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This week my-lovely-wife-Cynthia and I are in Hawaii taking a break from the cold and wet conditions in Oregon.

The photo is of the Ala Wai Harbor in Honolulu.

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

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This week I'm in Happyrock, otherwise known as Gladstone, OR.

Here is a photo of the Pow Wow tree located nearby, which is estimated to be more than 230 years old. Read more here

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This week I visited my parents in Astoria, OR, which just survived another storm with winds as high as 147 mph. The storm continued for 2 days. My folks survived the storm but lost power for a week. They reported that FEMA and the Coast Guard responded very quickly to provide much needed help to those less fortunate whom lost their homes. Mom was most upset with loosing access to the internet for a week!

I took this photo with my cell phone as I was returning home. It's hwy 30 along the Columbia river about 27 miles east of Astoria and is supposed to show the result of a massive mud slide. I saw several homes and a restaurant sitting in mud up to the bottom of their windows.

This week I'm in Las Vegas. The weather is great - much better than the soggy and cold conditions in the Pacific NW. My saint of a wife, otherwise known as my-lovely-wife-Cynthia, is home preparing for a wonderful Christmas Eve party for family and friends. As our kids have kids, they're preparing their own family Christmas traditions.

It's a secret but I plan to take my-lovely-wife-Cynthia to Hawaii for 2 weeks, right after Christmas. She deserves a vacation and what better way to recover from winter doledrums.

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This week I'm in Albuquerque where it's 55 degrees with a clear blue sky. Away from the rainy and windy conditions in the Pacific NW. I-5 was actually shut down between Portland and Seattle because of flooding in Chehalis.

ET News Issue No. 317 is available. You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter here.

This week I'm in Kent, WA, just south of Seattle. The Kent Fire Department has graciously allowed me to use their classroom in Station 73.

Shorts, Aloho shirt, and flip-flops are my de rigueur clothing choice, however, 34 degrees and rain has me rethinking my choice.

ET News Issue No. 316 is available. You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter here.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Bakers. 48 hours to put it together ... 10 minutes to consume it.

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I added another book to the library; NBFU 72-1949.

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This week I'm in Asheville, NC providing training for the National Park Service at the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway is a real treat especially during this time of the year. The leaves are turning and the colors are gorgeous.

Of course I enjoy returning home each Friday (or Saturday) but it's especially nice to land in PDX. Mountains to the right of me, mountains to the left of me, ...

I never tire of seeing Mt. Hood on my left as we approach PDX. I'm a true Oregonian - born in Portland. The more I travel the more I appreciate coming home.

This week I'm in downtown Los Angeles teaching classes at the LA City Fire Department. I love LA, as long as I don't have to drive.

I'm especially excited about Joe Torre signing with the Dodgers. 101 days until Pitchers and Catchers report to spring training. Woo hoo!

ET News Issue No. 313 is available. You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter here.

This week I'm in Rolling Meadows, IL. The weather has been perfect, which is highly unusual for Chicago-land. Now that I've said it out loud the weather will probably deteriorate and I'll get stuck at the airport for a week.

Set your clocks back this weekend, replace your smoke alarm batteries, and most importantly - test your smoke alarms. Have your kids help while you talk about your escape plan when the alarm sounds.

ET News Issue No. 312 is available. You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter here.

This week I'm in Maryland. Mmmmm scallops and crab cakes! I arrived at BWI around 5 p.m. and found it to be 80 degrees! Al Gore must live around here somewhere.

This is a great part of the country with so much history, good food, and more than one Major League Baseball team. I'm jealous.

ET News Issue No. 311 is available. You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter here.

This week I'm teaching Fire Alarm System Testing and Inspection plus Advanced Fire Alarm (NICET III & IV) on the shore of Lake Spendard in Anchorage. Gorgeous weather, as you can see. There's some ice in the lake and in another month it will be frozen over. All of the float planes will be removed until Al Gore returns next spring :)

ET News Issue No. 310 is available. You can subscribe to the weekly newsletter here.

I added another old book to the library: NBFU 72-1941

... and the Nobel prize for pandering goes to ... drum roll ...

Al "wanna-buy-a-carbon-credit?" Gore! woo hoo!

Step right up, tell the public what they want to hear* and win a prize**!

* Truth not required.
** e.g. President of the USA, Nobel prize, etc.

