(Pardon me, but you can you direct me to the Soviet Em-m-m-m-mbasy?)
Friday, February 06, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Photoshop as past:future connection
The link will lead you to an amazing collection of images this
Friday, January 16, 2009
Flash Classics: KAAAAN!!!
Before reading, click here
The first time I ever surfed the internet with a compete navigator, GUI-based interface (NetScape Beta v0.03b) instead of the text-based Lynx system used by fellowhackers computer enthusiasts, I didn't really see what the fuss was about. Sure, rather than typing "ATT=LFx (where x is the tab index for the link)" you could click on links with you mouse. There were images, tables, and, occasionally, bad MIDI music that would auto-load, but, overall, meh...
Then a friend emailed me (EchoNet at the time, natch) the IP for KHAAAAN!!!. At the time, DNS servers were unreliable beasts, often routing you to incorrect sites or throwing a 404 page cannot be displayed error, so you had to actually memorize the IP address for the host computer. The page that appeared was this. An animated gif of Captain Kirk screaming, "Khaan!" from the Star Trek film, "The Wrath of Khan".
I was struck. How could someone spend these incredible resources building a page that is a two-image GIF animation with a looping audio file? Then it struck: They did because creation and distribution of web-based content is essentially free. Here I was, sitting on my 386 (40mhz) in my room watching this animation created by someone out there in the ether. Why? Because the animation has a worldwide audience.
The KHAAAN! page since become a web classic. One of the first examples of a bit of content "going viral." I still occasionally look it up and relive that life-changing "Ah HA!" moment I had so many years ago.
This is a graph put together by flashman relating how many 'A's people generally search for when they are trying to find this historic clip. The evolution of the web continues to amaze and befuddle.
The first time I ever surfed the internet with a compete navigator, GUI-based interface (NetScape Beta v0.03b) instead of the text-based Lynx system used by fellow
Then a friend emailed me (EchoNet at the time, natch) the IP for KHAAAAN!!!. At the time, DNS servers were unreliable beasts, often routing you to incorrect sites or throwing a 404 page cannot be displayed error, so you had to actually memorize the IP address for the host computer. The page that appeared was this. An animated gif of Captain Kirk screaming, "Khaan!" from the Star Trek film, "The Wrath of Khan".
I was struck. How could someone spend these incredible resources building a page that is a two-image GIF animation with a looping audio file? Then it struck: They did because creation and distribution of web-based content is essentially free. Here I was, sitting on my 386 (40mhz) in my room watching this animation created by someone out there in the ether. Why? Because the animation has a worldwide audience.
The KHAAAN! page since become a web classic. One of the first examples of a bit of content "going viral." I still occasionally look it up and relive that life-changing "Ah HA!" moment I had so many years ago.
This is a graph put together by flashman relating how many 'A's people generally search for when they are trying to find this historic clip. The evolution of the web continues to amaze and befuddle.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
New Zealand Nintendo Ad
Not only is "scare-the-shit-out-of-little-kids" creepy, it also wracks your self-esteem by repeating how you cannot win the games and will be beaten. I'm not sure why this would make me want to fork over $300 istead driving to the local game store and beating someone up.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Real World: Realestate World
"How do you like this place?" She asked, half-smiling.
"Eh..." I responded helpfully.
"It's big, I'll give it that." Mandy added.
"Yes, it's big. Maybe too big?"
"It's not that..."
"What is it?"
"Well, there sure are a lot baby shoes nailed to the wall." I offered.
"And all the surgical masks laying around." Mandy added.
"And an attic with a wet bar, toilet, shower, sink, and dishwasher in the same room."
"And the shower downstairs with three shower-heads on each side of the shower (making 6), one with a long neck, sticking halfway into the shower space, and the three shower heads on the top ceiling... making for 12 shower heads in one shower. With no lights inside..."
"The closing door is glass, I bet some light would get through." She tried, the smile almost totally gone.
"It doesn't help much if the interior of the shower is painted black."
"Ah, yes."
"I almost want to buy this place out of the sheer madness of it all. I could so be a crazy old man here." I said.
She laughed nervously and looked at Mandy for help.
"Ok, let's knock this one off the list." Mandy said and headed for the giant, 12-foot high door with the doorknob on the wrong side.
We've entered the world of real estate in a search for a home out here in the mountains, and if the above story is anything, it's true. This real estate world is a strange, quirky place where the laws of logic and reason have no authority. Our goal is to have the purchase wrapped up and be ready to move in by mid-Spring. I have no idea if this is possible, but I am having a hell of a good time just wandering through these houses of madness.
I expect the search for a home that is A) Cool B) Not going to break the bank is going to fraught with much peril, but I also think it will be entertaining to watch from afar. With that said, I am going to post a few entries about the crazy houses we see, put up pictures, and solicity for feedback. For those of you who've been through this process before, please give us tips and ideas. The more we know, the informed we can be when it comes to signing that dotted line.
"Eh..." I responded helpfully.
"It's big, I'll give it that." Mandy added.
"Yes, it's big. Maybe too big?"
"It's not that..."
"What is it?"
"Well, there sure are a lot baby shoes nailed to the wall." I offered.
"And all the surgical masks laying around." Mandy added.
"And an attic with a wet bar, toilet, shower, sink, and dishwasher in the same room."
"And the shower downstairs with three shower-heads on each side of the shower (making 6), one with a long neck, sticking halfway into the shower space, and the three shower heads on the top ceiling... making for 12 shower heads in one shower. With no lights inside..."
"The closing door is glass, I bet some light would get through." She tried, the smile almost totally gone.
"It doesn't help much if the interior of the shower is painted black."
"Ah, yes."
"I almost want to buy this place out of the sheer madness of it all. I could so be a crazy old man here." I said.
She laughed nervously and looked at Mandy for help.
"Ok, let's knock this one off the list." Mandy said and headed for the giant, 12-foot high door with the doorknob on the wrong side.
We've entered the world of real estate in a search for a home out here in the mountains, and if the above story is anything, it's true. This real estate world is a strange, quirky place where the laws of logic and reason have no authority. Our goal is to have the purchase wrapped up and be ready to move in by mid-Spring. I have no idea if this is possible, but I am having a hell of a good time just wandering through these houses of madness.
I expect the search for a home that is A) Cool B) Not going to break the bank is going to fraught with much peril, but I also think it will be entertaining to watch from afar. With that said, I am going to post a few entries about the crazy houses we see, put up pictures, and solicity for feedback. For those of you who've been through this process before, please give us tips and ideas. The more we know, the informed we can be when it comes to signing that dotted line.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Giving Thanks in Grand Rapids
(Bush and Turkey. Turkey is happy. Bush is happy.)
