UMTravels

For the reference to that post title…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner

The flight got in early – so I was on the curb a little after 7, and Ezra was already circling… the wrong terminal – apparently the Admiral’s Club is not the only AA thing screwed up. Website said Terminal One – the tiny one. Reality, Terminal Two. Thank god for cell phones – as I said to someone else waiting to be picked up.

After a stop at Ezra’s lux apartment about a 15 minute walk from my hotel (close to his bike shop) I was checked in by 8:30am (AMAZING – now THAT is an early check in). Shortly after I was breaking my own rules for adjusting to jet lag – i.e. stay up until what is normal bedtime.

My room is the one just to the right of “HO”. How appropriate.

Up from the “nap” after four hours. Out the door for chicken, tortellini stuffed with spinach, in a cream sauce, with a glass of wine. And then to the Hbf (Hauptbahnhof), a.k.a. the main train station to postcard stamps for the postcards from DFW – which will now have German postage on them.

And back to bed for another couple of hours.

Dinner tonight was more of a snack since lunch was a huge meal that I only ate half of (finished the Rioja though). Can you say Currywurst?

Yes, back to the station – I needed a LITTLE food, not a whole meal. I also picked up a couple of postcards of the main train station as well. And then back to the hotel to settle in, do email, update FaceBook, do this post, chat, cruise on-line for a new German boyfriend… just another Wednesday night in front of the TV and the Computer.

Taking a sleeping pill to reset my body clock now that I’ve caught up on sleep.

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Up around 8:30 to deal with cleaning up the apartment for Chris’ arrival late tonight, fresh sheets on the bed, folding his favorite towel and putting it on the bathroom counter, yet another salad for breakfast — something about being on a cruise for seven days that makes you want to eat a lot of salads when you get off the boat.

More snow expected tonight, but here are a couple of picks of what I arrived home to…

and like I said, more expected tonight. Can’t beleive that there are daffodils poking up already. Doesn’t look like the weekend clean-up happened, or they hate me for being in Hawai’i — good thing Julian was busy working in Oly-town.

Whitaker is expected tonight, hopefully for dinner, more likely for leftovers. Whitaker would be the brother of Whitaker the maid, this would be Whitaker the all-around roust-about  — miller of lumber, fixer of electrial systems, installer of solar systems, raiser of sheep. His website is here: http://www.redalderranch.com

His mission, should he choose to get out of bed in the morning is: fix the fuel gauge on Bob the Bus, see Twango photos at: http://www.twango.com/channel/markso.wanderlodge, fix the passenger side mid-section lights (again, on Bob), and chainsaw some lumber into usable pieces.

Me — I’m working on various projects, dealing with all the mail and packages, and generally trying to catch up. Padding and folding jobs from Paper, Scissors on the Rock, calendars to print for the winter Faerie gathering at Breitenbush Hot Springs. More than enough work to keep me busy until I have to go back into town late this week to sign the papers on my new house (http://www.twango.com/channel/markso.newhouse)

When I finished the 1st draft of my white paper for Shirts of Bamboo, I got that RUSH of WOW — like when you got a college term paper from thought to paper. No — it still doesn’t make me want to go back to college to get a master’s degree, even if I am the black sheep of my family because I’m the only one without at least one advanced degree.

So, take a look at the efforts of the last couple of weeks of research…

How Green Is Your Green Clothing?

Water Is The Answer. 

Isn’t the “green” issue really all about water? Water is the next generation’s oil problem. So, let’s examine the issues of “green clothing” based on the water argument.

This quote from the World Wildlife Foundation says it all:

Less than 1% of the world’s water is readily available for direct human uses These uses include agriculture and industry, drinking and domestic purposes, and energy generation and transport. Increasing competition for water among such uses is degrading the very natural resources on which we all depend.”

Currently there are three major fabrics used for the production of “green clothing” if you don’t count the minor fabrics containing corn husks, coconut shells, and seaweed. How green are each of these fabrics? What is the accountability (transparency) of the supply chain? What are the processing methods? And most importantly for the environment – what is the impact on the world’s water supply and environment.

The Case for Hemp

Pro

·         Grows nicely in slightly boggy conditions less suited to food crops

·         Good rotation crop

·         High yields, with multiple uses

·         Short cultivation time — yield in 3-4 months

·         With good water table, no irrigation needed

Con

·         No domestic production, though several states including Kentucky and North Dakota have passed pro-hemp laws

·         Lack of transparency for overseas production, currently all the fiber used in clothing comes from non-western countries such as China, the Philippines, and Russia, none of which are known for documenting sources or growing methods

·         Large amounts of water used in the “retting” process

·         Needs to be replanted each season

The Case for Organic Cotton

Pro

·         No chemical pesticides or fertilizers

·         Uses non-genetically modified seed

·         Can come from US sources (US, Turkey, and India are the major producers)

·         Existing infrastructure for all phases of cotton production and manufacturing

Con

·         Massive water use for growing and processing (organic or non-organic). 7,000 to 29,000 liters of water used for each kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cotton produced.

