Famille Du Pentium

"I’ll post my thoughts here during the week"

Well I guess I won’t post my thoughts here during the week.

OSCON 2006 this year was great; but the bandwidth and connectivity seriously sucked this year.  I did not get one chance to post any of my thoughts.  But I did collect them, and eventually I will post them here.

Eventually, because now I’m packing for our family’s summer trip to  PA which starts early this coming week.

I’ll be in Portland, Oregon from July 24-28 to attend O’Reilly’s OSCON 2006.  This is my second year at OSCON.  It’s a great networking opportunity, but also a place to meet experts and learn what they know.  I’m most interested in improving my Perl-fu but it’s also interesting to learn new technologies, like Ruby on Rails and Ajax.  Then, maybe I’ll drop by the Expo and see what Schwag is available.

I’ll post my thoughts here during the week. 

So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here.

— Wish You Were Here, 1975 

Here are a few more details of our trip, for those of you just thirsting for more info about our upcoming road trip:

 Chicago to Boardman, OH

Boardman, OH to Trevose, PA

Trevose, PA to Langhorne, PA

Trevose, PA to Harrisburg, PA

Harrisburg, PA to Independence, OH

Independence, OH to Chicago, IL

The Whole Route, more or less

OK, so as outlined in my previous post, we’re going to Harrisburg for a party during the first week of August.  But that description really only scratches the surface… having successfully carried out a road trip to Disney two years ago, we’re now ready to venture into the really, really aggressive roadtrips.  So here’s what we’re planning:

• Day 1: Leave Skokie, drive 422 miles to Boardman, Ohio.  This is just an intermediate overnight stop to break up the road trip to Harrisburg into two days.
• Day 2: Leave Boardman, Ohio and head east to Trevose, PA 364 miles away.  This is in Bucks County, PA where Sesame Place is located. 
• Day 3: Travel 15 minutes from Trevose, PA to Langhorne, PA and spend the day at Sesame Place.
• Day 4: Leave Trevose and head toward Harrisburg, PA some 117 miles and 2 hours away.
• Day 5: Spevakow Family events in Harrisburg
• Day 6: Spevakow Family events in Harrisburg
• Day 7: Check out, leave Harrisburg toward Independence, OH, 320 miles away.  Check out Cuyahoga National Park.
• Day 8: Travel from Independence, OH to Skokie, IL, 357 miles away.

That’s it… three main stops across four states in eight days.  1580 miles total. For those of you already fretting, that’s 63.2 gallons of gas for a total of about $189.20 in gas costs for the trip.  Which is nothing compared to the hotel and entertainment costs 🙂

It’s been too long since I posted a blog entry, so here’s a quick catch-me-up that’ll explain why we’re being our usual anti-social this summer.

Well, anti-social isn’t the best word for it, it’s more "too busy to say boo".

• Aaron’s in summer camp, the "Summer Crafts  and Creations" class
• Spent 4th of July weekend "up north" with the Andersons and Kiesels
• Mike going to Portland, OR at end of July
• Family going to Harrisburg PA and Sesame Place (near Philadelphia), 1st week of August
• School starts late August
• Soccer starts early September (Mike’s back to coaching)

We’ll try to keep you filled in as our summer progresses.