July 20, 2010
The Upside of Irrationality
Just ripped through Dan Ariely's latest book; The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home after getting it from the library a couple days ago.
If you haven't read Predictably Irrational, read whichever one you can get from your local library (or bookstore) first.
And then read the other one.
Posted by dberger at 9:27 PM
July 1, 2010
A Week With an Android
After determining that the iPhone is a piss-poor replacement for a Blackberry, the team at work decided that the next attempt was an Android phone, specifically a Nexus One. (And, since the then-shipping version of Android didn't have native Exchange/ActiveSync support, a license for TouchDown.)
I ended up as the on-call two weeks ago, and spent a week living with (and playing with) the Nexus One.
And all I can say is "wow."
And not in a good way...
Continue reading "A Week With an Android"
Posted by dberger at 8:36 PM
June 27, 2010
Musings on the iPad
We have a couple ipads around work - bought to see if and how they might be generally useful. I borrowed one over a weekend, mostly to see if it could be a replacement for Dawnise's Windows notebook, which she goes out of her way (i.e. into the office) not to use.
Continue reading "Musings on the iPad"
Posted by dberger at 3:25 PM
May 27, 2010
Travelogue: Dateline UK - Fini
Wherein our adventurers, having returned safe to London, determine there's simply too much to see and do, and not enough time...
Continue reading "Travelogue: Dateline UK - Fini"
Posted by dberger at 7:49 AM
Travelogue: Dateline UK - Two
When last we left our intrepid adventurers, they were winding their way north, through Wales, on A roads that practically cried out to be traveled on two wheels...
Continue reading "Travelogue: Dateline UK - Two"
Posted by dberger at 7:48 AM
May 26, 2010
Travelogue: Dateline UK
`Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?' he asked. `Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely...
Continue reading "Travelogue: Dateline UK"
Posted by dberger at 7:26 PM
April 2, 2010
New Ride
The weekend after successfully selling the second of my two Triumphs, and the Saturday before leaving for Maui I took a test ride (both solo and two-up) on a BMW R1200RT.
I expressed interest in the (2009) demo unit - and the fellow I was dealing with explained that he couldn't sell it yet, as it had only 1900 of the required 2500 miles before it was salable per BMW.
He then offered to let me take the bike home over the weekend, put 600 miles on it, bring it back on Tuesday and buy it.
Had I not been headed to Maui that Monday...
Continue reading "New Ride"
Posted by dberger at 7:19 PM
March 1, 2010
Super Freak, Super Freak...
It's hard to believe it's been so long since I read Freakonomics. The other day I grabbed the follow-up - suitably called SuperFreakonomics - as an ebook from kcls.
Why, in the name of all things right, did my high school insist on teaching macro economics (which is, generally speaking, utter bullshit) rather than micro economics? Seriously, if I had realized there was a whole discipline focused on the study of how people respond to incentives, I might not be writing software for a living.
Or, given the relative incentive structures in play, perhaps I would...
Anyway, the book is definitely worth a read. And if you haven't read it's predecessor, give that a whirl, too.
Posted by dberger at 8:59 PM | Comments (1)
February 6, 2010
Rest In Peace, Junior
It's been a while since I've made the time to post anything here - not that there hasn't been stuff going on, just that life's been, well, life.
This afternoon, Junior left us after a rocky couple of months. His diabetes, which had been under control without insulin for a couple years, suddenly returned, along with a smorgasbord of other symptoms.
This afternoon, I walked into the bathroom to find him in the midst of a violent seizure - and he never came back.
He was with us for 15 years, and ingratiated himself with even the most stalwart anti-cat people. We have lots of record of his time here - as Dawnise has pretty much always thought of cameras as existing solely to capture images of the cats.
He will be missed, and the world has within it a bit less cute.
Looking out the window, I'm sure the sky looks just a bit more silvery-grey than normal...
Posted by dberger at 5:08 PM | Comments (1)
August 16, 2009
One Of Those Things Everyone Should Have
When we were moving into our current house, my lovely wife suggested what turned out to be the most practical solution to figuring out where our furniture would go. We took measurements of the house, measured our furniture, drew it all on graph paper to scale, and cut-out the furniture, so we could slide it around the rooms 'till we liked the way it looked.
Being the sort of packratspeople we are, I knew we had those graph sheets and furniture cut-outs around here somewhere, and it only took me a few minutes to lay my hands on them.
Continue reading "One Of Those Things Everyone Should Have"
Posted by dberger at 8:02 PM | Comments (1)
August 13, 2009
Antother Few Days with an iphone
A few more tidbits.
The feature set in ActiveSync pales in comparison to the rules-based filtering/forwarding control provided by the BlackBerry server. You can't not sync your inbox, so if you get a lot of mail, your options are to flood your device, or setup enough rules to move everything out of your inbox. Neither is a good solution.
The Mail UI on the iphone is pretty marginal - why do I need to navigate my entire folder structure, without an option to pick favorites, or collapse unused portions of the tree?
The lack of rules-based anything on the device takes a lot of the "smart" out of "smart phone." I've been through several attempts to get alerting working in a way that's similar enough to the BlackBerry setup to be a real replacement, but I'm concluding it's just not possible - at least not without running a jail-break only app. iBlacklist and mCleaner both look promising, but I can't propose that we jail-break all the phones around the office.
I had a conversation with a really smart friend of mine who is, shall we say, close to Apple, and his best suggestion was "do the filtering server side" - which sounds good 'till you actually think about it.
I want (need) messages, be they push, SMS, or whatever, from a system in trouble to wake me up at two in the morning, but I absolutely do not want my drunk friend to wake me up 'cause he has the sudden urge to sing Hava Nagila (you know who you are).
There's no server that can make that decision - only the device can. Only the iphone can't. Seems "there's no app for that."
After a bit of reading it turns out that making push work on the phone requires that you activate it (via iTunes) with a SIM from the carrier locked carrier. Once that's done (and some magic handshake/key exchange happens with the Apple push servers, I suspect), push works just fine, but the architecture still seems retarded.
The "background apps kill battery life" argument against background apps seems pretty lame, too - my BlackBerry does just fine - and a well written app (using select(3), or other event driven API) consumes no CPU - and hence no battery - while it's waiting.
Of course it would be possible to write a badly behaved application, but if Apple is rejecting apps for the occasional bad word, surely they can include a test of "in the background" behavior and reject poorly behaving apps, too.
Apple's hard-on for controlling every aspect of the experience seems like it's seriously limiting the ability of developers on their platform to innovate and provide customer value.
Let's see how that continues to work for them.
Posted by dberger at 8:58 AM | Comments (1)
August 12, 2009
Get Educated Before You Get Passionate
The thing that annoys me the most about the ongoing health care "debate" raging in the media, in town halls, and on the inter-tubes is the amount of misinformation being flung by both sides.
I haven't made time to read the the house bill, which clocks in at nearly 1200 pages, and from the random crap being vomited up by pundits and the populace, it seems generous to suggest that they haven't either.
I'm not sure that you can call what's going on "vigorous debate" - it's FUD and sensationalism.
Be passionate, take an active role in your governance, but please, be skeptical, don't regurgitate what your favorite commentator on your favorite news source said just 'cause they said it and you agree with it.
That's not democracy, and it doesn't benefit anyone but the power-brokers.
Posted by dberger at 7:26 AM
August 10, 2009
72 Hours with an iPhone
We had some sort of Exchange melt-down last week - database corruption, blah, blah, blah. It screwed up mail for a bunch of people (me included) for a day, and as of Friday those of us affected by the problem who have a BlackBerry still couldn't get mail on the device.
We had a "suspect" iphone 3g sitting around the office (suspect 'cause it was flaky for the original owner) so I borrowed it from IT to see if I could get mail service restored while they tried to sort out the problem with the Blackberry server.
Continue reading "72 Hours with an iPhone"
Posted by dberger at 8:38 AM
July 28, 2009
My Last Desktop PC?
Temperature control in a home office is always problematic - and that's certainly true for us. We have Dawnises iMac, her second LCD, my desktop linux box (with a fairly large and hence hot power supply on account of the graphics card) with two LCDs, our NAS, a small PC doing server duty, and a couple external hard drives being hosted for friends.
When the temperature started to climb, I decided to turn off my desktop in the hopes of keeping the room a bit cooler. Going on 4 days later, I've realized I don't miss it that much, and I'm wondering if its days are numbered...
Posted by dberger at 9:49 PM
July 19, 2009
A Swing and a Miss
Got a call from the shop on Friday while at the Museum of Flight with my folks. The bushings from Race Tech arrived, and they're completely wrong. As a last resort, they (the shop) are going to see if they can find a suitable bushing out of the Yamaha or Suzuki catalogs, and I'm going to try getting on the phone direct to Triumph on Monday.
Continue reading "A Swing and a Miss"
Posted by dberger at 10:42 AM
July 16, 2009
Motorcycles
I'm now something like 6 weeks into trying to get the front fork seals replaced on the Trophy. The first time parts took 2-and-a-bit weeks to arrive, then the shop neglected to tell me that the bushings needed replacing before they put it all back together.
Continue reading "Motorcycles"
Posted by dberger at 8:57 PM
July 5, 2009
Are Macs Really Overpriced?
The other day my mom asked my advice on a new notebook computer - she was comparing two models from HP - both with 17" screens, reasonable amounts of RAM and hard disk space, and a dual core processor.
Both around $700.
I really wanted to suggest she buy a Mac, but how could I tell her that the right answer was to spend $1700 more to get a macbook pro with the 17" screen she wanted?
All arguments about component/build quality aside - that's a serious chunk of money.
Posted by dberger at 9:45 PM
June 28, 2009
The Little Joys Of Home Ownership
The exhaust fan in the master bathroom died yesterday. I pulled it apart and confirmed that it's bearings are shot after 20-odd years. The enclosure (light+fan) were made by Aubrey, since bought by Braun/NuTone. The motor itself was made by Uppco (since bought by A.O. Smith).
A stop at Home Depot last night revealed they don't stock parts (let alone parts that old) - and a new enclosure means drywall work (blech). A bunch of googling this morning (and another trip to Home Depot) suggests that I need this motor, but with a longer pig-tail.
Both HD Supply and Grainger are local (Kent and Tukwilla, respectively) and claim to stock the item, but both are only opened M-F.
For the moment, I've stolen the fan from the matching enclosure in another bathroom, which gives me 'till my folks arrive in a couple of weeks to get it sorted.
Posted by dberger at 12:02 PM
June 20, 2009
They're Nothing if not Persistent
After a 9 month lull in the fighting, the battle for the basement was rejoined today. I went in search of some oil, and found two very dead rats in two of the four traps (at opposite ends of the basement, no less). The other two traps had been stripped of bait without being sprung, and there's other signs of recent activity.
So I removed the carcasses, re-armed the remaining traps, and made a mental note to pick up a few more while we're out tomorrow.
Rats...
Posted by dberger at 8:24 PM
My Bike is Getting Old...
My Trophy is 10 years old this year - and it's starting to be expensive.
Continue reading "My Bike is Getting Old..."
Posted by dberger at 12:19 PM
June 18, 2009
Cognitive Dissonance
"an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously."
The 3.0 release of the iphone software was released to much fan-boy-fanfare yesterday (never mind that it "adds" features - like cut-and-paste, and search - that most other smart phones have had since release).
Dawnise has a 1st gen iPhone that I assembled out of two dead ones - one with water damage, and one with a shattered screen. It's been jailbroken and software unlocked to work on T-Mobile's network.
Continue reading "Cognitive Dissonance"
Posted by dberger at 8:48 AM
June 16, 2009
How Would You Spend Two Weeks in the UK?
I've been to the UK once, a loonng time ago (like c. 1994, I think). I was in Stockport on business, and managed to swing a weekend in London with my colleague. Dawnise has never been.
We're thinking of taking our first "real" vacation since our trip down under toward the end of this year, and the top contender is a couple weeks in the UK.
Aside from several days in London (a weekend is too short, trust me), where would you go?
Note: feel free to post responses on Facebook or directly on my blog, but know that if you post a response on Live Journal, I'll probably never see it - 'cause they still don't seem to have a way to email me when people post comments...
Posted by dberger at 8:23 PM | Comments (1)
Score One for the iPhone
While in SF, Dawnise had her iphone, and I had my blackberry.
Her phone wins, almost hands down. The browser is way more functional, Google maps easier to navigate, and ibart sealed the deal.
My blackberry was sufficient for email, and the lack of push notification to the iphone was still hellishly annoying, but once the new firmware is released, and jailbroken, and carrier unlocked, I'm hopeful that annoyance will vanish.
Now if only someone would write a rules-based email alert app (wake me up when messages matching a specific pattern arrive), it might be able to replace my blackberry.
Posted by dberger at 9:06 AM | Comments (1)
June 15, 2009
What Have I Done?
Newegg had an indoor digital/hdtv antenna for $20 after rebate, free shipping. So in a moment of insanity, I ordered one.
It arrived while we were in SF, and I hooked it up tonight long enough to prove that it works, and that we get several channels, a couple of which are even in HD.
And then I unplugged it and put it back in the box.
I feel dirty.
Posted by dberger at 10:01 PM
The City By The Bay
Despite WWDC being underwhelming, Dawnise and I had an awesome trip to SF.
Continue reading "The City By The Bay"
Posted by dberger at 9:14 AM
June 9, 2009
Spending Money on Vehicles
While giving the Trophy it's first pre-ride check after the winter, I noticed some fork oil where it shouldn't have been (which is to say, anywhere other than in the forks), and a bit of coolant on the engine block. I consulted the service manual, and decided that rebuilding the forks was more than I wanted to get into - which left me with a problem - the authorized Triumph shop 'round here isn't my favorite, and I wasn't sure where else to take it...
Continue reading "Spending Money on Vehicles"
Posted by dberger at 12:22 PM
June 8, 2009
Nothing Like Last Minute...
I'm off to SF tomorrow for a conference (yes, that conference), and due to a long-unnoticed snafu, didn't actually have a flight down 'till Friday. (SF->SEA != SEA->SF).
Continue reading "Nothing Like Last Minute..."
Posted by dberger at 6:35 PM
June 2, 2009
Ahh Choo!
Allergies are kicking my arse this spring. Last year was good - very mild (probably 'cause we never really had a spring, went straight from winter to June-uary) but this year, it's all about the itchy eyes and sneezing.
Blech.
Posted by dberger at 11:03 AM
May 30, 2009
Facebook - Another Internet Phenomenon I Don't "Get"
It seems the cards were stacked against me - after Dawnise finally gave in and signed up for Facebook, the topic came up at work the other day, and I decided I needed to see what the hell the big deal is.
So I signed up and looked around.
And I still don't get it.
I played with Orkut for a while too, but ultimately didn't "get" that either and killed my account. I use LinkedIn mostly as a "usually up to date" address book for past colleagues, but I don't "get" the social networking thing.
Perhaps one day I'll have an epiphany, but for now...
Posted by dberger at 8:15 PM | Comments (3)
Well *That's* Not How It Was Supposed To Go...
Dawnise had a full social schedule today - a work spouse event in the early afternoon followed by roller derby finals in the evening.
So after dropping her and a colleague's wife off down town, I came home, changed into jeans, and hopped on her bike, with the intent of putting a hundred and fifty or so miles on it. I've been taking it to work occasionally lately, and while it's running OK, it's still got old gas in the tank, and I figured what better way to get rid of the old gas than to spend a few hours on the road, destination where-ever.
Continue reading "Well *That's* Not How It Was Supposed To Go..."
Posted by dberger at 6:44 PM
May 28, 2009
The Day The Universe Changed
While Netflix hasn't seen fit to stock Connections (fortunately, the Seattle Public Library does), they do have The Day The Universe Changed, and Dawnise and I have been watching it over the past few nights.
While discussing it with colleagues, I ranted for a moment about how "obvious" Burke made the proof that vertical angles are equal and wondered why my Jr. High geometry teacher hadn't used a similar technique. The response from my colleague was "'cause he was your Jr. High geometry teacher, and this is James Burke."
Indeed.
Posted by dberger at 10:04 AM
May 27, 2009
Equal Protection
While waiting for a build to complete, I decided to read the CA Supreme Court opinion regarding Prop 8, which institutionalized discrimination in the California constitution (guess you can figure which side I'm on).
The first dozen pages, which contain the majority opinion, reek to me of hiding behind technicalities and ignoring the core issue. It wasn't until I jumped head to the one (!) dissenting opinion (by Moreno) that I read anything resembling reasoned but human argument.
The question before us today is whether such a change to one of the core values upon which our state Constitution is founded can be accomplished by amending the Constitution through an initiative measure placed upon the ballot by the signatures of 8 percent of the number of persons who voted in the last gubernatorial election and passed by a simple majority of the voters....
For reasons elaborated below, I conclude that requiring discrimination against a minority group on the basis of a suspect classification strikes at the core of the promise of equality that underlies our California Constitution and thus “represents such a drastic and far-reaching change in the nature and operation of our governmental structure that it must be considered a ‘revision’ of the state Constitution rather than a mere ‘amendment’ thereof.” (Amador Valley Joint Union High Sch. Dist. v. State Bd. of Equalization (1978) 22 Cal.3d 208, 221 (Amador Valley).) The rule the majority crafts today not only allows same-sex couples to be stripped of the right to marry that this court recognized in the Marriage Cases, it places at risk the state constitutional rights of all disfavored minorities. It weakens the status of our state Constitution as a bulwark of fundamental rights for minorities protected from the will of the majority. I therefore dissent.
Moreno concludes
Proposition 8 represents an unprecedented instance of a majority of voters altering the meaning of the equal protection clause by modifying the California Constitution to require deprivation of a fundamental right on the basis of a suspect classification. The majority’s holding is not just a defeat for same-sex couples, but for any minority group that seeks the protection of the equal protection clause of the California Constitution.
This could not have been the intent of those who devised and enacted the initiative process. In my view, the aim of Proposition 8 and all similar initiative measures that seek to alter the California Constitution to deny a fundamental right to a group that has historically been subject to discrimination on the basis of a suspect classification, violates the essence of the equal protection clause of the California Constitution and fundamentally alters its scope and meaning. Such a change cannot be accomplished through the initiative process by a simple amendment to our Constitution enacted by a bare majority of the voters; it must be accomplished, if at all, by a constitutional revision to modify the equal protection clause to protect some, rather than all, similarly situated persons.
Posted by dberger at 10:26 AM
May 23, 2009
Whoa Ugly
The landscapers are outside finishing up the thatching (de-thatching?), aeration, and re-seeding of the lawn.
We had a lot of thatch.
We now have a lot of not-lawn.
I'm sure it'll grow back, assuming a typical Seattle spring weather pattern, but boy is it ugly at the moment.
Posted by dberger at 5:52 PM
May 19, 2009
My New Favorite Chinese Soup
The other night I decided to get Chinese takeout for dinner, and since Dawnise was out of town, I figured I might as well make it a bunch of things that she doesn't care for and, hence, we don't order.
Continue reading "My New Favorite Chinese Soup"
Posted by dberger at 6:42 PM
May 11, 2009
Experiments in Sleep
When we moved to Washington, and into our first house here, we bought a new mattress (and bed). It's a Sealy "backsupporter" with a fancy memory foam pillow top, and after only four years, it looks like we're in the market for a new mattress.
Continue reading "Experiments in Sleep"
Posted by dberger at 9:31 AM
May 7, 2009
Feeling Outnumbered
I think I inherited my dislike of clutter from my dad - and like him, I'll occasionally go on a bender - unable to stop or sit still until whatever it is that set me off is dealt with.
Dawnise calls this "going manic."
Continue reading "Feeling Outnumbered"
Posted by dberger at 9:13 PM | Comments (1)
May 4, 2009
Weather By Sybil
We did a bit of shopping on Saturday, and Costco had fresh Marlin, which I hadn't had in ages.
Continue reading "Weather By Sybil"
Posted by dberger at 9:14 AM
April 18, 2009
Rat City Roller Girls
I hadn't been to a Rat City Roller Girls bout with Dawnise since their move to the Key Arena this season, so I attended tonight.
The bouts were definitely entertaining - and it's hard not to admire and respect these ladies who are oft times more nimble on skates than I am on solid ground.
And the lack of back pain means I'd consider going again on occasion.
Posted by dberger at 10:26 PM
April 15, 2009
Memory's a funny thing...
I can't explain why Amos Lee makes me think of Alan.
But he has from the first time I heard him.
And he is right now.
Posted by dberger at 9:00 AM
March 25, 2009
It's not the years...
It's the mileage... Here I am in the Crowne Plaza Baltimore, having gotten up around 3:45 this morning for a 6am flight, connected through Cincinnati (and I didn't even get to see WKRP).
An event tonight, full day tomorrow, then back out on a 6:30 flight.
Want food, booze, and sleep - in that order.
Posted by dberger at 2:12 PM
March 22, 2009
Nothing like an honest day's work...
To make you appreciate your white collar job. Yesterday morning we met the Reynolds' for breakfast at Brown Bag Cafe, and then returned to their place and spent the day assembling a swing set. With help from Chris and Becky we finished up just in time for dinner.
No injuries, no left-over pieces, and it didn't collapse when I sat on a swing.
Posted by dberger at 8:44 AM
March 21, 2009
I hate computers
Woke up around 3 this morning to the dulcet tones of my desktop's cpu cooling fan failure alarm.
Staggered into the office and shut down the system before returning to bed. This morning I poked at it, and the fan seems to spin ok when flicked, but not under it's own power.
And of course it's a big arsed chunk of heat-sync, so return shipping is going to cost more than it's worth, not to mention that I'll end up without a machine for the duration of the RMA.
Posted by dberger at 8:28 AM | Comments (1)
March 20, 2009
Life After Death
Watched Dead Like Me: Life After Death this evening from Netflix.
We really enjoyed the series (which, of course, means it didn't last) but I'm being generous when I give the movie three out of five stars. The returning principals were all good, but the lack of Rube, the "not-quite-Daisy", and the plot all conspired against the film revival.
And despite the writing being marginal and the plot being slap-dash, I'm almost ashamed to admit how happy I was to share 90 minutes with those characters again.
Posted by dberger at 10:08 PM
March 14, 2009
Tap, Tap, Tap
's this thing on?
In theory, the blog has been transplanted to it's new home. I had to disable OpenID commenting (I'll figure that out later), but if you notice other sorts of breakage, please let me know.
Posted by dberger at 12:16 PM | Comments (1)
March 7, 2009
Teachable Moments
This would very possibly convince me to buy Guitar Hero.
Posted by dberger at 9:48 PM | Comments (1)
March 6, 2009
GMail FTW
After most of a day with my email pointing at google, I realized I hadn't gotten a single spam all day and logged into my gmail account.
There are some 40 messages in the spam "folder."
...perhaps I should have made this switch a long time ago...
Posted by dberger at 11:11 PM | Comments (2)
The Avalanche Is Starting
Ok, it's really not that significant but after some initial investigation I'm moving around a bunch of "domain services" - migrating them off the box that's going away at the end of March.
Continue reading "The Avalanche Is Starting"
Posted by dberger at 9:49 PM
March 4, 2009
Hosting Migration Update
Google Apps looks pretty good, but their mailing list functionality seems pretty busted.
And hosting MovableType on my ReadyNAS ain't gonna work.
Posted by dberger at 9:29 AM | Comments (1)
March 2, 2009
Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes
I learned a week or so ago that the machine that hosts this blog, among other things, is going to be homeless at the end of March. It's an old white-box PC, sitting in the back room of a small IT company in Orange County that a good friend of mine worked for for many years. They're moving offices, and putting all their internal servers on virtual machines in a data center, where rack space, network and power cost real money.
Continue reading "Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes"
Posted by dberger at 9:57 PM
February 24, 2009
Dinner was a Triumph
Nise made French Onion soup for dinner - and it was awesome.
Alan would have been proud.
Posted by dberger at 7:49 PM | Comments (1)
February 21, 2009
Unpleasant surprises
I figured we might have a cheap solution to Dawnise's media player desires - her Blackberry will take micro SDHC cards, so I figured for very little money, I could turn her phone into a 16GB media player. All I'd need is the aforementioned SDHC card and a copy of The Missing Sync to let her sync the phone with iTunes. I even had a pair of 2.5mm stereo headphones that I bought when I had my Treo.
Of course it couldn't be that easy...
Continue reading "Unpleasant surprises"
Posted by dberger at 12:49 PM | Comments (1)
February 7, 2009
Fast, Light, Cheap
I've been doing more looking at lenses today - online - not living in NY, I don't have the luxury of just wandering into B&H and actually touching them.
Always with the tradeoffs.
Continue reading "Fast, Light, Cheap"
Posted by dberger at 7:43 PM | Comments (1)
February 6, 2009
Considering bending the rules
Ok, not "the rules," really - my rules, and not even a very serious one.
Perhaps I should explain...
When I bought my DSLR, I pretty much decided that while the body was a non-trivial investment, that what I really needed to worry about were lenses.
Continue reading "Considering bending the rules"
Posted by dberger at 10:42 PM | Comments (1)
February 2, 2009
People Suck
Coming out of the library yesterday we approached the Subaru from the passenger side and Nise noticed that someone hit the car - dinged the rear passenger door, scuffed up paint on the fender.
It probably happened in the parking garage at work - and this stunning gem of humanity didn't even see fit to leave a note with identifying information.
I know violence doesn't solve problems - but...
Posted by dberger at 3:15 PM
February 1, 2009
Represent
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99950176
Posted by dberger at 12:41 PM
January 31, 2009
Computers Suck
The ReadyNAS story doesn't have a happy ending. The drive that failed did so in a way that even after recovering most of the disk with myrescue, pretty much the entire filesystem was corrupt.
So I'm currently waiting for CrashPlan to sync up it's view of the backup drive I've mounted on the network, and then I start the long restore of all our music, photos, and email.
I'm realizing the random things that weren't in the backup set and probably should have been, some of which I may have floating around on other disks, some of which I've probably lost.
The silver lining is that I had a backup - had I not, I don't know that I'd be composed enough to even write this all down.
Update: CrashPlan sync'd up it's view of Dawnise's Mac, which should have included her mailbox.
And it doesn't.
It appears in the list of files to backup, but it doesn't appear in the list of files available for restore.
I'm furious.
Posted by dberger at 12:31 PM
January 29, 2009
ReadyNAS Hell
http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=25207
Color me really unhappy (and late for work).
And let's hope CrashPlan doesn't suffer some random failure at just the wrong time, 'cause I may be needing that data.
Posted by dberger at 9:43 AM
January 13, 2009
My "Purse" Fetish Rears It's Ugly Head (Again)
A couple weeks ago, right after Christmas I guess, Dawnise and I found ourselves wandering around Pike Market with Vince and Ari, and we passed a guy selling leather purses and bags, handmade by a local artisan.
He had one of these hanging in the stall, which he was all to eager to take down and let me inspect. It was beautiful, and Dawnise offered to buy it for me, but I kept my wits about me.
I keep telling myself I don't need yet another bag, but here I am, weeks later, still with the link hanging around.
It's entirely possible that the not-a-collection may grow by one at some point...
Posted by dberger at 11:23 AM | Comments (1)
January 10, 2009
Crash Plan
Crashplan announced at Mac World that their basic product - previously a $30 per machine license, is free.
Do yourself a favor, if you value your data, find a friend who feels the same way, and use each other as backup destinations.
It's free, aside from the drive space.
Posted by dberger at 8:26 PM
January 4, 2009
More Snow, Woo Hoo
Less than one inch accumulation my arse - we've already 2 or 3 inches on the lawn, and at least an inch accumulated on the street. Oh, and the predicted low of 36 is bullshit, too - our outdoor thermometer reads several degrees below freezing.
Posted by dberger at 7:31 PM
December 30, 2008
Pictures!
A couple people have asked when I was going to get around to uploading more pictures.
Here, have some.
Posted by dberger at 9:31 PM
December 24, 2008
Cabin Fever
Another couple inches of snow since I went to bed last night, it's still snowing, and they're predicting it will continue into the late afternoon with continued snow showers tomorrow and Friday.
I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't get a shovel (we don't have a snow shovel, so a flat metal shovel will have to do) and get some of the snow off the back deck. It's all fun and games 'till the deck collapses...
Posted by dberger at 9:00 AM
December 22, 2008
How's the Weather?
It snowed all day yesterday - we've got a good foot on the ground. It didn't snow today, and the temperature barely nudged above freezing for a few hours before dropping back into the mid 20's tonight.
They're predicting continued cold and chances of snow through Christmas day, with rain during the day and sub-freezing temperatures over night.
At this rate, I'll be working from home 'till the April thaw
Posted by dberger at 9:28 PM
December 21, 2008
Happy Anniversary
To my love, my partner in crime, and my best friend - thank you for another year.
Happy Anniversary, gorgeous.
Posted by dberger at 8:55 AM | Comments (1)
December 19, 2008
Hunkering Down
The National Weather Service is predicting a serious windstorm for the eastern Puget Sound lowlands tomorrow. Gusts up to 90mph in some places. They're warning that this could knock out power in some areas for days, perhaps a week or more.
We've got plenty of food, and two gas fireplaces for heat if the power does fail. Candles and flashlights, and a new gas stove in the kitchen.
Here goes nothing.
Posted by dberger at 4:00 PM
December 18, 2008
Snow
It never snows in Seattle.
'cept is has every year for the past four years.
And at present the snow that never falls is 4" deep on the road outside the house.
And King County owns like three snow plows.
Posted by dberger at 12:24 PM
December 17, 2008
The Worst Storm that Never Was
For most of the week, the National Weather Service has had a standing Winter Storm Watch for the Puget Sound. Yesterday it turned into a Winter Storm Warning, 90% chance of snow last night, 90% chance of snow today, and 40% chance of snow tomorrow.
A bunch of schools announced snow days.
Myself and many of my co-workers are working from home to avoid the inevitable traffic snarls and potential stranding you get when you mix ice and snow with an ill-prepared municipality, a lack of deicing/snow plow equipment, and hilly roads.
And of course, as of 12:30, I've seen a grand total of 5 flakes.
At this rate it's going to go down as the "not-a-storm of '08."
Posted by dberger at 12:19 PM
December 16, 2008
Cold...
It's been dipping into the low double digits over night, and not climbing above freezing during the day for the past couple days. There's more snow predicted for tomorrow and possibly Thursday, and high temps aren't expected to climb above freezing 'till Saturday.
It's not supposed to be this cold here.
Posted by dberger at 7:22 AM
December 14, 2008
"Nothing sucks like an Electrolux"
As I mentioned elsewhere our vacuum of many years recently self-destructed, so we headed to Costco armed with the 2009 Consumer Reports buying guide to see what they had available.
Continue reading ""Nothing sucks like an Electrolux""
Posted by dberger at 8:22 PM
The 10th Annual Cookie Overload Event
It's hard to believe this was the tenth year Dawnise and I (mostly Dawnise) have been throwing a holiday cookie exchange, but "reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
Continue reading "The 10th Annual Cookie Overload Event"
Posted by dberger at 7:57 PM | Comments (1)
December 7, 2008
Hmmmm
Posted by dberger at 10:20 PM
December 3, 2008
A Belated Thanksgiving/Birthday Update
My birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, and Dawnise left it to me to decide which would "win."
Continue reading "A Belated Thanksgiving/Birthday Update"
Posted by dberger at 8:03 PM | Comments (1)
November 17, 2008
g0g0g0
Posted by dberger at 9:20 PM
November 15, 2008
Red Ring of Death
After about two years of very occasional service (I can count the number of games played on my hands and have fingers left over) our XBox displayed the "Red Ring of Death" this evening, after locking up a couple times playing Lego Batman.
So I guess I join the ranks of those who've had to send their consoles in for repair. And just days before Left4Dead releases, of course.
Posted by dberger at 5:07 PM | Comments (1)
November 13, 2008
Ubuntu Install - Step-by-Step
19:23 As I type, I'm in the process of installing Ubuntu 8.10 onto my primary home machine.
Continue reading "Ubuntu Install - Step-by-Step"
Posted by dberger at 7:32 PM | Comments (3)
November 11, 2008
Remembrance, and Thanks
To those who have served in times of conflict, doing a job most would rather not, my thanks and respect.
Posted by dberger at 8:41 AM
November 9, 2008
Now We're Cooking With Gas
Cooked the first "real meal" in the new kitchen - nothing fancy, flank steak with apple bacon (assembled by Costco), roasted herbed potatoes, and "Alan's Carrots." Boy did I miss a gas range - hot when you want it, cool when you don't, and no waiting for 5 minutes in between. The new broiler is awesome - like hell has opened up in my oven. And it makes me smile to know that running the range full bore is generating more BTU than the furnace that heats the whole house.
Posted by dberger at 7:35 PM | Comments (1)
November 4, 2008
Institutionalized Intolerance
I'm incredibly disappointed in California. Passing Prop 8 is the most intolerant, bigoted, and narrow minded behavior possible. It says it's ok to discriminate against people who are different from you. It says it's ok to impose your morals and values on someone else's life, even when their decisions have no affect on yours.
It's an act of cowardice and fear.
And I'm ashamed of it.
Posted by dberger at 8:59 PM | Comments (1)
Straight Up or On the Rocks
Dawnise turned me on to an article on slashfood about bar-tending - something of a fascination of mine. The author had a recommended reading list, and I was happy to find that the library had Straight Up or On the Rocks in their collection. I tossed it on my request queue, and it arrived the other day.
Continue reading "Straight Up or On the Rocks"
Posted by dberger at 7:15 AM
November 1, 2008
Size Really Does Matter
The kitchen is mostly done - when I got home yesterday the dust barriers were gone, most of the trim work was finished, and by Monday or Tuesday it should be done.
Continue reading "Size Really Does Matter"
Posted by dberger at 9:45 PM
October 29, 2008
Kitchen: Won't Be Long Now...
We have cabinets, counters, Advantium, sink (w/ faucet), and dishwasher all installed and operational.
The vent hood and stove are the only major bits left - and the rest is "finish work" - trim, baseboards, and the like.
We might have a working kitchen by weeks end.
I'm all a-quiver with antici-
Continue reading "Kitchen: Won't Be Long Now..."
Posted by dberger at 12:53 PM
October 24, 2008
You Dropped your Rock
The granite guys are here - big slabs of granite in tow. By this afternoon, we'll have counters (knock woodstone).
Then we paint this weekend, and Dan hangs the uppers, installs the dishwasher, and we've got a kitchen again.
I can almost taste it...
Posted by dberger at 9:07 AM | Comments (2)
October 22, 2008
I'm a bad citizen
I mentioned being distressed by the notion of rational ignorance as presented in The Logic of Life, well, tonight I sat down to read through the voter pamphlet for the upcoming election...
Continue reading "I'm a bad citizen"
Posted by dberger at 7:35 PM
October 19, 2008
Point-Counter-Point
The other day I got email from the library that The Logic of Life was waiting to be picked up. With Dawnise out of town, I've had more time to read than I normally find myself with (not a complaint, just an observation) and I worked through it pretty quickly. Tim Harford writes well, and the book is quite interesting, but I found it less compelling than my "other" recent economic read (Predictably Irrational).
Continue reading "Point-Counter-Point"
Posted by dberger at 9:47 PM
October 18, 2008
Civilized
It's an absolutely gorgeous day out - cool, clear, lots of big fluffy clouds. I wandered out to take a walk around the neighborhood, and returned home to the sultry sounds of Diana Krall.
I think I'll make a cup of tea and see about making some progress on my latest read.
Posted by dberger at 2:14 PM | Comments (1)
And They're Off...
I dropped Vince and Dawnise off at SEATAC this morning for a 7am flight (which means up before 5, for those playing along at home). They're headed down to Southern California to attend their annual high holiday service at Knotts Berry Farm's Halloween Haunt.
Continue reading "And They're Off..."
Posted by dberger at 6:27 AM
October 16, 2008
Another Day, Another Disappointing Meal...
Dawnise and I quite enjoy Mongolian BBQ, though we haven't had any in a couple years, We decided to break that trend tonight, and turned, once again, to Yelp (silly me) for guidance. There were two in the immediate vicinity - one got a paltry 2.5 stars, the other 3.5. Neither a ringing endorsement, but we figured we'd try the better of the two anyway.
I mean, fresh veggies, thin sliced meat - how bad could you really screw that up?
Continue reading "Another Day, Another Disappointing Meal..."
Posted by dberger at 8:03 PM
October 15, 2008
It Begins
L4D is available for pre-purchase.
Posted by dberger at 3:47 PM
October 14, 2008
Dinner, Redeux
I'm getting really tired of not having a kitchen - and the bad news is we're at least two weeks away from it being done.
We started our quest for dinner looking for a Mongolian BBQ place Dawnise remembered passing near the house, we didn't find it, and decided to let the GPS guide us to an alternative. I recognized "The Whistle Stop Ale House" from a previous Yelp search for breakfast places, and we (I) decided to give it a shot.
Turned out to be a mistake...
Continue reading "Dinner, Redeux"
Posted by dberger at 8:35 PM
October 13, 2008
Memories of Bobby McGee's
There's a place in Brea - the last of a small franchise - called Bobby McGee's. We used to go there at least a couple times a year to celebrate various events - birthdays, mostly. They were great at accommodating large parties, and never kicked us out for throwing things (<cough>jelly-beans</cough>).
What I always looked forward to was the pepercorn steak - a new york steak crusted in cracked peppercorns (an item sadly missing from their current menu).
Tonight Dawnise and I tried The Keg across from the factoria mall, and while there was no help-your-self-to-all-the-jelly-beans-you-want salad-bar, the pepper steak was pretty damn respectable. Not Daniel's quality meat, but definitely repeatable.
Posted by dberger at 8:13 PM | Comments (2)
October 11, 2008
I didn't like the others, they were all too flat...
We went down to Kent today to choose "our" granite.
The counters have been a bit of a conundrum since the beginning of the project.
We've looked at probably a hundred granite samples, and never really did find one that was both aesthetically exciting and fiscally reasonable. One outfit had their samples labeled with terms like "low-end", "mid-range," "high end," and "$!$!$!$". Of course all the really pretty and unique ones were in the high-to-obscene price range, and I'm more of a mid-grade kinda spender.
Continue reading "I didn't like the others, they were all too flat..."
Posted by dberger at 4:05 PM | Comments (1)
October 10, 2008
The State of the Kitchen...
Since my last update on the 2nd, we've had definite progress on the kitchen. Good to their word, the cabinet maker delivered the corrected base cabinets yesterday, and our contractor has had the pipe fitter out to install the NG line for the new range and yesterday was the electrician installing the new lighting (and installing single pole double-throw switches, so we can actuate the lights from either door to the kitchen). Today is the electrical inspection, and this afternoon the granite installers come to template.
As of yesterday, we've turned the corner from "tear it apart" to "put it back together" - drywall soon, then uppers. Counter install is scheduled for two weeks from today, which should be the final step.
Course once that's all done, the hardwood floors, which needed refinishing when we moved in, will look really pathetic. Once the bank account recovers a bit we'll look into doing something about that...
Posted by dberger at 7:14 AM
October 2, 2008
A Shoe Has Dropped
Well, we're no longer waiting for something to go sideways on the kitchen - we (well, Dawnise) discovered that one of the base cabinets was made incorrectly. It was 9" shorter than we expected, and (it turns out) 6" shorter than the plans they were fabricating from.
The details of the snafu aren't terribly interesting, though it wasn't "our fault" so it only affects the time-line of the project, not the cost. It does mean that the cabinet has to be re-made, and that I had to call the granite company and tell them they can't come template tomorrow.
The cabinet maker has committed to having the replacement on-site by next Thursday, so tomorrow morning I'll call and see if I can get back on the granite installers calendar.
Posted by dberger at 10:16 PM
September 29, 2008
A weekend and then some
Saturday night we and the Beltz's had tickets to Who's Live Anyway at the Moore. The show was hilarious, and reminded me of all the laughs we had at the Who's Line tapings we attended while living in S. California. Before the show Dawnise and I stopped for happy hour at Tango (home of el Diablo) and had their food for the first time. Good stuff, definitely worthy of a repeat performance.
Sunday we decided to take advantage of the weather and hop on the bike for the first time in what seems like ages. We left a bit after 9, had breakfast at the Brown Bag Cafe in Kirkland, and then made pretty much every "wrong" turn possible to finally end up here.
Tonight, the fun continues when we leave (in about 45 minutes) for a Jackson Browne concert at Seattle Center.
Good times.
Posted by dberger at 5:18 PM
September 28, 2008
Predictably Irrational
I forget where I heard about Dan Ariely's book Predictably Irrational, but I had the presence to put it on my library hold list at the time. It came in a week or so ago, and I finished it while watching Dawnise bake for the last time in our current oven.
As I sat here for a few minutes, trying to summarize my thoughts, I realized I need a bit more time to digest the work. It's either "very interesting" or "incredibly significant," and perhaps both. Through repeated experiment, Ariely turns classical economic theory - with it's foundation built on rational actors making rational decisions - into something of a laughing stock. He shows, in contexts ranging from honesty, to sexual arousal, to our reaction to something being "free" how humans not only don't act rationally, they act predictably irrationally.
Read it, digest it, and let's talk - I want someone to bounce this one off of...
Posted by dberger at 7:04 PM | Comments (1)
September 26, 2008
A Tale of Four Americanos
A Top Pot Donuts opened across the street from work, which is both a blessing and a curse.
Bellevue has no shortage of coffee places - there are three Starbucks in a two block radius of the office, and two Tully's - but finding a good Cafe Americano (or even a good cup of drip) has been damn near impossible.
Turns out that in addition to really yummy donuts, Top Pot makes a pretty reasonable Americano. It looks like espresso, complete with crema, smells like espresso, and has flavor beyond the "acrid bitter" that Starbucks and Tully's seem to aim for (and hit pretty reliably, I might add).
Posted by dberger at 4:50 PM
September 24, 2008
Here We Go
Tomorrow morning, Dan arrives to start the demo phase of the kitchen project. Dawnise has kicked ass packing up the kitchen over the past two days, and aside from some random stuff on the counters, I think we're in good shape... Tomorrow morning we take care of the last few items, and take "pre-demo" pictures.
The cabinet folks have re-confirmed their Monday delivery, the appliances are ready to go with a few days notice, and the granite folks show up in just over a week to template.
No turning back now...
Posted by dberger at 9:21 PM
There's a bit of money I didn't plan to spend...
Got the bike back to I-90 motorsports, and a few hours later they called to tell me that they'd figured out why the fuel warning light was staying on...
Continue reading "There's a bit of money I didn't plan to spend..."
Posted by dberger at 3:03 PM
September 23, 2008
I'm Too Young To Feel This Old
My lower back is grumpy, and getting on the race bike this morning didn't help.
Grumble, grumble.
On the plus side, I got confirmation that all the appliances are sitting in the warehouse ready for delivery with a couple days notice, the granite templating is on-schedule, and by this afternoon I should know if the cabinet makers are going to hit their Monday date.
Posted by dberger at 10:24 AM
September 20, 2008
Fall Is In The Air, And Other Updates
It's cool and drizzly this morning - and last night, before nodding off, Dawnise and I were discussing the eventual coming of winter. I found I was looking forward to it with some anticipation - which is a switch from last year, when the coming of winter brought thoughts of commuting to work on the motorcycle in the cold, and treacherous trips in and out of the garage in our rear-wheel drive car. The leaves on the tree outside our bedroom window are getting color on their edges...
Continue reading "Fall Is In The Air, And Other Updates"
Posted by dberger at 10:01 AM
September 19, 2008
Leverage: Archimedes vs. Le Gendre
As you may have heard, the US is in something of a financial crisis at the moment. - some are saying it's the worst since Black Tuesday. Others are saying it's worse.
I'm not a financier, I don't pretend to understand the market, I've always lived by a fairly simple set of rules - "you can't spend more than you have," and "don't gamble what you can't afford to lose."
They've served me well - allowing me to live a fairly luxurious lifestyle (incredibly luxurious by global standards), and weather downturns in both local and global economy. They're not going to get me rich quick, and they're positively anathema to the notion of leverage.
Continue reading "Leverage: Archimedes vs. Le Gendre"
Posted by dberger at 6:42 PM | Comments (4)
September 18, 2008
Comcast Made Me Do It
The recent change by Comcast - clarifying their "acceptable use policy" as no more than 250GB/month, but not giving users a means to measure their progress toward that cap, finally convinced me to turn on security on our wireless network.
Continue reading "Comcast Made Me Do It"
Posted by dberger at 8:53 PM
September 16, 2008
T-Mobile VoIP@Home - Strike 1
Didn't think about testing this during our eval - and sure enough, can't send faxes from the multi-function printer anymore.
If I sent more than a fax or two a year I'd be annoyed.
But I don't, so I'm mostly not.
Posted by dberger at 12:19 PM
September 10, 2008
iTunes: Now With Less of What You Use Most!
After a few minutes use, I came to the conclusion that Apple had dropped the one feature I found useful in iTunes (album shuffle) and "replaced" it with "Genius" (they sure love that word - the techs at their stores are Genius's, and they sit at a Genius Bar.)
Continue reading "iTunes: Now With Less of What You Use Most!"
Posted by dberger at 1:15 PM | Comments (1)
I Wasn't Expecting the Spanish Inquisition...
Yesterday, on the way home from work, I witnessed a hit-and-run. Inching forward in a right turn lane behind a red light, the white pickup in front of me failed to stop before crunching into the rear bumper of the sedan in front of him. He backed off, cranked the wheel hard left, cut across two lanes of traffic, and made a right turn from the left turn lane at the light.
Continue reading "I Wasn't Expecting the Spanish Inquisition... "
Posted by dberger at 8:09 AM
September 9, 2008
Bandwidth Caps and the Burden of Proof
A few weeks ago, several media outlets carried the story that Comcast has finally announced a concrete bandwidth cap for it's residential customers. I don't mind having limits placed on my service - and now that Comcast has announced that 250GB/month is the magic number, it seems only reasonable that they give me an easy way to see how close I am to that limit.
They haven't, of course, so I submitted the following note to them via their online support mechanism this evening...
Continue reading "Bandwidth Caps and the Burden of Proof"
Posted by dberger at 9:24 PM
September 8, 2008
Naked Fingers
I left my wedding band on the bathroom counter this morning.
My finger feels naked, and I suspect I'm going to keep "checking" for the missing ring all day.
Posted by dberger at 7:56 AM | Comments (1)
September 7, 2008
Maginot Line
Over the course of 6 weeks, the exterminator has pulled around 8 (dead) rats out of the basement, and the local population has consumed around 18 "anti-coagulant non-secondary poisoning" bait blocks. Two weeks ago, the exterminator (a very pleasant So. Cal. expat who goes by 'Mac') and I think we figured out where they're getting in, and this morning I spent several hours (a chunk of that looking for a misplaced tool) building my own version of the Maginot Line...
Continue reading "Maginot Line"
Posted by dberger at 1:00 PM | Comments (1)
September 5, 2008
It's All Good
Lately I've been hyper-sensitive to the fact that, as my aunt Amy likes to say, "it's all good."
Continue reading "It's All Good"
Posted by dberger at 12:21 PM
August 30, 2008
An evening gone sideways
Last night I decided, somewhat on a whim, to shuffle around some furniture. We have two sets of sofas - one set that in the game room, and one in the front room - and I wanted to swap them; both to change up the look of the room, and because we use the ones in the front room more often, so spreading wear more evenly seemed like a good idea.
Continue reading "An evening gone sideways"
Posted by dberger at 5:46 PM
August 22, 2008
Good Food
One of the things that frustrated Dawnise and I upon moving to Washington was our inability to find good Indian food. We had a set of favorite places in Southern and Central California (Diamond Palace in Diamond Bar, and Taj Palace in San Louis Obispo for example), and upon arrival we set out to find local equivalents.
We had some adequate experiences in Seattle proper, and tried what passed for Indian food on the Olympic Peninsula several times - always coming away disappointed (and occasionally downright disgusted).
Fortunately, Dawnise found Pabla, in Renton. We'd been there several times to partake of their lunch buffet, and tonight made our first (but definitely not our last) trip for dinner. From the chili pakoras to the lentils, the food was great - well spiced, very flavorful. The service has always been prompt without being pushy, and while the atmosphere and decor aren't going to win any prizes, it's a comfortable place for a casual meal.
One thing I don't "get" about Indian food is how when the food arrives at the table your first thought is always "this isn't going to be enough" - and when you've made it through half, or two-thirds of it, you flip to thinking "there's no way we can eat all this."
It's a kind of magic, really.
Posted by dberger at 8:53 PM
August 20, 2008
Hold On To Them Hats And Glasses...
We're officially in the "remodeling the kitchen" business. I met with our chosen contractor today, got the contract, a copy of the final bid, and handed him a check to get the cabinets ordered and a deposit to cement us on his schedule for early September.
Continue reading "Hold On To Them Hats And Glasses..."
Posted by dberger at 10:35 PM
August 10, 2008
Bringing Telephone into the modern Age
One of the steps in deciding to move forward with (and self-finance) the kitchen was to do a quick review of our monthly expenses, and the only thing that really jumped out as proverbial low-hanging fruit was the nearly $50 a month we spend on the home phone line. We decided to take advantage of the fact that Dawnise's cel is now through T-Mobile and try out their T-Mobile @ Home offering.
Continue reading "Bringing Telephone into the modern Age"
Posted by dberger at 9:29 PM | Comments (2)
August 9, 2008
If you can't pronounce it, stay the hell away from it...
I caught a statement from some policy wonk on the radio about Iran's "nucular" program.
Is it that fucking hard to pronounce nuclear? I mean really.
New. Clear.
You say it pretty much like you spell it. (Perhaps they can't spell, or read.)
If you can't say the word, you should be disqualified from being involved, in any way, with US policy on the subject.
Posted by dberger at 3:03 PM | Comments (1)
August 8, 2008
Wildlife in the 'burbs
We were worried, when moving back to the burbs, that our wildlife quotient would bottom out. Seems the concern was unwarranted. Since moving in we've seen squirrels, deer, coyote, and even a bobcat in the back yard, not to mention the various birds that come to the feeder.
I'd probably be less stoked about the bobcat if I had kids (or a dog), but since I've neither, watching it trot through the back yard was pretty cool.
Posted by dberger at 1:49 PM
August 7, 2008
My Time of the Month
I've been in a downright bitchy mood for the past week.
No good reason.
No success in self-analysis and correction.
And I'm afraid I'm dragging Dawnise along despite her efforts.
It's to the point where I'm grumpy 'cause I'm grumpy.
That doesn't feel positive.
Posted by dberger at 10:00 PM | Comments (2)
Rats!
I finally got around to calling an exterminator to come look at the basement, and just to make sure he wouldn't say "nope, no problem here" we walked in to find a dead roof rat on the floor.
He looked around the basement, agreed with me that there was no obvious point of entry (which is bad - it means that stopping them will be difficult/damn near impossible) and then proceeded to enumerate my options.
Continue reading "Rats!"
Posted by dberger at 7:41 PM
August 1, 2008
Neither a Borrower...
We've decided to move forward with the kitchen remodel, despite it costing significantly more than we'd planned. We've got a meeting with the contractor mid-week next week to go over the final plans and discuss scheduling.
Continue reading "Neither a Borrower..."
Posted by dberger at 10:41 PM
July 31, 2008
My Tax Dollars At Work
We found water on Mars.
Could I allocate more of my tax money to the space program, to universal healthcare, to alternative energy, and less to the war in iraq and paying the salaries of public officials who oppose same-sex marriage on the grounds that it damages family values?
Who do I talk to about that?
Posted by dberger at 9:26 PM
July 25, 2008
Wargames and Hot Fuzz
Last night - a one-night only 25th anniversary (my god, that long already?) showing of Wargames - the first movie I ever saw that made it cool to be a computer geek (followed shortly thereafter by Cloak & Dagger which made it cool-ish to be an RPG geek).
The pre-screening documentary sucked (though it did include Capt. Crunch, who I think only part of the audience recognized), as did the trailer for the direct-to-dvd sequel. The only other cool bit was the revelation that the guy responsible for making the WOPR's lights blink was doing it, in real-time, in BASIC on an Apple ][. I got more from the first few paragraphs of the wired article than the cheezy documentary.
Tonight, Hot Fuzz, which was freaking hilarious (albeit gory in the same measure as was Shaun of the Dead). By the Power of Grayskull indeed.
Posted by dberger at 10:15 PM
July 20, 2008
Coffee
We had brunch today with some friends at Chance's Pancake Corral in Bellevue. The food was alright, but the coffee was pretty disappointing. I was particularly disappointed by this, as I've been out of coffee at home for a while, and was looking forward to a good cup this morning.
The last coffee I bought at home was a bag of Kirkland "New Guinea" blend, which wasn't amazing, but at around $4 a pound was hard to argue with. It was robust, tasty, without being acrid.
This afternoon, Dawnise happened to be down the street from Vivace, in Seattle, and got me a half pound each of their three varietals. At more than double the price of the aforementioned Kirkland roast, it's not something I buy every time, but having just finished an iced Americano, damn it's good stuff...
Posted by dberger at 5:54 PM | Comments (2)
What I learned from Dr. Horrible
Neil Patrick Harris can sing. Who'd a thunk.
Somewhere, there's an institution where I can get a PhD in "horribleness" - wonder if that requires field work...
Nathan Fillion does sleazy pretty well - and needs a new IMDB head-shot.
Amusing.
Posted by dberger at 9:10 AM | Comments (2)
July 19, 2008
Coverart and Python and Perl, Oh My!
I started playing around with the MusicBrainz taging application (Picard) - and noticed a plugin that would download album art, something iTunes failed at pretty miserably (finding art for only around half of my albums). I was all excited, 'till I tried it and discovered that Picard didn't know how to write tags to FLAC headers, only into ID3 tags.
Continue reading "Coverart and Python and Perl, Oh My!"
Posted by dberger at 9:20 PM
Gorram Video Drivers
After a couple months of inactivity, I loaded up the SketchUp drawing I had made of the planned Kitchen remodel to review it and make some small changes.
I spent the next half hour trying not to chuck my notebook out the window in frustration, as SketchUp just refused to do what I wanted (specifically, the push/pull tool wouldn't select faces). I finally gave up on my drawing and tried a simple repro case, figuring something about the geometry in my drawing was screwing things up.
Nope - alone in the drawing field, the push/pull tool just wasn't working.
It work last time, so through the haze of frustration, I realized that my drawing hadn't changed, SketchUp hadn't changed, and the only thing that might have changed that seemed relevant was the video driver version.
So I disabled 3d acceleration and viola, it started behaving rationally (albeit slowly). Seems that ATI's latest Radeon Mobility drivers (8-6-mobile_xp32_dd_ccc_enu_64787) just don't work with SketchUp.
There's a half-hour of my life I'll never get back.
And since ATI doesn't "officially support" their mobile products (they defer you to the OEM, who tends to release drivers once in a dogs age) I'm pretty much screwed. Guess I can just use SketchUp in software rendering mode, but panning/rotating even my relatively simple room drawing is nearly unusable.
I hate computers.
Posted by dberger at 11:51 AM | Comments (1)
July 17, 2008
Digital Photo Workflow - Simplified
Dawnise went out to have dinner with some friends tonight, so I took the opportunity to tinker with my camera again, and get the photos I took at the 4th of July up on flickr.
In the process, I discovered that for most photos, I'm probably going to use exiftool to extract the JPG "PreviewImage" from the RAW image files, and upload them. Oh, and if I don't ask jUploader to resize images, it doesn't eat memory like it's going out of style, and conveniently the preview image is only a bit larger than I'd normally upload, so that seems workable.
The other day (probably around when my eval ended) I got a discount offer from the LightZone folks, but they still don't support my camera, so it doesn't make much sense to spend money on the product.
Posted by dberger at 10:26 PM
July 13, 2008
Eddie Izzard + Ice Cream
Nise snagged us tickets to Friday night's Eddie Izzard show at the Paramount. We've loved Izzard since Scott and Amanda introduced us to him (well, to his material) years back, but we'd never seen him live before Friday night.
