How geeks define irony

First of all, let me warn you that this post has a geek rating that's righ off the charts. But I got a chuckle out of it, so I'll share it.

Remember how the music industry started suing people who distributed MP3's online? Well, now the movie industry is following suit and launching action against people who share movies online. One of the ways that people share movies is through a website called suprnova.com. At least, they did until yesterday.

I was reading this article (not sure how long the link will be valid) about how the Motion Picture Association of America has filed suit against suprnova.com, and the site had been taken offline in response. So, where's the irony?

Well, at the bottom of the article were several ads served up by Google's ad-matching technology. Many of the ads were for file sharing sites proclaiming "unlimited access to thousands of movies." And there was even an ad for ... drum roll ... suprnova.com!

Gentlemen, make sure the "boys" are protected

Yet one more hazard of the modern information age.

One teensy typo

I got this email yesterday from Best Buy ...

A promotional e-mail that we sent to you on December 1 contains a typographical error. The e-mail incorrectly stated: 'Plus get $10,000 bonus points just for joining.'

It should have stated: 'Plus get 10,000 bonus points just for joining.'

We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Wooops!

Ultimate House

Scott Adams, the creator of the comic strip Dilbert, has designed and built what he calls "Dilbert's Ultimate House." Naturally, there's an element of humor to the project (note the observatory with two round windows - remind you of anyone?), but don't be fooled. The objective was quite serious: to challenge established preconceptions of home design and create an eminently livable space.

Check out the design requirements, too.

Can I get a "woot, woot?"

I heard about this website the other day, called Woot.com. They're a severely no-frills online retailer. They offer one item for sale each day, allegedly at deep discount prices. A brand new item appears each day at midnight, which they make available until it sells out. And the process repeats itself the following day.

I can't explain it, but I'm oddly addicted. Each morning, I have to click over to see what the item of the day is. And, so far, they've been sold-out by 9:00 or 10:00 am. Maybe it's the whole "you only want what you can't have" phenomenon, but I feel a tinge of regret when I can't buy the standalone CD duplicator or coffee pot with the insulated travel mugs.

Their faq page is also mildly entertaining. Gotta love an eTailer with attitude.

Observations from KY

1. Kentucky has lousy restaurants. They all seem to be cut from the same cloth: bar and grill style with mediocre steaks, ribs, and burgers.

2. There's one up-side to sleeping in a hotel. Hotels have cable. Cable has comedy central. And comedy central has The Daily Show with John Stewart and South Park. Yeah!

3. We were close to Fort Knox, and I wanted to take a tour. Turns out, though, that Fort Knox doesn't *have* a tour. I can't possibly imagine what issues they'd have parading thousands of people through a room full of gold. Go figure.

"Just when I think I'm out ..."

"... they pull me BACK IN!"

Okay, I'm feeling a little like Michael Corleone in the Godfather, Part III. (*) It's my last week at the company - my last friggin' week - and they're sending me back to Kentucky. Needless to say, we got issues.

The customer's all shades of pissed off at us. They've decided our support sucks. So, we decided it may not be such a good idea to send a new hire up there all by his lone self. So, I'm the backup. Or, as I like to think of it, the relief pitcher.

I told my boss I know how to solve the problem: I'll make a big scene up in KY, tell off their VP or something. Then, he can tell them he fired me, and that all their support issues have been my fault anyway.

He didn't go for it.


(*) One more cultural reference for you to look up, Manjote.

Oddities for the day

Yep ... one week left at my job, and I'm busily slaving away ...

More proof that lions and Christians just don't mix.

Hmmm ... here's a story about a National Guard jet pilot, whom the military refuses to name. You don't suppose someone was taking a little victory lap, do you?

Bought some dvd's

I bought some DVD's last night ... two for $20 at blockbusters.

The Professional - I finally got to see this movie. A loner reluctantly shelters a twelve year-old girl, and gradually his life takes on new meaning. Oh, and did I mention that he's a ruthless hitman? It's a refreshingly nuanced film in this age of in-your-face blockbusters. #63 on IMDB's Top 250 list.

Master and Commander - A day in the life of the 18th century british navy. I liked the attention to detail, the naval strategy, and the performances were pretty good too.

Star Wars, Episode II - Yes, I know the story was crap. But, come on, I'd buy it for Yoda's lightsaber duel alone.

Kill Bill, Volume I - I liked Lucy Liu's management style. I have no urge to buy Volume II, though. Big disappointment for me. #57 on IMDB's Top 250 list.

Chicken Run - "The chickens ... they're getting organized" That line still cracks me up.

And a few weeks back I bought a few others.

The Godfather - the ultimate guy movie. Women just don't seem to get it, do they? #1 on IMDB's Top 250 list.

Glengary Glen Ross - A stellar cast, dynamite script, ... and the most hostile office environment I've ever seen.

Moulin Rouge! - Haven't gotten around to watching this again. We'll see how it holds up for me.

The Program - best football movie ever made. (Well, I liked it at least.)

MyYahoo ...

First of all, let me warn you that the geek rating on this post will be through the roof. So, read on at your own risk.

I've been using the MyYahoo service since it first debuted. It's a great service that lets you build a custom web page - cherry picking only the content that's appealing to you. But the content selection has always been limited to that which Yahoo and partners could serve up. Extensive, perhaps, but limited by nature.

That's about to change.

I've been trying a beta version of the latest MyYahoo upgrade. Its key feature is support for syndicated web content (RSS and other XML-based schemes). If you're not familiar with this, let me just say that there's been a quiet revolution occuring out on the web. Thousands of sites have started making content available in a form that's easily digested and integrated by other content management systems.

So what's the point? Well, my new Yahoo page is now packed with content from friends' blogs, my local newspaper, Time magazine, Dave Barry, and others. If you use MyYahoo, and fancy yourself a web aficianado, then you might want to check it out.

For the person who has everything ...

More proof that you can buy anything on eBay.

Sleeping on the job

So I had to work late last night. We were upgrading a customer in Omaha, and we had to start the procedure at 11:00 pm to minimize the impact to their paying customers. So, picture this: I'm sitting at home alone in the dark, dialed into a conference bridge, logged into the remote system. We've got two or three guys from my company on the bridge, plus a couple folks from the customer site.

Things went well for the first couple of hours. I find it helps to pretend that you're working in NASA's mission control. Like if you say things like "Moving on to procedure 3.12, step 6 'stopping replication on the RTX' ... please standby," though I drew the line at saying "Roger" in response to each statement.

Anyway ... things went well, that is, until we hit a snag (go figure!). We couldn't copy the data from the old database into the new database. Things pretty much came to a standstill while we got some designers from India to log into the system and start mucking around in the database. In my defense, let me just say that this took a long, long time.

I'm not entirely sure what time I fell asleep, but I was awakened by my cell phone at 4:30 am. Well, "awakened" is probably being optimistic. I don't remember exactly what he said - something about the database being ready, and had I finished step something or other. But I got the general sense that we were finished. At least, I hope so, 'cause I went to bed after I hung up. So, I probably didn't earn a merit badge in dependability last night, but everything turned out just fine.

At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Announcement time

After six months, sixty thousand frequent flyer miles, three trips to the UK, two to Paris, and one each to Slovakia, Switzerland, Guam and Kentucky (yes, exotic Kentucky), I'm saying goodbye to Kodiak Networks. I've accepted a position at Samsung Telecommunications America, starting on November 22.

It was a tough call, actually. I've always wanted to be involved in a successful startup company. And, by all measures, Kodiak has been successful and has a bright future ahead of it. They're an excellent candidate for acquisition sometime in the next couple of years, and some of the employees are going to see a nice chunk of change.

