Viator

Things to do in Rome

2009-11-20T11:46:00.000-08:00

Take a small-group walking tour (20 people max) of the Vatican Museums and St Peter's Basilica. Jump the queue. Get inside before the crowds swarm. This is one of the top things to do in Rome, the Vatican is simply unmissable. What, you don't like the pope? Fair enough. Just think about all the art. The history. The sculptures, mosaics, frescoes, ancient maps, tapestries... the mind boggles to think about all the amazing art squirreled away in the Vatican's museums over the years. Definitely worth doing.

Parlez-vous travel?

2009-08-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

OK, I am back. With a vengeance. Or should that be vengeances (it's a French thing. Not funny, I know. But there it is). Doing some digging on the Frenchies. If you're a travel Frenchie, here you go:

Activités à Las Vegas et visites à Las Vegas... par exemple en hélicoptère pour un survol du Strip, découvrez les spectacles de Las Vegas, le Grand Canyon, barrage de Hoover.
Tours à New York et activités à New York... New York City, spectacle à Broadway, l'Empire State Building, la statue de la Liberté, Manhattan en hélicoptère, ou journée aux chutes du Niagara, vous avez le choix.
Tours à Barcelone et activités à Barcelone ... du quartier gothique à Gaudi et Dali, dégustation de tapas, une visite en vélo au crépuscule ou une visite flamenco de la ville, partez pour la journée à la découverte de Montserrat, Sitges ou Tarragone.
Tours à Rome, activités à Rome, visites à Rome ... du Colisée au Panthéon et aux venelles de Trastevere, Vatican et la chapelle Sixtine, passez la journée à Pompéi ou Capri.
Activités à Londres et visites à Londres ... la Tour de Londres, Buckingham Palace, le London Eye, Stonehenge, Bath et d'autres sites de renom à travers l'Angleterre.

Check out the main site: Viatorcom.fr.

It's been a while, so what's your problem?

2009-08-12T16:04:00.000-07:00

I've been off traveling. Yes, for real. Mainly in London. Having a few weeks of pubs, long summer days (weather was crap, then nice, then crap, go figure) and some sightseeing. Figured I'd pick off the list of London attractions here. I made it all the way through 'C' (the list was alphabetical, if you're clueless). Way too much to see. And maybe next time I won't plan my travels in an alphabetical order. It's highly likely I missed a few of the top attractions, do you think? One bit of advice: buy a freakin' Transport card. London is expensive on tube and bus. Those Transport multi-day cards are a good deal. CHEERS.

Ode to Joy (in German)

2009-04-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

Another chapter in the saga of Viator. This time it's all about the Germans. Must be something in the travel sphere that makes companies like Germans. After all the Germans do travel a lot. A lot. Probably they are way more represented in destinations like Thailand, Costa Rica, Nepal, India than most other western Europeans (per capita). Anyway, it's obvious that Viator is now looking at Germans for some growth. Interesting times. The site tagline is Touren, Tagesausflüge & Aktivitäten. Here are some of the top areas they're covering:

Rom Touren, Rom Sehenswürdigkeiten Check out the "VATIKAN – Keine Warteschlangen: Rundgang durch die Vatikanischen Museen mit Sixtinischer Kapelle, Stanzen des Raffael und Petersdom". Cool.
New York City Touren, New York Tagesausflüge & Aktivitäten. As it says on the site, "Erleben Sie New York City wie ein New Yorker. Sehen Sie sich eine Broadway-Show an, klettern Sie zur Spitze des Empire State Buildings, machen Sie einen Hubschrauberrundflug über Manhattan oder eine NYC Hafenrundfahrt oder verbringen Sie einen Tag an den Niagarafällen." Which I think means, see New York like a New Yorker (even if you're German).
Barcelona Touren, Barcelona Sehenswürdigkeiten. Entdecken Sie Barcelonas kulturelle Seite, vom Gotischen Viertel über Gaudi zu Dali. Machen Sie eine Tapas-Tour oder eine Flamenco-Show-Tour durch Barcelona. Oder machen Sie einen Tagesausflug nach Montserrat, Sitges und Tarragona.
Paris Touren, Paris Sehenswürdigkeiten, Paris Unternehmungen. The big deal here is "Abendessen auf dem Eiffelturm, Show im Moulin Rouge und Bootsfahrt auf der Seine".
Las Vegas Touren & Vegas Freizeittipps, Hubschrauberrundflüge über den Gran Canyon. Machen Sie einen Hubschrauberrundflug über Las Vegas, touren Sie den Las Vegas Strip, sehen Sie sich eine Vegas-Show an oder besuchen Sie zwei von Amerikas berühmtesten Wahrzeichen: den Grand Canyon und den mächtigen Hoover Dam

That's just a small sample. Check it out, it's kinda cool. Especially if you speak German.

