By bicycle through the wineries of Mendoza, Argentina

The province of Mendoza in Argentina is famous for the wine. Mendoza wine can compete with the well known wineries of Napa and Sonoma in California or Bordeaux in France. The main varietal is malbec. In the shade of the Aconcagua, South America's highest mountain, Mendoza offers some dramatic views, pictures and tastes. Mendocinos are also a little different in attitude from the rest of the country. In a pleasant way.

On our recent visit, we stopped by the winery of Di Tommaso. It is the oldest winery open to tourists. It is also where I learned about the wine bicycle tours. Google a bit and you'll find various companies offering a bicycle tour.

Asado Argentino

My friends hear me often explain how they make a barbecue in Argentina. I've posted some pictures before: asado en el campo, asado en Buenos Aries.

Rather then explain it in words, here are the various stages of an Argentinean Asado:

Senatorial Failure

(This blog entry is part of the This American Life* series)

When Justices Roberts and Alito were being questioned by the senate judiciary committee, I followed the proceedings carefully on the radio. I’ve become a constitution-geek. I found the answers by John Roberts interesting, clear and straight-forward.

When many weeks ago Sonia Sotomayor was being questioned, I found it a total waster of time. I wrote this down in the beginning of August, but it got stuck in the draft section of my blog. Jeffrey Toobin in the July 27 New Yorker magazine had a nice write up on the subject.

Answers such as “my judicial philosophy – simple: fidelity to the law” are a dog and pony show. For many cases brought to the Supreme Court, no clear law exists. Justices have to make choices and cast it in the light of their interpretation of the majestic vagueness of the Constitution.

As Jeffrey Toobin put it “The issues are difficult and profound and require a lifetime of study to master, and one would hope that justices arrive with heads full of firm ideas abou the document they are charged with understanding.”

Any observer could have drafted the answers Sotomayor would provide: “follow the law”, “interpret the law”, “don’t legislate from the bench”, “can’t state opinion on hypothetical cases” etc.

So unless the senators start asking real questions probing beyond vague answers, these hearings are a #failure.

When #fail no longer matters

(This blog entry is part of the This American Life* series)

You can not fault her for not trying. On the flight from Washington to Buenos Aires, the person next to me was part of a bigger group, all Korean. I was curious whether they were visiting Argentina as tourist, or visiting family. There is a large Korean population in Argentina. It was neither. They were on all missionaries for a Korean Christian Church.

Thinking back at my visit to Provo, Utah several years ago, I imagined that, like the missionaries of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, they must have prepared well and must be fluent in Spanish. Were they mormons, they might even have specialized in the typical Argentinean pronunciation and studied their culture.

She was no mormon. She did not speak a single word of Spanish and knew almost nothing about the people and the county. On a scale of 1-10, the preparation for their ‘sales’ call, was a lousy 1.

She did have a small booklet, called Amor y Esperanza, containing phrases she was able to pronounce. The plan was to approach people in the street, belch out some phrases and convert the people in this Catholic country to a Korean Christian Church. Knowing the portenos, good luck with that.

The first commandment in their booklet had to be “failure makes you stronger” I admire the effort.

United Check-in Fail

(This blog entry is part of the This American Life* series)

The blue shared shuttle van dropped me of at the United Airlines domestic terminal at San Francisco international terminal two and half hours in advance of my flight to Buenos Aires. The next 30 minutes were a disaster. And I truly hope my fellow passengers will decide with their feet and not their carefully saved up airline miles, when they plan their next trip.

Sure it was a clever automation idea to streamline the check-in procedure. Let’s write some software and allow people to self check-in at touch-screen kiosk. We’ll save the wages of the people normally assisting with the check-in (and perhaps even stick it to the unions).

Step one: let’s get rid of the lovely check-in ladies and men. Keep a couple of baggage handlers to move the luggage onto the conveyer belt. But don’t let the handlers touch the kiosk. Faulty Towers’s Manuel had already provided the script: “Kiosk? I know nothing! I am from Barcelona.”. We might need a few people to assist, but you’ll to go via a special line or you have to show up with your long board or Fluffy in a cage.

The self check-in system doesn’t work. I was at the check-in twice within a week and noticed the same universal frustrations.

1. Human help - The line greeter (who kept his/her job) doesn’t disqualify people. You’ll get into a long line and only figure out at the end that you have a passport which is not machine readable.
2. Easy-flow - The kiosk software lacks a simple flow “what to expect” flow chart. You get peppered with non-essential up-sell questions about legroom or baggage home delivery. The result is that an easy flow to get your boarding pass and dispatch your luggage is lost. (And more thing, how is it that airlines are allowed to monetize on shorter lines to my tax dollars at work: the TSA.)
   The software forgot to let me know what would happen with my luggage before it got back to the first screen. A simple message “Thank you for checking in. Please wait for a friendly baggage handler to pick up your luggage and give you your baggage stub” would avoid many standing there confused and frustrated about what next.
3. The system might be great for frequent travelers. But the computer illiterate, or many senior citizens can use a little help. There was one representatives for 30 kiosks. It lacks sufficient personnel to get you going. “Welcome, let me help get you started. Call me if you have a question.” The automated checkout machines at Home Deport or Lowe’s have one person for four machines. The difference here is that United already has your money.

It’s time for me to consider a different credit card and not lock in my miles with a single airline. That’s the only way to avoid United Airlines check-in #fail.

Image: courtesy of Chicago Breaking News center in an article about similar United check-in #fail.

This American Life*

For my recent internal trip, I was prepared to travel alone. I was meeting up with my wife and kids, already visiting family in Argentina. I had stocked my iPod with my favorite NPR shows: Wait wait don’t tell me, Fresh air with Terry Gross, All songs considered and This American Life.

This American Life is my favorite radio show. I can honestly state I have donated to keep the podcast going. I could listen to the podcast for free. But why not keep a good thing going. How often can you pay for something you really like. Think about it.

If you are not familiar with the show, it is about an hour long and produced by WBEZ Chicago Public Radio. It is hosted by Ira Glass. His nasal and liveless voice, and his method of story telling is what makes the show fantastic.

The format is simple: every week there are three or more stories of live in America, around a common theme. The stories include interviews and are narrated by various contributors to the show, including David Sedaris, Sara Vowell, Nancy Updike and broken up by music sounding like wallpaper.

On my trip to Buenos Aires, I listed to various saved up podcasts and got inspired to write my own. This American Life*

[Ira reads] Welcome to This American Life, brought to you by WBEZ Chicago Public Radio. Each week we bring you three stories around a common theme. Today: #failure.