one.o.eight

October 18, 2007

Ticket to Ride

Fall Break is coming up next week (Thurs-Sun), and I get to look forward to a fun-filled four-day weekend of... flying to VA and then driving to f'in NJ to pack up the last of the crap in my house, and move it all down here to GA! Woo... freakin'... hoo.

If things go exceedingly well--no reason they should, mind you, but there's always the possibility--I may find myself with a little free time in NoVA on Sunday (morning to mid-afternoon). That would be the Sunday after this coming Sunday. If so, anyone tentatively want to do lunch or some such?

Posted by Tacitus at 11:24 PM | Comments (6)

September 04, 2007

Bangkok Barbeque

Go there. Spend money. Eat. Enjoy.

I'm in tight with one of the owners. Not that you should see him there. He has another day job. :P But hey I can get you free spring rolls and/or grilled corn with your order! (via their website coupon *cough* ...and all bets are off come October 15th.) See the kind of pull I have? *flex* Yep, I'm that connected! Bon appetit.

<.<

What?

Posted by Tacitus at 08:25 PM | Comments (0)

August 10, 2007

TARDIS in My Driveway

For the past few days--after work, and in very humid ~90+ °F weather (~32.2+ °C). Yuck!--I've been stuffing a PODS pod with as much junk as I can fold into its meager 1024 ft³ (~29 m³) interior. I say "fold" because I'm rather good at finding space where none seems to exist. It's a gift. *preen* And, um, no... I'm not a Doctor.

Why do you ask? <.<

Posted by Tacitus at 01:17 AM | Comments (0)

August 06, 2007

Bedlam

Okay, here's the deal. I was on vacation in the lovely Pacific Northwest, when I receive word that I've been accepted to grad school. I cut my planned two week trip short by almost one week, and race home to pack up my life and move to Georgia (the US state, not the country). Orientation is one week from today! My job is in limbo, but it basically looks like it will be non-existent after the 17th. I have no housing, no financial aid, no employment lined up for when I get there. You're probably thinking, "WTF?!" Yeah, well, I didn't exactly expect to be accepted, but there it is. I'm moving to Georgia for two years to get a masters degree. Go me.

Yes, I have pics from the Washington trip, and, yes, I have stories to tell, but, no, I'm not posting them now. I have waaay too much to do before next week. I'll post them later.

Wish me luck. I'm diving in headfirst, and I'm not quite sure if the water is deep enough to break my fall without breaking me. Hell, I'm not even sure if I remember how to swim. :P

Cheers.

Posted by Tacitus at 03:54 PM | Comments (4)

July 22, 2007

Gone West

We're in Washington state! Yep, we stashed the offspring with the 'rents and hopped a plane to Seattle. Nine grueling hours* of turbulence and really uncomfortable seats, and we're here! Two weeks with no work, no kids, and no itinerary! Woohoo!

The plan is to see as much as we can of this state, to take in as much of the coast as possible, to make a big circuit of Puget Sound: Seattle, Tacoma, Olympic National Park, the islands, (maybe Victoria, BC), Bellingham, Mount Vernon (the city, not George Washington's Virginia plantation), etc. Camping a lot to save money, and using a credit card to cover the rest! :P

We're here in part to get a feel for the area. We want to move here in the future--after grad school--and possibly make this our permanent home. Neither my love nor I belong in New Jersey, nor Virginia (though Herndon came really close), nor any other place we've lived prior. So we just have to pick a place to call home, and Washington state is at the top of our list. But it's high marks are solely based on what others have told us about the place, so we've come to see it for ourselves.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, wherever you go, there you are; baggage and all (good and bad). The hope is if we can find a place where we want to live, we can sort the rest out in due course. Anyhoo...

Don't worry, we'll take pics, though there will be a delay in posting them because someone (<.< yeah, I) forgot the card reader at home. :P

The adventure begins! Stay tuned...

* A non-stop flight would have taken approximately 5 hours. Our flight, however, included a layover in Atlanta, GA, where they boarded the second plane 40 minutes early, and then departed the gate 30 minutes late! So what? Remember: incredibly uncomfortable seats! O.o

Posted by Tacitus at 07:48 PM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2007

Return to SLC

This past week my company sent me on a last minute, short trip to Salt Lake City, UT. This was my second trip there. It's still a very pretty city. I stayed in the Marriott Downtown this time. It'll be the last time I stay there. The ground floor of the hotel was nice; nice lobby, nice bar, and nice restaurant, but the room was tiny and the bathroom plumbing fixtures were junk. All this for a sizable price tag. You'd think for $200+ per night that both parking and Internet access wouldn't cost extra! And the restaurant was pricey too. Who can eat $15.95 (the price of the buffet) worth of food for breakfast?

