Unplanned Hiatus Ends, Multitudes Rejoice: An Eclectica

It’s getting cold again. Sweater and blazer weather, which I like. That fall crispness in the air, which I love. It’s getting dark if I leave work much after five, which I like less, and my hands get awful cold on the scooter in the mornings. Soon it’ll be time to start riding the T with the hoi polloi again. More time for reading, but I have to leave the house earlier, and it’s more expensive.

This is one of my favorite times of the year, about on par with the morning you wake up to find that spring came during the night and the world is suddenly full of college students playing frisbee (this happens more suddenly in Baltimore than Boston). Socially, it falls right between the sudden bustle of the High Holidays/back-to-school (which has a surprising impact on a working guy with no kids) and the Thanksgiving-to-New Year’s gauntlet that ends the year. Seasonally, while summer’s oppressiveness is mellowed by the cooling air, we haven’t yet hit the bleakness that comes as November draws to a close. It’s one of the year’s golden means.

I loved this article, especially the description of the gear in their car (I’m geeky that way). That said, I’m not really sure I care for their goal. I’m not a driver by temperament, but I do kind of like road trips. Obviously, their goal isn’t to see the countryside, but there’s something that strikes me philosophically askew to racing across like that. Of course, it’s also kind of frighteningly unsafe. I think that Jason Kottke put it best: “This is the sort of thing that is really, really cool up until the moment Roy’s tricked out BMW makes contact with a family minivan at 120mph…and then, not so much.”

Listening to the Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want, and it strikes me that there’s an odd perfection to it. Oddly, though, it’s not my favorite Stones song. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Any thoughts out there on this?

The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass is pretty fun in it’s own right, but it’s a fantastic proof-of-concept for the stylus controls. Despite some glitches (sometimes my hand obscures the boss I’m trying to fight), they work great. Reinforces my conviction that Nintendo is the Apple of the console world.

In Which the Author Reminds Everyone that He’s a Huge Geek

Cripes, I’m starting so many posts here with an explanation of the delays between posts that I’m starting to feel like Jim Anchower.

In any case, here’s what I’ve been up to lately:

• Visiting Sheryl in Berkeley, which involved (among other things) dinner at Chez Panisse Cafe. Very well-executed food, but oddly unexciting. Impeccable service, though.

• Playing Contact on the DS. Not your average RPG. No bizarre hairstyles in sight.

• Playing Metroid Prime 3: Corruption on the Wii. Them Space Pirates blow up real nice. Amusingly, I came home from picking up copy of Prime 3 to discover that Scott had picked up Prime 1 for the Gamecube. So both of us are now playing two different Metroid games on the Wii at the same time. We’re huge geeks, no matter what Isabel claims.

Pain. Gain?

Apparently, at some point, working out makes you feel better. Right now, however, the pain is making me hate consciousness.

P.S.

Am I totally crazy for kind of wanting one of these? Even after I know that it costs $50? Of real money?

Miscellaneous S

This wasn’t supposed to be the next post, but the real next post has been delayed by enough days to make me feel I had to post something, so here’s a grab bag based on things that have happened to me lately.

On Corporate Loyalty
Riding home today, I saw something interesting: a sticker of the Under Armour logo on the back windshield of a car. I saw the sticker, recognized the logo, and thought nothing of it, until I suddenly found myself wondering why it was there. Clearly, the owner of the car acquired (or received) the sticker, and then consciously decided to put it on the car. In fairness, some people aren’t picky about what they stick on their cars, but this was the only sticker on this particular vehicle. I found myself wondering if someone would be that into their workout t-shirt that they’d stick its maker’s logo on their car.

Then I started calling hypocrisy on myself. After all, while I haven’t actually placed an Apple sticker on anything I own (they come with the computers), that’s mostly because I can’t decide where it would look best on my scooter. Of course, Apple has a well-known enthusiast following (sometimes condescendingly referred to as a “cult”), but I feel that’s because they make products that are, frankly, exciting. But, of course, I’m a geek. Maybe people get really excited about the latest Under Armour product too. Scott says they’ve got a cult following. Anyone else out there know anything about it? Any Under Armour fan site administrators?

On Wheels
I’m about to hit my 500th mile since I bought the scooter from John. I thought about riding around for a while tonight just so I could hit it, but I decided to wait for tomorrow’s ride to work.

On Work
It’s gotten really busy lately, to the point where I actually spend the majority of my day working, rather than reading the entire contents of the New York Times and keeping up on the tech blogs that I read. Today I sent out 16 packages, which I haven’t done in longer than I can remember.

