A couple weeks ago a comment defending Thunderbird came in on the post. I started to respond in another comment, but because the attitude expressed by the commentor is so prevalent in software, I wanted to respond more publicly.

Here’s the meat of the comment (or read in full):

The problem with virus checking in Thunderbird is actually not Thunderbird. It the strategy you are using to scan for email viruses. […] If your antivirus program doesn’t have a function to scan email as it’s downloaded and prior to hitting your inbox, get a real antivirus solution that does. Let’s not be bad mouthing Thunderbird for something you are not doing appropriately in the situation you have.

Well, at the simplest level, this is correct, it’s really just a matter of configuration. But on other levels this philosophy — that the features are there to solve the problem, the user just needs to find and configure them — is not a very customer-friendly one. You could argue that it’s the opposite. There are very few people out there looking to buy “anti-virus software with an email proxy or plug-in to scan incoming emails.” They just want “safe, virus-free email.” By itself, Thunderbird still does not provide this.

And, in spite of 2½ years passing since I wrote the original post, the software and the web site still do not provide any useful information about how to achieve “safe email.” The only official information about anti-virus protection I found today is the FAQ Is Thunderbird susceptible to e-mail viruses?, which still has the same essentially useless information I noted 2½ years ago. On a very real level, the level at which most people will experience the product, getting “safe email” with Thunderbird is a challenge that most people will not be able to meet.

A person can say “don’t bad mouth Thunderbird,” but what they’re really saying is “people who aren’t smart enough to figure out this Thunderbird + anti-virus stuff for themselves should use something else.” I wonder what the response would be if the Thunderbird project posted those words on their web site, instead of the useless words in the FAQ?

Final note: Rochelle’s solution to the dilemma was to switch to Gmail. Works great, and virus-free.

This is our third major news article having to do with obsessions with food and drink. Not sure what says about us, except hopefully we’re fun to be around…

In addition to stories and so on, he’s also got recipes and histories of favorite cocktails. While I’d certainly make a different choice for tequila than he does, the recipes all sound interesting, especially the Richmond Gimlet and the Brisa, both his own creations. Recommended reading.

I have written previously, in Tequila 101 and Everything you need to know about ordering tequila, some basic facts about tequila; what follows here is more opinion and personal preference. You can read the prior articles for background, or simply go with this summary: always look for and verify that your tequila says “100% agave” on the label. If it does not say that, it’s not a quality tequila.

Specific Tequila Recommendations

I’ve drunk more than 150 different tequilas at this point, and when I go to Tommy’s I have more than 200 options to choose from. While I enjoy tasting new things, more often than not I fall back on my favorites. When I’m not at Tommy’s, and the selection is much more limited, I can still usually find one of my preferred products, at least if the bar has any selection at all. Note that these are not the only tequilas that I love, they are simply the ones that most often come to mind when I am ordering.

I would drink any of these tequilas neat or in a margarita. Don’t let anyone tell you these are “too good to drink in a margarita;” I’ll have more on this in a future article. These are in no specific order:

• Herradura Silver, Reposado, and Añejo
• Oro Azul Blanco and Añejo
• El Tesoro, everything they make
• Don Julio Reposado and Añejo
• El Charro Reposado and Añejo
• Chinaco Reposado and Añejo
• Regional Reposado and Añejo (you won’t find this outside of Mexico)
• Centinela Reposado
• Arette Reposado, especially the Suave

I also have a few “special occasion” tequilas, which I will only order if I am celebrating something, or feeling especially flush with funds. As you might expect, these are more expensive; a 2 oz. pour of the Chinaco Black Label is more expensive than a bottle of any of the above tequilas. I would only ever drink these tequilas neat, in a nice snifter or glass.

• Chinaco Black Label (very rare, not made anymore)
• San Matias Rey Sol
• Herradura Seleccion Suprema
• Don Julio 1942
• Arette Gran Clase
• Jose Cuervo Reserva de Familia

Rochelle’s preferences are similar, but she also has a few that she likes better than I do, primarily Siete Leguas, of which I am not particularly fond.

We also have a few “workhorse” tequilas, which we happily order in a bar if none of the above are available, and some we also buy in bulk when we’re having a party. These are fine tequilas, but we don’t reach for them in the same way.

• Pura Sangre
• Pueblo Viejo
• Gran Centenario
• Cazadores
• Cabrito

Finally, one last “special purpose” tequila. We personally love the San Matias Carmessi, but we think it’s especially useful for introducing people to fine tequilas. It’s great for people who have never tried tequila, and even people who think they don’t like tequila usually find they enjoy it.

Just Say No

I don’t really want to recommend against specific products, because everyone’s taste is different, and if you like it, drink it. But these are products which I personally don’t care for, or find over-priced or over-rated. You make your own decision.

• Cuervo Especial, Gold, 1800 — I’ll order a beer if these are the only selections
• Sauza — the Tres Generations bottlings are OK, but there is no Sauza product I genuinely like
• Don Eduardo — we gave this up forever the last time we drank it, 2-3 years ago; it’s just not good, and often expensive
• Patrón — actually a decent tequila, but over-priced

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My interest in and comments on the announcement are quite a bit less global in scope.

Rochelle’s current PC is a desktop system I assembled myself. It’s got a 1 GHz Celeron processor, and 512 megs of RAM. It’s sloooooow. But this is Rochelle’s year for new computing hardware, so we’d been planning to replace it, with a top-of-the-line ThinkPad.

I had entertained the idea of getting her a MacBook Pro, because I think that she’d probably come to like Mac OS X (and the iLife applications) quite a bit, but also because it seemed likely that someone would eventually announce a decent way to run Windows on that system.

But while I would love to Switch Rochelle, I know that a fallback plan of “it will probably eventually run Windows” will not save my ass if she decides she wants to stay on Windows. (And Rochelle quickly saw through my real fallback plan of “Well, I guess I could take that brand new MacBook Pro off your hands. It’s a little better than my two year old PowerBook…”)

With Apple delivering today dual-boot capability (and no doubt delivering more sophisticated virtualization capabilities in Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5, when it ships), I don’t need a fallback plan. I don’t have to figure out the Lenovo online store and how to order the damn ThinkPad I decided was the safe choice for what to get Rochelle. I tried twice to work my way towards the model I wanted, which is basically the T43 with similar specifications to the MacBook Pro. But I must be stupid, I couldn’t figure out how to get the store to let me select anything like that, even though I could find the model number in PDF-only spec sheets…

Tequila trail leads to innovation gives some of the highlights, which we remember well, and alludes to the impact of the more intense moments of the trip (of which we remember little ;-), by describing the author’s regimen of no alcohol and lots of exercise for 10 days before the trip, and no activity at all for 3 days afterwards.

Entertaining and educational to read, there’s some good new tequila drink recipes as well. We will have to visit the local bartenders mentioned, and try them all out!

I have to admit, I bought Apple’s iMovie, and then Final Cut Express, and then upgraded it, all without producing something as compelling as what Rochelle dreamed up on a (slow) Happy Boss Day at the office. “Check it out.”:http://www.michaelandrochellessite.com/resources/moov/happy-boss-day.mpg

I don’t usually talk about our vacations on this weblog while we’re away, because I’m too paranoid: I don’t like telling people when it would be easy to break into our house. But this trip, we’ve taken the most valuable (to thieves) stuff (our computers) with us. (Plus we have house sitters for most of the two weeks. House sitters keep the cats from revolting while we’re away…)

Rochelle and I both have projects we’re working on during our two week “retreat,” and most of them involve or require the use of a computer. Sounds crazy, but it really is relaxing to be able to go away, and concentrate on things you’ve been meaning to do, but can’t find the time, or have too many daily distractions. And the things we’ve been meaning to do — writing, organizing photos, leaning new skills for work — are all intimately tied to technology. Welcome to the 21st century, I suppose.

At any rate, we’ll be back to San Francisco in a week or so.

“I don’t know, but you must have been very bad in a previous life, because you have him, Basta, and me.”

“You can’t take tomorrow off, I’m already out of the office.”

“How come?”

“Our au pair is at Burning Man.”

If you’re not familiar with the linked terms, be sure to view the definitions…

It also took us forever to really finish bringing things back into the kitchen, and arranging them to our satisfaction. Two weeks ago we bought a new kitchen storage unit at IKEA, and that has made all the difference in being able to get things organized enough that we can work well in the new room.

The peninsula is cobbled together from three pieces of furniture: our old steel kitchen work table, the new IKEA kitchen storage unit, and a vintage seed cabinet that Rochelle found in an antique store about a year ago. It’s been moving around the house looking for a final resting place. The kitchen isn’t it — we’ll replace all of this in a year when we put in the real, permanent cabinets — but it’s working well in the new location.

The reason the new IKEA piece was so important to getting the kitchen settled was because we lost a huge amount of storage space when we rearranged the pantry by moving the door. We’ll get the pantry space back when we do the real cabinets, but for now, it’s holding less than half what fit in before. The Metro shelving that used to hold things we didn’t use often is now holding mostly things we use every day, i.e. all our pots and pans, cooking utensils, all our spices, etc.

The refrigerator in the back corner is still creating lots of dead space around it, because it’s so deep. Replacing it is the next major expense. And we’ll likely do it sooner rather than later, since all the manufacturers and stores have 12-month interest free loans and other incentives. We’re looking at getting a counter-depth unit, with the freezer on the bottom, and French doors for the refrigerator compartment. That will let us push it more fully into the corner, and better use the space around it.

These last two photos are stitched together from two shots each. It’s pretty easy to see the seams, unlike some of the earlier panoramas I did. I’ve got to get the hang of taking the shots from the same perspective, height, angle, etc. Might also try getting Preston to come by with his fancy camera and wide-angle lens; our little PowerShot isn’t really up to this kind of photography.

This one is the previous two stitched together:

And this one is of the kitchen entrance and our display shelf with all our champagne bottles:

Note: All of these photos can be clicked to view larger versions.

The novel that got me well and truly hooked was Lost Light by Michael Connelly. It was one of the highest rated unabridged books on Audible.com in 2004, and Rochelle picked it out on a whim. Mystery genre, highly rated by other listeners, a good narrator on the sample provided. Nothing more complicated than that.

We listened to it on a drive back from LA, and were gripped. When we got home, we dragged our crap into the house, and got immediately into bed with the book playing over the stereo to finish it. It was superb, and remains my favorite audio book.

The best news was that it was the ninth book in an 11-book (and continuing) series about LA homicide detective Harry Bosch. We’ve since acquired all of the other Harry Bosch novels which are available in unabridged format on Audible.com (about half of the total books written)…and all the rest on MP3 CD (I’ll write more about those soon).

Every time I listen to a Harry Bosch novel, especially the ones narrated by Len Cariou, I have Harry Bosch dreams, and can hear the narrator’s voice in my head for weeks. Highly, highly recommended.

Worst of all, we forgot to take any photos during the event, especially of people in the kitchen. We’ll just have to try harder (or drink less) next time.

Keeping Up With The Jones Poverty Party

We started the year on a good note by getting rid of lots of crap, but alas, during a routinue appliance swap, we got sucked into a kitchen remodel. We’re only through Stage One (structural), and we’re broke.

So it’s time for a party! We’ll celebrate Rochelle’s birthday and our folly. Come by and make fun of us!

We’ll be serving cheap but good food like bread & dip, deviled eggs and…well…you haven’t lived ‘til you’ve had a fried baloney sandwich made on a Viking Range! We’ll have red wine & tequila (& mixers) from our existing but not insubstantial stash. We’ll also serve whatever beer is on sale that week.

From all you iPoders out there, Rochelle has a special birthday request — bring a playlist of not more than 10 songs from any time I have been alive (May 31, 1962 to present). They can be all from one year [extra points for great years: (birth)1962, (college)1980-84, (move to SF)1985, (move to 569)1992, (guess)1995, and (married Michael)1999], have a groovy theme, or just be 10 cool songs you love. We’ll take take turns jacking into the system, so it’s your chance to be a DJ.

And if you like dressing up, come as your favorite Jones (Davey, Shirley, Starr, Bridget?). Since I suspect there will be at least one Tom Jones, bring panties to throw.

PS – We highly, highly recommend coming via cab or public transit because parking is virtually impossible in the Lower Haight on weekend evenings. Seriously.

“Yeah. We spent into the grocery money.”

“Worse. We spent into the booze money.”

The day after Ken left, I spent hours and hours pole sanding the putty in the floor seams, and then painted the floor. We can’t actually decide what kind of flooring we want (plus we’re out of money), so we’re just painting the subfloor for now. You can sort of see the dark brown we’ve chosen in the photos below. The paint is polyurethane-reinforced, but the subfloor is soft plywood. We’ll see how well it all works out.

Because of the damn floor paint, which takes 24 hours before you can walk on it in socks, or apply another coat, and takes a week to cure fully, we haven’t been able to really move back into the kitchen. But, with the sink finally hooked up, we’ve been able to do dishes, and that has made us a bit happier — huge piles of dirty dishes have been oppressing both of us for some time.

It’s also nice to be able to flip a switch and get light in the room again. Actually, our old kitchen lighting was a single fixture, with two 60-watt bulbs. Our new lighting is a central fixture, three wall sconces, and a task lamp over the sink (which is the only light you can see fully in the photos above). All told, it’s 13 bulbs, and most of them are 60-watt. It’s as bright as the sun in the room (the yellow paint helps with that effect), and we’re pretty happy with that. Though the central fixture is kinda ugly; a poor decision on eBay, alas.

There’s still plenty to do to finish the room, and then lots and lots to do to move back into the kitchen properly. But we’re really, really close to being able to call it a kitchen again, instead of a project.

Which is good, because we have a party scheduled for the weekend after next. Yikes! Good thing Rochelle has three days off this weekend to work on the house…