One guy's journey around this globe.
85 countries visited in total. 450,000 miles flown in 2008. 2009: 89,597 miles flown, 14 airlines, 17 aircraft types flown, 5 new airports and 7 countries visited.
Oftentimes the travel journey discovers other things. I was in San Francisco, CA last weekend and saw people with little fans announcing Whitney Houston's new album, I Look To You which debuts on August 31, 2009. Do we still call things "albums?" :-). You can see the album cover above.
I just had a chance to take a look today, yup been a busy week.
She looks quite different now and sound a little, O.K. a lot different as well, but its been 6 years since we've heard from her. I don't know if I like this song, I want the old Whitney back, but I'm afraid she's gone forever. Let's embrace the new one and see how this new album pans out.
Airport naming is fun and will be the subject of another post, but for this post, let's just make fun of the funny codes and the words they sometimes spell. Check these out.
ABE - Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton, PA
BAR - Baker Island, AK
CAK - Akron/Canton, OH
DOH - Doha, Qatar
DUB - Dublin, Ireland
EAT - Wenatchee, WA
FAT - Fresno, CA
FUK - Fukuoka, Japan
PIS - Poitiers, France
POT - Port Antonio, Jamaica [appropriately, I guess]
REK - Reykjavik, Iceland
ROW - Roswell, NM
You ever been to any of these or do you live in one of them? There are many other gems, which ones are your favorites?
One of my favorite is if you from fly from FRA to NCE you are going to FRANCE.
I received my Google Voice invitation recently. On July 6, 2009, I setup my account. I've wanted to use it to make a call for a while, but just never got around to it. I needed to call my dad who is out of the country, so I used it as T-Mobile charges me $1.49/minute! Plus I believe I get docked my phone minutes as well. Here is what I did.
Making a call This is really simple, first you click on the Call icon and then start typing the name or the number of the person you wish to call. As Google Voice is integrated with your Gmail account, any numbers you have stored in your G1 phone contacts will be accessible. I chose my Dad from the list of numbers that appear as you start to type.
You can then choose the phone you've set up to ring using Google Voice or choose a different number. You may have the system remember your choice by checking a checkbox. Click the Connect button to make your call.
The phone you designate to ring will do so. When you answer it, it tells you how much credit you have and the cost per minute of your call. You can also view your balance on screen.
Heathrow International Airport, London England 19 Jul., 2009. My KLM flight to Amsterdam from Heathrow's Terminal 4 was at 6:30a. I figured I was going to have difficulty making that flight so I purposely stayed at the airport and in addition, awoke at 4:00a so I could make my flight. This is when the fun began.
The night before, well a few hours before bed, I did some research about the bus times at the Transport for London web site to ensure that I could at least get a bus to the Central Bus station at Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3. I however did not research actually getting to Terminal 4. Why would I think that would be an issue in the world's busiest airport?
As I was not too clear about the morning's outcome, I was out of the hotel at 4:32a and headed for the bus stop which was quite crowded for that time of the morning. But the airport is run by people and Heathrow starts early; first flight lands between 5:45a and 6:00a and first departure is at 6:00a from Terminal 1, 6:30a from Terminal 4, my flight and 6:15a from Terminal 5. This may vary by day of week and time of year.
Within minutes the #555 showed up with Central Bus station as its destination. I asked the driver if the bus goes to Terminal 4, he said no, but pointed across the street saying I'd have to take the bus on that side. I said, thanks and that I will figure it out once I get to the Central Bus station as I knew that you can take the shuttle to Terminal 4 from the Central Bus station.
I arrived at the Central Bus station at about 4:40a and headed downstairs and followed the signs to Terminal 4 via the Heathrow Express/Connect shuttle. Once there, I along with a few other people realized the doors were closed. There was really no signs saying what time it opened. There was however a schedule saying that the first train to London Paddington was at 5:08a.
Two other passengers and I headed back upstairs to see if there was a bus. Lo and behold it was the #555 and it had departed at 4:45a; yup, it was the same bus I was on from my hotel. Now why did the driver not say something? Your guess is better than mine.
It was now 4:50a so we decided to head back to the Heathrow Express station. At 4:57a, a lady opened the doors. I asked her if there would be a shuttle to Terminal 4 right away and she said yes.
When we got down to the tracks, we noticed that the next train to Terminal 4 was in 38 minutes and I believe 29 minutes to Terminal 5. It appears that Heathrow Express which is responsible for the shuttle train between terminals is clueless of the airlines' operating schedules. Here's a clue folks - go here.
I saw some of the passengers talking to a Heathrow Express employee and garnered that she said we should take a cab. Also, that the cabs may not want to take us as the journey is a short fare.
So four of us went upstairs and headed for the cab line at Terminal 3 arrivals. This whole episode had the makings of my experience back in February this year (2009) when it snowed like crazy and London could not deal with it.
One of the ladies was going to Terminal 5 and the rest of us to Terminal 4. The three of us approached a cab and told him our destination. He was none too happy, but ushered us into his cab, closing the door behind us and telling us it would take about 20 minutes. What! At that point I knew he was going to take the longest route so he could get a better fare.
He then went over to the dispatch booth to complain I guess while we waited for him. Moments later he came over, started the cab and we were off.
After what seemed like a really long drive, I noticed the Hatton Cross bus station and wondered why the heck he was going this far out. As fate would have had it, I had taken that 555 the day before and it took all of about 8 minutes from Terminal 5 to the Central Bus station, so I know that it should not be taking us this long to basically go around the airport. So I know this cab driver cheated us.
By the time we got to Terminal 4, the meter read 22.20 GBP! I split it with the lady and her son, but she only took 10 GBP from me. As a comparison, During that freak snow storm back in February, I had taken a cab from Tower Bridge to Paddington in driving snow and that fare was 15 GBP. That distance was much farther than what we did today.
We were both able to check in for our flight although there was quite a long line.
I'm sending BAA and Heathrow Express a link to this post so they can see what customers go through in the wee hours. Here's hoping they will make some changes.
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My mom turns 68 next week. She has asked to visit a foreign country that's been on her list for a while. A few years back I had it all planned with her and my Dad and she pulled out literally at the last minute. Dad and I had a blast.
I always stress when I travel with my mom as no matter what I seem to do I can't please her. Let's see what happens on this trip.
You can follow us on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mskonfa1990 and guess our destination using the clues.
Well, it is a long weekend so it brings opportunity to delve farther around the world. With almost 90 or I think 90 countries under my belt, the easy ones have been attained. Thoughts were to do Belarus, Bulgaria or even Vilnius. The flights look like crap so these are not possible at this time.
Tunis, Tunisia was a choice by my colleagues canceled so that did not work out. There are now thoughts of South America or Europe, but will see.
