Wet Jeep

There is only one negative to owning a Jeep Wrangler in Memphis, TN in the summer and that is scattered showers. If you live in Memphis, you know what I am taking about. It could be raining in your front yard but not in your back yard. Yesterday was great Jeep with the top down weather. The temperature was in the upper 90's and the sun was blasting. Well, I should have know from the weather forecast and Memphis weather history to be on my toes and expect what was to happen next.

I walked into Lowe's to get some supplies and while I was paying I could hear the rain on the warehouse roof. Luckily, there was not one behind me in line so I told the clerk to hold on one second while I go put my top up. I ran outside and you would have thought that there was a tornado out there from the rain and wind. I got the top up and walked into Lowe's soaking wet and finished paying. I then ran my supplies to the Jeep as it was still pouring down. Started up the Jeep and drove down the road and the rain stopped completely. The rain only lasted 5-10 minutes, but I drove away soaked. Good thing is that it was a warm day and my Jeep was able to dry out quickly.

"Don't mess with the bull, young man. You'll get the horns"

The principal from the "Breakfast Club" Paul Gleason died Monday. More can be found at Yahoo News!. The below is not from the "Breakfast Club", but you remember the scene.

Pops in Memphis Magazine Top Docs Issue

Pick up your latest issue of "Memphis Magazine" and turn to page 44 and you will see my pops. He was voted as being one the best doctors in Memphis, TN for Neurology. The article is in the June 2006 issue "Memphis Magazine". I was also able to find him in the 2002 Issue, but not any other even though I know he was in their last year and many previous years.

A direct link to the photo can be found at flickr.com.

More on my pops can be found at UT Memphis and Methodist.

Visit where he works at Wesley Neurological Clinic

You can also check out his book called Clinical Evaluation and Diagnostic Tests in Neuromuscular Disorders and keep and eye open for his newest book I helped him with in the near future.

Ribbit.

I was on my way to the car tonight and saw this little critter on the wall to the garage. It looks like a tree frog, which I have never ever seen here in Memphis, TN. At first I though it was a very large moth, until I got closer. I always see the regular spotted frogs out in the yard. This is the first time I have seen this type of frog here.

Free Ipod!!!

Can't afford an ipod. Well go to the below link to get your free ipod. You can even pick the color you want. How cool is that?

Free ipod

No change in my pocket going jing-a-ling-a-ling.

Here is a concept I wish would take place everywhere. I hate having change in my pocket, especially when it wants to roll out of the pockets. Good thing I saw what is pictured below. Of course, I can only say that it is about time that something like this made it to the USA. I have seen this before on a Travel Show on the Travel Channelwhere they have had something like this for years in Japan. Japan even has a machine that allows you to call the machine and get the product you want.

I saw a drink machine in the Memphis International Airport (MEM)that allowed you to swipe you Credit Card and get a drink. Very cool. Using your card on this machine would allow you to track your beverage intake on your credit card by the purchases and avoid keeping change on you.

The bad part about all this is that the machine in Memphis International Airport (MEM) was not taking credit cards the day I was there.

Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Krakow, Poland

Looks like a missed another special event in Krakow, Poland. If I would have stayed an extra week I would have been able to see the Pope in Krakow Poland. It would have been something nice to say I have seen. It would have even been better if I was able to see him in person. Maybe I will get lucky and he will be in Poland again in the future while I am there.

Below is photo of him in the Pope Mobile.

Technorati: Pope, Religion, Catholicism, Benedict XVI

Silk Sheets

I am one of those people that needs it to be cold to sleep really good. So cold that I do not even turn the heat on until the temperature hits below 60 degrees F/16 degrees C. I know that is very cold, but I believe that you can always put more clothes and blankets on if you are cold.

Well, I did not have that problem at all in Krakow, Poland on my trips. It always seems to be too warm for me. So warm that I would wake up sweating in the middle of the night. I tried sleeping without covers, but I am one of those people that has to have sheets over them.

So, I did my research and found a product called Cocoon Travel Sheets and it did the job for me. I used the Cocoon Silk Travel Sheet and I did not wake up sweating once. At $50, it was kind of high, but it was well worth the good nights sleep in Krakow, Poland. I truly recommend this product if you are traveling to somewhere they do not use air conditioning as a norm. I believe I will even use this for whenever I go to Peru.

Cocoon Silk Travel Sheet

Technorati: Cocoon, Silk Sheets, Travel Sheets, Blankets

Lost again...

