No Friday

[Part 1 - Seattle to Phoenix]

[Originally written on Saturday, December 20 on a flight from New York La Guardia to Boston (most of it, at least)]

Phoenix to Boston…err New York

The epic aerial adventure to the fabled, mythical northeast city of “Boston” continues. We’re currently in a holding pattern over Boston.

Yesterday, Friday, started off promising. After a night of restless sleep (likely due to being wired from the day before, although the joker in the room above me incessantly flipping through loud late night television until 3:30 am probably didn’t help), I woke up, cleaned up, put on my one outfit of clothing, and heading downstairs to check out.

First complication of the day - the bottle of wine. I picked up a Walla Walla Cabernet as a Christmas present at Seatac, but since I was now outside of airport security, I had a bit of a dilemma. I knew I couldn’t carry it on, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to check the bottle at this point. I chatted with the front desk, and one of the Residence Inn employees graciously agreed to assist me in shipping the bottle to its intended recipients. More on that in a bit.

I scrarfed down some continental breakfast, hopped on the shuttle to the airport, and reached the terminal. I was ticketed for a 2 pm flight but was hoping to get on the 10 am flight. My fortunes were better than yesterday, or so it seemed, and shortly after giving mom a status update, the ticket counter paged me, and I was again on my way to Boston.

Most of the flight was uneventful. I was pretty tired, so I snoozed most of the way. There was, however, a major snowstorm in Boston. I was a bit worried when I heard about the storm earlier in the day, but once the plane was underway, I thought we would be fine.

As we approached Boston, things got interesting. It was very difficult to see - apparently 1/4 mile visibility, with high winds. They initially put us in a holding pattern over Providence, as they were having trouble keeping runways open in Boston.

After about a half hour, though, they said that the winds in Boston were too high to land and that they didn’t have enough fuel to continue to circle, so we were being diverted to JFK. Awesome. Twenty-eight hours in route and counting. My price sensitivity to paying for direct flights continues to decrease.

At this point, however, I didn’t care as much. I was bummed that I was still further delayed from seeing Meagan and our families, but the trip had become so comical to me, and Boston so seemingly difficult to reach, that I didn’t see much point in getting upset.

Overnight in Manhattan

We touched down at Kennedy, awaited further instructions from dispatch for a while, and after about forty-five minutes, they announced the flight was canceled. While we were awaiting our fate, I made a few phones calls - to Meagan to let her know what was up, to my mom to keep her apprised, and to my college friend Derek, who I was about to hit up to crash at his place.

Once off the place, the one US Airways gate agent was apparently useless, but the folks on the distressed traveler number were pretty helpful, surprisingly so given the number of pissed off travelers they must have been dealing with. I was rebooked on a 10am flight (today) out of La Guardia.

Things could be a lot worse. I considered renting a car, or hitching a ride with one of the several folks on the plane determined to make it to Boston last night, or trying to catch an Amtrak train. Driving didn’t seem worth it, and would likely worry my wife unnecessarily, and catching the 7:30 Amtrak train was going to be a stretch, nor was it clear that mode of transportation was guaranteed to make it to Boston without getting similarly stranded.

Plus, I was happy to spend a night in NY with friends I hadn’t seen in a while, so, continuing to make more lemonade on this trip, I decided to stay the night.

I still needed to sort out my checked bag situation. I had no idea where that might be, and given the unexpected arrival at JFK and the general lack of helpful US Airways staff, I wasn’t expecting to learn much. I waited at baggage claim in the off chance that my bag had somehow followed me on this plane - it didn’t.

I dropped by US Airways baggage claim office, which was initially closed. I waited for a bit, and then the same clueless gate agent showed up a short while later, fumbled with his keys for a few minutes to unlock the door, and didn’t seem all that capable of helping the first person in line with a baggage issue.

Tired of airports and airlines at this point, and guessing that my bag was probably in Boston already (via one of the flights I didn’t get a seat on), and that I wasn’t going to be able to get any more concrete information at this point, I jumped ship and got in a cab towards the city.

I was pretty happy at this point - despite the interruption, I was closer, and it did seem the storm would let up. So, I settled in, looking forward to chilling in the city for a bit.

On the way, I checked my voicemail - one of the messages was from the Phoenix Residence Inn employee who helped me with my bottle of wine this morning. I am not exactly sure what the deal is, but there was some issue about shipping a bottle of wine to Massachusetts. Having lived in Boston for two years with their strange liquor laws, and with liquor laws being strange in general, this didn’t surprise me. Apparently you have to be an “authorized wine agent” to ship wine to Massachusetts.

