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So what is never knows best...? It is what Mamimi, from FLCL, has written on her cigarettes. And now, I co-opted it for this stupid blog.
6/16/2015 11:13:00 PM
test
Posted by:
\ nick /
5/17/2010 12:27:00 AM
Change Of Time [Josh Ritter]
Time, Love
Time, Love
Time, Love
It's only a change of time
Time, Love
Time, Love
It's only a change of time
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/28/2010 11:38:00 PM
Set You Free [Frightened Rabbits]
The kitchen view... it's nice that it's getting sunnier again.
Posted by:
\ nick /
1/02/2010 08:56:00 PM
Gake No Ue No Ponyo
Movies watched in the past few days
* Ponyo: I was kinda disappointed in this. It just didn't have as captivating of a story as I thought it might. Plus it was a lot shorter than I expected, just when I felt like I was getting to know the characters, the movie ends. The visuals are stunning though
* Yi Yi: I didn't have much expectations for this, but it was surprising not too boring. Slightly boring due to long scenes, but what was portrayed was interesting.
* The Big Lebowski: Pretty reasonable
Summer Wars: I think I enjoyed this the most out of the movies watched. I hate the idea of the "Second Life" fake world (which is strange because I think Snow Crash's to be oddly belivable), but it was used fairly effectively and overall the movie was very entertaining.
* The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: Also slightly disappointed in this movie. I couldn't really grow to like any of the characters. I think the plot's twists were more interesting than Summer Wars', but Summer Wars wins on entertainment value.
* Sherlock Holmes: Surprisingly ok, and not too long. The way the movie ends with a obvious sequel foreshadowing and a Scooby Doo'esque here's how it was all done explaination takes some enjoyment out.
* Ponyo: I was kinda disappointed in this. It just didn't have as captivating of a story as I thought it might. Plus it was a lot shorter than I expected, just when I felt like I was getting to know the characters, the movie ends. The visuals are stunning though
* Yi Yi: I didn't have much expectations for this, but it was surprising not too boring. Slightly boring due to long scenes, but what was portrayed was interesting.
* The Big Lebowski: Pretty reasonable
Summer Wars: I think I enjoyed this the most out of the movies watched. I hate the idea of the "Second Life" fake world (which is strange because I think Snow Crash's to be oddly belivable), but it was used fairly effectively and overall the movie was very entertaining.
* The Girl Who Leapt Through Time: Also slightly disappointed in this movie. I couldn't really grow to like any of the characters. I think the plot's twists were more interesting than Summer Wars', but Summer Wars wins on entertainment value.
* Sherlock Holmes: Surprisingly ok, and not too long. The way the movie ends with a obvious sequel foreshadowing and a Scooby Doo'esque here's how it was all done explaination takes some enjoyment out.
Posted by:
\ nick /
12/31/2009 12:41:00 AM
Idioteque [Radiohead]
One nice thing about the year-end is year/decade end reviews! It gives me a reasonable idea of something to do/watch over the weekend in addition to the other chores I've put off (collecting my Obama tax money, cleaning the house, organizing contractors, organizing photos, etc)
My general gut feeling about the year? I enjoyed it. I'm really feeling like I'm dedicating too much of my life to listening to NPR though (good starting point for New Year's resolutions too!)
Hopefully, I'll bang out a year in review/decade (this being the only notable decade I've had so far I guess) in review.
My general gut feeling about the year? I enjoyed it. I'm really feeling like I'm dedicating too much of my life to listening to NPR though (good starting point for New Year's resolutions too!)
Hopefully, I'll bang out a year in review/decade (this being the only notable decade I've had so far I guess) in review.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/13/2009 12:56:00 AM
Zune HD lands September 15th, up for pre-order today
mmm... I want a Zune HD for some reason. Even though I think I'll use it less than my Nokia N800 internet tablet.
My unused internet tablet/ipod spend most of their time without any battery life, so that when I do actually want to use them I have to first wait for them to be recharged. Joining this list of battery-life-less is my watch, which ran out of batteries sometime earlier this month.
My unused internet tablet/ipod spend most of their time without any battery life, so that when I do actually want to use them I have to first wait for them to be recharged. Joining this list of battery-life-less is my watch, which ran out of batteries sometime earlier this month.
Posted by:
\ nick /
4/05/2009 12:07:00 AM
As I was driving home tonight I heard the song "The Freshmen" (Verve Pipe) on the radio, and was having fun singing along with it, and it got me thinking there really aren't that many songs that I would sing along with if they came up on the radio.
Anyhow, lots of fun to sing along with...
Anyhow, lots of fun to sing along with...
Posted by:
\ nick /
3/09/2009 01:55:00 AM
Gentle Sons [The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart]
2 years...
monthly savings and 401k Δ for the past 2 years on the new job
monthly savings and 401k Δ for the past 2 years on the new job
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/27/2008 01:00:00 AM
Just finished marathoning through the This American Life TV show.. some thoughts
On Amazon Unbox (where I downloaded it, since you can only buy the DVD from Borders??): it's still seems really slow to download (1.5 days to get 6 episodes -- 3 GB, they limit you to 1 transfer at a time too). Plus the PC client is still pretty kludgy and really slow on my PC. Going on with the negatives, I had a hard time figuring out the correct way to download the episodes where the PC client wouldn't find the episodes I just bought and the web client Download link, couldn't contact my PC. On the plus side, video quality was good, I have no qualms with that.
Stories of note:
The Mormon guy who looks for people with beards to paint in biblical scenes. I think it's interesting how TAL can somewhat document these things without being offensive to somebody (maybe I'm not of the right target audience to be offended). But, I thought it was an interesting way to share fellowship.
The 13 year old D&D player who doesn't believe in love. He has got his die rolling down... plus he does the live action roleplaying that I find is especially shameful. I'm not sure what it is with these "geeky" things like D&D or cosplay, where I feel I can understand it, but then I understand it and want absolutely nothing to do with it. Like for work sometimes I investigate JP orders and they invariably end up being purchases of random anime figurines and kinda cringe at myself for being able to recognize 2/3s of it. Back to the love part though, I can also understand how as an act of "antisocial coolness" you grow to think there is no such thing as love. Personally though I think it's foolish to take these contrarian thoughts personally (i.e. when he fights back at his mom when she says she loves him). This is the part that I think bugs Amy the most is that people take random things to such high levels of "seriousness" that they get offended.
The documentary photographer who took photos instead of trying to help. It was interesting to see his viewpoint on photographing the bad things in life, and seeing the decision he makes aobut how he couldn't handle it anymore.
Senior citizen indie film (probably my favorite). Links in to a blog post I was reading earlier today about what would you do when you retire. Sure I have some goals where I feel work gets in my way, but do I have the drive/organization to pull it off?
On Amazon Unbox (where I downloaded it, since you can only buy the DVD from Borders??): it's still seems really slow to download (1.5 days to get 6 episodes -- 3 GB, they limit you to 1 transfer at a time too). Plus the PC client is still pretty kludgy and really slow on my PC. Going on with the negatives, I had a hard time figuring out the correct way to download the episodes where the PC client wouldn't find the episodes I just bought and the web client Download link, couldn't contact my PC. On the plus side, video quality was good, I have no qualms with that.
Stories of note:
The Mormon guy who looks for people with beards to paint in biblical scenes. I think it's interesting how TAL can somewhat document these things without being offensive to somebody (maybe I'm not of the right target audience to be offended). But, I thought it was an interesting way to share fellowship.
The 13 year old D&D player who doesn't believe in love. He has got his die rolling down... plus he does the live action roleplaying that I find is especially shameful. I'm not sure what it is with these "geeky" things like D&D or cosplay, where I feel I can understand it, but then I understand it and want absolutely nothing to do with it. Like for work sometimes I investigate JP orders and they invariably end up being purchases of random anime figurines and kinda cringe at myself for being able to recognize 2/3s of it. Back to the love part though, I can also understand how as an act of "antisocial coolness" you grow to think there is no such thing as love. Personally though I think it's foolish to take these contrarian thoughts personally (i.e. when he fights back at his mom when she says she loves him). This is the part that I think bugs Amy the most is that people take random things to such high levels of "seriousness" that they get offended.
The documentary photographer who took photos instead of trying to help. It was interesting to see his viewpoint on photographing the bad things in life, and seeing the decision he makes aobut how he couldn't handle it anymore.
Senior citizen indie film (probably my favorite). Links in to a blog post I was reading earlier today about what would you do when you retire. Sure I have some goals where I feel work gets in my way, but do I have the drive/organization to pull it off?
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/10/2008 10:45:00 PM
...
Second, the transformation has led to a stark financial polarization. On the one hand, there is what the report calls the investor class. It has tax-deferred savings plans, as well as an army of financial advisers. On the other hand, there is the lottery class, people with little access to 401(k)’s or financial planning but plenty of access to payday lenders, credit cards and lottery agents.
from NY Times "The Great Seduction"
I'm not really sure about his solutions to the problem, but it is a gap that I do believe exist and it is a gap that is definitely more pertinent than the "digital divide."
Though thinking about finacial education makes me think about something I read/heard where reformed drug dealers are good managers because they know how to manage a budget.
Posted by:
\ nick /
5/25/2008 01:27:00 AM
Heavenly Star [Genki Rockets]
Stuck in my head after playing too much No More Heroes..
Posted by:
\ nick /
5/24/2008 02:44:00 PM
Random things from going outside for a couple of hours
* A Blackberry tent offering Indiana Jones hats @ Westlake Center
* The Folklife festival is less shady than I remember last year, a lot less gutter punk teens and more random people with fiddles and banjos doing mini-performances
* I got Wii Fit socks! for playing around with one at a Nintendo tent
* I walk around a bit more at the Folklife festival and find the large group of gutter punks and then I remember that the festival is probably still pretty shady
* A guy with a bright orange "Ride the S.L.U.T" t-shirt... seemed pretty cool, though I guess it'd just be offensive to non-Seattle people
* A Blackberry tent offering Indiana Jones hats @ Westlake Center
* The Folklife festival is less shady than I remember last year, a lot less gutter punk teens and more random people with fiddles and banjos doing mini-performances
* I got Wii Fit socks! for playing around with one at a Nintendo tent
* I walk around a bit more at the Folklife festival and find the large group of gutter punks and then I remember that the festival is probably still pretty shady
* A guy with a bright orange "Ride the S.L.U.T" t-shirt... seemed pretty cool, though I guess it'd just be offensive to non-Seattle people
Posted by:
\ nick /
4/20/2008 05:07:00 PM
Young Folks [Peter Bjorn And John]
Heard this while listening on the line for AMEX customer service...
Posted by:
\ nick /
4/20/2008 03:30:00 AM
Yesterday [Joi]
The Kindle is back in stock? I hope it's not an error...
It's pretty amazing that it has a 4 star rating now too. When it first came out I remember everyone was trashing it and it had around 2 stars... I think I remember reading some blog/article somewhere that mentioned that there is now a core group of fanatical Kindle owners defending their expensive purchase and bumping up the rating, so 2k reviews later we've reached the point where the star rating for the Kindle won't scare off new buyer's at least. And Amazon.com didn't even have to delete the negative impressions of the non-buying public over the first couple of days it was released??!!
Plus Jeff Bezos made the cover of Businessweek?
Mmm... our earnings better be off the charts.
It's pretty amazing that it has a 4 star rating now too. When it first came out I remember everyone was trashing it and it had around 2 stars... I think I remember reading some blog/article somewhere that mentioned that there is now a core group of fanatical Kindle owners defending their expensive purchase and bumping up the rating, so 2k reviews later we've reached the point where the star rating for the Kindle won't scare off new buyer's at least. And Amazon.com didn't even have to delete the negative impressions of the non-buying public over the first couple of days it was released??!!
Plus Jeff Bezos made the cover of Businessweek?
Mmm... our earnings better be off the charts.
Posted by:
\ nick /
3/07/2008 11:31:00 AM
Mobius Climber
I can't remember if I've played around on something like this or not, but it seems vaguely familiar. If anywhere it's probably at the park near Amy's place.
And I don't really know when this trend started, but it seems like all kids playgrounds these days are super fancy and filled with these "architectual" play structures. I remember all I had was a metal slide, monkey bars, and timbark. Lots and lots of timbark.
Posted by:
\ nick /
1/24/2008 01:56:00 AM
No Country for Old Arcades: Sunnyvale GolflandI never knew that the Golfland arcade was even vaguely famous, Growing up, I somehow got the impression that all miniature golf courses should have a kick-ass arcade. I remember going to a place in Westgate a bit too (Galaxia, I think?) because it was cheaper ~8 tokens per $1 and because it had that vaguely cool Battletoads arcade game.
A world renowned arcade in the heart of the Silicon Valley.
from GameTap
The other sad thing other than the death of arcades is that miniature golf courses are dying too. There's like 3 in all of the Bay Area and I don't even know if there are any in Seattle.
Posted by:
\ nick /
1/03/2008 02:20:00 AM
The fears suddenly become more personal...
Not that I'm all that big of a fan of Chipotle or that there's even one nearby, but burritos are dear to my stomach.
The Bad News (eg. rate drop) Heads Up Thread
...
This especially makes sense in today's falling interest rate environment when banks are quietly dropping the rates. While HSBC bank sends mails about falling rates, most other banks don't. If you keep $100K in a bank that quietly drops the rate 1% without you finding out, you lose almost $100 every month. That almost 20 chipotle burritos a month you could easily avoid losing by moving the money with one check or one click, if only you knew.
...
from fatwallet
Not that I'm all that big of a fan of Chipotle or that there's even one nearby, but burritos are dear to my stomach.