Thoughts on Swine Flu

2009-04-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

Hard to imagine that swine flu is more severe that SARS or avian flu, but that's what it is looking like. Not sure what effect this will have, long-term, on travel trends. I assume it's still too early to know for sure. I think it's strange how some people are already freaking out about it. Sure, I won't be going to Mexico anytime soon. But I ain't canceling my trip to New York because of it. At least not yet.

Twitter Travel Deals

2009-03-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

Just noticing the Twitter fad is taking over travel, too. Here I thought we were safe and sound from Twitter, but no, if you like to travel it seems that now Twitter has become an indispensable tool. It's a little annoying -- I need another travel website like I need a hole in the head. But such is progress, and life. Things change, and now, to find good travel deals, you need to check on Twitter. OK OK OK, fine. Just make it easy. (Thankfully it is). Here's the Viator Travel deals Twitter feed. Worth a look. Tell 'em the other Viator sent you.

Ode to Bermingham

2009-01-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

Birmingham (pronounced “Berming’am” with a silent H) might have some of the weather that England is known for but it’s much faster variability is far more endearing than menacing. Cloud can turn to clear skies in minutes and these clear skies have the kind of bright blue that I’ve only seen in far away Australia. From ponderous cumulous wonders bumping across the sky to dainty wisps of cirrus, the heavens in Birmingham prove to be the perfect backdrop to slowing down and actually enjoying life.

Dreaming of Things to Do

2008-12-04T12:27:00.000-08:00

Checking for cool things to do when you travel? Well friends, check out the latest tours and activities over on the Viator site. I am especially interested in two things right now. Planning a New York tour for my upcoming trip to the Big Apple. And trying to find a cool gift - maybe a Las Vegas helicopter tour - for a friend who's getting married. It's also coming up to the holidays. I wonder if I should buy myself something. Ho ho ho.

London's Leicester Square

2008-11-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

I have to say I am always disappointed with this square. London is full of beautiful, calm, treed oases; Leicester Square by comparison is grey-stoned and not very pretty. And the tube station is busy and unforgiving; no one’s going to help you carry your suitcase up the stairs here. But it is also slap bang in the centre of a fabulous part of London so it’s a necessary evil on any visit.

Las Veagas Tour Tip

2008-09-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

Ideas for your next trip to Vegas. I'm not a huge fan of the Las Vegas - Grand Canyon helicopter tour, mainly because I don't like heights. But check this guy out - is that Vegas or what! He looks like a cross between Elvis and Kramer on Seinfeld. And this guy will sing to you from the top of a bus as it crisscrosses the Las Vegas strip. That's what I call a Las Vegas sightseeing tour, baby! I am sold. I'm in. Let's go.

Touren, Tagesausflüge & Aktivitäten

2008-07-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I don't speak German either. But I know enough to know that Viator just launched a site in German. It covers Las Vegas, Barcelona, Rome (or Rom, if you're German), Sydney, New York. It's in Beta release, so have a look: Viatorcom.de. Here's the German bit: Viator Touren, Tagesausflüge & Aktivitäten. Machen Sie jeden Urlaub zu einem unvergesslichen Erlebnis. Wer bei Viator bucht, erhält immer das beste Angebot, garantiert niedrige Preise und Flexibilität wie sonst nirgendwo. Links to the city pages:

What's next? Polish? Chinese? Stay tuned.

Fellow Holy Rollers: Tours to the Vatican?

2008-06-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

Do you believe in God? Wow, that's an interesting way to open a blog post. Religion, politics, bring it on! I ask because God (the one with a capital "G") is such strange thing. Does "H"e really have a beard? Does he really live in the Vatican? Does he really speak Italian? Odds are that "H"e does not. And yet, "H"is agent on Earth -- aka the Pope, Papa, Man with Funny Hat -- does live in Italy. In Rome. In the Vatican. And in fact, you can even take Vatican tours if you like and meet the man. What do you say to God's agent on earth? I'd start with something light, something to break the ice. Maybe a little joke. How about, "A priest, a rabbi and an immam walk into a bar..."

Stonehenge tours, now that we know the answer

2008-06-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

You know they -- who is 'they'?, save it for a different day -- have discovered the answer of Stonehenge's mystery. What, you didn't know there was a riddle at Stonehenge, have you been living under a monolith? Sheesh. Yes, there's been a heated debated over the origins of Stonehenge. Who built it, why did they build it, what purpose, that sort of thing. Now after years of study, some smart scientists have an answer. Apparently it's a cemetery. That's right, a cemetery. Likely for some well-to-do people. The rocks at Stonehenge are aligned in such a way as to honor the dead. I think. For sure it's a cemetery. Trust me on that one. Maybe it's time for a Stonehenge tour now that the mystery is solved. Maybe.

Dubai Tours & Things to Do

2008-04-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

Just read a nice post about things to do in Dubai over on the Viator blog. I must admit, I've never thought about going to Dubai. Truth be told, I've never thought much about Dubai, full stop. It's always struck me as an oil-rich emirate without much to do. But I'm man enough to admit when I am wrong. Did the photo of Dubai's 'creek' (that's what they call their river, they need some tourism marketing help, clearly) did catch my eye. As did the Dubai desert safari shot. OK, maybe I'm not going to rush out and sign up for a Dubai tour. But sure, I'll add Dubai to my travel wishlist. And really, what's the point of traveling if you don't have a wishlist?

Killerstartups.com

2007-12-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

Killer Startups? In 2007? Hard to believe, but true. There are still plenty of tech / web / internet start-ups out there. All of them have either survived the last year or two with little or no funding. Or they've been around for a few years while reinventing themselves on the fly. Interesting. I thought all of this went south in the 2001 crash. Shows you what I know. Some links that caught my eye:

Cash for broken electronics. That's an idea that works for me.
Hawaii shirts. Online. Are you kidding me??
Digital Taxi Ads. Yes, you can buy one for yourself.
Viator Tours. There they are again.

Singapore Tours, Day Tours, Escape!

2007-11-20T22:49:00.000-08:00

Here's my question for this week: Is there anything truly exciting to do or see in Singapore? Such a mixed bag of feedback on the place. Too strict, too sterile, and yet... great food, shopping (if you're into that, I am not), and easy access to the rest of Asia. So what's the story? Please discuss.

What was British Airways Thinking

2007-11-15T12:19:00.000-08:00

Seems like people should slow down before making big decisions. Case in point. British Airways mucked it up royally last week (read about it here and here) when then banned surfboards on ALL their flights. All of them. Have you ever seen an angry surfer? It's not a pretty sight. It will be interesting to see if BA backs down.

Lonely Planet and the Beeb

2007-10-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

On the theme of independent travel, on why we travel, on the whole meaning of travel, here's an interesting bit of news about Lonely Planet selling itself to the BBC. A good thing? Hard to know. But I agree with the blogger about the "end of independent travel." What does it mean anymore to be "independent"? I struggle with this. A decade ago, it meant you did things on the cheap. It meant you did things on your own. It meant you went places that few other people went. Today, that's a lot harder to do. First of all, there are many more travellers on the road today. There are more airports. There are more low-cost airlines. More people are traveling today then 10 or 15 years ago, it's a simple fact of life. So independence is hard to maintain. Moreover, it's hard to be alone anymore. The internet, mobile phones, community websites, travel sites -- there is so much more information available now, and so many networks of people sharing travel tips and suggestions. The world is less lonely today, for sure. Finally, travel is no longer 'cheap', or let me put that a different way -- it's harder to be cheap these days. Even the hostels cost $15 or $20 a night now. So yes, independent travel is going the way of steamship trampers and rail-car riders. Cool ideas, but a bit old fashioned.

Why we travel, part 3

2007-08-31T04:45:00.000-07:00

Read an interesting article today. It's from USA Today about 25 pivotal changes in why we travel. Basically the mainstream media think we travel because you can book things online (reason #1), airports now are more like malls (#7) and because the TSA are dunces and make you take off shoes. Sure, this is how the travel landscape has changed. But really, all 25 "pivotal changes" sited by USA Today miss the point. Travel has always been a challenge, always had things that make it easy / hard depending on the current state of world affairs. But it's a little sad that this article missed the truly important 'pivotal change' over the past 25 years. Why do we travel? Because people crave to discover new culture. Make new connections. To discover the world, and more about themselves, in the process. USA Today has identified the effects. The causes, it has completely missed. The most pivotal element of travel over the last 25 years is the thing that hasn't changed at all. Not one bit. People remain curious, and keen to connect. That's the true #1 thing about travel that is pivotal. Same as it ever was.

