Month: December 2007

Coming Attractions

Coming soon to a blog near you:

The exciting conclusion of the Carribean Cruise series . . .
A ground-breaking Round-The-World trip review . . .
And of course, the Road to the Summit.

Somehow, this thing is turning into a travel blog . . .

Merry Christmas to all, etc., etc.

Road to the Summit: An unexpected day in New York City

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, December 11 2007 @ 08:06 PM CST

I didn’t sleep very well last night.  Who knows why–maybe it was the different bed in the Comfort Inn in Queens where we were staying.  Maybe it was a bit chilly in our room last night.  Maybe it was in part that I stayed up until 1:30 surfing the web, then couldn’t really get to sleep.  At 5:30, I finally gave up and fired up the computer again, dinked around with it until a bit after seven, then turned it off, pulled another pillow over my head, and finally fell asleep.

Cemetery

I awoke to a shaking bed.  Snookums was . . . doing something.  I don’t know what.  Actually, at the time, I knew what she was doing–something related to putting on clothes, I think.  Damned if I can remember now.  Snookums and her sister left to go get breakfast.  I sat and stared at the cemetery across the street for a while, then decided to take a shower.  I dressed and stumbled downstairs to the breakfast room.  I may have said something to Snookums, her sister, one of the coffee pots, or the Christmas tree they’d set up in the lobby.  I really don’t know.  I looked at a copy of the USA Today.  Don’t ask me what any of the articles were about.

(read more)

Slowly, after a few cups, coffee helped.

Rockefeller Center

Snookums, her sister, and I took the Comfort Inn’s courtesy van to the nearest subway stop and road the subway in to Manhattan, emerging at Times Square.  We walked from there to Rockefeller Center.  Janet’s sister was rubbernecking enthusiastically.  Janet was showing interest.  I was growling at the hawkers of the city bus tours who had staked out twenty-foot-long territories all along Times Square.

No, seriously.  Growling.  Possibly a snarl or two.  I admit grumpiness.

The New York Expedition Team

From Rockefeller Center, we walked south along Fifth Avenue to Broadway, and down Broadway to Union Square.  There was a holiday market set up there.  I bought Snookums’ mom some National Embarrassmints.  I’ll explain the joke later, but the mints have a picture of our beloved President, George W. Bush, on the tin.

At the south side of Union Square along Broadway was our destination, Max Brenner’s Chocolate Bar, which we read about in Midway Airlines’ magazine on the flight to New York the previous evening.

Brenner’s

When you look in the dictionary for chocolate, one of the definitions is:  decadently luxurious.  OK, maybe not, but pretty close.  Snookums was after a hot chocolate like the one she had on our first honeymoon, in Paris.  Both her sister and I just simply like chocolate.  Sister had a hot white chocolate with a hint of rose essence.  I went for the chocolate martini because, well, I like alcohol.  Additionally, we ordered a “Suckao,” billed by the restaurant as “the espresso of the chocolate drinks,” with the origin of the name being:

Suck – to draw the dense liquid through the metal tube,
Kakao – the Spanish word for cocoa beans from which this rich chocolate drink is made and which determines its quality

It was basically a chocolate fondue that you drink through a straw.  Yeah, decadent.

Bottom left: Suckao; bottom right:  chocolate martini; upper left:  hot white chocolate with rose essence

But wait!  There’s more!  We ate actual food with little or no chocolate content.  I had a roast beef sandwich:

Roast beef sandwich

Snookums had pasta:

Pasta

and her sister had turkey and mushroom crepes.

Turkey and mushroom crepes

We did not desire food any more by the time we departed Brenner’s.  We hopped on the subway for the ride back to Queens, had only a brief Metro Card problem, saw a rat running around underneath the subway tracks.  Ah, New York.  We got on the train, rode for a while, switched to a different line, rode for a while more, then arrived at our station in Queens.

After emerging from the depths, Snookums called for the hotel’s courtesy van to come pick us up, and it miraculously arrived within seconds.  I suspect some kind of ripple in the time/space continuum.  Anyway, I ran across the street to grab a six-pack of beer (I like alcohol, remember?) as the van approached.  The time/space ripple continued, as the van waited for what seemed like a very long time at a red light–long enough for me to acquire a six-pack of 16-ounce Miller Lite cans (yeah, I said I got beer–I lied), run across the street, and board the bus for the short ride back to the Comfort Inn.

