Safe Area

Typically a safe area is a place where nothing can happen to you, a refuge from danger or zombies, but something doesn't seem safe about the location pictured above.

You are looking at a BART (bay area rapid transit) train terminal (under construction, thats why there are cones).  Admittedly, if i were laying on the ground by the tracks while a train was coming, that would definately be a destination of mine, but i would hardly call it "safe".  Its not like i would hang out there if i were afraid of being mugged or during an earth quake.

Maybe the label "saferer area" would be more accurate... but only if you are thin.

Safe Area

Typically a safe area is a place where nothing can happen to you, a refuge from danger or zombies, but something doesn't seem safe about the location pictured above.

You are looking at a BART (bay area rapid transit) train terminal (under construction, thats why there are cones).  Admittedly, if i were laying on the ground by the tracks while a train was coming, that would definately be a destination of mine, but i would hardly call it "safe".  Its not like i would hang out there if i were afraid of being mugged or during an earth quake.

Maybe the label "saferer area" would be more accurate... but only if you are thin.

Needs More Emphasis

Taken in downtown San Francisco

Its important to get you point acccross quickly when trying to advertise to people walking down the street.  You may only get their attention for a quarter second while their eyes rapidly shift from one obsticle to another.

This particular sign does a great job at getting its point accross.  Its quick and direct.  "Learn English"... how much more straightforward can you get, it's even in large letters for the seeing impared.

Good job, i see nothing wrong with this sign.

Safe in SF

Just landed...  My eyes are supper bloodshot :(

Wet Market

You have probably seen my pictures of the eateries, but just beyond the prepared food, you will often find a wet or dry market.

Pictured above is a wet market near the Eunos MRT station (MRT is a light rail/subway). This is where people buy thier fresh food. Instead of going to a super market and asking the butcher for a steak, you would go here and haggle for a squid or duck, not to mention pigs feet, chicken legs, and probably a bunch of other locomation parts.

My coworker david explains that the Food vendors will buy thier meat from the wet market and cook it up fresh. Thats why it tastes so good. In fact, on mondays, none of the wet market vendors have fresh pork, so many of the food vendors are closed because they can't make their products.

They also have dry markets with dried fish, shimp, mushrooms, etc...

My Job

For those of you that don't really know what I am doin for work in Singapore, I figured the best way to explain is to show you a picture.

I've been making spicey noodles for Qualnetics for 5 years now. We have been working on a spicey noodle project with a Singapore company, so they sent me over there to ensure that the noodles arrived on time and with enough spicey. Pictured above is our medium sized noodle just pulled out of the pot with my wooden handled ladel. My secondary task in Singapore was to deliver fish ball soup (pictured at the bottom left). They key to a good fish ball is the puree process... those fish don't see it coming.

My advice? Don't try to pick up a fish ball with chop sticks... Stab the fishball with a chopstick, cut it in half with your ceramic spoon, and then enjoy. I suggest dipping it in your "Fire Sauce" before consumption... delicious ;)

Realism

Its about time that someone makes a sign that truly expresses the urgency of the situation. Who would have thought that a two dimensional colored human likeness could evoke such empathy. Even looking at this sign makes me want to patronize these facilities. After thinking about it, the drawings on the door of the restrooms in the US only communicate the gender of the particular room. For all we know, it could be a "Male Standing up straight" room. If you needed to tinkle, you might look at that sign and think "Thats great that this guy has good posture, but where is the picture of the guy that needs to use the restroom." With this sign, there is no confusion... well, maybe its the "kicked between the legs" room... they look very similar.

Pizza and delivery

July 18th is my annual celebration of my first working at Qualnetics. For the past few years, I have celebrated by purchasing pizza for the office. Unfortunately, I find myself thousands of miles away this year, so I had to improvise.

You are looking at two pizza's and some sort of Chicken popper thing that has a Japanese name. We ordered our pizzas from Pizza Hut. to be honest, other than the toppings being a little different, the Supreme was very similar. On the right, you'll notice a Chicken Curry pizza... this is where the similarities end.