Posted by:
\ nick /
1/02/2008 11:54:00 PM
Fears are realized...
So basically, the money squirreling continues.
So basically, the money squirreling continues.
Posted by:
\ nick /
12/07/2007 01:16:00 AM
A chronicle of headphones (with fake quotes hyping why I bought them)
* Crossroads MylarOne X3 - the quote: "better than superfis and a third of the price"
* JVC HA-FX55 - the quote: "like the creative ep630s but more readily available (plus better than sony ex71s)"
* Sennheiser HD201 - the quote: "they sound good with the turtle beach audio advantage micro"
* Panasonic RP-HJE50 - the quote: "like the sharp md33s but more readily available and without that random 4-pole plug (plus better than sony ex71s)"
* Koss KSC35 - the quote: "the best $25 you'll ever spend"
Overall at ~$30 average price, I've spent almost enough to get the Audio Technica A900s I really want (the quote: "good closed headphones that don't require an amp"). Of them, the Crossroads that I just got recently are holding down duty for mp3 playback on the bus, but I think I still like my Koss headphones the best. Problem is that the right clip for those is kinda broken, so it slips off whenever I try to wear it. "The best $25 you'll ever spend" has held up the best.
* Crossroads MylarOne X3 - the quote: "better than superfis and a third of the price"
* JVC HA-FX55 - the quote: "like the creative ep630s but more readily available (plus better than sony ex71s)"
* Sennheiser HD201 - the quote: "they sound good with the turtle beach audio advantage micro"
* Panasonic RP-HJE50 - the quote: "like the sharp md33s but more readily available and without that random 4-pole plug (plus better than sony ex71s)"
* Koss KSC35 - the quote: "the best $25 you'll ever spend"
Overall at ~$30 average price, I've spent almost enough to get the Audio Technica A900s I really want (the quote: "good closed headphones that don't require an amp"). Of them, the Crossroads that I just got recently are holding down duty for mp3 playback on the bus, but I think I still like my Koss headphones the best. Problem is that the right clip for those is kinda broken, so it slips off whenever I try to wear it. "The best $25 you'll ever spend" has held up the best.
Posted by:
\ nick /
11/27/2007 11:23:00 PM
So Long, Lonesome [Explosions In The Sky]
I'm torn on my NPR listening habits.
I think it's getting a bit overwhelming. Probably more than 25% of the time I spend in my apartment (yes, that's including sleep time) includes listening to NPR in the background. I get at least 2 hours in the morning (of which I'm somewhat aware of as I sleep through some of it), about an hour in the evening whenever I get home from work, and finally another hour or two to bring me to sleep. Throw in time spent in the car, and about all my listening hours are covered.
I like to hear the news and all, but I don't need to hear basically the same report 4 times a day. So, somehow this is all I end up listening to, and part of it may be because NPR is NPR no matter where you are and you don't have to deal with the eccentricies of Seattle radio (well other than the apparent crush KUOW has on BBC news coverage).
So, no more... I did buy that Roku Soudnbridge a year ago for a reason, so I will be listening to SomaFM/KSCU internet streams more and BBC World Update less, and hopefully be the better for it.
I think it's getting a bit overwhelming. Probably more than 25% of the time I spend in my apartment (yes, that's including sleep time) includes listening to NPR in the background. I get at least 2 hours in the morning (of which I'm somewhat aware of as I sleep through some of it), about an hour in the evening whenever I get home from work, and finally another hour or two to bring me to sleep. Throw in time spent in the car, and about all my listening hours are covered.
I like to hear the news and all, but I don't need to hear basically the same report 4 times a day. So, somehow this is all I end up listening to, and part of it may be because NPR is NPR no matter where you are and you don't have to deal with the eccentricies of Seattle radio (well other than the apparent crush KUOW has on BBC news coverage).
So, no more... I did buy that Roku Soudnbridge a year ago for a reason, so I will be listening to SomaFM/KSCU internet streams more and BBC World Update less, and hopefully be the better for it.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/17/2007 09:14:00 PM
Nokia announced the N810. Unfortunately I just got my N800 back in August... I'm suffering from a strong sense of gadget inferiority.
The integrated GPS seems nice, but I'm not too sure if I'm totally sold on the slideout keyboard yet (it and the d-pad seem way too close to the upper edge to be comfortable to use). Still it does definitely look slicker than the N800
Happily at least, it seems like the main hardware change is the addition of GPS. My currently underclocked 330 MHz will get matched up to the new speed with the new OS firmware upgrade coming in November. Plus full-full screen... Unfortunately Opera gets ditched. I'm definitely in the camp that still prefers it over Firefox, especially in the case of the N800 tablet.
In other news, the Chumby is coming soon too. Seems pretty cool. I was thinking about buying one until the news that tne N810 came out.
Go embedded linux/wifi devices! The best sorts of devices!
The integrated GPS seems nice, but I'm not too sure if I'm totally sold on the slideout keyboard yet (it and the d-pad seem way too close to the upper edge to be comfortable to use). Still it does definitely look slicker than the N800
Happily at least, it seems like the main hardware change is the addition of GPS. My currently underclocked 330 MHz will get matched up to the new speed with the new OS firmware upgrade coming in November. Plus full-full screen... Unfortunately Opera gets ditched. I'm definitely in the camp that still prefers it over Firefox, especially in the case of the N800 tablet.
In other news, the Chumby is coming soon too. Seems pretty cool. I was thinking about buying one until the news that tne N810 came out.
Go embedded linux/wifi devices! The best sorts of devices!
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/27/2007 11:37:00 PM
So while investigating Röyksopp songs, I found out that the version of Remind Me that I originally thought was some weird special remix that Geico commissioned (as ridiculous as that sounds), is actually just the normal "radio edit", that's available on their full album. The fact that it's the "radio edit" confuses the heck out of me because the only version I've ever heard on the radio is the glitchier "someone else's radio mix". The first time I ever heard the "radio edit" was when the Geico commercial first came out. I suggest that they rename it to "geico edit".
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/19/2007 09:03:00 PM
Spacewalk [Lemon Jelly]
Yay someone finally posts the commercial onto Youtube... Lemon Jelly in a Friskies cat food commercial
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/19/2007 08:04:00 PM
D.A.N.C.E. [Justice]
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/02/2007 02:27:00 PM
That Home [The Cinematic Orchestra]
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/30/2007 02:51:00 AM
From up at Kerry Park.
2007-07-28 20:26:49 -- 76mm : 1/320s : f/4.1 : iso200
2007-07-28 20:27:05 -- 112mm : 1/150s : f/5.1 : iso200
2007-07-28 20:28:10 -- 38mm : 1/300s : f/2.8 : iso200
2007-07-28 20:26:49 -- 76mm : 1/320s : f/4.1 : iso200
2007-07-28 20:27:05 -- 112mm : 1/150s : f/5.1 : iso200
2007-07-28 20:28:10 -- 38mm : 1/300s : f/2.8 : iso200
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/26/2007 01:12:00 AM
Random cheap tech junk stores (really junk-like?):
DealExtreme
kaidomain
ledshoppe
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/15/2007 10:41:00 PM
Leaving You On The Sunny Monday [Sun Yan Zi]
I can't find my Sun Yan Zi CD... and I liked it because it had english translations of the songs and her the romanization of her name on the CD to make it more understandable to english speaking me.
Oh and Mates of State in an AT&T Wireless commercial?
Oh and Mates of State in an AT&T Wireless commercial?
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/11/2007 03:33:00 AM
Lorge [El Ten Eleven]
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/03/2007 06:42:00 PM
Stand By Me [The Brilliant Green]
The Brilliant Green have reformed and have a new single for some random drama or another.
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/02/2007 11:35:00 PM
The Racing Rats [Editors]
I don't know why I keep reading these "Millionaires in the making" stories off of CNNMoney. They tend to just annoy me... But this couple is less annoying than usual at least. It's more relatable because they aren't raking in $100k+ each. Plus I find it extraordinarily funny that they play Warhammer, but I'm probably not one who should judge. I kinda like the idea of a sugar mama too...
Amy budgets $400 a month for food and saves money by shopping at Costco and taking advantage of sales at grocery stores. The couple’s gaming hobby is a moderate expense. The miniature battles which incorporate tiny painted figurines are games of “fantasy as opposed to recreation.” Their expenses roughly total $1200 a month.
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/23/2007 12:59:00 AM
I can't find my Office install CDs, so I had to fumble around with Google Docs, which unfortunately doesn't play too nicely with Opera. I recalculated my retirement numbers to include my pension.... I got a pension when I worked as a softball scorekeeper through high school too. So I think I still have $20 somewhere earning 0.02% interest in some crappy savings account or another. Unfortunately I have no record of that, so the only thing definite I have is my Parks & Rec blue T-shirt.
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/09/2007 11:34:00 PM
Heartbeats [The Knife]
I never knew that the Jose Gonzalez song (of Sony commercial fame) was a cover.
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/02/2007 10:07:00 PM
St. George Spirits seems like it'd make a decently fun visit, they make vodka and whiskey... It's out in Alameda, so I imagine you could get to the Takara Sake tour too. They both seem more interesting than a Napa Valley wine tour to me.
Posted by:
\ nick /
5/30/2007 01:40:00 AM
Happily Blogger support was able to revive the Food Log, so I'll still have my memories of food.
On the other hand, Blogger doesn't seem to be playing nicely with Opera on it's default settings. The login page doesn't work, and just gets me re-directed back to the home page instead of the dashboard. Of course, if I messed around with Opera's settings, I'm sure it'll be ok, but it's a little bit annoying.
More on the Opera front, is that since I finally started using v.9.2x Bank of America's (boo, hiss??) sign-in pages don't have messed up margins anymore. Unfortunately, the link to "credit card" bill pay doesn't work (doesn't work for sister FIA Card Services site either) today. I'm guessing as part of the spiffying up of the interface, some things broke on BofA's side.
I don't notice Opera discrimination as much right now though becuase I usually use Firefox for work browsing. Though at least they don't lock down the computers so much that Opera can't be installed.
On the other hand, Blogger doesn't seem to be playing nicely with Opera on it's default settings. The login page doesn't work, and just gets me re-directed back to the home page instead of the dashboard. Of course, if I messed around with Opera's settings, I'm sure it'll be ok, but it's a little bit annoying.
More on the Opera front, is that since I finally started using v.9.2x Bank of America's (boo, hiss??) sign-in pages don't have messed up margins anymore. Unfortunately, the link to "credit card" bill pay doesn't work (doesn't work for sister FIA Card Services site either) today. I'm guessing as part of the spiffying up of the interface, some things broke on BofA's side.
I don't notice Opera discrimination as much right now though becuase I usually use Firefox for work browsing. Though at least they don't lock down the computers so much that Opera can't be installed.
Posted by:
\ nick /
5/25/2007 12:29:00 AM
Arghh! I accidentally deleted my food log. I was messing around with Blogger templates, and deleted the wrong one. It wasn't too active, but I will miss reading about random food Amy and I ate.
I've sent out a "Contact Us" to Blogger support, so hopefully they'll be able to recover.
I've sent out a "Contact Us" to Blogger support, so hopefully they'll be able to recover.
Posted by:
\ nick /
5/06/2007 05:58:00 PM
Today [Jennifer O'Connor]
..Today... my kitchen is somewhat cleaner.
Posted by:
\ nick /
5/05/2007 05:08:00 PM
Engadget blurb about Berkeley's respectful cameras project. I kinda remember the project about having cameras on Sather Gate because I took a class from the professor who was setting it up - IEOR/CS prof Goldberg. He was really into telepresence at the time (forced our class to participate in a Tele-twister online voting twister thing), but overall the class was quite a bust because it was so random (it was IEOR 171 - Industrial Design). I like to think of him as IEOR's answer to Garcia, but Garcia is probably a better professor.
Posted by:
\ nick /
4/27/2007 09:22:00 PM
Delta has a pretty cool flight status/tracker that uses Google Maps. It shows the planned flight plan, and then updates with where the plan currently is, and what it's actual flight path is.
Posted by:
\ nick /
4/23/2007 07:04:00 PM
I'm really digging the new'ish Hunt's Snack Pack SpooNibbles. With each pudding pack they give you a cookie spoon to eat it with. The cookie isn't really spoon like, but it gets the job done. And I, for one, welcome this is advance in pre-packaged pudding with open arms.
Posted by:
\ nick /
4/22/2007 10:11:00 PM
I'm starting to come to the realization that maybe Seattle's radio isn't all that. I'm having a hard time sinking my teeth into KEXP and usually find it a little too eclectic for me (kinda like a tamer verison Berkeley's KALX, but still way too weird).
So, with my recently re-connected PC and my newly set up Qwest internet, I set about setting up Live 105 streaming, so I could listen to Soundcheck and back to some familiar ground. Except it turns out that most (all?) Infinity radio stations have switched from using relatively simple audio players into a fancy flash player thing called STREAMTHEWORLD. Which obviously sucks because I don't like using a flash player thing to play my streaming radio, I like foobar or mplayer or Windows Media Player.
With some research I come up with http://provisioning.streamtheworld.com/asx/KITSFM.asx, but unfortunately that gives me stuttered garbage. Oddly though, when I download the refrenced URLs in the playlist (with wget) and then replay the file with mplayer it works like a champ. So, I think the stream may be sending incorrect header info (or no header info)... I guess I'll have to dig deeper into how this whole streaming radio stuff works...
