Here and There Blog

Have a port view this time. It looks like at least 3 cruise ships are here and a couple giant yachts or smaller cruise ships. The dirty window plus the lingering sand in the sky makes for a dusty photo.

9:30 pm and I am settling back into a familiar routine. Get into the room and wait for luggage. Doorbell rings - luggage is here. Wait for iron & ironing board (rarely in rooms over here and have to be requested) doorbell rings and said products arrive. Turn on Internet ( Youch over $35 with today's exchange rates!) and load email while ironing. Phone rings and team starts checking in. Guarantee of English language paper in the morning and extra meetings getting scheduled within the first 30 minutes. So this is my time. I may be jet lagged from 2.5 days worth of travel but it's not noticeable except in my typing and the reflection in the mirror. If I go to sleep now, I'll wake up at 3:30 am and that will be that. Best to continue on with the usual. The big word about town is yesterday's sandstorm and I'm hoping part two won't pick up tomorrow. The weather turned hot this week about a month earlier than normal. At 84f at night it will go well above 90f...

I'm sure that I'll be able to post a few more Atlantis photos in the next week. In the meantime, I am off to the Middle East and passing time at the RCC at Concourse D in DC. I worked, really I did for the last 3 hours and now I can't take it anymore. I have vacation brain and it's time to blog. What to blog about? Travel of course. I made it here without delay. Woo- hoo ! What did I do last night in the 45 minutes between getting home and falling asleep? Booked more travel. Yes, more travel. Someplace exotic? No. Fun? For sure No. I am going to spend a day in Raleigh to cook chicken. That's all you need to know for now. I'm flying coast-to-coast for this purpose the third week of March. St. Patty's Day? Driving to LAX to stay in a hotel. I may have to get there early to have a pint. Speaking of pints, I have to confess that I have not been drinking other than the odd beer in the Bahamas. I have been to busy to go out and beer tastes better with friends. ...

Us and Atlas - the photographer took 3 photos and I looked equally concerned/annoyed in each one. There were so many directions about where to put your hands on and away from Atlas. I wasn't sure I was getting it right. I like this photo better than I did two days ago but mainly because Atlas is a cool dolphin. Actually he was spunky and if he didn't want to go along with the show, he swam away. Our tower had the Sea Turtles. Feeding time was a 2:00 pm each day and the turtles got lettuce leaves. I didn't have my camera that day but it was fun to watch.

I can see why an Atlantis was built in Dubai. This picture looks a lot like Jumeriah Beach in Dubai.

You get on the mini Boogie Board and point your feet straight down. The dolphin swims behind you and pushes your feet with his nose, propelling you pretty fast through the water.

Goodbye Bahamas! We had two security checks to deal with and the slowest, pickiest customs agent who even bounced the line. He smiled at no one and took multiple people over to secondary. Then I arrive with my passport and he looks at me and says "you've been everywhere, where do you work?" My reply because I'm on the East Coast "Hardee's." He got so exicted and said I know Hardee's Kuwait! I was there when it opened." I got his only smile of the day as he reminised over Hardee's Kuwait and then I was on my way.

More on this later but it was after the dolphin push. The dolphin in the background is Atlas who was our group's dolphin for the activity. Part of the interaction included getting a push via the feet across the water. It was way cool.

The dolphins are the best! sorry about the picture of a picture but it works. After posing with Atlas we all got to reward him with a fish.

Guinness (bottle) HRC Bahamas. No local dark beer exists but since this used to be a British governed country, Guinnesss can be found in most places.

First day exploration. The sky was overcast but it was kinda almost warm the first day. This was before the tradewinds hit off the ocean and cooled the place down.

Bahama Beer. All light but drinkable. Note on Feb. 27 - Actually, I'd never drink this again but I can see where it would be good on a hot tropical day.

Made it to MIA. Easy flt.

This is the best 1 qt. packing I have ever done! Because I'm determined to carry-on tomorrow everything had to either be bought at the destination or go in this bag. 12 different 3.0 oz or less containers are in here from sunscreen to shampoo to toothpaste and to the all important nail polish for making sure the toes are in perfection!

This is cool - the Dopplr 2008 Travel Report. While it only reflects my air travel, 90 days away instead of a 120+ for local travel, I like the chart. Malta is missing and that was one of the best trips of the year! It looks like Munich was the main destination so either I forgot to enter info or this is a glitch in how it was entered. Click on the image to see it in full size.

I left St. Louis at 21F and was too much of a wimp to ride the metro that early in the cold so I opted for a cab which then made me question the wisdom of that decision. But the cab was heated so I decided to ignore the driving and assume that it would all work out. It did. On the road, you're forced to read what the hotels and airports want you to read. Today's USA Today carried the article that was picked up everywhere about Facebook's change to the terms of use. This was somewhat ironic since a week ago, a separate USA Today had praised the fun of Notes and 25 Things game. Today's article posted how- to's of survival for newbies with the apt warning of beware friends with old photos. Homer has just posted me with a light sabre when I was 16. Worse yet, he's fixed up these pictures so the color looks good and there's no pretending it's not me. I accepted this fate long ago when I entered the online fray. Since the only true bookstore at the St. Loui...

This morning as I walked the 20 minutes from hotel to office, I paused in the wind chill to check out why a news camera guy was filming a flagpole at the court. I realized he was filming the shredded, tattered flimsy single red stripe left of an American flag. Pretty sad for a courthouse. Now it has been windy but other flags looked fine. When I returned 11 hours later, a new flag was on display. The filming must have proven the point.

Cold - not totally freezing and the rain today was more of a heavy mist. I was inside offices all day and have neither horror story nor exciting news to report.

For one person on the plane, this was the flight that wasn't. For another, it was the flight that almost wasn't. For me, it was butt numbing boring. I wake up at the hotel and login to AA.com and check flight status. Everything's on time and looking peachy. Arrival at the airport was disorganized and crowds were everywhere in all lines at baggage check. That can be dealt with. About 15 minutes before boarding time, the Gate Agent announces we're not leaving on time because the Flight Crew is still in the air and their arrival is delayed by rain. We're told to scatter away for at least 30 minutes. 30 minutes later we have a Crew and start boarding the plane 30 minutes after the scheduled departure. My seat is taken by a rolling bag. I ask the man in the middle seat to remove the bag but it's not his. It belongs to snippy man in the aisle still looking annoyed that people are boarding around him. He grabs the bags, snips at me, snips at the middle seat guy and tak...

The next four weeks is going to be something. I'm not sure what exactly but it will be my life. Tonight I'm kicking it off at the Ren LAX before departure to St. Louis in the morning. As I write this, I'm watching Amazing Race 14 and while my trip is nowhere near as dramatic, it will be my own version minus jumping off impossibly high bridges.

The good news is that I only have a small refund coming from CA so even if get an IOU from the state, it's no big. The bummer is that e-file wasn't transmitting today so I didn't get to complete the process and I do have a refund from Federal. Yay! That money will buy the plane ticket to Buenos Aires for this year's family Thanksgiving.

Still powering down the work but managed to remember to stand up and walk around today. In fact, I went on a CoinStar run to empty out the coins and get money for guilt-free spending in the Bahamas. The 32 ounce mug yielded $100 after the 8.9% fee and the bagels that I bought. I have to make the return trip next week and empty out the rest which should yield about $30 more. Taxi, water ferry, and HRC for dinner are covered!

I got so much work done today but I'm tired from sitting all day. I knocked out a huge to-do list while I sat around Subaru waiting for my car and continued on the roll once I was back in my office. Now inertia has set in and I'm too mind-wiped to work anymore but unwilling to retreat downstairs and look at the disorganized suitcases on the floor. So a brief blog entry should do the transition trick since all the green tea did was relax me.

