-a-boo with Quinn and thought it was the coolest thing EVER. She was obviously a little tanked but Quinn thought it was hilarious so we went along. She continued to play around with Quinn over the next 20 minutes, eventually coming really close to actually joining our party. She was over at our table and came very close to sitting down. I saw her eying our beers, self preservation kicked in and I quickly drank mine. Her husband payed the bill and dragged her out the side exit. She had the last laugh though playing one final game of peek-a-boo on her way around the corner.

Quinn has been really enjoying his time in the nursery. He has made some new friends and enjoys playing with all the new toys throughout the day.

I brought my camera to school today meaning to take some pictures. It was such a busy day that I didn't get a chance. I'll try to get some in the next couple days and get them up.

It's been just over one week since we arrived in Korea. It has been one of the busiest and most stressful weeks of my life, but now things have started settling down. Quinn and Ben are both feeling much better. Today Q got to go to the nursery with the other kids, since he wasn't contagious anymore. He really enjoyed it and seemed really perky when I picked him up this afternoon. His rash is gone and his eyes are no longer red. He seems to have kicked the nasty illness.

By the way...if you're thinking that Quinn got some strange and exotic illness because we took him to a foreign country, you should know that measles has a 21 day incubation period. It seems he picked it up in Tucson.

Today was our third day of orientation. We went to the hospital and got our health checks for our work visas. The check-up included a dental exam, eye test, blood pressure, height and weight check, chest x-ray, and urine and blood samples. All in all it wasn't a bad experience. They were extremely efficient and we were in and out of there. The only hard part was that we couldn't eat or drink starting at midnight last night (I guess because of the blood test). So by the time it was all over (about noon) I was starving. Fortunately, Ben was way ahead of me in the queue and was waiting for me with coffee and donuts when I finished. What a guy.

Tonight Ben is off at a school social function at a place called The Beer Factory. We have met some really nice folks in the new staff so far, and look forward to meeting the returning staff on Monday.

I had a meeting with the athletic director today. I'm going to be the head coach of the varsity girls' volleyball team. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. It's going to be a lot of work with practice and games and things, but I learned today that I'll actually be getting paid for it. I've coached at a few schools and have never been paid. I'm pretty excited. It sounds like our girls' team is pretty good, so that's exciting too.

This weekend we plan to get out and explore a little more now that the boys are feeling better.

Well, poor Quinn has had a hard go of it lately, but things are beginning to look up in the health department. Yesterday, Quinn was extremely sleepy all day. A few times he crawled up onto the couch and fell asleep all on his own. For those of you who know him well, you understand how uncharacteristic that is. His body also became covered in a mysterious rash and his eyes were red and oozing. He still had a fever, though it was much lower. We decided it would be best to make an appointment at the international clinic and figure out what is going on in his little body. Ben took Quinn to his appointment today. I stayed at school and took notes for both of us during our first day of orientation. It turns out Q has something called "three day measles". I've never heard of it but apparently it's quite common and once they get it, they become immune to it (kind of like chicken pox). It is characterized by a very high fever (check), cough and sore throat (check), and a rash (check!). Apparently the doctor knew instantly that this was the problem. The eye infection was unrelated, but probably happened because his immune system was compromised. Since the "measles" thing is viral, there's nothing he can do but let it run its course. He was prescribed some drops for his gunky eyes.

It's a relief to know that it's nothing serious, and he is already acting like he feels much better.

Ben has been getting progressively worse with his illness, so he decided to ask the doc to have a look at him while he was at Quinn's appointment. It appears he has some kind of throat infection, and the doctor prescribed him some antibiotics. Hopefully he will begin to feel better in a couple days.

As I mentioned, today was our first day of staff orientation. It was a busy day full of new information, but I think we're both feeling really excited about our new jobs. Quinn would normally be going to the nursery while we're working, but today he had to keep his distance from all the other little ones so he spent most of his time with one of the nannies in the library. The doc said he should only be contagious another 24 hours, so pretty soon he'll get to play in the nursery with the others.

Last night we had our first (and hopefully last) experience in the emergency room of a local hospital. Ok, now that I've got your attention...don't worry it was nothing too serious, everyone is alright.

