Happy Birthday Nayarit Ella!

I mean this one literally. My friends Krissy and Yurii are the proud new parents of 7 pound 13 ounce by 21" beautiful baby girl. She was born Jan. 16, 2006 at 4:46 PM at Potomac Hospital.

Congratulations to them! And happy birthday to her!

I'll post some pictures when I get some. She's named after a provence in Mexico, the pronounciation is Nye-ya-rit.

Happy Birthday, Frank!

Its my brother's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Frank! He's 23, so everyone wish him a happy one.

The post office needs a watchdog group?

"Rick Merritt, executive director of PostalWatch, a nonprofit watchdog group." Its from today's post.

A postal watchdog group? Is that really necessary? What do you suppose he does?

Happy Birthday, Matt

Its his birthday! I hope those of you who know him wished him a happy one.

Surreal site of the day

http://www.strindbergandhelium.com/

I have only a vague understanding of who Strindberg is, but "Absinthe and Women" is highly recommeded.

When Harry Met Sally

I was watching “When Harry Met Sally” the other night, and in one of the cute little cut scenes interviewing happily married couples there is an Asian couple talking about their arranged marriage. I just find it funny that in a movie about the angst of dating and about the difficulty of navigating mixed gender platonic friendships there is the polar opposite, an arranged marriage, held up as an example.

But then again, what the movie lacks in consistency I suppose it makes up in shmaltz.

Birthday mix up

Sorry folks but Shantanu's birthday is today, the 11th, not the 4th, like I previously indicated.
Wish him well again!

It’s a tragedy of time zones

I have a theory that part of the reason the middle of the country thinks the two coasts are full of amorality and perdition is because of the time zone difference in TV scheduling.  Basically, the sort of programming that is late-night in New York is broadcast in primetime in Kansas, which might lead Kansans to think that New Yorkers want to show late-night-level content to their children.


So, there you go, the nation's entire socio-policial divide explained by broadcasters being too lazy to put delay stations up.

Elevators with “undo” buttons

Elevators need “undo” buttons. You mispress a floor, rather than having to wait at that floor, you should just be able to press the “undo” button and the last floor entered will be removed from the queue of stops.

Standardized serving sizes

New FDA food labeling rules came into place on January 1, 2006 to list both the fat content of food but also the dangerous trans-fat content of food. Assuming that individuals are the best caretakers of their own health, and that they'll make better choices with more information, this is a good change that will help keep people healthier.
Two more changes that I think would be good is if they either implemented standardized serving sizes, or if the label contained a column for the total quantity per package, not just per serving size.
It is just so frustrating how manufacturers try to manipulate people’s perceptions by fiddling with the servings per container, to make the product seem more benign than it actually is.

Water consciousness

I'm still self-conscious when I brush my teeth with the tap water; I caught myself using bottled water the other night. I also still feel mildly wary when ordering tap water at a restaurant.

It’s also funny because I’ve been thinking of the fountains, especially the water dance at the Bellagio in terms of “evaporation tanks.”

Happy Birthday, Shantanu!

For those of you who know him, go buy him a beer. For those of you who don’t, have a good Wednesday!

An opportunity lost

At 4:30 am Frank and I shared a limo from the party back to the strip with some folks from Rock star games, famous for such feel good video game titles as “Grand Theft Auto.” All in all we shared a tired ride together with very little of substance being discussed.

If I had thought about it though, I would have said something like this. The trick would have been to keep a straight face:

“You guys make video games, huh? I don’t know much about that, but I’ve got a few ideas for games I’d like to run by you. One game is about a pair of plucky Italian brothers who are plumbers. They fight their way through a sewer system to defeat evil, manifested in the form of mushrooms, turtles and other sewer denizens. They’ll have the ability to kick turtle shells to deadly effect, and will eat mushrooms to grow bigger and smaller.
I haven’t fleshed it out yet, but my favorite idea is for a player vs player simulation of table tennis. Each side would have a “paddle” that could slide back and forth on the top and bottom of the screen, bouncing a ball between them. It could be played on-line over the internet. I’ve been thinking a good name might be “ping,” it would be an instant classic…”

Opportunities like this only come along a few times in lifetime, and I fear I bungled this one. I’ll try to do better next time around.

Las Vegas is a self-licking ice cream cone

Vegas is about the furthest away from India that one can get, both geographically and culturally. Having never really been here before, I expect conspicuous consumption, but this level is just ridiculous, and slightly upsetting to me on some level. Where things close down in India by 9 pm, things don’t really start here until 10 pm. Cars worth more than whole Indian city blocks are rentable for the evening. For all the glitz and money, I have yet to see a beggar, though I have seen plenty of touts for strip clubs.

The hotel/casinos dominate the Las Vegas strip. These buildings are truly enormous, on a scale that is difficult to express, filled with a huge array of distractions playing to humanities best, and worst vices. All told, the hotels on the Vegas strip can hold over 450,000 visitors who are here, as far as I can tell, to see...the giant hotels.

Most people never leave their hotel, I imagine. And if they do leave, the leave in order to go to a different hotel. In fact, many hotels have links between each other, ensuring that a visitor who wants to visit a different hotel never actually has to go outside. Visitors to Vegas stay in the hotels in order to stay in the hotels, creating an entirely self-justifying existence. This is as close to the definition of a self-licking ice cream cone as I’ve ever seen.

Party of Legend

This is Jeff Jonas, a computer security entrepreneur. The company he started at 19 was recently sold to IBM for what I’m sure is a large amount of money. Every year he throws a New Years party which has become the stuff of legend, to which my family was invited.

The party was at his 8000 square foot house, into which over 1000 people were invited. There were 112 staff on-hand for the party. He brought in 2 bands (one an 80's cover band, the other a 90's cover band) which played on the stage set up in his back yard. There was a fire breather, two sets of acrobats from Circ Du Soliel, 8 go-go dancers performing in two different DJed dance rooms (one room played hip-hop, the other techno). There were six open bars with free drinks, and a buffet room with unlimited sushi, fondu and other food. At 2 am the host, his girlfriend and his son rode three Harley motorbikes through the house. There were fireworks and a laser light show. All in all, the party cost him $300,000 for one night.

While I’m not sure I can say it was the most fun I’ve had at a New Years party, it certainly was the most impressive party I’ve been to. We left for the party around 5:30 in the afternoon. Mom and dad headed home at 1. Frank and I got home at 4:45. We spent most of today recovering...

Happy New Years everyone!

Happy New Years! Hope your 2006 is happy, healthy and prosperous!