Copenhagen via Newark

Volvo provided 4 SAS lounge tickets to use in the Newark airport.  Chance served Sally wine and me a Scotch it wasn't noon yet!.  Steph drank a coke:-) WiFi was not working at the lounge but it was a nice place to sit for 2.5 hours. The Danish cookies were great.

After 7.5 hours we landed in Copenhagen on an Airbus A330. The flight was full of babies. SAS has bassinets that attach to the bulkhead wall so when the infant goes to sleep the parents can lay them down.  The bulkhead next to us held two bassinets which was not enough.  We counted six babies under the age of four very near us.  One man was traveling alone with an infant, we could only feel sorry for him.  Lots of crying....

Between the lounge and food on SAS airline it is clear Scandinavia loves their cold cuts. 

The Copenhagen airport is equivalent to the Millennia mall in Orlando. There  must be a hundred shops , it is very clean and full of nice people. Our next flight is to Gothenburg or Göteborg depends on where you see it printed.  The flight is on SAS via a Canadian Air regional jet. The weather here is overcast and right around freezing which is 20 degrees warmer than last week.

We are off on our first leg of our OSD trip

Sally met a family visiting from Sweden while sitting in the Orlando airport food court area. We were given some good tips for visiting the coastal towns. They were from Stockholm and had only visited the East coast a few times.
Now we are ready to start taxing onto the runway and Sally and Chance are singing the scooby doo song out loud to annoy Steph and I.


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OSD update

Volvo OSD update

After reviewing some sites online regarding driving in Germany I realized I needed snow tires.  Sweden and Germany require tires designated M&S on the sidewall.  The factory rents snow tires but I was able to confirm that the tires that come with the car are designated M&S.

Weather in Gothenburg, Sweden where the factory is was 9 degrees F and it is just November!  Light snow will be no problems in countries that are use to snow but heavy snow is worrisome.


Factory updated my order and provided a VIN number. I had to forward this to the finance company.  Not every institution will finance an OSD order since the car delivery date is so far in the future.  PenFed has been great to work with so far!

 

This is an OSD XC60 in Norway. We decided that Norway in the winter would not be wise. The Fjords are way North of Oslo and currently there is less than 6 hours of daylight.  In short we going to head south of Gothenburg into Germany. 

21st Birthday Bash

Chance turns 21! 

  Chance and his cousin were born 5 days apart from each other. Uncle Will for their birthday secured his companies corporate retreat for the family to come together and celebrate this milestone.

Once my parents came up for dinner we had 20 people enjoying the weekend.

Uncle John catching bass in the pond for Grady and Davis to hold.  My Dad is in the background.

Willem and Stephanie on one of the many four Wheelers

Chance and Connor


Saturday brought competition skeet shooting at Dorchester Hunting preserve, Four Wheeling, fishing and lots of eating and drinking. Great time hosted by the Savannah Burgstiners.

Volvo Overseas Delivery (OSD)

Our four vehicles have an average of 113000 miles on them. While I enjoy doing the maintenance it takes a lot of time. For Christmas we have decided on getting a Volvo XC60 through the Volvo Overseas delivery program.

Here is what we have done to date -

1. Go to Overseas Delivery program website from the volvocars.com webpage. Read, read, read... Note: You get a 3-5% off MSRP depending on the car. The process is set pricing from the Tourist Website. You will get two round trip airline tickets and a single hotel night. This is possible due to Swedish tax breaks for tourism. US duties are reduced because the car is considered used.If you own a Volvo car you will get another night free in Gothenburg.

2. Print or download the current price list and design your perfect vehicle

3. Call the OSD 800 number. We got this from the VOLVO OSD Facebook site. The ODS employee on the other end of the phone was incredibly knowledgeable and reassured me of the next steps.

4. Decide whether to go with a local dealer or with one of the two internet specialists that frequent the swedespeed forum. I chose to go with my local dealer only after questioning the dealership on if they were well versed in OSD. My local dealer has a customer loyalty program, this was the main reason I chose to go with them. Service will be done by the dealer which offers their loyalty customers a rental car for overnight service.

