Tralfaz

Category: blog

  • Observations of a brief period of Bachelor-hood

    My wife is away dealing with some family issues, so I have been home alone for almost 2 weeks (and will probably be home alone for another week and a half.)

    I don’t mind doing household chores. I lived alone or with roommates long enough to not quibble about dishes or laundry. But, being in a house alone (with two dogs) is a lifestyle change.

    Getting critical
    Getting critical

    Fact: Men use less toilet paper than women. So, we in general don’t need to restock the bathrooms. My wife kids me about it that I will go to the last square to avoid having to go to the pantry and grab a package. 2 weeks, and I am out. It is critical. I need my wife back.

    I don’t feel the need to wash sheets every week. They were a week “used” when she left, so they are now three weeks old. Today, I felt it was time. Washing the sheets. Probably time to ditch the comforter since it will be in the upper 80’s this weekend…

    My wife is a master of not doing dishes during the day. She will let them all accumulate until I get home from work. Here is where I am more diligent. I load the breakfast dishes before I head to work, and the dinner dishes before I go to bed. (She will hate me for this though).

    I can go 2 full weeks without doing whites. Good to know.

    The Dishwasher. My wife will spend hours re-arranging it to get one more meal in before running it. It is like an adult, real-life Tetris game to her. Funny thing is, I need to run them every three days, about 1/3 empty. I find that I run out of spoons in three days.

    I use a lot less milk. The gallon we had when she left is still 2/3rds full, and it is spoiling. Oh well.

    Grocery shopping is a lot easier (and cheaper). Of course I do several smaller trips, but in total it is a lot less expensive for one person.

    Having a dog that requires medicine 4x a day is tough. It means I have to go home at lunch time (I can do the 5:00AM, the 5:00PM, and the 9:00PM fine, but the interruption of the work day sucks.) Just having Barb around at lunch time to handle that mid day pills is a huge thing.

    A lot of little errands get delayed. I need to pick up prescriptions. I need to pick up my dry cleaning. I need to hit costco (as our TP is wiped out).

    I am ready for her to get home.

  • Bad TV – Columbo

    To be fair, this isn’t really bad TV.

    Lieutenant ColumboI love Netflix streaming. It is a great way to while away the hours. I have enjoyed many classic TV series, from Rockford Files, Hawaii 50, and the early Twilight Zones. I get great enjoyment watching these.

    I watched all the original Hawaii 50 episodes. I think it was the 8th season when they finally showed it raining in Hawaii (but, ironically, every time McGarrett (Jack Lord) when to the mainland, it was raining there.

    Lately, I have been watching the old Columbo episodes. It ran from 1971 and had 7 seasons. The episodes are 1:15 long (so it was a 90 minute show).

    What I love:

    • Peter Falk – man, he was a character. Always disheveled, waving that nasty green cigar around. Driving that wreck of a car. An amazing character. In the 3rd season when he picked up the dog (with no name), a bassett hound, I loved it.
    • Interesting plot twists. Of course, they telegraphed the twist up front, so you got to see Columbo work it out.
    • Well shot. For the time period, it was really good cinematography.
    • “There’s one more thing …” – gotta love that line…

    What I hate:

    • The criminals are idiots. They all make really basic, stupid mistakes. Of course, you expect criminals to be less than brain surgeons, but they do so many things right, but then do completely bone headed things that trip them up.
    • It all unravels with one pull of the thread. Invariably, there is one piece of incongruent evidence. And bang, Columbo gets them.

    Still, I enjoy watching these.  I just started the 4th season, so I will probably keep watching them.

    If you haven’t seen it, the movie that makes Peter Falk’s career is “The Inlaws” with Alan Arkin. Totally worth the watch.

    I am saddened that Peter Falk passed in 2011, apparently in an advanced stage of Alzheimers. A shame.

  • Out of State Drivers (Californians in Arizona)

    Living in Arizona we are exposed to plenty of home grown insanity on the roads. I have come to expect that people will often do dumb, dangerous maneuvers at will. Speeding excessively, unsafe left turns (often to deliver their spawn to school), and even some running of red lights that are more than just blushing.

    But in the last few days, I have seen some of the worst driving by people with out of state plates. While the locals will whinge about the New Mexico transplants, the trophy goes to California drivers.

