BenSpark Family Adventures

This is an entry that I am making on my IPAQ. I am on my way home from LA in seat 17B of an American Airlines flight. Let me say first off that American Airlines is nothing like Jet Blue. For one thing American Airlines overbooks customers on old crampy buses of the sky. The Jet Blue planes are newer, cleaner and have better, wider seats. Those would really come in handy at this moment. I’m a bit squished and wet (I spilled my drink, first time ever), but luckily my headache is gone. Today after a great breakfast, Peter and I headed to the Simi Valley to see The Ronald Reagan Library. It was a trip across the LA highways with more cars and lanes that I have ever seen. I have to apologize to Peter for the constant ‘inertia’ of my brake foot. We got to the Ronald Reagan Library around 10:00am. Have you ever seen a kid entering Disney World for the first time? That would be Peter’s reaction at seeing the library. His eyes lit up like a hundred Christmas Trees. And me being the dutiful She...

Today I got to demonstrate Blood Bank and Pathology at a hospital in LA. It was surreal. I am going to become the master of the 20 minute Blood Bank demo. Because that is just what I had to do again today. It was crazy. Peter started off the morning and did LIS, Lab and Micro and the lab director was like, “What else you got.” And Peter told him that we had BBK and PTH to do. He then said he had to go to his office to see if there was something that he needed to get done. So we though that he was going to check his schedule and come back. One hour later he blew in with a pathologist in tow and we were off and running. I did pathology first and then it was 3:41PM and the director asked what was left and I said blood bank. He asked if we could be done by 4:00. I said 4:00, sure thing. And I buzzed right through the BBK demo, hitting the highlights and squealing the tires round the corners. It was very interesting. After we were finished the group headed to Hermosa Beach to Sharkeez for a...

This week I have been back out on the road. I am travelling with Peter for the week. We’ve already been to South Bend, Dallas and now we are in LA. We went from snow to 40 degrees to bright and sunny weather and highs in the 80’s. It has been a cross country whirlwind week and I have really enjoyed it. Although we did get a flight cancelled and got a little lost in Dallas we did catch our LA flight by the skin of our teeth. So things are going well. I even got to demo today. Its a little different than my last job and I like it alot. And tomorrow I’m going to demo again and tomorrow night I’m catching a comedy show with Uncle Jim. On Friday I’ll be going to the Regan library. Pictures to follow.

On Sunday January 9, 2005 was the Disney Half-Marathon. The buses started running at 3:00am to bring folks from their hotels to the Epcot parking lot. Tara, Erik, Beth and Missy and I headed over around 3:30am. I had already decided that I would walk the race route. I figured that since I walked all those training days with Allison over the summer and never had any problems with distance that 13 miles wouldn’t be that bad. Well, when you training consists of long walks with no time limits then you really don’t get a great sense of how fast you can actually walk. I apparently don’t walk as fast as I thought I did. The race started at 6:00am and I was in Corral M with Uncle Wayne and Aunt Cindy and Aunt Connie and Cousin Erin. The race started and they were off like a shot, weaving through the mass of people with ease. I tried to keep up for the first mile or so, keeping them in my line of vision. Unfortunately I did not hydrate in a proper manner, I overhydrated and stopped at the first...

Here are the photos I’ve been promising. Erik, Tara, Missy and Beth on Race Day Allison at the Living Seas. Fish are Friends, not food. Drew at the Living Seas. Munch, Munch Us at Epcot, in Japan Allison’s Birthday Dessert at the Coral Reef Restaurant Allison on our Last Day at the Pop Century. Us at the Airport on our last day. Dad enjoying his Christmas Gift a Harley Heritage Softtail. Dino Driving Allison. Dino Driving Drew, are we there yet? Mom and Dad at the Tree of Life in Animal Kingdom. Us at the Tree of Life after we caught up with Mom and Dad. The Rockin’ Roller Coaster entrance. Some experiments with the night mode of the camera.

This morning Allison and I had dinner with James and Danielle and Ken and Alicia. We went to the buffet that is put on by the Raddison Hotel at the Center of New Hampshire. And there just happened to be a bridal show there. So Marcia came and got Allison and 1:00 and I headed off to shop at Target. But during our brunch with everyone I asked James and Ken if they would be groomsmen in my wedding. Thus rounding out the bridal party. Allison can now breathe a sign of relief. I am very happy to have James and Ken share in our wedding. Both are great friends from back in the days when I worked at Saint A’s and I miss spending time with them very much. So now I have to get on the ball and get some tuxes picked out.

On Saturday January 8th, Allison and I along with my Mom and Dad and Tara and Erik headed to the Disney MGM Studios. We arrived at the park and had a little trouble with our tickets but it was worked out quickly. Then we used the photopass to get some group shots in front of the sorcerer’s hat that is the focal point of the MGM Studios. The photographer ended up being from Attleboro and Mom got his life’s story before we made our way over to see the Drew Carey Sounds Dangerous show. This show took place in mostly total darkness or at least it should have but people are illiterate and signs don’t apply to them. Prior to the show messages tell you that the show takes place in total darkness for 7 minutes or so. If your child cannot take 7 minutes of darkness, guess what, not the show for them to see. Step out of line and ride the teacups. So during the show there were two little kids in front of us who were using cell phones as light sources and it really detracted from the enjoyment of ...