My Archives: January 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
My friend Luke McGuff (Luke and me) and his fiancée Juliebata have created another ratty extravaganza: Brokerat Mountain (credits). "I can't quit you, Dave."
Posted by Anita @ 04:04 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]
Saturday, January 28, 2006
When the dance-step rug Ralph Brandi wanted to give his wife turned out not to be available, he switched ideas and went for one of the permanent Etch-a-Sketch etchings made by his friend Keith Drake. You can see samples of Drake's work (warning, sound!) and order digital prints or an actual Etch-a-Sketch with the image preserved.
(tags: ThereIsNoCat, RalphBrandi, KeithDrake, Etch-a-Sketch)
Posted by Anita @ 03:45 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
When grandson R----- and I went to the downtown library with our friend Luke, I had a chance to actually look for some books for myself. I found the most recent Rome Sub Rosa novel by Steven Saylor, The Judgment of Caesar. What fun! Saylor has a good protagonist in Gordianus the Finder, and this outing includes Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and her brother Ptolemy. This Twenty Questions interview has a lot of background on Saylor's life and career. "When I realized I was going to write a series, the one thing I didn't want to do was write the same book over and over and over, because I don't like reading those kind of series, and I thought it would be really boring [to write]. So I try to do something new, in some way, with each book, and come up with some new angle. And when you're writing mystery fiction, that becomes a real challenge after eight or nine books, because how many ways are there to conceal something? And when you're writing mystery fiction with a first-person narrator, that becomes an even bigger challenge because in the third person there are all kinds of places to hide the story, but with the first-person narrator, it's all through one point of view."
I talked about Saylor before.
(tags: StevenSaylor, Mysteries, RomaSubRosa)
Posted by Anita @ 04:58 AM PST [Link] [Add a Comment]
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
We had a bunch of Lego when we were growing up in the sixties. In addition to building houses and so on, we'd use them for mazes for our pet mice! Mario Ferrari has some reminiscences and pictures of the bricks, wheels, windows and roofs he had back then. "We had plenty of plates, which in the beginning were mainly grey and white. There were special plates as well for trains and vehicles. Plates were sold as spare parts in almost all sizes and colours (sigh!)."
I find that plates are in short supply in the Lego we buy for our grandson. Competitor Mega Bloks also has this flaw. (Via MAKE)
(tags: Lego, MakeZine, MarioFerrari)
Posted by Anita @ 04:23 AM PST [Link] [2 comments]
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Last night we went to the first book launch party for Naked Coversations, the new business blog book by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. We had a really good time! My sister M---- took care of grandson R---- so Jack and I could go over to an historic house overlooking Lake Washington. We weren't the absolute first to arrive but were there in the first half hour.
There were lots of folks I there that I'd met before, as well as people new to me. I wish the wearing of nametags was universal! Sometimes people look familiar but I can't place them. I know there were people present whom I read and would like to have met, darn it! Mitch Ratliffe and Elizabeth Grigg, for example. I did introduce myself to a lot of people, but not to everyone present. Some people I re-introduced myself to, because I've had folks not recognize me if they haven't seen me with no hair, plus I often wear glasses now.
There was some excitement when I went to buy our copy of the book and get it signed; the vase of roses on the table got overturned (no, I didn't do it). Suddenly there was a flood approaching the stack of precious books (in short supply because Amazon was sold out, did I understand that correctly?). I grabbed my purse and book, then people grabbed the stacks of unsold books and someone dashed into a nearby powder room for towels. Crisis averted and only a few books were dampened. We got our book signed by both authors, and the lead-off blurber of the book, Chris Pirillo. A science fiction anthology can be valuable if it's signed by every author in the book; does the same hold true for a book on business blogging?
Standing out on the deck under one of those tall gas heaters, I spent time talking to Julie, Jen, Liz Lawley, and Steve Lacey's wife Nabila (she says she's too busy to blog, with two kids and working full time, which is fair enough). I was touching base with Josh Ledgard about his new job and latest posts, when Gretchen Ledgard leaned over the buffet table and said, "So, you've never seen anyone pissing on the Microsoft sign?" (referring to this entry). Alex Barnett took a picture of Josh and me.
We appear in some of the many pictures taken. I especially like this one of Scoble and me, and this one of Jack ("Hey, somehow I don't look fat!")
Jack and I disagreed on the age of the house, talking about it on the drive home -- I thought it was relatively new, and he thought it was old like the fifties (guessing because he didn't know there were earlier mansions than that in Medina). This article from Pacific Northwest magazine (Sunday paper supplement) gives the true history of the beautiful place. We were both wrong and both right -- it's a 1919 house, even older than Jack thought, but renovated and refreshed in the last few years.