It was exactly like his DVDs.
Only live-er.
And every bit as funny.
Continue reading "Eddie Izzard + Ice Cream"
Posted by dberger at 9:47 AM
July 6, 2008
Beer, beer, glorious beer.
Yesterday morning Dawnise and I went to Karen's housewarming brunch, then hopped over to Chris and Rebeca's place in Seattle for a light lunch before heading to the International Beer Fest at Seattle Center.
Hic.
Continue reading "Beer, beer, glorious beer."
Posted by dberger at 10:46 AM | Comments (1)
July 4, 2008
Random And Sundry...
The weather up here's been all over the place. Last weekend it was hot (for Washington - low 90's), two nights ago we had a nearly 24 hour summer storm, complete with thunder and lightning, today it's gone from overcast to partly sunny. We've taken to calling it "weather by Sybil."
Continue reading "Random And Sundry..."
Posted by dberger at 2:08 PM
June 27, 2008
DP Work Flow, Redux
My search for a comfortable workflow, which I've mentioned twice before, has continued on and off for the past week or so, and I wish I could say I've got it nailed, but I don't, quite...
I do have more images up on flickr, for those who care to look.
Continue reading "DP Work Flow, Redux"
Posted by dberger at 8:07 PM | Comments (1)
June 20, 2008
Avenue Q
Dawnise and I caught Avenue Q on it's way through Seattle last night at the Paramount. The show was hilarious - if you have the chance, I highly recommend checking it out.
Posted by dberger at 10:51 AM | Comments (1)
June 19, 2008
In Search of (Linux) Photo Workflow
So I got back from NY with a couple hundred RAW (.cr2) shots on the camera, and took another hundred or so the following weekend between Bainbridge and Port Angeles.
I pulled the SDHC card out of the camera and imported the crop of photos into f-spot, thinking "hey - this is just working."
I knew it couldn't be that easy...
Continue reading "In Search of (Linux) Photo Workflow"
Posted by dberger at 2:47 PM
June 18, 2008
Robin Hood - Redux
I mentioned before that we started watching Robin Hood. After getting through a half-dozen episodes, I've decided I wanted to like it much more than I actually do, so I'm removing it from my queue (the queue that Netflix is eliminating in a few months) and sending back the two unwatched disks we have down stairs.
It wasn't bad, it just wasn't good either. And life's too short to watch "meh" television.
Posted by dberger at 10:10 PM
Why Does Netflix Hate their Customers?
Dawnise got a message from Netflix today saying that in September they'll be eliminating the profiles feature (launched in 2005) that's allowed me to independently maintain a queue of disks and rate movies (and get recommendations). There was no explanation offered, and they're not even going to merge the queues, or preserve them for reference - their advice is to "merge them" yourself or print them out.
This follows on the heels of their announcing that they'll charge customers extra to rent Blue Ray, despite the media costs being the same and having not done so for the duration of the HD war.
Despite having just purchased the Roku Netflix player, and being happy with it overall, I'm suddenly in the market for an alternative DVD rental service. I'm confident I can resell the Roku box, and if I can't, it was "only" $100 - which both made the decision to buy one easy, and made me willing to obsolete it over this blatant disregard for their customers.
At the very least, we'll be reducing our disks per month (currenty 4-at-a-time), and I'm going to look at Blockbuster's service.
We're not the only ones upset - the "blogosphere" (I hate that word) seems to have picked up the story and run with it.
I just submitted the following to Netflix:
Good Day;Like many customers, I'm reacting to your announcement- received by my wife, the primary account holder - that you're eliminating the profiles feature in September.
Since your spokesperson has made it clear that the "decision is final", I wanted to make it clear that we will be reducing our monthly service level (and hence payment) in response to this reduced functionality.
We'll also be investigating alternative rental service providers. Should we find one offering a profiles feature, or even comparable service for less money, we'll be switching and canceling our service outright. The decision to eliminate this feature has forced me to pay most of the switching cost simply to preserve my queue - so for the first time since establishing a relationship with Netflix, I feel I've little to lose by closing our account.
Posted by dberger at 9:20 PM
June 17, 2008
I bought a Watch
For reasons I can't explain, over the last several months I've had the desire to start wearing a wrist watch for the first time since high school.
Continue reading "I bought a Watch"
Posted by dberger at 10:03 AM
A good weekend, but sooo tired
Dawnise and I spent last weekend in Port Angeles with friends celebrating a birthday. We almost didn't go, owing to having only gotten back from the east coast last weekend and having a small list of things that need doing around the house, but ultimately decided that spending time with friends was more important, and I'm glad we did.
Continue reading "A good weekend, but sooo tired"
Posted by dberger at 9:38 AM
June 12, 2008
Go SCOTUS
It's only taken several years longer than it should have for SCOTUS to rule that the Bush administration overstepped their authority in suspending Habeas Corpus for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and that the farcical "substitute" set out in the Detainee Treatment Act was inadequate.
Posted by dberger at 7:23 PM
Ask Slashdot
I posted to ask slashdot this morning - if the moderators find it interesting enough, it may appear on the site some time soon...
dberger writes "I'm looking for a solution to what can't be a unique problem. My wife and I each have our own machines — one running OS X and one running Linux. We take a fair number of digital photos, and store them on a shared network attached drive. She's using iPhoto (mostly by inertia) and I've been using F-Spot. The problem is that neither of these application — nor any application I've found — deals well with the idea that "someone else" may add photos to, or remove photos from, the library. This seems to be true even if both parties are using the same application. So we end up with this horrible work-flow for importing photos that involves me importing the new batch into F-Spot, then telling iPhoto to re-scan the entire library (which takes longer as the size of the library grows). Deletes are a painful process, as are making simple edits available to both of us. I'm curious what slashdotters facing the same problem are doing to solve it — perhaps I'm missing some silver bullet that would take the pain away and let us spend more time enjoying our photos rather than managing them."
Posted by dberger at 7:29 AM | Comments (1)
June 9, 2008
The Black Swan
I mentioned Fooled by Randomness when I read it back in 2007 (gads, was it really that long ago?) and I just finished Taleb's second book - The Black Swan - The Impact of the Highly Improbable.
Like the first, I found it a flawed presentation with some fundamentally sound observations on how we - as humans - search for certainty where there is none, to the point of deluding ourselves into thinking we've found it, and drawing strong convictions through rational thought from faulty premises.
Less directly applied than the first ("Fooled" ostensibly focused on randomness in financial markets, The Black Swan doesn't pretend to narrow it's focus at all) it was a bit long, and slightly repetitious, but an interesting and thought-provoking read none-the-less.
Posted by dberger at 6:44 PM
June 8, 2008
I need a Vacation...
A week ago last Friday Dawnise and I caught the red-eye from Seattle to Boston, grabbed a rental car, and started a week-long trip in NJ, NY, and MA.
We celebrated my paternal grandparents 65th wedding anniversary, spent two days exploring Manhattan with my family and my new camera (more on that later), managed to catch up with a couple old friends in the city, drove back to Boston and fought rush-hour traffic to get my brother to a bus on time, had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants with more old friends, and got stuck in Denver for nearly 4 hours longer than planned on the way home, collapsing into bed at 4am yesterday, before waking up and spending the afternoon/evening at a housewarming party.
Tomorrow, I go back to work.
I could use some time off.
Continue reading "I need a Vacation..."
Posted by dberger at 9:31 PM | Comments (1)
May 26, 2008
New Toys
On Saturday Dawnise and I needed to hit Costco, and ended up coming home with a bit more than we planned.
Continue reading "New Toys"
Posted by dberger at 1:17 PM
In Memoriam
I've never been sure how "memorial day" translates to "BBQ and drink beer" but that's America for you, I guess.
To the fallen. To the lost. To those who never really made it home.
May you find peace.
Posted by dberger at 7:58 AM
May 25, 2008
So Good, and So Bad For You
Last night Dawnise and I went to Alfred and Jodie's for a BBQ, and Dawnise followed through with her long-standing "threat" to make bacon burgers.
As in patties of ground bacon.
Continue reading "So Good, and So Bad For You"
Posted by dberger at 8:37 AM
May 23, 2008
Squirrel + Airzooka = Awesome
We've got a bird feeder hanging off our back deck - and despite it being the type with a weight-activated cage meant to prevent non-avian diners, we've got a pretty determined squirrel.
Dawnise, in a moment of inspiration, grabbed the Airzooka.
I've only managed to hit him once so far, but damn was it funny.
Posted by dberger at 12:33 PM
So. Much. Sugar.
About every six months, Dawnise or I get a hankering for a donut. This morning was one of those mornings, so we hopped in the car and headed to our local Krispy Kreme.
I've eaten (gulp) four glazed donuts this morning, and a cup of coffee.
And for some reason - I really can't explain it - I just went and looked at their published nutritional information.
I've had 800 calories, 120% of my daily recommended saturated fat, and 40 grams of sugar.
Suddenly I don't feel so well.
But still, they are tasty.
Posted by dberger at 9:56 AM
I Hate Waiting
Monday is Memorial day, which I'm sure is obvious to most of you (who get the day off), but I'd forgotten
That means my camera, shipped UPS 3 Day on Thursday, won't arrive 'till Tuesday. It's currently on it's way from Ontario, CA to Portland, OR.
I hate waiting...
Posted by dberger at 9:44 AM
May 21, 2008
Expensive Hobbies
I'm not good at spending money on myself. I'll pick up small stuff, like music, the occasional book or DVD (though I've pretty much stopped accumulating books and DVDs, the library and Netflix work really well), but anything with a price tag in the three digits makes me think long, and hard.
Continue reading "Expensive Hobbies"
Posted by dberger at 10:24 AM | Comments (2)
May 17, 2008
Long Way Round
While waiting for the decidedly un-Seattle-like weather to break yesterday, I finished up Long Way Round, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's account of riding two BMW GS 1150's around the world - from London to New York.
It was an interesting book, in part because it was the first motorcycle travelogue I've read that didn't instill in me a deep desire to follow in their footsteps. I think part of the problem is that both of the principals are actors not writers - and it shows. But more fundamentally, they paint a picture of constant adversary, crappy riding conditions, and deep loneliness and homesickness that completely overshadows any positives that came out of the trip.
It seems likely that they wrote the book as a sort of foot-note to the documentary they made of their travels, but having read the book first, I doubt I'll make an effort to see the documentary. It was an impressive feat of perseverance and logistics, but not something I see myself ever aspiring to.
Posted by dberger at 5:48 PM | Comments (1)
Let's Go Fly A Kite (redux)
Our attempt to get our kite aloft on Thursday night ended in disappointment, and the weather prediction for Friday and Saturday was "hot," so Dawnise and I decided that I'd play hookie from work on Friday and we'd head to one of the self-proclaimed kite capitals, Long Beach, WA for an over-night get-away.
Continue reading "Let's Go Fly A Kite (redux)"
Posted by dberger at 4:55 PM | Comments (1)
May 15, 2008
Let's Go Fly A Kite
Today was absolutely beautiful - the sun was out, the clouds were white and fluffy, and there was a pleasant breeze all day. I took the motorcycle in to work this morning, and as I passed the park on my way home had an idea...
So Dawnise and I grabbed the kite from the garage and took a walk back to the park, only to find that the wind was too small for the great-hulking pirate ship of a kite (on the bottom of the page) we've got. So after 20 or so minutes of trying, we packed it in and walked home.
Still, it was a nice walk, and a really glorious day.
Posted by dberger at 9:36 PM
A Month With a Blackberry
It's been about a month since I decommissioned my Treo 650 in favor of a work-provided BlackBerry 8100 ("Perl").
I've found that I like it much better than my Treo, despite the predictive type keyboard taking some getting used to.
Continue reading "A Month With a Blackberry"
Posted by dberger at 1:45 PM
May 13, 2008
I Think I'm Gonna Need a Bigger Trap...
The question of weather or not we've got rodents has been answered.
In a fairly big way.
Continue reading "I Think I'm Gonna Need a Bigger Trap..."
Posted by dberger at 8:31 AM
May 12, 2008
Kitchen Update
A colleague turned me on to a contractor he's worked with happily a couple times, including a "down to the studs" kitchen remodel, and we've had some promising initial conversations with him that might lead to us actually doing the kitchen.
Continue reading "Kitchen Update"
Posted by dberger at 9:28 AM
Robin Hood: First Reactions
While watching the Dr. Who episode The Family of Blood, Dawnise and I were both quite impressed with Harry Lloyd, so I took a look at what else he's been in of late, and ended up adding Robin Hood to my Netflix queue. The first disc arrived the other day, and Dawnise and I watched two episodes last night...
Continue reading "Robin Hood: First Reactions"
Posted by dberger at 9:10 AM
May 9, 2008
Of Mice and Viruses
Seems that disturbing the insulation and, in particular, vacuuming out the basement the other night may not have been my best idea ever.
Continue reading "Of Mice and Viruses"
Posted by dberger at 10:22 AM
May 8, 2008
Mice: The Ongoing Saga
Dawnise was out last night - she had a craft-group meeting on the island, and spent the night there with a friend to "do" the annual Girls Night Out today/tonight. (It starts at Noon, which isn't technically "night," is it?) So I got home from work and decided to attack the basement and see what I could learn about the mouse problem.
Continue reading "Mice: The Ongoing Saga"
Posted by dberger at 8:44 AM
May 5, 2008
Mice: D.I.Y., or call someone?
Looks like we've got mice - Dawnise found droppings in the basement/crawl space. Nothing in the living space (yet).
I checked all the ground-level venting, and it's appropriately screened (1/2" mesh). We just did a roof, so I'm sure we disturbed an existing problem, rather than being recently invaded.
The previous owners had an inspection/treatment about a year ago - at the time (based on the invoice I got when we bought the house) it looks like they put down some traps, and in two weeks got no kills and called the problem solved.
I think they're coming in between the insulation and the sub-floor somehow, so I'd have to pull down the insulation, see if I can figure out where they're coming in and stop them, with prejudice.
So, the question is, is it worth fighting the battle without the heavy artillery of a pest control company?
Anyone?
Posted by dberger at 7:45 PM
May 1, 2008
V for Constantine
Over the past couple weeks, Dawnise has had outings that have left me and the DVD collection alone for a couple evenings, so I've been able to (re-)watch a couple movies that she's not been interested in.
I I was surprised at how well both Constantine and V for Vendetta held up to reviewing.
Since seeing them both for the first time, I've made it a point to read the material on which they were based (I've not read all the Hellblazer stories, but I've read several), and while both works deviated significantly from their sources, they were both entertaining and engaging in their own right.
Without reading too much into this comparison, they're sorta like DADoES and Bladerunner.
I give 'em both a thumbs up.
Posted by dberger at 8:58 AM
April 30, 2008
The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Has Gone Missing
This morning, shortly after I left for work, there was a large dumpster delivered to our driveway, and a short time later a crew arrived to start tearing off the old cedar shake roof and put on a new solid roof deck.
Tomorrow the shingles are roof-top delivered, and the whole thing should be done on Friday.
The old roof was going on 20 years old and hadn't been maintained (given the pitch of the roof, I can't say I'd have been keen to climb up there on a regular basis). Some shakes were missing, felt was visible, and it wasn't going to make it much longer without help. Oh, and the cost of composition roofing is trending up along with crude oil (it's a petroleum product, after all), so waiting wasn't going to make it cheaper.
Posted by dberger at 1:14 PM
Bats
I heard on NPR this morning (Morning Edition is one of the positive side-effects of commuting by car) that there's a mystery disease wiping out the bat population in the north east.
Continue reading "Bats"
Posted by dberger at 9:23 AM | Comments (1)
April 27, 2008
Whining About Being a Grup
Two weeks ago we wrote a rather sizable check for half of our new roof - and in about a week (weather permitting) when the job's done, we'll write another one just like it. We knew buying the house that it needed a roof, and we got a credit toward the cost from the sellers, but what that really means is we paid less for the house, and the roof's still coming out of our pocket.
Continue reading "Whining About Being a Grup"
Posted by dberger at 5:45 PM
The only reason politics exists...
...is to ensure that the people have the freedom to laugh.
- Rebo, Babylon 5: "Day of the Dead"
We had tickets for the Capitol Steps last night at the Paramount theater in Seattle.
A night of pure hilarity.
Continue reading "The only reason politics exists..."
Posted by dberger at 5:02 PM
April 21, 2008
I'm a Terrible Patient
I've been sick since returning from Cabo. Nothing horrible - just a cold that's sapped my energy. Started a a sore throat and head ache, moved into my sinus toward the end of last week and turned me into a human snot machine. I'm not one to take a cold lying down - which frustrates the hell out of Dawnise...
Continue reading "I'm a Terrible Patient"
Posted by dberger at 8:39 AM | Comments (1)
April 17, 2008
Bags
I like to say I don't collect things, generally speaking, but I'm starting to wonder if that's really true...
I've mentioned my fascination with coffee makers before, and I'm still amassing music and fountain pens, but I try to be picky about the things I accumulate.
Continue reading "Bags"
Posted by dberger at 5:39 PM
The New Cruelty
After arriving in Cabo to find my phone a useless brick, and spending a chunk of an afternoon playing physical hide-and-seek with one of the other team members who needed to find me to resolve a problem back in the office, I've ditched AT&T.
Continue reading "The New Cruelty"
Posted by dberger at 9:09 AM
April 13, 2008
Vacation Recap
After fifteen (count 'em fifteen) hours, three flights, and a whole lot of hassle caused by the fact that our return flight from SDJ was booked on American Airlines we made it home this morning just after midnight.
We ended up getting booked on an Aero Mexico flight from SJD to Mexico city, had enough time to claim our bags, get through security, get to Alaska and get on a flight from Mexico City to LAX where we had to get off the plane, clear customs, get our bags, re-check our bags, leave the security perimeter, go-through security again, and get back on the same flight to Seattle. 15 hours, and not a decent meal all day.
Continue reading "Vacation Recap"
Posted by dberger at 5:02 PM | Comments (1)
April 3, 2008
It's been over a year, it must be time to get pissed @ AT&T again
In January of last year, I had a knock-down-drag-out with AT&TCingular.
I finally got someone on their end who knew their arse from their elbow who was able to add the Blackberry Data plan to my "old AT&T account" - something several other representatives insisted was impossible without "upgrading" to Cingular service (pay more, get less), and getting a new Sim and phone number and two year contract.
And having managed to avoid talking to anyone at Cingular since, I had forgotten how much I hate those guys... 'till tonight...
Continue reading "It's been over a year, it must be time to get pissed @ AT&T again"
Posted by dberger at 7:18 PM
April 2, 2008
What Do You Do With An Old Dead Helmet
Now that I have a shiny new (safety yellow) Arai Profile, and Dawnise has a shiny new (red) Arai Quantum, I need to figure out what to do with our old helmets, both of which are past their use-by dates.
I hate the idea of throwing them away, and googling for "recycle motorcycle helmet" reveals nothing useful ("recycle old helmet" is slightly better, but reveals mostly folks bemoaning the fact that they can't find a way to recycle bicycle helmets).
I'm afraid to put them on freecycle or craigslist, 'cause some idiot will think he (or she)'s getting a bargain and expect an old well traveled helmet to provide actual protection, which it won't.
And yea, I know I can't stop stupidity in others, but that doesn't mean I should make it easy for someone to hurt themselves.
Anyone got any brilliant ideas?
Posted by dberger at 6:53 PM
Gastronomic Remembrance
Dawnise and I went to the restaurant at the Newcastle golf club for a dinner of French Onion Soup (and iced tea, of course).
It wasn't Alan's soup, but it seemed a fitting way to observe the anniversary of his passing
Most of me can't believe it's already been a year.
Posted by dberger at 7:22 AM
March 31, 2008
Damn that Aaron Sorkin...
It started innocently enough - Dawnise suggested we watch an episode or two of West Wing.
Nearly four hours later we stopped - having held our breath through Commencement, Twenty Five, 7A WF 83429, and The Dogs of War.
Wow.
Posted by dberger at 10:06 PM | Comments (2)
March 28, 2008
WTF?
It's snowing.
It's March 28th.
In Seattle.
And it's snowing.
WTF?
Posted by dberger at 1:20 PM | Comments (1)
March 27, 2008
My Love/Hate Relationship with Contact Lenses
I've needed vision correction since I was a kid, and as soon as I was old enough, and could convince my parents, I got contact lenses. Both my folks wear lenses (or at least did while I was growing up) and I'm told that as a young child I would play with the leavings of a paper whole punch, pretending to "put in my lenses."
Continue reading "My Love/Hate Relationship with Contact Lenses"
Posted by dberger at 8:35 PM
March 22, 2008
Riding Season is nearly upon us
It's weird to think about riding having a season. Last year, I rode year round - rain, shine, cold, whatever. Unless there was ice or snow on the ground, I was on the bike.
Continue reading "Riding Season is nearly upon us"
Posted by dberger at 2:13 PM
March 21, 2008
...To Defend The Frontier Against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada...
Got The Last Starfighter on HD-DVD from Netflix today.
It looked amazing - and when I consider that they did all this in the early 80's on a single Cray makes the technical achievement even more impressive. According to that Wikipedia article, X-MP they used to render that movie was about 1/10th the processing power of the CPU in the machine I'm typing this on. My new GeForce 9600 has five times as much memory as the high-end configuration of the Cray (128MB) - and that's just my graphics card.
Now I wanna play the game (which looks way better than did the Atari version that was plugged in the end credits).
And the theme's gonna be stuck in my head all night, I can tell.
Posted by dberger at 10:00 PM
March 20, 2008
Evolution: Fool me twice, shame on me...
I've been a contributor to and user of Evolution since it was an early stage Ximian project, but I think I've run it for the last time.
A few months ago I discovered that at some point it had "forgotten" my setting to save copies of outgoing emails on my IMAP server, and was instead storing them nowhere.
As in not saving copies.
This morning, when looking for a message I sent just moments ago, I discovered it had forgotten again.
This is the worst kind of bug - data lost, no warning.
Thunderbird, here I come.
Posted by dberger at 7:24 AM
March 19, 2008
Some Days You're The Hydrant
Today was an all around craptacular day.
Continue reading "Some Days You're The Hydrant"
Posted by dberger at 7:15 PM
March 17, 2008
Credit Card Companies "Looking Out For Me"
I finally gave up trying to nurse my machine along, and put together a $600 shopping list of new parts (motherboard, CPU, RAM, video card, guided by the ArsTechnica System Guide). I placed the order with NewEgg this morning, and a couple hours later got an email from them saying that the credit card authorization was declined.
I called the issuing bank and got the classic "our anti-fraud system declined the authorization, 'cause we're looking out for you" line of bullshit. Apparently BofA (the issuer of my Alaska card) figures I don't know that Federal Law limits my liability for unauthorized charges to $50 (zero, if I've reported the card stolen prior to the use).
Looking out for me? Not hardly.
Posted by dberger at 10:44 AM
He robbed from the rich and he gave to the poor...
Since HD-DVD has officially lost, and the add-on drive for our XBox 360 will soon be as useful as the 2400 baud US Robotics modem I still have on a shelf in my office, I reordered my Netflix queue, sorting all the stuff I really wanted to see on HD-DVD to the top.
The other day we sat down and watched The Adventures of Robin Hood.
Continue reading "He robbed from the rich and he gave to the poor..."
Posted by dberger at 9:11 AM
March 16, 2008
Anything You Can Do Linux Can Do Better Cheaper
Found this article last night describing using VirtualBox to run Windows apps along side linux apps ala Parallels "Coherence" or VMWare Fusions "Unity."
And if you don't need USB, it's free as in speech.
And if you do need USB, but it's only for personal use, it's free as in beer.
("speech?" "beer"? what? Try this.)
Doesn't seem to do DirectX emulation as Parallels and (to a lesser degree) VMWare do on the Mac, but given that it's open source, I can't imagine it'll be long before someone integrates the Wine D3D to OpenGL thunking code.
I haven't personally had the need to run Windows apps for a long time - since realizing that tracking personal finance in Quicken was costing me more time than it was returning in useful (actionable) information, but still - it's a neat capability.
Posted by dberger at 9:04 AM
March 10, 2008
Beat It With the LEGO Stick
One of the only video games Dawnise and I have spent any serious amount of time playing is Lego Star Wars. It's an awesome game - hours of fun, great attitude, terrific.
So we're both looking forward to the release of Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Batman, both slated for release this summer.
Posted by dberger at 10:07 AM
Making the Switch - Update
Hopefully Dawnise will blog about her experiences thus far using her new Mac, so I'm going to focus on "my" side of the equation - i.e. helping her adjust to her new surroundings.
Mostly that means helping her migrate her data from her Windows machine to her new Mac, and helping her find and select day-to-day use applications.
Continue reading "Making the Switch - Update"
Posted by dberger at 9:20 AM
March 4, 2008
The power of words
Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons passed away today at the age of 69.
He will be missed.
Continue reading "The power of words"
Posted by dberger at 10:58 AM | Comments (1)
March 2, 2008
Low Key Weekend...
Dawnise started feeling under the weather late last week, and by Friday it was pretty clear she was headed for sick. So this weekend has been pretty quiet. As I type, she's asleep on the sofa in the game room, and Otto - our black and white cat - is asleep on her lap.
Continue reading "Low Key Weekend..."
Posted by dberger at 12:32 PM
February 29, 2008
I *knew* it was too easy...
I always do our taxes early - and if the government owes us money, we file early.
I'm usually really good about making sure we've got all the documents we're waiting for, and taxes are pretty much a non-issue...
Well, Dawnise came in from getting the mail and said "we got some tax information."
Sweet!, I thought, our refund arrived...
Continue reading "I *knew* it was too easy..."
Posted by dberger at 7:15 PM
February 27, 2008
Are They Made With Real Girlscouts?
One of the guys at work was selling Girl Scout cookies for his daughters troops - so yesterday I came home with a couple boxes.
Ahhhh the smell of thin-mints.
Posted by dberger at 8:26 PM | Comments (1)
A $200 what?
Dawnise was kind enough to sacrifice what turned into most of her day to take the BMW into the shop. The driver-side headlight (one of the Xenon high intensity jobs) had been failing intermittently, and while they had it I wanted them to install an AUX input for the stereo.
She got it there at 10:30 this morning, and they informed her it wouldn't be ready 'till "at least 4pm."
Continue reading "A $200 what?"
Posted by dberger at 3:56 PM
February 25, 2008
My Other Transport...
While finishing up the extras disc of Doctor Who Season 3 this evening, Dawnise suddenly comes out with:
"It's too bad your mom doesn't still have her license plate frame. It would mean something again."
It took me several seconds to figure out what she meant.
When Dawnise and I first met - around age 15 - my mom had a license plate frame that read:
My Other Transport...
Is a T.A.R.D.I.S.
Knowing my parents, there's a good chance it's in a box, in their basement.
Now I'm thinking of getting one made for our new Subaru...
Posted by dberger at 9:40 PM | Comments (2)
Clean Vehicles Run Better
In honor of a whole weekend of absolutely beautiful weather, Dawnise gave me a hand washing all three motorcycles yesterday afternoon.
I had considered riding to work this morning but I woke up with a back-ache, which I had been working on prior to washing the motorcycles.
Now I need to buy another garage door opener (for the bay that the bikes are in) and figure out where I can put the big recycling bin so it doesn't interfere with getting the RS in and out of the garage.
Posted by dberger at 8:00 AM | Comments (3)
February 21, 2008
Ravioli
We just finished Good Eats: Use Your Noodle (2) - about Ravioli.
It made me miss my parents (and my mom's ravioli).
Posted by dberger at 7:52 PM | Comments (1)
February 20, 2008
Thieves Suck
Last night - around 10 - I put three DVDs in our mailbox - headed back to Netflix.
Dawnise just informed me that there was a note from the postal person saying that the outgoing flag was up, but there was nothing in the box.
Continue reading "Thieves Suck"
Posted by dberger at 5:00 PM | Comments (1)
What's the Bad Stuff?
Dawnise and I enjoy a card game from Steve Jackson Games called Munchkin - it's sort of a stripped-down parody of the typical D&D dungeon crawl. The tag line - "Kill the Monsters, Steal the Treasure, Stab Your Buddy" - pretty much sums up the essence.
If you meet a monster you can't kill, it does something bad to you - this deleterious effect is described on the monster card as "The Bad Stuff."
"The Bad Stuff" ranges from losing items, to being dead (at which point, the other players go through your pockets looking for loose change).
Continue reading "What's the Bad Stuff?"
Posted by dberger at 8:51 AM
February 19, 2008
Just a Little Bit Warmer...
It's working.
Not riding the motorcycle to work in the nasty of winter has totally renewed my interest. And springs taking her own sweet time to get here, but it was almost warm enough to put the top down on the way home yesterday.
I'm itching for the days to get a little warmer, and the snow in the passes to melt a bit so we can start planning some road trips.
I suspect watching the first few episodes of Feasting on Asphalt probably helped, too.
Posted by dberger at 8:24 AM
February 18, 2008
I Don't Mean To Go Off On A Rant Here...
Someone needs to kick the so-called "content owners" in their collective head.
Five minutes of searching reveals I can either wait for Doctor Who to start airing on SciFi in April, wait for an as-yet unannounced DVD release date, or I can steal them - or at least the Christmas Special - now, as in this moment.
I mean come on people. I'm willing to pay for access to the content - why are you (the collective you) being such complete and udder idiots about releasing it?
Yea, I know, rhetorical question...
Posted by dberger at 10:32 PM
I'm pretty sure this means I'm crazy
We watched the final three episodes of the third season of Doctor Who this evening.
The Master, and ...The Face of Boe...
Awesome.
I'm sitting here seriously contemplating getting cable so I can watch season four in April (and Sarah Jane, too!), rather than waiting for the DVD release.
And I'm considering spending $70 each on the three seasons released thus far.
This must be what going mad feels like.
Posted by dberger at 10:21 PM
February 13, 2008
Crappy Television, Redux
The last couple episodes of Torchwood we've watched have been "downers" - and after getting the second "holy-crap-I-don't-have-that-sort-of-money" bid on the kitchen, and learning that a good friend had to fly back to S. Africa to be with her terminally ill father, "downer" wasn't what we were looking for to distract us for a couple hours this evening.
So we cracked open Season Four of The West Wing.
I continue to be impressed by the show - the acting and writing are so spot-on, that after a many month hiatus, it felt like we only been away a few days.
The line, in Bartlett's speech - "The Streets of Heaven are too crowded with angels" struck me with palpable force. And the fact that it wasn't created for that moment, but "borrowed" does nothing to reduce it's poignancy.
Janinne, our thoughts are with you and your family.
Posted by dberger at 9:33 PM
February 11, 2008
It's Worse Than That, It's Broken, Jim
That nifty-looking coffee maker I got the other day? Well it failed (as in cracked through) when I half filled it with warm tap water to clean it before use.
I dropped a note and a picture to sweetmarias where I purchased it, and they informed me that they can't replace it as Bodum has discontinued it - likely due to breakage issues.
"Give up bad design for good" indeed.
Too bad - it was pretty...
Posted by dberger at 9:57 PM
Technology Compromises
I've ranted about how Apple's hardware line doesn't offer me solutions, only compromises before - but to recap, despite being pretty sure at this point we'll be buying Dawnise a Mac, it's still terribly unclear which Mac we'll settle for.
Continue reading "Technology Compromises"
Posted by dberger at 6:03 PM | Comments (1)
A History of the Amiga - Re-igniting Passion
Jeremy Reimer has been publishing A History of the Amiga over at ArsTechnica.
Continue reading "A History of the Amiga - Re-igniting Passion"
Posted by dberger at 8:35 AM | Comments (1)
February 10, 2008
Why Do We Get All the Crap Television?
I'll just say up front that having not "had television" for a bit over three years, it's possible - however unlikely - that TV's gotten hugely, way, lots better since I last checked.
But I doubt it.
Continue reading "Why Do We Get All the Crap Television?"
Posted by dberger at 9:24 PM | Comments (1)
February 7, 2008
I... Am Not Left Handed
Shortly before we ended up moving out of So. Cal I took a fencing class with a friend (you out there Geoff?) - enjoyed it a lot, although my knees didn't.
So when Dawnise saw that Bellevue Parks and Rec were offering an intro fencing class, she encouraged me to sign up (and actually, she did the signing up for me, 'cause she's sweet that way). The first meeting was supposed to be two weeks ago, but it was postponed due to poor participation, so the first meeting was tonight...
Continue reading "I... Am Not Left Handed"
Posted by dberger at 8:24 PM
Death and...
Taxes.
It's (already) that time of year again.
Continue reading "Death and..."
Posted by dberger at 10:27 AM
February 6, 2008
An Unhealthy Obsession With Coffee (Makers)
I'm not generally a collector. I have a reasonable sized CD collection (around 700 CDs at last count), and I guess I share some blame in our sizable movie collection (several hundred, but I don't have that count in my head), and most of you know I collect fountain pens (numbering in the tens).
I'd have to say that the top of my "mostly useless" collection scale is my fascination with coffee makers.
Continue reading "An Unhealthy Obsession With Coffee (Makers)"
Posted by dberger at 5:35 PM
February 5, 2008
The Ongoing Saga of Flaky Hardware
Well, after being stable for a couple weeks, my home machine started acting up again, disproving my theory that the drive trouble I was having were power-supply related.
Continue reading "The Ongoing Saga of Flaky Hardware"
Posted by dberger at 10:09 AM
February 1, 2008
Sharing Access to Digital Photos
Dawnise has a Windows box, and uses an app called ACDSee as her image viewer of choice.
I have a Linux box, and use f-spot to access and organize our photo collection.
The pictures themselves live on our network attached storage, easily accessible from both her machine and mine, as well as our notebooks on the wireless network.
You can probably already guess this doesn't have a happy ending...
Continue reading "Sharing Access to Digital Photos"
Posted by dberger at 2:36 PM | Comments (1)
Microsoft + Yahoo == Bye-Bye Flickr
You've probably seen that Microsoft made an unsolicited buyout bid to the tune of 44.6 Billion-with-a-b dollars for Yahoo!.
My very first thought, when I saw the headline on my yahoo page, was that should Microsoft succeed, I'll have to finally seriously look at Google's "personal home page" stuff.
My second thought - moments later - was that a successful takeover will spell the end of my relationship with Flickr, which up to this point has been overwhelmingly positive.
Posted by dberger at 8:03 AM | Comments (4)
January 31, 2008
I guess it's just the way I'm wired
It seems I tend to repeat myself.
Even here.
I was about to write a blog post, when it all started to feel familiar...
Turns out, it was.
Maybe this time I'll try do something about it.
Or maybe the memory of the thing is better than the thing itself, and I should just remember.
Is that possible?
Posted by dberger at 5:11 PM | Comments (1)
January 25, 2008
Kitchen Remodel, Step 1
We got our new fridge today - a stainless steel, 25 cu ft, bottom-freezer, french-door Maytag.
It's the first freezer-on-the-bottom fridge I've ever had, and I'm already hooked. No more stooping to get into the fridge.
The only downside so far is that the stainless door panels aren't magnetic.
Otherwise, it's big, it's quiet, it's pretty energy efficient, and unlike the fridge that the previous owners left, the defrost drain isn't easily clogged and near impossible to clear, so the freezer won't fill up with ice about once a month.
Posted by dberger at 12:53 PM
January 24, 2008
Camera
As speculated, Canon announced their model refresh today - the 450D, a.k.a. Rebel XSi.
It won't hit shelves 'till April.
And of course, just to punish me, they've switched from CF to SD/SDHC - which means the 16GB CF card I just bought in anticipation of getting the camera is as useful to me as tits on a bull.
Crap.
Posted by dberger at 8:03 AM
January 23, 2008
Bandwidth
I've decided to try to quantify the variability of my cable modem bandwidth. Just before 7 this morning, I ran a speed test:
Continue reading "Bandwidth"
Posted by dberger at 6:58 AM
January 22, 2008
Camera
After thinking about it for several years, I'm finally "in the market" for a DSLR.
My dad always (well, as far back as I remember) had Nikons - two F bodies. He brought the cameras out occasionally - less and less often as I grew up and the kids became more of the focus (groan) on any given outing. So my first thought was to buy a D40x and borrow his lenses, but after talking to a bunch of friends who've made the plunge, I've decided to go Canon.
Continue reading "Camera"
Posted by dberger at 8:07 AM
January 18, 2008
Low Maintenance Strikes Again
While our stuff was being moved into the new house, I noticed that the three lights on posts that flank the driveway and steps to the front door kept turning on and off. I feared there was an electrical short under the concrete, and resolved to get to the bottom of it as soon as I had a chance.
Continue reading "Low Maintenance Strikes Again"
Posted by dberger at 10:04 PM
January 17, 2008
Why My Next Machine (Still) Won't Be a Mac
My desktop machine has been acting flaky lately. I suspect it's the power supply - and on that theory I bought a replacement, and took the opportunity to get a better (quieter) case while I was at it.
My power supply theory could turn out to be wrong, in which case the symptoms suggest some core component is failing - probably the on-board SATA controller.
So I started pricing out upgrades, and wondering if this is the upgrade when I either buy a "brand name" machine, or ditch the desktop machine and go notebook all the way.
Continue reading "Why My Next Machine (Still) Won't Be a Mac"
Posted by dberger at 10:53 AM | Comments (3)
January 15, 2008
CD Storage (Re)solved.
The new CD shelves arrived yesterday - it was a bit of a trick to get upstairs, but assembled easily, looks reasonable, and (most importantly) fits in the desired space.
And there's even a bit of room to grow, which is good.
Posted by dberger at 9:34 AM
Awesome...
Dawnise just pointed this article out to me.
Executive summary:
The more wine costs, the more people enjoy it, regardless of how it tastes, a study by California researchers has found.
Posted by dberger at 8:31 AM
AWD is cool
It snowed last night - which is, of course, impossible as it doesn't snow in Seattle.
But it did.
It wasn't much, and when I got up to leave this morning, the roads around our house looked pretty clear, but I figured I'd err on the side of caution and take Oz rather than Anne.
Turned out to be a good choice...
Continue reading "AWD is cool"
Posted by dberger at 8:22 AM
January 10, 2008
Paper Ballots
That didn't take long. The first rumblings of election fraud area already starting - claiming that the results of the NH primary differ dramatically between hand-counted and Diebold-counted counties. [EDIT: A friend pointed this dailykos article out to me which states that NH doesn't use touch screen machines.]
The cover story NY Times Magazine was an article on the current state of electronic voting.
In response, MoveOn (an organization I moved-on from when they wouldn't bloody leave me alone) is making it easy to contact your elected representative to protest the ongoing use of voting machines demonstrated again and again to be unsuitable for the task.
Continue reading "Paper Ballots"
Posted by dberger at 11:46 AM | Comments (1)
January 9, 2008
Tea, Dammit!
A friend of mine uses a LiveJournal icon that makes me smile whenever it accompanies a post:
Continue reading "Tea, Dammit!"
Posted by dberger at 2:12 PM | Comments (1)
January 3, 2008
CD Storage (Again)
Seems every few years I re-tackle the problem of how to store our CD collection. Last time I did this, in mid 2004, I ended up with two cherry finish storage pedestals from storeyourmedia.com.
Continue reading "CD Storage (Again)"
Posted by dberger at 6:51 PM | Comments (1)
The Curse of Taste^wSnobbery
While I was off around the holidays, I got used to drinking good coffee at home. Nothing spectacular, really - just a well brewed cup of good coffee.
I had forgotten what bitter swill Starbucks slings 'till on my first day back I accompanied some co-workers to the outlet across the street.
I got a drip coffee and nearly did a spit-take on my first sip.
Gack.
Posted by dberger at 9:49 AM
December 29, 2007
Bigger Car == Spend More Money
We've been looking, mostly online, for a pub table for the dining nook in the new house. We made a trip to Costco today, in the new car of course, and found a 36x36x42" rosewood table that both of us liked, with four pre-assembled stools, for a reasonable price.
And (drum-roll please) it all fit in the car.
Woo-hoo.
Posted by dberger at 10:27 PM | Comments (1)
December 28, 2007
Another Coffee Gadget
One of the things that arrived on Christmas morning was an "Aeropress" - a coffee maker that looks like a cross between laboratory equipment and a marital aid.
We tried it out using some of the coffee that also arrived - and it does make a surprisingly smooth cup of Americano. It was so smooth, in fact, that Dawnise drank it straight - no cream or sugar - a first in the time I've known her.
I haven't tried it as straight espresso yet, but I doubt it'll completely replace my other coffee makers, as I find it's brew to be a bit too smooth - and somewhat lacking in... something. Complexity? Or maybe I just like bitter coffee.
Oh, and I may be doing something wrong, but the resulting espresso is lacking in Crema.
But still, it's easy to use, quick to clean up, and produces a very drinkable cup.
Posted by dberger at 1:19 PM
Mozy - Close, But No Cigar
After a shallow eval, and recommendation from a friend, I signed Dawnise up for MozyHome. Turns out that he's using the Mac client, which is happily backing up files on his network attached storage, but that the windows home client won't backup mounted drives or UNC paths.
So that sorta conflicts with my plan to move important data off Dawnise's (single-drive) machine onto the (in theory more reliable) NAS.
It's my fault for not noticing it - I didn't confirm that bit of functionality during the eval, and I didn't read their support page (the last question/answer is"does MozyHome support mapped or remote drives"). I assumed that if the "beta quality" mac client could do it, the windows client could, too.
My bad.
I'm trying to decide if I cancel the service, or if I leave data local to her machine.
Posted by dberger at 8:43 AM
December 27, 2007
It Never Snows In Seattle
Only it snowed on Christmas, and is snowing again today, and snowed a couple weeks before Christmas.
Posted by dberger at 8:22 AM
December 26, 2007
Used to "Luxury"
We've put a couple hundred miles on the new car (Dawnise has named it "Oz" for reasons best described as "freely associative"
I like it - it rides nicely, though obviously not as "tight" a ride as the 330, and the interior fit and finish is nice enough. There are a handful of features I'm missing already - all of them are likely available on higher trim packages for more than we wanted to spend and coupled with a bunch of things we either didn't want, or didn't care about.
Continue reading "Used to "Luxury""
Posted by dberger at 8:42 PM
December 24, 2007
Small Victories
With a bit of help from Dawnise last night and this morning, I got the garage rearranged and the new car parked inside.
Only two of the three doors have openers on them, so getting the motorcycles in and out will be a bit of a manual process 'till I buy and install a new opener, but given the weather recently, I may just take the car to work for a while and give the bikes a rest.
Posted by dberger at 10:28 PM
December 21, 2007
Timing is everything
The other day I mentioned having a cold that refuses to land or leave.
Well, I think it's landing.
On our anniversary, of course.
Crap.
Posted by dberger at 1:15 PM
Happy Anniversary
For the last eleven years, I've had the incredible fortune to be married to my best friend.
At work the other day a colleague and I were chatting, when some antic or another of Dawnise's came up. Having met Dawnise a couple times, he concluded "You're wife's really a character. Wouldn't it suck to be married to someone boring?"
I responded - "I imagine it does, I feel sorry for Dawnise..."
Thank you for eleven years of mostly good days, and for nearly never being boring.
Happy Anniversary, Beautiful.
Posted by dberger at 7:22 AM
December 20, 2007
Another Blue Car?
Just got back from the Subaru dealer - we're a two car household again, only this time, instead of having two of the same car in different colors, we have two different cars in the same color.
Continue reading "Another Blue Car?"
Posted by dberger at 10:31 PM
December 18, 2007
Getting "Soft"
It was raining on my way in this morning, and Dawnise has plans to head back to the island this afternoon/evening for a quilt guild meeting, so I couldn't effectively bum a ride with her.
I've had a lingering cold for a few weeks that refuses to either "land" or "leave" - and I could totally be done riding in the cold and wet for a while.
I've been occasionally trying different routes from work that don't involve the carpool entrance to the 405 (not an option if I'm solo in a car). So far I haven't found a winner, but there are plenty of possibilities, so it's just a matter of trying enough of them...
Posted by dberger at 10:14 AM
December 17, 2007
Par-tay!
Well, the seventh, or maybe eighth, or possibly even ninth (I can't remember) annual holiday party and cookie exchange went off pretty well, at least from the hosts perspectives, hopefully people had fun and weren't just bored to tears.
Continue reading "Par-tay!"
Posted by dberger at 8:21 AM
December 14, 2007
Kitchens Are Espensive, Mang
Read it with an accent. Really, it sorta worked.
Continue reading "Kitchens Are Espensive, Mang"
Posted by dberger at 2:05 PM
December 9, 2007
Three Sales-Critters In One Day
Saturday was pretty busy - we spent the morning looking at appliances and cars, which meant I got to deal with more sales-critters in one day than I normally like to interact with in weeks.
Continue reading "Three Sales-Critters In One Day"
Posted by dberger at 10:09 PM | Comments (1)
December 4, 2007
Bandwidth
Living on the island we had awesome bandwidth once we got Comcast to string a line to us. Many of the homes in the area were too far from the street to get cable, so we a pretty private uplink.
Not so in the 'burbs. I've done speed tests two nights in a row, and I'm lucky to get 1.5Mbps down.
Grumble, grumble.
Posted by dberger at 9:29 PM
December 3, 2007
Learning to mouse all over again...
We had an ergonomic consultant come into the office last week - she looked at my workstation, talked to me about my work habits, and watched me work for a few minutes, and made a few suggestions.
One of those suggestions was to ditch the Logitech Trackman Marble I've used at home for years and replace it with something I can use left handed, to give the small muscles in my right hand a break - or failing that with another VerticalMouse like the one I use at work.
Since the VerticalMouse is a bit on the expensive side ($70), I decided to try learning to mouse left handed.
It reminds me of the time I tried switching to a Dvorak keyboard layout and felt like a total idiot for a day 'till I decided to switch back.
I'll probably stick with this a bit longer, since I'd sorta like to be able to retain use of my right wrist...
Posted by dberger at 10:17 PM | Comments (1)
Progress
Over the weekend, Vince gave me a hand hanging our flatscreen over the fireplace in the living room. It went up ok, though despite being anal with the stud finder and starting with a small pilot hole, I managed to only knick a stud when drilling one of the four holes, so there was a small fire-drill when we hung the TV the first time and one corner started to pull away from the wall.
Continue reading "Progress"
Posted by dberger at 10:57 AM
Payoff
It's raining this morning. Like really raining. Like the National Weather Service has issued a Flood Warning, a Flood Watch, a Special Weather Statement (regarding Landslide potential), and a Wind Advisory for Western Washington.
And I didn't get more than two drops on me on the way to work.
'cause I worked from home 'till for the first part of the morning and Dawnise gave me a lift to work.
Color me happy. (And dry.)
Posted by dberger at 9:47 AM
December 1, 2007
Buying Another Car
Despite the assertions of everyone we talked to before moving to Seattle that it "never snows" - it's snowed each year for the past three.
Tonight we had TSO tickets at Key Arena with Vince & Donna. They stayed at our place last night, and we carpooled to the show together in their rental car, then had a very nice dinner at Ray's before heading back to the east-side. Their plan was to drop us off and head for the ferry.
Continue reading "Buying Another Car"
Posted by dberger at 11:33 PM
November 29, 2007
Freedom
Just got back from the Marc Cohn show. For last minute tickets, the seats were tolerable. The opening performer was ok, but none of her set grabbed me enough to fork out $15 for her CD. Cohn and the band were great - and the set list was a good mix of familiar tunes (yes, including Walking In Memphis) and new tracks from the new album.
And we got out of the show and were home in just over 20 minutes.
I had almost forgotten what "night life" was.
Posted by dberger at 11:36 PM
What Do You Do With An Old Dead Hobby?
(to the tune of "What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor" a.k.a. "What Do You Do With An Old Dead Gerbil")
I have some boxes that I've literally been moving around with me for 10 years. I never look in them, 'cause I know what they contain, and while I don't actually care to keep their contents, I can't see throwing them out, either.
Continue reading "What Do You Do With An Old Dead Hobby?"
Posted by dberger at 8:56 AM | Comments (2)
November 27, 2007
Pizza Pizza
We tried ordering pizza while living on the island a few times - and we always decided to that DiGiorno was better. So it was with mild trepidation that we decided to do a quiet birthday evening of pizza and A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
We ordered a Siciliano from Amante in Redmond.
Yum.
Posted by dberger at 9:42 PM
November 26, 2007
Strike One for Whirlpool
As we were preparing to move, Dawnise noticed that the porcelain was flaking off the tub in our washer - a middle-of-the-line Whirlpool. Consulting the owners book, it said the tub was warranted from this form of failure for something like 10 years, so I put it on my list to deal with once we got into the new house.
Continue reading "Strike One for Whirlpool"
Posted by dberger at 4:03 PM
November 25, 2007
Let There Be Light
The new house was built in the 80's - when they apparently had an aversion to in-ceiling lighting. So while many of the rooms have at least a single "can" light - a number, including the master, the living room, and the family room (read: pool table room) have only switched outlets. Additionally, there are exterior lights that throw horrible glare bombs and are begging to be replaced.
So we spent some time today looking for lighting - both online and in stores like Lamps Plus and Seattle Lighting.
Continue reading "Let There Be Light"
Posted by dberger at 8:37 PM
November 24, 2007
Household Hacks
The previous owner of the house described it as "low maintenance," which of course means I've spent the last week fixing a bunch of the little shit he ignored for the 7 years they owned the house.
Continue reading "Household Hacks"
Posted by dberger at 7:56 PM | Comments (1)
Razors & Razorblades
Yesterday, despite fearing the mad-rush of consumerism that is (dum dum dum dum...) "Black Friday" (wooo) I ended up doing some shopping for things around the house.
Continue reading "Razors & Razorblades"
Posted by dberger at 7:43 PM
November 22, 2007
Cats and Carpets
The new house has off-white carpet. Not what we would have chosen, but relatively new.
Cats, for those of you who don't live with them, apparently see off-white carpet as a challenge. I suspect we'll be re-flooring sooner than I'd like.
Cats, I love 'em, but I can't eat a whole one.
Posted by dberger at 11:22 AM
November 20, 2007
Amazon Kindle
I managed to sorta ignore what hype there was around the Kindle release, but I had a few minutes today while waiting for some tests to complete to take a quick peak, and I wish I could be thrilled...
Continue reading "Amazon Kindle"
Posted by dberger at 2:08 PM
Sunday Drivers at Costco
Dawnise and I made our first Costco run on "this side" of the pond on Sunday. We hit the Costco in Issaquah. Our normal habit on the "other side" was to be there when they opened on Sunday morning as to avoid the "church crowd" - so we did the same on Sunday, and were surprised at the result...
Continue reading "Sunday Drivers at Costco"
Posted by dberger at 9:40 AM | Comments (3)
November 17, 2007
On the 'net again
Sung to the tune of "On the Road Again," with apologies to Willie Nelson and his legion of fans.
On the net again
I couldn't wait to get on the net again
I scheduled install before we even had moved in
'cause I couldn't wait to get on the net again
Continue reading "On the 'net again"
Posted by dberger at 6:40 PM
November 12, 2007
Don't Panic
The boxes continue to multiply. The deadline looms closer and closer, and damn it we're still not done.
Where's my towel?
Oh, yea, it's in a box...
Posted by dberger at 8:58 PM
November 11, 2007
Boxes
We're surrounded by boxes. Yesterday morning we took a trip to the new place, dropped off some "stuff," swung by my office and grabbed a bunch of boxes that were destined for the rubbish heap, came home and packed the garage.
This morning we packed our closet, then went to Sunday brunch with Dave & Marcia at Molly Ward Gardens (the Chorizo Scramble was excellent, and the lamb sausages were in-cred-able) before coming home and - you guessed it - packing some more.
Jesus we have a lot of stuff.
Posted by dberger at 6:37 PM
November 9, 2007
Going Dark in 5...
Sometime Wednesday (14-November) I'll be downing all the machines at the house, taking down the network, and moving it all to the new place. We're scheduled to get 'net access connected at the new place on Saturday afternoon, so Dawnise and I will have only occasional connectivity (and probably no time to use it) twixt Wednesday and Saturday afternoon.
Posted by dberger at 6:30 PM
November 7, 2007
It's only m-m-m-money
We're moving next week - that's going to end up costing (significantly) more than I anticipated (I underestimated the cost of having someone move my stuff). The new house needs a roof, but to be fair we knew that going in, and reduced our offer price accordingly.
The house is 20 years old and as far as I can tell, is pretty much "as built," so the kitchen is sorta crying for a remodel.
As are the bathrooms.
And the "I'm tired of riding in the cold and wet" part of me is thinking that a second car wouldn't be a bad idea. And if we're going to buy a car, something with a bit more cargo capacity than the convertible seems wise.
It's a good thing Dawnise and I are good at prioritization. And that we've already funded our retirement funds for the year.
Posted by dberger at 4:27 PM
November 6, 2007
Packing Progress
We're surrounded by boxes, and sometimes it feels like we haven't made a dent in our stuff.
Dawnise's craft room is well on it's way toward done, as is my office. The pool table has been disassembled and it's bits stacked neatly against the wall. In the next week we need to finish off the library (mostly Dawnises hats), pack the bedroom (ugh), the kitchen (double-ugh), and the garage (please, god, save me).
Continue reading "Packing Progress"
Posted by dberger at 6:19 AM
November 4, 2007
New Phone Number
Effective 15 November, the land-line at the house on Bainbridge will be discontinued. On 19 November, you'll be able to call us at the new place. The new number is our old number plus 2,184,977,713 (including area code).
Neither of our cel numbers have changed.
Posted by dberger at 9:31 PM | Comments (1)
Perhaps there's hope...
While going through some "stuff" in my office, paring down before the move, I came across two microscopes. Nothing fancy, kids toys, really - but toys that gave me a glimpse into a world I couldn't see with only my eyes.
I hadn't used either of them in years, and I couldn't in good conscious resign them to the rubbish heap. So I had Dawnise list them on freecycle, which she did this morning.
When she sat down to check her mail, moments ago, she had a dozen people interested in them for their kids, or grandchildren.
Hope. Sometimes it comes from the unexpected.
Posted by dberger at 3:30 PM
November 2, 2007
It's Officially Cold Out
Not Arctic cold, but below-freezing-when-I-woke-up-this-morning-cold, which is close enough for me.
And it's only November 1.
Methinks we're in for a cold winter.
Posted by dberger at 8:34 AM
October 31, 2007
We Have a Date
After interviewing four movers, getting four bids, and discussing each with the respective vendor, we've got a winner. Neighbors Moving and Storage will be loading us out on November 15th, and delivering us on November 16th.
Dawnise made progress on her sewing room yesterday - to the tune of a dozen 3 cu. ft. boxes of fabric (each weighing in at 70-ish lbs). This weekend it's going to be finishing my office, attacking the bedroom, and possibly the garage.
Posted by dberger at 6:22 AM
October 27, 2007
Twelve Angry Men
I watched Twelve Angry Men this evening, a classic that I think I'll always associate with High School, for a number of reasons.
Continue reading "Twelve Angry Men"
Posted by dberger at 10:32 PM
October 26, 2007
Reliable Storage: Just In Time?
Over the last couple weeks, my primary machine has been acting flaky - I'll come in in the morning to check my mail before leaving for work, and the machine won't wake up, and won't let me ssh in.
Yesterday I got a lead, and it's not great...
Continue reading "Reliable Storage: Just In Time?"
Posted by dberger at 11:50 AM
October 23, 2007
Computer Guy
Last weekend, when I was picking up some stuff for Dawnise at Costco, I snagged a copy of High Fidelity. I've been reading it on the ferry the last few mornings, and it got me jonesing for some John Cusack. Not marginal Cusack, like The Ice Harvest, but good Cusack.
Like, say Grosse Pointe Blank.
Continue reading "Computer Guy"
Posted by dberger at 9:40 PM
October 22, 2007
Motivation
I stopped by the new house today after work to pick up the mail and generally check in on the place.
