ryan.sandridge.org

2012 Worldwide Day of Giving (Part 2)

2012-06-16T00:55:00-04:00

Just as I said last year, you'd think as the brother of the guy who started the Worldwide Day of Giving, that it would somehow be easy for me to give $10 to a stranger. It isn't.

First off, it is just hard to approach a stranger on the street. Even harder these days that most people walk around with headphones on. So I patiently looked for people who did not seem to be in a hurry and who weren't listening to their headphones. But it took me 3 attempts to successfully give away $10.

My first failure was a woman standing outside the Jack Rose Dining Saloon. I made the mistake of starting the conversation with "Do you have a couple minutes?" She immediately responded, "No actually? I'm busy" as she started to play with her smart phone. I tried to be persistent, saying "It is the Worldwide Day of Giving, and I'd like to give you $10 with no strings attached" to which she said "No thanks." Well, I didn't want to be a pest, so I walked up the street, and waited for someone else (noticing that for the next 5 minutes the woman just stood at the corner of Jack Rose doing nothing).

Eventually I made eye contact with a man walking down the street in no hurry, and learning from my previous mistake, launched into "Hi, I'd like to give you $10 as part of the Worldwide Day of Giving." Well, that didn't work--he just kept walking without responding.

So I decided to take a walk of my own as I was having no luck at my current location. I walked around the block, and found myself near a service entrance of the Hilton Sport & Health Club. I spotted Sam quickly eating a meal while standing, presumably during a short break he had. Sam was very friendly, and didn't seem bothered by my interrupting him. I explained what I was doing and he seemed very interested in the project.

He said he works part time there at the gym (I assumed as a trainer, as he is a very fit/muscular man, but I actually forgot to ask what he does there). He works full time near the district courthouse with child services? I wish I was more outgoing and talked with him longer, but he finished his food, and I didn't want to hold him up.

I wonder if I'll do this again next year. The thought crossed my mind that my brother is so much better at this, that I may fund him to do it for me next year. In fact, I wonder if others felt the same way, if he could raise enough money to do it full-time. I suppose not, as it would take so much more than $10/day to pay him a comfortable wage.

2012 Worldwide Day of Giving (Part 1)

2012-06-14T21:00:00-04:00

Today is the 3rd Annual Worldwide Day of Giving! It is a day that was inspired by my brother's Year of Giving (Facebook Page), a project that I am immensily in awe of.

I wonder who I will give money to today. The fear and excitement is building, but having done it twice before, I know that the rush of goodness that follows will reward me. I encourage everyone to participate. And do it old school? find a stranger, and give them $10. Be prepared for rejection, as people can be wary of someone offering them money for nothing. Don't give up if you are rejected. Just move on to the next person. Explain to them that it is part of the Worldwide Day of Giving, and that they are free to give the money to someone else if they don't want it.

Oh, and please post a comment on Reed's blog or Facebook Page about your experience. In part two I'll post details about my giving experience this year.

Turn the Lights Off

2012-06-05T19:28:42-04:00

I work (for another week anyway) in an office building. I typically come in late, and leave late. When I leave on a typical day, nearly all the offices are empty. Yet I notice a surprising number of offices have lights that are on despite the fact that the fluorescent lights the office comes with are tied to an occupancy sensor.

So what gives? It turns out that the employees who occupy these offices during normal working hours have brought 300 watt halogen floor lamps in from home. These lamps get plugged into a regular outlet (not controlled by an occupancy sensor). Since during the day the overhead fluorescent lights are off while the room is occupied, I can only assume they prefer the quality of incandescent/halogen lighting to that of fluorescent lighting.

Who am I to argue with this? I mean, I try to use fluorescent lighting when possible (despite also preferring the quality of incandescents) in order to lower my carbon footprint; but those are my values and sensibilities. But there is no excuse for leaving that light on all night long. And yes, they are left on all night. I do occasionally have the odd night of sleep where I wake early and cannot go back to sleep, and on those occasions I arrive to work before those same people who leave their lights on arrive. And wouldn't you know it, all of those lights are still on.

So yes, I pass judgement on these people for being energy wasters. And of course I blame the company too. Somebody in facilities should be noticing this and care about it. Surely lots of money can be saved by turning these lights out. And if they don't care about money, then care about the planet, and provide plug-in occupancy sensors for the floor lamps. Or prohibit them, and offer to replace the built in overhead lighting with incandescents. Or something.

Email to Virginia DOT

2012-05-31T14:37:20-04:00

VDOT (vdotinfo@vdot.virginia.gov),

With all due respect, I believe that your consideration of imposing a $1/month/transponder fee is an abysmal idea. The use of these transponders should be reducing your costs, not increasing them. Furthermore, society on a whole benefits the more these transponders are utilized, as it relieves traffic congestion near toll booths, conserves fuel, and reduces carbon emissions. With this in mind, penalizing E-ZPass customers further (see below about the balance float on transponders) does not make sense.

E-ZPass (formerly Fastoll and then Smart Tag) has been in place in the DC area for more than 16 years. During this time, there has not been a need to charge a monthly fee. A security deposit is collected (currently $25) for each transponder. Furthermore toll payments are made in advance of toll usage when a minimum credit balance occurs. The amount prepaid carries a minimum of $35 per transponder. That is a lot of money to earn income off the "float".

If despite the revenue streams mentioned above, there is still an operational overhead for the program, I would suggest either adding a surcharge to drivers not using transponders at toll booths, or more favorably, simply incorporate those costs into the toll charged to ALL drivers. I believe this is reasonable since the use of the transponders benefits society on whole.

If you begin charging a monthly fee, my wife and I will likely return our transponders and quit using them. I suspect others will do the same. This will lead to more traffic congestion, more carbon emissions, and more fuel use. I implore you to reconsider this decision.

Regards,
Ryan Sandridge

Customer Expectations

2012-04-27T19:41:18-04:00

It is 2012. As customers, we don't have the same expectations as we did just a short time ago. In our Internet centric world, we expect to conduct business at just about any time of day, seven days a week. Companies who fail to deliver on that expectation, will either learn to shortly, or they will fail.

Consider this recent customer experience I had with my business bank:

I receive my new check card (due to the previous one expiring). I need to activate it, so I call the number printed on the sticker on the new card. I am prompted to enter my PIN. I don't know my PIN, because I have never withdrawn cash from my business checking account, but rather use the check card itself for business expenses. I try a few PINs that I've used in the past, but none are successful. After 3 attempts, I'm asked if I'd like my PIN mailed to me, and I say "yes".

Already this is annoying. I've activated cards many times in the past, and I've never been prompted for a PIN. But I shrug it off, and wait the 5-7 days it takes for my PIN to arrive.

Today (a Friday) around 6pm, I call once again to activate my card. But this time I'm not prompted for my PIN, but rather told that my card cannot be activated by the automated system, and that I need to contact a representative. No phone number is provided, and the automatic system hangs up on me. Why not just transfer me to a representative?

I call back, and spend at least 5 minutes punching various options trying to get to a representative (no, pushing zero didn't work, and none of the top level options were "Speak with a representative").

Finally I find myself talking to a person. She asks me for my account number. I explain that I can find it, but it isn't handy. She then asks me for my SS#. I give it to her. She then says I don't have an account with them. I say that I do. She asks what kind of account. I tell her it is a business checking account. She asks for the check card number, which I read to her. She then wants to know the tax ID of my business, I explain that isn't handy, and she says she needs it. So with her on the phone, I go digging in my files, and finally find it. She then asks me to verify the last 3 transactions on the account. I explain that I don't have Quicken in front of me, but she says she won't be able to activate the card without my confirmation of the last 3 transactions on my account. So with her waiting on the line, I boot up Windows, then Quicken, and I confirm the last 3 transactions.

You won't believe this, but after all this verification, she says, "You attempted to activate your card too many times. You will need to see a representative in person to have your card reset." WHAT?!? It is Friday after banking hours!

So now I need to make a trip to the bank. The catch is, it won't be to my current bank, but rather to a new bank with better customer service, and it will be to open up a new account. The next time I interface with my current bank, it will be to close the account.

2011 Worldwide Day of Giving

2011-06-15T16:53:53-04:00

There is a certain self imposed pressure being the brother of the guy who started the Year of Giving. I somehow feel that I should be very good at giving $10 away. The problem is, I'm terribly shy. Many people who know me don't believe it, because once I know you, or if I meet you when I'm with others who know you, I don't appear to be shy at all. But ask me to initiate a conversation with a complete stranger all by myself--well let's just say it is very difficult for me.

While I didn't do nearly as good of a job as Reed, this year's experience went better than last year's. Last year I got refused several times, before finally giving my $10 away. This year I was only refused (sort of) once. I approached a man just sitting on a bench peacefully. As soon as I started asking him if he could participate in the year of giving, and that I'd like to give him $10, he pulls out his phone and says it is work, and he has to take the call. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

I was at the intersection of Washington Blvd and Clarendon Blvd in Arlington, waiting to cross the street, when Maria rode up on her bike. She smiled at me, and I so I said hello and went into my spiel about the Worldwide Day of Giving. Despite a morning prep talk from Reed, I still got very little information about her, despite the fact that she was very willing to participate. All I know is Maria is from Mexico, and she was very honored to be chosen. I spent more time telling her about the project than I did asking her questions about herself. How self centered is that? I did remember to ask her what she would do with the money, and she said that this seemed like a very special $10, and that she should find someone special to give it to.

Oh, and I did get a picture of her. Her first response when I asked her was "I will break your camera." I told her that my brother wouldn't believe me that I gave my money away unless I had proof, so she obliged. She was eager to help me prove it to Reed and so she is shown displaying 10 digits in the photo (her idea, not mine).

All in all a good experience, and I look forward to 2012 being even better!

Fighting the Man

2011-03-10T21:36:26-05:00

I'm outraged over a $25 penalty Montgomery County local government is trying to make my wife pay. I think normal people would get mad, get over it, and just pay it; but I can't seem to let go. Let me explain.

She received a Notification of Delinquent Account on January 19th, 2011. Allegedly, my wife's car was recorded as traveling 41 mph in a 30 mph zone at 11:11 am, August 29, 2009. I say allegedly, because to the best of her and my recollection, she should not have been in Montgomery County that day at all, much less at 11:11am. Anyone who knows her knows that her weekends are precious, and being awake at 11 am, much less being 30 miles away from home at that time, is a rare occurrence. Furthermore, we attended a party the night before, increasing the chances of a sleep in.

To date we've been presented with no photo evidence that her car was there. But despite all of that, she and I are both willing to admit that we could be wrong about events that took place 17 months prior. But this was the first notice she had received. The fine was $40, and the late penalty was $25.

Despite paying the $40 fine, and placing a phone call and a letter, explaining that we never received any notice of the violation until the January 19th Delinquency notice, they are threatening to turn the account over to collections to collect the remaining $25. They maintain that despite the fact they did not send the notice certified mail, it is not their fault that we did not receive notice. I don't even doubt they sent the notice, but the US Postal Service has been notoriously bad at this address. I have countless examples of mail not being delivered here.

So why should my wife be liable for the US Postal Service's poor delivery service? I believe that if law enforcement want to ensure proper notice, they should send the violations certified return receipt requested. Or better yet, get rid of those traffic cameras, and put a few more officers to work pulling over people to issue the citations the old fashioned way.

I want to fight this. Does anybody have suggestions on how to effectively fight this injustice?

Update: We just solved the mystery of how her car was up there. It was the one time she lent the car to a friend (who incidentally returned the car with an empty tank). Thanks to digital cameras which digitally encode the day pictures are taken, and the fact that Mandy and this friend posed for a picture the day the car was borrowed. But I'm still upset about the late penalty on general principal even if the friend offers to pay the fine.

10,000 Tastebuds

2010-07-11T07:53:35-04:00

Saw a bilboard with a picture of a McDonald's Egg McMuffin, with a slogan that said "You have 10,000 taste buds, use them all."

Really?

Year of Giving

2010-04-22T21:04:39-04:00

I've been remiss at blogging about the wonderfully inspiring project my brother Reed started in December. I have lots of excuses for not blogging about it until now. I could blame the fact that I was in the midst of planning my wedding. But honestly, writing a short blog post takes minutes. Really, it is more about me not feeling like blogging anything. I've only posted three things in the past year. And I've had a growing sense that there it is a waste of time. Just about nobody reads this anyway, and I rarely have anything thought provoking to say that couldn't be said in a 140 character tweet.

Anyway, I feel bad that I haven't mentioned how proud I am of Reed's Year of Giving. My first reaction when he told me what he was thinking about doing in early December, was "what a great idea, I wish I'd thought of it." But even if I had, I rarely stick with something as well as he has. He is more than a third of the way through the project, and he hasn't missed a day yet. Those who know of my 365 Days project where I was supposed to take a self-portrait everyday for a year, know that I missed at least a third of the days in the year!

I seriously doubt anyone who reads this isn't already aware of his project, but if you aren't, go check it out now. It is very inspiring. I'm proud to have Reed as my brother.

NHL Southeast Division

2009-12-17T19:28:43-05:00

You know, it is an accepted fact that the NHL Southeast Division is consistently the weakest of the 6 NHL divisions. I'm not really debating that, as it generally feels that way. But I thought how can you quantify that?

A Southeast Division team has won the Prince of Wales Trophy 5 out of the last 15 seasons for being the Eastern Conference Champions. With three divisions in the conference, it seems they win exactly as many times as they should. If the Caps can win it this year, the Southeast Division would actually be ahead of its statistically predicted average.

OK, well that is all well and good, but the Western Conference is better than the Eastern Conference, right? Well, the Western Conference has one 8 of the last 15 Stanley Cup's, but if an Eastern Conference team wins this year, then again we'll be at exactly the statistically predicted average.

OK, but how does the Southeast Division fare in the Stanley Cup Finals? Turns out they've just notched two wins in the past 15 Cups. With 6 divisions, you'd expect them to have won 2.5 times. So wait, if the Caps (or any other Southeast Division team) win the Cup in the next 3 years, then the Southeast will be exactly on target of its statistically prediced average.

I'm just saying....

Pay Attention to Your Environment

2009-09-27T21:05:15-04:00

As I write this, the outside temperature is 63 Â°F. It isn't terribly cold, but definitely I would think a vast majority would agree that there is no need to air condition a space below this temperature.

As I write this, I hear 3-4 air conditioners humming outside in the alley behind my house.

As I write this, the temperature in my upstairs office (with two computers running) is 73 Â°F. Perfect for me. If I wanted it cooler, I'd open more windows (I had to close some of them a few hours ago because it was getting a bit too chilly in here).

So why do I hear the constant hum of air conditioners every year starting in March and lasting until November? I suspect it is because newer homes are built pretty efficiently, and that means the energy transfer from inside to out is pretty low. But we run all kinds of things in our home that puts out heat. Computers, refrigerators, TV's, lights, etc. Our own bodies generate heat.

It is great that we've built the technology to so reduce the energy transfer between the interior/exterior of our homes, especially in winter and summer. But in spring and fall, those people with allergies or who just don't pay attention to the fact that it is 15 degrees colder outside than what they are air conditioning their homes to, pour tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.

It drives me nuts.

Intuit MUST Fail

2009-05-01T06:58:51-04:00

Why is capitalism failing the personal finance software market?

I've been using Quicken since 1996. I'm a Mac guy, but Quicken for Mac was notoriously horrible back then, so I used Quicken for PC. I've heard reports of Quicken for Mac being better at times, and I haven't looked at it in years now (I suppose I'm about to). In 1996, Quicken for PC was decent; but not something I'd rave about.

Somewhere along the line, I was forced to upgrade my version of Quicken (I think to Quicken 2000). Quicken 2000 was on par with whatever they were calling Quicken in 1996. That is to say, it ws decent, but nothing to rave about.

Since then, they have sunset Quicken every three years. When this happened in 2003, I was angry that I was being forced again to upgrade, but I didn't bother looking for an alternative (other than looking again at Quicken for Mac, and deciding against it). Then 2006 rolls around, and I'm so angry that I spent a good amount of time looking for an alternative to Quicken. In fact, pretty much the only time I use Windows is when I need to use Quicken, so I was motivated to find something decent for the Mac. After wasting many hours trying various products, I came to the conclusion that I still needed Quicken, so I bought Quicken 2006.

After I purchased Quicken 2006, I discovered that the usability had taken a significant downturn. Who the hell is writing this software? Who decided it was a good idea to make the Security field only 8 characters wide (which contains things like "American Bond Fund of America Class F1")?!?? Despite having lowered my productivity with this version, I stuck with it... I learned how to work around its shortcomings.

Now they just sunset that version, and I bought Quicken 2009 (this time upgrading to the Home & Business edition of the product). What a piece of crap! I do see that I can now adjust the width of the Security column, but the software regularly slows down to a crawl, and I get the busy cursor for as long as 60 seconds while it tries to enter a new transaction. That is unusable. I'm done with them, and I will find an alternative to use on the Mac. I don't care if it has less features anymore... I don't care if it can't import my 13 years of financial history... Intuit has finally made a product so crappy (and FORCED ME to abandon their functioning software), that I will pretty much accept the next best thing.

Now, one can say that this is the way capitalism is suppose to work, but I want to know why it has taken 13 years to come to this? Why is it that Intuit is still top dog of the personal finance software domain? Where is the competition?

I'll post a comment on this entry when I choose my replacement

Letter to CareFirst

2008-11-24T14:56:35-05:00

November 25, 2008

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
840 First Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20065

Dear CareFirst,

It is my understanding that you are a non-profit organization. You recently sat on a $754 Million surplus on $2 Billion in revenues. Many would call that a 37.7% profit. With that in mind, I'd like an explanation for why I am seeing a 17% rate increase beginning on January 1, 2009 from $xxx/month to $xxx/month.

Sincerely,

Ryan Sandridge

Dancing Matt

2008-07-26T07:36:44-04:00

Watch the video. ~~Don't ever ask what the lyrics are to the song, they aren't happy...~~ [update: apparently the sad lyrics are from his 2nd video, and the one I've included here is his 3rd, and the lyrics are from the poem "Stream of Life" by Rabindranath Tagore] Enjoy the music. If you want to know more, go to wherethehellismatt.com and read all about it. Fascinating stuff. Makes me wonder why I don't do this sort of thing.

Apple Wasting My Time

2008-07-25T07:02:01-04:00

I am a master procrastinator. In other words, I'm a master at wasting my own time. But I hate it when others waste my time. Verizon wasted hours upon hours of my time back in 2003/2004, and I've not been a customer of theirs since. I'm still bitter about it.

Lately, Apple has been wasting more and more of my time. For starters, Leopard has decreased my productivity rather than increased it. I find it ironic that their commercials make such fun of the Vista users downgrading to XP, when in all honesty, Tiger was a better product than Leopard.

How is Leopard wasting my time? For starters, they've built a new firewall that is terribly hard to figure out. More than once, I've not been able to ssh tunnel to my source control management server. Every time this happens, I've got to go and try to remember why it isn't working with Leopard. Preview (which I prefer, or at least preferred over Adobe Reader) is buggy as hell in Leopard (when using two monitors, it centers documents half on one monitor and half on the other!!! iCal now takes more clicks and/or keystrokes to set up an event than it did in Tiger. Apple Mail asks me EVERY SINGLE TIME I LAUNCH IT if I want to reorganize my folders... NO! Where the hell is the "Don't ask me again" box? Time Machine seems flakey, it's great when it is working, but seems to mysteriously forget how to connect to the backup drive periodically.

Most recently, I've been trying to buy an iPhone 3G. They are sold out everywhere. How annoying. They had us wait until WWDC for the announcement, but they weren't ready to release it so we waited another month. Then they release it, but every location seems to be immediately out of stock. So they create this clever little page that allows you to check inventory the night before, in order to save you wasted trips. Great! Well, it is great if their web page listing store hours was accurate. I saw last night that Clarendon had all three models of the iPhone in stock, and the store opens at 10 am. So I get to the store at 9:30 anticipating the need to wait in line. Guess what? The store opened at 9 am, and they already sold out of all their iPhones. The rather unsympathetic and arrogant employee I spoke with did inform me that the store opens at 8 am tomorrow (although the website says they open at 10 am).

I'm sure I'll cool off, and change my mind, but I'll likely spend much of my day procrastinating things I should be doing, by figuring out how to make the switch to Linux, and which phone to buy rather than the iPhone.

History and Repetition

2008-07-23T21:25:06-04:00

I just got done watching In the Name of the Father. Yes, it took me a while to get around to watching this one, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards. You'd think with the number of close Irish friends I have, I'd have seen it before now.

What struck me most about the film (based on a true story), wasn't what bastards the English were to the Irish (see The Wind That Shakes the Barley for that), but rather how a mob mentality reacts to acts of terrorism, and how America has followed in their footsteps despite history vindicating the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven.