But my job there just didn't thrill me. I'm a designer at heart. I like to build things - take new ideas, craft them into something tangible, and then sit back and watch them work. I couldn't do that at Kodiak. Plus, the travel was pretty grueling. I just couldn't see keeping that up for the four or five years it'd take to reach payoff.

So I'll give Samsung a try. I'll be doing design work again, working with some exciting new technology. Wish me luck!

Burkett ... Stephen Burkett

So I had to renew my driver license on my most recent birthday. Naturally, I procrastinated until the last minute. And then, naturally, I totally forgot about it until three weeks it had passed.

But no problem. I just went onto the DPS website and, click-click-click, ordered me up a new driver license. Another example of how the internet makes my life simpler and more efficient. At least that's what I thought until the confirmation page told me I should receive my new license within 45 days.

The point to this whole story is that I've been kinda anxious lately, driving around with an expired license (shhh, don't tell anyone). I mean, I printed out the little confirmation page and stuck that in my wallet, but who knows if it'd get me out of trouble with "the man."

So it was with a sigh of relief when I pulled an envelope from the State of Texas, Department of Public Safety out of my mailbox last night. I tore that baby open, intent to rectify my perpetual misdimeanor, and found myself staring right into the face of one Stephen Kent Burkett.

The DPS sent me the wrong license.

ps.

Does anyone else think "driver license" sounds funny? That's how the DPS says it. I prefer "driver's license" myself. Though I guess if you wanted to be grammatically correct, it would actually be a "driving license."

Arc De Triomphe

Been meaning to post some more Paris photos ... here's some.

The Eiffel Tower may be the most famous icon in Paris, but the Arc De Triomphe has always been my favorite outdoor monument. The size and scope of it overwhelm me, as does the intricacy of the design work and sculptures on its face.

Arc De Triomphe...

	View from Avenue du Friedland
	Looking up at the center of the Arch
	François Rude's The Departure of the Volunteers of 1792 (aka La Marseillaise). One of the bas-relief sculptures that adorn the face of the arch.
	One crazy couple decides to tempt fate by crossing the round-about that circles the Arch and is fed by several large avenues, most notably the Champs Élysées. That's about six lanes of the busiest traffic in the world (which is why they helpfully installed underground walkways to and from monument). I'm thinking it was some kind of lover's suicide pact.

Kentucky Fried Blog Post

Okay ... so I've been here in Bowling Green, KY for the week. Absolutely nothing of interest has happened to me (besides that whole work thing). I had to extend my trip through the weekend to finish up some stuff. (I don't think I've taken a trip yet that hasn't been extended. This has become something of a running joke between me and my pet sitter (hi Laurie!)). At any rate, there's apparently a marching band competition going on this weekend. Maybe I'll check it out once I finish up with work today.

I'm tired of restaurant food. Well, let me be more clear. I'm tired of steak places and bbq joints. Yes, I never thought that could happen, but that's all they seem to have around here. I went on a quest last night for a good italian place. My standards were low. I just wanted something that didn't involve ordering at a counter. No dice. I wound up at the Spitfire Grill, mainly because it reminded me of a movie by the same name.

Speaking of movies, I almost didn't make it out to dinner last night. I'd gotten involved watching The Professional (#63 on IMDB's Top 250 list), starring Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, and an adorably young Natalie Portman (pre star wars fame). It's been on my watch list for some time, but I've never managed to see it.

I was enjoying it immensely, though the edited-for-tv cuts were pretty rough. Luc Besson's stylized direction. Jean Reno was devastatingly understated. Gary Oldman was wonderfully over-the-top. And Natalie Portman was just remarkable. The sequence where she pleads for sanctuary outside Reno's door was unforgettable.

Nevertheless, hunger drove me away from the last half. Gonna have to catch it again sometime.

Anyway ... that's all the news that's fit to print here from Kentucky.

Home sweet home

I arrived home yesterday without any major issues. It's always good to be back, even though I'm still coping with jet lag, and have to tackle the piles of dirty laundry and unopened mail.

