October 3, 2007
It’s 5:38 am and I slept from 3 something to 3 something. I think 45 minutes maybe. I can’t seem to sleep and now I’m not tired. I thought I bypassed the jet lag as per usual but something happened today. I had a 14 hour day on 6 hours sleep and worked until midnight, having a drink until 1. I was tired but watched a little tv and fell asleep, waking up shortly thereafter. I did watch a little of the Boston game and was happy to see Lackey lose.
In other news, today is going to suck.
October 1, 2007
So I’m in London this week for Streaming Media Europe and lots other meetings (too many, probably) and Tricia and I went out for dinner at a restaurant just a couple blocks from our rather crummy hotel. We dined at the concierge recommended Britannia Kensington, where I had the best sausage of my life. If this is the gastro-pub revival, I like it. Everything about my plate was delicious, including mashed potatoes that rivaled the Robuchon mash of Paris. The wine was good too. I think we’ll be back before the end of the week…
October 1, 2007
Having worked in computers and IT for 10 years and traveling extensively for the last 4, I can safely say that computers are far more user-friendly than alarm clocks. Who comes up with these things and who decides to put the craziest ones in a hotel?! Last week I stayed in the W Manhattan (the fucking W – supposed to be a super nice hotel – it isn’t) and had an alarm clock so confusing that even after studying it for 15 minutes I had no idea how to set it. Luckily, the person before me who set it wanted to get up at the same time I did and I was able to turn it on. This is probably why hotels have wake-up calls, because no normal human can program the in-room alarm clock…
September 13, 2007
After a very successful trip to Paris that was only two short, I can’t stop my craving for Steak Frites and/or Steak au Poivre. Last night, I was lucky enough to go to Daniel’s Broiler on Lake Union which is one of the best steak houses in Seattle with an incredibly tender and flavorful fillet. In a quest to fulfill my desire, I ordered my tenderloin with a peppercorn brandy sauce and with a side or fries. The steak was delicious and so were the fries, but the peppercorn sauce wasn’t cream-based 
and it just wasn’t the same (despite costing 3x what it costs in Paris).
Next week I’m in NY and hopefully I’ll be able to find a place that matches my expectations. If any city in the U.S. can come through, it is NY.
July 16, 2007
I’m currently in the United lounge (which could use an update…surprise surprise) waiting for my flight home. I had a great trip to Sydney, which I’ll write more about later. I think from a business side of things, despite one meeting not happening as was hoped, we had another one go extremely well and I think there is a customer there, which would make the whole trip even more worthwhile.
Last notes, Sydney is a great town and I’m glad I got a chance to visit. If you ever make it down here, I recommend these things:
1. Dinner at toko
2. Wine tasting in Hunter Valley – it was nice to get out of the city
3. Surfing at Manly Beach
4. A Tiger Pie from Harry’s Pie de Wheels
5. Indian and Malaysian food
6. Chinatown
July 13, 2007
So while you are all working to get through your Friday afternoon, I’m waking up for my day of freedom in Sydney. hooray. Today, after a quick run and workout, I plan on spending the day sightseeing around the city. My plans involve heading out to The Rocks, Sydney Harbour, a beach for fish and chips and anything in between. One of my co-workers here is playing a gig in Newtown tonight, so I think I will head there for dinner and then to the show.
But a bit about last night…
Last night at about 7:00pm, I decided to head down to the Shangri-la Hotel where I heard there was a nice bar on the top floor with a good view of Sydney from above. I walk all the way there, ride the lift up and am promptly denied access to the bar because they have a strict dress-shoe only policy after 7pm. It wasn’t like I was wearing sneakers, I had just bought a new pair of pumas a day earlier, but they were too ’sporty’.
So, I headed down to a local sports bar to watch the aussies take on Iraq in the Asian World Cup. Iraq actually scored the first goal and the game ended in a tie. Who would’ve thunk that the aussies would play so bad. They were pretty strong in WC 2006. Anyway, at the bar I met some nice locals during the first half and then headed down to Toko in Surrey Hills for some amazing Japanese food. It wasn’t even that expensive either, but maybe the best Japanese meal I’ve ever had. Truly delicious.
I’ve yet to stay out too late though. Was back by 11:00 and asleep shortly thereafter.
July 11, 2007
I write this in my hotel room where it is 9:15pm Wednesday night (7:15 am in Seattle). Despite my flight leaving two hours late, we made it to Sydney 20 minutes early. Man, that is a long flight. I tried my best to stay awake as long as possible on the flight, finally falling asleep at around 3am pacific. i woke up after about 5 hours (maybe 2 am Sydney time) and couldn’t go back to sleep.
Luckily the hotel let me check in at 8am and after a quick shower, I set an 11am wake-up call and went to sleep to try and get on schedule. It seems to have worked as while I’m still ion a bit of a daze today, it isn’t anythign that prevents me from working and has allowed me to stay up tonight and try to get on schedule.
My first impressions of Sydney so far are pretty narrow as I only had time today to head down to Darling Harbour, which was pretty commercial, though I did run across the “Earth from Above” exhibit. Otherwise, I just walked down a few streets near the hotel when not working. It was rainy today, not unlike Seattle in Feb.
July 9, 2007
I’m headed for the land down under after a rather sublime summer of business travel. In fact, I haven’t had a business trip since the beginning of May. It has been quite nice to have some time at home, tending the p-patch, spending time with K and just generally falling into a comfortable routine. But alas, it might be half over and this trip is potentially a sign of that.
I am spending a week in Sydney, arriving Wednesday morning and returning the following Tuesday. I shall try to stay awake as long as possible tonight to help in the jet lag department. Hopefully I will adjust and enjoy my time down there (Well, I know i will!) and hopefully all the meetings we’ve setup will yield significant results. There is a lot of opportunity down there and I think we have a good chance of grabbing some good business.
July 9, 2007
I mean to update this blog more often. Really. I do. It seems that every time I check back it has been another month without an update. Well, I guess the four of you reading this will just have to deal.
Sometime during the winter, our friend BJ decided to pose the Glacier to Bellingham challenge. The challenge was to raft the Nooksack river all the way from Glacier to the ocean. We took BJ up on this challenge just this last weekend, dropping a rented white-water raft in at Douglas Fir campground and riding it all 52 or so miles to the last bridge before she opens up into the Pacific.
It was a long trip, starting at 9:00am on Saturday morning and not ending until 2:30pm Sunday. It had its exciting moments…starting in unknown class 3 rapids without a guide and almost getting hung by one fallen tree and flipped by another… and it had its dull moments, like the 6.5 hour 2 mph float to end the trip. It had its good food moments (pizza and beer at The North Fork) and it had its bad food moments (Soft Batch cookies from the Chevron. And it had its just plain silly moments, like the 5pm stumble into the Deming casino in shorts and t-shirts for an evening cocktail, chicken wings, and a touch of gambling.
In the end, we made it. Mission accomplished and good and sad times had by all. Nobody died (a plus!) and we were all back in time for dinner with our ladies on Sunday evening. I would do this trip again, though only down to Deming. After that it is a complete bore. The Glacier to Casino Raft might just become an annual adventure.
June 15, 2007
My third article for the foodcandy.com newsletter is up here. You’ll need to be a member of Foodcandy to read it. If you aren’t familiar with FoodCandy, it is a smallish social food site run by my friend dB. He’s been getting a lot of press with it lately, including a mention in the June Bon Appetit.
Anyway, this newsletter article is about using my new meat grinder attachment. Exciting! Actually, it’s the only way to fly if you want the best home burgers…and sausage.
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