Well, I am back here in Memphis, TN, but this time I am one bag short. It seems that my bag was never placed on the plane in Krakow, Poland. So far, I have flown NWA 2 times and have lost my baggage 2 times. It seems that there odds are not that great.

Good news is that the bags arrived last night via United Airlines. Bad part is that if I just had not been at the airport to check on my bags I probably would not have seen them for a week or 2, at least that is what the NWA rep told me. She stated that United does not care about other airlines lost luggage.

Technorati: Lost Luggage, Lost Baggage, Lost Suitcase, Northwest Airlines, NWA

Protester in Krakow, Poland

While walking through the streets of Krakow, Poland I saw a group of student protesters walking around the Main Square on May 19th, 2006. I am not sure what they were protesting as I could not speak Polish. I did try to get in front of them to take a photo of their signs, but I was not fast enough. Good thing I was able to locate another silent protester about to get busted by the PoPo, and that is not "Popo Zao" by K Fed.

This rough looking dude was standing of to the side of St. Mary's Church with a end of the world type sign on him. I was not able to read the sign, but I did snap a few shots of it. So if you know Polish please go to Flickr.com and click on the protester photos and let me know what it actually says and post it on the comments to this post . The end result is that the cops let him go with a warning and was able to take his sign with him. Below is a photo or two as a teaser.

Mohawk

I am not sure if you saw a picture of this guy in a post from my last trip to Krakow, Poland in April. I saw him again, but this time I saw him without his hat and he had a nice little mohawk. He was located on the side entrance of the Cloth Hall in the Main Square.

Postcards on the way

If you requested a postcard or were on my list of postcards recipients I just wanted to let you know that I mailed them out at 7:20 Polish time today on May 16th. I sent over 25 postcards. I am guessing that they will take about a week to arrive.

Lost luggage

Lost luggage must cost airlines millions, as my bags were delivered to me via taxi and all lost baggage offices need to have at least one person working there whenever flights are arriving. Costing the airlines about $20-$50 and the average lost baggage officer must get paid at least $10-15 an hour probably making my lost luggage cost the airline $50. Multiply this by the millions of bags lost yearly and there is the money the airlines a losing a year. Airlines needs better baggage handling logistics which will help solve this problem, make customer happier, and avoid going bankrupt if they solved this problem.

Hopefully for all of us they will try to come up with a solution.

If anyone can find this CD, let me know

I have been looking for the below CD and have not been able to find it. I am only able to find the bands other 2 albums. I am not posting the name of the band as to not get blocked from work websites. If anyone can find this CD let me know. Tony Roy requested the CD and I offered to bring it back state side, that is if I find it.

If I am reading this event calendar correct, I might actually be in Krakow, Poland when the concert is taking place. Maybe I will go.

Another caricature

I figured I would try and have another caricature while here in Krakow, Poland with my glasses on this time. This was done by the same guy that did the caricature the last time I was here in Krakow, Poland. Do see the previous photo go here.

Finally here in Krakow, Poland

I left Memphis, TN on Friday May 12 via NWA to Amsterdam. Everything was great, I arrived my 2 hours early for International Flights. I hopped on the plane and got situated then 2 minutes later she sat down.

She had on some blue jean capris and a baggy sweatshirt and reeked like a rubbish fire in Mississippi. I thought I was going to die from the smell, but luckily I got accustomed to the odor, that is if you can get accustomed to that. Right before take off my friendly neighbor said she was a smoker and was dreading the long flight, as if I could not tell. Next she grabbed her purse and took a swig out of her silver flask of what must have been pure grain alcohol. I truly thought she was going to explode from the mixture. After that everything seemed ok, that is until I tried to go to sleep.

After getting my ear plugs, eye mask, and neck pillow out I tried to sleep for a few hours. Do you think she would let me? No she didn't. She must have been jonesing (sp) for a cigarette, because she tossed and turned all over the place and crossed the line numerous times. By crossing the line, she was crossing over into my side of the seat. I let it slide a few times, but after that I had to pull out the peoples elbow. Every time she crossed over, the people elbow put the smack down on what ever part of her crossed the line. After getting smacked down a few times she stopped crossing the line and I was able to get some sleep.

