Friday Five

The Week

It appears that my travel has become rather repetitious. A bit redundant. That I’m visiting the same cities over and over again. Like I’ve been here before recently. It’s as if... – OK, I’ve killed that joke. In any event, because I knew the way, I was in San Jose again this week.^[1]

The nice part about San Jose, as I’ve mentioned before, is the ability to see friends. Full time travel can become quite a grind, but being able to see a friend you wouldn’t normally have had the chance to see makes things that much more bearable. Really – having human contact outside of the classroom makes all the difference in the world.

Unfortunately, I was only able to get together with a few friends as a couple of others had to back out. I guess not everyone can rearrange their lives around me.

The Restaurant

I have a confession to make. There are many kitschy things I enjoy. I love dueling piano bars. I enjoy romantic comedies more than I probably should. And I love me a good teppanyaki restaurant.

Now like a piano bar or romantic comedy, every one is basically the same. The chef comes out, taps around a lot of the cook surface and a salt shaker and then begins cooking. The jokes are the same. The tricks are the same - flipping shrimp, tossing pieces of egg, onion volcano. The food is the same. Yet for reasons I just can't explain I eat it all up (literally and figuratively).

The food is always good if not great. The atmosphere is a lot of fun and very social. It's a bit spendy, but you're getting dinner and a show.

Just save room for the green tea ice cream.

The Travel Note

The TSA has changed the information they require for travel in the US – they now need a full name. When I registered for my OnePass account with Continental (their frequent flyer program) I used Christopher Harrison. Now it needs to be Christopher Patrick Harrison. So I called up the service center to have this changed (because the website won’t let me – FTL). They said they updated it – only they left it as Pat.^[2] I still can’t get my OnePass number on that flight.

The Five

I’ve been connected for as long as I can remember. As such, I’ve accepted certain terms and abbreviations as commonplace and I assume other people know them as well. Alas, that’s not always the case. So here’s a list of terms and abbreviations I use (consider it a Geek to English cheatsheet).

1. Grok – From Stranger in a Strange Land, “grok” is a bit of Martian that means literally “to drink”. Figuratively it means to understand fully.
   Usage: “I grok the Chargers wanting to cut ties with Antonio Cromartie.”
2. IIRC – If I recall (remember) correctly.
   Usage: “IIRC, Ed Hochuli was a great official decades ago.”
3. AFAIK – As far as I know.
   Usage: “AFAIK, Matt Holiday has not yet touched home plate.”
4. FTL (For The Loss) and FTW (For The Win) – Bad and good things respectively.
   Usage: “I got upgrade on my flight from SAN to EWR. FTW!” or
   “I got stuck next to a screaming child from SAN to EWR. FTL!”
5. Airport codes – I’d mention a quick Google search will help you out, but just to list off a couple of common ones I use:
   SAN – San Diego
   SJC – San Jose
   IAH – Houston (Bush)
   DCA – Washington National (Reagan)
   BWI – Baltimore
   EWR – Newark
   ORD – Chicago (O’Hare)

^[1] Again, you’re welcome, Brenda.
^[2] What is it with people wanting to abbreviate my name?