tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33346682024-03-06T22:44:30.142-08:00WanderNot All Those Who Wander Are Lost. Some of us are simply intoxicated./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.comBlogger292125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-15382673824041164692009-01-03T08:34:00.001-08:002009-01-03T08:34:44.864-08:00Sly Park on New Years 2009<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="375" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=63881" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=81f379e0de&photo_id=3161947547&show_info_box=true"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=63881"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=63881" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=81f379e0de&photo_id=3161947547&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="375" width="500"></embed></object><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/3161947547/">Sly Park on New Years 2009</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/wander/">/k</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> Since there is so much snow this year (it's been unseasonably cold in NorCal this year), we only had to go up to Pollock Pines for the dogs annual trip. Rachelle and Kelly brought Lucy along this year.</p>/khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-57860201295073350762008-12-20T16:28:00.001-08:002008-12-20T16:30:46.767-08:00A Month of Travel, All Within The CountrySorry it's been so long between posts, but I've really, really liked seeing that moose head picture on the top of my blog.<br /><br />It's been a long two months of travel (October and November) and for once I haven't even left the safe confines of the US of A. After coming home from my sister's wedding in mid-October, I visited Santa Cruz, Honolulu, Disneyland (SoCal) and Las Vegas:<ul><li><h3>Honolulu</h3>Honolulu was nice. I was there for a company junket and it was only for four days, but Hawaii is still Hawaii. <br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91471608@N00/2990741934" title="View 'Diamond Head from Pink Palace' on Flickr.com"><div style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3166/2990741934_bf22d155a4.jpg" alt="Diamond Head from Pink Palace" border="0" width="500" height="281" /></div></a><br />Shelley and I hadn't been to Hawaii in about three years and really enjoyed ourselves -- mostly doing nothing. </li><br /><br /><li><h3>SoCal</h3>Later that week, we had to go to another junket -- but this time for Shelley's company. I was dreading going to this (as it was at Disneyland) but it turned out pretty damn good. Weather was cool and the park was mostly empty.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91471608@N00/2999617681" title="View 'California Adventure' on Flickr.com"><div style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3211/2999617681_95ce02874f.jpg" alt="California Adventure" border="0" width="500" height="281" /></div></a><br /><br />Shelley got to meet the Incredibles.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91471608@N00/2999620223" title="View 'Meeting Mr Incredible' on Flickr.com"><div style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/2999620223_d7ff28d696.jpg" alt="Meeting Mr Incredible" border="0" width="500" height="375" /></div></a><br /><br />And we snuck out of the company festivities on Sunday to go down to the coast. This is Newport Beach just at sunset.<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91471608@N00/3000470054" title="View 'Newport Beach Pier' on Flickr.com"><div style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/3023/3000470054_534fda4013.jpg" alt="Newport Beach Pier" border="0" width="" height="" /></div></a></li><br /><br /><li><h3>Vegas</h3>Just a week after getting back from SoCal, I was off to Las Vegas for a week to help run a training conference for my company. It was friggin exhausting, but I did get to go to a subzero bar (<a href="http://www.minus5experience.com/">Minus 5 Experience</a>).<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91471608@N00/3024546928" title="View 'King in Ice' on Flickr.com"><div style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/3167/3024546928_7275e4e827.jpg" alt="King in Ice" border="0" width="" height="" /></div></a><br /><br />Yes, this was a complete waste of money. And yes, that is Elvis. But I think that is the point of Vegas.</li></ul>I've just got back from Chicago and Columbus this week, which rounds out my travel for the year. I'll try and get those pictures up this week.<br /><br />/khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-14529442285031204272008-10-28T22:13:00.001-07:002008-10-28T22:13:54.170-07:00Moose<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/2983602286/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/2983602286_6e2be4b747.jpg" class="flickr-photo" alt="" /></a><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/2983602286/">Street Moose</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/wander/">/k</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> Overall my blog is a mixed bag. Sometimes it's personal stuff, occasionally geeky stuff but mostly it's just travelogues.