Wander and Wonder

ABBA to AC/DC and Everything Intertwined

2010-08-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

Eating the Dinosaur is a book that I know I will re-read at least a couple of times. I would love to give you a sense of what the book is about, but I'm still trying to sort it out myself. I guess I would say that it is a series of essays by Chuck Klosterman revolving around media and introspection.

I think.

I read this over two flights and was very sad when I reached the last page. I can't think of the last book I read that was not dominated by conversations. ( other than technical books ) The writing style is relaxed and conversational, which is one of the main reasons I enjoyed it so much.

You have to appreciate an author who writes extensive sections about football, but gives you explicit permission to skip them. I didn't and I was not the worse for it.

Jon should read this immediately when I loan it to him, but Mom should pass.

America take heed

2010-07-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

And obviously by 'America' I mean my mom, brother and any of the other 2 or 3 people that read this.

Montreal is kicking our collective butt in general bicycle awesomeness.

I was able to ride between three different parks in Montreal on a bike without ever leaving the confines of a dedicated bike lane which, I might add was as large as a full car lane.

When you had to cross an intersection there was no way that the cars would not know you were coming.

Even the crossing lights had little bike lights along with the walky person light. You gotta love that.

I saw literally hundreds of bikes while I was in the city. Mountain bikes, commuter bikes, fixies, cross bikes, recumbents, department store bikes and high end race bikes. There were velo themed restaurants and bars along the bike paths and city sponsored racks to lock your bike to everywhere you looked.

Even when you did ride on the actual streets next to the cars people respected you as a vehicle with a right to be on the road. It was both fun and challenging to ride alongside the cars and weave in and out around the obstacles and open car doors.

Starting and stopping at the intersections was also good fun. I got pretty good at trying to balance the bike and not put my foot down while waiting for the light to change and being first off the brakes.

I won't lie though... I did get completely smoked by an old lady on a recumbent bike. She said something in French as she rode by me, but I'm not sure what it was. I'll have to look up "manger mon croissant!" I like to think it was something encouraging.

Fire works for me

2010-07-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening I was treated to a fantastic fireworks show although I have to admit that I still have no idea what it was in celebration of. One of the hotel staff told me that there was a deck on the 11th floor that would overlook the bridge where the show was, and that it would start at 10pm. As an added bonus there was also a good view of the Just For Laughs festival that was being held nearby.

I had checked out the view earlier in the day and got to see a guy fired out of a cannon in the festival. I would have gotten a picture of it, but I don't know how to say "Hey, we are about to fire a guy out of a cannon!" in French, so it was just by coincidence that I even saw it.

I headed back up just before 10 and was surprised to see that there were only a handful of other people on the deck. The show started right at 10 and lasted for a full half hour.

This photo in no way shows the magnitude of the show, but it was the only really good exposure I got that didn't look the the photo had been taken just after I dropped the camera. Suffice it to say that you had to be there, and it was fantastic.

ça et là

2010-07-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

Blame Google if that does not translate right.

Saturday I decided that I should take a drive North to Quebec City to see the oldest city in North America. I drove for an hour until I got to this:

I am supposed to be in one of the 3 closed lanes on the left.

I had already enjoyed enough Montreal traffic the day before, so I decided to turn around and abandon the car for good and get back on a bike. The underground parking garage at the hotel was apparently dug by gophers with a sense of humor, but it strikes fear into my heart every time I try to get in or out of it. Most attempts require at least three cars to coordinate a ballet of reversing and cursing at the same time. This however, was my crowning achievement:

I know it does not look like much, but that is the end result of an 11 point turn and one slight bump.

Half an hour later I was back on a bike and all the happier. I rode down Rue Sherbrooke in the middle of Saturday traffic and was amazed at how the drivers all watched out for cyclists like they were supposed to be on the road. I did however get almost knocked over by a crazy old guy in the park who was swinging his backpack at cyclists. He must have been from the states.

One of the parks I rode to had a 'Speed Date a Dog' thing going on for the SPCA.

The other park had hippies on a slackline.

