First off...thanks for all the happy birthday's yesterday.  I really appreciated it.  :)

As many of you know Leesa and Marianna have been loudly boasting about how good their chocolate chip cookies are.  So much so, that they decided to challenge each other to a taste test.  What better way to have women send you cookies in the mail than to be a judge.  Mike has already made his judgement and I bow to his ability to judge cookies.  He is the Alton Brown of cookie judging.  He lives nearby.  Perhaps next time we're judges we'll get together and he can show me how to be a real judge.

All I can say is wow, both cookies are great tasting.  Although this judge frowns on the submission of oatmeal raisin cookies to the competition in addition to her chocolate chip cookies.  Luckily Marianna will be happy to know this judge's 3 year old loves oatmeal raisin cookies.  Good thing he's not a judge.

Although Mike was willing to ignore Leesa's use of mini chocolate chips, this judge can not.  When I bite in to a chocolate chip cookie, I want the cookie to ooze with chocolate chips.  The mini ones just won't cut it.  This judge is going to give the nod to Marianna.  Now if Leesa would like to resubmit using normal size chocolate chips, this judge may reconsider.  Two dozen please.  :)

Have a great day Internet. 

I bet you didn't know it, but I'm famous in London.  My name is everywhere!  On the side of buses, in the subway, outside of stores.  There are even tights named after me!  Don't believe me?  Look at the proof...No photoshop was used.

Here are a few photo's from my trip.  I never know which ones to upload.  Uploading over dial-up is a pain as well.  Anyways...here are a few from London:

I can't believe I've been gone for 2 weeks.  It's been a whirlwind trip.  These last few days I've been hanging out with my dad which I've really enjoyed.  I got to see my grandmother as well.  I miss my family though, so it'll be nice to get home.  I'll start working on posting photos from my trip this week.  I took over 300 of them and not all of them are blurry.  :)  I hope you are all well.

I think next time I go to touristy type travel places, I'm going to ask Terry about a good training regime.  I've walked everywhere.  Of course just as I get used to where everything is, it's time to go.  My flight leaves at 6:30pm tonight and I get in to DC at 11:30pm.  I'll have an hour layover in NY around 9:30.

Yesterday didn't go quite as planned.  I had wanted to see Saint Paul's Cathedral.  As expected they don't really like photos during service.  I did get to go inside and its definitely on my plans for this afternoon before I fly out.  It was beautiful.  I may also go down to the tower of London depending on how much time I have. 

I also wanted to go to Harrod's.  It's quite the fancy store.  I don't think they'll be putting one in my neck of the woods for a few weeks at least.  Sorry girls.   All their shiny things were in the thousand pound range.  That's sterling not weight.  :)  Although you're worth it, my wallet gagged at the prices and tried to run out of the store.  Sadly when I went yesterday, I missed my turn and walked another mile in the wrong direction.  By the time I hopped on the subway to get back I only had 10 minutes in the store.  I returned today without incident.  :)

I'm learning to master their subway station.  They must have 8 different lines.  It took me 3 lines just to get back to my hotel from Harrods.  My hotel is probably only 3 miles away from Harrods.  Which reminds me of something I've noticed about Londoners.  They don't smile at people.  The only people that smile at you are the ones in stores.  Smile at someone on the subway and who knows if they even see you.  Men, women...it doesn't matter.  They aren't the smiling how are you doing type of people.  Maybe you need to get them to a pub to make them friendlier.  It's almost become a contest to see who I can get to smile back.  If I think they might be looking I'll flash them a quick smile and see if I get something in return.  I've gotten a couple small smiles but I almost think it's a reaction.  Who knows what would happen if I offered hugs for free.  I'm sure London thinks I'm a freak.  Being London, I fit right in.

Yesterday in my walk I came across speakers corner.  I think every town in the US should have one of these.  People come with their step stools and just start giving their opinion.  If you're interesting or someone wants to argue with you, then a crowd will form.  Within a few minutes you're having heated discussions with everyone.  There were probably 10 different people with stools out there and a good size crowd.  I got a photo I'll post when I get home.

Well, they are kicking me out of the hotel in 20 minutes.  I'm going to check my bags at the bellman and then do some more adventuring.  I figure if I allow myself 3 hours from hotel to take off that should be enough time.  I'll need to catch a cab to paddington station and then ride the Heathrow Express train to the airport.  With me entering back in to the US, who knows how long that will take.  I figure 2 hours is enough time.  I brought a thick book Julie bought me and I'll have the laptop.

Have a great day Internet.  :)  I'll see you tomorrow.

Well...I left at 9:30 in the morning and got back at 9:30 at night.  Except for the brief 30 minute camera charge (which I fully charged last night) I spent 12 hours being a touristy fool. 

After I left at 2PM I caught the tour bus next to my hotel.  I handed him my ticket and he gave me a new ticket.  That was odd I thought.  My goal was to get off the bus close to the Thames so I could take the boat tour.  As I got off the bus I asked him how long my ticket was good for.  He said it was good through tomorrow.  As luck would have it, they didn't check my ticket when I got on the bus in the morning yesterday.   So my 24 hour timer started at 2pm yesterday.  I still have 3 hours of free rides left.

The boat tour was a lot of fun.  We went as far as Greenwich which you all know is the standard for which time zone we are in.  I saw lots of neat places along the river.  As I got off the boat, it was almost 6:00.  A perfect time to ride the London Eye.  I'm a bit acrophobic, so it was quite the feat for me.  I can stand on ladders and climb on the roof.   It's just the being several hundred feet in the air that freaks me out a little.  You'd be proud of me though because I got up next to the glass to get some great photos of Big Ben all lit up.  If you're going to ride the London Eye, dusk is the best time to do it.  If I have time tonight, I'll try uploading those photos.

I'm starting to get to know my way around parts of London.  I walked all the way from the Thames through Buckingham Palace and back to my hotel...in the dark.  London grows on you after a while.

Well, I'm off.  I'll try and hit Harrods today.  Does anyone want anything from London while I'm here?  No promises, but I can try.

Have a great day Internet.  :)

After I got to the hotel yesterday, I decided to go for a walk.  For those that don't know me well, I like to people watch.  Dublin was fun because most people are from Dublin.  They have similar traits and it's fun to take it all in and understand their habits and mannerisms.  London is definitely an International city.  There are people from everywhere.  Although I like diversity, it's harder to see patterns with people.  They all behave like their country of origin.  It's really hard to pick out Londoner behaviors among all the other behaviors.

Like the title says, take the tour.  I asked my concierge where to go to walk and watch people.  He suggested Oxford street which is the shopping district.  That was a big mistake and not an image you want a person first visiting London to see.  It's not unique other than the buildings are made of brick or stone.  You could walk in Manhattan and feel like you're in London.  So take the tour bus and see the historic parts of London.  Then you'll see the neat parts of London. 

My tour bus took about 2 hours to do the full loop.  You can hop on and off at various stops and catch the next bus.  It looks like they have quite a few buses running.  The Original Tour is what came with my room.  As I was nearing the 2 hour mark on my tour I heard that we were nearing Buckingham Palace.  Listening to the tour guide, I found that they do the changing of the guard at 11:30.  I look at my watch.  What luck!  It's 11:30.  I scurried off the bus and made way through the other 2 million people looking to see the changing of the guard.  I never did make it all the way to the fence.  Good thing I'm tall because I was able to see most of it over the sea of heads.  I raised my camera another 3 feet up in the air and took aerial shots of the whole thing.  It was pretty neat to see something you've only ever heard about.

Julie asked for me to look for Hyde Park while I'm here.  I didn't have to look far.  It's right next to my hotel and adjacent to Buckingham palace.  After a few photo's of Buckingham palace, my camera battery started getting low.  These batteries sure suck.  You know I don't take as many photos as the rest of you.  I must just have bad luck with batteries.  I decided to walk through Hyde park to go back to my hotel to charge the batteries.  Of course I made a wrong turn in Hyde Park and went the long way, but I didn't mind.  It's a beautiful park and took me right by the Princess Diana memorial fountain.  I figure if I charge the camera battery for half an hour, it will be enough to get me through the rest of the day.

My goal is to hop back on the tour bus and take it to the Thames tour boat.  Apparently they have a deal where I can ride that for free too.  Then it's off to the London Eye.  I'll try and tour Saint Paul's Cathedral tomorrow.  I hope they still have tours even though it's Sunday. 

Anyone have anything they want me to see while I'm here?  I'm open for suggestions.  Taking the tour you get to see the outside of most of the historical buildings.

My half hour is up and it's time to catch the bus.  Have a great morning Internet.  It's almost 2PM here.

Well, I've arrived in London.  I'm staying in a room that was half the size and much less nicer than my room in Dublin.  Oh well.  Hopefully I only sleep here.  I'm off to explore.  Have a great day Internet.

I've noticed a few things about Dubliners while walking around Dublin lately.

90% of the guys here have very short hair.  Shorter than mine.  It's military short.  I thought maybe it was just a style thing then I realized that it may be for more practical reasons.  One that guys from Seattle might learn from.  I'm thinking they all have short hair because of the rain.  It's easy to take care of.  You don't need to worry about it getting wet or having to brush your hair.  That's my current theory and I'm sticking with it.

I've also noticed there are few overweight people here.  There are here and there but nothing like we have in the US.  I figured it out on one of my walks last night.  Dubliners are power walkers.  There's no such thing as a leisurely stroll here.  Everyone is on a mission.  Old...young, it doesn't matter.  I've been passed by them all.  I'm not slow nor do I have short legs.  Everyone here walks really fast.  Either no time to eat or those calories are burned off from all the walking.

I'll be sending post cards out tomorrow.  If you'd like one from Ireland, let me know.  If I don't have your address, it might be handy for you to send me that too.  ;)

For those I haven't told, I'm spending the week in Dublin.  Yes, that Dublin and I have to say I've been pretty excited about coming here.  As many of you know, I spent seven and a half years in the Navy and the most exotic places I visited were Idaho Falls, Idaho and Orlando, Florida.  Ireland is the first country I've visited other than Canada.  I never planned it that way.  I joined the Navy shortly after turning 18 and fully expected to see the world as the Navy promised.  The first two years were spent in school.  When it came time to pick my first ship, I said I wanted a ship out of California.  I got a ship that used to be out of California and was coming to Washington after a 6 month cruise in order to go in to dry dock for the next two and a half years.  When it came time for me to transfer, I had fallen in love with the Northwest as well as gotten married.  I wanted to stay in Bremerton, so I asked for a ship out of Bremerton.  What did I get?  A ship in Bremerton as I requested.  It turns out it was a ship coming off a six month cruise and going in to dry dock for a few years.  I spent a little time at sea, but no time visiting exotic foreign ports.

A few months back, an opportunity came up for me to host an event in Dublin.  The date for the event coincided with when Leesa and Marianna would be in DC.  I spent a few days in DC with Marianna, Leesa and Laura.  It was a whirlwind visit with us fitting in every monument and museum possible.  I had a great time.  I left for Dublin Sunday night and arrived on Monday morning.

Ever since arriving I've wanted to maximize my tourist time around the time I needed to work.  Needless to say my body has no idea what time it is and I feel perpetually tired.  I got to the hotel room and decided I needed a quick power nap.  I got up about 11 and began my tour Dublin in a day.  I had no idea what to expect of Dublin.  It reminds me of Manhattan.  Lot's of people, lots of cars, buses and trains.  Everyone has someplace to go. 

My hotel is downtown and central to everything.  This really worked out well. My first goal was to find some authentic Irish food for lunch.  In my search I discovered Trinity College and Christ's Church.  Everything is made of stone here.  I got photos of everything and I'll post them at a later time.  As my stomach started to remind me that I was hungry I spotted Brazen Head which is the oldest pub in Ireland.  What better place to have my first meal?  I soon discovered that because it is the oldest pub in Ireland, it's also a very popular pub for tourists.  There were American dollars with names and cities written on them stapled to the walls .  A couple of guys from Columbus, Ohio sat next to me.  I had a pint of Guinness and a chicken dish.  It was chicken and bacon wrapped around stuffing on a bed of mashed potatoes.  As you can tell I've put my low carb diet on hold while away from home.  It was delicious.  From there I walked to Saint Patrick's Cathedral and a few other landmarks.  In all I spent about 5 hours walking.  After my trip in DC and now my Dublin tour, my legs and feet are in complete revolt.

I'm sure I'm going to hear about this being one of my longer rambling posts ever so I'll stop now and post more later.  Have a great day Internet.  :)

I took this photo of two geeky white girls at the Air and Space Museum.  Yes, they were both checking blogs.

Right now I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight.  Of course it's beautiful out today.  I got in Thursday night and it's been raining or cloudy every day until today.  I didn't get too many outdoor photos and of course my indoor photos were too dark.  I'll have to play with them when I get home.

I was going to title this blog post.  Washington DC - City of Sirens.  I wish I was talking about the cute girls that call sailors out to sea, but I'm not.  I've never heard so many sirens in my life.  It was like there was always one in some part of the city.  Fire trucks, police cars.  It must be a rule if you have a siren you must play it whenever you're in the car.  Luckily I couldn't hear them in my hotel room.  The good news is there were always plenty of police around so I felt safe.  It's also handy being over 6 feet tall.  I only get bothered when someone wants to the know the time or to have their photo taken.  For all my professional photographer friends, you could hang out in front of the monuments in DC, charge people a buck to take their photo and make $20 an hour easy.

Well, I think I'm going to find something to eat before my flight.  I hope you're having a great weekend Internet.

Leesa came for a visit last week to see the butterfly and blooms exhibit at the zoo.  It gave me a chance to use my camera some.  What do you think?