Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Superisory Position Wanted

This is why we have kids! Nothing like a cup of coffee and watching the kid scrub the floor. Preperation for a career in the Navy. Ahoy, yea swabbie!

A Trike I Like


I think I could ride this beast. Throw on an electric shifter and a thumb brake and I'm all over it. Just need a rear rack for the wheelchair.

Some of the cool stuff on the bike. I pirated the text from http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2007/02/10/can-am-spyder-details/

VSS - Vehicle Stabilization System, developed with Bosch which helps maintain vehicle control.
Brakes are activated by the right foot pedal which distributes braking to all wheels, minimizing nose dive. WHAT, NO STOPPIES!!!!
Rotax 998cc V-twin, 106 hp, 77 foot pounds of torque. MEANS GO FAST!
5 speed transmission with reverse
Exhaust meets CARB, EPA and Euro2 emission standards. STINKIN' GOVERNMENT
44L of enclosed front storage space plus a rear luggage rack is available A REAR TRUNK

Come on Richie, I think Frank could smoke you on this! I know I could, then again the only thing you ever saw was my taillights!

Monday, February 26, 2007

Patrick





Just some pictures of the boy. One of the great things about life changing events is that they bring new people into your life and God brought me Becky and Patrick. He is a great kid, open hearted, has an active imagination that can't be topped and he wants to be like his dad. He's a hooligan in training. Forget the training, he's writing his own hooligan rules.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Group shot

Looks like our dive master JR needs to take the official SSI Underwater Photography class and get the subject in the main view. Oh, well. They may have chopped off have of the duo but you can tell who is better looking, right Archie Bunker!




1. Relaxing on the Vitamin Sea between dive sites.
2. George in a school of Amber Jacks
3. One of the times George let me hold the camera and I didnt lose it.
4. A gobi cleaning JR's fin
5. Scenery

I bought a reusable Kodak camera at one of the dive shops and took some pretty cool pictures. Too bad most of them have water spots on them. What's with that?


Where's the gear? I'm ready to go into the water! I'm also ready to go back to Florida after all of this snow. Whatever possessed me to stay in Ohio? As for the last post, no that's not me swimming with the Goliath Grouper. I just stuck that pic on to show the size of the fish.

Friday, February 9, 2007

Marathon Key






















We made it to Marathon, Fl on Sunday evening after weaving through Super Bowl traffic in Miami. My Bears didn't win but Manning has his Super Bowl ring. George and I were happy to be here even though there was only one bed in the hotel room. George got to sleep on a roll-a-way bed at the Holiday Inn.
By Friday, we logged eight dives with Abyss Dive Center, www.abyssdive.com. Bill and Heidi Ferrell, Carmen and the good Captain JR were top rate. I can't wait to get back down and dive with them again. That's Bill in the bottom picture powering up after a morning on the boat.
By far the coolest dive we did was to the wreck of the Thunderbolt at 110 feet down. Hanging around the ship were Goliath Groupers that easily weigh four hundred plus pounds. George got plenty of cool video of these giants and of the ship, plus many of the reefs we dove. Most of our dives were training dives so we could get our Advanced Open Water dive cards but we found time to take video and still photos. We played with big lobsters, puffer fish, saw some eels and a few nurse sharks.
I also recommend the guys at Halls Dive Shop, www.hallsdiving.com. They answered all of our questions, gave us good information and were willing to lend a hand and gear. Thanks to Nick, the blimmy Brit and Paul. To all our friendly waitresses and every one who moved to Florida from Ohio, which is just about everyone we met.




























Devil's Den Lodging



The lodging at Devil's Den was very architecturally appealing but the wheelchair accomodations weren't so great. There were nice ramps to the cabins but there was a steep little hill from the grass parking lot. The shower had a sliding door on it so it was hard to get in and then I discovered that the shower didn't work.
The neighbor left us some Ethiopian coffee and we had a good caffeine boost for the next few hours on the road.

Escape from the Cold!






George and I escaped Ohio on Friday Feb 2, 2007 and headed south to Florida. After a marathon drive session we got to Williston, FL and decided to spend the night with and ulterior motive. We wanted to get in a tune up dive before we got into the big blue Atlantic.

The plan was laid for stopping at the Devil's Den, www.devilsden.com an underwater cave system. We made two dives into gin clear water that was about 70 degrees. Getting into the place was a bit ackward but with the help of a lot of strong backs and weak minds of a few people we got it done.
Pic 1. George at the bottom of the hole on the dive platform.
Pic 2. Two guys who had a dream and made it come true.
Pic 3. Getting me down the stairs.
Pic 4. The rickety, slippery, steep, uneven stairs. Plus there were more to get to that point.
Pic 5. Another view into the hole.