The Pre-Read

Rough Seas

I remember some years ago hearing of a boat off the coast of San Diego that was sunk by a Rogue Wave. I don't think I knew what that meant, and I had visions of a giant tidal wave hitting the ship much like the movie version in the original Poseidon Adventure.

But rogue waves are apparently more common than I thought. And even if there weren't rogue waves, there is apparently stormy seas that can cause a ship to lose an engine.

Here is video of a cruise ship heading back to Argentina from a failed journey to Antarctica. Apparently the seas were so rough that they not only lost an engine, but also communications for a time.

Everyone on board is reported to be safe, but just looking at that makes me sea sick.

I was thinking about a cruise sometime next year...but with rogue waves, storms and losing engines (a recent Carnival Cruise ship lost an engine while on the coast of Mexico just last month) maybe I'll stick staying at home.

 

 

Riverboat Gambler

One of the great things about therapy is not always being so melancholy. One of the bad things about therapy is not always being so melancholy.

Life, is a series of choices isn't it?

I came across this first video... Okay, I searched for the first video and am glad I found it. There was a time when listening to this song would take me back many years; a school gymnasium, a sanctuary to the pouring rain outside. A tin star that we all wore and "K" a woman who was warm, and funny, cute and wonderful. And caught the eye of "S".

It was a time I used to remember with both fondness and sadness. Okay, not sadness really, but an aching melancholy.

The song is still fun to listen to, but now the images are free of the emotional baggage that seem to be doing just fine outside. In the rain.

I still love this song. And as I've changed, I guess so has the artist. It isn't that one version is better than the other, it's just that they're different, just like Terence Trent D'arby, and Sananda Maitreya. And me.

Lazy Days Of Summer

I can remember the summers when I was little. The roughly three months between one school year and the next meant I could do anything I wanted, or nothing. My best friend and I usually did a little of both.

But as the months turned to weeks and then days, we tried to cram as much as we could into the little time we had left. The thought that soon, our vacation would be over and it would be school "full time" until Christmas break was a sobering one. It was as if life would stop soon, and then it would be school and homework and we wouldn't be able to come up for air until the next time we had a school holiday.

Of course now it's truer than ever, but I try to make the most of my weekends these days. And by "make the most" I mean to do as little as possible. 

That's not entirely true I guess, but it's close to the truth.

It's Sunday and I have a ton of work in front of me this week. Some of which I should have prepared for this weekend.  There's some reading I need to do, some breakdowns I need to make and it would sure make an easier Monday if I hadn't spent most of my weekend relaxing doing nothing.

Of course this means that today and tonight will be spent, trying to cram as much as I possibly can to make sure tomorrow isn't as crazy as it could be.  But I'm sure somewhere in there I'll also try to find a little bit of time to figure out if I'm taking a real vacation this year, or just a couple of long weekends.

In a very convoluted way I ended up in Europe last year and, with the exception of a nasty spill in Paris, had a great time.

And while I know you can't repeat the past, I'm thinking about London again, and one other city, but haven't decided on which city yet.

Or maybe a couple of long weekends closer to home. There are parts of the United States I still haven't seen, and a vacation at "home" might be a good idea. And I've always wanted to go back to the south, but I hear some parts of it are still in poor shape after Katrina.

So it'll be work today and tonight, a little reading, a little scheduling, and maybe I'll fit in a little contemplating and a little relaxing. After all, it's still summer.

The Final Frontier

I watched with anticipation today, wondering if the Space Shuttle would lift off.  It didn't.  They're going to try again tomorrow.

Being a Science Fiction fan, I love stuff having to do with space and space travel. I'm not as big of a fan (read geek) as my friend Mark who took one of those 'vomit rocket' trips to experience weightlessness. But I'm still a fan, and enough about Mark.

While I love things having to do with space flight, I'm also a big chicken. I've written before that I'm probably not the bravest person around so I was watching with more apprehension than anticipation, I guess, the proposed flight today.

The reason being, that while NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has given the all clear for the Shuttle to fly, two others, Bryan O'Connor, NASA's chief safety officer, and chief engineer Christopher Scolese recommended, two weeks ago, that the shuttle not fly until further design changes are made to 34 areas on the fuel tank known as ice-frost ramps.

