Four Years
It's been four years since we declared war in Iraq and I am amazed at how this has all gone. Shock and awe was going to bring down the terrorists and Saddam Hussein and we were going to go in kicking ass and taking names and come out with everyone taking our photo and asking for our autograph. The justification for going to war was never realized and for some reason that seems to be unimportant now. I made this point at the time in a blog post while I was living in Australia and my country was starting to scare the hell out of the rest of the world and slowly losing all that new found support after 9/11.
Bottled water can make you fat
In the news today, was this little nugget of health information;
According to the Economist, a researcher from the University of California has concluded that chemical compounds that interfere with the body's normal processing hormones such as oestrogen may encourage obesity. According to the article, some environmental-health experts suggest that fetal exposure to "nasties" found in "everyday plastics might be the underlying explanation of the recent obesity trend." The article further reports that other researchers have found a link between obesity and bisphenol-A, a component of plastic bottles, as well as a link between the chemical and cancer.
Excellent, it's not all the big macs, it's the plastic. And good luck trying not to be exposed to plastic while pregnant.
Flickr Layout Updates
Flickr added some new layout features this last week and I am very pleased with most of it. The new layout for the front page with larger display of images was a good start, however the old layout as well as a few others are still an option. Adding collections was a big feature for me, I can now organize my travel photos so much better and the layout options work well. For instance, All of my Australia travel photos are in a much more manageable layout, allowing me to better organize the different destinations but keep them under an Australia group.
I would like it if collections could be displayed alongside sets if you wish but perhaps that's for a future update.
Good work flickr kids!
Recent Archived Photosets
new photosets archived to flickr last night;
Italy, Rome, Aviano AB, Portenone. Yes, I have rolled up jeans there, it was the early 90's.
Florida 2001, Daytona Beach, Panama City, NASA. A well needed road trip at the time.
Mexico City, Mexico, 1993. Band geek photos from going there on a band trip in College.
Virgin Islands Cruise 1993. Not much but a few added.
French Me
Going back to France in May. I am looking for a compressed course to take in French in the next few weeks. If anyone has a suggestion, please advise.
Holding Pattern
Is is me or did they take the fun out of flying?
Three flights to get back to New York. Houston to Atlanta, no big problems, even rated an empty seat next to me.
Atlanta to Detroit, Sat on my plane for an hour without being told why. The crew finally announces they can't get the cargo door to close and we can get off the plane for a bit if we want. I get off the plane and they are saying at the gate that the flight has now been canceled. I was told which gate to go to, to see if I can get on that flight. I do, the lady freaks out at that gate because thirty people are standing in her line to get on their already full plane and starts getting an attitude and there was me, first in line. Meanwhile, this tool in a long coat jumps up next to me asking if he can upgrade to First class with his miles. The lady to the right says politely that First Class is all booked up. He then asks to be at least upgraded to an exit row. The lady looks up from her terminal and points to my grumpy lady and says "You have to talk to her". He got upset he had to actually wait in line since he's the bestest customer ever with NW Airlines and has like one billion air miles with them. I thought about accidentally kicking him in the ankle when I left.
Eventually I get a new boarding pass and get on the plane. Flight goes fine. The airline informs me they have already rescheduled my connecting flight in Detroit that I had already missed.
Detroit to New York, the plane sat on the tarmac for over an hour after we were boarded. This guy about two rows back had not only a distinct nasal voice, but because he never shut up the entire time on the plane, I can tell you that he has a lazy kid going to college in upstate New York, He's in Real Estate and has one funny story about Richard Dreyfuss involving a real estate deal gone bad, he's traveled to Egypt, Belese, Bali, and many states in the U.S. He can tell you how to paddle a kayak correctly on the Hudson river and many many more things I can't remember to tell you. The lady next to him was trying to get a few words in but was rarely successful.
Anyway, After the long delay and de-iceing, The plane took off. An hour and 15 min later, we were flying over Manhattan by 9pm. We were then told the wind was bad and we were in a holding pattern until 9:23pm. We landed finally at 9:47pm and amazingly enough, they lost my luggage.
While reporting my luggage lost, the lady starts asking me why I switched planes in Atlanta, the plane I was on was not canceled. Apparently, It had finally been fixed and continued on but got in after my (new) connecting flight left Detroit so I would have had to have boarded an even later flight back to NYC or possibly stay the night in Detroit.
After a taxi ride back to the apartment, I go through my mail that had piled up, one envelope was from Northwest Airlines (the people I had just flown on all day). They wanted to say they are sorry for my plane delay on my return flight from Oklahoma last month and gave me 1000 air miles as an apology.
Ode to the Falcon
My old car, the Mazda Millenia (Millenia Falcon, get it?) was killed by Paula a few weeks back in the ice storm that covered the midwest (she's okay). Actually, she didn't kill it, someone else slammed into her so it wasn't her fault, but still; she's a car killer and she knows it. She killed my Ford Taurus many many years ago as well and car-Jesus will be seeking revenge on judgment day.
Anyway, it wasn't until the car was totaled and replaced with her new car did I feel any real loss for the old car. We had been all over the United States on many road trips, including;
- All over the state of Oklahoma.
- All over the state of Texas.
- Oklahoma to Colorado, at least 20+ times. (crested butte and aspen)
- Some terrific thunderstorms while passing through Texas panhandle.
- Speeding tickets that exceeded 110 mph. (V6 Miller Cycle Engine for speed boats)
- Oklahoma City to Dallas, TX at least 20+ times. (dallas, houston)
- Oklahoma to Kingsport, Tennessee, and to Daytona Beach, Florida and to Panama City, Florida.
- Oklahoma to Idaho, to Portland, Oregon, to San Franciso, to Los Angeles, to the Mojave Desert, to the Grand Canyon.
- Oklahoma to Tennessee.
- Oklahoma to New Orleans, Louisiana.
I will miss your moon roof, your broken-in leather seats, your butt warmer seat ability, your key scratch a jackass put on the hood, and the slickness of the leather seats in the back so when I turned a corner fast, I could make Nathan slide across and slam into the door. Good bye Falcon, may you find peace from those that killed you on an icy Oklahoma road this winter.
(pours some of my 40 on the curb and lights a candle)
