What I have to look forward to

Chicago Parking 101 from the expired meter.

Dedication to Small Government

Ah, the bailout... what bothers me (and many Americans) about that? First, that the money is being given to a former Goldman exec to dispense with how he (or the Treasury) sees fit. Second, that it fails to address root causes, and does nothing to prevent another out of control financial mess. Third, that it seems insincere of our congress to favor silence and laissez-faire only on the way up, but a falling price of stocks, and a tightening credit market is somehow a malfunctioning market? Markets work, they say it again and again, but did they only mean that markets work when they favor people with existing assets? There are generations yet to be born, and many of my generation who have yet to get a grip or claim on some of these overvalued assets, largely because they are overvalued. Lower prices are democratic. Low prices of homes hurt short term homeowners, speculators, and banks... but are a boon to first time homebuyers and future homebuyers. Low stock prices give me a head start in earning return on capital (think value investing). Overvalued stocks are great for fund managers and the nearly retired, but at the cost of the earnings potential of the next wave of Americans. Did we forget to vote? Did we forget to do the math? Did we buy the hype...

How many days did it take the white house to get this rescue plan through congress? Congress, which never agrees on anything that quickly, has once again responded to the gong of emergency, taken assurances from the administration that it held America's best interests at heart, and raced to pass a bad idea into law. I haven't been this upset since the patriot bill reauthorization...

Are the credit default swaps any more regulated now than in the past? Are banks required to maintain higher capital levels for soundness? Did the FDIC raise the insurance premiums it charges bank for deposits?

Does this government have any better ideas than throwing away money into a sinking ship? It seems the recent plunge in prices was largely due to lack of confidence and uncertainty. Propping up bad companies to restore confidence (that was quite reasonably withdrawn) distorts pricing signals, and only socializes the risk of default. Insuring all banks against failure creates such a ridiculous moral hazard that in future dictionaries, it will be the example we use to clarify the term.

Why did this bill pass with little citizen input, at the behest of the government, with votes from the crooks who will be seeking reelection over the next four years? Where were our options?

Somethings burning

Dust is rising, and the smell of burning brush is blowing in with the
heavy winds here in spokane. It's warm and dry, and we've started
having light fires on the highway in tacoma. I'm surprised it isn't
worse in the east. Maybe there's enough water in the columbia to keep
the risk low in most areas.

The smell makes me nostalgic for california. I remember a few fires
there. Last month I saw a fire off i-90 near the dells (just outside
the kalahari). I didn't call it in. Should I be so ashamed?

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Mead

Yes, there is more than just a salvage yard. I worked at a brand new
middle school, and went to lunch at a diner off hwy 2. We'll see how
the food is. The best part of spokane is the continued existence of
blue collar diners outside the truck stop environment. My last long
trip to spokane had a nice dining experience. What is it about coffee
cups with brown paint that feels so welcoming. Sterile white porcelain
feels like a hotel catering service to me, while the simple brown
diner mug says free refills like no other.

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Travel

There was a very young girl next to me on my flight to edmonton
tonight. Since most canadians I meet on the plane are coming from
mexico, she seemed a bit odd. No sunburn, no holiday clothes, and
travelling alone. I asked her if she was almost home, she said after
her parents picked her up it would be an hours drive, and added that
she had been travelling almost 2 and an half days. I asked if she was
coming from india. She corrected me, she had just spent a month in
wujin, china. What a trip! I spied her declarations card, 1987. How
old have I become that she seemed a mere girl? Maybe she was just
short. Reminds me a bit of island warrior Michelle.

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Review from Netflix

A travesty. If you love Shakespeare, you'll hate this. If you love musicals of the 1930s, you'll hate this.

Guess I won't get too excited to see Love's Labours Lost.

Warm Sunshine

What I will miss the most about the west is the perfectly calm, warm sunshine of the summer evenings. Even on hot days, as the sun declines, and the dried grass bathes everything in a beautiful golden glow, I feel the most satisfied sensation that all is right with the world.

In Minnesota, the same time was a summer morning, as the sun rose over the cool earth, and the last of the morning doves cooed their sad sound. Watching the stars finally fade behind a brightening sky nearly brought me to tears.

Midday has never been pleasant for me. The heat and sweat on my forehead, dripping salt into my eyes, and nearly singeing my hair is a trial to be born, but not a pleasure to be sought out.

They say Akhnaten built a temple with no roof, and held court in the brilliant Egyptian sun. It was his pleasure, but I'm sure the ministers were relieved to watch the evening approach, and the desert's winds calm and cool. Even now, the only way many can bear to sun themselves is at a beach, where the wind of the ocean cools the air with moisture.

Supernatural British Columbia

I should be tired after a day like this, but central vancouver is too
much fun to let it waste.

I started off early, leaving at 530am for port angeles to catch the
coho ferry to downtown victoria. Anyone starting from Tacoma or west
should definitely give this a try. All the other ferries take you to
Sydney, 20 miles north of downtown. The coho puts you across the
street from the legislature and 2 blocks from the Empress.

The sun was low, and the air clear as I drove through the kitsap
penninsula, but as soon as I crossed the hood canal I was fogged in.
Its another 45 miles from the bridge to the ferry, and much of it is
single lane. The ferry line wasn't long, and there was room for my
car, and time for a run to the doughnut shop. The sailing was smooth,
as we neared vancouver island, the sun came out, but otherwise it was
foggy thoughout the strait.

Victoria is a charming town to explore by foot, bur finding parking
downtown is a game I'm no good at. I arrived at the pub about 11am,
and was on my way to another ferry by noon. I booked a place on the
one o'clock BC ferry to Tsawassen, and was at the holiday inn downtown
by 330.

Dinner at marias taverna in the west end, sitting at a sidewalk table,
no pigeons. Going to the park after.

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iWork

I recently purchased a family license for iWork because Beth's laptop was flaky, and I thought old reliable Appleworks might be linked. I've played around a little, and comparing it to Office comes next, naturally.

Numbers: I think the multiple tables per page is cool. I think that what it does automatically is great. I like the use of labels in place of cell column letters.
I wish it would work better with database or flat file sources. I wish there were better ways to import data into Pages. I really like Numbers. I wish Apples manuals were a little meatier.

Pages: Great product, but why isn't there a template for Avery label sheets? This should be rather easy. Again, how do I fill a table in Pages from information in Numbers.

Since I never use presentation software, I will leave any comaparison of Keynote and PowerPoint to someone who cares.

I think I've pretty much abandoned hope for software priced above $1 and less than $100. The comparative advantage over OpenSource projects is too low to support the price. Have you looked at a software aisle lately? There is nothing good in a box. I was happy to pay the price for iLife, since they super-optimised iPhoto. I'm also a little disappointed with the preference for .Mac integration over easily supported web export options (iWeb, iPhoto, I'm talking about you). These are just clumsy from iLife. And, since I bought a mac back when .Mac was still free, I'm just a little jaded about the price for a subscription. Lastly, since my camcorder fritzed out, there's little need for iMovie (to me, at least). It was a cheap product when I used it, and I preferred final cut express (discounted at $99 when I bought it).

Time Waster

About two weeks ago I started playing Rule the Seas . It is like crack. I feel like one of the lab rats that got cocaine from pressing a lever, but only every five minutes. Right when you feel like the five minutes have passed, you start tapping madly on the lever to get your next dose.

Oh, and if you click the link and sign up, I get a small bonus. If you join PJ's gang, I'll get a little more help. And then I recommend you try not to play.

My blackberry makes it ever so tempting to do this every twenty or thirty minutes while I'm working. The downside is once a Captcha shows up, it never accepts the code from my blackberry, limiting me to maybe an hour or two before I need to go to a laptop.

Fairbanks

I just landed in Fairbanks a little after midnight. I was foolishly
worried that it would still be a little cool, and that I would have to
crawl out of the airport in the dark. Wasn't I wrong in both cases. It
is a few degrees warmer here than in Seattle, maybe 55 or 60 at
midnight. And it is not quite dusk, a reddish cloudy morning awaited
me, with patches of light perforating the clouds. The only hard part
will be rising in 4 hours. I did get a short nap on the plane, I hope
tomorrow goes smoothly.