Why we travel, part 2

2007-08-26T03:14:00.000-07:00

Why do we travel? Sometimes I wonder, what's the real motivation for people to travel? Not weekend getaways. Not seven day holidays. I mean long-term travel, 2 months stints or longer. Seems to me, there's a mix between internal desires (to escape, to be self sufficient, test yourself, to prove that you can do this) and external ones (see new things, eat different foods, meet new people). Strange that the external motivations are 'new and different', and the internal ones really having nothing to do with tavelling, about where you are, only about who you are.

2007-08-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

There are some very strange travel websites out there. Here's one. Looks like it dates from the late 1990s. But I think it's current. I wonder, did they really by all those souvenirs?

2007-08-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

What's in a name? Many people ask that about viator. I don't know what it means, stop asking. What can I offer you? A quick search on the Internet brings these meanings to life:

A travel website about tours and sightseeing
A municipality of Almeria prvince, Spain
A woman who works out a lot
The Latin word for 'traveler', apparently
A student group in Poland
A high school in Chicago

Who knew. I'm sticking with my own definition.

2007-07-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, it may seem like I've been away for a long time, but that's because I've been travelling. More details soon. I am trying to build your enthusiasm for coming back and reading more, after my (gulp) 3-year hiatus.

2003-12-23T15:28:00.000-08:00

no i'm not dead. yes i know you don't care.

2002-08-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

still kicking. so much for motivation.

2002-04-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

i'm going to try to be motivated to post here again more often. i know the template has been broken forever so finally i just replaced it...need to resuscitate some of the missing links.

2002-03-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

i'm alive.

2001-11-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

work the last couple of days has been kind of exasperating and frustrating. yesterday i spent most of the day working with our junior developer solving some build problems he was having. i'm afraid i'm not a good mentor. i'm too impatient. i can't stand stupid people. i know that's mean and probably a lot of people consider me stupid too but geez...most of the stuff we're doing isn't rocket science. maybe it's not exactly trivial but it's definitely not rocket science. it always amazes me how many people have poor problem solving skills. people will take a cursory glance at an error message and will go off on some completely unrelated tangent or they'll do some kind of a test that has no hope whatsoever of narrowing down what could be causing the problem. at times like this the song "here's your sign" by jeff foxworthy, travis tritt and bill engvall is a comfort. ;)

today was stressful for a different reason though. i was in pretty much an all day meeting. this wasn't a planned meeting. it was one of those impromptu things that came up when the scope on our project started getting out of control. meetings are no fun anymore. it used to be i could sit back and just listen (at my old job) now i'm looked to for guidance and for my opinion on how things should be designed.

gotta go...more later...

2001-11-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

this place is suffering from a dearth of goods that can be readily turned into something edible. what to do? i don't feel like going outside (the weather is miserable) and i don't feel like ordering in pizza. how shall i ever survive. survival in modern times is so difficult. (i'm not being sarcastic...no not at all.)

2001-11-04T20:47:00.000-08:00

woke up with a sore throat. spent most of the day in bed. oh the excitement.

2001-11-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

survived yesterday's halloween festivities (actually i stayed at home despite having the option of attending a party -- i was feeling anti-social) and the blue moon.

2001-10-31T15:47:00.000-08:00

i need to send this to my roommate. not that i'm never guilty of being a little lazy myself but my roommate has been bad for piling dirty dishes and cups on his computer desk and leaving food wrappers on the kitchen counter all the time lately. we have a dishwasher so there's even less room for excuses. when it comes to kitchen utensils and containers my motto is: if it can't be washed in the dishwasher don't buy it. another note to self: must take tours in London more seriously. mom and roommate need to be diverted, entertained.

2001-10-31T13:44:00.000-08:00

ok so it has been awhile again. i'm tired of talking about war; about anthrax; about myself and talking about the weather just doesn't look like a reasonable alternative at the moment.

2001-10-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

if compromising is such a good thing why is being found in a compromising position such a bad thing? just something that rattled through my bored little mind.

