UMTravels

6:30am car call to the airport — made this one. At the airport by 7:00am — damn good time, should have been another 15 minutes. The Delta Crown room once again refused my Board Room card. Need to remember that it really is only Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Salt Lake City. Your basic croissant, egg, ham, [...]

Another glorious sunny day on the lower east side. The morning was spent helping Davey and MJ with computer technical issues. They didn’t’ realize that they actually had wireless Internet in their house. I found it when I went looking for their router to plug my laptop into. Funny. Then there is Davey’s IBM laptop [...]

I’ve been coming to visit the lower east side of Manhattan for the twenty years that Davey has lived here. My first visits were to a pretty gritty and rough neighborhood of bodegas and crackheads. No more. I walk around with my wallet in my back pocket, the bruiser son smacking the baseball bat in [...]

Noon fifty direct flight to JFK on Delta — at the other end of the airport from the Alaska Board Room — and no underground tram. The things I do for a couple of free drinks before a long flight in an “A” seat. Oh, and a lunch of snacks as well. Off to NYC [...]

http://www.vote411.org/�is sponsored by the League of Women Voters and offers state by state information on candidates. http://www.vote-smart.org/index.htm�is a non-partisan organization based in the Montana Rockies�(they have internships for both students and adults) that has candidates fill out a standard questionaire so you can compare issues — just type in your zip+4 code to get all [...]

Train arrived a few minutes early — was back at the apartment by the train was originally due. Time to pick up packages, get a little lunch and head off a little early for the 3:30 ferry since it’s raining to beat the band. Streams are flooded, one of the airport parking structure entrances is [...]

The visit with Steve went well — think I’m getting used to the metal clank of prison doors opening and closing. Returned the rental car at 2:30 to save being charged for another day. One expensive day is enough. Back on the train in a roomette — number 3 on car 731. 6:30 dinner reservation [...]

Here�I am in Montana — home of a contested election — and a swing one at that. Conrad Burns vs. Jon Testor …. and if you want some UTube (my spelling), click here for his rail against taxi drivers. Full disclosure: I used to be a scab (anti-union) taxi driver. Interesting to see these races [...]

The evening in Shelby… dinner at the Sport Bar in town. Three images from dinner, none of them from the Manhattan, the Rib-eye steak, or the onion rings — I suppose the salad cancelled it all out. The images: The bar, the town hottie (photographed by D & L Photo, Shelby, MT), and the urinal. [...]

Up in the morning for the free breakfast. Two eggs sunny side up, home fries (not in my home), biscuit (great doorstop), and turkey sausage links that were just plain odd. Of course, on the up side, this is still one of the long distance trains that ACTUALLY cooks their food, rather than reheating pre-made [...]

So — on the train, checking email (someday I’ll get around to telling the technical specs of my travel)…. and my friend Pat the Librarian (with a capital “L”) send me this link. I put it under the category of “Love the soldier, hate the war.” It is both uplifting and painful. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1543658-1,00.html MacCallan scotch [...]

Morning shower, breakfast, blogging followed by errands to Lowes for a VCR mount (they didn’t have, and Home Depot was out of stock), the liquor store (wasn’t I just there yesterday!) for booze for the train ride. I love the fact that Amtrak lets you bring on your own booze (including wine for dinner) if [...]

The post midnight AM fortune: “A friend is a present you give yourself.” Maybe it’s time for another cookie…. “Someone of importance could let you down.” Damn, empty calories, empty fortunes. This list for today: IKEA: 6″ wide mount drop 12v lamp for harvest table and two lamps for the city apartment, tired of having [...]

Nope, not headed for Libya, yet. It’s on my list. Great article about a recent trip to Libya by Victoria Davis Hansen that appeared in the City Journal (as in New York)�which is published by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Where I AM headed: Seattle on the 1:35 ferry. Leaves me time to deal [...]