Mark’s Notes On The Go

I’m slowly getting over the crud, but Friday heading for Boston (business meeting Monday that I was able to roll into some me time).  So, I’m at a standstill for the moment on editing photos.

However, there are plenty of the pyramids and a small taste of Cairo in my Egypt Gallery.

Here’s a taste.

This is the last of the three major pyramids on the Giza plateau, the tomb of Menkaure.  The interesting thing is, at our last full group dinner, Sam, the guide, asked us all what our favorite parts of the trip were, the things we’d take back with us, etc.  The interesting thing was, one person out of twelve mentioned the pyramids at Giza.  One person chose 4,000 year old monuments that have been on the must see list since antiquity.

Yet, guess what, it wasn’t me that chose them.  Personally, my favorite moment was the hot air balloon over Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.  This was an optional activity, but something I’d likely have never tried at home.   And my favorite place was the Sawa camp on the Red Sea beach.  You’ll barely see any photos of it, though, I really unwound there and just sat.

I think the lower ranking of the pyramids was a two part thing.  One, as Sam pointed out, almost everyone has seen they pyramids extensively on TV and in books, etc.  They either live up to our expectations or they don’t, but they aren’t a surprise.  I also think that part of it was that was really the first full day of our trip, and we had experienced nearly two weeks of Egypt since then.  So much had happened in between.

So, if you go to Egypt, you have to see the pyramids, but then experience Egypt and leave with so much more.

The last few days in Egypt, I had a cough, which was particularly rough when we got back to the smog of Cairo. I thought the smog was what started things, but as I looked back, it started before we returned to Cairo. Still, when I got back, it did improve (so was likely worsened by the smog). And since then, I kept waiting… for it to… get better… And it hasn’t, so I set up an appointment with my doctor.

Went in today and she’s fairly confident it’s a virus. She said she that something is going around and she had the same symptoms. Being a virus, there’s not much to do for it. Over the weekend, I started having symptoms that usually go along with a sinus infection (which I’m unfortunately too acquainted with). For that reason, she gave me an antibiotic. And she gave me advair to help with the symptoms of the cough, which are taking their toll. It’s a strong cough, especially at night, so rather tiring after 2+ weeks.

So, here’s to recovery….

On the positive side, as I reported yesterday, I’ve used the down time for some monotonous tasks, namely the copying of all my CDs to MP3. I’d like to say I was working on my photos, but they’re languishing as I’m not feeling it right now.

Last night I tried out some more media library software. This one is looking like a winner. I’ve got another 29 days of the trial, but if things continue as they have, I may not need that long to try it out. For anyone interested, I’m testing J. River Media Center. I’m really liking the interface - very smooth. It’s obvious (and credited) that it’s based on windows media player, but it’s definitely beyond it.

First off, I was thinking I might need a faster router when I was using windows media player. Songs playing off of my network drive would occasionally stutter if I had several things going on the network at once. The router may need replacing anyway, not new, not top of the line, but not the total problem, apparently. As I’ve used this Media Center for two days now, and I didn’t even have issues when I was very actively using the home network today.

And so far, I’ve really only played with it’s music features. It can also handle videos and photos. Still open to other suggestions but looking favorably on this if it continues to function well.

I guess I started down this path in the last year. As part of my continual paring down of the material things in my life, I sat down with a box of old cassette tapes (oh horrors) and copied them to MP3. Most of them, some had degraded too much to save. I didn’t have acres of cassettes. And, honestly, most of my choices for music in that era of my life don’t thrill me anymore, but it was a sentimental trip.

Then this past week, I wanted to get Jack Peñate’s album that was just released here in the states. I didn’t hunt for it exhaustively, but I did look at a few places. And then I just decided this was pointless. I could go home and download the album. What was the point anymore of having the CD? I hardly ever look at the liner notes anymore. I had argued with myself for ages that the CD was essentially my back-up of the album’s I bought. But three shelves worth of back-up is a lot more space than just backing them up on a spare hard drive…

So, I’ve made the jump fully to digital. I spent the last week ripping all my CD’s in my spare time (of which there’s been plenty as this darn cough won’t let go). That was enlightening as well. I had no idea how much music I have that I hardly listen to. I’d gotten into a habit where I listened to only what I had ripped, which would be my favs from the past and any new purchases. That’s not to say I didn’t care for the other albums, they were just less accessible. The only place I listen to CD’s that much anymore is the car because of the 12 disc changer.

So, I’ve pretty much left the CD era. I’ve ordered some albums and as soon as they get here, I’ll transfer all of my CD’s into the albums along with the liner notes and dump the scratched up jewel cases. I’ve got my music collection on a network attached hard drive and backed up to a spare 80 gig external hard drive (the laptop’s old HD that I just replaced with a 200 gig model).

If anyone has suggestions for music (or media in general) library software, let me know. I’ve used windows media player, but it’s not impressing me. Less so now that I’ve got music on a network drive. I want to be able to shift music over to the laptop in the library for when I’m on the road. Sure, I can drop and drag in windows, but the library then finds the new location and doesn’t just update the location, it now shows a whole second copy… except of course it eventually complains that one is missing… duh!

I’m trying out atunes right now. That’s not a typo. I used actual itunes once some time ago and was not impressed. Maybe it’s improved since? So far I’m liking atunes. Not perfect but I can shift locations of my media within the library itself. The only thing so far that’s annoying me is the shuffle function doesn’t seem so random as I would like. Never happy am I?

Anyway, this is Mark’s digital life…

In the time of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, the pyramids at Giza were already ancient. They included them on the list of wonders or must see attractions of the world. The modern list was recorded in the middle ages, but we know the pyramids were on that list, and it appears every other sight listed has been lost since.

One looks on these ancient wonders and understand why they have so long been regarded as a treasure. This is the second pyramid on the Giza plateau, the ancient tomb of Pharaoh Khafre.

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And thus the photos from Egypt are beginning to get sorted. The above image was taken on the first day on our morning visit to the pyramids at the Giza plateau. Although there are numerous pyramids in Egypt, these are the ones everyone refers to when speaking of classic Egypt. These pyramids are part of a 4,000 year old funerary complex. Each pyramid was built as the tomb to one man, the king in life and god in death. This particular pyramid, the first on view as one approaches, is the tomb of Khufu.

The pyramids are impossibly ancient. When we think ancient, we tend to think of the Romans and the Greeks, and yet, the pyramids were already ancient then. They listed the pyramids among the wonders of the world, the original list of places in the world that should be seen. And the pyramids have persisted past that ancient tourist guide on to today’s lists, and undoubtedly the lists of many to come.

This image captures my feelings on finally standing there, the awe, the majesty, the sheer scale of these ancient tombs.

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