C’mon Irene

News, Travel

UPDATE: The Friday afternoon update shows Irene strengthening, but turning. My blog-hurricane prevention spell is working!!

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Early Saturday morning we’re scheduled to set out for a week-long vacation in a beautiful beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Three families, consisting of six adults and nine kids (ages 3 – 14), will make for a full house. But it’s a big place, with lots to do and we’re sure to have a great time.

At least, that’s the plan. It seems Mother Nature may send along an uninvited guest, one of her daughters, Irene. As I write this on Thursday night, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reports that Irene is “continuing to gradually get better organized”. That’s how tropical storms become hurricanes I guess, they get organized, pack their rain and winds together tightly, and then get moving! The current track shows Irene will join us by 2pm on Tuesday.

What’s a traveler to do? We did buy the travel insurance to protect us in such a circumstance, but that only pays us back if we are faced with a mandatory evacuation while we’re there. I’m not yet as organized as Irene. I still have packing to do. Nevertheless, this vacation is on, and we won’t be turning back unless we have to.

So C’mon Irene, give us a break. As much you’d like to introduce us to such local customs as filling sandbags, boarding up windows, and listening to waves crash in the darkness of a power outage, we would prefer some sunny skies, gentle breezes and comfortable air conditioning, ok?

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Travel Diaries: Athens

Europe 1985

Athens 1985Wow, August already! Where has this summer gone? I’ve been so busy that I’m lagging on my reflections on where I was 20 summers ago, but let me take you back again to the summer of 1985. On August 3rd of that year, we were in Athens, Greece.

 

August 3 / Athens

Woke up and went on a walking tour of Delphi’s Ruins seeing Apollo’s Temple and the Oracle. Shopped around a bit and had lunch before hopping on the bus for Athens. Arrived in Athens and checked into our Hotel. Showered and layed around trying to cool off, it’s so hot! Had a few beers before going to dinner. At dinner we received the coal mine photos they had taken in Salzburg, when I was in the hotel sick. Jenny had bought me one. After dinner we packed our bags for Poros. Jenny waited with me for Mommy to call from home. I wished her a Happy B-day. Jenny and I colled off, relaxing on the balcony. I stayed out there all night and slept great.

 

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Passed the Dem Test

Politics, Technology

Wow, I need to pay closer attention to my log files. I had noticed that I was getting a bunch of referrals coming from The Daily Kos, but hadn’t bothered to look into why. And a photo from my Flickr album of my daughter and I in the hot tub is my #1 most viewed picture among my Flickr photos, and again, I was unsure why. I guess I thought maybe lots of folks on Flickr searched the ‘hottub‘ tag looking for more attractive subjects. But no, that wasn’t it.

Tonight I finally stumbled across the answer. In the comment thread following a posting by Senator Kennedy on The Daily Kos, skeptics sought to determine the legitimacy of Kennedy’s campaign domain, did their online sleuthing, and shared their dossier on me in their comments. Happily, when Kos’ Commenters subjected me to their background check, I seem to have passed their Dem Cred test. Thank goodness for that. I wonder if any of them bought my book, or at least a casey.com t-shirt 🙂

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40

Guide to Life

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Well, there you have it, today I’m 40. Happy Birthday to Me!

Like any day of any year, events of note take place. July 13th is no different (see Wikipedia – BBC – History Channel). But in 1965 it was of particular significance to me and my folks, as I popped into the world at the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia.

I’ve been oddly excited about this birthday. The sort of excitement that comes at turning 16, or 21. I have not felt morose or dreadful as some do at forty, although that is an understandable feeling, because the real significance of this age is that it marks what is likely to be close to the halfway point of my life. One hundred years ago the life expectancy for men in America was 48. My GG Grandfather Michael Casey was 47 when he died in 1898, and his grandson (my grandfather), John, almost doubled that by reaching 92. It doesn’t seem likely I’ll match that feat of doubling my grandfather’s age by reaching 180, but who knows what life extending advancements will come in my next 40 years.

Regardless, pausing to reflect at 40 has left me feeling good. I have a wonderful family, swell friends, a great job, and no health problems of note. In the words of Joe Walsh, “Life’s been good to me so far…”, and I’m looking forward to the second half… or let’s say the remaining three-fifths!

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