I Can Only Imagine This Is How It Happened

1:47 PM, Friday, A Design Studio

"Man, this is great cake. Who's birthday is it, anyway? Enh, must be celebrating some big account like General Mills. Who knows."

"Oh, hey Hans. What food photography? The cakes. We'll just bake a couple of new ones, sorry about the misunderstanding."

"Dudes, dudes, dudes, I can't bake to save my life. Can you? You're such a trust fund baby, your parents sent a nanny with you to college? Damn, that is harsh."

"Okay, well, we still have a — Karenohmygoddonoteatthat — slice of cake. Good gravy, she has a forkful in her hand, she has mauled the one perfect piece remaining."

"Um, just hold that fork in front of the slice, we'll light it, shoot it, and call it a day. Yeah, we'll use the same picture for all of the cake boxes. It's not like anyone is going to notice."

Air Native

Seriously, "heritage callouts"?

Palm Reading

Look, I'm a pretty big fan of Apple's technology. I have a Newton and a stash of six color logo stickers. My first Mac was beige, and it's name didn't start with an i. Regardless of what loyalties these facts might imply, the phone I'm interested in doesn't have an i in its name either. It's the Palm Centro.

[image from Gizmodo]

The Centro is an easy enough phone to disregard, especially if you're under the impression (like I was) that it runs Windows Mobile (it doesn't). I don't know anyone who has nice things to say about WinMobile, although I'm sure there are some masochists out there who do. It is an Astro Van of an operating system that tries to cram its retrofitted self into a space intended for compact cars. PalmOS, on the other hand, is well tailored for the devices it runs on. It also has the added bonus of being the only platform the game 'Space Trader' supports.

I've been extremely pleased with the performance of my Palm Treo 650 (and not just because my prior phone was a Sony Ericsson). Here's what I like about it:

• QWERTY keyboard
• Threaded SMS conversations
  
• Nice OS - intuitive and rock solid
  
• I can hear the people I talk to, they can hear me
• Touchscreen (the color is also a bonus)
  
• Bluetooth (I use it for syncing, not with a headset)
• Full-size SD slot
  
• Mute on/off slider on the top of the phone
• Awesome battery life
  
• Space Trader (of course), SSH, and a whole slew of other third party applications

Here's what I don't like about the Treo 650:

• The web browser is kind of crappy (although Universe 3 seems like a viable solution)
  
• The default sync software for OS X is also somewhat crappy (I use Missing Sync)
  
• No Graffiti

The Treo's a chunky phone, and I do appreciate when I can use my gadgets as weapons in street fighting, but there's also something to be said for phones that can comfortably fit in pockets. Hence my interest in upgrading to the slimmer Centro. The only things I'd really be losing are weight, a full-size SD slot, and a visible antenna.

Why not an iPhone? Well, the lovely web browser, decent data plan, and impeccable design are not enough. It's not that I don't want to switch carriers — I'm already on AT&T.

The iPhone is a 1.0 product, not to mention Apple's first real foray into the cellular market (the sorry implementation of iTunes on Motorola's ROKR doesn't count). I am quite happy to let the 1 million (and counting) beta testers who bought the iPhone identify the device's flaws, and give Apple the time to fix the problems. I often have the capacity to be a patient woman, and in the case of the problematic iPhone 1.1.1 firmware update, it seems to have paid off.

The Centro has a microSD slot as well, so when Moore's Law kicks into high gear, capacity beyond 8GB is feasible. No tactile Bluetooth QWERTY keyboard has a design that does the iPhone justice, while the Centro has keyboard buttons built in.

The iPhone also costs $399 — nearly four times the cost of the $99 Centro (although I expect the price will drop further by the time Centros are available on AT&T). I like bargains.

Local Yum

Fruit and vegetables were not making their way into our house often enough.

Eventually, I remembered the local organic produce delivery service in Toronto, and it turned out there was similar one here: Door to Door Organics. Hooray!

$25* gets you a box of 4 kinds of fruit and 5 kinds of veggies, including delivery. The produce is seasonal and random, which is nice: seasonal food is tasty, and random food is sometimes a challenge to prepare ("chard... sure, let's see what we can do with this!").

I told my eco-literate friend about the service — and as per usual, he rebutted with something cooler that I had never heard about.

Community-Supported Agriculture depends on local shareholders to raise capital for the upcoming growing season — you buy a share, and you get fresh local produce for the duration of the season. Big M puts it into more interesting terms, saying something along the lines of "money to support urban mad scientists!"

According to PASA's farm locator, I've got two nearby CSAs to choose from:

• Somerton Tanks Farm, and
  
• the super-local to me Greensgrow Farm (makers of Honey from the Hood)
  

Greensgrow also runs a market stand on Thurdsay and Saturday afternoons. Since they're so close (and CSAs don't typically deliver produce), I'm likeliest to buy CSA shares from them when the next growing season starts.

