Air-powered car

There is apparently a new prototype car that runs on air. It seems like a great idea with very promising specs, though if you it in the headlights it looks like an angry golf cart. Learn more about the air car.

Working hard

The boys (with Kanchen hiding in the back) by Corinne S.

Last night I went to dinner with my coworkers to say goodbye to two people who are leaving the team. I posted some photos, including this one, on Flickr.

Have some lipstick with your coffee

Apparently the cosmetics company Sephora recently pulled a clever marketing stunt to get New Yorker's attention: they created coffee cups with lipstick stains already on them. Read about it on the Phinney/Bischoff Design House blog.

WA Dems ask: Do you have a paperclip?

paperclip by timsperez

Get rid of clutter while helping your local Democratic offices! I got this email yesterday from Jaxon Ravens of wa-democrats.org.

Dear Democrat,

Do you have a paperclip?

Small things like paperclips, pens and other office supplies help keep offices running. Your contribution of items like these can make a big difference.

The Washington State Democrats Coordinated Campaign has 12 offices and 31 Field Organizers strategically located throughout the state. Their goal is to unify campaign efforts to elect Democrats by actively working to recruit volunteers and communicate the Democratic message. They are on the path to re-elect Senator Cantwell and our six Democratic Congressmen as well as to send Darcy Burner, Richard Wright and Peter Goldmark to join them in Washington, D.C. In addition, their efforts will serve to strengthen our majorities in Olympia and continue the important work accomplished in the last legislative session by Governor Gregoire, Speaker Frank Chopp and Senator Lisa Brown, Senate Majority Leader.

Each of the 12 Coordinated Campaign offices has a wish list of small items it needs to help accomplish this important work. Please take a moment to look at the wish list of the Coordinated Campaign closest to you. To find each office's wish list, go to www.wa-democrats.org/wishlist.php

Any assistance you can give in providing these items would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to surprise a Coordinated Campaign office in another part of the state by sending them a care package.

Give small and win big. Your gifts and contributions are greatly appreciated.

Sincerely, Jaxon Ravens Executive Director Washington State Democrats

Contributions to the Washington State Democrats are not deductible for federal tax purposes. Your contribution may be used in connection with federal elections and is subject to the limitations and prohibitions of theFederal Election Campaign Act. State and federal law require us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, employer, occupation and employer's address of individuals who make contributions to the WSDCC inexcess of $100 and $200 respectively per calendar year. Paid for by the Washington State Democratic Central Committee PO Box 4027 Seattle, WA 98194, (206) 583-0664 www.wa-democrats.org and not authorized by any federal candidate or candidate's committee.

I want a pretty front slope like this

This weekend my mom and Rich are coming over to help me get started cleaning up the yard (aftermath of sewer and drainage work). If we have time, we also may try to start planting on the slope in front of the house (where the Juniper bushes used to be). On Claire's recommendation, I've been looking at yards in my neighborhood for the last couple of months to figure out what I liked. I did this while walking Maple and would take pictures. To help my mom and Rich understand what appeals to me I posted a bunch of these photos online for them to peruse. The one above is from my favorite yard so far. It's a really nice mix of flowers and greens planted tightly together in a naturalistic fashion. I think that's what I'm going to go for. I have to talk to Benjamin first, but I think it would be cool to rip out some more of our existing plants that I don't like - the holly bush, the "boxy" hedges in front, and maybe the bush and tree with red berries (but probably only if they're toxic). My other thoughts on what I would like in front of the house are:

• I like the “natural” rocks that come in various midrange sizes and shapes (not smoothed or squared), but I'm thinking I won't make any formal tiers since I like the natural look
• I like dense planting so no weeds have room to grow!
• I like a mixture of flowers and green things (grasses, bushes, and so on)
• I want perennials
• I want things that bloom at various times of year to maximize colorful months :-)

The slope we're planting gets full sun and has western exposure. We also have an area at the back of our yard that I want to turn into a flower bed someday and it gets partial sun. If anyone has ideas on plants I should try, techniques, or other landscaping thoughts, pour them on now!

We have a new sewer main

Last week while Benjamin and I were in Leavenworth, Todd the Plumber replaced our sewer main and installed a French drain and tight-line system for gutter runoff. As part of that he also removed our huge Cypress tree. It's good to have this done, even though it isn't glamorous. It was time and the drainage should help protect our recently-refinished basement. Now, the next job ahead of us is landscaping to replace the tree and Juniper bushes, as well as get the grass back in shape and do some other pruning that was needed aside from this. More photos of the sewer project

Movie: Ice Princess

Good for what it is

No, this isn’t particularly unique. Yes, it is Disney schlock. But, it is well put together and I still like these cheesy Teen Girl Makes Good at Dancing or Skating or Some such movies. Perhaps the unfulfilled fantasies of an uncoordinated and out-of-shape American female?

