Starting off the trip right...

On my way to Oakland, I changed planes in Dallas. I got there at 8am.

I have a few cousins in Dallas and, in a quaint throwback to a bygone era when long distance was expensive, I called them just to say hi.

My cousin Barry says, "how long will you be there?"

"About 80 minutes."
"Ok, I'll be there in 25."

And, he was.

How many people would drive on a Sunday morning to the airport just to hang out with you for 30 minutes or whatever on your way through town?

Not many.

I told him, "you know, had I known this, I would have called you last night and told you what time I was coming, but then again, WHO DOES THIS KIND OF THING?"

Well, a guy who lives each day with a "Remember the Maine" attitude.

Gotta love it.

And Oakland may be the worst...

I have been in third world airports that were nicer and less chaotic than this place.

In need of major overhaul!

At least they know it...renovations are underway

Interestingly enough, like bwi and some other places, southwest has an entire terminal to themselves.

Most Travel Friendly Airport...

DFW--Dallas/Fort Worth--is great. They have a playground for kids, free internet kiosks, and get this...have you ever walked around like an idiot looking for an outlet to plug in your phone or pc?

Well, they have dedicated charging stations w/ 6 outlets (USB also), where you can plug in and just charge your devices for free.

Mobile productivity

I land, get an email saying my books will espire at the library tomorrow, call the automated renewal line and take care of it....all while riding the airport tram.

isn't technology grand?

Arrival in dallas, 7.44 CDT

Did you know that the dfw airport covers an area equal to that of Manhattan?

Also, don't you wish people could have an idea of just how loud they are when talking on their cells?

Blog Pace....

Will be a bit slow this week... a lot of travel. You probably need the break anyway.

1 year anniversary...

Celebrating 1 year since thyroidectomy.

Movie Review: Bus 174

What I enjoyed most about this movie was the insight it gave me into another culture, namely Brazilian.

On the surface, it is about a bus hijacking, but the director dives into many of the underlying issues that (potentially) drove the Sandro do Nascimento (the hijacker) to perpetrate his deed.

Issues of the vast divide between rich and poor, the favellas, the treatment of prisoners, the life of "street kids," the incompetency of the police force, the unwillingness to take risks that needed to be taken...a huge number of issues.

In this country, we're so used to hearing about our own problems and how others perceive the US. Not that I would expect Brazil to be perfect, but it was a perspective-widening moment to dive deeply into the rich cultural fabric of a foreign nation and get a glimpse of their lives and struggles.

Ali G in Law School

As Stew says:
"usually those Lampoon style skits are garbage, but this is genius"

Think it doesn't matter...

who your kids friends are? Or who your friends are?

From Seth Godin's blog

A study out today shows that obesity is contagious. If your best friend gets fat, your chances of gaining weight more than double.

Malcolm Gladwell fans will recall his reporting that suicide among teenagers can be contagious as well.

So is terrorism, of course. And spamming. And graffiti.

The most important thing you can do is choose who you're hanging out with. The second high-leverage thing is to put dynamics in place that reinforce the ideas you'd like to see spread. Celebrate the heroes. Make it easy for those ideas to
spread...

The Thrill of Flight...

Mesmerized.

For 10 minutes...at least, the two of them stared out the window of the observation tower at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum.

It's right next to Dulles airport and you watch planes land from all over the world. Made me a bit nostalgic for my travelling days, but excited to see how well the kids responded.

Inside, there's a cornucopia of planes...the Concorde, Space Shuttle, military planes of all types. It's a huge hangar and plenty of room to run around (and tire out) for kids.

The only shortcoming, which Tungsten pointed out, was that there were no planes for them to climb on or go in. That was a downer and would have made it a top-notch experience.

I had never been there so for me, it was fresh. All in all a good time though.

A little perspective....

Pulled into a parking space the other day and saw this scene unfolding right in front of me.

At first, I thought the guy had been hit and knocked off the road.

Turned out he'd had a seizure. Still, a VERY scary moment and one that makes you stop and think...appreciate what you've got.

Inspiring Quote...

"The only thing worse than not having the skills you need to meet your challenges is not having challenges big enough to summon all of your skills."

I found this while reading Best Life magazine. It sells itself as "what matters most to men" and I got it on a fluke.

