When Rochelle and I go out, and especially when we travel, we often run into other tequila enthusiasts. Many of them are just beginning their appreciation of this fine spirit, and the number one question we get is “what is your favorite tequila?” We always disappoint, because we can never limit ourselves to one, or even a couple. We tell them what we can, point to good selections on the current bar’s list (part of our “love the one you’re with” philosophy), and promise to follow up with recommendations. But we have never attempted write down a list of our favorite tequilas. Until now.
Category: Haightlife
General news and thinking about living in the Alderete-McCune household.
RailsConf 2006
Last weekend I was in Chicago for the first ever RailsConf, a gathering of about 600 people focused on developing web applications using the Ruby on Rails application framework. Other people are posting lots of details and thoughts (try clicking the RailsConf tag below), so I’ll just add a few deltas:
What Else Has Been Slowing Me Down
A picture is worth a thousand words…
!/images/wrist_cast-2.png(A broken and immobilized left wrist)!
And it comes off tomorrow morning in an hour!
Up and Down, Up and Down…
That’s been my DSL connection over the last few weeks. And since I self-host this site, on a cheap PC sitting on a shelf, Aldoblog has been up and down, too. Very irritating.
The problem is the wiring. Our house is a 100+ year old Victorian, and all of our phone wiring (except for the actual phone jacks) is on the outside of the house. And it’s old, and it’s been abused, and so on. So with all the rain we’ve been having, apparently water is getting into the wiring.
We’ve had PacBell out, more than once, and about the only thing they’re consistent about is that it’s our problem, not theirs. Even thought it’s on the outside of the house, it’s “inside” wiring because it’s past the junction box, and so our responsibility.
Anyway, it’s sunny and working now, and it looks like we might be done with the rain for a while. In the meantime, I’m calling wiring contractors, because I can’t take it when we don’t have internet access. I must be a junkie…or then again, maybe I need to have internet access to, like, work and earn a living…
Dude, You’re Getting a MacBook Pro
I’m sure a million people will be linking today to the Apple announcement of Boot Camp, a new utility that now makes it both possible and easy to install Microsoft Windows XP onto an Intel-based Mac. I’m also sure most of them will put their amateur analyst hats on, and tell people what they think it means. (Most will be wrong.)
My interest in and comments on the announcement are quite a bit less global in scope.
Tequila Trails
Two years ago, Rochelle and I were held captive during the imfamous “Tequila Hostage Crisis”:/blog/349 of 2003. This month an article in the San Francisco Cronicle describes a local journalist’s experience on a similar trip.
Two years ago, Rochelle and I were held captive during the imfamous Tequila Hostage Crisis of 2003. This month an article in the San Francisco Cronicle describes a local journalist’s experience on a similar trip.
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!
Quotation of the Year Candidate
(Great idea is announced. Accolades all around.)
“Liquor is _so_ inspirational!”
<beeep> (the sound of the Breathalyzer being initialized)
(Great idea is announced. Accolades all around.)
“Liquor is so inspirational!”
BEEEP (the sound of the Breathalyzer being initialized)
Corporate Drone
I was surprised to discover this evening that Rochelle’s very creative movie (given the constraints of our 1999 digital camera’s 10-second video limit) is not the top result for “corporate drone”:http://www.michaelandrochellessite.com/resources/moov/happy-boss-day.mpg on Google.
I was surprised to discover this evening that Rochelle’s very creative movie (given the constraints of our 1999 digital camera’s 10-second video limit) is not the top result for corporate drone on Google.
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.
Back, Catching Up
We’re back from Palm Springs, where we had a great time. The cats decided to let us live.
We’re back from Palm Springs, where we had a great time. The cats decided to let us live. We’re still digging out from under all the mail, voicemail, and email that piled up. Should get caught up by Monday.
We didn’t do nearly as much as we’d have liked to accomplish on our various projects, but that just means we had a good time. This assertion is supported by some of the debris we left behind in the room, our empties, mostly champagne and vodka bottles…
!/images/ps-debris.jpg(Our empties…)!
Since getting back I’ve had my birthday. We went out for three straight nights, once for my birthday, once to someone’s Halloween party, and once to someone else’s birthday gathering. At least for me, the most fun was on Friday at Tres Agaves, which just opened last week. (Highly recommended, even though they are struggling under the load of instant success.) We started with drinks in the packed bar, and then moved to dinner. Where it turned out there was yet another birthday going on at the table next to us, except the ladies dressed up in theme. It was destiny that we would meet:
!/images/birthday05.jpg(Apparently I had a good time at my birthday dinner…)!
No wonder we still haven’t unpacked completely! Anyway, if you’ve been waiting for a phone call or email, we should be back to normal after this weekend. Talk to you soon.
Palm Springs!
Rochelle and I are currently in Palm Springs, on vacation for two weeks. So far we have done very little except eat and drink and sleep and…
Rochelle and I are currently in Palm Springs, on vacation for two weeks. So far we have done very little except eat and drink and sleep and…play Scrabble.
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.
Cannoli
I tried ’em. Ate 8 of ’em. I agree with “this guy”:http://www.talkofthepoint.com/TOTParchives/000163..html — “Romolo’s Cannoli and Spumoni Factory”:http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/profile/929884/ in San Mateo makes great cannoli. The only competitive cannoli I’ve had is from Modern Pastry in Boston’s North End. Both are outstanding.
I tried ’em. Ate 8 of ’em. I agree with this guy — Romolo’s Cannoli and Spumoni Factory in San Mateo makes great cannoli. The only competitive cannoli I’ve had is from Modern Pastry in Boston’s North End. Both are outstanding.
Romolo’s is open again after their remodel. Easy to get to, right off of El Camino Real, and just a few blocks from the Hillsdale exit of Highway 101. Go check ’em out.
Quotation of the Year Candidate
“That Luigi is a fat, filthy, disgusting animal. What did we ever do to deserve him?”
“I don’t know, but you must have been very bad in a previous life, because you have him, Basta, and _me.”_
“That Luigi is a fat, filthy, disgusting animal. What did we ever do to deserve him?”
“I don’t know, but you must have been very bad in a previous life, because you have him, Basta, and me.”