Chiang Mai T Shirts

We had dinner tonight with Rachel, one of the other AJWS volunteers who's working with a Burmese related organization. We ate at the vegetarian restaurant across the street from the North Gate of Chiang Mai University. After dinner, we wandered around the little night market there, which like the one near us on the south side of the University, is geared toward students. Rachel has been getting pictures each day of the number of days she's been here. Today she was looking for the number 41. She has them on the photo section of her blog.

While we were looking I discovered a really neat T shirt shop. The guy said he did them all himself. I liked their originality but none of them had my name on it. He said some were sold in Germany.



Then we found another spot selling T shirts. These were also neat, but again, there was something not quite right - in one case the word nigga - in the middle of the T shirt, so I ended up with some pictures of T shirts. The second batch were from Bangkok they told me.

The Pomegranate Phone

From Jost a Mon is this link to the Pomegranate Phone. And you thought iPhones were hip and Nova Scotia wasn't. Just click on the phone to see what it can do.

Trip List Makes Traveling a Little Easier

We leave for almost three months in less than 48 hours.

One thing I've found that makes traveling easier is a Trip List template I keep on my computer.

Trip List

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Vacations Travel simplify packing

• I open the file.
• Make necessary changes, additions
• Print it off
• Check off things as I pack them
  

So, the clothes are pretty much the same for every trip, the amount varies depending on how long I'm gone. Though I believe in doing laundry in the sink rather than taking lots and lots of stuff.

Sections like reading, work, munchies all will vary from trip to trip.

I may not need everything, but at least I have a list and won't forget something basic.

Generally I don't take more than I can carry on with me on the plane. For this trip though - we're gone almost months in the same place - I think we'll take one or two bigger suitcases. This also allows us to take gifts that wouldn't fit into carry-on.

Now, gotta run and get all this stuff together as well as clean up the house for the house sitters.

MacHaus Rocks - eBatt Sucks

The MacHaus had the parts today. I dropped the computer off at about 1 and about 3 they called to say it was ready. We were meeting folks for dinner near there so did some errands on the way to dinner and got the computer. So now I have a new clean computer keyboard, the crack is gone, and presumably the keyboard won't be locking randomly any more.





On the other hand, eBatt, where I ordered a back up battery for my camera isn't nearly as responsive. I ordered Saturday. Here's what they had advertised:




Free shipping for a $12.95 battery. The comments on eBatt were all glowing. But then I got to the checkout page. There is no free delivery. My choices are Overnight for $40 or Two day for $23.95. I'm not happy, but I've waited too long to do this and I'll just pay for the Two day and not worry about this getting here before I leave. I'll call on Monday to see if they can send it priority mail. And I emailed them about my time constraints and what happened to my free shipping. No weekend phone option.



OK, shipping date is Jan 5. With two day delivery no problem.

I call Monday and he says, "No free shipping to Alaska or Hawaii." We go round and round - it does say it in small print way on the top of the page, but on my screen when I was ordering, that part of the page didn't show. I tell him we are part of the US. I tell him that a camera battery would cost $4.80 Priority Mail through the US Post Office. In fact, here are the rates I get for shipping 3 oz from LA (they're on the West Coast somewhere) to Anchorage on a Monday (had to use next Monday on their calculator):



"We don't do that."

"Why not?"

"We just don't. You want to cancel?"

I'm pissed but I tell him to send it right away. And then I get an email saying the same thing.

It's now January 8. Nothing has arrived. I look at my order. It says,



So now the estimated shipping date is Jan 7. If it really went out then, it should come tomorrow. But if they shipped it yesterday, why is that still the estimated shipping date? FedEx doesn't deliver on Saturdays or Sundays. If it doesn't come tomorrow, I won't get it before we leave. US Postal Service does deliver weekends. But eBatt wouldn't use the Post Office.

At this point I'm ready to cancel and just try to buy one in Thailand.

But the MacHaus was great.

[UPDATE 12:16am: I just checked the status so I could get the order number so I could email them my concern, and now the estimated shipping date is January 9. Why am I paying for two day shipping when it is now four days after the original shipping date and they haven't even sent it yet?

Mac Issues - Keyboard Locks, Needs Rebooting

I asked Agron (Ropi, can you tell me after whom he was named?) at Best Buy about a problem I'm having with my MacBook. The keyboard randomly locks. I have to shut it off and reboot to get it to work again. This happens anywhere from 1 to 4 times a day. Reminding me what it was like to work on a PC.

Agron's family is from Albania and he's been back often. We talked about Albanian and US schools. He's getting his computer science degree at UAA and hopes to go on to Stanford for graduate work. It's nice to know you can get intelligent assistance at Best Buy. He said there was a problem with my edition of the MacBook and the MacBook Pros - something about the wire heating up and expanding and affecting the keyboard. He sent me to the MacHaus to get it repaired.

So, after calling and getting my Mac Care confirmed, I went to the MacHaus across from REI, where Kory checked it out. He said I'd lose my stick on Thai letters because the keyboard would be replaced and even checked about putting on a Thai keyboard, but they weren't in stock. He also pointed out the crack on the right below the keyboard - see the tip of the pencil in the picture. This is also a known defect that Apple will repair for free he said. I remember someone showing me that crack in theirs. I just don't remember who it was. But they'll fix it free. Even without Apple Care.

I really don't want to be without my MacBook, so I opted to take it home and bring it back when the parts come in. It's getting pretty tight. We leave early next Monday morning for Thailand.

Meanwhile I had a few more errands to do. A package to mail and a hotel voucher to pick up from China Airlines - we have to overnight in Taipei on the way home. That's a nice break actually. It was a spectacular day today. Here's the view coming back from the airport. And it was above 0˚F today. Amazing how 5˚F can feel warm, but after a few days of -15˚F, it does.

One thing leads to another

So I went for a run, but with a destination - Lowe's to get some washers for the leaky faucets downstairs. And to enjoy the rare blue sky and sunshine. I took my camera along - I'm getting the hang of the new one. Here's a new building planned for east of the northeast corner of Tudor and Old Seward Highway.


And gas prices are going down, but still over $4 here.

I got to Lowes. Clearly this is a sign of approaching winter.

I went to the part of Lowes that used to have drawers of screws and washers and things and you could buy one or two for two or three cents apiece. I asked for help and the sales person showed me those above - two for $1.09!!!!
I was at a rubber factory in Pune, Maharashtra State, India where they make things like this. They cost something like 10 for a penny. I decided these weren't the right kind of washer anyway and went over to the plumbing department where I found these.
They look cheap only in comparison to the ones for $1.09. [But the faucets aren't leaking any more.]

Outside, headed home, I could see the mountains sparkling in their fall glory with a bit of termination dust. But there were too many poles and buildings in the way. So I headed toward Cuddy Park to see if I could get a better view.

The park looked good, but still not high enough for a good view. On to Loussac.

In this picture the library looks pretty forbidding, but I like to think of it as a fortress of learning and freedom. Anchorage, back when the state was flush with oil money in the 1980s, built this huge library. We're flush again, but hardly building libraries. And the parking lot here is always full - people really use the library. Even on Thursday midday.


This fountain was supposed to be an ice sculpture originally. The water was supposed to drip in the winter causing interesting ice formations. We were excited. The sculptor was Finnish I think so he should know about ice. But it had problems from the beginning. A year or two ago a group of folks raised money to rehabilitate the fountain. And it is nice to see the water spraying skyward, but to me it looks like they just stuck some water spouts in the middle of the sculpture. They really don't mesh with what was there. Anyway, I got the last picture with the flowers. The crew was there taking them out for winter as I shot this.

[Update 9/21/08 - email from Catherine - "I wanted to tell you about the fountain at the Loussac. The artist's name is Carl Nesjar, he's from Norway. He's still alive! Born in 1920. We met him when he was here, working on the fountain, he worked with my studio partner Bob Pfitzenmeier. Carl is also a painter and printmaker, I have 2 (wonderful) lithographs he did in Paris. He has also worked with Picasso. There are only a few of his ice fountains in the world... they are very tricky (obviously) to keep functional. The project at the library came in over budget, of course, no one made any money from it. I was really glad when they tried to get it going again."]

I went up on the grassy hill that rises up to the door of the library to get a view of the mountains. It's not great, but you can get an idea. But I thought, I could go upstairs and get even higher.

Here's the children's part of the library. Yes, there are Alaskans who believe in libraries and teach their kids to love books. It's a wonderful child friendly library with great kid lounge chairs and nooks with big pillows and a little theater even.



But I'm headed for the good windows of the Alaska room. That takes me through the Ann Stevens room. This is like the an old fashioned library in huge mansion that anyone can come and sit in. The room was named for Senator Ted Stevens' wife who died in a plane crash that the Senator survived. Some have said our airport should have been named after her instead of Ted, but she's not the only one to have died at the airport. I have to think about that more.

And here's the Alaska room, one of the round silos. A great place to study and while I tried not to invade people's privacy, there were people in here. Actually, the views through the windows weren't that much better, but given I was here, I decided to look in the catalog to see what they had on Wasilla. Thirty two items showed up for the Loussac Library. There were a lot of phonebooks and land studies for various projects. But this one looked really interesting.

This is a book on the creation of the Wasilla library. I'll try to give some excerpts in another post. An interesting story about early Wasilla life. The book ends in 1959 when the author had to leave Alaska - before Sarah Heath was born and moved to Alaska. Olson sold her house to the "husband of Katie Hurley."

Dems Viewed from Portland

Various Alaska bloggers are covering the convention from Denver. Celtic Diva, Alaska Raven, Dennis Zaki are blogging. Delegate Kimberly Pace has been sending reports to Bent Alaska.

I'm getting to watch bits and pieces here at Marty's condo in Portland, Oregon.



This whole convention extravaganza is starting to look unseemly to me. Part of it is the media highlighting any hint of controversy over and over again. But all the flash and partying seems so wrong when the Dem message is that the economy is hurting so bad. And all those corporate sponsors. What happened to campaign finance reform?

Celtic Diva's Conventioning, I'm Moving Boxes

First meet the kids for breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe in the University district.











Then we drive to the truck rental place.













Then to where J and C have had their stuff stored for the year. It was all in these three large units.












Here's the truck still mostly empty.













The unit is finally empty!!!
















The truck is almost full, just the mattresses to buttress the end.













The view from the storage building looking at the end of the truck at the dock.












One of the workers at the storage place. Lots of tatoos.











On the way back to M's. The skies opened.







Then off to dinner at Galeria on Capitol Hill - meet a former student and her husband and a good friend of J.




Galieria's Jose Cuervo collection.










Tomorrow J and J drive the truck to San Francisco.