In the northwest, and even Phoenix, hailing a cab to get around is not really that common. There are, of course, cabs that serve the areas but generally everything in Seattle and Phoenix is so spread out and far between it makes more sense to rent a car or steal a family member’s ride.

Since Mack was geeking out this weekend at the convention, we figured that there wouldn’t really be a point to renting a car. That was a mistake, since we were in kind of shady part of town (an acquaintance was screaming at some hookers from the roof of the hotel last year if that gives you an idea). Needless to say that, although downtown was probably only a mile walk away, unless we wanted to be shanked or something it wasn’t really an option.

A pleasant solution was found in taking cabs from the hotel to downtown. Now, Mack and I are generally people persons, to an extent. We do get sick of people easily, especially the stupid and annoying, but if they are characters we love hearing all about them. The cab drivers in Nashville were just that: characters.

Our first cab ride with Mack’s coworkers to the hotel, I think the cab driver was afraid of us since the boys were all talking “shop” and hacking and security. On Friday, after a Thursday-evening nasty pizza delivery disaster we (Mack and myself) decided to find food downtown. After having the front desk call for a cab, he arrived our adventures began. 

Ernest is a hard worker who loves getting to know his customers. He asked Mack and I where we were from and gave us wonderful suggestions as to where to eat and what were the best burgers in town (he had the top three suggestions and took us to number two since the BEST burgers in town were a little far away). 

When he dropped us off, he handed us his card to call him after dinner, which we did. And boy, were we glad we did. Did you know the fishing in the winter produces the tastiest fish? Something about the winter makes fish extra tasty. The colder the better, Ernest told us, in his humble opinion. Monday in Nashville was Monday night football. and he was looking forward to a day of fishing before working and shuttling football fans around. 

The other character cab driver was the one who took us from downtown back to our hotel then to the airport Sunday afternoon. He inquired about where we were from and was real interested in what we thought of Nashville and if we had enjoyed our stay. While he was not as talkative as Ernest, he was just as amusing and for that we were glad.

While next year Mack and I will probably do a rental car for the convention, we were really happy for the experience of the colorful characters that drive the cabs in Nashville, Tennessee.

A few shots from our weekend in Nashville, TN. More can be seen over at my flickr account.

Technorati Tags: nashville, tennessee, Phreaknic, convention, downtown, traveling, photography, the south

[source]

We’re off to Nashville, Tennessee for a convention this weekend. Seeing as it is a hacker convention for me to blog/login to anything via the web while we are away would be very, very stupid indeed. Seeing as this is going to be our first time in Nashville: any suggestions of places to see/go? I’ll be sightseeing on Saturday while Mack is geeking out so any suggestions would be amazing.

As a parting gift: an interesting article called “Web Design at 65 MPH: A Family of Web Workers Hits the Road“. My friend linked on twitter and is a very interesting read.

Technorati Tags: Nashville, Tennessee, convention, hacker convention, Nashville, sightseeing, geeking out, tourism, traveling the united states

Everybody always expresses hopes and desires to travel the world but do you think you have what it takes to truly do that? What of leaving the life you know, the culture you are familiar with, and packing up to live abroad for a period of time, or for the rest of your life? Do you think you could do it?

I think the first plane ride I can ever remember being on was on the way back from Salt Lake City with my family after visiting my Grammie. I remember looking at Mt. Rainier out the window and vaguely that my brothers were hogging more than their share of leg and arm room on the flight, even then. My parents instilled in me a love of traveling and other cultures but honestly I don’t really remember many adventures when I was little. I blame the head injury.

In seventh grade, my fourth brother decided to study for a semester in London. Even at that age I remember feeling jealous of my brother for this experience. I also recall the excitement when we traveled to visit him for two weeks. As an awkward youth, I was enraptured by England and Scotland and it gave me a taste of what it was like outside the United States.

At fifteen, I had transferred schools from a very small private school to a very large public school. It was a culture shock and I was both happy, and yet not. One of the few things I did get from that private school was a broader appreciation of international cultures and an interest in foreign exchange. On an open-night, I had my Mom visit the foreign exchange booth. Lots of paperwork and general preparation later I was traveling on a plane, by myself for the first time, headed to be an exchange student for a year in Japan. 

After my  time in Japan, I came back to the United States and have not gone abroad since. Don’t get me wrong: it was not for a lack of really, really wanting to go. First, my passport expired three months after I got back and I just renewed it last year. Also, when I came back I had heavy adjustments to make from being an international exchange student and going back to being a “regular” high school student. I headed straight to college a month after graduating from high school, got an amazing job straight after, went to college again, graduated, and moved to Florida. Traveling abroad, unfortunately, takes time and a lot of money.

One of the many things that attracted Mack and myself to each other was a love of world travel, and a desire to get out there and just explore. Mack’s mother’s family immigrated from Ireland years ago and he has been working at figuring out his family tree and history for years. With all of his hard work, Mack wants to visit the land of his ancestors and experience it and perhaps even live there just to see what it is like. 

I’m all for this plan, and have been researching what it takes to move abroad and find it kind of… disheartening. There are so many restrictions on people who can move and try to become citizens over there. In thinking of all the possibly limitations, we’re trying to find our best solution (starting a business we can work anywhere from? Telecommute to the states? Go to England where it might be slightly easier for me to get citizenship) and sometimes we just want to bang our heads against the wall.

Living abroad: a do or a don’t? Do share.

Technorati Tags: travel, world, other cultures, London, England, foreign exchange, Japan, Ireland, dual citizenship, immigration, citizenship

When did you receive your first speeding ticket? Was it justified in, say, you were speeding unlawfully and rightly deserved your ticket? Or was it a product of the police trying to fill their quota?

I will be the first to admit I am no innocent victim of my first speeding ticket. Before yesterday, I had been pulled once over years ago while I was still living in Washington. I had a car with two friends in it and naturally that does not bode well for the intelligence factor. Luckily, at the time I got a stern talking to and a warning to watch my speed. 

When I first got my license I moved to Japan for a year and so did not drive at all. Upon my return, it took awhile for me to get back into the swing of driving (especially since I was used to the drivers seat being the passenger seat for a year). As one of my brothers bluntly put it, when I got back it was much like a turtle driving since I went really slow.

As drivers in Phoenix, Arizona will attest, if you’re not doing at least 20 mph over the speed limit down there you will most likely be rammed off the road. Naturally, this led me to pick up some pretty bad speeding habits while I was there since I had to keep with the flow of traffic. (To those who have never lived or been to Phoenix: please see the list “How to Drive in Phoenix” to understand).

It was surprising when we moved to Florida that they’re just as bad as Phoenix drivers but they have another element: they have more older people. Don’t get me wrong, I adore older people but sometimes a few of them don’t help the stereotype that they’re bad drivers. I was expecting, in moving, that I’d have to learn how to tone down my speeding ways. However, I found instead that I fit in perfectly in the area and kept up with traffic around me.

That was, until yesterday morning.

The day started off badly anyway, since, the night before, Mack and I had taken Bucky to the emergency ER. There wasn’t anything dire or life threatening happening with him but he had been throwing up that day so we were worried. After dealing with that, I was up Monday morning trying to get ahold of his vet to see if we should bring him in (more on the whole emergency visit later). This, in turn, meant by the time I left home, I was heavily distracted and kind of late.

Recipe for disaster you say? OH MAYBE.

The freeway entrance near our apartment is pretty bad. The entrance kind of turns into an exit lane to a busy exit and frankly, people are jerks and tend to speed up so that you can’t get out of the lane. That was a factor yesterday: I had a line of cars trying to cut me off. Now, by no means am I passing the buck on this, but at the time I reacted by picking up my speed and merging over two lanes so I would not be tailgated. In retrospect, I think I probably should have just been tailgated so the cop hidden around the bend would have busted them instead of me.

I get pulled over, naturally. The added bonus in this whole equation was it was a “work zone” though the work areas are not for a few miles. The cop asked me if I was aware of the speed limit (yes) and knew my speed when he busted me (unfortunately yes as well). He disappeared into his car to write me a ticket and now I am the proud owner of my first (and hopefully last) speeding ticket. 

I got off pretty light, considering all the factors (construction zone, my speed, etc). I think the part that irritates me the most is not that I got busted but rather afterwards on my trips to and from work, I’ve done nothing but the speed limit and have been passed by everyone (including a cop), tailgated, and flipped off.

Where do you stand on the need for speed? Would you rather do the speed limit and risk being passed and tailgated? Or would you rather speed a little? Common rule is generally keep up with traffic but when traffic is doing the speed I got busted at, what is a girl to do?

Technorati Tags: speeding ticket, cops, police, law, cars, florida drivers, phoenix drivers, busted, tailgating

Yes he was named after the Get Fuzzy siamese. He fits within the B naming scheme (Brutus, Blue, Baby, Becca) and fits in quite well within the household (he beats up on Blue and Brutus).

More details of the newest kitty later.

Thank you for all the suggestions and the winner has been notified.

Technorati Tags: Get Fuzzy, naming scheme, winner, kitten, stray, new name, bucky, cats

Yesterday morning, as I was pouring myself a bowl of cereal, Mack heard outside our apartment a plaintive meowing. Curious, he stepped out on the patio to try and figure out where the pitiful sound was coming from. After he established the general location (the parking lot) he told me of the cat and instantly I threw on non-PJs and together we went into the parking lot to see what the deal was. 

When we approached a neighbors car Mack bent down and saw a kitten (which, considering it’s size, I guessed was around 3-4 months old). The kitten, sensing danger, instantly darted off towards our apartment in hopes of escaping its perceived threat. Mack and I managed to corner it and catch the wet, meowing kitten. 

After drying the kitten off, I put it into the bathroom with some food and water. It proceed to snarf down the food as quickly as it possibly could. The kitten was skinny and obviously hungry. By the time Mack and I left for work, it had a liter box, food, water, and some towels to sleep on for warmth. It was safely stashed in our bathroom (so our other two cats would not beat up and/or eat it). 

More than 24 hours later the kitten has been bathed, it’s ears cleaned, and it has a vet appointment under it’s belt. It has been de-wormed, vaccinated, and tested for feline leukemia. As you remember from my post awhile back when we found a few stray kittens in our apartment complex, stray cats are pretty rampant down here in Florida. 

In hopes of finding a truly wonderful name for the kitten I’m offering up a contest. Suggest some names you think would fit the kitten, and the one we like the most and ultimately choose will win a prize. The animals that are named in our household are: Brutus, Blue, Becca, Baby, and Mordecai. I tend to like names based on historical or literary characters so use that to your advantage.

We’ll run this contest through Sunday at 8PM EST and announce a winner the next day.

Technorati Tags: cat, kitten, vet appointment, contest, characters, winner, prizes, homeless animals, strays