Isn't it painfully obvious that the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1974 passed in Great Briton was a precursor the the more modern acts passed there and the Patriot Act of this country? Why do we insist on repeating past mistakes?

As an aside, it seems we learned nothing from 1929 which sent us into a worldwide depression. We created all kinds of banking laws and restrictions to prevent it from ever happening again, and we spent the past 10-15 years repealing all of those restrictions, only to be on the cusp of another 1929-ish depression event. But I digress.

Well, I'll get off my soap box. I'm just tired of seeing mistakes made again and again without learning from those mistakes. I will note the odd irony, that I had the movie on my Netflix list for ages, and it happened to arrive at my house the day after Sarah Conlon died, who missed the opportunity to spend the last 4+ years of her husband's life with him, because he was wrongfully imprisoned largely due to the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1974.

No, You Can't Ask

2008-07-22T12:16:27-04:00

Twice in the past month or two, I've received calls for other individuals (ie. wrong number), and when I inform the person on the other end that they dialed the wrong number, they ask, "May I ask who I'm speaking with?"

Ummmm. NO! Is it just me, or is that a weird question to ask? How is it possibly relevant who I am? I informed them that the party they are trying to reach is not reachable at the number they dialed... that should be the end of the conversation, albeit for some sort of "I'm sorry to have bothered you. / No problem, goodbye" kind of exchange.

What's up people?

Surprising? I Think Not

2008-06-13T09:11:45-04:00

While riding metro yesterday, I flipped through the Express, and stumbled on an article titled Officials Say $4 Gas Is Here to Stay (oddly enough, the article isn't on Express's website, but I link to a more verbose version of the same story). What a news flash. A google search shows that papers all over the country are running with that story. Are people really shocked by this? I'm only shocked that it is happening now, instead of 3-4 years ago.

Later, while sitting flipping through an automotive magazine (I didn't pay attention to which one, nor can I find the article online), which featured an article titled something like "The Cars of the Future: A Sneak Peak at 2009 and Beyond". I couldn't wait to see all the cool new technologies, the hybrids, the all electrics, etc. Wrong. The article featured V8 sports cars, the Hummer H4, etc. Was the Tesla mentioned? The Aptera? No.

I find this a bit weird. And worrisome. Finally, the government is starting to chime in on the things many of us have been talking about for years now, but there still seems to be an attitude that this is a temporary blip. Why else would manufacturers continue to slate future vehicles to guzzle petrol? There are signs of hope though. The very fact that the government has perked its ears, and started backing the stories of the looming oil/fuel crisis, lends more credibility to the forecasts. And, I've personally noticed more pedestrians, more metro commuters, more bikers, and more motorcyclists the past few months. Last month a guy wanted to buy something I listed on Craigslist, but decided I lived too far to justify the cost in fuel to come get it.

So maybe our behavior will change. Is it in time? Who knows. I've read a fairly convincing argument that we will face a pretty severe recession or depression due to the prices of oil we've already seen. The theory goes something like this... When oil prices are up 80% or more from the previous year, the following 18 months the S&P 500's average maximum declines match average maximum gains. When Oil prices are up 100% or more, the following 18 months the S&P 500's average maximum decline is -27%, while the average maximum gain is only 4%.

So where do we stand now? We've gone over the 100% mark several times recently (see Chart). It doesn't look like prosperous times are ahead, that seems for certain.

The Cure Rocks, I Age

2008-05-14T08:01:03-04:00

I've been meaning to write about my experience at The Cure concert last Friday. (I wonder if this is a better start to a blog post than "I was recently at a dinner party", which I was told sounds kinda wanky). Anyway, I went to see The Cure at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA last Friday. It was either the 4th or 5th time I'd seen them live, and I have to admit after having seen them on their 2004 Curiosa Festival Tour, I had pretty low expectations. In fact, I was very much bummed that I was missing Flight of the Conchords the same night.

In all fairness, the 2004 show was ok, but it was mostly boring. This could have been partly due to the fact that the number and quality of bands playing before The Cure dwarfed what I considered a very uninspired rendition of their classic tunes.

Scott, my brother and I arrived at the Patriot Center, and while scouting for food, I immediately noticed the demographic for the show was a bit wonky. There were people my age (which suddenly means, well, um, adults I guess), which wasn't really the case when I'd seen them in the past. Sure there were twenty-somethings a plenty at past shows, but mid to late thirties was an exception, not the rule. There were also some youngsters there (which suddenly means, well, um, teenagers and early twenties). It was pretty cool to see such a wide demographic, but I couldn't help thinking that the youngsters were there to "appreciate history" or to see the band that their real favorites call an influence. Kind of like me watching The Who at Virgin Fest a couple years ago, or watching Iggy Pop at Vegoose this year (ok, I'm lying, I skipped Iggy Pop, but felt I should have seen him to "appreciate history"). Oh, and I can't forget to mention that some of the youngsters were accompanied by their parents who are my age!

So, yes, this show was part nostalgia (ah, I remember when I was into nostalgia), part glaring reminder that I'm not a kid anymore. We watched the opener, 65 Days of Static, which was like Mogwai without the dynamics, which makes them interesting, but less so than Mogwai.

The Cure came on pretty much on time, and started with Plainsong, which to my recollection, they've started every performance I've seen with that song. It's ok though, it is a good song, and a great song to start a show with. I don't blame them for doing that repeatedly. All told, a quarter of the songs they played in their first set was from Disintegration. Which is cool as it is my favorite album of theirs. Other highlights from their first set include Push, In Between Days, Just Like Heaven, and Primary. The closed out their first set with the song Disintigration, which I've always loved live.

Throughout the first set (and the encores), they showed an energy I hadn't seen since the first time I saw them in 1989. Maybe it is just because it was the first night of the tour, and they hadn't grown tired of touring yet. They seemed like performers, who were enjoying performing, and determined to deliver an enjoyable performance. When I saw them in 2004, they seemed disinterested in being there. I felt like we were inconveniencing them by expecting them to play.

Their first encore began with At Night. Not a bad song, but very out of place given the energy in the arena at this point. I was disappointed they chose to play this, especially given some of the songs we didn't hear (Three Imaginary Boys and A Night Like This). But it did provide an opportunity to stand in the queue to the men's room! I did appreciate that the entire first encore was from Seventeen Seconds, closing it out with my all time favorite Cure song, A Forest.

Their second encore was good. It was their more pop material. Mostly stuff I'm less interested in, but stuff they would have been remiss to skip. For me, the highlights were Close to Me and Why Can't I Be You.

Their last set was pretty predictable, but well executed. Robert came back on stage and mumbled something about there being a curfew, and they launched into a five song trip down memory lane, all from their U.S. debut album. Boys Don't Cry, Jumping Someone Else's Train, Grinding Halt, 10:15 Saturday Night, and finally Killing an Arab. Ah, every time I've seen them, they open with Plainsong, and finish with Killing an Arab. I take a bit of comfort in things that don't change. Killing an Arab was a total rock out, which I'd seen before, but has been since 1989 since it blew me away.

In the end, they played for over 3 hours, nearly 40 songs, spanning a career of over 30 years. Given my horrible memory, I was shocked how well I not only remembered the songs, but remembered the names of the songs and which albums they were from. It was a pretty good show, and I'm glad I missed the Conchords!

Phantom Loads: Picking Your Battles

2008-04-30T09:20:54-04:00

I was recently at a dinner party where the conversation turned to ways each of us could better the environment. Of course energy conservation is always an interest of mine, but I was surprised how many people talked about phantom loads. I knew what they were already, and I agree that efforts should be made by both manufacturers and consumers to reduce phantom loads, but I was shocked with what I consider the disproportionate amount of emphasis that was being placed on it. Especially the focus on unplugging your mobile phone charger when not in use.

Some sources claim that phantom loads draw between 1 - 10 watts. This may be true of some devices (perhaps computers and televisions), but I recently left my mobile phone charger plugged into a plug load analyzer for over 24 hours, and it did not even register a single watt-hour. It is possible that the quality of the standard Nokia charger is better than other mobile chargers.

But lets assume that it did draw a 5 watt phantom load. If you left it plugged in 24 hours a day for a year (and never used it to charge your phone), you'd use about 44 kWh of energy. That is significant considering you didn't even use it to charge your phone. But what about that 75 watt incandescent light bulb that is on an average of two hours a day every day of the year? It uses about 55 kWh of energy. If you replaced it with a 15 watt compact fluorescent (CFL), it would only use about 11 kWh of energy, a savings of 44 kWh (the same amount as that hypothetical phantom load). Depending on the size of your house, you probably have significantly more than 1 bulb that is on 2 hours a day.

Again, I'm not saying we shouldn't worry about phantom loads, but replacing your bulbs is a sure thing. Unplugging devices that may be drawing phantom loads might be misdirected time/~~energy~~effort if the device is as efficient as my Nokia charger. I suggest attacking your energy use first with the biggest culprits. Set your air conditioning a degree or two (or more) warmer than you used to. If your water heater is electric, try setting it a few degrees cooler than you used to. Set your refrigerator one setting warmer. Turn off lights when they aren't being used. Use compact CFL's or LED's rather than incandescents (start with the bulbs used the most often). Once you've taken all of those steps, then start zeroing in on phantom loads.

Bad Idea (aka Dumb Thing Ryan Did Lately)

2008-04-02T21:19:15-04:00

Hi, my name is Ryan, and I'm a Diet Coke addict. [Hi, Ryan]

I've tried to kick the habit a few times, but I always fall off the wagon. Not only am I an addict, but I'm very particular about how I have it. I like it very cold and I can only stand it on ice if it is from a fountain (they kick up the carbonation high enough that the flattening that occurs over ice balances out). At home I prefer to drink it straight from an aluminum can.

This means that it needs to be kept in the refrigerator. But what happens when you run out of cold ones, and you want one NOW. I can't resort to pouring it over ice! So I had to devise a way of cooling a can of diet coke down very rapidly.

Plan A was pursued last summer. It involved filling with water a plastic container long enough to lay a can in, then putting it in the freezer. This would be kept until the inevitable occasion when I needed to cool a can of diet coke quickly, at which time the can would be layed on the ice and rolled the can so that it melted the ice into the shape of the can. This sort of worked, but it had several flaw. The worse was that it still took 10+ minutes to get it to an acceptable drinking temperature (barely acceptable) and you had to sit there spinning the can the whole time.

Then, earlier this week, I got hit with an email hoax saying that "ice wave's" form in Lake Huron. My mind started wandering, and despite Lake Huron being a fresh water lake, I started thinking about the melting point of salt water ice. I wondered if my freezer was warm enough for salt water to remain liquid. It turns out if you add enough salt, it indeed will not freeze in my freezer.

So Plan B was to keep a tall enough plastic container filled with salt water in the freezer. The first time I tested it, it worked magnificently. I fully submerged a room temperature can, went about preparing my lunch, and 8 minutes later removed the can, and was delighted with VERY cold. In fact, ice had just started to develop in the diet coke. Six minutes is probably perfect.

But that wasn't good enough, was it? Today I grabbed a can of diet coke from my refrigerator (which I keep set on "coldest"), but for some reason the can didn't feel cold. I thought, why not cool it down just a bit more, so I submerged it in the salt water bath for about 1 or 2 minutes. I took my lunch and soda (unopened) over to the coffee table where I could eat and upgrade the software on the Mac mini.

When I opened the can I was stunned by the force of the explosion of sticky nectar that erupted from the can. The blast radius (about 5 feet) was remarkable really. I hurriedly tried to contain the damage as the fluid soaked into my computer keyboard, my remote controls, my coffee table, and my floor. The cleanup took at least 10 minutes, as I continued to find spots on every piece of furniture and floor in the vicinity. If detectives tried to re-create the crime scene, they'd sound like this (I've been trying to figure out how to work that link into a post for a few days now).

I kept thinking while I was cleaning it up, that I had to blog about it, but thought it would be more appropriate on Joe's blog.

Lessig at University of Pennsylvania

2008-04-01T09:16:34-04:00

I almost went to Philly last weekend. I was going to see some old friends, but I also wanted to go see Larry Lessig's talk at UPenn. I ended up not going, but thanks to the internet, I still get to see it. This talk seems very good despite reusing material from previous ones, and it underscores the importance for Pennsylvania to vote for Barack Obama. I almost wish I still lived there so that I could vote for him there (his win in Virginia didn't seem nearly as important as this PA primary is). If you have any doubt that Obama should be the Democratic nominee, or if you still believe Clinton should be, please take the time to watch.

The Dude and I

2008-03-28T10:58:24-04:00

I'm stealing the title of this post from an EW article. It is a decent article. I often wonder if the people who don't like The Big Lebowski just haven't seen it enough. The EW article acknowledges that repeat viewings definitely improve one's appreciation of what a masterpiece it is. I wonder if that is true for all cult classics?

My advice, is if you didn't like it the first time, watch it again. If you like it just a tiny bit better the second time, then give it a third viewing. Maybe people who still don't like it after repeat viewings don't have an ounce of "the dude" in their personality.

I guess I don't have more to say than that. I mean, I could go on and on about it, but I don't want to bore you.

I Need a Life (According to McCain)

2008-03-27T08:19:25-04:00

I found McCain's "Bomb Iran Joke" very distasteful. I don't see how joking about bombing anybody can be in good taste. He claims it is OK to make such jokes in the company of fellow veterans in this clip, and that if anybody goesn't "get that", then they should "get a life."

Why Facebook Might Be a Bad Thing

2008-03-17T22:42:24-04:00

Aside from the countless cumulative hours updating status messages, throwing sheep, biting chumps, and playing scrabulous, there is another reason why I should consider deleting my Facebook accountâ€“it is brutal!

While I probably don't have the highest self esteem in the world, it also isn't completely in the gutter either. I think I have a somewhat realistic view of myself... or do I? According to applications on Facebook, 2 out of 74 people "would date me". It also says my weaknesses are listening and being entertaining... Ugh. Worse yet are what my "strengths" are punctuality, helpfulness, and ability to drink the most! Ok, the first two are OK, but why do I want to be known as a drunk?

Fortunately I don't put too much stock in it. I don't see myself as an undateable boring drunk who can't listen; but if you believe Facebook, that is the way my friends see me.

Oil: Psychological Barrier Broken

2008-02-19T21:11:53-05:00

Oil, having closed at $101.01, has broken through the triple digit psychological barrier. I expect we'll see at the very least a short term spike in prices now that the barrier has been broken.

When Human is Inferior to Machine

2008-02-17T15:06:13-05:00

Maybe it was the article I read where it is predicted that machines will be at parity with humans in all aspects by 2029, or perhaps just the new Terminator TV series, but I started wondering what the world will be like when machines are superior to humans in all aspects.

Considering that I've spent about 20 years tinkering with computers, I think I have a better idea than some of what that future could be like, but I'm also not an artificial intelligence specialist, so I'm also sort of a layman on the issue.

Perhaps rather than making silly predictions of my own, I should spend some time reading some of Raymond Kurzweil's books, as his predictions are more thought out at the very least, and surely better informed.

But I wonder if his vision of the future takes into account the possibility that the day machines are superior to humans will be the beginning of the end of mankind's place in the world. I'm not saying that machines will violently overthrow their creators as depicted in Terminator, Battlestar Galactica, and the Matrix. What I think is more likely is a spiritual abyss that humankind may fall into. It is no secret that I'm not a very spiritual person, but I still cling to a desire that my life means something. It needs to mean something to me, not god. But won't humankind collectively be left wondering what purpose their lives have when everything can be done better by a machine?

True parity would mean that machines will be more capable at creating music, art, designs, etc. They will be better at love, empathy, and compassion. They will create ever improved "offspring". They will philosophize better than humans. Of course as I write this, I don't believe true parity will actually occur by 2029, but I think it is eventually inevitable.

There are those who say it could never happen, because we program the computers to do whatever we want them to do, and we can always write code to prevent certain things from happening. Well, yes, but eventually someone will come to the conclusion that those "fail safe" measures are what is impeding the progress of the machine's intelligence. You can't expect it to think for itself if you don't let it think for itself.

How will our economy function in a world where humans aren't needed for anything? Will we become cheap labor for the machines? As much as artificial intelligence sounds like a worthy science to study today, I wonder if we won't one day regret the marginalization of our species.

Hillary a Scientologist?

2008-02-16T06:29:51-05:00

This video is a bit scary, even if it was meant as a joke. I hope Obama beats her... Here is a link to the original Tom Cruise Scientology indoctrination video (although I suspect this will become a dead link sooner rather than later).

Getting Cars Off the Road (and Data in the Skies)

2008-02-14T19:14:23-05:00

Ok, so I'm addicted to these TED talks... I've been awfully quiet about peak oil for quite some time now. This is partially because I began to doubt that the peak oil phenomena would be quite as catastrophic as I once thought (although I'm still convinced it will cause a global economic depression), partially because I was obviously wrong about how soon it would happen, and partially because I went out and bought a gas guzzling 350Z last July. So, I've felt a bit hypocritical getting on my soapbox concerning energy conservation while I drive my Z. But hey, I did my carbon balancing by owning the Priusâ€“AND I intend to replace that Z with the Tesla Whitestar if it ever gets made.

Anyway, I found this talk by Robin Chase, founder of Zipcar, interesting:

Who Wants to Live Forever?

2008-02-13T16:22:19-05:00

I couldn't help but watch this talk by Aubrey de Grey. I'm not sure if the verdict is out yet on whether he is a crackpot or a genius, but I found the talk quite interesting. Oh, and if you were looking for the Queen song, check this out.

I Could End My Snoozing Problem

2008-01-21T20:19:35-05:00

I stumbled on this new alarm clock called SnÅ«zNLÅ«z. I'm actually kind of afraid to buy it, but I think it could actually work. The idea is you hook it into your computer network, and configure it so that every time you hit the snooze button, it donates YOUR money to a charity that you HATE. So, either it will work and I would be a happier person, or it won't work, and I'll just be more frustrated than before because I'll be oversleeping AND contributing to bad causes!

Messages on My Phone

2008-01-17T10:06:04-05:00

First, I'll start with the annoying one. I get this exact message a couple times a week for the past few months:

This is Chris St. James with Broadcom at 800 210 2892. I'm calling regarding your credit card balances and the minimum payments that are going up. It is imperative that you call me back. You now qualify for the debt reduction allowance program. Again, my name is Chris St. James and my phone number is 800 210 2892 and it is imperative that you give me a call.

Click here for the audio

OK, so this is annoying on so many levels. First just the fact that I get it so damn often. Second, I don't carry a balance on my credit cards, so obviously I've either been confused with someone else, or this is just a random call (my bet is on the latter). Third, I'm on the national Do Not Call list, but wait, my mobile isn't, and that is the number they called! Ok, so now that I'm registered, I better stop getting these calls in 31 days. And why is it so damn imperative that I call him. I'd suggest that everyone who reads this call the guy and waste his time, but I'm afraid it would just waste your time. And who knows what kind of a list you'd end up on.

OK, so now for the more amusing one (or is it sad?). I missed a personal call from Alexander Ovechkin! Take a listen to the message he left just for me. Yeah, OK, so maybe it was a mass calling. Doesn't he sound thrilled to be here in Washington playing for the "best fans in the NHL"? I guess that is what enthusiasm sounds like in Russia.

Halloween in January

2008-01-10T19:14:31-05:00

I was getting tired of the beard. I do like to grow it every once in a while, and I was attempting to actually keep it around for a while, but I'm just not going to be a long time beard wearer. This was the longest at just over 3 months. Anyway, as I started to shave it off, I thought I'd go with the Amish look for a night.

McCain Thinks Canada is in Europe

2008-01-05T20:55:34-05:00

I was watching clips from the debates I missed tonight, and I saw McCain say this: "You made a statement about European Nations, they all get health care. Well some people here in New Hampshire have been to Canada, I don't think they want that system." I can't believe there was a time (basically 1999) when I thought he would be a decent president.

Why I Love to Ski

2008-01-04T07:13:22-05:00

I took a skier strength training class from my yoga instructor a couple weeks ago. Before we got started, she had us meditate, while she read this story, or poem, or whatever... she called it a visualization. It summed up very eloquently why I love to ski.

The sky is blue.
The air is crisp.
The snow is clean.
There are no tracks.
There is no wind.
There is no sound.
There is no ice.
It's just you and the mountain...
The trees are heavy with snow and set far to the sides of the run as if guiding and protecting you on your decent down the mountain.

You take a deep inhale, feeling the cold air enter your body as the adrenaline of the first run of the season sets in. You turn your skies downhill and take off feeling the easy controlled glide of your skies down the mountain.

Your gaze is downhill.
Your skies follow the natural curves and sways of the mountain.
The trees continue to guide your path.
The sound of your skies on the snow is unmistakable.
You are nearing the bottom of the mountain and you quickly twist your skies to a stop, spraying the fresh powder behind you.