But the best thing about the hotel was the view (seriously). When I first arrived I looked out my hotel window to see the spires of the Mormon Temple just peeking over the tops of the nearby buildings, illuminated against the night sky. The next morning the darkened silhouette of the cityscape between my hotel window and the temple was revealed; a pile of rubble. Turns out the neighboring parking garage was being demolished. lol

During some downtime, I did find this nice stretch of town called The Gateway. It's two and a half blocks, and two levels, of shops and restaurants and a multiplex cinema. The best meal of the trip was had there at The Happy Sumo. I highly recommend it, especially if someone else is paying. :P

Posted by Tacitus at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)

December 22, 2006

Maineward, Ho!

Going to Maine for the holiday. Be back soon.

Posted by Tacitus at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2006

Popcorn Anyone?

We visited the Popcorn Park Zoo today in Forked* River, New Jersey. It's an animal sanctuary run by the Associated Humane Societies.

Tucked into the Pine Barrens, the zoo is a random sprawl of dated enclosures that house both domestic and exotic animals; from sheep and potbelly pigs to tigers and lions (and, yes, bears too). All ended up at the zoo for various reasons from being handed over by owners who didn't fully appreciate the requirements of the exotic animal they sought to make a pet, to simple neglect (from which recovery is not always so simple), and outright inhumane treatment.

Too bad my camera's batteries were DOA. I had checked them just before leaving, but the show they had put on for me at my front door was to be their last huzzah. Serves me right for playing WoW all day yesterday and not planning ahead.

One fanciful feature of the park is that you can purchase popcorn to feed the animals. They love the stuff! -- unsalted, unbuttered, air popped, and just a touch stale of course. Yes, I tasted it. :P Bland-O! The monkeys however preferred the optional peanuts, and the big cats were interested in neither. (Neither popcorn nor peanuts are anything like meat!) I'm not sure if the popcorn encouraged them, but the park's denizens were generally more active than at any other zoo I've visted.

Admission was surprisingly cheap with all the proceeds going to maintaining the zoo; less than US$20 for four and a large box of popcorn and change to spare! It takes about an hour to go through the park, and makes for a nice time.

* Pronounced: For-ked (New Jerseyan)

Posted by Tacitus at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)

September 04, 2006

Back Again

We're back from Northern Virginia where my whole immediate clan had gathered at my parents' house for the weekend. We get along well enough (though the cacophony of all the kids drives me up a wall) and had a nice time. Part of the festivities included celebrating my mom's birthday.

This was the first time we opted to stay in a nearby hotel rather than stay at the house. What a difference! Having a place to go that was away from the house did wonders for my ability to endure the shrieks of happy kids. And the beds were quite comfy too! This may well be the option I choose from this day forward.

While in NoVA, I did try to get in touch with friends; however, I misplaced like 90% of my phone list, and was only able to reach two people: D., who had zipped off to someplace in southern Illinois to hangout with their own family, and J. who had stayed home for the holiday.

So we were able to meet J. and his friend B. for dinner on Saturday. We went to Pacific Rim in Sterling, VA. Pacific Rim is a great pan-Asian restaurant draped in island kitsch, and features live entertainment and lots of flaming dishes! The food is great. Go there. Eat. Enjoy.

In the end I would have liked to have had a few more days, and been able to contact a few more friends. Sorry to those whom I could not contact. My telepathic powers are shamefully underdeveloped. We're thinking of returning sometime in November. Maybe we can do something then. Provided I have found your numbers by then. :P

Posted by Tacitus at 07:12 PM | Comments (0)

August 31, 2006

Niagara Diary

Arrival (Day 0)

We camped at Four Mile Creek State Park Campground located 4 miles (hence its name) east of the mouth of the Niagara River. This served as our base camp for day-trips throughout the week. After an 8-hour drive we arrived in time to set up camp before sunset.

Day 1

We started off with a visit to Niagara Falls State Park, New York, USA, and dove right in so to speak with a voyage to the base of the falls on the Maid in the Mist! This is the best way to experience the falls I think. The roar of the crashing water is at times near deafening; the falls a magnificent spectacle to behold! Upon returning to shore we walked up a slippery path to an observation point near the base of the eastern edge of the American Falls and got quite soaked from this vantage.