So, with my recently re-connected PC and my newly set up Qwest internet, I set about setting up Live 105 streaming, so I could listen to Soundcheck and back to some familiar ground. Except it turns out that most (all?) Infinity radio stations have switched from using relatively simple audio players into a fancy flash player thing called STREAMTHEWORLD. Which obviously sucks because I don't like using a flash player thing to play my streaming radio, I like foobar or mplayer or Windows Media Player.
With some research I come up with http://provisioning.streamtheworld.com/asx/KITSFM.asx, but unfortunately that gives me stuttered garbage. Oddly though, when I download the refrenced URLs in the playlist (with wget) and then replay the file with mplayer it works like a champ. So, I think the stream may be sending incorrect header info (or no header info)... I guess I'll have to dig deeper into how this whole streaming radio stuff works...
Posted by:
\ nick /
3/12/2007 10:00:00 PM
I drove to the Bellevue CompUSA again today to try to check out their closeout sale. I blame my failed attempt yesterday on daylight savings because my sense of time was out of whack so that I got there just as it closed (6:00 PM). Today's visit was a waste anyways too. Most things were only 10% off, and they didn't even have the Nokia N800 that I wanted (they only only the older Nokia 770 for a vaguely outrageous $350). So, an overall waste of time/gas, but at least I know how to drive to Bellevue now I guess.
Oh and having to deal log on to the internet through dial-up through VPN is pretty crappy. I miss broadband... but remain too cheap to shell out for it while in my temporary housing.
Oh and having to deal log on to the internet through dial-up through VPN is pretty crappy. I miss broadband... but remain too cheap to shell out for it while in my temporary housing.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/23/2007 02:37:00 PM
A NPR story about personal finance blogs. I guess I somewhat aspire to have a personal finance blog, but then again I don't have interesting enough of finances to really write about anything either.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/21/2007 09:05:00 PM
C'est La Vie [Stereo Total]
Got this song stuck in my head after hearing when I drove back home, and again when I drove back to my appartment.
Mostly it brings up the bad memories I have about the croque monsieur I had in Nice. It didn't come close to living up to my expectations. It was a really greasy grilled cheese sandwich filled with cheese that somehow tasted worse than American cheese. My dreams were squashed.
Mostly it brings up the bad memories I have about the croque monsieur I had in Nice. It didn't come close to living up to my expectations. It was a really greasy grilled cheese sandwich filled with cheese that somehow tasted worse than American cheese. My dreams were squashed.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/14/2007 10:59:00 PM
Cloudy World [Olivia]
I went to a FoodMaxx today to use it's CoinStar machine. So added up, I got $32.55 of Amazon.com credit out of my quarter jar of spare change (102 quarters).
After counting my coins, I walked around the store. It was actually really nice, it's like a smaller Costco that carries a lot of ethnic (mostly Latino centric) food. The prices for all their food is really cheap too (Target-like prices with a larger selection) and their fresh produce seems less shady than Trader Joes, so I should definitely shop there more.
After counting my coins, I walked around the store. It was actually really nice, it's like a smaller Costco that carries a lot of ethnic (mostly Latino centric) food. The prices for all their food is really cheap too (Target-like prices with a larger selection) and their fresh produce seems less shady than Trader Joes, so I should definitely shop there more.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/08/2007 09:43:00 AM
A NPR story about indie bands licensing their music to commercials. The commercial in particular that they mention is the Sears one with The Spinto Band's "Oh Mandy" (mentioned a long time ago).
I'm generally for indie bands getting the additional exposure. It may alienate their core fans, but it also brings in people intrigued by the commercial if it's well done (the Sears one isn't). Besides, right now, trying to identify indie bands in them is about all I find interesting about commercials.
The Civic commercial with The Go! Team's "Huddle Formation" is pretty good.
I'm generally for indie bands getting the additional exposure. It may alienate their core fans, but it also brings in people intrigued by the commercial if it's well done (the Sears one isn't). Besides, right now, trying to identify indie bands in them is about all I find interesting about commercials.
The Civic commercial with The Go! Team's "Huddle Formation" is pretty good.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/07/2007 09:16:00 PM
Starting to feel a bit like putting together monthly metrics for work...
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/06/2007 09:35:00 PM
On [Bloc Party]
First listen through the new CD, and I like this song the best. Overall seems like a very solid CD. There aren't as many uptempo songs as Silent Alarm, but I like the slower/ballady stuff anyways.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/01/2007 09:56:00 PM
One of the more random credit card sign up offers...
I guess it's like the Asian version of handing out pizza.
It would be kinda cool to get JCB card, so then I can eat at all the places that cater to Japanese tourists!
I guess it's like the Asian version of handing out pizza.
It would be kinda cool to get JCB card, so then I can eat at all the places that cater to Japanese tourists!
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/01/2007 08:45:00 PM
The trip is done, but I'll continue with my summary... in part because I think I'll forget what happened myself if I don't write it down now...
* Nice (continued) *
* Cinque Terre *
* Rome *
* Florence *
* Nice (continued) *
So the sleeping and wheaty crepes (Amy only wanted to get one, but we got 2 because I was feeling extra hungry after skimping on lunch). The wheaty crepes were a wheat tortilla, and not folded over quesidilla-style as most crepes are, but instead folded into a square shape with the center part uncovered.
The next day, we walked around the old town part (Vieux Nice). They have a park on top of this large hill/chateau that has the rope jungle gym thing, like the one in Berkeley in Ohlone Park, that Amy and I climbed around on while Amy was feeling envious of the people in the park playing badmitton.
Because the beach is all rocks, I tried skipping stones on the ocean. I'm not sure if it's because I suck at skipping stones, or the waves suck at being skipped into, or the stones suck at being skipped, but the stones wouldn't skip. Still fun throwing rocks into the water though.
* Cinque Terre *
The trip to Cinque Terre was more stressful because we the first leg of the journey was late, and we didn't have lots of time to try to figure out an alternate route. Plus I got confused about where to go. Our route ended up as Nice -> Ventimigilia -> Genova -> La Spezia (missed the earlier Riomaggiore stop, so had to then backtrack) -> Riomaggiore (town we were staying in in Cinque Terre), with me pissing off a few ticketing people and Amy to some extent in the process.
When we got there we had to wait awhile to check in because there was nobody at the hostel. We were helped by a local townsperson (I guess) who I still think looked kinda shady. I guess the innskeep wasn't very apolegetic because it's a pretty laid back area, nobody seems to be doing any work, and the streets were pretty empty anyways.
We were able to walk the first part of the hike from Riomaggiore to Manarola that afternoon. Since it was the off season, most of the shops/restaurants were closed, so we went to the only restaurant in Monterosso that seemed to have other patrons. We got a good helping of pesto pasta and a huge helping of seafood risotto. Another table nearby got the risotto before us, and after seeing how large it was, I was dreading that our's would be the same size (we didn't really know if it was the same or not at the time). It was just as large.
Citing horrible weather, which was almost as bad as Brussels', we spend more time in Cinque Terre, and instead headed out to Rome.
* Rome *
A more leisurely Riomaggiore -> La Spezia -> Rome trip.
We saw Vatican Museum (for the Sistine Chapel), St. Peter's Basilica (climbed up the dome, saw the Pieta), Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Santa Maria degli Angeli church (for the bath ruins, and some sculptures), outside of the Coliseum, Spanish Steps (exceedingly devoid of life at 10:30 PM), Roman Forum, and Capitol Hill.
The hostel we stayed at was notable for apparently hiring a bunch of Indian people to run it, and for loud snoring (Amy says it's the old people that snore). We changed to a different hostel for the last night.
The Rome train station is notable because we probably spent around 1.5 hours looking for lockers and eventually had to settle for pricey bag check-in. We believe that although there are signs and indicators on the map, lockers do not exist. The Autogrill cafes were good though.
Food was good overall. From the Autogrills (what with their good cheap coffee and fresh orange juice, and as an establishment I like almost as Monoprix) to other restaurants it was all tasty and a good value (especially compared to earlier eating out costs). We did eat at a Chinese restaurant, and it was pretty bad.
* Florence *
High tailing it to Florence for our flight, we took the direct train.
We walked around the big market area. Admired some pirate goods, which Amy thinks aren't as nice as Rome's. Saw David. Wandered the streets down to Ponte Vecchio and Palazzo Vecchio.
That's basically it. I'll try posting what pictures I have once I get them all sorted.
* Nice (continued) *
* Cinque Terre *
* Rome *
* Florence *
* Nice (continued) *
So the sleeping and wheaty crepes (Amy only wanted to get one, but we got 2 because I was feeling extra hungry after skimping on lunch). The wheaty crepes were a wheat tortilla, and not folded over quesidilla-style as most crepes are, but instead folded into a square shape with the center part uncovered.
The next day, we walked around the old town part (Vieux Nice). They have a park on top of this large hill/chateau that has the rope jungle gym thing, like the one in Berkeley in Ohlone Park, that Amy and I climbed around on while Amy was feeling envious of the people in the park playing badmitton.
Because the beach is all rocks, I tried skipping stones on the ocean. I'm not sure if it's because I suck at skipping stones, or the waves suck at being skipped into, or the stones suck at being skipped, but the stones wouldn't skip. Still fun throwing rocks into the water though.
* Cinque Terre *
The trip to Cinque Terre was more stressful because we the first leg of the journey was late, and we didn't have lots of time to try to figure out an alternate route. Plus I got confused about where to go. Our route ended up as Nice -> Ventimigilia -> Genova -> La Spezia (missed the earlier Riomaggiore stop, so had to then backtrack) -> Riomaggiore (town we were staying in in Cinque Terre), with me pissing off a few ticketing people and Amy to some extent in the process.
When we got there we had to wait awhile to check in because there was nobody at the hostel. We were helped by a local townsperson (I guess) who I still think looked kinda shady. I guess the innskeep wasn't very apolegetic because it's a pretty laid back area, nobody seems to be doing any work, and the streets were pretty empty anyways.
We were able to walk the first part of the hike from Riomaggiore to Manarola that afternoon. Since it was the off season, most of the shops/restaurants were closed, so we went to the only restaurant in Monterosso that seemed to have other patrons. We got a good helping of pesto pasta and a huge helping of seafood risotto. Another table nearby got the risotto before us, and after seeing how large it was, I was dreading that our's would be the same size (we didn't really know if it was the same or not at the time). It was just as large.
Citing horrible weather, which was almost as bad as Brussels', we spend more time in Cinque Terre, and instead headed out to Rome.
* Rome *
A more leisurely Riomaggiore -> La Spezia -> Rome trip.
We saw Vatican Museum (for the Sistine Chapel), St. Peter's Basilica (climbed up the dome, saw the Pieta), Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Santa Maria degli Angeli church (for the bath ruins, and some sculptures), outside of the Coliseum, Spanish Steps (exceedingly devoid of life at 10:30 PM), Roman Forum, and Capitol Hill.
The hostel we stayed at was notable for apparently hiring a bunch of Indian people to run it, and for loud snoring (Amy says it's the old people that snore). We changed to a different hostel for the last night.
The Rome train station is notable because we probably spent around 1.5 hours looking for lockers and eventually had to settle for pricey bag check-in. We believe that although there are signs and indicators on the map, lockers do not exist. The Autogrill cafes were good though.
Food was good overall. From the Autogrills (what with their good cheap coffee and fresh orange juice, and as an establishment I like almost as Monoprix) to other restaurants it was all tasty and a good value (especially compared to earlier eating out costs). We did eat at a Chinese restaurant, and it was pretty bad.
* Florence *
High tailing it to Florence for our flight, we took the direct train.
We walked around the big market area. Admired some pirate goods, which Amy thinks aren't as nice as Rome's. Saw David. Wandered the streets down to Ponte Vecchio and Palazzo Vecchio.
That's basically it. I'll try posting what pictures I have once I get them all sorted.
Posted by:
\ nick /
1/21/2007 10:53:00 AM
Europe trip so far...
* Amsterdam
* Brussels
* Paris
* Nice
* Amsterdam *
Saw the Rembrant House, Van Gogh Musuem, flower market, FOAM (photography) museum, and Ridjkmuseum. In the Rembrant House we saw a demonstration of how the engravings were done (i.e. various tools to scrap the metal, do the etching, press the plates) that I thought was neat.
We stayed at the Flying Pig Hostel, which was alright for a hostel I guess. The morning breakfasts of chocolate spread (I don't think it was Nutella, something more chocalately and sweet) on bread and croissants was nice.
* Brussels *
Windy. Rainy. Very windy and rainy. We were planning on trying to get to the main Neuhaus choclate store, but didn't make it because it was too windy and rainy. Instead we ate some fries with mayonnaise.
* Paris *
The trip to Paris from Brussels took something like 5 hours because we weren't able to reserve seats on the direct train. Apparently you have to reserve a week ahead, so when we tried day before, we were basically screwed. So it was our choice of weird itineraries that would eventually get us to Paris. We choose Amsterdam -> Brussels -> Quevy -> Aulnoye-Aymeries -> Paris. The were much franticness on my part on the train to Quevy because I wasn't sure how to get onto the one that would in fact actually get to Quevy and not end earlier. We eventually got off on the end stop of the train we were on and then migrated towards the front of the train that would continue going.
In Paris, we saw the Rue Cler that Rick Steves goes on about in his Europe book, Eiffel Tower (walked up to the 2nd level), Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Louvre, and insides of Notre Dame (sadly got there too late to go up the towers). Weather was much better in Paris, as it was at most only a light sprinkle while we were out.
* Nice *
Took the TGV to Nice today. We were originally planning on going to Avignon, but after seeing how much the hostels cost, we decided to go to Nice instead.
So far we've done lots of sleeping, and got some large wheaty crepes...