The Residence Inn employee was going to try to ship it to another state or figure out another option. I told him not to go to too much trouble and consider it a Christmas present if things didn’t work out. At this point, losing a bottle of wine didn’t fuss me too much. I should have an update on its fate later today. [Update: No word from Phoenix - hopefully the bottle is being enjoyed by someone somewhere.]

After about half an hour, the cab made it to Murray Hill in Manhattan, and I headed up to Derek and Alex’s apartment. They were having some friends over for pizza, wine, and Rock Band. Fortunately, the pizza, wine, and friends were more than enough to make up for my sucking at Rock Band. I was able to struggle through a few songs on the drums though. The pizza highlight was a thin crust with fresh mushrooms and truffle oil. Truffle oil will soon be high on my list of kitchen staples.

Once everyone left, I sunk into the couch, and woke up a little before 7 am the next day.

Journey to Boston: Day Three

My flight wasn’t until 10, but since we weren’t far from the airport and it didn’t take me long to get ready, I decided to hop in a cab in the hopes of getting on the 8 am flight. I got to the airport at 7:20 am and made it on the flight, and it left pretty much on time.

The holding delay proved fortunately short-lived. We’re now on the ground at Logan, and as predicted, my bag made it ahead of me, waiting in the massive pile of stranded luggage outside the baggage claim office. I’m looking forward to some holiday adventures with Meagan and the Dodges. And, to wearing some new clothes and not dealing with the fun of holiday airline travel, if only for a few days.

Back in Seattle

Judging from what I hear out of Seattle, my adventures were not completely unusal. A few Facebook status updates from friends over the last few days:

• Matt “You might think the plane is canceled. But it is not.” So reassuring.
• Matt Lots of police by air Canada customer service. Folks aren’t happy with the delays.
• Matt Now in Winnipeg. Local time is 4:37 am.
• Sarah : third flight canceled. Now on a bus to Vancouver.
• Sarah was on hold with Air Canada from 12am to 3am with no luck… one last try before we give up on xmas in Toronto.
• Geoff is starting the third day of his attempt to make it to Detroit.
• Geoff has successfully escaped from Seattle, but is now stranded in phoenix.
• Geoff has been kicked off his airplane for the second time today.
• Glenn is wondering whose harebrained idea it was to connect through Chicago on Christmas Eve. Oh wait …

In the city itself, the situation wasn’t much better. Snopocalype 2008.

• A bus skidded off Capitol Hill, nearly falling onto I-5
• Apparently Seattle’s snow removal strategy does not involve using salt (for environmental reasons), prompting a few cries of outrage
• Fumes from deicer fluid at Seatac sent a few passengers to the hospital

Indeed, things could be a whole lot worse.

I try to not complain much, but this post will be whiny. Sorry.

I’m stuck at the Residence Inn in Phoenix Arizona, with half my luggage (not the half that has clean clothes, deodorant, and a contact lens case, but, as you can gather, my laptop).

It’s been a long day. I started by oversleeping a bit, then rushing downtown through the “Seattle Blizzard of 2008” to sign some loan documents for a mortgage refinance that needed to be completed before I left for the holidays.

I thought I might have had a chance at making the flight, but the snow was heavier south of Seattle, and a few inches had accumulated, and Seattle’s one snowplow didn’t quite make it to that part of I-5, so it was slow going. Still, every time I fly home for the holidays on US Airways, the flights are late, so I was hopeful. Plus, Las Vegas, the airport I was supposed to connect to, had been closed until 6 am for a freak snowstorm there, so I thought they might still be getting back up to speed and that the odds were good.

I was incorrect.

Today, the flights were of course running perfectly on schedule, so when I cruised into Seatac at 12:30 for my 12:50 flight, I didn’t really stand a chance. They put me on a 5 pm flight to Phoenix and on the standby list for a redeye to Boston.

At least I had a chance to move my car from the overnight lot to one of the off-airport lots, to save me the $250 or so that 10 days of airport parking would have cost me. That took a bit more than an hour due to the snarling snow-infected airport holiday traffic.

I was entertained listening to NPR’s The Conversation, discussing “Are we (Seattleites) weather wimps?”. Witnessing how a few inches of snow caused such havoc, I would have to say, “yes”. But, as a lot of callers pointed out, the city doesn’t have a lot of snowplows, it’s hilly, and drivers aren’t used to snow. True, but still, this was silly.

I finally made it to Masterpark, and they have the option of detailing your car while you’re gone, and since I’ve been meaning to schedule the Corolla’s bi-annual cleaning, I decided to give it a try. My car is filthy. Hopefully that will change.

