Arrival

HAVE ARRIVED SAFE IN ISTANBUL STOP
LIVING IN 8 X 9 HOSTEL ROOM BEHIND HAIGA SOFIA STOP
TOMORROW BEGINS ADVENTURE STOP

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This was one of the more low stress trips I have taken of late. Sure, it rained on the way to the airport, then I got a call AND and an email telling me peoples websites were acting up.

Care level = Zero. It would be dealt with later.


No lines anywhere. Flight to new York is smooth. Security there quick as well. In flight there are two seats free in our aisle. Passable food and and actually trusted us with metal eating utensils. Each seat had its own personal entertainment center. Nice touch. No real sleep, it's still a plane trip and a long one at that.

On arrival a tout tried to get us to take a bus to Sultanammet. "Only 60 Turkish Lira!" (about $38) "Mush faster!"

Really? The metro and tram system took us about an hour and cost us $3 total. Nice. Outer Instanbul is much like any other city. Modern, and with many concrete buildings. Similar to Cairo but more finished looking and no farms interspersed between buildings. But once you arrive in Sultanammet you are dumped at a lovely park right between the Blue Mosque and Haiha Sophia. Using my keen "Souk Sense" I tracked down our minescule hotstel and we checked in. At this point "resting me feet" became "passed out" for several hours.

We recovered enough to get out and find a few sights. At a small park I was befriended by this fellow who lumped up on my lap and proceeded to love me with great vigor. Rossana gave him some cheese which made him quite happy. Meanwhile my own cats treat me like I beat them with a rubber hose. I tell ya I don't get no respect...


We had dinner at a small restaurant nearby where our waiter asked if we were Americans. We took a chance and said 'Yes'.

"Do you like your new president?" he asked.

"Yes, very much."

"We do too. He was here three weeks ago. I go to see him and everyone shouting Obama! Obama! I could not get close enough. So many people."

That felt good. A few years ago in Egypt I had an awkward discussion with a friendly merchant while awaiting delivery of some goods. Today I felt quite comfortable being an American abroad. Of course, the Turkish people are genuinely very friendly. After diner we strolled to the lit Blue Mosque.


Tomorrow we start exploring more on our own.

The Gear,

There was a time when all a man needed to travel the exotic East was a compass, a canteen of water and 4000 Sherpa. So what am I taking?

1. iPhone - Not for calls or email. I have two Turkish translation programs. Also good for currency exchange.
   
   
2. Acer One Netbook - I'll post to the blog when wifi is available. Also a journal and backup for photos.
   
   
3. Canon Digital camera - It's a bit beaten up but it takes some nice pics.
   
   
4. Travel Journal - I've kept one for each trip. Never crashes. Good for notes, drawings etc.
   
   
5. Messenger bag - Holds lots of stuff including maps, book, passport, led light, journal, energy bar, hand sanitizer, camera, leatherman tool, business cards, one tea bag, pens and compass.
   
   
6. Money belts and pouches - To get all my money you will have to strip me naked and put on rubber gloves.
   
   
7. Tilley Hat - Best hat ever.

Oklahoma = Fun

I almost forgot that I shot this short bit of video while we hunkered down during the great dust storm that was the Norman Oklahoma show. We were assaulted by this piece of trash for literally 10 minutes. Then the wind kicked up again and blew it, and a small child, to god only knows where.

Down to the wire.

We leave soon for Turkey. I am desperately working to get two clients websites moved to new hosting. This has not been easy since many of the tech support people are complete idiots. I don't use terms like this lightly. They have cocked this process up seven ways to sunday.

Trying to get stuff done around the house. I finally got the chance to pack (Rossana, of course, was ready weeks ago and has merely been tweaking her bag). Downloaded a Turkish translation app for the iphone. I won't be using it for email or calls over there waaaaaay too expensive unless its an emergency. I will be taking my Netbook with me and blogging whenever I find a few drops of wifi.

For a short preview of what we might see in Turkey I present this tourism ad. I'm not sure about the giant horsemen or the flying mermaids. Looks dangerous.

There and back again...

It was back to sunny Florida for the FX-International show last weekend. I went solo and I'm not sure it was worth the effort. Yes, there were some cool media guests there. Yes, I did get to sit in on Leonard Nimoy's appearance which WAS very cool. But the work to do it...

