The things Adrienne Says

My twins are five years old. Atticus was doing something that Adrienne didn't want him to do. Here is the dialog:

Adrienne: "Stop Atticus!"
Atticus: "Why?"
Adrienne: "Because you are evil."

How lucky we are

Do you know how lucky you are to live in a place where you normally take your own personal safety for granted?

I have a good friend who is also the general manager in my business' factory in Honduras. His wife was killed in a commuter plane crash outside Tegucigalpa Honduras on February 14, 2011. Now he is living with his two daughters age 13 and 17, his sister and a maid in San Pedro Sula Honduras. I am on a business trip to Honduras that has been going pretty normally.

We normally work all day at the factory and then go out to dinner after work. My friend drops me off at the hotel and goes home for the night. Last night when he got home he found out that his maid had just been brutally raped by a security guard who works at the condo complex where my friend lives.

Now my friend is really fearful for his daughter's and sister's safety and rightfully so.

Before his wife was killed in that tragic accident, she had been receiving death threats trying to extort money from her. Honduras has become such a violent country. I have heard that it has the highest murder rate of any country in the western hemisphere. This is such a shame for such a beautiful country with loads of natural resources. Corruption rules the land here and helps to keep people in the cycle of poverty and hopelessness.

I just feel really bad for my friend who lives here and is raising his daughters here. I get to go home to my safe home and wonderful family and he along with 8 million other people in Honduras have to continually worry about their safety.

There has to be a better way.

So I am not supposed to have caffeine or at least I try not to consume caffeine because of my history with atrial fibrillation. caffeine can supposedly bring on that nasty heart arrhythmia.

The wife was kind enough to make my chocolate smoothie this morning and asked if she could put some coffee in it. I said sure.

Now I. am at work and I am tripping and it feels great.

I can understand why people get addicted to caffeine.

No more for me.

Glad to be alive

Today the family and I drove to Table Rock. It was kind of overcast and hot and when we finally got up to the parking lot there were rumblings of thunder in the distance. We started up the one mile trail that takes you to the top of the mountain and we met a hiker coming down. He told us that he had seen lighting and that he was not going to mess with being up on top of the mountain.

After a slight hesitation on my part, we continued on.

After the rocky one mile uphill hike we all arrived at the top safely and the kids really marveled at the beauty of the Linville Gorge. You could see the Linville River winding its way through the valley on its way to Lake James which you could also plainly see in the distance.

We ran into a man and his wife were we were chatting with. I was standing on a rock at the very top to Table Rock facing south and the wife and kids were sitting down right at my feet as we talked.

The sky was cloudy and we could see rain in the distance.


All of the sudden I felt the strangest sensation envelop me in a fraction of a second from behind- it was almost like a split second wind that came and went without warning. About one second after I felt that sensation we heard the unmistakeable crack of thunder which was extremely loud and extremely close. I immediately realized that I had just felt the jolt of a very nearby lighting strike. I wasn't the only one to feel it- every one else had the hair on their arms stand up and they felt it as well- but I think I got the brunt of it since I was highest on the summit. All the kids were crying and we scrambled to get down from the summit as quickly as possible.

The couple we had been talking to knew a short cut so we took that - the kids were scared shitless. We all walked down the trail back towards the parking lot with thunder clapping regularly around us. Adrienne was moving kind of slowly so I picked her up and she rode piggyback for a while then I put her on my shoulders. About 1/3 mile from the parking lot we got pounded by extremely heavy rains and the trail turned into a very swift running creek. We all got completely soaked. The nice man who we had met at the summit held Atticus' hand all the way down the trail and talked to all of us to keep us calm.

What a scary ordeal. I feel ultimately stupid for exposing my family to that kind of danger when I had a warning. You really have to respect nature and what can happen in a flash. We got very lucky today and will never forget and hopefully will make a better choice next time if ever we are in a similar situation.

Living in a sauna

Right now it's almost midnight and it is 80 degrees with 90 percent relative humidity. If I wanted to live in a sauna I would move to central america.

I really like my motorola xoom.

Font Cache?

What the hell is a font cache and why does it have to be rebuilt? I think VLC Media Player 1.1.9 has some 'splainin to do.

Vegas

I am in Las Vegas for the Clean Show and I am staying at the Vdara on the 51st floor which is pretty cool. Three days in Vegas will be more than enough. I'm heading to get some food and maybe a dip in the pool before my business partners get here.