Flying Business Class to Singapore

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After spending a lifetime in the air to get here, we settled on “The Convenient Way To Fly” — Aeroline. Big cushy leather seats, personal touch pad entertainment with b-run movies (be sure to check out 7 Days in Utopia), free bottled water, a sandwich and danish, complementary headphones, pillow, blankets and a waiter.

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Oh, and it’s a double decker where all the passengers sit on the upper floor. Great way to feel like your flying. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking from the driver’s seat. We have reached our cruising altitude of 2 m at a highly fluctuating speed circa 110 km/hr. We hope you enjoy your Aero-quasi-flight.”

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Hell, for 90 ringgit you can’t friggin’ beat it!

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The rest area is an interesting sight. It’s like a flea market food court farmer’s market. With bathrooms that are outdoors. Where you can pop a squat then hose yourself down.

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Terminal 2 and the O’s

Safely arrived in Singapore! Headed to our last connector!

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And after we took a few minute hike, we were greeted at the gate with a new round of security. Not complaining but wasn’t ready to de-robe at 7:30am after flying for 20 some odd hours.

Then, naturally walked in to the waiting area playing last night’s (live) O’s – Rays game. (Well it’s last night for us, now for most of you reading this…you know what I mean.) The more ironic part is that the game is at Camden Yards, right where we got married.

So far from home, yet so close.

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Wilkommen in Deutschland

We made it to Germany. Flight was smooth despite delays taking off and taxiing in Frankfurt. Neither of us slept much. It’s never restful on a plane. And when there’s a baby crying, it’s damn near impossible to stay asleep.

Hopefully we get our rest on this next leg which is 12 hours or so. Imagine spending more than your entire work day on a plane? Yea, well me neither. But about to go experience that. It does make you realize how close Europe really is. Could jump over the pond for a weekend if you wanted!

That’s it for now. Auf wiedersehen!

Keeping the Basil Happy

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So when we started planning this long getaway I immediately thought about things around the house. Especially the garden! Three beautiful tomato plants, squash and zucchini, basil, arugula and other random botanical items. I, being the geek I am, decide to rig up a quick irrigation system.

Yep, that’s right. Full out automatic watering system. Having Crestron in my home (and knowing how to program it) enabled me to build a relatively inexpensive irrigation system (about $100 of parts). All that was needed was a few sprinkler heads, some pvc pipe and glue, a length of hose, a solenoid valve, and a rain sensor. Oh, and a new event in the scheduler on my MC3 (programming).
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Everyday, one hour after the sun sets, the sprinklers turn on for twenty minutes and bring new life and cleansing to my bunches of greens. But if it’s already wet outside, the rain sensor tells the Crestron system and the sprinklers don’t turn on.

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I can keep an eye on things through my Crestron Mobile app from the other side of the world (if we have a decent Internet connection). Thats the cool part. If I feel like watering my plants from Bali I can!

It has been running for a couple of weeks now. And it works well! Sure beats getting the hose out in the morning. The basil looks happy. And really that’s what it’s about. The basil.

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