I wish I had some great story about how crazy Pizza Hut is in Singapore, but it is not so different. American crust is greasier, but the flovor was close. You can check out thier website to see the crazy toppings and special pizzas "http://www.pizzahut.com.sg/" like "Ocean Catch", a selection of shrimps, squids, tuna, crabsticks, juicy pineapple chunks and diced tomatoes on cool lime mayonnaise sauce.

I'm here to talk about deliver. When you call Pizza hut, you don't call your local branch, you call the Pizza Hut number. They then dispatch your order to the closest Pizza Hut. This is very odd to me. It gives the idea that you never really know where your food is coming from. the same goes for McDonalds... YES, they have McDonalds delivery here. You can see young men zipping around the city on their motor-bikes wearing large backpacks with the familiar "M" on the back. Want McDonalds, no need to find one, just call the number, and the closest one will find you. Actually the system works out pretty well. the population is so dense that delivery people don't need to travel too far to reach their destination.

Tipping: Not a city in Singapore

Upon arriving at my hotel a few weeks ago, I had the unfortunate experience of having a bell boy (or whatever they are called now-a-days) grab my bags and escort me to my room. Having been a part of this scam before, I was not pleased and kindly mentioned to the young man "I'm sorry, but I haven't any Singapore dollars for a tip", for which he replied "no problem sir" (or something similar).

When I first arrive at a hotel, I do the nerdiest thing I can think of and begin to read the little booklet that includes all the information about the hotel, room service, pool hours, etc... I noticed that it said, "Tipping is not necessary". Having dealt with this sentence on my honeymoon, I thought that was just a hotel policy.

The confusion really began when I ordered my overpriced Singapore Sling at Raffles. I received the bill, and it contained the following: Price of beverage, Sales Tax, 10% service fee, room number. This confused me greatly. At this point I thought... maybe the 10% service fee is a mandatory tip. At that point, I though "10% is fine by me, the drink was overpriced anyway"

It wasn't until an awkward experience after eating Pineapple fried rice that I finally got to talk to my server about it. Instead of beating around the bush, I took the straightforward (and stupid tourist acknowledging) method of saying "So, am I supposed to tip?" The Server said, NO, and explained that the 10% service fee IS my tip. WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!!!

My explanation of why this is awesome
When buying a hamburger at McDonald's, you don't pay a service fee (even thought they may actually bring it to you), but if you eat a burger at an actual restaurant, they bring it to you and serve you etc... (I know this sounds stupidly obvious). SO, the service fee is simply paying for the "Service" of the person to wait on you. On the other hand, a TIP is the same thing, the servers get paid very little, and if they have customers, they get paid for their service in a very democratic way: If its good, typically more money, if its bad, less money, if the person is a jerk, no money. This seems like a good idea until we realize one thing. Service in Singapore is WAY better than the US (in certain ways, which I won't get into)

The key to good service
When service is bad in the US, guilt makes a majority of people still tip 15% (not to mention fear of getting yelled at or looked at funny). In reality, this system doesn't work, because as long as the person is employed, they will still perform bad service. How does it work in Singapore? There are a billion Chinese and Indians waiting for your job. If your service is bad, you'll be replaced... its just that simple. And there aren't too many other low skilled jobs that don't involve prostitution in the area, so there is a high incentive to be courteous. Solution for the US? Fire the rude workers and legalize immigrant labor for service industry jobs if no domestic labor is available.

Clarification: I think that most of the people I interact with in restaurants are very good and deserve a good tip, but its stinkin' crazy that 20% is now considered a normal tip. I think maybe a 15% service fee in the US would be pretty sweet, or maybe even different grades of service, like a Red Robin would be a 10% and an Olive garden would be 15% (there's a joke in there somewhere)

Watch your step!