I left my office at 5:30, figuring since Dawnise was out of town, I might as well see how bad a rush-hour commute would be...
I was pulling into my driveway at 5:50.
I came home and packed.
Posted by dberger at 9:12 PM
October 20, 2007
Blade Runner: The Final Cut
Opens in Seattle at the Cinerama Friday the 26th.
w00t!
Dawnise gets back Sunday morning - I see brunch and a movie coming.
(Titus - I still say they're gonna take away your geek card for not liking this film...)
Posted by dberger at 8:07 PM | Comments (2)
You Said How Much?
Since we started thinking about moving, I keep saying "we have too much stuff." I've now got two moving estimates that cement that notion in my head.
Continue reading "You Said How Much?"
Posted by dberger at 11:55 AM | Comments (1)
October 19, 2007
Shameless Promotion
I don't normally blatantly hype work, but this was just too damn funny (though not really work-safe).
And if you liked that, you should listen to some of his previous reviews.
Posted by dberger at 11:08 PM
Bachelorhood, and New Toys
A short while ago, I dropped Dawnise off for the 5:30 sailing to Seattle. From there she's on to Seatac and catching a flight for her annual pilgrimage to Halloween Haunt with Vince. Since we didn't know if or when we might be moving, we didn't unplan or reschedule the trip - so she'll be gone 'till next weekend.
Over the next week, I'll be working, packing, and occasionally sleeping and eating.
But for the moment, I'm playing with my new ReadyNAS that arrived the other day (insofar as one can "play" with a 5"x8" shiny box with a couple hard disks in it).
Continue reading "Bachelorhood, and New Toys"
Posted by dberger at 6:32 PM
Customer Service: Two Case Studies
I've spent this morning dealing with two unrelated customer service issues. First, trying to figure out why the map updater for our Garmin Nuvi claims it can't talk to the internet, and second arranging an RMA for the Ultra power supply in Dawnises desktop machine.
One of those conversations was a nightmare, and the other smooth as silk. Any guesses which was which?
Continue reading "Customer Service: Two Case Studies"
Posted by dberger at 9:32 AM | Comments (1)
October 16, 2007
Choosing a Moving Company
We knew going into this that we're past the point in our lives where we're willing and able to move our own stuff. We've gone from pine furniture to cherry, from having a lot of books, CDs and movies, to having a metric ton each of books, CDs, and movies.
Not to mention the pool table.
Or the fact that I have the lower back of a man twice my age.
So we're operating under the assumption that we'll pack it, and we'll pay someone to move it.
So now I have to find a mover.
Posted by dberger at 8:31 AM
Progress
In about six hours of work, Dawnise and I have packed the game collection - resulting in a wall of boxes nearly 6'x4', and the library - a line of boxes nearly 10'x6'.
We're gonna need more boxes...
Posted by dberger at 6:23 AM
October 14, 2007
Reliable Storage: Solution
I gave in and ordered the ReadyNAS this morning.
I realized that the deal I mentioned last time was about as good as it was going to get ($1 per usable GB), and if and when I add another 500G drive, the cost per GB drops to about $.80.
I also learned it runs linux (no surprise there) and there's a cross compiler toolchain available - so once I get it up and running, I'm going to see about hosting my music media server directly on the NAS.
It's first job is going to be to hold complete backups of every machine in the house prior to the move, and I'll hand carry it to the new place.
Posted by dberger at 10:55 AM
Holy Crap, We're Moving
Well, thanks to a bunch of effort from several key folks, the sale of our Bainbridge house and the purchase of our new digs in Newcastle successfully closed and recorded on Friday. The full story is long, sordid, and can't be told without plenty of alcohol, but we're no longer playing the "are we moving or are we not" game - and now we need to actually make the move happen.
Continue reading "Holy Crap, We're Moving"
Posted by dberger at 10:30 AM | Comments (1)
October 8, 2007
Weekend in Review
We had a really good weekend despite the move still being unresolved (it's a long story, don't ask).
Continue reading "Weekend in Review"
Posted by dberger at 8:30 AM
October 6, 2007
MusicBrainz, Take 2
After debugging some of the Python that makes up Picard - the "official" MusicBrainz tagging application, I realized that the most likely cause of the issues I was having were valid looking MusicBrainz tags with bad data on some of my FLAC files, so with a little shell magic, I stripped all the offending tags and gave it another whirl.
It imported all 8500-odd files without complaint and has been chewing on them, trying to cluster them into albums for a few minutes now.
Seems promising...
Posted by dberger at 5:13 PM
Reliable Storage, Redux
The drive I use to hold all my music, and the one that's housing digital photos, are both approaching capacity. Since I run linux on my desktop, and have all my file systems on top of volume managment, I could solve this problem by adding drives and futzing with volume groups.
But it seems like it's finally time to bite the bullet and buy some sort of external (preferably networked) reliable storage.
Continue reading "Reliable Storage, Redux "
Posted by dberger at 9:54 AM | Comments (1)
October 2, 2007
Dark Sky - Citizens on Patrol
Speaking of Dark Sky, here's an interesting looking project.
Posted by dberger at 9:55 PM
September 24, 2007
Dinner
Our neighbors, and very good friends, Dave and Marcia are leaving for their month "on the cape" tomorrow - and they invited us to share dinner with them tonight before they left.
I made it a point to catch the 5:30 ferry home, and we walked up the hill and had a wonderful dinner of home-made pizza and salad from their garden, with wine and very pleasant conversation.
For a while we could leave life behind, not worry about "are we moving are we not," and just enjoy the company of some truly wonderful people.
Laughter and merriment. Just what the doctor ordered.
Posted by dberger at 9:20 PM
Partying is Such Sweet Sorrow
Despite still not knowing for sure if we are moving
Nothing big, nothing fancy, but a chance to raise a glass with some of the best neighbors we could have hoped for when we moved to this side of the Sound.
Good people, a good neighborhood - we're sorry to leave them both behind.
Continue reading "Partying is Such Sweet Sorrow"
Posted by dberger at 6:18 AM
September 19, 2007
From the Tin Foil Hat file
Not sure how I missed this when it first was published.
Posted by dberger at 5:09 PM | Comments (1)
Fall has fallen
Over the past two days we've reached the tipping point between summer and fall. It's dark when I get up in the morning, nearly dark when I get home at night, and has been staying cool enough all day that I need to wear my over-pants on the ride home. Last night - an hour or so after I got home - the sky opened up and dumped on us, complete with a couple peals of thunder.
Three days ago it was still summer, now it's not. What's up with that?
Posted by dberger at 6:19 AM
September 17, 2007
Weekend Recap
On Friday night, Dawnise attended the latest work-sponsored Spouse Event - a Mariner's game, viewed from a private box. There was a "party bus" from the office to the stadium, so Dawnise bussed to the ferry, walked to the next bus, bussed into Bellevue, hung out at the office for a half hour, then took the bus to the game (sheesh). I think she spent as much time in transit as she spent at the game.
Got a call from her around 10 asking if she could take the party bus back to the office and get a ride to the ferry from one of the other spouses. She fell into the hole in the ferry schedule, so I picked her up from the ferry on the island side around 1. She had a good time, which made me very happy.
Continue reading "Weekend Recap"
Posted by dberger at 9:18 AM
September 12, 2007
10 Months Pregnant
We shipped today. The site, and thick client, have been in beta to a bunch of our users for a month or so, and today we unleashed them on the rest.
So far, so good. I'm sure we'll have little stuff to clean up over the next few days and weeks, but between announcing the upcoming TF2 beta, starting to take pre-orders for The Orange Box yesterday, and releasing Community today, it's been a big week.
Posted by dberger at 8:03 PM
September 10, 2007
Crunchy Corn Goodness
I am so screwed.
Last week, CornNuts joined the normal assortment of snacks and junkfood in the kitchen at work.
I could resist most of the other stuff - well, save the Gummy Bears - but CornNuts? That battle was lost before it began.
Posted by dberger at 1:12 PM | Comments (1)
September 9, 2007
Dark Sky
One of the strong memories I have from being a child was a camping trip, I can't remember exactly where, when I first saw the Milky Way stretch across the night sky.
Even today, thinking about that sight bring goose pimples to my arms, and raises the hair on the back of my neck.
This article in the New Yorker made me want to go in search of dark sky, and looking at light pollution maps made me realize that if we actually do move to the mainland, the sky over us will be getting brighter at night - one of the many trade-offs we'll make in moving off the island.
Dawnise, on her trip to S. Africa, passed through some of the darkest sky she's likely to ever be under - and of course, as fate would have it, she was there during the day...
We wonder why American's don't support the space program? I think a major part of it is that they can't see the stars at night. Looking up at night doesn't fill them with a sense of wonder - it's just the reflected glow of civilization.
That deeply saddens me.
Posted by dberger at 8:57 AM | Comments (2)
September 7, 2007
We've Been Invaded By Boxes
We just had new neighbors move in up the hill - and they were kind enough to give us a metric-crap-load of boxes and packing material, which Dawnise was good enough to fetch from up the hill yesterday.
Our library/guest room is now full of boxes, and great trash bags of packing paper have spilled out into the front room.
Now if only we'd actually close a transaction or two, we'd be ready to start packing...
Posted by dberger at 11:51 AM
September 4, 2007
If You Like Animals, You'll Love Lamb
Despite the fact that life's in limbo at the moment owing to the move, we had a really good weekend.
Continue reading "If You Like Animals, You'll Love Lamb"
Posted by dberger at 6:11 AM
September 2, 2007
Waiting to Exhale
Got a call last week from escrow saying that they needed to schedule an appointment with us to sign closing docs on the sale, so we're scheduled to be in their office in Bellevue on Tuesday.
I'm guessing that actually closing the deal next week is optimistic, but I have to say that actually making some concrete progress in this shell game would reduce the background stress level. Dawnise and I both feel like we're just waiting for something to go wrong and bring this house of cards tumbling down. We haven't really started thinking about or planning the move, 'cause the skeptic in both of us says that any such effort is wasted 'till the ink is dry.
Posted by dberger at 11:42 AM
August 31, 2007
What's in a Name?
Dawnise isn't Dawnise Berger.
Never has been.
So why does her credit report list that, and various other mis-spellings of her name as "other names?"
And why does she need to sign a letter saying she is known as "Dawnise Berger" when she isn't?
And why does that piss me off so much?
Oh, yea, it's cause credit agencies, who have no accountability to me, have made capricious decisions that I have to live with.
Fuckers.
Posted by dberger at 4:04 PM
August 30, 2007
Good Food, Good Friends
A couple weeks ago David, the owner of C'est La Vie (the island creperie) mentioned that Four Swallows - one of the nicer restaraunts on the island - was having a prix fix Italian wine dinner this evening.
It ended up being just the four of us (the other couple we were expecting bailed at the last minute), and we had a very nice time. The food was excellent, the wines interesting (though not all to my taste) and well paired. There was much laughter and merriment.
Grant - if you're reading this - you and David are kindred spirits - if you ever run into a 6'8" Jewish french guy, by way of Israel, who swears like a sailor and has a heart of gold, tell him we send our best...
Posted by dberger at 10:18 PM
August 28, 2007
One Step Forward
Got the appraisal back on the house we're in escrow on, and it appraised for the sale price, which means no additional loan hoops to jump through.
Woo hoo.
One less thing that can go wrong.
Posted by dberger at 7:21 PM
August 27, 2007
Fall Already?
It was mid forties out when I woke up this morning - I'm sitting on the deck with a Pendleton on, wondering how much longer 'till autumn arrives in earnest.
(I'd be at work, but W's got a fund-raising visit in our building in Bellevue, so pretty much everyone at work who can is working from home or taking the day off rather than dealing with the traffic.)
Posted by dberger at 11:35 AM
August 24, 2007
For this I was late?
Turns out the "police activity" at the ferry dock the other morning was a credible bong threat.
Sheesh.
Posted by dberger at 1:01 PM
August 22, 2007
I Hate Waiting
We're in the phase of the home buying process that I hate.
We've found the right one, and now we turn the process over to other people, none of whom I have direct control over.
Continue reading "I Hate Waiting"
Posted by dberger at 4:02 PM
Remembering What's Important
Today marks another year of the rest of Dawnise's life.
It got off to a crappy start for me - I woke up late, missed my normal ferry, and ended up on the one that was diverted half-way to Edmonds before making it to Seattle an hour late due to a bomb scare at the Seattle terminal.
But that doesn't matter. Not a bit. Every day above ground is a good day - and this one in particular.
Posted by dberger at 11:37 AM
August 16, 2007
Mutual Acceptance
Well, the papers are signed. We're buying our next house.
Woo hoo.
Now comes the more waiting.
Posted by dberger at 10:25 AM | Comments (1)
August 15, 2007
HOA's are the devil
We got a copy of the CC&Rs for the potential new house today, and I read them over.
Home Owners Associations are utter bullshit.
Continue reading "HOA's are the devil"
Posted by dberger at 9:55 PM | Comments (1)
August 14, 2007
House Update
Still nothing in the bag - we've gone back and forth with the sellers a few times, and in have agreement in principle.
They had the place inspected prior to listing, and by coincidence it was done by the same guy we used to inspect our current house and would have used again - so we have a call scheduled for tomorrow morning to go over the inspection report, with a potential on-site follow up Thursday if warranted.
More waiting.
Posted by dberger at 9:14 PM
August 10, 2007
Off to the Races
We put an offer in on our first choice. We talked about it this morning, and after describing the house to a friend, decided we were both positive about the place, and it didn't make sense to let it pass us while we look for something "perfect."
The offer is pretty strong, the early feedback from the listing agent is that we're in the right ballpark, and that the only thing they won't be thrilled with is the late close date (5-October).
The sellers have 'till Sunday afternoon to respond.
So now we wait.
I hate waiting...
Posted by dberger at 3:26 PM
House Hunting Update
Over the past week or so, Dawnise has seen about 2 dozen houses. Of those, three are possibilities, but none of the three are "perfect."
The most promising two are in Newcastle. One has a great location - end of a cul-de-sac, trees, nice backyard - and is priced right on market but has bedrooms that are a little on the small side (typical bedrooms, really, it's just that our current home has massive bedrooms and we've gotten acclimated). The other is slightly newer, has slightly larger rooms, but is 50k or so over-market according to our comps, and most of it's lot is slope backing into a green-belt (similar to our house on Sprig St. in Chino Hills). I could imagine living in either of them, but the kitchen and bathrooms are basically do-overs.
The third is in Kenmore which is a bit further from work, but still doable. It's only a couple years old, has a great kitchen, on a significant chunk of protected wetlands, but feels a little cramped due to the small footprint of the build envelope. Neither of us are thrilled that the entertaining spaces (TV room, Pool Table, and Kitchen) are each on a different level.
I looked at a "still being finished" home in Kenmore with our agent yesterday, and it was very nice - great interior design sense - quality materials, but the bedrooms were tiny, and the floor-plan overall was just wrong for us.
So next week, after a couple days off on a "girls-holiday" with some friends, Dawnise will head up into Woodinville to see what there is to be seen.
Posted by dberger at 7:52 AM
August 8, 2007
The Lucifer Effect
Dru mentioned The Lucifer Effect a few weeks ago, and it sounded interesting, so I put it on my library hold list. It arrived a week and a half ago, and I finally gave up on it this morning on my way to work.
Continue reading "The Lucifer Effect"
Posted by dberger at 7:15 PM
August 6, 2007
... too late for the pebbles to vote ...
It's official.
We're in escrow.
So effective immediately, Dawnise starts looking for the next house.
Wish us luck.
Posted by dberger at 9:36 AM | Comments (2)
August 4, 2007
...except for Judd Nelson, he was fuckin' harsh...
When I saw that The Breakfast Club had been released on HD-DVD, I tossed it in my Netflix queue. It arrived today, and we watched it tonight, for the first time in a long time.
It's a defining film for my generation, and 22 years later, it still has a certain ring of truth to it.
I feel like I should watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off to round things out.
Posted by dberger at 10:43 PM
July 31, 2007
More Props for Freecycle
Remember that box of random stuff I mentioned?
It disappeared last night - a nice fellow came and got it - figuring he'd find some parts in it he could use, and would pass on the rest.
Freecycle is amazing.
Posted by dberger at 1:59 PM
Mental Log-Jam
I'm normally pretty good at making decisions - so my total lack of ability to move forward on the "to move or not to move" question is incredibly frustrating.
Continue reading "Mental Log-Jam"
Posted by dberger at 11:50 AM | Comments (3)
July 29, 2007
One Man's Meat...
Another win for freecycle - a nice fellow looking for a computer "to learn linux on" came and picked up a c. 1999 Dell notebook that I got when leaving OpenMarket.
I had been keeping it around 'cause it had a serial port and the software to program our universal remote, but I finally got wise and bought a USB to Serial adaptor a couple months back. Since then, the machine had been sitting in a closet gathering dust. Now it's gone to a place where someone will get some use out of it.
Huzza the reuse.
Now if only some sucker lucky individual would decide they want the box full of random and sundry parts and cables...
Posted by dberger at 9:37 PM
July 25, 2007
Son of a Bitch
I just finished the Morgan interview.
He was in Seattle, at the University book store, two freaking days ago.
And I didn't know it 'till just now.
I'd have gotten the libraries copy signed and bought it from them.
Fuck.
Posted by dberger at 8:59 PM
Polystyrene Still Sucks
From: Dan Berger
To: customerservice at blackstoneltd.com
Cc: customerservice at costco.com
Date: 22-July-07
To Whom it may concern:
I recently purchased two "Sunter Lighting Eclipse Studio Desk Lamps" from my local Costco warehouse.
I'm writing to express concern about the polystyrene packaging used for transport and delivery. As I'm sure you are aware, polystyrene is effectively un-recyclable in most localities as there is no secondary market for these materials. Instead, these molded blocks end up in land fills where they have very long decomposition cycles due to typically being sequestered away from sun and weather.
I am writing to request that you investigate replacing your use of Polystyrene with more ecologically responsible materials, such as die-cut and corrugated cardboard.
In my personal drive to reduce my non-recyclable waste output, I intend to aggressively phase out my use of non-recyclable materials - which means phasing out my patronage of vendors who use such materials.
Your time and attention to this matter is appreciated.
Posted by dberger at 1:44 PM
July 24, 2007
And I would have gotten away with it...
If it weren't for that darn new HD TiVo.
$300? Check
Dual HD record with simultaneous HD playback? Check
Upgradeable storage? Check
Watching the resolve behind my 2.5 year "no TV in the house" streak starting to crumble?
Check.
Damn it.
Damn it.
Damn it.
Posted by dberger at 6:20 AM | Comments (1)
July 12, 2007
I always believe everything is a trap...
...That is why I am still alive.
In my 10 mile, 25 minute commute from Bellevue to the Bainbridge Ferry no fewer than 5 people tried to change lanes into me.
All of them, when I hit the horn, "woke up" with a start and waved at me - as if that made up for the fact that a moment ago they were on a course to ruin my whole day, and possibly my life.
Sheesh.
Posted by dberger at 4:47 PM
July 9, 2007
Squishy Keyboards Make Me Cry
After reading my short rant on RSI, Steve pointed out that my favorite keyboard almost certainly wasn't helping my wrists.
So this morning I begrudgingly grabbed a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Whiz-bang 4000 from the IT guys.
I hate it.
My wrists like it.
I guess I'm stuck with it for a while...
Maybe I can find one of these...
Posted by dberger at 3:29 PM | Comments (1)
July 8, 2007
A Really Good Weekend
Yesterday was Donna's birthday. Dawnise spent the morning at the Rotary auction, I hung out at C'est La Vie drinking coffee and chatting with David.
I volunteered to cook dinner, so they got some fresh salmon and veggies while in Seattle, and I made salmon with a honey spiced rum and herb glaze, garlic sauteed baby portabello mushrooms with snap peas and bell pepper, and rice. It all came out really well.
Marcia joined us for dinner, and post-dinner we went to the improv as a group. On our return Dawnise made spiced Cabernet molten chocolate cakes - which were a perfect topper to the evening. We sat and talked 'till relatively late.
Continue reading "A Really Good Weekend"
Posted by dberger at 7:33 PM
July 6, 2007
Hurray for Hollywood
Last night, Dawnise, Vince, Donna Ari and I took in the 7:30 showing of The Black Pirate starring Douglas Fairbanks, preceded by the Buster Keaton short The Boat at the Lynwood Theatre, shown complete with organ accompanist in celebration of the theatres 75th birthday.
The prints were very good for movies made in the mid 20's and the organist was incredible. His timing was perfect and when the organ - a vintage Wurlitzer - had technical trouble and the music stopped for a moment, it threw into sharp relief how much his performance was adding to the experience.
Really a great experience. Now I really want to see Metropolis with appropriate accompaniment.
Posted by dberger at 8:16 AM
July 5, 2007
Fooled By Randomness
A colleague loaned me Fooled By Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb a couple weeks ago. I started it on finishing Breaking the Limit, and finished it last night before retiring.
Perhaps because I understand statistics, and notions like expected value and the monte carlo method, I didn't find the book as remarkable as it's reputation.
Continue reading "Fooled By Randomness"
Posted by dberger at 6:14 AM
July 4, 2007
We Hold These Truths...
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Continue reading "We Hold These Truths..."
Posted by dberger at 9:43 PM
July 3, 2007
RSI Sucks
I suppose it was only a matter of time, given my profession and genetics, 'till my wrists started bugging me.
Continue reading "RSI Sucks"
Posted by dberger at 10:16 AM | Comments (1)
July 2, 2007
Weekend Recap
Dawnise and I had a very nice weekend - the weather was gorgeous (and they're predicting a clear and sunny 4th, for a change).
Someone told me that Seattle has a really high ratio of convertible ownership per-capita - I dunno if it's true, but weekends like this one are the reason we bought one. It's almost like being on the motorcycle - you experience the road much more viscerally, without all the safety gear.
Continue reading "Weekend Recap"
Posted by dberger at 9:25 AM
June 25, 2007
Dr. Who
Dawnise and I started watching the first season of the new Dr. Who a while back - mostly catching episodes on plane flights, for whatever reason.
The other day the 3rd disk of Season 1 arrived from Netflix and - in something of an abnormality for us - we watched four episodes last night.
"Father's Day" and the two-part "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" were quite good. And for the record, Moffat should write more twilight-zoneish suspense. That was seriously creepy, and nothing at all like the gut busting comedy that Dawnise and I associate him with.
Posted by dberger at 10:13 AM
June 21, 2007
Dead Like Me
Almost forgot to mention - Dawnise and I finished Season 2 of Dead Like Me the other night - moments before Amy and Beth rang our doorbell. The end wasn't completely satisfying, and left as many questions as it answered, but given it's cancellation, I suppose that's not surprising.
Yet again Hollywood proved, by canceling the show, that Nielsen boxes must all be in the hands of morons.
How else do you explain the success of "reality TV" shows and professional wrestling?
/me shakes head.
Posted by dberger at 10:52 AM
Life Marches On
It's been a bit of a busy week, with a bunch of mixed emotion, but it is, as my aunt Amy would say, "all good."
Continue reading "Life Marches On"
Posted by dberger at 10:12 AM
June 13, 2007
Piles of "Stuff"
I spent a couple hours in my office last night, sorting through the boxes of random and sundry computer and computer-related parts that seem to accumulate in my closet.
I discovered a few things.
1. DSL Line filters must reproduce like rabits. I don't have DSL, haven't had DSL in years, and I had (have) a ton of those blasted things.
2. My former strategy of "keep one of each cable" seems increasingly silly. I mean, where am I even going to find a device that has a 25 pin serial port? And how 'bout a 50 pin Centronics SCSI port? They're all leaving.
3. Oh, Power and VGA cables - see observation #1.
4. If I ever want to, say, build a card house, I could probably build it out of 10/100Mb Ethernet cards.
So I went from three boxes down to one. Now I just need to find something to do with all the crap, er, stuff I'm done with.
Posted by dberger at 3:06 PM | Comments (1)
Clouds
I'm sitting in my office, waiting for a build to finish, looking out the window, and I realized that we didn't have nearly enough clouds in southern California.
There's something about white against a blue sky that makes both the white and the blue more brilliant and striking.
I like it.
Posted by dberger at 3:02 PM
June 11, 2007
A Year - That Was Fast.
I realized tomorrow (June 12) is the one year anniversary of joining my current employer.
It's been a good year, all things be told, despite my initial reservations. The honeymoon is in full swing, and for the first time in longer than I'd care to admit, I have a job that consistently makes me want to go to work in the morning.
At some point in the near future I'm going to write up some thoughts - "A Year With Windows." Look for it when I get around to it.
Posted by dberger at 9:52 PM
Can't. Keep. Up.
A couple of weeks ago, I clicked through a banner ad.
Shocking, I know.
I signed up for a trial subscription to The Economist. I've had two issues delivered so far, and that's my only complaint.
See, it's a weekly magazine - and I've only managed to read two thirds of the first delivered issue in the past two weeks. It's incredibly dense, and the articles fairly well written. But I'm canceling it - 'cause I can see already that it'll just end up in a pile next to my bed, with me falling ever further behind.
If only they'd make it biweekly.
Posted by dberger at 9:47 PM
June 10, 2007
What the hell am I supposed to do with an empty case?
Bonus points to those who get the movie reference.
Six weeks or so back we ordered a motorized awning from Costco to put over the deck off the kitchen. It's 12 feet long, extends to 12 feet deep, and weighs just over a hundred pounds.
It arrived in a cardboard tube - 16" in diameter and 14 feet long. This isn't like corrugated paperboard - this is solid - a good half inch thick. The packaging itself probably weighs a good 40 lbs.
So now that I've installed the awning, I have this monster of a cardboard tube taking up residence in my garage.
It's longer than my car, and though the mental picture of tooling down the road with it sticking over the back with the top down is pretty amusing I'd never do it. If anyone needs to pour concrete footings, I've got just the stuff.
Posted by dberger at 6:29 PM | Comments (1)
June 9, 2007
Good Neighbors
Today was the annual homeowners association picnic and board elections. And as you'd expect, it was raining all day.
It was our turn to host this year, so we had at least representation from all but two or three households here for the meeting at 3 (I was elected secretary or two years, a role I've been filling for the past few months anyway) and the "picnic" immediately following.
Continue reading "Good Neighbors"
Posted by dberger at 8:45 PM
June 6, 2007
Going on 40...
The Trophy is getting ready to roll fourty thousand miles sometime this week (39,940 and counting). It's doing pretty well, all in all, and I still get compliments on it occasionally. Not bad for a bike going on 8 years old.
Most of those miles were put on in the first few years, between commuting 100 miles a day into LA (and then to UCR) and road trips up the CA coast.
Speaking of road trips - I've been reading Dawnise's copy of Breaking The Limit and my wanderlust is in full force. Too much stuff going on for a long trip, but maybe we'll sqeeze a weekender in sometime soon.
(Book review to follow, but so far, good stuff.)
Posted by dberger at 8:17 PM
Bullsh*t
We finished the third season of Penn & Tellers Bullsh*t last night.
Overall, it was disappointing - the only episode that really "did it" for me was the last (The Best) where they performed another setup ala the bottled water episode from Season 1.
I'll give Season 4 a shot, but if it's as lackluster as Season 3, I think that's all she wrote.
Posted by dberger at 3:58 PM
June 1, 2007
I Like My Version Better
I didn't look very hard, or I would have discovered who Major Dickason was.
I like my version better.
Posted by dberger at 1:38 PM
Putting Pessimism Aside
I'm a pretty pessimistic person.
I know, you're shocked at this revelation.
I call it "realism," but I know that there's more than a shade of pessimism in the mix.
I'm good at breaking things - or predicting how they'll break.
Continue reading "Putting Pessimism Aside"
Posted by dberger at 8:43 AM | Comments (1)
May 31, 2007
Allergies Suck
The weather has been glorious of late - warm enough in the morning to leave the house without my over-kit, and bordering on a bit warm in the afternoon.
And the pollen is out.
Every day as I pass the park in Bellevue and the arboretum in the U district I ride through pollen storms - and by the time I reach the ferry, my eyes are itchy and watering. If I make the mistake of rubbing them, I look pretty baked.
Ahhh, summer.
Posted by dberger at 2:36 PM
Major Dickason
Last time I needed coffee at work, I wandered over to the QFC across the street and bought a bag of Major Dickason's Blend.
I have no idea who Major Dickason is, was, or wasn't, but I'm pretty sure he wore a pith helmet, carried an big gun and drank tea, not coffee, under a pavilion in the desert somewhere.
...
Or he could have been from Wisconsin, but that's far less entertaining.
Posted by dberger at 8:19 AM
May 30, 2007
Another One Down
Freecycle is cool. Dawnise listed the futon we've had since living in our first condo on Sunday, and a family came and picked it up last night to put in their teenagers bedroom.
The futon was in good shape overall - oak frame in good condition, mattress & cover showing a bit of age but serviceable. We were done with it, and I'm much happier knowing someone will get additional use out of it rather than it landing in a landfill.
Posted by dberger at 6:21 AM
May 29, 2007
Musings on My Commute
I'm posting this from the ferry, thanks to Bluetooth, my Treo, and Cingular's (sllloowww) data connectivity.
We don't have standing holidays - employees get a block of paid time off, you take it when you want to take it. The office is open on Christmas, New New Years, and every day in between. So, since we didn't have plans for Monday, I worked a normal day. There were like 12 people on the ferry at 7am, and had I not seen fit to keep my speed in the reasonable double-digits, I could have been to work in no time at all.
Continue reading "Musings on My Commute"
Posted by dberger at 7:07 AM
May 28, 2007
In a state of limbo
We got the last CMA we were waiting for last night and far from crystallizing our position and making next steps apparent, it just confused things even further.
Continue reading "In a state of limbo"
Posted by dberger at 8:27 AM
May 25, 2007
The Price of Progress
A while back, we bought an HP PhotoSmart 1115. I'm sure we got it on sale, and I think it was about $150.
I've really never used it - as I mostly don't see the point in printing digital pictures - it's probably printed a dozen pages. I was thinking of getting rid of it, so I checked ebay.
There was one (in "good" condition) for a dollar.
Guess I'll keep it.
Posted by dberger at 5:57 PM | Comments (1)
On Ownership
Contemplating moving draws unavoidable attention to how much "stuff" one has accumulated over the course of life.
I find that as I get older there are fewer and fewer things that I actually care about keeping.
Continue reading "On Ownership"
Posted by dberger at 12:06 PM | Comments (2)
Spontaneous Remission: T + 1 Week
Junior went back to the vet this morning for a follow up - he's been eating "normal" food all week, as much as he wants, and no insulin shots.
His blood glucose was normal.
So we'll leave him on this diet for another week and bring him back for one more checkup before we consider ourselves out of the twice-daily insulin injections business.
Even if it works out, we'll have to watch him for the rest of his life - he's running on borrowed insulin, so to speak, and his pancreas could give out (again) at any time.
But still, not being tied to the house at 12 hour intervals is awesome. I'd almost forgotten how much freedom and flexibility we'd given up. We're going to a BBQ at a friends place on Sunday that starts at 1, and we don't need to be home by 8 to "dose the cat."
Huzzah.
Posted by dberger at 10:57 AM
May 21, 2007
Diabetic Cats
Junior spent the weekend at the vets while we were out of town, and when we picked him up on Sunday, we were told that he hadn't had, or needed, his insulin over the weekend. They checked his blood sugar a couple times during his stay, and it didn't spike after eating. They told us to feed him as normal, but not give him his shots that night and this morning and to call and talk to the vet, which Dawnise did.
I've got a new phrase in my vocabulary - Spontaneous Remission.
So he's back to normal food and no shots for the week, he'll get tested again at the end of the week (and we're watching for a recurrence of the symptoms that prompted the initial diagnosis).
Wacky.
Posted by dberger at 8:13 PM
It's Not Easy Being Green
I'm not exactly a tree-hugging hippie, or anything, but I do strongly believe in minimizing waste and treading lightly on the planet whenever possible. My parents had a compost pile for as long as I can remember - and so from the time Dawnise and I moved into a house (composting in condo is tricky) so have we. We recently replaced all the lights in the house that aren't on dimmers with compact fluorescents. We recycle aluminium, glass and cardboard/paper.
But I have no idea what to do about Styrofoam.
Continue reading "It's Not Easy Being Green"
Posted by dberger at 12:10 PM | Comments (1)
May 20, 2007
Milestones
We flew out early (which required leaving the house really early) Friday morning to Sacramento for my little brother's graduation from Chico State on Saturday. My folks had arrived Thursday, and my sister drove up and joined us in time for dinner Friday afternoon.
We has some good food, were lucky to have good weather, and had a good time.
And best of all, I got to see my brother graduate. Color me really proud.
Continue reading "Milestones"
Posted by dberger at 1:40 PM | Comments (3)
May 17, 2007
Can't Outrun A Radio
The old saying has been proven true yet again. And as a modern update - it seems you can't outrun a traffic camera in a semi-police state.
Posted by dberger at 3:14 PM
May 16, 2007
Things I'll Miss, And Things I Won't
We met with an island realtor last night - it went pretty well, and we should be getting a Comparative Market Analysis from her tonight or tomorrow. We've got another meeting on Monday.
So moving seems to be, well, moving.
Continue reading "Things I'll Miss, And Things I Won't"
Posted by dberger at 9:22 PM
May 15, 2007
Have I Mentioned I Hate Moving?
After a couple of discussions - including with our financial planner - I've pretty much ruled out the "buy, move, sell" plan. Which pretty much kills "look around for the right house, and do nothing unless and until you find it."
Continue reading "Have I Mentioned I Hate Moving?"
Posted by dberger at 11:52 AM
May 13, 2007
A Bad Year for the Heerschap Family
I got word that my uncle Ken - another of my mother's brothers - had a fatal heart-attack yesterday.
My grandmother has lost two of her eight children this year. No parent should have go through that.
Posted by dberger at 1:19 PM
May 11, 2007
A Half Pound of Coffee per Week?
At the islands annual "Girls Night Out" event, Dawnise picked up a free half-pound sample of Storyville coffee.
It's pretty good. On par with Vivace and Cafe Umbria.
At the moment they're running a special - for "only" the price of shipping ($20) you get four weeks (2 lbs) of coffee delivered to your door, plus two logo mugs. At that price, it's a deal - you'd pay that ($10/lb) for Peet's or either of the aforementioned brands in the store.
After the intro period, however, it's $16/lb plus shipping.
Which is, shall we say, less of a deal.
Posted by dberger at 1:37 PM | Comments (2)
Lifestyle Tradeoffs
Dawnise and I really like where we live - we like our house, our neighbors, the fact that the peninsula is a place of stunning natural beauty.
But we're thinking of moving.
Continue reading "Lifestyle Tradeoffs"
Posted by dberger at 8:52 AM
Shameless Self Promotion
I don't normally plug work, but I sent this article to Dawnise and she asked that I link it from here, for folks playing along at home to read.
So there it is.
Posted by dberger at 8:45 AM
May 5, 2007
Cameras (Needs and Wants, Redux)
We were at Costco today to return a failed LCD (have I mentioned I love their return policy?) and I stopped to look at the DSLRs for a moment.
They had both the Canon EOS 400d and the new Nikon 40x.
Continue reading "Cameras (Needs and Wants, Redux)"
Posted by dberger at 10:06 PM | Comments (2)
Sweet Stupidity
Dawnise and I went to the Improv (as we try to do each month), and afterward treated ourselves to an ice cream at Mora.
The Mexican Chocolate was yummy, as were the Peppermint and Sabayon.
Lactose intolerance sucks.
Posted by dberger at 10:02 PM
May 3, 2007
Life in the 'hood
Two families on our street have put their houses up for sale recently, and the two undeveloped lots adjacent to us have been listed as well.
I'm watching all three listings with a bit of interest - as the houses "bookend" ours - one smaller, one slightly larger and both on basically the same size lots.
Posted by dberger at 8:55 PM
April 29, 2007
Good Times With New Friends
A couple months ago Mary mentioned that she and some friends were going to be in Port Angeles this weekend, and that we were invited to join them for a dinner party of sorts.
We arranged cat-sitting last night (I really don't want to contemplate having a diabetic cat without neighbors as amazing as Dave and Marcia) and left early, top down, to for the drive - figuring we'd stop at a few wineries on the way.
Continue reading "Good Times With New Friends"
Posted by dberger at 12:22 PM
April 27, 2007
Wants and Needs
I want a DSLR - have done since before my failed attempt to buy one "for Dawnise" to take on her trip to S. Africa.
But I don't even remotely need one. And I'm really good at differentiating needs and wants, and de-prioritizing (and rate limiting) the latter.
Continue reading "Wants and Needs"
Posted by dberger at 1:47 PM | Comments (1)
April 19, 2007
Notifications
I just realized that I've posted a fair number of entries without remembering to send the email notifications. So if you're not getting this via RSS syndication and rely on email notification of updates, you might wanna pop in and see what you've missed.
Sorry 'bout that.
Posted by dberger at 8:49 PM
April 18, 2007
Another of Life's Ironies
When I was a teen, I had time a plenty, and easy access to other gamers - but squirreling away the money for the next game book was a serious thing - especially given my fascination with two publishers that had churning out books down to a near science (TSR, then owner of the D&D and AD&D franchises, and Palladium Books, who had the ROBOTECH license).
Now, these years later, buying books isn't the problem - books I got a'plenty - it's finding the players, and the time. Who says the universe doesn't have a sense of humor?
Continue reading "Another of Life's Ironies"
Posted by dberger at 8:47 PM
April 16, 2007
Living on an Island
I like where I live.
I really do - don't get me wrong. I like my house, I like my neighbors, I like the island.
But sometimes it is a pain in the arse.
Continue reading "Living on an Island"
Posted by dberger at 9:15 PM
April 11, 2007
New and Improved, To Take Longer!
The Washington State Ferry system has been rolling out a replacement to the ageing paper ticket system for frequent riders called Wave2Go.
They should have brushed up on their Queuing Theory - then perhaps they would have avoided more than tripling the time it takes to get cars and motorcycles through the ticket booth.
Continue reading "New and Improved, To Take Longer!"
Posted by dberger at 8:53 AM
April 8, 2007
Loss
My uncle Alan died last week, on April 1st, after being removed from life support. I've sat down to write about it several times since we got home, maybe this time I'll actually finish...
We got a call last Saturday that he was going to be unplugged on Sunday, with as many family members who could be, and wanted to be, present. I wanted to be there to say good bye, all accounts were that the man was already gone - only the shell remained.
After discovering that flights would have cost us the better part of $1100, we hit the road Sunday morning for the drive down. We got a call from my dad just as we were crossing the OR/CA border that Alan had passed peacefully and quickly after being removed from the respirator.
Continue reading "Loss"
Posted by dberger at 10:36 AM | Comments (2)
March 16, 2007
On Keyboards and Cognitive Dissonance
I use Linux on my machine at home - have for years. Windows just doesn't solve any problems that I have, and seems to create more than it's worth. I think it comes down to the fact that I'm a Unix hack at heart, and Windows is just frustratingly opaque and poorly layered to me.
Attached to said machine is an example of the pinnacle of keyboard design and construction - an IBM Model M keyboard I've had since the early 90's. I love it's finger feel, and my typing is far more accurate on it than any other keyboard I've tried. When I used to work remotely for OpenMarket and spent a lot of time on conference calls, I had to be sure to mute the phone if I was going to keep typing. If I forgot, the folks on the other end had no question who was making the call sound like a combat zone.
Continue reading "On Keyboards and Cognitive Dissonance"
Posted by dberger at 8:27 AM | Comments (2)
March 12, 2007
Daylight Savings Time
I'm home, and it's still light out.
This is good.
I have a handful of devices around the house that have no idea Congress decided to muck about with DST.
This is less good. Don't even get me started on work, where we have a handful of critical systems running Windows2k, which is out of mainstream support. Blech.
I wonder how much the software industry spent accommodating this capricious change?
The mind boggles.
Posted by dberger at 6:21 PM | Comments (1)
March 10, 2007
Paranoia
The issue's not whether you're paranoid, ... the issue is whether you're paranoid enough.
Somtime in 1992 or 1993, I discovered PGP - and I tried - really tried - to use it to encrypt email communication for years. When the first mailers supporting S/MIME came out, I tried that - but despite better support in email applications, it had the same problem as PGP - no one else (*) was participating (* well, amost no one.)
Even though I knew it was a lost cause, I even wrote an app while in grad school that tried to make PGP (or GnuPG) easy enough for anyone.
Recent news has reinforced my conviction (cemented by some older news) that I wasn't unjustifyably paranoid.
"No right of private conversation was enumerated in the Constitution. I don't suppose it occurred to anyone at the time that it could be prevented."
- Whitfield Diffie
Posted by dberger at 8:04 PM | Comments (1)
United: Enough is Enough
I've flown United air as my "preferred" carrier for what must be 10 years now, but over the past year I've decided that I enough is enough, and I'm giving up on United, including on our United Mileage Visa.
When they wouldn't let us use our frequent flier miles to book Dawnise's trip to S. Africa (due to blacking out all but three days the month she was traveling), I was annoyed, and told them so.
This month, they did it again - I'm trying to book tickets to bring my folks out to our place for my Dad's birthday in July - and we've got plenty of miles on United to cover the tickets, but lo-and-behold, there are only five available days in July.
Alaska Air (where we also have a good chunk of miles) is being much more cooperative so far - so if I can get their credit card people to waive the annual fee, we may have a winner.
Anyone got any horror stories to share, either about their credit card or their frequent flier program, before I make the switch?
Posted by dberger at 5:22 PM | Comments (1)
February 27, 2007
Costco Tightens Return Policy
From the Seattle PI.
Posted by dberger at 4:09 PM
Caribbean Getaway: Coda
It's Tuesday morning as I type this, we've been back for three days and I'm still ruminating on the whole cruise experience.
The last day at sea was uneventful, and we passed it pleasantly enough - playing card games with friends, watching the sea go by, and feeling the air cool as we sailed for more northerly clime's. There was a Valve party and ice-cream social at the back of the boat (pics) that was a great way to end the trip.
Continue reading "Caribbean Getaway: Coda"
Posted by dberger at 7:30 AM
February 22, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Thursday Feb 22nd
We got up and made it to the catamaran with time to spare. Not moments after casting off the host says that on our return, we'd be making a quick stop at Playa Mia to drop off folks who had elected for the "snorkeling with beach break" double feature. Of course, since the tour guy specifically said we wouldn't be passing said beach, I had left the tickets for the Valve event in the stateroom.
The snorkeling was excellent (pictures start here) - colorful coral and fish, including a five-and-a-half foot baracudda, a sea turtle, and reports of a rather large eel (which I didn't catch sight of) along with the "normal" assortment of tropical fish. At times the fish were so thick they were creepy.
Continue reading "Caribbean Getaway: Thursday Feb 22nd"
Posted by dberger at 11:00 PM
February 21, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Wednesday Feb 21st
We got up ungodly early to be breakfasted and at the meeting spot for our snorkel trip at 7:30.
Moments before we expected to disembark, we learned that the catamaran had mechanical trouble and we could either (a) cancel our trip, (b) exchange it for a different tour, or (c) go on the same trip at 12:30. The delay wouldn't have been a big deal had we not gotten up at the aforementioned ungodly hour to be ready.
We ended up tendering into Belize city (well, "Tourist Village") around 10:30 - we walked around the shopping mall long enough to want to get out of it, and managed to find a free "Pirate Museum" - all we had to do was run the gauntlet of locals wanting to offer us tours, taxi rides, braided hair, coke (the white powdered kind, not the beverage) and weed.
After sampling local rums and cashew wine (and buying some of each) we headed down town, into the CBD (central business district). Pictures start here.
Continue reading "Caribbean Getaway: Wednesday Feb 21st"
Posted by dberger at 11:59 PM
February 20, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Tuesday Feb 20th
We docked in Roatan as Dawnise and I were waking up at 8 this morning. We got some breakfast, spent some time figuring out what to do, given that the snorkel tour we had wanted was full by the time we pre-registered a month before the cruise, and ended up walking into town.
By our best reckoning we probably did about 12 miles today. Three east of the boat and back - through Coxen Hole to where the sidewalk ended (literally) at the base of the switchbacks to the airport back to the boat for a drink and snack, then 3 or so miles in the other direction, where the road ran along the beach.
The executive summary is paradise == abject poverty, but there were lots of incongruities. Photos start here.
Continue reading "Caribbean Getaway: Tuesday Feb 20th"
Posted by dberger at 11:59 PM
February 19, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Sunday Feb 18th
I'm sitting on our balcony, typing up the last few days, looking out at the vastness of the sea - and
staring at another cruise ship off our port side.
We're going to head down for breakfast, wish us luck...
Continue reading "Caribbean Getaway: Sunday Feb 18th"
Posted by dberger at 1:45 AM
February 18, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Saturday Feb 17th
Dawnise and I were up by 7:30 the next morning - showered, dressed and off to fid breakfast - at IHOP down the road. I had an egg scramble with chorizo and jalapeño peppers, she had corn cake pancakes. It struck me halfway through the meal that my breakfast was more consistently spicy than just about any food we'd had in Seattle - save Thai. Sheesh.
After breakfast we wandered along the shore a bit - until the temperature and wind conspired to drive us indoors. (It was in the low 50's - less than 10 degrees warmer than Seattle). We packed up, checked out of the room, and waited with the rest of the gathering crowd for the buses to take us to the dock.
Continue reading "Caribbean Getaway: Saturday Feb 17th"
Posted by dberger at 1:45 AM
February 16, 2007
Caribbean Getaway: Friday Feb 16th
We caught a ride with our neighbor Toki to the 8am ferry - he just happened to be driving over that morning and offered us a lift. DJ (Dawnise's driver) picked us up at the ferry dock and got us to the airport spot on 9. We got checked in for the flight - chartered through ATA - and hung out in the gate waiting for our 10:45 boarding call.
The flight to Houston was mostly uneventful - though a bit bumpy. The "open bar" was something of a disappointment - I drank them out of gin - all one mini of it, and they didn't have any Kahlua or Baileys. The food was typical airline food - and I thought about skipping it, but my general rule while traveling is to eat when the opportunity presents itself as you never know when the next opportunity might be
We walked down stairs off the plane onto the tarmac and boarded waiting buses to start the 60 mile trek to Galveston.
Thanks to Houston rush our traffic, it took a good two hours before we were at our hotels. A handful of us struck out to find dinner and ended up a t "The Steak House" - which was a pricey, but pretty good, steak place in one of the hotels along the Galveston seawall. After dinner we retired to our rooms for the night.
Posted by dberger at 10:52 PM
February 13, 2007
Play It, Sam
It shouldn't be surprising that the first full-length HD-DVD we've watched was the re-release of Casablanca. What surprised me was how good the HD transfer looked. Wow.
Posted by dberger at 9:29 AM
February 9, 2007
Coffee Stop Loss
For the last couple weeks, on and off (mostly on) I've been joining the other early-risers at work on their morning pilgrimage for coffee.
See there's no good coffee in the building, and that includes the Tully's on the 1st floor. I've got nothing against Tully's in general, but this one serves inconsistent and often flat coffee - even their espresso drinks are bad, I suspect the water.
Despite what they say about "affordable luxuries, I got tired of morning tithe to Starbucks Corp., so today I brought in an electric kettle and the Trudeau coffee press Dawnise gave me over the holidays.
I got in just in time to join the guys for the trip over, and picked up a bag of Cafe Verona (their only drinkable blend), ground for french press.
Posted by dberger at 8:36 AM
February 8, 2007
Digitizing Photos?
Like most people "our age", we've got a bunch (at least many hundred, possibly a couple thousand) of photo's (and negatives) sitting in boxes. Lately I've had the urge to get them into the digital domain so they can join the "rest" of our pictures.
Anyone reading this done so? Any suggestions on ways (not) to approach the problem?
Posted by dberger at 6:40 PM | Comments (1)
An All-Around Good Day
Today was just a really good day. Traffic to and from work was light, I got a crap-ton of stuff done and delivered to internal customers, and the days are getting longer and warmer.
Color me happy.
Posted by dberger at 6:31 PM
My Thoughts, Exactly...
Given my current employer, there's some amount of pressure to at least "try" an MMORPG or two. (Well, mostly World of Warcraft)...
Compliments of (an old) Penny Arcade.
Posted by dberger at 9:15 AM
January 31, 2007
HD-DVD: First Reactions
After living with our "big damn television" for a year, I've finally seen my first bit of "real" HD content (as opposed to the up-scaled DVD's that compose 99.999% of our viewing). I bought the HD-DVD drive for the XBox 360, which arrived the other day, and a friend was kind enough to loan us copies of V For Vendetta, Batman Begins and Superman Returns on HD-DVD.
Last night I did a side-by-side comparison between V for Vendetta playing on the XBox HD-DVD and my Oppo up-converting DVD player, both displaying 720p, on our Philips 50PF7220A/37.
The executive summary is: the difference is definitely noticeable, but the Oppo gives it a serious run for it's money.
I won't be re-buying anything yet - I'll at least wait for the end of the VHS/Betamax war (after all - it's a razors and razor-blades business, the player is chump change compared to the lifetime investment in media), but I've enabled HD-DVD on our Netflix account, and look forward to watching Casablanca in the highest resolution I've ever seen it :)
Posted by dberger at 8:35 PM
The Deathstar Has Returned
Cingular Wireless is now "the new AT&T" - complete with a revamped Deathstar logo.
That's freaking hilarious.
Posted by dberger at 11:07 AM
January 26, 2007
I'll Never Hear That Song The Same Again
Last night, Dawnise and I watched the last two episodes of the second season of The West Wing.
If you haven't seen it, suffice to say that there's some fairly heavy stuff going on toward the end of the season - there wasn't a dry eye in the house at the end of "18th and Potomac," and it'll be a long time, I think, before I can listen to "Brothers in Arms without being brought back to those moments.
Bartlet's crisis of faith in the national cathedral in "Two Cathedrals" was cliche, and so well written and delivered that it got me anyway.
Brad & Kat loaned us their copy of Season Three, but we'd had enough "heavy" for the evening. our copy - procured on ebay - should arrive today.
Posted by dberger at 1:02 PM
It's As Done as It's Going to Get
Our landscaper was recommended to us by John Paget, the owner of Salty Dog Construction who did a great job on our deck in the winter of 2005. The deck project was the first major project - measured mostly in terms of dollars - that I did by the proverbial seat of my pants.
Continue reading "It's As Done as It's Going to Get"
Posted by dberger at 12:44 PM
January 24, 2007
Well, At Least I Know My Repair Works...
A couple months ago I mentioned the heat trouble I was having with the Trophy. The repair went pretty well, aside from spilling some anti-freeze on the garage floor (what a wonderful smell you've discovered) but I hadn't had proof positive that it actually solved the problem 'till tonight.
Continue reading "Well, At Least I Know My Repair Works... "
Posted by dberger at 10:20 PM
January 17, 2007
10pm and > 0 degrees
For the first time in several weeks, it's above freezing after 6pm. Huzzah.
Posted by dberger at 9:53 PM
January 16, 2007
Cingular Follow-up
I have to retract my assertion that all of Cingular sucks. Dawn Alling, if you somehow manage to read this, you have my gratitude and respect - and if you contact me, I'll be happy to buy you and a guest dinner for your troubles.
Posted by dberger at 11:35 AM
Oh, You Have *Got* To Be Kidding
Cingular will be sold under name of AT&T.
So once they make me a "Cingular" customer, I'll be an "Old Cingular" customer and they'll get to screw me over yet again!
Bastards!
(Thanks Clark)
Posted by dberger at 11:05 AM
Cingular Sucks
Just before we moved to WA, we went into a Cingular store and signed up for cel service. The phones said (say) Cingular, the receipt says Cingular, the bill has always said Cingular, so of course, they think we're "old AT&T" customers.
I got my first taste of the pain this involved when I bought my Cingular locked Palm Treo and unsuccessfully lobbied Cingular to unlock it. They wouldn't, of course, so I paid to unlock the phone and went on with life.
Continue reading "Cingular Sucks"
Posted by dberger at 8:45 AM | Comments (1)
January 12, 2007
Google Maps (finally) groks the ferry
For the longest time Google Maps was all but useless to me, as it didn't understand that the fastest way to Seattle from Bainbridge Island wasn't via Tacoma.
Sometime in the last couple of weeks, that changed, and now if you ask how to get from our place to, say, the crumpet shop in Pike market, you get a sensible answer.
Huzzah.
Posted by dberger at 12:52 PM
Just for the record...
Our outdoor thermometer recorded a low of - 9.5 degrees C last night (that's about 15 degrees F).
That's pretty damn cold in my book.
Posted by dberger at 12:22 PM
January 5, 2007
'06 BMW 325i: First Impressions
As I mentioned a while back, our car needed to go into the shop, and after yet one more false start (they broke their second appointment to pick it up, resulting in all manner of annoyance), the hand-off was successfully completed last night. They took our '03 330cic, and left in it's place an '06 325i. We'll only have it for a day, assuming all goes to plan (which at this point is a silly assumption).
Continue reading "'06 BMW 325i: First Impressions"
Posted by dberger at 12:30 PM
UPS Mail Innovations
Until a few weeks ago, when I got the shipping information for something I bought on ebay, I had never heard of UPS Mail Innovations.
Basically, it's another logistics service from UPS, whereby they perform sorting and partial delivery of packages by handing them off to the local postal authority.
This is, in my opinion, a horrible idea.
Two weeks later, UPS claims that they delivered by package to USPS 6 days ago. Needless to say, it hasn't arrived at the house, and I'm guessing it never will.
For this "service" I paid UPS shipping rates (though how much of that the seller pocketed I have no idea) and got UPSP (un)reliability. Isn't that great. I mean, if I wanted something folded, spindled, mutilated and ultimately lost, I have shipped the damn thing via USPS in the first place.
Now I get two companies who get to play hot-blame-potato with each other when I try to figure out where the hell my package is.
Crap.
Posted by dberger at 11:52 AM
January 1, 2007
Happy New Year
Happy New Year - may the year bring health, prosperity, and happiness.
Posted by dberger at 8:13 PM
December 21, 2006
10 Years. ten... years... tenyears!
A year ago I mused on how quickly nine years had gone. The subsequent year went just as quickly.
Happy anniversary, sweetheart.
Posted by dberger at 6:21 AM | Comments (3)
December 19, 2006
First Impressions
I haven't owned a current-generation game console in, well, ever. A couple years ago I ended up with a Playstation and a Dreamcast that I bought from the company I was working for at the time. I never really used the PlayStation, but I bought Gauntlet Legends for the Dreamcast and Dawnise and I enjoyed playing it on rare occasion. I ended up finding them both in a drawer and selling them on ebay before we moved.
The one console I never planned to own was an XBox, or it's successor, the XBox 360. No way was Microsoft getting a beach-head in my living room.
Continue reading "First Impressions"
Posted by dberger at 7:09 AM | Comments (2)
December 18, 2006
The Damage Doesn't Seem As Bad From Out Here...
Got in to work today without incident - lighter traffic than normal, and little sign of the major trauma that the region had just undergone.
Further east power still hasn't been restored, and no ETA. More news and information is making it's way online. It's not all "rural" areas either - a big stretch of the I-90 from Mercer to Lake Sammamish is still dark.
Hotel rooms are still scarce (well, if you want ones with power and water) and according to co-workers some are cranking up prices to double or more their normal rates. Always nice to make a buck on the back someone else's misery.
50 hours without power was unpleasant, but seems we got lucky.
Posted by dberger at 8:27 AM
December 16, 2006
Let There Be Light
After about 50 hours in the dark, our neighborhood got power back around 7 this evening. The act of flipping a light switch and having the lights respond is most excellent. And the idea of hot showers in the morning... Sweeeet.
Huge thanks and respect to the PSE and cooperating crews out there, in the damn chilly, working round the clock to restore power. Your effort is greatly appreciated.
Posted by dberger at 9:47 PM | Comments (1)
December 14, 2006
Scratch That
I'm now sitting in the dark. The UPS on the networking gear and computers will keep us online for a bit, but... G'night folks.
Posted by dberger at 5:03 PM
Flicker, flicker
True to predictions, the wind is starting to kick up. We haven't lost power yet, but it's only a matter of time...
Posted by dberger at 5:01 PM
Heavy Weather
They're predicting a serious wind storm for tonight - expecting downed trees, power outages, damage to structures, and a general end to civilization as we know it. Just to add insult to the evening commute, there's a Football game in Seattle.
I'm going to take off early and see if I can make it home before the worst of it hits. Quite the week to be riding the "wrong bike" (the RS). The Trophy handles the wind pretty well, but the RS is so light it (and I) gets blown around a fair bit.
Living in Southern CA for so long, where there is no weather to speak of, it's easy to forget that this technological terror we've constructed pales in comparison to the power of nature.
Posted by dberger at 11:45 AM | Comments (2)
December 5, 2006
How Can It Overheat in Near Freezing?
Yesterday, about a block from work, the head warning indicator on the Trophy started faintly glowing. I had been stuck at a light through two cycles, idling for probably 10 minutes, which is nothing, relatively speaking. On top of that, the ambient temp was in the high 30´s, so I was pretty sure this was a bad thing. This morning before leaving I had a glance at the Trophy service manual and I rode the RS in to work.
Continue reading "How Can It Overheat in Near Freezing?"
Posted by dberger at 8:33 PM
December 1, 2006
Freedom!
The car made it to the garage! Woot!
We're going to go do the last of the party shopping, and the car will sleep in the garage again tonight.
I'm irrationally excited.
Posted by dberger at 2:58 PM
November 30, 2006
A Night Out!
Dawnise and I actually got out of the house this evening for the first time since my surprise party on Saturday. The skies were clear, the temp above freezing, and it was the Bainbridge Island tree lighting ceremony downtown. We walked around, watched the tree(s) get lighted, and then joined our neighbor Marcia for dinner at the pub.
Upon our return we had to park the car at the base of the hill and walk back to the house, but hey - we escaped. Still no chance of getting either of my bikes down the hill, though my neighbor up the hill made it down on his dirt-bike this morning.
Posted by dberger at 8:18 PM
Rear Wheel Drive
Walked down the hill to see about retrieving the car - no dice. Between the low-profile sport tires and the rear-wheel drive, it was having none of the slush covered hill, and thanks to the traction control you don't even get the satisfaction of digging yourself a hole in the ground...
At least temps are above freezing - if they stay that way overnight most of this might be gone tomorrow (leaving just mud). They're predicting below freezing temps tomorrow and Saturday night, though - so if it's still slushy tomorrow, the car stays at the base of the hill so at least we can do the pre-party shopping we need to do this weekend...
Fun, fun.
Posted by dberger at 3:24 PM
MoveOn.
Finally got fed up of MoveOn spamming me and unsubscribed from their mailing list.
Funny part is that "I get too much email from MoveOn" is the first in the "why I unsubscribed" drop-down.
Take a hint guys.
Posted by dberger at 2:35 PM
The North Side of Freezing
We hit 33 degrees this morning, and the temp is slowly but surely climbing. Water's dripping off the (18" long) icicles in almost a steady stream.
'course we got another 3" of snow on the ground last night, so it'll take a while, but with any luck things will be back to chilly (as opposed to cold) over the next couple days.
Posted by dberger at 9:28 AM
November 29, 2006
Look, Ma - No Traction!
Dawnise had a long-standing brunch appointment with a friend this morning - normally she'd have blown it off, but this particular friend is moving out of state in a week or so, so Dawnise decided she really wanted to keep the date if she could.
Getting the car down the hill was no problem - gravity works, and she kept it under control. By the time she reached the bottom, however, she had decided that driving wasn't such a great idea, and wanted to turn around. Looking at the sanded road in front of us, I decided that hard part was over, so we did a Chinese fire drill and I drove her down to the restaurant.
Continue reading "Look, Ma - No Traction!"
Posted by dberger at 12:25 PM
November 28, 2006
West Wing
Unlike Battlestar Galactica, which has left me luke-warm thus far, I continue to be impressed with nearly everything about The West Wing.
We watched two episodes tonight - The Leadership Breakfast and The Drop In, which featured one of my favorite recurring characters - Lord John Marbury (played by Roger Rees). What strikes me each time I see Rees in this role is how deftly he takes the audience with him through his abrupt transformation from jocular to somber and deadly serious.
And on a totally unrelated note - according to our outdoor thermometer it's (a near record low of) 16.6 degrees (-8.5C) outside. I'm looking forward to it warming up to a predicted balmy high of 37 tomorrow.
Posted by dberger at 10:14 PM
Snowed In: Day 2
Pop quiz - what do you get when you mix snow on the ground with temperatures hovering above freezing during the day and dipping into the low teens at night?
Continue reading "Snowed In: Day 2"
Posted by dberger at 5:05 PM
November 26, 2006
Two Steps Forward, One Step Sideways
Since moving in, we've had some spare furniture sitting about collecting dust (and stuff). Over the last week Dawnise has found homes for most of it - the armoire that used to house our TV going to a lady who wanted it as a free-standing closet, and Dawnise's old dresser and our two nightstands going to our friends Brad & Kat.
Continue reading "Two Steps Forward, One Step Sideways"
Posted by dberger at 2:57 PM
Who Ordered the Snow?
I don't normally work on my birthday - I make it a point to take the day off and do as little as possible.
For whatever reason (call it the honeymoon with the new job not being over - I'm enjoying work at the moment) I was planning to go in as normal tomorrow, maybe make it a half day.
Seems fate may have taken a hand. It started snowing about 45 minutes ago, and they're predicting up to 2" accumulation by the end of tomorrow. I'll ride in the rain, but snow? That's where I draw the line.
Posted by dberger at 2:41 PM
November 25, 2006
Surprise!
Dawnise successfully sprung her two-months-in-the-making surprise party on me tonight with the help of David @ C'est La Vie.
He called around 6pm with a story about his credit card machine acting up - sounding legitimately distressed - and asked if I could stop by and see if I could sort it out again. Being the sucker I am, I told him we were about to head to dinner at the pub and that I'd stop in on our way.
Continue reading "Surprise!"
Posted by dberger at 10:12 PM | Comments (2)
November 24, 2006
Resquiat in Pacem, Robert Altman
If you didn't catch it, Robert Altman died the other day at the age of 81.
I've enjoyed a number of Altman's films (M*A*S*H* and The Player come immediately to mind) - and most recently Gosford Park landed on my top 5 list of all-time-favorite films.
We watched it again tonight as a sort of homage to the fallen, and yet again Helen Mirren's performance in her final scenes struck true.
Posted by dberger at 11:07 PM
Giving Thanks
I generally poo-poo holidays on the grounds that you should appreciate what you have, be kind to your fellow man, tell people you love them and honor veterans (etc. etc.) a little every day, rather than saving it all up for an officially designated day.
I realize not everyone (anyone?) thinks like me, so happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Now that the overindulgence is over, go figure out how bad the damage is and start working it off :)
Posted by dberger at 2:21 PM
November 22, 2006
Little Frustrations
Our new(ish) car developed it's first problem - the driver door didn't like to open from the outside. So I called BMW of Seattle and made an appointment for today so Dawnise could bring it in and get that, and a couple other random things, taken care of.
Continue reading "Little Frustrations"
Posted by dberger at 5:23 PM
November 21, 2006
Battlestar Galactica
I've had disc 2 of (the new) Battlestar Galactica sitting at home for weeks. Since shortly after Dawnise got back from S. Africa.
She's been uninterested in watching it, and I don't generally watch TV without her, so it's been just sorta sitting there. We watched two episodes - You Can't Go Home Again, and Litmus, last night.
Continue reading "Battlestar Galactica"
Posted by dberger at 8:51 AM | Comments (1)
Smoke 'em if you've got 'em
Due to "technical issues" that still need to be resolved, the transition from "free" to "overpriced" wifi on the ferry system has been pushed back a week.
Still not willing to pay $30/month for it.
But I am going to miss it.
Posted by dberger at 7:27 AM
November 20, 2006
Time for a new UPS
As we head into winter, the "lots of trees, occasional wind storms, and above-ground power infrastructure" is biting us again. The power was out a couple times in the last few weeks for a few hours each incident.
It was enough that it convinced me to see about getting my old APC BackUPS 500 actually monitored. One new battery ($30) and a bit of time later, nut is happily watching the UPS, and reporting our occasional power hiccups.
I discovered yesterday, however, that the UPS isn't actually indicating when it's entering low battery - so the machine happily runs along on battery 'till the UPS kicks it.
That's clearly silly. Time to buy a new UPS and re-purpose this one to something that isn't trying to use it for intelligent shutdown.
Posted by dberger at 6:20 AM
November 17, 2006
I Think I'm Fighting a Cold
I've been cold all day, and yet sweating. I'm pretty sure that's not good. I feel fine, save for the cold thing, but I wonder if that'll be true tomorrow morning...
Posted by dberger at 4:36 PM
November 11, 2006
Well, That Was Easy
The heated grips went on with minimal hassle - just like the instructions said they should. I started this morning around 11, and stopped when Juan and Rachel came by. We had a very nice afternoon with them - lunch at the pub, ice cream at Mora, and crepes and coffee at C'est La Vie (she's pregnant - which is a great excuse to eat everything and anything).
We got back around 3:30, they left to catch the 4:30 boat, and I resumed installation with Dawnise's help ("Aziz, light!").
Aside from having to do one bit twice 'cause I mis-routed the throttle cable the first time, it was pretty painless. The grips seem to warm up fairly quickly (which is good) - and I'm looking forward to trying them out on Monday. I'm already thinking it's something I should have done years ago.
Now, it's off to the Improv.
Posted by dberger at 6:26 PM
November 10, 2006
Give The Gift of Warm
Nise gave me my birthday present a bit early - she ordered the heated grip kit for my Trophy and it arrived today. I gave the instructions a once over, and it looks like a couple hours of effort. If I make the time this weekend, cold fingers could be a thing of the past.
Gosh she's swell.
I also got the Sceptre wide screen LCD that I ordered to replace the Viewsonic that went tango-uniform on me. Hooked it up, and I suspect that once I get the color and brightness dialed in, it will work nicely indeed.
Oh, and as an added bonus, it was nearly $100 cheaper than the Viewsonic of the same size and resolution that it's replacing.
Posted by dberger at 10:21 PM
November 9, 2006
A Capitol Time
Several months back Dawnise noticed that The Capitol Steps were coming to Seattle and grabbed tickets. The show was last night at the Paramount - and as you might imagine, with the results of the mid-term elections yesterday the troupe and the crowd were in top form. It's the closest I've ever been - or am likely to be - to a DNC rally.
The show was high-larious - I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. If you've never heard their particular brand of political humor, check out a few clips on YouTube, and if they're going to appear in your neighborhood go see 'em.
Posted by dberger at 7:57 AM
November 8, 2006
It's Green!
And it's not mold. Or Moss.
Yes, it's true - we're starting to get grass. The areas we (and when I say we, I mean our landscaper) seeded have sprouted. I sure hope our plans for this "grows tall and lays over on it's side" grass work, or I'll be cutting a lawn again.
Posted by dberger at 9:23 AM
November 6, 2006
Seriously Soggy
Holy crap it's wet out. They're predicting up to 6 inches of rain today, rivers at record high levels, and up to 70mph winds in some areas. Then tomorrow the ocean swells arrive, bringing record high tides and the possibility of coastal flooding.
Fun fun. I'm expecting we'll lose power at least once, and I'm hoping that any trees that decide to come down aim away from the house.
Fingers crossed.
Posted by dberger at 9:30 AM | Comments (2)
November 3, 2006
Some Days It's Not Worth Getting Up
The day started out ok - I planned to work from home, so I got to sleep in a bit. I got up and went downstairs to find that the larger of my two LCD's - a Viewsonic va2012wb - was displaying "NO SIGNAL". Little did I know what a harbinger that would turn out to be...
Continue reading "Some Days It's Not Worth Getting Up"
Posted by dberger at 2:52 PM
November 2, 2006
Speaking of Modern Textiles
While I'm praising modern textiles for keeping me dry, I should mention that I continue to be impressed with my Timbuk2 laptop messenger bag.
It's been with me, with my notebook inside, and performed admirably.
Posted by dberger at 6:28 PM
The Boy Scouts Have It Right
The bit about being prepared, at least. Maybe not the bit about the copyright merit badge. (Yea, I know, you can't make that kind of stuff up.)
The weather 'round here has turned into typical Seattle fall/winter - which means wet. And the last few wet days have been wetter than usual - with actual rain, rather than the prolonged drizzle we normally experience. This morning was one of those wet days, and it happened to be a Thursday which means, as with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and usually Friday, I had to go to work.
On the motorcycle.
In the rain.
Continue reading "The Boy Scouts Have It Right"
Posted by dberger at 9:30 AM
November 1, 2006
Curses, Foiled Again
For months now, I've occasionally gotten mysterious additional charges on my Cingular (formerly AT&T) bill related to my "Unlimited" data plan. Each month I've called them, they've reversed the charges, and no one has been able to offer me an explanation...
Until now.
Continue reading "Curses, Foiled Again"
Posted by dberger at 8:41 PM
October 31, 2006
Amazing Weekend
Dawnise and I were down in So. Cal. last weekend for the Beltz' annual Halloween murder mystery party on Friday night. We had a great time, and saw a bunch of friends - old and new - who we don't get to see nearly often enough.
The costumes were incredible (is anyone who knows her surprised that Dru won best costume and best role-playing, and correctly concluded that I was the sociopathic killer?) and most folks seemed to have as much fun as we did.
Plenty of photographic evidence is available.
Continue reading "Amazing Weekend"
Posted by dberger at 11:22 AM
October 24, 2006
They're off their nut
The ferry run between Seattle and Bainbridge has had WiFi over Water for a while now - funded by grant money. We've always known they were going to convert it to a paid system "someday," and someday arrives at the end of November.
They've finally (it arrived in my inbox a couple hours ago) released pricing. And my initial reaction is "they must be mad."
Continue reading "They're off their nut"
Posted by dberger at 5:42 PM
(More) Props to Cyclegear
On discovering that I had the wrong break pads last night, I dropped a note to customerservice at cyclegear.com, explaining the situation and asking if they'd be so kind as to pickup the return shipping, since the application matrix was wrong.
This morning I got a note back saying they were shipping the correct pads and a pre-paid UPS return label for the ones I can't use.
Posted by dberger at 9:57 AM
October 23, 2006
Well That Was Easy (Mostly)
I took the Trophy to I-90 Motorsports for it's 36k service a couple weeks ago, and when I got it back they informed me that I needed front pads, which they didn't have in stock. (As an aside, living on the other side of the canyon from So Cal Triumph has me well and truly spoiled - finding parts for my bikes locally is a royal pain in the arse.)
Continue reading "Well That Was Easy (Mostly)"
Posted by dberger at 9:18 PM | Comments (1)
October 21, 2006
ReadyNAS NV
I've now had three different folks, two here and one at work, say glowing things about the Infrant ReadyNAS NV in response to my Reliable NAS on the Cheap post of a few days back. Three's a magic number - so I decided to do a bit of research.
The ReadyNAS seems to be everything but the kitchen sink - but what it's not is cheap.
Continue reading "ReadyNAS NV"
Posted by dberger at 2:23 PM
October 16, 2006
South Africa Photos
For folks who read my blog, but not Dawnises, I figured I'd mention that Dawnise has started posting pictures from her S. Africa trip.
She took (literally) thousands of pictures, so you might wanna check back occasionally to see the latest additions.
Posted by dberger at 6:33 PM
October 14, 2006
More Compact Fluorescent Goodness
I posted a while back about installing Compact Fluorescent bulbs everywhere I could in the house - which meant all the standard non-dimmed lights. At the time, I tried using one to replace a flood light, but found they weren't up to the task.
We were at Costco today, and saw that they had these for less than their incandescent equivalents after PSE instant rebate, so we bought enough to replace all the flood lights in the house.
Continue reading "More Compact Fluorescent Goodness"
Posted by dberger at 8:43 PM
October 13, 2006
New Glasses
Once I decided to punt (again) on Lasik, I started putting off getting new glasses. My prescription hasn't really changed in the last few years (which is why I'm a good candidate for Lasik), so I wasn't exactly in a rush, but one of the lenses in my current pair has gotten scratched to the point that I'm seeing the scratches, so it was clearly time.
Continue reading "New Glasses"
Posted by dberger at 2:31 PM
October 8, 2006
Rated "V" for Vah-vah-vah-voom
Last night Dawnise and I did a double feature of local theater - first the Edge Improv, which performs each month on the first Saturday, and then - after a brief intermission - we caught The Atomic Bombshells burlesque show as part of this seasons "After Dark" series.
Continue reading "Rated "V" for Vah-vah-vah-voom"
Posted by dberger at 11:45 AM | Comments (1)
October 4, 2006
Random Bits o' the Morning
There was a bomb scare on my ferry ride to work this morning -- apparently a "bald guy with a goatee" made a comment that was overheard by another passenger who took it seriously and took it to a crew member. They decided that all the passengers needed to go to one end of the ferry (I was so tempted to try to get everyone to jump up and down in unison) while they investigated. Not to end it at that, we had to wait for state K-9 units to come on board and do a sweep before we could disembark.
Continue reading "Random Bits o' the Morning"
Posted by dberger at 9:34 AM
September 29, 2006
The Eagle Has Landed
Well, I know know which flight Dawnise was on. It just landed in Seattle.
By the time she collects her luggage, gets a ride to the ferry, etc. etc. she'll be home around 1pm.
Posted by dberger at 11:05 AM
Timing is Everything
Nise is winging her way home from Washington DC - she even managed to hop an earlier flight than the earlier flight I had gotten her a seat on. Unfortunately, since I don't know what flight she's on, or when it will land (I was very asleep when she called to give me the good news this morning) my plan to meet her on the Seattle side is sorta shot.
I checked United's online info, but since I don't know if it's a direct flight or not, there are four distinct possibilities.
Anyway, in other news, I felt a bit lethargic yesterday - not enough to stop me going to work, but enough to convince me to leave a bit early and head to bed early as well. This morning, I think it's clear that I'm coming down with a cold.
Bloody hell.
Posted by dberger at 10:28 AM
September 28, 2006
I've Seen Things You People Wouldn't Believe...
Listening to Vangelis' score for Blade Runner.
No matter how many times I hear the score, or Batty's soliloquy, it never fails to send shivers down the nape of my neck.
Posted by dberger at 10:29 AM
September 27, 2006
The Long Way Home
I just talked to Dawnise for probably the last time before she starts the trek home. She leaves Cape Town headed for Johannesburg at around 4am Seattle time tomorrow (the 28th) and arrives around 6am Seattle time. At 9am Seattle time she leaves Johannesburg for Washington DC via Dakar - and arrives at 6am DC time on the 29th (that's 18 hours, for those playing along at home).
She's got a 6 hour layover in DC, and a direct DC to Seattle flight that arrives at 3pm Seattle time on Friday the 29th.
I hate waiting...
Posted by dberger at 11:11 PM
September 24, 2006
This Skype Thing is Pretty Cool...
I was sitting here, lamenting the fact that I had nothing to do today, and trying to figure out where I was going to go, when I got an incoming call on Skype from Dawnise from an internet cafe in Cape Town.
So we've been chatting for a while, and thanks to the whole free SkypeOut to US numbers, and the ability to setup conference calls, she's been able to say "hi" to her parents, and a couple of friends (Kathye and Jan - you missed the call, sorry).
Nifty.
Oh, apparently they're staying here
Posted by dberger at 11:48 AM | Comments (2)
September 23, 2006
Gone Dark (Again)
I got a brief call from Dawnise a few moments ago - apparently neither of the last two places they've stayed have had electrical outlets compatible with the international adapter kit she has with her, so her cel is down to the end of it's battery. She's going to try to find (buy) a kit with the appropriate adaptor, but no way to tell if and when she'll be able to.
So she's incommunicado until further notice.
In other news, I got confirmation from United that she's cleared the wait-list for (i.e. got a seat on) an earlier flight from Washington DC to Seattle, so she'll get home around 3 in the afternoon on Friday the 29th, rather than just after midnight on Saturday the 30th.
Posted by dberger at 2:24 PM
September 20, 2006
Biko
The Simple Minds cover of Peter Gabriel's Biko came up in the random shuffle. It's playing now. The first verse sent a chill down my spine.
Continue reading "Biko"
Posted by dberger at 12:26 PM
September 19, 2006
Sin City
Dawnise expressed no interest in seeing Sin City when it came out, so it ended up on my "watch while Dawnise is in Africa" list.
Good thing, too. She'd have hated it, despite it's merits.
Continue reading "Sin City"
Posted by dberger at 10:26 PM
More Proof That Pricey != Good
In January, after doing a bunch of research, I bought a Capresso burr grinder. I mostly wanted a burr grinder so I could consistently grind fine enough for espresso, and I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg.
One of the guys at work gave a much more expensive grinder that he'd given up on. His major complaint was that it created too much static, despite it's "new anti--static technology."
Continue reading "More Proof That Pricey != Good"
Posted by dberger at 11:01 AM
I'm Sure I'm Going To Hell Now...
I now have an MSN Messenger account.
Gack.
If any of you are silly enough to use MSN's chat (my excuse is that it's the only chat service that we allow through the rather draconian firewall at work), my contact name is my email address.
And if you don't know my email address, I don't wanna talk to you anyway. ;)
Posted by dberger at 10:51 AM
September 18, 2006
One of A (Very) Short List
I don't play PC games much, and I don't own a console (I had a Gauntlet Legends, but that's long since gone the way of E-Bay). I can probably count the number of games I've played through on my hands.
- Ultima IV (On my Apple IIe)
- Half Life (well, nearly, I gave up at the stupid jumpy puzzle bit)
- Half Life: Opposing Force
- Baldur's Gate (right up to the big last battle, by which point I was fed up with the repetitive and micro-managerial game mechanics.)
- American McGee's Alice
- Neverwinter Nights (and it's first expansion, Shadows of Undrentide)
- Spliter Cell
- ... I'm sure there are a few more, but none that spring to mind ...
As of tonight, I can add Half Life 2 to that list.
Only took me 22 months (from the date of release).
Posted by dberger at 11:15 PM
Conn, Sonar, we have contact...
Dawnise (and the rest of her party) have emerged, unscathed, from the African bush. She called this morning before I left for work to tell me she was alive and ok, and we just spoke for about 20 minutes thanks to the marvels of Skype.
The safari sounds like it was truly wondrous. She filled the first 1G SD card with pictures, and is working through the second (it's possible that she filled the 2GB SD card, I don't remember which one was in the camera when she left). She had so much to say she didn't know where to start.
If the rest of the trip is miserable, it will still have been worth it.
Posted by dberger at 9:39 AM | Comments (1)
September 16, 2006
For This, I Have A Masters Degree
I called our neighbors Dave and Marcia last night and invited them to join me for breakfast at C'est La Vie (the crepe place I mentioned a few days ago). Dave, who's a paramedic in Seattle, had to be on the 9:40 boat to go to work, so they picked me up on their way down the hill at 8:15 this morning.
The restaurant was empty when we arrived, and we chatted with David (the owner, not the paramedic), ordered coffee and crepes, and watched of folks come in for one or the other while we waited for, and ate, our food.
As we were finishing up, there was a mishap with their credit card machine, it wedged during a transaction, and they couldn't get it to behave after power-cycling it. David sent one of his employees to his house to fetch the spare, and in the mean time was having to apologize to customers for the inconvenience.
Being the nosy type I am, I offered to take a look. I managed to bring it back from the brink, and David rewarded us with a special sweet crepe. Chocolate, banana, pear, almonds, and creme.
Mmmmm.
See, all that education paid off :)
Posted by dberger at 9:45 AM | Comments (2)
September 15, 2006
V for Vendetta, Redux
I wrote about V for Vendetta when we saw it in the theater. I ended up watching it again tonight on DVD. On re-viewing, some of my initial objections have faded, and others (like the cheesy effects during V's final battle) I still object to.
I must ultimately admit, however, that the storytelling, and the acting (Natalie Portman gets a lot of credit, but damn, Hugo Weaving did it through a mask) "worked" for me.
Continue reading "V for Vendetta, Redux"
Posted by dberger at 11:01 PM
She's Gone Dark
Dawnise, Janinne, and Wayne (Janinne's brother) left for their planned Safari yesterday (today? yesterday? The dateline does confuse things, doesn't it).
I spoke to Dawnise last night (early this morning her time) and she was having a good time. When I tried calling this morning (evening her time) her cel immediately kicked to voicemail. It did the same when I tried calling a short time ago.
I'm assuming that means that there's no cel coverage on safari.
Who'd a thunk it? :)
Posted by dberger at 9:47 PM
September 14, 2006
Geek Alert
Dawnise is using webmail during her absence, on a server I have root on. So I took a look at the web access logs, found the address she's coming from, and did some digging...
Continue reading "Geek Alert"
Posted by dberger at 9:47 AM | Comments (1)
She's On The Ground
We haven't actually spoken to each other yet, but that's mostly 'cause she's called three times while I've been on the motorcycle and unable to answer.
All's quiet on the western front.
Posted by dberger at 9:14 AM
I've Got My Towel
According to South Africa Air, Dawnise's flight landed in Jo-burg eleven minutes past noon, GMT+2.
So far, no contact.
I tried calling Janinne's brother's mobile, and got his answer phone (voice mail, to us Americans), on which I left a message.
Further bulletins as events warrant.
Posted by dberger at 7:13 AM
September 13, 2006
The Eye in the Sky [Updated]
Thanks our modern connected world, you can track Dawnise's flight from the comfort of your own home.
Note the bit at the bottom about Trans-Atlantic, Trans-Pacific, and Central/South American flights containing errors in the data. In other words, it's not 100% accurate, but it's something.
Looks like that link only tracks the first leg of the flight, from DC to Dakar. According to her itinerary, she arrives in Johannesburg at 12 noon, local time (GMT+2) on September 14th. Seattle is currently GMT-7, so they're 9 hours ahead of us, so she arrives around 3am Seattle local tomorow.
Posted by dberger at 12:22 PM
And She's Off...
After a day of packing, putzing, and generally stressing about the trip, Dawnise and I went to the Pub for dinner and to Mora for a scoop of ice-cream before I dropped her off at the ferry for the slightly late 7:10pm sailing to Seattle.
Continue reading "And She's Off..."
Posted by dberger at 9:20 AM
September 12, 2006
C'est La Vie
I'm home from work today, helping Dawnise take care of pre-trip "stuff" and generally spending the day with her before she leaves for S. Africa tonight.
The other day she spotted a newly opened Crepe restaurant on the Island, so this morning we wandered down for crepes and coffee for breakfast. The owner (David?) and chef is a very friendly and vivacious Parisian, with a great sense of humor. The coffee (Cafe Umbria) is excellent, and the crepes - we shared one sweet and one savory - were very tasty.
Continue reading "C'est La Vie"
Posted by dberger at 10:40 AM | Comments (1)
September 9, 2006
Twin Peaks
What the hell's up with Season 2 of Twin Peaks not being released on DVD?
For that matter, someone 'splain to my why I had to buy Season 1 from amazon.co.uk to get the two hour pilot!? (Let's hear it for region free DVD players.)
Continue reading "Twin Peaks"
Posted by dberger at 6:53 PM
A Saturday Around Town
Dawnise leaves for S. Africa on Tuesday, so we had a small list of things to take care of today.
We got up this morning and were amongst the first in line at our favorite bakers booth at the farmer's market. We picked up Dawnise's weekly corn cake, a scone, and a fresh blueberry tart. We swung by the vet's office and got food for the diabetic (cat) in the household. From there we had just enough time to get home, drop the car, and walk up the hill to our neighbors place for our homeowners association meeting at 10.
Continue reading "A Saturday Around Town"
Posted by dberger at 6:33 PM
September 4, 2006
Back, By Popular Demand...
It's the Weekend Update.
I'm getting into the habit of working from home on Friday's unless there's a compelling reason for me to be in the office. So Dawnise and I left together for the 6:30pm boat to go into Seattle for dinner at Ed & Holly's place, with special guest stars Larry Fillion, Janine (the same Janine Dawnise is soon heading to S. Africa with), two of Ed's cousins, and our favorite Greek Australian, JD.
Continue reading "Back, By Popular Demand..."
Posted by dberger at 5:29 PM | Comments (1)
Holidays Make for the Best Commute
We have an interesting vacation setup at work - there are no company holidays (count 'em, zero), and you don't get sick time. What you do get is a very fair amount of "paid time off" - to be used as you see fit.
Wanna work Christmas but take off Hanukkah? Great. It's the way I always said it should be done. (Well, what I literally said was 'you should get all holidays or none' - all would, of course, be better.)
Continue reading "Holidays Make for the Best Commute"
Posted by dberger at 9:10 AM
August 31, 2006
Hard-Boiled Cyberpunk Overload
I don't normally re-read books - not 'cause I don't enjoy reading, far from it, but because there are so many books, and so little time. I'm the same about wine, unless I need a bottle to take to a gathering, I'll always buy the one I haven't had over the one I have.
The one standing exception to my "no-re-read" policy is Neuromancer, which I tend to end up reading about every year.
Continue reading "Hard-Boiled Cyberpunk Overload"
Posted by dberger at 8:17 PM | Comments (1)
MTP Sucks
MTP sucks big hairy caterpillars.
There are no good sync tools (ala rsync) for MTP, and I'm halfway through transferring 35G to my Zen Touch after 5 hours.
Ridiculous.
Oh, and Microsoft Media Player (you know, from the guys who wrote MTP) is very possibly the worst MTP transfer tool that exists. It doesn't like special characters in meta-data, and truncates. So "AC/DC" becomes "AC."
Brilliant.
Posted by dberger at 3:03 PM
August 28, 2006
Gorram West Wing
Brad has been on my ass for years (literally) to watch West Wing. Even went so far as to buy me the first season on DVD.
We watched the last episode of the 1st Season tonight.
I bought Season two moments ago.
If you've seen Season 1 you know that we're hanging on the edge of our seats.
No spoilers, please.
Posted by dberger at 10:10 PM | Comments (1)
Weekend Recap
On Saturday Dawnise and I went down to the Island farmers market, she got her weekly Corn Cake, I had a blueberry scone, and we got a coffee from Pegasus. We wandered a bit, enjoying the morning and our breakfast, and then wandered up 305 toward the Kitsap County Fair.
The fair wasn't much, nothing like the OC or LA county fairs (or even the Puyallup fair), but it was a pleasant way to spend a couple hours. The photography showings had some very nice work, and Dawnise saw quilt/craft entries from a couple ladies she knows from her quilt guild.
Continue reading "Weekend Recap"
Posted by dberger at 7:56 AM
August 25, 2006
There Goes the Neighborhood
I'm working from home today, and Dawnise is out at a hair appointment, so I had to answer the door when the doorbell rang a short while ago.
It took two years, but the gorram bible-thumpers found us.
I said thanks but no thanks, and only thought after closing the door that I should have pointed out that this was a private road and they were trespassing.
Posted by dberger at 12:31 PM | Comments (2)
DRM is a Losing Battle
Cory says so and I wholeheartedly agree.
And here's the latest bit of evidence.
Posted by dberger at 12:28 PM
August 24, 2006
Traditions
Over the course of my career to date, I've had the pleasure to work with Edmond Mesrobian three separate times. We met while we were both at Disney Online in the early 90's, I worked with him in a vendor/customer setting while with OpenMarket in the late 90's, and after OpenMarket killed Transact, I joined Edmond at the-company-formerly-known-as-Checkout-dot-com. Most recently I joined Edmond at RealNetworks.
One of the traditions Edmond brought with him was the making of Armenian Coffee in his office.
Continue reading "Traditions"
Posted by dberger at 2:24 PM | Comments (1)
August 17, 2006
More Praise for Shure
I'm listening to Everything But the Girl through my Shure E2C's on my ferry ride to work. As the song ended, I looked up to discover that several folks around me were glaring at the parents of a kid throwing a tantrum... sitting right next to me.
I hadn't even noticed.
:)
Posted by dberger at 8:09 AM
August 16, 2006
It's really happening
Dawnise got her tickets booked yesterday - she is, in fact, going to S. Africa for 2 and a half Weeks in the middle of September.
I'm completely excited for her - I think the trip will be an incredible experience.
Continue reading "It's really happening"
Posted by dberger at 8:19 AM | Comments (1)
August 15, 2006
Non sequitur of the day
Spotted on my ferry ride home: A Harley Davidson leather jacket with the phrase "Superbly Engineered" across the back.
Engineering's not exactly the first thing I think of when I hear (a) Harley.
But maybe that's just me.
Posted by dberger at 9:08 PM
August 14, 2006
Busy Weekend
Saturday Dawnise and I decided to head into Seattle and spend some time at the Seattle Center, with the dual purpose of taking in the Pacific Northwest Quiltfest and the Game On! exhibit at the Pacific Science Center.
Continue reading "Busy Weekend"
Posted by dberger at 7:53 AM | Comments (1)
August 11, 2006
Another (brief) visit
Kathye and Alyssa are in Washington for a wedding, and they managed to hop a ferry over and spend a couple hours on the island. I had arranged to work from home today, just in case that actually happened, so we went down town for lunch at Isla Bonita and ice-cream (sorbet for me, thanks) at Mora.
It was great to see them both, and the visit was over far to quickly.
Posted by dberger at 5:16 PM
Where Was This...
When I was living with my Powerbook, I ended up forking out for CodeTek Virtual Desktop, just for it's focus-follows-mouse feature. Seems someone else got annoyed enough to do something about it.
Posted by dberger at 10:32 AM
August 10, 2006
Dinner With Friends
I found out last week that Julia Peker, a former colleague and good friend, would be in Seattle on business today and tomorrow, and fortunately the stars aligned sufficiently that I joined her and a couple other folks for dinner tonight. We ate at Marjorie in Bell-town on 2nd. The food (the prefix "Chef's Whimsical Tasting Menu" was very nice, and I can definitely imagine going back.
At the moment, I'm on the ferry home - later than I expected, but happy to have had the chance to catch up.
Posted by dberger at 10:59 PM
The Only Thing Worse than Security Theater...
Since 9/11, I've been rating about the hopelessly pointless security theater imposed on air travelers by the TSA.
All the instituted security measures have been reactions to observed threats - prohibiting anything sharp after the initial attack, forcing shoes to be removed after the failed shoe bomb, even today's announcement banning carry-on liquids. They've all been reactionary.
Continue reading "The Only Thing Worse than Security Theater..."
Posted by dberger at 12:50 PM | Comments (1)
August 9, 2006
The Perfect (Shit) Storm
Relying, as we do, on the ferry, we signed up for email alerts - if a boat is running late, or there's something odd about the traffic to or from the dock, they send out a note.
Handy stuff, that.
Today, about mid-day, I got this:
Drivers and bus riders should anticipate heavy congestion today, August 9, with THREE major crowd events adding to peak hour traffic this afternoon: Safeco Field - 1:35pm Mariners game, which ends around 4:30pm; Qwest Field - International soccer match starts at 8:00pm with game-goers arriving in SODO as early as 5:30pm; Key Arena - 7:30pm Faith Hill/Tim McGraw Concert whose attendees will impact traffic on I-5 and elsewhere in the Seattle area.
Continue reading "The Perfect (Shit) Storm"
Posted by dberger at 5:36 PM
August 8, 2006
Asus W3J Initial Reactions
After an annoying delay thanks to UPS, my notebook arrived at the house yesterday. After dinner, I took it out of the package and did a quick DOA test, and I took it with me this morning on the ferry ride to work.
After having it for only an hour, it's clear why they're so hard to get 'hold of in the states - ASUS has a winner on their hands here.
Continue reading "Asus W3J Initial Reactions"
Posted by dberger at 9:54 AM
August 7, 2006
The Seagulls Don't Need Micky-D's
I love taking the ferry to and from work in the summer. In the morning I sit inside, watch the mist rise over the sound and the sun finally poke through, and on the way home I sit on the sun deck, enjoying the (what else) sun and fresh air.
That is, unless the tourists take over.
Continue reading "The Seagulls Don't Need Micky-D's"
Posted by dberger at 8:53 PM
August 4, 2006
I Hate Waiting...
I finally got the notebook situation @ Work sorted - we returned the leviathan they purchased, and I ordered an Asus W3J from NewEgg on Monday.
The showed the item as in-stock, an assertion which was reiterated by the CSR I spoke to prior to placing the order (these units have been a bit hard to find). I paid for 3 day shipping, and the unit left CA on Tuesday.
So I should be getting it today, right? Well, don't hold your breath...
Continue reading "I Hate Waiting..."
Posted by dberger at 11:34 AM
August 3, 2006
Roving Mars
Picked up (and polished off) another book off my reading stack. Steve Squyers - the PI on the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers came to Real as part of our authors series, and after loving every minute of his talk, I bought two signed copies of his book; one for me, and one for Vince.
That was back in December of last year.
The other day Dawnise and I were visiting with our neighbors Dave and Marcia up the hill and the conversation turned to the space program. Turns out Dave's about as big a space-case as I am, and after deciding to loan him Gene Krantz' and Robert Zubrin's books (Failure is Not An Option, and The Case for Mars, respectively) I decided it was high time I read Roving Mars.
Continue reading "Roving Mars"
Posted by dberger at 9:58 PM
How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love a Crappy Codec
I've been listening to my Zen Touch through the pair of Shure E2C's that I got to replace my Kenwood active noise canceling 'phones that got broken on a recent trip.
The Shure's sound pretty good. A little weak on the low-end, but they're in-ear 'phones, so I don't expect chest-thumping bass. And despite my skepticism, they do a good job of sound isolation - I use 'em on the ferry daily, and they block out nearly all the ambient noise. I haven't had a chance to try 'em on a plane yet, but I think they'll do ok.
Mp3... well, it's adequate. I've had to crank up the encoding rate to get sound that I like, so the on-disk size of my collection has grown by about 23% compared to my previous encode using Ogg Vorbis at 144Kbps.
Another case of better being the enemy of good enough.
Posted by dberger at 10:44 AM
July 28, 2006
Putting a Face with a Name
During my job hunt, I mentioned Mary Bresticker - the headhunter at Binc who was trying to place me at Microsoft. After spending a significant amount of time on the phone with her, and learning that she had friends in the Port Angeles area, I suggested that if she called the next time she was in the neighborhood, we could meet for lunch/dinner/coffee to attach a face with the name and voice.
Much to my (pleasant) surprise she took me up on it - and Laurie, Nise and I met Mary and Adam at Bainbridge Bakers last weekend for coffee and light nibbles.
It was great to finally meet her in person, and hopefully we'll have the chance to get together again - either on her next trip North or our next trip South.
Posted by dberger at 10:24 PM | Comments (1)
A little over a month on the job
Had a chat with Jeremy yesterday - he's the closest thing there is to a "manager" of the Steam dev. team. Smart guy - worked for much of his professional career at Microsoft on various stuff, most recently MSN Messenger (which is sorta ironic, since that's the team at Microsoft that Mary was trying to place me with. Seems the lead on the team I interviewed with was a Luke to Jeremy's Yoda, or something like that.)
Anyway, about that conversation...
Continue reading "A little over a month on the job"
Posted by dberger at 10:10 PM | Comments (1)
July 18, 2006
Working for a Company People Don't Hate
Late last week, at an EA event, "we" announced some products that will ship with HL2-Episode 2 (Portal, and Team Fortress 2, to be precise). (I say "we" 'cause I haven't done anything to contribute to those products, so it feels like glory hounding to strongly associate myself with them.)
The reaction from the gaming press and community have been really strong.
And, unlike my last employer, it's been strongly positive.
Continue reading "Working for a Company People Don't Hate"
Posted by dberger at 11:02 AM | Comments (1)
July 17, 2006
Weekend Recap
Executive Summary: Busy, busy, busy.
Saturday morning we caught a mid-morning boat into Seattle and headed for the 4th Ave Costco to return the camera and pick up an appetizer to bring to our ultimate destination. From there, we hit 5 N to Snohomish (which I found very reminiscent of the California Central Valley) to join Scott and Amanda (and Zoe, and Will) for their "last trip across the border before they move" hosted by some friends.
We hung out, chatted, ate, drank, and basically enjoyed ourselves. I stepped out in the middle of the party to call my dad and wish him a happy birthday, and all was basically good with the world.
Continue reading "Weekend Recap"
Posted by dberger at 9:22 AM
July 15, 2006
A Case of (Way) Too Much Camera
After much discussion, we decided to return the really cool camera I bought Dawnise and replace it with one that's slightly less cool, but overall way more appropriate and useful for the person and purpose.
Continue reading "A Case of (Way) Too Much Camera"
Posted by dberger at 9:18 PM | Comments (1)
July 12, 2006
An Unexpected Delay
Our landscaping project has been moving along at something between a snail and sloths' pace.
Yesterday it slowed down.
Continue reading "An Unexpected Delay"
Posted by dberger at 9:01 AM
A New Expensive Hobby
There's a high likelihood that Dawnise will be taking a trip to S. Africa in September. A friend of ours here in Seattle (Janinne) was born in Cape Town, and invited Dawnise to accompany her on a trip back home.
Dawnise is hesitant (I won't be able to go, mostly because I don't have the vacation time accrued, and also because we have a high-maintenance cat to worry about), but I'm keen that she not skip this experience.
Did I mention that Janinne's brother apparently runs a safari company, and that the trip is planned to include some form of actual African Safari? I mean sheesh, what kind of friend would I be if I let Dawnise skip that?
Continue reading "A New Expensive Hobby"
Posted by dberger at 7:09 AM | Comments (3)
July 11, 2006
It's a Brick
My new "notebook" arrived today. It's gonna stay @ home, I can tell already. It's too big and heavy to carry back and forth, and the power supply alone is the size of a small country. At least it solves my remote access problem (hell of an expensive Remote Desktop client, I must say).
Just wish our IT guy had asked before he placed the order...
Grumble, grumble.
Posted by dberger at 3:23 PM | Comments (1)
July 5, 2006
Oops
A couple weeks ago I sent a note to our IT guy that listed about 5 notebooks I was trying to choose between asking for any opinions/feedback.
I got nothing, and today, when I told him I had decided on the Asus W3J, he informed me that on Monday he placed an order for the Acer TravelMate 8200.
The TravelMate looks ok, but it's way lots (like almost 2 lbs) heavier than the W3J.
Guess I should have been more explicit in my message.
Oh well.
Posted by dberger at 4:11 PM
Happy Independence Day
It's easy to forget that the 4th of July has significance, that it's not just an excuse to take the day off work, eat too much, and indulge our predilection for pyrotechnics.
Dawnise and I went into downtown Winslow for the "grand old 4th" - which basically consisted of a street fair that was, as Brad put it, "like a Renaissance fair without any of the style" and a parade that boasted the "biggest inflatable eagle in the pacific northwest."
Continue reading "Happy Independence Day"
Posted by dberger at 9:20 AM | Comments (1)
June 30, 2006
The World Is Flat
Just finished Thomas Friedman's opus on why nothing is as it used to be and never will be again.
It was good, if a bit alarmist. The alarmism would probably be justified, if there weren't so many other, probably more important, things to be alarmed about.
Continue reading "The World Is Flat"
Posted by dberger at 7:20 PM
June 28, 2006
BumpTop
If you haven't seen it yet, check out the BumpTop Prototype
Posted by dberger at 2:26 PM
June 16, 2006
First Week on the job
This is fairly geek heavy, I'm afraid...
Continue reading "First Week on the job"
Posted by dberger at 7:36 PM
June 8, 2006
Strike 2
It took me an hour to get from the Bellevue office to the ferry.
Continue reading "Strike 2"
Posted by dberger at 8:52 PM | Comments (2)
Way To Make a 1st Impression...
I'm supposed to be on a ferry right now - on my way into the office to meet some folks over lunch and take care of pre-hire paperwork.
Instead, due to my own poor planning, I'm sitting here hoping that the battery charger can put a workable charge into one of the bikes before I miss the next ferry.
I shouldn't be surprised - I walked into work my last week, and that was two weeks ago, so the bikes have been sitting without starting for at least three weeks (I don't remember which one I rode last, so it could be closer to 4 or 5 weeks, really).
Don't I feel like an idiot.
Posted by dberger at 10:38 AM
June 5, 2006
No LASIK
After meeting with the actual eye doctor for the first time, I've pretty much decided not to go ahead with LASIK at the moment.
Continue reading "No LASIK"
Posted by dberger at 10:30 PM
June 3, 2006
Unexpected Guest
It turns out that due once again to organized sports (they're evil, I say, eeevvviilll) Donna missed her flight back to CA last night. The ferries were running 40 minutes late, and despite a valiant (and likely illegal) effort to get to the airport on time, she missed her flight by a few minutes.
So she re-rented a car, turned around, and came back. We sat up chatting last night 'till around midnight, and this morning went to Doc's for breakfast and wandered around the farmers market for a bit before she hopped on a ferry to make her 1:30 flight.
Around 2 pm Dawnise got a call from (you guessed it) Donna saying that the plane hadn't taken off yet due to some small issue with the plane.
Sheesh.
Anyway, turned out to be a pleasant - if unexpected - visit.
Posted by dberger at 2:28 PM
June 2, 2006
Home Stretch
I now have the last 16 CD's waiting for ripping sitting on my desk - the flac archive is about 195G at present, and thanks to someone else's work, the mp3 versions are coming along nicely (it's on "The Cure" and already there's 36G of mp3's.)
The remaining problem is Genre. I hate Genre. What I want is keyword tagging, so I can say things like, this song is "80's" and "Dance" and "New Wave".
Genre sucks.
I haven't tagged anything with Genre yet - and I'm trying to decide if there's something I can do with the Genre field that will make it useful. (Suggestions greatly appreciated.)
Posted by dberger at 1:53 PM
Vacation Update (Part I)
Friday the 26th was my last day at work, and Saturday morning Dawnise and I left for the airport, destined for LA to attend a wedding. I had hopped to pop in on the Reverend Doctor Old Man Winters's doctoral party, but between the general business that accompanies renting a car, and the act of getting from LAX to the hotel in Burbank, I burned all my spare time for the day, so I sent my regrets (Titus, if you're reading this - I really do regret it) and Dawnise and I rested briefly before heading over to the site of the pre-wedding family-and-out-of-town-friends party thrown by the groom's aunt and uncle.
Continue reading "Vacation Update (Part I)"
Posted by dberger at 1:29 PM
May 25, 2006
Touch vs. Vision
I've mostly settled on a Creative Zen of some sort - either the 40G Touch, or the 30G Vision:M.
The Touch needs a firmware update to support "PlaysForSure" (i.e. subscription licensing ala Rhapsody), but the extra 10G means I can probably fit my collection and have a bit of space left for a rotating set of other stuff.
I'm currently at 25G on my jukebox, encoded at 144kbps OGG - to get similar quality from MP3 I'd use lame's "medium" preset, which seems to result in files about 20% larger. So 30G would be really tight, 40 leaves some breathing room.
The Touch is an end-of-life product, which I'm never thrilled about buying into, and is missing the FM tuner (well, it's available on the wired remote, but really, who cares). The Vision is slightly smaller than the Touch, though both are smaller (and lighter) than my Neuros.
Since neither one has the built-in FM transmitter that the Neuros has, I suspect the Neuros will remain the first choice for car trips.
Posted by dberger at 9:01 AM | Comments (1)
May 23, 2006
The Oldest Scotch I've Ever Had
There's a bottle of scotch that's been handed down at work, from one leaving person to another. Somehow it's survived several generations, but George (one of my team) decided it ends today.
Pay close attention folks - it was 18 years old in 1998.
For those playing along at home, that makes it 26 years old.
Posted by dberger at 5:25 PM
May 19, 2006
Halfway Point
I just finished re-ripping the first of two CD cases. 338 albums average 358.879MB in size, (118.5 GB total, largest: 585 MB, smallest: 68 MB)
This is taking longer than I'd like...
Posted by dberger at 9:40 PM
It's (Finally) Starting to Feel Real
Over the past week I started cleaning out my office slowly. Taking a couple books home each day, finding the surface of my desk, removing anything personal from the Powerbook.
I hit a tipping point yesterday afternoon. I gave my Windows machine, and KVM switch, to my newest team member who needed a second box to run Linux on and put all the "supporting materials" for the Powerbook back in the box for the next lucky person. And I gave Ian first-right-of-refusal on my sofa (which he took, assuming we can fit it in his office, or just move him into mine).
The office feels less and less like someone "lives" here.
T minus 5 business days and counting.
Posted by dberger at 11:07 AM
May 18, 2006
I'm definitely getting to old for this...
We had tickets to Reduced Shakespeare's Complete History of America (Abridged) last night in Seattle. Dawnise and I parked the Saturn on the Bainbridge side and walked on to the 5:30pm boat.
As Dawnise wasn't hungry and I hate eating alone, we decided to postpone dinner and, after walking around the city for a bit to kill some time, met met Dina and Juan at the Moore just in time for the 7:30 curtain.
Continue reading "I'm definitely getting to old for this..."
Posted by dberger at 7:56 AM
May 17, 2006
My New Office View
For Christmas Dawnise bought us a set of Sky Chair knock-offs from Overstock.com. Last night, after dinner, I hung them on the upstairs deck.
Today, I'm reaping the benefits...
Posted by dberger at 11:31 AM | Comments (1)
May 16, 2006
Speaking of High School Flash-backs
Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sheesh.
Posted by dberger at 11:21 AM
May 14, 2006
Convertibles Rock (Part II)
Cycle Gear had a one-day only deal on the size tires that both my Trophy and RS eat, and while browsing their site, I found a Frank Thomas one piece leather suit on closeout for $300 ($200 off).
I've thought about buying a seat of leathers ever since buying the RS, but my disdain for looking like a power-ranger coupled with the $500+ price tag had held me back. At $300, I figured they might be worth a shot.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any Frank Thomas sizing information online, so this morning Dawnise and I hopped back in the car and drove down to the nearest Cycle Gear, in Tacoma.
Continue reading "Convertibles Rock (Part II)"
Posted by dberger at 6:58 PM | Comments (2)
May 13, 2006
Convertibles Rock
A couple months back we were visiting Camaraderie Cellars - a small winemaker in Port Angeles, about 90 minutes from the house - when we saw wine racks they were making out of (used) barrel staves. The color of the wood on one side, and stained rich red on the other, they were striking and functional, and Dawnise (being the wonderful woman she is) ordered one for me.
A couple weeks ago we got a call that it was ready, so today we hopped in the car, put the top down, and made the trip to Port Angeles. The drive is pleasant by itself, and combined with the absolutely gorgeous weather today and the new convertible, it was most excellent.
Posted by dberger at 3:36 PM
May 11, 2006
The Ferry In Springtime
There are few things better than sitting on the sundeck on the ferry home in the spring, when the days are long, and random folks bring their guitars, saxophones, fiddles, and any other mostly portable instrument.
This evening we were serenaded by a guy on a sax, and he wasn't bad.
Watching the scenery around the sound, reading a book, and listening to a guy blowing jazz.
Too good.
Posted by dberger at 7:05 PM | Comments (2)
Windows on MacBookPro
One of the guys in the office bought a MacBookPro for himself a while back, and has been playing with BootCamp and Parallels. I got the chance to boot the machine into Windows to see if my idea of using one as a "mostly Windows" machine has legs.
Continue reading "Windows on MacBookPro"
Posted by dberger at 11:33 AM | Comments (1)
May 10, 2006
Suggestions for an Wintel Notebook?
Valve is a Windows shop, and "my" Powerbook (the one I've had a love-hate relationship with over the last 18 months) belongs to Real, so I'll be looking for the next notebook.
My first thought was to lobby for one of the Intel MacBook Pro 15's, but before I go there, I figured I should look around a bit.
I've had Dell's in the past, and they're ok, but not great (and they're either underpowered "executive" notebooks, or weigh a ton). Friends swear by (and at) Fujitsu, and HP has just announced the dv2000, which looks promising, but not perfect.
The machine needs to be beefy enough to play Halflife 2, and needs to be light enough to carry without developing a permanent hunch (6lbs is tolerable, much more isn't). Screen size is important, at least 14", but 17" is too big. I'm torn between the Intel Core Duo and an AMD single core (their dual core isn't likely to be available in time for my mid-June acquisition). If I'm beeing picky, DVI out is highly desirable, but seems to really limit the options. Oh, and could it please not be hideously ugly?
Finally I'd really like it to fit in my Timbuk2, which fits the Powerbook like a glove.
Anyone... anyone... Bueller? Bueller?
Posted by dberger at 1:44 PM
May 6, 2006
Bought a Car
After doing some follow-up research, I made Adam @ BMW of Seattle an offer he couldn't (ok, he could have, but he didn't) refuse, and we drove the car home this afternoon.
The sun was kind enough to come out for the duration of the drive from the dealer to the ferry, and let me just say, convertibles rock.
It's a Topaz Blue '03 BMW 330ci convertible, pretty much loaded (premium, cold weather and sport packages, steptronic automatic, parking sensors, xenon lights, cd changer), with about 42,000 miles (it's still under the factory warranty). We ended up extending the scheduled maintenance "pre-buy" into the deal since it nearly pays for itself by covering the 60k mile maintenance.
We had planned to pay cash, but BMW offered us a really low rate (4.9%), and a quick consult with our financial virus convinced us to finance half of it and invest the other half. (The theory is we'll come out ahead in the long run.)
The Saturn is parked in the driveway, and in a case of nearly perfect timing, my brother needs a car, so assuming he can find enough in the sofa cushions, and make his way up here to drive it home to Chico, I think we can solve that problem too.
Time to go to Costco and spend more money.
Posted by dberger at 3:44 PM | Comments (2)
May 5, 2006
Another Automotive Possibility
Now this looks cool. The price tag's a bit steep, though.
Posted by dberger at 9:30 AM
Pondering a Car Purchase
I've wanted a convertible for a long time, and until recently I've been fixated on a roadster, but Dawnise correctly pointed out that having a two-seater isn't exactly practical as our only car.
So I started looking at convertible sedans. There's the Chrystler Sebring - which Consumer Reports basically hated, the Toyota Solara - which Consumer Reports liked but, as our neighbor Toki put it, looks like "like you're driving a shoe", the Audi A4, something from Mercedes (I'm not a MB fan), the Saab 9-3, and the BMW 3-series.
Continue reading "Pondering a Car Purchase"
Posted by dberger at 7:04 AM | Comments (1)
May 3, 2006
Thank Goodness for Asian Groceries
Every once in a while Dawnise and I will wander through Uwajimaya - the big-ass asian grocery in Seattle. We'll get random snacks, and (most relevant to this) instant lunches.
Why is it that all the American grocers carry is Cup-O-Sodium (cleverly disguised as Cup-O-Noodles) when there are so many actually edible varieties out there?
My current favorite is the Nong Shim Udon, with fresh packed Udon noodles and a nicely spicy base. 6 minutes, just add boiling water (twice).
Posted by dberger at 1:50 PM
Revisionist History
I've started posting back-dated entries that were occluded during my job hunt/decision process. I don't know if they'll show up as new in the RSS feed - and I know they won't show up on the front page (chronologically sorted and all).
If you're really curious, I guess you might have to look for 'em. They're all in one category, and they were all posted in April or May, so they shouldn't be too hard to find.
That is all.
Posted by dberger at 8:24 AM
May 2, 2006
The Cat's (Finally) Out of the Bag
It's now no longer a secret at work that I've given notice - my absentee team member returned from his vacation today, and I sat down with him and let him in on it. I'll be in my current spot 'till the 26th of this Month, then take a few weeks off before starting the new gig.
I have a dozen or so blog posts I wrote during the process, and at some point I'll go back over them and publish the more relevant ones.
