Steve’s Weblog

We’ll be heading out to Las Vegas for New Year’s Eve.

New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas, Nevada. The largest, longest street party for New Year’s Eve in the United States.

New York you say? No booze. Sub-freezing weather. People who show up 18 hours early to be crammed against barricaides for a 60 second ball drop. That’s not a party, my friends.

Las Vegas? Four miles of the most famous street in the world closed down for pedestrians to celebrate the new year in a neon glow like no other. For one night, you are in the worlds biggest nightclub, no cover charge, and a half-million dollars worth of fireworks going off over your head!

Ring out 2006 and ring in 2007 at Las Vegas New Years Eve!

Not that we’ve been there a lot lately, but as Doro points out, I already knew this…

Court won’t force gay marriage vote

By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer 12 minutes ago

BOSTON – The state’s highest court ruled Wednesday it had no authority to force lawmakers to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, but it still criticized them for not acting.

Opponents of same-sex marriage had collected 170,000 signatures to get an amendment on the 2008 ballot that would define marriage in Massachusetts as between a man and a woman, but their effort still needed the support of a quarter of the Legislature.

When lawmakers failed to vote on the question in November, the governor and angry opponents sued.

They asked the court to clarify whether the state’s constitution required lawmakers to vote on a proposal that was sent to the legislature by a voter petition drive. The Supreme Judicial Court determined it could not force a vote.

“Beyond resorting to aspirational language that relies on the presumptive good faith of elected representatives, there is no presently articulated judicial remedy for the Legislature’s indifference to, or defiance of, its constitutional duties,” the court wrote.

Yahoo!

Having achieved Executive Platinum status, I suppose I should be used to the kind of shoddy treatment from AA that we experienced this holiday weekend… Nhut and I had made our flight arrangements over two months ahead of the Christmas holiday, knowing that we had family to visit on both the East and West Coast.

We scheduled a flight for early on Christmas day so that we could spend Christmas eve with my family in NJ, and Christmas day with his family in LA. I was majorly annoyed to find out on Christmas morning, as we were driving to Newark at 5:00 AM, that our flight from Newark to Los Angeles had been canceled, and we were re-booked on a much later flight that would get us in to LAX way too late on Christmas day. What was really annoying is having my itinerary completely rescheduled with no form of notification from AA, meanwhile they have every form of contact to reach either me or Nhut available, including cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

In order for us to make a flight that arrived in LA in time to see the family, we had to make a major switch, and get over to JFK to catch a flight that left 1/2 hour earlier than we were scheduled to fly out of Newark! Fortunately we figured this out just as we were about to get off I-80 and head south on I-287, and were able to just stay on I-80 and head through Manhattan and over to JFK.

Of course that meant we had to drive the additional distance, and incur the additional $10 in bridge tolls and somehow make up 1/2 hour to make sure we could check our bags and make the earlier flight. Fortunately, at that time of the morning, the roads were empty, and we made it to JFK with some time to spare. Everyone had said traveling on Christmas day was going to be nice because the planes would be empty, but that’s not what we found. The plane was just as full on this trip as it has been on every other flight we’ve been on over the past couple months. And once on board, we were annoyed to find that three of the five lavatories on board the 767-200 were out of service for the duration of the flight, making a restroom visit a hassle with a line at both of the functioning lavs for the entire flight.

Overall, a pretty miserable travel day for us.

Thanks AA.

Day after Christmas mall crowds…

This is news?

On a Fox News special last night, good ol’ Newt Gingrich was recounting how religion and government in the US are so tightly linked. Wishful thinking on the right wing media machine’s part, I guess. Of course they had the usual cast of Fox News pundit/contributors ripping apart the establishment clause of the First Amendment, and the courts for interpreting it as a wall of separation between church and state. Deriding anyone who used the Jefferson quote as part of the argument to justify keeping religion out of government.

Reminds me of Virgil Goode, espousing the Taliban view that the US government should be run by a single religion. These guys only disagree with the Taliban on which religion should rule. Aren’t these guys just America’s Taliban?

