Terrapin Corner

"Washington" is YOU!

2011-08-05T10:25:00.008-04:00

According to a recent New York Times/CBS poll, 82% of the American public now disapprove of their Congress. Obviously Americans are frustrated with our politicians in Washington, and their inability to get things done.

Our politicians however are OUR representatives, and we voted them in. Politicians aren't some alien beings--they are just ordinary Americans voted in by ordinary Americans. "Washington" isn't the problem, the American people are the problem. "Washington" doesn't cause short-term thinking, political paralysis or the lack of results. Our leaders' inability to solve our problems is rooted in our own citizen's lack of understanding of their own issues and problems, and their resulting poor choices for representatives. The pattern is well-established: Americans feel frustrated. Americans vote for some abstract notion of change by electing a new person to Congress. In a few short years, nothing substantively changes and people remain unhappy and frustrated. Most of those same elected representatives are subsequently voted out because they are "part of Washington", and the cycle repeats.

Do the American people have any idea of the scope and depth of our nation's problems? Do they really understand what "change" they are actually voting for? Why are Americans surprised by the lack of long-term planning, and the uncompromising, simplistic and highly polarized positions their politicians take? They are merely doing what you asked them to do, i.e. represent YOU!

In a nutshell, our country has promised way too much, spends way too much, and taxes way too little. We promise too much in the form of unsustainable entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, which are IOUs that can eventually lead to our country's financial ruin. Even after the recent debt ceiling compromise, our government still spends too much on various programs. And regardless of what anti-tax conservatives say (sorry Norquist and Demint), we will need much higher revenues over the long term to put our fiscal house in order. Until the majority of Americans realize all this and accept the near-term pain we will all feel from fixing it, nothing will really change.

We don't need to "fix Washington". We need to fix ourselves. Americans need to understand that their problems are complex, long-term and painful, and that politicians with exciting sound bites promising quick solutions isn't the answer. We need more centrist views so there can be some middle ground for compromise and long-term solutions. We need to stop voting for polarizing representatives at the extreme left or right. So if you don't think Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck or Grover Norquist are too far right, or that Nancy Pelosi or Jon Stewart are too far left, then you really have nobody to blame but yourself for our nation's ongoing problems.

Who's To Blame For The Gulf Oil Spill?

2010-05-12T13:41:00.004-04:00

There has been alot of finger-pointing over who is to blame for the recent crude oil spill and disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. In congressional hearings, Congressmen have sought to pin the blame on BP and other parties involved in the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling project. BP is certainly partially to blame because they are the lessee of the rig and has management responsibility for the drilling project. TransOcean is partially to blame because they own the rig and managed the drilling efforts as the project management. Haliburton might be to blame because it was their cementing process may have been faulty and caused the drill well to fail. And Cameron, the company that made the drill well's blowout preventer, may be to blame because their product is supposed to be the failsafe, last-line-of-defense, to stop the oil flow in the event of a failure further up the well or in the rig.

While any or all of these parties may be partially responsible for this environmental catastrophe, America's thirst for cheap oil is ultimately to blame. As a nation, we are desperate to maintain our current, oil-based way of life. Despite having plenty of natural resources, including energy, Americans continue to consume far in excess of what we can sensibly produce ourselves. Our insatiable thirst for cheap gasoline and oil forces our nation to ignore or downplay the many political, economic and environmental risks associated with finding or producing sufficient supplies of oil. In this particular case, the Deepwater Horizon project was a novel and even revolutionary, but ultimately risky, foray into deeper-than-ever-before off-shore drilling for oil. As evident now, regulators, engineers and risk analysts never considered what they would do if something went seriously wrong with the project. The disaster manifested itself because of a combination of a strong market demand for cheap oil, engineering hubris, lack of regulatory oversight and political near-sightedness.

Our insatiable appetite for cheap crude oil has already cost us dearly economically and politically over the past several decades. Now, we have an environmental catastrophe too.

The New American Dream

2010-04-19T22:56:00.009-04:00

I look around my neighborhood and see the American Dream. I live in an upper-class community with large (some huge) homes with well-coiffed lawns and landscaping, and two or three cars parked in every garage. The super-sized suburban properties where I live in Western Howard County Maryland typically sit on from 1/4 acre to 1/2 acre to 10+ acre lots with the driveways alone being bigger than most European flats--the picture of the American Dream.

The problem is that the American Dream, our way of life, is irresponsible, wasteful and unsustainable. Most of the enormous houses have rooms or spaces that are not needed, consume unspeakable amounts of mostly fossil-fuel-based or non-renewable energy sources, and sit on excessive amounts of scarce land. As most everyone already knows, "suburban sprawl" consumes too much land with too few homes for our population, and only forces more road building and newer development further out.

Today, people in search of affordable housing and land are forced to commute from faraway suburbs in Western Maryland, Pennsylvania and even West Virginia to job centers in Baltimore or Washington D.C. These commuters waste a tremendous amount of gasoline--polluting our environment and increasing our dependency on foreign oil.

In order to meet the needs of this growing and spreading population, our food and product distribution networks have become highly specialized hub and spoke systems that become ever more dependent on truck-based shipping and are highly prone to disruption. To service these far-out communities, our energy distribution systems are being taxed and thus are vulnerable to failure or from attack by enemies.

Suburban lawns require fertilization whose runoff pollutes our already-fragile water systems. Gas-powered mowers used to cut grass only further drains our limited gasoline supplies and pollutes our air. Did you know that gas-powered mowers are responsible for 5% of all air pollution in the U.S.?

It is not new news that, as populations increase, land grows scarce and roads become more jammed in the U.S., the trend has been heading back to high-density development and living. The suburbanite's way of life is simply too wasteful for our society to sustain much longer. Most new major housing developments are already in-fill or neo-urban, mixed-use projects that seek to return us to traditional city-style living, i.e. smaller, connected or multi-unit dwellings with little or no land that are close to restaurants, stores, theatres, museums, parks, etc. Only cities allow people to efficiently use limited land and natural resources, and provide communities with the optimal balance of home, work and play. Cities were, and will be again, the only viable and sustainable place for people to live and work.

Non-renewable energy sources like oil and natural gas pollute our environment and their supply is finite. Americans must more seriously reconsider our reliance on them to heat our homes, propel our cars and power our factories. A return to a living model that is less car-dependent and more moderate in the consumption of limited natural and other resources is inevitable.

The New American Dream will be one of lowered expectations, more moderate consumption and of resource conservation. Americans must embrace a simpler, smaller and less-wasteful future. It is a future that returns us to high-density living with smaller living quarters, more walking/less driving, fewer gas-powered vehicles and devices, locally-produced foods and goods, and ultimately, a better quality of life. A declining dependency on foreign energy, food and other resources will also reduce our geopolitical risks and their associated costs considerably. Americans need to accept this new way of life sooner or later, or our standard of living will surely decline.

My 10 biggest differences between the pro and college basketball game experience

2010-03-05T23:35:00.007-05:00

After taking my son to the Wizards game last night, here are my impressions of the main differences between the professional and college basketball game experience.

The college game has students and real energy. The pro game feels lifeless by comparison. Of course, the Wizards have been so bad this year, who can blame their fans?
The pro game is longer and feels like it.
The customer service at Verizon Center was noticeably better.
Wizards fans stream in late, walk around in the middle of the game, and generally don't seem to care about the game as much.
In Verizon Center, the dress code is far more diverse with ladies in dresses and stilettos, and men in suits, to adults and kids in hoodies and street clothes. College game attire is far more uniformly casual.
Verizon Center's Jumbotron is far nicer than Comcast Center's. Heck, Comcast Center doesn't even have a big center screen system.
Pro cheerleaders are more about boobs and booty than cheering.
Verizon Center marketing efforts are far more sophisticated with in-arena advertising blimps, fancier in-game promos and giveaways.
Seats are bigger and more comfortable (and I think they all have cupholders) at Verizon Center. Are the patrons just bigger on average?
Verizon Center serves beer.

Georgetown Basketball and Austin Freeman

2010-03-04T12:00:00.001-05:00

Georgetown's leading scorer Austin Freeman was recently diagnosed with diabetes. What's interesting was that the Director of Georgetown Hospital's Diabetes Center, Dr. Stephen Clement, is reportedly Austin Freeman's personal doctor. How is it that Georgetown University Hospital's top endocrinologist takes the time to be a lowly basketball player's doctor? Does this say something about Georgetown University's priorities?

Post-Olympic Thoughts

2010-02-28T00:00:00.001-05:00

The Canadians are such wonderful, humble and proud people and it must have brought them incredible pride to have their athletes perform so well during these Olympic Games. It was also fitting that they won more gold medals than any other nation because "O Canada" is the best national anthem. Even though I'm an American, I used to sing my kids to sleep with "O Canada". Love it.
I think it was far more important for Canada to win the men's hockey game. Hockey is part of Canada's identify while the sport is just one of many to Americans. While I was personally rooting hard for the U.S. Team, I appreciate that the Canadians really needed this win much more than we do.
I have always wanted to do a ski trip to Whistler, but after witnessing the dearth of snow, the warm winter temperatures and relatively poor ski conditions during these games, I'm not so sure now.
Really liked most of Mary Carillo's and Tom Brokaw's features during NBC's two weeks of coverage. They did a great job spotlighting the best of Canada--or was it just paid advertising by the Canadian Tourist Bureau? Learned alot and especially enjoyed Brokaw's piece on Gander.
During the Closing Ceremonies, Al Michael's one sentence mention on the great Russian goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak was one of the biggest slights by the TV commentators. Michaels referred to one of hockey's best goaltenders merely as a player "on the 1980 hockey team that was pulled after the first period". Okay, as an American, he's just a Russian goaltender we beat in the "Miracle on Ice", but Michaels could've given the guy a little more credit.

Olympics Agonizing Moments

2010-02-17T13:41:00.006-05:00

After watching the first few days of Olympic events, my list of agonizing Olympic moments runs the spectrum from almost-gold-medal performances to spectacular failures:

- American Johnny Spillane fought valiantly in the nordic combine. He led for most of the final kilometer but faded with the finish line (and the gold medal) in sight, and was caught right at the finish by American-born Frenchman Jason Lamy Chappuis. To Spillane's credit, he seemed quite happy with the silver medal.

- American figure skater Jeremy Abbott finished a disappointing 15th after last night's men's short program (essentially eliminating him from medal contention) after singling a triple axel and then doing only a double lutz in lieu of a triple. How excruciating must it have been for him to have to complete his program knowing full well that he was completely out of medal contention? That final minute or so must've have felt like an eternity to him.

- In the men's 1500 meter short track speed skating final, two South Koreans battling for second and third place, knock each other out just before the finish to let Americans Apollo Anton Ohno and J. R. Celski snatch the silver and bronze medals.

- Dutch speed skater Annette Gerritsen falling in the Women's 500 meters. Years of training for hours a day, and your medal dreams are over just seconds into your Olympic experience.

And of course, to put all of this in perspective, we can't forget about the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili. There was absolutely nothing more agonizing than that...

Healthcare Reform

2009-12-15T23:16:00.005-05:00

I don't "get" how critics of healthcare reform come up with all the supposed huge new costs related to any healthcare reform legislation--regardless of the specific plan or implementation.

Our current system is so broken that the millions of insured Americans already pay for the healthcare costs and medical bills of the millions of uninsured Americans indirectly. When you are uninsured, you can't afford so you simply don't visit your doctor for routine, preventative care. The delays in providing proper medical care upfront costs everyone much more in the end than if that same person were insured and had sought timely care from the get-go. Uninsured Americans regularly use hospital emergency rooms for routine medical care because they are the only option available to them. This overloads hospital ERs for people with more urgent care needs and runs up huge and unrecoverable costs for the hospitals. Naturally, these costs are passed on to paying, insured customers in the form of higher premiums and other systemic costs.

So in the end, doesn't any healthcare reform that insures more Americans--whether it includes a public option or not--save money in the long run? Where's the extra cost and what's the problem?

Debbie, please don't waste my money to fire Ralph!

2009-11-28T14:14:00.009-05:00

With all the uncertainty surrounding Terps football coach Ralph Friedgen heading into today's Boston College finale, I want our Athletic Director Debbie Yow to know that I am one booster strongly in favor of not firing the coach. It has been estimated that the total cost to replace Coach Friedgen now would run close to $10 million and it simply isn't worth it.

The main problem right now is not Ralph Friedgen. The main problem for the University of Maryland is its weak fan base and an overall lack of financial support from alumni and boosters. To be an elite college football (or basketball) program, a school must have enough loyal fans and boosters willing to contribute generously to help the school keep up in the ever-escalating resource "arms race". The funds are needed to build or improve facilities and to buy the best equipment in order to attract and keep recruits. The sad truth is that the University of Maryland never has and never will be competitive in this.

I'm realistic--Maryland is and will always be a second-tier FBS football program. It is simply not realistic or cost-effective for us to try to be an elite FBS program like Florida, Texas, or Virginia Tech as just a few examples. I am grateful for the BCS and five other bowl appearances that Ralph has led us to over the past nine years. Can we do better? Certainly. Could we do worse? Certainly. Overall, I believe that Coach Friedgen's results have been about what we should expect. Personally, I would've preferred to spread the winning around a little more versus 31 wins in his first three seasons, but I'm okay in the end.

The bottom line is that, regardless of who coaches at Maryland, our program cannot, and will not ever, win consistently against the best programs in college football. Coach Friedgen deserves much of the blame for this season's woeful results, but inexperience, injuries and just bad luck were equally responsible for the horrible season. Ralph is otherwise a very good coach who has a good track record of winning and developing young men. Paying $4 million to buy him out after this season just to give Franklin or anyone else an earlier shot is really a huge waste of money. I'm one Terp fan willing to give Coach Friedgen another season because the only question that should be asked is: "Will an expensive coaching change really make a difference?"

Anyone miss Dave Neal yet?

2009-11-26T11:44:00.010-05:00

The Terrapin men's basketball team failed its first early season test this week. In losing to two middle-of-their-conference teams, Cincinnati and Wisconsin, the Terps were beaten decisively. While they played adequate defensive, their inability to score created numerous transition opportunities for Cincinnati. Against Wisconsin, they were forced to play Badger ball and again shot the ball poorly. And in both games, they couldn't do the most basic of basketball tasks--make free throws. While it's way too early to worry to sound any alarms and there is still plenty of time to improve, a few questions stood out in my mind.

While the two freshmen bigs, Williams and Padget, clearly improve our interior post play, who will make-up for oft-maligned and now-departed Dave Neal's scoring? While we lacked front-court depth last season, Neal gave opponents a unique match-up problem in his ability to consistently shoot the mid and long-range jumper. Heading into the season, most of us thought surely that, with more practice and another year of development, the rest of the team would easily make up for Neal's scoring with improved team play and pure shooting.

From this week's Maui results, it's clear that the Terps' offense struggled to score against their first significant opposition this season. Sean Mosley's shot has clearly improved, and he is in my opinion, the most improved player. And he hasn't lost any of that hussle! Eric Hayes remains a steady and reliable shooter but opponents know to keep a body on him so he needs to be more aggressive on the dribble or be a better catch and shoot player. Landon Milbourne still has his good mid range jumper and can be aggressive on both ends of the floor, but I don't see that he is better this season.

Other players however have been a clear disappointment so far. Vasquez's productivity has declined markedly as defenses have figured out his game. His shooting is so far off the mark I wonder if he's actually been working on his shots. How can he play in the NBA if he consistently shoots below 30%? You can give any Division I player 20+ shots a game and they will be 20 point per game player. And Adrian Bowie and Cliff Tucker have thus far not shown that they can play consistently or put the ball in the basket.

Of course, Dino Gregory's return sometime next month hopefully should shake things up by taking some of the pressure off of our two frosh players. It will also free up Landon to play more "3". Maybe Dino's return will help get the Terps' mojo back in time for ACC competition in January.

Norfolk Versus Baltimore Cruise Sailings

2009-11-23T16:46:00.009-05:00

For next year, Norfolk Virginia will be losing cruise sailings while Baltimore will be adding ships and sailings. The business rationale for this action was very obvious to me however, after a recent post and long thread on CruiseCritic, it became apparent that many people in the tidewater area simply don't understand or can't accept this trend.

In advocating for Norfolk over Baltimore, the following facts were thrown out to support the case for Norfolk:

Geographically closer to ocean so ships don't have to waste time and fuel traversing the length of the Chesapeake Bay
New or renovated cruise terminal and facility
Better and lower-cost dock workers
Proximity to great beaches and other tourist attractions

Even if one were to acknowledge these as minor tactical advantages, the argument that Norfolk is a better cruise port and market than Baltimore completely misses or ignores Baltimore’s massive demographic, economic and tourism strategic advantages.

First, this is a business decision that is based on demographics, the laws of supply and demand, overall economic conditions, and business profitability. A cruise line bases a cruise ship in most non-Florida cruise ports for one reason--to expand their market beyond its flying customers to attract customers primarily from that local metropolitan area. In other words, they put their ships within a short drive to their customers. Unlike the major cruise ports, these regional or local ports draw the majority of their customers locally, probably within a couple hours drive. The cruise lines have already put many cruise ships close to major U.S. cities such as like Seattle, San Diego, Galveston/Houston, Boston, New York and Washington D.C./Baltimore. Is Norfolk (like Charleston) in this class?

The demographics case for Washington D.C./Baltimore over Norfolk is both compelling and overwhelming. Based on median household income, the Washington DC/Baltimore metropolitan area is the nation's second most affluent with 7,608,070 people with a median household income of $57,291. Per capita income is fourth at $28,856. The Norfolk/Virginia Beach metropolitan area on the other hand is ranked 84th with 1,569,541 people and a median household income of $42,448. Per capita income is ranked 107th with $20,328. So not only does the Washington DC/Baltimore area have almost 5 times the number of people that Norfolk has, but those same people have almost 42% more money to spend. And these statistics are based on a 2000 Census that doesn't even reflect the reality of a likely wider gap today.

Add to this that Philadelphia and many large suburban Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland communities that are all within less than a 90 minute drive of Baltimore's cruise terminal. Except for Richmond, Norfolk doesn't have any other major city within a 2 hour drive to draw customers from. That’s a few million more customers to add to the advantage there.

Now let’s look at their respective tourist attractions and tourism businesses. The Washington D.C./ Baltimore area offers a rich assortment of historical, cultural, entertainment, dining and other tourist options. With over 20 million visitors annually, Washington DC is one of the most visited cities in America. Baltimore is in the top 30 with over 12 million visitors each year--comparable to Fort Lauderdale or Nashville and more than the entire tidewater region. The Norfolk area offers tourist attractions with mostly limited, regional appeal such as Busch Gardens, Williamsburg and Virginia Beach.

So in the end, if you want to put a cruise ship near customers who have the discretionary funds to partake in it on a regular basis, where would you put it? RCI Grandeur (and Enchantment next year), Carnival Price and Celebrity Mercury all sail out of Baltimore because they are conveniently accessible to one of the top five most affluent customer bases in America. If anything, more and more ships will call Baltimore home--not fewer. In fact, I'd bet RCI would consider putting a Voyager-class ship in Baltimore if only it could clear the low-spanning Bay Bridge.

The bottom line is that the Washington DC/Baltimore area is far ahead of the Norfolk region from a basic demographics, overall buying power or tourism perspective. Norfolk cheerleaders have been trying to compare their mid-sized city with an average economy and some regional tourist attractions, to a Top-5 major U.S. metropolitan area with some of the nation’s most affluent customers and attractions with substantial international and national drawing power.

Checklist Tourism

2009-11-05T22:29:00.003-05:00

What is your travelling style? I like to research the history and culture of a destination. I like to experience the culture and immerse myself in where I am going. I even try to learn some of the local language in order to fit in better.

There are many people however who seem to go places mostly to say they've been there. I call it "checklist tourism". The objective is solely to check it off a long list of places they say they've always wanted to see. The important verb is "see"--not really visit, not experience, not learn something about, not immerse yourself in, and not understand anything--but rather to "see". Are so many people really that shallow and clueless? They get on a one or two hour city bus tour and actually believe they've seen everything there is to see!

A coworker friend and her family once drove the nearly 16 hours round-trip from San Francisco to Crater Lake, OR and back, and only spent approximately 45 minutes actually at the rim! When pressed as to how a "quick peek" was worth all that driving, she furled her eyebrows at me and said something like "we went and saw it, so what else was there for us to do?". The same family does this type of "drive by" sightseeing all the time. They've certainly "seen" much more of the world than me, but I think they miss so so much.

My dad is the same way. It took almost 48 hours of round-trip travel time to get to and from Hong Kong, but he elected to spend much of the trip in the condo watching the same Chinese TV shows he already watches back home in the US! One city tour was apparently enough touring for the week for him.

This past summer, we spent a couple weeks in Europe with my parents, and whenever I asked them what they'd like to do in a particular port, they'd say, "well, we'll just get off the ship and walk 100 meters to so and so and that's good enough so we can say we've been there". If I dragged them along on one of my extended tours (e.g. in Firenze or Pompeii/Sorrento/Amalfi), they fizzled very fast and looked bored for much of the tour. I was very disappointed, for example, when our day out of Napoli allowed us only about 20-30 minutes in Positano, but it was perfect for my parents!

Next month, my parents are sailing on RCI Independence of the Seas on her trans-Atlantic reposition cruise out of London. I asked my dad how much time he was spending in London pre-cruise, and he responded "We've been there (for a day or two) before and saw everything, so we don't want to waste time there." Another wasted opportunity to experience a wonderful and unique place on our planet...

My Perspective on the 2009 H1N1 Influenza A Virus

2009-10-26T16:47:00.019-04:00

Over the past several months, the federal government has thrown resources into tracking, studying and developing a vaccine for the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus (H1N1/09). The media has reported a drumbeat of stories about the virus, its spread and deaths worldwide. Here in the U.S., the federal government had announced that a vaccine for this virus would be available en masse early in the flu season. Unfortunately, the development and deployment of the vaccine was delayed--a classic situation of overpromising and underdelivering. In the meantime, the steady stream of scary news about the impending H1N1/09 flu pandemic has filled most Americans with worry. Vaccine supplies remain scarce, implementation plans have been uneven, and now people are more scared than informed.

While it is understandable that people are concerned about the H1N1/09 flu virus, I think many Americans are overreacting based on media reports of illnesses and deaths, and not acting rationally on information. The seasonal flu (yeah, that's the flu we are all exposed to every year), infects between 15 million and 60 million, hospitalizes over 200,000 and kills almost 40,000 Americans every year. The H1N1/09 is forecast to infect up to 150 million, hospitalize up to 2 million and cause between 30,000 to 90,000 deaths in the U.S. Based on these numbers, it's reasonable to conclude that the H1N1 is more contagious but has a lower mortality rate than seasonal flu. It is almost a certainty that more people are going to suffer the flu this season, but even with the higher infection rate, it is also possible that same or even fewer people will die from the flu this season.

Yet, in talking with many friends and coworkers, the perception is that the H1N1/09 is like getting small pox or anthrax. Many people are deathly afraid of this pandemic. When told that my kids had it, they try to avoid me at all costs--in case I am a carrier! Most of these same folks however don't get the seasonal flu vaccine and seem to think that the "regular' flu is just like a bad cold.

From everything I've read, the two main differences with H1N1/09 are: (1) it's far more contagious and (2) it negatively affects primarily the young, pregnant women and people with chronic medical conditions. The seasonal flu more negatively affects seniors and people with chronic medical conditions. The H1N1/09 conversely saves its most serious side effects for the young, who have strong, but virgin (to the flu) immune systems.

Parents with children, pregnant women and other high risk people understandably have real concerns. With the flu season well underway already in the U.S., is the long delayed and still scant supply of the H1N1/09 vaccine too late to do much good? Children under 9 years of age, for example, need two doses of vaccine at least four weeks apart, so they wouldn't have immunity for about a month from the start of their vaccination. With many schools in this country already reporting 10%, 15% or higher absentee rates due to the growing H1N1/09 pandemic, is it already too little, too late to vaccinate many of our most at-risk population? In addition, what about safety concerns and other unknowns about a new and "rushed to market" vaccine?

My own kids had the H1N1/09 flu last week. To be quite frank, it wasn't a big deal at all in our case. Our daughter was lethargic with a fever for several days, and had a mild cough. Except for a short fever, small cough and a sore throat, most people wouldn't even know my son was sick by the way he still ran around the house.

Part of me is glad that our kids are already done with the H1N1/09. One of the biggest concerns with any influenza virus is that it can mutate and become potentially more virulent. This is the reason why scientists are constantly battling and reformulating flu vaccines. H1N1/09 could actually become more virulent and lethal as the season progresses.

The treatment for H1N1/09 is the same as for any other flu: rest, fluids and either acetaminophen or ibuprofen to reduce fever. Anti-virals may be leveraged for certain high-risk individuals. As with any flu, you need to be diligent about secondary infections and should seek emergency medical care if you experience respiratory and other complications.

So the H1N1/09 flu is really just another flu for which there is no need for undue concern or panic. For this season, I conclude:
(1) You are far likely to get the flu--most probably the H1N1/09
(2) For most, the symptoms will be milder than the seasonal flu
(3) More children and young people will die due to H1N1/09
(4) Parents with kids and young people must be extra diligent about secondary infections and respiratory complications
(5) It's probably better to get the flu earlier than later
(6) Get your season flu vaccine!

What you should know for your first cruise!

2009-10-20T12:03:00.009-04:00

Tipping is complicated on cruise ships. Read the cruiseline's specific recommendations for your stateroom attendant, waiter and assistant waiter. Definitely take care of them if you feel they did a good job. Give them extra for going above and beyond. Tipping the head waiter and others is entirely at your discretion. And if you use the children's programs, I recommend a tip for the counselors even though it is optional.
Your room is usually ready and the luggage is delivered typically sometime between noon and 3 pm. But just in case you don't have access or your luggage is delayed, be sure to carry on anything you need for that afternoon such as medications, a swimsuit, etc.
Ship time may differ from local time so make sure you know the difference if you have excursions planned in port and so you don't miss the ship.
If you plan to use many AC-powered devices in your stateroom, bring a multiple outlet plug or power strip because there aren't many places to plug things in!
If you are large person and find it difficult to show in the microscopic showers in your stateroom, consider using the more spacious facilities in the spa or gym.
Staterooms don't have alarm clocks so bring one if you need it!
Your luggage will usually stow nicely under one or both beds
On some ships, the stateroom coffee table adjusts up and down!
Excursions, and specialty restaurant and spa reservations can usually be reserved on-line prior to boarding.
Private companies and tour operators in general offer tours and excursions that are better in quality, more flexible, just as reliable, and far cheaper than the ship tours!
On some lines like RCI, motion sickness medicines like meclizine (aka bonine) are complimentary at Guest Relations.
You pay for alcoholic beverages and sodas, but the coffee, tea, lemonade and milk are free. Carnival and RCI charge for espresso and cappuccinos but they are complimentary at dinner on HAL.
Order as much as you want in the main dining room--you're not limited to one appetizer or one entree!
In the main dining room, you can order or ask for things that aren't even on the menu!
You pay to eat at the specialty restaurants and there is no unlimited ordering there.
Room service is free but remember to tip!

Suggestions for Improving Royal Caribbean and Carnival's Web Sites!

2009-09-28T12:49:00.009-04:00

Some greatly needed features or functions for RCI, Carnival and other cruise line web sites:

Web site registration and profile
- Allow customers to register and store their profiles with information on family, home address (including state of residence), passport information including ages, specific interests, special needs (physical disabilities, wheelchair needs, dietary restrictions, etc.), and payment options (including registering a credit card or Paypal).
- Upon signing in, use profile information to customize all searches.
- Integrate all past cruises, C&A status and benefits with this main profile.
- Upon booking a cruise, transfer all personal booking information including passport info.

