A tour of Boeing’s Everett facility

I’ve been working at home since having all the hardware surgically removed from my ankle almost two weeks ago.  Finally today I had a day off and decided to get out of the house.  So what did I do?  I called Elisabeth to see if she wanted to go on a spur-of-the-moment tour of her dad’s “new-again” workplace, the Boeing Everett facility. 

 

She was game, so after meeting for lunch we headed up to the  Future of Flight tour center at Boeing’s Everett facility and bought tickets for the tour.

Then the shocker – especially for a die-hard blogger: NO CAMERAS (or cell phones or any other electronic devices)!  We had to put our purses in a locker!

  I could hardly breathe!  (Elisabeth, a non-blogger, seemed to have no problem with it…)

The best I can do for you is this legally shot photo taken from the roof of the Future of Flight center, where the tour departs from:

And looking the other way, down the Paine Field runway:

If I COULD have taken pictures, you’d see the biggest building on earth filled with a whole bunch of huge aircraft – 747s, 777s and the new Dreamliner 787s.  If I COULD have taken pictures, you’d be in awe, like we were, at the sheer enormity of the building!  The best I can do is a link. Or two. Or three. Or four.  (Gotta love Google images!)

After we had finished touring the plant and we were headed back to the bus, who should greet us but TOM! (We’d left him messages that we were on the tour so he found us and finished the tour with us.) 

The rest of the tour was basically a self-exploration of the “Gallery,” a large room full of Boeing stuff.

The interior of the 787 Dreamliner:

The (19’ x 11”!) windows won’t have a shade; they’ll dim electronically!

The cockpit of a 727:

  Landing gear:

A plane hanging from the ceiling:

There was a HUGE tail fin:

And some HUGE engines:

 

(Apologies to Boeing.  She’s always been defiant! )

Coincidentally, this had arrived in the mail when we arrived home:

It’s a tin of delicious chocolate cookies from Boeing to employees, partners, customers, etc., thanking them for their involvement with the launch of the Dreamliner.

Yup, Boeing is definitely my new best friend.

(My other best friend is Marco – to whom this post is dedicated.  Next time you come back to Seattle, Marco, we’ll bring you on this tour!)

Boeing is my new best friend!

What great timing!  Tom’s first week back as an engineer/scientist at Boeing after eight years away coincided with today’s maiden flight of the beautiful 787 Dreamliner. 

What a beautiful aircraft!  I just love the lines on this plane – especially the wings.  I also like that the Dreamliner is built of new composite materials, is relatively quiet, and uses 20% less gas than other airliners of its size.  (Of course I need to draw attention to this, since Tom is involved with Boeing’s environmental efforts!)

The guy who took this video is a typical Boeing employee/enthusiast.  I love his enthusiasm!

Thinking outside the railing

Look what Tom brought home from Bed, Bath & Beyond today!  All this time we’ve been talking about installing a wrought iron railing on the steps where I slipped and broke my ankle almost a year ago, but all the iron railings we liked were too expensive and Tom just couldn’t bear the thought of nailing in a few old two-by-fours as I’d suggested (only half-kidding).

I never even knew these things existed!  Did you?

(Yes, that is, in fact, ice on the waterfall… and a non-slip, non-color-coordinated rug on the bridge!)

They’re heavy-duty rubber mats made to look like wrought iron! 

Finally, finally, I feel like I can relax a little when I go down these steps now.  Thanks, m’dear! 

Our holiday greeting especially for YOU!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Holiday BFF

I’m in stitches!

(But I’m not laughing.)

Damn, now I can’t wear those cute strappy stilettos!

Gone, baby, gone!

Next week or the week after, I might decide that having the hardware removed from my ankle was worth it, but today I’m wondering what on earth got into me! 

The surgery apparently went well, as indicated by this photo of the hardware that I know is no longer in my ankle. 

The anesthesia was… let’s just leave it at “dismal,” OK?  (There was talk of admitting me yesterday due to the effects of the anesthesia!  Fortunately that didn’t happen and I only headed home much later than expected.)

But… déjà vu!  I feel like I’m right back where I was last winter – back in the boot, non (or barely) weight-bearing, in pain, and butt-down and foot-up. 

OK, I’m done complaining now.  I know this is quite temporary and that makes it all much better.  Hopefully the saga of Carol’s broken ankle will soon come to a close –a full YEAR after the whole thing started!

Un-roboting* Day!

It’s been 49 weeks since I fell and broke everything in my ankle, resulting in the roboting of my left ankle, but bright and early this morning I will be un-roboted!*

(One of the the screws in the x-ray above has already been removed.  Remember that?!)

*The term “roboting” is courtesy of my fellow “ankler” friend Jessica-with-the-beautiful-cast who had her original surgery and her cast removal on the same days I did.