Tikkabik

My kids like Rice Krispies for breakfast. Well, more specifically, cocoa krispies, fruity krispies -- any variation thereof that gives them a decent sugar fix first thing in the morning.

When they're done, if they're thoughtful, they'll put their bowls in the sink.

They never empty them, tho.

What happens in the space of about ten minutes in the sink is that the rice krispies turn to glue. Sticky, gluey goo that you have to hack at with a caulking scraper to get rid of.

Let alone what happens to the rice that gets stuck to the kitchen table.

Posted by flargh at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

One thing I'm reminded about every so often when I'm talking with Bonnie is that there are different kinds of computer and technology users. As someone who writes about the Mac for a living, I tend to tinker a lot. I like to find out how things work and figure I can usually put them back together if I take them apart. And because I keep company with other people in the field, a lot of us are the same way.

So it's easy to forget that we're not the same as the general public, and that's why every so often, watching Bonnie work and answering her questions is helpful to keep me grounded in the "real world."

I think she's probably a lot more typical of average users than I am. Once she finds a way of doing something, like opening a document or finding something she needs, she sticks with it, and can actually be uncomfortable when a new way is shown. As a practical example, she's used a Palm OS-based PDA for several years, but only today asked me how to delete applications. The need had never come up for her before, and it was beyond the scope of her use to know how to do it.

When you're designing an application or a Web site, or writing a tutorial or article on a topic you're familiar with, it's easier than it is not to take for granted a certainly level of user knowledge or reader sophistication. And that's a dangerous thing, because you're making a basic assumption about your intended audience that may be totally off the mark.

This isn't a major revelation or a Eureka!-type moment. Just something to consider the next time you're noodling over something you hope will have a wide appeal to "normal" people.

Posted by flargh at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bob's school is finished with its summer session (his program is year-round), so he has about a week and a half off before he has to go back. Emmeline is finished with summer camp this Friday.

So it's more or less the end of summer for us -- Labor Day is September 4th, and then the new school year will begin for Emme and James and I'll finally have the house to myself again, at least for a few hours. I look forward to it. Too many distractions with the kids around!

Posted by flargh at 05:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We took a long drive north to Boston yesterday -- specifically to the Franklin Park Zoo, to see a relatively new exhibit they opened up this year featuring tigers.

Zoos aren't something we go to all the time, but I'm certainly happy that we have two relatively good ones that are basically equidistant from us -- Franklin Park Zoo is about an hour and a half north of us, while Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, RI is more or less an hour and a half west of us.

I am, as I am in so many things in life, of two minds about zoos. On one hand, I really like them -- they give the kids a chance to see exotic animals up close, especially animals they love. Some of them are predictable: All the kids loved the great cats, for example -- even though the tigers didn't do much except sit there in the water, the lion slept, the ocelot paced back and forth, and the amur leopards looked they wanted to eat something ... or someone. But sometimes they'll surprise you. Bob was smitten with the prarie dogs, for example, which live in a huge burrow inside a big circular exhibit. James liked the gorillas.

On the other had, I recognize that many of these animals don't particularly flourish in captivity, and certainly know that they'd probably be happier and maybe even healthier if they lived in the wild, in their own habitats.

But I figure short of taking these kids on a Kenyan safari -- which god knows I'd do in a heartbeat if I was wealthy -- it's probably the only way they're going to get to see animals like zebras or giraffes in real life.

And zoos are a damn sight better, in my opinion, than circuses, which I find to be depressing and sad.

Posted by flargh at 05:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Verizon is once again on my shit list.

I have them set up for automatic billing, so I don't normally keep an eye on my account, but clearly I should have. I checked my account online today for the first time in months and discovered that they never cancelled my DSL service, which I asked them to do in the spring. Wish I'd kept better records of my calls, because all I could do was get a 90 day (three month) credit, though I know it was longer than that.

Then to add insult to injury, I got patched to an account rep who works in the disconnection office, or some such bullshit. He stepped through a carefully prepared script which included these doozies:

When I told him I favored the speed and reliability of my cable modem connection, he said, "Are you aware that you're exposed to identity theft using cable?"

Whaaaa? I asked him to explain and he either couldn't or wouldn't.

Then he said, "Would it change your mind if I offered you a 30 day credit?"

Uh, you're already giving me a 90 day credit. So, um. No.