We are off to Grand Rapids for our annual Thanksgiving visit to our old stomppin' grounds. Much eating and making of conversation is sure to be had. We are landing late afternoon on Wednesday the 26th and leaving on 30th mid afternoon. As much as we've tried, we've been unable to keep our schedule as open and flexible as we would have liked. If you're going to be in town and would like to hook up, give us a call or write us an email and we'll see if we can make our schedules cross yours.
We are going to be able to spend some quality time with the clan Forton, which is great, as we haven't been able to hang for an extended period in, well, years. Time seems to get away from us, especially living 18 hours driving distance (or spening $1,400 on airline tickets), and we never have enough time to spend with everyone as we'd like. Many people have taken us up on our offer to fly anyone out to visit (frequent-flier miles allowing). Mandy's parent's have visited twice, my Dad and Jan came out, Chad, Mandy, Jess and Mike, then Jess by herself, and Mandy's aunt, uncle, and cousins. It's good thing we invested in an apartment with a spare bedroom!
As much as we're geeked to be back in town, we are quite happy to not be there for Thanksgiving. It seems the holidays bring out the best and worst in people. Even with a conscious effort to avoid family drama this time around, it seems unavoidable. Maybe that is the problem; we spend so much time trying to avoid it, we lose sight of the fact that when you get all of the members of an extended family together, there is going to be some amount of friction, no matter what. I think my ability to disengage myself from the drama is hightened skill, but even with that I can't help but feel my blood pressure surge when I have to deal with people who are so stubbornly adicted to generating pointless drama.
As I said, it will be great to see everyone, but it will just as nice to not have to deal with the drama come Christmas.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Body Builders - Body Modification: Here it Comes!
(Holy God Almighty: Click her muscles for an image gallery of these beauties)
Can anyone make a good argument for how this isn't the most extreme form of body modification? In my humble opinion, Tatoos and branding don't even come close to this.
On the other hand, being an adherent to the principles and doctrine of the transhumanist movement (if you could call it that) I openly welcome extreme body modification. It's not like the ability to remake yourself in increasingly bizarre and Kafkaesque ways will get more difficult with time. So, it's not really a matter of being able to stop it, it's more a matter of being a happy or unhappy person when it arrives and others want to do it.
We don't all live in a vacuum, remember? Most people don't think exactly like you because, well, they're not you.
(The future US President: c. 2050)
Monday, October 13, 2008
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Top Ten Flying Tips
In one year, I have been on 81 flights. 81 times I’ve turned off my cell phone and waited as the plane rocketed into the sky. 81 times I’ve stowed my tray table and returned my seat to its full, upright position in preparation for landing. I’ve adjusted my watch 77 times for a new a time zone and been through 18 different airports in four countries on two continents
Shortest flight: 31 minutes (Chapel Hill, NC to Washington, DC)
Longest flight: 11 hrs 45 mins (Denver, CO to Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Here are the top ten tips I can give people making a quick visit to Airworld. The tips are not listed in any particular order of importance or anything, nor are they complete. I’m bored on this flight to DC, so I thought I’d share…
Top Ten Flying Tips
1. Avoid checking your bags.
Most airlines charge for any checked bags. United, for example, charges $15 per check bag, per flight. That means, if you’re on a round-trip voyage to New York, you will end up paying $30 to check one bag.
Fill a suitcase that falls within the size requirements with your clothes and bathroom supplies, and pack a backpack with the rest. There’s still a useless ban on liquids in the US, so make sure to not bring any liquids over 3 ounces. The liquid containers you do bring have to be packed in a clear plastic bag that can easily be placed, separately, on the security conveyor belt. I assume the TSA put this ban in effect to determine if there are any teeny, tiny bombs suspended in the liquid. I’ve lost two bottles of expensive cologne and countless bottles of water, shampoo, and mouthwash because of this.
If your bags are in your keeping throughout the trip, the airlines can’t lose them and you don’t have to wait around for them to show up on the baggage claim. Trust me, you don’t want to be in a position where, after 20 hours of straight travel, you find yourself Oslo, Norway listening to the helpful attendant say, in broken English, “Matthew J. Fox, please go to the lost baggage claim counter.” This has happened to me and it sucks.
2. Put an empty water bottle in your carry-on backpack.
Due to the completely useless, misguided, and draconian ban on carry-on liquids, you cannot pass through the security checkpoint with a full bottle of water. Whether you’ve purchased the bottle in the airport (within viewing distance of a TSA agent or not, you’ll still have to pitch it). However, you can get an empty bottle through. The theory is: Empty bottles cannot contain sizable amount s of the airplane-blowing-up fluid “Blowiquid.” Safe!
Once on the other side of the check-point, fill up the bottle at a water fountain (be sure not to use the fountains labeled “Blowiquid” or you might just blow yourself up with your bottle of water). This will save you having to pay $3+ for a bottle in the DMZ. Plus, the low air pressure / high altitude on the flight will dehydrate you much faster than at sea level. If you want to be at all functional when you land, make sure to drink lots of water.
3. Sign up for the frequent flier, rental car, hotel programs
These programs are free and can only benefit you. Most give sizable bonuses simply for signing up. It often takes a while to build up enough miles for a free flight or for an upgrade, but most point systems take forever to expire, so you’ll eventually get something free.
4. There is no need to arrive at the airport overly early.
When I started traveling for business, I would find myself clearing security and sitting down at the gate with 2 hours to spare. Unless it’s a holiday, Monday morning or Friday evening, or you’re traveling internationally, arriving at the airport an hour and a half early is plenty of time. If you’re not checking a bag, and you’ve checked in online, you can easily get to your gate with up to 20 minutes to spare. If you are checking a bag, most airlines will stop allowing the checking of any bags if you try less than 45 minutes before the plane takes off—also, there’s a 50lbs limit on all carry-on bags. If you go over that, you incur even more charges. Keep it in mind.
5. Check in online.
After you purchase your ticket, you will receive a confirmation code (a six character alphanumeric number), make note of it. 24 hours prior to take-off, you can check in online with that confirmation code and your last name. Go to the airline’s web site and look for the online check in section. This will guarantee you seats, and, many times allow you to pick the best seats.
Most airlines oversell popular flights. This means, if you don’t check in online, there is a good chance you will get bumped to the next flight.
