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April 26, 2005
It's time to sell a car
We live on an island - I commute to work on a bus and ferry - and yet we have five vehicles between the two of us.
It's time to get rid of a car.
Since I'm not looking to buy a car (well, not yet at least) it seems a private party sale is in order. Anyone reading this have suggestions on how to proceed? Ebay? Autotrader? Can't really just put a sign on the car 'cause it's mostly parked in the driveway and we live on a private road...
Posted by dberger at 7:30 PM | Comments (0)
Fanboy Mode On
The Serenity trailer is (finally) out.
Let's go be bad guys.
Posted by dberger at 1:57 PM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2005
Now we're cooking with gas...
Scott and Amanda (and Zoe, of course) came down from the Vancouver area this weekend. It all started when I saw a flyer for the "Greater Seattle Area Vintage Guitar Show" that was taking place this past Sunday. Being something of a guitar addict, I figured Scott might want to come down and check it out.
That turned into a plan for them to come down for the weekend, which they did.
They arrived in the afternoon on Saturday and the ladies promptly dropped Zoe on "the guys" and headed to Target -- a shopping experience apparently unavailable across the border to the North. They returned several hours later with a respectable haul (much of which, I suspect is available in Canada).
Continue reading "Now we're cooking with gas..."
Posted by dberger at 8:07 AM | Comments (1)
April 18, 2005
That Was Then, This is Comcast
It's with no small amount of regret that I report that for the first time since we moved in November, we're once again paying for television.
Funny thing about living without TV for 6 months - you don't miss it as much as you thought you might. I remember as a kid reading about some youngster who decided not to watch TV for a year. I don't remember why - maybe it was lent, or a new years resolution -- I do remember that at the time I was sure their parents had something to do with inspiring this particular goal. Anyway, I thought they were mad - certifiable.
I've changed my mind.
Continue reading "That Was Then, This is Comcast"
Posted by dberger at 8:02 AM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2005
Guilty Pleasures
Ok, I admit it, I have a soft spot for 80's synth-pop. Bands like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell occupy more than their fare share of shelf space in my CD collection (and disk space in my online archive).
But aside from their two "hits," I'd basically missed Talk Talk. (Those two hits, of course, being their self-titled single, Talk Talk, and It's My Life, recently covered by No Doubt.)
I recently picked up a copy of their greatest hits collection and was pleasantly surprised at the quality and diversity of the tracks I discovered. I would have been satisfied with a bunch of thematic repeats of either of the singles, but what I found was more than that.
A gem that got lost in the 80's.
<shameless-plug-mode>
If you're a Rhapsody subscriber, check them out - a good set of songs are in the catalog. If you're not a Rhapsody subscriber, sign up for a trial. (Yea, I work for them, but it's cool product anyway - though it would be way cooler if it worked on Linux and/or the Mac.)
</shameless-plug-mode>
Posted by dberger at 1:06 PM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2005
This is what I wanna be when I grow up...
I was telling a colleague about an article I read in FastCompany in the late 90's about the shuttle software group.
I made the mistake of reading the first few paragraphs:
As the 120-ton space shuttle sits surrounded by almost 4 million pounds of rocket fuel, exhaling noxious fumes, visibly impatient to defy gravity, its on-board computers take command. Four identical machines, running identical software, pull information from thousands of sensors, make hundreds of milli-second decisions, vote on every decision, check with each other 250 times a second. A fifth computer, with different software, stands by to take control should the other four malfunction.
Continue reading "This is what I wanna be when I grow up..."
Posted by dberger at 5:01 PM | Comments (0)
The hamming distance between pretzels and red vines
Sitting in my office trying to finish up an email before going to grab lunch, I started munching on the Redvines and Pretzels I keep in my office.
I realized that the hamming distance between them is shorter than you might think. Redvines are wheat flour and additives in a corn syrup base, and pretzels are additives in a wheat flour base.
Huh.
It doesn't mean anything - why are you still reading this?
Posted by dberger at 12:49 PM | Comments (1)
Housewarming
We've sent out e-vitations to our house-warming party - if you think you should be on the list, and didn't get a notice, please don't take offense, just ping me and I'll add you - after cut-and-pasting email addresses into the web-form for 15 minutes I managed to close the browser window and had to start over - so it's possible I missed a few someone's on the second (rushed, frustrated) go 'round.
Posted by dberger at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2005
A Stranger's Face In the Mirror
I can see my chin for the first time since '98. Not sure what prompted it, but I decided to be clean shaven for a while. Wondering how long it will take before I recognize the face looking back in the mirror...
Posted by dberger at 4:27 PM | Comments (1)
April 8, 2005
...Let's Get Lost...
I'm typing this sitting on the plane on the way back from SF. All in all, the trip wasn't bad, though the circumstances around it were less than great. I got to see Steve & Heidi for dinner on Wednesday, which was very cool, and the time spent with Matt, Katie, and Julia made the trip feel a lot more upbeat than it probably was.
Most of the SF office went to lunch today to "celebrate" Matt's departure - it's sort of a rag-tag band (the opening to the original Battlestar Galactica just sprang to mind). Many of them have lived through the tumult of surviving in a dot com startup (the happy few...). It's a group that's passionate about what they do, and trying to maintain that passion in the face of adversity. The vibe in the office was strange, it walked like a startup, and talked like a startup, but it didn't quite quack like a startup...