Back at Seatac, I checked in for my flight, had a much enjoyed Halibut & Chips + Chowder + Arnold Palmer from Anthony’s for lunch, and then waited for my flight. The flight was uneventful. I read most of the recent Cook’s Illustrated and The Economist. A copy of The Onion would have completed things for me.

Ever the optimist, I never thought I wouldn’t get on the Boston flight, but I, sadly, was wrong. I was first on the list but I knew I was in trouble when they asked for two volunteers to give up their seat. And then when they closed the door, I was resigned to spending the night here.

I’m confirmed for the 2 pm flight, hoping to make the 10 am flight. And the standby games continues. It could be worse. I’ll be saving about $300 a month on the house and I’ll be in Boston tomorrow.

[Continued...]

Last week, I had my final photography class (Digital Photography 1 at the Photographic Center Northwest). We had two assignments for the last class. The first was to create a photographic essay of five related photographs with an artist’s statement. The second was to bring our five best pieces from the quarter.

The last class was very fun. Everyone brought food or wine to share, which definitely lightened the mood for our discussion. In retrospect, we wished we did that for every class! It was hard to get a bite to eat before the 6 pm class each week.

Both assignments challenged me. I have never written an artist’s statement before, and it was a little difficult thinking in this fashion. The last art class I took was in ninth grade and as a software engineering manager, I don’t often view myself as an artist. But part of the reason I took this class was to expand my thinking, and as someone who hates answering the “get to know you” question of “So, what do you do?” with my profession, I considered this an opportunity to explore and have some fun.

Creating a series of related photographs was also a bit daunting, but I found a theme that I had wanted to explore earlier, but hadn’t had a chance to. So without further ado…

Phinney at Twilight

Walking through the streets of Phinney Ridge in the early evening, I am often drawn by the power of the light. The neon signs of the various storefronts on Greenwood Avenue transform this otherwise quiet and upscale neighborhood street into something more sultry and urbane. In this series, I attempt to replicate that feeling of time and place.

I reside in North Seattle, near Green Lake, and frequent many of the establishments pictured herein. You can follow my travels, photographic and otherwise, on my blog at http://nofriday.com/blog.

The final ordering was determined in the class. I didn’t pay much attention to sequencing when I created the display - I simply put them in chronological order. We spent the better part of the class critiquing each other’s arrangement and debating about image placement. It was enlightening and difficult.

Other pictures from the Phinney series.

Five Best

It was hard picking out my five best, not because my work was so revolutionary, but editing and selecting your top work is difficult. Here are the five I chose:

You can view other of my “best” selections on Smugmug.

I’ll miss this class. It was somewhat nice this past weekend having a Sunday not consumed by shooting and editing for the upcoming class, but this fall I very much looked forward to my Monday night sessions. I’m going to take the winter off to focus on my primary recreational passion (snowboarding) but will likely look to take another class in the spring.

This year, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house in Seattle. This was the first time I was in charge of cooking Thanksgiving dinner, which was mostly very exciting and a little bit daunting.

For the most part, everything turned out well. We had a little pre-meal coordination to make sure that we had a good selection of food for everyone. Google Docs rock! I was responsible for the main courses - turkey, stuffing, gravy, and rolls. Concerned about timing everything, I created a minute-by-minute playbook for the afternoon, which was not effective. “Roadmap” would have been a lot better than “Detailed Script”.

Some additional lessons learned:

• Timing the turkey so the breast meat is done at the same time as the thighs is tricky. I brined the turkey to help create a buffer, but nevertheless the breast was done well before the thighs, and although no one complained, I thought the turkey was a little dry as a result.
• The last minute of taking the turkey out, arranging sides, carving the turkey, and finishing the gravy is very hectic. Clear plenty of counter space and try to keep the kitchen free.
• Don’t improvise a recipe you haven’t successfully made before. I tried making Parker House Rolls and I decided to freeze them before baking them (after I prepared them in the morning) so that we could have them fresh for dinner. Well, that didn’t work. They were more like Parker House cookies. Amusingly, our vegan guests tried the identical Cook Illustrated recipe, but substituted soy butter and soy milk, and ended up with a very similar situation. So, it’s not yet clear the recipe is good…but given CI’s track record, I am more inclined to fault my improvisation and the vegan substitutions.