Improvements to search:
- Search by one or more departure ports
- Search by one or more ships or by class of ship(s)
- Search by user-specified cost range and not preset cost ranges
- Search for itineraries to include one or more specific ports and not just "destination" regions
- Search by specific number of dates (e.g. 4-10 days) and not preset date ranges
- Search by date inclusion ranges. For example, I am off from January 5 through January 13 so return cruises that fit entirely within this range
- Search only for available adjoining, connecting, handicapped or other special attribute staterooms
- Exclude obstructed view or handicapped staterooms
- Allow comparison of various cruises (ship, itinerary, costs) that meet one or more search criteria

Search Results
- When returning search results, don't lump all sailings of the same ship and itinerary together. List them separately.
- Handle holds and bookings using pre-populated profile data
- Allow customers to make deposits and one or more incremental payments toward booking
- Allow final payment to automatically be made on final payment due date

Bookings
- Specify stateroom preferences, including bedding arrangement, pillow/bedding preferences, child life preservers, remove balcony partitions, and options such as robes and other amenities
- Ability to make stateroom changes including downgrades and upgrades
- Ability to transfer booking directly to travel agent online

Other
- Show more stateroom details such as virtual 360 views, multiple angle photos

Mask your ATM, security system, garage and computer codes and passwords!

2009-09-17T10:49:00.006-04:00

There was a discussion this morning about how crooks are modifying ATM's with fake card readers and miniature wireless cameras that allot them to steal people's ATM card numbers and the associated PIN. Here is the link to the Snopes article:

A suggestion was made to always use an ATM inside the bank. However this isn't always possible or feasible.

Remember that, like a computer login account without a password, your ATM card information is worthless without a PIN. Thus protecting your "last line of defense" is most important so I always try to "mask", or otherwise obscure, the process of entering PINs, security codes and passwords by placing the free hand over the typing hand whenever possible.

As a rule, always try to mask the entry of sensitive information when using a keyboard or keypad. Always enter this type of sensitive information with the assumption that there is a camera pointed at the keypad, someone is watching over your shoulder, or perhaps spying from afar with binoculars!

Browsing and Emailing Off-line

2009-08-29T22:09:00.011-04:00

Newbie cruisers often ask about what type of internet access they will have onboard a cruise ship, how well it works, how to use it, and how much it will cost.

First, one must understand that, because they are moving most of the time and because they travel around the world, cruise ships have to use satellite-based communications systems. Satellite-based communications is a very technically challenging problem to solve and and the solution is therefore very costly. And the connection is either very, very slow, or so slow as to be useless.

Most modern cruise ships have satellite connections with upwards of several hundred Kilobits per second bandwidth. By comparison, a typical home residence with cable modem or Verizon FIOS now has an internet connection capable of 15-50 Megabit per second range. Again, that's Megabits not Kilobits. So your typical home internet connection (shared with a handful of family users) has about 100 times the bandwidth of a large ship that must share its connection amongst dozens or even hundreds of users simultaneously! And, this slow satellite-based internet connection costs the cruise line at least tens of thousands of dollars per month, and naturally, they need to pass on these costs to you!

Given such internet bandwidth constraints and its associated high costs aboard a cruise ship, the best way to optimize your internet usage and to minimize the cost is to work offline. Most browsers and email clients now support offline use. Working offline means to be able to do things such as read emails or web pages while not being connected to the internet.

The reason most people never learned how to work off-line is because most of us have unlimited Internet connectivity at work and/or home, so working off-line is not necessary. We are all accustomed to casually browsing the web, hitting CNN.COM for example, and spending 10-15 minutes reading each article. However, on a cruise ship, when internet bandwidth is scarce and its use is costly (at up to 75 cents/minute!), working offline is critical to minimizing your internet-related expenses.

Microsoft's web browser, Internet Explorer for example, has an offline mode. You simply connect to the internet, and visit the sites and pages you are interested in (but don't read them while connected). Then after hitting all your sites, disconnect. Since your browser was in offline mode, it basically stored the text and images of each page locally on your hard disk so you can now read them at your convenience--rather than rushing because you are connected and spending 50 cents a minute!

You do the same type of thing with email using any number of commercially available offline mail readers, e.g. Outlook Express. Even the most popular web-based email services such as Google's Gmail or Yahoo Mail now offer offline clients. Simply connect, fetch and send your email, and then disconnect. You can read or compose messages at your leisure. Later, you can reconnect and get/send emails again.

If the benefits are still not clear, here are two identical scenarios, but one offline and one online, for getting the same five hypothetical emails, reading them and then composing five replies:

Work online via web-based email

1. Connect to Internet
2. Start browser (30 seconds)
3. Hit your email web server (30 seconds)
4. Open email and read it (1 minute)
5. Compose a reply and send it (2 minutes)
6. Repeat 4 and 5 four more times (12 minutes)
7. Logoff

Total time and cost: 16 minutes and $8.00

Working offline using your own computer

1. Open email client
2. Connect to Internet
3. Send/receive emails (30 seconds)
4. Disconnect
5. Casually read all new emails and compose replies while relaxing by the pool, in your cabin or at the lounge!
6. Reconnect to Internet
7. Send/Receive all messages (30 seconds)

Total time and cost: 1 minute and $0.50

And a couple other thoughts:

1. On a cruise ship, avoid using the internet during peak usage times. The bandwidth bottleneck during peak times can make the internet connection virtually unusable to try to connect during dinner, in the early morning or late evening hours, or when the ship is in port.

2. Remember to turn off Windows and other automatic software updates. You don't want these services to initiate download activities in such a non-broadband situations.

As you can see, if you learn work in off-line mode, you can cut your internet usage and cost by by a huge amount without much inconvenience at all!

Credit Card Acceptance in Europe

2009-08-28T18:36:00.004-04:00

In response to a recent question about credit card acceptance in Europe, I went back through my Quicken transactions and came up with the following statistics for the number of restaurants, stores, museums, churches, attractions or service providers that accepted (or were willing to accept) credit cards over our recent 25 days in the Mediterranean:

3 of 17 museums, churches or attraction (Vatican Museums, Basilica di Santa Croce in Firenze and the Time Elevator in Roma!)
6 of 15 vendors or shops (low because this includes street vendors)
2 of 4 tour companies (5 tours total)
0 of 22 taxi drivers or transfer companies
0 of 4 train, tram or cable car tickets
12 of 21 restaurants (lunch and dinner only, and does not include gelati places)

In purely dollar terms, if you exclude the cruise and hotel portions of the trip (the two most expensive items), credit cards were only accepted for less than a third of all our expenses.

As you can see, credit card acceptance definitely lags in Europe and around the Mediterranean so you'd better have lots of cash!

Bad Baseball

2009-08-27T11:41:00.002-04:00

Columbia, Maryland is apparently now the epicenter of bad Major League Baseball. The Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles are currently the worst and third worst teams in baseball. And if you go another 250 miles out, you will find the fourth worst basedball team in the majors in the Pittsburgh Pirates. Well, at least tickets are easy to come by...

The Future of Social Networking

2009-08-16T00:11:00.004-04:00

The current crop of social networking, microblogging, mobile communications and collaborative technologies is quickly creating a new paradigm for human interaction, socializing and communications. Sites like Facebook, for example, provide a new and powerful way to communicate and stay in touch with friends and family.

But I wonder what fundamental changes will occur in human interactions after another generation or two. Will people know how to interact in person anymore? Will all this lead to more physical isolation or even total disconnect of people, and thus reduce or eliminate the need for these very technologies? Can it all lead to a world of mostly electronic interactions between human beings?

Wouldn't it be ironic if the popularity of these new technologies led to substantial reductions in human interactions, and that itself eventually kills the very technologies that initiated the trend in the first place?

Single Supplement on Cruises

2009-08-15T12:51:00.004-04:00

Recently a single cruiser commented on the apparent unfairness of the cruise business's single supplement. Passengers wishing to cruise solo typically have to pay 150% to 200% of the per person cruise fare. The protester did not feel that it was fair that, as a single traveler, she should have to pay so much more when she was not consuming the food or using the services of two passengers. During the discussion, she and others brought up hotels and airlines as examples of other travel industry sectors that price per room and seat respectively, and wondered why cruises couldn't be priced similarly to be more fair. However cruises, hotels and airplanes are not comparable and thus are not and cannot be, priced similarly.

A hotel room is priced as basically a facility charge, i.e. you are paying mostly for a room. That room is a fixed cost to the hotel that does not change much whether you put one person or four people in it. The incremental cost of accommodating the second, third and fourth person into a hotel room is negligible.

Airplane flights are priced per seat and that cost is fixed. So if you are big and need two seats, you pay for it. Otherwise you pay for a single seat. It does not matter to the airline whether you are single, traveling with a spouse or significant other, or with 20 other family and friends. They each pay the same fare because there are no additional services being provided in the base fare.

A cruise operates with an entirely different operational paradigm. Because a good portion of a cruise's profits are based on excursions, on-board activities and purchases, a cruise line is heavily dependent on the number of passengers on-board. Thus, cruises must be priced per person. A single traveler costs a cruise line all the potential revenues and profits of the other passenger that does not exist. There is a significant "opportunity cost" is lost because the single traveler takes up a cabin that is designed and priced to be double occupancy.

In addition, and just as important, a cruise's costs are relatively fixed. They plan for a specific number of passengers or customers, i.e. a ship full of staterooms with double occupancy. In other words, they have enough staff, and order enough food, drink and supplies, for a full ship. Thus with each single traveler, one traveler's worth of overhead, services and consumables are "wasted".

In conclusion, one cannot apply the "logic" of hotel or air flight pricing to cruise pricing. Thus, the single supplement for single travelers makes complete sense from a business and practical perspective. The cruise line business model clearly favors passengers traveling in groups of two or more, and does not work well for single passengers. So single travelers, if you can't afford the single supplement, you'd better find someone to share that stateroom with!

The Fifteen Oddest Moments During Our Mediterranean Vacation

2009-08-09T01:06:00.008-04:00

1. In organizing two CruiseCritic social gatherings onboard, I was inexplicably considered a travel agent and HAL had to confiscate my passport for a couple days.
2. On the cruise, coffee, espresso, cappuccino and fresh squeezed orange juice are free, but you have to pay for sodas.
3. Can’t take pictures in the Sistine Chapel because Sony owns the photo rights.
4. Having to pay for using the toilet in some places in Italy and other countries.
5. Pooping, flushing and washing your hands in Italy was a challenge at first, because most men’s toilets in Italy don’t have seats, the flusher is wall mounted, and most sinks are operated by a hidden foot pedal.
6. Noticing that there are more gelati stores in Italy than any other type of food or retail outlet.
7. La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona reminded me of the Bug’s Life Tree in Animal Kingdom in Disney World.
8. The nicest bathroom in the Mediterranean was on the old City Walls of Dubrovnik!
9. Paying to take pictures inside the Bardo Museum and Sidi Bou Said in Tunisia.
10. Taking pictures inside the Ancient Olympia Museum is permitted, but you are prohibited from “posing”.
11. Greek women all seem to wear their pants one size too small.
12. Stuffing 75+ people into a public bus on the ride from Oia to Fira in Santorini
13. Watching the poor Greek Royal guards dressed in heavy formal uniforms and standing in the heat motionless for an hour at a time.14. A Roma taxi driver claiming she didn’t know where the Pantheon was.
15. Watching 150-200 people stand in line waiting to buy tickets to enter the Colisseum knowing that, not 400 meters away, there is another ticket window with no line.

Lessons Learned From Our Mediterranean Vacation

2009-07-30T22:00:00.016-04:00

1. Don’t overplan with too much walking for seniors and kids. Use more taxis, or car and bus tours to get around.

2. Make sure to carry lots of snacks for mid-morning and mid-afternoon blood sugar boosts.

3. Using a reputable tour company that has good communications takes a lot of stress out of the pre-trip planning. Jany from Romeinlimo, for example, was always helpful, courteous and responsive despite my frequent, and probably sometimes annoying, emails. She was that rare coordinator who understands that she needs to answer questions and do it promptly in order that her customers can have confidence that a specific tour will take place when, where, how and for how much, the customer expects.

4. As tours and transfers consume a huge part of a vacation budget, sharing them with others makes a lot of practical and financial sense. And it's more fun!

5. Due to the cruise length and breadth of ports (the two B2B itineraries were clearly designed to compliment each other), the distances between ports are smaller than on other cruise itineraries. Thus we could spend more time in most ports and this greatly increased touring flexibility and reduced stress.

6. Despite HAL’s reputation for skewing older demographically, the guests on our sailing were the youngest we’ve ever sailed with. The Mediterranean itinerary is definitely more demanding physically and perhaps this skewed the guest list to younger and more physically fit guests.

7. HAL’s approach to turnaround days on B2Bs was a very pleasant surprise: no annoying morning announcements; special lunch, spa and tour options; and no muster drill.

8. Loved HAL’s silent disembarkation process (as compared to our RCI and Carnival experiences). Very effective, quiet and orderly.

9. The port shuttles that charge a fee are almost always a rip-off.

10. Bring and wear sandals for the beaches in Croatia—very rocky and painful to walk on barefooted!

11. Relatively few places accepted (or wanted to accept) credit cards. While perhaps half of restaurants took plastic, virtually none of the museum, church or site admissions accepted them. This resulted in me withdrawing and using much more cash than originally planned.

12. Even when a restaurant accepted credit cards, nearly every one of them wanted tips in cash only.

13. As long as you are not a timid or conservative driver, renting a car makes a lot of sense in many ports. The rental process is very quick and easy. Renting a car is much more convenient, gives you a lot of flexibility to go where and when you please, and is more cost effective than hiring a private driver or taxi.

