An Amtrak Adventure I wouldn't want to be on!!

It seems my favorite mode of transportation across the U.S. hit a "bump on the tracks" yesterday.

I have only been unfortunate enough to experience two delays on my numerous train trips thus far. One was on the way back from California on the "Zephyr" when one of the engines broke down just outside of Denver, Co. on the way back to Chicago. The wait out on the frontier edge of Co. was only about an hour or so but in that hour, there was no electricity and the toilets also got to be quite messy....and people were not allowed to disembark to strech their legs. I do remember it got a little warm inside the train car I was in, but other than that, it wasn't much of an ordeal.......

The other delay was on my way home from NYC this past fall. We sat at the train station in Syracuse NY for about and hour and a half due to a delay of another train that was meeting up with the train I was on. But thankfully on that delay we were at the train station which had a restuarant and a gift shop. The time passed by rather quickly.

I do feel for the passenger's discomfort on the trip delays that are talked about below though. I know that when one is on a train and toilets tend to get yucky, and you are not allowed to get off the train and if your cash is running short and you do not have "supplies"...it can get pretty darn dismal pretty darn fast. I made the mistake of not bringing much cash on my first trip out west and since then I have always carried extra cash and my ticket stubs as well as my c.c. to stay comfy.

Train travel can be very enjoyable if one is prepared. I have learned to be prepared for things like this. But it doesnt sound like alot of folks on these trips were......

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Thousands Aboard Six Amtrak Trains Endure a Long Ordeal

By BRENDA GOODMAN
Amtrak passengers along the busy corridor between Florida and New York were delayed for up to 20 hours after eight freight cars derailed on Thursday near Savannah, Ga., blocking the tracks in either direction.

The cars were finally cleared from the rails, but about 2,000 passengers on six trains - three headed north, three south - were still traveling yesterday more than 30 hours after embarking on their trips, said R. Clifford Black, an Amtrak spokesman.

Mr. Black said that the freight train's derailment had occurred at a "choke point" and that the Amtrak trains had therefore been unable to pass around it.

The tracks are maintained by CSX, which said it was investigating to determine the cause of the derailment.
By last night, passengers aboard at least one of the trains, Amtrak 98 from Miami to New York, were broke, hungry, exhausted and, barely having reached South Carolina, still many miles from home. They were also incensed, all the more so since they had been required to pay for whatever amenities were available throughout the ordeal.

"One woman had to pay $15 for a blanket," said Eleanor Meyer, 53, who was headed home to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., after a vacation at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., with her 19-year-old triplets.
"I can't believe in this day and age, for this amount of time, to go this short a distance, people are treated this way," Ms. Meyer said by cellphone.
Ms. Meyer said the first indication that anything was wrong occurred at a station in Jacksonville, Fla.
"They told us there had been an accident on the tracks ahead of us and that we were in for an extended wait," Ms. Meyer said. They had no idea.

The train sat in Jacksonville for 12 hours before it finally started moving again early yesterday morning. But only two hours later, at 6 a.m. in the middle of a forest south of Savannah, it stopped again because of the heavy traffic resulting from the derailment. The second delay was about eight hours.

During the wait, the toilets became clogged. The crew offered no food or water, passengers said, except what was available in the dining car, for a price. Those who could not pay were told they could charge their food, but only if they presented ticket stubs with their credit cards, said one passenger, Nancy Johnson of Washington.
An angered Ms. Johnson called her sister and enlisted her help in contacting The Associated Press. Ms. Meyer and other passengers joined in the effort, and soon news organizations were reporting accounts of the distress.

But despite those reports, Amtrak 98 passengers said at 6 o'clock last night that they still had not been offered meals or a rest stop of more than five minutes to stretch their legs.

Tracy Connell, a spokeswoman for Amtrak, said the company was working to provide free meals at the next stop, in South Carolina.
And Mr. Black said of the ordeal, "We regret it deeply."
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A Couple Very Cool Christmas Cartoons....and "My Christmas Wish List"

A few of my friends sent me a couple "cute" christmas cartoons and I just had to share them here....

http://www.friendsoffoamy.com/index.php?id=151
(click on link to go to site where cartoon will load and then click on play)

Merry Christmas
(click on link to go to site where cartoon will load and then click on play)

The first cartoon: Beware there is alot of foul language so if anyone is offended by "naughty words"....you have been warned.
....And on a dial-up internet line both cartoons may take a while to load.....aka....grab a cup of coffee..walk around the block and change your cat's litter box...and maybe get it some food. By then it should be ready to play.
(For those of you on broadband....take a sip of coffee while they load).