2001-10-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

did you know that the bbc may have had no small part in the taliban's decision not to ban the radio? read about it here. thought provoking.

2001-10-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

if there ever was a good time to be a postal worker now is definitely not it.

2001-10-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

ack...it's snowing. i knew i shouldn't have bladed into work today.

2001-10-22T16:51:00.000-07:00

the only good thing about monday morning is it only comes once a week.

2001-10-21T15:46:00.000-07:00

some days doing nothing is exactly what i want to do.

2001-10-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

went out with some friends and saw "bandits" last night. got quite a few laughs out of it although it started to drag on a little near the end. decent plot twist near the end though. completely unrealistic of course. it was a movie afterall.

2001-10-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

more anthrax. no more confirmed deaths at least.

2001-10-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

the israeli-palestinian conflict is heating up with the assassination of rechavam zeevi. this follows the killings of several hamas members following the killing of....ad infinitum. there will never be peace between israel and palestine. they've been fighting for thousands of years now.

2001-10-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

i still keep in touch with her by the way. that is, if you consider an email once a week keeping in touch. it's something at least.

2001-10-16T11:48:00.000-07:00

no i'm not dead. just resting. no, not even that. just lazy. apathetic. i don't know why.

2001-10-12T16:51:00.000-07:00

now there's a confirmed case of anthrax infection in nyc bringing the total to four known infections. so far it looks like media outlets have been targetted. the bbc has some general information on the bacteria as well as its possible effectiveness/ineffectiveness as a biological weapon. whoever is sending these letters certainly has more resources at his/her disposal than the average person on the street. more uncertainty. more fear. more terror.

2001-10-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

mark just lost his job because of his blog. apparently it all stems from an essay (very well written i might add) that he wrote on a personal addiction. there's also a thread over on metafilter discussing this. while the web readily gives us a forum to publicly voice our opinions and feelings it doesn't necessarily free us from the consequences of expressing those opinions and feelings whether those consequences are deserved or not. as always, it pays to be prudent.

2001-10-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

in unrelated news the kursk has been lifted from its watery grave and is being towed to a dry dock. hopefully this will help answer a few questions about what went wrong as well as help bring closure to the relatives of the victims.

2001-10-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

and so the war begins. i guess the reality is that it began on september 11, 2001. where will it end?

2001-10-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

there's a very good article over on salon.com entitled "the taliban's bravest opponents" that tells about an underground resistance of afghan women. it includes an interview of one of the resistance members. an excerpt:

Are you concerned about a war with the United States?

We are condemning an attack of the U.S. on Afghanistan, because it won't be the Taliban but our people who will be the victims. The United States should decry these terrorist groups in Afghanistan; but not through an attack. Maybe through commando attacks, though. We do want the United Nations to be more active -- their rule is very important in this moment.

2001-10-03T11:35:00.000-07:00

currently weblogs.com crawls all registered blogs once an hour to find which blogs have been updated but things are changing. in the near future the only way to be listed on weblogs.com will be to call an xml-rpc or a soap method that tells weblogs.com to check your blog for changes. it would be nice if blogger would offer an option to automatically notify weblogs.com via this new interface when you update your blog.

2001-10-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

ah the mundane. nothing exciting is going on as usual. friday we went out and saw "zoolander". there were a few funny bits but mostly it was too silly for my taste. saturday we went out to the dropzone. didn't get a jump in once again. i had to come back into the city at noon and they got a slow start as a couple jump masters were hung over. :P i guess i'll wait 'til next year to try and do a free-fall. saturday evening we saw "hearts in atlantis". it's pretty good. sunday i helped a friend move to a new apartment. today i worked and then helped the same friend do a bit of unpacking/moving stuff around. exciting huh?

2001-09-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

volume 37, issue 34, of the onion responds in typical satirical fashion to the september 11th terrorist attacks with some very good articles. here's a few sample headlines: "hijackers surprised to find selves in hell", "american life turns into a bad jerry bruckheimer movie", "u.s. vows to defeat whoever it is we're at war with" and "God angrily clarifies 'don't kill' rule". my favourite is the last one (though i feel it would have been better without that final paragraph). it's irreverent but thought-provoking. the true followers of God aren't the people that are killing in His name.

2001-09-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

the blog twinning project is kinda neat. it allows people to pair blogs based (supposedly) on similarity. an interesting diversion if nothing else.

