The thing I want most from our next president is leadership that brings our country together.

Watching the rise of Obama has thrilled me in this regard. He seems to have an almost magic touch for bringing people from diverse backgrounds together. To illustrate this - in the past two days both Bill Clinton's 1992 national campaign manager and a Republican ex-senator have signed on to endorse Obama.

The endorsement from former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chaffee is particularly interesting, considering that John McCain had once campaigned to help Chaffee get re-elected.

“I believe Senator Obama is the best candidate to restore American credibility, to restore our confidence to be moral and to bring people together to solve the complex issues such as the economy, the environment and global stability,” Mr. Chafee said in a conference call with reporters today. ... Asked about switch of loyalties, Mr. Chafee said: “I’m sure Sen. McCain will understand.”

John McCain is also known for his bipartisan work - and in fact Obama and McCain have long praised each other for this focus on building bi-partisan consensus. I am hoping that they will continue to maintain this mutual respect for each other even as the race between them intensifies.

Hillary on the other hand has proven to be a divisive force. She may have some solid proposals and on many issues I agree with her - but I think having a president who can bring all sides together to actually get things done is more important than having a president with the best proposals on paper.

No matter how much I disagree with the misguided mismanagement of our Commander in Chief, I have nothing but respect for the men and women who serve their country in the Armed Forces.

And in particular I am proud of one special veteran - my father. He was drafted and sent to the chaos of Vietnam in 1969, and he earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star before returning.



It was a very special experience to get to watch my father walk in the St. Louis Veterans Day parade yesterday.

Here's to you, dad!

And happy Veterans Day to all veterans everywhere, no matter where and when (or for whom) you served.

There is something magic about watching a performer blow away an audience - doubly so if the audience is completely caught by surprise.

A friend forwarded my dad this video clip yesterday - the first appearance on Britain's Got Talent by eventual winner Paul Potts. This show is the UK equivalent of American Idol, with the same Simon Cowell as judge.

Watch this and be blown away:

What an amazing performance. And to think he was a cellphone salesman!

Yesterday was the UK debut of the iPhone. I find it exceedingly amusing that instead of selling iPhones yesterday, Paul was being shown off around an Irish bar in downtown St. Louis with this video being played ON my iPhone. My dad must have shown the clip to dozens of people while we were out last night - going up to random strangers to ask "do you know Paul Potts?"

It was a fun night out on the town indeed!

I always enjoy the snarky UK-tabloid-style tech industry coverage provided by The Register. Here are some quotes from The Register's take on the news I posted last week about Dell backing away from mandating Vista on new consumer PC's...

Contrasting what was originally promised with what was finally delivered, Vista (nee Longhorn) has spectacularly failed.

... (In 2004) part of the source code to Windows 2000 was leaked onto the net and – yes, you’ve guessed – I took a little peek at it. Instead of the finely honed (well, fairly finely honed) assembler code which had graced the early days of MSDOS, I found a vast sprawl of spaghetti in assembler, C, C++, all held together with blu-tack. The sources contained many now-famous comments including “We are morons” and “If you change tabs to spaces, you will be killed! Doing so f***s the build process”.

... I hated that loathsome, tangled, interdependent, unstructured source code. I knew that it would take forever and a day to understand it all, and frankly – why bother? Just one word stuck in my mind: unmaintainable.

As you may remember, Windows XP was already out by the time that source code got leaked. In fact, back in 2004, Microsoft had been talking about Longhorn/Vista for three years. Just a few months after the leak, it was announced that WinFS, the flagship relational file system, wouldn’t ship with Vista after all. And I knew why: unmaintainable.

...

In the long years since XP was launched, Apple have come out with five major upgrades to OS X, upgrades which (dare I say it?) install with about as much effort as it takes to brush your teeth in the morning. No nightmare calls to tech-support, no sudden hardware incompatibilities, no hassle. Why hasn’t Microsoft kept up? Unmaintainable.

Right now, Microsoft has nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. After all the hype surrounding Vista, the Emperor has finally been revealed in all his naked glory. Some folks have been predicting the demise of Microsoft. I wouldn’t go that far, but I am wondering how we’re ever going to take Microsoft seriously again?

Wow. Harsh.

