By and by we got to Mumbai.

“It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” as the song goes.  But it’s much further to Mumbai (formerly Bombay).

We arrived at Austin’s Bergstrom airport around 8a, for our 9:55am flight.  Some 28 hours later we touched down in Mumbai after layovers in New York and London.  Leaving New York there were bad storms in the area so we sat on the plane and ended up leaving about 90 minutes late, which made the connection in Heathrow just enough time to haul ourselves from Terminal 3 to Terminal 4 which is quite a ways.

The flight from London to Mumbai was on Jet Airways, the leading Indian Airline and one which I was not familiar with before this year’s travels.  However, I must say that I was very impressed – the aircraft was in good condition, the meals were very tasty, legroom was more than I was expecting, and the entertainment system was very good.

Unfortunately there was a screw up with the meals – I had ordered vegetarian for me and vegan for Kelly.  American Airlines said they would take care of the requests and forward similar ones to Jet.  As it turned out, on our transatlantic American Airlines flight only one meal had been reserved, but they had a veggie (dairy) option as part of the regular meal choices.  Interestingly the spread with the vegan meal had whey in it, and for breakfast they served buttery croissants and yoghurt!

On the Jet flight it appeared that no meal request made it through.  I guess I‘ll need to send American Airlines a nasty gram when we get back.

Arrival in Mumbai was early and 3 of our 4 bags came out pretty quickly, but unfortunately it took another 20 minutes or so for the last one to make it onto the belt, but in the end we were 4 for 4 in our bags making it to India.

They have a good plan at Mumbai airport whereby you get a prepaid taxi voucher from an official desk, which keeps the taxi fare standardized and reasonable – no gouging.  About US$80 for a 40 minute ride to our hotel, which is the YMCA International Center.  Rooms are decently priced, clean, and come with breakfast and dinner, although we haven’t had dinner there yet.

Around 1am we hit the sack and worked on getting some zzzzzzs. 

The Indian visa process. Or how to bring bureaucracy into the 21st century.

India requires visas from most countries, including the US and UK.  Before we started our travel planning, I vaguely recalled this from my discussions with other travelers, so once we were committed to making India our destination for this summer, I knew that we needed to take care of arranging our visas.  

At least in the US, the Indian consulates have outsourced the application process for most visa types to a third party called Travisa.  The process goes something like this:
a.  Fill out the appropriate application on the Indian government website, one for each person.  Be prepared to provide your religion, information about multiple generations of your family, your occupation, your port of arrival in India, your address in India (remember - they tell you not to book any travel until you have received your visa!), shoe size, favorite TV show, ....  Perhaps my favorite question was list all countries you have visited in the last ten years.  Suffice is to say that the space allocated for this ran out well before I got to the end of the list.  Since there wasn't enough space to list every country we have visited in that time, what was the point?
b. Certify the application online and get a reference number.
c. Have a passport sized photo and signature for each applicant.  Scan these together (individually won't work!)
d. Complete an online processing form with Travisa including the application reference number and re-entering some of the same data from the Indian government application form.  Choose whether to do everything by post (estimated processing time up to 4-6 weeks), or in person with theoretical same day service at your nearest Travisa office, which for us is a 2.5 hour drive away in Houston.
Rinse and repeat once per person, without being able to save any data that would be same across all applications.  With everything I needed to do, I estimate it took me about 1 hour per application.
e. Submit everything online and then print the application, which includes 10 pages of instructions.  Either bring in person to your designated appointment time, or send in the post along with your passports and other documentation.  Since 4-6 weeks would be cutting it very close for us, we chose to make the drive down to Houston.  The granting of visas is at the discretion of the Indian consulate so they tell you there are no guarantees, but applications made by 11am are usually ready for pickup that same night at 5pm.  Accordingly we made an appointment for 10:40am a few days later.

Let me pause for a second to note that the complexity factor in doing visa apps goes up big time when you have two sons, neither of whom live at home.  Luckily I had visa/passport photos that were only a year or two old for all of us, but how to get the signatures?  For Ben this could have been done with a cross town drive, but for Aaron, who is in college in Atlanta, I suppose the expectation of the Indian government was either that he would take care of the whole process at his local consulate/application center (good luck with that, especially since his passport was in our safe in Austin), or that we would mail forms back and forth.

To give you an idea of how finicky the process is, there are a couple of places where you have to sign, including a box where if you go over the edge, even slightly, your application will be rejected.  

