1. Put your name on the homework. I prefer it being on every page since it does make my life a little easier, but I would be satisfied with the name on at least one of the pages. Even in grad school, students will still forget to put it on their homework.
2. Don’t cheat. I really can’t say how annoying it is to be grading homework and notice that answers on two, or more, homework are the exact same. I, and other TAs, will turn you in to the professor. In the end, it will only hurt you when exam time comes.
3. Ask questions more than a few hours before the homework/exam. Most TAs do not hang around the school waiting breathlessly for students to ask questions. Some of us even have full time jobs along with our own school deadlines. I know that I am more than happy to help to students, but usually have to meet them close to where I work or at night on campus. Even answering email questions usually have to wait till I get home since I don’t have my notes with me.
4. Round your answers correctly. If you are going to round your answers, at least do them correctly. It is very annoying when someone will take a number like 3.98888 and change it to 3. I take off a point when someone does this.
5. Show your work. If you want partial credit, you have to help me out a bit by showing your work so I can figure out what you were trying to do. Just putting 3 for the question only works if 3 is the right answer.
6. Asking for partial credit? If you are going to ask for partial credit, check to see if you already got some for the question. I have had more than a few students demand partial credit for a totally wrong answer even though I had already given them some.
7. Asking for an extension? After the homework has been due is not the time to ask for an extension. I can understand when you are sick or there has been a family emergency. When the excuse is that you have work and are taking more than one class, I don’t have much sympathy. Most grad students have the same type of schedule and still manage to meet their deadlines. I also still have to get the professor’s permission to accept it late so don’t ask me to not tell him.

I’m sure Artie will get the quote. And Uncle Dad.

Though we’ve only been back a week, it was time to pack the suite case, put the Trixie shield on the bed (she gets sick when stressed), and head once again to Richmond. This time we’re going to Dallas, TX At least we’re staying in the country.

The trip so far is… Interesting. When I turned my phone on upon arrival, we got notification that our luggage got lost on its way. All I can say is, it my luggage so of course it got lost.

The hotel is a lot nicer than the one in Paris. Dave only hangs slightly off this bed! There’s a lot more room as well. Unfortunately, the power seems to be questionable. We only lost it for a bit, but the rain is still going strong so who knows.

We made it in time for the big dinner. Never get between an engineer and free food. One guy was actually trying to start on the buffet before time. The server had to take the plate out of his hand. The guy just stayed by the salad to make sure he was first in line. Dave and I decided the napkin arrangements were flying ducks, or geese. Dave and I either smelled bad, or looked funny, since no one sat with us.

Now, if only our luggage would find its way to us…
Susan

“Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.”
November 17th, 2011

Our luggage did arrive Thursday night. So we didn’t have to worry if the other conference attendees would notice us wearing the same clothes as the day before. I was the last person to present on a Friday afternoon so it wasn’t surprising that there were only 5 of us in the room when my time came. What was surprising was that 2 of the people who were supposed to present didn’t show.

Dave and I decided to branch out for dinner and leave the hotel. Being in Texas, we figured we had to either eat Mexican or steak. So, using Yelp to find a good place, we got into a cab and headed out. We opted for Mexican at the 7 Salsas and were not disappointed. The food was quite good. Getting a return cab was not so good. It took a while, but the cabbie eventually found us.

Then it was time to pack for the trip home. That only took 5 minutes since we were there for such a short time.

While waiting in Atlanta for our next flight, Dave and I figured out what happened to our luggage while watching the baggage trucks between terminals. Child carriers and luggage all fell out from different trucks. It also explained why our suitcase from Paris was crushed (still finding plastic pieces in it). You will be glad to know all the trucks and planes stopped for the fire truck and ambulance when they arrived on the tarmac. I am curious what would happen if a plane ran over the baggage. That would be an interesting story to tell.
Dave, myself, and our luggage have all made it home safely. Trixie is talking to us, but only because we turned on the fireplace. Thankfully our next trip isn’t till next year.

Susan

Today has been a big travel day. We got up this morning to take Aunt Corinne and Uncle Dad to the Dulles airport so they could make their way back to Arizona. Then we pointed the Jeep once again towards Richmond and were on our way.

I am sorry to inform you that Richmond has joined the movement of using full body scanners in security. Dave and I opted for pat downs. He did say this pat down was less intrusive then the one he got in Germany. I think some guy still owes him dinner there.

We have made it safely to Paris and even managed to meet a couple from California. After a short nap and much needed shower, we met up with Nathan and Claire to hunt down dinner.

Important information for vegetarians that Claire learned the hard way is that fish is not considered meat. The waiter actually argued with us about how fish is not meat. So, be sure to ask for vegetarian in your dish.

After taking the scenic route back to our hotel, we crashed. Too bad we have to get up early for the conference.

Salut,
Susan

P.S. Dave’s bathroom karma did not hold! We will see if the same is true for the trip home.

Je veux une bière s’il vous plaît‏
November 30th, 2011

It’s presentation day and I will probably need a beer afterwards so it seemed a good idea to know how to ask for one.

The conference is on the 7th floor and the elevator (lift) is broken. Luckily Dave was carrying my laptop and other heavy stuff. It does put our coffee and lunch in danger as the service personnel do not want to make the hike with the trays.

I did make it through my presentation without any major guffaws. One woman had figures that were upside down so that made me feel a lot better. Once Nathan and I finished, it was time for lunch!

Though the elevator wasn’t fixed, the food did manage to find it’s way up to us. As soon as the food arrived, a bunch of grad students showed up and got in line. I guess grad students are the same world wide.

I was brave and tried out the public toilet. They are self cleaning! When I flushed the toilet, it started talking to me. It was in French so I had no idea what it was saying so decided to hurry out in case it was a countdown to the self clean cycle.

Dave and I have a good handle on the metro system here. Well, Dave has a good handle on it. I’m sticking to my role of knowing where the nearest ATM and coke machines are and plotting our adventure for the day.

The organizers of the conference pre-ordered our dinner so it was interesting. I impressed Dave by trying the very, very foul smelling cheese (chevre) that was put in front of me. The chicken dish was much better. Desert was a tease as the waiter started putting chocolate cake and ice cream in front of us to realize that it was meant for another table and take it away. Thinking that we were going to get something similar, I was content to wait. Only bitter disappointment came when we were served coconut ice cream in mango sauce. It was good, but it was no chocolate molten cake with ice cream. I should have been faster with my fork.

Au revoir!
Susan

P.S. The conference committee asked Nathan and I to submit a joint paper for a special edition publication. This would be number 5.

