The Desert of My Dreams

Photos of my five hour layover at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.

Several people told me that Schiphol was a good airport but I didn’t really find it that amusing. Their signs did have nice fonts, though.

It’s about 11 p.m. in Dubai and I’ve been here for a few days. My flight landed Friday at about midnight. The trip overall was pretty good but super long. I shared a cab to the airport with a first year, which was fun and cheap (thanks Ridenow!). When I checked in, I ended up paying $50 extra since both bags were overweight ($25/piece for every 20 pounds over the 50 pound limit). There was a family at the agent next to me who were required to pay $200 in extra weight surcharges. They kept trying to haggle with the agent but I don’t think they got very far.

I was at the airport pretty early so I had plenty of time. I started working on the CSCW final but didn’t really get beyond jotting down a few notes.

I flew Northwest from Detroit to Amsterdam, had a five hour layover in Amsterdam, and then flew KLM from Amsterdam to Dubai. During the first leg of the flight, I was in an exit row/bulkhead and nobody sat next to me. For the most part, it was awesome! The only bad thing about it was that I was next to the galley so I got to see and hear every convergence of the million flight attendants. There were so many of them; I swear they must have been having a party with the first class liquor. One of the flight attendants was way too nice to me; I’m thinking she must have thought I was younger than I really am. At one point, she asked me if I was going home . . . to Amsterdam. Umm . . . do I look Dutch?

One cool thing about this flight was that the plane was equipped with a video-on-demand system. It had movies, music, games, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I didn’t investigate. I played around with it for about twenty minutes but then got annoyed with its various usability issues and its crappy graphic design (who uses gradients and drop shadows anymore?!?). When I started keeping a mental note of every heuristic it violated, I decided that I probably needed to stay away from the interface so I turned it off. As always, my fully-charged iPod, which actually goes a long way (it was on during most of my 20+ hour trip and I still haven’t needed to recharge it yet), saved the day. Besides listening to the iPod and getting a little bit of sleep, I finished reading Reefer Madness, which I had started during my last couple of weeks in LA but never got a chance to finish it once school started. It was entertaining, enlightening, and a fast read.

My five hours in Amsterdam felt like the longest five hours of my life, mostly because I was super tired from having very little sleep. When I did sleep on the plane, I kept having disturbing dreams about the flight attendants and not being able to open my eyes. In any case, when I got to Amsterdam, I was expecting the airport to be like DTW because at least two people told me that it was a “good” airport. Frankly, I thought it sucked. There was very little to do and very few choices to find food, do any shopping, or hangout. With pink tiled walls embedded with a sea green neon light (seriously, I took photos of this thing), I was expecting A-Ha to come out at any minute. But maybe I was in a bad terminal or I needed to do some more exploring.

I tried doing some reading but had a very hard time keeping my eyes open so that was out of the question. I ended up spending most of my time listening to my iPod. I made sure to play Guster’s Amsterdam and A-Ha’s Take on Me several times.

The flight from Amsterdam to Dubai was packed . . . and most of the people going there were Westerners (which I still don’t understand). My seat this time sucked because the guy next to me wouldn’t stop coughing or sniffling. I was tempted to go to the bathroom and grab some tissues for him to blow his nose. It was pretty annoying and nasty.

I guess since it was KLM or maybe because we were flying out of Amsterdam but they always made the announcements first in Dutch and then in English. The Dutch announcements seemed to last way longer than the English announcements so I always wondered what I was missing. At the beginning of the flight, the pilot gave us an overview of our flight path. He gave a very detailed overview of which spots in Europe we’d be flying over and then quickly mentioned that we’d be flying over a little part of Turkey, the Persian Gulf, and finally landing in Dubai. He failed to mention that we would actually be flying over Iran and cutting across the middle part of Iraq into Kuwait. They conveniently played a movie during that time so we never saw the map of our current flight path until we were almost in Kuwait. I found it kind of disturbing and scary. It seems like an unnecessary risk for a commercial airliner to make. Why fly over a war zone when you can easily go around it?

