This is going to be quick and dirty

Nothing wrong with that at all!

But, given one pound and 17 minutes on the computer for it, I have to type fast and loose and hope I don't spill wine on this stupid 12%£ limey computer. All while watching football and basketball scores in the background. What I have learned that I cannot jam into twitter:

• Virgin Atlantic allows only 6 KG for carry on. Got that? 12 pounds. That's nothing, nothing at all. All my planning in the crapper because of that. Sorry Virgin, you get booked no more. Eat that Branson.
• Cab from the airport is 55£, not 35£ as on the Arran house web site. You are losing points on Trip Advisor. Also losing for not having a main level door to the lounge- you know you should. Great location though, but there are 10 other hotels right here, with connections and probably better washers. Oh, and some personality, as you had promised but does not exist.
• Harrods and Oxford St. Who the hell thinks people aren't out shopping for the holidays!?! We could barely walk with the crowds. They are thick as horse manuer on Grandpa's farm. All other observations are media hype.
• If you don't care what's going on or what you might do next, travelling with children is a dream.
• The Sound of Music was ok, good, but you can get good half price tickets two rows back from where we were on the same day. Now I know. Now you know. :P
• Potted Potter- Fringe festival best thing you can do with an 8 year old who likes fart humor. Really. Absolutely the best thing you can do.
• Duck tour (dukw) - very funny and worth the 55£ for the whole family. Brilliant tour guide and lots of giggles.
• The buses in london are very nice, warm and neat. They take forever. But the tube is horrible and hard to find your way around in and you see nothing but, well, other people. And cabs, they are just as slow but should be your end of night transpo.
• Winter wonderland was ok, but expensive and not worth it except the little pancakes and mulled wine.
• Aran is a wise old soul and Nelson is a hedonistic old soul and they are an absolute delight to travel with.
• I cannot wait to get out of London - three days is plenty, thank you - and head for the hills on the train (spend the extra couple hundred for first class over four days if you are with kids and they are free).
• Somerset is the best place to go ice skating but book a day in advance.
• Don't go to the tower of London. Just don't. Oh, it's a 'must do!'. No it isn't, really. Go to the Tate. Go to a pub. Go shopping.

I bought a Hugo Boss scarf. Never thought I would, but, you know what? it's fantastic. Long and warm and very sporty green. Nelson and I plan to buy tweed jackets in the highlands because we are two dudes on a mission to be sporting it Scottish style. That's it, with 3:42 to go. Go Hokies!

About SDmicros

I completely forgot this nugget, but it is only really interesting to me given a long history working with computers thanks to my Mom (she wanted to know how to read the Library of Congress' new card catalog system in 1980 so I got introduced to a TRS-80 that year).

I have sd micros I bought for $29.95 each that are as big as my index finger nail and hold 8 GB of data. There were some with 16 GB, but who wants to be greedy. Look at your index finger nail. Just the nail. And imagine something a little smaller and black with gold connectors and that's 8GB. That holds up to 7 DVDs. That holds all the albums I care about. That goes in my little phone. That knocked me over, and it takes a lot for little technology to knock me over.

The TRS-80 mom bought had no hard drive (just like my phone!) but it couldn't store anything. Loading programs meant playing a tape recording into it's 16K of memory. 16K is 16 kilobytes. The memory in that machine that took up one very large desk was one 64th of a megabyte. And this was an advanced machine mom bought- you usually couldn't find one with more than 4 kilobytes of memory in it. In 1993 I took out a loan, a very large one for my means, to buy a computer that had a 20 MB hard drive. That's 20 Megabytes, 13 years later, storage. The memory was probably 256K, but I don't really recall. For storage though, and that's what we are talking here, that was one 51st of a Gigabyte. And that came in a slow spinning hard drive that liked to get scratched, lose data and die.

