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{ Category Archives } Travel

DRL

When they first came out, I thought daytime running lights were stupid. Either turn them on or turn them off. People should be capable of judgement. But they aren’t. Americans anyways [1]. Dawn, cloudy, marine layer, drizzle, and every damn car on the road these days is gray, white, or black [2], and they all […]

Traditional

I keep running into self-designated “trad” [1] climbers at well-known sport crags. They make their disdain of this bastardization of their religion clear [2] but so many of their friends do it, and seem to have fun, they grit their teeth and give it a try. But never let you forget that this isn’t “real” […]

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Sally

I get to drive a lot of different cars. Whatever Hertz has to offer for zillion-mile Gold or whatever my status is called. These are typically nicer in Zurich than they are in Munich. Mercedes, Rover, BMW (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 – no 6 as yet), Audi, Jaguar, vs. Peugeot, Skoda, Citroen, etc. […]

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Jet lag

Everyone has a recipe for getting over jet lag. Food, timing of meals, entraining sleep before leaving [1], not eating on the plane, blah blah blah. And believe me, I have suffered from the jet lag. I have read a shitload of books at 3 am, and faceplanted uncontrollably more than once in the cleanroom […]

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The map is not the territory

I want smarter maps. Maps that work like I use them. Surely these use cases must be true for techbros too, even if they are taking the Apple bus [1]. Directions only if there’s traffic: I know where I’m going. I don’t need directions. Just tell me if I should change my route because of […]

What it should have been

You know what the funniest thing about Europe is? If you ask for a gin and tonic, you get a little bit of gin poured over a lot of crushed ice, and a small bottle of tonic water. You get the right proportion of gin-to-tonic exactly one moment; from then on, you’re drinking gin-flavored watered […]

Away

I’ve been off climbing in one of my favorite places in the world. I might have some pix – I haven’t uploaded them yet to see, but given that it was pretty cloudy and wet and I was with someone who was completely and actively uninterested in my desire to make art, I didn’t take […]

Decline

So I work for a rather well-known private university, which runs a rather well-known research center, funded largely by a government organization with a FLA, rather than the usual TLA. As part of the budget disaster known as “sequestration,” but which is really an ongoing decline over the last several years, this FLA organization decided […]

Direction, lack thereof

No matter where I go, or how lost I look, or how out of place I appear to be, and in spite of a complete inability to speak the native tongue, people ask me for directions.

Picture of the day, 19 July 2012

Picture of the day, 14 May 2012

Airline scam

It’s got to be some sort of scam that I can fly to Europe, at no extra cost, with two checked bags, a laptop bag, and a personal item (camera gear), no problemo, but then when I turn around and fly home with exactly the same things on the same airline, it’s 50 euros for […]

iPad versus paper

I’m a techy kinda guy. But I tech where it’s appropriate. I didn’t buy a DSLR until the digital F100 came out, but I had digital P&S’s before that – I saw the future, I just didn’t want to spend a lot of money on it til the tech had matured. Ditto with smartphones – […]

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Climbing in the snow

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