(Best Jack Bauer voice) The following takes place between 12:00 PM 4/28 and 12:00 AM 4/29.

• 4/28 12:00p EST, get to LaGuardia airport in NY for a 1:59 departing flight with U.S. Airways, $40 paid to taxi service. Slight rain, very little wind. Ready to get to Philadelphia, then off to Portland, OR.
• Check in for flight, eat lunch, relax.
• 1:45, board the smallest plane Kessa or I had ever seen, ~40 passengers. says delayed until 2:15, fine.
• On plane, at 2:15 at runway we’re told weather conditions are too bad, waiting until 3:15.
• 3:15, weather conditions bad, will try again at 3:45.
• 3:45, weather conditions bad, will try again at 4:15.
• 3:50, we’re ok to go, we’re #10 on the runway to fly out.
• 4:10, still ok, #4.
• Free booze, help myself to a Gin and Tonic, Kessa has a red wine.
• 4:30, #2, alright.
• 4:40, on the runway.
• 4:45, “sorry folks, we’ve been shut down, we’ve been told to try again at 5:15. The plane is taxied back to the terminal.”
• 4:48, “ok, we’re back on, prepare for departure, we’re #4.”
• 4:55, on the runway.
• 5:00, “sorry folks, this is embarrassing, we’ve been shut down again.” Off back to the terminal. “we need to refuel.”
  Still slight rain and very little wind.
• 5:05, refueled, “we’re ready for departure, #2 in line, on the runway.
• 5:15, “ok we’ve been shut down again. There will be some missed connections, does anyone want to get off?”
  {5 deuchebags raise hand}
• 5:20 at the terminal, “all connecting flights except nashville and london will be missed. if you’re on any flights but these, you must rebook.”
• 5:20 back at the terminal. “Please see the special services counter to rebook.” Get in the front of line at the special services counter, 2 in front of us ~25 behind.
• 5:25 our turn!
• 6:10, after 45 minutes talking to the rep, we realize there’s no chance of getting in to Portland before the next day at 9 a.m., as I requested. The best bet is to go to Charlotte, check out and stay the night (no we will not pay for your room), check in at 7 a.m., go to Phoenix, then to Portland to arrive at 1 p.m.
  WHAT? Are you kidding me?
• “The best we can do for you is 2 $10 meal vouchers. Enjoy {(stale|frozen|cold instead of warm|warm instead of cold) airport food}.”
• 7:45, we finally board the plane that was supposed to take off at 6:55 for Charlotte.
• 10:00, arrive in Charlotte, come to find our baggage didn’t make it… they give us a ‘convience package’ with bare necessities and a sorry note.
• 11:00, we arrive at a hotel 3 miles away from the airport, and pay $60 for 6 hours of sleep.
• 4/29 12:00a, pizza arrives; not paid for by airlines

My wife and I are going to New York City for vacation, we’ll be gone from April 18th until April 28th.

We have a TON planned, including but not limited to

• Visiting landmarks and parks galore
• Museums and Centers unique to New York
• Events: Opera at the NY Opera House, Lacrosse game at Madison Square Garden, Rent play at a broadway theater
• A sampling of the nightlife, including comedy clubs and bars
• Getting in the high fashion shops (for Kessa), e.g. Barney’s, Saks 5th Ave, Bloomingdale’s, etc.
• Coney Island amusement park
• Television shows: Conan, Saturday Night Live, Stephen Colbert

We’re really stoked. This wouldn’t have been possible without Phil lending us his prime location Manhattan apartment while he goes on his own vacation, so thanks a bunch man.

Expect tons of pics when we return.

My buddy Garrett ordered a 250GB after-market hard drive for his Dell Vostro 1500, and he asked me to replace it. Most hard drive replacements for notebooks are straightforward, and the replacement for the Vostro 1500 is no exception. Here’s what I did. (See the album for photos.)

1. Backed up data
2. Turn off power, remove battery.
3. Flip it over and look to the bottom right. Remove the 4 screws with a small Phillips screw driver.
4. Pull out hard drive slot. Remove the screws attaching the slot, fix new hard drive in old hard drive’s place.
5. Put screws back in, plug back in battery.
6. Install OS and restore data from backup.

It really doesn’t get any easier than this, kudos to Dell for making it easily serviceable.

There’s a cherry tree in my back yard. It makes a huge mess and gives my dogs diarrhea. I’m sure the cherries would taste delicious, if there were any the birds left to ripen. I thought I’d try something new with unlimited Flickr account this year, something else to waste bandwidth and space.

I’m going to take a photo of the same small branch of the cherry tree every day (so long as I can remember, and am in town) from start to finish. I want to see it progress, bloom, bear fruit, and die.

Links: photoset, slideshow (hopefully the coolest part eventually).
Badge: