Tag: museums

Fun In San Fran: Another Return Back From Yet Another Ship

Back to Atlanta from yet another lighting installation on a cruise ship.

This time was 6 nights in San Francisco. While every work night was spent on the ship, our last travel day was spent running around the city. I forgot how much I loved the city and this recap won’t do it justice. I didn’t hit all the strange places I wanted to visit (The Wave Organ on the bay & the Camera Obscura near Cliff House) but I did manage to hit the badly great Musee Mecanique on Pier 45 (location on My Google Map.) This is now a new favorite place of mine and I’ll be singing its praises! Check its link for a more thorough details on this odd museum.

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Musee Mecanique, originally uploaded by Octoferret.

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Opium Den at Musee Mecanique, originally uploaded by lindn.

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Musée Mécanique, originally uploaded by SRLrobot.

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can-can | musee mecanique, sf, originally uploaded by solsken.

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Musee Mecanique, San Francisco, California, originally uploaded by Blazenhoff.

All the pix are from different flickr people because I forgot my camera. Also on the tour of San Fran’s greatest hits was walking from the pier to Coit Tour to Lombard St. to China town before I got to meet up with a friend.

While waiting for her in front of City Light’s Bookstore, I got to witness the disturbing criminal act/street theater of a cracked-out pimp messing with his equally cracked-out prostitute. They argued in the street, got into a headlock on the sidewalk and generally freaked out the people nearby. Fortunately Kelly soon picked me up and took me on the second most crooked street in the city and later that night to the St. Francis Fountain, a nice soda fountain

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St. Francis Fountain, originally uploaded by Telstar Logistics.

Kelly was a great tour guide, took me to the airport and she promised in the future to point out spelling errors/typos on my site, which she reads on a regular basis. What else could I ask for? So, Kelly, thanks for a great end to a long week.

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Red-Blooded American Museum


National Museum of Patriotism – a photoset on Flickr

Last week I visited the National Museum of Patriotism in Atlanta. It was a museum I often passed but had never visited. This will be a brief post about the museum which is deserving of a longer entry.

First thoughts: patriotism = enlisting in the military/supporting the military. All the armed services were represented, with high tech displays. Formed Tuskegee Airman Charles W. Dryden (USAF – Retired) explained in documentary why a black man would risk life and limb in a time of segregation. The collection of trench art from the museums founder.

A museum dedicated to the heartfelt belief that the US is the greatest country in the world, and should be celebrated as such. Fairly uncritical, but I can’t argue with the basic starting point. There is no greater country then ours.

More on that later.

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U have to be up in 4 hours. Hating insomnia right now.

Museums, Rollergirls, Cruiseships and Internet Overload

In brief:

Visited the National Museum of Patriotism in Atlanta on Wednesday. Pictures were taken (not posted yet) and some audio recorded in hopes of a podcast on the Georgia Podcast Network. Thanks to Rusty and Amber for the audio recorder, I’ll try get my ass in gear and get a podcast ready before my ship sails.

I will be missing the next two months worth of Atlanta Rollergirls rollerderby because of work on cruiseships. So, please go people, these girls do the derby out of love and it shows. Not happy about missing the derby bouts, but very happy about the paychecks. Soon I will be spending 13 days installing high-tech lighting systems on board a cruiseship. This time it will be at sea and not at drydock like the last one. So the conditions will improve, but I will lose most communication with my sweetie. No cell phone reception, expensive internet, and $7.98 per minute from guest rooms. Notes in bottles, maybe?

I will hate to be unable to not hear her voice on a daily basis, but being away from the internet may be a needed interruption. I’m constantly surfing my usual sites, not out of any real need, but almost compulsive action. I was net-free on the first ship, and found nothing really important/interesting when I resumed surfing again.

And now to finish writing and continue my search for the end of the internet…

Holiday Wrap-Up Part 2: Washington D.C.

After returning from the Land of Big Cars (Florida), we left a day later to Washington D.C. It was all business for my wife and all pleasure for myself.

Day 1

The first full day started slow, with a late begining. First thing, catch the subway to get to the International Spy Museum. I love Metrorail’s stations with their cast-concrete retro-futurism.

Compared to NYC or London some might think them charmless but I love the flowing lines of the walkways and the modular caverns that the trains roll into.

