2010 CHRISTMAS LETTER

If you didn't get this or you received it and didn't get it, I apologize. Here below is the 2010 Christmas letter:


Another Christmas letter! How time flies, although time is apparently upset with the TSA for what it considers unseemly groping. Maybe if they could rig those backscatter XRAY machines to kill any bedbugs you picked up in your hotel room they’d be popular. It’s ALL marketing.

You know you are lonely when you go through a TSA feel-up “just to make new friends.’
I think the solution to the full body pat downs is to hire Hooters girls for the guys and Chippendale guys for the women, though some guys might have trouble when they later try to buckle their seat-belt.

Our only ‘pro’ sport here in Austin is University of Texas sport and after a pretty unimpressive football season, as I write this, I am listening to the game on streaming radio. When you can put over 100,000 people into the stands, you are pro, officially or not. Of course when they lose, many people stay home. Average ticket price is $70. Plus parking. Plus food and beverage. We’ve been spoiled by great teams until this year. The rays blasting from the huge Godzillatron in the end zone apparently will grow artificial grass.

Friday I received an email from an old high school buddy who was ‘thinking of me’ when he spotted a Beech Staggerwing airplane in (ready?) Cambodia. I took him flying once, in a much cheaper plane, from Phung Dien Pennsylvania to Bien Tem New Jersey. He may have seen me stagger at one of his frat parties.

In April I went back to working for the man. Back to banker-controlled-radio, but not in management – this time in production (of commercials.) I still have the home studio, but wanted to be around people more; however, without the stress of driving the bus. Of course this is radio in 2010, so, after a few months, my boss was fired. Not because of me. Something about his zipper, they say, and someone’s chin. As for me, I say things like “located at...” “today and tomorrow only!” and “a sale you can’t afford to miss.” Sadly, there isn’t much creativity. I did manage to get a duck quacking into a New Year’s Eve hotel commercial (“you can sit home with cold duck... OR...”)

Our housing development (not our house) went into foreclosure, and was purchased by a bank, said to be ready to churn it. There was an interesting ‘meet the new owners’ meeting which only lacked torches and a march to the bank-castle by the villagers.

Through the station I have met some ‘stars’ on the country music scene, one of whom has 6 Grammys, - awards, not extended family - he went to a competing high school in the Philly suburbs. We hit it off really well and I thought maybe a new friendship was happening. This guy (Ray Benson – look him up) was the ‘station voice’ of one of the stations I work for. He’d be in to record every once and a while and I felt I might actually have a new buddy there. But the new manager fired him.

The GRAMMY office is right next to the radio station, and they have one on display – I went in and asked if I could take a picture with me “listening” to it. The receptionist went nuts – “Only winners can be photographed with a Grammy!” I wanted to say, “or what? Will the Grammy police sing me to jail?”

Offering our best wishes to the economy, Terri and I are buying new computers for Christmas. This will be followed by a period of lost files and repurchased software in versions that will take advantage of the blazing speeds at the edge of the state of the art. Our home computer is 7+ years old. Yes, it does run on electricity. But only when it wants to. We’ve taken advantage of a sale and Terri has her spankin’ new Toshiba now. I am shopping, trying to find the best most reliable one.

Last Winter, much too late to make it to the Christmas Letter, we went on a sailboat charter out of St. Martin or San Maartan – an island with two names, because one half of the island is Dutch and the other side is French. Wooden shoe = Dutch. Jimmy Choo = French. We traveled to St. Barts, too, which is short for St. Bartholosomething. The streets are paved with wealth. In the harbor - yachts in packs – all over 200 feet long! We saw one which was almost 400 feet long (costing almost $400 million!) St. Bartholosomething usually vacations with St. Ostentageous, patron saint of the u*berrich... (*no umlaut on this old computer, German students.)

In July. we shuffled back to Buffalo for a surprise party for Terri’s mom’s 90th birthday. It was a real surprise since it wasn’t her birthday yet! Amazingly, the family came together and she had no hint. Family, friends, tears, hugs, smiles. St. Buffalo is the patron saint of snow.

I can’t remember if this was in the last letter but late last year we both got new cars. Now we can look good doing 20 mile-an-hour runs out of the development to enjoy single-lane slowdowns where the road is being widened. Eventually the endangered salamanders which are said to live under the old bridge were aced out of a three year long EPA study for the widened bridge. St. Salamander is patron saint of the EPA.

As the development holds its collective breath awaiting new owner/s, construction on the 8000 sq foot home beside us has again accelerated. It was said to have been sold by the initial builder to some other entity which is pouring money into the project. At this moment they are laying grass. St. Grass is the patron saint of Irrigation Sprinklers.

On the other side of us – the only undeveloped lot nearby, we found new owners squatting on the dirt. We introduced ourselves to this family of five. Dad was ‘in women’s shoes’ in San Diego, we learned (as Terri nearly snapped a neck-something on her way to hyper-attention.) Apparently that was a profession, not a lifestyle choice. Anyway, as the story goes, too much pressure took the whole darn family to the south pacific for 2 and a half months to chill out, in the heat. (Try to explain that sentence to a non-english speaker!) So they searched the world, could apparently live anywhere at all, and chose the lot next to us. That says something. What palace will appear remains to be seen as they have yet to have the home designed. It seems to take a year or so to actually build most of the homes we’ve seen in the neighborhood, so when the first bulldozer arrives, the clock will start ticking. St. Bulldozer is the patron saint of Diesel.

Boy, this annual writing has mellowed from the forces of age, wifely approval, and to whom we send this letter. There’s not enough edge for my taste, but you can still get a pretty good paper cut with it if you fold it just the right way, so there’s at least some sting left.

Allow me to pimp ourselves? Voicework: bobwoodvoiceovers.com Loans: Big-Texas-Mortgages.com

Terri and I wish you the very best Christmas and let’s go for a much improved New Year for all!

FA LA LA LA snif LA **SNEEZE***

It's the day before Christmas and I am dying. Okay, I feel like I am, though I don't think it's going to happen from Cedar Fever, a local allergy, which I have. BOY do I have it. It hit me like a ton of bricks yesterday PM and today I find my doc is closed for the rest of the year. So we will try Urgent Care - there's a shot - and darn it, I don't know what it IS, that the doc would give me... a long lasting something which lessens the misery. Maybe I can google it. But it's not an antihistamine or anything like that - and sometimes it works well and other times not so well. But my head is about to explode. Last night, trying to sleep, my sinuses made my teeth hurt!

Pity party at 2.