Disneyland; day 3. Dive the Boat!

Disneyland; day 2

Disneyland; day 1

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This week I'm in Disneyland with Cecily, Cynthia, Cyndi, and Betty. Party hardy dudes!

This week's classes are in Portland, so my commute is via car versus plane. woo hoo! In fact, once playoff baseball resumes, my granddaughter and I can continue to enjoy america's favorite sport.

How funny is it when we can watch Bud "All-I-need-is-a-pitcher" Black lose to the Rockies. HA! HA! HA! HA! Trevor Hoffman, you're a great, a fantastic closer, however, a team needs more, much more, than pitching, to win a game! It needs heart. Bud Black has no heart - he's a pitching coach, nothing more.

My predication; Boston in 4 games over Philadelphia.

In 2008; The Dodgers in 4 games over the Yankees.

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I just finished scanning, optimizing, cropping, combining, and OCRing more old code books. You can view them here:

NBFU 13-1955
NBFU 72-1958
NBFU 90A-1960

This week, I'm in Boston, which has so much to offer; the Red Sox, duck boats, Boston Common, Faneuil Hall, Sam Adams Beer, Union Oyster House, Fenway Park, and so much rich history and heritage. Unfortunately, I'm working 30 miles west of Boston in Marlborough.

I was in Boston earlier this year with my-lovely-wife-Cynthia when we were able to take the time to enjoy what Boston has to offer, though we didn't make it to Union Oyster House. Maybe next time.

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This week's classes were held at the "Denny Miller Training Center" in Englewood, CO, which is nothing special, except to say that it's next door to a baseball field; Woo Hoo!

As you can probably see, the weather is perfect as usual here, but I'm not bitter! We tried to move to Denver several years ago because of the perfect weather, but the plan failed. Some would say "It wasn't meant to be".

Instead of trying once again to move away from the inclement Oregon weather, my-lovely-wife-Cynthia and I spend as much time in Hawaii as we can, which has even better weather than Denver.

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Here's a peek into the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Fire Academy, where this week's seminars were held. An excellent facility located in Conshohocken, PA, which is about 15 miles west of Philadelphia.

Granted, there's a *lot* off traffic in this part of the country, but If you stay off of the freeways, the drive is nice along Highway 23; rolling hills, lots of trees, gorgeous homes, and green spaces. All in all, a pleasant place.

I just can't figure out the meaning of the unusual town names, such as Gladwyne, Bala CynWyd, Bryn Mawr, Berwyn, Pencoyd, Manayunk, etc.

ET News Issue No. 305 is now available. Sign up to receive the weekly ET Newsletter. It's free!

I just finished scanning, optimizing, cropping, combining, and OCRing the 1920 edition of NFPA 72. In 1920 document numbers weren't used but rather its title:

Regulations

of the

National Board of Fire Underwriters

for the installation and use of

Signaling Systems

Used for the Transmission of Signals Affecting the Fire Hazard

as recommended by the

National Fire Protection Association

Edition of 1920

Code weenies may find this interesting. Charlie Trout answers a question regarding the voltage-drop requirements of NFPA 70 on the NECA-NEIS Code Question of the Day web site.

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Oregon RIAA Victim Fights Back; Sues RIAA for Electronic Trespass, Violations of Computer Fraud & Abuse, Invasion of Privacy, RICO, Fraud ...
http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2005/10/oregon-riaa-victim-fights-back-sues.html

Streets Of Portland Flooded With Counterfeit Toothbrushes
The Onion August 30, 2007
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/streets_of_portland_flooded

ET News Issue No. 303 is now available.

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Changes to the International Building Code 2006 edition Affecting Fire Alarm Systems.

Here's a peek inside the San Francisco Fire Department Training Center on Treasure Island. They graciously allowed us to use one of the classrooms for our seminars this week.

I'm staying in Berzerkeley for the classes on Treasure Island this week. Here's a view from my room of the Berkeley Marina...

Alaska Airlines made my blacklist this weekend, which has only included one airline (AA) since 1996. It's too bad because I liked flying Alaska. I'm frankly surprised with their sharp decline in customer service.

I set this blog up about 5 years ago but never seemed to have time to do anything with it. Now I'm considering using it in lieu of the "news" and "journal" pages on the ET News website.