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 | The Eiffel Tower. Paris, France October 16, 2006 |
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June 8, 2009A Quick Word About Street Food
Recently, we caught the "Vancouver" episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations which featured Japadog on Burrard. This got the two of us thinking a lot about hot dogs - really good, really flavorful, sauerkraut-encrusted, mustard-drenched ones. (Chili optional.) Yelp is your friend: "Dog In The Park", they say, is the place to go. So we did. And we love it. "Dog In The Park" is located at the northern tip of Westlake Park, just up from the See's Candy and facing Westlake mall. It's about 6 feet of fronting, has a single, electric grill, and serves some awesome dogs. (I'm hooked on the Louisiana spicy one myself.) We've been evangelizing the place, and it seems to be taking root - Richard's been going a lot of late, and took my in-laws on Saturday. Rave reviews, all. Give it a try. And if you know any other good hot dog places, well, post 'em in the comments. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 8, 2009 12:07 PM. May 31, 2009Support The Thomas Turner Scholarship Fund This WednesdayIn late 2007, my good friend Tom lost his 17-year-old son, Thomas, in a car wreck on US-2. In the intervening 17 months, the family has set up a scholarship fund to celebrate Thomas' life. The fund awards two college scholarships every year to "deserving high school soccer players, who exemplify the qualities that made Tom such an extraordinary young man." This Wednesday, Monroe High School is hosting the Monroe Soccer Alumni Game, with the proceeds ($5 per ticket) going to the scholarship fund. If you're in to soccer (or just want to help a good cause), it's the place to be. Kickoff's at 7 PM. UPDATE: You can now donate via PayPal if you're so inclined. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated May 31, 2009 6:07 PM. May 29, 2009Disneyland Paris in Google EarthI got in to a conversation last week about Disneyland Paris: specifically, what I liked about it, and how it differs from Disneyland in Anaheim or Disney World in Orlando. I gave some of my usual comments - amazing theming, Discoveryland vs. Tomorrowland, the awesomeness that is Space Mountain: Mission 2 - but I realized as I was talking that it can be hard to capture the flavor. Well, now you can see for yourself. Disney has introduced a Google Earth fly-through of Disneyland Paris that is pretty astounding. It gives you a terrific sense of the place - the layout, the detail, and what makes the park distinctly European. Disney And More has a huge number of screenshots from the fly-through, but if you're a Google Earth user, you can check it out here. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated May 29, 2009 7:09 AM. March 25, 2009"Toy Story Mania" Is Coming To The Wii!This is an awfully nice thing to wake up to: It's the news of the week, and it's really cool: Disney Interactive studios officially announces today that a Toy Story Mania video game - of course inspired from the DCA and WDW attraction - will be released this fall, exclusively for Nintendo Wii. And in 3D! Remember, folks - there's only a couple hundred shopping days left until Christmas... Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated March 25, 2009 5:55 AM. December 19, 2008The Benny HillifierOn Tuesday, Slog linked to a Web site that I've been totally addicted to - The Benny Hillifier. The Hillifier is simple: you give it a YouTube ID, and it gives you the video, backed by the song "Yakety Sax". "Yakety Sax" can make any video (any! video!) hysterically funny. Don't believe me?
(See what I mean? Now it's funny.) Other suggestions: Evolution of Dance, Cute Overload kitty, roller coasters, etc. Discuss. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 19, 2008 8:34 AM. October 11, 2008"The New Age Of Frugality"BusinessWeek's cover story this week is called "The New Age Of Frugality", and it's all about the changing habits of American consumers (podcast here): Ingram and Behre are harbingers of a dawning Age of Frugality. People who overconsumed during the past decade are now rejecting extravagant lifestyles. They're spending less, and more wisely. Some are getting their finances in order. Others are fearful of losing their jobs, shocked by investment losses, or hunkering down amid the general uncertainty. I have to say, this describes everyone I'm talking to right now. Elaine and I have been making some changes in our lifestyles (that Disneyland trip will likely be our last for some time), and I've been interested to hear how many of my peeps are doing the same. Rather than dinners out, friends are suggesting dinners in (or potlucks); people are riding the bus, skipping the morning Starbucks, and so on. Suddenly, frugality is cool. My friend Brian and I got in to a long discussion about what these changes, if they broaden and stick, will do to the larger economy. Our consensus was that mass-market, low-cost necessities providers like Wal-Mart and Costco are going to be fine, as are firms like Apple that make good-quality, differentiated products. However, a lot of other firms - American car companies, for example - are in for a rough freakin' ride. The next few years are going to be really, really strange, I think. What are y'all doing? Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 11, 2008 4:27 PM. July 17, 2008Khan 2.0 Has ShippedAs of about 1:30 this morning, Khan and Christine delivered a healthy baby boy - 7 lbs, 2.3 oz., 18" tall. Mother and son are doing great; father is blogging about it. (Of course, leave it to Khan to have a kid that shares a birthday with Disneyland...) Nice job, you guys! Elaine and I can't wait to see him! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 17, 2008 6:14 AM. July 13, 2008coast2Coaster Updated For '08I spent a good chunk of my Sunday doing some long-overdue maintenance on coast2Coaster, and am pleased to report that the data behind the mashup has been updated for 2008. (Say it with me: hooray!) The total number of parks and coasters grew this year, from 2007's 266 and 743, respectively, to 270 and 749. I did a bit of pruning, too - a number of coasters in RCDB are listed as "In Storage"; they were deducted from the final tallies. "Under construction" coasters, on the other hand, are included. coast2Coaster '08 also contains Silverwood's latest, "Aftershock", opening later this month. Happy ridin', everybody! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 13, 2008 5:58 PM. July 10, 2008The Geek HierarchySlog had a blurb on this flowchart today, and I couldn't resist linking - it made me giggle too much. Basically, the hierarchy can be boiled down to: > Furries > People who write erotic versions of Star Trek where all the caracters are furries, like Kirk is an ocelot or something, and they put a furry version of themselves as the star of the story. (God, I laughed at this.) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 10, 2008 6:39 PM. July 6, 2008Blue Moon Burgers Are YummyElaine and I are always on the hunt for new-n-tasty local burgers (Red Mill, anyone?), and yesterday we found a great one: Blue Moon Burgers in South Lake Union. All the burgers are hormone-free and cooked fresh to order. I tried the "Blue Shroom"; Elaine did their standard cheeseburger with mushrooms. Both are the height of deliciousness. Split an order of fries while you're at it. Bonus points: if you sit outside, you can watch the SLUT slide by every 15 minutes or so. We are so going back. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 6, 2008 8:09 AM. June 21, 2008Meet The Minases Elaine and I were lucky enough to attend, and had a wonderful, wonderful time. Way to go, you two! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 21, 2008 2:23 PM. June 20, 2008Way To Go, Kim & Steve! Well done, you guys! Elaine and I can't wait to see her in person. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 20, 2008 1:29 PM. June 16, 2008New Coaster Has a 97-Degree(!) DropYou know it's a kick-ass coaster when Gizmodo links to it: As soon as you think they can't build a more intense roller coaster, someone comes along and makes one that's crazier than anything anyone's seen before. Today's example: the Farenheit at Hershey Park, a coaster that drops you down a 97-degree slope. Yes, that's beyond vertical. The two-minute video clip makes me want to get on a plane to Hershey, Pennsylvania, like, tomorrow. (Thanks for the link, Richard!) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 16, 2008 9:40 PM. June 12, 2008"I'd Totally Do Your Mama"The Stranger recently re-ran this hysterical "guest column" from 2006 by "Barack Obama", called "I'd Totally Do Your Mama": For years, I've heard people talk about your mama, and everything that's been said has been negative. Judging from what I've heard, I expected her to be a monster - so fat that her favorite food is seconds, so ugly they filmed Gorillas In The Mist in her shower, so nasty she made Right Guard turn left. It gives me the giggles, and sounds very much like The Onion's "Smoove B" (greatest hit: "Bring It On"). Enjoy. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 12, 2008 6:09 AM. June 1, 2008Way To Go, Richard & Mel! No date's been set, but Elaine and I are totally there on the big day. Way to go, you two! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 1, 2008 12:41 PM. May 26, 2008Way To Go, Benny & Yael! Elaine and I wish you both a long, happy life together. Mazel tov! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated May 26, 2008 6:34 PM. February 18, 2008Saturday Morning At The Farmer's MarketEvery Saturday, from 9 AM to 2 PM, there's a Farmer's Market in the U District. I've driven by it plenty of times, but had never made the time to walk around and see it in person. A number of our neighbors raved about it during the caucuses last weekend, so Elaine and I made some time this weekend to stroll over and check it out. I have to say, it's really pretty cool. From a style-and-vibe standpoint, this Farmer's Market was pretty much like every other you might attend - stall after stall of various produce, meat, fish, jams, jellies, breads, wines, pickles, cheeses, you name it. All of it is locally sourced and locally produced (we bought chard from a woman who'd come over from Sequim), and all of the people selling are enthusiastic about their wares. We shopped for a good 45 minutes, browsing from stall to stall and seeing what was there. Our haul included some ham, cheese, bread, great veggies - and some Vashon Island Syrah. We then promptly returned to the condo, unwrapped everything, and had about the best Saturday-morning brunch I can remember. The market isn't seasonal - it's there every weekend - and it's definitely worth a look if you're in the area. Bring cash (many of the vendors don't take cards), a grocery bag or two, and go early if you can - the yummy stuff sells out fast. (I love our neighborhood.) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated February 18, 2008 1:03 PM. January 21, 2008Magic Mountain Loses Its CrownThe Los Angeles Travel Deals blog had a bit last week (still getting un-buried from Macworld) about how Cedar Point has officially dethroned Six Flags Magic Mountain as Coaster Mecca: Sadly, it’s official. California’s Six Flags Magic Mountain is no longer the “roller coaster capital of the world” — surrendering the title to Ohio’s Cedar Point amusement park. Cedar Point and Magic Mountain have been in a roller-coaster arms race for more than a decade. When I visited Magic Mountain in 2004, I was in G-Force Heaven - just fantastic. I keep meaning to visit Cedar Point, but haven't made it ... yet. 2008 might be the year. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated January 21, 2008 4:35 PM. January 1, 2008Way To Go, Khan!My good friend, longtime business partner, and all-around great guy Khan has just announced that he and his wife Christine are expecting their first child this summer. Way to go, you two! Elaine and I are looking forward to doing some babysitting in 2010. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated January 1, 2008 11:29 AM. December 19, 2007Escaping From Alcatraz: June 8, 2008You know that moment when you found out you won something unexpected? Like, you entered some random sweepstakes, and then later you're told that you won the grand prize? I'm having that moment right now. Two years ago, my friend Jeff and I tried to enter the "Escape From Alcatraz" triathlon. The event is always popular, so the sponsors have implemented a lottery system to limit the number of participants. Neither of us got in for 2005. Well, we thought we'd try it again for 2008, and - we made the list. At or around 8 AM on Sunday, June 8, 2008, I'll be impersonating shark-bait in San Francisco Bay. (Yes!) If you're not familiar, The Escape from Alcatraz triathlon is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. The race starts from the side of a boat just off from Alcatraz island; you swim to shore (1.5 miles), strip off your wetsuit and run a mile to your bike, then ride 18 miles in an out-and-back loop to Golden Gate Park and finally end with an 8-mile run. (Course information and map here.) I've done Alcatraz once - in 2000 - and my goals at the time were simple: 1) finish the race without killing myself, and 2) finish in under four hours if possible. I finished with a time of 3:44:27, which made me very happy. This time, it's all about faster. I'm trying to shave a half-hour off my time, and finish under 3:15. It's going to be a challenge, no question, but I'm a much better runner than I was in 2000, and I'm planning to train on the cycle more consistently (as well as doing lots and lots of hills). I figure the time breakdown looks like this:
The trick is going to be some serious, at-distance training sessions. After spending two or three months getting up to speed in each event, Jeff and I will be spending our weekends in simulated triathlons, getting the endurance up. Hoo boy, do I have a lot of work to do - I've got to get back in the water, get back out running Greenlake, and buy a bicycle. I am sooooooo looking forward to this! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 19, 2007 5:20 PM. December 13, 2007Deja Vu Coming To SilverwoodScreamscape is reporting that Silverwood Theme Park is getting a new roller coaster - namely, the Deja Vu coaster from Six Flags Great America in Chicago. This rumor has been running around for a bit; looks like it's true. Funny story about Deja Vu - when Lane and I went to Great America in May 2006, we wanted to ride Deja Vu but it was closed. I'd ridden the version at Magic Mountain - it's good stuff - and was a little disappointed that we couldn't ride it together. (Phooey.) Deja Vu seems like a strong ride for Silverwood - maybe too strong for their audience. Two of their current coasters (Timber Terror, Tremors) are straight-up woodies, with the third (Corkscrew) being a short looping coaster. Deja Vu is a pretty intense inverted coaster, with lots of loops and drops. I don't know how well it will go over with Silverwood's family market. Of course, that won't stop us from driving to Idaho to see if we can finally get on the silly thing... Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 13, 2007 7:56 AM. December 2, 2007We'd Like To Thank The Academy...Elaine and I are packing up the house this weekend, boxing up our stuff in preperation for The Big Move. The house looks like an ad for Public Storage, what with the bubble wrap, tape guns, blank newsprint and cardboard boxes strewn about. (One day, very soon, we will have our lives on some kind of stable axis. Just not today.) We've been talking all weekend - how excited we are for the new place, how much fun it's going to be to settle in. However, in the midst of all this excitement we wanted to put a shout out to a few people who played a pivotal role in making the new condo happen. Frankly, we had a lot of help. First, we'd like to thank our parents. Both of our folks were just terrificly supportive, from my Dad ("Uh, so, we're thinking about buying ... what should I know?") to Elaine's Dad, who was reading our contracts at 10 o'clock on a weeknight, and then sending along some great feedback. Thanks to both of you. Second, we'd like to thank our friends - especially Juli, without whom we would have never have found the place at all. We also put the word out to friends who already had places, and picked their brains about Stuff They'd Do Differently, or who they worked with for homeowners' insurance. Kristen, Aaron, Chris, Sara ... you guys rock. Third, we'd like to thank our mortgage guy, Mark Meadowcroft. Mark was recommended to us by our Realtor, Laura, and he turned out to be about the most fantastic choice possible. Mark was incredibly prepared and up-front about everything we'd need to do (and when we'd need to do it); our financing came together fast, largely because he moved heaven and earth to make it happen. You rock, Mark! Fourth, we'd like to thank Kevin, who represented the builder/seller. He was gracious, responsive, professional and added a personal touch to the process. Finally - and most importantly - we'd like to thank our real estate agent, Laura Brodniak. Laura and I have known one another for about ten years now - she was a client at Media Access - but this was the first time I'd had the good fortune to have her working for me, as opposed to the other way 'round. Laura was amazing. Even though Elaine and I weren't sure of what we wanted, Laura hit the ground running, quickly grokked our tastes, and found us a great set of possibilities. She was full of great advice, bent over backward to keep us happy (and things moving along smoothly), and whipped out the magic rolodex to get us in touch with the right people (e.g., Mark, or Darrell at Safe & Sound Home Inspections). Laura had to give us oxygen once or twice, but the fact that the whole deal came together in a few short weeks is a testament to how organized and focused she is. We couldn't have done it without her. So. The rest of this week is all about boxes, tape, and lifting with the knees. We're grinning from ear to ear, but, mostly, we're grateful for all the help. Thanks, everybody. The housewarming will be killer. Promise. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 2, 2007 4:40 PM. December 1, 2007It Wasn't The End Of The World As I Knew It (So I Feel Fine)Last night, I finally did something I've been screwing up my nerve to do for more than a year: I sang karaoke. In a bar. See, I've been taking voice lessons since August of '06, and set myself a New Year's Resolution back in January to get up and sing in public before the year was out. Kristen and Aaron are both big fans of karaoke at the Beacon Pub - it's a bona-fide dive bar with great crowd energy - so the four of us headed over around 8, grabbed a table and drinks, and began pawing through the (incredibly) thick books of songs that they had in the system. After a beer and a half, I finally chose REM's "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)." I have to admit, it was pretty exhilurating. Scary, yes, but fun and cool at the same time. The hardest thing was standing up there with the mic in my hand as the DJ tried to get the laserdisc player synched up and working. But when the music started, everything kicked in - I was too focused to be freaked. (It really is a hell of a rush. I can see why karaoke's become so popular.) I've promised myself one more session before 12/31, so we're thinking about the Sunset Bowl sometime toward the end of the month. Anyone up for a party? Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 1, 2007 12:38 PM. November 27, 2007Home, Sweet HomeAs of today, Elaine and I are homeowners: we bought a condo in the University District. (Say it with me: whoa.) The ink on the paperwork is still wet; the transaction closed just a few hours ago. I'm still reeling at how crazy-fast this whole thing has come together. To understand just how fast, let's set the Wayback Machine for one ... month ... ago ... It's the morning of Saturday, October 27, and Elaine and I are gettin' ready to head out to Vancouver, BC to see the family for a post-honeymoon wedding dinner. (Regular blog readers may recall that this is the trip where I got my transit freak on with a jaunt on SkyTrain.) So it's about 8 AM and Elaine's in the shower. I'm sipping coffee and going through the mail when I spot a letter from The Best Property Manager On The Planet (ours). He's thorough, professional, polite; in fact, the guy is so thorough/professional/polite that he invoices us for rent. Every month. And includes a self-addressed, stamped envelope to boot. So I'm looking at the obviously-from-him envelope, glance at the calendar, see that we're four days from the end of the month, and think: must be rent. Slit open the envelope, slide out the paperwork, unfold the letter, read. Thought #1: Huh. This isn't rent. Long story short: when we moved back in April, we went on a month-to-month lease. With the wedding coming up that August and my job not yet landed, month-to-month was a great solution, an easy way of keeping things flexible until life settled down. What made it a no-brainer was that our landlords - the nice couple that owns the house we're renting - were off to Foreign Lands for school. They were planning to be gone two years. Except now it's not yet six months later, and they're unexpectedly back. So they're home, and they'd kinda-sorta like their house back. Please. Oh, crap. Elaine emerges from the shower (a sight that qualifies as the Eighth Wonder Of The World, as far as I'm concerned), and I explain the situation. Her response: "Oh, crap!" Now we're strategizing. We talk all the way to Canada, get on my brother-in-law's WiFi, and start crawling Craigslist for properties. We find a few interesting ones, send some mail, try to set up appointments for when we're back on Sunday. And then Phase Two of the discussion begins, kicked off by an innocuous question from the lips of my beautiful wife: "What about buying something?" And, just like that, we were in the housing market. There were two prongs to our plan: first, find a rental we're good with. Since we have to be out ASAFP, we need a place to live. Second, make a parallel effort to see what kinds of property is on the market right now. If we see something we like, great; if not, no worries. So I phoned my friend, Realtor, and adoptive den mother, Laura, and explained the situation. "We're not really sure if we're buying right now," I said, "But we'd kick ourselves if we didn't look. Are you interested in working with a flakey couple who doesn't have any real idea of what the hell they want?" Laura assured me that we fit her client profile perfectly ("I'm part Realtor, part therapist"), asked me a few questions about what we might like, and promised to send over some stuff. Two hours later, Elaine and I were drowning in MLS listings. My jaw actually dropped when I saw how much stuff there was to sift through. Wine was poured, laptops were opened, and we parked ourselves on the couch for an evening of online house-hunting. We're hitting PAGE DOWN over and over, seeing some absolutely terrible places with astronomical price tags. When we find a place that looks promising, we fire up Google Maps and see where it's located. Inevitably, the thing is located in West Ballard or Interbay or something - transit dead zones. No go. I'm hoping to find something that's easily served by The Connector (Microsoft's amazing new employee bus service); Elaine wants easy access to downtown. So we PAGE DOWN and PAGE DOWN, and finally build a list of seven places that look vaguely promising. We send the list to Laura, who books us for visits and viewings on the following weekend. During the week, we find a rental that we really like. So Plan A worked out, and now we're covered. If we don't find something to buy, no problem. Saturday rolls around. Lane and I pile in to Laura's car with our friend Juli, and the four of us go on tour of Seattle's Finest. We see great places in crummy locations; crummy places that are clearly trying to benefit from their neighbors' property improvements, and (what feels like) zillions of bland-as-hell townhouses. It was this last that wore me down. Townhouses can be wonderful, airy, fantastic things ... and they can also be bland, also-ran, uninspired boxes that are built on someone's former backyard. It's late in the afternoon, and we walked in to a place that I just hated. Five seconds in the front door, and I just knew. Um .... no. So we break for coffee, and Juli mentions that there's a new condo project nearby she'd like to check out. And - sure. What the hell? At this point, what's one more? We get coffee, get to the project, meet the nice man in the show office, and are let in to the model to walk around. And, for both of us, it's love at first sight. It's wonderful. Modern, clean, spacious, perfect. Fixtures we love. Enough space for the two of us, plus guests. It's got a deck. Great natural light. Hardwood. Yadda. So we take the information sheets from the counter, stare hard at the price, gulp, and decided to go to dinner. I think it was at dinner that we decided to go for it. At home, I break out the MBA Excel King Fu and build some models of what we're signing up for - Home Price X with Interest Rate Y and Down Payment Z will result in the following cash requirements; since I make A and Elaine B, and we want to save C and put D away for Paris vacations, we will have .... $3.82 every two weeks to spend on fun stuff. Hm. Better rework the model. We eventually figured it out, plunging headlong into the world of staggering debt, mortgage-interest deductions, lower tax brackets, and the ins-and-outs of what the condo association will cover for insurance and services. That was quickly followed with a crash course in escrow, picking lenders, getting pre-qualified, dealing with title insurance, and the rest. And here we are, one month (to the day!) of opening the letter, and we're homeowners. Everything that could have gone right, went right; all the stuff that could have gone wrong just stayed home. I'm more than amazed - I'm shocked. The next two weeks are all about moving. We're doing trips to Goodwill, putting stuff on Craigslist, becoming best friends with eBay. A lot of our plates and glasses and things were going anyway, what with all the loot from the wedding, but now we've got to get everything in to 1100 square feet. I'm kind of digging it. But mostly - mostly - I'm thrilled to have a place that's our place, that we can really settle in to over the next few years, that we can keep for as long as we want. It's emotional, sure, but it's a warm-happy emotional. 2008 is looking better all the time. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 27, 2007 8:07 PM. October 29, 2007MacBU Nerf Fight!
So I came in this morning to find a Nerf N-Strike Maverick on my chair with a note: Thanks for all the great work so far! Take time to have some FUN as we gear up to track down the remaining show stoppers on the way to shipping. HAPPY HUNTING! Turns out that most of the people I work with got 'em, too. So now the hallways are filled with flying Nerf bullets, and MacBU looks like a John Woo film. People are laughing their butts off. Craig bought extra ammo. I caught him muttering something about "equipping the rebels." (Days like this, I really, really, really love my job.) PS - DUCK! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 29, 2007 11:09 AM. October 12, 2007Notes On A Parisian Honeymoon
It's been two weeks since my "hey, we're home!" post, and, truthfully, I'm shocked at how quickly 14 days can pass a fella by. It feels like just a few days ago that we both stepped our jet-lagged selves off the plane, lollygagged our way down Concourse C, and, finally, returned to the warm, familiar environs of our home. So imagine my shock to glance at the calendar this morning and see OCT 12 staring back at me with an accusatory stare, like I'd just shown up three hours late for an important dinner and no good excuse. I realized I was overdue (way overdue) for a blog post, and, well, here I am. The break was nice - the reason for the break was nicer - and I'm pleased to report that we had a fantastic time in Paris. A few notes (Flickr photostream available):
Damn, it's good to be home. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 12, 2007 8:35 PM. September 28, 2007We Now Resume Our Regularly-Scheduled BroadcastElaine and I are just back from our honeymoon, having flown in to Seattle a couple hours ago after spending the last two weeks in Paris. (I swear to God, I'm 5 pounds heavier from all the food, and the desserts, and the wine, and the...) It looks like a few good things happened in my absence:
I'll have something akin to a trip report shortly, but in the meantime -- it's good to be home. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated September 28, 2007 5:22 PM. September 9, 2007Tyin' The Knot (I'm completely exhausted and still in full-on overload. It's been a crazy, crazy weekend.) A number of our guests asked about getting copies of our vows, so I thought I'd take a moment to post them. It was important to Lane and me that we write our own, and, after going a few directions that neither of us was totally happy with, she said, "Well, what if we did a 'Cat in the Hat' kind of thing?" That one stuck. The final product was very much "us" - collaboratively written, and totally in the spirit we were going for. Our good friend (and officiant) Chris was a terrific sport, and really made the whole thing work, delivering while wearing sunglasses, a Dr. Seuss hat, and a huge smile. So, without further ado, we present: CHRIS (Special thanks to Khan for snapping the most excellent photo of the two of us!) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated September 9, 2007 10:15 PM. August 30, 2007Amazon Is Delivering Groceries In SeattleApparently, Amazon is now delivering groceries (ala HomeGrocer) through their "Amazon Fresh" division: I placed my first order from a friend's home on Mercer Island, one of the test neighborhoods. Amazon started the invitation-only service there at the beginning of August and has since expanded to parts of Seattle's Capitol Hill and Bellevue. How did I miss this? Has anyone used this yet? (And, for the record, I really miss Kozmo... *sigh*) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 30, 2007 9:14 AM. August 18, 2007Way To Go, John & Brynn! My good friend John Kaufmann popped the question to his longtime (and totally fantastic) girlfriend Brynn last weekend, and she said yes. Date TBD. Way to go, you two! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 18, 2007 7:14 AM. June 5, 2007Way To Go, Richard!