Anyway (!), I thought that Michelle Trachtenberg did a good job as the lead teen and that the story was sufficiently heartwarming and believable, if utterly predictable. I felt that one different and positive element to this particular story was that the girl was a Physics geek who used her understanding of aerodynamics to help her skate. I also liked that she worked really hard to make her dream happen, rather than the version where it all just falls in their lap because it’s American and they’re pretty and deserve it.

Movie: Dreamer

Nothing new here

Yes, I watch cheesy movies, and I generally enjoy them. No, I am not typically a harsh critic. There is nothing wrong with this movie, but it doesn't offer even the shred of something different than the 100s of previous stories about injured horses and the little girls who love them. It's formulaic and utterly predictable. I got this from Netflix because so many people had recommended it and because Dakota Fanning is the child lead. She is adorable and and I think of her as a good child actor, but her performance her was just cute, not great.

Video: The evolution of dance

 

This is a great way to spend 6 minutes (audio required). If you haven't seen this video, you should watch it (or again). It's a guy doing one long dance to a medly of songs in chronological order. It's heavily 80s biased and very entertaining. :-)

"Sister Ivanna Manda Lei" from Seattle Pride Parade 2006

Seattle Pride Parade 7 by Rob Gruhl

Rob took some wild photos at the pride parade last weekend.

Rob & Ola gone wild

Ola, originally uploaded by Rob Gruhl.

This is a photo Rob took as an "assignment" for his beloved Strobist blog. :) (Sorry this pic is so huge. I'm experimenting with my options when blogging pics from Flickr.)

Video: Who Killed the Electric Car?

 

This is a trailer for a new movie. Interesting and compelling, but it feels very one-sided (a la, the much decried on this alias, Michael Moore). I think I’d be more interesting in an objective analysis of the positive and negative aspects of the electric car.

I know for me an electric car currently wouldn’t be practical since I have no garage and park on the street. Also, what about the impact of rising electricity costs?

It is way too hot to have a laptop on my lap.

Sally, Molly, and Lilly

Pam Hart / 06 06 17 Sally Molly Lilly

Now my aunt is on Flickr, too. This wedding is gettin' everyone postin'. :-) My other aunt and more people have joined as well, but haven't posted yet. If Flickr makes any money they'll take over the (photo) world. I just hope they don't get Yahooified.

TV: Lost - Season 2

Great, even if not as good as Season 1

I admit that it isn’t as good as Season 1. But it’s still good. Especially for broadcast television. I don’t regret spending $35 for it on iTunes (even if that is a ripoff).

Book: Three Weeks with My Brother

Interesting

This is basically Nicholas Sparks’ memiors. He's the one who wrote The Notebook and some other famous books, a few of which have been turned into movies.

The present-tense narrative is centered around Nicholas' trip around the world with his brother Micah. However, most of the book is actually set in the past, recounting stories of their childhood and adulthood.

It is interesting to hear how Nicholas' writing career unfolded, but it takes a backseat to the amazing number of family challenges the Sparks encountered. Nicholas' life has held many difficulties so the book is certainly not dull, even though it isn’t an action thriller.

Wedding party at the tractor

Corinne S. / Wedding party at the tractor

I posted more photos from my brother's wedding. Other people did too. The Flickr photo "pool" for the wedding is at http://www.flickr.com/groups/tj-gabe-wedding/pool/.

Although I was listening to Inkheart a lot, it turned out that I somehow only have 3 of the 14 discs ripped to my iPod and to my shuttle PC (which is where I store my audio books). So now I have to wait until I get home to read more. In fact, I probably have to wait until I can check it out from the library again and re-rip it. I am not sure why I keep having these issues. I have a similar problem with A Man Without a Country. I ripped it months ago and found out after returning it to the library that disc 2 overwrote disc 1 since the tracks were all named generically (Track 1, Track 2, etc.). I put a hold on it again through the library and after a couple of months my name finally came up again. I re-ripped it and I swear I verified I had it all correct before I returned it. But, on our drive to Leavenworth I went to play it only to discover that I now have two recordings of disc 2, though one is labeled as disc 1. It isn’t disc 1. Something is desperately wrong here…

I bought Lost season 2 online from iTunes last week. Benjamin and I started watching it in our hotel a couple of nights ago. Although we had a TV and an iPod composite cable, we couldn’t get it working (tip: There’s a TV Out setting on the iPod under Video Settings). We also had a 20” flat panel monitor (yes, we travel light), but no PC speakers. So, desperate to watch Lost, we ended up watching it on the iPod screen with Benjamin’s Bose headphones attached and lying open on the bed, volume cranked to 90%.

