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Musings brought on by whichever brain cells happen to be firing at the time.
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Monday, December 15, 2003 - Renton, Washington
Home again after two months and 10,156 miles travelling around the U.S. My R1150RT performed flawlessly and, for once, I didn't even have a flat! I was blessed with good weather for most of the trip. Temperatures ranged from the twenties to the eighties along the way. There was some rain and a little snow but most days were dry. I was comfortable the whole time. I've got good gear and I'm not ashamed to say I've learned from the mistakes I made on previous trips. I have a lot of catching up to do. Two boxes of unopened mail and a stack of magazines await my attention. In particular, I have been remiss about keeping up with some technical articles that need to be written for this journal. I'll get to one or two before I leave in early January for Thailand. More details on that trip soon. But more pressing than any of this is to spend some time at home with the people I care most about. It's good to be home.
Sunday, December 14, 2003 - Covelo, California
 Ted Simon and David Stafford Ted Simon has recently returned from his second round-the-world motorcycle odyssey and settled back into his home in Covelo, California. Ted's story of his first round-the-world adventure in the mid 70s, Jupiter's Travels: Four Years Around the World on a Motorcycle, inspired me to get off my duff and see the world first-hand instead of passively accepting what the TV and newspapers had been telling me. Jupiter's Travels is highly recommended as well as its companion book, Riding High. If Jupiter's Travels doesn't inspire you to see the world for yourself, nothing will. 
Saturday, December 13, 2003 - San Francisco, California
 The Golden Gate bridge as seen from Battery Spencer
Friday, December 12, 2003 - San Jose, California
 Dave Fotland Dave Fotland is a strong amateur Go player and a CPU designer. He is also the author of Many Faces of Go, one of the best Go programs available today. As if Go isn't sufficiently overwhelming for computers! Dave introduced me to the game Arimaa which was designed specifically for the purpose of being difficult, if not impossible, to construct a skillful computer player. There's $10,000 waiting for the first program that can defeat the best human player. Dave, ever the competitor, has an Arimaa program under development and intends to pursue the prize. I wouldn't bet against him.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - Los Angeles, California
 Bob Myers, David Stafford and Rick Myers Time goes by so fast. In the late 80s Bob founded a translation and software development company in Kamakura, Japan called Pacifitech. The specific job he hired me for evaporated about the time my foot stepped on Japanese soil but Bob, true to his word, found enough work to keep me busy. One of my favorite memories of Pacifitech is of an extraordinary and highly unusual employee benefit. Bob arranged for a professional Go player to drop by regularly and give us lessons. Thanks, Bob! Rick, Bob's brother, introduced me to the delights of Roppongi but I can't remember much about those times. And what I do remember I won't tell. Thanks, Rick! 
Tuesday, December 09, 2003 - Los Angeles, California
 At the Santa Monica pier I caught myself singing the old Arlo Guthrie tune, 'Coming Into Los Angeles.' I remember hearing that as a little kid and wondering why he's bringing keys into Los Angeles? Because it rhymes? Don't they have plenty of keys there already?  Fishermen on the beach at Malibu  Dave Taylor I visited Dave Taylor and Trey Harrison in Los Angeles. Dave is also from Austin and once ran a game company there called Crack Dot Com. These days he spends his time as an advisor to budding game developers. My advice? Don't make games! That wouldn't get me very far in his business. Trey is working on his own project: a visual programming environment currently targetting music visualization. Cool stuff!
Saturday, December 06, 2003 - Phoenix, Arizona - Peter's surprise birthday party
 The birthday boy Woohoo! Peter is in for a terrific shock this evening! Eshaia has planned and organized a surprise 40th birthday party for him. She arranged to bring his friends and family from all around the country for the event. As far as Peter knew this was nothing more than a quiet dinner with Eshaia. But once he stepped into the room and saw everyone... the expression on his face was priceless!  A toast! There's our boss from old Borland days, Pat Williams, giving a toast. Left-to-right: Peter Kukol, Hana Kukol, Jiri Kukol, Pat Williams, Karen Weisert and Mike Weisert. It's great to see old friends again.  Bob Foscolo, Deb Blocker, Peter Kukol & Lauri Cass Deb, Bob and Lauri flew in from Seattle. Having Deb for a day is my own present!  Eshaia prepares the cake Eshaia did a great job organizing this secret party. Everything came together perfectly.  |