Football Makes Me Sad

Portugal won.

They are very, very noisy.

Switzerland lost.

The one team I was hoping would be able to make some noise.


Go, Sweden. Rah, rah, rah.

Prague, Day 3

I'm really, really tired. Good day. Bought ceramics. Ate vast quantities of pork.

Must sleep now.

Prague, Day 1

Well, we're here, I can pick up a wifi signal in my room, and have 5 minutes before I need to get breakfast. So, first impressions:

• It's strange to be in a place with snow again
• Judging from the ride from the airport, speed limits are not highly enforced here, yet
• People walk on the highway. Strange, in a "wow, I wonder what's going to happen" kind of way
• I remember now that I don't know any Czech at all. Not please, thank you, yes, now, numbers... nothing. It lends me a certain innocence that is, I think, refreshing
• I hate dealing with other currencies. Math. Yuck.
• My old bass player is here on business. I hope I get to see him.
• There are fences or wall around everything. There must be a lot of dogs.
• They have illuminated clocks hanging from some of the street lights. I think that's a wonderful idea, even if it did come from the communists.
• I wonder if it's too late to get tickets to a hockey game.
• To compensate for not knowing their language, I have also not learned anything else about the Czech Republic before coming here. We're going to another city, tonight, called Cheskie-something. I don't know where it is, and if I lose Troy and Katie I may actually die here.
• The lights over the river last night were beautiful. I can't wait to get pictures.

Got to go!

iPod - My First Impressions

So there are some things that have started to stand out to me after a few weeks now with my iPod (6G, 160 gb classic):

Blind, one-handed operation is easier than I thought it would be. I didn't really know how the clickwheel worked, and it's nice to see that I don't have to take it out of my pocket to change songs or volume. Good.

Apple is pretty screwed-up with their updates. The responsiveness of the controls (especially for the cover flow feature) was bad with the initial firmware, good with the first update I did, and is already worse again with the latest update. Do they not test this stuff before they publish it?

Solitaire is a problem. I used to never leave home without a book. Now I sometimes do. I'm not sure I like that.

The sound is pretty decent - I'm using Apple Lossless codec, so it should be CD quality (or very near), and it does sound good with my recording headphones. It doesn't blow me away, though... maybe I'll do a side-by-side to compare the iPod with my PC as the source through my digital mixer.


Now, I realise that this post is a little, uh, short on creativity. And I'm sorry, but I'm really tired. I'm about to go to bed, but wanted to give you at least something new to look at. Oh, and maybe I'll put a picture in for my profile again. It's been a while...

Bags

I woke up this morning with huge bags under my eyes, and 45 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. I had been dreaming that I was married to a woman who was unfaithful.

What a great way to start the day.

Could someone hit the "off" switch on your way out of the room? Thanks.

The Bidet

In room 131, they had the good sense to put the toilet in front of the door and the bidet behind, rather than the other way around, as it is in some of the rooms. I haven't had a problem yet in the year and a half I've been staying here, but when it's late and the lights are off... well, they do look pretty similar. It's just not good planning.

Sunrise

I was out with a friend last night and, while we were walking by the lake, I saw a field of wildflowers that I wanted to shoot in early morning light.

So here's the problem: the light is really good for about 10 minutes before sunrise and maybe twice that long after. And the sun comes up about 6:15.

There aren't many days that I have to sleep in. The little chick is here to wake me up Saturdays, Mondays, and Tuesdays. Wednesday I'm usually off to the airport, and Friday I meet to talk and pray with some friends at 7:30. That leaves Thursdays, which don't really pan out well since I have to go to work, and Sundays.

Getting up at 5:30 is not a huge deal, I guess, but between work and concerts lately, I was reluctant to give up that sleep. Still, I wanted the shots, and I had been curious for a while about what sunrises over the lake could look like. Art won out over practicality, and here are a few of the shots that I got...

You can see more here.