Here are a couple of photos. I'll try to post a few others later on. If you're interested, you can see all photos at my yahoo photo site. Click on the folder titled "Paris Sept 2004" and view in slideshow mode to view any comments.

Gary and Cedric in Paris ...

Final update

Well, work ended a bit early today, so I'm sitting in the conference room scanning through email. Enough of this, though. I'm going to sign off and head out for the day. Tomorrow, I catch a train back to Paris and will have one last night there. Will probably hook up with Cedric (assuming he's managed to stay out of jail) for some dinner. Then, I catch a flight home on friday. Hopefully my cats will still be talking to me.

I may not get a chance to go online again before arriving at home. So to anyone who's been following along (hi mom!), I'll say adieu, au revoir, and good night.

The longest sentence ever constructed

I have a reservation for my return trip to Paris, scheduled to leave in the late afternoon and arrive around 9:00 pm. I decided that wasn't very convenient - I'd have to hang around Lausanne all day (luggage in tow) and it didn't give me enough time for one last night in Paris. So, I headed down to the train station last night to see if I could change my reservation.

While there, the person at the registration desk didn't speak English. So, I managed to construct what had to be the longest sentence I've ever uttered in French: "J'ai un reservation pour aller a Paris, et je voudrais connais est ce que c'est possible pour moi aller dans le matin." Amazingly, the man behind the counter actually understood perfectly. I was so proud of myself.

The experience would've been *so* much better if he hadn't spent the next ten minutes explaining to me that my reservation, in fact, was already for the morning and that I had misunderstood what was printed on my ticket.

Swiss update

Well, I've made it through my first work day here in Switzerland. It'll apparently take two weeks for any of the local shops to order a replacement power supply for my laptop (why am I not suprised?), but I've managed to bum one off a student in my class for the time being. The voltage isn't quite the same as my old one, but it hasn't fried anything yet, so I'm optmistic. At least the customer site lets me tap into their internet connection.

I'll probably grab a taxi (assuming I can find one) down to Lausanne tonight. There aren't many restaurants within walking distance. That, and I'm just about finished the reading material I brought with me. And with a four hour train ride and ten hour flight ahead of me, I'll be in desperate need :)

Btw ... my intent was to upload photos of my travels. I even brought my camera and media card reader along with me. But, unfortunately, the card reader crashes my laptop, so I haven't been able to upload the photos. So ... that'll have to wait until I arrive home. (technology can be a real pain in the *ss sometimes)

Switzerland on my mind

I made it to Switzerland without issue. The train ride
was a novel experience - quiet and comfortable. I'm
struck by how tolerant people are of dogs around here.
I've seen them on the streets and the metro, of
course, but also in hotels and restaurants. I mention
it because a woman sitting across from me on the train
had a small dog with her as well.

The train dropped me off in a town called Lausanne,
and then it was about a twenty minute taxi ride to
Crissier, where I'll be staying and working for the
next few days. Lausanne seemed like it had lots of
shops and restaurants, but there really isn't much to
do in Crissier. I spent yesterday walking around the
area, but it's a typical small city - car dealerships,
malls, houses, etc. Being sunday, all the malls and
stores were closed.

Tragedy struck on Saturday night, though. The charger
for my laptop up and died on me. *Hopefully* I can
find a new one from one of the stores around here.
It's going to be a long and difficult week if I
cannot.

I'm running off battery for now, so will keep this
short.

Leaving on a jet train

I'm off to Switzerland today. I've never been there, but hear it's
beautiful. So I'm kinda excited. I'm taking the train from Paris to
Lausanne. I'll have tomorrow to explore a little bit, and then get to work
on monday. Next week's going to be busy. In addition to my day job, I have
two conference calls that I'll need to attend in the evenings. They're prep
work for my next trip - to Kentucky. Somehow, it's hard to get as excited
about Kentucky :)

Count de Monet

So here I am in Paris. Been here all week, actually, but haven't been able to go online very much. And let's face it: it's hard to write a travel blog when you don't have internet access. Tonight, though, I'm in geek heaven. My hotel offers wifi access. So here's a brief update of the week.

