Archive for November 2006
November 27th, 2006
Tonight Kris Krug and I are participating in a panel on blogging for a meeting of the Society of American Travel Writers here in Vancouver. Don’t ask me where the Society of Canadian Travel Writers is–it’s not the first time I’ve spoken to the Canadian arm of an organization with American in the title. But I digress…
One of our fellow panelists is Daniel Craig (different guy, but still posh), the general manager of the swish Opus Hotel. It’s a cool hotel, and as it turns out, he writes a nice, forthright blog about his work. His latest post discusses late night parties, drag queens and prostitutes. What more could you ask for?
Another challenging guest this weekend was a drag queen. I passed him in the lobby on Friday night and he looked fabulous – tall, thin and glamorous, with big blonde hair and lots of makeup. It was cool having a drag queen in residence, I thought at the time; added some colour to Opus. Unfortunately, it added a bit too much colour. I guess he didn’t like the colour of his room, because he repainted it – with his makeup. It was everywhere: carpet, walls, doors and bedding, resulting in a large cleaning bill. Bad drag queen, bad.
When talking about corporate blogs, I often say that, given the choice, I’d rather read a blog by the McDonalds employee who works the drive-in window on Friday nights than by McDonald’s CEO. I guess if the CEO told stories like this, I’d read their blog too.
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November 27th, 2006
As geeky readers know, Microsoft released their iPod killer this fall, the Zune. The Chicago Sun Times's Andy Ihnatko went to school on the new device:
Yes, Microsoft's new Zune digital music player is just plain dreadful. I've spent a week setting this thing up and using it, and the overall experience is about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face.
"Avoid," is my general message. The Zune is a square wheel, a product that's so absurd and so obviously immune to success that it evokes something akin to a sense of pity.
The reasons he itemizes seem pretty compelling. As far as I can tell, Microsoft did nearly everything wrong. I'll stick with my iPod, thanks.
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November 22nd, 2006
Let’s be honest. Most Filson clothes are pretty dorky. They are designed, after all, to be worn when there aren’t a lot of people around. I have a superb Filson safari hat that’s durable and great at keeping the rain off my face. There is, however, no denying its dorkiness.
The Filson Mackinaw Cruiser appears to be a viable exception to this dorkiness rule:
- 26 oz. Mackinaw Wool is thick, heavy, and offers superior warmth and durability
- 100% virgin wool absorbs up to 30% of its weight in water without becoming damp or clammy
- Wool is naturally quiet in the field
Quiet in the field? Great for sneeking up on moose or unsuspecting barstars. And stylish, too.
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November 17th, 2006
Via PopURLs, I discovered this unassuming but useful site for checking the status of airport parking at over 400 American airports.
When you’re getting ready for vacation or a business trip, probably one of the last things on your mind is where you might park your car. Unfortunately, it’s not always an easy process. Until now, there’s been no single place to find everything you need.
· Which airport parking facility is closest to where you’re coming from?
· Which facility is closest to the airport?
· Which facility is the cheapest?
Like a lot of useful stuff on the Web, it's only for Americans, so the rest of us will have to build our own.
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November 14th, 2006
Shel Holtz made a disturbing discovery about his Merriot hotel:
I noticed earlier that spam-like banner ads were showing up in my browser. I would navigate to a page that I knew had no ads, and one would appear anyway, mostly touting online poker. Curious, I clicked on over to my own blog, and the same ad showed up there…
A little investigation determined that all these ads link to a company called Superclick. I visited their site and learned more than I wanted to, enough to get my blood boiling. Superclick provides a guest interface for hotels that includes in-room services, which is fine. But it’s also dishing up these ads.
What's the real kicker? He's already paying $13 a day for internet access. He's paying $13 and getting served ads for online poker?
That is six kinds of bogus. What's worse, it's not just the Merriot. Superclick also provides this service to Hilton, InterContinental, Choice Hotels International, Starwood and Fairmont hotels. Those are some pretty fancy hotels, and they shouldn't be shafting their guests this way.
Over the past decade, hotels have had every opportunity to implement Internet access simply and easily for all of their guests. Why do they still find so many ways to screw it up?
By way of the comments in Shel's post, I discovered this blog dedicated exclusively to Merriot hotels for the business traveller. Talk about niche.