14. In Italy (and perhaps other places in Europe too), you need to buy your train or bus tickets BEFORE you get onboard one.

15. To drink directly from the ancient public water fountains in Roma, stick your finger into the end or bottom of the pipe, and the water will shoot up the small hole in the top surface of the pipe.

16. To board and ride a bus in Santorini, you need to be really aggressive, push your way onboard and squeeze into any available orifice. Then the onboard worker will push and squeeze his way to you somehow to collect the 1.20 Euro fare.

17. When taking pictures of large buildings, objects or scenery that won’t fit in a single camera frame, take multiple shots (making sure to overlap the images) and use photo stiching or merging software to create the final aggregated image when you return home. A great way to get those too-big-to-fit shots and for panoramas!

Best and Worst Bathrooms in the Mediterranean?

2009-07-29T22:08:00.002-04:00

Another interesting tidbit was that, in 25 days in the Mediterranean, the nicest bathroom we encountered was on the walls of Dubrovnik, facing the Adriatic! It was near and just past this spot... Never expected that! The worst bathrooms were in Italy.

Bad Luck with Michelangelos

2009-07-29T21:07:00.002-04:00

Looking back at everything we saw in Italy, and after doing some post-trip research, I now realize we had some bad luck when it came to seeing Michelangelo’s works. We toured Firenze on a Monday unfortunately, so the major museums were closed. Thus no chance to see the original David in the Accademia. At the Vatican in Roma, it was too crowded to get a good look at the Pieta in the Basilica. I happened on St. Peter's in Vincoli during a siesta when it was closed and thus went my opportunity to see Michelangelo’s Moses. We enjoyed a visit to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Roma but didn’t know to look for Michelangelo's “Christ the Redeemer”. On the plus side we enjoyed the Capella Sistina at the Vatican, and did see his tomb in Santa Croce in Firenze.

Roma, Italy - Heading Home!

2009-07-21T22:03:00.002-04:00

Heading home today. My neck was hurting over the past week or so, and just these past few days, I noticed my neck, shoulder and back were all aching or hurting. Four weeks of schlepping all our stuff, including clothing, snacks and water, all over the Mediterranean caught up with me. I finally asked Andrea to carry the backpack a little through the airport, and that helped.

Roma, Italy - Trastevere, Piazza Navona (again)

2009-07-20T22:00:00.006-04:00

We took Duman’s advice and checked out two neat churches just around the corner from our hotel: Sant'Ignazio di Loyola and Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The former has a couple “optical illusions”—a painted “curved” nave ceiling and a fake dome. The latter is the only Gothic church in Roma and has a Michelangelo sculpture that we forgot to see!
Later went to the Villa Farnesina but it was already closed for the day, so we just walked around Trastevere, crossed the Isola Tiberina and looked at (but didn’t wait in line to touch) the Buca di Verita at Santa Maria Cosmedin. We got ripped off by a pretty lady taxi driver who took us to Piazza della Repubblica instead of Piazza della Rotonda. She claimed she didn’t know where the Pantheon was. Sheesh. On the plus side, we never paid the bus fare to get to Piazza Venetia (need to buy your bus tickets BEFORE boarding) so it was probably all a wash getting back to the hotel.

We finally succumbed to the kids' requests for caricatures so we did it before dinner at the Piazza Navona. Then we had Fettucini Alfredo at the place the supposedly invented it: Alfredo alla Scrofa. It was good and we can say we did it, but at 20 Euros and a small portion, definitely not a good value.
After sampling various gelati places all over Italy, tonight Della Palma in Roma was officially declared the winner by Team Chen. Again, many thanks to Duman for his recommendations!

Roma, Italy - Capuchin Crypts, Villa Borghese, Foro Romano, Pantheon

2009-07-19T21:00:00.006-04:00

The day started off well with a fascinating visit to the Capuchin Crypts of Santa Maria Concepzione in Roma. Although Daddy was disappointed that his reservation at the Gallerie Borghese was not honored (I guess the online reservation system isn't reliable!), we all had fun riding the funky electric bikes/carts around Villa Borghese park. Later, we spent a couple hours at the forum with hardly any complaining from the kids! To cap the day, we finally went inside the Pantheon. We'd been staying within a few feet of it for several days now, but finally checked out the inside. Very cool.
Favorite kid moment—Upon entering and seeing the Capuchin Crypts, Adam mutters, with a noticeable nodding action, “Cooooooool!” A close second would be riding the electric bike/carts in Villa Borghese.

Thoughts about our HAL Noordam Mediterranean Cruise

2009-07-18T22:00:00.001-04:00

This was our first HAL cruise after several with Royal Caribbean and one each with Carnival and Princess. After spending 20 days onboard, here are my observations about HAL and the Noordam—ship, services and crew:
- Servers clear and clean tables very fast in the Lido so this was superior to RCI and Carnival. We found the behind-the-buffet service to be nice but less efficient overall. IOW, we much prefer RCI’s food stations or islands and helping yourself to what you want in the portions you want.
- Dining room, room stewards and room service were comparable to RCI
- Lido and main dining food quality was very good overall but I personally would call it a draw with RCI. My wife liked HAL better because of the superior seafood, but my parents liked RCI because their beefs was better.
- HAL uniquely offers free freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast and cappuccino/espresso at dinner
- Excellent and quiet handling of turnaround day for B2B passengers with custom tours, spa service, lunches, etc.
- HAL has virtually no night life and mediocre entertainment. This was okay for a port-intensive Mediterranean cruise but we’re not sure about it for all the sea days of a Caribbean cruise.
- There are far fewer activities and things to do onboard the ship, especially for kids. Specifically, Noordam has no rock climbing, wave pool, water slides or fountains, bowling alley, or ice rink. On the plus side, Noordam has an excellent library/computer center in their Explorations Café.
- Can’t understand why with a near-new ship, HAL doesn’t offer on-demand movies and entertainment (not check-out DVDs from library), or on-line billing, on-line shore excursion booking, and other on-line features directly from your stateroom either via TV or wifi access.
- The three elevator banks midship on the Vista-class are not linked or coordinated so they are not efficiently utilized
- Love the silent disembarkation—much improved over Carnival or RCI’s noisy and stressful debarkation routines

Last Day of Cruise: Civitavecchia, Italy

2009-07-18T19:55:00.002-04:00

Debarkation was quiet, smooth and stress-free. We bid farewell to Noordam and her fine crew. We shared a Romeinlimo transfer with the Fosters into Roma. After having our hotel hold their luggage, we walked them to the Tiber and bid them farewell as they headed off to their Vatican tour and we headed south to stroll.

After lunch, we spent the afternoon checking out the Colisseum. We wasted some time looking for lunch and dinner places because a few of the recommend restaurants were closed. Not sure if they were just closed for lunch and/or dinner, or if they were closed for the rest of the summer.

Messina/Taormina, Sicily & Stromboli

2009-07-17T17:53:00.008-04:00

We spent the morning visiting lovely Taormina, with a long visit to the Greco-Roman theatre. It was neat to see Mount Etna as a backdrop to this ancient theatre. The kids remained onboard in ClubHAL. On the return back to the ship, we caught part of the clock bell tower show in Messina—I was unimpressed. Later that afternoon, as we sailed north out of Messina, we got to see the smoldering volcano: Stromboli!

And just before dinner, we had a nice gathering of most of our CruiseCritic friends in the Crow's Nest. We dranks some champagne and took lots of pictures! Some of us had spent 19 days together on the ship and we really bonded.

Favorite kid moment—Not sure because they were in ClubHAL all day and claimed they didn’t do anything. Maybe they enjoyed Stromboli?

Sea Day

2009-07-16T20:50:00.001-04:00

The kids’ confidence has been growing during this trip. Both Cara and Adam order their custom waffles at breakfast in the Lido, their dinners in the evenings, ask stewards for things, checkout DVDs and games from the librarian, etc.—all by themselves.

Adam’s swimming also progressed very nicely during the cruise. Today he did more forward floating and kicking and started to float backward. Carol Foster helped him a lot. Kids always seem to be more receptive to teaching from anybody who is not their parent.

Piraeus/Athens, Greece

2009-07-15T21:45:00.008-04:00

I had originally planned another “daddy death-march walking day” for Athens, but after our experience in Barcelona, we agreed that it would be best to spend the money for a guided van/bus tour. So we hooked on with Maria’s group the night before. Maria welcomed us but I ended up having to do all the collecting, reconciling and paying of the tour driver monies. I still can’t believe the owner, driver and guide got 1,000 Euros for this full-day tour!

The morning started off a little rough for Cara—she threw up right after disembarking the tour bus at the foot of the Acropolis. Fortunately, she immediately felt better and hung in with the group just fine after that. The itinerary spent a lot of time at the Acropolis and the new Acropolis museum, we had lunch in Monastiraki, and got a city tour that included seeing the changing of the guards at Syntagma, Temple of Zeus

and the 1896 Olympic stadium. The only downside was that we didn’t spend any time in the Plaka. I’m glad we got in and out of the Acropolis by 11 am because there were massive crowds trying to get in just before 11 am! Someone later said those crowds waited an hour to enter.

After seeing his dad order chicken souvlaki in Corfu, Adam got it in both Oia and Athens. He ordered seafood pastas in Sorrento and Dubrovnik. Cara seems to have enjoyed her “greek” spaghettis in both places. They’re both definitely more adventurous with food than before!

As for my cold, today was the first day I think I can say I’m close to 100% again. While my cough still lingers, I definitely feel much better.

Favorite kid moment—Climbing the steps and stones around the Acropolis and goofing in the Acropolis museum. They also enjoyed the 5Euro orange slushy after the Acropolis tour.

Kusadasi/Ephesus, Turkey

2009-07-14T21:30:00.003-04:00

Had a full and interesting day in Ephesus with our guide, Yelda. Terrace Houses are amazing. I’m very disappointed for all the people on the ship tours who never get to see them. Didn’t have any energy left on the return to Kusadasi to shop or hit the beach—maybe next time.

Favorite kid moment—Running and sliding on the glass floors at the Terrace Houses, and on the slippery marble steps all around Ephesus.

Santorini, Greece

2009-07-13T21:45:00.005-04:00

Our day in Santorini started out with an exciting ride up the cliffs on the backs of donkeys. I’m very proud of Andrea for doing it despite every fiber of her being telling her that it was a bad and unsafe idea. It was slow, uncomfortable and a little dangerous (what with the being on the side of a cliff, concrete/rock pavement, and on-coming donkey traffic!) but you only live once, right?

The views from Fira and Oia were stunning and it was fun to walk the narrow passageways and steps in and around both towns. On the downside, we waited an hour for a taxi to take us from Fira to Oia, but fortunately we were in port for a full day, and weren’t in any hurry. We were also really squished in the bus on the return to Fira.
In Oia, we enjoyed our lunch at Lotza’s. The view was fantastic (what restaurant in Santorini doesn’t have a view?). We noticed a change about Cara during this trip: she now eats spaghetti with lots of sauce and no longer complains about not wanting too much sauce. In Rome, Corfu and now Oia (and probably other places I’ve forgotten), she’s ordered something off the menu and happily enjoyed her meal!

On our return to the ship, we decided not to rush our showers and be very late for the main dining room so opted for the Lido. Unfortunately, we later discovered that the Lido was closed for dinner on this one evening because HAL was doing a Santorini sailaway outdoor deck BBQ this evening. Had we known (or should I say, paid attention to the Daily Planner), we would have gone to the main dining room. For me, the BBQ chicken, ribs and accompaniments sufficed, but poor Andrea really had a hard time finding something good to eat and she regretted missing the main dining room this night!

Favorite kid moment—The donkey ride up the caldera and searching for donkey-related souvenirs

Katakolo/Olympia, Greece

2009-07-12T21:00:00.005-04:00

We planned to take the train to Olympia from Katakolo, but during breakfast, Linda from my Cruisecritic group mentioned how easy and inexpensive it was to rent a car in Katakolo. Sure enough, the car rental process was as fast (and perhaps even faster) than in Corfu!

Driving to Olympia didn’t involve anything like Corfu’s hairpin turns and crazy side roads so we never got lost. Didn’t appreciate however the stupid woman at the gas station who “accidentally” put in 5 Euros too much gasoline into the rental car. She’s probably the car rental company owner’s sister. After returning the car, we did a lot of shopping, including buying some cool Greek glass plates and other stuff.

We had a surprisingly good day in Olympia—better than I had expected. While the ruins were nothing special, the site was pretty with lots of trees and some shade. The museum was interesting and the museum worker ladies all wore super tight pants!
Anyhow, I’m glad we didn’t take this day off!

Favorite kid moment—Running a 200 yard dash on the original Olympic stadium! And the funny-sounding Pelopian fascinated them to no end…

Corfu, Greece

2009-07-11T21:45:00.004-04:00

We were late meeting the rental car rep in Corfu, but fortunately there were still plenty of cars available with another company right at the dock. We were off and on our way within minutes. Unfortunately, the Garmin Nuvi didn’t have any local maps so we got lost trying to find Kononi. I gave up and headed straight for Achillion Palace instead. Afterwards, we drove across the island to Palekas for lunch. Palekas sits atop the mountains with a nice view of the ocean. After lunch, we drove down to Palekas Beach for an afternoon at the beach. The water was cold but the kids had fun! We tried to buy water from these two Greek guys just off the beach but they were both asleep and wouldn’t wake up. So I took the water and only paid them when we were leaving!

One thing I’ve noticed is that, if you wake Cara up in the morning before she is ready to wake up, she is very groggy and grouchy for at least a few hours during the rest of the morning. Mom thinks it’s because she is tired, but that doesn’t explain why she is usually fine after noon. I think it’s because if her sleep is disrupted, it just takes her a few hours to regroup.