Don’t these morons realize that the Establishment Clause, and the Supreme Court’s rulings on separation of Church and State actually provide a wall of separation that would prevent Islam from having undue influence on the US government? Or maybe they’re just not convinced because they have been subverting the Establishment Clause for years…

ROCKY MOUNT, Va. – A congressman said Thursday that he will not retract a letter warning that unless immigration is tightened, “many more Muslims will be elected” and use the Quran to take the oath of office.

Republican Rep. Virgil Goode (news, bio, voting record) triggered angry responses from a civil rights group and some colleagues with a letter this month to constituents concerned about a decision by Rep.-elect Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, to use the Quran when he is sworn in.

“I will not be putting my hand on the Quran,” Goode said at a news conference Thursday at the Franklin County Courthouse.

Goode, who represents Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, said he is receiving more positive comments from constituents than negative.

“One lady told me she thinks I’m doing the right thing on this,” he told Fox News. “I wish more people would take a stand and stand up for the principles on which this country was founded.”

Huh, stand up for the principles on which this country was founded… You mean like this one:

Amendment 1 – Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Oh, and what does it say about his constituents in Virginia if he’s getting more positive feedback than negative? That they all look like the guy holding the sign above?

Yahoo News

N.J. governor signs gay civil unions law

By TOM HESTER Jr., Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 58 minutes ago

TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey’s governor signed legislation Thursday giving gay couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage allowed under state law — but not the title.

When the law goes into effect Feb. 19, New Jersey will become the third state offering civil unions to gay couples and the fifth allowing gay couples some version of marriage.

Connecticut and Vermont also offer civil unions for gay couples, while Massachusetts allows gay couples to marry, and California has domestic partnerships that bring full marriage rights under state law.

“We must recognize that many gay and lesbian couples in New Jersey are in committed relationships and deserve the same benefits and rights as every other family in this state,” Gov. Jon S. Corzine said in signing the legislation.

Yahoo News

And why is it that freedom of religion and freedom of speech are rights that seem to be reserved only for the Christian right? You can say whatever you want if you’re a conservative wingnut, and you can practice whatever religion you want, as long as its Christianity…

There were two separate articles I read today on two separate blogs that really made me wonder. And of course it’s not the first time. But check these out.

Under freedom of speech, there was this huge backlash against the Dixie Chicks for being keen perceivers of the obvious, George Bush is a moron. Americablog has a review of their movie: “Shut up and Sing.”.

It made me cringe to watch scene after scene of “man on the street” clips where people claimed patriotism by viciously criticizing free speech and its practitioners. There is really quite a disconnect who claim to love America but can’t stand what it actually stands for. Now, I criticize people for what they say all the time — for a decent analogy, I don’t like Toby Keith, and I think his brand of “patriotism” is repellent. But I would never question his right to personal idiocy, nor would I burn his albums, picket his concerts, or, as happened to the Dixie Chicks, threaten his life.

Under freedom of religion, ThinkProgress covers the flap from Virgil Goode (R-VA):

Anti-Muslim Congressman Has ‘No Intention Of Apologizing’

Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) is under fire for a virulently anti-Muslim letter sent to constituents earlier this month. In the letter, Goode says, “I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States” if we do not adopt “strict immigration policies.” He references the election of Muslim Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), and warns “American citizens” to “wake up” or “there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office.”

but I wonder if there’s something better out there?

Interesting article passed on to me by a friend at work…

Is Google Still Hot?

The search king hasn’t fallen off the map but job seekers say it’s losing some of its cool factor.
November 6, 2006 Print Issue

Google once had it all. It hired the best talent and left other employers picking through the dregs. Between stock options, a zany company culture, and a world-class reputation—not to mention a free organic lunch—Google sucks in some 3,000 job applications a day, leaving HR to tease out the top 50 to add to the Google payroll each week.

With a stock price of $480 and a market capitalization north of $140 billion, Google certainly has the cash to hire the best. And with its $1.65-billion acquisition of YouTube, Google now gets access to the best and brightest in the exploding video-sharing arena, adding more hiring power to a company that’s already nearly tripled its talent pool, to more than 9,000, in just two years.

