Last Update: Tue Oct 22 14:02:05 PDT 2002


Sep28 -- top
My old room in high school. (Sierra Vista, AZ)Sat Sep 28 23:11:29 MST 2002
Sep29 -- top
The Den and CNN (Sierra Vista, AZ)Sun Sep 29 21:45:28 MDT 2002

    It's 10PM-ish and I'm all talked out. The TV has been on -all- day. And people claim I spend too much time with my computer. Hmf! What to say? Some yokel was arrested for having a pair of scissors embedded in a bar of soap.

Oct01 -- top
Check-in it out (Biloxi, MI)Tue Oct 1 09:01:54 CDT 2002

    Let's see, no update last night, why ever not? We left Sierra Vista with plenty of time to make it to San Antonio Texas for the night. (Last cross country we stopped short of San Antonio by several hours, staying in Ft. Stockton). It's not that we didn't make it to San Antonio. We just didn't stop. (for more than gas/drinks/restroom). Didn't stop in Houston 3-4 hours later either. Nor did we stop in Baton Rouge/New Orleans. We did, however, pull over in Biloxi MI and will probably hang here for 2 days or so. Stroll on the gulf coast beaches, gamble a little, maybe hit the spa, that'd be nice.

    The drive from Houston on through Louisianna was kind of surreal, heavy intermittant fog seemingly belched out by the numerous and massive refineries on either side of I-10. Some weird vision from Dune of House Harkonnen's planet ('Giedi Prime' Thanks Mike!) in the early stages of over-industrialization. I-10 dipped south towards New Orleans, and we stayed on a true west course, taking the I-12, which was abruptly devoid of all typical interstate scenery. No rest stops, no meaningful exits, no gas/food/lodging. Just trees, nice new-seeming freeway, some quiet indistinct exits with numbers (one cut south to New Orleans halfway along the 12, that was cause for mention). Eerie.

    The cresent moon rose as we were leaving refinery-land, followed by a seemingly smaller sun a few confusing number of hours later (we weren't sure what time zone we were in, nor what time it was until we checked into the hotel)

    Anyway, I'm checked in... it's 8AM or so, I'm jotting thoughts while I still have synapses clicking together, and then hopping into the shower.

    And then a nap. :) Ahh. :)

Diner-O (Biloxi, MI)Tue Oct 2 01:28:32 CDT 2002

    Caught up with Bill for dinner (fajita's at some brewpub in a nearby casino), wandered about dropped some $ in random places. Ambled back to the room and allowed myself to get sucked into TV (oops).

    Gambling update: slots: -$35 (high $60), roulette: -$40 (high $60)

    On our way to dinner we drove around the shoreline a bit, some of the piers are still shattered or lying with their railings wrapped around them, left over from the surge that accompanied recent Hurricane ?Isadore?. Rather disturbing to see, especially knowing that Lili is showing up nearby soon. If it's not too icky outside, I may stroll back up the beach tomorrow and snap some pics. (or is it down the beach, I always thought of 'up' the coast as being north, and 'down' as south. Which is which when the coast runs east/west??? I'm so disoriented!)

Oct02 -- top
The Casino Before the Storm (Biloxi, MI)Wed Oct 2 10:42:06 CDT 2002

    Poor blood-thin San Diegian me, I'm going crazy with the flip-flop temperature extremes between the humid high 80's and the smoke filled A/C indoors (Do they need to keep it 65 in here or what? BRR!) Anyway, Hurricane Lili is about 30 hours away, and depending on its course my uncle and I stand a good chance of being ordered to evacuate a night early.

    I'm in the 'Gulf View Cafe' or something, watching out the window at the clouds and water, birds, etc. No waves (there's some sort of barrier just under a mile out in the water which is blocking those, if there are any that is. I wonder what, if any, effect all the refineries west of here have on the water and the wildlife in the area.

    (munch-munch) Mm... Sweetened Iced Tea. The waitress, detecting my distinctly non-southeasterly accent made double sure that sweetened was okay with me, as if I'd never heard of any such thing. Heh.

    So, I'm guessing we're in Central time zone at the moment as my computer says it's 9:20AM rather than 11:20AM like my cell phone says. Leave it to a casino town to make sure I've got digital service on my non-tri-mode phone. Hm? Oh, when I was preparing for the trip I called my cell carrier and asked to upgrade to one of the newer no-roaming-fee plans. Went through the whole q'n'a session with the rep and then they said I needed to upgrade from my trusty old QCP860 'Thin Phone' to a newer tri-mode phone to be eligible for the plan. Hrmf. I've got like 3 chargers for this phone and all the gizmos, and besides it's the last one that says 'Qualcomm' on the front... giving it up is just too emotional for me right now. I mean seriously, I feel like I had a part in the making of this phone! Sigh, maybe the winter line of phones will have something sexy enough to get me to finally upgrade.

    Hmm... place is starting to fill up, I should free up the seat for the lunch crowd. (paying the tab).

    Wallet Check: $60 a bizillion receipts (time to start a bonfire!) the roommate's rent check Landmark Hillcrest pre-paid movie tickets (3) Big City Bagel Sandwich Card (filled, next one's free) Living Room Drink Card (filled, next one's free) and 40euros Hmm... wonder if i can bet those somewhere. ;)

Across the Beach (Biloxi, MI)Wed Oct 2 12:29:10 CDT 2002
    {pics}

    Well, I went west along the beach, snapped a few pics of one of the more ravaged piers. The one I wanted to capture is a bit further west though and I've already walked a few miles. Normally, I'd go for it, but I can tell I'm already past my sun endurance for the day. Oops. Pity, as, even with the humidity, it's more comfortable outside, even though the wind is really starting to pick up. So now I'm at the Beauravage's 'Roasted Bean' coffee shop having my usual double espresso with vanilla over ice and preparing to ring the folks to re-assure them I'm ahead of the storm and, most likely, fine, rather than pinned behind it and doing something stupid like unknowingly attempting to drive into it.

    Biloxi Photos

    (moments later) Well, so much for that. Apparently the digital service out here doesn't recognize me and my phone drops to analog service. And the local service carriers are asking me to enter a credit card number to complete my call. Hm. I may as well try again from my room instead and pay those fees instead. Maybe I'll upgrade my phone even sooner. ;)

    (somewhat later) I ended up talking with the manager of the Roasted Bean for a while, apparently with Isadore the bus lobby (ground floor) of the Beauravage casino was filled with about 6-12 inches of mud, which gummed up the escalators something fierce. They're already starting to board up some of the larger windows on the casino, and she wasn't sure if she'd be going home on time or working a double shift to help load up and move inland much of the furniture and equipment to move it inland. (something they had to do for Isadore just a few days ago). Apparantly something necessary for insurance purposes. Ironic that I typically enjoy a little weather when I'm travelling, seeing as how what rare weather San Diego gets is also rather boring. Looks like I'm gonna get more than I bargined for this trip. At least my room faces inland and I'm up on the 10th floor, which will hopefully be to much for anything like flying pier. ;)

Online and On the line (Biloxi, MI)Wed Oct 2 17:04:53 CDT 2002

    Checked in online, uploaded some pics, and journal updates, watched a little weather channel stuff. Lili has been upgraded to a category 4 hurricane now. Woot. :) Internet connectivity from the room is kinda spotty, I gave up trying to stay connected after the third disconnect.

    A few comments on the photos... the strange orange/black beaked birds in the pics were displaying very interesting flock behavior, as I walked towards them 10-20 of them would take flight, circle once and land evenly spaced directly behind the rest of the flock, with almost military like precision and timing. The wind had picked up a bit, and both these and the seaguls were standing facing directly into the wind. They looked like little winged infantry soldiers standing at attention almost. :)

    Returning from the walk, (I continued well past the Beauravage to get pics of the lighthouse/crazy truck and house as well as pics of the Hurricaine Isadore mangled pier). I waited across from the light for one of the shuttles to take me the 2 miles or so back to the Grand Casino. I wasn't waiting long before another waiting person (Odette) struck up conversation. We retreated up the steps of the beach facilities building, as the blowing sand was starting to sting our faces a bit. Talked with her for a good half hour, about all sorts of things like the Beauravage is in/near the flight-path of the nearby flight-training military base. Sweet lady, I swear she was flirting with me, she asked if I was old enough yet to be gambling. ;)

Floating a bad deck (Biloxi, MI)Wed Oct 2 21:37:53 CDT 2002

    We had Sushi at a Korean shop for dinner, not too bad. On the way back we wandered by the casino to play for a bit, but were chased away by the guard out front. "Closed" for the storm. I guess I'm not that surprized, on the way to dinner I pointed out to Bill that the casino area itself appeared to be a seperate floating entity. At intervals around the outside of the gambling area there were massive eyelet bolt type things ringing huge posts jutting up out of the sea floor. Apparently the whole casino is a floating boat, each of the two entrances to the gambling floor have these angled ramp like contraptions that attempt to smooth the transition from the land-building and the boat itself. If the tide raised or lowered it more than 2-3 feed there'd be trouble though, that's for sure. I may wander over later tonight and take a peek to see how it's weathering the storm.

    I'll probably upload this entry before the storm hits though. If the phones go out then it may be a while before the next update.

Oct03 -- top
So far, so good (Biloxi, MI)Thu Oct 3 12:25:06 CDT 2002

    Well, I ended up staying up way too late (4AM or later), watching movies and the weather channel, (and yes, I just woke up a few minutes ago). As it turns out, Biloxi seems to be within the spiral arms of Hurricane Lili, but we haven't had any notoable here yet, aside from the 2 foot surge I tried to photograph last night. We're still well within thee tornato watch zone, which makes me a little nervous. There's three on the radar right now about 30 miles away from us, but they seem to come and go.

    As the casino itself was closed last night at 7PM, Bill and I ended up hanging out in the lobby reading/geeking and then later heading to the far corner of the casino for dessert. Work on 'the game' is going well, I'm focusing on defining the data structures necessary to support a player-extensible economic system which will allow for the invention of new commodity or refinement of existing ones, exchange rates and costs, trading options nad risks, manufactoring possibilities, transportation and storage of goods issues.

    Time for a Shower, lunch, and then I'll wander around and take some pics if there's anything notible. Then maybe see if the casino is open. Didn't drop a nickle yesterday, and I went and pulled out $200 to play with. How annoying. ;)

The Not-So Wild Wild Wet (Biloxi, MI)Thu Oct 3 14:48:31 CDT 2002

    (At the Gulf-View Cafe again) I snapped a pic of the same foot-pier by the parking garage. If there are any planks left they're too far under water to detect. Water level is up at least 2 more feet and much more choppy than it was yesterday. It's pretty darned windy too, compared to what I'm used to.

    Passing by the entrance to the casino, several maintenance workers were busy re-attaching the walk-over steal plates. Apparently the casino rose/jostled enough to tear them loose! (The casino's are re-opening at 3PM apparently). What I hadn't noticed earlier, probably because it was pretty much flat, was that the approach to the casino is actually hinged so it can angle up or down depending on water level. At the moment it's angled up pretty steeply. There was a crowd of about 40 people watching the repairs and waiting to run in and gamble. I can wait until after lunch. ;)

Rain of Tremor (Biloxi, MI)Thu Oct 3 17:33:35 CDT 2002

    Now it's finally acting like there's some sort of storm going on. Blowing rain, flagellating palm trees, dark clouds racing by, the works. Gambled for about 2 hours this afternoon and allowed $200 worth of $5 chips to slip away on the roulette table. Drank a bit too much Kaluha while I was at it. Whee. ;) Boy do people chain smoke around here. More so than in Vegas. Yucko.

Oct04 -- top
Land of the Rising Sun (on I-95 eastbound, FL)Fri Oct 4 08:03:06 EDT 2002

    I got up at 5:30AM to get online before leaving. Hit the road at 6:30AM. 30 Minutes later it's now abruptly 8AM! Crossing into Eastern Standard Time makes getting up so early seem not early enough. It's so damned unfair. ;)

    I wonder if folks commute across time zones out here. Considering the distances between cities in the west it doesn't seem as likely, but out here, you figure it's gotta happen. Wonder of the constant clock-shifts result in a form of psychosis after a while.

    Ah, Sweet (somebody-else's) Home, Alabama. (no I haven't seen the movie, yet). Florida is coming up quickly. Amazing how quickly these states fly by on the coast down here, thanks to Texas and Florida hogging up all the coastline.

    Let's see, anything notible that I forgot to mention about Biloxi? There was Chris the waiter at the Gulf-view Cafe who I later saw going to town on one of those 'dance generation' arcade games during his double-shift break. There was Mike the valet/bellboy I talked with in one of the concourses during the storm. There was the ?manager? of the chinese restaurant in the casino, who looked like 'Big' from sex in the city, kinda. Didn't talk with him, but I was seated nearby often enough when just hanging out to get more than a small dose of his personality. The guy seemed desperate for business and resorted to all sorts of comical tricks to lure people in... from saying all the restaurants on the far side of the casino were closed for the storm (some where, not the majority), I think he claimed the place was a 5 star eatery to Bill and I. Very full of himself.

    And then there was Ginger, the gift-shop lady. I ran into her first about a quarter of the hotel loop away. She stopped me to peek at my dragon pendant. We ended up talking several times after that. Dunno how many miles I walked while we were staying at the casino, 'The loop' was just over half a mile all the way around, with the casino and eats on the far side from our rooms. Two concourses crossed over freeway 90. Ended up going around it who knows how many times. :)

    Pretty lucky this morning so far, the rising sun has been hidden behind some heavy clouds, and thought its definitely daytime now it's still pretty dark.

Dog Days (Beaufort, SC)Fri Oct 4 21:44:41 EDT 2002

    Lots of driving... and then a stop at the Savanna GA airport where I was to pick up my economy-sized rental car. I ended up with a mid-size for the same price, woo hoo! Been at Aunt Dru's house here in Beaufort S.C. all evening now. Despite the two dogs my allergies seem to be doing pretty well. So far. Saw cousins Sam and Jesse, Jesse's friend Amanda, Uncle John, Dru and Dru's Bill. I'm going to risk actually spending the night here in the house and see how my allergies fair. Might be fool-hardy, might pull it off. Off to Raleigh tomorrow, and then back here on Monday most likely. Tired Tired Tired. Time for bed.

Oct06 -- top
Whoops, skipped a day (Raleigh, NC)Sun Oct 6 11:16:44 EDT 2002

    Well, yesterday was pretty busy. Up at 8am, nibbled and said g'bye to Bill, Dru and Dru's Bill, and then I hit the road for Raleigh, N.C. The night before, when cousin Jesse was giving me his university phone number and email address so we could sync up later, he wrote down 'william...'. So Friday night in attendance was: my aunt Dru, my cousin Sam, my uncle BILL, my cousin BILL(aka Jesse), Dru's BILL, me (JOHN), my uncle JOHN and Jesse's friend Amanda. My brain tired from being on the road all day was starting to boggle just a bit.

    ANYWAY. The drive to N.C. was uneventful, lots of construction and a fair number of highway patrol cars. Didn't stop at 'South of the Border' this time, but it seems to have grown a few new attractions since my last visit 2-3 years ago. Wooo. (yawn)

    Arrived in N.C. around 3pm, went shopping for a bit with Troy(Shar), then off to dinner with Rhonda(Auliya), Celeste(Celeste), Hanna(Spiggy), and Michael(?) at 'The Melting Pot' a fun/tasty fondue/cook-it-yourself place. Ate way too much, groan! :) Afterwards we were all going to go back to Troy's to watch Donnie Darko, but Hanna and Michael bailed after a while and the rest of us were already deep into a fantastic theological converation that lasted for hours. I have no idea when Rhonda and Celeste finally went home... nor when I actually fell asleep. How atypically negligent of me. ;) [Now.... Dear Diary... let me tell you... ]

Oct07 -- top
Back tracking (Beaufort, SC)Mon Oct 7 12:54:17 EDT 2002

    Let's see, went to dinner with Troy's parents last night, then met Bennie. Troy and I watched his new copy of Donnie Darko. Did a little laundry too.