Apparently I live in a city (Seattle/Shoreline/Bellingham whatever :p) that has contiguous walkways. When you are walking, you tend to be able to take your next step and it should be approximately where you think it should be. This is not the case in Singapore.

On multiple occasions, I have found myself walking through a doorway or on the sidewalk only to find that the ground gives out under my feet. This is quite embarrising, for two reasons: because I did it, and because I'm a tourist.

My theory is that Singapore has lots of little flash floods and rain storms. Without a 2-3 inch change in elevation here and there, water might find its ways into places it shouldn't be.

Advice: Just because you think there should be something to stand on, doesn't mean there is.

Too much food!

Its been a while since I have posted food photos, so here is much of what I at the past week.

http://picasaweb.google.com/coltop/MoreFoodPhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCMrivIDV6fqQAg&feat=directlink

How to Eat in Singapore
1. Find a bunch of condo buildings, ususally on the outskirts of town (mentioned previously)
2. It may take a while of searching, but in some complexes, there is a large open air building jam packed with little food vendors (seriously, jail cells are larger than these vendor spaces). One person i asked said that an english translation of what they are called might be "Old Market". If you only see 5-10 vendors, keep moving, its not what I'm talking about.
3. If you can't do steps 1 and 2, find a local and ask them where one is (national language is english, so this is not too hard of a task). This is my recommended method. I get shuttled around to these places, so I'm a bit spoiled.
4. Walk around and find a vendor that serves something that looks acceptable. For beginners, stay away from anything that has eyes or the word "intestine" in the title. Start with something easy like "Chicken Rice" (A local favorite). BTW, if there are photos of people at a vendor, those are probably famous people, and it usually means that the particular vendor is good.
5. DON'T ORDER YET!!!
6. Go find a table nearby and read the number on the top
7. Order your food and tell them your table number
8. Walk back to your table
9. Prepare your cash (you did bring cash didn't you? Well you better get some)
10. Your food will be brought to your table and you pay the server (there is no tipping in Singapore)
11. Eat and Leave (this is not the kind of place you ask for a take out box)

Housing Density

I may get some of the details slightly wrong, but Housing in Singapore is substantially different than the US.

When you first arrive in Singapore (and its dark and you can't see), you will notice lots of cool buildings and restaurants and stuff, but you probably don't say "Where are the houses"? I recommend everyone visiting the area take a train (called the MRT) to the east for a few minutes (Assuming you are downtown), so you can see where people live.

Pictured above is a housing complex, and these things are everywhere (usually in densely populated areas). They are not usually as pretty as this one, but they are approximately the same size and height. Most of the housing in Singapore is built by the government and the residents have to purchase your condo from the government. Let me repeat that... "Purchase the condo". I specifically asked if you can Rent these places, and the answer was "no". When you can prove you have a job, you purchase your condo (heavily subsidized) and then you pay it off as you go. Most of them look suprisingly similar, but there are definately different levels of quality.

From what I've been told, the Singapore government is very encouraging of home ownership. Think of it this way. If you are 20 something, odds are you are going to work for the next 40 years or so. If you rent for 40 years, you won't have anything to show for it, but if you buy a condo when you are 20, you have 30 years to pay it off and then you don't have to be a homeless person when you are older.

You will also notice right away that people usually have clothes hanging outside thier windows... at first It makes the places look Dumpy, but in reality, its 90 degrees out every day and your house is small, probably too small for a dryer, so this makes a lot of sense.

Chilli Crab... A Messy Encounter

20100712_Food

Sadly I can't figure out how to make that picture the one that I want... anyway, click on it to see the adventure in eating that I had this evening.

The guys at my host company decided to take me out for an evening of Sea Food. I many not write as well as normal, because this sea food also was accompanied by two jugs of Tiger Beer (shared between the 4 of us... kinda).

