I will continue to post pictures of the awesomest vacation ever, but now, I wanted to share a good idea.
If you work with files, or if you just use a lot of labels, you might find this discovery I made, helpful. If you turn both the file (or object to be labeled, in some cases) and the sheet of labels upside down, and attach the label while both are upside down, why then, you don't have to guess where to press the label on, because you can see it.
Try it...it works!
This post brought to you by "I Need A New Job, Inc."
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Vacation to Michigan 2008...Continued!
On Monday, we decided to go to the lake for a swim. Here are Ben (further away) and Noah...
And here is the view from shore. We did get a little rain that day, but nothing to worry much about.
Here is the "beach area." See the wonderful picnic tables (not sprayed with gang graffiti!) and some of the playground areas they have for the kids.
Here are Julie and Megan, playing and posing for pictures...
And here are Julie and Megan putting sand on their arms. I don't know why, but it seemed to work for them...
And more fun in/with the sand...
On Tuesday, we decided to head to northern Michigan, to go to Mackinac Island!! Yay!! On the way, we stopped in a little town called Millington, MI, and found this smiley water tower.
My nephew Jason took the picture of the water tower above. He went to these train tracks to take it. He loves trains, so I took a picture of him on the track. Happily, no trains were coming.
Can you believe this is a freeway? I love all the trees, and the green! We're on the road again up north!
This next smiley face water tower is part of my heritage. My sister swallowed lye when she was three, and we spent a year and a half driving from northern Michigan to Ann Arbor, Michigan, every other week. We would stay for a week at a time, so that Heidi could have her throat dilated (they had to replace her throat with part of her colon, and it kept wanting to close). When we would see this smiley face water tower, we would know we were in West Branch, MI and it was time to stop for lunch at Render's Restaurant, which I don't think is there any more.
Since we were in West Branch, we did stop for lunch on this trip, too, but we went to Burger King. Here are Heidi and I (she's the cool-looking one in the sunglasses).
After our long-ish drive, we stopped at Alden, MI, the town where I grew up. It is much more touristy now than it was back then, but it is still home. This is a railroad museum we stopped at so that Jason could see the museum and the partial train that is there. From left to right, we have Jason, Julie, Caitlin, Megan and Noah. Ben is standing, leaning his head on his arms.
Here are the kids on the back of the caboose: (left to right again) Jason,
Caitlin, Julie Noah, Ben, and Megan.
This is the lake I grew up swimming in, Torch Lake. It is beautiful! Can you see the different shades of blue in the water? It's like that all the time. Some days it is perfectly still and mirror-like. Other days it is frozen over and covered with fishing shanties.
Alas, my arms are tired and my chest hurts again, so more tomorrow. I'll bet you didn't think this would be the longest story in the history of the world, did you? :)
And here is the view from shore. We did get a little rain that day, but nothing to worry much about.
Here is the "beach area." See the wonderful picnic tables (not sprayed with gang graffiti!) and some of the playground areas they have for the kids.
Here are Julie and Megan, playing and posing for pictures...
And here are Julie and Megan putting sand on their arms. I don't know why, but it seemed to work for them...
And more fun in/with the sand...
On Tuesday, we decided to head to northern Michigan, to go to Mackinac Island!! Yay!! On the way, we stopped in a little town called Millington, MI, and found this smiley water tower.
My nephew Jason took the picture of the water tower above. He went to these train tracks to take it. He loves trains, so I took a picture of him on the track. Happily, no trains were coming.
Can you believe this is a freeway? I love all the trees, and the green! We're on the road again up north!
This next smiley face water tower is part of my heritage. My sister swallowed lye when she was three, and we spent a year and a half driving from northern Michigan to Ann Arbor, Michigan, every other week. We would stay for a week at a time, so that Heidi could have her throat dilated (they had to replace her throat with part of her colon, and it kept wanting to close). When we would see this smiley face water tower, we would know we were in West Branch, MI and it was time to stop for lunch at Render's Restaurant, which I don't think is there any more.
Since we were in West Branch, we did stop for lunch on this trip, too, but we went to Burger King. Here are Heidi and I (she's the cool-looking one in the sunglasses).