Also, looks like I'll be switching cell phone providers, from Verizon Wireless to Cingular. I'm off my two year plan with Verizon and I'm sick and tired of putting up with lousy, crippled phones. I just hope Cingular's service has improved in the past two years in my areas -- "least dropped call" ads and all that. Then again, they've gone from TDMA to GSM, so things have changed.

Posted by flargh at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

... and patriots: U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor.

Posted by flargh at 01:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The tree people are here. They're pulling out quite a significant amount of tree growth from our yard -- mainly oaks and scrub. They're doing it for a few reasons -- one is that some of the trees are just junk. They've crowded other trees or created problems, such as a build-up of moss and lichen on the roof, and need to go. The guys are also trimming quite a bit of dead wood and low growth that doesn't do anyone any good as well.

But the part that I'm sure Al Gore would punish us for is the removal of this big oak tree from the left side of the driveway. The problem with the tree is that it blocks part of the driveway, which would otherwise be wide enough for two cars to sit side-by-side in. That's right. We're cutting down a tree to make more room for automobiles.

Back shortly after we moved in, my mother sideswiped the tree with her car, so it's already proven to be a menace. I won't miss it. Plus, its removal is opening up that part of the yard to light, which is very nice.

A completely untamed patch of forsythia is also being pulled out -- I have jokingly said that I'd like to put a hot tub and a gazebo over there, but no shit, it really is big enough -- it's gotta be at least 100 square feet of space that's being cleared.

Posted by flargh at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The rest of my trip home yesterday (Saturday) was fairly uneventful. When we got on the plane a mom and dad traveling with two infants in car seats needed adjoining seats -- and window seats for the kids -- so I gave up my window seat for a middle seat in another row to make it happen.

The flight attendants were grateful enough to ply me with free cocktails and a sandwich, so I spent the trip in relative comfort -- well, as much as can be allowed wedged between two guys in the ass-end of coach. I got home around 10PM. Bonnie picked me up from the bus station and we both went to bed -- the kids have really beaten her up this week, and she was exhausted.

Fortunately, I'm not leaving her with my usual package of a week's worth of dirty laundry, so at least I'm not adding to the burden. On Friday night I ended up doing two loads of laundry at the hotel (the guest laundry room was at the end of my hall), so all I had that was dirty was my pajamas and the clothes I wore home.

One way or the other, it's good to be home.

Posted by flargh at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm now on the last leg of a series of travel that's lasted for three weeks, and happy to be almost done with it. I'm sitting at the gate for my Boston-bound flight from San Francisco, where I've just spent the last week attending WWDC and going to related activities. It was a very, very fruitful trip, so I'm happy that I went, though I'm not happy about the stress and discomfort I've caused Bonnie and the kids while I've been gone.

The terrorist alert that happened last week had virtually no impact on my travel today, which makes me feel like a fool for giving myself three hours, like travel advisories on the news had told me to. I still checked my luggage in at the curb and, if anything, the security checkpoint was even faster than usual. Hopefully the flight and our arrival in Boston will be equally uneventful.

Posted by flargh at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Occasionally I've fantasized about what life would be like if I traveled a lot more. At some point in one's life, unless one is a hopeless homebody, it's fun to think about the romance of travel and exotic places. But I have decided in recent days that I really wouldn't like it too much. I don't sleep particularly well away from my own bed and family, certainly don't eat as well or as regularly as I should and when switching time zones find it particularly difficult to adapt to new regions, especially going from east to west.

Having said that, the trip is going well so far. Given that I'm not allowed to go to much of WWDC because I'm not a Mac developer, I'm still filling my days with a few impromptu meetings, social events and phone calls from developers and companies that are here at the show this week, so it's far from a waste of time. In fact, it's been reasonably busy.

Having worked from home for seven years, though, I am totally unacclimated to working in a cubicle farm again. So I begged off going to the office this morning in favor of staying put in the hotel and have been much more productive because of it, even if it means some additional isolation.

Last night I got to have dinner with Ron and Benny; they took me to a marvelous French restaurant just around the corner from the hotel called the Flytrap. Apparently it was a hangout of famed SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, and I've since learned that it also used to be favored by Mac magazine execs until the management changed. Still, it was great food, the company was terrific, and we had a good time.

Alas, I'm back on Trade Show Time (even though this is a conference, not a trade show), so I find myself sadly short on time to hang out with family and friends.