I feel the cartoon says it all...

The second one is a little more "tame"......

And then there is MY "Wish List" f0r Santa.
Here goes...

-A new laptop (the old one is fine but it has been a few years)
-A DVD Recorder with all the "Monster Wires"
-A new and improved "Home Theater System" (the one I have now is ok but I want "Wall Rattling sound" and all the new stuff that is out there....
-A model train set (Amtrak train set would be nice)
-A new internet service which includes "Freedom Link WiFi access" at Barns and Noble
-A trip to see the snow and xmas tree in NYC sometime this winter yet
-A Flat Screen "Plazma" TV (prefer a 52 inch Silver colored)
-An I-Pod Player
-A new Truck (the 2003 is wearing on me...I am bored)
-A "log cabin" type house with a "wrap around porch. Open concept with a loft for my bedroom
-A mountian view with a lake in the distance for the above home.....
-A "Mission Style" dining room set (my glass table is a pain....arrrg!!)
-A "Mission style" dresser to go with my "mission style" bed I bought a few years ago
-And finally a bigger raise than the one I know I am getting this next year in order to pay Santa for everything on the above list....

That is all I am asking for....
I don't think that is too much is it??
Ok...so I will be nice and share everything with my friends.
Santa..can you hear me?????


Soon to be Merry CHRISTmas.....

The Year in Review

As 2005 draws to a close it is time to recap the year.

So many things have happened this year and though all years past have their "big news stories" and milestones, I feel this year has been one where so many things of lasting importance have happened.....

-The world has witnessed some of the most destructive forces that "Mother Nature" has unleashed unto our planet in recent memory... with Katrina and the other hurricanes, the earthquakes, the flooding ect.....

-The only pope that I clearly remember as the head of the Catholic church passed away and we are now entering a new Era with a new "spiritual leader" of the world's largest religion....

-The "Ongoing War" on "Terrorism??" that doesnt seem to be lessening terrorism any (maybe I am wrong here...but I don't think so)....

-The President (Yes...Mr. George Bush) of the "Most Powerful Nation on Earth" trying to make himself into a "King" or worse yet a "dictator" and consistantly digging himself into more and more "holes"....oh when will it end??
(Someone should just "shoot him" and all the misery (his and ours) can come to an end).......

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/YEAR_IN_REVIEW?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME
(click on link above for some of the highlights of 2005)

And then there is little old me....what things have meant the most to me??

-My year of finding new friends (Hi Julie, Benny, Marlyn and more...)
and getting to visit with old friends (Hi Jasmine and Jason)
and being able to spend time with other friends that mean alot to me (they know who they are).

-Discovering "train travel" and being able to be lucky enough to see a good portion of our country this past year. The Coast of California, the Sierra Nevada's and views of the Rockies that I never got a chance to see when I lived out in Colorado(and becoming hooked on "Amtrak" and all things "train related).
(I am actually contemplating buying one of those model train sets for my apt.....yes there is still some "kid" in me)....

-The "Big Apple"...... taking a road trip with a very cool traveling companion (Hi Robyn) and seeing and spending time in magnificent New York City and spending time in Conn. with my friends is something that I will never forget and I will hopefully be able to make it out there again soon.

-And so much more.......

I am thankful for all of my friends and family and for their health.
I am thankful for my job and my peers. I have the best job I could ask for and I have the coolest people to work with and for.
I am thankful for my very "cool" companion (Scrappy Doo)...who has pretty much taken over my apartment and a good portion of my waking (and nonwaking hours). Thank you Doris for my little "ball of fur".....
I am thankful for my health.

And last but not least I am thankful that there are "a few people" who care enough to click on over to this blog every now and again.

I know I can be pretty boring, and at times some of my comments and views about things tend to border on the "fringe", but to me that is what life is all about....to explore, ask questions, and wonder about mysterious things.
To learn as much as possible about life and all it's mysteries and wonders and to hopefully better ourselves in the process...
Isn't that what life is all about????

What do I regret?
-Not spending as much time as I would have liked to with my dad and his wife and with my other siblings.
-Not getting up north to visit my mom's gravesite
-Not getting up north to Green Bay as often as I would have liked to visit with two of my oldest friends who live up there.
Other than that there is not too much else I can think of that I really wanted to do in 2005 and didn't get a chance to....

