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I slept in a little today since I’ve had a sore throat the last few days. Up for a nice home-cooked breakfast from Lia of eggs, Indonesian noodles and an apple, before getting on the road.

A few toll bridges and paid turnpikes later ($12 total) and I was entering Philadelphia hunting for the famous Art Museum where Rocky was filmed. Close parking opened up for me on the far side entrance, not the main big entrance. Today was pay what you like day at the museum – I paid the normal price.

That price was cheap for what it included. I stayed until closing AND didn’t make it to the two other buildings included in the entry cost. Rodin, Picasso, Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Degas, van Gogh, Renoir, and others. We aren’t talking about a single painting or sculpture here, but entire rooms filled with each. There were over 20 Picasso’s – unprotected, just hanging on the wall. None of them had laser protection, but I suspect each was bolted to the wall and had a pressure sensor.

Besides the famous artists, there were galleries of middle-age art, weaponry, Chinese, Japanese and India art. Then there was the modern art collection. I snapped a photo of a picture that Mom and I discussed a few days earlier – the slightly off center blue square on a white background. Oddly, the guard said that room wasn’t to be photographed. I’d asked at the front desk if photography was ok and was told it was – without a flash.

Hunger forced me to leave – it was closing time too. I wanted to get a photo of the Rocky steps, but it was raining too hard to get to the bottom and face back. In fact the view of the skyline from this location earlier in the day was just a little hazy, but now hardly anything could be seen at all. I quickly walk to my car and get soaked.

Anyway, it was a long day and I needed to find my hotel, Conwell Inn, and get situated for the night. With google map and directions in hand, I start out. What should have been a 30 minute drive turned into an hour+ view the city tour. Google Maps provides approximate distances between turns, so you get a good idea when you’re getting close to a turn. I missed a turn fairly early near the Art Museum and ended up at the capitol. It was one-way street after one-way street. Seems 3 streets all head in the same direction, not every other one as in most cities. I ended up on Broad Street going in the right direction, and when the W Berk Street turn distance came up, there was no street to turn at. There was Berk Mall – into Temple University – a walkway. I kept going all the way out to 71st street and found a place to park and look over my maps. None are detailed enough, so I head back down Broad Street. This time, I find a few of the streets a little earlier in the directions and start following them again, correctly from that point. The mileage places me at Berk Mall again for the turn … again, no place to turn. I’m thinking this is a joke hotel setup by Temple University students to get credit card numbers. I call the reservations phone number and he talks me into the correct parking. It is in the middle of Temple University and there is no W Berk St to turn down. In my rush to book the hotel and get on the road, I didn’t bother to get the directions from the hotel web site which were fairly clear on the hidden nature.

Since it is a college area, summer, and Sunday, none of the food stands surrounding the hotel – and there are many, many of them – are open. I chose this hotel because it was not in the city center and didn’t have $26/night parking, but was on a subway line. The campus police station is in the same building as the hotel. Just one block away are some slums, so I’ll be staying on Broad Street when walking. Oh, and parking is $12/night.

Tomorrow will be a day of Independence Hall and central Philadelphia tours.

I got up early today and was on my way to Baltimore by 8:15a to see the Bodies 2 exhibit. After negotiating the ticket purchase (complicated due to the natural museum and IMAX options), I wandered into the main attraction for me – the Bodies.

In short, there’s a German-name sounding scientist who has created a way to replace different fluids in human bodies with plastic. According to the sign at the entry, each of the models in this exhibit understood their body would be plasticized. It begins with a brain, elbow, and knee joints – nothing too shocking. Then you get to a compete man doing a cross like a gymnast. The WHOLE man, just without skin. After getting past the initial shock and feeling good about my parts, I move through the rest of the exhibit with a hand-held audio guide talking about each numbered display. Our German scientist decided that showing the complete bodies just standing there was making them into dummies, so he decided to follow the great masters of painting and place the bodies into different athletic poses. Kicking a soccer ball, ice skating, ballet dancing, and others.

Then there were the individual displays for each organ. A multitude of different brain views, kidneys, stomachs, intestines, bladders, spines, heats, lungs, reproductive organs … everything except skin. Oh, since when was the kidney the largest organ of the body? I was taught that the skin was the largest.

Not for squeamish people. I don’t think I’d take anyone under 18 into this display. The main display that caught my attention was a 72 year old man with a very fit body. They didn’t say what killed him, but his musculature was impressive in a fit way. Also, they said that only bones heal with new bone cells that are exactly the same as the original cells. All other healing is with scar tissue, so your skin, heart, any other body part that has trauma will never be as good as new.

On to the dinosaur area, then the space and astronomy stuff. I catch a Your Sun show in the planetarium. Yawn. After that, I wander the remaining display – DNA and health sciences – it is completely empty. It feels like a child friendly version of The Bodies.

It is a little after 1pm before I leave and head for home. I stop at a random exit to grab some lunch and wander into – what I thought was a Mexican restaurant based on the Spanish name. Turns out it was an Argentine Restaurant! A vey happy accident for me. I order an empanada and a steak sandwich. Both taste similar to what I recall. The empanada has just the right spices and the crust is perfect. The bread used for the steak sandwich is the same as my hamburger at the Puerto Iguazu bus terminal. I chat with the owner – he’s from outside Buenos Aires – very southern barrio to the city. On the satellite tv is the River Plate soccer team.

An half hour later and I’m back on I-95 headed towards DC.

The entire family and I visited the Dulles Air and Space Museum today. Lots of aircraft and space craft were on display. Microlites thru to the space shuttle Enterprise used for landing software validation. The exhibit spans a huge hangar with an added on hangar for the space stuff. A Redstone missiles (used by Explorer1) was on display. Anyway, lots and lots of stuff for aerospace fans.

When we were finished and headed out late in the afternoon, it started to rain. Lacking any better idea, we headed home before going to dinner at a local noodle house. After dinner, it was back into DC to watch the fireworks. We arrived at a great viewing place near the Potomac River just as the display began. I was unable to locate the simulcast FM station, so we just watched from the SUV. It was sprinkling the entire time.

After the fireworks finished, the GPS hunt for home was on.

I haven’t mentioned this, but my kitchen at home is full of very different items when compared to this Indonesian household. I have metal and plastic spatulas, they have wooden. I have non-stick pans, they have cast iron. There’s an odd (to me) spice rack and other fixin’s around. Of course, the eggs, milk, and beer looked familiar as did most of the fruit. There were odd fruits and veggies, however.

On Saturday, I’ll be getting up and going on my own in the hope if doing 2 attractions tomorrow. Somehow, I’ve only been able to do 1 per day as everything takes longer to accomplish than expected.

So I had the grand plans for today – I was going to refresh all my photos of the Washington Mall area over a 2 hour period. Then go for a hike back in Maryland Patuxent Research Refuge.

I took the Metro from Shady Grove, MD into the city. That took about an hour. Then I got in line at the National Archives – I didn’t bother with this ten years ago, but decided that seeing the Bill of Rights and Constitution was worth it. An hour later and I was entering the building. The exhibits explained the type of information the archives retained. Nothing too exciting there, except the Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, and Constitution.

So now it is 2pm already and I haven’t started the walk on the Mall.

Head towards the Capitol – lots of construction out front.

The Mall has some Cultural Festival – Indian, Buhtan, and NASA? Huh? NASA has a culture? I snap a few photos of buildings on the southern side of the mall and a few sculptures before heading into the center to the NASA exhibits. I chat with the guy that builds and places the video cameras on the shuttle and SRBs for those great photos during launch, SRB Sep and MT Sep. Next to the launch control room at KSC, but for non-shuttle launches. Then to the JSC tent and to a CalTech exhibit – how to cheaply get some soil samples out of a crater. And we are walking ….

