Chaos Love: love, life, design and more.

Eisenhower Interstate System in the style of H.C. Beck's London Underground Diagram, originally uploaded by Senex Prime.

UPDATE: Prints of this diagram are now available for sale here.

Here's the result of my latest "designing stuff because I feel like it" phase: a map of America's comprehensive Interstate highway system in the form of a metro or subway map.

I came across a very different take of this on the internet last week, an incredibly simplified, very rectangular (and very orange!) diagram by Chris Yates. Many viewers of this map were calling it a "Beck style map" (after H.C. Beck, the originator of the London Underground Diagram) or a "subway style map", but on the whole, I disagreed with that point of view.

The best examples of subway maps use strong colour codes for separate lines and a clear hierarchy of detail (interchanges, major stations, minor stations, etc.) to convey a lot of information rapidly and clearly. And while there is some degree of geographical distortion in most metro maps (the centre of London in Beck's diagram is greatly enlarged compared to the outer suburbs), there should always be an underlying sense of the relationship between destinations in reality and on the map.

So that's what I set out to create - a simplified diagram of the Interstate system in the style of the best transport diagrams. Armed with Google Earth, Google Maps, Wikipedia, a gridded pad of paper and pen, Adobe Illustrator CS3, Chris Yates' map and another excellent map by Rebecca Brown that I found on Flickr, I began my Herculean task.

Early on, I decided that the "major" highways (those divisible by 5) would form the framework of my diagram. These would be thicker of line than the minor roads, and would be distinctively colour coded. Their termini would also be called out in a bolder fashion than the other roads. This was done relatively painlessly, with very little rejigging required to make all the major intersections line up. I was surprised at how much this simple grid already looked like America's borders, which gave me great hope that things were going to work out well.

Then it was onto fitting the minor highways into this grid. Even though these roads don't have specific colour codes, I strove to give some extra information in the shades of grey used: a darker gray was used for even-numbered roads (running from west to east; lower numbers to the south, higher numbers to the north) and a lighter grey for the odd-numbered roads (running from north to south; lower numbers to the west, higher numbers to the east). Each road has its number marked at each terminus, with a full key at the bottom of the map for cross-reference. A bit of tweaking was required here and there to make every road and name fit neatly (it gets a bit crowded in the eastern states!), but in general everything worked out beautifully. I even managed to show concurrency of Interstates by running the "lines" next to each other, just as they do on subway maps.

Then I added the Great Lakes, coastline, borders and the key. Done!

All up, this project took around a week to complete. There's still some little tweaks and fixes to make, and I feel sure that road aficionados across the country will be only too ready to point out my errors as time goes by, but overall, I'm extremely happy with the way it turned out!

Some oddities: I-99 breaks the grid by being placed to the WEST of I-95. Apparently, the number was written into Section 332 of the National Highway Designation Act of 1995 by Bud Shuster, then-chair of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the bill's sponsor, and the representative of the district through which the highway runs. Why? Maybe he thought 99 was a cool number for his local highway?

I-97 is to the east of I-95 (as it should be), but it is the only Interstate that does not intersect with any other. In fact, all of I-97 lies in one little county just outside Baltimore.

Oh, and here's a direct link to a much BIGGER version (more pixels than can fit on your screen!)

Posted in: chaosboy, design, driving, united states on October 29, 2009 at at 9:13:00 PM 1 comments    

Sighhhh.

Why are things never easy when it comes to dealing with the government? Christine and I returned from our European sojourn (more on that soon!) to find that my I-751 application had been returned to me in our absence.

Why?

Because it arrived at the processing centre on the 18th of September, which is 91 days before my Green Card runs out. And you have to send them the application within the 90 days preceding the expiration date. That's right, it got there one whole day early, so they packed the whole thing up and sent it back to me.

The really funny thing? The date stamped on the included cover letter which explained why the application had been returned was the 21st of September, which is well within the 90 day window. Ah, stubborn bureaucracy at its finest!

Posted in: chaosboy, immigration, united states on October 10, 2009 at at 9:42:00 AM 0 comments    

The records of this Service indicate that you entered the United States as a conditional permanent resident on 12/18/2007. In accordance with Section 216 of the Immigration and Nationality Act you must file Form I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence. Failure to do so may result in the automatic termination of your Status. You can obtain Form I-751, as well as filing information and fees, from www.uscis.gov or call 1-800-375-5283.

With this tersely worded letter, the final part of my immigration to the United States has begun. It's hard to believe that something that was set in motion back in 2006 will finally come to an end at the end of 2009 (or, more likely, some way into 2010 if the usual processing speed of the USCIS comes into play).

Because I entered the US on a fiance Visa, then got married to claim residency, the US Government basically doesn't trust me an inch. They've seen every single marriage trick and scam in the book, and in their eyes, we're all suspicious until proven otherwise. The first Green Card you get when you enter the country is only valid for two years instead of the usual ten (because they don't trust you), and you must start to renew it within 90 days of its expiration, or you get booted unceremoniously from the US.

To renew it, we have to send in yet more evidence that our relationship is a bona fide marriage – joint bank account statements, lease notices, photos, notarised affidavits from friends, that kind of stuff. Oh, and another $500-odd for the processing fee and yet another set of fingerprints... this'll be the third time! But really, it's one of the simpler tasks we've had to complete on this long road, so I can't foresee too many problems. And then... freedom!

Posted in: chaosboy, immigration, united states on August 30, 2009 at at 9:24:00 PM 0 comments    

Golden, Golden Gate, originally uploaded by Senex Prime.

Well, I'm back from my little jaunt down to San Francisco. Even though I worked hard (staying in the office until 10:30pm the night before the presentation), I did manage to get out and about and play the tourist a bit.

Here's my favourite shot so far – the always impressive Golden Gate Bridge (coincidentally, the subject of the presentation) as seen from Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf. The place is way too touristy, but it does offer spectacular views of the bay, especially at sunset!

More soon!

Posted in: chaosboy, photography, travel, united states on July 12, 2009 at at 10:10:00 AM 0 comments    

At noon Eastern American Time (9:00 in the morning here on the Pacific Coast) yesterday, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America – a club almost as exclusive as that of Australian Test cricket captain (there are only 42 of them!) and arguably, a job almost as stressful. (Please, I'm joking!)

While I could watch the lead up to the inauguration, seeing the motorcade, the vast throngs of people lining the mall in front of the Capitol and the introduction of all sorts of dignitaries and past presidents, I had to head off to work before Obama made his inaugural speech and was actually sworn in. I did get the pleasure of hearing Dubya booed slightly before "Hail To The Chief" was hurriedly struck up by the band, and – even better – seeing the hateful Dick Cheney wheeled onto the podium in a wheelchair (he hurt his back packing his office!), almost invisible to the crowd – a forgotten man, as he should be.

So I had to wait all day to hear what Obama had to say to the world, but the wait was worth it! Here was a quietly confident new President (one capable of stirring, emotional, riveting speech, rather than one who could barely string a coherulent sentence together) who is well aware of the monumental task ahead of him. His speech was a powerful statement of intent and one that left me in no doubt that his election mantra of "change" was not just bluster. To expect one man to change the world is ridiculous – but at least America now has a President they can be proud of to represent them on the world stage. The sheer number of people who turned up in Washington on Inauguration Day (1.8 to 2 million people!) to wish him well is testament to this, and with that kind of support behind him... who knows what can be accomplished? Hope and belief are very, very positive things in these difficult times, and Obama inspires these ideals more than any other politician in recent memory.

Posted in: chaosboy, politics, united states on January 20, 2009 at at 6:51:00 PM 0 comments    

The ad shown above is possibly the most reprehensible piece of television advertising I have ever seen. Whoever thought this concept up should be taken out and force-fed the advertiser's product until they throw up or something.

It looks to me like the ad is trying to play off the success of Borat – simple people from a strange foreign country who are all craving the taste of America. And therein lies the problem - surely there should be places in the world where people just don't eat burgers. It's not part of their culture or their way of life. What right does an American burger conglomerate have to come in and feed them this stuff, even for just an ad? It smacks of arrogant cultural imperialism to me and makes this ad extremely unpalatable.

Note the way that the ad actually says very little that actually backs their claim that "the Whopper Virgins have spoken". There's no "9 out of 10 Inuits tested prefer our burger to the competitors", the ad just says "these individuals prefer the Whopper". So maybe only the three or four people we see actually prefer the Whopper. What if they fed burgers to 400 Thai tribesmen and only one liked it? Ah, weasel words at their very finest.

Finally, the look on some of their faces as they point out the Whopper seems to suggest they'd rather be eating anything else than a burger (Check out the Romanian lady at 19 seconds). However, they're only given the choice between the two burgers in front of them. It's almost like they're being asked "which pile of mud tastes better?" and a victory seems damning with faint praise.

Really, the only way this ad could be worse, be more cultually insensitive, is if they'd decided to take their beef-filled sandwiches to a small village in India and ask them what they thought of it.

Posted in: advertising, chaosboy, united states, weirdness on December 15, 2008 at at 10:24:00 AM 1 comments    

Voting Machine, originally uploaded by John C Abell.

It's almost 7:30pm Pacific Time here in the United States, and the race for the Presidency - the most powerful job in the world, as they say - is almost over. At the moment, Barack Obama holds 207 Electoral College votes to John McCain's 135. Under the US's remarkably obtuse voting system, once a candidate reaches 270 votes, they have a majority and are declared the victor.

