Many Travel-Tidbits were written years ago with no thought of the Internet -- just for their personal pleasure and for their grandchildren. (For fun, Jim established a budget of one page per Tidbit, about 400 words per story, and although it may take several pages to tell the whole story, each page stands on its own.) What you'll read and see here is a selection of stories and photos, vignettes from Jim and Emmy's years of travel. Enjoy!
Comments, complaints, questions, arguments, corrections are all welcome at jimhum@sbcglobal.net.
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Books: Comments
Em-J Publishing James T. Humberd 807 N. Bel Aire Dr. Burbank, CA 91501 818-846-1495 jimhum@sbcglobal.net http://www.InvitationToTravel.com http://www.travel-tidbits.com/ Comments on our books ISBN: 096184051X, Invitation to France (second edition) ISBN: 0961840536, Invitation to Italy (first edition) ISBN: 0961840528, Invitation to Germany (first edition) Alex D, -- Nürnberg, Germany: The skillful presentations of your personal experiences and impressions gave us a further understanding of Americans. Bernice, A., -- Woodland Hills, CA: I think it's great the way you have mixed your opinions and observations along with the history, geography, and physical description of the cities, towns, and structures. Betty H., -- York, PA: If this book doesn't make me want to go to France, nothing will! Bookstore Manager, Beverly Hills: My home is in Italy, near Urbino. Your books are wonderful. You have a really different approach to the subject of my homeland. Debbie C, -- Fair Oaks, CA: It was as if friends were telling me about their trip to Europe. Don A., -- Woodland Hills, CA: Your book just exudes enthusiasm. Dorothy S. -- W. Los Angeles, CA: Since a visit to France is not on my horizon at the moment, I'll take your trip vicariously. Eleanor C., -- Hollywood,... Continue reading "Books: Comments" Comment on "Books: Comments" |
About Jim & Emmy
For the next several minutes I kissed My Sweetie all over her face, her eyes, her mouth, and all over. As I lifted my head, I would swear she had a different expression on her face, she took two more breaths, then left for Heaven. I was no more than 5 or 6 inches from her face, so did not miss a thing. It was as if I had given her permission to leave, and that was her last look of love, especially for me. I am crying as I type, I want to be with her, now! One year we celebrated Sweeties 70th birthday at exactly 12345670. That occurred on Jan 2, 2003 at 4:56 both AM and PM — well we slept through the AM version, but we did celebrate the PM version. Each year this century, people make a big deal out of dates like 3-3-03, 4-4-04, 5-5-05, 6-6-06, and especially they call 777 or 7-7-07 their lucky day. But who else do you know who celebrated 12345670! For every one of the 54 Wedding Anniversaries, we have eaten at a restaurant we have never patronized before. For our 38th, from our table in the Marriott Hotel in Athens we could see the Parthenon at the top of the Acropolis. It was partially covered with scaffolding, and looked as if it could be under construction, under renovation, or perhaps under demolition. We asked our waiter when he last visited the Parthenon. He laughed and said as a school child he was bussed to the Acropolis one day, the one and only time he's been there! Anniversaries have been celebrated in Athens; Cruise Ships 3; Dallas (2); Ft. Worth; Greimerath, Germany; Las Vegas (4); Los Angeles area (18); Mauna Kea Beach Hotel in Hawaii (the best!!); Lowes Hotel Monte Carlo (the worst!!); Palm Springs area (16); Park Ridge, Ill (Wedding day); Phoenix; San Diego (2); San Francisco; Santa Barbara; Strasbourg. The photographs on Travel-Tidbits.com are all tourist snapshots, taken from 10 to 35 years ago. The age of the photo, the process of the scan and transfer to the Internet, often caused a slight shift in colors, but the main idea is the composition and the contents of the photo, as amplified by the Photo-Tidbit, the story below. Of course being stored for many years in our garage, in the California Desert, sure didn't help. It is important to note that while the Travel-Tidbits and Photo-Tidbits include thousands of capitalized nouns — town and city names, buildings, tourist sites, etc. — Emmy and I have visited each and every one mentioned here. I have searched the Internet, via Google, for hundreds and hundreds of those nouns, and have yet to find one that is not listed on the internet somewhere. About the only thing of interest to us that has changed since our first visit to Europe in 1970, was the removal of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain, and the beginning of the restoration of Dresden, Germany. Jim and Emmy's Tidbits are just that - vignettes, samples, suggestions, incidents, "Why Not Visit" stories — without a hint of the "How To" that is the major topic found in many travel publications. Comments, complaints, questions, arguments, corrections are all welcome at jimhum@sbcglobal.net PS. I first got involved in the computer industry in the late 1940s, almost before there were computers. To brag a moment, fifty years ago I worked at least a little with three of the original, huge, hand-built computers, the Whirlwind at MIT, the SWAC at UCLA, and the Johnniac at the RAND Corp. And forty-five years ago, I wrote the computer manuals, created the training course, went to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and trained NASA on the RCA 110A (Saturn Ground Control Computer). I also conducted several training classes on the RCA 4102 (Atlantic Missile Range Computer). These were two of the computers that helped put the men on the moon. Since they all got there and back OK, I figure I did my job just right. Just in case you care (and even my mother might not want to read all of this), in this Web Site there are about 75 pages of stories of those early computer days, with a hundred links to old computer web sites. A short version of that story can also be found at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). One day an official of that organization was on CSPAN, and asked for stories about early computer days. I submitted a couple of my stories, they liked them and asked for more. Then they published an extensive portion of my story, and I thank them for that attention to my early days. Comment on "About Jim & Emmy" |
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