Lawrence J. (Larry) Piette - FSSF - Special Forces - Roll Of Honour

The photo on the right is wrong. And they missed one of his Bronze Stars and all his Purple Hearts:

Lawrence J. (Larry) Piette - FSSF - Special Forces - Roll Of Honour

Backpain and Doctors. Western and Traditional

I am 6’6” tall and weigh something between 215 and 220 depending on the time of day and the amount of food I have recently eaten. Now, you may not think of it too much, but being that tall puts tremendous pressure on your bones. You have a large moment of inertia, which stresses all the fulcrum points in your body. (Or something like that). The result is that you tend to get more aches and pains than more normally sized folks.

I have on and off back pains regularly throughout the year. I don’t worry about it too much, as I usually have some time to stretch out the back (thanks Gus!) and slowly remove the pain. This week, though, it has been tough. Flying to and from New York, and then the planned trip to Rome next week means that I don’t have quite enough time to get myself back in a pain free situation.

So I decided to attack this issue two ways – Western and Traditional. So I had an appointment with my regular doctor this afternoon, followed with my first meeting with an acupuncturist. Following is my story.

I had my meeting with the GP at 2:30. I have been to see her once before, (in 2005!) so I did not need to fill out all the necessary forms. I was taken in the back at about 2:40 (not bad) and had my weight and blood pressure taken. I then explained my symptoms to the nurse, and was told to pee in a cup.

Those formalities taken care of, the doc came in to chat. I explained all my symptoms, and we talked about my pain control regime. (three Costco Ibuprofens twice a day) She said that was fine, and if I needed to do so, I could move up to four ibus three times a day. That seemed like a lot, but I was pretty happy about that. Then she suggested that they take my EKG to make sure I was not having any heart attacks. (don’t ask).

So I got the EKG hooked up, (attached to a PC) was measured and told I was in fine shape. Then I was sent downstairs to have my blood work done and I was out the door by 3:40.

The end result? I am getting old. Take more Ibuprofen if I need. Heart’s fine, blood work will be back before I head off to Rome.

Then I headed off to Dr Wu.

He is located in a small house not far from where we live. I got in and filled out their new patient form. Standard stuff, but it also asked what “Herbal Supplements” you are taking. (I am taking Glucosamine and Chondroitin. He said that was probably doing me no good).

The doc finally took me in a back room (that was furnished in 1980s college dorm room) and asked me what was wrong. I gave him the old song and dance about the back, the hip, and the tingling leg. He laughed and said that I was the sixth man today who had the same problem. He made me strip and looked at me front and back. He noticed my hernia scar that I got when I was probably 12 or 13. He then told me that my right side was in bad shape, which was causing my left side some pain.

He then made me lie down on my right side, and he started hammering in the acupuncture pins. Yes, they get hammered in. They are long pins that are very thin, with a thick part on top. He must have jabbed me about 15 times, left the pins in, and pointed a heat lamp at them. He then told me to lie still for 25 minutes, turned off the light and left.

After 25 minutes the light went off, and I was left lying in the dark. It started to get cold (air conditioning, you know) and I was still there in the dark. I was wondering if Dr Wu forgot me.

He came in about 10 minutes later, pulled the pins and told me to get dressed. He said I should return tomorrow, and he will attach electrodes to the pins. Oh joy!

I dressed and felt no different than when I walked in. Now, I must admit, a couple of hours later, my back feels fine. Coincidence? Who knows?

Additionally, they gave me some “herbal” medicine. You have to take LOTS of them – five each of one (fat and brown) three times a day; ten each of the other (small, round, and black) three times a day. Yum! Pills!

So here I am. I am no stranger to Chinese cures, having undergone cupping in Beijing, but in my mind the jury is still out.

Bananas are dying

Read about the Panama Disease here. And more besides.

The News: York and Haven

We are back from a short vacation to New York City and New Haven, CT.

In New York, we saw two shows, both shows are nominated for various Tony's – August Osage County and Sunday in the park with George.

The first is from the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and is a new work. One of Doreen's friend's described as a play that proves that your family is not too bad. The second is a revival of a Stephen Sondheim musical that was originally produced in something like 1980. Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters were in the original.

August ran for 3 hours and 20 minutes. Doreen was afraid to tell me it was so long, as I tend to prefer shorter performances. But even with two intermissions this play simply flew by. It is not a pleasant story, but a great play with outstanding acting.

Sunday is a story about George Seurat's painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” which is currently hanging at the Art Institute in Chicago. It uses very clever (and non-intrusive) computer techniques to make some points about his technique.

For food, we ate at Eleven Madison Park, a Danny Meyer's restaurant. Oh, it was quite good. I won't go into detail here, since I did not take notes. But the food and wine were great, and the service was outstanding.

We also ate at The Spice Market, a Jean-George restaurant. We have eaten there once before, and it was (and is) a very nice Asian Fusion place.

Finally, with Doreen's friend Susan who is a big deal at Chase Back, we ate at Etc, Etc before the one of the shows.

We went to New Haven for Doreen's Yale Reunion. I will let her write about it and post photos if she wants. If she does, I will link to them.

Quinn's Graduation

We went to my nephew Quinn's high school graduation today. He graduated from St Thomas High School here in Houston. We are very proud that he did. He told us that he had to take only two finals! His grades were good enough that he only had to take his tests in English and Government. Good for him.

The keynote speaker was an old priest. (He is one of a Bazillion priests there. That is a lot of priests) His speech was based on the short fable called The Tiger Who Would Be King by James Thurber. It is a cautionary tale about picking fights for no good reason, and while you may win, it would be a Pyhrric victory. Very apt for our country at the moment.

Ree and Rex were there, along with Quinn's little girlfriend Brenda. Afterwards we went out to eat at Teala's restaurant. IT was quite delicious.

Cat Thinking

more graph humor and song chart memes

BLT on Sunday Night

This evening we made Bacon Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches, accompanied by Becky's World Famous Three Bean Salad. The bread was homemade, the bacon was locally smoked, and the tomatoes were hothouse. IT was all outstanding:

Sunday Morning Houston

Today was a beautiful day in Houston. It was crisp, in the 50s this morning when we got up to walk the dog. We took an extra long walk and then got home to our usual Sunday morning routine.

This routine revolves mainly around reading the paper and preparing for the week to come by roasting coffee and baking bread. This morning was no different. But since the weather was so nice, we sat on the front porch when we were reading the paper.

After I roasted our weekly coffee, and kneaded our weekly bread, we went back outside to enjoy the rest of the paper.

About 20 minutes after we returned outside, we heard Blaze making all sorts of noises in the bushes. Now, this I not too much of an unusual circumstance. She chases small animals and tries to divert herself. But after a lot of ruckhousing, she heard he yelp. This is definitely unusual.

