new junk for my desk

We had a "kickoff" meeting for "The BIG Project," the worldwide upgrade to Windows XP and Active Directory (along with a host of other systems) that my firm is starting this fall. There was the usual PowerPoint presentation and a continental breakfast. At the end of the meeting management sent us off with what they called "toys." We each got a 30-oz ceramic coffee mug, a computer-shaped foam stress reliever, and the biggest novelty pen I've ever seen, each item emblazoned with the "BIG Project" logo. I guess they're serious about the "big" theme. The pen is at least 12 inches long, about 3 inches around, and it's so large it's utterly impossible to write with it. I can't wait to bring it to a meeting with the project managers. The coffee mug is a good try, but someone else pointed out that your coffee would get cold long before you could finish it. I'll stick to my Novell mug, even though I dropped it in the office kitchen yesterday, breaking off the handle and cracking the plastic exterior. At least it has a lid.

Here's a picture of my new acquisitions:



I should have included a normal pen in the picture, because I don't think you can accurately gauge the size of the novelty one without it. I'll have to get some oversize sunglasses for the project meetings to go with my pen.

By the way, I hate the name "The BIG Project." I realize that to refer to it by any of its component items (the XP rollout, the Active Directory deployment, the switch to Microsoft SMS, etc.) doesn't reflect that each item depends on the others, but couldn't anyone come up with a better name? And what happens when we have another massive group of projects all coming together at the same time? Will that be "The BIG Project II?" "The BIG Project Strikes Back?" "Revenge of the BIG Project?" I've got a million of 'em, folks. Every one a Maserati.

Yes, you can play with the New York Philharmonic!

I got out my viola for the first time in two years last week. I surprised myself by sounding better on the instrument than I thought I would. Now comes word that the New York Philharmonic will let anyone perform with them. I've always wanted to play Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, and now I'll have that chance. Thanks, NYPhil! I'll start practicing, and I'll see you in November!

Two opinions of New Orleans

Bill Simmons' column today is a reflection on his visit to New Orleans three years ago for the Super Bowl. I liked his idea for another column that New Orleans had overtaken Las Vegas as the party headquarters for America. I've been to both places, and I'd have to agree that pre-Katrina NO was more fun than Vegas. But just by a hair. LV has its own charms.

And because I feel like re-running it, here's my recap of our New Year's Eve trip to New Orleans from nine months ago. Liz and I had such a good time and we were looking forward to going back. I'll say it right now: we WILL go back once they've gotten back on their feet down there. I can't wait to have another muffaletta from Central Grocery and some coffee and beignets from Cafe du Monde again.

Katrina's aftermath and the thoughts of WonkDad

There's nothing I can say about the situation in New Orleans and Mississippi that hasn't already been said. I can't look at any more pictures of the disaster or read any more stories with bad news. The government needs to get some help to those people NOW. The "Today" show showed footage of the NO convention center and the cameraman who got the video said he was there with Harry Connick, Jr. If Harry Connick can get there, why can't relief workers get food and water to those people?

Wonkette's father (WonkDad) posted this bit of commentary that sounds about right. Why is the president talking about helping people when he could just land his helicopter at the Superdome or the airport and actually pitch in for a photo op? As I recall, he visited Ground Zero just a day or two after the 9/11 attacks despite security concerns. And his approval rating after his impromptu speech to relief workers was sky-high -- even I sort of liked the guy after that. I realize things on the ground in New Orleans are much more volatile then New York was back then, but even so it's a Republican opportunity for major political gain that they're missing completely.

lots of catching up to do

Has it really been a week since I posted something? Oy vey, I've been busy. For the past two days at work I've been in a conference room with two Microsoft engineers reviewing our Active Directory environment. It was equal parts analysis, education, and quiz, and by the end of yesterday I felt like my head had been squeezed in a vise. Today wasn't as bad, as I rounded up a few other people from our office to answer questions. Now we have to fix the things they identified as broken or misconfigured, and wait for their final report in a few weeks.

On Sunday I rode the marshals' pre-ride for the NYC Century. I skipped the Bronx part of the route but still put 86 miles on the bike. The ride route is different from last year, as it goes out to the Rockaways for the first time that I know of. Despite some rain at the beginning and end of the ride I really enjoyed the course and I'm excited about riding it again on Sept. 11. I'm a little apprehensive about being a marshal but I think I can handle it. The only part that really worries me is whether I'll be able to finish the entire 100-mile course in 12 hours. Marshals are supposed to take it easy and ride slowly, and if I have to stop too many times or ride too slowly, I'll run the risk of not getting back to the Central Park start/finish line by 6 PM. But my worst century time was 13 hours, and that was three years ago when I wasn't as fit as I am now. In 2003 I managed the century in just under 11 hours, so I should be able to do the ride this year in 12 hours.

Finally, the cell phone saga is over. Last Wednesday I decided to take the plunge again and I bought another Nokia 6620 from eBay, from a vendor in Queens. The phone arrived on Friday evening and doesn't seem to have any problems with it. I bought a Bluetooth adapter yesterday and last night I was happily synching information between my phone and my home PC. My only real complaint is that the built-in ringtones suck ass. I'm using the "desk phone" ringtone right now because there isn't a decent musical one in there. Since the phone doesn't appear to accept MP3 ringtones, I'll either have to buy one (which I hate, as they cost more than songs on iTunes) or figure out how to make one on my computer. But otherwise, it's great. Now I can post my cameraphone photos to my blog again, something I haven't been able to do since I got rid of the Treo 600 in January.

MD weekend report

Readers who check the Photos link obsessively might have noticed already that there are many new photos available now. I've posted pictures from the Pittsburgh trip a few weeks back as well as some photos from last weekend in Baltimore and Bowie. Read on for the details of my brief visit with my family.

I took the train to Baltimore on Saturday morning and my brother met me at the station. The plan was to go straight to the B&O Railroad Museum, but we were a bit early (or my father was running late) so we went to my brother's apartment first. He showed me some pictures from his two-day trip with my dad and our cousin Gibson (visiting from London) to Strasburg and Scranton, PA and filled me in on Gibson's eccentricities (i.e. "he's a complete nutter"). More on that later. Shortly thereafter we went to the museum and met up with my father and stepmother. Gibson, they said, was already exploring the museum's collection of locomotives and rolling stock, so I'd have to wait a while longer to meet him. (I guess I should have mentioned earlier that I'd never met Gibson before, despite three trips to London in the past five years.) We finally caught up with him in the roundhouse, which he was just passing through on his way to take pictures of the train cars outside the museum.

The B&O Museum consists of an old railroad roundhouse, several train platforms, a train car repair shop (closed for renovations and due to reopen next month), and a few hundred locomotives, train cars, and other assorted railroad equipment. The roundhouse's roof collapsed during the blizzard of February 2003, and the museum itself was closed for 22 months while the roof was repaired and some of the damaged exhibits were restored. The roundhouse holds about a dozen steam locomotives of various sizes and types, and several other old train cars used for baggage, passengers, mail, etc. Outside, on the platforms and in the parking lot, they have the more modern diesel-electric locomotives and newer examples of train cars. There's an excellent glassed-in HO scale model railroad in one of the old train cars. I got a few pictures of that where the glass didn't reflect too badly. Outside the museum, in the parking lot itself, sits one of the locomotives for the 1976 America's Freedom Train, which toured the lower 48 states as part of the bicentennial. It's hidden between two other rows of train cars and is in terrible shape. You can see the Great Seal and some graffiti written on it in a few of my pictures. Gibson was disappointed in the museum as a whole (not enough steam locomotives) and in particular by the condition of the Freedom Train. But I learned all sorts of things about steam trains during my visit and found out firsthand just how much of a freak my cousin is when it comes to trains.

Now a few words about Gibson. He's my father's first cousin; his mother and my grandfather were siblings. He's in his sixties and teaches music at a school in England. He's been a fanatic about trains for most of his life, and knows more than I could imagine anyone knowing about the subject. He'd never been to America before now, and he came with a list of things he wanted to see and do, nearly all of which were train-related. He and my father and either my stepmother or brother (depending on the trip) went as far south as Roanoke, VA and north to Scranton, PA to various train museums and exhibits. On these trips, he would disappear for up to an hour, photographing trains. He wanted my father to pull off the road at one point so he could get a picture of a tar-laying road work machine. When he got back to my dad's house, he buried his nose in my dad's collection of train books, sometimes to the exclusion of everything else. Yes, he's a bit odd, but he's family, and quite pleasant if you don't mind all the train stuff.

Back to the weekend recap: We went back to Bowie for a steak dinner at my father's house. The steaks and vegetables were delicious, but we had to eat quickly because we had to get to a church in Glen Burnie for my brother's string orchestra concert. He's a member of several orchestras in the greater Baltimore area, and this one is a summer string orchestra comprised of members of various other groups. For a summer group having played only a dozen rehearsals, it was a good concert. They played a Mozart divertimento, a few string suites (including a piece that everyone recognizes as the DeBeers diamond commercial music), and a Vivaldi guitar concerto. Gibson is a music teacher and accomplished pianist and organist, and he loved the concert. Afterwards, he introduced himself to the conductor, the church organist, and a few of the performers. Somehow we were among the last to leave, and I'm sure that Gibson wouldn't have noticed if he'd been locked in the church accidentally.

