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August 31, 2005
The Universe is Taunting Me
This month's Consumer Reports arrived today.
They rate roadsters.
The universe is taunting me, I just know it.
The Porsche Boxster took the top spot, followed (in order) by the Mercedes SLK, Corvette, 350Z, S2000, Z4, TT, and Lotus Elise.
Guess they couldn't get their hands on a Solstice - so at least I didn't get another review talking about how much fun it is to drive.
The cheapest car in the ratings is the S2000 at $33k. The 'Vette weighs in at $57.5k, and the top performing Porsche at just over $49k.
I figure if you're really in it for speed and handling, buy a $10k motorcycle and stop deluding yourself. Otherwise, just buy something that's fun to drive and stop worrying about the 0-60 time.
Posted by dberger at 9:43 PM | Comments (0)
You Probably Hadda Be There...
Last weekend, we were at Costco doing some shopping. They had a demonstration setup, serving samples of a prepackaged Japanese Sticky Rice.
"Sure" I figured, I'm game to try it. I make perfectly sticky rice in the rice cooker, but what the heck.
So I wandered over and was handed a small paper cup with a sample of rice. Well lubricated in some sort of "Asian" sauce, and decidedly un-sticky.
I was so dumbfounded I didn't even think to ask the woman for a sticky sample of the sticky rice - I just walked away and rejoined Dawnise, chuckling as I went.
Posted by dberger at 9:39 PM | Comments (0)
Another Pleasant (local) Surprise
When I boarded the ferry home this evening, I suggested to Dawnise that we try the vegetarian Chinese place on the corner down-town. I walked there from the ferry and arrived a few minutes before Dawnise, only to discover that they're closed until further notice due to some sort of family emergency.
We decided, instead, to try Sawatdy Thai Cuisine, which we'd heard was "better than the other Thai place on the island." Now, we'd tried the other Thai place, and it was nothing to sneeze at - so we weren't sure what to expect.
We ordered Tom Yum Goong (#9) to start, and Nuea Pattaya (#37), Phad Gra Tiem (#41), and Phad Pug Cashew (#V9). We ordered them "hot" - 3 stars on a 5 star scale, expecting to have to ask for a spice tray. To our pleasant surprise - the spice level was perfect; hot enough to clear the sinus, but not so dominating that you couldn't taste the food.
And oh my god the food. The dishes were all amazing. Very possibly the best Thai food I've ever had, and certainly in the top 5 meals I've had since coming to Washington.
Highly recommended.
Posted by dberger at 9:37 PM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2005
My Life Just Got a Bit More Complicated
A friend of mine (Thanks, Tony) sent me a link to this review of the new Pontiac Solstice.
Perhaps the most notable was the tester himself - at 6'2" (like me) he actually fit.
Oh boy...
Posted by dberger at 9:14 AM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2005
A Fool and His Money...
are some party.
Yesterday Dawnise and I went to the Seattle Gift Show in the Seattle Convention Center. Dawnise occasionally works for a friend of hers in Southern California who has a resale license, and admission to the show is free for buyers (buyer, to buy, buying) and spouses, and it seemed like an entertaining way to spend an afternoon.
I can't really describe the amount of stuff you can buy. Tons of jewelry, chatchkies, toys, and all things in between. There was a food section - the sorts of food items suitable for inclusion in gift baskets (chocolates, sauces, teas, etc. etc.) and Bear Creek had a bunch of interesting stuff. It was total consumer overload.
We found an artisan down in Portland who works in metal and does some really cool work. We're thinking about showing him some drawings for a bar (the kind you serve alcohol at) and possibly commissioning him to make one for us.
Pretty entertaining, really. If you have the opportunity to gain admission, it's worth the time - for people watching if nothing else, and to marvel at the crap people will spend money on.
Posted by dberger at 5:36 PM | Comments (0)
Hi Ho, Hi Ho...
It's back to work I go.
After a very nice week off, I'm going to try to get re-excited about work.
Wish me luck.
Some interesting events went down last week - though their full repercussions aren't yet obvious. Further bulletins as events warrant.
Posted by dberger at 8:31 AM | Comments (0)
Something Rotten
Just finished the latest novel in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series; Something Rotten. It had the same off-kilter sensibility as the previous ones, but for some reason didn't grab me. I found myself struggling though it 'till the last third of the book, when things really got started.