More importantly, Obama has just (and I mean minutes ago!) been declared the winner of the state of Ohio. Much like the Federal electorate of Eden-Monaro back home in Australia, it is the bellwether state - you just don't win the Presidency without winning Ohio.

I haven't commented on the election yet on this blog, basically because the one thing everyone hates is a know-it-all foreigner telling them how things should be done and who you should vote for. But, on the actual night, and with America on the verge of history, I feel that I can offer a few observations.

The electoral process in this country takes far, far, far too long. The initial primaries and caucuses to select the Presidential candidates begin in January, the election itself is in November! The period inbetween is filled with campaigning, saturation of television with increasingly negative and vitriolic ads, followed by more campaigning. It's draining, annoying and ever present. The amount of money raised and spent by the campaigns over this period is staggering, ridiculous and even slightly obscene. At least electoral campaigns only last six weeks or so in Australia - a blessed relief!

Sarah Palin. I'm not even going to dignify her with a comment.

The Obama campaign has done a remarkable job encouraging young people and minorities to get out and vote.

The financial crisis couldn't have come at a worse time for the Republican party - if you preside over a meltdown like that, it's always going to be difficult to win an election, even with a new President at the helm.

The Senatorial battle in Oregon between Jeff Merkley (D) and Gordon Smith (R) has to be one of the dirtiest, nastiest no-holds barred fights I have ever seen.

Finally, I feel that Barack Obama is the right choice for this country. He's not perfect - no politician is - but he is a statesman, something America desperately needs after eight years of President Stupid. At this point in time, change is needed and that's what Obama offers.

Posted in: chaosboy, politics, united states on November 4, 2008 at at 7:27:00 PM 0 comments    

A couple of weekends ago, our good friend Leah called me up in a bit of a tizzy. Leah works in the campaign office for Jeff Merkley, the Democrat's Oregon candidate for the US Senate, and needed my help in a hurry. Her usual graphic designer had gone AWOL and they needed some posters and postcards for a huge campaign event – Al Gore was coming to town to talk and endorse Jeff – and they were needed yesterday. Could I help? Never one to let a friend down, I stepped up to the plate and produced the material n record time. The front of the postcard is above... not ground-breaking work, but it does the job and was commented on favourably by all parties.

Leah, recognising my hard work, went to her boss and asked that he pay me for my work. However, asking a campaign manager for money for what they consider to be "volunteer work" a few weeks out from election day tends to be a fruitless exercise – how can you pay for all those interminable TV spots if you're handing cash over to some graphic designer? Leah stuck to her guns, saying that I had have earned something for my work, and in the end managed to score Christine and I free tickets to the event. And not just any tickets, these were "have your photo taken with Al Gore before the show" tickets, which were being offered to the public for the tidy sum of $1000 a head.

I'll admit that initially I was quite bemused by the offer of the tickets: while I admire Al Gore, especially for what he's done outside of politics regarding climate change, I felt a little distanced from him, like I didn't know enough about him to deserve the chance to meet him. However, by the morning of the event, I was pretty excited.

We both dressed up for the event – it's not often you meet ex-Vice Presidents and you'd like to look your best – and headed down to the Convention Center after work. We found Leah soon after arriving and she made sure that we got what she had promised us. Another volunteer only wanted to give us general admission tickets – Leah was having none of that! Pretty soon, we were lining up with all the others to meet Mr. Gore, but we were waiting for almost an hour. Christine's (very cute) shoes weren't designed for standing around in for so long and the small waiting room got hot very quickly. Surprisingly, for a $1000 price tag, there was no food and drink available for the people waiting, but everyone was extremely happy and patient.

Finally, we were told that Al Gore was on his way down and to form a queue. As the event was starting soon, we would only have time to greet him, shake his hand and have our photo taken - no time for chit chat or political discourse! We gradually made our way into the room where the photos were being taken, and we were both struck by his immediate presence: he's a tall, barrel-chested man with an extremely calm demeanour, which seemed to affect everyone in the room. When it was our turn, he somehow managed to make us both feel very welcome with just a few words and a confident handshake. I wasn't starstruck by him, but he definitely has an aura. Photo taken (it's going to be emailed to us soon!), we headed into the auditorium to hear people speak.

The first few speakers were other Democrat candidates for all sorts of public offices (Americans vote for everything all at once on Election Day), who all exhorted us to vote Democrat all the way down the ballot. Some of them tried a bit of cheerleading... "Who are you going to vote for??!!" and expecting everyone to chant "Merkley!!!" back at them, which frankly, was a little embarrassing. That kind of stuff is best left to high schools, football games or rallies with around 50,000 people.

Jeff's speech was somewhat better, but everyone else's words were forgotten the moment Al Gore came to the stage. His speech was amazing, there's no other way to describe it. Powerful, thought-provoking, funny... tying together the economic crisis, alternative energy, the war in Iraq and more into a tangible and spell-binding narrative, all of them giving reasons to vote for Jeff Merkley. Easily one of the best political speeches I have ever heard and totally inspiring. Listening to him speak like that, one can't help but wonder how different a place the world might be now if he had won that election eight years ago... I certainly can't imagine that he would have reacted to world events in the same way that the Bush administration has...