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Tomato

I love reaction. Last year I couldn't get spinach, this time McDonald's won't put tomatoes on my sandwich. I understand there is no economical way to identify the risk of food poisoning, and it's not the sort of liability that a company wants to undertake. Maybe we need to start labeling the origin of our food. The Salinas Valley spinach outbreak was ultimately tied to a single source, but there was little way of identifying a bag of spinach from one plant. The agro companies don't give this. Consumers don't check it. I'm a huge fan of having lettuce in January, but it seems like local food would stop these nationwide outbreaks. Who knows, the variety of seasonal vegetable might just stretch out imagination.

Didn't I read that a vinegar water wash would make help kill bacteria on produce? How much trouble would that be for a company like McDonald's. Maybe I misunderstood, and tomatoes were just getting more expensive than they'd like to serve. I suppose it's possible that they could have just run out at the restaurant I went to, but she said "no longer serving tomatoes".

Lastly, I hate that Firefox's spellcheck expects an e in tomatos. I know it's the proper english, but it seems like a dead letter stuck where it has no place. Ditto for potatos.

Will GM really make the volt by 2010?

Ah, the Chevy Volt. The plug in car with a backup gas engine. Not a hybrid, which uses the battery to increase the fuel efficiency of a gas engine, but an electric car with a gas engine to recharge the battery. The vaporware affordable fuel independence vehicle. 40 miles to an overnight charge, fifty miles per gallon. All modestly priced at a Chevy price. Will they deliver this on time. I've seen print ads for this for over a year, and derided GM for advertising a solution they didn't have. They sure didn't make any friends in the environazi camp when they recalled all the EV cars after the leases expired and sent them to the trash heap. But let's just say they make it good. Lets say the release a car in 2010, and it costs under 30,000. Will my car make it until then? I sure hope so. Would I buy one, an american car that revolutionizes the notion of a car?

I'll be moving to Chicago in about a year. I think I can get plenty close in to the city and the airport to make a 40 mile charge a lot more practical than my current situation, where I typically drive 45 - 65 miles each way for work. I've been insulated from the gas prices because of my generous employer's auto program. But I see the $4.30 regular, and chuckle internally with an "I told you so" superiority. I'm excited for the return of regular rail service to America. Want to increase urban density (and heating efficieny), move back to a central terminal style transport system.

I'm thirty. I remember clotheslines. My parents likely knew of nothing else. We had a washboard in the basement, replaced by a washing machine. I remember laundromats. Dreary places, really, now the home of the less affluent. They used to be a sort of proletarian community room, mothers reading, children causing mischief. Now we can't abide to live somewhere without an in-unit laundry?

How many drop off laundries are there anymore? Not dry-cleaning, but a $10/load drop off, pick it up in six hours and get your shopping done while you wait sort of place. Sounds like a fantastic job for a young person.

I pledged two years ago to vote for John McCain if he ran, I think I still will. I pledge to buy a Volt if GM can deliver for 2010 under $30,000. And if not, Honda still has an excellent lineup of small cars.

Fun times in calgary

I went to the airport with a pit in my stomach, wondering if I was
going to get home. The forecast called for snow, I thought there might
be issues at the airport. Since then, I waited for a very slow check
in process, was whisked through US customs, and waited for what was
originally a 6PM flight.
At 7pm, we were all brought back through canada customs to the check
in counter for rebooking. Unfortunately, all the customs officers shut
the doors at 7pm, so there was a flight full of people waiting until
tomorrow. I waited until 9pm to talk to an agent, after a fruitless
conversation with amex travel. I was given a room at the holiday inn,
had a sandwich and a beer at the hotel restaurant, and set a 330 wake
up call.
I arose, showered and made coffee. Someone might have thought they
were doing me a favor, or it may have been mischief, but when I added
water to the machine, it immediately started to overflow, and drip
cold through the basket. I stopped making the mess, returned the pot,
and and hit start. It must have still been overfilled, because the
mess continued a few minutes later as coffee started spilling over the
top of the pot, and I stood there naked trying to contain it with my
bath towel. I went ahead and poured a cup, added a bit of water from
the tap to cool it, and chugged it down. I hurriedly dressed, ran down
to the lobby, and caught a 4am ride to the airport.
The airport looked sure to be fun times, since air canada had stranded
100 people around midnight, and the line for checkin wrapped clear
back into the shopping area. I went to the first class counter, and
got my economy ticket with only a twenty minute wait.