There is no line at the lift...
You join your friends and return to the top of the mountain!

Bad Idea?

2007-12-31T07:32:00-05:00

I wonder if I'm the only one who finds TSA's new policy on lithium batteries to be a strange decision. Essentially you'll no longer be able to pack spare lithium batteries in your checked luggage, but you will be able to bring a certain amount of lithium batteries in your carry on luggage. OK, but won't that let the terrorists do something like this?

Tic Tac Toe

2007-12-30T18:27:31-05:00

I've had some spare time lately, so I whipped up a game of Tic Tac Toe. OK, so I actually had a reason to do this, but it would be a shame to build it and not have anybody see it... so go play a game. You can probably even beat the algorithm if you do it soon (since it is a learning algorithm, it still hasn't perfected forcing draws or winning yet).

Welcome to Slicehost

2007-12-09T19:38:30-05:00

I should have my head examined. I spent the entire day setting up my new Slicehost partition, and getting ryan.sandridge.org ported over there. It is bad enough that I am working so many hours for Aha, but then to turn around and spend an entire Sunday doing the same kind of work for this silly blog.... what is wrong with me.

That all said, I must say I'm actually surprised I managed to get this done in a day. I am a bit cross-eyed at this point. In the end it will be worth it. I have complete control over the slice, which was not the case at Dreamhost. And as an added side benefit, I'll be able to roll out a few features I've had done for a while now, but couldn't release on Dreamhost. First up is the Atom Feed . Oh, and did you notice that the page loaded in about 1/10 the time?

And yes, it is perhaps too early to say with confidence, but I'm very impressed with Slicehost. Go buy your own account and get me a referral fee!

Well, I got to get up in the morning and do all this stuff for Aha now... so good night.

Is Europe a Country?

2007-12-07T12:46:00-05:00

At least her sentences were understandable, which is more than I can say for Miss South Carolina.

And as long as I'm poking fun at the educationally challenged (started to say geographically challenged, but that probably refers to someone in a place they don't want to be)... apparently some think we live in a world with just 7 countries. Certainly she's heard of Canada and Mexico, no?

Fighting in Hockey

2007-10-21T11:45:00-04:00

And as long as I'm here writing anyway, I'll get on my soapbox for something that otherwise wouldn't justify a comment--Fighting in Hockey. I really don't understand the fans who defend it saying that it is "part of hockey". I can understand some of it. I can understand in those occasions where it is completely uncontrolled anger that bubbles over and results in an honest fight. I can also understand the referees standing back in such a fight for their own safety. But what I see more often, are two guys dancing around and around, starring at each other with their gloves off, waiting for one of them to take the first punch. That is ridiculous. In those scenarios, the refs should step right in and stop it before it even happens. Those fights are all for show anyway. I saw the Caps vs. Penguins last night, and there was one such ridiculous fight between Brashear and Laraque. And perhaps I'm reading way too much into that fight, but I find it distasteful that the only two black guys on the ice end up in one of those "for show" fights. It would be a different story if the NHL was more racially balanced, but when 2 of the only 10 black players in the league duke it out in one of those fights solely for the crowds enjoyment, you have to wonder what the message is. And to make things worse, take a look at this article on Yahoo. There are two photos from the game embedded in the article, and the larger of the two is the Brashear/Laraque fight. I'm sure some will feel I'm out of line for even making the observation.

No Time to Blog

2007-10-21T11:21:00-04:00

Adjusting to a busy work life has been difficult. I'm not surprised by that, but I'm perhaps a bit surprised how difficult it has been. While I've been working on Rails since May 2006, I was probably only working 20-25 hours a week on average. Contrast that with working about 50 hours a week minimum now, plus commuting time, and you might have an idea why the adjustment has been hard.

I find myself having difficulty getting errands done that I need to get done. I've made it to the grocery store twice since I started with Aha. It isn't that I don't have enough time to do these errands, it is just that I seem unwilling to do with less down time, so the errands are what gets cut. I need to figure out how to manage my time a bit better.

So here I am writing on my blog, when I could be going to the grocery store, or hanging out with friends. I wanted to write something on Wednesday, which would have been Mom's 64th birthday. Dad was down visiting. We listened for the announcements on WAMU (they didn't play the last one, so sorry to all of you who listened for it and didn't hear it). We went to Zengo for dinner (which was extremely good, and the service was outstanding). In some ways it was a very good day. I got to spend some quality time with Dad and Reed. For the most part we had a good time. In other ways it was upsetting. We kept telling people it was Dad's birthday, and I kept wanting to say, "No, Dad's birthday was on Monday, today is Mom's birthday"; but I didn't, because I didn't want to spoil the evening and bring everybody down. I kept drifting out of the conversation, and I'd stare at the empty chair, and wish I believed that the ghost of Mom was sitting in the chair celebrating with us. Anyway, that is what I wanted to write on Wednesday...

Back to Work, Aha, Aha, I Like It

2007-09-17T19:36:00-04:00

So, after 7 years, 7 months, and 21 days, I'm back to work (would be much cooler if it were 7 years, 7 months, and 7 days). Well, I've been working the past 18 months actually; but this is to say that I'm working for someone else again, as in employed. I'm working for Aha Media, Inc.

I'm happy to be working with two former co-workers, on a project that is new and exciting. I've avoided working for someone else, but the opportunity to get in on a new company so early, while it is still fun and free of corporate bureaucracy was too much to pass up. Of course it comes at the expense of putting my grand plans for Sand Ridge Labs on the back burner. Nothing comes for free. Then again, all my work over the past 18 months learning Rails is largely responsible for this opportunity presenting itself to me. This puts me in the rare position of being paid to do Rails development (although, I suspect it isn't quite that rare anymore).

Now if someone would hurry up and invent the Heisenberg compensator so that I didn't have to commute to the burbs...

Calla at the Black Cat

2007-08-07T21:07:32-04:00

I saw Calla tonight. It was sort of a surreal experience, in that I've been a fan for years (although only tonight did I finally find out how to correctly pronounce their name), and I just assumed that they had "made it" more than they have. They played the Black Cat, and the show didn't sell out. In fact, the price of the show at the door was only $8, despite me paying $10 two months ago to reserve my ticket.

I felt so fortunate to see them in such a small venue with an unobstructed view just about 10 feet from the stage. After their excellent performance (my only complaint was sometimes it was hard to hear the guitar over the bass and drums), the three members of the band came out to sell t-shirts. It seems so hard to believe that they don't even have an entourage to handle such things. Of course it could be they like it that way.

I got to meet the band after the show. In fact Aurelio took an unexpected interest in making sure I had a good fit for the shirt. Very nice that they are so down to earth. I hope I didn't insult him by expressing my shock that its possible to see them perform in such a small venue... ah, this ties in to my May post.

Update: Check out this video of theirs if you've never heard of them. Oh, and in all fairness, it was a Tuesday night show, so hopefully they sell out shows better than that on better nights of the week.

Dakota's After-Dinner Romp

2007-08-06T12:50:00-04:00

I watched Elizabeth's dog Dakota last week while she was on vacation. I had a lot of fun, and yet it helped me decide that having a dog of my own is just too time consuming. But having her for 5 days was great, and she provided lots of laughs. Below you can watch a video of her post-dinner activities (she did does this after every meal).

Not Caring About Unintentional Insults

2007-05-20T18:33:09-04:00

Back on February 5th, Kojo Nnamdi had a show discussing how some compliments are actually interpreted as insults. Examples given on that show included saying an African American is "articulate", saying a woman is "strong", or that a Jew is "generous". All in all it was an interesting discussion, but I think my overall view is that we as a people might be taking our sensitivities just a bit too far these days.

In fact Conor and I joked about calling Irish "sober", Americans "geographically aware", etc. Obviously most of us can figure out why people find these things insulting, but when do we let go of these historical sensitivities? Certainly there is nothing wrong with complementing someone for being articulate, so why should one race take that as an insult? Not everyone who compliments a black person for being articulate is making a racist statement. The assumption that the person was making racist statement could itself be interpreted as an insult. Where does the cold war of sensitivities end?

Chill out is what I say. Last night I was at a beer party thrown at RailsConf by Pivotal Labs. I ended up chatting with a recruiter for a large internet company that everybody has heard of and probably uses on a daily basis (not too hard to guess). Anyway, she made the comment that we Rails developers had more social skills than most programmers. She further stated that we had more fashion sense than most programmers, as evidenced by the number of people wearing designer jeans.

Did any of this offend me at all? No way. Why would I care? Is it true that all programmers (or even most) lack social skills and fashion sense? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. It is a stereotype, which do come from somewhere. Sometimes stereotypes are out of date, sometimes they aren't, but I think intelligent people can recognize that they aren't always true regardless if they are out of date or not.

Am I being insensitive by equating my little experience with those experienced by minorities who have a history of discrimination based on hate and race? Well, firstly I wouldn't say I'm exactly equating them, but I am recognizing some similarities. I know there are still racists out there, and when they call an African American "articulate", I'm sure it is a racist comment, but lets give people the benefit of the doubt... chill out a little, and assume we are just being given a compliment. I think the world would be a better place if we assume people are being nice to us rather than insulting where there is a possible ambiguity--after all, what does getting mad, hurt, or insulted by them really accomplish?

Ryan on Rails

2007-05-13T16:15:09-04:00

Yes, I've gone and ditched drupal as my content management platform. I can't say that I had any real complaints with the actual software, other than I don't know PHP, and I don't want to. And you really don't need to, but after moving my site from the somewhat sketchy Site 5, to the somewhat better Dreamhost, I was plagued with little incompatibilities that I didn't know how to fix.

In theory, I'm a Ruby on Rails developer these days, so it just seemed right to roll my own using Rails. And keeping with the principals of Agile Software Development, I'm deploying early. I'll fix bugs and add features as I go. Namely, I need to add tagging, and allow comments.

Oh, and I am using an open web design created by Pat Heard. Currently I'm using it pretty much as it comes from him, but I hope to tweak it soon to have a bit more personal touch.

UPDATE: I've just noticed that there is some odd behavior when viewed by Internet Explorer. One problem was quickly addressed, others persist if viewed by any version of Internet Explorer previous to IE 7.

The Grayness of the Tax Code

2007-04-10T12:42:00-04:00

It is tax time again. After two years in a row that were pretty simple for me, I'm faced with more difficulties in 2006. Starting my business adds lots of complexity. I should probably file for an extension and hire a tax professional. I may still do that. But first I wanted to complain about the lack of consistency of information out there concerning taxes.

When determining the "Placed in Service" date for business equipment, you may be tempted to use the guidance found in IRS Publication 946 "How to Depreciate Property". You figure the IRS is the authority on the subject, but I consistently find these publications written as vague as possible. They are filled with tons of examples which you think would clear everything up, and yet somehow it doesn't.

Take for example the following excerpt taken from page 7 of this year's publication 946:

Example. You bought a home and used it as your personal home several years before you converted it to rental property. Although its specific use was personal and no depreciation was allowable, you placed the home in service when you began using it as your home. You can begin to claim depreciation in the year you converted it to rental property because its use changed to an in- come-producing use at that time.

That sounds pretty clear. OK, so I buy a $2000 computer in 2005 for personal use. In 2006, I start a company, and I begin using the computer for business use. What is my Placed in Service date for depreciation deduction purposes? The example above clearly indicates that the date should be the date I bought the computer, despite not using it in my business for a year. What would the basis be? Well, on page 12 of IRS Publication 946 clearly states that it should be the lesser of either the original cost (including adjustments to that basis) or the Fair Market Value (FMV) of the date the use changed. Well, for any computer, the FMV will be the lesser of those two amounts. But this makes no sense! Shouldn't the Date Placed in Service match the date you are using to value the asset? OK, OK, so when did the IRS ever make any sense. What follows is what really makes me throw my hands up.

TurboTax says this:

Placed in Service

Property (an asset) is considered placed in service when it is available and ready to be used for its intended purpose.

If you start using a personal asset in business, the placed in service date is the date when you started using the asset in your business.

So TurboTax is even more vague. The first paragraph more or less agrees with IRS Publication 946, but the second paragraph explicitly contradicts it. While I've never been a good web searcher (even using google), but I couldn't find anything on the web to clarify the issue (mostly a bunch of hits on the specifics of deducting SUV's and/or hybrid/electric vehicles).

What's an honest taxpayer to do? I guess the same as always... pick your interpretation, and be consistent with it. Oh, and hope when you're audited, that the IRS agrees with your interpretation. Sigh.

Bowling a 289

2007-03-20T21:13:23-04:00

Apparently I needed to take a break from bowling. A bowled quite a bit in leagues from 2002-2004. I improved a lot over that time too. I think when I took up bowling as a hobby, I was averaging about 125. When I bowled my last league game in 2004, my average was about 185. Not bad at all. The best game I'd ever bowled was a 279, and it was at an old center in Mechanicsburg, PA, where I think the pins were so old the edges had totally worn away. It wasn't a league game either, so there was no pressure. I'm not sure what my high league game was prior to Monday's, but it was probably something like 245. I don't think I ever broke 250 in league play before.

Since my last league game in 2004, I easily bowled less than 20 games. I am an alternate on the AOL bowling league, and Monday was the 3rd night I'd participated, or just 6 league games played prior to that night. My second game of the night started off pretty good. But even after my fourth strike, I thought, my groove would end soon. After the sixth strike is when I first started feeling that adrenaline rush. I started taking long walks up down the bowling center between my turns so as to expel some of those adrenaline jitters.

Even if people from other lanes were beginning to notice, I wasn't aware of it yet. My seventh and eighth strikes were pretty easy, as I was managing to stay relatively calm. I'd focus very well and shut out everything other than what I needed to do. On the ninth frame, I noticed that other people were watching me from afar, but they were still sort of pretending that they weren't noticing, and I managed to pull out another strike.

My heart was pounding while I was waiting for the tenth frame. I kept walking though, and tried to settle down. When it was my turn, my surroundings still looked about the same. I went through the same routine; although I probably spent a little additional time breathing and clearing my mind. Strike! Yes, I can do this. I turn around.... Where did all of these people come from??? There was a decent crowd behind my lane now watching to see if I could do it. And I have to bowl again, it is still my turn, and I don't get to go for a walk (although in retrospect I'm sure I could have). I did my best to focus after that, but I couldn't... I choked. My eleventh ball left a single pin, which I did pick up with my twelfth. It was quite a rush. So now I'm just 11 points... or two rolls away from a perfect game.

Mom would have been proud.

Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Ryan	X 30	X 60	X 90	X 120	X 150	X 180	X 210	X 240	X 269	X 9 / 289

Where Have I Been?

2007-03-11T19:42:20-04:00

create your own visited countries map

create your own visited states map

Riudoso Blues

2007-03-04T19:56:29-05:00

I didn't do such a good job keeping the blog up to date the past week. We spent Monday night in Yuma, AZ, Tuesday night in Tucson, AZ, Wednesday night in Truth or Consequences, NM, and Thursday and Friday night in Albuquerque, NM.

Dad and I had a good night in Tucson. We stayed at the Hotel Congress. It isn't real fancy, but it is a cool place to stay. You're in a pretty hip part of town. Lots of bars and restaurants. The hotel itself is pretty interesting. It is very old, and looks like it has been frozen in time about 100 years ago.

We didn't spend much time in Truth or Consequences at all, so I can't really comment on it. It sounded like a cool place to visit, but we got in there late, and left pretty early. I had made an appointment in Albuquerque for my car to get the recommended 30,000 mile maintenance, so we hurried into Albuquerque to make the appointment. That service ended up costing $660... which in retrospect given this weekends events, sounds like an incredible waste of money.

Saturday was a driving day. We were going to pass through a couple of towns that Dad was thinking of retiring in. First up was Ruidoso, NM. We got into town, ate lunch, then we headed to a property for sale he was interested in. As we were turning into the driveway of the property, we were hit from behind by a Ford Explorer. We were propelled into (and onto) a stone wall.

Since this happened on the weekend in a small town, we've been stranded without a rental car. Also, the insurance claim specialist from both my insurance (State Farm) and the other party's (Geico), don't work on the weekend. Tomorrow I'll finally start getting some answers.

I suspect this spells the end of our adventure. Seems this road trip was cursed from the start. If you go back to the very beginning, I started towards the wrong city. Of course there were the circumstances leading to the hiatus in the middle of the trip. And now this. I believe I'll probably be home in the next few days. Who knows what the future of my car is. The pictures actually don't seem to show as much damage as there appeared to be in person.

Say a Prayer When California Falls into the Sea

2007-02-27T08:40:00-05:00

Thursday before departing San Francisco, we went to Dottie's True Blue Cafe for breakfast on Pat's recommendation. It is located in the heart of the Tenderloin district. We walked since it was only about 7 blocks from our hotel. Pat did warn that it would be a sketchy neighborhood, and he was right! I've never seen so much flagrant drug use in my life. The entire neighborhood smelled of marijuana.

At one point I witnessed a couple of people smoking crack--or at least I presume it was crack, as they were using those straight glass pipes that you've seen in the movies... or in the Marion Barry sting operation footage. What was most shocking about the crack smokers, is they were doing it in plain view of the Tenderloin District Police station! But, despite how frightening the neighborhood seemed, not a single person bothered us or even approached us.

Oh, yeah, and Dottie's was filled with normal people (perhaps the wrong adjective, but I mean non-homeless and non-addicts). There was about 8 people waiting for seats, and it was 10 am on a weekday. Of course the food was fantastic. Horrible for your health (we sat at the bar, so we saw the massive amounts of butter used), but extremely tasty. When we left there was about 12 people (some had to wait outside) waiting for seats.

From San Francisco we drove to San Jose, to meet Dad's friends Earle and Sandy Jenner. Earle and Dad worked together in the Sixties. I was 5 years old when I last saw them, so I only had a vague memory of them, but I did remember. San Jose is also the place of my birth, but Dad wasn't feeling well, so unfortunately he didn't get a chance to show me around the places we used to live.

We spent 2 days in Los Angeles. Dad and I were both suffering from colds by this point (mine had started in San Francisco), so we kept a pretty low profile in LA. On Saturday Dad stayed at the hotel while my friend Sharon (and her friend) showed me around town. Unfortunately, traffic was horrible, so a lot of what I saw was slow moving cars (possibly due to the many Oscar parties around town causing gridlock). We had Sushi at Manhattan Beach, then walked out on the pier.

We then went to the LA Observatory, which is a pretty cool building, not to mention the views from it. You needed a reservation to go inside, but I enjoyed just walking around the exterior. After that we intended to go watch the sunset from Santa Monica, but traffic foiled our plans. Later I picked up Dad, and then we headed over to Sharon's house for a home cooked meal! How nice!

Reminds Me: As we drove out of LA (and boy does that take forever... over an hour of driving at 75 mph and we were still in the greater metropolitan area), I couldn't help but think of my favorite lyrics from Firewater's "So Long Superman":
Say a prayer when California
Falls into the sea
L. A. I never knew ya
Goodbye, good riddance to ya
Go to hell and hallelujah
You never meant much to me

Sunday Dad and I headed to Santa Monica to meet my friend Melissa (who just moved to LA from DC) for lunch. We got there early, and strolled around Santa Monica. By dumb luck we stumbled on a very peaceful anti-war demonstration called "Arlington West". They had crosses in the sand on the beach--I thought one for every soldier killed in Iraq. Most of the crosses were white, and some were red. I asked what the significance of the red crosses was, and it turns out they have run out of room on their permit to fit all the white crosses needed to represent every soldier, so the red crosses represented 10 soldiers killed. The whole experience was very powerful, and not too unlike the Vietnam Wall, except it is current events instead of history.

After our lunch with Melissa, we headed to San Diego. We got there a bit late to do much more than get dinner then drive around and check out downtown from the car. Monday morning we got up and toured the aircraft carrier USS Midway. We both enjoyed that, and after 4 hours aboard, we still missed an entire section of the ship, but it was time to finally head Eastward. I type this to you from Yuma, AZ, where we are now one time-zone closer to home.

Wine Country to San Francisco

2007-02-21T17:45:49-05:00

Monday night we stayed in Calistoga. Perhaps not the best place to spend with your dad. It appears that the entire town is geared towards couples seeking romantic getaways. Finding rooms with two beds proved challenging. Anyway, we managed.

I was designated driver through wine country, and dad enjoyed sampling the wine, but he was disappointed that it wasn't like it was 40 years ago (namely free). Most of the vineyards charge $5 or $10 to taste 3-4 wines. I get it, although sometimes it did seem ridiculous. They have to do something to prevent abuse, and charging a small fee seems reasonable. But some of the winery's we stopped at sell wine for under $10 a bottle at the grocery stores in VA. That wine has been shipped and taxed, and you get a whole bottle for less than a taste of 3-4 wines. Furthermore, we were visiting wine country in the off season during the week. So, mostly I think it is reasonable to charge for the tasting, but sometimes it just seemed silly.