Bixi Fix

2010-07-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

Montreal is by far and away the most bicycle friendly city I have ever been in, so Friday night I decided to rent a bike and check out the city. When I was in Barcelona I saw people riding bikes that you could rent, but I never took the time to figure out how the system worked. The company is called Bixi and they have a fantastic system for renting bikes.

You put in your credit card and a hold of $238 is put on as a deposit. Then you pay by the hour you use the bikes. You get a code to unlock a bike of your choice and then you can return it to any Bixi station. It is a really neat system.

The Bixi bike is a wonderful thing. It has a built in basket, fenders, headlights and taillights ( both work off power from pedaling ) three speeds and internal brakes. It is a very well made bike and fun to ride.

Three Flights to Canada

2010-07-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

In trying to save my employer some hard earned cash on a business trip to Montreal, it was suggested that I fly into Vermont from Minnesota which also included a layover in New York and a two hour drive from Vermont to my final destination. I have only been to Vermont a couple of times ( I think ) and welcome the chance to travel somewhere new so it all sounded good to me.

My 7am flight out of Minneapolis was pretty uneventful for me, but my fellow passengers may have stories of a guy snoring. I am beyond worrying about these things and just let nature take its course. The layover in New York was much more interesting with two celebrity sightings in the Sky Club - first up was Montel Williams. That was more of a 'huh' than anything. Then I saw ( Reverend ) Run from Run DMC, which actually has some story telling weight to it. He was decked out in a fine Adidas track suit and seemed to be a nice fella. I didn't bother trying to shake his hand as I know all of about 3 Run DMC songs and never watched his reality show so I hardly qualify as a fan.

The flight to Vermont was short and hot. Not sure why the plane was so warm, but I was most pleased to get off when we landed. Burlington the town was small and pleasant, but the drive North to Canada is gorgeous. I wish I had taken the time to stop for some photos, but I was already running an hour late due to a delay at JFK.

Once I was north of the Canadian border things got farmy real quick. The farmland was like a storybook with barns and silos and nice folks on tractors waving at the city boy. I really liked the snowmobile crossing signs too. From what I am told the farmland folks don't speak much English at all, unlike in the city.

About 95 miles from Burlington I got into the outskirts of Montreal and promptly stopped due to traffic. It took me over an hour to make it the last 8 or 10 miles, and I can honestly say that the Montreal drivers are not a pleasant bunch. They take their driving seriously. The last mile was in downtown Montreal trying to get to Rue Sherbrooke and the Hilton Garden Inn. My GPS was going crazy in the shadows of all the buildings, telling me to turn around, then go straight again a minute later.

Don't Let's Start

2010-07-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you're my precious URL?

That totally rhymes, and I think I am going to fire up the Blerg again on my next trip.

So there.

A Little Bit of Frost

2009-01-14T03:55:00.000-08:00

I have only been here for a day, but I have yet to hear a decent Maine accent. What a gyp.

Making Christmas Toffee

2008-12-23T09:29:00.000-08:00

Other possible titles:

Sugar and Steel - A Study in Adhesion

Directions and the Need for Both Completion and Comprehension

Spousal Advice - Not Just a Suggestion

and finally;

Candy Making - You Know You Can Just Go Buy It, Right?

Possible photos to follow, depending on taste and cost of kitchen utensil replacement.

Scenes from a mall

2008-12-18T03:15:00.001-08:00

Last night we ventured out of the +15 and onto the streets of Calgary in search of dinner. There is an area of streets that are closed off in the evening to create an open mall of sorts where most of the bars and restaurants are. The lights here are fantastic and my photos don't really do them justice. In the above photo you can see towards the top that there are vertical silver fixtures that have blueish lights that start at the top and move down at intermittent times. I think this is supposed to appear to be snow.

I was not able to get a picture of it, but I can say with some certainty that drunk people and ice do not mix.

+15 in - 5

2008-12-16T21:18:00.001-08:00

In Calgary you can get around town by using the "+15" which is a walkway above the streets that connects most of the larger buildings in the downtown area.

From Regina to Saskatoon

2008-12-15T20:29:00.001-08:00

Let me apologize up front for all the really bad out the window airplane photos with a cell phone. I just have to work with what I got.

I spent about 32 minutes in Salt Lake City running from one gate to another and that's all I have to say about that.