    There are plenty of examples but a few that I have seen are:

    • Going under the speed limit on the freeway. I suspect this is due to concern that they are targeted by the po-po for extra enforcement. Alas, this is Arizona, where the only state that people driver faster in is Texas. If you are not doing 5 – 10 MPH over the posted speed, even in the slow lane, you are likely to be run over by a big rig. Seriously, keep up with the flow of traffic.
    • Using the HOV lane as a single occupant. I know that in California, your Prius entitles you to a sticker that allows you to use the HOV lanes without being a carpool (2 or more occupants), but here that don’t mean shit. I see lots of driver only, California plate, hybrids risking the HOV lane, and jumping out when they see a cop. Just don’t risk it.
    • Slowing down to merge. One of the things that drove me nuts about living in California was the fact that people accelerate on the on-ramps, and then jam on their brakes before merging. Here is a clue: use the on ramp to match your speed with the traffic, then merge into the traffic smoothly. Yet, yesterday, coming back from the airport, I was behind a pickup with California plates that accelerated up the on-ramp, and then slowed to 20 mph below the traffic speed. Argh, asshole, just f*cking merge dammit.
    • Running red light for left turns. I know in California that intersections plan for there to be 2 – 3 cars to turn left after a left turn light goes red. But here, that just doesn’t work. Us redneck hillbillies like to jackrabbit start and we don’t have patience for idiots blocking the intersection trying to not have to wait a full cycle. Of course, the Californian believes they can just “make it through” and all will be OK. Yet I see lots of gnarly accidents on my way to work, often caused by this practice.

    The key to driving with out of state plates in a foreign state is to blend in, and not do dumb things. While most of the rules of the road are shared among the states, there are enough formal differences, as well as enough cultural differences to trip up even the most savvy driver.

    Learn to blend. If you are used to being aggressive, stop being aggressive. If you are used to some “slack” by the local authorities, don’t expect that courtesy.

    And most importantly, don’t be an asshole driver.

  • Movie Review: Rush

    I rarely watch movies on airplanes, but on my last trip, I noticed the person seated next to me wathing a Racing movie. It piqued my interest, so I dove into the inflight entertainment.

    The movie was called “Rush” and it was about a rivalry between auto racers in the 1970’s. I had heard about this tangentially and thought I would enjoy it. But it would be a “Netflix” movie for me (I can’t recall the last time I sat in a theater).

    Anyhow, the movie starts with Formula 2 racing, where James Hunt and Niki Lauda got into a (more than) friendly rivalry. Dogging each other at all the races, it was a classic rivalry.

    The film does a fabulous job capturing the essence of the racing mindset (talent, determination, grit, and uber competitiveness) and showing the inside story.

    Great story, and I thought it had to be fabricated, but alas, the characters exist, and the rivalry happened.

    I won’t spoil the story for you, but I will assure you that it was a thoroughly enjoyable romp, and I highly recommend adding it to the Netflix list.

    5 stars

  • Family Tech Support

    A couple of days ago, as I was fading into a jet-lag induced foggy sleep, my wife complained that her laptop (A 13″ MacBook Pro, probably 4 years old) was getting slow on email. I  knew that it had about 1/3 of the disk free (about 90 gigs) so it wasn’t running out of space.

    The next morning came this conversation:

    Wife: “Uh, I need DiskWarrior to see if I can make my laptop better.”

    Me: “Sure, let me get it for you”

    (DiskWarrior is a mac utility that does wonders to fix inconsistent file systems caused by clutter, or entropy over time. It has been a miracle worker in my experience.)

    Wife (sheepishly): “Uh, I dropped my laptop a few days ago…”

    Me: “Again?”

    Result:

    • The 4 year old HD that had been dropped at least three times that I know about is dead as dillinger. All my whiz bang utilities couldn’t bring it back to life.
    • The MacBook Pro is remarkably resilient to clumsy handling. Dented, dinged, it has withstood the punishment my wife gives it.
    • A spare 750G  7200 RPM hard drive is in there, the laptop is up on 10.7, and is running well.

    Fortunately, most of the important documents are on her iMac, and the laptop was really a roving computer.

    Unfortunately, I couldn’t use migration tools as the disk was totally hosed. So it is a fresh start.

  • Travel Notes – Going Home Edition

    It has been a long two weeks in Europe. A good set of meetings, and less hectic that trips to the continent commonly are (6 countries in 4 days, all by car is standard fare).

