Tag: travel

Categories
Photography Travels

Chicago to Louisville (and Indianapolis for lunch)

Windmills

About 11 o’clock this morning we set off from Chicago, south towards Louisville.  James brought along some playlists of funk music and snacks for the road and our good friend Lee had decided to join us for this leg. Coincidentally Lee’s girlfriend Rebecca is going to be in Louisville this weekend so it made sense for him to join us. The three of us relaxed and joked around on the road and it wasn’t long before we were stopping to photograph windmills and “Hell Is Real” signs indicating we were definitely deep into the great state of Indiana.

We posed the question of where we should stop for lunch to our Twitter followers and  the awesome @JennFree suggested Scotty’s Brewhouse in Indianapolis. Her pitch was compelling and seeing as how I’m on a never-ending quest to try as many different beers as possible, any place with “Brewhouse” in the title immediately appeals to me. Luckily the guys were happy with it too.

When we arrived in Indianapolis we were struck by the beauty of the city. With it’s many beautiful monuments and circles, the downtown area is simply gorgeous. We wandered around a bit, checking out a smoke shop and a vintage styled Dunkin’ Donuts. We stopped off at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ monument and were instantly taken aback by it’s beauty and size. The entry on Gowalla for it mentions it being comparable to anything in DC and I’d say it’s formidable by my memory. Sadly the structure is under restoration but that didn’t prevent us from enjoying it nonetheless.

Scotty’s was a very large sports bar / pub with outdoor seating and a fairly typical menu but a reasonably sized beer selection. Lee and I each tried a local brew and chat a bit before hitting the road again. Lee proposed that the city would be suitable for another visit sometime. I definitely agree. It didn’t hurt our impression though that we arrived there to our first real taste of summer weather (a refreshing change from chilly Chicago.)

From there, it was straight on through to Louisville without stopping. Upon our arrival we hit up local music shop EarX-tacy and then went for some BBQ at Mark’s Feed Store on the suggestion of the wonderful Ms. Amy Guth. The atmosphere was friendly, and the food was okay. The three of us were mostly happy to have arrived.

Tonight we are staying with a friend of Lee and Rebecca’s and tomorrow James and I will bid them adieu and head to Nashville hopefully in time for the East Nashville Beer Festival.

For now, we’re going to hit the local bar scene. Good night folks enjoy the photos!

Categories
Business Technology Travels

“Aerodynamic Efficiency in Paper Airplane Design” or Thoughts on SXSWi 2011

An actor in an orange wallaby costume uses a men's room urinal.

This year marked my second visit to Austin, Texas, for the South By Southwest Interactive conference. While I enjoyed myself and had only been once before, I can tell you that things have changed, perhaps not for the better.

When I attended in ’09, I went to presentations almost every hour; nearly all sessions were in the Convention Center, and all were high quality. The close-knit experience made it easy to navigate which panel I wanted to go to and easy to get there.

This year there was simply too much. You could scroll through long listings picking out sessions and then realize all of that was just the 2 PM hour, and a large number of sessions were scattered in offsite hotel conference rooms. It’s bad enough that walking from one end of the conference center to the other takes about 10-15 minutes; some of the sessions I wanted to go to were as far as a mile away.

To make matters worse, many of the sessions were redundant panels with poorly prepared presenters, too many of which were still fixating on the importance of “social media” and other buzz words. The kind of stuff you would already have to be aware of if you’re attending SXSW in the first place. By the end of day one, I had decided that most panels were pretty much a waste of time.

The idea of having a conference devoted to the abstract concept of “interactive” is starting to feel short-sighted. It’s grown so large that it’s simply untenable. Bringing marketers, designers, programmers, and “content creators” together under the banner of “interactive” with the common thread of “the Internet”—something quickly becoming ubiquitous to American life—seems absurd.

Imagine if we held a conference for all the industries that use paper in any way, shape, or form. There would be panels on restaurant menu design, proper cardboard box construction, and buzz-worded up bullshit like “Aerodynamic Efficiency in Paper airplane Design.” This is what it felt like to browse the schedule of sessions at SXSWi 2011.

Simultaneously, the split between the Film and Interactive portions of the conference seems more and more arbitrary as the line between amateur and professional creators continues to blur.

More me, this year’s focus was less on the panels and more about the partying, networking, and actual human interaction. This is perhaps evidenced best by the plethora of panels discussing how to best party at SXSW. I can’t be the only one who thinks this is a bad thing. It seems the label of “Interactive” has taken on a new meaning, and it seems to be less about the technology and more about social interaction. Which, from a humane perspective, is better. But if that’s the case, why even buy a badge when I can party for free?

Categories
General Travels

A Prologue?

Every adventure has a beginning. Some start slow and build into the excitement. Others kick right into action within the first few moments. Either way there is still a setup, some pretext that the story is founded on. My training from iO and Second City has taught me that it’s better to start a scene in the middle and to dispense with the back story things tend to be more interesting that way as we can watch the story unfold in front of us.

At this very moment my heart is starting to slow down from a rapid pace. My brain and endocrine system are finally starting to relax from the rush of adrenaline that pumped through me earlier. I’m just happy to be here in my aisle seat electric chair typing away and listening to my favorite Mountain Goats record.

I’m heading to Austin for South by Southwest Interactive where, for the next week, I will indulge in copious amounts of learning, networking and imbibing. When I return from Austin I will only have 8 more days of work at my job of the past 6.5 years. There is a mixture of excitement and discomfort in the fact I am willfully joining the ranks of the unemployed during a recession.

My heart rate continues to slow as I sip my complementary apple juice and snack on my peanuts. I just took a minute to revised the first paragraph. “Lovecraft in Brooklyn” just came on. I love this song, I don’t really even know why, I just do.

