I do not recommend it. I think it’s a poor idea to get sick while attending a big conference. It hurts to talk, most people can’t understand or hear you and you kinda just fade in the background. Never again!
Come on, body, heal yourself!
Category: travel
the worst timing for being sick
This is not how I expected my month to go.
I spent a week in Manhattan enjoying it with my brother and dad. We saw lots of old and new places. The problem is that by the end of the week, I somehow contracted a virus. It wasn’t a minor virus either, it’s now full blown attacking me.
I’m now in Austin having arrived yesterday evening. My flight from LaGuardia was delayed three times and I had to rebook a flight from Houston to Austin. After 12 hours of airports and airplanes, I spent about another hour on the bus system before arriving at my destination broken and tired. So instead of either going out with the SXSWi crews or even with the person I’m staying, I forced myself into bed hoping that sleep and relaxation would cure this ailment.
Nope.
I need drugs. Badly!
I’ve already missed parties, I’m going to miss panels, and I might not even start participating until later today or tomorrow by the looks of it. Can I get a do over, please?
UPDATE 11:30am: Screw it, I’m at the conference. No more sacrifices for my health! ;-)
nyc in march
My flight was approximately 5 hours. I was awake for less than an hour of it. Perfect.
The best thing about being back in NYC? The excitement I feel about being in the hustle and bustle of such an amazing city.
The worst thing about being back in NYC? It’s March and it’s freezing cold. I didn’t bring a heavy jacket either.
the bittersweet serendipity
A few days ago, I found out an old colleague of mine was sent to Manhattan for a few days on a business trip. Knowing his disdain for all things New York, I gave him a quick suggestion for one of the best desserts you’d get anywhere.
After a couple of text messages back and forth over the next few hours, confirming that I didn’t send him to a restaurant which caters to only one sexual orientation, he takes heed on my suggestion. I then wanted confirmation that his dessert hit the spot.
Success!
… well, almost.
One day later, tragedy strikes. The unexpected, one terrible, disgusting report that I never expected:
Note: NEVER AGAIN trust @asuh’s recommendations: http://tinyurl.com/2gdb3c
USA Today reported that Serendipity3 was closed down on account of a failing health inspection. This is the day after I sent my former colleague to enjoy their dessert. The reason they closed? According to his reiteration of the problem:
and his follow-up response:
@asuh: Now that I think about it, the hot choc had a hint of rat poo aftertaste…
I was sooooo embarrassed and disgusted. I tried to assure him that what didn’t kill him only made him stronger but to no comfort. It was of little comfort that I made an honest mistake, but he knows of my embarrassment and sympathy.
Would I recommend this dessert again? Absolutely, but you might want to just order the mix and make it yourself!
This is, in every sense of the word irony, the worst case of “serendipity” I’ve ever been apart of.
into the wild
Driving is in my blood. I do it often and I enjoy it. It’s a mobile comfort zone. I’ve made many long distance trips and endured many hours alone while driving from point A to point B. I mentally prepare myself for long trips since some drives can be tedious and boring. I also learn and adapt to visual cues to make my drives more interesting.
In college, there were the trips I made between Houston and Dallas on I-45. I know the amount of time it should take to make the trip. I know how the outlet mall in Conroe is the cue that either I’m completely out of or getting closer to the metropolitan and suburban of Houston. I remember Highway 79 at Buffalo is where I used to turn in order to go to my grandparent’s house in northeast Texas or the way to Lakeview church camp. Fairfield is the beginning of the Dallas half of I-45. I know the exact point about 30 miles south of downtown Dallas that I can see the neon green outline of the Bank of America building at night. The McDonalds in Huntsville is where I’ve spent many rest stops with my friends going to and from church camp. Right before I get to Madisonville, I know I’m exactly 99 miles from downtown Houston. My dad and I stopped at a closed gas station between Conroe and Huntsville for a few minutes because the rain was coming down so hard. There used to be a hill between Corsicana and Dallas just east of the freeway that had “GOLF” clearly spelled out.