    I got to spend almost a whole week in England, for the most part based in London. The last three days were in a itty bitty hotel room near Paddington Station. Convenient, but cramped (the bed took up the whole width of the room, there wasn’t a proper desk to work on). Fortunately I barely had time to sleep in this room.

    There is nothing like getting a text at 3:00 AM telling you that your flight back is canceled. That gets the adrenaline flowing right quick! Fortunately, I am NOT stuck for another day.

    Pro-Tip: Having status, and being a million mile flier means that even in these times of crappy customer service, and fees out the wazoo, United did rebook me automatically

    This trip was chaotic, and changed several times while I was en route. From changing meetings and agendas, to different cities, and expectations, it wasn’t boring, but it did make it tight.

    I originally packed with the intention to do some laundry on Monday. Unfortunately, I had two more hotel changes before that so I was a bit cramped for clean clothes. Finally, on Wednesday, I was able to get some clean clothes to finish the week, and to have clean jeans for the flight home. Whoopee!

    I am a bit disappointed in the number of hotels that charge for internet. My cheapest room here was about $170 a night (up to $250) and two of the hotels gouged me for another $14 – $25 for internet (or had internet that was so slow as to be useless, thus guiding me to pay for the faster service.

    I don’t know how people can afford to live in London. Not just the cost of a flat, but even a tube fare is like 4 quid (about half price if you have an oyster card). That is stupid expensive. Cabs? Fuggedaboutit. I will say the system is efficient, and mostly clean, even during rush hour. Meals are expensive. I tried my best to get to out of the way places, but it was not uncommon for a simple meal to be $40 or more without alcohol. Sigh.

    Well, I am at LHR, waiting for my gate to be announced, and then to head home. Instead of arriving at 7:30 PM, I will get in at midnight, so I will be home late. But I will be home. Yay!

  • Travel Notes – Luggage

    I am rapidly approaching the need for new baggage. I am pretty hard on my luggage, so it’s not surprising that it wears out. However, all the zippers are failing, and it is looking like it has been dragged through a war zone.

    I have had Tumi bags, and they wore well, but the hardware failed spectacularly one trip. It literally disintegrated before my eyes.

    I replaced it with "Travel Pro". Endorsed by flight attendants and airline employees, it seemed like a safe bet. Snort. Of course their bags last a long time because they NEVER have to check their bags. Both my carry on sized roller, and my big roller looked like hell almost immediately. The first trip with my big bag, the big zipper pulls were lost. And it has gone downhill from there. My current trip is probably the last with this bag.

    Not sure where to go next. But, I am certain whatever brand of luggage I buy, it will have a finite lifespan before the rigors of travel shred it mercilessly. I am tempted to go hard shell, but much of that looks and feels cheap as well.

  • Travel Notes

    As someone who travels extensively for work, I have a few habits that are “odd”.

    1. I never watch TV in my hotel. I can’t remember the last time I turned on a TV in the hotel room. Probably early 2002 or so. I don’t watch much live TV at home, so it is pretty easy to just leave the telly off. Additionally, since I am not a huge sports fan (except for MotoGP and WSBK), I don’t find that I miss it.
    2. I don’t watch movies in airplanes. Even with the advent of personal video/entertainment systems, I just read or sleep. Old habits are hard to kick, and I got out of the habit of watching the in-flight entertainment a long time ago.
    3. I try to not rent cars. Unless I need to go significant distance in a location, even in the US, I usually just cab it. Internationally? No brainer. Cab, train, subway is the way to go.
    4. I never read the newspapers that they hang on the door. I swear that USA Today pretty much exists to be tossed at hotel room doors. But even overseas I just leave the paper on the ground. What I want to read, I get from the web (I subscribe to The Economist and the NY Times, so I am not starved for content).
    5. If breakfast costs money in the hotel, I will go out. I find it astounding how much hotels charge for breakfast. $25 – $30 is not uncommon. Unless they are serving shaved truffles, and beluga caviar omelettes, there is no way I can eat that much worth of food. Just about anywhere in the world I have stayed will have a small coffee shop/bakery within walking distance. They get my custom. Of course, in the US at least, most business hotels include a small breakfast service. That is still catching on worldwide.
    6. Kitsh and gifts – long ago I stopped buying stuff on the road. I know my wife likes the trinkets, but really, how many “Hello Kitty” keychains does one need? I do still buy chocolate to bring back though. Yummy
    7. I rarely try to upgrade to business or first class. I just don’t care that much about the uplift. I have many peers who get visibly agitated when they can’t get an upgrade. I would rather keep the miles and use it to take the wife on a real vacation (and then I prefer to use the miles to upgrade to business class). Of course, upgrades are rarer than ever with airlines doing their best to overbook their seats.
    8. I hate airlines. All airlines. Yes, some are better than others (Singapore or Thai), but all of them are working towards treating their patrons as steerage. For small vacations, I far prefer to drive than to book rewards tickets. Besides the hassle of trying to get a seat with your rewards (and since all airlines are running near capacity, that becomes ever more difficult), I find that I just prefer driving.

