Front of the Shirt
Mar
17
Welcome to Nils’ 2009 version – Nils just typed up the below of his nightmare return journey from Denver Colorado !!
HOW TO GET FROM DENVER TO FLORIDA IN 30 plus SOMETHING HOURS
Although I had the best snowboard trip of my life with knee high powder, great food and great friends I am sharing this part of the trip for your entertainment.
My flight plan was a bit of a puzzle but I really only have myself to blame as I clicked on the purchase button without looking at all the details. Although I look back and cannot figure why any travel agency would want to put someone through the hell that ended up happening to me as a result of their planning.
I booked the round trip ticket from West Palm Beach to Denver. The flight out was fine. American Airlines with one stop in Texas. No problem there.
The scheduled return flight went like this: Leave Denver at 11:55pm (United) to Washington Airport #1 (IAD – Dulles International airport) then get a shuttle to Washington Airport #2 (DCA – Ronald Reagan National airport). About 30 miles away, $ 40.00 AND I have to retrieve my baggage at IAD and take it with me to DCA as I will be on a different airline (U.S Airways). Then off to WPB and arrive at 11:30am Sunday. Total travel time 11 1/2 hours. WRONG…
Anyway after trying to reschedule my flight on the phone at Gary’s house to no avail I thought I would just get to the airport in Denver 8 hours early and talk to someone in person and maybe get a better flight plan.No luck here and my Nightmare begins …
It is 4pm, my flight leaves at midnight so I go find a place to sit and mess around on my laptop. (free internet) whoopie. Not an internet junkie (like my wife who can happily spend 8 hours on her laptop!) so that lasts about an hour. Off to get something to eat and try to nap. Had some food and a beer and found a nice comfy spot (NOT) on the floor to try and nap. Time dragged on, it’s around 7:30pm. I go to find another food and beverage place. Had a club sandwich and a couple Fat tires (good beer.) Time is now 10:15pm and I get the word that our plane has a broken window and we are going to be delayed…. GREAT!
United has now changed us to a smaller plane and they are over booked by at least 20 people. They are asking for volunteers to leave tomorrow. I’m game as you get a free round trip ticket good for a year to anywhere in the lower 48 states. No go for me as I have some funky ticket that utilizes 2 different airlines so I do not qualify – JUST my luck!
Now I am starting to get really tired, like I could fall asleep standing up tired. With all the confusion going on I just decide to lay behind the ticket counter and rest. Time is now 11:30pm I fall asleep for 25 minutes and wake up at 11:59pm. This is 4 minutes PAST the original departure time and our plane was suppose to be delayed. Well I look out the window and there is my plane backing away from the dock. OH NO! I wipe the sleepy dust out of my eyes and notice that I am the only one left in like the whole airport except for the 2 employees that are getting ready to go home.
I approached them and asked what do I do now. They felt bad as they usually double check on everyone who is supposed to be on the plane but with all the ruckus going on I slipped (slept!) under the radar. They began to work their magic. After a bunch of searching on the computer they came up with a plan for me.
I now have a new flight plan. But my baggage is still on its way to Washington airport #1. My first leg leaves for BOSTON at 8am. Time to find another really comfy spot to try and sleep some more. Very peaceful now as I am almost the only one in the entire airport except for a few workers that are vaccuming and cleaning and being very quiet NOT!!! I find a spot with no one working and set my watch AND my cell phone ALARMS and try and nod off.
Up at 6:30am and get an egg mcmuffin and a coke. 8am now and I am getting on an airplane to Boston. AHHH a nice comfy seat. I think this is the first time that an airplane seat in coach felt so good. 4 1/2 hours later we are landing in Logan airport. So I figure ok I am almost home one more flight. WRONG! …
I make it to the proper gate to find out my seat and they tell me that there has been some kind of change and I will be flying to Charlotte NC and then to WPB.
WHEN WILL THIS END? Flight to Charlotte is uneventfull and we are there in like 2 hours or so. Now I am headed to US Airways to find out which plane and gate I need to go to to get to WPB. Rush Rush Rush as my plane leaves in like 30 minutes. Get to gate C11 and wouldn’t you know, PLANE DELAY. IMAGINE THAT! Bar right next to the gate so I have a couple beers over the next hour while waiting.
Maybe a chance to make things worth while. The counter guy asks for a volunteer. I know what this means. I jump up and say YES I WILL VOLUNTEER!. They only needed one and I was it. I am already thinking of next year. FREE TICKET GOOD FOR A YEAR. Yeah that would make all this worth it. No luck. They made things work and all I got was to be the last one on the plane. The PACKED PLANE! Oh well at least I can now see the light and the end of the runway or tunnel. Whatever.
Last leg and I arrive in WPB at 9:15 pm. Alice picks me up (and BOY did he SMELL) and I am on my way home.
So there you have it. How to get from Denver to Florida in 30 something hours.
By Nils Bertelson
Feb
17
Had to give the dogs a bath (do this as little as possible as they have course almost self cleaning fur, so only wash them if they smell or I find a flea on them)
I call this going crack-a-dog
STAGE 1 - before I even let them out of the bathroom !!!
then STAGE 2 once I let them out of the bathroom !!!
Jan
01
Everyone is fine – but the neighbours’ (about 10 houses or so east of us) Ted Shed is GONE though.
Not exactly sure how it started, I would assume a firework ember or something must have set it off (the owner and his wife [and *6* dogs!] were actually already asleep)
Unfortunately (for them) the shed had a BUNCH of imflammable stuff in it though (oxygen cannister, gas, etc) so there was at least 3 BIG explosions!!! – The flames were SO high !!!
Everyone BUT me on that golf cart are firefighters!! – We called it in to 911 and the nearest Firestation is only 1.5 miles away …. and then of course the 3 of them jumped in and helped the arriving firefighters setting up the hoses and hydrant etc … didn’t have my camera with me darn it, but did take a photo from down the street of all the lights and firetrucks once it was over (well the shed was out – well GONE actually!)
Thankfully the corner of their house that was next to the shed didn’t catch on fire.
Hubby and I and a couple of our neighbours/friends were driving around on their golf cart at midnight, honking and watching fireworks and stuff .
Dec
27
…. not only because it’s an amazing song (“How Many Kings” by Downhere (downhere.com) but because Melanie and I are IN it !!!
It was put together by Downhere fans !!!
Enjoy
more on the cruise (and pics later – maybe much later!!)
GLAD to be HOME
Dec
17
After I JUST sorted out some insurance/doctor’s office mess (after a week of being on the phone with UMPTEEM people) and I was feeling relieved, huge weight off my shoulders and then this happens – totally a ‘bad timing’ thing
I’m fine, I was only backing up at about 2 mph! I can’t believe my bumper got scrunched so much, her car has a tiny dent & paint scrape on her passenger side back door.
The other woman & I both backed out of our parking spots at the exact same time …. unfortunately (for me) her spot was 1/2 a spot further back than mine, so I hit her (as … Read Moreopposed to our bumpers hitting if we were exactly opposite each other or her hitting ME if I had been the one in the furthest back spot) ….. BUT she was not completely honest with the cop & so the police report has me at fault.
The female cop didn’t either understand, care or want to hear that there was no humanly possible way for us to hit bumper to bumper (which she said would have meant no fault etc) with our positioning – see below
then a diagram of the impact
Not sure if my insurance company will fight hers or not, either way my insurance will prob go up 
Dec
06
I went to a concert last night with my friend Tecie to see this amazing Croatian singer Tatjana Matejas-Cameron – Her croatian name is Tajci (TY-chee)and her story can be read at idobelieve.com
She was basically the ‘Britney Spears’ of Croatia … then realized there was more to life than that – read her story here
The video quality isn’t great, but hopefully the audio will be good enough to showcase what a beautiful singer she is, she basically did the story of Jesus’ life through the progression of songs she sang (did not video all of them) …
Then at the end all 3 of her boys came up on stage and sang stuff too – adorable! I really enjoyed it.
