A year of remote

March 23rd is another anniversary of sorts for me, as one year ago remote work began in earnest - and I'm still following the same protocols today for safety.  

I'm grateful for the roles I've had and institutions that have kept individuals safe while still providing needed support for campus entities. 

Hoping that the pandemic continues to subside and we are all able to resume regular activities soon!  It's been 480 days since my last overseas trip...I'm ready for travel to be back.

Virtual Travel options - available streams

Most of the world is at home due to the coronavirus, and many (me included) are also grounded from travel both for work and vacation.  In that spirit, I wanted to share this link from Conde Nast with live streams of places around the world include Rome, Sydney, and the northern lights.

CN Live stream links

Enjoy!

Random Travel Stories: 4/22/18

Delta Passenger Rampage in the Air

Not a Bridge I'll be visiting

Why you should declare everything on the CBP form when you land

Ask Alexa for your travel updates

How to save money on flying? Do your 'business' before you take off

This is being shared courtesy of our friends at Wells Fargo Daily Advantage - thank you to Kathi Kwiatkowski!

There's a story that years ago, an American Airlines CEO had one olive removed from each in-flight salad. The change saved $100,000 in fuel costs. It may just be an urban legend, but FiveThirtyEight crunched some numbers to see how much an airline could save by making small changes.

The airline used in the simulation: Southwest Airlines. The route: Boston to Denver. The plane: a Boeing 737-700 at 85% capacity (122 passengers). Based on its assumptions, total fuel costs for this route equal $7,600. Each additional pound added would increase fuel costs by a little less than five cents. Peanuts (no pun intended). But as FiveThirtyEight points out, Southwest flew 1.3 million flights in 2013. Given this information, how could the airline save money?

• Don't provide in-flight entertainment. Obviously, it costs a lot of money to install the screens in each seatback, but each device weighs seven pounds. Annual estimated fuel cost savings: $39.7 million.
• Discourage people from drinking water. All of those free bottles of water take up a lot of room and cost $2.4 million in fuel. Charging for them decreases the number of bottles the plane needs to carry, plus there's extra revenue.
• If they're not drinking water, they're not using the bathroom. FiveThirtyEight estimated that if every passenger took care of business before the flight, they'd each be 0.2 liters lighter—a savings of $2.1 million. European discount airline Ryanair almost implemented a plan to charge passengers to use the bathroom. The idea got, um, flushed.

Is this the future awaiting airplane passengers? Bored, parched, and needing to use the bathroom (even though you haven't had anything to drink because you refuse on principal to pay that much for a tiny bottle of water, and if you're not paying for water then you're definitely not paying to use the bathroom)? The next think you know, the airlines will start charging passengers based on what they weigh. Oh wait … one already does. Samoa Air, where "A kilo is a kilo is a kilo." Well, if the swimsuit isn't motivation enough to shed those extra pounds before vacation, maybe a few extra bucks will be.

What to do when you're all alone in the airport? Make a video

At least, that's what Richard Dunn did.  And now his video has gone viral.

Best part: he made it with an iPhone and a ruler.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9XLWrCi6DE

We've definitely come a long way... 

First Day of Classes

Sorry for the tardy posting...been ramping up to the start of the semester, which takes place today!

Stay tuned for more travel related posts, and other things that come my way.

There have been a number of promotions taking place in a variety of programs (Hyatt, Hilton, etc), and hopefully you've had a chance to take advantage.

Saying goodbye to Sugarsync

Whenever I travel, I always appreciate being able to access files remotely that I may need for work or other purposes.  Dropbox has always been the easiest to use, but another free service (Sugarsync) was also in my toolbag for using while on the road since it was free and worked with my mobile devices.

No longer, since this message just appeared in my inbox:

Sadly, I'll need to say goodbye to Sugarsync.  Can't afford to pay for the service, especially since it's not as intuitive as Dropbox.

Anyone going to stick with them and pay?
 

As 2014 approaches...

This is going to be an introspective post, quite a bit different than my normal travel and points related offerings.  As 2014 draws near, I've been reflecting back on my 2013 and all of the different things have occurred - both positive and negative.  I'm grateful for the many travel opportunities I've had, and am thankful for continued good health that allows me to enjoy my travel and points hobby. 