We then arrived in Amsterdam 45 minutes late because the plane was to heavy. Reason for being late was that the plane had to flight around at lower altitudes to burn some fuel. After landing I proceeded to run to the gate to try and catch the next plane. I arrived at the gate and the gate attendant would not let me board the bus even though it was behind her. We has to change our flight to go to Franfurt instead of Munich. Everything from then went well. We flew from Amsterdam to Frankfurt to Krakow. I arrived at Krakow almost 24 hours after leaving Memphis and walked to the baggage claim to find that my luggage did not arrive. I had to go to the lost luggage office and describe my luggage. Luckily, it arrived around midnight and was deliver to my hotel.

Weather to expect In Krakow, Poland

As always, prior to packing I like to check the weather before leaving to Krakow, Poland or anywhere else for that matter. Well, it looks like I am leaving rain in Memphis, TN for more rain in Krakow, Poland. Below is a shot of the weather I will be encountering in Krakow found at Weather.com. I guess I need to make sure I have my rain jacket and umbrella. At least I can be glad that it is not cold and wet.

Mail Call.

Postcard time again. If you would like a postcard from Krakow, Poland post a comment with you name and address. I will do my best to send you a postcard. If I have no idea who you are, you might not get a postcard.

Since all comments are monitored you can post your address without a fear of everyone seeing it.

McDonald Bucks

McDonalds is changing. Nope, they are not changing the food, but the interior of the restaurant. They plan on adding a Starbucks type atmosphere with comfy couches, Wi-Fi and a hip-hop look. You can read more about it at Business Week. I think this change would be perfect for Mickey D's, now if they could only make their menus healthier.

Daughtry Gone!

I am not much of an American Idol fan, but I have been watching it on and off the past few weeks. I watched Tuesday nights performance and thought Chris Daughtry was better than the other contestants, especially better than Katharine McPhee. I think Katherine should have been booted since she clearly messed up on of the songs she was singing and forgot some of the words. Everyone was shocked by the vote, especially Daughtry as you can tell by the photo below. My guess is that Daughtry will do good either way since he has such a large fan following.

Let's make the obesity problem worse.

I read this article at engadget.com where there is a company that allows you to turn your bicycle into a moped. Isn't a bicycle supposed to be use to burn off fat instead of letting you gain it. The wheel actually holds 23 cc engine that can get you 20mph and your water bottle holds the fuel.

RevoPower is the company that came up with this product, claims that there idea is for thise that use the bicycle to commute.

A movie about how it works can be found here.

Where I will be next week.

Saturday I will be in Krakow, Poland for my 4th trip. If you want to see where I will be you can go to the following link and actually see the street I will be staying on while in Krakow. My hotel is actually off the screen to the right. The street is Wielopole and you can actually see St. Mary's Cathedral in the background. When looking at the screen you can refresh for an updated snapshot of the street. Remember that Krakow, Poland is 7 hours ahead of Memphis, TN time.

Wielopole Street in Krakow, Poland (Click refresh to get an updated snapshot)

Snapshot above was at 6:45am Memphis time.

No place like home.

After reading an article, one that I cannot find again, that states that New York has a chance of a major tornado hitting them. New York is already trying to make sure people are prepared to ensure that what happened in the Big Easy doesn't happen to them. This talk of a Twister hitting the Big Apple in an attempt to make apple sauce got me thinking about the increase of Tornadoes here in Memphis, TN and the South.

I was wondering why homes in the South do not have built in storm shelters, especially with the regular tornado warnings we receive. There is a company that makes after market bunkers to protect you in case of a tornado called Storm Safe Rooms. They can install these underground in the yard or have an above ground one that can be place in your home. If you are building a home they can even work with the builder to have it installed during construction. I wonder why most home builders do not offer them.

Fuel Banks

I read this article on Autoblog.com which talks about a First Fuel Banks. In this article they mention that you can pre-purchase fuel for the future. So if gas is $2.79 and you think it will go up drastically, you can purchase fuel in advance at the $2.79 price and fill up later. Pretty cool concept if you think gas will go up past $3.00. Of course, you lose if prices go down and stay down.

So when will this concept leave Minnesota and work its way to Tennessee.

Disco Fever

I have kept this one on the down low for about a month. While in Krakow, Poland during a break I busted out into a dance move. Yes, I was trying to do the Carlton Dance. You know the one I am talking about, from the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air".

Well, I tried the Carlton Dance and failed. I twisted my ankle while trying the dance and busted. A few hours later my ankle was swollen. It didn't really hurt while walking, but only hurt when my foot turned a certain way.

