August 26, 2017

August 26, 2017

Aimee and I went to the annual Big Ten Mixer with some Ohio State friends. We went because it was being held at the Sands Club, high atop Arizona Stadium. This new addition features a huge lounge with great views of the football field on one side and the mountains on the other. Since tickets are so pricey, this is probably my only chance to see it.

The Mixer also doubles as a Charity Event for the local Big Brothers/Big Sisters. There were raffles and silent auctions. We were skunked on all the numerous restaurants I had stuffed lots of tickets in. Aimee had me throw one ticket in the Amazon Echo Dot jar. That was our only win. Apparently Alexa is the new rave in personal assistants. She tells jokes, plays music, and turns on lights. But I wonder if she can fetch a beer for me from the fridge?

August 21, 2017

August 21, 2017

The Great American Eclipse is happening today. Or at least it is occurring through much of the country. Unfortunately we are in Tucson, about as far as one can get from the region of totality. Normally this kind of event is right up my alley. I can’t really explain why we aren’t closer. We have friends and relatives right on the path. But the closest is a 16.5 hour drive away. I almost have to agree with Aimee that a 33-hour drive for a two-minute event seems kind of nuts. Plus after a month-long tour of Europe neither one of us is in the travelling mode. I briefly looked at flights, but they were astronomical (pun intended) for today. I wish we still had our RV. Combining the eclipse with a trip north would have been easier to justify.

So here I am in the backyard with the telescope set up. Just after 9am I noticed the moon’s shadow touching the sun. It slowly inched forward over the next hour till the sun was crescent-shaped. Despite the 70% blockage, it was still sunny and very hot. Apparently nothing can stop the sun from shining brightly in Tucson.

July 27, 2017

July 27, 2017

Aimee is ready to go home, so we take the hotel shuttle to nearby Reagan Airport for the flight home via Phoenix. Secretly I am ready to go home too. I need a real vacation and I have lots of post trip work to clear out. Almost as soon as we board the flight, my stomach starts to rumble. For the rest of the flight I am counting down the 4.5 hours keeping one eye on the airsickness bag. When we land Aimee tells me she was also nauseous, making us think our meal last night was the culprit. Of course I also packed away our First Aid kit with the Pepto Bismol.

Fortunately, our next flight to Tucson is only 22 minutes. I think I can survive. We board the plane and just before it pulls back from the gate, the lights go out. So we sit inside a boiling metal tube in the brutal summer sun of Phoenix for an hour. Fearing somebody (me) might pass out, after an hour, they let us deplane. Less than an hour later, we reboard and make an uneventful flight to Tucson. Uneventful if you are a roast. The hot plane never cools one degree. As I leave the plane it seems all the A/C was channeled to First Class.

All the while our flight is delayed two hours, our very understanding neighbors have been waiting patiently in arrivals to ferry us home. They don't look as mad as I would be.