Last night we successfully got the iPod connected to my brother’s 14” TV (hence the TV Out setting tip) and watched a couple more episodes. Although it was good, the compression was really noticeable during the dark shots (which is most of Lost). Tonight I may try watching it on my computer by borrowing my brother’s PC speakers. The compression isn’t as noticeable there, eve, though the screen is much larger. I imagine it’s because the video gets compressed more on the iPod than the PC, but it could be the video out or some other factor.

Bride dances with her father

Rob Gruhl / TJ & Gabe's Wedding 19

This is one of the photos that Rob took at my brother TJ's wedding this weekend. This is my new sister-in-law, Gabe, dancing with her father, Bob.

Do you think there is some cosmic reason why my female cousins both have red hair and now both of my sister-in-laws have red hair? I have brown hair, even though the years of intermittent interference may have convinced you otherwise. ;-)

Cousins

Sallywsu / Lilly 6-18-06 005

This weekend my cousin Sally posted her own Flickr photos, including adding a photo to my brother's wedding photo pool. Go Sal!

Benjamin and I started listening to this book in the car on our way to Leavenworth for my brother’s wedding. We’re listening to it using my iPod and iTrip (FM transmitter). Right before that we’d been listening to music on the iPod.

We were enjoying the story, but it was unfolding in a very unusual way, going back and forward in time a lot. This style is very difficult to track in an audio book. But, the narration and storytelling were good sowe just kept along with it. Later that evening I discovered something that explained the unusual unfolding of this story: my iPod was still set to random.

So, I started over from the beginning. ;)

Book: Ordinary Heroes

Interesting WWII story

This is a story about a man discovering his father after his death through the father’s writings about his time in the American Armed Forces. It’s an interesting and well-written account. I don’t typically find war stories interesting, but I liked this book. It’s more character-driven and isn’t your typical solder-in-the-trenches account of the war. Instead, it’s about a JAG lawyer ordered to track down and arrest a beloved soldier accused of insubordination and other crimes. It’s also a son learning about who his parents werebefore he was born. It’s not an amazing book, but is a worthwhile read.

TV: Lost - Season 1

Addiction is me

This is a great series. It is melodramatic at times and occasionally ridiculous, but it’s really well done. The character development is extensive and the show is so multi-layered. The interesections between characters through time, including the flash backs, is well handled. I highly recommend it.

Near the end of watching Season 1 I discovered that Season 2 won’t be available on DVD until October. Yikes! So I went online and discovered that the last 5 episodes of Season 2 are available free on ABC.com as streaming media. Note that is only available through the end of June 2006! But, the entire season is available through iTunes for $34.99 (or $1.99/episode). I opted to shell out the bucks and do that since I have an iPod and am leaving on vacation tomorrow. :-)

Someone's favorites flicks

sweetbriar / Favorites Page 4

I found this neat post on Flickr. This person took a series of screenshots of their Flickr favorites. This one looks especially pretty.

TV: Grey's Anatomy

One of my favorite new shows

This is one of my favorite shows to start in the last couple of years. It’s character-driven and the characters are compelling. It’s not an intellectual show, but it’s enjoyable and well done.

Flick

WeilandFour / Happy Girl

I also convinced my cousin Cindy to get on Flickr. This is her beautiful daughter Molly.

We've got Flickr, yes we do. We've got Flickr. How 'bout you?

TV: Big Love

Fascinating and well done

This is a great new HBO series. I really enjoyed the first season, which recently ended. It’s about a polygamist Morman family in Utah. It’s pretty dramatic, including a whole plotline about the devious and controlling leader of the nearby polygamist commune. And it doesn’t make polygamy out to be a haven by any means. Poor guy has three wives, a ton of kids, the nasty “prophet” from the commune and the suspicious community to deal with. I’m looking forward to the second season and hope it holds together without devolving into melodramatic, hopeless despair (the way Sopranos did).

Molly with Lilly Kate

Sallywsu / Molly with Lilly Kate

I pestered my cousin Sally to post on Flickr. She sent me a picture for our Flickr group that she took at my grandma's birthday party. She ended up giving meher password so I posted on her behalf. This is one of her other photos I posted while I was there being Sally. :-)

Lost in Lost

This series is so damn addictive that we rarely watch fewer than four episodes in a sitting and I want to watch it every day. We started watching the first season about a week ago and we’ve now watched 16 of the 24 episodes. It’s hard toimagine they can sustain the level of intrigue and the quality into additional seasons, but as Benjamin commented yesterday, it is show with incredible character development so there is a lot of room to delve deep for more substance.

