Author: Diana

Day 168 – The Day I Spent in F Tower!!

By Diana

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.
Looking from the tower.
Another set of tracks.
Another set of tracks.
The F stands for Fostoria (dirty minds)
The F stands for Fostoria (dirty minds)
This is an old set of plans!
This is an old set of plans!
I drew this whole sketch.
I drew this whole sketch.
Proof - DRS in the house :) I
Proof – DRS in the house :) I

Dell’s – Fostoria, OH

By Diana
Dell's Book Cover Dell's
224 S Main St, Fostoria, OH 44830

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 :)

Day 167 – The Last Day

By Diana

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!!!

Oh, last night I finished my book, The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America’s Most Famous Residence!! It was very good. I wish it had more pictures, but those are easy enough to google. Very good book!

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.
Cool church by where we ate.
Bobby photo bomb!
Bobby photo bomb!
Where we ate, Bru Burger - very good.
Where we ate, Bru Burger – very good.
Dancing girl - should have done video very random.
Dancing girl – should have done video very random.

Bru Burger Bar – Indianapolis, IN

By Diana
Bru Burger Bar Book Cover 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

By Diana
The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America's Most Famous Residence Book Cover 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!

Day 166 – The Day the Website Was Down

By Diana

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 :)

Alright, gonna start today’s blog :)

Day 165 – Day of Training 1!

By Diana

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 :)

Day 164 – The Travel Day

By Diana

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!

Day 163 – The Day of No Motivation

By Diana

Oh my goodness, I could not get off my booty today…  I don’t know what the heck is wrong, I think it has to do with not feeling great and knowing that I am going out of town for a whole week.  I just got back inside from playing with the puppies and I am really feeling it today.  It is so freakin humid outside I am 100% GROSS when I get back inside, no matter how long I have spent outside.

Paul, Samantha, and Becky all came out today.  I had plans on making Paul go to the grocery store with me, but I just couldn’t get into life today.

I said a while back in my blogs that my hands and feet were itching – I think I did anyway.  So Paul and I were looking the other day and I saw the plant that is getting me itchy.  I will have to get a pic and attach it here in a minute, but it is all over and not always easily visible, but even if it was with the balls rolling and being fuzzy there is no avoiding so I try just not to touch them.  The problem is that Nickel thinks it is a game when I use the thrower to pick up the balls and I end up having to struggle with him for a couple minutes with each ball :)  Also, these tennis balls smell so freakin bad.  Bad, horrible, gross, I don’t like it :)

I am in the middle of packing since about noon. Ha ha ha, I really just need to make it all fit, replenish my shampoo and conditioner and get it done. Luckily it is a bit casual, jeans and t-shirts are fine for the meetings and then I need to bring my PPE in case I go in the field at the second stop. That makes packing a little less stressful.

Sidetrack – I have this desktop that is a time lapse of a train station, viewing the escalator and it is just a cool picture. I really wanna do some stuff like that myself, I just can’t seem to stop being in the moment to do it :) Good and bad I suppose :)

My new book is good so far. I went with the White House one. I am so gross. My feet are black and my hands are too. I am about to wrap this up and go get in the shower. Maybe I will have some ice cream tonight :)

Alright, goodnight and sweet dreams!!

Itchy plant!
Itchy plant!
Nickel waiting for dinner.
Nickel waiting for dinner.
Nickel waiting on Dad to come back with the golf cart!
Nickel waiting on Dad to come back with the golf cart!

Day 162 – The Haircut Day

By Diana

I finished my book!!!! The Romanovs: The Final Chapter, take a peek at my review if you like :)

I took dad to get his hair cut which is kind of like a huge task. First off, I should have taken a picture of his hair because it was out of control! Second, there was another person in there cutting hair, which is nice. Normally the lady is so slow, but like everyone goes to her. I don’t really understand. The second lady cut his hair, after sitting for a while and then realized he wanted a hair cut…

OK, then I am still not 100% and it is bugging the crap out of me. I really feel like I should be all better by now. My ears are still popping a lot when I blow my nose. Goodness.

I took Nickel with me to go get food for dinner, he likes the car a lot. Dad said that Dime was a little distraught when we left, but she will not get in the car. I have played with them and he is his normal evening self, barking in my face to go play. The only problem is that it is about to rain so he is gonna be out of luck.

I will be going to two locations next week, Indianapolis and also Fostoria, Ohio – or someplace close to there. I need to get in touch with my contact to make sure I know where I am going :)

I think I have found the next book I am going to read. I think it is going to be on the Brooklyn Bridge or the White House. For those who do not know, the White House was completely rebuilt during Truman administration. So either would be interesting. Will let you know how it goes :)

I really wish I could figure out how to get Nickel to feel fulfilled in the evening. He is just sitting here barking at me, we go outside, play a little, come back in and eh does the same thing. I don’t know what to do. I took him out again, but he is still very anxious… Wish the pets could talk.

I am going to get something to drink and get in the bed :)

Goodnight all!!!