Washington Monument, White House, WW-II Monument (nicely done), Korean War, Jefferson, Vietnam memorials and back to the White House since it is on the way to the Metro station with the RED line.

I’m obviously hot, sticky and still sweating. I’ve been careful to drink about a gallon of water to prevent heat stress. Hat to prevent sunburn – that wasn’t enough.

Almost all the signs around the town were in both English and Spanish. What really bothered me was that snow fencing was up around almost all the green spaces and that the fields were mostly covered in clover and weeds.

Dinner (leftovers from last night) and I’m out. I’d walked over 7 miles according to the pedometer – calibrated to be accurate for my gate over the months, so it should be fairly accurate. My legs haven’t ached like this in a few months.

Today was a travel and hiking day.
It began with a simple walk around the block with Mom and Copper. Then I was on the road to DC, a 5 hour drive normally.

Along the way, I decided a few hours of hiking would be nice, so I stopped just outside Richmond, VA at Pocahontas State Park. There’s a small lake … eh, pond there with a trail around it of about 2.2 miles. Hiked. Oh, the state map provided by the VA DOT showed a state road that didn’t exist – it is currently a dead end at a McDonald’s. Don’t blame me – it was 12:15p or so and I did need to eat. Lots of pond wildlife photos were taken, including some close up skink photos because I blocked the escape with my other hand. My initial thoughts on this park when planning this were correct, but at the VA State line, the Welcomer talked me into going.

Hop back in to the car and I was off driving again arriving at Great Falls Park around 5pm, the Virginia side. The waterfalls really were great. A few people were kayaking up the Potomac river, but only two actually went over the falls. In movies, they show kayakers shoting the falls all at once. That wasn’t what I saw. Each drop was carefully considered with 5-10 minutes of thought between each. The River Trail is about 2.3 miles, hiked, and has views of Great Falls, the Potomac river and a number of rappelers. Photos and video of the falls, kayakers, rappelers, and wildlife were taken.

Back into the car around 6:45p and drive to the home of some friends from ICI. Meet and greet husband, wife and 4 yrs old son, Richard, then we’re off to a Thai restaurant for some fantastic food. Photos taken for Mom and Jim. Seafood soup and a tofu and shrimp appetizer followed by four main dishes of seafood and chicken. I ate too much, but it was all sooooo good.

After dinner, back to the townhouse to see the tour, chat and plan the next day. Oh, and Richard likes trains, not planes, not cars, not boats, just trains. To bed, much too late.

Today started a little slowly. I began the day snapping a photo of my brother and Mom – no makeup. Next was the preparation of some breakfast tea, followed by a stroll around the block with Mom and Copper (Chow/Lab mix).

Following the walk, a quick breakfast of a fried egg and OJ. Then I was tasked with patching the brick steps to the house using some quik-dry cement. I think it turned out nice.

Then my sister stopped by the house and we chatted for a bit before she had to leave, then her husband was arrived and we discussed life, vacations and businesses for a few hours. Excellent advise from someone with lots of experience starting and running small businesses. He got me thinking very seriously.

I showered then had a tiny lunch and more family discussions. Tonight will be Chinese take out. Somehow the after quickly passed and we head over to my sister’s place for dinner. Chopsticks for everyone! The special request for cashew chicken is to add snow peas, and make it spicy, please!

After dinner, my brother and I headed to Duke Basketball camp to catch my nephew in a nightly scrimmage – about a hour long. A multitude of photos and 5 movies later, we leave Chris to rough it in a dorm room for another night. I heard the game was much better today than yesterday – their skills are really improving. After I’d already headed outside, I learned that Coach-K was inside signing basketballs AND there was a long line for them. Not my thing.

Tomorrow will be a travel day, so I took the opportunity to do some laundry. Basically, I’d like to have allmy clothes clean until I get to Philly and don’t need to launder anything for the rest of the trip.

Today was primarily a travel day from Atlanta to Raleigh, but I decided to take a side trip to see a waterfall. After much searching online, the best bang for my time dollars seemed to be Chimney Rock Park south east of Ashville, NC.

Due to my late start – around 1pm – I needed to make some good time to get to the park before the front gate closed at 4:30p. The park didn’t close until 7p, so getting inside was the only close deadline. With 5 minutes to spare and $14 lighter, I made it!

Seems many families come to the river (outside the park) and spend a week in this area. I could see many people laying out on rocks on the river (all free) when I arrived to town. The road was lined with little cottages and travel trailers and lots of sun burnt people walking around in swim-gear and cover ups. This was NOT Miami Beach.

Plan for my few hours in the park:

1. See the waterfall – 404 ft drop
2. Do whatever is left and can fit within the remaining time.
3. Hike as much as possible
4. exit the park by 7pm

Mission Accomplished. – Yeah, we’ve heard THAT before.

Hiked hickory Nut Falls Trail to the base of the waterfall. The trail to the top of the fall was closed for safety reasons. The park was private until about a year ago when the state of NC bought it. It seems the state has different safety requirements then the old owners and they deemed almost half the trails as unsafe – CLOSED.

Take the elevator to the signature rock and devil’s rock a little higher up.

Not much hiking – around 2.2 miles total today. Talk with a few workers leaving for the day to learn about the safety and the local area just a little.

I’m back on the road – I take back roads towards Ashville to get on I-40 so I can head east 200+ miles to Raleigh. 10:45p and I finally arrive.

Sorry, no interesting food today, just a subway sandwich on the I-26 turnoff. However, I did learn about a trip mapping website – mapmyride.com and when I get some time, I’ll play with it. I think it would be interesting to graphically show footsteps/car paths of travel, right?

I caught a Penn & Teller TV show recently and they had a guy on from QuackWatch debunking alternative medicine.

For me, it is really simple. If this stuff works, where are the scientific double-blind studies proving it. The alternative medicine people always say that you are an individual and their process is tailored specifically for you. It can’t be reproduced because everyone is different. Right, sure.

I’ve heard – no article to cite here, sorry – that 50% of all ailments get better on their own. Having someone work on you and only you does feel good mentally and i believe it could be why so many illogical people are paying for these bogus services.

I have read that 50% of back pains go away after 2 years with no treatment. So, if your back hurts, going to an alternative practicioner and paying them can harm you – by keeping you away from real medicine that is proven to work. It also wastes your money and if you are part of my insurance company – my money.

TT practicioners or Therapeutic Touch did agree to a study by a then 9 year old girl. They failed the testing. They performed less than chance would have guessed. They actually did worse than flipping a coin and guessing in the test. Therapeutic touch is paid for by many insurance programs and supported by almost 100,000 nurses. It appears that not all nurses understand the scientific method. My health insurance company has that to say about it.

Today, we make a list of important items to take with us should we need to leave home quickly for 3 days.

What’s Your Backup Plan?

Over the next few days and weeks, we’ll try to discuss what you need to plan in advance and what to take with you when a disaster occurs in your part of the world.

• Part 1-the scenario
• Part 2-Preparation is Key
• Part 3-System Backups

Don’t think disaster will happen? These people had now way to know their data center was going down.

About the author:
I’ve worked for a large telecom company designing computer and network systems that keep working after a disaster occurs. Those plans are tested twice a year – most of the time the first test doesn’t completely work, but you learn and make corrections. Over the years, you get better and better at it and learn that having the exact software stack isn’t all you need – sometimes the hardware is 1-of-a-kind too. Or the software assumed EXACT IP addresses and won’t work anywhere else or if an interfacing system isn’t at a particular IP address.
Don’t forget that all the normal people that run the computers and network are gone. They’ve been evacuated elsewhere and you need to plan for their extended absence. Not1 or 2 people, but hundreds of your critical support people. They don’t have cell phones.

Ok, so your life isn’t this complex. Neither is it as simple as jumping you and the family into the minivan and driving away. Be Prepared.