When I lived in Denver for two years, I spent two 8 hour days with an overnight in Lubbock. Brenham is where the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory is located! When 290 turns into 36, I spend about five hours of my drive on 36 ending up in Abilene. One time when I was driving through Abilene, I found a college radio station that happened to be playing one of my favorite composers, Kurt Bestor. I instantly fell in love that day. There’s a stretch of Highway 84 that has a lot of plateaus and rocky hills. This is the precursor to the next day’s drive or reminder of the previous day’s drive. After leaving Clayton on Highway 64, about 15 minutes into the drive to Raton, there’s a huge hill across from Mt. Capulin Volcano that keeps my attention for about an hour. It’s a beautiful drive. From Dumas to Clayton, there is little of anything to look at except corn fields and silos. Dalhart is your last chance for Blue Bell Ice Cream before you leave Texas. About 15 minutes south of Raton, a hail storm pounded my car and I almost got into an accident. Trinidad, Colorado has this one hill that looks like stair steps. Colorado Spring signifies the last leg of my journey or the beginning of the rest of my trip. Just north of Colorado Springs is the Air Force Academy’s chapel, a place I’ve been to exactly three times. Between Trinidad and Pueblo, the best music to play while you see a train going down the track with mountains in the background is Kansas’ “Song for America”. In fact, this song is appropriate for a lot of this trip.
I saw the movie Into the Wild a week ago. I don’t watch movies as often as I wish, and I come across movies like this even less often. Although the subject of the movie has its controversies, the message was very well delivered and quite thought provoking.
Throughout the movie, I continually thought of different people I know who would identify with this scene or that scene. His journey, the scenery, his misfortunes… so much brought back memories of my own journeys and behaviors. For each person I thought of, I could relate my own experience and memory of these scenes just as much. This kid had a lot of angst and loneliness trying to find the way to his purpose and I understand what that’s like. This kind of loneliness is being in a car for many hours and allows you to process anything you want. It’s you, the radio, and your thoughts.
The kinds of solitary experiences Christopher went through brought me back to the countless hours I spent in my drivers seat. The kinds of inductive reasonings and theories he would often expound upon, including the memorable quotes from several well known authors, were identifiable and familiar. It made me miss those solitary times I spend in the car. I think that’s part of the reason I like to be on the road; the open road is my freedom, my independence and my endless possibility. It reminds me that there’s more to live than just the routines and habits we develop. If we continue to do the same all the time, we lose the opportunities to make the memories that change us. Living outside your element is the experience which helps you see those new possibilities.
“Rather than love, than money, than faith, than fairness… give me truth.” -Henry David Thoreau
cellular flight
I conducted an short, impromptu test on my flight back from Colorado Springs this evening. As I loaded the plane, I was texting several different people to coordinate a ride back to my car from the airport. I took my seat at 7A and received a reply.
As I was conversing back and forth between a potential ride, I noticed that the flight attendant completed her company standard speech about our safety and convenience about flying. I couldn’t remember hearing anything about shutting my mobile phone off, so I continued to send text messages.
After a brief walk-thru, she made her way back to the front of the plane to take her seat. I received and sent another reply on my phone which was hidden from plain view. Our plane began rolling in reverse, away from the hangar and slowly into the tarmac leading to our runway.
I received another text message. The plane turned to the left, then turned left once again. The acceleration swiftly began since we were the one and only plane in line to leave.
I sent one more text message as the plane lifted from the ground before a minute passed with one more received message. We were at least a few hundred feet off the ground when I sent my last text message successfully.
A couple of minutes after the plane ascended to a few thousand feet, I noticed the service bars disappearing. I received no more replies after the last message.
For the next 10 minutes or so, I watched my service bars go in and out. Sometimes they’d be at three bars, sometimes at no bars, sometimes at two bars. Anytime there was more than one bar, seconds later it would go to no bars. The rest of the flight was spotty like this with no chance of there being real service anywhere so I entered my phone into flight mode for the remainder of the flight.
About 10 minutes before landing, I wanted to see if I could once again get service while in the air. I took flight mode off and noticed the same pattern of shifty and sudden drops in bars. It was unlikely that any consistent service was received.
So, that kinda took care of my curiosity about cellular phone usage on flights, confirming what I pretty much assumed anyway.
Here is an experiment similar in nature to my test.
this month in my life
In no particular order, here are many things I’ve noticed about myself or in general:
- I’m grinding my teeth a lot. I don’t know whether I’m impatient or anxious. When I’m up against stress, I grind my teeth. It’s been an on off thing I’ve done throughout my life, never as serious as I think it might be now. I think it’s a new habit that I am ready to break. Am I nervous?
