Are We Having Fun Yet?

2021? Already?!

Sun, 03 Jan 2021 01:06:56 GMT

Well, 2020 couldn't end soon enough for my liking, but despite that, I'm a bit surprised that it's 2021 now. More truthfully, I can accept that it is 2021, but I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around the fact that it is now January. It feels like it should be some other month. Odd.

So far, all of us have avoided covid-19. The county went into lockdown again in December, so there's no dining-in at our restaurants and schools have gone back to remote exclusively. I'm a bit surprised that gyms are still open, but they are now capped at 25% occupancy. Vaccines are being distributed but it's still just groups 1a and 1b: front-line medical workers and the residents of long-term care facilities. I'm not expecting a shot at a shot until late spring at best.

I was awarded my black belt in karate in mid-December. Like other belts I've earned since the dojo closed in March, I consider it to be provisional since we haven't been able to meet in person to do sparring, teaching of juniors, etc.. I plan to re-test when we finally get to practice together in one space once again.

Our ten-day Amsterdam to Bern river cruise last August was scrapped because of covid-19. However, Viking River Cruises offered us a 20% bonus credit if we rolled over to a 14-day Amsterdam-to-Budapest cruise in 2021, so we took them up on it. If we can't go because Europe is still closed to American tourists, or if we haven't been vaccinated by then, we can still get our money back, but I'm choosing to be optimistic.

Travel to Canada is still blocked. At this moment, I could enter Canada as a citizen, but I'd need a negative covid test within 72 hours to be able to board the plane, and submit an extensive quarantine plan electronically before arriving. Once there, I'd be quarantined for two weeks. I have plans ready in case I need to make urgent trips to southern Ontario or northern Ontario, but I'm hoping we get clear of this damn plague before I need to test either one.

Work continues. Our company is cleaning up all of the various bonus programs and performance metrics into a single cohesive plan, and it's not a bad plan at all. My next pay (Jan 8) will pay the last of the three year signing bonuses from our purchase by Enterprise Holdings Inc.; under the new plan, I'll be eligible for up to 20% of my base salary in annual bonuses. In the next month, all staff should receive a comprehensive benefits statement, including any pay adjustments due to title changes, adjustments to responsibilities, or to keep pace with industry averages. I have no idea what if any raise I might get, but the bonus is nothing to sneeze at, even if it's only half of what my last installment from the old plan will be.

Speaking of work, I've been on vacation these past two weeks. With Christmas and New Year's on Fridays, and with the regular company holidays, it only cost me seven vacation days. There is currently one more full day off before work resumes on Monday, and I'm savouring every hour.

I wish I had more to report about the plague year of 2020, but covid made it pretty boring. No square dancing, no travels, no skating, no visits, no bar nights, no day trips, no weekends away (except to the trailer where we'd self-isolate anyway), etc.. I have no idea if square dancing will bounce back, or in what form. I just want to be able to return to Canada again to see family.

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Death & Dad, The Aftermath #2

Thu, 10 Jan 2019 03:20:27 GMT

A busy day...

We telephoned the Ayr News to submit an obit in the next edition; we then emailed them the copy & photo. The funeral home here is handling the obits for the Temiskaming Speaker, and the Northern News; they have been submitted and should be in the next editions.

Dad's ashes have been collected from the funeral home, along with twelve embossed copies of the Funeral Director's Proof of Death. They have submitted the paperwork to the federal government for the CPP death benefit, as well as updates to CPP and OAS.

We discussed monuments while at the funeral home. Mark showed us some photos of existing ones so we could get an idea of options; naturally, we knew the people mentioned on those headstones, so it was funny/awkward. Mom prefers solid black stone with high contrast lettering, polished front & back, no fancy photos or images chemically etched into the surface although there may be some standard scrollwork along the edges. She needs to think about the general text (full names of course, but month, day & year or just year for birth & death? Any extra titles "Beloved father & grandfather"?).

There are models which have a primary headstone and then a smaller second stone below for secondary names (like me), the stack resting on a foundation. Because this is a single plot, the stone would be 24-30" wide and therefore pricing would likely run $3800-5000 CDN, depending on sourcing and style.

Turnaround time for a monument is about a month, not that they need that much time to create one since we're using mostly locally-sourced rock, but because the firm only delivers up this way once every 3-4 weeks.

At the credit union, the accounts were updated to remove Dad's name, retaining Mom and my sister Angela ("6 of 6") on the bank accounts. The credit union now has one of the certified death certificates for their files. They also volunteered to photocopy the extra documents for me: I wanted copies of Dad's will and Mom's will & powers-of-attorney papers for my own files, should they be required some day.

The credit union also told us that their Visa is in Dad's name with Mom as the secondary. When we notify Visa about Dad's death, they will likely nuke the account and ask Mom to re-apply in her own right. They have no current balance, but it is likely Mom will have a lower credit limit as a single cardholder than both of them combined.

We then dashed to New Liskeard to Service Ontario where we returned Dad's driver's license and health card, as well as another copy of the death certificate. They say that the truck vehicle transfer can be done in Englehart when convenient; Mom will need the ownership papers, the current odometer reading, $32 fee, a copy of the death certificate, a copy of Dad's will to show her as trustee, and her own ID. Mom isn't planning to do this any time soon as the vehicle isn't needed and is currently snowed in near the barn. She'll worry about it in spring.

Mom isn't planning to update the CIBC bank accounts as those are being closed in another month anyway.

The beer cans were dropped off for recycling.

We stopped by Bill Ramsay's law office in Englehart in the late afternoon. His recommendation on amending the title to the farm is to do nothing. Since Mom was on the title already, there is no advantage to an update unless Mom sells immediately. If she does it now, it would cost $750. If she waits until selling, it gets bundled into the legal sale papers and would cost only $250. The home insurance company may pressure that update to happen, but Bill recommended pleading impoverished & grieving widow to delay it. Bill also gave us five official copies of Dad's will in case we should need that elsewhere. Beyond that, he has nothing else to offer us as we have the essentials already under way. And he didn't charge us for the consultation, bless him. (I went to high school with Bill... we were lab partners in Grade 13 computer electronics.)

I've telephoned Bell Mobility to cancel Dad's phone, 705-544-3847. The account was in Mom's name and retains her mobile number and the home wifi service.

Other utilities such as NorthernTel and Ultramar are all in joint names. I don't see any compelling reason to update any of these. The 407ETR transponder account is in Dad's name but since it is a use-as-you-go service and the bills are sent to the farm & paid electronically, I don't see a need to change this either. If Mom gets her license back, she may use it; if she doesn't, the account should go dormant anyway.

I'm informed by my sister Donna ("5 of 6") that dropping Dad off the HydroOne account means that Mom would qualify for a single person dwelling discount on her electric bills. Alas, I learned this after business hours so I may try to make a phone call in the morning.

Dad's standard wheelchair is apparently a loaner from the Lions Club in Charlton. Had I known that a couple of days ago, I would have made arrangements to return it. Figures. Mom wants to keep his electric wheelchair however as she feels her Mom may required it sooner or later.

Still to do:

The life insurance claim paperwork from Primerica should be arriving shortly. It needs to be completed and returned asap.
The paperwork from the union will come in two sets: the death benefit and the pension/medical adjustments. These should be arriving in snail-mail very soon and need to be completed & returned. The paperwork for the modification/continuation of Mom's health benefits should arrive in about 4-5 months; her existing benefits are gratis until July 31.
There will be an outstanding bill at the funeral home for $73.39 for the obit in the Northern News. Mom plans to pay that when she's next in Englehart.
Notify the Canada Revenue Agency of Dad's death. I presume this is to cancel any expectations of quarterly tax submissions, and to pave the way for one final income tax submission.
Visa needs to be contacted concerning Dad's death. They will almost certainly close the account (Mom was only a secondary, not joint). Mom will then have to apply for her own Visa if she still wants a credit card.
We returned Dad's health card, but we don't know if that nullifies his Ministry of Health & Long Term Care - Ostomy Grant, claim 1000364615. I didn't know it existed until Mom brought it up after we were home. It may be outstanding still.
Mom may choose to return Dad's passport, but she insists that she wants the government to cancel it, marking it appropriately and returning it to her. If they can't/won't, she won't turn it over and will simply hold it until it expires in five years.
The farm & house insurance should be updated. They may demand the farm title be updated as well, but that's not obligatory.
The title of the truck may be updated when convenient, or when it is to be sold. The old title, an odometer reading, Dad's death certificate, Dad's will, Mom's ID and $32 will be enough. It can be done in Englehart.
Select/design a monument for installation in spring or summer.

No action Planned:

The farm title doesn't need to be updated unless/until the farm is sold and it can be done at the time of sale.
The utilities (Northern Telephone, Ultramar, 407ETR) are all in joint names, or are harmless.
Updating the CIBC. Mom is closing those accounts in February anyway.

I'm still planning to fly home tomorrow from Timmins and should be driving out no later than 11am, weather & road conditions permitting. We had blowing & drifting snow all day and getting home at 5pm was an adventure: I hope the roads are clear before I head north tomorrow.

I depart Timmins around 4pm to Toronto's island airport (1hr flight time), then catch a plane to Dulles (1hr20min flight time); I should be on the ground by 7:30pm. With the government shutdown, however, I have no idea how many TSA and ICE people are actually working: I've heard many are calling in sick or effectively working other jobs since they need the paycheck, and there's no functioning HR to which one can send a resignation letter. What a mess.

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Norweigian Mystery

Sun, 22 Apr 2018 20:01:26 GMT

We had a great trip to Amsterdam this past week: it was a fun & fascinating place, and I'd return in a heartbeat.

Norway had some interesting aspects of its own...

Our flights took us from JFK in the US to Amsterdam via Oslo, Norway. The airport was very, very nice, but the food was very expensive: a simple lunch for the three of us went over $75 USD. The more interesting thing though was what it did to my mobile phone.

As we approached Oslo to land, my phone's wifi stopped working. I don't mean it suddenly wasn't communicating to the wifi access point, or that it couldn't get access to a wifi access point: it stopped working. The wifi portion of my mobile phone shut down and refused to restart. Any effort to activate my phone's wifi was met with a single pop-up message: "Error". Since I had an international plan with Verizon Wireless, I still had phone, txt & data services via the telephone network, but I could not activate its wifi.

Multiple reboots solved nothing. Any attempt to turn on wifi was met with the same error message. I was severely bummed: not having wifi ability while in Europe meant potentially burning through my regular data plan fairly quickly, and at a surcharge of $10/day.

As we flew out of Norway a few hours later and somewhere over the North Sea, my mobile phone spontaneously activated its wifi services and all was well again. Huh. Brief operating system issue, I thought.

While we were in Amsterdam, the wifi worked beautifully, as did all other mobile phone services. But when we flew home via Oslo, I once again had the same wifi system failure as we approached Oslo. And it resolved itself again as we departed Oslo.

My mobile phone's wifi service shuts down & refuses to start only in Norweigian airspace. Why?

Michael & Kent both have Samsung phones: they had no problem starting wifi, seeing & using the local wifi hotspots. Kent's uses the same Verizon Wireless plan I do.

So far, my Google searches have come up empty as I try to understand what is going on. It's an Asus A006 runing Android 7.0, latest patched August 1, 2017. If you have any ideas why/how a portion of a mobile phone would be automatically disabled like this in Norway, please let me know.

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Things I learned in Amsterdam

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 21:54:56 GMT

I knew pot is legal & accepted here. I learned the downtown at night smells like San Francisco, but without the urine.
I new there were trams (streetcars). Now I know the basic fare is 3 euros, and there are sales booths on most if not all trams. One badges in & out with each ride, as one does on most transit systems I’ve visited.
I knew this was a bike-friendly city and there were lots of bikes. I didn’t know there were untold billions of them everywhere, and that the bike lanes can be shared with motorcycles, scooters and these weird tiny cars/utility vehicles which remind me of Bangalore.
I knew there were canals, but I didn’t know they were more for show than for use. I thought there would be more public transit-style water taxis, but outside of tour boats, houseboats and occasionally a rowing team or squad of kayakers, the inner city canals seem to be mostly for show & tourism.
This is a Coca-Cola town. You have to look hard to find Pepsi.
It is shockingly easy to find Hershey products here. I had expected better of Amsterdam, if not the Netherlands. My theory is that prolonged pot use has dulled their taste.
There is a strange obsession here with pancakes. Not that I object, but wow, so many carbs…
There is an even stranger obsession here with Argentinian steakhouses. They are more common than Starbucks are in the US.
Speaking of carbs, there are no fat people here. At least, the ones I saw are more likely to be tourists. I'm crediting the we-must-bike-everywhere attitude.
This city is no place for the disabled. This isn't particular to Amsterdam: a lot of old cities have this problem because it is nearly impossible to make ancient historical buildings accessible to those with disabilities. But wow, I'm amazed how backward Amsterdam is in this regard. Of all the places we've visited the past several days, I think only the Rijksmuseum had a wheelchair-accessible entrance: everywhere else had narrow doors and steps.
I'm unsure where Amsterdam stores its elderly. Until we went to the Keukenhof today, the number of people we've see who were older than myself could be counted on one hand. Is there some sort of "Logan's Run" Carousel thing going on here I should know about?
All traffic here is trying to kill you. Well, not trying, really, but they will cheerfully run your ass over if you're not careful. There are sidewalks, bike lanes, traffic lanes and sometimes even tram lanes, and you need to look both ways for all of them and be prepared to run like hell. It took me some time to figure out how to do this while preserving my life & dignity, but it's largely to do with timing: I have a lifetime of experience judging the oncoming speed of a car at a glance, but not so much for bicycles. I think I've figured it out though so I'm cheating death for another day.

There are more, but I'll add those as time goes on.

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Hotel Oddities

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 21:41:58 GMT

We have officially checked into the weirdest damn hotel ever. Good thing it’s free.

Michael won a trip to Amsterdam with three nights at the Lloyd Hotel. From its general appearance inside & out, it feels like an old warehouse was renovated into a hotel, but it was indeed built as a hotel a century ago to house those in the process of emigrating to South America via Amsterdam. The most recent renovations however make some interesting design choices…

We’re in the 6th floor, in what the hotel describes as one of their best rooms. Let’s be clear: it’s a loft: it is a single large room with exposed beams, posts & rafters on a cement floor. We do have some throw rugs here & there to spare one’s feet too much strain, but it’s a cold surface first thing in the morning. We have a large wooden table with two benches. There is a small chair & coffee table. There is a large king bed. Everything however is minimalist and white. It feels like a museum art installation.

