Two Jobs on Wheels

March 22, 2005 by Eric Richardson

Via Camworld I just read the article "A Coder in Courierland" over on kur05hin. I think that spending time as a bike messenger would be fascinating. Alan agreed:

that has always been my alter ego dream job

Speaking of odd jobs, I've also given thought to applying to be a part-time bus driver. The MTA is in desperate need of drivers, and it would definitely be a way to learn about transportation issues. My lack of Spanish would hurt me, though that's not listed on the job requirements.

Fun With X-Rays

March 21, 2005 by Eric Richardson

Last of my sort of leftover posts from travelling... Yesterday at the Charleston, SC, airport I managed to really confuse the x-ray guy. As requested I pulled my laptop out of its case and sent it through seperately. Even so, my bag had lots of interesting shapes for the guy to get confused with. The screener took three or four minutes looking through every pocket and ended up pulling out my little bicycle pump. I hadn't intended to bring it along, but I had forgotten to take it out after giving the bike a spin on Tuesday. Running that and the bag through seperately seemed to satisfy him, but it definitely seemed more trouble than was warranted.

This isn't the first time that bag's given me x-ray troubles. One time going into City Hall the security guard never could figure out what a shape he was seeing in the x-ray machine was. He looked through everything in the bag and ended up baffled, but at least satisfied I was harmless.

Can They Fit Twelve Doctors in One Car?

March 20, 2005 by Eric Richardson

So yesterday afternoon Kathy and I drove up 17 to the new mall in Myrtle Beach, SC. I bought a pair of Gamecock color Adidas warmup pants (on sale, $25, garnett with three black stripes). It's a nice new mall, with space for two more anchor stores. We walked the length of it, and then on the way back passed a few people huddled by an older lady being attended to on the floor. Especially in the off-season Myrtle Beach has a large retiree population, so I'd imagine this isn't too odd of a sight. But this part was: two of the people attending to her were clowns, in full get-up. That was just a little odd and surreal.

Man the Periscopes!

March 20, 2005 by Eric Richardson

I've mentioned before that the fire alarm in my building sounds like you're on a submarine that's about to dive. This afternoon the alarm went off, and I imperiled myself for thirty seconds or so to record a little sample for you to hear (mp2 file).

Of course I got downstairs (via the stairs, mind you) to find that the alarm was due to water leaking onto the control panel on the ground level. Sort of an anti-fire.

Back in LA

March 20, 2005 by Eric Richardson

So I'm back. Even though the weather wasn't that great I had a blast being back down south and just spending a week hanging out with family and seeing some old friends. This morning we left the house at 5:15am (EST), which meant getting up at what is 1:30am out here. So I don't know how long I'll last tonight. It's nice out right now, so I think I'm going to walk around for a little and take a few pictures.