Also, if you don’t have a bag to check, you can bypass the ticketing counter entirely. Just head straight to security with your printed ticket. This makes the process much faster.
Also, while you’re online checking in, be sure to sign up for that’s airline’s flight status updates. These can either be emailed or sent via text message to your phone. It’s much more convenient to find out your flight has been canceled or delayed before you leave for the airport.
6. If you’re on a short flight (2-3 hours), get an aisle seat. If it’s a long flight (more than 3 hours) get a window seat. Avoid the seating letters B and E like the plague.
Aisle seats have their perks. They allow you to stretch out your legs. You don’t have to climb over anyone to get to the bathroom and you will be the first person out of the row when the plane lands. Sadly, it also means that every person who walks down the two foot wide aisle will bash you with their elbows, bags, heads, etc. On long flights, a window seat gives you something to learn your head against other than the seat, and no one will have to crawl over you to get to the aisle or to vomit (sadly, also, this has never happened… at least to me).
A quick sub-tip: If you’re going to sleep on the flight, make sure to buckle your belt on the outside of the blanket so that the damn flight attendants won’t come around and wake you up to make sure your seat-belt is on. They can see it on the top of the blanket a go bother someone else.
7. Airworld is mean. Be aggressive in everything or be prepared to be run over.
If you want to get on the plane with any hopes of having overhead space to place your bag(s), wedge your way to the front of the line. If someone is kicking the back of your seat, turn around and tell them to stop or get a flight attendant. If you’ve been directed to a security line that is really long, look for a shorter one and cut over to it. No one is going to spare you any unnecessary courtesy. Most are like me, who fly every week of the year and will take any advantage possible to get through the maze of lines and checkpoints faster. Most us aren’t going on vacation or having an adventure. We’re working and want to get through the system as fast as possible.
If you want a can of Coke and a cup of coffee and another bag of pretzels; ask for them. Flight attendants are trained 70% safety, 20% security, and 10% hospitality. They really don’t care how many complimentary bags of nuts they hand out. Just ask. If they say no, punch them. They love that.
8. If you are traveling for an emergency (funeral, health concern, etc), call the airline directly and ask them for their reduced emergency fare
When my grandma died this past year, she was to be buried less than 48 hours after dying. This kind of radically-quick burial, make it very difficult for people who live on the other side of country to get to the funeral home before the person is buried. As a result, the round trip, less-than-24-hour-notice tickets from Denver to Grand Rapids were nearly $1000.00 for the two of us. This isn’t a trivial amount of money. I ended up calling the airlines and asking if they had any specials for people who were traveling for funerals, etc. They confirmed that yes, there were. We had to provide them with the name of the mortuary and funeral director, complete with telephone number. In the end, however, we ended up getting the same tickets for $300.00 total; a significant drop. Keep it mind.
9. Book in advance, but not too far in advance.
If you can avoid traveling on Saturday and if you can purchase your ticket 2-3 weeks before the flight, your tickets will be significantly less. In addition, there is much more availability in seating. You should be able to avoid the dreaded B and E seats.
However, if you book a month or more earlier, there is a good chance the flight you want will be canceled or have its details changed. If you can avoid booking that far in advance, do it. If not, ask the reservationist if the flight is a daily commuter flight. If so, it should still be there when you try to take it.
10. If you need/want something, butter up the counter agent.
“Hey, I have a question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“How much would I have to pay you to get this plane to arrive early?
“Hahaha… you.”
“But seriously, I need anything other than a center seat. I’m sure a charming/intelligent/green person like yourself could do this for me.”
“Hhahaha… you. Here you go!”
And so forth. It’s amazing what these attendants can do, if willing. They have the power to change anyone’s seat, get you on a flight, and bump you up the standby line. It’s hardly ever what they can do. It’s always a matter of whether or not they want to. You have to make them want to.
They are supposed to use their powers to help people with a high standing in their frequent flier program (Premier, Premier Executive, 1K, Gold Alliance, etc) as they spend the most money with the airline, etc. However, I’ve gotten them to do things for me that they refused for the Gold Pass carrying curmudgeon in front of me because I said I feel sorry that they have to put up with those types of people. HAHAH!!! Bastard that I am. (see #7 again).
Curmudgeon: “I DEMAND that you get me on this flight!”
Attendant: “I’m sorry, sir. We’re completely booked.”
Curmudgeon: “Do you see this?” He shoves his Gold Pass in the dude’s face.
Attendant: “Yep. There it is. In my face.”
Curmudgeon: “This mean I can get you fired!!!”
Attendant: “I’m sorry, sir. We’re completel-“
Curmudgeon: “Nevermind!”
Me: “Damn. What an asshole.”
Attendant: “Can I help you sir?”
Me: “Are people with those cards always like that?”
Attendant: “Sometimes.”
Me: “It must take some amazing patience to deal with them.”
Attendant: “Sometimes.”
Me: “Look, I need to get on this flight, but I heard what you said to that guy…”
Attendant: “I’ll see what I can do.”
BOO YAH!!!
Shortest flight: 31 minutes (Chapel Hill, NC to Washington, DC)
Longest flight: 11 hrs 45 mins (Denver, CO to Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Here are the top ten tips I can give people making a quick visit to Airworld. The tips are not listed in any particular order of importance or anything, nor are they complete. I’m bored on this flight to DC, so I thought I’d share…
Top Ten Flying Tips
1. Avoid checking your bags.
Most airlines charge for any checked bags. United, for example, charges $15 per check bag, per flight. That means, if you’re on a round-trip voyage to New York, you will end up paying $30 to check one bag.
Fill a suitcase that falls within the size requirements with your clothes and bathroom supplies, and pack a backpack with the rest. There’s still a useless ban on liquids in the US, so make sure to not bring any liquids over 3 ounces. The liquid containers you do bring have to be packed in a clear plastic bag that can easily be placed, separately, on the security conveyor belt. I assume the TSA put this ban in effect to determine if there are any teeny, tiny bombs suspended in the liquid. I’ve lost two bottles of expensive cologne and countless bottles of water, shampoo, and mouthwash because of this.
If your bags are in your keeping throughout the trip, the airlines can’t lose them and you don’t have to wait around for them to show up on the baggage claim. Trust me, you don’t want to be in a position where, after 20 hours of straight travel, you find yourself Oslo, Norway listening to the helpful attendant say, in broken English, “Matthew J. Fox, please go to the lost baggage claim counter.” This has happened to me and it sucks.
