and some pictures from the bbc.

year in review, from dave berry.

lucky day. despite an otherwise bad day at work, the vending machine gave me two cheddar sun chips for the price of one.

US Air delivered my bag tonight at about 10:30pm. They offer no way to check on the status other than their website for request, which I sent requests to 3 times:
Try #1 response:

Thank you for contacting US Airways about your baggage. We apologize that you have been without your luggage and we thank you for your patience. We have checked your file record and see that your luggage has arrived and scheduled for delivery.

The service handling your luggage normally delivers within 4 to 6 hours, however due to a larger volume of bags scheduled for delivery today, that window may be extended.

Try #2 response:

nothing

Try #3 response:

Thank you for contacting US Airways about your baggage. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.

At this time, we are unable to respond to your e-mail. Please contact the Passenger Baggage Call Center at 1-800-371-4771 for further assistance.

We appreciate your continued support of US Airways.

And 54 hours after my arrival, my bag was delivered to my door. Note that the 800 number they provide does not allow you to speak to a person, and does not allow you to be put on hold and wait for a person, they simply disconnect you. So really there is no way to check the status of your bag. This has be be the worst customer support i've ever experienced.

I suggest others, and i know there were a lot of others, who experienced this, to write and ask for your money from US Air.

i have an over 50% luggage loss rate when flying usair. of course, i wasn't alone this holiday weekend. they lost my luggage both going to and returning from pittsburgh.

merry Christmas!

you know you've been working to long when you go to the vending machine because you are hungry, reach for your change, look at the coins in your hand, and think: i don't think this vending machine supports pennies.

i finished the davinci code last night. it was a pretty good book. he had to have done a lot of research...enough to make it believable for a novel. the end had a special surprise for me as i had been to the chapel outside of edinburgh it reference. it was cool to have an actual memory of many of the places in the book: paris, the louvre, london, rosslyn.

12°F, bloody cold. scotland gets a bad rap, but it rarely gets this cold.

ironically, the subtalk subway ad of the day is for conair.

does this say anything about the western infuence in china?

tonight j and i went to arlene's grocery
and then i ate an altoid.

someone in my building was baking cookies when i got home. made me realize how close Christmas is. i'm looking forward to being home for a few days and relaxing.

nice digs in nyc for no rent...for a bird.

there are feelings, and then there are the actions taken because of those feelings. everyone has a different amount of time and thought that gets in between the two. some have very little, some have quite a bit. i think i tend to take way more than the average bear.

subway ad of the day: cingular...the entire car.

strongbad has upgraded to a laptop after his 'virus' incident.

went to ini ani for tea and to do some reading. it really does have a nice atmosphere. they have wireless access there, so i may be spending more time there w/ my laptop. some girl saw my pittsburgh glass center t-shirt and asked me if that is where i was from. turns out she's a pittsburgh native too. i finished reading Disgrace - a very well crafted book.

subway advertisement of the day: 5 cents/min long distance to mexico.

last night was my first trip to brooklyn. e, j, and i went to a party at e's girlfriend's place. the party was fun, met several cool people. and it was interesting to see what brooklyn was like. park slope, the neighborhood we were in, seemed pretty nice, and just a touch more laid back than manhattan. it probably wouldn't be a bad place to live as long as you were close enough to the subway.

what are your 43 things?

i just got back from my friend e.'s soccer game. he coaches a team of U-8's. his team is awesome; he's taught them well how to pass and keep the field open. at that age it is quite a feat, and the payoff is in the 8-0 games they win.

it was a great day to be out. clear and crisp, the sun shining, the wind bitter. people looked beautiful bundled in their coats, scarfs wrapped high, sun in their eyes.

this past tuesday, a friend from my edinburgh program who now lives in the city, called me up to check out a 'moth' event. it was a storyteller slam and the speakers were very entertaining.

subway advertisement of the day: don't throw litter on the tracks, they cause fire (courtesy of the mta).

subway ad update: your girlfriends, your network. UPN9. (tv station)

today was a blustery day in ny. it is especially bad right down at the tip of the island where i work. at lunch there was an 'umbrella graveyard' on the corner next to the garbage can. its was humorous how many there were.