The Princess and I are in the Continental lounge getting into the vacation spirit. With the help of some complimentary gin martinis…

I had a bad moment when I realized that my tripod didn’t fit in my luggage, but I took it apart and alles in ordnung, as they say in Munich. I was worried about security (it looks remarkably like a gattling gun) but all they did was heft it, and declare it too light to be a weapon.

Fair enough.

They did take exception to the wrench I tool along to put the thing back together. It turns out that if it’s 7″ or a bit less than 18cm, they won’t let you fly with it. They offered to mail it home, but I said I’d need it on the other side, and they remeasured it and declared it to be just a hair’s breadth under 7″ this time.

The air-conditioned cold of the terminal musta shrunk it!

Also had an exchange of emails with Cyberhobo, who very kindly and speedily put out a new release to fix an issue with his googlemap mashup on Ban Sidhe. We’ll work on fixing one last thing when I’m less on the go.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what the Princess is doing on the internet, she’s looking up rentals on craig’s list for the upcoming california trip.

We’re boarding in 45 minutes… See y’all on the other side of the Atlantic!

Ok, made a few changes, and got some complaints that I broke some stuff. In particular, some readers are not seeing what I’m seeing (see the image above). Could you comment if this is the case for you too?

The list of changes include:

• a favicon: that little image next to the site address in your browser.
• new blogroll button system: you now need to place your mouse over the name of the blogger, which pops up their graphical button in the little red window, and if you then click their name, you will be taken to their blog. Seems intuitive to me, but feedback would be appreciated.
• geo-enabled posts: posts can now possess lat/long coordinates in metadata. If they do, a link in the lower right will appear saying ‘map it’. For example, here. Note that this is still rather experimental and doesn’t yet have that many posts in it.
• a googlemaps mashup: in the dropdown menu, you’ll find the link.
• placeholder image: in the space freed up by keeping only one button. I’ll be doing things there in the future.
• screensize options: the technology is in place, but I’m not ready to activate it. Basically, you’ll be able to choose to see Ban Sidhe in this 800×600 friendly format, or in a hi rez format making better use of your screen’s real estate.

I’m hoping, in particular, that the googlemap gizmo will work well enough to help you keep my travels straight next week…

… ambushed in my own blog while reading the archives.

Here.

This is an actual quote from a German colleague in the conference call I am in right now:

I don’t what to question your expertise, but do you know what you are doing?

This was delivered in a flat tone of voice, with no emotion, and with little justification that I could see. The American colleague on the receiving end was left speechless.

German directness and lack of finesse or even simple diplomacy will never cease to amaze me.

Please join me in welcoming my good friend FayeBless to Ban Sidhe! She will be contributing to the contents of BanSidheWiki, in particular as it pertains to certain rather geeky projects.

Expect puns.

Bad ones.

Heck, horribly convoluted ones in at least three languages. In fact, I think it’s fair to say she has a weakness for them. Ahem, but enough about her.

I promise this is the last admin post without pictures for a while, you’ve all been patient and supportive but I know it’s not what you come here for. Tweaking of the looks and functionality of the blog will continue, but in the background, so to speak.