tommy's scratchpad

If you think this post is about Web Services, then move along, nothing to see here.

Instead, this is about, truly, beyond the shadow of a doubt, my worst experience ever while grabbing a bite to eat. Let me explain.

I’m in Ottawa on business travel, and while mulling around town after the work day, I decided to grab a quick bite to eat at a fast food chain (yes, I know, junk food, but I couldn’t resist on this occasion).

The following is a detailed account of my experience (2052h EST):

Tom: Hi, may I have a #12 (bacon double cheeseburger meal)

BK: We’re out of bacon

Tom: Um, OK, in that case I’ll grab a #1 (different type of cheeseburger meal)

BK: OK

Tom: I see it is advertised that you can choose fries or onion rings. May I have onion rings?

BK: We’re out of onion rings

Tom: ??? Alrighty then. I’ll just take the fries

(Waited so long they may as well have played the Jeopardy! music in the background)

Instead of the cheeseburger, along comes a grilled chicken sandwich.

Tom: Pardon me, but I didn’t order a grilled chicken sandwich, I ordered a #1

BK: You asked for a #9

Tom: Really? I ordered a #1. Thank you

(employee slaps together burger like nobody’s business)

BK: Here

Tom: Thanks. May I have a lid for my drink cup?

BK: We’re out of medium size lids.

Ate, saved the receipt (to call and complain), then left.I’m not sure whether the store was closing down, or supplies were out, or what, but this was ridiculous. I have never, and I mean NEVER, seen anything like this. On a Tuesday night, at a relatively prime time. If you’re in business, carry what you so prominently advertise. I understand things happen from time to time, but this seemed a bit over the top.

Is it just me, or is this just weird? Serves me right for going for fast food. What a disaster.

Written from home:

Up until last week, I wasn’t much of a GPS guy. At last week’s OGC meetings, my rental car had an onboard navigation system. Add to that a colleague of mine introducing me to geocaching, and I was hooked.

So when I got home (and caught up on sleep), I started my research. The best deal I found was the Magellan eXplorist 500, for under $200 CAD. Since this was quite the deal, I picked one up for my brother as well.

So far, this looks like quite the GPS device. I like the colour display as well as the SD card capability. Plus the built-in geocaching application is useful.

Things that are kinda weird: the AC power adapter is not included. So, unless/until you buy it, you have no way to initially charge (and use) the Li-Ion rechargeable battery. Interesting. Fortunately, the package included a free AC adapter as a mail in offer (which takes 6-8 weeks). So, for now, I’m stuck with using 3 AAA batteries.

Other stuff:

• I’ll most likely buy the cigarette lighter power adapter
• I’m guessing a latest and greatest version of the device is coming out soon, hence the wicked deal
• I can already envision the hacks I can come up with to whip up some cool GML output of Points of Interests, routes and the like
• Maps: the device comes with basemaps of North America, so I’ll need some more detailed maps. I found MapSend Direct Route version 3.0. Which now becomes a question of capacity. Since I have a 512MB SD Card from my digital camera, I am using that as capacity for now. So I’ll initially load Ontario as my main area, and add areas as needed.

So it looks like I have a data management task at hand. Man, it would be nice if these were webmaps If anyone out there has any experiences with these units, I’d be interested in learning, so feel free to comment.

Written from home:

So I spent the day in Tijuana (the world’s most visited border city). Pretty easy to get there (drove I-15 South to I-805 South). Got off at the last US exit at the San Ysidro border and trekked across by foot. Seems like quite the border town with lots to do and see (did you know that Caesar salad was invented in Tijuana?).

There was some sort of biker parade today mixed in with a Christmas giveaway along Avenida Revolución.

I’m always fascinated by border cities and areas (hey, it’s the urban / social geography background in me), in terms of seeing a hybrid of socio-economic and cultural influences, and how things gradually change over distance.

It’s just beautiful in these parts. Maybe it’s the Mediterranean climate which is appealing to me most. And I still haven’t ventured into San Diego proper yet. Hopefully I’ll have some time later this week.

Anyways, it’s back to work for me now in preparation for this week’s meetings. The Context RWG runs tomorrow afternoon, so I’m just finishing up some last minute changes to my presentation.

Written from home:

(That’s a quote from the movie “Anchorman” )

I’m in San Diego for the OGC meetings, and must say that this is a quite the place! Pretty easy to navigate (mind you, the fact that my car rental has an onboard GPS navigator don’t hurt), and some nice spots. Once I checked into the hotel, I made my way down to Pacific Beach, which is one of the city’s popular beach areas.

Perhaps the funniest thing is being here around the Holiday Season. Imagine seeing Christmas trees for sale just steps from the beach. Outdoor beach Christmas parties. Being from Toronto, that’s something I’m just not used to. But I’m certainly not complaining. The weather is great here — I could get used to this!

I’ll probably visit downtown sometime this week. As for tomorrow, I’m heading to Tijuana to check out Avenida Revolución. I should have more pics up sometime tomorrow. Adios!

Written from home:

So I’m sitting here in Terminal one at Pearson International Airport, and quite excited to be commencing the journey to Lausanne for FOSS4G2006.

Checking in was a breeze, thank goodness for electronic check ins! Already I’m starting to feel international; you can just see it from looking at the folks boarding. This is how I felt when I went to Greece last year, and everytime I’ve travelled internationally.

In terms of Wifi access, I signed up with Boingo, which offers $20/month to any supported hotspot worldwide. Not a bad deal, considering who knows where I’ll be with the laptop for the next week or so.

So I’ve already taken some photos, but my transfer cable ended up in my checked-in luggage, so I’ll be sure to upload later. Hopefully there will also be an outlet in my seat on the airplane, as I’d like to post some thoughts about the FOSS4G2006 next week and what I’d like to see develop in the near and long term in our community. Which reminds me, I really should ask about this plug thing at the desk.

Gotta go. Next stop: Zurich en route to Geneva. Check back frequently for news, thoughts, updates and photos from the conference.

Update from Lausanne: I finally got to Lausanne, and they lost my luggage! Lovely. First thoughts. Very nice and beautiful city! And quite expensive ($10 CAD for a drink, $11 CAD for a combo at McDonald’s; no I didn’t eat there, but I checked). Good time to go on a diet

Written from home:

I took this week off, and decided to simply lay low and relax at home (relaxing in Toronto is a bit of an oxymoron, but I digress). So I’m enjoying my week by finishing up some small projects around the house, cooking, working out, and catching up in general.

So far, it’s been quite nice — I could get used to this! The only bummer comes in the form of my television, which konked out on me last night, sound and tube. Combine that with my stereo system (which is shot as well), and now I’m shopping for home entertainment — disaster!

At any rate, this is the last post you’ll see from me until after Canada’s Labour Day. In the meantime, check out Paul’s article about open source and users, as well as a response from Asa Dotzler of the Mozilla Corporation. Also worth checking out is Sam Bacharach’s podcast on OGC 101.

Have a good week!

Written from home:

The kitchen is almost complete; here’s a peek:

Check out all the photos to see more! The adventure continues, however. I still have to have the floors refinished and buy furniture (oh ya, I do have to live in this thing!). I’m about 4-5 weeks away from completion. The neighbourhood still doesn’t buy the fact that I’m moving in (they think I’m going to flip the house).

So things are almost done (thank goodness). It’s been 3 months and alot of work, time and money. It will be nice to enjoy it at long last!

Written from home:

kralidis.ca is now accepting donations. Note that this is not a result of bad luck in Vegas

Written from home:

We took a nice trip down to Hollywood and then drove to Las Vegas. Crazy! Check out the photos

Written from home: