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August 28, 2008
Warners Re-Issuing 5 New Order Albums
It's been a good while since I bought any CDs (I'm pretty much all-iTunes and all-Amazon, all the time), but this news will get me to the store, for sure:
On 28th September Rhino Records will re-issue one of the most consistent and influential music catalogues of the 1980s, that of New Order. All five albums will come with bonus discs featuring extended versions, b-sides and remixes, as well as extensive sleevenotes, including interviews with all four band members.
It's a bit of a shame they're not issuing Republic, as well ("Regret" = best song of all time), but you can't have everything, right?
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 28, 2008 8:46 AM.
Posted to Entertainment. Permalink for this entry.
August 24, 2008
"In Defense Of Food"
I recently finished Michael Pollan's new book, "In Defense of Food" and have found myself, strangely, talking about it with just about everyone I know.
"Food" is a follow-on to Pollan's hugely successful "The Omnivore's Dilemma", and it concerns itself with distilling the a lot of "Dilemma"'s findings into actionable, specific suggestions for changing your diet, and your life.
The core advice ("Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.") isn't all that radical, or even surprising. What is surprising, and what most caught my imagination, was the exploration of the modern food industry, and how it operates. In some ways, "Defense" is a spiritual successor to "Fast Food Nation", and, just as that book will put you off your local hamburger, "Defense" will give you pause when you are confronted with the claimed health benefits of a protein bar, a bag of snack food, or any of the quick-heat meals that Americans rely on to get themselves through the day. Pollan advocates "hugging the edges" of your local grocery store, sticking with fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy and meats, and avoiding the highly-processed, preservative-laden concotions in the middle.
I do find Pollan a bit fussy (and a bit too much of food snob), but many of his suggestions about how to revere and appreciate your food (eat slowly and deliberately; prepare your own food if you can; buy the freshest, most-local ingredients you can) have become part of Elaine's and my routine in the past month or so. We are making time for dinner with each other, cooking several times a week, shopping for our ingredients at the local farmer's market or produce stand, and, I have to say, Pollan has a point. I've found myself casting a wary eye on Balance Bars, Baked Lays, and pretty much anything that comes out of one of the vending machines at the office. I've tried to break habits about portion sizes (start with a half sandwich, wait 10 minutes, see if I'm still hungry), and have discovered real pleasure in preparing meals the long way 'round, especially on weekends (like this one) where we can - and are willing - to make the time (de-bearding mussels last Friday rates as one of my more interesting hands-on experiences in a kitchen).
"Defense" is worth a read, even though I doubt you'll buy every one of Pollan's points any more than I did. It certainly will challenge your assumptions about what's in the grocery store, what you're putting in your mouth, and what role food is playing in your life.
Recommend.
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 24, 2008 4:57 PM.
Posted to Entertainment | Fitness. Permalink for this entry.
August 21, 2008
LJ's Out For 2008
Well, drat:
Mark Storm star Lauren Jackson down as the latest to undergo surgery that will cause her to miss the post-Olympic portion of the WNBA season. Jackson, a 6-foot-5 forward, plans to have arthroscopic surgery on her right ankle in Sydney, which will take four to six weeks to heal. If she's lucky and the Storm can win without her, she'll be back in time for the WNBA Finals slated to begin on Oct. 1.
Despite the team's impressive, LJ-free performance back in July, I fear this bodes ill for the playoffs. Fingers crossed.
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 21, 2008 5:22 AM.
Posted to Seattle Storm. Permalink for this entry.
August 16, 2008
Feeling The Aftershock
 Last weekend, Elaine and I headed out to Spokane to see family and ride roller coasters at Silverwood - specifically Aftershock (nee Deja Vu).
The trip was a blast - great company, great entertainment, great laughs - but I think all of us were surprised at just how much fun we had at the park that day.
A few trip notes (and Silverwood tips):
- Gate tickets are geting more expensive. Back in 2002, an adult single-day pass was $24.99; today, it's $40.99. The park's a much better value than it was back then (it's gained a water park and a kick-ass roller coaster, among other things), but if you want to save a few bucks, get your tickets at Costco: $30.99 per person. When you're getting four tickets (like we did), that amounts to a free admission for one of your party.