I love British tech journalists. :-)

But as fun and fashionable as Vista bashing may be, this is actually a rather miserable state of affairs. The immediately troubling thing for me is that my folks need a new computer, and I don't think I can convince them to get a Mac - particularly since they manage their finances using Microsoft Money.

I know my parents like the instant gratification shopping of retail, and I imagine Best Buy and other retail stores are now 100% Vista - making even getting an XP system for them potentially hard. At least the direct sellers like Dell are now starting to once again offer XP as an option.

But still, it may prove hard to avoid Vista...

And if they do end up with Vista, I hate the thought of trying to remotely support them through the inevitable Vista compatibility nightmares - particularly since I won't have a Vista system of my own anytime soon.

But Windows XP has so many issues as well... Just last week I had to talk my dad through some weird web browser issues that ultimately seemed to be the result of his system clock getting set off by a month. (How the hell did he manage that?!!?)

At least Dell is giving consumers a choice. I just wish Vista actually worked well enough to recommend it.

*sigh*

I stumbled across this video last night, and it is WAY too funny not to share.

If you are headed "home" for Thanksgiving, you will get a kick out of this:



As for me - I am with my parents in Columbia, IL right now - looking forward to the huge family feast tomorrow. They've been helping me with cleaning out my trailer, getting flu shots, plotting Christmas gifts, etc...

Though I do need to work on my "timetable for withdrawal".... *grin*

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The last two weeks have been a wild ride.

Sunday Jan 29th my mom arrived for a visit, stopping in on her way back home to St. Louis from a wedding in Hawaii.

It was a quick visit, but we did manage to at last make it to Alcatraz before she flew home on Wednesday.
On Friday, I caught a one-way flight to St. Louis as well.

Saturday was my cousin Eric's wedding and reception. It was great to see so many relatives gathered together. I had much fun and took many photos.

Sunday I spent the day cooking chili for a Super Bowl gathering at my parent's house, and a small gathering of us had fun watching the game.

Late Sunday night Leah / klrmn arrived, having driven cross-country from Atlanta on her way moving out to the Bay Area.

Monday morning we set off together road-tripping west - California bound!

Some highlights from the road: touring Tulsa (ugh!), Texas windmills and rest areas, Garduno's food in Albequerque, driving through the remote deserts of Arizona chasing our own shadow, and finally on Wednesday night - arriving at the Grand Canyon under the light of a nearly full moon!

We spent Thursday marveling at the Grand Canyon by daylight - but words and pictures can not really do it justice.

Friday around noon we reached the Salton Sea in SE California, and Leah dropped me off with my paramotor friends from Sacramento before she continued on her way to San Diego and then up to the Bay Area.

My gear was all there waiting for me - but I had no place to sleep. Fortunately the nights were warm enough to sleep out under the full moon. :-)

Friday and Saturday were full of paramotor fun - I'll post more about that separately.

Sunday I packed up, and got a ride home as far as Stockton from one of the other pilots I was camped with.

Rebekah was wonderful enough to meet me in Stockton, and she brought me and my gear home at last Sunday night.

Monday (yesterday) I went to the doctor because this ENTIRE time I have been fighting being sick. I've had a sore throat and swollen tonsils ever since a few hours after my mom landed two weeks ago, and over the past two weeks they would at times have me in complete misery, only later to ease to a dull ache.

The doctor called this afternoon to tell me I do indeed have strep throat, and to put me on antibiotics.

*gargh*

My tonsils are evil. They KNOW when I will be away from easy medical care, and they plan their attacks carefully. (I almost removed them myself in Costa Rica!) If they try ONE MORE TIME to ruin one of my adventures, I swear that they will find themselves OUT!

*grumble*

But despite the evil tonsils of doom, it was a great adventure. Leah was a fun travel companion, and we had a great time traversing America together.

I only hope NOT to be sick the next time I hit the road!

I just talked with my dad.

Out of the blue, he has just been offered a three week consulting gig (leaving on January 10th!) in Baku. He is coming out of retirement!

As I'm sure you all know, Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan - and sits on a peninsula sticking out into the Caspian Sea.

Some history of the place: http://www.bakupages.com/pages/baku/baku_en.php

In case you need a map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=baku&spn=29.060973,83.496094&hl=en

A closer look: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=baku&spn=29.060973,83.496094&hl=en

When I was nine years old my father took a job with Caltex (Texaco) in a town called Duri on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia - when no on had hardly ever heard of the place. Living there for four years forever shaped my life.