It was -13 degrees Fahrenheit this evening, but I'm told it is a dry cold.

PS - Tim Horton's puts mushrooms in their chilli.

One month later

2008-12-07T19:44:00.000-08:00

This weekend I flew out to Phoenix to attend a color management conference. Four days of geeks discussing GCR, gamuts and gray balance... sometimes after an open bar.

This is the view from my balcony. It does not do justice to the view. Very, very nice.

Further adventures in eating

2008-11-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

Other that avoiding entire species, I like to think that I am gradually widening my palate. I forget exactly what this is called, but the beef was very thin and slightly seared and then served over cabbage with a ponzu sauce which is citrus based and kind of vinegar like in taste. Good stuff, and pretty too.

Carrot Sushi

2008-11-05T15:20:00.001-08:00

Finally, somebody gets it.

There are people in the world who would like to enjoy the ceremony of eating sushi without the awful taste of fish. Pour the soy sauce into the little bowl, mix in some wasabi and eat with chopsticks - sans fins.

Begin again

2008-10-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

So.

Last time I fired this thing up I was just back from Israel. No idea why I let this slip so long, but lets get caught up. Since then I have been to:

Wichita, Orlando, Valdosta, Dalton, Boston, Wichita, Wichita, Chicago, Detroit, Wichita, Boston, Dallas, Dallas, Dallas, Chicago and am on my way to Miami Beach as I write this. For some reason, I can't seem to get any further East...

While in Chicago I was staying at the Renaissance Blackstone Hotel. My room had a fantastic view of the high rise brick building next door and not much else. I was looking out the window and in the windows across the street and thought to myself how everyone in that apartment building seemed to have the same decorating taste.

It was probably half an hour later that I realized that it was another hotel.

My brain = awesome.

Jet Lag

2008-05-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it finally hit me - I got back to the room at about 4:30pm and I crashed until almost 9pm. I spent the rest of the night either watching tv or sleeping. I feel much better this morning.

Random thoughts:

Just because you never thought about 1960's black & white Israeli military musical movies does not mean they didn't exist.

The Germans have a version of 'The Peoples Court'.

If you watch a Peanuts cartoon in a foreign country there are no subtitles for the teachers voice.

If you go to a Brazilian restaurant because they have 16 kinds of meat it is really only 15 because goose hearts shouldn't count. I have implemented a strict 'outside of the ribcage only' eating policy.

A general lack of bacon

2008-05-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

Last night we went back to the Herzilea marina for dinner which is really a very nice area. The cab drivers tell us that Herzilea is where all the rich people live.

As you can see, this in no way looks anything like what I figured Israel looked like. When the cab drivers hear that this is our first time in the country, they say 'You thought we were in a war, yes?" and laugh. They also try to get us to figure out the cell phone that their uncle sent them from New York that does not display in Hebrew. Yes, I'm sure it is a nice phone. No, I don't want to buy it.

Dinner was good - a small steak with carrots and sweet potatoes in a sherry sauce. All the restaurants have great bread, but the main dishes are usually fish and vegetables. Easy enough to find chicken and veal, but no pork anywhere.

This is my big spacious bed, which is about knee high off the ground.

On closer inspection you will see that it is just two twin beds made up separately and then pushed together.

I am also amazed that while Israel is a fairly high tech country, they have not mastered the shower curtain. I can't remember the last time I stayed in a hotel where the shower curtain was not either glass or on a curved rod. I spent my whole shower trying to push the curtain away and getting no less than a gallon of water in the floor.

We should also dump American Idol in favor of the Eurovision contest. It is way more amusing.

Still Alive and Well

2008-05-25T09:24:00.001-07:00

I started off my trip to Israel by getting to the airport way too early. I wanted to try a new off site parking lot and it was raining, so I left earlier than I should have. To kill time and prepare myself for the 11+ hour flight I sat at the beer & wine bar in the E terminal and had 3 glasses of wine figuring if that was not enough to get me sleepy the Tylenol PM surely would.

I got to the gate a half hour before the flight was supposed to leave figuring that I would be there right as they started boarding, only to find out that they were already at zone 7. Being a Delta Medallion traveler, I was able to pass up all the riff raff and go to the head of the line - and then had to take my shoes off again. And take my laptop out again. And show my passport again.