During 2013 I wrapped up my formal PhD study with a successful research trip and final dissertation defense.  This was a culmination of many years of study, reading, paper-writing, joys, frustrations, and hoop-jumping.  I continue to be thankful for the new friendships I've made as a result of my experiences at USD, and look forward to continuing my work with the Qatari students in Doha, Qatar.  To Bob, Cheryl, and Cyndy - thank you for your guidance, support, and for being a committee that didn't hold back.  My family was also very supportive, and there is no possible way I could repay everyone's graciousness during my study.

On a sadder note I had some family upheaval occur in the last 18 months, with my divorce being finalized.  I'm not sure I could write up words that would capture the pain, anguish, and hurt that I've experienced during the process.  For others who have had a spouse refuse to do counseling and leave your home, I can only share familiarity with the situation.  It really made me reflect a lot on plans that had been prepared and my own role in the process, and I've come away very regretful and sad about what took place.  I also experienced another level of pain and exasperation when I was abandoned by my church and church body during the process, something that I never thought would occur in such a difficult situation.  Individuals that I called some of my closest friends left me by the wayside and offered no support, and despite that I harbor no ill will toward them.  I remain confident in my faith but disappointed in how fickle people can be when they have a perceived agenda instead of a willingness to listen and help.

Through everything that has occurred, I continue to be hopeful for the future and realize that I've still got a number of things I want to do.  Namely:

- One aspiration pre- and post-PhD was to start a family, and I'm hopeful for that sooner than later
- I also want to visit Australia, New Zealand, and Ushuaia if points and miles can get me there
- I'm looking forward to a spring trip to South Korea to visit my friend Jimmy (if schedules permit)
- Professionally I aspire to find an administrative position in Qatar, other countries in the Middle East, or another international school (preferably Zurich or Rome)
- I want to make a more concerted effort to be involved in my church
- I want to do a better job of reconnecting with current friends, and reaching out to make new

I'm hopeful for an amazing 2014, and one that fosters a lot of positive outcomes.  Sometimes it's easy to get bogged down in the negatives that happen, but I remain positive and optimistic about what lies ahead.

Pudding for miles? It can be done...

I almost didn't believe it myself when I first read it, but a friend shared this recent article and I have to say...well done....

Pudding for miles

Wish I would have gotten in on the deal!

Notes from yesterday, the day after Labor Day

And these are courtesy of my friends at Wells Fargo Daily Advantage:

It's the day after Labor Day, a time to put away the white clothes until next spring. And thank goodness because who can take the pressure of wearing all that white during those long months of summer barbecue season? I can only buy so much bleach. But no matter. Beyond getting to wear clothes that can plausibly hide barbecue stains, the beginning of the school season and the coming of fall also serve as a prime time to remember, to mark the passage of time, to remember back to a time 50 years ago when lava lamps hadn't even been invented, when mice didn't roam our desktops, when dialing phones took forever.

• Today marks the 50th anniversary of the day that lava lamps went on sale in 1963, those staples of groovy home furnishings in the '60s and '70s that apparently got handed down from parents to children, winding up in dorm rooms in the '80s and '90s. The liquid-filled lamp was invented by a British man named Edward Craven-Walker. I like to imagine that Mr. Craven-Walker grew up near one of England's long-extinct volcanoes, which sent ancient memories of lava flows to invade his dreams (sorry; trying—and failing—to get into the psychedelic spirit of things here). What's fascinating about the lava lamp is how something that could have dissipated as a momentary fad kept getting revived by subsequent generations. It's like fashion; just wait a few years, and it will come back in style again. And when it does, I know that it's my time to lie low for a while, as my wardrobe and home furnishings can't keep up.
• Falling down the rabbit hole of "things invented in 1963," not only did we get the lava lamp, we got the computer mouse. The prototype for the mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbart, who also helped develop computer hypertext and graphical user interfaces, which we still use today. The early mouse used wheels instead of a trackball, and it looked like a little wooden box, unlike the sleeker versions that came after. Between all the lava in the lamps and mice next to the keyboard, people in 1963 were probably wondering why nature was invading their indoor electrical appliances.
• And finally, even deeper down the rabbit hole, in November 1963, AT&T offered the push-button touchtone telephone to customers for the first time, which some members of my family managed to evade for the next 30 years, sticking with the pulse-dialing rotary phones instead. One way to look at 1963 was that it gave us wonderful inventions that are still with us today. Another way to look at it is that, with the touchtone keypad, it also gave us texting.