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!