Couch surfing and train tour of the US

Well, after an adventure with the survivor TV show, too long to publish now... (briefly - they are filming this year's show near my hometown of San Juan Del Sur, and rented out everything on the beach - including the house I was in!)

This was a major interruption in my planning. I was trying to pull together a field test of some new (300Mbit! 5.8Ghz! 12km range!) 802.11n meshed wireless radios - to spread internet and education into Nicaragua before the rainy season. I was running the radios out of that house and had 11 more to install on multiple towers and sites down there (email me if you want a google earth map) and the rainy season started early, and I had to really scramble to get a new house and cope with some other major complications, but eventually...

I rented out a new house in Nicaragua, which wasn't fully ready... so I came back to the USA for the first time in 3 years to visit my friends greg & cherie for their engagement costume party. (pics here and here)

And then I bought a nice used T61 laptop, had the seller slam ubuntu 10.4 LTS on it, AND I bought an Android phone, which works tethered, giving me internet anywhere in the USA.

Wow.

I completely missed out on two generations of Moore's law. I can, suddenly (from my perspective) call up public transit directions on my phone, and other maps, and take pictures via facebook and upload them immediately, and twitter (I'm http://twitter.com/mtaht over there), and chat, and skype (davetaht), dictate into a recorder, and zillion other things, from anywhere.

After stepping out so abruptly from Nica, I've now realized I could realize a childhood dream of riding the roads, and still get some work done on getting my multiple projects launched... not just the field test in Nicaragua, but maybe, just maybe, get somewhere on getting a real asteroid exploration program going.

I spent most of my life locked in a cubicle! I have seen so little of America, and always wanted to see more, both from ground level and from space. I've got my whole life, including 3 of those radios in my backpack, so I can "war-train" and see what 5.8 ghz spectrum looks like here, too..

So... I've been traveling ever since that party, with stops (so far) in Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco.

The Amtrak train up from LAX to SJC was Amazing, as it cruised over the beaches near Santa Barbara.

Sunday, for Fathers day, I visited with Bill Weinberg, (who I worked with at MontaVista), the Linux pundit, and scored a great interview, advice, and BBQ, with his family.

Last night, at Yoshi's, I met up with Anthony Adams from techweb, and a few other cool people, had some wonderful wine, and then caught the Kronos Quartet. Android almost convinced me... but this concert convinced me, finally, that civilization was worthwhile.

Tonight I'm heading up to visit a relative separated by 4 generations and reconnected by facebook. Monday... I don't know. Maybe back to San Francisco, or Santa Cruz... or LA, or Arizona, or Texas... I have 60GB of audio files to sort through, 2 new records to mix (here's some VERY EARLY sample tracks from one), 5 interviews to clean up and cut down to size, and tons of writing and coding stacked up, and revenue from all that just waiting for me to have the time to do it.

I can do it ALL on a train, now, with stops along the way. It would take months for me just to finish the backlog! I don't really feel like settling down in the US again, yet, AND also want to avoid the monsoon season in Nicaragua, which lasts through November....

I just bought a 15 day travel pass. Almost bought a 30 dayer.

And if you are anywhere near a train station in the USA and want to say hi, do a meal, talk about IPv6 and/or finishing the internet to the remainder *4/5ths!) of the world, or play some music, or talk about the private space program and/or asteroid exploration, and/or have a spare couch... let me know. Maybe I'll be passing by, soon.

I'm also looking for grad students/surfer dudes and dude-ettes that might be interested in helping me finish getting these radios deployed, using my new house in Nica as a base. And: Linux geeks who would want to work on the cool weather station chipper's been working on in combination with the Guruplug... Free rent... cheap food... GREAT waves http://www.nicaraguasurfreport.com/reportlist.php?id_secc=3&x_date=2010-06-20&z_date=%3D%2C%27%2C%27

My new 12-string (I named her Halcóna) and I have a bunch of new songs to practice, too. In my bag already are "Me and Bobby McGee", "Comfortably Numb", "Wish you were here", Dock of the Bay, "Last dance with Mary Jane", and a half dozen originals. Mauro Caminiti wants me playing bass in Nica with him when I get back, and his setlist is huge, with classics like She caught the katy, and "The joker" left for me to learn.

See you on the Rails!

Labels: asteroids, NEO, points, space, trains, travel

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