On this day of Thanks

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Lisa and I hope that you are surrounded by family and enjoying the day. And we hope that you are not sitting in line at the local Best Buy or Wal-mart because there is always Amazon.

So many of us take a few minutes to think about all of the stuff that we are thankful for. That is what I plan to do here if you all don't mind.

First and formost we are thankful for being able to have this kind of life. We are so lucky to be able to be on the road and see what we have seen. We are thankful for our families, that let us do this also. Our kids for understanding the need to do this crazy adventure and also my mother-in-law(Lisa's mom) for taking care of our mail and for always being there when the kids happen to need something when we aren't around.

We are thankful that we have two wonderful kids. It is fun watching them become nice young adults.

We have seen so many things in the last 15 months and have met some very nice people. some have become very good friends. We like to follow their adventures when ever we can and it is always a joy to run into them some where down the road.

So that is it in a nutshell. Happy Thanksgiving again.

Winning big at the famous Churchill Downs

A group of us work campers had the day off on Friday and decided to go to the famous Churchill downs.

It is a very interesting place just because of all the history there. Lisa and I have never been to a horse race track. Mainly because we are not big gamblers and also not a lot of interest in horses. This day they were racing and the track wasn't that busy. So we were able to get right next to the track as the horses were racing. That was pretty neat to see.

We never gambled on a horse race before but we picked up on pretty quick. I bet on 4 races and picked the winners three times. The horse that I picked that didn't win came in second. So I was pretty happy with those results. We didn't win enough to retire or anything like that but it really made watching the races much more fun. Actually the fourth race I bet on the horse took first place coming all the way from the back of the pack. 

Thylos my first winner in the Paddock area

There is a museum at Churchill downs that has all the history and tradition of the track. It is very interesting if you are into all of that but like I said we just didn't have that much background into horse racing. They have lots of hands on exhibits and interactive exhibits for people. 

Worst Jockey ever

Later on in the afternoon we signed up for a van tour that takes you out to the in field and the horse barns. So we got to see a couple of races from that perspective. 

Backside of the track.

This was a race that we saw from the other side of the track. You can see the twin spires of Churchill downs and the grand stands in the back ground. It was a nice day of sunshine and horse racing. I would like to thank Gerard and Linda for organizing the whole affair. 

This was an awesome bronze sculpture out front.

I won big time on this little filly.

We can cross this off the list. It was a good day spent with new friends and good times.

Natures calling. You better have a plan.

Natures calling is a very serious business in the Amazon. Nooooooo!!!!!! You say. Isn't it a natural occurance? Doesn't gravity just kick in and all your problems are solved? I wish that I could tell you it was that simple but(No pun intended), it is a very complex ordeal and to make it the most enjoyable time of day you better have a plan and you better be prepared for the inevitable. Let me explain to you what has been keeping me up for oh so many nights.

Now I can only give you the mans perspective because I haven't been in the Ladies room and I do beleive that the plumbing in there is different.

When we started this job in August I could not believe the facilities they had for the amount of people that work in a building this size. Remember over 2 million square feet and 2,000 employees. Walking in there, there is 1 bathroom with 3 urinals and 3 stalls. About 100 yards further into the building there is another bathroom with 1 urinal and 1 stall. But that has been closed until recently. Another 50 yards there is another bathroom with 1 urinal and 1 stall. They did bring in a temporary bathroom with 2 urinals and 2 stalls. So doing some quick simple math, that means there were 6 urinals and 6 stalls(remember one bathroom was closed) for roughly 1000 men if you just split the population in half. 166 men per stall. 1000/6=166.66.

Good news though. The construction has been completed and they have added 7 more urinals and 7 more stalls and opened the one bathroom near the front adding 1 and 1 respectively but have also removed the temporary bathroom leaving 12 and 12. So that means 83 men per stall or urinal. 1000/12=83.33. I just hope that venerial diseases aren't running rampent because it would spread like wild fire.

Those are the cold hard(again no pun intended)facts.

Here is the plan that you should be prepared for. Let's say that you are working in A bldg. and Natures gives you a little call. Okay, there is a bathroom only a short distance away. You walk over there and guess what. It is closed for cleaning. Really? Don't panic. You then start to walk to the next one in B bldg. It is locked so contractors aren't using it. On to the next one. Damn, they are cleaning that one also. The next one is at the far end of C bldg. Hopefully they aren't cleaning that one also. So the distance from the front bathroom to the bathroom in C is 1/3 of a mile. Seriously. And remember there is no running. Safety hazard. This has actually happened to me. Plus I am a person that doesn't like to be rushed.

When we started we were given a orange safety vest. But what we really need is a pair of depends. Well as you can see we have plenty of time to think about and worry about the big issues of the day.