We had made the decision to buy a Passport to the Falls ticket packet for each of us and we found it well worth it. Not only did we save a little money, but it encouraged us to experience everything the park had to offer. As a result we took in the park's movie about the falls, rode on the scenic trolley, visited the discovery center, and the Cave of the Winds (albeit later in the week), and the Niagara Aquarium which sported a variety of the lake and river fish of the Great Lakes region. Great Lakes fish can get huge! Strangely they had a Chinese Dragonfish which had been illegally imported to the US (or something or other) and confiscated by the authorities. If you've ever seen a prosperity fish statue with gold coins at its base, this is that fish!

Day 2

We spent this day at Old Fort Niagara which sits at the mouth of the Niagara River on Lake Ontario on the US side. Fort Niagara got its start as a French stronghold (dubbed "The French Castle"), under the guise of a trading house, in the early 18th century when both France and England vied against the other to control access to the Great Lakes. In its time, the fort was controlled by France, Britain, and the United States, changing hands a number of times both by treaty and force, and played an important role in the shaping of the Niagara region until its strategic importance diminished with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. The fort is very well preserved and presented, and we had a ball exploring it. Face it, history is cool!

Day 3

With the campground nearly empty of tent campers during the week, and needing a change after the previous day's rain, we were able to move our camp to one of the lakefront campsites, so for the remainder of our stay Lake Ontario was never out of sight.

We then visited Power Vista, a free learning center run by the New York Power Authority at the Niagara Power Project. Niagara Falls is the birthplace of hydroelectric power btw. (Thank you, Nikola Tesla! Woot!)

Day 4

After a lazy morning we invaded Canada; crossing over the Rainbow Bridge and making a beeline for Fort George. Constructed by the British after the end of the American War of Independence, and destroyed during the War of 1812 save for its powder magazine, today's fort is a re-creation. There we learned of the forts role during the war, and some history of the surrounding area, including the Battle of Queenston Heights, the birthplace some say of the Canadian national identity. The day was hot and we sought shelter inside the fort's buildings whenever possible and enjoyed speaking at length with the forts many interpreters. Getting both the Canadian and American perspectives on the history of the region made for a richer learning experience, and also underscored the subtle cultural differences between two colonial cousins: Canadians and Americans.

In the afternoon we finally met two longstanding online friends form CoH.

[ Begin geek moment ]

Miss and D. were part of the original six founding members of The Odd Squad. To date I have personally had the pleasure to meet three of the other founding members of the Squad: Paw, Miss, and D. I missed meeting Mary by a week, and Obi... has been MIA since just before the team's implosion.

/em victory

[ Resume composure ]

D. introduced Miss and us to Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls, Ontario, an ultra-touristy, Atlantic City boardwalk-like place featuring casinos, arcades, haunted houses, weird museums, and more. Miss is an American expatriate living in Canada and like us had not experienced Clifton Hill, nor realized that Niagara Falls, Ontario, had casinos! While we didn't partake of the casinos, we did experience the great money sucking machine that is Clifton Hill, being drawn into an attraction featuring a massive Lego display and a Marvel themed arcade (on Day 5). The remainder of our time was consumed with dining and walking and a lot of laughter.

Day 5

Once again we popped into Canada and met with Miss and D. D. had gotten food poisoning or something, had spent the night worshipping the porcelain god (i.e., barfing), was basically way too weak to join us for the day, and so spent the day sleeping in their hotel room. So we spent the day walking Clifton Hill and through Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park to see the falls from the Canadian side. This was the day my skin finally surrendered to the sun's radiation and burned. Ouch!

Day 6

On our last day we visited Lockport, NY, to see the Erie Canal and the Flight of Five, a flight of five locks that were an engineering marvel in their day, raising canal traffic some sixty feet (c. 18m) up the Niagara Escarpment (a 60' cliff). There's not much left of the Fo5, but we did tour the Lockport Cave & Underground Boat Ride. Lockport was also home to Birdsill Holly, an American inventor second only to Thomas Edison, whose inventions benefited first the residents of Lockport and then the world.

[ Drat. None of the pictures came out. ]

Return (Day 7)

It started raining at 4:00 am. Our camp faired well in the downpour, but breaking camp in the rain sucks; even when you're packing during a brief lull. Eight hours later we confirmed that our house was still standing, had neither burned to the ground, been burglarized, nor flooded (from leaving a tap running somewhere) in our absence.

Posted by Tacitus at 09:30 PM | Comments (0)

VA4LD

Since I/we am/are not going to get together with R. and M. who have whisked their respective ways to the USA from CZ before they jet off from PA to WY today (Yes, this is a abbreviated post! :P), I/we have decided to spend the Labor Day weekend with my parents in NoVA. So if any in of you want to get together while we're in town, let me know. We'll be arriving FRI and leaving SUN, or MON if you make it worth our while. :P

Posted by Tacitus at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)

August 19, 2006

Back!

