…Comic-Con.

Once again, Miss T and I headed SoCalward to brave the (not-so-)costumed crowds at San Diego Comic-Con International. For 2010 we only bought tickets for Thursday—which really wasn’t enough time to take in the sights—though Miss T finagled her way back in on Sunday for the end of the show.

For our single-day excursion we had to pick up our registration badges (1 1/2-mile walk over 30 minutes), and then attended a panel (stood in line for 45 minutes, sat in panel for 90 minutes), before spending the rest of the time perusing the exhibition floor (crisscrossed the 10 1/2-acre exhibit hall for 6 1/2 hours). By the end of the day my feet and back were screaming bloody murder.

Along the way we saw so many interesting examples of the “popular arts” that my brain glazed over and I forgot to take photos of things. Some items that did jar me out of my Comic-Con stupor:

Next year I’m hoping to spend an entire day in photo mode.

A few days later, Miss T and I finally made it out to the beach where we were confronted by washed-up piles of sea life.

Then, Miss T braved the Comic-Con Exhibition Hall for one more day while I cooled my heels (and the car) at Horton Plaza.

As always, the whole lot is over at maxpixpix on Picasa.

…at Downtown Berkeley BART.

“Stairs” that move on their own.

A Fremont-bound train.

A Richmond-bound train.

Lastly, another woman on the stairs (she’s heading down).

As usual, larger pix are at maxpixpix on Picasa.

…from DHARMA Initiative Travel.

After this past weekend’s LOST finale, I was going through some boxes of old magazines and came across what I believe was DHARMA Initiative Travel’s last ad from a 2007 issue of Ocean Airlines’ INflight magazine.

I’ve personally never used DHARMA Initiative Travel to book a flight, car rental, or hotel room, but it’s always sad to see a long-time business unable to make the transition to the digital era. I think the shift to web-based travel services killed off DI Travel and many other large and small travel services. DHARMA Initiative Travel also had an unfortunate reputation for disappearing travelers—actual people, mind you, not reservations—and luggage and rooms inexplicably torn apart by polar bears.

The one thing I wish I’d been able to do before they closed up shop was take one of their DI Travel submarine cruises. What other travel agency offers something like that?

…or snack, actually.

For our LOST finale viewing, Miss T and I opened up a few of the last items we recieved via product resupply drop—DHARMA Initiative Beer, Lemon Lime Soda, and Cheddar Baked Snack Crackers.

A good, happy, sad time was had by all. Namaste.

…(and wine).

Sometimes you don’t want wheat ale, double stout, Albanian pilsner, or double-hopped Bavarian pale lager. Sometimes you just want beer. DHARMA Initiative Beer. After a hard day of being a workman in Dharmaville or an afternoon spent repairing a DHARMA van, nothing hits the spot like a cold, refreshing DI Beer. Mmm… beer.

It’s been noted that DHARMA Initiative stations on the island have long received drop shipments of DHARMA Beer. Until now, here at The Hut we’ve only ever received DI Amber Lager, and DI Stout. Our recent Product Resupply Drop (PRD) included cases of DHARMA Initiative Beer in various differently-shaped bottles and possibly of various different beer varieties—but they were all simply labeled beer.

Good enough for me.

If good old DHARMA Initiative Beer is good enough for you, but none have shown up in your PRDs, you can make do with regular bottled beer and the following downloadable PDF:

• DHARMA Initiative Beer (variety)

The PDF contains body and neck labels for beer, amber lager, and stout. With scissors, tape, glue, and determination, you should be able to fit the labels onto the body of any bottled beer. Neck labels are a bit trickier and require experimentation, so start attacking those beers now. (Though, perhaps it’s best to not drink beer while you’re trying to fit labels onto beer.)

Ah, the wine.

We’ve noted in the past that, clearly, DHARMA folk on the island get shipments of bottled Merlot and Cabernet. We’ve also been recipients of DHARMA Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Muscat, and Sauvignon Blanc. But what about Riesling? Or, Gewürztraminer? Where are all the other DHARMA Initiative varietals? Well, apparently, if a variety isn’t one of the grapes already mentioned it just gets labeled red or white. Again, good enough for me. And, again, if DI Red Wine or DI White Wine are good enough for you, the following PDFs will allow you to turn ordinary bottles of wine into DHARMA Initiative bottles of wine.

• DHARMA Initiative Red Wine labels (variety, 750mL)
• DHARMA Initiative White Wine labels (variety, 750mL)

Cheers, everyone! And, namaste.

…customize a new one.

One of the great conveniences of modern-day travel is the ability to print your own airline boarding passes in the comfort of your own home/office/hotel room/motorcycle sidecar/wherever. Oceanic Airlines has gone a step further by allowing you to not only print your own boarding pass, but to choose your own flight number, seat, date and time of departure, origin and desination city, passenger name, and endorsements and restrictions! Now that’s customer service.

How do you go about printing your own Oceanic boarding passes? It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. 1. Download the fillable PDF below. 2. Use Adobe Acrobat to enter in the pertinent information for the boarding pass recipient: flight, seat, date, time, origin, destination, name, endorsements/restrictions. 3. Print out—it looks better in color—the pass onto to some nice, heavy, white cardstock. 4. Use a straight-edge to trim out your boarding pass, and don’t forget to round the corners. 5. There is no 5—you’re done! See how easy that was?

• Oceanic Airlines Boarding Pass (customizable)

Now, don’t forget that while you can put any kind of information you want on your Oceanic Airlines Boarding Pass, the TSA won’t let you through a security checkpoint without documents for a actual flight. So, if you aren’t printing passes for Oceanic Airlines travel, you can use them for party invitations or something.

…refrigeration required.

I’m not sure why the DHARMA Initiative Ranch Composite we have at The Hut is different than the Ranch Composite that gets shipped to DI stations on the island. Key differences: size – 13 ounces at The Hut, 1 gallon on the island; and, refrigeration – yes for The Hut, no for the island. The DI Ranch Composite delivered to the island is supposed to be good for 7 years without refrigeration. Seven. Years. Without refrigeration.

Now that is a remarkable scientific achievement.

In any event, if you didn’t receive either Ranch Composite you can make a bottle of refrigeration-required DI Ranch Composite with a 13-ounce jar of standard ranch dressing and the following PDF:

• DHARMA Initiative Ranch Composite (13 OZ)

DI Ranch Composite + french fries = delicious… If only there were DHARMA Initiative Oven Baked French Fries.

…from England (English Stilton).

It was good.

Miss T, not being a blue cheese fan, disagreed. This worked in my favor—more for me!

…as seen on my desk shortly before I ate it.

There were a bunch of “extra” cupcakes in the office this week. I grabbed this banana one—it was good. (I think they were from Cupkates.)

…in front the building this week.

The noise and vibration took quite a toll on several of my coworkers this week. (Hopefully the hole will be filled in next week.)

…on a long pier.

In mid-March, when the Bay Area’s weather briefly turned summerlike—it has since returned to late-winter temps—Miss T and I visited Pier 14 along San Francisco’s Embarcadero.

As usual, just click the thumbnails or view 10 Pier 14 photos at maxpixpix on Picasa.

…buy DHARMA Initiative Explorers Cookies.

I love this time of year—after ordering several boxes of DI Explorers Cookies via station computer (I think it’s code 2-4, then 1-6-4, or something), our supplies of DHARMA Initiative Chocolate Mint Cookies and Lemon Iced Shortbread Cookies arrived via PRD. The Explorers sell several other varieties of cookies, but Miss T and I like the chocolate mint and lemon iced ones the best.

If you were unable to get your order in on time (it only comes around once a year, you know) and you don’t see any of the DHARMA Initiative Explorers girls* around your neighborhood, you can modify Girl Scouts® Thin Mints and Lemonades™ with the following labels:

• DHARMA Initiative Explorers Cookies (variety)
• DHARMA Initiative Explorers Cookies (variety) (for 11×17-capable printers)

Girl Scouts cookies are pretty good, but they’re not quite the same as DI Explorers’.

*Why is it only the girls that sell cookies? What are the boys up to during this oh-so-important cookie sales season?

…staved off (just barely).

It may have been the DHARMA Initiative Mixed Fruit or the DHARMA Initiative Crackers and Cheese (or a combination of the two), but last week something had my stomach churning worse than an island jumping through space-time. Miss T suggested that I try to get to The Staff for a checkup, but first I checked through the last Periodic Resupply Drop crate that landed in the back yard.

Down at the bottom of the box I found this:

It took two doses of the pink stuff, but in an hour everything was gastrointestinally back on track—like a record needle settled firmly in its groove.

If you’re suffering from heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, nausea, or—heaven forbid—diarrhea, I heartily recommend DHARMA Initiative Bismuth Subsalicylate for stomach relief. If you don’t have DI Bismuth Subsalicylate in your station’s emergency medical locker, go ahead and use a bottle of Pepto-Bismol with the following label PDF:

• DHARMA Initiative Bismuth Subsalicylate (8 OZ)

Like this 1972 ad says, DI Bismuth Subsalicylate will help you achieve “a calm mind and a calm body.” Namaste.

…Miss T and I shared a rare roast beef sandwich at Il Cane Rosso. Later, we headed over to Macworld 2010—sans Apple Inc. but still worth a look-see.

Possibly the most spartan trade show booth I have ever seen.

Microsoft Office, uh, icons were on hand. I might have been able to get a better photo but was afraid to get too close to them.

After Macworld, Japantown for dinner at Tanpopo…

hiyayakko tofu…

wonton chashu ramen…

…and kyushu ramen. It was all delicious (though I overordered—the wonton chashu ramen was about three chashu too many).

There was also a fair bit of shopping in the Japantown malls and the NEW PEOPLE ARTIST VILLAGE Vol. 2 at the NEW PEOPLE building.

The Peace Plaza Pagoda.

The NEW PEOPLE building (with the ARTIST VILLAGE Vol. 2 scattered inside).

And, a snail that Miss T spied outside of Benihana. All in all, a good last Saturday.