On Sunday morning Gibson practiced the piano for about two hours, playing Bach, Chopin, Schumann (I think), and a few pieces of his own. The impromptu concert reminded me of my grandfather's practice sessions when we visited my grandparents in England in 1989, and the music was just wonderful to hear. Over lunch we shared stories of crazy conductors and performers we knew, like my old college music director Patricia and musicians in the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra back home. It was a quick trip, but completely worth the effort to meet Gibson and get to know him a little. Next time I'm in London I'll have to get in touch with Gibson and treat him to a good meal (ah, the privileges of business travel).

Best Engadget post EVER

Take a trip all the way back to 1985 with Engadget. My favorites items are the Commodore 128 (I still want one, 20 years later) and the Tapecast. I think I may have recorded some tapecasts back in the day. And maybe I should look on eBay for a Nokia Mobira Talkman to solve my cellphone problem. It only weighs 11 lbs!

cell phone saga update

I returned the defective phone for a refund. The seller was willing to send me another one but wasn't sure if he had any in stock. Rather than draw out this ordeal any further (at least with this vendor in LA) I opted to get all of my money back. Except for the $10 I spent to ship the bad phone to California, but I got back the cost of the phone and the shipping. So all is well on that front. Meanwhile, I'm back to square one. I did find another eBay vendor who has a store in Long Island City just across the river and has the same Nokia 6620 phones in stock. There are other stores in Manhattan that sell unlocked phones but their prices are $100-$200 more than I paid in this auction. So I guess it's still eBay or nothing. I'm going out of town for the weekend so it looks resolution will have to wait a few days more.

life update; weekend report

Work has kept me busy lately, so that accounts for the lack of posts. (Work is always a convenient excuse.) I've also had a few really crappy days lately, so I've avoided posting because no one wants to hear how pissed off I am at the forces arrayed against me. The eBay cell phone purchase is one such source of aggravation, and I'm hoping against hope that I'm not getting taken for a long, slow ride to the land of disputed purchases. The phone I received on Friday didn't ring, at least not audibly, and the speakerphone didn't work either. This afternoon I sent it back to the vendor for a replacement. However, there's a minor issue with the address I used for shipping, and the phone number he gave me for "customer service" is disconnected. All signs point to trouble ahead, but I'm giving this guy and his 99% feedback rating on eBay the benefit of the doubt. At least I still have a working phone (knocks on wood).

The boss is out in training this week, and so far things have been easier than expected, but I doubt that will keep up. I'm nominally in charge of my group this week, but all that means is that I'm the point man for any major issues that come up, like irate partners, major equipment failures, and rollout troubles. Lucky me.

Liz and I had a fantastic time on Saturday celebrating our 10th anniversary as a couple. We had a picnic in Carl Schurz Park near our apartment, with homemade chicken salad, cheese, fruit, and bread. It was fun despite the brutal heat -- at least we had a breeze where we were sitting. That evening we went to Morton's for steaks. I chose Morton's in part because it's one of our favorite fancy restaurants and we hadn't been there in at least a year. I also chose it because it was one of the first restaurants we went to after we had graduated from Georgetown and had the money to afford it (or the credit card to charge it). The Morton's in Georgetown looks mysterious, like a secret club, and it was a big deal for us to be able to eat there and feel like real adults. Unfortunately, we ate there on a Friday evening after work and before a National Symphony Orchestra concert. After eating bread, appetizers, steaks, and sides (I think we skipped dessert that time) we had a tough time staying awake through the concert. (It wasn't until a few years later that we figured out it made more sense to skip the huge fancy meal before a concert and just eat something sensible. That way, we were able to enjoy the concerts instead of counting the movements until the end.) But that first Morton's meal was amazing, and last Saturday's was no disappointment. Instead of my usual porterhouse, I tried their new Chicago-style ribeye, and it was as delicious as the porterhouse. The upside-down apple pie dessert was no slouch, either. That ought to hold us until our next visit, sometime in 2006 or 2007.

Yesterday we checked out the Mapplethorpe exhibit at the Guggenheim, and we really enjoyed it. It's a juxtaposition of his photos and classical drawings of the human figure. If all you know of Mapplethorpe is his controversial works like the cruxifix in urine, this exhibit is worth seeing. Liz was upset that the museum has posted signs saying "Please be advised that this exhibit contains graphic nudity," arguing that no European museum would think it necessary to post such a notice. I tend to agree, but I don't think that Europe is as litigious a place as the U.S. Without the signs, I'm sure the museum would be subject to all sorts of lawsuits from idiots who were shocked (SHOCKED!) to find nudity in an art museum. Yes, we're a nation of dumbasses.

Pittsburgh trip review

We left for Pittsburgh on Thursday morning, August 4, around 9:30 in our rented Mazda. We had hoped to get as far as Harrisburg before stopping for lunch, but traffic and hunger dictated that we stop at the first Cracker Barrel we found in Pennsylvania. We had an even longer accident-related delay near Somerset, when a nasty multiple-car wreck stopped all westbound traffic on the PA turnpike for 45 minutes for us. We finally got to Pittsburgh about 7 PM and found our way to Todd and Kitten's apartment on the North Side of Pittsburgh, near PNC Park. They live in a great loft in the School House, an old middle school converted to apartments. We had dinner at a restaurant across the street from their building and Liz had the job of keeping all plates, silverware, and glasses out of the reach of their 15-month-old son Hunter.

On Friday we went to the Mattress Factory, Andy Warhol's one-time workspace and now a showcase for room-sized art environments. One exhibit was a funhouse mirror-like room in black light, another mirrored room had mannequins covered in large red dots, and the works by James Turrell were light- and darkness-based, exploring the boundary between what we see and what is real. Check out the descriptions on the site. That evening, we went to a seafood restaurant on Mount Washington, which overlooks the city from the hills to the south. We had a fantastic view of the downtown skyscrapers and new stadiums, and enjoyed some amazing fish. I had a blackened Cajun-style mako shark steak, which was like a firmer, moister salmon. Hunter was the hit of our section, and had several members of the wait staff fawning and cooing over him. He even tried to pick up the check at the end of the meal, but somehow had forgotten his wallet.

We drove out to Mount Lebanon to see the house Todd and Kitten are in the process of buying, and to check out their new neighborhood. On the way back we stopped at Primanti Brothers to pick up sandwiches for lunch. I hadn't enjoyed one of their creations for a few years, and eating the cheesesteak sandwich was like tasting a little bit of Heaven. I felt like a pig when I was done, but it was a glorious sensation. Partly because of the heat, and partly because of the torpor induced by so much meat and French fries, we decided to stay in for the rest of the afternoon. My mother arrived just in time for dinner, which was Todd's now-famous enchiladas and pico de gallo.

We went to a German pub for Sunday brunch. The buffet was an assortment of typical breakfast foods (sausage, bacon, eggs, pastries, etc.,) as well as some sort of German farmer's breakfast (eggs, three kinds of sausage, and German potato salad all in the same dish), beef stroganoff, chicken parmigiana, and potato latkes. The other notable aspect of the meal was the endless loop of German oom-pah music, which reminded me of some of my father-in-law's favorite cassettes and made me want to put on lederhosen and dance around like Clark Griswold in European Vacation.

The real highlight of Sunday was the Pirates-Dodgers game at PNC Park. I hadn't been to the new Pirates stadium before, so I was understandably excited all weekend at the idea. I wasn't disappointed. PNC Park lives up to its reputation as one of the best ballparks in baseball. The stadium faces the downtown skyline, so fans get to see the beauty of Pittsburgh's buildings and bridges just over the outfield fences. We had seats about 30 rows up from the Pirates dugout, just under the upper deck, so we were in the shade for the entire game. But the sightlines were excellent, and we didn't suffer at all for not sitting out in the open. We were just a few seats too far over to catch any foul balls, which was probably a good thing since I would have had to sacrifice my camera to snag one. The concourses are wide, the bathrooms plentiful, and the lines at the many concession stands blissfully short. I had to wait about 10 minutes for hot dogs during the 7th-inning stretch, but that was because everyone in front of me wanted ice cream and the soft-serve machine was slow. The game itself was a disappointment, though. The pitcher subbing for the injured Kip Wells gave up four or five hits in the top of the third inning, and the Dodgers may have batted around -- after the Pirates pulled him for Ryan Vogelsong I got up to get some drinks and missed the rest of the half inning. Down 6-0 in the bottom of the ninth, the Pirates did mount a brief comeback against the Dodgers closer (the forgettable Yhency Brazoban), but ultimately couldn't finish them off, and the game ended 6-4. But we did enjoy the pierogi race in the fifth inning, and I appreciated the lack of other loud between-innings music and entertainment. And I even liked the fans sitting around us, even the loudmouth drunk lady who kept shouting at her companions next to her. At least we didn't get any profanity like we've heard at games here in New York. Since Hunter is too young to appreciate it (or care), I got to take home the day's giveaway: a ceramic bobblehead doll of Cheese Chester, one of the participants in the pierogi race. It's now on my desk at work, next to my Chuck Tanner statuette.