All in all, I'm having a good time. It's my second visit in recent months, so I know my way around the city pretty well and have been bouncing from place to place. I've even got a sidekick this time. I'm here with a coworker, Cedric. He's new to the company and this is his first visit to Paris, so I've kinda been showing him the ropes, so to speak. And I haven't gotten us lost once :)

I visited the Musee D'Orsay today. I've decided it's my favorite museum. It's not so overwhelming as the Louvre. The galleries are smaller and more intimate, with a handful of pieces in each room. In contrast, the Louvre has these huge halls of paintings stacked floor to ceiling. The overall effect is that the artwork is more accessible. It's all right at eye level and you can literally reach out and touch it (they sorta frown on that, naturally).

One piece in particular caught my attention today. It's a winter landscape, and therefore dominated by the white and grey of the snow and clouds. But upon closer inspection, I was amazed at how much color was actually used throughout it - even in the seemingly "white" spaces. He used color to add texture to the ground, and a sense of depth to the field and trees beyond the gate. It gave me, someone who's largely ignorant of art, a small iota of understanding about impressionism.

Not bad for a friday.

iPod fanatics

Much has been written about the Apple iPod and the degree of fanaticism it has inspired among gadget freaks. And, I must admit, I really, really love my iPod. I had to chuckle, however, when I came across this post on an iPod forum. I'll quote the salient part:

"I have both iPods after the divorce (muahahah) ..."

Maybe it's just me, but that opening line struck me funny. We go on to read that he doesn't know his ex-wife's password, and so he can't copy the music off the device.

Oh, the irony.

Hero

I went to see Hero yesterday, which has rocketed to #133 in IMDB's Top 250 movie list. Now, I'm not an afficianado of kung fu flicks or Hong Kong-style action films. I've never even seen any of Kurosawa's work. Rather, I was just hoping to kick back and enjoy some elaborately choreographed, highly stylized butt kicking, in the mode of Kill Bill. I got so much more than I bargained for.

Whereas Kill Bill was merely an excuse for flashy action sequences, this film transcends the genre. The plot outline is simple: a lone man defeats an infamous trio of assasins and earns an audience with the king. But all is not what it seems, and through a series of flashbacks, the film explores the characters' motivations and their respective paths to enlightenment. It touches upon themes of war and peace, love and honor, loyalty and deception.

There are no simple answers. The king wages war in the pursuit of peace. Is he a tyrant or a visionary? And what about the warrior who lays down his life for such a man? Is he a hero or a fool? Can death be an expression of love?

As if that's not enough, the movie was also visually stunning. Major scenes took place against a backdrop of hyper-reality: desolate desert vistas, crystal mountain lakes, and a heart stoppingly beautiful grove of trees shedding their autumn leaves. At times, it pained me to drop my eyes to read the subtitles. The actors struck just the right chord, as well. The nameless warrior's dignified humility. The king's righteous authority. The assassin's relentless pursuit of justice. The lover's anguish.

So, this film just seemed to fire on all cylinders: a captivating story, stunning visuals, masterful action sequences, and nuanced acting. Not bad for eight bucks.

Starbucks announces a coffee-flavored doughnut

Hah hah. Just joking. That would be silly.

Office Productivity Tool

What's your high score? Mine's 105.

If you build it, they will come ...

The odd bit for the day ...

(and if you read farther down the column, I gotta admit I'm curious to know how far a pumpkin can fly.)

Art imitates life

Liz's blog contained a link to a nifty little web page that lets you create your own South Park character.

So, without further adieu, let me introduce my own likeness done in post-modern South Park style. Astute viewers will note the rumpled hair, ever-present solid color T-shirt, and jeans.

Olympic Gold

There were several members of the US Olympic Softball Team on the plane back from Brussels. If you look close, you can see she's wearing her gold medal tucked underneath her Late Night with David Letterman t-shirt.

