Upside Down Fall

Adoring the Fall - The Start of Arizona Time!

I took a quick trip to Denver last Friday. It was a lovely day. Temps in the high seventies and blue skies. But as I met with a client the reality of fall was registering in the trees. They never lie.

In Colorado The Aspen's Have Started to Glow

It made me think about how reversed everything is for us in Arizona.

People in Arizona take pride in being contrary. And I'm not even talking about our goofy politics.....

The rest of the nation changes their clocks twice a year for daylight savings time, not us here in AZ. Here we say "the heck with that! Why would we want to stay up an extra hour to experience searing heat?" 

For us it is just better to crank up the old AC and call it a day. 

When fall comes you (the rest of America) eagerly anticipate the "foliage". You know that you'll be raking soon. And right on the tail end of the falling leaves comes the snow.  You feel a little extra bite in the air each evening, AZ gets temperatures that are finally coming down to reality.

Here with perfect days come perfect nights complete with the fragrance of piñon burning in fireplaces.

You put the bicycles away, we pull 'em out and oil up the chains.

Your dogs have been running around with you all summer and are fit as a fiddle, ours have gotten fat as they have been hiding out with the rest of us indoors (believe it or not we have to be careful when we walk dogs here as the asphalt gets so hot it actually burns their feet - PetSmart sells walking booties!).  So when fall arrives we all pile in the van to take the dogs to Dreamy Draw and they can start to lose summer blubber.

As the rest of North America starts to look for covers to their lawn furniture, Phoenicians venture out to the back porch to clean off the furniture.

I always find it funny to see Target clearing out the outdoor stuff right when we need it. They have to make room for halloween stuff. Target's garden center starts folding up right when we start thinking about planting bulbs.

Everyone loves the fall - but I think we have plenty of justification to love it more. So for the rest of you folks - enjoy your next few months of "indoor time". As for us in AZ, well we are gonna be a bit hard to find for a few months. It is our time again. Time to ride bikes, hike, and just get the heck out of the house!

Roadboys Travel's © 2010 

Losing The Vision One Day At A TIme

Southwest Gobbles Up AirTran

I am one of this nations legion of road warriors. I travel every week. I fly commercially almost every week. I spend most nights of the year sleeping in a hotel bed.

So this weeks announcement of the "merger" of Southwest and AirTran was a bit of a shock. 

I fully comprehend mergers between legacy carriers. The United / Continental merger doesn't seem odd. Delta absorbing Northwest - probably makes sense. 

But somehow the Southwest and AirTran merger, well it just doesn't seem to  add up.

Southwest has always concentrated on a mostly point-to-point travel model. Nearly every flight on AirTran goes through Atlanta or Orlando.

Southwest ONLY flies 737's. AirTran's fleet is filled with MD85's (now called Boeing 717).

Southwest has a sterling safety record. AirTran was born by changing its name from ValuJet to avoid the bad press associated from a horrible crash in Florida.

Southwest has amazing Customer Service. AirTran, well lets just say it falls short of Southwest.

Southwest flies 100% domestic routes. AirTran flies various international routes.

While I hope the merger goes well for both parties, as an outsider looking in I have to say it seems like this is the event we will all point to someday and say "that is where Southwest lost its vision".

Herb, where are you?

Roadboy's Travels © 2010

A Walk at Mill's

One of Oakland's Many Treasures

I grew up in probably the most misunderstood city in California - Oakland.

And while no less than Gertrude Stein and The Simpson's have delighted in making it the butt of their jokes,  I will always love Oakland and the entire East Bay.

Last week I went back and took a quiet walk with Miss "M" among the lush 135 acre campus of Mill's College in Oakland. Mill's is a women's college founded in 1852. And according to the 2011 US News Best Colleges it ranks number 4 among Tier 1 regional universities in the West. Pretty heady for a private college with less than a thousand undergraduates.

As a child a friend's father was a professor at Mill's - so we'd visit his lab and explore the campus. I loved its groves of fragrant eucalyptus trees and beautiful assemblage of architecture by Julia Morgan. There is no question the latter helped confirm me in my desire to become an architect.

When a friend graduated from Mill's years later I witnessed the bestowing of an honorary degree on the pioneering photographer Imogen Cunnigham and listened to a commencement speech delivered by Maya Angelou. There are few times in my life when, in the space of a single day, I have been in the presence of two of America's living treasures.

Now almost 40 years later, I wanted to see how Mill's looked.

Well, it has lost a lot of its eucalyptus trees*, but it has never looked better.

Julia Morgan's Masterpiece - The 1904 El Campenil 

(The First Reinforced Concrete Structure West of the Mississippi

Still Chimes Faithfully)

It still echoes with the bells from El Campenil. Its main entry Richards Road is still tree lined. Mill's Hall, its magnificent Victorian, has been carefully seismically stabilized, and it offers some wonderful new buildings like the Lokey Graduate School of Business.

Richards Road

Mill's Hall From the Oval

Our walk included a stop at the bright little Tea Room for some wonderful coffee and a great turkey and ricotta sandwich. We also ventured back to the Aron Arts Center. This was the area that borders the MacArthur Freeway which was just being built when I was a kid. Back then they weren't sure how the freeway would impact the campus and this area was in disrepair. Today it is lovely.

The Aron Arts Center

The Art Museum

Building Detail

Lobby of Littlefield Hall

The New Uber Green Lokey Building

Mill's is still a special place for a very lucky few.

It is an Oakland treasure. 

It is a California treasure. 

Roadboy's Travels © 2010

*I know they burn like SOB's, are dirty, are not native, and have shallow roots - but I still miss these big old Australian transplants. 

What We've Been Doing

A Peek Into the New Maryland Medical Examiner's Facility

Fair warning - if you are squeamish about subjects related to death and dying, then this post may not be the best one for you to read.

As many of you know this blog highlights my ongoing travels. Much of this travel is the direct result of being a founder of the architectural firm that plans most of the worlds most sophisticated buildings for law enforcement and the forensic sciences.

Occasionally I prepare a post that showcases one of our recent buildings. These one-of-a-kind buildings are usually built with tax dollars. Yet because of the sensitive work they do, and the routine handling of evidence within, once in operation, they are frequently restricted in their availability for tours. Despite that, please believe me, you can be very proud of the work performed in them. They are a tool in the search for truth, and routinely they protect life while preventing further criminal activity by some of societies worst predators.

In the past two weeks we have dedicated two new buildings; police facility (in suburban Chicago) and Maryland's new Forensic Medical Center in Baltimore. 

Here is a mini tour of the Medical Examiner Facility. Or what many of you would simply call "the morgue".

The new $54,000,000 Medical Examiner Facility was built as part of the University of Maryland's BioPark. It will serve as the new home for the Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland (the nations oldest statewide Medical Examiner system). The new facility with its two main autopsy suites, spaces for special autopsy (w/special BSL3 bio-safety precautions), will serve not only Maryland's needs, but will undoubtedly be in demand throughout the east (since it houses specialized spaces and equipment found almost nowhere else in North America). 

Designed specifically as a research and teaching facility it will also offer unique training opportunities for forensic pathologists throughout the world.

A Compact Site Resulted in a Space Efficient Vertical Design

 

Dr. David Fowler Conducts a Tour For Congressman Elijah Cummings

The unique features of the facility include two 3-story autopsy suites flooded with natural light and outfitted with the latest digital camera systems. Each is fitted with full observation decks for the use by students and field investigators. 

The View From the Observation Area

A Full Body CAT Scanner is Located Between Autopsy Suites

The neuro-pathology training lab is positioned to allow for wonderful views of surrounding Baltimore as well as overhead views into each of the two main autopsy suites.

The Neuro-Pathology Lab

If a case arrives that is suspected to pose bioloigcal risk, special facilities are available. The case will be transported in a specially isolated elevator, stored in an isolated cooler, and autopsied in suites designed to meet stringent bio-safety level 3 standards.

 

Biosafety Level 3 Protection

There are labs for Histology, Toxicology, and Odentology. Each of these labs are surrounded by "clean" office areas for staff to return calls and prepare for court.

Overhead "Snorkels" Will Draw off Heat and Odors From

Scientific Instrumentation in the New Toxicology Lab

Another feature of the facility is its viewing room for the meticulously crafted death scene miniatures referred to as the "Nutshells". The Nutshells were created in the 1940's by Frances Glessner Lee for Harvard's Forensic Pathology program. Everything needed to solve the crime is in each "nutshell" (i..e. "thats it in a nutshell"). According to Bruce Goldfarb (see: http://brucegoldfarb.com/the-nutshell-studies-of-unexplained-death) Ms. Lee may have been the inspiration for the character Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. 

After Lee's death in 1962, Maryland's chief medical examiner Dr. Russell Fisher, a former instructor at Harvard, secured a permanent loan of the Nutshells from the Lee family. The Nutshells are still used in homicide investigation seminars, and after a complete restoration last year, now have a wonderful new home.

                                                                                                                         

One of The "Nutshells" Death Scene Miniatures

One feature you won't see is the carefully planned and somewhat incredible mechanical plant that is needed to scrub water and air for the facility which is located in a rooftop penthouses above the facility.

Upblast Exhauster's That "Blast" Air From the Facility

I am so proud of our Virginia staff. They outdid themselves planning this amazing facility!

So next time you curl up with a "Kay Scarpetta" murder mystery or watch CSI, NCIS, or an episode of "Bones", remember Team Roadboy is working hard for you!

Roadboy's Travels © 2010

The "Best Rate Guarantee" Sham

It Is A Hoax

Rant Warning!

A few weeks back I was surfing for a good room rate for a business meeting in Los Angeles. I came across an amazing rate at the downtown Sheraton hotel using Kayak. The rate was much better than the rate Starwood was quoting on their website, so I clicked the best rate guarantee and made a claim.

All the major hotel chains say that they protect anyone booking on their websites from missing out on a better rate somewhere else. They all say if you book on their websites and then within so many hours find a better rate, they will will verify the rate and honor the lower rate plus give you something in the way of a gift certificate or something to reward you for your loyalty. To have a valid claim the rate you find must be transparent (i.e. it cannot be a through Hotwire or Priceline - where the name of the hotel is disclosed only after your purchase is made), and it must be available to anyone (i.e. it can't require a special membership at AAA or Costco for example).

The guarantee sounds good.

It isn't.

The catch is two-fold, first you must book your room at the chains site (at the higher rate). This allows you to initiate your claim. Second, the chain must verify that they can "match" the rate when they (finally) get around to checking. Of course if the lower rate has evaporated - you are stuck with the higher room rate.

So even though I copied proof of the lower rate as a pdf and forwarded it with my claim, 48 hours later when Starwood "verified" the rate, it was (of course) gone.

Claim Denied! I'm stuck with the higher rate.

So I cancelled my Starwood reservation and booked a new reservation using Hotwire. Actually, Hotwire came through again netting me an even better rate at a better hotel (the Westin.)

Today it happened again, but this time it was with Hilton. The Anaheim Hilton advertised its lowest pre-paid rate at $89 per nght (which is in itself a good rate), but the same room was $73.84 using easyclicktravel.com.

Hilton requires that a claim be filed either on-line or by phone with a representative. I thought well since last time I did it online and got burned, this time I'd try a real live human being. 

I then spent 25 minutes on the phone with a very nice reservationist at Hilton's call center in Dallas. He was baffled how to process the claim, but with the help of his supervisor we muddled through.

Again I had to make a reservation with Hilton (which I did - at a higher refundable rate), then the call taker verified the lower rate on-line and commented "Wow! That is good rate!". I figured since the Hilton staffer saw the proof, it would be readily verified. 

No so!

I was organizing the trip for a large group, so in the meantime I notified the other travelers to book rooms at easyclick while I waited for Hilton to verify my claim. Luckily they all went ahead and booked at the bargain rate.

About midnight I got an e-mail from one LaTeasa Brumfeld telling me that (despite me having someone at Hilton verify my "great rate"), now 10 hours later, since she could not match the rate with easyclicktravel.com, my claim was being rejected. So once again my efforts were rewarded with the chain offering me nothing but the higher room rate.

Of course when I went back, the rate at easyclicktravel.com had indeed jumped to the $89.

So I am two for two. And what exactly has Roadboy learned?

When you see a good rate, pounce! Don't bother telling the hotel chains anything! The "Best Rate Guarantee" is merely the sham (tool) the hotel chains use to have us road warrier's rat out deep discounters and police the net for them.

Roadboy's Travels © 2010

A Life That Matters

Don't Ignore Quiet Despair

This post will be short, it has nothing to do with travel, yet I want to scream it.....

This weekend I learned of another young life cut short by suicide. While I didn't personally know this young woman, she was well known by the kids in our church's youth group. When her death was discussed a terrible sadness came up from somewhere deep inside me. 

Suddenly I was 12 years old again; sitting at lunch with my friend John Bowler at one of those big cafetorium tables that folded out of the wall.

That is the day John cajoled his teacher if "he were to commit suicide, how would he do it?"

The teacher said, "why even consider something like that?" But John pestered him all day long and finally in frustration the teacher snapped "well I guess I'd climb in a barrel and go over Niagara Falls!"

When we arrived to school the next day we learned John had loaded his dad's gun that night and killed himself.

Please, if you know a teen, young adult (or anyone) who is sending out warning signs (aloof, cutting themselves, whatever), tell them how much they mean to you. Tell them you are there for them. Be direct about intervention. Be a friend.

42 years later, I still believe the world would be a better place if John had joined us on the journey.

Roadboy's Travels © 2010

College Calls

All Those Backpacks!

I must admit I love to travel in late summer. This is the time of year when airports are filled with young adults heading off to college. I sneak peeks at them. Most have a look of equal parts; fear and excitement.

For most parents it is both a happy and melancholy time. You want your son or daughter to have a soft landing as they fall from the nest, but you know you will desperately miss the child that is departing your home forever.

There are those awful moments when you walk past that quiet and empty bedroom. No more riffs of Guitar Hero. And when you look in there, you see the trophy's, posters, and the spot where all those Lego masterpieces and action figures used to reside. 

Despite knowing they will come back for the summer, you know they will never return as the children that left.

Mr. "B" and Sis Before Returning to ASU

Roadboy sends love to all you students (especially my own!)


Roadboy's Travels © 2010