Job's done and packed and on its way. I'm now at San Francisco Airport waiting for my redeye back to New York City so I can hop a flight to Buffalo. I'm slated to arrive home about noon, Wednesday. What fun this will be.
SFO's International terminal is really a sad excuse for an major city's airport. Lots of glitzy shops and restaurants selling overpriced merchandise and food, but when you get to your gate, just try and find a plug for your laptop. Or comfortable chair. And even though you may have TSA Pre-check, you still wind up in the same line as people who don't...so why bother?
Compared to Hong Kong's airport, San Francisco is pathetic. At least you get free wiFi that works. I tried three times to post on my blog at the La Quinta and got kicked off every time. Didn't help that there were a couple busloads of Chinese tourists and their obnoxious kids using it at the same time. But a lot is also the crap internet service in the US.
Anyway, I finished The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu on the trip over, and love the story. The writer, Joshua Hammer, wasn't very good; he had this suspense-killing habit of letting you know everything turned out okay before telling you about a situation that could have gone bad, very bad. Plus he repeats himself a lot and backs around on himself as he dispenses information. Very 19th Century in style.
But the story overcomes those limitations, and that all but about 15,000 manuscripts were saved is phenomenal. Normally I would love to see this turned into a movie -- and someone may actually be working on that, now -- but I can see them casting Tom Hanks as Abdel Kader Haidara, the man who planned it all. Hollywood's too filled with cowards and accountants to think of anything like actually casting a Muslim man to play a Muslim hero.
Yeah, and Brad Pitt would be Joshua Hammer talking about how he told the story...
SFO's International terminal is really a sad excuse for an major city's airport. Lots of glitzy shops and restaurants selling overpriced merchandise and food, but when you get to your gate, just try and find a plug for your laptop. Or comfortable chair. And even though you may have TSA Pre-check, you still wind up in the same line as people who don't...so why bother?
Compared to Hong Kong's airport, San Francisco is pathetic. At least you get free wiFi that works. I tried three times to post on my blog at the La Quinta and got kicked off every time. Didn't help that there were a couple busloads of Chinese tourists and their obnoxious kids using it at the same time. But a lot is also the crap internet service in the US.
Anyway, I finished The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu on the trip over, and love the story. The writer, Joshua Hammer, wasn't very good; he had this suspense-killing habit of letting you know everything turned out okay before telling you about a situation that could have gone bad, very bad. Plus he repeats himself a lot and backs around on himself as he dispenses information. Very 19th Century in style.
But the story overcomes those limitations, and that all but about 15,000 manuscripts were saved is phenomenal. Normally I would love to see this turned into a movie -- and someone may actually be working on that, now -- but I can see them casting Tom Hanks as Abdel Kader Haidara, the man who planned it all. Hollywood's too filled with cowards and accountants to think of anything like actually casting a Muslim man to play a Muslim hero.
Yeah, and Brad Pitt would be Joshua Hammer talking about how he told the story...
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