I am so glad to be home, this was a long trip. I basically got home today since it was such a late flight I slept so much this morning, it felt nice. I woke up with a slight headache, but not too bad.
Paul and Carlos will be out today, but I think it is going to rain all day. Hopefully it holds out a bit.
I played with the puppies several times, they acted like they could not get enough We played in the breaks of rain showers.
The boys brought over fried chicken so that is what we had for lunch and dinner. Lazy Tomorrow we MUST cook our own food because I am sick of eating out.
Tomorrow is going to be a busy one because today was so lazy!! Ha ha ha, worth it
Last night I went to sleep with a horrible headache and it is still very bad this morning. I ran out of medicine last night and didn’t think much of it, well – bad idea
I called in the prescriptions this morning at like 04:00.
I went to the store before going to work, it was like 15 minutes the other way so I didn’t get to F Tower until like 09:30. My headache is still very bad. I hope it clears up soon!
Alright, now I am at the Detroit airport and I still have a headache… This is horrible.
So, I decided yesterday that I was going to leave my current employer because I feel very unappreciated. I don’t ask for much and when I do it must be important and they just refused to work with me so here we go on a new adventure Not sure where I am going yet, but all I know is that I am going to be better off and happier!! Let’s GO!!!!
First, something I forgot to mention that happened the other day, I spilled an entire cup of water on my Macbook! Luckily everything is fine, but I had a slight heart attack as I watched the water covering my keyboard. Oh yeah, my phone was soaked too, but it is NOTHING compared to the computer!
Now, for the rest of the story
F Tower. I walk up to this old brick building in the middle of no less than 4 sets of tracks (not sure the exact count). I see in the upper left corner a simple monogram in stone weathered from all the years of service F. We go into the door and you can smell the age of wires and equipment that has been running for so many years. I am there no more than 5 minutes and the amazement and terror of this location is realized, a huge freight train blows by the building at maximum track speed. The entire building shakes and you realize that you are at the absolute mercy of the railroad!!!
Ok, that’s my shot at a dramatic writing style But seriously, I have been scared – legitimately frightened over only two things in my career and I have experienced BOTH in the last 2 years. The first is high railing over a bridge and the second is being inside F Tower. High railing for those who don’t know is when you ride in a vehicle, truck, on the tracks. The thing about the railroads is that a train isn’t like a car and it doesn’t need guardrails for bridges. It can’t accidentally veer off to the right and need a guardrail to keep it above the water. It is very scary to ride over a bridge – especially one of any height
Now for the second, F Tower. You may not have ever heard of Fostoria, Ohio, but “railroad” people have. it is a very busy area for trains and there are multiple railroads crossing each other and while it is not the fastest speeds, it is fast enough for such tight spaces. There is a place you can see from F Tower that is called The Iron Triangle where railroad watchers go to take train pictures and just watch the trains go by. It is kinda a big deal
Anyway, this place is actually one of the first projects I worked on when I started in the business. I started in 1996 and we did this job in 1998. It is nice because I am a month away from my 20 year anniversary being a railroader. I think it is kinda cool
This morning on the way to the office, we had a little bit of extra time so we had breakfast at this diner in town called Dell’s. It’s been here for 75 years!! It was probably the best biscuit and gravy I have ever had, and I have a recipe y’all!!!
Then I worked all day helping get this location all right. It’s not that it was wrong, but because it is so big and complicated it needed to have some special attention to organize it a little better.
We had lunch in town at a Chinese place, not great, and back to work I got back to the hotel, grabbed me some Subway and watched all my YouTube people and now I am in bed doing this
I am going to wrap it up though because I haven’t managed to find a new book yet and I have a long flight tomorrow.
Enjoy the pics and see you tomorrow 😉
Looking from the tower.Another set of tracks.The F stands for Fostoria (dirty minds)This is an old set of plans!I drew this whole sketch.Proof – DRS in the house I
What a great place! This place has so much personality it is just amazing. The walls are filled with old lunch boxes and thermos' - old weird ones too :)
It has been open here for 75+ years and has a great feel when you walk in. Not to mention the food was excellent. I had the biscuit and gravy and some eggs. It was a huge serving size, but I bet a lot of people eat every bit. I ate a whole biscuit and got into the second one. The biscuits were so soft and perfect texture and the sausage was not too spicy and just good. The gravy was not as white as you normally see, but it had no bad impact on the experience. I can't get over how good it was. The best I have ever had - ever!
I will most certainly go here if I am back this way. I am really debating on going back again tomorrow :)
Today is the last day for training here in Indianapolis. I am finished with the morning class and as soon as I finish the afternoon one I will be off on the road trip
I got me some coffee this morning, they do pretty good here – almost like a real Starbucks. I am about to grab me another muffin!!!
