Thursday, October 30, 2008
In Case You Missed It
I don't really know what to do with myself at this point. I don't have anything to be frustrated about in the sports world all of a sudden...
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
!!!!!! WE WIN !!!!!
Philadelphia Freedom!!
2008 World Series Champs!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
2008 World Series Champs!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Flying
I recently had the opportunity to take a quick trip to San Diego and flew from Rochester to Atlanta to San Diego to Philadelphia and back to Rochester. Some thoughts and experiences:
Don't Drink and Fly
Touching down into San Diego, you could hear that the beverage cart in the back of the plane was making a lot of noise. I don't think any of us thought much about it...just sounded like the cans of soda and juice were rolling around in a large container. However, upon the wheels actually making contact with the asphalt, a loud noise accompanied a rush of 100s of full cans coming flying down the aisle - it was pretty awesome. They weren't coming fast enough to be a safety risk, it was just quite a sight. Although none of the cans I saw burst open, you couldn't help but feel badly for the flight attendants who had to clean all that up!
This was in stark contrast to the flight leaving San Diego where my conversation with the attendant went like this:
Attendant: "Anything to drink, Sir?"
Me: Orange juice please.
A: That'll be $2.
Me: Um, nevermind.
Really, you can't get a non-alcoholic drink on an airplane for free anymore(On US Air at least)? Crazy.
Speak English...No the Other English
As I was approaching my seat on my flight out of San Diego, I saw the attendant explaining the emergency exit rules and responsibilities to the patrons who were sitting in those seats. She was having an animated conversation with one man who apparently wasn't understanding what she was saying. San Diego is very close to the Mexican border, so they're used to having Spanish speaking people on the plane. She was trying to explain to the guy that he had to move because you need to understand and speak English to sit in that row. I noticed that as she kept asking him if he spoke English or understood what she was saying that he kept pointing from his ear to his mouth.
I suppose that looks a lot like someone just scratching the side of their head. Having taken some of the American Sign Language (ASL) classes with Lisa, I knew that was the sign for "deaf". As I walked by the attendant, who was getting a bit flustered, I turned to her and said "He's deaf...that's why he doesn't understand you." I then put my stuff down and explained (signed) to the guy what the attendant was saying any why he couldn't sit there.
I felt like a winner for being able to resolve the situation, and I made a friend out of it :) He was a nice kid...actually from Mexico, learning ASL, but traveling to Spain to learn how to be a chef. I thought that was impressive!
What Recession?
Philadelphia International Airport used to be a real hole in the wall. For those of you familiar with Veteran's Stadium, it was kinda like that. All cement, all seedy, all function without aesthetics. I used to say that there should be signs in the jetways saying "Welcome to Philadelphia - it's ok, pee anywhere." My how times have changed.
I couldn't tell if I was in the airport or the Cherry Hill Mall. There's an entire wing of the airport called "Philadelphia Marketplace", which is the most awesome time-killing mechanism I have ever seen in an airport. Many major restaruants and shops are in there including: TGI Fridays, Brookstone, Sharper Image, Au Bon Pain, Lids, Borders, Auntie Annes, Bose, Brooks Brothers, and many other main stream mall-type stores. There is also a food court with your typical Burger King and all those types of places with a large eating area with a few dozen large screens giving updated flight information. I tip my hat to whomever designed that wing. As you can probably tell, I was totally blown away. Hands down the most enjoyable experience I have had during a layover.
America the Beautiful
I was fortunate enough to see a birds-eye view of more than 1/2 of the country within a 2-day period in the fall season. Whether it was the San Diego skyline at night, the simple beauty of the plains, the view of the Philadelphia sports complex and accompanying skyline, or the endless fall foliage of the East Coast I couldn't help but think to myself how gorgeous of a land it is in which we live.
Don't Drink and Fly
Touching down into San Diego, you could hear that the beverage cart in the back of the plane was making a lot of noise. I don't think any of us thought much about it...just sounded like the cans of soda and juice were rolling around in a large container. However, upon the wheels actually making contact with the asphalt, a loud noise accompanied a rush of 100s of full cans coming flying down the aisle - it was pretty awesome. They weren't coming fast enough to be a safety risk, it was just quite a sight. Although none of the cans I saw burst open, you couldn't help but feel badly for the flight attendants who had to clean all that up!
This was in stark contrast to the flight leaving San Diego where my conversation with the attendant went like this:
Attendant: "Anything to drink, Sir?"
Me: Orange juice please.
A: That'll be $2.
Me: Um, nevermind.
Really, you can't get a non-alcoholic drink on an airplane for free anymore(On US Air at least)? Crazy.
Speak English...No the Other English
As I was approaching my seat on my flight out of San Diego, I saw the attendant explaining the emergency exit rules and responsibilities to the patrons who were sitting in those seats. She was having an animated conversation with one man who apparently wasn't understanding what she was saying. San Diego is very close to the Mexican border, so they're used to having Spanish speaking people on the plane. She was trying to explain to the guy that he had to move because you need to understand and speak English to sit in that row. I noticed that as she kept asking him if he spoke English or understood what she was saying that he kept pointing from his ear to his mouth.
