I finally got a chance to fix that glitch that was causing doubled text on the full-entry pages in Internet Explorer 7.
Unfortunately I also looked at the page in IE 6 for the first time. That was a mistake. What a mess. I’ll get to that by, oh… Cambodia.
I call it “Lady Donkey Balls.” Purchased from a vending machine in Finland. I think it is supposed to be a sort of kids’ novelty – like “Garbage Pail Kids?” It starts out sweet, but then there is a salty liquid inside. It’s really quite revolting.
As a kid I always enjoyed watching the winter Olympics more than the summer, mostly because of the bobsledding. It seemed incredibly cool and (in my mind) required no athletic skill other than being able to hold on, which was the only athletic skill I had. So when Sophie stumbled on a listing in our guidebook for a bobsled rides in Sigulda, Latvia, my younger self immediately spoke up and insisted that we go.
I bought this sandwich at the bus station in Tallinn, Estonia and am now eating it on the way to Latvia. I can’t identify the orangeish substance on the bottom interior layer. It’s wrapped in some other unidentifiable substance that I originally thought was egg but am now not so sure.
The orange stuff has a texture somewhere between hard-boiled egg yolk and paté. This sandwich is hitting me with so many different flavors that I can’t tell which is the orange stuff. Nor can I decide whether it’s delicious or disgusting.
Ideas?
So before leaving on this trip I bought the AT&T Wireless 20 GB Data Global Add-On plan for my iPhone. For $24.99 it lets me download up to 20MB of data a month while outside of the US, rather than paying the normal $19.97/MB fee.
Turns out that AT&T has developed a new meaning for the word “global,” because there are big chunks of the globe in which the global plan isn’t valid — including Finland, where I just came from, Estonia, where I am now, and Latvia, where I’m about to go.
As you can see from the pic, I learned that the hard way. I’m now .41 MB in the red — about $8. ($19.97 if AT&T rounds up to the nearest MB, which I believe they do.) If I had used my whole month’s data allotment, the bill would be $399.40.
Here’s the complete list of countries where the plan’s valid. If you’ve visited a country that isn’t on there, congratulations on leaving the globe, Laika.
We stopped by to visit Santa at his village near Rovaniemi, Finland. He has a nice office, pictured, and he’s gone digital, so you can get your photo handed to you on an official Santa 2GB USB flash drive. That obviously comes as no surprise because, according to the tourist magazine:
“Santa has always been at the forefront of technical development, so his data communications and transport services have always been ahead of their time. Quite possibly mobile phones and communicators have actually been invented in Santa’s secret research Laboratory.”
While visiting make sure to pick up a nice shiv from Marttiini, “the official knife factory of Santa Claus.” I presume these are the same knives Santa’s elves use to butcher his reindeer before they serve them in his restaurant.
UPDATE: Click the more link to see ACTUAL VIDEO of our visit with Santa Claus, as shot by the video elf.
Dear blog readers: If you’re planning a trip around the word, don’t take any SD cards with you. The 16GB card containing half of my music files is completely fried, possibly due to spite, or to gnomes. The 16GB card containing the other half of my music files is currently enjoying a relaxing rail journey somewhere in Sweden, possibly lounging in a sauna with my missing travel towel wrapped around its waist.
We’ve got nine Swedish sled dogs that are ready to chomp whale ass for us.
And no Northern Lights yet either. Tonight, I hope. We spent 18 hours on a train and two hours on a bus and 20 minutes on a ferry on a bus and four hours in a mall food court 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle to get here for this, after all.