What's up for 2006 (and beyond)??
-Hopefully another trip to the East Coast
-Maybe a trip to florida to visit with family and friends
-I am hoping that 2007 can be my trip to Europe that I wanted to undertake in 2004.
-Maybe finally getting out of paying "other's mortages" and buying a house of my very own

So this is my year in review.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to salvage Christmas."

So the transit strike ends in NYC just before christmas.....

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NYC_TRANSIT_STRIKE?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
(click on link for the full story)

......I am glad...because out of all the cities I have visited,I have to say NYC is my favoirite so far.
Now maybe I can start planning my winter get away to the Big Apple. Hopefully sometime in Jan. if all works out.

Happy Friday to all (and only two more days till Santa comes!!)

NYC Subway-Transit Strike!!

One of the World's Largest and Busiest Cities "felled" by the "Common Man"....

It is amazing that in one of the world's biggest cities that this can happen.
Mr. Bloomberg (and his millions) and still stuff like this.
Just another "news story" to keep everyone's eyes and ears away from probably what "Bush and his idiots" are planning next to help subvert the human population to their agenda of "New World Order"....

So the transit workers have brought NYC to its knees (more like feet) today.
I cant imagaine how all those people are getting around right now.
When I was out in NYC this fall, I did alot of walking but I would not have been able to see half of what I saw without the aid of the "public transportation system".

I hope they solve this soon.....

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NYC_TRANSIT_STRIKE?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Click on link for full story....

Happy Tuesday

Santa's reply to George Bush's Christmas Wish List

Bush's Christmas Wish List
by Paul Winkelmann

SANTA'S WORKSHOP1 CHRISTMAS LANE, NORTH POLEOR AT OUR NEW LOCATION1 FELIZ NAVIDA PLAZA, TIJUANA, MEXICOPHONE: 1 800-XMAS GUY - FAX: 1 888 XMAS-GUY

Little Georgie Bush1600 Pennsylvania AvenueWashington D.C.
Re: Christmas Wish List

Dear Georgie,
I just wanted to let you know that I got your wish list and am working on it as fast as I can. As a matter of fact, thanks to your advice on how to reduce my labor costs, I am sure to be finished with everyone's presents extra early this year. Getting rid of those pesky minimum wage elves was just the ticket. The staff, at my newly relocated toy factory in Mexico, has reported very few complaints about the wages or work hours ($5.12 per 12 hr. day), the filthy working conditions, the asbestos, or the polluted drinking water. And yes, you were right, threatening to move the factory from Tijuana to Bejing did quiet down those infrequent but annoying Mexican malcontents. I gotta tell ya, those elves were pissed when they found out what I bought with the profits I got by not paying them their bloated paychecks. A new heated magic-motion waterbed and a time-share in Tahiti, if you must know.

There really was no need to thank me for your new and improved approval rating. I had nothing to do with that. Although, I am flattered that you thought it was me who tossed you that early Christmas present. I'm crossing my fingers though, hoping that this war can last until 2004. Remember what happened to Poppy? By the way, how are all those flags and red, white, and blue lapel pins, I sent, working out for you? Did blanketing yourself in them achieve the desired result? I hope so because, as Sen. Joseph McCarthy once said, "You can never act or look too patriotic."
Bad news on the homefront, I'm afraid. My reindeer population has continued it's downward spiral. I am testing out that new oilrig you suggested, but as of yet, it hasn't had the hoped for affect on their procreation. I have even kept the spills down to the federally mandated 500 gallons a day so I'm quite certain that can't be the problem. Oh well, maybe that nice warming hole in the ozone will get their libidos heated up.
Mrs. Claus told me to let you know she's "darned proud" of the job your wife is doing. She says she was tired of all them "policies" and "ideers" that the last first lady kept bringing up. "A girl's place is in the kitchen, the schoolroom, or the maternity ward, and not in the boardroom", is what she always likes to say.

Before I let you go, I want to briefly run through your wish list and clarify a few items.

1) That heart you wanted for Dick - well, a donor heart has to be similar to Mr. Chaney's and I am having a hell of a time finding a genetic match that isn't weak, black, and cold, like the one he has now.

