Here are some pictures from the last year's adventures.

Skiing at Mamoth CA with Nick and Jenn Feranec. Great time, great snow, great weather.

Hero explorer pose. We had to walk to the sign all the way from the lift.

Delivery of the new car. It is a nice addition and drives a lot smoother than the montero. Jenn is still not totally comfortable in it so I get to drive it. For now.

Sexy as a soccer mom.

Jazz Festival in New Orleans.

Jenn and Trish are onstage with Kermit Ruffins.

The gang before.

The gang during.

Is somebody sleepy going home?

Long time no BLOG

I am having the following conversation with my XM customer service department.

On May 9, 2009 at 5:55 PM, dtm_cowan@yahoo.com wrote:>

I bought a Cadillac with XM and was not told by the dealer that I had a 3 month trial period in order to experience your service. I received a notice from your company letting me know the period was about to expire, which, essentially, was my notification that I was entitled to a trial period. I called one of your service professionals asking if your company could extend the trial period so I could see what XM and was all about. I was told "no" but told how to tune the radio to receive the signal for the remainder of the trial period. I think is is a sad situation that I won't be able to experience your excellent service since my experience was not exactly confidence building and less than satisfying.

>>--- On Sun, 5/10/09, listenercare@xmradio.com wrote:

Dear Mr. Cowan, Thank you for contacting XM. We have received your correspondence and we are more than happy to assist you with your query. Please accept our sincerest apologies for the experience that you have encountered with our Listener Care Representatives. We place great effort in projecting world class customer service to our customers. We will ensure that your displeasure is investigated thoroughly.

Please note that your trial ends on (6/3/2009). Please call the number listed below prior to the trial ending if you wish to continue. Thank you for being a loyal listener and we look forward to many more years of providing you with our service.If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to send an additional email or you may contact a Listener Care Representative directly at 1-800-XM RADIO ( 800-967-2346 ). Our Listener Care Center's hours of operation are as follows: Monday - Saturday: 8 AM - 11 PM ET Sunday: 8AM - 8PM ET Thank you,

-- On Thu, 5/14/09, dan the man wrote:

Dear Dwayne,

My displeasure was not on your "Listener Care Representative" , but on the inability or unwillingness to provide the trial period promised me, but not conveyed to me at the time of purchase, and thus, not enjoyed by me becase I didn't know anything about it. Below, Dwayne, you gave me the same response and service as the person on the phone. To paraphrase it - No we will not extend your trial period - - buy our service.

I am sure you believe that I am a huckster, a schemer, a flim-flam man, a grifter, a matchstick man, a con-artist extraodinaire, living on the edge of one dirty rotten scoundrel to the other, and have been enjoying your "world class service" for free due to the trial period after the purchase of my new Cadillac. I affirm that I have not received one second of your oh so valuable service. I am sure that you don't care and will continue to believe that I am a liar, a bum, a sycophant, a pariah on the very values that make America the greatest country in the world. Because of your belief, you will not help me at all and leave me to suffer the fate of listening to the free radio and CDs that I have already purchased. The horror!!

For the record, Dwayne, I did not know about the trial period. Honest Abe.

Because I did not know about the trial period, I did not start service when it was first available. Also, because I did not have instructions for turning on the service, I did not start service when it was first available. This weekend I followed the instructions to start receiving XM, but for some reason it didn't work. I know what you are thinking Dwayne, and you are right. If I am not smart enough to turn on XM, I don't deserve it. XM should be reserved for the movers, the shakers, the people in this world that count. Not the people that can afford to buy Cadillacs in the worst economy the world has ever seen. What am I, austentatious?

It is now mid May and the trial period ends in June. This I know for sure - the CD player works great and there are no commercials - just like XM!!! Except for the part about the CD player working, because XM does not work.

I feel it is way too much trouble to turn on the service now, and at this point I seriously doubt I will follow your below instructions to "call the number listed" so that I can pay for service in order to continue recieving the service I have enjoyed so far. Thanks for reminding me when the service ends, however, that is very useful to know since nothing will change in my new Cadillac since the service never started. Service, by the way, which has been short of adequate and has encouraged me to not receive your service.

For the record, Dwayne, you should not have thanked me for being a loyal customer. I was never a loyal customer. I was, and remain, a potential new customer that is not impressed with XM service. I thank you, Dwayne, for not extending my trial period and tempting me with your "world class service". In an economy as bad as this one, I really need to watch those monthly subscriptions.

Dan

Trip to Yosemite

On the way to the "Cowan Family Camporee" we stopped in to see Yosemite. It was a great park.














We drove around and it looked like this.

Huge.

Majestic.
















Unexplainable and mysterious.


Grand.

This is El Capitan. It is the biggest slab of granite in the world.















This is half-dome. If you look close you can see the people climbing it.
One part of the park had the giant Redwood trees. They are so big the pictures don't really capture it.

Well, maybe they do.

Apparently there was a tree you could drive through, since they cut a hole in it. I think as a kid, my parents took us through it. It doesn't exist anymore but this one does.
Here is a couple that fell down. They are brittle trees and when they fall they shatter into pieces which is why they didn't cut them down for timber years ago.

Here is a good view of the roots of one that fell down. They have very shallow roots and are susceptible to winds.

It was a great drive and we had fun. Hope you did also.

The big 4-0

So, Jenn LIED to me and convinced me we were going to go to the Santa Barbara wine country for my birthday weekend. Instead, she conspired with my friend Tony to take me to be a "fighter pilot for a day" at this place.

Here I am in a flight suit trying to act cool.









Does it work?

This is the mission briefing where Tony, Mike and myself are trying to pay attention to the complex stuff the Pilot is trying to teach us.

I am sure it is very simple stuff to him, but it was a little confusing. Even more difficult to actually do it.
Here I am getting ready to take off. The pilot sits in the right seat and the novice in the left. Once we took off and leveled off, he says the magic words, "it's your aircraft" and I then fly the plane. On the way out to the dogfight area, he had me work on the moves that he taught in the briefing. First he shows me one, then I do it very poorly and then he shows me again, and then I do it very poorly again. Then we do it to the right with the same results. It was cool anyway. Once at the appointed area two of the planes fly towards each other and when even, the fight is on. The first time I fought Tony and we did such a good job the pilot kept saying what a "good one" that was and pointed out that we hit 5Gs. Apparently we fought for 2X as long as is normal and 5Gs is also more than most folks can hit. Although it isn't 9Gs or anything, it is enough to slap your head back 90 degrees and render you unable to move it until you ease up, move your head and start again. I lost that one, but only because I flew too low. I was winning the whole fight. I ended up losing to Tony 2 times and winning 1 time. I then shot down Mike 3 times in a row. Yes, that is right, I am deadly. And sexy.

Here I am back on the ground and very very tired.




For the record, the yellow bag is a floatation device, not a barf bag. Nobody got sick.
Dan, Mike and Tony - - Three studs, no?
They video the mission (each plane has three cameras) and afterward play them all while explaining what we did right and wrong. It was cool because you could see what the other person was doing while you were shooting them down or trying to move your head back into place. It proved to be a great time to brag and lie and come up with excuses. It was a blast.


That night, we went to Hollywood for steak at a place called Mastros. It was fantastic. Jenn agreed it was much better than Peter Lugers. Ok, she didn't.

Yes, I really eat like this, but only when in public.
All in all, it was a most memorable day and night. and I am incredibly lucky to have a fantastic wife and great friends.