After our long-ish drive, we stopped at Alden, MI, the town where I grew up. It is much more touristy now than it was back then, but it is still home. This is a railroad museum we stopped at so that Jason could see the museum and the partial train that is there. From left to right, we have Jason, Julie, Caitlin, Megan and Noah. Ben is standing, leaning his head on his arms.
Here are the kids on the back of the caboose: (left to right again) Jason,
Caitlin, Julie Noah, Ben, and Megan.
This is the lake I grew up swimming in, Torch Lake. It is beautiful! Can you see the different shades of blue in the water? It's like that all the time. Some days it is perfectly still and mirror-like. Other days it is frozen over and covered with fishing shanties.
Alas, my arms are tired and my chest hurts again, so more tomorrow. I'll bet you didn't think this would be the longest story in the history of the world, did you? :)
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Oops...
I said I would post more about the vacation today, but I did not post. I found out Monday that I have pneumonia, and today I woke up feeling more awful than yesterday, so I napped and barfed and took medicine most of the day. It was SUPER!!
So, that's my excuse for not posting more pics. I will post more as soon as I can, though.
So, that's my excuse for not posting more pics. I will post more as soon as I can, though.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Vacation 2008! We're back!
We are back, and we had a great time! Here is a picture story of our vacation (or at least part of it)...
This is Ben & Julie outside our house at 3:55 a.m., waiting for the Super Shuttle to pick us up. They have a lot of energy for that hour of the morning!
Here is the first airplane they would ride on...a Southwest airplane with pointy-uppy wings! Here it is about 5:00 a.m., and they are loading the plane. Why are they loading the plane? Because they are Southwest, and unlike other airlines, they actually offer free soft drinks, coffee & tea as well as a bunch of snacks that you can choose from. Once in the air, the flight attendants actually come around and hand out activity books for all the kids! Southwest rocks!
Here are Ben & Julie on the plane. I think this is the plane we transferred to in Chicago.
And here is our rented minivan! I reserved this van two or three weeks in advance, but when we got there, there was some major golf event in town (Detroit), so they didn't have enough cars to go around. This reminded me of a Seinfeld episode. I, however, was really quite tired by this point, so I didn't do the whole Seinfeld routine, even though I wanted to. Eventually, Thrifty Car Rental called Dollar car rental and got me a van. And because I decided to wait politely for 1/2 hour, the agent gave me a free tank of gas, and really good directions to my sister's house (well, not her house, but her exit). It was a silver Chrysler Town & Country. It held 7 people, but we had 8 people in it for most of the week. It held up rather well and got amazing mileage!
The first night, we took all the kids (my sister has 4, I have 2) for ice cream cones. We were tired, so after that we pretty much went to bed. I had my own room with its own digital cable and a really comfy bed. Pretty awesome!
When I stay with people, I always buy groceries, because I figure I'm there eating with them, and I should help out. With that in mind, my sister and I went to buy groceries on Sunday. This was our first stop...
This is a Meijer store, as you can see. Back when I was a kid, my mom used to shop here. This is quite similar to a Wal-Mart Supercenter now, but back then, there wasn't really a store near us that had clothes, groceries, auto parts, sporting goods, housewares, etc; except Meijer. They also have an ice cream shop inside, where you can get a hand-dipped ice cream cone. Obviously I like that about it, too.
Once inside the store, I knew I would find one of my favorite things...Faygo Pop! Yes, it is pop. It's on the label. Faygo Pop. There are amazing flavors, like peach, blue raspberry, rock-n-rye, orange, 60/40 (grapefruit/lemon-lime), black cherry, cream soda, and on and on. Good stuff. You should go to Michigan and buy some!
Here are Julie (my daughter) and Noah (my nephew) playing "basketball."
And Julie on the trampoline...
And the campfire we had Sunday night. To give you an idea of the scale, the fire pit is at least 8 feet across...this is a BIG fire!
And here are Heidi (my sister, on the right) and I (with the half-mast eyes...must've been tired!) enjoying the fire.
Here is Noah the pyromaniac, wet from some water game or something, and worshiping the flame of the citronella torch!
