News: June 2000

June 30, 2000—Paris, France
Erin and I walked the Champs-Élysées this afternoon where we visited the tourist office and did some more window shopping. For what it's worth, compact discs remain extraordinarily expensive. ($20 per CD is not uncommon.)

We did a little Metro riding in order to visit a computer store in hopes that they could help us figure out exactly we Trinity is having trouble connecting up to the net over here. I've got the power adapters working flawlessly, but for whatever reason, I've been unable to log in to Gerard's CompuServe account. Trin appears to make a connection but then we get an authorization failure (normally implying a user name or password error).

The computer store we visited was, I'm sorry to report, not terrifically helpful, but they gave us the name of another store (appropriately named "Mac Lover") which will hopefully be able to solve my problem. Surely I can't be the only American in France who wants to connect his PowerBook to the Internet.

June 29, 2000—Paris, France
Talk about being tortured by the game you love. Erin and I were both severely jet lagged and had made it through (and stayed awake through) a full day of airports, airplanes, buses and greetings. (The Courtieuxs are marvelous people.) Then came the France v. Portugual Euro Cup 2000 semi final. I showered during half-time to try to stay awake. France, down 1-0 in the first half though outplaying their opponents, equilized in the 51st minute. As I struggled to stay awake, it ended 1-1 and headed into overtime. I'm sitting there doing head spins while the first half of the sudden death overtime ends. Mercifully, there's a penalty kick sitution and Zidane slots it to give France the win and to allow Erin and me to head straight to bed. Not sure about Erin, but I'd had about 6 hours sleep total over three days. I awoke this morning, 11 hours later, still craving more sleep.

Nevertheless, Anne drove Erin and I into Paris where we walked around the area of Notre Dame, visited several gardens, and window shopped. I remain dedicated in my quest to convince Erin that we don't have to powerwalk everywhere, especially now that we're on vacation.

Dinner yesteday and this evening with Gerard and Anne has been wonderful. The meals are a delightful blend of foods, both more subtle in taste and texture and more nutrious than standard American fare. Conversation, though I'm obviously missing the French part of it, has been interesting as well.

We've met their sons, Alexandre and Julian, and their daughters, Alice and France. Alexandre drives a Metro train, Julian works for a ritzy hotel in Paris, Alice does logistics for Air France, and France is a student.

Alexandre and Julian live next door in the house (other half of the duplex, really) next to Gerard and Anne. They work a lot, but that's not an overwhelming amount by American standards: The French work week is 36 hours a week as a norm, and it's not uncommon to have 10 weeks of paid vacation per year. According to Gerard, 5 weeks is legally mandated, the rest depends on your profession. (Attention US employers!)

We'll be heading into Paris again tomorrow after calling the Ramsayers in the morning. We should have a better idea of our overall vacation plans by the end of the day.

June 28, 2000—Cincinnati, Ohio
I'm in Cincinnati, Ohio, but I'm filing this entry under Paris time which means that technically it's the 28th. After several days of the Lillys' fine hospitality, I flew out of San Francisco this morning about 30 minutes late and presumably Erin flew out this afternoon.

The Delta flight, other than the aforementioned delay, was entirely uneventful. It was a completely full Boeing 757 and they served a reasonably nice lunch (as far as airline food goes) in case anyone's curious.

I'm typing this on a power outlet in concourse area B5 in the Cincinnati airport. Trin's fully charged, so I could use battery time if I had to, but why waste it when plug-in power is available? There aren't a lot of convenient seats near power outlets, but I found a good one in relatively short order and it's got a good view of the airfield as a bonus. I've got another 2.5 hours to get everything configured for France via Location Manager, a process that takes approximately 5 minutes (given that I don't have all the necessary information yet). Maybe I'll play a computer game or two. Maybe I'll read more of the Robert Ludlum novel I'm working on. Maybe I'll ponder the fact that airport layovers tend to be incredibly boring experiences.

Or maybe I'll just keep typing.

