Ridiculously Persnickety

Neal Stephenson: The Confusion

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:44:50 GMT

Does this book ever stop being a series of infodumps?

What gets me is that he writes seven pages detailing the manufacture of phosphorous, but has the characters tell us about a pirate attack they experienced rather than having us experience it with them.

This is one of my mom's favorite books. I've been trying to get through it for over two years now.

The Newbie's Guide to SXSW Interactive: Travel Planning

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:06:11 GMT

I went to SXSW less prepared than I would have liked. While there's a million newbie guides to Burning Man, I didn't find a solid one for SXSW. Therefore, I'm writing one.

This is only based on my experience, your mileage may vary, blah blah blah.

SXSW Interactive Travel Planning

If you're coming from the coasts, fly in on Thursday night (or whatever the night before the panels start is) and out on Tuesday night (or whatever night the last day of the panels is). If you leave the Bay Area at 6:30am, you'll get to the Austin airport at 1:30pm, and you'll probably already be underslept. But your journey isn't over. Somehow in my head I equated "getting to the airport at 1:30pm" with "getting to the conference at 1:30pm." I hadn't counted on how long it would take for the shuttle to get us to the hotel, or that we'd be starving by the time we got there. By the time we checked in, it was almost 4pm; by the time we finished lunch, it was nearly 5pm. We completely lost a day in transit.
Meanwhile, most people have left by Tuesday afternoon, and if you're still there, you're probably totally drained. Everyone you wanted to network with at the parties has already gone home, and the lines for the last parties are down the block Better to fly home and get a semi-decent night's sleep before work the next day than have to get up at 4:30am local time to make your flight. (I speak from experience.)
Book your flight and your hotel as early as possible. And by "early," I mean "as soon as the SXSW hotel desk opens." We did, and we got a hotel that was a half mile walk from the conference center - close enough to walk, far enough away that you don't have to deal with the din of 6th Street. I talked to a lot of people who booked several months ahead and were still stuck in distant hotels that they had to take a shuttle to.
Before you go, check to see if your hotel has an airport shuttle. I didn’t. They did. It’s not just the money; it’s also that Super Shuttle dropped us off dead last, which chewed up a big chunk of our Friday.
Also, call ahead to see if your hotel room has a mini-fridge. We didn’t. It didn’t. Apparently, if we’d called ahead they would have brought one to our room.
Don’t pull an all-nighter the night before. You will not catch up on sleep at SXSW. Ever. If you do, you’ll miss something important. By flying in the night before, even if you're up late to make a work deadline, you can sleep in the next day instead of getting up before dawn to make a flight.
All the cool kids leave by Monday afternoon - but you don't have to. SXSW Interactive has two distinct elements - the panels and the party scene. A lot of the Twitterati skip the panels entirely, hit the party scene on Friday-Sunday, and are gone early Monday. There's still great panels on Monday and Tuesday, so don't feel you have to leave on Sunday because you hear all the cool kids are doing it. (Also, the parties are much easier to get into Monday night.)
Make a list of nearby restaurants (and the panels you want to attend) on paper. Sure, AT&T got their act together by Saturday, but Friday it was a mess. I’m one of three people in the world on a Palm Pre, so it wasn’t a problem for me, but if you think you can do everything on your mobile you’re dead wrong. My Friday and Saturday morning both would have gone better if I'd done this.

More to come...

Shameless self-promotion: Things I Wish I'd Known Before Going to SXSW

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:01:00 GMT

Hooray! I survived SXSW. I even learned a few things. (More on that later.)

I did a guest blog post on Lalawag called Things I Wish I'd Known Before Going to SXSW. (Thanks, Laurie and Sean!) Once I've gotten more sleep, I'm planning to expand on it here.

I'm also in a couple of SXSW videos:

and around 8:00 here:

This weekend I'm going to see if I can take some new icon photos that actually look like me.

Business cards and a love note

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:52:17 GMT

Business cards and a love note, originally uploaded by rednikki.

Via Fedex!

-- on the road

One down, one to go

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:29:55 GMT

I've finally managed to clear off one credit card. I've got one to go, but that looks a whole lot less intimidating than two.

I'm going to celebrate this by not buying anything!

Stealth deer closeup

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:36:10 GMT

Stealth deer closeup, originally uploaded by rednikki.

There was a stealth deer hiding in our backyard this morning! See its sneaky stealthiness?

SXSW Interactive - I'm going! Are you? Got advice?

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:11:15 GMT

I think the title says it all!

