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I just booked a ticket to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor on May 31st from the Kennedy Space Center.  I am going to call tomorrow to confirm my ticket.   I’ve had a life-long dream to see a shuttle launch and I’m really hoping the launch date doesn’t get pushed back.

I’m a long-time fan of portable GPS units, and I recently came across the Dash internet connected GPS unit.  Essentially it is a GPS that uses wifi or a built in cellular modem to lookup and receive data.  Besides the traditional high-end GPS feature of getting a traffic feed you can also:

• use Yahoo! Local to search for points-of-interest near you (much better than the static category searching built-in to current units)
• check movie times
• search for restaurants and read reviews
• sort nearby gas stations by current price
• send address information to your GPS from your desktop
• get software updates downloaded automatically without bringing the unit inside

There are some downsides as well:

• subscription fee for internet access/updates (although if you currently buy new maps every year it might be a similar cost)
• no Bluetooth
•  unit size is on the large side

Since it is fairly pricey, I think I’ll wait until some more reviews are in (right now the reviews are almost all from the beta testers and seem very biased) before deciding if I will pony up the money for one, but it definitely looks slick.  I hope Garmin is watching.

Not much traffic and plenty of ridiculously cheap parking (which I suppose drastically changes on days their baseball team is playing).

There is a park that runs along the river for about a mile and a half which is pretty nice for running (although it is almost all concrete).

If you are a Brazilian Steakhouse fan (or a carnivore in general), Boi na Braza does a pretty decent job, although it still doesn’t top the reigning champ (and holder of most of my expense money) Fogo de Chao.

Fountain Square has a jumbo-tron and a lot of lighted outdoor seating with free wifi. When I walked by tonight they were showing a football game on the huge screen.

Just across the river is Newport on the Levee, a big shopping/food/entertainment complex with a large aquarium.  If you don’t have a car you can walk across one of the bridges or take the TANK shuttle for $1.25.

My wife and I just got back from spending a week in Austin, TX on vacation. We are checking out a handful of locations for a potential move in the next year or two. We had a really good time and liked the city a lot although the heat takes some getting used to. I felt like I was starting to acclimatize a bit on the 5th or 6th day there.

Things I liked about Austin:

• No significant winter (at least according to PA standards)
• Sane cost of living (not much more than where we are now)
• Large tech industry presence – should be easy to find a decent job
• University of Texas campus – huge campus (48k undergrads!) with lots of formal and informal classes and cultural offerings
• General vibe – lots of local flavor (the unofficial motto is “keep Austin weird”)
• Very active fitness and various social communities

I’ve stayed at a few different hotels in center city, here are my impressions of their treadmills:

Loews: 6 Cybex treadmills – I’m not a big fan, hard decks, really lame displays, often one was broken, gym opens at 6 am

Marriott Courtyard: 6 high-end Life Fitness treadmills w/ individual TV screens, gym is open 24 hours, very nice

Marriott (deluxe tower fitness room, not sure about main fitness room): 4 StarTrac treadmills, gym is open 24 hours

Update: I’m staying at the Marriot again, but in the main building this time. The main fitness room on the 7th floor is pretty nice. They have 8 or so high-end Life Fitness treadmills w/ individual TV screens, and a couple nice elliptical machines as well. Gym is open 24 hours , has free small bottles of water, and photocopies of a 1.5 walk/run loop. This is the nicest gym from an aerobic standpoint I’ve seen.

Update2: The Philadelphia Airport Marriott Fairfield Inn (on 8800 Bartram) has a very wimpy gym.  There is a single consumer-grade Precor treadmill (which was very uncomfortable) and two recumbent bikes.  There is also a small set of dumbells.