We finally landed in Dubai at about midnight local time. The airport is huge and was packed. The airport felt like a huge maze because it took forever until I finally reached the immigration/passport lines. As an American, I didn’t need a visa and didn’t have to pay anything to enter the country (maybe they’ll make me pay a fee when I leave like Jordan does?). As a tourist, I needed to give them a phone number of where I was staying. Of course, I didn’t have my brother’s number because I didn’t know that I’d need it and he didn’t know that I needed it either. The passport guy was being a total ass about the whole thing. He then consulted with his supervisor and the supervisor made an exception. I found my bags pretty easily and somehow passed through customs without getting searched. With as much new gifts I was carrying, I was worried about having to go through customs. I finally made it out of the airport and I think we were home by 1 or 2 a.m.

I turned in the last of my schoolwork (the CSCW take-home final) yesterday so now I feel the need to reflect on last semester. As busy as it was, I think it may have been my favorite semester thus far. I’m not really sure why because I wasn’t exactly captivated by any of my classes. Overall, they were all good (a few of them more frustrating than they needed to be) but I didn’t actually have a class that I looked forward to attending. But I guess I feel like it was such a good semester because I got to do several things that were different and exciting - teaching, my thesis, our infoviz project. I think those experiences (well, at least two of them) helped me confirm my career plans and interests.

And this may sound silly but my apartment (and its location) are a huge reason why I enjoyed my time in Ann Arbor last semester. Being located only a short walk from downtown Ann Arbor and the UM campus has been awesome.

Looking forward to next semester, I’m anticipating having a lot more free time . . . free time for myself and to hangout with the friends who I won’t be seeing after this semester. I’m also super excited about two of my classes, which will be a nice change from last semester.

I can’t wait.

Both Orkut and Flickr are blocked in the UAE. I felt like a criminal when I saw that this morning.

packing sucks . . . I hate packing . . . I hate unpacking even more, though . . .

I’ve just thrown a whole bunch of stuff into my bag. I really don’t know how many outfits I’ve thrown in or what it is that I’m actually taking. I just know I’m taking stuff that resembles stuff that I would wear in the summer or spring. It’s one nice thing about going somewhere for two weeks (and staying with family) — I know I can’t take enough clothes for the entire time but I can do laundry (and for free!).

Well, I’m hoping my brother won’t charge me to do my laundry at his place.

Ummm, he better not . . . . given all the stuff mom, my sister, and his mother-in-law are having me take over there for them (and given how much trouble I’ve gone through to get this stuff over there).

It’s been a really long day. It started out kind of crappy but ended up in the company of some of my favorite people at the Earle.

I think I will tell you about my somewhat crappy day because hey, isn’t that what blogs are about?

This post is really disorganized, which is essentially how I’m feeling right now.

So anyway, my day . . . . I spent the morning finishing up the last of my comm 111 grading (and procrastinating the cscw final). I was finally ready to leave my apartment at around 2 p.m. to go do some errands (and further procrastinate working on the cscw final). Unfortunately, Natalie the Jetta wouldn’t start. I think it must be the battery. Nat wouldn’t start on Monday, either. On Monday night, I called the free roadside assistance that comes with my warranty and they jumped Nat and she was fine then (I drove her around town for about twenty minutes). In any case, I called the roadside assistance number again this afternoon thinking that I’ll just have them tow Nat to the Howard Cooper dealership on State. The roadside assistance people told me that the tow truck will be there within an hour.

I don’t know why but I decided to just hang out in my car for that hour (mostly to procrastinate whatever work I could be doing in my apartment). I called up Howard Cooper and described the situation to them and they seemed to think that it was a battery problem, too. They also told me that they didn’t have any loaners available and that they probably won’t be able to look at it until tomorrow. I spent the rest of the time trying to think of how I was going to do everything that I needed to do this afternoon and still have time to take the car in and rent a car/take the bus/get a cab. There were a lot of logistical issues involved with the whole thing (i.e. could Howard Cooper get the car fixed early enough tomorrow that I would have time to pick it up and bring it back before my cab to the airport came? What if they couldn’t get it fixed in time? Could I just leave it at the dealership for two and a half weeks? What about a rental? Would I have to drive that back somewhere? But then who would pick me up to go home?). In the middle of this back and forth dialog with me and my brain, I remember that one of the bags that I’m taking is in the trunk of the car and that I should remove it before the tow truck gets there. This bag weighs like 60 pounds and is full of stuff for my nieces from my mom, my sister, and my brother’s mother-in-law, which they made me bring back with me from St. Louis when I came back from Thanksgiving break. The bag stayed in my trunk because I didn’t want to carry it up three flights of stairs only to take it down a few weeks later. Guess what I did today? I brought it up three flights of stairs only to take it down . . . umm . . . tomorrow.