2001-09-24T21:33:00.000-07:00

beautiful weather today (31°C). went rollerblading with a couple friends after work and then ruined it all by having a big meal at montana's afterwards. must enjoy these days...winter will soon be here.

2001-09-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

here's an excellent piece from the viewpoint of a russian veteran who fought in afghanistan. it's titled "Afghanistan Is Like Nothing You've Ever Seen, Soviet Vets Say". the u.s. would do well to heed the warnings in this article.

2001-09-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

really it was a sub-par weekend. my roommate, his sister and i went out to go skydiving on saturday. unfortunately it was too windy so we ended up waiting around at the dropzone for most of the day hoping the wind would die down a little while my roommate's sister took the 7hr skydiving course. it was frustrating and boring.

sunday i slept in. :( some friends came over later and we went to meeting, went out for supper and then hung out at the apartment playing cards.

2001-09-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

there's a whole world of suspects out there but the media continues to focus on bin laden. i hope the u.s. intelligence community is not wearing similar blinders but this doesn't seem likely considering the american government appears to be ready to attack afghanistan if bin laden is not turned over to them on a silver platter immediately. here's one article that details some other plausible suspects. it's frightening how willing the americans are to start a war with so little information. considering the many and complex relations that the countries in that area have with each other (ie. afghanistan-pakistan, iran-pakistan, pakistan-india) and the general instability of the governments in the area it would be very prudent to first use wily diplomacy rather than outright attacks should it be proven that bin laden is indeed responsible for the attacks.

2001-09-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

i really have nothing to say. this, of course, is nothing new for me.

2001-09-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

beware all ye who run microsoft's iis webserver for ye shall be overrun with worms. yes, there's yet another worm/email virus combination out on the loose called nimda. this must be one of the first that spreads itself via email and by iis simultaneously. it appears to be spreading very rapidly. i'm seeing a lot of hits already from infected machines. (i believe it's exploiting the same vulnerabilities that the code red and code blue worms did.)

2001-09-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

ugh...does the blogger blog editting interface ever look ugly under mozilla. would it take that much effort to fix it?

2001-09-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

here is an insightful viewpoint from an afghani american regarding retaliation. via metafilter. update: i see it has also been posted as an article over at salon.

2001-09-16T20:16:00.000-07:00

had an enjoyable time friday afternoon and saturday hanging out with her. she's back in france now (left yesterday evening.) i'm not sure exactly what she's thinking. she really didn't want to leave canada (it had nothing to do with me though.) maybe someday i'll see her again but i don't think we'll ever be anything more than friends.

2001-09-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

here's an incredible firsthand account of a muslim who worked in wtc 7. read it now.

2001-09-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

hmm...supposedly she is flying in tomorrow afternoon afterall. i'm supposed to pick her up. why me?

2001-09-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

the latest fad in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on tuesday appears to be bomb threats. innumerable threats have been taking place in russia (u.s. consulate), malaysia (petronas twin towers) and numerous places in the u.s. to name a few. it would seem there are many who delight in spreading the gospel of fear.

2001-09-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

well she was going to be flying into town tomorrow but i'm pretty sure that won't be happening now with partial flight schedules just resuming today. in fact, i doubt her flight out of here back to belgium on saturday will be on schedule either. i haven't heard from her and i doubt i'll see her before her return. most likely she will end up flying direct from vancouver. i'm over her now though perhaps if i quit mentioning her i would seem more credible.

2001-09-12T17:46:00.000-07:00

if you have faith, hold on to it: it will secure you; if you don't, you will be left searching for impossible answers forever.