Philadelphians interested in local agriculture can also check out the cooking workshop at Weaver's Way Farm, on Saturday, September 29th.

For the record, no, I'm not a "localvore." I'm not saying you can't eat entirely of local sustenance (and if that's what you want to do, get down with your bad self). I'm just saying, way back when people used to eat strictly local organic produce, and they were often *hungry.*

But supporting the local economy, ensuring I eat my vegetables, and making sure urban mad scientists can do their thing? I'm all about that.


*Yeah, I know that those $25 could be either USD or CAD at the moment.

Impossible Places

Niihau jumped out at me as I was looking at the map of Hawaii,. It was then that I realized this was the island I had to stay on when I visited.

When I got home from Borders, I headed to the Internet to see what I could find out about this place - none of the travel guides made mention of anything you could do in Niihau. It turns out there's a good reason for that.

It's the Forbidden Isle.

You aren't allowed to stay there unless you're invited by the family that owns the island, or are in the US military. The 300 or so natives are isolated from the outside world (8 years ago there was a 100% unemployment rate among them). There are supervised tours of the beaches. I think I would be okay with that - or at least I would certainly take it if it was all I could get.

I have a backup, though. The Near Islands, the island chain furthest west (so much so it's technically east) in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands. More specifically, Attu Island. It's got snow and ocean, aurora borealis in a sky devoid of light pollution. There's even a travel agency specifically providing trips to the island, because of all the crazy rare birds that show up. Perfect.

Their last trip was in 2006.

They're not planning another.

That makes things a little more difficult.

There's always Unalaska Island, in the Fox Islands group of the Aleutians (I love the name Unalaska). That one is easier to get to, by an order of magnitude. Sure, Southwest won't fly to it, but at least the Alaskan Tourism Board representatives know where it is.

Foodstuffs

This past week or so has been a roller coaster of food quality:

Tiffin is amazing. This Indian food is delicious, they don't use trans fats, they deliver to our house, and they mix up the menu every month with different specials. Anyone who knows me well knows I love a menu with a bunch of unique dishes. If you find yourself in Philadelphia, you must find your way to 710 West Girard (especially if you're vegetarian).

New China has been our reliable local Chinese food delivery restaurant for almost two years. It has recently rescinded its duties by delivering a few meals that... weren't very good. I could understand if it was just the ma po tofu that was mediocre (and pretty bland, considering that they said they'd make it extra spicy), but the beef ho fun wasn't good either (and I thought it was near impossible to mess up). I'm now on the lookout for another local Chinese restaurant (suggestions are very much welcome).

Voila! meals are pretty damn good, considering that they start frozen in a bag, take about two minutes of prep, and are ready in ten minutes. I thought they would be a little boring, but they're not. Bits that should be moist are moist, pieces that should be crisp are crisp. Nom, nom, nom.

Wawa was recently written up at uwishunu. When I first heard the name about five years ago it was charmingly perplexing, when I was introduced to the first of many products (the 'Magnum' — a 44 ounce/1.3 liter cup whose intended use is to hold that much soda and ice) I was somewhat taken aback by the American egregiousness of it. Since then, I have grown to love Wawa. Not for its cups of soda as large as my head, but for its hoagies and salads made-to-order, its coffee, and its macaroni and cheese. I am a particular fan of the computerized made-to-order ordering system. The name, interestingly enough, is Ojibwe for Canada goose.

Oh, Philadelphia... How Are You So Awesome When Your Transit System Is So Awful?

While we're on the subject of public transit, does anyone know anyone who thinks SEPTA's elimination of paper transfers is a good idea?

I'd be all for eliminating the transfers if they were replaced with something else (DC's Metro, for example, has a fairly sophisticated transfer system), but they're simply disappearing. If you need to take more than one SEPTA vehicle — be it trolley, el train, subway, or bus — you'll need to pay an additional fare for each one (unless one of your transfers is through the subterranean routes at City Hall/15th St. Station, these will remain free).

While I never thought it made much sense to charge $0.60 per transfer to each additional vehicle, paying an extra $2 ($1.30 if you can get tokens) per route just seems ludicrous.

The Future Train to the Past

It's been more than two years since I've been back. Wait, scratch that. Two years since I left. I haven't even visited Toronto since I graduated from college.

It isn't that I don't want to go. It's that when I first moved to America, I needed to wait on getting a green card (in order to get back into the States), once I had that, I had to get my passport from Canada (my old one had expired — you guessed it — while I was waiting for my green card). The Passport Office swears they are still processing the application I sent in February. That's okay. I've got the patience.