Will continue at next chance...
* Amsterdam
* Brussels
* Paris
* Nice
* Amsterdam *
Saw the Rembrant House, Van Gogh Musuem, flower market, FOAM (photography) museum, and Ridjkmuseum. In the Rembrant House we saw a demonstration of how the engravings were done (i.e. various tools to scrap the metal, do the etching, press the plates) that I thought was neat.
We stayed at the Flying Pig Hostel, which was alright for a hostel I guess. The morning breakfasts of chocolate spread (I don't think it was Nutella, something more chocalately and sweet) on bread and croissants was nice.
* Brussels *
Windy. Rainy. Very windy and rainy. We were planning on trying to get to the main Neuhaus choclate store, but didn't make it because it was too windy and rainy. Instead we ate some fries with mayonnaise.
* Paris *
The trip to Paris from Brussels took something like 5 hours because we weren't able to reserve seats on the direct train. Apparently you have to reserve a week ahead, so when we tried day before, we were basically screwed. So it was our choice of weird itineraries that would eventually get us to Paris. We choose Amsterdam -> Brussels -> Quevy -> Aulnoye-Aymeries -> Paris. The were much franticness on my part on the train to Quevy because I wasn't sure how to get onto the one that would in fact actually get to Quevy and not end earlier. We eventually got off on the end stop of the train we were on and then migrated towards the front of the train that would continue going.
In Paris, we saw the Rue Cler that Rick Steves goes on about in his Europe book, Eiffel Tower (walked up to the 2nd level), Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Louvre, and insides of Notre Dame (sadly got there too late to go up the towers). Weather was much better in Paris, as it was at most only a light sprinkle while we were out.
* Nice *
Took the TGV to Nice today. We were originally planning on going to Avignon, but after seeing how much the hostels cost, we decided to go to Nice instead.
So far we've done lots of sleeping, and got some large wheaty crepes...
Will continue at next chance...
Posted by:
\ nick /
1/11/2007 05:47:00 PM
In an article about the Phoenix Suns...
Their home game promotion promising two free tacos at Jack in the Box when they score 99 or more points is the surest bet in sports (only two non-taco games this season).The Sharks have been good to me and my friends. Free small personal pizza from Round Table almost all the time (for scoring 3+ goals). Then agian I think my friends choose the Sharks games around getting the free pizzas.
From Yahoo! Sports
Posted by:
\ nick /
1/09/2007 09:59:00 PM
Since I liked it, and the taste is still fresh in my memories, I feel it's important enough to repeat in the normal blog:
DAT:2006-01-07
TIM:22:30 PST
SRC:Palace Kitchen (Seattle)
WHO:Nick
DSC:Washington chicken and a half pint of some IPA. Best chicken I can ever recall eating. It was a oven roasted chicken with some pickled kumquat pieces on the side (those tasted kinda weird), some brussel sprouts (kinda too cooked to be very good, but still acceptable), and mashed potatoes. The chicken had a nice almost duck-like skin that was tasty. It's really cool how there are restaurants that serve a full menu that late. Palace Kitchen does it 'til 1 AM everyday, which I find pretty unbelievable considering how most places in Berkeley close at 9. Another highlight were the olives (sadly only 3 of them) that came in the olive oil + vinegar dip that came with the bread.
Posted by:
\ nick /
12/27/2006 10:59:00 PM
So after my break at home, I drove back to away-home cause the power was out at home, and I need to drive into work tomorrow anyways, so I might as well make the commute at night. For me, night time driving is only scary when you first start driving and you don't have any bearings for where other cars are around you. Once you get in the flow, it's a lot easier to keep track of headlights for me, and I guess it's helpful there's a lot less cars too.
Anyhow, coming home, I happily find that I received my Timberland 3-in-1 jacket that I ordered a month ago through spirit rewards. Sadly, I find that the conversion rate ended being as low as $0.02 per spirit point. Plus the house's trash cans are missing (not sure how to handle that, but I guess I'll worry about it when I have enough trash to worry about it).
Another plus, having turned off the heater before I left a week ago, the house was a nice and chilly 55 degrees, not quite cold Europe temperatures, but I hung around for the first couple of hours with only my socked-toes getting cold. So maybe that 40 degree weather won't be too bad, right?
Anyhow, coming home, I happily find that I received my Timberland 3-in-1 jacket that I ordered a month ago through spirit rewards. Sadly, I find that the conversion rate ended being as low as $0.02 per spirit point. Plus the house's trash cans are missing (not sure how to handle that, but I guess I'll worry about it when I have enough trash to worry about it).
Another plus, having turned off the heater before I left a week ago, the house was a nice and chilly 55 degrees, not quite cold Europe temperatures, but I hung around for the first couple of hours with only my socked-toes getting cold. So maybe that 40 degree weather won't be too bad, right?
Posted by:
\ nick /
12/05/2006 02:39:00 PM
I feel robbed... last week's 28 day Treasury bill was
28-DAY 11-30-2006 12-28-2006 5.170 5.263 99.597889
this week it's
28-DAY 12-07-2006 01-04-2007 4.760 4.844 99.629778
and it was only because last week's rate was insanely high (~6% taking tax savings into account) that I decided to jump in with some of my cash (I also put some into the 3 month issue).
Of course, the 0.4% interest not gained only amounts to $12 for the month, and I still make out better after tax benefits than my EmigrantDirect account, but I still feel duped. Sadly the inverted yield curve is no more.
28-DAY 11-30-2006 12-28-2006 5.170 5.263 99.597889
this week it's
28-DAY 12-07-2006 01-04-2007 4.760 4.844 99.629778
and it was only because last week's rate was insanely high (~6% taking tax savings into account) that I decided to jump in with some of my cash (I also put some into the 3 month issue).
Of course, the 0.4% interest not gained only amounts to $12 for the month, and I still make out better after tax benefits than my EmigrantDirect account, but I still feel duped. Sadly the inverted yield curve is no more.
Posted by:
\ nick /
11/28/2006 12:32:00 AM
Steady Rollin' [Two Gallants]
It's been a while since I've played Minesweeper...
2006-11-28 ~12:40 AM
2006-11-28 ~12:40 AM
Posted by:
\ nick /
11/27/2006 05:37:00 PM
I like this comment someone posted in a Cal basketball message board in the thread about the Great Alaska Shootout:
Where can I get the t-shirt?That's what I want to know too. Champion t-shirts are still hard to come by as a Cal fan...
I want to put it next to my Insight and Vegas Bowl champs t-shirts!
Posted by:
\ nick /
11/22/2006 03:30:00 AM
I'm not quite comfortable enough to put up actual numbers... But for the past while, I've been keeping track of my 401K and savings on a monthly basis and storing my balances in a spreadsheet. Graphing it out, I get:
Note that these are actual numbers (i.e. not scaled so they fit snuggly). So even though I've had something like a 16% return and I get my 5% company match to help out my 401K, I'm still almost keeping up with dumping money in my savings account.
I think the uptick for October is half because the stock market has been doing well, half because I put in a quite a bit of overtime, which ups both my 401K and savings contributions.
Note that these are actual numbers (i.e. not scaled so they fit snuggly). So even though I've had something like a 16% return and I get my 5% company match to help out my 401K, I'm still almost keeping up with dumping money in my savings account.
I think the uptick for October is half because the stock market has been doing well, half because I put in a quite a bit of overtime, which ups both my 401K and savings contributions.
Posted by:
\ nick /
11/07/2006 10:37:00 PM
Huddle Formation [The Go! Team]
So after much searching, I ended up ordering taupe/olive Saucony Jazz Low Pros. Hopefully they don't end up looking too weird.
The vegan version seems nicer, but meh the store I was looking at (Sports Authority's webstore) only had women's sizes. And why Sports Authority and not Zappos? Mostly because they have stacking coupons ($10 off for using Google Checkout and 15% off with a promo code) that make it cheap and I'm too lazy to ever do the price match stuff.
The vegan version seems nicer, but meh the store I was looking at (Sports Authority's webstore) only had women's sizes. And why Sports Authority and not Zappos? Mostly because they have stacking coupons ($10 off for using Google Checkout and 15% off with a promo code) that make it cheap and I'm too lazy to ever do the price match stuff.
Posted by:
\ nick /
11/05/2006 09:26:00 PM
On The Radio [Regina Spektor]
On the radio right now... sounds nice.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/31/2006 01:20:00 PM
I don't understand how the numbers add up? How does 1000 calories make such a large difference between eating essentially grass and eating pork chops? Who the heck eats fermented soybeans and garlic? Personally, I think the meal on the left is more like 1000 calories and the meal on the right is more like 6000 calories...
From New York Times
When I first heard about the whole eat less, live longer thing, I thought it fit me well because I don't think I eat that much. But then again, I eat a bunch of junk food which probably tilts things against me. But then again, I don't eat breakfast, which if I'm eating eggs, bacon, and a stack of pancakes I'm sure cuts out a lot of the "Diet of an average, active human male of 36." But then again, I'm not active. So, that leaves me doing crunches/push ups every now and then to keep things in the balance.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/25/2006 01:02:00 AM
About the only nice thing I can say about Ubuntu after having to use it again to do some programming is that having a large variety of screensavers is nice.
Like this one (FuzzyFlakes) just turned on a couple minutes ago, and I think it is really pretty and soothing. If the flakes were more anti-aliased it would look even better.
Like this one (FuzzyFlakes) just turned on a couple minutes ago, and I think it is really pretty and soothing. If the flakes were more anti-aliased it would look even better.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/08/2006 01:40:00 AM
Revv Me Up [Jasper McVain]
I've got a heart like a prune
And when the moment is right, I'm gonna go fly a kite
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/07/2006 11:43:00 PM
Too Much Space [Lisa Germano]
Changes to Opera I need to make before it is usable:
1. Turn off smooth scrolling (I wonder if I'm the only person who finds it incredibly annoying, I like my scrolling jerky)
2. Turn on the status bar
3. Change the tab cycle order to use the bar order instead of MRU
4. Disable the Wand (I wonder if I'm the only person who finds it stupid to store your passwords with your internet browser, I like to type my passwords)
5. Modify the keyboard shortcuts
- Disable ctrl-Q quit command
- Set alt-D as go to the location bar (I'm too indoctrinated to the IE version of shortcuts to change)
- Set tab to complete the addres in the location bar (the hardest to remember how to do)
This blog post is mostly so I have a reference on how to enable the address bar tab complete.
1. Turn off smooth scrolling (I wonder if I'm the only person who finds it incredibly annoying, I like my scrolling jerky)
2. Turn on the status bar
3. Change the tab cycle order to use the bar order instead of MRU
4. Disable the Wand (I wonder if I'm the only person who finds it stupid to store your passwords with your internet browser, I like to type my passwords)
5. Modify the keyboard shortcuts
- Disable ctrl-Q quit command
- Set alt-D as go to the location bar (I'm too indoctrinated to the IE version of shortcuts to change)
- Set tab to complete the addres in the location bar (the hardest to remember how to do)
In Browser Widget and Widget container bits in keyboard setup... assign Tab to "Next line | Focus next widget"
This blog post is mostly so I have a reference on how to enable the address bar tab complete.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/03/2006 11:17:00 PM
Remind Me [Royksopp]
More commercial background music that I appreciate: use of Royksopp's Remind Me in the background of the Geico "So easy a caveman can do it" commercials. I think it just fits really well, it starts out sounding a little bit like elevator music but it turns into Royksopp. Anyhow, it's been my favorite commercial for the past week or so.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/01/2006 09:44:00 PM
I did some short hiking around the Mount Diablo state park area today. It was a what I thought would be a nice day to do hiking (nice overcast cool weather) but I was probably underdressed in shorts, t-shirt, and zip-up sweater. Since I always heard how nice the hiking was there, I figured I should at least try, plus it placates my guilt about not working out.
After driving through windy roads for a lot longer than I thought I would have to I finally reached a parking lot-like area. And from that parking lot I hiked to a slightly higher up parking lot 1.2 miles away. It was ALL UPHILL (or at least 90% of it). So it took about 1 hour to walk up (30 minutes to run/walk down). The views were nice, but the climb was very discouraging, and weather up at the upper parking lot was like walking in mist so I headed back.
I guess there's no real moral for this story other than I think I'll go walking around my neighborhood next time I feel like I need to be active. Beats mall walking at least.
After driving through windy roads for a lot longer than I thought I would have to I finally reached a parking lot-like area. And from that parking lot I hiked to a slightly higher up parking lot 1.2 miles away. It was ALL UPHILL (or at least 90% of it). So it took about 1 hour to walk up (30 minutes to run/walk down). The views were nice, but the climb was very discouraging, and weather up at the upper parking lot was like walking in mist so I headed back.
I guess there's no real moral for this story other than I think I'll go walking around my neighborhood next time I feel like I need to be active. Beats mall walking at least.
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/22/2006 03:05:00 PM
Thoughts about the Teradata conference:
- It's way too hot and humid
- The food sucks. Hotel buffet food is still hotel buffet food, even if they dress up the conference hall with themes and such.
- There are way too many bugs. Mostly these
- Playing minature golf at 10:30 at night is a bad idea because it's way too hot and humid
- The Disney resort hotels aren't that great even though I was paying $350+ per night. Basically you get Disney related cable TV in your room (so I ended up watching a lot of ESPN).
-
- It's way too hot and humid
- The food sucks. Hotel buffet food is still hotel buffet food, even if they dress up the conference hall with themes and such.