2. Put an empty water bottle in your carry-on backpack.
Due to the completely useless, misguided, and draconian ban on carry-on liquids, you cannot pass through the security checkpoint with a full bottle of water. Whether you’ve purchased the bottle in the airport (within viewing distance of a TSA agent or not, you’ll still have to pitch it). However, you can get an empty bottle through. The theory is: Empty bottles cannot contain sizable amount s of the airplane-blowing-up fluid “Blowiquid.” Safe!
Once on the other side of the check-point, fill up the bottle at a water fountain (be sure not to use the fountains labeled “Blowiquid” or you might just blow yourself up with your bottle of water). This will save you having to pay $3+ for a bottle in the DMZ. Plus, the low air pressure / high altitude on the flight will dehydrate you much faster than at sea level. If you want to be at all functional when you land, make sure to drink lots of water.
3. Sign up for the frequent flier, rental car, hotel programs
These programs are free and can only benefit you. Most give sizable bonuses simply for signing up. It often takes a while to build up enough miles for a free flight or for an upgrade, but most point systems take forever to expire, so you’ll eventually get something free.
4. There is no need to arrive at the airport overly early.
When I started traveling for business, I would find myself clearing security and sitting down at the gate with 2 hours to spare. Unless it’s a holiday, Monday morning or Friday evening, or you’re traveling internationally, arriving at the airport an hour and a half early is plenty of time. If you’re not checking a bag, and you’ve checked in online, you can easily get to your gate with up to 20 minutes to spare. If you are checking a bag, most airlines will stop allowing the checking of any bags if you try less than 45 minutes before the plane takes off—also, there’s a 50lbs limit on all carry-on bags. If you go over that, you incur even more charges. Keep it in mind.
5. Check in online.
After you purchase your ticket, you will receive a confirmation code (a six character alphanumeric number), make note of it. 24 hours prior to take-off, you can check in online with that confirmation code and your last name. Go to the airline’s web site and look for the online check in section. This will guarantee you seats, and, many times allow you to pick the best seats.
Most airlines oversell popular flights. This means, if you don’t check in online, there is a good chance you will get bumped to the next flight.
Also, if you don’t have a bag to check, you can bypass the ticketing counter entirely. Just head straight to security with your printed ticket. This makes the process much faster.
Also, while you’re online checking in, be sure to sign up for that’s airline’s flight status updates. These can either be emailed or sent via text message to your phone. It’s much more convenient to find out your flight has been canceled or delayed before you leave for the airport.
6. If you’re on a short flight (2-3 hours), get an aisle seat. If it’s a long flight (more than 3 hours) get a window seat. Avoid the seating letters B and E like the plague.
Aisle seats have their perks. They allow you to stretch out your legs. You don’t have to climb over anyone to get to the bathroom and you will be the first person out of the row when the plane lands. Sadly, it also means that every person who walks down the two foot wide aisle will bash you with their elbows, bags, heads, etc. On long flights, a window seat gives you something to learn your head against other than the seat, and no one will have to crawl over you to get to the aisle or to vomit (sadly, also, this has never happened… at least to me).
A quick sub-tip: If you’re going to sleep on the flight, make sure to buckle your belt on the outside of the blanket so that the damn flight attendants won’t come around and wake you up to make sure your seat-belt is on. They can see it on the top of the blanket a go bother someone else.
7. Airworld is mean. Be aggressive in everything or be prepared to be run over.
If you want to get on the plane with any hopes of having overhead space to place your bag(s), wedge your way to the front of the line. If someone is kicking the back of your seat, turn around and tell them to stop or get a flight attendant. If you’ve been directed to a security line that is really long, look for a shorter one and cut over to it. No one is going to spare you any unnecessary courtesy. Most are like me, who fly every week of the year and will take any advantage possible to get through the maze of lines and checkpoints faster. Most us aren’t going on vacation or having an adventure. We’re working and want to get through the system as fast as possible.
If you want a can of Coke and a cup of coffee and another bag of pretzels; ask for them. Flight attendants are trained 70% safety, 20% security, and 10% hospitality. They really don’t care how many complimentary bags of nuts they hand out. Just ask. If they say no, punch them. They love that.
8. If you are traveling for an emergency (funeral, health concern, etc), call the airline directly and ask them for their reduced emergency fare
When my grandma died this past year, she was to be buried less than 48 hours after dying. This kind of radically-quick burial, make it very difficult for people who live on the other side of country to get to the funeral home before the person is buried. As a result, the round trip, less-than-24-hour-notice tickets from Denver to Grand Rapids were nearly $1000.00 for the two of us. This isn’t a trivial amount of money. I ended up calling the airlines and asking if they had any specials for people who were traveling for funerals, etc. They confirmed that yes, there were. We had to provide them with the name of the mortuary and funeral director, complete with telephone number. In the end, however, we ended up getting the same tickets for $300.00 total; a significant drop. Keep it mind.
9. Book in advance, but not too far in advance.
If you can avoid traveling on Saturday and if you can purchase your ticket 2-3 weeks before the flight, your tickets will be significantly less. In addition, there is much more availability in seating. You should be able to avoid the dreaded B and E seats.
However, if you book a month or more earlier, there is a good chance the flight you want will be canceled or have its details changed. If you can avoid booking that far in advance, do it. If not, ask the reservationist if the flight is a daily commuter flight. If so, it should still be there when you try to take it.
10. If you need/want something, butter up the counter agent.
“Hey, I have a question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“How much would I have to pay you to get this plane to arrive early?
“Hahaha… you.”
“But seriously, I need anything other than a center seat. I’m sure a charming/intelligent/green person like yourself could do this for me.”
“Hhahaha… you. Here you go!”
And so forth. It’s amazing what these attendants can do, if willing. They have the power to change anyone’s seat, get you on a flight, and bump you up the standby line. It’s hardly ever what they can do. It’s always a matter of whether or not they want to. You have to make them want to.
They are supposed to use their powers to help people with a high standing in their frequent flier program (Premier, Premier Executive, 1K, Gold Alliance, etc) as they spend the most money with the airline, etc. However, I’ve gotten them to do things for me that they refused for the Gold Pass carrying curmudgeon in front of me because I said I feel sorry that they have to put up with those types of people. HAHAH!!! Bastard that I am. (see #7 again).
Curmudgeon: “I DEMAND that you get me on this flight!”
Attendant: “I’m sorry, sir. We’re completely booked.”
Curmudgeon: “Do you see this?” He shoves his Gold Pass in the dude’s face.
Attendant: “Yep. There it is. In my face.”
Curmudgeon: “This mean I can get you fired!!!”