Movie: Good Night, and Good Luck

Makes you sad(der) about modern Journalism

Tonight Jimmy came over and we got pizza and watched this movie (Benjamin and Maple too). Good Night, and Good Luck is a well-crafted story about Edward R. Murrow’s scrutiny of Sen. McCarthy’s House on Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC) investigations in 1953. It’s a well put together rendition of the events of the time that leaves you pondering the status of our country today and the absence of well-known journalists with the integrity and guts of Murrow. And of course, the absence of media companies willing to air such truth and the seeming disinterest of most Americans to hear it.

Maple & Carol 2005

Susanne D / Maple & Carol 2005

A few weeks ago when I was visiting my mom to celebrate Rich's birthday, I got my mom set up on Flickr. She's been posting there since then, but she also posted this photo of Maple and Carol from last year. I love this picture! My baby was SOOO cute. She still is, but she was extra cute then!

Movie: X-Men - The Last Stand

Low expectations=goodness

I enjoyed this movie even though it was probably the worst in the trilogy. I admit I had low expectations and don’t remember the details of the first two. But I thought it was a perfectly enjoyable action comic book flick.

80 years old

Corinne S. / Blowing out the candles

Memorial Day weekend we celebrated my grandma's 80th birthday with most of the family and many of her neighbors. She's an amazing woman. Not only is she completely on top of things, she's more fit than I am! I mean, that's not hard in and of itself, but she's one fit lady.

There are a bunch of photos in the Doris' 80th birthday party pool on Flickr. This is just one of them.

Movie: Fun With Dick & Jane

Funny and not so funny

I enjoyed this movie and thought it was relatively amusing, though it’s certainly nothing to write home about. I wouldn’t actively recommend it, but if it comes across your path there’s no harm in watching it as far as I can see. That is, unless you hate Jim Carrey or Tea Leoni.

Bridal shower bird house

Corinne S. / Bird house

A few weeks ago I attended my soon-to-be sister-in-law's bridal shower. There is a Flickr group for this event too.

Movie: The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

Very well done

This was a very cute story, but the movie wasn’t cutesy. Julianne Moore does a great job, as do all the actors. They really seemed to capture the feeling of the time period and the family drama and tension you feel is real. I thought it was particularly neat that at the very end of the movie they showed a scene with all of the real life children of Julianne Moore’s character. (The movie is based on a true story, which was made into a book by one of the aforementioned “children.”) They also include a bunch of photographs of the real family in the extra section of the DVD, which is somewhat interesting.

Benjamin

Rob Gruhl / Square Ben

My husband is cute. Even if he refuses to shave for me most of the time... ;-)

Head over heels

fd / Head over heels

I discovered this guy on Flickr in the Red Rule group and I love his photos. :)

Book: Crazy in Alabama

A nice mixture of character, story, and history

This was a pretty good book. It’s a story told from two perspectives: one of a young boy living in Alabama in 1965 and the other of the boy’s aunt at the same time. There’s an element of a coming of age story, there’s a murder, and the civil rights movement is an important part of the story as well. It’s not the best book I’ve ever read, but it was interesting and definitely a unique approach to the subject matter.

ASUS will make Windows SideShow-compatible laptops

In case you don't remember or don't know, Windows SideShow is the technology I've been working on for a while now at work. This week ASUS announced that they definitely be making Windows SideShow-compatible laptops with the Windows Vista release. Read the complete article: PortalPlayer and ASUSTeK Join Forces to Bring Windows SideShow-Capable Notebooks to Market; Innovative Notebook Design Enables Always On Access to Personal Productivity Information and Entertainment (Note that the image is of a prototype ASUS laptop with a detachable SideShow device. No promises that's what they'll ship.)

US university students choose iPods over beer

A few snippets from this Yahoo! News article:

The iPod's "in" factor has leapt more than 20 percentage points from last year's student survey. Part of the explosion in its popularity may be due to the iPod's use as a learning tool in the form of "podcasting", technology that allows students to download lectures directly into their handheld devices to be listened to and viewed at their convenience, suggested Weil.

Read the full article: US university students choose iPods over beer.

I want one (but I'm the wrong gender and lack children)

fd / PAPA-razzi

This is an awesome t-shirt made a photoenthusiast's family had made for him.

Harvey

Corinne S. / Harvey at Casa d'Italia

On Saturday, Harvey and Eileen came over. I spent time with Harvey teaching him to upload photos to his website. After that, the four of us (H, E, B & me) went to dinner at the Italian place near us.