The solution was for me to get scans of everyone's signature and layout a document that placed and scaled the signatures to be exactly where they needed.  Something that isn't too difficult for me since I work with visual editing software all the time, but a pain none the less.

After I had filled out an submitted each of the apps, I noticed that there was a small problem with Ben and mine.  On Ben's I think I listed his birthplace as Austin, rather than Tarzana, CA and on mine, I had listed my parents by their first names, but it turned out that for the parents' name only, this should be first and last name.   A long wait on hold that was never answered and some online research revealed that applications could not be edited and that I should redo the process and reprint the forms.  Grrr.

Our appointed appointment time arrived - we had picked 10:40 am  to get in under the 11am deadline, yet give us time to drive to Houston without getting up in the middle of the night.  I must say that the Travisa process was pretty painless at this point.  A receptionist looked over all our paperwork to double check it.  Copies of everyone's drivers' licenses.were also needed, but I had made sure to bring those.

Then we dropped off everything (forms, photos, passports) at the counter and paid our fees (something like $70 per person for the recommended  6 month multiple entry visa).  From there we did a little shopping, and art viewing and came back after 5pm only to find out that two of the passports had come back with the visas and the other two were still in progress.  Which ones came back?  Ben and mine, i.e. the ones that got resubmitted a day after Kelly and Aaron's!  We paid an extra $25 or so to have the other passports shipped back to us and they arrived two days later.   Had we known this, we could have simply had all the passports mailed back to us and driven right back to Austin, saving ourselves half a day.  Oh well.

One nice thing is that Travisa provides the ability to track everything on their website, so you can see where you are in the process.  Likely this would have been much more useful had we done the whole thing via post, but in the end we got the visas we needed.  To be honest, I can't really understand why doing this via post should take 4-6 weeks when if you show up at the counter it can be done in a day (or two).  Perhaps they are just being cautious on their website with the processing times.  Either way, the only difference in cost is that actual shipping fee (FedEx).

India has a reputation for lots of bureaucracy and (from a western perspective) inefficiency, so maybe this is just another step in the cultural acclimatization process.  Keep in mind that if you have a very large population, finding jobs for people may be more important than saving a few minutes for each applicant.   I've experienced this before in other places I've traveled and it takes some adjustment.

As the prayer goes, "Oh Lord give me patience, but I want it right now."

Getting ready for India

Normally I start blogging once our trip has started, but I thought I would start my first post a little early.  By the way, if you are reading this, please leave a brief comment - it really makes a big difference.  On a previous trip, I just about gave up blogging as I thought no one was reading it, but kept it going if nothing else as a personal journal.  Turns out that lots of people have told me that they enjoy reading about our travels - if you are one of those, please let me know.

Our eldest son Ben just graduated from university and will be starting his full time employment in August, so this will likely be the last time our family is able to make an extended trip.  We will be traveling as a group of 4 - me, my wife Kelly, graduate Ben, and our youngest son Aaron who will be returning to college in the fall as a sophomore.  In all, we will spend about five weeks traveling to a variety of locations throughout the country.

Our general rule for summer travels has been to try to go to places cooler than Austin, Texas during the summer, but we've violated that once or twice.  We've always wanted to go to India and this seemed like the right time, although we expect it to be very hot and possibly quite wet, especially at the tail end of our trip.  Although we have not been to India before, we have spent a significant amount of time visiting Indian communities in different locations around the world.  We have also had some of our most memorable meals in Indian restaurants in odd places such as Bangkok, Thailand; Szeged, Hungary; Melaka, Malaysia; and Quito, Ecuador.  In Quito we ate there with an Indian family who now live in the US and they thought it was some of the best Indian food they had ever had.

However, visiting "Mother India" will of course be a different experience and one that I am anticipating with eagerness and some trepidation.  Mostly what I wanted to include in this post is some of the ways we try to prepare for a trip, but I thought it might also be interesting to record some of my expectations and then look back on them as we experience the reality of the world's second most populous country, and its largest democracy.

I am expecting India to be one of the most diverse, if not THE most diverse country in the world.  Certainly this is true of religion, with notable communities of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Christians, Jews, Parsis, and others, as well as a wide diversity of economic conditions, geography, architecture, dance, music, language, food and all other aspects of culture.

