South Africa, Day Two: The Journey Around the Mountain
This is the third in a series of blog posts about my recent trip to South Africa. I’m posting them a week after they happen. For all 825 photos from my trip, see my Flickr photo set. Today, I fully toured Cape Town. Those sightseeing buses were fabulous. I took hundreds more photos, learned all sorts of interesting factoids (the thickets of thorn bushes that cover one side of Cape Mountain were […]
South Africa, Day One: The Dangers of Developing Nations
This is the second in a series of blog posts about my recent trip to South Africa. I’m posting them a week after they happen. For all 825 photos from my trip, see my Flickr photo set. I awoke at 7:00am on Friday, feeling relatively refreshed (jet lag wouldn’t allow full recovery), and determined to take a photo walk around Cape Town. The night before, I’d studied some maps and books about Cape Town, […]
South Africa: On The Way
This is the first in a series of blog posts about my recent trip to South Africa. I’m posting them a week after they happen. For all 825 photos from my trip, see my Flickr photo set. The first challenge of a trip to South Africa is getting there. My flights lasted a total of about 24 hours each way, including layovers in Dakar (Senegal) and Johannesburg (South Africa). Fortunately, airplane travel these days is […]
Landed in South Africa
I made it! Currently lounging in my hotel room; it’s 10:30pm local time and I’ve been traveling for about 24 hours. Now to take a nice, hot shower, and get a solid night’s sleep. Tip: On Amazon.com, buy an electrical outlet converter for the country you’re going to (most see, to cost about USD $10), and take chargers for your camera and other devices. That way, you don’t have to buy and take multiple batteries […]
South Africa
On Wednesday, I leave for my week-long trip to South Africa. I’ve no idea what kind of web access I’ll have. I’m sure I’ll have some, but I don’t know how easy it’ll be to get to this blog and update it. So, I don’t expect to be blogging a lot while I’m down there. As expected, I’m excited and scared. Still running around. Worried I’ll forget something important. I expect […]
Quick Life Update
I’ve found the house I want to move into. Planning to make an offer this week. Otaku, No Video continues to expand, so that it now includes: Two to three videos per week on YouTube (at least one anime review and at least one manga review) A live video news show, streaming on the internet every Saturday afternoon for 1 to 1.5 hours. Three blog posts per week A chat room, which […]
Fly Me to the Moon
I’m several weeks into my new job at NASA. I’m elated and frightened. I’m experiencing a new employee’s stress. Besides learning the location of the kitchen, and when the trash is collected, I’m incredibly scared of screwing up. Of missing some vital assignment or suggesting the wrong thing or telling the wrong joke. So much shared culture has built up here, and I’m afraid of suggesting the taboo topic, the subject that will forever […]
New Job Update
I love my new job. I love love love my new job. I’m working with nice, friendly people, on interesting stuff. I review software that NASA’s developed to determine how it could be used by industry. How cool is that? And my quarterly allergy/asthma/something attack has mostly cleared up; now I just walk around with a throat full of phlegm. ‘Twas frustrating to spend my first few days at work sick. […]
Urp
I start a new job at the Goddard Space Flight Center tomorrow, working for NASA. I’m so nervous I’ve become physically ill. It began with lack of appetite and progressed to an upset stomach earlier this evening. Now my throat’s scratchy and I can’t sleep. If I didn’t know better, I’d say I have a bug. That’s the price I have to pay to move forward in my life, I guess. It’s rarely comfortable.
Into the Jungle
I’ve been trying to nail down one international trip this year. Was trying to find a good trip to Greece or Italy, but every itinerary was jam-packed with activities. I wanted more freedom. (Don’t we all?) Then I saw a deal on a trip to Africa. So, if all the paperwork goes through, I’ll be going to South Africa this October, from the 6th through the 15th. I’ll be spending […]