What isn’t Apple, audiobooks, or alcohol is probably cats.
News and activities related to my wife.
Saw Spider-Man with Rochelle this morning. $14 for the tickets and $16 for the popcorn and drinks. We ate all the popcorn (two large bags). Good movie, recommended. But two full bags of popcorn was too much…
Saw Spider-Man with Rochelle this morning. $14 for the tickets and $16 for the popcorn and drinks. We ate all the popcorn (two large bags). Good movie, recommended. But two full bags of popcorn was too much…
I have said too much already…
I have said too much already…
Rochelle and I just few back from NYC, and boy are our arms tired.
Rochelle and I just returned (on Sunday) from New York City. I went for an Important Company Meeting, and Rochelle came along to torture me and rant at my co-workers. At the end of one evening, on of them said slyly to me, “Note to self: never introduce wife to co-workers…”
The most fun thing we did was go to Les Halles for dinner on Friday night, without a reservation. When we got there it was pretty crowded, but the hostess estimated it would be 35 minutes for a table for two, and suggested we wait in the bar area.
We headed for the bar, where there was one stool available. Rochelle sat down, and then I leaned into her and whispered into her ear, “It’s him.”
“Him” was Anthony Bourdain, the executive chef, and author of Kitchen Confidential, a book Rochelle and I literally fought over while we were reading it, allowing the other to take a turn reading it only with the greatest reluctance. He was sitting on the bar stool to Rochelle’s left.
After a few moments he turned and noticed us, and then offered his seat to me. I protested, not wanting to kick the chef out of his seat, but he insisted: “It’s OK, I work here.”
The best food show on the Food Network is Alton Brown’s “Good Eats”.
After many many months of yearning, begging, and filling out surveys our local cable company finally caved into us, and brought the Food Network to San Francisco. Everyone knows Emerile is the “big star” on that channel, and indeed he has many devoted fans. We’re not among them.
The best show has had quieter success. Not many people who don’t watch 2+ hours of the Food Network a day (fast forwarded) know the name Alton Brown, but if you like good food, you should.
Alton’s show, Good Eats, is part traditional cooking show, part comedy, and part Mr. Science. It’s got great writing, tells you a lot about food chemistry without being in-your-face educational, every show has a different theme, and Alton himself is tremendously engaging.
It’s the best thing since…uh, no, I can’t do it…you figure it out…
I spoke too soon. Cecil has the same thing that Meebee had before Rochelle and I got married. We caught it much earlier, so he’ll get more benefit from the chemotherapy, but he does have intestinal cancer.
I spoke too soon. Cecil has the same thing that Meebee had before Rochelle and I got married. We caught it much earlier, so he’ll get more benefit from the chemotherapy, but he does have intestinal cancer.
On Friday Basta went in for her annual vet appointment. The vet called her “chunky.” She was not amused.
On Friday Basta went in for her annual vet appointment. Getting her into the cat carrier was a chore, because she’s big and muscular, and really, really did not want to be in the box. It took both Rochelle and I grabbing her and pushing her in to get it done.
When we got to the vet, she got weighed. 13.8 pounds. Or, as the vet put it, “chunky.”
Rochelle has a firm belief that people who live in San Francisco should have to justify living here, by taking advantage of unique aspects of living in the city on a regular basis. This new channel will cover some of those unique things, or other random stuff that we do on our days off, that would otherwise end up in the Miscellaneous category.
Rochelle has a firm belief that people who live in San Francisco should have to justify living here, by taking advantage of unique aspects of living in the city on a regular basis.
This new channel will cover some of those unique things, or other random stuff that we do on our days off, that would otherwise end up in the Miscellaneous category.
Today one of those unique things is going on at the Toronado, SF’s best beer bar. That’s right, it’s Belgian Beer month, and today is the kickoff.
You should be here.
Odd Todd is probably the funniest of the various “I’m unemployed and have lots of time, so I’m going to document what’s it’s like to be unemployed on the Internet” sites.
OK, here’s another one. Odd Todd is probably the funniest of the various “I’m unemployed and have lots of time, so I’m going to document what’s it’s like to be unemployed on the Internet” sites.
The weirdest thing about this one is that the narration is in a voice that sounds a lot like one of Rochelle’s co-workers, who I met just after viewing the cartoon. It made it very difficult actually hear what he was saying, instead of just marveling at his voice…
Anyway, there’s a couple cartoons, and while the visuals are very stick-figure, the narration and audio is terrific. Recommended.
Unemployed Theo is an amusing little web site that lets those not in the technology industry see what the life of a dot.bomb victim is like.
Unemployed Theo is an amusing little web site that lets those not in the technology industry see what the life of a dot.bomb victim is like.
Rochelle and I were doing this ourselves, about a year ago. Not coincidentally, Rochelle will be getting her Masters in Tequila later today, and mine should come in another month or so. If we’d stayed unemployed, I’m sure we’d be getting ready to receive our doctorates instead…and living in the basement on macaroni and cheese…
We are the Blogs. Journalism will be Assimilated. And journalist John Hiler thinks it’s for the better. (He’s right.)
John Hiler has written a great article about how weblogging is changing the face of journalism. While he uses the Borg metaphor, it’s pretty clear that he thinks the changes will be for the better.
Funnily enough, Rochelle’s had some experience with something like this. Chowhound.com, a food-oriented discussion site where Rochelle frequently participates, seems to spawn a mainstream food story every couple of weeks. For example, there was a vibrant discussion about taco trucks, with many people telling about their favorites. And sure enough, the Chronicle soon ran a story about taco trucks in the Bay Area, an article we read and enjoyed.
The best journalists credit their sources and inspiration, because it means they’ll get more of it. Right now weblogging and online communities of all types are very new, but it’s clear their impact on and integration into mainstream culture is something we’ll be noticing for some time.
TeacherReviews.com looks like a great resource for getting honest information from fellow students about what classes and professors to take — and who to avoid.
Rochelle is taking a web building class this semester, and for her final project is working on a system that will help capture student reviews of the instructors in her program (MLIS at San Jose State).
As part of her research, she found a site, TeacherReviews.com, which does much the same thing, but for any school in the world.
It’s a pretty nicely done site, and if you’re currently in school (even part-time, like Rochelle and I), you should take a few minutes and add your reviews to the site.
And pass the URL along to your classmates; these things are only useful if there’s a good body of knowledge that gets preserved.
This is the best time of year to be a sports fan — March Madness! And I am headed to Vegas for the tournament opening!
Every year since we’ve been together, Rochelle is baffled by my sudden disinterest in virtually everything except watching basketball on TV. She’s weaned me almost entirely off football, and just can’t figure out what it will take to do the same for college basketball.
There’s no cure for March Madness, baby!
In the run-up to Championship Week I’m watching games a couple days a week (including one during lunch this last week where I told my co-workers to leave without me, I’ll walk back when the game is over), and then during the actual conference tournaments I’m watching games just about every day.
But the capper is the actual NCAA tournament. Most years I take vacation days so I can watch the first two rounds of the tournament. I usually just watch at home, except when an important game (to my bracket) isn’t being aired on CBS, then I have to go to a sports bar to catch that one.
This year I’m headed to the ultimate sports bar — Las Vegas — to watch the first two rounds of the tournament. I’m meeting up with a bunch of folks from my last job. Should be a blast.
Oops, gotta run, the ACC Tournament Final game is about to start!