- There are way too many bugs. Mostly these
- Playing minature golf at 10:30 at night is a bad idea because it's way too hot and humid
- The Disney resort hotels aren't that great even though I was paying $350+ per night. Basically you get Disney related cable TV in your room (so I ended up watching a lot of ESPN).
-
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/14/2006 03:27:00 PM
Youkoso! Hitori Bocchi [Pearl Brothers]
I think I'm messing up the roof of my mouth by eating too much hard candy at work. I have a couple of tender patches on the roof of my mouth from sucking on Jolly Ranchers for the past 3 weeks, and I'm probably messing up my teeth as well by trying to chew them every now and then (it doesn't really work and they just end up stuck on your teeth). On the plus side, I don't think anybody else in my cube row likes Jolly Ranchers, so the bag I got is lasting longer than other candies (namely chocolate stuff). But just to be safe and give my mouth a rest I bought a bag of Starbursts to be the next candy I leave around outside my cube. Starbursts are usually softer than Jolly Ranchers at least...
Oh and randomly I got a bunch of travel mug filled candy mailed to me by my department today. It's mostly cheap/crummy candy that I don't like that much though (Sweet Tarts, some generic lolipops, some company branded Dentyne Ice-knockoffs, Now & Laters, etc.). And that makes it I think 7 company branded plastic travel mugs (plus 1 I accidentally stole from somebody else) I've gotten in my 2 years working here.
Oh and randomly I got a bunch of travel mug filled candy mailed to me by my department today. It's mostly cheap/crummy candy that I don't like that much though (Sweet Tarts, some generic lolipops, some company branded Dentyne Ice-knockoffs, Now & Laters, etc.). And that makes it I think 7 company branded plastic travel mugs (plus 1 I accidentally stole from somebody else) I've gotten in my 2 years working here.
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/01/2006 10:30:00 AM
Canon Rock [JerryC]
Kinda late to the party. I only heard about this guitar version of Pachelbel's Canon because of they mentioned it on NPR (and played a clip of it of course), and oddly enough it was in a correction to a previous story they ran about some Korean guy playing the song (news story) that I heard it. So apparently JerryC was the original person who did it, and it's now getting more widespread because he released the tablature for it. Now all aspiring electric guitar players can play a pretty nice/interesting version of Canon in D.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/27/2006 01:21:00 AM
Just For Today [Hybrid]
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/24/2006 08:27:00 PM
High Noon [DJ Shadow]
My not much of a spending spree: Hanns.G 19" LCD monitor (they're the same cool company that makes the cheesy sports/fruit shaped/"themed" monitors, plus they have a store in San Francisco); 3 Threadless t-shirts (to channel my inner indie/artsy self); and a DJ Shadow CD (in anticipation of his new material get his old stuff?).
[edit]:
Actually the models that Hanspree (Hanns.G other brand) sells are very reminiscent of the stuff me/Ian/Will saw at Jan 2005 CES except in LCD form instead of CRTs. My picture from back then:
[edit]:
Actually the models that Hanspree (Hanns.G other brand) sells are very reminiscent of the stuff me/Ian/Will saw at Jan 2005 CES except in LCD form instead of CRTs. My picture from back then:
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/15/2006 10:28:00 PM
Paper Kitten Nightmare [Margot & The Nuclear So and So's]
Spirit points... I got more of them...
I dunno, I'm still very torn over them, and they just end up hanging over head. I somewhat don't want to get them because there's nothing I want to redeem from the "spirit points" catalog. On the other hand any extra compensation is much appreciated (preferably cash or if not cash then at least stock). Overall I'm left with something I don't really know what to do with and something that leads to some light hearted/friendly jabs from coworkers (I think I suck up almost all the allocated spirit points that can be given to my team).
It doesn't help that the gazillions of them that I have accumulated over the years are near worthless (well ~$600 depending on what I get).
Meow meow meow meow...
I dunno, I'm still very torn over them, and they just end up hanging over head. I somewhat don't want to get them because there's nothing I want to redeem from the "spirit points" catalog. On the other hand any extra compensation is much appreciated (preferably cash or if not cash then at least stock). Overall I'm left with something I don't really know what to do with and something that leads to some light hearted/friendly jabs from coworkers (I think I suck up almost all the allocated spirit points that can be given to my team).
It doesn't help that the gazillions of them that I have accumulated over the years are near worthless (well ~$600 depending on what I get).
Meow meow meow meow...
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/15/2006 03:48:00 PM
My accomplishment for the day: somewhat recovering my Outlook PST files.
My notebook's hard drive is filled with bad sectors (hmmm... not sure where those came from), luckily the only files of note that seem to have corrupt sections were my current and archive email files. The odds were not in their favor (being ~750 MB each didn't help either). So the tech support guy tells me to try to back up my stuff, and he'll get me a new hard drive. The other problem with the email files is that they're too large to keep on my network share store, so using the automated backup services is my only hope. Too bad they balk at my bad sector riddled PST files.
In comes searching around on the internet for Unix data recovery tools. I find and compile GNU ddrescue (after installing Cygwin gcc and applying patches mentioned in a mailing list thread) and happily let it churn through my email, which has created nice backup'able files.
Come tomorrow when the new hard drive is in hand, hopefully things will recover more easily than they were to backup.
EDIT: Turns out it wasn't backup'able. I guess writing more data to a dying hard drive isn't as failsafe as I thought. So, I'm copying them over to my exteranl hard drive now with ddrescue now and trying to fix them as best as I can with scanpst.
My notebook's hard drive is filled with bad sectors (hmmm... not sure where those came from), luckily the only files of note that seem to have corrupt sections were my current and archive email files. The odds were not in their favor (being ~750 MB each didn't help either). So the tech support guy tells me to try to back up my stuff, and he'll get me a new hard drive. The other problem with the email files is that they're too large to keep on my network share store, so using the automated backup services is my only hope. Too bad they balk at my bad sector riddled PST files.
In comes searching around on the internet for Unix data recovery tools. I find and compile GNU ddrescue (after installing Cygwin gcc and applying patches mentioned in a mailing list thread) and happily let it churn through my email, which has created nice backup'able files.
Come tomorrow when the new hard drive is in hand, hopefully things will recover more easily than they were to backup.
EDIT: Turns out it wasn't backup'able. I guess writing more data to a dying hard drive isn't as failsafe as I thought. So, I'm copying them over to my exteranl hard drive now with ddrescue now and trying to fix them as best as I can with scanpst.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/08/2006 09:29:00 PM
Quiet As A Mouse [Margot & The Nuclear So and So's]
Sony launched the mylo today. It seems pretty interesting to me though I would have preferred if it had a larger screen a la the Nokia 770. I sure hope that when it comes out, people feel the device is responsive (unlike the 770) and that the browser is able to support heavily Flash-based sites (i.e. YouTube and other stuff). Also it seems like a nice win for Opera overall. They have the internet tablet market all tied up... well other than PDAs.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/07/2006 08:42:00 PM
Not a good weekend for my car... I noticed Sunday morning that my front driver side bumper was scratched up pretty badly, luckily the damage was pretty low on the bumper and not too large of an area, unluckily it was pretty scrathed up (some cracked/peeling paint). So I think to myself: I don't remember seeing that before, and I hope it wasn't from the carwash (I went through an auto carwash on Saturday night), and damn it's probably from some the car that was parked in front of me, and I hate Berkeley street parking, and aww well tough bananas.
Zoom to today, I'm usefully spending my time at work researching how I can get rid of the scratches and decide I'll go to the auto parts store later today to try to pick up some supplies. I get the 3M stuff that was recommended a couple of times on tech forums to buff it out and some Mother's wax to help seal it afterwards. After I finish buffing away and clearing up most of the scratches (can't do much about the missing paint), I check over my car and notice that I have a scratch running from my front passenger headlight to half-way to the front door. Crap! I got keyed too!!? Pissed off I try buffing some more and applying some wax, but it looks about the same. I guess I'll try an iterative process and try to buff it out over the week.
Zoom to today, I'm usefully spending my time at work researching how I can get rid of the scratches and decide I'll go to the auto parts store later today to try to pick up some supplies. I get the 3M stuff that was recommended a couple of times on tech forums to buff it out and some Mother's wax to help seal it afterwards. After I finish buffing away and clearing up most of the scratches (can't do much about the missing paint), I check over my car and notice that I have a scratch running from my front passenger headlight to half-way to the front door. Crap! I got keyed too!!? Pissed off I try buffing some more and applying some wax, but it looks about the same. I guess I'll try an iterative process and try to buff it out over the week.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/03/2006 12:34:00 AM
My sleep habits this week have been totally out of whack mostly due to my cold (which I'm happily now mostly recovered from). Before, I'd usually stay up to 11:30 or so (usually falling asleep in the middle of the Daily Show), now I end up staying up until 12:30 regularly before deciding I should try to sleep. And then once I do get in bed my feet/hands feel clammy and I can't sleep because the rest of my body feels hot/feverish (like I said I had a cold).
Worst of all was Monday night. After working from home that day, I picked up some Aleve Cold & Sinus to hopefully clear up my nose and fever at Target. Before, my standard cold relief medicine was Sudafed Severe Cold, but since Aleve's cheaper and has higher doses, I went with it. I thought all was swell, and I fell asleep watching the Daily Show as usual. But then I woke up at suddenly at 1 AM, and decide it was an OK time to kick off some data restore jobs for work. So I did that and then tried to go back to sleep. And couldn't go back to sleep. I ended up staying up until 5, doing a mixture of watching TV and listening to NPR.
Of course I've already found that not sleeping a lot doesn't affect my energy too much (my Berkeley years definitely desensitized me to that), but I still miss the sense of refreshness that I have for 5 seconds as my alarm wakes me up and the relaxing parts of sleep. And given the choice I'd rather sleep than watch late night TV/listen to early runs of NPR's Morning Edition.
Worst of all was Monday night. After working from home that day, I picked up some Aleve Cold & Sinus to hopefully clear up my nose and fever at Target. Before, my standard cold relief medicine was Sudafed Severe Cold, but since Aleve's cheaper and has higher doses, I went with it. I thought all was swell, and I fell asleep watching the Daily Show as usual. But then I woke up at suddenly at 1 AM, and decide it was an OK time to kick off some data restore jobs for work. So I did that and then tried to go back to sleep. And couldn't go back to sleep. I ended up staying up until 5, doing a mixture of watching TV and listening to NPR.
Of course I've already found that not sleeping a lot doesn't affect my energy too much (my Berkeley years definitely desensitized me to that), but I still miss the sense of refreshness that I have for 5 seconds as my alarm wakes me up and the relaxing parts of sleep. And given the choice I'd rather sleep than watch late night TV/listen to early runs of NPR's Morning Edition.
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/26/2006 11:56:00 AM
Vishing... a pretty cheesy name, but a pretty scary scam too.
Kinda pertinent to me because I just calls from Citibank over the past couple of days over new credit cards I applied for (yay? another app-o-rama), and I gave out my social security number out to one of them for "verification purposes"... I don't really feel like I got scammed because they all were asking about stuff I was aware about, though reading the article makes me kinda weary of getting those sorts of calls.
Another data point, was that my parents got a voicemail (live person) claiming to be from Verizon, and they needed to call back to verify the account status. When my mom asked me about it, I told her not to call back. It was a shady callback number, but if it was a 800 number, I might have thought differently. And since there wasn't any further communication from Verizion, I assume that was a scam.
Like they did in the article, if someone "official" sounding calls me asking for my personal info, more often than not I would give it out.
Kinda pertinent to me because I just calls from Citibank over the past couple of days over new credit cards I applied for (yay? another app-o-rama), and I gave out my social security number out to one of them for "verification purposes"... I don't really feel like I got scammed because they all were asking about stuff I was aware about, though reading the article makes me kinda weary of getting those sorts of calls.
Another data point, was that my parents got a voicemail (live person) claiming to be from Verizon, and they needed to call back to verify the account status. When my mom asked me about it, I told her not to call back. It was a shady callback number, but if it was a 800 number, I might have thought differently. And since there wasn't any further communication from Verizion, I assume that was a scam.
Like they did in the article, if someone "official" sounding calls me asking for my personal info, more often than not I would give it out.
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/19/2006 04:51:00 PM
While trying to figure out why the theme at a blog looked so familiar (turns out it's one of Wordpress' default themes), I saw this blog post about Anthony Bourdain stuck in Beirut while shooting his traveling/eating/chef'ing No Reservations show. I didn't watch No Reservations past a couple of episodes of the first season, but it's entertaining TV in a self-depracting, let's eat lots and drink lots sort of way. Hopefully everything will turn out OK for him, as well as everyone else.
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/18/2006 08:42:00 PM
One way Wells might be better? They use RJD2's Ghostwritter in their commercial. It was a pretty crappy commercial overall, but I appreciate their use of RJD2.
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/08/2006 04:32:00 PM
After Monday [Lisa Germano]
I was going to post about how I've probably watched more TV in the past week than I probably should have... but listening to streaming radio (KEXP in this case) and hearing this song, makes me feel better about my day, so I'll try to cut back any complaints. I do have to still complain that it's hot again and annoyed that it's supposedly 20*F cooler in Berkeley right now...
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/05/2006 02:30:00 PM
New season of Honey And Clover started... and I guess it's about the only anime I plan on watching. The first episode was a recap episode, so it was pretty boring though a nice stroll through the first season. All signs point to just as emo'ish of a season as the previous, hopefully it's as good.
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/19/2006 04:01:00 PM
Just watched an episode of Spongebob Squarepants titled Karate Island (it's very cool how Wikipedia has plot summaries for Spongebob episodes), and was very tickled by it's life lesson of "Beware time share scams." Hopefully it'll stick with some kids and they'll know to avoid hard sell tactics and be skeptical of over-promises. More unexpected was that the episode was dedicated to Pat Morita...
