Packing my gear for a road trip

Whenever I travel, I struggle with carrying far too many clothes. I have yet to crack the code for carry on luggage. I remember on one trip my roommate packed one jacket, a pair of pants and two shirts to last five days. There’s no way I could go for that – I need to have a change of outfits at a 1.5 ratio per day! Now look at this picture; granted I am on the road for an extended work trip, but I have to get a better grip on the amount of gear I carry. Do I need help or do all road worthy gadget lovers carry this much stuff?



I always book a room with two beds... Evidenced by the photo below, it's my oversized credenza. The hotel staff never touch what's on that bed, so it's all cool.



I have to get better carrying the essentials, but on the last road trip I left both of the iPod / iPhone chargers at home and the office. Grrrrr. I had to go to Staples and buy an overpriced charger at $30! Outrageous!

Songs for the long road trip ahead

When I was younger - much younger - it would not be a physical stretch to drive 16 hours straight.

Of course all of the necessary checklist items were in place…. gas money, a AAA TripTik map, a place to stay and money to eat with were the “I wouldn’t think of leaving home without them” items. Once the checklist items were in place, off I went!

These days, packing toiletries, changing the oil, safety check on the car, paying all bills, checking credit card balances, camera, tons of electronics, gps and music to go on the iPod is a must. Of course, I tell my wife where I'm going and have some bonding time with my two dawgs.

Anyway, it seems that 3 hours is within my zone of sitting on my arse without a bladder break. Now I have my iPod loaded up with 30gb of music, but only a couple of dozen songs really propel me down the road. What I mean by that is that some songs seem to send my Honda Odyssey on a cruise control time warp effect that makes the trip go much faster.

Now I’m not a music scientist, but perhaps there’s a certain rhythm, a back beat that makes time in car fly by. Songs that work for me include horns, sing along choruses, hand drumming on the steering wheel, fake keyboards, a little head / neck motion, whistling, yelling, something that I can sing loudly (in the privacy of my car)… ‘num saying?

With that said, here are some of the road tested songs that really work for me…

Get Back – The Beatles
Dweller On The Threshold – Van Morrison
Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who
Compared to What – Brian Auger's Oblivion Express
Willin’ – Little Feat
Goodnight Moon - Shivaree
Jamming & Buffalo Soldier - Bob Marley & The Wailers
Young Folks - Peter Bjorn and John
Kid Charlemagne - Steely Dan
Running On Empty - Jackson Browne
Pick Up the Pieces - Average White Band
Love Shack - B-52's
Going Up The Country (Woodstock) – Canned Heat
The Golden Path (Original mix) - The Chemical Brothers
Indescribable – Chris Tomlin
Ain't Got No Home - Clarence "Frogman" Henry
Deep Forest - Deep Forest

As for albums, Deep Forest by Deep Forest and Love by the Beatles work every time without fail.

I wanna know what works for you so that I can build a playlist that will send me hurling down I 24 to Atlanta, GA!

Cheap Motel?

Upon checking into the Courtyard Marriott, I noticed this fine print on the back of the door:



I figured I saved the company $880 bucks PER NIGHT in expenses.
Attaboy, Woo! Looking out for the shareholders and keeping the expenses down.

Freaking Busy - but loving it!

Having started a new job marketing the big bad world of internet marketing solutions with AT&T, three weeks of training in Atlanta, one week in New Orleans, and back in Nashville... I'm settling into a new routine. The old days of going to bed by 2 am and waking up at 7 are gone.

Having a birthday, new routines, the elation of a new corporate job with the perks, great people at work, wearing a suit and tie, and loving what I’m destined to do is a real blessing indeed.

In due time, I’ll settle back into blogging, taking photographs, building LEGO stuff, writing reviews for GearDiary and much more once I get a groove going…. Doing a lot of Twitter these days, only because 140 characters is within my current brain capacity output.

I’m cherishing my weekends with my bride, cutting grass, doing the honey do lists, and fitting in an occasional carpentry and handyman fixes. Strange to say, but replacing a bathroom faucet and hanging new window blinds are good diversions from being so intwined with technology. Power tools rock!

More later…

My messy desktop

Every afternoon, I empty my pockets of stuff like smartphones*, mints, security badge and scraps of paper. Obviously, I'm very cluttered with my junk when I travel. Here's my Sheraton Metairie New Orleans desktop...