    A lot of people hear that I travel a lot for work and instantly assume that it is all glamorous. It isn’t. Hotels aren’t ever as comfortable as your own bed. You can eat some great food, but equally often you are grabbing packaged sandwiches at gas stations. High cuisine indeed.

    I do drink too much on the road though. Spending long hours in hotel bars, or local watering holes that I have found over the years can erase some of the pain of traveling.

  • Travel Log – Europe

    This is going to be a tough expense report. We are supposed to use our corporate cards for everything. And some places that works well. In the US for example, it is getting rare to find a vendor that doesn’t take plastic. No problemo.

    However, get outside the US, and it becomes more sketchy. In Europe (where I have been for the last 9 days) most places take cards, but they prefer the cards with chip’s and an associated PIN. But us in ‘Murika don’t get those cards. Often these vendors can’t or won’t fall back to mag stripe. Grrrr. So you have to use cash.

    Then in England, for the last three days, and several cab rides, not one of which took plastic. Gulp. Add to that the fact that in London, cabs are expensive, (hell, even riding the trains/subway is expensive), and the pounds sterling have been flying out of my wallet.

    Oh, and while I have in general found that internet is free in business hotels, that is NOT the case here in Europe. Every one of the hotels I have stayed in has required payment for internet (or, their “free” internet was SO bad that it was truly a travesty). Sigh. I have had better luck in public here.

    I know that our expense policy is tight, and I know that they will likely badger me (and my boss) with all the cash expenses. Not looking forward to that.

    I am here in Oxford, a bit to the north of the city and the campus, waiting for our seminar tomorrow.  I will be working on my slides, and preparing for the session.

  • So much to see – London

    If you have been following the saga, I have been in Europe for a week so far, and had a weekend to spend in London.  I have been to the UK many times, but usually I just fly in and then grab a {car|train|cab} to some city away from London (usually Cambridge or Oxford). This time I arrived at noon on Saturday, and will be here until Monday afternoon when I grab a train to Oxford.

    I am staying south of central London near the Thames. Great location. I did a major amount of walking today, and saw a lot of sights.

    St. James Park – Really cool place. About 10 minutes from my Hotel. Beautiful grounds, lots of waterfowl, and government buildings all around. Very scenic and fun.

    Buckingham Palace – Got to watch the changing of the guard. Very picturesque, and fun.

    War Memorials – Lots of these sprinkled around. Sobering, somber, and interesting.

    Hyde Park – Bigger park. There was a foot race, so lots of runners out. Cool statues, a nice waterway, and the Italian Gardens are cool.

    Prince Albert Hall. Really cool building. Great architecture. Which lead to …

    Royal College of Music – literally it was about 200 yards behind it.

    Lots of people in expensive cars – Saw a Maybach, a couple of Bentleys, at least three Ferrari’s (including an F40), and a McLaren. Clearly people here have a LOT of money. Certainly can’t get them out of 1st gear in the traffic, even on a Sunday.

    Natural History Museum – I went inside. Really cool exhibits, well laid out, and exhausting. The British Natural History museum is a good visit.

    Long walk back along the Thames. I probably should have grabbed a bus or the tube, but it was a gorgeous day, and I enjoyed the walk.  Altogether, I probably logged 12 – 13 miles today, and I am exhausted. Not sure what I will do for dinner yet, but I will find something.

    I did look at the cost of some flats here. I thought San Jose and the peninsula was expensive. Ha ha ha. Here you have to make investment banker money to buy a flat or an apartment. A nice one was 5,750,000 pounds sterling (about $9.4M at today’s exchange rate). All for about 2500 sqft. But you would get to live in Central London…