Dean Barlow » Travel

Jaws of Life

Dean — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 00:40:29 +0000

Today I was driving home from work and saw what was left over from a bad car accident. It was a black Subaru Forrester that had hit a guard rail. It must have been going really fast because it was in really bad shape. It was missing all of the doors, so I have to assume that the rescue squad had to use the Jaws of Life to remove the passengers! I hope the passengers are all right! I’ve never seen the Jaws of Life, but I understand that it opens up a car almost like a can opener, and it is a very important piece of equipment for any rescue squad to have. I’m glad ours has one, that is for sure!

The world is shrinking

Dean — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:53:15 +0000

One of the things that I really like about the Internet is how much smaller the world seems to be getting. For example, when my Aunt Susie moved to a different part of the country forty years ago she really had very little information about where she was moving to. She wrote to local chamber of commerce’s for help and information and they did send her materials but it was still a very difficult endeavour.

With the Internet at our fingertips in today’s world all of that information is available at the push of a button. For example if I wanted to live in Calgary for a year or two I could easily find a listing of houses for rent in Calgary, information about schools, restaurants, and local businesses in just a few moments time using my own computer and the Internet.

Urban legend

Dean — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 23:03:24 +0000

I have loved Disney World ever since it opened. I was young teenager when it first opened. If I recall correctly my parents took the entire family down to Florida for Christmas vacation first year that it did open. That was my first experience with a large theme amusement park and I thought it was absolutely fantastic.

For that particular vacation I think my parents made a mistake by taking us to Disney World first because they also took us to other places such as Sea World, Cypress Gardens, and Busch Gardens during the same vacation.

I don’t know how it ever became an urban legend that Walt Disney’s body had been frozen using cryogenic equipment and was being stored on one of the Disney properties, but it was something I truly believed was correct! I was quite surprised and to be perfectly honest, but this appointment when I learned earlier today that story was simply an urban legend. Walt Disney was in fact cremated and the first known case of anyone being cryogenically preserved was a couple of months after Walt Disney’s remains were cremated.

To be perfectly honest I was rather disappointed when I learned that was an urban legend. I rather thought it was a romantic notion that the night in some future decade been brought back to life somehow!

Rodeos

Dean — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 15:01:41 +0000

This time of year is when all the pro rodeos start up. There are some really big ones out West and in Canada. In fact, the Calgary Stampede that happens every July is probably the biggest rodeo of all.

I just read about a stampede that happens in Colorado every June. They have everything for roller derby to monster trucks to concerts to roping. I would like to check that out some time. If I had known a month ago I could have planned to go this year, but I just read about it this morning and can’t pull it off that quickly.

Going to keep looking to see if there is a big one on a weekend when I can get away and get a cheap flight to see it. If you know of one toward the end of July or any time in August, please leave me a comment about it, and a link would be helpful. Thanks.

Mexico City and the sights

Dean — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:28:58 +0000

Contributed by Johnny Graves

I’ve been wanting to visit Mexico for a long time now for a variety of reasons. I’ve used my clearwire at home to look up all the things to do there like eating and day trips. I know I want to fly into Mexico City and check out the architecture and culture – it’s a dangerous place but not if you know where to go. I actually have some family there, too, so I know I could stay with them and they’d show me around. While I’m there I’ll probably venture out to the Yucatan peninsula to see some of the beautiful beaches. I’ve heard the white sand and green ocean are a sight to behold. I! know there are also some ancient ruins out that way that are supposed to be culturally fascinating. I’d love to visit a coco plantation while I’m there to see how they harvest Mexican chocolate. I have a feeling I could get some great souvenirs at a place like that! I wouldn’t even mind smelling like chocolate afterwards!

Truly International

Dean — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:42:09 +0000

Facebook is an international platform. I was surprised to find that other countries have features in Facebook that are not availablus in the U.S.A. For example, FB users in Italy can post .gif files that are animated. We cannot do that here.