The biggest pain was that the convention center closed its loading dock at 7pm. I arrived at 6:50. EVERYTHING had to be loaded onto my new dolly. Gridwall, stock, mannequins the whole enchilada HAD to be in the doors in 10 minutes. It was the fastest load-in in history. I managed to get it in the door and to our spot just in time. The whole load was so heavy I got rope burns on my hands and was so winded I was nausious. Nothing like 8 hours of sitting in a car and then running a 600 meter dash.

Despite being a well established show, the crowds and sales were way down for everyone. We made money at least, which is more than I can say for some of my fellow merchants. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

Turkey is a little over a week away...

tasty

I rarely pass these things on, but I have to this time. It's likely not real, but its fun nonetheless.

Ben & Jerry created "Yes Pecan!" ice cream flavor for Obama. They then asked people to fill in the blank for the following:

For George W. they created "_________".

Here are some of their favorite responses:

Grape Depression
Abu Grape
Cluster Fudge
Nut'n Accomplished
Iraqi Road
Chock 'n Awe
WireTapioca
Impeach Cobbler
Guantanmallow
imPeachmint
Good Riddance You Lousy Motherfucker... Swirl
Heck of a Job, Brownie!
Neocon Politan
RockyRoad to Fascism
The Reese's-cession
Cookie D'oh!
The Housing Crunch
Nougalar Proliferation
Death by Chocolate... and Torture
Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder
You're Shitting In My Mouth And Calling It A Sundae
Credit Crunch
Mission Pecanplished
Country Pumpkin
Chunky Monkey in Chief
George Bush Doesn't Care About Dark Chocolate
WMDelicious
Chocolate Chimp
Bloody Sundae
Caramel Preemptive? Stripe

Ouch

With regards to Oklahoma one COULD use the term "The less said about this the better" but that would be a cop out. The show was brutal. Cold, hot, dust, wind, wind, wind, more dust,tent damage...Ask me about it someday and I'll lay out some of the fun details in epic style.

But we made money. Not as much as I'd like to be frank, but its only a three day event. I'd go back. Rossana? I don't think I'll broach the subject for good 8 months.

The cherry on this cake was our return drive. After tear down and pack up we could only drive about 4-5 hours. We stayed at a motel that usually exists only in movies. Our room was entirely Elvis themed with posters, faux platinum records and purple satin sheets. Breakfast was at a diner that time forgot. Good food served by people who still believe Eisenhower is President.

But the charm of that bubble in time had worn off 13 hours later as we trudged up I-71. Somewhere south of Rt 250 Rossana hit a patch of black ice. I was asleep in the back but you wake up pretty fucking fast when the swerving and screaming starts. Three violent swerves in as many seconds and we struck the guard rail sending me across the van along with assorted luggage. There were two things that kept us from getting seriously messed up. Luck was one. There was an off ramp to the right of us when we started to loose traction. 20 feet more and we would have rolled over, Rossana's great driving was the other. By the time we hit the guard rail we were almost perfectly paralell to it. The impact mashed up the side of the van but didn't harm the wheels, doors or any windows. After making sure we were still cabable of driving we crawled home, getting in at about 4am. I seem to be the only one who took damage when I hit the door of the van. My right forearm hurts like hell. We also broke a mirror.

All in all, not the best weekend ever.

Day 3 - extra gritty

Blogging from a portajohn. It's the only place sheltered from the
winds an dust. Yesterday was ok but it won't get above 51 today and we
still have to tear down an pack up. Saw about a dozen tents damaged or
destroyed by wind this morning. We're still holding on but we've had
to use only half the wall pieces to keep wind drag down.

Sent from my iPhone

Misery

Arrived to 40 mph winds. Got partly set up when wind damages tent.
Lower tent, Lash everything down and decide to check in. Suprise! We
moved you! We unlash, move frame and come up with new proceedure for
high wind setup. We go for lunch and find a harbor freight. Awesome.
Get some super stakes and ratchet ties along with extra rope. Back on
site we manage to get tent up. There are bent poles and damage to some
corners. We use every stake we have to tie down. Can't risk setting up
walls or stock. We'll have to do it in the morning. Possibly the
hardest setup in my career. My face hurts still from the wind and cold.

Sent from my iPhone

Robots

Here are some pics of Robots at MegaCon.

WTF??

Back from MidsouthCon. Overall the event we pretty good. It was marred by 2 small distractions. First was our GPS sending us to a landscaper supply depot rather than our hotel. The actual hotel wan't far away but wasn't marked and kind of sucked. Second, someone stole our dolly. No, not a cute little doll with ribbons in its hair. Our loading dolly.

