A Dog Day In Philly

On Wedneday, I was on the 46th floor of the Independence Blue Cross Building at 18th & Market.
That's the floor that the maintenance guys have their offices, Pretty Spartan at best, but one sensational view.
After two hours of training the guys, I called for a break.
Since I was there 6 months before, I thought that I knew my way to the washroom.
I had to pee.
After opening, the metal door slammed behind me with a bang.
That's when I realized that stairwell was the fire stairwell, not the stairway the the locker room.
Yes, all doors are locked until you get down to the lobby 460 feet or more below.
This was a true "oh shit" moment.

I started knocking on the door, at first with polite knuckle taps then with fist banging.
Of course the hallway outside the door was near some noisy equipment and nobody goes by that door unless they are on their way to the locker room. I put my ear on the door, I could only hear motors running.
Knocking or screaming would be a waste of time.
Surely, no search party either, I doubt that they would have noticed that I was missing for hours.

It was time to re-think my situation. The good news was that I would survive this dilemma.
The sign in the stairwell said, "To Roof". With my fear of heights, peeing off the roof was not going to work.
So "down" seemed to be the answer. If I banged on each door, someone would eventually hear me.
So Down I went. 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38.
I heard my brain saying, "This is not working, ass-hole."

Going down the stairwell felt like descending into an underground bunker.
No windows, just the smell of concrete and blinking flourescent lights.
37, 36, 35,.... then I heard a noise. Must be a rat or ??
I stood silent. Then I heard the shuffle of footsteps.
It was one of the building mechanics going from the 33rd to the 31st floor.
I called out. "excuse me". It sounded lame, but calling "help" seemed to over anxious.
He looked up the over the rail.
I recognized him and he knew who I was.
Yes, he had a key.
I found the men's room and then the elevator.
As I expected, nobody even asked where I was for the last half- hour.
They didn't even thank me for the extra long break.

And, That's me in the tree

Sailing the Chesapeake on Selene

April 22, 2010:
The crew assembled on Selene.
Jeff, Paul, John, Frank, Rob, Joe N, Joe C, George

Four ports-of-call:

Baltimore, Georgetown, MD, Rock Hall, Annapolis.

Jeanneau 42 DS.

Baltimore. A dinner in Little Italy and beautiful start.

I need a four letter word for an alcoholic beverage made from grapes and rhymes with swine.
"Cognac" doesn't seem to work.
Speak no evil, See no evil.
Brother Paul helps us to understand the realities of life.
The other guy is in the witness protection program.

Frank goes for it! Jaws on the attack.
Is the glass half-empty, half-full, or they wouldn't let me drink straight from the bottle. AAaarrgh! more to come!

Captain Stuckbottom
~~~~~ /) ~~~~~
~~ ~~~~ /) ~~~~
~~~(\~~~ ~~~

White Christmas 2009

The snow fell on Dec 19 and 20. In the city and parts of New Jersey up to 23 inches accumulated. We received no more that 9 inches.

What constitutes a White Christmas? Must it snow on Christmas Day or is it enough to have several inches on the ground beforehand?



Before the snow blower did its work,

Backyard BBQ.

View of the bridge & creek.

More Venice

On the Rialto Bridge.

The gondola tourist experience.

Discover some romance in Venice.

Views from The Campanile at St. Mark's Square.

St Mark's Campanile (Campanile di San Marco in Italian) is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy, located in the square (piazza) of the same name. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the city.
The tower is 98.6 metres (323 ft) tall, and stands alone in a corner of St Mark's Square, near the front of the basilica. It has a simple form, the bulk of which is a plain brick square shaft, 12 metres (39 ft) wide on each side and 50 metres (160 ft) tall, above which is the arched belfry, housing five bells. The belfry is topped by a cube, alternate faces of which show walking lions and the female representation of Venice (la Giustizia: Justice). The tower is capped by a pyramidal spire, at the top of which sits a golden weathervane in the form of the archangel Gabriel. The campanile reached its present form in 1514. As it stands today, however, the tower is a reconstruction, completed in 1912 after the collapse of 1902.

After a brief shower.

Venice, Italy, July 1,2,3, 2009

Arrivaderci, Ruby Princess. Diane views the Ruby from our water bus.

Three days left to explore Venice.

The Main Canal.

Lots of shops for masks, and glassware.

Venice, Italy, Day 13,14, June 30, 2009

As the Ruby Princess entered the main channel on the south side of Venice, 3000 passengers rushed to the starboard side of the ship to enjoy the view. Now this is a big ship but, 3000 well-feed passengers four deep on the rail can cause the ship to heel. The photograph is not an illusion. The ship is heeled over to starboard about 3-5 degrees. The swimming pool water on the eighteen deck was two inches deeper on the starboard side.

Piasano! Someone was glad to see us. I think that he was inviting us to dinner. We didn't get his address.
This is Saint Mark's Square. It is the heart of Venice. In evening, multiple restaurants stage fine orchestras on the square to attract patrons.

Hilton's Stucky Molino, formerly a factory, was where we stayed for the last three days of our journey. It is located an island on the south side of the channel.

Joe, Linda, Diane and George on the upper deck. Our last sunset on the Ruby Princess.