    I drove out of Raleigh this morning around 7:30AM, arrived here in Beaufort around 12:30. I'm having lunch at the Magnolia Bakery Cafe right next door to where my grandparents used to live on Carteret street. Parking was annoying, and then partway through lunch I had to go move the car because the neighbor needed to have the grass cut and they came and found me. Hmf.

    On the drive 'talk' radio displaced much of the music. My own musical tastes are pretty far off the beaten path around here. (and at home) So, I listened to topics like 'Wind-power off of Cape Cod?' 'Are you a high priced escort?' 'Is military action against Saddam the "right" course to persue right now?' The childish behavior of one or both advocates seems no better than what you'd find on 'Jerry Springer'.

    I really dislike the theatrical, ad-lib and charismatic elements in 'standard' debate. Why even pretend to have a relevant and important debate on a topic when the audience will be swayed by the more elegent and pursuasive speaker, not the more sound and deserving point of view.

    If it were up to me, I'd run a debate very differently. I'd even go so far as to do it in written form before it got 'aired' to the public. Each advocate would make an opening statement, perhaps with supporting statements. They'd trade, add their rebuttals, trade again, rebutt, trade, rebutt. Some sort of arbiter should assist the process as well, to make sure that rebuttals are actually relevant, and to help prevent duplicated content in the debate. As the debate transcript grew and claims of 'unfounded/unsubstantiated' data gets substantiated, the arbiter would assist in weeding out the obsoleted rebuttals. Blah blah blah.

    Anyway, I've had far too much coffee today already, can you tell? I should probably be rolling along now. More... whenever. :)

After Scwimps! (Beaufort, SC)Mon Oct 7 20:13:54 EDT 2002

    Just playing with the laptop and geeking with my cousin's Jesse and Sam. :) Had a fine dinner of grilled seasame skewered scallops and 'Near Frogmore Stew' (minus the Jopsy-bane, aka Pork Sausage).

The Beagle Bagel (Beaufort, SC)Mon Oct 7 22:37:54 EDT 2002

    Back at Dru's. Bagel seems rather fond of me, didn't bark at all when I showed up. Just noodling around now and will probably goof off a bit before bed.

Oct08 -- top
Cafe and carefree (Beaufort, SC)Tue Oct 8 13:50:40 EDT 2002

    I let myself sleep in a bit this morning. Uncle Bill was on the road, Dru and Dru's bill were at work, so it was just me and the dogs. They crack me up. Bagel follows me everywhere, smoke hides upstairs under the bed and growls at me when I try to call him downstairs. Smoke did emerge, finally, to bark down at me from the top of the stairs but dropped the brave act the moment I opened the door to let them outside. They even both obediently ran back inside when I called them. Smoke even let me pet him for a few moments after that, I was surprized!

    I'm at the 'Common Ground' coffee house 2 blocks down from where grandad's old hardware store used to be, right on the waterfront in the now ultra-touristy historic downtown Beaufort area. Nice little coffee house, no sandwiches though. Watching them making drinks for another group, the counter girl pulled out a big bag of whipped cream, (looked like a confectioner's frosting cone/bag). So much more more appealing than those pressurized cans you'd normally see. How nifty. I got the carrot cake and my usual double espresso w/ vanilla over ice, both of which are outstanding. I'm planted at a nice window seat overlooking the waterfront itself. Classic low country scenery. I feel like I should snap a few photos but I can probably just pull up the same ones I took last time, the place hasn't changed that much. There are several more horse'n'buggy tours going through the neighborhood of antebellum homes nearby than I remembered. Maybe it was still too warm for them during my last visit.

    Let's see, I messed up in scheduling the town meeting for this month, and put it on the 15th which is the third Tues of the month. So rather than change it to tonight at the last moment, I opted to just cancel it. I'm pretty sure that next Tues I'll be up in New York somewhere and too busy to commit to being online by 9:30ish. I suppose I'd better get cracking on preparing for the Anniversary event in November! ;)

Salmonella? (Beaufort, SC)Tue Oct 8 22:43:45 EDT 2002

    A splendid evening with Dru and her Bill. Went back into Beaufort for dinner at Emily's. I had the 'Salmon Emily', a poorly named dish if I've ever had one. ;) Then back at the house for dessert and drinks and such. My allergies aren't coping as well as they were but it's still tolerable, for the moment, we'll see how I'm doing tomorrow, on my way back to Raleigh again. Note to self: call Sam before leaving town.

Oct09 -- top
Rally in Raleigh (Raleigh, NC)Wed Oct 9 22:46:23 EDT 2002

    Back in the Research Triangle Park area again. The drive up was bland, bland, bland. I showed up about 5 minutes before Troy did. Had dinner at Jack Aster (had lunch there, um, Sunday, I think). Then picked up the new Peter Gabriel album at Borders. We wandered back and watched the premiere of 'Birds of Prey', which looks like another flop of a series. I've got to not watch/listen to news so much, it lowers my opinion of humanity so much and so quickly I like I'm in psychological free-fall. Bleah. Don't get me started on "Ms. North Carolina" either.

    I looked up a few internet cafes, and found a place called Cup@Joes, where I'll probaly hole up in tomorrow to keep tinkering on the current game-thang. Maybe even tinker with the new DragonMud logo.

Oct10 -- top
October Gloooooom (Raleigh, NC)Thu Oct 10 15:13:15 EDT 2002

    It's so overcast and gloomy outside it feels like January almost. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night, got a little too much sleep during the last two nights I think so I stayed up late on the computer... then woke up when Troy and Bennie went off to work, and have been up since. Got sucked into 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert' before heading out for lunch and coffee.