·         Needs to be planted each year and rotated out for organic pest control

·         Fertilizer intensive

·         Only .1% of the worldwide cotton crop is organic

The Case for Bamboo

Pro

·         High water efficiency (twice that of trees, comparable to sugar cane)

·         Plant it once and harvest for up to 120 years

·         Produces 35% more oxygen and consumes four times the CO2 than trees

·         Effective for erosion control due to its widespread root system

·         Helps mitigate water pollution due to its high nitrogen consumption

·         Requires little attention during its growing/production cycle

·         Sustainable AND renewable

·         Makes shirts softer than hemp or cotton alone

Con

·         No US production of fiber causing a lack of transparency in processing methods

·         No trade group to fend off attacks by the cotton industry

Conclusions

There have been on-going on-line discussions about the processing methods to get bamboo fibers – the use of heavy caustics such as sodium hydroxide. Also know as caustic soda, is used in many applications such as food processing, soap making, and paper production and in the manufacture of bio-diesel fuel. It is also used in wet processing of almost all organic cotton fabrics, most hemp fabrics with the exception of a small quantity coming out of Romania and is approved by the Global Organic Textile Standards.

To me, this discussion of processing methods is a red-herring. The real issue is how much water is used to grow the plant, how much fuel is used to plant and re-plant those fields, and how much CO2 is sucked up and oxygen spit out. If you look at those factors – bamboo is clearly the winner.

Hemp Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp

http://mojo.calyx.net/~olsen/HEMP/IHA/iha01106.html 

http://mojo.calyx.net/~olsen/HEMP/IHA/iha02111.html 

http://www.green.net.au/gf/hemp_cultivation.htm

http://www.hempusa.org/articles/cleaning-and-softening-hemp.html

Cotton Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton 

http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/policy/agriculture_environment/commodities/cotton/environmental_impacts/water_use/index.cfm

http://www.organicexchange.org/Farm/cotton_facts_intro.htm

http://www.cottonusa.org/whycotton/index.cfm?ItemNumber=808

Bamboo Resources

http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/news/Default.asp?NewsID=%7BEABD78F0-AA4C-4DC6-BB10-75BA55B019B2%7D

http://environews.cars-and-trees.com/index.php/2007/12/15/meet-bamboo-the-1-oxygen-maker-of-the-planet/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/bamboo.html 

[230.5]

Up at ten:

• Breakfast
• Mail drop
• Drop off old Asus for brain transplant
• Home Depot for bug spray
• CampingWorld in Fife for curtain rods for the Focus
• Bank deposit
• Pecos Pit for BBQ
• Home Depot for forgotten items
• Les Schwab to get leaker fixed (must return)
• Safeway for groceries and gas
• Les Schwab to get the damn thing done
• Home

That would be FIVE hours of stuff.

But there is a mystery solved. The train from the other day or so in these pictures:

So, here are the much better shots from train spotters:

This is the “power” car…look at the exhaust pipes on the front, and the aero-dome for the satellite downlink stuff.

Thanks to NormanDcat who looked at the photos and actually figured out my “I thought it was labeled MRL on the cars”.

More is the info he found:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,3050156

And then I started digging….

Montana Rail Link : http://www.montanarail.com/index.php

Owned by the Washington Companies: http://washcorp.com/index.php

Great video here: http://washcorp.com/video.php

And they repaired their yacht:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/warning.php?forum_id=4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.charterworld.com%2Fnews%2Fattessa-iv-yacht-launch-seattle-usa-largest

Had the train cars barged in so that the yacht folks could rehab them:

I’d give my left testicle to ride on that train – oh the joys of coal in the US:

Makes me think of Warren Buffet and his “train set” which I’ve seen parts of. Apparently I run in the wrong crowd.

Same dinner as last night.

No worries.

[208.6]

Roxy goes back to college at The Evergreen State College in the fall, and left both of his jobs at the beginning of the summer to have one last fling before academia. With that in mind I’ve booked us three nights in the WorldMark Whistler Creekside – a one-bedroom plus.

Roxy’s bedroom – albeit meant for children:

My bedroom was meant for the adults:

Not a bad view – and this was taken before they came and whacked down some of the closest trees for an even better view:

We got to the place about 3:30 after stops in Squamish at the liquor store for wine and cider, and Nesters for groceries. The room was ready and I think I’ve even had this room before since it’s on the third floor – but that’s the entrance floor. Room was at the end, close to the back door for convenient parking.

Since Roxy is a PescaTerian, it’s fish rather than fowl for dinner – halibut with salsa to be exact, along with a nice salad:

In the morning it is up and out – according to what I have read, the 7^th Heaven Express lift has limited hours. A little breakfast and out the door with the first stop be Guest Services to pick up our lift tickets – if you book 5 days in advance, you get a discount (which pretty much pays for the tax) and a second day free –which is a huge discount. Basically it works out to $25 a day for unlimited mountain top rides, but only one time up the mountain. We were in line behind some nice German boys:

What I discovered over the two days on the mountain is that Whistler/Blackcomb is truly an international destination. German, Italian, French, Kiwi, Spanish, you name it.

Our first ride is up the Whistler Gondola:

That takes you to the Roundhouse Lodge where we caught the Peak-to-Peak to get to Blackcomb.

The Peak-to-Peak is the world’s longest gondola run at 1.88 miles. From there we caught the bus to the 7^th Heaven Express. So weird to see people waiting in line half in and half out of ski gear – I prefer the half out:

The bus was crowded since the lift had only opened half an hour earlier. Figure half tourists, half ski/snowboard.