I sat next to a brother and sister in their 20's who were traveling with their parents to Israel. They were quite and polite which made the trip a bit easier. I decided to watch the movie 'Juno' on the headset screen as it was free and then I dozed on and off with the cabin lights out and all the window shades closed it was hard to tell how much time had passed. When I woke up long enough to give it some thought, I figured that we were probably about 2 hours away from landing. After I checked the flight information screen I saw that we had only been flying for about 6 hours, and still had 5 to go. I went back to sleep for a while and the next time I woke up we were over Greece, which looked very nice from the air. I watched most of 'No Country for Old Men' and then it was time to land. For the record, I never got up the whole flight.

Anywhoo...

Security was easy as was customs (getting out is supposed to be another story). I converted $200 to NIS (New Israel Sheckles) which is way better looking than our money and was good to go. Anthony, a fellow HP tech from Virginia, had flown in a couple of hours before I did and was waiting for me outside the airport and we took a cab to Herzelia and the Daniel Hotel.

After checking in and relaxing for a few minutes I went to the lobby to meet with two of the guys from R&D; Matty and Eli. They took me to the Marina for dinner which was very nice. We talked about the color management product until after 11pm and then back to the hotel where I crashed for the night.

A couple of observations:

#1 - Israel is nothing like I expected. At first glance it seems like Las Vegas, but without the casinos. After going to the marina and the shopping mall where the restaurants are the resemblance was even more striking.

#2 - If you had asked me a week ago what one word jumped into my mind when I thought of Israel, I would have said 'Camel'. Now I would probably say 'Jet Ski'.

#3 - They have Ace Hardware and Toys 'R Us here. Who knew?

Today we started the classes. There are four of us; Anthony and me, Alessandro from Italy, and a guy who's name I can't even spell phonetically from Dubai. Our teacher is originally from Chile, and our teacher tomorrow is from Scotland. It was 8 fun filled hours of standing on concrete. The rest of the week promises to be the same. Hopefully we will be going into Jerusalem one evening.

More tomorrow.

- Update. The guy from Dubai is named Anand. I think I just heard him wrong the first time.

like a fritter

2008-03-13T07:58:00.001-07:00

I forgot to upload this photo from the Tampa airport. This food kiosk had fresh fruit smoothies on the left, and chilli dogs on the right. A tasty dichotomy.

And one more from Chicago.

Double dutch disco

2008-03-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today Tampa, tomorrow Wichita.

I'm hanging out in the Tampa airport waiting to fly home just long enough to kiss my wife and grab a coat, and I wanted to pass along 2 things that I am currently enjoying;

First and foremost, Ninja Warrior. If it was not on I don't think I would bother watching TV until Weeds or Dexter came back on. If you have not seen it, do yourself a favor and give it a try. The Womens challenge is on G4 right now and it is every bit as good as the mens.

Secondly, the soundtrack from Juno. Especially the song "Loose Lips" by Kimya Dawson. This is the kind of song that I love and Debbie hates. Go figure...

Apparently this is March

2008-03-07T08:05:00.000-08:00

The lack of blog updates is due to a lack in interesting things. I have been in Tennessee, Texas, and am currently in Illinois. Had anything worth noting happened, you would have known about it - I promise.

I did see some movies;

Be kind, rewind.

I'm a big JB fan, and I am all in favor of just putting him in front of a camera to see what will happen. That is pretty much what I expected of this movie and in some places that is exactly what you got which was good. But it also tried to have a bigger message about saving a building... Fats Waller... I don't know. It was pretty muddy and in the end people showed up without explanation carrying things that didn't make sense and you never got to find out what happened to the building. I enjoyed the movie remakes quite a bit, but I'm guessing that most viewers are going to come away with the same feeling that I did - namely that there should have been more movie remakes and less story. Not a waste of time, but a bit confusing overall.

No country for old men.

I really liked this movie. It is very violent in places and it does have Woody Harrelson who I don't usually care for. Woody did a great job in his later scenes and I was pretty impressed with his acting. I enjoyed the dialog overall even though it was somewhat sparse. Just like in 'Be kind, rewind' there were people who just showed up from time to time without a valid explanation of how they got there and the ending was far from any kind of closure. Still and all, it was a great way to spend an evening in a hotel away from family and friends.

