My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on September 3, 2006

If you’ve ever been around Cincinnati, Ohio on Labor Day weekend you most likely have seen (or at least heard of) the annual fireworks display. This year was the 30th year and the display was better than ever. It was 45 minutes of mind-boggling color, smoke and noise. In Cincinnati, you know what fireworks are all about if you’ve seen the spectacular WEBN/Toyota sponsored display.

Local radio station, WEBN, and Toyota sponsor the annual Riverfest fireworks show that provides the over half million people from Ohio and Kentucky the biggest pyrotechnic display I’ve ever seen. I recall our first display ten years ago when my wife commented that “this must be what fireworks are like in heaven.” Besides the 500,000+ who line up on both sides of the river, countless others watch the WKRC Channel 12 simulcast set to music. This year it was a wide mix by WEBN’s Joel Moss which included some original material by Booty Collins and well as music from AC/DC to Frank Sinatra to Jimmy Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.” It always is a spectacular show and this 2006 year was no exception. If you find yourself anywhere near Cincinnati on Labor Day, do yourself a favor and take in the fireworks.

Category: Cellphone, Local, Personal, Video | No Comments »
Tags: cincinnati, fireworks, mp4, palm, treo, video

Posted By RichC on September 3, 2006

On August 30, 2006 the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM) held it annual White Coat Ceremony where several awards to teaching professionals and the induction of the 2010 graduating class was acknowledged. Margaret Nora, M.D., J.D., president and dean of NEOUCOM offered words of advice and congratulations to the 123 inductees to a full auditorium. First year medical students (M1’s) are given their white coats by over 100 of the nations 145 medical schools and has been a honored tradition at NEOUCOM since 1995. As a proud father, my daughter (Katelyn – photo above) received her white coat on Wednesday night as well.

Since I keep this blog as a personal journal, it is only appropriate that I mention this milestone in my daughter’s education. Katelyn has spent the last two years completing her Bachelor of Science degree at Kent State University graduating Summa Cum Laude only a few weeks ago. The high pressure program has added significant stress to the normal growing up and attending college, but offers appropriate students an accelerated path that will shorten the many years of school associated with becoming a doctor.

Besides the advantage of accelerating ones undergraduate degree for competent students who know they want to pursue medicine as a profession, there is also the reduced stress of ‘knowing’ which medical school one will get accepted into. (that’s not to say that early acceptance into the NEOUCOM program is easy) I’ve known many pre-med graduates struggling to find a medical school that will accept them, even when they score well on the MCAT and have a sound undergraduate education. From the perspective of ‘number of pre-med graduates wanting to attend Med School’ to the ‘number of slots available’ … schools can be picky. The early acceptance program offered by some medical schools can take a bit of that pressure off.

From a parents and the dollar ‘n’ sense perspective, the advantage of reducing a 4-year undergraduate degree to two, reduces cost at a time where affording a college education is beyond the reach of many families. I’ve read about and seen too many weak students working through college and exiting with unmanageable debt … often at the sacrifice of their families. I also know too many students, whether it is due needing to grow up or a just a change of major, that requires a fifth year to complete their undergraduate education; for that I’m thankful that my daughter had a focus and goal early on in life and the ability to chip away toward that end. Sure there is second guessing that one is moving too fast and missing out on the ‘costly recreation’ that comes with a more relaxed approach toward a college education … but from the perspective of middle-age, being a bit more aggressive now will pay off since there is so much more school ahead.

Category: Personal | 6 Comments »
Tags: drew, family, katelyn

Posted By RichC on September 2, 2006

I stop in at Fairfield VW to pick up some power steering fluid for my daughter’s Jetta TDI and ran into sales manager Stu Williams. We talked for a few minutes about Volkswagen diesels, or lack thereof, and his disappointment in not having a 2007 model year TDI to sell. He indicated that they have nearly sold all of their allocated Jetta TDIs and that the number of 2006’s TDIs available in 2007 will be minimal. (VW has indicated they would continue to sell 2006s well into the 2007 model year) That said, sales for the Fairfield Ohio Volkswagen dealership has been very good as their new Rabbit, Jetta and Passat have been strong. To be honest, fuel economy on those models isn’t all that bad for ‘gassers.’ With the recent introduction of the new EOS hardtop convertible, VWoA should have a strong lineup going into 2007 even without the diesels. (although with high fuel cost the fuel efficient 2006 TDI Jetta diesel will be missed)

Our conversation returned to diesels as I commented on some of the other entries, or at least ‘talked about’ entries that might be coming to North America. One of the VW relatives will be the remodel Audi TT who has indicated it will be putting a diesel in the TT after the Le Mans success of the R10. I’m crossing my fingers that the R10 TDI’s success in the US will open the door here too? For those of us interested in a sporty diesel, this rumor promises to be something to watch for. According to a couple mentions on the internet, Audi considered a diesel in the previous TT, but decided the “remaining life cycle was too short to recuperate the investment.” The diesel engine option for the 2008 model year TT (said to be introduced next year – 2007) has not been announced.