- The last few months since returning from Houston have been less productive than I’d like. I am, however, very proud that I have accomplished what I have. I set out goals a couple of years ago and have been pretty on target for everything I wanted. It was these goals I knew I could accomplish. My moment of truth is quickly approaching.
- I have forced myself to buy mostly food that requires time and effort to prepare it. It’s a little annoying when I am hungry and want the quick carb fill, but I am determined to eat healthier. I’d much rather get into the habit while I’m not in bad shape than when I’m old and overweight. I need to find a happy medium. Sometimes it’s quite annoying when I can’t even find one thing to snack on that doesn’t require so much effort.
- I will probably make only 2 more trips this year, most likely being away again for about a month. I want more travel but this is the best I can do right now.
- Last year, I made a personal commitment to exercise. It began slowly but worked its way into a regular, habitual practice by the beginning of this year. Since then, I’ve quit my job and am now where I was before I started exercising. I have a bicycle and a roommate who will force me to go. I hope to make a better, more practical commitment to exercise. I miss it.
- Since the beginning of the year, I’ve had a huge indie music kick which has been so refreshing. Sigur Ros is my current obsession.
- I’m finally a few chapters into Harry Potter book 7. Once again, much longer than I had hoped.
- If I could afford my own place, I totally would move. I’m kinda ready.
- it’s very unlikely that I will go internationally bound this year. I was hoping that I could make something happen but there’s just no way for me to afford it right now. That makes me sad.
- I’ve had a really nice summer full of travel, reconnection, and renewal. I’m winding down on a few last web design projects and in talks to begin some new opportunities. There is a lot waiting for me, a lot I want to do and it’s only the beginning. I need to set my forward momentum at a pace that I have to sprint towards. It’s looking really good from here on out. I haven’t felt this kind of excitement in a while.
the absence of a normal day
6am is just around the corner and my eyes just won’t stay shut. So, as my 3mg of Melatonin supplements slowly absorb into my body, let me entertain you and pass time all at the same time.
Days like today are unexpected, random but welcome in retrospect. I was early to a wedding, drove through rain for the first time in two months, was just minutes and miles from a tornado, spent too much money on not enough haircut, was almost late to the same wedding, met lots of relatives, made an old friend happy, made a boyfriend jealous, chauffeured several friends around, enjoyed a quiet house party, was possibly offered a opportunity to drive cross country for four weeks, bonded with friends, and drove over 200 miles in one day. This wasn’t a typical Saturday.
At times, and more often than not at this point in my life, I’m a homebody. I’m never in need of being out but enjoy it when I do have social plans. The abundance of downtime puts the absence of socializing in a desirable light. I’m sure that just as habits get monotonous, so does being out every night. Someone should tell my roommate that.
It’s a weird feeling when you arrive at your destination with expectations only to find out you miscalculated your timing. An empty parking lot for a wedding that started 15 minutes prior was a pretty bad sign. Being told how early we were, however, was a little embarrassing.
After a scary ride through an oncoming storm with tornadic winds and rainfall, we landed in the area mall to do what we do best: spend our money. She left with a new smaller sized dress, I left with a new but familiar look.
Just seconds from the actual ceremony, we ended up waiting another hour in front of the big screen with drinks in our hands and football on the tube. It seems as though nothing was going right but everything was as it should be.
I had forgotten how many relatives she had, and also realized there were a few still not accounted for. But we made friends with several cousins and their dates, enjoyed some strawberry fondue, and watched the evening slowly unfold from waiting another hour for two photo lovers indulge themselves in the remaining light of the evening. I knew she was happy for me to be there.
The uneventful ride back home was only dampened with one jealous boyfriend. Little does he realize or care to know that I’m no competition. I picked up two more passengers after changing into my normal get-up before ending up at a swanky, upscale house in the hills.
This was a much quieter house party than our birthday bash a couple of weekends ago, and it was pleasant to relax and take in the evening. The thought of being able to accompany a band for four weeks swam through my head for the next few hours, but ultimately was disrupted with good conversations. Several hours passed and I completed my journey.
I believe the Melatonin has kicked in. If not, it’s gonna be a restless few minutes in bed while I try to force my mind to shut up.
the frenzy, the mania
I took a long round-trip road trip from Boston to Houston during Christmas break of 2001. I flew to Boston from Denver to spend my vacation in the northeast, but our goal was to attend the New Year’s Eve celebration at Times Square. This trip, however, marked another occasion.