Ah well, they can't all be uproariously funny.
Posted by dberger at 8:26 AM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2005
A Great Vintage, with Notes of Chocolate and Peanut Butter
Finally, wine tasting.
One of only two things I really wanted to do during my time off.
The driver-side rear power window in Dawnise's car broke the other day. Since we have two Saturns I tend to fix most problems twice, and this was no exception. I'd already fixed one window, might even have been the other rear window in her car, come to think of it. Anyway, the problem is a little plastic guide that slides along an aluminum track. The guide is attached, via a ball-and-socket joint, to the arm that actually moves the window, and the track clips to the glass itself.
The plastic guide breaks in half, at which point the metal ball on the actuator bangs up the aluminum track and the window stops working.
So this morning I took the door apart to confirm the source of the problem, and called the Saturn dealer in Bellevue to see if they had the part. "Sure do," he says, 5 of 'em, and the plunger switch I needed for my car to make the dome light work again.
Continue reading "A Great Vintage, with Notes of Chocolate and Peanut Butter"
Posted by dberger at 8:34 PM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2005
It can't already be Thursday...
After abandoning our wine tasting aspirations, we went to the Zoo yesterday. It's a nice zoo, and while we didn't have time to see everything, we put a serious hurting on it in three and a half hours. We'll definitely go back - it's a nice place to just hang around, and it's nice that we can catch a bus (the #5) within a couple blocks of the ferry terminal and it drops off a block from the West gate.
Today we woke up early, packed a lunch, and were out of the house by quarter past eight on our way to Port Townsend, where we boarded the Olympas (...it was spelt like that on the van, I've never seen so many bleedin' aerials...) for a 4 hour whale-watching excursion.
Dawnise, who's not terribly keen on boats and open water, did incredibly well. This is the second time her love of nature has come into conflict with her fear of water, and unlike the trip to the Great Barrier Reef, this wasn't a terribly large boat (about 40 long). (Oh, and don't spend too long noodling on the whole "afraid-of-water-but-live-on-an-island" thing, it just is...)
Continue reading "It can't already be Thursday..."
Posted by dberger at 6:40 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2005
So Much for Wine Tasting
We had planned to hit several of the wineries between us and Port Angeles today. The Hood Canal bridge opened early and we need to be back at the house this evening to meet a landscaper - seemed like a perfect day outing.
I had a nagging feeling last night that it wasn't going to work.
Turns out the wineries along that path are mostly closed during the week.
Ok, plan B, let's go to Woodinville.
Strike 2. Save for the two big wineries, most of them aren't open during the week either.
Plan C - we're going to the Zoo (check out the domain name - wonder how long ago they had to register that).
Had planned to be on the 9:40 boat, but I wasted a bit too much time this morning before climbing in the shower, so we'll catch the next one.
We'll retry the wine tasting thing over the weekend...
Posted by dberger at 9:32 AM | Comments (1)
August 23, 2005
We have a winner... I think...
Got the new TV downstairs and hooked up. Definitely quieter than the first - and the picture quality is (still) amazing, but after 5 minutes displaying the Oppo DVD player splash screen, it's already ghosted into the display. Switching from the DVD screen to the opening credits of Bladerunner, the words "Oppo" and the DVD logo are fairly visible in the new picture.
Having never owned a Plasma, I don't know if this is "normal" or some sort of burn-in process. I figure I'll give it a few weeks and see if it goes away or gets worse.
Posted by dberger at 9:25 PM | Comments (0)
Borrowed Time
Six years ago yesterday, on the 22nd of August 1999, Dawnise started the "rest" of her life. A week prior, on the 15th of August, I had taken her to the ER because, to make a long story short, her chest hurt, she couldn't breathe, and it was getting worse.
I got to see, first hand, an emergency room behave like the ones you see in TV dramas. By the time we got into the ER, I had her in a wheelchair - walking was too much exertion. We were ushered in ahead of the queue in the waiting room and a gaggle of Doctors, Nurses, and technicians descended. They don't fuck around with chest pain and shortness of breath. I hid in a corner, staying out of the way so as not to be evicted from the room. Aside from when they needed to clear the room for in-place X-rays, I didn't leave her side. Within minutes they had a preliminary diagnosis, and had started her on a heparin drip to dissolve a suspected blood clot.