We arrived in San Francisco Tuesday. Just before sunset, I spotted an owl sitting on the roof of the building outside our hotel room. Later, Dad was a good sport and went to get sushi with me for dinner. There wasn't much cooked food on the menu for him, but he managed. In fact he even said he enjoyed the meal. He's come a long way the last few years with his culinary openness.

Wednesday morning I noticed the owl had not moved, and so I pretty much knew at that point I had been tricked. Pat and Thea did confirm that fake owls are quite common here to keep the pigeons away. I feel a little silly spending all the time I did on these long exposures of a fake owl.

Anyway, I met Pat and Thea for dinner for the awesome Zante's Indian Pizza. Then we went to this great cocktail lounge, where if you're adventurous, you just tell the bartender a vague idea of what you're in the mood for, and they mix up an incredible cocktail that you've probably never had before.

Tomorrow we head to San Jose to have lunch with old friends of Dad's, then we head south with our destination still undecided.

Oregon/California Coast

2007-02-19T06:38:16-05:00

The days do begin to blur together on the road. And I'm already not doing what I promised... which was keeping the blog tersely updated daily. Some pictures have been added to my flickr account. Also, don't forget to check out Dad's photos.

We stayed in Crescent City, CA last night, where our motel advertised free high speed Internet, and yet I was only able to surf for about 30 minutes. Tonight we are in Willits, CA, and the Baechtel Creek Inn has blazing fast Internet.

We made a slight detour to go through Redwood National Park. It looks like it hasn't been visited by citizens or park rangers for many years. Go to Sequoia instead. But our adventure for Sunday was walking into a biker bar called Lumberjack Saloon in Orick, CA. I knew it was a biker bar before we went in, but I figured we had to check it out. We stopped there for lunch. It sounded so much more interesting than the (forgot the name already) diner next door. Walking into it was almost like it is in the movies... we were the only non-locals in the place, and we definitely looked out of place. And as it turns out they weren't selling any lunch (they are a bar only kinda bar).

But the similarities to the movies ends there. Instead of the rough, tough attitude you see portrayed in the movies, we were warmly welcomed by everybody in the place (the bartender and all the customers). The bartender was very friendly in explaining our lunch options, and even offered to call an order in to the diner next door and have them bring the food over to the bar. We were driving so we weren't going to have any beers, so we ended up just going next door, but in retrospect I realize we missed out on a great opportunity. We could have basked in the surrealism of that place for an hour rather than just 3 minutes.

Oh, and one more observation. Both in Crescent City and here in Willits, they seemed to have abolished all child labor laws. We've seen at least 3 girls no more than 11 years old working in the restaurant industry here. Today we set out for wine country.

You Don't Always Get What You Pay For

2007-02-16T15:40:03-05:00

You don't always get what you pay for. Our first two nights in Seattle were in the Silver Cloud on Broadway. I'm a fan of their hotels. I stayed in the one in Portland last November. They are a bit pricey though if you're going to be staying in hotels for 4-6 weeks in a row. But very nice. At $159/night, you get what you pay for. Fantastic indoor pool, exercise room, a much better than average continental breakfast, guest laundry facilities, free internet, refrigerator/microwave and a great room in a hip part of Seattle.

Then we were off to Bellevue for the Rails training. I booked us in at the Sheraton Bellevue East (where our training was) at the group discount rate of $159/night. Now, this place was almost a dump. Not quite a dump, but almost. Our room was small, outdated, and smelled of mildew. The staff were a bit arrogant. The Internet was not free ($10.95/day). After taxes and Internet, the room was nearly $200/night. While we were able to walk to a few restaurants, we were not in nearly as cool of a location as we were in Seattle.

Well, after burning through a lot of cash in less than a week on hotel rooms alone, I was determined to be a bit more economical in Portland. And perhaps I over-corrected, because I couldn't find anything that didn't sound like a flea-bag motel in Portland proper, so we stayed in a Quality Inn in Vancouver, WA. But the point is, for $65, we spent a night in a huge suite with refrigerator/microwave, free internet, free HBO, etc... And it did not smell of mildew. It wasn't a great room, but it also is a Quality Inn, not the Sheraton. And it was roughly the same distance from city center as Bellevue was.

Anyway, enough complaining. Dad and I are doing well. He's driving at the moment and I'm typing. We just drove past Eugene, OR. We have no idea where we'll stay tonight. We're going to wing it. We're going to probably get off the Interstate soon and cut over to the coast.

UPDATE: We're in Reedsport, OR tonight. Pictures to be posted when I get a chance.

Road Trip 2.0

2007-02-09T18:33:56-05:00

When I set out on the open road back on October 4th, I had no intentions of spending six weeks getting to Seattle (rather I thought the entire trip would take that long). Three months after ditching my car in Seattle and flying home, I arrived in Seattle tonight with Dad for the second half of my road trip. Already the trip has gotten off to a spectacular start, with the simple fact that my car wasn't stolen, broken into, nor damaged in any way. Remarkably the car started without any difficulty. So, soon Dad and I will be setting out across the country, and I expect we'll spend about six weeks getting home. First we'll head down the West Coast in search of a warmer route home (although one can hardly complain with the balmy 50 degree weather here in Seattle). As with last time, I intend to update this pitiful blog, however I very much doubt that I'll be as verbose as I was on the way out. Thanks to all of you who have been in touch the past month or so... I really feel privileged to have so many good friends. I hope to see some of you along the way, and others when I get back.

Major Screw Up

2007-01-05T06:06:33-05:00

The phone just rang... Dad answered it... the person on the phone asked for Lenora Sandridge... Dad asked who was calling... they said Harrisburg Hospital... then he asked what it was regarding... they said they were calling to ask Lenora to answer a short survey on her stay at the Harrisburg Hospital! Dad then told them that she died... THEN they had the balls to ask how!!! Dad handled it well, he said "she died in your hospital". They apologized, but this is one area they should REALLY figure out how to fix.

A Night With Mom in Tahoe

2006-12-29T08:32:51-05:00

You know, somehow I think at an unconscious level, I knew mom wasn't going to survive much longer when we were in Tahoe. Even before our first night in Tahoe, when we were driving there, mom and dad were both telling me that they weren't sure of mom's health.

Anyway, we made it to Tahoe, had an OK night, and went to sleep. I put my earplugs in because dad snores so much. The next morning I find out that mom was up much of the night with chest pain. I slept through it just fine thanks to the ear plugs. After I awoke, they told me that they would be most comfortable with flying home immediately so that they could see mom's regular doctors.

We booked a flight for the following morning, which left the rest of the day for us to fill. On of my most vidid memories from that day, is me taking mom into Harvey's table game area, to show craps to her. Remember that mom really enjoyed playing slots, and I wanted to show her the enjoyment I got from a lively craps table.

Dad was up in the room, and it was just Mom and I at this craps table. I introduced mom to the dealers that I've come to know over the years. I let mom roll for me, and I really didn't care about making money myself, but I really only wanted mom to have one of those amazing rolls where she makes everyone at the table lots of money. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Instead she rolled 2 or 3 times, and then 7nd out.

I didn't care so much that she didn't make any money, but that she didn't experience the thrill of having a hot roll where total strangers think you are the greatest thing since sliced bread. I know it is superficial, but it is always exciting. Mom told me she was going to play some slots, and then probably head up to the room. I said I'd continue to play craps... and I did for a little while.

Mom ended up at a slots machine within my view, and I began watching her more than I was watching my own craps game. I can't completely describe the moment, but there was a sadness to it. Perhaps I was just sad that we weren't going to get to have that trip across the country as we'd planned together, but I think at an unconscious level I knew that she wouldn't be alive much longer. Maybe it was the way she moved, or the look in her eye. But there was something there that made me do something that I normally wouldn't do... I walked away from a winning table to go play slots with mom.

I hate slots. I hate to play them, I hate to watch other people play them. But this time was different. I somehow had the sense that I was spending some quality time with mom that I soon wouldn't be able to do. We had fun. She seemed so much happier playing after I joined her than she appeared to be having alone. Unfortunately I can't remember many details of our conversation, but I remember feeling very close to her and us both being happy despite the fact she was leaving the next morning and we weren't going to drive across the country together.

Just before we went upstairs to our room, she decided to do something she had never done before... play $5 slots. And wouldn't you know it, after about 10 minutes of play, she went from $50 to $350, and then she called it a night. She was so happy. We both new things were about to get bad for us, but for a brief while that night, we ignored it and had fun.

Today in the News

2006-11-28T18:59:29-05:00

I know, just last night I was saying that I probably wouldn't be blogging again soon. But two pieces of news came to me today, from two different sources, and the juxtaposition of these two news items upsets me greatly.

First I saw on some local news that Dad was watching and I was barely paying attention to, that George W. Bush was trying to raise $500,000,000.00 for his presidential library. That in itself evoked an immediate emotional response from me. I think I said something like, "That egotistical bastard can't find better uses for half a billion dollars?"

I have nothing against presidential libraries in theory, but after going to the Clinton presidential library, I saw what an ego trip these things are. Clinton's was at least a very interesting piece of architecture, and I believe it is powered by solar collectors on the roof. While still excessive in my opinion, Clinton's library cost around $175 million (±$10 Million depending on the source).

According to some different sources, it costs less $32/month to feed a person. In lieu of Clinton's library, we could have fed about a half a million people for a year. In lieu of George W. Bush's proposed library, we can feed about 1.3 million people for a year.

An hour or so after hearing that news, I read about our troops killing 5 girls (including an infant) in Iraq today. It made me cry. Then it made me mad. I don't know any more than what I read at breakingnews.ie, but ultimately I blame this country's leadership. I can't imagine what it is like to be a US troop following orders in Iraq. Unless I'm convinced otherwise, I give those troops the benefit of the doubt that they thought their lives were in danger, and they didn't intend to kill 5 girls. But the whole situation that we're in over there makes this news possible, and it pisses me off that it is all over oil so that we can continue to have a growing economy to maintain our standard of living. And people drive Hummers that get single digit fuel economy and wonder why terrorists have declared war on us. The war has cost over $346 billion, enough to feed about 10 million people for the rest of their lives...

Am I the only one having trouble going to sleep at night knowing that my standard of living comes at the expense of the lives of Iraqis, the lives of our troops, and the lives of the poor?

Home for the Holidays

2006-11-27T16:30:53-05:00

I'm not sure what I think about all this blogging. I think it works for some people, but maybe not me. Apparently a bunch of people read along as I wrote from the road. I can't say I'm sold on the fact that I write anything interesting, but I have to at least write one more because Mom has my website as her home page, and she told me she was tired of reading that I was "Miserable in Seattle".

Perhaps first I should give an update on my health since I last wrote about my health woes. I did have a pretty rough week or so. I had a pretty bad headache until around Wednesday 22nd. I believe this was a spinal headache, which was caused by my spinal tap, and apparently can be prevented by using the correct technique (which obviously was not used in my case). Since Wednesday, I've been increasingly better, with fewer and less painful headaches... so, I'm pretty much back to normal at this point.

I should probably write a little about my increasing lack of faith in western medicine, and how my doctor totally ignored what I explained to him last Tuesday, misdiagnosed me, and gave me a medicine that made things worse... but I think the details would bore most people.

So what now? My car is in Seattle, and I'll need to go get it at some point. I think I'll stay on the East Coast until after the holidays, and probably until after Conor's & Clodagh's baby is born in January. I'm eager to get rolling on my software project that I spent May through September preparing for, and I suspect I'll get some work done on that before I return to Seattle to drive home.

I have a few extra people now to visit on the West Coast before I begin my journey East, but in general, I expect I'll spend about half the time coming home as I spent getting out there. Of course, when I try to figure out how I'm going to see the people I want to see, take the time I want to take enjoying the trip, etc., I'm not sure how I'll make it back in less than a month. I'm also thinking about (and I'm not sure how serious I am about it yet) looking for a new home out West.

So why hurry anyway? One reason is because I'd planned on living in Ireland next summer. If I'm going to get serious about working again, I'm not sure I can take all this time on the road trip, and still live in Ireland May through August next year. It just isn't realistic. It is time I started listening to the advice I've been giving to other people lately, which is you have to be flexible enough to let your dreams change. Yes, I want to spend some time living abroad sometime, but it doesn't have to be next year, and if doing something else is more important then so be it.

That wasn't so painful. I updated you on most things. I didn't mention the quality time I've spent with my parents. I'm still here in Mechanicsburg relaxing with them. We went to see Stranger Than Fiction tonight (that Maggie Gyllenhaal is damn attractive I might add, and if things don't work out with Mr. Sarsgaard, I'm available, and if it helps I'm willing to add an additional 'a' to make my last name Saandridge). I look forward to spending the next several weeks hanging out with friends I haven't seen in months now. Don't look for any more blog entries anytime soon (but who knows, I might keep it up).

Miserable In Seattle

2006-11-15T16:05:53-05:00

I lie here in bed miserable in Seattle. I've been here since Sunday night. Saturday night I spent in Portland. I stayed in the Silver Cloud (very nice hotel at a nice price... rooms included 42" plasma tv's), near what is suppose to be a really hip part of town, called "Trendy Three", a play on words since it is along 23rd Ave. When I checked into the hotel, I suddenly felt dizzy and thought I was going to lose my balance. After a few minutes, the sensation passed, so I got cleaned up and headed out for some dinner.

Considering that this was suppose to be a hip part of town, I was shocked out how deserted the streets were. Was it really Saturday night??? This is a city, right? Not a small town? Reston Town Center has more people out and about on a Thursday night than I was seeing on this Saturday night! The next afternoon I drove down this street, and it was packed, so apparently "Trendy Three" is more known for its daytime crowds than its night life.

I went to a great sushi bar there called Sushiville. Unfortunately during that meal, my dizziness returned with a vengeance. I did not think I was going to make it out of the restaurant on my own two feet, much less walk all the way back to the hotel (about 5 blocks away). Somehow I did though. But I had a growing concern about my health, given that this isn't the first time in the past couple months that I'd had unexplained dizziness, and I've also been having abnormal headaches (that is, headaches that don't feel like headaches that I normally get).

Sunday I drove on up to Seattle to meet my friend Keith, but on the way I decided that I wasn't going to leave Seattle until I'd seen a doctor about these symptoms. I had dinner with Keith and Jenn. It was nice catching up with Keith and getting to meet Jenn, but it was short, and I wish I'd had more time with them. I'd planned on meeting Keith for lunch, hopefully on Monday, but I knew seeing a doctor might get in the way of those plans.

Monday was not a fun day at all. First of all, there seems to be a big gap in our medical system. I needed to see a doctor, but it didn't seem necessary to go to the emergency room. I feel like the emergency room should be for emergencies! I spent all of the morning and most of the afternoon searching for a way to NOT go to the emergency room. I looked for urgent care centers (which still doesn't sound right, but I'm assured that is indeed what I should be looking for), but couldn't find anything. There are a bunch of clinics, which I figured was the right thing, but they all told me that they could only see me with a referral from my doctor, along with all my medical records, and that fitting me in the schedule would be very difficult. When these places found out that I was not local, but a traveller, they almost all said "Just go to the ER".

Then there was the University of Washington Urgent Care Center fiasco. Mom had called them and they claimed to have an Urgent Care Center. I'd already checked there, and it didn't look like there was one there. But mom had spoken to a nurse there who said they had one, so I headed to the Harborview Medical Center. When I got there, I was told the Urgent Care Center was in the ER. When I went to register, I was told there was no Urgent Care Center anymore, but I was referred to what is called a "Minute Clinic" across town.

So I headed to the "Minute Clinic", only to find out that it was in a grocery store!!! What the? OK, well, I'd driven all the way across town, I might as well see what they say. It was staffed by a single nurse practitioner. She was very friendly, but I question the quality of care I was getting there, however good intentioned. She thought that my dizziness was due to an inner ear infection, but that I should have a MRI to rule out anything serious with my brian. YES, I AGREED. Unfortunately she couldn't order a MRI, so she said I had to go to the Urgent Care Center at the Harborview Medical Center! I told her there wasn't one there anymore, and they had send me to her. She picked up the phone and called them, and verified that indeed they did still have those services. She also coached me on how to lie to the triage nurse so that I'd get the tests that I needed! That is messed up!

All this time I'd had a minor headache, similar to one I'm accustomed to, and not too serious, although it was getting worse, probably just because of the run-around I'd been getting all day long. I paid for the Minute Clinic services, and headed back to Harborview. This time it was explained to me that they still have the same services as an Urgent Care Center, but they renamed it "Fast Track", and that I'd still be billed the same as an ER visit... and that the triage nurse would determine if my needs were for "Fast Track" or ER. Well, I didn't really care at that point, especially if I was going to be billed for an ER visit regardless.

When I saw the triage nurse, I fudged the truth a little bit, but not as badly as the nurse practitioner at the Minute Clinic had suggested. To my surprise, the triage nurse coached me further on what to say to the doctors when I saw them so that I got the tests that I needed!!!!!! She didn't advocate outright lies, but told me to stress certain aspects and downplay others. There is something terribly wrong with this picture. Now two nurses, and me the patient all think I need to have some tests done, and yet I'm suppose to lie about my condition in order to get the tests?!?

Of course with any ER visit when your needs really aren't an emergency, there is a LOT of waiting. After visiting with the triage nurse, I waited for a couple hours before I was even called back. I did get the pleasure of hearing two guys, neither of which seemed terribly intelligent, debate everything from politics to the legalization of drugs. At one point, the scarier of the two men was suggesting that DUI laws are unconstitutional. It might have been fun to jump in to the debate, but I stayed out of it.

Eventually I was called back, but it wasn't the end of my waiting. Of course being at a University Hospital, my doctor was an intern (not sure if he was first year or second). In general, I'm pretty open minded about being seen by an intern. He ordered a CAT scan, which came back normal, but then he wanted to do a lumbar puncture (aka spinal tap), which scared me a bit, but I was there to get a clean bill of health, so I went along.

I was prepared for the worse. Despite the intern telling me that the spinal tap wouldn't be painful, I'd always heard that they were extremely painful. Perhaps the procedure has changed over the years, and the rumors of the pain are a holdover from the past, because the procedure itself wasn't painful. It was mostly just mentally traumatic, worsened because I had to listen to a play by play as the attending physician verbally coached the intern. He unfortunately missed his target, and he hit something that made my body jump. At that point they switched places, and the attending physician very quickly got that 3½ needle into my spine. They switched places again so that the intern could finish up the procedure, which went smoothly. Then I went back to waiting... in the end I was in the ER a little more than 7 hours.

The good news is all my tests came back normal, and I shouldn't be in any immediate danger. The bad news is it is two days later and I feel terrible. My back is hurting (despite being told I shouldn't expect any back pain), much more than it ever did during the procedure itself. My headache today is very bad. I tried to get out and see some of the city, which I haven't done much of because I haven't felt well. I got out today for a couple hours, but my head hurt so bad I had to come back to the hotel.

So here I lie in my hotel room miserable. I don't know what to do from here. I'm very conflicted on the options before me. Leave my car here, fly home immediately so that I'm near my own doctors and can get well before finishing the trip. That also would allow me more time to finish the trip at a later date, and hopefully healthy so that I could enjoy the trip more. Of course finishing the trip in winter doesn't exactly sound like a lot of fun. I could just start driving home tomorrow. I could be home in about a week if I pretty much drive 400 miles a day, which isn't too terrible. In my current state, none of my options sound very good.

I think I'm going to put the trip on hold and fly back, considering I found a place here in Seattle to store my car for only $75/month, and a flight home for only $209... considering I'm spending over $100/night to lay in bed here, it makes sense to just get home and figure out later when I'll come back and finish the trip.

Tahoe to Ashland

2006-11-14T13:51:54-05:00

Tuesday the 7th, before heading to the Sacramento airport to pick up my parents, I stopped by Pat's hair stylist to get a much needed haircut. Susan Cogswell of Genray Hair Salon was a delight, and she gave me a pretty good haircut. Which, at $45 should be a good haircut. According to Pat, the gap between a basic crappy haircut and a decent haircut is even greater than it is in DC. Anyway, I suggest giving Susan a call (510-652-8108) if you are in need of a haircut in East Bay area.

I picked Mom and Dad up in spider-web-ville (aka Sacramento). I've never seen more spider-webs in my life. I had to rearrange all my luggage and clean up the car to make room for them, and I was covered in spider-webs by the time I was done. Just driving down the road you could see spider-webs floating in the wind. What is that all about???

We drove on up to Tahoe. Mom and Dad got a kick out of seeing what has changed and what was the same after 30 years since their last time in Tahoe. Unfortunately Mom wasn't feeling well. She needed to get back to her doctors in PA, so on Thursday morning I drove them to Reno to catch a flight home. She is doing fine now, but she did the smart thing by going home.