When I arrived in Singapore, I kept hearing everyone talk about "Chili Crab"... in fact I heard an unusually often mention of crab in general, but "Chili" often preceded it. So when i heard that Chili crab was on the menu, I was excited to see what it was all about. The first thing you need to know about Singapore (from what I have observed) is that there is a severe lack of napkins (with the exception of the hotel bar which brings a plate of napkins with every bowl of peanuts). The second thing you need to know about Singapore is that its the cleanest city with the messiest food. The first rule about eating Chili Crab is you have to use your hands, the second rule of eating Chili Crab is you WILL get messy (if you are an inexperienced westerner that has a hard time eating in general).

The following event takes place at "Long Beach", a restaurant by the Eastern sea. The waiter brings out a giant plate with a meticulously arranged Mega Crab in a bright red sauce. One of my hosts, David, decided to start me off with Medium Spicy, for which he should be commended. As the guest, i was offered first stab at the beast, so I went after his left claw. it was mostly cracked, but I had some difficulty getting the meat out, so of course I go ahead and stab myself in the finger (enough to draw a small amount of blood, but not bad enough that anyone noticed). After getting the meat out with my fingers, I dipped it into the chili sauce and let go of all dignity while I stuffed it into my mouth. Eventually when it got down to the legs, the waitress put on plastic gloves and started tearing it appart (just enough to expose some of the meat, but not enough to complete the job). I then spent the next half hour biting my way through crab shell to get at the meat, picking crab shell out of my mouth and trying to clean my hands of the burning chilli sauce. Whenever I thought I was done, my coworkers would point out another leg or method of getting more meat out of the leg, each messier than the last.

When it was all done, I dipped my hands into a small bowl of something (no idea) that was on the table to help clean up, then went to the sink to wash my hands. It was a delicious and satisfying experience, a cross between eating for survival and showing the crab who is boss.

David pointed out that there were people with their luggage at the table next to us. He said either they have just shown up or are just about to leave, but they either way they had to get Chili crab. I agree, I wouldn't suggest that its the first thing to do, and I definitely wouldn't suggest doing it before a long flight, but if you ever go to Singapore, find a local, take them to dinner and have them talk you through the eating of this delicacy.

Be sure to check out my photos of me eating the chili crab.

808 Drum? Really???

"the 808 kick drum makes the girlies get dumb" says Sir Mix-A-Lot
"nothing sounds quite like an 8o8" replies the Beasty Boys
oh but wait, Kesha has something to say...
"Do I make your heart beat like an 808 drum"...



Kesha Kesha Kesha.... what the heck are you talking about? Do you even know what an 808 is? Are you hitting it with sticks to make drum sounds? Lets learn a little before analyzing Kesha's lyrics.

An 808 (pronounced "Eight O eight) is slang for the Roland TR-808 programmable drum machine. It is NOT a drum! unless you hit it with a mallet (Not malloc... ha). It gained popularity due to its sweet analog kick drum sound (I actually like the clapping sound an awful lot too).

Mix-A-Lot makes a very direct reference to the feature that made the 808 popular with hip hop artists in the 80s, the Kick Drum. The Beastie Boys used the 808 in most (if not all of) license to Ill, and though they have the kick drum playing during that part of the song, they give props to the whole machine. Kesha on the other hand disrespects the 808 by obviously adding the word drum into the song because the Lyrics wouldn't work without it. She is clearly making a statement that implies "if you have only 4 syllables in a haiku, go ahead and throw the word 'Drum' on the end"

Music in the air
Filling my heart with rhythm
Silence is dull drum

Ya see how that somehow changes the meaning? But lets give her some credit. She obviously implies the Kick drum feature of the 808, so lets tear that apart. "Do I make your heart beat like an 808 Drum"... is this a good thing??? Does she not know that the 808 is commonly used in hip hop? This isn't rock music, the beat doesn't happen every two counts, its usually something like 1,5,6 or something even more funky. If this guys heart is beating like an 808, call the doctor, because somethings seriously wrong, he'll probably need to be shocked back to normal. Or maybe she isn't talking about the Kick, maybe she is referencing the hi hat, thats gonna be something like 4 beats a second usually, putting this guy at 240 BPM, way over the suggested maximum heart rate of 200 for a healthy 20 year old male.

