Happy XX Birthday Grandma-GiGi !!!

Hope it was a great one!

Getting ready to go out...

Jen and I are heading out to a "Presidential Debate Party" tonight so Jen made me change my shirt.  Apparently the shirt I wore to work today was the one I wore the last time we went out. Don't get me started on the fact that she remebers that despite the preggo brain. Anyway, so I run upstairs to change my shirt and Kade follows me:

Kade: "Daddy why did you change your shirt?"

Me: "Because."  [squirt...squirt...put on a little colone]

Kade:  "Ooooh dad, you smell good.....just like cheesy noodles!"

So there you have it.

Similar Fate?

Let's just hope the $700B does not fall prey to a similar fate:

A week ago, it totaled just three pages — the White House's request for $700 billion to rescue tottering financial institutions by buying their devalued mortgage-related assets.

By Monday, after an intense weekend of negotiations, the draft of the bailout legislation before Congress had swelled to 42 pages.

By Friday, after almost a week of marathon talks between Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and key lawmakers in both parties, the working version was up to 102 pages.

The right move for the wrong reason?

Today McCain announced that he was suspending his campaign and heading back to Washington to try and help hammer out an agreement with respect to the $700B fiasco. In the end, you can argue the guy's motives (as I am sure both the left and right wings will be doing for at least the next few days) BUT is it the right thing?

I say yes. After all...these two guys are STILL BOTH Senators for heavens sake. Shut the hell up and get in the game instead of watching from the sidelines and taking punches at each other.

While, I am not sure he needed to totally suspend his campaign to go back and work on this, I do like the fact that he will be doing his job for the country first and foremost.

I hear that Obama is now also planning to go back to Washington to participate...good for both of them. There is room enough for both of them to "Win" on this one.

One addition: Since Bush and McCain have forced a meeting today...I suspect that the Democratic lead Congress will now be forced to act. I have a feeling that they will suddenly be able to pull this out "on their own". Again, the right move for the wrong reasons...a theme in current politics

Trip to Tortuguero - Banana Republic

Along the way to Tortuguero, we drove through a Del Monte banana plantation. It was HUGE. We even got to see the entire process from trees to shipment. As you would imagine, it is a simple process...but I was amazed at just how simple it really was. It all starts in the fields where they place blue bags over the growing bunches of bananas to keep out insects and birds (picture 1). Given the sheer magnitude of number of trees...that is a daunting manual task for sure. When the bunches are "ready" the entire thing is cut down and tied onto a hook. Then that hook is put onto a long overhead "tram-line". They are then pulled along the line until they reach the "packing plant". You can see in the top-right picture (picture 2)...the bagged bunches being pulled over the street heading into the plant.

Next the bags are removed from the bunches and they are staged into a "waiting area"...where I guess they are inspected (picture 3). Then they are pulled over to a guy who cuts off groups of bananas from the central "stem". He then throws them into a water tub where they float down to the next station (picture 4).

At the next station (picture 5), the ladies weigh the bunches and if they weight too much (each bunch should weigh 4 lbs), they cut one or two off until they are the correct weight. The extra bananas cut off are thrown overhead to another conveyor which takes them to a truck (not sure where they go). Then the ladies throw them into another water bath which floats them down to the baggers. These guys just take the bunches, put them into bags and then throw the bags into a big black plastic tub (picture 6). Finally, the tubs take a ride down to the packers who put them into a box. Then they put the boxes onto the conveyor belt heading down to the truck (pictures 7 and 8). And that is pretty much it. If you look closely at the 7th picture you will see a small white "7" sticker on the top of the box. That is to let them know which packing station it was packed at...just in case you ever see that in your grocery store. Also, it is worth noting that I saw quite a few safety issues which would not be tolerated at my place of work. From basic ergonomic issues all the way to loose apron strings almost getting caught in the conveyor belt motor. I guess I see the world differently these days....

And that is how bananas get from the tree to your grocery store!

Trip to Tortuguero - Part I

Last weekend the fambly headed up to Tortuguero (extreme North-East of CR - see map) with the Rich and Gina show. The great thing about that is that Max and Kade are great buds from school and Payton and Tyler are also close in age so they could play together (although Tyler does prefer the boys). The whole event started at the Hotel Real Intercontinental near our house at 5:45am on Sat morning. The amazing part about this is that we ran into about 5 other families we knew while we were waiting for the bus. Apparently lots of people hang out with their families at 6am in Costa Rica...go figure.

Se we started up for Tortuguero which apparently is a world-wide destination for getting to see giant sea-turtles (both Green Turtles and Leatherback Turtles) lay their eggs up on the beach. Since this is something that you don't get to do everyday...Jen and I were pretty excited. First we started with a 3 hour bus ride through the mountains which were absolutely beautiful. Along the way we passed a really cool sight...there is a place where two rivers come together, one blue (from the mountains) and one brown (from a volcanic region I think). It is the picture on the top right.

Then we took a 90 min boat ride up the river to the Laguna Lodge (Yes,the only way in and out is by boat). Once we arrived it was already time for a late lunch and then it was straight off to the pool since it was hotter then hell. The boys watched the kiddos at the pool while the ladies went into town to see what they could see. All the boys were mystified by this since pretty much every town in Costa Rica is the same...a few markets...a few sodas...a few shops. Well, when they finally returned they gave us the status report....yup...a typical CR town indeed. At least they had the good sense to pick up some Rum and Coke along the way! A quick stroll along the beach before dinner and then time to get the kiddos down. At 10pm the boys went out to see the turtles. Luck was on our side and we got to see a turtle laying eggs, covering up her nest and then heading back into the sea. Since no cameras are allowed I don't have any pictures to share but I can say that the pics over HERE pretty much cover it all. A few interesting facts: It takes the whole process about 2 hrs start to finish, the incubation time is about 2 months and they are called green turtles because that is the color of their INSIDES...not their outsides. It was very cool indeed to see it all. When they conceal their nests they sometimes kick out some of the eggs. The tour guide said that those never survive so I picked one up and checked it out. It felt just like a really big ping-pong ball to me...firm but would dimple with enough pressure. FYI - the turtle nests are huge. You can see that from the picture at the right. Those craters are their nests!

The next day was another early morning with a 6:30am boat our into Tortuguero National Park...well, that is where we were supposed to go. We ended up not going into the park due to strict regulations regarding the number of motorized boats allowed...just 7! So we ended up heading upriver to Tortuguero mountain instead. We saw the typical Howler and Spider Monkeys, a few shore birds, poisonous frogs, Toucans, etc. Then it was breakfast and back to the pool for more fun. After lunch, Kade and I watched DVDs while Jen and Payton napped. Then it was back to the beach to see if we could see any baby turtles hatching. Unfortunately not...but we did get to see a few dead baby turtles that did not make it to the sea. That night the girls went to see the turtles and they were also lucky enough to see the entire process.

Then on Monday we headed back to San Jose.

Overall a really neat (but pretty damned hot) trip.