Mom did pretty well in the casino. I introduced her to craps, and she rolled for her first time. I only wish she could have had one of those stellar rolls where the whole table is cheering you on and giving you high fives. I think she would have had fun with that, and perhaps it would have taken her mind off of her health problems and the fact she had to go home early.

I stuck around in Tahoe one extra night after they left. I knew by staying in Tahoe so long, I was sacrificing the time I'd have to get up to Seattle, but I had a free room, and wasn't feeling like traveling. I managed to lose most of my winnings the last night there, but that is how it goes, and I did manage to walk out of there with some winnings.

I set out on Friday for Ashland, OR, on Pat's friend Paul's suggestion. I drove up US 395, to CA-44, to CA-89 before eventually getting to I-5. The majority of the drive was at night, and somewhere along the way, I stopped out in the wilderness (use your imagination for why). The moon hadn't risen yet, and there was absolutely no light pollution, and I was at somewhat higher elevation in cool weather. The sky was clear and simply wondrous. You could clearly see the Milky Way. I wish I'd stayed out there longer just watching the sky, despite the spookiness of pure darkness and the strange sounds of cattle grazing.

On my way out of the national forest, I stopped for dinner at the Hi-Lo Cafe in Weed, CA. I got a kick out of reading an article in the newspaper, about how the mayor has been lobbying to change the name of the town because of the drug references made to the town. The meal was mediocre, but the people watching was top-notch. I'd like to have seen Weed during the daytime, because Mt. Shasta is probably a pretty remarkable backdrop for this small mountain town, it certainly looks impressive from this satellite image.

By the time I made it to Ashland, it was raining pretty heavily (which seemed so strange since the sky had been so clear back in the Lassen National Forest). I checked into the Bard's Inn, also per Paul's recommendation. I was a bit surprised that the desk clerk informed me of the pool hours when I checked in, considering that it is November.

The next day I woke, and the view from the room was beautiful (no pictures, the camera hasn't really been touched since Sequoia). There were snow capped mountains, the leaves were showing their fall colors, and there was patches of low lying fog. I headed down to the local laundromat to do some laundry. The people watching was so good there, I may consider going to hang out in laundromats even when I don't have any laundry to do! Well, probably not. I didn't get a chance to spend much time in town, but I did do a lap up and down the main street while my clothes were drying.

San Francisco

2006-11-12T23:04:18-05:00

From Sequoia I drove northwest to Oakland. The drive was mostly uneventful. Coming out of the mountains though, I'd estimate that I drove about 30-40 miles only having to touch the accelerator twice (although I touched the brake often). From there traffic was pretty indistinguishable from DC traffic.

I stayed with my friend Pat and his wife Thea. Pat and I were good friends in high school, but haven't really kept in touch much after leaving for college. I really enjoyed catching up with him. Sunday night they were able to accommodate my intense craving for Sushi. I normally try to eat sushi once a week, but I hadn't had any since the last week of September. We went to Amasia Hide's Sushi Bar, and ran into some friends of theirs, Paul and Kate. The sushi was great and Paul and Kate were very friendly (Paul gave me travel suggestions for Oregon and Seattle).

After dinner, they tried to take me to the Orbit Room, which apparently puts an interesting twist on cocktails, but they were closed. There was a couple of kids (Ok, I suppose they were in their twenties... am I really getting old enough to call twenty-somethings "kids") who were also disappointed that they were closed, and they recommended that we try Amber.

Amber was a pretty cool laid back lounge. Ordering drinks was way easier than just about any place in the DC area and without negative attitude (Galaxy Hut, and sometimes Beach Shack are excluded from this generalization). The drinks were tasty... my second was a caipiroska, which was about as good as they get outside of Brazil. But the most interesting thing about Amber was how dog friendly the place was, and the dogs who frequented the establishment.

Cory was a pure Akita according to his owner, but he looked part St. Bernard to me. I'm probably wrong about that. Cory basically just lied in the middle of the floor. He seemed completely unfazed by the people who had to step over him to get past. But the real interesting one was Belle. I can't remember what breed she was suppose to be, but she looked like she had a little pit bull in her. She wanted to play fetch with the most disgusting slobber soaked tennis ball I've ever touched. She had rules though. She refused to bring the ball to anybody and she wouldn't let anybody take the ball from her mouth. Instead she would put the ball in the corner of the room, then guilt someone into getting up to "fetch" the ball from the corner. Initially it was me, and I didn't think it would be ok to throw the ball across the bar, so I just gave it a little toss. Eventually Belle's owner came over to show us how it was done. She picked up the ball, and chucked it all the way across the bar and down the hall to the bathrooms. Belle chased after the ball at full speed dodging obstacles along the way. It was really quite incredible, and nobody in the bar seemed to mind. I love how dog friendly San Francisco is in general. Oh, and it is a smoky bar, which I guess is the closest thing to a speak easy for our generation (due to the public smoking ban in California). This annoyed Thea, which is understandable, but as I'm accustomed to dealing with smoky bars, it didn't bother me too much.

Pat and Thea are all-star tour guides. After staying out late Sunday night despite them having to get up early for work, they spent another hour giving me suggestions for what to do on my own Monday. I think if I had a few weeks to spend in San Francisco, they'd make sure I saw everything that is cool to see. Pat really went above and beyond, drawing maps of the Mission district with notable hot spots. He also gave me this very interesting and clever guide called Mundane Journeys that was created by Kate and illustrated by Pat.

Monday I took public transit to the Mission district armed with all Pat's suggestions and maps. I'd have to say the highlights were Paxton Gate and 826 Valencia. Paxton Gate is really only describable as wonderfully weird. It is part taxidermy store, part natural science store, part gardening supply shop, and part landscaping contractor (among other things). I was tempted to buy one of Crispen H. Glover's books, but in the end just didn't get it. Perhaps he should stick to playing weird roles in the movies. And 826 Valencia at first appears to be your every day run of the mill Pirate Shop, but upon closer inspection is actually something much more noble (read this). I was inspired by this place... I'm generally pessimistic, and this place gave me hope.

This post is getting very long. It is a week behind real time, and if I don't get more brief, I'll never get caught up. I must mention that Monday night, Pat and Thea treated me to Zante's Indian Pizza. It was pretty tasty, but I think they over hyped it. Expectations are such a funny thing. You shouldn't set them too high. I think they think I didn't like it, but I did. But Pat insists it is the greatest place on Earth. Well, I'm not sure about that, but it I do suggest you check it out when you're in SF. And I can't forget to mention seeing Sia at The Fillmore, with The Bird and the Bee. Very good show, great venue, lots of fun.

From Joshuas to Sequoias

2006-11-10T10:18:43-05:00

Considering Joshua Tree was only the second time I've ever camped (and the first time alone), I'd say it went pretty well. I managed to sleep pretty well. I probably got around 10 hours sleep, which is way more than I've been getting on this trip. I did wake a couple times in the night, always because the people in the next campsite were talking until sunrise.

I didn't get up to climb Ryan Mountain at sunrise, which really isn't that shocking at all. After I packed away the camping gear around 8, I spent the rest of the morning checking out more of the park. The only real hike I did was in Hidden Valley. I had every intention of making another attempt to catch sunset on Ryan Mountain, but after Wednesday's climb and the hike in Hidden Valley, I didn't have the energy to do it. So I left Joshua Tree having been defeated by Ryan. Hmmm... am I trying to say something here?

I could not decide on what to do from there. I had intended to go to both Sequoia and Yosemite national parks, but it was becoming clear that I didn't have enough time to see both parks, my friend Pat, and still pick my parents up in Sacramento on the 7th. So, I decided that trying to camp in both parks was unreasonable. I didn't know which one to cut, so I headed towards Fresno, figuring I could decide on the way.

I was exhausted both physically and mentally. I haven't been getting the downtime that I'm accustomed to. I didn't even make it to Fresno, but rather checked in a crappy Econo Lodge in Visalia. I'd stopped to get some dinner, and ended up getting an In 'N Out burger, which my friend Wendy raves about. It was much better than the Sonic Burger, and overall I'd say the experience was similar to a Five Guys burger, which while tasty, I actually feel ill after eating such greasy food. I don't think I have any more fast food obligations on this trip!

The next morning I woke up to a smell that I'd experienced in many small towns on the road the day before. I guess it is manure from the farms. I don't know how people live in these towns that literally smell like crap all the time. Or maybe it doesn't always smell that way... I'm not sure. I was still in my funk from the day before, and I decided to stop putting so much pressure on myself to see everything I can. And I gave myself permission to not photograph anything if I didn't want to. I decided rather than rushing out to Sequoia, that I'd check out Visalia. I had a great lunch at a vegetarian health food store (I forgot the name).

It was Friday around 1pm that I arrived at the South entrance of Sequoia. I had to decide on which campsite to stay at. Unfortunately, most of them closed for the season Nov. 1. I really wanted to stay in the high country, at Lodgepole, but they were forecasting the temperature to get in the low 20's at night, and I was a bit intimidated by that. If I had gloves, I might have considered it. I ended up at Potwisha, which unfortunately meant I'd be doing a lot of driving from the campsite to the interesting parts of the park.

I don't feel like boring you with all the mundane details of my two days and nights in Sequoia. I will say that I was awe struck after seeing the two largest trees in the world (by volume). I also didn't really get to see any of the adjacent King's Canyon National Park. I'd like to learn enough about back country hiking/camping to see it someday. The vast majority of the park can't been seen without multiple days of hiking on foot. I'm drawn by the notion that it is virtually untouched by man due to its inaccessibility by car.

Introspection After Five Weeks

2006-11-06T15:36:12-05:00

I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on some things I've noticed, thought about, or whatever, since I started this trip. First of all, I don't know how bloggers do this (yes Joe, I'm talking about you). How do you write daily about what is going on? I pretty much feel like 90% of what I'm writing is boring and trite. It is occasionally getting in the way of me experiencing more while I'm on the trip, as I rarely have time to work on the photos or to write. For example, instead of exploring more of San Francisco for the past two hours, I've been sitting in the same cafe typing and uploading. I'd give it up entirely, but despite my paranoid thoughts that this is all garbage, I've gotten plenty of positive feedback from many of you. Thanks to you all for making me feel like I'm not wasting my time!

I sit here writing in a coffee shop called Mission Creek on Valencia Street in San Francisco. My friend Pat suggested Ritual a block up the street, and he is right, it is much cooler than this place, but it was packed and there was nowhere to sit. But the people watching is still pretty good here. People are much friendlier, easy to start a conversation with, and just laid back in general. San Francisco isn't the only place that has made me question why I still live in DC area? I mean, I like DC, and most of my friends are there. But I've lived there over 11 years now, and I've got to wonder if a change isn't in the cards. Who knows. It could just be a case of the grass being greener on the other side (in this case of California, that is all metaphorical and not literal at all, considering the brownness of the grass).

Anyway, since I left, I've travelled just under 5000 miles. I visited a few states I'd never visited before (Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, & New Mexico). I think the only remaining states I've never been to are Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Rhode Island. I'll be hitting Oregon and Washington over the next week.

I also think this trip would be much more fun with someone else... or would it? On the one hand, I have pretty much complete control on where I go and what I do, which would not be the case with a companion. As with anything, there are pros and cons. This changes tomorrow anyway, as I'll be picking up my parents in Sacramento.

I am getting a bit tired of living life out of a suitcase and on the road. Makes me wonder why I think RV'ing across the country would be a cool thing. I also somehow (as irrational as it sounds) simultaneously think I'm spending too much time and not enough time on this trip. I'm toying with the idea of flying home for a break from the trip, then flying back to finish it. I doubt I'll do that, but it could happen.

Oh, and while I would NOT say that the purpose of this trip was to "find myself", if it were, it would be a complete failure. I don't really believe in traveling as a means to "find oneself", and this trip only solidifies that belief, as I only have more questions about myself than I had before.

Hopefully this doesn't sound too negative. I really am having a blast. I've gotten to know many people much better who I thought I knew pretty well already. I've packed more life experiences into the past 5½ weeks than I probably did in the prior 5½ months. And while many of my visits seem short, I feel like many of them are previews of longer trips to come.

Joshua Tree National Park

2006-11-06T13:37:12-05:00

Halloween night, I randomly booked a room at 29 Palms Inn since I wasn't going to make it to Joshua Tree in time to set up camp in daylight. I can't remember how I discovered it... I certainly didn't see their website, or else I'd been more prepared for what to expect. I arrived at night, and my navigation system got confused at some point, and sent me to the wrong spot. After a call to Dad to look up the address, I found the place, but I didn't see any Inn. I did see a restaurant, so I went in to ask for directions. It turns out you check in at the bar, so I was in the right place after all.

The reason I didn't see an Inn, is because it is sort of a hippie compound with bungalows. There are lots of neat things to do there, such as walk through their organic garden, get a massage, etc. I didn't do any of that though. I'm sorry I have no pictures to show from that night, because the bar was packed with locals in halloween costumes. I also regret that I was so tired, that I simply checked into my room and went to bed. Here is where a travel companion would come in handy. If I were traveling with someone else, we'd mutually provoke each other into coming back and hanging out in the bar. I imagine if I was traveling with my brother, we'd know half the locals in the bar by the end of the night. Instead, I updated this site, then fell asleep to the sound of packs of coyotes howling at each other... which I might say made me a little nervous about camping the next night.

Wednesday I headed into Joshua Tree. I don't know why I like the desert so much, but I do. I think because it is so different from what I'm used to seeing. I did a little exploring before heading to Ryan campsite (how could I not camp at that site). After setting up the tent, I had grand hopes of climbing Ryan Mountain to the summit for spectacular sunset photographs. Unfortunately, I didn't get started on my hike early enough. It is a 1½ mile hike, and according to my GPS, I'd only gone a little more than ½ mile. I'm not in good shape, the air is a bit thinner at that elevation, it was HOT, and it is not an easy climb. I decided to make the best of the light, and I got some decent pictures from where I was, and on the way back down.

After getting a couple of decent sunset photos, I headed back to camp. It was rather early (sunset was before 5pm), and I didn't know what to do. I've been carrying around my film SLR (a Nikon F100), along with a bunch of old film in a cooler. The idea was I'd finally use up all that film I've been storing in my freezer since the summer of 2001. I bought a lot of film back then since I thought I was going to make a career of it, and it wasn't cheap. I can already say it was a mistake and a hassle to carry around this film all over the country. I should throw it away and be done with it. Anyway, the digital SLR doesn't handle low light well. So, thought I'd load up the F100, and take some long exposures of the campsite since the moon was nearly full. I have no idea if any of these pictures came out yet, as I've not finished the roll. Doesn't that seem archaic these days???

Anyway, some of these exposures were as long as 8 minutes. I didn't have anything else to do while I was waiting, so I was standing very still, looking at the stars, when I heard a noise. I looked and saw what I believe was the silhouette of a coyote about 20 feet away. It was much bigger than what I thought a coyote should be, but it all happened very quickly, so I can't be certain. When I saw it, I immediately took a step backward, and it looked in my direction then darted away. Based on that behavior, I don't think it saw me until I moved since I was standing very still and quiet for quite a while. It looked about the size of a German Shepherd, but as it ran off away from any of the other campsites, I don't think it was someone's dog. It also didn't move quite like a dog, but more graceful.

Not long after that, I decided I was done playing with my camera, so I went to bed. Shortly after I climbed in the sleeping bag, the coyotes started their howling, but surprisingly not as much as I heard at 29 Palms Inn the night before. I thought since I was going to bed so early, I'd wake up before sunrise, and climb Ryan Mountain to photograph the sunrise... yeah right!

Arizona & Nevada

2006-10-31T20:40:11-05:00

After my adventure in White Sands, I drove to Las Cruces to spend the night. Thursday morning I woke up, caught up on email, discovered that all my pictures from White Sands were taken at 1600 ISO, and had tons of noise. I was too discouraged to even spend the time to upload those pictures, so instead I set out on my day.

Dad was interested in knowing what Las Cruces was about, as he is considering it as a place to retire. I did some driving around the city. It seemed nice enough, although he may need to learn Spanish to live there. I needed to get on the road if I was going to arrive in Apache Junction at a reasonable hour, but I still needed to eat. I've never eaten at a Sonic, so decided it was as good as anytime to try it. I really can't say I was impressed. It tasted like greasy fast food, which is what it is of course. Maybe the whole drive-in aspect of it would be more fun with company, but sitting in a car by yourself eating a greasy cheeseburger wasn't much fun at all.

I didn't really have time to see anything along the way to Apache Junction. I did stop along the road on US 70 about 10 miles east of the Arizona border. There was nothing there, but I enjoyed the complete isolation. I timed how long it took for another car to drive by, and it took almost 10 minutes before a car came along. I could scream as loud as I could, and there was no echo of any kind, as the mountains were so far away, and there was nothing for the sound to bounce off of. I can't be certain, but I think I could see down the road at least 15 miles, probably much further.

After my break on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, I proceeded west on US 70, going 75 mph (which I thought was the speed limit). Just a couple miles before entering Arizona, I got pulled over by a local sheriff for the first (and hopefully last) time on this trip for speeding. He was very friendly, and he was very interested in my road trip. He let me off with a warning, which is a first for me. It really shoots holes in my theory that only women get away with a warning for speeding; AND my theory that cops never miss an opportunity to ticket a car with out of state tags.

I arrived in Apache Junction to visit my cousin Cheryl and her husband Jesse. They prepared a very tasty meal, and we ate outside. I am fortunate to be seeing Arizona at this time of the year. The weather is perfect. It isn't too hot, and the nights are a little chilly, but not too cold. I could fall in love with living out here, but the thought of how hot the summers are keeps me from thinking too seriously about it.

Friday we dropped my car off for scheduled service, and set out for Las Vegas. Cheryl has a friend who lives there, and we were going to visit with him and go to the Vegoose Festival. We ate dinner at Battista's Hole in the Wall, which was very good, and you get unlimited free house wine! We then met up with Cheryl's friends Keith and Drexel at House of Blues in the Mandalay Bay Casino to see Keller Williams. I think all of us were a little disappointed with Keller's show. There is no doubt he has a lot of talent, but instead of performing with a band, he was on stage with a bunch of guitars, and he'd play something on one, loop it, then add to it with another. Kind of neat at first, but it got old, and many of his songs dragged on longer than I think they should have. We stayed at the Aruba Hotel & Spa, which was OK, but I'd probably not stay there again.

Saturday we had a failed attempt at a champagne brunch, ended up eating mexican, then headed to the festival. We missed the beginning, as always seems to be the case with these festivals. We arrived during Medeski Martin & Wood with Maceo Parker. I then headed over to see The Raconteurs, whose show I arrived in the middle of at the Virgin Festival. I had to split my time next between Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and The Keller Williams Incident (which was much better than seeing Keller's solo show the night before). Then there was a little Black Crowes, a little of The Killers, and finally Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. I could bore you with details on all these performances, but I'm not going to. I wasn't really disappointed with any of these performances, and some were really good. I'd say my favorite was The Raconteurs.

This was the 2nd year for Vegoose, a two day music festival, and I thought it was lots of fun, and I hope to come again next year. We only attended Saturday, and if I do come again, I'll have to pace myself better, and sit a lot more if I'm to make both days. In addition to all the music, there were lots of arts and crafts and food tents. I bought a shirt from Intertwinded Designs. And what a great weekend to visit Vegas, with all the freaks out for Halloween. Who's coming with me next year?

Monday Cheryl and I picked up my car, and had a fantastic meal at Sautee, and went for a walk at sunset. Zippy came along on the walk and chased rabbits. The hike wasn't trivial, or I'm really getting old. We were hurrying so that I could get some photographs of the sunset, and I kept having to pause to catch my breath! Later in the evening, Jesse introduced me to the movie Bubba Ho-tep, which was very bizarre but funny. I'm going to have to watch it again though when I'm not so tired.

Tuesday I had big plans of getting an early start and getting to Joshua Tree National Park in time to camp. But, I had a lot more stuff to do before I was ready to go than I expected. I also went on one more walk with the Cheryl and the dogs. When I finally did leave, I headed straight for a free wireless hotspot, so I could research the candidates on my absentee ballot. I ended up at Into The Bean, which had decent coffee, but the wireless was slower than dial-up. So I packed it up and went to a Schlotzsky's for some lunch and to see if their Internet was faster. It wasn't. I ended up wasting about 3 hours on this, and it became evident that I wasn't going to make it to Joshua Tree in time. I ended up booking a room at the 29 Palms Inn, which I'll tell you all about next time...

New Mexico

2006-10-31T09:33:03-05:00

Tuesday morning (Oct. 24th, yes, I'm behind) I got up early, and set out for Roswell, NM. It was primarily a driving day. I passed through Lubbock, Texas. I guess it is a decent sized city, but it didn't seem that big. But they have a beltway and they are currently building an impressive skyway interchange. But I think they've got more infrastructure than they need, or else it is growing quickly.

I was also shocked by the amount of cotton being grown in Western Texas. Perhaps cotton doesn't need a lot of water, but I thought it would be too arid to be growing cotton. For hours I just saw cotton fields, and loose cotton being blown all over the road.

I stopped in Meadow, Texas to get some lunch. The town has a population of only 658, yet I counted 3 churches. One of the churches had hundreds of cars parked at it, which pretty much means the entire town was there. Seemed strange for such attendance around noontime on a Tuesday. I suppose a funeral could be the explanation, but I didn't see many people wearing black. I could only find one place in town to get lunch, and it was a trailer called TNT BBQ (forgot to take a picture). I had a delicious chopped BBQ brisket sandwich. There were three women sitting there eating lunch, and they kept looking at me. When I left they said goodbye, which made me think I should have been more forward and asked to join them; but who does that really?

I spent almost 24 hours in Roswell. Why? I don't know, it crept up on me. I arrived Tuesday afternoon, but since I had been up since 6:30 am central time and I crossed into mountain time, I felt like it was 7 at night instead of 3 pm. I got caught up on email, and worked on catching up on photos and blog. I was determined to eat somewhere unusual for dinner, but I can't say that was in the cards. Roswell is packed with fast food chains. I ended up eating at a Mexican place called Tia Juana's Grille & Cantina, which had decent food.

Wednesday morning I worked on editing more of my photos, and trying to figure out where I was going to go that day. I decided I'd take pictures of the sunset in White Sands National Monument. That gave me plenty of time. For the first time on this trip, I checked my tire pressure and oil level! How foolish is that? I didn't even check these things before I left three weeks earlier. Oil was fine, but my tires did need air. I asked the gas station cashier where she'd recommend for lunch. She recommended the same place as the hotel clerk, some mexican place I can't pronounce on the corner of 4th and Main. Well, I couldn't find that place, but there was a mexican place on 4th and Main called Martin's Capitol Cafe. Ugh. Skip this one. I can't imagine this is the place they were both talking about.

I still had time, so I figured I might as well check out the tourist traps in Roswell. I don't believe that UFO's visited Roswell, but figured I'd be in for some good entertainment at the International UFO Museum and Research Center. You are required to give a $2 donation (I've never understood the concept of a mandatory donation, isn't that the same as a fee). My expectations were low, and the cost was cheap, and I was STILL disappointed. Mostly the museum is simply clipped newspaper articles and plastic UFO and Alien props. I think part of the reason I spent so much time there, is I kept trying to justify my being there. It was a bit like playing "double up, catch up" in blackjack. Really, don't even bother going to Roswell.

From there I drove to White Sands. There has been flooding there, so only the first 4 miles of the road was open. I asked the park ranger for advice on getting good pictures of the sunset, and she suggested I drive to where the road was closed, then hike about a mile past the closure along the road, then hike a quarter of a mile west into the dunes. I did go in prepared with water, food, jacket, flashlight, GPS and a whistle, as well as all my photo gear. Once I got into the dunes, I wandered around looking for the best location. I took what I thought would be amazing pictures, although Thursday morning I discovered that I had left the camera set on ISO 1600 (from Alex's soccer game), which means all those lovely pictures have a high noise ratio. I can't possibly tell you how disappointed I am, but I was bound to learn that hard lesson sooner or later.

It started getting dark, and the park closed 1 hour after sunset. I thought I'd be smart and cut diagonally back to the car, rather than hike directly back to the road, after all, I have a GPS. Well, that sounds like a good plan, until you realize that all that flooding creates little ponds between the dunes, and you can't predict where you'll be able to cross. I started to panic a little, as it got darker and darker, and my little flashlight didn't allow me to see more than about 10-15 feet in front of me. I kept hitting dead ends (ponds). I did eventually make it back to the road, and in the distance I could hear the park ranger blaring a horn and saying through a megaphone "Please return to your car, the park is closing." A few minutes later, she found me walking to my car, and told me I was the last one in the park; but I wasn't late yet, I still had 20 minutes before the park closed. In the end, I was pulling out of the park just 5 minutes before closing. It was an adventure, and in retrospect exciting; I just wish my pictures were better!

More in Wichita Falls

2006-10-25T08:07:05-04:00

I can't remember where Sunday went. I know it was a full day. I suppose much of the day was spent talking and catching up with family. We had lunch at the house. Uncle Ted cooked some fried catfish, which seems to be very popular in these parts. It was very good. I'm not sure why we don't see more of it on the east coast (or perhaps I'm just not looking hard enough). After lunch I took Uncle Ted and Aunt Kay to a wireless hotspot to show them how to use their wireless cards. We then hurried to Brionna's Birthday party.

Brionna's birthday party was huge. It was actually a combined party for her and her friend (who's name I'm forgetting at the moment, maybe Elle). I think there were about 50 kids running around. Doug had organized all these games for them to play, and divided them up into groups. The adults were all given tasks (mine was to photograph) supervising the various events the kids had to compete at.

Aunt Kay has a Vespa that she hasn't ridden it in over a year (only had 16 miles on it), and she wanted me to see if I could get it to start. Surprisingly, it started without much trouble, but was nearly out of gas, so she asked me to take it to get gas. After sitting for so long without being ridden, the gas that was in there was in pretty bad shape... the kind of stuff that clogs injectors I'm told. This would explain the poor throttle control I experienced on the way to the station.

Now, remember that I'm in Texas, a place where Chelsea assures me that you can get your ass kicked just for saying you support gay marriage, regardless of your sexual orientation. Now picture me putting down the road at 35 mph on a turquoise Vespa with a matching helmet. Just about everybody I passed, and who passed me took a good long look at me. I even heard one woman laugh at me as she turned left in front of me from the opposite direction. I saw some rough looking gangster types look at me in a way that made me feel very uncomfortable.

After filling up the tank, I wanted to see if they had any of that stabilizer stuff you can put in your tank to help preserve the gasoline between infrequent rides. So I walk in wearing my Diesel jeans and a black turtleneck, and asked the service attendant. He wasn't sure what I was talking about, so he yelled "Is there anything you can put in one of those Vespas to preserve the fuel?" back to one of the mechanics. The mechanic walked into the room with a smirk on his face, which grew to a full blown smile when he took a look at me. He spent several minutes debating with himself on what the best course of action was, and while he was doing this, he'd occasionally look at the Vespa, or look at me, then he'd have to fight from laughing at me and look away. I kept mentioning that it was my Aunt's Vespa, but I don't think any of the guys in the room were buying it. In the end, he was somewhat helpful, and while I was felt quite emasculated, I was just happy to make it back to the house alive.

That evening, we went to watch Alex's soccer game. Fortunately, his game was in Wichita Falls, as I don't think I'd have it in me to drive back to Dallas for another game. I got more good photos of Alex than of his sisters, because he played on the same side of the field as the spectators.

New Flickr Set Added

2006-10-25T05:57:26-04:00

I am falling behind on updating this blog and uploading pictures to Flickr. I hope to get caught up in the next day or two. I did create a new Flickr set called Road Trip 2006 Highlights, which has a subset of the pictures found in the Road Trip 2006 set. In addition to having a lot fewer pictures for those of you who need the "executive summary", it will also allow me to at least upload a couple pictures to keep things up to date if I don't have time to work on all the photographs.

Little Rock to Wichita Falls

2006-10-25T05:15:55-04:00

I went to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, or Clinton Museum for short. I probably should have just taken a few pictures of the exterior and been on my way. I can't say I was terribly impressed with the museum itself. While I never voted for Clinton, I think in retrospect he is probably the best president we've had during my adult lifetime. Even still, I found the museum to be a fairly revisionist, one-sided, ego trip for President Clinton. And many of the exhibits were simply things I'm never interested in, such as suits and dresses worn by the Clintons, fancy expensive gifts from foreign nations, etc. I'd say if you are a big Clinton fan, and have lots of time to spare, then go ahead and see it, but if you are on a schedule like mine, then skip it.

From there I had the longest day's drive to date, and I did it with only 3 very short stops for fuel, food, and restrooms. From Little Rock to Wichita Falls (via Oklahoma City as the computer suggested) I drove 473 miles. I did debate stopping in Oklahoma City to see the memorial for the bombing victims there, but it would have meant going downtown during rush hour. In the end, I just wanted to be done with driving, so I skipped it.

I arrived at Uncle Ted and Aunt Kay's home on Avondale St., despite the Prius' navigation system once again letting me down. For whatever reason, it doesn't think there is an Avondale Street in Wichita Falls. When I did finally get onto Avondale St., it said I was on Buena Vista Way. Kay had cooked a big meal, and we were joined by my cousin Doug, his wife Stacey, and two of their children Chelsea and Alex.

Saturday I put another 304 miles on the car to drive to Dallas and back to see Brionna and Chelsea play soccer. I didn't think any of my pictures were going to be any good, as I have little experience with action photography, and I am still learning how to use the new camera. I was pleasantly surprised that I got several good pictures of their games. I was also shocked at what a big deal soccer is here. Most of the best teams in the nation play in Dallas, and kids from all over the state of Texas come to Dallas to play in these elite leagues. Some teams travel from further distances than Wichita Falls, which itself is a 2 1/2 hour drive in each direction!

While I wasn't particularly looking forward to the drive on Saturday, I did get to ride down with Brionna, and ride back with Chelsea, so it was nice to get to know them both a little better. Brionna played me a CD that she had made of some of her favorite music. I was relieved that I had heard a few of the songs and bands, and that the ones I hadn't heard of I pretty much liked. It is nice to know that I'm not quite old enough yet to have lost touch with today's youth's music! Chelsea played DJ with my iPod on the way back, and she filled me in on everything going on with her.

Huntsville to Little Rock

2006-10-19T17:21:47-04:00

I arrived in Huntsville on Monday. First order of business was to finish the work I promised to do for my home owners association. I'd been putting it off, and I had some extra time since I'd forgotten about the time zone change going into Alabama. So I found a coffee shop with free internet access, and I cranked out the report in about 90 minutes. Whew, what a relief to have that done. More importantly, I found the insanely useful wififreespot.com that lists free wireless internet hotspots across the whole country.

With that out of the way, I drove on over to Stephanie and John's house. Chloe was outside playing when I arrived, which was good because I wasn't sure I had the correct address. I was rather impressed that their Chihuahua's (Belle and Bootsie) didn't yap at me when I arrived, although they did keep their distance. We spent the evening just talking and catching up. Stephanie made tasty low-fat enchiladas. Mmmm.

Tuesday we met John for lunch at Rosa's, a mexican restaurant. After lunch, Stephanie and I came back to the house, and she gave me an amazing hot stone massage. I've never asked or even hinted to any family or friends who are massage therapists (I seem to know quite a few) for a massage, so this was a very nice surprise. I'd never had a massage with hot stones before, and it was quite nice.

After John got off work, I went with him to a smokey dungeon of a sports bar called "Third Base", to meet some of his friends for beers. For the most part it is what you'd expect from any sports bar. There was a strange sign on the wall stating that all beverages contain at least 1.25 ounces of alcohol unless stated otherwise. Nobody else thought this was strange. I'm just wondering had I ordered a Coke, would that not-so-friendly waitress have told me that it didn't contain 1.25 ounces of alcohol, or would I have gotten a Coke with 1.25 ounces of alcohol in it? There is something else that I've been meaning to write about since Richmond. Bars tend to give separate checks to everybody by default. This is quite different from the experience I'm used to, where you will get a lot of moaning and complaining if you were to even ask for separate checks. Oh, and I got pints of Yuengling for $1.50 each (happy hour price), as opposed to $4.50 for a 12 ounce mug at Clyde's! For those of you who would prefer me do the math for you, that is 1/4 the price per ounce.

We then met up with Stephanie to watch Chloe's last volleyball game of the season. I got to try out the new D200 on some action photography. I probably took upwards of 140 pictures. I immediately threw away about 60 of them that weren't very good.

Wednesday was just more of the same. Belle and Bootsie had completely warmed up to me by then, and they were constantly competing with each other for prime petting position in my lap. Stephanie and I talked politics, philosophy, and religion. Considering how different a lot of our views are, especially politically, I was very happy with how relaxed the conversation was. I'm not sure why it can't be like that with everybody.

Thursday was an early morning and a lot of driving. I woke up at 6:30 am (gasp!), and was on the road by 7:30. I stopped for breakfast about 30 minutes down the road at Tony's Country Cookin'. It was quite a smokey diner, but the food was pretty good. I had a Philly Cheesesteak Omelet. I lived in Philly for 5 years and never had such a concoction, but it worked. The atmosphere was a little like Joey's diner in A History of Violence, complete with a very friendly manager who looks like he could have been a mobster from the East Coast.

I stopped in both Collierville and Memphis along the way. My Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Dr. Virginus Leake was instrumental in rebuilding Collierville after it was destroyed by the Union Army during the Civil War. I had contributed (along with other decedents of Dr. Leake) to a fund to place a plaque in the town square of Collierville, TN. Since I was passing through Collierville anyway, I thought I should stop by the town square and take a look at the plaque.

In Memphis, I went to Rendezvous to get authentic Memphis BBQ. I have to say I was disappointed in the ribs, but it was still a unique experience. Finding it was the first challenge. The Prius' Navigation system is letting me down again and again. The address for Rendezvous is 52 S. 2nd St., which my car says doesn't exist (it does exist). Then you have to find the alley and walk behind the building to get to the entrance. After I walked in, I waited for a few minutes before a cook walks by and asks what I want. I told him a table for one, and he tells me that they aren't officially open yet. I take a look at the mostly full dining room, and then respond, "Really?" He then tells me, that I can order ribs only while they are "closed". Okay, good enough, that is what I wanted. So I sit and wait about 15 minutes before anybody comes to my table. The waiter asks what I want, to which I respond, "Do I have a choice?" Then he confirms that I can only order ribs, and he just wanted to know what I wanted to drink. About another 15 minutes go by (thank goodness I brought a book to read), while people that came in after me get served. Finally a man who looked like Don Cheadle and wasn't dressed like a waiter, asks me what I ordered. This time I let it slide that there was really only one thing I could have ordered. Anyway, I tell him I ordered the ribs, and he comes right back with my order. As I said, I've had better ribs. I still like Famous Dave's ribs better, despite it being a chain. The beans on the other hand were fabulous. To round out this interesting dining experience, when you are done, you just go up to the cashier and tell them what you ordered. It is an honor system thing.

I made it to Little Rock, and decided I'd had enough driving for one day. I can't say I really wanted to stay here, but there really isn't any alternative close at all. Assuming I get an early enough start, I'll probably check out the Clinton Presidential Library & Museum tomorrow. Might as well...

Georgia

2006-10-16T09:09:33-04:00

I've got no new pictures since the last update, but thought I'd post an update anyway. First is a lesson I learned the hard way about blindly trusting the Prius' navigation system. When I left Simpsonville, SC, the navigation system told me to get on I-385 South, which without consulting a map, seemed perfectly logical since I was headed for Atlanta. As soon as I got on the interstate, it told me to get off at the next exit, and get on I-385 North, which in fact is the way I should have been going. I have no idea why it sent me South initially, even though as luck would have it, I'd spend the next hour sitting on the highway pondering it. First there was a massive accident that occurred on the southbound side between the exit I got on at and where I needed to get off. That accident had just happened, and so it only took about 20 minutes to get past it. But then, when I got on northbound, the police had shut it down at the location of the accident, so that emergency crew could drive up the wrong side of the road. So I sat there for 40 more minutes waiting for that to re-open.

Needless to say, my first order of business when I stopped for fuel, was to purchase a road map for the country (I gave mine to my brother since I thought I wouldn't need one with a navigation system). For now on, I'll take a quick look at the map before I blindly follow bad directions.

I arrived at my friend Andy's house in Marietta, GA, just outside of Atlanta. Andy is a chef for a private club. I've never had his cooking, since he generally doesn't like to cook at home since it is what he does all day for work; but with the arrival of his new son (2 1/2 months), going out to eat is more trouble, so he cooked a delicious pork dinner. I'd try to describe it better, but I'm sure I wouldn't do it justice. I wish I had a picture of it to share with you. I'd have stayed the night with him and his family, but his family includes two cats, so I wanted to find an alternative.

I had an open offer from my cousin (once removed to be specific) Stephen, who is a senior at Emory. I wanted to visit with him and I figured a night in a fraternity house at my age might be kind of interesting, but it was about an hour in the opposite direction that I was going to go today, and then I'd have to deal with being on the East side of Atlanta during rush hour traffic this morning, and I'd be heading West.

I drove up to Acworth and got a room in a motel. On the way, about a mile away from Andy's house, I saw about 5 different bail bonds shops, which I found quite strange. I guess I expect to see that in bad neighborhoods, but Andy's neighborhood was very nice, and even a mile away the area looked quite nice. Not the place you'd expect to see a bail bond shop, let alone 5.

I'm sitting in a Panera Bread in Rome, GA as I type this. I know, I know, Panera Bread is a chain... a big one too. I really should do as the Romans do when in Rome, and in fact I may be, as this place is completely full. I had every intention of going to this small coffee shop that is in downtown Rome, but traffic was not moving, and I was right next to a Panera Bread, which of course has free internet connection. I may find a common theme is my often conflicting desire to try a local spot and my desire to have an internet connection.

South Carolina

2006-10-15T03:56:04-04:00

Thursday was a relatively short and uneventful drive from Cherokee to Simpsonville. Of course as I was leaving the mountains, the weather was perfect, and I couldn't help be be a little jealous of this couple who were setting out on their Harley's for a ride through the park in that beautiful weather.

Shortly after arriving at Paul and Courtney's house, we went into Greenville to see the Budweiser Clydesdales. Downtown Greenville is pretty nice. I'm not sure of the history, but the area I was in looked like it has recently been re-developed.

Paul and I headed out for dinner and drinks later, and Courtney stayed home to watch Xander and Grace. I don't think Paul gets out very much these days now that he has the kids to take care of. Friday was much of the same. Paul and I hung out all day, watching the kids, then Courtney took over and we went out for dinner at a Japanese steak house.

Saturday we all drove out to the countryside so that Xander and Grace could go on a hay-ride. It turned out to be a Wally World experience, as they weren't giving hay-rides. We decided to not pay the $7 per person to do the corn maze, since we were lured there under false advertising. Later in the evening, we dropped the kids with Courtney's parents, and the three of us headed for the "Fall for Greenville" festival.

We walked around for a while, but we weren't very impressed with the musical entertainment, so we went to Corner Pocket for some dinner and beers. I really enjoyed my 3 days visiting with Paul and his family. I have to admit that I have a little more respect (I already had quite a bit) for parents. I'm not sure I could deal with all the chaos and crying that comes with them.

As of Sunday morning, I've driven 1,327 miles, despite only being 495 miles from home. I'll be leaving in about an hour for Atlanta. Don't forget that in addition to the pictures I post here, you can see all the pictures on Flickr.

Smokey Mountains

2006-10-13T08:41:40-04:00

Tuesday morning was another early start. I was on the road and ready to sit in rush hour traffic by 8 am. Tuesday was the first day of the trip that I didn't get any rain; actually, Monday barely rained, but was cloudy most of the day. Unfortunately, the beautiful blue skies were wasted on a day of driving.

I stopped for breakfast at Cup A Joe in Hillsborough, NC. The coffee was excellent, and so was the pumpkin walnut muffin. But they offered free wireless internet, so my driving schedule went out the window. In the end that really didn't matter, because the weather forecast in the Smokey Mountains was getting more and more gloomy, and the only reason for me to rush, was so that I'd be able to get my tent set up before dark. I stopped for lunch at Uptown BBQ in Morganton, NC. I had a delicious pork BBQ wrap with jalepeno peppers. It is right off of the interstate, so if you are passing through, I recommend it.

About a 45 miles from Asheville, NC, I began seeing the storm clouds peeking out over the mountains. I decided that it wasn't worth being miserable in the rain just for the camping experience, especially since I have more opportunities in California to do some camping. While I was disappointed with the weather I was going to have in the Smokeys, I was a bit relieved that it would give me some time to catch up on emails, blogging, and time to get my car fixed.

I forgot to mention that my navigation system, while still partially functional (it displayed my current location properly), it was no longer able to locate addresses that I gave it. It only found locations in VA, WV, MD, & PA. I went to the Toyota dealer in Raleigh, and asked if the problem was a region issue. They assured me that Toyota's weren't region based, and that I'd have to leave my car over night for them to fix it. I didn't have time for that, so I got the address of the Toyota dealer in Asheville, and now that I wasn't in a hurry to get to a camp site, I stopped there prepared for them to tell me I'd have to leave the car overnight. The service rep in Asheville immediately asked, "are you searching in the right region?" So, as you probably guessed, the car wasn't broken at all. I simply needed to RTFM.

I arrived on the Cherokee reservation just outside Smokey Mountains National Park, and my main criteria was finding a hotel with an internet connection. I spotted a Holiday Inn Express boasting high speed internet, and it was right across the street from Harrah's Casino. I actually didn't know there was a casino on the reservation, but with the weather, I expected to spend some time gambling. Surprisingly though, I did not even step into the casino. I worked on the photos I'd taken, skipped dinner and got to bed early to catch up on the sleep I haven't been getting.

Wednesday was a dreary, rainy, foggy morning. I was in no hurry to get into the park. I ate lunch at Hungry Bear, a local restaurant recommended by the hotel front desk. The food was ok, but nothing I'd go out of my way to eat again. I stopped at the visitor station to ask a ranger for a trail recommendation for such lousy weather, and I ended up meeting Lee Price. He had been camping in the park with a friend who had just undergone chemotherapy. His friend didn't feel up to finishing the trip with the rain, so Lee wanted a ride back to his truck along the Appalachian Trail. Since I really didn't have anything better to do, I drove him up the mountain.

Unfortunately, I never got to a hike, mostly because it was raining on and off, and I wasn't particularly interested in hiking in the rain. I did manage to get some decent pictures despite the weather. And blue skies and sunshine did sporadically appear for a few moments here and there. After dark, I headed back to the hotel, cooked some food in the room.

I'm a week into the trip now, and I'm surprised at how little time I have despite the leisurely pace. In addition to all the driving and visiting with friends and/or checking out the sites, I've found that keeping this blog up to date along the way takes more time than I expected. I'm also trying to learn all about Adobe's Camera Raw and how to best use my new Nikon D200. Of course, I'm not terribly use to being busy, so it could just all be relative.

Richmond/Raleigh

2006-10-10T15:40:02-04:00

Monday was an early start, which was good because I've been having trouble getting on an early morning schedule, which is better for the photography. I was on the road by 8 am, which is decent. When I get to the national parks, I hope to be ready to shoot by sunrise.

First order of business was breakfast. Until Sunday night, I'd been failing miserable at my goal of eating at small independent restaurants. I think I'll see more character of the place I happen to be at (not to mention characters) at non-chain restaurants. I did however plan all along to violate that goal in order to go to a Waffle House. I'd never been to one before, and I expected to see plenty of character there! I stopped at the Waffle House just south of Richmond, and was pleasantly surprised that the food did not suck; in fact it wasn't bad at all. And the place was indeed filled with characters.

Then I had the challenge of finding Callaville, which isn't on any map I've seen (now that I've been there, I've found it on Google Maps, but it didn't find it in a search). The house we lived in didn't have an address, and I believe was the only house in Callaville. Dad told me it was at the intersection of state roads 608 and 633. I was able to find 608 on the map, so I headed west on it. Along the way I saw lots of cotton fields, which was cool, since I'd never seen cotton fields before (that I can remember).

Fortunately I remembered enough to recognize when I was getting close. I spotted the gravel road that led to the house. I was a bit nervous about going onto the property, as there were pretty scary "no trespassing" signs at the entrance, and I was in territory where "shoot first, ask questions later" is a common philosophy. I took my chance, and as luck would have it I got there right as the current owner of the property was unloading his truck (where I imagine he probably had a shotgun). He eyed me from afar with much suspicion, but I gave a friendly wave as I neared. He warmed up a bit after I explained that I lived there as a little boy, and just wanted to take some pictures.

The house looked much different, which was partly because it has been 27 years since I'd seen it, and partly because it has in fact undergone some changes. In fact, I'd have suspected I had the wrong location if it weren't for the pump house being exactly where I remembered it being. The house itself is actually abandoned now. The current owner lives in a brand new double wide trailer which is sitting on the location that the guest house used to sit. The giant oak tree (which had a tire swing that provided endless entertainment for Reed and I) was gone, and the magnolia tree that Reed spent an entire afternoon in was also gone (because I took the ladder needed to climb down away while he was in the tree). The house is now blue instead of white, and is missing the large two story front porch. Of course the house looked much smaller than I remembered; and in fact the entire property looked smaller.

After taking pictures of the house, and the church down the road where I was baptized, I headed west to I-85, then continued south. I was determined to find a small town with a tiny diner for lunch. I stopped in Franklinton, NC, whose "downtown" was two blocks of mostly vacated buildings. I ate at City Lunch, which is only open during lunch hours. I couldn't resist a place that had a sign that said "Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior...", and it had all the character that I was looking for. The people were very friendly, and I had a very tasty grilled cheese with bacon and tomato.

From there I headed to Raleigh to visit with Betsy, and as luck would have it, we ended up going to Trisha's house for dinner, which is located in Franklinton just a few miles from City Lunch. It was good to see both the Neibert women, their significant others, and 11 month old Hanna. They made me feel guilty that I left my camera in the car back in Raleigh, and so they didn't make the photo blog.

Blacksburg/Richmond

2006-10-08T11:46:06-04:00

It is starting to feel a little like a road trip now, and I suspect over the next two days that will become even more true. I spent Thursday and Friday in Blacksburg, VA visiting with family. I had hoped to get more pictures, but the rain pretty much put the kibosh on that.

I stayed with my Aunt Sue, as I always do when I'm in Blacksburg. As usual, she kick my butt in Hell (called "Nerts", "Pounce", "Racing Demon" by anyone outside our family). We watched a bunch of bad tv shows, and generally complained about the crappy weather; but I enjoyed my visit with her.

I also visited with my Aunt Betty and Uncle Larry. Betty and I spent an afternoon going through old family photographs, and I got a bunch of the old family photo's I'd scanned onto Flickr labeled with names.

For the record: Several people have informed me that driving from Blacksburg to Richmond is the exact opposite direction of the way I want to be going. I assure you that I am not directionally challenged, and indeed was aware of this. It turns out that schedule-wise this worked better. The people I was visiting in Blacksburg are all retired, and hence are free during the week; however ALL of the people I am visiting in Richmond have jobs, and hence are more available on weekends. See, there is a method to my madness.

I did manage to get a few pictures of the Hokie turkeys around town on Thursday before the rain started. I'm having issues getting pictures taken with my new Nikon D200 to display correctly in browsers. From my limited research, it appears that the only browsers that correctly display JPG's with embedded color profiles are Safari and Opera for Macintosh. I've read some tips on how to work around this problem, but I've yet to get the solutions to work for me.... so during the meantime, if you can't view the pictures with one of those browsers, then they will look under-saturated or "washed out".

Time flies, and Saturday was time for me to pull up stakes and head to Richmond. Along the way, I stopped in Roanoke to see my cousin Martha and her two daughters. I wish I'd allowed for more time for that visit. The girls are absolutely adorable. Mary Willa is starting to shake the shyness, and even went for a ride with me without Mom. Of course, with little sister Maggie, who is possibly the most extroverted child I've ever met, Mary Willa has to be less shy or she'd never get noticed! At a coffee shop, 3 1/2 year old Maggie went up to stranger's table and put her arm around him. She is good entertainment. I look forward to visiting with Martha and kids again soon.

I arrived in Richmond and had dinner with my cousin Richard, his wife Cindy, and son Stephen. Unfortunately no pictures of them, as my point and shoot battery was dead, and I wasn't going to haul around the D200 to dinner! It was nice catching up with them, since it has been quite a while since we've seen each other.

Today I had lunch with my cousin Diane and her eighteen month old daughter Lily. Dinner was at the incredibly smokey Buffalo Wild Wings with friends Shannon and Jenn. Tomorrow I head out for Raleigh, and on the way I'm going to stop by the rural house I lived in as a child between the ages of 6-8. The town isn't on any map that I've seen, so it is pretty remote (well, as remote as it gets on the east coast). I'm excited to see it, since I haven't seen it since we left in 1979.

The Prologue

2006-10-05T06:59:28-04:00

The first day really isn't much to write about. It reminds me of the prologue in the Tour de France. The first 273 miles have been covered, but considering it was to Blacksburg, a trip I often do several times a year, does it really qualify as first day of the trip? I don't know, but let's call it the Prologue.

Despite Lon assuring me on Monday night that I would not be leaving on Wednesday, I did in fact leave. I wanted to leave at 9 am, but thanks to my remarkable procrastination skills, I didn't manage to get out of town until 2:25 pm. I was on the road for about 10 minutes before I realized I was heading for Richmond instead of Blacksburg. Not the best start one could hope for.

I had planned on driving along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park to check out some of the fall foliage; but my late departure nixed that. So, no pictures for the Prologue. Oh, and for the record, my beginning odometer read 20,846.

I'll be here in Blacksburg until Saturday morning. VA Tech has put little turkey statues all over town (Hokies), so I hope to get some pictures of them today.

Miles Driven: 273

First Half of Road Trip Schedule Posted

2006-09-26T13:23:20-04:00

As most friends and family know, I am setting out on a two month road trip across the country and back. I'll be putting some serious miles on the Prius. I've managed to put off planning the trip about as long as I can. In fact, up until a week ago I was going to depart today! Planning such a trip is not a trivial task, as everybody I'm going to visit along the way would like to know when I'm arriving on their doorstep. So there is a fine line between leaving the trip flexible enough that you can spend extra time where you want to, and being a pain to all your friends and family by not letting them know when you are arriving.

I've posted my best guess on what the schedule might be like through the month of October. There is still ambiguity on what I'll be doing between Huntsville and Wichita Falls. If I can't think of anything better, I guess I'll be checking out Bill Clinton's old stomping ground.

From Halloween on, I only have a rough idea of where I'll be going and when. I'm considering skipping LA. I've been unable to get in touch with my friend in LA, and I'll have already shifted to National Park mode by then... But I may still spend Halloween in LA. There must be lots of strange things to see that night in LA! After that I'll be going to Sequoia and Yosemite national parks. I'll hit San Francisco and Tahoe. Eventually I plan on ending up in Seattle, and from there I'll likely pick the pace up and do some serious driving back. I'd like to make it to Mechanicsburg for Thanksgiving.

Stay tuned, as I plan to update the website from the road, so people can travel with me vicariously. Here is a handy xml feed.

I Was Wrong

2006-09-01T05:54:31-04:00

Last year, I wrote that we'd be paying around $5/gallon by now. Obviously I was wrong. In fact, gas is at $2.85/gal, about 25 cents a gallon less today than it was a year ago. That is a good sign for the economy. Oil is just about exactly where it was a year ago. I guess oil production didn't peak last year after all.

Running My Own Numbers : The Myth of Inflation Adjusted Cost of Gasoline

2006-07-30T19:34:05-04:00

Most of us fall into the habit of not checking facts that have gained a certain level of credibility. This is nothing to be ashamed of, as most of us lead fairly busy lives, and we don't have time to double check the accuracy of everything we hear and read. None-the-less, I decided a while back, that I'd do a better job of looking into the accuracy of common quoted facts, and sometimes I've done better than other.

At a recent family reunion, I got into a discussion with some of my relatives about oil. A few of my relatives are either in the oil business, or retired from it. I didn't press any of my issues too strongly, as it isn't good for harmony at a family reunion. I was however disappointed that I didn't hear anything very different from what I've read from official sources in the oil industry. I'm not implying that they lied to me, but I believe they honestly believe these things... such as, there is plenty of oil; new technology will provide decades of relatively cheap oil; oil is still cheaper than it was in 1981 when adjusted for inflation.

Ah, inflation. First let me stress that I am not an economics professional, nor do I play one on TV. I admit freely that I could be misinterpreting the data that I'm about to share with you; but I'd argue that common sense seems to be on my side. So what about inflation? It seems this is something that is very often "spun" by the press, industries, and governments. For the sake of this discussion, I'm really only concerned with the assertion that seems to be common held as fact that oil is cheaper today than it was in 1981 when adjusted for inflation. Take a look at price comparisons in the table below.

Description	1981	2006	% Change
1st Class Stamp	$0.18	$0.39	116.7%
1 Gallon, Unleaded Regular	$1.400	$2.947	110.5%
Barrel of Oil	$37.	$74.	100%
Dozen Eggs, Grade A, large	$0.836	$1.206	44.3%
1 lb. Chicken Breast, bone-in	$1.447	$2.053	41.9%
1 lb. Coffee, 100% ground roast	$2.538	$3.349	32.0%
1 lb. Long Grained White Rice	$0.575	$0.549	-4.5%

Most of this data was obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the months of May 1981 and May 2006. I was unable to find a single source of information for Barrels of Oil for both those time periods so I used a rough estimate obtained from multiple sources.

I admit this is only a cursory analysis, but it illustrates a point. I could only find one item's cost that grew more than gasoline since May 1981. That was the cost of a 1st class stamp. I'd argue that the cost of fuel plays a huge role in the cost of a 1st class stamp, which could explain why it's increase exceeds the increase in gasoline. Of course, the price of gasoline affects the prices of nearly all our goods and services, so you'd have to attribute some of the increase in the other items listed above to the increase in fuel costs.

Unfortunately finding historical data for prices is not easy. I would have liked to have compared more items, such as the newsstand price of a major newspaper, the average cost of a certain class of automobile, the cost of admission to a feature film, the cost of an X-ray, a gallon of milk, etc.

I'll once again mention that I'm not an economics professional, but common sense would say that oil is indeed at its most expensive in 2006, even when adjusted for inflation. I don't understand the complexities of how the Department of Labor calculates annual inflation. And I recognize that it is quite possible the people who claim oil is cheaper today than it was in 1981 when adjusted for inflation are correct. It just doesn't appear so to me.

I suspect if I'm correct, then it has something to do with the fact that energy costs (specifically oil) must play a major role in determining the rate of inflation. If this is indeed true, that energy is weighted heavier than other items when determining what the rate of inflation is, then it "favors" energy. Imagine oil was the only item considered when determining the rate of inflation. You can't then turn around and say, "See, oil is the same price today was it was in 1981 when adjusted for inflation". That doesn't make any sense. I see it as being analogous to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle... you can't calculate an accurate view of inflation without heavily weighting the importance of oil, but by this action you skew the usefulness of using inflation data when comparing historical prices for oil.

2008 Dodge Challenger

2006-07-03T18:51:36-04:00

I guess something has to balance out the success of the hybrids... Looks like this beast will probably get single digit fuel economy in the city... http://www.stockmopar.com/2008-dodge-challenger.html

Priming the Pump

2006-06-13T15:34:55-04:00

Bank of America, Google, and Timberland are all offering their employees cash rebates if they buy hybrid vehicles. The rebate ranges from $3000 for Bank of America and Timberland to $5000 for Google. An employee, if eligible (Bank of America currently restricts which locations participate in the plan), from one of those companies, could also receive in excess of $3000 in the form of government tax credits. For example, a Google employee could purchase a brand new 2006 Toyota Prius, and get $8,150 back. If that doesn't make it cost effective to purchase a hybrid, I don't know what will. I'm thrilled to see companies doing this. These incentives are solving the age old problem of the early adoption costs preventing a new technology from being able to achieve economies of scale in a timely manner. It is priming the pump (pun intended) on the economies of scale needed for these new vehicles to be offered at a competitive price without rebates and tax credits. Read more here.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

2006-06-06T20:58:10-04:00

Dad spotted this trailer, and forwarded me the link... it is a documentery asking what happened to those electric cars that showed so much promise in the mid-90's. It opens June 28th.

Scanning Fiend

2006-05-24T08:52:53-04:00

Since Saturday, I've scanned nearly 7 GB of old negatives. Precisely, I've scanned 7,364,231,105 bytes. It occurred to me, that my first "real" computer, a Macintosh SE/30 came with an upgraded hard drive (I'm not counting the Atari 800 or the Commodore 128). It was 80 MB, as opposed to the standard 40 MB. Since saturday, I've scanned enough data, to fill that 80 MB drive over 87 times! It is amazing how much things have changed in 16 years (yikes, has it been that long). I'm starting to sound like a grown up who talks about the good old days. BTW, I've processed very few of those scans yet, but when I do, you can expect to see them on Flickr.

Just Drill More

2006-05-08T16:40:38-04:00

The Peak Oil disbelievers often claim that if we'd only invest more money in oil discovery, we'd have 25 or more years before a peak. Recently the UK's energy minister made such a claim (read more). I keep hearing this argument, but I've yet to hear an explanation of why one should expect so much undiscovered oil. Are there respected geologists who have scientific reasons to suspect there are still large discoveries to be made? Perhaps there is such a scientific explanation, but I haven't heard it. It sounds to me, that these optimists are relying on faith rather than facts. I'd rather see the investment in research in renewable energy. In the meantime, our government should provide incentives for energy conservation. I'd love to know how much the US spends each year on oil drilling as opposed to renewable energy research.

Forget Hybrids, Let's Go Completely Electric

2006-05-06T06:08:49-04:00

I'd love to see some of the billionaire's in the electronics/software industry sponsor an annual zero emissions race with a healthy prize. I don't know if this is still a true statement today or not, but at one time NASCAR was the fastest growing sport in America. I'm sure you could market a zero emissions race to these folks, and get back some of the money invested in the event. You may say, "but Ryan, that would be a very boring race to watch." Perhaps the first year or so, but maybe not. Ian Wright's X1 prototype recently beat a Ferrari 360 Spider and a Porsche Carrera GT in drag races, and has the 2nd fastest 0-to-60 acceleration among production autos in the world. Read more here. Competition is what will bring about change the fastest. So why doesn't Bill Gates, Paul Allen, or somebody sponsor an annual race? I'm sure they could use the tax write-off!

Prius Groupies and Smugness

2006-05-01T10:21:41-04:00

Over the past week, I must have heard the same poll quoted a dozen times that found that 90% of Americans believe our government needs to do something to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It was really annoying me because based on the number SUV's I see on the road, a large number of that 90% must be hypocrites. Right? Well, maybe, but maybe not.

A friend of mine told me that I wasn't following SUV sales closely enough, and said that SUV sales were down last year. That may be true, but as of today, a Google News search reveals the following headlines:

So it is unclear whether Americans are prepared to take the action necessary to support their own desire to get off of foreign oil. Those headlines are enough for me to still consider many SUV drivers hypocrites. But an interesting thing began happening on Friday. I started getting approached by what I'm going to call "Prius Groupies". On Friday and Sunday, I had total strangers ask me a bunch of questions about my Prius. "How many miles can you go without re-filling?" or "Is it true they [overcharge] you when the battery dies?" One of them was an SUV driver.

Regardless of whether these people decide to become more conservative with their energy usage or not, at least they are thinking about it. I have to say it makes me optimistic. It is a step. It is the first sign I've seen first hand, that people might start taking our need to change our habits seriously.

It might even make me a little bit smug. But not much really. I thought the South Park episode titled "Smug Alert" was hysterical. All my friends know where I stand on oil policy, but I don't think I come across smug. I'm just really concerned. Last week, before I even knew about that South Park episode, a woman said to me "You must be laughing at all the people paying so much for gas," to which I replied, "I'm not laughing, I'm crying." Maybe I'm a little too high on my horse, but you got to stand up for what you believe in.

End of Empire

2006-04-23T16:47:07-04:00

I found an Irish website today that has a pretty graph that illustrate the looming oil shortage. In addition to that pretty graph, there is an opinion page forecasting the USA Empire to be the fastest to fall in history. Quite possible I imagine, although there isn't much fact to back up the statement and I am no scholar of empires, so I couldn't tell you which empire fell the fastest. I'm not sure if this opinion is widely held outside the USA, but I suspect it might. I have one Irish friend living in America who made the comment, "This is a fascinating time to be living in America, it isn't every day that you get to witness the sinking of the Titanic."

Oil Shoots Over $75 per Barrel

2006-04-21T15:48:52-04:00

Crude Oil climbed to over $75/barrel today. That is almost a 25% increase from what it cost a month ago! It is also 8% higher than the highs we experienced last summer blamed on hurricane Katrina. Will we see $80 oil next week?

Here are some articles in the news today...

Peak Oil Passnotes: It's All About OPEC Stupid, Not
Resource Investor - Herndon,VA,USA
[...It is true that China and India are sucking up more crude and refined product, but they are still miniscule consumers compared to the big boys, the United States and the European Union countries...]

Peak Oil And The Political Economy Of Terrorism
CounterCurrents.org - India
This is one of the more extreme views of the world ahead of us. Lately I've come to believe this probably won't be the situation in the near term, but it certainly isn't outside the realm of possibility.

Changing our habits could ease peak oil problems
South Bend Tribune - South Bend,IN,USA
[...Why are we in Iraq? Why are we building military bases in the various "stans" of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, etc.)? Why is Hugo Chavez of Venezuela becoming so important to our leaders in Washington? Because that's where the oil is...]

NZ Prime Minister out of the closet on Peak Oil
Scoop.co.nz (press release) - New Zealand
[...This week Helen Clark, New Zealandâ€™s Prime Minister joined a rapidly growing but exclusive club, the penny has obviously dropped â€“ she openly admitted the real reasons behind high oil prices, â€œbecause we're probably not too far short of peak production, if we're not already thereâ€...]