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/15/2006 11:26:00 AM
I find it insanely funny that Korea has a stock exchange called Kosdaq. It just sounds incredibly ridiculous.
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/05/2006 08:37:00 PM
A Little Pain [Olivia]
Since Amy's coworkers are always talking about techie sorts of things, when we talk around lunch time, I always try to think of the things Amy would have had to talk about with her coworkers (since I keep up with techie things). So, today I thought they would've talked about perpendicular hard disks for some reason (something about Toshiba releasing a new notebook hard drive or something today), and in doing so remembered Hitachi's "Get Perpendicular" video, which happily explains the technology.
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/03/2006 10:12:00 PM
Celebration Guns [Stars]
Last week in Jacksonville (visiting for work), I missed out on trying the various fast food places that they don't have around here. Namely Sonics and Chick-fil-a, though actually now that I check if I wanted to make a drive out towards Sacremento I could run by both of them. I also saw a Publix market, which everyone seems to mention on the various grocery debates I read in tech forums. Those are the sort of landmarks I notice when I visit new places.
Posted by:
\ nick /
5/17/2006 09:42:00 PM
I watched Frontline's special on retirement/pensions. It was a pretty sobering and depressing view of how people are going to do once they hit retirement age. I have to agree that 401Ks put an unrealistic expecation on how involved an average joe wants to get with saving for the future. Ideally we'd all be planning 30 years into the future, but live for the present is the mantra.
I'm not even planning for 30 years into the future, but I guess I was lucky (especially after seeing some of the facts presented in the show) in that when I first started working, everyone was really keen on getting on the 401K (my key 1 month milestones: start health plan and 401K; 1 year milestones: start 401K match and pension contributions), so I've been maxing my contributions since then. The scary part was the show mentioned that you will need to contribute at least around 10% of your paycheck to have a sufficient fund for retirement. I'm doing more than that, but that high minimum makes me worry that I'm not as far ahead of game as I previously though. Then again I have at least 30 years to work with...
I'm not even planning for 30 years into the future, but I guess I was lucky (especially after seeing some of the facts presented in the show) in that when I first started working, everyone was really keen on getting on the 401K (my key 1 month milestones: start health plan and 401K; 1 year milestones: start 401K match and pension contributions), so I've been maxing my contributions since then. The scary part was the show mentioned that you will need to contribute at least around 10% of your paycheck to have a sufficient fund for retirement. I'm doing more than that, but that high minimum makes me worry that I'm not as far ahead of game as I previously though. Then again I have at least 30 years to work with...
Posted by:
\ nick /
5/10/2006 10:54:00 AM
In an odd instance of Microsoft's stupidity, the food log is the 2nd hit returned from searching for food log on MSN. It's a good thing they have Live going into place sometime (where my food log isn't anywhere near the top) because it's really random to have mine anywhere near the top.
Posted by:
\ nick /
5/10/2006 10:31:00 AM
It's no wonder petunias continue to rank among the most popular flowering annuals. They're bright and lively, bloom from spring until frost, and scent the air with lovely fragrance. Best of all, they're amazingly easy to grow, both in the garden and in containers.
from Growing Petunias
Decent info on indoor growing, so hopefully my window cube gets enough sunshine and they flourish.
Posted by:
\ nick /
4/25/2006 11:53:00 PM
Send My Face [His Name Is Alive]
Since I'm in a more musical phase again, here's another 2 songs I like pre-Spain trip:
Send My Face [His Name Is Alive]: nice and folksy
Insomnia [Electric President]: I like Morr Music, and this is typical Morr Music...
I tried 3 stores trying to get The Ropes' Kill Her Off EP (Berkeley Amoeba and Rasputin, and the Pleasant Hill Rasputin), no luck... I hate to say it but MySpace is useful for listening to stuff at least. I still think all of it is horribly ugly though.
Send My Face [His Name Is Alive]: nice and folksy
Insomnia [Electric President]: I like Morr Music, and this is typical Morr Music...
I tried 3 stores trying to get The Ropes' Kill Her Off EP (Berkeley Amoeba and Rasputin, and the Pleasant Hill Rasputin), no luck... I hate to say it but MySpace is useful for listening to stuff at least. I still think all of it is horribly ugly though.
Posted by:
\ nick /
4/18/2006 08:55:00 PM
Not Technically Alone [The Ropes]
Yay! $250 for getting $1.09 in gas.
Only a year and a half ago, I didn't have any credit cards, and apparently I now have 9. It's nice being able to almost charge off my yearly salary on credit cards (or kinda sad that my salary isn't higher?).
Only a year and a half ago, I didn't have any credit cards, and apparently I now have 9. It's nice being able to almost charge off my yearly salary on credit cards (or kinda sad that my salary isn't higher?).
Posted by:
\ nick /
4/16/2006 04:31:00 PM
Thin White Duke Remix [Royksopp]
It's really interesting how much Flash is being used now to somewhat deter pirates from exploiting online streams (like my Hype Machine audio link or more generally like YouTube videos). I still don't like Flash cause a lot of sites use it unnecessarily, but somehow still prefer these sort of Flash media players to the embedded Real/Windows/Quicktime players. I grudging accept them like I do with PDFs (damned Adobe and it's useful formats).
As a side note, I really like this Royksopp song (just heard it yesterday afternoon). It's still enormously cheesy as all other Royksopp stuff I've heard is, but it almost makes me want to get up and dance.
As a side note, I really like this Royksopp song (just heard it yesterday afternoon). It's still enormously cheesy as all other Royksopp stuff I've heard is, but it almost makes me want to get up and dance.
Posted by:
\ nick /
4/11/2006 10:26:00 PM
Running Out [Mates Of State]
While trying to think of ways that school applied to my life (I'm not really sure if work counts anymore), I started thinking of what a hash function for things I do would be, and then I thought how many collisions would there be, and then I decided I'm lazy.
Posted by:
\ nick /
3/14/2006 09:57:00 PM
Cold White Christmas [Casiotone For The Painfully Alone]
Not sure why I didn't think of it before, but the whole current "funny" internet video thing is really becoming a lot like a modern version of America's Funniest Home Videos, but without Bob Sagat doing horrible voiceovers and probably a fair amount less censoring. The clip shows on Bravo and VH1 are both pretty unwatchable just like AFV was too.
Posted by:
\ nick /
3/12/2006 12:21:00 AM
2006 AOL City Guide rankings for San Francisco. Of the restaurants, I've been to Barney's Gourmet Hamburgers (Burgers #2 [Berkeley]), Spices II (Chinese #7), Caffe Strada (Coffeehouse #3), Sketch (Desert #4), Top Dog (Late-Night Dining #3), El Farolito (Late-Night Dining #3 [Concord]), Koryo Restaurant (Late-Night Dining #9), Zachary's Chicago Pizza (Pizza #1), Kirala Restaurant (Sushi #3), Kabuto A&S Sushi (Sushi #5), and Cha-Ya (Vegetarian #2). More than I expected because of the somewhat random choices.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/23/2006 12:58:00 AM
Of course, just as I'm waiting for my post to post, my stupid wireless card freezes and I lose my connection to the internet. Great. Some unplugging and modprobbing seems to have given me another 30 seconds of usage.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/23/2006 12:52:00 AM
Hurray, I finally got my USB wireless card working with Ubuntu. Randomly ndiswrapper only likes the driver that came on the original CD and not the one that's available for download from the manufacturer's website. All's well now that Linux on this computer is somewhat usable (i.e. I can still do my normal websurfing, instead of focusing all my energy into getting networking to work). Now, if only Firefox didn't feel really, really laggy and slow.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/23/2006 12:33:00 AM
Random tidbit of personal finance history I just remembered from reading a FatWallet thread: for senior prom when me and my date were going to get pictures at a photo studio (i.e. before, not during the prom), I was going to pay with my (parents') credit card, but I got declined, so she ended up having to pay for them. That's the only time I've had any card I've used be declined. And, I can't remember if I ever offered to split the cost later. Kinda random.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/20/2006 03:59:00 PM
Her Space Holiday and Jay Chou have a similar intro for their songs. For your comparison: Her Space Holiday's The Weight Of The World and Jay Chou's 以父之名. I guess it's may be some part of a famous song or something? Maybe? That or they rip each other off...
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/12/2006 01:37:00 PM
Live 105 canned Saturday night's Subsonic electronic music show. Kinda disappointing. I remember spending many a Saturday night listening to it doing homework (really loserish isn't it?) my junior and senior year. I think at least half of the interesting music I listen to came out of listening to that show (mostly Lali Puna, some DJ Shadow, and M83), and I did win tickets to the Quannum concert a couple years ago. Missed them last night as I was messing around with the computer in the wee hours of night/morning.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/12/2006 02:56:00 AM
Two More Years [Bloc Party]
Other thing I wanted to remember from today, was that I fubar'd my computer while trying to get a keygen for Nero Burning ROM. That'll teach me to try and be a pirate. Arrr....
For some reason, I was extra trusting of that keygen, too? Anyways it disabled my firewall, and was running a somewhat scary looking fake spyware cleaner, and Windows was complaining that I was getting screwed with by malware. So off goes the internet to prevent my from losing all my financial info/passwords/whatever else it would try to grab from me, and out come the Windows XP CDs to do a fresh install (it's been about 40 hours since I last reinstalled Windows).
So I reinstall my computer with the CD I've been using for the past 5 or so years, and like it did when I tried 40 hours ago, it complained that my CD key had been used too much. Well ya, this CD key is probably spread across 5 or so computers at this point, but that hasn't prevented me from having it work on this computer before nor Amy's. Apprently, this reinstall (and the previous) didn't fall into the period where they "forget" about my PCs configuration and let you start out fresh again. To get around the problem 39 hours ago, I called into the phone support line and went through a somewhat brisk process of repeating a 42 digit number about 4 times and received a 42 digit number that let me activate my computer properly. I tried the 42 digit number with this install and didn't work, meh... not unexpected, but still a pain.
Arrr... that'll teach me to be a pirate. So I go to eat dinner with Amy (at Crepevine) and grap her Windows XP Home CD that she got with her laptop, and install that on my computer with the serial number that stuck on the lower corner of my computer case (I had to use a flashlight to distinguish the Qs from Os). And am now merrily humming along.
Oh and burnatonce seems like it will be a servicable replacement for CD burning purposes for me. Freeware and based off of open source tools, so it should be relatively safe.
For some reason, I was extra trusting of that keygen, too? Anyways it disabled my firewall, and was running a somewhat scary looking fake spyware cleaner, and Windows was complaining that I was getting screwed with by malware. So off goes the internet to prevent my from losing all my financial info/passwords/whatever else it would try to grab from me, and out come the Windows XP CDs to do a fresh install (it's been about 40 hours since I last reinstalled Windows).
So I reinstall my computer with the CD I've been using for the past 5 or so years, and like it did when I tried 40 hours ago, it complained that my CD key had been used too much. Well ya, this CD key is probably spread across 5 or so computers at this point, but that hasn't prevented me from having it work on this computer before nor Amy's. Apprently, this reinstall (and the previous) didn't fall into the period where they "forget" about my PCs configuration and let you start out fresh again. To get around the problem 39 hours ago, I called into the phone support line and went through a somewhat brisk process of repeating a 42 digit number about 4 times and received a 42 digit number that let me activate my computer properly. I tried the 42 digit number with this install and didn't work, meh... not unexpected, but still a pain.
Arrr... that'll teach me to be a pirate. So I go to eat dinner with Amy (at Crepevine) and grap her Windows XP Home CD that she got with her laptop, and install that on my computer with the serial number that stuck on the lower corner of my computer case (I had to use a flashlight to distinguish the Qs from Os). And am now merrily humming along.
Oh and burnatonce seems like it will be a servicable replacement for CD burning purposes for me. Freeware and based off of open source tools, so it should be relatively safe.
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/12/2006 02:46:00 AM
Only other related news from this morning has been that I got in on the Windows Live Messenger beta. I installed it and then dumped it cause it was using up something like 30 MB of memory according to the Task Manager. The only new feature other than the ugly interface (I'm kinda fond of standard looking stuff, maybe when Vista is the standard I'll like it more) that I saw in the 2 minutes I let it run was file sharing (i.e. AIM-style, but it probably actually works cause UPnP kicks ass?).
Windows Live Mail, on the other hand is pretty nice. Nice Outlook Web Access-like interface that's much better than both Google's and Yahoo's (beta included).
Windows Live Mail, on the other hand is pretty nice. Nice Outlook Web Access-like interface that's much better than both Google's and Yahoo's (beta included).
Posted by:
\ nick /
2/12/2006 02:43:00 AM
Michelle Kwan drops out of the Olympics. Kinda sad. Then again she's only 25, so she'll still have tons of time to milk off of her fame, so I should still be jealous I can only walk on an ice rank while grasping at the rails for my life.
Posted by:
\ nick /
1/25/2006 04:42:00 PM
After browsing through a fun filled tech forum post about stuff people hate about varous applications (surprisingly Sharepoint gets a lot of hate, I guess I should be happy that my group doesn't really use it), I just realized that I've basically weaned myself off of the Quick Launch bar (left around on my work Thinkpad only for the Show Desktop button, since the Thinkpad doesn't have a windows key). Windows XP changes you like that.
Edit: more useful info gleaned from the thread: tab autocomplete for Win2K. I'm so happy.
Edit: more useful info gleaned from the thread: tab autocomplete for Win2K. I'm so happy.