There's a story I shared with Shan, Heather, Jennie, and Erin when we met the other day, and I'd like to share it now with everyone else.

I was in Paris 10 years ago, the summer before Erin and I met, doing some continental travel after the conclusion of the University of Portland's variable quality London Program. I traipsed my way across Western Europe to see what I could see. As I've said elsewhere, my life wasn't exactly going the direction I wanted prior to the trip, and this solo adventure allowed me the opportunity to sort out various issues unencumbered by external influences, at least psychologically.

One thing that happened on this trip was that my money ran out. I had the type of VISA card banks issue to college students, which is to say one with a $400 credit limit. Although my parents wired cash to the appropriate bank, the financial institution took something like 10 days to post it. All the while I was walking into banks, trying to pull money off the VISA, getting rejected, and enduring the stares of European bank personnel whose demeanor switched rapidly from friendly to contemptuous.

I didn't do a lot of hotel/motel living in those weeks. My normal mode of operation was to use my prepaid EuroRail pass to hop a long-distance train and to sleep on the way to wherever. On one of those trips I found myself again in Paris.

The Montparnesse, a skyscraper not too far from the Eiffel Tower, looks out on the nighttime lights of Paris. It was in the cafe just below the rooftop observation deck where I stared out at the these lights and thought about how my life would change in the next 10 years: I would graduate college, probably meet someone and marry, and we would begin building a life together. So at a table by a window some 56 floors up, I sat, looked out at the City of Lights, and drank a toast to my future wife wherever she might be. I know now though I didn't know it then that my hopes and wishes didn't have to travel far. Erin was also in Paris, and though we didn't meet at that time, our paths crossed less than three months later in Oregon and we started dating less than two months after that.

For the record, the drink I ordered that night was a 3 franc cup of café olé, the cheapest thing on the menu and the only thing I could afford.

After a couple of long flights—mine featured a drunk Frenchman hitting on a gabby American woman in the row in front of me and the best airline food I've ever had (Vive la Air France!)—Erin and I have made it to Paris. I've now had the distinct pleasure of meeting Gerard and Anne Courtieux and their hospitality is first class. Good thing too, because Erin and I are severely jet lagged. Neither one of us got much sleep on the flights over.

June 27, 2000—Los Altos, California
International travel may not be a fear-inducing event (unless you're traveling to Turkey with large amount of narcotics), but it definitely has the potential of being nerve-wracking. For Erin and me this became even more the case when we learned yesterday that French air traffic controllers spent the day on strike, effectively closing down 85 percent of all travel through French airspace. So far as I'm able to determine, both British Air and Delta are still promising to get us in on schedule, but it's not the most comforting situation in the world. Anybody know any nighttime hot spots in Cincinnati?

For those who want to see in real time how this whole adventure works out, I offer you the following:

I'll be on Delta Air #1040 leaving SFO at 10:30 AM to Cincinnati. From there, I'm on Delta 8701 leaving Cincinnati at 9:30 PM and arriving the next day in Paris. You can plug these flight numbers on the Delta Airlines web site and see if I've been delayed or whatever by the strike.

Erin will be traveling on British Airways #284 leaving SFO at 3:55 PM and arriving in London. On June 28, she's on British Airways #334 from London at 12:30 PM to Paris. You can track her progress on the British Airways web site.

Many thanks to our friends Mike and Marilyn for last night's delicious dinner and marvelous conversation. Post dinner events included Marilyn and I updating the system software of her beautiful iMac DV SE, "Baby," and watching Jared make faces while trying ice cream. In different ways, both were highly entertaining.

It's become readily apparent, given the number of people who've mentioned it since Erin and I flew into the Bay Area on this trip, that my web site has (at least irregularly) become a popular online destination. (Well, you poor, poor souls. Hehe.)

Seriously though, it's always nice to hear that I'm not just typing these random bits and sending them off into the void. I confess that I don't always give a lot of thought to the impact of the words I write here, though I like to delude myself into thinking I have enough tact and grace not to defame or embarrass anyone (except perhaps myself, and I probably deserve it).