As posted yesterday, Quinn has been feeling pretty bad for a few days. Yesterday afternoon, after the stroller shopping adventure, we took his temp again and it was down to 99.9. So we thought he was on the mend. Well, later that evening he seemed unusually hot and bad tempered, so we took it again and this time it was up to 104.5. He's never had a fever that high, and so I promptly freaked out. We're in a new country and obviously have no idea what to do for medical care yet (our school orientation starts Wednesday, I'm sure it will be covered then). Plus, I can't tell if I'm overreacting or if this is something that is really serious. So Ben decided to call our school director to get some advice. He's lived here for four years now and has two kids of his own, so we figured he would know. This was about 7:00 on a Sunday night, so we felt a little bad about bugging him, but he completely understood our situation and was really glad we called. He agreed that it was a very high fever and was very concerned. We had just given Q a dose of ibuprofen, so we decided to wait a bit for the meds to kick in and if they didn't lower the fever we would take him in to the ER (being Sunday night, all the clinics were closed). So we wait a bit and take his temp again. This time it reads 103.9...not much of an improvement, but we thought maybe we could wait until the morning. So we call the director back and tell him the situation. Before Ben can even finish saying, "I think we'll wait until the morning" our new boss is saying, "That's still really high, let's just take him in tonight". In a matter of minutes, a taxi has been arranged to pick us up and take us to Samsung Hospital, about 30 minutes away. While we're waiting for the cab, we get calls from three staff members. First, the school nurse to help us assess the situation (she agrees that we should take him in). Next, the business manager to discuss the health insurance situation (we don't have any yet) and let us know how much it's going to cost for the ER visit. And finally, another business office staff member to tell us the license number of the taxi that is waiting for us downstairs. Organized and efficient, to say the least.

So we head downstairs, screaming baby in arms, and hop in the cab. The taxi driver is pretending he is an ambulance driver and gets us there very quickly. When we arrive at the hospital, we are greeted by the school nurse (a Korean woman who will be translating for us), the director, and our elementary principcal (who just arrived the day before and was visibly jet-lagged). All three left their homes late on a Sunday night just to be there for us during a scary situation. I can't even describe how grateful we were for this. I actually teared up at the sight of them because I was so touched. Before I could even finish my profuse thanks, the director told us to please don't think twice about it, that they've all been there with feverish babies in the middle of the night and they're just glad they could be there to help. Wow.

After checking in we're told it will be about 2-3 hours wait (the pediatric ER is PACKED). Ben takes Quinn outside in the stroller so maybe he can get some sleep while we wait. After about 1 1/2 hours, we are called in to see the doctor. Through our translator (who also happens to have a medical background) we discuss his symptoms, pattern of the fever, etc. He briefly examines Quinn and concludes that he has a throat infection, and this is causing the fever. He tells us to take him back home, monitor the fever (making sure it doesn't go over 105), and give meds as needed. We are relieved that Q is OK and very ready to get home to bed. What a night.

So that brings us to this morning. Quinn woke up at 5:30, as he has been doing since we arrived. I was hoping that since he didn't get to bed until midnight that he might sleep longer, but nothing doing. Anyway, when he woke up he was noticeably cooler to the touch and after a banana and much, much apple juice he was in a bit better spirits. He was still very tired, though, and is currently already down for his morning nap at 8am. To add to all the drama, Ben is now deathly ill with the same thing. He's in bed too and so I am left alone with nothing to do but hope the same illness is not brewing in me.

Our transition to Korea has proven very easy in some ways, and very challenging in others. I know we're all looking forward to being well and being back on a normal schedule. We'll keep you posted.

Yesterday Quinn woke up in a fairly cranky mood after not sleeping much the night before. Sometimes he wakes up cranky, but after some food and drink chirps up. He felt warm as well so we took his temperature. He had a fever which explained his crankiness. He was being very clingy and insisted that he pretty much sit in my lap on the couch all day. He slept sporadically through the night but woke up noticeably better today. His fever dropped to almost normal and he was in a much better mood. I on the other hand seem to have caught whatever he had and feel like crap. I hope I can power through it as quick has Q.

Yesterday I did manage to get out from under Quinn and over to E-Mart. E-Mart is like a Sam's Club(for those of you from the States) on steroids or a Carrefore. I bought a wireless router and some other odds and ends.

The wireless router means our Skype phone is up and running. You can call us from you computer or home phone, whichever you prefer. If you call us from a computer you need to have Skype installed. You can get it here: http://www.skype.com/intl/en/welcomeback/ . It's free and doesn't take up to much space on your hard drive. It has a cool text feature that we actually use more than the voice feature. If you don't want to fuss with getting a headset and all just call us from your home phone. It's a local Tucson call or just call from a cell phone elsewhere. We have a local Tucson number that you can call and it will ring through to us here in Korea. It doesn't cost us per minute either so don't hesitate to give us a shout. It's basically a subscription service that Skype offers that we pay for by the year. It costs like 30 bucks/year. We even have voice mail so if we miss your call leave us a message. We've already gotten a couple calls. I know, I know, the number already: (520) 399.6126.

We took a trip back to E-Mart today and meandered on the way. We are finding that we live in a very fancy area of the city. By fancy I mean expensive, and by expensive I mean comparable to the States. There seem to be reasonably priced restaurants here and there. You can tell which ones are inexpensive because they're the ones that are all full. There are also western brands like Dominoes, Subway etc. There is a Subway a block and a half east of our place. Today on our way home we ate at the Outback Steakhouse. Not a big fan but the place was packed. One bonus is that here are many areas to walk, run, and ride your bike. There is a small river two blocks from our apartment that has pedestrian only paths that run beside it. There is also an outdoor skatepark and outdoor climbing wall one block away. It seems that most of what we need is within walking distance.

On our way to E-Mart (which I'm certain is short for "everything under the sun-mart") we approached a couple wearing U of A garb. We said hello and told them that we had just moved from Tucson and were U of A fans.(Didn't get into the only basketball part of it) They said that their son is doing graduate work at U of A. They asked for our information which was a bit strange but I told them where we worked. I'm interested to see if they contact us. It turns out they live in the building next to us and it would be nice to have some acquaintances outside of school.

Once we arrived at E-Mart we grabbed a cart and headed to the cart friendly escalator/moving sidewalk. On our way down we were befriended by an older Korean woman. In broken English she told us that her husband was parking the car and they were going to eat downstairs in the foodcourt. I'm pretty sure she wanted us to join her. Not really sure what to do we smiled and nodded our head and motioned that we would make our way down shortly. I was not really in the mood for a game of charades over Korean BBQ so we b-lined it for the stroller section. (more on that in a minute)

I would have been more motivated to share a meal if she had been had appeared more inclined to treat. I had a sneaking suspicion she waited at the top of the elevator quite often looking for unsuspecting, jet lagged and glassy eyed people to squeeze free lunch out of. I envisioned her reaching into her purse at check time and frantically (all and act mind you) looking for a non-existent wallet. Who I ask you could not help a grandma out and pay for lunch. It is a good scam, so good we almost fell for it. Then again she could be just a lonely old lady looking for company. It's a tough call.

So we made it to the stroller section and after carefully examining each stroller and all its features we whittled it down to two. I asked Quinn which he preferred but he was too busy looking at other objects closer to the size he could insert in his mouth. After what I considered way too much time looking at strollers, their many cool attachments and folding options, we had settled on one that we felt embodied us as individuals. One that could instill these values onto our little man. (I must say that it was hard not to just pick the cheapest and head for the door) This stroller had functionality, but at the same time was fashionable. Not too flashy mind you. If I had to compare it to a car I would have to say that it is a Japanese sedan that is stylish, ergonomic, but still gets good mileage. As I passed the the display line of strollers on the way to check out I was almost drawn in by what appeared to be the "Porsche" of strollers. I knew it was cool when I immediately envisioned myself in it. I fought off the urge and continued on.

I approached the counter and asked if I was to pay in this section or in the front. The lady looked at me and fired off a couple sentences in Korean and smiled. I smiled back. She held up her finger as if to say what a minute. It was either that or "Just one today?". I smiled back and nodded. She looked around a bit frantically and started calling into the radio. Then she started dipping and doing some waving motion with her hands over the stroller. I figured she was either trying to tell me something or entertain me with some sort of Korean stroller dance. She was pretty good so again I nodded and she stopped her dance and disappeared. Another woman appeared and was reading the stroller tag into a radio. I figure by this time we had been standing there for about 10 minutes. It occurred to me that they might be in the back getting one that was still in a box. I might mention here that the whole reason we wanted to buy a stroller was because neither one of us wanted to carry Quinn the two blocks back to our house.

Sure enough they burst through the back doors with a nice big stroller box. Hhhmmm our plan had been temporarily foiled. We had to think fast. Now not only would we be carrying Q all the way back we would be carrying this awkwardly big and heavy box. After the dance and all we couldn't say no. We approached the check out and it all became clear. In Korea you either bring your own bags or re-use the boxes that the supermarket gets stuff in. You bag or pack all your own stuff at the check out counter. They have a very organized pile of flattened boxes for you to use just outside the checkout. They even have scissors and tape. We decided to unpack and put together our stroller there and we just left the box with all the others. I have to say that it was about 10 times bigger than any other box but I'm sure they sorted it out. We plopped Q in his new coach and were on our way.

Tomorrow we will go on a hospitality tour the school has put together. The last stop is Costco. I'm sure we will stock up on enough toothpaste and paper towels to take us through Christmas.

Great to hear all you comments!!

Adios,

Here is a view form our apartment. You may want to click on the picture to make it bigger. It will open in a new window and then click on it one more time to make it even bigger.




Adios

Well we have arrived and slept more or less through the night. I am using someones wireless connection that I can pick up in our apartment until we get ours squared away.

We are unpacking presently and Q is taking a nap. We really like our new apartment. It is on the small side for a 3 bedroom but we were kind of expecting that. The design in great and it makes efficient use of space. We were surprised to find many items already here such as: washing machine, toaster, T.V., a phone that is already working, a international phone card with 4 hours of time, a small amount of food and drink, a nice wad of cash from the school, a bag of toiletries (even one for Q), beds, dressers, blankets, pots, pans, plates, forks, knives, etc. You get the point. The school is making it as easy as they can for us to feel welcome.

We already met two teachers we will be working with who arrived at the airport shortly after us. They seem very nice and excited to be here.

Here is a pic of Q looking out our apartment. The whole eastern side is glass. He enjoys leaning his head against it and looking down at the street below. It offers a nice view of some nearby hills.




Gotta go hop in the shower and get going. We are heading over to the school to check things out and might try to squeeze a trip in to Costco.

Well it's coming down to the wire. We leave in a few short days for our new home in South Korea. Quinn is suspicious but does not know exactly what he is in for. I think we should break it to him shortly; it only seems fair.

My brother Otto and family are in town to say goodbye. It was extremely nice of them to make a special trip to see us one last time before we leave.

We did another Alpine run this last week. Only this time my dad came along in the Vette with a friend from Poland. Amazingly we managed not to get rained on while driving through the mountains during monsoon season. Once again we stayed at the Tal-Wi-Wi lodge. We took an alternate route coming back that jogged us into New Mexico and through the Gila wilderness. Amazingly beautiful.

Well I'm off to organize some more stuff so that once I pack it I can forget where I put it almost immediately. The only benefit to this is that once we get to Korea and start to unpack it will be like getting something new all over again. Invariably stuff always gets lost. I always wonder if baggage handlers open bags and take out the most random thing they can find just to mess with travelers. The trick with this is that they must leave all valuables in place or someone might suspect something. It's much more fun for them to just reach in to snatch a small curio or nick knack. That way for years to come people will be contemplating where these invaluable mementos went. They will be drifting off to sleep and wondering, "what ever happened to this or that gift so and so brought me back from their trip to...". They will be thinking, "I could have sworn I stuck that in the bag along with my Chia Pet and celebrity bobble head collection". Over time if this happens enough it could lead to insomnia. Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

Here is a picture of the Morenci Mine that my dad took.