Favorite kid moment—Fun at Palekas Beach including the sleeping vendors

Dubrovnik, Croatia

2009-07-10T21:35:00.005-04:00

I was especially looking forward to Dubrovnik for a long time as it was one of my mandatory stops when I was researching cruise itineraries. There’s something very intriguing about a medieval walled city that is nestled into the cliffs of the Dalmation coast. While it’s no longer a well-kept secret, the crowds were not too bad. Surprisingly, and despite the long day that would’ve permitted us to sleep in and start touring late, Andrea wanted to get up and start early! This worked out really well as the walls were not that crowded. I thought it would take at least a couple of hours to walk the walls but we did it in about half that time! Everything did seem to get busier and more crowded by late morning both in town and at the beach. We also found a jewel of a clean bathroom right on the walls—and the lady attendant there was insulted when we tried to pay or tip her! What a pleasant surprise!

There were only two non-Euro countries during our trip: Tunisia, Croatia and Turkey. Only in Croatia however, did the lack of having local currency become a small issue. While the taxi, the wall admission and most restaurants and shops accepted Euros, a few places only accepted Kunas. So this was the only country during our trip where I had to get non-Euro, local currency out of the ATM—albeit it was just 300 Kuna or about US$58.

We had lunch with Margo’s family at Teatar and later wandered the Placa for ice cream and souvenirs. Then we headed for Banje Beach. I wish we had brought our sandals because it was very painful to walk on the rocky beach with bare feet. It didn’t seem to slow down the kids though.
All in all it was a great day! The only downside to the day was that I got a cold—or it’s my allergies cropping up.

Roma on Turnaround Day

2009-07-08T15:36:00.003-04:00

For our Civitavecchia turnaround day, I convinced Andrea that it would be best for me to go into Roma on my own and see some “boring” churches. They planned to sleep in, relax, and go to the pool while I was in Roma.

It turned out to be a pretty good few hours in Roma as I got some different views of the Colisseum and got to visit both San Clemente basilica and San Giovanni in Laterano—two very worthwhile places that are a bit off the standard tour routes. I only realize in hindsight that, in San Giovanni, that I entered the Basilica from a side entrance. No wonder the famous façade looked so dull for such an important church and why I couldn’t find the holy steps that were “across the street”. I also missed San Pietro in Vincoli, the chains and Michelangelo's Moses, because it just closed for siesta when I got there. Santa Maria Maggiore was a pretty good final spot for me to relax before catching the train at Termini back to Civitavecchia.

Napoli, Italy

2009-07-07T23:00:00.005-04:00

We had another super (or over) ambitious day planned: Pompeii, Sorrento and Positano. I almost flipped out when Andrea suggested we skip the Amalfi coast so we could return to the ship earlier than scheduled. We hadn’t even started our full-day tour out of Naples. I gently reminded her that many people consider this THE highlight of their Mediterranean trip. As a compromise, we agreed to cut short our visit to Positano for a visit to a Sorrento-area farm to buy olive oil and limoncello, and to check out the animals. In hindsight, I still think we would’ve enjoyed more time in Positano, but at least we experienced the Amalfi coast—hope Andrea enjoyed it.

Rafaele of Romeinlimo was there waiting for us at the dock in Naples. We got out early to Pompeii, were the first group to enter, and so we had the entire place virtually to ourselves at first. Notice that there are no people in this picture! We enjoyed two great hours with our guide Lucia.

We arrived in Sorrento with just a few minutes to walk and shop near the main square (Piazza Tasso) before heading down to the waterfront area for lunch at Ristorante Delfino.
After lunch, we drove the Amalfi coast and spent just a few minutes in Positano.

After the visit to the Sorrento-area farm, we were headed back for the ship. Everyone was asleep by the time we arrived.
Favorite kid moment—Pompeii and Sorrento (although they won’t say why)

Palermo, Sicily

2009-07-06T17:30:00.005-04:00

We had a private tour with a small group of 16 in Palermo. We started with a drive up to Monreale and toured its beautiful cathedral. We also enjoyed the views of Palermo below. We were all intrigued by the bodies and the interesting stories in the Capuccin Crypts. At the Zisa Castle, the kids were quickly bored in the Castle but had loads of fun afterwards climbing and running around on the water fountains in front. After lunch, we made a stop at Mount Pelegrino (sp?) for the best vista point of the Palermo area and then toured some of Palermo's other churches and buildings before heading back to the ship exhausted.

La Goulette, Tunisia

2009-07-05T21:22:00.003-04:00

For our visit to the North African country of Tunisia, we decided to leave the kids aboard the ship with their grandparents while we did a full day tour of Ancient Carthage, Sidi Bou Said, Bardo Museum and the Tunis Medina Souk. I figured the kids needed a break from touring and they could spend some quality time with Yeh Yeh and Nai Nai. This turned out to be a great idea as it was probably 110 degrees most of the day, and most of what we saw would’ve bored them to tears.

Ancient Carthage was fascinating but you really have to enjoy ruins because it was hot and there was very little shade. And our guide noted that we were pretty lucky because it had been really hot the last few days! Sidi Bou Said was like the poor man’s Santorini. Great views and some bargains to be had from the vendors. The vendors were not nearly as aggressive or annoying as others had reported. The Bardo Museum was a highlight—the collection of Roman mosaics is extensive and their intricacy and detail is unbelievable.

A couple times during our tour, I felt that Tunisians were making up charges as they go. First, there was the practice of charging a Euro for each camera taking pictures to be a bit odd. I think this happened in Ancient Carthage and the Bardo Museum. Later, at the lunch restaurant, our guide walked with the restaurant owner or head waiter around to each couple to seek compensation. For each couple or family, they gestured a few times, said something in French, and seemed to just make up an amount. It was never consistent with what was ordered. Just seemed like they were winging it and hoping to make a Euro or two here or there.

We ended the tour in the Medina Souks which was pretty much a waste of time because 90% of the shops are closed on Sundays. You’d think the tour company would know this and spare us this part of the trip.

Favorite kid moment—The camel ride on the pier next to the ship. And on a “you have to shake your head in disbelief” note, my dad bought Adam a huge stuffed camel. What was he thinking? How did he think we were going to get this stupid thing home?

Sea Day

2009-07-04T20:41:00.001-04:00

I’m sure it’s because this is a Mediterranean cruise itinerary, but this ship’s demographics most definitely did not fit the stereotype of a HAL ship. From my research on Cruisecritic, I had been told that HAL passengers definitely skew older than on other cruise lines. To our surprise, the crowd on this Noordam sailing is noticeably younger than on any Caribbean or other itinerary we’ve sailed on RCI or Carnival. We’ve seen nary a wheelchair, cane or oxygen tank onboard! There are however definitely fewer children than on RCI or Carnival ships. Here's Cara enjoying the not-that-crowded pool on our sea day.

Palma, Mallorca

2009-07-03T04:45:00.004-04:00

We took a taxi to the Palma train station and then enjoyed a scenic (but very slow) train ride to Soller. After arriving in Soller, we immediately took the tram down to Puerto Soller. Looking back, I wish we’d spent some time in Soller first but oh well.

I’m pleasantly surprised by Adam and Cara’s new willingness to try and interest in eating new foods. They’re ordering off the adult menu almost every day in the main dining room for dinner! Andrea’s worried about Adam eating too much beef, but he’s trying so many different things! Cara got spaghetti and meatballs in Firenze and Adam ate seafood spaghetti in Sorrento! Cara however did not like the tomato-less pizza margherita in Soller. Overall Cara is still most comfortable with pastas, chickens and fish, and Adam now likes more seafood.

Barcelona, Spain

2009-07-02T01:08:00.008-04:00

We taxied to La Sagrada Familia and walked back toward Las Ramblas, seeing Casa Terrades, Casa Mila and Casa Batllo along the way.

Unfortunately, it was pretty hot and the kids were tired and bored before we even reached Placa Catalunya and I knew we were in trouble. We got them food at McDonalds and Andrea and I ate later behind the Mercat de La Boqueria at Rita Rouge. After lunch, everybody was too tired to check out the Gothic Quarter or do anything else so we headed back to the ship. We walked back to the base of Las Ramblas to the Monument a Colom to catch the port shuttle. At 2-3 Euros per person and having to wait 10-20 minutes, I think this is a rip-off unless you are travelling solo. Heck you can take a taxi from there straight back to the ship for less than 5 Euros total!

In hindsight, I now realize that my Barcelona walking itinerary was overly ambitious and include any interesting indoor stops to allow everyone cool off. I should’ve substituted Gaudi’s Parc Gruell for some or all of his other architectural highlights. My parents knew better and booked a city tour bus ride for the afternoon through HAL. It was an epochal moment of our trip.

On a positive note, I think everyone enjoyed the evening Flamenco show and a peek at the Magic Fountain, and we didn’t miss the ship sailing. Have to say the cab drivers in Barcelona were very nice.

Favorite kid moment—Lunch at McDonald’s or the funny people on Las Ramblas

Sea Day

2009-07-01T01:01:00.002-04:00

Ahhhhhhhhh, our first sea day to relax and unwind! Got to sleep in late and eat a late breakfast. Our CruiseCritic Meet and Greet went fairly well and our roll call swapped lots of information, room numbers and money (for shared tours).

In the evening, we had reservations for the Pinnacle Grill. Have to say that this was a bit of a disappointment. While we really enjoyed it, we didn’t feel either the food or the service was exemplary, especially considering the $20/person surcharge for the visit. We agreed to dine in the main dining room the rest of our voyage.

Monte Carlo, Monaco

2009-06-30T17:48:00.005-04:00

I was disappointed today that we missed the last bus to Eze. You’d think we’d be able to get our butts out in time for an 11:25 am bus departure in Monte Carlo? We did however have a pleasant day in the Palace gardens and saw the beautiful cathedral.

Favorite kid moment—Racing the “obstacle course” in the Palace Garden’s playground

Livorno, Italy

2009-06-29T21:46:00.009-04:00

We began the day with Pisa. Our first planning mistake was to include a 45 minute climb of the tower. In retrospect, if climbing the tower is a priority, we should have skipped Lucca or Firenze. By the time we got to Lucca, we only had less than an hour to walk around, and even then, we’d be having a very late lunch in Firenze.
Then the kids had a blood sugar crisis. We spent an inordinate amount of time in Lucca searching for snacks and eating. This triggered a huge argument between Andrea and me. She thought I didn't care about the kids or understand their need for food and snacks. I didn't think she was involved enough in the planning and didn't respect all the planning that went into it. Later, I think we had struck a happy medium. I think Andrea realized that it was not fair or reasonable to just continue reacting to my plans without first understanding what we were trying to do or prepare for contingencies. And I would make sure not to over schedule anymore, and to have options in case the kids or Andrea got tired or hungry.

We didn’t arrive around Santa Croce in Firenze until after 1 pm. We enjoyed a nice lunch and then a visit to Basilica di Santa Croce. After that, it was the 2-hour express city tour of the usual sights in Firenze. We did squeeze in a few minutes to walk around and even inside the Duomo.
In hindsight, I would have omitted the climbing of the tower or Lucca (probably the latter) so that we could spend more time in Firenze.

Favorite kid moment—Climbing the leaning tower of Pisa. Here we are at the top of the tower!

Boarding HAL Noordam for our Cruise

2009-06-28T17:08:00.006-04:00

Duman from Romeinlimo took us to Civitavecchia. He stopped to buy us gelati before we boarded. Upon embarkation, they mysteriously confiscated our passports. Only later did I find that, because I was the travel coordinator for two CruiseCritic Meet and Greets onboard, they must hold my passport. Although I got it back that evening, I never did get a satisfactory explanation to this.

As to Noordam, the rooms were ready when we boarded shortly after 2 pm. I prefer the stateroom layout where HAL puts the sitting area next to the balcony, whereas RCI puts the sitting area closer to the main door and bathroom. I liked that the balcony partitions opened so we could traverse the two balconies of our connecting staterooms but, because our balconies were shallower than a standard balcony due to the lifeboats below, the open partition door made it nearly impossible for me to open and move through our balcony door. In addition, these Cat VE balconies only have a small coffee table instead of a full balcony table. This didn’t allow us to eat any of our room service breakfasts outside. It would have been nice to have a Cat VD or VC stateroom.

As far as the rest of the ship was concerned, the décor was muted and classy. It had a very warm feel to it. The ship lacked the bright, airiness of RCI’s Radiance and Voyager-class ships--specifically I missed the big soaring atriums. However the ship was notably quieter as the lack of big public spaces kept the noise down and you could easily find private spaces. The Explorations Café is an especially large and inviting area with many comfortable chairs and recliners, and filled books to borrow or read there, DVDs to rent, and computers to use. I liked that HAL gives free internet access to the NY Times web site so you can keep up with what’s going on in the world without paying exorbitant internet access fees.

I found some of the walking flow around the ship to be strange. For example, walking on Deck 3 starboard nearly dead-ends at the Pinnacle Grill and forces you to merge over to the port corridor. On Deck 4, there are similar ways for you to get lost depending on what side of the ship you are on.

The kids, of course, only cared about the pool and the table tennis...

Roma, Italy

2009-06-28T09:31:00.000-04:00

I now realize that I overestimated my family's stamina. Perhaps it was the jet lag. I made several contingencies for the short two-day pre-cruise stay in Roma, but I honestly never thought we'd get as little as we actually did in the those 36 hours. In my planning, I had expected to see or visit all of the following: Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican Museums/Sistine Chapel, Colisseum, Forum, Piazza del Campidoglio and Spanish Steps. In reality, we ended up doing about half of it. My priority for these two days was always on my parents getting to see as much as they could as my immediate family still had three days post-cruise in Roma to do more sightseeing. I worried that my parents would have some regrets over missing some popular sights but then probably not.

Roma, Italy

2009-06-27T21:26:00.003-04:00

Got a late start this morning so didn’t see anything early. On the way to the Vatican, we passed through Piazza Navona (the first of many visits). Our two-hour tour of the Vatican museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica at 1 pm pretty much wiped everyone out. So much for seeing the Forum and Colisseum in the late afternoon and evening!
Loved the convenient location of our hotel, Albergo del Senato, right in the Piazza della Rotonda (if you can afford it)!

