New Old Photos

I've uploaded a bunch of photos to Flickr. Those that haven't been blogged about:

Amusing Signs

• a warning note left near a thermostat
• toilet paper you should stay clear of
• Costco's gas cakes look so appetizing...
• a Soviet Russia Yahoo van, coming to a town near you!

Amusing Random Stuff

• my glasses in a glass of milk, courtesy of Forrest
• a creative, geeky jewelry holder, short-lived though it was
• Forrest's sod, meant for his work desk but now dying outside the apartment
• the ninja bartender in the basement of Olya's frat

Normal Photos

• a case where sunset Del Sol isn't actually redundant
• me eating broccoli; this photo is dedicated to my mommy, who detests broccoli. You will need to be logged in to Flickr and be one of my friends or family contacts in order to see this photo.
• wall pots stolen from a home & garden magazine
• And don't forget the new pictures of flowers! Pink, red, and bronze.

Categories: photos, links

rss2email

I tried and tried to convert my family to the way of RSS feed readers, but they refuse to see the light. (At least Forrest understands what they are and chooses to be backwards. ;)) But I run my own server, so I offered to have it email my mom whenever my blog or Flickr feeds are updated. She checks her email all the time, so it's an acceptable substitute for a feed reader... especially if my two feeds would be the only ones she'd read anyhow.

Aaron Swartz's rss2email is a Python script that does exactly what I want. I've set it to run once an hour, so I no longer have to call up my mom and quiz her on whether she's seen my latest posting. Happy happy, joy joy.

Just thought I'd point out this utility, in case anyone else needed a means of dragging their loved ones into the Web2.0, aka that thar intarweb. (Anyone know the origin of that phrase, by the way?)

Categories: feeds, script

Viral Sore Throat

While visiting Olya, I picked up some nasty sore throat virus. Not feeling so great. All Olya's fault, clearly. And Forrest is pretty sure I've already passed the fun that is a painful sore throat on to him. My germs is his germs; isn't it nice that I share?

Mystery Beer Night

Alpha Theta, Olya's coed frat, occasionally hosts what they call "mystery beers." They had about one hundred different varieties of beer and other malt beverage, all hidden in several ice bins. People stood in line, drew a number out of a (duct tape) hat, and either drank or traded away their selected beer.

I drew an Old Brown Dog Ale, which was pretty decent. I also tried a sip of Dogfish 120 Minute IPA. This was apparently an expensive, rare beer, and tasted surprising sweet. Pretty good, but if it IS, in fact, expensive and rare, I probably won't be having it again any time soon.

New Boots

Friday it was really rainy. My Vans have gaping holes in the soles, so my feet eventually get miserable and soaked if I have to walk for any length of time.

So Olya was very nice and drove me out to West Lebanon again yesterday to go looking for new shoes at Payless. I actually found some men's waterproof boots, size five, that fit. Woohoo, no more wet feet!

Another Weekend, Another Flat Tire(s)

Maybe I'm cursed.

I'm visiting Olya at Dartmouth in New Hampshire for the weekend -- she's graduating this June! Anyway, we went out to dinner with some of her friends last night, to the Seven Barrels Brew Pub in West Lebanon. The driver couldn't see the lanes in the dark and rain, and she was passing by the restaurant.

We all yelled that she needed to turn left... And so she did, immediately, at high speed. Right across a curb. After the yelling was over, we realized the car was listing to starboard. We parked and discovered we had TWO flat tires on the passenger side.

I was apparently the only one with AAA. I called them and arranged to have them tow the car back. Otherwise an uneventful dinner. :)

Update, 5/27: Flickr photos — tire, car

Categories: photo, car

It's Aliiiive!

So after a quick email to the Poqet PC mailing list, it turns out there's a sneaky little button hiding by the scroll lock. After you put in the batteries, you still need to poke the button with a pin to get it to turn on. Then it prompts you for a date. Woohoo! The thing's even Y2K compliant. Crazy.