I jumped up, and Doreen jumped with me. We went to the bushes and told her to come out. She reluctantly did, and when she did she had a bloody nose. This was not good.

Doreen went in and got a wet rag to wash her nose, and some antibiotics we used once before to clean up her bloody nose. We applied it and hoped for the best.

Now, you need to realize that we are in a rather urban neighborhood.

So when I came back outside and saw Blaze dancing around something in the yar, I was anticipating the worst. I thought she may have caught another baby possum. But no. This time, I was able to see the last gasp of a foot long rat.

It was wet, it was bloody, and by the time I got my shovel to administer the coup de grace, it was dead.

Rat terriers have nothing on Blaze. She doesn't like rats. She kills 'em when she sees 'em.

What do The Rich drink?

All cats are black in the dark:

The Rich Drink Better Beer, Not More - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog

Feast

We have wanted to try Feast, a new place down the street from us, since it opened about two months ago. It has gotten great reviews, (here and here) but both times we tried to get there in the past, (admittedly on Sundays for lunch) they were closed. So when I received an e-mail from them last week mentioning their tasting dinner, I called Doreen and we decided to go. She was able to convince some friends to join us, and we headed down to that old house on lower Westheimer.

We arrived shortly after 6:30, and were shown to the back room. Our friends were already there, as were three other tables with four people each. The room decorated in sort of English Pub, all wood furniture and wood floor. It got to be sort of loud when everyone in the room was talking. That didn’t bother us so much, and we set back and added to the cacophony.

It turned out they were pouring wines from a small wine importer who does not deal with retail outlets. (but since Feast does not serve hard liquor, they can sell wine retail. Liquor laws are such a mess). We had the option to pick up any of the wines we liked at a very modest markup. (We have too much wine at home, but Brad and Peggy got some)

The first wine was a pink wine from Provence – a Bieler Rose. As our amuse bouche we had a set of three crostini on homemade bread: Russian Salad (potatoes and peas in mayonnaise) topped with white anchovies; Pork Rillettes (braised pork); and steak tartare. They were all good, but perhaps not transcendent. The bread was especially nice, and the rose (a nice, dry, pinkie) complimented them nicely.

The first course was the highlight of the evening – Scallops St Jacque (Scallops on the shell with mushrooms, cream, and Brandy). I thought I had died and went to heaven. This was accompanied by a Portuguese white – Feital Alvarinho/Trafaduro “Auratus”. It had a richer, heavier body that most Spanish Albariños I am use to drinking. An excellent pairing. We asked for bread to sop up the excellent sauce. I could have eaten many more of these little fellows.

An observation: Both the pours and the “little dishes” were quite generous. For $65/person this was an outstanding bargain. Nobody walked away hungry, or sober (if they chose to finish all the wine! Luckily my wife drove the short six blocks home)

Next up was a beautiful paella – shrimp, chorizo, and chicken served with a White French Burgundy from Meursault. (Fichet Bourgogne Blanc). I though the shrimp were just a tad overcooked, but the rice, chorizo, and chicken were great. I like paella, and this is why. All the flavors meld together nicely. And it is just so cool to look at.

We then graduated to the meat dishes, first Pork Cheeks, Pierogies, and Red Cabbage served with a Descendients J Palacios Roble “Petalos Del Bierzo” from Bierzo Spain. Another braised pork dish. I just cannot get enough of them. Nice, tender, tasty cheeks. The Pierogies were also great. (I think someone’s grandmother made them). Big, bold, dark wine. I have not had it before and enjoyed the new taste sensations.

Following the pork was Braised Beef with Chocolate, steel cut oats and roasted root vegetables. Served with an Altos del la Hoya Monastrell. Anything with root vegetables and chocolates can’t be bad. And the wine was even bigger than the last one! Inky black.

Finally we ended with Rhubarb Crumble with Custard and Elio Perroine Moscatoe D’Asti “Sourgal” from Piedmont Italy. A great end to an excellent meal.

Sort of horrifying

This article:

Human Nature : Human Liquid

I find rather horrifying.

But then again, I worked in a cemetery as a youth.

The States

The States : Frank Chimero : Illustration & Design

Oslo, May 2008

Just back from a PGS Board Meeting in Oslo. We had to approve the Q1 earning release. It was a spectacular quarter, and I am really happy to play any part with that company. We also held the Annual General Meeting, where I was reelected as a board member. That is gratifying.

These meetings are brutal because of the travel. I left Houston at 7:10 on Monday evening on a Continental flight to Amsterdam. It got in at about noon, and then I had a flight from Amsterdam to Oslo at 2:45 that got into Oslo about 4:30. I had to take the train into the city (Normally very efficient, on this trip they had signal problems and it took close to an hour) and then shower, unpack, and get to a board dinner that started at 7:00 PM and lasted until about 9:00. During this board dinner we discussed things like, “Where are oil prices going” and “Why has the Chinese stock market dropped by 50% in the past year”. It is always fun, and the wine is good. But I had been up for many, many hours. I try to be witty and nuanced. I hope I don't come off as boorish and banal.

The next day we started with the Audit Committee meeting at 8:00 AM (yipes!) and then the AGM (above). The Board Meeting itself started at noon, and lasted until after 5:00. Then I have to go out to dinner with the other American (who is stuck in Oslo for the night just as I am. She can't fly out to Chicago until the next day either).

Then my flight out is at 6:30 AM (!) so I have to get on the 4:39 train to the airport. (I hate even cutting it THAT close!). Today was bad, in that there was a donor conference being held in Oslo and all those UN diplomats were flying out (business class) on my plane. The plane was even delayed so these jokers could get there.

Then I had a flight out from Amsterdam at 10:10 AM which got me home at about 1:00. (I watched the moved I Am Legend on the flight. It isn't very long, but I like Will Smith. Plenty of unanswered questions, I guess it would help if you had read the comic book. I didn't understand the Zombie rules. Also, they played a lot of Bob Marley, so that was good. They even played Redemption Song. Doreen's favorite Bob Marley tune) I had a great time through customs and immigration and was home (to some much distressed client calls) by about 1:40. That is about 65 hours out of the house. About 22 hours in an airplane, add about 4 to cover the rest of the travel time.

But I am home tonight!

Garrison Keillor on Travel

A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media:

Money Quote:

"We are good travelers, we middle Americans, and when Northwest opened a route to Beijing, everybody and their cousin talked about going there, and this spring the direct Minneapolis-Paris route opened, a beautiful idea to us as we scrape the ice off our windshields. We don't actually go, of course—we go to work—but we could go on any given day, could write 'Au Revoir, Ma Famille' on a paper towel and leave it on the kitchen table under a salt shaker and drive to the airport on the bank of the Minnesota River, abandon the car in a snowbank, flash the plastic, board the plane, and wake up in Paris, like Lindbergh."