Posted by:
\ nick /
1/10/2006 10:01:00 PM
So Much Trouble [Matt Pond PA]
I made a lot of curry and ate a lot of curry, but am now out of rice. I'll have to remember to bum some off of Amy sometime. That or it'll be a lot of curry ramen for me.
Posted by:
\ nick /
1/09/2006 09:56:00 PM
I don't have as much recap for the past year as I did for the year before. Maybe I'm too happy to be all that introspective?
Anyhow, music-wise (since that is still what I mostly track), I still bought 11 CDs, which was news to me until I counted. Best purchased CD of 2005 in my opinion has to go to Bloc Party's Silent Alarm, and worst purchased CD of 2005 definitely has to go to Louis XIV's Illegal Tender (such utter crap outside of the single I bought it for). Otherwise my purchases were pretty generic, I really like Rachael Yamagata but that was released in 2003, more Mono, more Lali Puna, and a random Thievery Corporation purchase. I'm not sure exactly what I listened the to most, but it's probably some Jay Chou CD or another.
Anyhow, music-wise (since that is still what I mostly track), I still bought 11 CDs, which was news to me until I counted. Best purchased CD of 2005 in my opinion has to go to Bloc Party's Silent Alarm, and worst purchased CD of 2005 definitely has to go to Louis XIV's Illegal Tender (such utter crap outside of the single I bought it for). Otherwise my purchases were pretty generic, I really like Rachael Yamagata but that was released in 2003, more Mono, more Lali Puna, and a random Thievery Corporation purchase. I'm not sure exactly what I listened the to most, but it's probably some Jay Chou CD or another.
Posted by:
\ nick /
1/07/2006 12:16:00 AM
Currently listening to a very, very weird Chinese rap that samples the Verve's Bitter Symphony. It's really disturbing for some reason....
Posted by:
\ nick /
12/30/2005 12:48:00 AM
My pay checks breakdown as: 21% tax (pumping lots of money into the 401k helped cut this down a little), 25% 401k, 12% savings, 13% rent+utils, 6% car payment, leaving 23% as spendable money.
Posted by:
\ nick /
12/22/2005 11:18:00 PM
Cal wins! Another season of expectations awaits next year.
Posted by:
\ nick /
12/22/2005 11:07:00 AM
When comparing haute hot chocolate to I guess Ovaltine
"It's like if you're a Budweiser drinker and somebody all of a sudden gives you a bottle of Guinness stout"It still seems like a hassle to make to me though. Scalding milk is too complicated (boiling I can do, scalding I can't).
from CNNMoney
Posted by:
\ nick /
12/21/2005 10:59:00 AM
...(According to Nielsen, one of the top daytime shows on the Food Network is Semi-Homemade Cooking.)...The part that disturbs me is that people actually like Semi-Homemade Cooking because in my opinion it is definitely the crappiest of the Food Network shows. The food looks bad, and the host is kinda freaky too. And I always confuse her name (Sandra Lee) with Sara Lee, which for a while made me think that it was a giant advertisement for Sara Lee products.
from CNNMoney
Posted by:
\ nick /
12/04/2005 09:57:00 PM
My favorite cartoon of the past couple of days has been The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. It kinda has a lot of the extreme randomness and gag humor that amuses me (the recent Christmas episode invovled fighting off vampire Santa Clause), it's kinda like Spongebob Squarepants but meaner and with stranger circumstances. The other reason it's been fun to watch is because much of it is new to me, unlike Spongebob Squarepants or something like Futurama where I've seen most of it already.
Posted by:
\ nick /
12/04/2005 12:39:00 AM
I'm attempting to use Opera as my browser and mail client right now. For some reason IE and Firefox were both pretty clunky and Thunderbird was extremelly clunky. So, I made a switch. So far, it has a larger learning curve than any other browser I've used (well maybe Lynx was a bit harder to get started with), and I'm just happy I somewhat have the shortcuts the way I want them. Seems decently nice though, no ugliness like with Firefox.
Posted by:
\ nick /
11/29/2005 11:05:00 PM
Last night after being woken up at 3 in the morning to handle an oncall issue, and not being to fall asleep after it was resolved, I was struck by the fact that if the oncall schedule proceeds as it has, I'll be spending 2 months a year as the primary and 2 months a year as the secondary. A third of the year is about as much time if not more than the amount of time I'll spend sleeping during the year. Not that being oncall and sleeping are mutually exclusive, but it still made me apprehensive enough to not be able to fall asleep right away.
Posted by:
\ nick /
11/25/2005 09:08:00 AM
My food log has migrated to Blogger. Now with fuzzy, blue'ish cell phone pictures of food!!
Posted by:
\ nick /
11/24/2005 10:47:00 PM
For some reason I feel a great sense of indignation that I have to work tomorrow. Everyone else gets it off, and I don't. And to my griping people respond with: but you get all holidays off (like Columbus/Veterans day) so you dserve to miss one, or you have tons of vacation stored up anyways (3 weeks plus some comp time). But I want to have holidays too!!
Posted by:
\ nick /
11/16/2005 08:15:00 PM
So, I started my app-o-rama today. I applied for a Chase Cash Plus Rewards, Citi Simplicity Rewards, Citi Diamond Rewards, and Sony cards. And, I plan on applying for the Charles Schwab card too, if they get their online application system working. Not sure what I'll do once the dust settles and I get all my rewards though, I haven't thought that far ahead.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/31/2005 08:46:00 PM
Comments on Jay Chou's newest CD:
- I still don't really know what the title of the CD is, something-something Chopin???
- Downloading it was a pain because all the torrents tried to create files with Chinese filenames and BitTornado was crapping out. I ended up using the Python client.
- Finding the torrent was even harder (let's just say my Chinese typing skills are dwarfed by my Chinese writing skills, which in turn are dwarfed by all other skills I have). Google's Blog search came through.
- There aren't as many weird songs on this CD as the others I've heard before (those being CDs 1, 4, and 5 whose titles I don't know either). Track 11 (Initial D one) is probably the oddest sounding to me.
- First listen through I think I like track 9 the best.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/29/2005 01:19:00 PM
Notes from Locus Arts' Bittersweet that I went to yesterday: Food at gotten at Cha-ya was good as usual, it was strangely not that packed for a Friday night (I was pretty surprised because even when we left at around 7:30 there wasn't anybody waiting for a table, maybe the sprinkling weather hurts their business?); for the actual event it was pretty good, the music wasn't anything I was all that interested in, but it was all put together pretty decently; Julia Lau was decent; Kevin So puts on a good show; other 2 didn't leave any real impression. Notable crowd pleasing song was Kevin So's "New sensation" (or something along the lines) about how the Asian man is the new sensation with all the ladies, so I'd better get ready??
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/28/2005 11:52:00 AM
Still the Futurama quote I like the best:
Aha! Once again the conservative sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor!Just in time for lunch.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/27/2005 12:20:00 PM
Since I apparently can't keep track of my lip balm, last night at the new Longs in Berkeley (just opened earlier at 3 in the afternoon according a clerk), I picked up Canus Goat's Milk organic lip balm to replace the Chapstick that I lost. I think I like it a fair bit so far, but then again just about anything is good enough for me as long as it keeps my lips from getting chapped.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/21/2005 01:57:00 PM
The Spinto Band's Oh Mandy in a Sears commercial. I like identifying songs in commercials. And in general, I like the current trend of background music in TV commercials, except for those Cadillac commercials. That music makes me not want to buy their cars.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/14/2005 04:57:00 PM
So I'm using part of my day off to catch up on watching cartoons and TV in general. Since the WB is the only network channel showing cartoons (outside of PBS' educational ones), I'm stuck watching that. No Pokemon, instead mostly random stuff like Xiaolin Showdown (wrong on a lot of levels, but strangely more watchable than Jackie Chan Adventures), The Batman (Batman Beyond was far better than this), and a Transformers cartoon (just weird).
Then I see an ad for Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island, which looks like a blatant rip off on Spongebob Squarepants to me. And me being the Spongebob fan (well Patrick/Squidward fan), I'm slightly offended... Anyways it looks like a dumbed down version of Spongebob, if that's possible.
edit: It's cool how this discussion quickly gets taken over by a Battlestar Galactica debate. How quickly the original topic is abandoned totally fits with my stereotypes about online forums.
Then I see an ad for Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island, which looks like a blatant rip off on Spongebob Squarepants to me. And me being the Spongebob fan (well Patrick/Squidward fan), I'm slightly offended... Anyways it looks like a dumbed down version of Spongebob, if that's possible.
edit: It's cool how this discussion quickly gets taken over by a Battlestar Galactica debate. How quickly the original topic is abandoned totally fits with my stereotypes about online forums.
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/12/2005 07:31:00 PM
Destroy Everything You Touch [Ladytron]
Posted by:
\ nick /
10/06/2005 10:32:00 PM
The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/26/2005 09:32:00 PM
Oh Mandy [The Spinto Band]
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/25/2005 07:00:00 PM
I don't understand why there aren't more hot chocolate makers. It's very sad that there seems to be only one that's for sale on Amazon, and the commercial ones look like they're $500+. I personally think that hot chocolate is more of a hassle to make than coffee (I don't think there's anything like a french press method of making hot chocolate). Everyone knows that the instant stuff just like instant coffee ain't all that great. So, maybe this is an area ripe for innovation...
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/19/2005 08:40:00 PM
Midway through Kitchen Confidential (the show on Fox), I'm still unsure about it's relation to Anthony Bourdain. The main character's name is Jack Bourdain, which seems suspiciously related, though I didn't see anything mentioned in the opening credits.
Bourdain's No Reservation show on the other hand was pretty decent today. The ending with going to mysterious resort island run by mysterious overlord whose childhood dream was to be a celebrity chef was quite enjoyable.
Bourdain's No Reservation show on the other hand was pretty decent today. The ending with going to mysterious resort island run by mysterious overlord whose childhood dream was to be a celebrity chef was quite enjoyable.
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/19/2005 06:18:00 PM
The last 2 Fridays when we were eating tapas, I always mentioned to Amy how there were now Asian tapas like things, and she was wondering what it was like. Well Grasshopper (close to the Safeway on College, I think) is the one that I remember being mentioned around on Chowhound now that I actually put some thought into trying to think of what it was I read about Asian tapas.
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/19/2005 10:51:00 AM
1 year 401K status (Sept 15, 2004 through Sept 14 2005): 7.78% gain
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/19/2005 12:11:00 AM
I think my plan for a very short amount of time was to get an ice cream maker (probably picking up a Cusinart model with my "spirit points") and a Bialetti stove top espresso kettle, and then make a daily serving of affogato (espresso and ice cream). Or just making lots of ice cream. Or just lots of coffee ice cream.
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/14/2005 08:31:00 PM
The more you learn: Costco is selling a box of 4 moon cakes for $12.88. Which reminds me that I should probably eat dinner with my family this weekend sometime.
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/12/2005 11:03:00 PM
My on-call schedule for the next 3.75 months:
9/15 through 9/28 primary
9/28 through 10/12 secondary
11/24 through 12/07 primary
12/22 through end of year secondary
16 weeks, 7 of which I will be on-call in some facility or another. And somehow I will fit in 3 weeks of vacation in there too, still mulling over possibilities of what I could do.
9/15 through 9/28 primary
9/28 through 10/12 secondary
11/24 through 12/07 primary
12/22 through end of year secondary
16 weeks, 7 of which I will be on-call in some facility or another. And somehow I will fit in 3 weeks of vacation in there too, still mulling over possibilities of what I could do.
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/08/2005 12:06:00 PM
I didn't know that the government was minting commemorative nickels.
Posted by:
\ nick /
9/07/2005 10:54:00 PM
Trying to cook eggs is always a little depressing. My scrambled eggs almost always end up being a slightly burned, slightly undercooked lumpy mess. The only time I've had any success was when I made some for Amy's birthday, but I guess it was a one time thing inspired by my feelings...
My own food needs are far less weighty I suppose, and I eat it no matter how ugly it is anyway.
My own food needs are far less weighty I suppose, and I eat it no matter how ugly it is anyway.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/28/2005 01:28:00 AM
Pokerbots Making Online Players Sad. If only the Texas Hold'em AI me and my fellow team members coded up for the software engineering class didn't suck and take like 5 minutes to make a move (we tried implementing University of Alberta's stuff), I could be raking up the online poker money too...
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/27/2005 12:35:00 PM
Gelato from Tuesday night:
Starting at the spoon and moving clockwise it has flavors: nutella, green tea, thai ice tea, champagne, mango, and blueberry.
Starting at the spoon and moving clockwise it has flavors: nutella, green tea, thai ice tea, champagne, mango, and blueberry.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/27/2005 01:37:00 AM
"Just a second," I interrupted and reached into my blazer pocket. "I have a present for you."Stolen from Murakami's Hard-Boilded Wonderland. I just noticed in this read through that the said nail clipper gift was made by Henckels, which seems pretty cool. Though as far as chef knife brands I like Global, Forschner, or this (not that I actually every used any of them, and I would probably be pretty scared of using a very sharp knife anyways, even Henckels nail clippers seem a little intimidating).
I handed her the small black leather case.
"What is it?" she asked, turning over the curious metal object she removed from the case.
"I'll show you. Watch carefully."
She watched.
"Nail clippers?"
"Right! Folds back in reverse order. Like this."
"Very interesting," she said. "Tell me, though, do you often give nail clippers to women?"
"No, you're the first. Just now while I was waiting, I went into a hardware store and felt like buying something. The woodcarving sets were too big."
"Thank you. I'll keep them in my bag and think of you every time I use them."