OK, here’s the payoff for the mints teaser earlier.  My mother-in-law is a Bush hater.  No two ways about it.  She is also, coincidentally, a Democrat, or so I gather.  Anyway, I gave her the National Embarrassmints, telling her that when Hillary is six years into her Presidency, as reviled as W is now (or worse), my mother-in-law will need to return the favor to me.  She accepted the mints anyway.

We’ll probably order out for some Chinese cuisine later tonight, but we’re pretty much in for the night now.

Tomorrow:  The Noordam.  Stay tuned.

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‘Tis the season . . .

for crazed shootings?

What in Sam Hill is going on?

6 shot after exiting Vegas school bus[*1]

LAS VEGAS – Six young people were shot Tuesday after they got off a school bus that left a high school, and two were critically hurt, police said. Gunshots rang out in northeast Las Vegas just before 2 p.m., Officer Bill Cassell said.

Six young people were transported to area hospitals. Four had minor gunshot injuries and two were in critical condition, Cassell said.

At least two people are believed to have taken part in the shootings, he said.

Let me guess . . . the shootings were in another “gun free zone,” maybe?

The mutants among us

We’re evolving, do you hear[*1] ?  EVOLVING!  Bwahhahhhahhhhha……

“Ten thousand years ago, no one on planet Earth had blue eyes,” Hawks notes, because that gene—OCA2—had not yet developed. “We are different from people who lived only 400 generations ago in ways that are very obvious; that you can see with your eyes.”

Comparing the amount of genetic differentiation between humans and our closest relatives, chimpanzees, suggests that the pace of change has accelerated to 10 to 100 times the average long-term rate, the researchers write in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

Not all populations show the same evolutionary speed. For example, Africans show a slightly lower mutation rate. “Africans haven’t had to adapt to a fundamentally new climate,” because modern humanity evolved where they live, Cochran says. “Europeans and East Asians, living in environments very different from those of their African ancestors and early adopters of agriculture, were more maladapted, less fitted to their environments.”

And this speedy pace of evolution will not slow until every possible beneficial mutation starts to happen—the maximum rate of adaptation. This has already begun to occur in such areas as skin color in which different sets of genes are responsible for the paler shades of Europeans and East Asians, according to the researchers.

Kinda sorta via FuturePundit[*2]

Escape from KC

Here’s what the plan was: We would fly out on Tuesday afternoon, in order to be in New York in plenty of time to board our cruise ship on Wednesday for our 10-day Caribbean cruise. Everything was in order–hotel reservations, airline tickets, everything.

Then . . .

ICE STORM!!!!!!

Ice storms are not good. Ice storms are bad. Ice storms are very, very bad. Ice storms are, if you will, not at all cool.

So, on Monday, the National Weather Service says “We’re putting out an ICE STORM!!!!!! WARNING at 6 p.m. on Monday until noon on Tuesday.” (They may have left off the all-caps and the extra exclamation points–I’m not sure.)

(Read more!)

ICE STORM!!!!!

Snookums gets a call from her mother at about 9 a.m. Monday. “Your brother thinks we might want to get a hotel room next to the airport tonight.” Since all of Kansas City is at least 30 minutes from the airport (and our house is closer to 45 minutes away), this is good advice. We decide to take it, so we get ready to bug out. Snookums’ mom likes to worry about travel, so she’s already on board with the plan. Snookums’ dad is cool with it, and her sister, who has just arrived from Wichita, is up for the change of plan as well.

So, we get to the Airport Fairfield Inn at around 4 o’clock in the afternoon. We dump Snookums’ parents in their room, dump our luggage (and Snookums’ sister) in the other room, and head over to the airport long-term parking to drop off sister’s van. Then we take the parking bus to the terminal, in order to transfer to the Fairfield’s bus which will pick us up and take us back to the hotel.

In the meantime, we decide to check to see if we can check in. Snookums runs inside. I flag down the bus and ask the driver to wait. Snookums returns and says that all of the early morning flights on Midwest out of Kansas City for Tuesday morning are canceled. Well, our flight is an early afternoon flight. The check-in person told Snookums to call Midwest’s reservation line.

She calls, finds out that there’s a 6:50 p.m. flight on Monday night that has seats. OK, can we switch to that flight?

Sure! says the reservation agent. Do it! says me.

So, we hustle back to the Fairfield, burst into Mom and Dad’s room, and tell them to pack it up, we’re going to New York TONIGHT!  And BONUS! the Fairfield Inn doesn’t even charge us for either room that we already messed up.  We decided we like Fairfield Inns.  A lot.  Go stay at a Fairfield Inn tonight.  For us.  For the children.

Anyway . . .

We get packed up, get on the Fairfield’s bus, get to the airport, get checked in, have plenty of time for a sit down dinner, get on the plane, fly to LaGuardia, get in a cab that holds all of our luggage and a wheelchair, and get to our New York hotel like clockwork.

Oh, yeah, when we got to the baggage carousel, there is a TV screen of the next few Midwest flights.

The 6:30 a.m. departure from La Guardia to Kansas City is already canceled.

You know, every time since last Thursday when I’ve looked at the weather forecast for Kansas City, it’s gotten worse. This time, at 11:45 p.m. Monday night, is no exception:

In the bizarre world of the NWS, “occasional” is more likely than “likely”. Looks like KC’s gonna get some freezing rain.

The more I look at that National Weather Service graph, the more I’m looking forward to the Caribbean.

Our tax dollars at work

Story #1:

Intelligence agencies turn on a dime, deciding that after all, Iran isn’t developing nuclear weapons.  In the words of Director of Intelligence Emily Litella[*1] :  “Never Mind.”

Story #2:
CIA makes tapes of, then disposes of, then tells the world about interrogation tapes of Al Qaida terrorists.

To review, these are the guys that our entire political leadership depend on for clear and honest analysis of what’s going on in the world.  These are also the guys who, throughout the Clinton presidency and well into the G.W. Bush presidency, stated in no uncertain terms that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had WMD’s and were ready to use them.  That is, until our political leadership actually did something about it.  That’s when Miss Litella mentioned above got her promotion to Director of Intelligence.

Can someone explain to me why some the vitriol aimed at Bush (and, some of that aimed at the Democrats) is not focused like a laser beam on our deeply dysfunctional national intelligence services?

UPDATE:  Meet Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr.,[*2] Director of Operations for the CIA, apparent villain of this particular piece:

Top C.I.A. officials had decided in 2003 to preserve the tapes in response to warnings from White House lawyers and lawmakers that destroying the tapes would be unwise, in part because it could carry legal risks, the government officials said.

But the government officials said that Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., then the chief of the agency’s clandestine service, the Directorate of Operations, had reversed that decision in November 2005, at a time when Congress and the courts were inquiring deeply into the C.I.A.’s interrogation and detention program. Mr. Rodriguez could not be reached Friday for comment.

As the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in 2003, Porter J. Goss[*3] , then a Republican congressman from Florida, was among Congressional leaders who warned the C.I.A. against destroying the tapes, the former intelligence officials said. Mr. Goss became C.I.A. director in 2004 and was serving in the post when the tapes were destroyed, but was not informed in advance about Mr. Rodriguez’s decision, the former officials said.

It was not until at least a year after the destruction of the tapes that any members of Congress were informed about the action, the officials said. On Friday, Representative Peter Hoekstra, the Michigan Republican who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from 2004 to 2006, said he had never been told that the tapes were destroyed.

Hmm, wasn’t the Director of Operations the bad guy in some of Tom Clancy’s novels?  Life imitates art.

Road to the Summit: Ice is not nice

Two words, more than any other strike fear into any rational resident of the Kansas City metro area:

Ice Storm.

Closely related are two other words:

Freezing Rain.

I moved to the Kansas City area from Brookings in late 2000. A little over a year later, in January 2002, the metro area got hit with possibly the worst ice storm in the history of the town. Ironically, I flew out of KC just before the storm hit, to work a disaster-recovery exercise in Philadelphia with the company I was working with then. My brother had come down from South Dakota to do some dog-sitting. He got more than he bargained for, as he was completely ice-bound with my dog for two full days.

You’re nuts to even think about driving somewhere for at least a day after an ice storm.

Now I’m South Dakota born and bred, and have been through a few blizzards, and even an ice storm or two. The difference is that in South Dakota, if you get an ice storm, it’s usually followed by one of those hellaciously bitter arctic cold snaps. 20 below zero is cold enough for ice to get sufficiently sticky that you can actually drive on it without instantaneously killing yourself or someone else. It’s still a stupid thing to do, mind you, but it’s not sheer madness.

It doesn’t get to 20 below in Kansas City after an ice storm. Oh, no. It stays somewhere in the 20s above zero. Ice is very, very slippery at those temperatures, such that it is sheer madness to contemplate moving from in front of your television and fireplace, until the road crews (and your fellow citizens who have succumbed to madness) have found at least patches of pavement underneath the ice sheet.