Some predictions:
- We will be awed by the culture
- We will taste some incredible food (and hopefully learn how to make some of it).
- Each of our senses will be overloaded, and not always in a good way!
- At times we will find ourselves very tired and frustrated
- Attitudes towards time and details will test our patience
- We will be better for the entire experience

The process of preparing for a self guided trip of this nature is quite a bit different from joining an organized tour.  Rather than just show up at an appointment place and time and be whisked from point A to point B, all the research and planning is our responsibility, which although a lot of work, is also one of the things I enjoy as it requires me to learn a lot more about the places we will be exploring.  The key advantage of traveling our way is that we have complete flexibility to go as fast or as slow as we want.  When an experience might be greatly enhanced by the knowledge of a local guide, we'll hire one.

The preparation for these kinds of trips happens a long way in advance.  Informally, I've been doing the research for a few years.  There are various places that are on the dynamic list of locations we ultimately want to visit.  Often the opportunity to go there doesn't occur for a few years.  In the interim I talk to people who have visited the country to listen to their experiences and mentally note the sorts of places and things that we might want to do or try to avoid when we eventually make the trip.  In the case of India, I've also done a fair amount of research on intercultural issues as I have helped Indians relocate to the US and Americans prepare for ex-pat assignments in India.  These programs have also created interesting opportunities to talk with native Indians about their attitudes and expectations between Indian and US cultures.

Next in line is usually reading.  India has been on my radar for a while and so I purchased a good India guide  a couple of years ago that I've browsed from time to time.  My two preferred travel guides are the Footprint series out of the UK and the DK Eyewitness Guides, which are much more visual and useful for people who don't like to do lots of reading.  Of course websites are important too and for general information I like wikitravel.org

After listening to some of the history of India (see below) and the importance of its traditional texts, I found a book at Half Price Books on Hindu Tales that looks very readable.  In preparing for a previous trip to Thailand, I read the Ramayana in translation, which is a key Indian text in the form of a saga, sort of comparable the Iliad or Odyssey.  Also while at Half Price Books, I found an audio course and a book on Hindi language.  I have no illusions of becoming fluent in Hindi, but learning a little of the language provides insights into the culture and being able to speak and understand some phrases goes a long way to trying to create a cultural bridge with individuals.  Many times I've found people who claim not to speak any English, so I use my limited knowledge of their native language. Usually after a few minutes, it turns out that they do speak some English, but weren't confident enough to use in until they saw me butcher their language!  Even though English is widely spoken in India, I suspect I'll have a chance to say a phrase or two while we are there.  India has more than 400 distinct languages and dialects, and every Indian I have previously met spoke at least 3 languages - their local dialect, Hindi, and English, and often 5 or more.

Once the decision to make the trip has been made, probably the first logistical issue is booking the travel.

UPDATE:  I realized this morning that I left out a very important step.  The first real logistical issue is to figure out if there are any special travel documents required, such as visas, which for India, there are.  In fact there are many different types of visas, even just for tourists - single entry, multiple entry, 6 month, 5 year, 10 year, all at different prices and some with different requirements.  The Indian government warns not to book travel until the necessary visas have been received.

Booking travel could be a whole series of posts in and of itself.  Suffice is to say that the days of really great travel agent service is behind us.  The nature of travel agent compensation and the huge variety of contemporary travel options means that travel agents don't much incentive to do detailed research.  It can be helpful if you are able to find an agent specializing in the area to which you will travel, but I had no success in this regard.  When I had a travel agent price out the basic US-India flights, they came back with a quote that ended being nearly $900 per person more than what I ultimately found.  And the flights that I got were on our preferred airlines, shorter, and to the specific locations we wanted.  Bottom line is that if you are planning your own travel you need to be willing to do a lot of research (and maybe get a bit lucky with your timing) if you want to get the best deals.

Having the major flights in place, the next concern is health.  Most tropical areas have specific health risks and require certain inoculations.  Luckily we have an excellent Travel Health Clinic in Austin which I have previously used.  They were able to reference all our previous records and determined that for most of us we just needed to do a Typhoid booster, remind us about healthy traveling, and setup malaria protection.  It turns out that I needed some additional shots, but our family doctor was able to take care of those once we knew what they were.

I've previously written about malaria protection, and in reality the goal is to avoid being bitten by any insects due to a variety of diseases that get spread that way and for which no inoculations exist.  But for malaria specifically, we generally use the medication Malarone in addition to bite avoidance measures.  Since we are traveling as a group of 4, one way to save some money on what can be expensive medication ($6 per pill per day at retail) is to order a 90 day supply for 2 people.  Since we need less than 45 pills per person, these two prescriptions will cover all of us.  Other health precautions include putting together a travel emergency kit including key medications and first aid supplies.  Talk to your doctor.