Are you going? Have you gone? Got advice for the n00b?

My birthday wine: PoiZin

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:37:39 GMT

Several years ago I bought a few bottles of the 2005 PoiZin. Then raqs was kind enough to send me some. I only open the wine on my birthday. This year I postponed my birthday due to outside events. Tonight we drank it. Here's my tasting notes.

If wine were a sexy perfume, it would be this wine. When you start smelling it, you can't stop. There's something almost musky about the scent - but in a way that makes it seem even more drinkable. The grapey nature comes through as well. There's something about the scent that I would describe as a deep red.

The first thing I thought when the wine hit my tongue was "velvet." It's smooth and yet textured, with a deep resonance that makes me think of velvet. There's a note that tastes like dark chocolate, and something else that's almost syrupy, but it's balanced by a savory acidity that adds complexity.

Mike's tasting notes: "It's delicious." He says he smells black currant and something that is almost vanilla, but not quite. He says that on the palate, there's a cherry flavor, but he doesn't have anything more specific than that.

I'm looking forward to tasting this again next year. I'm also sad that it will be the last bottle I have of this wine. It will be my 40th birthday, though - it seems appropriate to drink this wine on that day.

Your moment of zen

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:43:21 GMT

Korean boy band performing "Mazel Tov" (no, really, watch - it's in Korean, English and a wee bit of Hebrew):

Ain't nothin' but a Rorsharch test.

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:54:53 GMT

Right? Right?

Aquarius Free Will Horoscope by Rob Brezsny:

"We cannot change anything until we accept it," said psychologist Carl Jung. "Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses." Make that your hypothesis, Aquarius, and then conduct the following experiment. First, choose some situation you would like to transform. Next, open your heart to it with all the love and compassion you can muster. Go beyond merely tolerating it with a resigned disappointment. Work your way into a frame of mind in which you completely understand and sympathize with why it is the way it is. Imagine a scenario in which you could live your life with equanimity if the situation in question never changed. Finally, awash in this grace, meditate on how you might be able to actually help it evolve into something new.

I know it is just what I see in it...and yet that hits damn close to home (and it's the only one this week that does). This one is way easier to read than to execute.

Flying out

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:34:32 GMT

I've never been less prepared to travel in my life.

I live in California, so almost my entire wardrobe is wildly inappropriate; I've gained weight, so the bits that were mildly appropriate I can't fit into this week. I think Dirk would forgive me for being dressed badly, so long as I showed up.

See you DCers soon.

Thank you, Dork Tower

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:05:56 GMT

Thank you, Dork Tower, for making me laugh.

Memories of Dirk

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:59:17 GMT

I know there's a bunch of people on LJ who aren't on Facebook. If you have memories of Dirk you'd like to share, post them in the comments here. I know I'd like to read them, and I'm sure a lot of other people would too.

And if you have memories of Dirk that you feel are a little too risque to be associated with your username, anonymous commenting with no IP tracking is turned on.

birthday

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:27:34 GMT

Yes, it is my birthday (in 33 minutes). However, due to life stuff I'm postponing it for a week. See previous posts.

If in the meantime you want to comment about what we would do were it actually my birthday and were I in your area so we could celebrate (or, perhaps, were we both in some OTHER place of your choosing and were celebrating it), I'd love to read it.

Dirk, I will miss you

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:06:22 GMT

I just heard the news on LJ. I am just...I don't have any words. At all.

As most of you know, Dirk was my roommate for six months when I lived in Melrose Gothic (aka Horrid Manners). He crashed on my couch. It was a space that was way too small for the two of us to share, and yet we did, and it was fine for six months. He was easygoing, he taught me to make gourmet dishes from strange packaged foods from the 7-11 at the corner, he made me laugh when I was going through romantic drama (and I was always going through romantic drama in those days) by deliberately giving me bad advice - which he always warned me was bad advice first. We had our occasional dust-ups, but whenever I think of that period in my life, Dirk is a constant.

I hadn't seen him in several years due to being on the wrong coast, but we were in touch over Facebook, and somehow I'd always imagined that when I went back to DC I'd see him.

Skot is compiling memories and thoughts from all of Dirk's friends and loved ones to read at his memorial service over on Facebook. If you want to contribute, find me over on Facebook and I can point you at the group.

Nikkimas Day 3

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:59:38 GMT

Or "Nikkikah," as harlequinaide once christened it.

Every day since Valentine's Day, Mycranium has given me a gift in honor of that special holiday that runs from Valentine's Day to my birthday.