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Another Long Day

I feel like the old days, an interstate ping pong ball. Just checked in to my hotel in Grover Beach, after landing a few minutes late in SLO. They upgraded me to a fireplace suite, I have a great balcony fronting a curve of el Camino Real. I realize after landing here how LA is the only part of california that I don,t get excited to see. The trees and flowers of the central coast are unparalled. Today I had driving snow and wind In Idaho Falls, then a short flight to Salt Lake, then an hour and a half on a CRJ200, then an interline transfer to American, and an hour flight on a Saab to san luis obispo. The saabs are funny because there's a port to connect to oxygen mask to, I wonder how the FAA allows that. I wandered through an underground service corridor between united and delta at LAX, felt like I should have had a badge to get through there, it was very sterile, and each end of the hallway had automatic steel doors, so I could have been trapped in there. I was alone through the whole length, until a few filipinos on a cart whizzed by going the opposite direction. It could have been more useful, but it didn't seem to connect in any sane way to terminal 4, so I surfaced at terminal 5 and walked over to the AA counter. Friday I take some United legs through SFO to get home. I am sure there's a better way to go. Last week seattle to new jersey, this week seattle to salt lake to idaho falls to salt lake to la to san luis obispo to san francisco to seattle, next week calgary for four days, then some local time. Local is a vague word. I think all my jobs will be in redmond, a short 60 mile race through the overbuilt, underfreewayed east side.

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Idaho and other happenings

Wow,

had a great weekend, drove to Vancouver for Beth's Birthday. We went to the park, watched some waterfowl, saw swans necking, and weren't attacked by rabid raccoons this time. Plenty of good food, and a smooth drive home.

This morning I flew out to Idaho Falls, working in Rexburg, a little north of there. Windswept high desert on the snake river. Not a bad time. Heading to Pismo Beach tomorrow night for a few days, home on Friday, then it's off to Calgary.

I have a trip to Anchorage set up in June, I hope I don't end up fighting high season rates.

Work is good, they keep me busy. My biggest problem is balancing new jobs scheduled through our central office with existing issues... which reminds me of a ton of things I need to do!

Long day ahead

Well, I'm at work all this week in Pennsylvania. First day we load the bus a 645AM and finish after 9PM. I got to the hotel about three this morning, didn't really have a chance to sleep. At least the hotel hadn't closed their books. One of the worst facts of business travel is that it can take quite some time to get a room late at night. Ironically, my credit card, used to secure the reservation, gets charged even when they figure I won't show up. Forcing your logic on the night clerk in a desert town can be a fun and fulfilling exercise for the stubborn. I once tried to check out of a hotel in Alberta at three in the morning. The janitor only knew how to use freecell. They faxed a receipt after the staff came in.

Delta

I am very happy that Delta intends to take over NWA's operations. I expect all the pilots will be able to find a mutually attractive solution. Too bad bankrupt buddies can't dole out raises to everyone, that's always a good way to smooth things over with frightened and harried employees.

Not closing any hubs, and only having a dozen routes in common means that it's going to be hard to save money except by closing a few offices in Eagan. Flights will continue, pilots and stewardesses will still leave on trips. Just a few upper management folks gone, can't see that saving a ton of cash.

On the plus side, this may allow the oldest fleet in the american commercial airlines to get some new planes. Maybe a few more or less seats in some areas as a larger pool to balance gets shuffled to meet demand. Maybe the return of the free peanuts.

Wednesday

Working locally this week. It's a strange time to work local and have
Beth at home. She's always there when I come home, but the transition
is awkward. She's getting used to being home alone, and when I come
home the dynamic changes. I think our culture has grown a history
since the industrial revolution of a work home dichotomy. Things
change. Small businesses and telecommuters are facing a
return/revolution to work as an action, rather than a location.
Expectations which have evolved in the last 150 years are being
reevaluated now. I'm sure I am not the only one experiencing this.
There isn't enough change in the culture providers (media) to change
expectations of the realm of normalcy. Does anybody else get a feeling
of resentment from a partner when they answer the phone?

