Dayton to Whitesboro: The Thin Red Line

For those of you who might have been worried, I made it back safe and sound. Of course, this was after a mechanical issue delayed my flight, and I had to fly through Atlanta to get to Syracuse. Instead of getting home at 3 o'clock, I got home closer to 8. No worries though, stick a pin in that map, Ohio has been conquered (though it didn't feel like a very conquering experience).

Be sure to come back here tomorrow. I will have a new edition of, you got it, the Official Four Corner's Next Destination List!!!!

Night folks. 

Dayton Day 4: Forget it Adam, its Dayton

It just wasn't meant to be I suppose. Another day in Dayton, another day of what could have been. Yesterday was a miserable day, but today I woke up to sunshine and, get this, warm weather. Dayton is beginning to show its many faces. I was hoping we would get out of meetings early, like just after noon. We finished earlier than I expected, around 11:45, and I was thinking "I might get a chance to enjoy this nice weather, and maybe finally see Dayton's wonders". Wrong.

The work didn't end there. We had to make stops at two other places. But first we needed to grab a quick lunch. Finally, maybe something unique to Dayton. Wanna guess? Burger King. The BK Lounge. The fuckin' King of Kings. You can insert your own punchline here, I am done with the fast-food jokes, there is no point. After lunch, we headed to the first destination, which was actually Wright State University, where we have some work going on. This I was happy about, if you remember  I was planning on checking it out anyway.  Of course we made our way straight for the building we needed to be in, but  I still got a chance to see some of the campus. Its not bad, quite big actually, but some pretty decent architecture. It brought me back to my days prowling around UB's campus, walking around like I owned the place. We crossed through the student union (not bad, bigger than UB's actually, and a better design) and I got to see the inside of a couple of buildings. I was pretty satisfied, despite not getting a longer chance to mosey around. Not enough cute Asian girls either. After that we had to go to a nearby airbase, where we stayed for like 3 hours in a concrete room. Bored to tears and feeling miles away from the nice weather, I contemplated the interesting methods of suicide I could employ. Hanging myself with a computer cord ranked pretty high.

 It wasn't until after four o'clock that we concluded, and while my boss had a dinner banquet to attend, it was down to myself and my two other colleagues for dinner plans, and our options were limited to the places that could be reached on foot (boss took the rental). We decided to meet at six. I though, great, I will rest for a bit, grab a quick dinner, then go do something, the weather is still nice.

I could have eaten alone and did something more fancy, but I didn't want to eat alone really, and the only place that was close that was different from fast food was a place called "Thai Express". I wasn't terribly in the mood for Thai tonight, and generally if a place has "Express" in the name, the food is shit. Just saying. The two guys wanted to eat Subway, so there you have it: Arby's, BK, and Subway, all in three days. Goes beyond pathetic, I am lost for words.

We finished up, I walked back with them to their hotel and rounded off our discussion about how the trip/meetings went. After seeing them off I was thinking, "Alright, time to work off these awful meals and do some walking around, maybe go back to see more of campus". Then it began to pour. Sheets of rain. A deluge. I stared and disbelief and could only mutter "Fuckin' Dayton" under my breath. 

Up bright and early tomorrow for a flight back to Syracuse, and probably even more bad weather and boredom. Might have to do some movie viewing to pass the time. See you in Upstate New York. 

Dayton, Day 3: Soul-Crushing

Horribly dis-heartening. That is Dayton. It is the larger Whitesboro. Perhaps I am being unfair. I probably am actually, there does seem to be more places around here to eat, definitely more than Whitesboro, but most are chains. Its actually quite similar to Amherst, NY. With Wright State University literally right across from my hotel, it actually is very similar to Amherst. Anyway, my lack of mobility is putting a damper on the experience, and well, there is the whole work thing too.