I, like many of you are Michael Jackson fans. I remember growing up, he was the only perosn myself and my friends listened. In my opinion, Off the Wall is he best song he ever did. Which song is your favorite? Check it out here:
Here are the lyrics, read for yourself compliments of Lyricfreak:
1st verse When the world is on your shoulder Gotta straighten up your act and boogie down If you cant hang with the feeling Then there ain't no room for you this part of town cause were the party people night and day Livin' crazy that's the only way
Chorus So tonight gotta leave that nine to five upon the shelf And just enjoy yourself Groove, let the madness in the music get to you Life ain't so bad at all If you live it off the wall Life ain't so bad at all (live life off the wall) Live your life off the wall (live it off the wall)
2nd verse You can shout out all you want to cause there ain't no sin in folks all getting loud If you take the chance and do it Then there ain't no one who's gonna put you down cause were the party people night and day Livin' crazy that's the only way
Chorus So tonight gotta leave that nine to five upon the shelf And just enjoy yourself C'mon and groove, and let the madness in the music get to you Life ain't so bad at all If you live it off the wall Life ain't so bad at all (live life off the wall) Live your life off the wall (live it off the wall)
Bridge Do what you want to do There ain't no rules its up to you (ain't no rules its all up to you) Its time to come alive And party on right through the night (all right)
3rd verse Gotta hide your inhibitions Gotta let that fool loose deep inside your soul Want to see an exhibition Better do it now before you get to old cause were the party people night and day Livin' crazy that's the only way
Chorus So tonight gotta leave that nine to five upon the shelf and just enjoy yourself C'mon and groove (yeah) let the madness in the music get to you Life ain''t so bad at all if you live it off the wall Life ain't so bad at all (live life off the wall) Live your life off the wall (live it off the wall)
Chorus So tonight gotta leave that nine to five upon the shelf and just enjoy yourself C'mon and groove (yeah) let the madness in the music get to you Life ain't so bad at all if you live it off the wall Life ain't so bad at all (live life off the wall) Live your life off the wall (live it off the wall)
Since I started using twitter, I've had to contract my thoughts into 140 characters or less. It's not a bad thing, but I've had to think more when I tweet. Here are some tips to help you along.
Use "&" instead of "and"
Use numbers instead of spelling out the number; e.g. "1" instead of "one" unless it makes your thought unreadable
When re-tweeting, try to edit the original tweet if you can to make it more legible, but don't change its meaning
Use synonyms to find shorter words that means the same; go to a cool online Thesaurus at http://www.synonym.com/
Honolulu, HI (HNL) - beach and watch the sun set on Waikiki beach
Los Angeles, CA (LAX) - to hang with friends there
Memphis, TN (MEM) - to get barbecue in the airport
Orlando, FL (MCO) - Shuttle launch
Raleigh/Durham, CA (RDU) - Wordcamp Durham
but ended up staying in Houston and attending http://podcamphouston.org. This was a fantastic event and I'm glad I attended. I met many really smart people whose friendships I hope will last a long time.
I also got a lot of planning done for future success.
On Thursday I leave for the Paris Airshow in Le Bourget, France just outside of Paris. Then the weekend with friends in London, England.
Last week (Sunday 31 May, 2009) Google made an update to the Android operating system. I was chatting to a friend of mine after having some afternoon birthday cake and tea. I accepted the update and continued chatting. Acknowledging that I was doing so.
After the update was done, the date changed to April 15, 2009 at 10:01a, I showed it to my friend who laughed. Seconds later, it changed to the correct time. I looked back at the phone and I was quite impressed with my findings:
The first things I saw was a new icon that said "camcorder" with the picture of a camcorder [here is a video I did http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSaPxN63_sI]. I had to immediately mention that to my friend, to which he quipped "cool." Not sure if he was annoyed that I was being distracted or if he was really impressed :-). I think the former. I was eager to try this out, but had to wait.
Next, I noticed that the browser icon was now a world map. Nice I thought.
Not to be rude, I left it alone and continued my conversation. Over the next few days, I really checked out the phone and here are my deep findings:
onscreen keyboard: Yes, finally they've added one. It is a bit small and does take some getting used to. During my first few days, I actually refused to use it, but more and more I'm using it and learning it. One thing I could not figure out was how to make the darn thing disappear after I'm done (click the Back arrow next to the power button). Also activating it is a learned experience (you have to tap into the area where you want to write something). By default, the keyboard activates with capital letters; once you press the first letter though, it changes to small letters. You have a "DEL" key and a "?123" key as well. I can't find a "\" though on that keyboard, can anyone? I am also assuming that in Europe there are "£" and "€" signs. The keyboard also auto completes for you so that is a good deal. Oh, sometimes, it places a "Done" on the keyboard and pressing that makes it disappear or completes the action you were performing. All in all a worthwhile addition.
