In response to numerous inquiries, I was not on that plane that crashed in Amsterdam. I'm still in Kazakhstan. Plus, my luggage showed up yesterday, so it wasn't destroyed either. Went bowling the other day and cleaned up with a 124, 137. For me, that's very good. :)

Not much else to report.

0738h Albuquerque. Internet is free, life is good.

Trying out my new Think Tank Shapeshifter backpack, which I am loving so far. It's made for photojournalists, so it has a bunch of padded inner pockets for lenses and camera bodies, plus a separate laptop compartment and plenty of space for random items. Makes a great travel bag when I want to bring my real camera.

Used another of my limited supply of upgrade certificates, so I'm first class all the way to Milan. After that, it's the wild west of Azerbaijan Airlines. If I make it through Baku with no problems, I'll be surprised. I have long layovers in both Atlanta and Milan, so expect updates there, probably of me whining about some stupid crap. Because, you see, the content model for this site goes like this:

if mouser @ home, content = 0.
as distance(mouser, home) increases, content = 0.

1525h Atlanta. Business class trans-atlantic ticket gets me into Crown Room for free, and free internet. Unlike ABQ, however, the free internet here is worth every penny I paid for it and not one penny more. Bandwidth is so close to zero that I fear I must make a Heisenberg uncertainty joke. Luckily for you, I'll keep it to myself.

0905h Milano. Flying over the alps was amazing (see photo from next post). Sadly, the entire basin to the south of the Alps was filled with smog and I can only just barely make out the profile of Monte Bianco from my perch in the airport. Boo. The low sun was causing the rivers and lakes to steam in the cool air, and the river that runs south from Milan looked like a snake of cloud on the ground. Tough to describe [for me, anyway] in a way that doesn't make it sound silly. But it was really stunning.

0227h Aktau. No fucking luggage, 2am. That is all.

I dislike almost everything about the ear buds that came with my iPhone, except for the handy switch/mic on the right ear cable that allows me to answer calls, pause/restart my audio books, etc. The issue has come to a head, since the left bud is now buzzing like mad, after just a few weeks of moderate use (at reasonable volumes). What a piece of crap.

Anyone have any recommendations for ear buds that have a similar switch/mic built-in, but aren't garish white, uncomfortable to wear, and blown out?

Sorry for not being around here lately. I've been doing a lot of photography and work has really ramped up as of late. I'm leaving the country again in a week, so naturally everything is a total cluster. Probably the best way to keep track of me right now is to monitor my flickr photostream.