I was in work all day, so nothing substantial to report. For lunch myself and the three other guys from work went for a special treat, Arby's. When the only guy who can drive the rental car (my boss) is a big fast food fan, and refuses to eat ethnic food of any kind (he did say he likes Italian, however.....), you are gonna be in a for some disappointment. After the Arby's failure meal, we were back at it until almost five. After a short rest three out of the four of us met up again and went to local restaurant called Max and Erma's, to meet with two guys from the area involved in our work. I was hoping for something exotic, but it was your typical American restaurant, this one specializing in burgers with all different kinds of shit on them, which is like every-other American joint (basically). I don't know why I got my hopes up, with a name like "Max and Erma's", I should have known they wouldn't be serving dim-sum. With the Arby's still working its magic on me, the thought of eating another large meal brought about visions of hanging myself, so I just settled for a tortilla soup, which was actually very good. We got some pretty decent conversation going for the duration of the meal, and didn't leave until quarter to eight.

And now here I am, again, in the room, with limited options. I settled for watching the highlights of today's football (soccer) games on my computer. Arsenal won, if anyone cares. A ray of light amidst all the despair. Did I mention it was a miserable day today? Rainy and cold basically the whole day. Makes one almost yearn for Whitesboro. Almost. I'm actually very willing to give this place a gander, but I am shackled by a lack of transportation, and work is basically eating into the evenings. It gets dark early, mind. 

Tomorrow we should be finishing up earlier in the afternoon, leaving the rest of the day to ourselves. Now, despite all the depressing images I am probably painting for you, I am not dreading having half a day in Dayton. Provided the weather isn't total garbage like it was today, I think I will take a walk about Wright State's campus, which again is literally across the street. There are no attractions in the vicinity (if there are any in the city and all), and the Air Force museum is too far for me to walk. I would feel a bit weird asking my boss to drop me off there, but he is taking the car to some other matter tomorrow anyway. So, that looks to be a distant hope. But, again, I enjoy college campuses, and even though you hear little about it, Wright State is supposed to be a good school, actually. I figure, again weather permitting, that might be a good way to check out part of Dayton. I don't want to be sitting in the room again (though I should say I haven't done very much of that actually, we have been finishing up business/dinner pretty late). But  we have a good chunk of time tomorrow, and I don't want to spend it hanging out in the room if I don't have to. I can do that kind of thing in Whitesboro.

Dayton: Apocalypse Now, Redux

Okay, okay, I will quit it with the doomsday talk on Dayton, but things still aren't all that rosy. My day started with a lunch (remember, this is all after my previous post, written this morning) with my three traveling companions and a local collaborator. After an hour or so lunch, we went to our scheduled meeting, which took us until after five o'clock. The four of us decided to meet up at six for dinner, so I took my hour leave to change to civilian clothes and rest up, and then we set out for dinner, which was conveniently just up the street: A Quaker Steak and Lube. Yes, what a horribly un-appetizing name. It was alright. Not my idea of a nice travel outing, but we got some chit-chat going over our American comfort food (deep fried pretzels was the appetizer of choice. I tried one. Thoughts of suicide have still not left my head). Our waitress was a real cutie too, I gave her a nice big tip (Hey!, they work hard!) After that, we retired to our rooms.

And here we are!! I spent the evening in my room, just taking it easy and surfing the net. I didn't have much choice. It was already getting dark out, and I have no car, and there isn't much to be had in the vicinity. Some of the other folks we met in the meeting were having their own go at Dayton (Have you seen all the sights Dayton has to offer!? Hahahahah, just kidding, not possible!) Yep, the locals are real riots.

So I have two more full days here. Does Dayton have ANY redeeming qualities? Even if it does, will I get the chance to see them? I have been hearing the ONLY thing is the Air Force Museum, which does sound kind of neat, though I don't generally go for museums. If I get the chance....it may be our only hope.

I gotta be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow for work-related purposes. A work-related dinner is going to follow in the evening. Lets hope its not deep-fried pretzels.

Cheers.

Dayton, Ohio: Apocalypse Now

I can't remember if I passed the word on, but I am in Dayton, Ohio this week until Friday, on business matters. I left Syracuse yesterday, and was supposed to touch down in the Jewel of Ohio (I just made that up) at around 4 pm local time. Yeah, that didn't happen.