Add to that the failure today of a heater that keeps propellant from freezing in a firing thruster and you gotta wonder if the Shuttle isn't past its prime.

Of course I want to see the Shuttle fly, I want to see us back on the moon, or even attempting a manned trip to Mars. But I want it to be done without losing lives.

I know, I know, space travel is inherently dangerous, and few discoveries are achieved without some loss. But I can't help but wonder if you know you have a problem, and that problem isn't fixed yet, then why not wait until it is.

Oh, and the reason for the scrubbing of the mission today? Weather. Bad weather. And what about the heater failure. Well, NASA managers decided to waive a requirement that four such thrusters work properly at launch, believing the astronauts could work around the problem in orbit.

Koln

Wow would I love to say that I took a ton of photographs and visited a lot of tourist attractions when I was in Cologne. But I would be lying.

My trip to the city on the Rhine was spent mostly visiting a friend, an ex-pat who has now made this place his home.  It was a great visit, and he and his partner have a great apartment that sits right on the famous river. My time there was spent meeting their friends, going for coffee and drinking Kolsch, the locally brewed beer.

The flight to Cologne was pretty bumpy and looking out the window I noticed snow covered most of the landscape. This made me very happy; as it doesn’t snow in Southern California, well, not in the part I live anyway. And playing in the snow sounded fun.

But just as we were descending, the ground turned winter brown and the snow disappeared.  I later learned that because the river runs along the city, the temperature is a little warmer than other parts of the country. A little warmer meant a couple of degrees Celsius. But enough to make snowfall an event that occurs only a couple of times throughout the winter.

Well, weren’t my friends surprised when, on my second day there, it snowed. And not just a little snow, but consistent big flakes of snow. I was in heaven; I ran outside (much to the chagrin of my friends) and played in it. I made a few snowballs but was left throwing them at street signs and such as I was warned that any attempted snowball fight would be met with disfavor.

The city is beautiful, the people nice and the cathedral in the city center is spectacular. It reminds me of the cathedral at the hilltop castle at Prague. Somehow this one is even more impressive though, I think because it sits in the center of town. I couldn’t help but be moved by the sheer grandeur of it. 

Much of Germany suffered the effects of the Second World War, and Cologne is no different. You can see the devastation in this photo featuring the 82^nd Airborne’s Cpl. Luther E. Boger, of Concord, N.C. The cathedral, thankfully, was one of the buildings that managed to escape destruction.

My trip to Cologne capped my Le Petit Tour of Europe. But it was a perfect ending to a fun vacation. I met a lot of my friends’ friends and am eager to return.

My flight back to California was via Heathrow. And, once again, lovely United Airlines didn’t have an upgrade for me. So the eleven-hour flight was spent leaning against a window catching some z’s.  It could have been worse I’m sure.

Once I was back in the states, I was upgraded for the one-hour flight from San Francisco to my home in So Cal.  Ahh, lovely, lovely United Airlines.  Heck, I guess one upgrade is better than no upgrade.

La Tour Eiffel

‘Pardon, s’il vou plait’ are four indispensable words when in Paris. Or, I’d argue, any part of France, especially if you don’t speak the language.  I don’t know if it really helps much to utter that phrase but, trust me, it couldn’t hurt.

This was my second trip to the City of Light and, as before, a bit of a challenge.  The whole language thing is tricky.  The truth is in many other European countries people speak English, or at least some English.  In France, that’s not always the case.

Some people see this as being elitist but I’m not so sure. After all, how many Americans speak French?  And at one time it’s said that the two most common languages in the world were English and French, it’s the whole colonialization thing. So, basically, you could get along quite well in the world knowing either language, and knowing both was probably just showing off.

Now, however, varying analysis of world languages seem to suggest that most people speak Chinese, with English being a close second and some Arabic languages becoming more prevalent.  But enough about geolinguistics.