2) I won't be able to give your frat buddies and campaign contributors any of those big tax breaks or government bail-outs you asked for. I'm only Santa Claus, not the president.

3) I can't "make people forget things." Stolen elections, lies, and broken promises about bi-partisanship, CO2 emissions, etc, are not easily forgotten and inducing amnesia is not part of my job description.

4) No, I'm not going to spy on all those "Muslim Heathens" when I make my deliveries on Christmas Eve. I rarely, if ever, make stops at Muslim homes - them being Muslims and all. Besides, even if I did, don't you have most of them locked up and hidden away?

5) Look, I've already given you Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, The Drudge Report, The Wall Street Journal, and everything Rupert Murdoch has ever touched (just to name a few). So you can just forget about the Village Voice, The Nation, or Mother Jones. It ain't happening.

6) That make-up for Katherine Harris? Did you want Sherwin-Williams or Dutch Boy?

7) I've been asking around and it looks like I will be able to talk a few more of your daddy's friends into giving you some more businesses. Unfortunately, my lawyer friends have told me that this Christmas is out of the question. You're gonna have to wait till after you've been drummed out of office. Legalities, you know. There was a request, and I'm not saying who it was from, but this unnamed person asked if you could keep from driving your future gifts into the ground, like you did to all the previous ones.

8) How can you ask me to extend your stay in the White House? Don't you realize what I (and a few of my Republican psuedo-elves) had to go through the last time around? Be thankful we didn't all go to jail.

9) If I could "magically fill up the Social Security Trust Fund", don't you think I would have done it by now? And if I'm not mistaken, didn't you have a whole mess of money in there last Christmas? Spending all that dough on the wealthy? Tsk, tsk. You should be ashamed.

10) I can't make Dick stop pushing you around. He's the boss after all, and if you don't like it, quit. I don't have time to mediate upper management feuds.

11) Just how in the world did you think I was going steal and then transport all that Saudi oil over to the U.S.? If you are so worried about offending the Saudi's and their oil, perhaps you shouldn't have promised to go after ALL the countries who sponsor terrorism. Since you knew full well that you weren't going to make the Saudi's pay for their duplicity, the onus is on you to solve the problem. Not me.

12) I found those "risque" picture books you wanted for Mr. Starr. Swedish customs is a little slow but has assured me that I will be able to slide them under Kenny's tree in time for viewing on Christmas morning. We mustn't disappoint those who got you where you are.

13) Melbourne Zoo officials have a team of wranglers headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. They said those kangaroos are hard to round up once you've set them loose in the building. I know this is a source of embarrassment for you and I have made this one a top priority.

14) With a little more Congressional arm twisting, I think I can get Social Security into the stock market. This was one of your harder wishes to grant. So many of those leaders were very business-savvy and - whoops, wait a second here. Enron is at 36 cents a share now. Maybe I better hold off on this one for a while Georgie.

15) I'm not making any promises here but I have personally talked to Senators Dan Burton, Bob Barr, and Congressman Henry Hyde about their past miscues. They insist that if they are going initiate anymore long-winded witchhunts pertaining to the morality of our leaders, they will not get caught with their own pants down, so to speak. And as a special favor to you, they've promised not to mention insider trading, drunk driving, AWOL military personnel, or cocaine snorting frat boys who dodged the draft by skipping to the head of the National Guard line so they could defend the shores of Texas from the invading hordes of North Vietnamese.

That should about cover it. Let me know how your holidays went.
Merry Christmas,
Santa Claus

P.S. Pat and Jerry said "Hi". They tell me your doing a splendid job ensuring that the government and church become one big happy religious machine, just like the founding fathers intended.

Happy Holidays from the First Couple......

"George and I would like to offer everyone the Best of Holiday Wishs!"

Warm Regards....

Laura and George "Bush"

Another Step to Bush's World Domination Plans....and Secrets Coming out of the Closet??

So Iraq is in the midst of their 1st parlimentry elections??
I didn't think a country needed elections when they already had a government...(The U.S.A.).
So a little "food for thought" taken from a few areas on the web. These people also question the elections as I am questioning them.....read on......
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The historic day taking place now in Iraq is a curious outcome of the events of September 11, 2001. With that in mind, the question of who benefited from the events of 9/11/01 is becoming ever more clear.

It can be argued that those who wished to force Iraq into a regime change for the purpose of establishing a democracy were not terrorists who hated Americans freedoms, or people who collected and strored weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but were working with another group of people who needed the catalyst to move the US Armed Forces into the region for a longer term commitment.