Attendant: “I’m sorry, sir. We’re completel-“
Curmudgeon: “Nevermind!”
Me: “Damn. What an asshole.”
Attendant: “Can I help you sir?”
Me: “Are people with those cards always like that?”
Attendant: “Sometimes.”
Me: “It must take some amazing patience to deal with them.”
Attendant: “Sometimes.”
Me: “Look, I need to get on this flight, but I heard what you said to that guy…”
Attendant: “I’ll see what I can do.”
BOO YAH!!!
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Have Job, Will Travel
Hey everybody! It's been a long time since I've posted. I think the longest time since we started the blog. All the excuses are the same so I'm not going ot repeat them. In addition to the usual reasons I don't post I have a new one: Facebook. It's true. I've avoided the social-networking site the same way I've avoided all of the other fads on the internet (like photo-sharing and blogging...). I really dig it. It's easy to keep in touch with people and all that, but the thing I really like about it is that people don't have anything to maintain. With this blog, Mandy and I have to always be posting to remind people it exists. If we don't, people rightly stop dropping by. After we start up again, slowly people start checking it again. With Facebook, everyone you have connected with is a potential source of communication. So, even if 99% of the connections don't generate anything new, odds are 1% will and that'll be enough to keep you coming back.
I'm not writing this because I'm going to stop posting to the blog, I just write it to say if you're reading this, and want to stay in closer communiacation with us (other than email, telephone, or in person), Facebook is probably the most consistant way to do it.
----
During my junior year of university life I had to take a class called “Script Writing 101.” I had taken several writing classes, but never anything directly related to the creation of stories for cinema. I can only remember the teacher’s first name, Gretchen, because she worked with friend of mine at the local public access station. She was a nice lady and an apt teacher, though I haven’t thought of her in more than four years.
For our final project, we had choose between writing a script for a short film or the first act of a three-act movie. Being more of a “concept” person, and less of “completing anything I start” person, I decided to go with first act of a full film approach. Further, I had learned that we could do an adaptation, if we so desired. So, not only did I not have to write an entire script, with beginning, middle, and end, I could just crib the idea from someone who is generally regarded as person who has them. I immediately thought of Walter Kirn’s glorious book “Up in the Air.”
The novel “Up in the Air” concerns the life of one Ryan Bingam, a man who literally lives on airplanes. He refers to the netherworld of airports, rental cars, and hotels as “Airworld” a kind of no-man’s-land where marketing ideals and the American Dream actually exist. He claims that there is nothing better than smoking a Marlborough cigarette on the back of a horse or drinking a Coke in a cheesy 50s dinner. It gives one the feeling that they are moving with the right forces.
You can call me Ryan Bingam. Not in the literally sense, of course. I have a residence, a loving wife, a slobbering dog, and two deranged, increasingly feral cats. Unlike Ryan, I really do like my job, my coworkers, and my life. The main thing we two have in common, is we both spend significant amounts of time in Airworld. I wouldn’t go so far as calling it home the way he does, but I am a frequent visitor and have a green card.
I started working for Global one year ago today. Much has changed in that year, both in terms of the logistics of my life, and how I have changed due to my circumstances. Sympathy doesn’t suit this kind of a post. I don’t write any of this to illicit an emotional response. My life is the sum of my personal decisions, for which I take full responsibility. There is no unseen power forcing my hand in any of my choices. I firmly believe that if we like or don’t like an aspect of our own lives, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Here are some statistics to get us started. I am only including trip I have documentation for. I’m sure the numbers are a bit higher, but I’m hoping err on the conservative side:
Over the course of the past year, I have been on 81 documented flights.
I have changed at least one time zone on all but four flights.
Six of the flights have across the Atlantic Ocean, and one has been across the North Sea (between Norway and Ireland)
Average flight time: 3 hours
Average number of flights per trip: 2.7
Total amount of time gone on business (not including working Denver): 30% of the year (or 3 out of every ten days).
Here is a link to all of the sites I have visited, a little information on each site, and the number of times they have been visited. LINK
If I may, that’s a shit-load of traveling. Prior to this year, my average annual flights were somewhere around 2-3flights. Total. In effect, I have been on 27 times more flights this year, than any year previous.
When I took the job, I was told, in no uncertain terms, that travel would be required. After asking if I was comfortable with air travel (to which I lied in response, saying “Of course I’m comfortable with it!”), I was asked if was married.
I said, “Yes.”
The owner looked away for a bit and asked, “Happily married?”
I said, “Yes, extremely.”
He sighed.
“How long?”
“Have I been married? About a year and a half.”
Again, the sigh. “Did I mention there is travel involved?” He said with a wry, British smile.
My next post will be “Lessons Learned from being on 81 Flights in a Year”
The next will be, “How my life has Changed as a Result”
Stay tuned for some tips!
I'm not writing this because I'm going to stop posting to the blog, I just write it to say if you're reading this, and want to stay in closer communiacation with us (other than email, telephone, or in person), Facebook is probably the most consistant way to do it.
----
During my junior year of university life I had to take a class called “Script Writing 101.” I had taken several writing classes, but never anything directly related to the creation of stories for cinema. I can only remember the teacher’s first name, Gretchen, because she worked with friend of mine at the local public access station. She was a nice lady and an apt teacher, though I haven’t thought of her in more than four years.
For our final project, we had choose between writing a script for a short film or the first act of a three-act movie. Being more of a “concept” person, and less of “completing anything I start” person, I decided to go with first act of a full film approach. Further, I had learned that we could do an adaptation, if we so desired. So, not only did I not have to write an entire script, with beginning, middle, and end, I could just crib the idea from someone who is generally regarded as person who has them. I immediately thought of Walter Kirn’s glorious book “Up in the Air.”
The novel “Up in the Air” concerns the life of one Ryan Bingam, a man who literally lives on airplanes. He refers to the netherworld of airports, rental cars, and hotels as “Airworld” a kind of no-man’s-land where marketing ideals and the American Dream actually exist. He claims that there is nothing better than smoking a Marlborough cigarette on the back of a horse or drinking a Coke in a cheesy 50s dinner. It gives one the feeling that they are moving with the right forces.
You can call me Ryan Bingam. Not in the literally sense, of course. I have a residence, a loving wife, a slobbering dog, and two deranged, increasingly feral cats. Unlike Ryan, I really do like my job, my coworkers, and my life. The main thing we two have in common, is we both spend significant amounts of time in Airworld. I wouldn’t go so far as calling it home the way he does, but I am a frequent visitor and have a green card.