In the far corner of the room is a walled off water closet: it is the only thing closed off from full view but it makes up for it with superlative acoustics. You can here every toilet paper tear –and worse.

Beside the WC in the main room is a deep bathtub. There is a shower head, but no shower curtain or enclosure: if you are bathing, you are putting on a show for everyone present, whether you want to or not. And if the shower head slips in your hand, you will be spraying water across the room and possibly your luggage, as I accidentally noticed this morning.

The bed itself is fine, but in its space there are no bedside tables or shelves of any kind, so there is no place to have an alarm clock if one needed such. I usually use the alarm function of my mobile phone but there is no place to put it. And even if there was, there is no place in that area of the room in which I could plug it in: the only two outlets are at opposite ends of the suite.

Next we come to a full length mirror, but it’s recessed in its own cubby and box frame. With no lighting whatsoever. I can see shadows of myself move in the mirror, but there isn’t enough light for anything else.

And finally, the last item in the row is the bathroom vanity. Note that: it is no where near the toilet or bathtub. Indeed, after doing one’s business in the WC, you have to exit the toilet and walk the length of the suite to wash your hands. At least the vanity has good lighting and fast hot water.

We paid extra for the breakfast, which is running about 17 euros per person. I accept that expense as a convenience, but it certainly isn’t for quantity. The breakfast buffet offerings include several types of bread & croissant, some shavings of salmon & specialty cold cuts, tea/coffee/juice, and some cereals. Anyone who actually worked for a living would be starving in an hour from such a meagre offering.

The breakfast buffet did have one saving grace however: a pain au chocolat to die for (or indeed which would kill you if consumed too frequently). Usually a pain au chocolat is a croissant with some chocolate baked inside. The hotel’s version however is a plain croissant which is dipped into a pot of chocolate to be entirely coated. At least the croissant won’t go stale if it’s encased in solid chocolate!

Given that the place isn’t costing more than our breakfasts, I should be less critical of the hotel. But if we were paying for this room, I would quickly have asked for a more conventional place. If I wanted to sleep in an art installation, I’d check in at MOMA.

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Dear Amsterdam: I Have Some Questions...

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 21:39:59 GMT

Dear Amsterdam: I have some questions.

It’s a lovely city and I’m so happy to be here, but there are somethings I don’t understand.

1. What’s up with this obsession with pancakes? Seriously, there are pancake houses everywhere. I do love pancakes, but this city’s obsession is borderline creepy.

2. You willingly admit the entire country is carved out of a swamp. Having now been driven through a fair chunk of the countryside, I see that the whole canal & drainage ditch system with its pumps and water management systems is truly amazing. But there is water freaking everywhere… how is there not an unimaginable mosquito problem? Indeed, why is the entire country not already dead from some combination of malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever and west nile virus?

3. Similar to the mosquito mystery above: with so much aquatic habitat, why is this country not 20 feet deep in hundreds of billions of ducks? The Netherlands should be a duck paradise… so why are there so few? Is someone eating them when I’m not looking? Do you secretly have an alligator problem you're not tell us about?

Just curious.

Luv,
Brian

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Raccoon Dining

Tue, 10 Oct 2017 14:39:50 GMT

I identify with raccoons. They have great manual dexterity, they are incredibly adaptible, they're primarily nocturnal, and, when they're not raiding your garden late at night, they're pretty cute. And like me, they sometimes eat a lot of garbage.

Visiting Toronto is my opportunity to indulge in the nostalgic favourites of my childhood or young adulthood. Not all of them would be considered healthy habits. Well, practically none of them. But they taste sooooo good!

Me: *standing on the sidewalk, woofing down a slice of meat supreme pizza from Pizza Pizza*
Friend: You know that's trash pizza, right?
Me: Yes, but it's the trash pizza I used to eat at 2am during my walk of shame home from the bars in my twenties. Don't take that away from me.

In other guilty pleasures, I had a double burger from Harvey's, a small burger from A&W, the Thanksgiving special from Swiss Chalet, and any number of not-found-in-the-US chocolate bars. There was also a visit to the Bulk Barn which would bring shame to my ancestors as well as my Visa. Best not to talk about that.

I don't know that I've gained any weight from this shameful extravaganza --mostly because I've avoided stepping on a scale-- but there is much atonement at the gym in my near future, and possibly for the rest of my life. If there's any consolation to be found, it's that I had a clean bill of health recently before leaving the US so it's unlikely that this binge will kill my body. My soul might be is another matter, but hen again, it's been safely kept in storage for many decades so it should be mostly OK.

And now I'm hungry.

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Ah, Toronto!

Mon, 09 Oct 2017 20:08:50 GMT

I flew into Buffalo, NY, last Wednesday to spend a few days in Toronto, ostensibly to see family at Thanksgiving and to ship home some personal items which were stored in my parents' basement until recently. It's been much more than that, of course.

I've walked a lot, seeing the same old sites I usually do when in town. I've frequently said I could walk through this city repeatedly until my feet bleed --and they did. The first full day, I logged well over 10 miles, from Pape & Danforth, west to Yonge & Bloor, south to the lakeshore, east a bit, then back north to Bloor again. It never gets old.

My feet were in severe pain Friday, but I went walking again, Pape & Danforth to Broadview, south to Gerrard, west to the downtown, all directions on various side streets, then south to Queen where I finally caved in and boarded a street car to Carlaw. I walked north back to my place from there.

Here, I feel lighter, faster, smarter, brighter & younger, more than anywhere else I've been except perhaps lower Manhattan. When I'm in Toronto, I really believe the sky is the limit and I can accomplish anything. There are no constraints, or at least nothing meaningful I couldn't overcome with a snap of my fingers. Everything is possible, all things are filled with potential, and nothing is beyond reach. Except returning here to live.

My biological family is in Canada, but my chosen family is in the DC area. Even if I could pry myself out of Silver Spring, I can't bring Kent & Michael back to Toronto. I can't bring the grandkids either. It wouldn't be fair of me to even try.

Whenever I cross the border into Canada no matter which province, I am seized by the feeling that my life in Canada is incomplete, an unfinished project. I don't know what my emotional self wants me to do, but it does distinctly shout that there is something urgent & large awaiting my attention where which has remained undone since I left in 1996. I am in Toronto and loving it, and yet am incomplete because I am in Toronto. I have no explanation.

At the moment, my only plan is to make more frequent trips back to Canada, maybe 3-4 times per year instead of annually. My grandma isnt' getting any younger, my parents are ailing, my aunts & uncles are fading away. There is so little time left before the generation before mine is gone and I must do what I can with the time that is left.

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Family Update

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 18:45:45 GMT

Life is moving apace. Baby Edwin is now over two weeks old and is doing very well, especially considering he was about 4 weeks early. He's much more active & forceful than I anticipated from a baby of his age & development: that child kicks a lot, and it's a firm kick. He's also pretty good at swatting things away from his face he doesn't like. In short, he's in great health, growing & gaining weight exactly as he should.

Elodie is doing well too. She's a happy & active two year old toddler who loves to run, usually with little grace or coordination, just as one might expect of a toddler. She's accumulating her share of scrapes & bruises from her adventures, but all minor and easily remedied with a kiss and a cookie. I swear she's grown an inch since she moved in with us in late July.