We decided to try to get home earlier on the way back, so we left at 8 AM instead of the planned 9 AM departure. We had to drive through rain nearly the entire way back, but luckily there were no accidents or traffic delays. We dropped off the rental car around 3 PM and went home to three cats who were happy to see us.

I'll have pictures posted as soon as I get a free moment to get them online. There are a lot of game photos, so I'll have to pick out the best ones.

"PBS" goes classical

I loved Sunday's "Pearls Before Swine." One of my co-workers uses a Tchaikovsky waltz as her ringtone, and it's really gotten annoying. I'm sure my "Krusty the Clown" theme song/ringtone bothers people, but at least it's not classical.

Which reminds me: I've ordered my new cell phone. After reading more reviews of the Motorola V551, of which there were far more negative than positive, I decided to get a Nokia 6620 instead. I was bidding on a few phones on eBay over the weekend while we were in Pittsburgh (more on that trip in another post) and nearly won one, until I was outbid with one second left in the auction. After that stressful experience, I decided to spend a bit more and just get an new, unlocked 6620 from an eBay vendor using the "Buy It Now" option. My new phone has been shipped and should arrive at the end of the week or on Monday, depending on the vagaries of FedEx. I'll have to post a review when I get it.

update on my Firefox book

I got my complimentary copy of Hacking Firefox from Wiley Publishing yesterday. My name isn't on the cover, but I am listed as a "Contributing Writer," along with the other writers who worked on the book, and my name appears at the beginning of each of the three chapters I wrote. I'm pleased with the way the book turned out. All of the symbols and screenshots look great, and my writing style seems to mesh with the styles of the other writers. I've only flipped through the other chapters, but it looks like a book I'd be glad to have in my collection even if I hadn't written part of it. Maybe I should go over to Barnes & Noble and autograph a few copies for them, you know, for posterity.

cell phone dilemma

I'm ready to buy a new cell phone. I've had my Nokia 3595 for two years, and I've never really liked its goofy keypad or its general boringness. For most of 2004 I used a Treo 600 that I got for free from my office, but gave it back after most of my conversations were drowned out by a loud buzzing noise audible on both ends of the connection. So after weeks of research, I was ready to buy a Motorola V551 from my local Cingular store. (I've been an AT&T Wireless customer for five years, but haven't made the official jump to a Cingular phone and plan.) I went to the Cingular store on 86th Street on Saturday evening, just after my ride. Unfortunately, my plans to walk out with a brand-new phone were derailed by the news that my contract prevents Cingular from selling me a new phone with a discount. I practically stormed out of the store and went home to call Cingular customer service, who confirmed that I'm stuck. Last year when I changed my calling plan from a regional to a nationwide plan, I locked myself into a contract that doesn't expire until July 2006. And there's some FCC regulation that won't allow Cingular to sell me a discounted phone with a new 2-year contract until next April, when my current contract has only 3 months left. It's complicated. Until then, I can get a new phone from Cingular, but I'd have to pay full price. I doubt my current phone will last another year: the 7 key doesn't work too well anymore, the battery life is about half what it used to be, and it doesn't find the network as quickly as it once did.

So here is my problem: I'm stuck with this old phone until next summer, or I can get an old AT&T phone or an unlocked GSM phone instead. Cingular customer service basically told me to get a phone from eBay if I can't wait until next year to upgrade. So I've spent the past few days on eBay looking at different new and unlocked varieties of the Motorola V551 and a few auctions for other used phones. I really want a clamshell/flip phone this time around, so I'm ruling out just about anything from Nokia (though I am intrigued by the candybar-style 6600 series, which a friend of a co-worker showed me last summer in London). I can get the Motorola I want from a business that sells its wares on eBay as "Buy It Now" items, meaning that I don't have to deal with the pressure of winning an auction. But I'm still hesitant to spend as much money as is involved on a phone from an online retailer without any kind of guarantee. I've looked at the cheaper phones from the same online vendor, but I've got my heart set on the V551. One more long-shot contender entered the fray today, in the form of the Treo 650. I haven't done any research on it, but now I'm thinking that might be the way to go. I haven't had a Palm organizer since I gave up the Treo 600, and while I'm getting along OK without a PDA, there's a part of me that wants one again. A Treo 650 would serve both purposes. But it's even more expensive than the Motorola, and it has even more features than I'll ever use. And if it had the buzzing problems my old Treo had, I think I'd kill someone.

Despite all my agonizing, I know how this saga is going to play out. I'm not going to be happy unless I get the Motorola phone. Buying anything else would just leave me pining for a super-cool flip phone. Over the weekend or next week I'll order it from the eBay vendor, have it shipped to my apartment (and fight with the USPS to get it delivered to me -- normally I ship things to my office, but because of Paypal, the phone will be shipped to my home instead, where USPS will leave me notes but no package), and pray that the phone works and never has a problem. I'll continue to get along without a PDA. Maybe I'll get a PAA (personal ANALOG assistant) instead, and write all my important numbers and addresses on a 3x5 index card, like my father does. I wonder if there's such a thing as Gadgets Anonymous. If my friends ever have an intervention for me and my gadget addiction, I hope there's a support group for technology junkies like me.

the bike ride to nowhere

On Saturday, James and I went for a long ride in New Jersey. I had suggested we find the Hudson River waterfront path on the Jersey side and ride down to Liberty State Park. He countered with a cue sheet for a ride out to Woodcliff Lake and Tice's Farm. Since I didn't have a cue sheet for my ride, I agreed to his idea.

We met at Central Park at 10 AM and set off for the GW Bridge. Since he let me lead, I got us there on the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway instead of Riverside Drive (which was one the cue sheet). No problem, though: we climbed the steep hill just past the bridge, turned around, climbed another few hills, and crossed the bridge. On the Jersey side, we set off in the wrong direction on Hudson Terrace, and quickly turned ourselves around. Then we cruised down the hill and missed the turn for Edgewater, so we had to backtrack up the hill again. After the Edgewater turn, we were in Palisades Park, which had some great wooded paths but plenty of steep climbs and speedy descents. We rode for about an hour, stopping periodically to consult the sheet and figure out where the hell we were. Ultimately we decided to give up on the cue sheet and just see where the path took us. Another rider said that the path ended about a mile and a half up the next hill, in Nyack. So we climbed another steep hill to get back to 9W, the highway that leads back to the GW Bridge. As we started back for the bridge, we finally saw the turn that put us back on the cue sheet to Tice's Farm. Since it was just after noon, we changed our minds and went back to our original plan.

The ride out was mostly on two-lane roads, with more rolling hills than I'm used to. We passed through several suburban neighborhoods, including the picturesque town of Westwood, where James once bought a bike frame. The hills and the heat were beginning to take their toll, and we couldn't wait to get to the farm and take a good long rest break. Finally, after two hours of riding, we were on the road that led to Tice's Farm. But where was the farm? We saw corporate offices for Hilton, KPMG, and BMW, a shopping center, and a grocery store, but no farm. We didn't think we'd find an actual farm -- on the way we'd passed several roadside produce stands labeled "[So-and-so's] Farm", so we figured that's what Tice's Farm would be -- but there was no sign of anything rustic out there. Eventually, we gave up and assumed that Farmer Tice sold out to the Gap, Pier 1, and Victoria's Secret so they could build Tice's Corner, the shopping center. (I forgot to mention that the cue sheet was a few years old, and the shopping center looked as though it was only a few years old.) We stopped for lunch at the only restaurant in the plaza, a Panera Bread sandwich shop. It was certainly an anticlimactic destination for the ride, but at least the food was good and the restaurant was air-conditioned.

At that point it was the middle of the afternoon, and we still had the return trip ahead of us. Since the grocery store didn't have any cold drinks, we found a mom & pop store where we bought more water and Gatorade. This was literally a "Mom & Pop" store: it was a small shack-like structure in a residential neighborhood, Mom was sleeping behind the counter, and Pop was watching the Yankees game. They could hardly be bothered to take our money. Thankfully, whoever wrote the cue sheet had mercy on his or her fellow cyclists, planning a return route that zig-zagged through suburban neighborhoods and avoided many steep climbs. There were a few short hills a few miles before the bridge, but nothing worse than what we'd already seen that day. Besides, at that point we were just happy to be on our way home. Since we'd only planned to ride about 40 miles, having to ride 60 miles (70+ in James' case, as he still had to ride back to Brooklyn) took more out of us than we'd expected. I had planned to be home by midafternoon, but instead I rolled in at 5:30. Still, it was a fun ride, and my legs don't feel sore at all today. Either I'm really going to hurt tomorrow, or I'm in better shape than I thought. The Tuesday morning Central Park laps, with all the hills, must be helping. Next time, we'll pick a route to a destination that's likely to still be there, like a park or a landmark. Maybe we'll ride out to Giants Stadium and dig up Jimmy Hoffa.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

If you follow gaming news, or political maneuvering to score points with constituents, then you've probably heard about the controversy surrounding Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The makers of the game included hidden sex scenes that could only be unlocked using hacking tools or add-on modifications. Let's ignore for a moment that the sex scenes show clothed game characters and do not show any genitalia or nudity. Hillary Clinton is up in arms about this issue, calling for the FTC to investigate the game's manufacturer and publisher. The U.S. House of Representatives even passed a resolution making the same request of the FTC. People are shocked (shocked!) that this sort of content found its way into a game that allows players to shoot anyone (bad guys, good guys, random pedestrians), steal cars, blow up cars and buildings, and wreak havoc in an urban environment on a massive scale. All of that violence is OK, even to the parents who bought it for their teenage and pre-teen children. But throw a little secret sex into the mix, and NOW we're all upset?!

