Back in PDX, took a few pictures...

London in the Fog
Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

So we are finally back in PDX fron the UK, probably too jet-lagged to stay up tonight, but after two weeks of visiting I'm not too bothered about one early night.

The journey back was not fun: 2 and a 1/2 hours in the line for security at Gatwick - door-to-door (Cambridge UK to Hillsdale OR) it took 24 hours. We had special searching from the Dept. of Ag. because of the food we brought back (pickles, mostly), and after customs you have to go thru security again, so you must remember to re-pack your duty free you just bought in the checked luggage as suddenly it isn't safe any more (it was safe accross the Atlantic!).

The nice thing was that the pet sitting neighbors left milk,eggs,bread and juice which was very welcome indeed.

(Blogged from my Nintendo DS, using their Opera web browser, not available in the US, probably won't post from it again, keyboard is awkward, browsing is quite nice).

Foggy Christmas in England

Foggy Christmas in England
Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

(This picture will get updated later with a bigger one).



This was taken from the London Eye. I was lucky not to get caught in the big transport problems, the day after I landed all London all the London airports were closed.



I got a SIM card for my phone - data rate is 0.73p per kb - that about 1.46c - it is amazing how quickly that adds up!



Mobile blogged via Flickr.com to

http://majorclanger.blogspot.com

Detroit Airport

Detroit Airport
Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

I found some free WiFi outside a premier lounge. 5 hour layover on the way to UK, got some exercise walking the concourse...



Pic: nice fountain and Christmas music



Mobile blogged via Flickr.com to

http://majorclanger.blogspot.com

Andy Warhol is a Scream!

Andy Warhol is a Scream! Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

Made using an electronic Andy Warholizer (Ha! Another noun which has now been verbed. Calvin and Hobbes had it right when they said "Verbing Weirds Language").

So, what next? An electronic Picasso or Beethoven?
BTW - I'm sick - cough and cold, so I'm spending more time inside playing with the Internets. Can you tell?

One last panorama from DC, Imposing WWII Memorial

World War II Memorial Panorama, Washington DC Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

The World War II Memorial is very gray, so when it is cloudy and raining is seems even grayer. It is a very imposing memorial, but it seems a little too big and gray in my view, and doesn't seem very personal. No-one is there because it is raining quite hard and it is about 10am in the morning. Best seen big. See Wikipedia page.

Panoramas from DC

Here are some panorama's and stitched stuff from DC. All were stitched with Autostitch. This is inside the National Museum of the American Indian, which is an amazing new building with a huge atrium. There are dancers at the very bottom.

Outside the Capitol.

Inside the Capitol dome - Washington Apotheosis. Slightly disturbing to turn Washington into a God! This was taken with a zoom and then stitched then warped.

I love the Hubble Space Telescope. This picture doesn't give it a sense of size, which is a shame.

The lost postings from DC

Here is a link to the complete Flickr Set, here are some highlights: Some of the signs are very demanding, almost intimidating. I was careful to push this button as soon as I saw the sign, as it didn't say what the penalty was for not pushing it. Lincoln memorial at night: I hadn't really grokked that this was on the back of the $5 bill until now. I took these with a mini-tripod at a remote control. Here is a different reflecting pool than the usual one: boy did it rain! In summary: DC rocks, too much to do in one short visit.

The View from my hotel room in Washington DC

The View from my hotel room in Washington DC Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

We arrived in DC very hungry as there were limited options to buy food on United - "Fly the hungry skies" should be their motto - no chance to buy food in Chicago either as the first plane from Portland was delayed. Hotel is posh except that the TV has problem with the PXE boot (!), other channels do work (see picture). We ate in a very nice Indian restaurant called "The Bombay Club" (not Cricket Club like the one in Portland) - a sign said that the Clintons ate there for Chelsea's 17th Birthday, the food was very tasty, small portions and not too spicy. (Wow, I ate in a room in which a Clinton ate. The ambiance!).

Blog fixed!

Light from a prism in the National Museum of the American Indian Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

Aha! All attempts to blog from Washington DC were ruined because the blogger API changed, and I needed to reconfigure Flickr. Sigh. I paid $10 per day for Internet access at the hotel :-( This is a test posting: Light from a prism in the National Museum of the American Indian. One huge blog entry with lots of pictures to follow!

