The cost of driving a car...more than you may think

Everybody knows that gas prices have gone up sharply as of late...40 cents just in the last month.  My favorite website for tracking gas prices on a nationwide basis is at GasBuddy.  Click on 'Gas Price Maps' at the GasBuddy website and you can get a quick visual of gas prices by county across the nation.  Notwithstanding, fuel costs still represent a small fraction of the total cost of driving a car.  AAA recently published the 2010 Edition of their annual "Your Driving Costs," which considers typical operating costs (gas, maintenance, tires) and ownership costs (insurance, license, registration, vehicle depreciation, and finance charge) for three sizes of sedans (small, medium, large) driven for 10K, 15K, or 20K miles per year.

With rising gas prices, AAA's chart is quickly becoming dated.  Since the price of gas has gone up from the $2.60 per gallon that their chart (pdf file) was based on, to nearly $3.50 per gallon, I adjusted the cost of gas per mile in the AAA chart accordingly and posted the revised numbers in this blog entry (click on chart).  After going through this exercise, I was surprised by four realities: 1) cars are much more expensive to drive than I appreciated, 2) small cars are far cheaper to drive than large cars, and not just because they are more fuel efficient, 3) sharp increases in gas prices do not change the total cost of driving a car, even on a per-mile basis nearly as much as I imagined, and 4) the person driving a car 20K miles per year is paying considerably less per mile than the person driving a similar car only 10K per year.

Tropical Cyclone Yasi slams into Queensland, Australia

What is being called the "Cyclone of the Century," Yasi is now coursing its way through Queensland. It was reported to be a Category 5 storm as it approached landfall.  In its wake, it dealt a powerful "blow" to the midsection of the Australia sugarcane industry, causing world sugar futures prices to reach 30-year-high levels.  Australia is the 3rd largest exporter of sugar in the world.  I have had the good fortune of visiting Queensland twice during my career.  Between the two trips, I have been lucky enough to have traveled by road from Cape Tribulation near the top of Queensland, all the way south to Mackay, then by air to Bundaberg and eventually to Brisbane. Queensland is indeed a very large state.  So to see the size of Cyclone Yasi relative to the size of Queensland, for me, was amazing.  Yasi came on shore just south of Cairns where Dr. Anna Hale and I recently visited (see blog entry "Trip to Australia," dated 30 Aug 2009).  The life cycle of sugarcane in Australia in early February, would be equivalent to our sugarcane in early August.  Like our sugarcane, the greatest damage from a storm like this will probably be more from the water than from the wind, water that sugarcane farmers in Australia certainly didn't need, considering the extensive flooding that they have already experienced.  Something to remember when looking at the path of a cyclone south of the equator, is that the south side is the "bad" side, as it travels from east to west.  Intuitively, we would think of it as being on the north side,  but a southern cyclone spins clockwise, causing the surge of water to be on the opposite side from what we normally expect.  The last word I heard is that Cairns came through this major storm better than most expected.  Residents of Cairns and surrounding communities were benefited by being on the "good" side of the storm.  Further south at Mission Beach, which took the most direct hit, the devastation has been described as "apocalyptic."  The coastal town of Cardwell, a few kilometers south of Mission Beach, was described as having been "wiped off the map."

Pictures from Thanksgiving trip

Due to low batteries, I only took one picture of a view we will have from our not-quite-finished home near Tracy City, TN.  The picture didn't come out as well as hoped, with the camera focused on close up trees and the backdrop being somewhat out of focus.  It least it shows that a lot of clearing of underbrush across the highway was generously done in our behalf by the developer, which gives us the view we had hoped for when we purchased the property. 

We traveled north to Plymouth, IN (25 mi. south of South Bend in northern Indiana) to be with Matt & Julie and our grandchildren, Allison, Lauren, and Megan at Thanksgiving time.  The day after Thanksgiving, we joined the family in traveling to a tree farm near the school where Matt works, where they picked out a very special tree.  I took a picture of the grandchildren in front of it.  Over this past weekend, the Bertassos had a lot of snow.  We felt fortunate that we didn't have to contend with the white stuff while we were there.

Thanksgiving Holiday at the Bertasso's

Starting tomorrow, we will be traveling to Tennessee and Indiana.  While our original plan during our Thanksgiving Week trip was to start furnishing our new home in Tennessee and to move our pop up trailer inside the carport (presently on a neighbor's property), it appears that neither will happen on this trip.  The house is not quite finished yet, and we cannot legally enter it until it is finished and signed off.  While in the vicinity, we will take time to meet a few key people, winterize our pop up, and that's about it. 

So, the main thrust of our trip has changed to visiting Julie, Matt, and our grandchildren further up the road in Plymouth, Indiana.  We are excited to be able to be with family during Thanksgiving.  It's been a while since we have had that experience.

Update on modular home in Tennessee

Our new home, being built by ModularOne at their plant in Pulaski, TN,  is scheduled to be delivered to our lot at Sewanee Creek near Tracy City, TN over the Labor Day weekend!  This assumes that there will be no unforeseen delays, weatherwise or otherwise.  We are excited and plan to be on site from September 1 - 6, returning on Labor Day.  The house will be relatively small, at 1,560 square feet indoor space, but with a big porch in the front.  We settled for a good-sized carport and attached storage building instead of a basement, largely due to cost, but also partly due to the topography of our rather shallow lot.  As to when we will occupy our Tennessee home, that depends to a great extent on when we are able to sell our current home.  Retirement and moving to Tennessee is not an option until our home in Houma, LA is sold.  "Until then," as Judy posted at the Friends of Sewanee Creek website, "our little house will sit, lonely and unoccupied up on the hill."  


To get a sense of where we will be located in Tennessee, click on the map above and look for the little square box to the right of Tracy City.  Even though our post office address will officially be Tracy City, we won't even be living in the same county.  Tracy City is in Grundy County, while we are in Marion County.  Sewanee Creek is the separation between the two counties near where we live.  More than that, being on the Marion County side of Sewanee Creek puts us in a different ward, stake, mission, and temple district than church members that live on the Tracy City side of the Creek.  We will live further east than do Matt & Julie in Plymouth, IN, but we will be just inside the Central Time Zone, while they are just inside the Eastern Time Zone.

More trivia:  Which state is the only state in the U.S. that has a,a,a,a as the only vowels in its name; which is the only state that has e,e,e,e as its vowels; and which is the only state that has i,i,i,i?  Hint: We will be traveling in all of them over the Labor Day weekend.

Mississippi and Tennessee Reports

Mississippi. We really enjoyed the time we had with Lori and James. On Sunday, after Church, we traveled up to Natchez, MS, and stayed there overnight. On Monday morning, it was already raining, so we decided not to rush to Vicksburg, but to follow our original plans. We spent some time in the morning looking at some of the historically significant buildings in downtown Natchez that make this town on the Mississippi River so special.

We followed the picturesque Natchez Trace (trail) up to Emerald Mound, the 2^nd largest Indian mound in the U.S. The rain actually stopped long enough for us to climb up the mound. Further up the road, we went to Sunken Trace, which gave a sense of the importance of the original trail that the road follows and that early American Indians used. Again, the rain subsided long enough for us to enjoy this experience.

We finally made our way up to the Vicksburg National Military Park. While it was raining off and on, we had a thoroughly enjoyable experience there, with very few others in the park while we were there. James took some impressive pictures and video segments that the overcast day actually enhanced.

The following day, we went to the WWII Museum in downtown New Orleans. The new movie that Tom Hanks narrates was an otherworldly experience, and truly helped me appreciate the scope of that war that was fought on several fronts. There was so much about WWII that I had was oblivious to, so the whole experience (movie and exhibition) was quite an education. We all enjoyed the time we had together, and we were all thrilled about how well this trip went. Lori posted some of the pics that James took during our time together on her Facebook page (Lori Ure > Photos > Mississippi & Louisiana 2009).


Tennessee. I took three days off to make some person-to-person contacts with potential contractors to build our future home in Tennessee. One day was spent getting there, one doing business on site, and one getting back home. I was very happy to be able to make some important contacts, and to get a better handle on what steps need to be taken in order for us to move forward with our home building.

What was meant to be a whirlwind trip, however, got stalled in a record-setting snowstorm in Washington D.C. I had the misfortune of having D.C. as the leg between Nashville and New Orleans in both directions. In coming back, our jet got as far as being de-iced and on the tarmac, but the snow was coming down so fast that snow plows couldn’t keep up, so we never got clearance to take off Friday evening. It continued to snow through Saturday, and Dulles ended up with 18+ inches of snow, eclipsing the previous snowstorm record of 12.1 inches in the month of December, and the 6^th greatest overall snowfall from a single snowstorm on record for the area. I finally got out Sunday evening. What a relief!

Plans through December

My agenda for the remainder of the Month of December is as follows:

Dec 6 - 12 (Sun - Sat): Making sugarcane crosses at Canal Point, FL (see last year's blog this time of year).

Dec 12 - 16 (Sat - Wed): Spending time with Lori & James, who are coming into town. We're excited.

Dec 17 - 19 (Thu - Sat): Whirlwind trip to our future home site in Tracy City, TN, meeting with Grant Miller, and other people we will be contracting work out to.

Dec 22 - 28 (Tue - Mon): Judy and I will be spending Christmas with Julie, Matt, and three granddaughters, Allison, Lauren, and Megan, the youngest of whom I will be introducing myself to for the very first time.

On another note: I am updating the book, "Tew Heritage," which is a history of Wm. Thos. Tew and his wife, Clara, and their descendants. I had conversations with descendants of each of his seven children last night, and was amazed at the level of interest there is in me pursuing this project. It will probably take several months to complete. When completed, it may very well go on line, so I may be looking for some "family" expertise.

The National WWII Museum in New Orleans

The National WWII Museum in New Orleans is going through a $300 million dollar upgrade to be completed by 2015, and was just recently designated by Congress as the country's official World War II Museum. Tomorrow, Tom Hanks, Tom Brokaw, and scores of WWII veterans will be on hand for a ribbon cutting ceremony associated with the Grand Opening weekend, following the completion of "three remarkable new venues." Upcoming events at the Museum leading up to Veterans Day next Wednesday and beyond are shown at the Official Website of the National WWII Museum. We have never been there. This is definitely a place we would like to visit and experience while Lori & James are in town. One of the venues features a so-called 4-D film (wind & shaking seats) called "Beyond All Boundaries" that is narrated by Tom Hanks.

Trip to Australia

As mentioned in the previous post, I had the opportunity to attend the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (ISSCT) Breeding & Germplasm Workshop held near Cairns, Queensland, Australia, with Dr. Anna Hale, peer research geneticist at our Sugarcane Research Laboratory in Houma. The workshop was held at the Novotel Rockford Palm Cove Resort about 30 kilometers north of Cairns. To get a flavor of Palm Cove, check out the embedded video at the palmcoveaustralia website. We were in Australia during their winter, but this part of Australia is tropical, so even at night, we didn't see the temperature dip below 60 F. In fact, the weather couldn't have been more perfect during our trip. The beach was only a stone's throw away from the resort, and all the restaurants in Palm Cove were along the beach front. We were actually delayed in getting to our destination because of a missed connection (air traffic related). We should have flown from Newark NJ to Hong Kong-Brisbane-Cairns. Instead we ended up going to the Narita Airport near Tokyo, then to Guam for a 23-hr layover, then to Cairns, missing a pre-workshop Genomics meeting held at Port Douglas, Queensland, but getting to our destination before the Workshop began. The view from the balcony side of my room that greeted me the morning after we arrived, reminded me of Tennessee (see first pic). Over 70 fellow sugarcane researchers (geneticists and related disciplines) were at the Workshop from 17 countries. This was Anna's first trip, so now she can finally connect faces with names she is already familiar with.

One of the really neat things that happened at this meeting was that two presentations were given from other countries that I knew I had impacted. One was from the Island of Reunion (France) where I was part of a team of consultants in 1984. At that time, we strongly recommended that sugarcane seedlings be evaluated across the extreme range environments that sugarcane was grown on the Island, and not at just one location. Another recommendation we gave was that modifications be made to their breeding facility to assure better flowering, allowing for a wider range of crosses to be made. The thrust of the Reunion presentation at this workshop was that the number of advanced clones with commercial potential had increased greatly as a result of following our recommendations. The two young scientists from Reunion seemed thrilled to meet me, as I was one of the members of the 1984 consulting group. The other presentation I had an impact on was from South Africa. The South Africans adopted single-stalk small pot culture of plants used on crossing carts (as opposed to air-layering stalks of plants in a large container) following my presentation in a similar Workshop held in South Africa six years ago. They reported that small-pot culture proved to be far more efficient and less labor intensive than their old method, and that the number of flowers they annually achieve has remained constant.

The Workshop went from Monday through Friday (Aug 17-21). On Wednesday, we visited Australia's premier sugarcane breeding station located just south of Brisbane and saw their photoperiod and crossing facilities. We also went to a variety yield trial, and learned more about how selection and yield testing is done in Australia.

Following the Workshop, Anna and I spent a full day taking in the Outer Great Barrier Reef (stopping for 2-hrs at Green Island), then a second day going north as far as Cape Tribulation, returning by way of the Atherton Tableland above the Cairns coastal region, stopping briefly to take in the famed Barron Falls at Kuranda. Our final day was spent in Cairns, where we did some shopping for gifts before returning home. Thankfully, our return home was without incident.

