CenterLeft.net

New comic, courtesy of Kyle Mangan.

I’m starting the series here again courtesy of Kyle Mangan.  Look forward to a new comic from him every Wednesday for the next few months.

On Saturday Beth and I went out and had a great time at the 7th annual Seattle Ska Fest 2010 – Ska Summit.  I’ve posted a bunch of pics here from the night.

There are some perks to driving through an ice storm at night. I find it much easier to not be distracted by the possibility of a horrible and tragic death if I can’t see it coming through the ice on the windshield. And hey, I don’t even think that the laws about signaling for a lane change apply when the lines are completely invisible.

Sometimes I’m amused at how much of my life and career is spent behind the wheel. I get to drive a lot for work and I still love it. I can always use some more time to myself to just be alone, think, and enjoy the scenery. The hectic schedule of work takes on an entirely different meaning when you’re paid at the same rate to be in front of your customers as you are to spend a day, on each end, behind the wheel on the open road.

The real benefit to me thought is the guilty pleasures of being alone with full control of the radio. Every now and then Beth gives me the evil eye when we’re on the road together and she guesses at my secret country addiction.

This last trip to Eindhoven left me with a little free time to wander around and explore the city. I’ve been there a few times now, but the trips are usually quick in and out stops for work. Flying in on a Sunday and leaving on the following Friday don’t leave a great deal of time for anything other than getting used to the new time zone and meetings.

But, with a longer trip there is time after the jetlag wears off to poke around.

And you know, I had a lot of fun visiting and exploring. I went for a really long walk about and got to see some really interesting little neighborhoods and parks. It’s not a very old town, mostly built since WWII, but the style of living is very different from what I’m used to.

The weather held out just long enough for me to pull the camera out for a little bit too. I think I got a couple cool shots along the way.

Oh man, not again.

I’ve gone through a couple computers for work now, and every time I change it’s a big hassle.  It doesn’t seem like I really do that much with them, but I have a fair bit of reference information that I need to use day to day and loosing all that hurts.

But even worse this time, it seems the adapters have been upgraded to a new technology.

I’m scheduled to survey a room tomorrow to see if it will be suitable for one of our most sensitive pieces of equipment and to make sure there aren’t going to be any surprises I am running through my equipment tonight.  But sure enough the one thing I didn’t count on has bit me in the ass.  I can’t even plug the equipment into my computer.

So here I go into a series of important meetings tomorrow and I can’t even do the main job I’ve driven 4 hours to come out here and do.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get an adapter mailed to me overnight, but I think this is going to turn into another long week.

The Olympics are off to a great start.  What fun! It’s been great getting to see my old home on the TV so much this week.  It makes me want to get back up to visit.  But, I’ll probably hold off on that till all the craziness is finished up there.

I’ve spent a lot of time on the road in the last three years. Between work and holidays, I’ve probably spent nearly as much time away from home as in it. It can be a nice life if you’re into that sort of thing, but you quickly develop habits to try to minimize the costs.

It seems like almost every time I go into a restaurant now I can spot the fellow road warrior.  For the most part they blend in.  But the next time you head into a restaurant, especially if it’s a big chain, have a look towards the bar.  What you may see is a single man, sitting near but slightly apart from the other guests.  He’ll probably be eating dinner as well with his drink.  If you get really lucky, you might even spot a closed paperback on the bar beside the plate.

If you want to meet someone new, this is the person to talk to in the bar.  For the most part we are pleasant and polite.  Since we make our living working with, and trying to please customers, we have a lot of practice chatting with new people.

A note to the bartenders out there: talk with your customers too!  We’re sitting at the bar because we want some social interaction to go with our dinner.  There’s more to being a great bartender than just pouring drinks.  The best bar staff will take a moment to talk with each guest and that really goes a long way to get the guests talking to each other as well.  Usually, what keeps me coming back to a restaurant isn’t the food or drinks, it’s the great time I had because of the staff and service.   There are more than a few places that I make a special trip to visit whenever I’m in town especially because of a great bartender.

I appreciate all of the passion and intensity that you brought to our relationship.  But it’s over now and it’s time for us to break up. I won’t say that we didn’t have our ups and downs along the way.  But you have to admit that our time together has run it’s course.

I’m sorry, it’s not you, it’s me.  Good bye.

Posted a bunch of new pics today.  Closed out a batch from 2009 and started 2010 off with a few more.

In other news, I’ve been building a few more tools for the site this week as well.  A new rss feed went live yesterday, you can find the link off of the front page here.  If you keep an eye on it you’ll get updates on any stories or photos that get posted on the front of the site.  The photo pages have been tuned up a little bit too.  All of the new galleries posted from now on should be easier to use and look better.