Next week I'm off to Tampa again, and then who knows...

GPestimate

2008-02-19T19:38:00.000-08:00

It is common knowledge in my family that I can't get from hither to yon without electronic intervention and a host of satellites. I have lived in the same general area for the last 25 years and I still have to ask my wife the best way to go into town.

So this morning I left home armed with a Google map and a vague idea of how to get there based on previous trips in the same general direction. I managed to go about 30 miles out of my way and was saved from a late arrival at the customer only by the grace of the Central time zone. I would have been fine if I had read the directions and not trusted my internal (infernal?) compass.

I did have time to come up with this though;

"We need to find a place to stay the night" Tom said logically.

If you have to ask, it is probably best not to. It's a family thing.

Speaking of family, any spelling errors above are not my fault. The Blogger spell check failed 'with response 500 Internal Server Error after 936 ms'

...I have to assume that '936 ms' is a count of my misspellings and I melted something.

Back to the North

2008-02-13T04:30:00.000-08:00

This week I'm in Grand Rapids MI to take a class which I have been looking forward to for weeks. It is so nice to work for a company that is willing to invest in their staff.

The day before I arrived they had 'blizzard like' conditions. It has been snowing since I got here and I hope I can make it back out on Friday night.

Driving is not too fun - my rental car is a Toyota Ashtray. It comes pre-scented and with onions. Super nice.

Here is your second installment of color management training. As usual, please feel free to ask questions. It should be pretty self explanatory.

Tallahassle

2008-01-31T06:38:00.000-08:00

Its a little known fact that if you cover a cow's feet in wood chips they can't move.

I flew from Altanta to Tampa (again)with the intent to then go to Ft. Lauderdale. As it turns out, you can't really get there from here. I was left with having to fly Tampa to Tallahassee, and then Tallahassee to Ft. Lauderdale.

Or so I thought.

On check-in at the Tampa airport the helpful kiosk told me that an illegal proceedure had occured and I would need to speak to an agent. The helpful agent told me that my flight was delayed and I would miss my connection, so she was going to put me on another flight. They had to put me on a Continental flight, which required a lot of typing and special airline code words ("you need to XO his flight and set the Q tab...") So many code words and so much typing that I missed that flight too. The end result was a flight from Tampa to Atlanta, and Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale - all first class.

Flying in the big boy seats is really nice, and I had a good conversation with a guy who turned out to be a long time employee of the same company I work for. On the last leg I was reading and noticed that the man next to me was watching 'Balls of Fury'. He didn't so much as crack a smile, but as the movies are free in first class I decided to give it a try. I spent the next hour giggling and covering my mouth while my neighbor just looked at me like I was 12.

I'm about halfway through The Book of Other People and it is an enjoyable read. Each chapter is written by a different author, and the assignment was for the authors to just make somebody up and write about them. I'm impressed by the depth of the characters and the amount of detail they are able to put into such a short space. I also really like the cover art - I recognize the style and am hoping that jondernethica will poke me to remind me why.

Tampaline

2008-01-24T16:55:00.000-08:00

Tampa is not Iowa and that is all kinds of good.

When I arrived, I plugged in all the addresses into the GPS so I wouldn't get lost and the GPS promptly told me that I would arrive at the customer at 8:38am the following morning.

Huh?

I checked the map and it said that the customer was over 1100 miles away. Then the GPS popped up a window that said:

"Are you currently in Vermont?"

Um... no, no I am not.

I may write a children's book about the GPS that told you where it wanted to be, not where you were.

After spending an hour explaining to the customer about input profiles, rendering intents, and all other sorts of color managment goodness I looked down and this is what I had. So there you go, free color managment lesson. Email me with any questions.

My GPS also thinks the water in Tampa is far bluer than it really is.

Back again

2008-01-17T09:01:00.000-08:00

Back in Iowa.

Yep.

Yessir... Iowa.

Scorn

2008-01-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

So yeah, um... Iowa.