With Microsoft. (Yes, those were flying pigs you saw last Friday.) First, the job: Richard is going to be a Senior Analyst with Atlas, a Web analytics company based here in Seattle. It's one of those kick-ass jobs where he gets to apply his love of stats, knowledge of the Internet, and overall business hoo-ha to a lot of really interesting problems. In short, it's perfect. And it's in the International District, as well, which means he can a) have great Chinese for lunch every day and b) avoid crossing the 520 floating bridge like the rest of us software stiffs. Ah, yes. So. Software. See, Atlas is owned by this little company called aQuantive, and aQuantive, as you may have heard, was just bought by Microsoft for roughly $6Bn. What makes this funny is that Richard, more than any other person (save maybe Khan), has sworn up and down over the years that he would never, ever, never, ever, really, honestly, no-I-mean-it work for the Evil Empire. Part of this stems from the fact that he's a lifelong Sun fan (I mean his license plate says, "SOLARIS" ... and it's not a reference to the George Clooney film), part of it is that he's a Mac guy, and part of it is that, well, he just doesn't, uh, love Windows. Richard has had a lot of fun with me (especially on Confab) since I got my job here in 2005, and now that he's employee 1,228,945 (or whatever), well, I guess it proves that you Never Say Never. Dude, I'm thrilled for you. Welcome to the Collective. Way to go! (But expect a lot - and I mean a lot of cheap jokes over the coming months and years.) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 5, 2007 10:48 AM. May 31, 2007Way To Go, Matt!So I'm thrilled to disclose that my good, good friend Matt Minas - fellow UW MBA, perpetual wearer of shorts, and one of the nicest human beings on the planet - has proposed to his girlfriend, Kari (whom we all love), and she said yes. Date's TBD, but it's official. And, frankly, they're damn cute together. Way to go, you two! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated May 31, 2007 8:59 PM. May 3, 2007Best Venn Diagram EverJeff sent me a link to the "Best Venn Diagram Ever" and I about spit cola out of my nose. Awesome. (And so ... true, y'know?) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated May 3, 2007 2:57 PM. April 24, 2007Win Her With Dinner
I've never been known as much of a chef - microwaving, boiling water, and heating pizza are the general extent of my Phat Culinary Kung Fu Skillz - so I dusted off some of the cookbooks on my shelf (bought with such high hopes, reliably consigned to obscurity behind the Hunter S. Thompson and Disney World history books) and, within a second, I knew I had my material: Win Her With Dinner. (Of course, the damn thing is bright green with a black spine, so maybe that's got something to do with it.) Win Her is a cookbook for single guys who'd like to impress a gal with their kitchen abilities (as opposed to their call-Pagliacci-abilities). The cover says it all: "This book's premise is based on the simple truth that women like to see a guy put forth a little effort." And it's true: women do. (Or at least, Elaine did.) The book is divided into five core sections of recipes (Red Meat, White Meat, Sea Meat, No Meat, Desserts) with a liberal sprinkling of advice about wine, music, and how to clean your apartment before your date arrives: "When you're having a woman over for dinner, a clean home/apartment is of the utmost importance. We really can't stress this enough. If your place looks gross, it probably is gross. And if your place is gross, your guest may conclude that you are gross and that your cooking, therefore, must also be gross. Don't let this happen to you!" I had a lot of fun picking the recipe, selecting "Linguine with Tomato Concasse & Basil Chiffonade, Caesar Salad, & Pesto-Parmesan Crostini" (aka, Tomato-basil pasta, salad, and toast). I had fun shopping for the ingredients. And you know what? I had fun making the meal, too. So many firsts in one evening: first time making homemade Caesar dressing, first time making homemade pasta sauce, first time dealing with the timing of three different dishes while chopping, de-seeding and seasoning to taste. The whole shootin' works took about an hour, start to finish, and tasted pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. So now I'm jazzed about cooking. The experiment was so successful - Lane really flipped - that I'm planning to do another one once we're all moved in to the new place. Anyone wanna be a guinea pig? (And seriously, fellas - get the book. Trust me.) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated April 24, 2007 9:50 PM. April 4, 2007Otters Holding HandsMaybe it's because I'm in love, or something, but my future brother-in-law is sending around this YouTube video of otters holding hands ... and I think it's about the cutest thing ever. (Like, "shut down Cute Overload" kind of cutest thing ever, 'cause there's not enough cute left in the world after this.) Your reaction, of course, may vary. Enjoy. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated April 4, 2007 2:23 PM. March 18, 2007Movin' In Together (Or, "I Heart The Internets")Elaine and I spent a chunk of our weekend looking for a new place to live. Given that we're tyin' the knot later this year, it seemed high time that we actually move in together and go through the ritualistic, traditional Mingling Of The Stuff. This is a good/bad thing - good in that I'm soon to be the proud half-owner of a microwave, 19" TV and Garden State soundtrack CD; bad in that there will be, without question, something in my Bachelor Stuff that qualifies as the "Stupid, Roy Rogers, Garage Sale Wagon Wheel Coffee Table" from When Harry Met Sally. (My framed Tron poster stays. I'm firm on this.) We've both been apartment-dwellers, and I've made no secret to anyone that I've been fantasizing about/coveting the "house experience" for some time now. I like the "tiny life" apartment experience just fine (my place is 500 square feet, and, as I don't have a lot of stuff, it suits me), but whenever I attend Game Night at Kristen & Aaron's, I'm taken with their space - Exhibit A being their big, soundproof downstairs (perfect for the round of Karaoke Revolution or Wii Bowling). For my part, I've wanted a private garage to park the Shadow, a back yard with a barbecue, a place to entertain friends, and more closet space. So Lane and I chatted, built our list of criteria (a few bedrooms, not too expensive, a good kitchen, room to entertain, my BBQ/garage action, close proximity to services and transit, yadda yadda) and hit the Web. This is my fifth move in the last ten years (Dallas, Eastlake, Cap Hill, my current place, and now this), and each time has become progressively easier. I attribute this entirely to the proliferation of the Internet, and the amazing amount of information available to a fella with just a few keystrokes. Consider. When I moved to Dallas in '97, it took me a good few weeks of looking around to find a place I liked. You'd look for listings in the local paper, call the numbers, and when people got back to you - if they got back to you at all - the place was likely rented. It was often hard to know where things were located in town, as well - when the seller is paying for each line or character in the ad, the ad tends to be minimal. And so you drove neighborhoods, looked around for this and that, and ultimately made a decision that you were (often) less-than-satisfied with. Craigslist has changed all this. Ads are verbose, overflowing with photos, and come with Google/Yahoo map links. Sites like housingmaps.com mash up Craigslist with Google Maps, thus allowing you to plot the locations of current rentals all over the city. When you find something that looks good (again, much faster than you could've a decade ago), you can just e-mail the seller, and the responses are (invariably) immediate. Heck, renters even use Craigslist to watch out for each other. I saw this one online: Beware of 2 BR Green Lake bungalow rental on N 62nd St. House suffers from basement flooding due to cracked foundation and collapsing southwest retaining wall; also, faulty interior wiring, leaky roof. Potential damage to possessions if owners cannot address. (Whoa.) Once you've got your laundry list of places you're really, truly interested in, you can then use some other great sites to cross-check for amenities like transit. I was forever going to BusMonster to see what stops were near a proposed address, or to Google Transit to see how long it would take me to get to work on a given Monday morning. And from there, again, the list was culled. All of this, of course, is a long-winded way of saying that we found what we were looking for, and are going through the paperwork process now. The place is excellent - a house with garage, back yard, barbecue, soundproof downstairs, space for guests, and so on. Assuming we pass credit checks and whatnot (aside to our future Mr. Landlord: We're not axe murderers! Really!), we move at the end of April. I expect some serious Karaoke Revolution action come mid-May. I'm in a serious state of lovin' the Internet right now. UPDATE, May 6, 2007: One or more of the original hyperlinks on this page expired, and has been dereferenced. The hyperlinked text is now underlined. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated March 18, 2007 7:44 PM. January 17, 2007Ze Frank In The New York ObserverZe Frank's making it big in Hollywood, according to the New York Observer: On March 17, Cobble Hill-based Web prankster Ze Frank will end his daily, year-long Internet video show to go all Hollywood. "The one thing I took away from my meeting with Jeffrey Katzenberg is that the work begins now," said Mr. Frank, who was accidentally rewarded with fame after a jokey video, "How to Dance Properly," went utterly viral in 2001. "The Show" is a fantastic video podcast, and it's one of the first things I watch every morning. Props to Ze and his success - he's definitely earned it. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated January 17, 2007 8:21 PM. January 14, 2007Wii-ha!Last weekend, Kristen & Aaron hosted their monthly "Game Night", inviting the usual merry band of malcontents and tricksters to come over and best one another at high-stakes "Risk", "Taboo" and "Trivial Pursuit." (Elaine and I are both malcontented and trickster-ish, so we're on the list.) The novelty of January came in the form of a Nintendo Wii, which Ryan was kind enough to bring ("Santa brought it for my boy," he said, "And I thought I should share"). Now, as K & A have converted their downstairs into a shockingly effective Home Theater On The Cheap (TV projector, shining brightly on a white Target-acquired shower liner ... you get the idea), we had a great place to plug in said Wii and put it through its paces. Holy cow, it's awesome. Truth be told, I'm not much of a gamer. Yes, I loves me some Roller Coaster Tycoon now and again, and Stan and I blew most of Christmas doing the slack-jawed, crazy-thumbs, boy-gamer-on-the-couch thing while we finished "Gauntlet." But those are exceptions. The Wii? It makes me want to play video games. Much ink has been spilled about the Wii's revolutionary and innovative new controllers. In case you're not familiar, it's pretty simple - the Wii controllers don't have wires that connect them to the core console. While that's pretty nice (the XBox 360 does this, too), the kicker is that the controllers are able to communicate all kinds of information about their location in space back to the console. Step closer to the Wii, and the machine knows it. Move your controller hand up and down rapidly, and the machine knows it. And so on. What this means, in effect, is that you play Wii games by holding the controller and moving naturally. Wanna go bowling? Fire up Wii Bowling and start throwing strikes. Notice -- you're really throwing strikes, because the controller tells the console when you're moving your arm, as well as the position of your hand at the apex of the swing. The faster you throw, the harder you throw the ball. Wanna play baseball? Fire up Wii Baseball, put the controller in your hand, put your hand behind your head, and start swinging at the virtual pitches (in a stadium that looks suspiciously like Safeco Field). Pitching at the opposition works much as you'd expect: over-the-shoulder fastballs, baby. We simply could not get enough of this for the course of the evening. We tried tennis, boxing, all kinds of stuff. The natural movements, coupled with the large screen, meant that we were "in" the game in a very real sense. This was particularly true of boxing. To box, you plug in an attachment to the Wii controller called a "nunchuck". Put the controller in one hand, the nunchuck in the other, and square off against your opponent. Wanna block a punch? Hands in front of your face. Wanna hit the other guy? Throw a punch. Wanna hit him hard? Throw it faster. Wanna avoid him? Move your feet! Go! Go! Go! I was winded after boxing. And, believe it or not, still sore two days later. (And, not to make it sound like I'm an out-of-shape nerd or anything: I boxed a lot. And I totally whipped some ass.) Wii-related injuries have made the news of late - controllers accidentally thrown through windows, and so on. I can totally see why - Ankur was going mano-a-mano with the tennis game, and, in a particularly aggressive overhand serve, managed to smack the ceiling with this controller. (Try that while playing Halo.) This has led my buddy Patrick to coin the self-explanatory terms "Injur-Wii" and "Fatali-Wii". So, yeah, we're addicted. Elaine tugged my sleeve midway through the night and whispered, "Can we get one of these?" (Who am I to say no?) If you've yet to try one, I can't recommend more highly. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated January 14, 2007 8:26 PM. January 2, 2007iKaraoke (I Do, I Do, I Do)During my post about Christmas in Vancouver, I blogged an aside about having received an iKaraoke for Christmas from Elaine's mom. Well, I've had a bit of time to play with the silly thing over the past few days, and lemme tell ya - it's a blast. (In fact, I'd wager that it's the first-ever iPod accessory with a two-drink minimum.) If you've never seen an iKaraoke before, it looks a little strange - basically, it's a skinny microphone with a two-foot cord that terminates in a small, 1" plug. To use it, you snap the plug into the Dock Connector on the bottom of your iPod. What the product does is simple enough: it allows you to play - and sing along with - the music you've loaded on your iPod (aka, "your favorite songs, the ones you sing along with in the car or hum in the shower"). What makes the iKaraoke special is that the Dock-plug-thingy has a chip in it that reprocesses the sound coming from your 'Pod, such that it suppresses the lead vocals of the song you're listening to. Suddenly, the full-fledged version of "Regret" becomes an instrumental, and, well, that's where the plug-in microphone comes in. Pick it up, and make like you're on American Idol. (Note that the public humiliation and/or embarrassment you may experience while using iKaraoke is purely a side effect, and one that manufacturer Griffin, maker of fine iPod accessories, provides to you free of charge.) Now, as this is a semi-product-review, let me be right up front about something: the idea of what the iKaraoke does is far, far better than the reality. The digital suppression of the lead vocals is imperfect (and, at times, obnoxious); you will hear trace amounts of Simon LeBon or Bernard Sumner or whoever you're down with going on in the background. Some bands (James, for instance) seem immune to the iKaraoke's processing. The device isn't magic; it's a plastic $50 doohickey. But for all that, it's my new favorite toy. See, the iKaraoke is awesome if you're trying to learn to sing, and need some accompanying music while you warble and emote. It's the bomb when you want to practice your vocal stylin' in the privacy of your own home. A big part of my singing lessons is making the time to, well, sing - sing tunes that I love with Sarah playing piano or strumming the guitar alongside. We warm up with the usual "la la la la la" and then move into the fun stuff, where I try to sing things like "Sit Down" or "Speed of Sound." She provides the tune and the time, and I provide (ahem) amusement. But the thing is, practicing on your own is a challenge. A big part of learning to sing is simple repetition -- practicing (sucking) over and over until the good stuff (finally) comes out. And, while it's true that the "la la la la la" school of rehearsal gives you some practice, nothing - and I mean nothing - is more fun than beltin' out songs you know and love by heart. Of course, singing alongside The Real Thing is just too hard - you're competing with a studio-perfect copy of the song you love, and that's just unfair. But with the iKaraoke, all that changes. Suddenly, it's easy to practice at home, and even easier to experiment with new songs to see if you're any good. (For instance, I've discovered that I can nail Death Cab's "The Sound Of Settling" ... which has been making me happy for the last 24 hours.) Heck, Sarah and I even used the dang thing at singing practice tonight. We hung up the piano for the evening and let the iPod drive. I bet it's also fun at parties. Kristen and Aaron have Karaoke Revolution for their Xbox, and, rumor has it, played until well past 2:30 AM with friends at New Year's. iKaraoke's the same basic idea. So there it is - my new favorite iPod accessory. Plug this puppy into your iPod, have a few drinks with friends, and sing your guts out. Awesome. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated January 2, 2007 10:29 PM. December 4, 2006Oh, Say - What Should We See?