What can I say? I was kinda starstruck.

Home at last

(ok ... I've been trying to get this post out for days. Here it is finally)

I'm back in Dallas (and *desperate* for a steak; or even a burger. I haven't eaten any beef in two weeks). Wednesday was exhausting - traveling for about 24 hours straight. Up at 5:00 am to catch my flight out of Bratislava. Glad I got there as early as I did, 'cause Austrian airlines couldn't figure out how much money I owed for changing my return date.

All in all, the trip was a success and the customer was pleased as punch. Here are a few photos from my digital camera. They've got better resolution than the ones I posted previously from the camera phone. I'll try to post an annecdote or two later on, as well.

Note that you can see all the photos at my yahoo photo site. Look for the two directories labelled SK. One has the highres digital camera shots. The other has the lowres camera phone shots.

Photographic proof that I was actually there ...

	Bratislava
	Donovaly

In case you thought I was making it all up about the switch site ...

My sidetrip to Donovaly ...

On the mountain

(I'll try to upload the related photos to my yahoo photo page site ...)

Well, that seemed to be the right bus. I made it into Donolavy just fine. It's a cute place, cut into a mountain valley. The mountain roads were littered with little chalets, winter homes, and sport shops. All of this seems a bit out of place in the midst of the summer.

I found a trail and hiked up one of the mountains for a couple of hours. It seemed to be a maintenance road of some sort - just a couple of tracks in the dirt really. Eventually, it dumped me out onto a ski slope maybe two-thirds of the way up the mountain.

Now, I just gotta admit it wasn't a hard hike, but I was still breathing hard at points. Dallas is just too damned flat for my own good :)

Anyway,I just sorta chilled up there for a while, enjoying the peace and quiet. A light rain fell, pleasant in its own right, as I made my way back down. A late lunch in the village, and then I caught the bus back to Banska Bystrica.

I had a wonderful nap back at the hotel, and then spent some time working as I listened to VH1 on the TV (one of the two english channels).

Feeling the need to get out of the room a bit before bedtime, I made my way back into the town center and am sitting in some club listening to dance music. The place is nearly empty though. Kinda quiet for a saturday night, but again it's off season.

So, all in all, a pretty good day.

In search of ... pine trees.

It's saturday morning, and I'm going to play tourist for a while. The surrounding area is basically a big winter resort area, so things are pretty quiet in the summer. The mountains are pretty, though and I'm off in search of someplace to go hiking. Vlado (my Slovak buddy) wasn't very familiar with the area, but suggested a head toward Donovaly - a village known for its ski resorts. So, that's what I'm doing.

I'm sitting on a bus as I type this on my phone. I *think* it's the right bus :)

Blog entry by proxy

Ok ... I don't have the time or means to integrate them into a proper blog entry, but if you want an advanced look at some Slovakia photos, go to my yahoo photo page.
Use the slideshow mode to view photo descriptions.

"Cheese ... now!"

(I had problems posting this yesterday ... here it is again.)

Quick update ...

I've been working my butt off here, but then the idea isn't to blog work activities. Looks like I'll probably be here an extra day or two.

You may recall that caught a ride to the customer site with another guy. He's been here all week, so we've been hanging out at night, eating dinner in a quaint little village square. He's looking up an old friend tonight, though, so I'm on my own. I'm working late (still in the lab, actually) but hope to catch a cab back to the hotel. My friend here has coached me on the equivalent of "taxi ...< address> ... to < hotel> ... now." Of course, < address is only one word so we'll see how this turns out in the end.

I can't help but think of my brother, who moonlights as a taxi dispatcher. Wonder what he'd do with such a call.

A few more random thoughts ...

The locals assure me that this is not a new building per se. Apparently, they're just adding on to an existing building. What-ever.