Posted in: chaosboy, politics, portland, united states on October 25, 2008 at at 8:28:00 AM 0 comments    

When it comes to a declining economy and everyone, including the media, always reminding you so, begins to sink into your mind. You begin to think, that your calm little world is about to explode into a chaos of havoc and crime and will to sink into a demise similar to Gotham. That's kinda how I feel this week.

At work, people every other day come into report that their computer/ iPod/ hard drive, etc. was stolen and we are meant to do something about it. These people, I do take seriously and we send out emails to staff reminding them to keep an eye out for so forementioned stolen object. That gets 10X more serious when your own sister experiences her first break in by some desperate meth head/kid who saw her shiny white laptop and made a run for it. The guy (we'll assume its a guy) busted in through her bedroom by pushing in the air con and the continued to scavenge his way through the small apartment, nabbing a backpack in order to throw the laptop and a digital camera into. On his way through, he spots Kim's vintage cookie jar with "Munchies" painted on the side in old 70's style. He snags a chocolate bar and takes a bite of it. Upon realizing its baker's chocolate, he abandons the unsweetened bar and proceeds to grab Kevin's screwdriver in order to hit up the next door neighbors' apartment. (They had fortunately moved out the week before). The police made their stop at the apartment and went through the protocols but the forsenic inspector found the best fingerprints, nonetheless, on the abandoned candy bar in the kitchen. If this guy has every had his prints logged before, an arrest can be made on account of a CANDY BAR.

Meanwhile in other news, that same night, the lights were stolen off my bike. This is very unfortunate for me because if I get anywhere, its on bike. However, the situation is almost laughable.

Meanwhile today, two more people reported stolen laptops. What kind of country are we living in?

The best part about living in economic decline is seeing your friends on the daily news – alone sitting at a bar, as was the case with a co-worker friend of mine. The story was about how not as many people are going out to eat or drink in this past few weeks. I'm going to vote that drinking has not been affected.

But there's hope!
Get out and vote!

Posted in: chaosgurl, portland, technology, united states on September 28, 2008 at at 9:47:00 PM 0 comments    

I saw on the news the other day that the US Mint is planning to introduce new designs for the penny in 2009 to celebrate the bicentenary of President Lincoln's birth. I have a better idea - get rid of the useless things.

Coming from a country that discontinued use of its one cent coin in 1991 (the year after I left high school!), the use of the penny here shocks and astounds me. If I get one in change, I just don't take it. I see no reason to clog my wallet/pocket/house up with a coin that I'll never actually be able to use as a meaningful piece of money. The sooner the Australian system of rounding purchases to the nearest five cents happens, the better!

On a side note, one bank here does do rounding up to the nearest five cents - but on electronic purchases. Let's say, you spend $24.43 on something and pay for it with your debit card. The bank extracts $24.45 from your checking account, but puts the extra two cents into your linked savings account! Clever! One could imagine that all your transactions over a given period of time might add up to a considerable boost to your savings.

On a further note, when the designs for the new penny were unveiled, certain conservative members of the community worked themselves into a lather. According to them, the words "In God We Trust" had been removed from the penny – a sure sign that atheists and communists were running the country and the end of the world wasn't far away.

What they were (conveniently?) forgetting was that all the images of the new coin designs are only showing the obverse of the coin. The reverse of the coin is remaining the same, and on that side of the coin is Lincoln's head... and the words "In God We Trust".

Posted in: chaosboy, united states on September 25, 2008 at at 8:25:00 AM 0 comments    

The big news here in the US lately has been how the national average price for gas has reached $US4 per US gallon (oddly, not the same as an Imperial gallon). Apparently it spells the end of the world as we know it or something. So I did some quick sums based on a recent Sydney Morning Herald article that stated that petrol prices had reached 171.9 cents a litre in Sydney.

Works out Sydneysiders are paying the equivalent of $US6.13 a gallon for petrol or thereabouts. Ouch. There's always someone worse off than you. Makes me glad I ride a bike, that's for sure!

Posted in: australia, chaosboy, general musings, united states on June 18, 2008 at at 3:20:00 PM 1 comments    

We're all familiar with them: ads on TV that include a little warning in them, either as a caption or a voice over. Do Not Attempt, they say, or Consult Your Doctor If Pain Persists... that kind of stuff. In general, they're a good idea: no one should take their new Audi out and attempt handbrake turns on the freeway like you see on all the car ads these days.

It's just that in America there are so damn many of these disclaimers. Sometimes it seems like every ad on TV has a disclaimer warning you about something. There's even car ads which proclaim Professional driver on closed course. Do not attempt. when all the car is doing is driving within the speed limit down a perfectly ordinary road!