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November 13th, 2006
The other day I was surfing around Google Maps when I noticed two bits of land that I’d never seen before. The first is a small archipelago off the coast of Somalia. The main island of the group is called Socotra:
Socotra is one of the most isolated bits of land on Earth of continental origin (i.e., not of volcanic origin). The archipelago probably detached from Africa as a fault block during the Middle Pliocene (ca 6 million years ago), in the same set of rifting events that opened the Gulf of Aden to its northwest.
The archipelago consists of the main island of Socotra (3625 km˛ or 1400mi˛), three smaller islands known collectively as “the Brothers” — Abd Al Kuri, Samha, Darsa — and other uninhabitable rock outcrops.
The second island is exceptionally remote, though it seems more famous. The Kerguelen Islands are truly in the middle of nowhere–deep in the south Atlantic near Antarctica:
Kerguelen has been used by a small number of science teams since 1949, with a population of 50-100 always present. There is also a satellite tracking station. The main island is also home to a well-established feral cat population descended from ships’ cats. They survive on sea birds and non-indigenous rabbits introduced to the islands. The islands are also known for the indigenous, edible Kerguelen cabbage.
Flickr, of course, has photos from both Socotra (which looks amazing) and Kerguelen.
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November 10th, 2006
Every since childhood, I've had a sensitive nose. If I actually drank the stuff, I suppose I might have had a future as a sommelier.
I'm not sure if this is scientific fact or not, but to me smell the best sense for evoking memory. I remember a Christmas a few years ago when somebody received a gift made of leather. My brother and I both recognized the smell instantly, but it took us most of the morning to work out what it was: leather ties which were wore to formal events when we were 8 and 10 years old.
Today the folks at Lonely Planet (via the folks at Raincoast Books) sent Geeky Traveller two newish books. The instant I opened them I was reminded of books from the dorkier days of my youth. This happens fairly regularly with books–the smell of the paper, ink or glue (or some combination there-in) strongly calls to mind (usually much-loved) books from my younger days.
Experimental Travel–a beautifully designed book–smells exactly (here I am riffling the pages directly under my nose) like certain Dungeons & Dragons modules (modules were short, playable adventures). In particular, for reasons I can't explain, it smells like Expedition to Barrier Peaks.
The other book is Micronations, which is all about 'home-made nations' like Sealand. It's printed on glossy paper, and thus smells precisely like Robotech Art 1, an episode guide for the popular Japanese animation series which I read cover-to-cover-to-cover-to-cover when I was twelve.
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November 2nd, 2006
In the latest issue of Cool Tools, Paul Saffo sings the praises of Duluth Trading's Twill Presentation Jacket. It's got one ostentatious name, but Paul speaks highly of it:
It is just dressy enough to work for business meetings, but enormously versatile to wear for just knocking around. In the last month, I have worn it everywhere from going to the movies to staying two days in a swanky ($2,000/day) hotel in Morocco for business meetings, hiked part way up an 11,000 ft mountain, and slept on a long flight. As this implies, it is a dreamy traveler's jacket — never looks wrinkled (it is treated to resist wrinkles and stains), is tremendously comfortable, and has 13 pockets including zip-up pockets inside the outer patch pockets.
It sounds great. Unfortunately, the only image of the thing that I could find was this naff artist's rendering.
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November 2nd, 2006
Months ago, the folks at Buff.es sent me one of their buffs (sort of a ready-made bandana). I took it to a couple of Ultimate games, because I have issues with sweat getting into my eyes.
During the second game, I managed to pull a muscle in the bottom of my foot. I took the buff off my head, and tied it around my foot to give the injured area a little support. Worked like a charm.
Before actually getting the buff all sweaty, a female teammate tried it out. She gave it mixed reviews–it kept the hair out of her eyes, but there was some unfortunate static electricity that resulted from its use. Also, the fashionability of such items is questionable outside of athletic and backpacker settings.
On the other hand, I personally have an inexplicable affection for women with bandanas in their hair. I can't explain it.
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November 2nd, 2006
Via Neatorama, he's something you don't get to do on your average day in Essex–tank paintball battles.
Tank driving would be most people's idea of fun, but imagine the thrill of actually taking part in a tank battle - not with live ammunition, but with paint!! Take it in turns as part of a three-man crew to negotiate a tricky tank course set in a world war II bombing range. Your tank of choice will be a unique 17 tonne FV432 armoured personnel carrier, with specially modified cannons capable of firing 40mm paint rounds.
Okay, more of an APC than a tank, but it still looks like a ton o' fun. Plus, no welts the next day.
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