Report on our 4th of July Tennessee Trip

This was our second trip to Sewanee Village and our property in Tennessee. Judy posted pictures that we took during this trip (1-45) together with the previous trip (46-85) on her Shutterfly site. We left at 2:00 a.m., in order to reach our desination by noon and thereby meet with a TDEC representative to get a septic tank permit. It turns out that the man never showed up that day, so our very early start was all for naught. He was going to be out of town for the next two weeks, so this was a disappointment. But, we took advantage of the extra time we had, and were ultimately able to do some tree clearing with a brand new chainsaw that Judy had gotten a good deal on. It took me a little while to get used to the chainsaw. I got a good work out, and we were able to indicate with land clearing and a blue ribbon that I happened to have, where we wanted our future house to be. As things turned out, a different TDEC representative showed up while we were temporarily away, and he prepared a septic tank design based on where we had indicated we wanted the house, and signed off on the septic tank permit, so all ended well. We camped at a campsite in Monteagle, TN, not the greatest but at least reasonably close to our property.

We spent basically two days on the road looking at modular homes. We actually visited a site in Pulaski, TN (Modular One) where modular homes were being built. The assembly line production of these homes was impressive indeed. There is no doubt that modular homes are very well built...certainly up to the standards of a regular home...and beyond. We spent a good two hours the following day talking to a modular home dealer in McMinnville, TN referred by Fred Day of Modular One. This lady was very thorough in trying to determine exactly what we wanted in our home. Judy liked a certain design from another modular home builder, so the lady worked from that plan, modifying it according to our needs and wants. We would like to have a basement, so that had to be worked into the plan (location of stairway, etc.).

On our travel to McMinnville via Manchester, we quickly realized why this area is considered one of the most important in the country for the growing of landscape trees and shrubs. Landscape nurseries were everywhere, and they were unbelievably large and emaculate. We were told that the nursery business in this area is a $500,000,000 business. We actually stopped at a research facility in McMinnville that houses researchers from Tennessee State University and USDA scientists from the U.S. National Arboretum (Wash. D.C.) that use McMinnville as a worksite. The few scientists who were there on Thursday were busy with last-minute reports and getting ready for the 4th of July holiday, so we weren't able to get the usual tour.

We returned to Monteagle from McMinnville along a very scenic route (Hwy 56) that took us through a town called Altamont. The name is so strange for me to hear, because I attended Altamont Elementary and High School in Altamont, Utah. Altamont, TN has the distinction of having the largest concentration of Latter-day Saints of any town east of the Mississippi River. Apparently, even to this day, a majority of the population in the town is LDS (so we were told), though there are a lot of inactives. We took a picture of a historical LDS building that was right in town. There is even an older historical building. Apparently, the modern chapel is on a different highway, not Hwy. 56, explaining why we didn't see it. Ironically, if we lived on the other side of the Sewanee Creek that borders on the development, we would be in Altamont Ward in a different Stake, and be in a different temple district (Nashville, not Atlanta).

The Miller Family went all out to have a great 3rd Annual 4th of July Event. On the 3rd, Judy and I followed a trail built down to Sewanee Creek about 400 feet below the development area. In the evening, we watched two movies at the ampitheatre that has been built in the development. It made for a long evening, but both movies were impressive, one entitled "The Power of Community-How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" about how Cuba's population coped with the severe reduction of petroleum in their lives in the post-USSR era (something we can learn from in our future... remembering that petroleum is NOT a renewable resource), the other a musical film entitled 1776, which I thought was extremely well done and appropriate for the occasion. I was getting very tired at the end. On the 4th, Grant Miller brought in a terrific band, who performed for a smattering of guests at the ampitheatre. Unfortunately, we missed the band, because we were anxious to take advantage of what little time we had to clear our property. We had a potluck barbeque to which Judy prepared dutch oven cooked chicken and cherry dump cake. Both were big hits. We had fireworks and another movie on the 4th, which we weren't able to stay for because we had gotten too tired. We went to church on Sunday and enjoyed the afternoon with the Millers with leftovers from the potluck. The Millers were great hosts for us throughout our second trip here. The weather held up through most of the week...until the late evening on the 4th, at which point we had already retired to bed. We really enjoyed our second trip, and look forward to returning to prepare to build our future home in a beautiful part of Tennessee.

Traveling to Tennessee over the 4th of July

Tomorrow, we will be traveling to Tennessee to join in the 3rd Annual Independence Day Celebration at the Village on Sewanee Creek. This trip will also give us some time to familiarize ourselves with the property we purchased in the Village, and take the necessary steps toward the eventual building of our future home there. We will give a detailed report on our trip after we return on the 6th of July. I borrowed the above picture from the Photo Gallery of the Sewanee Creek website. Credit: Grant Miller.

Are you kidding! Retiring in Tennessee?