Or how about the ad for earwax spray which shows a guy sticking a toilet plunger onto the side of his head in a futile (and obviously comedic) effort to dislodge earwax. Do not attempt, the caption solemnly intones, like we'd all think that a plumber's friend is the instant solution to waxy buildup, rather than the erstwhile product the ad is spruiking.

I know that the advertisers are just covering their butts in today's increasingly litigious society, but where will it end? And is the general public really that stupid?

And don't even get me started on the plague that is pharmaceutical TV advertising in America. These ads totally dominate prime time viewing and have to be seen to be believed. They tend to be a minute long, as they have to list every single potential side effect and problem that could arise from use of the product. And they're for everything: Viagra (and all the other "ED" products), osteoporosis, high blood pressure, sleeping pills and so on, ad infinitum.

It's fun when the advertiser tries to integrate the disclaimer into the narrative of the ad, such as making the protagonist actually visit a doctor (resplendent in white coat, of course) who proceeds to list all the side effects in excruciating detail, finishing with "and of course, see me if any of these things occur." It's all terribly reassuring.

But most of the time the ads just admit defeat and just show our heroes dancing around or leading happy, full lives while Serious Voice Over Artist™ runs through the litany of things that could happen to you for a full 30 seconds or more. It's kind of surreal, because the side effects always sound worse than the problem they're trying to treat. "Oh, so I don't have a blocked nose any more, but I might have headaches, blurred vision, a bloody nose or experience extreme nausea. Great!"

Finally, there's car ads which include financing offers. These tend to display an entire screen of miniscule terms and conditions (the real "small print") for a period of somewhat less than a second. Having worked on some car ads for the Daewoo dealership network back in Australia, I can safely say that you'd never get away with this there, as all type shown on screen in an advertisement has to be readable by a "reasonable" person. This would force these US car ads to be about half an hour long however, so it's probably best the way it is. I feel that Full terms and conditions of your lease agreement can be found at your local BMW dealership might be a better and more transparent way of going about things, however.

Posted in: chaosboy, general musings, united states on June 9, 2008 at at 10:25:00 AM 0 comments    

Drunken People Crossing, originally uploaded by Senex Prime.

The photo above is a sign at the entrance of a brewpub's car park in Missoula, Montana. It vividly and visually portrays the huge difference between Portland and Missoula when it comes to drinking alcohol.

The sale, distribution and consumption of alcoholic beverages in Portland (and all of Oregon) is controlled by the OLCC (Oregon Liquor Control Commission), who rule with something of an iron fist. Venues are regularly tested to see if they are checking the ID of patrons or letting underage drinkers in; so much so that most bars will ask everyone for ID, even if they're way above 21. And once they've asked you for ID, no one will turn a blind eye if you've forgotten it. No card, no drink.

Whereas, as this picture shows, Missoula almost seems proud of its hard drinking reputation. As I mentioned in my previous post, the Top Hat Club has a "$5 Tap Beer" promotion on Wednesday nights. What this means is that for $5, you get as many pints as you can drink between 10:30pm and 1:00am! Guidelines for bar owners in Montana suggest that encouraging binge drinking isn't such a great idea, but it doesn't seem like that message has quite sunk in yet for some bars. Missoula is a university town, so I would expect that a large proportion of the drinkers who would want to take advantage of a $5 beer night would be college kids. Spencer (who grew up in Montana) told me that bars would do "Quarter Beers" - 25 cent pints!!! and "cheap drinks until the first person goes to the toilet" nights.

As a final demonstration of the differences between the two cities, Spencer's sister - who is 23 - forgot her ID when she came to the Top Hat, but was allowed entry anyway. It just wouldn't happen in Portland.

Posted in: chaosboy, party time, travel, united states on April 16, 2008 at at 11:25:00 AM 0 comments    

Click on the map above for a full-size image.

This last weekend, I got out of Portland with Kim, Spencer and Jaime as we headed off to Spokane, WA and Missoula, MT to see the last two shows on Colin Lake and Wellbottom's 2008 Spring Tour. Colin is a good friend of ours (and I've designed his logo, web site and latest album cover as well) and Kim's boyfriend Kevin plays bass for the band. So it seemed like a great idea to pile in the car and cheer them along the home stretch. Christine couldn't make it on the trip with us as she has to work weekends and we kinda need the cashola at the moment, but she certainly didn't begrudge me going off and having fun.

We headed off after lunch on Friday, out along the stunning Columbia River Gorge towards Umatilla, where we entered Washington State and headed up to Spokane, a 350 mile journey in total. The weather was beautiful, the first 70°F (21°C) day since last October, with hardly a cloud in the sky. The familiar verdant green and waterfalls of the western Gorge soon gave way to the very different – but no less beautiful – desert-like eastern part and plains of Eastern Oregon. Much of the area is kept alive and productive by extensive irrigation; an aerial photograph of the area near Umatilla shows all the circular fields that seem to be the norm for irrigated farmlands in this part of the country.