Here is a selfie with Roxy on the open-air lift:

A beautiful day to be in the mountains. And from the top, which is 7,494 feet….

And the ski-bowl, which is open until July 27^th this year:

Complete with skiers doing aerial tricks:

After hanging around for a bit, it was time for a little snack:

That would be the ham and cheese melt on a big slab of multi-grain bread, a shot of cognac (which hits you like a ton of bricks at that altitude), and my “water bottle” filled with Whiskey and Diet which lasted me all day – got to keep hydrated. As for Roxy – just a can of cider, he’s not much of a mid-day eater.

We caught the bus back down and grabbed the Peak-to-Peak back to Whistler and set off for the summit via a .37 mile hike (elevation change 180 feet) and yet another open-air chair lift. Whistler Summit is 7,807 feet in elevation and needless to say has stunning view.

Just to give you a feel of the ride down – several people have commented….no way in hell!

We decided to take the Solar Express to Blackcomb Base Camp since it looks on the map like it will be closer to the Free Day Lot (Lot Number 4) where we parked. We saw a black bear on the way down, but I didn’t get a good picture of it. For this ride on the Peak-to-Peak, we waited for one of the two glass-bottom cars:

The downside of these cars is that you have to wait for them rather than immediately getting on one of the regular ones, there are not as comfortable (i.e. you can’t put your feet up), and most importantly they are stuffed with other people.

Back at the condo – it’s another fish night, this time was a slab of grilled salmon with grilled eggplant – did I mention the condo had a grill?

A quiet evening for the boys…a little whipped by the altitude.

Up the next day – not as early since we’ve already done the summit with the early closing time – today is all about hiking – yes, I used that word. Granted, we are only doing the “Green” trails, not the “Blue”, and god-forbid, the “Black” trails. But nonetheless, yes, I’m hiking. Here is the hiking trail map.

We did one hike on each of the mountains, coming up the Solar Express from Blackcomb Base Camp in the morning. The first hike was the Spearhead Walk, which was .74 miles long with an elevation change of 55 feet. Twice the trail passed over the downhill run from 7^th Heaven:

Lots of great views of the valley between the two mountains on our little hike:

After our first hike of the day, it was back onto the Peak-to-Peak to hit the Alpine Walk on Whistler. This one is .96 miles long with an elevation change of 213 feet. More great views, just no great pictures.

With that hike done it as time for a late lunch at Christine’s back on Blackcomb – onto the Peak-to-Peak we go….Christine’s is the fancy sit-down restaurant and I thought we should treat ourselves. It’s also a great way to avoid parents with children. My expectation was OK food and that you are really paying for the view….but first… cocktails:

Manhattan for me, Blueberry Margarita for Roxy. As for lunch, Roxy had the hot ahi tuna sandwich with arugula and black truffle aioli and I went for the pound of steamed mussels:

We shared bits and both were EXCELLENT – one of the best meals that I’ve had in YEARS. The bill? $88 CAN not including tax for the two entrees and three drinks. Any yes, the view was STUNNING as well:

It was after 4 by the time we were done with lunch, and time to head back down the hill.

Today there were four black bears out foraging for huckleberries – and I got a nice little video of one of them:

On the way back, we stopped at the new grocery store (Creekside Market) in Creekside Village where the condo it. I hadn’t been to this one, it’s only been open since the Winter Olympics in 2010 where Creekside was at the bottom of the downhill run.

We found a great selection of sausages – salmon sausages for Roxy, lamb for me.

Well after dinner, Roxy found some playmates down the hill – and me, I had another drink and went to bed.

Off before 11 in the morning as I have to been Susan at the Costco in Burlington to pick up some more bindery equipment that she is getting rid of – that after an easing short line at Customs after our trip to Duty Free (2 liters of Dark Rum for Dark and Stormy’ s since I still have some of the Reeds Ginger Brew). Roxy still needs to apply for Nexus so that when we go to Cabo San Lucas in September that he has Global Entry.

Both of us got a ton of sun on this trip…. 5 hours with the top down on the way up, 5-7 hours each day on the mountain, another 5 on the way home.

It was nice to switch off driving on the way home. Speaking of home, got there at 4pm after dropping Roxy off at his place in the old brewery.

And my next house guest was patiently waiting for me – he’d arrived yesterday. Luckily I have a lock box with a key in it for such emergencies.

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Early morning with Whitaker banging on the front door to get in. It was unlocked, but it sticks in the morning — you have to kick the bottom of the door, hence, all the marks.

So, up earlier than I wanted, but that’s good. More time to prepare for the marketing meeting at Events and Adventures at 11. Of course — I go into this meeting and find there are LOTS of presentations — go away for a week and the landscape changes. At least they still want me (and are willing to pay for me).

Got a link to a blog today from someone on yesterday’s tour that took a better photo (not hard) than me:

This is the 130 foot tall retaining wall. The link to the blog is: http://seattlest.com/2008/09/11/seatacs_third_runway_now_a_fully_op.php?gallery11843Pic=3#gallery

The reason for the tall wall is a creek that is to the left hand side of the road.

So, the Bob, Bob, Bob blog title. House batteries toast. Solar panels are off the roof — turns out that they are from a Kyocera batch that is bad — but are under warranty, and now SOLD to Mr. Whitaker — along with a 120gig firewire drive, wireless router, and wired hub/switch). So that is the outgoing. Can’t pull the fridge with icemaker without buying more laminate. Looks like more trouble than it’s worth.

Dinner tonight with John Weber, then drinks afterwards with Wonderful. Going to be a LONG evening I think.

[216.4]

The list…

• Kmart for Hawaiian Shirts
• Maybe Costco, too (all my Hawaiian shirts were tattered and I’ve left them behind over the years)
• Discount Fabric Warehouse (multiple coupons)
• Haleakala National Park ($10 entrance, but I have “the card”… with Yellowstone at $25 and Craters of the Moon at $8, so far, recovered $43 out of the $80 fee). Oddly enough with my many trips to Maui, haven’t done this park yet. So much for laying out in the sun on this trip.
• Surfing Goat Dairy
• Home (well, to the condo).

This is not the day for someone who easily gets car sick – hair-pin after hair-pin turn.

This wasn’t taken at the top (click on the scroller bar at the end of the post for other pictures (like my improvised cooler – water frozen into the bottom of a sealable Pyrex bowl). Height at the top: 10,023 feet. It reminded me of Craters of the Moon which I visited on the Yellowstone trip, just add another 6,000 feet in altitude. One interesting fact I learned from the ranger manning the gift shop cash register… 80% of the entrance fee from my “park pass” stays in the park ($8 of the $10 entrance fee) – the other 20% goes to parks that don’t have entrance fees.

Once I was off the mountain, it was time for a little road-side lunch of shrimp stuffed avocados and onion tako poke. All kept on ice in the truck.

After the mountain it was off to the Goat Dairy. I arrived right at the moment a tour was about to become ready. $7.00, plus more if you wanted a bag of hay to feed the young kids (the goats, not the children on the tour. I’m not sure how much the hay cost – I’d rather BBQ the goat than feed it.

And the cheeses aren’t cheap…. $12-16 for an 8 ounce jar in oil. Ouch. Of course they do have one with 23K gold flakes in it for a 2 ounce jar… at least that one comes with a basket and a shark’s tooth necklace.

Tasty – but not as tasty (or as cheap) and our cheese man from Eastern Washington (http://quillisascut.com/) who occasionally comes to town with extra cheese that doesn’t get sold to Rover’s and that class of restaurant.

After a fruitless trip to WalMart (desperation)for aloha shirts, it was back to the fabric store… they have some really GREAT patterns and some good deals. Check out this one:

My thought was just make Hawaiian shirts to replace my dead ones since I couldn’t find any decent (and cheap) ones on my visit here. I even found a Aloha Shirt pattern – for a 2XL that would mean 3 yards of fabric ($5-7 a yard on sale, so that would be $15-21 a shirt – and I’d have to deal with the buttons). The flip side of that is that I haven’t sewn a shirt since I was a teenager, and the pain is still fresh. Maybe I’ll get to Costco on the way to the airport.

Got back to the condo a little after 3pm to do a little clean up, a little email, and a little mindless web-surfing.

Leg of lamb was the dinner tonight, along with a salad with some more of the bay shrimp, and the other half of the bottle of 2009 Budini Malbec (Mendoza region of Argentina).

Tomorrow’s flight is a reasonable 12:35 so that’s out of the condo 10ish after a breakfast very much like this mornings… 3 eggs sunny side up, bacon, toast, coffee. I guess that would 9:30ish if I want to stop by Costco so see if I can get some shirts. I did pick up Man Calendars at the ABC store across the street from the condo when I went for butter (and on-sale bacon) last night.

Wish I’d booked another day (or two) and skipped the Washington Coast on Saturday – but I did promise to go.

Oh, and here is the promised scroller bar:

[? ? ?]

Sounds like a line from the Wizard of Oz, but it’s the truth. We missed the snowstorm that dumped 2-3 inches on Seattle and lead to massive collisions in the mountian passes.

Whitaker spent the day trying to figure out what to do with his dead truck — the answer is catch the 4pm ferry, get a ride from his brother (my maid) to his parent’s house in Olympia, grab their truck, rent a trailer, pick up dead truck, deliver to SW Washington, load Jetta on trailer, return truck and trailer to Olympia and start working on rebuilding the engine in the dead truck — he needs it for his business so it’s not an option.

Me, I spent the day working on Shirts of Bamboo stuff, a couple of small jobs for Paper, Scissors on the Rock, and dealing with a ton of paperwork. Not much rest time here at the church. Of course, there is all the work that Whitaker was going to do still undone, as is the pick up of all the down limbs that was supposed to happen last weekend but the community work party. Guess I’d better find out what happened with that.

This is beginning to feel like a full time job. Out of the house in the morning, work all day, collapse in the apartment in the evening falling asleep with the television going.

Today’s progress: the flooring is in the kitchen with only a few places buggered up that will require some putty. The base cabinet bank on the sink wall is in and waiting for counter tops, a sink, and a dishwasher, not in that order. The stove wall base cabinets are built, and a third of them are in — I have to build some bracing for them to be screwed to for the other two since it’s a deep counter because of the stove.

Today’s anti-progress: the counter tops. The black locust which is so beautiful and would have made stunning counter tops is too moist for central forced air heating. The 25″x30″ slab that Whitaker glued up bowed and started to crack within 24 hours of it being in the house. He figures my place has about 6% humidity, and the lowest he can get at his place is about 15% (wood heat). The lumber has been air drying for five years, but apparently it needs to be kiln dried (and Whitaker doesn’t have a kiln). Damn. Time to come up with plan B.

Lots of guests tromping through the house today — probably looking to see if there is going to be a guest room (the answer is: yes, a single bed/couch in the office). Lynne stopped by for a couple of glasses of wine, and then Curtis and Kevin stopped by with the key to the church (they forgot it when they were by Tuesday to drop off the BMW and a bunch of boxes from the island).

Dinner was a mishmash of sale items from the store downstairs — I must be serious about finishing this place if I’m not entertaining in the evenings!

Early morning report, as I’ll be off the grid until late tomorrow as The Lightning Field is basically in the middle of nowhere, between Quemato and Pie City, New Mexico.

For those of you who want more information on The Lightning Field, here is the link to the New Yorker article that got me thinking about this visit:

• http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/04/18/110418fa_fact_dyer

A two-part blog post from a visitor here:

• Part One: http://fromthefloor.blogspot.com/2004/07/pilgrimage-to-lightning-field-part-1.html
• Park Two: http://fromthefloor.blogspot.com/2004/07/pilgrimage-to-lightning-field-part-2.html (better for a description of the installation).

And finally, the long treatise from the art history perspective:

• http://www.cormacmccarthy.com/journal/PDFs/Campbell.pdf

It’s a four-plus hour drive from Santa Fe to Quemado where the rumored cult-like van with the blacked out windows (hopefully I’m kidding about that) so I’d better get on the road.

[214]

Today:

• Billable Hours — actually made some money today. Business cards, renewal cards, lobby artwork, prospect and member’s calendar site, Oakland trips, many details.
• Wiring of SOB — fished/ran wires to the back of SOB — truly a pain since we are talking 110 and two runs of AV cables. Three coming (Left, Right, Video), one going (Back-up camera video) — plus power unless I decide to go with 12 volt for the TV and back-up camera. Back up camera is in and tested, HDTV feed is next. The TV in the back is on an arm that rotates so you can see the TV in either: the bed, the bathroom, or from the banquette. Hell, you can even plug your computer into it!
• Working on the design of the insert to hold the microwave, monitor, and maybe the charging monitor for the inverter.
• Actually got the sawdust mostly cleaned up — it has to be ready for Jameson’s gang who show up tomorrow. Guess I’d better stock the closet with the set of sheets and blankets for the middle bed and put pillows in the pull down bed.
• Did the shopping for tomorrow’s dinner and the dinner with the boys in Seaside on Wednesday. The van is starting to fill up — how many carts will it take to move it all to the cabin when we get to Breitenbush on Thursday.
• I’d take photos, but I’ve already packed the camera for the trip.

Wednesday Whitaker is supposed to show up to wire in the inverter, and the poo pump, to fix the dash heater switch. Should be an interesting day of phone calls since I’ll be a hundred miles south.

Tonight I just clean up various things, like filing a Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act request with the Federal Bureau of Information. Who knows what is left from the 60’s. Interested? Here is the link: http://foia.fbi.gov/privacy_instruc.htm

Dinner you ask? Do you are? Whether or not, it was lamb and salad — Safeway has been having lots of lamb on the sale rack. Picked up some ground lamb and some ground buffalo to do a meatloaf out of sometime in the furture.

[220.5]

For those who didn’t get a physical copy of my “end of 2020” seasonal card, here it is, and it pretty much sums up my feelings about 2020:

Let me start with the fact that I already had 35,000 flight miles in my Alaska account by the time I stopped flying in mid-March. In August I tentatively returned to flying with a couple of night trip to Austin, by myself. Austin, summer, probably not the best time of year, but a room was available, and First Class was cheap. Nothing like flying in 1A, where you are the only person in the row, with the exception of the flight attendant who is on the other side of the plane for takeoff and landing. Alaska (and Delta) block the seat next to you even in First Class.

This was what my travel year was supposed to look like for 2020:

Here is what it ended up as:

The major around-the-world in Business and First Class (Japan Airlines, British Airways) got called off when I was in Japan and the Indian government cancelled all e-visas for Japanese citizens. The plane still went, but not with me on it. Stayed in Japan for another week with my nephew, who was between jobs, and rebooked a flight back through SFO in Japan Airlines First Class Suite, and suite it was. Click for the blog post about that amazing experience. The Tokyo-Delhi ticket was part of my Seattle-Tokyo ticket, so no miles back since it was a one-way, with a stopover. Did get back 80,000 miles for the British Airways portion, and $600 in fees, and the JAL First Class ticket was only 70,000 miles and like $25 in fees.

Two other international trips also got tossed in the dust bin: Nagoya (for my nephews wedding reception) and Taiwan, and Bogota, Columbia (with Rache).

Here is the link to what I flew last year and what was cancelled:
UMTravels » Carbon Footprint 2020 (unclemarkie.com)

For the coming year, 2021 is starting off as messy as 2020 ended. Two local trips in January cancelled, along with another major international junket to Dublin and Barcelona to visit friends I have in both cities. Here is what is still on the books:

Here is a link to the specifics of what is planned for 2021 (and what has already cancelled):
UMTravels » Carbon Footprint 2021 (unclemarkie.com)

Oddly enough, I still have enough miles with Alaska to do a free domestic First-Class ticket, enough for a United domestic First Class ticket, and maybe enough in my Delta account for a one-way coach ticket. That said, unless it’s a last-minute domestic ticket, I save the miles for flying Business Class internationally, as it’s a much better return on investment.