I'm back! I won't say "back home" because I don't really know where home is for me except with my love. (So I can safely say I never left home right?) Niagara Falls was absolutely wonderful! Stay tuned for details.

Posted by Tacitus at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)

August 09, 2006

Vacation Time!

After 12 years, I am finally having a vacation! Oh, I have taken off a few (very few) days here and there since that time, but not since that time have I actually gone someplace where it is I going there on my own terms, and not meeting/visiting family. I love my family. I just don't feel the need to spend my vacation time with them (even though that's what I've done for the past 12 years!).

Okay, my family (my love and spawn) is joining me. They're kind of unavoidable. :P We had been hoping that the kids could visit their grandparents this summer while my love and I vacationed, but events transpire in my family's (parents and siblings) collective lives that make the timing difficult. So we are all going together! To... Niagra Falls!

Yeah, yeah, "Slowly I turned..." and all that.

With any luck we'll meet some friends from Toronto there too! Turns out they're vacationing at the Falls the same week we are! Woohoo!

Posted by Tacitus at 10:40 PM | Comments (0)

July 01, 2006

It's a Bug's World

Today we visited Insectropolis, a insect museum located near the Jersey Shore in Toms River, New Jersey, USA. They are open odd hours, and so by the time we arrived in the early afternoon, we had but one hour to take in the entire attraction. Fortunately the museum is rather small. But despite its small size, the insect collection it houses is magnificent! There's even a petting zoo!

I was brave and held every bug! Okay, there were only four bugs available for holding, but I held them all!

There was an African Giant Millipede, Chilean Rose Tarantula, Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, and an Emperor Scoprion; docile insects arthropods all.

The millipede felt surprisingly solid, heavy even, while the tarantula, cockroach and scorpion felt very light. The cockroach's feet were also sticky. They have these sticky pads on part of their feet that help them adhere to vertical surfaces. They mostly just sat still in my hand. The tarantula passed the time tapping her legs here and there across my fingers, while the scorpion was just starting to get comfortable in my hand and possibly readying to explore my forearm when the handler took him away.

I thought they were pretty cool, but my love and the spawn seemed less sure. I must confess that I would not have been quite so brave had they not been there. But I thought it important not to show fear so that my own apprehension about bugs would not reinforce their own reservations.

A fun time was had by all. We shall definitely return.

I give it six to eight thumbs up! More if I was a millipede!

( Sorry there are no pictures. I forgot my camera. T_T )

Posted by Tacitus at 09:15 PM | Comments (0)

April 28, 2006

inContinental

So you're asking yourself, "Did you ever make it out of South Carolina, or are you living like Tom Hanks in Terminal?" In a word: yes... to the former.

Our aircraft eventually arrived, and with its tires still warm from landing, we boarded and were off! The flight was pleasantly uneventful, and the seats this time were infinitely more comfortable than they had been on my outbound flight.

Have you ever have one of those days? Well, you might say this had been one of those for me. -- Ya think? -- But then the day just kept on going.

As I disembarked I called the car service through which I had reserved transportation home (a benefit of business travel) to discover that the airline had informed the service that my flight had landed hours ago. So they had written me off as a no-show and had planned on keeping the money I had paid up front for their services. However, I appealed to their humanity (by finding common ground in focusing our mutual ire on the stupid airline), and they were kind enough to send the car back to pick me up. Seeing as how I had already paid them, they were kind of obligated in my book, but this is New Jersey after all, and nothing ever seems so easy here.

So while I awaited the car to arrive (40 minutes ETA according to the driver, but it actually took almost 1 hour 20 minutes -- no worries), I headed off to Baggage Claim Area 9 per the marginally helpful instructions from one of the flight arrival/departure information monitors that seem in short supply at Newark Airport... where I proceed to wait along with my fellow passengers (with whom I had become somewhat acquainted during our unscripted sit-in at Gate 3 in South Carolina) for almost a whole fucking hour for my luggage!

After this unreasonable waiting period we were finally told by a "helpful" airport staffer that if we had not seen our luggage within 20 minutes of disembarking that we should head over to Unclaimed Baggage and file a claim for our missing bags. File a claim?! Missing luggage?! We practically just landed! So en masse the members of my flight head over to Unclaimed Baggage to inquire as to how it was possible to lose the luggage for an entire flight?!

