Author: kevin

I would have loved this a couple of years ago.

In our last house, we had a neighbor who was pure evil. Since I am good at heart, more or less, I never gave him the rich thrashing he deserved (with the exception of calling the cops when he would destroy our property or peep in our windows). I did dream of having something like this though:
ThinkGeek :: The ThinkGeek Annoy-a-tron

Something like this is perfection for that person that deserves no joy in their lives and that can be driven slowly insane.

Holy Crap, I love WordPress!

I used iBlog for so long because I wanted total control over my content, and I wanted to own the database. I was hesitant to give over my blog to a site like blogger or whatever, because my words are my own, ya know? Also, I wanted to be able to move my blog wherever I felt like it. iBlog is a client side app and generates web pages that get ftp’d up to your server. It works great if you are always blogging from the same machine and you want to mess with your pages later. Of course it is a very web 1.0 way of doing things. When I switched to dreamhost, I added WP and now I’m supa-happy. I’m still messing with my templates and will be for a while, so if you are reading this, expect some evolving visual weirdness…

Situation:Terminal » My Xbox Live HD Video Rental Nightmare

Situation:Terminal » My Xbox Live HD Video Rental Nightmare

I love posts like this (I’ve written several myself). It is one of the joys of our interconnected age that when companies give bad service, it is now our duty to tell the world.

(Can you tell that I’m digging the “Press it!” button too much?)

Bush keeps Democrats in his sights

Bush keeps Democrats in his sights

This commentary is right on, but I think that it is missing one obvious reason why after proclaiming his desire to work with the democrats and claiming that he hears the will of the people after the Blue Wave election of 2006, he is pushing scarily conservative nominations and agenda items gaurenteed to piss off Democrats: payback. Payback, not just for himself, but for the ousted Republican congressmen as well. Many of these far-right goals were aborted by the previous Republican congress, who would have to run against their decisions. Maybe, Bush thinks that these lame ducks can vote their conscience and will do any wacko thing he asks them too. Hopefully, this isn’t the case or at least the Democrats will be able to delay these until January. Otherwise, he is just creating a deeper pit that we’ll be climbing out of for the next two years.

Wow, the Zune is sinking like a stone…

Now, I’m not so much of a Microsoft-hater as I used to be. The Zune announcement left me a bit cold, there are some cute ideas, but the kow-towing to the music companies at the expense of the users kinda bugged me.

I guess I’m not alone. The Zune seconds ago is at #46 on the Amazon top sellers list, putting it behind 10 different kinds of ipods, 3 iPod accessories, and 3 different SanDisk MP3 players.

Yow! That has got to hurt!

Cafe Amore (Belltown)

Friendly staff, ok atmosphere, out of the way location, but avoid it, avoid it, avoid it
Amore is trying hard, it really is. They are new and they want to succeed in a location that several other places have failed in (the former location of Spice). However, they are cutting corners on the most important thing, the food. This would be ok, if they were charging you appropriate prices. However, a meager Antipasto with all (obviously) canned ingredients should not cost $9. The Entrees range from $16 to over $30, and they are plated like they are sculptures of culinary artwork. However, it comes back to the ingredients which are obviously cheap. The wine selection is weak, but priced like it is very exclusive.

I want to like this place, really. The staff were great and they are trying. However, I feel like the owners are just trying to pull the wool over the eyes of people who don’t know any better. It’s a place with all flash and no substance. It is the most cynical of all restaurants, the kind that thinks if they give you expensive looking food, you won’t know any better; even if the chicken is frozen, not fresh, the ingredients come out of cans and the wine is from a box.

Cafe Amore on Urbanspoon

Interesting article on the evolving Microsoft media ecosystem

Microsoft’s media convergence strategy has been eluding me even as it has evolved. With the Zune imminent, the 360, and Windows Media Center PCs already here, I’ve found myself monumentally unimpressed with it all. Microsoft has the technologies, but not the integration. The individual technologies themselves are completely unappealing to me. However, this article from tech crunch puts it all together in a way I hadn’t considered.