    Still plugging away on the gamething. It's boggling my mind right now, trying to find some way to juggle the far too numerous factors involved with manufacturing, trade, shipment and storage of 'fantasy' goods in such a way that allows for everything from fair market value to quality-control, from tarrifs, smuggling, corruption and theft to creation/consumption of goods. I'll get there. :)

Rain (Raleigh, NC)Thu Oct 10 17:08:42 EDT 2002

    Sounds like I'll be having lunch with Celeste and Auilya on Saturday, maybe Aiken as well, we'll see. I'm feeling particularly sedate and unenergetic at the moment. The rain and gray mixed with allergies, bug bites and such is taking a toll. On the flip side, sitting outside on Troy's screened deck in the rain is very nice. Good day not to drive. :)

Oct11 -- top
Oops? (Raleigh, NC)Fri Oct 11 12:00:00 EDT 2002

    No entry today.

Oct12 -- top
Saturday Outing (Raleigh, NC)Sat Oct 12 10:44:17 EDT 2002

    I'm off to meet up with Celeste for lunch and a movie ('Secretary') and then window shopping until dinner when Auliya and perhaps Aiken, Melinda, Fizzgig and Maggie will join us at George's Garage up in Durham. No Troy though he's off doing friend/family wedding stuff.

Mad world... (Raleigh, NC)Sat Oct 12 21:09:00 EDT 2002

    Secretary was delightfully warped... and encouraging, if it's possible for two odd and repressed characters like those portrayed in the movie can find love, then maybe there's hope for me after all.

    It's been an absurdly high caffeine day, double with amaretto on ice with lunch, and then doubles with vanilla both before and after dinner. (had dessert before and after dinner too, tsk! Naughty, naughty.) At 'The Mad Hatter' (a great place for cake, right next to Duke University in Durham) Fizzgig/Mark was called on his cell by his Maggie and warned that 2 people had been shot over by NCSU (right by Shar/Troy's place in Raleigh, where I am now). We skipped back to Celeste's place so I could get Fizzgig's DragonMud shirt out of my trunk... (and so ends a now 10 year long promise!). That was the very last of the original batch of DragonMud shirts... the design for the new shirts is coming along moderately well. I'm leaning towards green on black using a heavy courier font. We'll see.

    Well, it's a crazy world. I'm still planning on going to D.C. tomorrow regardless. As of tonight it sounds no less unsafe than staying here. What's a wandering fool like me to do?

Oct13 -- top
Paranoid, Para-D.C. (Raleigh, NC)Sun Oct 13 12:39:41 EDT 2002

    Well, no word from Troy yet, so it looks like lunch with him before splitting isn't gonna happen. I'm all packed up, caught up and ready. I'm feeling pretty good considering I seriously O.D'ed on espresso yesterday. Heh. ;) Better get some more in me soon or the dark roast deficiency will cook me up a fine headache, I'm sure. ;)

    I've been using Troy's computer for the last few days and haven't been dialing up from my laptop, so the online journal has been rather out of date. I've still got a few minutes, mebby I'll do that before splitting.

Close call (Raleigh, NC)Sun Oct 13 12:50:01 EDT 2002

    Good thing I diddled with the journal formatting and such before dialing up... or I would have missed Troy's call. Lunch is immanent. :)

Oct14 -- top
Up too late (Ashburn, VA)Mon Oct 14 04:45:50 EDT 2002

    Nearly 5am!? What the heck am I still doing up??!?! Sheesh. ZZZZzz.....

dissing on D.C.-ing (Ashburn, VA)Mon Oct 14 13:12:39 EDT 2002

    Well now, I'm awake... I'm awake. Good to be in a house with occupants on a proper geek sleep cycle. ;) I needed a few extra Z's last night. Thad/nogard2000 and I have been yapping for an hour now over some very tasty coffee, trying to figure out if the ice maker in the fridge is actually going to do anything or not. I'm all for just hanging out and talking/geeking rather than going the 45 minutes it'll take to get to D.C. for some 'cultural' exposure at this point. I figure, since I'm not wildly about this administration that there's no real joy in basking in the glow of the heart of all things jingoistically Ameripolitical. Besides, I've done the D.C. tourist thing fairly often over the last decade, I can give it a miss on this trip without feeling impoverished.

    In other 'newsworthy' events... Falwell apologizes for making the 'Muhammad was a terrorist' comment. Grr, why is anything related to this buffoon news-worthy? The man is obviously infected with hoof-in-mouth disease... or mad cow or something. Give the man some dignity and privacy as he slips into madness! Please!

Autumn Falling (Ashburn, VA)Mon Oct 14 15:38:18 EDT 2002

    Went out for a bite to eat with Thad, the colors are definitely just starting their change. Saw a few yellows on the drive here, now there's a good mix of green through orange all around. Didn't have the camera with me, and was driving at the time as well. I think at this point I'm going to just ignore the camera for the rest of the trip.

    More on yesterday: It rained like the dickens when I hit the 495 beltway around D.C. Considering that I wasn't expecting a toll road (is that what green roads on mapquest represent? Oh!) I was VERY lucky to get through. Had it been a dollar more to get off the road, I would have had to pay in Euros! (Yes, I still have 40eu in my wallet from April. I'll do something with them at some point). Naturally as soon as all the on/off-ramps toll booths, traffic hell becomes simple the rain stops as well. Nothing like a little visual impairment when you're in unfamiliar territory! :)

Oct15 -- top
Brrrr Chibbly! (Ashburn, VA)Tue Oct 15 11:18:22 EDT 2002

    Well, it's gotten all chilly now. Some of the trees nearby have -very- red leaves and such. Feels like a right and proper autumn. Not a season that San Diego really has, even at its worst, San Diego has more of an 'early spring' feel to it.

