Ramblings of a Hopeless Khowaga

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Links for 2008-04-17 [del.icio.us]
2008-04-18 07:00:00
Microsoft’s new toy: The bullet point Only Microsoft could package up a plain black ball and sell three versions of it at an insane markup.
More About: Links , 2008

What?s the opposite of zen?
2008-04-17 18:55:00
Well, the zen feeling that I was having Monday has gone away. None of the little bits of bad news this morning are unmanageable, but there's something about when you get several little bits of bad news all at once.
More About: Home , Opposite

I just want to bang on de drum all day …
2008-04-15 14:46:00
There’s always something zen about the first day back at work after vacation, which I truly came to appreciate yesterday. I got to work slightly early (Bev was off and I never know how to judge when to leave the house if I’m not carpooling), gave out the silk leis I bought everyone, and was sitting at my computer going through copious amounts of e-mail (”Want to enlarge your un!t?”) that required no attention when the phone rang and Natalie’s extension popped up on the caller ID. Me: “It’s too early for you to be calling.” Her: “Tough.  We just lost the Executive Education Center.” Backstory: every June we have a workshop, and for the past four or five years, our partner in the Business School has arranged for us to use the conference space at the Executive Education Center, which is a swank — if now slightly aging — facility.  Every time we use it, there’s a bit of a sword of Damocles situation because ...
More About: Bang , Drum

Rambling Khowaga Travels: Hawaii
2008-04-14 01:11:00
I'm trying to ignore the fact that I have to go to work tomorrow, and it's not quite working. In recognition of the fact that if I don't wrap up--at least in my own head--my trip to Hawaii now, I'll never get around to it, I'm presenting the second edition of Rambling Khowaga Travels : Hawaii.

12 of 12: April 2008
2008-04-13 06:02:00
It’s time once again for 12 of 12! I knew going in that this month’s 12 was going to be kind of a letdown.  We came back from Hawaii two days ago, and I had originally feared that this month’s series would consist of “Here’s the big pile of laundry we have to do.  Here’s the ...
More About: Photos , April , 2008

Back.
2008-04-11 16:44:00
Well, since I enthusiastically heralded my arrival in Hawaii, I guess I should also herald my return to the mainland.  We got back yesterday, and have managed to unpack, start a load of laundry, and watch the Battlestar Galactica season premiere. More to say about lots of things, but we’ll keep those for later
More About: Home , Back

Pele?s Cold Shoulder
2008-04-09 20:17:00
Many years ago, the story goes, when it was habit for English nobility to practice primogeniture, it was the responsibility of the oldest brothers and cousins to take care of their hordes of less fortunate younger siblings and relatives by hosting them for extended stays.  There was no set limit on how long one “should” ...
More About: Home , Cold , Pele

Pele is not amused.
2008-04-08 11:00:00
This evening, we went down to the newly opened lava flow viewing area in Kapalana, which is on the coast outside of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  Kilauea, the main volcano round these parts, has been quite active of late — she’s got an eruption going up top, and one going down below. This has been ...
More About: Photos , Pele

Can we move here?
2008-04-08 04:20:00
Yeah, I’m really not ready to start thinking about going home.
More About: Travel , Move

Hilo Hai
2008-04-06 10:27:00
We’ve moved on to the Big Island today, courtesy of Hawaiian Airlines. I was a bit nervous because of the weird arrangement through which the tickets were procured (they’re American Airlines miles used to purchase Hawaiian Airlines tickets), since I couldn’t log on to check my reservation through the Web site. As you may have heard, Aloha Airlines, one of the two main interisland carriers, ceased operations quite abruptly last Monday (there were a number of people on our flight from Houston who didn’t know, and had actually checked in with Continental expecting to connect to Aloha on arrival in Honolulu). Hawaiian has been picking up a lot of the slack, and the line at the airport in Honolulu — this being the first day that Hawaiian wasn’t giving anyone with an Aloha ticket a free ticket to fly standby — was insane. The ticket agent had a couple of raised eyebrows as she typed … and typed … and typed … into her compu...
More About: Hilo

Random Hotness
2008-04-04 19:39:00
Third day on vacation. Man, doncha just hate it when a really hot guy walks right in front of your photo of Diamond Head? Jeez! More photos from day 3: [Show as slideshow] 12►
More About: Home , Random , Hotness

