erica's joys :)

I get the feeling the TSA didn't like my previous post so much.

I flew home from NY the other day and I got my hand sanitizer and my tube of lip gloss taken from me going through security. No matter, I still had my backup jar of lip gloss in my purse. Well, I had it until the TSA came to our gate before boarding and had people randomly going through all carry-ons. So they came to my backup jar and said it couldn't go. I didn't understand so the TSA guy and I had a little conversation. This is how it went:

Me: So how come this can't go?

TSA: Because its a liquid.

Me: No, its pretty solid actually. Here feel it (this was acceptable because he had gloves on).

TSA: No, its a gel so it can't go.

Me: I thought they said that lipstick and the like were okay.

TSA: Solid lipstick in a tube is okay, other stuff is not.

Me: This is the same as lipstick though. Like if a took a tube of lipstick and smashed it into a jar, it would be the same consistency as this.

TSA: Yeah but its not in a tube.

Me: So what you're saying is, if I were to take all my lipgloss out of this jar and put it into a tube, it would be okay?

TSA: Yeah.

Me: Ooookaaaay.

I figured I wasn't going to get anywhere in this conversation and I wasn't about to argue logic with a kid who was just repeating the foolishness passed down by the US Govt. I got on the plane and licked my lips the whole way. Ugh. Thank goodness I have backup backup lipgloss at home. Yes, I have a lot of lip gloss because my lips tend to get dry. I should probably drink more water or something.

Meanwhile, I ended up doing the touristy thing while I was in New York. Statue of Liberty, Empire State, the WTC site, then finally dinner in Times Square. You can check out my touristy pics if you like:
Of course I got my New York Pizza the night before tourist day. Pizza 33 (Thoity-thoid and thoid) is the best pizza I've had in NY. Everyone was telling me to go to a Ray's pizza but I couldn't find one in the area I was staying in. Maybe next time.

Meanwhile, speaking of pizza, remember my post about pizza and chocolate? Well it looks like Domino's took that post to heart (yes of course Domino's monitors my blog, thank you very much) and have introduced brownie bites as a dessert. Three cheers for chocolate!

I'm baack. Yep, I'm back...in The Big Apple. This trip has been interesting to say the least. First, lets discuss the actual plane ride to get here. First, I take back what I said about American Airlines. I'm over that whole luggage thing in favor of the smoothest rides I've flown on, blankets that actually make me warm, and adjustable headrests so I can get some sleep.

Rewind before the flight for a second. I arrived at the airport 3 hours before my flight, fully prepared to wait in line to have my bags thoroughly rummaged through. No such thing happened though, I was checked in and through security in less than 30 minutes. Fast forward to when I landed. I noticed something was sticking out of the back pocket of my laptop bag...whats this? My hand sanitizer. In my laptop bag. That went on the plane. So now I know why security was a breeze...they apparently weren't really checking things.

I have to revisit my post about the best WiFi hotels in 2006. Once again, that widely quoted article was wrong about Kimpton hotels. Sure they have WiFi but it sure as hell isn't free. Try $10.95 per night, the same as their wired internet access. So far this is 2 Kimpton hotels I've stayed in that charge for wireless. I don't want to stay in anymore to find out if the trend continues.

So I went to see SOAP (Snakes on a Plane for those of you who have taken up residence under a rock again) on opening night with a group of coworkers. That movie experience was quite possibly the best I've ever had. The movie itself was as camp as everyone expected it to be, however, when you're in a theater full of hissing, laughing, yelling moviegoers who are there for the camp, its not bad at all. One guy I work with called it this generations Rocky Horror picture show and I tend to agree. I wish I would have had the foresight to bring rubber snakes to the movie though. That would have been the icing on the cake snake.

Hey look!

Official Google Blog: Google in the ATL

Woot! You can barely see me in the picture but I'm in the back between the girl in the green shirt and the guy in the white shirt.

See, Google Atlanta really *does* exist. :)

First a reminder: The views expressed on this website are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer (nor is the extension mentioned a Google product).

On to the post...

A number of folks have pointed out that their Google Personalized Homepage has become squished (for lack of a better term) when displayed in the Firefox sidebar. I'm not quite sure what is causing this but sebdotv has offered a solution: the IGoogle Sidebar extension (again, not a Google product).

This extension displays all the Gadgets that are in the first column of your Personalized Homepage. It ignores anything that isn't in the first column so you can keep the page layout in three columns and use this extension. All you need to do is keep the Gadgets you want to appear in the sidebar in the first column.

The result is a very tightly integrated Google Personalized Homepage + Firefox Sidebar solution. I will say that I would like the Google search box be added back to the top, maybe left aligned if possible? Thankfully, if you miss any of the other stuff, sebdotv has released the source for this extension so you can modify it to your liking. You can also post bugs you find and features you'd like to see added (as I'm going to do re: the search box).

Thanks for this sebdotv! :)