Thursday, August 8, 2002

Yeah, so I've been away for a while. Sorry about that. 2:13:01 PM

Wednesday, April 17, 2002

Cool graphics right here, thanks to the guys over at Penny Arcade. 3:12:36 PM     And, of course Waste Age is on the web. 2:56:15 PM     Design in Motion is a cool site, but then I love these sorts of trade "magazines" generally. Years ago, someone subscribed my roommate to a gazillion trade magazines as a prank. I always looked forward to "Waste Age", which covered the garbage collection world. It was fascinating reading. Ads for membranes to line your landfill, etc. 2:52:25 PM     Amazon defends used book sales. update CEO Jeff Bezos asks booksellers to write to the Author's Guild "explaining how the sale of used books actually helps the entire book industry." [CNET News.com] I can see the arguments on both sides, here. I buy mostly used books, and mostly used CDs; I like the convenience of going to Amazon and searching in one place. I get new and used right there, no browsing in two different places. My usual record store, Down In The Valley, shelves the used and new CDs in two different parts of the store. If you're browsing the new section and wonder if that $17 Tom Waits CD is available used, you've got to walk across the store to find out. It'd be much more convenient for me, the shopper, if everything was shelved together. Then, while browsing the Black Sabbath offerings, I'd have the brand new Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and the beat-up used copy right there for my perusal. I can see where the authors might not like that, though. 2:49:00 PM

Tuesday, April 16, 2002

Another reason I don't like CompUSA. I went there over lunch to investigate whether Sony's Clie USB cable charges as well. I still don't know the answer to that question. I hung around the PDA counter for some time, leaning over to try to read the packaging, only to be ignored by all present. Ah, well, that's par for the course. The new thing I noticed today is that while everything at CompUSA has a tag on it, none of those tags [except clearance items, I believe] carry a price. They all have a date, but no price. At the PDA counter, I was looking at a little sheet of something that you put on your dash which holds your cel phone. Seemed neat, but what does it cost? The were all put out on display on April 15th. That's useful. At the register, some spiffy little paper-holder things. Also stocked on 4/15/02. Gr. Yet another reason to do all my shopping at MicroCenter. 10:02:05 AM

Monday, April 15, 2002

I'd planned to keep a daily log of our trip here. I ran into some snags, though. I didn't want to spend an hour or two typing up the day's experiences every night, especially after Katie pointed out one night that she "resented every second I spent typing". So, I started just banging in sort blurbs to spark my memory of things to flesh out later. As I began to flesh things out, however, I realized that I was ending up with these giant news posts on some day two weeks ago. It seemed sub-optimal to point friends and family here to wade through old giant news posts. So, new tack. I'll post a thing or two each day, putting the big stuff into stories. Fair enough? 5:15:44 PM     I'd noticed, here and there, signs that said "geöffnet". The ones I'd noticed were plywood A-frame sidewalk signs. The "geöffnet" part always seemed to be separate in a sort of banner. Further, I had only noticed them on recreation facilities like mini-golf courses and ice cream shops. We were crossing the street in Bertesgaden to go on the small bahn up the mountain when I saw another one of these pointing up the mountain road: "Gasthof - geöffnet" or somesuch. I remarked to Katie that the "jeff-net" seemed pretty pervasive, and asked if she knew what sort of network it was. Is it like the Good Housekeeping seal, where you have to meet some level of service to qualify for Geoff"s recommendation? "That's it. You're banned from the internet for a week." For the non-German speakers, "geöffnet" means "Open". So started another running joke for the duration of the trip. "Dang, everybody in Germany's part of the Geoffnet!" 5:09:47 PM

Monday, April 8, 2002

Monday, my 40th birthday. Drive into Munich. Return car. Photo crew at departure gate. Fly to Amsterdam. Arrival is a ghost town. Departure much busier. See Buy Fly doesn't have headphone amps. Change money. Departure gate change. Emma and security questions. Cows. Amsterdam to Detroit. nice family on plane by us. Dutch, benz, Claire 8, Tom 10, Lars 2. No name of course. Nice Bloomington boy by Jack. Harry Potter, The Score. Plane is late, customs, birthday present from customs agent. Missed connection. Different plane. Hour on runway. Home. Taxi from airport. Sleep in bed. 1:08:51 PM

Sunday, April 7, 2002

Sunday Breakfast. Kids to Frasdorf park. "Nice" lunch at Hotel Zur Post. Driving debacle. "Giving her the bone". Swimming at Prienavera in Prien with kids. Coins, dressing rooms, lockers, dryers, cafe, slide, vortex, outside. home and bed for early morning. 1:04:31 PM

Saturday, April 6, 2002

Saturday Grocery shopping. Stop by Uta's house. Old woman backing into street. Wheelchair mishap. Kampenwandbahn. Hold head "under the water". Flea markets. Home. 1:04:17 PM

© Copyright 2002 Chaz Larson. Last update: 8/8/02; 2:13:11 PM.