As I sit in the waiting area of the Houston Amtrak station just after 9pm, a wide variety of life is dribbling through the front door. Young, old; couples, singles; white, black, brown. A few families with kids are in the mix. The TV blerts out programming, and overwhelms the meek voice that comes from … Read more
One of my volunteer sidelines is producing the sound for the Houston Roller Derby. It’s a lot of work, but usually only one day a month for about half the year. I have the microphones coded with colors and try to give the same ones to the regular announcers just so I don’t have to … Read more
I’m in Marfa today, and all weekend. Next week I’ll be visiting my friend Bret Bloomquist in El Paso. But today he’s having his hip replaced. Again. The first time was when he was 30-ish. The replacements wear out, and it’s time to do it again. They tell him he’ll be mobile (on crutches) five … Read more
Slate has an interesting article about why the trains I’ll be traveling on over the next 31 days are slower than they were 100 years ago. “Weighed in terms of the congestion, carbon emissions, and comfort of other travel modes, it seems time to reach for the way-back machine.”
“Leaving on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again.” “I took a trip on a Gimini space craft, and I thought about you.” Well, I’m not leaving on a plane or a space craft, but instead on a rail-guided transportation vehicle. But I will be thinking about you. My 31-day Amtrak adventure … Read more
I was video chatting with my co-worker in Virginia, fellow FlipSide5 jack-of-all-trades Mike, and he decided to show me his quite impressive collection of iPhone OS devices. Different hardware versions of iPhones and iPod Touches with different versions of the operating system on them. Useful for testing the various possible compatibility issues, but really useful … Read more