Have you seen Deltas new inflight video? It has been getting some press attention because the girl in the video (the narrator) is Chris Heiser hot. It is far to long at over 4 minutes and has a very scary end. I guess you have a captive audience and there is always someone on the plane who has no idea how to buckle a safety belt? Let me know what you think.
It became aware to me over the weekend that I was going to need to get out town. I am lucky at this moment in time as I have very little pressing responsibility. I can do my work from just about anywhere in the world. However, I am at this point in my existence not the kind of guy who can take you to all the best clubs in the NYC. So my travel budget is somewhat limited. That and I am suppose to travel to both Boston and Phoenix in the next couple of weeks. Which leaves me in somewhat of a money crunch. So, Denver is were I ended up. For a couple of reasons. One being, my younger brother is currently residing here and is lonely for some older brother love. The other, I am sure we will get at later.
I know you are thinking right now, wait, didnt this guy just come back from some time away. You are right, I spent a week in California. Who am I kidding almost two weeks. Now if there is anything that week taught me, and you, if you were paying attention. Time away from your every day helps to keep your head from become mush. Or at best it helps you to maintain a fresh look at the things going on around you. Justifying and rationalizing should be a Jim Kirks past time.
Hey, now I dont want you to think I have come to Denver for nothing more than time away from the super exciting COS lifestyle. Where the big city can be a lure for the younger crowd, men of my age and stature. Age and stature, really full of it in that last sentence. Ok seriously there is a podcast get together tomorrow that I and the 2 other people that have signed up on meetup.com will be attending. Should be interesting at best or at least a way to pass the time. That time between.
I think there is more, but I don’t know what. It has been a long time since I didn’t have a point, not writing about robots and or linking to some obscene youtube clip.
Ok so, where do you go when you want to get away on the cheap for a short time? You know when you need to either clear the old head or add so much haze and cloud you cant see out.
4 Million dollars. That is how much it is going to cost to stay in the first space hotel. A company based in Barcelona says that by 2012 they will have an orbiting hotel fully operational. So you and your very wealthy friends can jet off to stars to see the sun rise and set 15 times in one day.
Of course it is not for the faint of heart, the ball busting ride aboard a rocket to the station is sure to send many searching for the sick bag. What awaits you once on board other than than the spectacular views is something they call the spa room. Which I invisioned as having hot alien girls rubbing exotic oils all over my body. Not the case however, the spa is really just a room filled with water and bubbles that keep you clean during your stay. Boring. I guess there is always the 60k club?
Last Thursday I headed out for a five day vacation that would include two concerts, three movies and many drinks. The best thing about taking a vacation is the build up to that day. Nothing in the world can shake you when you are about to go on vacation. Buildings can blow up, computers can stop working, people can shit on your whole being. Because all you are thinking is, tomorrow I will be on vacation and none of this shit will matter. I love it! It is better then sex, ok maybe not, but damn close.
On Thursday we saw Harry Connick Jr. It was my third time and not the best. The weather was crap, the temp was hovering around 40 degrees and gloomy. Harry played mostly new stuff and only came out for a very short encore. Dont get me wrong, it was still a great concert, just saying I have been more impressed by him.
To quote a girl at Salon I visited on Saturday, Harry Connick Jr. sings? The youths of today, clueless.
Saw three movies over the course of my little break from life. The first, Ocean 13 was pure summer fun. This is the third Ocean movie and I am sure it is not the last. Everyone one is dead on handsome in this movie and the script, while lacking some key action, was spot on funny! Paris, je t’ aime, I saw the same day as Ocean and if you have not heard of this movie click on the link and read about it. The movie is 18 short 5 minute love stories by different directors and actors from all over the world. It is just fantastic! I could go on and on about this movie, easily one of the best I have seen this year. It is still in limited release, but if you live in a good size city you should be able to find it. The third and final movie, La Vie en rose, I saw at the Breckenridge film festival. While it was a bit long, it was one of the better bio pics I have seen in recent memory. Not sure you need to rush out and see this in the theater, that is unless you are a huge Edith Piaf fan. Which means you are over 60, hi grandpa! Catch it on video, Marion Cotillard’s performance is amazing!