We finally rolled into Spokane (pronounced "Spo-can" for all the non-locals) at around 7:00pm, where we met up with band and headed up to the house of one of Kim's friends to freshen up and have a few drinks before the show. The gig was at a small bar called "The Swamp" in a semi-industrial area of town, but attracted a pretty decent crowd, all of whom seemed to appreciate the show that the guys put on. Touring for a few weeks has definitely helped the band sound really tight, the show was pretty flawless. Here's a couple of photos:

After the show ended, we headed back up the hill to the house, where the party continued until 3:00am or so, after which everyone crashed where they could. The start the next morning was slow to say the least, with no-one even stirring before 11:30am. We finally got out of the house for a late breakfast at 1:00pm at a great cafe before everyone hit the road for the next leg to Missoula, Montana – a mere 200 miles away.

This leg of the journey took us across the "panhandle" of Idaho, a narrow strip of mountainous land that extends all the way north to the Canadian border. Looking at it on a map makes you wonder why a state would bother to claim such a narrow strip of land - and it actually all comes down to a mistake. The original surveyors were meant to mark the edge of the territory along the US Continental Divide, but went the wrong way and were almost at the Canadian border before they realised their mistake. The border should have been much further to the east, but the mistake has remained. After a mere 80 miles or so, we crossed the border into Montana, the "Big Sky State", the 10th US State that I have visited.

The scenery from Coeur d'Alene in Idaho all the way to Missoula was quite spectacular, with huge snow-covered mountains and pristine lakes. We also passed the town of Wallace, which holds quite a few claims to fame. It rose to prominence as the biggest silver mining town in the US, then had the last set of traffic lights on the US Interstate system: these were removed in 1991 when the bypass around (and above) the town was completed. Finally, in need of some tourism to help the struggling town, Wallace decided to declare itself "The Center Of The Universe", with a manhole cover downtown (seriously!) denoting the exact spot. I think that Rome and Greece had that idea some 2000 years earlier, guys...

We arrived in Missoula at around 7:00pm and got ourselves something to eat before heading off to the Top Hat Club, the venue for the last show of the tour.

Note the "$5 Tap Beer" sign... I'll be talking about that in another blog soon. While fairly unprepossessing from the outside, the Top Hat was a very atmospheric bar on the inside, and had a great big stage for the guys to perform on. Another great show, and a lot of the college kids in the audience got up and danced, which was fun to see. We were way too cool to dance ourselves.

The show finished right at closing time (2:00am) and we were treated to the Missoulan way of closing a bar: the chairs and tables were all instantly stacked on top of each other while the bartenders shouted things like, "If you don't work here, GET OUT!" and, "What are you still DOING HERE?!". We helped the guys load their gear into their rig, then headed off to a nearby hotel where we got half-price rooms for the night. Some of us headed off to a nearby 24-hour diner, but I took the opportunity to get an hour's headstart on sleep.

Sunday was the whole 550 mile trip in reverse, which took pretty much the whole day. We were all pretty tired and glad to be home, but felt for the band: in their big and slow rig, they didn't get back to Portland until late in the night, well and truly tired of this whole touring thing. Kevin had to get up and go to work first thing Monday morning as well, ugghh!!

Posted in: chaosboy, music, photography, travel, united states on April 15, 2008 at at 1:08:00 PM 0 comments    

In news today from America, Starbucks will be shutting down its 7,100 company-owned stores this afternoon in order to – and this is true, I swear!– teach its staff how to make coffee.

Not surprisingly, Starbucks' competitors are having a field day with this, offering half-price or even free coffee to ensure that everyone gets enough caffeine during those dark hours. I could insert some witticism or comment here, but in this case, actions really do speak louder than words.

Read the full story here.

And this is kind of funny too (Not to mention true!).

Posted in: chaosboy, general musings, united states on February 26, 2008 at at 2:55:00 PM 2 comments    

Yesterday was the day of the biggest sporting event in the US... one that households tune in to watch by the millions, one that true sports fans acknowledge as the ultimate test! And no, I'm not talking about that silly old Super Bowl - this is the Widmer Bowl, contested annually on the same day as that other football game by Widmer Bros employees, ex-employees, friends of employees (ie, me!) and anybody else who feels like joining in.

