Right now I’m (hopefully) somewhere over Ohio or something, with about an hour to go before arriving in Philly. Then it’s the mad dash across the airport to hurry up and wait for the flight home. The last leg is on a Dash 8, so hopefully we won’t be experiencing icing conditions (or at least there isn’t a rookie flight crew). Well, one way or another this should all be over soon. A good time, and a lot to cram into my brain in such a short time. Can’t wait to see the dogs again. Oh, and the wife, too. But then I have to go back to work again tomorrow? How’s that not gonna suck?

Ah, finally at the last day of what seems like a month-long conference. Last night was the big Max Awards ceremony and the “Sneak Peeks” look at things in development that may or may not ship as (or in) future products. And some mighty cool things indeed. The event was hosted by Mark Hamill (aka, Luke Skywalker) and had (predictably) a Star Wars theme. It was actually pretty funny, and there was a huge party afterward, which I bailed out on fairly early, since no sleep and not eating right (to the extent that I actually do in the first place), make me a very dull boy indeed. Another full day of workshops and sessions, and then a few hours to kill before the trauma of the airport and security and all that nonsense they run you through (not that I want to get blown up or anything). Well, I better get packing (literally). Have a good hump day.

Busy day again yesterday. Got to see some clips from a new movie – Avatar – that was filmed in 3D. Well, I guess they’re all filmed in 3D (except cartoons), but you know what I mean. They used a new method, so instead of the crappy cardboard glasses, they handed out some snazzy polarized ones. The effect was like looking through one of those GAF ViewMaster things. There was a scene in the jungle with bugs flying around that looked like they were all around you. Kinda cool. Not sure the movie is all that great, but the 3D was good.

Met the stereotypical LA “actor” working as a catering guy at the Convention Center last night. Been in 67 movies and is tight with Quentin Tarantino (but, sadly, keeps catching him “between projects”). Doesn’t know how to do e-mail, though, which he thinks is slowing him down. His wife “the writer” is good at it though, so maybe she can give him some tips. If you’ve ever seen the Starz show “Party Down,” this guy would fit right in.

I haven’t been paying much attention to what’s going on out there in the world. I assume everything still sucks, everyone’s still obsessed with David Letterman, and Swine Flu is poised to cull 50% of the human population. I did see that the WaPost has seen fit to do a profile on everybody’s favorite Dentist/Lawyer/Birther/Gabor Sister, Oily Taintz. Nice, they see fit to legitimize that nut. Damn liberal press.

Oh well, time to get ready to get ready, I guess. One more night here, more conference shit all day tomorrow, and then the red eye back to Philly (I’ll be there between about 6:00 and 7:30, Andy, if you wanna grab a cheesesteak at the airport/mall; you’ll need to figure out how to get through security, though) Wednesday night into Thursday morning (sure am glad it’s an hour shorter flight on the way back; I hope the Jet Stream is crankin’ tomorrow night), before getting home somewhere around 9:00 EDT. I’m definitely looking forward to getting back to Eastern Time, though not especially to being back at work on Friday. I think maybe I’ll go to work on Pacific Time, and then kinda ease my way into EDT by the end of the day.

Have a good’un.

Yesterday was a day-long, rather technical workshop in a very hot room packed with computers and sweaty geeks. Not as glamorous as it sounds. You haven’t lived until you’ve spent a day learning how to optimize threads and caching techniques, trust me. They seem to have employed about a million people, all dressed in black Adobe outfits, holding signs I couldn’t read, and checking to make sure you have your badge on, all while smiling and asking how you are and being friendly and shit. It gets annoying pretty quick. The swag so far has been pretty unimpressive – a crappy friggin’ reusable grocery bag that isn’t big enough to actually be of use as a grocery bag, and a water bottle that’s OK, but, who really needs another water bottle? The badge lanyard has a 4-gig flash drive built into it, and the workshop dude yesterday handed out a business card-size 2-gig drive yesterday. OK, I guess, but, like water bottles, not exactly something I really need. This is definitely going on the evaluation (fewer friendly sign holders and better crap next time, please; oh, and let’s crank up the a/c in the labs, fer crissakes). Today is the first official day of the conference, so hopefully the vendors will have some decent shit to hand out.