*** For more on the 2007/2008 Audi TT see Left Lane News.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By RichC on September 1, 2006

Ernesto made landfall last night at 11:30pm with a bit stronger winds than Florida. (see previous post) Wind gusts of 55 to 65 mph were common and the landfall pont was Long Beach North Carolina. According to reports, winds over 70 mph were recorded in some areas but for hurricane trackers, Ernesto came ashore as a tropic storm loaded with rain. Flash flooding is the major problem as some areas of the Carolinas have measured between 8 and 12 inches of rain.

Ernesto is moving through eastern Virginia and is still packing gust of over 60 mph. “Moderate to heavy rain extends from northeast North Carolina to the Maryland-Pennsylvania line and will continue its march northward through the Middle Atlantic and New York tonight and Saturday,” according to Weather.com.

Here is a tracking map of Ernesto with predictions as the Labor Day weekend arrives. No doubt about it, some areas are going to be wet.

Category: Weather | No Comments »
Tags: florida, hurricane

Posted By RichC on September 1, 2006

Hopefully this weekend I’ll get part 2 of my vacation to Hawaii photos and comments posted. (click here to see Part 1) Nevertheless, here is a animated GIF series of photos of a sunrise on Maui atop the crater rim at Haleakala. The photo was taken early morning (duh!) at Haleakala Crater National Park as we shivered in the early morning wind at 10,000 foot. (quality is not all that good due to animated gif … but I figured it was still worth posting?)

_

Category: Personal, Photos, Recreation, Travel | 2 Comments »
Tags: 2006 vacation, cruise, hawaii, ncl, sunrise

Posted By RichC on August 31, 2006

Lately I’ve been looking for excuses to click a photo or two with my handy dandy Palm Treo 700p, so today spotted an unusual Volkswagen for North America: a VW Gol – Pointer “City” 5 door station wagon.

The Volkswagen Gol (not to be confused with Golf) derived its name from the Portugese word ‘Golo’ according the information in Wilkipedia. It is Volkswagen’s entry level car in South American and can run on ethanol, natural gas or gasoline in its small 4 cylinder engines. It has been manufactured with several generation changes since 1980 in Brazil and is the best selling car in both Brazil and Argentina. About 4.5 million have been produced. The wagon model above has the ‘city’ engine option which offers a bit better fuel economy.

Let me know if you’ve seen them in North America, particularly the newer models. (early Pointers were rebadged Ford Escorts)

Category: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Tags:

Posted By RichC on August 30, 2006

Rain but not all that much wind in Delray Beach just north of Fort Lauderdale, Florida this morning as Ernesto makes itself known throughout the state. The winds are tropical storm force at a sustained 35mph and moving north at about 10mph. Not all that much fear from the wind but the rains are heavy. The risk of damage is now considered low in Florida and watchers are questioning if Ernesto will pick up additional steam when it moves into the gulf stream and heads up coast toward the Carolinas? No matter, it does look like a wet Labor Day weekend for the east coast.

Now Catagory 4 Hurricane John is a different story. Mexico’s resort towns and west coast are at risk … this one could be serious.

Category: Misc, Weather | No Comments »
Tags: hurricane

Posted By RichC on August 29, 2006

After beginning to move Atlantis toward the assembly building this morning at 10am, NASA officials have changed their mind due to tropical storm Ernesto’s westernly path. They are now returning the Shuttle Atlantis to Launch Pad 39B. By around 8 p.m. EDT tonight the move back to the pad should be complete and and “mission managers are confident in the ability of the rotating service structure to protect the vehicle on the pad.” Leroy Cain, launch intergration manager, indicated that earlier today (Tuesday) that the “forecast was just not quite good enough,” but that with the change in predicted path that the winds should not be a problem. At 2:40 pm the Shuttle Atlantis began the return trip to the launch pad atop the crawler transporter.

Current projections on Ernesto has the ‘tropical storm’ hitting the Florida Keys around midnight with winds predicted around 55mph.