And yes, the wee ones and their mother are still living with us. Maurita is still feeling some discomfort from her c-section and isn't allowed to lift heavy objects (eg. Elodie) yet, but is quite mobile, able to drive, and is easily tending to Edwin's needs. We expect they will be with us for at least another two weeks, perhaps longer if medically recommended.

Their move to their new house near us is complete, and their old house in the next county over is sold. The painting & floor refinishing in their new place is done, and while much furniture and kitchen stuff has been unpacked, there is a long way to go before all of the boxes disappear.

And looking to my own extended relations, I'm heading to Toronto October 4-10 to spend Thanksgiving with my gene pool, and to collect some personal items from my sister in Mississauga to transport back to DC. Michael has also given me a shopping list of things to acquire while in Canada... I may need an additional suitcase.

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Automobiling

Tue, 02 May 2017 13:20:03 GMT

The trip home from Rehoboth Beach, DE, Sunday evening was a bit too eventful for my tastes.

While zipping along I95 southbound north of Aberdeen, MD, the battery light came on. A minute later, the engine light, oil light and others came on too, and the dash began beeping. As we pulled over onto an exit ramp, we lost power steering. As quickly as possible, we stopped on the shoulder of the ramp and killed the engine.

It's a 2006 Grand Caravan with 175,000 miles on it, so we were prepared for the worst, but after some consideration, we came to our own conclusion that the tensioner for the serpentine belt had broken. With such slackness in the belt, the alternator and other devices weren't functioning as they should.

AAA summoned us a tow truck and we were able to rent a Pacifica to get us and our equipment & luggage home while the PrincessMobile stayed at the garage.

Monday morning, our suspicions about the tensioner were confirmed. And this morning, Kent drove to Aberdeen to return the Pacifica and collect the PrincessMobile. The car repairs were about $320, the car rental $290. In all, it was better than going shopping for a new minivan.

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Death Someday

Thu, 13 Apr 2017 03:00:40 GMT

I'm not planning to die any time soon, or at all. While I'm assured that my death is inevitable in perhaps 40-50 years' time, I'm personally against it. I am by nature a cautious person so it seemed prudent to ensure I'm prepared for my theoretical demise.

We already have wills in place to dispose of my earthly assets. And while I'd prefer to be buried body intact and in a nicely appointed coffin (dark wood finish, brass fixtures, free wifi), getting my hydrocarbons across an international border would require significant effort by my executor, not to mention a great deal of money. It would be vastly easier to cremate me and carry my ashes in one's carry-on bags.

While we were in the Charlton area, I stopped by the township hall to talk with the clerk, Gisele Belanger, to enquire how one goes about being placed in the Brentha Cemetary near my childhood farm.

My parents (also still alive) have a plot there, I-16. Gisele informed us that a plot may contain a coffin & three cremains, or a total of five cremains. My parents are planning to be cremated so as long as my parents stop by the office to officially RSVP me into their plot, my position is guaranteed. There is an administrative fee of $265 if it were to happen today, but otherwise all expenses are covered.

The cemetary contains a lot of childhood memories for me. Rather, it contains a lot of people I knew. I went to school with several occupants. Some I knew through church. Some we shared a telephone party line with, while others were merely neighbours we sometimes saw. There were parents or grandparents of my childhood friends. There was my bus driver for my first & second grade, as well as the fellow who was the janitor of my elementary school, buried with his late wife. There was the couple who owned sold us our farm, and their extended family. There was the local telephone switchboard operator until the systems went digital in the early 1970s. And so on. I could give a mini-biography on nearly 2/3 of the people at rest there. And I'm intrigued by the ones I didn't recognize: there are no more families named Goldstein, Schultz or Kiehna in the area, and I'm curious what brought them, and why happened to their descendants.

Like any good story, I'm left with a lot of answers, but a few extra questions too.

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A Return to Northern Ontario

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 17:22:11 GMT

I currently live in Maryland in the US, but I was raised in northern Ontario, on a dairy farm in Dack Township, near the towns of Charlton and Englehart. My parents still live in the area and since we were coming to Canada this week anyway for my grandmother's birthday, I thought it was a good opportunity to travel the full distance north to visit the homestead.

It's been a bit of an adventure overall. My parents are still living on the farm, but they've had their share of health problems and even they are conceding they can't stay on the farm for many more years before the maintenance simply overwhelms their ability to manage.

Much of the farm itself has changed over the years. There is currently the house and the barn with its attached milk house left. When I was a very young child (pre-school), there was the car garage, tractor garage (the original 1920s homestead), a grainery, a log garage for farm equipment, and the old barn. The house I grew up in burned in 1984; the parents' current house then is the third home on that farm.

The old buildings were mostly cleared away years ago. The old barn was collapsing under its own weight when I was a kid, and we were strictly warned never to go in there. Which we of course then did. There were some ancient farm implements, a couple old horse collars for the plow and little else, but it was fun to explore. It was torn down in 1976 as unsafe, along with the log barn.

My dad built the milk house in 1970 or so. While we haven't had dairy cattle since the 1970s, it has been a comfortable workshop for him since then and as held up pretty well.

The barn was built some time in the 1950s, I think, well before my family bought the property in 1969. It's been remodeled several times over the decades, but dad recently returned it to its original form: slide doors on either side to allow a pass-through for tractors & wagons of hay, and an open loft for unloading the delivered hay. The stalls are more modern but haven't seen cows in years.

The fences are all gone. We had maintained a distinct north field & south field, separated by a fenced cow pasture, and a path to the pond at the edge of the forested area to the back of the property. All traces of that are now gone: it is now one continuous field from the northern edge to the southern edge of the property lines, and it is currently leased to other farms in the area for their use.

Sadly, the ground has been too wet for us to hike back to the uncleared portions of the property along the eastern edge. The underlying rock of the Canadian shield rises above soil level in these spots, over 40 feet in some places. They were fun places to go when I was a kid and I had hoped for clear views of the full farm from there with the absence of leaf cover. The exposed and barely-covered rock surfaces however mean there is little drainage for heavy rains, not to mention melting spring runoff. I'll try again in a dryer season.

Many other surrounding properties have changed too. I noticed some houses where there were none before, older or abandoned structures have been cleared away, some houses & barns have simply vanished entirely.

The Mennonite community has been buying up a number of properties in the area, priced out of the southern Ontario market. Driving at night, it's easy to spot the houses lit by kerosene lamps, and we passed more than a few horses & buggies on the roads. On Monday, we passed several groups of children walking home from their school, the girls in long dresses and white bonnets, the boys in dark trousers & coats with wide-brimmed black hats. Other than their dress, they were perfectly ordinary kids doing perfectly ordinary kid things.

On the advice of Gesile Belanger, the town clerk for Charlton & Dack Township, we went to what is now known at the Heritage Center in Charlton. That building was the town hall when I lived there, built in 1909. It now has a room for community meetings (an artists' group meets there weekly), and houses archives of the area. Looking randomly through official voter lists of the 1950s, I found the names of many people I knew, including the people who owned our farm before us. Sadly, I wasn't able to determine who owned our farm before them, but I didn't have the time to dig as deeply as I wanted. Perhaps the next time.