Despite that hyper growth, there are signs that Google is no longer able to vacuum up every promising hire in sight. The recent hiring boom at startups in Silicon Valley, plus worries about the long-term value of Google’s stock options, and, not least, the company’s transition to corporate Goliath, are all factors prompting more jobseekers to say, “Thanks, but no thanks, Google.”

That’s what Dan Meredith told the company a few months ago, when he decided to take a senior research engineer job at Yahoo. “A year ago, I would’ve been more willing to say, ‘It’s Google, so I’m willing to do whatever there,’” he says. “I’m pickier than I used to be.”

RED HERRING

There wasn’t any free or reasonably priced wireless internet access in Brussels, so we just didn’t bother getting online there. They wanted €15 a day for access at the hotel in Brussels. We did find an open WAP at the hotel in Amsterdam, so we could check email, and Nhut uploaded some of the pictures we took. In both cities, we stayed in the old city center.

When we arrived on Tuesday in Brussels, we got a room at the Best Western hotel, right next to Centraal Station. Since we arrived too early to actually check in to the room, we just stashed our bags and headed off to walk around the city. We stopped off at a café on the Grand Place, and had coffee and a waffle. We found the Manneken Pis statue and took a couple pictures before heading back to the hotel for a nap. (hello jet lag)

After napping we walked around again for a bit and saw the light show at the Grand Place, and checked out St. Michael’s Cathedral as well as getting dinner and another waffle.

We were up early to catch the train to Amsterdam, a 2 ½ hour ride. Once we got off the train in Amsterdam, we figured we should find a hotel. The service in the train station wanted €10 for a hotel booking, so we decided to pass, and see if we could find something on our own. The short answer is no, we couldn’t. We stopped in a small out of the way Hotel booking shop, which found us a room, and only charged €2.50 per person as a booking fee. He got us a room in the Nova Hotel, which was just behind Dam Square in the center of the city. We hung out in the room, and looked up places to eat in the city. After getting kind of bored with the food in Paris and Brussels, we were looking for something a little different. We checked out the Blonde Hollander for some traditional Dutch food. It was OK, but Nhut wasn’t really too impressed.

We booked two tours for Thursday and Friday in Amsterdam. The first was a combination of one we had been on before, to Volendam, Marken and a Windmill village, along with a city tour. It was fun; we toured a wooden shoe factory, walked around the windmills (where I dropped the camera last time) and a cheese farm before getting lunch in Volendam, which used to be a fishing village before they put up the dam. The tour guide wasn’t so great, and her city tour was pretty weak, but it was a fun tour that ended with a boat ride tour through the Amsterdam harbor and canals.

We decided to check out the Sea Palace, a floating Chinese Restaurant in the Amsterdam Harbor. The food was only OK, and overpriced. After dinner we walked through the red light district for laughs. Nhut was wondering where the equivalent gay area was. Of course there isn’t a gay district with hot guys hanging out behind glass doors, under red lights though… Still, there are a couple of areas in Amsterdam that have gay clubs and stuff, and as I mentioned before, GayMap lists all the places with descriptions. We were going to go to a bar or dance club, but wound up just sleeping early. (boring!)

The next morning we were up early again to catch the Grand Holland tour, which took us to an amazingly huge flower auction in Aalsmeer. Next stop was a pottery factory in Delft, followed by lunch, where we tried the small Dutch pancakes (yum). Then on to Rotterdam, which didn’t have an old city center like the other cities we’ve been in before because it was bombed out during World War II, and so all the buildings were relatively modern. The last city stop on the tour was Den Haag (the Hague), we had a photo stop at the Peace Palace, which houses the International Court of Justice (where we should expect half of the criminal Bush Administration to be tried for war crimes and violating the Geneva convention). The other interesting thing about driving around Den Haag was how the driver pointed out all the various country embassies, and, as the guide pointed out, the US Embassy was the only one that had extra fencing and police surveillance. Oh, and then we checked out a park of miniatures before heading back to Amsterdam.

We dropped off our little souvenir photos at the hotel before heading out for dinner, we found a little Thai place that looked like something David Barnes would have recommended. The entire restaurant was all in one small room, on the ground floor, including the kitchen! There were about 16 seats for diners, and three or four Asian women cooking. Everything we ate there was really good, and you watched them put it all together before bringing it over to your table.

We walked around a bit again for a while; we did a lot of walking around this trip, before heading back over to the hotel. We decided we were going to go check out one of the gay clubs that night, but since there were a couple that didn’t open until 10 or 11 at night, we had some time to kill. We decided to go to Club Cockring, what is it with naming gay clubs anyway? This place was interesting, compared to clubs we’ve been in before. It was worth checking out.

We were supposed to get up early Saturday morning, and take a few last photos before catching the train back to Brussels, but as noted before, given the opportunity, Nhut will sleep late. We did manage to get out in time to take a few pictures in the early morning rain, including some shots in the Red Light district, where there are signs for “No Cameras” all over the place. Oh, and they had these portable outdoor urinals on the street, which was weird, of course Nhut snapped a couple of pictures while they were unoccupied…

It was time to catch the train back to Brussels, and we walked back over to Centraal Station in Amsterdam. We got about the same seats in both trains; it was comfortable, even if we were facing backwards

Anyway, we had reserved a room at the Best Western in Brussels before we left on Wednesday morning, which was a good thing because this time, the streets were packed with people, and lined with booths of vendors selling Christmas stuff, hot wine, waffles and other fried foods that are really bad for my cholesterol level, but we just had to try anyway. We checked out the lights and music at Grand Place, and Nhut captured a video there. We followed along to the park where they had set up an ice skating rink and a Ferris wheel. Oh, and we found another outdoor open air urinal, which was really nasty, but I guess when you gotta go… it was weird because it was literally on the side of the church at the end of this park. We caught a ride on the Ferris wheel which had a great view of the city. As we walked back to the hotel the streets were starting to thin out a bit, but there was still a band performing on the square in front of the hotel, but when I woke up and looked out the next morning, it was so weird, the square was totally empty, all the booths and tents were gone, and there was nobody around but one street sweeper, almost like it had never happened!

We caught an early train back to the Airport for our flight back to the US. The lines were really long, both at the airline check-in and security. We just barely made it out to the gate with about five minutes to spare before boarding started. We had thought it might be nice to upgrade, but business class checked in full, so we’re riding in coach. The flight was delayed leaving Brussels by about 20 minutes, which virtually guarantees we’ll miss our connection to Austin by the time we clear Customs and Immigration.

The interesting thing about these long flights is how really boring they can be. And so, they usually play a few movies and TV shows to keep you distracted from the eight hours of boredom. It’s fairly common practice for the flight attendants to ask all of the passengers to shut their window shades, especially on older planes like this one, a 767 with a single main screen where the glare from the sun shining in would prevent people from being able to see the screen, and watch the movies. Anyway, Nhut reclined his seat, and the window that was behind his seat, is now peeking over his shoulder, and it’s open… so he closes the shade, only to have the woman sitting in the seat behind him open it. After a while, he closes it again, at which point this woman exclaims that “It’s my window!”, and she insists that she wants to keep it open. (grow up, please) Nhut called the flight attendant, who set the woman straight…. sort of, she closed the shade half way so that the light would be blocked from coming over Nhut’s shoulder by the seat, but still be open to keep the woman happy.

Oh, and who has gas on this flight? It’s really kind of nasty, where’s Shari to light a match?

1. Given the opportunity, Nhut will sleep late.

I should have remembered this from the last time we stayed in Brussels, but we stayed in a hotel near Brussels Central Station. The last time we were here, we arrived on EuroStar from London, which terminates at Brussels Midi station. There’s a kiosk in the Midi station that can help with booking a hotel in Brussels, and doesn’t charge a booking fee. Also, the person in the booth was helpful in identifying which neighborhood was worth staying in. Again, we stayed near Brussels Central Station, a couple blocks away from Grand Place, and a few other tourist spots.

We arrived in Amsterdam by train, and didn’t find the same service for booking a hotel. There are lots of Hotel Info and booking businesses, but they all charge a booking fee. It’s a small price to pay, (€2-3) depending on which one you use. Planning ahead next time, it looks like booking.com has a pretty good selection of hotels in Amsterdam. Going directly to the hotel to get a room seems to get you a higher rate than booking on-line, or with one of the hotel booking businesses.

