Cleaned Out

I was away this weekend, and before I left I saw an email float by about "cleaning out the dorm, please label your stuff, yada yada, thank you please." I was caught up trying to get ready for my trip, and so I quickly forgot it.

I was only away for Friday - Monday, and I was visiting family who love me and couldn't care less WHAT I wear or look like, and so for such a short trip I decided to make packing an exercise in minimization. A challenge in packing light. An ode to efficiency!

Not really. I didn't get to do laundry, and I packed the morning I left.

So! A testament to procrastination, then!

In any case, I just brought a few clothes and the bare essentials in a small shoulder bag. I decided not to even bring shampoo/conditioner/soap, because again, I'm visiting family, and SURELY THEY HAVE SOME. (And indeed, they did.)

I got back from my travels at one in the morning, and collapsed into bed. This morning I groggily pulled myself to the dorm bathroom, and there was nothing there.

Nothing there.

No towel, no shower caddy, all my toiletries gone, my toothpaste! No toothpaste.

The housekeeping staff had gone through and completely tossed all bathroom items that weren't labeled. To their credit, they gave fair warning, and I should have heeded it, or sent an email that I was away, or something. Something. Save the toothpaste!

So now I stand there faced with trying to scrounge together items with which to make myself ready for the day. First up is the towel. Because I've recently moved, most of my belongings are still in boxes. So I gamely hunted around in my bathrobe with scissors in hand, trying to remember and open the box with the spare linens. I did manage to procure a spare towel, check.

Then, ironically, I pulled out the travel-sized shampoo and conditioner and soap bottles that I did NOT take on my trip, and used those for my shower. Sadly though I had used up my travel-sized facewash and toothpaste, and I didn't have extras. (I rinsed out my mouth and chewed an Altoid. For one day, I'll live. Don't judge.)

Post-shower, I took stock of what I had in my meager carryon from the weekend - not much. Small bottle of contact solution, that's good. And at least I saved my razor, which is good for all those who I play basketball with and must view my legs at close range...

Then I had a flash of relief - usually I take mini versions of everything when I travel, but for this trip I had fortunately brought the normal size of one item I use daily:

They took everything, but I STILL HAVE MY FULL SIZE TOOTHBRUSH.

Sightseeing in Korea

I recently went to Korea for a conference, and I intentionally stayed an extra two days so that I could have a chance to do some sightseeing.

Of course two days isn't nearly enough to explore an entire country, but I did my best to see a bunch of things. I took one of the very touristy "hop-on, hop-off" buses that runs loops around the sights of Seoul. I "hopped off" at a traditional village.

Figure: Traditional village, right in the middle of modern Seoul.

Turns out, the traditional village didn't have much to do, because it wasn't set up as museum or anything, it's just a bunch of empty buildings. Neat architecture, but moving on, moving on...

I attempted to "hop on" that bus, which was supposed to come around every 20 minutes, but I waited thirty minutes and saw no sign of my bus. I did however see every possible city bus route, and approximately seventilly buses from other touristy companies, just to taunt me. Just as I was pondering buying a ticket for one of those OTHER hop-on-hop-off companies, who actually seemed to be in the "hopping-on" business instead of just the "hopping-off" side - my bus finally appeared.

I went to see Seoul Tower, which is like the Empire State Building in that the only reason people go, is to make it to the top and look out. So I went. Rode to the top. Looked out the side. Tried to take pictures, but the windows were dirty.

Huh?

The one attraction is to look out, and the windows are crusted up? Come on now... Also it was a twenty minute wait to get to the elevator to go back down. How is that possible? Doesn't conservation of mass indicate that if I only had to wait 5 minutes to go UP, there shouldn't be a twenty minute line to get DOWN? Tis a mystery...