(I am posting this from Oslo, Norway, at 1:30 in the morning. I am flying back to Houston tomorrow via Amsterdam on KLM)

How much tax do the rich pay?

FactCheck.org: What percent of taxes does the top 1 percent pay and what percent of the income do they make?

Cats and Engineers

A must for anyone who loves cats.

Or Engineers:

Heartbreaking

If this:

BBC NEWS | Magazine Monitor

doesn't bring tears to your eyes and fill you with outrage, I would guess you are less than human.

biobigotry

We want to save the "cute" animals, but not the mean ones:

Bird Watching - Noble Eagles, Nasty Pigeons, Biased Humans - Natalie Angier - New York Times:

How to use a telephone

This is sort of like an early users manual:

Eating at Dos Brisas

My sweet ever lovin’ and I spent a night out of town last week at a place called the Inn at Dos Brisas. It is a 330 acre property with four “casitas” and an excellent fine dining restaurant run by Jason Robinson. The meal itself is reason enough to leave town, but the relaxing setting (and horseback riding!) made it all the more worthwhile.

While making the reservations I opted for the tasting menu (Chef’s Grand Collection) with accompanying wine selection. It was the right thing to do, but if we were going to spend more than one night there, I don’t think that our stomachs could take two nights of such adventure.

The dinner started with the most amazing wine for an aperitif. It was a sparkling Riesling from Lingenfelder called the Sekt Satyr. It was a nicely acid, rather dry, minerality sparkling wine that you would not have guessed was a Riesling. Well, maybe a little. An excellent drink. The Amuse Bouche that they brought with this was a collection of local small tomatoes from the garden. Red, Yellow, Black, and two toned small tomatoes with greens and a light vinaigrette. My bouche was amused.

For the appetizer, they brought us two different dishes. As a matter of fact, they brought us different dishes and wines for each course. I will try to do them justice. Doreen started with a Sake cured sea trout in its own row, detailed with garden microgreens. Wow! What a fish. The roe just popped in your mouth and the trout was very subtle. I had sesame tuna martini, with wasabi tobiko and sesame soya. Great, rich flavors jumped out of my martini glass (set in ice). For wines, I had a Palacio de Menade Verdejo from 2002 (!). IT held its age well, and had some nice rich undertones. Doreen had a White Burgundy – Domaine Fèvre Montmains 1er Crue. Top quality, crisp chardonnay.

Next we had two Foie Gras dishes. I started with sear Foie with brûléed banana and chocolate ganache (yes, bananas and chocolates!). Doreen started with the same seared foie, but with poached rhubarb and burnt honey ice cream. We had a Madeira from The Rare Wine Company as our wine. Doreen was a little put off by the wine, and though the chocolate was too early in the meal. I agreed, but though the wine was fine. The foie, however, was delicious.

The soup course was next, and this may have been the highlight of the meal. I had a caramelized lobster bisque, which was wonderful, but Doreen had a truffled garden vichyssoise. Oh! That vichyssoise brings tears to your eyes! The black truffles just leapt up and grabbed you, kissed you, and have you a back rub. It was just great. We had no wine with the soup. I am not sure if that was by design or by accident. It did make us concentrate, I can tell you that.

Next was the fish course. (Wait, didn’t we already have a fish course? I guess that was the appetizer) Doreen was served a roasted LaBell Rouge salmon, with garden arugula, sunchoke purée and olive dressing. I had a seared Alaskan halibut with organic sweet pea purée, yellowfoot chanterelles, and red wine essence. The wines were an Austrian Riesling (Berger, from Steingraben) and a German 1996 (again !) Riesling from Kloster Eberach. I think that the German Riesling was better, but they were both great.

The meat course was next – a roasted venison loin, chickpea purée, with garden chard and some Texas Akaushu Beef Filets, with garden Brussels sprouts and a rutabaga purée. The wines were a 1998 Del Dotto Sangiovese from Napa and a 1988 Bairrada from Luis Baga (that is Portuguese). It had been aged in chestnut barrels which gave it quite an interesting aromatic aroma. Both wines were extremely bold considering their age. The meats were perfect – the beef was almost raw and the venison had a deep roasted wild flavor.

Next (no, we’re not done yet!) we had some local Dos Brisas cheeses – a goat and a milk cheese aged on premises along with a raspberry flavored beer (Liefmans Frambozenbier from Belgium). An odd, but remarkably tasty combination.

We finally ended with a chocolate covered bombe. Oh! It was almost too much. We had more mareira (from 1922!) to go with it. Then we staggered back to our casita and swore we would never eat again.

Or at least until breakfast…

Peggy Noonan

Make sure you read the last section:

Declarations - WSJ.com

A meal at El Bulli (Not ours)

View from the Wing » Blog Archive » Off to Roses, and Dinner at El Bulli

Disturbing and freakishly addictive

Color Wars 2008 » Youngme / Nowme

Logical Falicies

You're either with us, or for the terrorists!

Alt Text Video: Picking Apart Logical Fallacies | The Underwire from Wired.com

Not sure if this is true, but it is VERY funny!!!

Taxonomy Fail « The FAIL Blog

World's next 50 Best Restaurants

World's 50 Best Restaurants

World's 50 Best Restaurants

World's 50 Best Restaurants

Bees in Paris. Too bad no bees in Wauwatosa!

Globespotters » Travel Blog » International Herald Tribune » Blog Archive » A thriving beehive of activity in Paris

Inn at Dos Brisas

Early last week Doreen pointed out that we didn't have any plans for the weekend. I agreed, and mentioned what a good thing that was. She said that she would like to go to Dallas. I didn't think that was the best idea I had heard recently. So she said that I had to find something to entertain her for the weekend.

We had recently read a review of a small inn near Brenham call The Inn at Dos Brisas. It has rooms for eight couples, and while I didn't think it was likely that we would be able to get a room on such short notice, I called to make an inquiry.

Luckily for me, they had a cancellation for Friday night. So I grabbed the room, made a reservation for the Chef's Tasting Menu with accompanied wine pairing, and we left Houston about 1:30 on Friday afternoon.

We arrived there about 3:00 PM, and we greeted warming and showed to our casita. (Photos here) we started the afternoon with a nice glass of grower's champagne, and the weekend just kept getting better.

Doreen had a massage and we got to dinner about 7:30. Dinner lasted until almost 11:00, and was comprised of about 8 courses (each! we had different dishes at each course, and we shared) with a different wine for each plate. If I get the energy,I will describe the dinner in a later post.