- We were there right after park open (11 AM), and our first order of business was to head to Boulder Beach. Northen Idaho was already a nice-n-toasty 72 degrees, so chilling in the lazy river ride for a half hour actually sounded pretty good. This also allowed us to get ahead of the guaranteed-insane crowds that stream in to the water park as the mercury climbs in the afternoon.
- Tip #1: When you first arrive at Silverwood, get a locker in the water park. The lockers work on an unlimited in-and-out system, so you have use of it all day long and you can stash your stuff as you change activities. Finally - and this is key - lockers sell out. Go early, unless you don't mind schelpping a duffel bag full of wet towels all over the park.
- Tip #2: Like the locker, rent an innertube when you arrive. Again, there's a limited supply of these things, and having an innertube lets you walk on to many of the rides instead of waiting at the base of a slide for one of the communal tubes. Innertubes can be exchanged throughout the day (e.g., single-rider for double-rider) for free.
- Tip #3: Tuck an extra $20 (and photo ID) in your swimsuit. The lazy river ride has a float-up bar that serves beer, wine, and mixed drinks. And lemme tell ya, there is nothing like a nice, lazy-river innertube ride with a frozen margarita in your hand. (I love it. Love.)
- The water park had expanded since my last trip in 2006; they've got a new, family-style slide called "Avalanche Mountain" that opened last year, and it rocks. You spin, slosh, shriek and then splash down - fantastic.
- The park has also added a second wave pool.
- (Observation: Bikinis, like automobiles, should only be available to licensed operators. I'm not trying to kill anyone's good time or anything, but there are children present, as well as people with good eyesight, for God's sake. Before you suit up, think of your obligation to the community. That's all I'm saying.)
- I was pleasantly surprised at how reasonable the prices are for food and snacks. We had a delicious lunch at Lindy's (try the "Train Burger" - gorgonzola cheese, dee-lish), and the ticket wasn't any different from any one of a zillion restaurants in Spokane. There's not much 'theme park premium' going on at Silverwood.
- The train ride is a pretty good after-lunch, don't-wanna-tempt-my-stomach-with-a-coaster activity. It takes about a half hour, you get to see a large chunk of the park, and the jokes aren't too corny. I personally enjoyed seeing just how much land the park occupies, and how much room they have to expand in the coming years. Given what they've done over the last 20 (Silverwood opened in '88), it should be pretty exciting.
- As the day wore on, my inner MBA started to slice-and-dice the park from an operational standpoint. I started trying to estimate things like attendance, ride capacities, souvenir revenues, headcount, and the like. This stuff is fascinating.
- (I swear, after I'm done with my tech career, I'm going to work in theme park operations somewhere. For today, though, it's Roller Coaster Tycoon for me.)
- Aftershock is awesome. Yes, it's the exact same Deja Vu coaster that you can ride at any handful of Six Flags parks. However, parked in the middle of Northern Idaho, a blue-and-green steel monstrosity, it's fabulous. The themeing around the ride is nice, the queues are nice, the attendees were in to everything. It's wonderful to have such a good coaster near Seattle.
My family was pretty excited about the whole day, and the Spokane folks are now talking season passes. Elaine and I will be back next year, for sure.
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 16, 2008 3:36 PM.
Posted to Entertainment | Travel. Permalink for this entry.
August 3, 2008
Gavin’s Adventures In Beijing, Day 8, 9, & 10
My last three days in Beijing were rather more subdued than the previous 7; following our sightseeing weekend, it was back to work on Monday and Tuesday, with Wednesday being a (very long) travel day.
The remaining details:
- Monday was a shocking normal work day: wake up, brush, breakfast, walk to the office, unpack laptop, e-mail, an hour of creative work, meeting, e-mail, meeting, lunch, e-mail, snack, e-mail and then packing it up for dinner. The jet lag was largely behind me, so I wasn't fighting strange bouts of fatigue - in fact, the whole thing felt so overwhelming usual that it made me a little homesick. Rather than being a cool day in a new land, it was just another workday, but one where I wasn't going to see my girl at the end of it. It made me kind of sad.