I know that the common response is "this is ART, and she can do whatever she wants", but hopefully the pain this song causes me helps everyone learn a little more about the wonders of the Roland 808...

Marina Bay Photos

20100710_Singapore

(Click on the photo to go to my photo album)

Check out my Web Album of Photos taken today. I attempted to circumnavigate "Marina Bay" and the Singapore River. Got WAY too hot and I had to buy a "Big Gulp" at 7-11 and head home

Slings, Rice, Noodles & Soup

You may be a tourist if... you have to ask another tourist to take a photo of you drinking a Singapore Sling. Ya know what, its even worse than that, a woman offered to take a photo of me as I was setting up my camera to automatically snap a photo.

When in Singapore... Sling. Legend has it, the world famous "Singapore Sling" was invented (if you can call it that) at the Raffles Hotel. Raffle is the guy who exploited Singapore in the early 1800s and made it into a Trade hub for the British. From what I recall from the Raffles Hotel Museum, the owner of the hotel was buddies with a guy that made Cherry Brandy (the ingredient that makes the sling a pretty pink color). The recipe was kept in a small safe (which I saw) and was apparently lost to the world. Original bartenders recreated the drink based on old notes and such, but the drink in my hand is apparently nothing like the original (which is sad). My friends, that drink in my hand cost about $22 (US). Was it worth it? Meh, it was delicious, but not the original, nor did I get it from the "Long Bar" where it was originally invented (which was my mistake), AND apparently they get so many orders for these things, that it is pre-mixed and pineapple juice is added, then they are blended or something. Anywho, its a tacky tourist thing to do, and I'm a tacky tourist... enough said on the subject.

Speaking of consumables... I had heard from a few different people that the food courts here are awesome and there is so much to choose from. No offense to those people, but I can't handle it. Lets do a case study, if I'm at a teriyaki place in Shoreline, I look at the menu and think to myself "yakisoba?.... Chicken teriyaki?... Hmm... (minutes elapse) Yakisoba". Now, with someone that has these kind of issues, how am I supposed to sort through 20 different vendors each selling 30 dishes which all look the same but have minor variations (which I usually don't know). To make matters worse, there is a lot of pressure to tell everyone how good the food was, so there is an incentive to find the best food, but I don't have "food finding skills". Normally in the US, if a food vendor is not good, it gets knocked out by its competition. Here, there are so many vendors, it would be difficult to try them all enough to decide which is best. Across the street from my hotel is a Mall... the Mall is 90% electronics stores... Seriously, its the electronics store Mall... There are 5 stories!!! Are people seriously supposed to shop around for the best deal? I think the individual stores don't go out of business because there are so many...

Seriously, if someone would like to make suggestions of what to order, I'm all ears (Just not Chili Crab, its already slated for consumption)
"Freedom of choice is what we got, Freedom from choice is what we want" - Devo

Jugglers

When travelling to a new city in a different country, you should try to experience local tastes and cultures. So I had to search out the local juggling club, Singapore Jugglers.

My journey begins by attempting to decipher the location of where they guys (and 1 girl) meet. Their website says "Place: Esplanade Underpass". Now typically when you meet someone under an Underpass, you are either getting mugged, murdered, or both. This seemed like a strange place for jugglers.
I set out to Esplanade street in search of an underpass. The traffic lights are really long here, so it is not unusual to wait a few minutes before the "little green guy starts blinking". When I came across an underground walkway to the other side, I took the opportunity. To my surprise , it wasn't just a tunnel, but a secret passage to swelteringly hot land of Singaporean youth. There were jugglers, an all girls hip-hop dance team and a large group of breakdancers (as seen in the back left of the photo).

