Live Life. Life is Short. Life is an Adventure.

Sarah at our MySQL training course, on discussions about searching and dictionaries.

Jeff Gorton at MySQL Training talking about a sign in a Bakery

Diary: 28^th November 2006

Some enterprising person has found more available space for advertisting using the seat drop tables on airplanes. The company SkyMediaBiz also taught me something sitting next to a Patent Lawyer. It showed in the ad a Utility Patent 6,758,518 and Design Patents D417,999 and D464,840. Here is an interesting link to describe the difference between the two.

More info at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Here is what was advertised on two flights.

Diary: Tuesday 28th November 2006 - Day 25

Today I’m off to California, again. I’ll be at the MySQL Head Office in the US, again. (Reminds me of Forest Gump and his visits to the White House). I wish I could have said, and I’ll be at Google, again, but not this time.

They say now that you have to be at the airport for domestic flights 2hrs before hand. What a joke. My flight is at 9:36am and I’m about 15 minutes from the airport. I get into my taxi at 7:45am, and I’m at my gate ready to board (of course no plane), past all the security at 8:10am. with only carry on luggage (in the US your carry on luggage can be 18kg, but if you have a big bag (there are limits to size), your chances of no overhead room increases, so I’m already avoiding that). I get a boarding pass from an electronic machine at the airport, the only hassle was removing my laptop, and taking off my shoes.

My plane for US Airways Flight 638 from Newark to Pheonix, boards on time. What a surprise, since my travels began, no single departure or arrival (8 so far) has been on time.
I get to my seat, a middle in a row of three, I hate that, but at booking it was the only option. I sit down to find more then adequate leg room, on a Airbus A320. (My knees don’t touch the seat in front). Cool!

From here it all goes down hill fast. I start hearing a chirping. Weird, unit I can only deduce that somebody in the rows in front of me has a bird on board. What the! The observing two attractive ladies taking seats across from me, next to a much old lady. Drat! The end up having a fight over the window seat and one is sitting in the lap of the other. Rather funny. I see this big woman, the kind that is grossly obese heading my way. She places here page on the chair, double drat. The attempt to site down, pushes at the armrest that I’ve got my elbow on, and the flag starts to cross on under into my space. I didn’t observe all the people that got onto the plane, but I didn’t observer any body else this big. She takes great care with her bag under the seat until I realize soon after there is something living here as well. We are about to taxi and this dog starts yelping. What the!. Later into the flight I get wift of a terrible smell that I can only assume has come from the dog. How does a dog in a bag on a 5hr flight do it’s business? Combined with the now screaming baby in the row in front of me, I’m wishing for a happy place. Our plane has left the dock on time at 9:40, moving about 100 meters before stopping where we are informed by the pilot we are 30th in the queue. What the! On reason for an early flight was hopefully to miss the delays that crept into the day. We are told we will be 20 mins, which in true airport time becomes 40 mins before we are off the ground.

So in the air heading to Phoenix. Yes I’m going to San Jose/San Francisco but would you believe I couldn’t get a direct flight from Newark. Only 3 weeks earlier there were direct flights, I could get flights from JFK, but that’s a trip that took nearly 2 hours from when I arrived around peak time. My option is then a connecting flight. Thanks to the US hub system this is very common. Given I’m traveling during the day and not in the evening, it was acceptable to investigate the pros and cons. Another reason for this route was the cost. I’m booking 2 weeks out ant it’s already expensive. The joke yesterday that it can be cheaper to fly to Europe then in the US could well be true.

So back to our flight. The bird just doesn’t stop chirping at least once a minute, except when it decides to go at it non stop. A waft of fowl smell reminds me that in Dr Doolittle’s ark the bird is not alone. The lady in the window seat decided she needs to use the bathroom, so we get up, with the big lady beside me doing a wriggle back and forth to get out, being now stuck. We are still climbing and she almost topples over in the isle.

When standing again, I didn’t get the arm rest full down, oh no, I’m now won’t go all the way down and I have more of somebody else invading my space. This then enables it during the flight to now creep up, making it uncomfortable even to get my elbow on it (as if I could anyway). Bird lard no has here bird out (still in a cage but on the tray table). Bird noise not letting up not helped by her owner. The other two people in her row head for the relative safety of needing to use the restroom, a look of dismay/disgust clearly on the face of one guy. Movement in the seat beside me and the arm rest continues to lift. I’m sure it’s a play for more comfort, but if you going to be that big you have to accept the discomfort of normal sized lodgings.

So now the bird lady is standing up and the bird is out and on her shoulder. After the flight attendant clearly states, the bird must stay in, the cage the response was “It was an accident”. Yeah Sure. If only I had me camera handy. Some others took photos. My camera is in the overhead, I would have even taken a video of it. Note to self, always have camera on you. This world is wacko. How much longer have I got on this flight. It’s not even midday, we have been flying for less then two hours.

Never work, I mean fly with animals or children, problem is what can you do to avoid it. I didn’t see the on line check box, I’m allergic to babies and animals.

I forgot to mention, as I’m writing this into my notebook before I get to blogging. I’ve already got 10 drafts half down in my blog still). The older lady across the isle, easily 65+ pulls out her MacBook Pro, and proceeds to start browsing photographs, doing some re-organizing. How cool is that.

News Flash. Wait. No. Yes, maybe. There is movement next door as the lady besides me decides to wriggle about to head to the toilet. Save me the excuse of doing it just to retain my arm rest in it’s default position. Now this may all sound lame and I’m complaining, well you just don’t know now what it feels like to not have a wall of flab and arme rest pressed up against you. I haven’t moved my leg and I can now fit my first long ways between the now gap of my leg and arm rest in it’s normal position. Poor arm rest what about it’s feeling. It’s so gross even thinking about it.

A small meals comes for $5. I get a fresh fruit, cheese and crackers which is very good, and even had a selection of half reasonable cheeses in comparison to the traditional US rubber.

So I’m writing this and I’m left handed, and it’s my space that’s being invaded on the left side, so it’s making this writing in my notebook more difficult then necessary. And the flab continues to encroach under the arm rest again, the problem being unable to avoid basically any contact down my entire left side, and it’s hot flab too. The body temperature is clearly higher then mine.

Trying to forget about it, I get back to some writing. My comic spoof script I’m writing is coming along well, my target for release of this is April 2007, so I’ll need to start initial shooting soon. I need to scope out shooting locations ASAP. I’m also now working on some short movie skits for the MySQL You Tube challenge.. The prize is $1000, but closes soon. Stay tuned.

With a quick rush from one side of the Phoenix Airport (my flight landed at least 30 mins late) to the other I find the gate but a delayed departure of 10 mins gives me a quick break. There was only a 54 minute planned break between flights. What was amazing was it was only 10 mins later and there were no delays, so my first on time landing my just occur. I get to move from my middle seat to the windows as I’m joined by a young couple that live in San Jose and traveling home. Surprisingly an Engineer and a Lawyer, so who would have picked that in Silicon Valley.

I mention I really don’t like the middle seat to which the response is a horror story of being squeezed between to very fat people. What was ironic was I was able to say that I’d just had that exact experience on a 6 hr flight before this. The Dr Doolittle ark continued, luckily no transfer of the bird lady or the dog lady, but in business class on entry there is a lady with a poodle on her lap. Now that official policy that I find in the seat mag, clearly states that all animals are to remain under the seat.

The captain comes on the the mic with “This is your supreme commander. It’s not my official title but I like it. We are now directly above 1/2 of the world’s atmosphere and rising to …”. With a few more lines during the flight or similar comedy it was quite enjoyable.

I’m actually now writing this after I’ve returned from San Francisco, and would you believe on my return flight another lady had a dog in her lap just before boarding. Unbelievable.

Diary: Tuesday 28th December 2006 - Day 25

Seriously, while walking to my hotel (that’s another story in itself), I walked past the Apple Development Campus in Cupertino, and this is the road sign. I left a snip of the road and car to the right.

In a MySQL replication environment that is.

Diary: 26 November 2006 - Day 23

Today I caught up with Aussie friends Andrew & Jo and attended their church “St Paul’s and St Andrew’s” on 86^th Street, Manhattan (website). We headed off after for lunch at Malaysia Grill on Broadway and 87^th with a number of Andrew’s and Jo’s friends, and it was an excellent meal at less then $10 per head. A restaurant to add to the “visit in NY List”.

After some back and forth on Broadway (initially up for Andrew’s Commerce Bank, then down to Zabars) Zabars was excellent, summing up with their description “New York City’s famous Upper West Side gourmet epicurean emporium, specializing in the finest coffee, smoked fish, caviar, cheese, deli meats, kitchen equipment and housewares. “, another definite on the “List of places to go in NY”.

So after crossing 86^th for the third or forth time, we headed up town, our objective was Columbia University at 116^th traveling along, you guessed it Broadway. One of the topics I asked about was some of the foods I missed, I’ve experienced the US before so I’m aware of this, but still. One thing was a decent and healthy breakfast like WeetBix. Well you just need to ask the right people, on our Broadway travels I was able to buy Weetabix, the UK version from a specialist health food store (of course I kept the receipt to list the location, do you think I can find it). Thanks to Andrew who has given me the store details, Westside Health Food at 2569 Broadway st, around 96^th - map. Two more food tips were Fresh Direct for ordering groceries online and having them delivered, and Fairways.

So, some of my photos from the day can be found in Columbia University Photos.

We moved off Broadway after some time on the campus, and headed to Riverside Drive, taking in a look at a huge Gothic church (home of The Riverside Church) and at General Grant National Memorial, before we continued all the way to Jo’s work at 166^th (another part of Columbia University). Within the grounds of some of the Columbia buildings and the hospital is the location of the home plate of Hilltop Park, the home of the New York Highlanders which later became know as the New York Yankees.

Back to 156^th street for dinner and a few games of the board game Carcassonne before my trek home on the NY subway system. A very enjoyable day.

Some more pan photos I’m experimenting with AutoStitch.

Following a recommendation from Jeremy I decided to try out AutoStitch, a program for joining photos together when you do pan shots. It even runs under Wine, which was great, allowing me to use this Windows Program in Ubuntu. Today I took some photos at Central Park and Time Square.

You can also view my Pan photos I tried in 2004 here. A Sample!

Diary: 25 November 2006 - Day 22

Following my time at Central Park today, I headed from Columbus Circle at the corner of Central Park down Broadway to the Path Station at 34th Street.

My walk took me past all the Broadway shows, and then into Time Square at 42^nd Street. I had my SLR this time, but not a tripod however I was still happy with the photos. Here are a few. You can view them all Here.

Diary: 25 November 2006 - Day 22

Today, with a clear day I headed into Central Park in New York city. It was a pity that when I’d arrived a few weeks ago that all the Autumn leaves for the trees had basically finished. I’ll be looking forward to Autumn next year, particularly in the Boston area.

The weather was much better today up to 53F (~ 12C) today in Central Park. As you can see from the Google Map (click to enlarge), it’s rather large, and starting in the bottom right corner on 59th Street and 5th Avenue, I only managed to wander around the bottom half (up to about 86th Street) in several hours. You can check out my photos Here, starting with the Ice Skating ring, and ending with the Great Lawn. Here is a sample of the photos!.

The last photo has 5 squirrels just there at the path digging around. They are quite interesting to watch.

Diary: 24 November 2006 - Day 21

Following on from Thanksgiving Day, the next day is known as Black Friday. Good old Wikipedia sums this up well — “Black Friday (shopping), the day after Thanksgiving Day in the United States, the first shopping day of the Christmas season and one of the busiest shopping days of the year.”.

So, not wanting to ever turn down an experience or adventure at least once regardless of the warnings, I’m woken at 5:30 am after a heavy night of drinking and little sleep, and head out to be at Target at 6:00 am with JJ (name without to protect the identity of my shop-aholic guide).

The line at the store was, well insane. It was a large store (by American standards), and the line stretched from the front door along the entire front of the building, and around the side down to the back of the building. The car park was full and it wasn’t even 6am, the doors still closed. It’s about 28F (-2C). Our first objective here was a Air Hockey table. The hot ticket items that everybody was chasing for were black gaming chairs with inbuilt speakers, I didn’t get the price, but around $20-$30. The next hot ticket item was a 19″ widescreen LCD for $180. Now that was a good deal.