This week, I'm using a HTC smartphone and an AT&T issued Blackjack II for company emails; reading a great book - The Back of the Napkin (solving problems and selling ideas with pictures).

A Road Warrior's Dilemma

Whenever I travel, I struggle with carrying far too many clothes. I have yet to crack the code for carry on luggage. I remember on one trip my roommate packed one jacket, a pair of pants and two shirts to last five days. There’s no way I could go for that – I need to have a change of outfits at a 1.5 ratio per day! On my last trip, my luggage was delayed for two days; by then my jeans were standing straight up. Now look at this picture; granted I am on the road for an extended work trip, but I have to get a better grip on the amount of gear I carry. Do I need help or do all road worthy gadget lovers carry this much stuff?



(see the comments over at GearDiary.com

The Joy of Luggage

One thing that I need to add to my life long learning goals is grasping the reality of carryon luggage.



I already know that flying non-stop is always best. Jumping across three cities to save a few bucks on PriceLine is simply not worth the savings in time, especially when factoring layovers and delays. For instance a Southwest direct flight from Nashville to San Jose is 6:35 of travel time; via United through Chicago, to Denver to San Jose starts out at 2:15 CST arriving at 9:39 PST adding in an additional three hours and risk of delays along the way.

I went to Santa Clara for a pretty good conference on Search Engine Marketing. Learned a lot and met some great people along the way. After logistically plane jumping via United to avoid the bad weather (and Chicago's O'Hara Airport), my luggage didn't make the trip.

Dressing for comfort on a plane with a pullover fleece, white t-shirt, socks, black jeans and ratty tennis shoes doesn't generally make a favorable impression for a typical conference, especially when the clothes have to suffice for the next day. However, for a tech conference, I can safely say I was dressed better than 70% of the attendees. Not exactly comforting thoughts as I started to get a little irritated with United's process for resolving delayed / missing luggage handling.

My luggage was due to arrive at San Jose’s airport the following morning at 10:40 am. A handler then arrives at 11:00 and 12 noon to pick up the luggage and disperse them throughout to the owners. I was willing to pick up the luggage when it arrived off the flight. After 3 pm, I called the 800 number and got a call center in India. Of course, I was expecting the local airport office, but after my investigative questioning of the operator’s weather, local time and if there was a local Wal-Mart, the call center in India had no way of knowing where my bag was. I firmly, but politely requested that the bag better arrive at the Hyatt Regency soon, with the specific instruction to call my cell. Of course that didn’t happen – the luggage showed up at 5:30 pm, seven hours after arriving off the plane. I wonder what would happen if I didn’t call to escalate the ticket.

I was planning to write an article on what type of tech gear to travel with over at www. GearDiary.com. Certainly power chargers, cords, battery backups, flash drives, digital camera, iPods, etc. are necessities. I have to add to the list a complete change of clothing. I recently reviewed a Microsoft Rolling Laptop Case that has a compartment for clothing, but instead is filled with other tech items.

Utilizing UPS or FedEx to ship home all of the schwag, booklets, and reading material to reduce carrying the weight and bulk of the items in a suitcase would be a good thing as a handler can easily flag the bag for being overweight.

I simply must figure out how to pack for a 4-night/5 day stay in a carryon bag. I’m convinced it can’t be done if the goal is dress business casual.

When it doubt, poll the audience. There’s great wisdom in crowds.

Paying Homage to the Man of Steel

My neighbor just dropped a bug in my ear about visiting Metropolis for the day...

Heck yeah!

"Frank, you know that I gotta take a hundred pictures?"

"No problem..."


Photo credit: Tom Weber for NPR

Superman Returns will bring fresh attention to the fictional city of Metropolis -- and its real counterpart, a small burg in southern Illinois.

In the comics and movies, Metropolis is a city that never sleeps. But as Tom Weber of member station KWMU reports, the Ohio River town of the same name is really more like Smallville, the drowsy Kansas town where Superman grew up.

As drivers on I-24 approach the Illinois-Kentucky border at the river, a sign beckons them to exit and visit the giant Superman statue.

LINK to NPR story

Road Trippin' Nashville

You've ever seen those guides that recommend taking one day road trips out of Nashville to exotic places like state parks, antique stores, countryside settings (yawn)... Yeah, they're pretty and all, but the driving to and fro gets tiresome for me... I use to be able to hunker down in a car and travel for sixteen hours straight, but over the years, my new threshold is three hours. Driving to Memphis or Knoxville is pushing my limit, let alone Atlanta traffic.