Continue reading "Borrowed Time"
Posted by dberger at 7:28 PM | Comments (0)
Big-Ass TV, Take 2
Turns out Vizio (the manufacturer of the flat screen we bought yesterday) has a plan to deal with the noisy fans. According to the fellow at our local Costco, they're going to send people out to do on-site repairs. Seems reasonable, given that the alternative is a boat-load of returns (thanks to Costco's return policy).
The unit we had, however, had bigger problems - after about 3 hours of use, it was already exhibiting burn-in - the Oppo DVD player intro screen (which kicks to screen saver after less than 5 minutes) and the TV's own "No Signal" box (which also blanks itself) were clearly visible when the unit was set to a "dead" input.
Turns out that Kat was going to a Quilt Guild pot luck with Dawnise tonight, so we arranged for them to take our Saturn, and I borrowed their Honda Element to affect the exchange. The folks @ Costco pulled their last unit off the floor and held it for me, which was awefully nice of them. (They believe they're getting 10 more in tomorrow, but I had the car tonight, so I wasn't interested in taking chances.)
The new one is upstairs in the car - can't unload it myself. When one of our neighbors calls back, or Dawnise gets home (whichever comes first) we'll try it again...
Posted by dberger at 7:22 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2005
Bit of a Let-Down
Got the TV home. It looks great... But there's a gawdawful buzzing from the cooling fans.
Been on the phone with V Inc. once already - it's a "problem they've become aware of" and they're working on a resolution. The support guy asked that I not return the unit, and wait for them to provide a fix - hopefully in the next 14 days. I figure with Costco's return policy, there's little harm in giving them a week or two to see if they can sort it out.
Did some checking on avsforum, and it seems to be a luck of the draw sort of thing - a few people have noisy units, and other's claim they're whisper quiet.
If the unit was quiet, I'd be pretty happy with it - but if they can't sort out the noise, it's going back. I could be convinced to give it another shot (swap units), but only once - getting that thing down the stairs was a pain, getting it back up is going to be worse.
Posted by dberger at 12:51 PM | Comments (1)
August 21, 2005
Vacation's off to a good start
I get three weeks of vacation a year - the only catch is that one of the those weeks has to be taken at the companies convenience - either in August or December. It's known as "R&R" around the office, and I elected to take mine this coming week - the 22nd through the 26th of August.
We got the weekend off to a good start with the dinner party at our place on Friday. Saturday I made breakfast (omelets, with some of the remaining soujuk - thanks Ed ;) and we caught an afternoon ferry to Seattle. We needed to find a new bit of furniture for the TV we're planning to acquire (tomorrow) so it was off to Ikea to see if anything struck our fancy. We ended up taking home one of these. A "LEKSVIK" - which had the doors we wanted to keep the electronics from becoming a visual focal point, and the added advantage of being solid wood.
From Ikea we drove over to West Seattle and stopped in at Todd and Katie's place for their housewarming/moving-away party. It took them all of two days to sell their house - which was a lovely little place, nestled in a nice neighborhood toward the north end. We met a few folks - several of whom were RealNetworks expats, and had some very good food (Todd made killer blue-cheese burgers). I'm disappointed I didn't get to know Todd better before he decided to move back to Atlanta - definitely a friendship missed out on.
We drove home from the party, and I put together the new furniture, but left moving the electronics for another day.
Continue reading "Vacation's off to a good start"
Posted by dberger at 10:05 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2005
Good Friends, Good Food
Our last guests left a short time ago, and we'll be turning in shortly. Dawnise decided we'd do dinner at this weeks game night, and we ended up with 10 for dinner, desert, and entertaining conversation. Tri-tip on the BBQ, salad, and rice for the main, fresh cookies, berries, and apple pucker jello shots for desert. We didn't actually play many games (though several games of pool were played while I was cooking), but folks seemed to have a good time - and that's what really matters.
Just finished loading the second set of dishes into the dish washer, and our last mainland guests should be just about back on the Seattle side. Glad everyone who came did - and for those who didn't - there's always next time :)
Posted by dberger at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2005
Those guys @ Philips...
As I mentioned the other day, we bought an Oppo OPDV971H DVD player with DVI out in preparation for the new HD TV we're planning to purchase on Monday.
