Cell Phone Lots

Posted June 24, 2014 by joebowker
Categories: Travel
Tags: ,

So you might say, what the hell is a cell phone lot. Perhaps, you have seen a sign for one at the airport. A cell phone lot is a place where you can park for free and wait for someone who is arriving at an airport. They appeared on the scene about 5 years ago.
 
 The concept is simple. You go to the cell phone lot. Sit in your car and wait for the arrival. You tell the person who is arriving to call or text you when they have their luggage and are at the curb, ready to be picked up. Then when you get the call you head out to the terminal and swoop in and load up your arrival and off you go.
 
 This means you don’t have to pay to park and wander around the arrival area looking for your arrival. Hopefully, you do one orbit around the terminal area.
 
 So most airports have cell phone lots. I know for certain there is one at LAX and one at BOS. The one at LAX is across from “Parking Lot C”. While driving north on Sepulveda, stay in the center lane. Follow signs for Parking Lot C. Go past the exit for the terminal then turn right at 98th St. Cell phone lot will be on your left. By this time, you will probably see signs for the Cell Phone Lot. When leaving for the terminal, turn left out of the lot then immediate left turn up the ramp takes you to the terminal. Here’s the map.
 


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LAX

Posted June 23, 2014 by joebowker
Categories: California, Los Angeles, Travel
Tags: , ,

Now I remember why I would rather drive to Salt Lake City. LAX. Daughter in law Theresa drove us to LAX this morning. All went well until we got to the terminals. Creep and beep, stall and crawl, four lanes of traffic doing about 2 mph.
 
 We finally got to terminal 5 for Delta airlines. Got my bag checked. So far so good. Got through security with no problems. I bought an over priced bottle of water for $2.50. Then we headed for the bathrooms. Men’s room was dirty with paper on the floor, one of three urinals stopped up and over flowing. Paula reported that women’s just as bad and worse. Three stalls and line out the door. Paper and sanitary napkins on the floor. What a dump.
 
 Terminal 5 is under construction but still that’s no excuse.
 
 So next we look for some food. All we want is a muffin and cup of coffee. Went to place called Farmer’s Market. No muffins, no scones, yes coffee, but no ice coffee. $13 for two coffees and brownie and pastry. Other restaurants also way over priced. I would be happy with Mickey D’s or BK, not some upscale eatery with high prices and slow service.
 
 They had a display for doggie treats. Paula wanted to get a treat for Beast. Overpriced and under serviced. Had to wait for an eternity to take her money.
 
 Here’s the picture of the doggie stuff. Not worth the wait. Beast ate it but seemed to not care very much.


So finally announced boarding. We had booked first class (I’ll explain that in later post.). So we got on board and the stew brought me a gin and tonic right away. Feeling better already.
 
 So now we are starting descent into SLC after having been properly medicated. Once on the ground, we need to pick up a rent a wreck ( actually the car is pretty nice, new Ford Edge) and off to West Jordan.
 
 Later
 
 
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Location:West Jordan,United States

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Picture of Harold & Mary from 1949

Posted June 21, 2014 by joebowker
Categories: Family, Long Beach
Tags: , , ,

This morning Paula and I were digging through the piles of mail that Mary had saved over the past few months. (She hardly throws any thing out). We found and old photo of Harold and Mary taken in August 1949. It must have been some important occasion. They are all dressed up and the photo was taken by a professional photographer. There is not much to glean from the photo other than the date and location from the back of the folder. Harold and Mary would have been about 25 years when this picture was taken. Needless to say, Paula was at home with her grandma.

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So here is the photo. Harold and Mary are seated on the left. I don’t know who the other two women are. I will ask Mary when I get a chance, but I doubt that she will remember.

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So I wonder what the occasion was? It must have been important. It’s not a birthday or anniversary. I get the feeling that the Wilton Hotel was a pretty fancy place for dinner.

Here’s a couple of pictures of the Wilton Hotel that I found online.

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Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

Posted June 21, 2014 by joebowker
Categories: Music
Tags: , ,

Tonight you’re mine completely
 You give your love so sweetly
 Tonite the light of love is in your eyes
 But will you still love me tomorrow.

 This is opening verse to song “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. It was performed by The Shirelles. Today we mourn the passing of Gerry Goffin. The song writing team of King and Goffin was certainly prolific. Together they produced a huge amount of hits during the 1960’s.
 
 Here’s another song performed by The Drifters called “Up On The Roof“.
 
 

When this old world starts a getting me down
 and people are too much to take.
 I’ll climb right up to the top of the stairs
 and all my cares just drift right into space.

 Here’s a pointer to the obit in the New York Times.
 
