David's Spot

in today's newsletter he talks about how you can be so obsessed with goals that you loss the things that are important in life.  He used Lance Armstrong as an example and how Lance will be remembered as a bicycle champion, but how will his kids remember him?  This makes me think of Robert Smith.  A player in the NFL who retired at the age of 27. I am looking forward to purchasing Robert's book.  It will be available on August 10th at www.inkwaterbooks.com.

This is a very interesting article on how terrorists could be doing "test runs" on airlines to plan and test security. I will be more aware the next time I travel. Scouting jetliners for new attacks - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - July 22, 2004

I am working on the road today.  At Starbucks this morning :), working on a couple of our websites.  I am going to allow some other employees get involved with keeping up with the content on websites by using Macromedia's Contribute.

This afternoon I am going to the homes of two of our part time employees to help them get some software to work.  It should be a good day.

I like having the freedom to roam.

A guy was shopping at the Kierland Commons and asking several stores to close their doors to conserve energy.  Several of the stores complained and he was asked to leave the shopping center and to not come back.  This is Snottsdale at its best.  Come on folks!  This morning the electricity in our home went out for four hours.  A couple of weeks ago APS had a substation catch fire and now another one this morning.  Phoenix is quickly heading to a state of emergency.  We will be forced to ration our energy use. The same thing happened to gasoline last summer and the company at fault was made out to be criminals by the media and our governor.  Guess the governor isn't paying much attention to Arizona this week.  She is speaking at the Democratic Convention and showing us where her priorities lie.

Started a new project today.  We are completely rebuilding out student registration system.  Spent the day getting started.  Working with Chorus Technology.  This should be fun.

H4KI's Uganda mission trip team is keeping me busy.  Normally getting an internet country while traveling is difficult.  Apparently Michelle is not having any problems because I have gotten daily updates and photos.  The Uganda mission is dear to Tom and it looks like things are going great. 

I have added the trip reports and photos for the current Uganda mission trip that Hope 4 Kids International is hosting. You can find them at:

• Trip Report (text) - http://www.hope4kidsinternational.org/blog/

• Photos - http://www.hope4kidsinternational.org/blog/photo/

Tonight I was checking out Jay's status on Google and got this article about Jay.  It is a good representation of who Jay is as a person.

If you haven't go buy a cd at Jay's website.  http://www.jayclarkmusic.com

Another article about Jay in the Tullahoma News.

Gavin's Grampy got us tickets to go see the Barnum and Bailey Circus.  This is a tradition for the Truitt family.  Also, Ginger and I went to the circus the night we got engaged.  We went last year and had a good time.  This year was the same.  My favorites were the Chinese Acrobatic Troupe and the clown, David Larible.

My question is:  Does Ringling have two different groups touring the USA?  Last year we saw a completely different cast, and two years ago the cast was very similar. 

The Ringling website is down, so I can't look there for an answer.

While waiting for our flight, this big guy came walking up carrying basketball shoes.  He was very tall and lanky.  I asked him if he had been to the summer league that the Minnesota Timberwolves had just finished.  He had not but he was heading to Phoenix to workout with the Suns.  I didn't get his name, but I believe it is Jerry Holman.  He said he was a Minnesota grad.

Good Jerry.

Mitch and Steph were scheduled to fly home on Friday and arrive into Minneapolis an hour after our flight to Phoenix left.  Steph called from Los Angeles to wish us safe travels.  They had been flying all night and were looking forward to getting home.

Our flight on America West was uneventful except for the friendly folks at from the TSA finding a pair of small scissors that I had forgot to put into our checked luggage. 

We got home, unpacked, napped, had dinner, watched the Dbacks and went to bed.

We had planned on going out to shop and to take a ride on the city's new light rail to Nicollete Mall.  Each Thursday there is a farmer's market and we had hoped to get some fresh fruit and flowers.  However at 1 AM on Thursday, we were in for a surprise that would consume most of our day.

