iPhone vs Google Android

You might not know what Android is right now, but you will soon. Google wants to take a bite out of the Apple and has been building their own mobile OS (rumored to be launching on the T Mobile network with the HTC Dream phone) that's supposed to be everything the iPhone OS is and more. Without getting too nerdy on you (too late I hear) check out this video to get an idea of Android's haptic (aka movement) sensative Google maps compass. Oh yeah! That's cool. I'll be one of the first in line for the HTC Dream for sure.

No More Booze for Indians

Unreal statistic here, published by the AP: "Nearly 12 percent of the deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives are alcohol-related -- more than three times the percentage in the general population". That's horrible. I don't know what to say about it, I don't know the solution, but if I were in that culture I'd really hope everyone in my family abstained from any drinking at all.

Public Art: A Sublime Waste?

Lindsay and I went to the park today to see a dance "collective" hop up and down and twitch in front of some chairs that bored people like us happened to be sitting it. When I found myself visually tracing the branches of a nearby tree instead of pondering the forced human movement happening in front of me it was time to go. No, I didn't care to stay and understand why they were taking bites of out the apples on the strings. Anyway, Lindsay and I have been through enough art school (just ask Sallie Mae) to know crap when we see it, but it did do good at some level and provoked a long discussion of public art and it's responsibility to guide and entertain rather than be aloof and privileged. the NYTimes has a brilliant and close to my heart article about a similar idea and how it manifests in public sculpture. Seeing the accumulation of Jeff Koons work, especially next to my old hero Richard Serra, made me reclassify him as a genius and not able to get enough of his public punk rock thought provoking spoon full of sugar makes the thought get across sculpture. Do yourself the favor and click through the Time's slide show of significant public art and take a stand yourself. Does Serra's wall deserved to be removed from outside an office? Does the fact that it effect the occupants, at all, give it value? Does "Puppy" insult the art world or draw viewers in in the same way that Wallinger's Jesus does - as a familiar, or owned figure larger than life? Public art, either the opening of the Olympics, or the graffiti on the bus stop...is it a requirement or a luxury?

Wood Burning Truck

Following hot on the heals of the 1M mile Chevy, how about a little more auto weirdness? Tired of high gas prices? Looking for something a little more abundant? How about using wood to fuel your truck? There's a guy in 'Bama that's doing just that. No, it's not nuts it's good ole Southern ingenuity. Wayne made it work. Go Wayne go. Burn baby burn. (Bio-Truck web site)

1,000,000 Mile Chevy

Would you be willing to pay $30,000 for a Chevy truck with 1M miles on it? So far no one else is either. Hop over to eBay (here) and place you bid on it before...um...before, nothing happens at all.

She's Back

Loo's almost back in town! That's her plane being tracked right here. I tried to tidy up the house, even did a little home improvement for her birthday (more later). Missed her a lot, so I'll be great to have her home again.

A is for Apple

I took a picture of an Apple this morning. I kind of like it.
Can you tell that Lindsay is out of town and I don't know what to do with myself? : )

More Moon...Tonight

I watched the moon rise over West Seattle tonight. I think it wanted to take a peak over the shoulder of the crane near the new Whole Foods construction site.

Talk to Me About Murphy

No, not the dog. Murphy, the dog, is fine. Murphy's Law. I gave a speech at Amazon's HQ building this morning, and it was a bumpy ride. Picture a room with a great view (I took a phone pic out the window - see above) of 150 people and all wondering when the power will come back on. Then wondering why there's no coffee. As I plow ahead with my speech, pacing back and forth on stage waving my arms talking about content feeds, we get a back-up generator going, so someone runs up and sticks a lapel mic on me. Helpful for 3 minutes, then it starts cuting in and out with the generator's load. I bail on the mic and go back to arm waving style. Someone sitting on the front row stepped out of the room, and on cue his phone (that's sitting on the table conspicuously) starts ringing, loudly, right in front of me, thankfully after 5 or 6 rings his voice mail kicked in, but I struggled to keep my train of thought. So it might sound bad, but I liked it all in all. It's fun to go with the flow and make due. Much more fun than executing a task like a machine. After I was done 10 people came up to the stage and asked questions, my VP said that I looked like a "rock star", so look for me on iTunes soon. Good to have that speech behind me now, it was taking up a lot of my mind. I'm lucky that I get to participate in fun stuff like that, it makes life colorful.

Landslide!

Amazing video. Just amazing to see so much move at once.

Pimp My Foot

Lindsay and I were at the mall this weekend, and found this purdy shoe. We were stunned. I almost bought a pair just to pay homage to it. I even tried it on, not too bad really. All hail the pimp shoe.

Moon and Mountain

Mt Rainier and the moon, as seen this evening from our porch.

6 Observations On Life

I ran across this on the 'net somewhere today. Good stuff, so I'll share it:

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman emperor from 161 until his death in 180.
Marcus left behind a corpus of writing which, despite it’s antiquity, offers us some truly timeless wisdom. Here are six lessons we can learn from his observations on life.

Lesson #1: We Are Responsible for Our Own Experience of Life

“Such as are your habitual thoughts; such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the color of your thoughts.”

Much has been made recently of the (so called) ‘law of attraction.’ Before ‘The Secret,’ a wealth of writers had tapped into the idea that what happens in our mind is the most important thing in shaping our experience of life. From Norman Vincent Peal’s ‘Amazing Power of Positive Thinking,’ and Joseph Murphy’s ‘Power of the Subconscious Mind’ to

Wallace Wattles ‘Science of Getting Rich,’ all were taking about a truth which Marcus understood so may centuries ago.

Viktor Frankl said that between what happens to us and our response to it, there is a gap, and in that gap lies our whole experience of life. Steven Covey, in his ‘Seven Habits’ called our ability to widen this gap ‘being proactive.’ It is the first habit of a highly effective person to cultivate an awareness that s/he is in control. To coin a phrase, life is what you make it.

Lesson #2: Everything Changes

Fondue I Do

I now own an official Kahlua fondue pot. It came with a bottle of Kahlua that I bought tonight. The fondue gift set box was on sale, $2 cheaper than the regular bottle on its own. Apparently I can be convinced to put cheap crap in my house for a $2 savings. But you know what's more distasteful? While looking for a picture of the set, for the blog, I found it on a site for www.jazzartsfm.com/auction.html as something to bid on. Ugh.

Kitchen Envy

I want a new Kitchen. No, make that I'd like a new kitchen and Lindsay needs a new, wants a new, kitchen. I'm not even going to show you pics of the house, because as much as we love it the kitchen is original and not becoming. It's a big step to dump a ton of money into a kitchen and because we're both so frugal and downright practical it's not something we've taken any action on. Unless you mean drooling over models at Home Depot. Just when is the right time for tearing out a kitchen and putting in a new one. Wait! I don't even know where to start. All I know is I want counter space and glass tiles. Is that enough to go on?

Football Sunday

I watched NFL football on TV today. What happened to the summer? I love football, so I'm happy to hear Madden, see the hype, and participate in the quintessentially American display of aggression and strategy, but are we really headed into Fall? I refuse to think that in a month it'll be September, that it'll be rainy season, that it'll be fleece and hat weather again. The good news is that it's supposed to get up to 90 this week so I'll get some of that baked in seasonal appreciation back, but I hear there's football this weekend too. Oh no.