Today I got a gift certificate to my favorite store from...Chuck Finley.

If you watch Burn Notice, this will crack you up. If not, move along - nothing to see here...

Mycranium wrote me a song for Valentine's Day!

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:40:11 GMT

Mycranium wrote me a love song for Valentine's Day! It's a 1930s-style pop song. And it's just beautiful - funny in exactly the way he is, and tender, and very hummable.

He's going to be recording it soon. When he does, I will share it with all of you!

Funnier than any of this year's Superbowl ads

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:52:39 GMT

Thank you for sharing this, mshades - it makes me laugh every time I watch it.

This one's for the chocolate lovers

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:33:48 GMT

Gilt (a shopping site) has really good deals on Vosges chocolates through Saturday. I know people love Vosges, so I figured I'd pass the word. Gilt is an invite-only site - click here for your invite. Once you've signed up, click on "Home" to find the Vosges items. (They also have deals on Knipschildt chocolates today.)

I love you, laptop. Don't ever leave me.

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 06:23:00 GMT

Yesterday I (once again, for the millionth time) caught my laptop cord between my toes while walking and accidentally yanked my PowerBook G4 to the floor.

Today it stopped charging. (This is especially a problem because my battery charge only lasts about 15 minutes.) We voltage-tested the cord and that was fine - something had gone wrong with the bits inside the laptop that the power adapter connects to. I thought for sure this time it was a goner.

Mycranium got a really unsettling gleam in his eye and, with a slightly manic grin, asked, "How Frankensteiny do you want me to get with it?"

He brought out some creepy looking tools and a magnifying glass and began tinkering with the computer's innards. Ten minutes later, I once again had a working power system!

I am really lucky to have a mechanically and electronically minded tinkerer for a partner.

I'm also really thinking that I'd better save up money, because another fall like that and even MikeGyver won't be able to save it.

Biking: Back in the saddle again

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:23:30 GMT

It's been two weeks since I last biked. We had a series of rainstorms. I am not yet confident enough in my own skills to bike in the rain, and I'm certainly not confident enough in California drivers to think they won't hit me in the rain. And I had some important meetings in there (one of which I got hailed on while walking across the parking lot to, but I digress). So I drove for the past couple of weeks.

My legs definitely got out of shape over the past two weeks. Hills that were easy are now less so. I had to tap out at mile 5 and ask Mycranium to pick me up, as I couldn't do that last uphill mile.

But I biked. And I find that biking to work clears my head. So that's something.

5 more miles down, 950 to go!

ETA: Argh. And that was apparently my LAST ride for the next ten days. I think I'll build a pedal-powered ark.

The Twilight web traffic halo effect

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:44:27 GMT

For months, I've been seeing a blip in traffic for SeeMonterey from FanFiction.net, but I didn't know exactly where it was coming from. Today it was our #3 referring site, so I decided to spend 15 minutes digging up the info.

I tracked the link back to this page. The story, Holding Out For You, is the writer's second piece of fanfiction set in my area. And it has well over 17,000 comments.

And the fact that I found this meant I had to explain fanfiction to my admin assistant.

Movie quiz

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:09:35 GMT

Via number42: SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, post to your LJ and paste this as a note. Then, put +'s next to the films you've seen, add them up, and use your number as the header.

(+) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(+) Grease
(+) Pirates of the Caribbean
(+) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
(+) Boondock Saints
(+) Fight Club
() Starsky and Hutch
(+) Neverending Story
(+) Blazing Saddles
(+) Airplane
Total: 9

(+) The Princess Bride
() Anchorman
() Napoleon Dynamite
(+) Labyrinth
() Saw
() Saw II
() White Noise
() White Oleander
() Anger Management
() 50 First Dates
() The Princess Diaries
(+) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (YES I SAW IT FOR CHRIS PINE!!!)
Total: 2

(+) Scream
() Scream 2
() Scream 3
() Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
(+) American Pie
(+) American Pie 2
() American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total: 3

(+) Harry Potter 1
(+) Harry Potter 2
(+) Harry Potter 3
(+) Harry Potter 4
(+) Harry Potter 5
() Resident Evil 1
() Resident Evil 2
(+) The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
() The Village
() Lilo & Stitch
Total: 6

(+) Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
() Signs
() The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
() 13 Going on 30
(+) I, Robot
() Robots
Total: 2