(tags: Naked Conversations, Scoble, Scobleizer, JackWilliamBell)
Posted by Anita @ 02:26 PM PST [Link] [1 Comment]
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Richard Gillman of Absolute Piffle posts a list of the top ten nanotech products of last year (or at least they are marketed using the nano term). He credits Dr. Debajyoti Sarangi as the author of the list, but where was it published? Anyway, the Nano iPod actually has some right to use the term: "Inside the iPod Nano are memory chips from Samsung and Toshiba. Samsung, the biggest producer of NAND and DRAM flash memory chips in the world, uses semiconductor manufacturing methods with precision below 100 nanometers. This precision, in part, is what enables the iPod Nano's 4 GB NAND flash memory."
Also on the list:
- Canola oil with 30 nanometer capsules added containing phytochemicals that lower bad cholesterol
- Chocolate chewing gum with nanoscale crystals
- Facial cream with Fullerene C-60.
- Stink-Proof Nano Socks with 19-nanometer silver particles in the fibers
(tags: nano, nanotech, AbsolutePiffle, RichardGillman, DebajyotiSarangi)
Posted by Anita @ 04:35 AM PST [Link] [1 Comment]
Friday, January 20, 2006
David Levine is coordinating the Writers Workshop at Potlatch (Feb 24, 25, and 26) and needs another pro to help in the critique process. "If you are a pro writer or editor (and I have an exceedingly loose definition of 'pro'), and if you're coming to Potlatch, and if you'd be willing to crit 5 manuscripts (the workshop is 4-7pm on Friday), drop me a note."
Posted by Anita @ 05:10 AM PST [Link] [1 Comment]
Thursday, January 19, 2006
We had a good turnout at last night's weblog meetup, with some new faces and some friends we hadn't seen for too long. Jack had the idea of bringing a cake for Ben Franklin's 300th birthday (which happened the day before) and most of it got eaten. Our grandson R----- had fun and played nicely (mostly) with B. Soroos, the other toddler in attendance. People were still hanging out and talking when we left around nine! Those present:
- Don Smith, business editor of the Seattle PI, doesn't have a blog of his own yet but is leading the paper's effort to do something with blogs, beyond the blogs they already have. He wisely spent the meetup talking with most every blogger present, so I think he has a good sampling of the Seattle blog zeitgeist now.
- Don Sanderson is working on a blog about business promotions. He gave out tide table booklets.
- Matt May
- Jeanniecool doesn't like this blog to be linked to, so we may have to create a fansite for her.
- Josh of Metroblog Seattle
- Peter Leonard, also of Metroblog Seattle
- Jonathan Speights was new. He also blogs on his professional site.
- Toby Padilla was new. He's CEO of Musicmobs.
- Jason Truesdell
- Hiromi Mamiya writes mostly in Japanese.
- Mikey Cofer of North Shore Shirts
- John Poetzel of Mosaic Tile Arts
- Eric Soroos, Rose Soroos, and Ben
- Dylan Wilbanks
- Ken Brush is a denizen of #joiito, visiting from Portland
- Manuel
- Jeff of Beans for Breakfast and Using Books
- Clark Humphrey of MISCmedia
- Phil
- Jack William Bell of Antigravitas (his report)
- and me!
(tags: SeattleMeetup, WeblogMeetup, Weblogs, Blogs, Meetup, Seattle)
Posted by Anita @ 05:04 AM PST [Link]
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Rather than watch the Golden Globes, I like to just read the recap from Kymm. Much funnier! "If I wanted to see red carpet interviews with this idiotic lollipop woman, I would watch the pre-show on whatever channel the pre-show is on. Clearly this was pre-recorded and cut together, so if this exchange with Anthony Hopkins, 'You have done so many wonderful roles, which one was your favourite?' 'O, I had a number of them, I don't, I don't really know. I've had a lot of them,' was the best possible interview snippet that there was to air, there must have been some doozies left on the cutting room floor."
(tags: MightyKymm, Kymm, GoldenGlobes)
Posted by Anita @ 03:54 AM PST [Link]
Monday, January 16, 2006
No, not working in Hollywood. Steve Rubel talks about a contest that was run by Mike Davidson, asking folks to create a movie poster featuring Steve Jobs. Warning to dialup users: the contest page itself is way huge, but the ones on Rubel's page can give you a sample. Lord of the iPod! Citizen Jobs! Ha!
(tags: SteveJobs, SteveRubel, Movies, MikeDavidson)
Posted by Anita @ 04:43 AM PST [Link]
Saturday, January 14, 2006
I'm a long-time Metafilter member (oo, low user number!) but I hadn't really looked at Ask MetaFilter until recently. Now I'm addicted! Questions on a zillion topics including anonymous trainwreck questions, answered by mostly knowledgeable people who mostly take the questions seriously. Smart aleck remarks that don't answer the question aren't appreciated. Jessamyn does some moderating/editing (me and Jessamyn). Ask Mefi is a source of blogfodder for Mike Whybark and lots of other folks.
