Flying Out of New York, What Do the Lamas Do?

You know, there has been some talk lately about which electronic devices can be used on a plane and which devices cannot. There has also been some talk about turning all electronic devices off during take-off.

Well, I don't know what the true story is and if there are any universally adhered to policies for electronic devices on planes. I have however flown regularly for the past 12 years. And, I do try and always fly with Cathay Pacific or one of its partner airlines. There are two reasons for this. The first, Cathay flies most of the routes I need to travel. Secondly, Cathay offers great, GREAT, service, as do most of their partners. But, back to my initial point which I haven't yet even started to make.

So, I have used a set of Bose headphones, electronic headphones, for years. They were purchased exclusively for air travel. I'm sure they will work perfectly fine off the plane as well. For me they work great! A friend tells me that the Sony also work well. Regardless, I recommend them to anybody that does a lot of air travel. How they work is - aside from reducing background and foreground noise - they reduce the airplane buzz in your head which more importantly reduces jet-lag. That is the unofficial scientific explanation.

However, back to the point. I have never been asked on Cathay Pacific to turn off my headphones during take-off or landing. On one occasion flying on American Airlines between New York and San Fransisco, prior to take-off, I was asked to both turn them off and to take them off my head.

Now, what is most interesting is that on my most recent flight, which I am writing about now at over 30000 feet, I was not asked once to turn off my Ipad which I was using right up until the end of final taxi immediately prior to gunning the engines and taking-off. I would have continued to use the Ipad but I opted to close the cover and put it down simply because of the shaking of the plane. I was of course still wearing the Bose headphones. So, there you have it, my point. Rules are rules as long as they are enforced or people continue to believe in them. That is the substance of it - my point.

Now, with safety aside, on another topic of some importance, it is nice that Cathay has brought back the beef tenderloin for one of the meal choices in business class on the New York to Vancouver flight. For awhile, and I can't remember for how long, but, they were experimenting with food all too much for my liking. I was fortunate tonight. They bumped me from coach seating up to business class. A class to which I am not completely unaccustomed, yet not guaranteed.

I'm sure there are ways to guarantee business class seating. Aside from money of course. I have a friend who would likely know the particular Catholic saint responsible for arranging such things. Unfortunately Tantric Buddhism does not upgrade and modernize their deities as quickly and as efficiently as the Catholic Church modernizes their saints.

For Tantric deities, if I was to take a guess as to who could assist with business class accommodation, then it would likely be some form of a wealth deity, probably peaceful, but with the added feature of a red body colour - adding a little expediency to the mix - as colours have meaning in Tantric Buddhism.

To their credit, the Catholics have books which describe all of the different saints and especially which particular saint is best suited for each and every special human need and condition. Tantric Buddhism, however, does not. In the interests of keeping up with the Roman Catholics and modernization in general, Tantrics should upgrade and offer deities, cataloged and organized, assorted for all daily human needs and conditions. Towards this common good, surely there must already be a 'Terma' out there, hidden or discovered, that addresses such things as air travel.....what do the Lamas do?

(Written Tuesday night, 20th of December).

Lecture, Leaving Chengdu, Hong Kong

The last lecture was Thursday night. It was on Tibetan Painting Styles. There were 60 + students and teachers. It seemed to go quite well with many questions at the end. There definitely needs to be a system developed for teaching Tibetan styles. There isn't anything right now that is suitable and useful.

I never like to leave Chengdu. It is a city that is comfortable for me. However, I was up at five and to the airport by seven. The flight was delayed an hour but that didn' t prevent me from getting to Hong Kong with plenty of time to catch my next flight. I had a comfortable exit row seat and a perfectly adequate breakfast on the flight. Dragon Air is not as good as Cathay but they try. Because of that extra marks are awarded.

Fortunately for the HK to JFK portion of the trip I won't be traveling in the cattle car. This will allow me to nap as well as get a little work done prior to landing. The ipad is very useful for writing without the cumbersome and large folding laptop. I am now a firm believer in ipad, or similar, technology. It made me more productive and more adaptable to changing work situations and spaces while in Chengdu. It also allows me to carry a virtual Tibetan and English library with me where ever I go.

Back to China

Today is a travel day. I am heading to Chengdu via Hong Kong to spend time at the Sichuan University. Unfortunately Cathay did not bump me up to Business Class for this leg of the trip. That's O.K., sometimes it is more comfortable in coach sitting in the exit row aisle seat. I've noticed in the last few months that Cathay has downgraded the food in Business Class. I don't know if that was just for that flight or whether it is a new trend to save money.