Overall, the region is recognizable but very different from the place I knew. Charlton is very similar, but Englehart has unquestionably gone downhill over the past two decades. New Liskeard seems a mixed bag, a downtown a bit past its prime but not too far gone, and a burgeoning suburban shopping area, although at the expense of the mall next door.

I could wish to spend more time there, but I think I've had enough for this trip. The next visit should be in the fall, when the local tourist attractions are open, perhaps late enough to see the leaves changing colour.

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Today in Aviation Safety Videos

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 04:08:27 GMT

I recently enjoyed a flight on Virgin America. As we taxied out from the terminal to the runway, we the passengers were given our mandatory safety video, the one where they tell us not to smoke, to put away all electronic items, how to operate a seatbelt, etc.. Virgin America's version was, well, diferent:

Now this was kinda catchy the first time, but it's long and, frankly, if you're not into their particular singing/dance style (I *really* hate rap), very, very tedious. It was even more tedious the second time on my return flght, enough that I will be taking earplugs with me the next time so I don't have to be subjected to it. I already know how to operate a seatbelt, etc., so tuning it out won't compromise the safety of our flight: it's just so damned annoying.

Virgin America: Could you consider returning to the old, less exuberant safety video? It would make my flight a lot more comfortable. Besides, do you really want expose your paying packed-like-sardines customers to a mandatory video where actors have more than a foot of space between their seats and four feet between rows? Think about it.

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Chrysler 200 Review

Wed, 16 Oct 2013 04:43:58 GMT

The joy of travelling is that I can rent a variety of cars, ones which otherwise wouldn't be on my radar for purchase or even test-driving prior to purchase.

In our visit to Seattle for a square dance weekend, we had a reservation with Alamo (they're dirt cheap) for an intermediate-class car. Alamo also lets you pick your choice of car from the litter on offer: you just check out the cars in the class you've booked and drive away with your choice.

Upon arrival, they didn't have any intermediates handy so they gave us a free upgrade to a full-size vehicle so we perused the range of larger cars. And that's when the three of us had to make a decision...

Me: We need a four-door model...
Them: Oooo! That one's pretty!
Me: Does it have enough trunk space for our luggage?
Them: It's red! We like red!
Me: Is there enough leg room for you guys?
Them: It's a shiny red! Let's pick this one!
Me: *sigh*

It was indeed roomy enough and had plenty of trunk space. There was good sightlines around the vehicle from the driver's seat and the dashboard was easier to understand than many other cars I've rented, although I'll confess I never found the trunk release button until the day we returned the car. The analog clock was an interesting stylistic choice.

Overall, I think the fuel efficiency was so-so, as was the general acceleration, sound levels, general comfort and ride. It just nice, not great, not horrid. Nice in a bland and otherwise uninterseting way. I'm sure in a few weeks, the Chrysler 200 will fade completely from my memory.

Still, $75 for four days' rental... I'm good with that. And the boys got a red car for the weekend.

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San Francisco, Week 1

Sat, 29 Jun 2013 16:40:15 GMT

I landed at San Francisco's airport last Sunday with rainy weather behind me in DC and heavy fogs & rain here in the Bay area. It figures: while I had packed every possible change of clothes --business casual, recreational, square dance club formal, etc.-- I hadn't thought to pack either a waterproof jacket or an umbrella. Doh! At least the "rain" in SF was little more than a heavy drizzle and it all blew out of the area by lunchtime Tuesday.

This first week was dedicated to working at my Dear Employer's new office digs in downtown San Francisco. We occupty the 20th & 21st floors of 301 Howard Street, just a couple of blocks south of the Embarcadero BART subway station. In many ways, it's incredibly convenient. On the downside, corporate policy hasn't caught up with the new reality and I must therefore continue to stay at the officially blessed Hyatt Regency, two miles on the wrong side of the San Francisco airport. Using a rental car, I've been driving a mile to the Millbrae BART station, paying $2/day in parking and spending another $8 or so for the subway ride.

I don't mind the commute overmuch. The only downside --besides taking 45 minutes per day each way just to travel-- is that I have to get to the Millbrae station around 7am to guarantee finding a parking spot and/or a seat on the train for all the 11 stops and that means the alarm going off at 6am. I'm OK with that but I'm not a morning person. Worse, while showing up at 8am is a Good Thing work-wise because there's no one else in the office, I feel a bit guilty leaving before 5pm with the rest. When I'm on the east coast, I get out of bed at 8:59am to be at my basement computer bunker by 9am. Sometimes I'll even put on clothes. And I can take a few minutes in the middle of the day to sit somewhere comfortable, away from the computer screens, to rest if desired. In short, I'm out of practice with the commuting schedule most normal people have, and which I used to follow when working at all prior employers.

A word on BART. Many of the people I work with don't have a high opinion of the system. Trains too irregular, trains too old, etc.. Having spent many years on Toronto's TTC subway and DC's Metro system, I'll say that BART has some distinct advantages over the other two.

1. The cars are clean, practically spotless. I hardly ride Metro without getting a strong whiff of mildew from the poorly cleaned & maintained AC systems. Most Metro cars desperately need some stain remover on their floors and sometimes the seats.
2. Toronto and DC's subways stop at stations wherever they please. Sometimes the train will advance to the end of the platform, sometimes they crawl just far enough for the trailing car to align with the entrance, most times they just park at some random place along the platform. BART trains stop at distinct locations and there are colored floor tiles at the platform edge to indicate precisely where the doors will be. This pleasant feature allows passengers to queue up on either side to board rather than forming an amorphous blob competing to get in the doors the moment the last departing passenger is clear. And BART passengers do queue up politely. Imagine that: a design inducement for crowd politeness rather than dissuading it.

I was surprised to learn Monday that I have a new Director of Operations. I didn't even known we were hiring such a position, but I'm guessing my VP was finding he needed to delegate more of the day-to-day business so he can focus on the larger picture. Bret seems a pretty nice guy and he seems to know his stuff. This week, he was getting to know all of the people involved, checking out the data center facilities, familiarizing himself with our networks, our fields of specialty, our day-to-day activites and meetings. I took advantage of his first day to piggy-back my own requests for a new office badge so I can get into the office during the off-hours, among other things.

There is one huge downside to working at the San Fran office: excessive visibility. Many of the things I wanted to do have been swamped by fly-by requests and/or urgent matters. Since I'm one of three people on the team (more on that soon), I usually get a stack of these but being on-site increased my percentage significantly. I'm behind on my personal work-related goals for this week.

After several days of minimal sleep, I crashed early last night. Rather, I decided that when I dropped my tablet on my face twice before 9pm when I dozed off while reading, it was a sign I should just call it a night. I slept soundly until about 6am.

cuyahogarvr and kent4str are arriving on Virgin America at lunchtime today. I received a couple of confirming text messages from them just prior to boarding that all was well.

Per earlier plans, I drove to the local laundromat to catch up on laundry. I have packed my bags and am ready to check out of the Hyatt at 11am. I'll park the car at Millbrae, then take the BART to SFO to collect the guys and their bags. Once we're together, we'll head downtown to check into the Marriott Marquis for the IAGSDC convention (I've already checked in online) where we're staying until July 8 when the boys return east. I still need to book an alternate hotel in SF for July 8-12, but the last minute deals are only available a week prior to the booking date so I'll worry about that on July 1.