Favorite kid moment—Adam and Dad climbing the cupola of St. Peter’s basilica. What a view!

We're off to Europe!

2009-06-26T21:45:00.005-04:00

Our flights were smooth and uneventful—long but everyone did well! The long layover in Frankfurt allowed us time to stretch our legs, get something to eat, and for Andrea and me to buy things we forgot to pack (pads/tampons and tennis shoes respectively). After claiming our luggage at Fiumcino, Romeinlimo was there to take us into Roma. After checking in and settling into the hotel, we headed out for dinner at Rotonda Ristorante and gelati (the first of many gelati stops over the next four weeks).

We made a quick visit to Fontana di Trevi in the evening before turning in.

Flying in the same day of your cruise departure

2009-04-15T12:37:00.002-04:00

The question of whether to fly in the day before or same day comes up a lot in cruise planning. Like many people, we always fly in a day or two early. However, if you're like my parents who often fly in the same day (because they don't want to pay for the hotel or don't have or want to take the extra day), the following are my recommendation for flying in same-day. Make sure to do all of the following:

1. Book a direct flight--no connections. Fewer flight segments=lower risk.
2. Take the first flight out in the morning and arrive at the port by no later than noon.
3. Make sure your airline has at least a few other direct flights options for later that same day. They should all be scheduled to arrive in the destination city before mid-afternoon the day of the cruise's departure. This way, if your first flight is delayed or cancelled, you have some chance to rebook or go standby on a later flight.
4. The port is a short distance from the destination airport (say, 30 minutes or less).

Generally, all of the above is possible only if you live near a major airport or hub that is less than 1,000 miles from your destination city/port. We're lucky because, in the Washington DC area, there are TONS of regular and direct flights to the major Florida cruise ports.

Carry your passport!

2009-04-07T18:25:00.005-04:00

There are many suggestions by people on online travel forums suggesting to fellow travelers to leave their passport in the hotel or cruise ship safe to avoid the risk of loss and the hassles of having to replace it. They reason that the likelihood of losing your passport is much greater than the likelihood of needing it. Of course, this rationalization overlooks the most vital and fundamental purpose of a passport--it is your ONLY authoritative, government-issued document that attests to your identification and your citizenship. It is meant to be carried on your person for this purpose while you are outside of your home country.

Now, if you are more concerned about the hassles or inconveniences of losing your passport--that is their prerogative. But I think you have your priorities backwards. When you NEED your passport, however remote or unlikely it may be, it will usually be at a time or place when you least expect it. And the severity of your need will likely be extreme.

999 times out of 1,000, I don't NEED a driver's license with me when I leave the house. But I would not THINK of leaving the house or driving without it because, on the off chance I NEED it (e.g. police officer pulls me over, someone needs my ID), then I have it.

When you are in a foreign country, what will you do if you are seriously injured and end up in the hospital? What if you miss the ship due to a traffic jam or strike? How will you catch a flight to get home or catch up with the ship without your passport? What if you are stopped by local law enforcement and asked for identification? At times like these, you realize that the hassle of possibly losing the passport was much less than the hassle of being stranded in a foreign country without your passport. And a photocopy of the passport will not suffice--do you drive with a copy of your driver's license? Try using a photocopy of your DL the next time a cop pulls you over or a bartender asks you for ID. Won't work with a passport either. Making and carrying a a photocopy of your passport is a good idea but it is only useful for getting your passport replaced at the U.S. consular office or embassy--it is not a substitute for the real thing.

If any of the above misfortunes should befall you, then you will end up spending days and days to get your passport replaced so you can get home or whatever. While your passport relaxes safely in the comforts of your cabin safe, you will be stuck somewhere wishing you had brought it with you. Yes, if you are within the EU, perhaps you can catch a flight or train without your passport. But what if your ship's next stop is outside the EU? Also, a common misunderstanding is that your passport is used for border control purposes only, i.e. when you leave and reenter the country--it's not. It's your sole identification and citizenship document so I don't go anywhere without it.

Many of you believe it's most important to protect the passport so you lock it in the safe. I believe it's more important to have the passport with you so it can do its job, i.e. to protect you.

Maryland men's and women's basketball

2009-03-31T13:18:00.006-04:00

Yesterday's disappointing loss by the Maryland women's basketball team in the regional finals only further reinforces the polar opposite approaches used by our Brenda Frese and Gary Williams. I had already previously (jokingly) suggested that Brenda Frese should do all the recruiting, and that Gary Williams should do all the pre-game and in-game coaching, for both teams. While Gary has been criticized for his poor recruiting results, Brenda refuses to teach team defense and clearly lacks the ability to make important in-game tactical adjustments. Next season, when the Lady Terps are in need of points, Brenda will not be able to simply hand the ball to Kristi Tolliver or Marissa Coleman and say "go make a play" to save them from their defensive inadequacies.

Can you imagine Gary and Brenda on the sideline together? Imagine Gary drawing up a momentum-changing play to get the Lady Terps a key bucket, or using a profanity-laced tirade to get the women to actually move their feet and to play harder on defense. Meanwhile, Brenda can prowl the sidelines with passionate clapping and encouraging, confidence-restoring words to the men on the bench after Gary has finished berating them!

Marissa Coleman and the Lady Terps

2009-03-29T12:31:00.003-04:00

Lost amongst all the effusive praise and accolades surrounding Marissa Coleman’s “heirloom game” in yesterday’s NCAA women’s basketball regional semi-final was the fact that Coleman’s very average defensive performance led directly to dozens of quality Vanderbilt opportunities and scores. While playing 40 minutes will certainly take its toll toward the end of a game, this does not explain why the worst of the Coleman’s and the rest of the Terps’ defense play was at the beginning of each half. If Coach Frese, Marissa Coleman and the rest of the Terps don’t take their defense more seriously, they will not win another national championship. Maryland can probably beat less talented teams by relying on their stars to come up with clutch performances to compensate for an inferior defensive effort, but this probably won’t work against Stanford or UConn.

Maryland Basketball and Gary Williams

2009-02-12T15:22:00.014-05:00

Although I'm a lifelong Terps fan, I've remained mostly quiet on our mens basketball team's recent struggles and in regards to Gary Williams himself. For whatever it's worth, I think Gary had taken recruiting for granted but I also think he's been working hard most recently to improve in this area. Certainly, the recent turnover on his staff didn't help things on the recruiting front. Coach Williams has done a commendably good job with the hand that he and his staff have dealt him. Considering they play in the tough ACC, they've gotten average to above-average performance from mostly average players over the past 7 years. Of course, that's not good enough for most of us.

The irony with these recent struggles and with the growing criticism of Gary Williams is that, as long-time Maryland fans will recall, Lefty Driesell spent many years with top recruits but was often criticized as a mediocre coach. Lefty's situation (remember the now-famous "I can coach" quote?) stands in direct contrast to Gary William's. I expect Gary any day now to scream "I can recruit!"

Things Hotels Can Do Better

2009-01-27T12:51:00.016-05:00

I've noticed that hotels have been paying attention over the years, but in recent travels, there's still no hotel that gets everything right:

- More suites--the traditional two double bed hotel room is a horrible anachronism-it's no wonder many new hotels are all suites! Even for traditional rooms, I'd prefer a king or queen bed with a separate, small twin sofabed and sitting area.
- Resort Fees--build it into your room rate but don't rip off unsuspecting guests with these ridiculous add-on charges.
- Free Internet Access--hotels don't charge for air conditioning, water or clean sheets, so why charge for a commodity item like internet access? And why do only the expensive, luxury hotels charge for this?
- In-Room Phones with Free Local and 800 Access--if a hotel can't do this, get rid of the phones entirely. Everyone has mobile phones anyhow.
- Complimentary Beverage--why can't more hotels provide a couple free bottles of drinking water or other beverage? Makes your arrival after a long flight that much nicer.
- Minibars--such an obvious rip-off and insult to patrons' intelligence that most hotels have already eliminated them.
- Ice machines--they waste a tremendous amount of energy and I think they're an anachronism. Just give me a good, working refrigerator.
- More horizontal places to put your luggage and bags
- High Definition TVs--I wonder how long it will take to get these?
- Power Outlets--there's never enough of places to plug in or charge all your electronic devices
- More Hooks in Bathroom--with all the available wall space, can someone tell me why there is never any place to hang your toiletry bags, towels or clothes?
- Better Toiletries--instead of, or in addition to, hand lotion or bath gels, how about a toothbrush, toothpaste, comb and/or a first aid kit?
- Alarm Clock--One that automatically resets, or is easy to reset yourself so it doesn't go off early in the morning because the last guest set it and the housekeeper forgot to reset it. And put one on both sides of a double, queen or king bed!
- Complimentary Newspaper--And not just weekdays but every day!
- Normal-sized Waste Baskets--most are so small as to be useless.
- Recycle--where are the in-room recycling tubs for aluminum, glass, plastics and newspapers?
- Free cookies, treats, drinks and coffee/tea in the reception area or lobby.
- Late Checkout--complimentary or paid use of a "late checkout room". A place to store your stuff, shower, change, etc. if you should have a late-day flight.

Energy conservation and the environment

2008-11-27T20:20:00.000-05:00

China's and India's power plant-related carbon emissions are growing so fast that they will surpass the U.S. by 2010. So isn't it a losing battle to conserve energy or to recycle products, when actions by these developing nations will more than offset our conservation efforts? "Doing our part" will only be meaningful if there is a concerted global effort to save our planet.

Redistributionists

2008-10-29T23:19:00.002-04:00

Conservatives consistently refer to most Democrats as “tax and spend” and, more recently, as “redistributionists”. They do this almost out of habit. Relative to “cut taxes” and “less government” Republicans, most Democrats can probably be characterized as “redistributionists” on a relative basis. I find it interesting that, while Republicans and fiscal conservatives in general have maintained the “high road” on taxes historically, they have also been the most fiscally irresponsible by running up massive budget deficits. This is because they cut taxes but don’t have the political will to cut spending proportionally in order to come close to balancing the budget. It is ironic that Republicans talk tough about Democratic spending, but consistently fail to make the tough choices needed to cut spending on social programs and pork barrel projects.

We live in a country with some of the lowest tax burdens in the civilized world. So my conclusion is that “tax and spend” (aka “redistributionist”) is probably better than “don’t tax but spend”. In other words, aren’t we better off trying to take in as much as we spend, or shall we just keep printing money without regard to our ever-expanding deficit? With the U.S. economy now in recession, even the Republicans can’t possibly still believe that we can magically grow tax revenues enough to cut taxes further.

Buy Stocks Now!

2008-10-15T15:10:00.003-04:00

I think the recent 30-50% slide in equities already prices in a severe and protracted recession. Assuming credit flows do stabilize (and the trend is positive), we are basically left with a stagnant economy. Most companies however will still be around and most will still make profits. The current "irrational" market however is valuing many stocks at ridiculously low valuations. Some are even near their cash values which means the market doesn't think they're worth anything. Clearly much of the recent selling is liquidity-based and I figure seniors and others who MUST have some cash to hold them over are mostly done selling by now (or will be very soon). And after the non-serious investors have exited via panic selling, the remaining investors will begin to see stocks for their intrinsic value again. At that point, and this is where I think we are, it will be apparent that many many stocks are bargains. This is not to say we will recover our huge losses (if we do, it will probably take a long time)--just that the equity market has clearly overshot a value target on the way down.

Infant Seats, Car Seats, Booster Seats and Seat Belts

2008-09-15T21:13:00.011-04:00

By now, every parent knows the importance of properly restraining adults and children in a motor vehicle. However I see many parents losing sight of what's really important as they rush to move their kids to the next level of motor vehicle restraint, i.e. infant seat, car/convertible seat, booster seat, or nothing at all. Parents should move their child up to the next level of restraint as late as possible--not as soon as they reach the next legal minimum!

Infants, for example, should be in a rear-facing car seat until they are at least one year of age and 20 pounds. The key words are "at least". This is a minimum standard and does not mean it is a good idea to turn them forward-facing as soon as they turn one! Your child is still much safer staying rear-facing to allow their bodies to further develop and strengthen.

Likewise, a child can legally (in most states) ride in a car without a booster seat once they are 4 ft. 9 in. (57") tall and 8 years of age but that doesn't make it smart to do it when they reach that height, weight or age. Remember that seat belts in modern motor vehicles are designed and optimized for a typical American adult weighing between something like 102-215 lbs. So ask yourself this question: Is your child closer to a small adult of say 5 ft. 4 " (64") and 102 lbs, or are they closer to 4 ft. 9 in. (57") tall and 60 lbs? If the latter, then they should stay in that booster seat!

In determining what is best for your child, don't let state or federal laws drive your decision-making--they represent the bare minimums for dumb-dumb parents who don't otherwise want to think about child safety. And don't let peer pressure or the kids themselves make these decisions for you--your child's life may depend on it!

And finally, remember, regardless of age, height, weight or the restraint method, a few general safety principles always apply:

1. The back seat is always safer than the front.
2. The middle of the rear is safer than the rear sides.
3. Facing rearward is safer than facing forward.
4. Seat belts should fit properly (over the shoulder and not the neck, and around the hip bones).

For more information, see the AAP's car safety page.

Cancel that service for better pricing!

2008-09-10T21:49:00.000-04:00

Whenever competition exists for a particular service, a really good way to keep your costs down is to threaten to cancel your service. Drive a hard bargain and say you're leaving for their competitor due to better pricing or superior offerings. To keep your business, they will almost certainly lower your rate and/or offer free or reduce-priced bonuses. Here are some examples:

XM Satellite Radio: We've had a $7.99/mo. promotional rate for years. Every time my year is up, XM tries to force me to a regular plan where monthly rates are usually $12.99/mo and up. I simply threaten to cancel, and whine and belly-ache about not listening to the service much, etc. etc.

