2010 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix

City street circuit. Night race. Chicken rice. How could I say no? Click through for the full set of photos.

Mileage Plus Retirement

This past week, somewhere over Da Nang, Vietnam ("The Nang!"), I rolled my United Airlines odometer by flying past the 1,000,000th mile. No credit card points, chocolate pudding, or codeshares here: This is 1 million actual flight miles on actual United-operated equipment, rapidly-deteriorating travel experiences and all. (Around the FlyerTalk forums this is referred to as BIS, or Butt-In-Seat, miles.)

Since most of the miles were accrued SFO-NRT (5124 miles), that works out to about (1000000/5124 miles * 9.5 hours per flight / 24 hours per day =) 77.25 days spent inside an airplane, most of it in Economy, over the last 20 or so years I've been signed up with Mileage Plus. Numbing. Brings shudders. But you know, slightly more bearable than earning with, say, SFO-SEA hops.

While others have reported a lackluster passing of this milestone, mine went pretty well -- since none of their systems talk to each other, though, I had to self-identify the occasion to the flight crew. No one sang, but everyone thought it pretty cool in a bemused "Oh, you're one of *those* people" way:



Hats off to Captain Mayer for finding the exact spot on the flight chart, which I got to take home!

For all this I'll now receive:

* Premier Executive status for life (big plus being reciprocal privileges on Star Alliance)
* 2 regional upgrades at the end of every year
* 3 systemwide upgrades on a one-time basis

It's a pretty dubious achievement, sadly, since it appears quite clear that I will outlive the airline.

I also learned that Singapore and Bangkok crew bases are being closed in October 2008. Yup, union contracts stipulate that the least-paid, hardest-working cabin crews get terminated first. This is a really screwed-up business.

But in the meantime, I'm now officially a liability to the company! Everyone fly United! Pay those fees!

And now, excuse me while I join the apparent bank run now in progress over accrued miles.

When in Bangkok...

... eat tonkotsu ramen as the locals do. Of course.

From Bangkok '08

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Gyunoya WTF? FTW!

Where am I?

From Bangkok '08

Hint: People eat gyudon with a spoon in the right hand, fork in the left. Authentic-tasting 大盛り goes for THB 160.


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Hello from Laguna Seca

(from Bringatrailer.com, where I apparently spend way too much time lurking.)

Lamborghini Tractors

In a parallel universe, we would have exotic cars made by Kubota and Yanmar.

New York for Kids: Emergency Vehicles on Demand

"Dad, when's the next building fire so we can see more firefighters?"


"Kids, I've already arranged for the police to shut down Columbus Circle station."

Dangerous Liaisons

A new hotel opening in Washington DC with, erm, a timely name.

The Liaison Capitol Hill, An Affinia Hotel

That homepage is just begging for a special package offer...

Free Systemwide Upgrade on United Airlines

Happy New Year!

... and it's that time of the year again. If you are...

* Flying on UA before 1/31/2008
* Going far (preferably over 6 hours, bonus points for overnight flights)

... I have a handful of systemwide upgrade certificates turning into pumpkins at the end of January. Contact me for a free upgrade.

(Edited 1/3/2008 -- Wow, that was fast; maybe this wacky search result had something to do with it. I think the certificates are all claimed now, but if they fall through the waitlists I'll reach out to you folks. Safe travels!)

Open Your Own Door, Mister

So I've checked into an otherwise very nice, well-situated hotel here in Tokyo, for a wedding weekend...

Note to self: Next time, do not wear outfits that will have me mistaken as hotel doorman/staff! Doh.

Here's the outfit that I've packed:


Which will have me identified around the hotel as:


Maybe they'll let me drive away the Rolls if I act the part.

Is This Heaven?

It's Laguna Seca.


It's been said that around 60 of these Toyota 2000GTs reached the U.S. This sure looks like all of the surviving cars were here today!

Car Geeking in Monterey

Next year, we're replacing the Maclaren with a McLaren.

Trunki!

This was a darned good purchase. Went over well at both ends of our flight, although in retrospect it was kinda recklessly dangerous to let the kid ride it on the moving walkways.

Free Upgrade on United Airlines

If you are...

* Flying on UA before 5/31/2007
* Going far (preferably over 6 hours, bonus points for overnight flights)

... I have a systemwide upgrade certificate that's turning into a pumpkin at the end of May. Contact me for a free upgrade.

Back in Cali

... where a whole giant tub of strawberries costs $5!

Arrived 12 Noon yesterday, went to bed at a seemingly normal time, and woke up at... 2 PM today! The older kid and I just slept FIFTEEN freaking hours. Hoping tomorrow AM would be more normal.

I am everyday people

Throughout the vacation we noticed ourselves as categorically the worst-dressed families in the residence. Most people in central Tokyo just don't loaf around in fleece, jeans, and sneakers.

On my friend Chris' advice I looked in the garage one day, and the sight there had me snapping some poorly focused cameraphone pictures. Hey, an SLR:


Great. Now our cars are fuddy-daddy too.

(Here's an supplemental link for all you non-car people.)

As a bonus, this exotic car dealership Bingo Sports was down the street from us; during our stay there they turned over a lot of wacky cars!

My Vacation Map

Here's our Tokyo vacation map, a work in progress:


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More Amazing Deliveries

We've been sourcing the baby's diapers from Amazon Japan, and the delivery times are just staggeringly fast. Free shipping means next day delivery. And for an extra JPY 600, you get same-day delivery. Hats off to the distribution system!

Amazing Deliveries

The laptop showed up today, and I'm back up and running with a new motherboard. (Video controller failed, replaced Planar M10-GL128GBE w/ TCPA 39T5495)

Kudos on the amazingly quick service turnaround by Lenovo Japan!

Pink!

The whole town came up pink, and it's much warmer now. Gets people coming out in full-body tiger costumes.