A Full Weekend

It's been a busy couple days off. I worked the all-night shift on Tuesday night which worked out well for me as my brother Bryan was in town from Oregon and we were able to spend most of the day together on Wednesday. It was four years ago that he was last out here. We, siblings, refer to him as Bryan but he actually goes by Dave with most everyone else. My Dad's Name was Peter David Gilmore. My understanding is that my father preferred to be called Dave rather than Peter. My brother's name is David Bryan Gilmore and since people referred to my dad as Dave, for some reason my brother's name shifted from Dave to his middle name of Bryan. I think there was some concern that we couldn't have two Daves in the same house.

Bryan is a photographer and he's been on the road for the past two weeks visiting relatives and photographing his journey. I enjoy photography as well but he's on a whole other level than me. I think we both thought it would be nice to get out together and take some photos. There's a place in Rosemount (10 miles east of where we live) where ruins from Gopher Ordnance Works from 60 years earlier remain. I thought it could make for some interesting photography.

We spent a little more than an hour out there walking among the concrete while I picked his brain as to how to frame a shot and what sort of things he looks for when he's photographing. It was nice to spend time with him; I only wish we had more of it.

Not far from the concrete ruins is the Tri-Valley Air-park where people fly their RC planes. We headed over there to see what was up. Pun intended. To our surprise, there was a guy getting ready to fire up a Mig-29-like turbine engine plane. Very cool indeed. Bryan got some nice photos while I focused my attention on shooting some video.

We stopped for a late lunch at Panera Bread. I'd never been there before. Good sandwiches.

We came back home and I asked Bryan if he had his Linux program with him so I could install it on my computer. He's a believer in Linux. He likes it for its ease of use and the fact that it's not a system resource hog with the only drawback being that it can be difficult to configure for wireless operation. Anyway, after the installation, we booted up my computer but couldn't bring up the Linux OS. On the 2nd try my computer began to reformat its C drive without any warning. When we brought it back up there was no Linux to be found and I had a bunch of work to do as far as reinstalling my programs. I probably needed to do a reformat anyway so it's just as well.

Tammy and I took Bryan up to Jackie and Jerry's Wednesday night so he could see them while he was here. Jackie and Jerry have a couple staying with them for a few months until they get a place of their own. We shared some laughs getting to know them: Jesus and Vididiana. Of course, somebody had to joke that Jesus is living in Jackie's basement or something along that line.

Rachel has her dance recital this weekend. I think she's ready to move on to another studio next year as many of the girls she's dancing with are very cliquish and catty toward kids who aren't in their group. It's becoming more of a nuisance than she'd like. Personally, I hope she leaves as I don't think she's being challenged enough where she's at. I'd rather see her struggling in the back row but knowing she's growing as a dancer than to see her in a more prominent position but not feeling as challenged as she'd like to be.

Taking videos of the performances is prohibited as the owners of the dance studio want you to buy the DVD they have produced. I understand that this is a business for them but what's more important to me is that it's our daughter out there and I'd rather not rely on someone else to video her performance for me. Besides, I like to focus on her and leave the rest of the group to the company producing the DVD. We always buy the DVD they sell so I don't see where they're out any money.