Therein lay the treason of George W. Bush and his Presidential Cabinet of Advisors. Unless someone wishes to capture Osama bin Laden, the likely culprits are walking around in Washington D.C. with GOP lapel pins disguised as an American flag.

And if anyone really believes 19 box-cutters circumvented the civil air defense mechanisms from NORAD to the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 without help from inside the beltway, then you watch too much television.
___________________________________________________________________________

And another view with a web link below the excerpt....
___________________________________________________________________________

Excerpt:
....
Imagine, for a moment, that the Iraqi elections on Friday come off without a hitch. No one is killed, maimed or intimidated into voting for a particular candidate by having a gun barrel put to his head. There are no hanging chads, no mayhem or madness. What will the Iraqi and American people get out of the incredible blood and treasure we have poured into this conflict?

We will get an Iraqi government dominated by known and notorious terrorists. We will get an Iraqi government dominated by Iran. The Shia will walk away from Friday with the lion's share of control over the Iraqi government.
The two most powerful Shia political parties, the ones that will come out of this with the big wins, are the Dawa Party and the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which is known by the initials SCIRI. Both were founded and funded by Iran in the 1980s. Both have a history of spectacular violence against the United States and other nations. "These guys are murderers," says former CIA agent Bob Baer, who dealt with Dawa during the 1980s. "They were the core element that blew up our embassy in Beirut in 1983."

Paul Mulshine, writing last week for the New Jersey Star-Ledger, encapsulates this amazing turn of events. "What would you call someone who wants to hand over control of Iraq to a group of terrorists that first made its reputation by blowing up a couple of American embassies?" wrote Mulshine. "I'd call him President Bush.

The group is called the Dawa party. In the early 1980s, Dawa terrorists bombed our embassies in Kuwait and in Lebanon. They were universally recognized as vicious America-hating, Iranian-supported terrorists.

Now they're part of the coalition that is expected to win control of the new Iraqi parliament in Thursday's elections." "The other coalition partners aren't much better," continued Mulshine. "The sanest group on the Shi'a side is the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
A 1984 Washington Post story portrayed the group, known by its initials SCIRI, as 'a kind of parent organization for four operational terrorist groups.' SCIRI was founded in Iran a couple of years earlier by the Ayatollah Khomeini with the goal of taking control of Iraq.
Now, they're about to do so, courtesy of George W. Bush."
....Link:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121405A.shtml

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And then there is the stuff that old "Georgie Porgie" is screwing with back at home. He just can't seem to keep his hand out of the good old cookie jar.......

First this........
___________________________________________________________________________
Bush Spied on Thousands of Americans!
Secretly LIFTED Ban on Spying!

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 ­-
Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency, they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications.

The previously undisclosed decision to permit some eavesdropping inside the country without court approval represents a major shift in American intelligence-gathering practices, particularly for the National Security Agency, whose mission is to spy on communications abroad. As a result, some officials familiar with the continuing operation have questioned whether the surveillance has stretched, if not crossed, constitutional limits on legal searches. "This is really a sea change," said a former senior official who specializes in national security law. "It's almost a mainstay of this country that the N.S.A. only does foreign searches."

Click link below for more from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/15/politics/15cnd-program.html?ei=5094&en=0a4739ca3ab6d63b&hp=&ex=1134709200&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1134720853-wPdninxEljZxyAY0uvAxoQ&pagewanted=print

And then this......
___________________________________________________________________________
Pentagon May Be Tracking Activists
From Reuters
December 14, 2005WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has a secret database that indicates the U.S. military may be collecting information on Americans who oppose the Iraq war and may be monitoring peace demonstrations, NBC reported Tuesday.

The database, obtained by the network, lists 1,500 "suspicious incidents" across the United States over a 10-month period and includes four dozen antiwar meetings or protests, some aimed at military recruiting, "NBC's Nightly News" said.

The network said the document was the first look at how the Pentagon had stepped up intelligence collection in the U.S. since the Sept. 11 attacks. The report quoted what it said was a secret d! ocument as concluding: "We have noted increased communication between protest groups using the Internet" but not a "significant connection" between incidents.
Americans have been wary of any monitoring of antiwar activities since the Vietnam era, when it was learned that the Pentagon spied on antiwar and civil rights groups and individuals.

Congress held hearings in the 1970s and recommended strict limits on military spying inside the U.S. A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the report. However, he said: "The Department of Defense uses counterintelligence and law enforcement information properly collected by law enforcement agencies.

The use of this information is subject to strict limitations, particularly the information must be related to missions relating to protection of [Pentagon] installations, interests and personnel." The Pentagon has acknowledged existence of a counterintelligence program known as "Threat and Local Observation Notice," or TALON. The system is designed to gather "non-validated threat information and security anomalies indicative of possible terrorist pre-attack activity," the Pentagon said

A link to my older brother??

I was reviewing a few of my previous posts and found a comment on the post where I wrote about my mom's first husband and a bit about my older brother who passed away before I was even born.

I have included the comment from this person in hopes that she may look at this site again and maybe we can connect......
____________________________________________________________________________
Jennifer Heubner said...
John:I don't know you, but I am a 1st cousin, once removed from Orville Josie. When my father and I traveled Wisconsin a few summers ago to work on family history (his Mom is a Boutwell)he told me the story of your older brother's death. I am very sorry. I am also sorry to hear your mother has passed away.I am interested in any other information you might have about your brother and his family. I will share all I know also (although limited).Jennifer Heubner
___________________________________________________________________________
She can feel free to email me at
jrepinski@gmail.com

Happy Friday to all......

A Place to Stay in Russia!!

Well if I ever get to number 8 or is it 9.....on my travel list, I now have a cheap place to stay with my hotel discount.......

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Courtyard by Marriott reaches milestone

Dec 14, 2005
WASHINGTON
Courtyard by Marriott, Marriott International's (NYSE:MAR) moderately-priced lodging brand, reached the 100,000-room milestone as the 218-room Courtyard by Marriott Moscow City Center opened within a 10-minute walk from the Kremlin. It is the first Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Russia.
In a ceremony held today at the hotel which offers spectacular views of the Kremlin, room 713 was designated as the ?official? 100,000th guestroom. A plaque commemorating the milestone was placed at its entrance. Marriott Rewards Gold member, Mr. Curtis Howes, was selected as the first guest to stay in the 100,000th room. "I am thrilled to have been chosen to help celebrate this very special milestone for Courtyard by Marriott hotels here in Moscow. As a frequent business traveler I have come to rely on the service and hospitality that Courtyard by Marriott hotels offer around the world," said Mr. Howes. Guests staying at the hotel, as well as local members of the community and a number of Marriott executives, were invited to attend the celebration co-sponsored by Delta Air Lines.

Introduced in 1983 in Atlanta, Ga., Courtyard by Marriott now ranks as the 13th largest lodging chain in the world, represented by nearly 700 hotels in 42 states in the United States and located in 22 countries and territories world-wide. As Marriott's fastest-growing brand, two of every five Courtyards in the next three years will be located outside the continental United States. Currently, the brand offers more than 10,000 rooms outside the United States.

"When we brought the first Courtyard onto the market it was a break-through lodging product that was an instant success as travelers and hotel developers embraced its concept of consistently high-quality accommodations and services in a comfortable atmosphere at moderate prices," said Chad Waetzig, senior vice president of brand management, select service brands, at Marriott International.
He said that Courtyard was the result of more than two years of in-depth market research that probed traveler needs and interests. The brand has evolved over the years to reflect changing customer preferences, and today, it is a hotel chain that easily adapts to and reflects regional global tastes.
The Courtyard by Marriott Moscow City Center is located at Voznesenskiy Pereulok 7, in the heart of the city between Tverskaya and Nikitskaya Streets and is being operated under a lease-management agreement with BSK?Baltic Construction Company. It is the fifth Marriott International-branded property in Moscow and seventh hotel in Russia. Nearby are Red Square, GUM department store, the Bolshoi Theater and other well-known points of interest. Sheremetyevo International Airport is 30 kilometers away.

Room rates between Dec. 18, 2005 and January 14, 2006 start at $295 USD plus tax. A special weekend package, "Stay for Breakfast," is being offered at $225 USD plus tax.
For dining and entertainment, the Courtyard by Marriott Moscow City Center offers several options including the Terraneo-Cuisine of the sun, an all-day dining restaurant with a Mediterranean flavor, and Flat Iron Bar & Road House, featuring casual dining and beverage in a rustic, oak-wood setting. Other amenities include a state-of-the-art health club, a business center, 24-hour room service, a currency exchange office, an ATM, limousine service, underground parking, same-day laundry and dry-cleaning service, and complimentary newspaper and morning coffee/tea in the lobby between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Guestrooms feature high-speed Internet access, two-line phones, a work desk, satellite television and radio, individual climate control, alarm clock, in-house movies, mini-bar, safe, and iron and ironing board. Wireless LAN is available in public areas.
For social events and small conferences, the Courtyard by Marriott Moscow City Center has four conference rooms offering a total of 300 square meters of space capable of accommodating up to 150 people. In addition, the hotel has the Grand Courtyard Atrium with 360 square meters of space for up to 400 persons. Ethernet and wireless LAN access is available in all function space.
General Manager is Marco Fien; director of sales is Vanja Desmonde.

The Courtyard by Marriott Moscow City Center, along with 2,400 other hotels, participates in the highly acclaimed Marriott Rewards® frequent guest loyalty program.

There are 27 Courtyard by Marriott properties operating in eight countries in continental Europe. Another eight are under construction and scheduled to open over the next two years.
They include:
- 100-room Courtyard by Marriott Venice Airport which is scheduled to open in mid-January 2006 approximately one kilometer from Venice Marco Polo Airport and offering easy access to Venice City Centre-San Marco by public boat from Darsena. The hotel will have complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport and will offer an indoor swimming pool; sauna; steam bath; fitness center; and a mini-spa offering massage, reflex zone therapy and physiotherapy.
- 161-room Coutyard by Marriott Prague, Czech Republic, opening in 2006
- 241-room Courtyard by Marriott Munich City Center, Germany, opening in 2006
- 150-room Courtyard by Marriott Colombes, France, opening in 2006
- 198-room Courtyard by Marriott Gelsenkirchen, Germany, opening in 2006
- 118-room Courtyard by Marriott Vienna Schonbrunn, Austria, opening in 2006
- 235-room Courtyard by Marriott Prague Airport, Czech Republic, opening in 2007
- 195-room Courtyard by Marriott Plzen, Czech Republic, opening in 2007

The Marriott International portfolio in Moscow currently includes three Marriott-branded properties and a Renaissance-branded hotel. Elsewhere in Russia, the portfolio offers Renaissance-branded hotels in Samara and St. Petersburg.

Marriott International is a leading lodging company with more than 2,700 lodging properties in 66 countries and territories. Marriott International operates and franchises hotels under the Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Bulgari, The Ritz-Carlton, Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, TownePlace Suites, and Fairfield Inn brand names; develops and operates vacation ownership resorts under the Marriott Vacation Club International, The Ritz-Carlton Club, Grand Residences by Marriott, and Horizons brands; operates Marriott Executive Apartments; provides furnished corporate housing through its Marriott ExecuStay division; operates conference centers; and manages golf courses. The company is headquartered in metropolitan Washington, D.C. It is ranked as the lodging industry's most admired company and one of the best places to work for by Fortune magazine. In fiscal year 2004, Marriott International reported sales from continuing operations of $10 billion, and the company had approximately 133,000 employees at yearend 2004.
For more information or reservations, please visit our Web site at :
www.marriott.com.

It is About Time......Air Marshals to patrol ground transit

I often wondered what it would take to pull off a terrorist attack on an Amtrak Train.
Not much I say.
As I have traveled extensively on our Nation's "Rail System" a few times this past year, I have noticed NO SECURITY measures whatsoever anywhere.
Pretty scarry to say the least.

Well this article talks about how the "Air Marshals" are trying some new things on the ground.....and it's about time.

I have inlcluded the entire story here as I feel it is important to read in it's entirety.

Happy Wed.....

___________________________________________________________________________




Undercover air marshals to expand work beyond Airplanes....


By LESLIE MILLERAssociated Press WriterDecember 14, 2005, 10:57 AM ESTWASHINGTON --

Federal air marshals are expanding their work beyond airplanes, launching counterterror surveillance at train stations and other mass transit facilities in a three-day test program.

As of Wednesday, the Transportation Security Administration said, teams of undercover air marshals and uniformed law enforcement officers were descending on bus stations, ferries and transit systems across the country to protect them from potential terrorists. "We just want to develop the capability to enhance security outside of aviation," said air marshal spokesman David Adams.