OLD COMPUTER NEW COMPUTER

A new computer is being dropped or dropped off by the delivery guy today. It’s a combined Christmas and Birthday (Dec 23) present. If you have ever switched computers, you know there’s a whole lot of work to it.

First, you must decide whether or not you really want to keep everything you have on your old computer. Not at all unlike the kitchen junk drawer, stuff seems to collect all by itself. Now with 1TB hard drives (yes, TWO!) there’s even less incentive to be neat and clean and orderly, instead, to HOARD.

Since I have kept the old drive down to under 200GB (1/5th of a TB), I think I will be fine, but still, there’s this compulsion to REjustify all savings. Especially so on those little programs you buy for $29 or whatever and use once in a – yet always important when you do – while.

Some of these (example, a form builder) are important to one of our websites, but can I load the PROGRAM in addition to the files?

Secondly, how the heck do you transfer your email addresses? Maybe it’s time (nooooooooo) to delete all the ones which arrived when I wasn’t looking, or determining which of the three email addresses I have for some people, is correct.

Third, there’s the learning curve on WIN7. Said to be easy, I look forward to a well-thought-out design. You might think they know what they are doing, but there was that Vista thing everyone hated. Goodbye XP (except at work) hello 7.

I calculate the new computer will be as much as 10 times faster than the old one. I sure hope so. Even the second page of an internet site was often slow to load, if it ever DID load. Truth be told, the old computer hasn’t been completely right since the original hard drive failed, no matter what I did to it.

I look forward to be doing the blog necessaries so I don’t have to find a backdoor into it as I do now. Something about cookies. But they ARE enabled. %@$#!

ELECTRONICA

Terri's phone died. We had to get a new one as 'they never saw one do that before' and 'we don't fix it we send it away' which won't work for business!

So she upgraded. I will too, by March... the window opens then for a hefty discount. Will probably go with a Droid. I have begun to hate my Blackberry. It's slow, with a small screen - Internet is a joke. Call quality IS good, as is the audio of a call.

We are slated for new computers too... and I watch the ads carefully. One tactic I have noticed is the local big box store doesn't give model numbers, so you can't easily go online and read reviews.

I am really looking forward to a faster processor and maybe even Win7. I am not looking forward to trying to get stuff off this machine and onto the other. As the Chamber Brothers used to sing: THE TIME HAS COME TODAY. Well, not today - as I am watching for the best deal on an i7. I expect to have them side by side for a while as I try not to lose anything 'important.'

Yes, I have twin outboard hard drives. No, I really don't know what I am doing; suspect moving programs to be problematic. Files I can move. The old Gateway is over 7 years of age. If it all goes smoothly then the pilgrims will come and want to build a shrine on the site of the miracle.

And our Blu-ray player has decided to unwork. It used to work. Now just eats discs and pauses. I am trying to update its firmware. Time will tell, as the process takes a good part of an hour.

TESTING 1 2 3

In the paper today I saw an article about the public radio station in town. A show host was in a studio with about $10,000 of microphones. And I would value the ( discontinued) microphone in my studio at work at $65 new. That's at a company valued at $16 Billion (yes, B!). WTF?

CATCHING UP

There's apparently a force called Blog Momentum or BlogMo which causes bloggers to continue their output as it's encouraged by the mass of what you have written before. I am immune, but it's not completely my fault.

I am at work most of the day and it would be hell to try to do this on my Blackberry, with which I have a love/hate relationship. And my at-work computer comes with a prominent warning that corporate can see all we do. Well, if they want to see this they can track it down. Who knows what the surveillance weasels would think of my style or thoughts? I'd rather not 'share.'

When I get home it seems I just don't have the mojo to blog.

Maybe the work benumbs me.

Also, as I have blogged before, I can't log in through Explorer because it wants me to do whatever-the-hell-it is that I have already done (something with cookies - I stopped looking for solutions and have to get in through FireFox, which isn't, but probably should be, my default browser.

Now that I have laid that out, I have also forgotten what I was going to write about.

POLITICS

I admit I am sorry to say Obama has disappointed. Maybe the system is broken with extreme partisanship wasting resources and time and money.

The polls show such a low regard for ALL politicians! The electorate just wants CHANGE fercryinoutloud. And that brings some strange people to the fore.

These guys and women in power must be nuts to think that dissatisfaction doesn't apply to THEM. They point to the other side and make noises as if the country wants their side to win and fix it all.

Ain't gonna happen.

I wonder if we'll see a coalition in the near future.

Will voter turnout sag (as in it's all hopeless, so don't bother) or will the frustration bring out many who want to be heard?

Locally, Governor Rick Perry is up against Bill White. I'd like to see White win, but his ads are SO bad! Perry's are just about perfect.

I am sorry to say that I think a lot of who wins has to do with their handlers, consultants, and of course - we all knew this - money. Say the wrong thing or waste a message, and you may be out of the game.

One of White's bad radio ads starts off with him talking about how he... a guy with such big ears... I guess they are trying to make him 'just folks.' Perry's, on the other hand, speaks about glowing accomplishments (real or imagined, but impressive.) For the masses, for the uninformed, they'll go with the guy who sounds like the winner. People love winners.

I think that without terms limits, without blocking lobbyists, without line item veto, we are close to sunk. And now there are also blatantly apparent idiots running for office while the ship of state is listing so badly.

COMPUNUTS

Wow, it's been a while since I have blogged. Must remember. Part of the problem is this slow old computer doesn't want to work all the time on Explorer, and I only use Firefox when Explorer doesn't work, or I just say "the hell with it" and walk away.

I am becoming spoiled by the computers I use at work, too. They aren't what I'd term speed demons by any measure but are notably quicker than this one.

Yesterday I moved attitudinally from "Soon we have to think about which computer..." to "Must replace this slow beast with a new one. This sucks."

I want an i7 with 1Tb hard drive, 8GB memory.

The real issue isn't the box, it's the software we'll have to rebuy in 64 bit versions if available. Heck, some of our stuff might work, but the software (Word is version from 2003) is ancient.

Terri's company issued laptop is also showing some false teeth, so that one might be replaced first, and they aren't giving them out any longer.

Of course we just had the house repainted, so to be fiscally appropriate we might wait until Christmas or even after-Christmas sales. But heck - if the box costs even $1000 I will be surprised if the software isn't that and more.

The process of deciding which programs are worth keeping, then tracking down which software we might re-license or give up - that's mighty time consuming!

It's all about the need for speed, isn't it?

