Once OLS was over, Orna flew home and I flew to Tucson, for a week of exciting (not!) work at the IBM facility here. Thankfully, it’s now Saturday night, the week is over, and tomorrow I fly home.
The week passed fairly quickly, breakfast -> work -> dinner -> sleep. I missed Orna terribly. Today we had a day off, and I went shopping. I hope my poor suitcase will not burst at the seams.
This was actually my first business trip, if you don’t count OLS last year. I think I can safely say that once is enough.
Muli Ben-Yehuda's journal 
It has been a pleasure reading up on your exploits. I got to see the sights and hear about the good stuff without having to suffer airports and jet-lag.
Comment by yrk — July 31, 2004 @ 11:28 PM |
exploits?
Comment by ideawerkz — August 1, 2004 @ 1:08 AM |
1. A deed or act; especially, a heroic act; a deed of renown;
an adventurous or noble achievement; as, the exploits of
Alexander the Great.
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises. –Shak.
Comment by yrk — August 1, 2004 @ 2:33 AM
didn’t know it is such a positive word.
Comment by ideawerkz — August 1, 2004 @ 3:13 AM
Glad you enjoyed 😉
How are you guys doing?
Comment by mulix — August 1, 2004 @ 6:14 AM |
I’m still corporate, if only barely.
Comment by yrk — August 1, 2004 @ 7:33 AM
My parser choked. Do you mean you’re still employed by a corporation, or still in one piece, or …?
Comment by mulix — August 3, 2004 @ 12:10 PM
It’s actually sad because, as hard as it for a Californian to say this, Arizona is incredible. Problem is, you were down at the bottom of it where it is nothing but sparse desert.
You were thirty miles north of the O.K. Corral where the famous gun battle took place (Wyatt Earp vs. The Clantons depicted in movies like My Darling Clementine and Tombstone) or rather it took place in a lot behind the O.K. Corral but “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” sounds better than if you don’t tack on “in the lot behind the” in the middle.
Anyways, as you move north from Tuscon you hit Phoenix which is a huge city with nothing all that special. However, moving north from there a a few hundred miles you hit Sedona. I won’t post pictures of it as you will want to kick yourself for not going there. It is basically a place with red/orange clay cliffs, lots of cactus, rivers, streams and an artist colony. Basically, the opposite of what you found in Tuscon. Also, you would have met lots of Indians… not the ones who talk with funny accents and eat kebabs… I’m talking Indians as in the ones who used to shoot people with arrows in the westerns :-).
Moving north from there you hit Flagstaff (one of my favorite towns) with Pine trees, forests, the Lowell observatory (where Percival discovered Pluto — which is pretty impressive as it’s just a little shack on the top of a mountain) and an old-fashioned steam railroad that will take you to the Grand Canyon.
Moving East from there, you hit Monument Valley where the old John Wayne westerns were filmed. This is the desert with the red clay dirt and the long thin rocks sticking up a few hundred feet all over the place.
And finally, as you get near the northern Arizona border, just over into Utah is Bryce Canyon. I won’t post pictures from here either as you would kick yourself again.
I realize this was a working trip but next time you hit Arizona, let me know and I’ll make you a map of all the cool places. And I only say this because pick any other state and there is only, at most, half the neat stuff to see as there is in good ol’ Arizona.
Comment by 77azkkr — July 31, 2004 @ 11:35 PM |
When you put it like that… I’ll have to come back some other time, and do the tourist thing.
Comment by mulix — August 1, 2004 @ 6:14 AM |
I’ll help you plan your itinerary. And give you a list of famous films that were made there so you can walk where John Wayne, et al walked.
Comment by 77azkkr — August 1, 2004 @ 6:44 AM
Thanks, I’ll be in touch next time I visit AZ 🙂
Comment by mulix — August 3, 2004 @ 12:08 PM
Hey!
I told you about the O.K. Corral battle and Wyatt Earp, even though I could not spell it!
And Bryce is certainly something – and I got the pics to prove so (there are squirrels there, too…)
Comment by ladypine — August 1, 2004 @ 11:08 AM
Re: Hey!
Hmpf… I recall you telling me something about it but don’t recall the specifics. Next time, maybe you should post it in my journal! Livejournal, the new memory.
Comment by mulix — August 3, 2004 @ 12:13 PM
Re: Hey!
Another funny thing about Tombstone is the people actually wear guns. Seriously, not the small compact ones either, but the big 12 inch long western style six shooters.
We were in a shop down there once and I told the guy that those guns everyone wears are cool. I assumed they were fake. He said he’d sell me one but would have to ship it to me in California after the license went through.
I kind of laughed and told him I didn’t think they were real. He pulled his gun out of the holster and removed the bullets !
I was in shock. If you wore a gun like that in California, the first police officer who saw you would freak out.
Apparently Arizona allows you to wear a gun (although only people down there in the Tombstone do it) as long as you don’t have it hidden. So the bigger and more obvious it is, the more legal it is…. It’s just a weird concept for someone who grew up in the California suburbs.
Comment by 77azkkr — August 4, 2004 @ 12:12 PM
No Suitcase?
I assume then that you did not buy a suitcase with flowers?
Comment by ladypine — August 1, 2004 @ 11:09 AM |
Re: No Suitcase?
Nope. The prices were outrageous. Although in retrospect, considering how my suitcase split at the seams, buying a new one would’ve been cheaper, assuming the old one would’ve remained in one piece. Cest la vie.
Comment by mulix — August 3, 2004 @ 12:14 PM |