The Sichuan University has invited me to come and teach on he subject of iconography in Tibetan art. It is not an easy subject and even more difficult to try and teach. Up until now there have been no systems, course curriculum or publications that teach a systematic and intelligible method of learning Tibetan iconography. I have spent many years thinking about a system and worked through many course models. Some failed miserably and others had moderate success. Through trial and error I believe I now have a model that will work - it just has to be proven in the field - a classroom with interested students. The graduate students at Sichuan University will be the test case.

Hong Kong Airport

Here again, relaxing in the Cathay lounge known as the 'Wing' listening to Louis B. Armstrong piped through the wall speakers. Just finished my first Dan Dan Noodle of the season. I don't know if Dan Dan Noodles have a season, but when I am traveling in China then that is the season. The first thing I did when I arrived was have a hot shower to freshen up, then eat, check e-mail and telephone. Yes, it is a routine.

The food on the flight out of NY was good and the staff wonderful as usual. However, one of my fears was realized. I had seen most of the movies that were offered. I found some things to watch and was pleasantly surprised by some and had to turn off others. All in all it worked out. I am still not used to the new business class seats and didn't really sleep much at all. The coffin space is really confining and completely unforgiving if you are not of a certain body size range. Outside of that range and you are screwed.

As of tomorrow I will be using the alternate Travel Blog while in China. You know, because of those Google issues: Jeff on the Road.

P.S. So far I have not had any bites from bed bugs. What a refreshing change in quality of life.

Vancouver Bound for American Thanksgiving

Well here it is again, the American Thanksgiving Holiday. I have spent the previous 10 years in New York City and enough is enough. My boss invited me once to his home for Thanksgiving and then I spent several years going out with Gene Smith to I Coppi, a restaurant in the East Village, for Thanksgiving dinner. But, aside from these highlights it is dead boring here with everything closed on the THURSDAY and me just working everyday all the way through the weekend. Why not go home? What a thought. So here I am about to get on a Cathay Pacific flight out of New York, bumped to Business Class. They are very nice at Cathay. The best airline in the world. On my recent marathon trip to Beijing China in October they also bumped me to Business Class on the NY to Hong Kong portion of the flight. They are truly old fashion and professional. My favourite airline. But enough about them.......

Today the HAR website has moved to a new hosting server that is faster and more secure. It is also more Apple friendly. Although 6% of the computer world that claims to be better than all the rest of us has never been high on my priority list. I have been using a personal computer since 1984 and I have never had a rash of computer crashes due to software, Windows, DOS or otherwise. In the last fifteen years any serious crashes have been due to incompatibility between hardware components because I have built the computer or had someone else build it based on my specs. Obviously wrong.

It is likely that the entire notion of PCs crashing all the time is a marketing creation of Apple. I cannot count the number of times I have sat through a business meeting where an Apple is being used to give a presentation and the user tells me "I don't know what happened it has never done this before". Apples crash, they crash a lot, but the users have been brain washed into saying "OMG this has never happened before." Hogwash, Grow Up, Apple is only in business today because Microsoft bought a huge interest in their stocks so they wouldn't go out of business. The day Apple goes out of business is the day the US Government steps in and divides up Microsoft for being a monopoly. It is in Microsoft's interest, not marginally, but totally, to keep Apple alive and viable. Enough about Apple. Apple is BIG BROTHER technology. With PC technology free thinking computer users can create and work within a free environment.

HAR has changed serves and the upgrade should be marginally noticeable in speed and performance. I say marginally because most people don't pay too much attention to those things. If we went back to the early 90s with the real consumer beginnings of the Internet then YES, we noticed changes in performance. Dial-up modems, what were we thinking. Come on now, what were we thinking? Were we cutting edge? What about cable modems? Wi-fi? Things have changed.

The HAR site for some people will be faster, it might produce results slightly quicker. What is important is that it is a more stable server, not that HAR has had a lot of down time in the last year. The Coldfusion platform is newer and we will be taking advantage of the best that Adobe Software has to offer. Sure, why buy into Coldfusion if you can use Php, free, no charge, open source. Well, can you say crap shoot, maybe you didn't hear me CRAP SHOOT. Php is great, open source and all that - whatever it really means. But, who do you have setting standards? If you build a site then how easy is it to have someone else, after the initial developer, come in and figure out what is going on? What modules and libraries have been used? What are the shortcuts, back doors? All I can say is crap shoot.

Some might call this a rant. Some might call this a rave. I call it a positive release of stress from New York in anticipation of a weeks rest in a civilized part of the world - Vancouver.