Plus, we'll have to learn Win7. Plus I will have to install my pro-soundcard.

I wonder if I might install my existing hard drive as an extra in the new machine, change it's drive number and still have the programs on it intact and workable? That'd make things much easier. Or would it?

I BELIEVE.

READ THIS!

Although the world wide web has been around for just 20 years, it is hard to imagine life without it. It has given us instant access to vast amounts of information, and we’re able to stay in touch with friends and colleagues more or less continuously.

But our dependence on the internet has a dark side. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the net, with its constant distractions and interruptions, is turning us into scattered and superficial thinkers.

PICNIC

Yesterday was Terri's company picnic, at the home of one of the owners/founders. It was a well attended summer 'do.' At one point I counted about 24 people and 2 dogs in the pool of jumping in or out. (And the pool isn't huge!) But it was 102 degrees.

The host had suspended from saw horses what appeared to be a 24 foot strip of half pvc pipe, ready for a 24 foot ice cream sundae. Sure enough, at the appointed time (when he perceived a lull,) the host appeared with gallons of ice cream and loaded the trough. Helpers then spread chocolate sauce, caramel, crumbled Oreos, sprinkles, M&Ms, peanut butter cups, whipped cream, and more.

The kids were assembled behind a line. Spoons were distributed. The ice cream was melting. Adult ice cream-o-philes like me were impatient. The kids were given the "go!" and they did, scooping up spoonfuls. One dog was licking the end of the trough. He was also getting all sorts of sticky all over him. After a few minutes adults moved in for a few scoops.

Then the host yelled "food fight!" and remaining goo was suddenly scooped and hurled by many of the kids. I retreated. One young girl smeared chocolate sauce and whipped cream and whatever all over herself.

I imagine that today ants from several counties are headed to the Woodstock of Sticky Sweet.

THE SHORT LEASH

At work I face twin computer screens (from twin computers). My younger associate has FOUR screens, one of which is tuned to CNN. Of course I go everywhere with my Blackberry. Yesterday I went outside to the pool and partly due to the heat, left the Blackberry inside the house. As I approached the door, I felt 'wrong' somehow, and realized it was due to the loss of connectivity.

To what? I guess to the swirl of social and infomedia which have become omnipresent and important. That sense of connectedness, no matter how illusory, has become an important part of life today. Are we really 'connected' to the 'friends' on Facebook? Maybe some. Maybe not.

Our radio cluster's sales manager of internet is 26. The associate mentioned above is, I think, 28. THEY GREW UP ON COMPUTERS. They can type without looking at the keyboard.

I remember being a small kid when one Christmas Santa brought me a "typewriter" in which there was a wheel you had to turn to each letter. Almost a manual Selectric, except it was a wheel, not a ball, and you had to do everything physically. I didn't like it. Imagine how far we've come from that perspective! What would an 8 year old of today do with that toy? His or her world is keyboards and mice.

STUFF HAPPENS

I couldn't get into Blogger on Internet Explorer. Still can't, even after trying all the fixes they suggest. This is through Firefox. I believe I took all the corrective steps back in Explorer, but noooooooooooo.

I've been work during the day then I seem to run out of time and so haven't been feeding the blog. If anyone is left, thank you for visiting!

I write for the exercise and to stay sane. Semi-sane.

There IS a thread here - stuff happens - when home from work yesterday I saw one of our landscaping zones gushing water. It wasn't on and wasn't scheduled to be on, but there it was. Since I couldn't shut it down, and never knew where the landscape kill valve lived, I had to shut off water to the house after beating on the controller.

Our email pleas were answered and Jim The Man came over and cannibalized one of our dead zones and rebuilt the solenoid actuated valve. I now know how to turn off the landscaping water supply. Also we found the cause - our grasscutter people ran over the controller with the big rider mower and killed it, releasing the water.

Then they split.

I am amazed how either things have changed or I was lucky for so many years of peaceful home ownership elsewhere. In the 5 1/2 years we've lived here, we've had pool pumps die, gush, or leak, irrigation issues, and even saw a light bulb fire up (literally) when activated by a timer. That almost took the lampshade out and that would maybe have burned the house down! We've had in-wall plumbing leaks, in-floor leaks twice on the same toilet. Floors replaced, walls replaced.

I don't think our builder was negligent, either.

Neighbors one house away were hit by lightning. Neighbors whose house is maybe a mile or more away (and we can see from here) have been hit by lightning TWICE.

And the computer... goes semi-sluggishly along. I am reading the ads with great interest.

KEYBOARD MEMORY

At work I have twin computer keyboards as they access twin computers. As a necessity, each is off center compared with this one. I find my muscle memory of where keys are is growing worse as each offset affects my typing (is it even called typing?) I also seem to have become slower here on this centered keyboard.

WILLIE'S 4th of July Picnic

It was up the street a few miles this year. We had free tickets. We spent 3 (of 12+) hours, finally found a seat on the grass (a 7500+ person sellout) and enjoyed the music and warm breezes, The crowd is a mixture of cowboys, hippies, yuppies... they sold a TON of merch - my favorite was the Willie Nelson First Aid shirt with a large leaf of pot on it. But I bought a cap at a way overpriced $30, instead. I wear caps at work due to the track lighting which would shine into my eyes if I didn't. Plus, there can't be too many like this show.

Later we came home and watched 9 more fireworks displays in the near and far distances! A warm breeze made it perfect.

FIREWORKS!

I was such a fireworks kid! I LOVED them. I bought them illicitly whenever I could (illegal in my home state - Pennsylvania). I made my own. Oh for fireworks. And the chemicals we bought back then would surely trip a terrorist list investigation today! Some of the stuff was highly dangerous! All of it could burn things (like fields (check), fingers (check)) or blow up big time. Probably the largest explosion was in a three foot rocket (aluminum tube) which, when it blew up, echoed around the hills for some time. It was the loudest explosion I had ever stood close to - I was about 16 at the time. The kid who lit the fuse and ran was passed by shrapnel from the explosion.

The must be angels.

What I cannot understand is that as I aged I lost my enthusiasm, and I cannot figure out why. Last night we had a great place (private home) to watch a great display but I was feeling lousy and didn't go. Out our TV room window we could see several displays in the distance and other than a few more creative rockets, it was ho-hum.

Maybe the years of 'syncing" radio music to fireworks displays drained me (they cannot sync well and very few people ever bring radios.) In Minneapolis (actually St. Paul) we were supposedly involved with the largest fireworks display 'this side of the Mississippi.' That would be hyperbole. But it was a huge display.