5. Plan your trip dates (for us it is when our kids are on Christmas break from University - December 15 - 29th)

6. A visit to The Volvo Store at Winterpark found us reviewing our dream car by comparing cars on the dealer lot.

7. We then reviewed the most recent sheet from the Volvo factory. This incentive sheet is updated weekly with vehicles that are at the factory with set options ad do not have a buyer. The salesman did not find a suitable vehicle that met our criteria. We continued to order our vehicle by filling out the following forms.
a. Fill out the order form
b. Signed the Swedish Application for temporary registration. (Allows vehicle to be driven in Sweden)
c. Fill out the Power of Attorney
d. Put down $2000 deposit

Wait Begins

transcontinental flights

I have been loyally booking Delta for my Los Angeles flights for the last year and a half. I would guess it has been 25+ round-trip flights. Tonight is my first Cross country on United. I never had in-seat entertainment with Delta! United might just be new friend in the sky!

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Update!! United still has terrible customer service!  The entertainment system was on a commercial loop the whole flight.  Flight attendant was a deer in the headlights when people started to ask how to turn them off.  Some people were lucky and could get them off mine just played the loop for six hours.  Even in the dark with my eyes closed I could see flashes across the my eyelids. My flight was in the evening and when it was dark the stewardesses walked around shining flashlights into peoples crotches verifying seat-belts were fastened. Just terrible experience.

TREK ride for breast Cancer in Lake Mary

Kevin, Gregg and Sally did the 25 mile route to raise breast cancer awareness.

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My Review of Thelma 3 Bike

Originally submitted at saris.com

Thelma 3 Bike

Thelma 3 Bike

The right rack, right price and secure

By Gwagg from Orlando, FL on 10/1/2012

 

4out of 5

Pros: Secure, No Frame Contact, Easy to Install, Safe For Carbon Frames, Easy to Use

Cons: Hard To Build

Best Uses: For Bikes You Love, Road Bikes

Describe Yourself: Avid Cyclist

Was this a gift?: No

After upgrading our bikes we knew it was time to upgrade our rack. We looked at all the no frame contact racks. Having an out of the box option for three bikes was perfect for us. I like the fact that the front wheel covers are a HUGE visual clue the bikes are secure. There are many stories of people forgetting to clamp down their bikes. The Thelma's design makes this nearly impossible IMO. The front wheel is tight closing but after a couple of uses it is not hard.

(legalese)

2012 Ride 4 Ronald - Orlando

Sally, Gregg and Ed rode the 60 miles while Chance and Kevin did the 100.  Great ride fora great cause.   

Gwagg's Garmin Route (09/03/2012) in Orlando, FL | cycling Map | MapMyRIDE

http://soc.li/WDmkACi

RIP Sprinkles Donut

Our first cat, first pet with kids; she will be missed after 14 years with us. 

Stephanie is off to college

 

Stephanie's orientation started August 18th.  It was a hectic weekend with Sarah's wedding, but we made it to Lakeland just after the rain.   Florida Southern seems like just the right school for Steph.  Hailey, Stephanie's roommate, is from Lakeland and is a theater nerd as well.    The dorm is a old converted train station which is very cool.  FSC has the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture and it is truly a beautiful campus. 

Sarah is now a Crawford

The Burgstiners gained a new cousin into the fold.  Dan is a great guy with a good head on his shoulder.  It is clear he was brought up right from a strong family.  Sarah is lucky to have grabbed this one.  There are now 16 cousins on Sally's side unmarried. 

Chance House

 

Chance house is up for sale.  It sits in downtown Sylvania on a lot that is slowly being bought up by the local Baptist church.   We expect they will be the buyer.  Hard decision by family but probably the right one. 

Stephanie graduates from High School

Cypress Creek 2012 Graduation at UCF

They does has come where Sally and I know longer have kids in K-12. She is going to Florida Southern College.

Thanks,
Gregg

This message was composed on a mobile device, please excuse brevity and typos.

Moab day 2

Day two in Moab took us to Poison Spider where we rented really nice Mountain Bikes (MTB).  We also rented a rack to put on the back of our rental SUV and we took off for the Bar M trails.