An essential aspect of protection from insects is to use Permethrin treated clothing.  There are a few products that are sold that come pre-treated and lucky for me I was able to get a good deal on a few shirts at the Columbia Sportswear outlet in San Marcos.  But mostly we self treat our travel clothes with Permethrin sprays or dips, which requires (a) that you have all your travel clothing picked out and (b) that you allow time to treat and dry your clothes.  We travel very light on these trips - rather than carrying enough clothing for the whole trip, we plan on doing laundry.  Having lightweight, durable, easy drying clothing is key, and can get pricey.  Let's just say that REI and Columbia Sportswear did well from us.  Thankfully they both had good sales on for the Memorial Day weekend, but our wallets are still a lot lighter!

Apart from clothing, and medicines, outfitting also includes making sure we have appropriate gear with us - enough stuff to make our lives easier, not so much stuff that we overload ourselves.  I am planning on getting pre-paid Indian SIM cards for two of our phones, hopefully with data access, so this requires getting our phones unlocked by our mobile provider such that they can accept other SIM cards.  Failing to do so would make the cost of using the phone prohibitive, especially with data access.  I've heard horror stories of people who didn't know about the extreme costs ($15/MB or more) and came home with $1,000 plus mobile phone bills.  We have to be able to charge our phones and any other personal electronics we bring, so an India power adapter is essential.  One good tip for charging multiple devices is to take a single India power adapter along with a power strip from your country. This means you can use all your regular chargers and just need to have one power adapter.  You can even get compact travel outlets with built in USB ports, meaning that you just need to bring the appropriate cables and you can charge a couple of phones with one small device and still be able to plug in other things.   I bought one of these from Amazon and am looking forward to using it this year: http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Outlets-300-Laptops-USB/dp/B003TXRTNG

Some other areas of research include watching videos and films.  PBS had run Michael Wood's BBC series called "The Story of India" which we found available on Netflix.  At times it was a little dry, but the 6 hour long episodes gave a very good overview to the complex history of this country.  We also plan on watching "Ghandi" and a few other movies.  Kelly and I want to see the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel before we go, which I understand was shot in Jaipur, a location we plan on visiting.

Some time ago I bought the Great Courses lecture series on the world's great religions, which includes a 12 hour course on Hinduism that I was able to re-listen to in my car.  Having to drive to and from Dallas last week gave me the opportunity to finish most of the course in one day.  This was an excellent course and I know it will enhance my understanding of many aspects of Indian society that we experience, but perhaps the single biggest learning from the course is that if you think you understand India, the teacher has been things seem much simpler than they really are.

So, lots of preparation.  Looking forward to seeing useful any of it turns out to be!

Benjamin Finkel, Esq.

We now have another university graduate in the family.  Benjamin graduated yesterday from the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and a certificate in Asian Language studies (Chinese) and high honors.

The graduation was held at UT's Erwin center which is where they play basketball games as well as stage large concerts and other events.   This is actually the same location that the Austin Independent School district uses for its area High School graduations, so there was a bit of deja vu about the affair since both Ben and Aaron had their high school graduations here also.

The Dean of the College of Natural Sciences was the MC for the event and did his best to share a few humorous anecdotes and pieces of parting advice for the students.  With Biology Sciences being the most popular major in the College of Natural Sciences, they have all the non Biology students (inc. Ben) graduate in the 8am session, while all the Biology Science students come to the same place at noon for their ceremony.

You can spot Ben in the upper right center of the image looking out among the sea of students.  I particularly liked how some of the students had decorated their mortar boards.  Some of them (not pictured) were quite elaborate, and I suspect those were the graduates of the Fashion and Textiles program.

Of course Ben's name would be called just as my camera battery ran low and I was in the midst of changing it.  At least I got one image of him crossing the stage, although it looks like he is about to give the Dean a chest bump!

The stadium may not look full, but there were several hundred grads there and it took a few hours to call them all up.

Afterwards we were able to meet up by the flagpoles and get a few pictures with mom,

brother, and

girlfriend Sarah (who graduated at noon).

Thanks to Sarah for getting a nice picture of the four of us.  The sun went behind a cloud for about 15 seconds allowing us to get a nice image.

This is what it looks like when several hundred graduates try to meet their family and friends while avoiding the several hundred other students who are on their way into the same arena to get ready for their graduation ceremony.

This morning we had a few friends over for a graduation brunch.  Kelly cooked for hours yesterday and made some lovely food that we'll probably be enjoying for most of the week.

Congratulations to Ben (and all the other graduates of 2012 and their families).

Toyota Prius V Wagon first impressions

Having been the proud owner of the first 2012 Toyota Prius V in Austin for less than 24 hours, I thought I might write about my initial impressions. 

The last time I bought a new car was eleven years ago when the Acura MDX first came out.  Since I had kept my previous vehicles for about 3-4 years maximum, the fact that I still had the MDX until about two months ago when my son totaled it is probably the best indicator of how much I liked that MDX and how well it worked for me.  When Acura came out with a new body style for the MDX about two years ago I had a look, but was quickly disappointed because:

• The storage space was smaller with a smaller rear opening.
• The interior was incredibly “bling-y” and button crazy (I counted more than 50 buttons and dials on the center console alone!)
• Most alarmingly, the fuel economy had not improved at all over a decade. The official ratings are actually worse for the new models.

As an event photographer, I often need to haul gear around with me.  Sometimes it is a modest amount, but several times a month I need to carry a ton of gear and would pretty much pack the MDX to the gills with its rear seats down.

Now that our kids are off at college, what I wanted in a new vehicle seemed like kind of a paradox:

1. Lots of flexible storage space, typically found in medium sized SUVs and larger station wagons.
2. Significantly greener - much improved fuel economy and lower emissions.
3. Up to date comfort, safety, and amenities (like Bluetooth phone and audio support).

My search was incredibly disappointing as vehicles that had enough storage had lousy fuel economy.  Anything with decent fuel economy wasn’t large enough to take all the gear I need. For more on the other vehicles I seriously considered, see the end of this post.

Then I read about the forthcoming Prius V and it looked like it might work for me.   I did some research and ultimately put a refundable deposit down some weeks ago, which is how I ended up, much to my surprise, with the first one in Austin.

We already own a 2010 Prius hatchback and really like it.  Confusingly, the “V” in the Prius V does not mean 5th generation, but versatile (i.e. wagon).  At first glance, the Prius hatchback and Prius V wagon look pretty similar from the front, but once you see them from the side you quickly notice that the rear end is larger and squarer.  What is perhaps not so immediately obvious is that the wagon is quite a bit taller.

Since I have not looked at a 2012 Prius hatchback I can’t tell whether some of the interior differences (beyond dimensions) are 2012 features on all Prius versions, or are specific to the Prius V, but here are the changes I’ve noticed so far:

• Significantly more 2nd row legroom.  This is really where the extra length of the vehicle seems to come is as the flat area with the rear seats down measures the same as the Prius hatchback.  However, there is more volume in the wagon because of the squarer back end and because of the taller ceiling.  The space between the front and rear seats is large enough that I can actually fit some significant pieces of equipment there including a 4’ ladder and my lighting stands case and still have all the flat storage space available.

• Significantly more headroom for 2nd row passengers.
• Redesign of console information area and LCD display.  Some information has been moved to the LCD display making the console much cleaner.  Also subtle use of color adds some visual interest to this display.
• New Entune system that is far more than just typical navigation and audio controls.  The manual for this system is about as large as that for the rest of the vehicle, so I have a lot of learning to do before I understand the system entirely, but Entune integrates with my Android based smart phone to use it’s data connection capabilities to display certain information on the console using the car’s own apps.  Includes traffic info, weather, local points of interest, stock info, sports, etc.  Even includes Pandora internet radio.

• Entune system runs off a hard drive, so navigation system is much faster and more responsive (this runs off a DVD in the 2010 hatchback).  The screen appears to be smaller but higher resolution than our hatchback.
• Whereas the hatchback has a 4 disk CD changer, the wagon has a single disk CD player, which is fine with me, since most music I will be playing will come off my smart phone or a USB drive.
• Radio seems to include HD Radio (as well as analog and XM Satellite radio).  Also as previously noted, Pandora internet radio can be used with a Smart Phone.
• Clearer rear view.  On the hatchback there is a spoiler in the middle of the rear window reducing rear visibility.  There is no such spoiler on the wagon, providing a clear view.
• “Bridge” from the front console and the center console between arm rest/storage area gone.  Now the space is open, making the storage area more open and useful.  The buttons that used to be on this bridge have been moved to the top of the arm rest.

• Redesign of storage area between driver and front seat passenger.  This was a kind of odd design in the hatchback.  Now the armrest flips open towards the passenger side rather than sliding back, which is good because in the 2010 hatchback the lid could get stuck in the open position if you had the rear seats down. The storage area also looks larger. The cupholder design is different and more solid in this area too with one open cupholder in the center armrest and another pull out holder below.
• 12v accessory and USB/AUX-in moved to below front console (as opposed to being inside the arm rest storage area in the hatchback).  This makes the USB/AUX ports much more accessible and there is even a nice pocket for phones and other devices right below the ports.  But it also means one less 12V socket in the car.

• Extra pop out cupholder on the passenger’s side.
• Power mirror controls grouped with window controls on driver’s door – easier to find and operate.

• Small storage hole for parking passes, credit cards, etc. on driver’s side.
• Better soundproofing and thus quieter on the highway, not that the hatchback was very noisy.  The under floor storage compartments in the back of the car now seem to be made of heavy duty Styrofoam rather than solid plastic.  I have to assume this is a sound damping feature.
• At 44/40 US MPG city/highway (48/54 imperial MPG or 5.89/5.23 L/100KM) it is about 15-20% less fuel economic than the hatchback.  However, this is far and away the most fuel efficient vehicle currently available for the cargo space.

My overall impression of the car is very positive.  Even with it fully loaded with all my gear on the test drive it drove like the Prius hatchback.  When I glanced down at the speedometer while on the highway, I was surprised to find that I was already doing 70 before I knew it.

The car is equally as comfortable as the Prius hatchback for the driver and front seat passenger and significantly more so for the rear passengers with the extended legroom and headroom.

The new Entune entertainment, communication, and information system looks like it will useful and fun (once I learn how to use it!)

At the end of the day this is a comfortable, highly efficient car with significantly more storage than most.  Storage space is equivalent (or at least for me, more useable) than most small – medium SUVs and other wagons. 

While nicely made and well trimmed, it is certainly not a luxury vehicle and while the driver (and perhaps front seat passenger) get lots of goodies to play with, the rear seat passengers will be taken to where they are going in comfort, if not in great style.

The cost of the vehicle is similar to the VW Sportswagen and heavily loaded Kia Sorrento, but is still a bit pricey for what it is.  The premium one pays for a hybrid really doesn’t make financial sense unless you drive a lot more miles than I will, or gas prices go through the roof, but for me having a vehicle that is much greener was important.   The Prius V should get more than twice the fuel economy of the MDX.  I drive to Houston fairly regularly and it has been nice to be able to make the round trip on one tank of gas and spend less than $20 on gas with the Prius hatchback.  So maybe that will now cost me $24 if I drive the Prius Wagon.

I remember seeing a joke ad for the Toyota “Pious” – essentially about hybrid owners having a “holier than thou” attitude towards other drivers.  In reality, the greenest thing most car drivers can do is probably keep their current cars for as long as possible (it takes tons of energy to make and deliver a new vehicle!) and be more efficient in using them – keeping them well maintained with proper tire inflation and cutting out unnecessary trips. But when it is time to replace a car there is no doubt that if you do care about the environment and want a greener vehicle, this is a great option.

Now that families such as ours own two of these Toyota hybrid vehicles, Toyota decided to get customer feedback on what the plural of Prius should be. Options included Priuses, Prius (i.e. a plural noun), Pria, and the winner, Prii.  

Which reminds me of a joke about two irish tailors having a chat about a tailor’s iron, also known as a goose:

Mick says to Paddy, “I need to buy two new irons, what do I ask the ironmonger for -- two gooses?“

Paddy: “That doesn’t sound right”

Mick: “Maybe I should ask for two geese?”

Paddy: “No, that doesn’t sound right either”.

Next day Paddy sees Mick with two irons and asks him what he said to the ironmonger.  Mick said “ah sure it was simple, I told him ‘give me a goose, and while you are at it, given me a second one too!’”

So, now we own a Prius – and a second one too!

---

Vehicles seriously considered, including MPG (city/highway in US MPG):

• VW Jetta Sportswagen Diesel TDi 30/42. Great fuel economy, clean diesel technology, drives beautifully, well liked by people I know that own the sedan. But, not enough storage space for my needs, very cramped driver’s space, not much amenities for the price, higher cost of diesel fuel. Audi A3 was similar.  What I would loved to have bought was a VW Passat Diesel wagon, but they don’t sell them in the US!http://www.edmunds.com/volkswagen/jetta-sportwagen/2012/?sub=diesel
• Lexus RX 450h hybrid SUV 32/28.  Gorgeous car, tons of power, good space, very comfortable with all the amenities of a Lexus. But, very expensive, fuel economy better than other SUVs, but really not as much as I wanted. One issue is that although you can find specs on base models for about $45K, in reality they are only available fully loaded at about $60K+.  The dealers have never seen them other than fully loaded!  http://www.edmunds.com/lexus/rx-450h/2012/?sub=suv
• Kia Sorrento 4 cylinder SUV 22/32.  The surprise vehicle for me – comfortable, tons of space, good amenities.  On the downside, the fit and finish wasn’t quite as good as other cars, the KIA dealership (at least our local one) is horrible to work with, the fuel economy isn’t a huge step forward, 4 cyl. version felt a bit underpowered. http://www.edmunds.com/kia/sorento/2012/?sub=suv
• Toyota Prius V 44/40. My winner. http://www.edmunds.com/toyota/prius-v/2012/?sub=wagon

Nice to have expertise recognized.

I am a long time user of Digital Darkroom, a software program for photographers.  Although it can do many things, I especially use it for greenscreen/chromakey photography at events.

In their upcoming newsletter, I am featured as one of three photographers selected for their expertise in this area, which I consider quite an honor. The article can be seen at http://darkroomsoftware.com/tt_photographer_greenscreen.html

Greenscreen has become a lot more common since we first started doing it. For those who aren’t familiar, think of the weather forecaster – they appear to be in front of a weather map, but are really only standing in front of a green (sometimes blue) screen.  Chromakey technology replaces the solid color with a graphic of their choice.  We do something very similar, but with high resolution photos, so people who come to one of our parties get to interact with the image in the background.  For instance, I recently did an event for a major cable studio where we made it look like guests were part of the set of one of their productions hanging out with the stars.

We have a lot of experience doing greenscreen and make it look easy, but there is actually a lot going on and we’ve refined our process over years to create a system that is both fast moving and creates high quality output.  Earlier this year, one of my repeat clients and I were chatting and they told me how they went to an event in another city where there was a green screen.  He said that although the basic idea was the same, the quality of the images produced and the fun that guests were having was nothing like as good as our events.  I think it gave them an extra appreciation for what we do and how hard we work to make events fun and successful.

Last month I was hired to do green screen for a major insurance company at a trade show like event in Washington D.C. in conjunction with the opening of the MLK Memorial there.  As it turned out there was another green screen setup at the same event being done by a major airline.  Although they had a very fancy booth for their photos – it resembled the fuselage of an aircraft - their pictures were of poor quality.  When I looked at what they were doing, the type of lighting they used was what I would expect a rank amateur to employ.

At least one manufacturer is now making low cost “complete green screen kits” with screens, lights, software, etc.  Just add your own camera and printer.  I was curious, so I purchased one to try out.  If you’re looking for some fun for a small party and don’t care about the quality of the images, then this might be okay.  However, there were a number of problems with the kit that would make it totally unsuitable for the types of parties we do.  For starters, the lights are cheap, “constant lights” essentially high output regular light bulbs.  The light produced is way too weak and uneven to get a good chromakey effect, especially with more than one subject in an image.  Also the software is very limited and would be unable to handle the sophistication or volume of images expected by my clients.  I ended up returning the kit.

When we first started doing greenscreen, we used a number of bits and pieces of hardware and software that we cobbled together to produce something like 80 prints in a four hour party.  The client was delighted!  Fast forward a few years and more recently we did an event where we produced more than 550 prints in the same four hour period from a single setup!

It is nice that we’re being recognized for our expertise and producing quality results.  It is also fun to be doing different types of events, but no matter who the client is or what type of event they are having, our goal remains the same – help guests have lots of fun while we create unique, memorable images!

What goes up must come down. What goes down sometimes comes up.

Perhaps you may know that I have an interest in aviation and have had getting a pilot’s license on my “to do” list for a while.  However, I never seem to get this far enough up the list to really do anything about it other than talk to friends who are already pilots.

In a break playing racquetball last week with one of my regular partners, Justin, we got chatting.  I knew he designed flight simulators and we got talking about where he had gone to college.  When he told me that he had done his undergrad at the Air Force Academy, I asked him if he had been a pilot. Justin said yes - he used to fly F4 Phantom jets.  When I asked if he still flew, he said that flying powered aircraft like a Cessna really didn’t hold any interest (kind of like driving a Yugo after you’re used to driving a Lamborghini), but that he continued to fly gliders, also known as soaring.  Since there is no engine involved (once you’ve been towed up), it is man vs. nature and a kind of pure flying.

Justin told me the club is in Briggs, Texas, about an hour northwest of Austin and that the first weekend of each month they have a  demo day where you can take a relatively inexpensive flight with a flight instructor.  So this weekend I made the trek out 183 to find the Fault Line Fliers airfield, which was a little trickier than I expected as Google maps took me the wrong way, but eventually I spotted a windsock and some trailers for hauling gliders and figured I was in the right place.

The club owns two kinds of two seater gliders, the Schweizer 2-33, seen below, and a Grob Twin Astir seen above landing at the airfield.  The Grob is a higher performance aircraft and is more expensive to use.  For our test flight, the performance difference was immaterial, but the advantage of the Schweizer is that Justin (who is also an instructor) allows the passenger to sit in the front seat with all the instruments and the best view.

Once the glider has been pre-flgihted, it is hooked up to the tow plane, in our case a Cessna 152.  Since Justin has a masters degree in Aeronautics, flew for the Airforce, and designs flight simulators for a living in addition to being a flight instructor, I felt in safe hands.

As the tow plane trundled down the runway, the glider rose up first, then the tow plane took off and pulled us up to about 3,000 feet above the terrain, looking for thermals along the way.  When we got to our release height, I got to pull the big red knob which disconnected the tow cable and we were on our own.

It was a hot, clear day, with essentially no clouds in the sky.  While this makes for good visibility, it provides no direct clues as to where the thermals are like clouds would.  Instrumentation in the glider is pretty simple – an altimeter, a compass, an airspeed indicator, and a dial that shows the vertical rise/fall rate.  Since this lags by several seconds and the thermals can be kind of small, we literally flew by the “seat of our pants” – when we hit a thermal, it felt like a kick in the seat and the glider would rise rapidly.  Considering the weight of the two of us and the aircraft, and that at times  we were rising at as much as 80 feet per second and you have an idea of how powerful the forces at play are.

Justin had me shadow his movements by lightly holding the stick (the glider is dual control) to get a feel for the control, then after a while he turned it over to me. 

It is certainly fun to fly.  Even with a relatively simply craft, there is quite a bit to keep in mind simultaneously.  On one hand, you need to control the airspeed within a fixed range (45 to about 65 knots in our case).  Since there is no engine, you do this by pointing the nose of the craft down or up.  At the same time, you are searching for thermals and once you find one, trying to turn tightly within it in order to keep rising.  Also at the same time, you need to be aware of any other aircraft that might be out there, and where you are in relationship to the airport. Probably other things too that were beyond my immediate comprehension!

Justin spotted a hawk or buzzard circling below and told me that this is one of the things that soarers look for – the birds were making use of the same thermals we were seeking.  Also, apparently it is a lot of fun to sneak up on them from below and scare the living daylights out of them, but the only ones we saw were below us.

All was going pretty well until the tight turns and rapidly changing horizon set off my motion sickness.  They keep a few barf bags in the glider, but they obviously hadn’t been checked for a while.  One was completely gummed shut and the other had holes in it.  So, in addition to filling the holy bag (!) I managed to redecorate my pants and much of my shirt.  Thankfully Justin was a good sport and didn’t mind.  He even offered me his hat if I needed another “bag”.  Thankfully that wasn’t necessary.

One significant difference from powered flight is in landing.  There are no “go arounds” in a glider, so you better get it right the first time.  Otherwise, landing is similar to a powered aircraft - we paralleled the runway, turned left, then left again and landed at around 60 knots and rapidly rolled to a stop.

Given the fact that it is extremely warm in central Texas right now, it doesn’t take long for any kind of liquid to dry. Which made for an interesting fashion statement once I was out of the glider. My pants went from a solid blue to an abstract design reminiscent of a Rorschach test.

Unfortunately, despite taking water up with me and drinking copious amounts once down on the ground, I really didn’t feel well after the flight and assume I must have been suffering from some heat exhaustion.  The temperature in the shade was 104 Fahrenheit, and even about twelve hours after the flight, when I had been in the air conditioning for a long time, I was still feeling a bit off. Hopefully, I’ll give this another go when it cools off a little. 

If you like flying, then this is definitely worth giving a try.  Soaring also has to be one of the least expensive ways to learn to fly (and continue flying).  If you’d like to check with out, go to their website at  http://faultlineflyers.org