Here are pyromaniacs Noah and Ben, lighting twigs in the citronella torch, because it is Michigan and not Arizona, so even if they drop the twig, the entire state will not go up in flames. In fact, they did drop a few, and because there is actual moisture in the air, and at this time of night, on the ground in the form of dew, there was no problem.
And here is Julie the pyromaniac, also lighting twigs. Her cousin Megan was there, and I could've sworn she was in this picture, but I guess not.
And here is the reason the fire went out so quickly...my nephews Jason (the older one) and Noah thought they'd see how big they could get the fire if they put this wooden box on it. My sister is in the background saying "uhh...guys...I don't know...
I will post more pictures and info tomorrow.
This is Ben & Julie outside our house at 3:55 a.m., waiting for the Super Shuttle to pick us up. They have a lot of energy for that hour of the morning!
Here is the first airplane they would ride on...a Southwest airplane with pointy-uppy wings! Here it is about 5:00 a.m., and they are loading the plane. Why are they loading the plane? Because they are Southwest, and unlike other airlines, they actually offer free soft drinks, coffee & tea as well as a bunch of snacks that you can choose from. Once in the air, the flight attendants actually come around and hand out activity books for all the kids! Southwest rocks!
Here are Ben & Julie on the plane. I think this is the plane we transferred to in Chicago.
And here is our rented minivan! I reserved this van two or three weeks in advance, but when we got there, there was some major golf event in town (Detroit), so they didn't have enough cars to go around. This reminded me of a Seinfeld episode. I, however, was really quite tired by this point, so I didn't do the whole Seinfeld routine, even though I wanted to. Eventually, Thrifty Car Rental called Dollar car rental and got me a van. And because I decided to wait politely for 1/2 hour, the agent gave me a free tank of gas, and really good directions to my sister's house (well, not her house, but her exit). It was a silver Chrysler Town & Country. It held 7 people, but we had 8 people in it for most of the week. It held up rather well and got amazing mileage!
The first night, we took all the kids (my sister has 4, I have 2) for ice cream cones. We were tired, so after that we pretty much went to bed. I had my own room with its own digital cable and a really comfy bed. Pretty awesome!
When I stay with people, I always buy groceries, because I figure I'm there eating with them, and I should help out. With that in mind, my sister and I went to buy groceries on Sunday. This was our first stop...
This is a Meijer store, as you can see. Back when I was a kid, my mom used to shop here. This is quite similar to a Wal-Mart Supercenter now, but back then, there wasn't really a store near us that had clothes, groceries, auto parts, sporting goods, housewares, etc; except Meijer. They also have an ice cream shop inside, where you can get a hand-dipped ice cream cone. Obviously I like that about it, too.
Once inside the store, I knew I would find one of my favorite things...Faygo Pop! Yes, it is pop. It's on the label. Faygo Pop. There are amazing flavors, like peach, blue raspberry, rock-n-rye, orange, 60/40 (grapefruit/lemon-lime), black cherry, cream soda, and on and on. Good stuff. You should go to Michigan and buy some!
Here are Julie (my daughter) and Noah (my nephew) playing "basketball."
And Julie on the trampoline...
And the campfire we had Sunday night. To give you an idea of the scale, the fire pit is at least 8 feet across...this is a BIG fire!
And here are Heidi (my sister, on the right) and I (with the half-mast eyes...must've been tired!) enjoying the fire.
Here is Noah the pyromaniac, wet from some water game or something, and worshiping the flame of the citronella torch!
Here are pyromaniacs Noah and Ben, lighting twigs in the citronella torch, because it is Michigan and not Arizona, so even if they drop the twig, the entire state will not go up in flames. In fact, they did drop a few, and because there is actual moisture in the air, and at this time of night, on the ground in the form of dew, there was no problem.
And here is Julie the pyromaniac, also lighting twigs. Her cousin Megan was there, and I could've sworn she was in this picture, but I guess not.
And here is the reason the fire went out so quickly...my nephews Jason (the older one) and Noah thought they'd see how big they could get the fire if they put this wooden box on it. My sister is in the background saying "uhh...guys...I don't know...
I will post more pictures and info tomorrow.
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