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My Favorite Airport

I'm at Melbourne International Airport (MLB)... the one in Florida, not the one in Australia! And I've been killing a couple of hours with a rain delay. The weather is fine here, but nasty back home in Atlanta.

This is my new favorite airport.

Take a look at the booths in the airport restaurant: Ample space to spread out, easily accessible power outlets in each booth, friendly service, no blaring televisions, and free no-hassle Wi-Fi.

I spent three hours here, ordering a hamburger and tipping the waitress an extra five dollars for occupying the table. (It wasn't crowded, or I would have moved on.) Who needs a Crown Room?

There's a nifty little military aviation museum... only a couple of rooms, but a nice set of exhibits, including a restored Link trainer. (One of my aunts met one of my uncles when she was instructing on these trainers during WW2.) There are models of spacecraft strewn about the terminal, from the Redstone through Apollo to the Shuttle.

Even the bathroom floors have a "space" theme, with Hubble images at the entrance and a galactic mosaic on the floors:

Then you go out to the concourse, through an efficient security checkpoint. (I am continually amazed at how friendly and helpful TSA agents wherever I travel except Atlanta. At ATL, the agents have the demeanor of prison wardens in a bad movie.) And there are more power outlets near tables everywhere, including these little self-contained carrels:

(There are power outlets on the desktop surface, but my angle was wrong, and I didn't realize it until after boarding.)

The only bad thing I can say about Melbourne International is that Delta serves it with the dinky little CRJ jets that are comfortable only for children and hobbits. A guy my size can be crippled by sitting in one of those things for a couple of hours. But that's not the airport's fault!

I don't know who is running this place, but they're doing a darned good job. Can we put them in charge of Hartsfield, please?

Carrying a Camera

Advice to a friend who is planning a trip to Australia, and wants to know which camera to carry...
 
If you're going to Australia just to take photographs, buy a DSLR and all the lenses/accessories your chiropractor will let you carry.
 
If you're taking your family, buy something like my Canon A720is, and focus on the experience, not the photographs.
 
http://www.academicvc.com/2008/07/travel-lessons-learned.html
 
Professionals are always going to get better photographs than you are. Buy postcards wherever you go if all you want is landscapes and wildlife. But no professional is going to get pictures of your wife and your kids. The less time you spend fiddling with the equipment, the more time you have to get pictures of your kids. And those are the pictures you're going to want to look at over and over again.

Dahlonega Christmas

I've always loved Dahlonega. Here's a quick snapshot of the town square illuminated for the holidays.
 
(Taken from the sidewalk in front of the Crimson Moon, where an awesomely pregnant Jennifer Daniels performed a great set of her favorites as well as some new songs from her upcoming album...)

Chattahoochee National Forest

This morning, we joined the Atlanta MINI Club for a fun run through the North Georgia mountains. This is the route we took, and it was gorgeous!

We were probably a week late for the foliage peak, but it didn't matter.  Sunny day, brisk temperatures (especially with the convertible top down!), good company with 30+ other MINIs.  Any of you who live in or near Atlanta and who don't take advantage of our proximity to some of the most beautiful scenery on the East Coast... shame on you!

Serenbe

Spent a gorgeous fall day driving, eating, hiking, and shopping at Serenbe.

I had planned to come home and write a blog post about it, but it turns out Angus beat me to the punch months ago: http://blog.angusmcrae.com/?p=43.

Not a place I'd choose to live (I'm a city boy), but it's nice to know it's available, only forty minutes from my driveway.

More pictures here: [Read more...]

Georgia’s High Tech Corridor

Highway sign outside of Jesup, Georgia.

That's not "Georgia's High Tech Corridor"... Georgia's high tech corridor is on the third floor of the Centergy building in Tech Square.

Sand Hill, Georgia

California is proud of Sand Hill Road. Well, we have a Sand Hill in Georgia, too! And ours is even BETTER. On the West Coast, all you can get is venture capital money. But at the Sand Hill Grocery and Gameroom, you can play pinball, then buy live bait and ammo!

South Africa Diary

For people who are interested, this is a classic "What I did on my summer vacation" post. If you are interested, click below to read more. If not, go on to your next RSS feed...
[Read more...]

South Africa

In case anyone wonders why I've been so silent on the blogs and on Twitter lately... click here.

Back in a week or so. Happy Fiscal New Year!

Happy Independence Day!

Hope everyone had a safe and exciting holiday.

I'm off to Kansas City for the Heinlein Centennial. Back on Monday.