Now outside the Unclaimed Baggage office there was this tumultuous pile of unclaimed luggage waiting to be processed, identified, possibly pilfered, and then ultimately auctioned off (if the pickings were good enough) or returned to their rightful owners (if they weren't). It was quite a sight to behold; a mound of precariously heaped baggage which seemed ready to collapse should the wrong bag be removed. And guess what? What do you think comprised the bulk of this Jenga-esque tower of "lost" bags? Yep! The luggage form our flight! The ground crew had apparently unloaded our plane and then transported our luggage directly to Unclaimed Baggage. Perhaps the same efficient airline employee that sent my car away was responsible for directing the Newark ground crew as to where to dump our bags.

Unless I am forced to otherwise, this is the last time I fly Continental... or maybe just fly into Newark.

Posted by Tacitus at 09:50 AM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2006

Living At Gate 3

So here I sit, half an hour after my scheduled departure time, waiting still for my flight to arrive. The scuttlebutt is that Mother Nature is presently dealing Gotterdammerung upon Houston, Texas, repleat with tornadoes; delaying the airplane that is to be my transport by at least two hours.

But the chairs are comfy, and the bar never closes, so maybe I'll work on developing a drinking habit while I wait. Cheers! Salud! Na Zdravi!

Posted by Tacitus at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)

The Jersey Devil Went Down to Georgia

Augusta, Georgia (USA), in the Spring is nice; unless you're visiting on business with a loudmouthed, obnoxious coworker. You have to suffer such things as them (1) yelling across a crowded yet quiet restaurant to get a table server's attention then bitching like it's the end of the world when the check isn't split just so, (2) reaching over an honking the horn at other people while you're driving, and (3) listening to only the first few words of any question or comment, then interrupting and interjecting half thought-out drivel which only serves to compound stress in everyone around them, and make them (and our team by association) look foolish. Would that last part come as no surprise if I mentioned that they are my manager/boss? They are an albatross.

We're done now; actually everything was completed yesterday. I stayed on an extra day in order to visit a friend in the area. And now I sit in the Columbia Metro Airport waiting for my flight which is hours away. Bleh. But at least I'm traveling alone... in blessed, civil silence.

Posted by Tacitus at 02:31 PM | Comments (0)

November 19, 2005

Menagerie In May

A few weeks ago (on the last Sunday in October) we traveled down the coast to visit the Cape May County Zoo located, not surprisingly, in Cape May, New Jersey. Established in 1942, the zoo is small as zoos go; weighing in at just 80 acres according to the brochure, but includes all the usual trappings of larger zoos. And being a zoo from the 1940's it also offers a striking contrast of old and new exhibit design philosophies.

To be fair, all of the zoo's exhibits, be they old or new, showed signs of change in their designs; newer exhibits reflecting concerted efforts to offer stimulating, native environment inspired habitats for their inhabitants, while many of the older exhibits showing signs of retrofitting toward that same goal. One surprising detail of the older exhibits, that you do not find in newer designs, was the proximity of the animals to the visitors. At times we were no more than six feet* from some of the park's most dangerous denizens; a fact that was driven home by the actions of one particularly contemptuous male tiger.

He marked us.

Pee-yoo!

Luckily (for us anyways) some other visitors shielded us from the brunt of his spray. Serves them right for hogging the guard rail! And for the record, tiger musk smells like a wet dog that rolled around in a litter box. Ew!

Beyond being marked by a tiger, we laid eyes upon an albino skunk, basked in the unflinching dignity of the capybara, and marveled (well not really) at the zoo's latest greatest addition: the Patagonian Cavy.

A pleasant day spent in pleasant company (for the most part), and all in all a good time.

*an approximation.

Posted by Tacitus at 07:17 PM | Comments (0)

October 15, 2005

Beware the Ides of October

Firstly, happy birthday to my love! <3

It had been raining here for eight days and nights. I do not exaggerate. From torrential downpour to light drizzle and back again, water had been falling from the sky for over a week without pause. There was major flooding north of here, but not us; the sandy soil letting the water run almost straight down rather than stand were we live.

Then this morning we were awoken early by none other than sunshine streaming through our bedroom window. My love's birthday arrives and we get sunshine! The clouds had parted in the early morning hours and the sun was shining through.

Ugh!

*stuff head into pillow*

So... despite the blasted sunshine our day started as they almost always do on a Saturday; late. Then off for a semi-spontaneous (i.e., unprepared) adventure to Barney, the Barnegat Bay Lighthouse, on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. I would have pics but the stupid camera decided it had just enough power to perform all of its available functions save recording images to memory.