2001-09-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

i don't have a gripping story to tell of the terrorist attacks from my vantage point in western canada. that is not to say that those of us so far away have not been affected by the events of yesterday. i wasn't aware of the events that had transpired until i stepped out of my apartment door yesterday morning and greeted my neighbour with a standard 'good morning' to which he rejoined the non-standard greeting: 'for some of us anyways'. after seeing my blank look he told the news of the wtc towers being hit by two airplanes -- apparently a terrorist attack. this left me in shocked disbelief as i hurriedly bladed to work. when i got there i found my supervisor and co-workers huddled around a radio listening to the reports as they came in -- first of the pentagon being hit and then of the towers actually collapsing along with conflicting reports of other airplanes also being hijacked. being an it person, i quickly moved to my computer and attempted to bring up news coverage online. at this point virtually all of the major news sites were down. however, my.yahoo.ca was responsive as usual perhaps because people don't think of yahoo as a news source (which, of course, is true in a sense, they only publish what comes over the wire) or perhaps because it's more scaleable than the news sites -- at any rate it became one of the sites i watched constantly throughout the early morning. later, as cnn and others scaled back their pages and became responsive again i monitored them as well as metafilter.com and other non-mainstream sites. as an aside, msnbc was one of the last of the major news sites to regain consciousness -- excuse me for insinuating that ms systems aren't as scaleable as other solutions. (i might also add that our own government-funded cbc did not handle the increased traffic very well at all -- likely due to their chronic shortage of funds.) as more news reports flowed in and the faa turned the whole u.s. airspace into a gigantic no-fly zone (with our own government following suit) the magnitude of the situation began to sink in. my roommate went home at noon. his company closed since their head-office, based out of Houston, had shutdown for the day. a number of the tallest buildings downtown also closed. later, when i went home we listened to cbc broadcasts as they continued to cover the disaster (i don't have a tv.) 12 international flights bound for u.s. destinations were eventually routed to our local international airport. lineups at local blood donor clinics are hours long. we're doing what we can...but for many, it is too little, too late.

where do we go from here? in theory, we should pick up the pieces and build lasting peace. in practice though, that will never be possible: there are too many people that have grown up in environments of violence and hatred for there to ever be complete peace. even the worst punishment cannot deter the people who will give their own life to take the lives of innocent people and the strictest police state could never be a place i'd want to live.

what is the answer? there is no answer: it's the way people are; the way the world is. as individuals we can try to be the best neighbour we can to everyone we meet...and in the end, that will be enough.

2001-09-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

regarding the terrorist attacks today: the sick thing is that someone, somewhere, is revelling in a plan that was nearly flawlessly executed.

2001-09-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

a sad day. as i speak the cbc, cnn, msnbc and even the bbc websites are all inaccessible. does this mean people care? or is it just because we're curious?

2001-09-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

for those you who are weblog authors and have been using the Reblogger comments system which went awol a few days ago it's now back up and running over here. looks like all my old comments are lost (all two of them).

2001-09-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

so she is apparently flying into town tuesday night. i have mixed feelings. i am however, sure that nothing will ever work out between us. i'm not sure if i'll even see much of her in any case. she's only going to be in town for four days before leaving for belgium.

2001-09-08T22:14:00.000-07:00

well it actually turned out to be a pretty nice day so we went out skydiving. got two jumps in. the first one was fine -- we just had to watch the jump master for a handsign after jumping and return it -- no problem. the second jump we were supposed to do a paper pull (this is to prepare you for actually pulling your own pilot chute in a freefall -- you have to do two consecutive successful paper pull jumps before you can do a freefall jump). i screwed up...didn't hold a good arch and missed the paper. my roommate managed to do it pretty much perfectly. maybe next time.

2001-09-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

friday at last. i'd like to do some skydiving tomorrow but summer appears to have departed (it's dull, windy and cool) so i don't think that's going to work out. ah well, it has been awhile since i've just stayed at home and relaxed for the weekend so maybe it's not all bad.

2001-09-06T18:27:00.000-07:00

i think we all crave a certain amount of attention. i'm not sure this is the best way to get it with the din of voices already occupying this virtual space but i'd rather do this than dye my hair purple.

2001-09-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

there's an autumn chill in the air. (when there's nothing else to talk about you can always talk about the weather right?)

2001-09-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

i have succumbed. i am whoring (refer to the 3rd definition at dictionary.com -- we don't want any misunderstandings here) for hits. i had been resisting the temptation for awhile but i'm now registered over at bloghop.com (see also the rating links in the sidebar). i'm aiming to average 1 hit/day. can you spell pathetic?

2001-09-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

i wish i didn't care.

2001-09-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

so i sent her an email this past thursday. no reply as of today. she doesn't care.

2001-09-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

survived the long weekend. actually it was mostly fun but having a cold put a damper on things. the drive was tedious as usual but it was nice to have passengers and i made pretty good time on the road.

2001-08-31T12:20:00.000-07:00

i'm planning on heading home after work today for the long weekend (monday is labour day in canada). it's a 9hr drive and i'm feeling pretty spaced out right now from the drugs i've been taking for the sore throat/cough/cold that hit me on tuesday. at least i'm not going alone: a friend and her boyfriend are riding with me.