Soon We'll Be Comparison Shopping For Fuel

2006-04-21T08:31:20-04:00

My father clued me into a handy page that allows you to find cheap gas near you. Unfortunately, the only browser that will load this page on my Macintosh is the now unsupported Internet Explorer, which I nearly never launch. Bummer. I know there are other sites out there that attempt to provide the same information, but I haven't found any that are as complete as this one. I suppose this one is pretty complete.

I think mapgasprices.com shows some promise, but for now it is a bit rough around the edges.

Peak Oil News, April 20

2006-04-20T17:07:46-04:00

Just a few articles in the news today...

The Peak Oil Crisis : Politics After the Peak
Falls Church News Press - Falls Church,VA,USA
The future politics of peak oil are discussed in this article. I can't say there is much news in the article, but it made at least a couple good points. I agree with the author's belief that America is concerned about our foreign dependence on oil, but is not ready to suffer the hardships needed in order to reduce that dependence. It loses some credibility though of declaring President Jimmy Carter as one of the most prescient presidents to hold the office.

Debate intensifies about fuel alternatives as oil prices rise
ABC Online - Australia
Another article discussing the politics of peak oil. As with the Falls Church News Press article mentioned above, it is suggested that taxes on oil be increased rather than decreased. You almost never hear me support the creation or increase of any taxes, but in this case it may just make sense.

"Peak Oil and the Environment" Conference To Address World's Most Pressing Challenges
Environmental News Network (press release) - San Rafael,CA,USA
[...A three-day conference on sustaining the planet in the 21st century convenes in Washington D.C. May 7-9 to address the implications of two overlapping crises...]

Oil Hits All Time High

2006-04-19T03:47:55-04:00

Looks like summer oil prices are back. Yesterday, Oil hit its all time high ($71.60/barrel). Read more about it here.

Family History

2006-03-28T19:25:25-05:00

So how have I been wasting my time the past few days? I've been putting up tons of genealogy information on the www.sandridge.org website. And after all this time, I still can't answer the question of where do I come from. Best guess right now is mostly English, and perhaps as much as 1/4 German. I can't tell you how relieved I was when I discovered that my Cole heritage was English rather than French (as previously suspected).

Verizon Is Evil

2006-01-21T22:26:05-05:00

I did a google search to see if "verizon is evil" turned up my never completed www.verizonisevil.com website (it didn't), and I stumbled across this hysterical link: www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/cellphones/verizon-is-evil-111492.php

Expert Testimony on Peak Oil

2005-12-09T12:52:35-05:00

US House of Representatives' Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee heard testimony from Robert W. Esser, CERA Senior Consultant and Director, Global Oil and Gas Resources at Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) on December 7th, 2005. His testimony can be found at www.globalpublicmedia.com/articles/586.

Esser downplays the concerns, by saying that the "world is not running out of oil in near or medium term". He further says that we will not experience a "peak", but an "undulating plateau" in three to four decades from now.

Yet, despite many of the things he says to relieve our concerns are offset by other parts of his testimony, where he paints a picture of hardship in the coming years. He says "meeting the energy needs of a growing world in an environmentally-sound fashion will be a major challenge." He goes on to say "many significant risks to production capacity loom on the horizon." But he downplays these concerns because he says they are risks "above the ground" rather than lack of oil. I say, who cares why we can't get the oil, it is these looming risks that could send us into global recession.

He concedes that oil from non-OPEC sources will peak, and begin to decline by 2010. This will put the world at the mercy of OPEC's whims. Despite saying early in the testimony that an "undulating plateau" would occur in three to four decades from now, he then says that there is no evidence of a "peak" before 2020, just 14 years from now.

Certainly it seems possible that a "peak" could be further away than many radical activists suggest, it seems that this expert, Esser, can't say much to convince me that we won't see oil production disruptions in the coming years.

Energy Secretary Concerned About Peak Oil

2005-12-02T10:04:58-05:00

USA Today published another article about Peak Oil. It appears that Energy Secretary Samual Bodman would like the National Petroleum Council to look into Peak Oil claims.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2005-11-24-peak-oil-usat_x.htm

Notes on Building a HTPC (part 2)

2005-11-07T07:52:41-05:00

I finally got around to purchasing the parts for the HTPC. In part one I laid out my requirements and several links to sites to aid in HTPC building. I should mention that HTPC News recently reviewed a pre-built HTPC (DMS 701) from 2Partsfusion. I was tempted to just save the hassle and buy one of those. Their website allows a high degree of customization of your system. In the end, I figured, I got the time, and by building it myself, I'll have learned something. Also, I believe I'll save at least $500 by building it myself, as the 2partsfusion systems are not cheap.

Here are the parts I have ordered:

Component	Part Description	Price
Case	Uneed X11 Case with VFD and Card Reader	$291.90
Power Supply	SilverStone SST-400 400W	$48.00
Motherboard	DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D ATX AMD Motherboard	$125.00
CPU	AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice (ADA3200BPBOX)	$152.00
CPU Cooling	SilverStone Nitrogon SST-NT01 v2.0 Fanless Heatpipe CPU Cooler	$42.00
Memory	(2) 512MB PC3200 2-2-2-6 UNBUFFERED NON-ECC DDR400 2.8V Memory	$136.79
Video	GeForce 6600 GT PCI Express 128MB DDR3 Video Card	$142.00
SD Capture Card	Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-500MCE dual analog tuner (bundled w/ Windows XP MCE)	$269.95
HD Capture Card	FusionHDTV5 Lite	$99.00
Main Storage	Seagate Barracuda SATA-150 80GB Hard Drive	$57.50
Media Storage	Seagate Barracuda SATA-150 250GB Hard Drive	$109.99
DVD Player/Burner	Pioneer IDE DVD Burner Model DVR-110DBK	$41.99
Input	Gyration Go Mouse/Keyboard Suite	$108.94
Subtotal		$1,625.06
VA Sales/Use Tax		$81.25
Shipping		$47.63
TOTAL		$1,753.94

I started with choosing the case. I wanted something that would fit in as much as possible with Home Theater gear. I didn't want it to look like a computer in my living room. I had it narrowed down between the Uneed X11 (Uneed has recently changed their name to Origen) and the Ahanix MCE601. In may ways I liked the Ahanix better, but it came with a non-standard power supply, so I went to the X11.

For motherboard I probably went a bit overboard for my needs. I did want PCI Express x16 for my video card, and dual channel memory. I had recently read a review of the DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D, so it seemed as good of a choice as any. I'm very much hoping that the on-board audio is as good as reviewed, since I'm currently not planning on purchasing a separate sound card. It also has built in Gigabit Ethernet, which I may actually make use of.

I may have gone a bit cheap on CPU, but it seemed that to get much better performance from CPU, you had to spend 3-4 times as much. To really get high end performance you are looking at spending over 6 times more. Also, from what I've read, there are a wide range of opinions on how much power you need for a HTPC. I read one source that said simply upscaling a lower resolution recording to 1080P takes about all the computing power of a 2 GHz CPU. Well, if this is indeed the case, then I will anticipate updating the CPU down the road, because I'd like to use FFDShow to further enhance display.

The rest of the choices were fairly straight forward. Low latency RAM to enhance gaming experience. Dual standard definition hardware encoding TV tuners, and a high definition tuner. The video card falls in the same category as the CPU, you have to really start spending more to get better performance.

As for storage, I had planned on getting two 160GB Seagate Barracuda's (one of my few brand loyalties), but I have an 80GB Barracuda which is no longer being used, so I'll cannibalize that one, and buy the 250GB Barracuda. The more I think about this, I like it even better. The 80GB drive will serve as the main storage for the operating system, applications, and perhaps one media type (either music or photographs). Then the 250GB becomes pretty much dedicated to DVR media storage. And why Seagate Barracuda? Well, they are just so damn quiet and reliable.

So what am I missing? I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I am not sure if the X11 case comes with a case fan or not. I'm suspecting I may need to buy a big quiet 120mm case fan, but for testing purposes I'll run with the lid off which should provide enough ventilation. And beyond that, I'll probably find other gotchas when I start assembling. I need a remote control I know. In part 3 I'll discuss my successes and failures in building this system.

Communications Companies

2005-10-22T11:14:53-04:00

It never ceases to amaze me how poorly communications companies communicate with themselves and customers. I was tired of paying 10 cents per text message, and I received a promotional flyer with my bill this month that gives me a "MEdia" package for $9.99. I get 200 Text/IM's, 40 Picture/Video, and 1MB "MEdia Net" wireless internet. The promotional flyer further said "Get Unlimited Messaging and MEdia Net usage for the first month when you sign up for MEdia Basic."

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, I called up my kinda friendly customer service rep, who proceeded to tell me that she knew nothing about unlimited usage the first month. She kept asking me where I was reading this. I kept telling her it was a promotional flyer that came with my bill. I even offered helpful hints like, "The flyer is dated October 2005, and it has a code that may help you find the promotion in your computer system." No luck, she basically said, well, if you get billed for it, you can always fax us the flyer and we'll credit your account. Sigh. Yes, I'm talking about Cingular... Yes I still think they are a superior customer experience than Verizon. And yes, they suck too. After all these years, Lily Tomlin still has the phone company pegged.

Peak Oil in USA Today

2005-10-21T09:53:07-04:00

Peak Oil found its way into mainstream press. Monday, October 17th's issue of USA Today, had an article titled "Debate brews: Has oil production peaked?" appear on the front page! I felt the article was fairly even handed, as it contained both sides of the argument. What I find most important is the debate is becoming mainstream. I can't count how often I talk to somebody about Peak Oil, and they look at me and say, "Huh?" Hopefully this article will help fuel the debate.

For some reason I can't seem to get any links to work on USA Today's website today, but assuming that gets fixed, you should be able to read the article here.

Blow the Whistle on Asthma

2005-09-29T06:47:04-04:00

Did you know that asthma is the leading chronic illness among children and the cause of more than 5,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. I'm sure many people are unaware of the devastating effects of this chronic lung disease. I myself was diagnosed with asthma at the age of 2.

Therefore, I have signed up as a participant in the American Lung Association of DC' 2005 Blow the Whistle on Asthma Walk, scheduled for October 8th at Gallaudet University. I have set a personal fundraising goal of $1000.00 to help the Lung Association in its fight against asthma, and I would appreciate a pledge of support to help me reach this goal.

In addition to participating in the walk, I will match all of my pledges until I've reached my goal. So please contribute regardless of the size of your contribution.

Please visit my personal web page and follow the instructions to pledge your support of this worthy cause. I would appreciate any contribution you decide to make.

www.mrsnv.com/evt/e01/part.jsp?rid=363555&id=708&acct=2153010561

My Gracious Supporters

Jerry & Lenora Sandridge
Ted & Kay Sandridge
Scott Quillen
Reed Sandridge
Matt O'Connell
Tim Dorman
Keith Jansma
Elizabeth Brewer
Paula Briggs
Mike Stein
Martha Foy

Furniture Selection

2005-09-28T10:48:13-04:00

Here is some furniture that I'm considering.

Living Room

Media/TV

Sofas
Bookcase

Dining Room

Dining Table

Madison Extension Table

Dining Chairs

Galerie Dining Chair

Upstairs Guest Bedroom
Downstairs Guest Bedroom

Paying for the Spanish American War

2005-09-16T12:25:42-04:00

Did you know everytime you talk on your phone you are paying for the Spanish American War? It was a war fought over 100 years ago and lasted less than a year? Well, of course that isn't actually true; but the law enabling the Federal government to tax your phone bill was intended to be a "luxury tax" on the very weathly (the only one's who owned phones in 1898) to help pay for the war.

Read all about it here.

Using an Appropriate Deflator When Calculating Oil Prices

2005-09-02T10:40:58-04:00

On Economist.com's site in their fee-based premium area, there is an article comparing the current oil crisis to the ones in 1973-74, 1978-80 and 1989-90. Essentially, it is an analysis of why we haven't experienced the recession as we did those other occasions. There are some good points made; however I believe the recession is still coming. In fact, their prime explanation agrees with the general opinion presented in the book The Oil Factor, by Donna & Stephen Leeb. The thought is that while oil has tripled in price over the past 4 years, that it has been gradual enough to prevent a recession. In fact, the Leeb book suggests that oil needs to rise over 80% in 12 months time in order to facilitate a recession.

On August 31st, 2004... Light Sweet Crude Oil closed at $42.12. A year later, it closed at $68.94. That is up about 64%. It won't take much to push the 12 month increase above the 80% threshold. There is another thing to note that the article nor the book mentioned. What are the effects of a sustained high increase in energy costs? Annual increase of 50% or more has been the norm the past few years, it may be possible that such a sustained rise in prices could facilitate a recession without hitting the 80% mark.

But what I found most interesting in the article, was the discussion on which deflator to use when comparing oil to historical prices. People who are skeptical of the Peak Oil crisis are quick to point out that oil is cheaper than it was in the 70's crisis when adjusted for inflation. This fact is arrived at by using the American Consumer Price Inflation data. The Economist article speaks of 2 other deflators, both of which they argue are more realistic. If you use the American Producer prices data, we are equal to the highs set in the 70's. Furthermore, if you use World Export prices, which they argue are most appropriate to use, we have far exceeded the prices set in the 70's.

Gas in Georgia over $5/gallon

2005-09-02T10:13:50-04:00

As a result of Katrina, some fuel stations in the state of Georgia are charging over $5/gallon for petrol (see this Economist article).

Certainly there is some price gouging due to Katrina, but it is the tight supply situation that has enabled the gouging. Oil production has just barely been able to keep up with demand in recent months, and there is no room for disasters such as Katrina. The same article mentions that we are borrowing petrol from the Europeans' reserve (very nice of them I might add), because our country only stockpiles crude oil, and not petrol.

Pump Prices Jump Over 6% Today

2005-09-01T17:52:25-04:00

Yesterday, gasoline prices at the corner station were $2.90, $3.00 & $3.10. Today, prices took a massive jump (over 6%) to $3.10, $3.20 & $3.30. Prices at the same station 3 months ago were $2.25, $2.35 & $2.45. Prices are up 35% since the beginning of June, and yet I still have friends who believe Peak Oil is a hoax, or an exaggeration, or simply foolish talk.

Yes, I'm aware that Hurricane Katrina is being blamed for the most recent spike, and I'm sure some of it is, but I doubt we'll see gas at June's prices ever again. Next year we'll be paying around $5/gallon.

Empty Nest

2005-09-01T10:42:46-04:00

The last of my red eared slider turtles were adopted today. Helga and the remaining two children went to a private fenced in pond in Florida. I am sad to see them go, but over the past year or so, I've not been very good about taking care of them properly, so this will be much better.

I found their new home by placing them for adoption at www.turtlehomes.org . If you'd like to see pictures of their new home, check out www.pkrattery.com/turtlepondhabitat.html.

The shipping process was quite awful.... I packed them into plastic-ware with wet paper towels. Despite all the holes I cut into the containers, I still don't know how they managed to not suffocate! In any case, they first to Ohio (DHL's sort facility), then they arrived alive around noon today. Now they have a huge pond with about 40 other turtles to keep them busy.

Gas Prices Humor

2005-08-29T06:04:05-04:00

After Oil: Powering the Future

2005-08-20T16:34:11-04:00

The August 2005 issue of National Geographic has an article titled "After Oil: Powering the Future". You can view the entire article at plasma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0508/feature1/fulltext.html.

Ways of Searching

2005-08-17T14:19:43-04:00

Here are some other ways to search the web:

To Find Info About...	...Check Here
Bargain Shopping	www.pricegrabber.com
Government	www.firstgov.gov
Government	www.google.com/unclesam
Health	www.medlineplus.gov
Health	www.webmd.com
Law	www.nolo.com
Movies/TV	www.imdb.com
News	www.topix.net
News	www.npr.org
Reference	www.refdesk.com
Words	www.onelook.com

For more general searching, try these

www.google.com
www.dogpile.com
www.vivisimo.com
Yahoo! Shortcuts

Notes on Building a HTPC

2005-08-17T13:39:17-04:00

As if I didn't have enough unfinished projects to keep me busy (no, I still don't have furniture), I've decided to build my own Home Theater PC (HTPC). This page will contain links I found useful, as well as my notes on my particular HTPC. Enjoy!

Requirements

Aesthetics - Needs to look like a home theater component, not a computer
Output Capabilities - Output high definition (HDTV) video and pass through 5.1 audio (both Dolby Digital and DTS).
PVR - Should have all standard PVR features, such as timeshifting, live tv pause, interactive program guide, etc. Two tuners to allow recording of one channel while watching (or recording) another. At least one tuner should be able to tune HDTV broadcasts
Audio Library - This one is easy.... just install iTunes and move music library to HTPC. I can't wait to get the iTunes visualizer going on my yet to be purchased big screen TV
Photo Library - Store all my photographs on this server as well. Need slideshow capability. Coming from the Mac world and iPhoto, I need to find a decent application to handle this.
Storage - To facilitate the PVR and Audio Library requirements, I'll need lots of fast storage (don't forget some tv data will be HDTV). Rule of thumb is about 8-10GB/hour for HDTV, and 1-2 GB/hour for regular tv. I'd like a minimum of 24 hours of storage for tv alone. If all 24 hours is HDTV, that would take approximately 240 GB just for TV. Throw in an additional 80 GB for photos, music, and software, and we need at least 320 GB.
Archiving - Ability to burn DVD's of recorded shows for longer term storage
Gaming - I want to eliminate the need for my Window's gaming machine in my office. Choosing a version of Windows should allow this. Also, take care in choosing video card that can handle gaming needs
Internet - Want to surf from my couch... this should be a freebie
Remotes - Need ability to control the HTPC wirelessly. I'd like a remote for simple tasks, but also need a keyboard for surfing.
QUIET - this thing better be cooled quietly... I don't want to hear the whine of fans during quiet parts of movies.

Extras (non essential wish list)

On Screen Caller ID
WiFi sharing (the box will be connected using cat5 ethernet, but would be nice if the box doubled as an access point)
Card Reader - for reading CompactFlash and the likes.... I don't know why I put this here, I have yet to need one since I just connect my camera to the computer
Home Security Integration - I've got a wireless webcam that I haven't been using... so at a minimum, integrate that into the system.
Home Automation - maybe as simple as installing some X10 software... I really don't think I need this.

General Links

htpcnews.com - Contains guides, forums, and reviews.
AVS Forum - More forums.
byopvr.com - Contains guides, forums, and reviews.
HTPC Vocabulary
Windows MCE pre-built HTPC's - If you want it all built for you in a pretty package, here is a list of retailers

How To Articles

HTPCNews' Building an AMD64 HTPC for around thousand dollars - Nice detail.
Brian's 320GB MythTV HDTV HTPC DVD Burner
EFF's HDTV-PVR Cookbook - These two go well together if you want a Linux based HDTV HTPC. I'm probably going to use Windows Media Edition so that I can play more games.
Building a Uneed X11 System - Part 1 - I like this case, and this thread discusses building a system around this case.
Extreme Tech's HOWTO - Pretty good article.
Building a Home Theater PC - Part 1
Building a Home Theater PC - Part 2 - This is old, but still useful. Could be useful for someone building a HTPC on a tight budget. The author claims can be done for less than $600, but I question the quality of such a HTPC.

Reviews

HTPC Frontend roundup - This link had me leaning towards Windows MCE for a while... but I think I'll give the open source and free MediaPortal a try first.

So that about wraps up the project overview. Be sure to read part two where I discuss the actual parts that I will purchase.

Welcome

2005-08-16T11:56:59-04:00

Welcome to my newly redesigned website. Yes, I have too much spare time. Now that I'm using Drupal, a content management system (CMS), I plan to be updating the site a bit more frequently. Just as Joe's site is not a blog, neither will be mine... actually, I hope mine is even less of a blog than his, but I make no promises. Yes, I'm finally moving out of the last century, and into the new one with dynamicly created pages, rather than old static ones. I expect things will be broken often and look dull for a while until I get things in order. In the meantime, you can still access my old website at ryan.sandridge.org/old_site. Feel free to register. Right now it won't offer you many benefits, but eventually there will be content only available to friends and family.

Building Improved iTunes Web View

2005-08-08T15:44:50-04:00

I've spent the past few days working on importing my iTunes xml file into a MySQL database, and setting up PHP code to view the database. Learned the hard way after at least an hour trying to figure out why one of my global variables kept retaining its old values after doing an unset on it. Turns out you can't just unset them in the normal way. You have to:

unset($GLOBALS['variable']);

How peculiar. I also discovered TextWrangler this weekend. I've always known about it, but was so disenchanted with Bare Bones after they made BBEdit a complicated mess and started charging for it. But TextWrangler has gone back to the BBEdit fundamentals. If you'd like to see my work in progress, check out this page.