Posted by dberger at 3:40 PM
May 1, 2006
Can't Give 'em Money Even If I Try
I wanted to buy a Squeezebox, but the lack of Rhapsody support was a deal-breaker, and I ended up with (two) Roku's instead.
Don't get me wrong - I like the Roku's, and I like that they support Rhapsody (though I hate that you can't search or discover content), but much of the time, I'm playing local content served up via SlimServer. SlimServer has a ton of cool features, and I really like it. So the other day I sent an email to their support address to see how I could pay them for the software...
Continue reading "Can't Give 'em Money Even If I Try"
Posted by dberger at 9:51 PM | Comments (1)
April 28, 2006
Battlestar Galactica
Brad, Kat and I went to B.I. Sushi for dinner, and I went to their place afterwards and watched the first episode of Battlestar Galactica. I'd watched the mini-series a while back, and Brad has been threatening me with bodily harm if I don't acquiesce and actually watch the show.
The "sexy spice" blonde cylon played by Tricia Helfer (that's way to close to "heffer", I can't imagine she had fun with that as a child) - annoys me for reasons I can't completely name, as does the whining, self-indulgent, wimp-ass traitor/doctor/guy.
But I have to say, it's way lots better than, say, B5 was in it's first season.
By a lot, even.
Posted by dberger at 11:17 PM
Starting to Look Forward
I realized this afternoon that I'm actually starting to get excited about the new gig. I've got a ton of questions, and I may drop Kathy a note to see if there's someone I can/should start exchanging mail with.
Oh, and have I mentioned that the commute worries me? Seriously.
Posted by dberger at 11:15 PM
That Meeting I was Expecting...
On Wednesday I had an hour-long conversation with the VP of HR. It went well, I think - I reinforced that my primary reason for leaving was a compelling opportunity, and that while I was using this pulpit to point out issues and challenges in the organization, that shouldn't be interpreted as the cause of my exit.
I told him most of the stuff I've recorded here, and some things that are politically too sensitive to post in any sort of semi-public forum. He took notes, and I suspect that the highlights will be distilled and passed on to the CEO.
Continue reading "That Meeting I was Expecting..."
Posted by dberger at 10:16 AM
April 27, 2006
So much for BMW of Bellevue
I've been having an email exchange with Richard Hard - an Internet Sales Manager at BMW of Bellevue, about our search for a lease return 3-series convertible.
Yesterday, he completely destroyed any possibility of earning commission from me, and insured that I'll continue working with BMW of Seattle.
Continue reading "So much for BMW of Bellevue"
Posted by dberger at 7:14 AM | Comments (1)
April 26, 2006
Always Good To Know
I got notes back from a couple of the folks at exbiblio.
Continue reading "Always Good To Know"
Posted by dberger at 11:14 PM
Tea Time
I've been really enjoying the Ginger Peach Tea Dawnise picked up from Market Spice.
Posted by dberger at 8:40 AM
Done and Done
I just emailed the good folks at exbiblio; thanked them for their time, wished them the best of luck in their endeavor, and informed them that I won't be joining them.
And I called Kathy at Valve and told her I'm in.
Now on to the next major source of stress, figuring out how to tell my team. Ugh.
Posted by dberger at 7:33 AM
April 24, 2006
I think I've made a decision...
Survey says...
Continue reading "I think I've made a decision... "
Posted by dberger at 5:38 PM
Business Plan
Coz and I were chatting while driving around Vancouver this weekend, and hit on an idea for a business. It seems terribly obvious, but neither of us can find any evidence that it's been tried.
Continue reading "Business Plan"
Posted by dberger at 8:25 AM | Comments (1)
Slllooowwww...
I picked up a 250G drive from Tiger Direct and have started re-ripping my CD collection into FLAC. The "re-rip to end all re-rips," as they say.
I'm sorta disappointed that I'm only getting 6x real time extraction/compression rates - it seems I/O bound to the ROM drive, as the CPU is mostly idle, as is the destination drive. It seems silly that I can burn a CD faster than I can read one.
So far, with 20 albums ripped, the average on-disk size is 337M, so I might be able to fit my entire collection on this disk, but it'll be close.
Posted by dberger at 8:17 AM
April 23, 2006
I Think I'm Approaching a Decision
Before leaving for Scott & Amanda's on Saturday morning, I drafted a thanks-but-no-thanks email to all the folks at exbiblio, and one to Kathy, Jay and Gabe at Valve.
I wanted to see which one "felt" right.
Continue reading "I Think I'm Approaching a Decision"
Posted by dberger at 1:53 PM
Blame Canada
Yesterday morning Dawnise and I hopped the 8am ferry, made a stop at Pike Market for crumpets, donuts, and a quick run through Market Spice, before hopping on I5 North toward Scott and Amanda's.
We made one unscheduled stop at a Victory dealer at Dawnise's insistence to check out the Vegas. As Dawnise pointed out while I was dragging her bodily out of the dealership - "how many guys have to drag their wives out of a motorcycle dealership?"
We got to their place around 12:30, after a very brief delay at the border crossing, and found Amanda and Will waiting for Scott and Zoe to return from Zoe's dance class.
Continue reading "Blame Canada"
Posted by dberger at 8:50 AM
April 21, 2006
One more down
The crack in door on the Microsoft opportunity has finally been closed - Mary Bresticker @ BINC gets full points; for professionalism, enthusiasm, and finally, for losing graciously. She took a ton of time with me on the phone to understand what I was looking for, and sift through the maze of possibilities within Microsoft to find an opportunity that was intriguing enough that I didn't reject it out of hand.
I think I'm going to deliver my notice this coming Wednesday. Now all that remains is to choose my destination and inform the two contenders.
Posted by dberger at 9:17 AM
April 20, 2006
Stomp
Dawnise and I had been meaning to see Stomp since it premiered years ago, but had never actually bought the tickets. A few weeks ago Dawnise learned it was coming to Seattle, so we picked a night and bought tickets.
The show was pretty cool - worth checking out if you're into percussion or dance/choreography. We got home late, I woke up early, and I'm on the boat wondering how soon I'll be in the office so I can make coffee.
Posted by dberger at 8:15 AM
April 19, 2006
Now the fun begins...
I just officially told Brian and Edmond that I'm close to accepting a position outside the company.
Now they tell HR.
HR tells the CEO.
And I suspect I'll have a meeting appear on my calendar very soon.
Posted by dberger at 12:52 PM
Be Careful What You Wish For
The other day I had a vivid flashback to a time in '96 or '97, while I was at Disney, when I set a goal to be a"director" by 35. I then promptly forgot about the entire thing and just kept making what seemed like the "right" short term decisions, with little conscious thought to the long term.
So here I am, nearly 10 years later, 3-some years from my 35th, acting director of engineering at a public company, and hating it.
Be careful what you wish for indeed.
Continue reading "Be Careful What You Wish For"
Posted by dberger at 11:11 AM
April 16, 2006
Analysis Paralysis
I've got another conversation with Microsoft on Tuesday - I've already told the recruiter that I can't imagine what they could say to make them more interesting than the two front-runners , but they want to talk, so I'm willing to listen.
In the mean time, I'm stressing out big time over the decision. If I hadn't talked to both of them, either one of them would "clearly" be the right answer out of the conversations I've had. But I have talked to both of them, and I can't decide which of the two "right" answers is "righter."
Continue reading "Analysis Paralysis"
Posted by dberger at 5:08 PM
April 14, 2006
The Plot Thins (again)
After sleeping on my conversation with Amazon, and letting is stew in the back of my head today, I've sent Rakhel a note saying "thanks again, but not this time." It's the second time I've given Amazon the brush off, and I can't imagine I've got many more chances there before they get annoyed, but my heart is pretty evenly split between Options #1 and #2 .
Posted by dberger at 1:14 PM
The Plot Thickens
Last night I sat down for coffee with the VP and four of the managers in Amazon's "digital media" division. I went in figuring it was just a formality, and came out more intrigued than I expected. They're definitely doing some interesting stuff, though I can't quite shake the uncomfortable feeling in my gut. Amazon's a big company, and my gut's saying "smaller."
Continue reading "The Plot Thickens"
Posted by dberger at 8:06 AM
April 13, 2006
Considering a complete re-rip/encode
I've got pretty much all my music in Ogg, and I have a Neuros portable jukebox that plays back all my content (had it for years). I've upgraded it with a 60G drive, of which 36G is free at the moment. It's functional, but getting long in the tooth, and a bit bulky, so I've been looking for it's replacement. (On the other hand, I got 12 hours on a single charge going back and forth from SEA to BOS - which amazed me. I didn't intend to not charge it, I just forgot to plug it in in BOS, and was pleasantly surprised when the music was still playing when I had to shut it down for arrival in SEA.)
I'd like it's successor to support Ogg (so I don't have to re rip and encode my entire collection), and I'd like it to support Microsoft's tethered DRM (i.e. Rhapsody ToGo).
This seems to be a mutually exclusive set (not surprising, companies that implement DRM don't tend to love OpenSource, and vice-versa).
So I'm trying to decide if getting a jukebox that supports tethered downloads is worth re-ripping and encoding 600-odd CDs.
I've thought about paying someone to do it for me, but at $1/cd, that's a *lot* of money. And if I do this again, I'm going to rip to FLAC so I can transcode across lossy formats without re-ripping, which makes it $1.20/cd.
What I really need is a CD-ROM jukebox, but they seem to run several thousand dollars (vs. a CD jukebox, which can be had for less than $200, but lacks CDDA extraction capabilities).
Posted by dberger at 1:29 PM
Decisions, Decisions
I'm heading back over to the start-up this afternoon to have another chat with the founder and a couple other members of the team. There's all of 14 of them or something. It's very early stage, and it's very intriguing.
I'm also still actively engaged with the folks from whom I have an offer .
If I had to guess, it's going to come down to one of them. I'm meeting with some folks from Amazon tonight (a VP of something or other), but after navigating the bureaucracy at a 1000 person company, it feels like smaller is better. Hence I don't hold out much hope for the Microsoft conversation, either -- they're just too big (and, as much as I've tried to be open minded, I just can't shake the feeling that they're evil).
So let's try to talk this through...
Continue reading "Decisions, Decisions"
Posted by dberger at 10:40 AM
April 12, 2006
Job Hunting
Movable Type doesn't have a way to publish entries to "friends only", so I'm writing this as it happens, knowing that I can't publish it 'till after all the dust has settled - so by the time you see this, it's all old news.
Continue reading "Job Hunting"
Posted by dberger at 8:56 PM
April 10, 2006
Roku Number 2
A while back I mentioned buying a Roku SoundBridge.
I had initially put it downstairs in the room with the TV (and good sound system), but it turned out that Dawnise wasn't getting any use out of it down there. So (thanks to the fact that it's got builtin WiFi) I moved it upstairs into the front room, attached to an inexpensive Aiwa bookshelf stereo system. It got a lot more use up there, but every time I wanted to listen to music, I wanted to do it downstairs -- on the good stereo.
So I stopped into Best Buy yesterday and picked up another one. I had considered buying a SqueezeBox, but the additional $100, and lack of Rhapsody support, dissuaded me. I spent about an hour last night trying to get the RealSlim plugin working with SlimServer and Rhapsody 3, so we could mix Rhapsody streams and local content in play-lists, but didn't get any further than the rest of the folks who've tried.
I guess the best endorsement I can give a product is buying another one.
Posted by dberger at 7:14 AM
April 8, 2006
Boston (III)
Woke up this morning at 6:30, and convinced myself to go back to sleep 'till around 8. Eswar had agreed to meet us for brunch around 10:30, and Tony suggested the East Coast Standard in Kenmore Square, so Edmond, Holly and I hopped a cab over, only to arrive and discover they had closed the kitchen between breakfast and lunch, and wouldn't start serving again 'till 11:30.
We walked over to Newbury St. and tried two other places - one of which sat us but didn't mention it was self-service (coffee and pastries only) 'till 11:30, and the other was serving but packed before Eswar's road-warrior training kicked in and he led us to a chain hotel (Marriott?) where we had completely unremarkable food and great conversation.
After breakfast, we went back to Tony's car and retrieved Ed and Holly's bags, before they headed off to find a rental car and visit Larry in Acton, Eswar headed off to pick up his son, and Tony and I headed for the Star Wars exhibit at the Museum of Science.
Continue reading "Boston (III)"
Posted by dberger at 2:06 PM
April 7, 2006
Boston (II)
Our meeting this morning went well, and by 4pm we were in the Boston Museum of Fine Art perusing their modern art exhibit. Edmond and Holly thought it was weak tea, but I found several pieces I liked, so it was worth the price of admission for me.
From there we hit Harvard square and met up with Larry - another friend and sometimes colleague. Grabbed a few margaritas at a local Mexican place (now those were weak tea) and killed time before walking to Chez for our 8pm reservation. We were joined by Clark and Lisa, and dinner was fabulous. If you're ever in Boston (ok, Cambridge, technically) I can't recommend Chez highly enough. Really one of my favorite restaurants, period.
Tomorrow morning we have a brunch date at 10:30, and in theory, Eswar's going to join us. I'll believe it when I'm sitting across the table from him, but my fingers are crossed.
On a totally unrelated note, a friend from High School (one of the very few I keep in touch with) forwarded me a one-page Maxim article on another high school class mate (Noah) who was profiled as a successful entrepreneur. He's got a party organizing business in New Orleans, and is apparently doing well. Funny article (same Noah), bad picture.
Posted by dberger at 9:07 PM
Boston
I haven't been back to Boston since the end of my tenure at OpenMarket c. 2001. (Gads, has it really been that long?) So sitting down in the bar at Chez Henri last night for a cuban and a periodista (ok, two) with Edmond, Holly, Tony and a surprise guest appearance by Gerald Hewes felt like a long delayed homecoming of sorts.
The food was (as always) awesome, the company similarly so, and to put icing on the cake we actually spoke with the man, the mystery, the impossible to get hold of, Eswar Priyadarshan who might actually have time for brunch on Saturday.
After dinner Ed, Holly, and I wandered back to the hotel and had a coffee and a scotch in the lounge, talking 'till just after midnight. I got to sleep a bit after 1, and was up at 6:30 this morning.
Continue reading "Boston"
Posted by dberger at 4:28 AM
April 3, 2006
Fucking Baseball
Took me near an hour to get from my office to the ferry. All of a mile and a half.
Apparently today was the opening day for the Mariners - it was an afternoon game, and totally screwed up rush-hour traffic which, normally, you wouldn't really notice along my brief route.
This felt like the LA to (or from) anywhere crawl in So. Cal.
Blech.
Posted by dberger at 7:19 PM
March 30, 2006
Good Night, and Good Luck
I'm feeling a bit under the weather - nothing horrible, just a bit achy, beginnings of a cough that makes my head throb. In any event, last night seemed like a good night to just veg after dinner, so we watched Good Night, and Good Luck.
I've always liked David Strathairn and Frank Langella, and and they were both excellent.
Definitely worth watching.
Posted by dberger at 7:54 AM
March 29, 2006
When your time is "too valuable" to do what you enjoy
I had a brief, but thought-provoking conversation with a friend of mine the other night. He's on the Windows team at Microsoft, and I was venting a bit to him about my frustration in my role at Real (bureaucrat) and how I want to get back to doing "real work."
He echoed several of the statements that have been made to me around here: that I'm "too valuable" to the organization to sequester me on a single project, and relating how he's had similar experiences, that as one of the senior technical folks in an organization, the pressure to move up into broader - and at the same time more shallow - roles is sometimes overwhelming.
Continue reading "When your time is "too valuable" to do what you enjoy"
Posted by dberger at 9:18 AM | Comments (1)
March 26, 2006
V for Vendetta
Tomorrow is Brad's birthday, so this morning, Dawnise and I, Brad and Kat, and Todd and Bronywn met for brunch at Doc's and then caught the 1pm show of V for Vendetta.
After League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, my hopes for Alan Moore derived work were pretty low, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.
I've never read the book on which the film was based, and I understand they took some liberties with the story (most notably transforming the "fascism vs. anarchy" theme of the book into "fascism vs. democracy"), so if you're a fan of the comic and hated the movie 'cause it wasn't "like the book" I can only say that it may not be like the book but, like Constantine, it was a reasonably good movie.
It's almost enough to reddeem the Wachowski Brothers from part of the pure suck that were the 2nd and 3rd Matrix films...
Almost...
Posted by dberger at 4:40 PM
March 25, 2006
First steps into a larger world
Dawnise and I made our first visit to the B.I. Sushi House this evening for dinner. It all started yesterday, when my boss and I went to the local sushi place near work (Flying Fish) for a business lunch, sat for 20-odd minutes without even ordering, and ended up grabbing Subway on our way back to the office. Sushi-interruptus.
We sat at the bar in front of the chef, so we could watch him work. Dawnise ordered a spicy tuna roll and a cucumber roll, and I did my usual - some sashimi, some sushi, and a roll or two - all his choice - and a Kirin.
Continue reading "First steps into a larger world"
Posted by dberger at 9:23 PM
March 23, 2006
Disappointed
Well, so much for the Tina Dico show. Dawnise came into the city, we had a very nice dinner with Scott and Megan at Ipanema, and caught a cab for Chop Suey.
It wasn't 'till the doors had opened, and we were going inside that would could get a glimpse of the set list. Tina wasn't on 'till 11.
And I have early meetings tomorrow.
So we claimed our tickets, looked around inside (what a dive), and decided to head back to the ferry. We had a leisurely walk 'till Dawnise tripped on some uneven pavement and tumbled down the hill a bit. She's ok - a skinned knee and bruised elbow.
We walked on to the 9pm ferry a few moments before it pulled out of the dock, and we'll be home in bed pretty much as normal. As she was performing triage on her knee, a bicyclist offered her a band-aid, which - she admonished me just now - is very important, and worthy of mention.
Color me bummed.
Posted by dberger at 8:59 PM
March 20, 2006
A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer
I've been waiting for someone to build this for years (thanks Jakob), ever since I first ran into the Media Lab work on eInk.
One day, in the not-to-distant future, we'll think of books the same way many of us think about CDs - as rights to access the contained material, and something that we need to find a place to store, but never actually use.
(Actually, the version I want is a book, with real pages that can be turned, but this looks like a good start.)
Posted by dberger at 7:53 AM
March 19, 2006
Time to start thinking about a car
We've had Dawnises (now "our") Saturn since late '95 - it's got about 94k miles on it, and it's generally been a very reliable car. Other than routine maintenance, the only trouble we've had with it was a transmission problem a couple years back.
When I noticed the oil leak a week or so back, we started talking about when we should think about buying a new car - and we decided that this may be the year. As much as I'd like a roadster of some kind or another, it's really hard to justify a two-seater as the only car.
Conveniently enough, the annual Consumer Reports car edition just arrived, so I flipped through it looking for potential compromises.
At the moment, a BMW 3-series convertible is in the lead. Given their price (starting around $40k), we're probably talking about a used one, possibly a lease return. They get good marks for reliability, safety, and depreciation, so I can pretend to be making a sensible decision.
No hard dates yet - but late Q2/early Q3 of this year.
Posted by dberger at 3:53 PM
Deer
Today was absolutely beautiful - a spring day, weather in the low 50's, bright blue sky, white fluffy clouds. we took some chairs and the cats onto the back deck and read in the sun 'till the sun dipped behind the trees and clouds and the temperature dropped.
We came inside, and a few minutes later Dawnise called me into the bathroom in time to see three deer staring at her through the window. We spent the next half hour watching them graze on the blackberry brambles. Took some pictures, but I'm too lazy to post them.
Posted by dberger at 3:02 PM
March 15, 2006
Cleaning up after "professionals"
Long story short, I got myself into a car-repair bind the other day and had to pay someone to bail me out.
The longer story is that I noticed a small oil leak on our remaining Saturn SL2. After a bit of poking around under the hood, I decided it was the valve cover gasket - which seems to be a common failure in this vintage Saturn.
So Sunday I made a few phone calls, and no one local had the gasket, but one shop (and some online postings) recommended using RTV Silicon gasket maker, so I took the bike to the local auto parts store and picked some up.
Fast forward a couple hours - I took the car apart, applied the gasket maker per instructions, put it all together, and let it setup for the required hour, plus another thirty minutes for good measure. Dawnise and I left to do some running around, and about half way through it, we smelled burning oil and saw wisps of smoke from under the hood.
Continue reading "Cleaning up after "professionals""
Posted by dberger at 9:12 PM
March 14, 2006
Tina Dico in Seattle
Just bought tickets for Tina Dico's [rhapsody] show at Chop Suey on the 23rd of this month.
Any other Tina fans in Seattle?
Posted by dberger at 5:24 PM
March 11, 2006
Signs of Ageing (Old Cars, and Old People)
I've had grey hair for years - not sure when it first appeared, but there's grey mixed in with the brown on both sides of my head. The other night I looked close enough in the mirror to realize there's now grey in my beard as well.
Sheesh.
In other news, I discovered our Saturn is leaking oil. I noticed a couple drops of something petroleum based on the garage floor the other day, but since I had just worked on the bikes in that spot, including draining clutch fluid, I didn't immediately conclude that the car was leaking. Today I noticed it again and stuck my head under the car - sure enough, there's an oil leak somewhere. Looking at it from both sides, it looks like the valve cover gasket - which seems a common problem on mid 90's Saturns. Fortunately, it's also a fairly easy repair - just need some gasket maker and an hour or two. I'm not interested in getting oily today, so I'll probably punt it for tomorrow.
After our HOA meeting this morning (at our place) we met with a landscaper - the landscaping arm of the company that did our deck. We talked him through what we were thinking, and on Tuesday morning we'll sit down and formalize the proposal. Should only take a couple weeks (and money, of course) to turn the mud into a yard. Looking forward to that.
Dawnise and Kat just went garage sailing (sic) - it's Kat's birthday today, so we're planning to head over there this evening with Jello-shots in tow. Should be entertaining.
Posted by dberger at 2:00 PM | Comments (1)
March 8, 2006
Cut to the quick
I had lunch with a couple of folks on the east side yesterday. Unbeknownst to me (though I should have suspected, in hindsight) what I thought was "just lunch" was, in fact, an interview.
During the 15 minute synopsis of my experience, while describing my role at Real, my intervewer observed "sounds like you're a bureaucrat, not an engineer." I responded that his remark was stinging, but essentially true.
24 hours later, it still stings.
I gotta fix this.
Posted by dberger at 11:59 AM | Comments (2)
March 5, 2006
Firefly for the chronically stingy
The Firefly DVD set is on sale for $25 at Amazon
Come on, just buy it already.
Posted by dberger at 6:13 PM | Comments (1)
Canine Interruptus
Dawnise and I made a decision this morning that our dog search has to go on hold 'till we've actually gotten the place ready to accept a dog.
Continue reading "Canine Interruptus"
Posted by dberger at 1:49 PM
March 4, 2006
The Jury's Still Out
We trucked up to Port Angeles early this afternoon to pay a call on Luke and Kayla. On our way we had our first meal at India Oven - one of only three Indian restaurants we know of on our side of the peninsula.
The north-west has a serious lack of good Indian food - there's a place on the island, and it's terrible. There's a place in Silverdale - same owners as on the island, and while we haven't eaten there, we walked in once, and walked out before ordering. India Oven wasn't bad. It wasn't going to win any awards when stacked up against places like Diamond Palace or Taj Palace (both highly recommended if you're in their respective areas), but compared to most of the Indian we've had since moving up here, it was very serviceable.
Continue reading "The Jury's Still Out"
Posted by dberger at 6:02 PM
Cold Feet
I've been keeping my eye on petfinder.org for dogs that look like suitable candidates for adoption. The main criteria is young with no history of violence toward cats, or older with a documented history of living with cats. I've been trying to avoid breeds that the insurance folks are convinced are pure evil, and targeting mid to large dogs (no toy poodles or Mexican sewer rats, thank-you-very-much).
Despite living with dogs all her life (well, until we moved out, at any rate), Dawnise has never actually looked for one; like our three cats, they've all found her - so she finds the whole process sorta strange.
Continue reading "Cold Feet"
Posted by dberger at 8:11 AM | Comments (1)
March 1, 2006
Another one bites the dust...
Fuck.
Another clueful colleague and friend just pulled the rip cord.
There goes my day...
Posted by dberger at 10:16 AM
February 28, 2006
Considering Lasik
I've worn corrective lenses most of my life - since Jr. High, I think. I've gone from glasses to rigid contacts, to soft contacts and back - after a particularly pernicious eye infection - to glasses. They're mostly just a given - but lately I've started resenting them.
I hate wearing glasses in the rain - they get wet, you can't dry them, and you walk around with streaks in your vision. I hate wearing glasses on a motorcycle - they limit your effective peripheral vision, and even your forward vision when your posture causes you to look over them. I hate wearing glasses when working on the car/motorcycles - they always slip at the least opportune moment, or stop you from quite getting your head where it needs to be to see the thing you need to see. They're just bloody inconvenient.
Until I had an eye infection that took months to treat, I didn't mind contacts - but at this point, once bitten, twice shy.
Over the years I've contemplated laser surgery several times - and each time, after talking to my eye doctor, chickened out. The quotes success rates for lasik are over 99% - but lots of people are having it - which means a non-trivial number are failures.
I could really live without glasses, though...
Posted by dberger at 6:31 PM | Comments (1)
February 23, 2006
The Person Your Dog Thinks You Are
Now that I've submitted an adoption application, I guess it's official. We're looking to adopt a dog. I've been visiting local animal shelters recently, looking for either a puppy (my preference, really) or a dog with a documented history of cohabitation with cats.
We're not breed specific - though we want a medium to large dog, and we're trying to avoid breeds that homeowners policies consider "high-risk" (i.e. Pit Bull, Akita, etc.). We're not doing this because we think they're high risk - we know that it's all about the owner and environment, rather than the breed - but because we don't want our homeowners to drop us like a hot potato.
It's really annoying (depressing) too, 'cause Pit Bulls are vastly over-represented in shelters...
Posted by dberger at 5:12 PM | Comments (1)
Say the Secret Woid...
It's been a Marx Brothers kinda week. On Tuesday, Dawnise and I went to the Lynwood Theater on the island to see a showing of Duck Soup. I have to be "in the mood" for Marx Brother humor, which I fortunately was. The print was pristine - absolutely beautiful, no splices, minimal noise, really a well preserved print. I have to say that, like Casablanca, seeing Duck Soup on the big screen was a completely different experience than seeing it in TV as a kid, and seeing it with a group further enhanced the experience.
Last night we had tickets for An Evening with Groucho - Frank Ferrante's one man (plus pianist) tribute to the great comedian. We arrived early, planning to get dinner, but quickly learned it was a sold out show, and we'd be better served by hanging around 'till the house opened to find good seats, which we did.
The show was very good - Frank did the transformation from himself to Groucho on-stage, achieving it with nothing more than a grease pencil, some ruffling of his hair, and - of course - a cigar, but the transformation was stark, and very effective. He played with, and off, the audience - sang some of Groucho's songs, did some patter, and generally entertained.
It was also just what I needed. Yesterday was a very frustrating day at work - lots of little things, plus the feeling of always being late/behind. Laughter was good.
Posted by dberger at 2:20 PM
February 21, 2006
Weekend in Review
Sunday morning, I did some running around, including a stop at Eleven winery for a tasting and a nice chat with the wine maker and his wife, a stop at Furry-tail Farm - the island animal sanctuary, and a run to Silverdale to pickup the re-framed print.
Turns out Eleven is almost walking distance from us (ok, it's a half hour walk, but hey) and they rely on volunteer labor for all their crushing and bottling. He got his start after showing up at a local winery and volunteering to help - three years of apprenticing later, and he started his own winery. Sounds like a grand idea - so I put my name on their volunteer list.
I got home and decided to take the RS out for a "test ride" after the repair. It's been chilly (evenings into the mid teens, mornings in the 30's and mid-day in the 40's), so I suited up and made a loop up into Kingston (where there was snow on the ground in the shadows). I got cold faster than I expected, so I cut the ride short in the interest of safety.
Dawnise didn't get home 'till fairly late, so I spent the afternoon taking care of stuff around the house, watching a little Firefly (Out of Gas, probably my favorite episode), and reading. Yesterday Dawnise and I basically hung out at the house, doing a whole lot of nothing much. Good stuff.
Posted by dberger at 8:18 AM
I think we have a winner...
Dawnise's new GPS arrived yesterday, and in stark contrast to the previous attempts, she did all the setup herself, and found the interface intuitive enough to sit on the sofa and tinker with it for a good 20 minutes. We drove around the island for a half hour, deliberately taking wrong turns - half expecting the star-trek computer voice to start berating us at any moment.
The device basically behaved as Dawnise wanted/expected it to; alerting her to wrong (or missed) turns within seconds, and having a new route calculated in less than 5 seconds. The car mounting bracket is well designed - the unit suction cups to the windshield (a dash-mount plate is included for states like CA that forbid any devices being mounted on the 'shield) and the DC adaptor is integral to the bracket. We haven't tried exercising the built-in battery yet, but they claim an 8 hour lifespan, which should be enough for most motorcycle trips. And I've been meaning to install an accessory outlet on the Trophy anyway.
The 128M SD card it came with was enough to load WA, OR, and Vancouver, BC. I've ordered a 2GB card, which their tech support says is sufficient to load all of North America. The version of map data included in the box was a bit old, so we also ordered the (free) update from Garmin. So far their unlock/activation scheme seems unobtrusive enough - and since it actually contacts their server during activation, I suspect it's pretty robust against tampering as well.
More as we get to exercise it more - but the initial signs are very positive, and it was cheaper than the Magellan once you include the additional $100 worth of Magellan mapping software and mounting bracket.
Posted by dberger at 8:04 AM
February 18, 2006
Sometimes, when you least expect it
Things go right. To my surprise, the repair on the "other" broken bike (my RS) went smoothly. I ran it in the garage for a good 10 minutes, and not a drop of gasoline was to be seen.
Dawnise volunteered at her guild's quilt show today, so I had the day as a bachelor. I spent it working on the bike, reading a bit, and taking a trip to Silverdale to drop a print off for re-framing (long story - we bought it signed and numbered, but discovered when picking it up after being framed that it was, in fact, only numbered. Amy was kind enough to (re)sign it, so today I dropped it back off at Michael's to be re-assembled.)
I also made a stop at the Kitsap Humane Society and had a look at the young dogs available for adoption. I was happy to see the place busy, and many of the kennels had "Adopted" or "Adoption in Progress" signs on them. Having never been to a pound before, I was expecting something more Lady and the Tramp (complete with musical ;). Glad I didn't find it.
For dinner I BBQ'd some tri-tip (give-away #1 that you're not from "round here" - you bbq in sub-freezing weather...) and Dawnise made herbed potatoes. We just finished, and are going to wander into the other room and veg in front of a movie for a bit.
She works the show again tomorrow, and I'm not sure what will end up on my adgenda - I'll probably pop down to Eleven and have a taste or two - I've still got my glass and pin from the wine and chocolate weekend.
Posted by dberger at 5:48 PM
February 16, 2006
Guiding Principles
I had to fill out an "individual development plan" at work, and one of the sections was a list of guiding principles. Rather than dismiss the exercise as pointless management fluff, I spent some time thinking about it, and I rather liked the list I came up with.
Continue reading "Guiding Principles"
Posted by dberger at 7:28 AM | Comments (1)
February 15, 2006
Sometimes negative feedback is the most valuable kind
I stepped (hesitantly) into a management roll a handful of months back, and at the three month mark I sat down with HR to arrange a "360 review" whereby my direct reports could deliver unfiltered, blunt, and honest feedback to me though HR as a neutral third party.
It took a few weeks for them to gather the feedback and for us to come up with a mutually agreeable time to sit down and go through it, which happened today. As a coincidence, I also got feedback from my manager during my semi-annual review today.
I didn't learn as much as I hoped to.
The following excerpt from the feedback sorta summarizes the problem...
Continue reading "Sometimes negative feedback is the most valuable kind"
Posted by dberger at 8:41 PM | Comments (1)
GPS, Take 2
I did a bit more research, and we're trying another GPS for Dawnise, a Garmin StreetPilot 320 this time, just ordered it from Costco today.
The interface looks intuitive, which is good, and the only two negative reviews I found were complaining about "missing" features that are clearly documented in the manual. My only concern is that the Garmin map database seems to be much bigger than the Magellan, and this model doesn't have pre-loaded maps. The worst thing would be to come to rely on the GPS only to drive off the edge of the map, so to speak. I talked to Garmin tech support via email and confirmed that I can load the entire North America map set onto the device - just need a 2GB card.
It should arrive in a week or so, and we'll give it a whirl.
Posted by dberger at 6:26 PM
February 14, 2006
For Sale: Slightly Used Mapping Software
After seeing Vince's Garmin GPS, Dawnise decided she wanted one, and I bought her a Magellan eXplorist 500 bundle from Costco for Christmas.
The physical device was pretty good - small enough to hold in one hand, weatherized for hikers, and rather than fixed internal storage, it has an SD slot; and the Costco bundle included a 1G SD card. The buttons aren't back-lit, which was my first complaint, and the little navigation joystick is a bit tough to use, and would be nearly impossible in gloved hands.
The bundle didn't include the street mapping software or a vehicle mount, both of which I purchased sepparately (from Amazon and an Ebay reseller, respectively).
We took the GPS on our first "real" trip when we went wine-tasting on Sunday (real trip defined as relying on it for directions). That experience, combined with the general poor performance of the device when we did know where we were going, convinced us; and we returned it to Costco yesterday.
Continue reading "For Sale: Slightly Used Mapping Software"
Posted by dberger at 7:50 AM | Comments (2)
February 13, 2006
Wine, Chocolate, and Fraya
After much hemming and hawing (on my part), and after finally taking down the Xmas tree and depositing it at the dump, Dawnise and I set out a bit after noon to do some wine tasting. Our first stop was Camaraderie Cellars outside Port Angeles; about 75 minutes from the house. Their Malbec was very good, and the vintners partner has struck on the brilliant idea of making wine racks from retired wine barrels. I loved the idea, and if all goes to plan, we'll be making a return trip to pick one up in a couple months, when it's finished.
From there we hit Black Diamond, where we met Freya - an 8 week old, incredibly cute Blue Heeler who looked just like this. I managed to tear myself away and into the tasting room; Dawnise failed her cute saving throw, so to speak. She pretty much stayed outside with the dog while I sampled (ironically enough) several wines I was convinced she'd love. Since getting her into the tasting room was a non-start, I did the next best thing - bought a bottle of each. When I had sampled what there was to be sampled, I joined her outside, with the vintner and the puppy to get my own dose of saccharine cute. I suspect there's a puppy in our future...
Our penultimate stop was Olympic Cellars, which was pouring some very nice vintages - including a late harvest that we got for Dawnise. They had, but weren't pouring, a lavender infused mead (they labled it "honey wine") which we also bought.
Finally, we wound our way to Lost Mountain just outside Sequim. At Olympic Cellars we had run into our mirror image - a couple in which the woman liked full bodied reds, and the gent liked only lighter sweet wines. We ran into them again at Lost Mountain and continued the pleasant banter we had begun on the previous stop.
Haul in hand (back seat, really), we headed home, meeting Brad and Kat for dinner at the pub before calling it a night. Nice way to spend a Sunday, I must say.
Posted by dberger at 4:10 PM
February 11, 2006
First ride of the season
As predicted, the weather today was absolutely beautiful. So after waking up, dosing the cat, and having some breakfast, Dawnise and I hit the road for a leisurely ride that ended us up in Port Townsend. On our way up we stopped at Sorensen Cellars, which is participating in a "wine and chocolate" event with ten other area wineries this weekend and next. We didn't taste anything, being on the bike, but we may end up heading back out tomorrow and rectify that situation.
We got home just as the sun was disappearing and the temperature starting to drop. We made dinner reservations for 7:45 at Sawatdy and just got back from yet another excellent meal.
The days total was only around 100 miles, but it was nice to get out on the bike. I had planned on working on the RS tomorrow, but I had forgotten that Dawnise is working a quilt show next weekend, so I'll take advantage of the time we've got together this weekend, and work on the bike when she's not around.
Posted by dberger at 10:08 PM
February 10, 2006
Ghosts of Rides Past
Found this email while trying to remember when it was Dawnise and I made the decision to invest in riding gear. I remembered we had taken a trip up the coast, and nearly froze our arses off coming over the grapevine on the way home...
A lot has changed since then. I ended up commuting on the bike for a number of years, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but isn't something I ever plan to do again in So. Cal. traffic. Dawnise, of course, has her own bike now - and our 2-up trips are far less frequent, which I sorta miss. Our Firstgear overpants have a ton of miles on them, and have performed flawlessly. Our jackets have been replaced with the 3/4 length, which we probably should have bought in the first place.
Oh, and that ix.netcom.com email is long gone. Sorta dates things, doesn't it?
Continue reading "Ghosts of Rides Past"
Posted by dberger at 10:53 AM
On the Road Again
Dawnise is driving down to Tacoma with a friend today for some sort of craft show, which means I'd have to bus home (not bad) and walk from the bus stop (also not bad, but less than good in the dark/cold/etc.).
So I suited up this morning and got the Trophy back on the road. It was chilly (ok, cold - around 34), but it's all about the right gear. With my First Gear over-pants and jacket, the only bit of me that noticed the temp. was my leg, just over my boot, where the pant rode up.
The bike ran great, once it warmed up. It's supposed to be nice on Saturday - might be time for the first ride of the season...
Posted by dberger at 8:25 AM | Comments (1)
February 9, 2006
How am I expected to handle work...
On a day like this.
It's absolutely gorgeous out -and I'm trapped inside (in a conference room, in fact, waiting for a meeting to start - which is it's own special circle of hell...)
It's days like this when I want a convertible. It's beautiful, but chilly - top down, heater blasting, music loud, and open road...
Looks like a beautiful weekend ahead - perhaps I'll try to make it over to a Pontiac dealer and see if I can fold myself into a Solstice...
Posted by dberger at 2:01 PM | Comments (1)
February 6, 2006
Weekend in review
According to the Seattle PI, the wind storm that had our power out was the worst since '99 - affecting 200,000 in the Puget Sound. When we woke up on Sunday to find the power still off, but on in downtown Winslow, we called our neighbors Dave and Marcia and went down to Doc's for breakfast. After breakfast, Dawnise and I made the second trip to the recycle center (opened this time, fortunately) before returning home to find line crews working on the power-lines feeding our road.
By the time we got inside and putzed around a bit they got the power back on. I went downstairs, started up the computers, and put on my work outfit and set to tearing down the Trophy.
A couple hours later, I had the spark plugs renewed (the middle of the three cylinders is directly under the frame, and a royal PITA to get a wrench on) and was on my way to the local auto parts store for some tubing to renew the clutch fluid. After starting the bike (success!), I set to putting all the body work back on.
I was two screws away from calling it done when I heard a crack. An expensive sounding crack. One of the ABS screw tabs on the faring apparently didn't like my arm squeezing past it and broke. As I type the broken bits are in the bathroom upstairs, with an improvised splint and "liquid weld" applied. If that doesn't work, I'll try something else, or perhaps a few something elses, before forking out several hundred dollars to replace the plastic.
So I finished the evening with one bike mostly together, running again, but I can't call it a victory quite yet.
Posted by dberger at 7:55 AM
February 5, 2006
We're baaack.
As of 1pm, PSE restored power to our neighborhood. We were toward the tail end of the 200k affected customers, but not dead last, which is good, I suppose.
Later I'll post about how the last two power outages have convinced me that a generator belongs in the '06 spending plan, and how it's made me think about how fragile this technological blanket we've made for ourselves really is, but at the moment, I'm going to try to get a motorcycle running...
Posted by dberger at 1:07 PM
February 4, 2006
The Universe is conspiring against me...
There was a hell of a wind storm last night - trees are down all over the island, and several counties have reported power disruptions. We lost 5 trees (or large branches) last night. It sounded like a war zone at times.
So we have no power, which means I can't work on the motorcycles, as was my plan.
This is getting really annoying.
I tried taking a trip to the recycle center a bit ago, figuring that opening a bunch of garbage bins doesn't require electricity, so I could at least get some crap out of the house. Loaded up the car, got to the drop-off center and (drum roll please) they were closed. Took more detours than I could count on the way back - finding down trees and blocked roads all over the island.
I'm posting this via the magic of notebooks (with batteries) and my Bluetooth phone. Sometimes I think we've invested in the wrong technology somewhere along the line...
Posted by dberger at 1:15 PM | Comments (2)
February 2, 2006
Random Firefly Links
Ok, I don't normally do this, but my inner fan-boy is showing.
Badges? We don't need no stinking badges.
Every browncoat needs one of these hanging on their tree next year. (thanks, Vince)
And just in case you needed to wear your fandom like a, er, T-shirt, or a license plate frame, or a button, or, whatever.
Some helpful person has taken it upon themselves to publish a blog on this sort of thing.
Posted by dberger at 12:26 PM | Comments (2)
January 30, 2006
Still no vroom vroom
My parts haven't arrived, so no progress on the motorcycles. It's really bugging me. It's approaching the irrational.
On Saturday night we started to watch The Brothers Grimm but gave up about 15 minutes in - it was pretty bad. Disjoint, rushed, not at all what I've come to expect from Gilliam. Instead we ended up watching The Aristocrats - which had funny moments, but like Deadwood, I found the message lost in the vulgarity. (Yea, I know that's the point of the joke, doesn't mean it's a good joke.) Probably the most interesting observation I made was that at some point, a comedian's material becomes secondary to the comedian. There are comics, like Eddy Izzard, Paul Riser, and George Carlin, who I've decided are generally funny, and I'm predisposed to react accordingly.
Interesting.
Sunday we finally took down the Christmas decorations, though the tree is still sitting in the living room. It was raining pretty heavily through the day, and I wasn't interested in wrestling with a wet tree.
After dinner we watched Constantine, which I enjoyed much more than I expected. The story held together well enough, the effects were good, and while I didn't think Keanu was exactly right for the role, his Bladerunner-like delivery was adequate.
Somewhere in there, I managed to tweak my back - so I'm sitting on the ferry after a less-than-great night of sleep, wondering if I'll make it through the work day without having to spend it lying on the floor of my office (blech).
Posted by dberger at 7:57 AM
January 27, 2006
Well, that's annoying...
I caught the 5:30 ferry home, but Dawnise was sitting in line, coming back from Seattle, when a Bomb threat shut down Seattle's Colman Dock.
As I type, she's picked up Brad (a friend and co-worker who also lives on the island) and they're starting the drive around. We're going into Seattle tomorrow anyway, so we'll pick up Brad's car on our way back...
Posted by dberger at 8:23 PM
Requiescat in Pace
Tomorrow (the 28th) is the 20th anniversary of the Challenger disaster. I'm too young to remember JFK's assassination - the Challenger disaster is the earliest vivid memory of "world events" of my life.
It shattered our illusions that spaceflight was becoming "routine" and was a harsh reminder that exploration, and innovation, have cost, and involve risk.
Rest in peace Christa McAuliffe, Dick Scobee, Mike Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Ron McNair and Greg Jarvis.
Posted by dberger at 8:15 AM
January 25, 2006
Big Damn Television, Take 4
As threatened, the Vizio went back to Costco last night - the "green screen of death" symptom was the last straw.
I picked up the Philips on sale at Costco this week (the 50PF7220A/37) - another 50" that looks even bigger than the last one due to the side-mounted speakers (vs. the Vizio, which had them under the screen).
My initial reactions are mixed. Overall the unit has better "fit and finish" - and the software is much more sophisticated, but the picture quality doesn't seem quite as good as the Vizio it's replacing.
Watching the "missile-lock" scene from The Incredibles, which has great contrast range (dark scenes in the bad guys hide out, very bright scenes in the plane and during the explosion) and large fields of color (when the heroine turns into a parachute to save the kids) there was a lot of false color in the sky and noise in her red suit that neither the DVD player nor the TVs Digital Noise Reduction could eliminate.
It doesn't, however, have the immediate image sticking problem that Vizio support repeatedly claimed was "normal" for plasma displays.
I've downloaded the latest firmware update (cool feature on the Philips - it's got a USB jack, and will update firmware via USB stick) but the release notes don't say anything about color or noise correction.
One downside is that the unit doesn't have VGA-RGB in, only two HDMI inputs (and component) - so I have buy a break-out cable to hook up Dawnise's notebook.
So, the jury's still out - but I was hoping for a more solid win.
Posted by dberger at 5:24 AM
Ack! It's too early...
Day trip to SF today - so I was up at 4:30 to catch the 5:20 boat for a 7:30 flight.
Blech.
I wouldn't mind as much if I was going to have time to see any friends, but that's pretty much out of the picture - so I'm mildly grumbly about the whole thing.
Posted by dberger at 5:22 AM
January 23, 2006
Small Victories, Ongoing Frustrations
I managed to make progress on a long-running project this weekend - finishing the install of half the under-counter lights in the kitchen. By far the nastiest part of the job was fishing the wire into the wall so I could wire them up to a real switch. Took about 30 minutes of trial and error, much cursing and gnashing of teeth. But it's done. One more set to install, on the other side of the kitchen, but my patience was wearing thin.
I made no progress, however, on the motorcycles. I learned that none of the bike stores on my side of the Sound carry the oil filter for either of my bikes, so I ended up ordering the filters, and the oil, and spark plugs, and brake fluid from Cycle Gear. I miss having the Fulerton CG store - they stocked just about everything I cared about and were pretty close. The nearest CG to us now is in Tacoma, and their stock is pretty pathetic.
Assuming the consumables arrive by next weekend, I'll spend a day working on the bikes - oil change on the Trophy, renew the clutch fluid, clean and gap the plugs, clean the carbs, blast out the air filter element, and hope the bloody thing starts.
I picked up a heat gun at Home Depot, which should break down the thread lock and allow me to disassemble the RS without sacrificing another fuel coupler - assuming I don't blow up the gas tank in the process...
If I don't get anywhere on this attempt, I'm crying uncle and having the bikes trailered to the nearest Triumph shop (Cycle Barn, in Lynwood, across the Sound). It'll cost a small fortune, but enough is enough.
Posted by dberger at 8:01 AM
January 19, 2006
Nothing is worse than having an itch you can never scratch
I've got a growing jonesing to play in a good RPG.
Trouble is (whining) we don't have a game group up here, though I have to admit not having spent a tremendous amount of time trying to find one.
The bigger trouble is (being a snob) that once you've played with folks like Dru, Coz, Rob, John, Catherine (and all the other Samru and Arafe folks I've neglected to enumerate), it's hard to even imagine a group that could stand in.
It's a problem...
Posted by dberger at 1:10 PM | Comments (1)
January 18, 2006
She had the Birthday, we got the presents
The first wave arrived a week ago Thursday - my sister flew in and met my brother, who was a surprise for her and my parents, at the airport. She had figured out who she was meeting, but had the good sense to keep it to herself (smart one, she is). Dawnise and Mike picked me up from the ferry Thursday night, and when I got home Laurie was asleep on the sofa.
I took Friday off, and the four of us went into Seattle where we hooked up with Vince and Donna, who had arrived late Thursday night. We did the downtown "thing" (Pike Market and surrounds) before heading back to the house, fresh fish and herbs in hand. We had grilled tequila-honey-rosemary salmon, pan fried red potatoes, and sauteed portobello mushroom and flash sauteed green beans, with fresh bread for dinner, and stayed up chatting 'till fairly late in the evening.
Saturday morning, Dawnise got her presents, and my parents arrived around noon. At Dawnise's insistence we sequestered Mike and his stuff in the TV room downstairs - the last stop on the nickle house tour. Watching my mom and dad's face as it dawned on them who was reading on the sofa was well worth the price of his ticket from Northern California. :) We caught up for a few hours before rounding up the troops and heading for the ferry for our dinner reservation in Seattle.
Dinner at Gordon Biersch was good - tempered a bit by the slightly surly waitress and a long rectangular table that sorta partitioned up the conversation. We had intended to dine at the Pyramid Ale House, but due to a football playoff game they wouldn't take our reservation - clearly they didn't need the money that a 17 person dinner tab represented...
Continue reading "She had the Birthday, we got the presents"
Posted by dberger at 6:21 PM | Comments (1)
January 7, 2006
Coolest. Christmas. Gift. Ever.
A couple years ago, Dawnise and I stumbled on The Voodoo knife block. It was quirky, cool, slightly twisted, and I wanted one.
Trouble is, they were made and sold by an Italian company, and no one was importing them into the US.
Time Passes (cue cheesy special effect)...
And I open a box on Christmas morning, and my jaw hits the floor. It was a Voodoo, only the box proclaimed it to be "The Ex." Apparently I wasn't the only one that thought this was the coolest thing since sliced bread - and some company had started importing them.
And Dawnise found me one.
It's been sitting on our kitchen counter in all it's glory since Christmas morning - but I didn't post anything about it 'till after we'd bought another one and sent it to a friend who had the same reaction to the Italian version I had. They like it too - thought their seven-year-old daughter, on seeing it, declared "that's disturbing."
Perfect.
Posted by dberger at 4:15 PM
Procrastination
Since getting Dawnise's car out of storage after the move (about a year ago now) it's been on my list to clean it's rugs.
I finally kicked procrastination out the window this morning, grabbed the shop vac and carpet machine, and spent the next three hours (!) extracting sludge from the cars carpets.
Blech.
On the plus side, the car looks (and smells) much better - on the down side, it's damp, and I'm not sure if it'll dry before we want to leave for the improv tonight.
On a related note - I'm the not-so-proud owner of two - count em two - motorcycles that won't run.
Continue reading "Procrastination"
Posted by dberger at 3:33 PM
January 3, 2006
Strike 3 on the Big Damn TV
Well, it's official - the third (and last) V Inc. 50" plasma isn't long for our house.
Dawnise picked me up from the ferry tonight and mentioned that she'd tried to watch a movie today but all the TV would display were green noise bars. Even the "No Signal" box - normally blue - was just random noise. She ended up giving up after several tries and watching the movie on her notebook.
I checked it out when I got home, half expecting to find the problem had fixed itself, and was surprised to find that it was still misbehaving. Regardless of the input - or even if anything was connected to any input - the TV would display 50" of green noise.
Figuring it's microprocessor had gotten a little verklempt, I unplugged it for about 20 minutes and tried again.
Sure enough - the TV got it's brain back - but enough is enough.
We've had three units, and all have had some sort of fatal flaw. Not the quality I expect for the amount of money spent. For those playing along at home, I'd suggest avoiding V Inc.. For the money, you can get a good 42", or for a bit more, a better 50".
Not sure which we'll do yet, but at the first opportunity to replace it, it's going back (let's hear it for Costco's return policy).
Posted by dberger at 7:55 PM | Comments (1)
Danger Will Robinson
I can't tell you how many hours I spent playing the Ultima series games on my old Apple II. Ultima IV was probably my favorite, and Ultima V the last one I played.
So this filled me with nostalgia, and a certain form of dread. I bought Dungeon Siege - and it sucked. It sucked beautifully, but sucked none-the-less. Perhaps all it needed was a story... I should probably not download the mod.
Posted by dberger at 2:38 PM | Comments (1)
December 29, 2005
The First Visit from the 'rents
Dawnises' folks left today after a 10 day visit. It was only slightly hampered by the fact that it rained pretty much the whole time (her dad loved it), Dawnise got sick shortly after their arrival (and is still, and still refuses to seek medical attention), and that the last two weeks have been hell on earth for me at work (I'm on a release call at 11pm tonight which will hopefully put out a number of the fires), and that we had no power on Xmas day.
It was a good visit, we enjoyed having them, and we're hopeful that a positive first experience will increase the chances that there will be repeats in the future. Perhaps when it's not raining, Dawnise isn't sick, and when I'm not completely consumed by crisis at work.
Despite the madness at work, I managed to get out of the office to meet them on the Seattle side of the ferry, help them with their bags, and see them off to the airport.
We're staying fairly low key for new years eve - heading for dinner somewhere and then watching the Space Needle fireworks display from a friends 20th floor apartment adjacent to the needle, possibly with a few friends.
Then next weekend we prep the house for the other set of 'rents.
Posted by dberger at 6:51 PM | Comments (1)
December 27, 2005
An unhealthy fascination with coffee makers
I like coffee, and even more than coffee, I like mechanisms for making coffee. It's sorta weird. In some respects I like the act of brewing coffee more than the act of consuming it.
French presses, vacuum pots, and more traditional carafes, there's something cool about coffee makers.
So when I saw this at a local upscale kitchen store (Sur La Table, in Pike Market) I knew I wanted one. I kept trying to tell Dawnise about it - and she had a pretty ho-hum reaction.
I didn't realize she was playing dumb - so I was completely surprised when it showed up as a Christmas gift. Apparently it arrived the day after I had first seen it - meaning she had already ordered it before I stumbled onto it a couple months back.
I used it the other morning - it made good coffee. It'll take a few tries to get the grind just right, and the amount of coffee, but it's definitely better than the normal drip process, and unlike my stove-top model, you don't have to watch it like a hawk.
I would like a way to tune how long it keeps the coffee boiling (and hence brewing), which seems to be the common complaint on this model.
Posted by dberger at 1:51 PM
December 26, 2005
The Great Xmas Blackout of '05
My "get up and go to work" alarm woke me up at 6:15 Christmas morning. I turn it off and went back to sleep. The "get up and feed the diabetic cat" alarm on my phone went off at 7:30, at which point I wandered out into the other room, measured out Junior's food and put it in his cage with him, without so much as really noticing. A half hour later, the "mediate the diabetic cat" alarm (also on my phone) went off and I put on my glasses, walked out and tried turning on the light.
Nothing.
I quickly decided that we had lost power. I dosed the cat in the dark, and called the electric company. It turns out that there was a pretty serious wind storm on Christmas eve - enough to knock power out for some 15,000 customers in the Puget Sound area - us included.
The way I figure it, it's all my mother-in-law's fault.
Continue reading "The Great Xmas Blackout of '05"
Posted by dberger at 8:42 AM
December 22, 2005
Well that wasn't quite how it was supposed to go...
It seems Dawnise is really trying to re-enact our wedding.
She's sick, and running a pretty good fever.
And of course, refusing to seek medical attention. (To be fair, I'd refuse too, it's only just over 24 hours).
So we had a low-key dinner last night at the Pub with her folks, who arrived on Monday and are staying through next week.
Dinner was good (it always is) and desert was good, but it wasn't really the celebratory dinner we had planned.
Oh well, once she kicks this cold we'll try again.
Continue reading "Well that wasn't quite how it was supposed to go..."
Posted by dberger at 7:56 AM
December 21, 2005
Less mud, more wood
Good to his word, John Paget and crew at Salty Dog Construction (hadda work with 'em, loved the name) finished our back deck yesterday. It promises to greatly increase the usability of our "back yard" and use of the back doors.
There's about a 12'x12' deck off the kitchen (2nd story as viewed from the back of the house) and a 16'x35-ish deck off the den at ground level. We did the final walk-over this morning, identified a few minor things they'll come back and take care of after the holidays, and handed him the final check.
Once it dries out a bit, we'll have to have a party to break it in.
Next year.... landscaping.
Posted by dberger at 9:16 AM
Nine years pass in the blink of an eye
Today, at about this time, nine years ago, Dawnise and I were soaking wet, standing in a tree that had been hollowed out by a lightening strike in Muir Woods exchanging vows in front of a small audience of close friends.
The nine years since have been full of more ups than downs, more happy than sad, and only occasional moments of sheer panic.
I wouldn't trade a them for anything.
"Doubt that the stars are fire, doubt that the sun doth move, doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love."
Happy Anniversary, beautiful.
Posted by dberger at 9:11 AM | Comments (3)
December 16, 2005
Rhapsody on Linux (and Mac)
A couple weeks ago we released a web version of Rhapsody (rhapsody.com). It doesn't offer 100% of the feature set of the Win32 thick client (no playlist management yet, no download or CD burning support) but it supports Firefox on Linux/x86, and Firefox and Safari on Mac/PPC.