<br /><br />But on some days, it's just a picture of a guy in a Moose costume giving me the "hang loose" sign while he passes out flyers on the streets of Honolulu.</p>/khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-27563365473228927642008-10-27T03:34:00.000-07:002008-10-27T16:52:19.217-07:001000KI forgot to post this back in August, but I recently passed the official "you're too old to still be doing this" mark for business travelers:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/norcalmtb/SP5Jf7rp47I/AAAAAAAAAuk/xCts9eET564/Picture%204.png?imgmax=800" alt="Picture 4.png" border="0" height="17" width="334" /></div><br />While this does get me <a href="http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,52380,00.html">Premier Executive status for life</a>, I am disappointed that they no longer name a plane after you at 5 million miles. It really takes away the motivation./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-17451138422460457032008-10-20T23:03:00.001-07:002008-10-21T08:47:28.895-07:00Amy's Wedding<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="375" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=61761" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=9ff0c0a262&photo_id=2961047856&show_info_box=true"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=61761"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=61761" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=9ff0c0a262&photo_id=2961047856&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="375" width="500"></embed></object><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/2960153605/">Amy's Wedding</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/wander/">/k</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> Two days of flying back to Ohio this weekend resulted in Shelley and I seeing my younger sister married (and my niece Grace).</p><br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="375" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=61761" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=23d70ed3d5&photo_id=2960228317&show_info_box=true"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=61761"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=61761" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=23d70ed3d5&photo_id=2960228317&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="375" width="500"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /> <p class="flickr-yourcomment">More <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/wander/sets/72157608231639735/">photos on my Flickr page</a>.</p>/khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-50059929886026364242008-10-16T18:23:00.001-07:002008-10-16T18:23:41.438-07:00SF Commute<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="375" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=61761" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=8cb74a609d&photo_id=2947533535&show_info_box=true"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=61761"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=61761" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=8cb74a609d&photo_id=2947533535&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="375" width="500"></embed></object><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/2947533535/">SF Bay Ferry</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/wander/">/k</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> I've been commuting into San Francisco quite a bit lately and the 2.5 hour drive into the Bay Area has really started to grind on me. It isn't really the distance, but the lost time and hassle of driving. So I am experimenting with ways to regain that lost time this month. The first one of these was the BayLink Ferry, which goes across the San Francisco Bay from Vallejo to the Embarcadero on the SF waterfront (near Fisherman's Wharf). As the video below shows, it's a pretty nice trip and only takes one hour. Along the way, you get to see Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, Angel Island and the SF skyline. However, that's only half my journey since Vallejo is one hour from my house. I may try taking the Capital Corridor (Amtrak) later this month.</p>/khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-36546850476867715342008-09-25T17:59:00.001-07:002008-09-25T17:59:59.333-07:00My Summer Vacation (2008 Edition)As I mentioned in my last entry, I actually did have a large number of <strike>half-assed</strike> half-done posts from this summer, that hadn't progressed enough to be posted. Instead of trying to finish them, here they are in their half-baked glory:<ul><li>I bid farewell to my <a href="http://sunbear.blogspot.com/2008/05/goats.html">goat neighbors</a>. This made me sad, as the goats were much more lively than the horses. And they used to continuously screw with their owners whenever they weren't promptly fed (which is often with my slackass neighbors). As a tribute to my goat friends (of which I nicknamed mama, runt and rowdy), I present to you my favorite video of rowdy the goat:<br /><br /><center><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="375" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=60247" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=0d7a86b286&photo_id=2690704537&show_info_box=true"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=60247"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=60247" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=0d7a86b286&photo_id=2690704537&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="375" width="500"></embed></object></center></li><br /><br /><li>I became a professional photographer:<blockquote>Hi /k,<br /><br />I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released second edition of our <a href="http://www.schmap.com/">Schmap California Guide</a>:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.schmap.com/california/attractions/p=277842/i=277842_7.jpg">Arco Arena</a><br /><br />Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - please enjoy the guide!</blockquote>Sadly, this <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/1772563/">photo sucks</a>. And it came from my old Treo mobile phone.</li><br /><br /><li>We endured high winds and epic wildfires. For a few weeks in June/July, it literally looked/smelled/felt like the entire state of California was on fire. And being near a large body of water, we got to see a lot of the firefighting preparations first hand:<br /><br /><center><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" height="300" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=60247" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=0817b10f67&photo_id=2640248612&show_info_box=true"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=60247"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=60247" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=0817b10f67&photo_id=2640248612&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="375" width="500 "></embed></object></center></li><br /><br /><li>The summer was not completely without travel. I had to make a quick swing through Asia to present at our fiscal year kickoffs, which basically meant that I flew for about 10 hours every other day for one week to present for 1 hour total. However, this did leave some free time which I was able to fill. Below is a picture of the Sapporo Beer Station, which is on the Sapporo Beer Headquarters grounds in Ebisu-ku, Tokyo, Japan. <br /><br /><center><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/2699634071/" title="Sapporo Beer House by /k, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3255/2699634071_abe1c57e1a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Sapporo Beer House" /></a></center><br /></li></ul>I am sure there were a few others things along the way, but this should bring you up to date. /khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-53591564288751797072008-09-21T16:10:00.001-07:002008-09-21T22:06:40.931-07:00Shibuya Dawn<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=60247" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="375" width="500"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=ddaef1cbf9&photo_id=2877102660&show_info_box=true"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=60247"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=60247" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=ddaef1cbf9&photo_id=2877102660&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="375" width="500"></embed></object><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/2877102660/">Shibuya Dawn</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/wander/">/k</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's certainly not because I've been busy -- in fact, just the opposite: I didn't travel much over the summer at all. And because of that, I got lazy and have about 7 half-baked blog posts in my editor. So I am going to try a different tack and just post quick ones for a while.<br /><br />Here is today's bit of Zen. It's a stop-motion video from my hotel room window of the sun rising over the Shibuya neighborhood of Tokyo. I made it with <a href="http://www.boinx.com/istopmotion/overview/">iStopMotion</a> and my MacBook's isight.</p>/khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-48970029262256392302008-05-12T18:09:00.001-07:002008-05-15T08:56:45.870-07:00Goats<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=49235" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="375" width="500"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=101891e1b9&photo_id=2487066095&show_info_box=true"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=49235"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=49235" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=101891e1b9&photo_id=2487066095&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="375" width="500"></embed></object><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/2487066095/">Goats</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/wander/">/k</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> It's goat season again here in El Dorado county.<br /><br />Every year, when we move from the wet winter to the dry summer, fields of grass become super-combustible fire hazards. Unfortunately, it is not cost effective to mow and then remove the dead grass, so a cottage industry of shepherds rent out their goats and kids (baby goats) to munch on the drying weeds. It seems like a win/win, especially to my dogs who like to watch them.