Rain?

It’s been drizzly ever since I arrived in Philadelphia. Around the time we were done at the client site it began to really rain. I packed for drought and blazing heat, not for heavy rain and 65 degrees!

Luckily a street vendor sells umbrellas not far from the hotel. I’ll wait for a break in the weather and hope to catch him before he vanishes.

Club Quarters

I’m staying in downtown Philadelphia at the Close Quarters … er, Club Quarters on Chestnut Street (slogan: Your Belongings Stay Within Convenient Arm’s Reach!). It was another Hotwire deal and one whose “star rating” I might question. The rooms are small, perhaps 10′ by 18′, though it does have a great location, is nicely furnished, has impressive free Internet, and is about $100 cheaper (!) per night than neighboring hotels. Since I’m the only one traveling its no big deal, but if there were two people in this room they’d better be on friendly terms.
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In Philly

Got into Philly about two hours ago. My flight here was delayed 2.5 hours due to weather here. Missed the first train from the airport by seconds, so that added an extra 30 minutes to my night.

I checked the flight status before leaving but only found out about the delay upon arriving at the airport. I chose to return home and spend the extra time with the family. I got to help tuck the kids into bed before returning. I’m still savoring the feeling that gave me.

I was very hungry once I got here so I stopped by Little Pete’s, a neighborhood diner, for a late-night dinner. My cheese steak was incredibly good (fresh bread!), though most anything would be to me at this hour.

I meet my colleague around 8 tomorrow and we go meet the customer. Should be a fun and relatively easy visit.

Book Night

Light blogging tonight – its a good night to read. I’ve had Bill Bryson’s A Short History Of Nearly Everything checked out for weeks and have had a hard time putting it down. It’s filling in a lot of the blanks that remained in my science education. Bryson’s writing is so entertaining he can make being blown up by a supervolcano sound like fun.

I don’t have a full weekend this weekend as I’m off to Philadelphia for three days beginning tomorrow evening. I’ve flown through Philly many times but never gotten a chance to look around the city itself. Since reading Walter Isaacson’s Benjamin Franklin: An American Life I’ve wanted to walk the same streets that Franklin walked. They’re also the same streets that Rocky Balboa walked, or jogged at least. At any rate tomorrow I’ll get my chance.

Wikipedia, The Independent, and the Art of Revision

This is just too rich. I see that the UK’s Independent newspaper took a swipe at Wikipedia for the recent revelation that (gasp!) anyone can edit entries.

The news here isn’t that people or companies sometimes edit unfavorable material. That happens all the time. The real news is that because Wikipedia is a wiki, such changes are easily discovered and corrected. Nothing ever disappears with wikis: all changes, whether additions or subtractions, are precisely tracked and can be reversed at any time.
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Watching The Detectives

Elvis plays Koka Booth Amphitheatre next month with the N.C. Symphony. I am so there.

Watching The Detectives
Elvis Costello

Nice girls not one with a defect
cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct
Red dogs under illegal legs
She looks so good that he gets down and begs

She is watching the detectives
“ooh, he’s so cute!”
She is watching the detectives
when they shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot
They beat him up until the teardrops start
but he can’t be wounded ’cause he’s got no heart
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Boom and Bust

I should’ve known not to get my hopes up. The storm fizzled about the time it passed Durham. We got lots of thunder and a few drops but nothing substantial.

Anyone got a hurricane they’re not using?

Drop Everything for a Drop

I had to leave my desktop and run outside because I heard a sound we haven’t heard in a while: thunder! The radar shows a nice fat, red blob headed for our house. Hurray! A moment ago the weather radio’s alarm began sounding, reporting the thunderstorm. Music to my ears!

How sad is it that I get giddy from the mere possibility of rain?