Jamie Thingelstad

I am a frequent “CrackBerry” user. That’s the slang term for a BlackBerry for those that are not “in the know”. In recent months though I’ve started to look angrily at my CrackBerry. I’m starting to get pain in my thumbs on a pretty regular basis.

Any of you that have seen my various computers know that I have an eye to ergonomics. I use a trackball instead of a mouse because it eases my wrists. I have a split keyboard so that I’m more comfortable. I had a mild bout with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in the early 90’s that woke me up to these issues and I’ve taken them seriously ever since. I’ve not had any hand pain issues since then, until the BlackBerry entered the scene.

A quick search on Google for blackberry thumb pain results in dozens of articles on the topic. It’s obvious that there is a problem here. The thumb wasn’t intended to type! I’ve found recently that even spinning the scroll wheel up and down is a problem. I’ve resorted to reading the shortcut tips to reduce my keystrokes and simplify things. However, I think the real solution is to just use the thing less.

Thats the rub! The CrackBerry is named that for a reason – it’s addictive. On top of that, people at work have expectations that you have it with you. I’m going to manage it and pay close attention to the pain in my thumbs.

Right around 4 months ago Tammy and I spent the evening at our neighbors house with a really cool local artist named Erik Sletten. Our neighbors have several of his works and we were celebrating with them the arrival of two new ones. That night I got to do something I had never done before – flip through an artists sketchbook. I was flipping through Sletten’s sketches and as I turned the page in the middle a sketch caught my attention in a unique way. A couple of weeks passed and we decided to commission the work.

This last weekend we got to do another first. We joined Erik in his studio as he started to introduce color to our piece. It was a fun evening, and a unique opportunity to connect with him and the art. Tammy and I had mixed feelings about joining him while painting. As I told him, I want the painting he would paint, not the painting I would suggest him to paint. But Erik is a cool guy, and very chatty to boot, so it was a lot of fun.

Here is our painting being birthed in raw lines. I can’t wait to see it finished. For scale, the canvas is 5.5 feet square.

On the way back home from the Great Adventure we took a slight detour through Atlanta specificially to see the new Georgia Aquarium. This is the largest aquarium in the world, and after our visit I was very glad we took the detour. If you are in Atlanta, this is an absolute must see.

I’ve seen several aquariums and always enjoy them, however the Goergia Aquarium sets a new level that all others should aspire to. When you enter the aquarium you come into a space that is relatively dark and at one end there are two aquariums on either side of a relatively small door. The two aquariums have schools of fish swimming with the current toward the door. You join the fish and enter an amazing space.

This aquarium will likely always be known for it’s monstrously large viewing window in it’s equally large oceanarium. This 6 million gallon saltwater tank has a viewing window that is 23 feet tall and 61 feet wide (oh, and 2 feet thick!). You could spend an afternoon in front of that window, it’s incredible.

However, my favorite tank was the reef tank. I love reefs and theirs was the best I’ve ever seen in an aquarium. The design of the tank was great, and the health of the fish and the reef was exceptional.

I could go on and on but words aren’t as good as pictures for this type of thing. Unfortunately the Georgia Aquarium website has almost no good photos. Luckily, flickr comes to the rescue with great photos.

On September 30, 2006 our Great East Coast Adventure came to a conclusion when we arrived back home on Saturday evening. After 37 days, 5,890 miles of driving and 8 different beds we finally got home. It was great trip, but it was equally great to finally get home and relax.

We were curious to see how Mazie would react when we got home. 5 weeks is a long time for a 15-month old kid and we thought she may just think it was another hotel. She proved us wrong when her face lit up after seein her toys and play area. You could tell she was noticably relaxed to be home.

I did a final update to the Google Earth Great Adventure with all the relevant interesting stops from the trip.

Add link.

Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.

It’s official! We have just finished the 5th week our trip. This was our last true day of vacation here in Charleston. We will hit the road early tomorrow heading through Atlanta with a brief stop at the Atlanta aquarium and then continuing our long journey home.

We got rained out in the morning today on our visit to the Boone Hall Plantation. Boone Hall is the only plantation still operating in America, they grow fruit now. It also has one of the most amazing entrances I’ve ever seen.

The oak trees that line the drive are 300 years old and were planted when the plantation was initially founded. It took them 200 years to meet in the middle. We didn’t get to see a lot since it was raining, but it was a cool visit.

We took the afternoon to join the local residents in a very popular activity – walking over the relatively new Ravenel bridge that connects Charleston and Mt. Pleasant. This bridge is the longest cable span bridge in the US. It’s also incredibly high and has a walking path on it. We walked up to the middle and then turned back. I have to admit that my fear of heights kicked in towards the top. I made it all the way though. It’s pretty surprising how many people go just to walk on this bridge. There are always people walking or riding their bike on it.

I’ve decided that this is “my bridge”. I find it incredibly interesting. The cable spans are so interesting. The geometry of it is great. I’ve decided that we need a bridge just like it in Minneapolis. I’m going to start lobbying for it when I return. 🙂

Tomorrow morning we depart early for Atlanta and then continue into the evening to see how far we get. We are hoping to get back to home by Saturday night, late. Don’t expect any updates from me on the road. I’m looking forward to getting back home again!

Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.

I wrote earlier that Mazie was having a horrible time getting her sleep. Asheville was the breaking point for Tammy and I. We were like zombies, Mazie was miserable and incredibly unhappy. We finally went to a different hotel the last night and Mazie was able to sleep. The good news is that she slept great at Ed & Nancy’s, and she’s been doing great here in Charleston.

She’s slept through the night and went to bed well for the last 5 days and is doing great. It’s amazing how big of a help that is to all of us. Yeah!

We spent Wednesday in Charleston. The real newsflash is that we *didn't drive* anywhere the entire day! Amazing! We had a relaxing morning and then took the [water taxi](http://www.charlestonwatertaxi.com/) to Charleston. We had great barbecue for lunch at [Jim n' Nicks](http://www.jimnnicks.com/) and in the afternoon we went to the [South Carolina Aquarium](http://www.scaquarium.org/).

Mazie didn’t dig the water taxi in the morning. It was her very first time on a boat and when we got going she got scared. She overcame her concerns quickly though and on the ride back over in the afternoon she sat in her stroller on her own the whole way over like a champ.

The aquarium was nice. They have the tallest glass wall in the country in their huge reef tank. It’s a full two stories tall. At the bottom of it, it looks pretty immense. The picture on the right shows the wall. For scale, that is 20 feet tall. I’m excited to see the aquarium in Atlanta on our way home. It’s wall isn’t as high, but it’s 60 feet wide.

Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.

On Tuesday we loaded up in the van and headed for a short drive to Savannah, Georgia. Drive more? Absolutely! Why not… we just can’t get enough driving. Savannah is such a notable city and we thought since we were so close we should check it out. It took about 2 hours to get there.

Savannah is a really nice city. It’s smaller than the others we’ve been to. We didn’t have a ton of time so we drove through many of the parkways and then headed into the historic area of downtown.

We had lunch at The Lady & Sons restaurant. This is the restaurant that Paula Deen started before becoming the celebrity chef on Food TV. The Lady & Sons is best described as a Temple to Butter. The food is incredibly rich. As you sit there with biscuits immediately delivered to your table, you can envision truckloads of butter being constantly delivered to the loading dock to keep the cooks going. At one point while we are eating lunch one of the waitresses breaks out into song to praise frying! “I don’t want no grilled fish” went the lyrics, finishing with “give me my fried chicken and fried gravy”.

We spent the afternoon in Forsyth Park and took a bunch of pictures before heading out and returning to Charleston.

Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.