Lair of the Burmese Python

Lair of the Burmese Python

Burmese Python

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My worst travel experience on Continental Airlines to date is...	[May. 11th, 2009\|11:36 am]
Hell is Houston, heck! Thursday - 16 April 2009 15:00 - awake and begin my day 21:00 - begin packing for Denver {no rest for the wicked} Friday 05:00 - cleaning snake cages just before shower and departure 06:20 - walking to tram, then train to AMS 07:30 - Schiphol Check in 09:00 - wanting sleep, waiting for meal service to end <<<--- shift time zone plus 7 hours --->>> 13:30 - (time at departure location is now 20:00) Arrive Houston. I had ok, 3 hours of sleep. 15:30 - it looks like night at the airport. Sky is BLACK. Next hour, rain is relentless. Flights are delayed or cancelled, no ramp activity, no flights landing or leaving. 18:30 - my scheduled flight #399 to denver pushed back. I check the new gate and am told by the gate agent that the time on the board, 20:35 will not happen, that crew and equipment are not there yet. Expect 21:45, 50/50 shot of that. Sitting in the boarding area of the gate next door (because the gate for that flight is jammed with people, no seats available), I wait and chat and use tethered data to surf the web. 20:50 - my mate tells me that my flight has left! WTF? 20:55 - back at the gate, oh, yeah, it left. NO, I could not hear the announcements, naturally. "sir, please go to the customer service center to get a new flight" 21:00 - about half an hour later, I am scheduled on the 21:45 flight #299. Bonus! first class upgrade. 22:45 - equipment finally arrives, it was held in San Antonio or something like that. 23:05 on board at last, drink arrives shortly after. 4 of us somewhat socially lubricated upgrade-ees begin chatting about everything travel related. Next comes the weird long "why have we not left yet" talk, and about 20 maintenance crew members come and go. Saturday 01:15 - coats are handed back to first class passengers, and we hear the cargo hold door open. Bags begin rolling off the aircraft on the luggage belt. 01:25 - after 2.5 hours at the gate, with the aircraft door open, we get the final word: maintenance issue is un-resolveable. Get off, and go to this other gate here.... (15 minutes walking away!) 01:40 - at the new gate, waiting 02:15 - flight finally cancelled, crew "timed out" - meaning they can not fly, they have been on the clock too long. And they crackled over the loudspeaker that the "other reason" we were not flying was "weather in denver". Yeah, right. If we had left without mechanical delay, weather was no issue. So, no compensation offered. Time to fight - but first, book the next leg. Next, the mad scramble to the customer service counter. Forget THAT line! 02:30 - in the E-terminal, where the customer service line is um, 2 people. I stand in line with one of the guys from my conversation in first class earlier. He got his new 07:55am flight, and I squeak in with mine too. Wow, only 3 seats left! Glad I did not stay in that super long line. 03:00 - in a taxi with my namesake (what are the odds of that...), on the way to the apartment of a colleague of his, for a nap. Beats sleeping in the terminal, and having my stuff stolen. 06:00 - iPhone alarm goes off, time to get back to IAH 07:00 - at the gate, ready to go... finally. 08:30 - goody, late departure! and then begins the longest flight to denver from Houston that ever existed. We circled for a half hour in addition to the other delays and strange flight path. Arrived about 75 minutes later than scheduled. <<<--- shift time zone plus 1 hour --->>> 10:30 - been traveling for 36 hours. Yuck. ( Photos of the saga {with snarky comments} under the cut )
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FCN Convention Report	[May. 9th, 2009\|02:24 am]
Arrival, Wednesday 22 April 2009 - Furry Connection North Convention Flight was mostly uneventful from Houston to Detroit, with the exception of some turbulence near the ground. The pilot told us ahead of time that it might be rough. It was not a bounce out of your seat type of rough, but definitely pitched the aircraft around a bit. The wing extension was at full, which made for an interesting view through the wing itself ( super long and detailed and squishy report shielded from your sensitive or easily bored eyes ) they are so nice to abuse from time to time. Hugs and 1.5 bagels later, I was on my own, flying back to Denver. The saga of what happened when I landed is food for another meal.
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Colorado Gators	[May. 3rd, 2009\|01:30 am]
Who knew that there were over 400 live gators living outdoors in colorado? Kaa, it turns out! This place is quite teh awesome... Not fancy awesome, but filled with awesome animals. I spent the morning and early afternoon photographing the prehistoric beasties, and also had the opportunity to hold a runt (5 years old, they tell me!), and touch while no one was looking the sleeping beauties. If you are ever in Denver or Albuquerque, and have 5 hours to drive each way, plus time to spend, and $12.50 in your pocket, check it out: http://www.coloradogators.com or http://www.gatorfarm.com Nice write up here: http://www.coloradodirectory.com/coloradogatorpark/ And my gallery of photos from this safari: http://gallery.me.com/burmese#100026 see this same image larger by opening in a new window Must go back. they call to me.....
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Vegan Sushi	[Apr. 15th, 2009\|03:51 pm]
I was so busy with the holiday weekend and dog play, that I neglected to post about my sushi. Thanks to cranphin, I now have an awesome knife sharpener, and I get 8 pieces out of each roll, instead of just 7. I can razor off the ends (stubs), which was not possible before with the dull state of my chef's knife. The rolling mat you see here has stretchy string binding the bamboo, so even though this new one feels cheaper and less well made, I am able to get much tighter rolls out of it. Everyone is appreciating the difference with my super compact tight rice. The rolls are easier to cut, too. 10 sheets of "roasted sea vegetable" (seaweed) now produces 80 pieces. I would have 7 before on a plate, as shown in this picture from March, but now do 8 per meal. Quite satisfying! Best served the day of or after, I find the rice gets a bit crunchy on the third day. No fish here, so day 3 is no problem for spoilage. I prefer to lay out my ginger and wasabi at time of serving. Now no chopsticks are needed. We'll be having a bbq to celebrate hyperx's (13 May) birthday, on 16 May, so if you are feeling left out of the sushi thing, please do come by and enjoy some! I will be making not fewer than 20 rolls, so you are definitely going to have a portion with your charred meat :) --Python
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Danes in motion - photo diary	[Apr. 12th, 2009\|04:45 pm]
( More inside... )
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Productivity or waste of time?	[Mar. 8th, 2009\|05:39 pm]
Sorry for the consecutive days LJ posting, I normally try to spread these things out for more interesting effect. However, today I was spending a few hours getting done what I did not finish yesterday - reskinning my iPhone. ( more info and a stupid bottle of wine... )
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Sushi - vegan style	[Mar. 7th, 2009\|06:47 pm]
( 10 rolls, 80 pieces... )
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Continental DEN-->IAH... FAIL	[Dec. 21st, 2008\|07:26 pm]
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=106325&catid=339 I am scheduled to fly from Denver to Houston, the same airline and flight leg as this doomed flight 1404, on 28 January 2009. I think I will leave my shoes on ;) Had I been on this flight, I could expect some super travel bonuses out of it, and only a 2% chance of a seriously knocked head! I think it would have been worth it. Free Platinum frequent flier upgrade, for life, plus free president's club access for life, and 5 years of free flights, in first class. Yeah, that's what I would ask for as compensation for my bruised elbows and ego. And they can melt my luggage, I can afford to replace everything. I pity the stockholders on Monday morning. Wait, I guess I don't.
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Bad puppy, no lube for you!	[Dec. 17th, 2008\|10:27 pm]
It's been months since my last posting of any pictures of Dainty. Here she is having a web chat with her sister, Delilah. Thanks Sn00py, for the cute pic. Now I one-up thee :) ( and click for more pics of dainty with her packmates ) And yes, that is pjur.com, the site for superior lubrication... bad puppy!
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Saucy balls of goodness	[Dec. 14th, 2008\|11:41 pm]
My mouth went to the middle east ( a peek inside will fill you up )
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RBW, KLM, and by the way, KLM sucks! RBW ROCKS.	[Dec. 4th, 2008\|01:04 pm]
RBW Convention Report What the heck does RBW stand for anyway? is it someone's initlals? an acronym? Is it a strange naming convention for a convention? ( another gigantic travel narrative awaits the un-timid ) Despite being screwed by KLM's inflexible ticket change policy, I rather enjoyed the adventure of it all. RBW? Do it for the boat party alone, it was ab-fab. Shockwave flash gallery of Lagarto in the tube
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National car rental mess - round 3 ding!	[Dec. 1st, 2008\|05:40 pm]
I had to put up my dukes again today with National Car Rental, BV. The sh** just continues to pile up. Here's what has happened since my last post: First, I took the advice of Rob, and went to the juridisch loket. This agency is interesting, but not very helpful for a person in my situation. They are simply an advisory board, and they can point you to resources. They do not intervene for you, do not act as advocate, and do not hear any cases for arbitration either. They were a handy legal referral, though. After reviewing my documents and listening to my story, they suggested I would be best served by an attorney, or that I should simply drop the matter. I made an appointment with an attorney in Utrecht, but was disappointed with the fact that there is no free initial consultation. It would cost 50 euro just to talk for a half hour about the case. I guess I am spoiled by the US civil legal system. With the appointment and name of the attorney in hand, I made a final attempt to give National an out. There is only about 500 euro at stake for me, so it would definitely be preferable for them to make some kind of compromise. Calling the office and getting transferred a couple of times, I finally found an employee in the rental car mechanical failure department (or whatever they call themselves), who listened and admitted that national had failed somewhat to handle this properly. He negotiated with me, and we worked out an arrangement where I would essentially cover my travel interruption cost and phone charges, but the rest of the rental would be refunded. He said they would send me papers to sign, so I could get the sum of approximately 200 euro refunded, and they would pay Hertz rental car directly for the overages invoice. I went on my trip to MFF, fully expecting this refund to be handled in my absence. Well, it was, sort of. I received a credit to my card in the amount of 97 us dollars, about one third of the total I was expecting. Not good! Finally back from London and now able to handle this some more, I called again today. Mr. van Ziel, who had been handling this, sent me over to another department to see what refunds had been issued, because he did not have a record of it easily accessible. I confirmed with them that the 97 was all they had sent, and intended to send. I then argued with him for about 10 minutes about the figures, he kept telling me the matter was properly resolved. I told him it was not, and that I might need to make a new legal appointment if he could not work this out, or find a colleague capable of making the decision to refund the remaining charges to my card. There is now about 205 us dollars on my card that has not been refunded from the initial transaction, plus my 200 euro in actual travel expenses, due to the failure. All this for a rental that was contracted to cost 213 euro. I will reply in this post when I find out what happens later this week. I gave Mr. van Ziel until wednesday to contact me with an update, and until friday to make a payment for it. What a disorganized company, bleh.
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MFF con report	[Nov. 26th, 2008\|12:16 am]
My 2 weeks on Route 66 and beyond _________________________________ Before attending MFF, travel plans had me visiting many places in the corridor from Chicago to Austin. Among my stops were old friends, new friends, and family. In many ways, it was a revival and a homecoming in one. ( massive, simply massive ) *Con report is now complete, in case you only read my earlier post
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Print On Canvas - large format	[Oct. 30th, 2008\|12:11 am]
Rather then spell it all out for you, I have a small pictorial, and relevant facts: 13 giant canvas printed images on a 24 inch wide roll, 6 Kaa, 7 Heathen City - nearly 400 inches of hotness. ( more canvas goodness here... )
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The Communist Party	[Oct. 25th, 2008\|03:33 pm]
Click for the larger image We have brought glory to the party.
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This machine is older than I am!	[Oct. 11th, 2008\|09:37 am]
It has been 3 years since I sold my USA sewing machine, before I made my move to Europe. I was sad to see it go, not because it was a fantastic machine, but because I knew how to use it, and enjoyed working on projects with it. Yesterday, while looking to replace the leather sofa the dogs shredded, hyperx found something special at the Kringloopwinkel (charity second hand shop). He summoned me over to look at it, and I was so very glad he did. This machine is retro-cool, 20 euro, and it WORKS! ( wow, that's old! )
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RainFurrest 2008 Con Report

[Oct. 8th, 2008|08:33 am]

[

mood

satisfied

]

This is very detailed, probably boring for many. But I have my fans (I hope), and if nothing else, this is just my diary of what happened, so I can read it again later :)

( So it does not take up 1500 lines on your friends page, it is here, behind the cut. )
Total air miles: 14,000 - total bonus to my frequent flier program, just a few miles short of a free domestic trip, or half of a free international trip. Not bad!

And thank you again to Fox-Dragon - you were the best random roommate of all time, and I would have to say, I want to see you again, just for some more awesome conversation. I had more fun at this convention than any in recent memory, and that is saying a lot, because EF2008 was fantastic. I will definitely be going back for RF2009, no doubt about it. Excellent job, all of the staff, the hotel, and the attendees made this one perfect experience.

My new best photo of Lagarto Fursuit, in the SeaTac Marriott Atrium:

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Organic booze	[Oct. 5th, 2008\|07:08 pm]
Thank you, kensaro, for sharing the last of your bottle with me. I did indeed find this only at Gall & Gall - at 20 euro, a good value. This stuff is fantastic! And you can just taste the organic - well, maybe not, but it certainly does not degrade the experience in any way. I have not tasted a better scotch at this price point. Here's the airline size bottle photo ( behind the cut see the big bottle for details on what it is, and who made it )
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Rental Car Mess UPDATED	[Sep. 17th, 2008\|04:17 pm]
Ok, the rental car saga deepens. I have realized that none of the companies involved care even a bit about customer service, in fact, I now know they have contempt for their customers. Here is what has happened since my return home. 1. National car rental charged my card 400 euro for a rental that was contracted to cost 213 euro. This charge appeared 3 days after I dropped off the Hertz replacement car. ( more brain melting corporate stupidity behind this cut ) Here is the amazing voucher. I remember getting HERTZ vouchers in my visa statements for 2 class upgrades, so this thing is completely worthless. So, in summary, it is obvious that National Car Rental did not pay Hertz for anything. Their car failed during the rental period, on the 5th day. They charged me 400 euro for 5 days rental, and the normal 7 day rate is 213. I received no special discounts or promotions, this is their regular published rate. Wow, just wow. I had no idea it would get this bad.
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FIAT - Fix It Again, Tony	[Sep. 4th, 2008\|02:31 am]
So, driving back from EF14, all was well until Ausfahrt U72, on the westbound A4 autobahn. Right outside the quaint little town of Eisenach, the car engine lost all power and quit. I pushed down the clutch pedal, and coasted over on the shoulder, which happened also to be an exit lane for this town. I had not quite enough speed to reach the top of this massive hill, so I was stuck about 300 meters from the top of the slope to the actual exit. The exit road looped back around downhill, but there was no way the car was moving any further. ( this is a small novella I wrote about my experiences, protected by this cut. )
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