2001-08-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

despite my negative post about the weekend i did actually enjoy the white-water rafting but things could have been so much better...

2001-08-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

sometimes i really hate myself. i wish i was outgoing instead of shy. i wish i always knew what to say (i'd settle for knowing what to say even part of the time.) i am the social equivalent of a chameleon...not because i adapt myself to the people around me, but because nobody notices me, nobody remembers me and no one would notice if i wasn't there. i'm really upset with myself right now because this past weekend i met her again. the girl i met a couple of weeks ago on the west coast. i should have been talking to her, getting to know her better, instead i hardly talked to her at all and when i was with her i couldn't think of anything to say. she's still coming out here in a couple weeks for maybe five days before she heads back to belgium unless she changes her mind but any chance i had to be someone she cared about is gone. i've messed up. the worst part is, if i had it to do all over again i don't know what i would do differently. i can't change the fact that i'm quiet and shy. i can't change the fact that i didn't have anything to say. quite frankly i don't think there's any hope for me. is there?

2001-08-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

i suck. i really do. more later.

2001-08-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

a bunch of us are going camping and whitewater rafting near golden this weekend. it should be lots of fun.

2001-08-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

relief: the initial tug of your parachute on your first skydive.

2001-08-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

is it any less silly to be typing to oneself versus talking to oneself?

2001-08-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

hmm...lest you believe me to be a complete loser hopelessly desiring a girl i should maybe tell you that we have actually talked and exchanged a couple of emails. communication is made a little difficult due to the fact that she is travelling right now.

2001-08-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

as usual i really have nothing to say. i still think about you-know-who often. i should be seeing her this weekend when we go whitewater rafting. we'll see how things go...

2001-08-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

i fell 3000 feet from an airplane yesterday and survived...with a little help from a parachute. skydiving is an incredible experience. i was more nervous during the training (7 hours of it) than i was once we got into the little cessna and took off. once i let go of the wing there was no time to feel fear before i felt the reassuring tug of the parachute. with the chute open it felt more like flying. people probably don't realize how controllable today's modern chute is. i will be going again as soon as i can.

2001-08-18T05:57:00.000-07:00

on my way to skydiving so if i never post again...

2001-08-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

work has been very intense this week. i've been doing a lot of complicated design work for a new project. i like it: it's challenging but it's also draining. friday cannot come soon enough.

2001-08-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

oops. sorry about the ugly test posts that were showing up earlier. i was testing out userland's free radio software and its new mail-to-blogger functionality. this is all possible because evan williams has published an xml-rpc api for posting to a blogger blog. back to our regularly scheduled programming.

2001-08-14T23:37:00.000-07:00

earlier i hung up the phone with mixed feelings. i called her. the nice girl i met out west i mean. i'm not sure what to think, or rather, i'm not sure what she thinks of me. it is the age old problem i suppose: i have difficulties deciphering what members of the opposite sex are thinking. figuring out what a girl from my own country is thinking when she's standing in front of me is a challenge. this becomes more challenging when talking over the phone with no visual cues to help out. it becomes even more difficult when the girl is from a foreign land and next to impossible when english is not her mother tongue. so here i am...wondering, worrying. time will reveal the answers but i don't feel patient right now.

2001-08-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

now i'm all depressed because she hasn't called or emailed. i guess i'm pathetic.

2001-08-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

some details from last week's trip. we had a great time although things were rather wet the first four days. monday, tuesday and wednesday were beautiful though. went ocean kayaking on monday for the first time. tuesday we explored victoria's inner harbour. wednesday we hung out in vancouver until it was time to catch our flight back. oh and most importantly...i met a very nice girl that i'm anxiously waiting to hear from again...

2001-08-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

$1600 later and the car saga is over. i hope. we would all save so much money if we didn't need vehicles. maybe i should move to europe.

2001-08-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

well i'm back from holidays on the west coast. had a great time. now i'm trying to get back into the work groove again. more later.

2001-07-31T19:39:00.000-07:00

it's just me and the blogspot webserver and i'm not even sure it's paying attention.

2001-07-31T08:35:00.000-07:00

last day of work before holidays. i'm going out to vancouver island with my roommate, his brother and another friend for some spiritual rejuvenation and maybe some scuba diving among other things. i should be back to work on aug 9th.