A few nice Blogging for money images I found:
52.46.14 – At UCSC

Image by dichohecho
Look, I’m still alive 
Blogging for happy holiday and so I don’t forget. If I have more computer fail this may end up being number 47 too :s
I’m in the sciences library at the University of California in Santa Cruz. It’s nice. I’ve been very bad and come while Maiyan still has finals on but I’m keeping out of the way while she studies. She’s been doing lots and lots of physics which is good (she even got up early and worked while I slept!)
I find it a little odd that the university library has computers with webcams and AIM and MSN and all sorts. But there we go. I expect it’s because people are/should be more self-motvated and not need to be kept off by officious firewalls.
Soo. Yesterday(Monday) I got up at 5.40, packed my stuff up, said goodbye to Anna and walked to New Cross Gate station. I caught a train to East Croydon, which is a rather nice station.
They have information boards which tell you which train to take to get to Gatwick fastest (not always the first one) so I ignored a local train and got a First Capital Connect train straight to Gatwick.
When I got off the train (at 7 and a bit) I just went straight upstairs to the South terminal check-in desks and joined the queue for US Airways check-in (the closest!). While I was queuing a woman scanned my passport, asked me security questions and gave me customs forms. Then I checked-in & got my boarding pass. I had to take my rucksack to the oversized luggage place as the woman thought the straps might get stuck in the conveyor belts. I had tried to tape them down but it didn’t work very well, so I just did them up as tightly as I could and tucked the loose ends in.
Thenn I went through security. There was a man in front of me with a small child in a METAL pushchair (clearly amde of hollow tubes), a massive chain round his neck, big boots on and a poor understanding of English… The poor security lady had to mime taking the necklace and boots off/ But he got it eventually. He still got frisked and scanned and everything though. I had to take off my (tiny thin ballet pump) shoes but it wasn’t really any hassle.
Then I collected my dollars from a certain money exchange company, sampled the perfume in the duty free shops and had a (decaf, apparently caffeine doesn’t help when you’re flying) latte with some of the brioche in my handbag.
I filled in my customs form and visa waiver thingy, but got confused by there being a "City where visa issued" and "date of issue" box. On a form for people without visas. But later on I was told to just ignore that…
I went to Smiths to get some water and found that it was 1.55 (no pound sign evident on this keyboard) or free with the Independent for 1 pound. So I had something to read, a crossword and some Su Doku too
I sat in the central area until my gate number came up.
When I went into the gate area they checked my boarding pass and passport, searched my bag and frisked me (:o). Then a very nice lady who worked for BAA came and asked me what I thought of the airport. I bought a big bar of Cadbury’s chocolate from a vending machine just in case / as an extra present.
The plane was fairly empty, it was a 3-4-3 type one. I was on the end of the middle block with 2 empty seats between me and the lady on the other end. Lots of room!
Hmm. The flight was pretty uneventful. Annoyingly they charged for headphones. 3 pounds or five dollars. The in-flight entertainment was ok but not brilliant. And there wasn’t one of those flight map things
I like to know how high up I am and what I’m above. I watched Bride Wars, He’s Just Not That Into You, and Marley & Me.
A while after we took off they gave us a meal which might’ve been lunch. There was vegatarian lasagne or chicken. I went for the chicken. It was ok as plane food goes, it had gravy (apparently thyme flavoured) and potato wedges (mushed) and little carrots. There was also a tomato, mozarella and olive salad, a small bread roll and a piece of sponge with cherry jam in. I got a free drink too. Apple and cranberry juice, very over-sweetened. A little while before the end they gave us a hot sandwich with turkey, cheese and something orange in. It was fairly nice but I felt rather sick from being up in the air for hourrrs.
Humm. When we got to Charlotte we weren’t let off the plane for 20 minutes or so. But then we went through immigration, I got my fingerprints and photo taken by a cheery lady. Then I picked up my bag, walked through customs and took it to the recheck desk.
I went upstairs and straight through security (I’d been given my boarding pass at Gatwick). I had to have my (tiny)shoes scanned and show my ticket twice.
I wandered around a bit. There were lots of fast food places, Mexican and Asian and bagels. There was also a nascar shop and lots of rocking chairs. Possibly a North Carolina thing?
Thenn I bought some crisps and went and sat in the gate. I talked to the woman sitting next to me. She’d been to see her husband of 2 months who was at an army training camp in Missisipi. He was a policeman in San Francisco and had been out of the army for two years but had got called up to spend 10 months in Afghanistan just after they’d got married. It doesn’t sound terribly nice. But surely he’d have had to sign something saying he could be recalled when he left? I wouldn’t've thought they’d be able to just do that…
Anywayyy. We took off at 4.35ish. I had another aisle seat (yay) but there was no free food and no inflight entertainment. And it was cold. And I was sitting next to two old men, one of whom kept getting up to go to the loo. I slept a fair bit, when I wasn’t having to get up to let this man out.
We landed at 7.02 and had to wait until about 7.25 to get off the plane. There was no immigration to wait for since it was an internal flight, but the baggage took aaages to come. And my backpack was slightly open. I wasn’t impressed.
I missed the earlier Caltrain. I got an airport monorail thingy to the BART station and found a train with the help of a nice lady from San Francisco. I had to go to San Bruno and double back to get to Millbrae where the Caltrains go from.(.50) So I had to wait (outside) for about forty minutes for the next one (there weren’t any coffee shops or anything, possibly because America isn’t that big on trains). I phoned Maiyan to let her know I was safely in the country and to kill some time. There were no announcements to tell me which train was coming when, just a printed timetable on a noticeboard that I had to hope was right. Lots of other people appeared on the platform too which was reassuring. The train was 10 minutes late but it did come!
That took me (after an hour ish) to San Jose () On the way I was very close to falling asleep, my eyelids were drooping uncontrollably and I kept jerking awake. So, in order to prevent myself from falling asleep and missing my stop, I ate some of the chocolate I’d bought at Gatwick. It helped. Really.
When I got to San Jose I had a 30 minute wait for a bus. It arrived at 10.42pm(6.42am GMT), I paid and slept most of the way to Santa Cruz. Luckily the bus terminated there so I couldn’t miss the stop. When I got there (11.35pm, 7.35am GMT) I hung around for a few minutes, then called Maiyan from a payphone. She was almost there… And then she was and her friend gave us a lift up to UCSC so we woudn’t have to go by bus which takes ages and costs money (for me anyway) 
Aaand, then I was fed yummy chickpea curry, had a shower and went to bed at around midnight and a bit.
Connecting in Hong Kong

