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Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Giving Eritrean cuisine a shot tonight. We're having our New Year's Eve dinner at Caffe Adulis. Seems like it's similar to Ethiopian, and I really miss that since we've moved from Boston.

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

427 photos and 4 new Hawaiian shirts later, we're back -- jetlagged and excited for the holidays. At some point, over the next week or two, there'll be some Maui and Molokai photo highlights posted. It's too late to wrap gifts, unpack, do laundry, check e-mail, or do anything other than sleep and get most everything done in the morning before hitting the road.

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Given the fact that I've had my hair cut the same way by the same man for the last 5 years, I'm pleasantly surprised by today's $14.95 experiment at the mall. OK, back to packing...

Monday, December 08, 2003

The snowstorm this weekend forced us to stay inside.

Well, no, not really. We only got about 4 or 5 inches of snow. Still, it was a good opportunity to catch up on some reading (and for Alyssa, some very intense final paper writing). I finished that book I previously mentioned. It was pretty powerful.

The book, plus a number of poignant articles, have educated me on the new levels of web development and that the techniques I've relied on in the past are bunk. So, to avoid getting rusty, I'll be working on a new version of Nervous Music that is more compliant with web standards, or if you'd like, that follows the XHTML 1.0 Transitional DOCTYPE.

Sunday, December 07, 2003

I was looking forward to watching the Patriots game today. But our cable provider is broadcasting the Jets instead. I don't care if we're physically closer to NY than Foxboro, they are the New England Patriots, aren't they?

Friday, December 05, 2003

IT'S SNOWING!!!

Although it's been around for a long time now, I thought it would be good to remind folks of the Jive Server. So for those of you snowed in this weekend (and even those who aren't), you can spend some quality time translating your favorite text into jive. For instance, my last post:

We be all guilty o' it. At some kinda' point, we've "googled" our own name, o' names o' otha' sucka's in our lives t' spot whut random webpages we could uneart' from da past.

It be late. I strayed from da 9-to-5 search t' "google" mah name an' I caint recon' whut I found. Word to yo' mama. Back in high school (down low, 1992) I scratch'd out some short creative ficshun piece called "All's Well Dat Fat-ladies Well." Da story wuz some long strin' o' cliches -- I wanted t' spot how many cliche phrases I could 'esploit in some short story an' still make it relative-like cohesive. Not only be da damn story posted online, but dair be feedback posted dat I've neva' seen until now.

Google found some few otha' interestin' links. Howeva' I aint some junior high school English learna' on Miyako Island in Okinawa.

Thursday, December 04, 2003

We're all guilty of it. At some point, we've "googled" our own name, or names of other people in our lives to see what random webpages we could unearth from the past.

It's late. I strayed from the job search to "google" my name and I can't believe what I found. Back in high school (1992) I wrote a short creative fiction piece called "All's Well That Ends Well." The story was a long string of cliches -- I wanted to see how many cliche phrases I could use in a short story and still make it relatively cohesive. Not only is the story posted online, but there's feedback posted that I've never seen until now.

Google found a few other interesting links. However I am not a junior high school English teacher on Miyako Island in Okinawa.

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

I'm a big fan of the British magazine The Wire. The October issue came packed with a 2 CD sampler, which is very good. It was their way of softening the blow of an increased cover price in the U.K.

Magazines and publications that involve mixed media can be pretty neat. Case in point, Aspen: The multimedia magazine in a box. The ambitious ten issues were released back in the late 60s. Few copies of the original magazine still exist, but at least the website makes most of the content available.

While on the subject of art and media reproduced online, Understanding Duchamp is a slick timeline of the surrealist's life and works.

Last Saturday, I visited Alyssa's family in Fitchburg and tried my hand at gingerbread house building for the first time. Where I lacked in talent I tried to make up for in creativity.



Not the best at constructing a house? No problem. I'll create a helicopter landing pad instead. Make a frosting mess around the foundation? No sweat. I'll cover it up by adding a wicked witch underneath. Fail at making a 6" tall marshmallow man? No big deal. I'll replace him with a snow mine.

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

If you're curious about what a black hole sounds like, you can find out here.

If people aren't able to visit us this winter, our grandmaster plan includes persuading folks to visit next summer when the first IKEA in New England opens about 10 minutes from our home. But it looks like the 2nd New England location is already in the works. We've got a year on Stoughton though -- so c'mon down!

Monday, December 01, 2003

The day after Thanksgiving, my parents and I caught a troop of ten turkeys milling about the backyard. I got a little too close, so they lined up single-file and marched back into the woods.