Why I Love Paris. And Hate It at the Same Time…

I’ve had the good fortune of being able to travel all over the western world. Among my favorites: Paris. Among those I really don’t like: Paris. Let me explain…

There isn’t a more romantic city in the world than Paris (Bruges and Venice can give it a run, but they fall short). At night, there’s probably not a more beautiful city in the world. The food is great (if you can avoid the tourist traps). The wine is great. The shopping is great. The language is beautiful (though I maddeningly know about 10 words). You’re surrounded by history and a gazillion things to do, and public transport is a breeze. All the ingredients are there for greatness.

And I’ve never had an issue with the French. Except one: I don’t know if it’s different priorities, different worldview, or what, but this labor issue drive me batty. The 35 hour work week never affected me until I lost my baggage at one of the world’s worst airports, Charles de Gaulle and the British Airways counter closed as soon as they could. If you need a punishment for terrorists, send them to this airport (forget Guantanamo)—the place was laid out by a madman, it reeks of smoke, and terminal “2” is really 6 terminals. I could go on and on...

A long week and no posts...

It's been a long week that saw me go to Detroit for a few meetings, and then a flurry of Christmas parties for the LadyThinker and myself. Needless to say, no time to write any entries in the last 7 days.

For those of you pondering a trip to see the tourist attractions of Detroit: may I advise you to pass? What an abominable place. It looks like nuclear winter, and we didn't even go downtown. Sure, like any large city, the place has a few 'nice' suburbs, but as a whole, it's a dreadful place. And walking the halls of a major motor company, the place was more dead--indeed the people looked lobotomized--than any office I have ever seen.

On the list of things to do and not to do in MoTown:

Avoid:

• The airport. Wow. While U understand Northwest Airlines has a nice terminal, it's like no place I've seen for the other airlines. I don't even know what to compare it to. Think 1950s jail hallway.
• Benihana. Our search for a light dinner in Detroit took us looking for sushi. And Benihana was supposed to be the best of the lot. It was so-so, and while chatting after dinner, we found out why: the sushi was thawed from it's flash-freeze saran-wrapped containers, and they were making rolls for the next day... Not a good sign. I'd avoid at all costs.
• Downtown. There are volumes already written about this, so I won't reinvent the wheel.

Do:

• This is a short list... Tim Horton's. A northern Jewel for coffee and breakfast
• The Four Points by Sheraton at the airport is nice for what it is.
  

Seats on an Airplane

As I write this I am flying from Paris to my least favorite airport, Chicago O’Hare (yes—from one really bad airport to another—ugh). Anyway, I was asked my a flight attendant to move from my center aisle seat to a window seat so a gentlemen could have my aisle seat. A fun conversation ensued over the merits of the seat (20A on an American 767 for those keeping score at home) and Mr. FA said that “it’s an ok seat—but you’ll be sitting next to someone and it’s by the door, so it will get a little cold.” Stop there.

This is one of the great mysteries to me—WHY is air getting IN the airplane? I am a devotee of seatguru.com, a great website that tells you about every seat on every plane, and I’ve noticed that all seats next to doors have notes about getting cold, and my own experience confirms. Does this concern anyone else?

For the record, my favorite seats: 20D on an MD-80 in coach, 4F when American is nice enough to upgrade me. Row 17 in international coach, and I am so thankful for international upgrades I don’t care where they put me in those instances.

On the Election

As noted in a previous post, I was in Europe for the previous election—the 3^rd time in the past 4 national elections that I’ve been outside the country, and it’s always interesting; I was living in London for the 2000 election. When I left for work the morning after the election, the papers said “Gore Wins”. When, 20 minutes later, I was passing the final newsstand before I walked into the office, the paper said, “Bush Wins.” And when I went to lunch, the headline was “Recount.” I still have all 3 papers—and they’re fun to flip through from time to time.

In the 6 years since, Bush has enjoyed a Republican congress, and I could not be happier to see that change. Not because I am a leftist (I’m a fiscal conservative, social moderate/leaning left, and think the government has no place in moral issues, though I am quite conservative on that scale), but because single party governance is a recipe for disaster. I present Exhibit A: the last 6 years. Anyone who thinks the past 6 years has been successful may as well have their head in the sand. We’re at war on a premise that wasn’t the case, the economy is slowing (previously fueled largely by an overzealous Fed in the early decade—I realize this is not Bush’s influence anyway), and the government is the largest it has ever been. We spend more on defense than the rest of the world combined (or something obscene like that) when we’re fighting an asymmetric war—the only thing Rumsfeld got right was that we needed a new kind of military that could fight non-national entities; the idea was right, the execution left a little to be desired.

So—now we have a Democratic congress and a Republican executive. Nothing could be better. The powers that be in DC work more efficiently when that’s the case, and it’s what the “Founders” envisioned—hence all the checks and balances discourse. We’ve seen how far we run amok when one party governs (goes both ways).

Black Friday - Pavlovian Humans

You'll have to forgive me, but I have always been amused by the absurdity of people. I think it's something I picked up from SumoDad, who loves to quote H. L. Mencken:

No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.

Never has this proven more true than Black Friday. Out of boredom and a desire to amuse myself, I went over to CompUSA on Thanksgiving night to check out the specials--not because any of them appealed to me, mind you--just to see the spectacle. And it was a spectacle--the line to get INTO the store was 4 people wide and a good 1000 feet long. Seriously. Now think about it, people: it's not a huge store, and even if you find something checkout is going to take an hour +. Is saving $10 on a spindle of CDs really worthwhile for that?

Exhibit B: Sears handed out $10 giftcards to the first 200 people in line Friday morning. People were lining up at 4am for the 6am opening. Now even if you don't believe time is money, that's NUTS. Granted, $10 is a different priority to different people, but surely--SURELY--these people can be categorized as insane. It's as though humans have a Pavlovian response to "discount" or "sale" and forget how to think.

