Did you miss me? I know that I haven’t written in a while, but I’m still around. I had a great time in Dubai (pictures are forthcoming…allegedly), and more importantly, I’ve had a great time since I came home. My vacation helped me clear my head and appreciate the good things in my life, which I have. I’ve also made some unexpected new friends, which is a good feeling. It’s sometimes hard to make friends as an adult. Right now I love everything and am working on loving everybody.
Travel, Vacation | Nicole | April 9, 2012 9:00 pm | Comments Off on Don’t worry, I’m still alive
Laughing at the stupid fears that prompt people to take out bizarre insurance policies is all fun and games until the article mocks one that actually sounds rather reasonable: Thai riots. A quick google search will show you that yes, this is a more legitimate fear than being impregnated by a deity or abducted by aliens (I think). I do want to visit Thailand in my life, and no, I wouldn’t buy this insurance, but it’s not like I don’t see why other tourists would consider doing so.
I’m enjoying one of the more awesome parts of being employed: the business trip. I’m attending the Computers in Libraries conference this week. Maybe I only find this exciting because I don’t HAVE to travel much, but I like moving around, and the DC area, where I am, is gorgeous this time of year. I’m in a session right now, and it’s pretty fascinating, but sitting here having somebody talk at me is reminding me of college in a big way. I’m taking notes on my computer, which I was a couple of years too old to really have experienced as an undergrad, but is cool. Still, the lure of the internet is, as you can see, too strong to resist.
So I just got home from Boston where, as usual, I had a blast. I think that my opinion of Boston is skewed because I’m always there expressly to have fun; what city could suck when one’s only goal is to be entertained? We stayed at The Back Bay Hotel (thank Jeebus for Priceline), which was awesome, but whose unlimited free wireless would have earned it my undying love even if it had been only half as good. The hotel was in a great location for us to walk whereever we wanted to go, which is great, since we walked everywhere the entire weekend. For somebody as lazy as I am, this is quite an accomplishment. Actually, I don’t usually consider walking as real exercise, as you can look around and talk while doing it without losing your breath, but I definitely haven’t walked that much since I was in Europe last year.
Newbury Street was really close to our hotel, which is great, since there are some incredible restaurants on it. We went to:
La Voile – French, awesome. The pan-seared fois gras is pretty amazing and the portion is insanely generous.
J. P. Licks – Great ice cream. Crazy flavors, too.
We really wanted burritos from Boloco this morning before we headed home, but they didn’t open until 10, and we were on the road by a little after 9. It was a great, relaxed and fun weekend, and even the rain that greeted us as we neared New Jersey didn’t ruin the good mood I’ve got going!
This New York Times article was sent to me by Virginia, my #1, and possibly only, reader (just kidding, Mom). It’s about Michael Hicks, an 8 year old whose name is on a TSA watch list. (Hey, TSA: Good job on improving the way that travelers’ names are checked against government watch lists.) He is scrutinized and subject to extra searches when he flies. Not his parents. Just him. They patted him down when he was 2 years old. Who could do that? How does that make any sense?
I laughed when I read the article, because it is ridiculous to think that any rational person could look at an 8 year old and suspect him of plotting some sort of aviation-related terrorism. But then I got serious; it’s awful when you think of what this child and his family have gone through. It’s even worse when you think that he’s been getting this treatment since the age of 2. I know what toddlers practice their own special brand of terror (my nephew’s nickname isn’t Satanski for nothing), but seriously? This just illustrates the complete lack of logic behind TSA policies, and shows why the TSA justifiably gets such a bad rap.
Also, I was terrified by the story of Mario Labbé, an adult male with the same problem of having his name on a watch list. He was always questioned when he flew, and they always asked him the same thing. He got sick of it, and was able to fix the entire solution by changing his name. To François Mario Labbé. That’s it? That’s all it took? He changed his name just a little, and all the hassles ended? Although he shouldn’t have been on the list in the first place, I’d feel better knowing that it would take more than a trip to the municipal building for people whose travel plans raise justifiable concerns to evade heightened scrutiny. Where’s the followup? The intergovernmental agency cooperation?
The TSA was created in a hurry to allay people’s fears after 9/11, not out of careful strategy. I’m sure that a lot of TSA workers do want to help make air travel safe, but the system also seems to involve a worrying amount of pseduo-science (Only people with something to hide don’t look you in the eyes), racial profiling (Hey, you there, in the brown skin…), and plain retardedness (What were you planning to do with 101 ml of liquid, comrade??? The limit is 100!). For all that some justified people are pulled out of line or questioned further, it is inarguable that a lot falls through the cracks.
The TSA is probably not a good organization to work for. Their mission is vague, scary as all get out, and potentially dangerous. The Transportation Security Officer, which is the main point of TSA contact for many air travelers, is the poorest paying position in the organization. These factors naturally limit the pool of applicants, and thinking for a moment about who that leaves to work for the TSA explains a lot about people’s perceptions of TSA officers. Kip Hawley, a former head of the TSA, famously called airport screening positions a dead end job. Yeah, no kidding.
Reading and thinking about the TSA is depressing the crap out of me, so I’ll stop now.
Protip: When a country deports you, they generally mean for you to stay out. Forever.
Say that you were convicted of smuggling drugs in Thailand and sentenced to death. And suppose that sentence was the changed to 25 years in prison. And what if, four and a half years after you got to prison, you were pardoned by Thailand’s king and sent back home to the UK, where you were from? To recap: what if you’d been sentenced to death and then imprisoned in a country, and were later kicked out of it, never to return?
Would you then go back to “tie up some loose ends?” You are probably not a moron, so I’m guessing your answer would be “No.”
I’m home! I really enjoyed California a lot, and although I wouldn’t say that my vacation was especially relaxing, I do feel like the time away benefited me. As promised, I am including links to my pictures from my trip to California. I also went to Disneyland, but didn’t really feel like taking pictures there.
I have taken an insane number of pictures here in California, and will upload them to my various services (Facabook, Flickr, etc.) on Thursday. My hotel charges for internet, so technically it is available, but since I think it’s a disgrace for such a nice hotel to charge for something as basic as internet connectivity, I absolutely refuse to pay for it. It’s a good thing I can tether my phone to my computer, right? I feel so smart every time I connect. Still, that connection isn’t really fast enough to transmit large files, so I’ll wait until I get home.
D’oh! I forgot to mention that I’m off to California for the next week, and I’m not sure whether I’ll be posting much, if at all. Peace out, East Coast!
April 9, 2012 9:00 pm | 
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