Web: A Parody of 24

I must be officially old when people start to reminisce about life and technologies in the 1990's as they do in this Engadget Blog Posting.

Spin the clock back another 15 or 20 years and now you have a television show with no cell phones, pagers, or even personal computers and it would be doubtful anything could be done in 24 hours. Roll the clock back just a bit more, and the show would be called, The Wild Wild West.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars - Finale

A very belated congratulations to Eric and Danielle for winning the Amazing Race and $1 million dollars after being "Yielded" twice, surviving an elimination penalty, and basically tolerating each other. The editors made their relationship look less stable than maybe it really is. I did not think they would survive so long in the race. In the end, Eric's memory of Danielle's opinions of the other teams may have made the difference. In other words, he did "listen to the woman."

The final challenge was a inventive one. Based an answers to questions about the other team, one team member generated a 4-digit code to lock the sort of safe you would see in a hotel. Then the other team member would enter the room and hope to arrive at the same answers to unlock the safe.

It was an interesting final leg. It did not look like the teams left 12 hours after they arrived like they normally do. It may have been more like 24 hours. The teams had to fly from Guam to Hawaii and for a while it looked like Charla and Mirna had once again found a better flight than other teams to gain a 20 minute lead. The first challenge did not seem very difficult or take long to do. The order did not change as each team finished as the next team arrived at that first challenge. The next challenge was a little more difficult as the teams had to paddle a kayak in rough waters to reach the next clue. [Memories of my second to last shoulder dislocation came haunted me when I saw the Beauty Queens capsize.] Charla and Mirna fell deep into last place and I thought it would spell the end for them.

However, the next clue told teams to go to San Francisco but they had to book flights into Oakland International Airport. The smaller number of flights to choose from allowed the teams to be tied again. This brought them to the final challenge mentioned above. The teams left for the final pit stop just a few minutes apart (1st were Eric and Danielle, then the Beauty Queens, and Charla and Mirna) but I guess the traffic in San Francisco and random taxi drivers did not allow for any lead changes.

Funny that last week I talked about flying from San Francisco to Manila via Hawaii and Guam. Travel has changed quite a bit since then. The teams had to go to Tokyo (Narita) first to get to Honolulu.

I have visited most of the Hawaiian Islands except for Lanai. Although I have lived practically my whole life in San Francisco, I have never been inside the Old Mint or the Botanical Gardens. I would still need Google Maps to figure out the fastest way between those two points as well. I only rode the cable cars for the first time a few years ago. But I guess it is typical for people to visit the tourist attractions closest to them last. I will be spending a bit more time in San Francisco next week for Oracle OpenWorld. Maybe I will hit a few more tourist spots then. Yosemite is still on my list of places to visit.

Next Episode: The First Leg of Season 12 and a chance to see some hopefully interesting brand new teams.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars - Ep 12?

This episode marked the end for Danny and Oswald. Not sure how they fell behind again after all the teams were bunched together in Guam. They must have gotten lost driving again. Despite the bunching, the Beauty Queens seemed to breeze through this leg from start to finish. It left very little tension in the race. The airlift and search and rescue exercise were highlights in this episode, and may have been the most unique aspect of this particular race. Granted I barely remember the episodes from seven months ago, so I don't remember what cool stuff they did before.

I actually spent a short amount of time in Guam when I was 3 or 4 years old. I flew back to the Philippines with my mother and perhaps some other relatives to attend my grandfather's funeral. I think my father stayed behind to watch my brothers and sister who did not miss school. Funny thing is I cannot remember if my sister was there too or not. Anyway back in 1970, that flight from San Francisco to Manila included changing planes in Hawaii and Guam. All I remember of those two stops was that it was raining, humid, and the plants were huge and green. Plus we always had to dash to get onto the plane -- either that or my mom just wanted to stay out of the rain. I thought it was called a runway because we had to run on it to reach the stairs into the plane.

My other memories of the flights back and forth was that it was a double-decker 747 and I snuck upstairs once or twice. The airline food was pretty bland (and unusual). Of course, I should save all the memories of that trip for a separate blog entry. And yes, I do remember several things that happened in my life even before I was 3 years old...