But now I don't know how I can get new programs onto it, or data files off it. I'm pestering the mailing list for more information.

Categories: PoqetPC, laptop, computer, electronics

Extra Time in Walnut Creek

As you can see, we won't be back in SLO tonight like we planned. Seven o'clock on a Sunday, no tire places are open.

While driving around Santa Cruz, we noticed the car bouncing a bit more than usual. We checked out the car in a parking lot and Forrest spotted a flat spot on the passenger side rear tire. Figured I'd have to replace it or something when we got home.

But then, just after we'd set out for home, the car started making a nasty rattling sound and we pulled over to the side of the freeway to look at it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so we proceeded cautiously to the next exit and parked in some parking lot to further inspect it. Lo and behold, that same flat tire was now missing a chunk out of it.

So I'll be replacing the tire a bit sooner than planned, and I'll be missing an extra day of school. Grrr...

Update, 5/24: Flickr photos — torn tire, birds-eye view, spare

Categories: photos, car

Coffee Cat

On highway 17, going between Santa Cruz and Walnut Creek, we stopped at Scotts Valley looking for peppermint hot chocolate. They were out of the syrup, but they did have big bins of green coffee beans for sale. They roast their own coffee.

Forrest bought Jerry two pounds of the stuff. The cafe is really nice — lots of space, comfy chairs, big tables — and the employees are very friendly. If you ever happen to be in Scotts Valley, give them some business!

Update, 5/24: Flickr photos — sign, interior.

Categories: photos, coffee, shopping

Possibly Functional PC

I also picked up at the flea a possibly functional Poqet PC. There are apparently user groups online of Poqet aficcionados. It has DOS 3 programmed into it, and 640k memory. Should be enough for anybody! I hope I can tinker with it to the point of getting it to work...

Categories: photos, electronics, laptop, computer, PoqetPC

Emo Button

So cool... But what use do we have for a giant button, anyway? It could go on a lawn mower, maybe, so that if your lawn isn't quite emo enough to cut itself... The same box-o-buttons has numerous Big Red Buttons, perfect for all your nuclear-weapon launching needs.

Categories: photos, electronics, humor

Car Vandalism

Forrest and I were about to leave town when I got to my car and saw its mirror was snapped off. From the way it was broken, it had to be intentional. Stupid drunk jerks, I'm sure.

First we duct-taped it on so we could at least drive to Costco for food. My dad called me with instructions on how to remove the whole mirror mounting, so it wouldn't risk more damage on the drive up. One wrench later, the mirror was in my back seat.

I'll have to wait until Monday or Tuesday to get it fixed. Plans for this weekend include the e-flea, taking Forrest's mom out to sushi, crashing my mom's BBQ, and maybe (but probably not, alas) picking up Forrest's new car.

Categories: photos, car

Clint Doppleganger

Clint vs. Chuck

So BillMonk is a convenient way of informally keeping track of how much your friends owe you. What's frightening is that one of the two developers is a Clint lookalike. You can spot the difference because the BillMonk imposter is not wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

Sorry I couldn't find a better comparison photo, but this is the only one I could quickly find online. A Google image search turns up this photo and one comic dedicated to Staley.

Update, 9:12 PM: I've made a graphic comparing the two photos directly, in case the links ever up and die on us.

Categories: photos, comparison

Rapleaf

So I'm not convinced that Rapleaf is going to be as awesome as TechCrunch does, but it could be. So I'm checking it out. They're launching publically in three days. Says TechCrunch:

Rapleaf will allow anyone to leave feedback for anyone they’ve transacted with. Others can use this feedback to help them determine if they are doing business with someone who’d likely to engage in fraud. Rapleaf is eBay feedback for the rest of the web, and the offline world. ... If Rapleaf succeeds in their plans, it will make the Internet a better place to do business.

Categories: graphics, community