I am traveling with three other guys, all government employees, and our noon flight out of Syracuse was delayed something like an hour, meaning we missed our connection in Chicago. Our connection was at 2:05 Chicago time. The next flight to Dayton they could book us on? 7 pm. That meant we had a nice 5-hour wait in Chicago O'Hare. Some of you may know, I have some, shall we say, not inconsiderable travel experience, and, experience tells me that O'Hare is just an awful airport to get stuck in. There are really just a bunch of shitty restaurants, not very interest to stroll around. The one thing it has going for it is that it is big, which means lots of people, who can be muses for people watching (female watching? There was this really cute Asian girl sitting by our gate for the longest time I was tempted to start a charm offensive, but with my boss sitting with me, decided against it).

It was a pretty boring affair. I was the baby-face amongst our group of four, and the other guys were pretty content to just sit around, striking up the occasional conversation. I rued not bringing a deck of cards (four guys, game of pitch anyone?). Of course, our long-layover overlapped with dinner, so we had to settle for airport food. We decided to go to Chili's (yes, we really know how to live). Where our waitress had zero personality, and almost balked at our request for four separate checks (I could see the thought flash behind her eyes to deny us). Surprisingly,it wasn't THAT expensive, considering it was in an airport, and it was the best we could hope for. As the witching hour drew near, our plane was delayed a little bit more, as the crew had to go grab some McDonald's. We eventually made it to Dayton after 10 pm local time. The four of us piled into our tiny rental car, a 20 minute drive through hopping Dayton the only thing between us and our hotels (I stayed and a different place from the other guys, because it has a free breakfast). I wanted to put up a post last night, but, upon walking into my hotel room just before 11 o'clock, after having gotten up at 5:30 that morning and spending all day on the road, I decided just to collapse into my king-size bed.

The initial situation looks bleak. I don't have my own rental car, and the hotel is located basically on a long strip of other hotels. The word I get from other guys isn't promising: "Its basically like Rome, NY, just a bit bigger". Yikes. In Syracuse, we bumped into some other guys from work who were also going to Dayton, but for different reasons. My boss, John, asked them when they were leaving Dayton "Wednesday, just staying for two nights" came the answer. When John told them we were staying until Friday, all they could say was "Sorry". So, yeah, not really a ringing endorsement. But, here at FC we try to make the best of any situation. Hell, I have been enduring Whitesboro for 22 years, and haven't shot up a post office or anything yet. So, I will likely be occupied with work most of the time, but come back to find out what I discover in Dayton. 

Movie Review-The Debt: Don't F**k Around with the Mossad

Its Whitesboro (still....I know), and its raining. I know you are thinking "guess your gotta kill yourself, huh?", but luckily we have a movie theater in the area, so we can't despair (yet). Movie season is beginning to heat up, there are now a good handful of movies that I think might be worth shelling out for, so I might be contributing quite a bit to Marquee Cinema's profits in the coming days. "The Debt" has been on my radar since its early September release, and kicked-off the movie bonanza. How was it?

Fantastic. "The Debt" is a very, very good movie. Of course, with Tom Wilkinson and Helen Mirren in the film, its already got an advantage coming out of the gate. But the other actors perform more than admirably, and even steal the show. The story is set in both 1967 and 1997, told in flashbacks and bits of the present (well, 1997 anyways). In 1967, three Mossad agents are sent to East Berlin to capture a former Nazi concentration camp doctor known as the "Doctor of Berkinau" and then bring him to Israel to stand trial. Marton Csokas (whom some of you will probably remember from the Bourne Supremacy and his famous fight scene with Jason), Sam Worthington, who appears to be quickly moving up the ladder in Hollywood, and Jessica Chastain, the first time I have seen her, play the young agents in 1967. Wilkinson plays the older version of Csokas' character, Ciaran Hinds is the elder Sam Worthington, and of course Mirren is an older Chastain. I will not explain why there was the need for the story to be told in flashbacks, for I could only do so and give away the story, which is very much worth seeing. The acting from all of the above mentioned is top-notch, even Jesper Christiansen playing the doctor puts in a good shift. I was particularly impressed with the young crowd. I have only seen Worthington in "Clash of Titans", which is a shitty way to a judge an actor, but he looks promising. Same thing for Chastain, who I hear also did well in that movie "The Help". Csokas usually gets placed in secondary roles, and I was glad to see him excel in a more prominent role. Wilkinson and Mirren of course a just a pleasure to watch. 'Nuff said.