On Sunday night we saw the Police, no the band. I have seen Sting a number of times and his concert performances all stick out as some of the best I have ever seen. His talent is unmatched and with the reunion of his old band it is a incredible musical force. I had some doubt whether a band that has been apart for so many years could be as good as they once had been. But let me tell you I quickly put that doubt away when they rocked it non-stop for an hour and thirty minutes with three encores! The police have been a constant music favorite of mine, pretty much my whole life. Seeing them live was a surreal experience that I will never forget. Easily one of the top five concerts I have seen. If you have the chance this summer to see them, do it.
Friends, Family, Movies, Concerts, Drinks make one hell of a good vacation. Thanks to everyone that I stayed with, spent some time with and spent some money on. Lets do it again soon!
One final thought on concerts. Why do people leave early? The Police are close to the last set, right in the middle of Roxanne and people are taking off. What the hell is that about??
Trivop.com is a site much like any other hotel review site except they also provide video reviews! So now instead of just taking the word of some schmuck who had a good time with his wife. You can see video of the pool, the restaurant, work out room, the lobby, and a handful of rooms. No more disappointment over the free breakfast, you will know it sucks because you saw it on video. Stale danish and rotten coffee, free my ass. Criminal!
The service is very limited right now, mostly just Paris and surrounding. The site claims this will grow to most of Europe by year end. With the rest of the world coming soon!
Boeing will soon deliver its first new plane in over a decade the Dreamliner 787. A little bigger, classier, more efficient and toting a much longer range than its competitors. When the factory making the new plane ramps to capacity it should be able to put out a new plane every three days. Boeing expects to see the Dreamliner enter service next year 2008. I just cant wait for the bigger windows!!
Yet another reason to go to Florida. NASA has just opened the Shuttle Launch Experience. If you cant figure it out by the name, you experience what it would be like to launch into space on the Shuttle. With full surround sound, wide screen high definition TV and a moving room, this sounds awesome. Nothing like screaming and shitting your pants with a room full of tourists. Cant wait!
Yesterday I traveled to Pueblo a small city south of Colorado Springs. It is a short 30 miles and takes about 40 minutes to get into the greater downtown area. I have one client in Pueblo and I have not been down to see them in a number of months. I was going to check up on the office, they had just let two people go, I had to arrange a few things and install a new hard drive.
I am never thrilled to make the trip as I am not always fond of being in the car for extended periods of time. Yesterday however was different. Warm and sunny with a sprinkle here and there, it felt good to be out on the open road. To have a positive feeling when driving is something that never happens to me. I am sure many of you can relate to this, traffic, rage, time and all the assholes. This good feeling got me to thinking about the summer months ahead. A couple of summers back I rented a convertible and took a road trip from Colorado through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Nebraska. I was by myself and I had a fantastic time.  This trip to Pueblo has stirred the feeling inside that maybe it is time take another trip on the open road. Scrap the plans to go to the ocean this year and instead see some part of the country I have yet to see. A road trip!
P.S. Everything went well with the client.
 
A couple of months ago I stumbled upon a really cool airfare shop site that was still in beta, yet another site in beta. What sets this site apart from the over crowed field of orbitz, expedia, travolocity, priceline and the slew of other price search sites is Farecast attempts to predict the price. It is sort of like the stock market of airline fare sites. You search for a fare and then it gives you the trend on that fare over the last sixty days. It lets you know whether it is trending up or down and then tells you how many seats are left at that rate. In the orginal beta version there were very few cities offered. Last week they launched the site out of beta to include all US cities with worldwide travel to follow.
If you are like me, and I know some of you are, you search every damn site trying to find the best deal. I am not saying this will stop you from doing this, but maybe you will start here first. In my tests so far today, looking to go to LA, it seems spot on price wise with the rest of the internet. In some cases Farecast found the best deal.
One of the coolest features is Price Guard which allows you to protect the lowest fare today to avoid getting burned by a price increase tomorrow. It is just 10 bucks and looks as though it might be worth it. Esspecially if you are like me and wait till the last minute to book.
