On November 26, I traveled to Madrid for the HPE Discover event.  It was a good trip because I was able to hand-off the HPE work to my successor. We had good events and meetings.  I like Spain a lot.  Happy to go back anytime.

Then I traveled to Hyderabad, India.  It was a long trip, Madrid to Paris to Bangalore to Hyderabad.  I felt like a minority the whole way.  Not the nicest place I’ve ever visited.  The flight was one of my worst ever.  The plane smelled awful. I had a crappy seat in the back. As soon as the wheels left the ground, the guy in front of me put his seat as far back as he could.  It created a domino effect the length of the plane.  They ran out of food and I got a Veggie meal (ick).  And then, while I was waiting in queue for the bathroom, a guy came forward like he was going to be sick.  His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed.  I helped the flight attendants get him straight on the floor and a doctor came to help.  I guess he got better because he got up about 30 minutes later.

The meetings in India were good too. I got to visit the Capgemini main campus.  It’s very really nice and there a LOT of people.  There are five huge buildings packed with people.  The cafeteria is a separate four story building and it’s completely full at lunch.

India is a strange place.  The constant honking drives you crazy.  Even at night… they honk… non-stop.  I don’t think it even changes anything, they just feel better honking.

And, when you ask them a question, their heads roll in a strange figure eight circle that is a combination nod and shake.  It could be a yes and yet feels like a no.  I’m never quite sure.

When you wake up in the morning, you immediately smell the spices from breakfast. It was so over powering the first morning, I had to go outside for air. BTW, no drinking the water.  And, only eat hot foods.  Otherwise, you’ll get sick.

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On Saturday Bob, Ray and Chucky (Lynn’s cousin) went golfing at Stoney Brook.  The weather was great but the course was like walking on a soaked sponge.  It was card-path only today.

Amazingly, Bob shot an 84.  Best score ever.

Chucky is a very good golfer but had a terrible 17^th hole.  He hit a house with his first shot and the water with his third; it was awful.  On the par 5, 18^th hole, he had a solid drive. He started bragging that if he wanted to, he could hit the green from 247 yards out.  Having watched him golf all-day, I was certain, there was no way he could do it.  So, I bet him one dollar.  Of course, he got all of it and landed about 15 feet from the hole.  He missed the putt but made birdie.

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We went to Flippers on the Bay for dinner.  It’s a very nice place with great food and an even better view.

The funny part was when our server was asked to cut the cake.  She said there is a $7 per-person “cutting charge”.  That was ridiculous and we almost left.  Our server heard us talking about Yelp and she arranged to waive the cutting fee.

It was a little pricey but the food was great.  We had a wonderful time.

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The post Houston first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

Unfortunately, the quality of service was terrible.  It would lose connectivity about every hour.  The router would reboot and be OK for a while again.  This wasn’t going to meet the needs of Bob’s work.

I called Xfinity and they came to fix the cables inside the house.  They wanted $60 because it’s “inside the house”.  Before the guy left, the service dropped again.  The next day another service guy came to replace the cable from inside the condo to the junction box.  It was better but dropped again before the guy left.  The final solution was to replace the cable from the junction box to the street.

That was the solution.  The bad news was it took my entire stay at the condo to get it working smoothly.  My worst experience was a very important call with my boss; naturally, the service dropped in the middle of that call.

It was very frustrating but, in the end, I will say the Xfinity service is very good.  They didn’t stop calling until they knew it was 100% fixed. Once, it was fixed the quality was great.

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Bob flew to Estero with Sabrina.  Thankfully, the condo hasn’t sold yet.

I think Bob got the better deal.

Two days later, Mary Lasonczyk will arrive to visit Mom for her birthday.

The post Florida Bound first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

The night before we leave for Florida.  We had to drop off some things in the Cadillac at Melissa’s.  She lives way off the beaten path.  It’s nearly an hour from the highway.  And, we planned to stay near the airport for Lynn’s early flight.  From Indy, to Melissa’s, to the hotel in northern Kentucky took forever.  We arrived about 9:30. 

We stayed in a Baymont Inn in Florence, KY.  I chose it because they allow cats.  It was awful. 

It was pouring down rain.  The guy who checked me in wanted to make a photocopy of my drivers license.  The whole building smelled bad.  The bed was rock hard.  It was a handicap accessible room… Lynn was miserable.

Our new strategy is get a decent place and hide the cat.

The post Baymont Inn first appeared on LeRoy Family Blog.

Nathan worked at Eli Lilly for the summer so we drove to Indianapolis to help him move out of his apartment.  Of course, we had to load up the Subaru with his dorm stuff from Sydney’s garage.  Because, the Subaru was completely packed, we left most of our clothes in the Cadillac at Melissa’s house.

We got there in time for dinner and discussed the plans for move-in.  Bob said “it’s great that everything will go straight to the dorm.”  And, Nathan corrected, “No, all these things go back to Sydney’s Mom’s house”.  The pile of stuff was huge.  And we aren’t sure it will all fit in the Subaru.  Ugh, that means MORE moving for Lynn and Bob.  

So, we packed up the cars with all the school stuff that could fit and headed for Purdue.  Other than a little rain, the move went very smooth.  Then, we headed back to Indy for Sydney’s things and loaded up the last of Nathan’s school things. We went separate ways from there.

Another long day.

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I drove Lynn to the pool and a friend (Kelly Farrell) had jumper cables in her car.  Lynn stayed for the pool.  I took the jumper cables back to the Subaru.  It started easily, and I drove it to the service shop.  They said the cargo lamp was left on.  It was probably due to all the boxes we put in during the move.  One of the boxes probably hit the light and turned it on.

Great way to start the adventure

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Our wash was just finishing when the power went out.  Fortunately, the washing machine doors unlocked.  We waited for 15 minutes before we decided to leave. So, we packed the damp (the spin cycle was finished) clothes into a duffel bag and headed back to the hotel.

Now we have a duffel bag full of damp clothes.  So, we decided to spread them throughout the hotel room.  It was absolutely comical to see. We had clothes everywhere; on the A/C machine, over the lamp shade, around chairs and hanging in the bathroom, and draped over every drawer in the room.

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