Why Do People Travel

I've got my first homework assignment for my class.
(p.s. I'm taking a class at City College! Don't tell anyone.)

"List 20+ reasons as to why people travel."

Sounds easy enough. The professor wants at least 20 reasons and she said that we could come up with 200+ if that's how we wanted to play...oh, and there's a contest to see who can come up with the most/best reasons.
Let's see, hmmm, ok, got it:

Business and Pleasure

That's only 2 and that's not gonna cut it. I've got to break those 2 categories down.

Business:

• Convention/Trade Show
  
• Meetings with Clients
  
• Educational or Career Development conferences
  
• Scouting/Searching for business locations
  
• Scouting/Interviewing potential employees
  
• Company Retreat
  
• Prize from employer (for ex. sales contest)
  
• Archeological Dig
  

Pleasure (includes all that is NOT Business...maybe "Personal" should be the category)

• Family reunion
  
• Family roots trip (Ireland, etc...)
  
• Religious pilgrimage
  
• Specific yearly event or festival (Running of the Bulls, Gilroy Garlic Festival, Day of the Dead in Mexico)
  
• Experience cultural shock (Hello Egypt!)
  
• Experience different cultures
  
• Visit archeological sites
  
• Saw it in the "1000 Places to Visit Before You Die" or similar type book.
  
• It's the "Hottest New Thing" in Conde Nast (or other travel magazine)
  
• Friends went there and said "you have to see..."
  
• Experience things that are not allowed in your country (Amsterdam)
  
• See sites from your favorite movie or movies (New Zealand now)
  
• See sites from you favorite book(s) (Jane Austin's England)
  
• Civil War Buffs need to see all things Civil War
  
• Re-Visit Battle sites from WW2/Korea/Vietnam
  
• Holocaust sites
  
• Competing the 50 State tour
  
• Acquiring as many passport stamps as possible
  
• To show children your childhood home.
  
• See sporting events
  
• Participate in sporting events
  
• Exercise
  
• Get away from work/home and clear the mind
  
• Take care of sick relatives
  
• Death of family member/friend
  
• Be with extended family on holidays
  
• Saw an exciting "Rick Steves" episode (or Samantha Brown, Rudy Maxa, Globe Trekker...)
  
• Frequent flier miles expiring
  
• To experience different foods.
  
• Visit a theme park.
  
• Visit Biblical sites
  
• To re-visit a place that holds special memories from a previous trip
  
• To follow the Grateful Dead
  
• To have a family bonding moment(s)
  

I'll stop there for now. I'll add more as they come to me.

Pancakes

I've been searching for the ultimate Pancakes/French Toast during my time out from the work-force. (someone's gotta do that, right?)
It hasn't been pretty. Some places just set out the basics, throw some blueberries and bananas on top and declare these the "special" or "ultimate" French Toast.
While I appreciates me fruit, and I love a good blueberry pancake, I don't find this all that "ultimate" or special in any way.
A good breakfast place worth its salt SHOULD have good blueberry (or other seasonal fruit) pancakes. This shouldn't even be up for discussion. I'm looking for basic competency--do they make a good plain pancake/French Toast first, and if they pass that test, then how about the specialty versions.
I'm talking Brie-Stuffed French Toast...Creme Brulee French Toast.
I'm almost scared to try those.
A little Gran Marnier in the batter, Brioche or Challah as the bread (thickly cut)
How about vanilla scented with maple butter...you know, the fancy stuff?

I've searched in my neighborhood and so far a couple of places really stand out, one in particular.


Honorable Mention goes to: Baywatch Restaurant Located on Lombard Street, in the Marina, this restaurant is located under the Cow Hollow Motor Inn.
The service is usually very good, the food comes out quite fast and they have a good variety of selections--scrambles, crepes, frittatas, omelets, pancakes, wraps.
I've been there a bunch of times and it seems to be slipping just a bit.
But, the apple-oatmeal pancakes there are great. Diced apples in the batter, good oatmeal flavor and texture, large sized pancakes. Not too heavy, not too fancy.
A good solid choice. Also, let me add, that if you go to Baywatch and order an egg dish (or something not pancake-y) make sure you ask for the special salsa, or home made salsa, if you prefer. The cooks in the back whip up this authentic spicy salsa. It's very hot, sometimes has avocados in it, and it has a full flavor that you rarely see in salsas. It's more chile based, rather than tomato based.

My current favorite pancakes reside at the Home Plate restaurant, also on Lombard.
This is the ultimate "don't judge a book by its cover" restaurant.
It's small, dingy, but always crowded, and the tiny kitchen is right on top of you.
There's one guy working the kitchen, cooking for everyone, and if you try to watch him, you'll just get dizzy. Sometimes it's not the cleanest place in the world, but
I am usually there on a weekend morning, and even I'M not the cleanest place in the world, so I feel right at home.
Check out the specials on the board, they're always the same, but they show the variety of dishes that this small kitchen and one guy can produce: (for example)
Polenta with Mascarpone
Smoothies
Themed scrambles.


So, you've put your name on the sign-in sheet hanging outside the door, waited the obligatory 15 minutes and finally gotten a seat, hopefully NOT next to the bathroom.
First things that you notice are the fresh scones and home made compote that are brought to your table, for free.
Hot, moist, sweet, these are some of the best scones I've ever had. Slather some of the strawberry/banana compote on them and you're ready for whatever's next.

On to the main point!
Cornmeal Buttermilk Pancakes.
I can taste these now (and I'm eating oatmeal!) and I can't wait until I get these again.
They're like sweet, moist cornbread crepes, in a way, but they're thicker than crepes, though, more like typical pancake thickness.
But they have a crispness on the outside that almost makes them crunchy.
I love these with some maple syrup, butter and nothing else.

My search is not over, there are some lemon-ricotta pancakes that I keep hearing about, but like the proverbial unicorn, I'm afraid that these might just be a myth too.

Tan Rested and Ready

Ok...So I've spent a good part of the last 2 weeks uploading ALL of our CDs into Itunes, not just the "good ones" that we aren't tired of yet.
It comes to 3897 songs.
I picked through all of this and created my own folder of songs.
That has 3497 songs. (I guess that I buy the bulk of the music in our house...but this collection started in college)
So, now this truly will reflect my tastes. I cannot be embarrassed by any of this anymore. I take full ownership for the Celine Dion song, Jewel, The Carpenters etc...
(in fairness, you can include A Flock of Seagulls and Andy Gibb as well, so it doesn't appear to be gender-based)

Ok, the new and improved version starts now.

All Just To Get To You--Joe Ely
Life Less Ordinary--Carbon Leaf
Girl--Beck
I Second That Emotion--Smokey Robinson
All Of My Heart--ABC
Here With Me--Dido
Oye Como Va--Santana
You Can't Catch Me--Chuck Berry
Sweet And Tender Hooligan--The Smiths
Love Spreads--The Stone Roses

Even I like this list.

Pretend Trips

I love to travel. It is my hobby, my passion, what have you, and nothing really gets the juices flowing as when I get to choose a vacation destination and plan the itinerary.

Not all of these trips come to pass. Some (Prague-Vienna-Budapest) were chosen too soon..meaning that we had other places to see first.
Some (Italy) get pushed back a year here, divided into two trips there, and get re-worked every couple of months. I've got a Northern Italy week, a Southern Italy week, and a Tuscany week all planned and ready to go. Oh, a week in Rome as well.
I just need to book a flight and hotel and I'm set.


The latest pretend trip:
Amsterdam-Cologne-Antwerp-Brussels
Short version...we might go to Europe in the fall. We love Amsterdam, never been to Cologne, need to buy a diamond in Antwerp (and see it again), and fly out of Brussels.

I've planned 10 nights. That's about as long as we can take being away from home.

1:Arrive in Amsterdam, late morning, early afternoon. Jet Lag day. Visit a Coffeeshop, Red Light district, wander the old city. Stay awake until normal sleep time.

2:Relaxing day.
Amsterdam Historical Museum/Bejinhof--2 hours
Wander along the canals, pancake house for lunch.
Leidseplein, Jordaan...
Van Gogh Museum
Indonesian dinner

3: Day trip day.
The Hague-Mauritshaus, Panorama, knights Hall, Peace Palace
Delft-wander and dinner


4:Amsterdam free day
The wife will get some say on this day.

5:Amsterdam to Cologne train. 3 hours
Explore city center, cathedral, Roman museum

6:Cologne. Rhine river cruise to koblenz, train back (or train TO koblenz, Rhine cruise downriver back to cologne)

7: Cologne to Antwerp
Explore old town center, waffles, frites, mussels.
8: Diamond shopping in Antwerp. Stay in old town.

9: Day trip to Brugges, stop off in Ghent for 1 hour, along the way.
Do the Brugge thing: canals, churches, lace, wander...
Back in Antwerp at night.

10th and final day and night:
Antwerp-Train to Brussels. The plan is to stay at the airport Sheraton.
Get in around noon...head into town. Play in Brussels all day.

Fly home in the morning.

This is a tentative plan. When dates get finalized, I'll be able to fine tune and shuffle activities as needed...museums are closed on certain days, etc...
Since we've already been to Antwerp, Brussels and Amsterdam, some of the major sites have been kept off of the itinerary.
I'll also gather a list of restaurants that I want to hit, and we'll probably get to half of them. That's usually how that works out.

So there you have it. A fake-planned trip. We have plenty of free time on this journey and we won't suffer any burn-out on the museum/cathedral sightseeing.

MacWorld

I went to the MacWorld Expo today and something there really struck me.
I thought to myself "I could beat up about two-thirds of the people there."

Seriously, about two-thirds of the crowd I could take.
Now there are very few venues where I can kick the majorities ass, trust me on this. I'm a lover, not a fighter, as the song says, and I've always been able to talk people out of fighting me.

But, as I was walking around the MacWorld exhibit hall, this thought ran through my head:

"I think I could beat up about two-thirds of the people here."

The Year in Cities

What a great idea! (unless you don't go anywhere, then I guess you really don't care about this, but just play along, thanks.)

Via Kottke, (which itself is a great blog-ish type site) comes this:
The Year in Cities.

What cities have you visited in 2005?
(I live in San Francisco CA)

San Diego
Los Angeles and many of its suburbs.
Berkeley
Oakland
Sausalito, CA
Paseo Robles, CA
Vancouver, BC
Portland, OR
Reno, NV
Oaxaca, MX
Mitla, MX
Teotitlan de la Valle, MX
Ocotlan, MX
Etla, MX
Mexico City Airport, MX



I believe that's it.
Ahh, North America, how I limit myself to your charms...

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to say "Happy New Year" to everyone. I hope we all find peace and happiness in all that we do.
And glad to see everyone survived the "War" On Christmas (2005 edition)