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jeffreypratt
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| The Honeymooners |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|03:55 pm] |
We're back. Hawaii was an amazing experience and I had a great time (although two weeks is a long time to be away from home). Some of the highlights:
Needless to say, it was a ton of fun. It feels kinda weird to be home, though, since the house is pretty much exactly as we left it after the wedding so it feels like the wedding just happened. We're diving right back into "real life" by heading back to work tomorrow and making weekend plans...and so it begins. :-) |
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| Yakima Valley Wine Tasting |
[Apr. 13th, 2008|02:14 pm] |
A decent collection
Originally uploaded by jeffreyp
We took a break from wedding planning to visit the Yakima Valley this weekend. I've traveled through there several times on my way to Kennewick for work, and every time, I'm reminded that all of that is just two hours from home.
We stayed in Toppenish on the advice of a friend, and on Saturday, we headed out for a day of tasting. We started in the Tri-Cities at Tagaris in Kennewick for lunch and then went to Prosser, where we visited Hogue Cellars, Snoqualmie, and Airfield Estates. Then, we returned to Toppenish, where we went to Maison de Padgett and Paradisos del Sol. We ran out of time before we could visit a couple other Toppenish wineries on our list, but I'm sure we'll return soon enough!
We had two meals in Yakima. The first, on the way down on Friday night, was in a brand-new Italian restaurant called Zesta Cucina. We were both starving so I think for me, the food wasn't as good as I perceived it to be. It certainly was overpriced. The place was super-popular, though, so maybe I'm missing something. And then on Saturday after tasting, we went to Greystone and I found it to be excellent all around.
This was our first trip to the wineries and we learned a lot:
Lesson #1: The Yakima Valley is much larger than it looks on a map. You'll likely want to split up a two-day trip into two nights at two different hotels. You can find maps online of all of the wineries--they tend to be clustered together, and so you can pick a hotel or a B&B for each night that is located near the clusters of wineries you want to visit. This requires some planning ahead but will pay off when you can "cut loose" a little instead of spitting out and/or dumping wine at every stop.
Lesson #2: There is no such thing as "complimentary tasting". Even if I were a raging snob, I don't think I could walk out of a tasting room without at least buying a snack. They pour you a LOT of wine and take a lot of time explaining stuff to you. As you can see from the photo, we bought at least one bottle at every stop.
Lesson #3: The only good food is in Yakima or the Tri-Cities. You'll occasionally get snacks at the tasting rooms but for the most part, you are on your own for food. Plan ahead unless you don't mind eating at Subway. Next time we go, we'll bring our own lunches and pack food for dinners. Most of the hotels out there have refrigerators or mini-kitchens, anyway, so preparing a simple meal isn't impossible. But driving to Yakima (and back) after a day of wine tasting is both irresponsible and impractical.
Lesson #4: The amount of fun you'll have is inversely proportional to the size of the winery you visit. Did I get that backwards? I'm not very good at math after tasting wine for four hours. What I mean is that the smaller the winery, the more attention and education you'll get. But don't let that stop you from visiting them all. We visited the huge conglomerates (Hogue, Snoqualmie) and had a great time, but we were blown away by Paradisos del Sol, which is--no exaggeration--bolted on to the back of a farmhouse. Paul (the owner/host/winemaker/jack-of-all-trades) could sell ice to Eskimos and has a story for everyone about anything.
Lesson #5: Don't be shy. It can be a bit intimidating for a newcomer to walk into one of these places and do the whole sniff/swirl/sip waltz, but the wineries are more than happy to teach you anything you need to know and answer questions--they want your business! We were particularly amused while at Paradisos del Sol when two full-on Hells Angels-looking bikers covered in leather and grease came in and proceeded to sit at the bar and argue over whether a chardonnay or a rose would be the best substitute for the unavailable riesling. "I can't get into the rose," said one of them. "Too much !@#$ing charcoal in the nose. It's real !@#$ing flowery on the palate but the finish tastes like ass."
Lesson #6: This would be a good place to bring a large group. You can rent a limo or a van and split the cost and have a great time. If you drive yourself, be responsible, pace yourself, and spit/dump liberally.
