May, 2007

WTF / travel — 1 Comment
31
May 07

TB: Why ignoring the CDC makes you a dumbass

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2091302,00.html

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=3231184&page=1

So basically this guy contracts a rare drug resistant strain of tuberculosis somehow (I’d like to know, seriously) and then makes the decision to go on a wedding/honeymoon in Europe. Then the CDC gets involved and says, um, you need to turn yourself over to the authorities to be isolated. Then Mr. Dumbass blew them off and came home via Canada after his passport was flagged. Great.

This is doing to definitely be a honeymoon to remember – from Diane Sawyer to the CDC to having your name forever affiliated with “Andy, the TB guy.”

Maybe this is just me, but as someone who flies a lot and who works in a target rich environment for crazy illnesses – if I’m diagnosed with something potentially seriously contagious, I’d be in the hospital until it’s cleared up – or at the very least, away from everyone. And better yet, when the CDC of all people call you and say “Hey, you need to go to a hospital” you might want to listen to them. And then, if you blow the CDC off and they say “lol we’re going to flag your passport!”, you should panic.

Yes, I know the last sentence was grammatically horrendous, but whatever.

I’m a big fan of immunizations for everything. The more you’re exposed to the world, the more likely you are to come down with something. And if you ignore the CDC’s warnings to get shots before you travel somewhere – then you’re a dumbass.

Still – Andy the dumbass getting TB will become a drama within itself once they find out how he got it. My twisted intuition says a Sov bloc hooker pre-marriage. Just sayin’…

Buenos Aires — No Comments
28
May 07

The Mustard Men

Well, I´ve been enjoying the last few days in Buenos Aires and have been having a good time. There´s a lot of pictures and stuff to post, but I´m still alive and have not been gored by a bull or been stabbed by a gaucho – so sorry to disappoint. Right now I´m across the Rio de la Plata in Colonia, Uruguya waiting for my ferry back to Buenos Aires (and eventually a flight back to the US tomorrow).

So far I´m having a blast – lots of steak, lots of Malbec, lots of artery hardening. I think I´ve taken close to 700 photos in 4 days, which is quite a lot – even for me. Of course, 200 of those were at the Tango outing yesterday at Michaelangelo, so I´ll have to weed out the racy photos (or post them all and have you steal them from me, you filthy perverts).

The complete writeup is coming – when I get back.

cycling — No Comments
22
May 07

Why I always wear a helmet while cycling

This is a guy who had his god damned head run over by a truck and his helmet was saved him from having grey matter and blood all over the street.

Blog / Hawkins' Useless Crap / Useless trivia / travel — No Comments
21
May 07

A post about flying and stuff

So I finally imported all of my flights since 2003 into FlightMemory, which is a cool little site that allows you to keep notes, etc about your flights. Everything I’ve flown/will flown is up here. I’m probably missing some, but whatever.

Also, I did notice something sort of funny when flying back from Indy this weekend. A man was traveling with his daughter (who was a teenager – like 12 or so) and he had a first class seat and his daughter was in coach. He gave her the “see you later” talk as she moved back into coach. I thought that was kind of strange and sort of dickness on his part.

The postcard list closes Wednesday at noon for Argentina. Email me if you want a postcard.

Oh, and Amy “tagged” me, so I guess I have to write “The Hawkins 7: Crap about Hawkins” soon.

cycling — 1 Comment
17
May 07

More rides!

So on Monday I broke down and got some Shimano clipless pedals and took them out for a nice long ride on Wednesday which was curtailed because of the rain (I would have gone further but I was wearing shorts – yes I know, I’m a moron) and the lovely 50 degree temperature. But I was immensely happy – I didn’t experience the foot cramps and was making more efficient use of my time on the bike. I did go from Navy Pier to the north end of the bike path (Foster Ave) and back. Of course, the Edge 305 plotted my ride (with a trip around Wrigley).

Oh, and I also put last Friday’s ride in Google Earth, too.

Buenos Aires — 1 Comment
16
May 07

This doesn’t make me feel good about going to Buenos Aires

awesome, though.

The Hawkins 7 / WTF — No Comments
14
May 07

The Hawkins 7: 7 things that bother me about the show "24"

1) Technobabble. Sockets and protocols oh my! Aside from the headquarters being a Cisco show site, can we at least throw the writers some semi-believable jargon?

2) CTU LA. Jesus christ. This place has to be an OHSA nightmare. Between a bombing, a biohazard killing that fatass Edgar Stiles and the dude who was in Rudy and was one of those stupid hobbits, and a damn terrorist invasion of CTU this season, this has to draw hazard pay. If you ever saw an ad in the paper looking for a CTU security guard, don’t reply to it.

3) Endurance. I don’t know about you, but I get cranky when I’m at work for more than 8 hours and I want to go home. More than 12 I get punchy. These folks endure a 24 hour day without snapping at each other and punches being thrown. Also, no one seems to use the bathroom nor eat, which is a good staff to have. C’mon – throw some realism into it. Around dinner time, have a few pizza boxes in the conference room or cups of Starbucks at someone’s desk. That and everyone looks awesome, even after hour 12+. I want to see Chloe (I hate her, though) sucking down a latte looking like she slept in her clothes by the 15th episode. I want to see Morris coming back from a smoke break. I want to hear bitching about who’s getting paid overtime or not.

4) Black Presidents. Hint – if you’re a black actor and you’ve got an audition for “24″ as The President, you’re probably going to die or be thrown out of office. Speaking of which…

5) The 25th Amendment utilization. C’mon… Thrice a plot gimmick, shame on you.

6) This season’s villains. C’mon, Kumar from Harold and Kumar? Boris the Blade from Snatch? Are you fucking kidding me? Why not get a guy in a top hat and a monocle saying “Curse you Jack Bauer and your infernal meddling!” while he twirls his mustache.

7) Jack Bauer. Again, he doesn’t eat nor get injured. He does grimace a lot from injuries that disappear after a few hours. He also hasn’t lost his crack shooting ability despite being in a prison for 18 months. And in every season, he gets arrested like twice and then has to break out or kick someone’s ass to be proven right. Can’t Nadia say, you know Jack, the last 18 times we’ve arrested you you have been proven right, so I won’t bother cuffing you this time.

Uncategorized — No Comments
13
May 07

One evil turtle


A Real Ninja Turtle

Buenos Aires / cycling — No Comments
12
May 07

South of the border

I leave for Buenos Aires in 12 days, which I’m incredibly excited about. I have a list of things I want to see and do and still need to book my day trip to Colonia, Uruguay (I love taking ferrys). Everything is in great shape, and I was able to use Sheraton’s Best Value Guarantee to knock $25 a night off of the hotel I’m staying at. Awesome. I don’t feel anxious at all about going – rather the opposite. Normally, I have one of two emotional states when I go – sheer excitement or panic. It’s neither this time. I’m surprisingly mellow. I will be sending out postcards to the ever-expanding list, so clear off space on the fridge.

Everything else seems to be going well enough. I’m sticking with my cycling, which is pretty good because despite the fun weather and the lovely lakefront winds, I’m still riding around like a mad fool. During/after riding, my feet are cramping. What’s happening is that the clips I slide my feet are too small, so I’m essentially driving with my toes. It might be time to invest in clipless pedals, but there’s additional money I wasn’t planning to spend.

Uncategorized — 2 Comments
6
May 07

Become a marrow donor

Last year, I decided to join the National Marrow Donor Program so that in the event of someone needing bone marrow, I’d gladly donate it. This is one of the more cool things you can do for someone. For me, it’s a targeted donation so you know that you’re saving someone’s life (versus blood donation, which is cool, yet you don’t know where it ends up).

So, the NMDP is giving free registration (normally $52) during the Mother’s Day extravaganza. The registration is painless – you swab the inside of your cheek with cotton swabs and then send it back. That’s it. Donation is another issue, and if I have to donate, you bet your sweet ass that I’m going to take pictures of the process.

Do it for yourselves and do it for someone you love. Bone marrow comes back, so it’s not like you’re donating an appendage. And besides, you’ll feel good about yourself that you helped save someone’s life.

And the best part about donating is that you can probably guilt the recipient into the occasional free meal too.

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