In the last installment of the Road to the Summit, I said that Snookums and I had agreed to go up to Joplin, and then see how things were. This was based on a window in the forecast in Kansas City on Sunday afternoon when freezing rain was not forecast. That window wasn’t there when I checked again this morning.

So, damn.

Ordinarily, we would have gone on to Tulsa, and maybe spent an extra day or two in town, but coming back late to Kansas City was simply not an option.

So, sadly, I decided we had to forego the Oral Roberts visit for this year, and return with our un-ice-covered rabbit tails between our legs to Kansas City.

Now, the more excitable of the Kansas City TV weatherpeople are using those two dreaded words:

Ice Storm.

It’s almost never as bad as they say it will be. Almost never. But there’s always that chance. So, as far as making the trip to Oral Roberts and Tulsa, it’s “wait ’til next year.”

I hope and expect that there will be plenty of other Jackrabbits making the trip in 2008-09. While it’s fun cheering with less than a dozen fellow Jackrabbits like we did in Shreveport, it’s much more fun when there are a couple hundred. And, I understand Tulsa’s not a bad town at all.

On that hopeful note, Road to the Summit goes on hiatus until the next league game: Thursday, January 3, when the Jacks host Oakland.

Road to the Summit: Gametime Shreveport

Gametime approaches. So does a winter storm. Hurray! Well, it is basketball season . . . Snookums and I decide to change plans a bit, and so instead of going to Tulsa tomorrow, we’ll go to Joplin, MO and see if the storm decides to go north. If it does, we’ll run down I-44 to Tulsa for the Oral Roberts U. game. If it doesn’t, we’ll head back to KC during a window on Saturday afternoon where freezing rain is not expected on US 71. Go north, big storm, go north!

(want to read more?  Hit “read more” below.  Neat, huh?)

Having modified our plan, we head out for the game, stopping for supper at George’s. No, not a pizza place, but yet another hole-in-the-wall restaurant.

I had fried oyster with french fries, cole slaw, and hush puppies, while Snookums went for the lunch special of ham, dressing, sweet potatoes, and cabbage. Recommended, if a bit on the oily side for the deep-fried stuff. Yum.

With that, we head to the game. Less than a capacity crowd joins us, although everbody’s favorite sports media guys, T. Vandrovec of the Argus Leader[*1] (and, of course, El Bloggo[*2] ) and S. Imming of WNAX[*3] , are in place and on the job. Vandrovec’s the guy without the headphones.

With 1:53 to go before the game begins, I wondered how many of Centenary’s 900 or so students would show up. Please note the very comfy-looking sofa right in the middle of the picture.

The game thread can be viewed over at sdsufans.com[*4] , so I won’t bother saying much about the game, other than my Jackrabbits were close and competitive throughout.

At half-time, Centenary College introduced a new mascot, to go with “Gents” and “Ladies,” their current athletic nicknames.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Centenary Catahoulas!

What the heck is a Catahoula? That’s what we asked! Well, this is what Wikipedia has to say[*5] :

Catahoulas are highly intelligent, energetic, and quick, yet are generally very loving and gentle with children. They are inquisitive and have an independent streak. However, the Catahoula temperament is not suited for everyone; these dogs tend to be very protective of their territory and family, and also, may be aggressive toward other dogs—especially of the same sex. These traits, combined with their independent nature, their high energy levels, and physical strength, can make a Catahoula “too much dog” for inexperienced or meek owners, and can make having such a dog a liability in suburban neighborhoods. Ideally, a Catahoula should have proper obedience training, secure confinement on the owner’s property, and an outlet for its energy. The ideal place for this breed would be in a rural area where they can have plenty of space to expend their energy. Some catahoulas may be aggressive towards children and others outside of the family.

A wider shot of the hound shows that a decent student contingent actually did wind up turning out, including two guys in maroon wigs (I think they were wigs) who did a fine job of heckling, in the glorious tradition of almost-out-of-control college students everywhere. Well done, wig-guys!

Also note in the lower right that Vandrovec and Imming are all over the Catahoula thing.

Oh, the final score? Centenary 80, South Dakota State 77. We had our chances, and then some.

Next up . . . Joplin. Will filbert and Snookums make it to Tulsa? Will they make it home? Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of . . . The Road to the Summit.