Retained my Alaska 75K Elite status, got a status match for SkyLux’s second from the top tier, which is good through 2024 (and I have yet to fly them), as always. United Gold status (for life, being a Million Miler with them), and new to the mix this year, Delta Diamond Medallion status, which was a challenge match, that for once, didn’t have a maximum spend component. Got Diamond by making six round trips for under $1200. Points Guy values Delta Diamond at $8.830 in benefits because of the Global Upgrades they give out but their miles are only worth 1.2 each, Alaska 75K is valued at $6,825 in benefits though individual miles have a value of 1.8 cents, with United Premier Gold valued at $2,645 and miles worth 1.3 cents each. SlyLux is so new that they aren’t on the cart yet.

So, for 2021, these will be the cards in my wallet for easier travelling (though most airlines have discontinued issuing “real” cards):

With Alaska joining the OneWorld alliance at the end of March, my Alaska 75K status will give me OneWorld Emerald status, allowing me into the First Class Lounges (rather than Business Class Lounges) on all the member airlines (American, British, Qantas, Royal Maroc, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Singapore, and another handful) when any leg of my itinerary is international.  When I started thinking about this, looked into my Delta status, so access for me and a guest in all SkyTeam lounges even travelling in Economy, and I have Star Alliance lounge access (though not Polaris Lounges) with my United status, and the one or two lounges that Starlux has. If you think I’m making a bog deal out of lounge access, international lounges are critical — a place to nap, a place to shower, a place to eat and drink, and charge your devices. Funny that I just realized I now have international lounge access on the three global alliances. OK, I’ll stop gloating.

Looking of the pictures from airports of overcrowding for Present Day travelers….really glad I’m done travelling until the end of January.

Happy end of the year to everyone.

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As we go into the new year in a few days, I’d like to welcome three new merchant partners to UMTravels. These are folks that a regularly buy stuff from, and recommend them to all of you. In return, they give me a small sliver of your purchases. So, if you’d like to support my lifestyle, click through on the links and go shopping.

The three new partners are:

Powell’s Books in Portland — they have an incredible selection of new and used books, all online. These are the folks that  went shopping at to get Festivus gifts for my brother Jon and sis-in-law Norma.

JCWhitney — these are the folks that I get parts for the RV from. Not only do they handle RVs — but pick a car or truck and they have stuff for it. I know that there aren’t many car geeks in my audience other than Whitaker, but they had replacement parts for BOB that were hard to track down.

Tiger Direct — These folks are one of the only two electronics retailers that I recommend. My latest purchase from them was a GPS unit as a New Years present for a perpetually lost friend of mine, and a CCD camera unit to use as a backup camera for Son of Bob.

All these links are in the right hand side of this page, and eventually I’ll get a static shopping page page put together so you can just bookmark that. I’m also taking suggestions for YOUR favorite merchants. The things we do in this economy to make a few shekels.

On the home front — waiting around for Curt and Brandon to show up so I can feed them these giant steaks I picked up today. Still trying to decide if I should do the potatoes/yams/onions on the grill or at all.

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So — those of you who keep up on this blog know about my buddy (well, one of them) who is behind bars in Montana. Got a letter when I got back and finally got down to that part of the stack this afternoon — turns out that the news folks from Great Falls were there to film a bunch of high school seniors doing a “scared straight” visit to the Crossroads Correctional Facility where Steve is locked up.

Here is a link to the video: http://www.kfbb.com/news/local/13958017.html?video=YHI&t=a

And the overview on their website:

Power High School Seniors Go To Prison
By KFBB News Team

Story Published: Jan 21, 2008 at 6:50 PM MST
Story Updated: Jan 23, 2008 at 4:59 PM MST

Teaching kids in a classroom is a completely different experience then showing them something first hand, especially when that experience is in a prison.

For the first time, Power High School’s senior government class is taking a field trip the the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby to learn an important lesson.
Steven Atchinson is serving a 20 year sentence for negligent homicide. He killed his best friend in an accident while drinking and driving.

Atchinson says he was a good kid growing up. He stayed away from tobacco, drugs and alcohol during high school. He says his possibilities were endless, but one weekend he went to party, made a bad choice and drove under the influence.
Atchinson gets through his sentence by getting to talk to kids and trying to make a difference in their lives ever single week. He shows them what life in a prison is really like.

Every Monday the correctional center gives Montana kids a first hand experience of life in a prison. Last year some 450 kids heard stories and got tours from inmates.

And the link to him on the Montana Prison Inmate site:
http://app.mt.gov/cgi-bin/conweb/conwebLookup.cgi?docid=2002788

Sometimes, it’s easier to just up the hardware and fly to your software/hardware dude. Hence why I’m flying to Denver when the temperatures in Denver are in the single digits.

Let’s start with a really bad lounge full portrait…

But soon enough was up in the clouds (the Caesar helped)…

Got upgrade to First with enough time to order the Pho Plate – which was so good I got on the Alaska Listens app to tell them!

Did I mention it was going to be cold in Denver?

