Passat Repairs

By Mark at 11:06 am on Saturday, August 9, 2008

The VW Passat

1. Brake Light Switch

2. Moon Roof Pinch Sensor (twice)

3. Moon Roof Air Spoiler (it just went missing one day)

4. Seat Heater Computer

5. Seat Heating Element

6. Fuel Lines, Heat Plates

7. Right Rear Window Gears (stripped)

8. Mystery Fuse For Rear 12V Socket

Car age: 4 years.  All repairs were done at the dealership under warranty.  To VW’s credit service has steadily improved since I’ve owned the car.

Filed under: FamilyComments Off

Moab Trip 2008

By Mark at 10:28 am on Friday, June 20, 2008

Porcupine Pine Rim Viewpoint

Four years have passed since we all were here.  It seems that Moab changed a bit more than we did.
(Read on …)

Filed under: TravelComments Off

Edinburgh Castle

By Mark at 12:26 pm on Monday, May 26, 2008

Leslie and the Lion The most prominent feature in Edinburgh is the castle, which sits atop a volcanic core.  The core is all that remains after glaciers stripped away the rest of the mountain.  It’s a naturally fortified position, which made it that much more difficult for the Scots to retake after the English took it over. (Read on …)

Filed under: Travel, UKComments Off

Landed in Scotland

By Mark at 12:04 pm on Sunday, May 25, 2008

Old Scottish Flag

We landed in Scotland on Sunday.  Leslie managed to sleep a bit on the plane while I caught up on all the movies I had missed from the last six months.  Having not slept, or not much anyway, we decided to hit the town immediately. (Read on …)

Filed under: Travel, UKComments Off

Earthquake Illinois

By Mark at 4:37 am on Friday, April 18, 2008

Leslie was up in Toronto, I had just arrived home that evening from San Francisco.  I had trouble sleeping with the jet lag and an empty house.  But I did manage to nod off around 2am only to be roused by the shaking and the noise at 4:37.

This was not my first rumbler.  In 1993 I was similarly jolted out of bed by a more violent quake.  This one was only a dozen miles away did more bouncing than shaking.  The ‘93 quake condemned the main building of my high school and extended my spring break by a few days.  I was too shocked to take in the entire experience of this event.

The Illinois quake had extensive aftershocks, one in particular stands out because I was in the office.  My office is on the fifth floor of and old masonry building.  It started at 10:14 and lasted what seemed like minutes.

During these quakes I was careful to pay attention to everything I could, the noise, the movement of the ground beneath my feet and of the rattling of the buildings.

Filed under: HomeComments Off

Sea Turtle

By Mark at 11:00 am on Monday, March 3, 2008

Sea Turtle Cozumel

Another dive, another sea turtle. He’s probably thinking something similar about me. I spotted this one near the Playancar Deep reef off the shore of Cozumel, Mexico.

Filed under: TravelComments Off

What’s on My iPhone

By Mark at 6:53 pm on Sunday, January 27, 2008

Mark’s iPhone Contents

(Read on …)

Filed under: HomeComments Off

Plant Mold

By Mark at 7:24 pm on Friday, January 18, 2008

Plant Mold

This is a Gerbera Daisy and it was suffering from mold on the leaves. I did some research online to figure out if there was a spray or something I could put on it. Sure enough there was, but what I also found intriguing was the suggestion of figuring out why the leaves are getting moldy in the first place.

(Read on …)

Filed under: HomeComments Off

Merry Christmas

By Mark at 3:10 pm on Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas

Filed under: HomeComments Off

Mary Of The Holy Faucet

By Mark at 10:50 pm on Saturday, November 24, 2007

Virgin Mary on the Faucet

A day or so after Thanksgiving I noticed that Mary decided to make an appearance in the dried water droplets on the faucet of our Chicago rental. You may speculate as to why she chose this location, but I’m certain it was to ensure that my whites were as pearly as the gates.

Filed under: Chicago, Family, TravelComments Off
Next Page »