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September 29, 2006

The Eagle Has Landed

Well, I know know which flight Dawnise was on. It just landed in Seattle.

By the time she collects her luggage, gets a ride to the ferry, etc. etc. she'll be home around 1pm.

Posted by dberger at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

Timing is Everything

Nise is winging her way home from Washington DC - she even managed to hop an earlier flight than the earlier flight I had gotten her a seat on. Unfortunately, since I don't know what flight she's on, or when it will land (I was very asleep when she called to give me the good news this morning) my plan to meet her on the Seattle side is sorta shot.

I checked United's online info, but since I don't know if it's a direct flight or not, there are four distinct possibilities.

Anyway, in other news, I felt a bit lethargic yesterday - not enough to stop me going to work, but enough to convince me to leave a bit early and head to bed early as well. This morning, I think it's clear that I'm coming down with a cold.

Bloody hell.

Posted by dberger at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)

September 28, 2006

I've Seen Things You People Wouldn't Believe...

Listening to Vangelis' score for Blade Runner.

No matter how many times I hear the score, or Batty's soliloquy, it never fails to send shivers down the nape of my neck.

Posted by dberger at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)

September 27, 2006

The Long Way Home

I just talked to Dawnise for probably the last time before she starts the trek home. She leaves Cape Town headed for Johannesburg at around 4am Seattle time tomorrow (the 28th) and arrives around 6am Seattle time. At 9am Seattle time she leaves Johannesburg for Washington DC via Dakar - and arrives at 6am DC time on the 29th (that's 18 hours, for those playing along at home).

She's got a 6 hour layover in DC, and a direct DC to Seattle flight that arrives at 3pm Seattle time on Friday the 29th.

I hate waiting...

Posted by dberger at 11:11 PM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2006

Everybody's Wearing Earphones, But Nobody's Rockin'

I dunno about you - but when I'm listening to good music, you can tell. My head starts bobbing, or my foot starts tapping, I do something.

Every day I'm surrounded by people lost in their ipods, but none of them seem to be listening to anything that moves them.

Are they listening to music, or are the blocking out the world?

Posted by dberger at 8:05 AM | Comments (1)

September 25, 2006

Another Someone You've (Probably) Never Heard Of

A friend of mine turned me on to Kamary Phillip today (thanks, Tony). Good stuff - check out some of the tracks he's got online.

Posted by dberger at 9:33 PM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2006

This Skype Thing is Pretty Cool...

I was sitting here, lamenting the fact that I had nothing to do today, and trying to figure out where I was going to go, when I got an incoming call on Skype from Dawnise from an internet cafe in Cape Town.

So we've been chatting for a while, and thanks to the whole free SkypeOut to US numbers, and the ability to setup conference calls, she's been able to say "hi" to her parents, and a couple of friends (Kathye and Jan - you missed the call, sorry).

Nifty.

Oh, apparently they're staying here

Posted by dberger at 11:48 AM | Comments (2)

September 23, 2006

Gone Dark (Again)

I got a brief call from Dawnise a few moments ago - apparently neither of the last two places they've stayed have had electrical outlets compatible with the international adapter kit she has with her, so her cel is down to the end of it's battery. She's going to try to find (buy) a kit with the appropriate adaptor, but no way to tell if and when she'll be able to.

So she's incommunicado until further notice.

In other news, I got confirmation from United that she's cleared the wait-list for (i.e. got a seat on) an earlier flight from Washington DC to Seattle, so she'll get home around 3 in the afternoon on Friday the 29th, rather than just after midnight on Saturday the 30th.

Posted by dberger at 2:24 PM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2006

Tears for Fears

Many years ago (probably around it's original '83 release) I owned The Hurting on cassette.

The other day I got a CD copy, and I'm listening to it now.

I'd forgotten about many of the tracks on the album. And let me just say, it has some really good tracks on it, tracks that you'll never hear on any of the Tears for Fears "best of" collections.

Posted by dberger at 1:53 PM | Comments (0)

Biko

The Simple Minds cover of Peter Gabriel's Biko came up in the random shuffle. It's playing now. The first verse sent a chill down my spine.

Continue reading "Biko"

Posted by dberger at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2006

Sin City

Dawnise expressed no interest in seeing Sin City when it came out, so it ended up on my "watch while Dawnise is in Africa" list.

Good thing, too. She'd have hated it, despite it's merits.

Continue reading "Sin City"

Posted by dberger at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)

More Proof That Pricey != Good

In January, after doing a bunch of research, I bought a Capresso burr grinder. I mostly wanted a burr grinder so I could consistently grind fine enough for espresso, and I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg.

One of the guys at work gave a much more expensive grinder that he'd given up on. His major complaint was that it created too much static, despite it's "new anti--static technology."

Continue reading "More Proof That Pricey != Good"

Posted by dberger at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)

I'm Sure I'm Going To Hell Now...

I now have an MSN Messenger account.

Gack.

If any of you are silly enough to use MSN's chat (my excuse is that it's the only chat service that we allow through the rather draconian firewall at work), my contact name is my email address.

And if you don't know my email address, I don't wanna talk to you anyway. ;)

Posted by dberger at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2006

One of A (Very) Short List

I don't play PC games much, and I don't own a console (I had a Gauntlet Legends, but that's long since gone the way of E-Bay). I can probably count the number of games I've played through on my hands.

As of tonight, I can add Half Life 2 to that list.

Only took me 22 months (from the date of release).

Posted by dberger at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)

Conn, Sonar, we have contact...

Dawnise (and the rest of her party) have emerged, unscathed, from the African bush. She called this morning before I left for work to tell me she was alive and ok, and we just spoke for about 20 minutes thanks to the marvels of Skype.

The safari sounds like it was truly wondrous. She filled the first 1G SD card with pictures, and is working through the second (it's possible that she filled the 2GB SD card, I don't remember which one was in the camera when she left). She had so much to say she didn't know where to start.

If the rest of the trip is miserable, it will still have been worth it.

Posted by dberger at 9:39 AM | Comments (1)

September 16, 2006

For This, I Have A Masters Degree

I called our neighbors Dave and Marcia last night and invited them to join me for breakfast at C'est La Vie (the crepe place I mentioned a few days ago). Dave, who's a paramedic in Seattle, had to be on the 9:40 boat to go to work, so they picked me up on their way down the hill at 8:15 this morning.

The restaurant was empty when we arrived, and we chatted with David (the owner, not the paramedic), ordered coffee and crepes, and watched of folks come in for one or the other while we waited for, and ate, our food.

As we were finishing up, there was a mishap with their credit card machine, it wedged during a transaction, and they couldn't get it to behave after power-cycling it. David sent one of his employees to his house to fetch the spare, and in the mean time was having to apologize to customers for the inconvenience.

Being the nosy type I am, I offered to take a look. I managed to bring it back from the brink, and David rewarded us with a special sweet crepe. Chocolate, banana, pear, almonds, and creme.

Mmmmm.

See, all that education paid off :)

Posted by dberger at 9:45 AM | Comments (2)

September 15, 2006

V for Vendetta, Redux

I wrote about V for Vendetta when we saw it in the theater. I ended up watching it again tonight on DVD. On re-viewing, some of my initial objections have faded, and others (like the cheesy effects during V's final battle) I still object to.

I must ultimately admit, however, that the storytelling, and the acting (Natalie Portman gets a lot of credit, but damn, Hugo Weaving did it through a mask) "worked" for me.

Continue reading "V for Vendetta, Redux"

Posted by dberger at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)

She's Gone Dark

Dawnise, Janinne, and Wayne (Janinne's brother) left for their planned Safari yesterday (today? yesterday? The dateline does confuse things, doesn't it).

I spoke to Dawnise last night (early this morning her time) and she was having a good time. When I tried calling this morning (evening her time) her cel immediately kicked to voicemail. It did the same when I tried calling a short time ago.

I'm assuming that means that there's no cel coverage on safari.

Who'd a thunk it? :)

Posted by dberger at 9:47 PM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2006

Geek Alert

Dawnise is using webmail during her absence, on a server I have root on. So I took a look at the web access logs, found the address she's coming from, and did some digging...

Continue reading "Geek Alert"

Posted by dberger at 9:47 AM | Comments (1)

She's On The Ground

We haven't actually spoken to each other yet, but that's mostly 'cause she's called three times while I've been on the motorcycle and unable to answer.

All's quiet on the western front.

Posted by dberger at 9:14 AM | Comments (0)

I've Got My Towel

According to South Africa Air, Dawnise's flight landed in Jo-burg eleven minutes past noon, GMT+2.

So far, no contact.

I tried calling Janinne's brother's mobile, and got his answer phone (voice mail, to us Americans), on which I left a message.

Further bulletins as events warrant.

Posted by dberger at 7:13 AM | Comments (0)

September 13, 2006

The Eye in the Sky [Updated]

Thanks our modern connected world, you can track Dawnise's flight from the comfort of your own home.

Note the bit at the bottom about Trans-Atlantic, Trans-Pacific, and Central/South American flights containing errors in the data. In other words, it's not 100% accurate, but it's something.

Looks like that link only tracks the first leg of the flight, from DC to Dakar. According to her itinerary, she arrives in Johannesburg at 12 noon, local time (GMT+2) on September 14th. Seattle is currently GMT-7, so they're 9 hours ahead of us, so she arrives around 3am Seattle local tomorow.

Posted by dberger at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

And She's Off...

After a day of packing, putzing, and generally stressing about the trip, Dawnise and I went to the Pub for dinner and to Mora for a scoop of ice-cream before I dropped her off at the ferry for the slightly late 7:10pm sailing to Seattle.

Continue reading "And She's Off..."

Posted by dberger at 9:20 AM | Comments (0)

September 12, 2006

Does Anyone At Microsoft Actually Use Windows?

That's a rhetorical question, I know they do (in fact, I know from talking to recent escapees, that most of them are still using XP and avoiding Vista, but that's a different story).

I'm rebuilding Dawnise's computer, and step 1 was backing up her old drive onto a spare HD I have here for just such a purpose. I found a tool called XXClone, and to make a long story short, I ended up needing to run that tool as the SYSTEM account so it could copy all the files on her drive, even the ones that neither my account nor Administrator had rights to read.

Continue reading "Does Anyone At Microsoft Actually Use Windows?"

Posted by dberger at 2:28 PM | Comments (1)

C'est La Vie

I'm home from work today, helping Dawnise take care of pre-trip "stuff" and generally spending the day with her before she leaves for S. Africa tonight.

The other day she spotted a newly opened Crepe restaurant on the Island, so this morning we wandered down for crepes and coffee for breakfast. The owner (David?) and chef is a very friendly and vivacious Parisian, with a great sense of humor. The coffee (Cafe Umbria) is excellent, and the crepes - we shared one sweet and one savory - were very tasty.

Continue reading "C'est La Vie"

Posted by dberger at 10:40 AM | Comments (1)

September 9, 2006

Twin Peaks

What the hell's up with Season 2 of Twin Peaks not being released on DVD?

For that matter, someone 'splain to my why I had to buy Season 1 from amazon.co.uk to get the two hour pilot!? (Let's hear it for region free DVD players.)

Continue reading "Twin Peaks"

Posted by dberger at 6:53 PM | Comments (0)

A Saturday Around Town

Dawnise leaves for S. Africa on Tuesday, so we had a small list of things to take care of today.

We got up this morning and were amongst the first in line at our favorite bakers booth at the farmer's market. We picked up Dawnise's weekly corn cake, a scone, and a fresh blueberry tart. We swung by the vet's office and got food for the diabetic (cat) in the household. From there we had just enough time to get home, drop the car, and walk up the hill to our neighbors place for our homeowners association meeting at 10.

Continue reading "A Saturday Around Town"

Posted by dberger at 6:33 PM | Comments (0)

September 6, 2006

Coffee & Baked Goods: Ignorance is Bliss

I'm a sucker for baked goods with my coffee in the morning, and it doesn't help that work provides hot and cold (literally) running junk food.

I've gained 5lbs since starting here, and I'm working on reversing that - one thing that means is not having a scone or muffin with my coffee every morning.

Continue reading "Coffee & Baked Goods: Ignorance is Bliss"

Posted by dberger at 9:15 AM | Comments (0)

September 4, 2006

Back, By Popular Demand...

It's the Weekend Update.

I'm getting into the habit of working from home on Friday's unless there's a compelling reason for me to be in the office. So Dawnise and I left together for the 6:30pm boat to go into Seattle for dinner at Ed & Holly's place, with special guest stars Larry Fillion, Janine (the same Janine Dawnise is soon heading to S. Africa with), two of Ed's cousins, and our favorite Greek Australian, JD.

Continue reading "Back, By Popular Demand..."

Posted by dberger at 5:29 PM | Comments (1)

Holidays Make for the Best Commute

We have an interesting vacation setup at work - there are no company holidays (count 'em, zero), and you don't get sick time. What you do get is a very fair amount of "paid time off" - to be used as you see fit.

Wanna work Christmas but take off Hanukkah? Great. It's the way I always said it should be done. (Well, what I literally said was 'you should get all holidays or none' - all would, of course, be better.)

Continue reading "Holidays Make for the Best Commute"

Posted by dberger at 9:10 AM | Comments (0)