Get to the museum to find that day’s tickets were sold out. Bought one for the next day and got directions to Chinatown for much needed cheap eats. Wandered around and followed a pack of students into one of the numerous chinese restaurants. The food was fine and not too expensive. Took metrorail back towards the hotel, exited one station early and walked the rest up Connecticut.

Day 2

Trips to London, Minneapolis and Dublin had all resulted in finding little treasures, be it The Sir John Soane’s Museum, The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices which is now located at The Science Museum of Minnesota, and the Grand Masonic Lodge in Dublin. I worried that D.C. wouldn’t have something like those other cities, but a visit to this website got me pointed in the right direction.

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial is dedicated to reminding people that our founding father wore an apron. I was worried that I wouldn’t know where to go once I got off the train, but at the station it was pretty clear what direction to go.

While large from the outside, the building has even more rooms inside then I expected. The grand hall has a huge bronze George greeting all, with murals on each side of him. Further wandering around finds exhibits about George Washington, the building of the memorial, the Shriners, etc.

One of the highlights, the Animatronic George Washington. He stands, he gestures, he talks. But he doesn’t seem to look like G.W.

I wish I had stayed for the guided tour, but my timed-ticket for the Spy Museum had me leave before I could join the tour. Had the spy museum been less packed I could have judged it on its merits, but the crush of people made it all but impossible to enjoy. Their website warned of fast ticket sales and the post-christmas crowds filled the place. The museum has no grand hall, mainly a collection of collected rooms with no flow or reason. The architecture is in the style of “Alias” mostly modern materials and flashy lighting. There were loads of cool spy artifacts, but the crowd killed my desire to linger.

I think all future travel have to include a bit of Masonic tourism. They do their places up right.

Day 3

Return flight to Atlanta. Seen in Dulles International Airport

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More Washington D.C. Pictures – Flickr

George Washington Masonic National Memorial – Google Map

Good food:

Petits Plats – French, slightly pricey, great chocolate mousse.

Furin’s of Georgetown – fresh made soups, salads. Super tastey, good price.

You Don't Know Me But… Looking for Work in a New City

The internet builds weird networks. Months before moving I was searching out Atlanta bloggers in an attempt to get a feel for my soon-to-be new city. Since moving here, the “Atlanta People With Blogs Who Get Together To Drink” meetup has given me a few faces and names, but I could walk by many of the people I read about on a daily basis. I find myself writing posts in response to what they are posting, questions they are asking, and events that I wouldn’t know about if it weren’t for them. For someone with few familiar faces in town, it’s nice to get comments on posts. This post is a result of The Muse at Strip Search City asking me, “So, how’s life in the ATL so far? “

Here’s the answer, pretty damn good. Much of that is a result of my wife, who’s job allows me to be selective and who’s patience is letting me take a lot of time doing it. Plus, I tweeked my back and I need a strong back for many of the jobs I like. All the work I’m looking for is on-call, the jobs lasting for short periods of time. Art installation, lighting installation for rock & roll, theater. Since we moved here, I had been shopping my resume around; stopping by a collection of galleries, museums and the performing art center at Georgia Tech. Also, I tracked down a collection of email addresses of people identifying themselves as Atlanta stagehands and just emailed them. And I’ve had good fortune all around…

* Stopping by the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center resulted in a job a few weeks ago and meeting a bunch of good people.

* Talking to the folks at the Museum of Design resulted in a job that will take place in October.

* A visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art GA lead to an email yesterday with another job lead. I wait for a phone called to be returned.

* The emails from a few of the responding stagehands led to several leads including the Ferst Center for the Arts. An unannounced visit to the Ferst resulted in getting hired on tthe spot, put on the on-call list and asked to work this week.

Even if the people I introduced myself to didn’t have work, they had suggestions, information, and warnings on places to avoid. Most everyone I met was generous with the help they had to a guy they had never met before and had no obligation to even give time to. I’ve had pretty good luck most places I’ve gone, but I’ve been most impressed with the people I am meeting in Atlanta. I’ve always liked working in the arts and performance scene and this has me hopeful about continuing that here.

Hopefully working more/less blogging will mean more interesting posts. And for those who are leaving comments, thanks. It’s cool hearing from you all.

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Blogging Meme, posted by Tony, who read it at Scrivenings: 23:5 Blog Meme…

23rd Post, 5th sentence, “There is a big possibility that the simultaneous polar reversal in earth and sun will throw the solar system out of whack.” *!