Flying The Unfriendly Skies

Ever since I got married, my airline miles have increased greatly due to the fact that my wife loves to travel. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy visiting places outside the Island as well, especially if I'm in her company.

But this post is not about the quantity, but the quality of our most recent flight. Our airline this time around is American and so far there have been at least two things that have really bugged me. First, no ginger ale. Every time I travel, when offered a beverage I always ask for Canada Dry; not on this plane. And second, no pillows. I notice my poor wife tossing and turning trying to get comfortable, so I ask the stewardess to please bring her a pillow; again, not on this plane.

As I write this I'm thousands of feet in the air only an hour or so away from arriving at Chicago and let me tell you it's not been as good as our last time on a plane. Unfortunately I had no control over the airline this time, but in the future American will have a tough sell if they want me to fly with them again.

Should've gone with US Airways, right bro?

On A Wild Dog Chase!

My wife and I are animal lovers, more her than me actually, but we share our affection for dogs. In past posts I've already mentioned our "son" Baileys and how he's sometimes a bit of a nuisance. Nevertheless, we do love him and try to make his life with us a happy one.

Recently, a visit to the Vet pointed out that our poor dog was suffering from separation anxiety. I don't have a Ph.D. and even I knew that! His suggestion, however, was to consider getting another dog, a companion and playmate so he wouldn't feel so alone while we're off at work.

This is where it gets interesting. I'm cool with one dog at the moment, since we're living in an apartment, but two dogs is a bit more... tricky. An alternative that came to mind, one that I hopefully won't regret later, is to get a smaller dog, particularly a Boston Terrier, since it's both our favorite. My wife was ecstatic when I told her this and she voraciously scowered the Net in search of breeders, either local or in the States. She then handed me several number for me to call and ask for puppies.

Since yesterday I've been on this crusade to find the perfect pup. No luck so far, but my guess is that if I don't keep looking my wife's going to send me to the dog house!

Under Penalty Of Murphy's Law

Have you ever had a day where everything you tried came out with a totally adverse result? For me, last Saturday was mine.

It all started when I woke up late, around 10 AM, when I needed to work early on the Keynote presentation for my IT Operations class at 1 PM. I quickly sat down on my PowerBook and began to build upon the outline my group's Project Manager sent me a couple of days before. Glancing at the computer's clock it was 11 AM already. I saved what little progress I had, dashed to the shower, got dressed, put away my laptop, headed for the door and turned the handle...

The doorknob didn't work. I jiggled the lock and turned it again. Nothing. I couldn't believe it: I was locked in my own house!

I heard my neighbor's door open, so I called out for help. He tried to let me out, but no luck either. Looking around the house I found my old tools and successfully disassembled the handle. I managed to get out, but now another problem arose: how to close the front door when the entire lock was busted. My neighbor happened to have an extra lock, but upon examining my door one of the screws was bent making it very difficult to extract.

Enter upstairs neighbor. I explained my plight and asked him to lend us a hand. To our surprise, he was a handyman with years of experience under his belt and fixed the door in no time. I thanked them both for their assistance and got ready to leave again. I opened the door to test the lock one last time when suddenly something brown swished by my legs. My dog managed to escape and was in the street waiting for me to chase after him. Since I know he loves to go on car rides I walked quickly to mine while he playfully ran beside me and, as soon as I opened the door, he hopped in. I drove back to the apartment, put on his leash and took him back into the house.

Having no more time to spare, I floored the gas pedal so as to catch the next train at the station. At the terminal I remembered my fare card was empty, so I went directly to one of the recharge stations. To my "surprise", the machine which usually accepts ATM cards wasn't operating, making me miss the train and raising my frustration level another notch!

Angry and annoyed, I got back in my car, drove to the closest bank, withrew ten bucks and returned to the terminal. I only wanted to charge $5 to the card, but the machine rejected my bill displaying it hadn't any change. I finally gave up and just let the machine gobble up the whole thing. As I stepped onto the escalator, the sound of cars departing reached my ears to which I just simply sighed, sat on the nearest bench and meditated on the events so far.

I caught the next train about ten minutes later, working on the incomplete slides along the way. It was almost 2 o'clock when I finally arrived at the University. Entering the classroom, I was just in time... to witness the end of my group's presentation. I cracked a blank smile at the professor and took my seat. When he asked why I arrived late, my reply was:

"Two words: Murphy's Law."

Back To The Drawing Board

Tonight I met up with my IT Operations group to see how far along we were on our class project. From the looks of things we weren't on the right track. Most of the heavy duty coding fell on only one member and in my book that is unacceptable. So I suggested a different strategy: start from scratch.

The look on each teammate's face was not pleasant and I felt like I was this close to mutiny, but I explained my concern. Thankfully, they understood my point and we began to piece together what each of us needed to do to get this project off the floor. The tasks were distributed evenly this time and I feel much better now that everyone will do their fair share.

I'm more optimistic about the project now and if things go as planned we'll probably meet our professor's deadline. Cross your fingers, people!

Pokemon, Podcasting, Presentations, Pencil & Paper, and Ponies

This weekend was full of variety, as the tounge-twisting title suggests. Let me fill in the details for you:

• Pokemon

On Friday a new Pokemon game was released for the Gamecube. Bearing the name of Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, it's an RPG that follows the adventures of a young trainer whose task is to capture opposing trainers' Shadow Pokemon and open these fighting machines' hearts by different purification methods. It's an odd twist to the game's usual formula, albeit a fun one. I've already clocked in some 10 hours in the game and even as I write this the game is calling to me; it's that addictive!

• Podcasting

Friday evening was already reserved for a monthly podcast I take part in. The pre-recorded show is called the iWannabes, in which a couple of friends and I record an hour of our miscellaneous nonsense and geek-speak, thereafter posting it on the Internet for everybody to download. So far we have 3 episodes online and I foresee more will follow. So subscribe to our iTunes feed and get an earful of tech news and tech nonsense!

• Presentations

I had to do a progress report presentation for my Saturday IT Operations class. Using Keynote 2 as my main communication tool, I was quite confident I would have some eye-catching slides ready for the afternoon lecture. Alas, neither material nor muse could help me whip up a presentation in time for the class. I usually am rather creative when working in Keynote, but for some odd reason the spark didn't come to me until about an hour before class. Fortunately, it was time enough to organize the data on my laptop and apply the finishing transitions needed to once again wow both my professor and classmates; a close call indeed!

• Pencil & Paper

Around 9PM Saturday I met up with a couple of friends to pick up where we left off our latest RPG adventure: a mix between Dungeons & Dragons and Star Wars, both very different universes. So far our first session was fun, but we still had to get used to the clashing rules of both systems. I, for example, play a magic casting elf whose companions are a Clonetrooper and a Jedi. The blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy makes for an interesting storyline, so let's see how the Gamemasters handle the will of the Force in a world dominated by the power of the Elements!

• Ponies

Sunday afternoon was spent up in the mountains of Cidra, where my dad now works as the administrator of a horse ranch. An idea my wife and I had was to take my great grandmother with us so she could spend rest of the day in a different surrounding, rather than the urban life she's been used to. Upon arriving, we were welcomed by my parents and sister, which were glad to see us. Since my brother-in-law was with us, he really wanted to hop on to one of the horses. My wife also got the spirit to ride as well as convinced me to join them. As soon as my dad heard, he and my sister saddled up and we galloped through the countryside. We definitely had a great time and the experience is worth repeating.

Well, we've finally come to the end of our ride. Don't forget your personal belongings and I hope you didn't nod off or get frightened away by the Pokemon!