I so love my father's sense of adventure and willingness to take on jobs in such remote places. And I love how he really takes care of the local employees while he is there. The stories he shared with me recently of his work for Texaco in Latin America really made me proud.

I am so proud of him, and excited.

If this turns into an extended gig - maybe I can plan a trip to pass through Baku when I start my own extended travels...

The only thing more surreal than watching the Wizard of Oz synchronized to the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon is doing so on Christmas Day with your parents, aunt and uncle, and grandma.

I'm not even sure exactly how it came up. But my Uncle Scott mentioned over Christmas day family lunch that he had recently gotten a pre-mixed bootleg DVD called The Dark Side of Oz, and somehow we all ended up in his living room watching it.

I'd heard for years about how many bizarre bits of synchronicity there are if you watch Oz while listening to Dark Side of the Moon - and, yep - wow! It works.

I'm not sure whether it is actually an intentional in joke played by the band, or some bizarre cosmic joke. But the soundtrack works. It is spooky in places. And while in others it seems totally disconnected.

But hearing "black, black, black..." play just as the Wicked Witch first appears...
And hearing a heartbeat as Dorthy puts her head up to the Tin Man's chest...
And the way the tone of the music changes in time with scene changes, particularly during the tornado scene...

It is a surreal twilight zone experience many times over.

Anyway - I think I'd like to try this experiment again, though perhaps properly inebriated next time. *grin*

Rating: 4 Moons.

Today was Christmas in Baltimore at my brother and his wife Aimee's new house.

And the Christmas movie we decided to watch after dinner and gifts: Polar Express.

The story was a good one, but it would have been better told in a traditionally animated fashion. The 3D was at best a gimmick, and was often distracting. The characters were too realistic, but not realistic enough to pass as real. They instead seemed like strange zombie dolls. Dead, yet alive... This is why Pixar movies do NOT attempt to feature realistic human characters. If you want an animated character to look real, then forget animation and USE REAL PEOPLE.

Also - it seemed as if the film makers were often more focused on making a thrill ride for an amusement park than a movie. Oh yeah, IMAX 3D.

This might be a fun movie to see on an IMAX roller coaster ride someday, but it is NOT destined to become a Christmas classic. Ah well...

Rating: 2 stars.

Last night (Friday) we went on a family outing to see Peter Jackson's new King Kong remake.

My dad summed up our collective reaction best: "You can't put ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag."

Aimee: "I want three hours of my life back!"
Me: (after sneezing) "I think I am allergic to bad dialog..."

My mom and brother also had little nice to say.

Can this be from the same Peter Jackson, the maestro behind Lord of the Rings?!?!??

*sigh*

There are so many gratuitous overdone overlong special effects shots in this movie that the story gets lost. Lord of the Rings deserved three three hour movies. The story of King Kong could have been better told in less than two.

( *mild spoilers* )

Now onto the good:

New York in the 1930's looks AMAZING. The sunrise rising over the entire NYC area during the battle on top of the Empire State Building is stunningly beautiful. This movie has some of the most amazing 3D rendered environments I have ever seen. Wow! And Kong? Extremely well done.

But great special effects do not a great movie make.

Rating: 1 star.

I am freshly back from a week on the road with my dad, roadtripping to Yellowstone and back. I have been essentially without Internet (or LJ) access the entire time.

States: California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah
Miles: 2744.1
Details: Later!

It was an awesome trip, but I am glad to be back in a real bed, and on real broadband - even if only for a day or two before I head off again to Burning Man. Ah, the simple pleasures of life. :-)

My mom flew out to California to visit me for a week - July 26th thru August 2nd. It was really nice to be able to spend some one-on-one time with her without lots of other "stuff" getting in the way. It was a great experience - I can't remember the last time we had such extensive quality time together.  This being out of work thing really does have some awesome perks!

Unfortunately - my teeth were nowhere near healed by the time she got here Tuesday night...  Drugged, droopy, run-down, sore, and needing a daily nap...  Not the ideal state to be in for hosting such an important guest. But I managed to get through the week pretty well.

Advice: Never trust an oral surgeon who is about to remove four bones from your head when he tells you that you will be back to normal in "just three or four days"...