    The sniper has hit his 9th victim now. It's depressing but I'm taking the statistical/herd-animal view. There are -SO- many people in this area that the chances of me, or someone I know, getting hit is as low as winning a state lottery. And we should all know how unlikely THAT is.

    I'll be leaving for Brooklyn in about 2 hours or so. Should be a nice drive. And for those not swayed by the above paragraph, I have at least half a tank of gas left, I should be able to get well beyond Virginia before having to refill.

Big Apple (Brooklyn, NY)Wed Oct 15 23:24:07 EDT 2002

    Driving north on the 95 was surreal. Started out without the radio. Then I put in the new Peter Gabriel album, which I bought in Raleigh, but hadn't given a good listen yet. Deliciously dark and sophisticated. Nicely polished and with a sharp serated edge at times. Having the music's mood wash over me as I made the 5 hour drive got me thinking along tangents unrelated to the lyrics I was listening to... though they were similar in tone:

      Autumn falls, and the leaves are rusted
      the fields are reaped, crops harvested
      an apple blackens, hollowed out by ants
      the coastline darkens by the power plants

      glowing refineries in their smoggy twilight
      their thousand lights like early starlight
      If we are ants, and the world our apple
      if this is autumn before the snowfall
      will this rotten fruit give birth
      to fertile seeds for a new Earth?

    Needs work. Anyway, it's getting late, I'm going to try to catch a show, maybe two tomorrow or hang out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Frick. We'll see. We're also supposed to get hit by a noreaster, but it's still quiet out there and the rain was supposed to start an hour ago. Whatever. ZZZzzz...

Oct16 -- top
Broadway Double Play (Brooklyn, NY)Thu Oct 17 23:58:11 EDT 2002

    Lots to yap about today... Sorry for the super long entry. :)

    I'd forgotten how much my reptilian side dislikes allowing the rest of me to get out of bed in a cold dark room. Took half an hour to psych myself up, and it wasn't even really -that- chilly. I pottered around a little, decided I was going to see 'Dance of the Vampires' the paper listed a 2PM show. So, I grabbed a raincoat my aunt set out and hopped on the Q line to Times Square and a bite for lunch.

    15 minutes before 2pm... I ran down West 45th Ave to the St. James theatre where 'The Producers' is showing It's pretty clear that this is a hopping show by the mob outside. I'm standing in the will-call line, about 2 away from the window when someone nearby in the lobby offers up a ticket for the 2pm show, apparently someone in their party couldn't attend and they had a spare. I must have been the only fool in the lobby that didn't pre-order a ticket, so I said "ME!!!" and I got it! The ticket takers looked completely stunned and welcomed me in as if I'd just won the lottery. I guess I had! I mean seriously, how often do people just show and get a $95 seat handed to them for free?

    So, I joined their group that gave away the ticket, and found out during intermission that this was a work celebration for recently completing a major project. Wonderfully nice people, I wish them all the best on whatever project comes up next! (And I hope the person that missed out on the production gets some really great karma for it. :) I agreed not to mention the company that paid for the ticket... but if you folks are reading this... THANKS AGAIN!! :)

    And of course, 'The Producers' was an incredibly fun performance, the 'little old lady land' particularly had me in stitches. :) (and I'm a big fan of the Zero/Wilder movie from way back, to which they were wonderfully faithful. :)

    So afterwards, I'm strolling around, and call my aunt to tell her my good fortune and find out that I need to move the rental car so she can drive her car tonight... and I need to not have it blocking the garage she parks in because the lady she rents the garage from doesn't want my car there tomorrow. Um. Okay. I was planning a day trip out to Long Island to see Jen/(Bedo) and Todd/(zingdol) tomorrow anyway, I'll just leave earlier. Brr... that means cold/dark/morning/bedroom nerves of steel. I swear, living in San Diego thins the blood out far too much. ;)

    So, I hopped into the subway met up with my Aunt to square away the car parking situation, and then went BACK to Times Square for dinner and shopping. At the Virgin Megastore I picked up a Goth Oddity 2000 (a Tribute to Bowie), Conjure One (by former a Delerium member), and two Arabica albums (electronica/north african stuff).

    I also caught the 8pm 'preview' show of 'Dance of the Vampires'. Michael Crawford is the lead... apparently he was the first 'phantom' in the musical version. The director came out and said this was first ever showing and please be patient if things go wrong. The crowd seemed rather enthusiastic, though I heard a few scathing comments on the way out. Whatever. It needs polish, felt a little rough in spots. The dancing was, by far, the best aspect of the production. Rene Oberj(something) (Odo from StarTrek Deep Space 9 and one of the aides from 'Benson') played the 'van helsing'-like character and handled the late arrival of his 'critical apparatus' very smoothly. During the intermission I'm pretty sure I recognized Eddy Izzard (I know him from the movie "The Cat's Meow" where he played Charlie Chaplin).