We've had a Philips Pronto (TSU2000) for several years - having bought it on ebay for more than I ever expected to pay for "just a remote control." It's a great bit of tech. Basically a Palm Pilot with an IR port on steroids. You build control screens using some custom PC software, and download the configuration to the remote via a serial cable.
When we setup the TV room in the new house, and discovered that the movers had broken the Sony TV, I had substituted with the cheap TV that normally lives in the MAME cabinet.
Anyway - I had been reticent about updating the remote to be able to control the stand-in TV - so all the macros in the remote (that do handy things like turn everything necessary for watching DVDs on, and set all the components to the right sources) no longer turned on (or off) the TV.
The new DVD player was the necessary impetus to actually re-work the remote. Since Oppo isn't in the common IR code databases, and didn't have information on their IR codeset available (I emailed support, and they answered the same day), I learned the codes from the included remote, and built Pronto screens around them.
That remote (and the design software) is still cool - 8 years after it's initial release. Forward thinking, that.
Oh, and in case you got here looking for a CCF file for the Oppo. Try this
Posted by dberger at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)
Teachers Who Made a Difference
Many Recall Teachers Who Made Difference
Thank you Mrs. Tanizawa (3rd Grade), Ms. Yoon (4th and 5th), Mrs. Kemp (7th Grade Computers Teacher - to whom I directly owe the most), Mr. Baron (9th Grade Pre-Law, 10th Grade AP US History, and Mock Trial), Mr. Kleevos (10th Grade English), Mr. Douglas (12th Grade Shakespeare-disguised-as-an-AP-English-class) and my AP Biology teacher - who's face I can see in my mind's eye, but who's name refuses to reveal itself.
And thank you to the two most present teachers in my life - my parents, from whom I continue to learn to this day.
Posted by dberger at 10:09 AM | Comments (2)
August 15, 2005
A Weekend to Remember
The weekend started Friday night, when Dawnise and I met Ian and Mary Ann for dinner @ their place in Wallingford.
We got the tour of their house - built in the early 1900's and well cared for over it's life - and walked over to Jitterbug for dinner. The waitress forgot to put in our appetizer order, so when I reminded her moments before the mains came out, she comp'd it and brought it anyway. Dinner was very good, and she managed to forget the three deserts we ordered, so we got four - one of them on the house as well. We walked back to their place, socialized a bit, and left to catch the 11pm ferry home. A very good time, looking forward to spending more time with them.
Saturday we had been invited to attend a Firefly marathon. All 13 episodes, in order, one sitting. It sounded like fun, but I was highly skeptical of my ability to macrame my ass into a sofa for that long without going irretrievably insane. We discussed compromises on the ferry home Friday night - most of them ending with "you (Dawnise) stay, I'll go home when I'm done, and pick you up from the Ferry when you get home." Dawnise decided against. At the time I was annoyed that she wanted all the pie or none of the pie, and guilty for scuttling plans. But I couldn't imagine it ending well. I'd be "done," she wouldn't, and we'd have to hash it out then.
Continue reading "A Weekend to Remember"
Posted by dberger at 8:10 AM | Comments (2)
August 12, 2005
Quote of the Day; August 12, 2005
Was having a conversation with a colleage over lunch on this very topic, and fortune produced this quote:
"No right of private conversation was enumerated in the Constitution. I don't suppose it occurred to anyone at the time that it could be prevented."
- Whitfield Diffie
Posted by dberger at 5:49 PM | Comments (0)
Harry Potter and the Run On Novel
When the most recent Harry Potter novel was released, Dawnise and I realized that neither of us had actually ever gotten around to reading the previous one; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
After finishing my last book, I decided to give it a whirl. "Couldn't take me more than a few days of ferry reading," I thought.
I was wrong.
The bloody book was nearly 900 pages, and more damningly, the story dragged as none of the previous books had. It felt like the narrative was all over the place - there were whole subplots that could have been eliminated right up to the moment Rowling scrambled to pull it all together at the end.
I walked away from it feeling that her editor needed to be more of a hard-ass and say "no" more often.
I had planned to pick up the most recent one straight away, but I think I'll take a breather.