Paris is a beautiful city. It really is. Probably one of the best things about my trip this time was my hotel room. Nah, the room wasn’t anything to write about (although, here I am writing about it), but the view was spectacular. Even if I had to stick my head out of the window to see it:  The Eiffel Tower.

There is something pretty special about the tower. Probably the most fascinating thing is that it was never meant to be permanent. It was created for the International Exhibition of Paris in 1889 and, by most accounts, Parisians found it rather ugly. It was scheduled to be torn down around 1900, but because it had become a host for varying radio relay antenna by the military, it was spared.

I can’t help but look at this structure and just stand it awe. It’s a testament to ingenuity, determination, and art. I could go on and on, but words could never describe my feeling standing at the Palace de Trocadero and looking onto the Tower. It really is spectacular.

Oh, and the Trocadero is pretty nifty too.

Abysinnia

Okay, I’ll admit I don’t remember anyone actually saying to me ‘abysinnia’, but they could have.  To tell you the truth I got most of what Londoners said, but every once in a while, it was as if I were in a different country.  Which, of course, I was, but what I mean to say is, sometimes I felt like I was in a country that didn’t speak English. Or, I guess more accurately, didn’t speak American. Which, come to think of it, they didn’t.

London was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I booked the trip because I had never been there and thought it would be interesting to see Big Ben if nothing else. 

What I experienced was a thriving city with people who were from all ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds, living in close quarters and all, seemingly, getting along marvelously.  I’m serious.  From the local market, to the fancy restaurant. From the local pub to the tourist attractions. Everyone I met seemed genuinely nice.

And this was reinforced when I took the Tube (or Underground) and out of the corner of my eye noticed a man having trouble carrying his suitcase up a huge flight of stairs. In no time another gentleman was at hand, lifting the back end and they both went on their way.

Funny thing is, the gentleman helping wasn’t going that way. After he got to the top he nodded, turned around, and headed back down the stairs to his own destination.

And, oddly enough, I didn’t see this happen once, but twice.  Now I’m not saying this type of thing doesn’t happen in the US, or in France but …well, maybe not France, but it sure was nice to see.

Before my trip I visited some Internet sites and got a travel book on London, but even after all that I really didn’t think I’d have much to do with my time there. 

Well there was a lot to do. Along with the various “must see’s” like the Tower of London, the London Eye, and of course the whole West End theater scene, sometimes simply spending time in a pub or at a book store was amazingly fun.

Oh, I should probably mention here that Madame Tussauds wax museum was a little cheesy, but I even enjoyed that, and who knew Colin Farrell was so short, and Prince William so tall? I mean…really tall.

My trip to London ended too soon. I enjoyed pub food, Indian food, and other food I’m not exactly sure of, took in a play, visited the Tower of London, and some other attractions, and wanted very much to extend my London experience. But I had already booked a flight for Paris on British carrier bmi (which I could go on about, they’re a terrific airline) and hotel reservations were going to be difficult to change.

So with some sadness I bade farewell to the foggy city, but I am bound and determined to return. And return soon! So this isn't really goodbye, it's more ...Abysinnia!

Up Up And Away!

With my upgrade confirmed for a flight that technically didn’t exist, I was left wondering what to do and where to go.

The gate agent was kind enough to tell us all that we could wait in the Red Carpet Club; the airport hangout for elite customers of United Airlines. Each airline has this type of club. It’s a place for customers who have amassed a lot of miles, or have purchased business or first class tickets.  The facility is a place where you can, theoretically, grab a mixed drink, soda or some munchies and read any of a variety of newspapers or magazines. Or maybe even watch some television, all in comfortable surroundings

This looked like the first good news of the trip and if we had to wait, what better place than the elite Red Carpet Club.

We arrived to find the staff cleaning up. Apparently it was near closing time, and everyone was anxious to get home, or at least to where they needed to be. I knew exactly how they felt. I should point out that it wasn’t actually closing time, just getting near, to closing time. But I won’t bore you with semantics unless, of course, I already have.

So while there were no mixed drinks to be had, soda or munchies, we could all, at least, sit in some comfy chairs.

Much to our surprise, the loudspeaker announced that our flight was scheduled to depart after all, with what had been only a slight one-hour delay.