I immediately notice a severe lack of juggling clubs. There were about 6 people, so I suspected something like, ya know 30 clubs or something. There were 3 "Circus Special"(style), 3 possible Renegade (I think two were Fat Bulb), 6 Airflights, a devil stick, Rubic's Cube, 6+ Rings, and a bunch of balls (bouncy, Bean Bag, and sand filled). To my surprise, club passing was not their cup of tea.

I immediately started harassing the girl juggling in the picture (because she was juggling clubs). The passing started off really shakey, so i didn't think she had many skills, but when I suggested 3-3-10, we did it all the way through (until the end where we hadn't discussed how to stop). By the end of the evening (11pm), we had done 3-count (She had never thrown left handed), Jim's 3-Count (amazing since she had never thrown left handed), and some walk-around club stealing stuff. I passed with a few other guys, but they didn't seem as interested, they were way more into 3 ball tricks (from what I saw), and when asked if I knew any tricks, they knew way more than i did.

I guess the club used to be poppin' with more advanced club jugglers, but they have since moved on. I think at least two of the people there were new or haven't attended in years. Seems like a lot of Rotation, I don't blame them it was HOT in there... like sweaty wet sauna hot... like road trip sticky seat hot. No idea how the breakdancers were still alive. Actually, after seeing this, my first thought was, If this were the 90's , we would totally be swing dancing down there in suits and the heat would be just part of the experience.

I plan to head back next week and I'll put this on my "Things to do in Singapore" list. I met a guy who said "I've never met anyone from the US"... Crazy!

Hotel

This is what my hotel looks like at Midnight... Its pretty nice and super active during the day. It is 7pm here and there was already a guy playing piano and a girl singing in the lobby for the guests.

View From my Room. Its pretty nice. I'm on the 8th floor and can look down on the pool, sadly all I've seen there are Pigeons (which are apparently plentiful here and look like malnourished washington pigeons)

I'm located very close to the downtown and public transit. there is a sweet network of "tubes" (which my coworker here calls them), or subways for the sandwich lovers (actually there is a Subway pretty close by). I plan on exploring the town tonight and possibly going juggling (if the Singapore Jugglers still meet where their website states)

Who says airplane food has to be bad.... well, that all depends on if you like Teriyaki Yellow Tail and Shrimp on rice with a side of little square things that look like Smoked Gouda (but are probably pieces of squid). There is also some sort of cold noodly thing and some yellow stuff. To top it off, we have a bun looking thing, cream cheese and some sort of pastry item.

Don't get me wrong, I like new experiences, and this one was pretty new. My neighbors apparently didn't care for their meals since they hardly touched theirs. Me? I finished every last bite... actually, I think i didn't eat the other half of the grey puffy thing pictured north of the Yellow Tail.

Next time you decide to fly to Singapore, I'd suggest ANA (All Nippon Airlines), the service was pretty spectacular, and not only did I get this awesome (and often slimey) food, they walked around with pitchers of green tea and lime drink (along with Soda and Juice for the un-adventurous).

Arrived

I have finally arrived at my destination... Singapore. It only took 28 hours in airports to get here (Not recommended if you like personal space and comfort.

Sadly I can't write much at the moment because I do not have WiFi for my phone and I left my Laptops power supply at my house (in a moment of extreme idiocy).

I have written a few more entries, but they are stuck on my phone. There are also some awesome images of what Airplane food looks like on All Nippon Airlines (ANA).

Its 1:18am here, add 9 hours to get your time of 10:18am.

Collin

Japanese Robot Extravaganza

The Following was written on July 8th, but was not posted due to the lack of Free WiFi

Landed Safely in Japan.

