November 17

It's a lovely, sunny 51-degrees in Annapolis today. Harper had a great morning, and I'm looking forward to finishing up this project I'm working on so that I can begin the next one. ;-)

Starting to think about my next job. The resumes are just about ready to be released to the world again.

Addiction

Friends,

Hi, my name is Byron, and I am an addict. Since joining the cult of the iPhone, I have been dazzled by all the shiny apps that come from the App Store and Cydia (or, if you prefer, Icy). My latest crazes have been Vampire Live and Zombies Live. These two games have been responsible for major time-suck in my life lately. The two games have a similar format: level up and gain income by attacking other players and buying. "slaves" that earn you income every hour. That is genius. You keep coming back every hour or so to prevent other players from attacking you and stealing your hard-earned income (blood in Vampires and flesh in Zombies). It tugs at my soul. I can't stop thinking about the times i get "paid" in each game. I religiously log in to each of the games to save my income in my virtual bank vaults or to turn the income into greater abilities so that I can defeat more players. It's insidious. I should be spending my time perfecting my javascript, but I play these games instead. I earn money doing the latter, but the former is somehow more satisfying. Help.

Where, oh where?

So, I've become one of those bloggers who doesn't actually blog anymore. I recently joined the Facebook cult and have used that as my "outlet". That said, I just updated my status after not having done so for a week or so. Sigh. Don't feel sorry for me, friends (as if you actually would)! As soon as I can figure out how best to integrate the two, look out, web world!

4.8 Km

4.8 Km. That's how close I was to Roland Garros this June. The French Open was going on at the time. It was Day 8 at the tournament. Ana Ivanovic and Rafael Nadal were 3 matches away from winning the Championship in their respective draws. I was on my way to Zagreb, Croatia to attend a film festival with my filmmaker friend, Eric. Our flight from Dulles was late getting into Paris, so we missed our connecting flight. Despite how tired we were from the long travel, we were pretty excited to be in Paris. A quick ride on the RER and we're in the center of Paris! Eric and I got off at Saint-Michel, walked east to the Seine, then across to Notre Dame.

I had never walked the streets of Paris before and was somewhat apprehensive, given the reputation of the French with those who haven't perfectly mastered their language. I have first-hand experience of this from when I was in Annecy the prior year...

Feeling somewhat brave, we dared to stop at a restaurant to eat and face the wrath of "le garçon". The food was bad (I didn't know that was possible in Paris), but my French held and we got pretty good service.

Paris is everything that is lovely about life. You REALLY feel that when walking the streets. I never felt that way walking around New York. Perhaps, New York is just too familiar. I don't know NYC well, but it is still America. There are rules to American cities that I know inherently. Paris is different. I want to go back.

Things on my mind.

Given the date of my last post, it's fair to say that it's been a while. There is much on my mind these days. In no particular order (save for the first two):

1. The future of my family.
   
2. MLK's Legacy.
3. The hopeless Isreali/Palestinian conflict.
4. Friendship.
5. The presidential race.
6. The return of Portishead.
   
7. The format change at College Callgirl.
8. Guitar Hero III
9. Books I'm behind on.
   

Hit the slopes!

I went snowboarding this weekend! My long drought ended with a near, spur of the moment trip to Liberty. The conditions were less than ideal with 50-degree weather and slushy, crowded slopes, but I didn't care! It was nice just to be out again on the new board. The Jussi was perfect! It's light, flexible, and forgiving of my n00bishness. By the way, the pic above is in Tahoe.

For more on Jussi Oksanen, check this and this! Oh, how I aspire to ride like that Finn...

What I aspire to in the near term is to return to Park City, UT. Sundance or not, I just want to get back to slopes like this:

This is a recent shot taken at the Canyons. Since the riding season goes so long out there, maybe there's hope...

Snow bound!

Baltimore received a decent snowfall last week. At least, it was decent for our part of the country, where the occurrence of good snow is few and far between. It makes a snowboarder want to weep... The plan was to pick up some new snow pants for M and some beer. The parking lot of The Old Vine is somewhat sloped, but the GTI is front-drive and my tires are in good shape, so I didn't think about it. Mistake.

I used to drive one of these:



I would've been better off and I could've ticked off that time without any sort of acknowledgment. Sometimes, I miss my Rangie, but it broke down. Alot. Of course, buying a British car of somewhat indeterminate mileage probably wasn't smart to begin with. In fairness, that's how everyone bought their used Range Rovers back then. There's also the fact that filling up said beast with petrol would cost me over $80 each time. I could pretend that I'm very concerned with global warming and that my car purchases are thus affected. Actually, that's the truth. My '06 GTI gets around 25 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on the highway despite its sporting nature. That and good snow tires would've made for a completely uninteresting anecdote.

No one likes getting stuck in the snow, but it's particularly abhorrent to me since I'm used to driving vehicles quite proficient in the slippery stuff. I rescue - I don't get rescued! After trying for an hour to drive/race up all possible side streets to the mecca of the main road, I gave up, called for help and walked 2.7 miles to meet my ride. The walk was nice, despite getting splashed by a dorkus in a Jetta, because: 1. I had beer to keep me warm and 2. I like a quiet walk now and again. It's probably as close as I'll ever get to being on Survivor.

My lovely bride came to rescue me, and all was well. My folly in the snow was rewarded with a bike ride back to Mt. Washington to get the car a few days later. Thankfully, the car was where I'd left it. I guess it's off to get new tires for me!