Cool picture

This is really from Monica

Amid all the 787 roll-out hoopla, perhaps the coolest event went unnoticed. On Saturday night, Boeing had all of the 787 airline representatives at an event at the Museum of Flight. At 7:07 PM, an Omega Air Refueling Services 707 landed in front of the crowd (after taking off from Paine Field in Everrett). At 7:17, an AirTran 717 landed. This continued until 8:17 when an Air France 777-300ER landed. In the end, the 717, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, and 777 were lined up nose-to-tail on the taxiway. It is the first time Boeing has had every 7-series airplane in the same place (not counting the 787, which couldn't make the flight, of course).

From right to left, 707, 717, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777.

To the right of the 777, perpendicular to the 777 is the dreamlifter. This is a modified 747 that transports 787 parts.

Not a good view but similar to a 747 but with the hump extended towards back of airplane.

On the right, towards the top of photo is 5 airplanes. One is the first 747 (the largest one) and the concorde should speak for itself.

The other 3, I have no idea.

Enjoy!

See us on TV

It's not quite King of Queens, but Monica and I should be on TV tonight during the Storm-Sparks game at 6:30 Pacific, 9:30 Eastern. The game is on ESPN2 and our seats are dead center court on the same side as the team benches. Usually we're easiest to see clearly when they show the announcers.

Hargrove Resigns

In my years as a sports fan, I've seen a lot of strange things. But this has to be one of the weirdest. The Mariners manager resigned Sunday in the middle of an eight-game winning streak. I've seen plenty of managers/coaches quit when things were going poorly and they figured they were likely to be fired anyway.

Hargrove really didn't give a good answer why -- he said it was harder to give 100% than it had been in the past. There's lots of speculation but it boils down to two ideas -- one is Hargrove is battling with depression, two is with the last kid graduating high school his wife wanted/needed him home more and/or he felt the need to be home more.

On a personal level, this is sad for Hargrove. On a baseball level, this is good for the Mariners. Managers simply don't matter much in major league baseball (unlike football or basketball coaches, they aren't making plays and minute-by-minute substitutions), though Hargrove was a lousy manager who should have been fired at the end of last season if not before. I don't know much about John McLaren, but if he doesn't cost us games that's an improvement.

We're Back

We had a great time on our trip and on the cruise and are back home. I really wanted to blog while we were gone, but online access was so sloooow, that it wasn't feasible.

One quick observation. Everywhere we went, has was 1.30 to 1.40 euro/liter which is $6.50 to $7.00 per gallon. Think about that the next time you pay $60 to fill your tank. We don't know how good we have it.

Crusing...

Monica and I are off on our big vacation of the year. As most of you know, we're taking a 10-day Mediterranean cruise for my parents 40th anniversary. (Yes, they're coming too :)).

First we're making a three-day stop in Chicago for Monica's mom's 60th birthday. Edith was very surprised to see us; I'd describe it as close to hysterical. I'll try to write more later.

Wednesday afternoon we fly to Rome and the cruise starts Saturday. We're on the Holland American Westerdam if you want to follow the itinerary.

Off to the Museum of Science and Industry today, I think.