We hit the show nice and early on Saturday morning, and proceeded to wander around in a daze for the next few hours. Our visit to the show was precipitated, in no small part, by our upcoming 2008 road trip, which is getting more real by the day. I'm on a bit of an equipment quest for my Shadow. Right now, it's not modified or encumbered by any non-standard equipment; the bike I ride is as Honda made it, in all its maroon glory. Problem is, that's not going to cut it on a 5-week road trip. I need places to store my clothes, shoes, tent, food, water, tools (and on and on), as well as some good, old-fashioned technology help (like a GPS with integrated map, so we don't get lost). Oh, and an iPod connection kit. To that end, the show was perfect, just perfect - lots of companies selling their wares, lots of knowledgeable people to talk to about cycling, lots of tips and tricks and warm, fuzzy vibes. We're starting the mapping/planning process in earnest next month (um, er, next year), and this, dear reader, is where I need your help. See, this trip isn't about getting from A to B; rather, it's about seeing the country, taking it in, meeting people and seeing great stuff from the vantage of two wheels at 55 mph. (And yes, riding the occasional roller coaster.) So we want to see the good stuff. The scenic byways, the long way 'round, the vistas (no, not that one - I see that at work) and views and the things that you think make your region, well, your region. For instance. If someone were cycling through Seattle, I would want them to see the following:
So, dear reader, what do you suggest? What should we see as we see the country? National monuments? Small, favorite winding roads? We're planning now, so use the comments thread to throw your suggestions in the hat! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 4, 2006 10:27 PM. November 25, 2006Hypnotized ... By CheeseElaine and I walked around downtown today, taking in the sights and doing a bit of shopping. We swung through Pike Place Market for a bit, and wound up stopping for a sandwich (and Mac n' Cheese) at Beecher's Handmade Cheese Shop. (Incidentally, these folks have a blog - the "Curds and Whey Chronicles" - and, while I've not spent time on it, I have to say it's cool that a cheese shop is blogging.) Anyhow. While the food was delicious (and the crowd-watching spectacular), the real star of the show wound up being Beecher's big, stainless-steel cheese-making tub, where two guys were transforming these giant slabs 'o cheese (think "four-feet long, one-foot wide, six-inches deep" and you've got the idea) into smaller, chunks - basically, by feeding them into what appeared to be a giant cheese shredder. It's utterly, totally, and completely hypnotic - something about the industrial scale of the operation, the exotic instruments, you name it. A crowd gathered, and the guys doing the work were clearly enjoying the attention. People were packed three-deep behind us at the windows. Anyhow, if you're down in the market this holiday, check it out. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 25, 2006 5:03 PM. November 15, 2006Put Yourself Out There [Reprise]A little more than a year ago, I wrote a post that called "Put Yourself Out There" that, among other things, talked about why I love blogging, and encouraged people to find their voices and start posting content of their own: So here's the thing: start a blog. No, really. I've had more conversations with people about who "should" and "should not" blog, and I'm here to tell you: if it interests you, put it out there. Just make sure your blogging style is something that's authentically you, and something that makes you happy. A few of my friends - Char, Gina, and Judy, among others - picked up the charge and ran with it. The other day, Diana e-mailed me and suggested that I check up with people, see what had transpired in the intervening time. I was just adding some new books to my blog and I realized that I'm nearing my 100th book. (which I have to say is pretty darn cool!) That got me to thinking about your blogging challenge. It's got to be nearly a year since you issued that challenge and got us all writing. What about writing a "what happened" since then post? I'd be interested in hearing what happened to some of the other people who got hoodwinked into the blogosphere by you. ;-) This is, without question, a fabulous idea. So, dear readers, I ask:
Use the comment thread, sound off, and let's talk. I'm really curious. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 15, 2006 9:33 PM. November 12, 2006She Said Yes I'm thrilled to announce that yesterday, Veteran's Day (and Corduroy Appreciation Day, according to NPR), I asked Elaine to marry me, and she said yes. Everything's still TBD, of course, but I'm over the moon right now. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 12, 2006 6:49 PM. November 4, 2006Meet The Cannons Way to go, you two - may you have a long and happy life together! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 4, 2006 1:59 PM. October 1, 2006Meet The Burgers Way to go, you two! May you have a wonderful, wonderful life together. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 1, 2006 8:03 AM. September 2, 2006Meet The Wongs Last night, my friend - and B-school classmate - Irene Cheung tied the knot with her fiance, Edmund Wong. The ceremony took place the Columbia Winery in Woodinville, and I was honored to officiate. Bravo, you two! May you have much, much joy and happiness in your lives. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated September 2, 2006 10:34 PM. August 11, 2006KUGS: Still Rockin’ Around The ClockOliver, the current Promotions Director at 89.3 KUGS-FM ("The mighty almost-ninety"), got sent a link to my post about the KUGS Internet Broadcasting project back in ’94 – ’95. So he dropped me a note (and for the record, I love e-mails like this): As you might know, we stopped webcasting for a while because of ridiculous regulations, but you'll be happy to know that we're back on the web, streaming live! This is actually my third year on KUGS staff, and myself and a core group of staff members have been really pushing for this. It finally paid off last spring, and now we're back to being golden. From the reports we're seeing people listening all over the world in some real surprising places. I’ve been listening to KUGS over the Internet for the past couple days, and I have to say: I really like it. The station’s playing some great stuff, and it’s excellent to have on at work. I dropped Keith Boyd (former Program Director during my tenure, now a fellow Microsoftie) a quick note to let him know that the station’s available, and he replied: That's great to hear... I was also stunned when I discovered that Comcast Digital channel 981 was KUGS -- talk about reach. When we were there they had a 100 watt transmitter and CU-SeeMe... Now they have a 1000 watt transmitter, dedicated internet bandwidth, and they're being fed into every digital cable home in Puget Sound... Definitely impressive. I totally agree. Nice work, KUGS-ers! You’re making the old guard proud. Be sure to check out the KUGS site, their MySpace page, or listen to the stream live (Windows Media required). Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 11, 2006 8:25 AM. August 10, 2006Advertising Slogan GeneratorStop whatever you're doing, right now, and do this instead:
(I am addicted to this thing ... and based on my e-mail, so's half the Office Product Planning core.) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 10, 2006 1:09 PM. August 8, 2006Basic Training
This is the course that people go through when they want to get their motorcycle endorsement. And, while I've already got my endorsement (and have had since '93), this struck me as a great way to get a good, solid refresher on how to operate my new motorcycle. Turns out this was absolutely the right thing to do. On a bike, basic motor skills are important. It's critical that you're comfortable operating in low-speed environments, that you can maneuver your machine in tight spaces, that you know how to corner, to swerve, and brake suddenly. These are skills that don't necessarily get a lot of workout on the street, and they're not the skills that tend to stick around when you've been off two wheels for a few years. And, since traffic and driving conditions are usually fine - cars generally behave themselves, roads are generally clear of debris and potholes, weather this time of year is generally clear - you can tool around town on a bike without a thought in your head about what you'd do if the unexpected happened. And yet, it's when the unexpected happens that you get in trouble. And then you get hurt. Hence the course. The folks at PNWMS do a fabulous job of taking 12 folks and training them on motorcycle basics. The group ranged from the new-to-motorcycles to the I-rented-a-scooter-in-Italy-once-and-had-a-good-time jet set and also incorporated a few folks (like me), who were already certified and wanted to brush up. The program splits between classroom education and range riding. It's taught at Warren G. Magnuson Park, off Sand Point - they have a huge parking lot with lines and boxes and curves painted on it, and, over the course of the weekend, we rode every single one of 'em. It's amazing, really, to look back at it: here's a dozen adults (many of whom are outright intimidated by the machine) and they managed to get us all to the point where we were doing 135-degree corners, figure-eight turns in tight spaces and quick-stop braking like, well, not pros, exactly, but certainly with competence and skill. I give mad props to our instructors, Dave and Kelsi, who were just terrific. Dave's a character - he's a Vietnam vet (Navy), and he sounds exactly like Jack Nicholson (imagine Jack going, "now, if you'll just pull down on the clutch, there, we'll be ready to get this show on the road..."). A few fun facts from class:
If you've ever thought of learning how to ride a bike, I can't recommend this class more highly. They provide everything: helmet, bikes, you name it. You show up with pants, a driver's license, long-sleeve shirt and boots. Elaine is talking about taking it next. (I'm not accepting passengers on the Shadow just yet, but she's curious enough about it that she's discussing signing up.) Most importantly? I'm back in love with my bike. The basic drills gave me a lot more confidence and comfort with my machine, and I've identified a few bad habits that I'm actively breaking. So cool. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 8, 2006 12:53 PM. July 9, 2006Over Hill, Over Dale
Although I've yet to get to New York, I think I know what he's talking about. In practical terms, Seattleites can drive an hour East to the passes for skiing (in the winter), two hours North to the ferries for the San Juan Islands, three hours West to the ocean to surf, or four hours South to Hood River for windsurfing. It's easy to take Washington's natural beauty for granted (I mean, doesn't every commuter have a great view of Mount Rainier in the mornings?), but when you take a day, get outside, and really experience it ... well, that's something special. To that end, Guy, Mike, Amy and I spent yesterday out hiking Rattlesnake Mountain, from Rattlesnake Lake to Snoqualmie, along the Mountains-To-Sound Greenway. It's an 11.3-mile jaunt, rises more than 3,000 feet, and will take you (or at least, took us) about 5 hours. Logistically, you take two cars and head out on I-90 to Exit 27. Drop one car at the trailhead, and then drive the second to Rattlesnake Lake at Exit 32. Park, load up your gear (recommended: 2 liters water, sunscreen, Odwalla bars, sandwiches, camera), and then hit the trail. It's a fabulous, fabulous way to spend the day - especially when it's in the mid-to-high 70s (as it was yesterday) and you're with old friends. We'd take breaks about every 45 or 50 minutes, with great conversation (and some hysterically bawdy jokes). Seriously, I can't recommend this more highly. If you're a novice hiker, you might want to try the shorter (but still fairly steep) Rattlesnake Ridge hike. If your legs are in shape (and you've got the time), then go for the longer one. (Oh - and when you're done - may I recommend the the North Bend Bar & Grill? The Snoqualmie IPA is excellent after a long day's hike.) If you're interested, my Flickr photostream can be found here. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 9, 2006 2:39 PM. July 3, 2006A "Damn Fine" Cup Of Coffee(With apologies to Agent Cooper for the title.) One of my coworkers, Joe, is a coffee fanatic. He and his wife have recently gotten into the coffee business, growing, roasting and selling Nicaraguan beans from their family farm over the Internet. Their outfit is called "Cafe de Apante" As you might imagine, Joe's been providing a lot of free samples to his fellow Planners, and I, as a good caffeine-addicted Seattleite, have been all too happy to indulge. However, a good cup of coffee at the office is one thing ... but how does it perform during some lazy-Sunday-morning power-lounging? So I bought a one-pound bag to take home for use in my French press, just to see. Wow! It's wonderful stuff: smooth, strong, eminently drinkable. It makes anything I've ever had from the store (Torrefazione, Millstone, Starbucks, etc.) taste pretty gnarly. It's not the cheapest stuff you'll drink (I spent about $14 for my one-pound bag, but I've no idea if that's got some kind of "employee discount" built in to it), but if you're a coffee person, give it a try. You won't be sorry. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 3, 2006 10:05 AM. June 1, 2006Tom Douglas Restaurant TourLast night, Richard, Elaine, Sarah and I had the pleasure of taking a dining and walking tour of Tom Douglas' restaurants here in Seattle. Tom's a pretty famous restauranteur (and author), owning and operating the Dahlia Lounge, Etta's, Lola, the Palace Kitchen and the Palace Ballroom. Tom is also active in local philanthropy - he donated this tour to the UW C4C auction (which is how we got to go on it - Richard was the high bidder). The evening was a blast. Our able guide, Eric, is one of Tom's top chefs, and he summoned some amazing dishes from the kitchens of each restaurant we visited. Our tour started at Dahlia, moved to the Palace, then over to Lola and finally dessert at Etta's. Each stop had great wine, great food, back-stage tours, and hysterical stories. We also got the skinny on the Tom's new pizza restaurant, "Serious Pie", that's opening right behind Dahlia later this summer. Wonderful food, drink, and people: I'm hard-pressed to think of a more enjoyable way to spend an evening. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 1, 2006 10:31 AM. May 30, 2006Three Cheers For CingularOK, a big, big shout out to the folks at the Cingular Wireless store in Pacific Place - they took back my Cingular 8125 with nary a fuss or complaint. And, while I know it's supposed to be that way ("30-day return policy" and all that), I also know of far, far too many situations where normal employees become agents of the Dark Lord himself, assessing evil restocking fees and whatnot. So. Good retail experience - hip, hip, hurrah! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated May 30, 2006 7:00 PM. April 27, 2006Congrats, Keith!A hearty congratulations to my good friend Keith Vaitkus and his wife, Angela, who welcomed a baby daughter into the world yesterday evening. Nice work, you two! (Now: get some sleep!) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated April 27, 2006 7:06 AM. March 21, 2006Dad's Done!As of about 15 minutes ago, my father has officially wrapped the final test of his final class of this stage of his higher education. He's earned himself an Associates Degree from Spokane Falls Community College. This is a huge, huge, huge deal, and I couldn't be prouder. (You can't see me right now, but I'm standing on my chair, whooping, hollering and clapping.) My dad first started college in 1969 (at UW - go Huskies!), but dropped out after a few quarters. Life happened: marriage, then kids (uh ... that's me), then career, and, over time, he never got back to it. Until a few years ago, when he retired out to Spokane and decided he wanted to head back and finish what he'd started. He's kicked big ass at school, earning phenom grades and meeting all kinds of interesting folks. Last I heard, his AA is just a stepping-stone to a full-blown four-year degree ... but for now, I think he's going to recline on his laurels. As well he should. Way to go, dad! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated March 21, 2006 11:10 AM. March 18, 2006"Living Their Lives On The Fast Track"A handful of folks sent me this link yesterday (but Cintra was first, so she gets credit) to a story about eigth graders in San Gabriel, California who have built a model roller coaster in their school gym: Twenty-four feet tall at its highest point and occupying 10,000 square feet, the fully-functional ride towers over the 135 eighth-graders who are its designers, builders and decorators. Students and four teachers have spent thousands of hours measuring, sawing, constructing, painting and decorating the wooden structure over the last three weeks. WOW! Just ... wow. Part of me feels like I feel like I ought to add this thing to coast2Coaster... Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated March 18, 2006 2:32 PM. March 13, 2006Congrats, Nate & Jo!