On Saturday night, a bunch of us went out to the local clubs. Since I was sightseeing with four single guys, I was not surprised that they were way more excited about this than I was. In contrast to Boston, where the bars and clubs all close at 2am, the nightlife never stops in Seoul. The subway stops running from 1am to 5am, so the common thing is to stay out at least to 5am, so you can get home. I went home at 3am (by cab, thank you very much), but the guys apparently made a night of it.

I have to say that the clubbing scene is much different than Boston. In Seoul, the clubs are packed into one area, with people pouring out into the streets and just hanging out on the sidewalks, and the feeling is incredibly alive and vibrant. And in the clubs, the music of choice is techno/electronic. In Boston, you can't have alcohol outside, so everybody is inside, and the common music is hip-hop, or house music. 

Let me just say that I'm not bad as a dancer, (especially as an engineer), but I could not for the life of me figure out how to dance to techno. Fortunately once the club got busy, there was no need - everybody was packed in so tightly, it hardly mattered. It was an experience I wouldn't have missed - the lasers, light show, special effects, and electric atmosphere were pretty incredible.

Until 3am. And then nothing but bed is incredible in my book.

Sunday I took a tour to the DMZ - the border between North and South Korea. This was actually my favorite part of the trip. It's pretty fascinating to hear the history of Korea, which I only knew a little about. For instance, there is a railroad that goes from South Korea to North Korea and back that ran every day from 2003-2008. Did you know that? I had no idea. I thought that border has been sealed with machine guns ever since the DMZ was established.

The plan was to bring raw materials from the South, manufacture items using cheap labor in the North, and then have huge warehouses to store the goods. It's pretty incredible that enough companies got together to finance such a risky venture, I think. For a while it worked great, and then a North Korean guard shot a South Korean woman on the train, and they shut it down. So now there is the brand new train station, and giant warehouses, just sitting empty. It's eerie, really.

Also cool to learn that four tunnels have been discovered underneath the border. The North Koreans claim the tunnels were built to invade towards the north, but since all the dynamite marks are going south, and the tunnel slopes toward the south, it's pretty obvious the purpose was to invade South Korea... And the DMZ tour lets you go down and walk in these tunnels. The closest you can get to the North Korean border is 170 meters, which is where you are stopped by a concrete wall. So folks, I've been as close to North Korea as I care to get. This lady writes about the same tour with much more elegance and better photos than I, so you can visit her blog for her take.

Sunday we visited a traditional temple, which was beautiful and calm.

Still surrounded by Seoul, but peaceful nonetheless. It's a functioning temple, so people were there praying and lighting incense.

And the artwork and detailed architecture - gorgeous. Why can't churches in the US be like this? We pat ourselves on the back when we hang a nice banner on the putty-white wall above the gray Berber carpet, or when we put a few flowers on the stage once a year for Easter. These people paint every ceiling (see above)

... put sculptures on the church grounds...

...and hang colorful, cheerful pendants that dance in the breeze.

Beauty in nature and creativity in expression are part of God's gifts as well, and I might enjoy going to church more if it looked more like this. :) It's one of the things I have always enjoyed about Catholic churches in particular, actually.

Anyway - in conclusion, Seoul was an adventure I will not soon forgot. I enjoyed seeing the city, tried to experience some of the culture, and definitely established that I will have to go back in order to fully explore! For instance, I didn't get to go to a tea ceremony, which I would have liked, or go to the outdoor marketplace. Another time, another time. Until then, I will enjoy the memories.

Eating in Korea

If I might jog your memory, last year I helped organize an entrepreneurship conference, which was held in Iceland. I got to meet the President of Iceland, visit the Blue Lagoon, and snowmobile out to the erupting volcano. Oh, and of course, run the conference...

This year I was also involved in running the same conference, held in Seoul, South Korea during the last week of March. I will have another post about the sightseeing I did in Korea, but for today I want to talk about the food in Korea. (all tongue-in-cheek of course, no disrespect intended anywhere...)

