Mount Rainier National Park is a gorgeous park with lots of hiking trails.
We went up there earlier this month. We enjoyed it so much, we went back the following weekend to try a different trail (and take advantage of the 7 days access pass you buy for $15, or an annual pass for $30 - we got the 7-day).
We've got some beautiful pix, and I'll have to post them when I get back to my native computer.
Do be advised that the forests of Rainier get very DARK after the sun sets. We miscalculated our timing on one of our hikes and I was extremely grateful that my wife is the smart one in the family and had thought to pack a flashlight! While one part of my brain did enjoy the idea of experiencing Rainier centuries ago, as the natives and later European explorers did, the other part of my brain remembered I'm a console-jockey and really shouldn't be stumbling about in a forest after sunset. Thankfully we made it out safely and had enough fun we went back the next weekend (only started much earlier in the day and left while there was still light to find our feet).
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Virtual visit to India - way too much quality time with tech support
Here is a virtual visit. I spent a LOT of time today on the phone with Microsoft tech support engineers in Pune, India. Very nice people, one woman and one man. The woman was on the graveyard shift until around 6 AM local time, and then the fellow took over.
So, while we were on the phone (waiting for a messed up Windows 2008 server to reboot slooooooowly again and again) we talked a lot. Pune is surrounded by medium-size mountains, they have lots of parks and greenery, they speak very good English (which I am grateful for, since I speak none of the 108 languages of India), and they have a Big Barn Burger Cafe. The gent has never been there, but he recognized the place. I suspect the young woman before him had never heard of it until I read it to her off the Google Maps.
Pune is three hours from Mumbai. If you look at the Google map, you will see that, on the scale of india, Mumbai is a stone's throw away. That distance is about the Seattle-Portland run. In other words, India is friggin' HUGE.
So, there you go. The world is smaller than you think :)
So, while we were on the phone (waiting for a messed up Windows 2008 server to reboot slooooooowly again and again) we talked a lot. Pune is surrounded by medium-size mountains, they have lots of parks and greenery, they speak very good English (which I am grateful for, since I speak none of the 108 languages of India), and they have a Big Barn Burger Cafe. The gent has never been there, but he recognized the place. I suspect the young woman before him had never heard of it until I read it to her off the Google Maps.
Pune is three hours from Mumbai. If you look at the Google map, you will see that, on the scale of india, Mumbai is a stone's throw away. That distance is about the Seattle-Portland run. In other words, India is friggin' HUGE.
So, there you go. The world is smaller than you think :)
Monday, August 8, 2011
M.I.L.O - Goodbye 09
M.I.L.O - Goodbye 09
Watch it. Share it. Honor your military personnel.
Met Milo at GI Film Fest in May, 2011. Great guy with a huge heart. Miracle he's still alive. Just watched this again and it needs to be shared.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Celebrity Alert: Kate Connor and Andy Hirsch.
I like film festivals. There is a huge energy, and a lot of enthusiasm from everyone. We've made new friends (always do), and run into an old one (Neil from CATAPLEXY). Met Kate Connor and Andy Hirsch yesterday. Both actors with long and distinguished careers. Lovely people, too. Very grounded and plain nice. And yes, they are as attractive in person as they appear on the screen.
Long Island, New York and riding on a well-built rain system
If you look at a map, Long Island, New York, seems like it should be saturated by New York City. The Big Apple. Visions of a metropolitan mega-sprawl. Queens is definitely this way, but yesterday we grabbed the train out to Stony Brook. Long Island has an extremely efficient rail system. Out here, in Stony Brook, everything is very well spaced out, and it feels much more like I'm in the countryside, very far from any city. Quite beautiful.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Jamaica, New York, Part 2
Kristi and I have arrived in New York City. We flew into JFK tonight, and we're staying at the Best Western in Jamaica, New York. It is just outside JFK. Of course, JFK is so huge, there is an incredible amount of territory "just outside" of it.
I had forgotten that "airport" is a contraction of two words "air" and "port". When I remember that, I view the port of air very differently. I remember to look and see and notice the incredible diversity of people, especially those whose native language is not English. During the 5-hour flight from Seattle, I sat next to a woman from India. She was flying into NYC to see her daughter.
Here at the Best Western, we rode with a family of four on the shuttle from JFK. I have no idea what language they were speaking, and Kristi did not recognize it either. We've both had some exposure to Europe, so we can at least recognize most languages. I'm thinking it might have been Greek or one of the Southern European languages. The father very much had a university professor look about him.
We'll take the train to Stony Brook tomorrow. Kristi's film - SOMETHING SPECIAL - shows before FORT MCCOY, which includes Camryn Manheim and Eric Stoltz in the cast. I'll let you know if either are here :)
If you know anyone near Stony Brook, let them know about the showing at 7 PM, on July 22, 2011.
Whenever I fly into an airport or new place, I try to view it with fresh eyes. I want to see how different parts of America are different than others. Sometimes, it's a lot of hard work. One giant airport is very much like another, anywhere in the world. JFK is different in one way - it is so huge, it actually has large tracks of concrete that have not been used in a long time. That was interesting - grass growing through the cracks and things.