The next day we awoke to a wonderful breakfast on our patio. We then went for a horseback ride (!) and after a great lunch we drove home.

It was a very nice evening.

Baby, I was Born to Run.

I was at The Richmond Arms waiting for an old friend when I got a call from Doreen. This was very unusual, as it was only about 5:30, and she was probably still at work. She said that someone had given her tickets to the Bruce Springsteen concert that was at the Toyota Center that night, and should we go? It took about 2 seconds to say “yes” even though that meant that I had to have just one quick beer with my friend (Sorry Marty)

Oddly enough, I had been talking to my sister Jeannette here in town, and she said that she was going to the concert as well! We tried to coordinate meeting before and during the concert, but the tickets we had did come with some strings attached, so that plan fell through.

Everything else fell into place. Doreen drove down to get the tickets and then came home to pick me up. We got downtown about 7:40 or so, and found a place to park on the street. We walked over to the Toyota center in the brisk (really!) spring air and got in line to enter.

So why do women bring purses to these things? I mean, they have to check every bag (for weapons? Cameras? Booze?) before letting you in, causing a queue at the door. Then they have to find a place to put them down while they rock out. What is wrong with pockets?

We wandered around until we found our seats (Section 120, row 10, seats 1 and 2) and found out that we had our own beer vendors, food and bathrooms in this area! Great. We each grabbed a hotdog (Doreen got chili cheese, I got mine straight) a beer and had a snack before the show started.

Once we got inside we realized how good these seats were. We were at about midcourt, 10 rows up from the floor. The stage was where the hoop would be. So we were seated just a bit above the stage, and not too far away.

We ran into one of Doreen’s board members (Not associated with the free tickets) and someone I knew from when I worked at Input/Output. We then settled in for the show.

He started about 8:15 or so, and it was pure out rock and roll. He started with some stuff from new albums (which I am not familiar with) and then had a ton of songs from his old ones. I felt like I was 18 again sitting in my brother Mark’s apartment in Madison when I was visiting from Appleton. It was LOUD and your chest just thumped with the bass. It has been a long time since I have heard that.

He played a bunch of the songs I hoped he work – the E Street Shuffle, Rosalita (come out tonight), Thunder Road, Because the Night, Born to Run, 10th Avenue Freeze Out. He ended with a pro-immigrant Irish drinking song., after bringing Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely one stage for one song each. It was quite a night.

SciGuy: Texas to Wisconsin: Eat my dust

SciGuy: Texas to Wisconsin: Eat my dust

Dylan on XM radio

A very useful exercise in tagging:

VF Daily: Inside Dylan's Brain: Online Only: vanityfair.com

Make sure you scroll down to read his jokes.

Attendance is mandatory

So Much for the Information Age - Chronicle.com

Food Streets (Houston has Travis Street)

GOOD Magazine | Goodmagazine - America's Tastiest Streets

Business Plans once more

Today is the third and final day of the Rice Business Plan Competition. Today I was a judge for the Challenge Round. In this round, you take teams that won neither first or second place in their flights (First place teams go onto the finals, the second place teams go onto the wild card round. The winner of the wild card round then goes onto the finals. Last year's wild card winner won the competition, and $100,000). In the Challenge round, the teams have 25 minutes to present, but the judges are encouraged (nay, required!) to interrupt and ask questions. It was as fun as it sounds. (in the other rounds, you can't ask questions until after the teams present)

There were four teams and four judges today. One of the judges was a doctor (a retired MD) one was a VC, and I am not sure what the other did. We had four teams – TWO Tuberculosis diagnostics tools (one for the developed world looking for latent TB, one for the developing world looking for pulmonary TB. One aimed at NGO, one aimed at the rich. Interesting segmentation) One of the other teams was going to install LED streetlights - turnkey – for municipalities, and the final team had anti-counterfeiting nanotechnology stamps that allowed verification three ways – UV Light, Small Magnets, and a specialized reader.

All the teams did pretty well on their feet, but they all wanted to reply on their presentation. That was a universal flaw.

We are now dressed up and about to go to the awards presentation.

If you want to listen to any or all of the Elevator Pitches, click here. A local radio program (run by a friend) recorded all the talks. Here is an interesting show he taped a while back)

Biz Plan Competition, Day Two

So today I did the actual judging for the Rice Competition. This is where it gets serious. There were about 30 judges in my flight, about 180 judges overall. Each flight (there are six of them) judges six plans. The teams have 15 minutes to present, and then we have 20 minutes of Q&A. At this point it is investigating the plan, not the cosmetics or style.

Of the six plans, one was a clear winner. I don’t want to reveal it all right now, due to the (extremely unlikely, I will admit) chance that someone may read my notes and think I am giving something away. The second place team (in my opinion) was also a clear winner, just not as good as the first. Both of those plans will get funding one way or another, and will go on to become successful businesses.

The third through fifth place teams were all a wash. With a little luck, some money, and lots of hard work, any of them could make it. The last one I didn’t think had a chance.

I will give my results later.

Rice Business Plan Competition

I just finished the first half day of the Rice Alliance Business Plan Competition. Today was the “Feedback Round” an unscored session where the competitors present their plans, and a group of judges (there were seven of us in this room) give feedback – mostly on style rather than content.

The business plans presented were a company that derived electric power from the gasification of rice husks in rural India (University of Virginia), a company that replaces incandescent streetlights with LEDs (University of Waterloo), a company that grows a tree and uses its beans to generate biodiesel in rural India (Bits Lilani), a company that has a secret process to grind coal and make it burn like natural gas (Kennesaw State University), a company (University of Michigan) that harvests energy from evaporating water and uses it to power WIFI chips, and a company (Harvard/Hanover) that rips thin silicon wafers off of silicon ingots thereby making pv solar cell half as expensive as they are now.

Some of the plans (Rice, Kennesaw) were just outstanding in both their presentation and concept. Some looked like *I* did them ten years ago. Some of the presentations were so well practiced that you would have thought they were asking for millions of dollars (some of them are) and ALL of them are for real companies.

This is my favorite part of the competition. Though one of the judges here was sort of a snoot. I looked up his bio, and he is now running an internet company in the “stealth” mode (yeah, right) after losing over $150 million in a company that was trying to digitize the world’s books.

I only lost $35 million trying to collect the gravity gradient of the world…

Clinton's Michigan stance in 40 seconds

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

How to Pick a Peach

I got the following book for Christmas and am just reading it now:

Amazon.com: How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table: Russ Parsons: Books

It is in the same theme as the Pollen books about food, but it goes a bit further by giving you advice on how to select the best fruits and vegetables - whether from a roadside stand or the supermarket. Well worth the read.