I brought my project to work on with Dan:

Now we just have to get the screen scaled correctly to make my dream World Clock.

Dan had his own project going with his 3D printer:

I’d been considering a 3D printer, but now that I’ve seen the hassle of getting it set up and dialed in, nope – will ask Dan to print anything I need.

With all the geek work and not leaving the apartment since it’s brutally cold, we started eating like dorm room teenagers…

Though, in all fairness, that was homemade Japanese Mile Bread.

When I said we didn’t leave the apartment, I even had booze delivered in to make Empress Gin Martinis!

That would be a little fancy for dorm room teens.

One we did make a bunch of progress on the World Clock…

In the blank space under the times will go a scrolling news feed and a scrolling stock/commodity feed.

But not this week.

It was a quick two nights, and the temperature was 5 degrees when we left for the airport. I do not miss that cold and/or snow, or the lack of humidity that dries out my nostrils. The sun is nice, however.

How nice they sent a gay plane to pick me up!

Return leg home was in mere Premium Class, but as an Alaska MVP Gold 100K, they shower you with “stuff”.

Home at a reasonable time, and I have tomorrow off. Whew.

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Well, it’s not quite spring, but with all the sun breaks the last couple of days, it’s time to start getting rid of the stuff that I don’t use on a regular basis. And lets start with the really LARGE items.

First, SOB (Son of Bob). Here is the Craigslist listing: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/rvs/1618130848.htmlor the sales flyer on my site: http://www.studio403.com/ItascaFlyer.pdf

Second, the mommy van now that I’m back from the Olympics. Here is the Craigslist listing: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/1618116567.htmlor the sales flyer here since the Craigslist link will die in 7 days: http://www.studio403.com/MazdaMPVFlyer.pdf

So that was the big push today, designing fliers for both, getting pictures and an oil change for the mommy van, working a little, and starting and adding to a growing “to-do” list since I have time on my hands.

Other news, actually from yesterday, was that I planted a couple of rose bushes (one to balance out the rose bush on the left hand side of the house) and finally got around to repositioning the HDTV antenna in the attic (up four feet, forward three feet) so I could get Channels 9 — Public Television here in the Puget Sound. When they moved their antenna further up their tower after turning off the analog signal, I lost their digitial signal that was fine before.

Dinner tonight is a pork tenderloin — I guess I’d better start inviting some folks over to dinner. It’s the fourth night in a row of dining by myself.

[221.2]

Well, I can’t afford a new van at the moment, and I’d prefer the Sprinter, but here is a Ford version that might work for me.

Can I get that with glass all the way around? Can’t afford it? How about entering a contest to win one. Check out: http://fordvehicles.emipowered.com/transitconnect/

More info here: http://www.autoblog.com/2008/02/06/chicago-2008-ford-transit-connect-arrives-in-the-state/

And even more… it looks like it will start at $12,000 (right, like that will hold). Check this out: http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2010-ford-transit-connect.htm

Wish me luck on the contest. It includes photographs (or video) plus five essay questions. Who knows, I won a backpack from Bullit Bourbon and two round-trip tickets to Tokyo from Uwajimaya. Hopefully my luck will still hold.

[228.7]

A lazy day in the morning — breakfast was a hash made from last night’s pork roast and potatoes — Wonderful added a nuked egg to his.

BamBam showed up about noon and off we went to explore Kitsilano, Yaletown, and Gas Town for possible office locations. Seems I want to travel to all the places my clients want to open branches!

As luck would have it BamBam’s paintings are hanging in a coffee shop in Yaletown (my first choice for office location) that is owned by a real estate broker (who’s office is next door), and suddenly we are talking turn-key offices, what’s on the market, what they handle (what we want is what they handle). I love the whimsy of the timing of that visit.

Besides being a painter, BamBam is also a videographer — and here are a couple of links to video’s that he has done:

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8Imk2r5ap4
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuiWeCLgr4g

and my favorite off the Downtown Vancouver website:
http://www.downtownvancouver.com/index.html?v=axle

BamBam is the blond (at that moment), and the woman is his boyfriend’s secretary. How odd is that.

Dinner tonight was chicken seasoned with this lovely Meixcan spice mix called Tajin Classico which is basically Molido chilies, salt, and dehydrated lemon juice. Salad, green beans with garlic and onion, wine, a couple of different desserts and it was a meal for six people and we were only four.

And after dinner, the movie that BamBam and Wonderul picked out was Across the Universe which I hadn’t seen, but had heard the sound track while I was in Mexico the boys. What can I say, maybe it was the wine, but it made me cry.

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Well, I’ve been putting off lots of paperwork for weeks now. The first order of business was dealing with the denial that I got from the National Security Agency (NSA) for any meta-data that they have in their possession with regards to me personally.

You can see a sample redacted Freedom of Information Act request for records here:
http://www.studio403.com/FOIA/NSA FOIA request-redacted.pdf

You can see the letter I received in response to my request here with links to the various statutes:
http://www.studio403.com/FOIA/NSARequestDenialWithLinks.pdf

My favorite line from the terse 3-page (it’s the government after all) denial was:

“Were we to provide positive or negative responses to requests such as yours, our adversaries’ compilation of the information provided would reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security.”

