Transiting Chicago O'Hare

Chicago O'Hare has an undeserved reputation as a terrible airport to transit. I find transiting between American or United flights at ORD painless. Even during irregular operations, the airport and its airline tenants do a decent job of making things work. (Having realistic expectations helps this.)

This is the tunnel between the B and C concourses, offering beautiful dancing neon and Brian Eno ambient music. If this doesn't soften the hardened traveler's jaded heart, what will?

Quack Quack

Ever since interning at Quack.com, I've been a sucker for duck-themed goofiness.

Here's a happy family of mallards on the University of Washington east campus. Mum's none too pleased about me approaching to take a picture.

Seaview Boatyard

The Zenith of Adak, Alaska is a long way from home. Adak is closer to Vladivostok than Seattle. Perhaps the expertise available here at the Seaview Boatyard makes it worth the trip?

I can imagine that a Marine Travelift could be handy around the yard now and again! One could pick up and relocate the whole garage if so inclined...

A Few Lazy Afternoons Left

As I approach gainful employment, my enjoyable afternoons filled with cycling and coffee will become harder to come by.

Although nothing like the coffeeshops in Melbourne, Cugini in Ballard makes a decent cup and offers superb ambiance.

Citizenship Plant

This is a bottlebrush seedling (Callistemon), given to me during my Australian citizenship ceremony. It's not clear which of the many species it is, so we'll have to see how it turns out.

I thought it was done for following a week away for P&T's wedding - it was dried to a crisp, lost all its leaves, and was showing no signs of life. But my father revived it, and now it is back in business! I guess the legendary Australian drought resistance of native plants really is true.

New Car!

I am now the owner of a 2005 Toyota Matrix! My requirements led to a choice between Subaru wagons and this car. The Toyota won due to better fuel economy.

In the picture is my Giant TCR road bike, fitting nicely in the back without taking off the front wheel.

Discovery Park

Discovery Park is the westernmost piece of Seattle. That's Mt Ranier looming over the Port of Seattle. Downtown isn't quite visible; it's hidden behind the Briarcliff neighborhood you can see to the left.

It was Fort Lawton until the early 1970s. During WWII, there were as many as 1000 German POWs imprisioned here. Today, it's a vigorous ride down (and then back up from) the beach. There's no way aside from swimming to avoid the 320' hill between this location and the rest of the city.

Poplar Fluff Attack

Cycling through the Arboretum, I came across rolling oceans of poplar fluff! It looks like the grass is losing the battle here.

Poplars (cottonwoods) shed these wonderful cottony seeds, and there must be a large volume of the trees in the area to provide for this amount of fluff.

Spanair Error Fare

We are headed to Minorca in September! Spanair filed a fare for Calgary to Mahon that was missing a digit. SK's YYC-MAH fare EKWCA was C$55, plus taxes and surcharges. The fare has since been refiled as C$855.

The only routing available was the straightforward YYC-AC-YYZ-AC-MAD-SK-MAH and return. Fortunately, there are Spanair codeshares of Air Canada flights Calgary to Toronto and Toronto to Madrid. This means no AC fuel surcharges, and a modest total cost of US$96. I expect 10,050 UA elite qualifying miles from this.

I look forward to seeing the public art in YYZ's T1 again!

Harbor Island

I rode around Seattle a bit today, including a tour of Harbor Island, which sits between downtown Seattle and West Seattle. The island is entirely reclaimed land used for port operations, including bulk fuel, rail, and container shipping. This picture was taken from a vacant lot on the west side, looking southwest across the main channel of the Duwamish River.

Seattle was the fifth-biggest port in the US by container volume [2005] but has since slipped to ninth place in the US [2007]. It's hard to compare against Vancouver BC, because the port authority there combines traffic figures across the whole metro region. (Tacoma is counted separately in the US figures).

While in the area, I crossed the Spokane Street double-leaf swing bridge for the novelty of it.

Kitesurfing in Puget Sound

This very skilled kitesurfer performed numerous jumps in front of me, on the beach at Carkeek Park. He was consistent in landing dramatically close to the edge of the water, which resulted in his kite overhanging a fair bit of the shore.

Potbellied Prohibition

Indeed, the Seattle Municipal Code is quite specific:

"It is unlawful for the owner to:
B. Permit any cat, dog, potbelly pig or other animal to enter any public fountain or any school ground while school is in session or during after-school activities."

Miniature goats are covered separately (and much more restrictively) in subsection E.

Lefkosia, Cyprus

A few years ago, we visited Cyprus on an Alitalia mistake fare, YYZ-LCA in business class. It was a wonderful trip, and we traveled with R&L who came down from Dublin to join us.

This is the Turkish side of Nicosia/Lefkosia, on a day trip as pedestrians through the NATO-run DMZ.

439 King St W

I used to work at 439 King St W in Toronto. This was the first office of Kinitos, which then became NeoEdge Networks.

It was a beautiful property to work in. This picture was taken from the construction crane across the intersection.

Wing flexing

Airplane wings are designed to flex under load. Pictured at left is the wing of a Boeing 737-900 at taxi, and in flight. I was very careful to frame the picture for a fair comparison.

There are more extreme perspectives available - see the curvature of the wings of a Japan Airlines 747 at LAX.