Goodbye Flickr

Back in July of last year I purchased the Pro option on Flickr. This allowed me to accumulate over 2,500 pictures online in a year's time.

Unfortunately, when the subscription expires, it'll only show 200 of them. Since I was not really happy with Flickr, I started looking around at other sites.

I am now with a site called SmugMug.com. It's not as socially oriented as Flickr. You can't link the same photo to various groups like Flickr, but it is a more professional looking operation.

And it's not operated by Yahoo.com. That's the biggest plus.

So, I am in the process of updating the links on my webpages....or, just leaving the website graphics on Flickr and moving the good stuff to SmugMug.

Father, into your hands we commend their souls...

While returning from our vacation in Guadalajara, we drove past the scene of the horrifying day care center fire in Hermosillo, Mexico. There were police officers and crime scene tape everywhere. 40 children perished in the fire, including two who's little bodies could not take it anymore, and died in hospital.

Initially, Spanish language CNN and FOX News reported that several children had been airlifted to Phoenix area hospitals, but English language reports state one child was flown to the Shriner's Pediatric burn unit in Sacramento.

We throw around the words "tragedy", "horrific", "horrible", etc so much that they lose their meaning. Driving past the building on Monday brought such a sense of pain and sorrow down on me that it was all I could do to not cry while I was driving.

Somehow I could sense and feel the fear that those children must have felt, to some degree. It weighs down my heart and hurts. No parent should have to bury their child. And to lose so many dear hearts in such a way is too horrible to find adequate words to describe.

Even though I was in no way directly touched by this incident, I am grieving as a parent to another parent who has lost a child.

I will never know the parents of the children that went home to God through this event. But I grieve for them and pray for them. God has a plan. While we are walking through the fire, we may not see a path or know the reason, but God is there with us, by our side. These 40 children are free from the pain and in a better place.

Let us walk beside those who have survived and now must live with burns and pain. A child of that age has no understanding of burn recovery, and the pain to come. God, please be with them on their road to recovery. And please let their parents know that parents around the world grieve with them, and stand with them for the long recovery process to come.

To the parents who lost children in this fire...know that God is with you. The jagged hole in your heart will never go away, but in time, God will heal the tattered edges and you will be able to continue on your journey through life. Remember the joys, and the sorrows, of your child, and pray that you are reunited with them again in Heaven, after your journey here is finished.

As for me, I am going to go dry my eyes, blow my nose, wash my face and pray for my children. I am in agreement with St John, when he writes in the last chapter of Revelation, "'Surely I come quickly.' Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Rev 22:20b.

Vacation 2009 - Day Whatever

Help! I'm being held prisoner in a small room in a foreign country.

Actually, it's not that bad. We stayed in Mazatlan the first night and then traveled on to Puerto Vallarta area where we shacked up in an all-inclusive for the night, our beachfront plans having changed at the last minute.

Then, we packed up and drove to Guadalajara, where we've been since Sunday afternoon. Staying with family is always fun, but it is cheap. Good food and lots of Mexican city traffic. So far the count is me 1 - taxi drivers 0.

Sunday we're headed back north again to do it all in reverse (minus the Puerto Vallarto sidetrip).

Next year, I'm going to San Diego. Whew.

I'm posting pictures online as often as I can get high-speed internet access that's worth a darn. The rest of them will have to wait until we get home.

Our 2009 Vacation Photos. Updated as we get them cataloged and remember where we took them at.

Vacation 2009 - Day 1

Yesterday morning, the alarm went off at 1:45am! By 3am we were header out of Maricopa and enroute to Mexico. We crossed over the border into Mexico at Nogales and headed on south from there.

First snag! We stopped at the 21 Km immigration checkpoint to pick up our tourist visas and temporary vehicle importation permit. Back in 2002 we had driven down to Guadalajara and back. When we returned to the US, we had turned in our vehicle permit. Unfortunately the government official did not cancel it...so I had an overdue permit attached to my name! Since you can only have one permit at a time, this caused a problem.

We had to post a cash deposit to guarantee we would return our current vehicle to the US. This caused a bit of a panic, but since we get the money back upon departure, we were able to move money around in the bank and "use" some for the week we are gone.

After eating up almost an hour of our travel time in customs/immigration, we were back on the road...destination Mazatlan, and a hotel downtown on the beach, for the night.

It was an uneventful trip down. No nasties or anything. To watch the US news, one would expect to see armed thugs wandering the streets looking for people to kill or maim. We did pass through one military checkpoint when we entered Sinaloa. They were armed with Uzis and M-16s so we didn't say anything out of place and eventually carried on our way.

With the one hour time change (for Daylight savings time)we arrived in Mazatlan about 8:30pm, after 17 hours on the road. This includes stops for food and gas.

Right now I am sitting on the patio of my hotel room, looking at the surf across the street. The sun is coming up, but the sky is too cloudy to see it. Hopefully it will burn off. The temperature is in the upper 70s with just a bit of humidity at the moment. We are REALLY suffering on this vacation.

In the hot seat

Over the weekend I came down with a bad case of tooth pain. One of my teeth started to throb and then my jaw went numb. Today was the first day my dentist could get me in. So here I sit in the chair, looking at the tray of torture instruments awaiting the dentist. Oh joy.
--
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Oops

While driving back from a delivery in Mesa, I encountered a Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officer on the side of the road. Actually, I encountered him in traffic and we made our mutual acquaintances on the shoulder of the road.

A little over an hour later, I was on my way with nary a violation found. That was a blessing, since he checked everything on that truck, and my background and character and abilities.

The State of Arizona has to make revenue somewhere. Keep up the good work, Officer Stanley!

Oh, the picture is my view of his vehicle in my rear-view mirror.

Would ya look at that

While delivering a load of fuel to the Deer Valley Airport this morning, I was able to snap a couple of pictures of John Travolta's personal 707 business jet. Very nice.

He was here for about 2 weeks this trip. He flies during the night, to avoid the media circus and also to take advantage of lighter airborne traffic.