After about an hour of going through multiple scenarios about logistically coordinating everything that I needed to do without a car (which is the worst thing for me to do because I really really really hate uncertainty and when life gets in the way of my very well organized plans), I called the roadside assistance number again to check the status of the tow truck. After giving the guy my information (counting the Monday night call, this is the third time that I’ve heard them tell me in a very unsympathetic monotone that they’re sorry to hear that my car won’t start and the third time that I’ve told them that I drive a black 2003 Jetta that’s located in Ann Arbor, MI 48103 and that yes, I am in a safe location), he tells me that the tow truck guy is going to be another 45 minutes because he’s at the scene of an accident.

Ummm . . . I guess I should have told them that I wasn’t at a safe location. I told them to go ahead and cancel the tow truck. I decided that I’ll just wait to get the car fixed when I get back from Dubai.

So, it’s already 3:30 p.m. at this point and I really needed to go to the post office today. My mom and sister had decided to buy even more stuff for the girls and have it shipped to me. Of course, when USPS tried to deliver it, I wasn’t home (because I’m never home) so I had to go to the post office to pick it up (why can’t they leave that stuff at my apartment’s leasing office like UPS does?). If there was one thing that I needed to do today, it was pick up that stupid package. I go back to my apartment and try calling a cab but the first place I called had an hour wait and I really didn’t want to wait an hour or keep calling cab companies in the yellow pages. I check out the Ride schedule and realize that I can take route 8 all the way to the post office. I walk to the bus stop on Main street and wait . . . and wait. I was actually waiting at the wrong bus stop (don’t you love how some of the AATA bus stops don’t actually post the route numbers but others do?) for a good twenty or so minutes. I probably ended up waiting another half hour at the right bus stop until I finally got on route 8.

It was really interesting to ride the bus on a route that doesn’t go to campus. The whole bus was full of people who weren’t students . . . people who really did need to take the bus because they have no other mode of transportation or do not have the mental capacity to drive a car. During the whole ride, I kept thinking about how spoiled and lucky I am. I was worrying about something really stupid that I can easily have fixed in a few weeks (and I’m lucky enough to have the financial resources to get it fixed).

I finally get to the post office (after getting off the bus a little too early . . . so early that I couldn’t feel my fingers after walking into the post office – yes, I was wearing gloves), pick up my package, mail my sister a copy of Business Week (it had social software stuff on the cover . . . I figured maybe she’ll take what I’m doing more seriously if she saw it on the cover of Business Week), and have them hold my mail for two weeks. The package is somewhat heavy but felt heavier as I was walking from the post office to the bus stop. It was really really really cold. It’s about 5 p.m. at this point and I was meeting up with my super awesome infoviz group for dinner at the Earle at 5:30 p.m. A few minutes after I got to the bus stop (which according to the sign, services routes 8, 12UL, and 15), the 12UL bus comes. I ask the driver if the bus goes downtown, he said no but it does go to Washington (and umm, why don’t bus stops have the routes posted?). I decided to not take this bus because I was sure that the route 8 bus would be there any minute and I really needed to just go home, drop off the package, and then walk to the Earle from my apartment. So, I waited and waited and waited and waited for the route 8 bus and it never showed up. The route 12UL bus, with the same bus driver, did show up again (it was about 5:40 at this point). Since I felt like a human popsicle, I took the bus because no matter where it ended up, it would have been better than waiting in the cold for a bus that wasn’t coming. On the bus, I looked through the route book and started thinking that maybe I’ll just take the bus all the way to CC Little and then take the Southbound commuter to go home, drop off the package, and then walk to the Earle. But then as we drove through downtown, I started thinking that the Earle was somewhere near here but I couldn’t exactly remember where it was. I finally decided to just get off at the next stop and ask at a coffee shop or something.