The water heater in Steph and Mitch's house died and flooded a very small part of the basement.  Ginger saw the water while we were packing to come home.  We turned off the water and dried as much carpet and floor as we could and went to bed.

The next morning, I chose the first plumber from the Qwest Dex online and called.  They could send a technician (plumber) between 10 - 1.  This meant NO light rail and Nicollete Mall.  The "technician" arrived and we woke the newlyweds up with bad news.  They had to purchase a new water heater over the phone from Hawaii.  It took about couple of hours to get the water heater installed. 

Once the plumber was done, and nap was over with we went out to the Mall of America.  We had some Camp Snoopy points that we wanted to use.  We had dinner at an excellent bar-b-que restaurant called Famous Dave's Bar-b-que.  We had eaten some sandwiches at the baseball games from Famous Dave's, and we excited to try out some other dishes.

The food was excellent and we went with full tummies to Camp Snoopy.  Gavin got to ride many rides and still has points to use on another visit.  We closed down the park by visiting the gift shops.  We are looking forward to going back to Camp Snoopy at another time.

For now, it was time to get to Steph's and finish packing.  We had an airplane to catch the next morning.

We had planned on going back to the Minnesota Children's Museum on Wednesday, but Gavin fell asleep before we got there.  I decided to drive to some areas that we had not visited.  So I took I-35 North to Forest Lake and started driving south on little back roads.  This was a great adventure.  I was able to see a beaver and 9 turkeys and many beautiful farms.  Gavin woke up after I had driven for 2 1/2 hours.  We stopped at White Bear Lake and played on a beach and playground. 

That evening we got home and Gavin took another 2 hour nap.  After he was done, I did some yard work for Steph and Mitch.  We spent the rest of the evening at home.

Gavin at White Bear Lake. 

Turkeys! Gavin and I went for a long drive this morning and had a great day seeing wildlife. 

"Baseball! Where are you?"  was Gavin's quote of the evening as we drove to the Twins' game.  Tonight they were playing the Kansas City Royals.  We got to see a great pitching duel, which was won by the Twins' pitcher, Johan Santana.  It was fun to see the fans in Minneapolis express their appreciation for a good pitching performance.

Seeing the Twins has been a great experience.  The stadium is easy to get into and out of, the food is great and parking is cheap.  $5.00 for a garage next tot he stadium.  In Phoenix it would be $15.00 for parking that close.

Diamondbacks Note:

I still think the Joe Jr. should be fired and the Dbacks should rehire Bob Brenly.  AND that they should not trade away our veterans to restock after the blown deal for Rickie Sexton.

How about Lyle Overbay?  .339 batting average and 61 RBIs.  It is too bad he was snubbed for the all star game.

We got going a little late this morning, but made it to MOA in time for lunch.  We had decided to try out Jillian's Tuesday Kids special of a $10 game card with a purchase of a kids meal.  It was a good deal, but the service was SLOW!  It took forever to get our food. 

The upside is that they have TONS of games to play.  Games for all ages.  Our family favorites are skeet ball and the basketball shooting games. 

After lunch we rented a stroller for Gavin and went back to the aquarium to visit our fishy friends.  The place was much busier than the night before, but still very interesting.  I love the tunnel.  You go through three different types of fish environments.  One is an Mississippi river aquarium, another a lake in Minnesota, and finally a huge sea water aquarium. 

After the aquarium we decided to see the shops in MOA.  Our first stop was P. B. Loco.  It is gourmet peanut butter and jelly store.  My favorite was the white chocolate peanut butter. 

Next we found some great gifts at the Pottery Barn for Kids. 

Finally it was getting late and we had tickets to the Twins game.

Gavin enjoying the playground at Underwater Adventure. 

Our wet family at the Taste of Minnesota festival. 

Most of our Monday was spent resting and working, but in the evening we decided to go play at the Mall of America.  We took an "Underwater Adventure" at the indoor aquarium at the Mall.  We got to walk through Turtley Awesome Woods, The Tunnel, SeaCrits Gallery and Starfish Beach.  We met Brutus the Snapping Turtle, Jessie the Shark and Calypso the Turtle.  We learned that octopuses have the intelligence of a four year old and we got to touch sharks and rays.  Our adventure was educational and entertaining.  We get to go back on Tuesday because we purchased our passes so late in the day and look forward to learning more.