 
 
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Good News

Posted June 18, 2014 by joebowker
Categories: Family

We talked with the care planner at Jordan Valley MC. this morning. She told us that Mary is progressing nicely and she expects that she will be discharged next week.
 
 This will work well with our plans to be up in Salt Lake City next week. If all goes well she will fly home with us on Sunday, June 29. We haven’t told her yet. We’ll save that news for next week sometime.
 
 We will check in with the folks at JVMC next week to be sure that we are on track. Then I will make airline reservation for her.
 
 She still needs to see her surgeon sometime next week for his blessing.
 
 Meanwhile, Paula and I have work to do to clean the clutter out of her bath room to make it fall safe.
 
 Stay tuned…
 
 Joe
 
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More on Mary

Posted June 16, 2014 by joebowker
Categories: Family
Tags: ,

Time for an update. Paula spent the last five days up in Salt Lake City tending to her Mother. If you missed the previous posts, she fell and broke her hip this past Wednesday.
 
 She was moved to a rehab wing of the Jordan Valley Medical Center on Monday. She in all likelihood be there for the next four weeks. She getting PT twice a day. She can get up and walk with help of a walker.
 
 I picked up Paula yesterday afternoon at LAX. I was so happy to have her home. I was really missing her. I had made three passes to terminal four before I found her. Usually I hang out in the Cell Phone Lot until she calls or texts me. (The cell phone lot at LAX is across from Parking Lot C. You can wait there for free until your traveller arrives. The idea is that your traveller calls or texts when they are at the curb. ) This time she sent the text a little too soon. Sunday traffic at LAX was crazy.
 
 We went to our son Mike’s house in PV for Father’s Day celebration. Hamburgers, hot dogs and beer. Paula gets down on the floor and plays with Jonathan. Jonathan loves his fire trucks. Jonathan is really good at mugging for the camera.


So, back to Mary. I sense there is a bit of depression setting in. She is wondering whether she would ever get home to LA. We keep telling her to do her exercises and it will happen. She is struggling with what God’s plan for her is. We can’t answer her but to say that it’s not your time yet. Stop obsessing over it. It doesn’t do anyone any good. It just deepens your funk.
 
 Indeed, I remember how I felt after my hip surgery in 2009. All I wanted to do was go home. Sleep in my own bed, etc. Perhaps, I can help her through that knothole. Have to work on the short term goals and the long term goal will take care of itself.
 
 So Paula has a week to recover from the trip before we go back to SLC. I volunteered to go with her on this next trip. I would rather stay home and arrange my sock drawer, but she needs me for support. So the sock drawer will have to wait. So we will be up in SLC for a week. After that, we’ll see.
 
 Neil has volunteered to fly with her back to LA when the time comes. That’s a really good idea. She certainly can’t fly by herself. And it will give us a chance to connect with Neil.
 
 So we went grocery shopping today. There are a few adjustments. First, we are buying only for two not three. Second, we are buying things that Mary really doesn’t like (Pasta, for example). Third, we are not buying things that Mary primarily consumes (eg. White Zin wine, butter milk).
 
 Looking on the bright side, this happened in SLC where we have family that can look after while we are not there. It could just have happened in Las Vegas where we know no one.
 
 That’s enough for now.
 
 TTFN,
 
 Joe
 
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Location:San Pedro, CA

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Sunday

Posted June 8, 2014 by joebowker
Categories: Family, Travel
Tags: , ,

Today is Sunday. It’s been a long week. We’re staying at a Double Tree in Las Vegas. Nice place to stay. No casino. I despise casinos. Too noisy. We’ve stayed here several times. Getting to know the staff, especially the bartender. We leave this morning headed home to LA. I get to blog while Ms Paula is in the shower.
 
 So Mary is doing better. Paula talked to her on the phone yesterday while we were driving south on I15. She seemed to be coherent. They got her out of bed and into the bathroom to toilet. Removed the Foley catheter. That’s probably a requirement to be moved to rehab.
 
 We talked to the Nurse Practitioner. She said her blood counts were a little low. Probably give her a few units of blood. I swear Mary has nine lives. There have been many folks (East coast and West) praying for her. Thank you all for the prayers.
 
 The news form New Orleans is still not good. Paula’s Aunt Donna is near death. She is suffering end stage colon cancer. Not expected to survive the week.
 
 Did I tell you that it is hot here in the desert? The thermometer in the car read 104 when we arrived yesterday afternoon. Peaked out at 109 driving through the desert north of Las Vegas. We have a room overlooking the pool. No one using it. Too hot.
 

 
 We will arrive home this afternoon. Today’s drive is about 300 miles. We filled up our tank in St George yesterday. Once we get into CA the price of gas skyrockets from $3.50 a gallong to about $4.50 a gallon. We’ll probably stop in Barstow at one of the few Dunkin Donuts in CA.
 