NYC - to the right

2008-01-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

First day back at work and I'm in NYC. I really like being in the city and that always suprises me a little bit as I never spent all that much time in a big city.

My sense of direction is really not to good. Unless the sun is rising or setting I have no idea which way is North, South, East or West. My general rule of thumb in a big city is to go in one direction and then just keep turning one way until I get back to where I started. My Dad can navigate across the ocean by the stars and my wife can find her way to and from anywhere, but I have to have a GPS or breadcrumbs.

When I'm in a town with a rental car, I will go out from the hotel and turn right or left and then just drive until I get bored. Even with a GPS I don't make too many turns without a specific destination in mind. It's just that bad.

I'm staying in the SoHo area very near Chinatown. I was walking around as best I could in the freezing cold and looking at the street vendors. One vendor told me; 'Unless you want Rolex we closed!' I'm not exactly sure of his business model.

(Sorry Mom, but I found that amusing)

I think you had to be there for this photo. The things hanging in the window were almost enough to put me off meat.

Terminally Ill

2007-12-20T09:12:00.001-08:00

Mexico City has a brand new terminal (Terminal 2) at the airport. It is very pretty and everything is still under construction. The first spanish word I added to my vocabulary when I arrived on Monday was "Proximamente" which means 'Coming Soon'. The terminal is very cold in the morning, and if you are in the public area before security everything is made of stone. Notice the luxurious seating;

I spent a good hour sleeping on the floor by the Delta counter and ate at the same resturaunt twice. The most exciting thing was being interviewed about the new terminal, but I have no idea what the interview was being used for or where it would be seen.

After waiting three hours in the public area to check in for my flight I finally made it to the gate. The seats were padded and plenteful, but there were no AC outlets anywhere. I happened to walk back behind the bathrooms following a sign for telephones and I found this;

Twenty AC outlets in a row with no tables or chairs. Connection before comfort, so I'm back to sitting on the floor.

Last Consumption of the Mini-Bar

2007-12-20T04:06:00.000-08:00

This is shaping up to be a stellar travel day. I woke up at 3:30am to catch a taxi to the airport. My flight was at 3pm, but I was hoping to get on the 7:25am flight to Atlanta. While there is space on the flight, it would have cost me almost $350 due to a fare difference and other things beyond my comprehension. I now have a fun filled day at the airport which I will try to make as productive as possible.

On the taxi ride in this morning Lav was in the back seat singing 'Bed of Roses' as it played on the radio. "Do you know how long we have been waiting for a Bon Jovi concert in Israel?" he asks. "Forever". He thinks it is politics, while I think it is just good taste on the part of the Israeli people.

El Deuce

2007-12-19T16:51:00.001-08:00

Today on the drive from the hotel in Mexico City to the customer in Toluca we passed this:

I didn't go in, but I have to assume it was awesome.

Solved with Science

2007-12-18T04:31:00.000-08:00

On my 4 hour flight to Mexico City I had the opportunity to work on some programming. I think this is written clearly enough that even the non-programmers in the audience will appreciate it.

if(babyVolume >> jetVolume){
(buyNoiseCancelingHeadphones = True)
}
else
{wrapHeadInJacket}

I am Smokey

2007-12-17T05:10:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend Gage and I decided to check out 'I am Legend' as he is a big Will Smith fan and the trailer looked really good. I'm happy to report that it was a lot of fun, but pretty scary. The movie was followed by a deep discussion of what Darkseekers would order at McDonalds (McSpleens), Darkseeker holiday songs (Bloody the Darkseeker) and how the movie might have been different if they had cast Chris Tucker instead of Will Smith.

I think that movie studios might consider taking the approach that they could cast both of them for the same movie role, and shoot each scene twice and release both movies at the same time. It would save a lot of money and make for two completely different movie going experiences.

Back at home we turned on each and every light in the house and did full recon missions of the bathroom before peeing. Darkseekers are a tricky bunch.

40 Below Troopers

2007-12-14T03:36:00.001-08:00

Due to some less than stellar planning, I had a 5 hour drive from Detroit to Traverse City. The day was bright and clear and the roads were good, so I can certainly think of worse ways to spend a day. Earlier in the day I met up with Eran and Lahav, both just in from Israel. They could not get over how cold it was (upper 20's) and all the snow.

