Greetings from the Land of Nuts

I'm back in the lovely little truck stop of Santa Nella once again -- This time, I'm by myself... It's the first work-related trip I've taken by myself outside of Colorado, so it's quite the experience. I had to rent a car for the first time in my life. Yeah, yeah... Hey, there's always a first time, right? :-) I have a Nissan Altima. It's interesting -- a car without a key... well, a mechanical key, that is. When you get in, you put your foot on the break and press the "Start" button. I'm not sure what to think about it. While it's a "cool feature," it further distances the average Joe from an understanding of mechanical systems. True, the average Joe probably couldn't care less, but still... I assume people kind of get a vague idea on how things work after years and years of using something. Guess this generation will only be stimulated by Dopamine.

Time for a short break!


I flew into Fresno, CA this morning/afternoon. The plane was so small I couldn't stand straight in the middle isle without bashing my noggin to shreds -- probably the smallest plane I've been on. (I haven't flown much, as I'm sure you can tell.) Man, I'm really starting to hibernate on planes. I slept next to a mom and her two squirrels, and it didn't bug me in the least -- I slept right through it. As a side note, I'm really not impressed with the new "correct" methods for disciplining your kids. Somehow, asking your two-year-old to sit in their seat for takeoff and reasoning with them while they're in the throws of a temper tantrum just doesn't seem to work. :-) Thank you, child psychology! (BTW, if you ever get the chance, take a psychology class -- it's very interesting and reveals the logical progression that leads to things like today's child-raising tactics. Yes, it's very logical, but it's based on a set of logical fallacies...)

Anyway, I don't know what I'm going to do till bed. I've been studying, but I'm tired of that. I already ate dinner at Carl's Jr... Maybe I'll... OOOH! I'll start rewriting the bridge contest software. Time to learn SQL Server... Huh, I bet I don't have it installed. Well, anyway... LOL! The outlet on the lamp on the desk for a laptop in the hotel room is labeled, "120V, 60Hz, 11Amps Max, Combined." Who on earth is going to sit here and calculate the current draw of their device before plugging it in? And 60Hz? I'd hope so! It ain't the U.K.!