I have to say, I love Rhapsody ('s one of the major reasons I work where I work), and enabling playback on my linux box, and my Powerbook, are probably the coolest thing the company has done in years...
So I'll start posting links to cool music, like this, and all you need to do to listen is sign up for a Rhapsody account. There's a free service tier that allows you to listen to 25 tracks of your choice from the collection each month, but once you've had a taste, you'll probably want to upgrade. As with anything good, the first one's free.
For our expatriated friends, sorry, it's still US only - don't blame us, blame the gorram lables.
Oh, and in case anyone else out there has trouble downloading the plugin from a 32bit Firefox running on an x86_64 linux system, override your useragent string from something like this:
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686 (x86_64); en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050922 Fedora/1.0.7-1.1.fc4 Firefox/1.0.7
to this:
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050922 Fedora/1.0.7-1.1.fc4 Firefox/1.0.7
by setting general.useragent.override. (enter about:config the the URL bar, right click, add a new String value with the aforementioned name and value).
Posted by dberger at 9:57 AM | Comments (1)
December 15, 2005
Chocolate Induced Coma
Some colleagues from San Francisco are up in Seattle this week on business, and they, Dawnise and I, and two colleagues from the Seattle office made an 8pm reservation at The Melting Pot on Queen Ann.
The food was awesome, especially the desert, and the company was terrific.
We're waiting for the midnight ferry home, both trying not to slip into a sweets-dipped-in-really-good-chocolate coma...
Yum.
Posted by dberger at 11:42 PM
December 11, 2005
Holiday Party, Part 2
Last night was our seventh annual cookie exchange party. We had a reasonable turnout, considering we've only been in WA for a year. About 20 people attended, with 9 varieties of cookies exchanged.
We had mulled wine, cheese, bread and various dips, and other non-cookie munchies, and folks seemed to generally enjoy themselves. Edmond's mom is up visiting from LA, and brought home-made Baklava (mmmm), which we'll be over-dosing on for weeks. Little did she know that she'd have a pre-established fan-club consisting of all the folks who attended our house warming and sampled her home-made sausages.
At the last minute, Dawinse organized a white-elephant exchange which included some very cool (but not at all white-elephanty) gifts.
We finished cleaning up and hit the sack around 1 this morning.
Posted by dberger at 6:30 PM
December 7, 2005
SoCal Triumph to the Rescue
I broke my motorcycle yesterday. Aside from being embarrassing, it means I have to get parts which, for a Triumph, I've learned is non-trivial in most of the country.
In fact, when I called him today I learned that my local "wrench" (Burton Motorports, great guy, recommend him) has had such a hard time reliably getting the right party in under a month that he's pretty much sworn off doing any work on a Triumph that requires Triumph parts. (So I guess I'm doing the next valve job on my RS after all...)
So I called the (excellent) shop where I bought the RS - Southern California Triumph - who seem to be one of the few shops that can reliably get parts, and identify the one you need with fidelity. The part will ship tomorrow, USPS Priority, and probably be here on Monday. Which leaves me only to figure out how to extract the busted one and put the whole thing back together.
Posted by dberger at 8:46 PM | Comments (4)
December 6, 2005
Unpleasant Surprises...
I've been sick lately, and it's been cold, so I haven't been riding the motorcycles to work lately. The other morning I noticed a small puddle of something petroleum based under the RS. When I got home from work tonight I decided to go start both bikes, just to exercise 'em.
The RS started right up, and I left it idling to warm up while I darted inside to grab the phone. When I returned, I saw a growing puddle under the bike, and quickly determined it was gasoline.
About 20 minutes later I'd pulled the rear body work off, lifted the tank and found the source of the leak. One of the two fuel feeds out of the fuel tank was loose and gas was leaking through it's threads.
Because of the shape of this particular part, and it's proximity to another feed coupling on the tank, I had to remove it's neighbor to remove it and re-tighten it from a different start position. (It's hard to explain without a picture, but trust me...)
Continue reading "Unpleasant Surprises..."
Posted by dberger at 10:30 PM | Comments (1)
December 1, 2005
Snow
I'm home today, trying to kick this cold. I'm sitting on the armchair in the front room, typing away, when I happened to look up and see snow out the front window.
In the time it took me to call to Dawnise (who was downstairs) the snow turned back into rain. She looked skeptical, 'till she looked out the window a moment later and saw... snow.
By the time she got her jacket on and stepped out onto the front step, it was back to raining.
She stood on the front porch for a few moments, indignant, before coming back inside.
It's been snowing indecisively for the last 10 minutes. They're predicting accumulation up to (drum-roll please) 1 inch.
This snow I can live with - it looks cool, makes the world pretty, and then goes away.
Posted by dberger at 11:20 AM
November 29, 2005
Comfort Foods
I'm sick. Actually, Dawnise and I are both sick, though she seems to be getting over it faster than I am (or perhaps I'm just a wimp, who can tell).
When I'm sick, one of the first signs is a craving for grapefruit juice. The second is a craving for my mom's home-made Chicken Soup (the grapefruit juice is much easier to come by these days). I also realized that when I'm sick, I'm much more likely to desire Swee-Touch-Nee tea (also a non-trivial thing to procure).
So I've been drinking grapefruit juice like a fish, sleeping, and generally making a pest of myself when I'm awake. I'm trying to go easy on the tea, seeing as how I have a limited supply.
I'm amazed Dawnise hasn't killed me yet...
Posted by dberger at 4:25 PM
November 28, 2005
We're baackk...
Our flight back to SEA was mostly uneventful, though between the proverbial screaming baby one row behind us (he was actually pretty good, just got cranky occasionally) and both of our heads being congested from the cold we caught, or possibly brought with us, it wasn't the most festive two and a half hours I've ever spent.
I made it to the office, though I'm not sure I'll make it through the day - even dosed on Dayquil I'm feeling pretty blasted.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the surprise brunch on Sunday, and do those who joined us on Sunday night at Grapevine. I'm very fortunate to have such a caring group of friends.
Posted by dberger at 10:21 AM
November 27, 2005
Surprise!
Thanks to everyone who arrived at Vince and Donna's place this morning, waffle irons in tow, for a (successful) surprise brunch. It was great to see everyone, and watching the assembly line of waffle irons cranking out waffles (not to mention the hen-house worth of eggs, bacon, and sausage) was highly entertaining.
I'm very fortunate to have friends who care enough to drive (some from as far as Temecula , San Jacinto, and Long Beach) out to Corona to mark my passing another year.
Thank you, all.
Last stop on the tour - Grapevine, tonight, 7pm. :)
Posted by dberger at 2:36 PM | Comments (1)
Birthday Dinner
Vince and Donna decided that rather than taking Dawnise and I out to dinner for my birthday, they'd bring dinner to us. So around 5:30, just as I was getting back from retrieving Dawnise and making a quick stop at BevMo, a crew of three arrived at their place and started cooking.
Vince and Donna had found Windy Plum Farms some months back, and had commissioned (do you commission chefs the way you commission other artists?) them for their Anniversary at the end of October.
Dawnise and I had sent some menu suggestions earlier this week, while trying to leave room for the chef to flex their wings.
We ended up starting with bruschetta, followed by a well executed french onion soup and some calamari. A butter lettuce, apple, and candied pecan salad with raspberry hazelnut vinaigrette led way to the mains - which varied around the table. While my "pepper steak" wasn't what I was expecting (I was looking for a pepper crusted sirloin or fillet, what I got was more like a pepper stroganoff) it was very good, as was the spaetzle and veggies that accompanied it. Desert was an absolutely delectable chocolate pots-du-creme, which made a significant impression on all at the table.
Continue reading "Birthday Dinner"
Posted by dberger at 12:14 AM
November 21, 2005
Speechless
I'm reading Looking for Jake, a short story collection by China Miéville. If you've read any Miéville, it shouldn't be surprising that more than one of the stories in the collection are deeply disturbing.
One in particular - "foundation" left a lasting image. I finished the penultimate story, and the boat was nearing the Seattle dock, so I decided not to start it yet, and flipped to the last few pages of the novel, and read the Acknowledgements.
The last paragraph caught me by surprise:
I would like to point out that the historical detail in the story "foundation" is accurate and a matter of record. The U.S. Army did bury Iraqi soldiers alive, using tanks mounted with plows. Among many other sources, see Patrick Sloyan's article "How the Mass Slaughter of a Group of Iraqis Went Unreported," The Guardian, 14 February 2003.
That reference led me here.
Posted by dberger at 8:31 AM
November 18, 2005
Big Damn Television, Third Time's the Charm?
Back in August (was it really that long ago?) we bought a new TV. It was less than perfect.
The image retention problem got worse, and Vizio RMA'd the unit. They delivered the new one on Wednesday which is a story unto itself.
The freight company calls on Friday to say that it's "here" (at SEATAC) and they'd like to deliver it today. Neither Dawnise nor I was at home, never mind the fact that I had spoken to the manufacturer and they assured me I'd have at least 24 hours notice. They couldn't (wouldn't) deliver it on Saturday, so I told him I'd look for a day this week. I also learned that he wasn't planning to pick up the old one - meaning we'd have to arrange another day to handle that end.
I called Vizio and informed them that "since I'm already on my second unit, I kept all the packaging expecting to have to return it" and that I wanted drop-off and pick up at the same time.
Continue reading "Big Damn Television, Third Time's the Charm?"
Posted by dberger at 6:18 PM | Comments (1)
November 16, 2005
Great way to start a morning
I started this morning on an early ferry and met two ne'er-do-well's that I used to work with for Breakfast.
They were in town for a conference, and while we couldn't swing time for dinner based on their conference schedule, we did the next best thing. We met at Le Pichet, a lovely french cafe on 1st ave just north of the Market.
Breakfast was good (croissants, cured ham, baguette, coffee) and the conversation was great. Put me in a very good mood, despite facing a solid day of meetings (seriously - I have 45 minutes blocked out for lunch, otherwise I'm booked from 9:30 to 5:30 - it's crazy).
Posted by dberger at 9:44 AM
November 15, 2005
Al Franken, Redux
A couple of folks reacted pretty viscerally to my "political agnosticism" post - one went so far as to drop a copy of Al Franken's book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right on my desk at work.
So I read it.
And it annoyed the hell out of me.
Continue reading "Al Franken, Redux"
Posted by dberger at 9:20 AM
November 13, 2005
The Life and Times of a Diabetic Cat
Junior's doing pretty well. We're getting him into a routine - he's fed twice a day, has a half hour to eat, and then gets his insulin shot: 2 units, twice a day, to be adjusted after his next vet visit and blood work.
He's still drinking a bit more than normal, but nowhere near what he was drinking just before taking him in. He seems a bit more energetic, as well - though that could just be that he's getting more regular doses of attention (even if said attention comes complete with a jab in the shoulder or hips).
It has made life a bit more complicated, but we'll figure it out. We can't assume friends are able to pop in twice a day and feed/medicate him, so we're starting the search for a trustworthy pet-sitter to attend to him while we're in California over Thanksgiving.
Posted by dberger at 10:01 PM | Comments (1)
November 11, 2005
The Little Things
The other day, I wandered up to the Cafeteria to make a cup of tea. Much to my unexpected delight, I found real lemon on the condiment table - rather than the little packets of reconstituted lemon juice they'd had the last time I looked.
It's small, it's stupid, but it sorta made my day.
Another example: on Wednesday a sales team scheduled a call with a (prospective) customer over lunch on Thursday. I have a recurring 45 minute block from 12:15 to 1pm - so them scheduling this call means they double booked me.
So I pushed back - saying they needed to either move the meeting, or coordinate food. "They" (the "they" who do these things) said they'd arrange food.
Thursday, moments before the call was to start, I realized that no one else on the call was in the Seattle office. So I'm sitting in my office, wondering "where's the lunch" when in walks one of the admin assistants from their group with lunch, fresh from the caf'.
It wasn't gourmet, but it was food. Her only comment, as she was walking out was "geez, they must have really needed you on the call..."
Posted by dberger at 10:02 AM
November 7, 2005
The ongoing tale of Junior
For the last several weeks, Junior (our silver Norwegian Forest Cat) had been drinking water like a fiend and peeing like a proverbial race horse. After reading a bit online, and realizing that there was almost no chance of this being a good thing, I made an appointment at our local Vets.
So it was with only a little surprise that we learned Friday night that Junior has developed diabetes.
So tomorrow night I come home early and we take the cat, the insulin, and the needles to the vets to learn to dose him; a procedure he'll need twice a day, every day. He'll likely spend a fair bit of time at the vets over the next few months, as we adjust the dosage; which translates directly to our spending a fair bit of money at the vets over the next few months, as we adjust the dosage.
Hopefully, once we get the dosage dialed in, he'll stop flooding his litter box, but it's too much to hope that his scatological habits will improve enough for him to resume life outside his cage.
So traveling is going to get more tricky - we'll have to find a trusted pet-sitter who's comfortable administering insulin. Fortunately, some friends on the island had a cat in a similar situation, and our neighbor is the office manager for the local animal hospital and (according to her husband, who I commute with on the ferry) is comfortable assisting with simple procedures (like shots).
Dawnise took the news relatively well - I kept reinforcing that it's not a painful condition and, if treated reliably, needn't shorten or reduce the quality of Juniors life.
Posted by dberger at 8:01 AM | Comments (1)
November 6, 2005
The Wonderful world of SATA
Non geeks may find nothing of interest here. Consider yourself warned.
One of the drives in my desktop machine started warning me of impending failure a few days back. I had sorta been waiting for it to die - seeing as how it's an IBM Deathstar. I wasn't particularly worried about it, since it houses my home directory (Windows users, think "\\Documents and Settings\\<your user name>") and is part of a software RAID-1 mirror set.
Anyway, I picked up two 300G Serial ATA drives, each about $90 after rebate, and started thinking about the upgrade. My biggest concern was moving my Windows XP install, which I keep around for the (very) occasional game session. I keep the Windows installation on a FAT file system, and during a hardware upgrade I normally just pick it up and move it (boot Linux, move the files, boot the XP cd and fix the boot-loader). I wasn't sure this would work this time, since XP doesn't natively grok SATA.
Turns out my fears were justified. While the BIOS would boot off the SATA drives without a problem, the XP CD didn't see the attached drives, hence no recovery console.
Continue reading "The Wonderful world of SATA"
Posted by dberger at 8:06 PM
November 2, 2005
I'll see your double hippie and raise you a hippie
The last couple batches of coffee in our bag was tossed out during a routine cleaning of the fridge.
My coffee buddy decided to try something new - Tony's Fair Trade, Organic, Shade Grown Blend.
It's cheaper than the Starbucks (plus), and better tasting (double plus).
Posted by dberger at 3:44 PM | Comments (2)
November 1, 2005
Rocky Horror, Small Town Style
The island's "art theater" did two Halloween showings of RHPS, and encouraged audience participation.
So Brad and Kat, Todd and Bronwyn and a friend, and Dawnise and I loaded up bags with rice, squirt guns, toast, confetti, rubber gloves, etc. etc. and went to the early show at 7 last night (sign #1 that you're getting to be an old fart - you go to the early Rocky showing).
The audience was mostly to young for my comfort (sign #2 that you're getting to be an old fart - you think RHPS isn't "appropriate" for young teenagers) and were definitely far to young to be that drunk (sign #3 - you have a hard time finding drunk teenagers "cute"). When I was 16 I might have found the sight of wobbly 14 year-olds traipsing around in their knickers to be a plus, but now it's just sorta sad.
Having said all that - it was a good time. We laughed, listened to the gradual ongoing shift in the banter (much of it is the same, but bits change over time) and went back to Brad and Kats' place to make fun of it all (and pick rice out of places rice has no business being) when it was over. As Brad pointed out - a "Halloween only" showing of Rocky is, by definition, weak tea - but I'm not sure my lifestyle is compatible with the "real thing" anymore.
I think that's probably a good thing, really.
Posted by dberger at 11:56 AM
October 31, 2005
Al Franken: He Sounds Taller on the Radio
Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the American political system.
Al Franken made a stop in the office today as part of his book tour promoting his latest book. I managed to slip into the room for the last 20 minutes of his talk.
Now, between the origins of the company (point of trivia: RealNetworks used to be called Progressive Networks - and the "Progressive" was a political statement) and the fact that we're in Seattle, which is pretty liberal leaning city - he was mostly preaching to the choir.
Which brings me to my not-completely-related point.
Continue reading "Al Franken: He Sounds Taller on the Radio"
Posted by dberger at 3:04 PM | Comments (4)
October 29, 2005
Interviewing
I guess I sorta let a cat out of a bag in my last post. And I discovered that a couple of my colleagues have found and read this blog - and the mention of interviewing caused them to ask me to explain...
Since moving to WA, I've gotten a steady trickle (to call it a stream would be over stating the fact) of contacts from head-hunters and recruiters. I'm a new data point in their search - someone in WA they hadn't seen before. (I keep my resume online, and while it's not current, it's pretty close.) Until October 11th (my 1 year anniversary of hire) I had a simple response - "I'm under a relocation agreement until the middle of October, so I'm not looking to leave my position, thanks."
A few days after the 11th I got one of these calls from a local company. They had been given my name by someone who I had worked with briefly and now worked for them. My patent excuse was half out of my mouth before my brain kicked in and I realized I wasn't under any such agreement.
So I agreed to a phone conversation with the hiring manager, which turned into several aborted attempts to get together for lunch and finally settling on meeting for a chat over drinks one evening after work.
Continue reading "Interviewing"
Posted by dberger at 4:58 PM | Comments (1)
October 28, 2005
When the best part of your day are the dark chocolate M&Ms...
This morning started on the wrong foot. I tripped over something that was left in a darkened doorway on my way out of the house. I had no idea that would set the trend for the day...
I got to work, and from 9:30 to 3:30 was in crisis mode. A crisis, I might add, largely of our own making.
That pattern pretty much continued all day, 'till I got home around 8:30 this evening. I had planned to hop out at lunch and do some anniversary gift shopping. That wasn't to be.
If this day had happened a few weeks back, well, let's just say I might have moved forward with one or both of the interviews I had.
Continue reading "When the best part of your day are the dark chocolate M&Ms..."
Posted by dberger at 9:23 PM
October 27, 2005
Double-Hippie Coffee
For the last several weeks, my morning coffee-buddy and I have been drinking what I've come to call "double-hippie coffee."
Starbucks calls it Organic Shade Grown Mexico Coffee, but I like my name better.
It's not great coffee (Caffe Verona, which I've mentioned before, is better), but for the extra couple of bucks a pound, you get to delude yourself into thinking you're doing global good while getting your morning caffeine. Saving the world one cup at a time, or some such bullshit. Come to think of it, it's the closest I've ever come to feeling Catholic.
Sitting here with a steaming mug of indulgence now, trying to decide which of the several things I'm trying to avoid doing I'll do this morning...
Posted by dberger at 9:16 AM | Comments (1)
October 22, 2005
Creepy Gorram Crawlies
Found a spider downstairs. We think it was one of these.
It was probably 3" including legs.
And fast.
Damn was it fast. Like Guinness Book of World Records fast (I shit you not - check out the data sheet.)
Seriously creepifying.
I'm pretty sure it wasn't a hobo - they seem to be smaller.
But it was enough to get us both sorta jumpy.
Yuck.
Posted by dberger at 9:55 PM | Comments (3)
October 21, 2005
Treo 650: A Status Report
I've lived with my Treo for about two weeks.
It's far from the best phone I've ever had.
I explained it to a colleague today like this - it needs to reboot far more often than a phone should, but less often than your average windows box. (Speaking of Windows, Dawnise's notebook has this really annoying habit of not coming back from resume. Factory Windows install, no funky drivers or applications, just a flakey as a bowl of breakfast cereal. If anyone has the magic incantation to fix it; aside from "install linux"; I'm all ears.)
I bought a 1GB SD card for it at Costco last weekend - so my phone now has more storage than my first several computers...
Continue reading "Treo 650: A Status Report"
Posted by dberger at 8:48 PM
Friends are Good, but Sometimes, so is silence...
It's been busy around the house lately. We've had house-guests for four of the lasts five weekends. First Tony was in town, which was great, then we had a weekend off before Titus & Victoria came up (also great). The following weekend my sister was here (it was, er, great... I gotta find a different word), and last weekend Vince and Donna dropped in on us (a, hell with it, I've come this far - that was great too).
Which brings us to this weekend...
Today I met Scott for lunch at Uwajimaya - we had lunch in the store (good Chinese food) and spent a bit of time roaming the Asian cookie aisle before parting ways. I walked out with about $11 worth of unreadable stuff, (well, some Pocky, but the rest of it I had no idea what it was).
Then Steve was in Seattle on business (visiting my office, no less) and after our meeting we grabbed a quick dinner at Casuelitas before he hopped in a cab for the airport. I got back to work, finished up a few things, and caught the 7:20 boat home.
Continue reading "Friends are Good, but Sometimes, so is silence..."
Posted by dberger at 8:41 PM
October 14, 2005
Drew Carey and the Improv Allstars
Caught the 6pm show at The Paramount Theater last night with Brad and Kat.
The show was hilarious - gut-wrenching, cheek-cramping, can't-breathe-'cause-I'm-laughing-so-hard hilarious. It was the same basic format as Who's Line is it Anyway, but with all the stops removed - no worries about the TV censors, or the Disney funding. Perhaps the most disturbing is the barefoot-and-blindfolded-improv-on-a-bed-of-live-mousetraps they did at the end. We'd seen it on the show once, but it's even funnier live. And all the while I was doubled over laughing, I'm feeling guilty for laughing at watching someone in pain.
After the show we went to Johnny Rockets for dinner (I really have to remember that while it tastes good, it's like eating a container of Crisco, greeeasy) and continued the laugh fest.
After wandering around Barnes & Noble long enough to let dinner congeal, we headed up the hill to Tango and shared an El Diablo (scroll down).
A good time was had by all.
Posted by dberger at 5:48 PM | Comments (1)
October 13, 2005
Time to Laugh a little...
Got tickets for the Improv All-Stars tonight.
We used to regularly go into LA and watch Who's Line being taped - it was a great way to spend an afternoon/evening, especially before it got popular and you could show up an hour before taping and reasonably expect to get in. (Toward the end you had to get there insanely early.)
Looking forward to it.
Posted by dberger at 11:20 AM
Creepy Crawlies
We live in a new place, which (among other things) means were finding new bugs.
In the old house, the problem was ants. I used to joke that the hill Chino Hills was built on was, in fact, an ant hill. They'd find their way into the house looking for water, or cat food, or maybe just a good time.
In the new house, we haven't had ants yet (knock on wood), but we've found three centipedes.
Now, I don't know that I'd ever seen a centipede up close and personal - and lemme tell you, they look nothing like the video game. They look like spawn from a lower plane of hell, and they move fast.
They're downright creepy. Fortunately, two of the three we've found have been DOA, and the third was easy enough to toss out the back door. I'm mildly concerned as some varieties can be poisonous, and while Dawnise and I are unlikely to feel more than a stinging bite, the cats could be less resilient.
Then, yesterday, Dawnise brought in a T-shirt from the laundry hamper with what looked like a small crab crawling on it - complete with claws. We're not sure what it was, it might have been a wood tick (not the Patrick Warburton variety) which would be un-good. It doesn't look like a tick to me, but I'm working off memory, which isn't always reliable.
Posted by dberger at 9:07 AM | Comments (1)
October 6, 2005
The ongoing saga of the Treo 650
Had an email exchange today something like this:
From: Dan Berger
To: Todd Schmitt (Cingular Rep)
Subject: AT&T Sim w/ a Cingular Receipt, Plan, and Bill.
Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 09:05:51 -0700
Hi Todd;
About a year ago, when I started working @ XXX, I visited a Cingular store, signed up for a Cingular rate plan and purchased two Nokia 3200 phones (one for me, one for my wife).
Yesterday I purchased a Cingular Treo 650 from a colleague who had decided it was too much phone for him.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the SIM in my current Nokia phone is an AT&T SIM and won't work in the new phone.
I'm writing to find out how to go about getting the new phone unlocked to accept my current AT&T labeled (but sold as Cingular) SIM. Please understand - when I say "sold as Cingular" I mean to the last detail - the receipt says Cingular, the bill has always said Cingular, I had no idea that my GSM service would have any tie to AT&T.
Porting my number to a new SIM is not acceptable, as I both lose my phonebook as well as lose my backup Nokia phone - something I expect I'll need given the less than stellar reliability of the Treos.
You can reach me via email at this address, or by phone at XXX-XXX-XXXX (W) or XXX-XXX-XXXX (C).
The courtesy of a prompt reply is appreciated.
Thanks.
--
...Dan Berger
Continue reading "The ongoing saga of the Treo 650"
Posted by dberger at 8:24 PM | Comments (2)
October 2, 2005
Treo 650, Take 2
Bought another one - new, no box, tied to Cingular (I have an AT&T SIM). Since we have a corporate deal with AT&T-cum-Cingular, I'm going to play dumb and see if I can get them to either unlock the phone or replace my SIM for me for free. If not, I'll fork over the $25 to get it unlocked (which I may do anyway - just on principal).
It ended up costing me about $100 more than the $250 I initially wanted to spend, but if it helps me solve my CRS problem, it'll be worth it. If it doesn't, well, then I'll definitely get it unlocked, and you'll be seeing it re-appear on Ebay soon :)
Posted by dberger at 1:03 PM
September 30, 2005
Can I Call 'Em, Or What?
When something seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
The transaction has been undone, no ($) loss, just a small fire-drill.
Continue reading "Can I Call 'Em, Or What?"
Posted by dberger at 12:11 PM | Comments (1)
Drumroll please...
In theory I just snagged a Treo 650.
I say in theory 'cause the whole transaction smells a bit fishy, and I figure there's a 50/50 chance I'll end up making a buyer protection claim through ebay before it's all said and done.
Posted by dberger at 11:30 AM
Movies and Cel-Phones and TV's Oh My!
So, the Big Damn Movie opens today. If you haven't seen Firefly, and you see Serenity, I'd be curious about your reaction. Love it? Hate it? Somewhere in-between? I'll hold off on posting anything involving spoilers for a few days. We've seen it, of course - caught a sneak preview in Seattle a few months back. We've got tickets with some friends for a show tonight. Out of that group four, including Dawnise and I, have seen it, the other three haven't.
Should be interesting.
I mentioned a few days back that I was thinking about a Treo. Been watching ebay, and those blasted things are too expensive. So I figured I'd see what the best deal Cingular could offer me was. Dawnise and I are former AT&T customers. My phone is through work, hers isn't. Figured I'd upgrade her phone - possibly with a new contract - and drop my SIM in it. Done.
Those of you who've traveled out of country with your useless-carrier-locked-bass-ackwards GSM phone recently should immediately see the flaw in my reasoning.
Continue reading "Movies and Cel-Phones and TV's Oh My!"
Posted by dberger at 8:17 AM
September 27, 2005
All the Cool Kids are Doing it...
I realized the other day that I'm getting to the point where a PDA would be helpful again.
I've had 'em in the past - a Newton way back in '96/97, and a Palm III in '98. In both cases there was a fatal flaw. The Newton generally rocked, but unfortunately was a heavy and large as one. The Palm was less cool, but the right form factor, until I got sick of the transcription errors (and I was pretty good at graffiti) and it became yet another gadget I needed to carry around.
So I'm thinking of a smart-phone. Being an open-systems kinda guy (read: I don't do Windows) the Palm based Treo seems like a rational choice.
I had played with one of the Blackberries, and I quite like their UI (I think it's superior to the Treo, from my limited experience) but I haven't found a sync solution for Linux.
Continue reading "All the Cool Kids are Doing it..."
Posted by dberger at 8:56 AM | Comments (3)
September 26, 2005
Whirlwind Tour
Dawnise flew down to So. Cal. last Tuesday for a conference in San Diego.
Friday night I had dinner with some folks from work before heading over to the Conor Byrne for Scott's birthday show.
Edmond was kind enough to let me crash at his place - I got in around 2:45, caught a couple hours of sleep, and was up at 5:30 to catch a flight down to meet Dawnise.
She picked me up in Vince's Vett' with the top down and we drove to Geoff & Kathye's place to see them, the kids, and their shower (I smelled like an ashtray). From there we hopped back in the Vett (I got to drive :) and headed out the 10 to meet Dawnise's folks for lunch at TGI Fridays. (Amusing anecdote - while Dawnise was looking at the drink menu she noticed that a drink formerly-known-as the Louisiana Hurricane is now just the Hurricane, thanks to an overzealous history revisionist with a sharpie.)
Continue reading "Whirlwind Tour"
Posted by dberger at 8:57 AM
September 22, 2005
A memorable song from an unlikely source
If you lived during the late 80's, and if you listened to stations like KROQ in southern-California, if no one else can help, and if you can find them...
Er, sorry. Never mind that last bit.
Anyway - you probably know T'Pau, even if you didn't realize they were geeky enough to borrow their name from Star Trek (in the 80's no less, before geek was even remotely cool).
You'd probably recognize Heart & Soul - it got lots of radio play, has a very catchy hook, and a layered lyric.
You probably wouldn't recognize Hold on to Love, off their late 90's release The Promise.
It popped up on my jukebox on the way home, and made me remember how good they were at crafting truely infectous tracks.
Posted by dberger at 5:49 PM
September 20, 2005
The Path to the Dark Side
I've never really had aspirations of joining management. Always been happy as an individual contributor - let's me solve interesting problems, and mock management from the safety of my living room chair.
So I have little doubt that right now the universe is thumbing it's nose at me.
As of the beginning of October, I'll have a team of 5 senior-level engineers reporting to me. I'm resisting the suggestion from HR to change my title (currently "Principal Engineer") to "Director of Software Development;" it seems like a one-way door. Once you've jumped into the management pool with both feet, climbing out feels tricky.
The person currently in that role is taking three of his eight current engineers and going to work on something of a "critical-path skunkworks;" after much cajoling and convincing, I agreed to "step up," as they say.
Continue reading "The Path to the Dark Side"
Posted by dberger at 9:51 AM | Comments (3)
September 19, 2005
Battlestar Galactica
I remember TiVo'ing the Battlestar Galactica mini-series when it first aired on the SciFi channel a couple years back. Never got around to watching it.
The disc arrived from Netflix the other day, and Dawnise and I ended up watching it tonight.
All three hours of it.
The last thing that managed to get me to sit still for three hours were the Lord of the Rings movies. I can't think of anything to say about it that will say more than that.
I'm not sure about Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck - Dirk Benedict she ain't - though I swear she channeled him for a moment or two near the end. The look on her face was strikingly similar.
Definitely worth watching the mini-series. It wasn't perfect, but it did a respectable job.
And it didn't hurt that the effects company was the same one that worked on Firefly. The exterior shots - 'specially the rack focus bits - sorta felt like coming home a bit.
Posted by dberger at 10:44 PM | Comments (1)
September 18, 2005
Not a bad way to spend a weekend.
Friday night we hosted game night at our place - Brad & Kat came (they almost qualify for perfect attendance award) as did Todd & Bronwyn, and Jakob decided to hop a ferry and come join us. We played Taboo, which seems to be a party favorite, and ended up watching the first episode of Coupling. At that point Brad & Kat and Todd & Bronwyn left, but Jakob had some time to kill before his boat, so we watched the first episode of Wonderfalls before dropping him off for the 1am boat back to Seattle.
Saturday morning Dawnise and I got up later than anticipated and were out of the house on the road to the Puyallup Fair by around 10. We wandered around a bit and were joined by a co-worker and his girlfriend around 3. We grabbed some lunch together, and proceeded to stuff ourselves with all manor of junk food. We started with an Elephant Ear (interesting, but I'll pass in future) accompanied by a Funnel Cake (can't go wrong there), and topped it off with a couple of Fair Scones (sort of a cross between Krispy Crack and Buttermilk Biscuits from KFC with butter and raspberry jam - yum).
Between eating all the junk food we wandered around the fair. They left around 6, and we stayed and watched the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) "Musical Ride." Essentially a drill team on horse-back, and very impressive. We got home around 9, had some tea, and hit the sack.
This morning we got up, did some basic housework, and sat down to watch Mulholland Dr. I had forgotten just how obtuse David Lynch can be. The movie wasn't bad, exactly, but neither was it a story, so much. Naomi Watts and Laura Harring did well (and the love scene certainly didn't hurt with regards to my paying attention), but I can't really say I recommend it. I'll have to have Dawnise call her friend Jason so he can 'splain the movie to me.
We caught the 5pm boat into Seattle and met Jakob for dinner at Fado for dinner. The food wasn't bad, and they had Boddingtons on draught, but the only way I can describe the place is - "old world charm, carefully simulated for your comfort and entertainment." We had dinner, desert (a quite respectable brownie accompanied by Guinness Ice Cream, which isn't nearly as weird as it sounds), and a nice chat before Dawnise and I caught the 9pm boat back home.
Posted by dberger at 10:04 PM
September 16, 2005
Reports of it's demise have been greatly exaggerated
Between 2002 and 2004, I had the opportunity to pursue a MS in Computer Science.
This is not news to most.
My thesis was titled A Scalable Architecture for Public Key Distribution Acting in Concert with DNS. The basic problem is that cryptography is great for protecting information, but it requires that both sides have the appropriate key(s).
Actually distributing keys is one of those problems that difficult to the point that most conversations about cryptography gloss over it. I decided to try and attack it by using the name service that lets your browser figure out where on the network "www.reversecurve.org" is located.
Continue reading "Reports of it's demise have been greatly exaggerated"
Posted by dberger at 10:10 AM | Comments (1)
September 14, 2005
These aren't my teeth...
Over the last year or so I've developed a nervous habit of griding and clenching my teeth. In particular, my upper front teeth nestled nicely just off-center into my lower teeth, and I'd suddenly notice that I was clenching them for all I was worth.
When we moved up to WA I made an appointment for a much overdue dental checkup.
One of the first things the new doc noticed was that (a) I clench my teeth and (b) I'd done pretty good damage to the front teeth. See there's a hard outer layer of tooth (enamel) and a softer body of the tooth (dentin). My continued abuse of my front teeth was very close to exposing the dentin - at which point the tooth would start to be compromised.
I went in this morning for two fillings, and while he had me in the chair, he did reconstructive fillings on two lower front teeth and the damaged upper.
Continue reading "These aren't my teeth..."
Posted by dberger at 9:40 PM
Well, that was painless
As of this moment, we have one less car in the household. A nice young lady named Mary saw the Craiglist posting for my Saturn and she and her father came to the house this afternoon to inspect, and ultimately purchase, the car.
Elapsed time from Craiglist posting to sale: about 48 hours.
I hope it's as reliable and long-lived for her as it was for me.
The only last minute fire-drill was having Dawnise buy a new battery - having the car sitting for so long isn't great for the battery life :-/
Just got back from filing the necessary paperwork with the Department of Licensing and depositing the cash into the bank. Now to notify the insurance company.
Posted by dberger at 4:28 PM
September 11, 2005
Fried Green Tomatoes
We just got back from Seattle, where we had dinner with Tony, a good friend of ours from Boston who's been in town on vacation for the past week and a half. We ate at the Five Spot, and the current theme is food from the American Heartland. Tonight was a Hurricane relief event - half their proceeds are being donated to relief efforts. The food was good, as usual, and I tried fried green tomatoes for the first time.
Delish'.
Tony arrived a week ago last Friday for Bumbershoot. He asked, before leaving Boston, if there was anything he could bring me. I replied, mostly in jest, "not unless you can swing by Chez and pick me up a Cuban and a Periodista."
I'll be damned if the guy didn't arrive on Friday with two Cubans in a cooler - ready to be finished off in the oven. What a friend... I seriously miss that place - not to mention the folks (Clark, Eswar, you know who you are) I used to hang out there with.
Continue reading "Fried Green Tomatoes"
Posted by dberger at 10:50 PM
August 31, 2005
The Universe is Taunting Me
This month's Consumer Reports arrived today.
They rate roadsters.
The universe is taunting me, I just know it.
The Porsche Boxster took the top spot, followed (in order) by the Mercedes SLK, Corvette, 350Z, S2000, Z4, TT, and Lotus Elise.
Guess they couldn't get their hands on a Solstice - so at least I didn't get another review talking about how much fun it is to drive.
The cheapest car in the ratings is the S2000 at $33k. The 'Vette weighs in at $57.5k, and the top performing Porsche at just over $49k.
I figure if you're really in it for speed and handling, buy a $10k motorcycle and stop deluding yourself. Otherwise, just buy something that's fun to drive and stop worrying about the 0-60 time.
Posted by dberger at 9:43 PM
You Probably Hadda Be There...
Last weekend, we were at Costco doing some shopping. They had a demonstration setup, serving samples of a prepackaged Japanese Sticky Rice.
"Sure" I figured, I'm game to try it. I make perfectly sticky rice in the rice cooker, but what the heck.
So I wandered over and was handed a small paper cup with a sample of rice. Well lubricated in some sort of "Asian" sauce, and decidedly un-sticky.
I was so dumbfounded I didn't even think to ask the woman for a sticky sample of the sticky rice - I just walked away and rejoined Dawnise, chuckling as I went.
Posted by dberger at 9:39 PM
Another Pleasant (local) Surprise
When I boarded the ferry home this evening, I suggested to Dawnise that we try the vegetarian Chinese place on the corner down-town. I walked there from the ferry and arrived a few minutes before Dawnise, only to discover that they're closed until further notice due to some sort of family emergency.
We decided, instead, to try Sawatdy Thai Cuisine, which we'd heard was "better than the other Thai place on the island." Now, we'd tried the other Thai place, and it was nothing to sneeze at - so we weren't sure what to expect.
We ordered Tom Yum Goong (#9) to start, and Nuea Pattaya (#37), Phad Gra Tiem (#41), and Phad Pug Cashew (#V9). We ordered them "hot" - 3 stars on a 5 star scale, expecting to have to ask for a spice tray. To our pleasant surprise - the spice level was perfect; hot enough to clear the sinus, but not so dominating that you couldn't taste the food.
And oh my god the food. The dishes were all amazing. Very possibly the best Thai food I've ever had, and certainly in the top 5 meals I've had since coming to Washington.
Highly recommended.
Posted by dberger at 9:37 PM
August 30, 2005
My Life Just Got a Bit More Complicated
A friend of mine (Thanks, Tony) sent me a link to this review of the new Pontiac Solstice.
Perhaps the most notable was the tester himself - at 6'2" (like me) he actually fit.
Oh boy...
Posted by dberger at 9:14 AM
August 29, 2005
A Fool and His Money...
are some party.
Yesterday Dawnise and I went to the Seattle Gift Show in the Seattle Convention Center. Dawnise occasionally works for a friend of hers in Southern California who has a resale license, and admission to the show is free for buyers (buyer, to buy, buying) and spouses, and it seemed like an entertaining way to spend an afternoon.
I can't really describe the amount of stuff you can buy. Tons of jewelry, chatchkies, toys, and all things in between. There was a food section - the sorts of food items suitable for inclusion in gift baskets (chocolates, sauces, teas, etc. etc.) and Bear Creek had a bunch of interesting stuff. It was total consumer overload.
We found an artisan down in Portland who works in metal and does some really cool work. We're thinking about showing him some drawings for a bar (the kind you serve alcohol at) and possibly commissioning him to make one for us.
Pretty entertaining, really. If you have the opportunity to gain admission, it's worth the time - for people watching if nothing else, and to marvel at the crap people will spend money on.
Posted by dberger at 5:36 PM
Hi Ho, Hi Ho...
It's back to work I go.
After a very nice week off, I'm going to try to get re-excited about work.
Wish me luck.
Some interesting events went down last week - though their full repercussions aren't yet obvious. Further bulletins as events warrant.
Posted by dberger at 8:31 AM
August 27, 2005
A Great Vintage, with Notes of Chocolate and Peanut Butter
Finally, wine tasting.
One of only two things I really wanted to do during my time off.
The driver-side rear power window in Dawnise's car broke the other day. Since we have two Saturns I tend to fix most problems twice, and this was no exception. I'd already fixed one window, might even have been the other rear window in her car, come to think of it. Anyway, the problem is a little plastic guide that slides along an aluminum track. The guide is attached, via a ball-and-socket joint, to the arm that actually moves the window, and the track clips to the glass itself.
The plastic guide breaks in half, at which point the metal ball on the actuator bangs up the aluminum track and the window stops working.
So this morning I took the door apart to confirm the source of the problem, and called the Saturn dealer in Bellevue to see if they had the part. "Sure do," he says, 5 of 'em, and the plunger switch I needed for my car to make the dome light work again.
Continue reading "A Great Vintage, with Notes of Chocolate and Peanut Butter"
Posted by dberger at 8:34 PM
August 25, 2005
It can't already be Thursday...
After abandoning our wine tasting aspirations, we went to the Zoo yesterday. It's a nice zoo, and while we didn't have time to see everything, we put a serious hurting on it in three and a half hours. We'll definitely go back - it's a nice place to just hang around, and it's nice that we can catch a bus (the #5) within a couple blocks of the ferry terminal and it drops off a block from the West gate.
Today we woke up early, packed a lunch, and were out of the house by quarter past eight on our way to Port Townsend, where we boarded the Olympas (...it was spelt like that on the van, I've never seen so many bleedin' aerials...) for a 4 hour whale-watching excursion.
Dawnise, who's not terribly keen on boats and open water, did incredibly well. This is the second time her love of nature has come into conflict with her fear of water, and unlike the trip to the Great Barrier Reef, this wasn't a terribly large boat (about 40 long). (Oh, and don't spend too long noodling on the whole "afraid-of-water-but-live-on-an-island" thing, it just is...)
Continue reading "It can't already be Thursday..."
Posted by dberger at 6:40 PM
August 24, 2005
So Much for Wine Tasting
We had planned to hit several of the wineries between us and Port Angeles today. The Hood Canal bridge opened early and we need to be back at the house this evening to meet a landscaper - seemed like a perfect day outing.
I had a nagging feeling last night that it wasn't going to work.
Turns out the wineries along that path are mostly closed during the week.
Ok, plan B, let's go to Woodinville.
Strike 2. Save for the two big wineries, most of them aren't open during the week either.
Plan C - we're going to the Zoo (check out the domain name - wonder how long ago they had to register that).
Had planned to be on the 9:40 boat, but I wasted a bit too much time this morning before climbing in the shower, so we'll catch the next one.
We'll retry the wine tasting thing over the weekend...
Posted by dberger at 9:32 AM | Comments (1)
August 23, 2005
We have a winner... I think...
Got the new TV downstairs and hooked up. Definitely quieter than the first - and the picture quality is (still) amazing, but after 5 minutes displaying the Oppo DVD player splash screen, it's already ghosted into the display. Switching from the DVD screen to the opening credits of Bladerunner, the words "Oppo" and the DVD logo are fairly visible in the new picture.
Having never owned a Plasma, I don't know if this is "normal" or some sort of burn-in process. I figure I'll give it a few weeks and see if it goes away or gets worse.
Posted by dberger at 9:25 PM
Borrowed Time
Six years ago yesterday, on the 22nd of August 1999, Dawnise started the "rest" of her life. A week prior, on the 15th of August, I had taken her to the ER because, to make a long story short, her chest hurt, she couldn't breathe, and it was getting worse.
I got to see, first hand, an emergency room behave like the ones you see in TV dramas. By the time we got into the ER, I had her in a wheelchair - walking was too much exertion. We were ushered in ahead of the queue in the waiting room and a gaggle of Doctors, Nurses, and technicians descended. They don't fuck around with chest pain and shortness of breath. I hid in a corner, staying out of the way so as not to be evicted from the room. Aside from when they needed to clear the room for in-place X-rays, I didn't leave her side. Within minutes they had a preliminary diagnosis, and had started her on a heparin drip to dissolve a suspected blood clot.
Continue reading "Borrowed Time"
Posted by dberger at 7:28 PM
Big-Ass TV, Take 2
Turns out Vizio (the manufacturer of the flat screen we bought yesterday) has a plan to deal with the noisy fans. According to the fellow at our local Costco, they're going to send people out to do on-site repairs. Seems reasonable, given that the alternative is a boat-load of returns (thanks to Costco's return policy).
The unit we had, however, had bigger problems - after about 3 hours of use, it was already exhibiting burn-in - the Oppo DVD player intro screen (which kicks to screen saver after less than 5 minutes) and the TV's own "No Signal" box (which also blanks itself) were clearly visible when the unit was set to a "dead" input.
Turns out that Kat was going to a Quilt Guild pot luck with Dawnise tonight, so we arranged for them to take our Saturn, and I borrowed their Honda Element to affect the exchange. The folks @ Costco pulled their last unit off the floor and held it for me, which was awefully nice of them. (They believe they're getting 10 more in tomorrow, but I had the car tonight, so I wasn't interested in taking chances.)
The new one is upstairs in the car - can't unload it myself. When one of our neighbors calls back, or Dawnise gets home (whichever comes first) we'll try it again...
Posted by dberger at 7:22 PM
August 22, 2005
Bit of a Let-Down
Got the TV home. It looks great... But there's a gawdawful buzzing from the cooling fans.
Been on the phone with V Inc. once already - it's a "problem they've become aware of" and they're working on a resolution. The support guy asked that I not return the unit, and wait for them to provide a fix - hopefully in the next 14 days. I figure with Costco's return policy, there's little harm in giving them a week or two to see if they can sort it out.
Did some checking on avsforum, and it seems to be a luck of the draw sort of thing - a few people have noisy units, and other's claim they're whisper quiet.
If the unit was quiet, I'd be pretty happy with it - but if they can't sort out the noise, it's going back. I could be convinced to give it another shot (swap units), but only once - getting that thing down the stairs was a pain, getting it back up is going to be worse.
Posted by dberger at 12:51 PM | Comments (1)
August 21, 2005
Vacation's off to a good start
I get three weeks of vacation a year - the only catch is that one of the those weeks has to be taken at the companies convenience - either in August or December. It's known as "R&R" around the office, and I elected to take mine this coming week - the 22nd through the 26th of August.
We got the weekend off to a good start with the dinner party at our place on Friday. Saturday I made breakfast (omelets, with some of the remaining soujuk - thanks Ed ;) and we caught an afternoon ferry to Seattle. We needed to find a new bit of furniture for the TV we're planning to acquire (tomorrow) so it was off to Ikea to see if anything struck our fancy. We ended up taking home one of these. A "LEKSVIK" - which had the doors we wanted to keep the electronics from becoming a visual focal point, and the added advantage of being solid wood.
From Ikea we drove over to West Seattle and stopped in at Todd and Katie's place for their housewarming/moving-away party. It took them all of two days to sell their house - which was a lovely little place, nestled in a nice neighborhood toward the north end. We met a few folks - several of whom were RealNetworks expats, and had some very good food (Todd made killer blue-cheese burgers). I'm disappointed I didn't get to know Todd better before he decided to move back to Atlanta - definitely a friendship missed out on.
We drove home from the party, and I put together the new furniture, but left moving the electronics for another day.
Continue reading "Vacation's off to a good start"
Posted by dberger at 10:05 PM
August 19, 2005
Good Friends, Good Food
Our last guests left a short time ago, and we'll be turning in shortly. Dawnise decided we'd do dinner at this weeks game night, and we ended up with 10 for dinner, desert, and entertaining conversation. Tri-tip on the BBQ, salad, and rice for the main, fresh cookies, berries, and apple pucker jello shots for desert. We didn't actually play many games (though several games of pool were played while I was cooking), but folks seemed to have a good time - and that's what really matters.
Just finished loading the second set of dishes into the dish washer, and our last mainland guests should be just about back on the Seattle side. Glad everyone who came did - and for those who didn't - there's always next time :)
Posted by dberger at 11:59 PM
August 17, 2005
Those guys @ Philips...
As I mentioned the other day, we bought an Oppo OPDV971H DVD player with DVI out in preparation for the new HD TV we're planning to purchase on Monday.
We've had a Philips Pronto (TSU2000) for several years - having bought it on ebay for more than I ever expected to pay for "just a remote control." It's a great bit of tech. Basically a Palm Pilot with an IR port on steroids. You build control screens using some custom PC software, and download the configuration to the remote via a serial cable.
When we setup the TV room in the new house, and discovered that the movers had broken the Sony TV, I had substituted with the cheap TV that normally lives in the MAME cabinet.
Anyway - I had been reticent about updating the remote to be able to control the stand-in TV - so all the macros in the remote (that do handy things like turn everything necessary for watching DVDs on, and set all the components to the right sources) no longer turned on (or off) the TV.
The new DVD player was the necessary impetus to actually re-work the remote. Since Oppo isn't in the common IR code databases, and didn't have information on their IR codeset available (I emailed support, and they answered the same day), I learned the codes from the included remote, and built Pronto screens around them.
That remote (and the design software) is still cool - 8 years after it's initial release. Forward thinking, that.
Oh, and in case you got here looking for a CCF file for the Oppo. Try this
Posted by dberger at 10:11 AM
Teachers Who Made a Difference
Many Recall Teachers Who Made Difference
Thank you Mrs. Tanizawa (3rd Grade), Ms. Yoon (4th and 5th), Mrs. Kemp (7th Grade Computers Teacher - to whom I directly owe the most), Mr. Baron (9th Grade Pre-Law, 10th Grade AP US History, and Mock Trial), Mr. Kleevos (10th Grade English), Mr. Douglas (12th Grade Shakespeare-disguised-as-an-AP-English-class) and my AP Biology teacher - who's face I can see in my mind's eye, but who's name refuses to reveal itself.
And thank you to the two most present teachers in my life - my parents, from whom I continue to learn to this day.
Posted by dberger at 10:09 AM | Comments (2)
August 15, 2005
A Weekend to Remember
The weekend started Friday night, when Dawnise and I met Ian and Mary Ann for dinner @ their place in Wallingford.
We got the tour of their house - built in the early 1900's and well cared for over it's life - and walked over to Jitterbug for dinner. The waitress forgot to put in our appetizer order, so when I reminded her moments before the mains came out, she comp'd it and brought it anyway. Dinner was very good, and she managed to forget the three deserts we ordered, so we got four - one of them on the house as well. We walked back to their place, socialized a bit, and left to catch the 11pm ferry home. A very good time, looking forward to spending more time with them.
Saturday we had been invited to attend a Firefly marathon. All 13 episodes, in order, one sitting. It sounded like fun, but I was highly skeptical of my ability to macrame my ass into a sofa for that long without going irretrievably insane. We discussed compromises on the ferry home Friday night - most of them ending with "you (Dawnise) stay, I'll go home when I'm done, and pick you up from the Ferry when you get home." Dawnise decided against. At the time I was annoyed that she wanted all the pie or none of the pie, and guilty for scuttling plans. But I couldn't imagine it ending well. I'd be "done," she wouldn't, and we'd have to hash it out then.
Continue reading "A Weekend to Remember"
Posted by dberger at 8:10 AM | Comments (2)
August 11, 2005
New Toys, Part 1
In preparation for the new TV we're planning to buy (the movers busted and bought the old one, and we decided after 10 years on the same TV, an upgrade was permissible), I bought an OPPO Digital - OPDV971H DIVX DVI DVD Player. Mostly based on it's scoring in this review. It arrived last night.
It's region free out of the box (not a big deal, really, but it means we can buy the UK releases of Coupling in advance of their US release) and plays just about any form of media you toss in (well, not any, really, but it does play DivX.)
All I could test it on was the 19" LCD on my machine, but the visual differences between 480P and 720P were obvious. I watched a few scenes from The Incredibles and was generally impressed with the up-scaled image quality.
The unit feels well built, though the remote is so light it feels cheap (no matter, I'll soon re-program our Pronto TSU2k to handle it). One interesting design choice is that the analog output is 480i (yup, i) only - the de-interlacer is integrated into the digital out circuitry.
Anyway, so far, so good. Further bulletins as events warrant, and a more complete review once the TV it was bought for arrives.
Posted by dberger at 9:06 AM
August 10, 2005
A drinkable Starbucks Blend?
I'm not a Starbucks fan, generally. Most of their roasts are a bit overdone for my taste (black as Satan's Testicles, as a particularly eloquent colleague of mine put it).
Unfortunately, I find myself drinking a fair bit of Starbucks these days - a colleague (the eloquent one) and I make coffee in the morning, and Starbucks, or Tully's, or occasionally Seattle's Best are typically what's easy to pick up on the way into the office.
Last time we ran out, I walked down to the nearest 4-bucks and bought a bag of Caffe Verona.
I'll be damned if it isn't drinkable.
It was only today, after brewing it for a few days, that I realized that a friend of mine at UCR had been drinking (and recommending it) while I was there.
Seems I should pay more attention in school.
Posted by dberger at 11:00 AM
August 8, 2005
The best laid plans
I can't use that phrase these days without thinking of Eddie Izzard's routine. (Are these your plans? Yes, our best laid plans...)
Anyway.
Dawnise and I had planned to head to the Washington Renaissance Fantasy Faire in Gig Harbor this weekend; and our friends Scott & Amanda were going to come down from Vancouver and join us.
Turned out they had a visitor from out of town and had to wave off, and I ended up throwing my back out on my way home Friday night doing something completely ordinary (putting the bike up on the center stand).
So with me not being able to move much, the weekend sorta got scrambled.
Continue reading "The best laid plans"
Posted by dberger at 9:20 AM
August 4, 2005
I hate cats
I've written before about our "problem-child."
I knew when I left this morning that I needed to take care of the litter boxes when I got home tonight - but I wasn't prepared to walk into a family room that reaked of cat waste.
The bloody animal had soiled it's cage. I barely contained my anger as I unceramoniously dumped the beast onto the back balcony and set to work trying to clean up it's mess. Fortunately I had the sense to put a barrier layer of plastic sheeting between the carpet bottom of the cage and the "real" carpet. Small consolation.
I'm so done dealing with that animal.
To add insult to injury, one of the other two decided that the house is his personal vomitorium and decorated our bedroom floor. While you might argue I can't rationally get mad for a cat being sick, I'm not exactly in a rational state of mind at the moment...
Posted by dberger at 6:49 PM
Carnivale
Last night Dawnise and I watched the last two episodes of the first season of Carnivale via Netflix.
What to say? The visuals are amazing, the writing of top quality, and the story twisted and nuanced enough that I can't reliably second-guess it.
Looking forward to the second season - and feeling painfully little surprise that it was canceled early.
It required the viewer to engage their brain - clearly not the stuff of the mass market.
Posted by dberger at 8:45 AM | Comments (1)
August 1, 2005
Great Minds...
I took the bus to the ferry this morning and walked to work. On the ferry on the way home, I tried calling Dawnise to tell her I was en-route, but got a busy signal (turns out a cat had knocked the phone off the hook), so by the time I got in touch with her, it was too late for her to pick me up from the ferry.
Anyway...
I took the bus back to the stop near the house and walked the last quarter mile. On the way up our road, I stopped and picked a handful of the wild black berries that grow all over our property.
I came in and presented them to Dawnise as a gift.
Se looked to the table, where a Tupperware container full of those same berries was waiting for me.
Great minds really do think alike.
Posted by dberger at 7:53 PM
July 26, 2005
Security Theater
I've ranted before about the coast guard boats escorting the commuter ferries. I've noticed this week the boats have been replaced or augmented with officers milling around the passenger cabin.
Cheaper, closer to the (potential) problem, and infinitely more likely to detect a problem before it gets out of hand.
Someone seems to have engaged their brain.
Posted by dberger at 6:41 PM
As the city wakes
I had to stop at the Library this morning to drop off some books that were due. So I walked up the hill from the ferry to the library, and from there I walked to work via my old route through Pikes Place Market.
Bought some donuts from the Daily Dozen (fresh mini donuts, good stuff, terrible for your waist line) and wandered through the market while the flower vendors were setting up.
Being in the market early always reminds me of the Covant Garden scenes in My Fair Lady. It's somehow "right" to see the city wake up with you - starts the day off on the right foot.
