8/18    Re: government per diem rates
        It looks like per diem for Paris is $155. Per diem for San
        Francisco is only $64. Overall, foreign per diems are much,
        much higher. I dunno why. I have only travelled domestically
        on government business and I find the sums paltry. $155/day
        isn't bad at all, though. That is in addition to hotel.
        \_ Maybe you should't work for the government then, eh?  Would you
           like some cheese with your whine?
           \_ Please post your name so we can examine your situation and
              give you short shrift the next time you have an issue.
        \_ They don't want you hiring cheap foreign whores.
           \_ Only the best for the on-travel types!
        \_ I find it a lot easier to travel cheaply when I speak the
           language natively.  Maybe that has something to do with it?
           \- what do you spend your per diems on other than food? $65
              seems perfectly reasonable for food to me. especially since
              if you are under the per diem you generally dont need to
              submit receipts.
              \_ $65 would be a very nice $10 breakfast at Le Zinc,
                 a very nice $20 lunch at Fog City Diner with $35 left
                 over for steak and a glass of wine at Encanto or Delfina.
                 I don't know what this guy is bitching about.
                 \_ Transportation can cost a hell of a lot if you are
                    some place for bussiness.  But I agree, 65 seems enough.
                    \- if that is so, you can rent a car and expense
                       parking separately from the per diem. need receipts
                       for those. when i was in chicago for a week, the
                       travel people foolishly rented a car for me and
                       paid like $28/day to park it at the hotel ...
                       used it twice for personal business.
                       \_ So are taxis seperate as well?
                          \- they used to be. may need receipt tho ...
                             same for airport shuttle etc. there are
                             big problems with govt travel, but the
                             per diem isnt one of them.

8/18    Ant qn.  Is there a way to set new environment variables?  I want to
        pass something from the .xml script to an .exe that it calls.  I have
        no problem read environment variables in the script.  I just can't
        seem to set new ones.  Thanks.
        \_ I just figured out how to use <env ... /> to pass new environment
           variables during <exec>.  But what about setting new ones in
           general?  -- OP

8/18    gawd, 16x NEC/Lite-on DVD burners are $30 at http://newegg.com.  250GB
        Hitachi hard drives are $80.  wtf.  oh well, the asus p5b deluxe mobo
        for ph3r0c10Us core 2 duo overclockers is still $260.  good job.