These people really dig cheese. I mean, I like cheese as much as the next guy (ok, maybe not quite that much), but come on people. Cheese for breakfast. Cheese for lunch. Last night, I ordered some chicken without the cheese on top. The waitress helpfully suggested that I might instead like the one *stuffed* with cheese instead. Then, she looked at me funny and my companion shrugged as if to say "what-ever."

As I mentioned my destination to folks, I can't tell you how many guys responded by saying "the women there are really hot." Apparently, there's like a whole czech aisle in the adult video stores (< ahem> not that I'd know). Well, I gotta say they're not entirely wrong. Maybe it's all that cheese?

The Bare Necessities

I think, if it really came down to it, all I need is a toilet and a good internet connection. I mention this because those are exactly the two things I've been living without the past couple of days. Yes, I'm still at a customer site here in scenic Slovakia. In a comment to one of my previous posts, Liz described her mental picture of the customer site as an isolated shack somewhere in the woods.

If only.

Imagine if you will an urban construction site. In a little out-of-the-way section of town, they're constructing a new office building. Down a couple unmarked alleys and behind some delapidated warehouses. There's a concrete facade of a building and big holes in the ground cordoned off by plastic tape. Crews of men are pouring concrete and pushing wheelbarrows around. It's exactly the sort of place the Russian mafia would go to dump a body.

You enter the structure of the building and carefully make your way up a couple flights of stairs. Carefully, because there are no walls in the staircase and it's a long way down. Everything is bare concrete. You make your way past the construction debris to the center of the building, to a flimsy temporary wall with a door.

Passing through the door is like moving into a different world entirely. Miraculously, there's a fully operational switch room inside: power, lights, racks of telco equipment, raised flooring, the whole nine yards. Hell, they even got security cameras up. I can't even begin to imagine how or why they installed all this equipment into a halfway finished building. Or, for that matter, why they considered plumbing to be so non-essential. Apparently, that's a "phase two" thing.

As for the internet connection ... you'd think I'd be in geek heaven. I'm in the middle of a freakin' data center, surrounded by LANs, IP switches, and high-speed data links. But it doesn't do *me* any good. Company security policy forbids me from jacking into their network. So I'm hobbling along with a GPRS phone that's "connected" to my laptop via the infra-red port. Of course, IR is a line-of-sight thing, so if I move the phone on the desk (or pick it up to answer it), I lose the connection.

Anyway ... that's all I got for now. Shutting down and going to bed.

The introvert express

I took this job six months ago, knowing that it would involve some pretty extensive travel. I had this romantic vision of jetting around the world, seeing new places and things. Having adventures. Not suprisingly, it hasn't matched the hype.

It's not that I *haven't* been jetting around the world, seeing new places, and having adventures. It's just that I didn't fully appreciate the downsides. Turns out that this is far different from leisure travel. It's tiring, stressful, and sometimes just plain inconvenient. And something else I didn't even anticipate.

Travelling by yourself is lonely.

True, I've strolled the beaches of the south pacific and the avenues of Paris. And that's cool and all. But I've done it alone. And it's not as much fun when there's noone to share the experiene with; to discuss what you've seen and plan your next step; or to laugh with or get a little wild and crazy.

I mean, it's been over a day since I've exchanged more than three sentences with anyone. I hear other people tell crazy stories about how they meet people on the road. How they cross paths with other groups of travellers for an hour or an afternoon. Maybe it's just me. Maybe introverts just aren't cut out to be world travellers.

Anyway ... gonna try to get some sleep before things kick in in the morning.

We're not in Texas anymore, Toto.

One thing that struck me odd. When I checked into DFW airport yesterday morning, the gate agent informed me that the entry requirements for Slovakia included "having sufficient funds for my stay, including a minimum of $50 per day (not including credit cards)" and "registering with the local police within three days of my arrival."

Not sure what that was all about, but it was just a bit weird.

Come to think of it, I wonder if those two requirements are related. Maybe I'm supposed to make a contribution to the local policeman's retirement fund?

On the road again ...