Now, by 1998 we were cooking. Solid state devices were out in the form of Newtons, then clios. 40 MB, no moving parts. Even when they got to 80 MB they were 9" by 5" and still one 12th of a Gigabyte. Mid 2000s, the first ipods? Yes, lots and lots of space, but moving parts whizzing around in there a whole 2" by 2". And now I have 8GB in something smaller than my index finger nail in my phone and oh my music sounds so nice. It plays movies by the way. Free software to rip down and rewrite DVDs and next thing you know you are carying libraries of useless things to the UK in your pocket.

Data for Family Trip to UK

Bumped up...

As you can see from my twitters, we have an outgoing dataload of 54 GB and 1,500 pages analog. Surreal and impressive, in some ways. In some, just interesting. And that's with nothing larger than a cam corder- two blackberry world phones with 8 GB sdmicros (more later), two ipod 3gs with 4GBs and one HD HD cam corder half price with 30GB for almost 10 hrs record time.

More impressive to me is 4 people doing two weeks in winter with only carry on. Two 21" rollers and two 25" rollers along with two courier bags (simple and small). All liquids, of course, diffused and in less than quart sized baggies. All it takes is planning, the willingness to wear some things twice and the knowledge that at least a couple guest houses you are visiting have laundry (that isn't even necessary as anyone who can't find a coin laundry next to a bar in any western city should not be travelling). For winter, one sneaky trick is silk undies- head to tow -for layers in cold and for pajamas.

Each of us has rolled- 7 socks, 7 undies, 2 silks (head to toes), 5 shirts (plus our wear over stuff), 3 pants (you must wear these multiple days dandies), hat, gloves (slimline), cotton sweater or sweatshirt, thicker sweater or winter coat. Extravagences include second pair of shoes (you don't need these, but we have a Christmas dinner to attend, the theater, Christmas eve service, St. Paul's choir, High Tea), a sports jacket (travelsmith) for me, skirt for the ladies, a tie (Nels and I- see above), a travel pillow each (we are not cavepeople!). The kids, being little people, crammed in one 6" by 5" stuffed animal each for rough spots.

One guide book. I felt extravagent not ripping out pages and putting them in a baggy like my mom taught me. You should do that if you are not a really good packer- only take where you will actually be, duh.

Other things in the packalongs: two power cords (1 for ipods, 1 for blackberries), two decks of cards (extravagant! we only need one! A deck of cards is the only game you need for this sort of trip- it is about 1,000 games in one), airborn (medically proven not to work, but nice little logenzes with an excellent placebo effect), directions to everything with reservations all cut right down to size (data duplicated on phones), money and plastic.

Next winter trip, I do away with the winter coats. Have done so for me this one- layers and waterproof windbreaker can do everything a bulky, single winter coat can do. Thick winter coats are a scam and I think I've broken that wide open.

Well, that's it. I'm sure I've forgotten 10 essential items I am going to scream about from the UK. If so, I will tweet them and pray I don't die of frostbite. Wait, it's warmer in London than Virginia? What? Another scam!

Thank you GA Tech

I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer,A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer,Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear,I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.Oh, if I had a daughter, sir, I'd dress her in White and Gold,And put her on the campus, to cheer the brave and bold.But if I had a son, sir, I'll tell you what he'd do.He would yell, "To Hell with Georgia," like his daddy used to do.Oh, I wish I had a barrel of rum and sugar three thousand pounds,A college bell to put it in and a clapper to stir it around.I'd drink to all good fellows who come from far and near.I'm a ramblin', gamblin', hell of an engineer.

Nice fire, football and dogs

Hmmm... I cranked it up a little too much, but who cares. Man, the Hokies are young, but I love em anyway.

NFL Update

Already rethinking my picks. The NFC East is hands down the best division in the NFL. The question now is which three teams make the playoffs, which one wins the division and which two play in the divisional round and which two in the championship game. Instantly revised standings:

Giants 12-4
Redskins 12-4
Cowgirls 10-6
Eagles 10-6

Eagles lose out on the tie-break, as do the Skins. Skins and Giants match up in NY for the Championship.