One evening, as we were sitting around with nothing to do, I decided that I wanted to stop being bored. Russell was watching Friends and I needed to find something else to keep me busy. We were downstairs where there was a library of all kinds of books, enough to keep me busy for months and probably years. There was one set of books that caught my attention.
By that time, I had heard about this book through others or from the media. It was obvious this was a children’s book about wizardry and similar fantasy stories, but it must appeal to all ages if her parents owned hard back copies of the book. So picking between reading a book and watching TV, I picked reading a book. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I only had time to read a chapter or two, but it was enough make me want more.
Our trip continued on to America Jr. where we stayed with a friend in Toronto. And it was there that I once again made it to another bookstore. The Canadian equivalent of Barnes and Nobles is called Chapters, and my first and only destination was to find Harry Potter. This time, however, the book was titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I liked that title better than the Americanized version.
I reread the first couple of chapters and continued on a few more. It was then that I was hooked. If I was in elementary school, I would have loved to be Harry Potter and would be that kid waiting in line for the next new book. So I bought the British version of the book.
Upon my trip home to Denver, I knew that the new Harry Potter movie out in the theatres so I spent a lot of time with my book, determined to read the whole thing before I went to see the movie. That was probably the first movie I had ever preceded with the book version but it was worth it. So, in order to see the next movies that came out, I made sure to repeat the same process.
This summer is a huge summer for Harry Potter fans. I am a few years out of having finished book four and have been too busy to read book five. My main problem with being so behind was that I had been spoiled with reading the first four books in British English. I’ve held out ever since, occasionally looking for a good deal or package that I could order for the next few books to be in the British English but got busy and/or lazy about seeking it out.
Now, I’m way behind. The 5th movie is out, the final book is out, and I’m nowhere near finished. I think I’m going to bite my tongue, sit myself down in the local bookstore and finish up the series this week or next. I owe it to myself to finish out the story of Harry Potter that I grew to love and then I can join in the discussion of so many local friends who love this book more than I do.
I guess I just kinda feel left out.
how’s LA
I get asked quite often from my friends and family who don’t live in Los Angeles how I like it. I’ll hear one of the following or more:
- How’s LA?
- How do you like living there?
- What’s it like there?
- What do you think of LA?
- Do you really enjoy living there?
Simply giving my broad opinions about this place doesn’t quite do it justice for how I feel. It’s hard to explain such a huge place in just a few sentences. And having lived here for over three years now, I think I have a much better opinion to give about what it’s like to live here.
So let’s put these questions to rest. Here are my Woos and Boos about the largest city on the left coast.
- woo – It’s a huge metropolitan city. You can find anything and everything you can find anywhere else. There’s always something to go do or see or experience.
- boo – It’s a huge metropolitan city. It’s too populated and has no stop in sight. There’s TOO much to do and see, so you can get lost in the mix.
- woo – Want to get away? LA is neighbored by San Diego, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, Las Vegas and San Francisco.
- boo – Trying to get away is a nightmare, especially on holidays. Traffic is as bad as you hear about. Driving down the 405 during peak hours is a complete nightmare most of the time. There are few shortcuts to travel worth the time it takes to drive them. You either go on the freeway or just stay home.
- woo – Has some limited but beautiful architecture. You can find a diamond in the rough by driving down just about any street in LA.
- boo – Real estate prices are a complete joke. They might not be as high as NYC, but they’re certainly higher than most of the country. To purchase a house, you need to be in the very high middle class or just plain rich.
- woo – There are some amazing, creative and talented people who live here. It’s a melting pot of the states, bringing together people from all over the country and world.
- boo – Superficiality rules. So many people are here just for the industry, trying to make it and become the next “it”. It can be difficult to make meaningful relationships with anyone.
- woo – You’re miles away from almost all terrains: sun-kissed beaches, snow-capped mountain ranges, hot and desolate deserts, thick and thin forests.
- boo – So many of these terrains are scarred with human interaction or pollution. Smog is a huge problem and doesn’t seem to be getting any better. The heat of summer can last 6-8 months out of the year.
- woo – Hollywood. Celebrities. World famous clubs.
- boo – Hollywood. Celebrities. World famous clubs. They’re overrated.
This city is a mixed bag. But right now, it’s MY mixed bag.