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......
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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
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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.....

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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...

Free Internet for the "Big Easy"...that is soo Very Cool!!

They say that with disaster comes the opportunity to rebuild things. And if this latest artice about New Orleans is any indication, it seems that the "Big Easy" is going about it in a good way.....

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

......and hopefully this will give ALL of the residents of this "once awesome city" a chance to bounce back from tragedy. I think this is about the "coolest" thing I have heard about in at least a few weeks.

Way to go New Orleans!!!

PS: Racine County is also in the process of trying to roll out "County Wide WIFI" but from the stories I have read on that, it will not be free to residents or companies. Too bad. This is just what the Giant Telecoms and Cable Companies need....if there were more services such as these, then maybe the average "Joe" wouldn't be "nickle and dimed" to death by unreasonalby high cable bills!! I dont even have all the extras I could have with Time Warner here in Racine and my bill is still over 100.00 a month! And that is after dropping to "Road Runner Light" and getting rid of HBO and Cinimax.....hmmmm.