I started working for Global one year ago today. Much has changed in that year, both in terms of the logistics of my life, and how I have changed due to my circumstances. Sympathy doesn’t suit this kind of a post. I don’t write any of this to illicit an emotional response. My life is the sum of my personal decisions, for which I take full responsibility. There is no unseen power forcing my hand in any of my choices. I firmly believe that if we like or don’t like an aspect of our own lives, we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Here are some statistics to get us started. I am only including trip I have documentation for. I’m sure the numbers are a bit higher, but I’m hoping err on the conservative side:
Over the course of the past year, I have been on 81 documented flights.
I have changed at least one time zone on all but four flights.
Six of the flights have across the Atlantic Ocean, and one has been across the North Sea (between Norway and Ireland)
Average flight time: 3 hours
Average number of flights per trip: 2.7
Total amount of time gone on business (not including working Denver): 30% of the year (or 3 out of every ten days).
Here is a link to all of the sites I have visited, a little information on each site, and the number of times they have been visited. LINK
If I may, that’s a shit-load of traveling. Prior to this year, my average annual flights were somewhere around 2-3flights. Total. In effect, I have been on 27 times more flights this year, than any year previous.
When I took the job, I was told, in no uncertain terms, that travel would be required. After asking if I was comfortable with air travel (to which I lied in response, saying “Of course I’m comfortable with it!”), I was asked if was married.
I said, “Yes.”
The owner looked away for a bit and asked, “Happily married?”
I said, “Yes, extremely.”
He sighed.
“How long?”
“Have I been married? About a year and a half.”
Again, the sigh. “Did I mention there is travel involved?” He said with a wry, British smile.
My next post will be “Lessons Learned from being on 81 Flights in a Year”
The next will be, “How my life has Changed as a Result”
Stay tuned for some tips!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Bootcamp pt 8
I almost skipped bootcamp today. I was so tired and the bed was so warm. Alas, I did not give in and got up. Here is what we did:
1 Mile (9min)
15 reps 2 times through
At the end we were supposed to "save time for a 10 min mile." I got on the treadmill and felt pretty good, so I decided to run at 9:13. At about 1/4 mile Tim came around and started increasing our incline- from 0 to 2. Although difficult, I felt that I could still handle it. It wasn't until he went from 2 to 4 that I felt that I was going to die (not in the literal sense of course). I moved the pace to 9:45 just to keep up. I did have to step off the treadmill for 10 seconds, but I got back on and finished. He waited almost another 1/4 mile before taking off all of the incline. Needless to say, I was really tired when it was all over.
1 Mile (9min)
15 reps 2 times through
At the end we were supposed to "save time for a 10 min mile." I got on the treadmill and felt pretty good, so I decided to run at 9:13. At about 1/4 mile Tim came around and started increasing our incline- from 0 to 2. Although difficult, I felt that I could still handle it. It wasn't until he went from 2 to 4 that I felt that I was going to die (not in the literal sense of course). I moved the pace to 9:45 just to keep up. I did have to step off the treadmill for 10 seconds, but I got back on and finished. He waited almost another 1/4 mile before taking off all of the incline. Needless to say, I was really tired when it was all over.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Weekend Wrap up...
Sorry a head of time....this may be a little long.
Matt and I were sick most of Thursday and Friday. Yes, it was only a cold, but it was bad as we were achy and headachey and grouchy. Saturday I woke up and convinced myself to go to Bootcamp and I'm glad I did.
First a quote from Tim, our trainer: On a scale of 1-10, we are going to be doing about a 12.5. Nice!
Here is what we did:
• Ran to Washington Park
• High knee running 30 seconds
• 8 point body building move 30 seconds
• Butt kickers running 30 seconds
• 2 minutes to complete the following (we went through 2 times)
• Side Planks 30 seconds each side
• Run back to the Gym
The end.....for today :)
Nikki started Intermediate training and she did fairly well. I'm sure she will progress rapidly over the next few weeks.
We hopped over to a friends birthday party later that evening. Although we could only stay about an hour, we had a really great time. We played a game called Apples to Apples and it was a lot of fun - thinking about picking it up this week.
We then met our other friend down at Oktoberfest where we drank some biers and ate some turkey leg. Yum! We planned it out well and were able to get to bed around 12:30am.
Sunday was laid back with a small amount of shopping and driving through some neighborhoods looking at houses. As we were driving past one of the open house signs, Matt pulled over and said we were going to go look through it. It was nice...but I don't know about $850,000!!!
I dropped Matt at the airport around 4:30. He is traveling to LA for a few days. I'm sure he will post something if something interesting happens.
Today I got up and went to Bootcamp, here is what we did:
Section 1
• ¼ mile run in 2 minutes or less
• 3 sets of 30 crunches on Bosu ball
• 3 sets of 24 walking lunges
• 3 set of 15 row machine
Section 2
• ¼ mile run in 2 minutes or less
• 3 sets of 10 stabilizer squat with 1lb weight
• 3 sets of 30 seconds plank on stabilizer ball
• 3 set of 10 bicep curl on stabilizer ball
Section 3
• ¼ mile run in 2 minutes or less
• 3 sets of 12 side crunches
• 3 sets of 15 squats on upside down Bosu ball
• 3 sets of 12 push ups with Brazilian crunch
Section 4
• ¼ mile run in 2 minutes or less
• 3 sets of 15 leg lifts
• 3 set of 15 chest press
• 3 set of 15 lat pull down
Matt and I were sick most of Thursday and Friday. Yes, it was only a cold, but it was bad as we were achy and headachey and grouchy. Saturday I woke up and convinced myself to go to Bootcamp and I'm glad I did.
First a quote from Tim, our trainer: On a scale of 1-10, we are going to be doing about a 12.5. Nice!
Here is what we did:
• Ran to Washington Park
• High knee running 30 seconds
• 8 point body building move 30 seconds
• Butt kickers running 30 seconds
• 2 minutes to complete the following (we went through 2 times)
- 10 regular push ups
- 10 crunches
- 10 wide shoulder push ups
- 10 lower body crunches
- 10 tricep push ups
- 10 full body crunches
- 10 squats
- 10 lunges (per leg)
- 10 pile squats
- 10 curtsey lunges
• Side Planks 30 seconds each side
• Run back to the Gym
The end.....for today :)
Nikki started Intermediate training and she did fairly well. I'm sure she will progress rapidly over the next few weeks.
We hopped over to a friends birthday party later that evening. Although we could only stay about an hour, we had a really great time. We played a game called Apples to Apples and it was a lot of fun - thinking about picking it up this week.
