You don't know how many times I wished for this....

In Tokyo, my dream has come true. There were numerous times I looked at some object, knew it had significance, but had no idea what it was. And I also had no easy way of ever finding out. I can't ask Google to do a search when I have no words for my question.

I read this article in the NY Times with great interest. You can point your mobile in the direction of a monument, and it will tell you what it is. It works with restaurants or hotels as well. You point the phone, and it provides a list of choices, as well as how far away each place is.

Sorry, technology not available in the US.

Smart cars...

I read this article from the NY Times. It discusses Daimler Chrysler's plan to introduce the Smart car here. I saw these cars all over Europe, at least Western Europe. They get great gas mileage, and seem great, as long as you don't need to carry anything with you. There is some space in the back for a couple of bags of groceries.

I can see it catching on with people who have long commutes, or people who live in the downtown area of large cities. Other than that, I don't see it catching on. We just like to carry a lot of stuff around with us in our cars. I frequently have a 50 pound dog in my back seat, and the trunk contains an emergency box-jumper cables, replacement fluids, emergency blanket, and more. The Smart car would be a bit cozy...

Terror Alert Indicator

This site places a terror alert indicator on your web site. I have it on my Google homepage, which I have just customized. It replaces the color coded system with something much more amusing. Let's hope we never hit "Elmo" level...

Luckily, I spaced out for a bit...

I drove back to my parent's house yesterday. I normally take a state route from I-74 to I-65. The former dips south to reach Indy, while the state route continues straight east. My exit is at mile marker 39.

About three miles prior, I reminded myself to get off. About a mile prior, a truck was transporting a rather large piece of yellow metal. Wasn't quite an engine, but captured my attention. There was a police escort, and traffic on the other side of the road was also backed up. Bottom line is that I forgot to get off.

Not a big deal, but adds 30 minutes to my drive, based on the one other time that I've done so. Turns out that this 30 minutes made my life much easier. There were massive storms traveling through NE Indiana yesterday afternoon. Had I been 30 minutes earlier, I would have been further up the interstate, about where I saw six semi's overturned. As it was, there were strong winds and buckets of rain.

At least I'm comfortable driving again.

What now...

So I went to visit my storage unit. I needed to find things like my running gear, PJ's, and more shoes. I wandered through many boxes looking for an assortment of items that I had been looking for.

I found things I didn't even know that I wanted to have back. And so it led me to pause and think about all of my stuff. I couldn't tell you the contents of most of my boxes off hand. (I know you wouldn't be shocked to know that most boxes are numbered, and there is a list with a short description of the contents of each. I could eventually tell you the contents.) But I remembered that I like most of my stuff. And it gave me an idea: I could one day be reunited with it, and actually be able to unpack it.

This has motivated me to move beyond my "readjustment" phase into the "move on" phase.

Mobile phone...

No, I don't yet have a mobile phone, but I do have a story:

So my mobile phone arrived from Amazon. I'll spare the details (I know, it's rare), but the bottom line is that I needed to contact Amazon's customer service. Hmmm... How do I find the customer service number?

About four clicks later, I hit "Call me."

You read that right. You punch in your phone number, and tell them how long to wait until they ring. (Dial up users need time to get off.) After selecting "right away" I clicked "submit," and the phone started to ring.

Wow. Voice over IP, I am pleased. And way to go Amazon for making this happen! How many times does customer service agree to call you when you have a problem?

My phone still isn't set up, but they'll give me $10 to make up for my pain and suffering.

***
I should also mention that I seemed to have more problems than usual in dealing with questions from the customer service people. On both calls I had to make, I had to have things explained to me. And a repetition of the explanation using slightly different words.

And I needed to give the last five digits of my credit card instead of the last four. Little things like that you learn to key in on to make these conversations a bit smoother. After months of not having to deal with it, I'm a bit rusty.

Skills for living in the modern world, gone, just like that.

So. I'm not the only one...

First, my thanks to Andy, who forwarded this link to me. It's from the NY Times, discussing the trend of younger people taking time off between jobs to travel. It's mostly the result of wanting a bit more balance between work and life. You don't want work to always win. Two weeks of vacation doesn't always give you the time away you want.

So it sounds like other people are doing what I did, but just not necessarily to the extent that I did.

Random conversations

We were queued to board the train. The man in front of me asked if this was the train to Washington DC. I replied, "I'm not going nearly that far, but you're in the right place."

I noticed two things. First, I had detected a slight accent, but could not place it. Second, even though we were both native English speakers and able to read the same set of signs, he felt a need to confirm the information. I certainly know this feeling. But this is what being in your own country does for you. I was certain of the system, and had no doubt I was in the right place. But more power to him for asking. Sometimes asking questions you think you know the answer to leads to some surprising results.

So I asked, "So, where are you from?"

Upon hearing "Scotland," we launched into a discussion about the fact that I had been there three weeks prior, and he had been in Madison, WI visiting friends.

