Like planes trains and automobiles....

the old volvo and I took one on the nose yesterday. The day kind of went like Steve Martin's character...

got up at 6, went to Rochester, was heading back to my job and blew a front tire coming down the hilll by Wabasha. (I've planed to drive into work with a 30 minute cushion to go into HyVee and grab some lunch and dinner before my shift starts at 3pm)

Rolled into a driveway...

No cell coverage...

in the trunk, find a "mini" spare tire, a jack, some reflective devices, NO TIRE IRON. nice... walk to the farm house, find a tire iron laying next to the garage on a pile of junk, IT FITS amazing, have the car up, all lugs loose, need to the raise the car a little more to get the wheel off, the car starts to roll forward and tries to fall off the jack... I let her back down quick, walk back to the farm hose get some wood to block the wheels... install the 1994 mini spare tire (in the sun) and let the car down - how much air do you think is in that tire... answer=not much. Do they have a air compressor at the farm, of course not...

limp down the hill, up the four-lane for about two miles, flashers on... get air at quick trip... nearing Wabasha, call Alison, ask her to meet me in Durand and we'll stop at the Bauer tire place... I swing in, they're booked all day... so I roll on to work, limping along with that skinny little tire holding weight of the front end of a Volvo 850... (Alison liked my being economical and not driving my truck... NOT )

Arrived at work 30 seconds late... tired...

Drove home at 11:30, back roads to avoid the interstate, 45 MPH to avoid another rescue call to my wife. The tire held up, total of about 75 miles.

The new job is going ok. The training is fairly difficult, lots of acronyms and a solid eight hours of learning each day. Will be interesting to see how health care reform efforts in Washington impacts the company.

glad to be home resting this morning...

Patrick, hamming it up.

From Theater Class - Patrick

Patrick had a class he really enjoyed this past semester, these pictures are from the "final project." It's a class held at the improvisational comedy club, where they do "comedy sports" which is some kind of competitive improv thing. He appears to be in his element.

2 down, 2 to go

Laurie Glapa <>
Fri, May 1, 2009 at 3:35 PM

To: Michael Glapa , Alison Glapa

the exam period stretches on...I just wanted to say hi and that I just got out of a meeting with Carrasco and I'm both daunted and excited about what I'll be doing over the summer and next year.

Starting May 11th, I'm in charge of this timeline: http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/timeline/Financial_Crisis_Timeline.pdf
and over the summer and beyond, I'll be a regular contributor here: http://uicifd.blogspot.com/

Those are just two features of the Center's much larger website, which includes an ebook on international development written for the layman, by Carrasco. The center's website can be translated into a lot of different languages and has a significant, international readership. Anyway- no time to think about that now, I need to go run some errands and then dig into studying for test number 3: civil procedure! yay.

hope you're both doing very well,
much love,
L

Here's something that is a positive bit of news...

From downtown Austin Texas, some ducklings found there way down the riverwalk...  we can all use a little help from our friends!

Bummer in my neighborhood

From the Eau Claire Leader Telegram... (For those who aren't familiar, this game park owned by the local Lions Club, is on the property just across the pond from my house.)

Two buffalo grazed Thursday at the Lions Club Game Park adjacent to Wakanda Park in Menomonie. The two other buffalo from the park had to be shot Wednesday after they jumped a gate and wandered too close to Interstate 94, in the background, police said.

Staff photo by Pamela Powers

The Full Article

From Ping...

I remember in the fall of 2007, when Ping arrived in Menomonie from Thailand, she told me she wanted to pursue a career in dentistry.  So yesterday I got this awesome email.  I only wish I could throw a party to celebrate with her.  It's so great when a plan comes together, but she says it better than I...

The message subject was: "FINALLY"

Hey
how are you? are the warm sunny days coming yet?
now i do have a really good news that im a dental student * and also in the university i wished. there are 2 from my school, including me. today i just went to have a little interview which kinda fun. i met some new friends. oh yeah! you know we and our families can get a dental care for free.
well that's pretty excited thing for me lately! and im so happy. you know when you got something that you'd really tried for, it's just feel like YES MAN! i can do it.


miss ya :)

the sisters

I hadn't seen this, but ran across it on the internet... very nice.