Verizon vs. Comcast: With each provider, I call right after my initial one-year contract is up and my low promotional rates are scheduled to go up to the significantly higher regular prices. Before I call, I research the best current deal being offered by their competitor. Then, I call my current provider and tell them I am switching to the competitor due to their special promotion. Without exception, the offer is matched or bettered.

Credit cards: Many of the best credit cards are benefit cards that offer cash rebates, airline miles and/or other perks. Many of them also have high annual fees and/or interest rates. I will usually partake in some of the better cards because they will typically waive the first year's annual fees. In many cases, if you call after the first year and tell them you'd like to cancel the card because of the annual fee, they will waive it again. Also, if your credit is good and you don't fully pay your balance monthly, the interest rate is also negotiable if you bargain with them.

Bricks and Mortar Banks

2008-09-04T19:12:00.001-04:00

I've noticed many new bank branches springing up recently near where I work and live. As someone who banks and pays bills almost completely online, writes about 4 checks a year, and uses less than $400 cash annually, it befuddles me as to why banks still have bricks and mortar branches to expand their business and to service customers. Over ten years ago, around the time of the first true Internet banks, I boldly predicted that, within 10-15 years, traditional banks would go the way of the dinosaurs. Judging by the steady expansion of bank branches, I was wrong.

I don't have or need a local bank because I don't need or want to pay for their bricks and mortar presence. I get better rates, better service, and more accurate record-keeping by doing everything electronically. Thus I don't pay for something I don't use. However the vast majority of Americans still value their local bank presence to make deposits, visit their tellers, use the drive-thru, talk with bank staff for credit lines, loans, mortgages or investments, use the safety deposit box, and partake of various other services. Go figure...

The Right Way to Treat Scrapes and Abrasions

2008-08-27T21:31:00.001-04:00

A few years back, I got several large abrasions as a result of a motor vehicle accident. With plenty of free time laying around on the sofa, I researched the right way to dress abrasions. Note, this post applies only to abrasions (superficial, surface injuries to the skin) and not to lacerations which are deep cuts that may require stiches or other professional medical intervention. Remember the first priority is always to stop the bleeding.

What most people still don't know is that the "state of the art" in wound treatment has moved beyond what our parents taught us. Research has shown that antiseptic rinses and topical anti-bacterial ointments such as hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin (just two examples) actually damage skin tissues and inhibit healing. And Band-Aids do not do very much to help as they do not create an anti-bacterial barrier nor the desired moist healing environment for the wound.

Here's the "right" way to dress an abrasion:

1. Stop the bleeding by apply gentle pressure to the wound. Do not let the wound dry out or scab. If you can't stop the bleeding within 15 minutes or so, you should seek immediate medical assistance.

2. Clean the wound thoroughly using soap and water by removing as much dirt and dead skin as possible.

3. Dress the wound using a semipermeable dressing such as 3M's Tegaderm, J&J Bioclusive or similar product. As long as the dressing does not leak exudate (the "ooze"), it can remain in place for up to a week.

The advantages are:

1. Because the wound is not allowed to scab, the optimum, moist healing environment is created. Remember that our blood clots and creates scabs, because there was an evolutionary necessity to stop the bleeding, but modern man can stop abrasions from bleeding by simply applying pressure. Abrasions heal much faster and better in a moist environment (without the scab). Scarring is also reduced.

2. Unlike Band-Aids, the dressings create an anti-bacterial barrier and thus the risks of infection are greatly reduced.

3. The dressings are waterproof so you shower or bathe with them in-place. Thus the need for dressing change and the amount of overall maintenance is significantly reduced.

4. The dressings are flexible so they are more comfortable than alternative of having a scab and traditional bandage. This is especially important if the injury is in a area that moves regularly such as a knee or elbow.

5. The semi-permeable dressings are clear so you can see how the wound is healing, how much exudate, if it is infected, etc.

The problem today is that these semi-permeable dressings are not commonly available in most grocery stores or pharmacies. They're still relatively expensive (more than $1 or $2 per dressing), and Johnson and Johnson still dominates the bandage market with their "Band-Aid" brand bandages. People have become brainwashed with Band-Aids for 20-30 for two bucks (depending on size and shape). Hospitals and medical professionals already know better but hopefully the word will get out to consumers soon!

Is China spending its trade surplus at the Olympics and other events?

2008-08-25T23:11:00.001-04:00

Americans are currently addicted to cheap Chinese goods and the resulting trade imbalance flows hundreds of billions of dollars to China each year. Some people believe that, with intelligent investing in infrastructure, technology and research, that China will use this huge positive cash flow to their long-term strategic advantage.

Well, it's not much, but after watching the Olympics, there were many examples of China spending money on image-building, and not infrastructure. At least some of the $40 billion China is spending on the Olympics is going toward extravagant, one-time expenses such as the elaborate opening and closing ceremonies, good-will expenses, decorations, landscaping, etc. etc.

And, according to the Wall Street Journal, Shanghai will spend $40 billion for the 2010 World Expo and Guangzhou is estimating $27 billion for the 2010 Asian Games.

On top of all that, U.S. companies are finally getting in on the action for all the infrastructure spending. Maybe there's some hope to balance our trade someday after all...

My Olympic Highlights and Lowlights

2008-08-24T23:45:00.002-04:00

Here are my personal highs and lows from these 2008 Beijing Olympics:

Highs
- 32-year-old Jason Lezak's unforgettable final leg swim, running down trash-talking Alain Bernard of France, in the men's 4x100M relay.
- Despite the loss of perhaps their two best gymnasts, the U.S. men's gymnastics team's earned a surprising bronze medal in the team competition.
- Michael Phelps: 8 gold medals and a thrilling 0.01 second margin of victory in the 100M fly.
- 41 year-old Dara Torres wins a silver medal in the 50M freestyle.
- Shawn Johnson finally gets a gold medal. Her cheerful attitude, charisma and spirit was a lift on the sideline so if anyone deserved a gold medal for her performance, heart and positive attitude, it was her (even if she reminds me of Robocop).
- The son of illegal immigrants, Henry Cejudo, wins the 55kg wrestling gold.
- The U.S. women's indoor volleyball team making a surprising run for the silver, and the U.S. men winning the gold for grieving coach Hugh McCutcheon.

Lows
- Alicia Sacramone's torture after her failures on the beam and floor.
- Gymnastics Judging. American women were obviously cheated out of medals on the individual vault and uneven bars. Why don't these incompetent judges ever make deductions for the Chinese gymnasts? Gymnastics needs to either simplify their scoring system by returning to the old 10.0 scale or simply rank competitors relative to each other. You'll never remove the human element so at least keep it understandable.
- Boxing Judging. When a boxer's glove hits his opponent's head and snaps it back, then it's supposed to be a point for the guy doing the hitting--not the guy getting hit. Get rid of the stupid 3 of 5 scoring system.
- Pole vaulter Jenn Stuczynski being criticized and put-down by her coach Rick Suhr, after she had just won the silver medal.
- Lolo Jones hitting the ninth hurdle just meters from a certain gold medal.
- After winning 22 games in a row, and outscoring opponents 57-2 in this Olympics, the U.S. women softball team are stunned in the gold medal game. To make matters worse, it looks like this might be the last softball game played in the Olympics as the IOC voted it out for 2012.
- U.S. men and women both dropping the baton (and their gold medal hopes) on their 4x100M relays

The Un-Olympic Spirit

2008-08-19T01:05:00.005-04:00

Jenn Stuczynski should be totally thrilled and extremely proud in the aftermath of her silver medal performance in the women's pole vault. She "lost" the gold medal to world-record holder Yelena Isinbayeva. Considering she's pole vaulted for all of four years, and that she was competing against a dominant, umpteen world record-breaking champion, she did really really great.

However, if you caught NBC's short coverage of the event, then you saw her coach Rick Suhr verbally berate her immediately after winning the silver medal. You could see how visibly dejected Stuczynski was after her coach's negative remarks.

I was stunned that someone would choose that moment to deliver those words to an athlete who had worked so hard and performed so wonderfully. Unconscionable. Jenn Stuczynski should find herself a new coach. And, if my kid were a pole vaulter, I would never consider sending them to his pole vaulting school or academy. His behavior was reprehensible and his "win the gold or you're a worthless piece of sh!t" attitude runs counter to everything the games should be about.

Olympic Swimming Relays

2008-08-16T12:08:00.000-04:00

My wife and I got really confused as to how the swimming relay exchanges are handled. As nobody on NBC bothered to explain it, I had to do some research and here it is.

Basically, swimmers can (and should) be in motion during the relay exchanges, but the outgoing swimmer must maintain contact with the starting platform until the incoming swimmer has finished. The incoming swimmer's finish is registered by the electronic touchpad on the finishing wall, as is the outgoing swimmer's contact with the starting platform. The two times are compared by an electronic timing system (with a .03 second "allowance"), and if the outgoing swimmer is off the platform early, that team is disqualified.

The above also explains why only the first leg of any swim relay counts towards official records, as it is the only leg that is comparable to a non-relay race.

Killer Tires?

2008-08-13T16:01:00.012-04:00

I was recently forwarded an ABC News story called "Tire Danger: The Cryptic Code That Could Save Your Life". It basically warns that driving vehicles with tires older than six years old could kill you. The point of the story is that, regardless of actual wear or appearance, driving on tires that are older than six years old greatly increases your chances of having tread separation and this could kill you. And there is a conspiracy amongst tire manufacturers to keep all this secret so the story goes on to tell you how to find and decipher the cryptic code found on every tire that tells you when it was manufactured.

While I agree that people should not use older tires, and that tread separation is not desirable, I think the danger and risk is overstated. When a tire blows out on most vehicles, the vehicle will suddenly pull to one side but the vehicle itself remains controllable. So if you remain calm and maintain directional control over the vehicle (i.e. keep it straight!), you should be fine.

In summary, it's great to warn people about the risks of driving on old tires, but I think it's more useful and important to learn how to handle your vehicle in emergency situations!

Olympics, Kids and Chinchillas

2008-08-13T13:30:00.005-04:00

Poor Alicia Sacramone. After yesterday's women's gymnastics team competition, much focus was placed on the poor young lady and her big mistakes. The underlying point was that her mistakes cost the U.S. team the gold medal. I don't really understand this because the Chinese beat the Americans by 2.375--a signficant margin of victory. While I'm not a gymnastics expert on scoring, I don't see how, even adding back the deductions for Sacramone's fall off the beam and on floor exercises, how she cost the U.S. the gold? Even if none of the American girls hadn't stepped out of bounds, I don't think the total sum of all the deductions would have made up the difference. Thus the Chinese girls definitely earned their gold, and we shouldn't diminish the Chinese performance by blaming Sacramone and implying the Americans "gave it away". Now if only the Chinese girls were actually the required 16 years of age to be eligible to participate...

Then, very late last night (at least on the East Coast), Andrea Joyce interviewed (or should I say grilled?) Sacramone on her performance and its impact on the team. Exactly how many different ways can one ask the same question about the girl's mess-ups? Why didn't you ask her when she planned to commit suicide? Very cruel.

Anyhow, after the interview ended with Sacramone near tears, NBC cut back to Mary Carillo in the studio. Clearly distraught after watching Sacramone suffer through Joyce's interview, Carillo blurts: "Uh, it's a killer... it's a killer watching... I mean they're just kids... as a parent... this is why some people just raise chinchillas." Buwahahaha! I love it!

Olympics and Diversity

2008-08-12T23:00:00.001-04:00

I've been watching a lot of Olympic coverage these past four days! There were a few interesting examples of our nation's diversity, and the rest of the world's lack thereof. During the medal ceremony for the men's gymnastics team competition, did you happen to notice just how homogeneous the Japanese and Chinese teams were, while the U.S. team included men of Russian, Indian and Chinese descent?

Meanwhile, in women's gymnastics, Nastia Liukin's parents were both former Russian gymnastics champions who decided they could have a better life here in America. They opened a successful gymnastics club in Texas. And Shawn Johnson's coach is a former co-captain of the Chinese men's gymnastics team who immigrated to the U. S. to pursue the American dream in Iowa.

Aren't these examples of what makes our country special? We nurture the best and the brightest, and because we embrace diversity and provide opportunity to all, we also attract the best and the brightest from around the world.

Tipping

2008-08-04T22:27:00.010-04:00

Tips are supposed to give service providers an extra incentive to provide good or excellent service. Tipping and expectations vary however, from culture to culture. In many western nations, tipping is expected by many (but certainly not all) service providers. In China however, tipping is generally no expected and may be considered inappropriate.

We actually need guides on who to tip, when and how much. In the U.S., we don't tip service providers such as doctors, dentists, auto mechanics or other "professionals". But we are supposed to know, for example, to tip hair dressers and waiters 15%-20% for good/excellent service. We are expected to know that taxi drivers and food delivery people should customarily get 10%-15%. Massage therapists and aestheticians might receive between 10%-20%. And then there are the hotel housekeepers, bellman or valet parking attendants who get a few bucks per whatever (night, bag or car) depending on this or that.

I'm 46 years old and have travelled a little in my life, and only now, do I think I've got it mostly figured out. But I think the world should move away from tipping. Why can't the cost of each service be right out in the open? Why can't people just pay whatever the price is without burdening it with some mysterious ghost cost? In the computer world, there used to be a term called WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) to describe the new fangled graphical user interfaces. We need WYSIWYG for services!

Restaurants and hotels should just pay their wait and housekeeping staff a living wage. And bellman and valet drivers, for example, should just hang signs on their chest that say "I'll help you with your bags/car for $2 each please". One should always expect service to be good. If the service you receive is not good, then take your business elsewhere, but I say let's not continue the current confusing "it all depends on who and where you are" system of tipping. For the current system to work, people need to study, know and memorize different rules with various exceptions for each country or culture. Isn't that crazy?

Rising China, India and Russia?