I could tell the story about nearly missing my flight this morning, being told they were booked through the weekend and how someone I’ve never met volunteered to give up her seat making her my personal, yet thankless hero. But aside from me running unshod through Midway airport, the story really doesn’t have that much anecdotal value.

I’m looking forward to the next few days in Texas, catching up with old friends, making new ones and eating amazing food. That said, I am not quite sure what to expect. I did this once before and it was extremely enriching, even life changing, will it be again?

We’ve landed in Nashville to refuel and swap passengers before continuing on to Austin. No more Mountain Goats, moved on to Gaslight Anthem now. Stop, revise. I am fully relaxed now. Another revision.

I’ll be back in Nashville a month from yesterday if only for a day. It feels like an eternity away.

The problem with the aforementioned storytelling lesson is that it’s one of the few things from improvisation that can’t be mapped directly to life. We don’t get to just cut to the action, we’re forced to endure each beginning as even the smallest detail can be a catalyst that ripples through all of what follows. In life it’s the transitions that shape everything. The blur before something ends and another begins is arguably the most interesting moment, anything could happen that will affect the future and how we perceive of the past.

I ponder my own situation as I rewrite, revise and delete. I’m mildly frustrated that this, like many pieces I write, may sit in “drafts” forever awaiting a perfection that may never come. I switch the music again to Streetlight Manifesto to get a lyric trapped in my head out.

“We’ve all been there once before and it looks like we’ve returned once more. So is this the beginning or the end?”

I don’t know what will happen, I just know we’re landing and it’s almost time to close my MacBook.

Categories
Photography Travels

Kanchanaburi Photos

A sign in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

I’ve got a lot going on and a few new and exciting things up my sleeve, but I wanted to post a quick note that I just published a few new photos from my Thailand trip back in April to Flickr.

A lot more are on the way. Sorry about the delays. Thanks for your patience. The best part of working part-time is the ability to get through your backlog of stuff you’ve always wanted to do.

Here is the link: Kanchanaburi – April ’10 on Flickr

Categories
General Technology Travels

4 Hours in Malaysia / 26 Hours in Tokyo – Part 1

After leaving Bangkok, I landed in Kuala Lumpur for a 4-hour layover. Just long enough to get bored to tears in an airport but not long enough to leave said airport.

I wandered around the duty-free shops for a bit and decided to get a bite to eat at the Malaysian noodle place called Nööödles. I got the “beef balls and herbs soup” and a Coke for what equated to around $7. After that, I stumbled onto the airport Starbucks which had a free open WiFi connection… Sweet! Only problem, though: No way to charge my devices.

Kuala Lumpur is the only stop on my trip that doesn’t use the standard US two-prong wall socket, and I didn’t bring my adaptor kit with me. Luckily enough, there was an electronics store right below where I could pick up one of those little adaptor switch boxes for around $10.

I did have a momentary nerd out moment in there, however. They had TONS of Japanese video games for sale and all sorts of bizarre bootleg devices. This was the kind of stuff that 10 year old me dreamed of. I got really, really excited at the idea of buying something to bring home and play before I remembered that this isn’t the days of old where you could get a cartridge adaptor for your NES and play Japanese games. The whole industry has switched to optical media that simply will not work without having a modified system. Unfortunately, thanks to the DMCA is illegal in the United States. And, as such, companies like Microsoft will block your system from connecting to its service. Sigh.

After I got over my disappointment, I went back to Starbucks, plugged in, and I was up and running! (Note: the iPad’s battery would have no doubt made it fine through my flight to Tokyo, but I knew I was going to use it heavily in the next day, so I wanted to start with a fresh full charge.)

I arrived at the Narita airport and wandered around a bit, taking a moment to use the bathroom, clean myself up, and change into jeans. It’s 84 degrees here, a huge break compared to the sweltering heat and humidity of Thailand; I’m excited to be wearing jeans again.

I took an hour-long bus ride to the downtown Tokyo train station, a place I figured would be a good starting point. From there, I set off wandering and began laughing when I realized I had managed to orient myself solely by the placement of the sun. The Boy Scouts would be proud. I found myself feeling extremely grateful for my iPhone as well, as none of Tokyo’s streets are clearly labeled. That said, there are many maps placed throughout the city that denote where you are, which is very helpful. Navigation in Tokyo is entirely based on neighborhoods and landmarks, which is surprisingly clear for someone who can’t read a word of Japanese.

First thing on my agenda: find the Apple store. I was able to accomplish this very quickly. I promise you, my dear reader, that there is a method to my madness: Apple is very selective in their stores’ placement. They are usually in upscale, popular/trendy areas, which can immediately give you an idea of a good place to check out; on top of that, they offer free WiFi, accessible power outlets, clean bathrooms, and friendly multi-lingual staff.

That decision paid off big time. I was able to find an employee who had moved here from Estonia, who was kind enough to give me a brief run-through of Tokyo basics. First thing he told me: Enjoy the free WiFi because I won’t find much of it elsewhere. Not even Starbucks offers it, apparently, and McDonald’s does but only to Nintendo DS users. Great. I also found out the post office here doesn’t sell stamps. Weird. I’ve yet to mail out my postcards, so that is priority #2.

My friend’s father was able to get me a great hotel rate for tonight, so I booked a room at the Sheraton Miyako Hotel. While this goes against my usual traveling rules, I could use a clean bed and shower using my normal methods, so I’ll take it. Unfortunately, check-in is not until 2, so I’ve got some time to kill.

I’ve heard a few suggestions/requests of things to do for tonight, which I’m excited to start tackling as soon as I put my bags down. I’m still open for more though, so hit me up in the comments or on Twitter. More later!