I wonder, though — will I get back to old stomping grounds to discover most things have changed? I'm not so egotistic to demand that progress wait for my presence to continue, but what can I expect when I return? I don't even want to begin speculating, I'd do the research and no doubt be disappointed about a few things. Already, I've noted that any TTC tokens I may still have are invalid.

Although, hey, I do hope I still have some of those old dime-style tokens somewhere. Far be it from me to conceal my joy over transit ephemera.

It's Time to Get Citations

Sure, niche web pages on the Internet are nothing new. But one of the things I love about how the Internet is evolving (thanks to processes such as the catchphrased "crowdsourcing") is the sheer amount of detail in these incredibly focused pockets.

Take, for example, the Muppet Wiki. The articles range in granularity from Sesame Street, to Kermit the Frog, to Muppet Eyes. They're as obscure as Clerk Fraggle.

Personally, it was the Muppet Eyes article that made my day.

Postcards from New Jersey

Being the birthplace of the nation it resides in, Philadelphia gets *nuts* around July 4 (Independence Day in America). Now, I like colonial history as much as the next geek, but there's a point at which it's just not worth it to wrestle with the crowds.

Instead, Big M and I did a little crossing of the Delaware ourselves, and spent a few days in New Jersey. July 4th itself was great, we played some mini-putt and went go-kart racing (by the way, The Funplex has 36 holes of miniature golf, spread across two courses).

As fun as it was, The Funplex was plan B. The original schedule had us watching the Transformers movie, and the Google Maps directions to the cinema were pretty representative of some of the moves that need to be made while driving in Jersey:

[ New Jersey: Under no circumstances turn left ]

Ah, the distinctive "jughandles" of Jersey's highways. I find the u-turn needed near the end of the journey shown here to be particularly priceless.

As a hardly related aside. I love Turtle Pops. Turtle Pops are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters made out of ice cream, with gumball eyes. A few weeks ago, while at a picnic (in Babbage Park, New Jersey -- named after the person you probably think it is), Big M chased down an ice cream van to get me a Turtle Pop.

[ Mmm, cherry. Thanks to Will for the photo! ]

That, my friends, is love.

Conference Room C

Over on the ridiculously niche-y team blag I'm on (Bloaves), I posted my last 'Bakery' bloave.

It wasn't my last because I stopped eating breads, or because I decided to boycott the Bakery and really mean it this time. It's my last because they suddenly closed one day, and I happened to still have one of their bars from last week chilling in our office freezer.

They say they'll re-open August 1st, and they're closed for renovations. But HQ has already moved from around the corner to across the city.

We're a smaller company, and while we have a conference table, many minor conferences happen outside. In fact, there was a bit of a joke that outside of the front door was Conference Room A, and beside the parking lot was Conference Room B. Following that logic, the bakery café was Conference Room C. A lot of meetings happened there, running all sorts of gamuts.

However, no love lost. Aside from the magic bars, there isn't a whole lot they made that ever appealed to me. If anyone from the Bakery is reading this, I've got to tell you: You should have lowered your prices or procured better ingredients.

Junto Philadelphia

Last week I got to participate in an institution hundreds of years old... and it wasn't patriarchy!

Junto was started in 1727 by the irresistible Ben Franklin (what, you don't find the guy who invented bifocals and the armonica hot?). As you might imagine, meetings took place in Philadelphia. Meetings filled with discussion on a wide range of topics -- including philosophy, science, and business. Meetings with a purpose of bettering each other. Wikipedia tells me this is exactly my cup of tea.

Naturally, I was very glad to be invited to the modern incarnation of Junto in Philly. P'unk Avenue now hosts the event, and draws a lot of great people to the meeting (they also serve a mean tomato pie). The structure's more laid back -- besides the feature presentation of the evening, there's a focus on getting to know the other community members there. It's a tech-savvy membership, which also means the potential for awesome geek-outs while randomly chatting is high.

Did I long for the questions of Juntos past? A little, I do have a penchant for meetings with curious structures. Did I have a good time? Absolutely. Did I feel better off for having gone? Yes. (Am I starting to sound like Donald Rumsfeld? Err...)

I'm looking forward to the next Junto. It's an event that makes me wonder what took me so long to get back into local tech communities.

Umbrellas vs. Fedoras (or, Can You Tell It Rained Today?)

I don't like umbrellas one bit.

The rain? Totally fine. I don't mind walking in it at all (with the caveat that if it's torrential, I know about it in time to plan accordingly). If it's a moderate amount, I might wear a fedora. A heavy downpour, and I'll wear rain pants and a jacket.

Five reasons why I don't use umbrellas:

1. They're awkward to hold if you're carrying other things.
2. They're lightning rods.
3. The wind blows them out of your grasp.
4. They're easy to forget.
5. Those little plastic tips on the end of the metal rods, they get detached from the fabric that they stretch taut, reducing the effective area of shelter.
   