We managed to achieve our bootie, the last one available on the shelves, and in the time I had the box 3 people asked for it. We did notice on our exit another 3 on the end of a isle, but I’m sure they didn’t last long. Even exiting via the cash register was only 10-15 mins, but then again it’s 6am and there were probably 30 registers open.

Our next objective was Toys ‘r’ Us. It was more sedate, but there were still a lot of people in the store. We found out after that the store actually opened at 5:00 am. The checkout line takes at least 20 mins, and in the line I mention in conversation “trolley then shopping trolley” to a fellow shopper that we had passed previously in the store driving recklessly (their pile of toys were so high they couldn’t actually see where they were going) and all I get is blank looks. I needed to call it a “cart”.

As we exit our second store, the sun begins to rise. It was rather poetic that we had finished our shopping and were heading home for breakfast, all done in the dark. Maybe it should be called “Dark Friday”.

Overall, I was extremely impressed at how polite everybody was in the stores. It was extremely busy, but it wasn’t as bad as some of the stories told the night before. This was obviously due to the more suburban area. As I’m writing this, the 11pm TV News headlines show the mayhem at stores in “Black (and Blue) Friday”, you can check out some more info at Holiday Shopping Season Kicks Off.

Diary: 24 November 2006 - Day 21

Today was as a momentous day on the return from our overnight Thanksgiving trip with my new pseudo relatives. Our return to home started at the front door with the mail box. As Frank started sorting, this one’s for Ronald, this one’s for Ronald, this one’s for Ronald. Ok, you get the picture. I haven’t been swatting long, but I’m sure the definition of trouble could be when I’m getting more mail then the occupants.

And what was in the mail, none other then my US Social Security Number - SSN. This is effectively the US National Identity Number, essential for US Citizens or legal aliens for work here. The Social Security number is a nine-digit number in the format “111-11-1111.” The number is divided into three parts. The Wikipedia entry lists some more interesting details about the number but effectively meaningless details for those less Vulcan.

More history on the experience at US - Getting a SSN - Take 2, US - Getting a Social Security Number - Take 1.

I can now get paid which will help in being able to survive on more then just my bleeding Australian Bank Account. Woot!

Diary: 23 November 2006 - Day 20

Today is a National Holiday (Public Holiday) here in the US. Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, a time to give thanks for the things one has at the close of the harvest season. Here it’s considered one of the busiest travel days in America.

It’s also know as Turkey Day, the day when this bird is eaten in as many American households as possible. It has even entered into politics when the President pardons a Turkey from the chopping block. Official White House Press Releases include 2006 - “Flyer” and “Fryer”, 2005 - “Marshmallow” and “Yam”, 2004 - “Biscuits” and “Gravy”, 2003 - “Stars and Stripes” and “Pumpkin and Cranberry”, 2002 - “Katie”, 2001 - “Liberty” and “Freedom”. In true American form, they always have a backup. Under the official rules the alternate turkey has an important role, not to be taken lightly. The rule book states that an alternate turkey is chosen in case the national Thanksgiving turkey cannot fulfill his role in this ceremony. It’s kind of like being the Vice President.

I was invited to join Frank and Michelle with Michelle’s relatives for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in Albany, the capital of the state of New York being about 3 hours north of our present location. An interesting suburbia setting in an estate with cal-da-sac’s featuring 6 houses with ample room, and then repeating the pattern all up the street. A very quite neighborhood setting, and I like peace and quiet.

Our hosts were Michelle’s cousin Jen and her husband Mark and their two boys, and joined with Jen’s brother and wife, Jen’s parents and the three of us.
An excellent dinner and company ensued, with a home cooked meal of Turkey and all the trimmings (the Turkey got carved up before I could snap a pic), ending with traditional American Pie. It was a really great family experience for the day. I really appreciated it.

Diary: 21 November 2006 - Day 18

Lift to train station — Free
15 min on train to 34th Street — $1.50
NY Hot dog — $3.50

Being at Time Square, New York City in 30 mins from leaving — Priceless

I’ve added some photos from an earlier Time Square visit a week earlier with my small compact camera. I need to get motivated to take my SLR and tripod one night.