i just got back from a wonderful family vacation to milwaukee, wisconsin for a big party for my uncle nate taffel's 80th birthday.

click image to enlarge

that's jon, ruthie and i with lake michigan in the background.

there were over 100 people at the party and it was great seeing many family members and friends i have not seen since last year when ruthie and i went for nate's wife's (my aunt mur) 75th birthday. it was sorta de javu in that it was in the same place and a lot of the same people were there.

a couple of observations from the trip...

the airline portion, on american airlines, was pretty much a pain in the you-know-where. between the security deal, taking off my shoes, dealing with my laptop (more on that in a sec) and trying to avoid checking luggage (because of time, not the surcharge, we booked before the surcharge applied) the whole deal was yucky.

it was one of those tiny jets for like 80 people where they squish you in like sardines into 3 seats across (1 and 2). very small space for a 2 hour flight.

on the way back i got up to go to the lavatory and 2 rows from it, this older lady gets up and goes in, making me stand there like a moron while she went in and out 4 times (she could not figure out how to close the door to get the light to go on).

the other yucky part was the baggage. they take your bag at the end of the jetway (whoever thought up that term?), put a red tag on it and give it back to you after the flight lands.

fine. but, the plane lands in dallas and 50 people are standing in the jetway waiting for the bags and the door is open and it is 102 degrees outside. it was like an oven waiting for those bags. shame on you american airlines.

ruthie and i are just about to leave for the airport for a trip to milwaukee, wisconsin (i was born there) for my uncle nate taffel's 80th birthday celebration.

click image for larger view

that's nate being very musical from last year's trip there for his wife, my aunt mur's 75th birthday celebration. we went over to my cousin jimmy guten's place and they put on a nice little concert in the backyard where even my mom played the piano in a set.

we have everything packed in 2 very small suitcases so that we won't have to wait for luggage in chicago as we still have to drive from chicago to milwaukee once we get off the plane and it's going to be pretty late when we get to my aunt renee and uncle jack dygola's house to sleep.

more from milwaukee soon (yes, i brought my trusty powerbook g4 along)

even though we did not get to go to detroit recently for my niece hannah's high school graduation, we did get some photos they sent us.

click image for larger view

we are very proud of hannah for her achievement! sorry we could not be there to share in your nachas. at least your grandma mimi got to go for the graduation.

hannah is going on to michigan state after the summer.

yesterday ruthie jon and i drove out to cedar hill, texas to see the new office my wife moves to today officially.

she is the director of public works for the city of cedar hill, texas. cedar hill has been building a new government center and it is finally finished and ready for everybody to move in.

the image here is from the cedar hill city web site and the other 2 images seen when you click the image are images inside that i took from our visit there. they are of our son jon and are looking up at the top of the building.

it's a very neat and eclectic building with very interesting colors and spaces. from the outside it looks pretty traditional, but inside it is anything but that.

there are curves and balconies and wood roofs and lots of angles.

my wife has a nice office on the 2nd floor and we got to set all her stuff up when we were there on sunday.

congratulations cedar hill for a job well done.

back on 3-13-08 i decided it was time to start losing weight, eating healthier and all-around getting myself into better shape.

so i started with totally cutting out the 6-8 mugs of coffee i was gulping down a day - cold turkey for a week. that got me jump started.

i changed my eating habits - no fried crap, no fast food and i cut way down on processed foods.

i also combined this with the beginnings of my exercise plan, which consists of me walking 4-5 times a week for 20-40 minutes a time, plus i have been pumping some weights on the boys' exercise weight machine.

as of this morning (almost 4 months later) i am at 255.5 and i started at 281, so that's a loss of 25.5 pounds!

my last visit to my diabetes doc went very well. it was the first time he ever spoke about the possibility of getting off the meds if i keep this up.

so to all of you overweight people out there who have lost hope, you can do this without taking extra weight-loss junk or getting a personal trainer or getting your stomach stapled.

it just takes the will to start and once the results start coming in it gets easier to keep doing it.

my sister keri is also writing a story for her paper about her efforts to slim down involving a personal trainer.

btw..i only had to do cold turkey on the coffee for a week. i now have 1-2 cups a day and limit it to no more than that.