Roadtrip: Day 2

Day 2: Binghamton, NY to Hamilton, NY

Not enough sleep, but on the road by 11:30am.  A little after noon Jaime and Brian called and we made plans to hang out.  I headed to Schenectady, NY to have lunch/dinner with Brian.  We hung out, played a little billiards, and ate some great indian at Karavalli.

I eventually started for Hamilton, NY (to meet Jaime) around 8:30pm (about 2 hours later than I had planned). No definite plans were made, but there was some idea that we’d hang out with his friends from Colgate. Heavy rain made the trip somewhat more exciting that I liked (and marked the second day of travel through rain for me). As I sped down Rt. 91, Jaime called to ask if I would mind diverting, and stopping in Utica, a fellow visiting faculty (named Erin) was stranded in the train station there, and he wanted to meet there to pick her up. I offered to save him the trip to Utica, and just pick her up and drop her off at Colgate.

It odd walking into an empty train station and offering a stranger a ride home (especially if that stranger is an attractive member of the opposite sex, and on a set of crutches). It was probably even weirder for her, but since I mentioned that I was a friend of Jaime she apparently wasn’t too put off to accept the ride. We had an agreeable time covering the 30-45 min. ride to Hamilton. A quick stop off to grab some groceries (since she would have had a hard time going to the market on her crutches), and we stopped off at Jaime’s.

We were only at Jaime’s a for few minutes before it was decided to go to a party being held by another visiting prof. As late as it was (nearly midnight) that party broke up shortly after we arrived. In the end, I spent the rest of the night hanging out with Jaime and talking about a variety of issues. We eventually ran out of steam around 5am, and I crashed in his guest room for the night (uh, day..whatever).

Roadtrip: Day 1

Day 1: College Park, MD to Binghamton, NY

I left College Park later than I wanted after grouting the bathroom floor (which will need more work since some of the mortar oozed up and is visible throught the grout). By 5:30pm I was stuck in Delaware traffic, and I decide to take I-95 through Philadelphia instead of going up I-295 and the Jersey turnpike. Philly traffic sucks too, so I decide to skirt the city and take I-476 up through Pennsylvania to New York. At this point Foxwoods is probably out for gambling since there’s miles and thousands of cars between me and it. But no sweat the Mohegan Tribe has opened a new gaming facility in PA, Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, and it’s close to my current trajectory. The bad news is that it’s all slots-type games, even worse I lose $200 to video blackjack. I’ve always assumed those machines aren’t worth playing since I could code up a cheating video machine in my sleep. Now I know they’re not worth playing. After a couple of disappointing hours (mostly spent people watching and waiting for a free machine), I bailed and raced for New York to get the bad taste out of my mouth. Binghamton was a welcome sight, even if I stayed in a (blissfully cheap) former Howard Johnson’s turned Econolodge. I used the free Internet to warn friends in central NY that I was in the area, before crashing for the night.

Roadtrip

Day 4 of my roadtrip is coming to a close, and I’m pretty sure most people don’t even know I’m out of town.

I’m out of town.

After the last paper submission I figured it was time for a break (I didn’t take any time off during the holiday season). Truthfully, I didn’t know what form the vacation would take until just days before I left town. I had the vague feeling that I wanted to do some skiing, but I wasn’t even sure about that. I’ve been lusting after a new watch ($$$, more on that in another post), and the idea of doing a little gambling to make enough for the watch seemed like as good a plan as any.

Since skiing and gambling created a small pool of options for destinations, the decision was simpler. A roadtrip north (reservation gambling & Vermont, or Quebec, Canada), a flight out west (Tahoe), or the Alps. While Tahoe would have covered one of my 101 things, any venture involving flights would have required more planning. Therefore, I’m on a roadtrip through the northeast.

I don’t really have a plan for this trip. I want to ski and gamble some, but otherwise it’s all up in the air. I’ll put the summary for each day in separate posts.

An Illegal Immigration Analogy

I got an e-mail yesterday with an analogy that tries to clarify (one perspective) on the illegal immigration situation in America. I’ve posted the whole message and my reply elsewhere, but the analogy itself, and my counter-analogy are included below.

From the original message:

Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests.
Let’s say I break into your house.
Let’s say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave.
But I say, “I’ve made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors.
I’ve done all the things you don’t like to do.
I’m hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house).

[…]

Why can’t people see how ridiculous this is?! Only in America …..

From my response:

Maybe this would have been a better analogy?

Let’s say you break into a house.
Let’s say you evict the current occupants, then ship them off to some really undesirable place you don’t want (yet).
Let’s say while you’re at it, you rape and murder many of them.
Let’s say you then kidnap and enslave some other people to level the old house, and build you a bright shiny new house.
Let’s say while they’re at it, you rape and murder a few of them.
Let’s say once the house is done, you throw the slaves out with nothing but the shirts on their backs (and no land for them either)
NOW Let’s say I break into THAT house.
Let’s say that when you discover me in “your” house, you insist that I leave.
But I say, “I’ll do the work you don’t want, and I’ll pay rent, and I’ll contribute to making the house better.
I’ve done all the things you don’t like to do.”
I’m hard-working and honest (except for when I acted just like you in the beginning).
Have I mentioned that I’ll pay rent?”

So basically the lying, thieving, rapist, murdering, kidnappers want to evict the maid for breaking and entering.

Leave a comment, and let me know where you stand on illegal immigration in the U.S.

Not quite weekly update

A stomach virus is an effective, if grim, short-term diet. So I lost a couple of pounds last week; although I will probably end up spending most of this week putting the weight back on as I re-hydrate after the illness.

Stopping by the photoclub meeting last week dropped one more item from the list, and a couple of movies brings us to:

remaining: 91 items, 83 movies, 48 lbs. in the next 956 days.

Of photo club and practice

Last week, I managed to swing by a Terrapin Photo Club Meeting (#60). I had a pleasant enough time, though I was struck by two things:

  1. Man, these people are young.
  2. There were surprisingly few photos of people

I know taking pictures of people is difficult. You have to overcome the inherent sense of voyeurism, but I think photographing the human condition has the widest reach as a photographic art form. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to street photography, peering into the .

The meeting itself was mostly composed of viewing 30-70 photos taken by club members and providing commentary. Praise was given liberally and genuinely, and the occasional suggestion for improvement was always constructive. Novice photographers would benefit greatly from the format they used. The advice was a bit too textbook for most experienced photogs to get much from, although it’s always nice to have your intuitions confirmed. I felt that the audience didn’t give enough artistic license to the photographer — a larger problem overall than anything else that night.

I don’t know if I’ll attend regularly, but it was an interesting experience. My best photos are always taken when I have the time and inclination to become part of particular flow — to view people and events from the inside. I find that other photographers move at too fast or disjoint a pace for me to capture anything I truly appreciate. It makes wanting to be part of photo club a tough thing for me. What I’d like the most in a photo club is a push (or the occasional shove) of motivation to get out of my normal routine and connect with new experiences and spaces. Depending on what the Terrapin Photo Club does for activities this year, maybe I’ll participate more, maybe not.

My #$%!#$ Foot!

After lots of progress on the foot (I had planned on going snowboarding yesterday), I spent most of the night being woken up by pain caused by moving my foot, and this morning it’s painful to stand/walk again.

I admit that I have gone back to my carnivorous ways and I haven’t paid much attention to my fluid intake, but I thought I’d put this nonsense behind me.  I did accidentally bang my foot into the dresser Saturday, and I spent most of yesterday walking around.  But still.
Grr…

-Sandro