We had a great group of people over for dinner, including my cousin Becky, her husband Jay, and their toddler Abby. Having them over provided a nice “Valerio family connection”. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom’s side of the family, originally at my aunt and uncle’s house in Poughkeepsie, NY and more recently at my parents’ house outside of Philadelphia. Trying to recount the many memories of those gatherings would take quite a while, but I was happy that we were able to start our own family tradition in Seattle.

On Sunday, the Lanfords came back over for some Sunday morning pancakes before heading back to Portland.

Some pictures from the weekend are below. Unfortunately, it proved a little difficult cooking and taking pictures around dinner time, so apologies for the lack of people shots…

View the rest on SmugMug.

I just spent an hour upgrading the blog. I have:

• Upgraded to WordPress 2.6.5.
• Installed the WordPress Automatic Upgrade 1.2.2 so that hopefully the next upgrade is easier.
• Installed Lightbox 2 2.8.0 so I can get fancier pictures.
• Updated the Google Analytics 1.2.3 info (I had the plugin installed but never added the correct  Javascript).
• Installed the Wordbook 0.14.2 plugin so that posts automatically show up on my Facebook page.
• Installed the wp-cache 2.1.2 plugin.
• Removed some older plugins I don’t use.

Other plugins in my Wordpress setup:

• Akismet 2.2.3 (kickass comment spam handler)
• Feedburner 2.3.1

Other upgrades I am considering:

• Something to better integrate with my Smugmug account.
• Changing to a different theme so wide images don’t get messed up - although now that I am going to use Medium images with a Lightbox, this should be less of an issue.

If everything is working correctly, the following image will be medium with a full-size grey lightbox, the post will cross-link to Facebook, and in 24 hours, I can see how many people clicked it via Google Analytics…

This weekend has largely been about upgrading and maintaining other things in my life, including:

• Getting Meagan’s Saab fixed at Moe’s Automotive in Ballard. I highly recommend them. They repaired a headlight electrical problem, replaced a broken part that prevented the driver’s window from rolling up, and fixed an issue that prevented the rear passenger door from being opened from the inside. I called on Saturday morning, they said come on by, so I dropped it off and then picked it up three hours later, and everything was fixed for a bit over $200. Try getting that to happen at the Carter Saab dealership!
• Putting up some more Christmas lights and decorations in the house.
• Replacing a shingle which fell off the house. Since I am much better at blog upgrades than house ones, this was an accomplishment.
• Waxing two snowboards - my regular one and my old one, which I expect will be the one I use next weekend at Whistler unless we miraculous get a lot of snow.

Some fun around the house with some flowers, a bottle of wine, and some glassy babies.

More on SmugMug.

My new office location on Beacon Hill has a pretty sweet view of downtown Seattle, and on nice days around three o’clock I often wish I could be outside shooting some pictures in the early twilight - sadly, work usually wins.

So, after shooting some pictures off the EMP earlier in the day, I headed south to take some pictures of the Seattle skyline in the twilight and night hours. I first headed to Viewpoint Park, but either because of the light or the vantage point, I wasn’t as happy with the location. I hung out there for about an hour, but then ventured a bit north to Jose Rizal Park, where the view was a lot cleaner.

Here are my favorites.

More on SmugMug.

A few weeks ago, the assignment for my photography class was “the abstract photograph”.

I was struggling a bit to find a compelling subject. That Sunday, we went to Zeek’s in Phinney Ridge for lunch, and as we were walking around after lunch, I was trying to create some interesting abstract pictures. Some of the ones (below) weren’t bad, but I wasn’t thrilled. Same story at home.

After lunch, I was on my way to the Georgetown neighborhood, hoping that a new landscape would provide some opportunities. But, I didn’t make it there. On the way there, I passed the Experience Music Project. I thought the metallic exterior might provide some interesting opportunities, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The EMP building was designed by Frank Gehry, who also designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, among other things. The metallic panels provided all sorts of interesting reflections. You can read more about the building design here.

Here are some of my favorites - this seemed like a fertile ground for ideas, so I plan on returning again, especially since I want to get a better compositon of the last one.

The rest are on SmugMug:

• Abstract Exploration
• Abstract @ EMP

A few more pictures around Green Lake in November. I shot most of these as part of my black and white assignment, but I think for the most part they work better in color.

View the rest on Smugmug.

A few weeks ago, I had a black & white assignment for my digital photography class. It was quite challenging as I had never shot in black and white before. It forced me to look at subjects much differently, focusing more on their “luminosity” as opposed to their color. The weekend that I was shooting was a pretty overcast one, potentially making the assignment more difficult.

There was a brief stretch of sunshine on Saturday morning, however, and I managed a few that I was happy with.

View the rest here.