On Politics
It seems that Karl Rove is resigning. I suppose that there are areas other than politics which require his evil genius, and after all, spending all that time undermining the republic must take its toll. Rove denied that the political difficulties facing the administration forced him out, saying, “I’m not going to stay or leave based on whether it pleases the mob.” I suppose by “mob” there, he means the U.S. Senate. My question here: As a private citizen, is he still allowed to dodge subpoenas on the President’s orders?

On Fun
I’ve been playing my Nintendo DS a lot lately, which was probably brought on by needing to amuse myself during my 15-hour delay flying to Newark (really a 5-hour delay, a cancellation, and a rebooking) to attend Sheryl’s cousin’s wedding as arm candy. This is actually the first time that I’ve owned a portable system, and it’s nice being able to pull it out when I’ve got a few minutes on the T, at the airport, etc. This is facilitated by the amazing sleep feature that Nintendo built in. When you close the DS, it goes to sleep, just a like a laptop, and wakes again when opened. What’s more, it can sleep for about a week on a full charge. For a portable system, this makes a lot of sense…no more making a choice between putting the system down to, say, get off the subway or loosing a half-hour’s worth of progress in your current game. Just close it up and pick up where you left off at your leisure. Especially for the casual gaming audience that Nintendo’s trying to cultivate, it makes a ton of sense. Plus, in New Super Mario Bros., you get to hear Mario say “It’s-a me, Mario!” every time you close your DS.

A Bard Passes

Tommy Makem died yesterday at 74. Like most descendants of the Irish diaspora, my first exposure to Irish music (taking aside my grandfather’s renditions of “Danny Boy”) was a CD of the best of Makem and his frequent collaborators the Clancy Brothers. The music they played plucked at my soul in a way that I hadn’t experienced before, despite its occasional over-heartiness.

It was years later that I first heard Makem live in concert, in the annual shows he gave on St. Patrick’s Day at St. Anselm College in my home town of Manchester, NH. Hearing him sing “Four Green Fields”, a simple plea for Ireland to be left to her own devices, couched in terms from Irish folklore, was one of the few times I can recall being moved to tears by music.

I was privileged to see Makem in concert on a few other occasions, and remained just as impressed. He could tell a rare story, and a rolling baritone that could intone Yeats’ The Lake Isle of Innisfree in a way that could make a whole auditorium hold its breath. For me, personally, his music sparked a lifelong love of Irish music that has enriched my life.

My thanks to you, Tommy Makem, for all you have given, and I hope that you’ve found a place where “peace comes dropping slow.”

Germany Roundup, part 3

DAY 6
SATURDAY

After arriving bleary-eyed at the Black Forest Hostel in Freiburg around midnight, waking up in the morning was a chance to take in our surroundings. The BFH was a little different than other hostels we had stayed in. Aesthetically, it seemed like a cross between a repurposed warehouse and a Tibetan monastery…lots of large concrete rooms, colorfully decorated. After returning the rental car and bidding farewell to our faithful Betsy, we split up for the day, a strategy calculated to forestall our killing each other. I centered my explorations around the Münsterplatz, the square in the center of town surrounding a large church. On a daily basis, the square is filled with the tents of a market dealing in vegetables, prepared foods, sausages both raw and cooked, and various gifts and trinkets. Interestingly, if you look at Google Maps satellite view of Freiburg, you can see the tents clearly. I had the best bratwurst I have ever had in that market: grilled, in a crusty round roll that left the sausage protruding on each side, topped with grilled onions and a generous serving of mustard. It went a long way towards restoring me. I also had the chance to climb the Münster tower, which (as is usually the case) afforded stunning views of the city and of the lacy stone structure of the Münster itself (which apparently helped it survive the war by diffusing the shockwaves generated by exploding bombs.

After a day of exploration and gift-buying, I headed back for some chill time at the hostel, where I spent an amusing hour or two reading and watching Scott lose at ping-pong. We made some friends among our fellow international travelers as well, which is how we ended up drinking half-liter mugs of beer later that night with Owen (an American just back from Mongolia), Katie (another American headed on to France the next day), Simon (an Australian who had just returned from my own native New Hampshire), and Nicholas (who was from Uruguay). I tasted absinthe for the first time that night, and though I don’t remember for the life of me what it tasted like, ended up buying some later as a souvenir.

Observation for the day: Really, Australians are everywhere. Also, Germans hate cold drinks.

DAY 7
SUNDAY

The day dawned hot as we set off towards the Freiburg Hauptbahnhof to set off towards Heidelberg. Unfortunately, upon our arrival at our pension at around 1:00 pm (and after a fairly long schlep to get there), we found that not only could we not check in until 5 pm, there was no one at the pension office who could even let us in to the building, much less store our bags while we wandered around. Feeling disheartened, hot, and disinclined to lug our baggage around with us for four hours (except for Justin, who climbs mountains for recreation), we sat down to lunch and snapped at each other. Eventually, we set off to find a museum with a bag check, but mirabile dictu, we came upon a movie theater a block away which was showing the original English version of the newest Harry Potter movie in only a few minutes. Moments later, we and our bags were ensconced in the flickering dark of the air-conditioned theater, our spirits considerably raised.