    Afterwards, I emerged from the theater to discover all the subway entrances in Times Square locked up... the light-globes on the poles by the entrace turn red when the entrance is locked apparently. Very annoying. I hiked south on Broadway... more red... yet more red... Finally, in Herald Square (34th street?) I found one that wasn't locked. The MTA worker in the booth didn't even know the other entrances were locked up. Whatever. I'm home for the night now, and off to bed as soon as I update the journal, check email and such. Providing I can STOP listening to my new CD's... yummy. What an excellent day. :)

Oct17 -- top
Along Long Island (Rocky Point, NY)Fri Oct 17 23:43:26 EDT 2002

    Okay, so both the time and location are fudged. (as were yesterday's) I arrived back at my Aunt's townhouse well past midnight and it didn't feel right having the next day on the journal entry. ;)

    So, got up at the inhuman hour of 8:ICKY-AM to move the car for the neighbor lady. Had to move the car AGAIN by 11:30AM so the street cleaners could do their thing. I swear, if I lived here, I wouldn't bother with a car. I hit the road east around 11AM to visit Jen and Todd.

    Lots of driving. Lots of catching up and playing with silly fridge magnets (the marble-drop construction set) and yummy dinner/dessert.

    I was introduced to Jen & Todd's felines Horatio (a major extrovert) and Hermione (a -serious- introvert). After a few hours, Hermione unexpectedly crept out of her hiding place to skulk around, and by the end of the evening, came up timidly and sniffed my hand. Just proving once again that even shy cats can't resist someone with allergies. ;) She didn't let me pet her though. Horatio, on the other hand, was constantly around looking for attention. Both were charming in their very different ways.

    Sigh. Sometimes I wonder if I tend to be extra lucky in some things because I wasn't so unlucky as to be the first/only person in my family born with profound allergies to -so- many things.

    Anyway, the trip back was uneventful, except I think I didn't recall quite that many stop-lights on my trip out. And there was serious stop'n'go construction as I re-entered Brooklyn which added half an hour to the trip. (If you merge a 3 lane road down to 1 lane... why would you let it expand back out again and then merge it all down to one lane again after only a quarter mile?! Grr! ;)

    Anyway, it's late, I'm majorly sniffley even with my good allergy meds so I'm gonna tuck in and let myself sleep late. :)

Oct18 -- top
At the First Presbyterian Church (Manhattan, NY)Fri Oct 18 16:53:43 EDT 2002

    Returning the car took something like 2 hours. Traffic in New York is just comical. I'm still amazed I didn't hit anything or get hit by anything. Good thing, I had the minimum allowable coverage on the car to keep the costs down. I'm in Aunt Kathryn's office right now.

Up and down town... {Photos} (Brooklyn, NY)Fri Oct 18 22:05:17 EDT 2002
    {pics}

    Aunt Kathryn and I had dinner at 'Cafe Loup' in Greenwich Village. Dinner was outstanding and the staff was fun to watch. Afterwards we hopped a bus to the Empire State Building and went up. Getting in and out took a while. It was pretty crowded, it being Friday evening. The night air was very crisp and very clear with a nearly full moon. I took a few pics of the skyline, we'll see if they turn oun. Fingers crossed. The view was fantastic, even if I nearly froze my fingers off taking the pics! ;) It was nice and a bit warmer back at street level though for the ride home, fortunately.

    Views from the Empire State Building

    Just because I was curious and I have photos from all three this year:

    • The Campanile in Venice(10th century/rebuilt in 1902) is 325ft tall
    • The Eiffel Tower(1889) is 985ft high
    • The Empire State Building(1931) is 1252ft, 102 floors
    Hm. Maybe I should visit:
    • The Sears Tower(1976) is 1450ft, 110 floors

    Why do I love tower views? What better way to appreciate the beauty of a city than to get up over it? Or, maybe I was a bird in a past life.

Oct19 -- top
Walking Broadway (Brooklyn, NY)Sat Oct 19 23:20:31 EDT 2002
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    So, I slept rather late today, didn't set my alarm thingie and it's been so dark and gloomy that the daylight didn't wake me up this morning. Ooops. So, I noodled around for a bit and then subwayed over to Wall Street to look at the holes in the ground.

    I got directions from Aunt Kathryn (who hasn't been to the site yet) and emerged from the Cortlandt subway tunnel, the nearest to the site of the former towers. It's jarring. Up a simple flight of steps and there it is... a big fenced off site with -lots- of folks milling about. I can't say it 'affected' me beyond just the surprise of seeing it right there without warning, (I thought I'd have to walk a block or two to get there first). I wanted to be able to look down into it more, but that wasn't possible as far as I could tell. I took a few pics and then moved on up Broadway. I forget how long it took to get from the WTC site to Times Square, but I was moving at a good pace and only stopped to snap a few pics along the way.

    Once in Times Square I noticed one of the big television-walls flashed the 'Qualcomm' logo, (an ad by NASDAQ saying what big name companies they traded), so I wanted for that to cycle around again and snapped a pic. Also snapped a pic of the theatre where I saw 'Dance of the Vampires' and on the side street you can see the St. James theater where I saw 'The Producers'

    Views from WTC to Times Square

    Tomorrow/Sunday.... Central Park and Museums? Monday... Coney Island? Tuesday... I return home. Sigh.

Oct20 -- top
Zen Trails and Central Park (Brooklyn, NY)Sun Oct 20 18:54:17 EDT 2002
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    Aie yi yi, my feet are all walked out. :) I took the Q line up to 57th street and then stomped from there through to the north end of Central Park and then all the way back down to 42nd street to hop back on the Q to return to Brooklyn. Just a perfect day for the park, sunny, almost warm, the park was hopping with couples strolling, kids on scooters, runners, lots of folks on blade skates (many of which were talking on cell phones). The people watching was the best it's been all this trip so far. Saw a few sites that I didn't snap pics of, like:

    • The Block House - the last of the original NY defensive outposts built to defend the landward side of NY from British attack.

