The wonderful world of Pre

I got myself new smart phone - Palm Pre. It is one sweet little toy, and I'm having lots of fun with it. I have waited over a week since the grand premiere to buy it, and it was good decision: my phone arrived with the second version of the operating system, smoothing out some initial wrinkles. Within a week since purchase there was another system update and now I report no major issues.
I definitely love the screen, the shape and the size. I got used to the keyboard - it is small, but beats on-screen emulations any time. Web browser is much better than any one I have seen on other phones. Sprint-delivered video sucks as usual, but YouTube application delivers movies of surprising quality. And having WiFi support in the phone is great!

Long, Long Travel

Oh, boy! It took me so long to regain balance after my return trip from Warsaw to Las Vegas.
I'm not complaining about the airplanes: especially Air France Boeing 777 was luxuriously equipped in business class and food was delicious. It is the sheer length of the trip and time zone change that kills you. It was really smart idea to travel on Friday: I was only half-conscious during the weekend, but managed somehow to get to the office on Monday.
Additional piece of good news: my luggage got to Las Vegas with me without any 'accidents'...

Bye Bye May

Wow! Another month of 2009 is gone. I cannot believe that first half of the year will be over soon... The end of the month means that half of my vacation in Poland is finished, too. So far I have been eating too much, sleeping too long - perfect vacation!

Hale

Quick weather update - strong thunderstorm was coming trough Warsaw shortly after noon. At some moments, decent size hale was falling instead of the rain. Qute a view!

WiFi Rules!

After very long wait, my parents finally gave up and installed whole enchilada of cable services: digital HD TV, digital phone, and fast internet.

HD TV has less channels in Poland than it has in the USA, but even those that are available look very impressive (as usual). Landline operators are much worse in Poland (nickel-and-dimeing customers everywhere), so virtually any level of digital phone service is better than a landline. Cable company would not be cable company without some false advertising: advertised 'wireless internet in every room' requires you to purchase and configure the router - thanks goodness I had no problem with finding the router (pretty decent NetGear model) and configuring it.

Well, now I can surf the net and write this blog using lightning fast WiFi!

Now the most difficult task: showing parents 'the ropes'...

ID

I'm officially in Poland now: the trip was rather uneventful, but old B767 I flew from Salt Lake City to Paris felt rather crowded. I'm really looking forward to my flight back over the ocean, because this time it is going to be Air France B777 - Business Class!
I'm writing this stuff from the City Council building, where I have just picked my brand new Polish ID. The funny part is that I have applied for it during my previous visit in Poland - a year and a half ago...

Reisefieber?

On Friday I'm leaving for my vacation in Poland, and I'm already getting mild case of travel nerves. BTW, I like the German term 'reisefieber' much better than its English equivalent 'travel nerves': travel fever sounds significanly more descriptive. One thing which helps is that temperatures started hitting 100s here, and it's 70s in Warsaw!

May Day

Nothing special happened today (yet), but this post has number 27 this year, which marks special achievement: largest number of posts in a year!
Some additional remarks: I had delicious 'lasagna pizza' at Settebello for lunch on Thursday. I love that place more and more every time I visit it.
And it is Friday today, which means that weekend is coming...

Elephant Bar

Today in the morning Chris has departed on his flight back to Poland, so last night we had nice farewell dinner at the Elephant Bar in The District. Picking up an appetizer was a challenge, since Satyam (the vegetarian) was with us, but we finally ordered artichoke dip, which was delicious.
Since it was late meal, I went for Oriental Chicken Salad, the specialty of the bar. It was very good: I really liked the mixture of greens, chicken, fruits and veggies.
Happy eating to everyone!

Linux weekend

Dell Mini 12 I have ordered for my parents in Poland arrived on Friday, 24th (five days ahead of schedule - bravo, Dell!) I have ordered it with Ubuntu Linux instead of Windows for two reasons:

• it is cheaper,
• Ubuntu can be configured to use Polish interface (and many other) out of the box.

