A New York Taxi Story
Where are we going now?
3:15 pm – Leaving a Battery Park office Its time to go. I have to give a speech on One Laptop Per Child in 45 minutes in Brooklyn. I’ll be part of The World in Your Library at the LACUNY Institute Series, talking to librarians about one of my favorite topics and its impacts on the dissemination of knowledge in the developing world.
Brooklyn College has invited me to NYC, one of the rare speaking engagements where I’m going to be a paid speaker. Before you think that amounts to much, this trip is netting me train, hotel, and $100 for meals and such. In New York, a $100 lasts about a minute.
3:19 pm – Getting in a taxi I hail a cab, and climbing in, tell the driver to take me to the Brooklyn College Library in Brooklyn. I’m running a few minutes late, but I figure I can still make it in time. That’s until, as we’re crossing the Brooklyn Bridge I hear:
Read MoreThe Thomas Lee Bachelor Party
Thomas enjoying the night
I’ve never been a Best Man. This realization came to me late one night at my dinner table. It was around midnight, long after a party I’d thrown was over and Thomas Lee and I we talking. Or, more to the point, Thomas was asking;
“Wayan, will you be my best man?”
This was an odd question for me. Both because I’d not been a best man before, but also because I’ve not been to that many weddings. Yes, I’ve been to mine, both of them. But I didn’t pay much attention to what Sean, my best man for both was doing.
Outside of those two moments of sheer terror joy, I’ve tended to avoid weddings. I stay so far away from them in real life that Amy stopped asking me to attend her friends’ weddings. I don’t even watch movies about weddings!
United for First Class Flying
Inflight ice cream rocks!
I was surprised at the first question the purser asked me as I took my seat:
“What would you like to drink?”
Here we were, just boarding the flight to Portland, and he had already taken my coat and hat, and now was offering me a pre-take-off beverage. A cold Heineken later, I realized the full difference between this United First Class accommodation and my usually seat back in Economy Plus.
Here, I was treated like a friend versus a customer. Note that I don’t have a real complaint against Economy Plus – I find it as bearable as any seat on an airplane, all of which are too small, too close together, and too high in the sky to make me at ease.
But Jimmy, my purser on this IAD to PDX trip, really made my frequent flyer miles upgrade worth the 5 E-Upgrade coupons I traded in for the privilege. After that first beer, the vodka tonics started quickly and never stopped till we landed. I had them right through a real dinner with real metal silverware.
Read MoreBrewpub Roadtrip: Vancouver, Canada!
Canadian dew worms
I’m at Lucky lab in downtown Portland, Oregon, or PDX as its known around here. The conversation is good and the beer better. Lucky Lab, like almost every self-respecting bar in PDX, brews its own beer.
With my glass full of hops, my mind on malt, I learn that I’m about to have a three-day weekend. Its President’s Day and I’m in Portland. What to do? Where to go? I know – Vancouver! And not as in Vancouver, Washington, but Vancouver as in Canada!
At first, I was tempted to make the five-hour road trip solo. I wanted to go that bad. I figured this might be my only international trip in 2008, and I didn’t want to miss the chance to cross another border.
Its not that this would be my first trip to Canada – I went to Montréal with my family long ago. But this would be my first trip as an adult and I was excited. Both because I’d heard it was a beautiful city, filled with amazing sights, but also because it is another bastion of good beer.
Read MoreVBC Brewpub Tour – Granville Island Brewing
Where’s the beer tube?
On our Brewpub Roadtrip to Vancouver, Brett and I rolled into Granville Island Brewing a little early for the locals. Apparently, the pub doesn’t start serving until noon, so we bought tickets for the beer tour and went looking for brunch.
Returning at the appointed hour, we went on the world’s shortest brewery tour. Granville only brews small batches at the brewpub, its major production facilities are elsewhere. Still, we had a fun viewing of mashers, hopers, and other assorted empty steel containers until the real fun began – beer tasting.
With six little beers in front of us, Brett and I shared tasting tips and tales with an assortment of Canadians and a token American couple. Quickly, the topic turned to politics and a favorite quote was heard:
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