Blessed are the Cheesemakers

TMagazine - New York Times

Clouds

Just for my cloud obsessed brother Matthew:

ASK DR. BOLI. « Dr. Boli’s Celebrated Magazine.

Money quote:

"Cumulus.—Cumulus clouds are the puffy white clouds one sees in the sky on an otherwise fair day. The most up-to-date meteorological theory suggests that cumulus clouds are the souls of departed lambs and kittens."

Good article about Houston

Lone Star Rising — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

Hat tip to my buddy Dick Bowden.

Hillary's "experience"

Wordcount to the rescue!

See what our former First Lady did during her tenure here.

Gotta love Slate.

Big Government, Two ways bad.

Read here from Cato @ Liberty

Milwaukee Weather

I got an e-mail from my brother Matt saying they had to shut his plant today because of a blizzard.

What the heck???

Milwaukee Weather Forecasts on Yahoo! Weather

We ate lunch outside today.

Countdown Street Lights. Good or bad?

Taiwans Solution to Traffic Accidents - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog

Here is the "Walk Score" of my house. 85. That's pretty good.

Walk Score - Helping homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods.

Odds of Dying - NSC

Odds of Dying - NSC

I Like Huck.

James Fallows (March 20, 2008) - God Bless Mike Huckabee

Robot Mule: "Big Dog"

It is hard not to personify this:



Don't you feel bad when the guy kicks it? Or when it slips on the ice?

6 word music reviews

Six-Word Reviews of 763 SXSW Mp3s by Paul Ford - The Morning News

Oslo and Bad Travel Days

I am just back from Oslo, Norway. This was a business trip, and was short – only two nights there. (Three nights if you count the night on the airplane)

The outbound trip was uneventful, and the business meetings went well. I even got a cool waterproof windbreaker with a Norwegian flag out of it.

The trip back, however, was another story.

My flight from Oslo to Amsterdam was scheduled to leave at 6:40, so instead of staying at a hotel in downtown Oslo, which I usually do (more ambiance, more restaurants, more interesting things to do) I opted to stay at the airport hotel. Ostensibly to get an extra hour of sleep, but in reality so I would have one less type of transportation to worry about that day.

(You can ask my wife. All modes of transportation make me somewhat nervous. I tend to get to the airport a little before the recommended arrival time, and I am always worried about the next leg of the journey. She things I am obsessive, I think I am prudent)

I stayed in bed (though didn't sleep) as long as I could. I even watched a Steven Seagal movie called Half Past Dead. There is something viscerally appealing about movies like this. Sort of like Pro Wrestling. I mean, you know that the good guys will win, and there will be a lot of head crunching (or flying bullets and broken necks) on the way there. It was not the best movie I have seen late at night in a hotel room (that may have been Hello Dolly).

Since I wanted to get to the airport the recommended 2 hours before the flight, I got out of bed about 4:00 AM, showered and finished packing. The hotel's breakfast room was not yet open, so I figured I would get a coffee and a handful of peanuts at the business class lounge in the airport.

I walked across the street in the snow, in the fog, and got to the airport precisely at 4:40. There was one person in front of me in line, and I waited patiently. When it was my turn, I gave up my passport and the young woman told me I had already checked in. Yes, I said, but I had no printer in my hotel room (To make sure I didn't get bumped, I had checked in and changed my seats several hours earlier.) She gave me my boarding passes, and I noticed that my new seats were not on the flight from Oslo to Amsterdam. SO I asked her to change the flight, which she did gladly.

Now, you need to understand something about me and airplanes. I don't fit. I mean, I am 6'6” and about 218 pounds. That translates to almost 2 meters and almost 100 kg. These little intra-Europe airplanes are three across 737s and little Airbuses (I can never remember their numbers) even in business class. I have one seat I like in that airplane (1D if you must know. It gives me leg room) and I asked for it. I was glad I did.

After checking in (I carried on my bags this trip. Something I am doing more and more these days) I walked though security (Nobody in line at all. That was a first) and down to the lounge. Much to my chagrin, but I suppose not my surprise, it was closed until 5:45. We were supposed to board at 6:10.

So I walked to the gate to wait. And wait. And wait.

We finally boarded at the appointed time, and I got my nice seat with good legroom. Every seat on the plane was full (Norway shuts down for the week before easter – semana santa in Latin America, as well as the two days after. SO everyone was looking to get someplace warm). and then we waited to take off.

Remember how I always am worried about the next leg of my journey? Well, this trip had sort of tight connections in Amsterdam. I had 1 hour and 25 minutes to get from my gate, through security, and onto the Amsterdam to Houston leg of the flight. So I was already planning my exit from the plane and dash to the new gate.

Wed, 12MAR08 KL662 J HOUSTON BUSH INTL (IAH) 4:50PM AMSTERDAM (AMS) 7:55AM

Thu, 13MAR08 KL1143 J AMSTERDAM (AMS) 9:50AM OSLO/OSL (OSL) 11:40AM

Sat, 15MAR08 KL1140 J OSLO/OSL (OSL) 6:40AM AMSTERDAM (AMS) 8:45AM

Sat, 15MAR08 KL661 J AMSTERDAM (AMS) 10:10AM HOUSTON BUSH INTL (IAH) 2:35PM

And then the pilot announced a gate hold. He didn't know why. Weather? Maybe, it was snowing and foggy. More likely was an ATC hold over Brussels. They had installed a new computer system (probably new middleware) and it couldn't handle the traffic. SO we waited.

He said our slot was now 7:40 (an hour late!) and we could make up some time in the air. But then, Hallelujah! we got an earlier slot. You could feel him racing to the runway, but first we had to de-ice.

The de-icing made us lose our slot. Damn that ice! Damn those engines! Why couldn't they just take off with the ice in place? I am sure we had the power. But regardless, we waited.

We finally made the runway at about 7:45, in the air by about 8:00. He said it was about a 1.5 hour flight, and he was as good as his word. Now it was 9:30, and I had to get to another terminal (well, arm, anyway) through immigration, and through security in 30 minutes (if you are closer than ten minutes to your flight, they don't let you on.

I grabbed my bags, and rushed out the door. I stopped twice in the terminal. Once to confirm my gate (E18) and once to grab a cart. Sure, my bag has wheels, but my sweet, lovely, and long surffering wife has taught me many things, one of which is always grab a cart if one is available. (click here and scroll all the way to the bottom of the page)

Rushing through an airport always makes me feel like OJ Simpson. (the pre-murder one, not the killer one). I don't mind bumping into people who are lolly gagging or blocking the transit way. They need to either get moving or get out of the way.