I was impressed: during the first boot i was asked to specify my language (Polish) and location (Poland) and in a few minutes I was talking to my computer in Polish.
I have connected to the internet quickly and downloaded updates: during the second round of updates system downloaded huge number of files and now it looks that it updated itself from Ubuntu 08.04 to 08.10.
Today I have purchased external DVD drive and modem to complete the configuration. Lots of fun!

Last week's travel

I thought that nothing can surprise me any more, but my flight from Las Vegas, NV to San Jose, CA taught me that I was wrong. Here's what happened:

• we boarded the Southwest plane on time and everything seemed dandy,
• 3 minutes before the scheduled departure time (11:50 am) pilot started chatting with us on the intercom and informed us that we are waiting for a few late passengers from the late connecting flight; oh well...
• five minutes later a few passengers appeared, but we were still waiting for something,
• another five minutes and large group of passengers arrives and settles down; I overheard that they were from the cancelled Ontario, CA flight...
• few more minutes and we are still at the gate; pilot promises to investigate,
• pilot returns and says that with so many people on board and the amount of fuel currently in we are too heavy to reach San Jose; the nearest fuel truck will be available in 20 minutes, so it would be nice to have some volunteers to get off the plane...
• some volunteers do get off the plane, but it takes some time; at the end of the process somebody realizes that Ontario guys would miss the connection in San Jose now...
• Ontario guys (all of them) get off the plane,
• we finally depart at 12:30 pm - 40 minutes late!

Have you ever experienced anything like that?

Really weird birthday weather

Oh, well - another birthday... I would not even pay attention if it wasn't for the weather: it's middle of April in the middle of the desert, and it's snowing! The temperature was in the seventies yesterday (lower twenties Centigrade) and today it barely reached 50 (10°C) . But wait: the real fun is scheduled for the end of the week, when the temperature is supposed to reach nineties (lower thirties Centigrade). Such horrific dips of temperature cannot be healthy.
I'm also mourning the demise of my favorite sushi lunch place: yesterday I went there and it was closed, with red court seal on the door. What the heck! I need my sushi!

Easter

Just another Easter - rather sad here in Las Vegas valley: so many restaurants, stores and other venues closed. Let's hope it is the bottom and we will be able to rebound soon...
Last week was pretty exhausting at work; no travel, but multiple webinars made me feel weak. As the result, I was sleeping way too much and still felt not rested. I need vacation!

Surviving April Fools' Day

I have managed to survive another April Fools' Day without serious incidents. Only Google Mail managed to fool me for a while - that Autopilot feature looked so nice...
Maybe the fact that I have spent the weekend in Santa Monica and Pasadena area, visiting Paul and Jeff, made me feel better. The visit to Huntington Library and first-time walk through the Chinese garden were especially pleasant. Nice walk by the Ocean from Venice Beach to Santa Monica Pier was also quite refreshing. Life can be good!

Interesting way to welcome spring

To celebrate first full day of spring, we (me and two guys from my office) went to Death Valley this Saturday. The weather was perfect: not too hot, not too cold. The cloudiness was increasing during the day due to coming Pacific storm, but it only added to the spectacular views. We have managed to see Dante's View, Zabriskie Point, Devil's Golf Course, Badwater, Artist's Palette, Salt Creek and Mesquite Sand Dunes. I was taking pictures, but haven't processed them yet. Stay tuned...

Updates

I was too lazy to blog, but it is definitely worth mentioning: I flew to Santa Monica last Saturday. Nothing special, just the urge to see the Ocean and breathe some sea breeze.
While walking down the Third Street Promenade, I have entered the Brookstone store and found very interesting gadget: Hello Moshi Alarm Clock. It's very useful and fun to use device: alarm clock fully controlled by your voice! It had no problem recognizing my voice in the store, and it looks nice. I'm seriously considering getting myself one for birthday...

Travel can be fun...

Something really funny happened on my way home from the San Jose trip I was blogging about in the previous post. When I was going through the security check at the airport, I have noticed unusual number unusually dressed people around me. When I finally got to my departure gate, all those people started to gather at the same gate. They were all dressed in vintage 70s 'flower power' outfits, and some guys were even wearing huge Afro wigs!
From the overheard conversations I could conclude that it was surprise wedding party on its way to Las Vegas... I managed to get 'first class' seat on this Southwest flight (just exit row seat with exceptionally large leg room), so I had perfect observation point for the party members, who decided to take seats in the tail section. I can tell you - it was quite a view!
Flight attendants knew how to play the game and let two girls from the group do the 'peanut duty'. One of the girls was wearing roller skates, so when she was done with peanuts she glided down the aisle.
Travel like this return flight can be quite entertaining...

