A Perfect Earth Day

It is a peaceful day today. I woke up to let the dog out and I could feel it was already warm outside by 8:30. I think it was the first time I have felt it that warm this year so far. I decided to check out my email and and some earth day news. Eventually I fell back to sleep after I let the dog back in. I woke up casually after getting some much needed sleep. I have been working 60 hours a week and the last two days were spent at a Photovoltaics workshop that I helped to arrange. It was really cool to learn hands on how to hook up and assemble the equipment for solar power. I realize that I finally get a chance to hang out at my house and not required to be anywhere. Its nice to have those days to enjoy your home and look outside and see everything turning green in the spring and watch everything coming to life again. I noticed there was some plants starting to pop up that I had planted last spring. I am hoping my blue tulip bulbs from Amsterdam grow that I planted. Right now I'm sipping coffee next to an open window while a gentle rain comes down a few feet from me on the other side of the screen. I love the sound of the rain. Planet Earth is playing on the TV on the discovery channel. Last night I spent my evening watching Earth 2100 Wild weather patterns ahead or something like that and also the show called Green: The New Red White & Blue. I loved those shows. It feels great that my life and job has become part of the global solution and not the problem. Although I still have many things to change about the way I live, I know I'm on the right path on working in the solution field and making changes at home and the way I think. That is where change should begin I believe. I feel like the world is finally waking up to all of the problems in the world and that we are in a global crisis and drastic measures need to be taken. I can feel the excitement and see it in the way people are waking up to the solutions available. John (my boss) can feel it and see it. We are excited that things are picking up and interest is growing in renewable energy. I am so lucky to have met him and find a like-minded person to work with to pursue similar goals. I hate that he is moving in a few months. I hope that I can get hired on permanently so I can work at a job that I love and can pursue my passion and get paid for it. Renewable energy/Clean Energy is really the key. I've felt it for many years now and I am thankful that others are starting to gain an interest in the things I have been talking about for almost a decade now. I am glad I never gave up on my dream. Happy Earth Day World! Welcome to your future! Let us help each other save the world!

Global warming is the most pressing environmental issue facing the Earth.
While the world is moving forward against climate change, the U.S. continues to sit out the fight.
A strong first step to change this inaction is the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act, the first credible legislative proposal to cut heat-trapping emissions.
Sign the Emissions Petition to tell the president and Congress the U.S. should lead -- not follow -- in the fight to undo global warming. http://action.environmentaldefense.org/campaign/globalwarming_petition?qp_source=undo1

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Vegas Review - Day 6

The departure day has finally arrived and I was dreading to leave. I knew what I was in for when I returned. Yuck! Back to 38 inches of snow that they received when I returned home.
It was 75 degrees when we headed downtown and had lunch. Did a little walking around before heading back to hotel to get ready for the plane ride back. My plane was to depart at 6:21. We stopped for lunch at this place that Mr. A advised, the Pepper Mill, I believe it was called. They had good food and good atmosphere but Deb could not get a sake! They said they had cold sake but no hot sake. WTF! lol, all they have to do is heat it up and the chick kept apologizing for not having hot sake. We didn't have the heart to tell her to just heat it up! lmao...oh well. They were going to get some later after I left since they were leaving the next day. We did a little souvenir shopping and take a few pics and then call it an afternoon. They were up late on their wedding night it sounded like and were tired and I needed to finish packing too. I paid a little extra to keep my room until 6. But Mr. A arrived to take me to the airport and I got to see my last sunset in Vegas, but picture didn't turn out. At least I got to see the lights of the city one more time on the way out of town and it was better than on the way in. Plane was an hour late to leave, but I was in no big hurry.

People in front of me on the plane were just returning from Hawaii and lived about 10 miles from my house. Guys next to me never really chatted at all, which was fine as I was worn out and just chillin watching the movie anyways. Got to Minneapolis later about 12:40 instead of 11:00 and I could tell it was cold as soon as we landed. Turns out it was 3 degrees. Get off the plane, go to get baggage, it takes forever for it to show up. Finally get out of there and outside to find jeep and its friggin cold! Get the jeep loaded up and warmed up and start the 150 mile trek back home. By now its about 2 am, stopped for gas. Blizzard stopped 3 days ago and there are still snow plows out everywhere! I made it home at 4:20! Just in time! I was originally planning on going to work that day, but never figured I would be home that late. Took the day off and slept and recuperated. It was worth it. I had a great time, it was good to be back home even with all the cold and snow, but I had a great time and realized I need to get out and travel more often. I miss it!

Vegas Review - Day 5

The big day has finally arrived! I didn't get too sleep very early and was really tired. Had ringer turned off on phone so I could sleep and missed Joe's call to wake up at noon. So I got up around 1 and had to hussle to get ready as the Limo was picking us up at 3:00 to take us to wedding chapel. Again I stayed up to watch sunrise but had my camera on the wrong setting the whole time for pics the entire day, so got shitty pics. I think i'm kind of out of it for partying for a few days. Hopefully Joe and Debs pics turned out pretty good. I got one good one of them in the Limo/bus and some of their wedding pics. We met up in their room before we left and then headed downstairs and Joe stopped by a slot machine on way out and won $60 immediately. Cha ching! Then we got to Limo and the guy has a sign up that its customary to give $100 to the driver, and it looked like it was just taped up there. Something was fishy with that deal. We headed down to court house for them to get their license and while the driver was gone I called Mr. A to ask him about the sign, he basically said it sounded like it was a deal where the dude was trying to get more money. Anyways, we got to chapel and we got to tour all the rooms and they picked one out that had really pretty flowers/background in it. The photographer came in to take pics, as we were not allowed to take pics in there. They asked if they wanted a DVD, and since I didn't know what to get them for their wedding yet, I decided that would be cool so they could have it recorded and I bought that for them. Then the chapel threw in the unity candle for them too. Ceremony gets started, Paul walks deb up the isle and the big event begins. Joe was so excited, not nervous at all but ends up saying "I do" twice! I lost it and started laughing and so did he! I was crying I laughed so hard, trying to keep quiet. It was a great moment and they looked so happy. Deb was a beautiful bride and it was great to see ol' Joe so happy for the first time since I met him. I was happy to be there for such a moment. After the wedding was over, we headed back to change clothes at hotel, the driver only got $50 and he's lucky to get that,what a scammer. We all went to dinner in the hotel for prime rib. What a nice dinner! It was perfect! Paul had a bunch of Long island ice teas and was kind of drunk but it was funny. I thought he was going to have to have his phone surgically removed from his ear though, lol. We eventually went downtown for the evening and then to Circus Cirus, so Debs friend could change, then we went to Fremont street and checked out the scene there. There was a really good musician playing saxophone and we went into binions where Joe and Paul learned how to play blackjack. After awhile they were getting the hang of it, not sure how they ended up in the end as I went to play some slots and lost. I went to a souvenier shop and picked up a bunch of stuff for the kids. We ended up getting a limo back to hotel and Joe and Deb were off to celebrate their wedding night. Talked to my friend Mr. A and he stopped by for a little happy hour. After he left, I was still wide awake and decided to go gamble in casino again. Since the only place I had been winning since I got to town was at the Klondyke and the Orleans, I figured I better stick to the ones that were lucky. So I go down and play a quarter machine for awhile, and was up about $100. Trying to get a drink that night was crazy, waitress took forever. Played at a few machines that were close to bar and got a drink and decided to walk around and ended up back at the machine that Joe had won $60 from earlier in the day. I throw in my ticket, hit it one time, max credits, and got 3 green 7's. $600 boom!!! Shit I was so excited. Basically that meant i just payed for my trip with the winnings I had made. I called Mr. A, and he's like damn I just left 15 minutes ago. He says don't listen to him, since he kept telling me to quit gambling. lol....I should have listened to him this time though. I ended up putting another $100 into a few machines and lost but I still came out ahead. Went to gift shop and bought myself a really nice shirt that said Orleans on it and a keychain with 3 lucky 7's on it and went to room. Ordered breakfast about 2 am, watched a movie and packed to leave the next day. I never win anything, so going to vegas and actually winning anything was alot of fun. I felt that Vegas fever and know I'll be back! Moral of this gambling story.....gamble where the locals go....theres a reason they go there.....more good advise from Mr. A!

Vegas Review - Day 4

I think Friday wore me out a bit, again I stayed up to watch the Sunrise and relaxed after I got back from my long day. I got some cool sunrise pics this morning. Slept in and went and gambled a bit in the hotel. Waited for Joe and Deb to get here. Can't wait to see them! Set it up for Mr. A to pick them up at the airport and bring them to the Orleans where I was staying. Joe's friend Paul came too and Deb's friend from Chicago was here in town but staying at a different hotel. They finally got here. We all went down for drinks and a little gambling in the hotel. They were tired. All along Joe said he was staying up all night Saturday night, so I was all prepared to stay up for nothing. What a wuss! haha But we all won a little money that night. I won over $200, so i'm up around $300 now at this point. They had a big day the next day, so they wanted to crash early. I stayed up for awhile, went down for a little more gambling and a few drinks. Mr. A came by after his shift, Joe came to my room for awhile and three of us hung out for a bit. Then it was a quiet night the rest of the night.

Vegas Review - Day 3

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Well today was the big day that I was going to get to go to Hoover Dam. Since I'm a student in the Electric Utility Technician/Clean Energy Program, I am very interested in Electric Technology, especially renewable energy. Since I have toured other smaller dams, this would be something that I would understand how it worked and I could really appreciate the magnitude of the size of this dam and the power it could produce. I was very excited. We planned to leave about 2 pm and get an early start so we could get a tour in before it closed. Mr. A. showed up and we had a quick happy hour before we headed out on our road trip. It was a beautiful warm day out. We started seeing the mountains better. It was really great to be back in the Sierras, even though I had only been in the northern part before. Seeing Lake Meade/Colorado River was really cool and very beautiful. Hard to believe Lake is all man made for that dam. Anyways, as we get closer I start seeing all the electric towers they had to build in the craziest of places. Must have been hard to get some of them put up! We finally get to the dam and I'm in awe again. Wow, the man hours it had to take to build this! We got in and sat through a short video before we headed out for the tour. Had some funny and informative tour guides and very interesting to learn that this dam is still curing after all these years. They built in coolant pipes into it to help speed the drying process. This was a huge highlight of the trip and it was fun to go back to school and show the other students and instructor the pics. They are also building another bridge for cars to go across in the future so that no one can drive across the actual dam. Which makes sense with all the terrorist threats, etc. It will be a long process though, as they have already had one crane fall in this process. I even stepped foot into Arizona! I can check another state off my list of states visited! There was a statue that was built to honor those that died during the building of this dam and if you rubbed it, it was supposed to give you good luck. So of course we did! We were going gambling/roulette next! Can't take any chances! We stopped for dinner at a mexican joint that had really good food. I failed to mention in the day before that we went to an italian restaurant that was the bomb! Great food, i have to get the name of it again to go back there someday! We stopped in Henderson at the Klondyke casino. This was a joint where the locals liked to play. They had $.50 minimum roulette tables and as Mr. A. said...you can gamble for hours on $20. Boy, he was right again! We got a table with some really fun guys and the night was on! I had lots of fun, but I was nervous at first as this was my first attempt at playing a table game ever in a casino. After awhile, I was loving it! Free drinks, having fun with the locals and a chance for me and Mr. A to cut loose for awhile. Good times were had by all. We eventually ended up downtown Vegas to go down to the Freemont Street experience. The light show was way cool and being buzzed and seeing a light show was a great ending to the day. We also went to the Golden Nugget and I got to see the worlds largest gold nugget! Damn I wish that was my find! I even got to see Binions while I was down there, and that was cool to see since I'm a huge fan of the World Series of Poker. Again you could tell there was some poker pros in that place and I was way out of my league to even think about playing there. Maybe someday after years of practice. It was a long day, but a good one. Waiting for Saturday night when Joe and Deb fly into town for their wedding. Could not hardly wait til they got there. I have not seen Joe in a year and a half!