That's right, it looks like we are going to be doing exactly that...retiring in Cumberland region of Tennessee. Judy and I have just made a committment to purchase property at the Sewanee Creek development that we visited a few days ago (see April 14 blog) on the outskirts of Tracy City. We fell in love with the area and have confidence in the Millers and the vision they have for the development. We are excited about relocating there. We decided to go with modest piece of property within the development, which will still give us more land than we have ever owned before in our lives. Here is a map of the development and our location within the development. We purchased Lot #12 (1.4 acres) at the bottom of the map. It's shape is something akin to the squared off end of a thumb nail. Once you blow up the map, you can see that there is an access road that runs through our property, allowing the timber company that owns the timber behind us, access to their timber. Our future home will likely be on the right side of, and not too far from the access road. The location centrally locates us within the development, not too far from the community garden site and a future pavilion and amphitheatre. There are many unknowns at this point, including exactly when we will start building, when we will actually retire, and so on. But we will keep our blog readers posted as this new chapter in our life begins to unfold. The picture of me at the beginning of this blog entry was actually taken by Judy on Lookout Mountain above Chattanooga, though the scenery is strikingly similar to where we will be living.

Report on our Tennessee Trip

I am happy to report that our trip went largely without incident, though we had a few "interesting" moments, weather related. It took us about 9 hours to get to our campground next to Nickajack Lake from Houma. The campground was sandwiched between a freeway and a railroad, but a nice enough location on its own merits, not far from the lake. Thursday evening it rained very hard, and our camper met the test, staying completely dry inside.

On Friday, we spent the better part of the day at our ultimate destination, which was to check out lots on the property of Grant Miller, who we met online. Grant and his wife, Becky, live near Tracy City, and have purchased about 750 acres of pristine land in the Cumberland region of Tennessee, of which 500 acres cannot be further developed. They are developing 30 acres for themselves, and have subdivided another 70 acres into 18 lots of varying sizes (2-7 acres) under the name, Sewanee Creek. Their vision is to emphasize self sustainability and "green" in the development of these lots and are looking specifically for people who have the same vision. We enjoyed our visit with them, and they seemed happy to spend whatever time . We expected to see much more building and activity occurring than what we saw, which was a bit disconcerting.

We visited the neighboring towns of Monteagle and Sewanee. As we approached Monteagle, we stopped at a National Park site to get a better understanding of the Cumberland region. Immediately after going inside the building, fierce winds and strong rains followed by marble-sized hail descended on us. It got very dark, even though it was around 2:00 p.m. The lady hosting us told us that we were under a tornado warning; she was obviously anxious about what was going on outside. We were very thankful to be inside a sturdy building. We later learned that a very damaging tornado hit the city of Murfreesboro, only 50 miles away, during this period. We visited The University of the South in Sewanee, a well-endowed university, with impressive buildings on the campus, and tough admission standards. They are able to attract the likes of T. Boone Pickens, who will be talking about energy on their campus tomorrow.

On Saturday, we went toward Chattanooga with the intent of visiting one of the many caves in the region. We ended up going to the top of Lookout Mountain that overlooks Chattanooga. There, we visited Ruby Falls and Rock City, both of which were well worth visiting. Ruby Falls has a spectacular waterfall at the end of the cave to climax the whole experience, and Rock City is literally a city of gigantic boulders with crevices between boulders that one can barely fit through, creating the effect of a City of Rocks with avenues and streets. The owners have built overpasses, underpasses, and hanging bridges on the massive boulders, have added overhangs and waterfalls, gardens and trees, strategically placed gnomes and elves, and other features to make for an incredible experience.

>>>>>On Sunday, we visited the South Pittsburg, TN branch that the Millers attend. They meet in a Phase I building (like Julie's and Matt's). They were very happy that Judy was there to play the piano. In fact, after the 3-hour block, some of the members gathered around the piano, mostly young women, and encouraged Judy to keep playing hymns so that they could keep singing. It was really a cool experience.

>>>>> After church, we returned to Overlook Mountain, to learn more about its significance in relation to the Civil War. There are only four Civil War military battlefields that have been preserved like the Chickamauga/Chattanooga, the other three being at Gettysburg, PA; Shiloh, TN; and Vicksburg, MS. All four were pivotal to the outcome of the Civil War.

>>>>>Sunday evening into Monday morning, strong winds kept pounding us, making me wonder at certain times if we might get flipped over. Apparently, there were reports of gusts that exceeded 60 mph in the area. Monday, we returned home, encountering some heavy rain in Mississippi. We learned that there were more devastating tornadoes in the general region over the weekend. It was a fun trip, and we definately learned more about the camper, and a few things we need to do between now and the next trip, whenever and where ever that will be.