Category: Space | No Comments »
Tags: nasa, shuttle, space

Posted By RichC on August 29, 2006

I’ve been planning to write down some thoughts and include some personal photos from our recent family vacation to Hawaii. We enjoyed near perfect weather on our entire trip, both on a cruise ship, NCL(A)’s “Pride of Hawaii,” and the time spent with my nephew David and his wife Gillian who live on Kauai — they were wonderful hosts. (see following part(s) of this wrap up on Kauai — our favorite island)

We flew direct from Cincinnati just a day or so after new tightened security. (we wisely checked liquids, etc) We flew on a Delta 767 and the three in-flight movies and several podcasts downloaded to my Palm Treo 700p made the long 9 hour flight bearable; others slept. After the 6 hour time change we made our way through the beautiful Honolulu Airport, retrieved our luggage, and boarded our transfer bus for the drive to the port. The traffic was heavy in Honolulu, but the drive was only a short distance from the airport. After a fairly quick boarding procedure, thanks to having all our paperwork faxed in prior to the trip, leis and shell necklaces were put on each of us as we boarded the ship and the searched for our cabin began. The mandatory ‘muster drill’ was painless and a fun time as usual, but after a day of traveling wasn’t something we really were anxious to do.

We are somewhat seasoned when it comes to cruise ships, but we always enjoy being back on-board another ship. I suspect our expectations were a bit high or perhaps the service aboard the American flagged and crewed “Pride of Hawaii” was sub-standard. I suspect the latter. (maybe a little more on this later?)
🙁

Our first port of call, Hilo, was a night sail away on the ‘Big Island’ of Hawaii (click for map). We arrived early the next morning to a beautiful sunrise and, per usual, tropical breezes and temperatures in the 80s. Our ambitious goal for the day was to head to the top of the tallest peak in all of the Pacific … Mauna Kea. (13,796 feet) The five of us partnered in a 4 wheel drive Ford 350 turbo diesel van with a soldier just back from Iraq and his brother and started the long drive toward the 14 observatories built atop this extraordinary volcano.

On our way out of Hilo, we drove through moderate neighborhoods who have seen real estate prices rise to very high levels. A middle class home in much of the mid-west would be well over a half million in most neighborhoods outside of Hilo according to our driver. (most of Hawaii was that way) We stopped a beautiful Wailuku State Park and Rainbow Falls. (large photo) It was ‘picture perfect.’

As we continued on toward the Mauna Kea volcanic mountain (33,000 feet from the floor of the Pacific) and the celestial observatories, we passed alters that still are places of worship as they were in the days before the Christian missionaries arrived. We respected the flowers and palms left not all that long ago.
As we continued to climb toward our lunch spot we shifted into 4 wheel drive and noticed the vegetation disappear until the landscape started to look like another planet. The air started to thin and on went our sweatshirts — brrr from Hawaii! Along the way we noticed the different rock formations included something called “lava bombs” which are chucks of molten rock blasted years ago from the volcano when it was active. My son Taylor is holding a unique peanut shaped “lava bomb” that must have weighed 60 pounds or so … imagine the explosive power to send thousands of these into the air.

Our eventual destination was the top where the many observatories are. The one above is the Subaru Observatory built by the Japanese. There were many others including huge radio telescope dishes that sit on what looks to be an alien planet.

The observatories are at the top of the volcano, well sort of, as there is a hiking trail that heads down and then back up again to finally reach the pinned summit. Despite the cold and thin air at nearly 14,000 feet, we all were able to climb to the peak. At this peak is was eerie and quiet. Again, an alter was built to worship the volcano gods by the native Hawaiians … it has relatively fresh flowers, etc so it must still be used today? (Photo: Taylor at 13,796 feet below)

After our return to the van, some decided that a little oxygen was a good idea as getting acclimated while working in this kind of elevation would take some getting use to. All in all, the day was not exactly how I had perceived our first couple of days on Hawaii. I intend on writing up part two while out of town this week … stay tuned.

Looking at Hilo, Hawaii and Mauna Kea from the sea (large photo)

Category: Personal, Photos, Recreation, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: 2006 vacation, cruise, hawaii, ncl

Posted By RichC on August 28, 2006

I’m sure everyone has noticed the drop in retail gasoline retail prices these last couple weeks? The price has retreated nearly 60 cent per gallon in just a couple weeks and has me rethinking which car to drive each day: the diesel or the gasser.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: