I got to be surrogate dad for my cousin’s kids on the weekend.

He spends a lot of time away from and with 9 year old triplets (one with special needs) and a 18 month old, I was happy to help out however I could. Whether it was holding the baby while Athena shopped for paint or cutting out cardboard for school projects, I had a good time.

Friday night, Izzy had a soccer practise, so Mac and I played catch, Collin had a therapy session, and Teddy stayed with the Nanny. She’s teach him Thai. And he loves her cooking.

Saturday was a busy day. Two soccer games, more therapy and some report writting.

Sunday was much quieter. Two of the kids had book reports that needed cardboard covers. We also went shopping for paint for the living room and I wanted to load up on Airbourne. CVS makes their own brand, too. $2 cheaper.

It was a very early morning Monday. Didn’t sleep well and up at 0500. Taxi picked me up at 6 and had no trouble with traffic. Breezed through checkin and Security. Could have slept for another half hour at least.

Long day…stopped in Toronto for 6 hours for meetings and finally got home after 10pm PDT.

Had a good sleep last night in spite of the traffic noise. My room was on the 5th floor and even with the window closed, I could hear every car and horn.

I suppose that after a while, you’d get used to it.

Went to the corner bakery again for a ham and cheese croissant and a large coffee to wake me up.

Once the meeting was over I said my goodbyes to my new Jazz friends (Bruce, Anne & Jean) and headed for Penn Station.

As I switched from Broadway to 7th, I could see lots of flashing red lights. As I got closer, it was obvious that all the commotion was in front of Penn Station. The whole block in front on Madison Square Gardens was full of Fire Engines, NYPD and Ambulances. Fortunately all the Rubber-Neckers were looking at the Hotel Pennsylvania.

I found the NJ ticket counter then went to find something to eat. Bingo. Nathans Hot Dogs in Penn Station. Check that one off the list.

1435 – on the Boonton Line headed for Walnut Street.

Teddy was asleep, so Athena didn’t come to the station meet, but that was OK…I found my way for the two blocks to their place.

Izzy had a soccer practise, so we all headed over to the park. Mac and I played catch while Athena, Collin and his therapist worked on outdoor activities.

We stopped at a local pizza place on the way home…good thin crust pizza and BBQ.

Back to the house and I gave them their books. Teddy loved his…and my beard. I think I have a new friend. Mac, Izzy, Athena and I watched a movie (actually the kids took took turns playing with my IToy and Collin played on the computer. He is fastinated by opening credits of movies. YouTube is his friend.

Time for bed…first time for several days that it’s been before midnight…

After stressing out for days about my presentation, it was nice to have it behind me. It went better than I had expected all things considered.

Once the workshop was over, four of us met in the lobby to go for a wander. Anna wanted to check out Lincoln Centre. Holy Crap. What a view. That was when it hit me. Looking across Central Park to the buildings on the other side. We checked out the Jazz Club…shows at 730, 930 and 1130…We told the girl at the desk that we were headed to Time Square and she suggested that BIrdland was down there.

We all wandered down Broadway to Time Square, and found a Mexican place (Viva Poncho or something) then realized that we were on W 44th just a few blocks from Birdland…Found it and the 900 set had just started.  Lou Donaldson was playing and we stayed for the rest of that set and half of the next…$40 per person for the table and $7 beers. But it was a New York Experience.

Now this is the second night that I’m up til past 1am….better get some sleep.

Normally I attend an annual conference arranged by the Data Buoy Cooperation Panel. It is a organization that is part of the World Meteorological Organization whose purpose is to encourage the exchange of ideas amoungst the buoy operators around the world.

This years’ meeting is scheduled for Cape Town South Africa. Between the high cost of travel and other commitments, I’m unable to attend. There is, however a workshop on wage measurements from buoys being organized by the same group in New York City.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to make a short presentation on the technical aspects of the wave measurements made on Environment Canada’s Weather Buoy Network. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been putting together some slides that I hope will do the job.

It’s always stressful for me to stand up in front of a crowd and do this sort of thing. Truth is that there are very few people that could do it.

The Captain has just anounced the we will be starting our decent in 10 minutes.

This should be an interesting few days.

Well, it’s 0137. I guess I should get a few hours sleep.

September 26 – 28, 2008

For our folks upcoming 50th Anniversary, we booked a weekend at a seaside resort in Tofino on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

Those that could get out of town early, arrived in time to have a potluck spaghetti dinner.

Nicole has classes until almost 4pm and by the time we were on the road, we were right in the middle of the Colwood Crawl.

We stopped for a bite in Port Alberni at the Clam Bucket. Good food.

The road to Tofino was crap. Dark, drizzly and they’re ripping the tarmack up in many spots.

We got up to the resort at 1030pm or so…dead tired.

We all went for a good walk on the beach Saturday morning. Fergus loved running in the sand. My sister and brother in law have a good friend with a Whale Watching company (Jamie’s Whaling Station) and he hooked us up with a cruise.

Everyone had a great time. We saw a pod of Transient Orcas, a Sea Otter relaxing in the kelp bed and two Grays feeding in a Bay.

We had a wonderful meal at Shelter in Tofino then went back to the resort for Champagne. We had a good laugh/cry at a video transfer of some family photos and movies and my sister had arranged for a congratulatory letter from the Governor General. More crying there and my sister leapt ahead in the Sibling Olympics with a hand made table cloth that she’d been working on for more than a year.

After another beautful walk on the beach at Cox Bay on Sunday morning, we started on the 4 1/2 hour drive home.

Everyone had a great time.

I spent an hour or so updating the Victoria Salmon Kings Google Calendar this afternoon.

Search for Salmon Kings in Google Calendar and you should be able to find it.

This fall is shaping up to be chock full of travel, for work and pleasure.

In a couple of weeks, the whole family (14 of us) are head to Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island to celebrate our parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.

The following week, I’m presenting at a ‘Waves’ Technical Workshop in New York City.

I’m staying at my cousin’s place in NJ for the weekend to visit with his wife and kids. It will be nice to see them again.

On the way back home, I have a meeting in Toronto during an extended stopover.

Two days later, it looks like I’m headed back to Venezuela for 10 days. This time, it’s to Margareta…supposed to be very nice. Should be fun.

Home for a week, then Buoy Geeks from across Canada will be in town for some meetings and a couple days of training from me.

The next week, we have a short Coast Guard Cruise to service the buoys in Georgia Strait.

That should bring us close to December when all (14) of us are headed to Cancun after Christmas. I suspect that it won’t come soon enough.

Can’t find a ticket for the best event of the year? Here is your chance to get into The Great Canadian Beer Festival, have a great experience and meet wonderful people.

The GCBF needs 20 more volunteers to work as Booth Stewards on Saturday September 6th. In exchange, you will receive a ticket that is good for the whole festival (you’ll have to be sober for your shift), a cool volunteer T-Shirt and entrance into the volunteer party on Saturday night.

If you are interested, or know anyone who is, go to www.gcbf.com and click on the “Volunteer” link.

I figured that it was about time that I started to put some of my travel/cruise details and other thoughts. There..I started.

I came up with the see[sic] idea on my last cruise. It was rough, and I thought that it would make for a good blog title…cute eh?