Buying train tickets in advance in Europe was cheaper than buying online. Since we were in Paris a few weeks ago, we picked up the Brussels to Amsterdam tickets while we were in Paris, and paid €16 each way for a reserved seat on Thalys. The trip took 2 1/2 hours each way.

The GayMap had some useful information on finding gay stuff in both Amsterdam and Brussels.

December 13, 2006 (IDG News Service) — IBM and Yahoo Inc. have developed a free, entry-level enterprise search application that at least one analyst believes will seriously disrupt the low-end segment of this market, where Google Inc. has been selling many of its Mini search devices.

IBM and Yahoo released the server-side application on Wednesday as a free download aimed at companies that haven’t tried out enterprise search because of cost and complexity concerns. It is available for download at omnifind.ibm.yahoo.net.

ComputerWorld

N.J. legislature approves civil unions

By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press Writer 4 minutes ago

TRENTON, N.J. – Under pressure from New Jersey’s highest court to offer marriage or its equivalent to gay couples, the Legislature voted Thursday to make New Jersey the third state to allow civil unions.

Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine said he would sign the measure, which would extend to same-sex couples all the rights and privileges available under state law to married people. The bill passed the Assembly 56-19 and the Senate 23-12.

Yahoo News

The woman at the Admiral’s Club in Chicago redirected us to the International Flagship Lounge here. It’s got a nice self-serve bar, with hot and cold hors d’oeuvres.

Moo. And we’ve barely even gotten started!

Seems that Tom DeLay started up a blog, got hammered in the comments section and had to shut it down, all within about 75 minutes. Sorry Tom, you’re a has been.

The good news is that somebody captured the comment activity before Tom wiped out both the posts and the comments. Check it out here for a good laugh. Tom DeLay; the new football of the blogosphere.

Update: Oops they left a couple of items still open for comments, and comments are still rolling in… http://www.tomdelay.com/recent-appearances/2006/12/8/hannity-colmes.html#comments

…just add beer.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I am not a Texan™, so the whole concept of Texas driving continues to be a source of major frustration. I mean, it’s nice that there’s a 6-lane divided roadway stretching almost the full 10 miles between my house and work. But between the badly timed lights, and the Texas drivers who translate a 60 Mph speed limit sign into 45 Mph cluster driving, getting to work every day can be a challenge. Remember the Tomorrowland® Indy Speedway ride at Disney World? Does the phrase “Green Light to GO” mean anything to y’all?

So, even though it’s been the source of considerable controversy, and a little more expensive, the new Toll Road is now open. And it means that I can now get to and from work in about the same time as taking the surface street, without the same level of frustration, so that I’m not ready to snap someone’s head off as I get out of my car at the end of the short trek.

The funny thing is, that if you’re not an East Cost Driver™, you might not understand that the primary objective of any drive, is to get there first, and that’s why Texas drivers are so maddening.

Heading off to Europe again on Monday… got this First Class upgrade notice email just now…

American Airlines AADVANTAGE Automated Upgrade

To:
STEPHEN DALE
NHUT TRUONG

As you requested, the following flight segments have been automatically upgraded.

Carrier Flight Date Origin Destination Departure Time
——- —— —- —— ———– ————–
AA 360 11Dec Austin Chicago O’Hare 12:10 PM

Flight AA 360 11Dec Seat 3E STEPHEN DALE
Flight AA 360 11Dec Seat 3F NHUT TRUONG

The appropriate number of 500-mile upgrades will be deducted from your
Electronic Upgrade bank for each segment upgraded at departure time. Each
upgrade is valid for up to 500 miles of travel. If you need to purchase
upgrades, you may do so at the airport. Or, you may check your upgrade
balance and purchase upgrades electronically at a discounted price at
www.aa.com or through our AAdvantage Dial-In system at 1-800-882-8880.

AAdvantage Executive Platinum members traveling on any published fare
along with AAdvantage Platinum and AAdvantage Gold members traveling on
full Y/B fares (excluding military/government fares) receive
complimentary upgrades; therefore, no upgrades will be taken from your
accounts.