Union Station

We took Zach to see the Titanic Exhibit at Union Station. You can't take photos in there, but we did get some good ones in the hall. Zach also tried to take a few candid photos, but has a bit of trouble keeping his fingers out of the lens.

There was a fun fountain in the street median outside of the Station that Zach had to see, too. It was fun dodging the traffic with a 3 year old. People probably think I'm an irresponsible parent for crossing a busy downtown street with a little kid, but in my defense, I did run interference for Zach by shining a laser in the driver's eyes when they strayed too close to him. Safety first.

MODOT Open House

They had this huge open house in the MODOT parking lot.

It was bizarre.

Our good friends Aaron & Danielle attended, which belies my impression that this was a weird environment. Well, it was a weird environment with a lot of regular, nice people there.

When you have a SWAT table with a camoed up sniper rifle on it, and a smashed car with the warning that you shouldn't text and drive next to a table with some fluffy mascot signing t-shirts and giving out swag, that's kinda strange.

There was also a lot of big vehicles and interesting equipment that our public works people use, and Zach loved it.

He especially loved doing his "STOP! In the name of love..." pose. Hollywood, get ready.

Bulk & Powder

May 8, 2012
I went to Chicago to attend the bi-annual Powder & Bulk Solids show. This is a necessary burden to doing business, where we have to connect with the people whose lines we represent, and learn a little about the state of the industry.

Chicago jacks up the prices for the hotels in Rosemont, where it's held, and I have responded by staying at my cousin's house, giving me a chance to see them as well as avoid some of the social un-pleasantries.

This year, they kept asking me if I needed a room, and I kept telling them I did not need a room. Finally, after the third time of being asked, I put together a I created an imaginary homeless guy living in a culvert behind the convention center and told them I was staying with him. I named him Shakey, because I envisioned that he was an alcoholic and frequently had DTs, thus the descriptive nickname. I went onto Google Maps and put a symbol on the map and named it Shakey's Place, and sent the link to the people asking me about room reservations. One of them was in on the joke, and got a good laugh about it.

The next day, I got an email from someone in Google's map department asking me to give more details about Shakey's place, so they could post more information about it. I did not respond, but I did briefly entertain making up something to lure unsuspecting convention goes to a muddy creek bank in the woods behind the convention center. That probably would have ended badly, so I'm glad I resisted that urge.

Rio

May 8, 2012
I visited my cousin in Chicago and always enjoy watching their crazy dog Rio. She likes to run around like a hyperactive child and always carries two doggie chew toys in her mouth when she can.

Valhalla

May 6, 2012
I had a nice visit to a cabin on a lake out in Michigan, belonging to a coworker of my cousin.

It was a nice escape from reality for a day.

Puddles!

I finally solved the problem of a small boy's desire to stomp in puddles. The problem consists of the fact that it is irresistible for the child and makes a wet mess of the shoes. The solution? Take the shoes off and don't fight it.

New Boots

Andrea dropped by work one day to show off Zach's new boots. Hopefully, they were not inspired by Dora the Explorer's little friend (be thankful if you have no idea what I'm talking about).

Zach went nuts in the parking lot, first doing a new boot dance, then playing hide & go seek by the TEC sign.

Hospital Cranes

Zach and I see the hospital cranes each day, and occasionally we stop to check it out.

The worker guys saw Zach watching and came over to talk to him. He loves the crane guys with their orange vests.

The Unlikely Spot

We went to the other side of the lake next to Hyvee to check out where the geese go when they are not on the store side of the lake. We found a big spillway lined with rocks and they were covered with fossils.

Next to that, in the abandoned parking lot of the old Timberland restaurant, we found a golf ball in the grass. This proved to be a distraction that has been repeated on multiple occasions. The way the game is played is that the golf ball is pushed through the drain in the corner of the parking lot and then chased down the drainage channel.

Buildings

Zach loves to go downtown. He loves to see the big buildings.

Liberty Memorial

Zach and I tried to go to SeaLife the weekend it opened, but we couldn't deal with the weird lines. We went to Liberty Memorial instead.

Zach was not at all afraid of the elevator, he thought it was cool and interesting. We got to the top and I waiting to see if the height would freak him out. It didn't seem to, he took one quick look and wanted to go, but I think it was more because he was bored with it.

We spent the rest of the time running around the grounds. Zach was pulling leaves off of trees and playing with sticks, and I was thinking about the park from the days of the Spirit Festival. They cut all the trees off the side of the hill above band load-in and the hillside looks dramatically different. We always had to set up a wooden ramp over the stairs, and it's now a paved ramp. Just a few years too late.

Goats!

I am glad the experiment with goats has been going so well. It's fun to have a farm animal around that is almost like a pet dog.