Image by Stuck in Customs
Hong Kong airport is a great one, as are many Asian airports. They put US Airports to shame. The security is actually nice to you there, and you don’t get all the attitude of the TSA. The TSA looks so important with their little uniforms. I think they are just silly… but it is remarkable how people react to uniforms.
I was going to find a pic of the silly uniforms so we could all make fun of them, but then I found out that the TSA has a blog! How boring. It makes me real happy that my tax money is going for the TSA’s social media operation. Look at this TSA blog entry on the Fourth of July and the YouTube videos they provided (especially the charmer about the dangerous "Sparkler"). Don’t worry everyone, the US Government is now blogging for you.
from the blog at www.stuckincustoms.com
Recession special at Gray’s Papaya shop

Image by Ed Yourdon
Gray’s Papaya shop has long been a fixture here on the corner of Broadway and 72nd Street. But I think the "recession" emphasis is fairly new…
Note: this photo was published in a Mar 18, 2009 blog entitled "Recession Radio Special." It was also published in an Apr 20, 2009 blog titled "Old Problems on Young Shoulders." And it was published in a May 12, 2009 US-India Tax blog titled "US Tax Tips in a Recession." More recently, it was published in a Jun 19, 2009 blog titled "Is This the Great Depression Again?" And it was published as an illustration in a Sep 2009 Mahalo blog titled "2008 recession," at www-dot-mahalo-dot-com-slash-2008-dash-recession. It was also published in a Sep 15, 2009 blog titled "Bernanke says ‘the recession is likely over’." And it was published in a Sep 29, 2009 blog titled "2008-2009 Recession Being Good for You!" It was also published as an illustration in an Oct 2009 Mahalo blog titled "Gray’s Papaya," at www-dot-mahalo-dot-com-slash-grays-dash-papaya.
More recently, it was published in a Nov 17, 2009 blog titled "Online Survival During a Falling Economy." It was also published in a Nov 21, 2009 blog titled "Pictures of the Great Recession." And it was also published in a Dec 20, 2009 blog titled "Recession special at Gray’s Papaya shop," i.e., the same title as the caption that I used for this Flickr page.
In 2010, it has been published in an undated (Jan 2010) blog titled "Bonus: Get Your Self a Recession-Proof Life! " It was also published in a Jan 12, 2010 blog titled "Check out: Has the Recession Made Your Life Simpler? – The Conversation – Harvard Business Review." And it was published in a Jan 14, 2010 blog titled "How Recessions Can Shape Future Behavior." It was also published in a Jan 18, 2010 blog titled "I’ll Know the Recession Is Over When…" And it was published in a Feb 24, 2010 DigiRecent blog titled "Recession special at Gray’s Papaya shop."
More recently, it was published in a May 11, 2010 blog titled " in New York." It was also published in an undated (Jun 2010) Squidoo blog titled "The Great Recession is upon us, and while the situation seems to be slightly improving (fingers crossed)."
******************************
These are photos that I began taking in mid-December of 2008, after the government helpfully informed us that the recession (a word they had dared not use before, just as they refuse to use the word "depression" now) has actually been in effect since December 2007.
Having lived through roughly half a dozen previous recessions, with nothing but vague memories to mark their existence, I thought it would be useful to start gathering some photographic memories of the current one. It may or may not turn out to be as severe as the Great Depression of the 1930’s, and it may or may not produce the kind of grim photographs that we have of that era … but we won’t really know until it’s over, and our 20-20 hindsight might be better informed with some pictures.
Thus far, I have only a few pictures of signs showing steep discounts; these are interesting, but it’s the "human story" that I think will tell the more important story. But I’ve also noticed an increase in the number of homeless people on the street, asking for money, food, and handouts; but I have no direct evidence that it’s associated with the recession itself. In any case, I’m reluctant to take advantage of such people by taking casual photos of them; I’m sure more appropriate opportunities will present themselves, and I’ll add them to the album as I find them…