More news as it develops.

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Fostery City Again

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 21:03:55 GMT

I escaped the snowy doom of DC this week for a quick trip to visit my corporate overlords in California.

When I booked my tickets back in February, it was going to be a normal trip to visit with the team, work on some joint projects and help out in the Santa Clara data center. Since then, my original manager left the team, the new manager's father died so he's gone to Hawaii to settle the estate and another guy left the firm. Our team of six is now a team of three and I'm filling in as interim manager. This is definitely not a normal trip.

Among other little challenges, the powers-that-be have declared that my official hotel will be the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, about a four mile drive from the office. I used to stay at the Marriott Courtyard, immediately adjacent to the office so I'm not really keen on the longer commute. Fortunately, it's not turn out to be as bad as it could be.

When I made the hotel reservation, my firm hadn't issued me the group code for our corporate rates so the Hyatt had no clue I was there on business and was therefore going to charge me for both Internet and parking. The kind desk clerk, however, waived both for me, noting that I was a Hyatt Honours member. That I looked like an unkept, sleep-deprived drowned rat at the time might have elicited a small sympathy response too.

My room is on the 6th floor but it faces outwards instead of into the beautiful interior atrium. Not a big deal, but my external view is directly onto 101 and the noise levels are a bother. And the room has feather pillows --I'm allergic to feathers. Still, the pillows were swapped out and the room itself, while not as large as the Courtyard, has a better arrangement of furniture and is definitely a better working space and a more comfortable bathroom & shower.

Yesterday, completely out of the blue, their sales director emailed me to apologize for not realizing I was there on a corporate group account, sent a bottle of wine & sparkling water with glasses to my room with a personalized greeting card, and offered to move me to a room away from the 101 today, as there would be additional rooms available shortly. OK, I can deal with this.

The Hyatt itself is near, well, nothing but more hotels: a Crowne Plaza, a Holiday Inn, a few non-chain places. There's not much available in the way of restaurants or shopping so the food I have in my room I bought at the Safeway near my office during lunch.

It's the commute to & from work which is annoying. There's no escaping some driving on the 101, but pklexton pointed me to Third Street which I can use to minimize the highway congestion. The on/off ramps for my hotel is a nightmare but I figured that out after a few panic attacks. Still, walking 100 feet the Courtyard Marriott to work will always be a tough act to top.

BTW, my car this trip is a Kia Soul, a cube-like car which has actually been pretty nice. It handles well, has a quiet & smooth ride, has great surrounding visibility and appears to be light on fuel although I can't say I've driven it enough to really have a good handle on that quiet yet.

Heading out to lunch now... more to come later.

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Data Centers A-Go-Go

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:11:42 GMT

I'm writing this on my flight from Phoenix back to the DC area. We've been in the air about a half-hour now, and this is the first breathing space I've had in nearly three days.

I had flown to Phoenix to meet with several others with my firm and visit three candidate data centers to replace our Savvis SC4 facility in Santa Clara, CA. The SC4 site is one of the oldest data centers in Silicon Valley and, frankly, it looks it: the air conditioning is subpar, the internal power distribution is insufficient for current-day server densities and so on. The place needs to be gutted and renovated from the ground up. We have our non-production machines housed there and while that was adequate in the past, our future plans require more than SC4 can offer.

Why Phoenix? We already have offices and staff there. There are a number of competing data centers, all cheaper than anything we could find in the Bay area. The climate lacks the hurricanes of the east coast, earthquakes of the west coast, tornadoes of the central south and terrorist threats of the capitol region. Still, I thought it was a bit insane to stuff equipment requiring heavy air conditioning into a desert, but Phoenix has become a regional nexus for a vast amount of cross-continental optical fibre networks: connectivity is easy and cheap here.

The folks in the contracting & purchasing division of our firm had already selected candidate sites; they and my upper management would be making decisions largely weighted by the cost of the facility and the overall negotiated package. My purpose was to was to look to how my systems engineering team would deploy, maintain and decommission equipment and our degree of satisfaction that the facilities each met our minimal power & network redundancy.

After a flurry of meetings and site visits Monday and Tuesday, I'm comfortable putting our equipment into any of these sites: they're well built, well connected, accessible with appropriate levels of security and meet our paycard compliance requirements. That said, each site had interesting quirks of their own.

The first location was CyrusOne, a new facility still under construction in Chandler, AZ. One bay is completed and ready for occupation: if we moved in, we could be among the first. The front office space is still being built out but will be done within a month. As a new building, they've built in a number of interesting architectural features to help channel hot air away from the floor into peaked roofs where the air is collected, chilled and recirculated into pressurized side wall containments which then channel the cool air to the pressurized floor. Rain water is collected for use in the chillers. Solar panels are being considered for supplementary power. It'll be a gorgeous, sexy building when it is completed.

Next, we looked at IO in Phoenix proper. The facility was originally built as a designer bottled water plant, although that firm went bankrupt, killed by its own fraudulent accounting. IO picked up the building for a song and rebuilt the factory floor into an extraordinary data center facility. Wisely, they kept the stunningly opulent lobby and front offices, some of which they rent out to firms with servers on the data center floor. Walking into the building was like walking into a luxury New York hotel.

The building is just down the street from the Van Buren street fibre nexus. Indeed, it's close enough we could get huge bandwidth with only two cans connected by string. Oddly, while we can make connections through this massive meeting point to nearly every major telecom player in North America, Comcast isn't one of them: they don't serve Arizona.

The data center itself had two flavours: the older “phase one,” a traditional data center floor with individually walled cages for each client. Their newer and vastly preferred “phase two” area uses their proprietary modules. These modules look like stainless steel cargo containers: one can install 14 cabinets down the center of the container, power & network connections fed from overhead trays. The air conditioning and power distribution systems are in separate lockers under the floor. This allows the maintenance to be performed on a module without ever entering the customer space above. Each modules has its own fire control system and its own entry lock system (your choice of physical key, badge, fingerprint scanner, iris scanner or any combination thereof). While these modules are all inside a common warehouse, they're designed to be weather resistant and could be deployed remotely as needed. IO also offers a larger version we affectionately called the “double-wide,” but that's larger than we need.

The third facility is a Digital Realty site located next door to the previously mentioned CyrusOne location in Chandler, AZ. It's an older building, originally constructed as a data center by a financial securities firm for their own use. Of all of the sites, this was easily the most bland and unglamourous. That said, it also probably has the longest track record and best uptime record of all of the facilities we examined. Our cage there would look largely like our existing facilities: a standard cage on the data center raised floor inside a nondescript building. What caught our eye with DRT, however, is how transparent and open they are about their maintenance procedures and their logs. They were open to letting us look through any of their log books to examine their past preventative maintenance, corrective actions, root cause analysis and more.

As an older facility, DRT's site wasn't up for LEEDS consideration and they used an open water system for their chillers, taking water off the municipal system and then returning it again after use. I've been burned by that kind of dependency on a constant outside water source at a previous employer and am not keen on that again. That said, they do maintain their own two 60,000 gallon tanks for backups and despite being in operation for years, have never had to tap their stocks.