The trip with them started out by getting some food. "Vegetables!" Eran said. "I need vegetables." Apparently in Israel 'vegetables' covers a range of food from carrots to pretzels based on the shopping that followed. I am learning so much.

Next week will take me to Mexico City and there is talk again about a trip to Israel for a week or so. It all makes me wonder what the next year will bring. 2007 has definitely been a step in the right direction.

Don't forget the motor city

2007-12-11T08:50:00.000-08:00

By the time I landed in Detroit, got my rental car and made it to the hotel it was after 11pm and very, very dark. Here is the view I woke up to from my hotel window.

My day has to get better from here.

Everything, all the time.

2007-12-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

Just a quick rundown of the day;

Up at 4am for a drive to the airport

Carry a coat

Tip the curbside guy only to find out that I don't have a seat assignment and have to stand in line anyway

Have to get the seat assigned at the gate (after standing in line)

85% of the plane boards Medallion

I board zone 6

No overhead space

Nobody in the middle seat next to me

Amazon back orders 80% of my gifts

28 degrees in Chicago (High for the day)

The Reverend Al Sharpton is in baggage claim

Packed rental car shuttle bus

Guy spills coffee on my laptop bag (I hate coffee)

Rental car is new and warm

My company announces that it is buying one of our biggest competitors

Off to Detroit

So at this point in my day I'm sitting at the gate waiting for the plane to Detroit to board. The flight before is for Dusseldorf, so I am playing "Dusseldorf or Detroit" and guessing which people in the gate are going where.

And my foot is asleep.

Smote the notes

2007-12-06T16:52:00.000-08:00

My brother made a heartfelt post on his blog about how he wanted nothing but music for the holidays. And I read the post, and I understand his feelings, but but I'm still not buying him music for Jebusmas. This is a longstanding holiday tradition where he asks for CDs and I don't get them. It's not a spiteful thing, it's all about principal. Or something.

For me the fun of buying gifts at the holidays is to get people things that they would not normally get themselves. I just don't like the idea of getting a shopping list and then going out and checking off items. Now if someone asks for something really cool that I know they would not just pick up if they had a couple extra bucks, I'm all for that. I am also in favor of buying gifts for people that I can later borrow and enjoy myself.

I read the list and I'm sure that were this not the holiday season those CDs would be in his collection in short order anyway. Music books? Maybe. The cool shirt? Also maybe. CDs? Nope. Not gonna do it. Happy Holidays, and hope you understand.

Chuck Amuck.

2007-12-06T15:01:00.000-08:00

Chucky P. is one of my favorite authors. Sometimes I like what he says, and sometimes I just like the way he says it. Either way he keeps me interested. I had just finished re-reading one of his best - Invisible Monsters, shortly followed by Fight Club. In some airport somewhere I ran out of book and needed a new one so I picked up Diary: A Novel. I won't go into the details of the book - you can hit up the Amazon link, but I will say that it was ok. It kept me interested and had some truly original ideas in it, but I just never really cared for anyone all that much in the book. Plus, I'm not sure that I got it. I might have gotten it, but if I did there was not much to get. So in conclusion, I give it a rousing 'meh'.

Edit: I just read the above post and had images of my mom and brother scribbling all over their monitors with red pen correcting my grammar. Mr. Miksic would just be happy that I am typing.

A drain in vain

2007-12-05T13:54:00.000-08:00

I'm in Chicago this week, staying at the Westin O'Hare hotel which is very nice. I like Westin hotels because they tend to have a bit more style than most, sometimes too much. Take my bathroom at this hotel; the shower is not separated from the rest of the bathroom by anything other than a shower curtain. There are two drains in the floor - one in the center of the shower area and one in the center of the bathroom as a whole.

I originally thought this was pretty clever until I had to actually use the shower. While the water was warming up, all the water on the floor ran over to the sink and puddled up there. By the time I was done with my shower and ready to shave at the sink I was standing in a half inch of cold water. As it turns out, shaving with cold wet feet is a less than fantastic way to start the day.

(sorry about the photo, my camera lens is not wide enough to get the whole thing in one shot)

Here is the view from my room this evening: