Scott Feldstein dot blog
Tech, politics, food, entertainment, and more.
Don’t Even Trip
A few days ago I was reflecting on how much travel I have done for business recently. I consulted my calendar and, yup, I went on six different business trips in the space of eight weeks. Once it was one travel day, one day of work, and one travel day back, for a total of three days. On another trip it was a full five day week including travel. At least once I returned home late Friday night and was back at the airport on Monday morning. Home was just a place to do laundry during this time.
In that eight weeks, I went to:
Iowa, Sacramento, Philadelphia, Vermont, Baltimore, and Rhode Island.
That doesn’t count the more personal trip from Iowa to Wisconsin by car for more personal reasons. Nor does it count the trips to Little Rock, San Bernardino, 10 days in the state of Washington, Vermont again, San Diego (yeah, it’s 45 minutes away, but I still stayed in a hotel for a conference), Connecticut, and Iowa again that all took place earlier in the year.
That’s fourteen business trips in 2025. I know there are people who travel for work more than I do, but that’s still a lot.
But here’s the thing: I love it. It 100% beats being in the office. Even when I have to hop into an Uber at 5 am. Even when I can’t sleep because I’m three time zones from home but still have to get up early local time to teach a class. Even when I have to carry boxes of equipment to and from offices and homes. Even when I have to wait for an Uber outside of terminal one of the San Diego airport at midnight.
It’s the people. As you may know, the people I meet and spend time with on these trips are either people with intellectual/developmental disabilities, or those who support them as their job. Interesting people? Yes. Kind and welcoming? Yes and yes. I love spending time with them, learning from them, laughing with them, and trying my best to help make their lives and jobs better.
One more thing. I’m a travel pro now. I have tips and I have tricks. I have dos and don’ts. But I think I’ll save all that for another entry.
Bonus: the photo is the best pizza I have ever had. Frank Pepe’s in New Haven.
Thanks for visiting! It’s me, Scott. New here? Might want to start with the About page. Or maybe just dig in to my very latest post which is on your left. Older posts are down below.
Previous Posts
(The latest one was up there.)
Best Pizza Ever: The Special at Pepe’s in New Haven
On Thursday night I had the best pizza I have ever had in my life. I was in Connecticut on business and my colleague and I went to New Haven to try what our hosts called "Pepe's" pizza. They described it as one of 3-4 best pizza places in the state. Upon arriving at...
Brace Yourself
Well, I got that wrong. Really wrong. But I was in good company. As best I can figure, here’s where we are and how we got here. Trump’s main appeal has always been his open racism and misogyny. MAGA is nothing more than a pledge to return to a time when women and...
Election Eve Predictions
It's election eve and I'm ready to make some predictions. I do so with a healthy dose of humility because I remember many things I have got wrong in the past. I said Trump would never win in 2016. I said Biden would never be the Democratic nominee in 2020. Having said...
Bass Gear Updates
Here's an update on the EBH1505MS from Ibanez. With the help of some others I think I have zeroed in on what its problem is: the pickups are wired out of phase. This results in an instrument that sounds perfectly reasonable with either pickup soloed, but that sounds...
Rao’s: The Perfect Platonic Form Of Marinara
Years ago I used to make more pasta at home. I don't know why I've gotten out of the habit. I was thinking about switching to grating my own parmesan cheese with a microplane as opposed to using pre-shredded stuff, when it occurred to me: whatcha gonna use it on? So I...
Fully Coconut-Pilled
I thought about it some more and I now realize vice president Harris is the perfect choice. Here's some of the reasons why. It's orderly. There will be no "Democrats In Chaos" headlines. Your vice president is exactly who takes the wheel when you step aside. Voters of...
Well, Here We Go
Uncle Joey has bowed out. It was the right thing to do. But does this automatically put Democrats in a better position? I don’t have an answer. Suppose vice president Harris does ascend to the top of the Democratic ticket. We will have replaced an unfit candidate for...
Snapdragon X: The Industry Answers Apple Silicon
Well, they’ve gone and done it. The rest of the computer industry has finally answered Apple’s M-series of ARM-based silicon. It took them nearly four years, but Microsoft and Qualcomm have joined forces to produce a Windows-on-ARM platform that, while it doesn’t beat...