(+) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(+) Universal Soldier
() Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
() Along Came Polly
(+) Deep Impact
() KingPin
() Never Been Kissed
(+) Meet The Parents
() Meet the Fockers
() Eight Crazy Nights
() Joe Dirt
() KING KONG (all of them, but it only counts as 1 for this purpose)
Total: 4

() A Cinderella Story
() The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
(+) Dumb & Dumber
() Dumber & Dumberer
() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
() Halloween
() The Ring
() The Ring 2
() Surviving X-MAS
() Flubber
Total: 1

(+) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
() Practical Magic
(+) Chicago
() Ghost Ship
() From Hell (and yet I OWN it...)
(+) Hellboy
() Secret Window
() I Am Sam
() The Whole Nine Yards
() The Whole Ten Yards
Total: 3

() The Day After Tomorrow
() Child's Play
() Seed of Chucky
() Bride of Chucky
(+) Ten Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
() Gothika
(+) Nightmare on Elm Street
(+) Sixteen Candles
() Remember the Titans
() Coach Carter
() The Grudge
() The Grudge 2
(+) The Mask
() Son Of The Mask (does it count if harlequinn and I accidentally stumbled onto the set
Total: 4

(+) Bad Boys
(+) Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Slevin (The Wrong Man)
(+) Ocean's Eleven
() Ocean's Twelve
(+) Bourne Identity
() Bourne Supremacy
() Bourne Ultimatum
() Lone Star
() Bedazzled
() Predator I
() Predator II
() The Fog
() Ice Age
() Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
() Curious George
Total: 4

(+) Independence Day
() Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
() Christine
(+) ET
() Children of the Corn
() My Bosses Daughter
() Maid in Manhattan
() War of the Worlds
(+) Rush Hour
(+) Rush Hour 2
Total: 4

() Best Bet
() How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
() She's All That
() Calendar Girls
(+) Sideways
(+) Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
(+) Ever After
(+) Wizard of Oz
(+) Forrest Gump
(+) Big Trouble in Little China
(+) The Terminator
(+) The Terminator 2
()The Terminator 3
Total: 8

(+) X-Men
(+) X-2
(+) X-3
(+) Spider-Man
(+) Spider-Man 2
(+) Sky High (a friend of mine is in it!)
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
(+) Catch Me If You Can
(+) The Little Mermaid
() Freaky Friday
() Reign of Fire
() The Skulls
(+) Cruel Intentions
() Cruel Intentions 2
() The Hot Chick
(+) Shrek
(+) Shrek 2
Total: 11

() Swimfan
() Miracle on 34th street
() Old School
() The Notebook
(+) K-Pax
() Krippendorf's Tribe
() A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
(+) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total: 2

(+) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(+) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(+) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(+) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(+) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(+) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total: 6

() Baseketball
() Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
() House of 1000 Corpses
() Devil's Rejects
() Elf
(+) Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
() American History X
() Three
Total: 1

() The Jacket
() Kung Fu Hustle
() Shaolin Soccer
() Night Watch
(+) Monsters Inc.
Total: 1

(+) Titanic
(+) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(+) Shaun Of the Dead
() Willard
Total: 3

() High Tension
() Club Dread
(+) Hulk (the one with Edward Norton)
() Dawn Of the Dead
(+) Hook
() Chronicles Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
() 28 days later
() Orgazmo
() Phantasm
() Waterworld
Total: 2

(+) Kill Bill vol 1
() Kill Bill vol 2
() Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
(+) Kingdom of Heaven
() The Hills Have Eyes
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
(+) Army of Darkness
Total: 3

(+) Star Wars Ep.I The Phantom Menace
() Star Wars Ep.II Attack of the Clones
() Star Wars Ep.III Revenge of the Sith
(+) Star Wars Ep.IV A New Hope
(+) Star Wars Ep.V The Empire Strikes Back
(+) Star Wars Ep.VI Return of the Jedi
() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total: 4

(+) The Matrix
() The Matrix Reloaded
() The Matrix Revolutions
(+) Animatrix
(+) Evil Dead
(+) Evil Dead 2
() Team America: World Police
() Red Dragon
(+) Silence of the Lambs
() Hannibal
Total: 5

88 films...I guess I just barely wasted my life!

On a private after hours tour of the Aquarium

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:44:22 GMT

On a private after hours tour of the Aquarium, originally uploaded by rednikki.

We're so lucky!

Brown wins

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:15:43 GMT

Boy, it's a darn good thing I love my job to a degree that should be illegal, because the chances of the health care plan passing (and me being able to get affordable insurance on my own) just slipped to zero.