Next up is the final episode and a 67% chance that an all-female team wins the million dollars. The race is long over so I guess I should not even waste time predicting who the winner is. And believe or not none of my friends have ruined it for me all this time, and I avoided any web site that might spoil the outcome for me. That, in itself, is kind of amazing.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars - Ep 11?

In this leg with no airline flights involved, one would think a six-hour gap between first and last place would be safe. But Team Cha Cha Cha decided to do just about everything wrong.

1. Earn bad karma by dealing with the devil team disguised as blond beauty queens.
2. Never ditched their incompetent taxi driver (or at least a driver with communication issues)
3. Waited to long to ask for directions.

Once again it was a non-elimination leg, so the sins might be forgiven. And it was a tense leg for Eric and Daniele who had to overcome another Yield and a 30-minute penalty for not coming in first.

I didn't know Macau was so close to Hong Kong. I might have to stop by there next time I am in that part of the world. Of course the last time I was out there, Macau probably was only beginning to transform itself into the Asian version of Las Vegas.

The drop from the tower looks like fun, and the views looked spectacular. But I would have had a hard time doing the walk around the tower in the wind and rain. I wonder how much my knees would be wobbling up there.

If I ever train for the Amazing race, I will have to remember to learn stick shift. There has been much driving on the left side of the road this season. Unfortunately, there may not be many places to practice driving on the left inside the US. I think the Barney Oldfield ride in nearby Great America is the closest I can get to having the steering wheel on the right. But it is not stick and there's no crazy traffic.

Next episode: Danielle has a break down. Can't wait...

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars: Ep 10?

Okay I took a six-month+ leave of absence from my blog for reasons I may or may not go into someday. On top of that I lost my notes for an episode (if not two) of the Amazing Race All-Stars. But since the new season starts tonight, I better post what few notes I do have.

This leg involved teams racing from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. The order of finish was pretty much determined in the Kuala Lumpur airport as teams jostled for spots on various waiting lists. That order was influenced by two Amazing Race laws: "Maintain good karma" and "Listen to the woman." Team Cha Cha Cha being the nicest of the surviving teams managed to find the various airline offices at Kuala Lumpur airport first. This allowed them to be the first team on standby, survive a flipped over stunt car, and win a return trip to Hong Kong for Chinese New Years. By not listening to Danielle, Eric kept getting lost on the roads of Hong Kong and perhaps missed a chance to move up a spot with the help of another AR Law: "Know your directions otherwise ask." Fortunately, it was a non-elimination leg, so the pair do get to live to race another week.

Hong Kong is one of the cities I have actually visited. I was supposed to work there for six months but the whole exchange was canceled at the last minute. My manager did not want to lose a veteran for someone who had only been hired a few weeks earlier. Eventually, I did get to visit Hong Kong for a week for business reasons, but I spent most of my time at a customer site and never did get to see most of the places the teams went to -- Victoria Park and the Jockey Club. The apartment I would have lived in was in Happy Valley near the Jockey Club. I did take the subway to Kowloon, but did not feel like taking the ferry back.

Also I have changed flights in Hong Kong more times than I can remember. I think the last time was the day Great Britain handed over control of Hong Kong to China. Oh no, that was the second to last time as I went to Singapore. My return flight from Singapore also went through Hong Kong shortly after monsoon Dot had passed through, and experienced the scariest air pocket during takeoff. Sometimes when I see the airplane coming apart in "Lost", it reminds me of what when through my mind that day. But otherwise I try to forget that was my last trip through Hong Kong. I will still go back someday if only to check out the newer airport and all the construction that must have happened over the years.

The Kung Fu fighting detour looked like a bunch of fun. But I think I would have had more fun in the stunt car. How they set things up so that the car would flip back up on its wheels at the end was pretty cool.

The other detour was called Lost in Translation, but last I checked that movie took place in Tokyo. Teams were wise to avoid what sounded like a Needle in the Haystack challenge.

Mirna was quoted the episode title. And Charla on roller sneakers was kind of cute.

Next episode brings us some Yield drama. Back to my DVR I go.