I bought the game last week, after the "Hot Coffee" mod news broke (that's the software patch that lets you see the sex scenes) and word got out that the game's rating would be changed from M to AO and that the game might disappear from store shelves. I'd already planned to buy it, since I loved GTAIII and GTA: Vice City, so I wanted to make sure I could get a copy of the game. I'll be honest: it's an awesome game. I love the GTA series for the way they create a fully realistic world, if a bit cartoonish, inside your computer. The missions are no less violent than the missions in previous games. Last night I had to rob a National Guard outpost, which required me to shoot several soldiers in the middle of the theft. Other missions have involved drive-by shootings, home invasion, and gang fights. If you want to play the game but don't want to take on the missions, you can just drive around, try out all of the vehicles, check out the buildings and perform other tasks like working out at a gym to make your character stronger. It's such a complicated game that I could be playing it for months. I don't even care about the sex scenes; if I want to watch something like that, I know of many other ways to obtain it. I don't think it's right that Rockstar Games included this content, albeit locked away. I think on some level they were looking for this publicity. But I would never let anyone under 14 or 15 play the game. It's just too violent. The game itself is designed for you to cause trouble and break the law, and I don't think an 11-year-old child is mature enough to understand what they're doing. What really upsets me is the politicians jockeying for votes and exploiting this issue. Violent video games have been around for years, and they're going to be around for a long time. They're not the problem. The problem is the parents who succumb to the pressure from their young children and buy them games that are not appropriate for their age. A little more discipline in the home would go a long way.

too much time between posts

Work has been busier than usual lately, so posting from the office has become more difficult. Last week I had several moments when I wanted to put up a coherent thought, but couldn't find the time to do it. I would have posted something over the weekend, but our cable Internet connection is down AGAIN (second or third time this year!) so I was stuck using our neighbors' unreliable networks.

We finally got to see Spamalot on Friday night. It was funny, but not as hysterical as I had hoped. James, who saw it a few months ago, said "If I wanted to see a bad imitation of ...the Holy Grail, I could sit at home and do it myself." I enjoyed the parts of the show that were original (the new songs and the Lady of the Lake character) much more than I liked the parts that were lifted right from the movie. Tim Curry had the night off, so we got the standby King Arthur instead, and he was just fine. David Hyde Pierce was good, but I wasn't thinking how great it was that I got to see Niles in person. The thing about the show is that it's not actor-driven, so it would be just as funny (or unfunny) with unknowns instead of big names. It's a good show nonetheless, and if you're a Monty Python fan it's worth seeing. But I enjoyed Glengarry Glen Ross and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? much more than Spamalot. It's not really a fair comparison (musicals vs. dramatic plays) but the performances in the two plays were just outstanding, and those shows would definitely suffer without the lead actors.

Yesterday, Liz and I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We both really enjoyed the movie. Danny Elfman's music, especially the Oompa-Loompa songs, is exceptional even for his considerable talent. Johnny Depp makes a great Willy Wonka -- funny and odd but not as scary as Gene Wilder was. I don't think he was better than Wilder, or that Wilder's Wonka was better, because they are just completely different versions of the same character, in two vastly different movies. I still like the original film, but I could see Tim Burton's again. Liz didn't like the ending (which I won't spoil here), and I agree that there's a part that feels tacked-on and unnecessary. But overall we had a great time. And we can't wait to see Burton's Corpse Bride.

It's time to leave work and see if my home Internet connection is back up. Time Warner told me it was an "outage" (meaning I'm not the only one affected) and that it should be back up "soon." I guess we'll see what their definition of "soon" is.

Every bachelor party needs a dwarf

Yesterday's New York Daily News had this story on the bachelor party of the son-in-law of Dennis Kozlowski. Don't miss the quotes from dwarf-for-hire Danny Black ("I'm like the Heidi Fleiss of dwarfdom") or the father of the groom, such as this one about the whereabouts of Kozlowski:

"Dennis was with me most of the time ... it wasn't like he was with a midget or something."

Happenings

July 10, 2005 was my fifth anniversary in my current job. Since it was a Sunday, and I was out of the office the week of July 11, I thought I might have missed out on my 'happy anniversary' ceremony. I thought that, like a missed graduation, I'd get my reward for five years of service in my office mail. But this afternoon, my boss and the head of HR came into my office and presented me with a $50 Amex gift certificate for my time served. It's like prison: $10 for each year. I'm kidding. I love my job, my boss, and most of my co-workers. This firm has treated me well, and I've tried to do the best work I can. I have no interest in moving on, so I may well be here in 2010 to collect another anniversary gift certificate. I doubt I'll break any employment records, though. There's one secretary who has worked here 50 years, almost since the founding of the firm in 1946. The recruiter who got me this job was right when he said that people come to work here and they never leave [but he meant that in a good way].

Also in personal news, I can finally reveal (to the three people who read this blog and haven't heard yet) the nature of the other "secret" side project that I have been working on for the past few months. Last summer, I traveled to Frankfurt and London with a guy whose wife works as an editor for Wiley Publishing. She came with him to our office Christmas party, and we talked about my then co-worker who was writing a Blackberry book for Wiley. She asked me if I was interested in writing a book as well, and we chatted about some possible topics. After the party, she put me in touch with another editor who had some possible work for me. He and I discussed a few ideas and eventually it turned out that they had a book in progress that needed help to get it to press on time. I was interested in writing a book on Mozilla Firefox, but they already had a book in development. However, the lead writer wasn't going to be able to finish it on his own, so Wiley was looking for writers who could write a few chapters each. I took on three chapters and wrote them in February and March of this year. The book, Hacking Firefox, is done and should be on store shelves in a few weeks. I've already been paid for my work, so this isn't a plug to sell more books (it won't make a difference to my bottom line). I don't think my name will be on the cover; I just hope it will be inside the book somewhere. I'm supposed to get one copy of it when it comes out so I'll see if my name is in there. Anyway, that was the big project that kept me busy in the winter.

training class and DC weekend review

Reston Town Center turned out to be not as bad a place as I thought. It still bothers me that there's a weird downtown area out in the suburbs of Virginia, but by the time I left I didn't mind the decent restaurants or the convenient access from local highways.

On Wednesday night, Magnus, an old friend from high school who lives in Fairfax, came out to Reston to meet me for dinner. We went to Clyde's, whose menu I knew well from my years living in Georgetown. We spent a long time reconnecting and catching up on old friends from school. He spends far more time in Johnstown than I do, so he knew more about our former classmates than I do. We're still waiting for a class of 1992 reunion, but we both suspect that unless one of us decides to plan it, it's never going to happen.

Thursday was the longest day of class. There was too much material for one day, and one of the hands-on labs had many bugs, so we spent as much time fixing the bugs as we did actually learning about clusters. Taking advantage of the $5 lunch deal from the local restaurants, I had a Pizzeria Uno "Numero Uno" pizza for lunch. I must be getting old, or else I'm not used to eating that much grease at lunch, but the pizza didn't sit right all day. By 4:30, my lab was done and I was ready to hit the road. Rich, one of my college friends, was already out in my area of Virginia, and so he picked me up in front of my hotel. We went to the agreed-upon meeting place of Red, Hot, and Blue in Arlington, where we got an early start on beers and catching up. Rob and Jon met us there about an hour later, and we tucked into appetizers of sausage and cheese plates and chicken wings, followed by platters of ribs and pulled pork. Then we stayed to watch the Yankees-Red Sox game and talk smack (or listen to Rich and Jon, on opposing sides in the game, talk smack to each other). When the game wrapped up around 11, no one wanted to drive me back to Reston, so I caught a cab back to my hotel.

Friday's class went more smoothly than Thursday's, and I made a wiser decision about lunch, so I felt better all day. And while I don't think it's the best balance for the timing of the class, I was pleased when we were done by 2:30 PM instead of the expected time of 3:30 or even 4:00. I had enough time before we would be able to leave work that I took a cab to Georgetown and met my dad there instead of at a downtown Metro stop. We also had time to stop by the bookstore so I could buy an overpriced polo shirt and visit "Uncommon Grounds" for some coffee. I had another "I'm getting old" moment when I saw the signs at UG marking their 10th anniversary. I was a student when the campus coffeehouse opened in 1995, and I occasionally enjoyed their mochas while hanging out with friends. The coffeehouse looks about the same, and I don't think their menu has changed at all. We sat by one of the Leavey Center windows overlooking what's left of the playing fields behind Harbin Hall. Georgetown is starting construction on new buildings for the business and science programs, so the old baseball field is long gone and the soccer field has moved down the hill, and received a new Astroturf topping.

I spent Saturday and Sunday in Bowie visiting my father, stepmother, and brother. Magnus drove out from Fairfax to have dinner with us, and we enjoyed grilled steaks, shrimp and vegetable skewers, and potato salad. I stayed up late watching Saturday's Tour de France coverage on OLN and "borrowing" from my dad's CD collection.

On Sunday we had a brunch of oyster stew, bagels with lox, eggs, fruit salad, and blueberry muffin-bread (blueberry muffin mix baked in a bread pan instead of a muffin tray). My brother, who has been a violinist about as long as I've been a violist, is preparing for an audition for one of his orchestras, so we listened to him play his audition music and some other pieces for us. And then, too early as it always seems, I was on my way home on the train.

welcome to "downtown" Reston

I'm in Reston, VA, this week for a Windows Server training class. I don't think I've ever been out here before (despite living in the DC area for seven years), and I've definitely never been to Reston Town Center until today. It's a faux-downtown area, with restaurants, upscale shops, a movie theater, and my hotel, all in the middle of suburban Washington, DC housing developments and apartments. There's really nothing else out here but townhouses, not even a decent strip mall. I think I've been living in New York too long. Now anything that isn't either urban or completely rural is just too weird for me. My class starts tomorrow, and it's just a block or so away from the hotel. I think I'd go crazy except that I have some old friends living in the area and I'm going to try to hang out with them while I'm out here. On Friday evening I'll go out to Bowie and spend the weekend at my dad's house, getting back to some semblance of normalcy.

I was also going to rant about the hotel's wireless connection, but I figured out a way to fix the problem I had with it. The hotel's ISP has some sort of funky DNS server that not only refuses to look up pages correctly, it even interferes with SSL certificates. Several sites with SSL encryption popped up with errors that the site's certificate came from the ISP, not the site itself. And that's just wrong, especially when the sites are Earthlink's webmail and my office's remote access system. But a quick substitution of a few known good DNS servers fixed that problem, and now I'm surfing without any trouble. Which is a good thing, because as I told my friend earlier tonight, I don't mind a hotel room that's small, smelly, or has a crappy bed. But if the Internet doesn't work properly, AND I'm paying $10/day for the privilege of using it, THEN I get mad. (OK, my office is paying the $10, but it's still a matter of principle for me.)

In other news, I've added a somewhat new wrinkle to my fitness regimen. For over two years I've lived near Central Park, but only in the past few weeks have I started riding my bike there during the week instead of just on weekends. I'm trying to establish a new habit of riding laps in the Park on Tuesday mornings before work instead of going to the gym. So far, it's working out well. I don't like the fact that cars are allowed in the Park after 7 AM, but I'm learning to live with it. This morning, before I left for DC, I rode four laps (or 24 miles) in the Park, and I loved every minute of it. I was done by 8:30 AM, so I was home in plenty of time to watch the Tour de France, pack, and catch up on a few other things. I can't wait to get back out there next week.

Steelers fan goes out in style

Sports followers have probably already seen or heard this story about the viewing for a recently deceased Steelers fan. I won't go so far to say that I want to be laid to rest or displayed in the same manner when my time comes, but maybe I could be buried with my Terrible Towel or a Steelers cap or something. I'm proud to count this man and his family among the Steelers' faithful.

My final theatrical viewing of Revenge of The Sith

I took Thursday and Friday off from my normal job to work on a side project. I was finished today at noon so instead of going home, I went to a matinee of Revenge of The Sith. It was my third and likely final time seeing the movie in the theater. It was as close to a perfect Star Wars showing experience as I could get: there were about 10 other people there, clearly all of them fans (who else would see a movie that's been out for 6 weeks?). There were no annoying cell phone calls, no laughter or talking, just a few geeks enjoying the movie.

By this time I've seen or heard many reviews, both good and bad. Unlike my previous prequel experiences, I still really like this movie even after hearing some negative opinions. I think it improves with each viewing. Even the romantic dialogue seemed less clunky today. Despite knowing how it turns out, I still hope that Mace Windu will kill Palpatine and prevent the destruction of the Jedi. Or that Yoda will finish the job. It's not a perfect film, but it's much better than I expected or hoped it would be. And that opening awes me every time I see it: the nearly 2-minute-long tracking shot of the 2 Jedi fighters, the space battle, and everything that happens on Grievous' ship, with Anakin and Obi-Wan working together. You can really see how close they are. I feel sad when they have their last friendly conversation, just before Obi-Wan leaves for Utapau.

I'm sorry to see Star Wars go, but for me it will live on in books, computer games, and even fan films. And the TV shows will be along in a few years. Star Wars will always be my favorite sci-fi universe, no matter what else comes along. Even the Lord of the Rings can't compete in the end. Although that reminds me: it's been a long time since I watched THAT trilogy. As much as I love Star Wars, I'm ready for a break. Bring on the elves!

Getting screwed out of an apartment

I think the moral of this essay in the Village Voice is that even though it costs a bundle and a half, use a broker when you're getting a New York apartment. It would be so easy for anyone in this town or any other to show their own (rented) place, take thousands of dollars in security deposits and rent, then take off for points overseas without U.S. extradition treaties. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. Maybe it does, and those kinds of stories are so common they just don't make the news.

(Linked via Gawker)

Last night's Engadget meetup

Last week, Engadget put the word out that they were hosting a meetup event in Manhattan's East Village on Thursday night. I've never been to a meetup event before, but I figured this one sounded like fun, and less of a forced social interaction than other meetups I've avoided thus far (NYC bloggers and Slashdot, primarily). So after work I took the J/M/Z train to Essex Street in the East Village, feeling like I was in another city altogether. That's what happens when you take an unfamiliar subway line to an unfamiliar neighborhood. I found the location of the meetup without any trouble: Compact Impact, a Japanese gadget store. It's not really an electronics store like I'd seen in Tokyo. It's just a storefront with a small showroom of quirky Japanese gadgets, like a light-up pen, magnetic necklaces, portable inflatable speakers, and so on. The Engadget editors were already there chatting with attendees and handing out raffle tickets for the giveaways later that night. Around 8 PM they held a Q&A session, and I asked the first question (is there any perceived competition with Gizmodo or other gadget blogs) and one of the last ones (what upcoming gadgets or toys were the editors excited about). Then, at about 8:45, they raffled off about 20 different prizes, including Nintendo DS games, iPod add-ons, a Pocket PC, and an Orange SPV smartphone. I didn't win anything, but I still had fun talking to other gadget geeks and seeing the editors (whom I'd heard before on podcasts but never seen in person).

The only bad thing about the event was that the store was way too small for the number of people who showed up. There were probably 150-200 people there at peak times like the Q&A and the raffle, and the store was just not large enough to fit everyone comfortably. I'm sure we broke several fire code regulations. It's hard to find a large space in New York that could hold that many people and allow for speakers and microphones without costing the organizers and attendees a fortune. I spent about half my time outside the store keeping cool and talking to other "Engadgeteers," and ventured inside just for the main events. Also, they offered free beer in small plastic cups, which was a cool gesture. But there were quite a few kids there who were under 21, and while I didn't see any of them drinking, I didn't see anyone carding them either. I kept hoping we'd avoid a police bust for serving minors (talk about your flashbacks to college days!). I think it was a great event nevertheless, and I hope they have another one. I need another chance to win a new cell phone.

I took a few pictures at the event, and I'll try to remember to upload them tonight. I did send them to Engadget, so they may show up there before they show up here.

PS: Engadget has their story up now, with a few of my pictures as well.

It's the end of an era in Pittsburgh

Myron Cope has retired as the color commentator for and most recognizable voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I grew up listening to Cope's colorful broadcasts of Steeler games, and his various "Copeisms" (see the link for a list) were the absolute highlights of the game. His postgame show, where he presided over a loving audience of semi-inebriated fans in "Cope's Cabana," was always great fun to hear. My mom and I used to listen to games on Sunday afternoons when we'd play orchestra concerts, go to Pittsburgh, or otherwise be away from the TV, and no matter how the team was doing that day Myron Cope made the game worthwhile. When James and Rob went to a Steelers game in 1998, in my directions to Pittsburgh and the stadium I strongly recommended that they tune into "Cope's Cabana" on the way home. Upon their return to DC, when I asked them about the game and Cope, James said, "That guy was juiced!" I saw Cope once in person, after a Steelers-Texans game at Heinz Field. He took calls and questions from a small group of hardy fans in the "Cabana," smoking and nursing a beer the whole time. I didn't have the chance to meet him, but just seeing him made me feel better about a terrible game that the Steelers should have won easily.

