Yesterday was the first day yet I've missed adding an entry to this blog. It's kind of a milestone, I guess, in that way. But we were up at 4:30AM yesterday to get on the plane from Montreal to San Francisco, and I stayed up late talking to family, so I didn't get a lot of time online. I'm thinking that days that you're having too much fun to sit in front of the computer are probably the best days, not the worst ones.
We got up at the crack of dawn yesterday, and I made the mistake of checking Wikitravel before jumping in the shower. A critical bug was affecting the titles of non-English versions of the site, and I'd somehow missed the bug report, so now it was really urgent. I managed to get a patch uploaded in a few minutes, which seems to have fixed the problem.
I also got feedback from folks at Internet Brands that my proposed Wikitravel:Technical infrastructure policy was OK to put up on the site, so I posted that. We had some problems earlier in the week with how UI and other technical decisions are made on Wikitravel. I've gotten used to handling feature requests and bug reports however I can, and since it's been the standard operating procedure for Wikimedia, too, I didn't think it needed to change.
But I think now there's increased sensitivity now that Wikitravel is a commercial venture as to how these decisions are made, so on the advice of a couple of longtime users I put up a document on how the process will work, what the input points are for the community, etc.
I've never seen an explicit policy on other community Web sites, but I'd love to see some examples if anyone can send them to me.
tags: wikitravel community technical policy wiki bugs
On the road again
By the time I got everything posted and fixed it was 5:15AM and we were running half an hour late. So we were running around getting ready, and as usual I hadn't packed a thing yet, so I was trying to find enough underwear for a 14-day trip, and generally wigging out. Maj kept her cool, got her and the baby's things together, and got us out of the house without any more loss of time.
Well, almost. The parking lot for our building is being re-surfaced, so I had to park the car on rue Fabre right around the corner. I took the baby out and got the car started while she locked the house up, and she ended up walking around for 5 minutes looking for the car. D'oh! Miscommunication strikes again. To compensate, I made her let me stop at the Esso on av. Papineau so I could get a giant McDonald's coffee.
Which was way too hot. Really, really, hot. So I didn't drink much of it, and when we got parked at the Econoparc at Trudeau Airport, we had to run for the shuttle bus and I left it in the cupholder of the door of the car. D'oh, again.
At the crowded ticket counter, we got pulled up to the front of the line so we wouldn't miss our flight. We got through customs just in time (although I lied and said we had no fruit, even though we had two bags of apple slices for Amita June to nosh on on the plane... dishonesty hurts!), and made it to our gate just as they were pre-boarding families with children.
When we got to the door of the airplane, though, they turned us back, since the plane hadn't been cleaned, and we had to trudge out to the gate again. This worked out OK, since we had enough time to change the baby, buy some magazines, and get me a double venti latté at the Starbuck's counter.
The flight out here was pretty uneventful. Amita June spent about half the time nursing and napping, and the other half munching on apple slices and waving at the other passengers. The hardest part was that the guy sitting in the seat ahead of me was bald, and had put his chair all the way back, and Amita wanted to bongo on his head with her little apple-mush mitts. No no no!
Mom picked us up at SFO, and we had a good drive home. It's sunny and clear here, and it's quiet and peaceful at Mom and Dad's house. My brother Andy and his wife Pam came over for dinner last night, bringing their daughters Elena (3 years old this month!) and Tessa (6 months). They all got to play with Amita, which was fun.
By the time I got in bed it seemed like I'd been up 24 hours, which wasn't far off from the truth.
tags: travel montreal airport amitajune air canada san francisco mom dad andy pam elena tessa family
Merchandise sought
I'm trying to find Salt-N-Pepa-branded salt and pepper shakers. I can't have been the first person to have thought of this; they must exists somewhere. Please send leads.
tags: salt-n-pepa salt and pepper