On finally checking into our digs, we set off to explore the schloss, which looms over the town like a broken-winged vulture, but considerably prettier. Turns out that once you’ve showered, eaten, and the sun has started to go down on a 90 degree day, Heidelberg’s a nice town to walk around, especially with about a mile of pedestrian-only street to stroll down at your leisure. We spent the rest of the evening strolling the Hauptstraße, and I made an extremely expensive international phone call to Sheryl before heading back to bed.

Observation for the day: I didn’t even know that they showed English movies in Europe, but I guess it makes sense. Of course, it could have been a documentary on sawmills, and watching it still would have been bliss.

DAY 8
MONDAY

As it seems that all the museums in Heidelberg are closed on Mondays, we spent the day on another long meander, interspersed with long periods of sitting in a University courtyard reading (I was reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Scott read Alan Moore’s Watchmen, and Justin read some book about a guy getting eaten by bears). Justin and I took some time out to look at some really very interesting churches, many of which had had their ornamentation stripped out during the Reformation when they were converted to Protestant places of worship, and later replaced as it accumulated historical interest.

As the afternoon waned, we collected our bags and once again headed to the train, this time on the final leg of our journey, as we would fly home out of Frankfurt the next morning.

The relatively drab and uniform DJH hostel in Frankfurt was a bit of a letdown after the colorful accomodations we’d become used to in the other cities we stayed in, but it was serving mostly as a place to collapse for a few hours before catching a plane the next day (except for Scott, who went out with a miscellaneous group who then proceeded to roister throughout the hostel for the rest of the night on their return). I slept and tried to remember what air conditioning and cold water felt like.

Observation for the day: When was the last time I spent a day reading in a park? That was great.

DAY 9
TUESDAY

Got up in the morning, went to the airport, sat for a long time, and flew home. Great to be back in a place where I can read the street signs again.

Observation for the day: There’s a certain low-level anxiety associated with being in a place where you don’t speak the language and can’t read the signs. I felt a weird but palpable sense of relief when I arrived in Heathrow, surrounded by English, and that feeling intensified when I got back to the States.

Germany Roundup, part 2

DAY 3
WEDNESDAY

Woke up in the morning, and after a hearty DJH breakfast of rolls, cheese, salami, and museli (mmm…continental), headed out to the Hauptbahnhof (one of my new favorite German words, meaning “main train station”) to catch the train to München. German trains are, as expected, way better than American trains. Above each seat, there’s a tiny LCD screen that shows if the seat is reserved, and for what segment of the trip it’s reserved for. Saves a lot of time and trouble. Also, the train bathrooms are really spacious. I mean, you could fit three people in there if you wanted to.

On arrival, we checked into Wombat’s, a cheery hostel near the Hauptbahnhof that was packed with other disreputable backpackers like ourselves. Interestingly, it was also the only hostel in which we had roommates, although we only met them later. We had three beds in an 8-bed room, which always contained at least one Australian during our time there. Australians are everywhere in Europe, apparently. We dropped off our bags, grabbed another döner kebab for lunch, and headed out to explore.

We hit the usual tourist spots, taking in the Aldstadt (old town), a beer at the Hofbrauhaus (not too full of tourists, since it was about two in the afternoon, the Residenz, and on up to the Englishergarten. There, we settled into a beer garden with huge pretzels and liter mugs of beer to wait out a sudden rain storm. As a side bonus, we got to meet Annette, a Canadian just coming off a stint of European English teaching and headed back to Canada before moving on to teach English in Shanghai. After the rain stopped, we all walked back towards the hostel, while Annette told us all she had learned about Munich’s Third Reich-related history on a tour earlier that day.

With visions of the Beer Hall Putsch thus dancing in our heads, we grabbed a beer and a weißwurst (well, I had the wurst, as Scott and Justin don’t eat of the pork) for dinner and headed back to turn in.

Observation for the day: It’s surprisingly easy to drink a liter mug of beer.

DAY 4
THURSDAY

Up bright and early to catch a tram over to the Herz location where we were to pick up the car we’d have for the next two days. After taking two subway lines and a 15-minute walk to get there, Scott discovered that he had neglected to retrieve his driver’s license from the hostel, where it had been left as a deposit for the room key. Apparently, even in super-lawless Europe, they won’t let you drive without a license, so back we went.

