Bennie There, Haven’t Done That
I’ve lamented over the public cluelessness of bad tourists before, and I’ve had a week since our holiday weekend on Long Beach Island to really decompress after some of the bad behavior I witnessed before transcribing thoughts. While my New York City criticisms tend to indict visitors from other countries, the gnarliness seen earlier this [...]
Small Circle Asia Tour: Conclusion
I’ve been home from India and Vietnam for almost 10 days, so it’s time to finish up the small circle tour travel review. Monday May 10, Bangalore to Hyderabad. Every time I’m in Bangalore I find something new and amazing. On our way from the Juniper Networks office to the (new) airport, we passed a [...]
Small Circle Asia Tour: Part 3
Day one on the ground, doing real work. Day two or three of travel, depending upon how you account for the fact that my Sunday only had 15 hours instead of 24. Arrived into Bangalore last night just after midnight, and after a reasonably quick trip through immigration and customs, found my assigned driver holding [...]
Small Circle Asia Tour Part 2
Miles: 3,689, 1 flight, 8 hours in the air. Greetings from Frankfurt, Germany. Lufthansa is remarkably well organized, and unlike Air France, they insist on seeing your baggage claim receipt so they can ensure your luggage is transferred and bag matched on your connecting flight. Confidences are high that I won’t have to dip into [...]
Small Circle Asia Tour Part 1
I’m guilty of not writing enough lately, having the dual bad effects of losing readership and interest for the blog and letting my prose chops decay. So greetings from lovely Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport where I’m waiting for the first flight leg of the small circle trip. Background: I’m meeting with our [...]
Bus Bombings and Life As Normal
4:00 PM Wednesday. I’m sitting in my hotel room in Jerusalem, windows open to the major street below, reading email and relaxing after a day of walking through the Old City. I heard a boom, which sounded like building material landing on a truck; not an unusual sound in a city that’s been under construction [...]
Springsteen and the Lexus CT200h
On Saturday, I traded in my 6-cylinder, gas-guzzling, hockey and golf equipment hauling SUV for the Lexus CT200h 4-door hatchback hybrid. The decision was driven by a number of conflicting thoughts, starting with the incongruity of talking about eco-computing and sustainability after spending an average of $10 a day on gas over the summer. There [...]
Kevin Youkilis Does Not Eat Bacon
Part two of my Israeli travelogue. Tuesday morning, Toby and I were invited to volunteer at the Ben Gurion elementary school in Bat Yam, Israel. Our route to school was a cab ride to Elana’s apartment, walking half a kilometer to the #19 bus stop (picking up my morning soofganiya – Hanukah jelly donut – [...]
You Know You Are In Israel When…
You know you are in Israel when: You experience the complete dynamic range of feelings – you laugh, cry tears of joy, yell in frustration, cry tears of remembrance, are shocked at the intensity of flavors in food and people, are prouder than you can ever believe, are comfortable and safe yet cautious and alert [...]
Another Blog About Food, Language and Yelling
Our daughter Elana has started her gap year in Israel. She’s blogging her adventures. Combined with Skype, phone calls, and updates from the program on Facebook, give us a great view into what’s going on 6,000 miles away. Echoing the “Anatevka” scene (“You’re going to America? I have a cousin in Chicago”) that closes Fiddler [...]