Preparing for a Tennessee adventure

From April 9-12, we will be camping in Tennessee next to Nickajack Lake which is just west of Chattanooga. This will give us our first opportunity to test out our pop-up camper that we bought a few months ago. It's a Fleetwood Westlake in the Fleetwood Destiny Series. This website gives you a look at its floorplan. Judy bought me a very nice compact digital camera, so I will learn how to use it and hopefully bring back some nice pics of Tennessee.

Back from North Carolina

I went to the SAS Institute to learn more about SAS programming, and statistical applications relevant to the type of research I am involved in. It was a whirlwind trip, but, on the whole, well worth the experience for me. Compared to other class members, it became quickly obvious that I was at a huge disadvantage in knowing almost nothing about programming in SAS. My only saving grace was that I have had a lot of statistical training in graduate school many moons ago, back when we had to do all of our calculations by hand, which meant that we really had to know our stuff.

On the programming side, my experience was something like walking in to a second year language course without having taken the first year course. I winged it the best I could, but when we did the exercizes, even though I knew what was going on from the statistical side, I was hopeless in trying to plug in the proper commands, because I was completely unfamiliar with the syntax. The teacher let me go to the answer pages, and type out the answers, with the hope that I could get something from the experience of typing out the commands. I was strongly encouraged to come back and take their Programming I course. Fat chance that will ever happen. However, there is a remote chance that I will be supported in doing some self-tutoring on line.

During the training, I was intrigued by how much homage was paid to the one of the original founders and current CEO of SAS, Jim Goodnight, who is generally regarded as the wealthiest man in North Carolina. It sort of reminded me of when I worked at Walmart...all the stuff we learned about Sam Walton. Apparently, SAS is one of those rare companies that has made a point of taking care of its employees through the years, and this has paid off handsomely for the company. I asked how their company was coping with the economic downturn, because financial institutions are among their bread-and-butter clients. They apparently made the decision to put everyone's salary on hold for the time being, as opposed to laying anyone off. Nobody was complaining. They are all glad to have their jobs. The campus (Training center: Bldg F) is large and very attractive, nestled in the pines. Cary, NC has grown enormously and now exceeds 120,000 in population...and being the bedroom community that it is for the Raleigh/Durham area, doesn't even have a downtown...so I was told. The percent of people living there that have advanced degrees is probably as high as any location of its size in the U.S. All in all, I was quite happy to have had the experience, and the greater exposure to SAS and what it has to offer in the way of statistical packages.

100 things I've done

Inspired by someone else's blog with the same title, I decided to jot down 100 things I've done. The blog that inspired me was much more playful and imaginative than mine ended up being. My list was intended more as a collection of random memorable occurrances than of major life-changing events. I'm sure that I could have easily come up with another 100 if I tried, and many of those would have been every bit as memorable as the ones I show here. These are simply the first 100 I happened to have thought of, roughly placed in chronological order. Disclaimer: Hyperlinks are of similar events (not taken by me) and are for effect only.