Lucy, Teddy and the Start of Fire Season

I'm still not getting far enough writing my Paris Journal. When I do, I will bump the first one up and get the whole trip posted. But, in the mean time, it is fire time. Freezing in Blacksburg, so I build a woodstove fire. Luckily, I have big dogs to help me get warm: Teddy and Lucy. Oh, and singlemalt whisky. A young Teddy. He's about 90lbs now.

From Teddy

Lucy and Teddy together in the field.

From Teddy

Such handsome dogs, but now Teddy towers over Lucy.

From Teddy

Lucy in front of the fire two years ago. Nothing has changed.

From Lucy!

I now have a twitter

<--- had no clue this weirdness was out there. I encourage only reading funny things on it.

I recommend finding funny people and following only them on it. That will encourage more to be funny on there, thus helping my attention span. In fact, I am going to go dump non-funny people from my list immediately.

Old friends, new funnies

Here comes another birthday for me, and a chance to think about old friends. Last year I got to see highschool and college friends John, Mike, John and Dave in no particular order. Two are more Asian than me and two are more bald. I think that means I'm the median.

From Doug, John B, Wonger, Dave M

Mike above, third from left, sent me this today:

"BTW - I met Chris Lu (Obama's chief of staff) during the second debate. We're going to have an Asian pretty high in the administration. So get ready to build the railroad - Whitey :)"

I love it!

From Doug, John B, Wonger, Dave M

Of course, around here we get the "you'll be picking cotton soon, whitey!" Ah, great hilarity. 12 more days to President Obama.

And, finally, the playoffs

Of course I pick the Skins to win it all. If I were objective- NY Giants lose to Pitt in superbowl.

Playoffs:

Wildcard Round NFC
Washington at St. Louis
Washington 29, St. Louis 10

Carolina at Green Bay
Greenbay 21, Carolina 3

Wilcard Round AFC
Jacksonville at San Diego
Jacksonville 10, SD 7

NY Jets at Tennessee
NY 13, Tenn 7

Divisional Round
NFC
Washington at NY Football Giants
Washington 17, NY 14

Green Bay at Atlanta
Green Bay 33, Atlanta 28

AFC
Jacksonville at New England
New England 31, Jacksonville 9

NY Jets at Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh 41, NY Jets 6

Championships
Washington at Green Bay
Washington 39, Green Bay 21

New England at Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh 23, New England 21

Superbowl
Washington 27, Pittsburgh 26

The finals for all the NFL

1.NFC East - NY Football Giants 13-3
3. NFC North - Green Bay barely gets it at 10-6
2. NFC South - Atlanta wins it at 11-5 with
4. NFC West - St. Louis surprises and sqeeks out 9-7
NFC Wild Card-6. Carolina getting wild card at 10-6, 5. Washington 11-5


2. AFC East - New England comes roaring back and wins it at 12-4
1. AFC North - Pittsburgh dominates at 13-3
3. AFC South - Tennessee falls apart but wins at 11-5
4. AFC West - San Diego puts together a 9-7 one and done playoff showing
AFC Wild Card -6. NY Jets 10-6, 5. Jacksonville 10-6 (Yes, the bills implode)

Some NFL Talk

Some fun during lunch today, broken into different posts:

The NFC East- the division that matters:


TEAM W L T PF PA
NY Giants 5 1 0 170 101
Washington 5 2 0 140 128
Dallas 4 3 0 189 175
Philadelphia 3 3 0 167 123

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/clubhouse?team=was

Where they will end up

TEAM W L T
NY Giants 13 3 0
Washington 11 5 0
Philadelphia 9 7 0
Dallas 7 9 0

And only two NFC East teams make the playoffs this year. The Skins go to NY to play the Giants there for the Championship.

Now, that record has my skins losing again to the Giants at home later. If the skins win, and it will be close, then they are tied. Then they are also tied in division wins. It then goes to conference opponents and the Giants get the bye.

Small Princess

So sleepy

From Greta joins the family

Greta

I'll write more when we are recovered a bit. But to help with my memory and to relieve some pain briefly, I'll copy in an email to family.