This really was good news and we all ran to the gate.

I’ve flown business class before, not often, but I’ve had the pleasure in the past. And I have to say it’s nice to have extra wide seats that recline. And the extra attention from the flight staff is pretty cool too.  But the last time I flew business was on Air New Zealand…and let me tell you, that's the way to fly!

The trip to London was uneventful. And I guess when you’re traveling over the Atlantic Ocean or, it could be argued, when you’re traveling pretty much anywhere, an uneventful flight is a perfect flight.

Fly The Friendly Skies ... My Butt!

I’ve been a pretty loyal United Airlines customer for some time. I don’t fly as often as I once did, but I’ve amassed enough frequent flyer miles to give me a couple free trips to different countries. But  I never seemed to use them, and I’m not sure why. Maybe I was hoping to have enough miles to journey to the moon. After all since PanAm went belly-up a few years ago, I think I’ve been under the misconception that United would take over the Earth to Moon schedule that looked so fun in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Well with my Eurotrip a definite, I scanned some inexpensive carriers and found that I’d pay about the same price, give or take a hundred bucks, to fly United. And I’d get the frequent flyer miles.  So I decided to trade some in and upgrade to Business Class.  Hey, I was going on vacation, why not do it right. Right?  Uh…not so fast.

After I upgraded (at 60,000 miles) I discovered that had I upgraded for a FREE business class ticket, it would have only cost me 20,000 miles more.  Of course, Award Travel (as they call it) is at the discretion of the carrier.  So even though I may have wanted to travel on a Thursday and return a week and a half later on a Wednesday, it would be up to United to see if they had available seats.  They didn’t.  Of course if I wanted to depart on Thursday, and return two days later, they would be able to accommodate me….Thanks, but no thanks.

While my ticket was confirmed, my upgrade was not. I was “waitlisted.” So basically, I would get the upgrade if seats were available.  Yep, you’re already ahead of me aren’t you?

I arrived at the airport to discover that my upgrade from California to DC wasn’t approved. So I would be flying coach….in a middle seat. 

The flight was about as fun as … well, as sitting in the middle seat of a cross-country flight.

Upon arrival at Washington, I was told, along with others waiting for the flight to London, that the plane was broke. And the woman at the gate leaned against the counter, very relaxed, as if this is something that has happened more than a few times and said, and I promise you I’m not making this up.

“We basically have two of these planes, and they’re both broke. So we’re taking the not broken part from the plane over there, and switching it with the broken part of the plane over here.” I looked at her thunderstruck “And hopefully that will work. But I should tell you if it doesn’t, then you’re probably not getting out of here until sometime tomorrow.”

I tried to ask if she was kidding but words wouldn’t come out of my mouth. And apparently I wasn’t the only one as I turned to see about fifteen people, mouths agape, just staring dumbfounded.

“I just want to be up front with you guys so that everyone doesn’t start screaming when they can’t fly out tonight.” She continued, “oh, good news for you” directly to me, “your upgrade has been approved.” 

Of course it had.

Do I Ohfend?

I realized it had been a couple of years since I last had a vacation -- actually, more directly, friends had pointed out that it had been a while since my last vacation and they strongly suggested it would be good for me to take one. So I started the planning process.

Maybe a little jaunt to Santa Barbara, Seattle, or maybe even Hawaii.  Instead another friend was looking to vacation as well, and he put the bug in my ear about a trip to Europe. 

Now, I have been to Europe before and had a great time, and though I wasn’t originally planning a vacation of more than an extended weekend, I knew a vacation of a couple of weeks would be fun and a great break. So I jumped headfirst at the idea.

I diligently searched Internet sites for inexpensive flights, hotels and places to visit. While in the midst of all this, my planned travel buddy confessed finances were tight, and would have to bow out.

Well, I still had the bug so decided it would be Europe-for-one. Funny thing, though, after some time, I couldn’t seem to reach him by phone. I finally asked a mutual friend if everything was okay with our travel-less buddy.  “Sure,” said the friend, “great in fact, I think he returns from Spain tomorrow.”

Hmm...was it something I said?