The movie itself, there really isn't much you can say, you just have to see it. I loved it. Its filled with suspense, and interesting story, and a clever way of telling it as well. The acting is really gravy. I was afraid that this would just be another "Munich", a story of Israeli revenge, but it wasn't, and I actually think it was better, thanks to some neat plot elements. "The Debt" is a keeper.

Verdict: See it. Grade: A

If you liked this movie you might also like: Well, I kind of let the cat out of the bag, but Munich is still a pretty good movie. Other than that, just watch Mirren or Wilkinson, you won't regret it. 

Movie Review- Face

I am breaking a little bit with tradition here. I know I maintained that I would only review recent films, but I haven't made it to the theater yet to see some of the newer fair, and some of the other stuff that is available is trash. Enter stage right, "Face", a 1997 British film starring Robert Carlyle and one of my personal favorites, Ray Winestone. If you have ever heard of this film before reading these pages, give yourself a pat on the back. Even IMDB had to think about it a bit before finding it. I had never heard of it until a few weeks back, when I googled (is the verb form un-capitalized? I am assuming it is) "best British gangster films". This movie was on the very first list, along with some good company, like Michael Caine's "Get Carter" and "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". But "Face" was new to me. Well, sometimes these lesser-knowns can be real gems, and I like both the aforementioned actors, so I gave it a shot.

I wasn't disappointed, pleasantly surprised, in fact. Carlyle plays Ray (I know, with Ray Winestone in the film, its a bit confusing) a disillusioned socialist who has turned to bank-robbing as a means getting by, with his partners Dave (Winestone), the (I think) slightly retarded Steve, and the sociopathic Julian, who always had a shotgun under his trench-coat (the actors who played these two I am not familiar with). The movie begins with the crew pulling off a big job, only for things to start spiralling out of control in the aftermath, when their loot is stolen from them. It started out a bit rough, as the accents these guys have (in particular Winestone's character) is actually quite hard to comprehend at times, but I eventually got the hang of it. After a slow opening 15 or 20 minutes, the story begins to pick up, and your interest is kept quite well until the end credits roll. All the actors did a superb job, especially Carlyle and Winestone, who really seemed at home in these movie. Two very good performances. The Julian character was a real hoot too, providing some very dark humor to the film and some laugh out loud lines. Don't read that wrong, "Face" is intended to be a serious film, but what good British gangster flick doesn't have its share of dark humor? There was good doses in "Face", and I love it ( I am not sure if I should be worried about this.....) Its is a fairly simplistic story line, so nothing anybody could screw up, but it is still done well enough to make the movie worth watching. There are some decent bits of action as well. There is also a pretty exciting ending, first with elements of the crew sneaking through a police station, eventually getting caught up in a fire fight.

It is a fairly short (hour and forty minutes) and simple film, but "Face" is good, I was really glad that I bounded across this one. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie that was made before the year 2000, and it was a little strange watching them use cell phones that looked like walkie-talkies. No matter though, there was some very good acting in this picture, and it was plain fun to watch as well, so it is a shame that "Face" didn't get that much face-time (you see what I did there? Pretty good huh?). Like I said, I didn't know of its existence until I did my Google search. I sure am glad that somebody thought to give it mention though.

Verdict: See it. Grade: A-

If you liked this movie you might also like: Roberty Carlyle and Ray Winestone are both very good at what they do, and don't get that much recognition (at least in my mind), go IMDB them and see some of there other stuff.

Movie Review- Contagion: Wash Your Hands

So, as some of you may know, after our day in Toronto, I saw this movie with my friends Otto and Saleh, catching the midnight showing. It has a star-studded cast, including my favorite Jason Bou- I mean Matt Damon, as well as Gwyneth Paltrow, Lawrence Fishburne, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Marion Cotillard (who, it has to be said, is absolutely gorgeous). That's some kind of line-up. How did it play out?


