There’s a roadtrip in my (very near) future, and of course this requires roadtrip music. Something with motion, maybe a little poppy, and yes - something you know (most of) the words to. I have hundreds in my all-purpose roadtrip playlist - this is what a random sample (of YouTube available songs) turns up:
Guns ‘n Roses/Locomotive
The Cure/In-Between Days
Divinyls/I Touch Myself
I’m a fan of the Lonely Planet, but I’m always looking for improvements on the usual guidebook model. This has me keeping an eye on the electronic efforts. Some have worked - I’m a long-term subscriber to Vindigo, which focuses on US cities (not exactly a guidebook replacement, but it’s pretty good). Still looking for something that would let me replace that 4lb Lonely Planet I dragged through India, however. I recently came across this comprehensive review of an effort to do just that by Lonely Planet and Nokia, where (some of) the LP content has been reformatted and made available through the Nokia Maps application. In the end, it’s more supplement than replacement, but it’s a good start.
I have been lucky enough in my life to have traveled a fair bit, and never do I enjoy it as much as when I feel like I’ve been thrust into an entirely different world. 
My passage through Akihabara definitely qualifies. Beyond writing about my extraordinary hotel, I’d never really planned to write here about my (brief) time in Tokyo. This piece on Akihabara, however, caught a specific portion of it rather well (there is more to it, of course, but the writer captures a central characteristic), and I just had to share it. I’m going to quote you this bit:
Now we have some serious business to attend to. Kay wants to buy a waterproof DVD player that she can hang in her shower, so she leads us into one of the electronics stores. It’s like a giant carnival midway, a bombardment of flashing lights, posters, banners, screens, loudspeakers, and hucksters with microphones, creating sensory overload that reminds me of the slots section of a Las Vegas casino. The store has an advantage, though, in that its Japanese-sized patrons are only half the size and weight of American consumers. Thus, the aisles can be minimized, allowing less room for people and more floor space for flashing, screaming, blinking, booming, chanting, blaring audio-visual and computer-driven devices.
But it’s the sexual vibe that the author captures so well. If you’re at all curious, check it out.
Photos from my 2004 visit.
A little over five years ago, I spent a little hard-earned time on Ireland’s southwestern coast, on the Beara peninsula. This view from Healy Pass was one of the achievements of that trip:
I’ve only slightly hinted, here, at my weakness for interesting hotels (the less kind would call me a hotel whore). It’s a little embarrassing, for sure, and I’ve been fairly successful in keeping it under control of late. But this? This makes me want to fly there next weekend and stay until Friday.
Some day, I’m going to catch up. Just not today. This weekend’s musical theme? A last minute (and desperately needed) road trip that found me and a friend in Vancouver and Whistler, a few years ago. One of the highlights was a day out on the water (during which I only narrowly managed to avoid causing thousands upon thousands of dollars of damage in a Horseshoe Bay marina).
Really, aside from a rather unpleasant lesson in exactly what a Bloody Caesar is (clamato? are you kidding me?), it was a fantastic trip. This is part of the Sea to Sky Highway soundtrack:
Tegan & Sara’s Back In Your Head
Poe’s Angry Johnny
Cowboy Junkie’s Sweet Jane
(Sweet Jane is one of my favorite songs of all time, and hangs so very perfectly on Vancouver)
And I’m not even going to make the “and lots of it!” joke. * Interesting article concerning Europe’s credit card companies completing the transition to a “chip and PIN” system for their credit cards. That is, Euro-issued VISA/Mastercards/etc. now require a PIN to complete a transaction (much like an American bankcard). An ever-increasing number of retailers have begun to accept these types of credit cards exclusively, which leaves American travelers trying to pay with plastic out in the cold. Something to keep in mind your next time over.
*Because.
It seems that Virginia’s Lt. Governor Bill Bolling had placed an order for 150 copies of a vistor’s guide to the Twin Cities for Virginia delegates, but canceled order after finding out that the vistitor’s guide contained a section that highlighted gay and lesbian destinations.
That’s right, the place that produced many fine presidents and giants such as Thomas Jefferson is now subject to the rule of imbeciles and moral midgets that go “eww, gays, icky!”.
Credit to NLS (of which I feel the need to point out that I am not a fan).
Palin? Small-town mayor to heartbeat away from the Presidency in less than two years? Heh. This will be . . . interesting. Kay Bailey Hutchinson painful to watch, trying to spin this as a positive. Here’s a good observation, from a dkos commenter:
I welcome a VP nominee who has demonstrated that she has realized that the Republicans are the party of complete corruption and are void of any moral compass, let alone any patriotism.
Palin has moved against, accused, and turned in Murkowski, Don Young, Ted Stevens, and others.
McCain needs to be asked: in just a few years Palin has moved against the total corruption that has gutted the Republican Party in Alaska. What, Sir, have you done in Washington to address the total corruption of the Republicans there?
And Palin needs to be asked: has the Republican Party served Alaska well? Is this what we need for the country?
CNN just talking about today’s McCain event “This is something we never - never see at a McCain event - a full packed house in a large venue.” Ouch.
Update: Oh, lord. This is just too good not to share. Fox News’ Steve Doocy explains to us how Palin does have foreign relations experience (seriously):
Update II: And just to show that there’s a market for that kind of stupidity, there are already idiots repeating it as an actual argument online.
Update III: Blueweeds gives this pick the serious consideration it deserves.
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Brits are managing to make the proverbial Ugly Americans look like pikers. C’mon, guys, this is what Spain is for. Keep it there, please.
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A plan to go to a Yankees game before Yankee Stadium came down recently fell through, and this makes me completely fine with that:
The Yankees are serious about their bizarre prohibition on going to the bathroom during the playing of “God Bless America” during the Seventh Inning Stretch: a man was dragged out of the stadium for daring to stand up and move around instead of singing a patriotic, religious song.
If I were still to go, I’d probably buy this t-shirt for the occasion.
I first heard of the U.S. Passport Card last year, and I assumed that it was an ID document that was specifically offered for the convenience of populations living along the Mexican and Canadian borders. 
That’s still the stated purpose on the State Department site, but there’s at least one account of it being pushed as a low-cost alternative to a regular passport. This article over at Matador Pulse does a good job of running down the reasons that it’s a bad alternative to a regular passport (tho’ the concern about the card’s RFID chip applies equally well to regular passports).