In other words, thanks for tuning in. My next update will occur once I'm online in France, assuming I'm able to make everything work.

June 26, 2000—Los Altos, California
Met with our friends Brian and Debbie and their daughter Erin for a wonderful brunch and admired their gorgeously remodeled back yard. Stopped off at Goodwill to grab a few Robert Ludlum paperbacks for the flights then returned to the Lillys to do a little computer work with Bernard. With the iMac Rev. B's infrared system flawlessly interacting with Trinity's, we wirelessly transferred a few files then set up Trinity for Internet access using Bernard and Liz's account. (Thank you!)

Erin and I had dinner and spent most of the evening chatting with our friends Shan, Heather, and Jennie. As always, conversational topics were diverse and interesting, but I'll mention here for the record that I have no idea how something like "pyronecrobeastiality" ever came up in conversation. I think we have some very weird friends. =)

Speaking of weird, the first newspaper headline I saw upon my return to northern California: Bay Area housing prices up 25%. Just when you thought Bay Area real estate couldn't get any more crazy, there you have it. On my morning jog, I picked up a flier for a house for sale (already sold) in Los Altos.

Here's the details: 3 bedrooms + bonus room, 2 bathrooms, 1-car garage, 1857 square feet on an 8700 square foot lot. Lots of extras like fireplace, custom oak cabinets, wine storage, breakfast bar and neato appliances. It's a nice home, well-maintained and the neighborhood is about as good as it gets. In Oregon, depending on location of course, it'd probably run about $175,000. Could be up to $250,000 given the perfect locale.

In Los Altos last year, I'm guessing it would've sold for about $750,000. That might seem high if you're not used to Bay Area real estate pricing, but trust me, it's on the conservative side. It might just as easily have gone for $850,000.

It sold, probably in the last week, for $1.1 million.

June 25, 2000—Los Altos, California
Yesterday's flight to San Jose was uneventful (other than the 3-year-old next to me kicking over the tray in front of him and spilling milk all over his grandmother's stuff). Thanks once more to Jennie for picking me up at the airport.

After touchdown, I met up with Erin at the Lillys' raging family get-together/party. Found way too many people to talk with in the allotted party time, so I'll just throw out some highlights in no particular order:

Congratulations to Erin's cousin Kurt who graduated last Saturday with a degree in History.
Man is my nephew Jared getting bigger. He's pulling himself up using tables and chairs, and I'm sure it'll be relatively short order before he's walking. (Congratulations, sort of, to his parents Mark and Christine who will have to chase after him.)
Played an engaging tug-of-war style game called Hunker Howser. Requiring a practiced balance of strength and finesse, longtime players (like Bernard and Christine) bested many newbies like myself. Fun game!
Mark's BBQ prowess continues unmatched. The Tri-tip was excellent.

June 24, 2000
After a final day of packing (and I suppose a little panicking since it's about that time), we've finally headed off on our European journey. I'm typing this in the Portland International Airport. Erin's already in the sky on her way to San Francisco and I've got another 45 minutes or so before boarding for my departure to San Jose. Later today we'll meet up at Bernard and Liz's place where a family reunion of sorts will be going on. (Dennis, Marnie and kids—having camped down the west coast—will be there among others.)

Yesterday Dave and I connected up over the net and put AIM's voice over IP and file sharing features to work. Headphones and microphone and AT&T, Sprint, MCI and others need a new business plan. Dave will be handling some of my SiteRev.com stuff for me while I'm away and forwarding a lot of my email.

[While I'm think of it, it's worth mentioning again: our direct email address while we're in France is [email protected]. The [email protected] one will still work, but it'll be routed through Dave first.]

By evening time yesterday, Erin and I were feeling confident enough in our packing that we went out again with Matt on another look at the houses on the Tour of Homes 2000. Again a mixed bag architecturally, but it sure was fun.

