Anyone looking to cash in on the XBox 360 demand should pick up some consoles from Japan, where demand has been weak. It appears the Japanese aren’t too gung ho on the console or the games.
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Month: January 2006
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2005 Recap: Top Places to Visit
Now that I have a moment, I’m going to begin my brief retrospective on 2005 with my travels. While I made it to many destinations over the preceeding twelve months, there are several sights I’ve had the good fortune to see that remain stuck in my head. And while it was difficult to sort out those that would make the top 5, here goes.
1. The Petronas Towers – Kuala Lumpur – Currently the second tallest building in the world (tallest twin towers), they rise above the skyline of KL and are a phenomenal sight to see. Each tower is shaped after a five-pointed star, with a skybridge connecting them.
2. Bar Charlotte – Charlotte, NC – THE favorite hangout spot when we actually had a few minutes free during our migration weekends in Charlotte, this bar was a riot. Women were dancing on the bar, and there was at least one swing up there as well. On the opposite side of the room, high above everyone, were several poles to dance on. And don’t forget the mechanical bull for good measure. There are things I saw I won’t soon forget.
3. Manoa Falls – Island of Oahu, Hawaii – After a trek along a rough path (flipflops = bad idea), your reward is a beautiful waterfall raining down from at least 100 feet up. The lush vegetation makes the locale feel remote, even though you’re just a short drive from Waikiki and Honalulu.
4. The Andes Mountains – Mendoza, Argentina – Though I never made it to the Andes up close (the tours I found were entirely in Spanish, making it difficult to jusity both the cash and the 7 am departure), from Mendoza they were always off to the horizon, rising up and providing a phenomenal backdrop for this fertile agricultural region.
5. Rutgers v. ASU in the Insight Bowl – Phoenix, AZ – The 10,000 fans in scarlet were excited come game time. Though we were outnumbered in the stands and outgunned in the end, the trip was well worth it to be present at the first RU bowl appearance in 27 years.
Runners-up include the baggage handling facility in the Houston Airport, the Northwest Folk Festival in Seattle, and the red rocks of Sedona in Arizona.
While 2005 was a relatively quiet year on the negative side, terminal D at the Philadelphia International Airport is the worst terminal I have experienced. The closest airport that compares is perhaps the temrinal in San Jose, Costa Rica. Both are heavy, bloated concrete dungeons with practically no amenities. Even the terminal in Mendoza, with its single jetway, was a nicer place than Terminal D.
Dubai was in the news earlier this week, as the 15 year leader of the city-state died Wednesday. What I found most curious when reading this article is how the city-state’s story was similar to that of another city-state, Singapore. Both surrounded by more powerful, resource rich countries, yet became relative beacons in their regions due to the relative economic prosperity, stability and security. And while both are known for relatively strong-handed governments (with Dubai’s not even elected, a reform that has been promised but not delivered), political and social liberalisation continues in both locales.
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Good News from Iraq
There’s finally some truly good news in Iraq, which may make the conflict “winnable” for the US in the long-term. The terrorist organization Al Qaeda in Iraq, run by Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, may have finally overplayed its hand. Recent attacks, including the Jordanian hotel bombing, may be shifting public sentiment against the Al Qaeda aspect of the insurgency. As the group loses its support, it also loses the war on the critical moral level, which is fundamental for sustaining a long-term asymmetrical war. If the US can, one way or another, exploit this division, there is the potential for the US to achieve the primary goal of not enabling Iraq to become a new hotbed of jihad.
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New Photo Albums Link
Take a look at the left menu at some point. I’ve added a photo albums link which will allow you to pick out a specific set of photos to look at, instead of reviewing all 961 currently posted.
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Thrill of Victory
The thrill of having completed all my photo updates quickly turned to the agony of defeat once I realized I stopped prepping and posting around the middle of 2004. So the additional couple thousand photos (narrowed down to a few hundred for online posting, of course) have yet to be rotated, cropped, and sized for the web.
So it looks like the elusive goal of being caught up slipped a little farther away.
Update: I just put the finishing touches on the last of the photo uploads. It’s now a fairly complete archive through my recent trip to Phoenix.