Deters' Dynamics: 2015

Thursday, December 31, 2015

The end of 2015 - December 31, 2015

One thing I have discovered about myself is that I LOVE to write. If I were to make a New Year's Resolution - that would be it -- to write every day. I definitely write "in my head" every night - now let's see if we can ge it down on paper.

Jess and Joe took the red-eye at 11:55 p.m Dec 30th and arrived at 5:30 a.m. Dec 31 (today) in Newark. Once again they were offered money to give up their seats - $700.00 this time. I told Jessica that next year, we need to buy "tickets to nowhere" and see if we can make money for traveling for the entire next year. Jessica sent me a snap chat photo at midnight to let me know they were on the plane and a text at 3:00 a.m. (my time) to let me know they landed. Although their luggage had gone ahead on their original flight, they had no trouble retrieving it when they landed. That might be especially nice for Joe since he didn't have any other clothes with him other than what was packed.

I checked in with Angie this morning and Jess and Joe were sleeping - so that was good to hear. I believe Ryan and Stephy arrive to Matthew and Angies today and Laura arrives tomorrow. I believe they are celebrating Zoe's 3rd birthday tomorrow.

Ben's computer is set up and running and it is a beauty. We could not get the wireless adapter working, but Dave showed him how to make a Ethernet cord by crimping the wires or something. Dave does this for blinds installations. So they made an Ethernet cord long enough to make it upstairs and Ben is plugged in directly to the router. The guy from Nerd Tap is going to get back to me Monday about having Ben come work with him some. That will be great.

On our drive home from Illinois, we had an internet inquiry from a young man wanting to know if we could use a Project Manager/Lead Installer. We were so excited because we have been talking about this for months, but we weren't real sure how to go about this. He is currently in Denver but his girlfriend is in Grand Junction. His family is nearby in Montrose. We met with him this morning at 10:30 a.m. and it went great. He will start with us in about mid-March.

Our company is sponsoring the 12 week challenge, so after the meeting this morning I dropped off our "swag" to Golds Gym in Grand Junction. It will be handed out in a "goody" bag to all those who sign up for the challenge. Then I headed to the Music stores to rent a baritone for Ben. Roper Music didn't have any so I went to Mesa Music for the first time ever. Loved their store. I really need to pull that keyboard out of Joe's closet and start playing again. Today I was singing "Lady of Spain, I adore you...." We all learned that song on the piano.

I found this quote for my Facebook page for the New Year. May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues.

May you have a very safe New Year's Eve and a Happy New Year!

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

December 29, 2015

We just returned from Illinois yesterday. Ben is building his own computer and David from Nerdtap was coming over at 10;00 a.m. to check his build. But before then we needed to head to the orthodontist to get his wire out. We did that at 9:00 a.m. Dave and his installer John had left very early to go install blinds at the Rio Blanco Courthouse in Meeker, CO.

Joe and Jess were due to get on a 10:00 a.m. United flight to Newark, NJ to go see Matthew and Angie. Matthew had told Joe that once he was recovered from his spine surgery, he would fly Joe out to see them. That's what this trip was about. We asked if we could send Jessica so that Joe would not have to fly alone. Matthew used points for Joe. We used points for Jessica.

I had recommended to Jessica that they get to the airport early as there had been a lot of ice the past two days causing flights to be cancelled. So today a lot of those people would be trying to catch flights. When they checked in at the ticket counter they were offered $200.00 vouchers to give up their seats. They declined. Later at the gate, they were offered $800.00 vouchers to give up their seats - they declined. The offer went up to $1200.00 each. She texted Angie and then got in the line. So long story short they are on a flight that leaves tomorrow (instead of today). They were allowed to extend their trip until Sunday (instead of Friday) and they have $2400.00 in vouchers for United. I say Hawaii for the family.

David came over to help Ben and he was impressed with how well Ben had done on his own. He helped with the finishing touches and we talked about Ben possibly getting some service hours by working for him at Nerd Tap for no pay. He liked that idea so we will see if that counts as service hours.

While they were working on the computer, Dave called to tell me that his brother Bruce had just called to tell him that Uncle Joe had died. We had just seen Uncle Joe, just three or four days previous. The details are still coming in about how he died and an autopsy is being performed, but Dave is going to turn around and fly out there to go to the funeral on Saturday. Uncle Joe is Dave's favorite Uncle. He is the one that the boys always went to and helped with the farming. It's very sad.

So much happens in a day and I just need to try and get it down in my online journal (as I call it.) Someone may like to read it years from now.

Right now it it 9:04 p.m. at night and we are trying to get Ben's new computer to hook up to the internet. There must be some driver or something that we didn't quite get installed. So here we sit. He keeps watching You Tube videos and we keep trying. We will get it one way or the other.

Until tomorrow. Hug your loved ones. Say I love you!

Friday, June 19, 2015

BANFF DAY FIVE - June 6, 2015 - Saturday

Alas, our time was up already. I took some photos of the room so I could post a review on Trip Advisor. Our bags were picked up from our room, we ate some breakfast and then we loaded our tour bus for Calgary.

Our room (standing at the desk)

Two beds and that window with the view!

That view!

The desk and the other window

On the bus to Calgary

We had to have one last stop before we went in to the airport.

We went to the Delta counter and got our boarding passes but we were about 2 1/2 hours before my flight and it said "don't get in the customs line until 2 hours before." So we went upstairs to a food court and got a crepe. When we came back downstairs, the bus that had left one hour after us had arrived. Our friends Pam and Mark were on that bus. We were now ready to go through Customs. We weren't too far behind Pam and Mark. Customs was relatively easy. After Customs you dropped off your checked luggage and then you went through Security. As we approached Security, there was a huge snakey line that Pam and Mark were in, but we had priority boarding or something and they ushered us through another line. We had little blessings like this all throughout our trip. Although for Lisa they wanted to pat her down. Uh, uh, she siad. So whe went to the full body scanner. They tried that once, and then asked her to un knot her sweater and they did it again. Then they asked her to take her sweater off - I was like OMG. THEN they got what they were looking for. With all the stowaways we have been having in the cargo section of planes, you think they'd check into that a little bit more than full body scanning a middle age white woman. Oh well, this is the day we live in.

At this point we had to separate as my gate was the opposite direction of her gate. We both arrived home safely. However, Lisa arrived home to the Fire Department at her house rescuing a cat from the tree in their front yard. No lie! We can't wait to travel together again.

BANFF Canada - Day Four - Friday, June 5, 2015

And yet another day with an excursion planned. Were we crazy? We decided that if we do something like this again, we will wait until we arrive and then either rent a car or pay for a private excursion. But nevertheless we were off to Lake Louise and lunch was included with this one.

I guess all along we thought we were going on a boat on Lake Louise, but in actuality we were going to be given 30 minutes to go look at Lake Louise and get photos and then get back on the bus. That's my issue. I would have loved way more time than 30 minutes. You could rent kayaks and go out on the lake, you could go hiking, you could check out the hotel. But oh well, we got some gorgeous pictures. The glacier is in the back ground and that is what makes the water so bluish green.

Lake Louise - glacier in the background

Bear we saw on the side of the road on our way to Lake Louise

Sisters at Lake Louise

I was looking for fish

Love the red kayak in the photo.

Scenery on our drive

Lake Louise

Chipmunk

Lake Louise

Bird

After our time at Lake Louise we were driven to a place for lunch. It was set up really fancy and we sat with Pam and Mark and the couple from Manhattan. More food photos to follow.

Dessert - gingerbread shell?

Chicken and Noodles

I took a photo of the butter

When we got back to our hotel, we made sure we had our afternoon rest, wine, and snack. I am going to miss that for sure. Friday evening was the Farewell Reception and Dinner. This was in the hotel which was nice. We struggled for about a second on whether we should wear a dress, panty hose, etc. or pants. We wore pants. There was a "cocktail party" for an hour and then a sit down supper and then dancing. It was really pretty awesome. The tables were assigned and we were at Table One with our Regional sales Manager Brian and his wife and some other dealers from Colorado and around Colorado.

Farewell Reception

The dinner was delicious.

Fancy Menu

Steak and Lobster

Dessert

Then some dancing.

See the man dancing with his grandson?

We finally bid adieu to the dinner and the dancing and went outside to get some photos.

The hotel was beautiful

The View

Being just a little bit silly

Import Tourists!

BANFF Canada - Day Three - June 4, 2015 (Thursday)

Day Three - Already. We woke up to this gorgeous view outside of our hotel window.

It appeared to be a nice day!

Today we had to scoot down to breakfast again and then we were off to a Lake Minnewanka Cruise.

We loaded on to the tour bus and headed to Lake Minnewanka.

Trying out the panoramic view on the iPhone6

Lake Minnewanka Panormaic View

Up by the bathrooms

Right side full of trees

Left side destroyed by a "controlled burn" in the 1980s

Our Captain

Our tour guide

Grizzly veruss black bear

Taking it all in

Part of a legend. A captain claims to have found a sea monster and that is what attracted tourists.

Devil's Gap

Lake Minnewanka sign

Sisters

That was a fun time. When we got back to the hotel we went to Rundle Lounge for a bite to eat, but we also discovered the liquor store and the convenience store right across the parking lot. This started our "afternoon snack" time each of the following afternoons. Lisa always set it up for me. She put a towel down so we wouldn't get the beds dirty and then she'd divvy up some chips and pour a glass of wine. We were "living large" as my Dave would say.

Our actual snack was rice cakes but look at these flavors.

Look at this flavor

We didn't try these, I just took the photos of the crazy flavors.

When we got back to our room and we were eating our snack, Lisa saw this beautiful rainbow - again right outside our hotel window.

Rainbow starting to fade

Rainbow

That evening Pam and Mark had invited us to go out to eat in town. We shared a cab and we went to a Buffalo something place. Lisa and Mark had caribou, Pam had Halibut, and I had steak. It was sooooooo good. At first Pam wanted us to have a drink that she enjoyed. So we all ordered that drink. It was okay. She loved it. Our bartender had never heard of it before so it's quite possible it would be much better somewhere else.