Hulk smash! Well not exactly; though believe me I wanted to do just that!

Stupid camera.

It did capture two images though... of the inside of the lighthouse. Ooo wow! Look at...

what is that?

I'm not sure... um...

*shrug*

Stupid camera.

So up the lighthouse stair (217 steps, 172 feet up) we climbed; thirty-eight pounds of three-year-old held in one arm... OMFG am I ever out of shape!

There was a time I could launched myself over the heads of full-grown adults and land safely on the other side; tucking and rolling of course, but not now. All this time sitting at a desk has taken its toll. :( I'm not fat, but I've lost a lot of muscle mass... but still weigh the same. ;_;

Anyways, after experiencing the fierce winds atop the lighthouse, and the only slightly less exhausting decent of the lighthouse stair, we strolled leisurely along the nearby jetty enjoying the spectacle of the sea, sand, and nearby salt marshes. Jet skiers where zipping about in the inlet launching themselves off the tops of cresting waves; mildly entertaining for a time, but eventually becoming annoying as the buzz of their engines was unceasing.

Then it was back to the car for the return trip home and possibly a nice celebratory dinner... but then things went horribly wrong.

Horribly? Well maybe not horribly? But they could have been horrible, had we not had the fortune of finding our way to the Manahawkin Shell Station.

As we arrived on the mainland over the bridge from Long Beach Island, the instrument panel in the car went dead... (suddenly we were hurtling along at 0 mph but keeping apace of 50+ mph traffic) ...then the transmission started trying to shift (automatic) without the benefit of computer guidance. Very scary feeling. Imagine riding along at 50-ish mph and having the drive train feel like it's going to lock up and rip itself out from under you. An exaggerated sensation no doubt, but still. Scary!

Like a golden beacon in the distance peeking up through the trees stood the Shell Oil sign. We made it into their parking area as the car died.

3:30 pm on a Saturday.

First let me say, the people at Manahawkin Shell on Route 72 are freakin' awesome!

They were busy as hell, but they still had time to inspect our car and determine the alternator had died. Which came strangely as no surprise to me. Telltale signs had been manifesting over the course of the past few months... signs that in hindsight foretold the impending doom of the alternator.

4:00 pm on a Saturday.

Then came the unexpected...

"If we can get the part today, we can have you out by 5:00 pm."

*blink*

Cool!

4:57 pm we were back on the road and heading home.

I wish I lived closer to these guys. If I did, they'd get all my automotive business from here on out. I highly recommend them.

Anywho... a trip to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner on the way home and then a little gaming and sex (not at the Outback, mind you) to round out the evening and our day was complete!

So a very happy birthday to you and yours whenever that may be, but beware the Ides of October for they are rife with hardships for all devices electrical in nature, be they cameras or cars.

Posted by Tacitus at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)

August 11, 2005

Amazing Space

Used up my last few vacation days to go visit family this past weekend. Joy.

Nothing quite like burning up your vacation to take the kids to see the grandparents. The kids win. The grandparents win. And you... get not one, but two, fun filled 8-hour road trips chock full of bad weather, bad drivers, bad traffic, bad radio stations, and tolls tolls tolls! Woohoo! Wake me when the fun begins!

[ffwd]

Monday we tripped down into Lynchburg, VA, to Amazement Square, an interactive kids museum. Live video interaction, a glass-walled painting booth, music studio, science exhibits, and tubes and slides abound within this converted, four floor warehouse. The Square as a whole remains a work in progress, and plans exist to expand it beyond the limits of a single building to include part of the waterfront along the James River; including a skate park which is currently under construction.

Other than a minor meltdown in the gift shop by the youngest, the experience was pretty cool. :)

Posted by Tacitus at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)

July 19, 2005

Taken for... er... Going for a Ride

Took the fami to Allaire State Park this weekend to ride on their narrow gauge, steam engine line, and stroll through the historical buildings of the small company town that sits on the site.

Paid for parking.

*Parked*

Paid to ride the train.

*Paid*

(Adult priced tickets for all, including the youngest.)

*Ookkaayy*

Paid to be allowed into the buildings of the historical town.

*Blink*

*Sigh*

*Paid*

All-in-all, an "inexpensive" day at a state park that managed to suck almost $70 [$50**] out of my pocket! Which leaves me wondering which part of the whole affair was actually state funded. It's a state park after all. But then again, New Jersey has been nothing but surprises. Damn tollbooth mentality.