I get off the bus, turn around, and there was the Earle! It was the one right thing that happened today. I walk in, see mattbot and apete, drop the package on the floor next to our table and just say, “Where’s the bathroom?”

Get car fixed/figure out why it won’t start

Because you know I need more things to do today.

. . . before I leave . . .

infoviz:
integrate the group report and hand it off to my group [12/12]
individual report [12/15][12/19]
practice my part of the group presentation [12/12]

cscw:
take-home final [12/15] [12/20]

soc:
research proposal [12/13]
transcribe and code 2 interviews [12/13]

comm111:
grade websites/ppt presentations and come up with final grades for section 005 [12/15]
submit grades in Wolverin Access for sections 005, 009, & 010 [12/15]

those important applications that will determine my fate for the next four years:
finish two applications [12/15][1/15]

various errands:
clean the apartment
grab some cash
pack
dig out my international adaptors for the laptop
pay Jan. rent
pay any other bills

I’m sure there are way more things that I’m forgetting.

I guess I’ll be taking out more loans. Blah.

Over the course of this semester, we’ve had a couple of intellectual property issues at SI. In one case, a student completely stole a recent alum’s entire portfolio and called it his own (he changed a few colors and replaced the alum’s info with his relevant info). In another case, one student used the CSS template of a student organization’s website to create his own portfolio’s template.

Given their context, these incidents are just unbelievable. The whole notion of intellectual property theft by graduate students is ridiculous. The whole notion of intellectual property theft by graduate students at a major research institution is even more ridiculous. The whole notion of intellectual property theft by graduate students studying information at a major research institution is just ironic (and still ridiculous).

Both cases outraged and angered me - both as a designer and a student. As a designer, I know how hard it can be to design a polished site (especially one that is designed to sell yourself). For someone to easily and quickly grab what you’ve made without giving you credit troubles me. As a student, I’m outraged that such talentless hacks can be part of my program. I love my program and find it to be rather rigorous. The program has an excellent reputation. It really angers me to think that these people could graduate with the same degree as me. Umm . . . thanks for devaluing my degree.

Tonight, the intellectual property issue has come up again. Earlier this evening, I was casually browsing one of the dozen social software sites I belong to when I came upon a link to another classmate’s website. I don’t know this classmate that well but I’m pretty friendly with him, consider him a distant friend, and find him a pleasant and nice person. I checked out his personal site/portfolio because I just love looking at personal sites. I love the genre. The whole carving out of your own personal online space and how you choose to represent yourself (or which aspects you choose to represent) is simply fascinating to me. When I checked out his page, I wasn’t really sure what to think. The information architecture of his home page looks a lot like that of my portfolio’s home page. On the one hand, I’m flattered that he’s decided to emulate the way that I’m presenting information on my home page. At the same time, I’m concerned that others (employers, professors, graduate schools, friends, etc) may wonder why our sites look so similar. Will they think that I stole his IA? Will they think that we both subscribe to some boilerplate SI IA? I’m not comfortable with either assumption but how much copyright claim can I have on an IA? Knowing this person, I really don’t think that his emulation of my design is malicious so I don’t want to blow this thing out of proportion. With the exception of how information is laid out on the home page, our portfolios are totally different so I don’t consider it a black and white case of piracy (it doesn’t even qualify as piracy in my opinion). However, I really like the way I’ve laid out my home page right now and I don’t want to change it. And it really did take me a long time to figure out how to present that information (as simple as it might be).

So this is one of those gray areas of intellectual property and I’m curious what others think about it. Can you claim copyrights to information architecture? And if so, where does the line stop? I don’t want to live in a world where people claim copyrights to silly things like . . . I don’t know . . . report formatting or something.