When I need to remind myself that we have an international audience, I head over to my friend Greg’s wall. He lives in the Czech Republic and here are the kinds of comments that he reads in respond to a photo of a baby rabbit that he shared:

Ania Zg ojojoj – ale s?odziuchny a? si? chce przytuli? od razu cude?ko
46 minutes ago · Like · 2 people
Marcin Szlachta ?adnie Fikus si? lansuje tego jeszcze nie grali
43 minutes ago · Like
Kasia Królikowska ojej ?
41 minutes ago · Like · 1 person
Kasia Kud?ata Ko?oda czy to Twoje stworzonko? ;>
40 minutes ago · Like · 1 person
Ewelina Muszak pewnie jest wredny, gryzie, kopie i obsikuje ludzi ;P
37 minutes ago · Like
Ania Zg na pewno nie chocia? fakt – mina taka jaka? niewyra?na
34 minutes ago · Like
Grzegorz Chorus zaprzeczam … jest s?odki!! i ?wietnie si? z nim sp?dza czas!!
29 minutes ago · Like · 1 person
Kasia Królikowska no raczej, w ko?cu to królik
28 minutes ago · Like
Klaudia Kopytko Mój chomik nazywa? si? Fiku?
12 minutes ago · Like · 1 person
Joanna Ca?us Grzesiek, tyle godzin z nim sp?dzi?e? i nie wiesz ?e to Fikus a nie Fiku? dobrze ?e moje imi? pami?tasz jeszcze

Good schools

Dean — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 01:49:42 +0000

Sean tells me that he has decided to move to North Carolina in the near future. He has gotten quite serious with a young lady who lives there, and he is tired of the long distance relationship. So he has started looking at homes for sale in Wilmington, NC. He is hoping that he can transfer within his company and has put in a transfer request. That’s one of the great things about working for a large organization, you can often transfer from one location to another without any loss of pay or benefits.

I really don’t know very much about North Carolina other than the fact that my wife has a friend that lives there and it is a state that we drive through on our way to Florida! So Sean and I started looking at a realtor’s website to see what the price range of houses are, and what the schools are like. The website had some interesting features that I liked in relation to the rating of the area schools. Not that Sean is planning to have any rug rats in the near future, but if you are going to invest in real estate you want to make sure that the place you buy is in a good school district. That helps to maintain a good resale value.

Christmas Cash

Dean — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 15:11:02 +0000

Now that Christmas is over with and some folks received cold hard cash or gift cards for gifts there are plenty of people that are now ready to buy some nice merchandise for themselves for a change. A good buddy of mine is now looking online for motorcycles for sale, he would like to be on the road come spring and that is hopefully right around the corner at this point. I can only hope that he finds a Harley Davidson and not some Japanese bike. Keep it American!

The Internet is a great way to find items, so it only makes sense to look for the perfect motorcycle or ATV or any type of transportation for that matter. I used to have a motorcycle but times got hard and I started running out of time for riding it and keeping it up each riding season and ended up selling it. That was before the Internet had made buying and selling items so much easier, I’m sure I would have taken advantage of it and probably would have made out much better than I did back then.

Car Seats

Dean — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:53:18 +0000

Evidently, it is state law that children must be seated in car seats and booster seats until they are 9 years old. That seems really ultra-conservative to me. As a kid, we had seat belts in the car, which we rarely used. And car seats were only used for babies under a year old. Once the kids could sit up straight and stay buckled into the back seat, my parents tossed the car seat out.

We all made it just fine without car seats in our toddler and childhood years – I wonder why the Government has decided to force us to use car seats for such a long time? I think the parents should have some discretion in how they want to transport their own kids.

Exploring the Athens Acropolis

Dean — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:45:37 +0000

Author: Dorsey Velasquez

I had never considered Greece as a possible vacation destination, but after watching a documentary on the ancient Greeks on cable, I was inspired enough to take my holiday in Athens along with a girlfriend of mine. Neither of us were disappointed.

After a long flight, we landed at the Athens airport and took a taxi into the city to the hotel. We were on fairly strict budgets, so the hotel extremely basic, but it was central and clean, so that was enough. For the most part, the few days we spent in Athens were spent walking. Since it was our first visit, our main goal was to see the Acropolis, and walking from the hotel, it was almost always in clear view. We just kept walking towards it, taking in everything we saw on our way. As we drew near, we were overwhelmed by its size and beauty, even though it was under restoration work. What a magnificent complex! There is so much to see there – the Parthenon, Temple of Athena, the Theater of Dionysus, and more. We spent several hours there before finally heading back to the hotel, stopping along the way at a small, family-run restaurant for some mousaka, Greek salad, and a little retsina accompanied by some traditional bouzouki music. It was a fantastic day that I will always remember.