I think my love of savoring the sights and rich textures of the visuals that I encounter along the way give me pause to pull over and take a picture. Digital cameras with my Asian(ness) is a toxic mix. I make a great tourist! I really enjoy launching out in a new city and making memories via snapshots. Mrs. WonderDawg is not fond of my "Oh Look! Did You See That! Stop! Go Back Around the Block!"

For example, she had a day off today. Actually we had planned to be in Seattle for a long weekend to see our son Gary at McChord Air Force base. Turns out he was scheduled to fly out on a training mission in one of those monster C-17 cargo planes, so we would have missed seeing him on our visit. But next spring is our rescheduled time frame which will give us time to renew our passports, see Vancouver, Canada and spend more time in Seattle, as we have never seen that part of the country.

Turns out, Seattle experienced a monsoon. Watching a bit of the NFL football game showed cascading water with 40 mph winds. Nope, the only time I enjoy rain is when my vegetable garden is planted and when the earth needs a bath in springtime.

We head out to get our Civic tested for emissions over in West Nashville off of Centennial Blvd. I've always seen the Tennessee State Penitentiary off of Briley Parkway, but this morning it seem appropriate having lived in Nashville for twenty eight years to take a first time, look 'n' see since we were in the neighborhood.



The old Tennessee State Penitentiary closed in June 1992. As part of the settlement in a class action suit, Grubbs v. Bradley (1983), the federal court issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the Tennessee Department of Correction from ever again housing inmates at the Tennessee State Prison. link

The architecture is stunning; with the vast expanse of land and access to the highway, this would be a good place for some condos/office space!



We saw a sign that idenfied a Tennessee Rehabilitative Initiative in Correction (TRICOR) Finished goods warehouse with trucks out front, so the space must be utilized to some extent.



The old Tennessee State Penitentiary has become somewhat of a celebrity itself, housing such Hollywood productions as the HBO movie "Against the Wall" (for which it was painted red) and Bruce Beresford's "Last Dance" with Sharon Stone. During the week the company filmed there, many of [THE GREEN MILE] the cast and crew ended up touring the penitentiary's old Death Row building, Unit 6, a low, one-story rectangular stretch of brick that sits adjacent to the main administration building. Among its many inhabitants over the years was felon James Earl Ray. Link

Trippin' to Tacoma, Washington

Many of you know how proud we are as a family of our son Gary entering into the Air Force, based in Tacoma, Washington. He's very passionate about the opportunties that lie ahead for him, and as parents seeing your chidren find purpose and embrace their destiny in a God centered worldview brings great joy to our hearts!

We've been busy around the WonderDawg homestead helping get things transistioning for Gary's big move to McCord Air Force Base.



A welcome back party, moving boxes out of storage and our garage to his fiance's house, banking matters, AAA trip-tik planning, visiting friends and relishing the time together as family.

Gary left Thursday morning with his good friend Brandon making good time from Nashville to Topeka, Kansas. Next leg: onward to Denver; Billings, Montana; Spokane and Tacoma.



We appreciate your prayers and good thoughts. Very grateful for the advice and well wishes!

Cross Country research & advice needed

Just wondering, actually seriously wondering - has anyone ever driven cross country ?

I'm thinking about doing a trip from Nashville to Seattle to help my son transport his car.

We've always wanted to see an NFL game in every city, but this trip won't allow it with some of the cities Google Maps is mentioning with the exception of Kansas City and St. Louis. Most likely, this trip will be during the week, but as long as I have my laptop and wifi connections along the way, I can still work.



Trip length is 2,455 miles (about 1 day 17 hours) according to Google...

I am anxious to visit Seattle, having never been there. No doubt, I'll take tons of pictures along the way. No video blogging aka Amanda - shaky cameras give me motion sickness.

Any advice? (besides NOT telling bad jokes and NOT pumping the gas pedal...) We want to do this on the cheap, as the main task is transporting a car. I'll be flying back via Southwest.

Should I have a theme / concept to document? Like Forrest Gump? A BBQ / food theme? Roadside attractions?

Speaking of Houses...

Your House As Seen By Yourself...


Your House As Seen By Lender...


Your House As Seen By Buyer...


Your House As Seen By Appraiser...


Your House As Seen By Tax Assessor...


Hat Tip: Johnny B

Houses in Los Angeles

I brought home the large classified Homes section of the Los Angeles Times (latimes.com/homes) just for kicks.

Here are some that caught my eye, but I didn't want to guess what the prices are.


Beverly Hills


Hollywood


Beverly Hills


Venice Beach


Rodeo Drive - Beverly Hills

Should you not be able to buy at these prices, I saw a listing in Beverly Hills leasing a flat for $29,000 PER MONTH.

LA Movie Studios

I walked around the gated fortress of Sony Picture Studios. With all the gates closed, I stuck my camera over the top and got this shot:



The NBC and CBS studios looked non descript, I didn't bother to stop.



I didn't have the $39.00 or the time to take the tour of the Warner Bros. Studios but I sure it was a much hipper tour with their rich history of cinema and animation.

That's all folks.

Musings from Los Angeles

Back from LA - I learned that people living in the city don't describe destinations in miles; just time. When I pulled into a gas station looking for the Hollywood sign, the attendant said it was 30 minutes away, although the distance was seven miles!

My cheeks are really sore from sitting in the car so much going from destination to destination. If living in Los Angeles, I'm convinced that driving a clunker car and no GPS will doom you to a life of misery.

Also, I'm disappointed with the lack of good FM radio - there's a ton of Latino stations and Jack FM. I did enjoy the USC station that played four hours of Beatles music Sunday morning.



Bad radio in LA must be why everybody has an iPod. There is a iPod billboard for every Starbucks location.



Homeless people like camping out by the Pacific Ocean. I notice they carried much more gear and very much into recycling glass and cans for their substance. No panhandling.

Lots of eye candy billboards and graphics to entice while sitting at stoplights.





Even the plant life is spectacular! Does anybody know what this plant is called? Looks an abstract goose.

I'm beat to a pulp...

... my mind is scrambled and my cheeks are sore.

Some quick thoughts and multiple posts with pictures while I rearrange my brain cells from my cross country journey.



Just flew back from being in Los Angeles and while I had a healthy concern what the LAX experience would be post 9/11 yesterday, I have to say for my 2:55 pm departure, the security lines were efficent, with no waiting. I am feeling confident and much safer flying. The only change I saw were two TSA agents rechecking carry on bags at the boarding gate for the flight prior. For our flight, we were selected for extra security with ten soldiers in combat fatigues helping out. But they were randomly checking people as I was fourth in line and waved on through. Good thing, as my backpacked was jammed with electronics and four cell phones.



(L-R) Palm Treo 650, Nokia E-61, Motorola Q, Treo 700W

I scored a Nokia and Motorola smartphone from demoing our wares. The handset manufactors are eager to work with content developers to accelerate their new product launches. Of course, we're happy to oblige. I really like the new Motorola Q; over the next few days, I'll be playing and testing our new voice apps on these devices. Fun stuff that gadgeteers get into.

I still can't understand why people just saunter up to a A line at Southwest and jump line. Three people did it to me, bumping me from first to fourth. I think when confronted, having a blank stare is their best defense. Still, I got my first class seat on the exit row.

I took two thousand photos while in LA - one night, I'll organize them. Flickr Pro is a great program. Which reminds me of the time my older brother showed us his Hawaii vacation on two carousel of sildes, while his aggressive Cocker Spaniel keep us hostage on the couch.

Lots of Asians and Latinos in this city.

Did you know that I have three brothers? Jerry, Terry and Harry. (My son is Gary).

My three sisters are named Emily, Lilly and Sally.

So while the myth is that Chinese parents name their offspring by the sound of dropped silverware, my parents were creative and did the rhyming thing. Very cool.

Speaking of great programs, check out Delicious Library

Get your Mac, a webcam, and Delicious Library and rediscover your home library. Just point any FireWire digital video camera, like an Apple iSight, at the barcode on the back of any book, movie, music, or video game. Delicious Library does the rest. The barcode is scanned and within seconds the item's cover appears on your digital shelves filled with tons of in-depth information downloaded from one of six different web sources from around the world.

more on the next post...

While in Hollywood, visit Beverly Hills

More from Los Angeles... WonderDawg Goes to Hollywood.



I ate at the legendary In-N-Out Burger. Nothing is frozen; fries and burgers are handmade and very good!



Cruised through Beverly Hills 90210 and Rodeo Drive. Very swanky. Saw some houses with cement ponds. Couldn't find Mr. Drysdale's bank to photograph.



My favorite picture of the day! Located in Beverly Hills! They weren't open for business yet, but if they were, I was going to get an autographed menu.

Must go to sleep and attend a conference that runs all day Monday from 8 am to 11 pm. Should be fun visiting with my peers in the business and making new friends at Handango, Motorola, Microsoft and many others. The Schwag leaves me speechless.

Hollywood! Beverly Hills! No movie stars!

Quick hits from Sunday in Los Angeles...



My booty hurts from sitting in the rental car - if you're from Nashville, then driving in LA or Hollywood is like leaving a Predators game or 4th of July celebration... all the time. There's just a lot of cars on the road... and walking is no better. Too many elbows. Thank God for my TomTom GPS navigator on my Treo. It's been a time saver helping me zip around town. Nearly 300 miles worth of driving in two days taking in the sights.



Finding the Hollywood sign is very elusive. It's like trying to follow the moon - a constant moving target. But I got it!



I met The Homeless Guy of Hollywood working hard on a Sunday morning.



On the way to hunting down the Hollywood sign, the roads were blocked off for some Tour De France bike race... lots of detours to navigate. But I took the time to see the Capital Records building and pay homage to the Stars of Tinsel Town.

Los Angeles - stars and lots of traffic

Landed in Los Angeles and while seeking out the Hollywood sign with no success, I spent 3 hours behind the wheel going 65 mph bumper to bumper on the 5 lane freeways.

Some quick hits and developing entries...

Security at the Nashville airport was good and the lines moved fast, especially the line to the far right (there are two stations behind the wall if you prefer the express lane.)

A clueless girl yapping on her cell phone nonstop actually cut in front of me in the A line at Southwest trying to bump me to fourth place. The three of us actually said something about the line forms at the end, but she didn't get it nor did she move.

S T U P I D and ugly too. She was testing my grace.

I had a Southwest employee of the month (Paige) serve me coffee and a pillow on the flight to L.A.

You can blow your nose loud on the plane and no one can hear on takeoff.

I got my first class seat on the exit row with no seat in front. Stretching my long legs is luxury as defined by Southwest.

When my recall replacement battery arrives for my Dell laptop, I'm keeping the old one. I was deeply engrossed in the movie "Catch Me If You Can" and the battery ran out of juice.

More photos to come; a sample...



Paris Hilton adorns the Warner Music Group Bldg.



Homer? No way!



View from Bob Hope Drive



My room at the Fairmont Santa Monica...



with a panorama view of the Pacific!

Heading to Los Angeles!

I'm taking my first trip to Los Angeles over the weekend "representing" for our business, checking out CTIA, a show that focuses on integrating wireless data technologies into the enterprise and vertical business markets such as healthcare, government, automotive, retail etc., while making some deals and talking good English with software developers, carriers and handset manufacturers.

I'm very jazzed about seeing what the hoopla is about the traffic and LAX. Nonetheless, I'm planning on taking 2,000 photos and visiting Hollywood while staying in Santa Monica.

I got my playlist of songs about Los Angeles loaded and ready to go in the rent-a-car.

One of my favorites songs is "Come A Long Way" by Michelle Shocked as she offers up her itinerary:



Kicked in his door at 5 AM
"I've come for my bike" I told the repo man
My 920's gonna take me far today
You can travel for miles and never leave L.A.

I drive by the Plaza where the gay boys pose
Stand in their windows wearing no clothes
I heard the screams of the dying dark
Through the sweet green icing of MacArthur Park
And then I crossed the river into East L.A.
Pescado mojado me encontre
And I've given up on rock 'n roll
And I'm saving up for norteno
The river she runs by the railroad tracks
I swear I'll never take it back
A train, she cries on the midnight hour
All along the Watts Tower

As for me, All I Wanna Do is Have Some Fun, do a little California Dreamin', stay away from the LA Woman and the Ladies of the Canyon, check out Love Street and MacArthur Park, and maybe watch the Cars Hiss By My Window on Moonlight Drive without Free Fallin'...

Any recommendations?

I was strongly advised NOT to Take a Walk on the Wild Side...