- (On the other hand, I learned that acclimation takes, on average, five days.)
- Dinner was Schezuan with a gaggle of coworkers. They were eager to see how well Brooke and I would deal with super-spicy-hot food. We both love the stuff, and managed to navigate the sea of chili oil that came our way.
- Spicy food, apparently, knocks me out. Early bedtime.
- Tuesday was tinged with a bit of sadness, and a touch of frenzy. It was my last day in the office, so all the final face-to-face stuff I needed to get done had to be done now, before I left for the plane. I was also cognizant that this was my last chance for good, high-quality Internet access before I got back to Redmond. (Airport and hotel WiFi is usually fine, but you just can't trust that it'll work when you need it.)
- Brooke is staying on for a bit of vacation; his wife is flying in on Friday, so he'll be working the rest of the week in China and then the two of them are off for some much-needed R&R in Shanghai.
- Tuesday afternoon is also time for shopping. I promised some folks back home that I'd bring them Olympic souvenirs, and so we're off to one of the gadzillion Olympics shops to find appropriate stuff.
- While out, my curiosity finally gets the better of me and I drag Brooke and our colleague, Ray, to McDonald's. I'm eager to see what the local experience is like, and, as expected, it's pretty adapted to local tastes. I order the cheeseburger, and am surprised to find that the thing is wholly unlike what we get in the States - the meat is tastier; the cheese is different (lactose-free), and covered in paprika; it has the same special sauce as the Big Mac (but no ketchup or mustard); instead of pickles, it has raw cucumbers.
- (In all seriousness, if they sold this burger in the US, I'd buy it. It's really yummy.)
- The fries are perfect. There is no Diet Coke. And if you want your meal to go, a plastic bag is 0.2 Yuan.
- More souvenir shopping, this time on behalf of my colleague Stuart, who has asked me to bring him back some "authentically Chinese" alcohol ("Look, Russia has vodka, Ireland has whiskey, China's got their something. If you can locate a flask of whatever the heck that happens to be, that'll rock."). After conferring with Ray, we duck in to a convenience store and select a small, 100ml green glass bottle of something that Ray assures me is both "authentic" and "very popular". We also select a slightly-larger (200 ml) clear bottle of something else that is "not as authentic, but is also very popular." The combined price for the booze is 10 Yuan (about $1.50); the alcohol content of each bottle is 56%.
- (In the back of my mind, I'm praying that this stuff won't cause wood alcohol blindness.)
- Back at the hotel bar, Brooke and I both realize how badly we're missing our wives when, over successive rounds of drinks, we find ourselves engaging in an ever-escalating "argument" about which one of us managed to marry farther above his station.
- Wednesday comes, and I'm up early. My flight is at 8:55 AM, so I'm out the door of the hotel at 6. (Sigh)
- Once again, my taxi has no seatbelts. And, while this is something I managed to get used to while riding in the city, it's considerably less fun when we're going 120 km/hr on the aggressive Beijing freeway with less than a carlength between us and the vehicle in front of us.
- After arriving at the airport, I check in for my flight and spend a scant 15 minutes waiting in line at customs. I give my passport control person a "very satisfied" as I head to the gate.
- Walking to the gate, it becomes clear what a full-blown shopping mall the Beijing airport really us. Once again, I'm struck by how many American and international brands are offered for sale. If you need a Hugo Boss shirt with your Starbucks before that flight to Tokyo, you're good to go.
- On the four-hour leg between Beijing and Tokyo, I watch "The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters", which is an incredible documentary about two guys competing for the world record in Donkey Kong. It's a funny, poignant, and totally gripping human drama, and I loved it.
- In Tokyo, I manage to snag some WiFi and find, to my delight, that Elaine is still up and heading to bed. We flirt shamelessly for a good 15 or 20 minutes before my flight starts boarding.
- "Be Kind, Rewind" is charming and totally disposable.
- The flight touches down in Seattle at 8:25 AM, Pacific Time.
Damn, it's good to be home.
(If you're interested, I've posted a number of pictures from the trip to my Flickr Photostream.)
Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 3, 2008 3:32 PM.
Posted to MSFT | Travel. Permalink for this entry.
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