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People monitoring my blog via RSS or old-skool methods may have noticed that I haven't posted anything in a long time. There has been blog-worthy activity recently, but I haven't felt much interest in posting about it. My work at MobiTV has been pushing and pulling me in all directions, mostly due to the company going through a bit of an identity-crisis. I have a feeling that it will all work out okay, but such drama doesn't make it easy for a lowly engineer such as myself. New title for my life: "Scott Kidder: or, how I learned to stop worrying and love dot-coms." :)

Natalie & I will be taking a week-and-a-half vacation to the Northeast starting in two days. We'll visit & stay with members of her family living in Vermont, and spend 5 days in Montreal, Quebec. I haven't been to that part of the country since I was about 13 years-old; hopefully, I won't be such a snotty adolescent this time around ;) I hope to take lots of photos and post them on Flickr. Lately, I've rarely taken photos except on vacations. I'll try to make up for lost time by taking up as much space as possible on my camera's 1 GB flash memory card. Stay tuned for more details on the progress of our trip!

Posted by Scott at 1:04 PM | Permalink

Last weekend, Natalie and I went camping in Big Sur with a group of her friends from back-in-the-day. It was lots of fun! Most of my camping experiences have been with my parents when I was young, or while backpacking with my Dad in the wilderness. Either way, it results in very different circumstances than if you're camping with a group of young people interested in drinking, singing, and hedonistic activities :)

We went to the Julia Pfeiffer State Park on Saturday afternoon. It was absolutely beautiful! I can't believe that we were only 45 minutes away from our residence in Monterey. It felt like we were a world away.

I've posted some of our photos on my Flickr page (see sidebar), so enjoy!

Posted by Scott at 6:56 PM | Permalink

Natalie and I went to the Coachella music festival in Indio (Palm Desert), California, last weekend. It was great to get away for a few days, as we departed on Thursday evening and returned the following Monday. The weather was beautiful, and we had a grand time shopping at the posh stores of Palm Desert.

The music festival line-up seemed impressive: New Order, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, Wilco, etc. We were really excited about the prospect of listening to some of our favorite bands. However, festivals tend to attract large numbers of people, and all of the annoyances associated with them.

Most notable of the annoyances was the issue of trash. There were literally no trash cans in sight. People will only use trash cans if they are conveniently located. Someone who has to spend more than 5 seconds visually searching for a trash can will most likely dump their waste on the ground. This is what happened during Coachella: trash was everywhere. Water bottles, cardboard boxes, paper flyers...everywhere. It was nearly impossible to leave the festival on a good note because the sight of so much trash was visually disturbing.

Second, the security protocols were horribly designed and enforced. Pens of any sort were not permitted on the grounds, which resulted in an overflowing basket of pens at the start of every line. I'm sure most of the pens were thrown away, when instead they could have been donated to a needy school or non-profit organization. Also, there weren't any trash cans in the line, resulting in the trash problem mentioned earlier. And no beverages could be brought onto the grounds. Twelve-ounce bottles of water were being sold for $2, and beer was being sold at the outrageous price of $7. The no-beverage policy certainly guaranteed the concert organizers a sizable profit.

While I was impressed by the performances at Coachella, I don't think I'll attend next year. The performance environment is just as important as the performance material. And the environment at Coachella has become less tolerable over time. I think I'll stick with small-scale concert performances in the future.

Posted by Scott at 4:04 PM | Permalink

In the tradition of Spring and Summer activities, Natalie and I will taking several trips in the upcoming months.

From April 28 - May 2 we will be in Palm Desert (Palm Springs) for the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. It features a broad line-up of music artists out the outer-edge of the mainstream. We went in 2004 and had a great time. The biggest complaint was the 9.5 hour drive from Monterey. This year we'll be flying, thankfully. Keep posted for photos, etc.!

And, from May 29 - June 6 we will be vacationing in Kauai at my parent's place. No particular goal other than to unwind, and enjoy some sunshine and each other's company. We last visited Kauai in October, 2004. It was Natalie's first visit, and we both had a fantastic time, aside from her catching a cold/flu/yuckiness towards the end of the trip. This time we'll be loading up on Airborne and vitmain & mineral supplement heavily. Few things are worse than being sick in paradise.

So, we're both super excited about future travel plans. The Monterey fog & rain have been getting me down. I'm sure the 116 degree weather in Palm Desert will cure that!

Posted by Scott at 1:56 PM | Permalink