About 2 months ago, USAir told me that I had 7,000 miles that were about to expire. I could use them to order magazines...which I did...about 10 in all. And, now we're inundated.

I was skeptical about Best Life. It seemed like it could be very lightweight reading, but the issues I've seen so far and the discussions of fatherhood and its challenges have actually been stimulating.

We also got Scientific American, Self, Men's Vogue, Fast Company, and a few others that I don't remember and haven't arrived yet.

High Pressure System...

You know how the weatherman says, "oh, there's a high pressure system moving in that is pushing out the clouds..." or something like that?

Well, here's a shot of an clearly a demarcated line as I've seen from my flight back from Denver.

Motherhood and the Internet

I was in a bit of a bind last night.

I needed a babysitter for this morning so I could take Tungsten to her swimming lesson (btw: Tonka->Tonken->Tungsten: see here for nickname philosophy).

I called a few backups. No luck.

Then, I called a friend who has 5 kids, the eldest of which is 13. Her daughter wasn't available, but within minutes, she gave me the name of 6 possibilities. Sure enough, success resulted.

The next morning, it dawned on me.

Our friend, Aviva (the mother of 5), is like a critical Internet hub. She's got 5 nodes out there and is in contact with people (and their parents) across a huge range of ages. Information flows through her head...A LOT.

If you need info, call a woman with a lot of kids. There's some serious HUMINT there.

Incentives and Bribes...

People respond to incentives. 3 year olds are no different.

Saturday afternoon, Paco had just gone down for a nap. I was about to.

I said to Tungsten (aka Tonka), "I'll give you 3 pieces of gum if you
take a nap now."

"A long nap or a short nap?"
[a short nap means she just lies on her bed. A long nap means she actually
sleeps.]

"A long nap."

"4 pieces!" she said..

"Deal."

That made everyone in the house very happy (including me...the girl is learning how to negotiate and wheel and deal.) And she did.

Sunday morning, she came into my room at 6:15am. She knows she is not supposed to show up until her clock says "7 or 8."

I offered her 3 pieces of gum to go downstairs and get herself some yogurt and cheese (her breakfast of champions.).

She agreed.

Later, I realized, that was a bad call. She should be doing that anyway.

I explained to Tungsten.

"I'll pay up since I promised I would, but from now on, you will not get
bonuses or incentives for doing 'your job,' you will when you go above and
beyond."

No more bribes, just an incentive-based compensation structure.

Facebook's Intriguing Features...

Read a post by one of my favorite bloggers the other day about a unique feature on Facebook called "Status Updates."

What it does (click here to see) is give you some short, quick insights into the daily activites of your network.

These insights are things that would most likely never come up in an email or phone conversation, but since it's a 1-way broadcast and it's short, it works.

Just by reading these (in RSS format), I get a feel for what my friends are doing, what's troubling them, and even used them as conversation starters.

I've spent some time trying to figure Facebook out...this is by far one of the coolest.

Book Review: Making the List

Well, this one didn't make my list. Don't read it. Making the List is supposedly an American cultural history of the best-seller list and it started off with a lot of promise, but quickly, I got tired of it.

Perhaps b/c I was listening to it, but there were sections of recitations of the top 10 best sellers from 1904 in fiction and non-fiction, then 1905, then 1906. OK, I get it. Tell me more about what it means, but by the time Michael Korda, some big publishing industry hotshot got there, I had lost interest.

The beginning, telling about how the list evolved and why was good, but this was probably an article that someone said, "hey write a book."

Bad idea.

Sauna 2nd thoughts...

I've reconsidered my position on saunas. After a visit to one the other day where I had a great chat with some Indians who work at the World Bank, one of them shared his experience of trying to convince his wife to buy one.

She argued (pragmatically) that:

1. you have a jacuzzi you never use, prove to me you'll use the sauna first and then we'll talk
2. it's expensive to buy and maintain
3. you will miss the social element

Point #3 made the biggest impact on me. I've long said that some of my best random conversations happen with people in saunas.

I'm no longer going to get one of my own. Just go more often!

Galapagos Pics...

A dear friend, Lisa, just got back from a trip. Take a look at these magical pictures.