This is happy, happy news - Jo and Nate are incredibly nice, incredibly smart people who are incredibly good together. Way to go, you two. (And if you crazy kids need a minister on short notice, well, you know the number.) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated March 13, 2006 5:20 PM. March 11, 2006A Saturday Aloft
After last July's dinner-in-the-San-Juans flying excursion, Guy invited me to go up with him again and see more of the state. This time around, we'd be doing it a little bit differently: we'd be in Guy's own plane, which was built from a kit. No, really. Fun Fact: As a kit-built plane, the thing is formally referred to as "EXPERIMENTAL" and has little warnings embossed on the dashboard that read, "Passenger Warning: This Aircraft Is Amateur-Built And Does Not Comply With Federal Safety Regulations For Standard Aircraft." (What, me worry? Guy's a smart dude, and he had it professionally assembled.) Our original plan had been to fly to Ocean Shores. This is a 133-mile, 3.5-hour drive from Seattle. Guy's new experimental buzz machine can get there from Everett's Paine Field in 45 minutes. So it seemed, you know, decadent to use the plane to zoom down, drink milkshakes, and ride go-carts on the ocean. Sadly, the weather wasn't cooperating. The day in Seattle was beautiful, but clouds were rolling in from the south as well as from east of the mountains. The eastbound weather also killed our prospects for flying over Grand Coulee Dam or out to Leavenworth. Instead, we settled for a west side tour of the Cascades, landing in little airstrips like Darrington and Snohomish to get snacks and our bearings. We did get up to Bellingham and had random, I-can't-believe-everyone-was-home-and-able-to-do-this lunch with my friends Jeff and Barb ... which rocked. I'm starting to get addicted to this flying thing. The world is so peaceful and beautiful at 4500 feet, and you feel, quite literally, as if you could do anything. The usual constraints of geography - traffic lights, 60-mph speed limits, winding roads - give way to straight-shot, as-the-crow-flies, 180-mph joyriding. Ocean Shores in 45 minutes? Hell, we can do Spokane in 2 hours (and would have, weather permitting). One also gets the sense of how truly majestic our fragile little planet is. It makes you want to protect it. If you're interested, my Flickr photostream is available (not too many airborne shots, sadly - it's hard to snap a good one at nearly 200mph). One fun shot I did snap is of my building at work. (I know I'm a nerd. Save your e-mail telling me such.) Guy's really done a good job selling me on flying lessons. Hmmmm... Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated March 11, 2006 9:13 PM. December 30, 2005Marnie n' Gary, Sittin' In A Tree
Gary popped the question in a pretty cool way: Marnie had just returned from a trip to Napa, and the he invited her to play a game of "Life" to unwind. So they're sitting there, spinning the wheel and moving their cars along the board, until Marnie gets to the big "STOP AND GET MARRIED" square. Gary promptly picks one of the blue "guys" from the box, puts it in her car, then pauses and furrows his brow. "Oh, wait," he says. "This might work better." And produces the ring. (Gary, you are a stud. Seriously.) They're tyin' the knot in 2006. (And Marnie: please, please, please don't schedule the wedding for the weekend of October 8...) Way to go, you guys! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 30, 2005 9:28 AM. December 21, 2005Pac-Man vs. Blinky @ U of MOK, this rocks - a couple of students at the University of Michigan dressed up in full-size Pac-Man and "Blinky the ghost" outfits and then ran through a) the library and b) a computer lab, all the while saying, "wocka wocka wocka." And they filmed it. (QuickTime required) (My friend Cale streaked his ten-year high-school reunion, but now I bet he wishes he'd done it in a Pac-Man outfit.) Thanks to BoingBoing for the link! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 21, 2005 2:32 PM. December 19, 2005Why I Love BloggingSo I had the coolest thing happen to me this weekend. It involves the blog. I've written before about how revolutionary I think blogs are in terms of bringing people together. My experiences with the UW MBA program, for instance, continue to generate conversation (both in e-mail and in person) as a function of my having archived those experiences on my site. It's not very interesting for most, but if you're thinking about B-school and want to know about life at the UW - hey, it's all there. Which brings me to this latest cool thing: on Saturday morning, I posted a blurb about how Jeff and I didn't get selected to do Alcatraz this year. And in that message, I said, Suddenly my early summer is free. Anyone got any cool, Olympic-distance triathlons they'd recommend instead? About two and a half hours later, I got the following in my e-mail box: [Note: I edited for relevance] From:Â Â "hanan" Wow! I've already e-mailed Hanan back to say "thanks", but honestly - how cool is this? Someone I've never met decides to take a moment to answer a random request for information on a topic that, let's face it, isn't super-interesting to a lot of people. It made me all tingly for the rest of the day. "Six degrees of separation" indeed. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: put yourself out there. You never know who's reading ... and you might just be pleasantly surprised. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 19, 2005 3:49 PM. December 16, 2005Holiday Party Excuse GeneratorNot that I'm looking for excuses to get out of holiday parties or anything, but my buddy Pete shot me a link to a hee-ster-eye-cal "Holiday Party Excuse Generator": A company called Enlighten has a Holiday Party Excuse Generator™ that makes up these hilarious excuses on the spot. It's great for parties you'd rather eat dirt than attend. Also great for creating holiday high jinks among your nearest and dearest. Anyway . . . it's cool. Basically, you tell the Generator the type of party ("Swanky", "Very Martha Stewart"), your feelings about the host ("Mild disdain", "Unadulterated loathing"), how badly you want to avoid said party ("Slightly", "With every fiber of my being"), the tone your excuse should convey ("Perkiness", "Detachment") and the believability of the excuse ("Within the bounds of credibility", "Make me look like Pinocchio"). Then enter the host's name and your name and click "View". Voila! Letter's done. It's awesome. Consider this a warning: you're going to lose, at a minimum, 15 minutes at work playing with this thing. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 16, 2005 1:59 PM. Elephant Hunting
The rules of white elephant gift-giving are simple: everyone takes a number from a bowl; the lowest number starts. Person #1 selects a gift from under the tree, and opens it. Person #2 has a little more choice. They can also elect to take a gift from under the tree, or they can steal the gift from Person #1. If they choose to steal, Person #1 can then open another gift from under the tree, or, as the game progresses, steal from others. The only rules on stealing are a) you can't steal "back" the item just stolen from you, and b) any given item can only be stolen three times. As you might imagine, this gets competitive (and hysterically funny) pretty fast. When you're out shopping at the store for your white elephant, your real goal is to find something so horrible, kitchy, and gawd-awful that it becomes an object of lust for the other players. There is no higher compliment in the game than to have your item be "locked" - that is, stolen three times, and therefore removed from play. Big winners last night included an oil painting of Elvis, "Thing Hands For my part, I brought a white elephant that I thought was sure to get locked - "Mr. T In Your Pocket." It's a tacky, oversized electronic keychain that - you guessed it - plays up to six (six!) Mr. T quotes, from "I pity the fool" to "Quit your jibba jabba." I actually giggled when I bought it at Urban Outfitters. Sadly, Mr. T was no match for Elvis. But what else is new? Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 16, 2005 8:37 AM. December 9, 2005Heidi Is Blogging!Mad props to my good friend Heidi, who is joining the blogosphere from Los Angeles, California. (One more feed for the RSS reader, folks!) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 9, 2005 10:23 AM. November 26, 2005"Getting In: The Social Logic Of Ivy League Admissions"The incomparable Malcolm Gladwell ("The Tipping Point At the heart of the American obsession with the Ivy League is the belief that schools like Harvard provide the social and intellectual equivalent of Marine Corps basic training—that being taught by all those brilliant professors and meeting all those other motivated students and getting a degree with that powerful name on it will confer advantages that no local state university can provide. After talking about the pressures of getting in (and the meritocracy, or lack thereof, involved in the admissions cycle), Gladwell drops this little gem about the supposed "income halo" that surrounds Ivy League schools : To assess the effect of the Ivies, it makes more sense to compare the student who got into a top school with the student who got into that same school but chose to go to a less selective one. Three years ago, the economists Alan Krueger and Stacy Dale published just such a study. And they found that when you compare apples and apples the income bonus from selective schools disappears [boldface mine]. This jibes with my personal experience. I've met lots and lots of people who have gone through MBA programs at Ivies and at state schools, and you know what? People are people. The biggest difference I've noticed between the Ivy/non-Ivy crowds is that (speaking veeeeeery generally, here) a) Ivy-educated students often really want you to know they're Ivy-educated, and b) non-Ivy-educated students have a mild inferiority complex about their non-Ivy-ness. Which is crazy, on both counts, if you think about it. Anne Turchi (UW MBA, Class of '07) is writing for BusinessWeek; in her latest column, she says: I chose to attend the University of Washington for a few reasons. First, I knew that any school that would try to fit me into an "MBA track," even a "non-profit MBA track" type of education would not be a good fit for my uncommon goals. ... Second, since my raison d'MBA is to apply my skills to the non-profit sector, I ruled out schools that would put me in so much debt that the act of getting an MBA would prohibit me from using it for my intended purpose: accepting a (lower-paying) position at a non-profit. UW's reasonable tuition made this possible. Third, this program oozes academic support. There is an overwhelming feeling among my classmates that "we're all in this together." I doubt many other MBA students are as lucky. And there you have it. Choose your program based on your goals, your finances, and the vibe you get. If that's an Ivy, awesome. If not, awesome. But the Gladwell piece should, I think, put to rest the notion that scholastic "brand" is the be-all, end-all Badge Of Honor (or dishonor, depending) you need to succeed. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 26, 2005 2:00 PM. November 18, 2005Meet Tatsu!Six Flags Magic Mountain (aka "Coaster Mecca") has announced the details of their latest, fastest, coolest roller coaster. Called "Tatsu", it opens in 2006. Tatsu is a "flying coaster" - you lay prone, facing the ground, and the track runs above you. One of the cooler "flying coasters" out there is the one at Elitch Gardens in Denver. Tatsu makes that one look like a toy - you zoom around at 62 mph, with a 110-foot drop (out of the ride's 170 vertical feet) and more than 1/2 mile of track. They even throw in a 96-foot zero-G roll for good measure. You can view a virtual tour of the ride by clicking here. (QuickTime required.) The secret to a great experience at Magic Mountain is to go right after Labor Day - the park's deserted, and you don't have to wait in any lines. I suspect I'll be finding my way down to LA in September. Anyone wanna go? UPDATE, April 1, 2007: One or more of the original hyperlinks on this page expired, and has been dereferenced. The hyperlinked text is now underlined. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 18, 2005 2:37 PM. November 13, 2005Presentation Kung-FuPublic presentations are fun. I enjoy doing them, and I enjoy watching others do them as well. The avowed masters of the art are one thing (Steve Jobs, anyone?), but I'm often more engaged and delighted by people who are just good in front of a room. Two that come to mind are Richard Tait of Cranium and Chris Capossela at Microsoft - both are loose, funny, and do a great job of knowing their audiences. (If either of these guys are speaking near you, go. Trust me.) So when I was at Web 2.0 last month, I saw a lot of different presentations. Most were OK, some were bad, but one in particular stood out - Dick Hardt of SXIP (pronounced "skip"). It's wicked. Hardt's style is really different - he uses a graphically-intensive, rapid-fire approach; the guy reads from a prepared text and then hits NEXT, NEXT, NEXT on PowerPoint to keep the image on the screen relevant to the words coming out of his mouth. It takes a little getting used to, but it’s an outstanding effect. The presentation screen becomes hypnotic; you barely notice Dick at the front of the room, delivering the presentation. I came across a videotaped, earlier version of his Web 2 talk (this one delivered at the O'Reilly Open Source convention), and it holds up pretty well online. If you're looking for ideas on your next presentation, it's worth a watch. UPDATE, March 12, 2006: One or more of the original hyperlinks on this page expired, and has been dereferenced. The hyperlinked text is now underlined. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 13, 2005 12:34 PM. November 2, 2005"The Word We Love To Hate - Literally"Chalk another one up for the Slate Daily Podcast. This morning's installment is on the word "literally" - and how a growing number of people are incensed that it's often used as a substitute for "figuratively." When I introduce myself as a dictionary editor to a stranger, I can usually count on a few things. The stranger will say, "Oh, I'll have to watch how I talk in front of you." The stranger will ask me about why some word like bling was put into The Dictionary (as though there's only one). And then the stranger will complain about a pet usage peeve, some error perpetrated by members of a disliked group - sportscasters, say, or teenagers, or Americans. The punchline is that "literally" has never really meant what these annoyed people think it means. You can listen to the podcast (3.3 MB MP3), or read the source article. (Incidentally, this literal-as-figurative business used to annoy the holy living hell out of Mary, so I started laughing out loud - literally! - when I heard the topic on my way out the door this morning.) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 2, 2005 8:27 AM. October 31, 2005Silverwood's Getting A New Ride!Roller Coaster Alley has a hot blurb about (and illustration of) Silverwood's latest attraction: a drop tower. They're putting it out in the coaster section; it opens next year. It's 140 feet tall, and, after hauling you up to that height, drops ya at 47 mph. I bet the view of northern Idaho is spectacular from the top. Can't wait to find out in person. The Spokesman-Review has coverage as well. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 31, 2005 8:54 PM. October 26, 2005"Empire Strikes Back" PixelartBoingBoing had an awesome link yesterday to a 211k animated GIF ... that re-enacts "The Empire Strikes Back". If you were born before 1981, you must check this out. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 26, 2005 8:32 PM. October 21, 2005UW Is Now Podcasting LecturesThis is too cool. Wendie Phillips over in the business school "knows I love my iPod" and sent me the following link ("Students get class lectures on demand, thanks to podcasts"): Lectures in Kane have often been videotaped for student viewing, but that means the student must go to the library to check out the video and view it there. With podcasts the audio portion of the lecture can be downloaded to a personal listening device such as an iPod and listened to anywhere. Moreover, the new technology allows students to subscribe to lectures and have them automatically downloaded to their computers. I mean, you have to admit - this is excellent. If you're a mobile/commuter student, or just want to use your time to catch a point the prof made in class, this is a great tool. Way to go, UW! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 21, 2005 6:21 PM. Gina's Joined The PartyA warm welcome to Gina Wallace, who has elected to join the blogosphere from sunny San Diego, California. Gina also gets the award for 'most technical' because she's building her site - wait for it - by hand. Seriously. The Earthlink system where her site is hosted doesn't offer MovableType or any kind of back-end content management system. All hail her HTML Kung fu! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 21, 2005 9:00 AM. October 18, 2005Thumbs-Up For AlaskaRichard and I are off to DisneyWorld in January: he's running the marathon, and I'm gonna cheer for him. (There will also be roller coasters.) We handled the hotel and park-ticket business over the weekend, so I phoned up Alaska Airlines yesterday to get our airline tickets. I already knew what flights I wanted (really, isn't the Web the best thing ever to happen to the travel business ... at least from a consumers' point of view?), but I rang 'em because I wanted to use my Alaska air miles to offset some of the cost. Enter the Most Helpful Customer Service Person On Earth. (No, really. She works there.) I needed two tickets. Roundtrip airfare, per-person, was about $380. And Alaska will let you get a free ticket for 40,000 air miles. But Alaska also has a deal where you can trade in 15,000 air miles for a 50% price reduction on a ticket. Some quick math, here, and you'll see that, with two tickets at $380 per, taking 50% off each one adds up to 100% of the cost of one. (And for a total of just 30,000 miles, instead of 40,000!) (Gotta love that MBA, right?) So I'm all happy and ready to sign on the dotted line for my swank, saved-10,000-miles deal, but the agent says to me, "Do you know you have a companion ticket on file with us?" Huh? Oh, yeah - I remember. Since I have Alaska's credit card (which, by the way, rocks - charge those books and tuition, kids, and get a free trip to Florida!), I also have a "$50 companion fare" that I'm eligible for each year. Pay full price for one ticket, get a second ticket for $50. The MHCSPOE goes on to explain that, if I wanted to use one of my companion tickets, I could get both tickets for nearly $430 and save myself the 30,000 miles. Note: Alaska charges, like, $25 if you want to buy 1,000 air miles at retail. Put another way, this turned out to be a hell of a deal. And: customer service! Wow! I'd forgotten what that felt like over the phone. Heck, Richard called Disney to get the hotel booked, and practically had to beat the rep off with a stick ("No, I don't want the special, optional, 'Goofy and Friends' character breakfast. No, I don't want the turndown service. No, I don't want my rental car waxed when we're there. No, I'm not interested in ..."). Disney, apparently, has rolled out some new, "Upsell!" training. Bravo for Alaska. I'm a happy camper. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 18, 2005 11:21 AM. October 16, 2005Judy Jumps InAdd another feed to your reader, kids - Judy e-mailed me today to let me know she's started blogging. (And it's a knitting blog. Really.) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 16, 2005 5:52 PM. October 14, 2005Add Two More To The BlogosphereI'm excited to report that my friends Snake Johns and Diana have joined the chorus of bloggers. Diana even sent me the following: Alright, alright. Your blog challenge got me. It's been nagging at me in the back of my mind. (Score!) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 14, 2005 3:51 PM. September 27, 2005Char Is Blogging!This totally, totally makes my night: my good friend, fellow marathoner, and 2004 UW MBA Char Popp has decided to throw down with the digerati and start blogging. Despite my recent exhortation, I don't claim causality or responsibility. Welcome to the blogosphere, Charlene! UPDATE, December 4, 2005: One or more of the original hyperlinks on this page expired, and has been dereferenced. The hyperlinked text is now underlined. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated September 27, 2005 9:05 PM. September 25, 2005Dave & Sharon Got Hitched! A big, big congratulations to my friends Dave Boehl & Sharon Chiang, who got married today in a very personal, very low-key ceremony at Leschi's BluWater Bistro. Dave & Sharon are both classmates from the UW MBA program (where they met), and have the distinction of being the first met-in-the-program couple to tie the knot. (As we have seven couples in our class, I expect a few more of these over the coming years.) Best wishes, guys. Congratulations! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated September 25, 2005 2:42 PM. September 19, 2005Way To Go, Casey!I am pleased to report that my very good friend (and fellow MBA) Casey Doyle has landed a post-graduation job at none other than ... Microsoft. He starts October 3rd. In the original version of this post (the one that exists on an alternate plane of existence, 'cause it's not gonna exist on this one), I detailed the crazy odyssey Casey has been on since freakin' February to find his perfect work. I talked about the employment agreement that was invalidated by corporate restructuring; the handshake agreement that, apparently, wasn't; the "perfect" job that turned out to be a total nightmare (and precipitated a resignation). I also detailed the crazy, Brazil-esque recruiting and HR stories. (No, really. All that happened. To one guy. In the last six months.) But the post got too long, and too detailed, and, frankly, it started to feel like telling tales out of school. So I swiped with the mouse, punched DELETE, and, dear readers, this is what you're getting. Mostly, just want to convey my pleasure at welcoming my newest coworker to the Empire. Casey was the guy who got me to take a good, hard look at a career at Microsoft, and, well, here I am. (And now here we are!) It's gonna be great to see you on campus, man. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated September 19, 2005 8:26 PM. August 28, 2005The Art Of The AirbrushFollowing my post about Neil Gaiman, my good friend Rich Barrett e-mailed me to let me know that Gaiman has an active blog. I promptly put it in my RSS reader, and have been a regular reader ever since. Well, this morning I saw that Neil'd had posted about Glen Feron's "Art Of Retouching" site: [My daughters] would click on individual photographs, and mouse on them to see the original photo, mouse off to look at the photoshopped version that appeared in the advert or the magazine, and watch as human beings, with all the saggy bits that human beings have, would reshape or change into vessels of pure desire. It's pretty amazing. You'll never trust a picture again, ever. And if you're one of those gym-rat types who does 2,000 crunches a day to look like Brad Pitt ... well, you might want to see that even the super-beautiful have cellulite and back fat (pre-Photoshop, that is). So eat that donut. Life is short. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 28, 2005 2:18 PM. Way To Go, Elaine!Oh, and a big shout out to my friend Elaine, who has landed a rockin' position at Success Factors down in California. Way to go, E! They're lucky to have you. (But you know that...) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 28, 2005 1:47 PM. August 19, 2005Flying Spaghetti MonsterismSo I'm sitting in an easy chair at my Dad's place last night. It's late - almost midnight - and I'm watching a TiVo'd recording of the Storm beating up on the Lynx ... while drinking ESB and goofing around online. So there I am, minding my own business, when I clicked a link and found myself staring at the Wikipedia entry for the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I think this is about the funniest thing I've ever seen - on par with the Aqua Teens, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and So I Married An Axe Murderer. I dunno. Maybe it was the time of day, maybe it was the beer, maybe I was just giddy from watching LJ kick some ass (one more victory and we're clinched for the playoffs). All I know is that I found myself laughing (quietly ... I mean, people were trying to sleep) at phrases like "His Noodly Appendage", "pastafarians," and "RA-men." How can you beat this stuff? It's been with me all day, too. It cracks me up! There also exists a branch of FSM calling itself the Reformed Church of Alfredo, which anoints its members with various sauces according to the appropriate holy day. As parodies go, this is just awesome. (And it's got pirates! And midgits [sic]!) After all, who's to say the Flying Spaghetti Monster isn't behind it all? Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 19, 2005 4:27 PM. August 8, 2005Google Maps Coolness #2,499So Allie posted an innocuous little link in the comments earlier today: Compliments of Metafilter - you are so going to love this: So I followed the link and checked it out ... and I have just two words to say: the first is "Holy"; the second is "Cow." The "pedometer" Web site uses Google Maps (like everything else, it seems) to let you measure off mileage for your walks or runs. You start anywhere you like; double-click on a point of origin, and then double-click again at your next turn or whatnot. Google maps the route as a line, measures the distance, and even - wait for it - computes your calories for you. This is so unbelievably cool, I can't even tell you. As my distances get longer and longer, finding appropriate runs gets tricky. One option is to find a course I know well (e.g., Greenlake) and then start banging out the multiples. Unsurprisingly, that gets pretty tedious pretty fast. Another option is to drive a hypothetical course in your car (or on your bike), measuring out distances. This is quite time-consuming, however, and tends to reduce one's willingness to explore new routes. So this pedometer site is a godsend. Seriously - if you're a runner or a walker (or just a curious urban dweller), check it out. One final cool thing - after you've built a route, the site lets you capture the thing as a URL, and even works with TinyURL to collapse it down into something manageable. So I have a 16-mile run coming up on the 20th, and I decided to map it out. Starting from my place, I'll run to Greenlake, run around the lake, then head south to the Burke-Gilman, and then finally East along the trail until I hit a good loopback point, finally ending right behind U Village. And, as a picture is worth a thousand words, you can check it out for yourself. Will the wonders of the Google Maps API ever cease? Seriously. This is blowing my mind. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 8, 2005 6:38 PM. McMenamins In Kenmore?The Seattle Times had a bit on Friday about Oregon-based restaurant chain McMenamins moving forward on the permitting process to take over the St. Edward State Park in Kenmore, with the intent to convert it into a hotel complex, much like their spectacular Edgefield resort outside Portland. This is fabulous news. Edgefield, if you've not been, is a European-style hotel (bathrooms at the end of the hall, no TV or phones in the rooms) with a winery, brewery, distillery, golf course, spa, restaurants, and movie theater all on the property. It's basically a killer two-day getaway with someone you like a whole lot - drink wine, get a massage, eat wonderful food, see a second-run movie. Having something like this that's closer to home (and no, the Centralia one doesn't count) would be awesome. If they open it, count on a group getaway. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 8, 2005 2:35 PM. Way To Go, Guy!