I got to through immigration without a problem, and got to the gate with a few minutes to spare. Those of you who have flown through Schiphol Airport lately know, every gate now has gate security. I had to take out my laptop and blah blah blah. I set off the buzzer (and I have no idea why. I don't ever set of the buzzer here in the USA) and got the most thorough pat-down I have ever received. This fellow knew that I dressed left, if you know what I mean. But I was clean, and was able to walk right onto the gangplank.

The plane was a 747, and I was on the upper deck. It was a nice enough plane, and I got settled in quickly. The flight attendant came by with water, juice, or champagne, and I had to have a drink. I chatted with the ExxonMobil environmental engineer sitting next to me.

And we headed out to the runway. And we stopped.

The pilot said that we had a problem with our flaps. Not good. Not good at all. He said that maintenance had been called, and we would be heading back to the gate.

But we didn't head to the gate, we headed to a maintenance facility. For about an hour we could see the folks working on the wing. During this time, I took the opportunity to check the flight status using my phone.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the flight had been canceled! I told my seat mate and others nearby. there was a flurry of activity as everyone (including myself) started calling our travel agents or airlines to try and get a new flight. Continental told me that there was nothing they could do until we were off the plane and the flight was officially canceled.

Oddly enough, I was not at all worried by the delay. After all, it was my last leg! Sure I wanted to get home, but I knew that my Sweet Everloving had some errands to run and I would not see her when I first got home anyway. So I waited.

The crew decided to turn on the entertainment system and had out sandwiches and drinks. That was fun, and I got to see Scoop, the Woody Allen film (Better than Half Past Dead)

Finally the pilot came on and said that they had to replace a motor. This would take another two hours. We settled in for the long hall.

In the end, we took off (and arrived) five hours late. It was a bad travel day, but I got home none the less.

If you can't win by the rules, challenge the rules!

Burnt Orange Report::: Clinton Request Violates the Law

Europe wins from Globalization

Charlemagne | Winners and losers | Economist.com

Best Wishes, Elliott, Love, Hillary

The XX Factor : Hillary Sends her "Best Wishes" to the Governor.

More on Free. Moore's Law makes computers Too Cheap to Matter.

Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business

Makes me want to move to Montana

NPR: Montana Governor on 'Real ID' Act

Denouce and reject, Senator McCain! Denouce and Reject!!!

Matthew Yglesias (March 05, 2008) - Hagee on Katrina (Politics)

Caucus confusion

Here is how we started the caucus:

We were waiting in line to sign in for the caucus, and the precinct chairman came to explain the rules. He told us all that we had to sign in, and pick our presidential preference, but if we did NOT stay until the end of the caucus, our vote would not be counted.

When we got to the front of the line, Doreen told the guy that we had read in the paper that all we had to do was sign in and leave. He went to check the rules, then came back and told her that she was right – all we had to do was sign in and go. But he wanted us to stay until the end, because that is how we picked the delegates and passed some rules.

We were there when the votes were counted, as described below.

Precinct 34 Caucus

The Texas Democratic Primary is complicated. It may have always been complicated, but it never mattered before – or rather it has not mattered since 1976. Or was it 1968? In any case, it matters now.

A quick recap – about 2/3s of the delegates are allocated by the primary. But not proportionally by voter (one man one vote) but allocated per Texas Senate District. We live in Senate District 13, and we have 7 delegates. Only one district has more – one of the Austin Districts, which has 8. The Senate Districts in the Rio Grand Valley have about 2. So our votes are more valuable than the votes down south. These delegates were allocated by Democratic voter turnout in the past two elections. Go figure.

We have just returned from our caucus. There were about 300 people waiting in line yet.

Now we are just back from the finalization of the caucus. We returned shortly before the started counting the votes. Now, you have to remember that this is a Democratic voting place. They had a tally of the votes, and they added them up BY HAND! Nobody had a calculator! My gosh!

After electing a precinct chairman and a secretary, they told us the final vote. 172 Obama, 120 Clinton, 2 uncommitted (What the heck? Uncommitted? Who comes to a caucus and votes uncommitted?)

That makes our precinct, #34, 59% Obama, 41% Clinton.

GO Obama!

Women voters in Houston

The woman who hosted the party for Linda Worthheimer is on Doreen's board. (She is the one who says that she likes and respects Hillary, but is voting for Obama)

NPR: Texas Women Reflect Shift in Political Sentiments

A brush with greatness!

Starbucks vs Walmart (updated)

Updated

Another example of Farm Policy gone wrong

My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables) - New York Times

Obama

The CEO of the Orange County Register has endorsed Barack Obama.

So what, you may ask?

Scott Flanders is a well known Libertarian.

Here is the article.

Here is the punchline:

“But there was a hush as Flanders reasoned that Obama is the best candidate to work on four top libertarian reforms: 1) Iraq withdrawal, 2) restoring the separation of church and state; 3) easing off victimless crimes such as drug use; 4) curtailing the Patriot Act.”

It's a lead pipe cinch in my book.

Cedar Waxwing

Today while riding our bikes down to see the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Trail Riders, we noticed a small bird sitting in the middle of the road looking like this:

I stopped and gently picked it up and placed it on a big rock in a side yard. After I set it down, I gently stroked its breast, and it quickly flew up to the trees to join its compatriots!

I have always liked these Cedar Waxwings, and it was nice to see one up close, and even better that it seemed to be unharmed.

All the water in the world. All the air in the world.

Dan Phiffer

Greenies use a zero discount rate?

Marginal Revolution: Moral puzzles about collective action

I get to fly a lot, not having progeny.

Viva Obama

Looks good for Obama in Texas

Pollster.com

Is it art?

Frozen in Grand Central Station - Video

Voting vs Income

Income matters a lot in "red states," not so much in "blue states": What's the matter with Connecticut?

College matters

More proof that you need to go to college:

Higher Education Gap May Slow Economic Mobility - New York Times

You may need to register for the NYTimes site, but it is free.

Another way to be "Nickled and Dimed"

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Braised Short Ribs, BLTs, and Weekend Culture

We made Braised Short Ribs from Mark Bittman's recipe this weekend. So rich! So rich! As he said in the video - Chocolate is for Wussies.

We also had some Barley Pilaf with it. Nice, very nutty. Barley is an underappreciated grain.

See photos here.

After eating these delicious ribs, we went to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It was a fun concert, but it does get a little repetitive. Interestingly enough, it made me think of the movie Zulu, Michael Caine's first big role. I don't think that Doreen will like the movie, but I ordered it (for $2.90) from Amazon so I could watch it when she was out of town.