Got into LAX more or less on time yesterday afternoon. On the drive from the airport, I was struck by the fact that there appeared to be a bunch of tall buildings off in the distance, though they were obscured by what appeared to be a big ball of dirt. As we got closer, I was surprised to see the vague outline of some mountains in the background (again, hard to see through the dirt), and then I even saw the Hollywood sign. Once you’re inside the big ball of dirt, it isn’t noticeable, though I kind of wonder about breathing the air. Not that there’s an alternative, I guess.

Big sports-type weekend here. My hotel is right across from the Staples Center here, and there was a big party going on for the first LA Kings (that’s hockey; yes, they have hockey in LA, but no NFL) game. Lots of excitement, though they wound up losing to Phoenix (Phoenix has hockey?). Everybody was also all psyched up for the USC/Cal football game, too (kind of a Southern Cal vs. Northern Cal rivalry, I guess). A little more luck for the home town team there, as USC won big. Tomorrow, there’s a triathlon going on, and the street my hotel is on is going to be blocked off (hope they’ll let us cross on foot).

There’s a place across the street that purports to have the world’s most beers on tap. I didn’t count, but they certainly have a pretty impressive keg room and distribution system, and I was able to get a good IPA. I just wonder if they flush the lines every night. Sadly, every place around here except for he ESPN Zone gives you beer in a warm (or at least not cold) glass. Well, I suppose you have to make certain sacrifices when you’re out roughing it. Otherwise, I spent a lot of time walking around yesterday before finally packing it in and trying to get some sleep. After a sleepless night the night before and not much luck trying to snooze on the plane, I did get some decent sleep.

Anything interesting on the Boobleheads today? Maddow on Press the Meet’s roundtable. Levin, Zinni, and Skelton on Faze the Nation. Talk about Iran, and an interview with Colombia’s president on Fareed Zakaria’s GPS. Fux still sux. Guess that’s about it.

The hotel gets HBO, so at least I’ll be able to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm (if I can stay up that late, which is unlikely), but I’ll miss most of the football today, which is too bad, though I should be able to catch the second half of the Jets/Saints game (if it’s on out here, which is probably doubtful).

I’m still three hours ahead so now I just have to sit here for a few hours and wait for LA to catch up with me. Have a good Sunday.

I’ll be leaving for the airport in a few minutes, heading off to LA for the Adobe Max conference. It should be an interesting (and somewhat exhausting) time, since I’m taking what would probably be a month’s worth of workshops in four days. Hopefully I’ll learn something. I’m not real crazy about the whole traveling thing – especially the hassles involved with flying (and a six-hour flight from Philly to LA; my knees start to ache after about an hour of sitting). The worst part is not being able to watch the SU/USF game today. They play at noon, so the game should be just about ending as my flight lands in LA (assuming we’re close to being on time). Then again, given that South Florida beat Fla. St. last week, maybe it’s better that I don’t have to watch.

I also have to admit to being a bit of a wimp when it comes to being away from my home and my dogs (oh, and my wife, too, of course). But I reckon I’ll survive for a few days (not like that horrible summer I had to spend in DC; hard to believe that was three years ago already). My hotel has Internet access (of course), but I don’t know how much time I’ll have to post anything (not that anybody would probably notice), so feel free to fill in the gaps, should you find yourself motivated. And on the odd chance my plane crashes, well, it’s been nice knowin’ ya.

Have a good weekend.

Our hero, Senate Majority “Leader” Harry Reid, made a bold statement on health care reform in a conference call with some Nevada constituents yesterday, declaring “[w]e are going to have a public option before this bill goes to the president’s desk.” Way to go, Harry. I had my doubts about you, but, by golly, I think you’re finally starting to get it. But wait a minute. While speaking with reporters later in the day, Harry said “[r]emember, a public option is a relative term. There’s a public option, there’s a public option, and there’s a public option, and we’re going to look at each of them.” :smack: Uh. Well, alrighty then.

So, I guess David Letterman was forced to admit to having sex with women who work on his show after some clown tried to extort $2 million from him. It’s a sad commentary on the state of the nation when highly esteemed late night talk show hosts start acting like common Republican political trash. Well, except for all the blubbering, job abandonment, and “soul mate” nonsense. I’m not sure how we’ll ever recover from this national nightmare, but all we can really do is try and carry on. Stiff upper lip (among other things) and all that.

Everybody’s new hero, Florida Rep Alan Grayson, appeared on the Ed Schultz show yesterday. The split screen featuring their two giant heads was very impressive (it was a bit like watching Kodos and Kang). It amazes me that it’s taken this long for a friggin’ Democrat to realize it’s a good thing to stand up to bullies. I mean, didn’t they ever see “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie goes all medieval on Farkus’ ass? It amazes me (though it shouldn’t) how Republicans play the outraged victim role. After all the lies about death panels and “sex clinics” and killing grandma, suddenly they’re feelers are hurt when somebody calls them out on the obstructionist bullshit. What a bunch of whiny losers.

Oh well, another week on the verge of being over with – about a day too late, if you ask me.

After originating as a six-minute comedy sketch on Jackie Gleason’s Cavalcade of Stars five years earlier, “The Honeymooners” premiered 54 years ago today as a half-hour sitcom. Seeing as it’s managed to live on in our hearts and minds (not to mention in reruns, VHS, DVD, a crappy movie version with Cedric the Entertainer, and a thinly veiled cartoon “homage” in the form of the Flintstones) for the past 50+ years, it’s hard to believe it only lasted 39 episodes, broadcasting its final show less than a year after it premiered (though it did return in the form of comedy sketches in various Jackie Gleason variety-type shows and a few one-hour specials). I wonder if the Gotham Bus Company provided health insurance back in 1955? Since Ed Norton was a NYC municipal employee, presumably he and Trixie, at least, were covered (BTW, the NYC Sewage Workers local 1320 has been working without a contract since 2002).

What do you do if you’re the governor of a blood-thirsty state and faced with the fact that you’ve executed an innocent man? Well, if you’re Texas Governor Rick “The Secessionist” Perry, you stick your fingers in your ears and loudly proclaim “la-la-la-la-lah! I can’t hear you!”

A report concluding a faulty investigation led to a Texas man’s execution won’t be reviewed by a state board as planned Friday after Gov. Rick Perry abruptly removed three people from the panel, forcing the meeting’s cancellation.

Perry, who has said the execution was appropriate, replaced the head of the Texas Forensic Science Commission and two of its eight other board members Wednesday. The upheaval on the commission came just 48 hours before it was to consider a report critical of the arson finding leading to Cameron Todd Willingham’s execution for the deaths of his three daughters in a 1991 fire.

Baltimore-based arson expert Craig Beyler, who was hired by the commission, concluded the arson finding was scientifically unsupported and investigators at the scene had “poor understandings of fire science.”

Craig, buddy, c’mon. Science? You’ll never get anywhere with that nonsense.

I really have no desire to live in Florida (too hot for me), but I’m tempted to move to its 8th District, just so I can vote for Alan Grayson, who appears to be the only Democrat out there with some semblance of a spine. You’ve no doubt seen Grayson giving a speech on the House floor, declaring that the Rebublican health care plan is premised on the idea that sick Americans should “die quickly” (note to Democrats; this is how you counter the “Death Panels” lie – by telling the truth about these godless hypocrites and their mindless sycophants).

Grayson followed up with an appearance on CNN, where he again spoke the truth, calling Republicans “foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who think they can dictate policy to America by being stubborn,” insisting that he’s just “saying what everyone else has been thinking but no one else has been saying.” As for whether he should apologize?

Apologize? I’m not the one who should be apologizing. They should apologize to America.

Amen, brother.

Yesterday’s rally in Albany against mandatory experimental flu vaccinations got a mention on the NBC evening news last night (rare that I actually watch that, but it happened to be on). A brief mention, but a mention nonetheless. I looked at the coverage on the Albany Times-Union website yesterday, and there was a brief article that happened to mention that some of the people who organized the event were the same folks who organized the “tea bag” dog and pony shows (funny, they didn’t mention that NYSNA – the NY State Nurses Association – and PEF – the Public Employees Federation – were also involved and are opposed to Mengelese-style forced medical experimentation). There is considerable bile and hatred expressed in comments to the story – against the “right wing” loonies who would deign to be opposed to having a concoction that consists of (among other things) squalene and a mercury-based neurotoxin force-injected into their bodies (the package insert for the Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine manufactured by Novartis has supposedly been leaked on the Internet [pdf], and admits that known side effects include guillain-barre syndrome, vasculitis, anaphylactic shock and even death). So, yes, my dirty little secret is out – I’m a teabagging, Glenn Beck-worshipping, right wing loony. Funny how the story didn’t mention that the NYS DOH Commissioner and his Goldman-Sachs wife support the likes of Chuck Grassley, Mitt Romney, Rudy Guiliani, and GW Bush. I suppose then the crowd would have been characterized as a bunch of liberal stooges or something. Oh well.

The Senate Finance Committee failed report out a health care reform bill that includes a public option, in spite of the fact that somewhere in the vicinity of 70% of “we the people” want it. This is either a devastating blow to Barack Obama (as the NBC Nightly News seemed to suggest last night), or an encouraging sign that a public option will be part of the final bill, since it got 10 votes in the very conservative (aka, in the pocket of Big Pharma and the insurance industry) SFC. Meanwhile, people continue to lose their jobs, their health insurance, and their homes.

Oh well, now that I’m a rightwinger, I guess I don’t have to care whether people have health care or jobs anymore. Time to start stocking up on the canned food an ammo, I guess (as soon as I buy a gun; I wonder when this guy will hold his next “Machine Gun Social“).

You probably recall the “deal” President Obama, Max Baucus (bought with over a million dollars from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries in the current cycle alone), and Big Pharma made a while back. You know, the one that nobody asked you about, declaring that the re-importation of drugs from Canada would not be a part of any comprehensive health care reform? Well, they didn’t ask Byron Dorgan’s opinion of it either, and he says “bullshit!” Dorgan intends to introduce an amendment to health care reform calling for the importation of drugs, similar to a bill already introduced in the Senate ( S. 1232) which the Congressional Budget Office estimates would result in $50 billion in direct savings over the next decade – saving the federal govenment $10.6 billion. Since S. 1232 already has 30 cosponsors – Republicans Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, John Thune, and Senator Family Values, David Vitter, there’s a pretty good chance it’ll pass, assuming it comes to a floor vote, which seems likely, as Harry Reid has voted for drug importation in the past. It’d be better to allow the feds to negotiate for drug prices (or, god forbid, set limits the way other countries do) rather than play this “re-importation” game, but good for you, Byron. And shame on any Democrat who votes against it (and shame on the Democrats who got into bed with the drug companies to come up with this “deal” in the first place).

Speaking of health care reform, Jay Rockefeller is set to offer an amendment to the Senate Finance Committee’s version of health care reform, calling for a public option. Chuck Schumer (who supports and will vote for Rockefeller’s amendment) will offer his own, weaker, amendment as a backup option. Getting any sort of public option through the SFC will be awfully difficult, but will bode well for any bill that makes it to the Senate floor for a vote. Liberal Democrats appear to have actually developed a spine over this, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

Rally in Albany today for health care workers that don’t want to be H1N1 vaccine guinea pigs (NY being the only – so far – state mandating flu vaccines). Surprisingly, it even made the local news. Be there, or be square.

As for me, I can’t attend, ‘cuz have to go to work.