I have like a 3.5 hour drive this afternoon so I am hoping to get out of here before 14:00. I really don’t wanna be on the road in the dark, but it has actually been very light here until like 21:00. Must be a Yankee thing ha ha ha.
Just after I get done raving about the food here and lunch was a real miss… It was just not great. oh well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad
I have just one more demo to give and then hitting the road. Gonna meet one of the managers at the hotel and then we will go get this location straightened out. I will talk more about it tomorrow, but where I am going today is one of the first real big projects I ever worked on in the railroad. Memories
Made it to Findlay!! Going to go out to dinner with the manager here and then going to go to bed! I am still feeling a bit bad, nowhere near as bad as the beginning of the week, but the drive did feel very long.
Alright, we had some seafood which was very good. I have had crab cakes more in these last couple months then ever! Very good though. Going to bed – goodnight
Cool church by where we ate.Bobby photo bomb!Where we ate, Bru Burger – very good.Dancing girl – should have done video very random.
Bru Burger Bar
410 Massachusetts Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46204
I had the Beginning Burger and it was great!! It was just a regular burger with american cheese and normal lettuce, tomato, and pickle toppings. The buns were very tasty and the fries were very crispy and perfectly cooked.
They had a ton of interesting combinations on the menu and everyone who was with me there also enjoyed their food. They got nachos for an appetizer, but it had jalapeños so I didn't have any.
Great service as well and a nice clean restaurant. There was a bit of a line when we got there but the wait was about 15 minutes. Not bad at all.
If I come back here and have the chance to go out for dinner I will certainly keep this place in mind!!
The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America's Most Famous Residence
Robert Klara
Thomas Dunne Books
October 22, 2013
Kindle
382
This book was excellent! I hardly put it down since I started reading it. It is an amazing story about how dilapidated the White House was after WWII. It shows just how real the troubles were and how stressful the wars were.
Truman had a hard decision to rebuild the entire house, but he pushed through it and now our president still lives at the same address. If he hadn't we would have lost this house forever. It is true that there is not a lot of original items in the house, but now, it doesn't seem to take away from the home. People in the 50s may have been bothered by it, but today most people don't even know it was rebuilt.
The only downfall of this book is the lack of pictures. Since I was reading it on Kindle, I am not holding that against it as the hard copy might have more pictures. Great quick read!
So the website has been down for a while now. I am writing this on Wednesday so it’s a bit of a recap
Yesterday the classes went well. I am still not feeling great – very snotty. I think I am going to grab some over the counter stuff tonight to help dry out.
This hotel has good food – probably the best from any like buffet that I have had. We had meatloaf, yummy.
We went to a place called Bru Burger Pub – really good burger. It was so good I was so stuffed, but I wanted to finish it! It was downtown and Indy has a nice downtown
Paul and Samantha went to the house today so that is nice. The parents lost the remote and Samantha found it. I was just happy that Nickel didn’t get it again
This morning was a bit hard to get moving. I have wrecked my lips by being a mouth breather and my nose is killing me with these harsh tissues! I am in the class now, they are working on something else. The talk went well this morning, have another one this afternoon. I don’t suspect I will have very many questions but we will see.
They have really good muffins here I had 2
I did my expenses from the beginning of the year – we will see if I can get paid for them. I can see them being upset with me for not turning them in during the month they were for.
I am kinda just waiting on lunch
Lunch was really good. This hotel, the Crown Plaza at the airport, really does good work on the food offered – snacks and meals. I guess CSX does a lot of business here and I can see why.
I finished my afternoon session and it went really well. Had a bit more interest with this group
My co-workers are going out for dinner, I am so unsure if I want to go. I feel bad and want to go to sleep – ugh! I just don’t know. I was able to make my flight changes to come home on Friday and so I will be leaving here and driving to Fostoria Wednesday and then leaving out of Detroit that night. Lots of travel, but the flight home is direct and I am so happy I just can’t stand it
Today is a travel day to Indianapolis, IN. My flight leaves at like 11:45 so I am off to the airport!!
Well, the first flight went alright. My ears didn’t really wanna pop, but I was able to airplane sleep so that was nice. I am sitting in Atlanta now and just waiting for my next flight. I have a bit of time so I am just relaxing.
Sitting in my hotel now – whew, that was a long day of traveling. Not really but being sick has drained me. I stopped at a Subway on the way here and got me a sandwich and I am going to finish it up and go to sleep!
So, I fell asleep last night before I could post this I didn’t get any pics from yesterday so I will make a point to do it today!
I slept so much this morning, it felt nice. I woke up with a slight headache, but not too bad.