Où sommes-nous?
December 1st, 2011

We started the day at the conference. Today’s subject was policy. My favorite speaker this morning was the one who told us about a study on Medicare that resulted in everyone involved in the study being fired. The lesson was to be careful or end up in Siberia. After the first session, Dave and I escaped with Claire. We left Nathan behind. Someone had to be sacrificed.

After our escape, we headed to the Hôtel National des Invalides to see the tomb of Napoleon. There was actually an enormous museum of armory there. It started from the beginning before knights were the soldier of choice and went up to WW II. The exhibits for WW I and WW II were very well done. We spent over 5 hours there and I’m sure we didn’t see everything. We were able to briefly see Napoleon’s tomb before being kicked out so that they could close.

They have cherry coke!!!!! I’ve never been in another country that had it!

Sorry, I was excited. After spending 5 hours going through the museum, we realized that we skipped lunch. So, we went to a local pizza joint for a snack. I think we had bacon on our pizza, but can’t be certain. If it wasn’t bacon, I don’t think I want to know.

Nathan is still MIA, so we’re heading to the Eiffel Tower to find out times and prices. We didn’t find him there so we’re going to the Christmas Bazaar. It’s in the Top 10 books so it has to be good. We weren’t disappointed. Hot red and white wine seems to be popular at the bazaar and there was all sorts of food! We tried these mini cakes that reminded us of Creme Brule in cake form.

We had sent Nathan an email telling him to meet us at the Arc de triomphe. It took us a while, but we found the secret passage to the arc via a tunnel under the street. Then it was time to walk to the top. The parisians are just cruel! We walked up 349 steps to the top of the arch to find out there is an elevator. You can’t take it up, but you can supposedly take it down. We were already invested so we took the steps down.

Nathan got caught up with some of the other conference attendees so we headed back to the bazaar for dinner. We found a Starbucks on the way so we stopped so that Dave could get a coffee. After a few glasses of the spiced red wine, I was able to get over the fact that we were eating from street vendors. I didn’t have enough wine to try the American (couldn’t figure out what it was), but I did have a hot dog and a nutella crepe. The crepe was awesome!

We started back to the hotel once the bazaar started shutting down. Tomorrow is another day.

Au revoir!
Susan

J’ai mal aux pieds.
December 2nd, 2011

Today we were off to Versailles. It gave us a chance to try out the commuter train. I have to say the trains in France are a lot more user friendly than the ones in Italy. Once we got to Versailles, we decided to fortify ourselves with some Starbucks.

Of course Dave had to cause problems. We had to go through security and Dave kept setting off the alarm even after taking off his watch, belt and removing everything in his pockets. They finally gave up and just sent him through.

Versailles is definitely a full day trip. The gardens themselves would take days to go through. A lot of the furniture and other artifacts are still missing from the revolution. France is still working on finding and regaining them.

We’re cutting Nathan off from all drinks. He’s managed to spill his coffee and his coke. We are afraid that security at Versailles will put up his photo with a person non grata under it.

We did find out that Marie Antoinet never actually said “Let them eat cake.” Most of the stuff that has been attributed to her (orgies, extreme spending, incest, trying to help Austria take over France) is not true. She actually did try to help, but her husband ignored her most of the time.

They have a Marie Antoinet DS game. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Now we are off to find the Café de Flore to talk existentialism. We’re not sure what that is, but I can google it. It’s number one in our list of top 10 cafes in Paris so it has to be good. It is the first place we’ve been to where we had to google the menu. We got the highly recommended hot chocolate, except for Dave who got aberlour scotch. I agree with the guide book’s assessment of the hot chocolate.

In our search for dinner, we passed by the Sorbonne, but did not see Tom Hanks or any sign of the Danvinci code.

We ended up WAY off the beaten path on a Japanese food alley. The name of the street is actually different, but with 5 Japanese restaurants, it should change its name. We got a free cocktail from an old evian bottle, but figured there was enough alcohol in it to kill anything really dangerous. I have to say it was very tasty so I ordered a second.

We decided that we wanted to go to the Eiffel tower tonight, but it was already after 10 with the last lift to the top being at 10:30. We were not thwarted so we quickly paid our bill and chased down a cab since the metro would take too long. The cabbie got the hint that we were in a hurry and hauled ass down the streets. It felt like he was trying to break some sort of record. We made it with 10 minutes to spare. Nathan was disappointed that he couldn’t walk up the stairs to the top but the rest of us were more than content to take the elevator up the 1000 feet. We were actually the last people to get tickets for the night. I have to say that it is quite windy and cold at the top.

We were finally kicked off the Eiffel Tower so we headed back to our hotels. Tomorrow is already here.

Au revoir!
Susan

Voulons-nous vraiment besoin de monter que les?
December 3rd, 2011

Butter is a condiment here. Instead of mustard or mayonnaise when you buy a sandwich, they all come with butter on them. But they don’t bring you butter when you just have plain bread and look at you strangely when you ask for it.

This morning we started with the Lovre. This place is definitely a lot bigger than I thought. The first clue was the fact that you get a map when you go in to make sure you don’t get lost. Claire still managed to when she went off by herself to the gift shop. She never made it to the gift shop, but did eventually find us. We were able to see everything in the top ten list in our guide except for the Lacemaker which is on loan. It was crowded around the Mona Lisa, but we were able to get up close for pictures.

For lunch we went to McDonald’s. It’s a really popular place here. We got to use easy order to pick our lunch instead of waiting in line. Dave got the Royal Delux! After some Starbucks, we were ready to go again.

It was off to the Rodin Museum to see the Thinker. On the way we thought we found the Occupy France group, but it was a protest against bull fighting.

The Thinker was easy to find. He was the first statue we found in the garden. We found many of his other works and also read about how bronze sculptures are made. It looks to be very time consuming.

After getting our fill of art, we headed back to the Arc. Dave and I couldn’t fit on the same metro as Nathan and Claire so we met up with them at the Arc. As luck would have it, we arrived in time for the lighting of the flame for the unknown soldier. It’s a lot more involved than I thought it would be. We realized as the ceremony dragged on that it is the anniversary of a big Napoleon battle.

We decided that we had to try a Quick burger before we left. It wasn’t quick and we angered the woman taking our order. Dave was brave to try Le French Burger while Nathan and I went for the beef delice. Apparently it isn’t ordered much since they had to make it.

After the delicious meal, we headed out to find some souvenirs. Back to the Christmas market we went since we really wanted some more warm wine as well. On our way, we ran into one of the homeless guys who dressed as Santa! His dog was curled up under a blanket next to him. It seems like most of the homeless guys here have dogs.

Then it was time to head back. Nathan and Claire head back to the states tomorrow so they have to pack. Unfortunately, Dave and I were hit by an egg on the way home. Good thing our jackets are water and egg proof.

Au revoir!
Susan

Les chats sont impressionnants!
December 4th, 2011

On the way to the metro, we found evidence in the form of egg shells and yolk of further egg attacks. We figured it was bored kids. At least with the rain most people should be wearing rain coats.

This morning we had entertainment on the metro with someone playing the accordion. We’ve actually seen quite a few people playing around the metro with their saxophones, cellos, and violins.

I’m really beginning to hate stairs. They seem to be all over Paris. Dave says they are good for me, but supposedly so are Brussels sprouts.

Our first stop was Basilique du Sacré-Cœur. It was impressive! It was built on the highest natural point in Paris and is the second highest (Eiffel Tower is number one). Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures inside. We were able to take pictures when we went into the crypt and the tower. The crypt was a little creepy, but I think that’s a requirement at design time. To get up to the tower, we got to climb 500 steps. A woman ahead of us did it in high heels even with the wet marble floor. I was definitely impressed.

Afterwards, we hunted down some lunch. I need to learn how to say “meat, cheese, bread, and nothing else” before we go to another country. We perused the artists who were still out despite the nasty rain. We found huge paintings of a rooster and of a cat, but Dave wasn’t willing to carry them on the plain. I did get one small painting of two cats looking over Paris. Dave helped me pick it out. I’m sure Trixie will love it.

Then it was time to head to Notre Dame. The rain did not keep the tourists away as there was a long line to get in. Because of time, we weren’t able to go up in the tower, but we’ll go back tomorrow. We stayed for mass at 6:30. The singing was beautiful, but it was hard to follow along when it was all in French. We just stood and sat as the people around us did. We gave up trying to sing and refrained from communion since we aren’t Catholic. It was a very nice service and we can now tell our pastor that even during a mass at Notre Dame, people forget to turn off their cell phones.

After eating a light dinner, we decided to head back to the hotel since the weather was rather nasty (I think we saw some cats or dogs coming down). I’ll have to be sure to get more hot wine tomorrow as it is our last day here. Dave and I decided to not run the gauntlet of eggs so took another route to the hotel. We arrived egg free.

Au revoir!
Susan

P.S. Sorry for the picture quality of my phone. I know it isn’t as good as it should be. I’ll try to replace it before Dallas.

Le temps d’emballer!
December 5th, 2011

After arranging for a shuttle to pick us up at 5 AM tomorrow (wow that is early), we were off!

After mailing postcards, Dave and I headed to Sainte-Chapelle. They had a lot of security since it was so close to the Palace of Justice. It was a small church, but very well done. The stain glass windows depicting the different books of the Bible were gorgeous. It was built by King Louis IX who also bought the crown of thorns, some nails, and some pieces of the true cross from the crucifixion of Jesus during on of his Crusades. I think Dave is right and the king who sold them to Louis saw him coming. He spent more on those artifacts than he did on the church.

Then we headed back to Notre Dame to go into the crypt and tower. The crypt is closed on Monday and we couldn’t go to the top of the tower till 3:15. So, we went to find lunch and do a little shopping. Not to worry, we didn’t get any giant cat or rooster paintings. Dave and I did pick up some hats since we were told we would be in line for an hour and it was cold. We should have worn more layers, but the weather said it would be warmer. I guess the weatherman are as accurate here as they are back home.

I did count and the steps up the tower were only 385. That’s a lot better than Sacré-Cœur. I really liked the gargoyles up at the top. The big bell was also impressive. It is only rung on certain holy days. After going through the doors on the top, we came to the conclusion that Quasimoto was a hunchback because he was always ducking. They were very strict about how much time you could spend in the tower so we were soon heading back down.

They stole our soap! Our Dove soap has been replaced with some wired plastic and metal thing that I think is supposed to be attached to some part of the tub. At least I can honestly say that I didn’t break it.

It time to start packing. 4 AM will be here way too soon.

Au revoir!
Susan

Heureux d’être à domicile!
December 6th, 2011

In Europe, don’t bother to get to the airport before 6 AM. We ran into the same problem in Italy where security doesn’t open till then. Here they are too busy sneaking up on their fellow security members to scare them. The new passports don’t seem to work well in the self check in kiosks so Dave had to type in most of his information. We finally got everything straight and even found a coke machine (no stores are open till 6).

We made it through security. Both eReaders and cameras have to be taken out and put in their own bins. It is interesting to see the differences between security at the different countries.

We were slightly delayed, but made it to JFK. It was very nice to be back in the US. It took a while for our luggage to come out so we could go through customs, but our bags did adhere to the buddy system and stayed together. We had to go through security again. This time they didn’t like the Nook charger, but I was able to go through the metal detector with both passports without setting it off. Dave always sets it off when he does that. I think he just looks like he’s up to something.

Tuesday is the day for travel! Our flight from Paris wasn’t full and our flight to Richmond only has 20 (Dave says 15) of the 54 seats filled. The flight attendant just said to sit wherever we wanted and we could take whatever snacks and drinks. It was a very nice flight.

Our Jeep did not give up and go home without us, so after 18 hours of travel, we finally made it home. Trixie is not pleased we left her. I haven’t told her we leave Next Thursday for Dallas.

Au revoir!
Susan

Well, we made it to Las Vegas. Everyone will be happy to know that Dave’s bathroom karma held so, not only were we seated next to the bathroom, but there were some interesting odors coming from it. Too bad our tricorder was packed or we could have analysed it. It’s a balmy 104 degrees with low humidity.  The picture today is from our hotel. We have run into one other couple here for the Star Trek convention.

Tomorrow we head to the Hoover Dam and Grand Cannon. Hopefully we’ll still have enough energy after that to go see the home of Pawn Stars! It’s now time to crash.

Susan

P.S. I had to add the pic from Burger King (also in our hotel).

We’ve got cows!
Star Date: 89213.67

Wrong movie, but still appropriate.

We stopped at a local grocery store to pick up the essentials (water, Blistex, and suntan lotion) and got an education. I was wondering why there was an alarm on my $4 pack of razors so, as I often do, I asked an employee. Apparently, there is a big problem with theft around here. They even have alarms on the packages of meat! I guess we will be sure to not leave anything in the car.

We made it to the Hoover Dam. By noon it was 110 and we were told it would reach 120 by 5. We left by then. It may be a dry heat, but it still feels like being in a convection oven. We took the Dam Tour (the actual name of the tour) so we got to go down 550 feet into the dam. We took pictures of the steps, but took the elevator. We actually got to look out the vents of the dam! Dave wouldn’t let me throw anything out of the vents. It was the best dam tour ever!

After a quick bite to eat in Boulder City (No, I didn’t get us lost and in the wrong state. There’s one in Nevada. Like Dave would let me navigate…), back into the car we went. This time we headed to the biggest hole on earth: the Grand Canyon!

Traveling across the bridges with his winds in a little Kia Forte is… Interesting. There was no whimpering from the back seat so it wasn’t too bad. We got to drive through some small towns including one where the library and fire department were in the same building. I can see it being very beneficial for the books.

There seemed to be cows just wandering around the side of the road. Not sure if they were lost, on a vacation of their own (who doesn’t want to see the Grand Canyon), or are just free range cows. I have to say I was disappointed that I didn’t see a vulture on a Joshua tree or a cattle skull anywhere. Brandy’s said it was too hot for anything to be out (except the cows). She may have a point.

We made it to the Grand Canyon but, as usual, we couldn’t do it like ordinary people. We ended up at the bottom of the canyon instead of at the top. While Dave was yelling “I’ve giving her all she’s got captain” and Brandy looked out the window for Sand People, the poor Kia vibrated parts off (lighter and more fuel efficient and I’m sure they weren’t important) while we wound our way down the dirt road further into the canyon floor. I kept looking for more cows. With no one to tell us we couldn’t (their fault they left the gate open), we explored an old cap house (dynamite storage) and played in the Colorado River. We found some small caves in the hill, but the Sand People stayed out of sight. I think they were afraid of Dave.

After drinking half a case of water (good thing we got 2 cases), we decided it was time to head back to Vegas. We still had to pre-register for the conference! We were also concerned that we hadn’t seen anyone for well over 2 hours.

We made it back to Vegas with plenty of time for early registration. We met some others here for the convention and a lot were already in costume. We decided we were a little wiped so we’re going to save the pawn shop from Pawn Stars till tomorrow.

Live long and prosper!
Susan

Captain, I’m detecting strange life forms…
Star Date: 89216.41

Dave was not as eager to rise today, but he bowed to peer pressure and off we went. He even refrained from laughing at the fellow Star Trek fans we encountered on our way to breakfast. He was very happy to hear that our first stop after breakfast was the pawn shop from Pawn Stars since the “regulars” are registering this morning and the convention doesn’t start till 1.

So, after breakfast at Egg Works (highly recommend), back into the Kia we piled to search for the pawn store. We found the marriage strip including the Little White Chapel where Britney Spears, Joan Collins and Michael Jordan were married.  We also found a place to get a tattoo for $10. Brandy wanted to get one, but Dave wouldn’t stop. We made it to Gold and Silver Pawn before the rush, but didn’t see the Old Man, Chumley, or any of the others. According to the security guard, they are gone till September. Oh well. The shop was a lot smaller than it looks on TV and we ended up leaving without buying anything.

It was then time to head back to the Rio to get ready for the convention. Brandy and I do not have the eidentic memory of Wesley Crusher, so we had to look up the names of some of the characters appearing today. Dave finally accepted being tagged and is now wearing his bracelet. He didn’t put his badge on till we got into the convention area.

We had a few minutes before the first event so we wandered into the vendor area where Dave complained that it was the worst gun show ever.  Brandy and I bought some tribbles and had our picture taken with Apollo from the original Battlestar Galactica!!! Hopefully Lindsay won’t kill me for getting Ben a new pet. Hopefully they know not to feed. Then we went to a presentation on the “Con of Wrath”, a convention in 1982 that had some issues.

There were a lot of people in costume. Dave was surprised with how many people are here for the convention. We sat through a question and answer session (none of the type “In episode 92, Spock used a tricorder to repair the Enterprise, but it’s obvious that it doesn’t have a thingamawhat which would have been needed. How do you explain that?”). I was out voted in which universe to have the next series (the original or the one from the last movie). I figure you can’t go wrong in a universe with two Spocks!

We saw a talk by David Gerrold who wrote the “Trouble with Tribbles” and “More Tribbles, More Trouble” episodes. When the first tribble episode appeared, David (19 at the time) told Freddy Kruger (a friend of his from CAL Tech) that no one would remember it. The joke was on him (Freddy thought it was awesome). Turns out that the reason the tribbles were pink in the animated series was because the guy who did the coloring was color blind. I guess the government doesn’t own the patent on making bad decisions. He also helped with the DS9 episode of tribbles and was an extra on the episode. The director’s minions gave him the evil eye when he told them they were doing some scenes wrong till the producer informed them that David wrote the original.

Dave is still looking for Jedi. We haven’t had the heart to tell him that we won’t find any. We did find some members of the Nevada Workers’ Compensation Conference who decided our conference was a lot more fun.

Then it was time for dinner so we headed to the Stratosphere for dinner. We didn’t make it to the top, but found some good pizza. Also found a lot of people roaming the streets advertising hot sexy girls that want to come to you. I guess they do call Las Vegas Sin City.

Live long and prosper,
Susan

The best diplomat that I know is a fully-loaded phaser bank.
Star date: 89219.15

We broke into the second case of water last night and Dave realized that the G in the elevator stands for Gambling and not Ground Floor.  We’re still missing our fourth musketeer, but Amy promised she won’t miss the next adventure.

During Chekov’s (Walter Koenig) talk, we got the questions about “In episode such and such…”. In case you didn’t know, he actually wrote some of the animated Star Trek and Land of the Lost episodes. We also got questions about Babylon 5 (might be coming back) since he was Bester (aka Mr Evil). He told us a story about how he and Scotty were in Charlotte, NC for a movie rental story waiting in their Star Trek uniforms in the hotel lobby for the limo. A woman checked in and informed them that they could take her bags. He wrote a book of anecdotes called “Warped Factors: A Neurotics Guide to the Universe” that sounds like it will be funny.

Nana Visitor and Rene Auberjonois were awesome! They were asked the difficult questions about different episodes like how the names on the Kira’s jersey kept changing in the baseball episode. I had to explain the importance of Odo’s bucket (Rene took it after the final episode) to Dave.  I’m not sure if he got it.

We listened to Eugene Roddenberry and his creative friend on what’s coming up for Roddenberry. There’s a cartoon about Gene Roddenberry’s childhood (he was abducted by aliens and didn’t actually use his imagination to create Star Trek), a graphic novel called “Days Missing”, and a movie shot with a 360 degree camera called “White Room 023B” that will really work your neck muscles.  There’s also a documentary called TrekNation coming out in November.

Jonathon Franks was also AWESOME! He went through the aisles to meet and talk with people. His security guard had to go with him and didn’t correct Jonathon when he kept calling him Eddie when his name was Kenny (he was eventually corrected). He was not happy that Data made it on to the banner, but Riker didn’t. Riker out ranked him! I guess it was a typo. He told us the story about how, at his first Star Trek convention (right after Next Generation started), he saw action figures being sold. The sign that said “Buy any action figure and get Will Riker free” was very humbling for him.

Then we listened to the Star Trek Rat Pack made up of characters from DS9. My favorite song was the “Rules of Acquisition.” Dave loved it when someone asked them to sing Freebird!

We had to leave early so that we could make it to the Star Trek Captain Smack Down. The captains were rated on Explorer, Leader, Fighter, Diplomat, and Lover. Janeway won for Explorer and Kirk won for Leader. When we started taking Fighter, there was an issue with Cisco having a bigger defense budget than the others, but he did command the gods to help in the war and knocked Q on his tush. Kirk had Kirkfoo and made a cannon out of nothing to defeat a lizard. He won Fighter. Kirk and Janeway were tied at this point! There was a man that looked amazingly like Piccard and one that looked like Cisco trying to sway votes. Piccard won for Diplomat. There were some angry people at this point (disagreement over ranking of other captains for this category). Janeway was winning at this point with Kirk and Piccard tied for second.  Lover was easy to decide (Dave says it was Kirk’s way of diplomacy). Kirk and Janeway tied (Piccard was second by 1 point)!!!! So it was a vote down to decide which of the two was the best Star Trek captain. Was there really any doubt? Cisco was fourth and Archer was last.

Sorry, but the pictures with my phone camera in the main area didn’t do well. Lighting is horrible in there! There will be plenty in the scrapbook from the Nikkon.

While looking for Yoda and Firefly shirts (hard to find at a Star Trek convention), we found a book on holistic cat care. We did find a Firefly shirt, but are still looking for one with Yoda. We found a Star Trek one with the caption “No brakes” we are thinking of getting for someone.

Then it was time to hit the strip in search of food. It took a while, but we did find a place in Caesar’s Palace called Trevi. It doesn’t really remind us of Rome, but the food was good and the service was fast.

Tomorrow is dress up day! Everyone is supposed to wear a costume. Dave is wearing his Scotty shirt so hopefully that will count. Brandy and I are going to have our pics taken with the Chippendales in our Star Trek costumes!

Live long and prosper,
Susan

I signed aboard this ship to practice medicine, not to have my atoms scattered back and forth across space by this gadget.
Star Date: 89221.89

Dave gave Brandy and I a strange look before shaking his head and walking out the door to head to breakfast. Yes, we were outside the Rio to the Egg and I for breakfast. He did wear his Scotty shirt which will hopefully count as a costume for today’s costume count.

First up was Terry Farrell, the first Dax. She still looks gorgeous!!! There are a LOT more people here today and most are in costume. She loved the original Star Trek and Kirk was her first TV crush. She did confirm that, in a fight between her and Worf, Dax would win. The best was when a kid came up and asked about when she died. He clarified that he was asking about her character. Rodney Dangerfield (she worked with him) also managed to save her from a creepy guy on a plane. Turns out she is clumsier than Dave. She stabbed herself with a knife cutting a grapefruit, pinched her eye trying to get her contacts out, and somehow got lead poisoning. It’s a good thing she’s best friends with her doctor. Her husband made her remove her high heels as soon as she walked off the stage.

Then it was time for Brent Spiner, Data.  Of course, before he took the stage, they should a video called Just a Gigolo about Riker to help spur the controversy between the two. Brent loved the video introducing him and commented that this would be the last time he worked with Creation Entertainment. He addressed the fact that banner that had him and not certain others (Riker) saying  the people on the poster are special and Mr. Gigolo, not so special. The rivalry between Riker and Data continues. One fan said that Riker picks on him because women prefer Data over Riker. I have to agree with her. Spot was really two cats: Brandy and Monster, who were also the most temperamental actors he worked with. They just wouldn’t take direction.  He was briefly distracted by the fact the he was on the screen along with his picture on the banner. He’s got an internet series called “Fresh Hell” that you can watch on uTube. He may crash the panel with Sir Patrick Stewart and William Shatner tomorrow. He just did the voices of the robots in an upcoming Simpson’s episode (not sure where they got that idea).

Brandy and I informed Dave that we’re coming back for the 50th anniversary. He just groaned. He doesn’t like being surrounded by 4500 Trekkies.

Then it was time for Kate Mulgrew, Janeway. Ensign Kim, her stalker, joined her on stage. She said she learned during her run of Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra, that there were cell phones in ancient Egypt. During her death scene, a cell phone went off playing “When the Saints go Marching In.”. Sounds appropriate, but she said she had never been happier to put a poisonous snake to her breast. She also talked about what Janeway did after returning to
Earth (she lost her knitting needles). Apparently, she went to the show that NTSF:SD:SUV makes fun of all the TV shows on prime time. Voyager’s Doctor makes an appearance! It is produced by her husband (who is also her old ex-husband). She said the guys on the show would get really naughty during shooting around four AM. Apparently they would drop their pants and shoot spit balls during taping when it got so late (or is it early?). She said Trek was the key to bliss in a marriage (good to know since Dave is Trek by marriage). Eddie McClintock (Warehouse 13) also made an appearance. I grabbed a picture of him during the break.

After a short respite, we went to see Leonard Nimoy, Spock!!!!!!!!! He said his parents were migrants from Russia, aliens, and he was American, and then he went to Hollywood and became an alien. He told a story about how he did a signing event at a department store and had to go up to the roof and down a fire truck ladder to escape the crowd at the end. Then he went to speak at a college, a small one, thinking it wouldn’t be many people. After checking into the hotel, he got a call from a woman who was very excited. He asked who she was and how he had found her. She said she was Mary, she was calling from Denver, and she called all three hotels to find him after hearing he was there. Shortly after, he got another call from a woman named Sally in St. Louis. He asked how she found him. She said her friend in Denver called to tell her. When he told his father he was going to be a actor, his father told him that he would be working with Gypsies and Vagabonds and that he should learn to play an accordion. He never did. His first movie “Zombies of the Stratosphere” didn’t propel him into stardom like he hoped so he joined the army. Live long and prosper came from Nimoy’s recollection from his Jewish childhood. He knew that practicing the hand gesture would come in handy so he spent years practicing. Amok Time is the episode where he brought up the idea of using it. When the company producing the show refused to pay for the pens and paper to handle fan mail, he responded that he and his secretary went around the offices at the company and stole all the pens and papers he needed. He told a story about being in the San Francisco airport when a woman came up with her little boy. She told the boy that here was his favorite character from TV. The boy just gave him a blank look. The boy didn’t understand what Spock would be doing in San Francisco without pointy ears. John Wayne once came up to him and said “I know you. You’ve had your ears fixed.” One of the phrases he tries to remember to keep him humble is: “Popularity is the crumbs of greatness.” He is quite a photographer as well. He was once leaving an event with Tom Hanks when a guy came up and asked to have his picture taken with Tom Hanks. He then recognized Nimoy and said, “You’re a photographer. Will you take the picture?” So, this guy now has a picture of himself with Tom Hanks taken by Nimoy. Wearing his LLAP (Live Long And Prosper), Nimoy bid a final good as this was his last convention appearance to a standing ovation.

After a quick bathroom break, it was time to stand in line for our picture with Nimoy! The line was HUGE! We got it done and then headed over to be counted for the Guinness Book of World Records. We were able to reach 1040 people dressed in costume, breaking the current record of 691 bring the record back to Star Trek and Las Vegas. Dave was not dressed up enough so he wasn’t counted. I don’t know if the guy dressed as a Storm Trooper was able to be counted or not.

Tonight we decided to skip going to the strip so we went to dinner at a restaurant called Off the Strip. It seemed appropriate. The food is MUCH better than the Chef Boyardee fare we got at Trevi last night.

The Rio becomes very “active” on the weekend. They have these ships that are go around a track on the ceiling with dancers throwing beads.

Tomorrow Brandy has to head home. After we drop her off at the airport, Dave and I get to have our picture taken with William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols, Uhura. We also get to see Sir Patrick Stewart! Tomorrow’s going to be great!

Live long and prosper,
Susan

Fate protects fools, little children and ships named Enterprise.
Star Date: 89224.63

This morning, we weren’t awakened by the alarm signaling that it was time to get up to take Brandy to the airport, but by some woman screaming that they had ordered a blonde woman to their room (I guess they got the wrong color?). Dave managed (unknowingly) to quote Star Trek when he asked if he could pay extra for them to be quiet.

The airport was quite busy at 6 A.M. We’re hoping it will be better tomorrow when we fly out. Brandy made it through security and on her plane.

Dave and I then headed back to the Rio so that we could make our photo appointment with Nichelle Nichols. She was great and personable pulling one little girl into her lap for a picture. It was adorable!

Today was a day of waiting. After our picture with Uhura, we went to wait for our autographs from William Shatner and Sir Patrick Stewart. Shatner agreed to sign as long as people were buying tickets. They ran out of the pre-printed tickets and had to write over the autograph tickets that didn’t sell for someone else. Shatner signed over 800 autographs and Stewart signed over 700. With an attendance over 15,000, I was surprised that there weren’t more. Both were quite nice and, even though they weren’t supposed to, they took a moment with each person to talk.

Then it was time for Shatner, Stewart, and Mulgrew to take the stage. Everyone showed up for it. He does have a great voice. He’s been researching for his part in the Merchant of Venice by living in Vegas. Brent Spiner crashed the party to give Patrick a hard time. Brent did a good job. I was able to sneak up to the stage to grab some pictures (I can get away with more than Dave). One fan asked if he would be on Big Bang Theory since Wesley Crusher and Geordi have been on it. He didn’t know the show, but said, if it was good enough for Geordi, he would be on it. He said in Chicago a few days ago, a man asked if he could propose to his girlfriend in from of Stewart. Patrick said of course. After a lovely speech, the man proposed and the woman said yes. Patrick then covered their joined hands with his and said “Engage.”

Then Janeway and Kirk came to the stage. Everyone stood. Janeway and Piccard pointed out that they had 7 years as captain whereas Kirk was only Captain for 3. Kirk pointed out that they got 7 because of his 3. When asked if he was asked to direct the Generations movie, kirk replied “No, they must have seen movie 5.” He said he signed on board to the movie when they said Kirk would die. Shatner felt unloved and out in the cold as Piccard and Janeway muttered together about doing a play together. The three of them really played off each other well. Patrick was supposed to leave so that just Janeway and Kirk on stage, but Janeway begged him not to leave her alone with Shatner (Shatner grabbed her butt when they came to the stage). Shatner made fun of the fact that Patrick was wearing the same clothes he worse last year. When asked why there were no seat belts on the ships, Stewart replied that it was because there were little force fields that activated as soon as they were needed. Patrick then had to leave to catch his flight to London.

The first time Kate and Shatner met was on a private jet. Kate woke up to Shatner putting a camera and microphone in her face saying that they were going to become very intimate before the jet landed. The footage is in Shatner’s documentary “The Captains” about the different Star Trek captains.

Then Kate was on the stage by herself. She said she was Irish so she never drank to health; the irish drink to drinking. Dave will drink to that… One guy asked why the last Star Trek movie was lacking in originality and was basically a copy of the first Star Wars. The guy was booed by all. She was asked why Janeway never developed a relationship with Chakotay and replied that she didn’t want to deal with the jokes about the ready room.

Then it was time for her to leave and Shatner came back on stage. He did say he would never retire which was met with applause. He spoke about his next documentary about Star Trek conventions. Looks like were going to be a part of it. We may have to get a copy of it when done. Shatner told us a story about how he was injured when a horse threw him and almost landed on him. His leg wan injured so he couldn’t get up. They convinced him to call an ambulance, but the ambulance wasn’t like what he was used to from TV. He was thrown into the ambulance with no one in the back with him. Because of this, he thought he would die from the ambulance ride as he was thrown side to side in the mad dash along roads to get him to the hospital. He arrived and at the hospital and people thought he was there to film an episode of Rescue 911. When they finally realized he was there for an injury, they took him to a room. They tried to get him to go give a urine sample to which he said, if he could get up, he wouldn’t be there. They gave him a bottle. While he was in the process of collecting his sample, a nurse threw back the curtain to inform him that she was his biggest fan. He luckily just had some very bad bruising.

The crowd thinned out when Shatner left the stage. I guess the Sulus aren’t as popular as Shatner. Again I snuck up to grab pictures. Not sure if it was because I’m cute (which is true) or because I’m was wearing a short skirt. It was John Cho’s first ever conference appearance. George Takei loved the fact that Sulu, and therefore him, was now young again. Then he spilled coffee on himself. At least he wasn’t near my laptop. We had to leave before they were done speaking because we had an appointment to have our picture taken with Shatner. The line for pictures with him was LONG! He sold out at 800 tickets.

After our picture, we had some down time till we went to listen to Nichelle Nichols. At 79, she looks awesome and is very personable! She told us that Star Trek (during its first iteration before it was in space) was the first show to have multiple characters (especially a black woman) with equal billing. An inter-racial cast of equal billing was just unheard of! Gene was told that society wasn’t ready for it. So, he threw it 300 years in the future and called it Star Trek. She also told us the story of how she was going to quit the series, but a Star Trek fan came to her door to convince her not to. Thankfully, she listened to Martin Luther King Jr. She was born Grace Nichols, but hated being called Gracie. When she was 11, she went to her mom and said she hated her name so please change it. That’s how she became Nichelle. When her time with us ended, she also received a fitting standing ovation.

The convention was then over and we just had to pack and wait for our Shatner pictures to be ready for pick up at 10. Till then, we had packing and dinner to attend to.

Dave picked out a restaurant called Firefly for dinner. It had nothing to do with the TV show. Ut was a Tappas bar which we have seen a lot of around here. We tried something new and it was… interesting… Of course I stuck with something boring (small fillet), but I did try some of what Dave got. I liked my boring steak better.

Getting up for a 6 AM flight is going to stink! Unfortunately, there seems to be a HUGE party going on downstairs by the pool. We may still be up at 3 AM from the noise they are making. I downloaded all the pictures onto my laptop so that I can scrapbook on the plane home. We will see if that happens (Kelly will be proud if I do).

Live long and prosper,
Susan

P.S. Brandy made it home though her flight was delayed.

P.P.S. The cleaning staff here has been quite generous with the soap, lotion, and shampoo so Amy will have quite the haul for the women’s shelter.

The Journey Home‏
Star Date: 89226.69

We made home. Now it’s time to do laundry and finish downloading pictures.

May the force be with you
Susan

Of course, I asked Drew what this error meant. After some additional Googling, under his watchful eye, we found that it had to do with the jars being unsigned and that pljava now lets you declare a function as language javau. IT WORKED!!!!!!

I do have PostgreSQL and pljava working on my home laptop, but I keep getting blue screens and black screens with gibberish on them at random times. I think it is safe to say that, at a minimum, the hard drive on that one will need to be replaced soon.  Maybe I can get Steve to spill a beer on it? Anyway, back to the task at hand: a computer with Matlab, Eclipse, PostgreSQL and PL/Java all working together in harmony.

Nothing ever goes as easily as I hope it will. Since user guides never given you the full story, I figured I would enter some lessons learned just in case anyone else in foolish enough to try this (or for me to use as reference later when I do this yet again).

In your Environment Variables, make sure that you have (or at least something like):

In your postgresql.conf file, you need to add something like:

I think the message I hate most is: “ERROR:  could not load library “C:/Program Files/Postgres/8.3/lib/pljava.dll”: The specified procedure could not be found.” It is a lot like Oracle’s tnsnames.ora error: not very informative and usually isn’t the real problem. The causes I have had for this error include, but are not limited to: 

• I had the wrong version of Java installed,
• The pljava.jar file was for the a different version of PostgreSQL,
• All of my variables weren’t set exactly right,
• I had the 64 bit version of Java, but PostgreSQL was still at 32 bit,
• I’m sure there are others.

Once you think you have it working, here is a nice test using one of the default sqlj functions, just to make sure:

CREATE FUNCTION getsysprop(VARCHAR)

  RETURNS VARCHAR

  AS ‘java.lang.System.getProperty’

  LANGUAGE java;

SELECT getsysprop(‘user.home’); 

If this function doesn’t work, you have issues. Now it is time to try to put one of your own functions in!

Once your function is written in java, export it as a jar file. Then the fun begins. Do not forget to do what I always seem to which is to set your class path. Then you can create and test your function. It is generally good to have a basic “test function” that really doesn’t do much to help you test that your jar loaded properly.

Now, getting PostgreSQL and Matlab working together is another story…

Java

RemoteMatlabProxyFactory factory = new RemoteMatlabProxyFactory();

RemoteMatlabProxy proxy = factory.getProxy(240000);

String functioName = “experiments”;

Vector<Object> entries = new Vector<Object>();

entries.add(-1);

entries.add(-0.8);

entries.add(-0.6);

entries.add(-0.4);

entries.add(-0.2);

entries.add(0);

entries.add(0.2);

entries.add(0.4);

entries.add(0.6);

entries.add(0.8);

entries.add(1);

Vector<Object> newArray = new Vector<Object>();

newArray.add(“ProbDistUnivParam(‘normal’,[0 .6])”);

newArray.add(entries.toArray());

Object[] input = newArray.toArray();

Object result = proxy.returningFeval(functioName,input);

Matlab

function m=experiments(probDistdb)

    pd=eval(probDist);

    [~,dim2]=size(db);

    db2=zeros(dim2,1);

    for i=1:dim2  db2(i)=db{i}; end

    m=osd(pd,db2,1,1000)

end          

I did notice during some of my experiments to see what all I could do that, if you pass back a double array (ans(3,3)), it becomes a single array with the second column just being appended to the end of the first. Just something to be aware of if you are passing back an array of arrays.

Naples could be livable as long as you had no sense of sight or smell and didn’t mind the constant honking of car horns. Pompeii, on the other hand, is awesome! It’s like a slightly larger Cortona. The B&B is very nice and the owner is like the ones we had in Ireland who were very helpful. It turns out that we took the wrong train so it took a little longer to walk there than expected, but we got to see a lot of the town. Today we’re going to explore the ruins of Pompeii!

October 25: Not an official picture of the day

but still a nice one. It’s a steel girder from the world trade center and commemorates the lives lost in Sept 11. A number of people from Pompeii died as well.

October 25: Picture of the day Part II (Pompeii Ruins)

We managed to get lost in the ruins of Pompeii. The city was massive! Luckily there were some other tourists to follow so we found our way out. As Pompeii is known for its stray dogs, we weren’t surprised when one of them followed us back to our B&B. We didn’t think Fabio would appreciate the additional guest so we left him outside. Tomorrow we head to Sorento and Capri, assuming the weather cooperates.

October 26: Picture of the day (a bit late) (Pompeii)

Well, my Crackberry charger went TU overnight so my Crackberry had to stay back at the B&B today. Luckily, Steve’s charger worked for it so I’m connected to the outside world again!

The weatherman claimed that we would have light showers today, but, as usual, they were wrong. So, we swam through the streets of Pompeii to catch the train to Sorento and the ferry to Capri. Because of the weather, we were not able to take the boat tours of the grottos so we just walked around the town admiring the views. The rain didn’t let up except when we were inside eating lunch so we headed back to Sorento to do some shopping (Dave’s favorite pastime) and then back to Pompeii.

The rain has stopped and we are now sitting at dinner discussing why vampires are better than werewolves (vampires don’t get fleas). Tomorrow we start the final leg of the trip – Rome.

October 27: Picture of the day Part I (Train Station in Naples)

An Italian post office is something of an adventure. It was made more fun by the fact that the postal workers knew as much English as we did Italian. Brandy and I got our packages shipped and now we just have to hope they find their way to the US.

Then back on the commuter train to Naples so we can catch the train to Rome. We still didn’t see any of the riots the newspapers are reporting, but there’s still plenty of trash. Dave feels cheated about not being able to join the fun. As long as we stay in the train station, we’re safe from the smell. I think we’re going to wait till Rome for lunch.

October 27: Picture of the day Part II (Riot Gear)

We have police in riot gear in the train station, but I don’t think the riders are to that point yet. One train is 75 minutes late, but the VRE has managed to be a lot later without the need for professionals.

October 27: Picture of the day Part III (Rome)

After navigating the catacombs of Rome, we made it through the metro system and up to the streets and finally made it to our hotel. Brandy is happy that she doesn’t have to share a room with Dave and I. Apparently his snoring was drowning out the street noise.

Tomorrow we get to wake early to head for the Vatican. We’re also going to the Spanish Steps and to see a beautiful garden. There aren’t supposed to be any statues of naked midgets on turtles so Steve is disappointed. So, off to bed so we can get up early!

We have voted Italy the worst country to visit and the voting pool includes people who have been to Algeria, Bosnia during a war, and Guatemala during hurricane Mitch and the resulting mud slides. We have been at this stupid train station for 2 hours now and just finally found the ticket station. We’re still in line so we’re hoping we are finally at the right place. We have actually been involved in what is quite humorous in a movie where we go to one place, they send us to the other side of the station which then says we have to go back to point A for validation. Then point A says we have to go back to point B because they don’t do validation either. Oh well. Here’s hoping this is the right place. I think we are on point F or G now. There’s a group from Japan following us and we were just joined by another group of lost Americans.

October 19: Picture of the Day (Venice)

No internet yet so here’s a picture of Venice I took with my phone. Tomorrow we head to Florence. Hopefully we will have an easier time with the train.

October 20: Picture of the Day (Leaving Venice)

We came all the way to Italy to see this? We are finally escaping the train station in Florence, with Steve now found, and are on our way to Cortona. We should be there in about 1.5 hours. The train is not user friendly here, but it is providing adventure. Tomorrow we are heading out with Brandy’s uncle Scott and his students from UGA.

October 21: Picture of the day Part I (Church of Saint Margaret)

Obviously, we have made it to Cortona after the train debacle yesterday with Steve in tow. Today we went hiking uphill to the fortress, but were turned away by their defenses. Dave was going to try to toss Brandy through a window, but we talked him out of it. Thwarted but not discouraged, we head to the monastery.

October 21: Picture of the day Part II (Monastery of Saint Francis)

We did make it to the monastery and were let in (obviously they didn’t know us). We just made it down the hill and are now sitting at a local pizza joint waiting for lunch. Tomorrow we are heading back to the train (God help us) and on to Florence.

October 22: Picture of the day Part I (Florence)

I think we managed to find the worst hotel in Florence. The fact that it was recommended makes me worry about how the others rate. We will just don our hazmat suites before bed and pray the antibiotics my doctor gave me won’t be needed. We are escaping the smell and are heading out to do some touristy stuff. Amy and Brandy are strategizing the plan of attack now.

October 22: Picture of the day Part II (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore)

I figured I should send something better than a picture of Amy in our questionable hotel room, so here’s a picture of the Duomo.

Otober 23: Picture of the day Part I (Boboli Gardens)

We made it through the night without being carried off by bed bugs or any other creatures hiding under our beds. So, once we made sure we all survived unscathed, out we went for more tourism. Since we are in Tuscan country, we are still looking for the School of Olive Garden like we saw in the commercials, but no one seems to know what we are talking about. Maybe we’ll find it tomorrow while we walk the gauntlet in Naples hoping to avoid a mugging.

October 23: Picture of the day Part II (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore)

Worry when the table next to you has the following conversation: “How much wine will we drink tonight?” “As much as we want!” Luckily, we left before they finished their third bottle. Talk about rowdy!   Now that dinner is over, back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow’s train ride!

October 24: Picture of the day Part I

And we are on the train again leaving Florence. In preparation of Naples, we watched a few episodes of Chuck Norris, Texas Ranger to pick up some moves for handling the pick pockets. Turns out it is a good thing we prepared for hand to hand combat as there are riots in Naples over the building of a second landfill. I do know from Matthew’s experience to not take pictures during one as it is frowned upon by the rioters. I think we’ll be able to safely avoid them as it looks like they are on the outskirts of town far away from where we will be. The good news is that we escaped the Florence hotel unscathed. We never did figure out what the organic substance on the walls were. I guess some mysteries are best left unsolved. The bed and breakfast run by Fabio in Pompeii should be a vast improvement though the bar has been set rather low by Florence.

October 24: Picture of the day Part II (Streets of Naples)

I have to say that the gypsies are quite efficient. They board the train while people are getting on and leave a piece of paper with each group of seats with their story in both Italian and English and then come back through a few minutes later to pick up the sheets (they recycle) and money.

This is a picture I snapped while crossing the street to the train station. The bum on the right is for reference for the height. The trash is everywhere.

Naples is definitely not a place to visit. It reminds me a lot of Mexico with piles of trash everywhere and no real traffic laws. I was surprised our taxi driver didn’t wreck on the way to the museum. I can understand why people would be rioting though we missed out on seeing any rioters. We are very happy to be heading to Pompeii.