How accurate is my rain gauge?

It says 2.2 inches for today. It seems like a lot more! Slightly more than this station close by in Hillsdale. It went up to 2.24 at midnight. Glad I'm not driving to work tomorrow!

Can rain cause an earthquake?

Did he rain cause an earthquake? The house shook again, seems it a 2.7. Just a quick jump. That was the third one I've felt since being in Oregon...

How hard can it be to pay the phone bill?

Text Crazy!
Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

I hadn't realized how complicated my life had got until I tried to pay some phone bills last week. It took 3 phone calls (2 international) and 3 on-line customer support sites just to pay a small phone bill.

It all seemed so simple: the credit card I used to auto-pay my US long distance plan had expired - it was also the same credit card I used on a UK long distance plan I also pay for. All I needed to do was change the date on both and everything would be fine.

Part 1 (Monday UK account online crap): Their on-line system won't let me log in because I don't have a UK postcode, I emailed customer support. They say there is no way they can make it work so I need to call them (which costs me money!). Their office hours are lame so I'll have to get up at 6am to call them. Aha! But... I can't call them because the US one keeps telling me I need to re-charge even thought I do have some money in the account... so, I need to do that first.

Part 2 (Tuesday US 5:30am): The US phone company's on-line site won't accept the new credit card, so I called, they entered the details and 30 minutes later it failed. So much for getting up early. I used a different card and that worked, but it wasn't the card I wanted to use.

Part 3 (Tuesday First UK phone call): I called the UK company's customer support. None of my credit cards will work because they don't a UK postcodes (they worked before! WTF!). Their call center seems to have been outsourced to India and we can't understand each other. For example, I ask "Do you take American Express?" they respond "Yes" but when I give the number they say "We can't take credit card that starts with a "3"". So they don't. Why did they say yes?

Part 4 (Tuesday Second UK phone call): I remembered that I have a UK credit card, so I called them back later that day as I found a spare moment, between the shouting matches and meetings (work). That didn't work either. So basically my only option now is to send a UK cheque which will take a week and will mean I have to go to a post office. The phone bill is actually for 15 quid, 10 quid is an "over due charge", I'm sure the cheque won't arrive in time.

Part 5 (Tuesday Online banking): Eureka! (Maybe...) My UK bank has an on-line banking system which will make instant payments! I type in the name of the phone company and it matches 3 different companies, I can't tell which one is mine as they don't have addresses or other information. So, I email the bank and wait....

Part 6 (Saturday) They responded and tell me which one it is! Yeah, I can finally pay. So, I've paid, but I have a nagging suspicion that it could still be the wrong company. Sigh.

One thing I did do: I set up an "automatic direct debit payment" for the UK phone bill, so hopefully I'll never have to do that again. (They chard an extra 1.50 if you don't do this - this is more than the phone call charges!). I just have to remember to keep money in my UK bank account. That is completely different problem - I have to actually go into the US bank and wire the cash, but I least I don't have to do that very often...

The moral of the story: globalization isn't quite there yet...it's the little things that make changing your country of residence difficult!

Spider Pumpkin 2006

Spider Pumpkin 2006
Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

Scary?

So scary that not many kids came by... well actually we had more than last year, 9 kiddies in total including a giraffe with little red riding hood (surely that should be a wolf?), and superman with costume that lit up.

One excited group of teenagers was happy that they had found a neighborhood that no one else was "working"...

There is no substitute for lack of preparatio...n

There is no substitute for lack of preparatio...n
Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

Words of wisdom from the mysterious sign.

Flickr has a new map feature. Click here to see this on a map. Cool, huh?

Why doesn't anyone go to the Oregon Garden?

Frog @ Oregon Garden
Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

I don't understand why no-one ever seems to be there. The garden is full of interesting plants and flowers, animals, birds and Oregon's only Frank Llyod Wright Building, yet still it struggles for attendence.

On labor day there was hardly anyone there. Is it too expensive? ($10) or too far from Portland (40 miles) or what?