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/24/2005 12:08:00 AM
Nick's dream (not my hopes and desires, but just what I do when I sleep):
So I drive down to the south bay to have dinner with Amy and Amy's mom at Fry's, which now has some sort of Asian buffet for some reason (seems like a logical move for an electronics chain doesn't it?). It's pretty generic cheap buffet food, but it's still surprisingly empty in the restaurant area.I think the dream was heavily influenced by eating lots of cheap Chinese buffet, Amy taking Tae Kwon Do, and watching Kung Fu Soccer (wherein tonights episode invovled beating the crap out of traitor players).
Anyhow after dinner, I have to drive back to work of course because there's an all hands meeting. After the meeting, me and the coworkers go to play a game of basketball.
When suddenly traitor coworker shows up at the basketball court. Everyone's pissed off and traitor and other coworker start fighting, which I then break up with cool Tae Kwon Do move.
However, just as I think things are settling down, another coworker sends phone virus to traitor's phone, further pissing everyone off. And then I cry becaues my integrity does nothing to help the situation, and I have no control over what other people do and their intentions.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/19/2005 04:35:00 PM
If only the rest of the world would catch on to my generic variable names of 'frank' and 'bob', we could have even more randomly named geekfests.
Meanwhile, Bar Camp is also soothing the tempers of some former Foo Camp attendees who found themselves off the invite list this year.
From Geeks to hold open-source campout
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/18/2005 07:57:00 PM
Woot! My big fat $250 rebate check for this computer is listed as approved! One step closer to getting to that final $150 (after $300 in rebates) price.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/09/2005 10:08:00 PM
I dislike the feeling that there are all sorts of things I should be doing (quite a few that I really, really should be doing). It's all by my own standards of what I should do, so I really shouldn't complain, but it really makes you feel like days go by too fast.
I did clean the bathroom though. Now my roommates better not crap all over it, which is what happened like 1 day after I cleaned it last time.
I did clean the bathroom though. Now my roommates better not crap all over it, which is what happened like 1 day after I cleaned it last time.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/08/2005 09:30:00 PM
Adventures in mid-fi (I'm not blowing enough cash for it to be considered hi-fi). So, I finally got around to setting up my old computer speakers to my computer (some 3 piece Altec Lansing set or another), and listening to it, it kinda sucks. Well after 2 hours or so of listening to it, I'm getting used to the bloated bass, but my first impression was pretty bad. It was all bass, which is nice in comparison to my bookshelf system, but it was hard to make out anything else. Oh well, anything was better than using the speakers stuck in the monitor I'm using.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/03/2005 11:52:00 PM
Trip 3: Went to watch Wedding Crashers (pretty good movie and the Will Ferrell cameo towards the end keeps the movie chugging along with comedy) and more Dave and Busters afterwards. I got slightly less schooled on the "easy" basketball game by Ian.
And thus ends the trips to the south bay. But then again I'm probably driving down again this weekend to catch a bus down to socal.
And thus ends the trips to the south bay. But then again I'm probably driving down again this weekend to catch a bus down to socal.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/03/2005 10:51:00 AM
Berkeley Bowl gets a mention in the New York Times. I like Berkeley Bowl, if it weren't for the fact that it closed so early. Though the fact that it closed so early on Sunday meant that me and Amy got to go to 99 Ranch, which is even cheaper and has a different sort of variety.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/02/2005 11:18:00 PM
The last thought for the day was that I thought it would be cool if I actually had enough meaningful "event-like" posts to form a personalized talking astrolabe. This thought was presented by randomly thinking abpit the episode of The Simpsons where Homer gets a talking astrolabe and ruins the families Christmas, then subsequently destroys and saves Christmas while at work. I would like a talking astrolabe that says: "This day in history, Nick ate his first burrito at El Farolito Taqueria."
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/02/2005 11:14:00 PM
More noteworthiness to move through.
I imagine hearing the Jane Eyre's plot synopsis from Amy was a lot more fun that actually reading it. And now I have the excuse that I already know the plot to avoid reading it for real. Maybe it just works extra well for Jane Eyre and all it's weird events and plot twists, but getting daily updates on Amy's progress was kinda addicting. I wanted to know what happened next, so Amy needed to read faster. Sadly, it's all done and Jane and Mr. Rochester are as happy as they can be.
I imagine hearing the Jane Eyre's plot synopsis from Amy was a lot more fun that actually reading it. And now I have the excuse that I already know the plot to avoid reading it for real. Maybe it just works extra well for Jane Eyre and all it's weird events and plot twists, but getting daily updates on Amy's progress was kinda addicting. I wanted to know what happened next, so Amy needed to read faster. Sadly, it's all done and Jane and Mr. Rochester are as happy as they can be.
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/02/2005 11:06:00 PM
I almost got the scoring the mango half and cutting out beautiful cube like pieces of mango trick to work. Good thing I have another 3 to practice with. Yay for $5 box of 9 mangoes!
Posted by:
\ nick /
8/02/2005 10:28:00 PM
Ditching the title and catch up.
So over the past week I've been scrambling around way too much. Outside of the normal trips to visit Amy (calling it normal sounds kinda mean in it's own way), I've gone back to the south bay more than a couple times.
Trip 1: farewall dinner and Dave and Busters for Marcus. Originally planned to go see Wedding Crashers (which has now been passed down to be the activity for Ian's farewell), but they were pretty late getting there, and I was even later getting there so it was scratched. Dave and Busters to the rescue. Got worked on the "easy" basketball game, and only felt slightly redeemed by some skeeball.
Trip 2: high school reunion and Dave and Busters (part 2). The original plan was to go down to south to help my brother move (after falling prey to stomach flu), but then the reunion pops up. The unforseen reunion (I wasn't on the mailing list or on the degrees of seperation that get emailed) prompted lots of info gathering and hand waving and probably just generally pissed me off into going (sorry Amy). So reunion hey and drinking hey, and Dave and Busters with Marcus again. Get schooled on the "easy" basketball game again.
Maybe if I use my "spirit points" to get a foosball table or air hockey table the need for Dave and Busters will disappear.
So over the past week I've been scrambling around way too much. Outside of the normal trips to visit Amy (calling it normal sounds kinda mean in it's own way), I've gone back to the south bay more than a couple times.
Trip 1: farewall dinner and Dave and Busters for Marcus. Originally planned to go see Wedding Crashers (which has now been passed down to be the activity for Ian's farewell), but they were pretty late getting there, and I was even later getting there so it was scratched. Dave and Busters to the rescue. Got worked on the "easy" basketball game, and only felt slightly redeemed by some skeeball.
Trip 2: high school reunion and Dave and Busters (part 2). The original plan was to go down to south to help my brother move (after falling prey to stomach flu), but then the reunion pops up. The unforseen reunion (I wasn't on the mailing list or on the degrees of seperation that get emailed) prompted lots of info gathering and hand waving and probably just generally pissed me off into going (sorry Amy). So reunion hey and drinking hey, and Dave and Busters with Marcus again. Get schooled on the "easy" basketball game again.
Maybe if I use my "spirit points" to get a foosball table or air hockey table the need for Dave and Busters will disappear.
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/31/2005 02:07:00 PM
The Comeback [Shout Out Louds]
I think I need a cathartic moment. Whether it be listening to a great song on repeat for an hour, eating lots of ice cream (seems very doable), or smashing 25 computers while screaming out "Serenity Now!".
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/29/2005 10:16:00 AM
Edelweiss [Rodgers and Hammerstein]
Random mention of the hometown.
In Cupertino, Calif., the average price of a four-bedroom house is nearly $1.1 million, according to the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors.
From New York Times
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/24/2005 11:55:00 AM
Waltz #2 [Elliot Smith]
My cheap Compaq finally arrived and is all set up on my desk. Now all I have to do is get more memory and a video card and I'll be happy with it.
And in other random browsing while trying to look for the proper name of the pho place I went to last night (I couldn't find it, so I'm working off of memory), apparently the New York Times ran an article about the Richmond 99 Ranch a while ago:
And in other random browsing while trying to look for the proper name of the pho place I went to last night (I couldn't find it, so I'm working off of memory), apparently the New York Times ran an article about the Richmond 99 Ranch a while ago:
Nothing symbolizes California's Asian-American culture more than a kitchen cabinet overflowing with empty plastic grocery bags from 99 Ranch Market.Another random quote:
From The New Chinatown Try the Asian Mall
"You can pretty much tell if a girl is single by what she buys at 99 Ranch."
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/16/2005 04:36:00 PM
Best Of You [Foo Fighters]
Sounds fun to me:
That had to have been part of the deal with Intel, to kick IBM in the corporate groin.
From I, Cringely
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/15/2005 11:18:00 PM
Sweet Troubled Soul [Stellastarr*]
Newest way to make updates without actually having to think of stuff to write: keep track of food I eat. My food log loosely based on my on call log. I will slowly make it more interesting with impressions of food too.
This idea was born from searching around on the web about random restaurants and finding food.oaklog, which was a vaguely interesting read. I think I just kept reading it because those guys go to Manpuku as well and talk about eating too many burritos to the point of feeling you're becoming a giant burrito. I've felt that way too sometimes.
This idea was born from searching around on the web about random restaurants and finding food.oaklog, which was a vaguely interesting read. I think I just kept reading it because those guys go to Manpuku as well and talk about eating too many burritos to the point of feeling you're becoming a giant burrito. I've felt that way too sometimes.
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/13/2005 10:59:00 PM
Faking The Books (Dntel Remix) [Lali Puna]
Things accomplished since the start of the year: skimmed through GRE books and finished reading Freakonomics.
Yup, now all I have to do is finish reading Hackers and Painters, increase my vocabulary a hundred fold, skim through an actually recent GRE book, and get around to kicking a Teradata SQL certification's butt.
But I do now have more than 1 post for the month of July and that makes me happy.
Yup, now all I have to do is finish reading Hackers and Painters, increase my vocabulary a hundred fold, skim through an actually recent GRE book, and get around to kicking a Teradata SQL certification's butt.
But I do now have more than 1 post for the month of July and that makes me happy.
Posted by:
\ nick /
7/05/2005 11:31:00 PM
Blue Light [Bloc Party]
All-Clad® Stainless, lots of steak knives, and lots of towels are what I think of when I think of wedding registries. That and maybe an ice cream maker.
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/22/2005 08:36:00 PM
Mina Loy [Billy Corgan]
60 Minutes just had a feature on San Francisco's The French Laundry where they brought in Anthony Bourdain, one of the best celebrity chefs (in terms of personality at least), for some additional insight into the restaurant biz. And of course The French Laundry is one of those restuarnats I've heard of (and kinda wanted to eat at) ever since I started reading stuff like Chowhound.
Then again, I seem to be perfectly happy to eat my premade Berkeley Bowl butter squash, jalapeno soup. And then again, all I ate during the day were cashews (care of Berkeley Bowl as well) and several slices of some sort of chocolate mousse, vanilla pudding super cake (a perk of the upper management coming over).
I guess it's time to take a walk to try to burn at least some of it off.
Then again, I seem to be perfectly happy to eat my premade Berkeley Bowl butter squash, jalapeno soup. And then again, all I ate during the day were cashews (care of Berkeley Bowl as well) and several slices of some sort of chocolate mousse, vanilla pudding super cake (a perk of the upper management coming over).
I guess it's time to take a walk to try to burn at least some of it off.
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/18/2005 02:00:00 PM
Pom Poko [Isao Takahata]
Just saw this yesterday at the Pacific Film Archive as part of its Ghibli series. Definitely one of the weirdest films I have ever seen, definitely the weirdest environmentalist film I have ever seen. I think I was still smiling/laughing for 30 minutes after we finished watching it just trying to collect some thoughts about it. I thought of racoons dancing, and racoons fighting, and racoons using their balls as weapons, and then I can't help but smile.
Porco Rosso, which was shown before, was quite very good. I liked it a lot better than Pom Poko, but Pom Poko leaves such a distinct impression.
Porco Rosso, which was shown before, was quite very good. I liked it a lot better than Pom Poko, but Pom Poko leaves such a distinct impression.
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/10/2005 03:07:00 PM
Last Quarter [Youth Group]
Yay for Bearmail
They'll never take it away from me, so long as I have still have a Berkeley account, which in all actuality will probably expire before Fall.
BearMail Abatement
05/31/2005
We have decided to extend the BearMail service until a new webmail solution is put into place. This new solution will replace BearMail, and will continue to work alongside the CalMail web client. The new webmail solution is being tested and will have more features than the current outdated BearMail client. Please watch the BearMail and CalMail home pages for more information and status.
They'll never take it away from me, so long as I have still have a Berkeley account, which in all actuality will probably expire before Fall.
Posted by:
\ nick /
6/07/2005 02:30:00 PM
Mon Baromètre [Melodium]
Pluot, plucot, plumcot.
Plucots and plumcots are apparently the same. I always thought they were called plucots, but plumcot turns up better results when searching with Google. Maybe this is what I get from learning most of my fruit names from how they're labeled in Asian groceries.
Pluot lean more towards plums, and plumcots lean more towards apricots.
It all makes me wonder what the heck I just bought from the farmer's market today, but it all taste good to me anyways.
Plucots and plumcots are apparently the same. I always thought they were called plucots, but plumcot turns up better results when searching with Google. Maybe this is what I get from learning most of my fruit names from how they're labeled in Asian groceries.
Pluot lean more towards plums, and plumcots lean more towards apricots.
It all makes me wonder what the heck I just bought from the farmer's market today, but it all taste good to me anyways.
Posted by:
\ nick /