Anyway, here is a recap of the fun we had:

Tuesday -- Late night pick up at the airport. Showed off my place.

Wednesday -- Lunch with Rachael. Walking around Civic Center, up Market Street, through the Castro, and back via the Mission. Bought ingredients, and mom made homemade soup for dinner and we watched Vanilla Sky together.

Thursday -- Follow-up visit with the oral surgeon. "Oh, your just healing a bit slow. I bet you'll feel fine by NEXT Wednesday...." Grrr... Walked from Union Square up and OVER Nob Hill to Fisherman's Wharf. Introduced my Mom to Tapioca pearl drinks in China Town. Saw the seals at Pier 39. Lunch at Johny Rocket's. Ended up nearly in tears after an onion ended up stuck in my mouth... Cable car home. Cable car had to do an emergency stop to avoid ramming a car making an illegal turn. "I need all the men onboard to get off now and push. No, I'm not kidding. We are in between cables on the turn. I need you ALL to get out and push!"  Was fun. :-)

Thursday Night -- Group dinner at Bissap Baobab with IdaRose and Neil, Jen, Seth, ccons, Debbie, Thomas, and Michael. Was great to introduce my mom to so many people that are special to me, and to bring together such a diverse group of folks I know from college, the Men's Circle, and treasure hunting.

Friday -- Up early to drive all the way down to Santa Cruz so that I could co-host GeekSpeak Radio (www.geekspeak.org) and introduce Mom to my Geek posse.  Lots of great conversation (and music) en route.  Did the radio show, and then lunch with Sean and Maggi Cleveland, the Troxell's (Lyle, Daria, Wyatt, and Gwendolyn), and John and Kusum Tracy.  Wyatt was much fun wanting to play games on my Treo.  Palm needs to bring out a new product line for toddlers. 

Afterwards, we drove up the coast and stopped at Ana Nuevo Island park to hike out and see the Elephant Seals.  Was very cool, and a great way to spend the afternoon.  Got home, and we spent a mellow evening in going through some old photo albums.  Also got to watch Critical Mass block traffic out the window at the intersection of Mission and Van Ness for 10+ minutes. 

Saturday -- Shopping and errands, and some driving around SF.   Re-organized the kitchen together.  More great conversations...  I tried to persuade Mom to venture out to check out the Zombie March, but "Zombies are WAY out of my box..."  *grin*

Sunday -- Went to Mass with Mom at the SF Cathedral (the one on the top of the hill that looks like the inside of a washing machine).  Was beautiful inside, really stunning architecture.  Afterwards we drove up to the Novato Renaissance Faire and met up with Amy and Bill and Raven and Sean and Kate and Sean and Lindsay...   Amy helped my mom get garbed up, and then I got to introduce Mom to the chaos of Faire.  It may not have been zombies, but the overall bawdiness of Faire was "almost out of my box"...  She did great though, regardless.  I was disappointed that with so much stuff going on and with everyone being "in character", it was hard to really help my mom getting to know some of my favorite people.  I probably should have planned for a pre-Faire lunch meeting to start things off on slightly more familiar turf... 

At Faire we also ran into MikeB and he played us some great songs ("If I had a Million Ducets"), Dawn and Akien and Allegra came up with Joel and Amy in tow, and Josiah and some friends of his were at times part of our group roaming around the Faire as well. 

Much fun was had by all.  But it was hot and exhausting and draining too.  Afterwards we had dinner with Sean and Lindsay before they drove home to Sacramento, and then Mom and I headed home for some long talks and processing about the day.

Monday -- We set out driving, and spent the day touring SF by car.  Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Park, lunch at the Beach Chalet, some walking along the cliffs in the Presidio, napping on Baker Beach (the fog actually burned all the way off for the first time during her visit!), driving through the Marina, down Lombard, up to Coit tower, and eventually home to order pizza and watch Return of the King together.  Awesome day of great adventure and conversation...

Tuesday -- Lunch at Saigon Saigon on the way to the airport...

Whew.  What a full, great week.

My mom rocks - it was awesome to spend so much time with her, even if it was exhausting!

(And since I know she occasionally reads this -- HI MOM!  I LOVE YOU!)

Next up -- my Dad is visiting in two weeks for an extended father-son camping trip.  Yay!