Posted by dberger at 5:43 PM | Comments (1)
August 11, 2005
New Toys, Part 1
In preparation for the new TV we're planning to buy (the movers busted and bought the old one, and we decided after 10 years on the same TV, an upgrade was permissible), I bought an OPPO Digital - OPDV971H DIVX DVI DVD Player. Mostly based on it's scoring in this review. It arrived last night.
It's region free out of the box (not a big deal, really, but it means we can buy the UK releases of Coupling in advance of their US release) and plays just about any form of media you toss in (well, not any, really, but it does play DivX.)
All I could test it on was the 19" LCD on my machine, but the visual differences between 480P and 720P were obvious. I watched a few scenes from The Incredibles and was generally impressed with the up-scaled image quality.
The unit feels well built, though the remote is so light it feels cheap (no matter, I'll soon re-program our Pronto TSU2k to handle it). One interesting design choice is that the analog output is 480i (yup, i) only - the de-interlacer is integrated into the digital out circuitry.
Anyway, so far, so good. Further bulletins as events warrant, and a more complete review once the TV it was bought for arrives.
Posted by dberger at 9:06 AM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2005
A drinkable Starbucks Blend?
I'm not a Starbucks fan, generally. Most of their roasts are a bit overdone for my taste (black as Satan's Testicles, as a particularly eloquent colleague of mine put it).
Unfortunately, I find myself drinking a fair bit of Starbucks these days - a colleague (the eloquent one) and I make coffee in the morning, and Starbucks, or Tully's, or occasionally Seattle's Best are typically what's easy to pick up on the way into the office.
Last time we ran out, I walked down to the nearest 4-bucks and bought a bag of Caffe Verona.
I'll be damned if it isn't drinkable.
It was only today, after brewing it for a few days, that I realized that a friend of mine at UCR had been drinking (and recommending it) while I was there.
Seems I should pay more attention in school.
Posted by dberger at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)
August 8, 2005
The best laid plans
I can't use that phrase these days without thinking of Eddie Izzard's routine. (Are these your plans? Yes, our best laid plans...)
Anyway.
Dawnise and I had planned to head to the Washington Renaissance Fantasy Faire in Gig Harbor this weekend; and our friends Scott & Amanda were going to come down from Vancouver and join us.
Turned out they had a visitor from out of town and had to wave off, and I ended up throwing my back out on my way home Friday night doing something completely ordinary (putting the bike up on the center stand).
So with me not being able to move much, the weekend sorta got scrambled.
Continue reading "The best laid plans"
Posted by dberger at 9:20 AM | Comments (0)
August 4, 2005
I hate cats
I've written before about our "problem-child."
I knew when I left this morning that I needed to take care of the litter boxes when I got home tonight - but I wasn't prepared to walk into a family room that reaked of cat waste.
The bloody animal had soiled it's cage. I barely contained my anger as I unceramoniously dumped the beast onto the back balcony and set to work trying to clean up it's mess. Fortunately I had the sense to put a barrier layer of plastic sheeting between the carpet bottom of the cage and the "real" carpet. Small consolation.
I'm so done dealing with that animal.
To add insult to injury, one of the other two decided that the house is his personal vomitorium and decorated our bedroom floor. While you might argue I can't rationally get mad for a cat being sick, I'm not exactly in a rational state of mind at the moment...
Posted by dberger at 6:49 PM | Comments (0)
Carnivale
Last night Dawnise and I watched the last two episodes of the first season of Carnivale via Netflix.
What to say? The visuals are amazing, the writing of top quality, and the story twisted and nuanced enough that I can't reliably second-guess it.
Looking forward to the second season - and feeling painfully little surprise that it was canceled early.
It required the viewer to engage their brain - clearly not the stuff of the mass market.
Posted by dberger at 8:45 AM | Comments (1)
August 1, 2005
Great Minds...
I took the bus to the ferry this morning and walked to work. On the ferry on the way home, I tried calling Dawnise to tell her I was en-route, but got a busy signal (turns out a cat had knocked the phone off the hook), so by the time I got in touch with her, it was too late for her to pick me up from the ferry.
Anyway...
I took the bus back to the stop near the house and walked the last quarter mile. On the way up our road, I stopped and picked a handful of the wild black berries that grow all over our property.
I came in and presented them to Dawnise as a gift.
Se looked to the table, where a Tupperware container full of those same berries was waiting for me.
Great minds really do think alike.
Posted by dberger at 7:53 PM | Comments (0)