Monday, March 05, 2007
Another business-related trip to Austin, this being my third visit there. Same hotel near the airport (the squat cylindrical Airport Hilton, which was once an Air Force "hotel" for top brass in the days of LBJ).
Won't go into work details on my blog, but I can say that I was down there in part to give a presentation on our work processes in Markham. The presentation went well, if a bit overtime, and it was clear to me that my Austin counterpart's group has faced/is facing many of the same challenges we have, and was very sympathetic to what I was proposing.
It was a full work day, and afterwards I joined up with my other two Markham-based compatriots for an excursion to one of the large (huge really) outlet plazas they have down here (my two business companions are female, one with a serious thing for shoes). As usual, I was navigator.
Got to the plaza located maybe 15 miles outside the city proper within an hour or so of closing time. The only thing I wanted to get was something for my two daughters at home, so I headed straight to the Disney store that anchored one corner of the plaza. Ended up picking out a nice golf-style shirt with the Cheshire cat on it for Vanessa, and two "princess" themed t-shirts for Annie that were of equal price. This may qualify as the first time I've bought clothes for anyone other than myself when they weren't there -- in the end I gave Erika a call on my cellphone (and she was still working on her film project when I called) to get a better sense of the sizes I needed. The charming sales clerk there convinced me to grab a couple of plush animals as well that were $2 apiece (a vaguely Xmas-themed Stitch and the girl cat from the "Aristocats" wearing a scarf and winter bobble hat). Had to dig out my photo ID in order to pay by credit card, which sparked a chat with the clerk about a relative of hers who lived "way up there".
My main goal achieved, I wandered about the rest of plaza, still having at least a half hour to kill before meeting up with my travel companions. I scanned a store directory and found that there was a Bose shop in the plaza. Uh oh.
I headed over to the store and immediately zoomed in on the noise canceling headphones they have. I had tested out one of their models a couple of years back on a previous business trip to the States, but couldn't do a real test as they didn't have a source of noise comparable to being on a plane. Since then they have gotten wise, and I was given a demo where simulated jet sounds played in the background while I had the demo unit on my head. The difference was significantly better than the pair of Aiwa-made headphones I regularly use on my travels.
The pair I was interested in wasn't cheap, an over-the-ear model costing about $300 U.S. Justifying it as an early birthday present to myself, and as something I know will get a lot of use, I splurged and bought them. I only know of one store in all of Toronto that carries Bose gear, and their markup is substantial, which also helped in making the purchase decision. Much justification, accompanied by an equal amount of guilt, and I went for it anyways.
While I was there I also asked for a demo of Bose's iPod docking station. It sounded very good, though to my ears the high-end wasn't as crisp as I would have hoped. Slight consternation when it came to paying the bill, as their purchasing system didn't know how to deal with Canadian postal codes. A manager was called in to provide the appropriate digital incantation to get things working, and I was off with my new Bose noise-canceling headphones in hand.
Camped out at the inevitable Starbucks in the plaza for the remainder of my wait, looking over the spec for the new gear I had just picked up. On the drive back got stuck in an extensive car jam that (at 10pm!) that we were stuck in for a good half hour before getting off the highway and making our way back to the hotel using streets running parallel to the highway.
Couldn't wait to try the headphone out when I got back to my hotel room. After putting in the battery and plugging in the mini-jack plug into the headphones I tried them solo with the TV playing in the background. I noticed that the effect they had weren't quite immediate and that it took a full second or two to properly adjust to the background noise level. Not so much "noise canceling" as "noise anesthetic" - I could still tell that the TV was on and that sound was coming from it, but just about everything was completely blocked out.
I plugged it into my iPod and dialed up my copy of The Beatles' remix "Love" album. Crystal clear, and if anything managed to point out the deficiencies in the sound compression scheme that is used on the iPod. Am certainly not disappointed with this purchase, and I will have ample opportunities to test it on plane flights and likely on my daily commute to the office as well.
Labels: Austin, Bose, Disney store, iPod, Starbucks, Stitch, The Aristocats, The Beatles
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
After work I was asked by Erika to go and pick up Vanessa from Art Garage. While I was waiting I decided to head to the local Starbucks and have a Tazo Chai tea to kill some time.
I picked up a local paper called Snap, on page 30, I saw this:
Annie and Vanessa in Snap!
I remember the girls told me that a photographer had taken their pictures and asked them what the favourite thing about having a sister was. I've edited what's shown above, but the other kids that were depicted were all of those who gather at the school bus stop, so they are all friends of Annie and Vanessa.
Will have to get in contact with the photographer and get copies of the originals from her.
Labels: Annie, Art Garage, Snap, Starbucks, Tazo Chai, Vanessa
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