I'll let you know how the train trip goes tomorrow :)
I had forgotten that "airport" is a contraction of two words "air" and "port". When I remember that, I view the port of air very differently. I remember to look and see and notice the incredible diversity of people, especially those whose native language is not English. During the 5-hour flight from Seattle, I sat next to a woman from India. She was flying into NYC to see her daughter.
Here at the Best Western, we rode with a family of four on the shuttle from JFK. I have no idea what language they were speaking, and Kristi did not recognize it either. We've both had some exposure to Europe, so we can at least recognize most languages. I'm thinking it might have been Greek or one of the Southern European languages. The father very much had a university professor look about him.
We'll take the train to Stony Brook tomorrow. Kristi's film - SOMETHING SPECIAL - shows before FORT MCCOY, which includes Camryn Manheim and Eric Stoltz in the cast. I'll let you know if either are here :)
If you know anyone near Stony Brook, let them know about the showing at 7 PM, on July 22, 2011.
Whenever I fly into an airport or new place, I try to view it with fresh eyes. I want to see how different parts of America are different than others. Sometimes, it's a lot of hard work. One giant airport is very much like another, anywhere in the world. JFK is different in one way - it is so huge, it actually has large tracks of concrete that have not been used in a long time. That was interesting - grass growing through the cracks and things.
I'll let you know how the train trip goes tomorrow :)
Jamaica, New York
Depending on how you Google it, Jamaica, New York, either really exists, or is just a fancy name for Queens. I'm really rusty on my history of New York City, but I think Queens is a borough, so I suspect that Jamaica was once a town or other municipality that got absorbed by the Big Apple. Sort of link CenturyTel absorbing a different company, changing the name to CenturyLink, then absorbing Qwest (and the Qwest brand will likely cease to exist entirely in a few years). I'm telling you, Judge Green is seriously unhappy about this (q.v. the 1984 breakup of AT&T).
Episodic
I'm a terrible blogger. Good bloggers are consistent and eloquent. I'm a random text bleeder. :)
Thursday, June 23, 2011
It's the eyeballs, stupid
119 degrees Fahrenheit. Why do people voluntarily live in these conditions?
We arrived safely in Palm Springs. So far, it's pretty, but I've only seen the airport, really. I must say, it's the only airport I can remember where you have to actually leave the building to talk from the terminal to the baggage claim. It was a very pretty walk, enclosed on the sides by walls and decorations. It felt very much like a theme park.
Now, the title of this post - they say it's a "dry heat". What that means at 119 degrees Fahrenheit is "your eyeballs dry out the instant the heat hits you." At least, my eyeballs do, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Here are some random views from our hotel, to give you that sense of "hot". Not, this area was previously classified as a desert - meaning no liquid water. But, apparently so many plants have been hauled in, including the irrigation and water to keep them alive, that it has been reclassified as sub-tropical. (Our source was the hotel shuttle driver, who has been here for fourteen years, so I'm inclined to accept what he says on this subject.)
We arrived safely in Palm Springs. So far, it's pretty, but I've only seen the airport, really. I must say, it's the only airport I can remember where you have to actually leave the building to talk from the terminal to the baggage claim. It was a very pretty walk, enclosed on the sides by walls and decorations. It felt very much like a theme park.
Now, the title of this post - they say it's a "dry heat". What that means at 119 degrees Fahrenheit is "your eyeballs dry out the instant the heat hits you." At least, my eyeballs do, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Here are some random views from our hotel, to give you that sense of "hot". Not, this area was previously classified as a desert - meaning no liquid water. But, apparently so many plants have been hauled in, including the irrigation and water to keep them alive, that it has been reclassified as sub-tropical. (Our source was the hotel shuttle driver, who has been here for fourteen years, so I'm inclined to accept what he says on this subject.)
Phoenix Airport, Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix Airport, Phoenix, Arizona, 8 AM, June 23, 2011
There are many reasons I enjoy the movie DOGMA, but one of my favorite scenes is Matt Damon and Ben Affleck sitting in the airport watching people. Every person has a story. Who are they? Where are they from? Are they traveling alone? What the heck where they thinking when they put on those clothes?
We have a two-hour layover here in Phoenix, so I’m having a lot of fun with that last question. Phoenix is a major hub for US Airways and other airports. It’s hot here, with very bright sunlight. There are a lot of people wearing shorts and lightweight clothing. It’s easy to imagine they are locals, heading out of town. The flipside are those wearing long slacks and jackets; presumably they came into town from Northern climates, like us, where it was cold at home.
We just sat and watched people for a while. It was interesting, looking at groups of people. We found a weird pattern where groups (i.e. two or more) tended to dress very similarly. Not identically (unless they were literally a social group with the group t-shirt), but patterns like “all short sleeves” or “all khaki pants”. Some of the patterns were loose, and others were eerily consistent, even among groups that clearly did not appear related to each other.
Off to the plane! More later :)
There are many reasons I enjoy the movie DOGMA, but one of my favorite scenes is Matt Damon and Ben Affleck sitting in the airport watching people. Every person has a story. Who are they? Where are they from? Are they traveling alone? What the heck where they thinking when they put on those clothes?