Did I mention Sally had never ridden a MTB?  She did real well before Chance veered off onto a technical trail.  Sally ended up going down three times, each time at a spot where it was extremely steep.  She also gained a new respect for the pretty yellow flowered cactus!  Through all that Sally kept riding but was a bit more cautious.

 We finished riding those trails in the middle afternoon and went back to the hotel to eat lunch and get our hiking clothes on. We did not want to over do ourselves day one because we had two more days of bike riding.    Off down Potash road to hike to Corona Arch. 

This arch was made famous by a You Tube video by a videographer that Chance was following.  He shot some friends who made the arch their personal swing with climbing rope and repelling gear.  Unfortunately for Sally and I Chance found the rock path that went to the top of the arch. The path went straight up.  He put us over the edge climbing and filming everyplace he could.

 

MOAB bike trip day 1

Sally, Chance and I flew into Salt Lake City May 10th. We originally planned to ride in Moab's Grand Fondo but the route had an elevation change of over 5000'.  We are flatlander that ride skinny tires in  Georgia and Florida.  We chickened out and decided to Mountain bike in the area instead.

Moab is an incredible place.  For the adventurers there are mountain bike trails that are considered to be some of the best in the world.  For roadies there are some great routes that offer incredible scenic views.  Mountain climbing, skydiving, ballooning as well as Colorado river rafting  are all activities that are in Moab.  The most popular activity which I have not mentioned is four wheeling on the solid slickrock that makes up Moab's scenic views.  This was my second trip and I am not one who returns to places I have vacationed before but Moab is like Disney you can stay a month and not do it all.

Day one - Drive from SLC to Moab through Provo, Price and Helper, UT.

Views from the car.

  In Provo we diverted to Bridal Vail falls to hike up to the base. This was a surprise for Sally and Chance who were along for the ride.  We then stopped in Price for a Mexican lunch that ended up as a feast.

 Another side excursion was a ghost town called Sergo.  There is a active town that looks like Radiator Springs but the remains of sergo are north about 5 miles.  The old coal mining town left some ruins and a number of ancient Petroglyphs. There are few internet sites that explain Sergo.  We arrived into Moab in the late evening and went to the local brewhouse which ended day1.

Passing of a very special Aunt.

Aunt Charlotte was Sally's real mothers sister.  She was a teacher of many, she wrote prose and traveled to see all the nieces and nephews.  She will be missed.

The nieces and nephews

Sally's siblings

"Chance" house established 1909

Inside Trembletoe (Sister's house)

Disney Fantasy Preview Cruise March 16th 2012

Our latest cruise was on a preview cruise onboard the Disney Fantasy which was Christened March 2^nd 2012 in New York.  I walked on the blocks of the Fantasy when I was in Germany last November but I had not done any work on her after that.  My transition to the Shanghai project moved me from the DCL team as the focus on the newest and last ship was ramping up.  The Fantasy is the sister to the Dream and structurally identical.  Some areas were rebadged either to help support that this ship will be a seven day ship or they tweaked areas that were not as popular as expected on the Dream.

Since the Fantasy preview cruises were seven days and the transatlantic crossing were during school time the kids could not join us.  I even floated the idea of flying them from St Maarten to minimize the school impact but our kids were mature enough to realize that missing that much school at the end of a semester would be a problem and they both declined the offer.  For the first time Sally and I did a non-working cruise together. 

Every aspect of the operation was better prepared and there were very few times that made us realize we were on the 2^nd cruise with guests.  The crew was a mix from being new sailors or from the Dream and the other classic ships.  Our stateroom was on deck9 and was a CatA which slept 3 with no garden tub.  We went to a couple of shows and did our own excursions in St Thomas and St Maarten. Castaway was spent walking around looking at the changes since I was there last there a year ago.  We did not see any other Disney ships and there were no big ceremonies when we pulled into the Fantasy’s ports of calls.  

Disney Fantasy outside of the Shipyard

Create your own dinner show

Castaway from our balcony

Satellite Falls

New water play area on the Fantasy

Braves spring training

At the game with Sally and a hundred IT nerds thanks to the folks at North Highland.




Gregg
This message was composed on a mobile device, please excuse brevity and typos.