by steelie -

The trials and tribulations of work-related travel…

Well, I’m home now… have been for almost a week but I didn’t have much “play”-time on the computer, so I’m just updating now…

Having to leave my family to go on the work trip was a drag… I was feeling quite under the weather before I left but my manager GB was even sicker so I didn’t really have an excuse not to go. It made for a long day… We left the  office at 11:30 AM last Wednesday and took a cab to the airport for a flight at 1:45 PM.

Landed at our destination at 3:00-ish, then drove for almost three hours to our hotel. After we got settled, we had supper at about 6:00 and I went to bed almost right after… spent the entire night in a pool of sweat (attractive I know), shivering a fever off until I woke up the next morn.

The next day was one long meeting that went from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM… I still wasn’t feeling that great but it was a productive meeting none-the-less — we were designing a number of signs and needed to have a face-to-face with the fabricators to hammer out the final details.

Day three was nothing but travelling again… left at 9:30 AM… drove to the airport for our flight at 1:00 PM (stopped for lunch and a vanilla soy latte on the way)… the flight was delayed so we arrive home almost an hour-and-a-half after we were supposed to. HOWEVER… the upside to the delay was that I was right on time to be dropped off a the daycare to pick up Little “L”. It was amazing to see everyone.

Now that I’m back, I’m glad I went (work-wise only, that is). Yes, I realise that I was only gone for three days and that might make me a man-baby for being so sappy but hey… that’s me. Back to the routine now…

It’s amazing how the daily pattern can seem monotonous until it’s gone… then it’s amazing how comforting you realise it is and you’d give just about anything for it.
—
steelie

UPDATE: Okay… so I was going to do a video post to tell this part of the story but I thought I heard Little “L” crying upstairs so I stopped part way through and didn’t save it… Soooo… I’m just going to do a quick textual recap… One of the signs discussed at the meeting had previously been sent to us as a prototype — twice… the company wanted us to bring them back with us for discussion… this means we had to check them as luggage on the plane… the one GB chose to check was small so they took it no problem… mine was about 4' x 3' so it had to go through the “special” check-in place… it was too big to go through the scanner so they had to surface-swab it for illegal substances… they got a hit on it… “What does that mean?” “It means your package tested positive for explosives.” “Excuse me?!?”… a “LEVEL 1” had to come down and question me and oversee the unpacking of the questionable package… the sign/package was cleared because the “swabber” (not his official title) could find no wires attached to the sign… the sign was repackaged… I was escorted down through security for further questioning and a full-body pat-down… they were nice enough to warn me before checking my “back pocket area” (not my words… theirs)… every item in my carry-on was emptied and individually swabbed… I was cleared and allowed to board the plane.

And to top it all off… I was pulled out of the line for a random full-body pat-down on the way home too.
Fun.

First flight on a propeller plane...
First flight on a propeller plane…

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by steelie -

I miss my own bed…

I miss my own room… I miss Little “L” sleeping awkwardly close to my face… I miss Lady “T” sleeping next to him… I miss Baby “X’s” sweet little breathing in his bassinet next to her…

I’ve had to travel for the first time since we became “four” and my hotel room is just not the same… I miss home…

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by steelie -

QotD: My Top 5 Candidates

If you could recommend your top 5 favorite Voxers for someone new to Vox to read, who would they be? 
Submitted by Lili.

I would have to recommend Julé, Semblance, Jen, Lauren, and Elellanyar Rilmavilyawa. These VOXers are all consistent in maintaining their blogs. They all have different writing styles, but write about their passions (whether they’ll see it this way or not, it comes across this way). They take comments and feedback seriously and graciously. And, they all write in a way that makes you feel like you’ve connected with them. That’s why they’re my five.
—
steelie

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by steelie -

The Seven New Wonders of the World…

Okay… I have to admit that when I first read about this, I took a bit of the “Who cares” stance. But, apparently, there is an international initiative to select Seven New Wonders of the World. Not new as in recently constructed, but new as in newly deemed “wonder-worthy”. This is where my ignorance comes into play… I didn’t realise that most the original ancient seven wonders of the world no longer exist. They were…

  • the Temple of Artemis;
  • the Hanging Gardens of Babylon;
  • the Colossus of Rhodes;
  • the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus;
  • the Lighthouse at Alexandria;
  • the Pyramids at Giza; and
  • the Statue of Zeus.

Of these, only the ancient Pyramids at Giza are still in the game.

According to documentation on the official vote-for-the-new-seven website, www.new7wonders.com, the original seven were all man-made monuments, selected by one man, Philon of Byzantium in 200 BC, and therefore all from the pre 200 BC eras. All seven wonders were apparently within travelling distance of the Mediterranean Sea covering, literally, the whole world as the people of his place and time knew it.

Now, instead of one man determining what the worlds seven wonder should be, a team of people (primarily historians and architects, I think) origianlly considered over 200 possible new man-made wonders that they have managed to widdle down to a fierce 21 potential candidates. Any and all structures/monuments pre-2000 AD were considered, including our dear ol’ pyramids.

The potential candidates for the New Seven Wonders of the World are…

  • The Acropolis;
  • Alhambra;
  • Angkor;
  • Chichen Itzá;
  • Christ Redeemer;
  • The Colosseum;
  • Easter Island;
  • Eiffel Tower;
  • Great Wall of China;
  • Hagia Sophia;
  • Kiyomizu Temple;
  • Kremlin;
  • Machu Picchu;
  • Neuschwanstein Castle;
  • Petra;
  • Pyramids of Giza;
  • Statue of Liberty;
  • Stonehenge;
  • Sydney Opera House;
  • Taj Mahal; and
  • Timbuktu.

