Famille Du Pentium

Vince Welnick, the last of four keyboard players for the Grateful Dead, died Friday.  I had the opportunity to see Welnick at the Dead show in Chicago in the early 90’s, prior to Jerry’s death.  I also saw a Dead show in Irvine, California (my first show) with his predecessor, Brent Mydland, who died in 1990.   Vince was 51 years old. 

The Dead released a statement:

"Our Grateful Dead prayer for the repose of his spirit: May the four winds blow him safely home."

 Rest In Peace, Vince.

Bob Dylan turns 65 on Wenesday. 

 "How does it feel… to look like an aging hee-haw regular?"

Lets see how many of my siblings remember this

I plan to give you a little insight into my crazy mind, and blog what, for me, goes into planning a trip to Disney World for my family.  Follow the "Travel" category (http://famille.org/blog/travel/) to keep up with the Disney entries.

It is about 13 months (384 Days to be exact) before we will start our Disney vacation, not including travel time (we’re driving).  Here is what I’ve done so far:

• Buy the book.  I need the book.  
• Read the  section of the book on "when to go."  We actually already know pretty much when we’re going, but we can tweak the days to take advantage of slight lulls in the crowd. 
• We have to decide which ticket to buy.  This is much more complicated now.  Disney charges extra for the water park add-ons and park hopping option.  I think the park hopper is a given, we used that a lot last time.  Last time we didn’t use the water parks, but it was December.  Hmm, now we’re going in June.  So I read the book sections on the water parks to decide if our kids will have fun there, or just become french fried potatos.  I’m leaning toward not getting the water parks.  They seem more geared toward older kids, and Aaron really doesn’t like the slides.  I like the slides, and so does Marla, but I don’t think that the kids can hold down the fort while we go water sliding. 
• Decide where we are staying.  The Port Orleans – Riverside is the lowest price resort that has rooms that accomodate five.  It’s a moderate resort, doesn’t look too bad, friends have stayed there and said it was fine.  Looks like it’s Port Orleans!  (And, hey, they have a sit-down restaurant and a Jacuzzi.)

So far, it seems like we’ll buy the "Magic Your Way" base tickets with park hopper option, and it looks like our dates will be:

• Leave Chicago June 3, stop over about 1/3 of the way there, probably somewhere in Kentucky
• Stop over June 4 about 2/3 of the way there, probably somewhere in Georgia
• Stay the night in an off-resort Orlando hotel the last travel day (June 5)
• Get up bright and early on June 6, go to our resort, and get our tickets.  Drive to our first park in time for opening.
• Spend a week there
• Leave June 14

So now we’re set.  We’ll need tickets with park hoppers for five starting June 6 and ending June 13 at the Port Orleans – Riverside resort.

That wasn’t so hard, was it now?  🙂  Only 383 days left… 

Sadly I just this week learned of the passing of Buck Owens.  I was raised on Buck Owens, by virtue of his long-running show Hee-Haw.  Hee-Haw, it is little known, was the longest running show ever – 24 years, from 1968 to 1992.   It ran in syndication all but the first 3 or 4 years, often against powerhouse shows like Lawrence Welk.   One of my earliest childhood memories was asking my mom if, after we made a planned move from suburban Chicago, IL to San Antonio, TX, we would still be able to receive the Hee-Haw show.  That’s right, I was worried about not being able to watch Hee-Haw IN TEXAS.  Hey, I was six.

In honor of Buck Owens, I must post the following song, written by Buck, in his memory.  It definately brings back memories for me.   Where, oh where are you, Buck? 

 

Down here on the farm the weather gets messy

Laying around with nothin' to do

When you went away, you took my cow Bessie

I miss her darling, more than I miss you

You took off your leg, your wig and your eye glass

And you should've seen the look on my face

I wanted to kiss, I wanted to hug you

But you were scattered all over the place

Chorus:Where, where, are you tonight?

Why did you leave me here all alone?

I searched the world over,And thought I found true love.

You met another andPhht! you were gone.

I know that you loved me, here's my way of knowing

The proofs hanging out right there on the line

When I see the snow and feel the wind blowing

Your nighties hugging them long johns of mine

The noises you made at our supper table

Your habits, my dear, were surely absurd

But how many times do I have to tell you

Soup is a dish to be seen and not heard

Chorus:Where, oh where, are you tonight?

Why did you leave me here all alone?

I searched the world over,And thought I found true love.

You met another andPhht! you were gone.

Remember you phoned me a-sobbin' and cryin'

The dog bit your maw, and drug her around

You said she looked pale and thought she was dying

I said "Don't worry, I'll buy a new hound."

I had six kids and you had eleven

And we had a boy, and they grew like flowers

I wish you'd come back, without you ain't heaven

'Cause your kids and my kids are beatin' up ours

Chorus:Where, oh where, are you tonight?

Why did you leave me here all alone?

I searched the world over,And thought I found true love.

You met another andPhht! you were gone

I searched the world over,And thought I found true love.

You met another andPhht! you were gone...

In March / April 2006 I took my family of five (two adults including myself, three kids aged 2, 3, and 8 years old) to New York City for a family vacation.  Because we were staying downtown and sightseeing in that area, I did not need a rental car and didn’t want to pay $21 a day parking plus car rental just to get to and from the airport.  Also, I was concerned that we would not all fit into a standard NYC Taxi, especially since we have two kids in carseats. 

I went online and booked my trip, prepaid, from the Super Shuttle website.   The sign-up was fairly easy, although a bit confusing because they want you to book your trip to the airport first and your trip from the airport second.  

On March 31 at about 11:00 AM, Upon arriving at LaGuardia and making my way downstairs, I found complete chaos.  The hotel shuttle desk was staffed, but with people who were clearly not in control of the situation.   My prepaid instructions told me to go directly to the phone and press the button for Super SHuttle, so I did.  It dialed me through, and a surly person asked for my confirmation number and promptly put me on hold for ten minutes.  Given the chaos that was ensuing at the counter, I held.  Finally I got through to someone who took my information and told me that a shuttle was on the way, and the driver would know my name.  No estimated arrival, no van number, they just gave me that and hung up.  So I took in some of the activities at the desk.  The lady behind the desk was handing out tickets to people who were already waiting, so I asked if I needed a ticket and showed her my pre-paid email confirmation.  She simply walked away as if I spoke another language.  After firmly reasserting myself, she acknowleged my existance and told me to go pick up the phone.  When I told her I had already done that, and was just curious if I needed to exchange my voucher for a ticket, she told me to go pick up the phone.  Mind you, she was wearing a Super Shuttle badge.  Meanwhile, passengers who had been waiting for hours were complaining to both people behind the desk, and drivers were coming in, calling out people’s names, asking where they were going, and replying "I don’t have enough room for you."  So I was getting a bit worried.  Finally one lady behind the desk advised me to call their dispatch center (the other end of those mystic phones) back, and ask them to look up my van number and ETA.  I did, and was told 10 minutes and a van number.  I watched the chaos continue.

 In about 10 or so minutes, my van actually arrived.  I had a pile of luggage (three kids) plus a stroller and two car seats; he grabbed the car seats first and I figured he was going to put them in the van seats.  When I arrived outside with our luggage, I found that he had packed the car seats into the back of the van.  Upon entering the van, I learned why – even though I had made reservations for five and had confirmed five when I called their dispatch, there was only one bench seat open, that would normally hold three.  No room anywhere for car seats, and given the chaos in the terminal, I wasn’t about to take my chances and wait for another one.  We held our kids tightly and hoped for the best.

 Luckily no accidents occured but I was miffed to learn that I had been routed on a shuttle that had to drop off three passengers at upper Manhattan hotels.  My hotel was the Marriott Financial District, nearly as far downtown as you could go.  We ended up taking a little over an hour to get from La Guardia to downtown.

On the return trip, the van was wide open and plenty of room for car seats.  The driver was much more courteous, and he seemed to be training a new driver.  The driver arrived on time, loaded my bags, helped me secure the car seats, and helped us up into the van.  Upon arrival at La Guardia he unloaded our bags to the curb and helped me unload the kids and car seats.  

The service at Super Shuttle seems hit-or-miss.  I probably won’t use them again, because when I’m travelling with my family I can’t afford to take risks like holding my kids because the van can’t accomodate a car seat.  Also I don’t think I want to take a chance of waiting hours for a shuttle in the future – I’m sure I lucked out this time but next time I could be that poor schmo who waited nearly two hours for his shuttle.   

This might turn out to be a "Rant and Rave", or maybe a political entry.  But for now, I’ll leave it "Technical".

MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte has made a rather public announcement recently that he intends to have MIT develop a "$100 Laptop" that MIT will then leverage to get technology into the hands of developing countries.  This is both a technically ambitious and charitable effort – the ability to produce a $100 PC in quantity has long been a holy grail of cutting edge PC manufacturers and upping the ante to make it a laptop makes it even more interesting.  This will require a great deal of new technology development, hence the need for MIT to do it, because the components today just simply aren’t cheap enough in quantity to maintain production at a zero or miniscule profit.  So the boys at MIT have their work cut out for them.  I’m rooting for them.

 Apparently Bill Gates is not.  He is mocking them.  Apprently sensing a threat to his new "Tablet PC", which has nothing to do with putting technology in the hands of developing nations, Bill Gates has come out saying:

“The last thing you want to do for a shared use computer is have it be something without a disk … and with a tiny little screen,”

He went on to mock the crack that provides power when a battery is not present, and other features of the PC.  I guess those Ugandan children really ought to learn to plug their laptops in – to what, I don’t know.  Maybe Bill envisions electric goats or something in Africa.

Clarly Bill Gates is put off by anyone who challenges him both at technology and charity.  The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is certainly very generous… with some causes.  But it hasn’t promised to put technology into the hands of the masses like MIT has.   Also, Bill completely misses the point of the project… to provide A PC to every child in the developing world, not a SHARED PC.   I think Bill engaged his mouth before checking the brain gear position this time.  

First of all Bill, unlike your world, it’s not about $100.  Ugandan children can no more afford a $100 dollar PC than a $3000 PC.  That’s not the point.  The only people paying a dime for these PCs will be developers, who will likelly run, not walk to get the opportunity to develop software for the billions of emerging markets.  Oh and probably some NGOs, and even government organizations.  But certainly not some South African tribal pre-teen.  And Bill’s higher spec tablet PC will be as interesting to them as … well, you get the point. 

The point is, that MIT is working to make a notebook so cheap that a real difference can be made by organizations that do have the money to buy them.  That’s a far cry better than Gates is doing right now.

Some news links after the jump. 

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This is a review of the Marriott New York Financial Center, where we are staying during our family vacation.  Review starts after the jump.

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