A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

Labels: Eurotrip 2007, Munich

Our flight stopped in Calgary to pick up more passengers and was a little late leaving there. We got into Munich in the afternoon but with nearly zero minutes of sleep. We checked into the YMCA which is not far from the main train station. We ate and went promptly to bed at about 7:30 pm. What youthful exuberance!

Labels: beer and wine, Eurotrip 2007, Munich

Over the course of our Eurotrip 2007, blog entries may be published sporadically. During long breaks, I continue to write daily on my laptop. However, I'll only be able to post when at a convenient (read: free) net connection point. Even though we'll be in Central Europe, I expect easier wi-fi than during some previous trips.

Secondly, my home PC generally runs 24/7, but when we go away for more than several weeks, I turn it off. Microsoft Upgrade Tuesday seemingly always forces a soft reboot in the middle of the break anyway. But more than that, I feel as though the equipment enjoys a break too.

The shutdown has several effects on my blogged materials. For example, my fish cam will not be operating. In the beginning years of this blog, I linked to a number of Windows Media files that run on my living room machine, and therefore will not be available. Lastly, Psiphon access will cease too.

Feel free to email while we're away. Remember, each blog post also now boasts a COMMENT feature in its footer. Why not give that a try?

Labels: blogging, Eurotrip 2007, Hardware

This afternoon we're off again, this time to Central Europe. I can't think of a better entry than the addition of a cover of an in-flight magazine. After cleaning the closet, I have a box of old paperwork to throw away. I wanted to scan a thing or two before tossing some of it into the recycling. A bit of it has come quite a ways to be here and deserves a little respect before becoming garbage. Although I try to avoid my pack-rat tendencies, too many items stay with me much longer than necessary.

The scan below is a case in point. It shows the cover of the March/April 1991 cover of Serendib. That was the magazine back when Sri Lankan Airlines was called Air Lanka. It is a bit interesting to see how air travel has changed during the last sixteen and a half years.

First, the inside cover relays lots of important information after the Ayubowan. The page tells where the washrooms were in the Tristar aircraft. I also says how smoking was prohibited when the "No Smoking" sign was on. It warns that passengers weren't allowed to operate portable radios or television sets; however, thankfully, calculators and heart pacemakers were permissible. On the other end of the articles, Rocky V, Lethal Weapon II, and Gene Wilder in Funny about Love were among the inflight movies mentioned. (It depended on the whether inbound or outbound as everybody on the flight watched the same one which was projected onto hide-away screens.)

No wonder why I keep such things! After a while, there's fascination in anything.

Labels: flying, scanned, Sri Lanka

Until very recently, I thought of the Internet as predominately textual on www sites. If you recall the Internet protocol meaning of gopher, raise your right hand and repeat the following: "I am very old and have always been pretty geeky."

That's imprecise. Let me clarify; I generally considered the Internet as text and image based. Okay, sure. I would've admitted that one needed computer speakers because some Flash animation contained sound, occasionally one might want to steam an audio file, or other folks might even want to listen to illegally-downloaded music files.

Now, I think of this net as a delivery medium for stored audio too. I've already said in this blog that buying (several) mp3 players has thrust me into an exciting new world of information. Discovering Internet podcasts is my most profound personal development related to computers this year. Now, I don't feel like I'm wasting precious moments when walking or driving. Those ear buds are not relaying the Top 40; rather, I'm gaining understanding on a world of new topics. Listen to the 5:12 minute audio clip by clicking the next line.

St Mary's Square, Munich, Germany

In about 25 hours our plane will be leaving the tarmac for this initial destination of this year's fall trip. I can copy a number of audio files into my Zen Stone and take them along. The device weighs less than a toothbrush.

Although I found a number of companies trying to make a commercial success of mp3 travel guides, I expect that fairly soon, it will be simple to find free audio help on getting around in many of the globe's tourist sites. How about suggested walk-abouts in famous museums without needing official guides? Why not have audio files explaining the best route around a city's parks? What about an informative stroll though any neighbourhood in most any town?

Let me access these freely through the Internet. Bring on the noise!

Labels: Creative Zen, Eurotrip 2007, Internet, podcasts

I missed explaining about a somewhat important commemoration a few days back. The picture above was taken at the River Rock Casino in Richmond. I took Jay for lunch because it was his birthday. The birthday was important but wasn't the the big event though.

I took my first daily Flickr photo on July 1, 2005. Every single day since then, a new image has become part of My Daily Picture Parade set. Back on Saturday that project reached its 800th photo. Eight hundred of anything is a lot, don't you think? All images are arranged in reverse chronological order.

Enter that set now.

Labels: Daily Picture Parade, Flickr

As an adolescent, I remember when my small town bank installed the first ATM that I'd every seen.  I think Sugar River Savings Bank called it their instant teller.   That was in the 1970's.  Later, when I worked in the Gulf countries of the Middle East in the 1980's, banking was generally quite a struggle.  Lines were long as things had to generally be signed off by at least a half dozen people for the easiest transaction.  The Saudi Arabian Naval Forces used to fly in cash for our monthly paydays.  Once, I remember being paid my complete salary in Saudi 5 Riyal notes (about $1.35 each).  I had to carry them back to my BOQ in a large paper bag.

Nowadays, I hardly ever touch cash.  We run everything through credit cards for the 1% cash back offered on groceries.  I cannot remember the last time I spoke face-to-face with a bank teller.  Direct deposit pay and online banking have completely eliminated our need for paper currency.  Sometimes, the lone $20 bill in my wallet gets worn from being there for months on end.

I thought of these things today, as we went to get some Euros for the trip that starts on Thursday.  Even up until last year, we made it a practice to buy traveller's cheques before departing.  It was a habit developed 25-years ago when we started taking overseas trips.  Today, Thomas Cook didn't have large enough notes, so we didn't pick up any.  I didn't want to repeat the paper-bag scenario.  I wonder why we feel naked when flying without a pocket full of paper money.  Plastic should be able take care of us anywhere in the world in this day and age.

Labels: Eurotrip 2007, money

It happens every time we're about to go on a vacation; that's the time we dust off the old Sony camcorder. It sits in the cupboard except for when we're going off of a journey. We always run around at the last minute asking whether there are any blank tapes.

Today was no exception, even though we're not leaving until Thursday for Germany. I guess that shows we're slightly more organized than usual. I'm not convinced though.

As it happens we don't have any blank tape, I wondered whether it'd be okay to shoot over old video. As long as I can verify that the original is safely on DVD, then it should be all right. I found a tape with a trip to NYC taken in the spring of 2005. All the footage is all on disk, so that's one tape that will be reused. Just so you'll know that I checked, here's a YouTube clip.

Everybody who visits New York City probably goes up the Empire State Building. Although its 102 floors are greater than the 101 of Taipei 101, the building isn't nearly as tall. All will be dwarfed by Burj Dubai's projected 162 floors slated for completion in 2009.

Of course the slightly-sickening, zooming and dodging camera work is Jay's responsibility . . .

Labels: camcorder, New York City, travel planning, YouTube