Having experienced my first game of American football at Thanksgiving, I was a little more prepared this time (shoes with grip and a change of clothes!) and probably contributed a bit more to the team effort. Seriously, last time I had no idea of what was going on and where I should be on the field! I was also helped by the fact that players wore detachable tags around their waists, so you could effect a "tackle" simply by pulling off a tag. It certainly helped when Colin, who is over six feet tall and over 60 pounds heavier than me came storming my way:

Yes, my eyes are closed. But can you blame me? I managed to fend off his palm with my right hand and snag the tag with my left, all without seriously injuring myself. Here's some more action shots:

Yay to Christine for coming and taking some shots for us before she had to head off to work, and for dealing with flat batteries in both of my cameras, whoops!

The game ended at 8 touchdowns all, including a game-tying miracle pass from Colin on the last play of the day, curse him and his athletic skills! Much fine Widmer product was imbibed at half time and after the game, including a bit of a drinking contest to determine the real winner, during which I proved that all these so-called "big drinkers" from the US are nothing compared to a boy from Down Under. :-)

And the Super Bowl itself? Actually a fantastic game of sport (despite my general misgivings about American Football), with the result not determined until the very end. And we always love an underdog beating the overwhelming favourite, don't we? And as a guy in advertising, some of the ads were quite fantastic as well.

Posted in: chaosboy, sport, united states on February 4, 2008 at at 2:29:00 PM 0 comments    

How could we forget to put in this classic photo??

After the traditional dress up the snowman and pose, Cam was sent to destroy the evidence of any fun snow activity. I regret not taking a burst photo. It was quite the spectacular tackle.

Posted in: chaosgurl, photography, united states on January 10, 2008 at at 9:09:00 PM 0 comments    

Christine's dad came to visit us in Portland for a belated Christmas get-together over the last few days and we had a great time while he was here. On Tuesday, we decided to go cross-country skiing at Trillium Lake near Mount Hood. The weather on Monday had been beautiful and we were hoping for a similar day for our excursion. This wasn't to be, as the day was a typical Portland leaden winter sky, and we even had rain as we set out. Fortunately, the rain turned to snow the higher up we got, and Trillium Lake turned out to be a winter paradise with lots and lots of thick white snow, with more falling all the time.

We strapped on our cross-country skis (which are longer and narrower than downhill skis), got rugged up and headed off to do a loop around the lake. The section from the car park to the actual loop was a very steep downhill slope and I had a very rough introduction: I fell over multiple times, finding out that the worst part isn't the falling, it's getting back up again! Not easy with 6-foot planks of wood strapped to your feet!

Once on the relatively flat track around the lake, I improved quite a lot, although I still wouldn't claim I had anything resembling a "technique". Kim and Christine often zoomed out of sight ahead, while Russ had a few problems with his older skis sticking, meaning he often brought up the rear.

The scenery - snow covered pine trees covering the mountainside - bordered on the surreal, all blinding white and contrasting black. Christine's yellow jacket certainly stood out! The lake itself was completely iced over and covered in a blanket of snow, and there was no hint of the famous view of Mount Hood for which the lake is renowned: in fact, it was difficult to determine where the land ended and the sky began!

We headed back to the car park, but the loop was longer than we thought (5 miles instead of 3) and we were all pretty beat by the time we finally hiked back up the big hill. The car had been covered with a good few inches of snow while we had been gone and we entertained ourselves by making a big snowman in the car park while we waited for Russ. A big burger and hot chocolate at Calamity Jane's Burger House on the way back to Portland made us all feel a lot better and warmer!

Posted in: chaosboy, sport, united states on at at 7:25:00 PM 1 comments    

Wow, it's the last day of 2007 already - and what a year it's been!! There's a lot of stuff to blog about, but let's keep things in order, shall we? First things first, let's talk about our Christmas...

With a little help, we were able to get to Idaho Falls to celebrate Christmas with Karen, Keener, Chuck, Kim and Kevin. It was Christine's first family Christmas for quite some time, as she'd either been in Australia or working in Portland for the previous few years, so she was very excited. Props here to Ben at the Mac Store who swapped a work day with her so we could fly out (very) early on the morning of Christmas Eve.

The flight was uneventful, with just a short stop in Boise (State capital of Idaho, for those who want to know) along the way. The ground throughout Idaho was covered in thick, white snow and looked stunningly beautiful from the skies. Our landing at Idaho Falls was delayed slightly as they had to plough (plow) the runway! We were met by Karen and we all piled into the truck for the short ride down the highway to the house. Conditions were treacherous on the road - we almost skidded into the back end of a truck and another driver behind us slid into the median of the divided highway (he was okay, though!) - and we were all very glad that we hadn't tried to drive all the way from Portland, as was our original plan!

We were made very welcome and had a lot of fun: running through the snow in the paddock behind the house and relaxing in the hot tub with a drink as snow flakes fell lightly from above. Dinner was a delicious feast before we retired to bed to await Santa's arrival! Here's a pic of us in the snow... sorry, it's still a huge novelty for this Aussie boy more used to blue skies and scorching summer temperatures on Christmas Day!