Don't get me wrong--if you're going to save $500 on that plasma TV, I can see the point. But to save $10 on that sweater or something else, is it really worthwhile? If you've never stepped back from the insanity, go to a mall this weekend and sit down with a cup of coffee and watch people. For a time of year that's supposed to be full of joy, there seem to be a lot of people who missed that memo (particularly the over aggressive ones...you'll see what I mean).

Cheap, or Educated?

Let me pose a question: what’s the difference between someone who is cheap, and someone who isn’t? I’ve been called cheap a number of times, but I have to disagree. Just because I won’t buy that sweater if it’s not on sale, does that make me cheap?

My theory is simple: I’ll pay what it’s worth to me—simple supply and demand. Or…I’ll never pay full price for something at Banana Republic, as I know that they turn over inventory every 7.5 weeks. So odds are that $50 pullover I want will be $34.99 or less in a few weeks’ time.

Am I cheap, or just an educated consumer? The one thing that I won’t skimp on is an experience, and especially travel. As my dad likes to say, they can’t take memories away from you (or those with whom you shared them). That’s my take; what’s yours?

Air Travel

My last two jobs (and grad school in a foreign land) have meant lots of planes and the “privilege” of attaining top tier status and a million miles in a very short timeframe. I’ve traveled to most of the major airports in the US and Europe, and on most every major airline in the US and Europe. So, as you can imagine, there are some things that have struck me as rather baffling over the years:

1. why people prefer LAX over Orange County. I mean, if there is ANYWAY you can connect through SNA instead of LAX, you’re nuts not to. The airport is easier, the food better, and the…ummm…people watching beyond compare.
2. why ANYONE would choose to go through O’Hare. For anything. You can add Miami as sub-bullet A. At least O’Hare has ways to occupy time (unlike the living hell and constant construction that is MIA), but there’s no more miserable place, and something always goes wrong. Never fails. And for international arrivals at O’Hare, it’s even worse
3. TSA. Do these people actively accomplish anything? Really? Some are wonderfully nice and engaged in their position--and have have no doub they are effective. Others (too many) find their power-fix in their jobs or are more worried about tonight’s 6 reruns of Friends (an actual conversation overheard at a major US airport). I can’t imagine some of these people are effective.
4. Rude travelers. People—there’s NOTHING the gate attendant or anyone can do about your delay. Get over it, roll with the punches. It’s travel. Unless you’re in O’Hare when said trouble hits. Then you can mutter all the curse words you want.
5. Southwest Airlines. However, see ThinkingFool’s strategies for securing high quality seating… http://www.thinkingfool.com/archives/2005/12/how_to_keep_peo_1.php
6. Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. This is for another post...
7. Why I have to remove my shoes and laptop in the US, but not in the UK. But I do in Germany, but not in Italy. It either works, or it doesn't, people. Can we standardize?
8. Small children in business class on transatlantic flights. If you can control them or drug them to sleep, great. Otherwise, perhaps you'd be gracious enough to preserve the quiet so we can sleep?
9. Airline food. It's tolerable in business. Coach is another story. Though for some inexplicable reason, Lady Thinker is a fan of the pizza on westbound AA transatlantic flights
   

International Geopolitics: Outside Looking In

I was in Rome for the 2006 US midterm elections and was struck once again by the complete ignorance of Americans when it comes to anything outside the bubble that is our border.

Every single channel in Rome, and every newspaper (about 10 global papers) at the hotel led coverage—extensive coverage—with the US election results and more analysis that your normal city paper (e.g. Dallas Morning News). It’s depressing—Italians know more about US politics than Americans know—I’m not kidding. They know the Cabinet, they know how our legislative branch interacts with the executive, and have an all-around solid picture of American politics.

So my issues with Americans are two-fold:

1. The average American on the street IN America knows less about the US government than the average foreign citizen. Come on people.
2. We don’t know anywhere near as much about foreign politics as we should. It’s really embarrassing.

Now I can hear a chorus of protest coming that their politics don’t affect ours as much as ours affects theirs (and their lives). You’re right—no question. Is that a function of US impact on global society, or does their policy affect us less because we’re unilateralists who don’t really give a damn about achieving consensus on any issues in the global community?

About Me

You may ask yourself, “So who the hell is this ‘Sumo Thinker’ and where does he get off thinking so highly of himself?” Fair questions, all.

Sumo Thinker was born when a very close friend, who has been bugging me to do this for a year, was assisting in the naming of this blog. I do not contend that I have a superior intellect, nor that I think bigger than anyone else. I do, however, stand by the fact that “other people think too small” (and some not at all!). I’ll elaborate on that some other time.

So more about me—I live in the San Francisco Bay area with my far more intelligent wife (Lady Thinker), whose primary job it is to make sure my head doesn’t swell too much (she excels at this :-)). And to keep me from taking things too seriously (a tall task). Like seemingly everyone here, I work for a technology start-up, as I’ve done for the previous four years in differing arenas, but all in “New Media,” with a strong emphasis on mobile. I’m a frequent flier miles addict who loves to travel, can’t get enough of the golf course, dabble in all things tech (especially mobile), and loves to engage in political / economic debates.

Welcome!

Welcome to SumoThinker! This is my attempt to enter the blogging world (about two years late) and communicate the scary inner realm of my head to the world. We’ll cover topics heavy and light: from world events to personal finance to business to travel and everything between and outside those two points; if I am traveling, it’ll probably be travel, if not, could be anything.

The joy of blogging is that I don’t know you’re reading this unless you post comments. Tell me I’m nuts, tell me I’m a genius, or toss in a data point here and there—all interaction much appreciated!