Apple introduced the Mac Pro yesterday, and I'm still trying to assess the long term ramifications of it and Mac OS X v10.5 on the game scene.

One way or the other, between Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, and now VMWare and Cider on the scene, my bet is that Windows gaming will play an integral role in the future of gaming on the Mac for at least the next couple of years. More on that later, probably in the pages of Macworld.

Posted by flargh at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

For what it's worth, I've added more than a hundred new photos to my Flickr account today. Most of them are shots of Ron & Benny's house, but there are many others of miscellaneous stuff, like school awards, friends, kid's birthdays and more.

Posted by flargh at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ryan and Jenn took me to Polly Ann Ice Cream in the Outer Sunset district last night to top off a phenomenal meal of sushi. This place has a truly stunning array of really unusual flavors -- everything from the mundane (licorice, root beer) to the exotic (lichee -- which I had, and loved, jasmine, and many others).

By far, however, the oddest flavor on their menu is durian.

Ryan, a certified gastronomic adventurer and great cook in his own right, encouraged me to sample the durian ice cream.

Durian, for the uninitiated, is a thorn-covered fruit native to southeast Asia that is renown for its unique taste, smell and texture -- enough so that it's commonly restricted from being transported to hotels, subways and airports in its native land.

"She'll ask you 'are you sure,'" said Ryan of the girl working behind the counter. "Just stick it in your mouth and don't smell it."

Immediately alarm bells went off the moment Ryan said that, but always up for a culinary challenge, I decided to go forth anyway.

Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange, among many other books, spent much time in Malaya and once described the act of eating durian as akin to eating vanilla custard in a latrine. The flavor is not far off that mark, though Ryan's description is more charitable -- he likened it to the flavor of children's antibiotic.

The girl handed me a small sampling spoon smothered in durian ice cream, which wisely is kept in a back room, apparently to avoid contaminating the many other, more appetizing flavors Polly Ann makes. Hopefully kept under lock and key, chained to the wall like a wild animal.

I took Ryan's advice and simply shoved the globe of sickly yellow ice cream into my mouth, then swirled it around a bit to get the full experience.

Durian has a wide variability of flavor, I have learned, so what one person tastes may not be what another tastes. What's more, there are nine different edible varieties of durian, each with unique flavors. But regardless, durian so far off the Western concept of "appetizing" as to be truly stunning.

Excluding the ice cream base's own rich, creamy undertone, the sampling of durian ice cream I had can best be described as stinky armpit and unwashed balls with the faint essence of almond, garlic and leeks.

It was the culinary equivalent of a toddler mashing as many keys on a piano as it can muster to hit at once. But therein lies the durian's exotic appeal. I know it sounds contradictory. For the love of God don't ask me to explain. But I'm actually curious to try durian again.

Not the ice cream. The real fruit.

But not in the hotel. I don't want to get arrested.

Posted by flargh at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In addition to the pills I take to help control my blood sugar and blood pressure, I also swallow a packet of supplements designed specifically for diabetics. Each packet contains different pills like a multivitamin, alpha lipoic acid, selenium and more.

You might think it's bunk, but I really do feel better when I take them. I admit that's probably completely psychosomatic, but I don't really care. I went over the list of included ingredients with my doctor, and she agreed that many of them have shown to have benefits for diabetics, and that's good too.

But for some reason, the pills in these packets set off my gag reflex something harsh. This morning was no different. I was in front of the sink in my hotel room's bathroom with a glass of tap water in hand, and I tore open the packet, palmed the pills in my mouth and tried to gulp them down with the water. Didn't work. They got stuck in my throat as it tried to reject them. I swallowed a second time and they went down, but some of the water went up my nose -- the wrong way, through the back of my throat.

So here I am, eyes half-blinded with tears, long strings of tap water and snot shooting out my nose.

Wow, I feel GREAT with all these supplements in me.

Posted by flargh at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Staying in San Francisco for Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference this week -- everyone has high expectations of the event, as Apple is yet to unveil a professional-grade desktop machine based around the Intel chip. Speculation is running high as to what exactly Apple plans to show off on Monday, and only time will tell.

I arrived a short time ago. My body's still in shock from being on the road for a week then back again then traveling, but I'm situated at the hotel and unpacking, and have plans to see friends tonight who I haven't seen in months.

Anyway, I'm in town for the week -- if you're here too and you and I haven't already spoken about getting together and you're interested, just drop me a line by e-mail and we'll work it out.