threaded e-mails: Perhaps the best fix yet. The previous issue was that when you receive an e-mail you could not reply to it as the reply would go to the first person in your contact list. For me that was Google 411. This really sucked as sometimes I forgot and wondered why my friend never replied to my text. All that is history and the new threaded feature rocks. Thank you so much google.
contacts: They've re-worked the interface so it is easier to read/use and has cooler icons. There is now a "+" to add a contact's information and a "-" to remove it. You can also "Revert" if you want to discard all you've just done. You can now add a postal address as well as Organizations. If that was there before, I never realized it. When you press "MENU" from the main Contacts screen, you now get "Search," "Display group," "Edit sync group" and "Import contacts." Again, if these were there before, I never saw them.
call log: Not much done here, just that the icons are slightly different and after you've called a number that is not in your contacts, you get an option to add it to contacts as well as send SMS message, plus the usual Call again option. It also gives you stats on the call (time, date and duration of call). Oh, the names and numbers are arranged a little better than before.
dialer: Not much change, except that when you dial a number, the tab in the middle now changes to "Dialpad." After a few seconds, it changes to a lock that says "Double-tap to unlock." Which is good as it helps so that you don't accidentally press a key. I am still waiting for the feature where once I put the phone away from my face, the dial pad activates, but I guess that is next.
favorites: not to be left out, they've actually built some auto functionality into here by adding a "Frequently called" section below any favorites you denoted.
camera: Nice improvement. The new software is 1,000% better than the old. It is actually much better in low lighting now and it looks like they've added some handshake code, which was well needed. Also, now when you click the shutter, it processes what you did and focusses even more for you it seems. Once the picture is taken (by using the new onscreen camera icon or the buttons on the side), it shows in an icon on the upper left if you are holding the phone horizontal and upper right if vertical. The position does not change based on how you are holding the phone. The only odd thing is that the picture is auto saved and once you click on the thumbnail, you get the options to go to the Gallery (formerly called Pictures), "Set as," "Share" and "Delete." Plus an arrow to move to the previous picture and of course you can see the picture and there is a zoom bar (new icons for this release). it does take a little while to load up this new menu though. I have 1,191 pictures on my card so that may have something to do with it :-).
gallery (formerly pictures): nothing new here except the zoom bar now has a "-" and a "+" on it. But this is a new thing for the phone itself.
camcorder: I've saved the newest for last. it is O.K. it is a learned experience. Once you click the camcorder icon, you are taken to a screen which activates the video camera showing a thumbnail of the previous video in the upper left hand corner if he phone is horizontal and upper right if vertical. There is a icon on the right upper corner that is used to start the camera. A counter counts the time and the icon changes to a red dot in gray circle. Pressing the circle stops the record action. Playback is achieved by clicking on the newly created thumbnail of the movie and then choosing Play. Once play is complete, you can choose "Gallery," "Share" or "Delete" or record another movie from the menu choices. Share options are Gmail, Messaging or YouTube. For the latter, you have to enter your username and password, sign in and then give the video a title, decide if you want it public (default) or not, enter a description, add your tags, view the shortened terms of use with a link to the long version and click "Upload" or "Cancel." Voila you are done! You are then taken back to the video on your phone. When complete you get a YouTube: Upload Complete notification. You can see my video here at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSaPxN63_sI
There are perhaps more stuff that were updated, but these are the major ones I've seen/used. A good update, thank you, but can you please add a notepad for me?
Linked up with friends, had a shower and enjoying the beautiful weather.
One of the fun things about London is people watching :)
Just saw a lady trying to force her way onto the Picadilly Line. The doors are closing and she is forcing her way in. Eventually the doors re-opened for her.
Will have to expedite a passport this week as I'm off to Jamaica on Friday a.m. I will then have to re-do Global Pass :(. I may wait until the next week.
It is a beautiful day out today. It is sunny and not raining. The flight over was good and I was able to get some sleep.
The stupid lift does not say which direction it is going. Heading into Central London now on the Picadilly Line.
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