Frozen San Jose

I'm in San Jose, California once again. This time it is just a day trip to do a seminar. It should be pretty regular event for me, but there is one quite unusual thing this morning in San Jose: official freeze warning. Not so usual for March!
I will let you know if anything interesting happens.

They have stolen one hour of our life!

So we have chaged to Daylight Saving Time. I appreciate an extra hour of light in the evening, but my body does not appreciate kicking it out of the rhythm. Of course the imbecilic decision of US legislators to do it at times totally different from the rest of northern hemisphere makes it more difficult for people who have family ties and working relationships with the rest of the world.
The best way to avoid the nightmare of changing too many clocks twice a year is to switch to atomic clocks and watches, which I did wherever I could.
Enjoy 'longer' days!

Weekend bliss

Woohoo! It's Saturday again! And it smells like spring in the air. Wild apple trees are covered with beautiful pink flowers again in my neighborhood. Nights are still cold, but days - pleasantly warm.
If you wonder what I am doing blogging at 7am on Saturday morning, the answer is simple: I went to sleep earlier on Friday and woke up fully rested before 7am today...
Have fun!

March

I can't believe it's March already. The weather today was even more like April - I love it!
I have just realized that I have posted 10 times in February on this blog, which is my record so far... Well, will have to work hard to beat it!
I also went to my favorite pizza place - Settebello and had Caprese salad and Capricciosa pizza. Both were very yummy, which means that I'll be back...

Lazy Saturday

It is weekend, finally! I do like to travel, but it can be tiring - especially if it is travel for work. So waking up on Saturday with that sweet awareness that you don't have to rush anywhere is so sweet...
And the weather is fully cooperating: maximal temperature today will be in the seventies Fahrenheit (lower twenties Celsius), which is my favorite range.
As I type this, my bedroom MP3 player serves me "Equinox" by Jean-Michel Jarre, so what's not to like about this morning?

Netbook update

I have just installed Crucial 2GB memory module in my Dell Mini 9 netbook and Windows XP seems work faster already. I'm still waiting for Runcore 64GB solid state drive: once it is installed, I will create Ubuntu partition in addition to Windows, creating my very first dual boot machine that (almost) fits in my pocket!

DVCon

I'm back in San Jose, California - this time for DVCon, which stands for Design Verification Convention. I was lucky upon check-in yesterday: DoubleTree bumped me up to the executive level, so I had free WiFi, breakfast and snacks. I also had to swipe my room key in the elevator to get access to the 9th floor.
I'm doing the exhibitor duty at the conference, so not much time to to attend tutorials and sessions. I heard that they are prettu good this year, which probably explains why not too many attendees show up at the exhibit floor.
The weather is nice, we went to a nice Indian restaurant last evening, so we can sum up: life is good!

Rodizio

Yesterday a couple of friends (hi Paul and Jeff!) were visiting Las Vegas, so we went together to check out Yolie's Brazilian Steakhouse. It was pretty interesting experience. Quite pricey at $35 per head, but food quality was very good, and obligatory caipirinhas made it taste even better...
For those of you who never have been to a Brazilian restaurant, especially rodizio-style churrascaria (all-you-can-eat barbecue/steakhouse with servers bringing food to your table on skewers), you definitely should try it! Just remember to go on really empty stomach.
Have fun!

Netbook Craze

Well, I finally succumbed to the 'netbook mania' - last week I got myself Dell Inspiron Mini 9. The official justification was that I was going to San Diego for a weekend, wanted to have computer with me, but didn't want to schlep the big notebook with me.
So far I like it: it is small, light, boots quickly and connects to WiFi without problems. The version I bought at BestBuy has Windows XP and 8GB solid state drive. I have added 8GB SD card to the configuration immediately, but in long term I would rather have more storage in one device. That's why I have already ordered 64GB SSD and 2GB RAM module to round up the configuration. It's going to be one sleek machine after all those upgrades...