Posted by flargh at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kielbasa isn't quite a staple of our diet, but it's a regular meat dish, partly because it's easy to prepare and partly because Bonnie's got fond memories of it from childhood, as she comes from a Polish family.

I often buy the stuff in the grocery store from Hillshire Farms. It's a far cry from the "real" kielbasa I've had at Bonnie's family gatherings, but it's close enough to fill us up and it's often on sale or available with a coupon.

But recently I noticed that Hillshire Farms has taken the same approach to sizing that coffee makers and others have begun to follow: Charge the same for less product. Now Hillshire Farms kielbasa and smoked sausages weigh only 14 ounces -- two ounces less than before.

Feh.

Posted by flargh at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey, Alan Rose -- next time you have a question, e-mail me, mmmkay? Jackhole.

Posted by flargh at 06:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

James was a little tyrant the week that I was gone, culminating in an episode at the doctor's office that ended up getting him blacklisted. I'm not sure what he did, exactly, but I know it involved yelling, kicking, and not minding his mother, and hitting his sister.

It wasn't a pediatrician appointment, by the way -- this is a therapist who specializes in working with disturbed kids. And he's banned James from the office.

Oy.

Posted by flargh at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So you may have noticed that I've been really quiet for the past couple of weeks -- I'm right in the center of the eye of a scheduling storm, which is why. About a week and a half ago I went out to Oakland to spend a week with my father, Benny and Spot, and had a great time. The highlight for me -- outside of getting some quality time in their wonderful home and just being able to relax (something I sadly can't do too much at trade shows) was getting to meet part of the extended family -- the Johnson clan, who are second and third cousins to me.

I got back late (very late) on Sunday night or early on Monday morning, more precisely, and by late Monday morning I was already heading back up to the airport to pick up Jim, my boss.

Coincidentally, my luggage didn't make it home with me (my connecting flights were too close together because of a late start from Oakland), so it gave me an excuse to pick up my bag at the airline baggage counter. I had a ridiculously oversized bag for what essentially amounted to an overnight trip to Foxboro, but at least I had clean clothes -- Benny was kind enough to do my laundry while I stayed with them, which meant that instead of a week's worth of filthy, smelly rags, I had only a day's worth of them stuffed in a plastic bag inside my case.

It was time for my annual review. Typically, the editorial management at my company takes their staff to baseball games as part of the review process -- SBC Park is literally right down the street from the San Francisco offices -- you can see it from the building's terrace.

Jim and I aren't huge baseball fans (I'm more fairweather than anything) and getting decent Sox tickets isn't easy or cheap, so we opted for Ozzfest instead, because both of us like metal (Jim lives and breathes it, I like it a lot). That was lots of fun, though we're in the midst of a killer heat wave here in the East, and I practically passed out between the heat and the sweating.

By far, my favorite acts this year were Hatebreed and System of a Down. Hatebreed was more a nostalgia trip for me than anything -- very hardcore. System of a Down is a lot more artistic than a lot of metal bands are -- they're not really metal, at least not in the conventional sense. But their music and their lyrics are challenging, which makes for an interesting show.

The biggest surprise for me was Lacuna Coil, an act out of Italy that I've heard of but never seen live. They're more or less a goth-metal or nu-metal style band, with both male and female lead singers who offer a nice constrast and some interesting melodic constructions. They covered Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence," which showed me their roots, and God only knows exposed my own well enough. Definitely a group I'll be adding to my collection in the future.

It was a treat to see Zakk Wylde sharing the stage with Ozzy Osbourne. We'd already seen Zakk's Black Label Society headline Ozzfest's second stage, but he came on again for the headline main stage act, playing guitar for Ozzy (and shredding the shit out of the Star Spangled Banner).

I got home at around lunchtime on Wednesday, and have been playing catchup ever since. Bonnie desperately needed a break from the crap she's been dealing with here at home -- both Emme and James have been acting up this past week, and James says it's because I've been away. That makes me feel good on one hand -- nice to know the kidlets miss me -- but knowing the toll it's taken on Bonnie, I'm not very happy about it.

Especially since I take off again on Saturday morning for a week in San Francisco, this time on a business trip. But there's little I can do about that at this point. The good news is that I should be home for a while after this next trip, so everyone can decompress.

Posted by flargh at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)