<br /><br />I caught this group deforesting the back side of Wild Oaks park, but my next door neighbors (the caretakers of Whitey and Brownie) have also rented some for their pasture. You can't see him, but there is also a sheep dog (goat dog ?) somewhere in the pasture guarding over them.<br /><br />if case you are thinking about it, it appears <a href="http://goatcentral.com/">http://goatcentral.com/</a> is the place to call.</p>/khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-58579810434712664372008-05-02T16:41:00.001-07:002008-05-02T16:41:08.267-07:00Moment of Zen<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="500" height="375" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=49235" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=04f49bc7fd&photo_id=2460575438&show_info_box=true"></param> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=49235"></param> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=49235" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=04f49bc7fd&photo_id=2460575438&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="375" width="500"></embed></object><br /> <span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/2460575438/">Circular Quay</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/wander/">/k</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> After a terribly busy week here in Sydney (it was truly twelve hour days almost all week), I got early on Saturday to take in Circular Quay with a bit of quiet. <br /><br />This concludes my quick to trip to Australia. I'm just throwing things into my bags to catch my flight back to Los Angeles and finally NorCal.</p>/khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-21754981230941765122008-04-09T15:52:00.001-07:002008-04-09T16:34:56.123-07:00February + March UpdateLet's see, where did I leave off in February?<br /><br />Oh yeah. I got back from China and was actually in NorCal for a few weeks. This bliss was interrupted by a weeklong trip to (suburban) Chicago for a work conference. The picture below basically sums that trip up:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91471608@N00/2320708958" title="View 'Snow in St Charles' on Flickr.com"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2293/2320708958_f6fd32853d.jpg" alt="Snow in St Charles" border="0" height="300" width="400" /></a><br /><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/wander/2320708958/">Snow in St Charles</a> by <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/wander/">/k</a></div><br />Snow and boredom.<br /><br />I was home barely 48 hours when I headed out for Seoul and more meetings. This was simply boring. Not even photo worthy as I basically walked between my hotel and the office for four days.<br /><br />Escaping the cold in Seoul, I flew down to Hong Kong for, yes, more meetings. At least the weather was quite better, so I could at least get out and see some nightlife. I hadn't been to Hong Kong for several years, so I just wandered around for the most part.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/2338367488/" title="Hong Kong Admiralty by /k, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2402/2338367488_b70ce00367.jpg" alt="Hong Kong Admiralty" height="375" width="500" /></a><br /><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/wander/2338367488/">Hong Kong Admiralty</a> by <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/wander/2338367488/">/k</a></div><br />The one highlight of this whole trip was a touristy trip to the top of Hong Kong island (<a href="http://www.thepeak.com.hk/full/en/index.php">The Peak</a>) to have dinner. As I didn't have to expense the beer nor the food, it was quite enjoyable.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/91471608@N00/2337533467" title="View 'The Peak' on Flickr.com"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/2337533467_68732bc85f.jpg" alt="The Peak" border="0" height="375" width="500" /></a><br /><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/wander/2337533467/in/photostream/">The Peak</a> by <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/wander/">/k</a><br /></div><br />That pretty much ended the international part of my travel. Unfortunately, I had one more set of meetings down in Santa Cruz. Once that was done, I have basically been home. Except last weekend's trip to New Orleans, which would be a entirely different post./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-64671431960353891342008-04-08T20:49:00.001-07:002008-04-09T00:20:15.217-07:00[FV]lickr<style type="text/css">.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }</style><div class="flickr-frame"> <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.167" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="375" width="500"> <param name="flashvars" value="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=ee84e4d4a5&photo_id=2399365729&show_info_box=true"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.167"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=1.167" bgcolor="#000000" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="intl_lang=en-us&photo_secret=ee84e4d4a5&photo_id=2399365729&flickr_show_info_box=true" height="375" width="500"></embed></object><br /><span class="flickr-caption"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/2399365729/">Louie in the Snow</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/wander/">/k</a>.