(Oh, and lately, he got a plane.) So Guy's been toiling away for this startup in Kirkland - Wildseed - for the last few years, and, in his usual modest way, would tell people that it was "a cell phone thing, pretty cool, but no big deal." ... but AOL bought 'em yesterday. NICE WORK, man! (Try not to spend it all in one place, OK?) UPDATE, May 13, 2006: One or more of the original hyperlinks on this page expired, and has been dereferenced. The hyperlinked text is now underlined. UPDATE, April 1, 2007: One or more of the original hyperlinks on this page expired, and has been dereferenced. The hyperlinked text is now underlined. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 8, 2005 12:03 PM. July 30, 2005Meet The Meyers Bravo, you two! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 30, 2005 11:01 PM. July 26, 2005Mental SpaceMy last two days have been marked by an intense, intense amount of work around here. It's the end of the month, and a lot of things are converging. For example, I'm on deadline for my next PSBJ column, am still doing finishing work on FundAdvice (we integrated the "Sound Investing" radio show and introduced podcasting yesterday), and have a handful of other small projects and to-do items to deal with. Oh, and my friends Chris and Sara are getting married in Idaho this weekend (Cintra and I drive outta town tomorrow morning), and since I'm officiating, it's kind of important that I'm there. That also means that a lot of stuff I might've done later this week got pushed forward into, well, today. (All of this is a long-form way of apologizing for the lack of blog updates and as a warning that they're gonna be sparse for the balance of the week). It's also prompted me to think a bit about how destructive interruptions are when I need to get things done. Over the years, I have found that I'm most productive/creative/free-associative in the mornings and later afternoons. There's something about my neurochemistry that causes my creativity and insight to peak between 7:30 and 11 in the morning, and to return around 3:30 in the day. During those hours, I can do astounding bits of writing, programming, design, you name it. I'm just "on." Outside of those hours, productivity is a gift - it happens from time to time, but it's not something I can count on. So one of the things I often do during those hours is to turn off interruptions - phones, e-mail, IM, everything. If I'm in the zone, banging away like a madman on my keyboard, the last thing I need is for someone to pop over with a "got a minute?" question. It derails everything. This got me to thinking about how I work outside of my productivity hours. With so much coming together in my life this week, I made some changes to my working habits. For one thing, I switched my mail client so it now checks my mail every hour (as opposed to every 5 minutes, which was the default). For another, my RSS newsreader now checks every two hours, instead of every hour. And finally, I stopped logging in to IM as much. The result? Over the last few days, I've found my head to be much clearer. There's less clutter, less "stuff" rattling around in there, competing for attention. And this makes me wonder: when we, the tech business, talk about the explosion of mobile devices - "e-mail on your phone! check stock prices on the go!" - are we really making people more productive? Or are we just helping them to busy themselves? At the root of productivity is the idea of production, producing something. Creation. But doesn't it seem like a lot of tech actually stops us from producing ... through interruption? Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 26, 2005 12:27 PM. July 22, 2005Way To Go, Marnie!Hot on the heels of Joanne's landing at Classmates, Marnie has found herself joining the Great White Center Of Car-Free Lovin' ... Flexcar. She's their new Marketing Manager, and she kicks off her reign on Monday. (I'd like to think my Haiku was helpful in this decision, but I know better.) You rock, Marnika! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 22, 2005 6:30 PM. Walka Walka Walka
Mary and I had plans to go hiking on Mount Si today, but the weather had other ideas; I woke to find it was pouring down rain, big, fat, thick drops. The both of us decided to bag it. Instead, we had breakfast at the Hi-Spot, which was, as always, excellent. As the morning wore on, the weather started to clear, and eventually we found ourselves confronted with an 80-some-degree, sunny day. The lingering humidity from the morning downpour was burning off, so we elected to do the Urban Hike Thing and take a nice, long walk (and a few photos, as warranted - see above). Mechanically, this took us from Cap Hill down Interlaken, across the University Bridge, over to 40th and Wallingford, up to Greenlake, and around Greenlake a half-lap to the World Wrapps at the north end of the lake. Stop for a smoothie. Back on our feet, walking to 65th and Roosevelt, down Roosevelt to the U-district (over to the Ave for some quick banking), and down the Ave to Pacific. Then we followed Pacific to Montlake, zipped across 520, and headed back up 23rd to the hill. Google maps says it was 12.7 miles. Awesome. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 22, 2005 6:26 PM. July 21, 2005Learning To Fly
My friend Guy recently earned his pilot's license. A few weeks back, he generously offered to take me up to the San Juan Islands for dinner (he'd handle the plane if I handled the food). And tonight, I took him up on his offer. Wow. Just wow. Three of us - me, Guy, and his friend Tammy - rented a Cessna at Paine Field, and headed due north to Orcas Island. After landing, we strolled to downtown Eastsound and had (average, overpriced) Mexican food while sitting out in the sun - and enjoying great conversation. Back to the Cessna, and we're airborne, heading south - to the city, this time, by way of Mount Vernon and the Skagit Valley. It's amazing how visible Seattle's skyline is from miles and miles away - even shrouded in haze, you can see the Bank of America Tower poking its snout up through the clouds, and the cluster of other, smaller buildings around it. (I know we're no Gotham, but compared to the landscape surrounding the city, it sure seemed like it.) So we orbited. We flew above Greenlake, the Ship Canal, Seattle Center, the Locks. We glided over the University of Washington, hit Capitol Hill (spotted my apartment building!), and then, finally, elected to go north and east, along the shore of Lake Washington. We eventually ended up in Woodinville, floating over Woodinville High (where both Guy and I spent time), Leota Junior High (we spent time there, too), and played the "spot the landmarks of your youth" game. We finally located the houses where we grew up, and headed to Redmond so Tammy could spot her place. In short, it was a total blast. We were cracking each other up the whole time. It's hard to capture the feeling of being aloft in the Cessna. Small planes don't feel like jumbo jets - they're smoother, snappier. We were going about 120 mph, but never felt it; instead, I would have sworn we were doing 40 or so. And cruising at 2,500 feet you can see an awful lot of ground detail - bridges, cars, etc. - that you never get to see from seat 23A of Alaska Airlines #261. Takeoff is easy. Landing is scarier. Guy was a total pro. After drinking in the scenery and topography on a sunny, wonderful day, I'm fully in love with Washington. And I can't wait to go again. Guy is talking about the "Hundred Dollar Hamburger" site, which is a little club for pilots that need to get food when they're out, about, and landing at little dinky airstrips around the country. Guy's talking about Leavenworth as a next stop, or maybe flying east to Chicago to see friends. I note with some interest that there's a cute airstrip in Athol, Idaho ... which is right next to Silverwood... Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 21, 2005 11:07 PM. July 19, 2005Way To Go, Jo!My good friend (and fellow MBA) Joanne has landed a job! She starts Monday as Classmates's E-mail Marketing Manager. (Looks like that hard work in Stearns' Direct Marketing class is gonna have a big, big payoff.) Whoo-hoo! Way to go, Jo! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 19, 2005 7:36 PM. July 5, 2005"Wedding Crashers" Stunt MarketingThe movie "Wedding Crashers" is opening in a few weeks, and it looks like a lot of fun - a shaggy, sloppy, big-laugh, lowbrow comedy with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. Plus, you know, Christopher Walken. Which guarantees Richard will see it. The folks running their marketing campaign have hit upon a cool Internet gimmick to promote the film - you "crash" the trailer by inserting your own face (and/or the face of a buddy) into the film. You then watch the playback in Flash. Entertainment Weekly has a disturbing example. (Plus 5,000 points for cleverness, minus 8,000 for inevitable violations of good taste.) UPDATE, August 5, 2007: One or more of the original hyperlinks on this page expired, and has been dereferenced. The hyperlinked text is now underlined. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 5, 2005 1:46 PM. July 3, 2005The Mariners Won!
I'm not a huge Mariners fan, but Marnie and (her boy) Gary are. She invited me out today's game in one of those "I'll come cheer for your team if you come cheer for mine sometime" trades. (She and Gary are gonna be at the Storm game August 25.) The game was great. We sat up in the bleachers, sun on our faces, and swapped bad jokes while watching the Rangers and the M's beat up on each other inning after inning. The Rangers had pulled a home run right off the first pitch of the game, so Marnie was a little nervous ("bitches!"), but the M's tied it up in the 5th and then took the lead in the 8th. I may have to see one or two more of these before the end of the season. Sunny days at Safeco are really something to behold! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 3, 2005 6:20 PM. July 2, 2005Cintra Is Blogging!At long last, Cintra has decided to lend her voice to the blogosphere. Welcome, C! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 2, 2005 6:10 PM. June 30, 2005Dad's Graduating In December!My Dad is all registered for his fall-quarter classes at Spokane Falls Community College. After some debate about how many credits to take, he's decided to go whole-hog, take 15 credits, and graduate at the end of the quarter. He's taking Speech, English, and Ecology. Classes kick off September 19. I'm so going to Spokane to watch him walk. Way to go, Dad! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 30, 2005 1:44 PM. June 28, 2005VIDEO: "Top Thrill Dragster" Gets Stuck!Screamscape has an interesting (or, depending on your point of view, scary as hell) item this morning about Top Thrill Dragster: "It has been confirmed that a train full of riders on Top Thrill Dragster got a longer ride than they were expecting when the train launched to the top of the 420 foot tower and came to a perfect rest at the peak for 10-15 minutes" The best part is that there's a video of it at Xtreme Coastin' (Windows Media required). There's a teeny speck of me that kinda wants to be on that train ... and a bigger, far-more-rational part that's glad to be watching the video clip from 2,000 miles away. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 28, 2005 12:40 PM. June 16, 2005I Have The Coolest Friends...So I saw my my very good friend (and unofficial Media Access "den mother") Laura yesterday. As we sat at her office, drinking coffee and chatting, she presented me with a graduation gift. It was an iPod Photo. (Holy cow, Laura! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.) I've lusted after the Photo since last summer, but never popped for the thing because, well, I had other things to do with my cash. In the intervening months, Apple came out with the v2 Photo, which was thinner and lighter. It's a perfect replacement for my current, aging, 3rd-generation iPod. Actually, this raises an interesting point. Now I've got three iPods (my Shuffle, the old 3rd-gen, and the new Photo). That's at least one more than I need (and two more than most people probably think I need). Marnie IM'd me: "Now you need to start one of those technology hand-me-down programs, too!" (Anyone want an iPod?) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 16, 2005 5:14 PM. June 13, 2005The Morning ConstitutionalMary (Bauer) and I got out this morning for a good, brisk walk. The "purpose" was to hit KeyArena so I could get a few tickets to this Wednesday's Storm game against the Lynx. The real purpose was just to get out, stroll, chat, get an americano at Starbucks in the Center House, and run a few errands in the process (I needed to ship a book I'd sold on Amazon Marketplace, yadda yadda). Seattle is such a beautiful, walkable city - I regret not having my camera with me. Our loop was a bit over 5 miles or so (it's about 2.5 from Cap Hill to Seattle Center via Denny; we walked downtown and up Pine to get back, which is a bit longer). The sun was out, the temperature perfect, a slight wind going. If you're a regular walker, the small changes in the city really pop out, making the place feel vibrant and alive. I am so going to enjoy my summer. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 13, 2005 4:12 PM. The Unofficial WHS '90 15-Year Reunion
When I say "long-time", I mean that Mary and I have known each other since seventh grade; we were both swimmers, and swam for our respective genders when we got to Woodinville High School. As honors brats, so got to see a whole lotta one another as we grew up. We reconnected, quite by accident, at a wedding for a mutual friend in '97 or '98, and have stayed up ever since. Despite the fact that we've got oodles of good friends from college and whatnot that we chill with, for some reason the invite list for the BBQ skewed toward other Woodinville High people. So, at one, point, Mary's next-door-neighbor, Marla, had asked enough of us - me, Mary, Amy, Guy, Mike - how we knew one another that she exclaimed, "Oh, my God! It's like your 15-year-reunion around here!" And damn if she wasn't right. We all graduated in June 1990. After all of us turned an appropriate shade of crimson (and had the "oh, Jeez, that means we're all well in to our thirties!" moment), we got to talking a bit more about the wild and crazy stuff of the past decade and a half. But ... 15 years since graduation? (Jeez, that means I'm well in to my thirties!) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 13, 2005 2:31 PM. June 11, 2005Ruined!I went out last night for a celebratory, graduation dinner at "The Ruins" with Richard, my Dad, and my stepmom. If you've never heard of this restaurant, that's OK - I'd never heard of it, either. We won "dinner for four" at the Challenge For Charity Auction this year, and it seemed like a great place to get dressed up, drink wine, and chat about the last two years (as well as the future). The experience was very speakeasy-esque. The restaurant is located at 570 Roy street, but you would never, ever know from the street that it's anything other than a shabby-looking, peach-colored industrial building. It's literally across the street from a parking lot, and next to an auto body shop. As it turns out, the building was originally a ceramics factory, and they just made the decision to leave the exterior alone. But still - bizarre. After figuring out that, yes, this really was the right address, we walked up to the single door that faces Roy street. It's blank and featureless, with a round faceplate that says "570" and a note that asks non-members to "please use the door in the alley." So we walk along the front of the building and find said alley, which is the dividing line between the auto body place and the restaurant. The door is a heavy, metal, black number with a grate on it (e.g., not inviting). We swing this door open, and find a smaller, wooden door behind it. We open this door ... And we're in the restaurant. The decor is varied from room to room. We sat in a room decorated with elephants - ceramic, plastic, large, small, you name it. The menu changes monthly. The wine list is well-done. The service is superb. So so so great. Fabulous food, and a fabulous time. (But you'd never know it from the outside.) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 11, 2005 8:45 AM. Big Props To RichardJust a shout out (and a standing ovation to) my longtime friend and business partner, Richard Huff, who is (like me) graduating from the University of Washington today. Richard is getting his Bachelor's in Sociology, graduating with Honors. He is the featured student speaker at the Sociology Department Breakfast this morning. You've worked your guts out for this degree, my friend. Congratulations! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated June 11, 2005 8:30 AM. May 19, 2005Google Goes PortalGizmodo is reporting that Google has launched a personalized portal. It's pretty interesting - I just set up the (slick) system for news, weather, and the like. The thing is FAST! You can visit the Google portal at http://www.google.com/ig. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated May 19, 2005 6:53 PM. May 2, 2005The Richard Huff Technology Hand-Me-Down Program ™Friday was a bit like Geek Christmas for me. Not only did Tiger come out (which is super-cool - my review will be forthcoming shortly), but my cable Internet got installed and Vonage kit arrived as well (again, review to be posted later). But perhaps the best thing that happened on Friday was that I was unexpectedly able to participate in the Richard Huff Technology Hand-Me-Down Program ™. Richard is, by any measure, an Alpha Geek. He likes the biggest, the fastest, the coolest, and the latest when it comes to technology, gadgets, and the like. What differentiates Richard from the rest of us, however, is that he's got a checkbook. When he sees something he likes, he tends to buy it. Of course, all this wanton buying of the biggest/fastest/coolest/latest (B/F/C/L) means that the item that was previously the B/F/C/L is officially transformed from "new hotness" to "old and busted" with the swipe of the AmEx. This also means that Richard seems to perpetually find himself drowning in ancient (say, 6-to-8-week-old) technology. Which he then needs to hand off to someone who is not as Alpha, or a little more checkbook-challlenged. Me, for example. And thus, it was on Friday, waiting in line for Tiger at the Apple Store, that Richard received a "10% off anything in the store" scratch ticket and elected to apply it to a - wait for it - brand-new, Apple 30" Cinema Display. And yeah, it's wicked. This new 30" display means that Richard's old, 20" Cinema Display was immediately placed in the "old and busted" category, and, with a flip of the hand and a "Bah! Get it out of my sight!", I found myself the proud new owner of said 20" display. Cool! NOTE: There is a waiting list to participate in the Richard Huff Technology Hand-Me-Down Program ™. Participation is varied, and the technology is, too. Previous recipients have included Mary (Sony Clie), Khan (Sony 62" TV), and my father (PowerBook G4/667). Items are usually offered for dramatically reduced prices. If you're interested in getting on the list, let me know. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated May 2, 2005 9:37 AM. May 1, 2005Congrats, Mark And Toni!A shout out and hearty congratulations to my friends Toni Bosman and Mark Rodriguez, who were married last night in a terrific ceremony at the Woodland Park Zoo. Here's wishing you both many happy years together! Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated May 1, 2005 9:56 AM. April 11, 2005Google, Meet Craig. Craig, This Is Google.I saw a link off BoingBoing yesterday that qualifies as totally cool. This guy has taken the real estate listings from Craigslist and interfaced them into Google Maps. The result is a plotting of all the various, available real estate in your market in one easy-to-read, zoomable, draggable interface. You can check it out here. (Wow!) Given that we're in the market for a place, this is uber-handy. I'd love to find a house that's close to ST545 (aka, "The bus to Microsoft"), but the traditional address-only listing system pushes a lot of work on the user to figure that out. This new system isn't exactly polished, (I have to go to Craigslist for the description, for instance) but REALLY cool in terms of letting us shop by where we want to live, instead of the usual 3br, 2ba, price-is-$xxx kinda thing. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated April 11, 2005 2:26 PM. March 29, 2005Dad Got A 4.0!My father, after retiring two years ago (and moving out to Spokane), has decided to complete his bachelor's degree. I think this is incredibly cool. Well, he just wrapped his first set of college classes since the early 1970s at Spokane Falls Community College, taking both Humanities and Sociology. Grades were just posted - and he got straight A's in both. Way to go, Dad! I'm excited to graduate in June with my MBA, of course, but I'm even more excited to see him get his AA next Fall. Following that, it's off to WSU's Spokane branch campus. This quarter he's got Chemistry. Let's hope he doesn't blow himself up, huh? Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated March 29, 2005 10:00 AM. March 16, 2005GoogleX Pulled?WTF? I blogged about GoogleX this morning, and now Slashdot is reporting that the thing has been pulled. Clicking the link in my earlier post gets "The requested URL was not found on this server." News.com has a screen-shot and a blurb. I wonder who got in trouble over there, and why? Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated March 16, 2005 9:10 PM. GoogleXOK, this is just cool. GoogleX is a MacOS-X-inspired version of Google, from the folks in Google Labs. (Personally, I love the mouse-overs for the icons.) MacWorld has coverage. UPDATE, June 3, 2005: One or more of the original hyperlinks on this page expired, and has been dereferenced. The hyperlinked text is now underlined. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated March 16, 2005 8:33 AM. February 26, 2005PI: Teen's 'stupid' lip-synch video a Web hitThe trend is feeding itself: the PI is running a story this morning about Gary Brolsma (aka, the "Numa Numa" guy): 'Brolsma is not the first guy to rocket out of anonymity on a starship of embarrassment. There was William Hung, the Hong Kong-born "American Idol" reject who sang and danced so poorly he became a household name. There was Ghyslain Raza, the teenage Quebecois who taped himself wielding a mock light-saber and is now known as the "Star Wars Kid."' UPDATE, June 3, 2005: One or more of the original hyperlinks on this page expired, and has been dereferenced. The hyperlinked text is now underlined. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated February 26, 2005 9:38 AM. February 14, 2005Be My Valentine
A few years back, Mary and I decided to go to the Space Needle for our birthday in January. It was done as a wink-wink, nudge-nudge kind of thing (as Seattle natives, we're not supposed to a) like the Space Needle and b) step foot in the Space Needle unless escorting visitors from Kansas or something). As it happened, we both had a wonderful time. And the Needle has now become a bit of a tradition for us. Well, we spend enough time at the Seattle Center (Storm Games, Bumbershoot, etc.) that Mare thought it would be cool to get herself an Annual Pass to the Needle. Which she did. (Exhibit A: photo, above). And that is how, tonight, we found ourselves 600 feet in the air, meandering around the observation deck, watching happy couples as they did the Valentine's thing (Stroll. Kiss. Take photo. Repeat as necessary.) and just enjoying one another's company. It was a fantastic, palatte-cleansing sorbet of a mental break from the craziness of my calendar: I left the cell phone at home, switched off the e-mail, and just spent time. Cuddling at the Needle is pretty fab. If you've got someone you like, take 'em. (Even if they're Seattle natives.) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated February 14, 2005 9:07 PM. February 10, 2005I Coulda Used A Little More Cowbell
So there's a new video clip sweeping the b-school. (And no, the Aqua Teens aren't being displaced or anything). It's a SNL sketch from a few years back starring Christopher Walken as a record producer in 1978, working with Blue Oyster Cult as they do "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" "I'm telling ya, fellas ... you're gonna want that cowbell." Priceless. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated February 10, 2005 8:31 PM. January 21, 2005United Comes ThroughI've been trying to trace down an anomaly in my credit card balance - it's lower than it should be. At first, I figured that the bank had simply attached some pending transactions that weren't showing up through Web banking. However, the discrepancy continued and continued, so I started digging back through the transaction record. Suddenly, BOOM! There it was. United Airlines credited back my VISA for our aborted pre-Christmas trip to Spokane. This is terrific news, and my thanks to United for doing right thing by us. So: aside from the fact that the refund was done on the down-low (I mean, not so much as an e-mail to let us know they were doing it), hats are off. I'm happy. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated January 21, 2005 9:47 AM. January 4, 2005One More Trip 'Round The SunBirthdays are strange. People come up to you all day and congratulate you for doing ... what? Surviving? I mean, it's not like we did anything to earn our birthdays. It's not like graduating high school, completing a painting, or earning a perfect attendance record at work. All we had to to was show up. So anyway. 32 years ago today (and right around this time - 10:15 AM), my Mom was doing a whole lot of work on my behalf. While my memory of the occasion is dim, I have been assured that I was pretty ungrateful after I arrived - crying and carrying on. (Thanks, Mom.) Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated January 4, 2005 9:31 AM. December 19, 2004Spot Ya BreakfastSince we're not in Spokane this weekend, Mary and I have been spending our "time dividend" running around town, shopping, and hanging out. We caught "Ocean's 12" at Pacific Place (a fine, but not inspired sequel - at least it has Eddie Izzard in it), had wine at McMenamins, chilled out. Felt great. This morning we tried a new breakfast place: The Hi-Spot Cafe in Madrona. It's great! We got the recommendation from, of all things, a Lonely Planet: Seattle OK, we're off to see "Sideways" at the Uptown in about an hour. Slow weekend, huh? Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 19, 2004 2:27 PM. October 30, 2004The Joy of FlexLast Christmas, I sold my Jetta. Well, it's not exactly as it sounds. A very nice woman slammed into the thing at 4 AM on a particularly icy Monday morning while it was parked in front of my house. No one was hurt, but my poor VW was completely totaled. Her insurance company was helpful, professional, and cut me a check without any fuss. Rather than run out and get a new car, I took the opportunity to try the Urban Lifestyle thing. Seattle is an incredibly walkable city, and Metro - especially near my house - just rocks. Between those two modes of transportation, I was able to get to and from school (as well as other appointments) pretty easily. Once in a while, however, I need a vehicle. Sometimes I have a gig on the Eastside, other times it's a trip to Costco (or running around to get the keg for a TG). Enter Flexcar. Flexcar is a car-sharing service. The company has a presence in 16 metro areas around the country. The value proposition is simple: rent a car by the hour for a single, published rate. Rental is a complete cost - gas and insurance are included. You pick the car up from a (reserved) space near you, and return it to that same space when you're done with it. I've been a Flexcar member for better than six months, now, and I just love it. I love how simple it is to get a car (scheduling is all done through the Web). I love that the thing is so well-thought-out (the member manual is a model of simplicity, but is surprisingly informative). I love that there are bonuses for doing good things (free credit on your account, for instance, if you wash the car or gas it up) and penalties for doing evil things (leaving the car with less than a quarter tank of gas when you're done with it). It makes for a very self-regulating system. What prompted this particular love letter is my experience yesterday, running all over Seattle to prepare for our TG at the business school. I strolled a few blocks from my place, picked up the car, and was able to get everything done in just a few quick hours. When I'd finished my errands I parked the Flexcar back at 24th and Madison, locked the key in the car, and just ... walked away. It's this perfect, no-leave-behind service. I couldn't be happier. It's also an intriguing model for cities as urban density increases. Barring a recall effort on Tuesday, Seattle is building a monorail from Ballard to West Seattle. We're also constructing light rail from downtown to the airport (almost). Our city is growing, and we need to give people ways of living here WITHOUT owning a car. Flexcar is one of those cool "fill in the gap" services that makes the difference between people being car-free or keeping a vehicle around "just in case." I don't expect that everyone is going to run out and get rid of their cars tomorrow, but it's nice to have the option. I've been surprised how much money I've saved on gas, insurance, repairs - not to mention depreciation. If you're ever interested in parking your rig and trying to do without, Seattle has a pilot program, called "Way To Go, Seattle" that's worth investigating. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 30, 2004 4:49 PM. October 23, 2004Boo!
Mare and I hosted a small pumpkin carving and wine tasting party at the house tonight. (Truthfully, there was about 70% wine, 20% pumpkin and 10% crackers and cheese - but that's OK. The wisdom of wielding sharp objects at these kinds of things is questionable, however.) It's so nice to have small groups of friends over. In this case, our friends Mary, Jason and Sean came over to chat about everything and nothing, hang out, and just catch up. This may, in fact, be a key difference between the first and second year of grad school. Last year at this time I was stressing out about Kennedy's accounting midterm, and my social life was nonexistent. This year, well, wine and pumpkins. It's much more rational. Casey and I were talking about this yesterday, how having a social life of any kind makes school much more fun, relevant, and bearable. We try hard to keep a sense of community in the school through clubs, events, and of course, TGs. But there's still no substitute for a small dinner with nice people you only get to see once in a while. A photo of my pumpkin is attached to the post. Not the best thing ever, but it sure looks cute with a little candle in it. =) UPDATE, September 10, 2005: One or more of the original hyperlinks on this page expired, and has been dereferenced. The hyperlinked text is now underlined. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 23, 2004 10:39 PM. September 5, 2004Meet The Beaupres Last night, my very good friends Chris Norris and Todd Beaupre were joined in marriage. Congratulations, guys. Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated September 5, 2004 2:29 PM. July 22, 2004Good News Of The DayTwo quick hits on the news sites before I plunge back in to writing research questions. First, the Storm won today. And second, it looks like my paycheck is going to clear. Good news all around, eh? More Microsoft stuff soon... Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 22, 2004 3:46 PM. |
So Elaine and I have become a little obsessed with "street" food - basically, buying hot, fresh, cooked food from a small vendor (usually a cart) on a sidewalk or squeezed between two buildings somewhere.
Whoa.
My good friend, longtime business partner, 
We celebrated Elaine's birthday this weekend, and, for her present, she asked that I "cook her something."
Dad was in town this weekend, swooping in from Spokanistan to attend the 
I spent my weekend attending the Basic Rider Course taught through the 
Hearty congratulations to my good friends 
I spent today in the air.
Big, big shouts out and congratulations to my good friends Marnie Efishoff and 
Last night was the annual Planning holiday party, held at my boss' home in Seattle. It's a tradition that people bring a "
" (from Fantastic Four), and a 
I've known my friend Guy Shefner since Junior High (go, Leota!). Aside from being side-by-side in every annual since 7th grade (my last name starts S-H-E-A, and his is S-H-E-F, so you do the math), I've come to know him as a wicked-smart, wicked-nice dude who is forever working on cool projects.
I've just returned home from the most amazing Thursday.
I was at Safeco Field today to watch the 
My long-time friend Mary Weiner (nee Renn) threw a barbecue in my honor at her place in Madison Valley yesterday. She and her husband, Erich, got crazy on the grill and put out a bunch of chicken, beer, mai tais and salad.