43 or Cuarente Tres - it's a liquor that you drink with your espresso after dinner. I don't like it since it tastes like super sweet coffee. Anyhow it was a tequila free night in Mexico which is always appreciated. I'm back on the US side of the border and as usual, happy to be home.

Crossed the border last night. The person who picked up our group told us it had been quiet for almost a week in terms of drug shootings. The TJ Marriott which is the best hotel in town still has the same rock hard beds that you find in Mexico. So here I sit sipping coffee to wake up and recover from the lack of sleep and waiting to begin on really long day.

Banned for being an Israeli product, the number one bootleg DVD in Lebanon is Waltz With Bashir , an animated documentary of the 1982 war. This film that I had never heard of has won many awards, including the Golden Globe for best foreign film and is also nominated for an Oscar in the same category. Upon reading about the movie I decided that I had to see it and behold, La Jolla Village is screening the film. The documentary traces the memory recall of film director Ari Folman as he tries to remember where he was in 1982 in the war. The interviewees are real people who were also in Lebanon and many of them have partial memories or untold stories that need to be heard. The names are real but in some cases, the faces are changed to protect them from recognition. This story probably could have only been told in animation. This is a war movie from the soldiers point-of-view. The telling is almost dispassionate and detached after two decades of removal from the events. I’m sure both Israe...

Taken was chosen as today’s movie simply due to ease of selection. It had an early start time, a short running time and stars Liam Neeson. The plot and everything else was inconsequential and had Liam not been in this movie, I would have skipped it until an airplane carried it. So - the movie delivers exactly what you would expect of it. Taken is a shrug and a whatever movie at the end of the day or to be more accurate, 15 minutes into the plot. Basic – Divorced, super bad-ass Dad loses daughter to new rich dad and bitter ex-wife. Said daughter runs off to Paris and lies to Dad. Said daughter and friend are kidnapped into a sex ring and Dad tells the bad guys he’s going to find and kill them. Taken can be renamed "The 96 Hour Body Count" and now you know what you’re in for. With a running time of 93 minutes, it felt like the first half was a lifetime to get Neesom to Paris. Once he’s there, the improbable is probable and if you even try to figure out how super hero Dad doe...

I changed my notes setting on FB and forgot how I set this up the first time around.

Too dark for a photo. Turf Supper Club in Golden Hills lost the lease last year and the new Riveria Club on 7777 University has replaced it. Operated by the same team, with the same concept, the new club rocks. You still cook your own dinner but the menu is larger, the grill is bigger and hotter, and best of all, there is enough seating for all.

Tuesday night on the road. The beer was good but the sandwich so-so. Edit on Feb. 4: in retrospect the so-so sandwich is way above tonight's Wheat Thins.

4:55 pm. The last time I looked at the clock it was 2:28. Where did the day go? I'm working and time has still gone by fast. One last project to do for the day and since I've procrastinated on it till the end, I bet the next hour is going to go by in super slo-mo. Another So-Cal hotel week is upon me. I guess first up tomorrow will be to pack the suitcase that's lying open and waiting.

Not a movie this weekend but a play. The Trojan Women by Euripides takes place right after the fall of Troy and centers on the fate of the women. The men after all, are quite dead and the women are being divided up as slaves. It's Greek , it's tragic, and no one has a happy end. Lots of wailing and crying, the women are fighting to maintain any shred of hope but have none and rightfully so. I'm not going to go into the details of the play because you either like Greek plays and will look it up or you don't care. What I did enjoy was The Lab and the ion theater company. Located in Mission Gorge right off of Mission Gorge Rd. and by the Trolley Stop, there's a small theater tucked into office and storage space buildings. Because the theater is small, every seat is good. Because this is a theater run by people who love plays and the production of the plays, the group works hard to put on a good show. The Trojan Women held my interest for the 95 minutes without ...