(tags: AskMefi, AskMetafilter, Jessamyn, Whybark)
Posted by Anita @ 04:55 AM PST [Link]
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Wednesday, January 18 2006, it's the Seattle Weblog Meetup! Location is Ralph's Grocery & Deli, 2035 4th Ave (map), in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, diagonally across from the Cinerama. Free WiFi, food and drink available (you can buy anything in the store and consume it in the deli area, so that includes wine and beer if you want). Local and visiting webloggers talk about blog topics and lots else. I hope to see you there! Parking can be tight in the neighborhood but I usually find a space on Sixth or pay to park in the Warwick Hotel garage across the street for five bucks.
(tags: SeattleMeetup, Blog, blogs, weblog, WeblogMeetup)
Posted by Anita @ 05:23 AM PST [Link]
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
If I'd found this link when I first began chemo last August, I think I'd have tried it! Chemo Chicks sells transfer stencils for your bald head, to decorate with henna! You have to redo it every week but I'm sure Jack would have done that for me. He said if he did it to himself he'd do circuitry patterns. I don't have any personal experience with henna, but I did pay for a temporary tattoo of a dragon for one of my nephews a few years ago. Now that my hair is growing back I won't be trying this project, but it would have been fun! Chemo Chicks also sells hats, eyebrow stencils, and wellness stuff. (via The Usual Suspects)
(tags: ChemoChicks, henna, bald)
Posted by Anita @ 05:11 AM PST [Link]
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Potlatch is a small, book-oriented science fiction convention with a fannish flavor. Potlatch travels up and down the West Coast and this year it's in Seattle! happening February 24 - 26 and I'm on the committee (handling hospitality and web stuff). If you like SF and have never been to a convention, this is a great one for getting your feet wet with a friendly group; if you've been to conventions before, Potlatch is a bit different from most. We don't have "guests" as such -- everyone is a member. There is a single track of programming with great discussions throughout the weekend, taking a cue from our "book of honor," The Avram Davidson Treasury.
We have a writers workshop as part of the con, with a deadline coming up soon: January 15, 2006. A great opportunity to have a story critiqued in the Clarion West manner!
(tags: Potlatch, Seattle, scifi, ScienceFiction, convention, con)
Posted by Anita @ 04:24 AM PST [Link]
Friday, January 6, 2006
I've posted a journal entry, because I've got some good health news! No more chemo for the time being.
(tags: AnitaRowland, BookofDays, chemo, cancer, health)
Posted by Anita @ 12:14 PM PST [Link]
Thursday, January 5, 2006
Jack and I have both read Richard K. Morgan's first two books featuring the character Takeshi Kovacs and liked them: Altered Carbon and Broken Angels. I think we got one of them as a freebie at the Nebulas! Now there's a third one, Woken Furies, I found out via a Cruftbox review. "Takeshi is the sci-fi equivalent of a film noir detective. Set in the far flung future, Takeshi is an ex-government operative with training and skills that give him a decided edge over the bad guys, kind of like a cybernetic Jason Bourne. [...] Overall, a good read. Too bad I finished it in two days. Next time I won't start a book on a five hour plane ride."
Michael "Cruft" Pusateri's reviews of Altered Carbon and Broken Angels.
(tags: RichardKMorgan, cruftbox, cruft, pusateri, WokenFuries, BrokenAngels, AlteredCarbon, ScienceFiction)
Posted by Anita @ 05:39 AM PST [Link]
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Last night's East Side Weblog Meetup was fun! Tommy Williams and Alex Barnett (his report) were there. New blogger Dean Scott got a lot of blog questions answered, I think -- I warned him against spam trackbacks and Jack helped him with image coding. Grandson R---- enjoyed riding the coin-op rides with the Leung girls when Julie Leung made a belated arrival. It's been too long since we've seen her!
(tags: AlexBarnett, TommyWilliams, Blogs, JackWilliamBell, Meetup, SeattleMeetup, EastSideMeetup)
Posted by Anita @ 04:10 AM PST [Link]
Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Thanks to Neon Epiphany! She pointed me to Turner Classic Movies' Miyazaki retrospective, happening Thursday evenings in January. We have some of his movies on DVD or tape, but not Porco Rosso or Nausicaä.
I guess I could sign up to get TCM newsletters or their monthly film calendar via email, but I'd really rather use RSS! (No, I don't have a working feed of my own yet. *hangs head in shame*)
(tags: TCM, TurnerClassicMovies, Miyazaki, NeonEpiphany)