I suppose that looks a lot like someone just scratching the side of their head. Having taken some of the American Sign Language (ASL) classes with Lisa, I knew that was the sign for "deaf". As I walked by the attendant, who was getting a bit flustered, I turned to her and said "He's deaf...that's why he doesn't understand you." I then put my stuff down and explained (signed) to the guy what the attendant was saying any why he couldn't sit there.
I felt like a winner for being able to resolve the situation, and I made a friend out of it :) He was a nice kid...actually from Mexico, learning ASL, but traveling to Spain to learn how to be a chef. I thought that was impressive!
What Recession?
Philadelphia International Airport used to be a real hole in the wall. For those of you familiar with Veteran's Stadium, it was kinda like that. All cement, all seedy, all function without aesthetics. I used to say that there should be signs in the jetways saying "Welcome to Philadelphia - it's ok, pee anywhere." My how times have changed.
I couldn't tell if I was in the airport or the Cherry Hill Mall. There's an entire wing of the airport called "Philadelphia Marketplace", which is the most awesome time-killing mechanism I have ever seen in an airport. Many major restaruants and shops are in there including: TGI Fridays, Brookstone, Sharper Image, Au Bon Pain, Lids, Borders, Auntie Annes, Bose, Brooks Brothers, and many other main stream mall-type stores. There is also a food court with your typical Burger King and all those types of places with a large eating area with a few dozen large screens giving updated flight information. I tip my hat to whomever designed that wing. As you can probably tell, I was totally blown away. Hands down the most enjoyable experience I have had during a layover.
America the Beautiful
I was fortunate enough to see a birds-eye view of more than 1/2 of the country within a 2-day period in the fall season. Whether it was the San Diego skyline at night, the simple beauty of the plains, the view of the Philadelphia sports complex and accompanying skyline, or the endless fall foliage of the East Coast I couldn't help but think to myself how gorgeous of a land it is in which we live.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Time Dynamics and the Economy
I've come to realize this week that the United States economy is in many ways like my time.
I know at any given time exactly what I need to do and how much time I have to do it. I can anticipate my homework and project deadlines and plan accordingly. I know how fast I can work and I always know exactly how far ahead I will be 'next week' if I keep working at my peak efficiency.
However, without fail, some unexpected and pertinent time-sucker comes up every week. Sometimes it's an assignment that takes 2 or 3x as long as expected. Sometimes it's a surprise project given at the last minute by a professor. Sometimes its a lab-related project that needs to get done. Whatever the cause, I'm never ahead and just barely treading water to stay up on what was originally supposed to be easy baseline deadlines.
Every year we hear more about the national debt and the need to balance the budget. Every year we hear from our political leaders that they project that the budget will be balanced in a few years and we'll start making that money back. Every year we hear about some unexpected but pertinent expense that needed attention in the past year that prevented us from balancing the budget on time the first time around. Every year is the same thing.
When I was in my undergraduate education, I thought I was managing my time well and making appropriate sacrifices. Then I got married and had to re-evaluate priorities and cut back on certain activities like climbing and hockey. Then I had a son and had to again re-evaluate and cut back on how closely I follow sports and other leisure activities. Then I entered grad school and had to cut out pretty much everything except what was necessary to keep my family and education intact. After all that, I (like everyone else I know in my same position) am still trying to find the right balance between school, church, and family obligations and priorities.
I'm not sure if our national finances are in the undergrad, marriage, child bearing, or grad stage but I think it might be time to re-evaluate and just cut out everything but the bare necessities.
There are always going to be matters that are worthy and great uses of my time that I just simply cannot attend and will have to be cut out. There will always be a continuous stream of applications for causes worthy of our tax-dollar funding. Someone has to start taking on the responsibility of judging what needs to be cut out.
I know at any given time exactly what I need to do and how much time I have to do it. I can anticipate my homework and project deadlines and plan accordingly. I know how fast I can work and I always know exactly how far ahead I will be 'next week' if I keep working at my peak efficiency.
However, without fail, some unexpected and pertinent time-sucker comes up every week. Sometimes it's an assignment that takes 2 or 3x as long as expected. Sometimes it's a surprise project given at the last minute by a professor. Sometimes its a lab-related project that needs to get done. Whatever the cause, I'm never ahead and just barely treading water to stay up on what was originally supposed to be easy baseline deadlines.
Every year we hear more about the national debt and the need to balance the budget. Every year we hear from our political leaders that they project that the budget will be balanced in a few years and we'll start making that money back. Every year we hear about some unexpected but pertinent expense that needed attention in the past year that prevented us from balancing the budget on time the first time around. Every year is the same thing.
When I was in my undergraduate education, I thought I was managing my time well and making appropriate sacrifices. Then I got married and had to re-evaluate priorities and cut back on certain activities like climbing and hockey. Then I had a son and had to again re-evaluate and cut back on how closely I follow sports and other leisure activities. Then I entered grad school and had to cut out pretty much everything except what was necessary to keep my family and education intact. After all that, I (like everyone else I know in my same position) am still trying to find the right balance between school, church, and family obligations and priorities.
I'm not sure if our national finances are in the undergrad, marriage, child bearing, or grad stage but I think it might be time to re-evaluate and just cut out everything but the bare necessities.
There are always going to be matters that are worthy and great uses of my time that I just simply cannot attend and will have to be cut out. There will always be a continuous stream of applications for causes worthy of our tax-dollar funding. Someone has to start taking on the responsibility of judging what needs to be cut out.
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