June 21, 2000
Matt, Ginger, Erin and I spent the day bopping about town. First we took in a free showing of Stuart Little, a cute film with a number of very funny bits. Great set design and costuming, and the acting wasn't bad either, especially considering the lead was a mouse.

After lunch we returned home to back up Ginger's PowerBook 5300, Fauna, to Zeke so that Fauna could be taken in for repairs. The AppleTalk transfer took a good five hours, but given the tools at our disposal (and Fauna's propensity for crashing) it was the best we could do. Fauna's files were then transferred from Zeke to Trinity via 10BaseT ethernet, a process which took about 20 minutes. Later in the evening, we moved the files from Trinity to Yoda, Matt's G4, via 100BaseT.

During the day I introduced Matt to Carmageddon and he showed me Diablo. Looks like a LAN party is a definite possibility on the former. The latter is an excellent single player game and may be a terrific multiplayer game as well (to such an extent that it may also be a LAN party candidate), but it appears to suffer from the near-fatal flaw of requiring each player to have a Diablo CD. Not sure that everybody is going to want to rush out and buy the game for $23, and it's unfortunate that they don't offer a net-play only option like WarCraft.

After dinner, the four of us scooted around town to see the "Tour of Homes 2000"—a bunch of newly constructed homes that were holding open houses. It's always fun to walk through other people's houses, and this was no exception.

There were plenty of neat remodeling ideas but more surprising was perhaps the number of questionable design decisions, many of which could be considered the epitome of what not to do. (For example, as a general rule doors should not open into one another.) Oh well, that's worth taking notes on too.

June 20, 2000
Congratulations to our friends Suzanne and Heather. On Saturday, Suzanne ran the 26 miles of Anchorage's Mayor's Marathon, and Heather finished the Danskin Women's Triathlon at Lake Almaden in San Jose which was comprised of a 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike ride and 3 mile run. Way to go!

After yesterday's brief period of upset stomach, Erin's amazing recuperative power kicked into overdrive (as they always seem to) and she feels fine today. If it were me, I'd probably be looking at bed rest for another week.

A good example of this sort of thing is my blinking calf muscle which is still not at 100 percent. I can walk around fairly well, and I'll try jogging (again) later today, but I'm really perplexed and annoyed by how this injury just appeared out of nowhere and how it's taken so long to get better.

June 19, 2000
After a morning and afternoon of yard work, Erin and I drove up to Portland to pick up her airline tickets and see a play. The play was sold out so we signed onto the waiting list at number 20 and hoped for the best. They managed to seat people on the waiting list numbering 1 through 19, and then ran out of tickets. Doh!

We decided to console ourselves with Italian dinner at Cucina! Cucina!, but Erin ended up feeling unwell afterward, so I'm guess this evening thing in PDX just wasn't meant to be. At least we got the airline tickets without a hitch.

Bret continues to hobble about the house, though with increasing flexibility and decreasing pain.

June 18, 2000—Fathers' Day
Erin completed her first year at Sprague on Friday, wrapping things up in a relatively low-stress fashion. Indeed, despite all the changes of the year, these two semesters were less stressful than any year at St. Francis. We anticipate that next year will be even better, as Erin will be teaching some of the same classes.

Held a little movie get-together with Matt, Ginger, and Dennis, and took in The Phantom Menace, some Bugs Bunny cartoons and the Iron Chef, a Japanese cooking show with a culinary duel staged as a samari showdown. (Yeah, it's weird. But the dubbed English is very funny, and the show is oddly compelling.)

We took Dad out for lunch today for Fathers' Day, which seems almost too little given all he's done for Bret, me and even Erin (who he spent hours recording grades for this year). Many thanks to Dad, and a round of applause to fathers everywhere.

June 17, 2000
Dennis, Marnie, Henny and Nicky spent the night with us, and I'm happy to say that we had a couple of opportunities to take the boys down to the park and try out the play area. My calf was pretty sore, but I managed a game or two of freeze tag and a few kicks on the soccer ball.