The train ride featured a robbery of a different sort, which proved silly at best but fun nonetheless. I think the actors robbing the train were having more fun than the spectators.

And while I'm no train expert, the engine pulling the train looked a lot like a little diesel switcher. My train philosophy follows that if it hisses and spits and puffs and chugs and gives off breathy gasps and whistles reminiscent of the wails of tormented souls, then it's a steam engine. And if it rumbles and purrs and barely complains when it's put to work, and whistles like it's going through the motions for the steam engine set, then it's a diesel. As I heard nary a wailing soul, I conclude this engine must be a diesel. And call me crazy, but if you're going to advertise a steam engine train ride, you damn well better have a howling, hissing, little spitfire lashed to the front of the cars!

*peers into empty wallet*

The historic buildings were nice, the working blacksmith and carpentry shops in particular, but I found it irritating that no photography was allowed inside any of them. With the exception of the main house, none housed anything that could have been damaged by flash photography. If you didn’t pay admission, you could only peek through the windows. Admission gained you only admission to the buildings, nothing more.

*disappointed and broke*

Conclusion: this park sucked.

[** Ok, ok. I've been "asked" to downgrade my previously declared rip-off quotient... as I can't produce receipts to support my claims. Jeez! Didn't know I was going to get audited, hon! *grumbles*]

Posted by Tacitus at 10:05 PM | Comments (2)

June 01, 2005

From London to Scotland and Back Again (More or Less)

Monday was Memorial Day here in the US, and like many others I took advantage of the extended weekend to mash the fami into the car, and take to our nation's highways to visit other fami far and wide. Normally I would have been content to avoid the holiday masses by staying at home playing WoW and/or CoH for a few days straight -- and something along those lines is the definite plan for July 4th this year -- but my love's step-mamgi* had flown in from the UK along with her daughter and son-in-law (that would be my step-aunt and -uncle-in-law I guess) and so… off on an 8+ hour journey into Central Virginia to the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains for a visit. Breaking the trip in two more manageable legs (both ways) were quick stop-overs at my parents' place. I was surprised to find that my parents are quite easy to handle in very small doses... of less than 3 waking hours at a stretch. ;)

So, my English in-laws were quite taken aback by the notion that we would drive over eight hours to come visit and likened the distance to driving from London to Scotland (something they would never think to do for something so short as a weekend trip). A small price to pay to see fami not seen in some years -- or fami that I like rather.

During our stay we visited the Frontier Cultural Museum in Staunton**, Virginia; a rather nifty living history museum featuring working farms from Germany, Northern Ireland, and England, as well as Colonial Virginia.

To sum up the in-between bits: traffic sucked, New Jersey drivers are the rudest motherfuckers on the planet, strangers stink (literally) especially when packed shoulder to shoulder in line for fast food at a Turnpike rest stop, but gas is still probably cheaper here than wherever the hell you are!

Oh, and avoid at all costs the ladies room at the Culpeper KFC. (Didn't know a human butt could… "aim" that high) Boys, guard the door to the men's room while your girlie partakes of the facilities. She'll love you for it: especially after an 8+ hour road trip from London to Scotland and back again.

* mamgi = grandmother (Welsh)
** Pronounced: Stanton; the "u" is silent (Viginian)

Posted by Tacitus at 11:20 AM | Comments (1)

May 03, 2005

An Uneventful Trip

Uneventful things make for boring reading, so I won't regale you with my uneventful trip last weekend back down to my parents' place to pick up my other car and drive it back to where I am now (I won't call it home for a while yet), except to say this:

If you ever have an "opportunity" to hitch a ride with your in-laws, whom you know from firsthand experience always plot the longest goddamn route to get from point A to point B, and drive the damn speed limit even on roads where it is dangerous to go that slow… do everything in your power to get out of it. Walk away, tell your mate to piss off, offend them all so they rescind the offer… anything to get out of climbing in that car… and spending almost 7 hours to complete a trip that could have been completed in just under 4 in heavy traffic on a rainy night! Gah!

Posted by Tacitus at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2005

What's Black and White and Hungry for Kibble?

This zebra!

Today -- well, yesterday (Is it really that late?) -- while digging through my archives of fami photos I came across this snap that I captured on a trip to the Virginia Safari Park, a drive-through zoo located in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. As part of the experience you can purchase small tubs of food for feeding the park denizens, all of which are quite accustomed to this practice and are not the least bit shy about surrounding your car to feast! The bison are particularly adept at alleviating visitors of the entire tub in hand, and leaving your hand covered in thick, ropey snot-slobber for their trouble. Eww!!!