Now, I’m not going to pretend to think I’m the right person to be deciding something of this magnitude (semicolon) however (comma) in the spirit of the reality TV shows of the world… we the viewers get to vote. That’s right we can all go to www.new7wonders.com and vote for seven that we feel ought to be honoured. I’m not sure why the Pyramids are included included in the selection process… this whole thing should be called “Okay, So We Have One of the Original Seven Wonders Still in Existence… Help Us Pick the Other Six. Thanks.”

So, after all that, for what it’s worth, here are steelie’s picks for the Seven New Wonders of the World:

  • Pyramids of Giza (big surprise);
  • Easter Island;
  • the Great Wall of China;
  • the Acropolis of Greece;
  • the Roman Colosseum;
  • Petra, Jordan; and
  • Stonehenge.

The final New Seven, will be revealed on the seventh day, of the seventh month, of the seventh year, of second millenium (wait a sec… seventh… seventh… seventh… second… AH CRAP). Okay never mind… they will be announced on July 7, 2007. Which, also happens to be the day (Muggles rejoice) that next installment of the Harry Potter movies comes out… which, oddly, has a storyline closely tied to… THE NUMBER SEVEN!

Okay… new seven:

  • Pyramids of Giza (big surprise); Hogwarts;
  • Easter Island;
  • the Great Wall of China;
  • the Acropolis of Greece;
  • the Roman Colosseum;
  • Petra, Jordan; and
  • Stonehenge.

There. That’s better.
—
steelie

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by steelie -

The Urban Pedestrian — by Chris Conrad…

For anyone interested, this article was written about the local Parkour community I belong to. Originally posted here. It’s a great little overview of the practice and philosophy of Parkour… plus it gives some context to what I do or what I mean when I ever talk about Parkour. Enjoy…
—
steelie

PARKOUR or “What are Those Young Folk Doing by the Citadel Hill Clocktower?”

Posted by: Conrad 01/26/2007 05:57PM

So I’m walking along Brunswick Street, by Citadel Hill and I see groups of young people gathered by the steps up to the clock. They’re jumping, leaping, climbing, balancing on railings, walking down steps on their hands and feet – head first. It’s a cold day so it’s a small group of maybe four or five. Twice as many, maybe more gather there on nicer days. They’re very quiet. No shouting or yelling. No carousing. No horseplay. They’re polite. They’re intense. They’re focused.

What ARE they doing?

Parkour. The word has a nice, elegant ring to it. It suits the activity. The word is derived from the French, “parcours” meaning “course” (inspired by French soldiers’ “parcours du combatant – military obstacle course). Parkour describes a physical discipline where the participants (called traceurs) try to pass obstacles in the fastest and most direct manner possible. The obstacles include anything in your (usually urban) environment: buildings, railings, walls, stairs, bridges. It hones physical skills like agility and balance and involves jumping, climbing, running and more complex techniques. The goal is to adapt your moves to whatever obstacle crosses your path.

The philosophy behind Parkour is “reach and escape”. It’s all about society’s restrictions of natural movement (walls, doors, railings, etc.) and overcoming them… getting from point A to point B creatively …. focusing on “feeling” the best way to move through the obstacles. It’s about challenging yourself in a non-competitive environment. It’s about respect for nature and the urban settings in which you train.

It’s pretty cool. Seeing them practice makes me wince a bit, (in sympathy with their joints), as I see them leap from one concrete ledge to another. They do warm-ups though and they’re certainly not reckless.

I like the concept of challenging the urban landscape. I do a bit of that myself as I walk to and from work every day; as I walk around the city doing errands. I find shortcuts, figure out ways to deal with that big hill between my home and my work, master snow banks and fences, wind-tunnels created by poorly planned tall buildings, awkward construction sites that close sidewalks without providing detours.

So, anyway, I just wanted to give Halifax’s traceurs a little, “You Go!” They’re outdoors. They’re getting exercise. They’re not bothering anybody or asking anything of anybody. We should all practice a little of this.

Check out the Halifax Parkour website at: www.halifaxparkour.com

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by steelie -

Question about viewing videos on VOX… input appreciated…

[Okay… I’ve reworked this a bit since the first time I wrote it… title included. I hope it makes more sense now]

When you go to watch a video post on someone’s VOX, how much or how little does it bother you when the video doesn’t start playing right there in the person’s blog, but instead launches a new window and plays at the video-sharing site where the video was originally posted?

There are better quality video hosting sites than iFilm and YouTube out there that are not VOX compatible but are compatable with other blog platforms (that allow unanamous comments — which is why I use them too). Instead of having to upload videos to multiple video sharing platforms to satisfy multiple blogs, would you mind if, instead of the video playing right in VOX, you were redirected to another site (VideoEgg, Revver…) to watch the video?

Any and all feedback would be appreciated… Also, it’d be great it if anyone would be willing to pass this question along… I’d be curious to see what as many people as possible thought. It will help inform how/where I’ll post videos in the future.

Thanks.
—
steelie

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by steelie -

This is the way it ought to be…

Well, the reason is not actually the best — Little “L” is home today with a mild case of pneumonia — but I’m working from home today. These are special circumstances where I essentially don’t have any vacation time left and have no babysitting/support options today to help out Lady “L” look after the two munchkins.

Suprisingly, I’m getting a lot done. I wish I could work from home everyday.

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