As a young kid, I remember sitting in an alley by the beach in Ocean City NJ where some grownups (no doubt hammered) had several shopping bags of fireworks and set them off right THERE, right in front of the assembled kids. That was SO cool.

One fourth of July my dad and uncle (hammered) went down to the beach and shot 45s at the moon over the water (loud.)

One fourth of July a bunch of us went late to a display and somehow ended up closer to the zone than the crowd, and stood right under where the shells were exploding. I remember 'coming to' on my knees. I felt hammered into the earth by the explosions.

I still love the smell of gunpowder - the sulfuric smoke. But in our 5 1/2 years here have avoided buying ANY fireworks at the many stands open in the next counties for 10 days twice each year. And I don't know why.

Maybe if they sold Cherry Bombs?

HPs NASTY SCHEME

Our $270 all-in-one printer/fax/copier just cratered. Here's the scam: it holds four sources of ink - three colors and black. When any of them (in this case, yellow) runs dry, the printer will not allow printing 'to preserve the health of the printer' even if the black ink is full and the item to print is black!

However, after an online search, I found ten pages of disgruntled HP owners writing about how replacing that yellow ink DOESN'T GET RECOGNIZED, and there's no work-around.

My dilemma - do I go buy yellow and try? Risk another $22 to feel like a fool? Or save whatever the cost of a new printer? (I will try the yellow.)

Apparently if you call HP they will try to sell you another printer. IF you can understand the foreign tongue on the associate you get in India or wherever.

Yes, I have loaded the latest drivers, rebooted, restored, etc. BTW: their instructions SUCK.

One guy took an axe to his HP before going out to buy a Cannon.

Man I just hate it when machines or devices make decisions for you - presets forcing A or B when you want "A and a half." We have lost so much control in our busy lives to industry, or government - it's a shame.

The last thing I want in this world, right above blood blister, is another printer.

- Later -

Well, after my replacing yellow ink, The HP 8500909g went through a lot of introspection and decided... I needed a 'blue'. Very warily I bought both cyan and magenta inks and loaded them in... as by sheer coincidence (cue suspicion music) I received an email that we should extend our soon-to-expire warranty on this beast (huh? --- didn't realize it was under a year old!) But after replacing the remaining two inks, the machine whirred and clicked and whirred and began to spit paper. IT WORKS!

Now I will walk away while I can.

TIME KEEPS ON SLIPPING INTO THE FUTURE

Sez the song. And true it is! This computer's days are numbered. Seems to have issues which registry cleaning, etc., along with lots of anti-virii cannot solve. Plus it's old.

If dog years are people years times 6 or 7, then a computer age must be people age x 20, don't you think? This computer, by that measure, is... 140.

It isn't the $$$ that keeps me from running right out, it's trying to get updated versions of all the programs. And deciding which we HAVE TO HAVE and which to let go forever. A computer (for me) is like a crowded closet that you don't have to look into... everything is there where you left it. Deciding what to throw out is painful, and I KNOW I'll throw away the ONE or DOZEN programs I have to have afterwards.

When it's too late.

Will an i5 do it? Will I miss XP?

Looks like at $699 you get a lot for your money.

POOL VERSUS BOAT

A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money. I say a pool is a hole OF water you pour money into. Not nearly as pricey as a boat, but the chemicals and service calls do add up, and apparently never stop.

I was just trying to figure why our salt-based chlorine generator had stopped doing its thing. Took it apart. Got it back together. Restarted. Fixed new squirt/leak where I hadn't tightened enough. Now I watch suspiciously as the salt reading seems unresonably low.

I feel an impending replacement in just down the road.

HOWEVER, as today is scheduled to hit mid-90s, this will be the first dip into the pool. Water temp is 81 - right where I like it.

SIXTEEN TONS

Tennessee Ernie Ford had a hit long ago with SIXTEEN TONS. Part of the lyric went "...another day older and deeper in debt."

I got a job job. This is different and apart from my voice work out of ye home studio. This is weekdays 8:30 to 5:30 (I wish - often the days stretch... next Friday, the entry to a long weekend AND start of a month should be an avalanche of work.) I don't mind volume, but don't thrill to it when several people are demanding attention simultaneously.

For the past 30 years I was the boss of at least my department, or more. Now, I am a worker bee. Lowly. This brings an interesting perspective. You sure aren't on the inside - don't know what's going on, just do those commercials, or load them into the big file server which runs the radio stations.

I guess you could say I am an unnecessary unexploited resource, but I knew that going in.

Most of the people are really nice and I enjoy interacting with them. Several of the talents are TRULY talented - much much better than you'd generally find in a 'market' this size (partly a testimony to the desire to be in Austin, I think!)

In just the past few weeks - I am new - I have worked with a few very interesting souls... a multi-grammy award winner, several singers, a guy who climbed mount Everest, an Indy driver, a Nascar driver. I interviewed a set of amazing kids who survived cancer or serious injuries - all resilience and courage and undamped spirit in such small packages!

ENTERING THE NOW

I'd write 'the future' but that's not really true.

I just loaded my first APP.

No, we don't have IPhones... we have Blackberries. I was satisfied with my last phone but when Terri needed a Blackberry and the deal was two for one, well, why not?

Yes, I envy the IPhone people but the Verizon deal is better when you have two phones on the same account. Better coverage too? Or is that an urban myth? Yes, some of the apps look great and I LOVE the IPhone larger screen. Maybe someday. But for today, how can you beat free?

Seems that somewhere along the line, the Blackberry people made apps more attractive, or I was lost from the start - unsure which, but I just looked through hundreds of apps which came up clear (though small on the BB screen.)

I loaded a stopwatch. It was time.

TIME-WARNER IS RUN BY THE DEVIL

TIME-WARNER has been a constant pain. If it's not Internet trouble, it's TV. I sit awaiting another tech visit as I write this. We don't get many of the HD channels for which we pay. They never got it right. Some channels work, some don't. Come back again and others will and others won't. From what I read, we are not alone at all.

We use their Cisco Tuning Adaptor into a TiVo HD3 with a multi stream cable card. After driving to their depot, getting a number, receiving the box, driving back, it didn't work. They imprisoned me in the home again - a tech finally arrived and said I needed a new tuning adaptor, and that he didn't have any. Back to the store. Back home. Replug. Still didn't work.

The latest example of their 'service' was an 8AM to 8PM home imprisonment on Tuesday, when I finally became fed up with the channels not working. The tech arrived at 8:40PM without a call. He then declared the problem was at the street, but that, as a service provider, was unauthorized to fix it. He said his supervisor would have to also check on what HE found and then start a work order. They say the work was done yesterday. Last night there was no change to the missing channels. Today I called again. Again they will send a tech and I must be home, only this time from 3 to 5PM. At least the window is smaller.

We have had numerous tech visits. At their behest I have had THREE routers. The last time they wanted me to do this again but I refused. The tech then found out it wasn't the router (was it ever?), replaced the modem they supply, ran new cable to the street, and dropped the signal level.

Reading through posts on forums we are not alone. It seems even if you get a span of time with proper service, after a month or so, something happens and you lose the stability.

When you call you get a machine. If you can get a person they speak poor English until you somehow convince them to escalate it up the chain. There are long periods after "I'll connect you," where the music on hold repeats every 45 seconds or so. Then they announce the call may be recorded for quality assurance. I'll bet MY calls are used to train people in how to handle an irate customer. Handle, yes. Help, no.

DIET! DIET! DIET!

I have never dieted. Back in the day I could almost will myself to lose a few pounds. Or maybe I convinced myself I did, when I didn't. It was a long time ago.

A few months ago I almost cut off a couple toes with the lawnmower. No, not to lose weight. But I DID lose a bunch through hospitalization and recovery. Maybe it was the pills that took away my appetite. I was on THREE gut-bomb antibiotics at one point - and they were VERY unpleasant.

Well, surprise, surprise... the weight came back.

I could still fit into my clothes, but I didn't like the way I looked. A roll of fat surrounded my waist. So I thought I'd cut out my evening sweets, do only light lunch, and be sure I walked a mile and change every day (not far, but, hey, my foot was sensitive!)

I gave it four weeks.

I refuse to step on a scale. It would demotivate me if there was only a little change. I may have given up sweets, but not impatience.

After 4 weeks, I'd take stock of what changes I noted.

Each evening I gave myself two Hershey Kisses and a couple Good and Plentys or a hard candy or two. I need the sweet, but not the pint of ice cream.

Week one was bad.

After a while I found some strength in not wanting to negate the denial I had endured to that point.

Some progress at 4 weeks. I decided to go for 4 more, which end this Sunday.

It worked. And when I resume, I plan to be much more discriminating. If it isn't GREAT, I won't eat it. Before I'd gobble.

I see and feel a difference. I will be better at choosing what I scarf. I wouldn't want to go through this again.

ANOTHER TOILET PROBLEM - FLUSH WITH CASH

This is the second time. The good news is I believe THIS TIME we have a trustworthy, skillful, knowledgeable plumber. I say THIS TIME because the man cited three reasons why we will have to replace the wooden floor in the powder room AGAIN, i.e.: it wasn't repaired correctly the first time.

I won't detail the issues since I don't know the names of the parts involved. Just know that every flush was sending a spurt of water through a hole into the floor.

If you've never seen YOUR wooden floors ripped up due to water damage, let me tell you it's quite the deal - although when done properly, there's no permanent damage - just to your wallet!

First you have the toilet removed.
Then the floor removed.
Then you be sure it's bone dry.
Then the floor guy puts in a new floor.
Then the plumber reinstalls the toilet.

UH OH! COMPUTER MAKING NEW NOISES

It sounds like a whirling, louder than ever. I think it's the fan, or worse, the hard drive. The fan has been cleaned relatively recently. The hard drive is not the original one, but a replacement somewhere along the lifeline of the box, as the original one became corrupt like a politician. At least it issued no denials.

If you are a friend and you lose track of me for a few days or weeks, the box did die and the replacement will bring with it many issues to resolve. I THINK I have saved on an outboard drive my email addresses but I can't be sure they will import into a new box when and if.

The other day my computer just shut DOWN in the middle of my typing... odd thing is that locally someone cut through a cable which took down all phone and internet for a while. And Terri's computer also died at work, another 'never before' thing.

Viruses are constantly checked on my computer... so I doubt that's an issue.

Just - stay in touch if I go away... I'll be back.

BLUE ROCK ARTIST RANCH

Great name, huh? The place is a secluded recording facility outside of Wimberly, Texas, about 35 miles down the road from our house.

As a past attendee at one of their in-house concerts, I was invited to their 4th birthday party.

The day included performances (which are also recorded and shot on HD video, with feeds around the house. Ranch. Sorry.

Ruth Moody


Natalia Zuckerman



The Legendary Rupert Neve
Virtually every artist has recorded through his equipment which is in great studios all over the world!



The piano room (setup to record ensembles and groups)



The recording part of it all.

DAVY CROCKETT

I don't remember having a coon-skin hat as a kid. But I had the 45rpm record... "Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee... Kilt him a ba'ar when he was only three..." I probably thought I was Davy once in a while, roaming the wilds of the neighborhood which weren't wild at all - you had to go into the 'woods' (no relation) to find 'wilderness.' The woods were really the grounds of Haverford College, which had trees of many species all through its square-mile campus, just two blocks from my house.

I didn't realize how much I missed Davy, until I saw the news story last night which included some clips from way back then, as they stirred some soul-memory long forgotten. That was a time of clear right versus clear wrong. Things were fresh, probably due to my age and the innocence of inexperience. And simpler. I remember that right always won.

Last night they showed Fess Parker - Davy - and also later, Daniel - at 85. He had done real well. Bought land and had an award winning winery on 2200 acres. Even at that age he looked like a real man and a guy who'd treat you right.

He starred in Old Yeller, the first movie I cried at. Didn't expect to, either. Just LOST it.

Whatever reality is, when I looked at Davy, or Fess, I saw a purity (real or imagined) which is long gone in the days of Tiger, Jesse James, John Edwards, partisanship, Enron, Madoff, steroided athletes.

Rest in Peace, King Of The Wild Frontier.

Who would quailfy as a Real Man today?

SXSW

This is a BIG deal - SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST - coming to town in various incarnations - Film, Interactive, Music. The city will be full of gigs (last year over 1000 bands showed up from all over the world!) and parties. Celebs say this town is a cool place to be - that the folks don't rush to get an autograph or picture. That's a good thing. Likely true.

From SXSW.com: "The music event has grown from 700 registrants in 1987 to nearly 12,000 registrants. As Austin has grown and diversified, film companies and high-tech companies have played a major role in the Austin and the Texas economies. In 1994, SXSW added a film and interactive component to accommodate these growth industries. SXSW Film and SXSW Interactive events attract approximately 17,000 registrants to Austin every March.

SXSW's original goal was to create an event that would act as a tool for creative people and the companies they work with to develop their careers, to bring together people from a wide area to meet and share ideas. That continues to be the goal today whether it is music, film or the internet. And Austin continues to be the perfect location."

The Goody Bag thing:



One of the neat things about Austin is the shared pride people have ABOUT Austin - sure, some oldtimers complain about what was lost while the city expanded, but the cool vibe is still here.

A friend who was recently on a job interview in Dallas commented about how much more cosmopolitan Dallas is, compared to Austin. So true.

Austin is friendly, accepting, and music-centric.

For us, the perfect choice!

EVEN MORE TV: THE ACADEMY AWARDS SHOW

I didn't care who won. Watched because it's more or less a tradition. Wondered if they could ever get the show into a format worth watching. Spoiler alert: NO!

HOWEVER, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were VERY VERY funny - or their lines were and they delivered most of them wonderfully. Something like this: Alec: "...a writer, musician, author, a Grammy and Oscar winner... STEVE MARTIN." Steve: (after applause, "And Alec Baldwin." Banter which was Best I Can Remember.

But the rest of the 'show' and the pacing were HORRIBLE.

They'd bring a group of people on stage then shoot them from a distant side angle. Huh? Rehearsals? In fact, immediately after a needless N.P. Harris song and dance that fizzle-opened, there were a few moments where the production seemed to go off the rails entirely, as the cameras didn't seem to know where to go or what to do and there was a major pause - this while you might be trying to snag 'sampling' viewers. Rehearsals?

THANK GOD for TiVo, although we kept catching up to real time via bypassing the dancing and many many boring awards and speeches from people who we don't care to see. What an ordeal!

I could go on and on but you get the idea. MOSTLY boring. Steve and Alec great.

Addendum: Just read local paper review. He came down hard on Alec and Steve. I don't agree. At all. Isn't that what makes horserace betting?

AND MORE TV: WEEDS

Last night Terri and I watched the start of disc two of season 5 (episodes 8 and 9, I think.) After each one, we gave each other a look of "was that as good as I think it was?" It WAS.

Certainly this show will offend some conservatives. Yes it will. It's sometimes racy - language is real but also blue. This ain't no basic cable. And there's weed - smoking! And sales. And 'adult-situations' like sex and talk of sex. Actually a lot of that, though not graphic. Some nudity.

Again, the writing is great, the situations mostly great, the acting outstanding. It's funny, touching, sweet, tart, all at once. And Mary Louise Parker is incredible.

TV TALK

Terri has pretty much checked out of LOST. I am hanging in hopefully, but so far, I feel unrewarded.

Watched the first LENO back at 10:35. I don't like him but he was obviously humping hard and it served him well to show that much energy and crispness.

I am WAY into THE GOOD WIFE. Again, Terri's not raving, but it is a terrific drama with good writing, great acting - maybe the classiest show on TV.

Returning some interest into Grey's Anatomy which surprises me. I could become numb at any time, but not so far.

The new show with Timothy Olyphant, looks GREAT and as soon as TiVo decides we are close enough, I will instruct the recorder to grab it for me.

DAMAGES is still fun, but I miss Danson - he was a great Villain. And HEY - there was Tony Soprano's uncle!!!

We have been binging on (the show) WEEDS and continue to be entranced by Mary Louise Parker. I strongly believe no other actress could hold that role!

HOUSE had some of it's best-ever episodes before the break. I hope they come back at that level.

FRINGE should decide what it wants to be. Bring on the Matrix stuff then. Enough worms-for-arms freaks. Zero chemistry from the two leads, though...

unlike CASTLE which brings forth a charm school run by Nathan Fillion. The banter reminds me of Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd on Moonlighting, back in the days of innocence and incense.

Checked out CBS and ABC news under Katy C and Diane Sawyer. I tend to watch NBC and prefer it and its team. But both CBS and ABC seemed good too, and the anchors pro.

Olympics - several of the announce staff seem long in the tooth and the NBC side seemed to lack - what - spirit? NICE produced pieces, though. Work to be proud of.

Loved the arena announcer at the large venue. Great voice. Great "read" and perfect for PA system - ie: great midrange - very clear - and enthusiastic! He had great personality without ever saying anything other than names.

Almost forgot IDOL. Weak. They have enough goodness for finals though. The 'panel' has been giving conflicting advice: "change a song and make it your way" - "just sing a song simply..." I don't think Ellen is adding the spark they hoped for - she COULD but must feel held back. Kara is trying hard to do the touchy-feely stuff with Simon, who I have to say I pretty much agree with so far. Randy should come back as a dawg. He'll lick you if he likes ya, but he won't go far if he doesn't. In other words - the panel o' judges need more personality other than that of the Next-year-I'm-GONE Simon C.

ANNUAL WEED WAR

We've had a rainy winter. And cool. This is because some people off the coast of San Diego swim around in circles, which causes weather here.

It's actually hot in the sun today, so that will tell out-of-towners what it's doing here. I think our last cool day is gone as the sun is hot and the breeze, even when cool, has a hard time keeping things mild.

Weeds have birthed a week or weeks ahead of the grass. I read about the green way to kill weeds, vinegar and liquid soap, Dutifully I bought a new sprayer, lots of Aunt-Sally's-Vinegar-By-The-Gallon, and went to war.

Trouble is, the weeds have a big army. On an acre and a half that's a LOT of vinegar! I am pretty sure that zombie versions of the original kills are rising from their tombs, sewing seed, shooting runners, and wreaking havoc otherwise.

Even the rabbits cannot keep up. Nor the deer. We have an acre of rabbit and deer poop for sale (see the sign down by the road - bring your own container) but all those hungry tick carriers can't keep up with the damn dandelions!

I've tried pulling them. I tried, one year, the wholly holistic way, spreading compost all over everything ("a healthy lawn will take care of itself" "weeds signal something is wrong and you need to buy something.")

Bottom line: nothing works. As Terri says, at least they're green.

WHEN RADIO WAS FUN

I was there.

I've found and put up for you to hear some of the fun that was the creed at BOB 100 FM in Minneapolis 1993-1997 or so.

Back then there was more opportunity to build what some called a "Stationality" - the personality of the station.

I was hired to get this brand new station on the air. When I began there was no staff, no studio - nothing - and this was no cookie cutter, though we did have the counsel of wise people like Jaye Albright and even, originally, Randy Michaels.