For dinner, we took another adventure to the Rainforest Cafe.  This RFC was the first built in the chain.  The food was excellent and scenery interesting.  Elephants, monkeys, dolphins and thunderstorms shook the floor during dinner.  It is an interesting place to dine.

Today, we are going back to MOA to visit the aquarium, Camp Snoopy and Toddler Tuesday.  Then tonight we are going to another Twins game.

We are having lots of fun. So much fun that we have decided to stay here for another week. We decided that I would stay and I would work some and use up most of my vacation this week. The weather has been great and we are enjoying exploring the "Twin Cities". (And I am not here looking for a job!)

I have several days to catch up with so I will only give an overview of each day.

Wednesday, June 30

We visited the Mall of America including the Lego store/exhibit and Camp Snoopy. Wednesday night we went to the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox game. Chicago won. The Twins definitely need a new baseball stadium. The Metrodome is cool, but not very good for baseball.

Thursday, July 1

A couple of hundred yards from Stephanie's house is a city park with a playground and toddler pool. The three of us and Steph's dog, Molly, went down and played. This is a great park for toddlers.

The rest of the day we cleaned house, did landry, and shopped at Target.

Friday, July 2

Gavin and I love the zoo. So the three of us decided to check out the Minnesota Zoo and Imax theatre. We got to see the dolphin show, explore the farm and be entertained by the Northwest Airlines World of Birds Show. I even got to see a new animal called a Takin. I was impressed with the zoo, its exhibits are well done.

The IMAX show was the Nascar 3D show. It was a great show and good overview of North America's favorite spectator sport. (Gavin was exhausted and feel asleep during the movie which is crazy because it is LOUD.)

We drove around while Gavin slept and discovered that a theatre group was performing Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" at Minnehaha Park. The show was outdoors and free. Ginger got to watch the show and Gavin and I played on a near by playground.

Saturday, July 3

After we decided to stay in Minnesota another week, I emailed Mitch's business partner, Jason and he suggested that we visit the Taste of Minnesota, an outdoor fair, food festival and series of concerts in St. Paul. Jason and his wife, Melissa, suggested we try Cheese curds, Martha Sweet Cookies, Crepes and a Norwegian Plate. We set out Saturday morning to find the event and sample the foods.

The cheese curds and cookies were easy choices for us. Gavin is a little cookie monster and loved the Martha Sweet Cookies.

We also had a turkey croissant, barbeque pork sandwich, fried dill pickles, ice cream and fresh potato chips. Yum!

The Taste of Minnesota was the final stop for the Grand Excursion flotilla.

This summer, Grand Excursion brings together the communities of the upper Mississippi River for a once-in-a-lifetime celebration. The largest riverboat and steamboat flotilla in over a century will follow the 1854 Grand Excursion’s route up the Mississippi River, from the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. (from the Grand Excursion website.)

We had a great time visiting the festival, sampling new foods and seeing the riverboats. The weather turned ugly before we could get to our car and we ended up getting caught in a downpour. (not that us desert rats were complaining)

Sunday, July 4

Another day for rest. Gavin and I watched movies while Ginger cleaned. In the evening, we watched a 4th of July show on TV and then went out side and played with "Sparky Crackers" (sparklers).

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The rest of the week will be a combination of work and vacation - mostly vacation! We plan on visiting the Mall of America, the Minnesota Children's Museum and Twins baseball again.

 

Jerry and Joe have made a mistake on this one.  I like Bob Brenly, and question why Jerry always goes on a rampage of changes when it comes to his sports teams.  How about firing Joe Jr who got almost nothing in the Curt Shilling trade with Boston?  Robin Yount should be commended for standing behind his friend in this situation. 

Let's see if Al can changes things.  Right now it is 5-5 against a very good Minnesota Twins team.