To switch or not to switch...

Today it was supposed to be 'digital switch day' - when all TV stations in the USA cease to transmit analog signals and move on to digital. Of course the cut-off date was moved to June at the last moment, causing total confusion: some stations (mainly those less wealthy) decided to drop analog now to cut costs, while the others continue analog till June.
I hate Cox, but I'm glad I do have cable TV and don't have to worry about that entire commotion...
Happy watching (if you can)!

My Private Mekkahs

I'm typing this entry while in San Diego, CA on my weekend getaway. San Diego is one of my 'private Mekkahs' - places where I feel obliged to be from time to time, because I love them so much.
My long-term love affair with San Diego started when I have discovered Balboa Park treasures, improved when I visited Point Loma/Cabrillo monument and things are getting better from there with every visit. The most recent addition to my visit ritual is ferry ride to Coronado, to see the famous Hotel Del Coronado. Of course I did it yesterday, right after checking into the very nice Holiday Inn on the Bay hotel, where I frequently cash my points for the weekend stay.
BTW, since I was flying in on Southwest on Valentine's day, I got free Finlandia vodka with cranberry juice drink - nice treat to start your trip...
Have fun!

Bravo!!!

Regarding my earlier post (look here) - very good news came in today via AP:
"In a high-profile reversal of the Bush administration, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday the government is scrapping the lease of 77 parcels of federal land for oil and gas drilling in Utah's redrock country."
Poor oilhead friends of Bush administration -- fat morsel was stolen from their mouths...

Invasion of Robots?

Today we had the 'account call' day of the East Coast trip. We have visited General Dynamics Robotic Systems near Baltimore, MD and almost run into one of their creations while approaching the facility. It looked like bigger version of Wall-E on four wheels - quite stunning image.
The weather was very unstable recently - warmth, then snow, then rain, then sun, then snow again. On the way back to the hotel in the afternoon you could see blue sky with some clouds, but the snow was falling from somewhere anyway.
Boy, I hope spring comes soon!

East coast

Oh, well -- I'm on the east coast! Last Sunday I had to leave nice and cozy spring-like weather in Vegas and head for Long Island... Monday weather was pretty nice for New York winter, but today (New Jersey day of the trip) snow and cold is back. Of course it had to happen precisely on the day when we have to drive from NJ to Baltimore...
At least the first of the series of the seminars was pretty decent. Guess I have to concentrate my will to repel bad weather. Boy, am I going to enjoy return to Vegas!

Great Day

I woke up earlier today and showed at the office ahead of schedule. Everything to prevent some idiot from accusing me of wasting company time: I just had to view Barak Obama's inauguration live - at least the swearing-in and inaugural address.
It was very nice, although the supreme court judge screwed up a little bit: it seemed that Obama knew the words better than the judge...
Let's believe that it's going to be downhill from now on, at least in some areas of life.

Dreams

Today was the final day of Consumer Electronics Show, better known as CES. This year this Vegas show returned to Thursday-Sunday schedule, which let me finally see the exhibits for the first time, without rushing through the halls like crazy. Here are my favorites:

• PALM Pre - I loved PALM PDAs from the very beginning, so it is nice that their brand new smartphone looks like a hit!
• Sony VAIO P series - the smallest notebook computer with fully functional Windows Vista. A good looking one, too!
• HD TVs getting bigger, thinner and showing better picture - all vendors seem to agree here, but SONY, Samsung and Panasonic showed especially interesting offers.

Well, it's already after midnight, so I'd better go to bed and write more later. Just one explanation of the subject line: The slogan on the wall on the SONY stand said that now whatever you can dream, can be actually built. Well said!

Drunk with Hope

So, the ugly 2008 is finally gone. Nobody will be missing it. I am a little bit drunk with champagne (Corbel Brut Rose) and seriously drunk with hope that 2009 will be much better!
Just in case you missed it: tonight everybody could enjoy nice spectacle in the sky: conjunction of Moon and Venus. Here are some pictures (taken with regular camera, not telescope, so please excuse the quality):


Have a great new year!