One of the first things I noticed when walking around the city was that all the people over there (the women especially) are much smaller than in America. A little shorter, maybe, but that's not the main thing - mostly they are just skinny! This is partly because a large portion of people in the US are overweight, so I'm not used to seeing a population that is a healthy weight.

But even accounting for my perception bias, I mean - come on. Those women had hips that were as big around as one of my legs. How is that possible? Are they missing organs?

But then, dear friends, I discovered the answer. After a week of eating in Korea, it is quite simple - it's the food!

Consider the Korean Barbeque. Many people even in the states have had Korean food in this style. You order a meat (beef, chicken, whatever your fancy) which is brought to you - for you to cook yourself. It falls unfortunately to the youngest person in the group to cook for the rest of the group, out of respect. So already you have one person who has no time to eat.

Figure: See the guy on the far right? No smile. He's the youngest, and has spent all his time cooking, and hasn't eaten any of it.

And the rest of the group? Well while you wait for the raw food you paid good money to cook, they bring you endless sides to munch on. Endless sides, you say? Fantastic! Well, not really. All the side dishes come on tiny little saucers, with only a couple bites worth of food. But they are refillable, you say, so who cares how much is on each plate? Ah yes, excellent point. The reason they only give you that much turns out to be because nobody wants to eat more than those couple bites.

Figure: At the VIP dinner on Thursday night

Either the side dish is ridiculously spicy (whole peppers on a plate? entire cloves of garlic? really?), or pickled (the favorite preparation method for perfectly good vegetables is to add vinegar), or - wait for it - ROTTEN. Yes. Spoiled, fermented, whatever you call it, that food is no good. What am I talking about? Oh, you know it. Kimchi. YES, kimchi, a food which is inexplicably a favorite dish for many people. The way you make kimchi is to put cabbage in a jar and LEAVE IT, possibly for years, and then hope all the spices you dumped in cover the smell and taste. When recipes have to warn you that "film may develop at the top of the jar," or "may bubble over time," then I think you need to step back and re-evaluate...

And what if you don't eat meat? Well, you can try ordering a vegetarian dish. But the problem is that fish and seafood are considered vegetarian. We've already established that most foods are prepared way beyond their original recognizable state, so it's already a gamble what you are eating. The one dish which is always vegetarian is "bibimbap" which is actually my favorite food in Korea. Everybody else liked it too, (had no kimchi, so already you are starting off well), so we all ended up running around yelling, "Bibimbap! Bibimbap!" when trying to get a decent meal. Fortunately all the vegetarians on our team were that way out of choice, and not allergic, so if they ended up eating any "vegetarian" meats, we just chalked it up to life experience and kept going...

At the end of the conference, we decided we could all use a drink, so we took ourselves out to celebrate.

All of the team ordered a beer, except for one guy. He ordered a cocktail, which (he claims) is a "manly" drink in the US, and usually comes in a highball glass with ice, like a Scotch.

Figure: hello fruity girl drink

Well, not in Korea.  Apparently here, that cocktail is a bright pink frothy drink that comes in a girl glass. With a cherry on top!

To end the night on a proper manly note, then, the gentlemen decided to relax with a couple Cuban cigars. (Available in Korea, but not the US. I am however skeptical that they could tell the difference; I view this in the same category with people who claim to tell the difference between a $40 and a $200 wine. I say after you crack $25, to the majority of people the wine's about the same...) Problem was, it was really cold in March when you are on a windy 17th floor balcony.

So here are our manly gentlemen, bundled up in bathrobes and a bedspread. Except the guy on the left, who you will note is the same one who ended up with the fruity drink. I think he was trying to redeem himself. That, and there were no more bathrobes... :)

On our last day in Korea, we went to a highly recommended spot for a traditional dish, ginseng chicken soup. Finally, I thought - chicken soup! Not spicy, not fermented. This I can handle. But when the dish arrived at our table, imagine my surprise to learn that chicken soup means that a whole baby chicken is stuffed into a bowl of chicken broth, and handed to you with chopsticks.

