In Puget Sound and flying the F-18

This photo was taken on a boat in Puget Sount. It shows the Space Needle and, to the right, part of the high rises in the central business districk. It also shows a bit of the shoreline.

At the Boeing Flight Museum, this was at the point I was taking the F-18 (that's what Tom Cruise used in the movie "Top Gun Maverick") off the ground. .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Also at the museum at the flight simulator. At this point I had taken the plane up to 10 to 20k feet and the plane was upside down. After a few more barrel rolls and loop de loops, I tried to take the F-18 to its design max height of 62k feet. At about the time I got to 45k feet the speed of the F-18 was down quite a bit and my angle of lift was above 15 degrees (I think I was going about 100 mph - which is also a problem) the 'weapons system officer' (who was also the instructor) said, "time to level off, sir" ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................/ They also didn't let me land the plane.

More Chihuly Gardens Images

I really liked this place and had not even read about it before the trip. The first image is a large glass sculpture that is supposed to resemble and underwater palace . It is a better image of the one in the previous post and was taken by Rocky Kelmen and sent to me. ..................................................................................................................t........................................................................................................................................................................................ The second image has glass leaves in the foreground and in the background is the Seattle Space Needle (which was built for the world's fair in 1962. It has one stationary and one rotating observation deck. Both has a bar with highly overpriced drinks (e.g. $10 for a cola, $30 for a whisky on ice) ............ . ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... The third image is the outdoor garden where glass 'plant sculpture' and actual plants share room. The big light green on and the reddish orange ones on the right are glass. .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

From Seattle - Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens and Glass Gallery

I was in Seattle with old college friends. We went to the Space Needle and then to the Chihuly Gardens and Glass Museum. The first image is in the bar adjacent to the museum. I had a few beers there but really loved the accordian themed ceiling for it uniqueness. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next two images are from the Glass Garden and Gallery. The artist lived near Seattle but his work is featured in many locations. It is really impressive given the not-so-great structural issues with glass.

Big day for deleting email from one company

I received a message from my email server that I had used over 90% of my free memory. Of course one rational way of acting would be to buy more memory. But I decided to see who is sending me all the messages. Well there were a lot of places that were sending messages. One in particular is an on line shoe company (gravitydefyer). I have purchased their products and found that I liked them (they addressed an orthopedic problem I have, namely flat feet). But for several yearts the marketing of this product was fierce. Messages every day or every other day at times. ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... today I deleted and then discarded over 2000 emails from this one company.

Another Odd Dream - I gave an odd tip

In my dream, I was in charge of some kind of conference. People were refilling coffee urns for the break between sessions. One of the workers was working extra hard, perhaps having started work hours before the conference started. I told him how much I appreciated it and gave him tip. The tip was a $45 bill. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Somehow, in my dream there wasn't anything illegal about this and the bill was legal tender.

The blooming ornamental trees invade the industrial zones

Back in the 60s, if I recall correctly, there were only a few places with the big ornamental trees blooming in the spring. One was the cherry blossom stand around the reflecting pool near the Lincoln Memorial. The stand dates to the early 20th century but I think none of the trees now there are from the original planting. In the late 70s, Ann and I would walk around this area during lunch at the peak bloom time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Things are different now. Many residential streets have rows of cherry blossoms, this includes our street. Even more than that, Cherry and Pear blossoms are now found near industrial areas, office complexes and even in front of parking garages. Most of these pictures (click to enlarge) were taken April 5, 2026. They are all within 4 miles of us.