David Gessel
Lufthansa @ Bologna
Due to some bizarre construction at the Bologna airport (take an immediate illegal U-turn when you come up out of the underpass rather than driving half way around the airport to the rotary and save 5 minutes) we arrived at check in for our BLQ-FRA flight about 30 seconds after the agent had closed it.
As we walked up she said curtly, “the flight is closed.” We asked how much we had missed it by and she said “the flight is closed.” We asked if we could get on the next flight at 18:10 and she said “Maybe, I will get to you in a few minutes.”
So we stand around pleasantly and wait. Eventually she takes our passports and swipes them, a few seconds later she gives us a big smile and says she’s sorry and she will make a call and thinks we can get on the plane after all…
And after all that, the plane was 20 minutes late. .
Guca Golden Trumpet Festival…
Carolyn and I were on a night train from Zagreb to Venice last night and our cabin mate was on his way from Belgrade and told us that the most amazing experience of his life was the Guca Golden Trumpet Festival, especially the finale where the hills around the town are wired with dynamite charges, one for ever of the 47 years of the festival.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXR6v1d2ZVg[/youtube]
Zagreb to Venice
On the night train… Our cabin mate is coming from belgrade. This should be fun….
Emergency cock
It seems small to me but I suppose it is just for emergencies.
Snow Storm
Carolyn and Vera and Zolly and I went skiing in Tahoe; they stayed at Donner Peak and I spent the day running up and down Granite Chief at Squaw, the only part of the mountain no being blasted by enough wind to blow you backwards uphill. The snow got pretty heavy at times and it was very pretty.
Unfortunately the day before at (ahem) Boreal (ahem) I fell going pretty fast down their “black diamond” slope and bent my thumb back on the ice. The colors had faded by today and it is starting to move again.
I really want to make a “sports” personal GPS, something with an indestructible over the jacket/on the wrist/on the handlebar wireless display and a remote back mountable patch antenna on some kind of shoulder strap and a data recorder with heart rate monitor. My GPS showed a max speed of 40.6 mph, but it can’t really get the fast parts because I’m bent over then and it is hard to mount it where it can see the sky.
Town Car
Totally randomly Hertz gave me a Lincoln Town Car instead of the Taurus I rented. Why? I do not know, but as I was wearing a long black coat and leather gloves for the weather, everyone assumed I was Carolyn’s driver. The car is really set up for a driver – the back has more room than the front, the door release button locks and unlocks on the back doors and there are no cup holders. And the engine sounds like Bender wheezing in that episode where Farnsworth made him human…
Cold Saw
I got a cold saw (a Brobo Super 300) from a very cool artist. It’s a beautiful old machine, but slightly funkified by years of service. I rebuilt the vice system which was a bit sticky after too many years of water-based coolant. It cuts wonderfully now and the vice is easily adjusted, but eventually I’ll have to cut a new keyway in the vice clamp…
Freeze That Poop.
Wasn’t this a movie? Why could anyone think this is a good idea? Could it really make life all that much easier to freeze dog shit before you pick it up? Is the idea that, once the poop is frozen, that you don’t need a plastic bag for it? You can just pocket the frozen turd and go about your day, as long as it isn’t too hot out? Or is this for people who’s dogs have eaten too much cheese? Or is the idea that you’d freeze the poop and leave it – a frosty poo is more visible and at least for an hour or so while it thaws. This might warrant a test with the LN2 I have at home…
Kensington is excellent
I really love my Kensington 120 Watt Universal Power Adapter. It runs all my computers and charges just about anything everywhere in the world and on planes and in cars too. Work assigned me a new Lenovo T60 which has a wacky new power plug. I couldn’t find one for sale on-line, wrote Kensington, and a few days later had my N29 – even before the laptop arrived.