You can watch them small below by clicking on the play button in the middle of the image, or if you want to see it larger, click on the title below the video and it will take you to YouTube to see them in a new window
| Breath of Heaven | What Child is This | Silent Night |
| Home for Christmas | Wonderful World | SC is Coming to Town |
| Reindeer Reindeer! | Jingle Bells | I Do Believe |
Dec
02
This will be a mishmash of bullet point, pics and videos I think …
Where were we before … Oh yes, this year the infamous Bertelson Bulletin 2008 Christmas edition, along with annual family photo will NOT be reaching you before Christmas!!
Fear not though, it WILL be reaching you (especially anyone who sends US a newsletter and or family photo – hint hint – I love getting them, but not just a card with no news or photo, I always feel that such a waste of a stamp these days!!) ….
…it will reach you sometime in the New Year – sort of a welcome to 2009 nugget/suprise for you once you’re back in the doldrums because the holiday season is all over and the bills that made it happen are starting to roll in!!!
The reason behind this is because we (all 6 of us) are going on a Christmas Cruise (east carribean) with my MIL Joanie, and SHE’S footing the whole bill – yeah baby!! We leave on Dec 20th and return Dec 28th ….
We will be taking our family photo sometime while on this cruise, the exact location and or background to the photo will remain a secret to further build your anticipation… although as the children get older, they are less receptive to my crazy wacky ideas of how to do the photo!
Sadly, and I know some of you are SO sad at this (snort) Twix and Twizzler will not be featured in the family photo since they cannot come on the cruise with us.
Matt – recent photo – was going surfing (the water is chilly, well for us Floridians it is!)
Was taking a bunch of photos of Matt (to showcase his almost 70 lbs lost in the last 8 months)
What amused me about this photo, so I zoomed in was the girls chores pasted on the door behind him!!! His head is blocking Maddie’s (12) list, don’t worry she doesn’t get out of chores! Mel is 17, Kenzie is 11
What else ? – Done 50% of the shopping, we will be doing our Christmas on Dec 19th before we get on the cruise, so sense lugging all those presents onto the ship (well maybe not ALL those, but the few there will be, trying to not go overboard this year)
Oh here’s a Hairy Happy Greeting from Twix!!
She’s The POSTER child, well I mean dog for ‘A Norwich Terrier that needs stripping” – LOL
Her hair is SO long and shaggy, I stripped (grooming term – google it!!) Twizzler recently (3 hr job!) but neither hubby or I have gotten around to doing Twix completely – you can’t see it but her rear end is done, so she looks even weirder from the side.
She is SO cute – we love her
Nov
14
OK so today Joanie was interviewed AGAIN (see below for prior segment that has already aired) by ABC News (Miami WPLG station) for a story on cancer/prosthetics.
Neither Melanie nor Kenzie wanted to be filmed in their school uniform (we went to MIL’s house right after I picked them up from school) but I was in some of the filming, but will probably end up on the cutting room floor!!
Below is the prior story that aired (on Nov 6th 2008) – the dog in the clip is OUR Twizzler !!!
First you will see an image I created showing the start and stop frame of the segments of Joanie. Just pull the thingy-ma-jig over to where it is on the image to get to where you need to (unless of course you want to hear the news for that day first – about 13 mins!!
The segment is about Joanie, her doctor and artist/sculpturer Puchi Noriega, (who uses her full fancy name in the clip!!)
I designed both Puchi’s art/sculpture web site (puchinoriega.com) and her prosthetics web site (prostheticartspecialist.com)
So now you can click HERE to open up the actual video in a new window (from the actual site) and match up the start button on that one to the image above