What is the technical word I am looking for? I think its: meh. Nothing really to write home about with this movie, but it wasn't a total mess either. Someone contracts a mystery disease, our scientists don't know how to cure it, it kills a ton of people all around the World before someone figures it out. It wasn't really groundbreaking stuff by any means, but I suppose the progression of the story was delivered in a pretty neat way. This wasn't enough though. One can only do so much with that kind of story line, and it is pretty predictable, so the story, unfortunately, got to be kind of boring. It was interesting to see how the Center for Disease Control and other entities would respond to this kind of crisis, but that is not very redeeming. Otto even fell asleep next to me, though Saleh and I were able to stick with it. The acting was by and large good, but these really weren't very difficult roles to pull off either. This was just one of those films that was stacked with star power, and the hope was that would be enough to create a good film. Wouldn't be the first time this happened. Well, I have yet to see this come off, and it didn't here. The story becomes too disjointed as every actor is given equal time on screen, even though there is very little interaction between their characters. It becomes a set of several small storylines. I am actually all for that, but more in the line of Babel, where the stories of the characters intertwine or collide in some manner. Didn't happen in Contagion.


This movie was intended, at least that is the way it felt, to scare people to be mindful of germs, and to wash your hands and don't touch your face too much and all that. It is a good message I suppose, but right now, with so many other problems staring our World in the face, this was the issue that Steven Soderbergh decided to shed more light on? I don't even think it is very original. Wasn't Twelve Monkeys or Outbreak kind of like this? Maybe I don't know I am talking about, but I am sure there are other important items we can call attention to. Syriana, a very good film, made us think about reliance upon oil and turmoil in the Middle East. Why can't we do something like that again? Take a serious issue, and make a fictional story about it? How about religious extremism, or human rights in the third world, or potential food shortages, or the presence of autocracies around the World? Disease outbreak is not at the forefront of our minds, nor is it very original. Soderbergh is a good director, and he had some fantastic actors, he should put his skills and those individuals to better use. 


Verdict: Don't waste the time or money in theaters, maybe, MAYBE, worth a rent, but even then only if there is nothing else that catches your eye. Grade: C


If you liked this movie you might also like: You like a ton of famous actors all in the same movie? Then you would probably go for the Oceans 11, 12, and 13 movies. 


I am going to try and catch The Debt this weekend, and maybe something else on the computer. Look here later for any news. 

Buffalo/Toronto Recap

Ahhhh....back in Whitesboro. What could be better? Quite a bit actually, but that is besides the point. My weekend was filled with nostalgia as it brought me back to Buffalo, the place of my undergraduate education. Otto was a fantastic host, as were his parents (his mom is a superb cook, she made some delicious Moroccan bread for breakfast...now my Cheerios just seem boring. Thanks Mrs. Bousseg). His father didn't speak too much English, but I was able to get "thank-you" and "hello" in with my rudimentary Arabic.

Anyway, I arrived Thursday after leaving directly from work, and the evening in Buffalo was gorgeous. Otto and I walked around his neighborhood and caught up on each other's goings-on, eventually making our way to a large Japanese garden that I didn't even know existed (most of my time at UB was spent on the campus in Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo. Otto lives in Buffalo proper, so much of this was new to me. Yes, in my four years there, I didn't do much venturing into Buffalo). Later, after dark had set in, we stopped in at a favorite Buffalo eatery of mine, Jim's Steakout, home to everything bad for the human body. We split a Stinger, a sub with chopped steak and chicken finger on it, along with cheese and bleu cheese. All healthy for you. It was good to be back in Buffalo.

Friday was our Toronto day. Otto invited a friend of his, Saleh, to come along with us. Saleh, who was born in Yemen, was the driver. He and I hit it off immediately, we have similar interests and, more importantly, similar senses of humor. The drive went quick, and soon we found ourselves shelling out for parking in the bustling city. Our main destination was the top of the CN Tower, and that is where we ended up, snapping photos of the panorama of Toronto offered by the tower's viewing platform. There were some old ladies from the Red Hat Society up there (apparently that group is allowed to roam around freely, scary stuff), who took a liking to Otto, and had some photos taken with him. The man, it has to be said, is a pimp. That is, of course, if you like over the age of 60, overweight, and wearing clothing that would make Liberace say "oh dear Christ".

After the CN Tower we walked along Yonge Street, the longest street in the World, up to Eaton Centre, Toronto's shopping district. There we grabbed something to eat and moseyed about, eventually having to head back to the car to avoid having to pay more. We didn't have much time, as Saleh had to work the next day, so we drove around some more, venturing further up Yonge Street, before heading for the border. We were only in the city for about 5 or 6 hours, but since it has been more that 15 years since I had been there, I had to see Toronto again. Nevertheless, we vowed to return soon, next time to check out the ethnic neighborhoods. At the border, as was expected, we were hassled. With two Arabs in the car and near the anniversary of 9/11, it was no surprise that the "random" inspection found its way to us. The customs officials kept us around for about half-an-hour, having us wait in one of the buildings while they searched the car. After not finding anything of interest, we were free to go, and eventually made it back to Buffalo after ten.

Otto decided he was hungry all of the sudden, so we stopped at a Chinese place, creatively named Great Wall, on Elmwood Ave. Elmwood I was familiar with, I had been on this street before. It is a bastion of bohemianism in the rapidly crumbing Buffalo. The street is lined with restaurants, boutiques, and coffee shops, and draws out late-night revelers on the weekend. Unfortunately some frat houses have also popped up on the street, adding some douche-baggery to the atmosphere. We cracked jokes and swapped stories over some sesame chicken, occasionally casting a glance at the potpourri of people walking by the restaurant through its big glass window. After filling up, we strolled the street for a few minutes, sharing the street with people out on the town, young and old, as well as some homeless dudes mumbling to themselves. The bums all seemed to know each-other, which is pretty cool....I guess.

Even as the hour approached midnight, Otto wasn't done yet, and convinced us that we should see a movie. We caught the midnight showing of Contagion, which I will be posting up the review for tomorrow. Be sure to look for it. After that, we had to call it a night, finally retiring after two in the morning.

Yesterday was my day to see some other friendly faces. I met with a Chinese professor/friend on campus, and spent nearly three hours with him. He was never actually my Chinese teacher, but we got to know each other quite well, as I was always hanging out at the TA sessions to practice. After that, I drove to my friend Davon's house. Davon was my roommate in China, and we have been good friends for some time. I hadn't seen him since I left China, so it was great to see him again, though we have corresponded pretty regularly online. We too chatted for hours about politics, future plans, and travel. A good conversation, one I plan to have again soon. I still wasn't done, as I had to see my old pal Nick. He was actually on campus watching the UB football game, but left to meet up with me. We shared a dinner of buffalo wings and roast beef on weck, topping off what was becoming a very unhealthy weekend.

Saturday finished with myself and Otto heading out again to Elmwood, first driving around downtown for some time and then taking an outdoor table at one of his favorite coffee shops, me drinking an orange juice (I know, I know, I am very boring but it was too warm to go for a coffee or some other crazy hot drink. Next time), and him a soda (that is pretty boring too). We sat and chatted for a while, but all things must come to an end, and we eventually headed home.

This morning started with some of that delicious Moroccan bread, and then another walk around the neighborhood, as the weather was again gorgeous. Around noon I said my thank-yous to his family (in English and Arabic) and hit the road, driving straight through to Whitesboro, encountering no hitches. So here I am, back where it all began, having come from where my life as a young adult began. Some aspects of Buffalo suck, like the winter weather, but even so I am always going to be fond of that place, in particular the campus area, but most especially the people I met there. I will definitely be going back again soon.

Remember, be sure to look for a review of Contagion here later. 

Buffalo: A return

Readers. Glad you could join me. Its been a busy couple of days, I apologize for not posting in a timely manner. I am, as many of you may know, back in Buffalo, the place of my education. I have been seeing old friends and places, along with a trip to Toronto yesterday.

Look for a recap of events tomorrow, after I get home. Should be some time in the evening. I will be sure to let you know how things went down. At the moment, I will be stepping out with my good friend and host, Otmane (commonly known as Otto).

See you back here soon.

Enter September

So August shot by pretty quick, luckily the east coast survived Hurricane Irene so we can eventually endure a miserable winter (maybe the Hurricane should have drowned us all....) This pretty much signals the end of summer, which is depressing, but fall weather can be nice (at times). Those of you down south are probably celebrating the end of the dog days of summer, or, if you are Rick Perry, praying for rainfall. For my international readers, well, I can't cover all climate types, so I just hope you have had good weather. What better way to get you through life, no matter what your weather is like, than.......The Four Corners' Next Destinations List!!

You probably thought I had forgotten about you....At 11:59 last night you figured "ah, there it is, August has ended and no FC Next Destinations List. I might-as-well drink myself to sleep tonight". I hope you didn't, but if you did drown your sorrows in cheap beer, I apologize for the delay.

Anyway, lets get down to business:

1. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada- I know my fellow north-easterners are probably wondering what I am doing starting off an end-of-summer edition with a Canadian city, and not some tropical locale. Well, give Winnipeg a chance. Someone recently mentioned to me that this place is worth checking out, and, upon some cursory research, it does look the part. I mean, Canada has really got it going on, color me envious. Anyway, Winnipeg benefits from a very diverse population, as do many other Canadian cities, and all the great things that come along with it. Outfitted with lots of choices of food, boutiques, museums, and theaters, Winnipeg is also reportedly a good destination for architecture enthusiasts. Count me in.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/canada/manitoba/winnipeg
http://wikitravel.org/en/Winnipeg

2. Willemstad, Curacao- How about Dutch architecture, but in a place with perpetual sunny weather? Sounds  like a party, so lets head to Willemstad, the capital of Curacao. Curacao is actually an overseas territory of the Kingdom of Netherlands (yeah, don't forget that the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy) located in the Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela. The city's harbor is supposed to be beautiful, serving as an entrance to the city's Old Town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Taking a look at some photos, Willemstad has made its way onto my list. A possible winter destination? Yeah, I think so.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willemstad
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/819

3. Kobe, Japan- I am a huge fan of Japan, I had a fantastic time on the island (well, losing my iPod in Kyoto kind of sucked) when I visited there last year, and it ranks highly on the places I would most like to re-visit. When that does happen, Kobe is going to be on the itinerary. Kobe gets overshadowed by Tokyo (but what other Japanese city doesn't?), but the word is that it is a cosmopolitan city with lots to offer, and it definitely looks to have some neat architecture, enough to pique my interest. According to the Wikipedia article, Kobe has a Chinatown, European-influenced architecture, large parks, and  wide array of cuisine. I'm not quit sure what else you could ask for.......
http://wikitravel.org/en/Kobe
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2159.html

4. Tbilisi, Georgia- I am hoping that, by now, Americans are catching up to the fact that Georgia "ain't just a state in the South". If they haven't, then they should, because we have a gem on our ands with this Caucasus country (VERY southern Europe maybe? Depends who you ask....). Tbilisi, the country's capital, is fitted with modern infrastructure, an incredible and well-maintained old town, and a bunch of activities. Lonely Planet definitely talks it up "not to be missed" are the terms they use. I will just put it out there that Georgia has some amazing natural scenery, and any visit there will probably require a trip outside the city. I know some of you are thinking "Didn't Russia, like, invade not too long ago"? First off, congratulations for knowing of the country of Georgia, second, yes it is true some parts of Georgia are better left off your travel plans, but Tbilisi is safe, as long as you take the same precautions as in any city.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Tbilisi#b
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/georgia/tbilisi

5. Poznan, Poland- Poland is a great place (I don't say that because it is the land of my forebears, trust me, its a fun place) but I was disappointed to miss Poznan. Krakow and Warsaw usually get top billing for Poland, but it would be a mistake to miss this place. Located on the Berlin to Moscow railway, Poznan is steeped in history, and looks packed with sites and things to do, including Europe's last steam-operated passenger service (ok, that probably appeals to a small demographic, but my dad is probably looking into going right this minute). I remember hearing someone say (A Pole, if I remember) that Poznan is the country's most beautiful city. Well, can't beat that.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Poznan#b
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/poland/wielkopolska/poznan

So concludes this edition. I hope I have helped create some travel itineraries.

Catch y'all back here again soon.