100 things I've done

1. Grew up in a country town named after a Mormon apostle (Talmage, UT) located at 6,800 ft elevation where it snowed deep enough to obscure fences
2. Went to elementary school in an old two-classroom building
3. Fell on a cement basketball court and got knocked out cold for over an hour
4. Got “chased” up a boat ramp by the first fish I ever caught ‘til I let go of the pole
5. Rode horses bareback for years before ever riding with a saddle
6. Milked a herd of cows every day from age 12 until graduating from high school
7. Watched our herd dog snap its teeth at a fleeing cow and get dragged over 100 yards until it could get its teeth unstuck from the cow’s tail…nearly died laughing
8. Made a pond-worthy flat-bottom boat from a plywood board and two 2x10’s
9. Traveled by horseback, camped, & fished in the High Uinta’s several times
10. Went deer hunting annually with my father during my teen years
11. Hoisted over 10,000 bales of hay one summer on our farm
12. Got blue ribbons at our county fair for vegetables I raised in our home garden
13. Went to Boys State at USU (Logan, UT)
14. Pole vaulted on my high school track and field team
15. Got pinned in a high school wrestling match in under 10 seconds
16. Won the right to challenge our principal in a ping pong match at a high school student body assembly only to get nearly skunked at the event
17. Learned that JFK was assassinated while in a history class in high school
18. Played baritone sax from 6th through 11th grade
19. Played trombone for 1 year in a dance band while a senior in high school
20. Had only one date in high school…and it was traumatic!
21. Listened to Jimmy Dean live at our HS Senior Trip to Salt Lake City
22. Picked Concord grapes for Welch’s in western New York for a day
23. Attended the Washington D.C. Temple ground breaking ceremony as an LDS missionary
24. In shop class at BYU, replaced the rings in the motor of my brother’s Grand Prix Pontiac
25. Bought a souped-up ’67 Pontiac GTO as my first car purchase…no regrets
26. Watched man’s first step on the moon at the BYU de Jong Concert Hall
27. Was best man at two weddings during my college years
28. Took karate while at BYU until injuring my neck in a diving accident
29. Did my personal best in golf by several strokes with a neck brace on
30. Scored a personal best of 177 in bowling
31. Pruned cherry trees in Payson, Utah
32. Honeymooned in a teepee-shaped motel room on the Ute Indian reservation
33. Harvested wild rice in a canoe in Minnesota with Judy
34. Visited a brewery in St. Paul, MN while on the barley project in graduate school
35. Got a PhD without ever taking a language course in school…regretfully
36. Watched humpback whales breach and sea turtles body surf in Hawaii
37. While snorkeling at 12’ depth, watched a friend spear octopus and fish
38. Saw lava flowing from the Pu’u O’o vent in Volcano NP from a helicopter
39. Watched the sun come up at the rim of Haleakala on Maui
40. Witnessed a near-total solar eclipse on Oahu on 11 July 1991
41. Walked on the Kalapana Black Sand Beach before and after lava reclaimed it
42. Ran a quarter marathon on Oahu (team’s time: 3:16)
43. Climbed Olomana on the Island of Oahu solo on a New Years Eve
44. Participated in deafening New Year’s fireworks displays on Oahu
45. Slept family of six in a VW pop-up EuroVan for two months camping in Europe
46. Visited Paris, London, Madrid, Munich, Cologne, and Rotterdam with my family
47. Ate dinner with a French family in Montpellier France on our Anniversary
48. Took an overnight train to Venice Italy from Austria and rode in a gondola
49. Visited a cheese factory in Gruyere, Switzerland
50. Climbed part way up the Matterhorn from Zermatt, Switzerland
51. Took a tram to Gimmelwald and a ski lift above Grindelwald in Switzerland
52. Went to the Netherlands with Judy to interview for an Oregon-based breeding position; stayed in Amsterdam and circled around the Ijsselmeer region afterward
53. Visited sugarcane collections in Miami, FL; Kannur, India; & Camamu, Brazil
54. Ate an Indian dinner with our fingers (no utensils) in Coimbatore, India
55. Visited a Michelin rubber plantation in tropical Brazil
56. Went on a sugarcane collecting expedition in Indonesia
57. Visited a cacao plantation while on the Island of Sumatra
58. Traveled over water on a hydrofoil from Sumatra to Java passing by Krakatoa
59. Visited a tea plantation in Bogor, Island of Java, Indonesia
60. Traveled by foot over the Island of Halmahera surviving on coconut milk
61. Drove from Johannesburg to Durban with a fellow sugarcane breeder
62. Had a private pristine beach to ourselves (two scientists) in Fiji for a day
63. Was served kava kava in a coconut shell in Fiji and felt my mouth go numb
64. Ascended la Roche Ecrite on the Island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean
65. Took two sets of Vietnamese refugees into our home while in Hawaii
66. Had four exchange students live with us while in Utah
67. Picked huckleberries with family in Idaho’s mountains
68. Hugged a koala bear in Australia
69. Visited a coffee plantation in Costa Rica
70. Ascended to the top of Mt. Timpanogos (UT) with Neal
71. Failed to reach the top of King’s Peak two separate times because of weather
72. Visited 25 National Parks and hope to visit more
73. Helped found the Hawaii Tropical Flower and Foliage Association (HTFFA)
74. Started a successful business and had it shut down by a former employer
75. Was the star witness in a successful lawsuit against another former employer
76. Logged 110 hours work one week while working at Walmart & Quality Inn part-time and Twinlab full-time after returning to Utah from Hawaii
77. Never went snow skiing in Utah…until after returning from Hawaii
78. Never surfed in Hawaii…unless body surfing counts
79. Caught a 41 lb redfish in Louisiana
80. Took a cruise to Alaska through the Inside Passage with Judy
81. Saw glaciers calving at very close range (Harvard & Aialik Glaciers)
82. Had dinner with Judy in a revolving restaurant above Niagara Falls
83. Got stung by a Portuguese Man O’War jellyfish
84. Visited the Smithsonian Institution museums in Washington D.C.
85. Went to the top of the Washington Monument in D.C.
86. Went to the top of the Empire State Building in New York City
87. Went to the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis
88. Sang in a barbershop choir
89. Listened to the Utah Symphony Orchestra play Christmas music in the Tabernacle
90. Visited historic LDS Church sites at Nauvoo, IL; Kirtland, OH; and Palmyra, NY
91. Conducted three funerals in our local church unit while bishops were out of town
92. Witnessed a real life bank robbery shoot out (crook vs. police) in Cheyenne, WY
93. Survived 8 hurricanes (Iwa, Iniki, Isidore, Lili, Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike)
94. Participated in the cleanup in and around New Orleans after Katrina
95. Went to a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans (Krewe of Endymion)
96. Was once on the lead boat in the annual shrimp boat blessing event in Chauvin, LA
97. Took up kayaking after getting a kayak for Christmas a year ago
98. Married a partner who is far stronger spiritually than myself
99. Raised four terrific children…Judy gets the lions share of the credit
100. Started my own blog
     