There was a cake back in the office in the afternoon, and after work we went to the bar across the street to continue the wake. I think that was when the reality of the situation started to really sink in - this was it, after five and a half years, that was that...
The title of the entry, by the way, is a reference to a Tina Dico song - one of my favorites off her EP Far. I've been pushing her on everyone who'll listen lately - including a number of folks in the SF office. I've inadvertently insured that she will forever be associated with this particular time in my life.
Back to work on Monday - and in the mean time, assuming the weather is nice, I think there's a ride on the plan for the weekend - time to get lost for a while...
Posted by dberger at 9:45 PM | Comments (0)
April 7, 2005
It's the people, stupid...
I've been in San Francisco since Tuesday night. We have an office here, but I've never had reason to come down before - and my reason this time isn't so positive.
Tonight was the farewell dinner - Matt and his wife Katie, Julia and I had reservations at Absinth. After two straight days in a meeting room, trying to absorb as much as Matt could spew a pre-dinner cocktail was definitely in order, so Julia and I caught a cab to the restaurant while Matt went home to pick up his other half.
I'd never met Katie before tonight, and I'm very glad I had the opportunity. The pleasure was all mine. Dinner, conversation and company were excellent - and I'm trying hard to dwell on the positive.
It's only sorta working.
I can't even think of anything pithy to say, other than that I've been privileged to have had the chance to meet and work with such a passionate, dedicated, and skillful individual - and I would jump, without reservation, at the chance to do so again.
I hope our professional paths cross in the future, and in the interim, I sincerely hope our developing friendship outlives our working relationship.
Posted by dberger at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
April 5, 2005
You never see a motorcycle...
Parked outside a psychiatrists office.
So proclaims a T-Shirt a friend got me a while back. Turns out it's quite true.
Inspired by my brief ride on Sunday I caught the 5:30 boat home yesterday (I'm normally on the 6:20) and called ahead to Dawnise to suit up. I got home, ditched my backpack, and we hit the road - north on 305 over the Agate Pass Bridge, took a right mostly at random onto 307 and a left onto 104 north. We crawled (25mph limits) through Port Gamble and crossed the Hood Canal Floating Bridge.
By the time we made a right onto route 19, the sun was starting to set, and the temperature was dropping. We were pretty good in our First Gear suits, but even through winter gloves the fingertips were getting chilled, so we elected to turn around and re-trace our path back home.
The countryside is picturesque, the roads are twisty and varied, and in an hour of riding all thoughts of work were left behind. We got home, made some tea, and had soup and sandwiches for dinner before turning in for the night.
As the days get longer, so does our range. I'm looking forward to exploring the peninsula.
Posted by dberger at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
April 4, 2005
Life on two wheels
Yesterday Dawnise and I went over to Seattle for breakfast at the Crumpet shop. Edmond joined us, and we had a nice conversation over our tea and crumpets.
After breakfast we went to Bed Bath and Beyond and spent a killobuck on window treatments for our bedroom, the guest room, and the front facing room in the house. (I've got my work cut out for me for a while...) Popped up to a furniture place to look for bookshelves for the library (found some, didn't love the price) and finished up with a trip to Costco before catching the ferry home.
It had been raining on and off in the morning, but cleared in the afternoon and by the time we got to the Bainbridge side around 6, it was beautiful. And thanks to daylight savings, it was still bright out.
Dawnise forced me (I'm not kidding) to take the RS out for a ride. I wanted to take the Trophy, but it's battery had died (again - which tells me I'm not riding enough) and it wasn't finished reconditioning.
I went down to Winslow and gassed up the RS, and hit the road north - across the Agate Pass bridge and a few miles up the road before I decided that the joy of being back on the bike was significantly muted by Dawnise not being with me.
But the fact remains, I'd taken my first ride as a resident of WA.
And it was really nice.
I decided to take the Trophy into work this morning -so I'm sitting on the ferry in my First Gear pants; jacket hanging on a hook across from me and helmet just to my left.
Now I've really gotta get Dawnise's bike happy. No more excuses...
Posted by dberger at 8:14 AM | Comments (0)
April 3, 2005
EDGE'y improv
On Saturday night, Dawnise, Brad, Kat and I went to the Bainbridge playhouse and caught a local improv troupe called EDGE improv.
I was skeptical going in, after our last experience at the playhouse (I expected 14 year olds flailing about at improv) but by the time the host finished his introduction, I was already laughing, skepticism forgotten.
The basic schtick was Who's Line Is it Anyway-like, only without Clive Anderson (Drew Carey, for all you johnny-come-latelies) or the TV cameras. The group was far better than it had a right to be - and I intend to make it a regular event.
If you're planning a trip to the island (and come on, it's only a 35 minute ferry ride - get over the whole "it's so far away..." bit) I recommend coordinating it with a performance. Or, heck, just come over twice. :)
After the show we went out for dessert and conversation before we dropped Brad and Kat back at their car and headed home.
Posted by dberger at 8:43 AM | Comments (0)
April 1, 2005
Higgins, this is going to be ghastly...
Last night Dawnise and I went to a local production of Macbeth. The first sign of danger was when I noticed the fine print - "a new adaptation by so-and-so."
Adaptation? Uh-oh.
The second sign was the program - the front was covered with "Something wicked this way comes" and a silhouette of a carnival tent.
Shakespeare meets Bradbury? Double uh-oh.
Continue reading "Higgins, this is going to be ghastly..."
Posted by dberger at 7:52 AM | Comments (0)