</span></div> <p class="flickr-yourcomment"> Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but I have been toggling between crazy busy on travel and completely lazy at home. However, when I saw that the <a href="http://blog.flickr.net/en/2008/04/09/video-on-flickr-2/">good people at Flickr had added video for their Pro accounts,</a> I figured it was a good chance to hoist some more dog videos on you.<br /><br />Above is a video of Louiedog running through the snow near Sierra at Tahoe around Christmas 2007. As he was originally from Nevada City (which is about the same altitude), he seems completely unfazed by the snow.<br /><br />I'll post something tomorrow to update you on my latest exploits. Probably with video.</p>/khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-60157571815385912112008-02-08T14:55:00.001-08:002008-02-08T14:55:15.634-08:00Gotham<img src="http://lh6.google.com/norcalmtb/R6zcVqPvXsI/AAAAAAAAAjA/ME3fSSLhRtY/jinmaobuilding.png?imgmax=800" alt="jinmaobuilding.png" border="0" width="236" height="405" align="right" /><em>Trying to catch up on my bloging</em>.<br />This is the Jin Mao Building in Shanghai. And my hotel when I stay there (Grand Hyatt Shanghai). Reportedly the tallest hotel in the world (the lobby is on the 54th floor). My room was on the 67 floor and it made me dizzy going up the elevators (it took THREE to get to my room). There's a bar on the top floor and you actually look down on the Shanghai needle (actually called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_Pearl_Tower">Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower</a>) from the window. Trippy.<br /><br />However, the thing that strikes me most about the hotel is the design. Whenever I see it, I expect to see the bat signal silhouette on it's side./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-24212016109766857142008-01-22T11:36:00.001-08:002008-01-22T11:38:15.618-08:00MaglevI've spent the last two weeks shuttling around China, reviewing some of my company's offices. I'll write up a longer entry later this week, but I wanted to post some video while I was still thinking about. The clip below shows my trip on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train">Shanghai's Maglev train</a> between the city and Pudong International Airport. The clip is almost the entire ride -- since it last only 7 minutes to cover 30 KM.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="392" data="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=628047&affiliateId=111792" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" id="revvervideoa17743d6aebf486ece24053f35e1aa23"><param name="Movie" value="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=628047&affiliateId=111792"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="allowFullScreen=true"></param><param name="AllowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=628047&affiliateId=111792" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="allowFullScreen=true" allowfullscreen="true" height="392" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br />Although it doesn't show on the video well, the train leans about 30 degrees.<br /><br />I'll have some more pictures and video from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou later this week./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-4526426457705936732008-01-03T20:33:00.001-08:002008-01-03T20:33:50.812-08:00Zeke's RelationsAlthough this looks like Zeke, this is actually his mother and brother in Monterey last weekend.<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/norcalmtb/Dogs/photo?authkey=tG3Kjoc7VN8#5151473950619344498"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/norcalmtb/R322Q7BYHnI/AAAAAAAAAhM/r1HtwJ70ZPQ/s800/IMG_5892.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Remi (Zeke's mom) is on the right and Riley (Zeke's lookalike brother) is on the left. Ed (Remi and Riley's owner and breeder) says that Riley is well behaved but pretty vocal. Apparently, the shenanigan gene skipped him./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-55372196729590197262007-12-26T18:58:00.001-08:002007-12-26T18:58:52.491-08:00New DogMy dad got a new dog. <br /><br /><object width="480" height="392" data="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=585754&affiliateId=111792" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" id="revvervideoa17743d6aebf486ece24053f35e1aa23"><param name="Movie" value="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=585754&affiliateId=111792"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="allowFullScreen=true"></param><param name="AllowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="AllowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf?mediaId=585754&affiliateId=111792" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="allowFullScreen=true" allowfullscreen="true" height="392" width="480"></embed></object><br /><br />Cooper is about 10 weeks old./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-18506077493444564612007-12-13T14:44:00.001-08:002007-12-13T14:50:25.260-08:00Busy. Sick. Tired. Busy.So many of you have probably been wondering "where is k?" (okay, this may be <em>few</em>, or even <em>one</em>). Though I have link to my current location on the left hand column, I haven't really updated my blog in a month or so. Well, I've been busy. And sick. And sick of being busy:<ul><li>I went to Vegas in early October for too long (>24 hours) and got sick. I did get to visit the <a href="http://www.worldsbestbars.com/public/venue_listing.jsp?categoryId=25¤tVenueId=1228">Ghost Bar</a>, but didn't get sick there.<br /><div style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/norcalmtb/R2G2Ghb5JYI/AAAAAAAAAeI/AB2L5FpWO2o/IMG_0018.JPG?imgmax=800" alt="IMG_0018.JPG" border="0" width="640" height="480" /></div><br /></li><li>Still sick, I went to Tokyo and got stuck in Narita Airport for 40 hours after they cancelled my flight. Yes, there is a DFA letter in mail to United for that one (United believes that $350 travel voucher squares us, me not so much). On the plus side, I did get well acquainted with their awesome beer machines:<br /><script src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.js?mediaId:515439;affiliateId:111792" type="text/javascript"></script></li><li>I cooled my heels in Australia for a week. I say cooled my heels because I was in Australia (Brisbane then Sydney) eight days for the total of 2 hours of customer meetings and 6 hours of internal meetings. Basically, one day of work for 6 days of boredom and 36 hours of travel. <br /><div style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/norcalmtb/RzZcvz1rxOI/AAAAAAAAAc4/OPgNiRGZcAk/SANY0028.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="SANY0028.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="360" /></div></li><li>I was home for about a week and was still sick.</li><li>I finished off the month with a quick trip to Bangkok for 48 hours.</li></ul>Now, I am on vacation until early January. Maybe I will actually post something interesting between then and now./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-11158994749848006502007-10-26T04:26:00.001-07:002007-10-26T04:26:18.837-07:00FFF: AkasakaJapan, japan, japan. I am disappointed. Such a great idea (it's pig! it's a burger! it's got strange toppings!) but with such a unimaginative name.<br /><div style="text-align:center;"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/norcalmtb/RyHOGMC68HI/AAAAAAAAAcQ/iBFljkuAaGM/mcpork.jpg?imgmax=800" alt="mcpork.jpg" border="0" width="368" height="473" /></div><br />How awesome would this have been if it was called "McPig" ?/khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-27538965644497877822007-10-05T00:32:00.000-07:002007-10-04T22:34:11.294-07:00Mumbai TouristI had a free afternoon in India a few weeks ago and since the entire country was watching the <a href="http://worldtwenty20.yahoo.com/">Twenty20 Cricket World Cup</a> or celebrating a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesh_Chaturthi">Hindu festival</a>, I decided to do some sightseeing with my driver Anand. I kept it short and visited:<ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_of_India">Gateway of India</a></li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Nehru_Park">Kamala Nehru park</a></li><li>Mahatma Ghandi's residence</li></ul><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="noScale" salign="TL" bgcolor="#000000" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="mediaId=422435&affiliateId=111792&allowFullScreen=true" allowfullscreen="true" height="392" width="480"></embed><br />Overall it was a good trip. The only real problems came as I was rushing to the airport to leave: my flight was scheduled to leave just after the Indian cricket team arrived home from winning the World Cup. The resulting traffic jam left me barely minutes to make my flight./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-71315118105394581222007-10-04T09:55:00.001-07:002007-10-04T22:34:53.265-07:00Video DelaysSo I had promised video from India last week (and it's actual good) but I am having a hell of a time getting Revver.com to post it correctly. In the meantime, accept this picture of the sun rising over the Pacific here in Santa Cruz, California where I am attending a technical symposium:<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wander/1474022302/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1007/1474022302_cb0d428f04.jpg" alt="Seascape Resort Morning" height="281" width="500" /></a><br /></div>Hopefully, I will have the video up sometime tomorrow./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-47683977223155703462007-09-22T21:33:00.001-07:002007-09-22T21:42:53.946-07:00BeijingOkay, I've fixed my "<a href="http://sunbear.blogspot.com/2007/09/c3ns0r3d.html">firewall issues</a>" (by fleeing the People's Republic) and I got a few minutes to put together some of the almost interesting snippets of video online. <a href="http://sunbear.blogspot.com/2004/01/beijing-nights.html">I