We were able to get adjacent seats on the train, and continued the conversation for quite some time. He was quite fascinated by the scenery, and it is much better than that found by the Indiana Tollway. We had a random conversations about our family, what we did, where we had been, how the US operates, that type of thing. We exchanged names and well wishes just before I disembarked.

Much the same thing that would happen to me during my travels. I don't think that I would have pursued a conversation before I took my trip. Having been the one in dire need of reassurance, I felt a certain kinship. So I'm now more willing to end up in random conversations with perfect strangers.

Amtrak

I needed to go to Chicago this past weekend. I wasn't ready to drive. My brother drove me from Ft. Wayne to Chicago, and I took the Amtrak back.

It was the nicest train I was on in all of my trip. Really.

There was a lot of room between rows of seats. The seats tilt back further than any I encountered. And they have a rest for your lower leg, as well as a foot rest. Features not at all found in a coach seat in Europe. Clean bathrooms too. (You know I'd put that info in.) There was dining service, but I was waiting for Mom's home cooking, so I didn't partake.

So go on! Give it a chance! The train was packed. All the cool kids are doing it!

Hey Jaycees!!

The following is for the JC's in the crowd, so the rest of you can skip over this...

I wrote a CPG for this trip, which is why there is a link from the Peoria JC's web site to this blog.

Of course, I had a set of goals for this CPG, and now, it's time to see if I've met the goals. So, if you're a JC, please post a comment with the following info:

• Your name (first name only is ok). (You can send me an email if you prefer that. Click on my name to the right, and my blogger profile will open up. Under "Contact" you'll find a link with my email address.)
• Your chapter, if not from Peoria
• If you have conducted a web search as a result of something in this blog
  

Let me know if you have any questions about this...

Hey all!

OK - I'm still alive. I was just enjoying a bit of a time out from the blog. Buster has needed a lot of scritching (ala Snoopy and Charlie Brown).

I've ordered a mobile from Verizon via Amazon. As an FYI, Amazon has better deals on the phones than going directly to the company. You do have a middle man without a store, but that's the trade off. I'll send out an email once I know the phone number. This should happen early next week.

I still have not driven my car. I've put it on the "to-do" list for tomorrow. Buster should go to the park, or I should go to Walgreens for some decongestant. Probably both. And both are probably related.

My ambitious goal for next week includes stops in Cleveland, Urbana, Peoria, and Flora. Don't worry if you live in one of those places and don't know about my plans. I don't really know them either. In some ways, figuring out the when was a bit easier when I had to get on the internet and check plane/train/bus schedules. There were finite times available. The "drive myself" option is so open...

Skills and lessons...

Things I've learned, and things I've found handy:

Learned:
- Stop to check the map often. If things seem a bit different than you expected, check in concentric circles around your last known location. You're really WAY off the mark.

- Don't navigate via mosque in Istanbul.

- Don't navigate via canal in Amsterdam.

- Observe carefully. Sit there for longer than you really want to. Sooner or later, someone will complete the very action you desperately want to know how to do. Works for entering mass transit and buffet lines.

- Use small words. Go slowly. Don't be surprised when your question of "Do you have a bigger/smaller widget?" obtains a response of "We have many more items for sale over here...."

- If you can't read the menu, it's ok to just point at something else you see.


Skills to have/ things to know before you go:

- Use of chopsticks

- Riding a motorcycle. I didn't know, so got by without it. Lots of people get on, but you have to be really careful with this one.

- Compass and map reading

- Pack a black marker.

- Pack light. You don't stay in one place too long, so no one knows you're always in the same two shirts.

Buster

So I was reunited with Buster yesterday. Dad let him out of the house, and he came running out. And then he proceeded to bark at me with the "Stranger Danger" bark.

I said "Hi there!" and the scene changed immediately. He started to do the "happy dog" dance. He did urinate on the driveway. He was quite excited.

We played tug of war, and he gave me my first scratch. I retaliated by giving him a bath.

Several rules have been relaxed in my absence, so I am trying to re-establish order. I've seen him eat carrots. But he did sit on his blanket for dinner.

He no longer sleeps on the bed, instead going to his bean bag. So it was not all bad...

Other issues....

- Brooke drove me home from the airport, and it was really fast. She was going no more than 60 MPH.

- Put the lid down. Don't hold down the lever, as the toilet will flush on its own. Butt gaskets at RDU are outside the stall. Take one in with you.

- ATMs do not give me five language choices. (English, French, Spanish, German, plus local language if not listed above, such as Polish.)

- I wandered around the earth for seven months, and the first accident I was involved in was in NC. No one or thing was hurt. But the people worried about transport options abroad were a bit misguided.

- I still haven't driven. That will need to change soon.

- I can spread out my things when I sleep in the same place more than two nights.

- Price tags: The price on the sign in Europe, and a few other places, was the price that you paid. The tax was included in the figure. The receipt did provide a total amount of tax.

- Water comes with meals. No asking for tap water is really necessary.