This time, my work takes me to Slovakia (of all places). I'll try to publish blog updates as I go along, but I won't be able to upload photos until I get back home. At any rate ... here's the first entry.

All goes well so far. I left on Saturday morning. My itinerary called for me to travel through Washington DC, then Brussels, and on to Bratislava, Slovakia. I arrived without major issues in Bratislava on Sunday morning (today). Though
we skirted the edge of Hurricane Charlie on my way into DC, so that was a pretty bumpy flight. And during my layover in Brussels, I had three separate parties approach me (in french of course) for information on which gate their flight to Africa was flying out of. Not sure what that was all about.

For whatever reason, I didn't sleep much on the overseas flight, so I was pretty wiped when I finally got to my hotel around noon today. I grabbed a little nap before heading out into the city.

My hotel is located on the Danube River, just on the outskirts of historic Bratislava. The old town district is pretty quaint - lots of winding cobblestone streets, old stone buildings, fountains, churches, and of course cafes liberally dotted along the way. There really isn't much to do but stroll along and people watch. I did catch the tail of end of an outdoor concert (and I do mean tail end. We're talking about thirty seconds of oomp pah pah and then they packed up and left). And I joined a crowd of spectators as we watched some old timers play chess on a giant chessboard in a park.

After walking aroud for an hour or so, I decided to have an early dinner. Still a little leery of traditional Slovak cuisine, I opted instead for my "safe meal." That's a grilled chicken breast with garden veggies on the side. It's a hard dish to screw up, so regardless of where I am, I can usually find a halfway decent entre. And tonight was no exception. A nice little outdoor eaterie; grilled chicken with herbed butter, white rice, peas, and a little salad. Round it out with a coke and finish with a cup of coffee. The exchange rate is pretty favorable, so all that cost me a whopping $8 (US).

So ... my first impression is pretty favorable. The weather is beatiful, sunny and low 80's. I think I had this mental image of eastern europe being kinda grey, overcast, and dingy. So far I'm pleasantly surprised.

Tomorrow morning, I meet up with my customer contact. We'll drive about an hour or so into the heart of the country to where the install site is. I'll spend the rest of the week there. Not sure what to expect there. The region is apparently known for its ski resorts. Hopefully it's not too deserted in the summer.

BlondeStar

If you haven't heard this yet, then click below.

Culture, in condensed form

On my last visit to London, I came across this marquee in the theater district.
It's good to know the classics aren't being neglected.




The Reduced Shakespeare Company ... The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) ... All 37 plays in 97 minutes.

Triumph-ant convention

I heard a report on the radio yesterday (July 27) that Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was escorted off the grounds of the Democratic National Convention. I just gotta wonder what the circumstances were. Did he have a pass, or was he trying to crash the place? And what comments, exactly, triggered his alleged ejection?

I haven't found any media reports of the incident, so I'm skeptical. One blog, however, has published a brief first-person account.

Mysterious Sprinklers of Stonehenge

I spent the last couple of weeks in the UK, and had a little bit of time to do some sight-seeing on the weekend. So I went to visit Stonehenge. I was struck by just how little anybody knows about the place.

We don't know exactly who built it, why they built it, how they built it, or what it was used for. The audio tour started to get a little comical. It was constantly starting off with a phrase like "while we can't say for sure why it was built" and then going off on some wild-ass conjecture.

Toward the end of the line, I came across a sprinkler watering the grass. I imagined what the audio tour would say about it:





"While we don't know exactly who installed the sprinkler head, experts have theorized that it serves as some sort of irrigation device. Others, however, point to the lack of agriculture in the region and speculate that ancient nature worshippers built it as an homage to water - one of the fundamental elements known to the ancient world. One thing we know for sure, though, is that it is a significant archaeological find."

Birth of a blog

So  I've finally done it ... taken the leap and become just another blogger among the multitudes. The pressure is on. I feel the need to be poignant, witty, topical, and above all persistent. Be gentle. I'm new at this.