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Miss Pettigrew

Beth and I just watched Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Amy Adams is sooo cute. And, unlike Atonement, there's a marvelously happy ending for all people wha aren't rascals, and Adams' character goes over to the light.

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Going home again

Just leaving a short layover in Anchorage. Given my monday 8 hour fiasco here, followed by all outbound flights cancelled in Valdez yesterday, I consider myself fortunate to be on a plane to Seattle rIght now. They fixed my blackberry account, new mail keeps rolling in.

100% :humidity, dewpoint 34

Two days in valdez, and already I want to try heliskiing. Went to
pepe's for dinner again, this time I asked for a full menu. I look
forward to the chicken bistro, it said there are green peppers. My
favorite. Its amusing to watch people order, and hear that whatever
they want is out of season. I guess he only keeps one menu. I too
suffered the denial of a whim, he doesn't have oil and vinegar.
Instead of muzak or a jukebox, there's an ipod mini with jazz and
samba music, plugged into a bose docking station. The sound is great,
and I can hardly hear the hockey game... Canucks v colorado. Its like
the islander, but he's got guinness extra stout in bottles and a thick
accent.

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A good day

It's been snowing nonstop since I arrived in valdez. There's no wind,
and a sloppy slush has piled up everywhere. I woke up a little later
than I might have liked, and had a quick day at work. All the
technical parts were done early, I had breakfast for lunch, and
scheduled training for the afternoon. I was done by two, and chinatown
is on hbo. Jack nicholson too was young once.

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imap for gmail

Imap is a welcome addition to email, and apple mails support is exciting. I am now pretty much plugged in, with my phone and laptop working in the same folders. For people with multiple computers, managing pop can be a drag, since anything on pc1 didn't get delivered to pc2. I had to disable autostart of a few email clients to ensure I was getting email on the road, or slog on over to the sweetest webmail around to check it there.

Pretty content with everything, now.

Arrived in Valdez

I'm at the Best Western Valdez Harbor, the bistro had real guinness in a bottle, not the guinness draft nonsense that passes for beer in the bars I've been to lately. Snow falling, and slush outside my door. I need to figure out how I'm getting to the college tomorrow. I'll probably need to call someone, or bribe the hotel shuttle into taking me across town.

In any case, no incidents with moose or wolverines to end my happy life.

Underestimated

Well, I got google maps for my blackberry now. It turns out that the
considerable icefield that's only 120 miles to fly over is an eight
and a half hour drive. I really hope the flight this afternoon isn't
cancelled. If its too rough to fly into valdez, how will it be to
drive 300 miles in the dark. If this is the last thing on this page,
and its after april second, assume a bull moose has scattered my
innards across the tundra.

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Cancelled flight

Sitting in the anchorage airport, have a few hours free to get my
thoughts together. My flight to Valdez was cancelled for weather, and
I am waiting to see if they cancel my 5pm departure too. I guess
that'll give me a chance to drive a few miles of the frontier state.

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New book

I spent a long long time at SFO on Thursday, and after reading all of this months Harper's Magazine (no I didn't even try the puzzle), I picked up the Great Upheaval, a history of the revolutions and counterrevolutions at the end of the eighteenth century, focusing on Catherine the Great's Russia, Washington's America, and France from Louis XVI to Napoleon. Pretty good. I wish I had a paperback copy, Big hardcovers are hard to fit into my lifestyle.

A poem for pi day

Sir, I send a rhyme excelling
In sacred truth and rigid spelling
Numerical sprites elucidate
For me the lexicon's full weight

(from the comments on the BBC pi day story)
Tuppennyblue, Worcester, UK

How do they expect to do that?

h. Prohibit U.S. corporations from avoiding or evading payment of their taxes by banking abroad or locating their charters offshore.

This from the green party platform. What is the legal definition of a US corporation? It seems that unless they outlaw foreign ownership of us based assets (a remarkably foolish and probably illegal move) there is no way to prevent foreign corporations, substantial or mere holding corps, from offshoring ownership.

Sure looked good on paper. Keep on smokin', hippies.