Sunday we had an amazingly productive day. We read the paper, roasted coffee and baked bread (our standard Sunday chores) and then took off on our bicycles. We had breakfast at Cafe Artiste and sat outside (the weather was perfect - high 60s and sunny, with a nice breeze). I had pancakes, Doreen had an omelet like creation, but with the best biscuits and gravy this side of the Mississippi. And parts of the other side of the Mississippi as well. It was all delicious.

Then we rode through her park and wound our way home.

When we arrived home we realized that the Monarch Caterpillars had eaten all of our milk weed (AKA Butterfly weed) so we had to go and get some more. We drove to The Heights and stopped at Buchanan's. We used the opportunity to get some parsley, thyme, and dill as well. (we have Rosemary, and don't use too much sage). We got home and planted them.

After a short nap (it was Sunday, after all!) we made supper – BLTs on our freshly homemade (no bread machine!) bread. With it, we had a nice glass of a 2005 Olson Ogden Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley. Great combination! Doreen was lucky enough to get a really fresh tomato from the market. (Handed to her by a nice young man who didn’t plan on eating his tomatoes immediately. People in The Montrose are so friendly!)

Then we were off again, this time to an Inprint Houston reading event. Dave Eggers and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie were reading from their latest books: What is the What and Half a Yellow Sun. I think we enjoyed Chimamanda’s talk better.

It was a full weekend.

More on the Texas Primary

Read here how the Clinton campaign does not understand the Texas delegate selection process.

And here about how Obama can win Texas.

Texas Delegate Selection. Complicated.

Texas delegate system makes candidates pick their battles | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Caffeine

Developing Intelligence : Caffeine: A User's Guide to Getting Optimally Wired

Is your fish sustainable? Check here!

Eat Food. Mostly Plants. Not too much.

And check and see if your fish is environmentally destructive:

Shopping for Fish - Bitten - Dining & Wine - New York Times Blog

Sense spoken about airport security

Megan McArdle (February 11, 2008) - A nice, secure feeling

Hillary tries to steal FL and MI

Just as I predicted:

Stop Thief!

Bougainvillea and Fish

Today I was working in the yard while Doreen was still reading the paper.

She finished up the paper and came into the back yard. I needed a little help cutting down our Bougainvillea, and asked her: “Dear, can you come and give me a hand with cutting down the Bougainvillea?”

She replied: “We aren't getting any more fish”

Borges

Habitus - A Conversation with Jorge Luis Borges

Sounds like good advice.

Ben Casnocha: The Blog: Some of the Best Speaking Advice Ever

Kevin Kelly on "Free"

If you can't compete with Free, you can't compete.

Back in Houston

Both flights (Singapore to Tokyo and Tokyo to Houston) were on time or early.

That is just a long way to go.

Only do it for the food in Singapore.

Singapore Food

My last night in Singapore I was lucky enough to be able to have dinner with one of the people I worked with while here back in the ‘90s, and another ex-Landmarker who is (coincidently) working for PGS. Pauline always knew the best places to eat in town, so Mark and I gladly ceded all responsibility for the food to her.

We met about 7:00 PM. She has not changed a bit in 11 years. We started off to the food, stopping tp pick up Mark in the meantime. She drove us to a house on the East Coast called Hua Yu Wee. IT looked very promising. We walked around to the back, and Pauline asked for her favorite waitress. They chatted and laughed in Chinese. My only request was that we get a jug of cold Tiger, and some Black Pepper Crab. The beer was soon on the table, and we also had a plate of peanuts.

The peanuts are there for an appetizer, and you are supposed to eat them with your chopsticks. That is quite fun, especially since these are not dry roasted, but the oiled ones. Delicious, and entertaining as well.

The food started coming shortly thereafter. The first thing we got was fried mushroom caps. They were covered with something or other, and were large – about the diameter of a cue ball (but not round, of course. Nor hard. Nor white) These were quickly followed by a plate of Baby Kai Lan. Those are similar to baby Bok Choy in the US. You can’t stop eating them!

Drunken Shrimp followed (Shrimp boiled in some sort of alcohol) with a hot dipping sauce. Concurrent with the Shrimp were Butter Crayfish. There were just the tails, breaded and stir fried. Deep fried, maybe. They were LARGE, too. About 5” long and at least 1 ½ “ wide. They brought us forks so that we could hold one side down and dig the meat out with a chopstick. Now we were really eating.

We also got a plate of deep fried squid. These are tiny. Popcorn or peanut size. You can just eat a million of these little things.

Ah, but then, the dish I was waiting for. Black Pepper Crabs. Big Sri Lankan crabs that are partially steamed, then cracked and covered with spices, mostly black pepper, and other goodness, and finished off in a wok. It is sort of like heaven in a claw. I ate more than my share, though I must say that nobody left that table hungry.

We finished with some fruits and more conversation.

11 years is too long to stay away from this sort of food.

Singapore

The first thing that I notice when I get off the plane is that Singapore smells exactly the same as it did 11 years ago. I looked around the airport, and the airport looks exactly the same way it did 11 years ago. And this is a good thing. I walk down the concourse and it all seems so familiar. I see the immigration control and the only difference I notice is that there is not a special lane for residents. Of course, I could have missed it, since everything was moving so fast.

To my mind, there is no better airport than Changi. I landed, and the doors opened quickly. I got to the concourse and quickly walked down the (wide and fast) moving sidewalks to immigration. There was only one person in front of me in line. I was stamped through with little fanfare. I walked down to baggage claim, waited under 5 minutes and my bag was on the belt. I walked to the taxi queue and waited no more than another five minutes and was whisked off to the hotel.

The hotel was sort of another story. I am not sure why we were put up in The Negara (well, I actually do. But that is another story) It is old, dank, and under renovation. The drilling in the wall kept up, but no one seemed to pay it any mind. It made the rooms uninhabitable from 9:00 AM until 7:00 PM.

The only interesting thing about the hotel was that the first night when I got back after dinner was that the work crew next door had obviously tapped into my electrical system in my room. When I turned my bathroom light off some mechanical device next door turned on. It sounded like a drum spinning up a wire rope. I played with it for a while, and then decided to leave the light on for the night and just close the door. The next morning I showed the manager (she was reluctant to accompany me to my room, but I insisted) the problem. She was mystified.

Dubai – Singapore.

I lived in Singapore from January of 1995 to October of 1996. During those 22 months I flew to Houston 18 times. Each one way trip was at least 24 hours in the air, and two stops with at least 2 hours between flights, so in real time each flight took at least 30 hours. So 18 (flights) x 2 (round trip) = 36 trips. 36 x 30 (hours) = 1,080 hours spent in travel just to Houston during those 22 months. 1,080 hours is 45 days. 45 days! And that doesn’t count the trips to China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, India, Vietnam, Bangkok, or Brunei.

