Disorderly Content

Doesn't happen all that often, but occasionally things just go so right. Like today, which may be why I'm telling you the story... ummm... today.

It began a couple of weeks ago, with a customer meeting tentatively scheduled for this afternoon. The meeting was in Burbank, so my salescritter decided to arrange lunch for today with another customer who's kind of in the area. And, not being a last minute kind of person, I decided a week ago to check on flights. I found a doozy: just over $100 roundtrip including taxes. So I booked it, secure in the knowledge that even if I had to cancel, I'd get credit on another flight. And the way things are going, I was sure that other flight wouldn't be long in coming.

Then things went a little bit wrong; the customer postponed the meeting. We still went ahead with our lunch with cust #2, but now I was facing several hours before my return flight. So back I went to Southwest, which wanted seventy-five bucks to make the change. That's when I took my small gamble.

Thinks I: What if I just leave the flights as they are? Chances are, I'll get back to Burbank Airport with hours before my flight. And unless they're completely booked, I can slip onto whatever the next San Jose flight is. So I'll have to pay the extra, or hang out at the airport for a few hours. Not my money, you understand, but I hate spending the firm's cash almost as much as my own.

Anyway, I'm back at the airport around 1:30. And my flight's at 6, which is way too much hanging out time for me. So I switch to the 1:55 flight, get through Security and go to the gate to pay for my change. Only to be told that, because my original flight has been delayed (I didn't ask by how much), they'll wave the change fee. So I walked onto a mostly empty plane, listened to my iPod for a while and got home four hours sooner than I'd expected.

And it didn't cost the company a dime. There's a moral here somewhere.

If you're really old (like me), you may remember a commercial that asked the unanswerable question, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?" The question is unanswerable, we are told, because nobody can get there without biting into the pop. I mention this because I came oh so close to getting the answer to another unanswerable question: "How many photos can I store on a 4GB memory card?" Which may not seem unanswerable; after all, doesn't the camera give me a running total of its capacity? It does, and it doesn't, at least if you use JPEG for your images (as I do). The problem is that JPEG compression requires more or less room depending on the complexity of each image; a solid blue surface takes up very little room, while a photo of a field of grass takes a lot. Watch your camera's counter as you take each picture; notice how often the count fails to change.

Anyway, thanks to my Farscape convention and the week I spent touring the Southwest in my new (hybrid) car, I thought I'd finally get an answer. Guess I didn't take enough pictures, 'cause by the time I got home I still hadn't filled the card. Got close, though; my card has 750 full resolution, minimum compression images, with room (so the camera says) for 78 more. Which is a lot more than the 449 images the camera claims when the card is empty. Guess I'll have to take even more pictures the next time I'm out and about.

Some guy at The Movie Blog is royally pissed about the new trailer to The Simpsons Movie, which he states (accurately) is not a trailer. But so what? Even a minute and half from the Simpsons braintrust is to be appreciated. Heck, I'd even pay to see the movie that starts the trailer.

Today's excursion was to Sedona, home, as you will see if you look a little to the right, of some very red rocks. Also big, which, I grant, is harder to tell from the picture. But trust me, they're both red and big. And the sky is very, very blue, at least if you don't look in the direction of the Forest Service's controlled burns. Amazing how quickly that new car smell disappears when you drive through a controlled burn area. Also how well satellite radio doesn't work in those narrow canyons they like to put highways. Which wouldn't be a problem if I weren't listening to an old time radio episode and the signal didn't fade out just as the plot was being explained.

No matter. What counts is that I got a nice ride on unimproved roads in a hot pink jeep to see some rather spectacular scenery. Not this shot; this one I took from a more accessable location after the tour, although if not for the tour I wouldn't have known about it. I'm gonna hate to leave in the morning, even if the extremes of temperature (low 30s when I left Flagstaff this morning and what felt like the low 80s in Sedona a couple of hours later) are a bit, well, extreme.

How rich is this? As the YouTube Video below points out, the White House is trying to deny that Dubya claimed Mission Accomplished back in 2003. Too bad they're so technologically inept at it. Black bars? Really.

When is a screwup not a screwup? When it gets you a better deal, that's when.

And so it was with me yesterday, sitting in my hotel room in Needles, California (home of Snoopy's brother, Spike) and looking for a hotel in Flagstaff for the next leg of my road trip. My company uses Orbitz for its travel, so I went there first. At least I would have, but every attempt to get more information on one of the places they recommended took me back to the "enter your travel info" page. Eventually I gave up and tried Travelocity. Which didn't just work; it offered me $50 off a two-day hotel stay courtesy of MasterCard. Which, given the price of hotels out here, is a pretty big discount! Even better, I can get the same deal on the next leg, which'll put me in Gallup, Mew Mexico, before I have to turn for home.

Much obliged, Orbitz. I couldn't have done it without you. (And possibly Firefox 2.0, which may be what's giving Orbitz heartburn.)

I heard a recent story, I think it was reported on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, about a driver in Germany who followed the directions of his navigation system right into disaster. Today I had such a moment. Well, I would have, if common sense hadn't prevailed. For once.

I was driving on Route 66 from Kingman, Arizona toward Seligman and eventually Flagstaff. My navigator wasn't pleased with this route; it kept urging me to turn back to Kingman and get back on the Interstate. Eventually it accepted that I wasn't going to obey, so it began looking for the fastest way to get me to Flagstaff. At a not-town called Hackberry it told me to turn off 66 onto Hackberry Road. So, having done the 66 route twice before, I figured why not?

A moment later I saw why not. Just before crossing the Santa Fe Railroad's tracks I saw a sign about the road not being maintained, which would have been a concern if there was even a hint of rain. It was what I saw on the other side of the tracks that... ummmm... stopped me dead in mine. It seems that the road wasn't just unmaintained; as far as I could see it was also unpaved. So once again I showed my car who's boss. I can only hope it's learned its lesson.

Have I used this title before? I'm too lazy to check.

Anyway, I just finished my annual pilgrimage to Burbank for the Farscape convention. It'll be a while before I get a proper con report done, what with some more vacationing and work (damn work!) and five hundred photos to go through and clean up. But suffice it to say that it was wonderful fun to hang with all my Scaper buds, both the ones I've known for a while and the new ones I just met. It's weird, the way this particular program provides a personal connection among its fans. And then there's the cast, who have become members of this extended family. But a family I like...

There were a bunch of special moments, including our first attempt at a live taping session of The Scapecast, the Farscape-oriented podcast in which I am but a humble cog. Despite the concerns of some of the 'casters, the audience was as kind as I knew they would be. And there was the performance by Signal Room, a band composed of Farscape cast and crew, plus some Scaper backup singers. There was also a very special appearance by series star Ben Browder. Or perhaps I should explain: it wasn't Ben's appearance at the con that was so special. It was his "appearance". I have pictures.