Adios,

Here is an email from a friend:

Hey,

So, my watch was broken in a fight in Dubai airport! No kidding.
Here's how it went down.

After disembarking form my KL-Dubai flight I sleepily take the
escalator down to the departures level. First time in Dubai, facing a
6-hour layover, I decide to take a stroll around the airport. The
first thing that grabs my attention is the amount of people in the
airport at 3am. Literally, the airport is packed with people sleeping
everywhere. In some places, there is barely enough room to walk
through with bags. People sleeping under chiars like sardines. You get
the picture.

At one point in my stroll, I look ahead to see a walkway choked with
sleepers, so I cross a bridge to the other side of the departure
lounge. On my way across I hear what sounds like a kung-fu
"haayyeee-ya!" coming from back on the side that I just avoided. I
look over and there is a dude - who we will call Tan-man - in a
head-to-toe tan outfit, not unlike a janitor. But this guy's outfit
has eppelettes and an official-looking name badge. Most importantly
though, tan-man is wailing on another dude - who we will call Sitter -
sitting in front of him, who just happens to be wearing the same
head-to-toe tan outfit. Some passing whitey - known as Woosey-boy -
gets freaked and starts yelling, "Security!" Tan-man, not concerned
about woosey-boy's woosey screams for help, stops wailing momentarily
on Sitter to turn his attention to a third tan-wearing dude - known as
Runner - a few feet away. Tan-man makes a weak flying kick towards
Runner and proceeds to chase Runner down the aisle - did I mention
that all these guys are like 50 years old and fat. Being 50, Tan-man
and Runner only make it a few steps before Tan-man gets tired of
swinging aimlessly and kicking the air. Not ready to give up, and
clearly insane, Tan-man pursues again, and again, a few steps then
turns, then turns back...a few steps, and tired again. So, as you can
see, this has gone from a scarey situation, to complete ludricrosity.
By this point, I have put my bags down across the departure lounge, a
safe distance, and settled in for the hilarity, wishing I had some
popcorn. Sitter is chilling, seamingly unphased by Tan-man's punches.
Tan-man, out of breath, is down the aisle, and Runner is a safe
distance away. Woosey boy and about 30 other people, who obviously
don't feel threatened anymore by Tan-man's geriatric display of
kung-fu, continue to walk down the corridor. BUT THEN, Tan-man turns
on the crowd. Yes kids, Tan-man is angry at the world. One must wonder
what has started this obsurd chain of events. Leaning against my bag,
I have at this point envisioned Runner giving Tan-man an olympic-sized
wet-willy while Tan-man is trying to catch some zees before his next
flight. And, oh yes, these men have yelled enough for me to deduce
that they are from Mediterranean origin.

So, the scary part. Tan-man, seeing that Runner is uncatchable, starts
assaulting anyone and everyone. People sitting down, walking by,
ANYONE. I am getting freaked, and I can see how this is all going to
go down because there is a golf cart coming down the aisle with some
old whiteys, and the driver hasn't seen the scene ahead yet. Sure
enough, Tan-man, seeing an easy target, goes for the cart. He slams on
the front, and jumps in the back (I am not kidding!!!!! This is like
an Indiana Jones flick, where Indy is beating people up in the back of
a moving vehicle, you couldn't script this!!!). And I just watched "I
Am Legend" on the flight. CRAZY!

Obviously, I can't watch the carnage. I have been slowly moving over
to the scene, just in case it gets out of hand. And it has, when the
grand finale, Tan-man jumps out of the cart and assualts an elderly
woman walking on the path. Tan-man grabs her by the head-scarf and
starts feeding her rights. I throw down my bags, and with the help of
2 airport staff, jump the guy and wrestle him down. He got a good kick
on my arm - which broke my watch band - so I did the Cops thing where
they put my knee on the back of his throat. I was pissed, and the knee
thing was very satisfying, but restrained from actually punching him.
Having never been in a fight, I probably would have missed anyways.
With the man subdued, and 3 more airport staff on the scene, I make a
quick exit because there is a massive crowd gathering, and people were
shouting. I didn't stck around, but I did see them wheeling him away
on a cart to the police office.

Here is the kicker. About 4 hours later, after a sleep on the floor, I
see security giving Tan-man a ride on the golf cart, this time not
handcuffed. And this time, he has on his eppaulettes. He's a pilot!
For Turkish Airlines? Is that even a real airline?

Crazy. Got to run. My flight is boarding. Good stuff at Dubai international.

Adios,

Game time is approaching. We have plane tickets and Korean visas in hand. The house is rented and furniture in storage. We are mostly packed and have tied up most of the loose ends. There will always be stuff that does not get done but that's just the nature of moving.

We just spent a lovely weekend on Mt. Lemmon with some of Julia's family. I got a couple nice rides in. Our friends Crissi and Jason were up at their family and new baby Elliot. Lucky for me Jason brought his bike. We had a nice ride together, finishing with just minor cuts and scrapes.

Here is a pic from the weekend.



Adios,

A few weeks back Bryan and I went for a motorcycle ride. We rode from Safford to Alpine Arizona. The route is about 140 miles with the first 40 being pretty boring. After passing through Morenci, which is still an unincorporated mining town, you start to climb into the mountains and the road gets curvy. The road stays curvy for the next 100 miles. I have to say it is pretty awesome. Here is the route:


View Larger Map

If you zoom in you can see how twisty the road really is. We road up to ALpine and spent a night at the Tal-Wi-Wi lodge(http://www.talwiwilodge.com/) and returned the next day. We had so much fun we are doing it again with my dad and a friend of his from Poland. They will be in the Corvette.

Here are some pics from our ride:



Notice the speed limit.







If you look in the distance you can see the road winding down the mountain.

We're off to Mt. Lemmon for the 4th weekend.

Adios,

We have been traveling for the quite some time now. We started in Flagstaff where we stayed with our friend BP. He was a gracious host as always and was very accommodating with regard to Quinn. I got in some great rides as well as some QT with old friends.



From there we headed north to Silverthorne with a layover in Moab. We arrived in Silverthorne at John and Suzie's without incident. I got in a nice ride with uncle John. We enjoyed the great weather and small town charm.




From there we headed still north to Ft. Collins. We were graciously invited to stay with our friends Todd, Katie and their two children. We spent a day looking at houses and were very pleased with what we saw. Our decision to move there eventually has been further cemented. I was able to squeeze in a really fun ride at Horsetooth Rock Park.




We spent a night with Clint, Meagan and Sutton at their lovely home in North Denver. Clint was awesome and took us to the airport where we caught a flight to Portland. We have had a great time here in Portland staying with Siovhan, David, Maggie and Maura. Cito even came down from Seattle to join the party. Tonight we are having dinner with an old roommate and his family. Tomorrow we head back to Denver to continue on with our road tripping.











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Yesterday we took Q to the Desert Museum with Molly, Will and Donna. The Desert Museum is always a treat.

We have been busy working on the house getting it ready to rent out at the end of the month. We need to be out in 3 weeks so the pressures on to get everything in order and get packed up. We have been busy with painting, installing lighting, plumbing, tiling, getting new carpet, as well as doing work to the yard.

Here are some pics from the Desert Museum.
















Adios

Hola,

A while back Quinn wasn't growing much and wasn't following his own growth pattern consistently. The doctor was a bit concerned so she had Quinn undergo a bunch of tests. All the tests came back negative which was a good thing.

He has always been a skinny baby so that much is expected. Last week we measured Quinn to see how tall he was and where he fell on the growth chart. Well we measured him and he was so short he wasn't even on the chart. He wasn't even on the girls growth chart. Julia became convinced he was a midget, or Quidget as it would be in his case.

He had his one year check up this Tuesday and it went well. He got some ouchie shots as well as all the other things you do at a one year check up. When the doctor measured him he was actually a full 3 inches longer than what we measured him at. So he is actually in the 25th percentile for height. Not bad. He is still a skinny little man falling in the 3rd percentile for weight.

The doctor assured Julia that he was not a Quidget and is just fine.

Here is a short video that is titled TwoMinutesFourSecondsWithQuinn.



Oh and it turned out that I had pneumonia. After 3 weeks I am finally starting to feel better.

Adios