hadn't been here since 2004</a> and it was amazing to see how much had changed. Behold my short trip to the Financial District of Beijing, China:<br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="noScale" salign="TL" bgcolor="#000000" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="mediaId=407280&affiliateId=111792&allowFullScreen=true" allowfullscreen="true" height="392" width="480"></embed><br /><br />I was scheduled to fly home on Friday from China, but a business emergency has made me divert to Mumbai, India. Soooo . . . I'll probably have some video from there later this week./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-43101057067955684492007-09-20T18:28:00.001-07:002007-09-20T18:28:22.246-07:00c3ns0r3dSo you may have noticed that the usual stream of boring posts, strange pictures and pointless video clips has come to an abrupt halt this week. This is due to my trip to Beijing, China where I have been both surprised, and somewhat honored, to learn that my blog is censored behind the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Shield_Project">Great Firewall of China</a>. And while I have found a hack to workaround this (I am currently sitting at a Starbucks near Tiennaman Square), it has stymied my attempts to upload videos. <br /><br />So look for new updates sometime this weekend when I make it Mumbai, India./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-52792540831666695902007-09-09T13:39:00.001-07:002007-09-09T13:40:18.335-07:00Tiger LiveHere is the video that I threatened you with earlier this week. It chronicles my free day in Singapore two weeks ago.<br /><br />Some setup, since the video audio is somewhat soft:<blockquote><em>I went to <a href="http://www.tigerlive.com.sg/">Tiger Live</a> thinking it was the home of <a href="http://www.tigerbeer.us/">Tiger Beer</a>, one of my favorite beers in the world. Instead it turned to be a cross between a night club (they have several inside) and Disney world. If Walt Disney had taken a lot of acid in the '60s. At one point in the "experience," they actually showed hops "having sex" as a metaphor for fermentation. Unfortunately (or fortunately), they didn't let me take any video inside but I did get some video at the bar (they gave you a few free beers afterward. I think it was a reward for sitting through the "experience").<br /><br />To add insult to injury, it also turns out that you can actually <a href="http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/getting_around/tours_in_singapore/special_interest_tours/tiger_brewery_tour.html">tour the brewery</a>.<br /><br />I also captured some video from near my hotel in <a href="http://www.clarkequay.com.sg/">Clarke Quay</a>. </em></blockquote>Here's the video:<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="noScale" salign="TL" bgcolor="#000000" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="mediaId=390535&affiliateId=111792&allowFullScreen=true" allowfullscreen="true" height="392" width="480"></embed>/khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-24097481933032533262007-09-08T00:13:00.001-07:002007-09-08T12:59:29.861-07:00And the Chickens ReturnIn the ongoing saga of my neighbor's "farm", it now looks like the chickens are back. <br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="noScale" salign="TL" bgcolor="#000000" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="mediaId=389710&affiliateId=111792&allowFullScreen=true" allowfullscreen="true" height="392" width="480"></embed><br /><br />The <a href="http://sunbear.blogspot.com/2004/11/fall-when-llamas-return.html">llamas can't be too far behind</a>. I hope./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3334668.post-72099191198517579172007-08-31T22:24:00.000-07:002007-09-02T12:49:41.155-07:00Seoul FoodI still haven't finished editing my cinematic masterpiece on Singapore, but I did cobble together some footage from yesterday night's trip to a traditional Korean restaurant here in Seoul.<br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://flash.revver.com/player/1.0/player.swf" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="noScale" salign="TL" bgcolor="#000000" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="mediaId=382975&affiliateId=111792&allowFullScreen=true" allowfullscreen="true" height="392" width="480"></embed><br /><br /><strike>This video is embedded with Google Video, which lowers the resolution and quality a fair bit. If you want to see the higher resolution (640x480) and quality (H264 encoding) version, subscribe to the podcast <a href="itpc://sunbear.blogspot.com/rss.xml">in iTunes</a> or <a href="http://sunbear.blogspot.com/rss.xml">your podcaster</a>.</strike> I changed this over to <a href="http://one.revver.com/">Revver</a> because Google Video was doing strange things with the images. You can subscribe to the iTunes feed, <a href="itpc://feeds.revver.com/2.0/mrss/qt/collection/249116/?affiliate=%login">click here</a>. You'll get each video as I upload them and you can sync it to your iPhone :><br /><br />I'll post my video from Singapore once I get home and I can make some sense out of it./khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01784962710226091352noreply@blogger.com2