That's it. Just thought I'd share. :P

[NTS: Ok, let's go over this again. You have to set the Post Status to "Publish" for the world to see these things! Idiot! Gah!]

Posted by Tacitus at 01:19 AM | Comments (0)

March 23, 2005

The Great Salt Lake: Bogusness Rebuffed

[NTS: Have to set the Post Status to "Publish" for the world to see your entries, dumbass! *^_^*]

A friend of mine spotted my shoddy panorama of the Great Salt Lake and commented that not only was it not great, but that he doubted that it was even a picture of the Great Salt Lake at all. Well birdies to you, old chum: one from the left hand the other from the right. ;) It's the Great Salt Lake alright. He did however have the "decency" to send along his own snaps of the GSL (tired of typing Great Salt Lake -- doh! typed it again!) for me to compare to my "counterfeit" GSL pic.

He credits his location as a rest stop on 80 West. Mine was snapped out on 80 West as well, but at a marina near a place called the Saltair, an abandoned tourist trap as best as I can divine. Had I only known that such a picturesque vista awaited me some 1-10 miles further down the highway, I would... probably have turned around and headed back to the hotel, because I had already driven too damn far in the pouring rain to capture my washed-up, panoramic gem! :P Bugger off! I'm done.

Posted by Tacitus at 04:11 PM | Comments (2)

March 22, 2005

The Great Salt Lake

Had a little free daylight left today so I drove out to the shore of the Great Salt Lake. Here it is: what you can see of it in the rain anyways. The smell of salt air was unmistakable even with the precipitation, about equivalent to the salt air by the seashore on a clear day.

[Tip: Click on the "Soviet-Era" thumbnail below to get the full monty!]

Posted by Tacitus at 08:31 PM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2005

Ver is dis Ootah anyveys?

Greetings from Salt Lake City, Ootah! I’m actually here on a business trip. I know, I know, not terribly exciting circumstances, but still.

My trip started off with a brisk 90-mile-an-hour cab ride to the airport, where in order to pass through security I was required to remove my shoes, belt, and jacket, and send them through the x-ray machine along with my carryon bag and anything else that wasn’t permanently affixed to my person. After the near strip-search, I met up with my fellow travelers and hung out in the departure lounge waiting to, well, depart. Take off was delayed due to some unspecified quarrel between the flight crew and the catering staff. Result: we departed with no food onboard, which was fine with me because it wasn’t complimentary.

Minneapolis was the sight of a brief layover, and by brief I mean running (well, it was more like a brisk walk with the people-movers accelerating us to Ludicrous Speed!) through the airport terminal to make it to our next departure gate. I’d forgotten how much fun airport people-movers can be. Outta the way! Outta the way!

The flight to Salt Lake City was full, and our seats were in the process of being handed out to standby fliers as we arrived. MWAHAHAHA!!! They had to get off, or at least move… maybe to the wheel wells or something -- I swear I later heard shrieks of terror from the luggage compartment during takeoff, but they soon faded as we reached cruising altitude. Frau Farbissina was the senior flight attendant and she did her utmost to insure that everyone was made miserable with the jumbled seating arrangements. After over eight hours in the air (total), we landed in lovely Salt Lake City surrounded by the glorious Rocky Mountains! Wow!

Downtown Salt Lake City is quite beautiful: impeccably clean and roomy with broad avenues and pedestrian signs painted on the ground encouraging walkers to look both ways before crossing the street. Even more peculiar are the walk/don’t walk signs that play bird noises (as audio cues for the visually impaired maybe?) depending on whether it’s time to walk, not walk, or run for your life!

We capped the day off with a trip to Murphy’s, a pub near the hotel – a pub that played nary an Irish song, but made a honest Black and Tan: not that crap that comes in the bottle but Guinness and Harp drawn into the same glass. The Guinness floats atop the Harp so lovely as it does. Yes, yes, drink them up, yum! To do our bit of drinking, and eating mind you, for we did eat as well (hell, we damn near feasted!), we had to purchase a temporary club membership. For it is the law in Salt Lake City, and maybe even in all of Ootah, that establishments primarily serving alcohol (ie. Bars) are in fact private clubs and may only be frequented by members looking to drink. Four bucks later and we’re members (albeit temporary ones), and the Black and Tan starts to flow. A few hours later we float back to the hotel in high spirits and adjourn to our respective rooms for night – where I promptly got hit with a weird bout of insomnia or something because here I am at oh-my-god-thirty in the morning posting this rambler.

Good morning, and good night.

Posted by Tacitus at 03:09 AM | Comments (4)