Nicky and I also raced from tree to tree, a Saturday morning event which led me to conclude that children are probably the best exercise routine one could ever wish for. I know I was exhausted, and, grief, I was only with them for a day or so.

Bret's knee surgery was a success. They pulled four bones chips out which should relieve a lot of pain and inflammation for him in the long run. Short-term he's on Vicodin and stuck in a leg brace to immobilize the knee. His spirits are high on the whole, though it'll be a while before he's able to resume normal movement. Prognosis is excellent, however.

June 15, 2000
My leg's feeling better to the extent that I can walk on the treadmill. No jogging, though. As long as I can pack things through France, I don't care. At least for now.

Speaking of bum legs, Bret heads in for knee surgery tomorrow, which will hopefully allow him to resume the active lifestyle to which he's accustomed. It's been eight or nine months now since he's been able to run around, and it's obviously driven him nuts. I'm not fully up-to-speed on the surgery except that it's involves the patella tendon, not an ACL or MCL. Recovery time is expected to be about two months I believe, but from there on he should be good as new.

Erin and I headed up to Portland for a party at Erin's relatives George and Irene. Erin's aunt and uncle, Marnie and Dennis, were there along with their boys, Henny and Nicky. They'll be staying with us tomorrow night on their swing through the Northwest down to California.

June 12, 2000
Don't know how I did it exactly, but I tweaked my left calf muscle while jogging on the treadmill this evening. I wasn't even two minutes into it while doing a light jog and -pop!- goes my calf muscle. That's never a good sign. At least it doesn't hurt except to walk or jog. For the most part, I don't even feel it. But I'm gonna need it in France, so it better heal up in a hurry, or I'll be annoyed.

I read a touching column in The Oregonian yesterday about a woman, Barb, and her husband, Pete, both of whom I went to school with at the University of Portland. Pete has cancer and doctors give him six months to live. That such a tragedy should befall people as genuinely friendly and loving as Pete and Barb leaves me grasping for answers which probably don't exist.

I'm at a point in my life where I understand the natural cycle of life and death and can appreciate a life well-lived and the beauty of the death that naturally follows. I have neither tears nor sadness to offer for such events, only joy and appreciation for the person and who he/she was.

My difficulty here is seeing Pete's situation—which I might add he is handling with uncommon courage and grace—in that light. I've lived a life relatively unscathed by tragedy, and I'm not sure how well equipped I would be to deal emotionally with something similar. My friend Sue (who also went to school with them) calls it "heart-wrenching," and I couldn't agree more.

A play Barb has written about her experience is detailed in The Oregonian column. "Performing Wellness" plays at 7 PM on June 19 at 1516 SW Alder St. Admission is $5.

June 11, 2000
Dave was able to spend another night which of course meant more Carmageddon. I never play it solo any more; it's really at a stage where it's multiplayer or not at all.

Bret's moved in and done wonders with the family room and guest room we gave him to play with. Even as a kid he was always rearranging his bedroom every few months, and it looks like all that practice has really come in handy. The family room (which is doubling as his bedroom until Erin and I take off for France) is now almost studio apartment-like in terms of functionality.

June 10, 2000
Dave came up yesterday and, true to form, we packed in as many events as possible. We drove up to Portland to check out iMacs and Mac accessories at Fry's and CompUSA. We visited briefly with Garr. We played WarBirds and Carmegeddon all night.

This morning, after what truly was very little sleep, we headed up to Portland with my dad to help Bret schlep his stuff down to our place in Salem. The sofa was a little bit of a beast, but with the additional help of Bret's friend Matt, we had everything packed into the truck in about an hour. After unpacking in Salem, Bret treated Dave and I to lunch at Izzy's, then Bret headed back up to Portland to some final cleaning of the apartment.

Dave and I then went to The Computer Store where Dave bought a Blueberry iMac 350 and an extra 64 MB of RAM for Melissa. We spent late afternoon/early evening configuring and setting up the iMac and marveling at the design. Great computers.