DRT's facility, like all others, have onsite generators for backup power. They own their own electrical substation instead of simply having the utility's substation on their premises like CyrusOne. Since generators take a few seconds to spin up and reach required power outputs, all facilities have some sort of bridging power, typically a huge bank of batteries to provide up to 30 seconds of continuous megawatt-hours of energy. DRT offered the choice of batteries to bridge the power gap, or hitec flywheel generators. These are 12,000 pound flywheels in constant motion while there is external power: once external power is cut off, the flywheels continue rotating and begin acting as generators themselves while the diesel generators rev up. Personally, I prefer batteries: they're easier to check remotely to ensure they're charged and ready, and they're trivial to replace as they wear out. 12,000 pound flywheels aren't exactly trivial to fix or replace when the bearings go.

At the moment, I have no idea which data enter we'll go with: it'll 80% based on the bottom-line price for each. If Savvis plays ball with us, we might stick with SC4 for one more year but would hit the road in June of 2014. If Savvis doesn't play, we're outta there by June of this year. Exciting times!

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In Flight

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:08:11 GMT

In other news, the slight sniffle I had over the weekend grew into a sore throat and coughing as my body tried reflexively to eject the crud accumulating in my lungs. As of last night, I wonder if I might have mild bronchitis but today I'm feeling much better –probably due to aspirin and a cough suppressant to make the flight home a bit more comfortable. If this doesn't improve in the next 24 hours, however, it'll be time to visit my local clinic.

I was a bit rushed getting to the airport this afternoon. While I left the office in what I thought was a sufficient amount of time, I got stuck in a 1.5 mile long stop-and-go traffic jam because of an accident on the southbound 101. Even after getting past that and making my way to the airport, I discovered the rental car drop-off is nearly 15 minutes' drive on the other side of the airport. At least Enterprise's drop-off was uneventful and the shuttle bus to terminal 4 left almost immediately, but it did take another 15 minutes to get back.

Security was sluggish but I made it to my gate at Southwest just as my boarding group was starting to move (I was A58). I still haven't tied my shoelaces. Whether my suitcase made it on board is still an open question but there's nothing critical in it.

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First Travel of 2013

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:40:28 GMT

This past weekend, the hubbies and I travelled south to North Carolina to visit our longtime friend, Cal, ostensibly to help him de-xmas his house.

Cal has a very large house and has something of an xmas obsession. In all, I believe we stripped down & stored *twelve* trees of various sizes: one 10', two 7', four 4' and the rest 3' or smaller. There were also lights & wreathes around the bushes, shrubs and walkways in the front of the house. And extra figurines, decorations, models, garlands and such along the tops of every cabinet, shelf or display case. Oh, and decorative lights in multiple windows.

Seven of us worked Saturday morning & afternoon to clear the outdoors and have the trees stripped & stored. The three of us plus Cal continued working in different wings of the house on Sunday. We left around 2pm to return to DC but there were still many decorations still scattered in various locations; at least we managed to take down anything which required multiple people or ladders.

Saturday evening, we learned to play "Ticket To Ride." Interesting game! Sadly, I was not able to destroy my competitors. Indeed, while I came in second in one round, I ended last in the second. Not a good trend. Still, I'm learning appropriate strategy and hope to crush my opponents at some future time.

Surprisingly, the traffic returning from North Carolina to DC was relatively light. I expected heavy traffic as everyone rushed home from the weekend if not from an extended holiday vacation but it was not the case. That was a pleasant surprise to wrap up a relaxing weekend.

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Vacation Agenda --The Results

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 05:36:14 GMT

I had a number of things I wanted to do these past four days. Here's the score:

Shop for new square dance music. Done.
Shop for a new laptop. Done: it arrives Friday (hopefully).
Read four books. Done I got through
- What I Didn't Learn in Business School
- About the Size of It
- Stock Trader's Almanac 2011
- The Most Important Thing
- Harold: The Last Anglo-Saxon King
I didn't get to:
- The Little Book of Valuation
- Technical Analysis for Dummies
- Winning with Futures
Work on a C1 square dance class. Not a single thing. *sigh*
Update my calendar. Done.
Square dance demo team research. Not a single thing.
Square dance flyers to the IAGSDC. In progress.
Web site for cuyahogarvr, www.getoutexcursions.com Mostly done. Need additional content but worst of the structure is in place.

I really wish I had an extra vacation day to catch up on some domestic stuff, as well as complete my list. With any luck the next couple of days will be light work-wise: outside of teaching a square dance class on Thursday, I have no commitments.

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Vacation Agenda

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 05:28:06 GMT

Today is Friday. Despite being promoted by many as the date of the Mayan apocalypse, the worst thing to happen was a server reboot 8am this morning, an event I used as a convenient excuse to upgrade the machine from 24GB to 48GB of RAM. Take that, Mayans!

Tuesdays is xmas; the Monday prior is a company holiday. Taken with the weekend, I have four days of vacation time. Here's how I'm going to use it:

Shop for some new music to add to my square dance selections. I've finally broken open an iTunes gift card for $25 which has been sitting on my desk for damn near three years. It's time to put it to use.
Shop for a new laptop. I may not buy one, but there is a computer show & sale locally this weekend and I'm planning a visit on Sunday close to closing time when vendors are more willing to make a sale. My current netbook has been delightful for three years but it's showing its age and has already been expanded to its limit. I have a need for a faster machine with more RAM.
I'm going to read at least four books, one per day. I have a large inventory to choose from, but I've decided this weekend's focus will be business/financial.
I'm going to get off my ass and begin serious planning for a fast-track C1 square dance class. No dancer should have illusions about what they'll accomplish: I've been through enough boot camps to know that a single weekend can't do more than give a flavor of the program. Unless one has local follow-up workshops, it won't stick. I've also been around long enough to know that many dancers (esp. lapsed dancers who need a refresh) don't need a 50+ week long course for a program. I'm inclined to 3-4 six hour sessions on consecutive weekends. More planning & design is required, as well as a survey of the potential market.
I need to update my calendar for 2013.
- I need to insert all of the 2013 office holidays.
- I need to plan my San Francisco IAGSDC convention schedule along with work-related visits to the mothership in late June & July.
- Our trailer weekends to Roseland Resort are already in the calendar but I need to update my team's vacation schedule to ensure I can get those vacation days.
- I'm also planning to attend the LISA conference in DC next November. My office won't pay for it so I'll need to have some money saved, but they should at least give me the time off work if I request it early enough.
- Our square dance calendar is largely filled in, but I do need to alert the office to my pending absence for the CALLERLAB convention in Raleigh, NC, in the spring.
I'm still working on a square dance demo team for DC Lambda Squares. This weekend, I should be able to do at least research calls & formations we're going to teach/incorporate, as well as check YouTube for ideas & research.
I need to check with the DC Lambda Squares and Chesapeake Squares boards to see if we have flyers going to the IAGSDC for distribution in their restored bimonthly mailings. The deadline is Jan 6.
I'm going to work on a web site for user. I've had some aborted attempts over the past number of months but since he's lining up business contacts in Europe as I write this, we need to get this component together and done asap.

That should do it for now. I may add more as time allows.

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Riding the Bolt Bus

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:45:43 GMT

Bolt Bus is an inter-city bus service run under contract by Greyhound. I've known they go from DC to NYC regularly but until today, I've never had the occasion to take it. My perception is somewhat mixed.