 Paula probably will be flying back to SLC on Wednesday. Gives us time to do laundry. Catch up on mail. Get our Rx’s filled, etc. Dinner with Mike, Theresa and Jonathan on Tuesday.
 
 
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Saturday update

Posted June 7, 2014 by joebowker
Categories: Uncategorized

Today is Saturday. We are getting ready to head home. We will do about 450 miles today stopping in hot Las Vegas. The scenery at first is mostly farm and grazing land. As we get to southern Utah and northern Arizona the scenery turn to desert. We go through some beautiful orange cliffs and canyons.
 
 So back to the subject of Mary. We stopped in last night to check on her and talk to the nursing staff. She was resting comfortably. Nurse Brian came in to do vitals and give her evening meds. Ever notice that there are a lot more male nurses these days?
 
 She is at the Jordan Valley Medical Center which is a small community hospital. The facility is fairly new. One idea that I had never seen before is that staff uniforms are color coded. Nurses are navy blue and PT’s are beige. Each room has a picture of the color code map.
 

 We had visited earlier in the day. Around 12:30, we headed up to Ruth’s Diner in Emigration Canyon. Ruth’s is one of favorite places to eat while in Utah. Ruth’s had been reviewed by Guy Fieri on his TV show “Diners, Dives, and Drive-ins. They have garden seating out back is a shaded garden. Always good food.
 
 So after lunch we headed back to West Jordan. The ladies wanted to do some shopping so we headed to the Kohl’s at Jordan Landing. Neil and I found some comfy chairs in the patio furniture department. We made ourselves comfortable while our wives shopped.
 
 Then we did some laundry at Neil’s. Neil had to go to bed, because he was going to be working the graveyard shift. Once laundry done, back to the hospital for a brief visit.
 
 We expect that Mary will be transferred on Sunday or Monday to an acute rehab facility. I expect that Paula will be flying back up to SLC next week for a few days to see how things are going.
 
 We expect that her stay in rehab will be about six weeks. We don’t know how we are going to get her back home to LA. Driving is clearly out of the question. Probably have to fly. We’ll just have to wait and see.
 
 One final comment. Paula’s Aunt Donna who lives in Louisiana (Mary’s Sister-in-Law) is suffering from end stage colon cancer. She is not expected to survive much past the end of the week. We have been in touch with one of Paula’s cousins who had been keeping us updated on Donna’s condition.
 
 That’s all for now.
 
 Joe
 
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One Long Bad Day

Posted June 5, 2014 by joebowker
Categories: Family
Tags: , , ,

Yesterday, was one long damn day. We drove 435 miles and arrived in West Jordan Utah. Downhill from there.
 
 We checked into our hotel and unloaded all of our luggage. Then we went over to Neil’s house. We had a while to wait. Dawn was at the airport picking up her parents. Mary was having her usual glass of White Zin wine. She got up to go to the bathroom.
 
 The bathroom is a small half bath. After she stood up she was trying to straighten up the rug that was somewhat askew. Well she took a fall. We got her up and sat her in a chair with wheels and tried to assess the situation.
 
 She was in a lot of pain, so we called the EMT’s. She was transported to a local ER, where they did X-rays and gave her pain meds. The diagnosis was a fractured left hip.
 
 So then we waited. The orthopedic surgeon was called. ER decided to admit her and ortho would talk with us this morning. Probably surgery sometime this afternoon or evening.
 
 Mary is conscious (never lost consciousness) but very groggy from the pain meds. So we have many questions for the surgeon and hospital. Clearly Mary won’t be able to travel any time soon. We need to figure out how long we will stay up here in Utah. We both only packed meds for a week.
 
 As always prayers are welcome. We will be busy this morning calling her family in Texas and Louisiana. Last night I was busy texting family.
 
 We finally got back to our hotel at 1:30am and to bed.
 
 Update later.
 
 Joe
 
 
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Location:W Center Park Dr,West Jordan,United States

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2 Year Anniversary

Posted May 31, 2014 by joebowker
Categories: Blogging
Tags:

This is my 200th blog post on calherewecome and the 2 year anniversary. Actually, I’m a little bit late on the date. I actually created the blog on May 15, 2012. But who’s counting.

One of my goals for doing the blogs was to create a place that I could use to share my life after retirement. It was (and still is) my goal to be able to reach people who don’t do Facebook. Don’t get me wrong, I like Facebook, but it tends to be a black hole were your memories go to die. Try and find something you did or said from 2-3 years ago.

Facebook posts tend to be short. I was looking for something longer like 1 or 2 pages in length.

At first I thought it would be for many of my friends and acquaintances from around the country. But I found that there were people that I didn’t know were reading my blog. Wow.

So take a minute and go back and read some of the posts.

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