2008-07-29T16:08:00.013-04:00

A friend of mine and I frequently debate as to whether the U.S. is in decline or not. He routinely points out that China, India and Russia are rising powers. Our addiction to, and consumption of, foreign goods, and overall lack of energy resources is creating a huge transfer of wealth overseas. Americans have become complacent and our education system is faltering. The resulting brain drain will inevitably make us a second-tier nation. The U.S. already can't manufacture anything competitively, and we will face our eventual demise.

I argue that the U.S. possesses inherent advantages that still uniquely make us “one of a kind”. Much focus has been made on America’s success due to our industrial past or because of our unique implementation of capitalism. Thus countries like Japan, China, India or even Russia focused on and copied these attributes to “emulate” the U.S. And their national economic and societal trajectories each shaped up much like our country at the dawn of the 20th century. Many think that these rising economies or countries will inevitably overtake the U.S. What I think they miss is that none of these countries possesses the unique and special attributes of diversity, adaptability, ethics, entrepreneurship and innovation that only Americans possess. Our education system may not be the best by many objective criteria, but we still have the best universities for a reason. The U.S. may not have the best test scores or the most Ph.D students, but we still have the most creative people. And by that I mean, we still have the people most likely to invent, innovate and create great new things, and not just copy or improve someone else’s idea. This is what a leader is and does, and there is no way China, India, Japan or Russia can do this because they each lack one or more key requirement in the recipe for greatness: democracy, capitalism, innovation, ethics, and religious and cultural diversity and tolerance.

He responded to this by saying that I am overly optimistic. Was my assessment based on wishful thinking or are there any statistics to back it up? Where's the beef?

Well, I responded by saying that my assessment is based on recent and real-world innovations. Think of the major transformative products or ideas in recent years—and most are American. Everything from the iPod and Hollywood movies to GPS, communications, biomedical research and alternative energy. Or looking at it another way, what revolutionary or transformative idea has Japan, China, India or Russia contributed recently? The “outflow of brains” theory is rooted in the statistics of how many degrees are being obtained by various ethnic groups—not by a real-world manifestation of what those people do with their brains. I will take one good American engineer over 10 Chinese Ph.D’s any day of the week. Likewise, I'll take one good American software developer over 10 good Indian programmers. The reason again is the intangible of creativity. The Chinese engineer or Indian programmer, for example, can do but he/she can’t innovate or invent. Just one quick at the Apple iPod/iPhone, and you see why Americans do most of the great things. The rest of the world just complains about our arrogance or undo influence without offering anything themselves, but they follow our lead nevertheless.

I don’t think I’m an optimistic at all—merely being pragmatic and realistic. I’m not a U.S. cheerleader, and have in fact, been deeply critical of many government policies and of our general strategic direction. That criticism however doesn't mean that the rest of the world will pass us any time soon. I think one of America’s unique qualities is its boundless energy, and the unique ability to reengineer or reinvent itself as needed. Historically, many dominant empires or cultures were based mostly on sheer military innovation and might. I think America is different because it possesses a unique mix of dynamic, ethical, intellectual and innovative qualities that don't exist elsewhere. Our diversity is the engine that propels us, and thus I don’t think America will become complacent or overconfident.

Take the current energy and global warming crises, for example. While the U.S. led the world down the road toward oil-dependency and environmental catastrophe, I am confident that, within the next few decades, it will be the U.S. innovating and adapting its way out of this energy crisis—all while doing our part to improve the environment. This is because we are wealthy, innovative, ethical AND adaptable. In the meantime, China and India are just entering (too late as you can imagine), the oil-driven world. Can you believe that China and India still have sales and other incentives for having their people buy automobiles? China now has one of the fastest growing markets for large cars and SUVs, including Hummers! They face an economic and environmental catastrophe, and it is a good example of why Americans need not worry about China or India passing us in our lifetime. If they have so many smart people, how come they haven’t invented non-polluting plants, new alternative energy sources or perhaps an electric car, by now? Do you really think that someone in China will come up with a solution to our world's most vexing problems before an American? I wouldn’t bet on that.

America is easy to pick on or to criticize because we are highly visible and successful leader of the world, and people generally don’t like the big boy on the block. I think the U.S. is still out ahead of the pack, and while it’s convenient and easy to speculate about its imminent demise, we forget that the U.S.’s inherent advantages remain unchanged simply because they are attributes that other countries cannot easily manage, engineer, teach or copy.

Let’s take a look at China and Russia for a moment. Both countries have a long history of failed monarchies and a deep inferiority complex. While both now enjoy strong and growing economies based on manufacturing or bountiful natural resources, respectively, what would they do even if they should overtake the U.S. economically? Neither has any real sense of purpose. Neither country or people have a sense of global responsibility or the ethics or principles required to become a true leader. You are not a leader because you can produce more oil or children’s toys than anyone else. You are a leader because you can inspire, invent, produce and/or help lead the rest of the world forward.

So you can say “I told you so” when we see the next great transformative idea comes from outside this country. In the meantime, in the real-world, the U.S. remains unchallenged.

So I'm not a U.S cheerleader...

Go U.S! GO U.S! GO GO GO!

California Trip

2008-07-21T20:26:00.029-04:00

We recently took the kids on a fun two-week driving trip of California. The plan was to fly into Sacramento and spend the night in Santa Rosa. We'd do a bunch of stuff in Sonoma and Marin County before heading into "The City" (San Francisco, if you didn't know) for four days. Then, we're off to the great outdoors and Yosemite National Park. After three nights in Yosemite, we would drive west to Pacific Grove for a night before heading south on the PCH to Santa Barbara. From there, it was a short drive to our Los Angeles base in Santa Monica. Here are a few interesting bits from our trip:

For our first evening in California, we had booked the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country in Santa Rosa via Hotwire for $86. When we arrived however, we were told they were overbooked but would comp us a night at the neighboring Fountaingrove Inn. I was angry and immediately thought "bait and switch". We had a very nice stay at the Fountaingrove Inn however so I guess we can't complain.
The original plan was to visit Sonoma, Glen Ellen, Petaluma, Calistoga, Point Reyes and Muir Woods all in one day before heading into the city. Well, that turned out to be way too ambitious so we ended up doing about half of it. I'm not sure what I was thinking as far as Point Reyes goes--it really requires a day in of itself! Next time, we do all this over two full days.
There's only one TripAdvisor top-rated, sub-$200/night hotel in San Francisco--the Chancellor Hotel. It's an old hotel with smallish rooms and no A/C, but it gets high marks. Having travelled quite a bit, I was skeptical about being "wowed", but for $151/night including parking at Union Square, how could we go wrong? Well, this hotel was awesome! The rooms are smallish but had a small walk-in closet for storage. The beds were comfy and the in-room wifi was great. Even the hot weather during our stay didn't cause us to miss air conditioning. And most of the staff were extremely friendly and helpful throughout our stay. They had complimentary fruit, cookies, coffee and beverages in either the lobby or bar area most of the day. My only complaints were the lack of a view (forgot to ask), no in-room refrigerator and a noisy toilet.
In this day and age, many managers talk about customer service but almost nobody actually puts their money where their mouth is. Here's where the Chancellor's General Manager, Wes Tyler, really did go above and beyond. On arrival, I had emptied our car of luggage and some of our other belongings (including two $45 bottles of 2005 Benziger Oonapais wine) onto the sidewalk just outside the hotel. I went in to check-in while my wife stayed with the kids and watched the bellman load up our stuff. Later, after getting our stuff and settling in, we noticed the missing wine. By the time someone could outside, our wine was long gone. We were disappointed but the obviously the mistake was nobody's in particular. Well, Mr. Tyler found out about our missing wine from a review I posted on TripAdvisor. And although he clearly didn't have to, he felt responsible and shipped us another two bottles of the wine! Now, THAT'S customer service I haven't seen in a long time. Anyhow, his passion for taking care of his guests clearly shows in this outstanding hotel!
Unless you have money to burn, don't eat at McCormick and Kuleto's in Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco! My wife and I have eaten at a lot of restaurants in our time including some very nice places. What struck us about McCormick and Kuleto's is that, while the view and ambiance are good, the food quality was surprisingly mediocre and expensive. And this is consistent with other M&S restaurants. $60 for a appetizer sampler? $32 for overcooked fish? Even my daughter didn't like her kid's meal. Give me a break.
Yosemite Valley was the perfect place to experience nature's breath-taking beauty without leaving the comforts of home behind. While I've personally done everything from primitive camping to 5-star hotels, I wasn't sure just how much nature my wife could take. She grew up living in apartments and condos, and her idea of the wilderness is the clump of trees in our backyard. Well, Yosemite offers everything from campgrounds to the full-service Ahwahnee. The Ahwahnee even has a formal dining room with a dress code! So guess where we stayed? Yup. Needless to say, the Ahwahnee was nice but it was a bit too stuffy for our taste.
Around Yosemite Valley, there are great hiking and biking trails, regular shuttles to get you around, many restaurants (formal sit-down and buffets), a deli and pizzeria, two bike rental locations, and a grocery store. For us, the perfect blend of civilization and nature.
The Big Sur fire closed the PCH the day we were heading south on it, so we had turn around at Big Sur--costing us a two hour detour. All-in-all, we were not impacted by most of the California wildfires as we just avoided most of them. Most of them started kicking up soon after we departed an area. You would've thought we started them! Anyhow, we never made it to Santa Barbara that evening so we stayed at the Apple Farm Inn in San Luis Obispo. We'd stayed there before and enjoyed it again. I'm not sure how to use this experience in the future--how do you plan around wildfires?
The Getty Center in LA was a great place for families because they have a wide variety of different art, interesting public spaces, and many things to do for the kids. I also felt like we were home in DC because, like the Smithsonian, there is no admission fee!
The last time we visited LA, we stumbled across a downtown LA shoot of "Wayne's World 2". It was very interesting and we got to see or meet Dana Carvey, Mike Meyers, Tia Carrera and Christopher Walken. This time, we were taking the kids to see the walk of stars in Hollywood, only to discover the street was closed for the red carpet premier event for "Hancock". Depending on who you ask in the family, we either cherished or wasted several hours hanging out waiting to see, shake hands or take pics of various celebs, including but not limited to, Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Peter Berg, Jason Bateman, Chris Daughtry, Sinbad, Sean Combs and the Cheetah Girls. Who are the Cheetah Girls anyhow???

Pre-Travel CheckList of Things to Do

2008-07-19T23:53:00.001-04:00

Here's my list of things I always do before leaving on vacation:

In advance of leaving:
- Ask a friend or neighbor to check in periodically. They can make sure the walkway and driveway are clear of newspapers and other deliverables, and can water plants if you are away for an extended period
- Stop the newspaper and hold the mail

On the day of travel:
- Turn off the main water. Water is one of the biggest dangers to your home and possessions. Don't even think of leaving your house vulnerable to pressurized water in your pipes! This applies year round but especially in the winter when pipes can also freeze and crack. Also, every toilet loses some water over time so you will also be conserving water.
- Set back the temperature on your thermostat(s) to conserve heat or A/C.
- Set back the temperature on your water heater. Why heat water when you're not using it?
- Pack the freezer. The freezer will run much more efficiently when it's jam-packed.
- Put the refrigerator in vacation or energy-saving mode. Many refrigerators now allow you to stop the automatic defrost cycling that consumes extra energy. Defrosting is unnecessary when nobody is opening and closing the doors that would usually allow humidity to enter and freeze inside the unit. Alternatively, manually move the freezer temp up to 5 degrees F and the refrigerator temp to 40-45 degrees F.
- Unplug transformer bricks, TVs, computers, cable set-top boxes and other energy-consuming devices. Remember most modern electronics draw significant power even when they are "off". For example, a 65-inch LCD TV can draw 76 watts even when it is "off"!
- Prep your cars. If you're going away for awhile, disconnect your car's batteries or, if you don't want to lose your memorized radio and seating positions, keep them on an intelligent battery charger. Many modern (especially luxury) vehicles draw plenty of amps even when parked so an extended vacation can leave your battery weak or drained by the time you return.
- Set-up timers for lights in different rooms that closely simulate your "normal" home occupancy patterns
- Turn off all lights not on timers
- Relocate plants susceptible to temperature extremes to other parts of the house, and water them well.
- Close all windows
- Empty the trash. Your salmon from last night's dinner ain't gonna smell so good two weeks from now!
- Arm the security system

And for me, most of the above applies anytime we are away from the house for even 24 hours. Hope this helps!

HP Printers

2008-07-14T22:37:00.006-04:00

I've personally been buying and using HP printers for over twenty years now. I fondly remember our old HP LaserJet II, IIId and 4si printers from the 80's and 90's. They each probably printed several hundred thousand pages with hardly any servicing or maintenance before eventually quitting. In 1999, we purchased our HP LaserJet 5000GN and, nine years and probably a hundred thousand pages later, it's still going strong! We kill fewer trees these days because we print so much less than we used to. The 90's vision of the "paperless" office is really approaching reality!

I'm disappointed to report that my 2 1/2 year-old HP OfficeJet 7410 inkjet's scanner unit apparently just failed. When copying or scanning, the unit will routinely make a loud grinding noise, displays a "scanner failure" error message, and hangs. So now it can print but can't scan, fax or photocopy.

Since it's out of warranty, nobody locally wants to fix it, and it's not worth shipping it for service. As my home office unit, I doubt it's even scanned or printed 1,000 pages yet and it still smells and looks like new. At $468 delivered, that means it cost me about 46 cents per page to own and operate, and that doesn't include the cost of toner and paper! I realize I can't compare a multifunction inkjet-based printer to a workhorse LaserJet, but this multifunction unit wasn't that much cheaper than those LaserJets.

I've since replaced this defective HP OfficeJet 7410 with a new HP LaserJet CM1312mfp multifunction. We'll see how long this one lasts, but I'm certain it's not going to make it to 100,000 copies or 10 years like the old workhorses...