And then people ask me why I hate to travel. I think that the answer is obvious. I have not been back to Singapore since I left. I still have some people I keep in touch with occasionally, and will try to meet with them. I am not sure if it will happen.

I am reading a book called The Singapore Grip by JG Farrell. I am not sure how far it goes, but it opens in Singapore right before the Japanese overrun Singapore in WWII. The book focuses on the truly myopic view of the war and the Japanese by the local British community. This is one of the more embarrassing episodes in British Military History. Incompetence and cowardice by the military leaders. Courts martial ensued if I recall correctly.

Qatar

I got to Dubai on last Thursday.

On Friday we flew to Saudi Arabia for a Saturday meeting.

On Sunday we stayed in town to visit local clients

On Monday we flew to Qatar to meet with QP (Qatar Petroleum).

It was an uneventful trip that I believe will bear fruit over the next year.

But how DO you pronounce Qatar, anyway?

Dubai Desert Adventure

After a day of successful meetings with our business partners, our local staff decided that we should go out to the Dubai desert on what is sometimes called a “Desert Safari” and what I have been calling a Dubai Desert Adventure.

I was not really sure what to expect, and this is always a fun thing. We met at my hotel around 3:00 and waited for our driver from Oriental Tours. He was right on time. We piled into the Toyota Land Cruiser (absolutely the best off road 4x4 you can buy) and started off. First we had to pick up one more passenger, a young Japanese woman whose husband was working in Saudi Arabia. She could not get a visa, so she stayed in Dubai.

The driver Mustafa said we had to go about 30 minutes to the “rendezvous point” and they off into the desert we go. Rendezvous point? I asked. Yes, we were meeting with nine other 4x4s for safety reasons.

Now, you know that I could spin the story that five of the other nine Toyotas were technicals, but that would be an exaggeration. Only was was. (that, actually, would be an exaggeration, too. After all, we were in Dubai, not Yemen.). The other nine vehicles were filled with a bunch of other tourists. German, Dutch, a TON of Italians from some company that couldn’t afford a name. They only had initials. A handful of Australians (dressed for a summer desert adventure) and us. We consisted of an American (me), a Frenchman (our local manager) and a Pakistani (Our local technical guy. Not technical like above, of course.)

We met at a gas station/convenience store, and then set out of the dunes.

We drove about 20o minutes and then all lined up in the desert like a convoy. The drivers all got out and let some air out of the tires so they would have better grip in the sand.

This, I was told, was only for show. Because of recent heavy rains, the sand was quite compact and was more like riding on a freeway. Nonetheless, we reduced air pressure and were off!

I have never really been a fan of “off roading” since I had to do it for a living while working as an engineer in Kemmerer, WY. But it was fun enough as we rolled through the sand, up and down over multiple sand dunes.

After about 45 minutes we took off to stop at a camel farm. They raise these camels for racing, and while we didn’t see any other people there, the animals seemed well treated.

Then we visited the Oasis Desert Camp. This consisted of several open air thatched huts with low tables and cushions to sit upon. We also had “Sand boarding” (sliding down a dune while sitting on a snow board – which my dignity did not allow), riding a camel (which it did), dressing up in dishdash, and eating some BBQ mutton, beef, and chicken. They also had a falcon handler.

The night ended with a belly dancer. She was very engaging, and got several of the crowd up to dance. That was very funny. At one point they got us all on our feet and we did something like the hokey pokey, where we had to try and shake was she was shaking. It was not pretty.

We got back to the hotel about 9:00. While perhaps not quite an adventure, it was certainly fun.

Saudi Arabia

We got to the Dubai airport about an hour and a half before the flight. That is tighter than I usually cut it, but what the heck. I am trying to relax about these things.

We got in line to check in for the flight, and got to the counter. The agent told us that we could not check in there, since we had business class tickets. We had to move to a different row. “The one with the Red Carpet”. So we checked in and walked through security. Not a big deal, less security than I am use to in the US (No need to take off your shoes. No need to remove your laptop from the bag.) Everyone was very gracious.

We stopped for a while in the lounge (there was a soccer game on) and waited for the flight.

The very first thing I saw when getting off the airplane was several men at their prayers. That sort of set the tone. Saudi Arabia is very devout. Saudi Aramco had a driver meet us at the airport, and the hotel was all ready for us. The town (Dammam) was the location of the first field discovered in Saudi Arabia. It seems like an unlikely place for a headquarters, but that is why.

The work meetings went well, and as we were coming back from lunch I asked if the Saudis felt lucky that Mecca was in their country, and if they had been on The Haj. They laughed and said yes to both. One of the guys that I was meeting with had been on The Haj five times!

As we were driving back to the airport, we saw camels walking in the desert. Camels! I guess it really is like Lawrence of Arabia.

Dubai

After a while every flight feels close to every other flight. You wait to get on the plane, you wait while the plane loads, you wait to take off, and you wait to land. You watch a movie, you eat something. Eight hours or so later, you land.

Most flights I take these days has a map that shows the progress of the plane. It shows current position, and then the cities you are flying over.

Today, I glanced over to the map, and was startled – The first city name I saw was Kirkuk. We were flying over Iraq! Then I looked more closely. No – that is Tabriz! Tehran! We were flying over Iran! Now I knew I was going somewhere I had never been before.

Airports, too, tend to be rather generic. Except here you have about half the men in gutra and thobe. There women were in hijabs, or bare headed. I think that will be different when I get to Saudi Arabia tomorrow

Around the World in the interest of Commerce

I am heading around the world in a couple of hours, trying to do my best to reduct the US Trade Deficit.

I start in Dubai for an evening. I get there via London.

Then I go to Saudi Arabia Friday evening, back to Dubai on Saturday evening. I am hopeful that we will sell some software to Saudi Aramco sometime this year.

On Tuesday I head to Singapore (non-stop). This will be my first visit to Singapore since I moved away in October 1996.

On Friday, I leave Singapore to Houston, via Tokyo. I get here four hours after I leave (calendar time)

I gain a day by going around the world eastward. Though my sweet ever lovin' pointed out that the day I saved will be spent on an airplane. Oh well.

I have my camera, and hope to post some interesting photos.

Grade a Flag

Grades by name of country

Hitch on Hillary (it's not pretty)

The case against Hillary Clinton. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine

18 Stunning Bridges From Around The World - Frikoo

Makes you proud to be an engineer:

18 Stunning Bridges From Around The World - Frikoo

Why the Clintons are a problem

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Gravity and evolution. You don't have to believe in either one.

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Huckabee is not liked at the Cato

Cato-at-liberty » What Fresh Hell Is This?

Barack's Quote for the day

"This feels good. It's just like I imagined it when I was talking to my kindergarten teacher," -

Barack Obama this morning.