Do you remember my argument that the reason Korean women are gorgeous and skinny is because of the food? People, the traditional dish is a whole bird in a broth, with CHOPSTICKS for the complicated de-boning process and for eating a liquid.

I rest my case.

Globetrotter Returns Home

Home again, home again. The year of 2011 is turning into the year of traveling - and just in the past month, I've been to Korea for a week, Turkey for three days, and Denmark for four days.

It's always so good to be back in your own bed. I got home from Copenhagen last night, stayed up to a reasonable hour to combat jet-lag, and today I'm back in the saddle. I have only one pair of clean underwear left, so tomorrow will have to be the day I get my house back in order, but today the plan is to get the office under control. Can only do so much at a time!

There's always things you miss when you are gone for a while. Today I am particularly grateful for the following:

- a full night's sleep, after a week of 7am-2am days
- simple yogurt and granola for breakfast, after heavy hotel breakfasts
- my own shampoo and conditioner and my favorite J&J baby lotion, after the funny-smelling amenities at the hotels
- listening to music, after constant meetings
- access to cell phone to hear the voices of people I miss, after a week of email-only contact with the U.S.
- worrying about mundane things and diving back into my comfort zone, after having to think high-level strategic thoughts and work through challenging growth

And, as a bonus, spring has arrived in Boston while I was gone! The trees and flowers have bloomed, the sun is out, the air smells fresh and new and flowery, and I am (gasp!) wearing a sandals and a skirt.

Life is good!

Southern University Recruiting Trip

A few weeks ago, I got a note from the awesome graduate administrator here at World's Best School. The MechE department here is trying a new program, where they want to reach out to excellent undergraduate MechE universities and encourage the students there to go to grad school. Specifically, the women and underrepresented minority students. And of course, specifically to go to World's Best School.

So basically, the higher-ups want to start doing trips to recruit women and minorities to come here for grad school.

They wanted a grad student to go along, so the admin recommended they take me. The other two people going on the trip were the head of the MechE department (a woman - and by the way, how awesome is that?), and a junior faculty (a minority).

I suspect I was chosen because a) the admin likes me, and b) I did the trip to Alabama to talk to highschool girls about engineering, and c) I'm a woman. And perhaps because d) for an engineer, I'm pretty well-spoken, friendly, and charming. Right? Right. :)

I figured it couldn't hurt to go - could be fun, interesting, and I would get to spend some time with the head of the MechE department, which is never a bad career move. Also it's a good cause - always productive to encourage students of all backgrounds to look into grad school. And finally, free trip! So really, why not?

The trip was last week, and the school the three of us went to was a huge southern university in the top 5 for MechE undergrad programs. It was only for a day, so not a huge time commitment. Since it's the first trip like this, it was sort of a pilot program.

The worst part of the whole thing? The flight time.

Six AM.

My cab picked me up from my dorm at 4:30am, and since I didn't do dishes or pack the night before (ack!), I got up at 3:30. The funny part was when I stumbled into the bathroom to take a shower, my undergrad girls were still up and gossiping away.... :) Ah, college life.

The day consisted of a bunch of activities. We sponsored an American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME) student chapter meeting in the morning - apparently if you pay for pizza and drinks, you have a rapt audience for an hour. It fondly reminded me of ASME meetings at my own undergrad school. (I met a lot of incredible people through ASME, and it has always surprised me that ASME does not have a strong presence at World's Best School.) We were supposed to give a talk with slides during the ASME meeting, but the projectors weren't working. So the two professors talked off-the-cuff. Turns out the head of MechE is a bit long winded...

Anyway, then we had a lunch with students who wanted to talk with us. I hadn't been aware that only women were invited, so I was so surprised when all 8 of the students at the table were girls. "Wow," I thought, "well that's a coincidence..." Silly me. :) But they asked lots of good questions, and since I ran Orientation for MechE grad students at World's Best School in Sept. this year I was well-prepared to answer all sorts of first-year questions.