It the twenty something years I've been doing this I've never had something stolen from me at a show (that I could detect). Why a dolly? Why not just ask to borrow it? The pisser is that I JUST refurbed it the week before. Cleaned it up, painted it, reinflated the tired to spec. This thing takes a lot of abuse. And now? Gone. Swell.

The cool part was having diner with Nigel DeSade and a friend of his named Amul. Nigel is a character in every sense of the word and talking to him for any length of time will put a smile on your face.

Ok, I'm slightly freaked out.

At about 1:30 am the doorbell rings. Cautious, I grab one of the many swords kept about as decoration and cautiously open the front door. It's the police. I carefully put the sword down behind the door and ask how I can help them. They proceed to tell me a bizarre story.

Apparently 'a woman' went to a house down the road from us several times asking for 'help'. The occupant(s) of the house wouldn't let them in but offered to call the Sheriffs Office. When the police would arrive, the woman would be gone (Although we live only 4 miles from Wellington, we are apparently served by the Lorain County Sheriffs Department in Elyria) After the last plea, the occupants followed the woman who was in a silver car and it pulled into our driveway. According to the police, a man fitting my description was in the silver car at some point (they showed the woman my DMV photo).

None of this, of course, makes any sense. We don't know ANY of our neighbors accept Heidi across the street from us, who has taken care of our cats a few times. I try never to pull into peoples driveways. It pisses some people off. I tell the officers that we were out most of the evening, not getting in until about 10:30pm (the last request for help was made at about 9:30).

They ask if they can speak to my wife, and if they can come in. It's freezing out so I say of course. I go to wake up Rossana, who is sound asleep. There was no easy way to do it so I told her the police were here to make sure I hadn't killed her. That got her up.

We assured the officers that everything was fine. Then the phone rings. Who calls at 1:45am? The Sheriffs Department does!

"Are 2 sherifs deputies at your residence?" asks a concerned voice.

"Why yes they are."

"May I speak with them?"

It now dawns on me. Once the officers entered my home, they lost contact with their dispatcher. This sort of thing likely makes the other Sherifs deputies nervous. I quickly hand the phone to the Officers who inform dispatch that they in fact, have not been kidnapped. Disaster averted. The officers seem satisfied that we are not involved in some drunken domestic dispute and wish us a good night.

The officers were courteous and proffesional but the story they told me just makes no sense. If I hadn't been so gobsmacked I would have asked more questions...but I didn't.

Oddly, we have a pretty good alibi for tonight in that I got my first speeding ticket is YEARS at 10:05 way North of here. Should I call the Sherifs Office tomorrow and tell them this? Do I have some kind of crazy neighbor? Are they readying a strike team to burst in, guns blazing?

Rossana, seeing that there were no answers to be had at this time is off for bed. I am slightly jangled.

The Good News...

I returned to my doctor today to see if a month of clean(er) living (and some drugs) had improved me any. I was pleasantly surprised. First, I apparently lost 7 pounds. Horaaaay! Rossana gave me a dirty look.

"I hate you." she said, smiling.

Then we checked my blood pressure. 117 over 80, or as some people call it - Normal!

The doctor was pleased if somewhat surprised. He told me how some of his patients are on 6 different medications because they won't change their bad habits. He also warned me not to go back to my old ways.

For my part I was very happy to hear some good news about my health. The weight loss was a pleasant extra. So far the medication hasn't given me any big scares. I do sometimes feel a little light headed or dizzy, but nothing serious. I do pee more, but I already drank tons of fluids before so no big change. I also appreciated the comments people left. I also got an email from and old old friend of mine. He was a little more blunt with me. "Get your shit straight and stay with the program or so help me...."

I don't to know what "so help me" means and I don't want to find out. He works for the military-industrial complex and for all I know has satellites trained on me to make sure I don't stray. I can easily imagine getting a call after walking into a Burger King.

"Hello?"

"You better be there to only use the bathroom." the voice on the phone says.

Blogging from a small town - Albino Squirrels

I ran some errands in the "Big City" today. That means Oberlin. And as I crossed the town square I ran across one of Oberlin's more odd inhabitants. A white (or albino) squirrel.



Apparently these little guys are well known. Some people have traveled from foreign lands to see these guys. They are indeed white. It seems that due to feeding by locals a trait that would normally take these little guys out of the gene pool pretty quick has allowed them to thrive. There are still plenty of brown and grey squirrels. But I bet the white guys get hit by cars a lot less. Maybe that shows that they are evolving. Blending in with the environment is not as important as not being hit by cars. Hmmm..

Soooooooo freakin cool - A windmill

Check out this video and then try this for yourself here.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.