Cope, whose previous career was as a sportswriter for newspapers and Sports Illustrated, is going to continue writing in his retirement. His memoir, Double Yoi!, is a wonderful account of his life as a sportswriter and broadcaster, and should be required reading for any Steelers fan. I'll have to get some of his other books as well. Steelers games on the radio won't be the same without him, but at least he'll keep on writing.

new pictures

Exactly one month after the trip to Portland and Seattle, pictures from the vacation are now available on my photos page via the link on the right side there. I also uploaded a few pictures from the NYC Mississippi Picnic on June 11. My apologies for the near-unendurable delay in posting these new pictures, and I'll try to do better next time.

Neal Stephenson's thoughts on "Star Wars" in today's NY Times

Neal Stephenson offers his opinion of Revenge of the Sith and what the movie means for popular culture in an op-ed contribution entitled "Turn On, Tune In, Veg Out." He suggests that today's technology experts and scientists play a similar role in our society as the Jedi do in the "Star Wars" universe. As someone who has always wanted to be a Jedi and use the Force (and even developed a comprehensive comparison of the Jedi and Novell network experts), I love Stephenson's idea. If only that were a lightsaber clipped to my belt instead of a Blackberry....

Gizmodo tries some OS X on Intel wizardry

The big announcement in the computing world last week was Apple's decision to switch from PowerPC to Intel processors. While Mac zealots and ordinary users have sung the praises of Mac OS (and especially OS X) for many years, there was never a way for PC users to get in on the action without buying an overpriced computer from Apple with a PowerPC processor inside. (Note to non-techies: software written for PowerPC-powered computers won't run on Intel-powered PCs, and vice versa.) However, with the announcement of the move from PowerPC to Intel, there's a distinct possibility that Apple will start selling OS X as a standalone operating system that will run on any Intel-based computer. Suddenly, the world of OS X may be opened to everyone, regardless of the hardware platform used. Even if Apple keeps their OS on their hardware, I think it's a good move for them to use Intel processors. Their systems have lagged behind Intel's for several years, so now Mac users will enjoy the speed of the latest processors, and will no longer need to point to the beauty of their OS as a reason to endure slower computers.

But the migration to Intel hardware will take Apple a few years, so all the rejoicing and speculation is premature. However, there are rumors that Apple already has a version of OS X that runs on Intel platforms, and that such a beast is loose in the wilderness of the Internet. Gizmodo found a Bittorrent file of a possible OS X Intel release, and this is the story of what happened when they tried to install it. I laughed out loud while reading it.

And if you don't get the term at the end, just Google it.

No more student loans

This is sort of old news at this point, but as of the end of May my student loans from college are paid in full. Nine years after the fact, my degree is mine and mine alone. Granted, people who know will remind me that one of the major benefits of going to Georgetown was that my tuition was free because my father worked at the university (and still does). Even with that serious chunk of money off the table, I still had to come up with money for room and board, books, phone and cable bills, and so on. My parents helped out, and I had a series of work-study jobs for all four years (one of which turned into a career in IT). But I also had to borrow money from Aunt Sallie Mae. However, with my final payment last month, I'm all clear. One major debt is gone from my life.

Now I can go to law school! No, wait...

I can pay down my credit card bills instead. Hmmm...

Screw it, I'm buying a car. No more subway for me, I'm driving to work!

Music meme time!

Eric called on me to respond to this musical baton blog thing that seems to be going around like the flu. The albums came to me quickly, but the songs required a greater effort. At one point I almost included Damn Yankees' "High Enough," as an example of my high school hair metal power ballad days, but realized that even though I really like that song, it's far too cheesy to be included on the list. I'm happy with my selections.


Total size of music files on my computer: 25 GB, 4258 songs. That's on my iRiver MP3 player, but it's roughly a mirror image of the music on my home PC. That includes most of my own CD collection, about twenty of Liz's CDs, some CDs I've ripped from my Dad's extensive collection, and a bunch of podcasts. They're mostly MP3 files, but a few years ago I went through a brief phase of ripping albums in Ogg Vorbis format. Since Ogg files won't play on an iPod, that precluded my purchasing one, and that's one of the reasons I got the iRiver instead. That, and I hate iTunes.

The last CD I bought was: I came back from Oregon with 10 or 11 used (but new to me) CDs, all of them classical.
Bruckner, Symphonies 3, 4, 5 and 8
Mahler, Symphony No. 5
Mozart, Flute Concertos
Bach, organ music
Leonard Bernstein, Orchestral suites from West Side Story, On the Town, and Fancy Free.
Also, Liz picked up Johnny Cash's Live at San Quentin to add to our growing Cash collection.

Song playing right now on my iFruit (that's iRiver to you): the latest Bandana Blues podcast. It's one of several blues podcasts I listen to each week. This one is a joint production between a guy here in the US and another one in the Netherlands, with a great assortment of old and new blues music.

Top five albums:

Led Zeppelin, II
Guns N' Roses, Appetite for Destruction
Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
The Beatles, Revolver
The Who, Tommy

Five songs that mean a lot to me:

"Faithfully" - Journey
This song was the theme for my senior prom in 1992. I went to the prom with Carol, who has been one of my best friends for many years. The song is a reminder of that time in my life, and of her. While the lyrics don't represent the relationship she and I have had over the years, I think it's a great love song anyway. And I wish I could play it on the piano.

"Desolation Row" - Bob Dylan
Liz and I probably own a dozen Dylan albums, including live concerts, and I could easily choose any song from any album for this list. But "Desolation Row" is my favorite track from Highway 61 Revisited, and it's just a beautiful song, lyrically and musically. I wasn't always a Bob Dylan fan, but listening to this song convinced me. Dylan's skills with the harmonica are the perfect embellishment, and the solo here reminds me of an argument Liz and I had with her aunt and uncle on our trip to Oregon in 2000. We were driving from Portland to Seattle, listening to "Desolation Row" on the Live Bootleg 1966 album, and Liz and I argued that Dylan is one of the greatest harmonica players ever. I think her aunt and uncle disagreed, but I can't remember who they said was better.

"The Scientist" - Coldplay
Last fall, I decided to give Coldplay a try. James and Jess had raved about how great the band was, and I knew Liz liked a few of their songs. I only knew one Coldplay song at the time, and I didn't even know its name. So I tracked down A Rush of Blood to the Head and listened to it on the way to work one morning. When "The Scientist" started up, with its simple melody and piano chords, I couldn't believe how much I loved it. I'd never heard anything like it that I'd enjoyed that much. I've since become a big fan of their music, and I would have bought their new album on Tuesday except for some work issues that kept me from getting out at lunch. I'm definitely buying it this week.
By the way, the song I knew turned out to be "Clocks," which is also a great track, though not quite as excellent as "The Scientist."

"Good Morning, Good Morning" - The Beatles
When I was in college, I used to go to my father's office in the medical school late at night to study. Usually I was alone, but sometimes Anthony, one of the students who worked for my dad and a good friend of mine, would also be there studying. Whenever we were there at the same time, we didn't get much work done; instead, we'd talk about girls, classes, and music (he was the pianist for the choir and we'd performed together several times). One night we were listening to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Anthony got incredibly excited about the meter changes and the brass parts in "Good Morning, Good Morning." We played it a few times, marveling at the sheer fun of the song. I remember him listening, laughing, and making me laugh along with him. I think about the two of us hanging out, having fun and putting off work. Definitely good times.

"Sinfonia" from Cantata No. 29 - J.S. Bach, Switched-on Bach (Wendy Carlos)
My parents are both musicians and from an early age my brother and I were exposed to classical music. We would listen to it in the car on road trips and at home on weekends -- Pittsburgh FM station WQED's "Listener's Choice" program was a fixture of our Saturday afternoons. But I didn't really get into classical music until my father introduced me to Switched-On Bach, Wendy Carlos' Moog-synthesized versions of some of Bach's works. I nearly wore out the vinyl edition of the album, and later the cassette tape copy I made of the album. This piece is the first track on the album and a joyful explosion of music that's unmistakably Bach yet unusual by its electronic sound. It might be the one work that turned me on to classical music forever. It reminds me of an age when I was discovering composers and classic works, hearing fantastic old music for the first time. Every once in a while, I'll hear an unfamiliar piece by one of my favorite composers and I'll feel that excitement again. It makes me feel young.

Recent discoveries?
I hear all sorts of new music through podcasts, but one band stands out: WIYOS, an old-time blues/folk/ragtime-sort of band I heard on Dave Raven's Raven 'n' Blues podcast a few months ago. Also, Liz's uncle is a big fan of Chris Knight, and played a few of his songs for us. The music was cool: a more countrified version of early Bruce Springsteen, but the songs on the album were so depressing that they made Nebraska sound like a collection of party anthems.

Who's next?

Chris
Carol
Matt
Craig
Michael

The best steak I've ever cooked

I will now sing the praises of my own cooking skills.

Monday nights are usually "fend for yourself" night in our house. Liz has to get up extra early on Tuesday mornings, so rather than wait for me to get home to make dinner, she usually eats by herself. As a result, I'm free to make anything I want on Mondays. Usually I make some sort of messy omelet or egg sandwiches, but I wanted something different tonight. James has been telling me for the longest time how delicious a steak seared in a cast iron skillet can be. So I decided to give it a try. I picked up a sirloin steak and a small potato at the grocery store and found this recipe online so I'd know the temperatures and timings. I followed the recipe exactly and I have to say I've never cooked a better steak in my life. It wasn't the best steak I've ever eaten -- I'll reserve that accolade for the porterhouse at Morton's of Chicago -- but it was by far the best one I've ever cooked. Liz tasted it and agreed with me that it was an excellent steak. I can't wait to make it again with better meat, from FreshDirect. And I cooked it a little longer than I like. It was medium well instead of a plain medium. But now that I've done it once, it will be easy to get it right the next time.

I overcooked the baked potato, but that's OK, as it was hardly the focus of the meal. But damn! that was one hell of a steak.

Oregon and Seattle trip recap

Thursday

We arrived in Portland late Wednesday night after a six-hour flight on JetBlue. Liz's aunt and uncle picked us up and we had a 90-minute drive to Sheridan to their house. After sleeping in Thursday morning, we had lunch at an art gallery/café, then visited two wineries in the Willamette Valley. We sampled several delicious varieties of wine and bought a few bottles to ship home. We had dinner at a brewpub in McMinnville and went home.

Friday

We stopped in McMinnville for lunch and picked up our rental car, a compact Kia sedan. We left for Seattle around 1 PM and arrived about 5 1/2 hours later, about what we'd expected. On the way, we enjoyed the beautiful Pacific Northwest mountains and forests, along with weather that changed from cloudy to sunny to torrential rain every twenty minutes. We also got a chance to try out my Belkin TuneCast FM transmitter for my iRiver MP3 player, which I wrote about just the other day. We had dinner with our hosts Tanya and Jeff and one of their two daughters and then went with them and their French bulldog Emmy for a walk along West Seattle's Alki Beach. Later that night we watched (or perhaps "endured" is a better choice of words) National Treasure and made fun of the major flaws with the movie.

Saturday

Liz's friend Muse picked us up in the morning and dropped me off at the Cinerama theater in downtown Seattle. After I picked up my ticket for Revenge of the Sith, I met my cousin Elly for lunch. I hadn't seen her since my wedding in 1998, so we had a lot of catching up to do. She's about to graduate from the University of Washington with an art degree. She had to go home to work on a paper, but was kind enough to drop me off back at the Cinerama, where I waited in line for about an hour and a half to get into the theater. I have already posted my review of the movie and the theater itself, so just check out that post below.

After the movie, Liz and Muse picked me up at the theater and we went back out to West Seattle. Later that evening we had dinner at the Palace Kitchen, a restaurant that was coincidentally right across the street from the Cinerama (though there was enough of a gap between the movie and the dinner reservation that hanging around the neighborhood didn't make any sense). The meal was excellent, and so was the people-watching. There was a group of older women waiting impatiently for a table and one of them kept pushing her way past us to bother the hostess about their wait. Then she ravenously devoured a plate of spring roll appetizers, to the point where I was concerned that she'd eat my fingers if I shook hands with her. About an hour and a few drinks later, on her way out, she stood in the restaurant's doorway and hollered at her companions across the room. When the evening showing of Revenge of the Sith ended, a few costumed fans came into the restaurant, Darth Vader helmets removed but capes still donned.

Sunday

We left Seattle around noon and made the drive back to McMinnville in four hours, in what Liz's aunt Candy described as record time. Since they live in a house way up in the mountains, at the top of a steep, winding driveway that seems to be accessible only to cars with four-wheel drive, we had them pick us up in McMinnville instead of driving back to their house ourselves. We got there in time to catch the season finale of Desperate Housewives, which along with the movie was the other big pop-culture event of our vacation that I couldn't miss.

Monday

We drove to Portland and had lunch at Papa Haydn's, a café with unforgettable desserts. Liz had the carrot cake and I had a mint chocolate torte cake. Now logy from too much food, we rolled ourselves to Music Millennium where I loaded up on used CDs of Bruckner and Mahler symphonies. After that we drove across town to Powell's Books, and I filled my summer reading list with books by William Gibson, Brian Greene, Dan Brown, and Tom Clancy. (I haven't read a Clancy book since Debt of Honor, so I'm continuing in the Jack Ryan sequence by reading Executive Orders and Red Rabbit.) We ate dinner at a sushi restaurant downtown before making the drive back home.

Tuesday

Our first stop was the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, where Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose is on display, along with many other military and civilian aircraft. Then we drove out to the Pacific coast, where we had lunch at a brewery and took pictures on several windswept beaches. These aren't swimming and sunbathing beaches -- it's too windy and cold -- but there were a few hardy surfers out in the waves.

Wednesday

Since our flight home was a redeye and didn't leave until 11:55 PM, we had most of the day to spend in Portland. We had lunch at a little Mexican restaurant that a friend and former Portland resident had recommended to us, then we walked along the riverfront and enjoyed the best weather of our vacation. Workers were setting up rides for a carnival, so we made many jokes at the expense of "carnies." We took our time getting to the airport, and even after we checked in, we had plenty of time to visit with Liz's aunt and uncle and show off many photos from my four-year collection of digital images. The flight back was a little less than five hours, but the limited legroom and uncomfortable seats made sleeping difficult and eventually impossible. We landed at 8 AM and had a rush-hour-impaired cab ride home, but the cats were happy to see us and we them after a hard night's traveling.

Traveling with your MP3 player

Sunday's Washington Post reviews several options for using your iPod or other MP3 player in your car. They review two FM transmitters (the iTrip and the Belkin TuneCast II) and three cassette deck adapters. The reviewer prefers the iTrip to the TuneCast and doesn't have a problem with any of the cassette adapters. He does note that most cars don't have cassette decks anymore and that neither one is superior to the simplest (and least common) option: a line-in jack on the front of the car stereo.

Last weekend, on our drive from Portland to Seattle and back, we used a TuneCast II to listen to several podcasts and albums on my iRiver H140 through the car stereo. The TuneCast did its job as designed, but suffered from the same problems that the reviewer points out: it sounded tinny and distant most of the time, like any other FM radio station, and we had to adjust the frequency on the TuneCast every hour or so, as we moved in and out of the range of various FM stations. It was better for rock and blues music than for classical, as we found out during a brief attempt to listen to Beethoven. The audio sounded slightly better when I placed the TuneCast next to the gearshift, but maybe I was imagining a difference. I admit that it's an imperfect solution to the problem of using an MP3 player in a car without a direct connection to the car stereo. On our drive to DC for Easter weekend, I used James' cassette deck adapter with the iRiver and the sound was just as good as the CDs he brought along. But for $30 I was happy with the results.

If you're going to buy a TuneCast, get the "II" version, as it allows you to transmit on any FM frequency between 87.5 and 108.1 MHz. Earlier versions used four preset FM frequencies, and if there was a stronger radio station on those frequencies, you were out of luck. At least with the TuneCast II you have a chance to avoid any radio stations in your area by choosing an empty frequency. Also, get a fresh set of AAA batteries before you hit the road, as the TuneCast only lasts about three hours on one battery. For $20 extra you can get an in-car power adapter for the TuneCast that lets you run the transmitter off the car's power. I don't know why Belkin packages it separately from the TuneCast, except that it can also be used to charge your iPod instead, so maybe they're aiming the charger at a different user group.

quick "Revenge of the Sith" review

I saw the movie on Saturday at the Cinerama in downtown Seattle. (It did in fact remind me of the Uptown in Washington, DC -- it had the same large, curved screen and incredible sound system that the Uptown has, though the Uptown is larger and holds more people. But if you want a great movie experience in Seattle, the Cinerama is the place to go.)

I thought the movie itself was great. Definitely better than the first two, and an excellent way to wrap up the trilogy. Of course, the effects were better than anything I've seen lately, and the lightsaber battles (all five of them) were beyond anything in Star Wars films before. The fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan was especially tense and thrilling. I suppose if you're not planning to make any more Star Wars movies, you'd better make your last battle the best one. Maybe the best parts were the ones I was expecting: the beginnings of Darth Vader's career, how the droids end up where they do, and what all that blather about the midichlorians and disappearing ghostly Jedi really meant.

Some of the dialogue was cheesy and wooden, and the two little girls sitting next to me giggled at every bad line. Also, it ran a bit long for a Star Wars movie, I guess because George Lucas needed to get every last item into the story. But I really enjoyed it, and I can't wait to see it again when I get back to New York.

Here's one quick spoiler (scroll down a bit):








R2-D2 knows everything!

vacation time

Liz and I are leaving for Oregon this evening, where we will visit her aunt and uncle for a few days. We are also going to visit some friends (and in my case, my cousin) in Seattle over the weekend. While in Seattle, I will be taking in a showing of Revenge of the Sith, since there's no possible way I could wait to see the movie until we get back next week. (I will have to wait until Saturday, though.) I'm going to see it at the Cinerama, which is one of those old-style movie theaters with a wide screen that's been renovated and restored like the Uptown theater in Washington, DC. Since I grew up watching the Star Wars films, I'm as excited as I could possibly be to see this latest film. I liked but didn't love the first two prequels, despite the lackluster reviews. Sith is getting good-to-excellent reviews from many critics, so I don't think I'll be disappointed a third time. If I have a chance, I'll post a review up here over the weekend.

Blogging will be sporadic, or even less frequent than usual, while we're on the road. I think Liz's aunt and uncle have broadband, though they live in a rural area up in the mountains. I should really learn how to survive without being connected 24/7.

By the way, the cable TV is working again after I installed the new box. The new box has a few minor enhancements for program searches and recording, and the picture looks better than it looked with the old box. This time, we put the cable box inside our entertainment center, instead of on top where one of our cats would sleep on it. We put the VCR up there instead. If the cat breaks it by sleeping on it, it's not a big loss.

More cable woes (not so bad this time)

We got our cable TV and Internet fixed two weeks ago when the Time Warner guy who showed up fiddled with the junction box on the roof of our building and got us a strong signal. He also replaced our nearly two-year-old Scientific Atlanta 8000 DVR cable box with a new(er) one of the same model. Until last night, all was well. Then, around 1 AM this morning, the replacement cable box started rebooting spontaneously. It never got past the initial boot stage -- I could tell because the LED display on the front kept showing the word "b00t" and cycling through what I can only assume are PC POST (Power-On Startup Test) messages. Eventually the display stopped cycling and just flickered faintly before going off completely. I called Time Warner and the technician got it working initially over the phone (he had me reboot it again) so I stalled him by asking some stupid questions until the box shut down again after a few minutes. Rather than wait until after my vacation for another visit from the cable guy, this morning I took the cable box back to Time Warner's office on 23rd St. to exchange it for a replacement. I went early, figuring that I'd find a long line at 8:30 AM on a Monday. To my surprise, there were four people working behind the desk and no one in line. I was in and out of there with my new cable box (a new model this time) in 15 minutes. And no runaround either: the woman I spoke to had no problem taking the old box back and giving me a new one. I'll have to wait until tonight to hook it up and see if it works, so no "PTI" for me today. But the old box had the decency to fail after we'd watched all of our Sunday night TV shows, so we didn't miss anything good. As long as this new box records the season finale of "Desperate Housewives" next Sunday, we're OK.

At least my Internet access has been fine for the past few weeks. [knocks on wood] However, last weekn the MPAA sued a few of my favorite Bittorrent sites for recent TV shows, and most of them disappeared from the Internet within hours. So my options are shrinking for downloading shows that I've missed. Damn studios.

I'm still here...

...I'm just in a Microsoft Active Directory training class in midtown Manhattan this week. It's the same place as last time, in the CBS building on 6th Avenue, where I have no Internet access except for a few kiosks. At least the class is more educational and interesting this time around. We aren't getting any stupid questions, and everyone in the room understands the basics of AD, so we can focus on the class material instead of superhero tangents.

If you're looking for updated content, please check out Eric's account of his recent medical mission trip to Guatemala at Have Cipro, Will Travel. I especially enjoyed reading today's entry about Eric's bano issues while eating my dinner.

Saturday night's alright for opera

On Saturday night, Liz and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary a few weeks early by attending the Metropolitan Opera's performance of Faust by Charles Gounod. Neither of us had been to the Met before, so we were both awed and amazed by the hall and the performance. I'd see operas from the Met on TV, but the small screen doesn't do justice to what a staged opera really looks like. The hall is enormous, but the singers had no trouble filling it with the most wonderful music we'd heard in years. In particular, the actor singing the role of Mephistopheles (Rene Pape) was mesmerizing, and he received some of the loudest ovations. The other leads were equally spectacular, but the Devil had the best lines and some of the best scenes. We had seats near the front of the stage on the orchestra level, so we had excellent views of the stage as well as James Levine in the orchestra pit. I've been a fan of Levine's work for almost 20 years, so it was especially exciting to see him in person.

One of the interesting effects was in the set design. The entire opera was staged on risers set at about a 20 degree angle rising from the front of the stage to the rear. From our viewpoint down front, the whole opera looked tilted, but I assume the set was designed to look right from the upper balconies. It's a deep stage as well, and when the stage was filled with the chorus and backdrops, having a tilted set allows everyone to see the action. The sets themselves were just beautiful and some in the audience applauded each time the curtain opened for another act.

We had such a great time that we're already planning our next trip. In January the Met will stage Julie Taymor's version of Mozart's Die Zauberflote, and since neither of us has ever seen that particular opera, we'd love to see it here. I wish we could afford to subscribe to the opera, but I'll settle for once a year if we can manage it.

The Colbert Report Lives!

Liz and I are addicted to "The Daily Show:" we watch it every night, we bought the book, and we've been to a show taping and a charity comedy event with Jon Stewart and Lewis Black. One of our favorite fake ads during the show was the promo for Stephen Colbert's own talk show, "The Colbert Réport" (tagline: "It's French, bitch!") The promo featured Colbert screaming at the camera, expressing wild opinions, and berating fake guests. Now Comedy Central is giving Colbert his own show, based on the fake promo. It will run after "The Daily Show" and will spoof talk shows with hosts like Bill O'Reilly, Chris Matthews, and Sean Hannity. I can't wait to see it. The only sad part is that it means less Stephen Colbert on "The Daily Show," but that's a small price to pay to see more of Colbert four nights a week.

No cable TV and no Internet make Phil go crazy

Our digital cable box has been doing weird things for a few months now, but over the weekend it stopped showing us just about anything above the broadcast channels. About the same time, our cable Internet service went from 4 Mbs downstream to about 400 Kbs, a major, noticeable difference. By Monday it had gone out completely, like the cable TV. I've got a service call for Time Warner to come here tomorrow morning, but I'm really worried that the problem isn't in my apartment or building and is actually in some remote piece of hardware that won't be fixed for weeks. I've been leeching wireless Internet access from my neighbors' open access points for a few days, but some of them aren't working either -- they also have Internet service from Time Warner. I honestly don't know how I'll react if the guy who comes here tomorrow can't fix both problems. I'm fantasizing about cancelling the cable entirely, both TV and Internet, and just getting DSL from Speakeasy or Verizon instead. I'd have to rely on DVDs and Bittorrent to get all my favorite TV shows on demand, and I know Liz wouldn't like that solution at all. But she's right: we pay too much money each month for this cable system to be broken. The part that really bothers me is that it's completely out of my control. When something breaks at work, I either fix it myself or get someone I know and trust to help me fix it. But I don't trust Time Warner one damn bit, mostly because I'm just one consumer and they've got millions of subscribers just like me. Why should they give a damn about me? It's not like I can get cable TV from anyone else, thanks to the local monopoly. (I don't have line of sight to the southwest sky, so DirecTV isn't an option.) It's that helplessness that's driving me insane right now. If I could fix this problem myself, I'd do it already. Maybe it will be something stupid, like one of the cats chewing through the cable wires. But I've got this terrible feeling that the problem is going to require some heavy-duty repair crew work that can only be scheduled for two weeks from now, which becomes three weeks because I'll be on vacation in two weeks. Maybe I'll get a credit from Time Warner for the outage, but it still means I'm stuck downloading shows while I'm at work and trying to find the optimal location at home to pick up my neighbors' signals. And I hope that none of them figure out what I'm doing and lock down their APs. I'll promise this much: when I do get Internet access back, be it tomorrow or next month, I'll open my own access point for a while. Free Internet on my network when it's working.

Sorry for the rant. I'll try to post something better tomorrow.

there's a new guy at work

I've been in my current job for five years, so I've seen plenty of "newbies," especially the ones who have joined my group. We got another one today, the e-mail administrator for whom I gave up the cubicle I'd occupied for four years. It's always fun to see someone who's completely new to the organization. They don't know anyone or where anything is located or how the firm works. They're so gullible, I could tell them all about the secret swimming pool and wine cellar in the building and they'd believe me. Everything is new to them, so normally weird ideas and wacky comments are completely plausible. And, in our technical world, they're essentially useless for a week or two until they learn enough of the environment to do the job for which they were hired. I'm not trying to make fun of the new guy -- we've all been the new person at a job, and no matter what it is, there's always that awkward period while you and your co-workers adjust to the changes. But I've been here long enough that it's difficult to remember the times when I didn't know the people or the firm that well, so it's entertaining to watch someone new go through that experience. I need to remember not to confuse him too much or too often with crucial information and obscure jokes. OK, maybe with the jokes. It's that brief look on their face when they're not sure if you're serious or joking that makes it fun.