Then one of the professors gave a seminar, and then we had dinner with minority students, and then the 3:30am caught up with me and I crashed into bed.

Next morning I flew home, and on life rolls. All in all it was a good trip. For myself, I was able to chat with the head of MechE, and ask her some questions about the challenges of the job, what the job entails, and her opinion on how MechE across the nation is doing. She told me about the hiring process and how she was selected for the job, her philosophy on running a department, and about how much travel she does, and what day-to-day life is like. I promise I didn't ask incessant questions, I think she was just happy to chat! She also had just gotten back from a national meeting of MechE department heads, and apparently all across the US enrollment in MechE is up. Generally, at the expense of Electrical Engineering - which I would not have expected.

I also hope I was able to be helpful in answering questions the undergrads had on grad school. I forget what that's like - not being aware of how different life is in grad school. For instance, some of the students didn't know that grad school is free for students. Unless you are doing an MBA, you get funding to pay for school - either by doing research, or being a TA, or an outside fellowship. That's a pretty key piece of information if you are deciding what to do with your life.

And another piece of key information? Grad school rocks. :)

Maybe someday I'll see some of those students wandering the halls here. You never know.

Road Trip: Chicago

After Sonic, Eehern and I decided that the only way to make it to Chicago was by hopping between food stops. Next up, Zukey Lake tavern - a nostalgic favorite of his. It was really only fair - one of mine food picks, one of his.

Figure: Tavern on the lake.

Apparently, Eehern remembered this place as being down a bumpy dirt road, a only-the-locals-know type of retreat. But instead of a gravel parking lot next to a hole in the wall, now it's a newly renovated restaurant on prime real estate by the gorgeous lake.

Figure: We just hope the ribs are still as good.

We had called ahead from the car to place an order for ribs. We popped in, picked up the order, and went on our way!

Let me just note - did we eat in the car? No, no we did not.... :)

Figure: You can't see it here, but this is the twelve hour mark for us in the car.

We drove. And drove. And drove some more. That two hour block at the Canadian border really put us behind, (as well as my shopping, ahem...). We hit twelve hours in the car, and man I was tired. The energy was visibly leaking from the car.

I got sleepy and took a nap. I think I drooled, but I managed not to snore (I think). Eehern soldiered on. I woke up, and still we drove.

Finally, we both determined we needed one last stop before the final push.

Figure: Stop at the gas station, to fill up on gas and on that order of ribs. Miss Outlier's last road trip drink.

We still couldn't eat in the car, so we got out and sat at a picnic table to dig into the ribs. But oh - did I mention - the picnic table was right next to the swampy forest? And we were eating delicious meat? The mosquitoes came out in droves. DROVES, I tell you.

First they came for me. I started slapping and fidgeting trying to fight them off. The ribs were delicious, so I couldn't bear to stop eating. Eehern just laughed at me.

Then, they came for Eehern. Buzzing and humming, they honed in on any exposed flesh. Finally he was driven from the pool table, relegated to pacing back and forth while he ate to avoid the insects. Now who's so tough?

I was still eating as fast as I could, and the mosquitoes didn't even bother to find open skin - they bit right through my clothes. Ack! Moving on.

For the final leg to Chicago, Eehern was finally getting tired. We had talked about most other topics, so I asked a question on politics. Well THAT'S a conversation starter. Did you realize that Eehern doesn't think there is a fundamental right and wrong - that right and wrong are defined by majority vote? This means, of course, that absolutely anything, no matter how heinous, can be justified if a majority of people think it's right.

We killed an hour just discussing that.

Figure: Ah yes, just what the day needed. Rain.

As we got close to Chicago, it started to rain. I put on some country music to get us through the final push. My job is the iPod, you know.

Figure: Man, did the country music do this?

And it rained harder. It poured. The RainX had met its match.

Figure: Yikes! Okay, okay, I'll go back to Top 40 radio...

But rain or no, all things must end and we did make it to the destination city. We met up with his friend Sai Hei, who generously opened his home to us to stay for the night.

Figure: Thanks Sai Hei!

We found a parking spot for the car, I brought up my carryon to the room. I was thinking the night was just about over. But indeed it was not!

Figure: Eehern busting out the guitar. He's quite good.

Apparently, long ago Eehern taught Sai Hei how to play guitar. Men being what they are, Sai Hei wanted to show off how much he'd learned since then, and Eehern wanted to prove he was still better. So they jammed for a while. Sai Hei also got to show off his Linux program for learning new guitar songs on his huge gorgeous plasma TV, so all manner of male itches were scratched. I just sat and enjoyed the entertainment.

And then I thought, off to bed? But no! The night is still young!

We hopped in a cab and took off downtown. Can I just say - the financial district of Chicago has some well-heeled women running around. I loved looking at the street fashion!

Figure: We took ourselves to a comedy club.

A place called Second City is a famous comedy club in Chicago - a lot of comedy stars have come up through here. The trainees do really cheap shows at midnight, and it was here that we found ourselves.

Figure: Cozy little theater, just us and a dozen others.

I've never been to a comedy club, so it was a neat experience to see live improv. Honestly actors always make me a little nervous - I just think, "Man you are so over-the-top that I'm embarrassed for you!" But that's just my introverted, engineer hangup... I was glad we went!

We got back home, and plopped into bed. Right? WRONG!

The boys just couldn't let that plasma screen go to waste. They fired up StreetFighter, splayed themselves out on the floor, and proceeded to beat each other up. Just like my brothers - get them together, and the testosterone goes flying.

After one got fed up with losing to the other (can you guess which one?), they finally decided to call it a night. That might also have to do with the fact that I went ahead and crawled under the covers on the futon and went to bed. Even though the futon was in the same room as the TV (I just was too tired to be bothered by the video games).

And with that, my friends, the marathon day was finally over. From the honeymoon suite in Canada at 7am to the bedroom floor in financial Chicago at 3am, we did justice to the road trip.

And to all a goodnight!

Road Trip: Detroit

On Day 2 of the great adventure, the all-knowing Google doc once again said to leave at 7am. We had a long day of driving, and we needed to make it all the way to Chicago with time for two detours. Since I was in charge this time, I got up at 6:30, took a shower, and then woke Eehern. At 7:15am, we were outside packing the car.

Figure: Miss Outlier runs on time.

 This was Friday morning, and I needed coffee. Well actually, most mornings I need coffee. On Friday mornings in particular, I'm used to World's Best School coffee hour where I get coffee and a donut.

Eehern, as usual, needed nothing.

But we stopped along the highway at a Tim Horton's, which is supposedly a cult favorite. In fact, two World's Best School Coffee Hours have featured Tim Horton's donuts, brought all the way from Rhode Island.

Figure: Forget the donuts, I have COFFEE.

Figure: But the donuts were delicious too. I had two. 

 I'd like to point out here that along the ENITRE trip, we hardly went an hour without seeing construction. I know summer is known for road construction, but seriously it was ridiculous.

Figure: Orange cones, orange cones everywhere

 Along the way we noticed the beloved Subaru had a home even here, in the middle of random Canada.

And I noticed a store for shopping, not available in Boston. :)

Figure: I asked if we could stop, and Eehern said "Go for it!" So we did.

 I took entirely too long to shop, but again Eehern was a gentleman and didn't complain. I checked out with a new shirt, and I went to find him.

I looked.

I walked around.

I peered over the racks.

I checked outside.

I walked around again.