Overall, it was a lot of fun and I didn't drink a single beer all weekend. I have a suspicion that we'll probably be making another trip out that way pre-wedding to stock up the bar. |
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| India, the sequel |
[Oct. 15th, 2007|06:42 pm] |
So the powers-that-be have sent me back to Hyderabad. I'd be a lot more excited about it if I hadn't already traveled so much this year, but now that I'm here, I'm trying to make the best of it. After my last trip, I wondered how I would respond when I returned, and I'm finding that I'm not nearly as shocked this time. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. I wish I had more time for sightseeing and/or traveling around the country, because I think leaving Hyderabad (where I'm strangely suddenly comfortable) would possibly refresh the shock factor (and likewise, I've been told that you have to leave the big cities to see India proper and I still haven't done that). |
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| Marathon! |
[Oct. 12th, 2007|09:01 am] |
I spent last weekend in Portland, OR because Emily ran the Portland Marathon. This is the second time I've waited at the finish line of a marathon and it proved to be as inspiring as ever.
Emily trained for the marathon with Team In Training, who are affiliated with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Basically, you agree to raise funds for cancer research and in return, TnT trains you to complete a marathon (or a triathlon or a century bike ride). Then, TnT arranges for everyone to travel to the race location and stay in the same hotel. In our case, we drove down to Portland on our own (the TnT people took the train) and we all stayed in the Portland Marriott.
On the first day, we went to the race expo to get Emily registered and look at some schwag. I talked with the folks from the Portland Running Company about getting some new shoes--between the lack of sales tax and the 20% expo discount, it seemed like the right time to buy! Unfortunately, they didn't have my size at the expo but extended the discount so that I could visit their retail store after the marathon and still get the discount.
Later, we went to the TnT pasta feed/pre-race pep rally at the hotel. They had a tasty dinner and some motivational speeches that made pretty much everyone in the room (including the hotel waiters) cry. There were cancer survivors and families of cancer patients there to cheer on the runners--they formed a human tunnel through which the runners had to pass to get to the pasta feed, and then during the race, they were scattered all over the course to provide support and encouragement. I'm totally sold on TnT--what a great organization!
I don't think Emily slept much on Saturday night. We woke up super-early to pound some breakfast and meet the other TnT'ers in the hotel lobby at 5:45. They walked to the starting line together at 6:00 while I wandered around looking for a good place to take pictures of the start.
I got one photo of Emily at the starting line and then walked down the street to Naito Parkway, where both the two mile and five mile markers were (the course included a lot of "down and back" loops). I got another photo of her at the two mile mark and then my camera died. I stood next to some TnT supporters at the five mile mark, and Emily ran by right after 8:00--right on schedule!
My plan then was to run/walk down to the 11-mile mark, but I quickly got lost in the industrial area and decided to turn back to ensure that I could see the finish. I spent some time at the hotel, charging up the camera. Then, around 10:30, I headed back out to the finish line.
At the finish line, you see the professional hardcore marathon people crossing first, and then the parade becomes increasingly more, I don't know...amateur? You see some people who look like they have no business whatsoever running a marathon, but they have just achieved this monumental personal goal. Both sides of the street were lined with people yelling their guts out and it was a lot of fun. I saw one guy who ran the race in a bunny suit. Many people were crying with joy (or was it pain?). And of course, there were lots of purple TnT shirts and "Go team!" cheers.
After five hours, I started to worry a little about Emily. She is typically clockwork on her long runs but I knew she was a little psyched out about not being trained for the whole distance. Once the 5:30 pace balloon went by, I started walking up the course toward the steel bridge and the mile 25 marker. I was checking my cell phone to see if she had called or if the race people had called, but no news was good news. Finally at about 5:40, I saw her come trotting up the hill. She even managed to smile for a photo before I started jogging alongside her. We "ran" the last mile together, until about a block before the finish line when I had to turn off, and then I met her again in the reunion area where she gave a very tired victory pose:
We spent the rest of the day recovering (i.e. drinking beer) and resting before heading back to Seattle via Astoria and the Washington coast on Monday.
Once again, I am in awe of the marathon. Anyone who completes a marathon has done something truly amazing. I don't see one in my future but I'm happy to tag along and cheer anytime. |
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| Fun with travel statistics |
[Sep. 25th, 2007|04:06 pm] |
Here is a scary number: 31,758. That is the number of miles I've flown this year, not counting a SmartWings flight from Prague to Paris that doesn't appear in my frequent flyer account history. The circumference of the Earth is approximately 25,000 miles (source). For someone who claims to be afraid of flying, that is an extraordinary number!
Here is another scary number: 31. That is the number of days in a month (well, some of them) and it is also SMALLER than the number of days I've spent in hotel rooms this year.
Number of distinct countries visited? Eight. Holland, India, Canada, France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and various non-home states in the good ol' USA. A more disturbing thought is that I've been to Holland (three times) more than I've been to Canada (twice).
The best part is this: with three months to go, I've got a trip to Portland coming up, as well as a second work-related trip to India.
I used to believe that traveling was difficult and expensive and arduous. Admittedly, my travel plans are most frequently sponsored by my employer, but I look back on the past year and I can't believe it. I'm already itching to write my end-of-the-year life summary, because this has been one for the books! |
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| Travel |
[Aug. 11th, 2007|09:54 am] |
I'm writing from a train between Neufarm and Regensburg Germany. I think one of the neatest parts of traveling is the ego boost one gets from figuring out how to do stuff (like, I don't know, use the train). The hard part is being able and willing to look like a jackass and make mistakes and look stupid while figuring out stuff.
There is a life lesson in there somewhere, I think. :-) |
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| Aw, mama...can this really be the end? |
[Apr. 12th, 2007|07:04 am] |
I am sitting in my hotel room in Hyderabad, getting ready to start packing for the long journey home. Shortly after the last post, I made the decision to stop trying to process/understand everything and start simply drinking it all in, with the hope that once I return home, I'll be able to comprehend what I've seen and done here:
- I thought some guy was trying to steal my luggage within minutes of leaving the airport. He turned out to be one of my own employees.
- I stayed in a five star hotel where every employee called me "Mr. Jeffrey", the doorman saluted me every morning, and Majid the bartender made fun of me for ordering lassi when my stomach was upset.
- I paid an absurd amount of money (by Indian standards) for a car and driver and tour of Golkonda Fort at sunset.
- I saw a camel, wild cows and goats in the streets of a major city.
- I saw the most impoverished people I've ever seen in my life.
- I ate biryani. A lot.
- I got sick. Twice. Once from each end.
- I bought pearls from the gayest men in Hyderabad.
- I made $90 cash last two weeks with change left over, and still lived like a king.
- I saw Charminar, the Qutb Shah tombs and Salarjung Museum.
- I rode in a cab driven by a man who had no idea where he was going.
- I went to a nightclub that was transplanted from Miami.
- I had a great time meeting my team here and the work part of the trip was overwhelmingly productive.
Things I'll miss:
- My team and their warm hospitality.
- Frankies in the office cafeteria.
- Majid the bartender.
- The hotel gym. Seriously, it is the nicest hotel gym you'll ever see.
- The drive to work every morning, looking out at a world so vastly different from my own that it borders on indescribable.
Things I won't miss:
- Honking horns.
- The feeling that everyone I don't know who is being friendly to me just wants to take my money.
- T.D.
- The vaguely carsick feeling I get whenever I ride in a vehicle here.
- Having to rinse my toothbrush in bottled water and take short showers.
- Being afraid of raw vegetables and unpeeled fruits.
But, yeah...I'm ready to go home. In the meantime, I think this sums it up best:
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| Well, THIS is different. |
[Mar. 31st, 2007|07:13 pm] |
I am in Hyderabad India. I'll post a longer summary eventually, but for now, I just wanted to log the fact that I am overwhelmed by India, particularly the poverty. I've never seen anything like this before and it is really causing me to think carefully about what is important and what it means to be fortunate. I am thinking more than ever that those of us who are lucky or blessed enough to live a successful, healthy life have an obligation--not a choice--to help those who are not as lucky, blessed or whatever. I believe I have done a good job of helping people locally, but I've done virtually nothing for people in nations such as this one who make beggars in the U.S. seem positively wealthy by comparison. I read earlier entries in this blog and feel very shallow--there are people here who cannot afford to see a doctor and receive treatment for serious diseases, and I'm bitching about having to spend $300 to replace my broken iPod.
I am still processing all of it, obviously. It is terrifying and overwhelming and depressing, but at the same time, I feel it is important for me as an American to face it head on, come to terms with it, and in the end, do something about it.
On a lighter note, here is a photo of some schmuck who has obviously been wearing the same clothes for three straight days standing in front of Golkonda Fort at sunset. |
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| Confidence and love in Las Vegas |
[Oct. 22nd, 2006|07:38 pm] |
Like I always do when I travel, I took notes while in Vegas, reprinted here for your reading pleasure.
I hate to admit it, but Las Vegas is quickly becoming one of my favorite American cities. It has the same "melting pot" characteristics of New York or San Francisco, but the fact that everyone is melting together for just a few days at a time before heading back to the flyover states gives Vegas an electricity that no other city can match. I really enjoyed watching the baseball game at New York New York, surrounded by both Cardinals and Mets fans whooping and hollering and trying to outdo each other. When the game ended, everyone who had been cheering on the Mets started congratulating and buying drinks for the Cardinals fans, which I suspect is one of those things that only happens in Vegas (and sadly, stays in Vegas).
Plus, Vegas is the only place I know of where you can buy a purple velvet double-breasted tuxedo, rent a Ferrari 348 convertible, shoot an AR-15 automatic rifle, carry an open can of Icehouse in a taxi, ride in a helicopter, and hire a limo to take you to a brothel... all within the same city block!
"The buffet was excellent!"
Rumor has it that the best buffet on the Strip is at Bellagio, of all places, so being the intrepid hungry person that I was, I went to scope it out after the baseball game ended. Normally, I'm disgusted by buffets but this one was different. Let's recap my $29 eating adventure, keeping in mind that the only thing I'd eaten all day was a bowl of shredded wheat for breakfast and a bag of peanuts on the plane.
Round #1 (the "need food NOW" course):
1. Mixed green salad with a bleu cheese dressing
2. Herb-encrusted prime rib
3. Shrimp tortellini in a pesto/cream sauce
4. A dozen Alaskan king crab legs
5. A glass of what was advertised as white zinfandel but was actually a rose of some sort
6. Two hard rolls
Round #2 (the "gee, I ate so fast that I'm still hungry!" course):
1. Mixed green salad with a vinigrette dressing
2. Roasted turkey slices
3. Mashed potatoes & gravy
4. Two hard rolls
Round #3 (the "uh-oh, tomorrow is really gonna suck" course):
1. Soba noodles
2. Miso soup
3. 12 pieces of maguro sashimi
4. Something else Japanese with shrimp that I can't remember the name of
I suspect it goes without saying that I found the entire affair to be excellent, if lowbrow. I mean, I could drop $100 at Delmonico and have better food and wine, but for sheer quantity/quality balance, the Bellagio buffet is a winner.
But later, I felt the need to "walk it off" and spent most of the next day hiking my fat ass up and down the Strip. I don't think you're supposed to feel guilty in Vegas, but that was the most food I've eaten in one sitting in a very long time.
"I'm sorry I bet on baseball."
Today at Caesars Palace, I saw the saddest thing I've ever seen in my life: the great Pete Rose, wearing his Reds hat and jersey, sitting at a table no more than 10 feet away from me, whoring his signature for as little as $45 depending on the item you wanted him to sign. He looked angry. I can't imagine why. But if you want a living, breathing example of the dangers of gambling, just go take a look at that schmuck trying to con fratboys out of $100 in exchange his John Hancock to their baseball caps. I hate to say it, but I wish he'd just fess up and apologize, instead of acting like a little kid caught in a lie and making it worse with his chicanery. It's a crime that he isn't in the Hall of Fame but it is his own fault.
"A frush? What the f***'s a frush?"
Video poker mastery continues to elude me. Those machines are about as random as I am Chinese. However, I believe I have a strategy that allows me to maximize my playing time (ie. get the most free gin and tonics from a cocktail waitress wearing a unitard that simply CANNOT be comfortable and definitely precludes the casino from ever hiring a cocktail waiter if you catch my drift). The strategy involves determining the highest odds of getting ANY payout, whereas in the past, I played for the highest payout.
An explanation is probably needed here. With video poker, the lowest paying hand is a pair of jacks. A pair of 10s or lower is useless. However, the payout grows depending on the hand: two pair pays 2:1, so if you have a pair of 10s and a pair of jacks, that's good. Likewise, three of a kind pays 3:1, a flush pays 6:1, a straight pays 8:1 and so on until you get to a royal flush, which involves a lot of yelling and screaming and rushing to your room to snort some Lisinopril before your heart explodes. I've seen machines that pay 5000:1 on a royal flush plus a progressive bonus, so your 25-cent bet would pay off to the tune of $1250 plus whatever is in the bonus (usually $3-4K).
So, let's say you hit the "deal" button and you get five cards. In that five card hand, you've got a pair of 3s and a king. My previous idea was to hold the 3s and draw in hopes of getting two pair or three/four of a kind because those were the highest payouts. And as my father will attest having witnessed this genius strategy in action, it doesn't work. You end up with a worthless pair of 3s.
My new plan is to hold the king. The justification is that I get four new cards instead of three, which increases the odds of getting a paying hand since I already have one of the cards needed to pay 1:1.
Based on rigorous experimentation, this new strategy is...well, let's not call it a "winner" but let's just say that I've been able to sit at a single 25-cent machine for four hours on $1, which is a significant improvement over my 30 minutes and out from last time.
"Oh crap."
In theory, craps is a simple game. You place a $5 "pass bet". Some dude (or better, some chick) you don't know rolls two dice. If he/she rolls a seven or an eleven, you win $5. If he/she rolls a 2, 3, or 12, you lose your $5 bet. If he/she rolls anything else, it is called the "point" and the fun begins.
Let's say the shooter rolls a 6 for the point. You've got a $5 pass bet down. Now, you bet on whether or not the shooter will roll the point (a 6, in this example) again before rolling a seven ("crapping out"). If he/she does roll the point again, you win $5. If he/she rolls a seven before rolling the point, you lose.
But there is one other trick to craps: the casinos offer "odds" on pass bets. If you put down an odds bet AND the shooter rolls the point before rolling a seven, you win $5 plus the odds payout. The odds payout, in any reputable casino, is the "true odds" of rolling that particular number--in other words, the casino has no advantage on the odds bets! The trick is to find the casinos that allow you to maximize your odds bet versus your initial bet (low minimum bet with high odds). The Casino Royale is notorious/famous for offering 100X odds--you can place a $3 minimum "pass bet" and a $300 odds bet on the same roll!
Maybe a better explanation: there are 36 possible ways to roll a pair of six-sided dice. On the initial roll, there are eight ways to win (eight different combinations of seven or eleven), four ways to lose (2, 3, or 12) and 24 ways to make a point. The odds of making the point are the ratio of the number of ways to make a 7 to the number of ways to make the point. For example, there are five ways to make a 6, so the odds of making a point of 6 are 6-5. Therefore, an odds bet of $5 on 6 pays out $6, so your total winnings are $11 ($5 from your pass bet and $6 from the odds bet).
Anyway, enough theory. I decided to give craps a whirl and it is my new favorite casino game. Not only do you actually have a reasonable chance of winning relative to the other games, the camaraderie around the craps table (especially when there is a hot shooter) is unbeatable. It is a lot of fun, although it is difficult to watch everyone else place more complex bets that have a significant house advantage (ie. not like the pass and odds bets I described above). You can have a lot of fun playing craps knowing just the pass and odds bets.
In fact, I won enough with craps that I was able to hit the blackjack tables and lose it all again in about an hour. Cursed blackjack...I am really starting to hate that stupid game.
Other notes from Sin City
I saw Justin Timberlake. He was in the process of bringing sexy back. As he predicted, I did not know how to act. I turned around, and he picked up the slack...and took 'em to the bridge, chorus, etc.
I ate a $48 bone-in rib steak at Delmonico that was worth every penny. It was decidedly un-Emeril, as it was called simply "Bone in rib steak" on the menu. Compare and contrast with my "fresh hearts of romaine and creamy bleu cheese dressing with crispy pancetta and buttermilk fried onion crisps" salad from the same menu.
I saw a pretty good Jimi Hendrix impersonator performing outside the Flamingo with two go-go dancers. It took me awhile to figure out that they were hawking Hendrix branded vodka, which pretty much blows away the definition of "irony" as far as I'm concerned. I am, sadly, not making this up. http://www.houseofhendrix.com/.
I saw a drunken Irishman (no, really) win a bet with his pals that he couldn't randomly grab the ass of another male passerby on the Strip unnoticed. Thankfully, I was not the victim.
All told, it was a fun trip. And now, back to the real world! |
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| Vegas, Day 1 |
[Oct. 20th, 2006|03:11 pm] |
Silly me for thinking I could get a seat at the ESPNZone in (wait for it) New York New York to watch the NLCS last night. I ended up arriving a little late after a 30-minute wait for a cab at the airport but made it down during the fourth inning. I watched most of the game from the sports book. And what a game! I think the most fun was watching the crowd slowly grow and grow, until during the eighth and ninth innings when anyone who didn't want to watch couldn't pass through. There were Cards fans and Mets fans, lots of high-fiving and yelling and a ton of fun.
I've changed my mind about the MGM Grand. Yeah, everything is still crazy expensive but I've come to realize that it's just Vegas. I also figured out that I didn't need to walk 1/2 mile from the elevators to my room...there is an elevator that serves the West Wing and it is located directly across from my room entrance.
The casinos are doing what they are supposed to do--take my money. I won a quick $10 on quarter video poker while watching the baseball game and then gave it all back (and then some) while learning to play craps, which I think is my new favorite game. I also played some blackjack but those $10 minimum bets don't go very far on eight decks. They have single-deck blackjack here at MGM Grand...for $50 a hand. No thanks.
Thanksfully, I didn't come here to win money. I've always looked at gambling like this: I pay the casino $X per hour, and they let me play some games and have some fun. The challenge is to carefully monitor the $X per hour to maximize your fun-having potential. And if I win--great!
Today, the weather is super-nice so I'm going to take a little tour of the Strip and wander into some of the places I didn't see last time, like Caesar's Palace. I'd also like to make it over to the Palms. Then, it's a quick nap before heading back out to lose more money! |
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| Today was a good day |
[Oct. 12th, 2006|04:07 am] |
I just booked a trip to Las Vegas for next week. I won't be there very long but just long enough to get some good food and quite possibly lose everything I own. I'm staying at the MGM Grand because it was the cheapest "reputable" hotel room on the Strip, but I'm not looking forward to the 1/2-mile walk from the elevator to the hotel room, or the $10.99/minute wifi, or the trek to the Studio Cafe for $30 breakfast. But I'm sure a couple of tequila slurpees in the Studio Walk and a big-ass cigar at Delmonico will change my attitude quickly. Is this becoming an annual ritual? Only time will tell.
In other news, my stupid iBook died again. For those keeping score at home, that's FOUR logic boards in less than a year. I took it back to the geniuses and suggested, as politely as possible, that we not bother trying to replace it again. They agreed but with the caveat that "The Supervisor" would need to call me to determine how to proceed. I braced myself for an argument. I expected them to offer some crappy $200 hardware credit. So imagine my surprise when "The Supervisor" (AKA Elise) called and read my repair history back to me. "This has been a horrible experience for you," she informed me bluntly, and then offered me a 1.83 GB Macbook as a replacement.
I was stunned. Apple was, for all intensive purposes, offering to replace my two-year old laptop with a more expensive, significantly faster computer with twice the disk and twice the memory and a Superdrive. So being the tightwad that I am, I promptly asked for an upgrade to the 2.0 GB model with 1 GB of RAM. "No problem," said Elise. "I'll have to order one for you but we can have it in a few days, and you can just pay the difference."
So I just got a brand new $1400 Macbook for $200. Something tells me that Dell wouldn't have done that. I don't want to be one of those cultish Apple freaks, but I'm blown away by this one. I'm still anxious about the quality of Apple's hardware--four catastrophic hardware failures in less than a year isn't ideal by any stretch. And I think Steve Wozniak is a bit of a knob. But their software is top-notch. And I'm beyond impressed with the treatment I've received throughout this ordeal. Apple rocks. |
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