In short, to me, they're a bigger pain than they're worth.

Although, I do think that these ones at least look cool.

Happy Taffy

I tried salt water taffy this weekend, for the first time. Wow, is it ever delicious.

Fortune Cookies

Affirmations and other statements have no place in "fortune" cookies. For the record.

I'm A Sucker For Zero Gravity

I couldn't resist. This picture from LOLtheorists made me laugh so much, I had to share it.

By the way, there are a bunch of 'LOL macro' pages listed on Laughing Squid, my favorites are LOLbots and LOLpresident.

When Wishing Makes It So

This morning while on the train to NYC (boarding at 5:52 AM, woo), I was thinking. 'If only I could read these Google Reader items while in transit, without an EVDO adapter.'

Well, when I next get online, it turns out... I can! Thanks Google, for releasing Google Gears and Offline. You rock.

Edges of the World

I stand at the edge of the state. At the edge of the continent. My work is done, the conference is over, and here I stand. Shiny shoes, suit jacket, and all.

The wind whips a mist of sand at me, steady and ceaseless. It's a struggle to keep my hat on as I run through sandy dunes, one I fail at a few times. I will be cleaning sand out of my ears and hair for days on end, but keep rushing towards the water. I had to come to the ocean. I always do. It's the insatiable urge to see something so much larger than myself, the ensuing avalanche of thought that leaves me reminded of how incomprehensibly large the universe is.

About two weeks ago, it was the Atlantic shore. Perhaps it's poetic that I stand in front of the Pacific so soon after, but the verse will have to wait. For now, I just look into the horizon that threatens to go forever. I savor the moment where I see my first sand dollar, actual sand dollar on an actual beach. I marvel at the sky that would be hard-pressed to be more perfect.

A plane cuts across it, filled with travellers. I'm reminded that I, myself, will be in the air soon. Heading home to the man (and the cat) that miss me. That I miss, too.

I'll see the oceans again.



Delayed post from April

Darwin Channels The Fonz

I went up to my office the other day, and found my small digital camera on the ground. The resident feline, Darwin, must have knocked it off my desk.

This particular device had been acting sporadically, the LCD not properly displaying the scenes to be photographed. I had meant to take it apart and give it a good cleaning, but it looked like such an action might now be for naught - the lens could be cracked, other parts irreparably damaged.

It turns out that the camera worked perfectly once I plucked it from the floor. Go Darwin.

Outer Space, Thanks For Stopping By

Have you ever tried to write while a satellite dish is staring at you? From inside your living room?

Long story short: DirecTV charged Big M a bunch of money, then proceeded to call him a liar when confronted about it. Research was done, we decided to go with Dish Network instead (hey, I like better customer service and lower bills), they installed new dishes and took down the old one.

How's the Dish Network service? Well, pretty good so far. This is actually saying a lot - I don't like most of what's on the tube nowadays, and I've been pretty resistant to getting any kind of television subscription. There's a rather decent 2 tuner DVR that came (for free) with our package. The reception doesn't leave anything to be desired. We opted out of the package that includes the Science Channel (no Space Week here, unfortunately, save for what's on NASA TV and up in the sky), but that's about the only channel I wish we had. There's Kung Fu, Mythbusters, Extreme Engineering, and Good Eats in HD. There's Star Trek on about twice a day. There's the occasional algebra lesson.

There's also TVJapan. TVJapan is (mostly) programming from NHK, and it's delightful. Dragon Zakura (with the motorcycle gang member turned lawyer trying to do good as a sensei) and Spring Waltz (with a handlebar mustache bearing German who shouts "Wunderbar!") are both great. There's a TVJapan special on rebuilding a 70 year old steam train on the DVR that I've been nibbling at, careful to not let it all slip away in too few viewings. I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I love watching the weather on the news, the design of it all. Yes, TVJapan (Dish channel 640) is my television Kryptonite.

The DVR makes a big difference - no channel surfing and waiting for shows to come on. I skip commercials when I can help it - when I do catch the odd set, it makes me wonder what the heck happened to broadcast advertising to make it so nauseatingly pedestrian (the brilliant exceptions are too few and far between).

I think, now, that I could probably learn to live with unadulterated television in my house again. It feels odd, as if having the luxury is gluttonous, a prime example of what has taken over many Americans and given them an image the rest of the world doesn't like. There's so much bad television out there - but at least there's a lot to learn, and the good television is worth the admission price. Besides, Big M and I run a production company, and we have to have a better idea of what's going on out there in Televisionia. End of story.

The defunct dish, for those wondering, is in our dining room now - a considerably better place for it.