Oh, and the donuts didn't hurt either ;)
Posted by dberger at 4:03 PM
July 24, 2005
Take the long way home...
I had decided to take a ride today, and after a brief consultation with a map, decided on this loop; from our place, off the island, north on route 3, across the Hood Canal bridge, south on 101 along the eastern edge of the Hood Canal, back onto route 3 and home.
The loop was about 150 miles; I left just before 11 this morning and got home around 2:30. It was fabulous. And I realized after the fact that I should have taken route 106 on the return, which follows the western side of the Hood Canal. Oh well, next time. The tail end (RT 3 into and through Bremerton) was nothing special, but the rest; well, I've said it before, but I'll say it again - I used to have to ride for a whole day just to find scenery like this.
I stopped at the Hoodsport Winery and risked a few tastings. Ended up leaving with two bottles of wine stuffed into the tank bag. One bottle of an "Island Belle" (a locally grown, limited yield grape - the wine is light and fruity, with a color to match) and a Loganberry cordial (yum). I'm thinking Dawnise will like 'em both (fingers crossed).
While stopped at the Winery I got a call from a friend who's in WA doing an internship at Microsoft Research. He and his girlfriend were heading to Bainbridge to spend the afternoon. I ended up getting home just about the time they were done looking around the winery, so I gave them directions and they came over to the house for a bit. We chatted a bit, played some pool, and they left to catch the 5:30 boat back to Seattle.
I'm going to finish this sentence, and leave to meet Brad and Kat for dinner and a movie at their place.
Posted by dberger at 3:16 PM
July 23, 2005
Turn over enough rocks...
And you're bound to find something interesting.
I spent a good chunk of the afternoon sifting through the last few boxes in my office - trying to get the room into usable shape.
Among the more interesting finds:
1. My 8th grade yearbook. My god, was I ever that young? I was amazed at how many faces and names I recognized. I actually found my 3rd and 6th grade yearbooks too, but I didn't flip through them, just put them on a bookshelf with our high school yearbooks.
2. Redhat Linux 5.2 (five point two) CDs. Oh, and 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.0, 9.0. Windows 95, 98, WinNT, WinNT 3.51, WinNT 4 Workstation - a romp through the (fairly recent) history of operating systems.
3. Wing Commander II
4. MechWarrior II, Pentium Edition
5. Syndicate (the Bullfrog game) for DOS
Oddly enough, I kept all of the above. So one day, far in the future, I can "discover" them again and wonder why the hell I felt it necessary to keep them.
The office is starting to look like an office. Still to much junk on and around my desk, and a bunch of papers that need to either be filed or shredded (or maybe both), but progress is being made.
Posted by dberger at 11:25 PM
July 20, 2005
Yo Ho, Yo Ho
A bachelor's life for me...
Dawnise left for a week and a half stay in Southern California yesterday afternoon. Ostensibly she went to visit her parents, and help out at the quilt store she used to work for, but I think the working was just an excuse the quilt store owner used to write-off the cost of the plane ticket.
So I spent last night tinkering around with photo-management software.
Continue reading "Yo Ho, Yo Ho"
Posted by dberger at 4:20 PM
Somewhere, A Network Executive Loses His Wings
This is one of the more amusing articles I've read explaining why you should "watch a half-finished science fiction/western from three years ago."
Posted by dberger at 4:17 PM
July 15, 2005
Colleagues by coincidence...
We had a group off-site today; the CTO took his entire organization - save for a few folks who had inflexible deadlines (or management) - on an Argosy cruise around the Puget Sound.
The cruise wasn't much, really - the sound off downtown Seattle isn't as interesting as, say, the Bay off San Francisco. 'course part of that could be that I traverse it every day.
Anyway, a group of us were sitting at a table, with drinks and hors douvres, and I raised a glass to toast, not having really thought of what to say.
What came out was:
"Colleagues by coincidence,
Friends by choice.
May the friendships outlast the coincidences."
To those (you know who you are) who couldn't be there to raise a glass, for whatever reason - I owe you a drink.
To colleagues of the past, who've seen fit to maintain a friendship across time and distance; thank you.
Cheers.
Posted by dberger at 6:33 PM | Comments (2)
I feel so much safer, really...
I commute on a boat. A big boat.
So it was with some bemusement that I noticed that after the London bombings, the ferry runs are being escorted by coast guard patrol boats. They're basically over-grown zodiacs with a front-mounted .50 cal machine gun.
It's the worst sort of security theater. Assuming that an attack from on-ship is more likely than a water-born attacker, these patrol boats are useless. They can't observe passengers for suspicious behavior - they can't see into the passenger deck, or onto the car deck; and were there to be an attack, they lack the capacity to assist in passenger evacuation or rescue.
So what, exactly, are those added patrols accomplishing?
Posted by dberger at 10:29 AM
July 13, 2005
Choose, but choose wisely
Survey says...
Ding! (#2)
Posted by dberger at 11:00 AM
July 8, 2005
Party Like it's 1979...
I'll never eat again.
At least, not 'till tomorrow, when I stop feeling like my stomach is ready to explode.
Brian, Dina and Lucas, Ian and Mary Ann, and Dawnise and I had dinner at The Melting Pot - a fondu restaurant. We had a great time joking about all the fondu sets that are given as wedding or house-warming gifts and ultimately find their way into a garage sale. In fact, I posited, it's likely that they haven't actually needed to manufacture a fondue set for over a decade; that the world has all the fondue sets it will ever need.
All joking about the mode of cooking aside - the food, and company, were excellent.
Continue reading "Party Like it's 1979..."
Posted by dberger at 10:11 PM
July 6, 2005
Too Much of a Good Thing
Turns out we fell prey to the oldest trick in the book on the 4th.
The old (imagine Peter Sellers as Inspector Jacques Clouseau) "it's-so-nice-out-you-don't-notice-you've-spent-all-day-in-the-sun ploy."
Dawnise got pretty toasted - the hazards of her Polish heritage, and I managed to get some pink on my face that faded into tan in less than twelve hours (I'm still trying to figure out where the Mediterranean complexion comes from out of my gene pool of northern european descent).
Anyway - she was pretty miserable yesterday, a bit better today, but still not exactly comfortable.
As Kurt Vonnegut (never) said: "Wear Sunscreen."
The evening on the 4th was great. We went to Edmond's apartment in Seattle, on the 20th floor with windows facing the space needle, and watched two fireworks displays: one over lake union, and the other being launched from a barge in the sound. Dinner was excellent, as was the company.
Posted by dberger at 7:58 AM
July 5, 2005
Tom Lehrer Strikes, er, is struck Again
As proof that Jib-Jab (and the Americans) don't have a lock up on using flash for effective political commentary, I refer you to the very model of a modern labour minister
Posted by dberger at 12:47 PM | Comments (2)
July 4, 2005
4th of July Weekend
The weekend got off to an inauspicious start; our game night on Friday wasn't terribly well attended. Brad and Kat came over, and it's always entertaining to spend time with them. We started with Guillotine, moved on to Win Lose or Draw (hampered only slightly by the fact that I can't draw), and rounded the evening out by breaking open Dawnise's newest game: SPANC.
Scott was planning to arrive in Seattle around 12:30 on Saturday afternoon, and we were going to meet him in the city and have lunch at Ipanema. Things didn't quite work out that way, however - a 90 minute wait at the border made him late, and getting to the ferry just in time to watch it sail away made him even later.
We passed the day around the house - doing some local errands, and when Scott finally arrived - after 7 (!) hours in transit - we played a game of Gloom (thanks for the reminder, Scott) and took him to the Island Grill for a belated birthday dinner. After dinner we went and caught the local improv group. At one point during the show, Dawnise managed to get Scott pulled up on stage to be (drumroll please) a sound-effects guy (those who know Coz will see the irony ;).
Continue reading "4th of July Weekend"
Posted by dberger at 3:38 PM | Comments (1)
July 1, 2005
...and a star to steer her by...
I was sitting in a meeting the other day when there was a tremendous "boom" and the building shook. We're on the waterfront, and there are train tracks immediately adjacent to the building on the water side - so my first thought was that a train had hit something.
Looking out the window to the water I realized I was wrong.
It wasn't a train.
It was a canon.
Continue reading "...and a star to steer her by..."
Posted by dberger at 10:43 AM | Comments (1)
June 27, 2005
Ok, ok, uncle...
A number of folks have asked me for my take on Serenity. I've been resisting - 'cause I don't like spoilers, and I hate being the one to give them, but some people are insistent...
This guy, who I've never heard of, wrote a decent review, linked on Whedonesque, that I basically agree with. It doesn't speak "for" me, but it's in the right vein. No specific spoilers, but read at your own risk.
Posted by dberger at 11:20 AM
June 24, 2005
...paiton
Well, we saw it. And now we have to not talk about it 'till it releases at the end of September.
I hate wating...
Signed the big Happy Birthday banner for Joss (it was his 32nd Birthday yesterday, hence the 32 sneak showings) and saw a bunch of people "crazier than me" (which is always reassuring). One enterprising young woman was selling Jayne hats for $15 - and knitting on one while standing in line...
Posted by dberger at 9:36 AM
June 23, 2005
Antici...
Tonight's the night. Got the ticket voucher for the Serenity sneak in my back pocket, and Dawnise has another copy in case I get mugged.
And I have a copy on my notebook.
And one on my desktop at home.
I am not missing this.
Continue reading "Antici..."
Posted by dberger at 8:03 AM
June 19, 2005
Games, Dinner and a Faire
Friday night we had our first open-invitation game night at our place. Brad and Kat came over, but our new proto-friends Todd and Bronwyn had to bow out at the last minute. Since they were the only folks I had thought to actually tell about said invitation more than a few hours in advance, that was that. We made dinner, played a few games of Munchkin and Once Upon a Time, and generally had a good time.
Saturday morning we got up a bit late, did some errands around town, including getting rid of the TV the movers broke. I decided I wanted fish for dinner, and Dawnise had been saying she wanted to do the Pikes Market fish thing, so we hopped a ferry to Seattle and wandered around Pike's market for a few hours. We came home with two pounds of fresh Salmon, a pound of sashimi-quality Tuna, a half pound of scallops nearly the diameter of a soda can, and a bunch of fresh rosemary - not to mention other random and sundry stuff we picked up along the way.
I had called our neighbors up the hill, David and Marcia, and invited their answering machine over for dinner, but they hadn't called back by the time we got home and were starting to prep the fish. Just as I asked Dawnise to keep an eye out for their cars, Marcia drove past, on her way home from work. We flagged her down, discovered that David (who's a paramedic) was on shift, and invited her to come back down for dinner, which she did.
Continue reading "Games, Dinner and a Faire"
Posted by dberger at 6:08 PM
June 17, 2005
The HD mind-set
Someone, please, explain something to me, 'cause I just don't get it.
Everyday I get on the ferry with a bunch of other bikes, and invariably some of them are Harley's. You can always tell the Harley's - they're the loud ones that visibly vibrate in place as they idle, and with riders who have "Harley Davidson" plastered all over themselves.
Today coming home I was behind a Road King with two big whip antennas on the back - and they were oscillating like an insects wings - drawing patterns in the air.
The rider seemed fairly oblivious to the fact that her innards were being put through this vibrational assault, so I conclude that it must look worse than it feels.
What's the attraction?
I just don't get the whole Harley "thing" - the cruiser "thing" I get, but the obsession with buying logo'd merchandise, tolerating a machine that's gratuitously noisy and looks like it wants to shake itself apart... That I don't get at all...
Posted by dberger at 6:40 PM | Comments (2)
New Bits 'o Kit
Since moving up here I'd noticed that the inclement weather sometimes got the better of our First Gear Kenya jackets. They're waterproof and all, and I've been very happy with mine for the 50,000-odd miles I've ridden in it, but since the jacket doesn't attach to the over-pants, sometimes the jacket would ride up and let water in.
In mostly sunny CA this wasn't a problem, but since morning mist and evening drizzle aren't uncommon up here in the northwest, something had to be done.
So I started looking for good deals on Kilimanjaros - and since we both ride, I had to find two.
Dawnise's turned out to be easy. Brand new Woman's XL on ebay - no one even bid against me. Got the jacket (MSRP $325) for $80, plus shipping. Shortly thereafter I found a "very lightly used" men's Large Tall (perfect for my 6'2"ish-ness) and put in a bid. It ended up not meeting his reserve price, so I dropped the guy an email. Turns out he bought a new Harley and the jacket "didn't look right" (whatever). He agreed to sell it to me for his reserve price of $200, including shipping.
So for $280 I picked up $650 worth of kit. Not bad, in my book.
They've made some small, but noticeable improvements to the line since we bought the Kenya's years back, but all the good stuff seems to have stayed the same. If you're in the market for a good year-round jacket, either model is a good choice. In wet or cold climates I'd go with the Kili, for a slightly sportier look, the Kenya. Even during the 100+ degree summer days in CA I'd take the fleece liner out, open the venting, and be comfortable enough for long rides.
Posted by dberger at 6:27 PM
June 15, 2005
A Notebook lifestyle
When we were in the process of moving, work was kind enough to loan me a notebook that Dawnise could use in the apartment. The convenience of "compute anywhere" quickly became obvious, and she's had a habit of commandeering my notebook on occasion ever since (see my previous entry about getting Serenity tickets for a recent example).
A couple weeks back Dell had another $750 off a $1500 notebook event, and I decided that was probably a good time to get her a machine of her very own.
Yesterday (a day ahead of schedule) her shiny new Inspiron 6000 arrived (already obsoleted by the new models, of course), and we spent a couple hours last night setting it up.
After removing most of the crap that Dell so helpfully pre-loads for you (AOL, Earthlink, NetZero, MusicMatch, QuickBooks, WordPerfect Office, blah, blah, blah) and installing a few key apps (Firefox, Thunderbird, Rhapsody, Real Arcade (she's the main demographic)), she's off and running.
Continue reading "A Notebook lifestyle"
Posted by dberger at 10:12 AM | Comments (1)
June 13, 2005
Port Angeles Faire
On Sunday Dawnise and I drove up to Port Angeles Faire. Despite Google Maps saying it was a 2 hour drive, it really took about 75 minutes, and the scenery was beautiful.
The faire was small - about 2/3 the size of Corona, but we had a good time. For only it's second year, it did ok.
The Seattle Knights put on an amusing show - complete with mounted and field combat, and a chance to shoot arrows (blunt tipped) at a live armored "knight" (3 shots for $1). Their bow and arrows only :) (a little fiberglass number, probably about a 25lb draw). I didn't bother, but the line of kids seemed to have a blast.
We spent more time than we probably should have in the Ravenswood Leather booth - Regenald (the guy near the center of the top group of figures on that page) is very nice, and he and his crew do amazing work. Dawnise has her eye on a full length bodice/skirt getup that she may get measured for at the Pirate Faire next weekend. They had an awesome trenchcoat, but I couldn't justify the $600 for something I'd wear very occasionally.
I bought Dawnise a new hat - a really cool patchwork number made by a local milner on a treddle machine. She did very nice work, for very reasonable prices.
My biggest complaint about the faire was the lack of "faire food" - they had pizza, Thai, BBQ, and the like - but nothing that belonged at a Faire.
Ah well, so it goes.
Next weekend, Arrrrr..
Posted by dberger at 9:09 AM
Neighbors, what a concept...
Saturday was the annual home owners association board meeting, elections, and neighborhood picnic.
Generally speaking, I've got no use for an HOA - especially in suburbia, where they exist only to make sure you can't paint your house the color you want, trim your bushes into topiary genitals, and generally get in a man's way.
Our neighborhood on the island, however, is a bit different. There's a private road to be maintained, and a communal well and water system - so there's actually something for the association to worry about. And the covenants are a whole 4 pages long (written on a typewriter and not changed for years), and say nothing about what individuals can do with their property.
Anyway - so I went to the board meeting and managed to get nominated and elected as "Member at Large" (dunno what the hell that means, but it seems basically that I have to show up to meetings and make sure there's some representation from non-board members.
The picnic was fun, despite the rain - many (but not all) of the roughly 10 families attended. Everyone brought meat, beverages, and a dish to share, the hosts provided the house, the BBQ, and typical hamburger/hot-dog condiments.
We bought Monkey Bread - which is a story in and of itself, that I'll let Dawnise relate on her blog.
Posted by dberger at 8:44 AM | Comments (1)
June 10, 2005
Mmmm, food...
This was a good week for eating. On Wednesday a group of folks from work went to Marrakesh. Dawnise and I had been before, but the rest of the party hadn't. Once folks got over eating with their hands (hand, if you want to be technical) dinner was a blast. This time we were there for the belly dancing, and she was quite good - she even got Dawnise to stand up and dance a bit (what can I say, my life doesn't suck ;) ).
This evening, our friend Donna was in town on business and we went to Zoe, on Second and Blanchard. We'd never been, but a co-worker had suggested it as an alternative for dinner on Wednesday, so we decided to give it a shot.
Now that I have been, I'm glad we did Marrakesh with the larger group - just more of a fun atmosphere. But Zoe was good. Really good. Probably some of the best food I've had in Seattle good.
It didn't start well. Donna has an allergy to Onions and it turned out that nearly everything on the menu had onion in some form or another. We offered a change of venue, but Donna was having none of it, and the waitress and chef were great at working with Donna to tailor a dish to her dietary needs.
The octopus appetizer was amazing, my pork tenderloin was equally so, as was Dawnises salmon and Donna's Halibut. Desert blew me away - I just had coffee, and sampled the ladies Pots du Creme and Molten Chocolate cake - both were superb. In fact, my only regret is that I ate a little too much of the Pots du Creme (and the whipped cream on top) and my lactose intolerance is reminding me that I did something foolish. :-/
I'd say we'd be going back often, but the menu choices may prove a bit limited for Dawnise (after the Salmon and the Tenderloin she'd start running out of likely candidates). It's definitely worth a second visit, though.
Posted by dberger at 9:24 PM
Good Coffee
Whenever the topic of coffee comes up - which it does frequently, this being Seattle and all, a co-worker (thanks Scott) has raved about Espresso Vivace on Denny in Seattle.
I finally asked him to pick me up a half pound of beans, the next time he went, and he was gracious enough to deliver my order out of his stock. I've been grinding it fresh in the morning and brewing two mugs in a French Press.
I have to say, despite all his ranting, it's really good coffee.
The aroma is superb, it brews wonderfully, and one of these days I might even make espresso out of some.
The best part? They do an amazing water-process decaf.
Posted by dberger at 10:54 AM
June 9, 2005
Spend $30, take a chance...
Amazon is selling the complete series (ok, it's only 14 episodes) of Firefly for $30. That's 40% off.
Give it a shot, what have you got to lose?
Stop drinking $4 coffees for a week or two (or brown bag lunch for a couple days) and your bank account need never know the difference.
Need a (birthday, unbirthday, it's Tuesday) gift for someone even marginally interested in SF? Seems tailor made, don't it?
Posted by dberger at 7:41 PM | Comments (1)
Time to buy a Television
I may have mentioned previously, but the movers managed to break our TV. It was a Sony Trinitron - nothing fancy, a decent 27" TV that was almost 10 years old.
Turns out, the way they dropped it (at least, that what I figure they did) broke it in the most expensive way possible - they would have literally had to disassemble the entire set to repair it. Not cost effective.
So they wrote us a check for the claimed replacement value.
They broke another couple items as well, but nothing major. And they paid for all of them.
Continue reading "Time to buy a Television"
Posted by dberger at 5:33 PM | Comments (1)
Persistance paid off...
Thanks to Dawnise's determination we have 4 tickets to the Seattle sneak.
The show sold out in under 8 minutes.
Less than 8 minutes from the time tickets went on sale, and they sold out the theater. I went back to get another two tickets in case we found someone else who wanted to come with, but it was already too late.
I'm stunned.
And I'm going to sleep.
G'night.
Posted by dberger at 1:08 AM | Comments (2)
The cost of being a hopeless fanboy
In case you haven't noticed - www.cantstopthesignal.com has been updated with the locations of a third sneak preview of Serenity. There's another one in Seattle - and according to the young lady at the theater, tickets go on sale sometime between now and 12:30 this morning.
So here I am, awake, trying to score a pair.
'course by the time you read this, your closest showing will probably be sold out...
Posted by dberger at 12:19 AM
June 6, 2005
A Faire a Week, that's all we ask.
Dawnise and I haven't really considered ourselves "faire geeks" for years - not since the group of irregulars we used to hang out with at Southern gave in to entropy a bunch of years back.
So I was surprised at how much fun I had just hanging out at the Port Gamble Medieval Festival on Sunday. It was an SCA event masquerading as a faire - it was probably about the same size as Corona faire in So Cal, with a similar number of vendors, and more in the way of SCA-ish demo encampments. Weather was English (cool, damp, occasionally downright wet), but that didn't put a damper (sorry) on the attendees.
We bought some random stuff - a couple cloak pins, a belaying pin for my evolving pirate garb, and Dawnise got some hair jewelry.
Next weekend we're planning to head to the Port Angeles Renaissance Festival, and the weekend after that we'll head back to Port Angeles for Pirates of Port Angeles. In early August we'll probably head down to Gig Harbor and check out the Washington Renaissance Fantasy Faire.
I suspect we'll find a faire in July, too.
We briefly considered heading over to the Northwest Renaissance Festival near Spokane, but a 6 hour drive seems a bit crazy.
I'm on the lookout for some good boots - having worn the same pair of Minnetonka moccasins for the last 15 (!) faire seasons. I've long lusted after a pair of Bald Mountains, but the price tag (they're up to almost $700 as of our visit to Georgia faire with my parents) has always seemed a bit excessive (or out of reach, as was the case when we were into faire enough to seriously contemplate them). I saw Son of Sandlar at Georgia Faire, and they make nice stuff, very comfy, but still nearly $400.
In case my mother-the-fair-nut is listening/reading - of course we can make the guest room available :) (That goes for most of the other folks who'd be reading this as well - just let us know in advance...)
Posted by dberger at 8:25 AM | Comments (1)
June 4, 2005
Things to do in Denver when you're dead (stuck)
My 5pm flight out of Denver got me back to Seattle around 11:30pm.
The 5:20pm departure became a 5:45 departure became a 6:10 departure, became "delayed."
They claim it was all weather - but I never saw the two Tornadoes they claim touched down in Denver. Sure there was lots of rain and wind, and you couldn't see the horizon, but peh - who's afraid of a little rain?
I think it was all a well orchestrated plot to divert as many planes as possible to Albuquerque - and to keep them there for as long as possible.
Oh, and to make sure the flight was memorable, I sat one row behind the proverbial screaming baby, and about half the flight was a constant bout of turbulence.
These are the only times I really resent the ferry ride home. It's 12:15 - and I have a 30 minute ferry crossing to go before I'm actually "home."
I'm so done.
And waiting for me, on the Bainbridge side, will be my loverly wife - who I haven't really spent any time with since she left for California in the middle of last week.
Posted by dberger at 12:18 AM | Comments (1)
June 3, 2005
Things to do in Denver when you're dead (tired)
I have a meeting tomorrow (today, if you want to be technical) in Denver - flew in tonight with a coworker from Seattle and met up with a coworker from SF. I almost didn't go - I spent a good portion of last night worshiping the porcelain god for reasons which are a complete mystery.
I haven't been to Denver in many years - and not since the new airport opened. Holy crap.
It's huge.
There's a 10 mile access road just to get to the airport from the freeway. That means cab rides start at $30, just to get out of the airport!
Our SF compatriot's flight was delayed, so rather than hang around the airport, we got the rental car and grabbed some food at the closest Outback (itself an adventure, involving us driving around Aurora, CO for 15 minutes trying to find a building we saw clearly from said access road, and including a brief stint of off-roading in the rented Ford Escape).
Time to go to sleep, fortunately the meeting isn't 'till 10:30 - so I've got an 8am wake up call, meet my fellow travelers for breakfast in the lobby at 9, and wander off in time for the meeting.
Posted by dberger at 12:24 AM
May 29, 2005
I hate casinos...
I had wandered up to our neighbors place this afternoon - they're hosting a 3 day party over the memorial day weekend - when Brad and Kat called asking if I wanted to join them for dinner. "Sure" says I - and Brad asks if I'm opposed to checking out the buffet at the Clearwater Casino, just across the Agate Pass bridge.
At first glance it looked like any other casino - lots of video slots, a handful of card tables, and a few restaurants (a steakhouse, and the buffet). The buffet was themed - a different theme each night - tonight (Sunday) was "homestyle cooking." Uh-oh.
Dinner was, without putting to fine a point on it, disappointing. Brad was looking for Vegas-style casino buffet, and got a pale shadow of it. What selection was had was of reasonable quality, but the selection was lacking. At some point during dinner it was observed that Vegas, which is land locked, is known for seafood, yet for some reason here in Washington, nearly surrounded by water, there wasn't anything resembling seafood to be had.
After dinner we stopped at a firework stand where Brad was - according to his wife - "acting like a five year old hopped up on pixie stix" before coming back to the house. Brad and Kat stayed for a bit, and we chatted over tea before they left and I wandered back up the hill and hung out at Toki and Gretchen's place. After a couple hours sitting around a firepit, listening to the group tell stories from their shared college experiences, I decided I'd had enough of being the odd man out and came home.
Time to wash the mosquito repellent off and hit the sack.
Posted by dberger at 11:02 PM
May 28, 2005
And then it hit me, I live here...
I've needed a new face shield and breath guard for my helmet for a while, and I've been putting it off. Finally, I lost the second vent in the face shield and rain started getting in - no good, so I decided to ride down to the "local" Cycle Gear - 50 miles away in Tacoma. I called 'em to make sure they had what I needed (more later) and set off.
My route took me through some absolutely beautiful scenery - and about 10 miles away from the house I was hit by the powerful realization that I used to have to ride for a whole day just to reach scenery like this, and now I live in it. Cool. Passing lakes, mountain vistas, lush woods, wild flowers growing along the road, sprinkled with lavender... Hard to beat.
Of course, when I got there, they didn't, as advertised, have the breath guard - so they had to order it. While I was there, I picked up a pair of Frank Thomas gloves that were on clearance.
On the way back, I wandered into a Mazda dealer, where I proved that I can't buy a Miata. I told the sales guy "if I decide to get 4 inches removed from my legs, I'll let you know." He suggested a Ford Thunderbird... Um, no - on so many levels.
So I rode around the corner to the Pontiac dealer and chatted with the guy about the new Solstice - apparently they'll arrive on the lot in July or August. He's going to get 5, three are sold. I made it clear I'd probably wait for the second production year, but I'd really like to test drive one to see if I fit. They happened to have a used S2000 that I was happy to sit in (but I'd already determined I couldn't drive one). I have a feeling that the Solstice will be the same story - too little legroom (ah, the perils of being 6'2")...
I made a couple other random stops on the way home - just enjoying the ride and the weather.
Not a bad way to spend a Saturday, all in all.
Posted by dberger at 6:06 PM
May 26, 2005
I do miss living downtown...
As I type it's 10:53 and I'm sitting on the 10:55 ferry heading home. What started out as a plan for a small group of colleagues to head to Ipanema (the Brazilian BBQ on 1st and University in Seattle, I've mentioned several times before) morphed into a group of 13 people descending on the place at 7pm.
Tonight they almost completely redeemed themselves from the horrible experience we had the first time we took a large group - the service was exactly as it should have been, and the quality was excellent, as always.
As I was finishing dinner someone mentioned desert and I suggested we head over to Tango for an ElDiablo - a magnificent cube of dark, rich, spicy chocolate served on a bed of caramel and fresh-made marshmallow. I guess my description convinced folks, 'cause 9 of the 13 ended up making their way to Capitol Hill where the camaraderie and carousing continued. (Like that alliteration?)
I left in time to walk the roughly 10 blocks back to the ferry in the dissipating heat (it hit 90 today - first hot day I've experienced up here - and it's still around 80 at 11pm), and got there in time to buy a ticket book and walk on.
Nights like this make me acutely aware of the tradeoff we made living on the island as opposed to downtown. I'll get home and to bed around midnight and tomorrow it's up at 6 (plus or minus 15 minutes of denial) to catch the boat back to work.
Posted by dberger at 10:53 PM | Comments (1)
The couple that blogs together...
...probably needs to turn off the computers and talk to each other.
All cynicism aside, Dawnise has resurrected her disused LiveJournal account - you can find it here.
You won't find much activity this week, I suspect, as she's down in Southern California on business - which means I'm playing bachelor for the weekend. Not sure what I'll end up doing, but some of our neighbors are having a three day party over the long weekend, so I'll probably wander over there at some point.
Posted by dberger at 5:13 PM | Comments (3)
May 20, 2005
A Wine Tasting and Dinner
We decided to try the local Indian restaurant for dinner, and on the way stopped at the tasting going on at the local wine store.
The wine tasting was good - bought 6 bottles; two of a Muscat d'Asti that Dawnise really liked (and I found the bubbles cut some of the syrupy sweet that Muscat's can have) and 4 bottles that I found pleasant.
Dinner, unfortunately, wasn't so good. As we put it walking back to the car "We went to the local Indian place, and now we really want some good Indian food." The meal started well, with some good appetizers, but the main course was almost completely forgettable. We had a Mixed Tandoori Grill that, aside from the fresh onions and peppers, had very little flavor at all. The Chicken Vindaloo looked and tasted like it was made with a Marinara sauce, and the Paneer dish was the only one of the three that was reminiscent of actual Indian food.
The place just opened, and how long it stays open will heavily influence my opinion of the Northwestern palate.
Posted by dberger at 8:53 PM | Comments (1)
May 19, 2005
What is up with this weather?
As I mentioned in my last post, I ran a quick errand during lunch today. At the time I left the office, the sky was an uninterrupted sea of grey cloud, and the rain was somewhere between a drizzle and actual rain.
Now, about an hour later, it's clear blue with white fluffy clouds.
go figure...
Posted by dberger at 1:18 PM
New Utilikilts
Sometime last year, while still living in Southern California, my first UK started coming apart. One of the surged seams started to unravel. I contacted UK and described the problem, and they told me to take it to a reputable tailor, have it repaired, and they'd reimburse me.
Long story short, we moved, and I never did get the UK fixed. Fast forward almost a year, and I now work within 5 miles of the UK store in Seattle. So this morning I grabbed the kilt in question and during lunch I ran over to the UK store to drop it off for repair.
While there I saw their latest product - a UK made of the same sort of silky flowy material boxers shorts (not boxer shorts, but the shorts a boxer actually wears) - complete with racing stripes up the side. They have an elastic waist band, and the front panel snaps are vestigial, but it definitely looks like a UK.
No pictures on their website yet, so if you want to see (or buy) one, you'll have to find your way to their store.
Posted by dberger at 1:10 PM | Comments (1)
That Was Then, That Was Comcast
On hold with Comcast canceling our cable TV service. Dawnise and I talked about it a fair bit - and I think I've turned the TV on (to watch cable) three times since getting service established, she's done only slightly more often.
The icing on the cake was that the Comcast DVR sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls - if you've ever used a real DVR (TiVo, ReplayTV, hell, even Media Center) it's failings are painfully obvious. I thought about buying a stand-alone TiVo, but that wouldn't address the "I don't care to watch TV" part, so killing it seems the right thing to do.
We figure we'll save a non-trivial chunk of money every month, and probably bump our Netflix subscription level by a disk or two. Maybe I'll even get around to watching the season of West Wing that a friend gifted us with a year or so back...
We're keeping their high speed data service - despite the fact it's going to cost me $10 more a month without bundled TV service.
Once the Comcast/TiVo deal produces hardware we'll probably try it again.
Posted by dberger at 11:43 AM
May 16, 2005
A Warmed House
The housewarming party this past Saturday went well - we had somewhere around 40 guests over the course of the day - the first arriving spot on 2:30 and the last leaving around 1 the next morning (not counting the 6 people who crashed at our place).
Many thanks to Edmond for bringing his mom's home made sausages and baklava - and to his mom for providing them - they were the culinary hits of the party.
Thanks to Brad for running home at 11pm and grabbing his projector so we could inflict Firefly on folks in the appropriate huge-screen fashion.
Thanks to everyone who attended for making the party a success - I still can't believe we ate all that chili - I thought I'd be saddled with leftovers for at least a week.
Posted by dberger at 2:40 PM | Comments (1)
May 12, 2005
Innocuous things in large numbers
I've observed in the past that a swarm of anything touches some primal fear nerve in humans. One teddy bear - cute and cuddly. 100 teddy bears - disturbing. 500 teddy bears - downright frightening.
Insects, reptiles - just about anything, no matter how non-threatening in small numbers starts to be threatening in large numbers.
I'm sure psychologists have a name for this.
There was a field trip of elementary school students on the ferry this morning - and I've decided that kids are just as disturbing and frightening (not to mention loud and annoying) in large numbers as teddy bears.
Probably just another sign that I'm not ready to have kids (well, at least not 100 of them ;)).
Posted by dberger at 11:14 AM
Put a fork in me...
Woke up at 4 this morning to catch the 5:20 ferry to catch a cab to SEATAC to get on a 7:40 flight to SFO.
Sitting on the 12:15 ferry on the way home.
Not feeling too hot - I started a sore throat shortly after getting home from Atlanta on Monday.
I've got a 9am meeting tomorrow (er, today, actually), which means I'm back up at 6 to catch the ferry to work. (Assuming I don't just blow off the meeting and catch a later boat.)
I'm so done.
Posted by dberger at 12:23 AM
May 8, 2005
Mother's Day in the Deep South
Thursday night I took the 5:30 boat home from work, finished gathering our luggage, and turned around and caught a boat back to Seattle, where we got in a car and departed for SEATAC.
We managed to find a fast food place still open, and grabbed a sandwich for dinner as we got on the plane. Our flight left mostly on time at 10:30, and we caught sleep in fits and starts 'till we arrived in D.C. the next morning around six o'clock. Our connecting flight to Atlanta was delayed slightly, but we still go into Atlanta around 9:30, as scheduled.
My sister and brother picked us up from the airport, and we went back to her res hall at Oglethorpe, dropped our luggage, and wandered down to a "mainstream-counter-culture-shopping-district" called Little Five Points to kill some time 'till my parents arrived.
Continue reading "Mother's Day in the Deep South"
Posted by dberger at 7:50 PM | Comments (1)
May 4, 2005
All stressed out and no-one to choke
One of our three cats has a problem using the litter box reliably. It's not a new thing - been going on for years. It causes me all manor of stress and embarrassment. I recently drew the line and bought a cage. He spent a day in it - very unhappy about the fact - and decided that we'd let him out until his next accident - at which point we'd put him back in.
He did ok for a couple days, but when I got out of the shower this morning he was back in the cage.
He was unhappy when I left the house at 7:30 - mewing pathetically.
By the time I got into the office an hour later and called home to tell Dawnise I had arrived safely he had apparently wreaked havoc on the cage, surrounding walls and himself - covering everything with a slimy mix of dry food, water, and cat litter.
So here I am, sitting at work alternating between being fuming mad at the god damn cat for making life complicated and feeling terribly guilty that Dawnise is being forced to deal with the mess alone.
Posted by dberger at 9:33 AM
May 3, 2005
Visiting hours are over...
Our good friend Geoff was in town on business - on our side of the water, even - at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center down the road in Keyport. He got to the house around 4 this afternoon, and I caught an early ferry home.
We sat and chatted for a few minutes before heading out to dinner at Cafe Nola in downtown Winslow. Dinner was good - but the company really made it. He just dropped us off and left to catch the ferry to Seattle, where he's spending tonight.
The visit was way too short - and as much as we loved seeing him, we missed seeing Kathye and the kids.
In fact, we generally just miss the hell out of the whole Schemel clan.
Posted by dberger at 9:32 PM
May 2, 2005
Deadwood
Got the first disc of Deadwood from Netflix the other day and decided to sit down and watch it. Aside from comments in passing from friends, I knew little about the show, but I was warned that it was vulgar and violent.
Turns out it was too vulgar for me. The story seemed promising, and the characters were interesting - but I found myself getting distracted by the language. I briefly entertained the idea of "working through it" - but I'm only willing to spent so much time watching TV, so there's gotta be return on the investment...
So I've taken the rest of the discs off my Netflix queue. 's a shame too, I could have actually been in the mood for a good western.
Next up: Dead Like Me
Posted by dberger at 10:26 PM | Comments (1)
May 1, 2005
Aladdin's Palace
We made two trips to Michael's in Silverdale yesterday. It all started innocently enough when we bought some prints by Ralph Burch (the Red Hot and Mermaid, I've got my eyes open for the other two) and needed frames for them. The prints are double matted - grey under black, so we bought some silver frames, hung them on the wall, and thought we were done.
Not so. About 2 hours after hanging them, I heard a crash - came upstairs to find that one of them had fallen off the wall and broken a glass candle holder on the way down. Inspection revealed that the frame hanging clips had broken, and inspection of the other 3 similar frames revealed that all of them were in various states of failure.
Dawnise returned the failed frames to Michael's the other day, while taking several pieces to be custom framed, but forgot to buy new ones - so we went back yesterday to rectify that.
We bought some new silver frames - of a different sort, stopped to do some other shopping, and returned home with our haul.
The prints wouldn't fit.
The frame dimensions were fine, but the frames couldn't accommodate the double-matting. So we went back to Michael's, bought new frames, tried to fit the prints before leaving the store only to discover the new frames had the same depth problem. One last look didn't find anything suitable - and neither did a trip to JoAnns around the corner.
Frustrated and hungry we decided to stop for dinner at Aladdin's Palace - a spot we'd been meaning to try for several weeks.
The initial signs weren't good - there was one other couple in the place when we were seated. We ordered some falafel as an appetizer, and we both decided on the mixed grill. The food was very good - much better than a little middle-eastern place in a small town had a right to be. We brought a good portion of our food home, and shared an Arabic coffee and Baklawa (it was spelt like that on the van, er, menu...) for desert. By the time we were done, there were two other couples in the place, and it was past closing. The only thing I can think is that we arrived late for dinner and missed the rush.
Posted by dberger at 6:55 PM | Comments (1)
Back in the saddle again...
After a few weeks of procrastination, and a few more weeks of packed weekend schedules, I've finally gotten Dawnise's bike back on the road. It didn't want to run at idle, and it stalled out at any sudden throttle. Turns out, it had a clogged pilot jet (thanks for the tip, Ed!) in one of the carbs.
What should have been a two hour job for an amateur like me (lift the tank, pull the airbox, free the carb assembly, turn it over, open the float bowls, and clean the pilot jets) turned into a four hour job when one of the float-bowl screws stripped. Off I trundled down to ACE Hardware to get some penetrating lubricant (I had a bottle of Kroil that my dad had given me when the movers made him leave it in CA and, guess what, the movers made me leave it in CA... drat) and a new philips screwdriver hoping that a virgin head would get more grip than any of my current tools.
That didn't work - so I decided to disconnect the enricher plungers so I could get the carb assembly out and work on it on a level surface. After stripped screw #2, I made a return trip to ACE and bought an extractor set (and replacement metric machine screws).
The extractors did the trick - I cleaned out both pilot jets (with old high E guitar strings - a great suggestion from my Dad), put it all back together, and it ran great.
But the tachometer wasn't working.
I found the connector that had been disconnected, removed the airbox one more time, reconnected it, and put the rest of the bike back together. I took it for a test ride down to the gas station, came back to the house and Dawnise suited up and, she on her bike and I on mine, we went out for a half-hour spin around the island. Just got back and put some food on the BBQ for dinner.
One less project on the list of to-do's.
Posted by dberger at 6:41 PM | Comments (1)
April 26, 2005
It's time to sell a car
We live on an island - I commute to work on a bus and ferry - and yet we have five vehicles between the two of us.
It's time to get rid of a car.
Since I'm not looking to buy a car (well, not yet at least) it seems a private party sale is in order. Anyone reading this have suggestions on how to proceed? Ebay? Autotrader? Can't really just put a sign on the car 'cause it's mostly parked in the driveway and we live on a private road...
Posted by dberger at 7:30 PM
Fanboy Mode On
The Serenity trailer is (finally) out.
Let's go be bad guys.
Posted by dberger at 1:57 PM
April 25, 2005
Now we're cooking with gas...
Scott and Amanda (and Zoe, of course) came down from the Vancouver area this weekend. It all started when I saw a flyer for the "Greater Seattle Area Vintage Guitar Show" that was taking place this past Sunday. Being something of a guitar addict, I figured Scott might want to come down and check it out.
That turned into a plan for them to come down for the weekend, which they did.
They arrived in the afternoon on Saturday and the ladies promptly dropped Zoe on "the guys" and headed to Target -- a shopping experience apparently unavailable across the border to the North. They returned several hours later with a respectable haul (much of which, I suspect is available in Canada).
Continue reading "Now we're cooking with gas..."
Posted by dberger at 8:07 AM | Comments (1)
April 18, 2005
That Was Then, This is Comcast
It's with no small amount of regret that I report that for the first time since we moved in November, we're once again paying for television.
Funny thing about living without TV for 6 months - you don't miss it as much as you thought you might. I remember as a kid reading about some youngster who decided not to watch TV for a year. I don't remember why - maybe it was lent, or a new years resolution -- I do remember that at the time I was sure their parents had something to do with inspiring this particular goal. Anyway, I thought they were mad - certifiable.
I've changed my mind.
Continue reading "That Was Then, This is Comcast"
Posted by dberger at 8:02 AM
April 14, 2005
The hamming distance between pretzels and red vines
Sitting in my office trying to finish up an email before going to grab lunch, I started munching on the Redvines and Pretzels I keep in my office.
I realized that the hamming distance between them is shorter than you might think. Redvines are wheat flour and additives in a corn syrup base, and pretzels are additives in a wheat flour base.
Huh.
It doesn't mean anything - why are you still reading this?
Posted by dberger at 12:49 PM | Comments (1)
Housewarming
We've sent out e-vitations to our house-warming party - if you think you should be on the list, and didn't get a notice, please don't take offense, just ping me and I'll add you - after cut-and-pasting email addresses into the web-form for 15 minutes I managed to close the browser window and had to start over - so it's possible I missed a few someone's on the second (rushed, frustrated) go 'round.
Posted by dberger at 12:47 PM
April 11, 2005
A Stranger's Face In the Mirror
I can see my chin for the first time since '98. Not sure what prompted it, but I decided to be clean shaven for a while. Wondering how long it will take before I recognize the face looking back in the mirror...
Posted by dberger at 4:27 PM | Comments (1)
April 8, 2005
...Let's Get Lost...
I'm typing this sitting on the plane on the way back from SF. All in all, the trip wasn't bad, though the circumstances around it were less than great. I got to see Steve & Heidi for dinner on Wednesday, which was very cool, and the time spent with Matt, Katie, and Julia made the trip feel a lot more upbeat than it probably was.
Most of the SF office went to lunch today to "celebrate" Matt's departure - it's sort of a rag-tag band (the opening to the original Battlestar Galactica just sprang to mind). Many of them have lived through the tumult of surviving in a dot com startup (the happy few...). It's a group that's passionate about what they do, and trying to maintain that passion in the face of adversity. The vibe in the office was strange, it walked like a startup, and talked like a startup, but it didn't quite quack like a startup...
There was a cake back in the office in the afternoon, and after work we went to the bar across the street to continue the wake. I think that was when the reality of the situation started to really sink in - this was it, after five and a half years, that was that...
The title of the entry, by the way, is a reference to a Tina Dico song - one of my favorites off her EP Far. I've been pushing her on everyone who'll listen lately - including a number of folks in the SF office. I've inadvertently insured that she will forever be associated with this particular time in my life.
Back to work on Monday - and in the mean time, assuming the weather is nice, I think there's a ride on the plan for the weekend - time to get lost for a while...
Posted by dberger at 9:45 PM
April 7, 2005
It's the people, stupid...
I've been in San Francisco since Tuesday night. We have an office here, but I've never had reason to come down before - and my reason this time isn't so positive.
Tonight was the farewell dinner - Matt and his wife Katie, Julia and I had reservations at Absinth. After two straight days in a meeting room, trying to absorb as much as Matt could spew a pre-dinner cocktail was definitely in order, so Julia and I caught a cab to the restaurant while Matt went home to pick up his other half.
I'd never met Katie before tonight, and I'm very glad I had the opportunity. The pleasure was all mine. Dinner, conversation and company were excellent - and I'm trying hard to dwell on the positive.
It's only sorta working.
I can't even think of anything pithy to say, other than that I've been privileged to have had the chance to meet and work with such a passionate, dedicated, and skillful individual - and I would jump, without reservation, at the chance to do so again.
I hope our professional paths cross in the future, and in the interim, I sincerely hope our developing friendship outlives our working relationship.
Posted by dberger at 11:00 PM
April 5, 2005
You never see a motorcycle...
Parked outside a psychiatrists office.
So proclaims a T-Shirt a friend got me a while back. Turns out it's quite true.
Inspired by my brief ride on Sunday I caught the 5:30 boat home yesterday (I'm normally on the 6:20) and called ahead to Dawnise to suit up. I got home, ditched my backpack, and we hit the road - north on 305 over the Agate Pass Bridge, took a right mostly at random onto 307 and a left onto 104 north. We crawled (25mph limits) through Port Gamble and crossed the Hood Canal Floating Bridge.
By the time we made a right onto route 19, the sun was starting to set, and the temperature was dropping. We were pretty good in our First Gear suits, but even through winter gloves the fingertips were getting chilled, so we elected to turn around and re-trace our path back home.
The countryside is picturesque, the roads are twisty and varied, and in an hour of riding all thoughts of work were left behind. We got home, made some tea, and had soup and sandwiches for dinner before turning in for the night.
As the days get longer, so does our range. I'm looking forward to exploring the peninsula.
Posted by dberger at 10:43 AM
April 4, 2005
Life on two wheels
Yesterday Dawnise and I went over to Seattle for breakfast at the Crumpet shop. Edmond joined us, and we had a nice conversation over our tea and crumpets.
After breakfast we went to Bed Bath and Beyond and spent a killobuck on window treatments for our bedroom, the guest room, and the front facing room in the house. (I've got my work cut out for me for a while...) Popped up to a furniture place to look for bookshelves for the library (found some, didn't love the price) and finished up with a trip to Costco before catching the ferry home.
It had been raining on and off in the morning, but cleared in the afternoon and by the time we got to the Bainbridge side around 6, it was beautiful. And thanks to daylight savings, it was still bright out.
Dawnise forced me (I'm not kidding) to take the RS out for a ride. I wanted to take the Trophy, but it's battery had died (again - which tells me I'm not riding enough) and it wasn't finished reconditioning.
I went down to Winslow and gassed up the RS, and hit the road north - across the Agate Pass bridge and a few miles up the road before I decided that the joy of being back on the bike was significantly muted by Dawnise not being with me.
But the fact remains, I'd taken my first ride as a resident of WA.
And it was really nice.
I decided to take the Trophy into work this morning -so I'm sitting on the ferry in my First Gear pants; jacket hanging on a hook across from me and helmet just to my left.
Now I've really gotta get Dawnise's bike happy. No more excuses...
Posted by dberger at 8:14 AM
April 3, 2005
EDGE'y improv
On Saturday night, Dawnise, Brad, Kat and I went to the Bainbridge playhouse and caught a local improv troupe called EDGE improv.
I was skeptical going in, after our last experience at the playhouse (I expected 14 year olds flailing about at improv) but by the time the host finished his introduction, I was already laughing, skepticism forgotten.
The basic schtick was Who's Line Is it Anyway-like, only without Clive Anderson (Drew Carey, for all you johnny-come-latelies) or the TV cameras. The group was far better than it had a right to be - and I intend to make it a regular event.
If you're planning a trip to the island (and come on, it's only a 35 minute ferry ride - get over the whole "it's so far away..." bit) I recommend coordinating it with a performance. Or, heck, just come over twice. :)
After the show we went out for dessert and conversation before we dropped Brad and Kat back at their car and headed home.
Posted by dberger at 8:43 AM
April 1, 2005
Higgins, this is going to be ghastly...
Last night Dawnise and I went to a local production of Macbeth. The first sign of danger was when I noticed the fine print - "a new adaptation by so-and-so."
Adaptation? Uh-oh.
The second sign was the program - the front was covered with "Something wicked this way comes" and a silhouette of a carnival tent.
Shakespeare meets Bradbury? Double uh-oh.
Continue reading "Higgins, this is going to be ghastly..."
Posted by dberger at 7:52 AM
March 21, 2005
Guarded optimism...
Had a chat with Comcast today (specifically, Gerald Biggs, the network engineer in the Bremerton office who's been working on getting cable installed to the house).
When I asked if this was still going to happen, or if he was going to cry 'uncle' and tell me he couldn't do it, he said (I'm paraphrasing, but only slightly) "uncle's only in my vocabulary at family reunions - I'm happy to take your money every month, just gotta work through he logistics..."
The subcontractor and he are going to be out at the house tomorrow some time to survey the scene and come up with a plan.
I'm not holding my breath, but my fingers are crossed (and cramping up).
Posted by dberger at 4:52 PM
March 19, 2005
The play's the thing
We did our taxes today.
Taxes suck.
We ended up owing the fed and California - to the tune of $2500 all told.
After that joyous experience, we went to a dramatic reading of Lawrece Casler's A Night in the Theatre, put on by the Bainbridge Island theatre group (called, oddly enough, island theatre).
It was a great play for a reading format - and what the actors lacked in polish they made up for in enthusiasm and effort. It was part of the "Shakespeare on the Island" festival being sponsored by the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council.
Much better than taxes...
Posted by dberger at 10:11 PM
March 18, 2005
Strike Two...
I should have known that the Comcast install wouldn't be painless. A crew from a Comcast subcontractor showed up to install cable, and left nearly as quickly - having decided that they couldn't do it. Apparently the "site drawings" they were given consisted of a rough sketch of the surrounding roads, a box representing our house, and indications of "heavy brush" where our blackberry brambles are.
Their mission was to trench a cable from the public road, across our property, to the house, then run it around the house and hook it into the existing interior wiring.
No one told them there are trees on our property. And that it's not flat.
In theory they're supposed to come back next week with the network engineer from Comcast to have a pow-wow and see what, if anything, can actually be done.
I guess when Comcast told me they'd done a site survey what they meant was they had driven past at 40 mph and caught a glimpse of the house as they passed.
I'm anticipating an eventual "sorry, we can't do anything for you" sort of answer.
Which seems to suggest that if we want TV (something I'm not really attached to, but do find handy on occasion) it's either rabbit ears, or deforestation...
Posted by dberger at 10:02 PM
March 16, 2005
Ten "atta-boy's..."
Dawnise and I, as I type, are sitting in the ferry station on the Seattle side waiting for the 10pm ferry home. We had dinner at Ipanema - the Brazilian BBQ restaurant - with a friend of ours (thanks Ed!).
I've mentioned Ipanema before - the first time when we went the day after they opened, and most recently when we convinced a group of 11 people to go and had horrible service.
Tonight was a return to the food and service that got us excited about the place to begin with - the food was excellent, and the variety and rate of deliver was near perfect.
Our waiter overheard us relating the less-than-stellar experience we'd had the last time, and apparently our reputation had preceded us. He mentioned that the restaurant rethought their serving process after because of our group - and he apologized that we had to be the ones to help them see the flaw in their original plan.
It was nice to know that they've fixed the bug, so to speak, though I think it'll take a few more visits of tonight's quality to put them fully back into my good graces. And I'm going to think hard before I recommend the place to a large group again.
My dad had a saying when I was growing up - "it takes ten atta-boy's to get rid of one aw-shit" - as I grow older I realize my dad was a veritable fountain of wisdom. Glad I occasionally tuned in long enough to absorb some...
Posted by dberger at 9:33 PM
March 15, 2005
Some days it's not worth getting out of bed...
Got home this morning at 2:30am and collapsed into bed. DirecTV was supposed to be here between 8 and noon today to install service, and our bedroom furniture was scheduled to be delivered between 9:30 and 10:30.
Got up at 8, took care of a few things, and set to work pulling apart the bedroom to accept the new furniture.
At 9 I called Comcast to see if they had installed cable as promised. They apparently had some big job come up last week that delayed them, so they hope to get out today or tomorrow. I knew I wasn't imagining it when I saw their temporary paint marks still on the ground...
At 10:45 I got a call from the receiving dock at work telling me "I had a bunch of furniture being delivered."
WTF?!?
Continue reading "Some days it's not worth getting out of bed..."
Posted by dberger at 9:59 AM | Comments (4)
March 12, 2005
First Stop, BevMo
My flight was delayed about an hour last night - Dawnise picked me up from Ontario airport just before midnight. Kathye and Caitlyn (the 4 month old) were still up - and we chatted a bit before I decided to call it a night.
We woke up this morning to Derrick and Alyssa coming into our room to say "good morning." The ladies and kids had breakfast while I spent some quality time with a cranky baby, and we chatted and hung out 'till it was time for them to go retrieve Geoff from LAX.
Dawnise and I borrowed Geoff's car and went over to the Beverages and More in Chino Hills. It's pathetic, but I miss that place. Washington has state run liquor stores (and blue laws) - so wandering up and down isles of alcohol was somehow soothing :)
Bought a few bottles - some scotch, a maple liquor, a gin from the Anchor distillery in San Francisco, and some kind of raspberry honey concoction that looked interesting to Dawnise.
On the way back we stopped at the local Mexican market and picked up 8 pounds of their home-made carne asada - have I mentioned that finding good Mexican food in Seattle is a bit tricky?
Posted by dberger at 4:15 PM
March 11, 2005
So much for the soggy northwest...
Must be all the Californians being imported - we're bringing the desert with us.
Washington has declared a drought.
Posted by dberger at 12:47 PM
Big Brother is watching (and taking pictures)
Someone sent a link to terraserver today - it's been around for a while, but everytime I see it I'm filled with a mix of "cool" and "scary" with a little "Orwell" thrown in.
The old house...
The new house (before there was a house - notice the total lack of anything resembling one)...
My office.
Posted by dberger at 12:06 PM | Comments (2)
You can check out any time you like...
I have an 8:30 flight tonight out of SEATAC to Ontario, CA. I'll be in CA for three days - returning with Dawnise late Monday.
The weekend hasn't really been sorted out yet - which is why I haven't contacted folks to make plans.
I'll be staying @ Geoff and Kathye's place in Chino tonight. Geoff gets home from a business trip overseas tomorrow afternoon. We need to go see Dawnise's folks while we're both down there, and we'd love to see as many friends as possible short of making the weekend completely insane.
Oh, and we don't have a car.
We may head to dinner Saturday night, and company would be welcome - I'm thinking of the Blue Agave in Yorba Linda ("Southwestern" food is hard to come buy this far north).
Sunday morning we'll likely go to B.C. Cafe for breakfast/brunch.
And I'm set on going to The Hat one day - either in Brea or Upland.
Aside from that, if you're in the area we'd love to see you (ok, assuming we know you...). If one of the aforementioned eateries sounds up your alley, give me a call on my cel, or drop me email, and we'll work out details.
Extra points to those who get the title reference...
Posted by dberger at 11:41 AM
Aye, Avast!
Ok, it's goofy, but what the hell...
My pirate name is:
Dirty Davy Rackham
You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!
Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.
Posted by dberger at 8:24 AM
March 10, 2005
The Re-Emergent Roadster Market (and, on the folly of buying "really fast" cars)
For a couple years now, I've had a jonesing for a convertible. I know - I've got a motorcycle (ok, two, but who's counting) so a convertible seems sorta redundant - but "logic" "motorcycle" and "convertible" don't seem to really associate well.
So I've been following the convertible market for a while, and it's gotten more interesting lately.
In the under $25k set, there are two newcomers - the Pontiac Solstice and the Saturn Sky. If they look similar to you, you're not imaginging it they're built on a common platform. They both look cool (the Pontiac gets my nod for aesthetics) but being a new platform the jury is out on reliability and TCO.
They join the reigning champ - the Mazda Miata udpated for '05 (but still sorta stuck in blandville compared to the two newcomers).
If you've got more money to spend, there's the $33k Honda S2000, the $34k Porsche Boxter (anyone else know the joke about the mouse with the Porsche?) and the $46k Mercedes SLK.
On a related topic - I overheard a couple of auto enthusiasts talking on the ferry the other day - drooling over a Porsche 911 and raving about it's 0-60 time (a little over 4 seconds). That car starts at $70k. My $9k Sprint RS has a claimed 3.4 second 0-60 time - and it's hardly the top kid on the block (it's probably the Suzuki Hayabusa - also a $10k bike - at under 3.0s).
If you're not driving a Formula 1 racer, and you're trying to show off against a modern street bike, you've probably already lost.
Posted by dberger at 11:08 AM
March 7, 2005
Reasonable behavior in an unreasonable situation
Reuters is carrying an article that reports some rather disturbing behavior by some Florida National Guards in Iraq.
Once I got past my immediate righteous indignation I started to think about it a bit more - from a safe distance, sitting on a ferry with no one shooting at me or otherwise trying to end my life in a violent and abrupt fashion.
That really makes all the difference in determining rational behavior, not being in a combat zone and all.
I've never been shot at - but I can only imagine I'd take it quite personally.
Continue reading "Reasonable behavior in an unreasonable situation"
Posted by dberger at 7:16 PM
March 6, 2005
Fun with Touch Typing...
I've been using the same keyboard since 1996; it's a genuine IBM 42H1292 - known for being loud, near indestructible, and for having removable keycaps.
I looked down today while typing and realized it was time to clean the keyboard - so rather than grabbing the rubbing alcohol, I started popping the keycaps off. I took 'em upstairs and washed them in hot water with a toothbrush, then came down and cleaned up the rest of the keyboard with a toothbrush and Shower Shine (hey, it's what was handy).
I realized while sitting here typing on a "blank" keyboard that the poor fellow who tried in vein to teach me touch-typing in High School completely missed out. These keyboards are the best tool imaginable for teaching touch-typing.
Oh, and for the record - typing this didn't take me any longer without the keycaps than it would have with. ;)
Posted by dberger at 4:17 PM
This is the operator, how may I annoy you?
Sometime yesterday we lost dial-tone in the house. I called Qwest and they came out at some point to fix it. They discovered (they claim, and I have no reason to disbelieve them) two bad pair in the house - which they disconnected to restore service. They also charged me $85 for the house-call - and left two dead jacks in the house.
Naturally, those were the master bedroom and my office, where the DSL comes in.
So I called the builder to talk about getting it fixed (and reimbursed for the $85 service call) and then went out to the NI (network interface, for all you telco-impared types, it's the box on your house where the phone services comes in from the pole or street) and switched the carrier pair to those two jacks to see if the entire cable run was bad, or just the blue pair. Both jacks worked on the secondary pair, so I'm back in the phone and broadband business, and $85 poorer.
Speaking of broadband, on the 28th of February Comcast left a hanger on the door saying they'd be burying my cable in the next 14 days. The various utilities have been coming 'round painting cable paths on the ground. If I cared enough, and if Dawnise hadn't taken the camera, I'd go take pictures - just in case I ever need to know where the power runs under the street and into the house.
With any luck, by the time I get back from CA, I'll be in the cable modem business, and I can tell Qwest to take their P.O.S. ActionTec DSL modem back. (Gotta reboot the damn thing nearly daily, and it takes a good 5 minutes to sync up and authenticate - it already gotten annoying.)
Posted by dberger at 2:39 PM
My Kingdom for a Seat?
In a bit of irony that I'm sure says something deep about, well, something - our hand-crafted Amish made table and bed arrived yesterday - well in advance of the rest of the (mass-market) stuff we ordered.
The bed looks great - we'd never seen one assembled before we bought it. The only trouble is that due to the thickness of the mattress and box-spring (and we got the low profile box-spring) *I* (at 6'2") have to jump a bit to sit on the bed. Jumping *on* the bed is right out (unless you enjoy whacking your head on the ceiling).
The table is a work of art, and is nicely sized to the dining room. I'm sitting at it typing this, it's everything I like about design; simple, elegant, clean and well made.
Posted by dberger at 2:17 PM | Comments (1)
March 3, 2005
Gestalt
Corey Doctorow has a new short story i, robot that's been published on The Infinite Matrix. It's a good story - as many of Corey's are. I'm not going to give away the ending directly, but you might want to read it before you continue.
Go ahead, I'll wait...
The story got me thinking about a subject, fairly common to science fiction, that occasionally confounds me - that of "consciousness transfer."
A number of science fiction authors have used this idea - Greg Egan uses it to good effect in a few novels, as does Richard Morgan in Altered Carbon.
Continue reading "Gestalt"
Posted by dberger at 10:32 PM | Comments (1)
March 2, 2005
Scylla, meet Charybdis
I just got a sneak peak at our D610 and D810 eval units from one of the guys in IS. Gosh, do they suck.
Maybe I'm just being a whiny bitch (entirely possible) or an overly harsh judge of design (highly likely), but what's up with notebooks that look and feel like they were designed by Mary Shelley?
The 610 isn't bad - provided you don't need screen space. If you're using Office you'll be fine - if you're using Eclipse, well, you'll be less fine (or, again, maybe I'm just whining).
The 810, on the other hand, is an abomination. It weighs a ton (and they claim it's a half pound lighter than the 800 it's replacing), and it's gratutiously thick and clunky. The screen is marginally larger than the screen on my powerbook, and the overall form factor is way lots larger. For all that weight, you don't get anything significantly better than (for example) a Hypersonic Aviator CQ6.
Standards - insuring we all suck the same...
Posted by dberger at 2:42 PM
Dell, The Harrison Bergeron of Corporate Computing
I mentioned I'm replacing my Powerbook with a Dell - the "corporate standard." There are three options available, the X300 - an executive sub-notebook, good for email and powerpoint, but not much else, the D610 - a light reasonable performer with a small (14") screen, and the D810 - a "desktop replacement."
I've concluded that Dell is the Harrison Bergeron of corporate computing. They trade stand-out engineering and performance in the name of "compatibility."
The HP Compaq nc8200 looks like a nice notebook - similar spec to the D810 and nearly a pound lighter - but it's not "the standard" and I've already played my "break the rules" card.
Bloody hell.
Posted by dberger at 9:01 AM | Comments (3)
March 1, 2005
Yo Ho Yo Ho A Bachelor's Life For Me
Dawnise is sitting on a plane, about to wing her way to soggy southern California from the sunny pacific northwest (ponder that for a moment). I'm going down to meet her on Friday the 11th, and we're returning together Monday the 14th.
In the mean time, I'm a bachelor. I can look forward to days filled with, um, work - and evenings of, um, more work. Or, I can leave the office and go home to ... boxes.
Let the revels begin... :-/
Posted by dberger at 11:48 AM | Comments (1)
February 24, 2005
These Boots Aren't Made for Walkin'...
I made a tactical error when I left the house this morning - I wore my Doc Martins.
When I was in High School, Docs were all the rage - you had to have a pair. Of course, I didn't - spending that much money on a pair of shoes just wasn't a point of discussion; and I never even asked.
I bought this pair of 10-hole steel toed Docs last year some time - they were on sale, and I was in the market for a new pair of boots (Dawnise got her red ones at the same time). I mostly wore them riding. I'd get on the bike in the garage, ride to campus, and walk from the bike into the lab. Occasionally we'd walk to lunch somewhere, but I never really walked in them.
So walking the mile and a quarter from the ferry station to the office this morning was almost certainly the longest distance I'd ever gone in these boots.
And my feet are telling me that was a mistake.
I had thought about walking up to the library this afternoon on my way to the ferry (ok, it's not on the way, but our library is really cool, and they have a DVD on hold for me) - but I've decided I'll do that tomorrow, when I wear the right shoes.
People rage about how comfy Docs are but, they all say, you have to break 'em in. When I bought my Wolverines there was no break-in period - they were comfortable from the first time I put them on.
Guess it's what I get for giving into (much delayed) peer pressure.
Posted by dberger at 2:33 PM
Time Marches On, People...
The bus was empty this morning.
Not sparsly populated. Empty - as in I was the only one on it.
The ferry commute is working pretty well so far - even if the WiFi went away I think I'd enjoy the time to read, think and generally not be driving.
Dawnise, on the other hand, is not doing so well - she's been sick since Monday. Monday's "blah" turned into Tuesday's "blech" and she's been pretty much sleeping since. Stuffed up head and sinus, low grade fever, and generally unhappy. I made her matzo balls and soup the other night, and she's had soup of one form or another since Monday night.
I finally sorted the problem with the TiVo - seems that the original quantum drive was starting to flake - drawing more power than the little TiVo power supply could reliably provide. I bought two new 120G Maxtor's and as of the time I left this morning, the copy onto the new drives is about 60% complete.
The news that Apple may be consdering acquiring TiVo kinda worries me - I like nearly everything about TiVo - not the least of which is their attitude toward the hacking community (essentially - "you own the device, do whatever you want, just don't steal"). This attitude is diametrically opposed to the company that brought you the iPod ("all your music are belong to us"). Time will tell...
Posted by dberger at 8:25 AM
February 22, 2005
Qwest DSL
The Good:
We're online from the house again, Huzzah!
The Bad:
These Actiontech modem/routers are a first class P.O.S.
The Ugly:
Qwest uses PPPoA (ATM) - so it's either Actiontec or a Cisco which is 4 years obsolete.
'course, at this point Comcast swears they can get service to the house given a couple weeks, so I'm renting the modem from Qwest for the first month and plan to send it back once the cable modem is hooked up.
Posted by dberger at 9:14 PM
Miscellany
Vince and Donna (and Ari) came up again over the weekend - Donna's getting setup to get the WA "endorsement" on her Real Estate brokers license, so this was ostensibly a business trip.
Eleven (and a half) of us descended on Ipanema Saturday night - the food was good, the service was gawd awful. I'm really disappointed. The Passadores seemed to go out of their way to avoid our table - and talking to the head waiter and the hostess didn't rectify things. Strike one. We'll give it another try, with a smaller group - but it's a shame, as the Brazilian BBQ format should lend itself really well to large gatherings...
The rest of the weekend was good, though Dawnise got sick and wasn't doing terribly well on Monday.
This morning I came in to work and found that Ian had brought a french press in and was willing to share - I find it terribly ironic that the only way to get drinkable coffee in this building (in the middle of Seattle) is to make it...
Posted by dberger at 10:27 AM
February 15, 2005
Here's Looking At You, Kid...
Last night was so cool. Dawnise told me she had a surprise for me, and that I needed to be on the 6:20 ferry home and quick off the boat. Apparently we had somewhere to be at 7:30 - and probably wouldn't have time to eat dinner 'till 9:30 or so. And, she said, I should wear my trench-coat and one of my fedoras.
I had my suspicions - there was a film festival on the island this past weekend, and that combined with the 2 hour dinner delay screamed "movie" (or play), and the trench-coat and hat suggested a period piece, but my suspicions couldn't prepare me for what was coming.
Dawnise picked me up from the ferry, and started driving - I had no idea where we were going, but as we got "close" she asked me to close my eyes. She led me out of the car, eyes cast to the ground, around a corner and finally said I could look.
I scanned up - not sure where to look for clues - and then my eyes settled on the movie marquee - and I did a double-take...
Continue reading "Here's Looking At You, Kid..."
Posted by dberger at 8:20 AM
February 14, 2005
Life in a Northern Town...
A Salvation Army band played
And the children drank lemonade
And the morning lasted all day,
Oops, sorry - 80's flashback.
Dawnise and I now officially live in a small town. She stopped at the local hardware store to pick up a few things, and a voice called her name. Turns out one of our neighbors works there and recognized Dawnise from the progressive dinner the other weekend. Kinda cool. Nothing to be concerned about.
Then we stopped at the animal hospital to get their phone number and hours (ah, the joys of having no internet connection or phone book) and you'll never guess who was sitting behind the receptionists desk. Ok, you guessed it - another (different) neighbor.
If we ever have kids we'll have to leave the island - I do not want my kids to be known everywhere they go. I'm a firm believer in giving them a fair chance to screw up without their parents knowing about it - and they can't very well do that if the whole bloody town know their names...
Posted by dberger at 4:28 PM
February 9, 2005
Still Sick...
Stayed home yesterday and slept. In the middle of the day we went down to the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce and got the vehicles registered - the total for both cars and all three bikes was under $400 - and they handed us our plates and tags on the spot. Not bad, all-in-all.
While I slept, Dawnise kept working on getting the kitchen put together. It turns out that we have significantly less cabinet space in the new kitchen than we did in the old one, so finding places for things is proving tricky. We're probably going to look for some sort of island for the middle of the kitchen, and a side-board for the dining room.
Came into work today, despite my better judgement, and almost certainly shouldn't have. I've got a sore throat, cloudy head, and feel generally lousy.
Posted by dberger at 11:03 AM
February 7, 2005
Move-in Update
I'm sick. :-/ Been fighting a cold for several days, and yesterday afternoon I officially lost. A fair bit's happened over the last few days...
On Saturday Dawnise brought the cats over to the house from the apartment, and Fabrice lent his assistance (and his SUV) moving the majority of the stuff left in the apartment. That afternoon Dawnise and I worked on putting the kitchen together 'till it was time to leave for the progressive dinner we were invited to.
We hoofed it up the hill and met a number of our neighbors (and even before I felt sick I'd forgotten most of their names). Dinner was good, as was the company - we were one of two young couples present, and the only one without kids. The party moved around (as progressive dinners do) and broke up around 9:30. We got home, found the sheets, made the bed (it had been delivered earlier in the day - and for the first time since I was 14, I don't stick off the end), and pretty much collapsed.
Continue reading "Move-in Update"
Posted by dberger at 8:14 AM
February 5, 2005
Going Dark
This is it - we've moved just about everything over to the house - gotta bring the cats, and the last load or two of boxes (we've only been in the apartment for 3 months, but you'd never tell by the amount of stuff we have here).
Still haven't completely sorted the broadband issue, though it looks like I'll be calling qwest today and ordering local phone service and/or DSL.
Dawnise will have very spotty access 'till we get up at the new place - so if you need to reach her, call her cel.
Posted by dberger at 9:00 AM
February 3, 2005
Moving day
The movers arrived at the house around 9 this morning - two big trucks, plus Dawnise's car. They left around 5:30pm, having unloaded all our worldly goods into the house. Most everything arrived (two missing items, neither of which seem terribly important) in good condition (they broke a half-dozen things, including some cosmetic damage to the TV, a turn signal on one of the motorcycles, and a couple less relevant items). Can't complain about the crew - they busted their asses moving Dawnise's fabric down stairs, and did a respectable job of not tracking the mud around the house onto the new carpet.
Watching the stream of crap, er, stuff, come off the truck, I was struck repeatedly by the fact that we've lived without all that for three months, and with very few exceptions, I really haven't missed it. I'm going to make a point of inspecting items I unpack with a critical eye.
In the midst of all that chaos, a few folks arrived to do last minute touch-ups on the house - fix a door that wasn't balanced, seal a leak in the rain gutters (which they don't seem to have actually fixed), and survey the site for cable.
Oh, yea, cable.
Continue reading "Moving day"
Posted by dberger at 8:53 PM
February 2, 2005
Going Dark in T-3...
I called Comcast the other day to schedule activation of cable modem service. They insisted (on their website) that you had to have the modem before you call, so I had waited patiently 'till the modem arrived, and then got on the phone.
Turns out that the address (being new construction and all) doesn't yet appear in their billing system, which means they have to go out and actual connect the cable - a process which takes "between 8-10 business days." Then, once that's done, I have to call them back and schedule cable modem activation - which takes another several business days.
So the end result is that once we leave the apartment on Saturday, we'll be off-line for about two weeks.
Talk about separation anxiety.
I'll continue to have access at work, of course, but Dawnise will be sorta stuck.
While contemplating this, I realized that the room where I plan to put the TV and TiVo is pretty much the only room in the house that's not wired for cable and telephone.
'Course we don't have a telephone yet, so the TiVo will be generally pissed off. I've hacked it and it'll happily make calls over the broadband...
Never mind.
Makes me wonder if the DirectTV guy showing up on Sunday will actually be able to successfully complete the installation. We'll see, I guess.
Posted by dberger at 9:11 PM
January 31, 2005
Home again, home again, jiggedy-jig
Just got a call from the escrow company - our sale closed and recorded today - we own a house again.
It would have been impossible without the incredible patience, support, and assistance of Jonathan Fink, our realtor - if you need to find a house in the Seattle area, we highly recommend him.
Our experience with Scott Delhaute of Sterling Custom homes has been generally positive. He's a good guy, trying to do the right thing, and we've always managed to reach reasonable compromise. He proved me wrong and hit his dates when I was convinced there wasn't a snow-ball's chance in hell that he would.
On Thursday and Friday the movers will be delivering our worldly goods to the house - and we'll be back to a 2 car, 3 motorcycle, suburban lifestyle.
I miss the city already.
Posted by dberger at 4:48 PM
God I hate Verizon
We moved out of our place in CA in November - and I cancelled our Verizon phone service shortly thereafter. I'm still trying to get those incompetent bastards to leave me alone.
This weekend, I got a letter from a collections agency on behalf of Verizon saying we owed them $35. Now this was strange for at least two reasons.
Reason the first is that I had spoken to them over a month ago when I got a bill for DSL service in January (see previous note about having had the line disconnected in November of last year). Seems that the phone side of the house hadn't correctly coordinated with the DSL side of the house and they were happily billing me for DSL service over a local loop that had been de-provisioned. They issued a credit for a couple months service and I figured that would be the end of that.
Silly me.
The second reason the collections letter surprised me was that, regardless of the whole DSL situation - Verizon direct debited our bill from our bank account - had for years, and had (for the same amount the collections agency was yelling about) just two weeks ago. Now they shouldn't have - 'cause we didn't owe them anything, but they did.
So they took money, and then sent the account to collections for the same money.
So I had a rather terse conversation with the DSL side of the house and got (another) confirmation that the credit was issued, and this morning called the phone side of the house to give them a little bit of grief.
Thing is, I never enjoy ripping into some front-line customer service person. It's not their fault they work for an incompetent organization...
Anyway - in theory the situation is resolved. Verizon has always been a pain in the arse - ask me one day about the 18 months it took me to get DSL service. I guess in that light, it's only fitting that it be similarly hard to get rid of.
Ah, what a Monday.
Posted by dberger at 8:39 AM
Seattle Underground
Dawnise and I finally took the Seattle Underground tour yesterday. We got up late - the first day in a while we didn't have anything pressing to do, and went down to the Crumpet Shop for brunch. While munching on our crumpets, we started into the classic "what do you want to do today?", "I dunno, what do you want to do today?" exchange.
We decided, at great length, that we'd swing back by the apartment on our way down to Pioneer Square to do the underground tour. The weather has been great lately, and Sunday was no exception - we got to the tour in plenty of time to buy tickets for the 1pm, and then walked around Pioneer Square to kill time.
The tour itself was, IMO, well worth the $10 admission - the guides were very knowledgeable and quite charismatic. As for the folks who built this city - well, let's just say that building it on rock 'n roll would have been a huge step up. What they did build it on, the first time, was sawdust. Seems logical right - you've got a booming lumber industry, a literal mountain of sawdust, and you need landfill. Never mind the whole "sawdust is organic and will decay over time" problem.
"Other kinds said I was daft to build a castle in the swamp..."
Anyway - after a 20 minute historical talk we broke into two groups and went underground. Got some pretty good pictures that I'll be uploading "soon."
After the tour we went out to ... drum-roll please ... do more shopping! During our outing we stumbled on a Krispy Crack with the HOT sign on, so we stopped in for our bi-annual donut fix. Just like a drug dealer - the first one's free, but you can never stop at just one.
On the house front, in theory we close escrow today - fingers crossed. The movers are scheduled to bring stuff out on Thursday and Friday, our new mattress comes in on Saturday, and DirecTV will be there to do the install on Sunday. Once I get the cable modem I ordered I'll schedule Comcast to come out and hook up cable modem, and then we'll decide if we're getting a traditional land-line, or just going VoIP.
Posted by dberger at 7:32 AM
January 29, 2005
Carnivore Mecca
We did our walk-through on the house this morning - some little stuff (cosmetic) the builder will be addressing this weekend, and we found a solution on the paint. See it's wet up here. Really wet - not that it's raining much - just that the air is very moist. So the paint on the house isn't drying - and the mud around the house is so, well, muddy, that the painters ladder is sinking in over a foot. So we decided that the builder will do his best to make the street-side of the house look finished, and give us a bit of cash back against him coming back once the place has dried out and finishing the exterior painting.
After the walk-through we tried to hook up with Brad and Kat, but Kat wasn't feeling well, so we hopped the next ferry back to the mainland and went out to complete some furniture shopping that had been interrupted a few days back. Bought seating for the living and entertainment rooms - and got stuff we really liked for under our budget (a nice change, vs the table and bed).
We decided, on the way back, to give the newly opened Brazilian place another go, so I dropped Dawnise off in front of the building and went to park the car. They had opened up the rest of their seating tonight, so we were seated without delay and after getting the obligatory "red mean stop brining meat, green means bring it on" talk, dinner was underway.
If you've never been to a Brazilian BBQ place before, one word of caution - vegetarians need not apply. It's all about meat. Chicken, Beef, Pork, Lamb, Sausages, you name it. Ipanema (their domain doesn't work yet, but that's the URL on their menus) is a prie-fix arrangement for dinner - you pay one price and "meat stewards" (called passadores) interrupt you every few minutes to offer you some cut or another. We tried everything they offered at least once.
Continue reading "Carnivore Mecca"
Posted by dberger at 8:15 PM | Comments (2)
January 28, 2005
Starstruck in Seattle...
When we moved into our apartment in November of last year, they were building a new Brazilian BBQ restaurant on the ground floor of the building. The other day Dawnise and I were walking past when we noticed they had put a menu up in their menu box, so we took a look, and discovered they were scheduled to open tonight (Friday the 28th).
We invited some friends (Brian and Dina, and Scott and Megan) to accompany us to the opening - we figured it might suck, but it was worth a shot. Scott had to take a rain check, but Brian and Dina were up for it - so at 6:30 Dina and their son Lucas picked Brian and I up from the office and we made our way down town. En-route I called Dawnise, who went down and discovered there was an hour wait for a table - too long for the small - so we decided to head up to the 5 Spot for dinner.
Along the way we changed course and decided to try the Fondue restaurant in Queen Ann, but they had a 75 minute wait, so the 5 Spot it was. We found parking with relative ease, and were seated pretty much immediately.
We hadn't been sitting for more than a few minutes, when the wait staff seated a couple with two kids at the booth behind us. I did a double-take. The guy sitting down could have been Dave Matthews' identical twin. I figured I was just imagining it 'till Dina turned around and I saw the same look on her face that must have been on mine.
Continue reading "Starstruck in Seattle..."
Posted by dberger at 9:35 PM | Comments (1)
January 27, 2005
I hate threatening people...
When we moved out of our house in CA, I called DirecTV and suspended our account through January - figuring we'd have moved in by then and it wouldn't be a problem. I had been meaning to call them to schedule installation at the new place for a few days, and today a bill arrived - seems they'd started billing us again in the middle of the month (despite our not having equipment hooked up).
So I called and got bounced around three times before getting a fellow on the phone who could handle the installation request, and I told him I had suspended the account, but that they had started billing again, and I asked him to reverse the twenty-odd dollar charge they had collected mid-month.
He confirmed that their records showed that I had suspended the account through 1/1, and I thought I had said "through January," which would mean 1/31. I agreed with him that there was some miscommunication, and didn't think it would be a big deal, but his response was:
"I'm sorry sir, there's nothing I can do about that - we told you when billing would resume."
Continue reading "I hate threatening people..."
Posted by dberger at 7:00 PM
Latest house news
We went over to Bainbridge and signed escrow/loan docs this morning - it's very nearly done. Went over the inspection report with the builder, and he agreed to remedy nearly all the items we asked for, so it's basically looking good for close on Monday. We should have keys in our possession Tuesday morning, and the movers are scheduled to deliver our "stuff" on Thursday and Friday of next week.
Posted by dberger at 6:56 PM
Damn this stuff is cool...
We did more furniture shopping last night - looking for sofas and assorted seating for the living, family, and entertainment rooms. This morning I was looking for the manufacturers we had liked, and found funkysofa.com. They're located - of course - in So. Cal. - and they have some wicked cool stuff. They'll even deliver - at a cost of about $200 per piece.
Next time we're in California, I suspect strongly we'll wander over to their showroom to check them out.
Posted by dberger at 8:35 AM
January 26, 2005
Quick house update
Went over to the house this morning with the inspector - spent about 3 hours there. They're behind schedule (surprise, surprise), and we have a medium length punch-list of stuff we'll be asking the builder to remedy, but nothing major. The upstairs carpet is installed in the common areas (the grey we chose looks good) and the installer was working on the lower floor. The driveway is in, as is the rear patio slab, and they were building the front deck.
We go over tomorrow morning to sign escrow papers.
Further bulletins as events warrant.
Posted by dberger at 2:13 PM
January 24, 2005
Our first purchase(s)
Well, we bought our first new bits of furniture today. We went back to Bassett Direct and bought the dresser, nightstands, and chest of drawers from the 5th Avenue collection. I think we got a reasonably good deal on the pieces, and they paid the sales tax. Not a trivial amount of money by any means, but it's cherry wood, well constructed, and pretty much the only bedroom furniture we've seen in lots of looking that we really liked.
The problem is, we hated the bed. So we went to Don Willis furniture to look at a bed made by Borkholder. It was only a couple hundred dollars more than the bed we hated - but that didn't make it much easier to spend that much money on a bed. To make matters worse, they had the dining table that we really liked, and the table with 6 chairs (the ones without arms) was definitely un-cheap. I felt the prices individually were reasonable given that the pieces are hand-crafted, but we hemmed and hawed enough that we managed to negotiate another couple hundred off the combined price, and since we had seen them at the Seattle Home Remodeling show, they gave us the no-sales tax special pricing that had technically ended with the show on Sunday.
No matter how you slice it, we spent a serious amount of money on furniture today - but I think I'm ok with it. We kept some proceeds from the sale of the house in CA back for furnishing and upgrading the new house, and Dawnise and I had decided that we wanted to "up-class" a bit - buying accouterments that fit the house. These definitely qualify. The Borkholder pieces are one-of-a-kind heirloom quality - and we'll have to update our wills to make sure they're explicitly handled (damn it Rob, see what you've done to me?).
Don Willis had an absolutely beautiful curio - also by Borkholder - but I had definitely hit the limit of my comfort zone. But I have to say, my fountain pen collection would look stunning displayed in that case... Perhaps, if it's still there, I'll reconsider once our budget has recovered a bit.
The lead time on the bedroom stuff is 4-6 weeks, and the Borkholder is more like 10, so we'll be living with empty rooms for a while, but that's ok.
Posted by dberger at 10:05 PM
Stop the ride, I wanna get off.
I was in a group status meeting this morning from 10-11, and my cel phone was ringing off the hook. I was ignoring it 'till I got to calls, nearly back to back, from Dawnise - our agreed upon signal for "I really need to talk to you." We came up with it when I was commuting on the motorcycle - I would ignore the first call, but if two came in rapid succession it meant I needed to pull over and call her back.
Returning that call launched the house fire-drill for the morning - apparently the paint color we had chosen for the trim (a muted blue, called "Urban Twilight") was going on really bright and garish - like those blue tarps they sell at Home Depot - and the builder was freaking out. The especially annoying thing was that we didn't just pick that color - for the first time in our lives we intentionally stuck with a pre-chosen set of coordinated colors, precisely to avoid this sort of situation.
I called him back and started trying to come up with a plan - but he pretty much cut off every workable avenue. I couldn't see what he was seeing, and if we didn't make a decision right now it would delay close -- there wasn't even time, apparently, for Dawnise to catch the next ferry over and see it with her own eyes.
Talk about being backed into a corner.
Continue reading "Stop the ride, I wanna get off."
Posted by dberger at 3:49 PM
January 23, 2005
The Best Laid Plans...
Seems that despite the builder of our new home's repeated insistence, we won't be closing on the 1st. See, it rained in Seattle yesterday.
I know - rain. In Seattle. In January. It's shocking.
So shocking, in fact, that a professional builder apparently couldn't foresee that the weather would have an affect on the build schedule.
As of last week, the builder and his agent were so positive we'd close on time, I made the mistake of scheduling the movers to deliver our stuff on the 3rd and 4th - a reservation it seems I'll now need to un-do.
The delay is annoying - it means we have to pay an obscene amount to stay in our temp housing (about $100/night), and some as yet unknown but almost certainly similarly obscene amount to keep our stuff in storage. It also means we'll have to sacrifice our nearly perfect delivery dates and get back on the movers delivery schedule, at their convenience.
But what's really annoying is that the builder didn't raise the red flag 'till just over a week before close. For several weeks, he said they'd be done early - glad I didn't bank on that one.
Continue reading "The Best Laid Plans..."
Posted by dberger at 6:38 PM
January 21, 2005
An interesting first
I got a call from Washington Mutual today. An unsolicited, unprovoked, unexpected, out of the blue call from the branch manager. While moving up here we discovered that our bank didn't have branches in WA, so we opened a checking account at Washington Mutual purely to get local access to money. And the manager at the branch where we opened the account called me.
"We've noticed you have a rather large balance in a free checking account, and we'd like to recommend a few investment possibilities that will allow you to earn a return on your funds."
Half the time you can't get anyone from the bank to answer simple questions - but apparently if you have enough money sitting around, they'll call you.
Too bad the vast majority of that money will leave the account next week, when we write a check to escrow for the new house. I imagine at that point, we'll go back to being "just another account." No more personal phone calls from branch managers.
Went to dinner this evening at Orrapin - a Thai restaurant in upper Queen Anne. Very tasty food, and reasonably priced. After dinner we caught Scott's set at El Diablo - the coffee and Mexican Hot Chocolate weren't as "on" as our last visit, but the set was entertaining.
Posted by dberger at 10:34 PM
January 20, 2005
Cars Suck...
Got my car back today - it's got a new alternator, a couple new serpentine belts, new rear brakes (and turned rotors), a new valve cover gasket, plugs, plug wires, fuel filter, and probably a few things I've forgotten.
$1100.
And I opted out of an additional $500 worth of recommended preventative maintenance - break system flush, injector service, transmission service, and coolant system service.
To put the icing on the cake, the drive side headlight has been rattling in it's mount at idle, which is driving me absolutely nuts, but without tools and a well-light place to inspect it, I can't do anything about it.
I am so ready to get out of this apartment and into our house.
Posted by dberger at 10:00 PM
January 17, 2005
We do more by 10am... (Coda)
This morning was a flurry of activity as the Beltz clan packed their belongings (good god did they bring a lot of stuff). We went back to the Crumpet Shop for breakfast, and saw them off for their drive to Sequim around 11:30.
We had intended to go to the Lazy Boy showroom in Tukwila to do some furniture shopping, but found the car battery dead when we got there - seemingly owing to the dome light being left on. We borrowed a portable jump-start gadget from the parking garage company, but no dice, it was deader than that.
It took AAA about 40 minutes to arrive - and with their industrial strength gadget, the car started right up.
And died again about 3/4 of the way out of the garage. Just as I was pushing it out of the way, we saw the AAA truck turning around in the alley behind the apartments, so I sprinted out and got his attention. He, again, applied the jump start routine, and again the car started. This time - wise to it's deception, we agreed that I'd drive it out of the garage, and he'd wait for me.
It was obvious the moment I put it in gear it wasn't going to last - I barely out of the garage before it died again. We maneuvered it out of the way and called a tow-truck.
Not having needed an auto shop here in Seattle, we went with the AAA drivers recommendation and had it towed to "Downtown Automotive" (original name) - I'm hoping to hear back from them tonight or tomorrow...
Posted by dberger at 4:38 PM | Comments (1)
January 16, 2005
We do more by 10am... (Part Three of Three)
We met the out-of-towners in their hotel room and discussed the plans for the day. They had decided to extend their stay through Sunday - leaving for Sequim on Monday morning, and we decided that the hotel breakfast wasn't really up to scratch for commemorating Vince's birthday. Dawnise and I had heard good things about a place in Queen Ann called The Five Spot, so we hopped in their rental car, and drove the 2 miles to the restaurant. Managed to find parking, walk the block back, and were seated with a minimum of delay.
Our timing turned out to be excellent, by the time we had our coffee, the line had grown to fill the entry way. I have nothing but good things to say about breakfast at The Five Spot - we will definitely be going back. Good food, good service, and very reasonable prices.
From there Vince decided he wanted to check out the Science Fiction Museum in the Seattle Center. Figuring that many of our visiting friends were likely to have the same idea - Dawnise and I bought an annual membership (as we did at the aquarium on Friday). The museum, it turns out, is essentially Paul Allen's personal memorabilia showcase in a non-profit wrapper. There's stuff from other people - and even stuff (like the power-loader and queen alien) on loan from studios - but I was amazed at how much was from "The Allen Family Collection."
Stuff from all ages of SF - from Verne to Babylon 5 and everything in between (nothing from Firefly, though - very disappointing). Way too much to take in given the time we had.
Continue reading "We do more by 10am... (Part Three of Three)"
Posted by dberger at 11:59 PM
January 15, 2005
We do more by 10am... (Part Two of Three)
We met Vince, Donna & Ari for breakfast in the hotel around 8:30. By the time they were ready it was closer to 9. We invaded the hotel's breakfast, claiming to all be staying in room 11.
We had planned, after breakfast, to catch a ferry over to Bainbridge to look at that house - but our late start caused us to miss the ferry, so we decided to head to the Seattle Public Library. Vince is, perhaps, the biggest bibliophile I know - and after seeing Dawnise's occasional taunting pictures of our library, he had to visit before he left.
The plan (not my plan, just the plan) was to spend "a few minutes" in the library and catch the next ferry to Bainbridge. The Seattle Public Library is 11 stories tall - 9 of which house books. We started in the children's section, where we left Ari and Donna, and headed out into the stacks. About an hour later we had managed to run a full circuit - not stopping to look at much, and realized we had missed another ferry.
We caught the next one and spent some time at the house - where Dawnise and I saw (or rather didn't see) a disturbing lack of progress. The ground was frozen over and I managed for the first time to actually walk around the house. We had planned to pour a boat/RV parking slab next to the house, but the concrete contractor balked, saying we should wait 'till things had dried out next summer, and after walking on the frozen mud, that seemed like a pretty good idea.
Continue reading "We do more by 10am... (Part Two of Three)"
Posted by dberger at 11:59 PM | Comments (2)
January 14, 2005
We do more by 10am... (Part One of Three)
Vince, Donna & Ari flew in Thursday night to visit - and to surprise Dawnise for her birthday on Friday. Unbeknownst to Dawnise, they had taken a room in the Inn At the Harbor Steps, conveniently located in our apartment building. I took the day off under false pretense - despite Dawnise's repeated insistence that I should just go in late.
Friday morning, we went down to the lobby to head to the Crumpet Shop for breakfast - where Vince was playing the part of the spy, sitting on a sofa in the lobby (in)conspicuously reading the paper, and Donna and Ari were sitting on another sofa, primed to jump Dawnise.
Dawnise very nearly missed all three of them in her rush out the door. I had to pull her back in to give them time to spring the trap.
Vince tried to take some pictures of the joyous reunion - I think all he ended up with were blurry shots of backs - alternating between Dawnise and Ari as they spun 'round.
Continue reading "We do more by 10am... (Part One of Three)"
Posted by dberger at 8:33 PM
January 10, 2005
Fast, Slow, and Fuzzy
Seems both Nise and I are working on getting sick. Felt sorta crappy this morning, took some cold meds and went to work anyway. By the end of the day I was pretty wiped.
I had ordered parts to upgrade my machine, and the last of them (the case) came in today, so I had Nise pick me up from work. That, it turned out, was a mistake. There was a fatal traffic accident that completely snarled traffic in the Seattle grid - it took us nearly 45 minutes to get the 1.5 miles from my office back to the apartment. Blech.
Had dinner, and despite knowing better, I set to work upgrading my machine. Took me about 90 minutes to get the new CPU, Motherboard and RAM into the new case and migrate my drives over. Linux was happy as a clam going from two 1Ghz Pentium 3's to a single AMD Athlon 64 3400+. It figured out that a bunch of hardware had been removed and a bunch of different hardware had taken it's place, and within a minute (no reboots required, thank you very much) it was up and running.
My Windows XP install, well, it's not nearly as happy. I've had good luck in the past just moving the install - it'll take 6 or 7 reboots, but Windows will eventually figure things out. Not this time. When I try to boot Windows, the screen goes black for a moment, and the machine reboots. I suspect it's going to take some fairly serious massaging before it's willing to come out and play.
Anyway, enough sillyness for the evening - time to hit the sack.
Posted by dberger at 10:28 PM
January 9, 2005
A Lazy Sunday
It snowed this morning.
It had snowed overnight - just enough to dust everything in white, and was snowing again when we came out of Costco. This sort of snow I like - it looks nice, melts within the day, and basically has no negative effect on life at all.
Dawnise wasn't feeling to great, so we we scratched our plans for the Underground Tour, came home and she took a nap.
She woke up around 2:30 and wanted to get out of the apartment for a while, so we hopped int he car and drive to a mattress factory we'd seen an ad for in a local paper. May not sound like a fun outing, but we'd ditched our old mattress when we moved, so until we buy a new one, we'll be sleeping on the floor in our new house.
Walked in, were getting the spiel from the sales critter, and when he got to the "free delivery" part Dawnise asked: "Do you deliver to Bainbridge?"
He laughed.
Apparently not - not even for a fee. Which is odd, considering Custom Comfort, the company we bought our last matress from, will ship one up here for us.
We got the same cool reception at a "main land" furniture store we went to a week or so ago. Found a really cool sofa/loveseat/chaise set that we were about ready to buy - a couple thousand dollars in all, and they wouldn't take more of our money to deliver it. Seems penny wise, pound foolish.
Posted by dberger at 3:21 PM
January 8, 2005
Boredom and Claustrophobia
We slept late this morning - it was pretty much the first weekend since we've been here that we didn't have something we needed to do, and sleeping in was a nice change.
Trouble is - there was nothing we needed to do, and the one bedroom apartment is starting to feel really cramped.
We went to breakfast at the Tea & Crumpet shop, walked back through Pikes, and wandered through a few of the furniture stores on Western Ave near the apartment. Some absolutely beautiful, heirloom quality, stuff - but $4000 for a sideboard is more than I was looking to spend.
We decided to go over to the island to visit the house and see how much progress had been made since our last visit. I checked to confirm that there was bus service, and we walked onto an afternoon ferry. Got off on the other side and, viola, no bus.
Grumble.
Continue reading "Boredom and Claustrophobia"
Posted by dberger at 9:56 PM
January 7, 2005
A Bit of (Geek) Nostalgia
My lovely wife sent me this . I never had one as a kid - I wanted a video game system, I got a computer (and a career). Thanks a lot, mom & dad.
No, really.
Thanks.
Posted by dberger at 1:12 PM | Comments (1)
January 6, 2005
The happy snapper strikes again...
I realized that one of the USB cables I brought for my jukebox has the connector needed to talk to our Canon A70. Since that discovery, Dawnise has started taking pictures like mad.
She's started organizing them in our gallery for all to see. For those of you using RSS readers, there's an RSS Feed available at http://oubliette.org/gallery/rss.php
Posted by dberger at 9:52 PM
Screw the cold, I want my bikes back...
I'm not much of a Harley Davidson fan. Never really saw the attraction.
But I walk past an HD accessory shop every morning on the way to work, and they have a couple bikes in the window. You can't buy 'em there, all you can buy there are shirts, coffee mugs, golf balls, and anything else they can stamp with the Harley logo, but there are bikes there none the less.
The other morning I looked in the window and thought "I'd even ride that."
The weather here has been amazing for the last week - cool (ok, cold) and clear - great riding weather (well, assuming you have the right equipment it is). And my bikes are sitting in a storage facility in Tacoma, waiting for us to have a place to move into.
By the time I get 'em back, I'm sure the weather will have turned grey and soggy. But you know what? I may just go riding anyway.
Posted by dberger at 9:11 PM
January 2, 2005
About those vacation photos...
I've done a small update to our photo gallery. Added some pics from our visit with Scott & Amanda, and a visit with The Schemels before we left for Washington. I have more that I haven't categorized yet, I'll try to get to them later.
Tried iPhoto for the first time today - and I'm pretty impressed - it's a nice app.
Posted by dberger at 8:32 PM
January 1, 2005
Happy New Year [updated]
Our first New Years in Seattle was, all in all, pretty darn good. We went to Ray's Boathouse for dinner with some friends - Edmond, his cousin Harry, Fabrice, Brian, Dinah, and Lucas, their 8 month old. I had the cioppino, which was quite good, but not - as the waitress had described "spicy." (People in Seattle keep using that word, I don't think it means what they think it means.) Finished it off with pink grapefruit sorbet and a raspberry lemondrop for desert.
Edmond and Harry had planned to go see the fireworks at the Space Needle from on the ground, but it had started to rain, and Harry decided that the warmth of Edmond's apartment was preferable to standing in the cold getting wet. 'Course this was pretty obvious to us, since Edmond's apartment is on the 20th floor and pretty much directly across from the Needle. You couldn't really have asked for a better viewing spot. So Ed, Harry, Dawnise, Fabrice and I ended up at Ed's place after dinner - chatting about various and sundry stuff 'till the fireworks started just before midnight.
Ed and Harry both got some pretty good footage of the display which was set to music broadcast on the radio and local TV. Disneyland has nothing on Seattle, the pyrotechnics were awesome. After the fireworks (and ensuing barrage of phone calls) we got a ride back to our place from Fabrice, finally nodding off around 2 this morning.
We got up around 10 and walked down to Pikes Market to see if, by chance, our favorite Tea and Crumpet shop was opened. They weren't, so we walked on to Seattle Center and got a membership to the Pacific Science Center. We checked out the Candy Exhibit (ending tomorrow) and then wandered upstairs in the same building to check out some of the other stuff. A very cool place - glad we got a membership, by the time we were done with one building, we were getting hungry and knew there was no way we could see the whole thing.
Continue reading "Happy New Year [updated]"
Posted by dberger at 9:20 PM
December 31, 2004
Into 2005 [updated]
Dawnise and I offer our best wishes for the coming year - may it find you, and leave you, healthy, happy, and safe.
Slainte.
While you revel, remember.
Posted by dberger at 7:51 AM
December 30, 2004
House update - small steps
The other day we got an envelope from the escrow company handling the sale of the Sprig house. It contained a check for the most money I've ever seen in one place in my life. Thing was, it just looked like a check. In talking to a friend at lunch today, we decided that checks for that much money should be physically large - the sort that Ed McMahon delivers to the one lucky bastard out of the millions who get suckered into buying magazines from Publishers Clearinghouse.
Anyway, so we got the check, and I did a bit of math - we got a 220% return on our investment in that house over seven years - and that doesn't even take into account the tax break it gave us. We got lucky - we got in before the run up, and sold high. Guess that's how you're supposed to play the game...
Also on the housing front, we reached mutual acceptance with the builder/seller of "our" house today (now that we have a signed contract, I guess it's OK to call it ours). So now we get all the documentation, give it to a real estate attorney, and see if we should run screaming for the hills. (Fingers crossed.)
Continue reading "House update - small steps"
Posted by dberger at 10:31 PM | Comments (3)
December 29, 2004
Saved
Got Saved from NetFlix today - it was cute. Not nearly as bitingly satiric as I'd hoped (the Christfest episode of South Park wins hands down) but it had some cute lines. Oh, and Macaulay Culkin didn't suck - which was a pleasant surprise.
Posted by dberger at 9:48 PM
December 27, 2004
Twenty three thousand people... [updated, again]
For anyone living under a rock, a whole lot of people aren't coming home in various parts of Asia hit by a Tsunami caused by a 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Sumatra.
The US has pledged $15 million, with an "M", dollars in immediate aid - which is about what we spend every hour and fifteen minutes fighting the war in Iraq.
Aren't we humanitarian.
I've been thinking all day about what I do, for a living. It's not terribly relevant in the face of human catastrophies like this. Makes me pretty introspective about life in general - how we spend it, and what we spend it in pursut of.
I guess the best I can do is, as my lovely better half puts it, "strive to be the person your dog thinks you are."
As of this morning's news, the death toll is estimated at 44,000. The US has been chastized by Jan Egeland, the U.N. humanitarian aid chief, for being "stingy" and has said it expects to follow up the initial aid with "billions more dollars."
Fourty-four thousand people. I have trouble getting a handle on numbers that size - sometimes comparisons help. Fourty-four thousand people is the entire population of Palm Springs, or San Louis Obispo, CA
The death toll, as of the 29th, is at 80,000 - that's the entire population of the city of Newport Beach, or Buena Park, CA. It's more than the entire population of Chino Hills, CA - where Dawnise and I lived until recently. It's every second person in the cities of Orange, or Corona, CA.
I'm having a very hard time wrapping my head around the scale of the human loss...
Lots of organizations are collecting donations on behalf of The Red Cross and other disaster relief groups. Do the right thing.
Posted by dberger at 9:44 PM
December 25, 2004
Christmas in Seattle
Christmas is a big deal for Dawnise - we usually spend it with her family, eating too much, giving each other things we don't need, and generally having a good time.
Being that I've recently started a new job, and don't have much of any vacation accrued, we realized that if we went down to CA I'd only be able to stay the weekend, and tickets for the two of us were going to cost around $800. I left the decision to Dawnise - and she decided we'd stay in Seattle and do Christmas "on our own." It was a tough decision for her - and until this morning neither of us were really sure what that meant.
We spent yesterday morning doing house related stuff - drove around the peninsula (over the infamous Tacoma Narrows bridge) and met the builder of the house we're trying to buy. He was kind enough to offer us the chance to have input on finishing touches - granite, tile, carpet, paint and the like - even though we don't yet have a signed contract. After meeting with him we wandered over to Home Depot to review the budgeted lighting items - choosing upgrades pretty much everywhere. It's amazing how much difference a few dollars a light makes. We have to make a pretty fundamental decision - if we're putting the pool table in the dining room, we need to choose a pool-table sort of lamp for that room, not a dining room chandileer. Decisions, decisions... The rest of the suppliers, for things like appliances and carpet were closed for Christmas Eve, so we'll have to deal with them later.
We came home and cooked a traditional Christmas dinner for two - turkey, stuffing, etc. etc. Dinner was around 7 - everything came out really well, had a very non-traditional desert; a dark chocolate mouse cake and sorbet.
We woke up this morning around 7, unwrapped stuff, and as I type Dawnise is talking to Geoff, Kathye and the kids - teary, but very happy to hear from some good friends. (We miss you guys.)
Shortly we'll be leaving for Scott & Amanda's in Vancouver for the remainder of the weekend - looking forward to seeing them (and Zoe, of course).
So Christmas on our own turned out ok. Given the chance, we'll probably spend it with family and friends next year.
Hope everyone had a good Christmas - and best wishes for a happy, safe, and prosperous new year.
Posted by dberger at 9:37 AM | Comments (3)
December 23, 2004
Done and done...
Just got a call from our Realtor in CA - escrow closed today, the house is sold. So as of today, we no longer own a house; anywhere. Feels kinda strange. I'm on the phone with the utilities turning off service as I type.
That sound from the north was me taking a deep breath...
Posted by dberger at 12:07 PM
December 22, 2004
When is Close Enough Good Enough?
Just got off the phone with our Realtor in CA. He called to say that escrow called to say that the buyers lender called to say that they (the lender) funded the loan.
So as long as the funds transfer reaches the title company today, escrow on the house in CA will close tomorrow, and it will officially be someone elses house.
Can I stop holding my breath now?
Posted by dberger at 3:27 PM
December 21, 2004
Eight Years, But Who's Counting?
Today Dawnise and I celebrate our eighth anniversary. Hard to believe that eight years ago today we were standing, sheltered from the rain in a tree hollowed out by a lighting strike, in Muir Woods exchanging vows. After getting well and thoroughly drenched, we got changed out of our garb (did I mention we were in garb?) and went to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. Dinner was at a Moroccan restaurant in the city - great food, great company, and a belly dancer. Hard to go wrong there.
Tonight we went to il Bistro - a nice Italian place in Pikes Place Market. The atmosphere was intimate and relaxed, and the food was very good. I didn't have much of anything to give as a gift, as any time I haven't spent at work we've spent together (makes it hard to shop for someone), which made me feel even worse when Dawnise gave me the latest fountain pen to join my collection this morning.
It's a one of a kind, made by hand by a local pen maker here in Seattle - it's a wooden body, made of Tulipwood from Brazil. Apparently they can't harvest this particular wood from a live tree - it has to fall on it's own. A beautiful addition to the growing pen collection.
Thanks, beautiful -- for everything.
Posted by dberger at 10:26 PM | Comments (1)
December 19, 2004
The Plot Thickens..
The ink had barely dried on the previous entry when I got the email from our Relator with the comps for the two top contenders from today's viewings.
One of the comp reports listed another house, that for some reason didn't come up in our search - very close to one of the ones we liked from today but new construction, more square footage, less expensive, and on more land. The only wrinkle is it's not finished yet.
The MLS has pictures of the plans, but they're not really big enough to make heads or tails out of.
Jonathan's going to try to track down some additional info - like when it's scheduled for completion, legible versions of the blueprints, etc. etc. etc.
I feel like my head's going to explode...
Posted by dberger at 7:02 PM
House Hunting, the Revenge...
Well, we went back to Bainbridge Island with our Realtor this afternoon - caught the 12:20 ferry over with a plan to see 7 properties. The idea was that unless we saw something "amazing" we'd probably go after one of the two we found yesterday on the mainland...
The first house was nothing special - older, a bit smaller, needed some TLC - but fairly inexpensive, so we'd have the money left over to pour some into it.
The next house was, well, amazing. It's great - it's in our price range, and we saw no fewer than three other Realtors doing showings (no, not all at the same time). I suspect it's going to go for at least asking price. We'll likely put in an offer, but I'm not interested in a bidding war. It's relatively close (2.5 miles) to the ferry, on a small lot but backed up to a wooded area, nice layout, great kitchen, and only 2 years old (new is nice).
I didn't think we could top that one - but it was close. All in all, of the 7 properties we saw today, 5 of them were serious contenders. All of them were nicer than we'd seen on the mainland.
Which means we're back to pulling our hair out (and speaking in the royal we) over the idea of living on the island...
Posted by dberger at 6:10 PM
Canada Goes to Hell...
A friend who recently moved to Vancouver to work for EA (yes, he's slightly crazy, but he's also in management and you may have noticed there've been no articles ranting about how management works insane hours...) sent this SFGate article out - and I had to share.
Posted by dberger at 11:36 AM
House hunting update (it still sucks)...
We spent yesterday afternoon with our Realtor, a buyers agent named Jonathan with Homebility, very nice guy, very professional, and very patient, highly recommended. Saw a half dozen properties - most on the north side of Seattle, one in Newcastle that Dawnise had seen and liked enough to warrant a return with me.
Out of those, there are two candidates. The one in Newcastle is over-priced by about $30k based on the neighborhood comps, so if we put in an offer, I don't hold out much hope it'll be accepted. Their agent provided a house or two that she used as comps in setting pricing - and they're not in the same league (or even in the same area, which is odd). It's a nice house - very similar to the house we tried to buy twice on Bainbridge Island. While the lot is large, it's all slope in the back, so it's not really usable space, which is probably the only strike against it.
The one in the north end was a bit smaller, with a smaller lot, but we liked it. The more we think about it, though, the smaller it feels. It might just be our memories playing tricks on us, but while there we were commenting on the fact that none of the common rooms looked big enough for the pool table. It would need some renovation to the kitchen, and some minor repairs to the hardwood floors in the entry way. I'd probably want to re-work the back yard a bit as well - they have a lot of decking, and two above ground spas (one that's large enough to be a pool for kids) that really suck up the space.
This afternoon we're heading back over to Bainbridge Island for a last hurrah - looking at all the available houses there so we can ultimately make a decision (island or mainland, ferry or car, visitation or isolation...) and (hopefully) submit an offer on Monday.
I did an informal survey of folks who we'd be likely to invite to social soirees, asking how likely they would be to attend gatherings on the island vs. on the east side. The ferry seems a fairly significant deterrent - only one person responded that they'd be more likely to attend a party on the island ('cause they live there), one person said the chances were even, and the rest said they'd be less, or significantly less, likely to attend on Bainbridge.
Grumble, grumble.
Dawnise just looked out the window and it's started to rain. Rain, in Seattle in December... I'm shocked. Shocked I say.
Posted by dberger at 9:22 AM
December 16, 2004
Once More with Hobbits
I've started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer recently on DVD. Ok, most people know that I'm a hopeless Firefly fanboy, but I'd never really gotten into Buffy much. I saw the musical episode - One More, With Feeling, and loved it. Today, while looking for something totally unrelated to anything, I stumbled on Once More, With Hobbits and just had to share.
Go, read, laugh - try not to snort coffee through your nose.
Posted by dberger at 5:54 PM
December 13, 2004
House Hunting Sucks...
Just before we left CA (the morning we had to catch our flight) our house went into Escrow. We met our CA realtor before heading to the airport and signed escrow docs. We got here, dropped our stuff in our apartment and met with our WA realtor to prep an offer on a house we'd seen during a house-hunting trip.
The sellers hadn't even gotten the offer paperwork when our CA realtor called to say that the buyers got cold feet and used the inspection contingency to get out of the deal. Our offer, contingent on that sale, fell apart.
Talk about rain on the parade.
So we decided to put the WA house hunt on hold 'till the house in CA was solidly in escrow - all major contingencies signed off. Barring any last minute catastrophies, the sale in CA should close late this week or early next. (...fingers crossed...)
Continue reading "House Hunting Sucks..."
Posted by dberger at 9:19 PM
December 12, 2004
What's this "6th floor" business?
The short answer is that for just under the past month, Dawnise and I (and the cats) have been living in an one-bedroom apartment on the south east corner of the 6th floor of the south east tower of the Harbor Steps - a relatively upscale apartment building in downtown Seattle. We can just see the waterfront from the bedroom window, and the living room has windows all along the east-facing wall, with a view into the city. We're not really high enough to get a great panorama.
My walk to work is about 15 minutes, along the water, through Pikes Place Market. It's almost surreal - watching the grocers and fish-mongers setting up in the morning - seems like something out of a movie. We have one of the cars with us - and take it out occasionally (mostly for trips to the local Costco, and yesterday for a jaunt to Archie McPhee's), but most everything we need is in walking distance.
I've never been a "city person"; always lived in the suburbs, figured that driving was pretty much built-in to getting anywhere. I've spent enough time in NY to have had a taste of city life, and it never really appealed to me. Which is why it was completely unexpected when I realized that when we ultimately buy a house up here (more on that later) I'll miss living down-town.
Posted by dberger at 9:56 AM | Comments (1)
[tap, tap] 's this thing on?
I had a strange experience the other day - I finally "got" LiveJournal. I had always thought of LiveJournal (and blogging in general) as the most egregious example of sharing your proverbial vacation photos with an uninterested world.
A year or so back, Titus tried to explain the value of LJ to me: how he and his classmates at Mudd had been inseparably close until graduation and then scattered to the wind, and that using LJ was a tool to keep in touch, after a fashion.
Time passes, and in the middle of October, Dawnise and I move to Seattle. The other day, I wanted to feel connected to friends in Southern California. And blogging made sense.
I tried signing up for Live Journal - and their registration insisted that all my proposed passwords were based on reversed dictionary words (which they aren't - not even remotely) and I gave up after three attempts. Instead, I grabbed Movable Type and installed it on the webserver that hosts my domain. I'm not sure how often I'll post here, but for whatever it's worth, I have a blog...
Posted by dberger at 9:06 AM