Our one and a half year old dog Greta died early this morning from complications of a fall. On Sunday we went out to one of our favorite places to hike- Caldwell Fields – and she went up on a rise over the creek where we picnic and play. There is about a 25 foot cliff that is easy to get to for the dogs. She decided to jump to get down. There is a very shallow creek overlaying a shelf of solid rock. She made, as you might expect, a horrible sound, cut her mouth a good deal but seemed to be ambulatory and shocked but ok for the time.

We got her back to the car quickly and had her ride in back with Phyllis until we could get to the emergency clinic. While she was shocky (any person or animal would be) she was doing well with her breathing and consciousness. Her exam showed her contused in many places, but generally ok. Her x-rays showed contusions but generally nothing else. But with such a fall, there really is no telling what might be wrong internally and Greta went into lung failure this morning, about 1:30. Phyllis and I intubated her and tried to get her back to a place where we could take her to the clinic, but she was too damaged for us to save.

This morning, it's hard to concentrait on anything as I still feel her large heart struggling to beat under my hand.

Goodbye Greta

From August 2007 -...

Goodbye sweet girl. I'm so sorry you were with us for so short a time.

Still life

Friends



Small things


Still life with beans


Life and wine

The frozen people

I have cast them with my gaze, but they will hardly know of me. I am a gnat, briefly here, and gone


Move on, or the goose gets it



In the room the women come and go
talking of Michael Angelo



Locker room talk is always awkward...

Cher Paris

Ah, back from a week in Paris. More to come, writing wise, as soon as I type up my journal. Until then, Morte Vite en ....

Rose

The Level of Town

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sestina

An early attempt at a sestina, just to give me some focus for writing. I left off the tercet, because rules are made to be broken. This poem is about Reston Town Center, and was written about five years after it was first built.

The Level of Town

The uniform trees along Market Street
Border to the edge of an ancient wood
Where walnuts and acorns once kept sleeting
Skies posted from the quick death of fall,
Where red-backed squirrels were once pregnant shoppers
For December’s hunger and January’s vacant fill.

Under rain one thinks more of fish markets filled
With ice stands and awnings over wetted streets-
Not these specialty shops for specialty shoppers.
One sees wharf and shipping, grained wood
Chopping blocks and men marking packages with the fall
Of scales- not these smiles, this social sleet.

This February, over hotel and office, real sleet
Gripped the towers like a white taffy filling
Until rust-edged horns began to fall
And they closed frightened Market Street.
They tried to pass the smashed pots and cracked wood,
While only stone broken art sold in gallery shops.

Now, heat and foul wet pushes summer shops
To sell iced coffee in tumblers fogged to sleet,
Pregnant squirrels and frogs cut from drift-wood.
Bored marketers empty shelf and rack to fill
Windows, or send coupon girls into the burning street.
Girls to push limp tickets for sales this fall.

For weeks, quick headed jack-hammers lift and fall
Along the weight of cars and waiting shops.
Tar and brick has worn sleepy thin on this street
From years of eastern traffic and winter sleet.
Mask faced crews squat and graveled holes fill
With their cement and sinew, burnt-rock and heart-wood.

And always. Always, on the edge, the deciduous wood
Bows waiting, fire orange in fall,
In spring, city block and forest fill
With tokens, some food for their pregnant shoppers.
City and forest humble each year with drooping sleet-
The wood a wood, the street a battered two-way street.

------------------

Of course, the wood is gone now- it is condos and high rise towers. It will be woods again one day.

Steve's new blog

Weird thoughts: http://cottonplanet.blogspot.com/

For the fourth, for Steve

Ok, beer, illegal fireworks and Nelson just don't work quite like one might expect.

After a day of cleaning house and packing for the beach, we went off to Matt and Pam's for a Fourth celebration. It was a wonderfully green event in their back garden- tents and bunting and too many deserts for the number of people. We've had rain most days the last week, and the grass looked and smelled like ripe cucumbers. Their pumpkins, squash and peppers are coming in fast, like all of ours are around town.