Honolulu Tales
2008-04-04 10:25:00
It’s hard to believe that it’s only been two days since we got to Hawaii. We’ve spent two full days (and an abbreviated afternoon in a jet-lagged stupor) in Honolulu , and have a full day left before we fly on Saturday to Hilo, on the Big Island (Hawai’i, which usually gets spelled with the ...
More About: Home , Tales

Photos, Day 2
2008-04-03 20:44:00
I was going to write a “real” post, but even with the cord plugged in, the internet connection in this hotel room is slower than molasses, so … here’s some photos! [Show as slideshow] 12►
More About: Travel , Photos

We?re here!
2008-04-02 17:14:00
I’ve written posts at 5 am before, and I’m sure this won’t be the last.  Jet lag is a bitch, but we’re in Hawai’i, after 8 months of planning. The flight out was unremarkable-I do like Continental Airlines as their employees seem to actually like working for them, unlike a number of the majors in this ...
More About: Home

Goin? to the chapel
2008-03-30 18:46:00
  It’s been one helluva week for me. In the runup to going on vacation (yes, yes, I know, I’ve mentioned it a zillion times), we had a major conference with a really disappointing turnout, and our friends Bianca and James tied the knot after 15 years of living together in untied happiness. I was a ball ...
More About: Home , Chapel , Goin

Video Wednesday: Kids’ Rock
2008-03-26 21:49:00
Ray found this last night, and as much as I hate to admit that he’s ever right about anything, this is both amusing and will get stuck in your head. You’ve been warned… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5R8gSgedh 4
More About: Video , Rock , Wednesday

Curses! Memed again
2008-03-24 14:33:00
My friend Cindy, who is a reporter living in Cairo with her husband, Mike, and their adopted daughter Maya, tagged me on her blog for yet another meme. Ugh! Too many memes, too little time. I’ve known Cindy for years - we studied abroad in Cairo together, and we were both bitten by the ...
More About: Curses

The goodness of Friday
2008-03-21 14:42:00
It's Good Friday in part of the Christian world, which means that in this good state, at this good university, it's time for that annual Good Friday ritual. Every Good Friday as the faithful come in to work, they stop and ask anyone who is already in, "Has anyone heard if they're closing the University at noon?" Usually, either the state legislature or the governor will sign an executive order closing state agencies at noon on Good Friday. Most of the time, they completely forget that the University of Texas isn't covered by these blanket mandates and has to be closed separately, and so we remain open. On rare occasion, however, they have remembered to include us -- but they're pretty rare.SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The goodness of Friday", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F03%2F21%2Fthe-goodness-of-frid ay%2F&seed_title=The+goodness+of+Frid ay" });
More About: Home , Goodness

The ties that bind and gag
2008-03-20 21:22:00
I don’t mean to rub in the fact that I’m going on vacation soon, but the few remaining hurdles that I have to clear before I can shift my attention to our upcoming trip to Hawaii are dwindling down. Unfortunately, they’re pretty damned massive. Every so often, I regale my friends who don’t work at ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The ties that bind and gag", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F03%2F20%2Fthe-ties-that-bind-a nd-gag%2F&seed_title=The+ties+that+bi nd+and+gag" });
More About: Weird , Just , Plain

Links for 2008-03-19 [del.icio.us]
2008-03-20 06:00:00
Powerful guide to master Your WordPress Tips, tutorials, hacks, themes, plugins and best practices from the World?s Leading WordPress web-developers
More About: Links , 2008

Living vicariously through ? Mom and Dad?
2008-03-19 01:17:00
Well, for better or for worse, my parents are off to China. They left this morning and, according to that voyeuristic web site FlightAware.com, their plane is about to pass between Alaska and Siberia, somewhere in the vicinity of Nome. We had them over for dinner on Sunday, and my mother was puttering about, working ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Living vicariously through … Mom and Dad?", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F03%2F18%2Fliving-vicariously-t hrough-mom-and-dad%2F&seed_title=Livi ng+vicariously+through+%26%238230%3B+Mom+ and+Dad%3F" });
More About: Travel

Links for 2008-03-16 [del.icio.us]
2008-03-17 06:00:00
Why Shariah? Eddie Izzard’s Master Plan Eddie Izzard's metaphors don’t sit still, onstage or off; they leap into the conversation with an almost physical presence, even when he’s simply describing how tough it is for a comic to be accepted as a dramatic actor.
More About: Links , 2008

My dinner with …
2008-03-16 16:19:00
OK, I’ve been a bad blogger this week, letting my 12 of 12 post gather comments and hits while I devote my attention to … well, pretty much nothing else. Danny tagged me in a meme that requires some thought (dammit!). The meme is this: Pick a single person, past or present, in the film industry who you’d like to have dinner with, and tell us why you chose this person. Set the table for your dinner. What would you eat? Would it be in a home or at a restaurant? And what would you wear? Feel free to elaborate on the details. List five thoughtful questions you would ask this person during dinner. The main problem, of course, is that I wind up going off in the direction of silliness. I was discussing this with Michael the other day, and told him, “The problem is that it’s too easy to get silly and assemble a dinner party with with Ryan Reynolds, David Boreanaz, Clive Owen, and Prince Carl-Philip of Sweden. The problem with this dinner party is that...
More About: Dinner

Links for 2008-03-13 [del.icio.us]
2008-03-14 06:00:00
The scandal of Olivia Newton-John: 12 surprisingly controversial Wikipedia pages | The A.V. Club
More About: Links , 2008

12 of 12: March 2008
2008-03-13 00:11:00
Well, I kind of got double-whammied this time around. This month, 12 of 12 not only falls on a weekday, but it’s spring break, which means there’s even more of nothing going on at work than there was on the 12th of last month. So, this time I decided to do 12 of 12 a ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "12 of 12: March 2008 ", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F03%2F12%2F12-of-12-march-2008% 2F&seed_title=12+of+12%3A+March+2008" });
More About: Austin , March 2008

Sometimes, I don?t want to rise above it
2008-03-09 22:03:00
After I posted the gratuitous photo of Mocha yesterday, and she had successfully dragged us outside to walk her around the neighborhood, we were walking through the little park over in the back corner of the subdivision. There were a couple of teenagers hanging about on what I’ll term the “jungle gym,” although it ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Sometimes, I don’t want to rise above it", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F03%2F09%2Fsometimes-i-dont-wan t-to-rise-above-it%2F&seed_title=Some times%2C+I+don%26%238217%3Bt+want+to+rise +above+it" });
More About: Rise

Links for 2008-03-08 [del.icio.us]
2008-03-09 07:00:00
Finding the Unexpected Beneath the Gaudy 36 Hours in Puebla, Mexico Puebla may be home to classic Mexican dishes like mole poblano, but there?s more to do in this wealthy city than just eat. Intriguing New Restaurants Outside of New York
More About: Links , 2008

Today?s Gratuitous Dog Photo
2008-03-08 23:31:00
It’s a lazy Saturday — the first two day weekend that I’ve had in some time, and I’m not quite feeling up to being creative, inventive, or funny in a post. Since my dog has become a world-renown celebrity through the 12 of 12 posts, here’s a picture of her sitting on the stairs, ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Today ’s Gratuitous Dog Photo ", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F03%2F08%2Ftodays-gratuitous-do g-photo%2F&seed_title=Today%26%238217 %3Bs+Gratuitous+Dog+Photo" });
More About: Photos

A ?what-if? moment ?
2008-03-06 15:08:00
It’s a particularly gray morning in Austin - overcast and 52, with spitting rain that’s supposed to give way to downpours and an eventual afternoon “high” of 43. I drove in this morning with Bev, both of us listening to NPR on the radio (neither of us are talkative in the morning - this is why ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "A “what-if” moment …", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F03%2F06%2Fa-what-if-moment%2F& #38;seed_title=A+%26%238220%3Bwhat-if%26% 238221%3B+moment+%26%238230%3B" });
More About: Television , Moment

Links for 2008-03-05 [del.icio.us]
2008-03-06 07:00:00
Mapping Mannahatta Eric Sanderson, a landscape ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, is trying to determine exactly how Manhattan looked before the arrival of Europeans.
More About: Links , 2008