Edinburgh

In a bit of amazing luck, I'm typing this right now from a hotel guest computer in Edinburgh, Scotland. I've always wanted to visit Scotland, especially after seeing London. Work is paying for this trip, so I could attend a design review by one of our subcontractors here. The meetings are over as of today, but I'm staying a few extra days on my own dime to do sightseeing.

The city has hills and old stone buildings everywhere. It seems like there are dozens of "small" cathedrals scattered around. I saw Rembrandts and Van Gohs in the National Gallery a few hours ago. The scotch whisky selection at the pubs is encyclopedic - one coworker who grew up in this area helped me choose a few to try the last two nights. I'm taking notes of which ones I've got to get from Binny's once I'm back home.

Yes, the exchange rate sucks. (It is pretty close to 2, so at least the math is easy.) The weather has been rainy, but at least my eyeballs aren't freezing like they were in Chicagoland this past weekend. I don't have the giant camera with me, but I did buy a new Nikon S200 for the trip last week so I'd be able to take snapshots. I'll even be here for Burn's night on Friday, so I'll let you know what I think of real haggis. (I've had the Aramark riff on haggis in Terre Haute. This WILL be better than that.)

My flight back is Saturday morning. I'm avoiding reality until then.

Road ID

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a gift card from my parents to RoadID.com. They sell laser-engraved ID products that you can wear in several different ways. I bought the ankle ID, and since there was some money left on the gift card I also got a wrist strap and a shoe pouch. The stainless steel ID token can be switched between the different products.

It came in the mail this week, and I'm very happy with the quality of the items. I haven't actually used it yet, considering I'm not addicted enough to running to be outside in this weather. But I know I'll use it all the time when spring gets here.

I've got my name, birth date, town, state, zip, country, two phone numbers for Brian, one phone number for Jessie, contact lens warning, and NKA listed on the tag. I decided to get the regular rather than the online version. My main reasoning there was that I sometimes run or walk in places without cell phone coverage, and it would defeat the purpose of the ID if the emergency responders can't get to the information.

Oh, and there are super-reflective strips on the band, so this actually counts as a shiny object. It only took me a year to get around to mentioning one...