I had lost Eehern, in a foreign country. I didn't have my phone. And then I recalled when Eehern and I had spent a week in London. I also went shopping there (and again, took entirely too long. It's a vice. I'm sorry.) And AGAIN when I came out of the store in England, Eehern was nowhere to be found. And my phone didn't work. In  London, after I exhausted all my options I ended up sitting forlornly on a bench on the side of the road, waiting for him to come back. In Canada, I stood in the front of the store until he showed up.

I think he just likes to lose me. But he can't be tired of me yet, it's only the second day!

We continued on, heading toward the border. This time we had our story straight - Eehern was ready for the "So what do you have in your car?" question. Tough stuff, those customs agents.... :)

Figure: But it was not to be.

 Instead, we got stuck in traffic. We CRAWLED forward. We could see that waaaaay up ahead was a bridge, and we assumed that customs (and freedom) lay across that bridge.

But with that vision dancing ahead, we were painfully starting and stopping our way down the road. Half an hour. An hour.

I was getting bored. My legs needed to stretch. I wanted lunch.

Figure: Not getting anywhere anytime soon.

Eehern needed nothing.

And hour and a half, and still more of the scooting forward.

I was cramped and impatient.

Figure: I had run out of my road trip drink.

And finally - FINALLY - we found something that made Eehern ruffled.

He was watching the idle RPMs on the dashboard. Wasn't much else to do, really. And the idle RPMs were high - something like 2.5. And then they would wiggle. And then go down. And then go up. And then down.

Figure: It's the middle of the bridge, and Eehern is freaking out about the RPMs.

 He got so worried about the situation, he called up the Cambridge Subaru dealership.

"Hi," he says, "I have a question."

"Go ahead," says the cheery woman on the other end.

"Well," Eehern begins, "I'm wondering what the normal idle RPM speed is for my car. It's shooting up to 2.5, and then whizzing down to 1, and then jumping all around. And I really just want to know if that's normal."

The lady, trying to be helpful, replies, "Well sir I don't really know, it's not my area, but I don't think that's normal, and you should bring it into the dealer."

*facepalm* Lady, don't you know that now we are going to be worrying about this for an entire two week trip...? We spent TWO HOURS in traffic. As we were waiting the final last bit, which seemed forever, and I was hungry, and I needed to stretch, and I needed a bathroom break, I thought "We are never getting to America!"

But thankfully, we did. Next stop - Sonic!

Figure: Ah, road trip drink.

 Sonic is a nostalgic favorite of mine from Oklahoma. It's a drive-in restaurant, where you order from your window and the carhop brings your food out. I love it. I love the Supersonic breakfast burrito, the Chicken club toaster, and ESPECIALLY the Sonic Cherry Limeade.

We even got there during Happy Hour with half price drinks. I ordered my favorite combo, with tater tots, and even Eehern got a cherry limeade.

I practically inhaled my food, as it was like 2 or 3pm and I hadn't eaten.

As I was chowing down, I heard, "Um...." said Eehern, "Would you mind putting your tater tots on a napkin?"

I paused in the midst of chewing and glanced up. My tater tots were sitting in a cardboard fries container on the dashboard. I had my lap covered with a napkin. Seriously, man? Put a napkin on the dash under the already contained tater tots?

Okay, sure....

I finished, and asked Eehern how his meal was.

Picking at his sandwich, he confessed, "I'm not much a fan of eating in the car."

Laugh! Alright, I get it. :) No more eating in the car. It really didn't bother me, I just didn't realize.

When it comes to idle RPMs and fries on the dash, you don't mess with Eehern! :)

Road Trip: Niagara

After hitting the wings in Buffalo, we pressed on to Niagara.

Well, we TRIED to press on to Niagara.

Figure: Instead, we hit every red light in Buffalo.

No really, I counted. EVERY light. In a stick shift car. It was painful.

But several hours later, about 7pm, we made it to the American side of Niagara. I would like to note that Eehern didn't actually know where Niagara WAS, he thought we would just punch it in as a "Point of Interest" in the GPS.

I consulted a map.

We got out at Niagara and walked around the Niagara side first.

