7474

Once again, I struggle to get out of the house in time to make my morning meetings.  These are teleconferences with other participants in London, Singapore, Bangalore (India for the uninitiated), and some of us on this side of the pond, NY.

This means I will take my 730AM call and the 8AM call from the house.  I used to take them in the car while driving in if I could not make it by the time they start, but decided a while ago to refrain from talking on the phone while driving.  Even with hands free bluetooth headset, the distraction poses a driving risk.  Thanks defensive driving class for the statistics.  Reading emails and txt are way worse.

This day in history "July 24, 1911, American archeologist Hiram Bingham gets his first look at Machu Picchu, an ancient Inca settlement in Peru that is now one of the world's top tourist destinations.
Tucked away in the rocky countryside northwest of Cuzco, Machu Picchu is believed to have been a summer retreat for Inca leaders, whose civilization was virtually wiped out by Spanish invaders in the 16th century. For hundreds of years afterwards, its existence was a secret known only to the peasants living in the region. That all changed in the summer of 1911, when Bingham arrived with a small team of explorers to search for the famous "lost" cities of the Incas."

Ooh the ancients.  I love those ancient civilizations...you know the Aztecs, Incas, Mayans.  There was some freaky stuff going on during ancient times.  I swear we were visited by aliens, gods, or some other outside intervention in ancient times.  I know, there was no TV, Xbox, or any of that, so the ancients had only the sky to examine, worship, fear....

Anyway, I drop my bike off as it has a flat tire again.  Rode it once for about 10 miles, and right before vacation, the tire goes flat.  Drop off at the shop in Commack where it was fixed the first time 10 days ago.  The guy says he will put a new tube on, and I can pick it up later.  It is 1130 and I say "between 2 and 3pm ok ?"  he says yes, and takes my cell phone number.

Busy at work, I get to the bike store at 430, and the bike is not ready.  The dude is chewing the breeze with some of his friends and I notice a 12 pack of bud lime.  They offer me one, I say that I am driving, but thanks anyway.  BTW, can you fix the flat tire on my bike.

15 minutes later, the dude says I have a piece of glass that punctured the tube.  I tell him I rode the bike for like 30 minutes...He is in no mood to argue, so he takes down a heavy duty tube, double the price of the one I originally purchased and says since he made me wait, he will put the better one on, NO CHARGE.  I like the bike dude.

Bad accident on the LIE coming home.  I make my way to an entrance ramp, and like many others, make my way down going the wrong way so that I can get onto the service road.  I make it home too late to cook the family dinner.

As a snack, I make fresh tomato, mozzarella, basil, and balsamic as an appetizer.  Sue, Luke and Kyle leave as I start preparing paella.  They will eat when they get back home. Krista, Gavin and I eat the paella right off the stove...piping hot.

Photo of the day "Mozarella"

So, if you have made it the bottom you find out what 7474 is.

When I checked the blogger dashboard, it showed that I have had 7474 views since the start of the blog.  Thanks for reading.