They did it!!! Team USA wins the Gold

 

The Great Britain Team watching the last shot of the game

Rain and more rain

 A few days ago I mentioned that part of our family was going to Thailand, accompanying our granddaughter to Bangkok as she competed in the International women's Adaptive Basketball (in wheelchairs)  tournament. In the weeks before traveling she had participated in the International  women's Adaptive Water Ski Tournament being held in Elk Grove CA. She had won a Gold Medal and set a new World's record in the Wakeboard event, breaching her own world record, set back in Kentucky, a year ago.

Okay, enough bragging about my granddaughter...so, returning to Thailand the big news was all about the Monsoon. And what all that rain did to the sport venue. The roof collapsed! It happened earlier in the day and no one was injured. That cancelled the opening ceremony and the first game. Apparently they have found a new venue and the event starts over today. Now it's time to untangle the mess of return airline flights and hotels. Or, they may have to double up some of the games, playing more than once a day. The weather forecast tells us that the rain will continue for weeks while the temperatures will remain in the 80's.

More news later...

What is new these days

 I'm really tired after a few days of non-stop flying. No, I didn't go anywhere. I was using the Flight Aware program to follow my son, his wife and our granddaughter while they were inside an Airbus & then a 777 as they flew to Bangkok from Seattle. Our granddaughter is on the U.S Women's basketball team (wheelchair) and they will compete against other countries teams this week.

It was hard to get my head around the fact that the small golden symbol that represented their flight was actually going 540 mph at 30'000 feet over land and sea. Of course I have flown many times starting with prop powered planes, then Turboprops, followed by jets. I have flown in a 747 and a Schweizer glider, helicopters and a 1947 Taylorcraft tail dragger. Still, it was a strange feeling to see thousands upon thousands of aircraft in the air. (symbols) 

Some symbol's overlapped but they would be flying separated from each other by thousands of feet in altitude. You could see hundred of plane symbols around major airports, each taking their turn at landing or taking off. Being a flight controller has to be a stress filled job.