We did it right. We did it right on the air and we did it right with really good marketing and contesting. We had the world's Best Ever slogan: TURN YOUR KNOB TO BOB. Soon after we launched, if you said BOB somebody might well answer, "Turn your knob to BOB." We ran really good TV.

We had only the best billboards and they were all what you'd call "lit supers."
The Billboard said Turn Your Knob To Bob

Anyway, this might make you smile. CLICK HERE!

SNOWJOB

Yesterday we had snow. Big flakes. Second-highest accumulation in 19 years. AN INCH.

The local TV stations had people out reporting on wet roads. Oooooo. TEAM COVERAGE of wet roads since there was nothing to talk about. IT MELTED.

All they could do is point to freezing overnight and wring their reporter-hands.

Today it's 50+, there's a refugee patch of snow hiding in the mulch, fighting its genetic predisposition to wet itself.

AUSTIN: LIVE MUSIC CAPITAL

How cool to sit about 40 feet away from multi-grammy award winner Ray Benson in a local bar (owned by Willie Nelson's former now-deceased road manager) and enjoy the music and friendliness. We asked a woman if she was saving the whole table she and her guy were sitting at and she graciously welcomed us to sit with them.

We'll be back.

LOVE AUSTIN!

Photo via phone.

TIGER WOODS (NO RELATION)

I suppose he had to say what he did. Cynics and critics are saying 'it was all staged.' Well, yeah. What did you expect?

What interests me is how little I care. I wonder why? I admit a general interest to see how these "Mea Culpa" moments are "handled." Even with that professional curiousity, I just cannot crank much enthusiasm for Tiger - I simply don't care.

I sure don't know about these things personally, but, after seeing the photos of his mistresses, with maybe two exceptions, I would have thought he could do much better.

Mom, trying to be supportive, said 'he didn't do anything illegal...' well, nice, Mrs. Woods, but just sit down please.

Anybody see any similarities between M. Jackson and Tiger? (Controlling parent, major talent, lost youth...?)

5 YEARS IN, WHEN WARRANTIES EXPIRE

Or maybe they go away sooner - whatever the case, we seem to have hit the timeline when our house is requiring attention to appliances and minor this or thats which must be fixed for us to live a sane life. Example: one of the three zone heaters has begun to groan.

Today is a double whammy - I will be trapped in the office by the cleaning crew who have been absent a month, due to their cycle and our vacation timing.

And the appliance guy is scheduled to be back. I can write here that I think he's a talky know-it-all. He authorized a replacement under warranty for the refrigerator compressor without even knowing that was the problem (and we since found out, it wasn't.)

Whining?

Yes, I am.

This guy, in my non-professional opinion, has issues. And he's the boss of the repair service. Today he will 'repair' the dish washer and the outdoor grill. I feel compelled to keep a close eye on him as I don't entirely trust him. That means I must endure his boasts. Successful repairs or not, we won't be calling on him again. You might well ask WHY we let him back this time - simple - he's got the parts we need and we don't want to go through the process from the start again.

Update ++++

The guy wasn't quite as unsufferable as I expected, but still... example - I brought out the vaccuum cleaner 'Do yourself a favor and get rid of that right away...'

The outdoor grille, which he complained about and complained about (poorly made, bad angles for installing burners, etc. - was actually a quick and easy fix.

The dishwasher is luder than ever (and the issue was noise.)

The refrigerator is marginally noisier.

I seriously doubt either of these could be fixed beyond what has happened. Might have to replace the dishwasher eventually as it's annoying.

Meanwhile, the igniter on the built-in stove has gone out on one side ('need a new module,' and it's in the back, and due to the ducting, piping, etc, estimated at about $400-500!!!

BACK TO... winter?

Don't know what the temperatures were last week in the Dutch West Indies, other than 'perfect.'

Back home now, it's another El Nino day - wet and cool... hovering around 41 degrees (average at this time of the year is a high of 64.)

We have shivered while watching the snow in the north and northeast. Thankyewverymuch but our dues are PAID IN FULL. Our two years in Syracuse topped all with yearly record totals of 176 and 192 inches. Add in Minneapolis, Buffalo, Montreal, etc., we are done with snow.

SUPERBOWL ADS

After the jet lag works off - still feel it today - I thought I'd post some details of our trip to St. Martin, But for now - the highly anticipated Superbowl ads, reviewed by our panel of me.

I loved the Doritos ad where the dog slips his anti-bark collar on the guy who was teasing him, then barks. It was simple, cleanly executed, and very funny.

The Google ad was extremely clever and creative, telling a story through searches. Well done. Again, clear, and all this in a complete demonstration of how the service works. A+

Letterman and Leno with Oprah: wonderful. Taking full advantage of the buzz surrounding both L and L, the ad could have been for any of the three. Again, simple, clever and funny.

Of course there were many which were clever, though some lost their message in the intricacy or the gag.

Motorola's Megan Fox (bathtub) was very funny, though I thought it lost a little PRODUCT focus. But funny. I loved the guy up the ladder asking his buddy if he was stabilizing the bottom all the while the bud was watching the phone video, and the ladder goes down.

COKE's sleepwalker was great.

Hyundai's TEN YEARS ad with Brett Farve - great!

Hotel Hell was ok. The LONG VERSION (about 14 minutes.) The :30 renewed our love for the Griswolds, but not much else. Little sponsor memorability.

I've never liked the hint of porn on the GoDaddy spots (though they probably DO drive countless geeks to the website which is the point.) They just seem cheesy, not even sexy.

TruTV (groundhog) - honorable mention.

And there was one more I loved, but cannot remember it today which disqualifies it. I remember saying "this is VERY well done." But gone today. Hey, what's a couple million dollars wasted?

LEAVIN... ON A JET PLANE

St. Martin, the patron saint of... ?

Join us, if you are looking for a quick escape:

Cockpit View of Landing at St. Maarten | Viral/Other | SPIKE.com

This is SO cool a place it's got two dictatorships, I mean municipal principals. Half is St. Martin, and the other half St. Maarten. One side wears no underwear. The other favors hats and bow ties.

Here's the landing from the beach. WORTHY!!"

Didn't you enjoy those 32 seconds? You did. Absolutely.

So you see that tomorrow we'll sand blast some sun worshippers who go for a little peace and quiet, a little getaway, AT THE END OF A RUNWAY.

We go directly to the boat, a 45-50 foot catamaran. It doesn't expand, it's I'm not sure how long it is. Pretty much a fait acomplii by now anyway.