In my letter to my elected officials (view here: http://www.studio403.com/FOIA/Murray Letter.pdf) I pointed out that as a “trusted traveler and member in good standing of both Nexus (speed lane to get into Canada via car/plane) and Global Entry (speed lane to get back into the US bypassing immigration lines) that they already know more than enough about me.

If anyone wants the word files for any of the above, just drop me a note.

Got the letters in the mail, not that I think that it will do much good, though hopefully the winds of Congress will change.

Didn’t get my quarterly taxes done, that’s still on the list.

The always lovely Mr. Bliss came for dinner (filet mignon and crab cakes) and stayed to see most of The Thin Man before the computer stopped for some unknown reason – now there is another thing to fix on my list.

[205.6]

Left mom’s house a little after 10am after getting the snow off the rental car. They thankfully included a brush/scrapper in the car, though all it needed was to be brushed off.

Goodbye Santa Fe for a couple of months (back March and then again in July).

Picked up Dwight around 11 at the hotel I’d gotten him a discount in – wanted to see the room, but he’d already checked out. No real loss – it was an airport hotel after all.

First stop: Gruet Winery, a fine Méthode Champenoise producer in Albuquerque, New Mexico whose vineyards are outside Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, a town named after the game show (formerly known as Hot Springs). We sell their Blanc de Noir at the shop and it’s been a staple of the Souder household’s Christmastime tradition. But I had to try them all – Dwight declined as it was a little early for him…

That was a nice side trip.

We probably should have gotten lunch somewhere but I ended up dropping Dwight and all our luggage at the train station in Albuquerque while I returned the car to the airport and caught a cab back to the station. I’d thought there was a shuttle, which technically there is…three times A DAY.

Took another little side trip before turning in the car to the “aircraft viewing area” at Albuquerque’s Sun Port International Airport and found these:

These are two DC-10 based firefighting planes which you can read about at http://www.10tanker.com.

Basically three hours in the train station which is also the Greyhound Station in Albuquerque. Made for interesting people watching. Our route home is the Southwest Chief from Albuquerque to Los Angeles, then the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to Seattle (Olympia for Dwight).

The train was running a little late…and it started raining…

I used 25,000 Chase Ink Rewards points to get a Bedroom Sleeper unit on both trains. What’s a bedroom on the train look like:

And the shower/toilet stall…

Two beds – the lower being the wider of the two, which I claimed because:

• I’m wider than Dwight
• It was my points

This gives you an idea of the amount of space.

No Parlour Car on the Southwest Chief so it was dinner in the Dining Car with random strangers…I had the steak. Noticed that the “cheapening” of Amtrak’s ‘First Class’ service continues. Amenity Kits long gone, and now it’s the Newman’s Own Thousand Island which is stunning. Ranch and Vinaigrette are the remaining choices unless you order the Caesar and they grudgingly provide ONE package. Add to this that at dinner they were completely out of desserts and we were on an early seating. Not that either of us need it, but it’s nice to know it’s there.

Slept well as did Dwight:

Normally the Southwest Chief is on-time or early getting into Los Angeles. Not this run. I got up at 5am for breakfast (supposedly served from 5-6am because of the arrival time) to find a limited menu (usual) and the train running two hours late. Needless to say, I ate and went back to bed.

The train was so late that we had 5 minutes to make our connection (which is better than being bused to catch the train up the line). At least when this happens they pull the train in just across the platform from the Coast Starlight. Downside is no time to raid the Metropolitan Lounge in LA’s Union Station.

Burger for lunch for me, on the early side since we’d eaten at 5AM. Dinner in the Parlour Car was the short rib. In the Parlour Car if you are at least two people they give you your own table.

By nightfall we were in Emeryville:

Yep – wearing my leopard print Santa Hat, cocktail in hand. While it isn’t permitted to bring your own in Coach, in the First Class Sleepers it IS permitted and they are happy to supply you with a bucket of ice. In our case, three times a day. Dwight introduced me to the concept of tipping at the BEGINNING of the trip for better service and if they are really good, adding more at the end. Ours on the Coast Starlight got more at the end as well with his excellent ice service. Dwight is a $10 a day tipper.

Another good night’s sleep for me, not so much for Dwight. I asked if I was snoring and he said no – THAT’S something new.

Omelet for breakfast, Caesar Salad for lunch…

Not much for presentation… didn’t even bother to open the croutons. But it was nice to have some greens (though the burgers ARE good). An early dinner was back in the Parlour Car, again having the Short Rib dinner – early because Dwight gets off an hour or so before me. At least this train had desserts all the way to the end of the line:

I always get mine to-go, having them a couple of hours later, especially at lunch.

Running early into Seattle after being on-time at Olympia to let Dwight off. It was fun to just hang out with him for a couple of days of doing nothing, including the dishes.

Roxy met me at the train station with my car, but not before I spotted this little number at King Street Station:

It is one of four privately owned railcars from the original California Zephyr that ran between Chicago to LA from 1948 to 1981.

More information here: http://www.calzephyrrailcar.com/California_Zephyr_Railcar_Charters/Welcome.html

And they do repositioning runs: http://www.calzephyrrailcar.com/California_Zephyr_Railcar_Charters/Positioning_Moves/Positioning_Moves.html. A couple of years ago I was on a four-car consist from San Diego to Los Angeles in the Silver Splendor which is part of the LARail group.

It was good to get home in one piece – for work it is for me in the morning.

[22.18]