Figure: Observing from the spot where the first French guy saw the falls

Figure: Picture of me in front of the American falls

Figure: Large photo without me cluttering up the view

We walked around the island in the middle of the American side, across the river that feeds the falls.

Figure: Me trying to be artsy. Do you see the spiderweb? I want credit for the spiderweb.

Figure: Looking back at the American falls side.

After we had our fill of walking around, we headed through customs to the Canadian side. I had my passport out and ready, prepared to answer whatever questions the guard thew at me.

The customs agent started with the easy ones - where are you from, where are you headed. Then he threw this out there:

"That's a lot," he gestured wildly in the direction of the car, "of STUFF in there." Peering into the windows, he continued, "What all do you have?"

I turned confidently to Eehern, waiting for the answer.

"Uh...." he stammered, "Well, I have a lot of.... clothes.... and, um, clothes...."

Craning his neck toward the stuffed back of the car, he tried to recall what in the world he had packed in there.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, "and a laptop... computer.... and, um..... clothes."

Thankfully, the guard let him go at that. I have no idea why all of a sudden Eehern could no longer recall what was in his car, but I (and the guard) can only assume the boy has a lot of clothes.

Once through that hurdle, we stopped quickly as the light was fading to gaze at the Canadian falls.

Figure: Or, you know, gaze at me in this pictures.

It is indeed true - the view is prettier from Canada. The horeshoe falls are gorgeous. (So like America to call it the "American falls" while Canada calls theirs something useful....).

Figure: Apparently, they turn the falls off at night to harvest the water. Strange to think of all that power being shunted away. Go engineering!

Tired after the long day (and I had run out of my roadtrip drink), we headed to the hotel in Niagara.

I was in charge of booking the hotel. I picked a "Travelocity Top Secret" hotel, which means you get a great deal and they don't tell you which hotel you are getting until you buy. We got this one, which works because we aren't picky.

I noticed this sign on the way in:

Figure: It was a passing thought, "oh that's nice."

The friendly hotel receptionist at first couldn't find our reservation, and then to apologize (and since it was a slow weeknight) he offered to upgrade us.

Well sure!

So, upgraded room key in hand, we parked the car and gathered our bags.

Well, I gathered my bag. Eehern dug around for 15 minutes trying to find a shirt. Apparently he didn't think to put a change of clothes in a reasonable location....

Then we made our way to the room.

Let's see... one bed? Flowers on the table?

And what's that in the corner? Oh yes, a heart shaped jacuzzi. We'd been "upgraded" to the honeymoon suite of sorts.

Figure: Oh yes. Those are mirrors. Eehern considers this turn of events.

We decided to put aside the matter of the jacuzzi, and head to the casino. Eehern was convinced I was a good-luck charm, since I had never played craps before.


So we played craps.


Well actually, first we watched for a while as I tried to understand the rules. Craps in an insanely complicated game! I played for a bit, couldn't figure out what was going on, and promptly lost.


So we wandered around the casino, observing the local night life while I tried to iron out how the game was played. Buoyed by new understanding, we hit the craps table once more.


This time, I understood EXACTLY how I lost.


Apparently, I am not a good luck charm. Sorry Eehern!


But the night did end well for somebody. On Eehern's last roll, some guy at the other end of the table bet $800 on the "Do Not Pass" line. As I understand it, that means if the shooter craps out, you win.


Eehern sevened out.


The other guy won $800.


So at least somebody was happy!


Back at the hotel, I took a shower to rinse off the long day. When I came out (and I swear my showers aren't THAT long), Eehern was already fast asleep on the bed. I had brought my bathing suit, and I was excited to go swimming. 


But when I tried to fill up the jacuzzi, it turns out there was no drain plug! So any water I put in just drained right out. Not useful at all!


So sadly, there was no jacuzzi. I went to bed.


But all in all, Day 1 was packed full - an excellent start to the trip!