Perhaps I will create a list 100 things I've would still like to do

Annual Crop Science Meeting and Megan's surgery

Last week, I was in Houston for the 2008 Joint Annual Meeting of the following societies: ASA, CSSA, SSSA, GSA, GCAGS, and HGS. Don't worry, I don't know what at least two of these acronyms stand for either. The one I am most closely affiliated with is the CSSA or Crop Science Society of America. What was different about this year is that we linked up with the GSA (Geological Society of America) and the GCAGS and HGS, whatever they stand for. Check out the links at the above website, if curious. It was fun to see some new and different booths for a change. I got a little carried away at all the exhibitor booths selling rocks and gems, and ended up buying perhaps more than I should have. I was invited to be a Symposium speaker at one of the sessions this year, which was a first for me, and probably the last. No surprise...the topic had to do with energy cane.

Also, this week was eventful in our family in that our granddaughter, Megan had her first surgery (Bertasso Blogsite: October 10, 2008 entry) to correct her cleft lip and palate. It sounds like the surgery went as smoothly as could be expected. Matt and Julie's blogsite relate their experience, and of course with some great pictures. Matt's mom came out to baby sit during the surgery period and will be with the family for another week to help out.

From vacation to hurricane watch

Judy and I just completed a two week vacation out west (Utah and Idaho), which explains the blog break. Judy went on to Indiana to spend a few days with Julie, Matt and our grandchildren. As it turns out, her decision to extend her stay away from Houma couldn't have been more timely. As everyone knows by now, we in southern Louisiana have the eminent threat of a hurricane (Gustav) to contend with. Terrebonne Parish may have a mandatory evacuation in effect by noon Saturday. Terrebonne Parish is one of the most vulnerable counties/parishes in the U.S. to storm surge, which is the result of being on the bad side of a hurricane coming through. To illustrate, though Katrina was much closer to Houma exactly three years ago to the day, it was Rita that did by far the most damage because of the extensive flooding that resulted from storm surge. We are even more vulnerable now than before Rita, and this one could be closer, so a lot of local people are getting very nervous. Good thing Judy bought me a kayak last Christmas. And just think, Judy and I were picking wild huckleberries in Idaho's mountains near Cascade (where Judy grew up) with hurricanes being the last thing on our minds on Monday this week. What a change!

Preserving Crop Diversity

I just returned from my trip to Colorado. The meeting I attended with the other Crop Germplasm Committee Chairs was quite enlightening...much more so than the previous one I attended two years ago. Considerable emphasis was placed on maintaining crop germplasm in collections around the country, and making the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) system that describes all of this germplasm more user friendly to those who have a vested interest in it. The GRIN system will be completely overhauled over the next few years, and will become the gold standard for describing germplasm in collections throughout the world. When the overhaul is completed, GRIN will become "GRIN Global." In the USA, within the National Plant Germplasm System, there are several locations where the USDA-ARS maintains collections, each location emphasizing those crop species that make the most sense for that particular location. The National Seed Storage Laboratory that we had the opportunity to take a tour of, which is located on the CSU Campus in Ft. Collins, is all about long-term storage at very cold temperatures. You may be aware of an ambitious effort to preserve germplasm in the event of a doomsday scenerio in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault located in a remote part of Norway above the Artic Circle. This project, which is under the auspices of the Global Crop Diversity Fund, was recently reported on by CBS (60 Minutes, see expandable 12-minute video which the Global Crop Diversity Fund website links to). The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributed to this project in a substantial way, as did some other organizations. As a side note, it is actually rather startling how much money this Foundation has contributed toward agricultural research, such as the $26.8 million it is giving Cornell University to find resistance to a very threatening wheat rust disease that has potentially devastating consequences on the world food supply, considering wheat's amazingly large role toward feeding mankind. It was pointed out at the meeting that the USDA-ARS often does not get the recognition it deserves in preserving the wide diversity of seed that it has historically preserved. We probably need to make ourselves more visible. If we feel we are underfunded, we have a responsibility to make the public more aware of what we have accomplished in the way of preserving germplasm, and communicating our needs to those who can make a difference.