June 8, 2000
Had cable TV installed yesterday at Bret's request. Since he's paying for it, we had no objection, but one night of channel surfing left me with the same impression I had before: There's lots of shows on TV, but nothing to watch. What a wasteland.

The bonus to the cable TV installation was that the digital box in the family room downstairs needed a phone line, so we got a phone jack put into the family room for free. That was kinda cool.

Mom, Dad, and I headed up to Portland this morning to meet Bret for a breakfast celebrating Mom and Dad's wedding anniversary. Yummy food, but you gotta figure that after 35+ years together, a celebratory breakfast is mighty small compensation. Or maybe it's just one more perk. Good time had by all either way.

I've updated Al Starfy Game 5 in my Chess section with astute analysis from a reader.

June 5, 2000
Gave up another precious pint of my O-negative red stuff which will hopefully be given to somebody who needs it more than I do. The Red Cross nurse who did the honors remarked that I was building up scar tissue near the needle insertion point on my left arm, which I suppose I'll take as a compliment and regard as a badge of honor.

I've been receiving lots emails lately from around the world responding to various babblings here on the web site. Two notable correspondents have been a G4-owning Mac-hater (figure that one out) from France and a keen-eyed chess player who found a great line in one of my chess games. Web sites are great things.

June 4, 2000
The Davison clan assembled yesterday morning to toast Grandma on her 87th birthday. The celebration was a little early since we wanted to make sure get it in before Erin and I headed to France. We drove out to Gates, Oregon and ate lunch at a restaurant with an attached aviary. Numerous "bird-as-food" jokes followed, none of which are worth repeating here, but all of which were found pretty funny at the time.

Bret came up again today to drop off another load of his stuff (he moves in next weekend). He also took advantage of the beautiful weather to vacuum and wash the cars (his and ours—thanks!).

June 2, 2000
Erin bought a $5 CD from a school rock band called The 16th Hour. Apparently the band members were utterly stunned by her purchase, almost unable to convince themselves that a faculty member would be remotely interested in their music. Truth be told, we saw them at the Battle of the Bands, and they were the most promising group there. The album, Not Sponsored, is mature music for a high school band and though it's not professionally recorded, it's not that bad. The lyrics are on the nonsensical side except for the closing song, Punk Sucks, which is pretty much self-explanatory.

Beautiful day here in Salem allowing me the opportunity to get out and shoot some hoops prior to the Blazer game. I never quite found my rhythm, but it was good to get outside for an hour or two anyway.

loligo's June 6 concert has been postponed until July 26 due to scheduling problems.

June 1, 2000
I was contacted by Apple this morning so that they could get my comments regarding the recent Apple Support I'd received for Trinity. Not surprisingly, I had no complaints whatsoever. Everything happened quickly, efficiently, and with a minimum of fuss. Easiest and quickest repair experience ever.

I've been toying lately with the idea of starting a web site about Apple's Pismo PowerBooks. It'd basically be a repository for information on that specific model. Such a site already exists for the PowerBook 1400, but owners of other models have to do a lot of web searching at the various general PowerBook sites in order to find the information they're looking for.

I probably won't attempt this unless I can line up a little advertising to pay for it, and even then, I'm not convinced it's a project that I want to undertake. The upside would be that once it's compiled, very little would need to be added to it since it's a resource site, not a news site. At the same time, the Pismo PowerBooks pack a ton of features and can do an awfully lot of different things. Putting that all in one place is a definite assignment, and I'm not sure it's a task I'm up for. This would all be happening after France anyway.

Speaking of France, I will soon be posting information on how to contact Erin and me, our itinerary, and so on. For now, the new email address to use while we're in France is "[email protected]" (without the quotes). You're welcome to start using it now if you like, but it will really become essential when we're in France, since the [email protected] address will be routed thorough a business associate who's keeping SiteRev.com afloat while I'm in Europe. (And I don't need to tell you not to send us any big attachments, right?)

Latest update on June 30, 2000
Feedback: [email protected]