Air marshals stepped outside of their usual role of flying undercover on airliners after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. They were sent to keep order at Louis Armstrong International Airport, where thousands of evacuees converged after the levees were breached. The so-called "Visible Intermodal Protection and Response" teams _ or VIPER teams _ will patrol Amtrak's Northeast Corridor from Boston to Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles rail lines; ferries in Washington state; bus stations in Houston; and mass transit systems in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore. The teams will consist of two air marshals, one TSA bomb-sniffing-canine team, one or two transportation security inspectors and a local law enforcement officer.

American Airlines pilot Denis Breslin, spokesman for the airline's pilots' union, said air marshals ought to stick to airplanes. "I don't think there's enough air marshals to cover commercial aviation as it is," Breslin said. "That's what transit police are for." Adams said there is no new intelligence indicating that terrorists are interested in targeting transportation modes. Rather, the TSA is trying to expand the role of air marshals, who have been eager to conduct surveillance activities beyond the aircraft, and tighten security at public transit stations over the holiday. Some members of the team will be obvious to the traveling public and wear jackets bearing the TSA name on the back. Others will be plainclothes air marshals scanning the crowds for suspicious individuals. "TSA expects to find new ways to quickly deploy resources, in the event of an actual threat, that adds complexity to security measures outside of the aviation domain," the agency said in a statement.

Thousands of air marshals were rushed into service after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The service has been shunted among different agencies since then, starting out at the Federal Aviation Administration, moving to the TSA, then to Immigration and Custom Enforcement and, recently, back to the TSA. Though the exact number of air marshals is classified, pilots estimate that they cover only a small percentage of flights.

Efforts were made to expand coverage by cross-training other law enforcement officers to perform air marshal duties, but Congress put a stop to it. Air marshals last week shot and killed a passenger in Miami who they said made a bomb threat. The Washington

Post first reported the deployment of the VIPER teams. ___P> On the Net: TSA: http://www.tsa.gov
Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press

A White House Christmas Video??

So it seems the folks at the "Whitehouse" are up to their cute little shenanigins again....


The video below says all....

http://mfile.akamai.com/5913/wmv/whitehouse.download.akamai.com/5913/2005/12/barneycam2005.v.asx

It is close to 10 minutes in length.......
They must really love their pets.....

Glad they have nothing better to do with their free time....

Happy Holidays.
I got to get going....have to make a "Very Scrappy Xmas Video"!!!

Winter snow-Drive to Midway Airport means getting hit by a Plane!!

I am sitting here at the local Barns and Noble Bookstore in Racine enjoying a nice cup of "Christmas Blend Coffee" and watching the snow come down.....a window seat in this store is hard to come by usually, but tonight it seems I have the whole store pretty much to myself except for a few other brave souls that are trouncing out in the little snow storm we are currently experiencing....there is about 4 inches on the ground and it is still coming down pretty heavily.

In a few minutes, I will have to go outside to brush off the flakes from my truck and warm that up.
But for now I am inside, enjoying the view, the coffee and the "Wifi Connection" that I have come to very much enjoy in this bookstore....esp. in the winter.

Intersting stories in the news....

A plane comes down at Midway Airport in Chicago and slides off the runway and hits a car on the street...next to the airport....
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/08/chicago.airplane/index.html

Ouch!!! And they were probably trying to drive carefully in the snow...."oops..honey...I think that vehicle is coming too close to us...it looks like a plane.....what the .......???" I can just imagine.
According to the news story above, someone from that car is in serious condition. All kidding aside, my prayers are with them.....

And then there is a man with Wisconsin connections who gets shot dead while "supossedly" saying he has a bomb while running down the aisleway of a jetliner........too weird.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/08/airplane.gunshot/index.html

I feel sorry for him and his wife and all the others that had to endure this tragedy unfold.

Well that is about it for tonight. I am going to go out to brush off some snow and then try to find a bite to eat somewhere before heading home and contemplating a day of work on friday after having had two wonderfull days off in a row.

Happy Friday to all.......

Another Cat's Big Adventure!!

It seems like cats have the darndest luck sometimes.

Take "Emily" who is pictured above.
She susposedly decided to take a trip to Europe-without her owners!!

The story below says it all.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec05/374766.asp

How cool for that cat to have such an adventure.
I hope Scrappy hasnt learned how to read articles on the internet or I may be in trouble!!

Happy Weekend...