[1]: http://kpmartin.www62.a2hosting.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/deicing.jpg
[2]: http://kpmartin.www62.a2hosting.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/fog.jpg
[3]: http://kpmartin.www62.a2hosting.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/abovethefog.jpg
[4]: http://kpmartin.www62.a2hosting.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/legolandgate.jpg
[5]: http://kpmartin.www62.a2hosting.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/darthandr2.jpg
[6]: http://kpmartin.www62.a2hosting.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/volvolegoland.jpg

The flight went well. The family dropped my off and I skillfully navigated the security checkpoint. A pleasant change from last time’s minor fiasco of not being able to get my double-knotted shoes untied.

We left a little late because [these creatures][1] needed to do de-icing. It was a cold, humid day. We’d received an inch of snow in about 45 minutes earlier that morning. We got on to the runway, and then immediately got off. The pilot said we’d been ordered onto the runway too close to the time a plane was to land on the same runway. They landed with a minute of our leaving the runway. Yikes!

We took off. Very quickly fog obscured, and then eliminated, the scenery. Nothing but [the wing and engine floating in white][2]. For an uncomfortably long time. And finally we [broke out of it][3]. Ahh.

We went over the Rockies, but it was nighttime, so there was nothing to see. Hopefully I’ll see more on the afternoon return flight.

Soon I’ll need to go track down the shuttle that the concierge, Josh, scheduled for me. I was dreading tracking down transportation to Carlsbad. I told him he was my hero for getting it taken care of. He seemed a little taken aback by that.

**The next day:** Well, the day’s meetings are over and I’m sitting in the hotel’s attached Karl Strauss restaurant, where it seems there’s a particular physical qualification for employment. Oh! A waiter (who was exempt from the qualification) just brought me my Ceasar. It looks like a fish. Well, half a fish. I wish I had my camera.

I walked over to [Legoland][4] late this afternoon. Josh the concierge told me to walk down the sidewalk past the big entrance to the “secret” door in the bushes. It’s actually just the hotel’s special entrance, but it had the feel of inside information. Legoland had just closed, but the security guard let me in to poke around a little and buy some stuff. I was able to catch Darth Vader doing a little [practice sparring][5] to R2D2’s amusement. And leaving I saw a novel [Volvo promotion][6].

My fish and chips are here already. I guess she wants to turn this table. She has no idea how long I can nurse a pint of stout. Back in a few.

Well, that was good. I haven’t eaten all day, so I went at it pretty hard: mothers had to cover the eyes of their weeping children as they hurried them out of the restaurant. OK, only in my imagination. The fish and chips weren’t quite Brit’s Pub good, but still good. I de-boned the caesar and it was OK. It was romaine. I prefer spinach.

Well, I’m off to the sauna. Josh told me where that was, too. Josh has been very helpful. I’m a very needy guest. He even gave me a free breakfast coupon for this restaurant, so I guess I’ll be back in the morning. It’ll beat orange juice and bagels.

[1]: http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2006/02/20060226135613.shtml
[2]: http://www.kpmartin.com/?p=55

**Jack is sick.** Tummy sick. Oh, man. Eeeew. Note to self: Don’t let a stomach flu coincide with a broken washing machine.

The recently noted **spy photos of an upcoming video iPod** are fake. The hoaxer made a [step-by-step video][1] of the creation of his popular deception.

The scale tells me that I was unaffected by the [The Ritz Cracker Incident][2]. **I am invincible**.

I just started **flying for work**. My first encounter ever with post-September 11th airport security was, well, not smooth like James Bond. But then I wasn’t eventually strapped down to a table with lasers creeping their way toward my inseam either, so I’ve got that going for me.

I’ll be posting on Greek class later. :)

Sure, maybe for the sake of argument I can give you that eating a whole tube of Ritz crackers is not a great weight loss strategy. And perhaps – possibly – topping said crackers with 0.4 pounds of five-year-old cheddar cheese is similarly less than ideal.

So what? OK? What’s it to you anyway? All right?

[1]: http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/02/how_to_bending_spacetime_in_th.html

I have a real affinity for ‘old fashioned’ science, where simple objects can be made to show things which you can see or touch. It’s a refreshing diversion from buttons and screens.

Well, [here’s something][1] I have to try. Sure, we all have heard that objects with mass have gravity, but it’s always just lingered as an idea in my mind. That experiment uses simple, old concepts to demonstrate the concept right before your eyes.

There’s video available there in case you’re curious but will never perform the experiment. :)