Second time was the charm (despite not technically having the voucher for our rental in hand), and soon we were all piled into a BMW hatchback, striking north towards Nürnberg, guided by our (thankfully) English-speaking GPS system, soon named “Betsy” by us.

Bullet-point itinerary for the day:

• Eichstat — Small town with a festival going on downtown, concert stage and rock band included. Stopped at a snack stand where we encountered limited English for the first time, which somewhat stymied Scott and Justin’s quest for non-pork comestibles. I had a currywurst, which is sausage covered in a ketchup-y sauce and curry powder. Tasty.

• Adenburg — Great views from the top of the castle tower, but unfortunately, a fumbled handoff resulted in a short sharp shock to my camera which put it out of commission for the rest of the trip.

• Nürnberg — Charming city…in our pictures, it looks like it’s dominated with canals, but it’s just a few diversions of the river. Poked around a bit, but didn’t spend much time before heading south again.

• Aying — Home of Ayinger beer. We stopped here for beer and food, and encountered several parties of Americans running the one English-speaking waitress ragged. I had the Weiner Schnitzel and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Observation for the day: Apparently, for Germans, “a little” (as in “I speak a little English”) is code for “perfect”.

DAY 5
FRIDAY

The day of Epic Driving:
Left Munich at 8:00 am.
Arrived in Freiburg at midnight.

First stop: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, site of the ski jump for the infamous 1936 Olympics, and home to a pretty cool gorge you can hike through while glacial melt drips down your back. Also home to pretty good pizza.

Next stop: Schloss Neuschwanstein, the famous “fairy-tale castle” built by the (supposedly) mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria. We didn’t go inside, but we did hike up past the castle to the Marienbrücke, site of the classic views of the castle and surroundings. For anyone who’s interested, I almost had a coronary hiking up. Spectacular view, though. The sort you could look at for hours.

Next stop: Lindau by the shores of Lake Constance. Another beautiful town, but it was the excellent meal that kept us from killing each other and put us back in a mood fit for human contact. I had the pike-perch with a big latke on top. Tasty. Of course, on leaving, we found that the mall attached to the garage where we had parked was closed, and the machine we needed to use to pay for our parking was inside. Despite my suggestion that we drive down the entrance ramp, Scott and Justin eventually managed to attract the attention of a lingering mall employee to let us in so we could leave.

Final stretch: Lindau to Freiburg. As we entered the Black Forest on the final leg of our journey, we went from long, straight stretches of road where we traveled at around 180 km/hr to narrow descending switchbacks as we burrowed into the tree-draped scenery. Genuinely creepy stuff, but Betsy got us through, and after playing spectators to a brief dispute between the desk clerk and a party who were trying to overstuff their room, we checked in to the Black Forest Hostel and hit the hay.

Observation for the day: While I was pleased that we could figure out what a “geldautomat” was, I was disappointed that it didn’t dispense chocolate coins covered in gold foil.

Germany Roundup

DAY 1
MONDAY
Spent the day in packing and other last-minute preparations before leaving for the airport. On arrival, stood in lines, where I ran into Matt and Janet, friends of Kirsten’s I know from her get-togethers, who were headed to Paris for a week.

While going through security, I was called back by the TSA staff member running the metal detector (never a good thing), and asked if I was “the” Brendan Short. Turns out he was thinking of Brandon Small, but I was flattered nonetheless. Sort of.

On the plane, the woman across from me blogged, while the guy next to me told me about his upbringing in New Hampshire, and how he was moving to the Bay Area to be with his girlfriend, who was attending school there. Apparently, this trip is all about encountering my alternate selves.

Observation for the day: I’ve always said that Small is stealing my schtick.

DAY 2
TUESDAY
Arrived in Frankfurt, met up with Scott and Justin, and checked into the hostel. Dazed from traveling, we grabbed a döner kebab and took a look around. Dinner of Apfelwein and other Frankfurt specialties…I had the Frankfurher Grüne Sasse, a melange of chopped herbs and yogurt over potatoes and eggs. Apparently Goethe loved it. Called it an early night, what with going to Munich tomorrow.

Observation for the day: If there’s an English menu to order off of, does that automatically mean you’re at a tourist trap?

Very brief post from a youth hostel computer in Freiburg, Germany

Germany is great. Lots of fun, even if Germans don’t seem to have any use for cold drinks that aren’t beer (or sometimes mineral water). Spent today wandering around the cool Black Forest town of Freiburg, which has tiny canals running through its streets.

Previously unknown (to me) fact: German computer keyboards are different from American ones. The “Y” is in a completly different place, which is seriously fucking me up when typing.

Tomorrow, we’re off to Heidelberg by train.

A more complete trip roundup will be coming around Wednesday, once I’m back and have had a chance to sleep.