    • The Guggenheim (the funny upsidedown spiral cone shaped building).

    • The Lincoln Center (and the Met)

    • The Americas Street Fair (about a mile of cheesey venders. I bought two cashmere scarves, one gray, one black).

    • and Several forgettable landmarks that I've already forgotten.

    Central Park

    So, I grabbed a bite to eat and returned, now that's after dark, it's getting chilly again so I'm in for the night now. A very satisfying outing all in all, except the part where I dropped my ReVO sunglasses and scratched them on the cobblestones! ARGH! :(

Oct21 -- top
Chilly Con Coney Island/Last Day (Brooklyn, NY)Mon Oct 21 22:28:28 EDT 2002
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    Brr... it's chilly! I couldn't drag myself out from under the covers until embarassingly late this morning... even though I was awake around when I intended to be. Shame on me.

    So, I finally got up and out, hopped on the Q to Brighton Beach and walked over to Coney Island to find that everything, I mean Everything was closed. Ah well, it was a very nice walk along the boardwalk, and just warm enough to really enjoy it. i

    Coney Island

    I took the W line back up to Times Square (missed Union Square, I wasn't paying attention). Up until early in this visit, I thought that 'Times Square' was named such because of some mythical clock-tower or some such. After Passing through the Herald Square and Union Square, it became obvious that the naming scheme derived from another source. ;)

    Speaking of Times Square... You see all sorts of odd things in this city. While I was standing on the platform waiting for the Circle Q to arrive, there was this old grubby woman sitting on a bench sort of in front of me who decided to take her sweater off. Well, in so doing, her shirt came up too. Being ever the considerate gentleman that I am I pretended not to see anything and I turned away to give her a moment to collect her self. So, I look down the tracks, I look up the tracks, I look over at the other platform, I stroll a bit away and after at least the better part of a minute I turn back. She's sitting there with not a stitch on above her waste. Yeep! Put some clothes on lady! It was amusing watching everyone on the platform trying their best to ignore her. After she picked at the lint on her sweater (something that took at least 2-3 minutes) she finally put something back on, and finaly the Q arrived and carried me away. She stayed on the platform though. Perhaps she just thought she was getting ready for bed. Who knows.

    Shortly after, I Caught up with Aunt Kathryn in time for a very tasty early dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant and then she played tour guide and pointed out the various sites around NYU. It's vaguely unsettling, walking through a place you've never been, but suddenly recognizing it from the numerous movies filmed there. I'm not talking about obvious ones where people are on the Brooklyn Bridge or other trademark-landmarks, but more mundane areas like a specific configuration of benches in the park by NYU, or a certain path in Central Park, or by a certain building on 5th Avenue. Anyway, lots of cinema derived moments of deja-vu today.

    Seeing as how my body insists on being several timezones west (I'm on Hawaii time right now I think), I may end up sleeping on the plane tomorrow. We'll see if I'm awake enough for a last entry or not. ;)

Oct22 -- top
The Last Leg (Over Yuma, AZ)Tue Oct 22 13:53:32 MST 2002
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    Got up this morning at 6:30AM and went straight for the coffee, that helped considerably. Said "Farewell!" to Aunt Kathryn and New York City. The ride to the JKF airport was uneventful. Saw so much graffiti, and the ride was so boring, that I started noodling ideas to try to tame the taggers somehow. Sanctioned 'tag' areas, ninja-paint squads cleaning up tags by dawn, Brooklyn Pride campaigns, whatever.

    Passing through security was, as predicted, a hassle, but without problem. While in the terminal one of the concords pulled into the gate next to mine, much to my surprise, I thought they had discontinued flying those.

    A snap of the concorde

    Once on the plane however, we taxied about for 20-30 minutes. It got to the point where the co-pilot came on the overhead and said we were taxi-ing to Newark (the nearest airport in New Jersey), which got a chuckle out of everyone that realized we'd have to taxi over water to do that.

    As we climbed I looked down and finally saw that most of the trees' leaves were now brilliant oranges and reds. Looking down, the forrests looked like weathered coral beds.

    We landed, late, in Phoenix, which made for a shorter transfer. Two planes were departing PHX for SAN at the same time, I foolishly tried to board the wrong one. Considering we were left at the gate a few minutes extra, I'm sure my plane will be the second to land. Knew I wanted to be on the other plane. ;)

    Hrm. 35 minutes until touchdown. So, a few days back I neglected to mention a quick story. When leaving Central Park I passed the horse and buggy line, and as I had my headphones on I missed the first part of the altercation but as I nearly walked between some rather hotheaded sidewalk folks I paused the music to listen in. Apparently, some lady had started petting one of the horses. The cabbie apparently did -not- appreciate her doing that (said something about it being against the law as well). Anyway, they face off and start swearing at each other in the most loud and affrontive manner imaginable, which I'm embarassed to say, but it made me feel better, as I had just dropped and scratched my favorite pair of sunglasses in a place that I'll never be able to ignore.

    Later I mentioned this to my Aunt who told me a story where her friend driving a pickup truck backed up and nearly hit a garbage truck and the two drivers got out and yelled at each other for a while. Later that day the two driver's paths crossed again and the garbage truck driver yelled and waved excitedly... "Dat was the best argument ever!" or some such. ;) Only in New York. ;)

    So, what else can I say? After countless stops, visits, miles and enjoying the chilly autumn season... I'm more than ready to be home in the land of eternal Spring!

    So, this is as good a place to end this journal as any, what with things, er, me and my luggage, still up in the air.

    -- Fini --