After 3 weeks, the swelling went down, but there was still a sharp pain when I turned my foot a certain way. Today, on my day off, I went to see the doctor to make sure it was nothing really serious. Luckily, it is just a sprain. In the photo below, you can see where the pain is when I twist my foot a certain way. My pain is marked by the small X, but the lines are where most people have the pain when the have the same injury. Per the doctor, it should be better in a few weeks so I can start running.

I did not draw on my foot, those were from the doctor.

Wet Concrete

Today I did a little work around the yard and also filled in a few holes with concrete on the driveway. I hammered all the loose rocks and then mixed the concrete to fill the holes. I places all the loose rocks in a big plastic container and placed it in front of the wet concrete to make sure no one ran over it with their car. Not even a few hours after laying the concrete my sister ran over the concrete and crushed the box that was supposed to block anyone from running over it. Oh well, I guess I will have to use my day off tomorrow to clean up the mess.

Crazy Gas Prices

This we have it bad at $2.79, there are some places that are at $6.48. And something to make you feel jealous, there are some places like Kuwait, Nigeria, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia that are below $1. So far below a dollar that Venezuela is actually at 12 cents a gallon.

To see more Crazy Gas Prices go to CNN.com.

Cartoon and the Cultural Divide

Can a cartoon help in the Cultural Divide between east and west? Politicians have not be able to do anything about it, so what not a cartoon. There is a new cartoon out there called "Ben and Izzy" mostly for children from the age of 8-11. Too bad it is not for anyone from the age of 11-80, where it is needed the most. My guess is that they feel this age is a good place to start for future generations.

Go to Ben and Izzy to find out more about the cartoon.

Extreme Hybrid

Now Tony Roy recently purchased a Honda Insight that will probably get him 60 miles per gallon. Tons better that my Jeep getting me 15-20 miles per gallon. My buddy Ryan Carmichael even mentioned the UK version of the Toyota Prius that can get about 90-100 miles per gallon. Both of those are great, but still to costly for the fuel savings.

Now why can't Honda and Toyota follow what an independent company AFS Infinity is doing a create a car that can get 250 miles per gallon and can be charged up over night to get you a full 40 miles on battery power alone. Instead of fuel costing you $36 a week, it could cost you about $8 a week.

I would be all over a car like this and I am guessing lots more people would be as well, that is if the price was right.

Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo. For the History of Cinco de Mayo, Go Here.

Travel after Poland

Taking any major trips during the year, are probably out of the question as I will be traveling to Krakow, Poland regularly this year. That does not mean that I can't plan for future trips. I have family from Peru and have visited them numerous times in my life, but have never been a tourist there. I have mostly only visited family or gone to the beaches. My next trip to Peru will be different. After my trip to Peru, I would like to go to Costa Rica again as I enjoyed my time there when I studied there for a summer.

My next trip to Peru, I plan on being a tourist for about 2-3 weeks and see all the thing I missed seeing on my past trips. Below is a list of things I would like to see in whenever I am able to go to Peru again.

Larco Herrera Museum
Gold Museum
Ica, Nazca Lines, and Ballestas Islands
Uros Island and Lake Titicaca
Cusco
Arequipa
Machu Picchu
Rainforest
Manu Wildlife center
Huaca El Dragon and Chan Chan Museum

I know I probably missed a lot, but this should cover me for a bit. I might not even be able to do all of this in a 2-3 week period, as Peru is split up into 6 regions ( that is what the guide books shows).

If you know of something else that would be interesting to see, let me know.

"A Day without a Mexican"

I saw "A Day without a Mexican" a while back, and it seems to fit in perfectly with what is going on today with immigration and the national boycott. Of course, in the movie it was not a boycott but a fog that caused all the Mexicans to disappear. California, Texas, Arizona, possibly Miami, FL and other cities/states will be affected more that other places in the United States due to the large Hispanic populations.

I think it is very unrealistic to deport 11 million people. As I mentioned in a previous post, those immigrants which are not citizens need to be given a chance to get a working visa or a chance to become citizens. Those that want to have that chance need to do so by a certain time. Those that fail to do so, risk the chance of being deported. Once this is all done, the United States does need to be stricter on its border policies to keep this from repeating in the future.

The main question I have is, how many of those 11 million people are paying taxes? I am all for people from other nations being in the United States, as long as they do it the legal way. I even have relatives that have been offered a Visa to live in the USA and I look forward to seeing them here.