We then met our other friend down at Oktoberfest where we drank some biers and ate some turkey leg. Yum! We planned it out well and were able to get to bed around 12:30am.
Sunday was laid back with a small amount of shopping and driving through some neighborhoods looking at houses. As we were driving past one of the open house signs, Matt pulled over and said we were going to go look through it. It was nice...but I don't know about $850,000!!!
I dropped Matt at the airport around 4:30. He is traveling to LA for a few days. I'm sure he will post something if something interesting happens.
Today I got up and went to Bootcamp, here is what we did:
Section 1
• ¼ mile run in 2 minutes or less
• 3 sets of 30 crunches on Bosu ball
• 3 sets of 24 walking lunges
• 3 set of 15 row machine
Section 2
• ¼ mile run in 2 minutes or less
• 3 sets of 10 stabilizer squat with 1lb weight
• 3 sets of 30 seconds plank on stabilizer ball
• 3 set of 10 bicep curl on stabilizer ball
Section 3
• ¼ mile run in 2 minutes or less
• 3 sets of 12 side crunches
• 3 sets of 15 squats on upside down Bosu ball
• 3 sets of 12 push ups with Brazilian crunch
Section 4
• ¼ mile run in 2 minutes or less
• 3 sets of 15 leg lifts
• 3 set of 15 chest press
• 3 set of 15 lat pull down
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Bootcamp pt 4, running group, Bootcamp pt 5....catch up
This will be a quick wrap-up of what has happened the past couple of days.
Monday morning 6am started Bootcamp pt 4. We met up at the gym again, ran a quick 1 mile and got right into the Life Fitness machines. They have about 20 different machines, which condition a large amount of muscles (quads, triceps, biceps, chest, calves, etc.). We did 2 set of 15 reps each. In between our cycle, our trainer pulled us into the "torture room" as I lovingly call the exercise room. Here he set up 3 areas: inverted leg dip on an upside down Bosu ball, jumproping, rope ladder (two steps between each rung). We did each exercise for 2 minutes.
I also participated in a Running Group on Tuesday night. We ran around the perimeter of City Park (next to the museum Matt works at). The distance is around 3 miles, and boy was I tired by the end of it.
This morning I was in the process of convincing myself to go back to sleep when the guilt set in. The Bootcamp class has only 10 sessions...I'm sure I can make it to every one of them so I got up. Today will be forever known as bands and benches. We met up at Washington Park, ran a mile and got right into the bands session. We used the bands for all sorts of exercises and then when we were tired, we used them some more wrapped around the bike rack. Finally, we headed off to run around the lake again, except this time we stopped at every bench and did 8 bench dips and 10 full body crunches. There are about 12 benches around the lake and I felt the pain at each one. All in all, I am really glad that I got up this morning. I feel great!
Monday morning 6am started Bootcamp pt 4. We met up at the gym again, ran a quick 1 mile and got right into the Life Fitness machines. They have about 20 different machines, which condition a large amount of muscles (quads, triceps, biceps, chest, calves, etc.). We did 2 set of 15 reps each. In between our cycle, our trainer pulled us into the "torture room" as I lovingly call the exercise room. Here he set up 3 areas: inverted leg dip on an upside down Bosu ball, jumproping, rope ladder (two steps between each rung). We did each exercise for 2 minutes.
I also participated in a Running Group on Tuesday night. We ran around the perimeter of City Park (next to the museum Matt works at). The distance is around 3 miles, and boy was I tired by the end of it.
This morning I was in the process of convincing myself to go back to sleep when the guilt set in. The Bootcamp class has only 10 sessions...I'm sure I can make it to every one of them so I got up. Today will be forever known as bands and benches. We met up at Washington Park, ran a mile and got right into the bands session. We used the bands for all sorts of exercises and then when we were tired, we used them some more wrapped around the bike rack. Finally, we headed off to run around the lake again, except this time we stopped at every bench and did 8 bench dips and 10 full body crunches. There are about 12 benches around the lake and I felt the pain at each one. All in all, I am really glad that I got up this morning. I feel great!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Bootcamp pt 3 and the rest of the weekend...
I woke up on Saturday in less pain than I had been since Wednesday, so I decided it would be ok to go to Bootcamp class, and it turned out really well. The coolness of the morning went away quite quickly as the sun came out from behind the clouds. We jogged over to Washington Park (about a mile) and set up to do circuit training in the grass. There were four areas containing one of the following items: medicine balls, dumbbells, cones, and exercise balls. We worked in each area for 2.5 minutes before moving (bear walk, crab walk, lunging, high knee run) to the next area. We all worked out and sweat furiously, with finality coming as a run back to the gym.
Later that day I met up with one of my friends Athena (no not my cat). We met up at a local place called Cafe Europa and had a great time catching up. Cleaning plagued most of the rest of the day, until I was saved by my friend Eric. He had just bought the 1st season of Mad Men and wanted to watch it. Yeah! Now I had a reason to stop cleaning....for awhile at least. We got some wine and pizza and watched two discs (7 episodes). It's a good show and I can't wait to get together with him again and watch some more.
Sunday I drove Yellow Thunder (our scooter) to Wild Oats and got some different kinds of flour in order to get my "bake-on". I ended up making a couple of different types of yeast bread, banana bread, and peach crisp. IMHO they all taste good. :)
Matt came home from the airport around 6:30pm. It's about time, seeing he was gone for a week. We had just enough time to for him to hug and kiss Nikki as well as sneak in a hug and kiss for me before we went out to dinner with our friends Krishna and Yagnesh who are visiting from Cincinnati, OH. We had some great food at Uoki and then we quickly showed them our house (and crazy dog).
All in all a great weekend!
Later that day I met up with one of my friends Athena (no not my cat). We met up at a local place called Cafe Europa and had a great time catching up. Cleaning plagued most of the rest of the day, until I was saved by my friend Eric. He had just bought the 1st season of Mad Men and wanted to watch it. Yeah! Now I had a reason to stop cleaning....for awhile at least. We got some wine and pizza and watched two discs (7 episodes). It's a good show and I can't wait to get together with him again and watch some more.
Sunday I drove Yellow Thunder (our scooter) to Wild Oats and got some different kinds of flour in order to get my "bake-on". I ended up making a couple of different types of yeast bread, banana bread, and peach crisp. IMHO they all taste good. :)
Matt came home from the airport around 6:30pm. It's about time, seeing he was gone for a week. We had just enough time to for him to hug and kiss Nikki as well as sneak in a hug and kiss for me before we went out to dinner with our friends Krishna and Yagnesh who are visiting from Cincinnati, OH. We had some great food at Uoki and then we quickly showed them our house (and crazy dog).
All in all a great weekend!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Bootcamp pt 2
It was a bit easier getting up for bootcamp this morning, although Nikki looked pretty hung-over. Funny, I don't remember buy her any booze last night. Anyhow, this will be a short post as I am only going to document what I did.
Ran 1 mile (9:13)
60 Pull-ups
120 Push-ups
180 Squats
240 Crunches
Ran 1 mile (9:45)
My armies hurt...sigh...I am taking some Advil now.....
60 Pull-ups
120 Push-ups
180 Squats
240 Crunches
Ran 1 mile (9:45)
My armies hurt...sigh...I am taking some Advil now.....
Monday, September 08, 2008
Bootcamp pt1
The morning was moist…no this is not another Throw Mama from the Train story, this is one of a total different caliber. This one begins a week ago where I paid money to join a month long class named Bootcamp. My thinking was that this was the class I would need to help give me the extra boost to kickn my workouts into a higher gear. My goals included increased stamina, better circulation, overall better feeling, possible weight loss, and fun. Did I say fun?!? Sorry, I am getting ahead of myself.
We met at a building at Washington Park. The sun had not risen…of course it wasn’t in the sky yet, the class starts at 6am! Anyway, I digress…we started off with 30 jumping jacks and moved into some light stretching. We did a warm-up jog/run around the little lake which is approximately 1 mile, then jumped right into the work-out….
I don’t really remember the order in which we did the exercises, after a couple of them it all became a blur. Squats, walking lunges, push-ups, step-ups, jumping side to side, jumping back and forward, plie squats, running, donkey kicks, and some more that I can’t recall at this moment.
I had a funneh thought as I was doing the last run, I actually paid someone to inflict this pain on me? Oh well, as Matt always tells me “You’re a crazy masochistic person!” I guess I will stretch out today and get ready for my next session on Wednesday.
PS Keep the donations for the Susan G Komen run coming in…thanks so much!!
We met at a building at Washington Park. The sun had not risen…of course it wasn’t in the sky yet, the class starts at 6am! Anyway, I digress…we started off with 30 jumping jacks and moved into some light stretching. We did a warm-up jog/run around the little lake which is approximately 1 mile, then jumped right into the work-out….
I don’t really remember the order in which we did the exercises, after a couple of them it all became a blur. Squats, walking lunges, push-ups, step-ups, jumping side to side, jumping back and forward, plie squats, running, donkey kicks, and some more that I can’t recall at this moment.
I had a funneh thought as I was doing the last run, I actually paid someone to inflict this pain on me? Oh well, as Matt always tells me “You’re a crazy masochistic person!” I guess I will stretch out today and get ready for my next session on Wednesday.
PS Keep the donations for the Susan G Komen run coming in…thanks so much!!
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Running a 5K for Susan G Komen foundation, can you help??
The company that I work for, SPECTRUM Human Resource Systems Corp has decided to sponsor a running group for the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure®. Of course I signed up as I would like to get another race under my belt, but also because I very much support the breast cancer research that this company is known for. My company is paying for my entrance fee, but I am writing to you to ask for a donation to the foundation. Please check out my "personal" page: http://www.komendenver.org/site/TR/Race/General?px=1492659&pg=personal&fr_id=1070&s_tafId=17990
The race will be held on October 5th, which is right around the corner. If you are able to donate please click on the link above and then either click on the Support Mandy! link or Make a Gift link. If you know others who may like give please feel free to forward this on.
Here is some interesting information that the foundation forwarded to me:
The Komen Race for the Cure® is the largest series of 5K runs/fitness walks in the world. In 2008, races will be held in more than 100 U.S. cities and 3 foreign countries. Over 1.3 million participants are expected to attend. These race series help fund important breast cancer research, as well as, breast health initiatives on a local level. 75% of the proceeds remain in the local communities where the race is held. 25% of the Race proceeds help fund breast cancer research.
Thanks for your support!
~Mandy
I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.
Some come from ahead and some come from behind.
But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!
~Dr. Seuss
The race will be held on October 5th, which is right around the corner. If you are able to donate please click on the link above and then either click on the Support Mandy! link or Make a Gift link. If you know others who may like give please feel free to forward this on.
Here is some interesting information that the foundation forwarded to me:
The Komen Race for the Cure® is the largest series of 5K runs/fitness walks in the world. In 2008, races will be held in more than 100 U.S. cities and 3 foreign countries. Over 1.3 million participants are expected to attend. These race series help fund important breast cancer research, as well as, breast health initiatives on a local level. 75% of the proceeds remain in the local communities where the race is held. 25% of the Race proceeds help fund breast cancer research.
Thanks for your support!
~Mandy
I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.
Some come from ahead and some come from behind.
But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see.
Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!
~Dr. Seuss
Friday, August 22, 2008
Califonia Academy of Science
Back from the land of fog and crazyness. San Francisco, the odd city that it is. I will put up a few posts over the next couple of days detailing a couple of the interesting places and peeps I met. Most of the time we worked. Oh, how we worked. We worked so hard at putting together a video of how hard we worked, and worked hard at it.
Here it is! Love, and lots of it, to everyone!
Here it is! Love, and lots of it, to everyone!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The hilarious dog-ness....
Matt and I get so much entertainment from Nikki. From not being able to grip the hardwood floor to over-sized jowls flapping in the breeze, everyday is a new adventure. I have decided to share a few...
Earlier this year, I took her outside to go to the bathroom thinking that it was business as usual. As she was squatting to go potty (poo to be exact) a fly went by her which made her pinch it off and run to the other end of the yard.
A couple of months ago my mom and I were walking around the neighborhood. We stopped to let her sniff the grass. Lo' and behold another dog had been in this area and his/her owners did not pick up after them. Nikki, not paying attention as usual, stepped in the poo. Feeling this new scary thing on her foot, she leapt in the air and landed behind us on the sidewalk.
Last night Nikki and I were walking around the neighborhood, again. As we were coming up to this one yard I noticed a couple of statues in the grass. As we passed I saw that they were two dogs squatting with bubbles over their heads that said 'No poo' and 'Not here'. I thought they were cute - Nikki was terrified. I looked down and she had her eyes all bugged out and was trying to get away as quickly as possible. For the next block she kept turning back and giving them the stink eye.
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