We awoke early on Christmas morning and spent the day as you should - in the company of family and friends. Present opening occupied most of the morning, and we went for a walk along the frozen banks of the Snake River in the early afternoon. More relaxation followed: the hot tub was utilised again, and some of us took the opportunity of a short nap. I was able to call home to Australia to talk to my parents, which was wonderful, although we were all very concerned about the health of my grandmother, who had recently been admitted to hospital. I was also able to call her later in the day to give her my best wishes.

Christmas dinner took the form of a Murder Mystery Party, which everyone got right into the spirit of. The "murder" had taken place in a California winery and we all had specific characters to play. I was Otto Von Schnapps, an unscrupulous wine merchant from Germany, while Christine was Marilyn Merlot (love the names!), a B-Grade Hollywood actress who was once crowned Miss Napa Valley Wine Festival. Great fun was had by all, and I eventually won the game by correctly guessing the killer's identity, although we all missed the Really Obvious Clue™ that was presented during the course of the game! It was Papa Vito, by the way: in the basement with the ring knife.

May I present Miss Marilyn Merlot... or should I call you by your real name: Daisy Drinkwater!!! **dramatic chords and lightning flashes**

Our flight back to Portland left fairly early the next day, but it took us until 8:00pm to get back through our front door as Salt Lake City airport (our connecting hub) was snowed in: every flight in and out was substantially delayed, leading to a distinct lack of Christmas cheer from many passengers. We also had a taxi driver who seemed to know nothing of the layout of Portland: I had to guide him every step of the way... and I don't even drive!

Posted in: chaosboy, idaho falls, party time, united states on December 31, 2007 at at 3:22:00 PM 0 comments    

Yes, it's true! USCIS finally granted me my I-485 Residency (Green Card) today. To say that Christine and I are relieved and happy is a huge understatement... all the uncertainty has disappeared and we can now get on with our new life together.

The actual interview was possibly one of the simplest parts of the entire process: I guess if you manage to jump through all the hoops to get this far, you've got a pretty good idea of how things should work and can plan accordingly. This is the way our interview happened:

We arrived at the Federal Building in Portland about 15 minutes before our scheduled appointment time on 9:30 and passed through the standard security before being directed to the waiting room. We had to put our appointment notice into a basket mounted on the wall along with everyone else's - this led us to wonder how they selected names, as all the forms were placed in a random fashion: some people put theirs at the front, others at the back. It seemed like a bit of pot luck to us as to whether you got called up straight away or waited around in the grim little lounge for ever. As it turned out, the case reviewers have their workload for the day already sorted out in their office, and call people according to their interview time. So it wasn't long before we were called up at all, probably 10 minutes at most.

We accompanied our case reviewer to her office, where she quickly made us swear that we would tell the truth during our interview (no bible required) before sitting us down. She went through our paperwork quickly and efficiently, but gave no hints as to how our application was going. She'd definitely make a great poker player, because you couldn't read anything into her body language at all. She first confirmed Christine's income to ensure that she could stand as my guarantor (she passed) and then told us that we no longer needed Christine's mother's co-sponsorship. We were then asked a few general questions about how we met, when we first started dating and so on: these questions were all easily answered.

Then just a few yes or no questions like, "Have you ever been convicted for a criminal offence?" or, "Have you ever committed a criminal offence that you haven't been convicted for?" I wonder if anyone ever answers "Yes" to that one... "Yes, guv, you've got me bang to rights on that one. It was me!"

After that, we showed her a few photos of us together in different places, culminating in showing her the wedding album. We warned her the wedding was a "little" unconventional before she started, but we needn't have worried - she absolutely loved the whole thing and asked us lots of questions about the wedding, the idea behind it, who made the dress, etc etc. She was definitely amused that part of the inspiration was the American Government's insistence on referring to me as an "alien". She told us that we had made her week and that she had to go and make some photocopies of the album, both as evidence supporting our application and – we suspect – to show off to other workers later that day: "Look at this crazy wedding these two people had!"

While she was gone, we speculated as to whether there were any hidden cameras in the room that were observing our body language while no one was in the room, which kept us amused until her return when she told us that my FBI check was clean and that she was going to approve my application today. The card itself will be mailed to me within the next 2 weeks; no temporary card or stamp in my passport was given. The interview itself probably only took 15-20 minutes, plus the 10 minutes of waiting – almost an anticlimax considering the struggles we've had to get to this point!

Here's us all smiles after the interview:
It definitely seems to me that if you go to these interviews fully prepared – have copies of all your required documents ready and and hand, lots of photos and other evidence of relationship – and are honest in your answers, it's a very simple procedure. However, if you try and hide anything from them, they'll be onto you in a second and could make things very difficult for you indeed.

So ends this part of the saga – next, it's on to finding a job! Stay tuned!

Posted in: chaosboy, immigration, united states on December 18, 2007 at at 4:21:00 PM 5 comments