We have a two-hour layover here in Phoenix, so I’m having a lot of fun with that last question. Phoenix is a major hub for US Airways and other airports. It’s hot here, with very bright sunlight. There are a lot of people wearing shorts and lightweight clothing. It’s easy to imagine they are locals, heading out of town. The flipside are those wearing long slacks and jackets; presumably they came into town from Northern climates, like us, where it was cold at home.
We just sat and watched people for a while. It was interesting, looking at groups of people. We found a weird pattern where groups (i.e. two or more) tended to dress very similarly. Not identically (unless they were literally a social group with the group t-shirt), but patterns like “all short sleeves” or “all khaki pants”. Some of the patterns were loose, and others were eerily consistent, even among groups that clearly did not appear related to each other.
Off to the plane! More later :)
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Rainier Independent Film Festial, Ashford, WA
Ashford, WA, is a small town outside Rainier National Park. Win and Sarah Whittaker put together the Rainier Independent Film Festival. I'm so accustomed to living in the "tree-filled" Seattle sprawl that I forget what real undeveloped country looks like.
The RIFF openning ceremonies were last night. Kristi's film, "Something Special," was the openning film. Warren Etheridge was on hand and got spontaneously tapped to do an interview with Kristi. They both clearly enjoyed themselves, but it was amusing how nervous both were.
The RIFF openning ceremonies were last night. Kristi's film, "Something Special," was the openning film. Warren Etheridge was on hand and got spontaneously tapped to do an interview with Kristi. They both clearly enjoyed themselves, but it was amusing how nervous both were.
Friday, May 13, 2011
It's been a good week
I haven't had many chances to post this week, and when I had time, the stupid blogspot was under maintenance or some other issue.
This week I've done the tour of the Capital Building, sat in the House Gallery, and the Senate Gallery (since I was in the building).
I've been out on the Mall, and the Smithsonian Air and Space museum.
This week I've done the tour of the Capital Building, sat in the House Gallery, and the Senate Gallery (since I was in the building).
I've been out on the Mall, and the Smithsonian Air and Space museum.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Storming the Capital
Tour the Capital Building? Check!
Sit in the House Gallery and look at a big empty room beause they just recessed for a few hours? Check!
Sit in the Senate Gallery and watch Senator Franken get distressed by whatever he was reading while a dozen people milled around him, because apparently his committee or whatever was on recess for an hour? Check!
Wander briefly through the Library of Congress? Check!
Almost, but not quite, make it to Chef Spike's restaurant at 303 Pennsylvania Avenue? Check! (Stupid, frickin' "mysterious packages" had the entire frickin' block cordoned off!)
Have a great time? Check!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
GI Film Festival in Washington, D.C.!!
We arrived in Washington, D.C., this evening. We're here all week for the GI Film Festival. This festival honors the US military (not necessarily celebrates, which is an emotionally charged word that can be misleading, but does honor the commitment, sacrifice and patriotism of the men and women in service).
We're staying at the Americana Hotel. Nice enough place. Walking around the neighborhood, the small building that is the Americana, and the age of the interior fixtures, gives me the impression it has been here far, far longer than any of the buildings nearby. Kristi coined the phrase "hotel envy" and I had to agree with her that the Mariott, Sheritan, Holiday Inn, etc. do look nicer. They also cost twice as much, and considering we're not planning to spend that much time in the room, it just wasn't worth the price of another set of plane tickets for the flashier hotel.
We walked around a bit to find the nearest Metro stop (about two blocks away, puts us on the blue line or the yellow line, so we have lots of flexibility).
We're very close to the Pentagon. It would be a long walk to get there, but it is within walking distance.
While our hotel shuttle was driving us from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (I believe this was the one blown up in Die Hard 2 - somebody help me out here), part of me kept thinking "Yep, it's a big city," but another part continued to see it as distinctive and unique. Every big city has it's own feel and flavor.
Tomorrow (Monday) begins the Festival's opening ceremonies!
We're staying at the Americana Hotel. Nice enough place. Walking around the neighborhood, the small building that is the Americana, and the age of the interior fixtures, gives me the impression it has been here far, far longer than any of the buildings nearby. Kristi coined the phrase "hotel envy" and I had to agree with her that the Mariott, Sheritan, Holiday Inn, etc. do look nicer. They also cost twice as much, and considering we're not planning to spend that much time in the room, it just wasn't worth the price of another set of plane tickets for the flashier hotel.
We walked around a bit to find the nearest Metro stop (about two blocks away, puts us on the blue line or the yellow line, so we have lots of flexibility).
We're very close to the Pentagon. It would be a long walk to get there, but it is within walking distance.
While our hotel shuttle was driving us from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (I believe this was the one blown up in Die Hard 2 - somebody help me out here), part of me kept thinking "Yep, it's a big city," but another part continued to see it as distinctive and unique. Every big city has it's own feel and flavor.
Tomorrow (Monday) begins the Festival's opening ceremonies!
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