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Fire and Fantasy

Fire and Fantasy

January 14, 2012

Posted by Bill Terry at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Madison, WI

Madison, State Capital of Wisconsin, has one of the nicest State Capital buildings I have come across...

In the daylight...
(at the bottom of the image you can see some of the controversy surrounding the Governor)

01_12 thumb political conflict DSC04681_2_3_tonemapped

In the early evening..

and just after dark...

During the day, you can walk through the building from one end to the other,
with no security in sight
(an amazing thing in these days and times).

Surrounding the capital building are

guys keeping a close watch on things,

beautifully restored old buildings,

and fancy embellishments on the buildings
(I'm sure they have a formal name, I just don't know what it is)

The days I was there Wisconsin was experiencing a heat-wave: temperatures got into the 50's. The local citizenry treated it like a warm Spring day: t-shirts, short dresses and even the occasional pair of shorts.

I, on the other hand, was more sensibly dressed with a heavy coat, gloves and a warm hat.

January 7-8, 2012

Posted by Bill Terry at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sign of an overly- documented society...

Sign of an overly- documented society...

Ummm, guys, it is a charger for a camera battery:
Plug in charger
Insert battery
When light goes out, remove battery

Is all this REALLY necessary?
(this is only page 1 of 2 pages!)

Posted by Bill Terry at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Napa Wineries, part 2

Tres Sabores

Tres Sabores is a small Rutherford winery that makes excellent Organic Certified wines... and is one of the most beautiful places in the world to spend the night. They have one room they rent out and we were lucky enough to be given the gift of an overnight there.

This is the quiet time of the year at the vineyards: the grapes have been picked and processed, the new growth hasn't started yet and the pruning is a bit of a ways away.

Staying overnight gives you something that, unless you live at a winery or vineyard, very few people see: Sunrise with the grapes.

The sheep are turned out just before sunrise to graze amongst the vines

Did I mention they rent one room? They do that mainly because... there is only ONE room: an extremely nice "one room apartment" located on one end of the wine building that doubles as the Tasting Reception during the day. Very private, very nice: a perfect place to decompress and forget, for a little while, the craziness of our world.

December 27-28, 2011

Thank-you, Julie: it was perfect!

Posted by Bill Terry at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Napa Wineries, part 1

Alpha Omega Winery

Inglenook
(formerly the Rubicon Estate)

December 28, 2011

Posted by Bill Terry at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Notes (mostly grumbles) from on the road...

Miscellaneous thoughts from on the road...

- Walked into a bank for the first time in years. I needed to get tip change for some of the money I pulled out of ATM outside (I have been a Wells Fargo customer since 1996 but everything is on-line now).

1pm:

How far the banks have fallen: bored 20+ kid in $100 faded bluejeans, with a clipboard, asks if he can help me. I say "All I need is change for this $20. bill." He doesn't speak another word, just points at the teller line. 5-6 people in line; 2 windows manned by two more very young 20+ tellers; at least 6 more employees wandering around bullpen in back chatting and semi-working.

Time goes by; one teller involved in complicated business deposit; other teller arguing with (being argued at) a tattooed girl who wants to cash a check.

Time goes by; argument escalates and "supervisor" (does anyone over 20 work in this place?) intervenes while boyfriend standing by gets involved; business transaction continues; everyone else continues chatting or semi-working; guy at front door is very bored and doesn't hide it.

Time goes by; argument resolved but girl at window announces she has two more transactions and needs to check something; business transaction continues with no end in sight; everyone else continues chatting or semi-working; guy at front door is very bored and doesn't hide it. At lease two employees in back look at growing teller line and resume chatting.

Time goes by; nothing changes. I run out of time and leave, telling the bored guy at the door that I have to catch a flight and cannot wait any longer. He gives a 20+ something shrug of indifference.

Hey, Wells Fargo and other banks: wonder why you are in financial trouble and the Occupy movement says stop using you? THIS IS A BIG PART OF THE REASON!! It is called customer service, remember?

- Hilton: How come when I stay for several days I get a plain jane ordinary room... BUT I check in at 8pm for one night, checking out the next morning, and you upgrade me to a huge multi-room suite that I get to enjoy for all of maybe 10 hours, 1/2 of which I am asleep for and another couple of hours I am out of the suite finding something to eat. I didn't hardly get to sit in all the rooms!

(It was a very nice suite... thanx, guys)

- Southwest- My favorite airline, but come on flight attendants, must we hear "Southwest wants to be the first to welcome you to...." Big deal, we are still taxiing down the runway. Let's just leave it at "Welcome to..."

- More Southwest: "We no longer accept expired coupons." You used to accept expired coupons?

- More Southwest: How come the guys who announce "We're goin' to fly it like we stole it" no longer wear the brown leather bomber jackets and now wear the blue suit jackets with the epaulets? Going conservative in your old age?

- Final Southwest: I try to avoid holiday flying but am doing it... a lot... this year. The Get Yourself Photographed With Santa thing at Gate 40 in HOU is cute... for about 2 minutes when you are on an hour wait at the next gate. The kids love it and I'm sure you are a big hit with lots of folks, but I can only stand so much Ho-Ho-Ho- ing and cute Christmas Carols and flash attachments going off. Sigh... I guess I'm an old Bah-humbug (I did move to another adjacent gate where it was quiet, so everyone was happy).

- Hotels in general: what DO you do with all those left over little bars of soap and partially used bottles of shampoo?

- Hotels in general: why is the coffee in the rooms universally the worst coffee in the world? Thank God for Starbucks Via!!

- Hotels in general: An Open Apology to all Perky Front Desk Folks: when I slump in late at night and almost fall asleep on your counter or stumble by at 5 in the morning desperately seeking coffee (see reference above), PLEASE don't take it personally when I do not respond with equal perkiness.

- UPS: thank-you very much for charging me $11 for intercepting and rerouting an overnight package THE DAY AFTER IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DELIVERED because your routing got screwed up.

- National Car Rental: NOW that I have finally figured out on my own how to start the cars that come with no keys (push button start), NOW you put instructions in the cars???

(Aside: I once actually had to get someone to show me how to start a car; then there was the late night when the fob- thingee wasn't in the car and vehicle died just past the check-out station... neither of which were very manly- type incidents)

Umm, fellows, you are about a year or so late with the big announcement on how to start a keyless car.

Posted by Bill Terry at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Magic Morning

It was one of those perfect mornings: everything was quiet and peaceful, almost as if the world took a deep breath and stopped to enjoy the morning...