We had a lovely cook out only interrupted by one downpour, which just led to all the men moving vast canopies over the grills and watching the rain and smoke collect dangerously under it. And, of course, a rain storm and the general wetness of the week, gave me free license to go to my care for firecrackers, shooting fountains and a pack of 40 rockets that were never my intention to buy. While passing through South Carolina, as required by man-law, I had to purchase a friend $40 worth of illegal fireworks and did so for myself, of course. With the very judicious purchase of only exploding fountains and firecrackers, the ancient man behind the counter of the freeway store informed me that I had bought enough to get a very large package of highly explosive projectiles- imagine bottle something about 5 times the size of a bottle rocket and about 10 times as erratic in it's flight path. Oh, and they don't just pop at the end. Some explode. Some shower sparks. Some shoot off parachutes. A few, I think, will take down small aircraft.

Thank goodness I had been so careful in my personal choices. Thank goodness I was dumb enough to take these to Matt's house for the fourth, where we could set them off in a crowded back yard with about 40 people milling about.

Now, a few things about Nelson (ne Robbie, aka splodie pants, Rob, Nels, hey you): 1) he very much enjoys fireworks; 2) he loves to say (no, shout) the word 'illegal'; 3) he absolutely loves to shout 'illegal fireworks everybody!!' as he watches his dad shoot rockets onto Matt's neighbors' roofs while the neighbors are there drinking beer and saying things like 'I think that's headed toward my roof'.

But please, I had not meant to buy these rockets. Honestly. They were my 'bonus' for buying my friend fireworks (thanks Steve, and I did give you some, just not the ground to air ones). But beer prevails. And there is no peer pressure for a 40 year old man quite like the peer pressure of 7 year old boys shouting "awesome!! Do it AGAIN!!" So, really, when it comes to it, I had little choice.

Into the wine glass goes this fat pen sized (like an executive pen- a real fat one) rocket. I snap a match. Fizzzz... run.. whishhhh. "Cool! AWESOME!" SMACKPOPBANG. "whoah, that one went off low." Another in... fizz ... oh, run! whishh pop! oh, weird, that went off low. "Dad! I felt something hit me!" "Quite now, want another? Are we done?" "No, Dad, that was awesome! COOL!"

Fizzzzz... oh, run! BAM! "oh, that went only ten feet. Oh well." FIZZZZ run! wissssssssssssh. "Wow! That's like 200 feet!" "Where'd it go dad?" "Beats me..."

Greigor: " I think that went toward my pool"
Dad: "well, that's better than the roof"

WHISSSSSSSH BAM!

"Oh! was that supposed to do that?"

BAM!

I only made it through half the pack, but you get the idea. We wrapped up about the time I had one go up 20 feet, pop and come right back to the crowd. Luckily the one older fella there got out in time. While Nelson yelled again about how illegal this was I went over and apologized to our local Circuit court judge and explained as to how I was probably done for the evening. He agreed it was about time to go watch the town fireworks from a safe distance.

for Helen

Goodbye tough old lady

Sunrise
- for Helen, before her death

I hear you are dying.
It’s near sunrise.
I’ll drive to work, like any day.

It’s snowing
But the sun still shows through a break
In the clouds

It’s a wild snow
Racing like small white pigeons
Across the airport’s tarmac
I wish you could see it
I wish we could take you out
To sit in a lawn chair
And watch the snow over the airport
Like we watch fireworks each year

I only have the sound of my tires now
Steady over the white road
Splitting the snow coming to me
And the sun so bright for so much snow

Now the clouds fold over the sun
Then release it in time to my tire music

The snow across the light tarmac
To the east, with the sun
Spinning the planes and hangar dizzy
Suddenly up to the light poles
Back to the road

And then a bend
And the sun is behind a hill
The snow suspends, stops
Before the green of pines
Before I turn to my office
Park and go into work
But can’t work
Before the bright light of sun
And snow
And you

Boogers

I haven't posted in a long time. Guess I need to or Mike or Adam are gonna get me.