The fares are great: $10 one way from DC to NYC. Fares vary depending on the demand (which is a function of the time of day) for a seat so tomorrow's return fare goes up slightly to $17.

Sadly, there isn't a mobile phone app, unlike MegaBus. Their web site is mobile-friendly, but you have to fake purchasing a ticket to find out what your scheduling options are. I'd be much happier if they'd display their daily schedule separately.

The bus was spotlessly clean and very new. The downside is that the seats were relatively narrow and one's butt can't possibly rest on the faux leather surface so I was somewhat uncomfortable the entire tip, never being able to hold a proper posture without slippage & slumping and being crowded by my oversized seatmate.

There is onboard free wifi. It's not great speed or bandwidth (0.5 Mbps download, 0.08 Mbps upload), but it was enough for email and web browsing with my mobile phone. There are no seat-back service trays as one finds in an airplane however so use of a laptop --especially when there's no elbow room because of the narrow seats-- is damn near impossible. There are electrical outlets, a nice feature.

The next time I head up this way, I'll try the MegaBus for comparison.

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Returning to DC, Part 1

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:05:18 GMT

The return trip to DC has been fairly successful thus far. That said, I'm still just waiting at SFO for boarding so there's room for unpleasant surprises yet.

I'm glad I booked an early afternoon flight while choosing not to go to the office in the morning. The extra time to sleep in, check-in at Virgin America online, pack at leisure and generally catch up on email before my noon checkout was an enormous pleasure.

The hotel checkout was completely smooth: once again, the Marriott Courtyard was a flawless experience and a delightful stay.

There were some delays upon my return of the rental car to Enterprise. Because of the problems at their depot last Tuesday (huge backlog, losing my paperwork, etc.), there was apparently no record of my actual rental. The clerk was the same young woman who checked me in last week and we had a laugh about what a zoo it was at that time. Not being able to find any paperwork for me, she said my rental was completely free of charge and then thanked me for clearing up a discrepancy in their car inventory that has been confusing them for a week! Woo hoo!

Dropping off my bag at Virgin America's desk was easy as there was no line at all. Even the security checks were relatively easy: the only lines were to go through the radiation booths since they can only screen one person every 20-30 seconds or so. Still, I was through and dressed again within five minutes.

I've just enjoyed a tasty turkey wrap and caught up on office email, as well as exchanged a few text messages with the guys back home. In an hour, I board and we'll see if this plane is in better repair than the last, and if my leather jacket is going to be dumped on the floor again.

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Travel Misadventure

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 23:25:15 GMT

This trip nearly ended in tears.

I left the office around noon, had a quick lunch, refilled the gasoline in the car, drove to SFO airport and dropped off the vehicle, then caught the airport rail service to my terminal. All went smoothly!

Then I discovered my driver’s license was missing. My only form of government-issued photo ID since my passport(s) is/are in the process of being issued/renewed.

I quickly checked the shirt pockets in my luggage: nothing. I checked my backpack: nothing. Mentally retracing my steps, I contact a co-worker to see if he had a telephone number for the Santa Clara data center since I remembered using my license there to sign in. While he didn’t have a number, he was close by so he diverted himself to the SC4 facility while I hopped on a train back to the rental car agency.

The Volkswagen Beetle I had rented was already out for cleaning and being sent to the floor for rental, but the desk folks phoned around to see if the staff had found my license. Nope. They sent another person to inspect the vehicle on the chance it had fallen somewhere truly obscure but no dice.

And just then, my co-worker Allan confirmed my license was indeed at the SC4 data center. I needed to send an email to the Savvis staff asking them to give the license to Allan and absolve them of all responsibility.

Sadly, Verizon Wireless isn’t especially reliable in the greater San Francisco Bay area: their network appears to be severely oversubscribed so my phone has been constantly in & out of service every few minutes, especially data service. Sending an email from my phone was damn near an impossibility but I eventually managed to eke it out.

Even so, there was no way Allan could get my license from Santa Clara to SFO in time for my flight so I went with Plan B: going to the Virgin America desk and asking for their advice. They assured me this wasn’t a big deal, I could present a mittful of other identifiers, typically credit cards, and go through additional security checks but I could board. Thus comforted, I checked my single suitcase and proceeded to security.

Alas, the TSA would let me through but they really, really wanted something with my photo. I had nothing --until I suddenly remembered my data center badge was in my backpack and it has my photo. That and three credit cards got me an escorted express trip past the usual security lines to have a full patdown for myself and a thorough inspection for my backpack. And thus, I made it to my gate with 20 minutes to spare before the regular boarding time.

I almost had yet another anxiety attack when the gate staff announced on the public address system that everyone needed to show their ID again because this is a flight to the DC area. Figures.

Expressing my concern to the desk staff, they recommended I include myself in the group of travelers who infamously need extra time to board, just in case the TSA people at the ramp needed more time to re-check me. I put on my data center badge as a pre-emptive measure and approached the ramp guards, explained I didn’t have any other picture ID but could offer this photo badge and the non-gov’t ID in my wallet. They waived me through immediately.

In the end, I not only made my flight, I bypassed long security lines and was the fourth person to board my plane despite being nominally in boarding group “E”. While I don’t recommend ever taking this procedural path, it has so far ended well.

Allan is going to Fed-Ex my license to me in DC; I’ll breathe easier when it is back in my wallet where it belongs. In the interim, I should investigate some other form of alternate gov’t photo ID to have as a backup.

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Car Review: Volkswagen Beetle

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 23:21:32 GMT

The nice thing about traveling is that it’s the perfect opportunity to test drive cars you might not have previously considered. Even better, when they suck out loud, you can return them with no shame.

This trip, I had a Volkswagen Beetle. I give it a so-so rating.

On the good side, the seats were comfortable, the engine had great acceleration and the fuel consumption wasn’t horrid. It had a nice feel while driving in both city and highway conditions and handled very well. And who could resist its iconic profile?

On the bad side, it made me constantly and uncomfortably paranoid about my surroundings because nearly all of my lines of sight were blocked in some fashion. The rear view mirror was much too small to show what was happening behind me IMHO, although perhaps a larger one wouldn’t have been utterly defeated anyway by the four headrests. Even when I swiveled in the driver seat to look behind me while reversing, my field of vision was limited on both sides by the rear headrests. The roof struts on each side created enormous blind spots which scared the hell out of me while changing lanes and parallel parking. Even the windshield was less than it could be as my seat sat physically so high in the chassis that I was looking through the top two inches of the windshield rather than a preferred 1/3 vertical down the height of the windshield.

The steering wheel seemed designed to block my view of the dashboard. I could find no position which didn’t obscure some portion of the dash or controls. I had a choice of aggravating my carpal tunnel syndrome or seeing the speedometer and ultimately chose the speedometer for fear of local speed traps and radar cameras.

Trunk storage was OK. The two passenger rear seats were a token effort at best: only the smallest of people could get into & out of those without acrobatics or sit with comfortable foot & leg space.

My ultimately love/hate metric for a rental car is whether or not I'd swap my 2001 Honda Civic for the car I'm test driving. In this match-up, my Civic wins in nearly every category which matters to me. Your mileage may literally vary.

In short, it was a cute & snappy little beastie, but I couldn’t drive one for more than a few days without going insane. Road rage is supposed to come from other people on the road, not inflicted by your own vehicle.

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