We learn that in addition to the captain and cook, there will be a couple from Italy and a couple from Canada. They will be the palest.

There ARE sunny and warm areas of Canada, but they are in Florida.

I think we spend nite one in the harbor or mooring, since we board only an hour and a half or so before sunset. Sailboats sail. They are not fast. To get somewhere, maybe, but we'll see, and after travel for pretty much 12 hours, it won't matter.

I will take many pictures and should get into flickr or some place, so I can broaden it from the several I'd post here, huh?

I'm a computer guy but not to taking one along, so that's it for now.

SHOOTING GULLS

More photography. Went to Lake Buchanen Saturday to meetup with the photo group I belong to... it turned out to be windy and eventually rainy, and the promoted eagles were nesting elsewhere. We did have some gulls follow the boat and believe me, it's not easy to get a good shot of a moving bird while on a moving boat.

Next week we'll be somewhere warm, on another moving boat...

PHOTOGRAPHER BOB WOOD

I am enjoying the creative freedom photography has brought back to me as I believe that there's no bad thing as a bad photo if it resonates with you.

As a young official photoguy for our family (comprised of my mother, my father, and me) I travelled all over Europe, snapping pictures/slides from the top of the Eiffel Tower, to Picadilly Circus, to the Collesium. Venice, the alps. Really good pictures. My mother threw them out without telling me when she moved to Florida.

The DSLR experience is so cheap, easy, and rewarding. I write those words in that order because without the cheap and easy, I'd not go for the freedom it takes to take a lot of pictures, even of the same thing - each expanding my knowledge of what works. Being able to shoot free means your own subjective opinion will always be right for that picture, for you.

I've got pictures I have saved just to think about, to try to figure out what I really like - what is vibrating for me?

Usually I like it when a picture tells a story. There's an action captured, leading to an outcome (the diver is about to kiss the water/ the child is about to get the ice cream/ or an attitude (I am eating this ice cream and don't care how much gets on me/ love/ fun. The vitality of the characters photographed fuels the picture.

I shot 35mm for years, then 110 black and white in a twin-lens relex as a teen on the yearbook staff, back to 35mm, then video in virtually every format up until HDTV. I shot tons I HAVE NEVER SEEN. And don't really want to. Got back into semi-pro 35MM, then DSLR.

But good pictures really do hold up, grabbing powerful memories or emotions, right out of thin air.

I have a picture I took of our small cruise ship in Tahiti, docked so simply and peacefully. It has innocense about it. Two weeks later, the ship caught fire and was scuttled. This was a print and if I get a satifactory scan of it, will post below. I love how it feels.



I feel compelled to point to the right side top of the blog here with a link to more photos.

CONAN IS BEING SCREWED!

It seems wrong, wrong, wrong to me that NBC wants to put LENO back following the 11P E/10P C news and have CONAN's THE TONIGHT SHOW after it at 12:05AM. Apparently CONAN isn't ready to go along.

If you think that - "Well, with all HIS money, how tough is life?" that's just not the point. It takes tremendous drive and talent to get as far as CONAN has - and while he might not be everyone's favorite, cutting him off at the knees is just wrong. It should take time to build his audience.

I blame NBC for being stupid. I blame Jay Leno for his eagerness to shuffle out of the cesspool of his current show and back to a later time slot, no matter what that does to his 'successor.'. Time to step out, Jay. Drive your cars. Do standup. You had your shot. It's over.

Same with Dick Clark, but a totally different story: time to step away.

I CAN FLY!!!

Well, I did fly back in the 70s and 80s. If you want to see me and a buddy doing Ultralights, here's the place!"

CLOSE CALL?

I was eating Raisinettes while getting dressed. I had lucked into the local store brand and they were fresh and good. The raisins were fat and there were some clumps of more than one raisin, covered in remarkably good chocolate.

I'm still a little slow getting my pants on, due to my accident affecting the left foot and a knee that is acting up on my right leg. As I pulled them on, I also had a fist full of Raisinettes, and I thought I lost one of the clumps into a pant leg, but couldn't be sure. Shook them out, but no raisin. Maybe I imagined it.

Here's what could have happened:

Now, later, I am at the physical therapy place. I remove my shoe to expose my foot and in the process, in front of the therapist, that lost chocolate-covered clump of raisinettes falls out of my pants. The therapist gives me a look that is PURE GROSS-OUT, because she thinks "not raisinette." Realizing what she's thinking, I try for a graceful recovery, only to discover there is no escape...

BRING BACK THE DEAD

If someone famous but dead could still be alive today, at the age he or she would be, who would be the best or most interesting choice?

Would Elvis be doing commercials for Weight Loss? He'd be 75.

Would John F. Kennedy be an elder statesman, or just elder? He'd be 93.

Of course we miss many people, but perhaps idealize them the way they were, especially if they passed at the height of their prominence.

I think John Lennon would have aged gracefully, would still be not only cracking wise, but being so. He'd be 70.

Who would you choose?

NO MORE WWW

I missed the change - and apparently, according to a friend who lives on his computer, by a year or so... you don't have to preface web addresses with a "www." I am so used to it, I do so automatically, but HAVE tried without and son-of-a-gun, it works.

Another tiny step forward.

FLOMAX AIRLINES

With the new rules and restrictions placed by the TSA on flights and passengers, especially the "stay seated one hour before landing," there's a huge opportunity for another niche airline - one with pre-pre-screened travelers who might be allowed to potty due to their advanced age.

Heck, I don't care if you put a camera in the bathroom. When ya gotta go, you gotta go! I have been on some flights where they make you sit for way too long due to brief turbulence - actually, I think they make you sit initially, then forget to tell you it's "safe" to walk about the cabin.

And so you hold it and hold it and then your plane lands and taxis to the farthest gate which it turns out isn't ready yet because there's another plane in it and so you sit and sit and then they slowly tug that plane out of the way and your plane slowly moves up - you are in seat 20d and the travelling feebs all stand at once but then the flight attendants loudly remind everyone "we haven't docked at the gate and to be re-seated" and then we eventually do dock "DING!" and then all jump up to be cramped in the aisles grabbing luggage and then we wait again because the gate attendant hasn't moved the Jetway yet and then when that dude gets back from his break and they crack the door, the feebs shuffle oh-so-slowly. Meanwhile my kidneys are, shall I say, "unforgiving?"

I appreciate the need for advanced security, but... "when ya gotta go ya gotta go."

Oh - and to the people who complain about the new generation of scanners invading their privacy? I say: "TAKE A BUS."