I watched 4 feature lenth movies during my flight.
Green Zone - Your standard "US is screwing up Iraq" movie. Liked it
Hurt Locker - Seriously, how did that have such a big oscar buzz, it was enjoyable, but the ending was so "Decide for yourself", remenisent of "The Wrestler"
The Book of Eli - pretty bad. It was like the road warrior meets Dogma. Another lame ending that is supposed to be meaningful, but tried WAY too hard.
A beautiful Mind - sadly the TV thing turned off right at the end so I missed the ending. It was ok and a bit sad

Japan isn't as futuristic as I would have thought. I haven't seen a single robot and I've been here for like 15 minutes. Sadly I have to go through customs since the connecting flight security required boarding passes (which I have none)

Not impressed with the airport, Seatac is WAY cooler, but with less Pocky and crap for sale. The one cool thing is that the floor is bumpy when the terrain changes (like before escalators and stuff). Where is all the Tokyo drifting and Harajuko girls? I guess I'd have to go to the city to see that.

tempted to buy some noodly dish, but I don't have any 'Y'. Apparently I need like Y7 for anything good. Maybe I'll get a snack of Rice Crackers on the plane again and a warm towel to clean my hands.

Travel Tip #2
Where Synthetic fibers that breath and wick, cotton just gets too uncomfortable

Late Night

The Following was a message originally written on July 8th, but could not be posted by my phone due to the lack of free WiFi.

I just saw the time on my phone. Apparently its 1am in Seattle. It's sunny here and 3pm. I'm Tired, but I thought that was from constantly watching movies. I'm going to try to stay awake until I get to my hotel at 8am Seattle time.

Barely made it!

Not much time to write, but our plane landed with about 5 minutes  before boarding, a gentleman escorted me through security, had my ticket already printed out and we speed walked all the way to the end of the international gates.

Boarding now, gotta run. 

Comfy Feet

Travel tip #1

Aside from looking stupid, wearing slippers at the airport was an awesome idea.  They will be awesome on the plane when my feet expand

Plane boarding 30 earlier than planned, i may make my connection afterall.

Forks Bites

You too can own a little piece of Forks Washington with this sweet pink Forks baseball cap.  Don't forget your "Forks Bites (if you're not careful)" fridge magnet, or your La Push Washington "Run with the Pack" coffe mug

Was just informed that connecting flights leaving at 12:15 will be fine,  unfortunately, my connecting flight is at 12:10.  Lets hope it is also delayed

Excitable boy

Either this kid has never been let out of his room, or maybe he has some other issues.  He is basically explaining to his parents everything he sees.   " hey dad, hey dad, an alaska airline plane just took off, hey dad, dad, dad, i see a plane with Mickey mouse on it.   I suspect i have figured out the solution to his constant explaining, simply acknowledge him, then he wont have a need to explain multiple times. 

Now that i am writing about strangers in an airport, i cant help but think people on their phones may be documenting my every uninteresting moves.

Ham, egg, and cheese croisant was acceptable.

Flight still delayed... poo :(

My First Delay

I am not new to flying, in fact, I have flown to San Francisco at least 5 previous times. During those times I have never had a delayed flight, so of course the ONE time I need to make a connecting flight from SFO, my flight is delayed by over two hours. As it stands now, I will have 10 minutes to get from my plane to my connecting flight.

I think it is time to grab some food to relieve some of my stress. If I miss this flight, I'll have to crash in SFO for the night and catch the next flight out in the morning, and I can't wait to have a riveting conversation with the airline to see if I can be bumped to the next flight at minimal to no charge (not to thrilled to have that conversation).

What to eat... Some sort of Ham and Egg on an English muffin? Should "English" be capitalized when speaking about a bread product? Should it be "American cheese"? Maybe an omelette? Did you know that Blogspot doesn't have the correct spelling of omelette? And in fact, many people that post omelette recipes spell it wrong... crazy...

Lessons Learned:
Always book your the WHOLE flight from a single company: They are better at dealing with this type of thing.
The check-in people are there to help, so being understanding and not over-reacting worked out well.
When options run out, eat and hope for the best.

Gettin' Ready

Yes Sir E,
I'm procrastinating about as much as I can. My flight leaves Seattle to SFO in about 8 hours. I'm excited and a little concerned I'm forgetting something. This is my first blog post ever... :p I'm only like 4 years behind the times.