Classes are over, final projects are coming in, and I've just wrapped up another year of my high-flying, jet-setting lifestyle. Which is just a sexier way of saying I commute. Which is just shorthand for: every Tuesday I wake up at 5am, drive 30 miles to Charlotte Douglas International Airport, fly at dawn to Washington… Continue reading Time: The High Cost of Commuting
Category: Travel
Joking with weapon-like toys
A few days ago I posted about the absurd attention the FBI has shown in a computer science student who created a fake boarding pass generator. The true threat of a simulated boarding pass is not that it would allow terrorists to board a plane (and get an exit row seat, no less). No, the… Continue reading Joking with weapon-like toys
Fast Food, Homeland Security Style
Here's a placard (larger image) on a parking shuttle bus at Dulles International Airport, outside of Washington, D.C. I'm very appreciative that they let me know, well before I enter the terminal, what I can eat, and whether it's "pre-security" or "post-security" dining. So I can plan in advance such critical traveling strategery as, do… Continue reading Fast Food, Homeland Security Style
Moving Hell
Moving is hell. We're moving after a year in the D.C. area, back to Nascar country in North Carolina. But when God--and there's a lot of him around in this part of the country--gives you moving, you make yummy movingade. So, we're looking at this as an opportunity. We have all these dozens of cardboard… Continue reading Moving Hell
Google Mapping Spain
I've been experimenting with a good way to incorporate a dynamic Google Map into this blog, specifically one that plots key points in our travels in Spain. Don't ask me why. I really don't expect anybody to ever look at this thing, but I've been inspired by the possibilities of geomapping memories (see the Center… Continue reading Google Mapping Spain
Puzzling over the flight home
How many passengers on a transatlantic flight play Sudoku? Apparently all of them. Another observation from the flight...One of the in-flight movies was The Dukes of Hazzard. I assume this movie was supposed to appeal somehow to the retro-seeking, nostalgia-desperate Gen Xers like myself, who spent many Friday nights in the eighties watching The Dukes… Continue reading Puzzling over the flight home
Guernica, through a child’s eye
The Museo Reina Sofia is Spain's modern art museum, and my son and I went there yesterday to see one thing and one thing only: Picasso's Guernica, depicting the brutal aerial bombardment of the Basque city Guernica by the Fascists during the Spanish Civil War. Showing the painting to my son was an antidote to… Continue reading Guernica, through a child’s eye
Two Old Women Eating from a Bowl, Goya (1821-1823)
Two Old Women Eating from a Bowl, Goya (Larger Image) Posted to Flickr by samplereality. Yesterday, while my wife was digging through national archives in Spain, my son and I went to the Prado, one of the great art museums of the world. This was my third trip to the Prado, and every time, I… Continue reading Two Old Women Eating from a Bowl, Goya (1821-1823)
Niko and Quijote
Niko and Quijote (Larger Image) Posted to Flickr by samplereality. Don Quijote was on our street again, much to my son's delight. I snapped this photo as my son was dropping some change into the "statue's" chute. Moments later, Don Quijote was galloping in place and my son was in awe. I was surprised to… Continue reading Niko and Quijote
Lo Mejor de Elmo
After much grave, serious debate and heart-wrenching soul-searching, we finally bought Lo Mejor de Elmo from the media megastore FNAC in Madrid. This was a major decision. Our son has watched maybe ten minutes of television in his whole life. And we plan to keep it that way. But Elmo is so tempting. Despite never… Continue reading Lo Mejor de Elmo
Don Quijote “Statue”
Or "Donkey-te" as my son says. This is another street performer on Calle Postas in Madrid. Drop a few coins in the chute and he bounces on "Rocinante" or jousts at imaginary windmills (i.e. pedestrians). My son goes crazy everytime he sees Donkey-te, and he woke up in the middle of the night last night… Continue reading Don Quijote “Statue”
Street Performers in Madrid
This street performer on Calle Postas (Larger Image) is another attraction on our leisurely strolls through the crowds in Madrid. Impossibly tall, frozen until a child drops change in her vase, the "statue" reminded me of the haunting interactive fiction piece Galatea.
Christmastime Crowds in Madrid
The holiday season in Madrid is still full swing and doesn't wind down until after Kings' Day, January 6th. Spanish streets are always teeming with people, and even more so in Christmastime. And I don't mean simply crowded. I mean crowded in the fullest sense of the word: packed with crowds. From Puerta del Sol… Continue reading Christmastime Crowds in Madrid
Live Blogging at the MLA
I half-heartedly had wanted to live blog the MLA convention last week, but it just didn't happen. The last time I live blogged was the 2004 presidential debate, and I guess, in comparison, the MLA just wasn't worth the effort. That, and the fact that less than 24 hours after my own MLA presentation I… Continue reading Live Blogging at the MLA
One Year Later…
Back from Spain, where, toward the end of our trip, our son celebrated his first birthday. What a difference a year makes! On the left is a picture we took in the hospital, two days after our son was born. On the right is our son, "calling" on the in-flight phone on our transatlantic journey… Continue reading One Year Later…